Chapter 7
While both girls are still distracted by the feeling of holding hands, Tomo is still asking stupid questions which Kagura is endulging, and Chiyo and Yomi are simply trying not to lose braincells, Osaka remembers a game she heard about but never got to play and decides to bring it up now that everyone is here.
Osaka: "Hey, ah just remembered a game some of mah friends used ta talk about back in mah grade school, but ah never got to play"
Yomi: "Oh? Well, we're probably a bit old for grade school games, but whatever stops Tomo's insane hypotheticals. So what's it called?"
Osaka: "Ah think it was like... Uhhh... Oh, spinnin' the bottle 'r somethin."
As she states the crude recollection of the name, the room goes so quiet a needle could be heard dropping in a haystack.
Yomi: "D-did you say...?"
Tomo: "Spin-"
Kagura: "-The-"
Kaori: 'BOTTLE???!!!??!?'
Kaori starts blushing like crazy, picturing in her head the ideal scenario of what could happen if she just so turns out to get extremely lucky.
Yukari: "Since that game's a bit more grown up, Chiyo should probably sit it out when you play..."
Chiyo: "Wh-what?? But why can't I play...?"
Minamo: "Dont worry, we'll spend some time with you while they play, ok?"
Chiyo: "O-okay, I have something I need to study anyway"
As chiyo and the two adults go into another room, Yomi finally educates Osaka on what spin the bottle is.
Osaka: "Ohhh, so every time ya spin it, ya gotta kiss the person it's facin'? Sounds like a lotta fun"
Yomi: "Y-yeah sure. Most people dont normally react to it like that yknow..."
Tomo: "Well, let's set up the table, find a bottle and start!"
The girls look around, until Sakaki finally finds an empty glass bottle in the cupboard. She then puts it at the middle of the table and kneels next to Kaori again.
Tomo: "Ok, I'll go first!"
Tomo spins the bottle, immediately throwing nerves around and keeping the tension high until it eventually comes to a stop.
Tomo: "So, I guess I get to kiss my darling Yomi first!"
Yomi: "Tch, whatever just get it over with"
They kiss quickly, with Yomi clearly being faster to pull away.
Osaka: "They were right, this does seem fun! Alright, mah turn!"
As the turns narrow down, Osaka and Kagura, Sakaki and Yomi, Kagura and Tomo, it finally comes around the time for Kaori to spin, praying she gets it right. She spins the bottle nervously, sweating and worrying about the eventual result.
Kaori: 'Please... Please.....'
As the bottle comes to a halt, she opens her eyes to see it's stopped on...
Kagura: "Oh hey, you landed on me!"
Kaori: "Y-yeah, I sure did-!"
The two have a quick kiss and return back to their positions. Sakaki noticed something though, something was odd about how Kaori responded. She seemed disappointed, like she's been let down. 'Was she hoping... It would land on someone else...?' She thinks a bit longer before remembering all of the times she's stared from across the room, blushing, or whenever she tried to invite her to something but was suddenly cut short by her own embarrassment. She wonders about it for maybe a second more, then grabs the bottle, determined to right the wrongs of fate.
Sakaki: "Now its my turn." She releases the bottle with a fiery determination to make a small lesbian happy.
As the bottle slows again, this time things go in Kaori's favour, and land directly on her. As she sees the end of the bottle facing her, she softly pinches herself to see if she's truly dreaming this time, but luckily for her everything is real and in the here and now. She slowly looks up at Sakaki and blushes a lot, wondering what god could have given her this amazing chance. Little did she know, the god was something more commonly known as a magnet under the table, held by Sakaki herself. Granted, we know full well she'd call sakaki a goddess whether she knew about it or not. She held her breath for a second and looked deep in Sakaki's eyes, wanting to savour this moment. As they get closer, Kaori's breath gets even heavier and more erratic as the rest watch in suspense, afraid to make any noise in case it disturbs the moment. Eventually, Sakaki pulls Kaori in by the sides and commits to a 7 second long, almost romantic kiss you'd sooner expect to see in a romcom than you would a game of spin the bottle. When Sakaki releases, Kaori is so flabbergasted she can't even muster up any strength to speak or move, just settling for staring, blushing, and internally screaming her heart out as she wrestles with her emotions and tries to regain any muscle function. While she's coping, Sakaki simply stares at her eyes and waits for a response or even just a heads up that she's come to. This results in about 5 minutes of pure silence, just two girls staring in eachother's eyes.
Yomi: "A-are they gonna move...?"
Tomo: "I-i dont know... They almost seem like they're communicating..."
Osaka: "Ah think Kaorin broke"
Kagura: "Th-the kiss was cute... I think she liked that one just a bit more than mine... Maybe she's better at kissing too..."
Osaka: "Hey, don't say stuff like that Kagura, Ah think yer kiss was mighty fine smoochin'!"
Kagura: "Aww, stop, you're making me blush!"
After ten minutes have gone by, Kaori finally responds by snapping.
Kaori: "Th-THANK YOU MISS SAKAKI-!!" she bows deeply while saying this
Sakaki: "N-no problem..." she blushes a bit in return and smiles, realising just how much this must have meant to Kaori.
Suddenly, a LOT of things start to make sense to Sakaki. Why she had trouble inviting her to astronomy camp, why she was so excited about dancing with her, why she always seemed to stare just a little too long, and even when they did the three legged race. Was all this a byproduct of a crush...? If it wasn't abundantly clear before, Sakaki definitely had the picture now. Kaori likes her. This caused yet another few mental fireworks shoot off in her head. If Kaori's liked her like this for about 2 years, then maybe people DO see her as cute...? Regardless of what it is, she had a newfound appreciation for Kaori, and dare I even say, a reciprocation of feelings.