Chapter Text
“Barrabas came to us by sea, the cute, sexy protagonist Kyoko called out to her lover.” Toshino Kyoko grins back over her shoulder at Funami Yui. Kyoko is standing by the club room's exterior door, overlooking the deck and basking in the the midday sun. She whirls around towards the interior of the room in a dazzling storm of blonde hair before hopping, legs together, towards where Yui sits reading.
“W....what?” Yui, sitting against a wall, glances up from her book and frowns.
Kyoko gasps, putting one hand in front of her mouth and clutching her chest with the other. She looks down in front of her, squeezing her eyes closed. “I....Yui....how can we be an old married couple if you don't get my references?” She wipes away a ghost tear and looks up to the sky, fake sniffling, her hands clasping together in prayer. “Kami-sama, please...look at the life I've lived. Please, let me have a happy dream, for once in my life.”
“Oi, careful. And no one would get the first reference. Especially with your narration.” Yui sighs, looking back down into her book and scanning through the page with her index finger as she tries to find her place.
“Ha, oh my dear, sweet Yui, how fast you've grown....” Kyoko creaks over to Yui's side, miming an old woman with a walker. “Why I remember when you were just a young 'un...”
“I thought we were an old married couple, now you're my grandma?” Yui flips to the next page as Kyoko straightens up and plops down next to her, resting her head on Yui's shoulder. Yui glances over and sees her friend's deep maroon hair bow a hair's breadth away from her nose. “Hm?”
“They might not get the first one right away, but if they don't get the second, the internet won't help much.” Kyoko turns her face up towards Yui and grins, closing her bright blue eyes.
Yui feels warm relaxation flow through her body in a gentle wave.
She never stops going, but somehow, it's calming, having her here.
Yui turns back to her book, a little smile across her lips.
“Hey, Yui....”
“Hm?” Yui turns back to Kyoko and finds her with her eyes closed and her lips parted, moving closer. “Oi!” Yui bonks her with the book and Kyoko retreats a few scooches, kneeling.
“So stingy, Yui-nyan.” Kyoko rubs her head where Yui had bonked her and pouts.
“You're ridiculous. Reign it in a bit.” Yui rolls her eyes and opens her book again.
“Why? Akarii'n and China-chu have to stay behind with the teacher today, so it'll just be us until it's time for class,” Kyoko says as she clasps her hands in front of her neck and wiggles, her eyes half-lidded above a coy smile.
“Yep, that's the situation.” Yui flips the page. She hears Kyoko scurry in front of her and looks up to see Kyoko, on all fours, staring back at her with a suspicious grin on her face. Yui blinks, then narrows her eyes. “What?”
“Haven't you ever wondered what it's like? You know,” Kyoko purrs, winking. “A real, patented, Kyoko-brand kiss?”
“Huh, have we really never kissed before?” Yui looks up to the ceiling and Kyoko scoffs.
“You don't remember? That night we spent—”
“Never happened.” Yui looks back down to her book.
“You didn't let—”
“Whatever it was, it didn't happen. After all,” Yui growls, glaring at Kyoko for a second before her face softens ever so slightly. “This is you we're talking about. A blanket denial has a pretty fair chance of being spot-on.”
“Such a tease, Yui-tan, sitting there all demurely with your book.” Kyoko stands and old-lady-mimes her way in front of Yui, shaking an imaginary cane at her. “You whipper-snappers, always such frigid little vixens.”
“This character you're playing... should probably be arrested.” Yui keeps reading while holding in a smile. Kyoko says nothing, and Yui feels an urge to look up but resists, caught in indecision between suspecting Kyoko might be up to something and not wanting to give her any attention. Suddenly, Kyoko's right fist slams against the wall to the left of Yui's head. Yui looks up to find Kyoko almost right up against her, her breath hot on Yui's cheeks.
“Yui...always so mean to me...”
“Kyoko...” Yui puts her book up in front of Kyoko's face and pushes her away with it. “Knock it off, seriously.”
“I am serious. See?” Kyoko stretches her cheeks out with her hands and Yui covers her mouth, barely suppressing a burst of laughter. She sighs, smiling, and sets her book down next to her.
“Why are you so on about this all of a sudden?”
“It's allegedly spring, Yuu-yuuu, the season of lovey-dovey,” Kyoko says, still kneeling and holding herself in her arms, her body swaying as she kisses the air.
Yui looks outside and sees the scarce tree leaves, latched tentatively to their branches, glowing in dim reds, oranges, and browns as they dangle in the cool autumn sunlight. “It's spring?”
“Allegedly.”
“Who—?” Yui stops herself and raises a hand as Kyoko starts to pipe up. “It's you, isn't it. You're the one alleging it.”
“Guilty.” Kyoko puts her finger to her cheek and sticks her tongue out, winking. “Allegedly.”
“You're hopeless,” Yui says as she shakes her head, sighing. “You won't knock it off until I agree, huh?” Yui scratches her cheek with one finger, looking away.
Kyoko's face brightens up for a split second, but then she abruptly turns away and crosses her arms. “That's no good, Yui-pon,” Kyoko says softly.
“Huh?” Yui's heart beats a tic faster.
Kyoko turns around, still on her knees but with her hands on her hips. “You kissed Chinatsu-chan, when she made that wish on the tanzaku...”
“On her forehead, yeah.”
“Well?” Kyoko looks up, pouting.
