RECORDING

Chapter Two

Pillow Talk

Azusa hung on to Yui's arm to keep herself from getting lost in the storm. She tried turning her face away from the stinging rain, but the strong, ambiguous wind whipped it in all directions. They were running blind. In the younger girl's vision was nothing but gray sheeting rain, traffic lights, and restaurant signs. She wondered if she could rely so heavily on Yui's sense of direction in this situation. Sighing, Azusa buried her face in the senpai's coat. That made a decent shield.

Yui then came to a sudden halt and Azusa crashed into her. Squinting in the downpour, the kouhai interpreted a horizontal yellow-and-black striped bar. Train gate, she realized.

Yui, who had been in space cadet mode this entire time, looked up when she felt Azusa shiver. She wordlessly considered the pigtailed girl. A patchy, rosy flush colored her cheeks and ears. Her brown eyes were listless. Her elbows were crunched into her sides for warmth. Her shaky breath escaped her mouth in feathery white puffs. It is pretty freezing for October, Yui thought, touching her own numb ears. And Azu-nyan doesn't have a coat or anything. Feeling like an utter heel for not noticing before, Yui unbuttoned her coat and held it open to Azusa. The kouhai backed away, her expression uncertain. It was clear that she wanted to, though she didn't know if she should.

"Get in," Yui nodded, and Azusa hurriedly complied. The third year held half her coat around the second year as the two speedily crossed the tracks. Azusa found it even harder to keep up with Yui's pace in her coat. Even more awkward to the kouhai was how close she was pressed to Yui. No matter where she placed her hands or arms, she touched Yui. The senpai, however, didn't seem the least bit fazed by this deepened intimacy.

"I wonder how people are seeing us now?" Azusa wondered out loud.

Yui kept her eyes forward as she mused, "They probably think we're sisters or something."

Sisters or something. Azusa hoped to every Kami that no one saw them as anything more.

Yui grinned at her. "This is a pretty romantic scene, though, ne?" Azusa squeaked as the senpai took her hand. "If this were a French movie, I'd be proposing to you."

With a panicked squawk, the kouhai tore out of Yui's coat, preferring the rain to this embarrassing situation. "I-I wouldn't marry you!" she spluttered.

Yui giggled at Azusa's expression, which shifted from outrage to vulnerability and back again. "What's to worry about it? We're both girls."

"That's exactly why I wouldn't!"

Yui noticed that the blush on Azusa's face was no longer a mottled red patch but a soft pink glow.

When Yui was in kindergarten her friend Reiji had been suspended for kissing her and offering to take her to Paris. They never spoke to each other again after that.

That wind-blown, stormy night Yui dreamed of that memory, only Reiji was replaced by Azusa. The details were fuzzy, and the brunette felt oddly distant from the scenario. But she was aware of their recklessness. They knew it was wrong, but they did it anyway. Ui entered the scene, presumably to bring the hammer down on them, when Yui jolted awake. For a moment she couldn't move her body. Then she rolled onto her side, her limbs trembling.

Azusa was right beside her. The kouhai was on her back, wide awake, staring out into space.

Yui blinked. Then she remembered that Ui had invited Azusa to stay the night. Groggily, the senpai extended her hand until it was touching Azusa's arm.

"Have you been awake this entire time?" she hummed.

Azusa snapped out of her reverie with a start. She turned her wide, surprised eyes over to Yui, then nodded. "I can't sleep."

"What's wrong?"

The kouhai looked back up at the ceiling and bit her lip. Yui inched closer, anxious to hear what was troubling Azusa so much. The dreamlike distant feeling still plagued the senpai's head and she fought to focus on her friend's pained face.

"I realized I have a dentist appointment coming up." Azusa could've kicked herself for saying that.

"Ahh, I hate going to the dentist!" Yui nodded. "Just ask her to put that numbing gel on your teeth. Then it won't hurt."

"Okay."

Though it was true Azusa had to go to the dentist in a few days, that wasn't what was keeping her awake.

"Yui-senpai," she blurted. "I-I'm sorry…"

Flummoxed, Yui propped herself up on her elbow. "Sorry about what?"

Azusa gazed sorrowfully at Yui, her chestnut-colored eyes swimming. "Sorry for yelling at you earlier today."

Yui's smile was so friendly and warm, it banished the mid-autumn chill. "It's okay. I don't mind Azu-nyan's yelling and God knows I deserve a good holler every now and then. Besides," she added, settling back down with her head nestled between the younger girl's shoulder and neck, "Azu-nyan is so kawaii when she's frustrated."

"Oi, oi, I don't get frustrated for the sake of service, Yui-senpai," Azusa frowned. Then she sighed, "But…I said I'd never marry you…I…I…didn't mean it…"

"I know."

The kouhai looked at Yui sharply. "You knew?"

"I like playing with Azu-nyan, and often she'll play the game with me."

Though Yui had accepted her apology, Azusa couldn't help but still feel dissatisfied.