Sasameki Koto: The Date
(Legend of Akihabara II)
Sumika Murasame blinked at her friend Ushio Kazama, her dark brown hair falling around her face as she asked, "You want me to...?"
"Take Azusa Aoi out on a date," Ushio told her cheerfully, the lighter brown haired girl sitting with her friends up on the roof, eating lunch. The sun shone down on them as they leaned against the fence, the group of five girls having become a familiar sight.
"Indeed," Tomoe Hachisuka agreed seriously, though the black haired girl had a twinkle of amusement in her eye. "I believe I have convinced Azusa Aoi to join our Girl's Club...."
"Karate club," Kiyori Torioi pointed out impishly, the dark brown haired girl munching on a snack, as usual. She didn't eat in class, as far as Sumika could tell, but otherwise almost always seemed to be eating something.
"Whichever," Tomoe waved that off, "we still need more official members since someone refuses to join. Unless you've changed your mind?"
"I respectfully decline," Kiyori told her then laughed, "bwa ha ha ha!"
"And there she goes again," Miyako Taema shook her head, smiling. The smaller brown haired girl sat beside Tomoe, nearly sitting in her lap as they ate their lunches together.
Ushio smiled up at Sumika warmly, "No one wants you to do anything you're uncomfortable with, but you could go to a cafe or take her to a movie or something?"
"Well, yeah," Sumika agreed weakly, knowing that Azusa would not likely look at it as just a friendly date. 'Though she has backed off a lot since we all went to the swimming pool together,' she mused silently.
Ushio got up, tidying her skirt as she explained, "I promised senpai I would help her with filing some new books. See you later!"
Waiting until Ushio was gone Sumika fixed Tomoe with a dangerous look as she said, "You know how I feel about Ushio! How can I go on a date with Azusa?"
Tomoe looked over at her mildly as she pointed out, "I'm not suggesting you do anything improper, you know." She sipped her drink through the straw, "Just take her to a cafe and go shopping together, or some such."
"Who knows, maybe you'll have some fun with big forehead girl," Miyako offered cheerfully, probably amused by how annoyed Ushio was going to be by all this.
"I...," Sumika paused, unsure of how to put her thoughts into words. The truth was that, even with Asusa's intense focus on her hobbies, the two of them did have fun together. In a way, she was worried about having too much fun with her....
"You could always take her out for lunch," Kiyori offered the suggestion predictably as she finished off a meat bun.
"I'll think of something," Sumika sighed.
"Ah," Tomoe started. When Sumika looked over at her she smiled slightly, "I believe she has something already in mind. She asked that you meet her on Saturday, first in Akihabara and then over to Otome Road over in Ikebukuro."
As Tomoe specified the place an d time Sumika sighed to herself as she thought, 'I think I'm going to regret this.'
A few days later Saturday had arrived, and a casually dressed Sumika walked the streets to the corner in Akihabara Asuza had specified. She had chosen a light hoodie and jeans for today, deciding too casual might be better than too formal.
"Sumika-san!" Azusa called as she saw her coming, the black haired girl smiling warmly.
As Sumika saw Azusa coming she felt a odd kind of deja-vu, reminded of her date with Akemiya a few weeks ago. 'Then again,' Sumika found herself noting with some amusement, 'Azusa actually runs less girly than Akemiya does.'
"Did you have any problems finding me?" Azusa asked as she took Sumika's hands and looked up into her eyes. The round lenses of her glasses shone in the sun, the summer dress she was wearing light and comfortable.
"Two glasses wearing girls!" a brown haired girl with large eyebrows murmured dreamily from where she stood nearby. She whipped out a camera, "Can I take a picture?"
"Uh...," Sumika blinked.
"Sure!" Azusa smiled, stepping even closer to Sumika and leaning against her arm.
The woman quickly took the photo as she squealed, "Even better!" She identified herself as Tsumugi and exchanged emails with Azusa, promising to mail her the image.
"Does that happen often?" Sumika had to ask as they headed down the busy street.
"Sometimes," Azusa admitted.
Azusa gestured around them to the street lined with stores, the sidewalks and road itself packed with shoppers. Men and women of all ages and types were represented, and many were in cosplay of one type or another. Along with the customers women in maid uniforms mingled, passing out fliers for shops and events, and cameras flashed in various places as people saw cosplayers they liked.