Yui blinks in surprise, then sighs. She lifts a hand, palm down, and motions Kyoko closer with her fingers. Kyoko scooches closer and Yui reaches up to move Kyoko's hair back and expose her forehead but Kyoko bats her hand away and puts her right fist against the wall again, to the left of Yui's head. Her other hand shoots out and pushes Yui's right shoulder against the wall.
“Kyo—!” Yui starts to protest but is cut off.
“Heh, you know me,” Kyoko whispers.
Yui looks up in alarm at Kyoko, ready to shove her off, but she stops dead on seeing Kyoko's face.
“I'm selfish, Yui...” Kyoko's eyes glisten and she blinks back a tear. She looks down, through Yui, her smile uneven.
“Kyoko, what's gotten into you?”
“Aren't I good enough?” Kyoko glances up at Yui for a second then turns away.
“You...”
“D-don't you... want to?” Kyoko's hand on Yui's shoulder tightens for a moment.
Yui's eyes widen as an image of Kyoko's younger self flits through Yui's mind.
Back when she was such a crybaby, falling apart at every little thing. I haven't seen her like this in so long...after all I did to try and give her strength, after she became the girl she is now, so wild and free, a living, endless non-sequitur...I guess that little girl, crying helpless and crumpled on the ground, is still a part of her too.
She really is hopeless, huh?
Yui smiles, reaching out and lifting Kyoko's chin until their eyes meet.
“Go close the door. And don't tell anyone, okay?” Yui closes her eyes, letting go of Kyoko's chin and folding her hands in her lap. She hears Kyoko scamper off and slide the exterior door closed before thumping back and plopping herself in front of Yui. Next comes a gentle thud from the wall beside Yui's head as Kyoko puts her right fist against it again. Kyoko lays her left hand gently on Yui's shoulder, squeezing once with the tips of her fingers.
For a moment, Kyoko seems to hold perfectly still, but Yui resists opening her eyes. Then, Kyoko presses forwards, her hand on Yui's shoulder gripping tightly for a moment before flattening as she and presses Yui to the wall. Their lips meet, first a quick, fleeting press, little more than a few tense motions from Kyoko's soft lips before she pulls back and nuzzles Yui with her forehead.
The second kiss, and all that follow, are deeper, warmer, lingering, greedy things, Kyoko's lips pushing, her tongue pinning Yui's down in her mouth for a moment before vanishing, a brief respite for a gasping breath followed by another press forwards, the hand pinning Yui's shoulder to the wall digging its fingers in for a second then relaxing before digging in again.
Kyoko's hair falls forwards, silken curtains surrounding Yui and trapping the warmth of the rushed, desperate breaths they take between Kyoko's yearning assaults, each new round pushing harder, her lips moving in wordless pleas, smooth and soft, her tongue a wild aggression, delving and savoring, pushing and fleeing, helpless little moans escaping both of them as they explore hidden little depths in once familiar faces.
Yui's whole body relaxes, her mind swimming in the warm, near-airlessness of Kyoko's embrace. As the air gets thin, Kyoko moves her hair back over her ear with her left hand, taking the hand off Yui's shoulder for the briefest moment before returning it with a rough squeeze and another shove into the wall.
I wonder if she thinks she's strong, Yui thinks idly to herself, her eyes flickering open for a flash as Kyoko's lips slip away. Kyoko's eyes remain closed above a serene smile as she nuzzles Yui's nose with hers, her smile then breaking into a grin.
Kyoko lowers her head to Yui's chest and her hands to Yui's arms. She presses her face against Yui, her ribbon brushing against Yui's chin.
Yui smiles at the awkward embrace and moves her hands up to Kyoko's sides, her fingers landing lightly below Kyoko's shoulders. “You're so needy, Kyoko,” Yui says, and Kyoko presses in harder for a moment.
“Sorry...does it bother you?” Kyoko's soft voice speeds Yui's heartbeat and she smiles, her hands lowering back to her lap.
“I guess not, but you really need to get a hold of yourself.” Yui sits for a time, a spreading sense of contentment ebbing and flowing through her like waves. Eventually, she moves her hands up to Kyoko's shoulders and lowers her down into a kneel. Kyoko's eyes lock with Yui's once she's down, her hands squeezing Yui's arms for a few beats before coming down to rest in her own lap.
Yui cocks her head and offers a small smile, speaking with a slight laugh in her voice. “Really, what's up with you?”
“Hee hee,” Kyoko says, closing her eyes as she grins and scratches the back of her head with one hand. “You just looked so tasty, Yui-nyan-nyan.”
“You sure tasted me a lot, I'll give you that.” Yui picks her book up again as Kyoko recoils.
“Yui...that's...really lewd.”
“Eh?” Yui glares up from her book. “I said it, but you did it.”
“Heh, I guess you're right. Thanks Yui.” Kyoko drops back from a kneel into a sit and smiles bright and wide, her grin glistening in the club room lights.
“...don't thank me for a kiss. It doesn't...feel right.”
“Hm?” Kyoko scoots over next to Yui, resting her head on Yui's shoulder. “Then, thanks for putting up with me.”
“Yeah. Anytime.” Yui rests her head on Kyoko's, the latter's ribbon a soft and plushy cushion amidst a sea of silk-smooth golden hair.
Kyoko mumbles, her tone drifting as she falls softly into a light sleep. “...today is always here, Yui-pon. Tomorrow,” Kyoko mumbles as she nuzzles Yui's shoulder, her ribbon tickling Yui's nose as she continues, “never.”
“Kyoko,” Yui whispers, “they're definitely not going to get that one.”