Sayaka cleared her throat, a little embarrassed as she stood in the center of the room. Opposite her is a couch where Haru and Touko sit. Yuu stood a little to her left, having been the one to provide her with the mystery word and the one in charge of the timer.
Trying her best to stay dignified, she stiffly raised a hand at the shoulder level as her first move.
Touko sniggered gracelessly, unable to stop herself, "You can't be serious..."
Ignoring the jests of her actress friend, she pushed through the embarrassment and made what appeared to be minimal, knocking gestures.
As Touko actively made fun of Sayaka, Haru was quick on her feet to help her girlfriend out of her misery. "Is that a cat?"
"Yes!" Sayaka gushed, pointing at her Haru proudly. She breathed a huge sigh of relief, glad to be rid of her agony. Haru pumped out of her seat with a fist in the air, her pony swinging accordingly.
It took a moment for Touko to realize what just happened. She slowly turned her attention to Yuu, who provided the easy mystery word to her high school best friend. "A cat?! You gave Sayaka... A CAT?!
She was livid.
"Nothing else was coming to mind," Yuu shrugged, unmoved by her girlfriend's steaming anguish.
Seeing how her complaints were falling on deaf ears, she turned her attention back to a very satisfied-looking Sayaka.
Touko stood up with a clenched fist, gritting her teeth at her, "I'm going to wipe that smug out of your face!"
Crossed arms, the caramel-haired beaut sharply stared back, "I'd like to see you try."
They were in Touko's apartment on a weekend doing the occasional drinking. With liquid courage affecting both their systems to function diplomatically, Touko has been nothing but riled up in the last hour, childishly ridiculing a lightweight Sayaka.
There was nothing majorly different about their attitudes. Instead, the effects of drinking managed to remove their daytime filters, magnifying their true selves.
It was like watching summer and winter clash.
Maybe it had something to do with being Kouhais but in the last hour, Yuu and Haru had been the ones hesitant to get down, seeing how their Senpais quickly spiraled out of their shells. Somebody needs to look out for their respective girlfriends, right?
"Uhmm…" Haru was watching the bickering scene unfold before her with a quizzical look. She peered over at Yuu, who looked unequally concerned. "Should we uhh step in or…?"
Yuu knows how it might have appeared in Haru's eyes. Unlike the latter, she had the privilege of having spent a considerable amount of time with her Senpais back in high school. This dynamic is not a stranger to her.
They were just natural competitors meant for each other.
"I think they used to hold back more back then," Yuu commented thoughtlessly while picking out the next participants, not really easing Haru's worries. "Oh! I got my own name. Bummer, I'm not even that good at acting. And my partner will be… Sayaka-senpai!"
"Come, Koito-san," Sayaka beckoned her faithful Kouhai to come closer when she heard her name, to which the latter nodded and obediently obliged.
Everyone's role is decided by drawing lots. This round, Yuu is the actor and Sayaka will provide the mystery word.
Whatever mystery word Sayaka told her to act out sent Yuu into deep thoughts, "Hmm…"
Sayaka went back to whisper more into her ear. Her partner for the round listened attentively and nodded when she understood.
"What's taking you both so long?" Touko impatiently asked, tapping one foot on the floor as if it was going to help rush things.
"Oh, hush," Sayaka retorted. Turning back to Yuu, she said, "I'm sure you'll do fine."
Yuu, sighed in response, "Well, here goes nothing…"
When she was signaled to begin, she started by creating a big, upright rectangle in front of her. She started from the floor going upwards, stretching her arms as far as she could.
"Is that a door?" Touko asked.
In response, Yuu started to twist an invisible knob and led herself forward through the imagined frame.
"So it's a door!" Touko self-confirmed. But her jubilation only lasted for a while as she observed more, "And you're uhmm what is this? Letting yourself out?"
"Or maybe in?" Haru asked, talking to Yuu as if she was allowed to answer. "Are you at home trying to let yourself in?"
Yuu shook her head. She made a throwing gesture up in the air, which earned monumental quizzical looks from Touko and Haru. In the background, Sayaka let out a mini-drunken giggle.
To make matters more confusing, Yuu put a finger to her lips, signaling silence.
"The library!" Haru said with a sudden outburst, to which Yuu disagreed.
"The cinema? You're at the cinemas!" Touko followed up, matching Haru's energy.
Yuu shook her head again then repeated everything starting from the formation of the doorway, turning the invisible knob, getting out of the said door, throwing stuff in the air, then signaling silence by putting a finger to her lips.