Azusa smiled as she watched two women pose as dramatically as they did, a lady samurai and her beloved. "I normally think yuri should be kept safe, hidden from those who would hurt it," she noted as they walked on, "but somehow, in Akihabara...."
Sumika found herself nodding slightly, "I think I know what you mean." Akihabara was so unrestrained that it felt safe to be whomever you wanted to be.
"Come on," Azusa tugged her hand gently as they hurried along the busy street, "let's do some shopping."
Thankfully, Sumika found that Azusa had a plan for where to go, leading them unerringly from shop to shop. She seemed to know all the best places to go for manga, dojin and novels on girls love, and was well received by the shop owners and staff, whom all knew her well. And apparently they approved of Sumika, a few even appearing to think they might be a couple.
'I wonder if I could bring Ushio down here?' Sumika thought as she impulsively picked out a few titles, keeping a eye on her budget.
In one shop Sumika even found herself comfortably joining in a debate on Miyabi Fujieda and if it was right that a male writer/artist should be doing a girls love series. 'I wonder what they would think if they knew Orino Masaka was a man?' she found herself wondering. She was occasionally tempted to say that she knew the girls love author, she knew Azusa would be thrilled, but she knew it would be too much trouble to do so.
The two women were chatting as they walked down the sidewalk as Azusa smiled and said, "I'm getting a little tired. There's a nice cafe I know nearby...."
Sumika nodded, "Let's go there then."
A light blush colored Azusa's cheeks as she mildly noted, "It's a maid cafe, though. Would that be okay with you?"
"It'll be fine," Sumika reassured her as they crossed the street. While Sumika hadn't been in a maid cafe itself she felt reasonably sure she understood the concept. Besides, a maid's uniform wasn't much sillier than some waitress ones.
"Welcome home, master!" the redhead smiled, her black and white traditional maid's uniform hugging her curvy form.
Azusa looked rather amused and Sumika knew she was aware of how sexy the other woman was. "Hi Misato," she smiled familiarly to the maid as she lead them inside.
"Your friends are over at the back table," Misato looked amused as she added, "and I think Shouko will be jealous."
"Shouko?" Sumika looked at Azusa as the shorter woman blushed.
"It's a long story," Azusa said as they walked towards the rear of the cafe. "Uhm, actually, it's kind of your fault we met," as they came into sight of the rear table.
Several women of varying types and ages were talking, from a girl younger that Sumika up to university students. There were several probable school girls or cosplayers, a deeply tanned kogal and two older and surprisingly elegant ladies. All of them stopped talking when they appeared, and one girl blurted, "It's her!"
"Huh?" Sumika managed right before the girls jumped up and surrounded her, peppering her with questions. Azusa managed to get the young women calmed down as she sketched in the situation, that the women were all people Sumika had managed to rescue on her training runs. 'I suppose it's possible,' she admitted, knowing her inability to pass someone in trouble.
Shouko, the tall brown haired woman, smiled wryly as she added, "I'm sorry if my talking Azusa into bringing you down here was inconvenient, but we wanted to meet you."
"It's all right," Sumika said as they sat down at the larger table. She noticed how friendly Azusa was with Shouko and felt relieved. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize all of you," she said as she drank some tea, "But I'm nearly blind without my glasses."
There was a moment of dead silence as they processed that. "You mean to tell me," Minako demanded, the blonde undergrad looking at her in shock, "you were half blind when you kicked my mugger's ass?"
"Well, yes," Sumika admitted.
"So cool!" the kogal blurted.
Apparently, confessing her poor eyesight didn't dampen their enthusiasm. 'This is going to be very odd,' Sumika sighed before giving Azusa a look, 'help!'
To be continued...?
Notes: This is set after the 13 episode anime, but still fairly early in the manga run, not long after Tomoe tried to make her 'girls club' official and found out they could take over the karate club, as it had no members. Shades of Haruhi Suzumiya? Lol. Yes, that's Tsumugi from K-on, venturing over from another fic I set in Akihabara. I'm tempted to do a Sasameki Koto/K-on crossover, assuming I can do one that makes sense.
