Episode 13: [Yuri Friends] Under an Umbrella, the Two of Us.

“Mm, phew. …Right, I’ll let you off there for today.”

The after-school discipline room.
The moment Hiyori pulled away with a satisfied air, all the strength left my body and I sagged forward, catching myself on the desk.

Just getting my ragged breathing under control was all I could manage.
I didn’t need a mirror to know. Right now my face was flushed to a pathetic degree, my eyes no doubt glistening.
My lips throbbed with their own heat.

(…hah… hah…)

Several days had passed since then.

Over those few days, a strange routine had taken shape between us.

Break times: my arm hooked by Hiyori, pulled into a blind spot in some deserted corridor.
A few minutes of having the heartbeat that felt loud enough for anyone to hear stopped up by her insistent lips.

After school: meeting in the discipline room.

First, a long, sweet embrace.
And then — from there — that storm of kisses.

Hiyori would hold me until she was satisfied, pecking at my lips without end.

“…hh, hm…”

I calmed my ragged breathing and pulled the lip balm from my skirt pocket.
Uncapped it with practised fingers, twisted up the dial.
And spread it thickly over lips that were still holding their heat.

“Right, let’s go.”

Hiyori glanced at my lips, flashed a grin, and slung her bag over her shoulder as if nothing had happened.
I tucked the balm back into my pocket, pressed a hand over my still-racing heart, and stood.

“…Also — why do we walk home together every single day too?”
“Hm, you don’t want to? …But isn’t there something kind of wistful about a girl waiting to walk home with you?”

Hiyori spun around to face me, twirling her phone lazily between her fingers.

“If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but I might accidentally upload that video to social media~?”

…There it was again.
She seemed to think that threat alone was enough to make me nod along to anything.

“…It’s not that I don’t want to.”
“Ahaha, we’re Yuri Friends, aren’t we? For three months, Maya’s afternoons are all mine. So just be quiet and do as you’re told~”
“You’re the worst…”
“I’ll take that as a compliment!”

Held by the throat, I couldn’t even afford to get on her bad side.

“…Hah.”

I swallowed a miserable sigh and trudged after her with heavy feet.
Outside the window, only the sound of rain answered for my gloom.

◇◆◇◆◇

When we came down to the shoe lockers, the drumming of heavy rain against concrete filled the air.

“What — rain?! No way!”

Hiyori stopped short with a startled yelp.
Outside was a downpour, as if someone had upended a bucket.
Moisture-heavy wind tugged at the hem of my skirt.

“Didn’t you check the forecast? They said it would start in the evening.”
“I didn’t know… I didn’t bring an umbrella.”

Hiyori looked up at the sky with an expression of pure despair.
I pulled my own umbrella from the stand.
A sturdy navy long-handled one, plain and unpatterned.
It had been clear in the morning, but I always check the forecast and bring one.

“Right then, I’m off—”
“Wait, wait, don’t leave me! Let me in! Please!”
“Sharing one umbrella is cramped, and you wouldn’t like it either.”
“I can’t do this! Walk me to the station! Please! …And honestly, Maya, this umbrella has zero personality.”
“I prioritise practicality! Say that again and I won’t let you in!”
“Ahaha! So you are letting me in — you’re so sweet.”

Hiyori snatched the umbrella from my hand and threw it open above her head.

“…Fine. Then you’re holding it to the station.”

Utterly shameless.
The two of us stepped under one umbrella and out into the rain-soaked street.

◇◆◇◆◇

The drumming of the rain fell around us like a curtain, cutting the world off from our little space.
A narrow umbrella.
Through the thin summer blouses, the smell of musk and rain-wet asphalt mingled together.

“Ugh, great. The humidity’s going to kill my fringe.”

Hiyori grumbled from my left, fussing with her hair.

“All that time I spend setting it every morning. Rain is the actual worst.”
“You’re just going home now anyway, who cares about your fringe.”
“I care! A girl’s fringe is her life!”

We walked on, trading that sort of inconsequential chatter, when a large puddle appeared on the pavement.

“Ugh, what is that. It’s basically a pond.”
“Aren’t you overdramatising? …Watch where you step, go round it.”
“Okay—!”

As Hiyori sidestepped the puddle, she bumped solidly into my shoulder.
Through the thin summer blouse, the soft warmth of her upper arm and the faint cool of her skin grazed mine.
Walking that close together, something at the edge of my vision caught my attention.

(…hm?)

Hiyori’s left shoulder, walking beside me.
The part sticking out beyond the umbrella. Her white blouse was soaked through, drenched enough to show the skin beneath.
On my right side: not a single drop on me.

