The morning after my evening with Sasaki-san, I was abruptly awoken by a loud knocking at my door. It was such an unusual occurrence that I couldn’t think of the last time I was snapped out of my slumber by someone knocking at my door. A cursory glance at my bedside alarm clock informed me that it was slightly past seven in the morning. During the school year, I was regularly up by six every morning, but I tended to sleep in a little later during the summer. The real question in my mind was who could have been visiting at such an early hour.

Begrudgingly, I pushed myself out of my futon, slid on my slippers, and wrapped myself with a robe. Decorum would have to be excused this once because I was not going to make whoever was outside wait until I was presentable. If they were rude enough to wake me up, then they didn’t deserve the effort it took to comb my hair.

My feet shuffled sleepily towards the front door in an unenthusiastic manner. The previous night had been stressful enough, especially because of how it ended. It’s not like she did anything wrong, she had no clue that her innocent question would upset me so much, but I couldn’t control myself at the time. For an hour as I tried to fall asleep, my mind cycled between the regret I felt for how I reacted and her self-description of her body.

Never before had I imagined what it would feel like to touch another girl’s breasts, but her teasing made me picture something that made me extremely uncomfortable. What made it worse was that I wasn’t against the idea. In fact, I was strangely intrigued by her fantasy scenario of sharing a bath. The finishing blow was how she described her butt. For some strange reason, the idea of her posterior jiggling made me instantly blush. When she first said it, I blushed so hard that my nose began to leak! Something was horribly wrong with me.

As I brooded in my confusion, I opened the door to the inconsiderate jerk who woke me up.

“What,” I asked grumpily before my brain could process who was in front of me.

“Good morning,” an unpleasantly cheerful Sasaki-san greeted me with a smile. “Do you want to go shopping for a swimsuit with me?”

My poor innocent brain was about to short-circuit at the relatively innocuous invitation. There was too much for me to comprehend, the least of which was her odd timing. Not only was she asking me to go shopping, which I never expected someone would invite me to do such a thing, but she specifically wanted to look for swimwear.

Just the thought of her in a bikini nearly floored me the night before, and here she was threatening to show me the real thing. If I didn’t know better, I would have suspected her of attempting to kill me by inducing a heart attack. What’s more, I would need to wear a bikini in front of her. As if my embarrassment from seeing her half-naked wasn’t enough, I would have to present myself in front of her wearing something that covered no more than my underwear.

“Not really,” I answered as coldly as I could muster. “I’m sure I can find one on my own.”

“Are you sure,” she asked suggestively. “It’d be a lot more fun if we went together. I promise you’ll have a great time.”

Her begging and suggestive promises were almost impossible to resist. However, I couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy about her persistence. If I agreed to go with her, I would undoubtedly give away my confused feelings for her. But, if I rejected her, it would seem like I was avoiding her again, especially since I had no good reason to decline.

“Umm…”

Before I could come up with a coherent response to her invitation, a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind.

“Good morning, Rina-chan,” Mom greeted her with a welcoming grin. “Sayaka would love to join you!”

“What? Mom,” I questioned in surprise.

“Great! Come over whenever you're ready for our date,” Sasaki-san jested with a wink.

“A d-d-date,” I stuttered in disbelief as Sasaki-san happily skipped back to her apartment.

“There you go, sweetie! I got you a date with your crush,” Mom celebrated with a smile the moment the door was closed. “You’ve gotta make yourself look cute for her! I’ve always wanted to help my daughter prepare for her first date!”

“A date,” I muttered, still stunned from the sudden turn of events. “S-she was just joking, right? It’s a gyaru thing to joke about these things, right?”

“I’m fully aware that she wasn’t being serious, but you should still try to look presentable for your first outing with your friend.”

“…Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping? Did that inconsiderate jerk wake you up with her incessant knocking!?”

 My mind finally returned to its senses to focus on the truly important things, like Mom not getting her much-deserved rest. How could Sasaki-san, who knew how hard my mom worked, be so selfish as to wake her so abruptly!? If Sasaki-san was really so thoughtless, then she wasn’t worth the emotions I harbored for her.

“Oh, shush. Rina-chan was probably so excited to spend the day with you that she barely slept at all last night. I’m not working this evening, so I’ll sleep while you two are out. Now let me make you look cute!”

Mom excitedly looked through my clothes in the vain hope that I had something that wasn’t painfully plain. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the stylish type, nor did I ever ask her to spend money on things that were expensive for the sake of vanity. My school uniform was probably my best outfit, and that was because I took immaculate care of it. If she and I had a similar body type, she would have lent me some of her clothes.

Unfortunately, I was lacking in most departments. Her shirts would be too baggy despite both of us being skinny, and her jeans would fall off instantly because I had nothing to hold them up. Sasaki-san and her were blessed with feminine figures, while I hadn’t grown out of the bras I got in junior high. Seeing Mom desperately trying to find something I could wear made me think again about the whole thing. Just what was I doing?

“……Hey, Mom, why am I acting like this? She and I are most likely going to go our own ways soon, we don’t have anything in common, and I don’t want any kind of relationship with her, so why am I stressing over this? Despite trying my hardest to avoid her, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. And now I’m nervous just to go somewhere with her. What’s wrong with me?”

“Hm? You’re in love, Sayaka,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “There’s no logical reason for you to feel that way, at least in your mind, but that doesn’t change the fact that you love her. Be honest, if you learned that she wasn’t moving away and that she had feelings for you, would the thought not cross your mind to pursue something more than friendship?”

