So, up to this point, the story is being told from Azusa's standpoint, as you may notice the honorifics for the other girls are in relation to her. I felt like Azusa's point of view would be a good place to start the story from, though I intend to branch out and tell it from the other girls' viewpoints as well. Thanks for reading, please review.
Azusa puffed hot breath onto her hands, them rubbed them together to keep them warm. It was the day of departure, and the one flight they had been able to book left at an annoyingly early hour. Despite the fairly mild weather, being up and about at this early in the morning was bound to have it's discomforts. Standing right near her, huddled together for warmth, were Okudo-chan, Sumire, Jun, and Ui, the last of whom had thoughtfully brought warm beverages and disposable cups to stave off the cold. For the moment, the group was merely waiting, as the four older college girls had yet to arrive. Azusa was quite worried about the reunion, though it seemed she was the only one who was not excited. Jun was excited to see Mio-senpai, Ui and Okudo-chan were looking forward to seeing Yui-senpai (Ui because she wanted to see her sister, and Okudo-chan because Ui assured her that Yui-senpai was even more mature and amazing than herself. And of course, Sumire was looking forward to seeing her life-long friend, Mugi-senpai.
Azusa, however, was concerned with how she would save face in front of the freshman, when Yui-senpai was almost assuredly going to latch onto her, and refer to her by that rediculous nickname. She shivered, more due to the thought of being called 'Azu-nyan' than the cold. Preparing to return to the group and request some of the tea from Ui, she froze, straining her ears to recognize the faint calling in the background. Recognizing the voice, she quickly made her way to the center of the group, hoping to blend in with the other members of the Light Music Club.
Yui-senpai, the Azu-nyan seeking missle, however, had other ideas. Expertly weaving through the other girls, she immediatly made her way to Azusa and wrapped her arms around the diminutive girl.
"Azu-nyan! My hands are cold, let me heat them up in yours!" The ditzy girl cried, before letting Azusa out of the hug, only to claim the smaller girl's hands as her own. Though she wanted to resist, Azusa had to admit that the warmth spreading between their hands felt nice, and decided against pulling her hands away from Yui-senpai's.
That was, until Yui-senpai pulled away from her, moving to greet Ui. Azusa took the moment to glance around, and saw the rest of Afterschool Tea Time a short distance away, not in as much as hurry as Yui-senpai was. As they approached, the individual members of the Fresh Leaf Girls moved to greet those that they were close to or admired. Sumire was bowing to Mugi-senpai, and Jun was sharing a polite conversation with Ritsu-senpai and Mio-senpai. Ui was introducing Okudo-chan to Yui-senpai, the former of whom seemed slightly disappointed with what she saw, having expected an older and more mature version of Ui. Smirking slightly, Azusa decided to move over to Sumire and Mugi-senpai, feeling the need to thank their 'sponsor' in person. Bowing deeply to Mugi-senpai, she held the pose for a moment while sincerely thanking the girl who made the entire trip possible.
Smiling at the younger girl, Mugi-senpai graciously accepted the expression gratitude. "I'm delighted to help, Azusa-chan. We made the promise didn't we? We would all take two trips together. One on our graduation, and another on yours."
Azusa mentally scolded herself for forgetting the declaration that Yui-senpai had made so long ago, knowing she could have saved herself much anxiety. The seperate groups all gathered into one, with Ui serving hot tea to the four nothing to do but wait for their train, the now rather large group began catching eachother up on the miniture adventures that they had had since the older girls had gone to college. While Azusa had heard much of it from Mugi-senpai, it was nice to hear the stories told from different perspectives.
"-and she's really nice, and she wakes me up in the mornings because we have all the same classes, and she's really cute but tries to act mean." Yui-senpai was describing the various parts of her daily life living in the dorms, and was currently talking about a member of the band Afterschool Tea Time was rivals with, and showed no sign of stopping, until Ritsu-senpai reached over and cupped a hand over her mouth.
"I think they get the point, Yui."
Yui-senpai tryed to speak, but her mouth was still covered by Ritsu-senpai's hand, and only unintelligible murmurs could be heard. Ritsu-senpai dropped her hand, but Yui-senpai made no attempt to resume speaking, having gotten the message that she was talking just a bit too much. Ui, having perfect timing, was just cleaning up after everyone when the train rolled into the stop. The girls hurried to assist Ui in throwing away all the waste, and then, grabbing their bags, everyone crowded onto the thankfully near-empty train headed for the airport.
As they rode the train, Mugi-senpai explained to everyone where exactly they were going, and what their living conditions would be like. "Because of the convienance of the short flight, we will be flying directly to the west coast of the United States, specifically, the city San Francisco. The flight will take roughly eleven hours, but we'll actually land there earlier than we left here, since Japan is sixteen hours ahead of California."
Yui-senpai gasped at this, as it seemed she still had trouble with timezones. "So you mean we'll be traveling into the past again? I should send an email to myself while I'm there, saying hi!" The rest of Afterschool Tea Time, alog with the trio of highschool seniors attempted to stifle a laugh. "What?" Yui-senpai asked, slightly miffed at being laughed at.
Still attempting to hold back the laughter that was threatening to leak out, Mio-senpai replied to Yui-senpai. "If you sent an email to yourself back in time, wouldn't you have already gotten one?" Yui-senpai started, then quickly reached for her phone to check through her emails, but saw none sent from herself.
"Aw man, I guess I forget or something." At this, no one cold hold in heir laughter, and even the freshman girls joined in.
Wiping tears from ehr eyes, Mugi-senpai continued. "Because of the high cost of everything in San Francisco, and considering how we would be staying for an entire week, rather than staying in a hotel, which would rack up quite the bill, we are going to be staying with the son of one of my father's business aquaintances. He lives with one other person in his family home, which they have confirmed to be large enough to house all of us, if we each go three to a room."
The fact that they would be staying at a near-strangers house intrigued some of them, though no one appeared to be even the slightest worried about the situation.
"They will be waiting at the arrivals gates for us. When we get there, look for a sign with my family name on it."
Having heard all the pertinant information, the girls all decided to continue the conversations they were having outside. This lasted them the rest of the ride to the airport, where the were quickly boarded onto the plane and prepared for takeoff.
Azusa, fully expecting for Yui-senpai to fall asleep, given the early hour in the morning, was surprised to see that she was staring out the window, once again entranced by being on a plane. Azusa smiled, and slid her eye covering down over her face. She wanted to be well rested for when they arrived, not wanting to waste any time while there. The last thing she remembered before falling asleep was the rumble of the plane moving down the runway.