They had first met in a sweets shop. That's kind of sweet, isn't it? Apparently Eli hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, so she directed her friends towards a nearby shop that was owned by the family of a childhood friend. The three of them entered the shop, greeting the young woman behind the counter.

Both Eli and Umi made their way to the counter to order something, but Maki did not join them. Instead she stood at the entrance, eyes wide as she was floored by that young woman behind the counter. She had never seen anyone so... so gorgeous. There was something about that smile that just lit up the room. Even if all the lights were off, it would probably still shine through the dark.

"Maki?" It wasn't just her smile, though. Really the whole package was unbelievably beautiful. How could such perfection be hidden away in this little shop? "Uh, Maki?" Was this what having a crush felt like? Oh Gods, it made her heart feel like it was going to beat right out of her chest. She wasn't prepared for this. "Heavens above... Maki!"

"Huh?" Maki shook herself out of her stupor, finding everyone staring at her. How long had Eli been trying to talk to her? This was so embarrassing. Now all the attention was on her. Although it did give her a chance to lock gazes with a pair of pretty blue eyes. No offense to Eli, but these were truly oceans you could drown in.

"Do you want anything?"

"Her." She pointed directly at the woman behind the counter, watching in a sort of daze as all three of their jaws dropped. Wait, what the hell had she just said? As she slowly began to realize what exactly she had done, her face began to rapidly grow red, quickly covering every inch of skin on her face. Thoroughly embarrassed, she turned right around and bolted from the shop.

The three remaining women watched as Maki disappeared from view, before Eli and Umi realized that they couldn't leave without her. "W-Wait! Maki!" Umi called out uselessly, running out the door after her. That left two.

"Ahaha, that was... Sorry about that." Eli laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. The woman behind the counter was blushing as well, though she wasn't nearly the tomato that Maki had been.

"Ehehe, it's alright, really." She was laughing too, resting an arm against the counter. "That was pretty smooth for a second there."

"Maki's as smooth as sandpaper," Eli muttered dryly, now having to be the one to grab both hers and Umi's orders. "But hey, maybe with a second chance she'll actually be able to talk to you. Interested, Honoka?"

"Are you trying to set me up, Eli-chan?" Eli merely shrugged, causing Honoka to laugh harder. "Hahaha, well... I'll give her another shot! Set it up, Eli-chan."

School was back in session. At the university dorms, Maki was deep in slumber, not having any class that day. After living her first year of university sharing a dorm with a small, angry kid who apparently had 'no time for hobbies', she craved something a bit more stable. She would find that in Eli and Umi.

She had met Eli in the music room. Having gone there for some alone time with the piano, she was surprised to find someone else already there, strumming away on an acoustic guitar. They met again several more times, and eventually became acquaintances.

Towards the end of that year, Maki was complaining one day about the fact that her roommate was completely crazy. Eli suggested that she come room with her and her other roommate, and considering that she seemed a lot more stable, Maki eagerly accepted. The arraignments had worked out so far.

As she slept, the sound of Eli's voice broke through her empty dreams. "Are you gonna wake up before dinner by any chance?"

"No," Maki muttered in annoyance, curling up deeper beneath the covers. Couldn't she sleep as long as she wanted? It was her day off, after all.

"Wow, I can't believe I actually woke up before someone else." Wait, that was a new voice. Pulling herself out from under the covers, Maki tried to wipe the sleep out of her eyes and focus on the two people now standing in her room. One was clearly Eli, and the other was... the woman from the sweets shop?!

"Aaa! Eli, what the hell?!" Maki yelped as she dived back under the covers, burning with embarrassment. "You can't just bring people into my room unannounced!"

"Why? Are you naked?"

"Wh-What?! No!" Gods, this was even more embarrassing. Why was Eli doing this to her? Slowly she peeked out from the covers, looking at the two of them standing side by side. Her crush looked amazing. It wasn't even fair: she probably looked like a train wreck.

