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“She’s coming soon, Reika, relax!” Akane beamed, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet. She clapped the blue-haired girl on the back and sent her stumbling forward, much to her ire and nerves.
“I know, but I can’t help it,” Reika mumbled under her breath, regaining her footing. Brushing invisible specks of dust off of her uniform, she stood up a little straighter and held her head high. Her eyes darted around. “She’ll be here soon. Yes.”
“Akane’s right. Her flight just got in and she’ll be out here in no time,” Miyuki nodded. Akane caught her eye, and the two girls smiled brightly at one another. From the side, Yayoi edged into their circle and placed a placating hand on Reika’s shoulder, shyly giving a smile of her own.
“One month goes by quickly, but not quick enough,” Yayoi spoke, “right?”
“Yes,” Reika admitted. Her eyes did a sweep of the exit terminal again. Unbeknownst to her, her three friends were all giving each other mischievous, knowing glances.
“One month for a soccer training camp, and you’re already this clingy,” Akane gasped. “What are you going to do when Nao gets a boyfriend?” The hook did the trick, and Reika sank right for the bait.
“A boyfriend?” she hissed indignantly. “There’s a boy? She was seeing a boy?”
“No, no, you misunderstand. What are you going to do when she does get a boyfriend? Meaning in the future, not now,” Akane hastily corrected herself.
“Oh, well.” Reika flushed and refused to meet her friends’ eyes. “Ahem. I won’t do anything. Her romantic affairs are her own business.”
“Sure, sure,” Akane continued. “I’ll let her know that she has your approval then.”
“What?” Reika shrieked. “So there is a boy?”
“Akane, I really think you should stop now,” Miyuki whispered, nudging her friend’s side forcefully with her elbow. Yayoi nodded along with the advice.
“Hold on,” Akane whispered back, not moving her mouth. Turning back to the near panicked Reika, she held her hands up in surrender and grinned, her eyes darting over Reika’s shoulder and seeing familiar green hair. “If I told you there was a boy, what would you do?”
“I would-”
“What’s this about a boy?” a newcomer spoke up.
Eyes going impossibly wide, Reika whipped her head around and gasped at the sight that greeted her. Smiling brightly, eyes twinkling with amusement, her stature a little taller than the last time she saw her, was Nao, real, solid, and actually there, standing right in front of her.
She could have cried.
“Nao,” she mouthed, voice lost in the dizzying excitement upon seeing Nao. Nao in the flesh. Nao.
“Reika,” Nao greeted. “Hi.”
“Are you serious, a ‘hi’ is all she gets?” Akane muttered, ignored and forgotten along with everyone else. She watched as Nao bent down and scooped Reika into a bone-crushing hug, their faces mere inches apart, their expression intense. Then the raging passion faded just as quickly, and their eyes closed, the tension leaving them with a calm certainty. “Oh, that’s more like it,” Akane grinned and watched as their lips headed for a collision course.
“You think they realize other people are watching?”
“Nope. Noooope.”
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