Chaix's
rather nice love triangle fic motivated me to try my hand at a broadly similar premise, but you know, with my usual sick fuckery.
One of my proofreaders said that Emi earned herself a beatdown or at least a spot in a catfight after this. Fortunately for her, she doesn't get abused here. Maybe next time.
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Fifty Percent Cocoa
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“Um, Um... Uh, L-Lilly?”
“Yes?”
“W-What are you doing for V-Valentine's Day?”
“Oh. Well, if you do not have any plans, we could...”
Lilly stopped herself mid-sentence. She could tell that Hanako wasn't asking to hang out. The fact that she was stuttering so badly around her was a sign that she was requesting something she had difficulty asking of someone else.
“Is there anything you need?”
“I-I I was wondering if you c-could um...”
“Yes?”
“Before then, can you sh-show me how to make chocolates...? It, It's for a boy.”
Lilly was surprised in more ways than one. Inside her head, a flash of conflicting emotions ranging from jealousy, concern, and awe swirled around. Fortunately, delight won out and she felt truly happy that her best friend was finally working up the courage to admit her infatuation to someone.
“I-I'd be happy to,” she chirped, stabilizing her involuntary urge to stutter with a grin.
“Y-You would?!” Hanako squealed, loudly clapping her hands together.
“Of course, did you really think I'd refuse?”
...
“So how do they look?”
Hanako inspected the malformed chocolates after popping them out of the molds. The ones she poured looked acceptable, but the ones Lilly did were rife with bubbles and uneven pours.
“Eeeeh...” Hanako groaned slightly, “they l-look nice.”
“I'll tell you what,” Lilly said while she started washing the bowls and pans they used, “you can pick out the ones that came out nice.”
“N-No, you can have the nice ones.”
“How about this, you can go sprinkle chocolate powder on the ones I made to make them look better.”
After putting finishing touches, Hanako sighed at her handiwork. Lilly's chocolates didn't look any better. In fact, some even looked like excrement after adding chocolate powder.
“Here,” Lilly said, holding one of the ugly chocolates up to where the sounds of Hanako's breathing was coming from. “How does it taste?”
“I-It's wonderful.”
“I'm glad. That's all that matters to me.”
Hanako sulked some more, half of the chocolates in her box were warped, lumpy, and deformed. Just like she was.
“Are you sure you don't want the good ones?” Lilly asked, noticing the air of disappointment around Hanako.
“Y-Yeah. We made these t-together so we should share them.”
“Are you really really sure?” Lilly took Hanako's ear and whispered sincerely into it. “The truth is, it doesn't matter what it looks like to me. As long as they're pleasant to taste and smooth in texture, they're just fine with me.”
Hanako was taken aback by her moment of greedy superficialness. She and Lilly made some of the best candies she ever tasted and all she was worried about was how they looked.
“If you don't mind me asking, who might be the lucky boy who will receive yours?”
Hanako's eyes darted around the room for a moment, fighting an old habit of wanting to make a quick escape whenever cornered.
“It's... I-It...” Hanako mumbled and twiddled her fingers before blurting out the name. “H-Hisao.”
Lilly exhaled tensely and smiled.
“As I suspected. You have nothing to worry about, I know he will enjoy your chocolates.”
“No,” Hanako said, calming down with a shake of her head, “they're our chocolates.”
Lilly finished most of the cleaning up and listened to her watch squeak out the time.
“My, oh my, it's getting rather late. Why don't you go on back to the dorms. If anyone asks for me, tell them I'll be right behind.”
“B-But I should help you clean...”
“It's fine. We would just be in each other's way. Besides, don't you have a love letter to write?”
Left on her own, Hanako clutched the box and happily skipped down the halls, brainstorming the things she would write for Hisao in her letter.
Back in the home economics room, Lilly looked at, or rather sat in the presence of her candy box. She flicked a dishrag across the room in resignation. She'd probably have a hard time finding it later, but she didn't care. She had a Valentine's Day gift, but no recipient. She struggled to find something to smile about. Her friends finally were going to come together and she was more than happy to help out. At least at first.
“I-I'm so proud of you, Hanako,” she said to the box before slumping over on the table to try her best at not crying.
...
With excited eyes, Hanako watched Hisao open the envelope and read her love letter. She wanted to get a good look at him, so she held her hair back to share her full, smiling face with him.
Everything was going perfect. She crafted a loving letter to him and Lilly helped her concoct a box of sugary bribes. With the snow falling since the previous night, Hanako planned to use the cold as an excuse to snuggle up close to Hisao for the rest of the day.
