morning melody

♪ now playing: [ Just a Sunny Day for You ] — ヨルシカ

Granted, Himari wasn't always the earlier riser, but there were some things she'd loved about that morning stroll of today.

For one, it was the torn look on faculty's face when she'd chimed in about her new room assignment. She'd only been living with her guardian whilst paperwork had been filled out, and now that they'd processed it, she'd needed the keys to her given room. Himari tossed her head to the side, eyes narrowed, as she felt between her hands pressed to her chest, clutched between fingers the keys nearly chucked at her — though not for a sake of hostility, of course. Two cents it was that harsh look on her face, fear that motivated the morning hustle. Five bucks more it was the little songbird's anthem stirring sleepy staff members awake in the office.

The second was in the variety of clouds, the girl's eyes tracking colours streaked across the sky. A pleasured greeting of the day once it'd passed the red hues of the sun's rise. The time was somewhen nearing late morning, Himari noticed, taking a glance to her phone once she tore her eyes off the heavens. Aside from the choir of rustling leaves from nearby nature, the grating echo of her luggage's wheels on concrete and her shuffled footsteps, what was left making a din was in the device slung around her neck. The girl could feel its bass throbbing against her collarbones, and couldn't help but smile.

Because it was the third pointer that she'd wondered so curiously about in her attendance today. From the entrance of the dormitory, once she'd gotten up the elevator to the second floor, she did pass by a few doors before stopping to stare down its main hallway. Devoid of life. Was every other student still asleep?

Then it was time for a wake up call, if Himari's music had anything to say about it.

Except, what smug look on her face was soon wiped away as she stood outside her assigned room, realizing that it wasn't her playlist track that was blasted alone. Above the volume of her own, she could hear a familiar melody; someone else's music was overtaking the sound of her pop. And she wondered then in a half grin, half scowl who her mysterious benefactor would be.

She knew the words, so she sung along as she busied herself. Key through its keyhole. A quick turn of the handle.

Himari barely gave the other girl any notice.

Though a lively cheer never would hurt anyone's chances at a first impression (or so the young Fujiwara believed), her lips were occupied with the lyrics on her tongue, eyes searching the vicinity for any signs of her dorm mate by the entrance. One 'Kawahashi', Himari was told.

If Amaya was present, the new girl would shoot her a vicious smile, with no signs of stopping her voice. Not until the music was stopped, at least. Then, perhaps, Himari would finally be able to afford a chuckle.

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

Today had been a surprisingly productive day for Amaya Kawahashi, more so than the usual fare.  For one she had not had the nightmare that was stepping into the kitchen to bring her spirits down!  Word had gone around that their teacher for today's culinary arts class was absent, which meant that she could spend the whole day not thinking about cooking.  Not one to let the unexpected free time make her lazy, Amaya had followed the training regimen she'd seen in an idol anime that was very close to her heart.  Bright and early she'd gone out to get some breakfast in her system and then gone for a jog around the neighborhood around their school campus.  Of course she had her big pair of headphones on so that she could listen to the music she loved without it causing annoyance for anyone else.  The crisp morning air awakened the sleepy secret singer, welcoming her to a new day full of potential for actual enjoyment and even exploration!

Amaya had taken quite a detour on her morning jog/hike, but it was nice to let herself just travel around on whatever whim came to her.  A left turn at the corner shop that sold fresh odango after 9 am?  Done.  Heading up a narrow inclined alley just to see what was at the other end of it?  Of course!  What happened to be there at the end had been old stone steps which wound up and around yet another incline.. it looked like to a shrine!  Her legs swiftly carried her up them, bouncing from step to step in time with yet another catchy song.  After getting up to the top she indeed had found a small shrine that most people apart from the older locals might have forgotten existed.  With how isolated and private it was, she ended up dancing to a couple of songs and singing along as if it were a concert.  A concert for one, of course.

Once there seemed to be more activity in town, she decided it high time to head back to the dorms.  Thankfully it was completely possible to get back there without crossing the path of too many people.  Not that anyone would have any idea that anyone had been performing live in the shrine, or that that person had been her specifically.  Still she didn't want to risk it.  Especially if the random person who actually learned of her idol performance was another student at Fukui.  It was infinitely better to keep her music a secret, to let everyone else think that she was just the next generation of Kawahashi chef.  Still, despite the lurking concern about possibly being spotted, Amaya walked with that same bounce in her step all the way back to her room.

Slipping back into her room without being seen had been simple as well - seemed like most of her neighbors were either sleeping in or not around.  Amaya was perfectly fine just spending some time in her room alone.  Just her, her music and the privacy that made it possible to catch a glance of her deepest and most secret dreams.  After a few songs she had happened to hear before, one that she knew very well came on randomly.  Not just one she knew well but the instrumental version with no vocals - in no time, she filled the void by providing her own vocals.  And performing from memory the dance she had learned with it on her own.  Her mind was so enveloped in the moment that she lost track of her surroundings.. and didn't realize that she had accidentally unplugged her headphones from her phone.  Or that someone had entered the room and was in fact singing along with her.

When she hit the last note, she caught sight of someone out of the corner of her eye.  Suddenly Amaya froze, her head s-l-o-w-l-y craning over to see a girl with long black hair she'd never seen before.  Standing there.  Looking at Amaya and smiling.  Instantly Amaya's face went from joy to shock to deadpan stoicism.  Maybe she could pretend that she hadn't noticed the other girl noticing her performance.  Like nothing had happened.  After tapping her phone to pause the music, Amaya lowered her headphones and looked right at the other girl.

"If you were able to get in, I guess.. you're.. my roommate?" she asked in a tone devoid of the joy which had filled her singing.  Amaya then bowed, "Nice to meet you.  I am Kawahashi Amaya."

Himari barely gave the other girl any notice.

Though a lively cheer never would hurt anyone's chances at a first impression (or so the young Fujiwara believed), her lips were occupied with the lyrics on her tongue, eyes searching the vicinity for any signs of her dorm mate by the entrance. One 'Kawahashi', Himari was told.

If Amaya was present, the new girl would shoot her a vicious smile, with no signs of stopping her voice. Not until the music was stopped, at least. Then, perhaps, Himari would finally be able to afford a chuckle.

♪ now playing: [ adventure spirit ] — yvette young

Aww. Where'd all that energy go? Himari had almost wanted to point it out, question the sudden drop of enthusiasm; she knew that society often expected a quiet and non-abrasive persona, and yet it felt strange to have held that standard in a more private and personal setting. Living on one's own in a dorm room should've felt this way, Fujiwara believed, so watching that song and dance snuffed out like a light rubbed her the wrong way, somewhat.

Maybe Kawahashi was just shy?

Himari's smile continued to remain, cheeks up, lashes pulled in thick lines, a beam like warm sunshine. Perhaps finding that common ground between them would curry her favour with her dorm mate, she reasoned; there'd be less toil for differences that way, an understanding and a friendship to be made, reached quicker.

"So I've been told!" The girl turned around, if only to pull her baggage into the room; one bloated luggage case red and on wheels was all that was necessary for her first week in the dorms. Shoji's home was close enough that she could stop by and pick up the non-essentials at a later date, anyway.

With the way Kawahashi was expressing herself, it'd be remiss to have believed she wasn't into the performative arts either. And if anything, Fujiwara reasoned, those headphones she owned and bore too were proof of her kin. "I didn't know I'd be rooming with someone with the same major as me," the girl guessed. Her first assumption. She didn't mind it being wrong. "Ah, they didn't tell you I was moving in, did they?"

It was only after Himari closed the door to their room did she finally pause for an introduction. "Likewise, Kawahashi-san. My name's Himari; Fujiwara Himari." Her bow was only a gentle tilt, where most might've dipped at a steeper angle. A hand on her chest in her greeting was Fujiwara's preferred way of showing respect, though she did wonder if it would be lost on her associate. "I'll be in your care from now on, so I hope we can get along."

