I hereby welcome you to chapter 2! Please enjoy~
Edit: After seeing an error in the very first line, I went back and proofread the story + reworded a few things. I feel like a disgrace to writers everywhere. Dohoho~
[Yuru Yuri!]
Still December
It was even before the sun had risen that Ayano's eyes had opened. Yawning tiredly, she glanced at the clock at her bedside. The clock read 6:00am in its glowing green digits.
She had not slept very well the night before, as the excitement of spending time alone with Kyouko for a whole day had kept her up late into the night. Although she had made every attempt to lose consciousness, her mind would not shut down, and insisted on picturing every single perfect moment that Ayano hoped would happen that day. She had also started planning her part of the day, where she would get to decide what to do. A notebook on her nightstand recorded her plans.
As fatigue set in, her thoughts had started getting weird. The fantasies had gone from simply getting a kiss from Kyouko, to another scenario where she had somehow gained magical powers and saved her date from giant alien mechas that has invaded their planet. When she finally did fall asleep, she dreamt about sword fighting with Yui on the roof of her house for Kyouko's affection.
Looking back on the night's worth of thoughts recorded in her notebook, Ayano deemed that all of the scenarios seemed equally likely. Knowing Kyouko, the alien mechas were probably more likely.
Despite getting up several hours before the designated meeting time of 9:37am at the park, she believed that going back to sleep would be fruitless due to her anxiety (she was still reeling from her luck from before), and she'd be better off preparing for the day ahead.
Switching on her lamp and with the dream and ideas still fresh in her mind, a blush staining her visage, Ayano pulled herself up from the embrace of her sheets and made her way over to her dresser. She decided that instead of taking a bath 2-3 hours before the date, she would bathe a little bit later just before she left, so that she would be extra fresh for Kyouko.
But, would she be close enough to smell me? Ayano thought to herself, already flustered. She probably won't notice; I should focus on more important things than whether or not she notices my shampoo. And with that, the purple haired girl dove into her dresser in search for the perfect outfit for the day.
Article after article of clothing were hurled over her head as she dug through her array. Shirts, skirts, a German field officer cap, socks, leggings, and underwear landed behind her; all rejected.
"Come on ... there's got to be something ..." Ayano muttered to herself, getting progressively more worried. Suddenly, she realized with a hint of shame that she had no idea what kind of clothes Kyouko thought looked good. "Maybe ... maybe Chitose would know!"
She crawled over to her cell phone that had been lying on her nightstand and turned it on. She squinted as the screen shone directly in her eyes; blinding in the dim room. Once her vision was clear, she saw that Chitose had already emailed her twice.
One from late last night: "Ayano-chan, thanks for visiting me. I just got discharged from the hospital. Tomorrow will be a bountiful harvest~"
Ayano giggled. Chitose always referenced harvests for some reason, and no one had ever actually asked what she meant, but everybody had a pretty good idea of what it was. I mean, it's hard not to know because anytime phrase was uttered it was always accompanied by a river of blood, and sometimes the loss of consciousness.
Moving onto the next email, Ayano was surprised that it had just arrived a few paragr- minutes before. She opened it curiously.
"Ayano-chan, today's the day. Are you ready? I am!" Attached was a picture of the white haired girl. She was smiling broadly and flashing a peace sign. Ayano could see that her friend had a bloodied tissue stuck up her nose, and there was a trail of blood behind her. Typical Chitose.
Just as she was going to write a message to tell Chitose about saving blood for the day, a new message popped up on her screen. It was from Kyouko. Although they had had each other's emails for awhile, the blonde rarely ever messaged her unless it involved some ridiculous request. Heart pounding, Ayano opened the message.
"c:"
And that was all. Just a lower-case 'c' and a colon forming a smiley face together. To Ayano, it was strangely comforting, and she felt her heart warming. She replied to both messages with a ":)"; unable to convey what she was feeling at the moment. With newfound vigour, she went back to deciding on her pile of possible outfits.
[Yuru Yuri!]
