"Have you seen some of their signs across town?" Kyoko looked up to the sky. "Man, some of the things that they advertise sound amazing. Who knew that there could be so many flavors of ice cream in the world? Not that there's anything wrong with good old fashioned chocolate and vanilla though."
"I've seen the signs." Sayaka looked around, then pointed in the distance. "There's one!"
Hitomi stopped for a moment and squinted her eyes. It took her a moment, but then she immediately recognized the bright green billboard. It was certainly too far away to read what it said, but she guessed that the red ice cream was probably cherry flavored.
"I cannot say that I have been to one either." Hitomi folded her hands together. It had been Kyoko's idea to come there; her ideas always related to food in some way or the other. Hitomi didn't mind; when she did have time from school and her extracurricular activities, she had usually worked up an appetite.
"I guess that this will be a learning experience for all of us." Kyoko grinned. She wrapped an arm around Sayaka and Hitomi's waist. "I'm glad to see that everyone is excited."
Hitomi flushed red; a few people passing by shot quick glances at them. None seemed to be disproving of them, they probably thought that they were all friends, but it still felt strange. This was technically their first official date.
Well, at least it's just to get ice cream. Hitomi thought. I'm sure that Kyoko and Sayaka could have thought of much different places.
"I'm not quite as excited," Sayaka responded. "I am the one who is going to be stuck paying for it."
"Sayaka," Hitomi said, "if you want, I could pay for my own. I have money on me." In fact, she probably had enough to buy all of them ten rounds of ice cream, probably even more.
"No way," Kyoko said, looking to Sayaka. "You lost my bet and now you have to pay."
"Stop reminding me and I will." Sayaka rolled her eyes.
Hitomi silenced. Kyoko and Sayaka were certainly much closer to each other, and they had hundreds of inside jokes. Sometimes it seemed as though she were just watching them, another outsider.
She took a deep breath.
Relax, she thought. They wanted you to come here with them.
In a way, it was a bit scandalous. Even if nobody knew yet (though she was sure that Madoka had her suspicions), it was hard to go from being in denial one day to having not one but two girlfriends the next. Even with their problems, Kyoko had gladly allowed Hitomi to join their... Hitomi couldn't think of a proper term for it. It just was.
"I'm going to get as many scoops on my ice cream cone as I possibly can." Kyoko licked her lips.
"Why?" Sayaka smirked. "So you can spill them all on the floor?"
Despite herself, Hitomi laughed.
"Hey!" Kyoko frowned. "Do you really think that I would let that happen?"
"Probably not," Hitomi admitted. Her very first memory of the girl was their meeting. She had moved in with Sayaka, and had given her a friendly greeting, along with offering her some of her strawberry Pocky. Hitomi had smiled and thanked her, then took some. A stick accidentally fell from the box and nearly hit the ground, but Kyoko had saved it with incredible speed; right after, she took a long bite.
"The store should be ahead." Sayaka looked back down to the phone in her hand. "The street should be just around here."
"I brought my phone too. Want me to check one of my apps?" Hitomi asked, reaching into her pocket. Her hand nestled around the cool metal of her phone, but she did not remove it.
"No, it's fine." Sayaka pointed ahead. "There it is!"
"Well, I'm not waiting much longer!" Kyoko ran forward. "Don't take too long to catch up!"
Sayaka groaned.
"What's wrong? She's just excited." Hitomi didn't run, but she did pick up her pace. "I bet everything will taste great."
The inside of the ice cream store was brightly colored, filled with boots and stools that came up from the floor. Kyoko stood by the ice cream counter, looking up at the brightly colored menu. Hitomi and Sayaka quickly walked over to her.
"You guys took forever," Kyoko said.
"And I bet you still haven't decided what you want," Sayaka responded.
Hitomi laughed. She looked up at the menu herself. "Everything looks good to me."
"I was just thinking the same thing." Kyoko grinned at her.
Hitomi's cheeks turned bright red, and she quickly turned away from her. "I'll just have two scoops of chocolate and vanilla swirl, please."
It was a quick decision, but she was sure that it would be good.
"I thought you were going to try something else." Kyoko commented. "Something a bit more bold."
"How about you try it first?" she responded.
Kyoko laughed. "Trying to see if I like it first? That's not a bad idea."
Hitomi's cheeks only got redder.
The ice cream had finally settled, and the very last of her brain freeze had gone away. The afternoon sky had just started to show signs of evening, the sun having begun to set, turning the horizon slightly pink.
"I had fun," Hitomi said, turning to the two. "I'm glad that we all went. Thank you for suggesting that, Kyoko."
She shrugged. "There's no need to thank me. It was just an idea."
"It was a good one." She looked over to Sayaka. "Thank you for paying."
"I don't mind in the least."
"Really," she said, leaning forward and pulling them both into a tight hug. "Thank you so much for everything."
"Are you going to start getting all mushy on us, Hitomi?" Kyoko asked. "Cause if you are, I can't guarantee how good that I am with that stuff."
"Come on, Kyoko, it's not like she's about to call us honey bear or sweetie pie."
"I hope not."
Hitomi released the hug. "There's no need to worry about that." Quickly, she leaned forward, giving each a kiss. Kyoko's lips were harder, the faintest taste of coffee flavored ice cream sticking to her lips. Sayaka's were softer, slightly fuller.
For once, she did it without even the slightest bit of apprehension.
"I can walk the rest of the way home from here myself." She smiled. "I hope that you two have a good evening."
"We'll be fine," Kyoko said, wrapping an arm around Sayaka.
"Good," Hitomi replied. "That's always good to know."