Ok, Citrus fans! Here's a tiny, short, minuscule little idea I had yesterday. It's just goofy and hopefully enjoyable.
"Sooo...what do you think?"
Yuzu's question drew Mei's attention away from the book lying open on the desk in front of her. Turning to the side, she found Yuzu standing in a pose before her, gazing at Mei with expectant eyes.
Mei instantly realized that she was supposed to comment on something new that Yuzu must be wearing. Ordinarily, she wouldn't care to partake in such a trivial endeavor, but…
The last time this had happened, Harumin had been sitting in the living room with Mei when Yuzu had come bounding in, a bundle of excitement.
"What do you think?" the blonde had asked, same as tonight.
Harumin had given Mei several seconds to respond, but when Mei had barely looked up from her homework, Harumin decided to answer herself - perfectly picking out the most minute changes in Yuzu's outfit. She had even mentioned the slightly different way Yuzu had styled her hair, which had gone completely unnoticed by Mei for the entire day.
As Yuzu had squealed in glee at her friend's thoughtful observations, Mei had leveled Harumin with a glare that would bring most girls to tears. But Harumin had just grinned back at her, silently gloating in a tremendous 'skill' she held over Mei.
Mei had decided then and there that that would be the last time Harumin got the better of her when it came to making Yuzu happy. Harumin shouldn't be the only one able to make Yuzu squeal like that.
So, she had focused more energy on learning Yuzu's wardrobe, which turned out to be far more expansive than Mei would ever have dreamt it to be.
Every afternoon after they had changed out of their school uniforms, she would attempt to commit Yuzu's outfit to memory. She wasn't as adept at it as she would have liked, especially when sometimes she felt the compulsion to take the articles of clothing off of the blonde as soon as she had slipped them on.
It was rather difficult to memorize clothing when it was always crumpled into mounds on the floor, after all.
But coming back to this moment, with Yuzu still waiting upon her answer, Mei realized that this was her first opportunity to put her new knowledge into working practice. It was almost like taking a practice test of sorts.
Her eyes slowly moved up and down Yuzu's frame while trying to figure out what the new item might be. Like any test, it was best to eliminate the answers she knew to be incorrect in order to narrow down what might be right.
New shoes?
Maybe. She didn't particularly recognize the ones Yuzu had on, but the blonde had nearly a thousand pairs of similar black shoes.
New shirt?
No, she definitely remembered the shirt. It was the same one Yuzu had had to mend after Mei had...well, it was the one with poorly secured buttons.
New haircut, maybe?
That was hard to tell when Yuzu would sometimes only get an inch taken off at a time.
New jeans?
Bracelets? Necklace? Earrings? Nail polish?
Why was Yuzu wearing so many different items right now?
The earrings looked like the ones Mei had given Yuzu for her birthday. They were most likely the same ones...since the blonde hardly ever took them off. And even though Mei certainly wasn't the best with fashion, she still highly doubted that the pair went with 'absolutely everything' as the blonde had so loudly proclaimed.
The red nail polish wasn't new. Mei had definitely noticed that color the last time...well, she had noticed.
Realizing that she was quickly running out of time to make any sort of answer, she decided to go with a generic approach. But singular or plural? 'They look great' or 'It looks great'?
A loud buzzer sounded in Mei's mind when Yuzu's smile began to fade away. She hadn't answered quickly enough.
"You don't like them?" she asked, looking far too crestfallen.
But, Mei had been given a clue. It was a them - ruling out at least the potential haircut and the necklace. And it gave Mei the information needed to respond appropriately without actually knowing the correct answer.
"They look great," she responded as appropriately as she thought. After all, none of the remaining items really screamed to be something Mei should make a big fuss about.
As usual, the simple, lackluster compliment was still more than enough to bring a beaming smile back onto Yuzu's face.
"You think?" she asked excitedly, turning ever so slightly to glance in the mirror at herself. "They were on sale and I just had to have them."
Mei couldn't help rolling her eyes at the comment. It was very typical of Yuzu to not be able to turn down a sale. Especially when Harumin was around…
"And Harumin absolutely loved them. She even bought a pair for herself."
