Chapter Text
“Kronii, where’s the sugar?”
Mumei faced her friend as she was looking around at the cabinets where the sugar could’ve been. Being average in terms of height, she is currently on tiptoes, struggling to stay in position. Kronii, who was currently sitting at the table drinking her morning coffee, decided to stand up and approach her to help.
“Sorry, I think I misplaced it yesterday,” She opened the cabinet next to the one Mumei was currently looking at and easily found the container. “…Here.”
The brown-haired girl reached for the container and went straight to her seat on the table. Kronii picked up the cup of coffee she left when she stood up and went back to sipping. A peaceful silence covered the whole dining room, at that moment it felt so natural between the two of them, not awkward in any way. That is, until a loud scream interrupted the seemingly endless tranquility.
“She’s back!” The red-head smashed open the door towards the entrance, storming her way to where Kronii and Mumei were.
Mumei turned to look at her while biting on a piece of bread, “Who?”
“Yeah, who? It’s not that hard to be specific.”
“Fauna!” Bae answered with great excitement, prompting the two housemates to widen their eyes. Mumei, filled with delight, and Kronii with an expression so complicated.
Oh, great. Kronii sarcastically thought to herself.
“Really? How come I wasn’t aware of this?” Mumei asked, and Bae sat down beside her in all smiles.
“Sorry, I just got excited when Sana told me. Apparently, Fauna specifically asked her only to tell us when she had already arrived!” As she was saying this, Kronii had her eyebrows furrowed, unable to drink from her cup due to the sudden news. All sorts of thoughts clouded her mind, and she then peeked at the two who continued chatting about their friend.
When her mind cleared up, she placed her cup on the table and decided to interject between the conversation. “Just like Fauna to come and go all of a sudden, huh? We’re doing fine without her.”
“But, I miss Fauna! It’s been three years… or four.” Mumei uttered, with a face evident of recollection and fondness.
Kronii looked away at this statement, “W-Well… Yeah, I guess so. She’s your friend.”
“Our friend, Kronii.” Bae stated.
“Yeah, yeah. Our friend.” She answered, which was then followed by a bit of an awkward silence. This was broken by the sounding of a loud ring, and Bae quickly pulled out her phone to answer the call.
“Wait a minute!” She stood up and walked straight out the house.
Both Kronii and Mumei were left alone in the dining room quietly staring at each other. “Aren’t you excited, Kronii?” Kronii turned to Mumei who was asking her innocently.
She stopped to think for a moment, trying to comprehend Mumei’s words, but realized it wasn’t worth thinking hard about and abruptly said with a slightly monotonous tone, “It’s fine. Not really. She’s back, yay!”
Mumei just smiled at this, while Bae came back running.
“Come on, you two! You’re not busy or anything aren’t you? Sana said we could meet up now! She’s currently with Fauna. Is it okay?”
“Of course!” The brown haired girl answered immediately, and she faced her friend behind her. “Right, Kronii?”
Isn’t she tired, or anything? Why now… Kronii thought, but kept it to herself.
“Yeah. Of course,” She smiled lightly.
Almost an hour has passed and the three have finally arrived at the cafe where they were supposed to meet up with Sana and Fauna. They were told that the two were currently on the way, so they found a table and took a seat first, waiting patiently. However, that patience only applied to Mumei and Bae, whereas Kronii was quickly feeling annoyed. She had mixed feelings about this situation, partly annoyed about waiting, and the other was relief.
“Oh, oh, oh… Oh! Yeah! Fauna!” Bae squealed, barely preventing herself from screaming in public as she sprinted all the way to the entrance where the newly arrived Fauna was, being followed by Sana. Mumei did the same with the same amount of excitement, yet less energetically. It is, after all, a bit early in the morning.
“Bae! Mumei! I missed you guys so much!”
Seeing the scene of Fauna being hugged by the two, Kronii quickly looked away to hide her expression. She wasn’t getting away with it as Sana noticed and approached her, “Kroninii!”
“Yeah?” She innocently faced Sana, feeling odd about the sudden attention the three people who were having a happy reunion are now giving her. She avoided their eyes and stared right at her friend standing in front of her. “Haha. What a nice morning, right?”
“Mm. Good morning, how are you, Kronii?” To her surprise, the one who answered was the person she was currently trying to avoid. Feeling the pressure from all the eyes on her, she stood and stretched out a hand towards the green haired girl.
“Morning. I’m okay. Nice to see you’re good,” she awkwardly answered.
Fauna smiled, and instead of simply accepting her hand, she pulled her into a sudden embrace. “Friends hug when they meet each other for the first time in a while, Kronii.”
She was left speechless for a moment before answering, “Oh, yeah.”
As she was in the hug, she took a glance at her housemate seemingly asking for help. She didn’t know how to properly react to the situation. However, she lost hope as she noticed the clueless smile Mumei gave her.
Ugh. Mumei…