Cats
"Meow," Mr. Cat said. Airi smiled at him. Mr. Cat wasn't his name but Airi decided he probably didn't have a name so she could call him whatever she wanted,
"Hello, Mr. Cat!" Airi replied in that sing-song voice only used for pets and small children.
"Mr. Cat!" Shizuku called out excitedly and ran back to where Airi and the cat stood, "Hello, Mr. Kitty!"
"Meow," Mr. Cat said. He pressed his face into Airi's shoe.
"No! No, Mr. Cat! You can't touch her!" Shizuku said and kneeled down to pull the cat back.
Airi looked ahead to Minori and Haruka. Haruka stared back at her with a beyond annoyed expression. They were already going to be a few minutes later than they would have liked to their meeting with Riho and now it looked like they would have to deal with the cat situation. Airi sneezed.
"Ah! Airi! Get away from the cat!" Shizuku grabbed Airi's shoulders and moved her to where Minori and Haruka were. Airi sneezed again. Shizuku pulled tissues from her purse as Airi continued sneezing repeatedly.
"Are you serious?" Haruka said through a laugh, "What did you think would happen?"
Minori giggled along; although Airi didn't notice. Shizuku patted Airi's back and handed her another tissue. Haruka pulled out her phone, presumably to text Riho about their lateness. Airi held a tissue to her nose and nodded at Haruka that they were good to continue walking.
-
Airi went straight to the bathroom sink upon entering Riho's house. The other girls went to discuss some lyrics with Riho.
"Shit," Airi whispered to herself. She sneezed again. At least the culprit was adorable.
-
"Are you okay, Airi?" Shizuku leaned down to Airi's level.
"I'm fine. I'll be out in a couple minutes. Go back to the others," Airi said. Shizuku laughed at her funny sounding voice. She handed Airi a few more tissues and then skipped back out of the bathroom.
Airi tried her best to make sure her face was clean before following Shizuku. She entered Riho's room where everyone else was already sitting in a little circle on the floor. Minori smiled at her and opened up a spot for Airi to sit in the circle. Shizuku immediately scooted closer to Airi. It almost made Airi blush. Riho was explaining some ideas for new songs. Airi tuned into the conversation and listened to Riho's ideas.
"So I was thinking I could change this one to make it a little higher and maybe Minori could have a solo version of it. What do you guys think?" Riho proposed. The three veteran idols agreed enthuastically.
"Do you want to, Minori?" Haruka asked, making eye contact with Minori.
"Ah! Me? Eh... uh!" Minori stuttered.
"Oh no! She's malfunctioning!" Shizuku said.
"Or maybe she just really likes when Haruka looks at her," Airi muttered under her breath. Riho giggled. Hopefully nobody else heard that.
Eventually, Minori managed to nod an answer and work began on changing the song to a higher key. Riho fixed the instrumentals and gave the girls updated sheet music to work off of. The visit ended with Minori running through the song as best she could.
"That was great, Minori!" Haruka smiled at Minori, "Your voice is so perfect for this song!"
Shizuku nodded in agreement. Airi sneezed. Haruka laughed.
"It's not funny."
"It is funny."
The group packed up their belongings and left soon after. They spoke mindlessly about anything the entire walk to Shizuku's house. They entered the house, took off their shoes, and ran to Shizuku's room to stretch before bed. They got through 30 minutes of stretching in silence before any of them remembered that they could talk.
"Wait a minute..." Minori said, resting a finger on her bottom lip, "Why are we at Shizuku's house? What?! How did this happen?!"
Haruka hummed quizzically and then gasped, "We were supposed to go to our own homes, weren't we."
Airi laughed at Haruka's revelation.
"It's not funny."
"It is funny."
"Weren't you supposed to go home too?"
"No. I was planning to stay here overnight; you and Minori kind of just kept walking with us."
Shizuku nodded to confirm Airi's story. Minori and Haruka looked at each other, absolutely bewildered.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Haruka asked Airi.
"Don't try to make this my fault," Airi said, holding back laughter.
Haruka sighed and picked up her bag. She offered her hand to a very grateful Minori to help her stand. Minori waved and yelled a goodbye to Airi and Shizuku as Haruka led her out of the room. She ran to Shiho's room to greet her quickly before going back to the front door.
"Today was a lot of fun! Bye bye, Haruka!" Minori waved before skipping in opposite direction.
Haruka waved back and stood still, watching Minori until she was out of sight. Haruka smiled. Minori was certainly cute. She turned around and jogged home.
-
Airi didn't think she could handle another hug. Of course the prettiest girl in the world had to also be the world's biggest hug-lover. Airi could have sworn that she would die of Shizuku-ness if Shizuku didn't stop. They had settled on watching a movie before bed, but Shizuku only seemed to be interested in Airi. Airi had to keep reminding her to pay attention to the movie.
Airi fell asleep. She didn't mean to. Her eyes closed on their own and she slumped onto Shizuku's shoulder. Shizuku smiled and giggled as quietly as she could manage. Airi must have been extremely tired to fall asleep on someone else like that. She made sure Airi was completely covered by the blanket before finishing the movie on her own. She didn't quite find it interesting but at least Airi was with her. And really cute. Shizuku found herself braiding Airi's hair without even thinking. Her hair was so think and wavy. Shizuku braided slowly to savor the feeling of her good friend's hair. Once her hair was in two neat braids, Shizuku braided her own her and carefully laid Airi on the couch. She went to her room to set up the futon. Would it be selfish of her to only put out one? That way she could stay closer to Airi.
Shizuku carried the still-sleeping Airi and set her down on the futon. She laid down beside her and played with Airi's bangs for a few minutes before falling asleep.