Akiyama Yoshiko stared in disbelief at the devastation that had been wrought upon her kitchen. A cutting board sat on the counter, a knife stuck in it. Ingredients were scattered about, and her nose caught a faint scent of smoke. At the center of the chaos Yukari stood, looking over a small box. Yoshiko stepped closer, hearing her daughter's voice.
"No, this piece wasn't cooked well enough, not good enough for Nishizumi-dono!"
Yoshiko's mouth curved into a small smile. She knew how her daughter felt about her Sensha-dou teammate. She had seen the way Yukari's eyes lit up, how her smiles widened, whenever Nishizumi Miho was mentioned. "Good morning, Yukari-chan," she said, stifling a laugh as her daughter spun around, a panicked expression on her face.
Leaning against the counter in an attempt to hide her half-made bento, Yukari forced an incredibly fake smile onto her face. "Good morning, Okaasan! I was just, ah, making breakfast! You always work so hard to cook for Otousan and I, that I thought maybe I could handle it for once, ehehehe..." she chuckled weakly. Her eyes darted left and right, either trying to avoid looking her mother in the eye, or trying to come up with viable escape routes.
"Isn't a bento an odd choice for breakfast?" Yoshiko asked, unable to resist the chance to tease her daughter. Her efforts were immediately rewarded as Yukari's eyes widened, an embarrassed blush spreading across her face. She tried to come up with an excuse, and failed miserably. Her mother just shook her head in amusement, stepping up to the counter. "Would you like some help?" she asked with a smile.
Yukari blinked in surprise. "R-Really?" she asked, before looking around at the current state of the kitchen. Maybe a little help wouldn't hurt, she did want this lunch to be perfect. She had to be the best girlfriend she could possibly be, after all, or else she might disappoint Miho. The more logical part of her mind knew that Miho was far too kind to break up with her over something as simple as a badly prepared lunch, but the emotional side was terrified that she would do something wrong and lose her commander's love and friendship forever. The thought of being alone again was almost too much to bear. "Thank you," she sighed, stepping aside to let her mother look at the box.
It was almost empty, containing only rice. Yoshiko turned and gave her daughter a questioning look. "I couldn't get anything to cook right," Yukari said, looking downcast.
Yoshiko smiled at her. "Here, I'll do the cooking, you cut the vegetables," she said, before her expression hardened, "But don't think i'm letting you off the hook, you're cleaning this mess up!"
"Yes ma'am!" Yukari saluted, before turning her attention to getting the knife out of the cutting board. The two worked in silence for a few minutes. Internally, she sighed in relief. Her mother hadn't even asked who the bento was for-
"So, have you told her yet?"
The sound of splitting wood filled the kitchen. They were going to need a new board. "I-What are you talking about, told who what?" Yukari asked nervously as she pulled the knife out. Again.
Yoshiko looked at her daughter knowingly. "Have you told Nishizumi-san how you feel about her?" she asked.
"Y-you know?!" Yukari shouted, dropping the knife on the counter in shock. Several worst-case scenarios went through her mind. She had done some research when she realized how she felt about her friend, and knew that not everyone was accepting of such relationships. But, her mother was helping her make a bento for Miho...did that mean she was okay with it? "You don't disapprove, do you?" she asked, fearing the answer. Her mother continued to smile at her, pulling her into a hug.
"As long as my daughter is happy, I'm happy. I may not share your enthusiasm for tanks and combat, but I understand what being in love is like," Yoshiko told her daughter. Nishizumi Miho seemed like such a nice girl, and she had given her the one thing she had always worked for. Yukari's happiness.
"Thank you..." Yukari sighed, feeling as if a weight had been removed from her shoulders. "Does 'tousan know?" she mumbled.
"Not yet, but I know he'll be fine with it. You can just leave that to me," Yoshiko said, taking a step back. "Now, I believe we have a bento to make?"
Yukari nodded, determination in her eyes. "Right!"
