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It begins, as most things do in Yukina’s life, with Lisa Imai. Yukina had been sitting outside during her lunch break, the warm spring air gently rustling the tree that was shading her bench, and contemplating whether or not she should have brought a hat, when Lisa had situated herself near silently next to her. Yukina, lost in her thoughts, nearly jumped at her sudden entrance, but years worth of Lisa’s jumpscares had hardwired her into not reacting beyond a small smile and a surprised hum. “Yukina! I looked everywhere for you, but turns out you were just sitting out here the whole time?” Lisa had exclaimed, spreading out the syllables in Yukina’s name in a teasing whine while pouting at her softly. The wind had gently ruffled the ponytail she had tied up, the sun shining through the leaves to lightly illuminate streaks of gold in her hair.
Yukina stares at her quietly, a peaceful and relaxed set in her shoulders as she turns her eyes to the lunchbox on Lisa’s lap. “The weather has been getting warmer. I thought it would be nice to eat my lunch outside,” Yukina says, eyes turning towards her own empty lap, “had I not forgotten to bring it.” Lisa bursts into full-bellied laughter as she tips forward to rest her forehead on Yukina’s shoulder, clutching her own stomach as her shoulders shake with mirth. “Really Yukina?” She says warmly, her laughter fading into soft giggles and eventually turning into a wide and brilliant smile. She adjusts how she’s sitting on the bench before holding out a small lunchbox in front of Yukina with a playful glint in her eye. “Sometimes I worry about you, always lost in that head of yours,” she teases as she deposits the lunchbox on Yukina’s lap and turning back to relax against the back of the bench. Her smile becomes more subdued and thoughtful as she looks up towards the clouds. “Sometimes you disappear off into your own mind,” she turns slightly widened eyes back to Yukina as her voice speeds up, “and not that you have to tell me everything Yukina, I really respect you and I know you’re real capable but,” she pauses, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “I really wish I could see what goes on there you know?” She says, a hopeful glint to her eyes, reaching out a hand to poke Yukina’s forehead warmly.
Yukina is once again thrown off balance by Lisa, but outwardly doesn’t react. When Yukina was younger, all those feelings she had towards Lisa were shrouded by the haze of childlike affection, a comfortable and genuine love that had led playful shenanigans by the hand for years. And with age and maturity, Yukina’s feelings grew as well, teenage awkwardness around her first and only love stunting a few of her mannerisms around her. She knows she doesn’t speak as much as she should, as much as she wants to, but opening up too much comes with the ever present fear of blurting out something along the lines of ‘Lisa, I’m in love with you and have been since we were children.’ Not the best idea. But Lisa is looking at her with those beautiful green eyes that Yukina has never been able to say no to as long as they look at her with that familiar mixture of trepidation and excitement, and a sigh shutters its way out of her throat. “It’s not that interesting, but ask away, Lisa,” Yukina eventually says, turning her head down towards her lap and gently unwrapping the lunchbox Lisa had given her. “Thank you by the way,” she murmurs softly as she gestures down at the lunchbox, nervousness and dread weighing her tongue down while waiting for Lisa’s questions.
Lisa hums thoughtfully in response, turning away to watch a distant classroom. She stays silent for a while, the wind blowing softly between them. “Did you dream about anything last night?” she finally asks, the genuine and simple question yet again throwing Yukina off balance. Lisa turns her head and smiles at Yukina, affection welling in her eyes and a teasing smile on her face at Yukina’s clear surprise. “You totally thought I was gonna ask something weird, weren’t you?” She playfully accuses before laughing gleefully. Yukina smiles too, an embarrassed flush spreading across her cheeks as she speaks. “Can you blame me?” she admits, averting her eyes from Lisa’s laughing form, the way her hair artfully spills past where it had been tucked behind her ear, the way her strawberry lip gloss shines in the sun, the way her forehead once again rests on Yukina’s arm. And god, Yukina yearns, the feeling weighing down her tongue with the pure amount of affection she holds for her childhood friend and one and only, suffocating her.
