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—Minakami-san! Aioi San!– Nano looked everywhere for the two, nowhere to be found. —Naganohara-san, I can't find Minakami-san or Aioi-san.–
The four friends we're supposed to hangout today, however Yuuko and Mai we're both missing after school. -Well those two are good friends, they're probably together right now, but why did they agreed to hangout if they already had plans?– Mio said, seemingly a bit annoyed. —I'm still gonna text them just in case.– Nano replied, her voice sounding a little worried.
After a little while a text from Mai appeared on Nano's phone, a simple thumbs-up emote.
Both girls sighed at the notification, Nano was relieved and Mio was pissed off. —Come on Nano-chan, the movie it's about to start.–
—Alright, Naganohara-san!.–
Meanwhile, both Yuuko and Mai we're in the opposite side of Tokisadame, in the hills and green areas surrounding the city.
—Come on Mai-chan! How much longer do we have to hike? My feet are starting to hurt you know!– Yuuko said with an exhausted look on her face. After waiting for a reply that didn't arrive, Yuuko spoke again. —I'm getting tired Mai-chan! and the clothes I'm wearing aren't really made for this kind of stuff!– And Yuuko was right, she was wearing a bright green skirt and a pink t-shirt, with some casual shoes that she could swear we're starting to break. "A nice outfit", she thought before her friend made her cancel their plans and took her hiking instead. Of course, Mai, being Mai, was wearing clothes more appropiate for the ocassion, "I guess she really wanted to hike" Yuuko thought to herself.
—What if we get lost and never found our way home again!?–
—We're not that far away from the city.– Mai replied coldly. Yuuko took a moment to look around and realized that Mai was right, from their locating they could even see the nearest Daiku Coffee, which made Yuuko calm down a bit and also made her hungry.
—Hey Mai-chan did you bring any foo-. Yuuko tried to say before Mai interrupted.
—We arrived.– Yuuko looked at what was a bunch of bushes.
—Uhm, Mai-chan? is this why you took me here for?– Yuuko said in disbelief.
—Not that.– Mai proceeded to walk through the bushes and invited Yuuko to follow her lead.
After crossing, Yuuko was certainly not dissappointed, it was a beautiful sight, a hidden spot that seemingly only Mai knew about, it was like a garden, in the nature, some trees, all kinds of flowers, it even had a small pond with some fishes in it.
—Wow, Mai-chan, this is...– Yuuko said before she was interrupted once again.
—Follow me.– Mai said, extending her hand for Yuuko to grab, and so she did. The girl didn't notice, but a light blush was starting to appear in Mai's face. They went over to a nearby tree that casted a nice shadow, from the spot they were in, they had a nice view of the whole place. They sat down under the tree, Yuuko still admiring the sight, while Mai was pretty much used to it.
Yuuko looked up to the tree and noticed some bird houses. —Woah, Mai-chan, did you built those?–
—I did.–
—That's so cool! You should've told us about this place before! We could hangout here with Nano-chan and Mio-chan all the time!– Yuuko said, with an excited look on her face, imagining all the fun times their friend group would have here.
—I don't want that.– Mai replied with her typical serious tone. —I come over here when I need to think, or just relax.–
—Oh, well if that's what you want...– Yuuko sounded a bit dissappointed. —It's still cool though! It's like your secret hiding spot!– Her face lit up again, imagining her friend as a superhero and this being her super-secret-base or something like that.
—Yeah, I guess it is nice to have a place for my own.– Mai said, a bit flustered from all the admiration she was receiving from Yuuko.
—But if it's your personal space, how come you invited me to see it?– Yuuko asked curiously, "Invited" being and understatement, more like her black haired friend dragged her into going.
Mai became noticiable nervous at the question, with her cheeks turning a bright red colour.
The both of them sat in silence observing the place, while Yuuko was waiting for an answer, typically, Yuuko was used to Mai's silence, so she was ready to start speaking again, but Mai did it first.
—I...– Mai stuttered, finally speaking after what it felt like an eternity. Her heart began racing, to the point where she could swear it was gonna break her clothes. She though of backing down, but she was stronger than that, she had it all planned out, she wasn't gonna back down, not again.
—Huh, Mai-chan, are you alright?– Yuuko took notice of Mai's nervousness, which only made the latter more anxious.
—Yukko... I... I have to tell you something.– At this point she might as well have passed out, and she prayed to her Gods to not start shaking.
—Mai-chan? It's everything okay? Your hands are shaking.–
"God fucking damn it" The girl thought. Yuuko, on the other hand, starting to get pretty worried over her long time friend.
—Yukko... I.. I like..– This was it, this was finally the moment she had been waiting ever since she met the adorable dork in middle school.