“Hanako,” he started, wearing a barren expression Hanako had never seen before, “thank you...”
“Y-You're welcome, Hisao!” she cut in.
“...But I'm sorry. I, I uh, I'm not ready for a relationship right now.”
Hanako's world darkened in a flash as Hisao's words slapped her upside the face. She immediately dropped to the ground and crouched, her eyes bulging, too shocked to cry.
“O-O-Oh... Oh-k-okay,” Hanako's voice stammered as it repeatedly failed recovering from her disaster. “I-I underst-stand. It, It's ok-k-kay if you don't l-like me like t-that.”
“Hey, hey, it's not like that. It's just that well, you know how my heart is? The doctors tell me that I'm not ready for any relationship, really.”
“W-Well... I wouldn't want you to get hur-hurt. I'm sorry, sorry...”
“No, I'm sorry. I should've told you this before. I just didn't know you had feelings for me like that.”
“H-Hiss-Hisao? Are we still f-friends?”
“Of course, Hanako. Nothing could ever change that.”
Hisao returned Hanako's letter, but, at her insistence, he kept the chocolates. She told him that he could consider it as a gift from a friend and that she wanted his feedback when it came to her confectionery skills.
That was a lie, of course. Her heart still burned for him and she wanted him to keep the chocolates on the slim hope that he'd try them and change his mind. She didn't really expect him to have a change of heart but the hope kept her from breaking down.
Hanako moped her way through the rest of the afternoon and buried herself behind a book, reading the same lines over and over since the hurt kept her distracted. Eventually, Yuuko kicked her out just after closing down the library and she drifted on back to the dorm rooms.
In the shadows under a tree by the entrace to the girls' building, she heard smacking noises from a couple who were fully engrossed with each other's mouths. Against her immediate instincts to ignore them and move on with her life, Hanako crept closer to get a look at them.
It was Hisao, with another girl. Hanako didn't immediately recognize who she was. She never paid much attention to those outside of her class and tiny circle of friends. Hanako ducked behind a bush and eavesdropped, praying that it was all somehow a very strange misunderstanding.
“What's in the bag, Hisao?” the chipper man-thief asked.
“Some chocolates from a friend of mine.”
“You accepted chocolates from another girl? You're lucky I'm the most understanding girlfriend in the world. Now give me those so I can dispose of them properly.”
“Come on, Emi, I was gonna eat those.”
“Gimme the chocolate, Hisao! I don't want you getting all sick tomorrow because you scarfed down too many sweets.”
Emi yanked Hanako's chocolate box out of Hisao's tote bag and unraveled the bow around it. She plucked out one of the nicer looking chocolates and chomped on it, then nodded her head and hummed knowingly.
“MM... Yeah, these are really bad for you, Hisao!” Emi scolded while scarfing down the good looking chocolates. “It's nothing but sugar, fat, and it even has salt! Besides, some of them look like crap, literally.”
“Hey!” Hisao grasped into mid-air when Emi ran off to dump the box and remaining sweets into a garbage can.
“I may have saved your life, Hisao. Besides, what about the ones I made for you? I'll bet you won't even be able to tell there's no real sugar in them!”
Hisao shrugged, not knowing on what he missed out. He gave Emi a kiss goodnight and headed off to the dorms to enjoy some carcinogen flavored “chocolates.”
Just after witnessing the kiss, Hanako collapsed sideways into the muddy snow, ignoring the cold sting against her “good side.” She was just like the sweets she and Lilly made, half-hideous and discarded with no regard of the contents. She felt too dead inside to weep.
Hisao's cruelty turned her world upside down. She opened up to Hisao, more than she did to any boy, ever. Thanks to him, she learned that it was okay to smile, be friendly, even fall in love. Then he taught her dark things like betrayal, dishonesty, prejudice, and rejection.
If Hisao could so easily cast Hanako aside, what would keep others from doing so, like Lilly or even her own family? Feeling like garbage unworthy of even a waste bin, Hanako settled into the slush and shut down. If she slept there all night, she'd be fine with it. If someone from the housing staff rescued her, she wouldn't care. If she died of exposure overnight, she wouldn't mind.
“Uh,” she grunted when something jabbed her in the side. Normally she'd yelp or at least say “ouch,” but Hanako didn't want to feel any strong sensation, even natural pain.
“Hanako? Is that you?” Lilly's voice asked from above.
