A short intermission chapter for Valentine's Day about Sakuya desperately trying to learn how to ice skate to impress Yumi.
Skating was never something Sakuya ever conceived she'd be doing, yet here she was at an ice rink renting a pair of blades. It was Yumi's suggestion, helping them to stay cool as the afternoon sun really started to beat down on them. And cool it was. Cool enough to make her regret wearing a thin dress with only ankle length socks.
Yumi seemed completely at home here, unfazed by the cold despite her typical overall shorts offering her no protection in this harsh and unforgiving winter(-like environment). Maybe it was just the trade off for her extreme susceptibility to heat - sweat like a middle aged salaryman whenever it's a little balmy out, but resist freezing temperatures like a burly Viking with one eye and a pet bear. She nodded to herself as she placed her shoes into a rented locker next to her bag. Yumi could totally be a Viking.
"Can't believe you've never been skating before," Yumi said, balancing triumphantly on the rubber mat.
Sakuya smirked as she finished lacing up her skates. "Some of us prefer not being frostbitten on a regular basis." She struggled to her feet, quite a bit less confident than Yumi as she waved her arms around to keep from falling over. Regretfully, she placed her hands on a freezing railing to navigate her way to the ice, the cold burning into her palms. She kept a stern face, though, afraid Yumi would laugh at her if she showed any discomfort.
"Hurry up!" Yumi goaded playfully, already twirling about in the rink like an expert. Sakuya couldn't help but be surprised. Not content in being shown up, she placed a shaky foot out onto the ice after removing the guards from her shoes, eventually gathering her strength and putting the second beside it. She pushed off from the railing, moving a few wobbly centimeters before promptly falling on her face.
Yumi skated over with ease, laughing as she held out a hand. "Need help?"
"No, no. I'm fine." She was not, evident by her attempt at standing back up accomplishing little more than moving herself further onto the ice.
"It's really okay if you need me to help," she said. Yumi took Sakuya's hands, helping the other girl to her feet. As her balance threatened to give out once again, she drew closer to Yumi and pulled her into a hug to stay steady. Yumi smiled coyly, looking at her friend with a raised eyebrow. "Hey."
Embarrassment overtaking her, Sakuya let go with a peep, slipping and falling down once again. She grunted, determined to conquer this new task the same way she did everything obstacle; with cunning, calculation, and the necessary amount of brute force. After many failed attempts, palms beginning to stick to the ice, the only progress she'd made was learning to crab walk.
Yumi was practically about to fall over, as well, though from laughing rather than lack of coordination. "Just let me teach you how to skate!" she demanded between giggles.
"I-I can do it!" Sakuya replied, managing to at least turn over as she struggled to get up. "How did you even learn to do this in the first place?"
"We used to go here sometimes when I was younger and on this side of town," Yumi said, literally skating circles around Sakuya. "I got pretty good after a while. Plus, I had a pair of roller skates when I was little, but I grew out of them." She began a twizzle just to show off, hoping to impress her friend further with her proficiency in the sport, blissfully unaware it came off more like she was rubbing it in her face.
Sakuya was beginning to notice others at the rink stopping to gawk at her misfortune. Some of them were laughing, too. Crawling her way to the side of the rink, she sat down and rubbed her hands together to try and regain feeling in her fingers. Yumi sat down beside her, scooting close to keep the entrance clear for others. "It's okay if you can't do it. I can teach you."
After a minute of grunting, grumbling, and hard swallows, Sakuya finally nodded with a frown. "Great! First thing you need to do is get off the ice." She raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out whether she was being mocked. "The best way to learn to balance," Yumi explained with a sagely finger raised like an expert, "is to get comfortable wearing skates first." She took the skate guards from Sakuya's pocket and capped both their blades, helping her friend up. "Now we'll just walk around."
Sakuya waved her arms wildly with every step, cursing under her breath at every new problem. She couldn't understand why this was such a problem. She'd never had trouble learning new things before. School was easy, she was a piano prodigy by the time she was six, dueling was as natural as breathing, so why couldn't she just stand on some goddamn ice without falling over?
"You're doing it!" Yumi cheered, Sakuya disbelieving it entirely after nearly slipping for the eightieth time. The very next step was the lucky one, causing her to fall once more. Yumi laughed, walking up to pat her shoulder. "Guess we still need to practice." She chuckled to herself. "Look at me teaching you something for a change."
Sakuya crawled over to the lockers, finding a spot in the corner to curl into a ball and clutch her head. Understandably concerned, Yumi walked to Sakuya and squatted down, hearing a series of small, labored gasps. "Hey, are you okay?" Yumi touched her friend's shoulder, recoiling as she tensed. "Did I...do something wrong? Will you tell me?"
She couldn't answer. Her heart was pounding too fast, there was too much noise, the room was too cold, the pressure was too much. She was being laughed at, she was letting people down. The more she thought about it, the more she worried, which only made her think about it more, which only made her worry more.
"Are...are you doing a thing where you get upset and can't talk?" Yumi asked, trying to understand what was happening. After a few moments of pause, she saw a tiny nod. "Okay," she said, taking a breath. "Okay." Yumi nodded, as well. "Okay, just calm down. It's okay. It's going to be okay."
