Miyako lied down on her bed, her eyes half closed as she swiped a drop of sweat from her brow. She knew that doing so was useless, as the rest of her body was dripping with sweat.
She sighed at the lack of motion on the part of the fan hanging from the ceiling. The room was dark with the exception of a few weak candles. Miyako could barely see the perplexingly smiling face of a dear friend of hers.
Hikari’s fittingly light blonde hair still managed to shine with minimal lighting. Her eyes were the colour of warm chestnuts and were wide with innocence.
Miyako’s smaller, icy blue eyes, by comparison, appeared cold and emotionless, and her deep brown hair almost covered those eyes, giving her the look of the grim reaper with its hood up. Her pale skin did little to prevent this appearance.
Many were surprised when they were told that Miyako was half-French whilst Hikari had Japanese heritage lasting centuries. The devastatingly effective combination of hair dye and makeup was Hikari’s golden secret.
Hikari leaned in closer, her breath skating over Miyako’s sharp nose. “So what should we do?” she asked softly.
Miyako shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? I wasn’t prepared for this.”
Hikari unzipped her shoulder bag and rummaged around the insides until she found the object that used to always bring her and Miyako together.
“We haven’t played this in a while.” Miyako scrunched her nose in embarrassment as she stared at the handheld console.
“That thing still works?” she asked. “What would we even play on it? And why did you bring it?”
“I…” Hikari’s cheeks heated up. “I thought it would be fun. Look, if you think it’s stupid, just tell me and stop delaying my feelings of… of…. heartbreak!”
Miyako giggled as Hikari lied down on the futon with the back of her hand pushed against her forehead. Hikari grabbed her console, flipped it open and turned it on.
“What game are you playing?” Miyako asked in a voice that suggested a lack of interest in the answer.
“Pokémon, of course.”
“How old are you? Don’t tell me you became an otaku before I even noticed!”
Hikari’s throat tightened and her voice became hoarse with shock. “Take… that… back!” Miyako shook her head and laughed with playful cruelty. Hikari turned away from the other girl. “You’re mean. If you really liked me, you’d play as well.”
“I don’t know where my console is. I haven’t used it in years, remember?”
“Well look for it. I don’t want to play this alone. And yes, I know that we can’t technically play together without internet, but we could still play together in spirit!”
Miyako eventually stood up and carefully explored the nooks and crannies of her room. “Where is this damn thing?” she hissed. Hikari chuckled each time she heard Miyako bump into something or swear to herself.
Miyako fumbled through her drawers in the dark but found nothing substantial. She then searched her wardrobe, where she suddenly found her handheld console, nestled next to a beanie on top of the closet’s drawers.
She pulled it out with triumph and smiled when she saw that it still had a tiny bit of charge left. Her next challenge hit her like a boulder thrown by Goliath. She had to complete a similar process to the one she dealt with a few seconds ago, this time to find the Pokémon game that Hikari was playing.
“Which version are you playing?” she asked.
“Platinum.”
She held each game found in the closet drawer up to the candlelight until she found the correct game. She sat on her bed and began playing.
“Why did I go through all that?” she wondered aloud.
Hikari smirked. “Because you love me.”
Miyako’s cheeks burnt, Hikari’s words threatening to solder themselves into her brain for all eternity.
“L-love? Isn’t that a bit too sudden?”
“Why should it be? I love you, so why should you be any different?” The two played their game in awkward silence for the next few minutes. They both sweat through the game, the heat returning to the room as if to punish the couple. The shackles of quietness were broken by Hikari. “Which bit are you up to?”
“I’m just walking around right now, really,” Miyako admitted. “I’ve given up on playing properly.”
“Have you told your parents about us?”
Miyako almost choked on her own spit. “What? Are you kidding me? There’s no way they’d let us have sleepovers like this if they knew.”
“Well, maybe that’s a good thing. No offence, but this is the worst sleepover ever.” Hikari turned towards her girlfriend. “I guess it’s not your fault, though. When do you think the power’s going to come back on?” Miyako simply shrugged. “So… about before…that was a weird way of reacting to my confession.”
