"I've never been here," Yukari said, eyes wide as she looked around the tea shop. "How'd you know about this place?"
Ia shrugged. "Mayu goes here a lot."
"Oh, I see," Yukari said. "I'd like to meet her sometime! She sounds nice. Anyways, I'm so glad you decided to meet up with me! I was worried that you weren't going to."
"No...I just had some texting problems."
Yukari frowned. "Oh. Is it like, a hardware issue?"
"Um," Ia wasn't sure how to put this without sounding like a total social retard, "no, I just...get weird about organizing things, I'm really bad at texting people. It's, uh, easy for me to forget."
"Oh," Yukari nodded and gave Ia a reassuring smile. "Okay! Then, if that's fine with you, I'll do the organizing? I thought that it'd be better this time if you did it, considering, you know, what happened."
"Yeah..." Ia didn't want to get into a heavy talk about what just happened, so instead she stared intently at her milk tea and hoped that Yukari would change the subject.
"Is something wrong?" There was a concerned tone in Yukari's voice now. Crap, Ia thought. That backfired.
"N-nothing's wrong," Ia said quickly. "I'm just tired, that's all. Uhh," she searched her mind for conversational gambits, "h-how's school?"
Yukari laughed. "As good as it can be. I'm not that good at school, to be honest. Moved around a bit too much..." For a moment, a strangely solemn expression passed over her face before she quickly replaced it with a cheerful smile. "But whatever, right? That's not important. I'm way more interested in what's going on with you!" Yukari leaned forward. "We haven't talked in forever! What books have you been reading? For the past few days you've been buried in them."
Ia paused. A part of her wanted to pursue the cause of that strange expression of melancholy that passed over Yukari's face seconds earlier, but the event had already passed, and it would be awkward to bring it up now - especially for the not very socially well-versed Ia. "I've been reading this book about a lighthouse keeper...it's supposed to be sad, but I don't think it's that sad."
"A lighthouse keeper?" Yukari probed. "Why isn't it sad?"
"Well...it's supposed to be sad because he's so lonely," Ia took a sip of her milk tea. "It's just him, the ocean, the lighthouse, and the island, all the way out in the middle of nowhere. There's no one else for miles around, and he's an exile. But I don't think it's that sad."
"Really?" Yukari looked rather horrified. "But that's so depressing! Think about it, you're all by yourself in the middle of nowhere. You don't have any friends to hang out with."
Ia shrugged. "Being alone can be nice. You don't have to deal with people that much. Are you going to drink your tea?"
Yukari, jolted, gave a small start and stared down at her cup of tea as though it had materialized from nowhere. "O-oh...yeah. Yeah." She quickly raised it up to her lips and took a small sip. "What's wrong with dealing with people?"
Ia shifted in her seat, trying to think of a way to properly organize her thoughts. "People are...it's safer being alone."
"That's so not true," Yukari protested. "People are born to be social."
The words buried themselves in Ia's mind. People were born to be social, sure. But Ia wasn't social at all. And it wasn't as though she was the only one like this either. Ia took a gulp of her tea, hoping to swallow some of her irritation with it. "Maybe you were, but not everyone's like that. I'm not like that."
Yukari shook her head. "That's not true. If you were really set on being alone, then we wouldn't be sitting here now, right?"
"This is different! This is...this is..." Ia bit her lip and tried to think of a coherent argument. "You're just different from other people."
Yukari laughed and shook her head. "I'm not that special."
"Yes you are!" Ia said, a bit too hotly before she realized her disproportionate response and shrank back, cheeks slightly heated. "Um, I mean...you're different from the people here. No one really tried to talk to me before."
Yukari frowned. "I have no idea why they wouldn't. You're awesome. Anyways, I've decided. I'm going to drag you out into the world."
"What?" Ia stared at Yukari.
"You should go out more often," continued Yukari. "When I first met you, I couldn't believe you've never even been to the mall! There's a lot of stuff out there that I bet you haven't even seen, so I've decided that I'm going to take you around. It'll be a blast! Oh," Yukari stopped herself and glanced over at Ia, "that is...if you're okay with it?"
Going outside more often? Ia wasn't especially opposed to it - it wasn't like she was agoraphobic or anything like that - but there was a nagging feeling in her that prevented her from saying 'yes' wholeheartedly. Besides, going outside meant people, and a lot of people meant crowds, which was something Ia was never very good at dealing with. "Um..."