Miho slung her bag around her shoulder and stepped out of her apartment, shutting the door behind her. Her mind was still working through the events of the past two days. Winning the Nationals, reconnecting with her sister, and then of course there was Yukari. She blushed at the memory of their first kiss, remembering how nice it had felt to simply rest in her arms. She didn't really know what to do on that front, having no experience with dating or romance. She wasn't even sure what she had done to make Yukari feel so strongly about her. Making her way out onto the sidewalk, she took a moment to look around at the town built onto the deck of the Academy Ship. Her home. A familiar voice called out to her, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"Good morning Miho-chan!" Yukari waved to her girlfriend as she ran up, coming to a stop beside her. Miho looked at her in surprise, before giving her a warm smile.
"Good morning Yukari-chan," she replied. What was Yukari doing here? 'She couldn't have come all this way, this early, just to see me...could she?' Miho thought to herself.
Yukari seemed to pick up on her confusion, saying "I thought I'd come walk to school with you, if that's okay!"
"O-of course!" Miho said, her face reddening. It made her feel warm inside, that Yukari was willing to get up early and meet her, just so that they could spend a little bit of time together. They started walking, Miho taking the time to look at the girl by her side. She had always thought her friend was cute, but seeing her from this close, with an expression of pure happiness on her face...Miho reached out, taking Yukari's hand in hers.
Yukari blushed at the contact. She couldn't think of any way this could get better-the memory of Miho's lips pressing softly into hers flashed through her mind. Well, okay, there was that. She had thought about giving her commander a good morning kiss, but hadn't been able to convince herself to actually go through with it. The fear of scaring Miho off by being too forward had held her back. She settled for gently sliding her thumb over the back of Miho's hand. Just being there with Miho was enough for her, anyway.
They continued walking, until a thought occurred to Miho. "Yukari-chan?" she asked, pulling them to a stop, "Do you think we should tell our friends about, um, us?"
Yukari sighed. Part of her wanted to just run and hide from that problem, but her mother had accepted her and Miho's relationship. It was possible their friends would as well. "I'm okay with telling them if you want to. Besides..." she rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand in embarrassment, "My parents kind of already found out. They're okay with...this." Even though she had outright asked Miho to be her girlfriend, but she couldn't quite bring herself to say words like "relationship" out loud just yet.
"I don't want to hide things from them," Miho said, looking down at the sidewalk.
Yukari was dismayed at Miho's sad expression. "Then we'll tell them. I'm sure they'll understand, they're our friends after all," she said, not feeling anywhere near as confident as she tried to make her words sound. Still, it seemed to cheer Miho up, and that was certainly worth it. The two began to walk once more, still holding on to each other's hand.
They were almost to the school when they encountered the other three members of Team Anglerfish. Saori seemed to be dragging an annoyed Mako along. "Good morning Miho, Yukari!" the ginger-haired radio operator shouted in greeting, "Come on, we've got to get Mako to class in time! She's turning over a new leaf, now that her record's clear!"
"I don't remember saying that..." Mako muttered.
Hana greeted Miho and Yukari, before noticing their linked hands. Yukari tensed as Miho opened her mouth to speak-
"Gah, a little help here?!" Saori yelled, trying to support her friend's weight. Yukari hesitantly let go of Miho's hand, and they ran over to help her. Hana followed after a moment, giving them a thoughtful look.
Yukari felt her anticipation build as they stepped into the cafeteria. The weight in her bag seemed to get even heavier. She reached out, stopping Miho from getting in line. "Ah, actually, I brought some food for you Miho-chan," she said, unable to keep the nervousness out of her voice.
Miho tilted her head in curiosity, a blush on her face. "Really? You didn't have to do that..."
"It's no trouble! I wanted to do it for you!" Yukari assured her. She would do nearly anything her commander asked of her! Although, she knew Miho was far too selfless to ask favours of others. It was one of the many things Yukari loved about her.
"Thank you..." Miho whispered, looking down with a shy smile on her face. The two girls quickly found a table, Miho taking a seat as Yukari rifled through her bag.