Hanako tried ignoring Lilly at first, thinking that if she stayed quiet, Lilly would just assume she was a dying hobo and carry on with her life.
“Hanako, are you okay? Speak to me!” Lilly whimpered out grasping around at ground level.
“I'm fine. J-Just leave me alone.”
“Oh my God!” Lilly cried when she pinpointed Hanako's voice and scooped her off the ground, brushing mud and slush off of her. “You're freezing! Are you hurt? What happened?”
“N-Nothing happened. Nothing happened at all, Lilly,” she wept into Lilly's shoulder while being cradled in her arms.
“Shh,” Lilly said, removing her coat and wrapping it around Hanako. “Everything is going to be alright. Do you need me to take you to the nurse?”
“N-No.”
Lilly carried Hanako back to her room, all while struggling to use her cane for guidance. Relying mostly on her keen sense of direction and muscle memory, Lilly found her way back to Hanako's room. Hanako would have walked herself and even guided Lilly but she guiltily enjoyed her warmth and the safe feeling of being in someone's arms.
After cleaning Hanako off with warm, wet washcloths and helping her get dressed, Hanako shared her disastrous Valentine's Day story with Lilly.
“Just let it all out, Hanako,” Lilly soothingly suggested, petting Hanako's hair as she cried into her lap.
“Do you feel any better now?” she asked, after Hanako audibly calmed down.
“A-A little. H-How was your day? Did you g-get to see that b-boy you like?”
“I did get to spend some time with the person I care about, yes.”
Even with Lilly's intentional vagueness and omission of detail, Hanako broke down again and sobbed. Lilly had the same batch of ugly chocolates with her and judging by the look of things, she didn't get rejected.
“Hanako, everyone gets rejected in favor of someone else. It's horrible, I know, but it happens to everyone.”
“I-It happened to me b-because I'm ugly. Emi can just put on some nice looking legs and n-nobody would look at her weird. B-but I can't be with him, I can't be with anybody without dragging them down. If I looked like you then maybe...”
Lilly reached out and cupped the right side of Hanako's face, mapping every crevice and valley of her scars.
“No more of that. You
are beautiful. In fact, you're the most beautiful girl I know.”
“Easy for you to say. Y-You're the school princess. You can have any b-boy you...”
“I was rejected too,” Lilly reported flatly, without her usual maternal music. “The person I love chose someone else. And it was my fault. I waited too long to share my feelings, and I was too late.”
Stunned at Lilly's revelation, Hanako snapped out of it and gradually calmed down. While sharing a miasma of mutual misery with Lilly, Hanako came to a sudden realization. Lilly's circle of friends was almost as small as Hanako's. Through a process of elimination, Hanako deduced the identity of the boy who turned down Lilly. He must have been Hisao.
But no, that couldn't have been the case. Someone as stately as Lilly wouldn't just not be rejected by Hisao, but she could easily snatch him away from someone as shallow and irritating as Emi. The eventual conclusion Hanako came to was that Lilly liked Hisao but in consideration of Hanako's feelings, she chose not to pursue him.
It was so typical of Lilly to do such a thing. Realizing that she robbed a far more qualified girl from having a chance with Hisao, Hanako wept more, even deeper than before. She selfishly ignored the needs of her only real friend, who in the end was more than happy to comfort Hanako when she failed, when she had every right to take advantage of her defeat.
“L-Lilly, I-I figured it out,” she cried, “I'm sorry. I'm s-sorry!”
“I do not understand. You have nothing to apologize for.”
“I-I was stupid and blinded...er, distracted by my own feelings. This whole time I should've thought about you and... and your feelings.”
“I see,” Lilly calmly said, countering Hanako's unintentional verbal faux pas with an accidental one of her own. “So... you know how I feel then?”
“Y-Yes. I kn-know that you like Hisao and I-I kept him from you. If I stayed out of your w-way you would've had him.”
Lilly shook her head and wrinkled her forehead in confusion.
“Wha... No, no, it's not like that at all.” Still hiding things for Hanako's sake, Lilly continued, “I ...never considered you a rival. I care about you both. All that matters to me is that you're happy.”
Hanako could tell that Lilly was lying, but it was a nice lie that made her feel a little better, if not less remorseful.
“Thank you for everything, Lilly,” she squeaked out through appreciative tears, “for helping me, taking care of me, listening to me, putting up with me... a-all of it.”
“It was my pleasure, Hanako. And thank you for thinking about me.”