Yukina’s blush doesn’t fade the slightest bit and she eventually swallows the damning confession threatening to spill out her lips. Lisa’s giggles once again fade into mirthful hiccups as she straightens up and smiles brightly at Yukina’s flushing cheeks. “It was totally worth it to see the look on your pretty face,” she says spiritedly, seeming oblivious to the way Yukina’s blush deepens. Certain she appears more like a tomato than a teenage girl, Yukina gently slaps Lisa’s arm and carefully doesn’t tense or change her body language at the comment. “Now I’m considering not answering,” she quietly snarks back, and Lisa chuckles softly again. “I bet you don’t remember, and that’s why you wont tell me,” she teases, relaxing back on the bench and tilting her head to watch the clouds. Yukina smiles and looks back down to the lunchbox in her lap, to the girl sitting next to her, and finally up to the clouds. “I saw a cat this morning,” she eventually admits softly. When Lisa turns her head to smile at her, Yukina scoffs unsurprised at her reaction. “Don’t. I already know what you’re going to say,” she glares at her playfully as Lisa laughs, a small and gracious smile on her face.
“Okay. I won’t,” Lisa concedes easily, turning back up to the sky. The wind blows again, Yukina’s hair coming to obscure her vision as her blush recedes, and the tree’s branches swaying softly. A loud chorus of laughs comes from the nearby sporting pitch, but silence settles itself over them both, an old friend welcoming them back into their arms. “I wonder what other simple little things take up your mind, Yukina,” Lisa says delicately, warmth and love and all things good colouring her tone. Yukina smiles down at the food in her lap before responding. “A lot of things,” she says simply. The sun breaks through the tree’s leaves to shine directly onto Lisa’s eyes, and she scrunches up her face to squint. Yukina shrugs her shoulders and continues avoiding Lisa’s eyes, years worth of affection sitting at the back of her throat, a comforting and familiar weight. Silence reigns over them again for a few seconds before Lisa opens her mouth to speak. She turns her head to look at Yukina carefully, her mouth forming around unspoken words before snapping shut. She swallows inaudibly before opening her mouth to try again.
“What else?” She asks, her voice almost a whisper. The previous comfortable silence slowly buzzes, becoming charged as Lisa looks intently at Yukina, and Yukina continues to look away, to get lost in her head, to not speak.
“Yukina?” Lisa pushes further, sitting up from where she’d been relaxing against the bench and tilting her head as she looks at Yukina. Yukina very pointedly doesn’t say anything else, eyes downcast to her lap and hands clutching the lunchbox tightly. Lisa radiates worry as she leans closer with a concerned wrinkle on her face, placing a hand onto the bench between them. “Did I push too much? I’m sorry, I really didn’t think you’d react like this, I didn’t mean to make you-” she cuts off abruptly, looking down at where Yukina has placed her hand on top of Lisa’s. A small blush rises on Lisa’s cheeks as she looks down at the hand encasing hers. “Yukina?” She questions, her voice breathy and barely above a whisper. The wind blows Yukina’s hair in front of her face but her words ring clear when she speaks.
“Lisa,” she says simply. Lisa still can’t see her face clearly but her heart picks up speed when she feels Yukina’s hand tighten around hers. “You don’t need to think so much about what's going on in my head,” Yukina states as she finally turns to look at Lisa. A light flush spreads across her cheeks, but the same determination that drives every performance and every practice in Roselia is echoed in her eyes. “You don’t need to think so much about it. All I think about anyway is you,” she pronounces carefully. Her hand doesn’t pull away from Lisa’s, even when Lisa’s face gets progressively darker with blush, and her eyelashes tremble softly. The wind whispers across her flushed skin, a welcome respite from her rising temperature.
“Yukina?” Lisa repeats, the broken record screeching to a stop in her brain as she looks into Yukina’s determined gaze and then back at where their hands are joined. Her hand flexes in Yukina’s grip slightly before she lets out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding and begins to smile so widely it hurts. “Okay,” she finally whispers, lifting up their joined hands and pressing a light kiss to Yukina’s hand. Yukina blushes and smiles, squeezing her hand tightly before turning back to the lunchbox on her lap. “Okay,” Yukina parrots, her smile mimicking the broadness of Lisa’s, adding on a certain tint of bashfulness. The wind blows, the sun shines, and Yukina holds Lisa’s hand as she sits on the bench during their lunch break, no further words spoken between them.