"Ah, there's mine..." she mumbled, withdrawing a bag of hastily-made sandwiches and setting it down. Her mother had offered to make her a bento of her own, but she hadn't wanted to risk missing her chance to walk with Miho, and the thought of leaving her girlfriend alone at the table while she got in line didn't even register in her mind. She was vaguely aware of their friends giving her a curious look as they sat down across from her and Miho. "There it is!"
She carefully took the cloth-wrapped box out of the bag, placing it in front of Miho. "Please, enjoy!" she said, bowing.
Miho unwrapped the cloth, her eyes widening. 'A bento?' she thought in surprise. And it seemed home-made, too. She looked between the bento and the bag of sandwiches, stunned that Yukari had gone through so much effort just for her. She looked up and met Yukari's eager gaze, her blush returning in full force. "Th-thank you..." she repeated, slowly leaning towards Yukari. What was she doing? Hana, Saori, and Mako were watching! But for some reason, she didn't care. She just wanted to show Yukari how much her kindness, how much she meant to her.
Besides, friends were supposed to trust each other, not keep secrets. She pressed her lips against Yukari's, trying to mimic what the darker-haired girl had done just after the finals.
Yukari immediately returned the kiss. All the doubts and fears that had been plaguing her melted away at the simple fact that Miho had kissed her. She had been afraid that she wouldn't be good enough for her commander, or that Miho didn't really like her and just didn't want to hurt her feelings by rejecting them. But by being the one to kiss her, Miho had proved to her that she really did feel the same way.
Miho pulled back, far sooner than either of them would have liked, and turned to her confused friends. Yukari sat down next to her, and she gave a nervous smile. "Um, we have something to say. Yukari-chan and I are, ah, together," she stuttered. She was pretty sure it was impossible for her face to get any redder.
Mako was the first to react, nodding and resuming her eating. Hana's eyes seemed to light up in understanding. "Congratulations," she said, smiling at them. And Saori...
Saori stared at them in confusion. "But-but-" her unhappy tone caused Miho to wince, "That's just not right!"
Miho felt tears starting to form in her eyes. She hadn't expected a reaction this bad-
"Two of my friends are dating and I'm still single!"
-huh? Miho and Yukari both blinked in surprise. The radio operator crossed her arms, sulking. "What's next, Mako-chan secretly dating Sodoko?"
Mako choked on her lunch.
"Oh well, congratulations. Being with another girl sounds kind of weird, though." She sat up straighter, pointing at the two, "Now tell us, when did this happen? Where? Who confessed first? Have you gone on any dates yet?"
Miho looked at her friends. They had accepted it...just like that? She smiled, her hand finding Yukari's once more. She still wasn't sure what she had done to deserve such great friends, or such an amazing girlfriend.
Author's Note:
A bento is a Japanese boxed lunch. Making one for your romantic partner is considered somewhat old-fashioned, I thought it made sense that Yukari would fall back on something like that, not really having any other ideas.
Woo, I wrote this pretty fast. It's all thanks to the awesome feedback I've gotten. It may not be as much as you'd see on a Naruto or Harry Potter or whatever fic, but I enjoy it anyway. And I hope you're okay with how I handled Yukari and Miho's "coming out." I'm terrible at angst, and I can't really see Yukari's mother or their friends freaking out too much over it or anything.
So, Yukari's finally stepped down from panic-mode, and Miho's surprised at just how hard Yukari's trying to make her happy. And are Hana, Mako, and Saori really as accepting of it all as they seem? Are Mako and Sodoko secretly dating?! (Probably not)
Find out next time, on-oh wait, Omake, right.
"Yukari-chan and I are, ah, together."
There was a pause, before Mako nodded. "Finally," she said, causing everyone to stare at her. "What? The sexual tension in that tank was getting unbearable."
Miho was unable to come up with a response to that.
"And Yukari being able to look up your skirt from her station didn't help..."
Yukari's head slammed into the table with a dull 'thud.'