I winged breakfast in the morning.  It was just a lazy morning with a bowl of cereal for each of us.  I was still reeling from having woken up in her arms (and legs) since I was being used as a living body pillow by her overnight and didn’t mind it one single bit!  I didn’t let myself jump to any strange conclusions though.  I’m sure she only saw me as a new friend, but I wondered if I could say the same for myself about Saiyuri…?

There were only a few days left until the Entrance Ceremony on Monday, and then the carefree week vacation between my middle and high school life would soon be over.  Saiyuri had made it a point to let me know the only thing on the agenda for today was for us to retrieve my school uniforms, and that wouldn’t be until sometime in the afternoon.

So, until then, we mostly just relaxed around the house.  I found some time to chat with my friend, JadeBunny, and decided to hold off on sending an email to Yumi-chan until I could take a photo of myself in my new uniform.  I wanted to show off to her a little, and I hoped that I could convince Saiyuri to help me put on a little makeup as practice.  I’m sure she’d understand.

I didn’t know the work schedule for the delinquent gyaru, Narita MaikoーMai, as she preferred to be called, so the chances I could just take a walk over to the Lawson’s konbini and run into her were slim.  Not to mention my own remaining pocket money wasn’t anything grand.  Saiyuri would probably let me know when I’d be receiving an allowance, and I wasn’t in any rush to buy anything anyway with all the shopping we already did.  I wasn’t sure what I would be filling my room with now, so biding my time on the matter was easy enough because of that.

We left the house shortly after noon, and made our way to a certain clothing store a short drive away in her red two-door coupe.  When we got there, we weren’t the only customers inside waiting to be serviced.  There were a number of young girls together with a parent, and I wonder if it looked to them like Saiyuri was my own parent?  We didn’t look alike in any way, though I often didn’t think I looked all that much like my own mom either, even though Saiyuri said I did.

Most of the girls here were dressed up in trendy outfits, and I didn’t feel out of place still being in my blue octopus t-shirt with the brown pleated belt skirt.  I thought I would be on the smaller size of the girls from the big city, but as it turns out, I was more on the upper end of the average scale.  That is, average until we accounted for her.

A certain tall girl, with a pink hoodie that had fuzzy cat ears and a pair of braided black tails escaping from her collar to rest on her chest.  She was easily a head taller than me, and I had to look up just to see her face properly.

She seemed uncomfortable being in the pool of her peers, and I felt bad for her.  She was cute in her own way, as tall women have a different set of criteria that they often have to endure where beauty is concerned.  She was plain-faced like me, no makeup at all unlike most of the other young ladies here excluding myself, and I thought that was one of the better points about her.  Maybe it was wrong for me to think it in the way I did, but I thought she was handsome like that.

If this was Tono, I’d easily move to her and chat her up, but I could tell she was not comfortable here, So I fell back to Saiyuri who was holding up an old uniform to a nearby mirror and taking a nostalgia trip somewhere in her mind.  

“Sacchan, the girl from the mall getting ice cream, do you remember?”

I nudged her a little and got her attention.

“Hm?”  

Once she saw who I was mentioning, she put it together and nodded.  

“If she’s here today, there’s a large chance she’ll be attending our school.”

“Really?  What grade do you think she’s in?”

“Considering a tall girl like her would be quite memorable, and I certainly have no memory of her, I’d say she’s a first year student like you are.”

“Eh?  But that’d mean she’s about fifteen too?”

“Possibly.  Is that a problem?”

I shook my head.  There wasn’t any problem, I was just surprised to see that she was already so tall at fifteen.  How much more would she grow before her growth spurt ended?  I don’t know if I’d ever want to be that tall.  I’m happy being my size… I just wish if a part of me wanted to grow in excess, it would be my chest.  The only problem with being so tall that I could tell was difficult, is the lack of a suitable partner.

I don’t think I’m vain like that, but I wonder if she would prefer a taller partner to a shorter one?  I suppose I felt like I competed with Sosuke for Yumi-chan on that front.  Yumi was the smallest out of us three, and I was on an equal footing with Sosuke as far as size went, though he would probably sprout up the rest of the way soon enough.  Yumi was definitely the kind of girl who wanted to be the little spoon in the relationship, and she was full of all the charm you could ever want from a country girl.

One by one the crowd began to weed itself out as each of the girls left with their new uniforms in their bags, and eventually only the tall girl and I were left with our respective guardians.  In her case, it was a woman nearly as tall as she was, dressed in a white coat and with a wide brimmed sun hat, matching in color.

