Momiji's first attempt since realizing she had a crush was when her class was baking cookies.

They'd had to keep a careful eye on Miyo to keep the girl from making a disaster, but when the cookies were done, they all took a bite and it tasted delicious, better than expected, actually. Even the teacher had seemed impressed, despite being scared to take a bite initially.

"They're so good! Man, I love cookies!" Mahiro said with a bright smile as she took another bite. Momiji was staring at her and munching on her own cookie as an idea started to form in her mind.

"Hey, Mahiro, have you ever had Pocky?" Momiji asked, and Mahiro put her hand on her chin.

"Not since I was a tee—I mean, uh, since I was little," she said, and although Momiji cocked her head in confusion at the mistake Mahiro had apparently almost made, she felt her cheeks reddening as she slowly walked up to her.

"Do you want to…um…try it? With these?"

Now it was Mahiro's turn to look confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Don't you know the Pocky trick?" Momiji questioned as Miyo slowly seemed to catch onto what Momiji was doing and grew excited, though neither girl noticed.

"No?" Mahiro said as she once again seemed to think, so Momiji grabbed one of the cookies and put it between them.

"Each of us bites down on one end and we bite towards the center to see who can reach it first," she said, her face now bright red, to the point she was worried Mahiro would notice and get suspicious. Of course it would be a little awkward, with how small the cookies were compared to a Pocky stick, but as long as it got the desired results, it didn't matter. Mahiro seemed to stare at Momiji for a while, long enough that Momiji was sure she'd seen through her trap.

"Sure, I guess we can," she finally said with a shrug. Momiji could feel herself almost trembling in excitement as she lifted the cookie up to their mouths, and leaned in, biting down on the very end. Her eyes met Mahiro's, and she gave her a nod. Mahiro seemed to finally realize what was happening as her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth. Whether it was to speak or to bite down, Momiji wasn't sure, but she'd never know, as Asahi suddenly swooped in out of nowhere and bit half of the cookie off before landing on the floor and happily swallowing the cookie, perched down like a dog. Momiji's jaw fell, allowing the other half of the cookie to fall to the floor.

"Mmmm~! These are so good!" Asahi said as she stood up, smiling at Momiji. "You can't let your guard down, Momiji!"

Momiji was still staring in complete shock at Asahi, but slowly the shock was beginning to turn to anger. Not just the usual, playful anger, though. It was a genuine kind of anger that came from a plan ruined, and a change at a kiss butchered.

"Asahi, you…wh-why'd you do that?!" Momiji cried. She couldn't remember a time she'd been this upset with her friend, and although she knew it was a little petty to be as upset as she was, she couldn't help it.

"I told you! You can't leave yourself open like that!" she said with a hand on her hip as the other flicked around in the hair.

"That's not a good excuse, dummy!"

Asahi blinked, frozen for a moment in surprise at Momiji's tone. Finally, she let out a nervous laugh and rubbed her neck.

"Ah, I thought it would be funny?"

"Funny?! No, it was just rude!" Momiji cried, and it was clear Asahi was beginning to see that Momiji was actually upset.

"S-Sorry, I just-"

"Whatever!" Momiji cried before she turned and walked towards the door. Their assignment was done, so she doubted she'd get in trouble if she left, so she opened the door, exited, and slammed it back behind her as she ran down the halls.

At first, she wasn't really sure where she was going, but eventually she found herself wandering towards the bathroom. She opened the door and was happy to find it empty as she opened one of the stalls and sat down on the toilet, latching it behind her. She brought her legs up to hug her knees and place her head on them.

She wasn't going to cry—she wasn't to that point—but she was feeling guilty for snapping at her, even if she had been upset. She'd never really shouted at her friend like that before, and it was over something really small, something even Momiji was still figuring out.

If she did truly have a crush on Mahiro, and if she was going to try to do something about that crush, she couldn't let her emotions get the better of her like that, especially when it came to her oldest friend.

After a few moments, the door to the bathroom opened. Momiji could hear footsteps walking up to the door and pause. After another moment, there was finally a knock.

"Momiji?"

Unsurprisingly, it was Asahi. Momiji sighed and got off the toilet seat to slowly open the door. She stepped up, and immediately, before she could even get a single word out, Asahi hugged her.

"I'm sorry. I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I did to upset you so much, but I'm sorry that I did, and I'll try not to do it again!"

Momiji was frozen in place for a few moments before she slowly wrapped her hands around Asahi in return and held her tight.

"I'm sorry for yelling," she said back as she put her head on her friend's shoulders. "I've just been…dealing with something lately."

"Did you want to talk about it?"

Momiji considered it. If she could tell anyone about her crush, it would be Asahi, but she also knew the girl wasn't the best at keeping secrets, so if she did, she might blow it to Mahiro before she was ready. As much as she wished she could confide, she ultimately knew it would be better to keep it to herself for now.

"No…but thank you anyway."

"Okay!" Asahi said with enthusiasm as she finally pulled away from the hug and smiled. "I'm here if you ever wanna talk! I can't promise I'll be very good at it, but I can try!"

Momiji giggled. "Thank you, Asahi." Asahi nodded.

"Come on, let's get back to the others! They're a little concerned, I think."

Momiji nodded and the two left the bathroom together to head back to the class. Once Momiji made sure with the teacher that she was okay, and apologizing for running off, she did the same to her friends. Mahiro, to Momiji's joy, seemed the most concerned between her and Miyo, but Momiji made sure to let her know she was fine, and that she and Asahi had made up.

Mahiro talked about how she was going to take some of the cookies home to her sister, and Momiji simply watched her as she bagged them up.

Maybe next time, she'd have better luck, and learn to take things as they went. Of course, she'd try to get closer to her, and see how far she could get their relationship to go, to see if Mahiro might even be interested in her at all, but for now, just being here, next to her…it felt nice.

Especially when Mahiro saw her, turned, and flashed a wide smile.

It was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen.