Alright, time for number two! Good luck, Kyouko!
It was the fourteenth of February. Saint Valentine's Day had come.
And she still hadn't made up her mind about whether it should be a day to be celebrated or not.
Kyouko let out a yawn on the balcony of the watch tower, her eyes lazily opening up...
...Wait.
Crap.
Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap, it's already night-time, you idiot!
Even though she was a magical girl, she could still get sleepy. That morning, when she'd woken up and realized the day, the first thing she went about doing was learning how to make chocolate, then getting the necessary equpment, then 'borrowing' the hotel kitchen, and so on and so forth. She'd worked tirelessly for hours, failure and failure.
And when she'd finally finished with something she was satisfied with, she had gone up here to the top of Mitakihara Tower to search for Sayaka...before falling asleep.
Now that she was awake, she found herself to be internally frustrated. It was too late now to do what she wanted to do. She'd missed her chance. Great. Just great.
Dammitdammitdammitdammitdammit...
If anyone happened to ask her why she was so worked up about it, she wouldn't have been able to answer them. The person she liked, well, they'd known each other for less than a month, and the first time they met, they'd tried to kill each other. Not exactly the most romantic love-at-first-sight one would expect.
The two of them had warmed up to each other since, but not quite on such a level that one could call them 'best friends'.
So why? Why was this? What was this feeling in her heart, and why did she feel this way?
"Huh, so it is you. What're you doing here?"
The sudden, familiar voice snapped her back into reality, and she reacted with a surprised jolt. "Eh, Sayaka—?!"
The blunette was surprised at her reaction, but then laughed it off as she climbed onto the platform of the observatory, her body bursting with light as her magical outfit was replaced with thick jeans and a blue, fur-collared jacket matching her hair.
"Am I interrupting anything~?" Sayaka asked jokingly.
Kyouko was stunned at his appearance, and even though she knew she should act like she normally should, maybe retort with something playful like 'Yeah, my peace and quiet time, thanks a lot' or something like that, she found that no words would come out of her mouth.
All she could do was stare at the girl standing in front of her, her heart behaving erratically like never before.
"W- what?" Seeing Kyouko's lack of response, Sayaka's expression changed into that of nervousness. "Uh, Kyouko? You there?"
"Oh, nothing, it's just..."
Shyly looking around, trying to make it look like nothing very important was going on, Kyouko wasn't sure what to say. Here's your chance! Go for it before it's too late! Not like she'd ever listened to her her lip for a bit as she gazed about, after a while, she eventually got herself to say something.
"Today's Valentine's, right? Did you actually give chocolate to someone?"
Wait, that wasn't what she wanted to say. Idiot. She was such an idiot! What was she doing, saying something like that?
At that, Sayaka appeared baffled, but answered anyway. "Of course! Just who do you think I am? After using my wish on that guy, you think I'm gonna let another girl steal him away from me?"
"Hmmm." Of course that was going to be her answer. It was obvious, wasn't it? The one she liked was that kid, that boy whose only talent was playing the violin, that other 'Kyou'.
"He was so happy, he ate it all!" Sayaka exclaimed, and seeing that look on her face pained Kyouko, just a little. She must've been so delighted, so happy to have her gift accepted. It was a look filled with so much happiness. "He was happy, so that's all I ever wanted! Honestly, I'm so relieved he accepted it! And I beat Hitomi to the punch too!"
Is this feeling... jealousy?
Shaking her head to rid herself of that thought, Kyouko let out a sigh. She'd known it from the very start, hadn't she? It was fine.
"Hey, you hungry?" she asked, trying hard to seem casual.
"Huh?" Sayaka gave her a confused look. "Weeellll, maybe a little. I worked so hard preparing chocolates for him that I forgot to eat myself, ehehe~"
"Alright, then here!"
Even though, deep down, she knew she might've been making the biggest mistake of her life, she revealed a small, pink box of chocolates with a heart on it, and held it out to Sayaka embarrassedly, keeping her head down as she did so, as all the while she was facing a hopeless battle against the massive amounts of blood trying to flood into her cheeks.
She couldn't let anything seem out of the ordinary. She just had to be the same 'Kyouko' she'd always been. In other words, herself, even though she didn't feel like herself right now.
