By the time Miyuki had reached the door, the day had warmed up considerably. It was almost as if in the span of a few days the traces of winter had cleared completely, leaving nothing but fresh spring air. The plants and trees had already gained their green coloration once more, a few blossoms coming in full. A faint breeze stirred, and the slight motion made Miyuki shiver, though she wasn't cold. She anticipated the door opening, anticipated Tsukasa-
"Oh, hey, Miwiki-san!"
"Good afternoon…Izumi-san," she greeted hesitantly. "May I speak with Hiiragi-san?"
"She's making food," Konata shrugged. "She couldn't come to the door but she made extra if you want some."
"Thank you," she nodded politely. She wasn't really hungry, but she didn't want to pass the chance to taste Tsukasa's cooking. She also didn't want to pass the chance to converse with Tsukasa normally before anything…happened. "May I come in?"
"Yup!" Konata opened the door fully, making room for Miyuki to go inside.
"Hi, Yuki-chan!" Tsukasa said cheerfully, not turning from her place at the kitchen counter.
Miyuki stopped herself before she could bow, remembering Tsukasa couldn't see her action, and simply recited her usual "Good afternoon" and sat down next to Konata at the table. In the silence, Tsukasa began to hum a small tune, which Konata identified as from one of her games she'd played earlier on her handheld.
"I'd like to try that game later," Tsukasa remarked, pausing in her work to turn and look at Konata.
"Sure, I'll teach you how to play!"
"I must speak with you before, though," Miyuki injected quietly.
"No problem," Konata and Tsukasa said in sync, and as quickly as their dialogue had come by, Tsukasa turned back around to finish cooking.
Moments after, Tsukasa handed them their—lunch for Miyuki, though she remembered something about this being their breakfast on the phone—food and they began eating. Although Miyuki remained quiet, they still had conversations in which she nodded and laughed occasionally so they knew she was listening. Her stomach twisted slightly as she finished eating. She had to keep in mind why she was there. Why she had even botheredto come over.
"What did you want to talk about?" Tsukasa would begin tentatively, after being pulled outside by Miyuki herself. She knew she would ask that question, especially if Miyuki had to beg her for privacy in the front yard of Konata's house. Then she would tell her. If she could. It seemed so simple, yet just the thought of it made Miyuki tense.
Tsukasa took Konata's leftovers and put them in the fridge, then took the other plates and set them in the sink. Konata dashed to her room to get the game set up for Tsukasa, and as aforementioned Hiiragi twin began to rinse off the dishes, Miyuki stood.
"May we go outside to speak?"
"Sure," Tsukasa shrugged, then clicked off the water and dried her hands. She used the same towel to wipe off the counter, and then hung it back up in place. As she did so, Miyuki took realized the notable difference of how clean the house was.
"Did you…clean up here?"
Tsukasa grinned and nodded. "No one else does, really," she shrugged. "Yu-chan tries, but she's always getting sick…"
Miyuki nodded.
Tsukasa started toward the door, slipping on her shoes quickly before doing so. Miyuki followed suit. They stood in the shadow of the house, which did little to cool the ground. Tsukasa waited as the brief still stretched from seconds to minutes.
"So…what did you want to talk about?"
Miyuki hadn't realized she was holding her breath until she exhaled. The intensity of the whole situation was coming into focus. Only a few boys had ever told Miyuki that they liked her, and as soon as they did so, she went off rambling about how she wasn't allowed to date and that it was nice they liked her but she didn't exactly feel the same. She sympathized with them, the boys who were rejected by her, the ones who actually had enough courage to admit their feelings. Now she was in their shoes, most likely to be rejected also. Had she ever truly given the boys much thought afterward? No, because they weren't her friends. But if damage were dealt to their friendship, it would matter…
"Yuki-chan?"
"Ts-Tsu-chan," Miyuki began, still unused to the friendly nickname Tsukasa permitted her to use, "I am afraid I have developed feelings for you that are not…normal." Miyuki was close to hyperventilating. She spoke too quickly, didn't even come close to saying what she meant to say.
"Not normal?" Tsukasa echoed.
"Romantically interested feelings," Miyuki said quietly. Her eyes blurred behind her glasses, making her smile weakly and pull them off to wipe them clean. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, I'm sure I messed up your afternoon…"
"It's okay, Miyuki-chan," she said softly, shrugging.
