Yuzu hurriedly scarfed down her lunch in the cafeteria. She was in such a rush getting to school that she forgot to bring her own. Did Mei remember hers? She didn't see her stop in the kitchen before she left, but she wasn't here in the cafeteria. Was she not eating?

Yuzu gulped down the last of her meal and stood up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Momokino stood right beside Yuzu with her arms crossed. Yuzu tried moving past her, but she stepped in Yuzu's way.

"What's the big deal, Eyebrows?" Yuzu asked. She needed to see Mei right away to apologize, and if Mei wasn't eating, she could get her a lunch from the cafeteria. Yuzu tried pushing through, but Momokino stood her ground holding Yuzu back.

"I asked first, Blondie!"

"I need to see Mei!"

"The President doesn't need your distraction!"

"It's none of your business!"

"The President is none of your business!"

The two tussled until Yuzu finally took a step back. She was already riding a fine line here. She didn't need a teacher finding her in a fight with the Vice President. Yuzu put her hands on her hips and took a deep breath.

"You don't understand, Momokino," Yuzu said. Momokino raised an eyebrow. "This is really important. Mei's going through a hard time, so I need to be by her side. I can't keep running away."

Momokino closed her eyes, her jaw clenching and her eyebrows tightening. Then she shot her eyes wide open. "That's exactly why you need to leave her alone! You need to know when to back off! She's trying to sort through her feelings toward the academy and her future, and you're keeping her up late and letting her be late to school! As a friend, as a classmate, and especially as a sister, you have to be way more responsible than this!"

Yuzu's stomach was in knots of guilt. Letting Mei stay out so late was wrong. She'd just gotten so caught up in the moment, ecstatic at being able to kiss Mei. How could she not? Mei wanted that kiss; Yuzu saw it in her eyes. When Yuzu asked Mei if she wanted to stay longer, Mei agreed.

Yuzu couldn't see Mei as a friend, classmate, or sister. This wasn't a feeling she could keep at a distance. She had to help Mei by actually being there with her. Yuzu stared at Momokino with determined eyes. Momokino held her ground but shuddered.

"I'm going to go apologize to Mei," Yuzu stated.

Momokino calmed her shaking and sighed. "Fine… under one condition!"

Yuzu stifled a smirk. Hehe, victory!

Momokino pointed a finger at Yuzu dramatically. "If you can pass a spicy noodles challenge, I'll let you go see the president!"

Eh?

Momokino crossed her arms. "I'm a woman of my word. If you can eat one of the school's extra spicy noodle cups in under two minutes, then clearly your resolve is strong enough to deserve to see her."

Yuzu scratched her face. She couldn't handle spice very well, and two minutes was pretty short. But Momokino was right. If she couldn't do something as simple as bear some spice, then she was all talk. It was honestly a miracle that Momokino even offered this opportunity.

"You're on!" Yuzu said and grinned, putting a thumbs up in front of her.


Yuzu stared down at the red saucy noodles steaming up at her. She gulped. She was already sweating.

"Going to give up already?" Momokino asked from across the table. She was smirking with her head held up by her palms.

"Are you sure I'm not allowed any water?" Yuzu asked. "It's a pretty big cup of noodles."

"You already agreed to the terms. You can back out if you don't like them."

Yuzu steeled herself. "Okay. Start the timer."

Momokino tapped the start button on a watch that she set on the table. She did it so quickly, clearly trying to put as much pressure on Yuzu as possible.

Yuzu pulled up a bunch of noodles and started slurping them up. Immediately, her tongue recoiled from the physical heat. Stupid Yuzu! I should've let them cool down a bit longer before starting! She chewed slowly, the food still too hot to swallow. At this rate, she'd never finish in time, and the spice hadn't even kicked in yet. Monokino grinned calmly.

Yuzu gulped down her food. She picked up the cup and stirred the noodles vigorously while blowing on them. This killed about ten seconds of time, but it was necessary. The spicy burn was starting to settle on her tongue.

She took up another batch of noodles and slurped them up. She was ready for the heat this time and it wasn't nearly as bad as the first time. She chewed efficiently and gulped them down. The spice was crawling all over her mouth, as if it were tearing her flesh apart. Sweat dripped from her cheek.

She slurped up a third time, the flaming aching making her chew much slower. She only had one minute left. She wasn't even halfway through the cup. Her vision blurred from tears.

She could just wait until after school to apologize to Mei. Was this even worth it?

Yuzu shook her head. Weak thoughts! I must be strong for Mei!