Another eye roll as the culprit reared her head, once again contributing a significant dent to Yuzu's bank account. But Mei had at last narrowed down the newest addition to Yuzu's closet to either the jeans or the shoes.
"Well, hopefully she didn't get the exact same pair you did," Mei commented, fishing for just a tad more information before making her final decision.
"Oh no, of course not," Yuzu responded with a laugh. "She got a slightly different color than I did."
Mei couldn't help grinning to herself as she solved the mystery.
Shoes. Yuzu had gotten new shoes.
It certainly hadn't been the smoothest of tests she had ever taken, but Mei couldn't help feeling just a little proud at being able to solve this riddle. To an outside observer, this might have seemed like a small victory, at best. But those people did not truly understand the extent of Yuzu's quest to collect every piece of clothing in existence.
Standing from her chair, she slowly walked over to the girl, pulling Yuzu close by the collar of her shirt and watching for the deep flush that always followed.
"Well, maybe you should take them off while in the house. Don't want to wear them out, do you?" she said quietly, compulsively straightening a microscopic wrinkle in Yuzu's shirt while her heart began to ever so slightly speed up from her close proximity to the blonde.
"W-wha...you want me to take them off?" Yuzu asked incredulously, face going fully scarlet as she stared at Mei in shock. "R-right now?"
A blink was the only external glimpse of surprise Mei allowed to slip through.
It was the jeans. The jeans were new.
And Mei had just told Yuzu to take them off.
Mentally accepting the new situation, she let her hands slide down to rest on Yuzu's hips, taking in the feeling of the new fabric with her fingertips.
Answering incorrectly had turned out better than she would have ever anticipated.
The Final Exam
"Are you guys ready?"
"Yeah Yuzu!"
Harumin grinned at Mei from her spot perched upon the edge of their bed. Mei was sitting in the desk chair facing the closet door as they both waited for Yuzu to emerge in whatever new outfit she wanted to show them.
This was it - the final exam. Weeks of studying Yuzu's wardrobe had led Mei to this very moment. How she fared today would determine whether she could consider herself to be a success or failure at memorizing Yuzu's myriad articles of clothing.
And her knowledge would be put to the test by the unquestioned master in this subject area: Harumin Taniguchi.
She leaned forward in her chair instinctually, feeling her pulse quickening as she prepared herself for the lightning fast battle of wits that was about to take place. She thrived in this type of environment...a timed, one question, winner-take-all scenario with nothing but pride on the line.
Seconds later, the closet door opened and Yuzu emerged - clad in an assortment of different colors and accessories - only some of which would be new items the blonde recently acquired. Yuzu stretched her arms out in front of her and gave a small twirl for her audience.
"What do you think?"
Mei's eyes had been intensely scanning the blonde's figure the instant Yuzu had appeared, eliminating any items she knew to be already owned by the girl.
She was able to immediately rule out the necklace, bracelets, and earrings, as they were all gifts from Mei. Maybe she had somewhat cheated in giving Yuzu the necklace and bracelets just recently, but, in her mind, it was Yuzu's decision to wear them over all of the other pieces of jewelry she owned. It just happened to make Mei's answer easier on a day like today, as well.
She could also eliminate the nail polish, which was still red...well, it was always red since Mei had accidentally let it slip that she found the color to be particularly...appealing...
"It looks great on you," she replied confidently once her answer had been formulated, not failing to notice the raised eyebrow Harumin gave her at the generic answer.
"I really like that shade of blue," she further clarified, making it abundantly clear that she was referring to the new button down top Yuzu was wearing.
Yuzu beamed happily at Mei's words, spinning around one more time in front of them.
"Really? You like it?"
"I do...and," she cut Harumin off when the girl had opened her mouth to say something, "your new shoes seem to go quite well with it."
Harumin gave Mei a small nod, clearly impressed with her answer, while Yuzu radiated joy in front of them - practically squealing in happiness.
"And," Harumin added, giving Mei a sly grin, "I really like the new perfume you're wearing, Yuzu!"
"Actually, she got that a couple weeks ago, but just hasn't worn it to school yet."
Mei couldn't help but smirk at the dumbfounded expression Harumin gave her while Yuzu began excitedly telling the brunette where she had purchased everything and how great of a price she had gotten them for.
She might not always score well on the practice test, but she always aced the final.