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The warm afternoon sun shines upon a small bookstore tucked away in the corner of the street. A tall elegant woman stands out front of the store, she is wearing a cream colored turtleneck and playing with the ends of her long violet hair as she anxiously waits, glancing around every now and then at the passersby. Soon a small girl is seen heading down the sidewalk towards the violet girl, she is wearing a white tee and a frilly pink skirt that matches her slightly messy pink hair, which is done up into pigtails. The short girl stops once she is in front of the store looking over to the taller one.
“Guess you beat me huh.” the pink girl said with a slight smirk.
The taller girl just nodded in response, letting out a breath
“I wasn’t sure if you were coming.” she admitted timidly.
“Of course I was going to come Yuri, I wouldn’t have agreed to this if I wasn’t planning to show up.” The small girl chuckled out.
Yuri blushes lightly, looking away in embarrassment.
“So that means you still want to pick out a book for us to read together?” Yuri asks
“Duh, so are we going to head in or what? I don’t got all day.” the shorter girl responded, bumping into Yuri as she motions to the entrance of the store, Yuri nods before following the other inside.
The inside of the bookstore is quiet, and softly lit by yellowed light, bouncing off the many wooden surfaces that make up the interior. Rows upon rows of a multitude of varying books tightly fill the small space of the store.
“I think it would be best if we look for a book separately, then we can decide which one we want to read afterwards.” Yuri suggests as they wander around the front of the store.
“Sure, whatever.” the other plainly responds before the two girls separate from each other.
Later both girls wander back to where they departed, the smaller one arriving first before waving the taller towards her. Yuri has two thick novels, one in each hand which she presents to the other girl.
“I decided to pick out two as I didn’t know if you would have liked the first one I grabbed.” Yuri speaks shyly, raising the book she was talking about slightly as she does so. “It’s horror.” Yuri adds.
The other doesn’t respond for a moment before speaking. “Well you were right about me not liking it. So what’s that other one then?” The girl points to the book in Yuri’s other hand.
“Oh, this one? It's fantasy. Well actually a spin-off to the last series I just finished, but don’t worry you shouldn’t need to know anything to read it.” Yuri says slightly more energetically as she continues on.
“Ah, alright then.” The other girl responds, not really knowing what to add. “Guess that means it’s my turn now.” She says, pulling out a book and handing it over to Yuri. Yuri puts her novels down, and takes the book from the other’s hands, a collection of brightly colored girls in fantasy-esque armor align its cover.
“It’s a light novel, but I thought you didn’t like novels Natsuki?” Yuri questions as she turns the book over in her hands.
“Well I knew you wouldn’t let me choose a manga for us to read, so might as well pick something else that won’t be too boring I guess.“ Natsuki says, looking away to not make eye contact with the other.
“And it’s fantasy too.” Yuri pleasantly adds
“Haha, yeah I guess it is.” Natsuki responds a bit more sheepishly. Natsuki will never admit it, but both her and Yuri know that she picked the book knowing full well it was basically a mixture of the two’s tastes.
“Well I think this could work. So unless you think otherwise we could go pay now if you want?” Yuri says.
“Yeah sure, whatever.” Natsuki replies, already starting towards the counter, Yuri trails behind with the book still grasped in her hands.
A young lady stands behind the counter of the bookstore watching quietly as the few people inside slowly look around, she gently smiles when she notices the two girls walking up to her.
“Hey there. Did you two find everything you were looking for?” the lady asks the girls now standing in front of her.
“Yes, we had no trouble.” Yuri says calmly as she places the novel down on the counter.
“That’s good. Is this all for today?” the lady asks, taking the book and scanning it as she does so.
“Yes that will be all” Yuri responds. The lady nods before speaking again.
“Well that will be $6.” the lady says with a smile.
Yuri reaches for her money before Natsuki grabs her arm, stopping her.
“Hey, I can pay you know.” Natsuki says, crossed.
“Oh, well if you wish, I guess that’s fine.” Yuri replies softly.
Natsuki lets go of Yuri’s arm and pulls out some coins, handing them over to the crashier. The lady quickly counts the money before handing the book back to Yuri, and waving the two goodbye as they begin to head out.
“Thank you for paying, but I didn’t have a problem doing so myself.” Yuri says quietly to Natsuki as they leave the store.
“I know you didn’t, but I wanted to pay anyway, so no need to thank me.” Natsuki responds, walking out of the store. Yuri follows behind her closely as they now both stand out front of the store once again.
“So do you have any other plans for today? I know we won’t start reading this until tomorrow at the club, but anything else you might want to do?” Yuri asks Natsuki, playing with her hair a bit while she does so.
“Why do you ask?” Natsuki questions back.
“Oh, well… I was just thinking if you want we could go get something to eat. If that’s alright with you.” Yuri says, speaking into herself as she does so.
“Ah, well if you are paying then I guess we can eat.” Natsuki says with a slight chuckle as she turns away trying to hide the light blush forming on her face. Suddenly a buzzing is heard from Natsuki’s phone, she pulls it out to check, before her face drops in realization at something as she turns to look at Yuri again.
“Sorry, but I can’t actually.” Natsuki says, looking down.
“Oh. A-alright.” Yuri speaks, taken aback a bit by the sudden change in Natsuki’s demeanor.
“I just… Remembered that I needed to help my Dad with something.” Natsuki says as she begins to fidget with her hands.
“I-it’s alright Natsuki…“ Yuri responds not knowing exactly what to say
“I could walk with you home if you want.’ Yuri adds. Natsuki perks up at that, but she turns away soon after.
“It’s fine, I can make it home by myself… But thanks.” Natsuki responds with a slight sadness to her tone.
“Well, you are free to go then. I won’t hold you up any longer.” Yuri says with a hint of unsureness in her voice. Natsuki begins to slowly step away before a thought crosses her mind, causing her to quickly turn back to Yuri, pulling out her phone.
“I just remembered that I still don’t have your number. I guess before I leave you all alone here I should get it, right?” Natsuki says in her more usual tone from before.
“Oh, yeah that is true. It would make it easier to plan hanging out like this in the future. If of course you want to hang out again that is.” Yuri responds, her voice trailing off.
“Pfft, of course I want to hang out again, Yuri, so just enter that number already.” Natuski replies, handing over her phone to Yuri so she can enter her number into it. Yuri does the same, handing her phone to Natsuki before both girls return the phones to their proper owners. With a quick wave goodbye Natsuki departs back down the street towards her house, leaving Yuri alone on the sidewalk once again before she too heads back to where she lives.
Yuri cleans off the last of her dishes from tonight's dinner in the small kitchen of the compact apartment in which she lives. The cool night floods the rooms of the apartment through the slightly ajar windows, blowing softly on the dark curtains that adorn them. Yuri steps into the bedroom after putting away the dishes, the slight whiff of lavender fills the neatly ordered room. Yuri gently lays on her bed, next to which is a lamp sitting on the corner of her desk which acts as the only source of light at this hour. Yuri rests her eyes for a second before the buzz of her phone makes her open them again, quickly checking her phone she sees a text from Natsuki.
Natsuki texted I liked hanging out today. Sorry for leaving, I’ll make it up to you by dragging you somewhere next.
Yuri giggles softly at Natsuki’s text before texting back I would like that.
Yuri closes her phone after that and gets up, walking to the desk next to her and pulling out a journal from one of the drawers. She begins to write about all that happened that day before heading off to bed, ready for tomorrow to come.
