After getting her own homework, Ia led Yukari over to the living room, where Mayu was still watching the television. Once Ia and Yukari walked in, however, Mayu raised her head and smiled.
"Hey, Yukari!" said Mayu. "Doing homework with Ia, huh?"
Yukari laughed. "Yeah, sorry about the inconvenience. I know it's late."
"It's no problem," Mayu got up to her feet. "I'll go make some tea."
"I can make the tea," Ia said, dropping her things on the table.
Mayu rolled her eyes. "Ia, you're going to be doing homework. It's more time efficient if I make the tea. Also, it's a commercial break right now, so why not?"
Ia glanced over at the television, which was currently advertising some kind of dress line endorsed by Rin. "But...you made dinner today, and-"
"If you're so upset about it, you can make dinner and tea for the next two days."
"Well, I don't really need anything to drink..." Yukari began. "If it's too much trouble, then-"
"No, Yukari, it's fine," said Mayu. "I always make tea at this time of day anyways. Nothing like sitting at home and drinking tea while watching dramas, right?" She waved a hand at Ia and Yukari. "You kids run along now and do your homework." That said, Mayu walked over to the kitchen, disappearing from view. Ia sighed and sat herself down at the table. Yukari did the same, sitting on the side adjacent to Ia, though she was careful to leave space between them. Always considerate, Ia thought.
"Are you done with all your homework?" Yukari asked.
Ia shook her head. "I was working on math, but I'm not done yet. I've finished everything else, though."
"Oh, cool," Yukari said, smiling. "I haven't finished math and I haven't even started English. Do you want to begin with math, since we both have to do it?"
"Sure," said Ia. "The math problems today are easy, so we should be done with them fast."
"Easy, huh..." Yukari sighed. "Well, if you say so."
Ia frowned at Yukari's tone. All her worries about Yukari having some kind of problem flooded back into her mind. But was it appropriate to ask her right now? With how Yukari acted on the phone, and how she acted fine upon getting here, Ia felt that Yukari didn't especially want to talk about it. But at the same time, Ia wanted to help, if only to make Yukari happier.
But instead of saying something, Ia took out her homework. She didn't want to be pushy or annoying by making Yukari say more than she wanted to say. That was something Mayu would do. So Ia focused on her homework, letting the proofs and numbers flow into her brain so as to take her mind off the worries.
"Tea's ready!" said Mayu cheerily as she placed two mugs on the table. Ia, startled, looked up. Mayu was peering at the homework. "Oh, that looks hard. Ia, pay more attention to Yukari."
"Huh?" Ia said, baffled. "What do you mean?"
Mayu glanced at Ia's almost completed paper, then at Yukari's. "Yukari's only done five of the problems, and you're almost done with the entire thing."
"Oh!" Ia's eyes widened as she looked over at Yukari's paper. "I'm sorry. Yukari, do you need help?"
"Didn't she come over because she needed help?" Mayu sat herself down at the table.
Ia's heart sank. She was doing everything wrong today. She had never worked on homework with anyone before, so she wasn't sure how it was supposed to be done. She had assumed that once Yukari encountered a problem she didn't understand, she would ask for help. But was Ia supposed to help her with every problem? "What do you need help with, Yukari?"
"Um," said Yukari, staring down at her paper. "I'm not sure where to start with all this."
"Oh," said Ia. That wasn't very specific. She leaned over to look at Yukari's paper, breathing in the floral smell of Yukari's shampoo in the process. Ia tried to turn her mind away from that so that she could focus on the homework. Yukari had gotten the problem with Cartesian products of sets, which meant that she should have a basic understanding of the material. "So, you know what a subset is, right?"
"Yeah, it's when all elements in one set are in another set."
"Correct," said Ia. "So for this problem, where you need to prove that set A is the same as set B, you need to show that they are both subsets of each other."
"I am not looking forward to doing this next year," Mayu said with a sigh.
Yukari laughed. "It's awful, right?" She returned her attention to the homework, spinning her pencil. "I'm sorry for imposing, by the way...I usually ask SeeU for homework help, but I think she got mad at me."
"SeeU?" Mayu furrowed her eyebrows. "Who's that? Haven't heard of her before."