"Please?" Yukari put her hands together. "I promise it'll be fun. I swear, I won't make you do anything you're uncomfortable with. It's not like we'll be going bungee jumping...unless you want to? Because I'm actually down for that if you are. I've never gone bungee jumping before!" Yukari looked more excited with each word she spoke. "Wow, that'd be so cool-"
"Hold it," Ia said, "I'm not going to go bungee jumping."
"Aw...well, it was worth a shot," Yukari laughed. "So are you okay with it?"
Ia took a breath, held it, and exhaled, a long sigh. "Sure. If you really want to."
"Really? Yay!" Yukari reached out and grabbed Ia's hand in excitement. She's warm, her skin soft against Ia's. "That's great! I'm so excited!"
When Ia didn't answer, Yukari seemed to realize that Ia was not looking at her face, but rather, at their joined hands on the table, and quickly Yukari pulled away. "O-oh, I'm sorry. I didn't even realize I was doing it..."
"Um," said Ia, still staring at her hand, which now felt very cold, "no...i-it's fine."
"Really?" Yukari slowly reached out and took hold of Ia's hand again, her thumb rubbing lightly on her skin. "This is fine?"
Ia looked up to see worried purple eyes. Even though her hand was warm again from Yukari's, her arms felt like they had goosebumps. "Yeah, this is okay...um," Ia hesitated, "it might not always be, though."
Yukari grinned. "That's fine. I'll just remember to ask."
-o-o-o-
The moment Ia got back home, her cellphone buzzed with a new text.
Wanna go to the fair tomorrow? :D
Fair? What fair? Ia stared at her phone, perplexed, racking her mind. It was at that moment when Mayu poked her head out from the kitchen.
"How was your thing-thing with Yukari?" she asked.
"Um, good," said Ia. "Hey, is there some kind of thing happening tomorrow?"
Mayu looked up at the ceiling. "Something...happening tomorrow? Well, there's a small arts fair going on. Why?"
Ia blinked. Right. Yamaha had a lot of those small art fairs, considering how it was out in the middle of scenic nowhere. "Oh...Yukari asked me if I wanted to go."
Mayu laughed. "Oh, I guess those boring old things would be new and exciting to her, since she just moved in. Anyways," Mayu practically pranced over, "you should say yes. Going outside is good for you!"
Ia frowned. "Yeah, I will."
"And I want to come too," Mayu continued. "I want to finally meet this famous 'Yuzuki Yukari' in the flesh. Unless..." A sly look came over her eyes. "You want Yukari's company all to yourself?"
"I-it's not like that..."
"I know! I'm just kidding," Mayu laughed. "That means I can come too, right?"
-o-o-o-
And so, the day of the fair, Ia showed up with Mayu in tow. Ia's heart felt heavy; she was beginning to fear, in a way, that Mayu would monopolize all of Yukari's attention and leave Ia in the lurch, again. After all, she was far more popular than Ia was, and was much better at keeping people's attention. Part of Ia debated turning around and going back home. It wasn't too late to think of an excuse. Furthermore, the streets were getting more and more crowded. Why were there so many people outside? It's hardly as though this was Yamaha's first arts festival; they had one practically every month. Ia kept her head down and stared at her feet as she walked with Mayu, ignoring the white tents and crowds.
"Ah, Ia!" Yukari's voice. Ia looked up and saw her, dressed in that same black rabbit hoodie she wore the day she transferred in. Before Ia could reply, Yukari ran over towards her, her expression bright. "And...this is Mayu, right?" Yukari looked over at Mayu. "Nice to meet you! I'm Yukari."
Mayu smiled. "Nice to finally meet you too! Ia's been talking about you nonstop."
"No, I haven't..."
"Wow, really?" Yukari laughed. "But there's not much to tell about me. I guess I'll be hanging out with the two of you today?"
Ia searched Yukari's expression for any hint of disappointment that Mayu was tagging along, but she found nothing but cheery happiness. But then again, what had she been expecting? Of course Yukari wouldn't have a problem with hanging out with more people.
"Yup," said Mayu, sticking her hands in her pockets and glancing around. "It's your first time going to one of these, right? I've been to tons," she authoritatively slapped a hand to her chest, "so I'll show you and Ia around!"
