Typography note: I've used a macron-o (unicode) for the long vowel in Yō instead of simple ASCII romaji, hope it displays ok. You for よう embedded in english text just throws me. Because you is one of those super common mentally hard wired words I keep reading it with the english pronunciation and getting Yuu.

The girls sat in silence on opposite sides of the table. Chika glanced across the table at Riko; the other girl was apparently engrossed in her drink. It was a good thing we only had tea and sweets, she reflected, it doesn't seem like either of us could eat food.

Over the past few months they had hung out, shot the breeze, taken walks in the sunset, gone shopping, had lunch, and caught a few movies... somehow always without their other friends. Chika knew they had been dancing around this for months, long before she had realised it consciously, before the business with Yō, before that sunrise confession that she now realised may have meant much more than she understood at the time. Maybe even since they first met. Somehow without even saying it out loud they had arrived here, being crushed by the elephant in the room. As usual she spoke first, but unusually quietly.
"So, this is a date, right?" the silence stretched out a little more, so she continued "A 'date' date".

"-" The movement and slight noise from Riko was probably an acknowledgement, but also seemed to involve checking if anyone might be listening.

"We should go for a walk."

~o~

They ended up taking about their friends, their performances, the town, music and pretty much anything else until they found themselves holding hands on the footpath roughly midway between their homes.

Chika smiled.
"I'm not sure who should walk who home"

Riko couldn't help laughing a little.
"I think we will both be ok from here"

"This is it then"

They both glanced around the street which was, as usual, deserted. Chika moved in until their faces were close.
"Um, this is where we... uh"

"Right"

Caressing Riko's cheek with her hand Chika made her final approach. Riko's eyes closed and her lips pressed forwards in anticipation. At the last second she moved to the side and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. After giving the anticlimactic kiss, Chika pulled away blushing furiously.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't- I'm sorry. Goodnight" she called as she dashed away, leaving Riko standing alone with more questions than answers.

~o~

"Are we still friends?" Even speaking quietly Chika's voice travelled easily across the gap between their windows.

Riko sighed, and slumped down with her back against the wall under her window. It had been too much to hope for, that Chika would feel the same way she did. This was why she had delayed so long... but friends was better than nothing.
"Of course we are"

"I need to talk to a friend right now" Chika was silent for a long moment. Riko wondered if she should say something encouraging, but the other girl finally continued, "I went on a date today, and it didn't go so well"

"Oh"

"It started out ok, but the end wasn't so good. I messed it up"

Riko sat up a little. That didn't sound like cold feet.
"Messed it up?"

"We were going to kiss" Chika sighed, "she looked so beautiful, and she was getting closer and closer. I wanted to kiss her so much. Our first real kiss. I wanted it to be the best kiss ever. I started thinking too much and I panicked and ruined it"

Wanted? Riko quickly turned around to look over her windowsill, finding the redhead in a similar pose on the other side of the alley.
"I-"

Chika silenced her with a smile
"Do you think she would give me another chance?"

"Yes! Absolutely, yes!"
Riko eyed the gap speculatively. She had jumped it before...

"Maybe at ground level" Chika added, apparently having read her thoughts.

Despite her hurry Chika arrived to find Riko already there, out of breath.

"So"

"So"

They drew closer and their lips touched.

She knew it wasn't the best kiss ever, because the next one was better, and the next, and... well it seemed to be a pattern. The little moan Riko made as she pushed her against the wall was pretty special too.

~o~

It was a complex question. Given their roundabout start, had they been together for two weeks or six months? An interesting and relevant question, but it was not the one occupying Chika's mind. Even her much more recent realisation that dating a girl had the benefit that her family didn't ask any questions about sleepovers had been displaced by her current preoccupation.

How to convince Riko that her hands would be more welcome under her pyjama shirt rather than over it. She had tried letting it ride up, but her girlfriend had helpfully pulled it down. She could just ask, but Riko could be very self conscious. Maybe if she set the mood. With a final kiss she smiled apologetically, rolled off the bed and stood up.

Riko lay on the covers in her nightdress. She gave Chika an enquiring look.

"A bit more privacy" Chika explained. She closed the blind and turned off the light. She hesitated before returning to the bed. Maybe a bit of directness too? She unbuttoned the shirt and let it fall.

A sharp intake of breath confirmed that even in the dim light Riko was aware her toplessness. Hidden by the darkness the piano player was blushing furiously.

"Is this ok?" People were always telling her that she rushed into things; she didn't want to do this wrong.

'Ok', not so much. Answer to her wilder and more optimistic fantasies, getting warmer. It had taken all her self control not to take advantage of the way Chika's shirt kept riding up, and now, topless. She hadn't planned for this and it raised some difficult issues about reciprocation.
"I'm not wearing anything under this" she explained apologetically, gesturing at her nightdress. Whoever said panty free was more healthy at night hadn't factored in the frustration from not being able to balance a topless make-out session.

"Gotcha" Chika was a little shocked, this was more than she expected, but if Riko wanted to go there she wasn't about to be the one left behind. She slid down her shorts and kicked them away before turning to face the bed.

"!"

In the silence that followed it dawned on Chika that Riko had not actually been proposing nudity.
"Sorry. I thought. Um" she felt around the dark floor attempting to locate the clothing, only to be distracted by another piece of cloth gently falling on her back. It was large and a different texture from her own clothing; it took a few moments before the exploding realisation caused to stare back at the bed.
"Wow!"

Riko's boldness only lasted a few minutes under the redhead's intense gaze.
"Sorry" she apologised as she dived under the covers. After only a brief pause she held up the edge of the cover in an invitation.

Chika smiled broadly and swaggered to the bed.

"But-"

"-not sex" Chika finished.

The feel of a warm body beside her seemed to bring back Riko's sense of adventure
"Not... tonight"

"Not tonight" Chika agreed, savouring the feeling of their skin in contact. She kissed her, running her hands over the silky smooth skin of her back.

~o~

The bright morning sunshine spilled over the town creeping in to every crack and crevice chasing away the night; a little even penetrated Chika's tightly shuttered room. Chika lay half awake revelling in the feel of the warm body beside her. She let loose a happy hum of contentment.

"Morning" From the doorway her sister's amusement was audible in her tone.

"Uh. Morning" Chika's gaze flickered to the floor confirming that their clothes were clearly visible where they had left them last night. She had a feeling there may be more questions about sleepovers in future. She cast a worried look at her sister.

She was met with a grin and two thumbs up. Reassurance given, she looked at Riko asleep in the bed, her smile shifting to something more mischievous.
"This is for thinking we didn't know" she whispered. She knocked loudly on the door beside her abruptly waking Riko. Taking a deep breath she yelled in convincingly scandalised tone.
"WHAT did you do to my innocent little sister?!"

~o~

"I want you to the the first to know. Riko and I are dating"

Yō looked at her blankly.

Chika had some practice with framing the issue, having only quite recently worked though it herself.
"Like a boy and a girl, but with girls"

"Oh." A light came on in Yō's head, and she said the word that came to mind "Lesbo." She had heard it a fair bit, usually with reference to herself.

"I think Lesbian is more polite, but yeh, I guess. It's all... new"

Yō had to concede that politeness had not figured largely in the context she had heard that word.
"So all this time you've been spending with Riko was just because you wanted to do, like, lesbian stuff with her?"

"That's not exactly how I would-"

You cut her off by tackling her with a bone crushing hug.
"That is so great!"

After a few moments with no sign of the hug letting up Chika felt the need to ask
"Are you alright?"

"Aye-aye! Best friend on deck"

"The best-est!" Chika assured her, finally having guessed the issue.

Yō released her.
"You want to talk?"

"Do I ever. Best friend emergency: I am dating this smart, gorgeous, sophisticated Tokyo girl and I feel like I'm completely out of my depth"

"Are we still taking about Riko?"

"Hey!" Chika punched her on the shoulder.

