52. Stirring of the wind

Classes were done for the day. Tsumiki had the afternoon to herself. For weeks she had been planning this. Well. Planning, then chickening out. Mayoi may or may not have heard the same spiel every time she played scaredy-cat. She decided against her plan once more and turned toward home. The walk home was pleasant at the very least? Her phone rang as she unlocked the door to her apartment.

"Mayoi, what do I do? He doesn't love me. Who am I kidding? Why am I bothering? Mayoi, did I ever even have a chance?" The questions rambled on and Mayoi constantly had to fight the urge to sneak a drink from the bottles in the fridge to quell the recurring headache. Finally, she decided she'd had enough.

"Okay Tsumiki." She sighed, rubbing a hand over her forehead and wandered around aimlessly through the living room of the apartment. "Stop. Step back. Breathe. You. You're going to do this." The hand fell from her face as she finally came to a stop by a wall and leaned against it, "You're going to channel whatever confidence you have for this moment and just let it out. I will bring you alcohol if it means you'll d—"

"MAYOI!" Hime called from Mayoi's kitchenette, from which she stood a mere two meters away, hearing every word seeing as Mayoi conveniently left the phone on speaker. "You know not to do that." She walked out, shaking a spoon at Mayoi before turning around again, a

"But has it stopped me? Nope." The accused muttered in response, eyes rolling.

"I heard that." Tsumiki responded dryly through the call.

"You heard nothing if you want that liquid courage." Mayoi hissed, gaze flicking over to where Hime was preparing dinner for she and her roommate—the notoriously inept chefs—for the next few evenings. She immediately looked over at an inconspicuous floorboard beside the couch leg after deeming her glance safe from potentially prying eyes.

"Duly noted." Static crackled over the phone as Tsumiki hummed and sunk further into her chair and curled her legs beneath her, the loose sweater brushing against the receivers end. "When should I expect the delivery?"

"TSUMIKI!"

"Fine fine, Hime. I won't…" Mayoi in the meantime was cackling before writing a quick note on the notepad next to the phone cradle. Tsumiki however was picking at a loose string on her socks while thinking, "Maybe. Maybe I won't…"

The girls' conversation delved into the usual topics: Mayoi's latest escapades; Hime's latest culinary creations; Tsumiki's friends' latest antics; and the (of course) always present and never omitted, teasing of Tsumiki's inability to convey what she really thought to Io.

The week blurred together and suddenly Friday was upon her and she finally caught up to him after class. It was a beautiful afternoon, a cool yet comfortable warmth washing over with the soft wind blowing by. Today was the day. Today she'd give up, she'd go down in flames, or she'd be the happiest girl on earth.

"Io..." She tugged on his sleeve, shy but determined.

"Hmm?" He turned to face her, stopping entirely, giving her his full attention.

"Can I tell you something?" The cherry blossoms started falling with a strong gust of a surprisingly gentle wind, it blew her hair in front of her face as she mouthed three syllables. The soft sound floated up to his ears, and his eyes went wide. With disbelief working its way over his face, Tsumiki turned bright red and felt her stomach drop in that uncomfortable way that she absolutely loathed. Her words were echoing through her head as she took an unsteady step back. Then another, and another, and then she was turning on her heel and dashing off in the other direction ignoring every call of her name from the one person who had listened to her wary proclamation.

"I love you!"

Apologies for taking so long. Busier summer than I expected what with college preparations and all. I have another chapter I'll be putting up in a few hours and possibly another by evening :D Gettin stuff done and takin names! Thanks for holding on so long. I have a lot of oneshots (unfortunately I'm known for being succinct instead of verbose... So these won't exactly be long unless I can pull something magical together ahaha...) to write and hope to get through at least half within the week (but I still have a commission to finish and studying to do for an upcoming course... Partially why this took me so long)

I don't own Acchi Kocchi, I am however rewatching it to get back in the swing of things (I forgot how hard I shipped these two and Mayoi and Sakaki oh my goodness gracious it's insane)