Chapter Text
“Maki!” Riko ran down the school hallway, the window outside showing the weather to be bleak and, surprisingly, cloudy. Maki strode down the corridor at a relatively slow pace, but Riko couldn’t keep up with her. She tried to reach out to her, but Riko’s arm wouldn’t lift. She found herself unable to move, trapped in a state of paralysis. She tried to call out to Maki again, but found that her voice was silent. The hallway began to spin, round and round, and an insufferable noise blared through the speakers mounted on the walls.
Riko shot up from her bed, the alarm blaring an ugly noise, which presumably had been running to wake her up for quite some time. She glanced at the clock.
“8:32.” She spoke groggily, with the alarm still ringing. There was school today, but the thought hadn’t made its impact on her consciousness just yet. “8:32,” she repeated.
“SHIT!” She shot up from her seated position on her bed, slamming the alarm on the table to make it shut up. She quickly got dressed, throwing on her uniform that had served her so well for the two years of high school that she had gone through. It was her last year at Fujijo, and possibly the last year she would be able to spend with Maki.
“That dream… was weird.” That’s about the amount of thought she put into those dreams. She always talked about Maki, about how strange yet endearing she was. She obviously thought about other stuff as well, but Maki never truly left her head. Always living in there rent free.
Riko, who was still late to school, and by a lot, burst through the front door of her house and bolted down the street. The cherry blossoms blew in the light spring breeze, showering the school goers with a wave of pink. She skid into the classroom just in time for the teacher to start taking roll call, luckily not being late on the first day of her last year.
“Riko, did you wake up late again,” Maki said softly. She sat right behind Riko, always on her case about her grades.
“Yeah. I had this weird dream last night too, so that didn’t help either. You were in it though, so that made it a bit better.” Maki’s face went a shade more red. Riko realized what she said a moment after Maki noticed and blushed a bit.
“Miss Karuhashi! Pay attention to the lesson, unless you are willing to share with the rest of the class?” The teacher at the front of the room was known for her strictness and would most defiantly make her share what had just transpired. Riko quickly sat straight in her desk.
“N-nno mam! I am paying attention now!” Her voice quivered slightly in the moment.
“Good. Now turn to page…” The teacher continued with the pretty boring English lesson. Riko found it incredibly dull, more content to look out the window and watch the birds feed their newly hatched young.
“Riko, don’t turn around,” whispered Maki, “but I need to ask you something. Can you meet me on the roof top during lunch? Please?” Riko shook her head in agreement. “Thanks.” Her voice was soft, like a silk pillow on a fluffy bed. It was a nice feeling to hear her talk…
When lunch finally rolled around Maki left the classroom, making her way to the roof. Riko got up a second later and followed, getting to the roof only a bit after her best friend. She found her looking over the plaza with a large fountain and the tennis court.
“Maki? What did you want to talk about?”
“Yes, Riko.” Maki didn’t turn to look at her, still gazing at the court yard and the other students. “For the next Love Lab, I want to do something we haven’t tried before. Something new.” Her voice was a bit shaky, like she wasn’t really ready for what could happen next.
“Maki? Well, I guess we can take a shot at it. What is it?”
“Riko.” She turned around to face her friend. “I want to kiss you.” Her face was a tomato, her cheeks were on fire.
“Wha-“ Riko was taken aback, her face was bright red. She stepped back physically, worried that something had finally broke Maki. She always one of the weirdest one of her friends. “K-k-k-kkiss? K-kiss? Us? The t-two of us? K-kissing?”
“You won’t?” Maki walked toward Riko quickly, closing the gap between the two. “It’s for the noble goal of finding a boyfriend! How could you abandon me just at this moment!” She always had a way of convincing Riko, even if it wasn’t in the best way possible. Riko was still red as could be, but was slightly more open to the idea now what she had said.
“W-w-well, I guess it couldn’t hurt, could it?”
“Really?! Thank you so much Riko!” She leaped into a hug around her chest, Maki showing her affection to her friend.
“Wait a second though!” Riko pushed Maki away for a second. “Let me p-prepare myself!”
Maki brought her head towards Riko, planting her lips squarely on Riko’s. Something rushed through Riko, at first a warmth, filling every bit of her, then growing to a burning heat that enveloped her whole body. The kiss was nothing like she had ever experienced before, like a fire had been awakened deep in her heart. She couldn’t move her body away from something like this.
The moment of bliss came to an abrupt end for Riko when Maki pulled away for a breath of much needed air. Maki’s hands rested on Riko’s shoulders, and both of them looked at each other, incredibly flushed from the experience. They looked into each others eyes, perhaps for just a moment too long. Riko was the first to pull away, hiding her head from Maki.
“T-thank you, f-for helping me…” Maki said softly. Her voice was a tad wobbly, which Riko found immensely cute.
Cute. Cute? CUTE? WHY WAS SHE CUTE?
“Ah, Riko…” Maki’s face was red with embarrassment. She wasn’t looking directly at Riko’s face, and slowly pulled down her arms from Riko’s shoulders. A light breeze blew over the roof, scattering the cherry blossom petals to the wind, creating an atmosphere that you could only fantasize about. Riko then noticed how red her face was, quite like Maki’s. She spoke again, softer and more gentle.
“Riko, ah, could you, um, call me, um, Natsuo?” Maki extended her hand to Riko’s sleeve, and lightly grabbed it. Her other hand was up by her mouth, the sleeve somehow a little too long for her.
Riko didn’t think it was possible for her to get any more red, but here she was, defying the laws of thermodynamics. She could barely even speak, let alone say Maki’s first name! She had always wondered why it was so hard for her to say her best friends name, but mostly chalked it up to Natsuo being a bit unwieldy as a name, and Maki being an easy two syllables. But now with the state Maki was in, Natuso? She couldn’t say that, even if they were dating! If they were married! If they grew old in the country side with a few horses and kids, even then she couldn’t say it!
Riko couldn’t process the emotions she was feeling. They were different from anything she had felt before, even when talking to a boy. Riko couldn’t stand it any longer. She turned and ran out the door, her heart pounding in her chest. “Riko! Wait!” Maki called out to her, but it was no use. Riko couldn’t contain herself. She ran down the hallway, blitzing past the students and teachers, grabbed her shoes at the front, and ran the whole way home.
Riko sat in her room, under the covers and with her phone. The clicking of a virtual keyboard filled the room. Riko still was on the experience at the roof of the school. She was red the whole rest of the day, and after running home and telling her mom that she was sick she really didn’t feel well. She left her bag at school, but she thought that she would just pick it up tomorrow. So she continued to google.
can two girls kiss?
can two girls date?
can two girls get married?
Before she could even hit the enter button she felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her, and she quickly put away her phone. Her face was red and she couldn’t think straight. Suddenly she heard something downstairs. It sounded like the doorbell, ringing through the house.
“Who could that be,” she thought. “Why would someone be visiting right now?”
No one else was home at the moment, just Riko. Her mom was at book club, and her brother was out with his friends. She walked down the stairs to the front door, and opened it. Maki stood just outside the doorway, holding Riko’s bag. Riko’s face immediately went red.
“M-m-m-maki! Why a-are you h-here?”
“I wanted, um, to apologize for what I did on the roof. And, you um, left your bag at school.” She stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before continuing. “Here you go!” She shoved the bag into Riko’s hands. “I’m sorry!” She turned to run, but Riko reached out her hand and grabbed the back of her shirt, near the base.
“W-wait. Please.”