"Now, let's see..."

If there were any signs of hesitation or complications on her dorm mate's face, Fujiwara was likely to have missed them, signed them off on the general unsettlement she'd often gave people who'd come to shape their acknowledgement of her at first glance. Her gaze was set on the three doors down their hallway. The center, she knew, was the bathroom.

Himari looked to the other girl with a slight tilt of her head diagonally, thumb gesturing over to the bedrooms. "So, which one's mine?" She'd expected to be lead towards the room itself by her dorm mate, but instructions from afar worked just as well; either way, with a quick nod and a peppy, "Thanks!" she'd excuse herself within, slipping her luggage inside once the door was open.

But unpacking could come later, as part of her evening duties. Right now, she was more curious than anything, and spotted herself a chesire's grin as she leaned against the door frame of her room, hands in her jacket's pockets. "So, Kawahashi-san," Himari began. the tone of her voice was starting to calm, gentle; it would do her well not to scare off her companion when it came to personal details, after all, and Fujiwara knew how potentially overwhelming her grand excitement could've seemed. "What genres are you into? Pop? Or are you an idol-fan kind of person? They release quite a number of songs these days too, don't they?"

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

This new girl was a whirlwind the likes of which Amaya could not have ever prepared herself for.  Heck she had even been mostly accustomed and even almost happy with the arrangement of living alone in this room.  Sure she couldn't be with her closest, cutest friend all the time like they'd been hoping but at least they weren't far from each other.  If only their shared time wasn't within the personal drudgery for Amaya that was the kitchen.  Then today this new girl stepped into what had once been Amaya's personal domain with music playing audibly while she brought in her luggage.  Worse still, this girl had apparently heard of her!!  What else could that 'so I've heard' have possibly meant?  Suddenly Amaya's brain was a jumbled mess of worries, concerns and potentials. 

Even when Himari asked her which bed was hers, Amaya didn't really say anything - her brain was too much in overdrive for a verbal reply to be possible.  She merely pointed to the one on the far side of the room which was made and untouched since Amaya had moved in.  This was a potential emergency situation which required sound consideration for the right decision to be made.  So the girl had heard her name before - if she was from anywhere near Kyoto she probably had heard the Kawahashi name somewhere.  Was she doomed to spend the entire year around people who were just going to pepper her with questions about cooking?  Darn it, why did she even phrase it as 'peppering'?!   Amaya's face reverted to the purest form of her deadpan face while she fought through that alone, in order that she might make a decision on how to respond to her roommate's statement.

Amaya smoothed the blanket on her bed out, then sat gracefully on it while pondering further.  Now just because someone had said they'd heard she was their roommate didn't necessarily mean that the new girl knew about the Kawahashi family chain.  Japan was kind of a big place and the girl's accent didn't sound like it was from the Kansai or Kyoto regions.  That was a good sign.  There had been no immediate questions about food either, so that was also good - everyone in her major had assaulted her with culinary queries on their first day in class.  Darn it, there she went again - a-salt-ed was how her thoughts conveyed the word, causing her more unhappiness.  Maybe it was going to be best to just deny she had been singing and dancing at all.  Yet.. by the time that she came to that potential decision, her roommate asked her something unexpected - about music.

Music, not cooking.  Pop and idol music specifically.  It was so out of the blue for her that Amaya's stony face registered surprise through wide eyes and a tilted head.  It was almost certain that she didn't know about Amaya's family after all - why would she?  Japan was a big place and the girl sounded like a Tokyo-ite!  Amaya gripped her blanket beneath her tightly as the realization came to her.  It seemed way too lucky a break to be real, but here it was.   Someone who didn't know about her family, and was just treating her like.. a normal girl.  Not some culinary princess or demigod gracing the kitchen with her culinary excellence.  Just a girl.  Who liked music and singing.  Slowly Amaya's robotic expression allowed a small smile as she decided this was something to embrace.  And if her roommate happened to think she was in the same major as her so be it!  As long as that major wasn't culinary arts, there was no reason to rock the boat, right?

"U-um.. well," Amaya began to respond, still sitting on the bed and only just letting go of the blanket.  She folded her hands in her lap as she at last gave an answer, "Idols do release a lot of content, so.. it helps to pick out a handful to focus on.  Otherwise it gets overwhelming.  I.. guess I like a lot of music as long as it's danceable, but I do enjoy idols the most in the end."

She then took a deep breath.  This was a big step for her.  She looked at her roommate and asked, "What kinds of music do you like?  And.. what made you choose..um.. the major we're both in?"

♪ now playing: [ any song (아무노래) ] — ZICO

Finally, a glimpse of that smile from earlier — one tug of relief to Himari that her room mate wasn't intimidated by appearances nor her entry routine. Still, Kawahashi seemed a little nervous; Fujiwara watched with a slack smile as the girl fidgeted with the sheets, before recomposing herself with her hands on her lap. Talking with a stranger about one's passions couldn't have been easy for anyone, she figured; it must've been like their first interview with the school, impartial and impersonal. Here was hoping their casual banter would loosen things up between them.

"Idols, huh?" Himari repeated, eyes drifting to the ceiling thoughtfully. "So, choreographed dances too, right?" A tongue-in-cheek joke that she'd nearly laughed at; the girl caught herself instead, forcing her humor to show in way of a brighter glow. "With the way you were moving earlier, I might've mistaken you for majoring that instead. Or Theatre!"

She then paused, fishing a hand out from her jacket, waving her index around thoughtfully. "—Ah, but then I suppose the latter wouldn't often have you dancing solo, would it? More co-ordination, rehearsals done in a group..."

With Kawahashi's interjection, Himari reeled herself out of her pondering; had she better foresight, she might've expected being returned the same questions she'd asked her new companion. A raise of her shoulder nudging her still blaring headphones – volume lowered, of course – only served as proof to emphasize her tastes. "Pop, mostly. Rock and jazz, sometimes, too. Though anything upbeat off the internet sounds good too. You wouldn't believe what kind of music is out there; Korean, English, if my pronunciation was a little better, I'd give French a try..."

The girl pushed her own bangs back with a stray hand, paired with a stifled chuckle. It was just as tough for her too, it seemed, to be honest with a stranger. "But maybe you already knew that. We're music junkies here, after all!"

And the way Kawahashi phrased her other question did send questions through Himari's head, though the girl still remained oblivious, choosing to repeat herself for clarity's sake. The best sign of confusion she revealed was a couple of quick, blank blinks. "Vocal Performance, aren't we?" Fujiwara's gaze began to travel again, hand toying with one of her longer locks. "Singing's all I've ever been alright at, all I'd ever have fun doing. I'm no good with academics myself, but I used to bank my time at karaoke boxes in the past, and I figure I could cache out a niche when I see one. Fukui's just well out of the way enough for me, away from my hometown. If I weren't so attached to singing, I might've found a different voice training academy, to be honest."

"One might only get so far in the music industry, after all..."

Himari's voice was faded in a mutter when she'd said that.

"... Anyway, I do sing in lower registers," the girl explained further, resting her sights back towards Kawahashi. Though her words were true, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed admitting to nonconformity in regards to her ability. She knew that most talent had higher-pitched voices to begin with, though perhaps her revelation wasn't even worth a mention; it was obvious that Fujiwara's voice had been deep, scratchy from the outset, contrasting what peppiness she might've been showing off. "So I was hoping to maximize what I could do with it. Harmonies may be one thing; it's something I could get better at, I think. But performing solo — though it's nerve wrecking, I love to do it sometimes."

There was a tilt in her head when her fidgeting stopped, Himari realizing something in her pause. "Kawahashi-san, you're more of a soprano, right? Lead vocals? It'd be good if we could practice together if our schedules allow." Convenient training, the girl personally believed. She knocked her hand against the wall behind her, as though testing its material for show. "I don't suppose these rooms are soundproof, are they?"

