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Warmth. That was the first thing Kanade felt upon waking each morning. After that, a light, sweetly cool scent of lavender reached her nose — it soothed and relaxed her. That was how Mafuyu usually smelled — Kanade's favorite scent.
Yoisaki hears quiet sniffling above her head and feels cold but tender hands around her waist. Despite their chill, they kept her warm. Because it was Mafuyu, because it was Kanade's beloved.
A small smile appears on the composer's pale face. She opens her sleepy blue eyes and turns onto her other side, closer to Asahina. And the other girl is still asleep. Faint rays of sunlight slip through the curtains and fall right onto Mafuyu's hair, making it shimmer and gleam with a violet-bluish hue.
Beautiful, Kanade thinks and presses herself closer to the girl, burying her face in her neck.
Yoisaki melts like a snowflake, dissolves like honey in hot tea, only in Asahina's embrace, in Asahina's love, in her own feelings for her.
Love was what inspired Kanade most of all. But she only discovered this not so long ago. Kanade had thought: it's friendship, it's platonic feelings — until she realized that her heartbeat quickened near Mafuyu, her cheeks flushed, and she wanted to touch her. To touch Mafuyu endlessly, to hold her hand, to embrace her, to kiss her cheeks… Fear and incomprehension. What is this? Kanade couldn't find an answer at first. And then she understood: it was falling in love. What if it wasn't mutual? Painful. Kanade was inspired by pain, but love… love for Mafuyu inspired her more. To love, to feel, to express those feelings — that became Kanade's greatest dream. And Kanade expressed them.
Mafuyu was crying in her arms one day because of her mother, and Kanade's heart was tearing apart from the pain she felt for her — back then still just her friend. And she couldn't find the right words, she only asked:
"Can I kiss your cheek?"
Mafuyu froze for an instant; her ears and cheeks reddened, and her gaze met Kanade's — the face of the girl across from her was just as red as Asahina's own. Mafuyu nodded. And the composer slowly, hesitantly touched her lips to Asahina's cheek. Her lips were so hot, whether from nerves or from a fever. A fountain of feelings surged inside her chest. Mafuyu pressed herself closer to Kanade, hugging her tighter, and Kanade stroked the girl's head.
"I love you," Asahina whispers into her ear. And Kanade loses her mind, answering in kind. Unexpectedly for both girls, their lips draw nearer and merge into a soft, brief kiss — so modest, so awkward. The very first for both of them.
Kanade felt she had never felt anything better. Her love for Mafuyu was like a winter evening by the fireplace under a knitted blanket, like soft clouds across a clear sky, like butterflies fluttering near blooming sakura, like the first spring flowers, like hot chocolate in autumn and a blanket on a cold night. And Kanade wanted to feel this always.
"Good morning, my love," a slightly hushed, soft, velvety voice sounds above Kanade's ear. Mafuyu's cold hand touches the girl's cheek, stroking it with her thumb. A kiss on the forehead. Kanade melts.
"Good morning," the girl replies. A happy smile blooms across her face. Kanade's lips find Mafuyu's — tenderly and slowly, but already more certain than the first time. Waking up in the same bed as Asahina, in her love-filled embrace, had become a habit for Kanade. And it's a habit she never wants to break. After all, she feels so warm.