It was a simple day like any other; Nozomi and her friend Nico following their daily routine of visiting a small cafe after school ended to chat about their courses and get some work done before heading back to their separate dorm rooms. They had been best friends all throughout high school, able to understand the other's emotions just by the look on their face, and now they attend the same college.

They entered the café, hit by the familiar smell of a strong coffee. Nico spotted an empty booth for the two of them to sit at and claimed it before anyone else did.

"Getting the usual, Nicocchi?" Nozomi asked as she browsed through the parfait section on the menu.

"Of course! Nothing is better than a strawberry cake after a tough day full of classes."

"Nico, you never pay attention to any of the lectures." Nozomi stated, raising an eyebrow amusingly at Nico's statement. "As a matter of fact, didn't you fall asleep in history today?"

"An idol needs her beauty sleep, nico!" Nico smiled and did her signature hand gesture. Nozomi giggled at Nico's routine, standing up from her seat.

"I'll place our orders." Nozomi scooted her way out from the seat and walked to the counter, having to wait a couple minutes for the people in front of her to order.

"What can I get you and Nico-chan today, Nozomi-chan?"

"I'll take the berry parfait and Nico will have the usual, Honoka." Nozomi answered. After visiting the café so frequently, she befriended one of the workers who had their shift whenever they visited. She had also become familiar with some the regulars there.

"Alright! That'll be ¥750." Nozomi handed Honoka the money, who skillfully placed it into the cash register. "Your orders will be out shortly!" Nozomi smiled and walked back towards her table where Nico sat, looking out the big, front windows leading to the sidewalks. Nozomi sat down in her seat and began to take her laptop out of her bag.

"I'm guessing you'll need today's history notes?"

"We had notes?!" Nico practically yelled.

"Well, while you were getting your beauty sleep, I was focused on the class." Nozomi replied a bit teasingly.

"Nozomi, send me those notes."

"Hmm, should I or should I not?" Nozomi looked up and began to tap her lips in thought, overly exaggerating the process.

"Pleeeeease?" Nico begged. Not being able to keep the act up, Nozomi began to laugh. She signed into her account on her laptop, opened up the file where she took her notes, and copied it to an email for Nico before sending it. Nico let out a sigh of relief. "Next time you fall asleep in class, I might have to punish you." Nozomi said with an evil grin. Nico, being all too familiar with Nozomi's punishment, brought her arms up to protect herself.

"I promise it won't happen again, just please don't punish me!" Nozomi smirked and looked away from her screen, up at Nico. Nico gulped.

"It's all depends on you." Nozomi said mysteriously, bringing up her hands and wiggling her fingers. A soft laughter gained their attention once again.

"Nico-chan, Nozomi-chan, here are your orders!" A girl with long, taupe hair told them. She placed their foods in front of them.

"Thanks, Kotori." Nico grabbed her fork and took a bite of her cake. Kotori smiled before turning around and heading back into the kitchen. Nozomi followed Nico, pushing her laptop to the side and sliding her parfait closer to her. She picked up her spoon and took a bit of her parfait, making sure to get some of all of the layers.

The chime of the doorbell sounded through the chatter of the café's customers as someone entered.

"Woah, hottie alert, and she looks like your type too." Nico, knowing Nozomi since the first year of high school, knew almost everything about Nozomi, including her sexuality. Nico used her head to direction Nozomi to the girl without being too turned her head towards the direction Nico pointed off to, immediately noticing the girl's beautiful blonde hair. Nozomi was caught by the foreigner's charm and beauty.

"Hey, can you be anymore obvious? You've been staring straight at her for a couple minutes now." Nico whispered as she nudged Nozomi's arm. When she gained Nozomi's attention, she took another bite of her cake. Nozomi took another bite of her parfait as well before she turned back to face the blonde, who was now placing her order. She began to dig around in her bag, most likely to bring out some cash. The digging soon becoming a bit more frantic.

"Nozomi, I think it's your time to be her knight in shining armor! It looks like she forgot her wallet!" Nico whispered excitedly. She didn't have to tell Nozomi twice. Nozomi rose from her seat, making her way to the blonde, who appeared to now be apologizing to Honoka.