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

If there was one thing that Amaya was grateful for, it was that her roommate was comfortable doing a lot of the talking.  Some girls might have been loathe to have a conversation with someone who might dominate it.  For her though it was perfectly fine to just let Fujiwara speak at her rather than attempting to speak at length herself.  The more she heard from the other girl the more she would learn about what potential up or down sides there might be to having her as a roommate.  Meanwhile Amaya would just continue to sit there on her bed, hands in her lap as she politely listened.  Listened and plotted out how she might move forward with a potentially happier existence than she had originally expected out of attending Fukui. 

What was clear from Fujiwara's explanations was that this might be the perfect opportunity for Amaya to experience what it was like to be a singer openly.  Even if for just a little while.  She smiled a little bit more at the revelation that she'd be rooming with a Vocal Performance major - pretty much what she was in her deepest, wildest dreams.  Actually she didn't quite know what made up that particular track, but it had to be a universe better than being stuck as a Culinary Arts major.  Just imagine what it'd be like to wake up one morning and know that you would never have to step into the kitchen again!  Almost immediately Amaya was a bit jealous of her roommate's major, and the openness she had about what she truly enjoyed doing.  But Amaya had promised her family and her closest friend that she'd become a chef and make her own mark on the Kawahashi legacy.  Moments like this with someone who hadn't known her previously were the closest she'd get to living out her secret desires for more freedom.

For most of her roommate's explanations Amaya just nodded occasionally in acknowledgement of certain points.  Someone who was in the same major obviously would know about those kinds of things, so she had to keep up appearances.  Fujiwara did seem to be someone she might get along with too, and Amaya's preference to listen over talking certainly didn't hurt that.  What surprised her was hearing that Fujiwara was embarrassed or at least uneasy about having a voice in the lower registers.  Personally she thought a slightly deeper voice sounded more mature, maybe sultry in the right situations.  There was always a place for a voice like that, even if pop music tended to be dominated by more youthful, higher pitched voices.  Practice was key to learning to love your voice, she'd found, so maybe it would be best for Fujiwara to work with someone who had refined their own voice.   Clearly she had a love for singing!  And she liked to go to karaoke places too, which was even better still!

Amaya did something in the moment that was a but uncharacteristic for her.  She let her excitement override her typical caution and leaned forward, hands balled up into fists as if to contain the energy she suddenly felt building up.  With a brighter smile on her face Amaya answered, "I'm not sure if I'm soprano, but I guess I could be considered lead vocals?  It depends on who I'm singing with.. and honestly I'm not that good.  But if it would help I'd be happy to practice with you so we can both get better."

With that, she stood up and held her hands behind her as she kind of bounced in place, "Dorm room probably isn't the place to do it.. but.. um.. there are lots of karaoke places around here.  Both big chains and smaller locally owned ones.. I..um.. could make recommendations, I go sometimes.. with my friend who also goes to Fukui."

Amaya laughed awkwardly as she added, "Um.. that is, if you wanted to.  I know we're all pretty busy with classes and stuff."

♪ now playing: [ 怪物 ] — YOASOBI

It really surprised Himari just how receptive Kawahashi seemed, after a moment. During their conversation, had she been stuck in her own head for too long? Fujiwara thought so about herself, figuring she hadn't been paying attention too well to her room mate as an attentive listener should've been. But the enthusiasm — that enthusiasm — that her new companion was showing was the same sort of energy Himari herself lived off of. In turn, she couldn't help but mirror back a smile; one with a hint of sheepishness, not having expected her offer from earlier to have been taken well.

"I'm sure you're fine," Fujiwara responded, with a bit of fluster and a little too quickly. "Your voice, I mean." Even though she'd only heard a small bit of her room mate's singing from before, from the outset, it sounded like Kawahashi had sung very much with passion. Himari wasn't one with a trained ear, but emotional investment had always been her flavor of choice, even if professionals were to regard it with wariness or distaste. "Fukui had accepted you for a reason, after all. Even if you didn't think so, there're certain qualities to the voices of different people."

Later, the girl would wonder if she'd been speaking about herself subconsciously when she'd said that.

"I'd also like to believe the school believes in the potential of its students..." Himari's sights began to scatter again, and she caught herself before she went off on another tangent; was she talking the other girl's ear off? Her finger idly scratched the side of her cheek, Fujiwara forcing her gaze back onto her conversationalist. "A-anyway, all that to say that I did like what I heard from earlier, and I'm glad to be working together with you in the long run!"

The bow she gave Kawahashi now was slightly deeper in comparison from earlier; the reason Fujiwara hadn't gone further to express her respect was due to the way she had positioned herself against the room's confines. Was it strange to have bowed again after meeting someone new, during the first conversation they'd had with each other? The girl wasn't sure, but neither did she choose to linger on the thought for too long.

—Because the topic of karaoke places came up, and Himari couldn't deny being interested, invested in finding out where such locations were in the city. Gifu had quite the number of them, and she'd known each of them well, but Fukui's scene was still relatively new to her. It was exciting to know of her song companion's favoured spots, and to know another potential singer on top of that—

There might as well have been stars in the girl's eyes when she'd replied.

"I'd love to."

A short and simple agreement, because Himari couldn't believe her luck either, having planned to set aside a major part of the first week of school to have gone scouring the city and preparing half-hearted excuses to feed her teachers if they'd ever asked about her disappearance — damned if her studies could ever come close to the comfort spots that were cozy karaoke rooms.

The girl had to pull herself back together, however, realizing quickly how she'd been caught out in conversation with but a simple suggestion. She cleared her throat. "I mean, classes aside, of course. Studies first and everything." Those were the sorts of beliefs academic types had, right? Himari tucked her hands back into her jacket, re-accommodating herself against the frame she was leaning against. "Your friend — is she also in Vocals too? Or did you two come in to Fukui together and ended up in different majors?" Fujiwara did wonder for a bit of her presence had disrupted some sort of pre-planned premonition of the universe to have roomed the two girls together, but set aside that thought; it might've been school regulations and unfortunate luck that had set them apart in the first place. Goodness knows what assignment or randomization systems Fukui Academy had.

(...Maybe a similarity based off majors?)

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

Compliments were not something that were completely foreign to Amaya, but they were often directed at things which she didn't care to hear about.  Namely her cooking, or worse still her family's restaurants' food offerings.  Too often compliments were something which made her turn to her face of distaste hard and fast.  The last thing she wanted to hear was not only about the thing she despised, but also being told that she had 'a gift for it'.  That she was good at it and should open a shop or something.  Getting to be told that someone acknowledged her singing, that they thought it was good, however.. that was worth something to her.  Her roommate had said as much in their conversation and she was over the moon.  Only her closest friend knew about the extent of Amaya's love for music, really.  Hearing that her musical talents were valued was something novel for her, and the smile on her face reflected the joy she felt.

Of course the question now was just how much of her true musical nature did she reveal to Fujiwara?  True, Amaya had already elected to play along with the notion that they were both in the same major.  To tell her more wouldn't exactly be a huge stretch by any measure.  From here on out anything that Amaya could say about herself and music would be entirely truthful - just without the stigma of being the cook who randomly had more passion for using a mic than cooking utensils.  Yet she worried that perhaps her explanations might be interpreted as fibs if she spoke in too grandiose of tones.  Perhaps a more subtle or cautious approach would be warranted if she wanted to be taken seriously.  On the other hand this might be one of the only chances she got to just be herself with no layer of expectations on her just because of what her family did.  Much as some alarms in her mind warned her to not lean too hard into this, the pent up desire to be free and open was just too much to bear.

And there was the bonus of how readily Fujiwara consented to go to karaoke together.  Amaya was very much accustomed to sneaking out to sing solo at karaoke places despite their reputation as a place for groups to have fun.  She'd been worried about seeming too interested in singing around a friend whom she'd promised to become a cook together with.  Causing undue drama by making her think that Amaya would rather be singing than working in the kitchen.  That would never do!  Fujiwara had no such expectations or context for Amaya, it was a completely clean slate.  Finally she would be able to just speak freely about which place one should go to sing, depending on what one was looking for.  Just as long as she kept her story straight about totally being in the performing arts major, rather than culinary arts.