"Oh, she's not from around here," said Yukari. "She's my friend from Artech."
"Weird name. Is she Chinese?"
"Um, she's Korean, actually."
"Why is she angry with you?" Ia asked.
Yukari sighed. "I don't know. I think I might have asked her for homework help too much, and she got annoyed at me for that."
"Wow," said Mayu. "How often did you ask her for homework help?"
"Um...a lot. I mean, I can't blame her," said Yukari. "SeeU's really smart, and now that we're at different schools, she pretty much has to do twice the amount of homework when she helps me."
Ia frowned. Why would Yukari ask SeeU, someone who goes to a different school in a different town with a different curriculum, to help her with her homework when she had Ia here to help her? Was SeeU that good academically? Or was Yukari just that close to SeeU? The last thought was a rock in Ia's gut. Though a part of her knew that SeeU was Yukari's close friend, and that she was really only just getting to know Yukari now, another part of her felt that same sting she felt when Mayu and Yukari were getting along during the fair. Still, Ia knew she shouldn't be angry about this. Yukari had other friends in her life. That was fine too. Even though Ia admittedly wasn't too fond of SeeU after that unfortunate phone call, Yukari's friend was her friend. Ia took a breath and spoke. "You could have asked me for help. We're in the same class."
Yukari looked sheepish. "Like I said, I didn't want to impose. I wasn't sure if you were okay with it or not."
Ia stared at Yukari. "Why wouldn't I be okay with it? I helped Piko out with his homework. Why wouldn't I help you with yours? If you ever need help, you can always ask me."
Yukari's lip quirked. "Well...you might not say that after you find out how much help I need." She sighed and looked down at her paper. "I'm really behind because of all the curriculum changes from when I was moving around. Or maybe I'm just..." Yukari trailed off. Ia opened her mouth to ask for more details, but before she could say anything Yukari shook her head and plastered a smile on her face. "Well, whatever! Let's just focus on the homework we have now. It's getting kind of late." Yukari grabbed the paper and picked her pencil back up, almost knocking over her tea cup with her elbow. "Right, so I need to prove that A and B are subsets of each other?"
The subject change was so fast, Ia was left blinking. The chance to ask about why she moved around so much, to reassure her, to ask her about what she learned at other schools exactly, even to tell her that she could ask Ia for homework help no matter when it was or how often it was...Yukari had switched modes so quickly, the chances for those were all gone. "U-um..." Ia looked down at her homework. "Yeah. You kind of use the same method you use in problem one."
"Where you take a random variable x and y?"
"Well, since you're proving it one way first, and then the other, you only take one random variable x..." said Ia, her eyes fixed on Yukari. Her face was turned down, focused on the homework, bangs covering her eyes, expression unreadable. A complete mystery. What her family was like, what she wanted to do in the future, her hopes and dreams - it wasn't until now when Ia realized that she didn't know anything about any of those. Stupid. How could she confess to Yukari when their relationship was really like this? Ia stared at her hand. Wasn't the most basic form of human connection touch? If Ia was normal like everyone else, she could do something simple like reach out and place her hand on Yukari's.
But Ia wasn't normal. Even though she liked Yukari, her mind was freezing up at the thought of something as simple as reaching out to hold Yukari's hand. Stupid, Ia told herself. It wasn't as though they had never held hands before, but Yukari had always been the one to initiate it. Something exactly like this had happened at the tea shop that time too, and Yukari had done the exact same thing - brought up something that hinted towards something deeper, and then changed the subject before anyone could ask about it. But why? And how could Ia break past that barrier? She had to ask Yukari about it, confront her about it somehow, but...how could she voice it in a way that wasn't too confrontational?
"...Ia? Hey, Earth to Ia," Mayu's voice floated over. Ia looked up. Both Mayu and Yukari were staring at her. "You're really zoning out."
"O-oh," Ia put her hand down. "Sorry...um, do you have a question, Yukari?"
"Yeah," said Yukari, pushing her paper forward. "For problem number ten..."
-o-o-o-
It was eleven when they finished off the last of the math homework. Throughout it all, Yukari had carefully kept all conversation focused on homework problems. Though Yukari was skilled at not making any more ripples like she did earlier, Ia couldn't help but to feel uneasy. Every time she looked at Yukari's face, she wondered what Yukari was thinking underneath that perfectly practiced smile.
