"Rin! How many times must I tell you?" Umi scolded the ginger as she giggled apologetically, strutting toward the group once more. "Don't go running away from everyone!"
"Umi-chan's so harsh..." Honoka whispered to Hanayo, who was directly next to her. Hanayo shrugged, smiling. Umi spun round, having overheard. "I am not! I'm only doing it because I care about Rin's safety!"
"What's she going to do, trip on a branch?" Nico murmured to Nozomi, and the two- well, mostly Nozomi- shared a giggle.
"Sorry, Umi-chan, nyan!" Rin said cheerily, and obediently returned to her spot beside her best friend. µ's was visiting a small park out in the country, camping in a forest area. The idea was suggested by none other than Honoka, saying they all should take a break from practice and relax in the midst of nature. Naturally, Nozomi and Eli backed her up, and eventually the entirety of µ's was on board.
"Eli-chaaan!" Honoka called out, trying unsuccessfully to put up a tent. The cobalt-eyed girl was nearly in a splits position, clearly having trouble setting up. Eli started for the optimist, but Nico beat her to it. She put one hand on her hip and another out, blocking Eli. The blonde made a face at the super-idol that said something like, "Really?"
"Hmph! Tents are no problem!" Nico cracked her knuckles, although they didn't really make any sound. Honoka stepped away with a shrug and, soon enough, the tent was all set.
"Wow, Nico-chan can put up a tent!" Kotori cheered, clapping her hands. Nico looked smug, and flipped her hair, a rather breezy expression on her face.
"Of course I can! After all, I am Yazawa Nico Nico-N-"
"Don't." This time Maki butted in, and Nico glared at her but shut her mouth. Nozomi leaned over to Eli, and spoke in her ear. "Did you remember the firewood, Elicchi?" she asked in a teasing voice. The look on Eli's face told Nozomi that she did not. Nozomi giggled and nodded.
"As I predicted." Eli didn't know to take that as insulting or not. You just never knew with Nozomi. Nonetheless, Nozomi pulled a card from her deck, and showed it to Eli.
"Why not have Hanayo and Rin get some?"
Eli looked surprised. "Nozomi..."
Nozomi smiled, and hid the card behind her back. She slightly raised her hand, as if volunteering for something. "I'll go and ask them."
She skipped off to do so as Eli thought about Nozomi's draw.
Nozomi was able to find Hanayo quite easily. The golden-locked girl was helping Maki set up a table for eating. She was currently plugging in device for cooking rice. As expected of Hanayo-chan, Nozomi thought with an inward giggle. The third year approached her, and tapped her shoulder. Unexpectedly, Hanayo squeaked out in surprise, and dropped a Tupperware case full of plastic forks, spoons, and knives. The silverware scattered across the ground, and Hanayo automatically squatted down to collect them again, flushing in embarrassment. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, Nozomi-chan!" she said, keeping her head of gold hair down.
"It's alright, Hanayo. Where's Rin?"
The two finished cleaning up the mess and replaced the silverware in the container. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen much of her since we got here. She might be helping Honoka-chan."
Nozomi smirked, and handed Hanayo the container. "Well, I was going to ask the two of you to go gather some firewood. I'll try and find Rin-chan."
Hanayo smiled warmly. "Th-Thanks, Nozomi-chan."
Rin was, in fact, with Honoka. Or at least kind of near her. Nozomi didn't know if everything over here had been accomplished already or if Rin didn't feel like participating, because the girl was alone, head down, her thin legs dangling off the top of a picnic table. Concerned, the fortuneteller approached her friend and touched her shoulder. Instantly, Rin whirled around, put her hands in the air as if about to fight, and yelled, "Nyaaaaan!"
Nozomi was taken back, and stumbled backward the tiniest bit, but she recovered almost immediately. "Rin, is something the matter?" Rin quickly shook her no. Nozomi, not at all believing her but respecting her boundaries, informed her about the firewood and Hanayo.
"K-! I'm going with Kayo-chin?"