Yuzu picked up the cup with one hand and brought it to her mouth. She slowly tipped it up and slid the noodles down with her chopsticks. She swallowed them down without chewing, pushing through the pain that enveloped every cell of her mouth. She kept pushing more down and swallowing, the burning getting worse every second, but her resolve refusing to break. Tears streamed down her face.

She slid down the last bit of noodles and swallowed them, then smacked the cup down and held her mouth open. She finished with five seconds to spare.

Momokino was a blur through Yuzu's tears, but she could tell that her eyes were wide with her jaw hanging. The world seemed to be swaying back and forth. She could barely feel anything and couldn't bring her light head think about anything but the pain.

Yuzu leaned forward and rested her head on the table. "Gonna," she said. "Go. See. Mei. After. Short. Rest."

Yuzu sat there with her head resting for what felt like an eternity. She kept repeating the mantra 'Go away pain, go away pain' in her head to distract her. It barely helped.

After god knows how long, she lifted herself up and used her napkins to dry her face. She was still uncomfortable, but she could actually think now.

Yuzu looked over at the clock and gasped. There were only five minutes left in lunch break. She started to push herself up but stopped herself. There was no point now. She groaned from doing all that for nothing. However, the feeling quickly faded away. It wasn't really for nothing. She was proud of herself for trying her best.

"Here," Momokino said, sliding a bottle to Yuzu. "I got this milk for you when you were delirious."

Yuzu hesitated to take it, her feelings about Eyebrows full of spite. Then she slapped those feelings away, the milk too tempting. She snatched the drink and chugged it down, the coolness washing over her tongue like a blessing from the gods.

Momokino didn't look gleeful from victory. She was looking to the side, as if her mind were elsewhere.

"You expected this, didn't you?" Yuzu asked. "That I'd be too beaten up by the spice to go see Mei?"

Momokino looked to Yuzu. "Well, pretty much. I didn't think you'd beat the challenge, but I figured that even if you did, that much spice that quickly would definitely debilitate you. It seemed a solid plan."

Yuzu rested her head up on her palm. "Mei would've been glad to see me."

"I'm sure she would have."

Yuzu set her arm down and glared. "Then why? Why are you trying so hard to keep me away from her?"

Momokino sighed. "Look, Yuzu. I'm actually really grateful to you. The President and I have been best friend for our whole lives. I've always tried to do what I thought was best for her. When her dad left, I could see how determined she was to work so hard for the school. So, I supported her through that as much as I could. And when her dad came back, I kept pushing her hopes that he would return to the school. I can see now that I was just making things worse. You're the one who got through to her and showed her that she should fight for herself, that she can fight for herself. So… thank you."

Yuzu was stunned silent for several seconds. She was starting to get under the impression that Momokino was just being possessive of her best friend and keeping Yuzu away because she was petty. But that wasn't it at all. She genuinely cared so much about Mei.

"So why?" Yuzu asked. "If you're also glad that Mei's breaking free, why do you still want her to push herself so hard?"

"Because I'm terrified. I've known Mei longer than you. I haven't seen her this directionless in her whole life. These days, she can barely work for a few minutes before something distracts her focus. She's making small mistakes and doubting everything she does. If it keeps going like this, I'm worried she'll completely rebound, undoing all the effort she built up over the years."

Yuzu sat silently, unable to come up with a response. Yuzu hadn't thought of Mei's faltering perfections as such a horrible thing. But now that she thought about it, it was slightly worrying. It was frustrating when Mei pushed herself to the point of hurting herself, but when she put so much pride and efficiency into her efforts, it was inspiring. Yuzu didn't want Mei to lose that. Regardless, she couldn't bring herself to feel that the solution was to just leave Mei alone. The only way to help Mei was to get closer. Right?

Lunch break ended and the two stood up.

"Exams are right around the corner," Momokino said. "Remember that when you consider going out to arcades."

Yuzu scowled but took her words to heart. She wanted to get at least in the top hundred. To impress Mei. Until exams, she'd study with Mei and put a hundred and ten percent effort in. Maybe if Mei saw that, she'd get her own focus back, and they'd become closer at the same time.


Yuzu leaned against the lockers, waiting for Mei. Yuzu had to serve a detention for being late to school, so she could work on what she missed. She'd found herself surprisingly focused. I guess what Momokino said really got to me. Momokino cared so much about Mei, and she was right that Yuzu needed to try harder.

