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It’s eight in the morning over in Namimori. Halfway across the world, Chrome Dokuro folds her arms behind her head and stares up at the off-white ceiling of her hotel room. It’s far too quiet without Kyoko’s soft snores or the faint ticking of her alarm clock. She sighs, turning on her side and reaching across the empty half of the bed. Normally, she’d be reaching over Kyoko to turn off the headboard light after gently prying a book out of her wife’s fingers.
It’s midnight here in London according to the blue light of Chrome’s phone. She drops the phone back onto the bedside table with a sigh. It’ll be the first time she sees her brother in over a year, and Kyoko couldn’t come because her mother’s in a wheelchair with a broken leg and needs help around the house. Not that she blames any of them, she just misses her wife.
If she closes her eyes, she can pretend she’s opening the store with Kyoko. The sun would have already been up for hours, shining through the large display windows in the front. The pale yellow walls inside would seem to glow, and the smell of new books would contrast sharply with the faintly dewy air.
“Good morning, Kiri-chan!” Kyoko would say, throwing the double doors open. Chrome would follow, fondly shaking her head, as she starts to bring in the latest delivery.
While Chrome stocks the bookshelves, Kyoko would dart around the store with a dustcloth, singing songs under her breath. Not a speck of dust would be allowed to stay in their sunny little store, and any smudges on the windows would bring an adorable scowl to Kyoko’s face as she scrubs them clean. After that, she would water all the plants, and Chrome would catch short glimpses of her walking past the bookshelves. The flowers in the windows, the hanging baskets along the walls, the ferns and bonsai trees in their hidden corners each would get their daily, carefully measured drinks of water with Kyoko chattering away to each of them.
“You’re going to need a trim, bonsai-san.”
“Ah! Blooming already, tsubaki-chan? It’s not November yet, silly.”
“Hmmm, looking a little under the weather, fern-kun. I’ll have to check your soil and sunlight again.”
Chrome would stop halfway through stocking a shelf, so caught up in listening to Kyoko’s chatter. She’d always come back to herself when the book she was holding falls to the ground, but her smile would never leave. If anything, it would get bigger as Kyoko does her rounds.
Chrome would leave the poetry section for last. Most of the time, she never gets to it because Kyoko would inevitably finish tending to the store first and make a beeline for it. Chrome would find her sitting on the floor with a half-empty box sitting beside her. Kyoko would look over her shoulder with a sly grin, open the next book to a random page, and read the poem out aloud.
“Full many a glorious morning have I seen.”
“I hide myself within my flower.”
“In the cheerful light of the ever-shining Sun.”
Chrome adores her and her giggles as she kisses her wife silent at the end of the poem. For randomly selecting poems, Kyoko almost always lands on a love poem. She thinks it’s more planned than Kyoko lets on.
Somehow, they would always finish just before nine. They would share a store-opening kiss as they flip the sign on the door. Chrome would brush a leaf out of Kyoko’s hair, and Kyoko would straighten the band of Chrome’s eyepatch.
Chrome opens her eyes to the silent darkness of her hotel room. Grabbing her phone, she sinks back into the thick pillows as the line rings in her ear. “Moshi moshi! Sasagawa Kyoko, owner of Kiri Books speaking.”
Chrome smiles. “Good morning, Kyoko.”
“Chrome-chan!” Kyoko gasps. Chrome can almost see Kyoko pressing a hand to her mouth before scowling as she scolds, “What are you doing calling so late? It must be night over there.”
She huffs a laugh. “I wanted to say good morning to you. Am I not allowed to say good morning to my beautiful wife?”
Kyoko laughs. It rings over the phone line just like it rings through the store whenever a customer shares a clever joke with her at the register. “I miss you too, Chrome-chan, but I have to get back to work. Get some sleep, and say ‘hi’ to Mukuro-nii for me!”
“Of course, I will! I love you, Kyoko.”
“I love you too.”
The call ends. Her phone does not end up on the bedside table. Instead, she falls asleep with a smile on her face, cradling her phone over her heart.