Eli chuckled quietly, as if Maki's turmoil was amusing to her. "Alright, Honoka and I are gonna wait in the living room for you to get dressed. Don't take too long."

"I-I said I'm not naked!"

"Do you want to come out in your pajamas then?" ... Okay, no. Maki grumbled and refused to answer, which was enough for Eli, who merely smirked and took Honoka out of the room, closing the door behind her. The covers slid off of her as Maki hid her face in her hands, burning bright red. How utterly mortifying.

Throwing off the covers completely, she jumped off the bed and started rifling through her drawers. She didn't want to make them wait too long, but she also couldn't walk out there in just anything, especially not in front of Honoka. So that was her name: Honoka. What a lovely name. Had a name ever been lovelier? Could names even be lovely? ... These were the kind of thoughts she should never voice aloud.

After over a minute of searching, all she could decide on was a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt. It would have to do. With a sigh, she shed her pajamas and pulled on her new clothes before hurrying out of the room. Normally she was so calm in almost any situation. Why was she falling apart so easily just because it involved someone she'd only met twice now?

When she reached the living room, Eli and Honoka were sitting on the couch watching TV. Not sure how to reveal her presence, she ended up standing there silently for nearly two minutes before she was noticed. "Oh, Maki," Eli started, just realizing she was there. "You can speak to us, you know."

"What do you want, Eli?" Her tone was rude, but she wasn't happy to be dealing with all of this today. If Eli was going to bring Maki's crush to the dorm, at the very least she could've given her a couple days to prepare. Maybe she needed a week...

"I'm literally just sitting here." Eli laughed and stood up, with Honoka following suit. "It just so happens that I was going to get lunch with an old friend today..." She pointed at Honoka to leave no debate as to who the old friend was. "... and I just wanted to see if perhaps you'd like to go with us."

"Uh, yeah, sure..." Maki was trying to weigh the options in her mind, but her mouth had already agreed to go. At least Eli would be there to add some normal conversation into what would surely be an awkward lunch if it was just her and Honoka. She wasn't sure that she had the ability to talk in complete sentences to her crush yet.

"Great! Let's go then." The three of them headed to the door, with Honoka opening it up and walking out first. Before Maki could follow her, Eli placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned forward, whispering her ear. "Just so you know, Honoka can be a bit... extreme. But, I'm sure you can handle it."

"What do you meEEAAN?!" Maki let out an undignified scream when Eli suddenly shoved her forward. Her direction led her out the door and straight into Honoka, the ensuing collision causing both of them to fall over with dual shouts. Eli smiled as she stood in the entrance.

"Have a good time, you two!" The door slammed shut, leaving Maki and Honoka on the ground in a tangle of limbs. Letting out a groan, Maki realized where exactly she was: right on top of her crush. Yelping, she jumped off of Honoka, falling on her back with another groan. This was an even worse impression than the first time they'd met.

"Are you okay, Maki-chan?" Honoka stood up and brushed herself off, holding out a hand for Maki, which she took without thinking. The warmth that she suddenly felt almost caused her to let go and crash back to the ground, but thankfully she was able to tighten her grip instead. Standing up shakily, she automatically made eye contact, but those oceans of loveliness were way too much.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Like a true, self-respecting young adult, she stared at her feet as she said that. She turned around and tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Dammit, Eli..." Of course this would happen when she hadn't thought to bring her key.

"Haha, wow. What's her deal, huh?" Honoka laughed a bit awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. "But hey, her loss, right? More food for us!" Maki was pretty sure that wasn't how it worked, but she decided against saying anything. "Hey, I know where we can go to eat! Let's go to the park!"

"The... park?" Why would there be food at a park? Were they going to steal it from someone's picnic? Chancing a glance at Honoka's eager, innocent smile, she decided that, if Honoka asked her to steal food from strangers, she would do it without hesitation. "Okay, H-Honoka. Let's go to the park."