For a moment, Sayaka did nothing but stare down at it peculiarly, as if unsure what to make of it. She looked uncertain at this sudden act, and scratched her head for a bit before replying.
"Uh, by any chance, is this chocolate you made yourself?"
"Yeah."
It was no use. Even though she knew it wasn't right, her face was beginning to blush harder and harder, seemingly without end, and in a last desperate attempt to hide it, she turned over to the left where the sky view of Mitakihara was, forcing her eyes to break apart from the blunette's view.
"D- d- don't misunderstand! I've got no one else to give it to, so that's why I'm giving it to you. That's all."
Sayaka tilted her head a bit, not quite getting it, but then she shrugged. "...Okay. But why me, anyway?"
"Erm, erm, erm... Eh, just felt like messin' with ya. Lemme guess, you didn't get any gifts from anyone, didja?" Kyouko theorized jokingly.
What else was the redhead expected to answer with? She wasn't an idiot. She wasn't going to blurt out her feelings just like that, or anything.
"You're right. I didn't."
Instead of replying playfully, as she normally would, she looked down at her feet with a hint of sadness in her eyes.
"But it's okay. I bet he'll give me something next month, when White Day comes. It'd be weird if a boy had given me something today..."
Muttering to herself quietly, she took the box and opened it, before taking a bite out of one of the chocolate bars, while Kyouko nervously looked on. All of a sudden, Sayaka's eyes widened.
"T- this-"
W- what is it?
"T- t- this-"
Don't tell me they tasted THAT bad?!
Sayaka swallowed, and then, after an unusually long moment of silence between the two, the only sounds filling it up being the nightlife far below, Kyouko worked up the courage to say something.
"H- how was it?" she asked.
"This chocolate," began Sayaka
.
.
.
"is"
Kyouko gulped
.
.
.
"Soooooooooooo SO SO SO DELICIOUS! NO, SERIOUSLY, I MEAN, LIKE, IT'S SO GOOD, IT'S EVEN BETTER THAN MAMI'S CAKE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I NEVER KNEW YOUR COOKING SKILLS WERE THIS GOOD, KYOUKO! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! YOU'RE SO AWESOME!"
"Eh, eh, eh, seriously...?!"
Utterly dumbfounded, Kyouko could only look on as Sayaka's demeanor had switched from loneliness to amazement, one bite alone having totally cheered up, as she kept on throwing out words of praise for the chocolates, including "ARE YOU A GOD?" and "HOW DID YOU EVEN MAKE THESE?", ultimately ending with "We definitely need to eat this with tea and cake! I'll call Madoka and you can call that Akemi girl, and we'll all eat it together at Mami's apartment! YEAH, LET'S DO THAT! TO MAMI'S PLACE!"
Without having a say in her own cooking, without even being able to remind Sayaka that there were hostilities between her and Mami, the blunette had already transformed into her magical girl form and dragged Kyouko off the observatory, and all around the town of Mitakihara without any regard for being seen.
Could it be...that while making the chocolates, since she'd been working intensely, some of her magic had leaked into them? It was possible.
Her thoughts all jumbled up, she wasn't sure what to think, about anything.
She knew she may have to prepare an explanation for Mami later when they met, and perhaps a rundown on the ingredients involved, even though she couldn't remember much about that kind of thing.
She knew that she was a little annoyed with having to share her chocolates with pretty much everyone else.
But it didn't matter.
Because she still didn't know what that warm feeling inside her heart was.
It was the fourteenth of February. Saint Valentine's Day had come.
And she still hadn't made up her mind about whether it should be a day to be celebrated or not.
Her father used to talk to her about it, and even now, she could recall the story.
Once upon a time, there was a priest in Rome by the name of Saint Valentine, who believed that marriage was a sacred act made possibly only by God's hand, and that nothing should stand in its way as long as they loved each other. That was why he continued to conduct marriages in secret between couples in the name of love, even when it was outlawed. He ended up being jailed and beheaded, but not before leaving his lover a note that read 'From Your Valentine'.
At the time, it had been a day of happiness for her. The family used to huddle in the church and give chocolate to each other, even when they couldn't really afford to spend their money on such kinds of food. It was because they all loved each other. She'd always been excited for the day to come - chocolate had been a rare pleasure that came only once a year, after all.
