"I don't understand. There isn't a panel to review the pictures. What if someone bumps into me? Or what if I sneeze? Or blink?" Eli turned the film camera in her hand, searching for a nook and cranny she had not yet explored. Unlike her friend, the blonde was completely new to the art of black and white photography. On the contrary, her expertise lies in the opposite field- digital photography. Nonetheless, here she was, clumsily probing at the old technology with her digitally adjusted fingers, snapping pictures through a viewfinder.
Nozomi tensed when her friend's hand glided over the release lever.
"No pressing the lever," Nozomi chided strictly. Eli put her hands up in the air in innocence, earning a chuckle from Nozomi. "And I think blinking will be the least of your problems. I may have said this a few times, but film photography is based on light exposure. Exposing film to direct sunlight is a recipe for ruined pictures, unless you took some embarrassing pictures that you don't want me to see."
Eli's cheeks bloomed scarlet and she slapped her friend's arm. "You know they're just scenic pictures," she turned from the other, focusing much more intensely at the gadget before her while Nozomi laughed beside her. "I still don't understand any of this. Digital prints are much easier to manage. Plus, they have color!"
If Nozomi was offended in any way, it didn't have an affect on her signature smile. Eli was usually very cautious with word choice, but around Nozomi, her natural blunt self rose to the surface. While most might take Eli's non-filtered self offensive, Nozomi found it quite refreshing to hear Eli speak without restraint. "Complain as you will, but a deal is a deal. As head of the black and white photography department, and as your best friend, it's my duty to educate you about the wonders of film. Plus you promised to hang out this week after being immersed in a midterm study coma." When Eli didn't rebut, Nozomi continued. "Now, let's get that film ready," Nozomi sung as she led Eli into the developing room.
Otonozaki University was not a particularly prestigious college, but it still held proud rankings and departments to boast. This is credited to the motivated student body and understanding administration, who support school programs in a variety of fields. For this reason, programs thought to be impractical by most institutions are preserved at Otonozaki, one such program being black and white photography.
But of course, being the vice president and the girlfriend of the student body president didn't hurt when applying for equipment funds.
The pair made their way into the white, block-like building. Upon entering, a line of doors were apparent on the left hand side of the building. Each door opened up to a dark room with sufficient supplies to develop the film. Being a weekday afternoon, most students were spending their time studying or attending class, giving these two the freedom to select any room they desired.
Eli brought out the tank, opening the lid and removing several items from inside. Nozomi picked up a beige plastic object resembling a disk holder with both ends capped. There was a spiral along the inside of the cap and an assortment of ridges along the inner disk.
"Have you practiced loading the film?" Eli nodded and Nozomi handed her the object.
Eli fished a can opener from the drawer and checked off a mental list. The process wasn't difficult. First, she would pop open the film canister and remove the film. She'd cut off the end from the plastic piece center and tuck it into the disk-like object and the entire reel would hide away in the tank. Nothing too complicated for the student council president to handle. "We're good to go."
"Great." And with that, Nozomi shut the door and switched the lights off.
Eli went rigid. In her curiosity and absorption in the new form of photography, she dismissed a vital aspect of filmmaking. After all of Nozomi's warnings about exposing the film to light, how could she miss the part where she had to develop in the dark?
Trembling with fear, Eli pulled down on the can opener that had been waiting patiently at the mouth of the film canister, sending the top flying. The hairs on her arm stood up when the cap hit the ground with a ringing pop. The film canister in her hand fell through her loose fingers and Eli fell to the floor, hugging her knees.
Darkness.
Eli never had pleasant encounters with this friend. The force haunted her in an endless abyss of the unknown. The back of her mind reassured her that she was simply in the black and white photography department, but blackness stretched in front of her for miles on end, longer than any department building in the college.
"Eli," a voice erupted out of the darkness. The blonde froze, rigid once more but for a different reason. She knew the voice, and the tenderness that came with it. Warmth pressed against her back and a pair of gentle hands wrapped themselves gingerly around Eli's neck, pulling her close. The pulsing muscle in Eli's chest slowed as she melted into the warmth, allowing her shoulders to collapse into the gentle lavender aroma. Ah yes, this is Nozomi. Eli's hands trailed kindly along the length of the others arm, feeling her smooth skin along her fingertips. Her fingers traveled down to the other girls hand, where Eli slipped her fingers in between the others. For the first time, she noticed how perfect her fingers locked with the other girls. Eli wouldn't consider her skin rough, but the student council work took a toll on her fingers, sprinkling her hands with blisters from hours of mal pen gripping habits. The uneven bumps pressed against Nozomi's soft palms. The others hands were obviously well pampered. Eli's fingers traced the the creases in the other's silk palm with her thumb. How many others have felt these hands as I am now, Eli wondered.
