"Late late late late LATE! They're always LATE!" The young, short-brown haired high schooler was pacing back and forth. Kagura usually wasn't the one to beat on Yomi and Tomo for being late, but this was sports, something that took a completely different light in Kaguras'eyes. She'd been ranting for the past ten minutes, when Tomo and Yomi were supposed to have showed up at the train station. "Miss Kagura, please, calm down!" The young, peace keeper of the group, 11 year old, red head Chiyo Mihama, did her best to calm her agitated friend down, though to the other three girls present, it became clear a bit ago that Kaguras' impatience would only end when the two missing friends became present. "Chiyo-chan..." Sakaki, the tallest of the group, with long blue hair that dangled down to her lower back, spoke with a hint of a laugh in her voice. It was somewhat amusing to her. No matter the odds or the circumstances, Chiyo would always try to restore order. Maybe she was just still as naive as one of her age would be. Or maybe she did understand what she was doing. It didn't matter to Sakaki, or any of the friends, for that matter. Chiyo was who she was, and there was nothing more to it. "You're just gonna have ta wait, Chiyo-chan." Spoke the next in line. Standing right beside Sakaki, this short, brown haired girl looked almost tiny, as Sakaki was a mountain by comparison. Young Ayumu Kasuga, nicknamed Osaka by the group, to the point that sometimes even she forgot her real name, was only taller than Chiyo on the group, and not by much. The girl who'd moved from Osaka, Japan, to Tokyo a year ago, Osaka was also a kind spirited person, but in her case, it was more out of mental density than anything else. Still, to the friends, a kind spirit was a kind spirit none the less, and Osaka was a prime example. "She's right, you know." The final friend standing off to the side, she too, had short brown hair, though it was kept more straight than Osaka or Tomo kept theirs. She was a few inches taller than Osaka, and had only become reciently aquainted with more of the people in this group because of her long standing friendship with Yomi. Next to Tomo, Kaorin had probably known Yomi the longest, but even she was surprised of Yomi's tardiness as of late. In the end, though, like everyone else, she'd shrugged it off as nothing more than Tomo's fault. Around that time, the train pulled into the station, and people began loading on and unloading. Kagura was about to start ranting once again, but was cut off by the Station-Wide Intercom. "The Train first train en route to Osaka has arrived at Platform A, and is now boarding for passengers schedualed to be at the Osaka Dome later today. The train schedueled to arrive at Platform B en route to the same destination has run into railway problems. Please allow five to ten minutes for the next train to arrive. Thank you." Kaguras' mood went from bad to worse rather easily at this point. "Bah!" She spat, causing a passing by elderly man to nearly jump out of his shirt, "Son of a bitch! First Tomo and Yomi are late, now we're gonna miss our damn train!" "Well, look at it this way." Kaorin was hoping to be able to calm Kagura down in some way, but things at this point were'nt looking so great. "The other train had some problems. We'll catch it." "Yeah," Sakaki followed up, seeing what Kaorin was getting at. "We'll still make it to the Buffalos game, don't worry Kagura." "We damn well better!" Kagura just continued to pace around, mumbling a mixture of obscenities and complaints under her breath. Everyone else just sighed, except for Osaka, who had her gaze fixated on the stairs that lead up into the station lobby. "There they are." Osaka stated calmly. Everyone else turned to look immediatly, and sure enough, there came the missing two of the group, running up the stairs, sweating decently as they slowed to a panting stop right before the other five, none of whom looked too happy to see them. Sure, before, it'd been simple stuff, like being late to just hang out, but this was more serious. Train tickets to baseball games were not exactly cheap when purchased in bulk packages. "About damn ti-" Kagura started, but moments later found Sakaki's hand covering her mouth. Sakaki than began to speak herself before Kagura could break free. "What she's TRYING to say," Sakaki started, sounding somewhat irritated, partially at Tomo and Yomi, but partially at Kagura also, who wasn't about to help the situation anyway. "Is that you two are late. Again. It's been like that since that trip to Magical Land the two of you took." "We're...we're sorry..." Yomi was bent over, hands resting on her knees as she spoke between heavy breaths. Evidently, the two had realized that, even with their little discussion on what course of action they should take, they had realized that they had both taken WAY too long getting ready. For Tomo, this was expected, as she was usually the one to drag out of bed and take her precious time waking up. For Yomi, however, this was all new, and the group had began to think that Tomo's bad influince was finally starting to rub off. "W...We just kinda..." Tomo tried to finish the explanation, but didn't get far. Her constant panting made it easy for the others to cut her off. "You were just late. Again." Kaorin got straight to it. "Well, it's not like we'll be missing our train, thankfully." Chiyo-chan attempted to bring up something positive to try and change the overall mood to something good. Again, it was just how she was. This comment did bring the mood back up for Tomo, who jumped up instantly, feeling rejuvinated instantly by the situation she thought she understood. "See?" Tomo, energetic as always, voiced proudly. "We're not late, you guys're worrying over nothin'!" At this point, Kagura finally broke free from Sakaki's grip. "Wrong!" Kagura was red, though that was somewhat the fault of Sakaki, covering up her nose and mouth for about a minute. Though the star of the swim team could not be so easily suffocated. Tomo looked on with a somewhat comical look of confusion, but nobody was laughing, and Yomi was still breathing heavily. "You're late, alright! You two're just also really damn LUCKY!" "Eh?" Came the synchronized response of Yomi and Tomo. Kagura looked about ready to burst with anger. "There are two trains leaving for Osaka." Kagura spoke with an agitated tone in her voice, and wasn't attempting to hide her anger one bit. Kagura never hid her emotions. Sometimes, that fact was beneficial. In other situations, such as this one, it