“I… I’m not sure… I’ve never been in love, and just the thought of it scares me. If that were to happen, how could I be certain that she wouldn’t end up hurting me? Could I really trust her enough to become more emotionally invested? After last night and- “

“What happened last night,” Mom was suddenly in my face, practically foaming at the mouth for the juice details.

“W-well, while we ate dinner, we talked a bit about the upcoming beach trip. A-and the topic of swimsuits came up, which eventually lead to her telling me that she was going to wear a bikini. The mental image alone was difficult for me to process, but when she described her butt as “jiggly”, I suddenly felt really hot, and I had to go to the bathroom because I had a spontaneous nosebleed.”

“Pfft hahaha! Oh, my goodness, was that the first time you’ve ever been turned on?”

“Eh?! Is that what it was!? B-but it’s not like I wanted to do anything to her! I was just embarrassed because I thought about her posterior and chest.” My limp defense was directly negated by another nosebleed.

“Heho! Perhaps the day has come when I need to talk to you about sex! I don’t have experience with women, but I can tell you what feels good!”

“Ah,” I exclaimed in shock. “No, no! Please, don’t tell me anything of the sort! Plus, the way the night ended was awkward for a different reason.”

“Huh? How so?”

“W-well… She asked whether or not you would ever date again, and I kind of snapped at her…,” I admitted bashfully. It was shameful of me to react in such a juvenile manner. Worse so since Sasaki-san had no idea that it was a sore subject for me.

“Ah. That’s a touchy subject. Not at all fun and embarrassing like imagining her in a bikini. But you shouldn’t get mad at her over something like that. She was probably just curious; she didn’t mean to upset you or anything.”

“I know, I know. It just took me by surprise, and I lashed out at her. She played it off, but I could tell that I killed the semi-flirtatious atmosphere we had. We watched a movie, and I was so stressed out about her hating me that I only looked at her chest a few times… What’s wrong with my eyes!? Mom! I need to see an eye doctor!”

“Sheesh. Hormones are hitting you like a brick. Just try your best not to get overwhelmed by your thoughts and focus on having fun with her. It’s totally normal to have those kinds of feelings towards the person you like, you just need to try your best not to be too obvious. Though, I must say, I never expected you would be into big boobs. Your sexual awakening has really unearthed some interesting preferences.”

Mom was almost too supportive of me being lesbian. Once she learned that I was into girls, she jumped right into learning more about the community in our area, researching the best places for two girls to live together, and what countries allowed same-sex marriage.

She even gave me some extra spending money for me to buy yuri light novels and manga. The most awkward thing she did was when she offered to buy manga that was for adults only. Despite my birthday only being a few months away, she was eager to help in whatever way she could. While I appreciated her support and eagerness to help, it was a bit overwhelming how into it she was.

The topic of homosexuality had never come up in the years prior, so I had no clue how she would take the news. Knowing her, I figured she wouldn’t care, but I never guessed that she would be as accepting as she turned out to be. Compared to some of the horror stories we read about online while she was researching the community, I was extremely fortunate to have a parent accept me immediately and wholly. Still, it was a bit awkward to hear my mom ask if I wanted sex tips or my preferred cup size.

“It’s not like I’m into big boobs in general, I just happen to find Sasaki-san’s quite appealing. Strangely enough, all the things I find attractive about her body aren’t universalized to every woman I see. Not only that, but I’m also not attracted to anyone other than her. Ugh! I can’t wait for graduation and the day she moves far away from me!”

“We need to get you some new clothes, Sayaka. You don’t have anything for a date other than your school uniform,” she complained as she confirmed my initial thoughts. “Perhaps you can wear your skirt a little shorter and you could unbutton a few buttons on your shirt.”

“Mom! Showing a bit more leg and cleavage isn’t going to make Sasaki-san magically attracted to me! I’m not even that pretty!”

“Don’t say that! You’re my daughter, of course you’re pretty! Trust me, I’ll make you feel a million times more confident with just a bit of makeup, a new hairstyle, and a few alterations to your outfit.”

There was no arguing with her. Once she got something in her mind, she was going to see it through to the end. After spending nearly an hour on my appearance, all while I was kicking and screaming in a futile protest, she finally stood back and admired her handiwork.

For some odd reason, she thought I’d look cute with my hair in two long braids with red ribbons at the ends. Just as she suggested, she rolled my school uniform skirt to be above my knees and left the top couple buttons of my shirt undone. Despite the fact that I needed to wear my glasses, she still did my makeup, which I could tell she had been waiting to do for years. She also swapped my usual loafers for a pair of sandals she had, and I was suddenly cute. Well, according to her standards. If it were up to me, I would have just gone in a T-shirt and shorts.

“Now you’re ready for your shopping trip with your first crush,” Mom proclaimed. “How are you feeling?”

“Nervous and worried. We’ve kept her waiting for well over an hour, do you think she went back to bed?”

“As if! She’s probably been pacing around her apartment in anticipation! Don’t keep her waiting any longer; go have fun!”

With a final hug for good luck, I headed over to Sasaki-san’s apartment. It’s not like I was expecting anything to come from our shopping trip, but I couldn’t help but get my hopes up just a tiny bit. She was too gorgeous to fall for someone like me, but there was still a miniscule chance that she’d fall for my personality… Which was also pretty terrible…

I knocked on her door and prepared myself for whatever may come.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Message from the author:

 

Sorry for the wait! I'll be putting part 2 out in a week (hopefully) so please keep an eye out for it! I've decided to focus on this story over my other series because I loved the characters so much. I'm eager to see how their relationship will progress!

 

Spoiler: This is a slow burn series and I plan for it to continue for a while!