-o-o-o-
Mayu kept an eye on Ia and Yukari as the three of them made their way through the fair. It was so unusual to see her stepsister actually outside that Mayu couldn't help it - she had to meet this Yukari person who dragged Ia out of her cave. From what she saw so far, Yukari was nice enough. Mayu didn't really get Ia's strange infatuation with the girl, but the two of them got along well, which was something that was rare for Ia. Ever since Mayu met her, Ia had been a recluse. Now, however, walking with Yukari, she looked normal.
But there was a problem. Ia looked more content with Yukari than anyone else - so much that Mayu felt a little uneasy. Something nagged at her - what if Yukari wasn't really as nice as she made herself out to be? What exactly made her approach and make friends with someone as reclusive as Ia? A transfer student typically knew who to stay away from, and Ia sent out all the signals - sitting by herself every lunch, reading during class, going straight home once school ended. Her actions combined with her body language practically screamed 'stay away from me'.
Except, Yukari didn't, and Ia was getting more and more attached to her. Not that there was anything wrong with that; it was fun teasing Ia about liking Yukari. But at the same time, what if Yukari couldn't be trusted? In a town as small as this, it was easy to ruin someone's reputation forever. Of course, Yukari is too new here to actually hold any malicious intent towards Ia, but there was always the possibility that her friendship with Ia wasn't made out of pure motives. Thinking about it in a certain way, Ia could be an attractive friend to have. Being a recluse, she would probably latch on and be loyal to the first friend she made. Beyond that, Yamaha was a relatively well-off town, and Ia and Mayu were accordingly relatively well-off. In addition, Ia was pretty smart, and she seemed like the type of person who would let people she liked walk all over her. All sorts of horrible possibilities presented themselves in Mayu's mind, even as she herself rambled on about the fair. She had been to enough that she could give a tour on autopilot.
"This is the Clock Garden," said Mayu. "Normally this area is just a road, but today they laid grass and plants over it and stuff."
"Why do they do that?" Yukari asked, carefully stepping around the clock in the center.
Mayu laughed. "Well, it's an arts festival! The gardeners want to show off too."
"This is a lot of work to be done each month," Ia commented.
"That's why the cost of living here is so high," said Mayu, glancing back at Yukari. "We have to keep all the old people who live here happy."
Yukari laughed. "Oh, that explains a lot."
"What does it explain?" Ia looked confused.
Yukari blinked, looking momentarily taken off guard. "Oh...uh, nothing important. I mean, it explains why there's not much people in school...less than normal for a town this big."
"Do you move around a lot?" Mayu asked.
Yukari looked away. "Yeah...sort of."
A flash of alarm passed over Ia's face. "Does that mean you're going to leave soon?"
Yukari, jolted out of whatever mood she was in, looked over at Ia. "Oh...no, we're planning on staying here for a while longer." She laughed and reached a hand out to Ia's shoulder before quickly drawing it back without it making contact. Weird. Not to mention, kind of awkward. Guess Ia still has those touch issues, Mayu thought.
"Anyways!" Mayu clapped her hands together and grinned at the two of them. "Let's get something to eat. We're getting close to the area where they sell food. You can smell it, right?" Mayu closed her eyes and waved her hand under her nose.
Ia's eyes were fixed on Yukari's hand. "Oh...right. Are you hungry?"
Yukari stuck her hands back into her pockets and Ia's eyes flicked up to meet her's. "Yeah, I'm hungry," said Yukari cheerily. Apparently she had decided to ignore the awkwardness until it went away. Mayu frowned inwardly, though she pasted on a smile outside.
"Great!" Mayu enthused. "I'm down for yakisoba first. Let's go!"
-o-o-o-
"This is so bad for you, but it's good," Mayu rambled as she slurped up her noodles. "So tell me more about yourself, Yukari! I feel like I've been talking all day."
Yukari laughed and shook her head. "There's not a lot that's interesting about me."
Mayu shook her head. "That's not true. You seem pretty interesting, Yukari. Hey," Mayu glanced up at her, "do you want to hang out sometime? We should get to know each other! I want to know Ia's friends too."
Next to Yukari, Ia went rigid as she stared at her yakisoba.
Yukari grinned. "I'm always okay with hanging out. Where do you want to go?"
Mayu put a finger to her lips. "Well, I always have to drag Ia there, but there's a nice tea shop I go to a lot."
"Oh," Yukari snapped her fingers, "I've been there! Ia took me. It's pretty good!"
"Ahh, is that so?" Mayu looked over at Ia. "Your friend has good taste!"
