Wet Groceries

Miyami slowly shuffled her way down the sidewalk as a cool gust of wind blew past her and down the street. It was a relatively quiet Saturday morning at a time where the city had woken, but not fully opened its eyes. Clouds shrouded the sky from above, and the slightest hint of humidity clung to the air, signaling that rain wasn't far off.

It was perfect weather for her to go on her first trip to the grocery store and pick up some necessities.

When she'd woken up this morning, she'd been super excited about pulling on the event banner. Her snacks had been ready, her bed was nice and fluffy, and that tub of ice cream was tantalizingly sitting in her freezer, just begging her to eat it.

But then she'd realized that she'd forgotten to actually buy 'food' food for this weekend once she'd opened the fridge for a quick bite. Potato chips and gummies might've been happy, but too much would make her stomach VERY unhappy. She needed vegetables and protein stuff.

So, here she was. Out and about, braving the world on a Saturday morning. The very thought of it filled her with pride.

Yes, gone were the days of her sneaking into a konbini in the middle of the night, face mask on and baggy clothes covering everything, all in the hopes that nobody would recognize her from her pre-transition life.

Now, she was out here in the open wearing her usual casual outfit sans slightly shorter shorts, her legs exposed to the morning air.

How scandalously courageous~!

She could imagine her imaginary chibi Hinoka, a little ball of energy sitting on her shoulder, cheering her on and telling her how amazing she was.

'Yeah, that's it, Miyami! Just a little bit further. You can do it!'

With her mind's encouragement, Miyami soldiered onward, shuffling down the sidewalk and past several other early-morning adventurers like herself. Her legs moved faster, and her breaths grew ragged as she neared closer to her goal.

A sign up ahead caught her eye. Ah ha! This had to be it. She could see the supermarket logo plastered right on—

"…" Miyami stopped mid-step when she realized that the sign had instead been an advertisement. The store was still another five blocks down.

"…"

The wind suddenly blasted her again, seemingly stronger and colder than before as it howled through her ears, whistling its mocking tune.

She let out a defeated sigh and looked down at the ground.

*shuffle-shuffle, shuffle-shuffle*

***

When she'd finally broke through the supermarket's front threshold—automated glass doors, Miyami quickly grabbed a shopping cart and began to browse the aisles, shifting nearly all of her weight on it as exhaustion dragged behind her every leaden step.

She really needed to start… working out.

*shudder* Ack, no, anything but exercise!

The chill of the store's AC caused goosebumps to rise on her skin, and the scent of freshly baked goods wafted through the air as she took the moment in. She was actually doing it; she was actually shopping. Alone. In the morning. With her bare legs exposed more than usual for the world to see.

'You got this, Miyami!' her imaginary Hinoka cheered on. 'That's my girl! My cutest, bravest senpai!'

Miyami's cheeks flushed warm at the compliment. Right. She could do this. Then she could get back to the comfort of her apartment and play her games.

She pushed forward, her eyes locking on to a display of fresh vegetables that had just been restocked.

Mm, those looked good. And the price wasn't bad either.

Her hands ran over some of them to check for their quality, and once satisfied, she bagged them before looking over some other things.

Those would be handy for next week, but for now, she needed something easy to cook and quick to eat. She didn't want to spend too much time preparing her Saturday meals—she'd already put so much effort into making herself cute bentos for lunch.

'And for me!' Imaginary Hinoka added with a pout, hands on her hips.

Miyami giggled as she patted the chibi on the head. Right, for her too. They'd gotten into the habit of sharing lunches at work ever since she'd shared her bento her first day. So it was only natural that she'd be included in her meal planning now.

After browsing the vegetables, Miyami's attention turned to a nearby display of microwaveable rice and other instant meals.

Ooh, was that a seasonal flavor? It looked tasty.

She reached out to grab a couple of pouches, her gaze falling upon the price sticker on the shelf below.

*startled penguin sound*

Ack! That was… not cheap. She could make a whole pot of rice with the money spent on these.

A defeated sigh left the not-quite poverty stricken but definitely budgeting young woman. Ugh, perhaps she would have to make herself a proper meal after all. But leftovers would become tiresome after a while, and she had so many games to get through—

She glanced over at chibi Hinoka as she dangled her legs and cutely kicked them back and forth.

If she and Hinoka were already sharing lunches, then perhaps she wouldn't mind if she came over to offer some of her home cooking?

Miyami shook her head at the thought as steam began to rise in her ears.

No, no. That would be a bit much. Even if she knew where Hinoka lived and vice versa, offering her home-cooked food would be a little too bold and presumptuous of her. They were just friends. There was no reason to go that extra mile and make a fool of herself, especially when she had so much other work she could be doing.

'♫ Oh how I wish someone would cook for me~ ♫' the imaginary figure on her shoulder sang, a playful smirk on her face. '♫ Maybe a cute senpai, brave and gutsy. To feed me would be so cool! Your tasty cooking is making me drool~ ♫'

"…!" Miyami's cheeks flared bright red at the make-believe lyrics, and her heart thumped loudly in her chest.