Everything was perfect, the setting, their moods, their clothes, her face... "Her face is perfect" Mai thought for a split second before making her mind focus on what's truly important at the moment. She was gonna do it right now, or else she never will.
—Y-Yukko, I-I like you...– Her heart was beating so fast it was starting to hurt, or maybe it was just the panic attack she was starting to have, whether it was, she did it. after all those years she finally confessed her feelings to her best friend.
—Huh? Mai I couldn't hear you, what did you wanted to say to me?–
"For fuck's sake" Mai didn't took into account how low she was speaking, she might as well have been whispering, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit" "The only opportunity I have and I fuck it up this way" She felt like dying. Her world starting to crumble around her. She felt her eyes watering a bit as her anxious self won over.
—Mai-chan, you're shaking a lot now, please don't tell me you have parkinsons or something, I'm starting to get worried.— Yuuko said with the most concerned voice Mai has ever heard from her.
Okay, Mai felt a little bit better after Yuuko's comment, she might even had chuckled a bit, The thought of Yuuko seriously thinking Mai might have parkinsons was so funny to her, this is why she felt in love with this stupid girl in the first place, she couldn't get enough of her silly, but adorable personality.
After regaining sight of what's important, Mai felt a boost of confidence. "Get your shit together" Mai thought to herself, and was finally ready to speak again.
—Yukko... Remember that time when we're sitting near the river?– Mai said, she was a little bit less nervous, and wasn't shaking as much.
—Uhm, yes, why do you ask, Mai-chan?– Yuuko flustered at the memory, truth is, she never could stop thinking about it herself, Was Mai being serious? What if she was? What would Yuuko have done if Mai really had a crush on her? That was over a year ago and Yuuko still lost sleep about it, unsure about herself as ever.
—I... I wasn't joking...– Mai said, and she made sure to say it out loud this time. Her face turned even more red, she didn't know if it was even possible to be this flustered, in a few moments she would know if her crush felt the same way or not, and if she didn't Mai was dead set on not backing down like she did last time.
—Wh-what?– Yuuko barely said, she felt out of breath, she was confused, Wasn't it a joke? She was actually serious? Her best friend since middle school had a crush on her?
Her face turned red, she started to get incredibly nervous, just like last time. Yuuko tried to think of possible explanations, What if she's just joking again? "Yeah that must be it. There's no way on earth Mai-chan likes girls." But what if she did?
Does she want Mai-chan to not be joking? Does she **want** Mai-chan? As soon as those thoughts started to appear on her mind, like every night, she pushed them away.
—Come on, Mai-chan! I'm not gonna fall for the same joke twice! Even though you really outdid yourself with this one! I almost believe you!– She laughed a nervous laughter and looked at Mai, awaiting for anwers.
—I'm not joking...– Mai said, with some tears in her eyes. —Yukko, please...– Mai got closer to Yuuko, she timidly reached out to Yuuko's hand, and wrapped her fingers around it.
She expected Yuuko to run away, to feel disgusted at the idea of being with her, but she didn't, truth is, Yuuko wanted this as much as she did..
—Please say you like me back...– Her face got closer to Yuuko's, wanting to demostrate she was as serious as she has ever been.
—Mai... I...– Yuuko felt her reality starting to shatter, everything she once took for granted was getting invalidated by this. Does she like girls? Does she? She avoided making eye contact, She didn't want to see the eyes she imagined everyday, she denied her feelings for so long that she couldn't show them, not to herself, and specially, DEFINETELY not to her. She didn't know who she was anymore, she was shaking the same way her friend was shaking before, doing her best to not have a panic attack in front of Mai.
Mai got even closer, she softly grabbed Yuuko by the waist and put her lips around her's. Trying not to think so much, she had waited for this moment so long.
Yuuko, in the other hand, was wide-eyed at the sudden kiss she had just received, she felt her heart pounding and the only thing she could think about was how soft Mai's lips felt. She embraced the kiss, no matter how hard she wanted to deny her feelings, she definetely didn't want this to be over. She finally held Mai's hand back and relaxed, trying to give the best kiss, hoping Mai wouldn't notice how inexperienced she was.
The kiss was over, the girls looked at eachother, both waiting for the other to speak up first, though it wasn't neccessary, they could've stayed like this the whole day and that would've been good enough.
Mai reached both her hands to Yuuko's face and touched her cheeks softly, making the brown haired girl fluster, finally, Mai spoke;
—I love you, Yukko.–
Mai saw Yuuko's eyes lit up in a way she's never seen before, she could've sworn she saw stars and hearts inside her pupils.
—I... I love you, Mai.–
Yuuko had never seen Mai smile so much before, and for that she was glad, she finally was with the girl she loved dearly.
The girls held hands for the rest of the day, admiring their secret spot, both knowing that everything was going to be okay from now on..