Phone
Yuzuko: ok were picking you up in like
Yuzuko: 9 minutes
Yui: That is oddly specific
Yui: But anyway, thanks again
Yuzuko: jeez its fine haha
Yuzuko: wowwww have you even been in a car with me
The last train home from my cousin's house just… didn't show up. I'm stranded outside the station, a half-hour drive from where I live, and my cousin won't answer my calls. Thankfully, that's what friends are for. Oh, this is like when…
Yui: Wasn't there the festival thing?
Yui: When it stormed really hard and your mom picked all of us up
Yuzuko: ohhhh yea
Yui: But yes it has been a while I guess
Yui: She's really selfless huh…
Yui: Ugh it's starting to rain
Yuzuko: aw
Yuzuko: hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
I actually get to see her send that last message live, as her mom pulls over and unlocks the car. Normal people wave, Yuzuko. She's sitting in the back, excitedly gesturing for me to sit next to her. She's tossed her backpack into the front passenger seat, so that we'd have a lame excuse to sit next to each other. It worked.
I mimic her message with a flat, drawn-out "hiiiii". She gives me one of those sudden, twinkly smiles of hers. As if it's been years since we talked.
"Hey, Yui-chan! Listen, listen!"
"Hmm?"
"You know what they say… 'it never trains, but it pours.'" Oh my god. The longer the pause, the prouder you know she is, with these.
"That's like. An elementary school level pun."
"C'mon. I trained for years to get this good at 'em." She tilts her head. Her cute pink hair does that thing it does.
I sniffle.
"Oh! Do you want my jacket? Should I heat up your hands?"
I hold back a smile, and look away a little. "I'll be fine, I'll be fine. You're acting as if you picked me up from the Arctic." Her mom giggles. It's a miracle how she's fond of me at all.
It's Saturday, 8 PM. I've somehow been persuaded into visiting Yuzuko's house before heading home. We cooked a lazy dinner together, and talked about strange phobias, and what living in Iceland must be like, and how it's sorta sad how DVDs are gonna become irrelevant soon, just like old VHS tapes.
I finish my glass of lemonade and stand up. I'm dressed way too warmly for September, like always. As I remove my sweater, Yuzuko immediately gets her phone out and takes a picture of me.
"Hey, what the hell is that about?"
Her little smirk. "You're wearing a new top."
"So…?"
"Me and Yukari need to add it to… The List."
"Like hell there's a list."
"Yuh-huh." She shoves her phone in my face, displaying her message history with Yukari. There's… actually quite a number of pictures of me. I guess they just started taking these without my knowledge. As a game…? And I guess Yuzuko just couldn't wait any longer to get a reaction out of me.
"Um." Weirdos. I take the phone from her hand to scroll further through their logs. Some of these were taking during class, seriously? In my peripheral vision, Yuzuko is grinning. I scroll past some boring exchanges and—
Huh.
Reading aloud from the screen, I say: "'I love you a lot.'"
Yuzuko covers her mouth with her hand. I realize what I've just said.
"Uh. Your words, you dork—" I show her the conversation I'd paused on.
Yukari sent a photo. (It's me in a thin, white shirt, by the bleachers, obliviously tying a shoelace.)
Yuzuko: poor yui omfg
Yuzuko: im
Yuzuko: stupidly enjoying this
Yukari: Hehe
Yukari: Me tooo
Yukari: I love you~~ (*･▽･*)
I scroll down a little. Yuzuko looks… upset.
Yuzuko: !
Yuzuko: i love you a lot
Yukari: Hehehe ~ヾ(＾∇＾)
Yukari: Cute
Yukari sent a sticker. (It's a rabbit squeezing a pink heart.)
Yukari sent a sticker. (It's a pair of cacti, hugging.)
Yukari sent a sticker. (It's three girls holding hands…)
Yuzuko inhales sharply, gets up, takes a step towards me, and frantically reaches for her phone. "Give—!" I fling my hand behind me, holding it out of her reach. I've got no real reason to be doing this, but… this is just a rare sight, from Yuzuko, and I'm enjoying it.
"This is slander!" She pushes closer against me, hopping and clutching at her phone. I flip it shut. "That's not what slander means, you idiot," I sneer. "And you two act like this around me every other day."
Suddenly, she yanks on my arm, causing us both to tumble onto the cushion I was sitting on. I hold on tight to her dinky flip phone, to keep it from hitting the floor as we topple over. Thump. "H-hey, were you try'na destroy the evidence, or—"
Yuzuko is just giving me an innocent, blank stare. I fell on top of her. She knew this would happen. I pick myself up and straighten out my clothes. I just give her the phone back, without saying anything. I can't tell if my face is red.
"I mean, I was aware you two aren't just acting like that to freak me out. It's obvious that there's…"
"Uh-huh," Yuzuko mumbles shyly.
"And, that both of you…"
She just nods.
"See, sometimes I kind of wish we could talk about this." I paused. "Except, like normal people."
Yuzuko just… bursts into giggles. All of her embarrassment seems to have vanished. I give her a slightly nasty look. "…My point, proven."
She bobs her head left and right. "Ffff—Yui-chan! Ehehehe~… I love you!"
"Don't go all hyper at a time like this…" Maybe I deserve this for expecting her to be serious for one freaking second. When she finally calms down, I sit next to her.
"What I mean, is—" I swallow. I don't understand why I'm sounding so serious. "We act all cute about this stuff, but, um. You and Yukari seriously are like the other half of my brain nowadays?"
"Huh? That sounds interesting. Biologically."
"I just, I mean, like… in a way, I don't know how to act like a person without you two around. But when you're there, everything just works."
Yuzuko tilts her glass with one finger, and idly spins it around. "We're a well-oiled engine," she ponders.
The ensuing ten-second silence feels blissful. All I hear is the rain outside.
"What fuel do you suppose we run on, Yui-chan?"
"Huh? …Food, I guess. Lemonade." I pour us both another glass, and keep thinking. "And… each other's dumb antics."
"And looooove?"
I finish pouring, and give her the eye. "I was gonna not say love, but."
"And your boobs?"
"The hell have they got to do with anything?"
"Imagine life without Yui-chan's boobs." She's staring at the ceiling, as if she can see her own thought bubble there. "I'd just be a shut-in. No reason to come outside, or go to school, or anything."
"…Don't say that kind of thing, Yuzuko."
She hums, and leans against my shoulder a little. I don't mind. I close my eyes, and relax to the sounds of her voice, her room, this weather. It's 8:22 PM.
"Yukari agrees, you know." I jolt up a bit and blink. "What?!"
"I just asked her."
"…"
Yuzuko: are yuis boobs vital to your life
Yukari: Hm
Yukari: I suppose soooo~?
Yuzuko: like what would you do without yui s boobs
Yukari: I don't know!
I sigh, ignoring the… um… topic, here. "You're just roping her in. She doesn't sound very convinced about this."
"She doesn't sound very convinced about anything."
I snicker and rest my head on Yuzuko's shoulder. "Yukari is cute."
"Yeahhh."
A bit later, it's dark out. We're reading synopses of bad movies on Yuzuko's laptop together. As she recites the next one, I feel a vibration in my back pocket.
Group chat with Yuzuko Nonohara and Yukari Hinata
Yukari: I love you two~
I gaze out the window, opening and closing my phone over and over and over again.
I wonder if all of us define that word the same way.
Part of me wishes tomorrow were a school day already.