"I'm really glad to hear you'd like to go to karaoke sometime.  Honestly.. um.. I go alone a lot," Amaya admitted, blushing a little as she tried to think of how to transition out of that awkward moment.  The girl put a finger on her chin as she spoke thoughtfully, "Anyway, my friend.. she's not in vocals at all.  Or performing arts.  She's got a real passion for her major though, and I guess that's what's important.  That she's happy in.." Amaya's face went to its dour expression of doom as she spoke the cursed words, "culinary arts."

That sat heavy in the air before she chuckled nervously and added, "I mean, she's happy there and that's the important part. I couldn't imagine how... a-awful it must be to be stuck in the kitchen all day."  She shivered, "She's got a different dorm room but we're not too far apart from each other.  Um.."

Amaya hesitated before deciding to add, "So karaoke... I.. um.. have point cards for all the local places that are any good.  And.. I guess I probably have enough points to get a good discount if we went sometime."

♪ now playing: [ MASTERmind ] — Intelligent Manners, Command Strange

Eh?

Was it just Fujiwara, or did the air in the room turn cold for a split second? In that moment, Kawahashi's grin near dissipated, flicked off like a light switch, plunging that bright room into darkness.

Culinary arts.

Himari had been about to mention how sweet her friend might've been, for someone not into song, being dragged around to different places, if only to keep Kawahashi herself company. That, Himari had been the same way sometimes, out of social pressure to her group that her enthusiasm coerced them into karaoke too. And sure, they had a blast by the end of the day, but she bet the two of them shared a similar sentiment about leading people by a leash.

So her mouth had been open, slightly, a slit she'd close up in lieu of her room mate's disdain. Was there something about the kitchen Amaya disliked? Not that Himari herself couldn't say the same; it was the reason why she could only make quick meals, more filling than delicious, but to have that much negativity poured into the sentiment—

—Ah, one of her friends did once have an incident in the kitchen herself, Fujiwara remembered. It might be mere coincidence that Kawahashi faced the same issue, perhaps, she reasoned with herself. Still, the thought lingered in her mind, more concern than suspicion as Himari continued making assumptions after assumptions in the quiet. Even when Amaya started to speak once again, it was difficult to shake that tension off.

'Imagine how it was like to be stuck in the kitchen all day'.

To Fujiwara, it sounded like a would-be housewife's nightmare.

She hadn't noticed her room mate's shaking, but she did realize Kawahashi's hesitance arising once again, as though the mention of her friend's major had been enough to stir memories of trauma. Himari's expression was mostly blank surprise even after that revelation. She did wonder if proximity to 'that friend' and the use of her skill had only been an accidental aggressor that had stirred such feelings in her room mate, raw and fragile and tentative as they'd seemed.

They must be really close then, Fujiwara concluded, for Kawahashi to be willing to withstand this much.

At the mention of loyalty cards, the girl smiled back, trying to feign how the sudden shock from before hadn't lead to her varied, baseless speculations. "Hey, don't let me ride off your previous success," Himari joked, weight of her posture shifting as she flicked her head to the side. "I'd be down for a membership card if they had any, though; bet a referral from a friend's going to count for something for you. But you should save your discounts if you have to, y'know? Like, for your friend for example. Though if I'm not intruding, I'd love to tag along when you two are heading out to it!"

Now she couldn't help but wave her index finger around, feeling a bit more confident in her position. "Ah, I'm practically going to be stopping there nearly every week myself, too. If I had to go alone, then so be it, to be honest. Actually, I'd planned on trips such as those even before Fukui, so don't worry about the financials with me. Discounts or otherwise, I'm sure I can handle it."

It was mostly out of raw curiosity that Himari had wanted to know this figure she'd guessed her room mate was looking up to so much. "Say, which room's your friend staying in?"

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

Anything but the topic of cooking, kitchens or culinary arts in general was a welcome shift from where Amaya's mind had been moments before.  Karaoke was so much better for her to think and talk about that she felt like almost an entirely different person.   Of course it didn't hurt that Fujiwara was very keen to discuss such things herself.  Once more Amaya felt free to be herself fully, focusing on things she truly enjoyed without worry for what she had given her word to do for people.  Fujiwara's commentary made her wonder at how member cards worked for local karaoke places beyond just points and rewards.  She hadn't really thought about things in depth, but there were different approaches for different places. 

Amaya tapped her chin thoughtfully as the possibilities ran through her head.  Larger chains weren't likely to include any referral bonuses, since they already had a large enough public awareness and following that they didn't need the added reward.  Smaller local chains or individually operating places were another thing entirely.  You couldn't really say which were going to offer which options, but perhaps she could get a lot of points for bringing a friend in to sign up for a point card as well.  And if she also got Sora to sign up for them as well the point gain would be astronomical!  Possibly even free food with a reservation for the group of them!  If her roommate was also into singing it meant they'd have an even more eventful karaoke outing.  There was just no downside to any of this, and Amaya was incredibly happy to just be here thinking these things.. but wait, Fujiwara was still here.  Probably better not to get her head too stuck in the clouds.

"Really any referral rewards are probably going to be on a case by case basis at the different places in town," Amaya remarked at last, then she stood up and smiled a bit more, "I'm sure Sora-chan wouldn't mind if you came along, Fujiwara-san.  I'll let you know once we figure out when we're going out again."

That said, she switched gears when it came to where Sora was staying.  There was a tinge of sadness suddenly when she recalled the day that she and Sora had arrived at Fukui, only to realize that they wouldn't actually be roommates.  All of the plans that they'd had for their bright high school life lay to waste by the simple lack of a shared living quarters.  Well, some of those plans anyway.  Thankfully it hadn't hurt their relationship, and maybe in the long run it would be a good thing for her.  Staying in a separate room meant that she would be less likely to hear about culinary things when she just wanted to relax in her room.  Not like Sora was far enough away that she couldn't visit when she wanted. As Amaya stepped a little closer to Himari, her foot tapped audibly against something solid and plastic under her bed. 

Amaya froze as she realized just exactly what that was under her bed.  The plastic container in which her sizable collection of light novels and manga dwelt; her entirely yuri light novel and manga collection that is.  While she wasn't exactly at odds with having realized her sexuality, she didn't show that collection off as a general rule.  Now that she had a roommate, should she just reveal it now or hope she could keep it on the down-low?  With that in mind she decided on the latter, and instead moved to answer the other question that she'd been asked.

"Oh, my friend Sora-chan is down a couple doors from us.  She's not far, thankfully," Amaya said casually while she tried to push the plastic container's edge back under her bed with her toe.  She then asked, "So did you just get here then?  Anything you want to know about Fukui?"

It was mostly out of raw curiosity that Himari had wanted to know this figure she'd guessed her room mate was looking up to so much. "Say, which room's your friend staying in?"

♪ now playing: [ NIGHT RUNNING ] — Shin Sakiura feat. AAAMYYY

The mysterious friend finally had a name! Not that Fujiwara had been pressed to ask for it, but it did feel a little strange trying to refer to someone whom she had no experience nor familiarity with. Now she could tie it with a 'Sora' — ah, but it did sound like they were on a first-name basis. But with the girls' plans potentially finalized for the future, Himari couldn't help but nod enthusiastically, giving a firm "Mm!" at Kawahashi's response. "Pleasure to be joining you two!"

Perhaps if Fujiwara had some foresight, she might've thought to look out for 'Sora' by her newfound information; better to get herself acquainted with recognizing people she might be starting to see often, after all. Unfortunately, what drew her attention more was the pause — quick, yet obvious by Fujiwara's account — in between her room mate's response to her question. And, though the girl's eyes had been keen on straying when she had been speaking, her gaze was most often direct when querying her companions.

