Time continued on, and the girls' relationship continued to build and strengthen. They began telling more and more people, starting with their friends Mugi and Azusa. Mugi had come with the girls to the college while Azusa was a year behind them. Of course both girls were incredibly happy to hear about their friends finding such happiness together. The girls were walking back to Mio's dorm one day after classes while talking about it. They'd just decided to watch a movie when they got back to her dorm, when Mio slowly looked down in thought. Ritsu noticed and asked,

"You thinkin' about somethin' else, miss Mio?~"

"...I want to tell Mugi… and Azusa too."

Both girls blushed while looking down as they held hands on their walk home. Ritsu wanted to do flips right there on the sidewalk, and both girls had butterflies sent fluttering through their bodies. Finally Ritsu did respond,

"We can do that I suppose, if you really want to. You know how happy that'll make me, are you sure you're ready?"

"Well, I'm not completely ready. I wasn't completely ready for that first performance we did either. But that didn't go as bad as it could have, barring the *thing* that happened. I don't feel completely ready about most things in my life, but I think that's a normal thing. If I just wait until I'm ready my whole life, I'll never get anywhere. And I want us to get somewhere, Ritsu."

Mio squeezed the petite girl's hand as Ritsu was filled with incredible love and affection for her girlfriend. She was always surprising Ritsu with her wisdom.

"That's a really mature way to look at things Mio, I'm glad I can help you realize that. I promise everything is going to be okay, and that there is no chance of that *thing* happening again~"

Ritsu giggled a bit before continuing,

"So, did you have any ideas on when or how we're gonna do this?"

"Hmmm… Maybe we see if we can go to Mugi's parents' vacation house some weekend? The weather is supposed to be getting warmer soon, we can go swimming! It'll be fun~"

"That sounds great! I've been wanting to wear my new bikini since I got it." Ritsu replied, smiling happily and squeezing her girlfriends hand happily.

Mio had already begun to feel the anxiety drain from her. Ritsu had always helped soothe her anxiety; and although she was still worried, she knew that this was the right thing to do. Mio actually smiled a bit too before sending a text to the group message the girls all shared,

-Mugi, do you know if we can use your parent's vacation house soon? Ritsu and I wanted to hang out with you all.-

Mio typed and sent the message before putting her phone back in her pocket and taking Ritsu's hand again as they approached Mio's dorm building.

In the meantime, Mugi was looking at her phone while sitting on her bed across from Yui, about to press send on a message inviting Mio, Ritsu, and Azusa out to her parents vacation house. Mugi gasped lightly as Yui looked on eagerly.

"Uh… Yui? We might have to change the plan…"

"Huh? What do you mean? Did they respond already?"

"Um. No, they were asking if we could all hang out too…"

"...at your parents' vacation house?"

"...yeah."

"...huh. Is this gonna change the plan much?" Yui asked in a concerned, thoughtful tone.

"I don't know... uhhmm... hopefully not?"

Yui sat back with a hand on her chin, deep in thought considering her words wisely before responding.

"...Respond that we will be able to use the house, and that you and I will be joining as well."

Mugi began typing away on her phone, a look of determination on her face; while Yui was still clearly deep in thought. She spoke up while Mugi was still typing,

"Things shouldn't change after this, though. We already have the ice cream date set up, and we were already planning on getting Azusa in on it when we got there. I'll be honest though, this does mess some stuff up…"

"That's true… I just really hope things don't get too messed up. We've been planning this stuff for so long and I really want them to be happy and enjoy themselves. It's weird though, I wonder what made them want to hang out so suddenly" Mugi responded as she finished sending the message. Yui shot up from her thoughtful pose,

"Yeah! Wonder what that's about, maybe they just happened to want to? Weird. Anyway, where are your cakes at?~"

Mugi shot up from her worried state upon thinking about sweets; standing up and tossing her phone down on the bed before rushing across her large, single person dorm room to where she stored her cakes and other sweet treats to share with her friend. Soon she returned to the bed with a plate full of packaged cakes for the girls to share. She plopped back down on the bed, causing Yui to bounce a bit while she quickly chose a snack and began enjoying while speaking again.

