Chapter Text
“Man, Saaya, I’m not sure if I’m the best at this,’ Tomeo mumbled, slightly unsure.
“You don’t have to be the best,” Saaya smiled. “You just have to try your best.”
Tomeo laughed quietly. “Ah, that’s sweet and all, but really, this is a disaster.”
She was covered in flour.
Tomoe was trying to be nice when she’d gone to Yamabuki Bakery to buy some bread for Moca, but Saaya, with her charming ways, had enticed her into the back to try her hand at actually making it.
Darn. If only she wasn’t so cute.
Trying to impress Saaya had gone out of the window almost immediately. Tomoe had failed to put the apron on correctly (apparently there was a right way). She was inadequate at washing her hands. Above all else, she handled the dough like she was slapping putty around.
“I’m sure Moca will love her bread no matter what,” Saaya said, instinctively trying her best to clean up after Tomoe. “She doesn’t seem hard to impress.”
Apparently Tomoe was done. The apron was already coming off. “Clearly you don’t know Moca very well. I should have just bought the bread that the expert made.”
A disastrous trip. All she’d managed to do was fail to do something nice for her friend and embarrass herself in front of a cute girl.
Saaya tutted in a motherly way that made Tomoe feel oddly cared for. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, Tomoe! It’s just some bread.”
“But all I did was make a mess,” Tomoe said, hopelessly sheepish. “I just feel like I got in the way.”
“Nonsense. I invited you to, didn’t I?”
In an instant, Saaya had moved unbearably close to Tomoe and began to wipe the flour off of her face with a tablecloth. Tomoe could do nothing but freeze, lips parted slightly in surprise, acutely aware of the fact that her face was burning red.
Saaya didn’t stop. It had gone on for too long.
“Uh, Saaya?”
“Mmm?”
“I think my face is clean now.”
“Hm? Oh!”
Saaya quickly shuffled backwards, letting out a quick bout of laughter that was obviously forced in order to cover up her mistake. “Sorry! I just started daydreaming a bit, I think!” Another laugh.
Suddenly, Tomoe didn’t feel too bad anymore. That was the worst attempt at a recovery that she had ever seen.
No offence, Saaya.
“Oh, it’s okay,” she said, laughing along to make her friend feel better. “Happens to me all the time!”
“Yeah! Silly me…”
As awkward as it had been in the moment, Tomoe wanted to go back to it. That closeness, it was nice.
Already, an idea had popped into her brain. She followed it through without a second thought. “...hang on a sec. You’ve got some on your face, too.”
Saaya looked understandably confused. “Oh? Really?”
There was no flour on her face. Tomoe gently took the cloth from her and tilted her chin up in a gesture that instantly made Saaya feel a bit faint. Taking care to be gentle, Tomoe started to wipe away the flour that didn’t exist.
Part of Saaya knew that the flour wasn’t there. The other part insisted that Tomoe was just being nice.
She liked the part of her that knew the flour wasn’t there, because that meant that there was something more going on. It meant that Tomoe wanted to be close to her.
She wanted to be close to Tomoe too.