"You dragged me all the way out here just for this?"
The blonde was used to her Shanghai friend's sporadic shenanigans, but that still didn't stop her from questioning the girl's decisions. Or why she agrees to tag along with her every time.
"Shen me?" Keke paused before taking another bite of her choco banana sundae. "Are you really going to complain about this of all things? I even bought you one too y'know."
"I'm not complaining, really. It's… nice you invited me out like this. Thanks Keke." Sumire took a bite of her own green tea sundae before smiling.
"You're welcome, Sumire." The bubblegum-haired girl gently elbowed her friend with a grin. "Plus, if I didn't show up when I did, you never would've seen how beautiful and blue the sky looked today."
The blonde chuckled at how backhanded that remark was, but she was more than used to it from the foreigner. Their light-hearted bickering was always just that: light-hearted. Underneath the occasional arguments and disagreements over the mundane was a genuine friendship Sumire valued deeply, maybe more than any other friendship she had within their idol group.
The blonde's inner thoughts accidentally rang out to the real world. "I just wish these types of moments could last forever..."
"Why are you just wishing?" Keke's voice snapped her back to reality. "Of course these moments will last forever."
"Huh? But Keke, we're graduating in only a year. Who knows where we'll all be when that day comes. What will be of Liella!, of the school. Of us?"
"And?" The bubblegum-haired girl looked on nonchalantly as she continued digging into her treat. "That day hasn't come yet, has it? Why worry about the future when we're still in the present?"
"You're not wrong, but-"
"No buts, Sumire." The Shanghai girl took the blonde's plastic spoon before shoving a scoop of the green sundae in her mouth. "We'll worry about that future after we graduate when it becomes our present, but for right now, let's just enjoy what time we know we have left together while we can."
"Mmm." Sumire gulped down the scoop before clearing her throat. "Well, if you're gonna be that stubborn about it…"
"You're the stubborn one here."
"Uh huh..."
"And everything we've done together, all the memories we've made up to this point, they'll never disappear. Nothing at all."
Sumire looked on at the Shanghai girl, gently smirking at how optimistic and dare-she-say intelligent her friend could be at times. No, that wasn't right. Keke was definitely a smart girl, she just refused to play the part unless absolutely necessary.
"So we better make the most of the time we have now so we have even better memories to look back on when the future arrives."
Before the Shanghai girl could look back at her blonde friend though, she felt a warm pat atop her head that was oddly comforting.
"Sumire?"
"Heh, I love you so much you big dork. Oh whoops, is that gonna be something you're going to remember come graduation?"
Keke blushed heavily before turning her body in the other direction, quickly nobbing up the rest of her sundae, getting a laugh out of the blonde.
"Well, if we're finished here, how about we head down to Akihabara?" Sumire inched closer before nudging her friend's shoulder. "We got an entire Sunday to kill making memories after all."
"Okay okay. Enough about the memories thing." The Shanghai girl finally looked back at the blonde, who had the content grin plastered on her face. "I love you too by the way, you big dummy."
The grins had switched places between the girls, but Keke wasn't gonna let her counterattack. The bubblegum-haired girl made a beeline for the subway station across the park, with the blushing blonde still processing what was said seconds earlier.
Coming back to her senses, Sumire let out a conceited chuckle before catching up with her fellow idol. It was definitely a strange one, but she truly treasured the beautiful friendship she had with this odd girl, and all the memories it brought.
A friendship more beautiful than a precious gem.