Weary from the emotional roller coaster she spent the whole day on, Hanako expressed her desire to go to bed, but asked Lilly to stay with her. Lilly declined spending the night in Hanako's room, but promised to stay with her until she fell asleep.
Lilly “watched” the sounds of Hanako's breathing from a chair next to the bed. She was tired too and it showed. Lilly's hair was a mess, her clothes were muddy, and she had sizable bags under her eyes. Caressing Hanako's sleeping cheeks with the back of her hand, Lilly quietly gulped down some of the tormenting thoughts that flowed through her head.
“I'm sorry, Hanako,” she whispered through quivering lips as she drooped closer to Hanako's face. Lilly felt their warm breath circulate between their lips, showing her that they were face-to-face.
“Please forgive me someday,” she whispered, before touching her lips against Hanako's, peeking her tongue out to get a small taste of their forbidden kiss.
Hanako's flinching in reaction to teardrops falling on her face signaled to Lilly that it was time to go. After placing the chocolates she brought on the dresser, Lilly carefully exited the room, avoiding use of her cane as much as possible. The door creaked closed as she vanished into the halls.
...
The next morning, Hisao went to class knowing that things with Hanako were going to be awkward at best. Sure enough, instead of her usual invisibility screen, Hanako's desk was surrounded by a dark cloud of impenetrable negativity.
He wondered if she had somehow found out about Emi. He wanted to tell Hanako about his relationship with her, he really did, but he knew that she couldn't possibly take it well, even when he was under the impression that they were still friends. Someone like Hanako would have snapped if she thought one of her few friends was leaving her.
Hope for relief came at lunch, when Lilly, the voice of stability and reason arrived to pick up Hanako.
“Hey, Lilly,” Hisao warmly greeted in an attempt to show that there were no hard feelings on his part.
“Hello, Hisao,” she replied, still cheerful but intangibly less warm.
“Sorry, I won't be joining you and Hanako today. Is that okay?”
“I know,” she snapped back, her cold and quick reply lacking any trace of the usual tranquility. Her quick directness knocked Hisao back into his chair.
“Oh... O-Okay. I'll see you around then.”
Hanako jumped out of her desk and latched onto Lilly, hiding her face from Hisao.
“Oh, and Hisao?” Lilly coldly added. “Congratulations.”
...
“H-Hisao?”
Hisao was roused out of his catatonic state with a gentle nudge. He was not having a good day at all. Emi broke up with him that morning,
after making him run three kilometers, and he had no avenue of support to fall back on, not being particularly close to Misha and Shizune. As for Lilly and Hanako, he was barely on talking terms with them. Lilly even seemed pissed that he breathes the same air as Hanako in class.
“Hanako? Is there something you need?”
“N-No. Are you okay? I-I heard that you and Em-Emi...”
“So you knew about that right?”
Hisao flinched after asking that question, which even he thought was dumb. In the weeks since Valentine's Day, Hisao's relationship with Emi was far from secret.
“I-I've known the whole time. Or at l-least since um, back then.”
Hisao suspected all along that Hanako saw him together with Emi the day she confided in him, and it didn't make him feel any better to have his fears confirmed.
“Hanako, I'm sorry...”
“N-No, it's okay. Besides, Emi is-is so much more um, fun than I am. And she's p-prettier...”
“No, stop it. That's not true. You're a wonderful girl and you're no less beautiful than Emi is. There was nothing you did wrong. Emi and I just... happened.”
“Oh.”
Having said her piece, Hanako got up to return to her beanbag on the opposite end of the library before Hisao stopped her and gave her a sad smile.
“Hey, Hanako, thanks for worrying about me. I'm sorry about everything.”
“I-It's okay, really it really really is. I j-just feel sad for you and her...”
“Don't feel bad for us,” Hisao sighed, “Right now, I'd just rather not think about her for a while. Is there anything I can do to make up for being such an asshole last month?”
“A-Actually... do you think, if it's not too much trouble... Um, c-can you hang out with me and Lilly again?”
“You really want me around? Are you sure I won't just get in the way? I know Lilly is still pissed at me for... that.”
“I-I do. I need your help cuz me and Lilly don't really talk anymore.”
“Wait, what? What happened between you two?”
“D-Don't tell her but... I think she likes you. She was going to as-ask you out on Valentine's Day too but she didn't because I was going to.”
“All the more reason I should stay away, don't you think?”
“N-No. I think now she's just sad because she's lonely. Since you... and me didn't work out, I was thinking maybe if you and Lilly... since she's so much more...”