"Wow, that took a while," said Yukari, putting the math paper back into her bag and taking out the English paper. "But I think I get it a little better now. Thanks, Ia! I'll try not to bother you too much with homework problems."
"N-no," said Ia, quickly. "You can ask me any questions you want. I'll do my best to help."
"We still have English to do too," Yukari said. "How long is it?"
"It's not too bad," said Ia.
Yukari smiled. "Your definition of 'not too bad' is probably a lot different from mine."
"Argh," said Mayu. Ia and Yukari both turned to look at her. Ia had been so absorbed in the homework that she forgot Mayu was still there. "Can we take a break from all this homework junk? Seriously, have some consideration for me here."
"You're the one who wanted to stay," said Ia. "Weren't you watching that drama?"
"Yes, Yakou Kanransha, and yes, until it ended. Come on," Mayu straightened up, "let's do something fun!"
Ia looked at the clock. "It's kind of late. Yukari still needs to do English and get home."
"Come on, it'll be quick, promise. Besides," Mayu raised a finger, "you two need a break to properly refresh your minds, right?"
"Are you okay with it, Yukari?" Ia asked.
Yukari laughed. "I could use a break, definitely."
"Well, looks like it's decided then!" Mayu clapped her hands together. "What can we play..." Mayu looked around the room. "Truth or Dare?"
Yukari raised her eyebrows. "Don't we need a lot more people for that?"
"I don't want to play that," said Ia. "It'll take up too much time."
"Fine," said Mayu with a sigh. "I guess you two can be not fun, then." She got up to her feet. "I'm going to go get some cake from the fridge."
"Sounds good," said Yukari, smiling. After Mayu left the room, Yukari turned towards Ia. "Hey, I was thinking. Last time..." Yukari's voice became more unsure, but she continued talking. "Last time, when we watched movies, that...didn't end up so well. But I still want to introduce you to them. We never got to watch 3-Iron! Are you...still willing to watch movies with me?"
Ia blinked. After how badly last time ended, she was surprised Yukari was even giving her a second chance. But the way things are now, Ia was willing to jump at anything Yukari offered. "I...sure. When?"
"Whenever you're free," said Yukari. "And really? You're okay with it?"
"Um...yeah," said Ia. "I mean..." she fidgeted. "We talked about this before."
"I know! I promise I won't overstep your boundaries. Just...let me know what's okay."
Ia bit her lip as she thought back to the last time they watched movies. Yukari had been awfully close that time. She wondered if she would react any differently now to Yukari's presence...but considering her crush, probably not. If anything, it'd all be worse considering how Ia now knew what she felt. "Yeah. Of course."
"That's great!" Yukari jumped up to her feet. "Ia, you're the best! Can I hug you?"
Ia remembered how she couldn't even bring herself to hold Yukari's hand earlier. She really had to get over this aversion. Otherwise, how could she be there for Yukari? "Y-yeah, that's fine."
"Alright," Yukari laughed as she bounded over and wrapped her arms around Ia in a tight hug. Ia swallowed as she breathed in the scent of Yukari's floral shampoo, her hands growing clammy as her heart beat faster. Yukari was so warm...it was only for an instant though, Yukari pulling back quickly, her face lit with a bright smile. "Thanks."
Ia felt her face heat up and she looked away. The warmth of Yukari's body was fading away, ephemeral. "You don't need to thank me for that."
"Of course I do," said Yukari. "I know how hard it is for you, so it makes it even more special."
"Anyone want some cake?" said Mayu as she walked in, carrying a rollcake. She glanced at Yukari and Ia. "Wow, looks like you two got closer since I left..."
Ia felt her face heat up harder and Yukari quickly moved back to her seat. Shit. She hoped Mayu didn't tip Yukari off to anything. "Mayu!"
"Hmm, what is it, Ia?" Mayu sat herself down at her place at the table. "Both of your faces are red. I suppose that's understandable when a stunning beauty like myself walks in the room offering you all cake, though."
Ia cleared her throat. "A-anyways. Let's get back to English homework."
"Oh...but I want some cake too," said Yukari.
