Chapter Text
Clouds hung in the early morning sky, as Ichiyō pulled the final prototype out from her sewing machine. Snipping the excess threads with a fabric scissor, she laid the garment down on her bed next to the other prototypes. She sighed in satisfaction, observing her work before her. It took nearly a week to complete the prototypes, though two days were wasted in waiting for the foam-core to arrive.
Pulling out her phone, she took a picture of her prototypes and sent them to Gin, letting them know that they were done and they needed to come over today to try the designs on. Gin texted her back, saying they were proud of her, but confused as to why she was messaging them so early in the morning. Gin noted that Ichiyō didn’t seem like much of a morning person, considering how she wouldn’t reply until at least nine in the morning. Ichiyō responded, stating that she hadn’t slept all night, but before she could read Gin’s messages scolding her to sleep, she turned off her phone and set it on the bed.
These past few days she had barely been getting any sleep, in order to finish her designs. She had been riding her wave of inspiration, and staying awake on lots of caffeine and short naps during the morning. However, despite her vanquished sleep schedule, she was particularly proud of her prototypes. She had used scraps from old projects of hers, overstock from the storage room and cheap fabric bought online to create her prototypes, and the result ended up really well. She had yards of fabric left over, and surveying her work, nearly danced in excitement of finally finishing them.
She checked her phone again, to see Gin’s texts begging her to get some rest before she came over in the afternoon. Reading the texts immediately made her feel considerably more tired. Her eyes drooped, as she felt them get heavy. Moving some of the prototypes on top of each other, she lay on her bed pulling the duvet over her. She drifted off to sleep and her mind shifted into a dream.
Ichiyō’s dreams were nearly always strange and whimsical, but occasionally, she would have such vivid nightmares that would leave her reflecting on the details for days. This dream happened to be a nightmare of sorts.
Ichiyō had finished her final designs for her project, and was bringing them to her class for the presentation. She was nearly 20 minutes late already, and as she rushed down the old concrete street she realized she didn’t have shoes on. Her bare feet hit the sharp pavement as she continued to race towards the textile building. When she arrived, her feet all scraped up and bloody, her professor scolded her for her tardiness, as she led her to the dressing room.
As she entered the vibrant dressing room, the door shut suddenly, the loud, reverberating noise shocking Ichiyō, causing her to flinch. She turned to find Gin, sitting on an abnormally high stool, glaring at Ichiyō. Gin’s morphed voice vibrated throughout the room as they berated Ichiyō. “You expect me to wait for you to arrive at your presentation, while you flounder around wasting precious time?” Ichiyō opened her mouth to explain herself, but her voice wasn’t working. “Forget it.” Gin continued. “I’ll do this modeling for you, but then I’m done. I’m done putting up with your odd personality, your lack of personal health, and your disgusting infatuation with me. I don’t want you to speak to me again, and I want you to avoid hanging out with me in any groups.”
Ichiyō’s jaw dropped as Gin continued to chastise her. In the back over her mind, she knew this must be a dream, because Gin would never say any of this. Still, a nagging voice in her head reminded her that this Gin was right, albeit her trying to shake the voice.
Gin left the dressing room after putting on the first design, which looked exactly how Ichiyō imagined it despite the horror that was unfolding. She followed Gin, with a safe distance in between them, back to the main classroom to present. The classroom was much duller than Ichiyō remembered, and as they arrived, Ichiyō noticed her classmates all glaring at her with a sort of distaste she couldn’t understand. She ignored it, pushing the observation to the back of her mind as she began speaking about her design. Her voice spoke as if she were on autopilot, and she didn’t know half the words she was using, although they sounded intelligent.
As she spoke, Gin began modeling her design, and to her horror, as they continued to model, the design itself morphed into an ugly lump. The flared pants became baggy and too large for Gin as they started to slip, Gin, themself hadn’t noticed but Ichiyō and all the other spectators did. The top’s sleeves grew long and wider as did the top, and soon Gin wasn’t modeling Ichiyō’s design at all, but instead two greatly oversized garments with now oddly placed cutouts.
