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Chapter Text

Yuuko fidgeted in her seat as she watched Mr. Takasaki, her teacher, announce the end of class.

It felt like a pent up breath was let out, one she didn't know she was holding. Normally, Yuuko was a carefree spirit that didn't let her worries get to her that much. But, today, she was immpossibly tense and worked up.

And, there was only one person to blame, and she was sitting right next to her. Beautiful black hair, pretty pale skin, almost every perfect feature she could think of.. Ok, now she was getting ahead of herself.

Yuuko had plans. Big plans. Today, she was gonna ask the girl who she had been admiring from afar for so long on a date. It would be amazing, or so she hoped. In her fantasies, she would take her to a nearby resturant, or maybe something simple, like the hill by the river. Whatever location she chose, it was bound to be great. Hopefully. Possibly.

All of a sudden, Yuuko was soon snapped out of her daze, as a hand waved in her face.

"Earth to Yuuko! Hello, space cadet? Wake up!" Said the agitating, yet familiar voice.

"Hi, Mio." Yuuko responded with a annoyed groan.

"What the hell's got you so down in the dumps, Yuu? You aren't usually like this, yknow." Mio leaned on the desk.

Yuuko leaned in, like she was telling a secret. It was technically a secret, but Yuuko never covered it up too well.

"You know Mai..?"

"No duh, I know Mai. She's our best friend."

She raised her head up a little more, shamefully.

"I kinda got a crush on her. Well, not kinda.. Its much more than kinda."

Mio gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth dramatically.

"Knew it!!" She cheered, a bit too loudly.

"Shut up!" Of course Mio had to go shout and blab about it. She physically HAS to run her mouth about EVERYTHING. Stupid Mio.

"I swear to GOD, Mio, if you tell anyone, I'm to like, actually kill you. In real life. No lie. Knife to throat."

Mio threw her hands up in surrender. "Ok! Ok! Please, dont murder me in my sleep! I wont tell a soul."

Yuuko sighed in relief, but immediately went back to her frankly, pathetic, moping.

"Shes never gonna like me, Mioooo... Shes way out of my league.." The brown haired girl whined.

"Well, youre not gonna get very far with an attitude like that." Mio shrugged.

Yuuko gave a small head tilt in order to meet eyes with her friend. "I know.. I know.. But I need to figure out *how* to ask her.."

"I can help."

Chapter Text

The plain and monotonous buzz of Mio's fan ached in Yuuko's ears as she stood still. Mio had her hands perched on Yuuko' shoulders, peering over her to stare into the full length mirror infront of the pair.

"Ok. First, you have to tell her why you're there. Say it."

Yuuko stumbled over her words as they left her throat. "Hey. Hey. Hi. Salutations. Sela-"

"AHT AHT AHT." Mio immediately interrupted Yuukos mindless bumbling. Yuuko was truly THAT stupid, huh? "Do not start with that BULLSHIT. You need to be confident!" She nudged Yuuko in the side particularly hard, eliticing a yelp from the girl.

"Be assertive. She needs to know why you want her off the bat! Not... On the bat. Or whatever the opposite of the saying is." She pat Yuukos shoulder. She hoped she could attempt to instill some confidence into this.. Utterly hopeless.. Project. We'll call this venture a project.

"Youre a pretty good looking girl. You have that going for you. But all those good looks go to waste when you have no charisma. There's no reason why Mai would want to be attracted to you without it. Personality over looks is the consensus these days." Mio muses.

"Ok- I'll try again." Yuuko inhales deeply. "Hi, Mai-chan. I have a question to ask you. We're close and- We're close, right? Ermm, Nevermind. I'll spit it out. Lets go on a date! It'll be fun. And I'll pay. Or atleast try to pay. Hopefully I don't lose my wallet this time, haha!" Her words were mostly spitfire, but it was a better attempt than.. Whatever happened earlier.

"Close! We are almost there! You need to brush up a little more, but we'll stop beating this dead horse." Yuuko's succesful confession made Mio smile. Maybe she was less hopeless than she thought.

"Now," Mio crossed her arms. "Where is the outfit I told you to bring? We agreed you'll bring me a nice outfit for your date and I'll tell you if it looks good. Don't tell me you stupidly forgot to bring one?"

Yuuko looks like as if a lightbulb just flipped on in her brain. "Oh! Yeah. That." She skittered over to a bag she brought over. After a few minutes of rummaging, Yuuko held up a silly graphic tee, which she probably bought at the mall the day before, and some simple straight leg jeans.

"Its... Very you, Yuuko." In Mio's mind, this outfit was completely and utterly unfit for a date. She would usually associate dates with proper and refined attire, like dress clothes and Sunday dresses. Not.. Something that looks straight out of a homeless bum's closet. But, deep inside, she knew it was the best Yuuko could do. It took Mio a few minutes of quiet contemplation before she finally landed on a decision.

"It'll work."

"Yesss!" Yuuko cheered. If she can appease Mio, than appeasing Mai will be a breeze.

Mio began to pace around the room, snatching a pen off her desk and twirling ot between her fingers thoughtfully.

"Now that we have the asking part and your clothes squared away, whats your plan on where you're taking this girl?" She inquired.

"Nope." Yuuko answered with a stupid grin that Mio desperately wanted to slap off her face.

"Oh my god. Do you have any dignity? What has romance become?! You ask a sweet girl to go on a date, and you have no idea where to take her? You probably wont even pay for her!"