A few hours, many ensembles, and one prayer to the fashion goddess later, Ayano was finally prepared. She had bathed and changed into her chosen outfit; a black shawl tied together at the neck with a red sash, which was over a blue dress with another red sash at the waist. It was going to be cold, being winter and all, so she wore her usual leggings as well as brown knee high boots for good measure.
Standing in her kitchen, she munched on a piece of toast as she stared anxiously at the clock, waiting for an appropriate time to leave. They were to all meet in the park at 9:37, and then take a train to the main town. Seeing as it was only 9:15, she deduced that could make it there on time if she departed at 9:30.
As she idled, she began to worry about how the day would turn out. Would she have a good time? Or would her crush on Kyouko hinder her and make the whole date awkward? She took out her phone once again to find support and reassurance in her best friend, but it turns out that Chitose had some developed sort of psychic energy that allowed her to see the future, as there was already a message waiting for Ayano.
"Just be yourself, Ayano-chan; it'll be great!"
Seeing the message helped calm Ayano's nerves, and she smiled at the words. She owed a lot to Chitose, and now planned to talk to her about ways to that she could repay her for her support. And maybe start a fortune telling business.
Seeing that it was time to depart, Ayano packed her phone into her handbag and headed for the door. Locking it behind her, she stepped out into the December weather.
It was a pretty nice day, Ayano noted as she walked down the front path of her house. The skies were a clear blue, and the air outside wasn't too cold. She giggled to herself and began to hum happily; today was a great day to make some memories. Half skipping when she reached the gate, she had barely enough time to register the blur that shot past her.
"What even ... !?" the purple haired girl yelped as she threw herself backwards a few steps. The blur ground to a halt a few feet away, smoke rising from her shoes. "To -... Toshinou Kyouko?"
The blonde turned around and smiled, trying her best to seem surprised. "Aya-chan? Fancy meeting you here!" She was dressed in shorts and a green sweater with an unnecessarily large red bow around her neck. It was rather cute, although borderline silly, but Ayano felt the heat rise in her cheeks as she took in the sight.
"Wha ... what do you mean?" Ayano asked, her calm composure completely demolished. She was blushing bright red, and clutching her bag tightly. "Weren't we supposed to all meet at the park?"
"Yeah! I was just on my way there!" Kyouko laughed brightly, hopping once in place. She started to walk in the direction of the park and beckoned towards Ayano. "Let's go together!"
"S-sure," Ayano replied nervously, walking towards the blonde. She listened to the blonde hum a fast tune, and smiled as well. Suddenly, an odd thought hit her.
Wait a second. Kyouko's house was on the other side of the park. Which means that the girl would've had to pass by the park to get to Ayano's house, and not to mention she had come from the opposite direction. Just what had Kyouko been doing here? Had she come to pick her up?
A blush rose on her face and, shaking her head, hurried after her partner for the day.
[Yuru Yuri!]
"Are you nervous, Ayano-chan?"
"Hm? Oh ... no! W-why would I be nervous?" Ayano replied to Chitose, nervousness quite evident in her voice. All 10 of them were currently on the train bound for the main town, and Ayano was standing with Chitose and Rise near the doors. She carefully peeked around the pole that she was clutching to get another glance at her date. Kyouko had her back towards her, and was talking and laughing animatedly with the other members of the Amusement club. Ayano felt a twinge of jealousy towards their close knit group. Akari caught her gaze and smiled reassuringly, and Ayano had only a few seconds to nod in reply before Kyouko started to turn around.
Ayano whirled around in embarrassment to avoid being caught spying. She pretended to be extremely interested the world rushing past her just outside of the trains windows, despite having made this trip several times in the past.
"Ne, Ayano-chan," Chitose laid a comforting hand on her best friend's shoulder, "You'll do great. She probably loves you as much as you love her." The white haired girl began to make a move to remove her glasses, but was stopped by Rise, who said something very quietly. Chitose smiled, "Oh, I guess you're right Matsumoto-san, I should leave some for later." She withdrew her hand from her face and went to watch the scenery with a flustered Ayano.
