Characters / Pairings: Umi Sonoda, Kotori Minami, Honoka Kousaka, Hanayo Koizumi; established KotoUmi, might be slight hints of others if you squint.
Background: Roughly two years post S2 anime; Umi and Honoka are still in Japan; Kotori is studying abroad and working for a company in America. Kotori happens to share an apartment with Nozomi (and Eli sorta who has her own apartment but is always around theirs).
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!
Umi slides open the door to the Kousaka Family sweets shop, "Honoka I need your-" She starts but a scream cuts her off. She instantly looks around the room, "Honoka?!" She asks, trying to figure out if something was wrong.
Honoka on the other hand, is scrambling. Papers were scattered around her and she takes all the sheets and stuffs them into a nearby folder as she looks up at Umi with a smile. "U-U-Umi-chan! H-Hi!"
Umi narrows her eyes, "Honoka..."
"Nothing, nothing! Here, here, come in, come in!" Honoka stuffs the folder under her kotatsu and pats the blanket. "It's warm!"
The blue-haired female mumbles her apologies before she settles herself under the kotatsu that Honoka pat. "I need your help with something."
Honoka's head perks up, "Umi-chan is asking for my help?! Wow!" She pats her blanket excitedly, blue eyes lit up in joy. "What can the all-knowing Kousaka Honoka do for you?" She leans forward expectantly.
Umi slightly moves away from Honoka, "Too close, too close." She mutters but Honoka is still leaning towards her with those excited eyes of hers. Umi huffs a little, "I-It's about a gift..."
"For Kotori-chan?"
Umi blushes a little at the mention of her girlfriend's name, but nods silently. Honoka claps her hands, "How romantic! The dashing Umi-chan looking for a gift for her Princess, Kotori-chan!" She's grinning from ear to ear before she sits back down.
"So what did you have in mind?"
Umi's silent. Her eyes narrow a little and her mouth is pressed into a thin line.
Honoka stares at her blue-haired best friend, mouth slightly agape. "... You don't know?"
"I-I umm... T-That's why I came to you for help, you know..." Her voice is hush and she stares at the kotatsu.
Honoka tilts her head a little, "What did you do for Kotori-chan last year?"
"O-Oh um... W-We went out on a date..." Umi's response is mumbled as she fiddles with the blanket of the kotatsu with a slight blush on her face. Honoka just smiles, she actually knew about their date, Kotori texted her all about it the day after.
"Well, let's see..." The ginger-haired girl hums to herself. "Kotori-chan designs a lot of her clothes, she buys accessories when she can..." She trails off, counting on her fingers all the things Kotori has.
Umi groans as she places her head in her hands, "What do I do..."
"Ah. But the best gift is always something homemade! Like Kotori-chan is gi-"
Honoka immediately 'eeps' as she throws her hands over her mouth to stop herself from talking. Umi's eyes immediately go up as she looks over at Honoka suspiciously, "Honoka?"
Honoka shakes her head.
Umi narrows her eyes again, "Honoka..."
"N-N-N-N-Nothing!" She squeaks through her covered mouth. She removes her hand and takes a deep breath, "But anyways, maybe try and make something for Kotori-chan. I'm sure she'll love whatever you give her. It's you after all, Umi-chan."
The blue-haired girl blinks in surprise, "Something homemade..." She mumbles to herself, before nodding. "That's... that's a good idea."
She drums her fingers against the kotatsu, "But what should I make... I'm not good at making sweets like you and Kotori... I'm not good at making accessories..."
Honoka grins as she holds up her phone, "I know someone that can give you a hand."
"Ah, please come in, come in."
Umi nods her head as she thanks the brunette girl in front of her as they walk into her room. Amber eyes peer around- Hanayo's room is neat and tidy but very... Hanayo-like still. Her walls is plastered with posters of different idols and idol group; on any surface, there is at least one plush toy resting there, with the exception of her bed, which is filled with different plush toys.
On the small table in the middle of the room, there's little wool cats on the table. Hanayo sits down on one side of the table, gesturing Umi to sit across from her. Umi sits down as she stares at the numerous of wool cats.
"Are... these for Rin?" She asks as she looks up at Hanayo. The brunette smiles, "Yes! They're based off this phone game Rin-chan is playing, Neko Atsume."
Umi vaguely remembers the phone game that Rin often plays before their practices. She just nods and spots Hanayo knitting something else. "Is that...?"
Hanayo smiles as she holds up the needles and the fabric-what it looks like to be a red hat in the making. "It's for Maki-chan! Specficially her bear!" She giggles a little, "I wanted to do something special for Maki-chan, and Kotori-chan told me that Maki-chan's Mother says Maki-chan has a very special bear... So I wanted to make something special."