Saiyuri was in something a bit business-casual.  A button down white blouse with a black skirt that wasn’t as tight around the butt as you’d hope for, but she definitely made it work anyway.

We, both the tall girl and I, were called to the back room at the same time and the woman attending us was a kindly old granny.  

“Let’s see… Matsuri Chiya and Sora Hanabi, correct?”

“Yup!” I answered enthusiastically.

Chiya, as it turns out her name was, was a little less vocal.

We were both handed our outfits, and directed to an individual changing room.  The first thing I noticed about the outfit I was now holding was that it was quite soft.  It was made mostly of cotton, and it was almost entirely black.  There was some white trim at the ends and the shirt had short frills, as well as a red ribbon that came around the neck and down to the front of the deep v-shaped neck.  The skirt was also below the knee, and matching black.  I hadn’t brought any, but I figured knee-socks would be part of the uniform requirement.  I had hoped the skirt wouldn’t be so long, since now no skin was showing.

When I exited the changing room to see what the old granny’s reaction would be, I also got to see Chiya-san exit and she looked beautiful!

Since she had to take the hoodie off, she was in the same uniform I was, only instead of having her red ribbon end in a bow, it was in a tie shape.  Her skirt came up above her knees, just barely, and of her hair I could see was braided only from the neck down into her pigtails. I hated to say it, since long hair can be important to a woman, but she would look so dashing with short hair.

“My, My!  Don’t you two look splendid!”  The shop granny said.  “I hadn’t expected the skirt to not reach below the knees, but I don’t think they’ll give you too much trouble about it, Matsuri-san.”

“Yup.  I think you look good too!” I added. “I like that your ribbon is a tie too.”

“...”  Matsuri-san had refrained from answering either one of us.

“Sora-san also looks quite lovely.” The shop granny also complimented me.

“You think?  I kind of wish my skirt would be above the knee too, but I’m not too disappointed.” I expressed my opinion.

“Maa, the school is a bit conservative, so I think it’s just right, but you can always hem it up a bit, and see what happens.  I suppose it’s a bit different in an all-girls school.  Co-ed lends to less conservative wear, since all those youthful feelings and the desire for romance at that age…”

The shop granny related how her own daughter wore some questionable outfits and got in trouble with the public morals committee from time to time.  I couldn’t help but find it amusing.  There was nothing like that in Tono, after all.

“So, Matsuri-san is a first year student like me?” I asked the quiet giant, hoping to start a conversation.

“...yes.”

“That’s nice.   I like your hoodie by the way, and your braids are nice too.”

I watched as she blushed a bit, but also seemed uncomfortable.

“I’m Sora Hanabi.  Nice to meet you!”

“M-matsuri Chiya.” She stuttered a bit.

“Since we’re both entering at the same time, would you like to be friends?  I don’t know if we’ll be in the same classes, but it’s better to know someone than not, right?”

“...friends?”

“Yeah.  Is that alright with you?”

“...”

She looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck at night.

“Is it no good?  Well, if you change your mind, and we see each other in school, my offer remains, okay?”

The shop granny said both our outfits were fine after doing some light tugging and making sure it fit properly, and we both went back into the changing rooms and stripped, passing her the clothes to bag up while we redressed into our original clothes.

We both exited the changing rooms around the same time and made for the front again.

“W...wait.”

“Hm?”

She had her phone out.

“Oh, want to trade Line info?” I took a guess.  “I’m 〈Hanabikimasu〉 you can add me anytime.”

She began to tap her screen a few times, and after a moment my own phone gave it’s notification alert.

〈NekoMatsuri〉 would like to be your friend, will you accept?

I accepted her friend request and a private chat opened between us.

〈Hanabikimasu〉 Hello, Chiya-chan!

〈NekoMatsuri〉 Hello, Sora-san.  Please don’t mind me, but I’m not the best at talking in public.

〈Hanabikimasu〉 If it’s easier for you to talk this way, that’s fine with me.  Have you lived in the big city for a while?

〈NekoMatsuri〉 Big city?  If you mean here, then yes, all my life.

〈Hanabikimasu〉 Oh, that’s great!  You must know all sorts of fun places to hang out.  I’m looking forward to being your friend, so let’s do tons of fun things from now on!

〈NekoMatsuri〉 Uh… okay?