Once the train had glided to a gentle stop at the station, they disembarked and made their way down from the platform, to the square where they had met last time. Ayano saw the bench she had the spent the day in awkward silence last time, and averted her eyes. She was sure that Yui was doing the same. She took comfort in the fact that it would not happen this year.
"Alright!" Kyouko said loudly, smiling broadly. The group of girls all went quiet and looked to the blonde. "We'll all meet back up here later! Have fun on your dates!" She spread her arms and made a 'whooshing' noise, as if she was blowing them away.
The group paired themselves off according to their numbers and started to disperse in different directions. Akari & Chinatsu, Sakurako & Himawari were the first to leave, taking different routes to whatever their destinations were.
"Bye bye Ayano-chan~," Chitose beamed, waving as she lead off the president into the town, "Have fun~" Rise also gave the purple haired girl a thumbs up, expression still as neutral as it always was.
Now there were only four of them left. Kyouko had her hands on her hips, and was looking quizzically at Yui & Chizuru, wondering why they hadn't left yet. "Go on! You're burning daylight!" She made a move to give them an encouragement in the form of a shove, but Yui held her hand up, stopping the blonde in her tracks.
Kyouko tilted her head in question, and Ayano suddenly felt very awkward as the air filled with tension. She sweated and started to wring her hands, looking to Chizuru for her reaction. The Ikeda was wearing a neutral expression, much like Rise had been. However, she took a step back and turned away from the group, as if she knew she wasn't part of the issue.
Yui's face was conflicted, eyes bouncing between Kyouko & Ayano, and her mouth was moving; trying to say words that she couldn't find, or hadn't the will to speak. Instead, she gave a hard look at the two accompanied with a "Don't do anything stupid." Then she turned away and stalked off, Chizuru following in her wake. The remaining two stood in silence for a few moments longer.
"Is she okay?" Ayano asked finally, breaking the silence.
Kyouko finally broke free from her thoughts and gave her a smile, "I'm sure she'll be fine!" She beckoned for Ayano to follow, and started off in the opposite direction. "Ikuzo!" Let's go.
The town had become rather busy, with many people enjoying the holiday outside instead of in their homes. Colourful decorations such as lights, ribbons, and wreathes adorned the street as well as the storefronts, where holiday items were proudly on display, awaiting their destiny of being purchased. Ayano found her eyes being drawn to the shelves, examining the passing items and wondering if her partner would like it. Maybe she should buy her a present. But what would she like?
"Ayano-chan!" Kyouko had turned around to smile at her.
The vice president felt her heart melt at the sight, and gulped hard, "Y-yes?"
"Where do you want to go? You can choose the first place!"
Her thoughts of getting a present for Kyouko still prevalent in her mind, and no other specific idea was in mind, so she settled with saying, "Can we just walk around, and shop for a little?" She realized that Kyouko didn't seem like the kind of person who would do that, so she added, "If that's okay with you, that is."
"Of course!" The smile on Kyouko's face brought relief to Ayano. "By the way Aya-chan, you look so good today!"
Hearing this compliment, Ayano became embarrassed, covering herself with her arms and deeming that hearing this statement from her crush was 'too good to be true.' "A-are you making fun of me?" she asked, a slight whine in her voice.
Kyouko laughed and crossed her index fingers together in front of her to form an 'x'. "No way! You're definitely the cutest girl in this female dominated town!" To illustrate her point, she reached out and brushed Ayano's cheek with a single finger, eyes slanting teasingly.
"Eee ..." Ayano squealed softly, closing her eyes and covering her face, blushing furiously. The spot where Kyouko had touched was burning, in a pleasant '2nd degree burn of love' kind of way. The touch in addition to the compliment completely broke down Ayano's defenses, and she dodged around Kyouko and ran into the nearest store to hide her blushing face, vaulting over a few people in the process.