That was to say, it was entirely noticable that Kawahashi had been edging something away underneath her bed.

Himari watched the box, intrigued, mischief bubbling like a fox's.

She tore her attention off of it for the time being, returning to the ceiling as though it held her interest just as much as her room mate's secrets. About Fukui -- "Mostly about the types of people in here, if not for the neighborhoods surrounding it."

To say that she'd been here only recently was a rather accurate assessment, and though she had some knowledge of the city, it was mostly centered around her cousin's apartment. Nothing worthy of note to frequent on a school day, judging the inconvenient distance between his place and the academy. "I'd been here for about a week to get used to the city while the school sorted out my lodgings," Himari explained. Her index and thumb were set gently on her chin. "I could always take some time off school for a look around on my own, but you have been here longer..."

She bowed her head as her sights returned to Kawahashi. "Our schedule," Fujiwara started, trying to recall the time table from memory. What was it; an hour's break around noon on Tuesday and Thursdays? "You reckon we've got enough time on our breaks to dart out of school and back in? I know we've got the cafeteria and everything, but there's always the possibility of a rush hour occurring in between classes." With a smile, the girl shrugged. "Well, you'd know better than I would if it occurs here, of course. Figured I could stop by a convenience store and sneak in some food once in a while instead. You know a place?"

Himari continued to hum, trying to recall what other landmarks there were around the city that she'd also wanted to try frequenting. Though there might not have been anything of national repute she was taken by aside from the academy, nature around Fukui did seem like a pleasant sight to bike around; when she'd gotten the chance to steer it her way. She stepped away from the corner she was leaning within, stepping closer towards Kawahashi, thinking. "There's a river somewhere nearby too, right? How far away is it from Fukui, do you think? Oh, and—"

Fujiwara stopped a few feet away from the other girl, still lost in thought. "This might be sort of an odd question, but do you reckon they do any recreational fishing there?"

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

Good, good.  It seemed as though the accidental emergence of the secret box underneath Amaya's bed had not been noticed by her roommate.  She had no idea how she was going to explain such a selective stockpile of sweet yuri titles to someone she had just met.  Maybe if it were Sora she could explain herself a bit better, but as it was she just kind of had to hope it went unnoticed.  At least, she told herself, she didn't keep any of the drafts of letters she'd written to her favorite author, Tsubame Suzumi.  While she had found the address for the local branch of the author's publisher Amaya had yet to actually hear anything back despite a few letters being sent.  That was all right, she really didn't need to hear anything back.. she just hoped that her words had reached the woman whose words had given her joy.  Wait, what was Amaya doing?!  This was hardly the time to let her mind wander off on some unrelated topic, her roommate was speaking to her. 

Amaya tried hard to get herself up to speed with the things Fujiwara was saying about Fukui.  A momentary musing about her fan letters had left a rather unexpected and embarrassing gap in her comprehension of what kind of things her roommate was wanting to know about. Okay, Amaya told herself, focus on the now, what is it that she's wanting to know.. how can I help?  She nodded along  in agreement to show that she was totally paying full attention to the situation at hand.  From what she was able to piece together of the earlier part of Fujiwara's statement, she wanted to know if there were any places you could run to during the lunch break.  That much Amaya did know, as her explorations had given her a fairly comprehensive mind map of the neighborhoods immediately near the campus.  And then came an unexpected question about the river and fishing, which honestly had her kind of stumped.

Did they allow fishing?  To be honest she had no idea whether that was the kind of thing you could do in the river here.  In bigger cities it wasn't really done, but this was hardly Kyoto or Osaka was it?  Amaya looked to the side thoughtfully as she attempted to recall anything about recreational fishing in the river for this area.  Smaller cities or towns sometimes did allow you to fish in the river - Amaya remembered her sisters Yuki and Himiko doing just that to get some fresh fish for.. Amaya shook her head at the direction those thoughts would take her.  Absolutely no need to go there, she was being her true singer self here!

"W-well I don't know anything about fishing in the river.  You might ask someone from the city office though, I think some places grant personal fishing licenses that way," Amaya offered.  Then she turned back to Fujiwara and smiled, "As for convenience stores, of course there are!  I can think of a few places you can get to in less than 10 minutes from campus.  Actually I have.. um.. explored the area a lot.. it's kind of a hobby of mine."

She laughed awkwardly before continuing, "There are some decently priced.. beef... bowl restaurants nearby too.  And a bakery.  I can even tell you where to find a book store that can get you any kind of title you can imagine!"  With that she stepped toward Fujiwara.. only to catch her foot on the still-not-totally-obscured corner of her secret yuri stash's container.  Amaya stumbled a little, bracing herself against the edge of a dresser and chuckling more, "Guess I've gotta be more careful, huh?"

Feeling a desperate need to change the subject again she suddenly asked, "So Fujiwara-san, er... what is your..?  I mean.. um.. do you have any goals for your voice work?  What kind of thing do you want to do with it?"

♪ now playing: [ SUIITO ] — FUSQ

No digits, so that meant that Himari would have to time the journey herself. No matter; her guesstimation skills could always use a little more work, after all. Stopping by the city office might take an entire day's effort on its own, on account that stuff like paperwork needed to be filled out. Not to mention the fact that staff working there might be wondering why someone like her was visiting...

The girl only felt exhaustion at the thought of having to plan that trip; what a pain. That mention of food only perked her up, right as she was about to reach around her neck to rub it in dissatisfaction. She'd wondered why Kawahashi stalled mentioning the beef bowl outlets; that enthusiasm for books was not to be missed either, on Fujiwara's guessing. And before their conversation could continue further, before the girl even had the thought of planning how best to investigate her room mate's secrets, Amaya knocked against it— that box, sturdy enough to almost topple her companion over.

Scratch out any thoughts that it was a little secret. Now Fujiwara just wanted to know more.

"Guess I've gotta be more careful, huh?"

"Mm, definitely." Her smile gave away less concern, more obliviousness. Had Amaya's bed a post at its end, she'd set a hand on it, leaning against it casually.

When asked about her own work again, Himari hummed, glancing between Kawahashi and the treasure underneath the bed. She rubbed a thumb against her chin. "There's not much I might be able to do on singing alone, if I had anything to say about it. It's not like I'm a combo — lyricist or musician — someone who might be able to produce songs on my own, y'know?" With a smirk, she raised a shoulder. "So voice acting is the next best thing in my personal opinion. I could start small with indie foreign work being imported here, for one. Or at a game studio, just to build that portfolio. Maybe an audio book? We have a literary major here too, don't we? If anyone else here is big on collaborating for projects, of course."

Fujiwara spread her arms out as a gesture, shuffling on the spot. "There's many different things I'd like to try and take a shot at; that is, as long as studies don't get in my way most of the time. Things like understanding, memorization and regurgitation—"

The girl sighed, squeezing her eyes shut, whirling around the post so that she leaned against the edge of Kawahashi's bed. "They're such a chore sometimes. I seriously have no idea how people manage to top classes with A's sometimes. It makes me wonder if they've got a fulfilling life outside of work, you get me?"

She tutted, almost growling, tucking her arms into a fold. "That being said," she continued, "Songs are still my priority if I had anything to say about it. If my demo reel had been entirely voice acting, I doubt Fukui would've taken me in. I have been working on my range over the past while, though. Hey, take a listen."

A cleared throat. The back of her foot felt the smooth edge of that plastic container.

—And Fujiwara wore a smug smile as she kicked against it lightly, feeling that chest's weight barely shifting. Gods, whatever it was in there must be heavy. The girl lowered her voice and her head, still looking at her room mate, straightening her back to get into an appropriate posture; "So, Kawahashi-san. What exactly is in the box?"