"How much was it?" Nozomi asked, leaning on the counter next to the blonde. The blonde turned, her eyes meeting Nozomi's for the first time. Nozomi felt her heart melt when the blonde's sapphire eyes met hers. She swore everything about this girl was just perfect.

"It's no big deal. I can just-" The girl began before she was cut off by Honoka.

"It was ¥310." Honoka answered. The girl glanced at Honoka then back at Nozomi. Honoka quickly did a thumbs up once the girl turned back towards Nozomi. Nozomi reached into her bag and pulled out the money needed to buy the girl's order.

"That's really not necessary, I can just come in another day." The girl continued. Nozomi, however, was certain to pay. She shook her head 'no' and handed Honoka the money, who placed it in the register.

"It's not like I'm spending a fortune here, plus, it's nice to help people out." Nozomi smiled. She could've sworn the girl blushed at this. "By the way, I'm Nozomi. Tojo Nozomi." Nozomi held out her hand

"Ayase Eli." She took Nozomi's hand and shook it. Honoka came back with a tall cup of coffee and placed it in front of Eli. "Here you go!" Eli looked at the cup, to Nozomi, then back to the cup before taking it.

"Um, if you come here tomorrow, I can pay you back."

"You don't need to pay me back. Just being able to talk to you is good enough for me." Nozomi said, smiling once again. Eli looked a bit skeptic at first before smiling back. That small smile made Nozomi's heart leap out of her chest but it disappeared quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry but I have to get going now. It was fun talking to you Tojo-san." Eli said, frowning slightly. Nozomi herself also felt a bit disappointed with the conversation ending so soon.

"Alright, it was nice to meet you too, Ayase-san." Nozomi waved Eli off as she walked out of the cafe. Nozomi let out a satisfied sigh before heading back to Nico.

"She is amazing." Nozomi said as she rested her head on top of her hands, elbows propping her up.

"Nozomi, from where I sat, you looked like an idiot. Please tell me you've at least gotten her number."

"Oops." Nozomi stuck her tongue out at Nico. "I guess I got too caught up in the moment that I forgot." Nico let out a long sigh.

"Honestly, Nozomi... What would happen if you never see her again?" Nico asked, to which Nozomi shook her head to.

"We will meet again, I'm sure of it. I feel like it was fate they brought us together here and it won't be the last."

The two left soon after, Nozomi completely forgetting about her parfait. They walked back to their dormitory on their university campus, Nozomi still in a good mood because of her encounter with Eli.

"Alright, Nozomi. See you tomorrow." Nico said as she unlocked her dorm room, located on the second floor of the dormitory.

"Make sure you get enough sleep to focus tomorrow or I'll have to punish you." Nozomi said mischievous, holding her hands up menacingly. Nico let out an 'eep' before quickly closing the door behind her. Nozomi giggled to herself a bit and continued to walk to her room, located on the third floor. Nozomi recalled the events from the day. She thought about the blonde as she wandered down the hall and up the stairs. Nozomi loved her gorgeous blue eyes and her silky golden hair that clearly stated she was a foreigner, or at least not fully Japanese.

As if her imagination was transferred to real life, there she was, Ayase Eli, standing at a dorm room door down the third floor hall. Nozomi couldn't tell if she was imagining things or if she was actually standing there. She decided to see for herself.

"Ayase-san?" Nozomi called out to her. Sure enough, the blonde turned to face Nozomi. The look on her face showed she was just surprised as Nozomi

"Tojo-san? What are you doing here?" Nozomi laughed at her question.

"Apparently, I'm doing the same as you; going to my dorm room." She answered, walking over to Eli. "Is this one your room?"

"It's what the paper says." Eli replied. She folded the paper and placed it into her back pocket. She inserted her key in the door and pushed it open.

"Well, that's cool. My room's two doors down that way." Nozomi pointed down the way she came from. "If you need help with anything, just knock!" Nozomi began to turn back to her room before Eli spoke up.

"Actually, would you like to come inside with me? I want to talk more seeing that we now have the time." Nozomi smiled and turned back around.

"Of course! I would love to talk to you some more." Eli flipped on the light switch before rolling her large suitcase, which Nozomi had just noticed, into her room. She then stepped out of the way, allowing Nozomi room to enter. Eli placed her suitcase against the wall, exploring the rooms like most people would. Nozomi noticed the room already had a resident, although they weren't present at the moment.