This was not what she had expected. When Honoka had said 'park', she assumed that there were no words missing. As it turned out, she was wrong: there was one key word missing, and that word was 'skate'.

Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of half-pipes and water-less pools. A few people were already there, riding around on skateboards. Even from a distance, Maki could tell that at least a couple of them fit the skater stereotype of having ink on their skin and some interesting piercings. She wondered if Honoka had any tattoos.

One of the skaters noticed they were standing there and started to ride over. It was a girl with short orange hair: the same color as Honoka's. She gave the two of them a goofy grin as she stomped on the end of her skateboard, sending it into the air and catching it with a hand. Maki mentally noted how unsafe it was to skate without a helmet.

"Honoka-chan!" She gave Honoka a mock salute, allowing Maki to see the tiger that had been tattooed on her arm in all its glory. "I didn't think I'd see you here today." It was then that she noticed Maki. "Who's the new kid?" She immediately bristled at being called a kid. There was no way this girl was older than her. How dare she!

"This is Maki-chan!" If Honoka expected Maki to be polite towards someone who had so rudely referred to her as a kid, then she had another thing coming. Instead of giving any kind of greeting, she crossed her arms and half-stared, half-glared at the other ginger. She seemed a bit off-put, but it didn't deter her for long.

"Well heya, Maki-chan! So, you skateboard, then?" What? Maki was about to say no, but then she looked at Honoka. No doubt her crush would enjoy skateboarding. This must've been what Eli meant by 'a bit extreme'. If this was the kind of thing that she was into, then they'd more than likely have nothing in common. She couldn't allow that: she really, really wanted Honoka to like her.

"I... dabbled with it as a youth." Well, it wasn't a total lie. When she was ten, she actually did try to skate. She could barely ride the board without falling over though, and after she cracked the back of her head open trying to ollie, she had stayed far away from all boards on wheels.

"Really? That's awesome!" The sunny expression on Honoka's face made any hesitance she had about the lie melt away. "You should ride with us!" There was that hesitance again.

"Uh... Y-Yeah, sure." Maybe Honoka meant they should ride some other time. At the very least, it'd give her a chance to practice. She could even buy a skateboard and glue her shoes to it so she wouldn't fall off. Those hopes were dashed, however, when Honoka and the other girl began to walk deeper into the skate park.

"Come on, Maki-chan!" Honoka called, smiling brightly. "We can borrow a couple boards!" Oh boy. Gulping, she reluctantly followed after them, wondering if dying was worth trying to impress her crush. ... Yes. Yes it was.

Sometimes, one can almost watch themselves make a mistake in the third person. They would leave their body and watch, like a ghost, as they did something that they never should have done. Maki felt this way. It was like she was watching herself standing at the top of a half-pipe that was way too tall, standing on a skateboard that was way too 'not the ground'. So this was how she was going to die.

Looking down made her stomach do enough flips to be a skating pro on its own. It couldn't be that high up, but apparently it was high enough to instantly cause her acrophobia to seize her heart. Her legs were shaking, a fact that she tried to hide due to Honoka standing right next to her.

It was now her time to shine. Or, more likely, her time to make a complete fool of herself. She tried to ignore the sickening feeling within her stomach, thinking of anything else but the fact that she was doing something so stupid and so high up - without a helmet! - just to impress someone she barely even knew. Oh, but what a person...

Slowly she leaned forward, her feet planted firmly on the board. Leaning far enough shifted her weight, and the board hung on the top of the ramp for a second before the stomach-churning fall. She tried her best not to scream as she went down, but she might've ended up screaming anyway.

At the very least, she stayed on the board until she reached the bottom of the half-pipe. As soon as she reached the bottom, however, she lost her balance and went flying, landing on the ground with a hard thud. All the breath was knocked out of her, and were there supposed to be stars in the daytime? Adding insult to injury, her board went a bit of a ways up the other ramp, then came back down and smacked her in the head.