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

As soon as she'd stopped herself from making a complete fool of herself after tripping, Amaya's train of thought was focused on whether or not that box had been noticed.  How in the world was she going to explain herself to this person she just met about her secret stash of books?  Not that any of them were more adult oriented or anything, but they were supposed to be focused on their majors and academic studies.  To have such a large amount of romance focused fiction in her possession would be an embarrassment to her as a Fukui student.  Not everyone approved of someone being really into manga and light novels that basically could have been light novels with more illustrations.  You had to move on from those to be considered mature and not a weirdo once you were an adult.  As a second year here at Fukui she absolutely thought she should be more mature since there would now be girls looking up to her.

While her mind registered that Fujiwara was answering her question, and she smiled and nodded along with that, Amaya was too worried about her secret stash.  Not all girls at Fukui were going to understand her tastes in fiction.  Having it be known by someone she wasn't sure would accept it was actually really distressing.  They were going to have to spend the whole year together after all, and it was going to be incredibly unpleasant for her if Fujiwara was of the mindset that girls couldn't love girls.  They were talking to each other so comfortably now that she was really afraid of losing the connection which seemed to be building between them.  The first person she could speak so openly of her love for music and singing without the competing weight of her culinary background weighing those interactions down.  Thankfully it did seem as though Fujiwara hadn't noticed what it was that Amaya had stumbled over.  Relief washed over her as she started to relax and process more of what her roommate was saying.

This lasted only a few seconds, as Fujiwara audibly kicked her foot against the edge of the box.  That sound alone made Amaya flinch as though a much larger impact had been made than the light tap it actually was.  Her secret had been found out and Fujiwara had only just now chosen to reveal her awareness of it.  Now what did she do?  A few possibilities occurred to her - none of them particularly constructive.  She could of course just deny the box's existence and try to continue the conversation as though nothing had happened at all.  That wasn't likely to net any real results though since clearly the genie couldn't go back into the lamp.  What then?  Either admit it or... run.  Maybe fleeing would cause even more confusion and lead to enough of a distraction.. wait, distraction!  She could just change the subject couldn't she?

"W-well.. um.. " she stammered, eyes darting around the room, "S-say, why don't we.. er.. g-go on a tour of campus or something?!  It's nice weather out and all that.."

Her change of topic lasted all of five seconds before she admitted, "So.. that box.. um.. it's got l-light novels.. and manga.  A lot of them..." 

Amaya slowly made her way over to the bed and pulled it out to show it off.  It was longer than it was wide or tall, and dark blue in coloration.  With a sigh and a glance up to Fujiwara she unlatched the box and lifted the lid.  Better to get this over now than to let it linger and haunt her every day.  If it made their relationship super weird then that was just how it was going to have to be.  Inside were several stacks of books, some novels and some manga, all of them of the yuri genre.  Among the titles on the top layer were the Flower Circle trilogy of light novels by Suzuki Tsubame, each with a different pair of girls on the cover.  All looked passionately into the other's eyes or were embracing surrounded by a circular frame of flowers.  Another was My Dear Maid, with a princely looking girl in a fine suit cupping the chin of a cute blushing maid.  Finally there were a couple of manga - one with a young woman in a red and white baseball uniform confidently smiling at the viewer (titled Heartful Ace) and the other also baseball themed but with a pair of girls standing back to back dramatically (titled YamaJou).

Amaya blushed, then looked back to Fujiwara, awaiting her reaction.

♪ now playing: [ feather ] — nujabes

The freeze. That flinch. The curling of Fujiwara's smile at its edges, as she noticed the hesitation her room mate was fraught with in that instance. It was like watching prey on high alert.

"S-say, why don't we.. er.. g-go on a tour of campus or something?!"

Himari's eyes widened at the sudden pep in Kawahashi's voice; surprise, mostly, the girl taken aback by the switch in topic. With a hum and a narrowed gaze, she replied in the same, refined voice.

"Oh, that sounds like a nice idea~"

But it was sung with a malefic smile, a sarcastic tune barely convincing, void of persuasion.

It was after they'd stilled for a few seconds did her room mate move. And Himari shifted backwards, allowing her companion to retrieve the container from its hold. If there was one thing she'd been surprised by, it was the girl's attitude in giving into their confrontation; in all honestly, Fujiwara hadn't actually expected her call out to have worked. In the silence, she wondered if she'd gone too far this time, especially since she barely knew her room mate just yet.

There were reasons to be afraid of Fujiwara on a first glance, but her actions had made this more than a misjudged book cover.

Himari stewed on the thought, distracted by the revelation of actual books in that blue box. They hadn't caught her attention initially; sure, erotica novels. They were all growing kids in the first place. It was more surprising that Kawahashi had her hands on these many physical copies rather than digital ones in these ages; their solid forms made them much more difficult to hide. But the second she recognized a title while scanning the their fronts, her brows were knitted together, trying to reidentify the evidence laid out before her.

It was a brief moment before it clicked for Fujiwara. It wasn't erotica. Just a huge collection of manga.

Yuri manga.

With growing pupils, the girl tilted her head. There was a mix of interest and amusement in her expression; a hint of pride, that her room mate held the gall to have been honest with material such as this upon their first meeting, that closet secret to a stranger she'd barely yet known. "I didn't really expect this," Himari mused aloud, rifling through the texts on each cover, wondering what seemed so recognizable about each of them to begin with (apart from their genre, of course).

She took a break from her search, gaze moving to rest on Amaya's. "So you're that sort of person, huh?" Fujiwara shrugged. "Not like I'm judging or anything. It's a cute idea to be in love in the first place, y'know?"

Her sights swept across the books once more, investigation still ongoing at the back of her mind. "Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. Could've been those gaudy romance novels from the West with strange illustrations on the front; like, you ever seen one where the love interest has a male human body but a horse head?" Himari shook her head at the thought. "But man, that box sure is heavy..."

The sigh that left her mouth as she squatted down to pick up [Heartful Ace] and [YamaJou] was in perplexity; there was something nagging to her about the arrangement of the books running in parallel to their familiarity. It may not have been so obvious what might've been the reason for hiding them, had these titles been shifted on their side, like in a book store's. Fujiwara had a burning sensation to reorganize these titles and make room for more units given Kawahashi's current sizable stock. Though, pointing that out audibly to her room mate in the first place, as criticism, might've felt like social suicide, even more so than the extent they'd suffered through their first interaction.

So it was in curious silence that she started to weed through the books to find out how many different series Amaya had on hand.

"Ah—"

Another entry in the [Heartful Ace] series had reminded her exactly why she could identify it; one of her classmates had just as much sports manga back in the day, on the shelf than shoved away in a box. Fujiwara hadn't thought twice about the different series that were on display in her house; now she knew better.

(But for some reason, it hadn't yet clicked for Himari that perhaps the classmate in question had also been interested in girls.)

"This one," she gestured, holding up [Heartful Ace]'s second volume as she continued rooting through the box. "How is it? I heard that it was great from one of my old friends, but I'd never read it. Good enough for a recommendation?" By this point, there were no smiles on Fujiwara's face, merely neutrality; though neither were there any traces of hidden motives, either. The task ahead of her was more captivating to upholding her persona.

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

Amaya was a bundle of nerves in an emotional whirlwind as her roommate reacted to the big reveal of the box's contents.  At first it was just the same worries about Fujiwara rejecting her over the fact that she had so many manga and light novels stashed away under her bed like that.  She tensed up while she awaited the inevitable drop of the hammer from her admission, but the longer it went without happening the less sure she was that it'd occur.  When she finally managed to get herself to look away from the box and back at Fujiwara, she found herself surprised at the casual acceptance on display.  It didn't seem like her roommate thought such a collection was at all strange, weird or immature.  Rather she seemed to be more curious about what exactly was in the box, wile making remarks about other kinds of books as well.  Hardly the reaction that she was expecting to get.

