about a month later...

"Hey, Yomi!"

Sakaki called out to her friend as they passed by each other on opposite sides of the street. She saw her look around for who was calling her name. You'd think Sakaki would be easy to spot, but it took her a bit to pick her out from the crowd. As soon as she saw her, though, she hurriedly found a crosswalk and made her way over to Sakaki's position.

"Hey, Sakaki!" Yomi said. "You look...wow, you look different!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, you got your hair done up, and you're wearing glasses now!"

Sakaki smiled. "I felt like it was time for a new start."

"Yeah," Yomi said. "Yeah." The two girls stood there for a few seconds. "What are, uh, what're you up to?"

"Oh, just finding something to eat before work."

"Veterinary school, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Mind if I come with?"

"Not at all!" They walked to a sandwich shop about two blocks down. The biggest differences about Yomi that Sakaki noted right away were that she wasn't sucking in her stomach anymore, she was standing about three inches taller, and she didn't seem significantly heavier.

"You're looking good these days," she said.

"Yeah, Tomo's been helping a lot."

"Yeah? How so?"

Yomi shrugged as she took a mouthful of sandwich. "Dunno how she does it. We just started talking, and then she and Kagura talked about it, and when she came back she started making me eat at dinner."

"How're you now?"

"Happier with myself, honestly."

"She can be persuasive."

"Very," Yomi said with a small laugh. "So, what've you been up to since high school? You're quite different as well."

"Oh? I didn't notice." Really, she hadn't. Yomi's comment kind of caught her off-guard.

"Yeah, I mean, besides appearance. You're a lot more...open. Out, if you will."

Sakaki stopped eating and stared at Yomi. Her friend's face gave away that she knew exactly what she was saying. Yomi smirked. "I'm intuitive. I also know when to keep my mouth shut."

"How–"

"That's not important." She took Sakaki's hand into hers. "What is important is that even if society isn't going to accept you, I am. Does anyone else know?" Sakaki shook her head. "Not even Kaorin?" She blushed a bit, then felt sad that Kaorin hadn't contacted her yet. "No, I'm afraid not."

"I assume you'll want to tell the others when you're ready to?"

She nodded in the affirmative. Yomi made a lip-sealing gesture. "Not a word." She looked at her phone. "I need to get going now," she said. Before heading the opposite direction Sakaki was going, she looked at her one last time and said, "Hey, Sakaki?"

"Yeah?"

"You look happier now." And with a smile, she headed off.