Ichiyō wanted to stop the presentation and modeling, but her mouth wouldn’t stop speaking. It continued to run on autopilot, speaking more and more about the design, faster and faster, even as it changed shape. Her voice only stopped when her professor spoke, cutting her off. “We’ve seen quite enough, girl. Don’t bother showing us your other designs if they all look like this.” Her professor gestured at Gin, who now seemed to realize that she wasn’t wearing the design from before. All of Ichiyō’s classmates began laughing heinously, and as their laughter became louder, they too became bigger and bigger. In fact the whole classroom became bigger, or was Ichiyō just getting smaller? The desk she was presenting behind grew until the top of it towered over her head, and everyone looked to be at least 30 centimeters taller than her. She turned to Gin, to see that they had shrunk as well, while Gin glared at her with a murderous look in her eyes. Ichiyō averted her gaze, hanging her head in shame as she muttered out an apology to no one in particular. She could feel tears form in her eyes, as Gin stormed out of the room. She followed suit, not wanting her classmates and professor to see the tears fall.
Ichiyō ran towards the bathroom, into a massive stall, locking it and climbing up on the toilet. Here, she let her hot tears fall down her face, dampening her cheeks. She continued to cry, her breath becoming labored, as it transformed into hiccups. She pulled out her phone, which had somehow appeared in her pocket. Dialing numbers which she didn’t know, she tried to contact Lucy, but the call immediately failed. She tried again, but to no avail. She tried calling each and every one of her contacts, but they all would not connect. Frantically scrolling and calling, and scrolling some more, she felt panic rise in her chest. And rise.
And rise.
And rise.
And rise.
Suddenly, she heard violent footsteps approaching, and quieted her hiccups as best she could. The footsteps neared her stall, and an angry knock came from the other side.
Then she woke up.
She didn’t wake up startled or frightened, more so confused. She remembered the dream graphically, and pondered its implications. Her phone was ringing next to her, and as she picked it up, she noticed Gin’s name on the caller ID.
She answered, still partially concerned that her dream version of Gin was how they really felt, and they were just suppressing their complaints with her. However, as soon as she answered, Gin’s voice spoke on the other line, with a concerned tone that made Ichiyō forget her previous regards. “It’s one in the afternoon, did you just wake up?” Ichiyō mumbled out a response that didn’t seem coherent to her, but Gin seemed to understand. “Alright, that’s good that you slept, but I’m calling to let you know that I’ll be over at your place in around 20 minutes. I just have to pick up some tea from the shop for my brother, and then I’ll come over.”
That woke Ichiyō, as if cold water was being poured over her head. Her eyes widened so much so, they felt as if they were nearly popping out of their sockets “Oh. Perfect!”
“Great! I’ll see you soon, I can’t wait to see the prototypes you’ve created, I’m sure they’re beautiful!” Gin exclaimed before hanging up.
There it was again, the simple praise from Gin that made Ichiyō’s cheeks heat up and her heart beat faster. Perhaps it was just the compliments that made her flustered, yet deep down, she knew that wasn’t the case, she just wasn’t ready to admit it yet.
She got dressed, and fixed her hair, not bothering with makeup, because she wasn’t going out, and Gin had already seen her bare face. Ichiyō wasn’t exactly ashamed of her bare face though, she actually found her bare face beautiful; the evident lack of sleep under her eyes, however, harbored the reality of her screwed sleep schedule she didn’t need people to know about.
Leaving the bathroom, Ichiyō made her bed, and laid the prototypes out so they wouldn’t wrinkle, and were displayed for Gin to see them. She scrolled through her phone as she waited for Gin to arrive, and nearly five minutes later she got a text from them asking if she wanted anything from the tea shop. Ichiyō texted back asking for a latte, with soy milk instead of cow’s milk, and saying she’ll pay when Gin gets here. Gin insists on not needing payment, that it’s their treat for a friend.
Are they friends now? Ichiyō always wondered how someone becomes a friend. She has many she would say, but nearly all of them referred to her as a friend first, including Gin. The only person who didn’t refer to her as a friend before she did, was Gin’s older brother, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke. Akutagawa, who only liked being called Akutagawa, not Ryūnosuke, not Ryuu, wasn’t like his sibling that way. He was very reserved, the type to not refer to anyone as a friend, even if he’d known them all his life. He waited until the other person called him a friend, as long as it would take. Luckily, outgoing people were naturally drawn to him; Tachihara became friends with Gin first, but eventually got around to befriending Akutagawa, which wasn’t easy. Atsushi, after being partnered with Akutagawa in class for a final project, said to him, in a way that wasn’t a question “We’re friends now, yes?”. Ichiyō knew all about this exchange, because this very upfront statement frightened Akutagawa so much, after the class ended, he locked himself in a stall and called her.