"Ow! Ok, ok. I'm your girl. Um, best friend advice girl."

"She slept over last night," mistaking the puzzled look on Yō's face for disapproval she hastily clarified "We didn't go all the way... but it was kind of intense."

"Um. Intense, wow." It was occurring to Yō that her familiarity with the word as an insult left out many details that might be useful in the advice giving capacity. Like, for instance, what two girls might do that was 'all the way'; or for that matter what they might do that wasn't. It seemed likely it was a bit more than kissing. "I uh. I need to check something" she leapt up and ran out of the room.

Chika could only stare after her in shock.

A few moments later Yō put her head back though the doorway.
"I'll be back. With advice, I mean. After I check the er, thing. We'll have you shipshape and picking out wedding stationery in no time!"

"Wedding?" Chika addressed the empty room uncertainly.

~o~

"Hi" Yō's entrance seemed to lack a lot of her earlier energy.

Chika still jumped. She had been occupying herself at the whiteboard trying to figure out if Chika Sakurauchi or Riko Takami looked cooler written down. After some hasty erasing she turned around.
"You mentioned advice?" she prompted, hoping to avoid the subject of her writings.

"Advice?" for a moment Yō looked confused "Right. Lesbian advice, sorry. Um, don't net search it and click the first link without checking."

"What?"

"Nothing. So, you really like Riko?"

Chika blushed and smiled
"Yeah. Really, really."

"And kissing her and stuff?"

"Definitely."

"Kissing her all over" Certain images encountered during her incautious experiment with internet research had left an impression.

"I suppose so"

"Like, everywhere?" Yō glanced briefly downward.

Chika's own research had been more cautious, starting with some books that Riko naively believed she had securely hidden under her bed. There had also been some very informative pamphlets she found in the lost property box at the inn. Though she now suspected they may not have been 'lost' as such... her sister's grin was a bit too knowing. It wasn't complete, but it had certainly raised some interesting possibilities.
"Oh. That. Well, I like all the other places I have kissed her, so probably. But Yō, I wasn't actually looking for 'Game Plan' advice, just, um, girl talk."

"Oh, thank god!" Yō relaxed and let out a big breath. "Hold on, all the other places? Uh, no I don't want to know. Boys are so much simpler."

"I think most of that stuff works with boys too, you know." Yō gave her a look of wide-eyed incomprehension and alarm. "Nevermind."

"Girl talk?" Yō prompted hopefully.

"I think we are doing that right now"

"So you will be planning more sleepovers?"

"Once Riko recovers from nearly dying of fright this morning"

"Big dog?"

"Big sister," Chika smirked, "found us asleep in bed together when she came in my room this morning"

"That doesn't sound so bad. We've had lots of sleepovers"

"We were kind of naked, and Riko has read far to many stories of people defending a maiden's virtue. She tried to run and got tangled in the sheets. Sis is probably still laughing"

"So, naked, that was the intense part then?"

"I kind of started it by accident, but when she took off her nightdress, just for me, she was so beautiful it felt like my heart stopped." Chika closed her eyes, savouring the memory. "About your question, there is absolutely no part of her I wouldn't have kissed in any way she wanted me to"

"TMI. We are going to have to set some boundaries"

"Boundaries?" Riko stood in the doorway.

"For the choreography. We should get the stage measurements and mark it out for practice" Yō was surprised by her own quick cover. She had a feeling the new couple held differing opinions about the level of sharing that was appropriate between friends.

"We already do that." She shook her head at Yō's somewhat manic grin, "Chika you don't have much time"

"Oh. The homework. Gotta run!" The redhead dashed from the room.

"So um, congratulations, I guess. Is that the right thing to say?"

"She told you, then" A part of Riko had been hoping that, faced with the reality of coming out to her friend, Chika would chicken out. A larger part was proud that she hadn't. Chika had reluctantly accepted that they should be discreet while they worked out what they were doing, but after last night, and now that her family knew... she wanted to tell everyone, and honestly Riko couldn't say she was wrong. It seemed like it may have gone well.