"Eli," a voice invaded her though. A surge of heat rose up Eli's neck as she recognized the situation.
Right. Photography.
Eli rose to her feet, her beet red face thankfully hidden in the darkness. She froze when she got to her feet, but the pair of hands intertwining in hers gave a tight squeeze.
"It's okay, I'm here," Nozomi assured. Even in the dark, Eli knew Nozomi smiling. It was in her voice. Imagining the violet head's lips pressed together and stretched to meet her soft emerald eyes helped Eli relax her shoulders.
"Thank you. I'm going to hit the lights-" A squeeze on her hand made her pause.
"The film is on the floor right now. Exposing it to light could ruin all the pictures you took," Nozomi added quickly. Eli sucked in a breath, and Nozomi returned the nervous gesture with another gentle squeeze. "No worries, we'll get the film developed together."
Nozomi picked up the film on the floor and the loading reel from the table, holding onto Eli's hand the entire time. "Just like you practiced."
Eli took the items with a nervous chuckle. "I think I'll survive."
The blonde ran her fingers over the reel, searching for the bumpy ridges while another pair of hands worked from around her torso. She entered the newly cut film into the reel and tucked the device back into the tank. When the cover came on with a satisfying pop, the lights flicked on.
"We did it!" Eli exclaimed, holding up the canister in her hand like a trophy.
Nozomi celebrated with her friend, but it didn't take long for the patient mischievous grin to find itself on her lips. "That was quite the show you put on just now." Heat rose up Eli's neck as she gathered the chemicals needed to develop the film.
"I'm afraid of the dark and you know that." This only prompted a hearty laugh from Nozomi, turning Eli's cheeks to and even deeper shade of red.
"You're awful," Eli mumbled.
Nozomi smirked. "Worth it."
"Is it ready yet? How long does it take for it to dry?"
"Patience is a virtue. The prints are coming out." Eli knew this of course, but she couldn't contain her excitement. Slowly but surely, an emerging image peeked out of the drying machine, inching out with each passing second. Eli looked on with an eagerness rivaling that of a toddler waiting for the opening of a candy shop. Although skeptical at first, Eli became quickly fascinated by the process, though she would rather skip the film loading process it possible. The film, once blank, projected the images seen through the viewfinder earlier that week, and Nozomi even lost count of the times she chided Eli to keep the developing solution closed to avoid exposure to light. Her enthusiasm didn't wither when they emerged into the spedia tinted room. Although much darker than the fluorescent lit halls, the furniture and wash baths could still be made out, and Eli released a relieved sigh when realizing she didn't have to re-enter a room devoid of all light, though her grip on Nozomi's hand held a constant intensity. It didn't take long for the blonde to completely engulf herself in the task after Nozomi showed her the basics. Admittedly, the tasks proved to be more difficult in practice, and it took some time before she even got the right F-stop settings, but Eli's pride never falters, and the difficulty only prompted her eagerness. It was about the 15th image when Eli's frustration bloomed into enthusiasm. The blonde's eyes were locked in the developing liquid, turning the tub to completely engulf the print paper in the chemical bath. Her blue eyes darted from one corner of her eye to the other, and from the intensity of her concentration, Nozomi wouldn't be surprised if the image was pressured into developing correctly. Nozomi felt the blond retract her hand from hers, but her disappointment was replaced with a warm smile when she watched her friend point toward the image floating in the tub-fully developed and everything. The next images underwent a similar path, and at some point, the blonde even released her friends hand and instructed her to wait in the drying room, a gesture hinting at an incoming surprise.
The final image pushed through the drying machine and Eli snatched the shot as the last corner emerged from the machine. She eagerly placed the picture on the light board next to the rest and beamed with pride at her creations. "Nozomi, look at these! Which one do you like best?"