After a moment of pondering, she returned to her phone, until Gin knocked on her door. Ichiyō jumped, slightly shocked by the sudden sound, but rushed to open the door. There Gin stood, their hair down, reaching their hips, sporting a soft smile that made Ichiyō’s heart feel full, and her smile wide. Gin handed her her latte, and when Ichiyō pulled out her wallet to pay her back, Gin placed a hand over Ichiyō’s, pushing the wallet away from them. “When I said you didn’t need to pay I meant it. If you really want to pay me back, buy my coffee next time we go out.”
Ichiyō trained her gaze to Gin’s eyes, attempting to focus on anything other than their hands on hers. Their hands were warm, and as they pulled their hands away from Ichiyō’s, she shivered slightly, unaccustomed to the soft touch of her friend’s hand.
She led Gin to the middle of her dorm, near her bed, gesturing towards the garments that were laid out on it. She watched as Gin carefully surveyed all of the prototypes silently, picking them up to see them better. “These are really beautiful Higuchi! Should I try them on now?”
Ichiyō smiled as she nodded. She picked up the first design, which was by far the simplest, and handed it to Gin. “You can change in the bathroom if you’d like.” Ichiyō wasn’t affected by partial nudity or nudity in the slightest, and she presumed Gin wasn’t either, but since they knew each other on a more personal level than models or dressers, she thought she’d offer.
Much to her surprise however, Gin shook her head, declining the offer. “We’re gonna have to get comfortable with each other, if I’m gonna model for you. Plus this design doesn’t require me to take off my underwear right?”
Ichyō shook her head. “No, not this design, though for the shoot and presentation, I’ll provide you with proper undergarments for all of the designs.”
“Alright, then it should be fine. I’m sure you’ve seen your fair share of bras and underwear, but if you want me to change in the bathroom I can.”
Ichiyō waved her hands, signifying her impartiality. “No, no it’s quite alright. I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Gin giggled at that. “Don’t worry Higuchi, if I were uncomfortable I would tell you immediately. But as of now, you’ve never made me feel uneasy or anything.” Ichiyō wanted to ask if even the “measurement fiasco” (as she had now dubbed it) didn’t make Gin uncomfortable, but didn’t, not wanting to bring it up more than needed. Still she pondered, if Gin wasn’t uncomfortable how could she justify their flustered face?
Gin moved over to the left side of the bed and began to undress, pulling off her shirt, revealing her Nike sports bra. Ichiyō began busying herself with the paperwork on her desk, not wanting to catch herself staring at Gin. To her relief, Gin quickly pulled the prototype top over her head, and slipped out of her sweatpants, pulling on the bottoms Ichiyō made.
Gin faced Ichiyō with a slight smile on her face. Inspecting Gin in her design, Ichiyō’s jaw dropped. The elastic of the pants helped follow the natural curve of Gin’s thighs, emphasizing them, and the matching top’s cutouts framed Gin’s figure nicely.
Gin walked over to the mirror in the corner of Ichiyō’s dorm, inspecting themselves in the prototype. “I look amazing Higuchi!” They gasped. “The whole outfit is just beautiful and this is just the prototype? Wow! You're so incredibly talented!”
Ichiyō could feel the heat rising to her cheeks again, but ignored it, sputtering out a thanks. “There’s no need to praise this work, please at least save that for the final pieces?”
“Why should I wait to praise work I find beautiful?”
Forget heat rising to her face, now her face was practically burning! Why did Gin feel the need to be so blunt with her compliments? This straight-forwardness was killing Ichiyō, and she was sure that Gin probably thought she was this flustered all the time. Why did only Gin’s compliments seem to fluster her though? Ichiyō got many compliments from her classmates and even other friends, such as Lucy or Tachihara, but none of those comments seemed to affect her in the way Gin’s did. Was it because Gin had less of a filter? Maybe it was because she was a model? Ichiyō truly needed to fix this problem before she combusts with embarrassment.
Deterring from the previous commotion, Ichiyō had Gin try on the second prototype. She had to help Gin put on the accessories after the dress, as one particular tape-like belt accessory wraps around the entire body of the model.
The two continued through each prototype, Gin properly complimenting each one, and Ichiyō burning red every time. Fortunately for Ichiyō, her discomposure soon came to an end, as Gin slipped out of the last prototype.
Gin collapsed on Ichiyō’s bed, sighing dramatically. “What do you wanna do now?”