“Hanako, please don't compare yourself to others. You're truly more wonderful than you give yourself credit for.”
Hisao sighed, building up Hanako's self esteem was far more tedious and challenging than getting her to open up to him. After some rumination, he relented and gave in to Hanako's request.
“Okay, if it's okay with you, I'll see if I can cheer Lilly up. I really miss you guys anyway.”
“Really?!” Hanako squealed, momentarily grabbing Yuuko's attention in the quiet library. “So are you going to ask Lilly...”
“Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm not ready for another relationship. Honest, this time.”
Hisao and Hanako giggled, relieved that their friendship was intact. Hisao didn't mind the idea of dating Lilly, but he didn't mind the idea of dating Hanako either. However, the idea he was most okay with was merely staying friends with both of them, having experienced firsthand how much his life was lacking without both of them as friends.
...
“Since we don't have any water for tea, I-I'm going to the vending machine to get some s-soda, okay? W-Will you two be okay without me?”
“We'll be fine, thank you.”
Hanako hopped out of the tea room to give Lilly and Hisao plenty of time to themselves and give the chemistry she knew they had together a chance to spark something. She felt encouraged by the fact that Lilly seemed nervously anxious when Hisao joined them for tea after school.
“So, Hisao... are you doing well?”
“Yeah, much better, thanks to Hanako's rescue. I was really feeling down.”
“Hm, yes. Do you know why she is so eager to leave us alone?”
Hisao fidgeted in his seat and cracked his knuckles instead of answering.
“Tell me, Hisao, suppose I am infatuated with you. What would you do?”
“W-Well, I dunno. I suppose we could start dating.”
Seeing an unexpected opening with Lilly, Hisao replied with cautious optimism. It seemed that there was something to Hanako's story.
“Well, wouldn't that be nice?”
Lilly floated out of her chair and alighted on the table in front of Hisao.
“Just what did Hanako tell you to persuade you to come here?”
“Well uh, she said that you were upset about something and that you had a thing for me. I guess she thought that if the three of us hung out again, you'd feel better.”
“As I suspected. She's quite a girl, is she not?” Lilly's smooth song of a voice slowly darkened into an almost accusatory tone. “So caring, so considerate and yet strong enough to face someone who broke her heart to set him up with
someone else of all things. Isn't she remarkable?”
“Y-Yes, yes she is,” Hisao apprehensively replied as Lilly felt for and wrapped her left hand around the knot of his neck tie tightly.
Lilly's hold on Hisao tightened into a clenched vise that twisted his collar and drew him up out of his seat. The knuckles popped on her right hand as she balled her fingers together into a fist. Aiming for a palm's length above her left hand, she shot her fist out, loudly cracking into Hisao's eye socket with such impact that even Lilly's fist felt a flash of numbing pain.
“OOWWW! What was that for?!” Hisao cried out, rubbing his eye but making no effort to fight back.
“That was for lying to her!”
Lilly cracked another blow against Hisao, this time against his lip.
“That was for making her cry!”
And another, right in the ear.
“And that was for taking her feelings for granted by going along with this scheme of hers!”
“B-But what was I supposed to do? She would've been crushed anyway if I told her about Emi.”
“She would, but she would've gotten over it and appreciated your honesty. She's not as weak as you think she is. My Hanako isn't some child you have to deceive for her own good. Either way, she would've found out eventually.”
“S-So what do you want me to do now?”
“I want you to date Hanako. You like her, do you not?”
“I guess but... why? Wouldn't that be like lying to her again?”
“Because you owe it to her. She deserves to be happy.”
“L-Lilly, you're not making any sense. First you want me to trust her feelings, now you're coming up with this scheme. Why do you want ME to be with her?”
“Because... even after what you did, I know that you can show her the love that she earned... and the love that...”
Lilly released Hisao's collar and slid to the floor onto folded legs.
“...the love that I feel for her.”
“Lilly,” Hisao asked, trying to help her get back on her feet, “did you just say what I thought you said?”
“I did. It's sad that it will never happen but it is liberating to admit. I am in love with Hanako.”
“Then why don't you date her yourself?”
“I wanted to. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for a chance but... this past Valentine's Day showed me that she likes you instead. It would never work between two girls, anyway. She is not the same way I am.”
“Please, Hisao,” Lilly begged, “looking” at him with tears in her eyes, “can you do this for us? If not me, for Hanako?”
