It was an innocent sleepover. At least, it was meant to be. Ruby had invited the other two first years over for a sleepover at her house. Dia wanted to help make it fun for them by bringing snacks and tea throughout the night, stopping next to the door of Ruby's room to listen in for a few moments before bringing something in; she knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, but she couldn't help it. Dia could hear the sound of a movie or video game playing in the background as the three of them would giggle and talk to each other. Hearing them and having fun brought a smile to Dia's face and made her emerald eyes a little more vivid. After all, she wanted her sister to have a good sleepover, but there was something more.

Yoshiko Tsushima,  one of the first years and one of the girls that had joined aqours before Dia, had become Ruby’s friends as well. As she stood just outside the door, she would listen for her and wait until she heard her laugh. Each time, her stomach would leap. Yoshiko and Dia were on good terms but were not very close. It was something that Dia desperately wanted to change, but trying to get closer was like trying to catch fog, and she couldn't see a way past it either—each time, looking at Yoshiko, trying to find the confidence to say something. But her fear would get the better of her, and words would just fizzle out in her mouth. As she entered the room, her eyes would glance over to Yoshiko, with reserved attention trying not to make her feel uncomfortable. Dia couldn't help herself; each flick of her hair or sound of her voice made her heart skip a beat.

Yoshiko would get close to her during the night, and Dia would have to hide her face because it would light up a bright red. Dia, on the outside, was her calm and confident self, but inside she was a house of cards Yoshiko could bring down at any minute if she wanted. It would just take a whispered giggle in her ear or light touch on the arm. If Dia dwelled on the thought for long, her mind would race with fantasies about the two of them. Like a pot ready to boil with desire over at any moment.

Luckily the sleepover went well, and the three of them had all fallen asleep. The first years were sleeping in the messy aftermath of the night. They looked like little angels, the three of them cuddled on the bed next to each other like newborn kittens.  Dia made sure to turn off all the lights in the house and quietly picked up their mess in the dark, happy the night went well.  She spent some time cleaning the dishes from that night's dinner.

Dia checked on the first years one last time when she saw that one had gone missing. It was Yoshiko. Even in the blackness, she could still tell them apart. 

"She must be in the bathroom," she thought, going to look to make sure. Looking over to see the bathroom door open and the light off. Dia became more alarmed, now moving with a sense of urgency, searching the house a few times and couldn't find her. Dia began to think about waking everyone else to help look, her eyes darting around each room, hoping to see her behind something or in some corner of a room.    

Dia had happened to stop next to the door that leads to the backyard to take out her phone. It was dark, so she couldn't see anything on the other side of the doors, but she could hear someone crying. It was soft and faint. She opened the sliding Shoji door just enough to peek outside. There was not a cloud in the night sky, and the full moon's light was bathing the whole yard. Yoshiko was sitting on the wooden porch. She had a purple shirt with a pullover hoodie with little devil horns and tiny wings on the back and pajama shorts of the same color. Dia's eyes widened as she realized the crying sounds were coming from her, her knees pulled up to her face, which muffled her moans; her body would twitch with each tiny whimper.

Dia couldn't stand to see her like this. She opened the door and got on her knees behind Yoshiko, and wrapped her arms around her. She rested her head on Yoshiko's shoulder.

"It's going to be ok." Her voice was sweet and comforting.

It took Yoshiko a moment to realize that it was Dia. Yoshiko turned around to look up at Dia. Her eyes were red and still filled with tears, but she looked at Dia like she was a baby bird that had broken its wing. Dia had a reassuring smile on her face, and her arms were open to draw Yoshiko in. 

Yoshiko grasped onto Dia like she was a liferaft in a storming sea, squeezing her tightly, buried her face into Dia's chest. Dia held her, pressing Yoshiko against her. she started to tenderly stroke her head, softly whispering into her ear.

"It's going to be ok."

Whatever Yoshiko had been holding back was now coming out of her like a flood. Dia could feel her own shirt dampened as the tears stained it. There were just the sounds of her tiny whimpers and the symphony of crickets.

Neither of them knew how much time had passed, but it was still dark. Yoshiko had stopped crying and was still. Dia froze to see what she would do next.

"Sorry I got your shirt wet," she mumbled, her face still submerged in Dia's chest.

