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She closed her eyes, but couldn’t sleep;---the brush passing of the fan cooled her body, but it only made her pull the blanket around her tighter.
Yui’s breathing was softer than hers. Its sound was lost beneath the waves of the night. With the low buzz of insects by the window—coming and going as they pleased.
Beneath the floor, doorknobs rattle and doors open. With people walking in and out of the apartment complex they were holed up in, that frustrated her to no end. Lights flickered in the hallway that shined underneath the front door; shadows of shoes and heels danced across the wall—blinding her dreary eyes. She can’t sleep.
Kyoko doesn’t have to be here. She doesn’t have to stay. But Yui never had nightmares with her, she had told her once.
And so she stays.
In a bed old, and broken;---with its thin mattress digging its springs into her back. Wearing old clothes to sleep in, because it was the only thing Yui could afford. Faded print of some cartoon logo sprinkles its paint as she turns over to spoon her. Even in her slumber, Yui accepts her embrace.
She traces a hand over Yui’s face, and combs through her hair—and just like that she feels her relaxation. With her eyebrows no longer furrowed; soft and serene. Kyoko pulls her glasses off of her, and she finally settles on top of her arm. A sound escapes her lips before being overtaken by the temptation of dreams.
And the night marches on.
Living in a college town has many cons, Kyoko concludes.
She can’t help but bury her face into the back of Yui’s head.
The tension of the night stills every once in a while. The clock nearby clicks by the hour—and each glance towards the window makes her wince with each inch of sunrise that threatens to come over the horizon.
Yui doesn’t have to live here. But she wanted to, and that’s what she told Kyoko—so she’s learnt to deal with it. The buzz of the night.
‘It’s just better,’ Yui said as the two of them walked down the street. ‘It just is.’
Because no one was looking at them like that—as they let their hands slide into each other—pulling each other along, with hushed laughter and faces that brushed too closely towards one another.
Is probably what Onēsama meant, Kyoko had thought then.
With no one to glare at them, to form crowds that gawked and whispered loudly—that pushed themselves against the walls as the two of them walked down the high school dormitory. Of girls that made it a mission to show their disgust—to outcast Yui out of social groups, and spill rumors into the entirety of Kyoko’s middle school grade.
A terrible time that Kyoko is loath to admit she holds a grudge against. But only because Yui had to deal with it as well.
The Black Challenges were heavily preferred.
Sourly, Kyoko tries to sleep. No dreams, unfortunately.