Kyouko just laughed happily, a minor blush forming on her own face, and skipped after her date. A girl around her age who had witnessed the event held the door open for her and gave her a high five. Today was going to be a very good day.
[Yuru Yuri!]
"Sheesh, have you decided on a place yet?" a blue haired girl asked her companion.
"Shh!" Sakurako shushed her date crossly, "You're so impatient!"
"Why wouldn't I be? You've been deciding for the last 15 minutes!" Himawari fired back, crossing her arms over her chest. "And why did I have to be with you again?"
Sakurako paid no attention to her reply, which irritated the blue haired girl more. "Hey! At least listen to me-!"
"I wanna do that!" Sakurako finally crowed, lifting her hand and pointing towards the frozen lake a little off to the side. She jumped up and down excitedly.
Himawari followed her hand and saw that the girl was pointing at the groups of colourful skaters weaving around the frozen surface, leaving lines in the white ice. "Skating?" she exclaimed in disbelief, "You can't even skate very well, and not to mention we don't even have skates with us." Turning back, she was greeted with the sight of Sakurako with two pairs of skates dangling by their laces from her hands. "Wow, really?"
Sakurako pushed her down the hill to the bank of the lake with an 'Ikuzo!' and they both sat in the cold snow to don their skates. Himawari got hers on fairly quickly, and became annoyed when she saw that Sakurako had not put her own pair on yet; she was looking at Himawari expectantly. "Honestly now."
"Put mine on too Hima-chan!" Sakurako lifted her feet and wiggled them in front of Himawari.
The blue haired girl sighed, and seeing no way out of it, decided to comply. Moving herself in front of her friend, she took hold of the girl's feet, and noted curiously that they tensed when she made contact. She slipped the skates onto Sakurako's feet one after the other and laced them up. "How's that?"
"Oww! Too tight! I can't feel my feet!" Sakurako whined, clutching her feet. "Loosen them!"
Himawari huffed and loosened the skate laces to an acceptable tightness. Her knees were getting wet from kneeling in the snow, and she wasn't feeling particularly joyful at the moment.
Soon, the two were on the ice with the other skaters. You couldn't really say that they were skating, because Sakurako was unsteady on her blades, face screwed up in effort. After taking a spill for the 2nd time, she latched onto Himawari's arm.
"What do you want?" the blue haired girl asked with a hint of annoyance. She had almost lost her balance when her friend had hitched a ride, and the near brush with an icy death had her rattled. Her face began to heat up when Sakurako just leaned her head on her shoulder, and wrapped both arms around Himawari's right one.
"Can we skate like this?" she asked surprisingly softly, and without the usual demands in her voice. She angled her head away from the blue haired girl's line of sight, hiding her own blush.
"S-sure." Himawari replied nervously. It was a little hard towing her friend around the ice, but she figured that it was all worth it when she caught a glimpse of Sakurako's content expression, overlaid by a blush. She felt a similar expression rise on her own face. Maybe this isn't so bad after all...
Nearby, Akari and Chinatsu had had the same idea of skating, except that they were both absolutely awful at it. Currently, Akari was struggling to pull her friend out of a snowbank that the latter had magnificently crashed into after trying to imitate a figure skater, despite not even having the basic skating abilities down. Although worried for her friend as she pulled at the girl's legs, Akari was secretly relieved that it had been someone else doing something embarrassing for once.
[Yuru Yuri!]
The pair hopped from store to store for the first part of the morning like two schoolgirls on a shopping spree. Which is what exactly what they were, minus the actual 'shopping' part. They spent quite a bit of their morning in clothing stores, where Kyouko had her date try on various outfits, much to Ayano's embarrassed happiness.
"Halt!" the blonde commanded, brandishing her cell phone and aiming it at Ayano, who had emerged from the dressing room with a rather cute blue top and a pink skirt. The purple haired girl recoiled in surprise, folding her arms over herself, embarrassed. "I like that one on you."Kyouko commented. Her phone made a noise like a camera clicking just before Ayano ducked back into the dressing room.