“Sorry. But how was I supposed to act? I’m not an expert on this.”
“You said you’ve dated before.”
“Well, isn’t going out with a girl different?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never dated a guy before, so I have no clue what the difference is. So… now that I’ve given you my heart and soul, don’t I deserve a kiss?”
“You don’t “deserve” anything. I will give you a kiss, though.” Hikari waited for Miyako to sit down next to Hikari, or perhaps pull her up by the arm until the two were in an embrace. She waited.
And waited.
And waited.
“Uh… when is this kiss going to happen? I assumed it was going to be now-”
“I’m not ready yet!” Miyako interrupted, sitting on her calves while her hands gripped the sheets of her bed. “Give me a couple of seconds. I… I don’t know how to kiss a girl.”
“I didn’t realise it was any different from kissing a guy. Look, if you don’t want to kiss me, that’s fine. I was just getting a little worried since we haven’t had our first kiss together yet. It’s been a few weeks and I thought for sure we’d be at the kissing stage by now.”
Hikari put on an understanding smile as she gazed at her lover. Miyako shook her head and slid her legs in front of her until they were dangling off the edge of the bed. She held out her hand. Hikari took it.
Their lips collided as Miyako gently pulled Hikari towards her. Miyako noticed that her girlfriend smelled like cinnamon and tasted like chocolate. Hikari must have not heeded to her advice about cutting the unhealthy amount of pocky she consumed out of her diet. Miyako had no idea where the smell of cinnamon originated from, though.
She suddenly felt embarrassed at paying such close attention to Hikari’s taste and smell, worries that she may be a creep slapping her cheeks until they became redder than ever.
She soon realised that kissing a girl was not the herculean task she expected it to be. The couple moved in what onlookers would see as rehearsed synchronicity had the two been kissing in public. The thought of doing such a thing made Miyako’s body tense up.
“What’s wrong?” Hikari asked. She gasped, her hands pushing her cheeks up. “Was I so bad a kisser that you had to stop?”
“No, uh, I was just…. I needed some air.” Hikari smiled. “Hi-chan, um… have you ever… you know… had… with someone…. I don’t even know what I’m asking!”
“Uh… yeah. I have. Why? Do you want to? I’m not ready for that at the moment. We haven’t been together long enough.”
“O-okay,” Miyako stammered. Her heart leapt in misplaced panic as she realised that her console had run out of battery. “Damn it. Can I just watch you play?”
Hikari nodded and resumed the game. Miyako sat down next to her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around her shoulders from behind. Hikari shivered from the surprise contact but relaxed into the other girls’ arms.
Miyako laughed with childish schadenfreude whenever Hikari lost a battle, resulting in Hikari angrily asking her if she’d prefer to play it. Miyako shut her mouth after that.
The duo sat in comfortable silence as the clouds gave way to a stunningly bright moon. Miyako’s attention was divided by this beautiful display of nature and her equally beautiful girlfriend.
Hikari shut the console and closed her eyes, resting in Miyako’s surprisingly strong arms. Miyako was momentarily filled with alarm but she soon became used to the light and adorable snoring from Hikari.
While Hikari was purring in contentment, Miyako softly patted her head as if she was a cat. She pondered the possibility of “loving” her girlfriend back rather than only “liking” her. The snug smell of cinnamon that enveloped Miyako’s nostrils made it clear to her that love was a potential if not inevitable label to use for her feelings.
The next level of their relationship was for Miyako to return Hikari’s love, but until Miyako’s limbs no longer became painfully rigid at the thought of telling this truth to Hikari, she was forced to settle for saying the right words by herself.
“I love you, Hi-chan,” she whispered into the darkness, a desire to keep their relationship as perfect as it was settling in her heart like soil resting over a young plant.
The electricity company must have decided to play a horrifically sadistic prank on Miyako, as the room was abruptly filled with white light.
Hikari lethargically opened her eyes. “Who woke me up?” she asked in a voice garbled with exhaustion.
Miyako chortled. “I can use my charger. Want to play another game, together this time?”
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