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Things had been quiet at Rinmeikan lately. The fact that Tamao had declared war against all of her peers probably had something to do with it, but that was no longer Yuyuko’s concern. Well, it was, but it wasn’t something she had direct control over. She’d done the deed she set out to do - spur Rui on to become the greatest stage girl she could be - and now she could just kick back and catch some z’s now that she was out of the running for the Performance Festival lead. Technically nobody had told her that to her face, but she could feel it in her bones. That’s why she felt no compunction about taking up her usual spot in the Performance Association room, pulling out her favorite pillow, and…
“Oh, Yukko!”
Yuyuko jumped out of her skin a bit at the voice, feeling the drowsiness evaporate as Rui entered. “Oh, Rui. Uhh, hi.”
“Hi!” said Rui casually. “I’m just here to pick up my copy of the Performance Festival script. Wasn’t interrupting your nap, was I?”
“Nah.” Yuyuko coughed. “I’ve just been. Y’know. Sitting here.”
Oh god, she was making this awkward. It was her fault for confessing in the middle of the Revue the day before. She’d kept it together so well before then… for heaven’s sake, why did she have to run her mouth? Now she felt plain weird in the same space as Rui.
Rui, for her part, didn’t seem perturbed. “Well, don’t worry, I’ll practice somewhere else. And I won’t ask you or Tamao-senpai for help! I’ll carve out my own ideal as a stage girl! I promise!”
“Attagirl,” said Yuyuko, watching Rui pick up her script. She wanted to tell her she was cheering her on with all of her might, but that wasn’t her style. Better to be the silent supporter than the loose-lipped loudmouth.
Rui tiptoed back towards the door, stopping within the frame. Her fingers drummed haphazardly against it. “Uhh… Yukko? Thanks for everything. Like. What you said yesterday…”
“O-Oh, that?” Yuyuko cleared her throat. “Don’t mention it.”
“And also, I’m--I’m sorry. For needing all that--”
“You don’t need to apologize,” Yuyuko muttered, her voice faltering more by the second. “I mean, I should be the one saying sorry, you know.”
Rui turned around. “For what?”
“Well, you know…” Yuyuko’s face sank into her pillow. “The… thing I said?”
“...Which thing?”
Oh god, was she really going to make her say it again? Yuyuko couldn’t stand this girl sometimes. “You know… when I said… I love you… ”
“Huh?” Rui cupped her ear. “I didn’t hear that.”
If Yuyuko didn’t know better, she’d swear Rui was messing with her. She took the deepest breath. “Wh-When I said… I love you.”
“...Oh.”
Just that? An ‘oh’ that betrayed no emotion? Had Rui just forgotten? Gah, Yuyuko didn’t know what to think. “Anyway, you can just… forget about it. It’s no biggie. Like, I--”
“But I love you too!”
It was like a shotgun blast to the chest. Yuyuko literally felt her heart smash into the rest of her innards as she tore her head from the pillow and whipped around to face her. “What?”
“I love you, Yukko!” said Rui, her expression filled with a warm tenderness. “You’re very calm and compassionate, and even in times where we’re fighting you show me tough love. You’re a special person to me.”
Yuyuko was turning as red as her parka. Her usual cool-as-a-cucumber demeanor was crumbling by the second. What was she supposed to do? To say????? She never thought she’d get this far! She’d resolved to watch Rui chase after Tamao from the sidelines--wait! “Wh-what about Tamao-senpai? Don’t you love her?”
“Well, of course” said Rui, her face melting into glee. “Tamao is smart and pretty and talented and and and… so many more things than I can imagine! She’s wonderful!”
Yuyuko… wasn’t feeling as flustered now. Something was off. Rui wasn’t poly or something was she? It was clear that she didn’t love Tamao and Yuyuko in quite the same way. So why--
“You two are some of the dearest friends I could ask for!”
…
Oh god.
No.
It couldn’t be.
It just wasn’t possible.
“Yukko? Why do you look like you’re in pain?”
“Rui,” Yuyuko breathed, her back slicked with cold sweat. “Do you… think you’re straight?”
Rui put a finger on her chin and looked at the ceiling, frowning. “I mean… yeah? Aren’t most girls?”
No.
No no no. She refused to believe it.
“Yukko? Why are you dry heaving?”
She refused to believe that Rui Akikaze, the girl so gay that she fainted upon seeing Tamao in a swimsuit, the girl so gay she literally got into theater because of a crush on a female senpai, the girl so gay that she unconsciously attracted the attention of other gay people in her vicinity, could possibly fall victim to comphet.