So in the midst of this tacit acceptance of who she was, Amaya just stood there kind of dumbfounded.  When you worked yourself up into such a frenzied state of secrecy and concern it was anticlimactic to just be accepted.  She shuddered at the mention of weird Western romance novels with men on the cover - she didn't even process the weirdest part of what Fujiwara brought up about them.  A lot of girls she had been in classes with had been into cute or handsome boys, but she never got the appeal.  For a long time she'd known she was only attracted to girls, and her taste in fiction was a reflection of that.  Other than that it took a few moments for the sheer surprise of Himari's reaction to wear off.  Once it did Amaya blushed and felt her legs get a little weak as the stress was quickly released from her body. 

Relieved, if a bit confused still, Amaya sat on the end of her bed overlooking the box while Fujiwara dug through it a bit.  So if she wasn't in trouble with her roommate over being a huge yuri fiction fan was there maybe a shared interest?  Or at least some mutual curiosity?  The possibilities were endless and exciting for her; Amaya hadn't really felt comfortable being her full self around the people who knew her since there were expectations of her.  To be the latest star chef in the Kawahashi line, to be reliable old Amaya who was never into anything out of the ordinary.  With this new start she could just be Amaya, the girl whose focus was what she loved and whose interests weren't seen as weird.

When Fujiwara held up a volume of Heartful Ace, Amaya's eyes got big.  So her roommate had had that recommended by an old friend?  Maybe there really was a chance for some mutual interest in yuri fiction!  Of course she didn't want to seem too overly enthusiastic about the prospects of that either.  Scaring off her first possible yuri friend was the last thing that she wanted to do.  So she took a few moments more to compose herself enough to respond in a calmer and more helpful manner.  Once she found her grounding, Amaya smiled happily again.

"Oh, Heartful Ace is actually better than I was expecting out of a sports themed manga.  There's just as much in there about the main character and her relationships and stuff as there is about the actual sport.  The writing is surprisingly good for a sports manga too, " Amaya explained, trying to avoid a full plot synopsis splurge, "I would definitely recommend it.  And if you end up liking it.. um.. the series is still ongoing.. and the fans online have heard rumors it might get an anime adaptation."

With that she paused before pointing to YamaJou, "Also that's a series by the same author, it's kind of a sequel about a whole team of girls and possible romance between them... um... so.. Fujiwara-san.. can I ask something?  Y-You don't care if I'm.. um...."  Amaya's eyes darted about before quietly asking, "Um.. I like girls that way?  I know some people do, even if I don't think it's weird.. and I.. I want to be friends with you."

♪ now playing: [ ichidaji ] — polkadot stingray

"I see. Glad to hear it."

Despite her query, Himari seemed to place the book back into the box; the idea of sports as a genre wasn't too enticing for the girl, though it was pleasant to have heard a consensus on a familiar title. She did wonder if it was popular enough to reach the masses at large, or if it was niche, a rough gem hidden away in the sands of media at large. Perhaps there was fruit in the rumors, she mused, listening to Kawahashi's explanation of the state of the series. A raise of her room mate's hand towards the other title caught the organizer's attention, however, and she pulled her sights away from the clutter to look towards the other title she'd set aside earlier.

Wait. Wasn't its premise sort of... paradoxical in nature? Fujiwara couldn't help but raise a brow at it for a moment, turning over the book from its cover to scan its synopsis in disturbed earnest. No way did that sound like a conducive environment for teamwork to thrive in; if all members of the squad were perpetually in romantical conflict with each other, surely their interpersonal dynamics would be ruined at each step of the way. Himari couldn't help but frown, lips pulled in a thin, warbled line as she examined [YamaJou]'s illustration with an unnerving intensity.

She bet that its unbelievable premise was orchestrated on purpose. Well, since it was written by the same author, it couldn't hurt to give it a shot...

The book was displaced from the girl's messy assortment, right by Kawahashi's side for the time being. Himari had identified enough titles to have begun her alphabetization work, turning each of them around to set them on their page-fronts, allowing their spines to describe the details of its material in subtlety. Her eyes were focused on the work as she listened in to Amaya's questioning.

—And confusion was the first thing to settle in, as though Fujiwara had completely forgotten about her own gender being involved in the evaluation of her companion. She stopped, if only to spare Kawahashi a look. "Not really?" Still befuddled by the mess, still neutral, the girl tilted her head once more like a confused hound would. "I mean, not like I'm thinking about these sorts of things too hard. If anything, I guess I should've expected it. After all, we're all in a girl's school anyway," she reasoned, starting to pick up her pace again, thumb smoothing over the dry, powdery pages of a manga's side. "It's got to be bound to happen anyway. Like, statistically, or something, y'know?"

As Himari continued her work, she hummed along to the guitar's melody of the song still blasting around her neck, corners of her jaw brushing against the soft sponges of her headset. At a spot in the chorus she felt comfortable with pausing, the girl took a short breath. "Unless you've got something else to confess about it right now."

That sudden remembrance of relating to Kawahashi's question, and that feeling of teasing her room mate about it slipped out of her before Fujiwara even noticed. The silence that followed in the few seconds after felt of frigid cold if her companion hadn't spoke up to object. Even if she did, after it registered with Himari how insensitive such a line was in retrospect, she reconsidered her life choices in that moment, sparing the other girl a glance in lowkey abject panic. "I'm just joking," she quickly added. "I'm sure you have your own type and everything."

If anything, Amaya's heartfelt sentiment about wanting to connect was the only thing Fujiwara was holding onto for what she must imagine was her last strands of patience from her companion putting up with her.

"Sure," Himari returned, extending a hand to her room mate as she took a break from book keeping. It wasn't often that intentions between people were made as plainly as such; talking about becoming friends often felt unnatural, Fujiwara had learned, because there wasn't definite prerequisites that were universal amongst her peers that seemed to define one person from another as a 'friend'. But this wasn't the time nor place for the girl to stop and wax philosophical about musings she'd picked up from anime. "'Friends' sounds good," she continued, speaking again once Amaya had taken her had in a shake. "Let's be friends, then. Nice to meet you again, Kawahashi-chan."

Now, in pure honesty, Fujiwara's grin contained a mix of pride and wickedness.

"Joking, joking." The girl was first to pull away from their agreement, expression softening with her grin in tact as her gaze went back to her new friend's collection. "So, humor me for a bit. Which one out of these would you consider your favourite?"

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

In all honesty it never occurred to Amaya that she would be saying any of this stuff to someone she had literally just met.  Especially before she revealed any of it to her best friend whom she did everything with!  Yet the slippery slope of getting to pose as a vocal arts major instead of a culinary arts major had taken her all the way to the point of being an open book.  Once she allowed herself to be open about one part of herself the rest of her followed suit as if it was completely natural to do so.  No hiding herself behind promises made to people she cared about, no forcing herself to do something which she hated just to uphold her word.  Add to this that Fujiwara was totally accepting of the person that Amaya was allowing herself to be and this was turning into quite the day for her.  Fujiwara asked her about whether she had anything to add to her coming out like that, but Amaya just shrugged it off - there wasn't anyone she liked (she didn't realize Fujiwara might be joking).  That smile on Amaya's face was at its most pleasant in quite a while as she watched the other girl go through her manga.

Wait that wasn't just going through them.  It was more than that!  Almost like Fujiwara was organizing them or something, though that didn't make a whole lot of sense at first.  Who the heck just meets someone and immediately starts reorganizing their collection of yuri novels and manga?  Apparently Fujiwara was that 'who'.  Amaya was just so surprised by everything she'd revealed not being a big deal that she didn't move to intervene at all.  It wasn't like anything in her stash was more explicit in nature - she wasn't really into that kind of thing.  For her it was more the romance and bonds between characters, the idea of being free to love who you loved.  And good stories of course.  Elsewhere in the box were a few other subgenres of yuri as well - a fantasy series, a couple of the traditional 'girls in a private Catholic school finding secret love' titltes, that sort of thing.   When her roommate offered a hand in friendship Amaya blinked and then accepted.  It didn't count as holding hands if you were shaking hands; it was okay to do that to seal the new friendship.. wait was this some kind of business deal?