"It's ok," Dia said with a smile as she brushed a part of Yoshiko's hair out of her face. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

She pointed at her phone and said, "see for yourself."

The phone was next to her when Dia was so worried about Yoshiko she didn't even see it. She moved Yoshiko lightly so that her head was now resting on her lap. Yoshiko turned over so that her face was now buried into Dia's belly. Opening the phone, the screen bathed Dia's face in a sharp white light; she had to squint her eyes. Dia didn't use the internet much and didn't know what site it was, but there was a picture of Yoshiko on the screen. Dia thought it was a cute picture, but she thought everything Yoshiko did was cute. But the comments under the picture said vile things. They said things that she wouldn't say to anyone, even in her most heated moments. And it looked like it was more than one person; their words were biting and venomous. Dia was in shock not just at what was said, but that they said it about Yoshiko!

"Who said this!" anger started to bubble in her voice.

"Some of the classmates found my profile and made comments like that on all my pictures."   Dia could hear the raw pain in her voice.

Putting the phone down, she started to pet Yoshiko's head again.

"I am so sorry," she said, trying to soothe her.  

"I keep making new profiles, but they keep finding them," she said as the tears started to well up in her eyes again. The thought of what they said made Dia's blood boil. She wanted to bring fury and hellfire down on each of them. Her whole body tensed up. She had to close her eyes and take a deep breath to let the fury pass. Emerald eyes opened slowly, allowing the anger to drain out. Her main concern was Yoshiko, and the last thing she wanted to do was scare her. She could feel the tears pooling again in her lap.

"Come here, it's going to be ok," she said in a sweet and comforting voice.

 Getting Yoshiko to sit up. Dia got up on her knees; she gently wiped away the few tears still coming down her red face. Dia paused, her thumb resting on Yoshiko's cheek. Looking down at Yoshiko's face, which was now a bright tear-stained red. Her violet eyes were filled with an abyss of pain and sadness, like a wounded fawn having to face down a wolf. Like there were places in her mind that light could never reach that were coming to the surface. 

If Dia could, she would take the world off her shoulders. To make her pain like feathers in the wind, something she could toss into a wishing well. She wanted to fill those violets with joy again.

Dia delicately pushed back the bangs of her ink blue hair and lightly kissed her forehead. Yoshiko's eyes had filled with awe like the sun parting the clouds; it was like the moon had come down and kissed her head. Yoshiko had never seen Dia act like this and be so comforting. She felt like she was seeing Dia for the first time. Not just the stuffy senpai she thought she knew, but a loving person with a depth of emotion deeper than anything she had ever known. Dia's arms felt like they could hold up the sky. Her words were like sweet nectar, her voice wrapping Yoshiko's heart in a warming comfort. She had stopped thinking and started to let her heart take over, tossing her own apprehension to the wind. Dia took her hand; they felt like ice as if she had been out here for a while; Dia gave a little tug helping Yoshiko get to her feet. Dia held her hand as she guided her back into the house.

"Let's get you something to warm up with, ok?"

"ok," Yoshiko said back in a soft whimper.

On the outside, Yoshiko moved like a ghost, detached from the world around her. However, deep down, she was happy that Dia found her. It was like getting to see a beautiful garden on the other side of a stone wall. Yoshiko wanted to see even more sides to Dia. She wanted to know what was on the other side of the wall, what the sun felt like in that garden, and was grateful to have Dia taking care of her like this. Leading by the hand, she took Yoshiko to her room and put a blanket over her before leaving to get some hot tea to drink.  

Yoshiko had never seen Dia's room before; she looked around to take it in. There was a small wooden table in the middle of the room that she was sitting at. The floor, like the rest of the house, was a tatami. Shoji doors on one side of the room where her futon was kept, the door was not made of the rice paper, but the woodblock print of a forest landscape. There was one wall that had nothing but bookshelves packed with a lot of thick textbooks. And a study desk with a lamp. It was a traditional Japanese room and was the kind of room that Yoshiko thought Dia would have, but she could see things unique to Dia as she looked around. Like the old idol magazines stuffed at the back of one bookshelf in a half attempt to hide them, a pink alarm clock on the table that Dia had since she was a kid, and a board with some pictures pinned to it. Seeing one of her and Dia together. Yoshiko didn't even remember taking it, but it looked like Dia had given it a place of prominence on the corkboard.

