"So you guys kissed on the lips?" Chihiro desperately asked her friend. The two girls sat on a bench outside of a convenience store, above them hung the branches of a large tree through which the hazy yellow light from the street lamps broke through. "Well yeah, but I don't really remember it." Kaorin replied. "We were both asleep and woke up scared, we didn't really have a chance to...you know...experience it." She was careful with her words here, making sure not to give off the wrong impression. Regardless, Chihiro made a kissy face and held her hands together. "Oooh, do you want to kiss her again to see what it feels like?" Kaorin went a deep shade of red. "Cut it out, Chihiro!" She rebutted with a stern look on her face. Chihiro let out a slight giggle. "Haha, sorry." She rubbed the back of her head out of embarrassment. Kaorin looked down at her watch. 6:07pm. "We should probably get back home soon, my mom will be done with dinner soon." She spoke, rising up from the bench. Chihiro looked down at her own watch. "Yeah, you're right." Her friend replied, picking up their empty juice bottles and throwing them away at the nearest trash receptacle.
Kagura trudged across the streets, slowly making her way to the convenience store. The cold air of the spring night grazed over her wounded arm through the tears in her tracksuit. Her mind was less focused on the pain and moreso on being stood up by a person whom she had pined after for the longest time. "Why'd he have to say yes? He could've just said no. I would've understood." Though most of her tears had dried up, her eyes remained misty and damp. As she kept walking down the path, she heard two girls talking up ahead. "I can't wait until it starts to get lighter out." One of them said. "It always feels like it's been dark for too long."
"I know what you mean, the days feel so much shorter." The other replied. Kagura looked up to see Kaorin and Chihiro walking on the opposite side of the street. She looked down quickly, making sure not to make eye contact. Kagura didn't really want to be around anyone right now. As she continued to shuffle across the street, Kaorin looked over and recognized her friend. "Oh! Kagura!" She called out while beaming. The misty eyed girl looked up out of pure instinct, but immediately regretted it. Both girls caught sight of the tears in her eyes, causing their moods to immediately drop and their smiles to vanish. She began to feel embarrassment and shame and sadness wash over her all at once. "What's wrong?" Chihiro asked. Kagura quickly turned away and ran down the street with tears streaming out of her eyes. "Kagura, wait!" She could hear Kaorin yelling. "Just leave me alone." She thought to herself. She wished she could keep on running forever.
The doors to the convenience store slid open, giving way for a pair of old sneakers to make their mark on the crisp, clean, off-white tiled floor. Kagura quickly hid away from the counter by taking refuge among one of the aisles, using her sleeve to wipe away her tears. The fabric of her track suit wasn't the softest, it was more coarse than anything, yet she used it to briefly wipe away her tears and clean her face up. She took a moment to compose herself, despite feeling immensely crummy on the inside. As she stood up, she scanned the shelves around her for a cheap sewing kit. After a few minutes of scamming she shelves, she found a simple low priced one for ¥700. "That's not too bad." She thought to herself. Her hand reached down into her pocket, feeling around for her wallet. Her heart sunk even further upon realizing she had left it at home by accident. Before she had time to think about what to do, she heard the doors slide open, along with the sounds of two girls panting. "Ex-huff-excuse me sir." She could hear one of them say. Kagura peered down one of the aisles. She went pale upon seeing Kaorin and Chihiro standing at the front of the store, panting in front of the counter. Kagura wasted no time in scurrying to the farthest corner of the store. She pulled up her hood and pretended to be staring intently at the wall of drinks that lined the back of the store. "Just go away, don't come back here." She kept thinking over and over, her heart beating ever faster. Barely a minute passed before she heard someone say "Kagura?" quietly, followed by a pair of joint footsteps growing ever closer. She tilted her head down a little. Kaorin raised her hand and put it on Kagura's shoulder. "Kagura, what's wrong?" She quietly asked. Kagura tried her best to hold back all her tears, but she wasn't that strong. She turned around quickly and embraced Kaorin, holding her tighter than she preferred.