They left at the end of the month, walking out the front door with almost everything they owned stowed away in two backpacks.
Kanade had taken a few days off from job hunting to look into women's shelters, but had quickly realized they couldn't stay at any of them without explaining why they couldn't find steady work. Since she couldn't think of a lie that would hold up over time and let the two of them stay together (not to mention sleep in the same bed), living on the streets looked to be the least bad option.
Unsurprisingly, the Internet had a large community of homeless people, giving out advice on everything from safety to shelter construction to reviews of coffee houses and public baths. In a weird way, the experience made her feel optimistic - they weren't completely broke, and had enough time to prepare for where they were going. She sold their bed, couch, and almost everything else online, using the money to buy sleeping bags and camping gear and, most importantly, ropes and blue tarps that they'd use to build a temporary shelter, according to the painstaking instructions she'd found on the net. She even picked out what seemed to be a good location, at a small green space near a train station with decent amenities nearby.
They walked most of the way to their destination - it was a long walk, but they made a day of it, buying snacks and drinks and taking frequent breaks to sit and relax. They made it there around 3pm, taking a quick tour of the area before finding a seemingly open area and starting to build their shelter.
It didn't come together as they'd hoped; it was harder to get the ropes tight than the directions suggested, and the blue tarp didn't tie down firmly enough. With the sun about to go down, they sat inside of their makeshift tent with a gentle breeze rippling the tarp enough to see the outside every three or four seconds.
Just then, a gentle voice called from outside of their walls; they stuck their heads outside to find a tiny elderly woman in a thick gray cardigan bowing politely, an adorably ugly pug circling around her heels.
"Hello! My name is Kyoko Mitsui, and I'm your, haha, next door neighbor. This is Yu, my dog. Welcome to our little neighborhood."
Yukino was out first, bowing and introducing herself, with Kanade close behind. Before they could advance much further with chit-chat, Kyoko interjected, "I see you're having some trouble with your shelter, may I assist?"
Kyoko wasted no time in guiding them to retie the ropes and reset the canvas, leading to a far more stable setup. Afterwards, she refused to stay for dinner or a drink, explaining that she had to go home and take care of Yu... although she agreed to come back for dinner a different night.
Their dinner that night was ramen with veggies cooked over a small camp stove. Yukino ate enthusiastically, and seeing her happy, however forced, made Kanade smile. Afterwards they walked to a local mini-mart to buy water (and discretely use the restroom) before crawling into the two sleeping bags they'd zipped together.
The night had turned cold and foggy, and they huddled together for warmth in the cheap sweatshirts they'd bought in advance for nights like this. After a few minutes they stopped shivering and Kanade could take some time to enjoy the feel of Yukino, her back spooned against Kanade's front, Kanade's face buried in her hair and shoulder, Kanade's arms wrapped around her stomach.
"You're so warm, Kana," she murmured, turning to quickly kiss Kanade's cheek before turning back to snuggle closer. "I like this... I think we'll sleep well tonight."
"I think so, too, Yuki-chan. Good night." Kanade kissed the back of Yukino's shoulder and closed her eyes.
Yukino did sleep through the night, but Kanade woke up more than once, bothered by random noises she couldn't automatically place: trains and cars in the distance, people walking by the park and by their tent, voices calling to each other, just distant and low enough not to be comprehensible. After each awakening she tensed herself, waiting to see if there were any indications of danger, then let herself relax, squeezing Yukino and letting herself sleep again.
They woke the next morning and headed to a nearby public bath under cold but sunny skies; afterwards they shared a simple, quick breakfast, hugged, and set off in different directions for job hunting, feeling like the next part of their life had begun.