merely had the potential to make a mess of things, though she seemed to be getting her point across. "One, the one at Platform A, just came, boarded, and left. The one schedualed to arrive at Platform B, was delayed, and should get here soon." Reality came over Tomo and Yomi, especially Tomo, who'd just been knocked off of her high and mighty pedistal. Then again, that was something that occured often. There came a long silence. The group of seven were literally the only people on the waiting platform at this point. everyone had boarded the empty train bound for Osaka. All but them, at least. What seemed like several minutes passed before the silence was broken, and that breaker came in the form of Yomis' voice. "Well then..." She shot a quick look at Tomo, who figured she knew what was coming, out of the corner of her eye before continuing on. "I guess this presents a good oppertunity to break it to you all." Almost immediatly, everyone else lost all anger. Concern for their friends took over. Even Kagura, though it took her a moment longer, seemed now more anxious than anything. "Tell us what?" Osaka stated bluntly. Flat and blunt. That was the only Osaka any of them knew. "Is everything alright?" Sakaki was the first to check, always being concerned for the well being of her friends before herself. "Are y'all pregnant?" Osaka said, qith equal bluntness. Everyone just kinda sighed in unison, including Yomi and Tomo themselves, to which Kaorin took notice. "Wait..." She stammered, thinking she'd realized it. "ARE YOU?" Kaorin had known Yomi for many years, and it would have made her jump out of her skin for something like this to happen to the Yomi she knew. Luckily, or unluckily, perhaps, she was very far from the truth. Tomo and Yomi were quick to disprove that theory. "No! No! That's not it! Far from it!" The two girls on the defense pleaded, at exactly the same time, before looking at each other and looking back. "Look," Yomi went on. Tomo figured it better for her to be the one to start into this. You've probably heard one person say about another person, 'She has such a way with words.' Well, one would not find themselves saying this about Tomo Takino, and that was why she chose, at this moment, to be seen and not heard. "We're alright, we're fine. But we don't know how you will take this." The statement brought forth even more curiosity to the likes of Kagura, Osaka, Sakaki, Kaorin, and Chiyo-chan. Yomi just wnet on, knowing that this was going to be hard, no matter how the friends percieved it. Though suddenly, Tomo cut her off. "You were right about one thing, this DOES pertain to the trip to Magical Land." Said Tomo, in the absolute calmest state anyone had ever seen her in, even Yomi. "We didn't know how to come out and say this, so we didn't." "But earlier today," Yomi went back to talking. "and this is why we were late, somewhat, we decided that if we let this go on very long, it'd just be worse in the end, so we figured, whatever happens, we may as well get it off our chests." None of the other five girls said anything. What could they say? They had no leads whatsoever as to what this could mean, not even a guess. Osaka had already covered the pregnancy corner, though truthfully that idea hadn't really dawned on any of them until Osaka had suggested it. No guesses, no ideas, no nothing. All any of them could do was stand there and wait for the final word.Not a one of them had any idea of the shock that was about to go through them. With one final sigh, Yomi looked at Tomo, who merely nodded. The two were already standing side by side, which helped for the visual that would emphasize this point. Tomo was the first to act, as she put her arm around Yomis' waist and held her. Yomi placed her arm more around Tomos' back, and her hand rested on the smaller girls' shoulder. "We're in love." Tomo stated flatly. Yomi just nodded. There was no long pause this time, but not exactly the initial reaction Tomo and Yomi had expected. "Come again?" "Say what?" "Huh?" "What?" "Is this some kind of joke?" Kagura was the last one to ask. "Tomo, this sin't funny. Our train's going to be getting here soon and-" "It's no joke, Kagura!" Yomi didn't want to hear it this way. This is how it always was. If something went wrong, or if there was an excuse, anything of the like, the blame always fell on Tomos' shoulders. Yomi was tired of it, even though most of the time, it WAS Tomos' fault, this wasn't a case of the boy who cried wolf. "I'm the one that confessed! I'm the one that has loved her for about as long as I can remember! It didn't feel natural, it didn't feel right at first, but slowly it came around! I made reservations for that trip at Magical Land to confess to her, and I found exactly what I'd been looking for, which was love back! I'm Koyomi Mizuhara, and she's Tomo Takino, and we're girlfriends!" Yomi wrapped the surprised Tomo Takino in a tight embrace to drive the point home. Yomi has guessed that if the word could come from her mouth, it would be believed as the truth that it was. Unfortunatly, she was exactly right. Another long pause, as the five other friends stood there, in shock, mouths gaping open as to what they just heard. From Tomo, this could be nothing more than a stupid joke to get her off the hook. But Yomi? She never lied, she never made excuses. She took credit for her good actions, and owned up for her few bad ones. At this point, though, nobody wanted to believe her, even though her credibility made even something like this hard to shake off so easily. Then, after they thought about it a moment, again, though they didn't want to believe what they were hearing, the pieces of the puzzle all fell into place. Since the Magical Land trip, Tomo had calmed down signifigently, Yomi had started picking up habits she'd never had before, and the two NEVER showed up seperatly. It all made sense, and after about a minute of silence, Kaorin, Sakaki, Osaka, and Kagura understood it exactly. Chiyo, however, with her usual School Girl mentality, didn't see the possibility. "But...wait..." She started, breaking the silence. "You're both girls...You aren't allowed to do that." "Sorry Chiyo-chan, but-" Yomi started, but was taken aback by the two things she saw. Sakaki had now placed her hands over Chiyos' ears, and the four girls except Chiyo were giving the two a death look that meant trouble. Trouble that Tomo and Yomi thought that they would not run into. The lightning had struck, but not in the same place this time.
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