She puts down the hat and holds up a little bow with a star in the middle, "This is a scarf! Cute, right?" She smiles.
Umi blinks in surprise and nods, "It's... very cute."
Hanayo puts down the scarf as she smiles, "So I've heard you wanted to make something for Kotori-chan?"
"Ah... Yes I would like to..." Umi fidgets a bit in her spot, "A... a bird, a bird plush..." She pauses, feeling her cheeks heat up. There's some rummaging before some grey fabric plopped in front of Umi.
Umi is taken by surprise, "T-this is?"
"Fabric to make Kotori-chan's bird! I also have some stuffing and some other coloured fabrics for the bird's beak and eyes." Hanayo picks up her needles again and goes back to sewing the hat.
It was silent other than the the quiet hums and the clanking of needles and fabric movement. Hanayo looks up to see Umi staring at the fabric intently. "... Umi-chan?"
"Um... Do you think you can show me the basics?"
Umi stares at her normally calloused fingers that was covered in bandages with a soft smile on her face. It was a struggle in the beginning, but it came together in the end. Her eyes move up slowly as amber eyes stare at the black beady fabricated eyes that stare back at her.
She smiles as she touches the bird plush gently; the bird was grey in coloured with a yellow beak that sticks out and black, beady eyes. On it's head, it had very similar hair that looked like Kotori's-even with a nice green bow.
Umi realizes she really missed Kotori, and can't wait to give her the present when she comes back for New Years.
There's quick movement coming from outside, and the door to her room slams open with a resounding bang, "Merry Christmas, Umi-chan!"
"Hyah!" Umi cries out in surprise, nearly falling out of her chair. She swings herself around, grabbing her shinai that sits near her desk and points it at her new intruder.
"Whoa!" Honoka thrusts her hands up in front of her-the bag in one hand swinging forward and nearly touching the tip of her shinai. She turns her head slightly away, "Don't hurt me!"
The shinai slowly lowers as Umi lets out a breath. She narrows her eyes at her ginger-haired friend, "Honoka! Don't do that!" She growls, as she places the kendo sword back on the desk.
Honoka just laughs nervously, "S-S-Sorry! I thought you would know I do that by now!" She says, before thrusting out the bag again. "Anyways, here you go!"
Umi blinks in surprise, taking the bag from Honoka's hand. "This is?"
"Homura special delivery!"
Umi places the bag on her desk and peers into it, seeing a closed box. She looks at Honoka, confused. Honoka gestures towards the box, indicating for her to open it. The blue-haired girl takes the box carefully out of the bag and pops it open.
She's taken back and gasps a little.
Inside the box is the usual Homura-style manju, however there is something different. "They're... They're..." Her voice trails off silently as she stares at the manju.
Each manju has a simple design engraved on the top-a symbol that represented a special meaning to both her and Kotori. Of course the first two would represent them-a bow and arrow for herself and a little bird for Kotori; the next one was Otonokizaka's symbol, where she confessed to Kotori about her feelings; the next was a crepe, where they had their first date together-
She realizes that this is like a timeline of their relationship and closes the box with a bright blush across her face. Honoka is beaming in front of her, her hands behind her head as she watches Umi with amusement. "Cute isn't it? Kotori-chan designed everything on the manju and asked me if I could put them on top and take this to you on Christmas."
She rubs the bottom of her nose out of pride, "Of course I couldn't decline the offer from one of my best friends-even during our busy season." She's grinning from ear to ear, "I know how much Kotori-chan misses you too, Umi-chan."
Umi is silent, as she looks over at the bird plush on her desk, and then at Honoka. She places the box gently on her desk and grabs her phone.
"Honoka, you need to help me."
"Eh?"
Kotori opens the door to her room with a tired smile as she waves and says good night to Nozomi and Eli. She shuts it gently and places her coat and her bag off to the side. Christmas Eve was so much different in America compared to Japan but it was still fun.
A lot less romantic, that was for sure.
She checks the time on her phone, and notices it was passed midnight. There shouldn't be any problems, mostly everyone in the company is on vacation, but it wouldn't hurt to check her email. She flops onto her computer desk chair and turns on her laptop.
It takes a few minutes, but it boots up quietly and she opens up her e-mail. She notices several e-mails of 'Merry Christmas' and the such, but the latest one catches her eye.
"Umi-chan?" She mumbles out loud, wondering what could it be. She opens it, and finds that there is only an image attached to an empty message box. When she opens the image, she smiles brightly and laughs quietly.
It was an image of Umi kissing what it looked like, a bird plush, on the top of it's forehead. On the image itself was Umi's neat handwriting, simply saying 'miss you'.
Kotori takes her phone where she left it on her desk and dials a very familiar Japanese number. The other line picks up in two rings, "Kotori?"
"I miss you too, Umi-chan."