"Maki-chan! Maki-chan, are you okay?!" Honoka's voice sounded far away, but her worried expression was swimming in Maki's view. She tried to stand up, but her strength had not yet returned.

"Yup." She forced the word out, wondering if it would be okay to just lay here for the rest of her life. Probably not. Honoka leaned over and grabbed Maki's arms, helping her back onto her feet. Everything was still moving, though she knew that shouldn't be the case.

"Are you sure? You're bleeding." Honoka looked on with great concern as Maki reached around to touch the back of her head. When she brought her hand back into view, there was a familiar red liquid on them. Apparently nothing had really changed since she'd last been on a board.

"I-I'm fine, Honoka." She tried to smile, but she had a feeling it was more akin to a grimace. "I'm just... rusty. Haven't been on a board in awhile, you know? Practice makes... makes perfect." Oh Gods, what was she saying? She realized that the other girl was also there too, standing there with a curious expression on her face. Finally, she broke out into a huge grin.

"I like her, Honoka-chan." She playfully slapped Maki on the back, which nearly took her breath away all over again. "She's a fighter. Good on ya, Maki-chan. Oh, I'm Rin, by the way." Rin? Alright. Still somewhat woozy, Maki forgot that she was supposed to be mad at Rin, shaking her outstretched hand with little strength. "Let's get you back on that board and try again!"

"Try... again?" She looked back at the half-pipe, which seemed even taller than before. A lump formed in her throat as she looked over at Honoka. There was still concern in her eyes, but she was smiling again, and her knees felt weak for a new reason. "A... Alright. Let's go again." With her luck, she wouldn't even live to regret this.

When Maki finally stumbled home that evening, every part of her body hurt. She tried to open the door several times, having forgotten that she didn't have her key. Her body slumped against the door, the sound apparently acting as a knock, since the door opened up and she tumbled inside.

"Maki?!" Umi's shocked voice reached her ears, and she slowly pushed herself back onto her feet, wincing when she put weight on her left ankle. She was sure that she'd at least sprained it after one of her many bails. "Oh Gods, what happened to you?"

"Was at the skate park with Honoka." She didn't resist when Umi wrapped an arm around her and helped her to the couch, where she gratefully crumpled onto it. "Everything's still spinning."

"Jeez, Maki, you're not the one who's supposed to get hurt. You're the doctor in training here." Frowning, Umi ran to the bathroom to grab whatever she could that seemed medically useful, and when she came back, Eli had appeared.

"Wow Maki, you look like a wreck," she remarked, smirking. "Must've been a fun time, then."

"Eli, did you have something to do with this?" Umi's frown deepened, shooting Eli a disapproving look before she attempted to take care of Maki. "What in the world happened anyway?"

"I just allowed Maki and Honoka to get to know each other better over lunch."

"This happened over lunch?!"

"Oh right, we didn't eat..." Maki chimed in, suddenly remembering why they were supposed to go to the park in the first place. Food had been the last thing on her mind, admittedly. Now, however, her stomach grumbled as a reminder that she'd eaten nothing all day.

"I can't believe this..." Umi shook her head and stood up, heading for the kitchen. "I'm going to make dinner for all of us. Don't move, okay Maki?" That wouldn't be hard, since Maki was sure she had no energy left to go anywhere.

"So how did it go?" Eli sat down on the edge of the couch, looking at Maki with interest. "What did you think of Honoka?"

"Honoka? She's... She's really great." Maki smiled despite the pain, closing her eyes. Even though she wasn't sure if she'd be able to move off the couch for awhile after that ordeal, it had strangely been worth it. That was all because of Honoka. She was such a wonderful person: Maki had never felt so strongly for someone in her entire life. "I can't wait to go again."

This declaration was greeted with mixed reactions. Eli was happy that the two of them had hit it off so well, while Umi didn't want Maki to come home in a body bag next time. They ended up arguing over what was the best way for Maki to proceed with this, but it didn't matter to her. All that mattered was Honoka wanted to see her again. She would weather all manners of pain to see that smile again.