Yuzu turned her head when the doors opened and smiled at Mei. Mei looked down as she approached. Yuzu blushed, doing the same. Is Mei nervous from seeing me? No way.

The two walked home in the chilly wind. It wouldn't be long before it started snowing one of these days.

"I'm really, really sorry," Yuzu said, her head bowed down. "Yanno. For forgetting to set the alarms. It was all my fault. I promise it'll never happen again. And I won't ever keep you out late again. And we won't go out on a weekday again. I hope I didn't set your student council work back too much. Is there anything I can do to help?"

There were a few moments of silence.

"It's fine," Mei said. "One mistake isn't worth crying over. And I've been accepting more help from the other members recently. Besides… the kiss was very welcome."

Yuzu's face burned.

What? WHAT?

Well, she already knew that. She could see that her feelings weren't a hundred percept unreciprocated. But hearing Mei say it was like finally getting your hands on something that you've only seen in magazines. She couldn't back off. She had to get closer and figure out exactly what was going on between them, where it was leading.


It was the evening before the day of exams. Yuzu munched on a snack at the floor table of her bedroom while reading from a textbook. She didn't want to waste any time with dinner. Mei hadn't returned from Student Council work yet.

For the last week, things had been pretty calm. Harumin was also putting in a lot of studying time–she mentioned something about there being no way her older sister would let her slack during the week of exams. Matsuri kept calling Yuzu, begging her to hang out again. Apparently, she kept nagging Harumin to hang out with her too. Harumin was constantly complaining about why a middle schooler wanted to hang out with her so much. Yuzu had tried explaining that it was because Harumin kept showing Matsuri how much her annoyances worked.

Yuzu's phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that Matsuri was calling her. Speak of the devil. Ignoring every call hadn't worked, so she answered.

"Matsuri! I told you I can't hang out this week! Just wait 'til after exams."

"Okay, I get it!" Matsuri whined. "Can't we just chat for a few minutes? Or are you too busy? Am I interrupting sexy time with Mei?"

Yuzu blushed. "I told you we don't do that!"

"Mhm," Matsuri hummed sarcastically. "Please don't tell me you haven't made a move since I helped you score a kiss in that photobooth."

"Now's not the time for that! We've been studying for exams!"

"Yeah? And how well has that been going? Studying with the girl you wanna rock in bed must be pretty distracting. Oh, I get it. After the exams your gonna celebrate by letting out all the pent-up sexual frustration. Good plan!"

"We're not gonna–I don't want–I mean…" Yuzu sighed. She just couldn't build walls as fast as Matsuri tumbled them down. After exams, the excuses would be gone, at least for a little while. Maybe then she would want to… Stop it! Don't let her mischief get to you!

Matsuri was giggling. "Alright, alright. I'll leave you be for tonight. But if I don't see any progress soon, I'll somehow trick you two into going to a love hotel."

Yuzu sat up and tried to sound serious. "This isn't a game, Matsuri. You shouldn't talk about these things so lightly."

Matsuri let out a brief chuckle. "Then why's it so fun? I'm on your side, Yuzu. I'm dying to see you beat the final level. Isn't that what you want? To win Mei?"

"I–" Yuzu cast her head down. She hated the way Matsuri worded it. Mei was a person, not a game to win. But was that just semantics? She did want to get closer to Mei. She was just completely lost on how to do that. Matsuri seemed to think it was so simple, but Yuzu couldn't shake the feeling that her way was wrong.

"Talk to ya later," Matsuri said. "At the very least, you better cuddle with her tonight!"

Yuzu opened her mouth to reply but Matsuri hung up. Yuzu tried getting back to work, but lingering fantasy of cuddling with Mei hung on the edge of a cliff in her mind, refusing to fall off. They slept in the same bed, so that wouldn't be too hard to try.

After a few minutes, the door opened, and Yuzu turned her head to face Mei. "Welcome home!" Yuzu greeted. Neither of them shied away from eye contact these days.

"Hello," Mei answered, setting her down on the bed. Yuzu turned away as Mei undressed herself and into casual clothing. When Mei finished changing, she sat at the table beside Yuzu, placing her books down.

They both got to work, not saying a word. They never said much when they studied. They just asked a question when they got stuck and the other explained it pretty quickly. Then they got quiet, and the cycle repeated.

After helping Mei with a question, Yuzu noticed Mei's fingers shaking. Then she looked closer and saw that Mei's whole body was lightly shivering.

"A-are you cold?" Yuzu asked. Mei lifted her shivering hand up and looked at it, as if only just now realizing that was happening. "Hold on. I'll get you a blanket!" She pulled the blanket off the bed and knelt beside Mei, wrapping it across her shoulders.