"Thanks Mugi! I love hanging out with you and sharing sweets with you~ Speaking of romance n' stuff, has anything happened with your crush lately?"

Mugi was just selecting a cake from the tray when she giggled while blushing at Yui's direct questioning. Both girls were ditzy and flighty, but Yui was certainly much more up-front with her lack of social skills, which always made her out to be even more adorable.

"Oh, Max? Well… he's such a shy guy, but he's so cute! Today I asked to borrow a pen from him in lecture and our hands touched a bit, that was nice. But I don't know how he feels about me…" Mugi responded, a disappointed look creeping across her face before she looked up and smiled lightly again. "But it's not the end of the world, hopefully he at least thinks I'm cute too~ Have you found anybody you're interested in yet?"

Yui had almost finished her first treat when she began to respond, "Nah nobody has stood out to me, not yet at least. I'm not that worried about it, I'm having fun with you girls here and that's what I really care about~ But maybe we need to set up a little plan for you and Max though, huh?"

Both girls giggled as they finished their treats before Mugi spoke up again,

"No! We are not setting anything up with me and a boy in my classes! Silly girl, we've got enough to worry about as is! Besides, I'm not sure I really… like boys anyway…" Mugi said while trailing off and beginning to blush.

Yui quickly piped up again; noticing her friend's embarrassment and attempting to comfort her, "That's nothing to be ashamed of Mugi! It's perfectly fine to not think of boys like that. What's most important is that you find somebody who helps to make you happy. And even then, that's not as important as finding happiness within yourself."

She reached out and placed a hand on Mugi's thigh while she finished talking in a soothing tone. The blue eyed girl looked up, blushing more with some surprise on her face, "Yui… that's a good point. It still feels weird to even think about, let alone to say out loud. But I don't think I like boys... Where did you come up with that Yui? That's just not something I'd expect you to say"

Yui giggled happily while scooting closer to Mugi and responding, "Ui told me that one day before I moved here~ She's such a smart girl, I love my sister so much!~"

Mugi began scooting closer to Yui as well, and soon they were both sitting next to each other with their backs leaning against the wall. Mugi allowed her head to lay down on her friend's shoulder as Yui selected another colorful cake to snack on from the tray, Mugi spoke again, "I'm so jealous that she's your sister, Ui is so nice and mature. Maybe I should kidnap her and bring her here to live with me so I'm not so lonely here alone in my room!"

Both girls giggled as Yui unwrapped the cake and offered a bite to Mugi, which she happily took out of her hand while Yui spoke, "She might like that better than being at home, poor girl hasn't had anybody to take care of since I left so she's been forcing her poor friends over most of the time. But you're forgetting something! If you're really so lonely here alone maybe I should be visiting more?"

Mugi looked up at her friend, blushing more after hearing the sweet words. "Y-yeah? You'd come hang out with me here more often? Maybe even spend the night sometimes?~"

The brown haired, adorable girl threw her arms around Mugi and hugged her tightly, exclaiming with joy, "Of course I'll sleep over! Whenever you want, we're adults now so we can have sleepovers whenever we want!"

"So… you'd stay over tonight even?"

"Duh! It'll be just like when we stay at your vacation house, except it'll just be the two of us!"

Mugi sighed happily and returned her head to Yui's chest, snuggling up to her while Yui finished her treat with her arms wrapped lovingly around Mugi. She allowed her hands to run through her beautiful, long blonde hair that always cascaded down her shoulders like waves of light grain. Mugi had been having so much anxiety about her feelings and not being interested in guys. But this was helping not only to relax her fears, but it also felt right to cuddle with Yui like this. She felt herself almost melt into Yui with relaxation as she spoke,

"...that sounds wonderful, Yui. Thank you~"