Dia had come back with some tea that still had steam rising from the cup. It was the same green tea that Dia had been serving all night, this time, it now had a warm, comforting taste, along with the slightly bitter aftertaste to it. The tea did seem to have a relaxing effect on her since Yoshiko started to slowly blink and nod off and then jolt back awake. Dia watched her do this a few times with a smile on her face. She was on the other side of the table, thinking that Yoshiko looked like a child trying to stay up past their bedtime.

Dia took the last sip of her tea before getting to her feet, walking over to Yoshiko for her to get up.

"I think it's time we went to bed. It's pretty late."

Yoshiko, without saying a word, took Dia's hand and helped herself up. Her hands still felt like ice. Yoshiko stumbled into her arms, letting out a small gasp before falling. Dia was able to catch her. Bundling Yoshiko in her arms like she was holding a puppy. Yoshiko smushed herself into her. Dia could only think to draw her closer in, feeling Yoshiko's heart beating; it was beating fast like she just ran a race. Dia and Yoshiko had never been this close before. Dia wanted to hold onto her from here until eternity, wanting to melt with her into the stars, their hearts beating together, harmony and melody making a song all on their own. Yoshiko's smile was brighter than the sun, and she would do anything to put one on her face.

Dia had to break the moment; she was scared that she might not hold herself back, and she didn't want to take advantage of Yoshiko. Dia started to set up the futon as she laid everything out. She had energy in her step, even looking like she was in a good mood. 

Yoshiko watched her intently. She had always thought that Dia was quite beautiful and would sometimes even think about what it would be like to be closer with her. Never believed that Dia would ever feel the same way. Tonight she wanted to change that. Knowing that she had to do something, not wanting to hold back any longer. Looking at Dia placing the pillows and blankets down, it was like a fire was burning inside her, and the only thing it wanted was to burn even brighter.

Dia saw that Yoshiko was staring at her, almost admiring her, which she liked. Starting to move more sensually as she set up the futon, making sure to give Yoshiko a seductive look while doing it. Dia couldn't help herself to the idea that Yoshiko might feel the same way it did captivate her. Helping Yoshiko into the bed, making sure she was cozy before getting in herself.             

Yoshiko was half asleep. Grabbing Dia like a stuffed bear, and held her tightly, their nose touching each other. Yoshiko had closed her eyes but was still speaking.

"Dia, you're so warm," she said with a tiny giggle, pressing herself onto Dia.

It was hard to tell if she was awake or just talking in her sleep, but Dia was happy to have her holding on so tightly. Yoshiko started to mumble if Dia wasn't so close, she wouldn't have even heard it.  

"Senpai, I…" her voice trailed off.

As she spoke, her lips moved closer to Dia's; She could feel her breath on her own lips. It was warm and sweet like perfume. Dia's face was red all over. This was something that she had dreamed about countless times, daydreaming about this moment while doing paperwork numerous times, but now that it was happening, she was helpless. It happened, Yoshiko going in for a kiss. Her lips were soft like whipped cream and tasted even better. Dia felt like a flower blooming for the first time and feeling the heat of the summer sun. Emerald eyes were mesmerized and lit with a passion that made her forget everything else. Her lips were half-open hungrily, begging for more, wanting to kiss her back to drown her in passion, to taste the sweet wine of her lips over and over. Yet, she had to stop herself, looking at Yoshiko; she had fallen into a deep sleep, her mouth now half-open, her breathing was slow and deep. She loosened her grip on Dia had to turn around.  

"Senpai, please don't go!" Yoshiko said, mumbling in her sleep.

  Wrapping her arms around Dia again, pulling her right up against her. Dia was happy to be so close to her, but her head was racing with questions. “Was she awake when she kissed me? Will she remember? What am I going to tell her in the morning if she doesn't?” But feeling Yoshiko's slow and steady breathing was like a lullaby, and she had warmed up now, feeling softer than the futon. Dia was able to turn around again and wiggled her head down so that she could hear Yoshiko's heart. Its rhythmic pounding was soothing, and after a few moments, she was able to fall asleep.