"Thank you," Mei said. "But aren't you cold too?" Without waiting for a response, Mei opened the blanket on the side facing Yuzu, holding it up for Yuzu to come under it with her.

Yuzu bit her lip and hesitated. Yuzu felt like she had Momokino in one ear telling her that this would be too distracting for Mei, and Matsuri in the other ear telling her that this was too good an opportunity to pass up. There was longing and fear in Mei's eyes. She looked lonely and scared to reach out but was going for it anyways.

Yuzu slid under the blanket and Mei set it on Yuzu shoulders; It was now cozily wrapped around the pair, their sides gently pressed against each other. Was it only the blanket and body heat making Yuzu so warm, or was it something else?

They got back to studying while wrapped together but went much slower. It was like the warmth cast a sleeping spell, making her slow and drowsy. Was Mei feeling the same? It looked like it.

Mei struggled on a question for several minutes until she set down her pen and sighed.

"Are you okay, Mei?" Yuzu asked.

"I'm kind of pathetic, aren't I?" Mei asked, her voice faint.

"What?" Yuzu hollered and leaned towards Mei, causing her to face Yuzu with wide eyes. "What are you talking about? You're amazing!"

Mei, still facing Yuzu, cast her gaze down. "I'm not so amazing anymore, right? I mean, just look at this." Mei gestured toward their studies. Sure, she wasn't the perfectly efficient machine anymore that solved everything instantly, but she was still way better than Yuzu.

"You don't need to be perfect. You're trying your best. That's what matters. You'll get past this difficult time."

"Am I trying my best?" Mei asked under her breath, as if to herself.

Yuzu gazed questioningly at Mei.

"I don't know what I want, Yuzu," Mei said. "I think I want to be the best student possible, but I keep finding myself in moments like this. Where I… I just want to sit by your warmth. Like I'm too weak to resist the temptation. What's wrong with me?"

Yuzu let the words sink in. Even though Mei was reaching out for warmth, she was still struggling with the feeling that she didn't deserve it.

"Wanting someone to comfort you," Yuzu said. "Isn't wrong. It doesn't mean you're weak or that something's wrong with you. None of us can be perfect, Mei. It's like… like we're all a bunch of puzzle pieces. No one is complete on their own. We have to come together to complete what we're missing. When I need to be more responsible and hardworking, I let your passions inspire me. So, if you need my shoulder to lean on sometimes, I'm glad to give it. Don't beat yourself up over that, okay?"

"But what if I lean too long and find that I can't… stand back… up…?" Mei yawned and rested against Yuzu's shoulder.

"You'll always be able to get up," Yuzu said, her stomach tightening. "You will. I know it."

Yuzu sat still long after Mei fell asleep on her shoulder. She kept telling herself that this was good, that getting closer with Mei wouldn't make it any harder for Mei to stand up strong. It just couldn't.


Yuzu sat down at her exams, her spirits higher than they've ever been during a test. Meeting Mei changed everything. She worked so hard for this moment, not just to impress her, but because Mei's passions changed her. Yuzu genuinely cared about being better and it was all thanks to her.

"Begin!" the exam overseer called.

Yuzu picked up her pen and got to work, the well-oiled cogs in her brain turning like clockwork. She found herself smiling. Between all the progress she made with Mei and her studies, it felt like everything was looking up.


Yuzu's heart was pounding. The exam results were going to be posted today. She was walking several paces ahead of Mei as they got to school. She was highly confident in herself, but the nerves just kept pestering her anyways.

They reached the building and made their way to where the results were posted. Yuzu pushed her way through the chattering crowd, looking for her name, starting from the bottom. Please, be at least in the top hundred!

She reached the hundredth rank without seeing her name and let out a cheer that made some of the girls around her scowl at her. She was only a couple spots up though at ninety-seventh, but that was completely fine. It wasn't like she could expect to challenge Mei for first place after one semester. This was absolutely incredible progress.

Yuzu turned to Mei, face beaming. "I made it in the top hundred, Mei! It's all thanks to–"

Yuzu voice cut out at seeing Mei's face. She was staring up the results, her eyes wide and crestfallen. Yuzu's heart grew heavy as she looked at the top of the results.

Mei's name wasn't at the top spot. Yuzu read each name, down and down. She searched frantically until she finally found it at thirty-eighth. She hesitantly looked back at Mei who turned her head down in defeat.