"English homework and cake," said Mayu. "The perfect combination."
-o-o-o-
The cake was finished at 11:45. The homework followed at midnight. Mayu had excused herself once the cake was finished to wash the dishes, and the sound of water running and dishes clanking could be heard from the kitchen.
"I know I already said this a lot, but...thanks for the cake and the homework help!" said Yukari as she packed her things away. "I guess I should get going now."
Ia frowned as she looked up at the clock. "It's late...you can stay over if you want."
"Wow, thanks," Yukari laughed. "But I don't have any of my things, and I have school tomorrow. My parents would be suspicious, you know?"
Ia had no idea why Yukari's parents would be suspicious of her staying over at Ia's house, but Yukari didn't sound like she was about to take Ia up on her offer. "Oh...uh, then I could walk you back home-"
"Really, it's fine," said Yukari. "I inconvenienced you enough for one night."
"It's not an inconvenience at all," Ia said. "I'm..." Ia looked down. "I'm your friend. I'm here to help you with your problems." She hoped Yukari would pick up on the subtext of that statement.
"It's good to have people to rely on when you're stuck on homework," said Yukari with an oblivious smile. "We're still down for watching 3-Iron, right?"
"Yeah."
"Great!" Yukari clapped her hands together. "It's an interesting movie, kind of weird. I really hope you like it." She walked over to the kitchen and poked her head in. "I'm gonna go now, Mayu. Thanks for the cake!"
Mayu said something unintelligible back. Ia walked Yukari over to the front door, her mind spinning. Even though she spent more time with Yukari today, Ia felt as though all that happened was that she ran into a wall in her relationship with the girl. How could she get Yukari to open up to her? Every time Yukari mentioned something that she seemed troubled by, she would always change the subject. But Ia didn't want that. She wanted to help her, get to know her...but how? Yukari was so bright. She always seemed to try to keep herself in a good mood. The only time she didn't was the time when they watched movies together. They were nearing the front door now. Did Yukari subconsciously not trust Ia because of that movie incident? But she told her it was okay. The fact that they were going to watch a movie again soon should be proof of that. How did Yukari act with the others after the movie incident anyways? Ia tried to remember, but they were already at the front door, and Yukari was already turning towards her...and here Ia was, alone despite being with Yukari, remote despite Yukari physically being right here. Ia had to do something, and she could only think of one thing. She clenched her hands into fists. She had to get over this aversion to touch. Touch was connection.
"Well," said Yukari, "thanks for everything again. I had fun, even though it's just homework. We should do this again sometime!"
"Yeah," said Ia, forcing a smile on her face. "Definitely." Shit. What could she do? Yukari was already leaving. It was too late to do anything right now. Ia's mouth felt dry. What was wrong with her? This came so easily to everyone else.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then," said Yukari, turning the doorknob, fast, too fast. "Bye!"
And then, she was gone. Ia groaned, leaning against the wall, hand against her head.. There went her chance. Gone. Stupid, Ia's mind mocked. How could she expect to get close to Yukari if she couldn't even do something so simple as hugging her goodbye? Maybe it's hopeless. Why would Yukari ever want to confide in Ia when she had other friends, better friends, normal friends? Now that Ia thought about it, Yukari had told SeeU about what happened during the movie night. That was it then. Ia's hand dropped from her face. Why would Yukari ever confide in Ia when she already had SeeU there to tell everything to? The one thing Ia had was that SeeU was far away, in another town. But knowing Yukari, she'd probably try to get SeeU down to visit her. And then where would Ia be?
It would be just like the fair with Mayu, but a hundred times worse. Ia sunk down to the floor and buried her head in her hands. Every beat of her heart hurt. She wasn't even good friends with Yukari. Her crush now seemed all the more pathetic when viewed in that light. Yukari was Ia's only friend. But then...what was Ia to Yukari?
Ia didn't want to think about it. All she could do was wish that SeeU never visited.
-o-o-o-
Yukari breathed in the crisp country air as she stepped out of Ia's house. The streets were completely deserted, the moon a fingernail clipping hung in the sky. The only sounds she could hear were the chirping of crickets and the crunch of her shoes against the ground. It was a far cry from the bustle of brightly lit Artech, and a farther cry from the bustling city of Crypton. Her parents had told Yukari that their final move would be here, but there wasn't very much to do in the country compared to the cities Yukari was used to.