Yuuko giggled. "Hey! Its not my fault I don't over think everything I do-"

Mios palm raised high in the air and swiftly descended upon Yuukos stupid smiling face.

"Owwww! I hate you, Mio!" She shouted, but her tone held no malice.

"You're ungrateful, too. Anyhow, wheres your destination?" She asked once more, shaking the sting off her hand.

"Can I take her to the cafe?" The cafe was the first destination that came to Yuuko's mind, only because it was in walking distance of her house.

"You are not taking her to that cheap place!"

"Fine.. Fine.. What about the shopping center? It has an arcade in it. She would like that, probably."

Mio pondered the option.

"That sounds good. I should probably let you go home now, huh? Remember all the tips I told you, ok? And please, dont act dumb infront of her." Mio let out an exasperated sigh and waved.

"See you at school, Yuuko."

Yuuko practically dashed out the door, bag in hand.

"See ya!"

Chapter Text

Yuuko had left Mio's house a few hours before. Currently, she was wrapped up in blankets with her little white cat curled into her side and thoughts about the days ahead lingering in her concious. What if all of this backfires? What if she embarasses herself? Various scenarios kept running through her mind, each one more dramatic and horrible than the last. Mio's advice did make her feel a little more stable, though.

After tossing and turning anxiously for some extended period of time, Yuuko decided she should just try to toughen up and get some sleep.

That would be a good plan, a great plan even, if her dumb, stupid brain didn't try to think about Mai every two seconds. Every small action and detail that Mai did or said, was permanently ingrained into Yuuko's brain. And they were all replaying like a movie right now. Yuuko just couldnt stop thinking about her. She was so beautiful. She was pefect. She was so intelligent and witty. She was truly everything Yuuko wanted in a person. What was she doing right now? What does she think about her? Does she feel the same way? Hopefully she does. Hopefully. Its all hope. All Yuuko is relying on is hope. Is that good or bad?

It could be a good thing.

Chapter Text

The sun filters through the windows of Tokisadame Highschool like it was any regular morning. It would be, for literally any other person. However, Yuuko had a task at hand, and it was haunting her from dawn to dusk. Confess to Mai Minakami. It should be totally easy! Mio had spent good work hyping her up and getting her right. Cant let her.. Vigorous.. efforts go to waste. In preparation, Yuuko made sure to get to school early, something she rarely does, in order to catch her friend. Mai usually was one of the first students to show up, so the chances of seeing her were pretty high.

Class 1-Q. Yuukos eyes locked on the sign, causing her to swerve down the hall and stumble into the wide class doorway. She straightened up as she began to scan the room. One by one, Yuuko ran through names and where they sat in her mind, until she landed on Mai. She was sat in her usual seat near the back of the classroom, reading a book like always. Yuuko snickered to herself, 'What a bookworm!'. The fact that she was always holding some book like clockwork was always quite endearing to Yuuko. She maintained her nonchalant stroll past Mai's desk, before she quietly took a seat.

"Morninggg!" Yuuko desperately tried to keep her typical cadence as she spoke, but was internally having quite the fit.

Mai lifts her head to look at the girl speaking. "Good morning, Yuuko." She responded demurely.

The mere sound of hearing Mai's quiet voice nearly drove the brunette to insanity. It filled her with a strange ache of nervousness, despite all her "training", one may call it. There was no way to know if the time was right, and it was eating away at her. She then noticed more and more students coming in the class.

You better suck it up and make a shot before you lose it, Yuuko told herself.

"H-Hey.. Uhhm.. Mai?" Ugh. Stuttering on the first word. This is gonna be a disaster..
Her classmate shut her book and fixed her glasses, which had slid down her face by now. "Yes?" Mai turned in her seat to face Yuuko, who had previously been anxiously fidgeting. When she saw that Mai acknowledged her, she sat back up straight again.

"I've.. Uh.. I've been wondering something."
Yuuko swallowed hard.

"Oh?-" Before Mai even got to finish, Yuuko loudly blurted out.

"I wanna go on a date with you!" She had been rehearsing this moment all day and night in her head. "Im sorry for that.. Err.. Its just that.. We've been friends for like.. so long.. And I think there could be more to that or something.. Its been nagging at me for while.. We can go wherever you want, too.." Yuuko looked down as she spoke. She looked a little shameful, honestly. A long silence fell over the two, and it felt like a pit had grown in Yuuko's stomach. If it dragged on any longer, she might have even started to cry a little.

Mai spoke up.

"That sounds fun."

In an instant, all Yuukos sulking faded. She sprung up from her seat, scrambling to pull Mai into a hug. Eventually, Mai was tangled up in her tight embrace. She barely reciprocated the hug, but it was alright. Mai was known to never really like being physical anyhow.

"Yes! I mean, really? Ok! When do you wanna go? Im free like, all week and weekend!" She babbled mindlessly.

Mai murmured softly. "I can do it tomorrow. I don't have things to do."

"Ah! Ok, ok! So its a date then? I was thinking we go to the arcade and play games and stuff! You like games, right? If not, its in the mall, so theres other things to do." Yuuko pulled away, bouncing on her feet.

"I guess its a date then." Those words made Yuuko smile wide.

For the rest of the class period, Yuuko felt like she was on top of the world. She actually got all her work done for once, and she was about 10 times more happy then she usually was.

She just had to get to tomorrow!