"You and her, lesbian thing, check"

"And you are ok with it?" Riko had always wondered if Yō harboured feelings for her best friend. Things had always been a bit weird between them; particularly when it seemed the new girl was coming between the childhood friends.

"Shouldn't I be?"

"I-" Things where so far outside her comfort zone maybe a little more wouldn't hurt "I wondered if you um, you..." there was no way she could ask that question.

"Oh" It was dizzying, less than an hour ago lesbian had just been a mean word. Now memories of Chika and Riko, they way they were together, flooded though her mind. How could she not have seen it? What else could she be unaware of? "I don't think so. I mean I would know, wouldn't I?"

Riko was at a loss for words. She realised she had no experience to answer the question. It was the first time she had talked about her sexuality with anyone but Chika.

Yō shifted awkwardly before breaking the silence.
"When did you first know you liked Chika that way?"

"The moment we met." Riko seemed shocked by her own words, blushing and looking down. "I wanted to be friends as well. I knew I liked girls, I just didn't-"

"Know if girls liked you?" Yō suggested playfully. Riko's intense, almost Ruby-like self consciousness was helping restore her self confidence. She looked thoughtful. "Girls definitely like me." Smiling and laughing, how many of them hoped that she was looking for more? Was she?

"I used to test myself. I don't know, maybe I thought I would grow out of it."

"Test?" That sounded useful.

"Think of a nice girl-"

"What is she wearing?"

"Something pretty, something you like"

"Ok" Yō nodded.

"Now imagine undressing her" Riko couldn't believe she was doing this

"Gotcha. Now what?"

"What does it feel like?"

"It feels good, exciting. I like it. Nice, smooth-"

Riko wasn't sure what to feel at this point

"It's silk, the stitching is really fine and the cut-"

She was cut off by Riko's relived laughter.

"What? Did I do it wrong? Am I a lesbian?"

Riko decided she should skip the bit about 'imagine a guy...' Yō would probably fantasise about getting into his pants... literally.
"You're unique, in a good way. Just be yourself" Riko found herself overwhelmed with the urge to hug her friend. She didn't bother to fight it.

"And, the others?"

The question brought her back to earth in a rush.
"I don't know. How do you think they will react?"

Yō frowned, thinking hard. If everyone knew they could spend more time together, but she didn't want trouble. She had never spent a lot of time worrying about other people's opinion so it was unfamiliar work.
"I think they will be ok. Mari will probably try to flirt with one of you."

"She wouldn't"

You silently expressed her skepticism.

"Ok, she might"

"Yoshiko will pretend she already knew. Kanan probably does already know."

"I don't think-"

"Ever kissed on the beach?" Riko's guilty look answered her question. "Kanan is always out on the water, and she has great eyesight. Dia-" Yō hesitated, she was getting deep into guesswork "uh, just try not to look depraved around Ruby"

"When do I ever look-" The discussion was cut off by the arrival of the rest of the group, followed in a few minutes by class.

~o~

The scene on the roof that afternoon bore out Yō's prediction almost perfectly, with a notable exception.

"It's about time, zura" Hanamaru smiled at the new couple, oblivious to the puzzled looks around her.

"She had a cousin who got married last year. That is, he married his boyfriend." Ruby explained with a shrug.

"You never said that wedding was between two-" It seemed like Dia was building up for a full rant.

"Love is love!" Hanamaru stated with uncharacteristic firmness.

"So, you love the ladies. Do I have to worry about catching your eye?" Mari fluttered her eyelashes at Chika.

Chika thought silently for a few moments before answering
"No."

Several birds flew away, spooked by the sound of Kanan's laughter.

~o~

Author Note: I've published what I have up to here, so at least I get something out before season 2. Sorry it was a bit underdeveloped, but if I started rewriting it could have been years. I will avoid making promises on publishing schedule but I do have plans for more; next would be dealing with their families, then after that being outed and accused of violating the morality clause at Live Live.