Now, it was nothing but a day of loneliness.
Kyouko let out a yawn on the balcony of the watch tower, her eyes lazily opening up...
...Wait.
Crap.
Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap, it's already night-time, you idiot!
Even though she was a magical girl, she could still get sleepy. That morning, when she'd woken up and realized the day, the first thing she went about doing was learning how to make chocolate, then getting the necessary equpment, then 'borrowing' the hotel kitchen, and so on and so forth. She'd worked tirelessly for hours, failure after failure.
And when she'd finally finished with something she was satisfied with, she had gone up here to the top of Mitakihara Tower to search for Sayaka...before falling asleep.
Now that she was awake, she found herself to be mentally frustrated. It was too late now to do what she wanted to do. She'd missed her chance. Great. Just great.
Dammitdammitdammitdammitdammit...
If anyone happened to ask her why she was so worked up about it, she wouldn't have been able to answer them. The person she liked, well, they'd known each other for less than a month, and the first time they met, they'd tried to kill each other. Not exactly the most romantic love-at-first-sight one would expect.
The two of them had warmed up to each other since, but considering that they fought with each other practically all the time, always disagreeing on everything, it wasn't easy to call them 'best friends'.
So why? Why was this? What was this feeling in her heart, and why did she feel this way?
"H- huh, it seriously is you... What are you doing up here, Kyouko?"
The sudden, familiar voice snapped her back into reality, and she reacted with a surprised jolt. "Eh, Sayaka—?!"
The blunette was surprised at her reaction, but then smiled in amusement as she climbed onto the platform of the observatory, her body bursting with light as her magical outfit was replaced with thick jeans and a blue, fur-collared jacket matching her hair.
"Am I interrupting anything~?" Sayaka asked jokingly, while at the same time checking her hair to see if the winds hadn't messed it up or anything.
Kyouko was stunned at her appearance, and even though she knew she should act like she normally should, maybe retort with something playful like 'Yeah, my peace and quiet time, thanks a lot' or something, she found that no words would come out of her mouth. All she could do was stare at the girl standing in front of her, her heart behaving erratically like never before.
"W- w- what?" Seeing Kyouko's lack of response, Sayaka's expression changed into that of nervousness. "U- u- um, Kyouko? Hey? You there?"
"Oh, nothing, it's just..."
Shyly looking around, trying to make it look like nothing very important was going on, Kyouko wasn't sure what to say. Here's your chance! Go for it before it's too late! Not like she'd ever listened to her her lip for a bit as she gazed about, after a while, she eventually got herself to say something.
"Today's Valentine's, right? Did you actually give chocolate to someone?"
Wait, that wasn't what she wanted to say. Idiot. She was such an idiot! What was she doing, saying something like that?
At that, Sayaka appeared perplexed, but answered anyway. "O- o- of course! Just who do you think I am? There's no way I'd ever let an opportunity like that go to waste, right?"
"Hm, right." Of course that was going to be her answer. It was obvious, wasn't it? The one she liked was that kid, that boy whose only talent was playing the violin, that other 'Kyou'.
"He was so happy, he ate it all!" Sayaka said with a joyful tone, and seeing that look on her face pained Kyouko, just a little. She must've been so delighted, so happy to have her gift accepted. It was a look filled with so much happine- "He was happy, I think..." -ess? "So t- that's...all I ever wanted, really... Yeah... All I ever wanted..."
At the sight, Kyouko frowned, before letting out a sigh.
Jeez, this girl's so easy to read it's almost laughable.
"Here."
Even though, deep down, she knew she might've been making the biggest mistake of her life, she revealed a small, pink box of chocolates with a heart on it, and held it out to Sayaka embarrassedly, keeping her head down as she did so, as all the while she was facing a hopeless battle against the massive amounts of blood trying to flood into her cheeks.
For a moment, Sayaka did nothing but stare down at it peculiarly, as if unsure what to make of it. She looked shocked, really shocked at this sudden act, and it seeemed that right now, Kyouko wasn't the only one finding it hard to choose the right words to say.
"U- uh, by any chance, is t- this chocolate you made yourself...?"
"Yeah."
It was no use. Her face was beginning to blush harder and harder, seemingly without end, and in a last desperate attempt to hide it, she turned over to the left where the sky view of Mitakihara was, forcing her eyes to break apart from the blunette's view.