"T-Toshino Kyouko! Don't take people's photos without permission!" Ayano stammered as she emerged dressed in her own clothes, although inwardly pleased that Kyouko wanted a picture of her. She glanced around nervously to see if anyone was watching them. The other people in the store paid no heed to them.
"Then do I have your permission to use it as a background for my phone then?" Kyouko smiled mischievously, taking a look at her newly acquired photo and gasping, "You're so cute!"
"W-w-what?! Absolutely not!" Ayano squealed, her voice climbing in pitch as she thought of Toshinou Kyouko gazing at her picture when she was alone. Lewd thoughts slipped their way into her head. "T-that's embarrassing!" she added, going against her own will.
"Ayano-sama," Kyouko said simply, eyes sparkling. She dropped to one knee in front of Ayano, bowing deeply and holding up her phone towards the girl. Incorporating a humble tone into her voice, "It would be an honour to have you," she finished. The blonde's mischievous smile was out of Ayano's sight.
"AH! Get up!" Ayano pulled on Kyouko's sleeve, once she realized with some sort of odd delight that the blonde's current position resembled something familiar. She took a look around, and saw with panic that some other girls had gathered around aiming their phone cameras at them; waiting giddily for what they thought was a proposal. Her heart began to pound in her chest and her blush grew, unintentionally encouraging the onlookers. "Fine, you can! Just get up before they think-"
Too late. The crowd of girls started clapping and cheering once they heard what was assumed to be an acceptance. One girl even burst into joyful tears. As the girls lined up to give their congratulations to the new 'couple', Ayano tried in vain to point out that Kyouko hadn't even been holding a ring, let alone the fact that nobody ever proposes in a clothing store. Ever.
On the other side of the same store, Chitose and Rise had been looking over some hats when the president had suddenly felt the feeling of possible doom emanating. Checking to see that Chitose was still absorbed in the examination of various headwears, Rise snuck a peek at the opposite side of the building, where she saw a group of girls gathering. Upon seeing Kyouko down on her knee in front of her vice president through the crowd, she turned back quickly and placed her hands over Chitose's ears.
"Eh? Matsumoto-san?" Chitose asked cheerily, turning to her, still thankfully oblivious to the events across the store. "Is the music really that bad?" she asked, referring to the music playing on the store's intercom, which actually rather terrible. The cheer from the group across the room never reached her ears.
The president said something quietly and gently escorted Chitose out of the building, before the white haired girl spotted their friends before the rivers ran red. Luckily, Chitose's innate long ranged yuri detection seemed to be disabled at the moment, due to yesterday's bloodbath. Rise whispered a quick prayer in thanks as she steered her friend towards a different store, where their time would be less life threatening.
"So young! I hope you two have a happy and long life together!"
"U-uh, no wait ... she was just asking me-"
"The 501st JFW would like to extend their congratulations to you."
"T-thanks?"
"Hey, congratulations, da-ze!"
"No, wait ..!" Ayano looked over to Kyouko for help. To her horror, she saw that the blonde had taken it all in stride, and was accepting the congratulations from the bystanders, even slapping some high fives left and right. "T... T-TOSHINOU KYOUKO!"
The blonde looked over from her group of well-wishers and saw Ayano cowering cutely in embarrassment, red as a tomato. Seeing that she couldn't take much more, Kyouko decided to give her a break. Smiling, she swept in like the manga-inclined hawk she was and grabbed Ayano by the hand, intertwining their fingers, causing both the purple haired girl and the onlookers to gasp with delight.
A little girl ran up to them and pushed a white lily into her hands. With delight, Kyouko thanked the girl, and reached up to tuck the flower into Ayano's hair behind her ear, causing her to blush even harder. The blonde bade the crowd farewell, and pulled Ayano along as she dashed out of the store, well-wishers throwing flowers in their wake.
[Yuru Yuri!]
Author here. I think my chapters have followed the same sort of format; it's semi-serious at first, and then it starts getting ridiculous.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Please tell me what you think, and I hope to see you in the next chapter. *bows*