Prompt: It's prom night and Natsuki is not having the best night of her life. Sayori goes to comfort her as best she can, but there is only so much she can do. - Me

Thought this prompt up at lunch today. Welp, lets see how well this goes.

Ch 2 Sayori X Natsuki

The chilled air filled the night with a calmness that Natsuki had only seen during club time at school or at times when her father was too tired to do anything. Natsuki would do anything to get away from him, but she never had the guts to leave him for good.

Either way, tonight was going to be more about having fun than worrying about her father and whatever drunk things he gets up to at night.

Even if no one had asked her to come with them, she was still able to attend even despite her situation. Yuri had offered to go with her, but she was turned down when the baker reminded her about the last "party" she went to. The host never did get the puke stain out of his bed sheets that night…

She put on her best "game face" and went inside the school building.

…

Of course she needed to pay to get in though… Sayori and one of her close friends had come in behind her. The brunette smiled and hugged her friend from behind. "Fancy seeing you here Natsuki~" Sayori was met with a cold yet quiet "Hello to you too."

Sayori whispered, "You need some money to get in? I can spot you some~"

The pink haired girl only nodded. She knew her old man would never give her money or let her get an afterschool job. It was nice to know at least someone had her back.

The three of them made their way to the dance floor after paying to get in. It was pretty cheep, only 221 yen per person (1). The dimly lit gym was only sparsely populated at that point in time since it was a little early. At any rate, Natsuki was a little glad it was still mostly quiet in there.

It wasn't until much later that she would miss the quietness of this moment.

…

The dance had finally started to get into full swing. The lights made things a bit hard to see for some but it wasn't too bad for most. The music was as loud as ever, currently playing some dubstep song she had never heard of. Monika, being the makeshift dj, had apparently enjoyed the english form of music. So did others as well.

Natsuki made her way to the bleachers near the wall of the room and decided to sit down. She had a fairly clear view of the room aside from whatever was blocked by the center piece, that piece being an imitation of the Eiffel tower in France. Kinda romantic…

She could see all of the happy couples dancing to the next slow song that came on. The lights became softer and slowed down their pace to match the mood. She was a bit jealous but would never outwardly admit it to anyone.

Looking quite longingly at Sayori and her "partner" dancing in the distance, she felt a wave of sorrow hit her. Almost like a semi-truck hitting a brick wall, it hit hard.

With a sigh and those damn feelings coming on, she stood up to leave. Just as she was about to though, Sayori and her friend came over. "Hey, where are you headed off to?" The brunette inquiry about where she was headed to startled her a bit. She didn't know…

"Uh… J-Just for some fresh air, that's all." It was probably clear to Sayori that something was wrong with her.

She turned to the boy she came with, "I need to go see if she's ok… Will you be fine all alone for a while?" He simply nodded and returned to the dancefloor.

…

Natsuki had made her way to one of her favorite rooms in the school building. Her cooking classroom. The door was almost always unlocked due to the janitors always forgetting to lock it when they leave for the night.

The petite girl slumps down against one of the kitchen isles, practically hiding behind it in hopes no one would see her…

Sayori, who was smarter than most thought she was, almost immediately knew where to go. Either the club room or her favorite class room. And of course she chose right the first time.

Quiet sobs could be heard from the door. Sayori hated seeing other people cry because it reminded her of how cruel the world really is. She gently turned the knob.

"Natsuki…?"

Natsuki shuddered on the spot. She did not want to see or talk to anybody at that time, but she knew she had to at some point.

"... What do you want Sayori…" She came off a very cold and wanting nothing more than to be anywhere else but there. (Or at home but that's for another time...)

The sound of shuffling feet came during a long silence. Then came the sound of someone sitting down on a hard tile floor in a long dress. Well, mid length dress anyway.

There was yet another bit of silence between the two of them. It was clear that neither knew how to start the conversation. It was kind of nice to just have her company even though she had wanted to be alone a short while before.

It was Natsuki that broke the silence.

"... Why did you come for me…?"

Sayori took her time to think about her words. The petite girl was clearly hurt by something she had seen prior to this meeting. "I… I wanted to… I want to know if my friend is o-"

She was cut off. The enraged tone in her voice suggested she was hurt even more. "There, that damn word!" Sayori looked bewildered. Her shorter friend looked up with tears clear in her eyes. "That god damned word!"

"W-What word?"

"FRIEND!"

The room once again fell to the grip of silence. Her words cut through the air like a hot knife. Sayori was left speechless for a while.

"You think I like being in the friend zone? Do you? Do you even notice when I try to get your attention?"

The look of guilt came across Sayori's face. She had seen the signs some time before, but she had just written it off as some fluke each time. She had her guy friend to care for after all…

"I-I… I did notice… A few times at least…"

Natsuki turned back to looking at the floor. "Then why… Why did you just sit there and think nothing of it…? What the hell?!"

"I… I didn't think you felt like that too…"

The baker's face turned from anger to slight confusion. Sayori's word choice was something to question. "Too?"

A deep blush formed across the both of them. Natsuki had dried her tears and looked back at Sayori giving her full attention. "I figured, someone like you would never want to love someone like me… or any girl for that matter…"

"I have never said my preferences before so… And whenever I talked about love I… I never specified a gender… I-I just assumed…" Natsuki pulled her knees close to her chest. Her heart felt like it would split in two.

"I never realized…" Sayori decided to put an arm around her. "I didn't think you'd be torn up about something like this… I guess I am pretty obvious huh…"

Natsuki leaned into her as the warmth spread between the two of them. They sat in silence for a short time before Natsuki yet again broke it.

"So… what does this make us…? Are we a thing now or…"

She smiled at her newfound lover. "If you want to, I would be delighted too~"

Footnote: Nailed it. (I thought of The Scientist by Coldplay (well the piano cover anyway))

(1) 221 yen is about 2 dollars US as far as google told me.