"T-this is…" Sayaka managed, clutching her chest, choking between laughs, "so h-heartbreaking…"
"Circus!" Haru shouted, her face flushed in desperation as the clock ran to a close. "You're at the circus juggling apples. You wanted to concentrate so you were asking the audience to keep quiet?"
Yuu sighed, losing hope. She frustratingly throws something invisible in the air again, with so much force this time.
"What in the world-?" Touko didn't even get to finish her next word.
"Time's up!" Sayaka interrupted.
"It was quiet quitting," Yuu revealed right away.
"WHAT?! How is that quiet quitting?!" Touko protested.
Haru, on the other hand, seems to have understood the performance, "Oh, I totally get it! Good one, Yuu-chan!"
"Sayaka, we're just m-mere," Touko looked at her hands, red-faced, as she searched for the right words, "… tiny, college students! We're undergrads! How can you be so advanced?!"
"I find the topic interesting," her best friend responded unapologetically.
"You're giving me too much brain cancer."
"Brain ca-? Stop being overly dramatic."
"Wow, I got self-picked like you did earlier, Yuu-chan," Haru announced, initiating the draw lots, while the two continued to cross swords with words. "And I goottt, let's see.. Ah, I got you, Touko-senpai."
When she heard her name, Touko cleared her throat and changed her appearance into something more professional, smoothing her top down smugly. "Don't mind if I do."
It was Yuu and Sayaka's turn to sit down on the couch. The pairs were separated by a mini table where all their snacks, and bottles, and empty cans of beers were sprawled out. Beyond it, Haru and Touko discussed in a serious, game-time manner. They were quietly exchanging words, like athletes strategizing just before a major game.
"Hmm," Sayaka observed the two quietly with suspecting eyes, hoping to catch glimpses of their conversation. She doesn't think she would, but Sayaka just wants to be certain that Touko will not drunkenly pester Haru like how she's been tormenting her for the last hour.
"Are you okay, Senpai?"
Taking her sights away from the two, Sayaka, feeling so full of it, responded to her Kouhai coolly despite the light buzz that she was feeling, "I'm alright."
"This suddenly reminds me of Serizawa-san. Do you remember her?"
"Serizawa?" Right. During high school, there was this intense and competitive girl in our year that Touko had a friendly rivalry with. Not seeming to understand what she was trying to get at, Sayaka inquired further, "What about her?"
"You're getting the same treatment as her from Nanami-senpai." Yuu smiled, looking very entertained at the thought as she fondly remembered that one time the Student Council competed and lost at the sports fest. "Do you remember how catty they were during the marathon?"
Really? Sayaka frowned at the memory. She does remember how Touko was rowdy during that time, exchanging words back and forth. Considering old feelings, she must have thought of it fondly back then, but now that she's all grown up, a change of opinion is in line. "Right. After all these years, you'd think that she would learn how to be more civil w-"
"Hey, Yuu," Touko called out, temporarily halting her discussion with Haru. "Stop getting cozy with the enemy while I have my back turned."
"Ugh what a handful," Sayaka commented candidly, but out of Touko's earshot.
"You said it," Yuu agreed beside her with a lifeless stare.
How does she even manage such an annoying force of headache?
When it looked like they were done, Haru stretched her hands outward getting ready to play. "Watch closely, you two. This might be a little difficult to get, or maybe not. I'm not entirely sure either."
"Ready when you are, Haru-chan!" Touko said as she readied the timer.
Haru started by raising both her arms to her sides, pointing in opposite directions. She rested her eyes forcefully on her audience as if to telepathically communicate 'This is it!'
"Oohh that's a little vague," Yuu commented, troubled. "Uhmm are those guns?"
Haru shook her head and placed more emphasis on her pointed fingers in opposite directions. She directed her sight at her left, then right, as if invisible bodies stood beside her.
Sayaka is still yet to utter her first word. She has a serious hand on her chin, eyes concentrated on what her girlfriend is trying to wordlessly convey.
"Uhmmm," Yuu tried again, "Oh! Is it that song that's going viral right now? What's it called again?"
When she realized that it was not working, Haru started over by putting two fingers up, indicating 'two words.'
"Two words, okay," Yuu reconfirmed. "And the first word goes..."
She made imaginary web shoot out of her hands in different directions.
"Oh! Spiderman!" Yuu thought out loud, overlapping with Sayaka's similar realization, "That's Spiderman, alright..."
She urged them to speak more with her hands. Once again, she pointed her fingers side by side in opposite directions.
"Oh I get it! It's the Spiderman meme!" Yuu answered with a hand raised, as if in class.