Amaya then considered the question asked of her  - any favorites?  Gosh that was a loaded question, one which she could probably speak ages about and probably bore the other girl to tears in doing.  Instead she decided it was better to just stick to a couple of titles for now.  Best to keep it simple unless Fujiwara did want to hear extensively about the yuri titles Amaya had.  So she pulled a few of them out and stacked them in front of her so they'd be ready to be shown off along with her descriptions.

Might as well start with the big one - she held up the first of the Flower Circle novels and explained, "This series is my favorite set of novels.. the beauty of the girls' feelings for each other, the intimate moments, the wonderful scenes.. it's all amazing!  I'm not lying when I say that it was this series that helped me be accepting and happy about liking girls myself.  I've heard the author, Suzumi Tsubame-sensei, lives in Fukui and her publisher has an office here in town!"

That said she held up a manga titled simply Destiny, with a black haired fantasy princess standing alongside an armored girl who had a very serious expression.  Amaya explained, "This one is new, only one volume so far, but it's a fun comedy set in a fantasy world.  We only have some hints at the feelings the main girls have for each other but it's obvious that's where it's going.  I'd recommend it if you're looking for something with more laughs."

Amaya stopped before moving on and asked, "D-do you like to read, Fujiwara-chan?  I don't really talk about this stuff with people.."

♪ now playing: [ speed of light ] — dj okawari feat. 二宮愛

The first title introduced to her seemed unassuming, with the only indication of its genre being the collection of flowers gathered around the girls depicted on its front and center. How was it a standout series for realizing one's sexuality in anyway? Ah, but given her new friend's high praise about its contents, perhaps it would be worthwhile to dive deep into it and understand the hype itself first hand, if Himari could help it. The additional tidbit she couldn't help but pick up was the author's availability within the city; a potential job for her, then, if the novel wasn't available as an audio read just yet? Fujiwara filed it away in her head with vague interest, head titling as she readjusted a raised brow to nod. A stray glance shifted her sights over to the second book on display.

Destiny seemed more typical of a genre that appealed to the current market, she believed; fantasy, if not isekai. A romantic comedy — was it strange for a yuri manga to have featured such a dynamic? Even if it was, the Fujiwara wasn't aware of it. There was something about the princess on the cover that seemed reminiscent of her room mate, and the girl chalked it up to the character's hair at best. She also had more faith in this title than the other, Himari decided, after a brief moment of evaluation.

Had Kawahashi still been holding up both titles, her room mate would've beckoned for both of them with a gentle wave of her hand, right before Amaya spilled her worries about her personal hobby.

"Hmm... not really." That unstrung, low voice and a gentle smile was passed along to Kawahashi as Himari received the books, if given them, placing them by the growing stack on the bed, turning its verticality into a heap. "Though it's not like reading through a few titles and getting accommodated with a material is going to hurt me once in a while. Actually, I rarely find enough time to be able to relax between managing singing practice, school homework and sleeping in on most days." The girl let out a light-hearted, airy chuckle before weaving through the clutter ahead of her again. A to H was basically complete. "What do you think, Kawahashi-san? Figure it's a slacker's mentality?"

"Ah, obviously I'm joking, of course." An empty hand's wave emphasized as such, before Fujiwara turned to look downwards again, a hand pushed against the plastic edge of one row of books against the side of the box. Her hold only grew, walking along the book spines with long fingers, as she roped in another few titles and packed them into her hold, too. "It's not like I haven't read out of obligation myself, after all. Friends do that for each other sometimes, at least where I come from. Plus, it's not like they're that far out of my interest range, either.  I don't mind giving them a shot."

She continued to hum, working through the books in alphabetical order; it didn't take long to hit the last few chapters, with plenty of room still available for the other stack still left isolated on Amaya's bed. Himari leaned backwards, resting her rear against the floor with a light bump — a stretch backwards, with one arm extended and the other folded, was coupled with a sigh of relief afterwards. Her eyes opened in a small crack as a calmed smile was fixed on her lips. "Looks like I'm done!" And indeed, there didn't seem to be much she seemed to be missing with her duty.

The cover of the box was reached for, and Fujiwara set that over the top of the collection, a gentle pat on the top book of her stash to direct Kawahashi's attention to it. "These," Himari mentioned. "I hope you don't mind if I borrow them. I'd definitely work through them as fast as possible for your sake. Incidentally, thank you very much for telling me about them." Her beam grew as she continued, "It'll be cool to see what you do, in them, for myself, y'know?"


After all, love as a possibility was a little far beyond comprehension for Himari. What made her room mate consider it, believe in it in the first place?

The girl started to shift on the spot, leaning forward so that one of her elbows rested upon the literary trove's cover, Himari cupping one cheek in the palm of her hands. Her gaze went back up to Amaya's, fingers of her other tapping the material she was supported upon. "So, about that campus date you offered earlier. Kawahashi-san, are you still up for it? What do you think?"

Amaya Kawahashi ● //

MADE BY MIZO

Of all the things Amaya would have expected upon meeting her roommate, she wouldn't have expected what was happening now.  Fujiwara was sitting there working through the entire collection of manga and novels from the box under her bed.  Not just for deciding what she was interested in reading, but to organize the titles into what turned out to be an order that made more sense than what they'd been in before.  Honestly the longer she looked on as Fujiwara worked on her books, the more Amaya was wondering why in the world she hadn't thought of putting a bit more organization to them.  Before it'd been mostly in the order of whatever series she'd most recently read.  Sometimes that led to a jumbled mess of different titles.  A girl's taste in yuri could change a little randomly at times, or at least Amaya's could. There were old favorites she'd reliably go back to of course, especially the assorted works of Suzumi-sensei.

Once Fujiwara was finished, Amaya was a little surprised that her roommate wanted to borrow some of her titles.  It was one thing that her roommate was totally all right with Amaya's collection; it was another thing entirely for her books to be interesting enough to her roommate to want to borrow.  Honestly that might have been the biggest surprise to her so far.  Heck she had never imagined that even her closest friend Sora would have been interested in books like these.  To have the person she just met asking about borrowing some of them was quite a surprise.  Even still she felt a pride at her ability to be honest at last with someone about a lot of the things that she actually held both quite dear if quite secretive.  There was an honest warmth on her face as she smiled and nodded at Fujiwara's request.

"Oh sure, that would be fine!  Please let me know what you think of them,"Amaya replied once she got her thoughts straight about everything she had just realized.  She motioned to the small collection Fujiwara had assembled to borrow, "I'd be happy if someone else could see what I do in them but.. it's also important for you to find your own things that you like about them.  That's the joy of yuri.. there's something different for each person, at least in the really good titles there is.  I think?  um.. I'm not really used to talking to people about these things so.. um.. yeah, take that all for what you will I guess."

She then blushed a bit at the phrasing of a 'campus date'.  Right after they'd talked about yuri books it was a bit jarring and more than a tad embarrassing as a transition.  Amaya looked down on her feet as she attempted to regain enough composure to respond in any kind of helpful manner.  Of course Fujiwara didn't mean a date date, that was silly.  Clearly she just meant it as an engagement between two like minded people to undertake an activity together.  Simple like that obviously.  It felt like an eternity for Amaya before she was mentally prepared to speak again, but it had only really been a couple of moments.  Amaya looked back to her roommate and attempted to smile, though it was very awkward despite her intentions to look totally unassuming.

"Well a campus tour?  Y-yeah, that should be just fine.  I've been here a year already, so I do kind of know my way around," Amaya said, holding her hands behind her, "I haven't really shown anyone around before, so it'll probably be a little.. um.. unprofessional.  But if you don't mind something a little clunky I'd be happy to show you around.  Anything in particular that you want to see when we go?  Apart from the performing arts building where we have.. um.. o-our majors?"