"Hey, Merry!"

Maribel Hearn heard a familiar voice calling to her. She was on her way to town after class had ended, intending to go run some errands. Upon hearing her name being called, she turned around to see her best friend, Usami Renko, running to catch up with her.

"Oh, hi Renko!" Maribel greeted her friend who was now walking alongside her.

"What'cha doing?" Renko panted, trying to catch her breath.

"I was just going to do some errands. Do you want to help me?"

"Sure, I got nothing better to do."

"Like homework?"

Renko groaned and playfully punched her friend in the arm.

"Alright, don't come crying to me when you get a bad score on your finals!" Maribel stuck her tongue out.

Renko rolled her eyes.

"So, where to first?" Renko quickly changed the subject. Maribel shook her head, smiling.

"Well, first I was going to buy some pencils; I'm running low." The blonde-haired girl answered. Renko clapped her hands together.

"Sounds good!" Without another word, Renko grabbed Maribel's hand and half-walked alongside half-pulled her friend to the nearest store. Upon opening the door, a little bell hanging from the doorframe rang, and the shopkeeper looked up at the duo, giving a silent wave before looking back down at a book.

"Alright, I think the pencils are over-" Maribel was cut off by Renko tugging her over to a corner of the store with a display of little trinkets.

"Look at this!" Renko exclaimed, pointing to a stack of erasers shaped like little cats and dogs. She momentarily let go of Maribel's hand to pick up a handful to examine and giggle about, whereas Maribel found her chance to go find some pencils.

"Let's see..." Maribel searched around the small store, but couldn't seem to find any pencils. Sighing, she was about to grab Renko and leave, until she saw a shelf with pencils stacked on it. Smiling at her momentary victory, she started over to the shelf-

CRASH!

The blonde girl whipped around to seek out the source of the noise, and saw a small eraser shaped like a horse bounce past her feet and stop. As she took a second to register what was going on, she saw a bunch of erasers of the same sort, shaped like many different animals, scattered all over the floor.

"I'm sorryyyy!" Maribel heard her friend call from the other side of the store.

After grabbing Renko, apologizing profusely to the baffled shopkeeper and helping to pick up every last eraser that was scattered across the store, Maribel embarrassedly bought a box of pencils and dragged a shaken Renko out of the store. Renko apologized to Maribel a few more times, before they set off to their next destination.

"Where to next?" Renko asked.

"Laundromat. I've got a few things to pick up."

"'Kay."

After walking for a while, the pair made it to the Laundromat. Inside, wash machines lined the walls, full of soap and water. Maribel began to look for her own laundry, while Renko seemed to be mesmerized by the spinning clothes in a nearby machine. Looking for a while, Maribel couldn't seem to find her own laundry.

"Renko, could you help me look for my laundry?" Maribel asked of her friend. Renko nodded with an intense expression and began to look through piles of laundry.

About fifteen minutes passed, until Renko shouted,
"Merry, I think I've found your laundry!"

The brown-haired girl triumphantly held up a laundry basket full of clothes that were obviously not Maribel's; Renko, however, was oblivious to the fact.

"Alrighty Merry, here you go!" Renko handed over the laundry basket to Maribel, who was utterly confused. Before she could tell Renko that they weren't hers, she heard a woman shout,

"Hey! You're stealing my laundry!" An older woman silenced the whole room with her accusation. She walked over to Maribel, who was at a complete loss for words. "Whaddo you think you're doing?" Without replying, Maribel shoved the basket into the woman's hands and took a step backwards.

"I w as just ... Uhhmmm.." Maribel hummed, trying to figure out an excuse.

"She was just... Uhhh.. Trying to find her own laundry... And ummm... She was moving this laundry basket after she tripped over it sootherpeoplewouldnttripoverittoo!" Renko stumbled over her words, trying to back up Maribel. The woman gave a stern look to the two of them. She then smiled.

"That's okay!" She slapped Renko rather hard on the back in a friendly way before walking in the opposite direction. Renko let out a breath that she had been holding before apologizing yet again to Maribel.

"Alrighty, that didn't go to well... Ahahahahh..." Renko scratched the back of her neck before spotting a basket that actually had a few of Maribel's things in it. After pointing it out, they went and grabbed the items, Maribel neatly folding them and putting them in her bookbag before they left.

After looking at the time, the two decided it would be best to go back to their dorms for the night. Renko then declared that she would stay overnight at Maribel's dorm.

"Okay Renko... But we have to study!" Maribel replied to Renko's declaration. The pair arrived at Maribel's dorm. It was mostly clean, with just a few books stacked in the corner of the room and an empty teacup sitting on a table.

"Would you like some tea?" Maribel asked her friend.

"Ahh, could I have coffee instead? If we're gonna study I can't be half asleep." Renko put her hands together in a pleading motion. Maribel rolled her eyes but nodded before going off and returning with a cup of tea for herself and a cup of coffee for her friend.

"You're not going to be able to sleep, you know." Maribel warned the brown-haired girl. However, Renko was already chugging the cup, not listening to her friend. Maribel sighed and opened her textbook.

After studying for about two hours, Maribel was struggling to keep her eyes open. On the other hand, Renko was feeling extremely antsy and was struggling to stay sitting.

"Merry, are we done studying yet?!" Renko asked, eyes lighting up.

"I guess." Maribel yawned. She closed the textbook they were looking through and put down her pencil before stretching her arms above her head. Renko shot out of her chair.

"Let's watch a movie!" she exclaimed. Maribel rolled her eyes, and said a quiet 'sure' that turned into another yawn.

The two sat down on a small sofa situated in front of an old television in the corner of the room. Renko excitedly picked a movie and pressed play. Maribel tried her best to stay awake for the movie, but was having trouble focusing on the screen. Her friend, however, was commenting on everything that happened.

"That's a stupid decision... Going in doors that have serial killers behind them! Dontcha think, Merry?!" Renko asked her friend, who failed to reply. "Merry?"

Renko looked to see that Maribel had fallen asleep. Renko took notice of the fact Maribel's head was resting on her own shoulder, and felt her cheeks turn pink.

"Oh my..." Renko muttered, trying not to wake her sleeping friend. Pulling a blanket to cover the sleeping girl so that she wouldn't get cold, Renko sank back into the cushions of the couch. The brown-haired girl smiled to herself as she felt sleep tugging at her own eyes, eventually giving up and also falling asleep. And so, the pair ended their long day cuddling on a sofa.