“Are you… screaming? Very quietly? It sounds like you’re screaming very quietly.”
Yuyuko leapt from her seat and grabbed Rui by the shoulders, shaking her violently.
“YuUuUkKo? WhyYYy aRre yOOUu shAAkING meeEEE?”
“You can’t! You can’t be straight! Have you looked in a goddamn mirror lately?!?!?! DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?!?!”
“Aieeeeeeeeeeee!”
Yuyuko jostled her around for a good ten seconds before calming herself down enough to stop, even as angered confusion still filled her veins. “Rui, do you honestly think you like men?”
Rui cocked her head and closed her eyes, humming in hard thought. “Um, I haven’t really ever hated men or anything, so…”
“Tell me all the guys you think are hot.”
“Hmm…”
Rui thought.
And thought.
Thought a little more.
The sun was starting the set on the horizon.
Yuyuko fell asleep, still clutching onto Rui’s sleeves
Seasons passed. Snow fell and then melted. Trees bloomed and withered.
Nana reset the timeloop. Rui was still thinking.
The giraffe died. Stage girls everywhere rejoiced.
Eventually, she sighed. “I guess I can’t think of any.”
“Ok,” said Yuyuko, who had woken up sometime in the interim. “Now name me all the girls you think are pretty.”
“Ok, there’s Tamao-senpai, Mahiru Tsuyuzaki from Seisho, all the girls from LOONA, Lupita Nyongo, Tamao-senpai, Saoirse Ronan, Chung Ha, the entire female cast of Mamma Mia, Tamao-senpai--”
“Cutting you off there,” said Yuyuko. “Do you see my point?”
“But…” Rui wrung her hands in thought. “Does liking girls make me gay?”
“I swear to god…”
“I’m just asking!”
“Take it from me, Rui,” Yuyuko said, holding herself back from vigorously shaking Rui around again. “If you’re not gay, then I’m not gay.”
“...Are you gay?”
“Yes! Extremely! I’m so gay that I have socks in the sunset flag colors! I’m so gay I have a group chat with Banana-san and Jun-Jun-san from Seishou where we just send each other frog pics! I’m so gay that I gave up my shot at taking the lead in the Performance Festival just so I could help my clueless crush get ahead of the curb!!!”
“Wait, your crush? Who’s--?”
“YOU, YOU EMPTYHEADED LESBIAN!”
“M-Me?!” Rui’s face pinkened. “I-I thought you loved me platonically!”
“NO! ROMANTICALLY! I WANT TO KISS YOU ON THE MOUTH AND HOLD HANDS! I WANT TO GO TO PARKS AND BEACHES AND AQUARIUMS! I WANT TO GO TO RAKUGO PERFORMANCES AND SHARE THE STORIES I LOVE AND THE PASSION I FEEL FOR THEM! I WANT TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU AND YOUR EARNEST, DITZY, SWEETHEARTED WAYS!”
Yuyuko felt air filter in and out of her lungs rapidly. Rui could do nothing but blink confusedly in response, trying to put pieces together in her brain. “But… kissing would mean…” her face overheated. “Touching lips… and… and…” She slumped to the ground.
The sight snapped Yuyuko out of her craze. “Rui? Rui?! Are you okay?!”
Holy God, she had fainted. Yuyuko might have been a little too forceful with her lesbianism. She must’ve had more sapphic thoughts corked up than she thought… she had ended up as a loose-lipped loudmouth after all. The least she could do was take Rui to an infirmary, considering their peers were still in “stage-crazed blood rage” mode.
Yuyuko hoisted Rui’s dizzy, cooked body onto her shoulders. “You’re heavy, you know that?”
Rui wasn’t conscious to respond. Yuyuko knew that if she was, she’d apologize.
“...You don’t have to do everything on your own now, you know,” Yuyuko whispered. “If you’re ever stuck again, I’ll be there. Every time.”
Still more dozing.
Yuyuko exhaled. Just like her to talk when nobody could listen, huh? At least nobody could hear her be gay. “Let’s go, you giant fruit.”
And she carted Rui to the nurse’s office, all by herself.
When Rui woke up some time later, Yuyuko was long gone. Rui asked the nurse how her tiny friend had carried her all the way there, but there was no answer to give her. Yuyuko, as always, kept the truth deep down. How was she able to carry Rui so far?The same thing that allowed her to keep going up to this point:
The power of lesbianism.