Yukari stretched and checked her phone, which she had turned off upon her arrival at Ia's house to prevent distractions when doing her homework. No texts. No missed calls, either. Yukari sighed. She had hoped that maybe SeeU would try to contact her after abruptly hanging up earlier, but maybe she was just too angry to. Yukari bit her lip. Maybe if she told SeeU that she would be easing up on asking her for homework help, she would feel better, or at least be reassured that Yukari wouldn't be bothering her all the time.
Still, Yukari didn't want to lean on Ia for homework help too much. If she did...Ia might think she was stupid for not understanding the homework. At the same time, SeeU got so annoyed earlier that Yukari wasn't sure if she was still willing to help her with her homework. In other words, Yukari had absolutely no idea what to do. She sighed. Who knew that something as simple as asking for homework help would be so hard? If only there was a cheat code for life so that she wouldn't have to deal with this.
At least there was the upcoming movie night with Ia to look forward to. Yukari brightened up a little at the thought of it. Despite the mistakes she made last time, Yukari hoped that she was more mindful of Ia's boundaries now. Still, Ia was so cute that it was hard to resist hugging the girl at every available opportunity. In retrospect, Yukari thought she did a good job reining her impulses in.
At any rate, Yukari decided to call SeeU to apologize about overstepping her boundaries. Being preoccupied with Ia was no excuse to treat her friend badly. The phone rang twice before SeeU answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's Yukari, uh..." Yukari paused. "Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"No, no. What is it?"
"Well...I wanted to call because, um, you sounded upset and you hung up really fast last time...I'm really sorry if I annoyed you by asking you for homework help too much! I didn't realize that it was bothering you, you could have said anything at any time and-"
"What?" said SeeU, her voice baffled. "What are you talking about?"
"Huh?" Did SeeU forget? "You remember us talking earlier, right?"
"Of course I remember," said SeeU. "It's just...what are you talking about? I told you I wasn't mad."
Yukari was beginning to feel discomfited. "Um, but you hung up pretty quick, and you sounded annoyed, so I was worried."
"That had nothing to do with homework! Honestly. I told you I had to watch the next episode of Running Man, right? But," SeeU's voice shifted from annoyed to teasing, "were you really worried enough about this to call me about this so late? Wow...I'm touched. I didn't know you cared that much."
Yukari heaved a sigh. "Geez, SeeU, of course I care. So it's really okay if I ask you for homework help? I know it's more work for you."
"Of course it's okay!" said SeeU. "Did you forget how I got placed first in every exam? Seriously, your little country school is nothing compared to Artech's. Anyways, I can't believe you're worried about this now after all the help you asked from me before. If I wasn't okay with it, I would have told you."
Yukari shook her head. All that worrying for absolutely nothing. Great. "I thought that's what you meant when you told me to ask Ia for help!"
"What? No, I didn't mean anything like that."
"Really? It definitely sounded like it. Well, whatever," Yukari sighed again. "Ia helped me with my homework, so I have it done now."
There was a pause before SeeU spoke again. "Wait...are you outside?"
"Yeah," said Yukari. "I'm walking back home from Ia's place. You know," Yukari glanced around the empty street, "Yamaha is really different from Artech. It's really...country. Like, I told you that before, but it's so empty right now."
"You're walking back from Ia's house?"
"Yeah, I told you she helped me with my homework, right?"
There was another long pause. Yukari furrowed her eyebrows and checked her phone signal. Four bars. She placed the phone back to her ear. "You there, SeeU?"
"Um...yeah," SeeU said. "Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, I was, um, distracted with a thing. So you're walking back from Ia's house?"
Yukari laughed. "SeeU, I told you that like, three times. Yes, I'm walking back from her house."
"So...you two talked a lot?"
"I guess," said Yukari. "We talked about school and movies and stuff. Oh," Yukari brightened up, "Ia even let me hug her! She was so cute!"
There was another long silence. "Is that so."
"Yeah!" Yukari nodded, smiling at the thought of it. "I think that means we're making good progress, right? I was so afraid I scared her off forever. And remember that movie you showed me? 3-Iron?"