Rin released her defensive position and Nozomi raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. "There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"
"N-No, that's fine, nyan." Rin was trying her best, but she was squeezing her fists tight and avoiding eye contact with her upperclassman. "Well, I'll lead you to Hanayo then," Nozomi suggested cheerily, lightly grabbing Rin's wrist and bringing her to her best friend. Hanayo lit up.
"Rin-chan!"
Rin smiled, but Nozomi sensed a slight bit of nervousness, a singe of a burn on a scrap of paper, the bit of hesitation before answering a question you already knew the answer to. Hanayo took Rin's hand, and before she knew what had happened, was gone in the forest. Rin looked back using that hesitation, and Nozomi's light expression merged into a one of pleading and seriousness. She held up the card to Rin. Her face took on a light shade of red, and she looked down and turned away.
The duo swung their hands back and forth, seeking good branches to gather as Hanayo tried to come up with a conversation topic. She was having trouble, Rin was usually the one who did the talking so she was used to joining conversations rather than starting them. Rin was absently staring at the trees to the side of her while nervously running her tongue across her teeth.
"Rin-chan, you're being pretty quiet."
"Ah, am I? Sorry!"
Despite Hanayo pointing out her awkwardness, Rin still could not bring herself to start talking to Hanayo. Because whenever the two were nearby, her heart started racing and her face started to feel hot, and Rin felt just generally flustered around her childhood friend. The ginger didn't understand what these feelings could mean, and she wasn't sure she wanted to, either.
An dirty bouncy ball lay on the ground between two trees. Rin picked it up, wanting a distraction. She bounced it over to Hanayo, and she gladly grabbed it and tossed it back. Rin smiled.
"Kayo-chin, you're super good at throwing, nyan!"
"Really?"
Butterflies.
"Mm! Just use more of your wrist, like this..." Rin came over to Hanayo's side, grabbing her hand and gently showed Hanayo how to flick her wrist.
"First, hold the ball near the tips of your fingers, and then..."
Hanayo tried throwing the ball, but it was mostly the same as before. Rin caught it and gave it to Hanayo's other hand. Rin placed her hand in Hanayo's and moved in the correct direction. "Like that," she said. Their hands remained held together. Suddenly Rin's face went red, and the Scorpio covered her face as she pulled from Hanayo's grasp.
The sun was almost set. The duo's arms were full of wooden logs. The ice had cracked, at best, and now and then Hanayo or Rin would bring something up. The swirly feeling had not left Rin's stomach.
"Should we head back?" Hanayo asked. Rin nodded in agreement, and the two of them set off. It was a minute or two after they had decided that Hanayo spoke again.
"Um, Rin? Which way is the cabin?"
"I thought you knew, nyan!"
The panic set in as the two first years realized their reality- they were lost.
"S-s-s-someone," Hanayo whisper-yelled, shaking hard, "save us!"
Rin ran over and hugged Hanayo, yelling, "Kayo-chin, I'm scared, nyan!"
She could imagine Umi yelling at both of them if they got back. Then she thought about Nozomi and her draw from the deck. Did she know? What would Nozomi do in this situation?
Rin stood up straight, wiping away hopeless tears on her cheeks.
"Kayo-chin, we have to find our way back to µ's, nyan! The camp was in the east, right? And the sun sets in the... north?"
This, of course, was incorrect, and Hanayo wasn't too sure which way it was either. Hanayo began to break down again, burying her face in her hands. Rin joined in, and they had a good cry in each others' arms. When they had gathered themselves, they unanimously decided to create a temporary camp for the night.
After a small place had been cleared in fearful silence, Hanayo started to cry softly, hiccuping a few times.
"Rin-chan, what if we never find out way back? We'll stay here forever and-" -hiccup- "we'll never see µ's again..."
Rin stared at her friend crying, and comforted her, giving her a hug and pushing all the ditziness in her stomach out.
"I- I never-" -hiccup- "got to- g-g-got to-" Rin hugged the lavender-eyed idol even harder, and she burst into wailing, unable to stop. Rin's head rested on Kayo's shoulder, and she bit her lip and hid her face next to Hanayo's neck, eyes squeezed shut.