The conversation was short, and we went to the front of the store where our purchases were completed, and she left.

“What now, kiddo?”

I shrugged.  I wasn’t sure what to do.

“Later on, can you help me with some makeup so I can take a picture of me in my uniform to send to my friend Yumi-chan back home?  I want to show her how cute I look!”

“Sure.  Want to grab a crepe or anything?  To be honest, I have meetings tomorrow and won’t be home most of the day, so today and Sunday are pretty much it for playing around frivolously until summer break.”

“I’m up for anything, Sacchan.  To be honest, the big city is huge, and I’m not sure what all there is to do just yet, and I’ve only got about 1500¥ to my name…”

“Oh, that’s right!”

Saiyuri reached into her purse and pulled out a couple of bills, handing them to me.

“Your allowance for now.  Also, here…”

She pulled out a card and handed it to me.

“It’s a transit card.  Put in the number into the app on your phone so for the times you don’t have your card on you, the phone can act as one when you need to catch a train.”

“...a train? Why would I need to?”

“Well, you might want to go places with your friends.  The city is big, and it’s easier to get around using the subway.  Life moves a lot faster here than in Tono, Hanapi.  It’ll be a good experience for you to maybe take a train tomorrow somewhere and then return, just to familiarize yourself with how it works.”

“You’re just trusting me to take a train?”

“Kids younger than you do it all the time.  Sure I’ll be a little worried, but I trust you.  Just watch out for the occasional groper, and if you see a female-only car, definitely get on one of those if you can.”

I nodded.  It made sense.

“Is train groping a real thing?”

“Mm… it happens on occasion, maybe not quite like in some of those unsavory mangas, but it’s not something I want you to experience either.”

“Has it happened to you?”

Sacchan nodded.

“Once.  I had my butt groped by an old man.  I endured it when I should have turned around and slapped him.  And that’s exactly why I’m telling you to hop on an all-female car whenever possible, and don’t be afraid to take a seat.  Better than risking it standing up.”

I had no idea the big city had such perils.  The idea of being groped by an old guy was kind of gross. 

“Got it.  I’ll be careful.”

“Do you want me to buy you an alarm chain?”

“Aren’t those for little children?”

“Then how about a stun gun?”

“Can a civilian even own one?”

“Hmm, I think so, provided the voltage is within a certain level…”

I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.  We ended up back in the coupe and headed for somewhere nearby.  It was a park, and after finding a parking space, we got out and walked towards a food cart.

“Two crepes please!” Saiyuri asked the vendor, and we watched as it was made fresh before our eyes.  I was completely fascinated as the dough was poured from ladle, then made into a flat disc with a spreading tool, then scooped up with a flat knife and brought over to a separate station where some kind of fruit jam was spread out on it, then a bit of vanilla ice cream was added and finally whipped cream and strawberries, then it was wrapped up into a cone with a little wax paper around it so it could be held, then some additional things were added to it afterwards. I was given the first one, and Saiyuri was given the second one.

“Looks good, doesn’t it?  This place has been around for twenty years.  They have the best crepes locally that aren’t in a store.” Saiyuri said with a prideful boast.

I took a bite, and it was delicious!

We walked a bit while eating until we found a swingset, and we both sat down and swung a little while eating our treat.  It was a simple activity, but nothing like it was in my hometown.  I enjoyed myself and enjoyed her company as well.

 “You said twenty years ago, did you come here with mom back then?”

“I did.”

“The park has changed a little since then, for instance these swings weren’t here, and we used to bring a blanket and eat over there somewhere.”  she pointed off into the distance.

I imagined mom and Saiyuri sitting down and sharing their crepes with each other as they talked about things that happened in school.  I really hoped I would get a friend like her that I could do those things with as well.

Maybe it would be Mai or Chiya-chan I would come here and do that with in the future, or maybe someone else?

---

We arrived back home and I quickly went to the bathroom and changed into my uniform again, to show it off to Saiyuri.  As promised, she helped me learn how to apply the makeup we bought at the outlet in the mall, and after a fair amount of time, I could hardly believe the person in the mirror was me.

Rather…

“I… look like mom!”

My mother was always beautiful, and even more so on festival days, and now I understood why.  Makeup is incredible!  It could even turn a plain jane like me into… well… her!

“You do look like Kaede, but only a little.  Hanapi, you are your own person, and you have your own beauty.  Don’t compare yourself only to your mother, okay?  She has her charms and you have yours, so be confident in yourself!”