As Yuu and Haru celebrated each other upon the word being guessed correctly, Sayaka disappointedly turned to face Touko, "I expected better from you."
"Hey, why do you-? Don't be butthurt just 'cause you didn't get it!" Looking extremely satisfied, she added, "I know you're not used to losing, but it happens. That's just life."
"Losing?" Sayaka repeated, her next words imbued with poison, "I don't think so. That doesn't have any basis. We have never even established a victor-loser system in the first place."
Haru stopped in her tracks upon realizing this, "Oh yeah, we never kept scores."
"I feel like we should have permanently decided on teams instead of drawing lots... At least to make the scoring possible," Yuu agreed beside her.
"Hey, who's side are you on? We're in the team of life! Am I not your girlfriend?!"
"I don't think that applies here," Yuu answered deadpan.
"Right, Haru and I never took advantage of that."
"Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine," Touko raised both hands up, seeing how she was outnumbered. "Let's team up then."
"Haru-chan and I will be on the same team since the two of you need to learn how to get along."
Touko opened her mouth to react, but before she could form any words, Haru brought up another concern, "Who gets to decide on the mystery word then?"
"Hmm that's tricky," Yuu responded, with a hand on her chin, thinking. "The opposing team will decide, right?"
"Well, whatever we decide on, I don't want something as simple as a cat or something as complex as quiet quitting. You two need to sit yourselves down."
"Aren't you getting a little too hung up on that?" Sayaka pointed out, knowing her efforts were going to be futile.
"Hey, I have never agreed to be on the same team with you yet," Touko responded stubbornly, the tip of her index finger rudely pointed at Sayaka's chest.
With a sigh, she responded pettily, "It's not like I want to either." Feeling a little worn out from all the useless bickering, Sayaka calmly took a seat on the couch, crossing her arms and legs, "I don't think we have a choice, Touko."
Haru and Yuu already started distancing themselves out of earshot from their girlfriends to strategize, talking in hushed voices.
At this point, she does not have any more stamina to pointlessly argue. Even the burst of energy that the can of beers provided early on seems to have been exiting her system, leaving her body feeling exhausted and embarrassed from all the tomfoolery. Her rational self seems to be slowly returning to her.
"Yuu-chan and I are going to beat you two to a pulp!" Haru energetically announced. Unlike Touko, her competitiveness came out in a bright, nontoxic manner, somewhat calming the chaotic environment.
"Ugh. What was the point of everything earlier if we're going to reset everything from the start?" Touko complained to a tired Sayaka, slumping beside her. She slumped herself so hard, Sayaka felt herself bouncing a little. "I'm beat and sweating."
It seems that Haru's friendly war of declaration put them at a peaceful truce.
Through the silence resting between them, Sayaka poured herself a glass of water.
"Can I have some of that too?" Touko pleaded weakly, fanning herself. "I'm parched."
"It's because you talked too much." Sayaka looked around for her glass, "Where's your...?"
"That one will do," she gestured at the glass Sayaka drank from.
"If you say so."
After emptying the glass, Touko seems to have relaxed a little. "What should we have for breakfast tomorrow?"
Clueless at the sudden, responsible choice of topic, Sayaka responded unsurely, "What do you have in your fridge?" Then thoughtlessly added a harmless suggestion, "Haru makes tasty egg rolls."
"Egg rolls, huh," Touko considered this for a moment. Observing Yuu and Haru from a distance, she continued, "Hmm... You know what... That sounds like a difficult word to guess."
"Huh? Uhh, right." It took Sayaka a fraction of a second to agree, having realized that Touko comically switched topics again back to the game. Riding on her trail of ridiculous spontaneity, she added, "I think we can make it more difficult by adding 'tuna' in it."
"Tuna egg rolls? Seriously?" Touko chuckled in disbelief, delighted at the evil upgrade. "Hold on. Let's add more."
"Like what? Spicy tuna egg roll?" Sayaka suggested with a giggle.
"G-genius..." Touko stammered, with a hand on her stomach to support her laughing.
Unbeknownst to the pair, Haru and Yuu actually heard everything from their own corner. They might be unaware, but they were talking and gurgling in non-discrete volumes, spilling their "genius" plan.
Yuu gave out a tired sigh, "They're so hopeless."
"'Think they're still drunk?"
"Probably. Oh well, doesn't matter." Yuu offered her a fist-bump, "Thank god, you're here, Haru-chan. Let's put an end to this."
Feeling equally grateful for having another adult around, Haru obliged delightedly. "Alright. Let's!"