Miyuki sniffled and dried her eyes with her sleeve. She asked, "It is?" The question seemed directed more to herself than Tsukasa, as if she were thinking deeply about her "romantic interests."
"I just don't feel that way about you. I like…someone else. I like Kona-chan."
Miyuki couldn't form a sentence, eyes wide with surprise. She pushed her glasses back onto her face, and then swiveled to look back at the house they were standing next to. "You—together—you mean—but I—!"
Tsukasa giggled. "It's okay, remember?"
It's not okay, she thought angrily, it's not okay, it's not okay! You and Izumi-san? For how long? And Minegishi-san with Kusakabe-san as well…nothing's okay with this. I'm not okay with this! I am not okay with you being so casual about this. Why are you so nonchalant? Don't my feelings mean anything to you? Did you suspect me feeling this way the whole time?
She muttered a hurried apology and ran the distance to the train station. She dug out her phone and punched in the number of someone she could trust and who hadn't been dragged into the chaos. She didn't even realize who she was dialing until her voice came over the speaker.
"Hello?"
Hiyori should have known.
Correction: she had been expecting it, just not so soon.
She had known, from the first time to the most recent time she had experienced it, that it would mess with any artistic flow that crossed her thoughts. It wouldn't just mess with her artistic flow—it would beat it with a stick and pour hot coffee over its head. She had hit writer's block. Smacked right into it like it was a very invisible, but very real, wall.
This happened to her often. Really, it wasn't a big deal anymore. She knew exactly how to get rid of it. If she needed long storylines, at least twenty pages worth of artwork, she would invite Patty over; maybe go to a friend's house with multiple others. What she needed, though, was simple sparks of inspiration, at least five pages worth of work but much more story line. To achieve this, she would go to a café or walk around the streets.
Tamura reached for her cell phone. She dialed Patty's number out of habit, knowing exactly what it was, and brought the phone to her ear. "Hello? Patty? Yeah, this is Hiyori…n," she said into the receiver, reluctant to call herself the blonde's nickname. "Do you want to walk around with me today?"
"Oh, you hit the wall!" Patty cried, and then laughed.
"Yes, I hit the wall…"
"And I thought you had a pretty good inspiration source, haha!"
"It's a good source but because of the break I thought I'd try to push through a few more pages today." Hiyori shrugged, her action invisible to Patricia.
"I got ya," Patty chuckled. "Tsk, tsk, spying on friends! Might as well have some fun with it. Where are we going today?"
"Actually…can I go over your place?"
"Sure, I can make some coffee or tea," Patty agreed.
"Alright, thanks." Hiyori flipped the phone shut.
Kagami stared at the open book on her desk, mindlessly reading through information she already knew. She popped the cap off the pink highlighter and marked something in the text, then recapped it and wrote something beside it in pen.
It had only been a few days without Konata or Tsukasa bothering her whatsoever and she became extremely numb about the entire situation. She didn't want to think about it, talk about it, or even bother with it. It was clear in her mind: she was shocked about Konata, not in love with her. But Konata could just kiss anyone she wanted and label it as "exploring her sexuality?" Who did that? Well, other than the blue haired midget? No one she knew of!
I don't like her that way. I definitely hate her for doing that though. For screwing everything up in my head a thousand times over.
Kagami pressed her face into the book and commanded herself to not think about it. She needed to focus back on her studies, to focus on getting ready for the upcoming tests, bluh bluh, etc. etc. And then the phone buzzed on the desk.
"Hello?"
"Hiiragi-san, y-you answered!"
"Yeah, I think I did," she replied flatly. "Miyuki, is something wrong?"
"Everything's messed up and it's all my fault."
"It…what? What happened?"
"Can I come over? I apologize if I—"
"Yeah, it's fine," Kagami cut her off before she went off, rambling about it being impolite, which could have gotten out of hand. She needed to help her friend, and keeping her on the phone longer wouldn't help at all.
"Thank you, Hiiragi-san," Miyuki said. "I'll see you soon."
"Bye, Miyuki," Kagami said quickly, the dial tone almost interrupting her goodbye.
She set the phone back on the desk.
What…?
A/N: It's SUMMER! I cranked this chapter out because…well it's all just phone calls, sort of a mini transition chapter. I need to hurry up and get them girls back in school. Hur hur. Okay, as usual, please review what you think and consider this as a milestone to the big finish!