“I will!” I said with enthusiasm.  “Can you take a picture for me, so I can send it to Yumi-chan?”

The next few minutes were spent making all kinds of silly poses that I had seen models make in magazines as Saiyuri snapped photos of me. The only difference from being a magazine model was that instead of being in knockout designer wear I was dressed in my new school uniform and still missing knee-socks.  After quite a few pictures were taken, I changed out of my outfit then took while trying to figure out what pictures I looked the best in that I would send to Yumi-chan.

Saiyuri ordered delivery for tonight so I didn’t have to cook.  It was a couple of tonkatsu bowls, and they were pretty good.  Like the night before, she enjoyed a couple of beers and after eating, I ended up cleaning the table and instead of spending the night on the couch, she turned in early to her room.

I found myself alone in my own room now, and I kind of wished I wasn’t.  Maybe I was being influenced by something I read, maybe not, but I wondered if she would mind at least until school started… if I could spend some more time together with her?

So, even though it was late, I went to her room and found her door was open, as it pushed in slightly when I lightly knocked on it.

“Um… Sacchan?”

The light was off in her room, and only a little bit of ambient light from the living room penetrated into the room.

“Yes, Hanabi?” She said, groggily.

“Could I spend the night with you?”

“Hnn…?  Don’t want to sleep alone?”

“It’s not that… I just…”

“It’s fine, hop in.”

I quickly made for her bed and slid under the covers.

“And here I thought you adjusted well from the beginning,” She said to me “what changed?”

“Nothing changed.  I was just… thinking about last night.”

“Last night?  Did something happen…?”

“You don’t remember, Sacchan?”

“All I remember is falling asleep on the couch and waking up with a sore back.”

“...you don’t remember falling asleep with me?”

“Isn’t that a given?  Of course I do.  I had one beer, Hanapi.  I’m not a lightweight, but does that have anything to do with you wanting to sleep with me tonight?”

“...umm… sort of?”

“I’m listening.”

“I just… umm… I’d like to wake up like that again.”

“What, in my arms?”

“...yeah.  Is… that too much to ask?”

“It is.  My arms only stretch so far, kiddo, and you’re all the way over there.”

I excitedly scooted over until I was close enough to her that she laid on her side and I did as well, and she carefully hugged me from behind.  My heart started beating faster and my body warmed up quickly.

“This is one thing unique to you, Hanapi.”

“What is?”

“You don’t appear to be reserved in the slightest about asking for what you want.”

“But, if I don’t ask for what I want, how will anyone know?”

I felt my body being pulled into her as a hand draped around me and I could smell something nice coming from her body even though I wasn’t facing her.

“I think you’ll do just fine, kiddo.  Yeah, just keep being yourself.”

As my heart raced, I felt her breathing relax and realized she was asleep again. I was happy though.  I was being held by her and my mind was just racing back and forth with all kinds of thoughts.  

“I’d be happy to be your bride, Sacchan… even if you didn’t mean it.”

I said it quietly, and it sounded ridiculous even to me.  Here I’m just a snot-nosed freshman about to enter her first year of high school and I’m acting spoiled already with a woman twice my age who I’m probably bothering.

I know I have my love for yuri and romance, and it’s probably what’s making me seek out her touch tonight, but can’t I be spoiled just a tiny bit for now?  Sacchan is doing for me what I always wanted to do with Yumi-chan, and I’ve never felt more content…

  

My eyes slowly closed and I just focused on her body pressed against mine.

Why did it feel so right?

I reached for her hand and placed mine over it.

I wished sleep would take me, but it never did.

Time passed like molasses from a jar.

I felt her body stir a bid as her hand rose up my body until it rested on my bosom over my shirt.  I felt her head nestle into my hair until her lips found purchase against my neck.

A feeling of static and euphoria flooded through me.

“Mmh…”

As I became her body pillow, I was so excited until she muttered the next word.

“...Joanna…”

Joanna?

It wasn’t my name, or my mothers, so… who was Joanna?  It sounded like a woman’s name, but I couldn’t be certain. I wouldn’t find out for some time, and after that night I didn’t dare return to her bedroom again.  

Not until I knew more.

The next two days passed without incident, Saturday being a day I took a trip on the subway for a couple hours, familiarizing myself with the local area, and then it became Monday.  I woke up and readied myself as best I could.  Today was the first day of my school life, and my goal was to make five new friends.