Ia stared at her yakisoba, concentrating on breathing in and out. For some reason, she didn't especially want Mayu and Yukari to hang out together, but there was no way she could just outright say that. Not when Yukari looked so happy at the prospect of making a new friend. "Yeah, she does."
"Well, it's a date then!" Mayu clapped her hands together. "I'm so excited."
At the word 'date', a cold chill ran down Ia's spine, but she forced herself to calm down. Mayu didn't mean an actual date, of course. That was how people normally talked when they set up times to meet up, right? Ia numbly ate some of her food. It was tasteless in her mouth.
"We can go and watch a movie too," Mayu continued. "Ia told me that you liked movies. I love movies!"
"Really?" Yukari asked. "Which ones?"
And with that, Yukari and Mayu launched into a deep and detailed discussion of movies, a subject that Ia knew very little about. They talked about actors, actresses, and awards. Names like Spielberg, Fincher, and Nolan dropped out of their mouths - names that Ia was too unfamiliar with to add anything new to the conversation.
Ia poked at her food with a chopstick, her appetite entirely gone. It was happening, she realized dully. What she had feared was happening. It made a lot more sense that Yukari would have more fun talking with Mayu than with someone as boring as Ia. And besides, right now, the two of them didn't even need Ia here to have a good time - they had their movies, a million in-jokes at their fingertips without even having to really know each other. They could just reference a movie and have hours of conversation about just that. Not only that, but Mayu had absolutely no problems about being touched like Ia did. And she definitely wouldn't be feeling anything like what Ia felt whenever Yukari touched her.
The more Ia thought about it, the blacker her mood got, until she couldn't stand it anymore. She had to get up. She had to leave. Staying here wasn't doing her any favors, and seeing her stepsister and Yukari get along so well, far from making Ia feel good, made her feel awful.
It was at that moment when Yukari turned towards Ia, seeming to realize that she hadn't spoken in a while. "You okay?"
Ia said nothing. Yukari leaned in and Ia almost flinched when she felt her breath brush her ear.
"I'm glad we came," said Yukari. "I had fun today."
Ia couldn't help it. She scoffed. At that, Yukari's face scrunched up in confusion. "Are you alright?"
"I'm great," said Ia, getting up from her seat. "I'm going to go dump my food, be back in a bit." That said, Ia hurried off from the table and melted into the crowd, not sure where she was going, but willing to go anywhere if it meant not hearing another second of how much Yukari was enjoying spending her time with Mayu.
"Ia, wait!" Yukari's voice. Ia lowered her head and walked faster, but Yukari's hand on her arm stopped her from moving. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," Ia muttered. "I'm just dumping my food."
"If you're just dumping your food," said Yukari, "why did you leave it at the table? Ia, come on," Yukari gently turned Ia around so that she was facing her, hesitating slightly before placing her fingers under Ia's downturned chin and making her look up at her. Ia fought the urge to push her away - she had the feeling that doing that would only reset all the progress they made. So instead, Ia tried to ignore the sudden hammering of her heart. "Did I do something wrong? Was it something I did?"
"No," Ia said, edging away from Yukari's fingertips. Yukari sighed and let her hands drop down to her sides.
"Whatever I did, I'm sorry," said Yukari. "I didn't mean to make you upset. What's wrong? Are you leaving? If you can wait here, I'll go back and get my stuff. We can leave together."
Before Ia could stop it, she spoke. "Why? Don't you want to talk about movies more with Mayu?" Even as the words left her mouth, Ia couldn't help but to cringe inwardly. She sounded so obviously resentful.
Yukari laughed. "So I was right." She took a step closer to Ia. "When I sent you that text, I meant that I wanted to go to the fair today with you. Not with Mayu."
For a moment, Ia was certain that she had misheard. But Yukari was smiling at her again - that clear, sweet, simple smile that sent tingles up and down her spine. No one had ever smiled at Ia that way before, so fondly even though they had only known each other for barely a month, even though Ia had all her issues. Ia swallowed and looked down at the ground, unsure of what to say.
"How about next time," Yukari added, "it'll be just you and me?"
Ia, not trusting herself to speak, nodded.
"Great!" Yukari clapped her hands together. "Want to go back, get our stuff, and properly dump your food?" She held out a hand to Ia.
Ia stared at it for a few moments before looking back up at Yukari. "Why are you so nice to me? Even though I'm like this?"
"Because I'm your friend," Yukari answered with a grin. "Come on, let's go back. Don't want to leave all the clean up to Mayu, right?"