"D- d- don't misunderstand! I've got no one else to give it to, so that's why I'm giving it to you. That's all."
"You don't usually give away food just like that." Sayaka's face glowed a little red, touched by Kyouko's words. At a complete loss for words, she too was uncertain what to say. "...Well, why me? Why not that Akemi girl, or someone like that?"
"Eh? Homura?! That came out of nowhere!" Baffled, Kyouko turned to face her directly. "We only get along because we support each other! We have similar goals, a common cause and stuff, that's all! But when it comes to you, it's different. There's something different about you. I can't really explain it. It's just, you make me feel—well, make me feel like, like— NEVER MIND!"
Having very nearly blurted that out, the redhead pretended to choke on her words and faced the other direction, her cheeks having become as crimson as an apple.
"Kyouko, I..." Sayaka struggled to find the correct words, but just as she found them, she grinned and said in a cheerful voice, "Then I- I guess I've got no choice! Sayaka-chan will just have to accept your gift!"
Without even pausing, she snatched the box away from Kyouko, so quickly and so suddenly that her instincts to take it back nearly kicked in. Until she saw the girl's face.
"Sayaka, you're crying."
It was true. For some odd reason, tears were falling from her eyes as she held the tiny box tight in her arms. From her expression, even she herself appeared to be confused about why this was happening.
"You got that happy from a simple gift? Geez."
"D- d- don't look, it's embarrassing..." muttered Sayaka as she desperately attempted to wipe them away, but as she did, she managed to catch a glimpse of Kyouko's own face. "B- b- besides, you're c- crying too."
"Eh? Am I?" It was impossible to hide. Her own eyes had watered up at the sight of the girl. "That's weird, why would I do that? N- no, seriously, why?"
It was no wonder. Even though they were worlds apart, with so many differences between them, they were so similar at the same time. And right now, this girl, Sayaka, was crying for no particular reason.
It couldn't be explained, yet, they both knew the reason. It was a dumb reason. Such a dumb, dumb reason. A dumb reason that couldn't be put into words.
"You know, Sayaka, y- you should stop. You look so s- s- stupid like that."
"Y- y- you're one to talk, you look even more stupid!"
"Y- you can't be a h- h- hero like that, you know!"
"O- of c- c- course I- I- I- I can!"
"R- really? W- well, w- w- who on earth cries over getting some c- c- crappy c- chocolates...?"
"W- w- w- who'd ever c- c- cry giving them?"
"Y- yeah, that's so dumb..."
"S- s- so s- stupid..."
"O- only an idiot w- would do that..."
"T- then I guess that m- m- makes me an i- idiot."
"Ob- obviously... And m- me too."
"S- s- so we're both idiots."
"Y- yeah, we are."
There, the two girls stood mere feet away from each other, crying senselessly. Their tears had no meaning, and yet, they held every possible meaning between these two who found it really hard to talk with each other.
"It sucks to be lonely, doesn't it?"
"Yeah... It does."
"No wonder I love you."
"Yeah."
Their faces were ashen pale from the continuous streaming of tears, droplets falling onto the metal surface below, but even then Kyouko took a step forward and took Sayaka into her arms, embracing her warmth as if it were the last thing in the world.
In response, Sayaka's arms wrapped around her back and she pressed herself against the redhead's shoulder, burying her head into it as a greater onslaught of tears came about, soaking it wet. Kyouko didn't mind, as she wasn't the only one doing so.
Why were they crying in the first place?
Neither of them really knew, and in fact, Kyouko couldn't even remember what they were doing here anymore. Something about cholates, maybe?
But it didn't matter.
All that mattered was that she had finally realized what the warm feeling inside her heart was.
It was called 'home'.
I bet you weren't expecting that, were you?
Some pieces of these two parts might not make sense, lacking explanation, but they might become clearer once Sayaka's turn comes.
Though yurifans take it for granted sometimes, KyoSaya's dynamic isn't nearly as simple as Madohomu, so you can never expect a simple 'accept'/'reject' box to appear. They both have tsundere-y elements, and can never be straightforward about their feelings~ Many find it hard to understand why they'd ever like each other, and I used to be one of those people too.
Okay, time to move on! Go go go go~!