"Is it because you can't skate yet?" she asked. Sakuya held her breath and didn't respond. "It's okay if you don't know. I'm teaching you. You just have to relax and keep practicing." Amazingly, this did little to help her friend. She thought more, leaning up against one of the lockers to feel the cold against her head. "Wait..." she thought, wheels beginning to turn.
Yumi put a hand to her mouth. "Is it because I was laughing at you?" Sakuya sighed, seemingly to confirm. "I'm so sorry," Yumi said, putting her face in her hands. "I didn't realize it was...that you'd take it..." She sighed, as well, trying to piece together what to say. "I didn't know it would hurt you like this."
Sakuya was looking over at Yumi now, having calmed down a bit. "I was trying to tease you, but I didn't realize it would be so upsetting. I'm sorry." They sat in silence for several minutes, Yumi staring at her feet the whole time. It wasn't her fault she couldn't read reactions very well most of the time, of course, but it didn't make her feel any less awful about hurting her friends when she did.
"It's okay," Sakuya whispered, taking Yumi's hand loosely in hers.
"It isn't!" Yumi protested with a furious shake of her head. "I don't want to make you feel bad!" Sakuya moved closer to her. It was mostly because this place was really damn cold and she still didn't have anything warm on. In complete honesty, though, there was a part of her that craved physical attention when she was feeling vulnerable like this.
"Sometimes," Sakuya began, "things get overwhelming. It's not because you were laughing at me, but because I couldn't do it." She sighed, taking a better grip on Yumi's hand. "And when I can't do things, I feel like I'm letting everyone down, and if I let you down, you won't like me anymore, and I thought, since you were laughing at me-"
"Of course I like you," Yumi interrupted. "I wouldn't stop liking you just because you can't skate. I'm not even disappointed." They were both quiet again. "It's okay if you can't do things. I can't do a lot of things, but you still like me, right?" Sakuya nodded. "I know there's this...thing where you need to be perfect all the time, but it's okay if you're not. You don't have to try to be perfect around me. It's okay."
Yumi helped Sakuya to her feet. "I'm sorry I upset you. We can go now if you want. People are kind of staring at us." True to her word, a small crowd was trying extremely hard to seem like they weren't observing the two of them during their moment. Sakuya immediately started blushing and smacked a hand to her face. "It's okay! She's just learning how to skate!"
Still recovering from the embarrassment, Sakuya looked to Yumi. "We already paid."
"What?" Yumi asked.
"We already paid," she repeated. "If we left already, it would be a waste of money." She blushed a bit harder than she already was. "A-and if you don't mind too much...you could still try to teach me. I won't be very good, though. If you don't mind."
Yumi was already smiling before Sakuya could even finish her words. "Of course I can!" In an extremely uncharacteristic move, Yumi removed the goggles from her head and gave them to Sakuya. "It makes me feel more confident when I wear these, so you can wear them for now." Suddenly, she narrowed her eyes. "But you have to give them back after. You've got to promise."
Sakuya looked at the dorky eye wear in her hands, wasting no time in putting them around her head and pulling them down on her face. "I promise," she said with a small laugh. For the time being, she didn't care that she looked like a complete fool with the iconic blue beret/white goggles combination, or that she continued falling over and losing her balance, or that, by the end of the day, she'd just barely learned how to stay upright and walk around the rink by holding the wall. None of it really mattered right now. The most important thing, as it should have been from the beginning, was getting to spend the day with her friend. It was even fun after a time.
Most people would assume she'd wish for the day to never end in a situation like this, but they'd be very wrong. After a little over an hour, she was very much ready to leave, given she'd officially entered the beginning stages of hypothermia. Needless to say, an impromptu trip to the ice rink was, in fact, a bad idea after all.
They left shortly after that, Yumi taking back her goggles as promised. Despite everything, Sakuya still regarded it as a pretty nice day out. She wasn't at all opposed to returning one day to finish her "training", though they'd definitely need to remember to wear more clothes.
Obligatory Yuri on Ice reference.
13's not ready yet (and given the amount of chapters I just blasted out one after the other like that, it's hardly an issue), but I wanted to put out something about the girls being cute together for the holiday. My date with Persona 5 may have been cancelled indefinitely, but love still carries on.
This isn't actually set on Valentine's Day, obviously, since it's still summer and neither of them are in school. I'd like to think it's canon, though. Maybe, like, immediately after the events of chapter 12. They finished up at the club and now their whole "date" gets to continue on a day off. Hesitant to put it on any other day, since Yumi's being a slacker and taking too many days off training as it is (and also because we're well over the halfway point to summer by now and closing in on the end of the break, so they don't have many days left before the tournament). Valentine's Day will definitely happen, though, and you'd better believe Yumi cannot make chocolate whatsoever. She'll definitely try.
I actually can't skate, either. It's my one flaw as a person. In addition to all the other, numerous flaws, at least. I've only ever tried it on wheels, though. Maybe I'd tap into some inner force out on the ice and become some kind of skating god without realizing it if I tried. Probably not, though.
Probably more angsty than you'd expect from a Valentine's Day story. Suffering is what I do best, though, especially when it facilitates friendship. Shutdowns are awful. Be there for your friends when they need you.
Hope this was enjoyable. I might do some more like this in between stuff from time to time. Mostly for stuff that I want to write, but isn't really long enough for a full chapter in and of itself, and I'm not going to be the asshole who posts spin-off material about my own OC story. Thanks for reading. Always remember to make history.