Camera? Check.
Binoculars? Check.
Picnic basket? Check.
Sleeping bag? Check.
Despite the fact that she had kept herself preoccupied with other thoughts for the past month, she had vivid dreams about her parents almost every night. It almost felt like they were haunting her; she hadn't had a good night's sleep in a while. So tonight she was going to take her mind off it all – she was going to have a sleep over with Amano-kun!
…It was just a shame that Yuno couldn't get closer to his house without risking him noticing. If she could, she would have slept right out in his yard, but there wasn't really anywhere to hide. For a while, she had considered sneaking into his house and hiding, but she had lost her nerve – if he discovered her, it would all be over. Luckily, when she was scoping out his house a few days earlier, it turned out there was a house across from his that provided an excellent view of his house and his windows and had plenty of bushes to hide in. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.
"Ahh… I wonder if I'll catch a glimpse of him in his PJs…" She smiled at the thought as she finished packing – she could just imagine how cute he would look in the morning in his pajamas, with his hair all messed up, blinking sleep from his eyes.
'I just hope the zoom on my camera is good enough…' She thought to herself as she headed out the door. If she witnessed an adorable moment like that, she definitely wanted to capture it!
It wasn't too much longer before Yuno had made herself comfortable in the neighbor's bushes, zipped up to her waist in the sleeping bag. Or rather, as comfortable as she could get – there were some twigs digging into her skin and every time she moved a small branch hit her in the face. She had made sure it was dark out before she set up camp – she didn't want the home owners to spot her and ask what she was doing. It was a warm night out, and the stars were just starting to make their appearance in the sky. She pointed her binoculars up at them.
"Amano-kun, the stars look so pretty out tonight, though I can't see them very well from here. One day we'll watch them together, like I said." Yuno let out a wistful sigh. And yet, despite her promise, she still hadn't worked up the courage to speak to him since that day.
She brought her binoculars back down for a closer target, the back door of Amano-kun's house. The lights were on, and after about fifteen frustrating minutes where she didn't see anything, she saw him enter his kitchen. "There he is!" She murmured to herself excitedly. He got a plate of something from the fridge and after microwaving it, sat down at the kitchen table to eat. It was something completely mundane and yet Yuno's heart was pounding. Without looking away, Yuno used her free hand to reach down into her picnic basket and brought out one of her sandwiches. She nibbled at it, still fixated on him. This way it could feel like they were eating together.
'I wonder where his mom is?' Strange, she expected them to be eating together. But Amano-kun was all alone. When he was done, he put his dish in the sink and headed out of the room. A minute later she saw the upstairs lights go on.
…Which posed a problem for her – she couldn't see up there unless Amano was right by the window. She pouted – after she had put so much effort into tonight, a silly thing like going upstairs thwarted her. If that was the case, she figured she might as well go home.
She was debating whether or not to leave, when she couldn't help but focus on a tree in Amano-kun's yard. Hmm… did she dare? Yuno glanced nervously from the tree to the window and back again. She wasn't even sure if the risk would pay off, it might not be his bedroom window. But she didn't want to go home either.
"I can't just give up without a fight! Hold on, Amano-kun, I'm coming!" The camera she was holding got stuffed into her pocket, and she hung the binoculars around her neck. She left the sleeping bag and basket in the bushes; she would come back for them later. Cautiously, Yuno crept into her object of affection's yard and very quickly sidled up to his tree. She peered up at the window again – no sign of him so far…at least not that she could tell.
'How am I going to do this…?' It wasn't like she was a tree climbing expert. In her younger days at the orphanage, Yuno had climbed some trees in the yard, but that had been years ago. She grabbed onto the lowest branch and tried to pull herself up, but the branch slipped out from her hands, giving her some painful splinters. 'Ow ow ow!' She glared at the tree.
Her next attempt was more successful, she grabbed onto the lowest branch again and sort of climbed the bark of the side of the tree, and was able to pull herself up. 'I did it!' The next branches were easy, since they were close together. She carefully pulled herself up, one after the other, until she was right next to his window. She crossed her fingers and looked in. Yes! It was his room!
Amano-kun was on his bed, his back to the window. He was huddled up in some blankets and hunched over. Overall, it was a sad sight and one Yuno hadn't really been expecting. She was expecting to see him getting ready for bed, or to already be lying down and watching TV or something. What was wrong with him? He looked so lonely – it made her heart ache to see him like that. It was all she could do not to tap on the window and try to cheer him up.
She just stayed like that, watching him for a while. But then she made the critical error of shifting on her branch and trying to move in for an even closer look. A loud snap was her only warning and before she could do anything, she found herself plummeting. She cried out in surprise – luckily another branch softened her fall before she met with the ground.
"Oof…" All the air rushed out of Yuno's lungs and she was seeing stars. To her horror, she realized there was no way Amano-kun hadn't heard that. 'Oh no!' She looked up, she could see he had come to the window and was looking down. Despite how much pain she was in, she pushed herself to her feet and half ran, half limped out of the yard. 'He saw me he saw me he saw me! I just know that he saw me…I really messed this up!' She dove back into the safety of the neighbor's bushes and peered out. A few seconds later, Amano-kun had opened up the back door and was looking around in the yard. She could faintly here him saying "What the heck was that?" He walked over to examine the broken branch.
'Ah, he didn't know it was me!' Yuno was relieved. And what was more – Amano-kun was wearing his pajamas and now she was able to get a good look at them! Quickly, she fished out her camera, turned off the flash, and snapped a few hasty pictures before he went back inside. 'This trip was a success!' He looked just as cute as she had imagined. Once he was back in and had turned off the lights in his bedroom, Yuno crawled into her own sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep. No bad dreams haunted her that night.
…Unfortunately, crawling out of the bushes the next morning wasn't exactly pleasant. Her whole body was stiff and she had some dark bruises and a lot of scratches from falling out of the tree. The splinters in her hands were throbbing too, and there was an awful pain in her right leg. But as she headed home, she wasn't sorry. Her little sleep over had been completely worth it!
A/N: For a comedy relief chapter, this was hard to write! It took me a while. Yuno is fitting into her stalker role more and more every day, but to her, it's just natural progression. It's not like she sees anything creepy or strange about what she's doing; it's only natural that she should want to be near the one she loves, right?