“No, I can't. I care for Hanako but I'd be lying if I said that I was romantically interested in her. If I do what you ask, I'd be ruining all three of us instead of just her. I cannot do that.”
“L-Lilly?” Hanako asked from the doorway, with cans of soda fizzing in her arms. “Wh-what's going on?”
Lilly and Hisao had no idea how long Hanako had been standing there or if she had been eavesdropping, but the look on her face and the sound of her voice indicated that she had heard
enough.
“Is it t-true what you said?” she asked Lilly.
“I... yes, Hanako. It is true. I am sorry. I-I, I need to go.”
Just as Hanako reached out to her, Lilly abruptly got up, grabbed her cane, and briskly headed out of the room.
“Please take care of each other,” she asked as she passed through the doorway. “You two are far better friends than I have been.”
...
Lilly hugged her knees as she sat on the rooftop picnic table. The vast, cold abyss around her seemed to be a fitting prison for someone who abused her friends and tried playing them against each other.
The old metal door at the staircase creaked open, marking the usual entrance of Miss Tezuka and Miss Ibarazaki, seeking to reclaim their table from a most immovable Lilly. It was only one set of off-balance footsteps, so Emi was probably riding on Rin's back again.
“H-Hi L-Lilly,” the most unexpected visitor said.
Lilly's lips attempted to form words to cruelly send Hanako away but her old habits got the better of her.
“Hello, Hanako,” she reciprocated with her usual smile.
“H-Happy White Day,” Hanako muttered, holding out something wrapped in crinkly sounding plastic wrap.
“Oh no, you shouldn't have...” Lilly said while receiving a box that smelled like burnt cookies.
“P-Please take them. Me and Hisao made them.”
Lilly unwrapped the gift and tried a cookie. They were thin with burnt bottoms of caramelized sugar that stuck to her teeth. If she was on better terms with Hisao and Hanako, she would've offered some suggestions to improve their baking.
“Thank you, but you really didn't have to do this.”
“B-But it's the rules, right? You got me something last month and... I wanted to.”
Lilly quietly set aside the barely palatable cookies and listened to Hanako breathe, not knowing what else she could do. She didn't want to soil Hanako by associating with her any further but she couldn't bear to shove her away.
For the moment, all Lilly could do was listen to her breathe. And her breathing was getting faster. And closer.
“You can do this to me if you want,” Hanako said before pressing her warm, most lips against Lilly's cold, dry ones.
“Why did you do that?” Lilly asked, distressed after jumping back away from the kiss.
“Is-Isn't that what you want? Don't you want to b-be with me? I would like that too.”
“Hanako,” she pleaded, dragging herself as far as she until she felt the edge of the table, “please don't do this to me.”
“But why, Lilly? I love you.”
“Do you love me the same way I love you, or are you doing this because you feel guilty about what happened between us? Normally, I would do anything you ask of me but I beg you, please don't break my heart.”
Hanako grabbed Lilly by her cheeks and touched their foreheads together.
“If you didn't feel for me the way you did,” she whispered slowly and without stutters, “would you still have rescued me when I was in the snow?”
“Yes, of course I would...”
“And would you still walk me from class to class and protect me from bullies?”
“Yes.”
“And would you still have been my friend?”
“Yes.”
“You see? You give everything to everyone and you never ask for anything. How can I not love you?”
“Hanako, are you sure you're not confusing love for gratitude?”
“When you were beating up Hisao, you told him to have trust in me. Well I'm asking you to do that. Trust my feelings like how I trust yours. Please believe me, I love you.”
After finally allowing Hanako to kiss her, Lilly pressed her face into Hanako's shoulder.
“I'm sorry about all of this. If you'll have me, I'd like things to be back to the way they were before, with you, Hisao, and myself.”
“No, I don't want to go back to that way,” Hanako said while taking Lilly's hand in her own, “because before we weren't like this.”
“Thank you, Hanako.”
On the way back downstairs, away from the cold, Lilly clung onto Hanako from behind, just as Hanako did with her so many times before. Having her lead the way for once was a pleasant feeling. It felt good to have Hanako by her side again.
“Hanako, dear? There's one more thing I need to get off my chest.”
“W-What's that?”
“You and Hisao should let me teach you how to bake cookies some day.”
“I kn-know. We were hoping that if you wouldn't come back for me, you would at least come back because you'd feel sorry for our bad cooking.”
-End-
and Akira appearance is awesome 
but overally I'm exstatically happy none of this is part of the real stories.
