Kagura threw a smooth pebble out into the lake, trying her hardest to skim it. "So I was sat there for like, two whole hours waiting for this guy to show up, and he never did, and all I just kept on trying to call his phone but he wouldn't pick up." She vented to her cat loving friend.
"Really?" Sakaki said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, it just kept going to his voicemail, so now I don't know if his phone got lost or if he just didn't show up."
Kagura threw another stone at the lake, which made a large "plop" sound it dropped into the aquatic abyss. She bent over and began searching for more stones. "Now I'm at the point where I don't know what I'm gonna do when I see him again." Kagura continued. She continued to search the lakeside for smooth rocks but couldn't find anything. "It gets me annoyed because he could've just said no, you know. I don't think I'm all that-"
"Here." Sakaki said, interrupting Kagura. The tomboy turned around and saw that Sakaki extended an arm towards her, holding out a smooth pebble. "Thanks." Kagura said, grabbing the pebble from her hand. She took aim at the pond and tried her best to skip it, but it plopped straight down into the water, just like all the other rocks. "Grrr!" She groaned out, kicking the ground in front of her. "Why's it so hard! How do you even do it, anyway!" She was noticably annoyed.
"Like this." Sakaki said, picking up another smooth rock from the ground. She pulled her arm back and kept her hand level, before swinging it forward at full force and hurling the rock across the lake. It skipped twice before dropping into the lake. "Hmm." Kagura let out, scanning the shore for another rock. "I can never get it right." She mumbled out after finding a halfway decent one. Picking it up, she placed herself in a similar position to Sakaki. "Like this?" Kagura said, trying to mimic what Sakaki had done before. "Your hand has to be level with the lake." Sakaki told her friend. Kagura tried to take Sakaki's advice and hurled the rock across the lake. It bounced once on top of the lake and then sunk down again. Kagura's face lit up as she turned over to Sakaki. "It skipped! It skipped! Did you see it?" She excitedly told her best friend, pointing towards the lake. Sakaki smiled warmly at her. "Come on! Let's see who can get the most skips!" The tomboy challenged the cat lover. Sakaki nodded, and the two began to gather smooth stones and skip them across the lake. The girls skipped stone for a few minutes in silence, Kagura still riding the high of finally being able to skip a stone. After a while, Kagura was reminded of why she invited Sakaki to hang out. "Hey, Sakaki." Kagura asked, still skipping stones. "Is everything ok with you?"
Sakaki stopped skipping stones and looked at Kagura, who stopped after noticing Sakaki stopped. "Yeah, how come?" She softly answered. Kagura blushed and didn't know how to answer.
"Uh, well, you just seemed...sad."
"I...I see." Sakaki stuttered. She felt conflicted, and wondered if she should open up to Kagura or if she would only be a burden. Kagura felt a wave of heat running over her. Feeling as though she had upset her friend, she quickly changed the subject. "Do...do you like ducks?" She asked.
"Ducks?" Sakaki asked, confused as to why Kagura bought it up.
"Uh, yeah. Ducks."
Sakaki thought for a moment.
"I like the white ones." She answered.
"That's cool!" Kagura said encouragingly. "I like the green ones, the ones with the green heads."
"Mallards." Sakaki said.
"Yeah, those guys." Kagura affirmed.
The two girls talked occasionally and skipped stones for the rest of the time they were together. Eventually, they found themselves at the gate they had met up at earlier, both of them ready to go home. "We should hang out again sometime." Kagura mentioned. Sakaki nodded. "I'd like that."
"Well, hey, if you're not busy tomorrow, we can hang out again if you want."
Sakaki nodded again. "Sure."
"Awesome!" Kagura said, giving a big thumbs up. On the inside, though, she felt a sense of sorrow, as though she was unable to help her friend. She wanted to say something supportive, but didn't know what to say.
"See you tomorrow." Sakaki said, and waved goodbye.
"See you tomorrow too." Kagura replied. She waited as her friend walked away from her, unsure of if she should say anything. After a moment she turned around and began to walk back home herself. With every step she took, she felt a strong sense to guilt wash over her, feeling as though she should do something, feeling as though she did not do enough, feeling obligated to atleast try and offer help to her friend. Kagura stopped in her tracks and quickly turned around. "SAKAKI!" She cried out down the street. The black haired girl turned around and saw her friend running back to her at full speed. Kagura slowed to a halt as soon as she approached Sakaki. "What's wrong?" Sakaki asked her friend. Kagura stared at her for a moment, unsure of what to do next. "Come on..." She thought to herself, unable to find any words to say. "There's one thing I could do." She decided to herself. Meanwhile, Sakaki looked at her confusingly. "Are you oka-" Sakaki began to ask, but stopped talking as soon as Kagura wrapped her arms around her body. Sakaki blushed and was shocked at Kagura's gesture. Upon realizing Sakaki didn't reciprocate the hug, she quickly broke away from the girl.
"I-I'm sorry." Kagura quickly apologized, also starting to blush. "I'll see you to tomorrow." She quickly added on, running away from a very confused Sakaki. "Shoot." Kagura thought to herself. "Why'd I have to do that?"