"Of course I remember," said SeeU. "3-Iron is one of my favorite movies."
"I finally got Ia to agree to watch it with me," said Yukari. "It's going to be great, I'm really excited-"
"Really," said SeeU. "I don't remember watching movies with Ia working out so well last time."
Yukari winced. "Yeah...but we've talked about this before. We've moved past that. I think it'll be fine this time, I just need to make sure that I'm, well, keeping distance, I guess."
"Keeping your distance from Ia sounds like a good idea to me."
Yukari sighed. "I told you that Ia's really not that bad of a person. I know the movie thing was...pretty bad, but...still. Besides, it's not like you've been a saint either. What was with searching up her phone number and randomly harassing her?"
"Well...she made you cry! I don't know why you still want to hang out with her," SeeU scoffed. "She didn't sound like some sensitive, shy, artistic soul when I called her, either."
"Well, look at it from her perspective, an unknown number called her from out of the blue and-"
"No, listen to me. She called you weird, and she said you have a boundary problem when in reality she's the one with the boundary problem."
Yukari rubbed her eyes. She had reached her house, but she couldn't very well go in with the conversation like this unless she wanted to wake up her parents. "SeeU, you don't understand."
"You're right," said SeeU. "I really don't."
"Okay," said Yukari, thinking. How could she get SeeU to understand that Ia really wasn't as bad as she thought she was? "How about you come down and visit sometime? I can introduce you to Ia-"
"Uh, no," said SeeU, quickly. "Well, I guess I might be able to find the time to come down and visit you, but I don't want to meet Ia."
"Maybe if you meet her, you'll see that she's really a nice person," said Yukari. The more she thought about it, the better of an idea it seemed. It was understandable that SeeU would have a bad impression of Ia, because her first impression of her was Yukari crying after the unfortunate movie night. SeeU's timing and attitude when calling Ia hadn't been the best either. But if SeeU managed to meet Ia in real life, if they all spent a day together, then SeeU would be able to see that Ia really wasn't as bad as a person as she thought she was. "Yeah. Yeah! That's it!"
"Yukari," said SeeU, "are you serious?"
"Yes! I mean, a train ride down from Artech is...how long is it?"
"It's seven and a half hours. And then I have to transfer to a bus, which is another hour."
"Oh." That was pretty long...not exactly the sort of trip one could make on a weekend whim. "Wait, how did you know the schedule so well? Yamaha's not that well known of a town."
"Um...we had a uh, train study project on small towns recently," SeeU mumbled. "Anyways, I don't want to meet Ia."
"You're only saying that because you don't know her that well," said Yukari, "which is exactly why you should come down and visit. Also, you get to see me! When's your first break?"
SeeU sighed. "In like, a month. And I don't know...are you worth the eight and a half hour trip? I could be spending time with my friends in Artech instead."
Time to turn up the charm. Or at least, as much charm as Yukari could manage over the phone. "But SeeU...imagine the country! Wouldn't it be a nice break from the hustle and bustle of modern city life? Also," Yukari held up a finger even though SeeU couldn't see, "the food here is great because it's close to so many local farms. And there's a monthly arts fair! I went to it with Ia and Mayu once and it was really cool, they had like, a clock garden and everything. You'd love it, I promise! Also, I'm here, and I'm definitely worth the trip, right?"
There was a long silence. "Maybe," SeeU said. "I won't promise anything."
"I know break is a while from now," said Yukari. "I just want you to get to know her. She's really a great person. I'm sure you'll see it once you actually meet her."
"Um, yeah, whatever," said SeeU. "Hey, I don't know about you, but I have school tomorrow, and it's late."
"Oh," Yukari blinked. "Oh! Right, I do too," she laughed. "Wow, time goes fast. What time is it?"
"It's like, half past one in the morning." SeeU yawned. "I'm going to go to bed now. Night."
"Oh, night! Hey, think about the visit, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," said SeeU, and she hung up.
Whew, another update! To be honest, I'm trying to get out as many updates as I can before school starts xDD Heads up that this may/may not be the last update for Degrees Below Zero for some time, unless I manage to get a lot of the next chapter done tomorrow or something.