Sleep was what was really needed, so the duo lay down on the ground, separated but hands still intertwined. Fear pressed on their shoulders, weighing down their exhaustion so it was not noticed. Hanayo's eyes were wide open, but Rin had fallen victim to sleep. The idol enthusiast sat up, clutching Rin's hand still. The starry night sky was clear, as there were no lights to drown out the magnificence of countless stars and galaxies dotted across a canvas of midnight blue. Gently, Hanayo disconnected her hand from her friend's, and stood. She mounted a nearby sturdy tree only to hear sounds of Rin stirring from her rest.
"Kayo-chin?"
Rin slowly but purposefully joined her childhood friend without words after Hanayo pointed toward the sky and then a branch near the top of the tree. Silent except for scuffling of feet and grunts of effort, the pair helped one another get to a reasonably high tree branch, and when they stared at the night sky they didn't talk even then.
They only sat, leaning on the other, hands tightly clasped together although they didn't remember joining them again.
This is what happiness feels like, Hanayo realized. At nearly at the same time, Rin thought that although they were scared, they found beauty and joy in the world even if it seemed to be against them.
"When we're together, the fear I felt before doesn't seem to matter anymore. I feel like with you, I can accomplish anything."
"I feel like we always were supposed to be here, together. When I'm feeling scared or insecure, you always reassure me and then I don't feel scared anymore."
As the two expressed their thoughts aloud, a puzzle piece clicked in her mind and she squeezed her hand even tighter. Hanayo retreated from her moment of bliss and looked down, fear clouding her heart once again.
"Rin... What if we never see µ's again? I'm scared we'll be stuck out here forever. And even if we do make it back... I had been thinking about what will happen after we graduate. That we won't be friends anymore. The idea seems ridiculous, but... that's what I'm afraid of."
"Kayo-chin."
Moonlight shone on Hanayo's face, making her pale skin look ashen and blue. Her eyes, reflecting off of the ocean of stars overhead, glittered lavender. They were so many shades of purple at once- something Rin had learned to appreciate.
"No matter what, we will get back to µ's, and we'll be together forever, nyan! Because- because- because... I... I love you, Kayo-chin!" It felt good to say it, so Rin repeated herself.
"I love you, I love you, I love..." Rin voice cracked at the end and tears began to leak out her eyes.
"I want to be together forever, singing and dancing together, I want it to last forever... B-but..."
"Rin-chan..."
Hanayo choked up a little, then wrapped her arms around the ginger. Rin stroked her hair as she tightly gripped her back.
"I love you too! I want to stay together too! I don't want any of this to end! B-being friends with you is all I ever wanted to do with my life! I want to live alongside you for my entire life!"
"Kayo-chin!"
"Rin-chan!"
The two of them kept their arms wrapped around each other until their tears had run dry and could finally exhausted themselves. They dragged themselves down the tree, and started to fall asleep, entangled in the other- hugging, holding hands. Rin hesitated a moment before saying, "I love you, Kayo-chin."
"I love you too, Rin-chan," her partner said without hesitation. The orange-haired girl paused before surprising Hanayo with a sweet kiss on the lips. Hanayo smiled and shut her eyes.
"They're right over here!"
Eli's voice boomed in Rin's ears, a miracle inside a miracle in this situation. But her sleepy self refused to catch up with her mind, and her body refused to move just as her eyes refused to open. Someone warm was pressing against her, laying in her arms. Hanayo. Rin resisted the urge to kiss her forehead and instead let µ's discover the two of them by themselves.
"Oh my gosh!" Umi's confident-sounding voice rung in her ears alongside Eli's, followed by all other voices of µ's. There was a shocking silence before Nico's giggle started to sound. Rin could almost sense µ's giving her a harsh glare before she explained.
"Hanayo has Rin's jacket on!"
Hanayo stirred, and sat up to see the delight of her friends surrounding her. She shook Rin awake- although she was still half asleep herself- and was immediately bombarded with questions about both her adventure and about her explanation with having Rin's jacket and being so close to her.
Rin avoided these question and spotted Nozomi within µ's. She was holding Rin's draw- the Lovers' card- between her middle and index fingers and grinning.