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Every now and then, Nijika goes on solo vacation for a few days.
The others understand. As much fun as being together is, sometimes you just need some time for yourself. Even Kita agrees, and she pouts when Bocchi and Ryo stare at her like an alien.
She’s fine with being called, though. The calls shouldn’t be too long, of course, but for a bit each day, she still talks to them.
Kita’s calls are the most frequent, unsurprisingly. They exist in extremes – either one of the three has a question (“how does the dishwasher work again?”) and Kita hangs up after getting her answer, or they chat about nothing in particular for a while until Nijika gently reminds her that she’s on vacation. Kita accepts it, and they hang up, more often than not still only after talking far longer than planned; but Nijika doesn’t mind as much as she probably should.
Ryo calls every evening and they fall into a familiar rhythm. Ryo complains about something insignificant. Nijika asks her why she’s complaining to her when she’s away while Bocchi and Kita are readily available to help. Ryo replies with a snarky comment or bad joke. Nijika plays the straight man.
There’s one, two, three beats of comfortable silence, and they chat for a while. They pause again. Ryo goes to bed, and Nijika doesn’t hang up until she hears her snoring. It’s cute in its own way.
Bocchi doesn’t like phone calls, especially not initiating them. She has no problem talking through Discord’s voice chat and chatting in person is something she’s gotten a lot better at, but calls remain a big hurdle for her. Still, she calls just about every other day (though sometimes she hangs up again right before Nijika was able to pick up).
Usually, Bocchi ends up telling Nijika about all that happened since her last call, and you can hear a bit of pride in her voice whenever she talks about something she considers an achievement. She takes a lot of time to talk about those. Nijika promises her headpats, and Bocchi giggles excitedly in that cute, slightly awkward way of hers.
On a particularly long vacation, she gets a call from Ryo one evening.
“Nijikaaaaaa,” three voices groan in unison, and Nijika laughs.
“Are you three doing so badly without me?” she asks, a grin on her face that she hopes isn’t too audible in her voice. “I thought by now you could handle a little alone time.”
“Well, we’re not burning the house down,” Kita sighs, “if that’s what you’re worried about. We just hope you’ll be back soon.”
“N-Not that we want you to cancel the trip,” Bocchi quickly cuts in. “Take all the time you need. We just miss you.”
Ryo mumbles something.
“What was that, Ryo?” Nijika asks.
“Your bed,” Ryo grumbles in return. “It doesn’t smell like you anymore. We’ve been sleeping in it every night because you’re not around.”
Nijika doesn’t know what kind of reaction she should have to that, and apparently, neither does her face, as she feels it contort into a strange sort of half-smile. Still, the heat on her cheeks is undeniable, and she’s a little glad it’s not a video call.
“Yeah, it completely lost your scent,” Kita agrees, and Bocchi hums in agreement.
“Girls,” Nijika huffs, and doesn’t know how to continue. She gets a few chuckles as a reply.
“Good night, Nijika,” Kita says, and the other two say good night as well.
Nijika’s half-smile turns into a full one. “Good night, you three.”
Maybe getting back into her own bed sometime soon isn’t a bad idea.