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“Hey, Sayo, why don’t you try smiling a bit more when you practice?”
Sayo turned her attention away from her guitar in the middle of her tuning to look at Lisa, who she hadn’t noticed had been watching her for a while now. They were the first to arrive at rehearsal, leaving only the two of them in the practice room.
“I don’t see any need to do that during practice.” She responded flatly.
“Maybe not, but you look kinda scary, y’know?” Lisa smiled awkwardly. Sayo looked back down to her guitar, already well aware of that fact she looked intimidating to others even if she didn’t mean to do so.
“This is just how I normally look.” She huffed as she fiddled at her guitar strings. Lisa hummed to herself before setting down her bass and trotted up to the guitarist. Sayo heard the approaching footsteps and looked back up, but a pair of hands suddenly took hold of her face.
“I-Imai-san, what are you-“ Sayo was hardly expecting Lisa to come up so close to her like this. Her head, which was normally filled with thoughts of practice and improvement before rehearsal, was now overloading itself with thoughts of how soft and warm Lisa’s hands were.
“Stop furrowing your brow like that. Relax!” Lisa giggled, gently rubbing at the creases between Sayo’s brows with a thumb. Sayo fumbled her hands in the air as she stammered, unsure what to do. In the end, Sayo succumbed and Lisa successfully smoothed out the creases between her brows. They stared into each other’s eyes for a while, Lisa’s hands still placed on Sayo’s cheeks. While Sayo tried to internally yell at her rapidly beating heart to calm down, Lisa leaned her head to the side in contemplation.
Step one, check. Step two was…
“C’mon, now. Smile~!”
“Mweh-!?” Sayo grunted as Lisa smushed her cheeks and lifted them up in some form of attempt to get Sayo to smile. “Imwai-shan, p-please…”
Lisa held the position for a while before letting go. Sadly, Sayo’s lips immediately sprung back into her usual frown.
“Aw, I was sure that would work.” Lisa sighed, putting her hands behind her back and shuffling her feet.
“I’m sorry...I know I’m not the easiest person to be around with my usual demeanor.” Sayo said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “But...thank you. I know you’re looking out for me, so...I really appreciate it, Lisa.”
At last, Lisa’s actions were not in vain. The corner of Sayo’s lips turned up ever so slightly, but it was still a smile nonetheless. Lisa’s smile beamed even greater in return, causing something to stir within Sayo’s chest.
“I’m glad, Sayo! You’re really pretty when you smile, y’know?” She giggled, leaning over to the side before twirling around and heading back to her spot. Sayo watched Lisa’s back, wondering if she was just being Lisa or if she was flirting with her.
“The beautiful one here is you, though…” Sayo whispered aloud.
“Hm? Did you say something?” Lisa turned her head back as she was leaning down to pick up her bass.
“N-no! Just muttering to myself, is all.”
“Oh, alright then!” Lisa turned back and hummed to herself as she slung the crimson colored bass around her neck.
Sayo put a hand over her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. The embarrassment she would have suffered had Lisa heard her would be unbearable.
She shook her head and reached out to her sheet music to flip through it, though the feeling of Lisa’s hands upon her cheeks still lingered. Sayo let another smile dance on her lips as she thought of Lisa’s own.
“What a troublesome girl…”