Miyuki sat at the desk in her room she used to do school work and update her social media status when she had nothing better to do. She rested her head on her crossed arms and sighed heavily, boredom hanging over her in the form of a heavy cloud.
'I don't think I've ever been so bored. Just sitting around and doing nothing. I'd almost rather be in school right now.'
She sat up and rested her cheeks on her fists, staring up at the wall in front of her.
'Hideko is still mad at me and hasn't talked to me in days. I wonder if Yui's busy right now...'
She pulled out her cellphone and held it up to her ear, waiting as it rang. After a minute, Yui picked up and answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey, wanna go shopping or something? I'm majorly bored right now."
"...Well, I'm kinda busy right now, but sure. I'll be there in five."
With that, Miyuki dropped her phone into her small purse and began pulling on clothes to go out in. Not even ten minutes went by before the front doorbell rang. She smiled and rushed downstairs, looking toward the kitchen to call to her mom.
"I'm heading out with my friend! I'll be home later."
"Stay safe, dear."
She grabbed her coat and began to shrug it on as she opened the door with a small smile. "Hey, Yui—"
Her eyes widened a bit. The blonde girl was there, but so was Hideko. Hideko's hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she was all dressed up, arms crossed over her chest as she frowned.
"About time you opened the door. It's cold out here, you know?"
Miyuki couldn't help the smile that spread on her face as she stepped out and shut the door behind her. "You're here, too?"
Yui smiled and rubbed the back of her neck. "I was at her house visiting Naoto when you called. Hideko asked what it was about so I invited her along."
Hideko rolled her eyes. "I decided to forgive you, but only because I need you to shop with me. Fashion is one of the few things you're good at."
Miyuki grinned and chuckled. "I missed you too. Shall we head to the mall now?"
"Let's."
_
Fuyumi smiled, sitting up on the roof of her house. She flopped onto her back and looked up at the sky, sipping strawberry milk.
"Hah, when will summer return? I miss it. I hate this cold weather that Ichigo makes me eat lunch in everyday at school..!"
She sobbed as she squeezed the empty carton of her milk, squishing it in her palm.
"Oh woe! Oh woe is me! Woe is me!"
She took out her phone and turned it on, flipping through it in a bored manner. When she began going through her photos, Hideko's angry face came up. She blinked at it; the photo she had taken while at the supermarket.
A grin spread on her lips.
"A little fun won't hurt."
...
Hideko reached out and grabbed a light blue blouse off of a clothing rack, holding it up to examine it. She cocked her head to the side and hummed. "What do you think about this?"
She held it up in front of her chest and turned to her friends.
Yui smiled, "It certainly brings out your eyes, it compliments the blue tones of your hair, too."
Miyuki didn't bother looking. She was rifling through other shirts on a different rack. She reached in and smiled triumphantly, turning around with a tank top in her hands.
"I just found your signature summer tank top, Hideko. Look how cute!"
She brandished a pale yellow shirt with ruffled sleeves, one that was cropped to expose her belly.
"And you could wear it with a white bottom. Like a skirt or some shorts... Buy this and that cute blue blouse you're holding."
Hideko hummed and looked from shirt to shirt and nodded. "Got it."
Yui said, "How much more shopping are we going to do? It's almost dinner time and—"
Her belly rumbled loudly, both of her friends looking over at her. She blushed lightly and smiled. "I'm a little hungry."
Hideko grinned and waved her hand. "I'm going to try these on and then we can get something to eat."
She handed her purse to Miyuki. "Watch this for me."
Miyuki looked down at the purse and then up at Yui, whom eyed her with an unreadable expression. Once Hideko disappeared into the changing room, the both of them locked eyes and smirked.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Explore Hideko's phone and find photos to make fun of her for later? Yep."
Miyuki began giggling as she unlocked the phone with ease. "Remember that one time we found the video of her singing in nothing more than her robe? She put on a whole concert..."
Yui giggled and slapped her arm. "Yeah, I wonder if she still has that video. It would be a shame if she deleted it."
While the two were talking and giggling, Miyuki had begun swiping through the photos quickly. The smile that was spread on her lips slowly fell as she stopped swiping and stared down at the phone.
Yui blinked at her and cocked her head to the side. "What's wrong? What did you find?"
Miyuki shifted toward Yui and showed her the phone, slowly raising one of her brows. "Why the hell...?"
Yui's lips parted. She stared at a slightly blurry photo of what looked to be Fuyumi, a blank expression on the girl's face.
"Why does she have a photo of Fuyumi..? She hates Fuyumi."
"And they're in a supermarket together..? I think that's the one in town just a few blocks from here."
"Weird..."
A new voice joined in and startled the both of them. Hideko began walking back toward them, raking a hand through her hair.
"Well girls, they both fit fine, and I thought they were cute, too. Too bad summer is, like, four months away."
Yui's shoulders shrugged tensely as she hid Miyuki and looked over her shoulder. Miyuki has jolted at the sound of Hideko's voice, so she began juggling with the phone before finally shoving it back down in the purse.
Hideko stopped in her tracks and looked at her two nervous friends suspiciously. "What are you two doing? You're acting weird."
Yui and Miyuki plastered big smiles on their sweaty faces. "N-Nothing! Just waiting for you..! Haha?"
Hideko cocked a brow and placed one hand on her hip, looking them up and down. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, snatching her purse from Miyuki's lap.
"Whatever. Let's just pay for this stuff and go. I think they released a new ramen in the food court recently. Let's try it."
Miyuki and Yui looked at each other and let out large sighs of relief, practically deflating like balloons.
"Sure, Hideko-san! Let's try it. And I'll pay!"
"No need, Daddy let's me borrow his credit card."
