It was 3 PM, and Kyoko stood in front of a row of vending machines. Her eyes skimmed uselessly over the different varieties of drinks. She'd never liked the taste of alcohol much, so she was far from a connoisseur. A row of fruit-flavored drinks in colorful cans finally jumped out at her. Those might be good. She tried to look nonchalant as she peeked up and down the street to see if anyone was watching her. Kyoko had picked up drinks while shopping with her parents even when she was a little kid, but now that she was buying for herself, she felt suddenly self-conscious. And she was supposed to get a lot of them. The mental image of sticking note after note into the machine and sticking all the cans in her bag one by one made her cringe with embarrassment. Maybe just walking into a store and asking for a case wasn't so terrifying after all. But hardly anyone was around... argh, why did Yuki have to have an afternoon class!
"I won't get out till 6, so you get the drinks in the meantime. Then I'll meet you at your place and we can start the weekend! Get as much as you can, here, this should cover my half." Over lunch, Yuki had worked out a whole plan for them to celebrate surviving their first week in college, but it had one fatal flaw: relying on Kyoko to know anything about partying. Kyoko sighed and started off buying just one of each fruit flavor. If no one was still looking at her, then maybe she'd go on and buy just a few more...
Kyoko made her way back home to stash the drinks in her fridge. The house was peacefully quiet with the afternoon sun still streaming through the windows. She gently set her full bag down on the floor, and rearranged some things to clear a space. Without bothering to take the cans out, she nudged the lumpy bag between two shelves and leaned on the door to make sure it shut. She still had a couple hours to study before Yuki arrived.
Yuki finally made it shortly after Kyoko's parents had come and gone. They seemed pretty excited as well about their daughter's first week at prestigious Toh-Oh, and had planned a romantic weekend out together so the girls could stay up late and have fun without being a bother. Mom had even brought a cache of snack food. Kyoko looked over the spread on the kitchen table, feeling for a moment like she was going backwards to grade school instead of entering college. But when Yuki barged in the door, it didn't matter anymore. It was time to eat junk food for dinner and guzzle down some mandarin-flavored alcohol.
"How much've we got left now?" Yuki asked once they were two rounds in, gesturing at the fridge with a slightly drunken flourish.
"I think... oh wow, there's still tons," Kyoko said, crouching in front of the open door and rummaging through the bag.
"Grab a couple more... getting a good buzz yet?"
"Yeah! A little... this is much better than sake," Kyoko said, sitting down while balancing four more cans. She opened hers and mimicked the satisfying hissing sound with a goofy pssh.
"Okay then, we need some kind of drinking game."
"Like watching a movie? Or a card game?"
"Hrrmm, card game sounds too complicated..." Yuki grumbled, taking a thoughtful swig of her third can.
"I could look one up on the internet!" Kyoko volunteered.
"Wait! I know! Truth or Dare! I mean, Truth or Drink!"
"So you tell the truth or take a drink? But I'd tell the truth anyway."
"No, if you tell the truth then the other person drinks. Yeah, that'll work."
"Okay, so you go first," Kyoko said, getting a huge smile on her face, "Do you, or do you not.... have a crush on Hideki Ryuuga!"
"Nope!" Yuki leaned in before Kyoko could protest and turned on her serious voice, jabbing the table for emphasis. "And that is the truth."
"Ohh, but I saw you-" Kyoko started.
"If you want to find out who I do have a crush on," Yuki said, playing it up with a conspiratorial grin, "you'll have to wait till your next question! Now have a drink!"
As the night went on, the structure of the game slipped away into pure conversation punctuated by sips. They'd abandoned the chairs to sit on the floor, slumped against the wall.
"You know..." Yuki drawled, "I think you should ask him out. Ryuuga."
"I can't! I never asked anyone out! I, have gone out, on a real date... with NO ONE," Kyoko said, overpunctuating with comic emphasis.
"But see? That's the beauty of it! This is the perfect plan, okay? Even if he does reject you!" Yuki stood up and sold it like she was preaching from a pulpit. "You've got to just suck it up and get over it! Let it happen! What's the worst he can do? Maybe he'll go ewww no way, go out with YOU, you suck! but so what? You know what you do then?"
"What...?"
"You think, oh well, so much for that, I had no chance with him anyway cause he's mister crazy rich supergenius! So who cares!"
"But if I don't have a chance-"
"But maaaybe you do!" Yuki insisted, sitting back down and grabbing Kyoko's shoulders. "I'm not going to ask Light out, I KNOW that's no chance. But you have like, a 2% chance!"
"I don't know... I don't even see him anymore! When can I ask him out?"
"The next time you see him then! DOO IT KYOKO!" Yuki said in a sports-chant rhythm, pumping her hand in the air. "You HAVE to. Promise me, or else!"
"Or else what?"
"Or else... I'll think of something really bad to make you do it. But just do it! Promise on the rest of this drink, okay?" Yuki held her can forward in toast.
"Aaaaarrrrg...." Kyoko's voice wavered in a drawn-out reluctant groan. "Okay!"
Their cans met with a dull tap.