Nozomi peered over her friends shoulder to gaze at the source of her friends pride. Her brows shot up. Although the images weren't perfect, they were certainly remarkable for a first timer. Nozomi's gaze drifted from image to image. The meticulous blonde arranged them in order of development, making the improvements in each apparent to the veteran film photographer. Being a photographer, the blonde had the knack for angles and lighting, but her photos resonated with the developing skill of an ametuer. This much Nozomi expected, but what lacked in professionalism was made up for in enthusiasm, and if that wasn't evident in the effort put in these first pieces, it was certainly projected in the blonde's beaming visage.
"So, what do you think?"
"I guess it's decent for a digital photographer," Nozomi mused, earning a grunt from her friend. "But for your first time, these results are quite impressive. Nicely done, my apprentice."
"Oh, why thank you," Eli responded with equal mirth in her tone. "Your instruction has been quite the honor."
Nozomi was the first to break the act via uncomposed chuckle, and Eli followed not long after. "As much as I enjoy the photography building, we should probably take our conversation elsewhere. There should be a class coming in soon, and as worthy as we are for stand up comedy, I'm not sure the department professor would appreciate our humor."
Eli brushed the moisture out of the corner of her eye. "Good call. I think I heard someone walking in." Nozomi collected their bags from the side of the room as Eli gathered the photos from the light board. Her lips slid into a grin as she picked up the last image. "Hey Nozomi, are you sure you checked all the pictures?"
Nozomi made her way over to Eli with their bags in her hands. "I'm pretty sure I saw them. If they were on the light board then-" Their bags slipped out of her loose fingers.
"Oh, this one may have been hiding under one of the others," Eli commented with feigned innocence. "Could you give me some feedback on this one?" Eli waved the image in her friend.
It certainly wasn't a bad photo. The composition and exposure showed some degree of professionalism, and Nozomi would even say the development in this photo proved more skillful than the others, but this was hardly the point. On the contrary, her careful attention in developing this image only made Nozomi all the more irked.
"When did you get that picture of me changing?" Nozomi erupted, lunging at her friend, though the blonde, predicting this movement, sidestepped and raised the image above her head.
"Not telling," the blonde hummed, lowering the photo to taunt her friend only to raise it back into the air when Nozomi attempted a swipe.
The twintailed girl huffed, clearly disadvantaged. Having a taller girlfriend certainly had its advantages, especially when it came to reaching for sale items in grocery stores, but this was one of the times Nozomi didn't appreciate the size gap. She was only a few centimeters taller, but Eli knew how to use those centimeters to the fullest. Yet Nozomi had another trick up her sleeve, she always did.
Nozomi lowered her gripping hands and slumped her shoulders. "Oh, giving up already?" Eli teased. "I guess this picture will be hung on my wall-"
Before Eli could finish her sentence, Nozomi leaned up and locked lips with the blonde. She even had the convenience of already parted lips, allowing her tongue to slip in. The blonde, caught completely by surprise at the sudden event, released an embarrassing moan and stumbled back, her leg hitting the end of the light table. Nozomi was giving her no time to react to any of the events, keeping the blonde from making any comments as she slid her hand under the other's shirt and allowed the pads of her fingertips to leave fleeting touches across the blonde's abdomen, encouraging yet another groan muffled by their locked lips. Eli's mind blanked, overwhelemed by the quickly evolving scenario. The sudden turn of events shocked Eli in more ways than one. Nozomi was rarely one to initiate the physical aspect of their relationship, but now, her habitually reserved partner hardly gave Eli any breathing time. She processed each new gesture as incoming blurs, each drowned in the pleasure of the present and skewed by surprise. When Nozomi's hands drew fleeting patterns on her abdomen, Eli was just beginning to process the position of her lips. And when her mind registered the fleeting touches on her body, her lover's fingers had already found their way along her arms. And when she realized that Nozomi was trailing down her arm toward her fingers…
Eli wasn't sure what happened next or in what order they occurred. But she did know that she was sprawled across the light table while her girlfriend did the victory dance with an image of herself barely clothed. She also knew that the reason Nozomi stopped in what seemed like the praying mantis pose was the presence of an early photography student. She was also well aware that the student's flushed expression meant she had witnessed the prior events and that Eli's current position was quite questionable.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. It's my first day and I got lost and…" Someone appeared from the side with a hand around the girl's shoulder.
"Hanayo," the girl whispered, "class is this way." As they left, the two listened to the echoes of Hanayo's explanation to her friend, who goes by Rin, about her first experiences of the adult world.
The room was silent, save for the fading sound of footsteps.
Eli quietly rose from the light table, fixed her slipping cardigan and grabbed their bags.
"This never happened."
"Agreed."