Between the springs and winters, Honoka loses track of time. Sometimes she finds herself forgetting the date. Sometimes even reading the way the hour hand pointed to is akin to reading a literature written in Shakespearean. It's frustrating, to say the least, because her mind is so out of there she begins to wonder whether she still functions as a human being when it takes a long look outside the window for her to register what season they're in. At some point, she's not sure whether she's fifteen or sixteen or seventeen, because it feels like time has frozen over for someone who's so lost and stuck.

Heck, she'd like it if time were to be frozen for real. When she sees, remembers, breathes Umi, everything falls into places once again. It's Fall. It's Friday today, and it's sort of nice outside. She's seventeen, third-years, next in line to inherit her family's business, graduation just months away, and is so, so in love.

It doesn't help that she's stuck in the library, her halfway-done report in front of her, while she's sprawled limp above said report. The hour hand is somewhere between four and five, and she has six seconds left to pull herself together, continue from where she left off, before…

"Honoka, stop lazing around and do your report."

At least she's stuck with Umi. It makes things more… bearable. And worthwhile.

"You know, Umi-chan, graduation is just around the corner." Honoka sits up, lets the two hundred and sixty bones in her body fall in place, and breathes in dry air conditioning. "You know what that means?"

"That means you should study harder and take things more seriously," Umi interrupts, dainty fingers curled into a firm grip around her pen. Hers is almost done, because Umi is just the type who takes things a bit too seriously.

"Um. I'm doing a homework that's due next week. Yay for me?"

"But not enough."

Umi breaks into a lighthearted chortle, and it makes Honoka's mouth crack open a tiny bit, because she's the kind of people who's easily awed by beautiful things. And Umi's little display of nearly-laugh is one.

"Anyway. Umi-chan, we're going to graduate real soon. Like, in a blink of an eye. Try blinking."

"Al… right." Umi blinks, once. Then, twice. "And?"

"One second closer to graduation."

"You're a sad, sad person, Honoka. Back to your report."

Honoka slams her weight back to the table, arms spread wide, sprawled wide against mahogany. Umi, who sits beside her, (but not close enough to get knocked by arm, but still close enough for Honoka to hears Umi's steady respiration, because the library is just that quiet) simply snorts at her.

"Umi-chan, I," she starts, she doesn't really have any idea to whatever she's going to say next, but she rambles on anyway, "I… we're going to go on separate ways, but there're still – so many things I want to do with you. With everyone else."

"I don't think we're going to get that far apart, Honoka…"

"We won't be staring into the same blackboard anymore. That's – that's a pretty big change already."

"You got a point, but still – "

Honoka doesn't bother to sit back up. Her right hand crawls over to even further right, and when it finds Umi's left, she gives Umi's a loose grab, and she's thankful that her childhood friend doesn't pull back. "We all should go to a beach,"

"Summer is already in the past, in case you're having another case of losing track of time."

"You and me. No, the rest of Muse, too. We'll have a lot of fun there. Smashing watermelons, maybe. Niko-chan will be the first challenger and the first one to end up face first on the sand. Eri-chan will be the one who goes for the opposite direction, and everyone will laugh. You'll… chuckle, I think. Niko-chan will be the one who laughs out loud the longest, and Eri-chan will run after her. We'll laugh some more."

Umi stays silent. Honoka wonders what kind of face the taller girl is making right now, but she's facing forward, because sometimes the wooden, school-issued bookshelves are the less heart-wrenching one.

So, she continues. "And when it's an hour and a half before sunset, we'll separate ourselves from the others. By the time we're all alone the sun will be setting. Red, blue, violet. It'll be pretty, and you, with the sky like so as the background, will be something that rivals Leonardo di Caprio's Monalisa."

"Da Vinci."

"…ah, right. Anyway. Since it's just the two of us, we'll run out of topics pretty fast. I'll busy myself with kicking around the water, and you'll be there, eyes to the endless horizon before us. And then I'll ask you to sing, and you, though reluctant, will sing anyway. I'll walk in closer to you, but I'll trip on the way, and you'll stop your singing to catch me, but the sand sucks and you'll lose your footing too, so the next thing we know the two of us are already sitting on the sand. We'll laugh at each other. And then I'll realize how the timing is pitch-perfect, I will," she takes a deep breath, but Umi can't see her, "I will… ask you out, I like you, please go out with me, and you'll freak out, because we're… we're both girls, and you will – "

"And, and I will say yes, because I'll be… so… happy that all this time, the one I'm in love with feels the same way. And we'll burst into another laugh to the point where tears started to form on the edge of our eyes. Then, I'll stand up, and pulls you up with me, and we'll walk along the shore, hand in hand. It'll be embarrassing at first, but I'll gradually relax because I'm doing it with you. Your thumb will draw a circle on my hand, gently, and my grip will be tighter by each step, because we're running out of time. And then – "

"—and then I will never let go."

And they stop. Seconds later, Umi bursts into a laugh, and it's the loudest thing Honoka has heard all day. This time, she faces Umi, marvels at how… raw Umi is right now, how real, and how ridiculously beautiful Umi is right now, deep blue against the wooden brown of the library. Over the edge of the city, the sun slips into the night. There's a sound of cars honking and hurried footsteps, distant and weary, the town halfway to 6 PM. Honoka leans in. Umi laughs a little more.

"I… guess it's time for the very late magical first kiss?"

Honoka nods. She's too breathless for words. She feels the warmth of the back of Umi's neck when she pulls Umi in for a kiss, slow, hesitant, long-awaited, everything at once.

The report can wait.

Notes: [1] brainstorming before a wave of updates on my multichapters… plus, the lack of Honoka/Umi fic saddens me ;_;