I looked up. The hand holding the umbrella handle was tilted — unmistakably, unnaturally far to the right. Toward me.
She was leaving her own left side out in the rain to keep me dry.

A sharp ache moved through the centre of my chest.

What. Why.

She’d blackmailed me. Treated me like something convenient and disposable.
So why, only at moments like this, did she have to go and be stupid with kindness like this.

…It wasn’t fair. It threw everything off.

Without a word, I reached my left arm out and pulled Hiyori’s waist firmly toward me.

“Wah?!”

She lost her balance and stumbled into my chest.

“…Here, get closer. Your shoulder’s soaked through.”
“Oh…”

I tightened the arm I’d drawn her in with.

Bodies pressed together.
The cold damp of her wet blouse clung against my arm.
Hiyori blinked up at me for a moment, wide-eyed with surprise — and then her cheek softened into a loose, unguarded smile.

“Mm… you’re warm.”

She rested her head against my shoulder, like a small animal settling in.
The way she leaned her weight in was easy and trusting, as though she’d been waiting to be held exactly like this.

Softly.
Mixed in with the humid rain air, the sweet musk of Hiyori’s perfume bloomed richly against my nostrils.

Through a single thin layer of fabric: definite warmth. And the small, steady thump, thump of a heartbeat, reaching me directly.

(…warm.)

I’d thought “Yuri Friends” was nothing but having the video held over my head, being called mine, having my lips taken by force.

But right now it was different.
Just sharing each other’s warmth. Quietly leaning together in the sound of rain.

“Hey, Hiyori.”
“Mm? What?”

Hiyori hummed her reply, in good spirits, the umbrella still in hand.

“Is Yuri Friends… can it be like this too?”
“What are you talking about. This is basically the whole point of yuri, isn’t it? Peak wistfulness.”
“…Oh. I see.”

She answered so readily it caught me slightly off guard.
It wasn’t only the intense things she was after.
She genuinely seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere of the game itself. If that was true —

I looked away slightly to hide the beat of my own heart, and murmured.

“…S-something like this, I… could probably do it from my side too, I think.”
“Hm?”
“…It’s not like it means anything. It’s just…”

I pressed my lips together and forced out my best show of bravado.

“Effort toward getting the video deleted faster! That’s all I’m saying I’ll do. Even though it’s annoying.”

Play the obedient Yuri Friend well enough, and maybe one day I’ll be free.
That was the survival strategy. Nothing more.

It wasn’t as though I wanted this.
I was repeating it to myself when a soft “kufufu” of suppressed laughter came from beside me.

“W-what.”
“Mm, nothing. Just thinking how nice it is.”

Hiyori hugged my arm tighter and whispered in her most honeyed voice.

“They say ‘pitiable is adorable,’ and honestly, so true. …Maya, you’re too earnest.”
“…! You’re the one who put me in this pitiable situation!”
“Ahaha! Impeccable logic!”

She laughed her bright, careless laugh — and then, without warning, went straight-faced and looked up at me.
Her eyes went liquid, hazy, and heavy.

“…Hey, Maya.”
“What.”
“I don’t think I’m satisfied yet today. …Let’s kiss.”
“What?!”

I stopped walking.
Around us, people passed by under their own umbrellas, one after another.

“Kiss here, with all these people walking past?! Are you serious?! Absolutely not!”
“Mm, so stingy.”
“It’s a matter of basic decency! As a member of the discipline committee, I couldn’t possibly—”

That was when it happened.
Whomp.
The umbrella in Hiyori’s hand tilted sharply forward.
Shhhhh—

The momentum sent the water pooled in the fabric cascading down in a waterfall onto the pavement.
The rush of it drowned out everything — the bustle of the street, the footsteps around us.

The thick, opaque navy fabric blocked the view from outside, and carved out a sealed room — just for two.

Dim, under the umbrella.
The rain hammered right at our ears, a wall between the world and us.

“…Good thing it’s a plain umbrella that no one can see through.”

Right up close, Hiyori smiled her mischievous smile.

“Mm—!”

Chu.
A soft, wet sound, and lips met lips.

Sweet. Almost childlike. A gentle kiss.

“Hiyori!”
“Hehe.”

She tipped the umbrella back upright, and I hurriedly pushed her face away with my hand.
Her laughter, bright and pleased, rang out beneath the dome of the umbrella.

My heart hurt.

And yet my left hand was still holding Hiyori’s waist, firmly, and hadn’t let go.
And Hiyori, for her part, had her weight rested against my shoulder, matching her steps to mine.

Our wet blouses pressed together, we hurried through the rain toward the station.