"You have a roommate?" Nozomi asked curiously.

"Yea. I met her briefly earlier as well. She's known about me since the beginning of the year though." Eli replied back, coming out of the room that was to be hers. It had already been a couple weeks into the school year.

"Oh? What brings you here so late?" Eli thought a moment before answering.

"I was visiting my family in Russia. We haven't seen each other in person for a while and I thought it would be a great time to visit."

"You're Russian? That's amazing!" Nozomi said in awe. Eli blushed at her comment.

"A-Ah, it's nothing really. I'm only a quarter Russian, the rest is Japanese."

"But you still have those beautiful blue eyes and the pretty blonde hair color." Nozomi continued. Eli, flustered with the compliment, could only mumble a small 'thank you.' Nozomi couldn't help but think how cute she looked when she was flustered.

"So, Elicchi, do you need help with anything?" Nozomi asked, wanting to hear the blonde's voice again. She hadn't realized she had let a nickname slip out of her mouth

"Elicchi?" Eli asked in confusion. Nozomi then realized what she had said.

"It's a nickname that just kind of slipped out... Sorry." Eli shook her head.

"It's alright, it just confused me at first. I like it, it has a nice ring to it."

"Then I'll call you 'Elicchi' from now on! You can just call me Nozomi then, too." Nozomi replied happily, seeing that Eli liked the nickname.

The two talked until Eli's roommate returned at 7 pm, meaning they had been together for a full hour. Nozomi had learned more about Eli, simple things such as her favorite food - which was chocolate - that they were the same age, 22, and that she was fluent in Russian. Nozomi also remembered Eli's roommate to be Hoshizora Rin, a hyperactive orange-haired girl, two years younger than them, but only a year behind them.

"Oh and Elicchi, we should exchange numbers!" Nozomi suggested cheerfully. Eli agreed and grabbed her phone from her purse, handing it to Nozomi so that she could type in her number. They swapped phones, typing in their own numbers, before returning their respected phones.

"See you tomorrow!" Eli saw Nozomi out and waved goodbye before shutting the door. Nozomi walked happily back to her room. As she entered she went right to her bed so that she could tell Nico about what she was just doing.

Nozomi: Nico, you wouldn't believe what just happened.

There was an almost immediate response.

Nico: what?

Nozomi: You remember that blonde girl from the café, right?

Nico: how could i forget?

Nozomi: Well, she's a student here and literally lives two rooms down from me.

Nico: NO WAY

Nozomi: And she's just as amazing as she looks. She's a quarter Russian, loves chocolate, and she's the same age as me.

Nozomi: We were talking for like an hour and the time passed so quickly because how much I enjoyed talking to her...

Nozomi: I think I'm falling in love.

Nozomi reread the text. She felt like a teenager again, gossiping about her crush to a best friend.

Nico: woah woah woah. slow down there.

Nico: what if shes straight?

Nico: we all know its a bad idea to fall in love with someone straight

Nico: don't fall too hard yet nozomi. you NEED to make sure shes interested in girls before you do

Nico had a point. Nozomi didn't like it, but she did.

Nozomi: It may already be too late, but I'll try.

Nico: good luck with that. im gonna shower and sleep now. i dont want to be washi washi-ed tomorrow

Nozomi: Smart choice. Good night.

Nozomi tossed her phone onto her bed. She undid her low twintails to get ready for her shower as well. She also picked out a set of pajamas and a towel for after the shower.

After Nozomi showered, she dried and brushed out her long, purple hair, followed by brushing her teeth. Once she was done, she relaxed on her bed. She grabbed her phone from beside her and looked at her contact list. She stared at her newest contact; Ayase Eli. Deciding to put the number to use, she sent Eli her first, and final, text of the night.

Nozomi: Good night, Elicchi.

Nozomi stared at the sent text, waiting for a reply of some kind. Soon enough, the small text bubble to show the other was texting popped up on the screen.

Eli: Good night and sleep well, Nozomi.

Nozomi smiled at the text. She turned her phone off, connecting it to the charger and setting it on the bedside cabinet beside her. She got up, turned off the lights, and laid back down on her bed. Nozomi's heart picked up its pace as she thought about what she could do with Eli the next day. She closed her eyes and snuggled closer into her blankets, already ready to start the next day.