The summer sun was almost gone for the day and the air was lightly traced with the scents of the rain from hours prior. Everything in the area was coated in a dull orange, slowly fading to dark blues as mere minutes passed by. It was the perfect scene before day gave way to night.
Two figures doused in shadow made their way to a remote hill in the area, the still wet grass giving off a small shine on every drop of rain on them. Every step they took disturbed the small drops and made their simple school shoes more wet than the last step. Despite all of this, they kept making their way upwards to the top.
When they arrived at the top, one of the girls unfolded the blue blanket she had carried with her. She threw the blanket into the air and then let it slowly ease its way onto the wet grass. When the blanket was fully down, she got down onto her knees and crawled onto the blanket. She crossed her legs and patted the empty area of the blanket next to her.
The other girl who was with her simply shrugged and sat down on the striped blanket as well. She fluffed out her own blanket and wrapped it around herself. The other girl tried to take a bit of the solid black blanket for herself, but the blanket owner lightly slapped her hand away.
"Geez, Yoshiko. What did I do?" The girl asked.
Yoshiko giggled a bit. "You, this is MY blanket! Get your own!" When she had finished saying that, she felt You grab the blanket without any warning and ripped it off her shoulders. You then covered herself with the blanket, and then covered Yoshiko.
"How about we share it? I forgot to bring a second one, and you can't possibly keep this huge thing to yourself," You commented while snuggling underneath the blanket. She squirmed around for a little bit before settling down.
The atmosphere was filled with silence for a few minutes. The two didn't say or do much during the few minutes. The songs of little birds were fading away for the night, the orange hue everything was drenched in was starting to transition into inky purples, and the clouds from the storm of the afternoon were leaving the sky. Occasionally Yoshiko would mutter a few things relating to the night, but all was peaceful and silent on the little hill.
You finally spoke up, shattering the silence around them. "So, how do you think it's going to look? The news said this could be the biggest and brightest meteor shower ever seen in Japan!"
"I'm… actually looking forward to it. I don't like the stars and things of the like too much, but I'm honestly looking forward to it," Yoshiko quietly answered. She did some small fanning motions with her hand to possibly cool down her blushing face. Only recently had she discovered she had a crush on You. She did a reasonably good job at hiding it from her friend, but it would definitely not be hidden tonight. She was about to watch a meteor shower with her! Nothing overly romantic or sappy about that at all..!
..or that's what she wanted to tell herself.
You giggled while looking up to the sky. "Then you should invest more time learning about the stars! Although I don't know much myself, maybe you can learn to appreciate the stars a bit more?"
Yoshiko took in a deep breath. The air still held the humid scent of the rain. The stars in the sky were slowly leaving their hidden state. She counted at least thirty stars shining down on her and You, with more revealing themselves by the seconds. The very last bits of twilight were fading away, deep purples and blues being replaced with the pitch dark of night. At any moment, the meteor shower would start and show itself to the two.
She couldn't even fathom how excited she was over some simple stars falling from the heavens above. Did the presence of You have to do anything with this? Or was the mere concept of stars falling from the sky like angels falling out of heaven appealing to her?
As she was lost in thought, You gently rammed into Yoshiko's shoulder and pointed up to the black sky. The blanket was disturbed and tossed off their laps. "Yoshiko! I saw one! It's starting! It's starting!" Her blue eyes seemed to house an entire sky of it's own. It looked like a sky that Yoshiko would never turn away from...
"I-It's starting!?" Yoshiko exclaimed in question, bringing her out of her dreams. Her head immediately tilted upwards towards the stars. Aside from the stray wispy cloud drifting by, there was nothing to be seen aside from the twinkling stars that seemed to wave hello to her.
Then a star whizzed by the sky. Followed by another one. Then one more.
Soon, the whole sky was filled with descending stars. Each one seemed to leave behind a sparkling trail and the sparkles would slowly fall as well, blending in with the stars. Yoshiko lightly placed her hand onto You's, causing her to quickly turn to face Yoshiko.
"Umm… do you need anything, Yoshiko? I'll go get it from my home if you need something-"
Yoshiko was swift to cut her off. "No... I was just… my hand was… cold. Your hand is warm. I like it." Yoshiko was silently praying that it was dark enough to hide the blush on her face.
"Okay, Yoshiko. I guess you can… hold it." Yoshiko picked up the tiniest of pinks dusting the cheeks of You. Did she…
The meteor shower continued to grace the skies overhead. The show seemed to get stronger and more beautiful, at least to the two. Yoshiko gave You's hand a small squeeze, the motion not registering in her mind until You was looking into her deep pink eyes once again.
"Are you okay? You've been acting kinda… weird for a bit. Are you getting sick!?" You questioned to Yoshiko. The burning blush once again found home on Yoshiko's cheeks.
"I'm fine, You!" Yoshiko almost yelled at her. You drew herself back a bit, flinching from the volume of her words. "Nothing's wrong, watch the star show! That's why you're here, right!?"
"Yes… but I just wanted to know what's up with how you've been acting for a while now…" You put her free hand in Yoshiko's free hand. "Could you please tell me? Then we'll keep watching the stars.
Yoshiko took a deep breath. The scent of rain no longer lingered within the air. With a small whimper, she looked You right in the eyes. It took every part of her to stay focused on You and not to get lost in those deep, blue eyes that shined brighter than the stars tonight.
"I…" she started, but never carried on. This was harder than she thought. How was she supposed to tell her friend something that could possibly end their entire friendship?
Then another idea came to her.
Yoshiko's look of uncertainty turned into determination. She took a shaky breath in, and tilted her head and closed her eyes as she leaned forward.
Almost instantly, her lips were on You's.
This was actually happening.
You immediately made a small squeaking noise, but then it also registered within her mind. The girl she had been secretly crushing on was kissing her. With nothing to regret, You moved her hands from Yoshiko's and placed them around Yoshiko's waist. She in turn felt a pair of hands make their way onto her shoulders, gripping them in a way that felt comforting despite how rough Yoshiko was grabbing her shoulders.
They stayed this way for about a minute, softly illuminated by the falling stars that seemed like nothing anymore to the both of them. As silly as it sounded, the only thing that existed to them in the world was each other.
Yoshiko was the first to pull away, a deep red painting her cheeks. She looked over to You, and the same red was coating her face. They looked at each other, then laughed as they turned to face away. Eventually Yoshiko turned back to her friend, looking straight into You's eyes.
"Umm… is this the part where I say I love you or something..?" Yoshiko awkwardly asked. You giggled and looked back into Yoshiko's deep pink eyes.
"...sure! I love you! And you love me! We love each other..! Is that how you do it?"
Yoshiko put her hand in You's and smiled softly. "It's good enough for me." She gave You's hand a soft squeeze, prompting a small giggle from her.
They simply sat in silence for the remainder of the stellar show, occasionally making small talk about the show or how life was going. Although the show was planned to go on for another hour or so, the two seemingly payed less mind to it.
Because they knew no matter how many stars lit up the sky, there would always be someone more beautiful than a million falling stars.
A/N: I love YouHane.
The cover art belongs to purpleblu on DeviantArt! You should look at their stuff, it's great.