...
The next day was a school day; a Monday to be precise. Everyone was tiredly and sadly shuffling their way to their own perspective classrooms. Hideko, Miyuki, and Yui were all walking down the hall when Yui pulled out her phone.
"I almost forgot to check my social media this morning. What's gotten into me?"
Hideko shrugged and ran a hand through her hair, looking around at the people around her. Everyone was staring at her and giggling, whispering under their breath. She blinked in surprise and rose her brows.
"What the hell has gotten into THEM? I think... I think they're laughing at me...!"
She turned to Miyuki and grabbed the girl by her arms, squeezing. "Are they laughing at me, Miyuki? Why are they whispering?"
Yui suddenly stopped in her tracks and placed her hand over her mouth, looking down at her phone with wide eyes. "...I think I know why..."
Hideko and Miyuki looked back at her. Yui slowly lifted her phone to brandish a picture at them. Hideko's eyes grew large. She was staring at a picture of herself. She looked quite angry and she had a pint of ice cream held in front of her chest. She recognized it as the one Fuyumi had taken in the supermarket. But that wasn't all.
Her face was complete vandalized! Red scribbles covered the entire photo, drawing two red splotches on her cheeks, crazy red on her lips, and a large red Afro. The word clown was drawn in large letters at the top.
Hideko lashed out and snatched the phone from Yui, pulling it to her chest as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face. "W-Where did you get this?!"
Yui held her hands to her chest and leaned forward, deep frown on her face. "I-It was sent to me! I don't know by who..!"
Hideko's hands were practically trembling as she pursed her lips, wrinkles forming in her chin. She shoved the phone into Yui's chest.
"I know exactly who sent that photo. Wait for me during lunch; I'm so going to kill her!!"
She began stomping away down the hall, an enraged look on her face. Yui and Miyuki looked at each other and blinked.
"Kill who..?"
Fuyumi smiled as she walked through the courtyard and kicked around a few stray leaves. She bit down on the straw sticking out of her juice box, humming. The sound of heavy footsteps crunching the gravel on the ground caused her to look over her shoulder.
"Hm?"
Hideko was thumping dramatically toward her with an enraged look on her face, fists clutching tightly at her sides.
"Fuyumi!"
She said her name with conviction, the footsteps becoming louder as she neared Fuyumi. The black haired girl just grinned and cocked her head to the side.
"Hideko, what brings you to me? Are you looking for another grope session? Unfortunately I don't do that so early in the morning—"
Before she knew it, her cheek was stinging and her head had snapped to the side, a large smacking sound ringing out. Her eyes widened a bit, the sound of Hideko panting filling her ears.
Hideko glared at her and wiped her eyes with her sleeves. Fuyumi looked over at her, noticing how red they were.
"I've left you alone ever since that day in the bathroom, Fuyumi! Why the hell would you send a picture like that around?! What did I do to deserve it?"
Fuyumi blinked a few times. Hideko stared at her with furrowed brows, chest heaving up and down. Fuyumi dropped her juice box, it hitting the ground with a hollow thump, pink juice spilling onto the floor.
"What did you do? That's a good question, Hideko. Let's think about it together for a minute."
She took a large step forward, nearing Hideko quickly. The blue haired girl's eyes went wide as she took a step back.
"Do you remember that time when you stole all of my homework from my bag during lunch, and dumped it into the fountain? That was lots of fun to explain to my teachers."
Another step forward, and another step back.
"Maybe you remember that time you and your friends cornered me in the bathroom and flashed images of straight porn at me, giggling all the while. That was certainly an interesting experience."
Hideko bit her lip, feeling her muscles growing tense as she continued to back up.
"W-We were just—!"
"Or my personal favorite; the time you offered to buy me strawberry milk, only to end up dumping it on my head in front of everyone in this very courtyard. It really isn't fun trying to get stains out of this uniform, you know."
The breath felt as though it had been punched out of Hideko's lungs as her back hit the wall of the building, a hand smacking the wall next to her head, trapping her in.
Fuyumi leaned down and stared at her with a blank expression, reaching forward with her other hand to brush some of Hideko's hair behind her ear.
"But I can't create a harmless little picture of you painted as a clown? Which I think is quite fitting, by the way. I don't think that's very fair."
Hideko stared at her, knees shaking, and knit her brows, "Delete the photo." Her voice quaked.
Fuyumi blinked, a grin spreading on her lips. "Oh, I wish I could. But you see, I can't. I sent it to practically half the school." She let out a giggle.
Hideko bit her lip, feeling tears pricking at the backs of her eyes. But she couldn't let herself cry and give Fuyumi that satisfaction. Instead, she wrenched her arm back and slapped Fuyumi again. And again. And again. And again.
Each time her hand collided with Fuyumi's face, she let out a high-pitched grunt, her teeth mashing together as her tears welled up in her eyes.
Fuyumi stood there, both her cheeks red and stinging. She looked down at Hideko with a calm expression. The blue haired girl was hunched over with her hands placed on her knees, tears falling from her hidden face and onto the floor. Fuyumi sighed and placed her hand on the back of her neck.
"Are you done?"
Hideko wiped at her face with the sleeves of her pale yellow sweater, sniffling. She stood up straight but kept her eyes glued to the floor. Her voice was weak as she spoke.
"Find a way to get rid of those videos. I'm holding up my end of the deal by leaving you alone, so hold up yours."
"Actually, I am holding up my end of the deal. No one knows you're oh so desperate for me."
"Fuyumi!"
"Yeah, yeah. You should go to class."
Hideko's eyes widened as she stared at Fuyumi, a grin spreading on the girl's face.
"The bell rang ten minutes ago."