Chibi Hinoka, stop that! This was a public space!

'♫ And not just the food, but what about her? I wonder what she'd taste like. Sweet, spicy, sour? ♫'

ACK! NO! She subtly swatted at the mischievous chibi, dispelling her back into her subconscious. Tasting food was one thing, but that… T-that was not a mental image that she should be entertaining right now!

Hinoka was just a very kind and considerate friend!!! Sure, the ponytailed girl's antics bordered on flirtatious sometimes, and she had clarified her preferences in the talk they'd had after her breakdown, but that was just how she was!

She was just a friendly girl that liked other girls, and that did not automatically mean that Hinoka was interested in her or that Miyami was interested in her. A-and even if either was, she shouldn't subject such a sweet and loving friend to such inappropriate fantasies!

After readjusting her jacket around her shoulders and thumping her chest to settle it, she glanced around to ensure nobody had noticed her freakout. Luckily, she seemed to have escaped the attention of any other patrons, and the lone employee in her line of sight was busy helping an old man.

Miyami let out a sigh of relief as she relaxed and slumped onto her cart, her hands gripping the handle as she pushed herself along the polished floor. The shopping had already started to wear her out, and she hadn't even picked out most of her groceries yet.

She had to lock in.

Miyami put on her serious face and imagined she was about to power through an hour of intense material grinding. She could do this, and she would. She would not break down like she had a month ago at the store back in her home city.

She was going to be brave and confident.

She was going to push herself to be the best she could be!

With a newfound surge of determination, Miyami's eyes honed onto her goal, her body tensed up, and she charged down the aisle with the ferocity of a thousand PvP tryhards! The cart's wheels squealed against the tile, and the metal frame rattled with her raging grocery-hunting passion.

Watch out world! Miyami Nozari was coming!

***

"…Hm?" A brown-haired woman looked up from where she was perusing the feminine hygiene section, her amber eyes blinking in confusion as she wiped some sweat from her brow.

Had she heard the familiar squeal of an angry penguin?

***

"…" After half an hour of (cooking) material hunting and a long, drawn-out battle to grab a glass jar of pickled ginger that had been just out of reach, Miyami blinked as she stared at the register's display, her eyes scanning the total cost.

That couldn't be right.

"Miss?" The young lady at the register asked, sounding confused. "Your total is: ¥5,678."

"…"

Miyami continued to stare at the total in disbelief as a queue formed behind her. B-but she had done such a good job looking for all the sales and deals. She'd even gotten the cheaper brand of gummy snacks. How was it still so much?

Her fingers rapidly tapped on her phone to present her bewilderment to the cashier.

> 'Is that really correct? What about the sales?'

The young woman gave a nod, her gaze briefly flickering to the slowly growing line. "Yes, ma'am, that is your total. Unfortunately, the sale price is only for members. If you want though, I can quickly set you up for our membership and ring you through. If you do, your total will come out to ¥2,678 instead—including the fee."

"…" Miyami stared at the screen again, her eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to process the information. Ah, she'd forgotten about memberships. She didn't want to hold up the line, but that difference was quite a lot. Maybe she should just go along with it?

"Would you like to enroll?"

"…" Miyami nodded, her lips pressing together in a tight line. Yes! She had to be brave!

"Okay. Can I get your name and address?"

"…!" That was a bit too brave. Miyami quickly shook her head, her hair flying around in a frantic motion.

"Erm, sorry. I can't enroll you unless you give me a name and address to enroll in," the cashier said, her tone as friendly as it could be. "If you're worried about your information being sold or something, then don't worry. I assure you, we only use the data for our own promotions and offers."

Nervous sweat began to bead down her face and onto her shirt. She tried to force a vocal response out, but her throat refused to cooperate, and her tongue remained silent. Her fingers fumbled for her phone again, but before she could type out a message, she felt someone step right next to her.

"Hey, sorry. Her name is Miyami Nozari. And this should be her address, hold on, lemme double check on my phone."

Miyami nearly jumped as a familiar and slightly shorter figure leaned around her, their bare biceps pressing against her as they showed the cashier a screenshot of a chat log.

"Oh. Yeah, that looks good," the young woman said, quickly keying the information into the computer. "Nozari-san, you have quite the friend here. If you want to show me some ID to confirm, I'll get your membership set up and check you out."

Hinoka nudged her gently, causing the frozen woman to finally look over and see who her savior was after handing her ID over.

She was dressed in a red tank top, a pair of running shorts, and sneakers, with her trademark streaked ponytail fluttering slightly from the store's air conditioning. The slightest hint of sweat wafted off her, although it was clear the aircon had long since cooled her down.

"…H-Hinoka." Miyami breathed out, her face flushing a bright red as the tension left her body.

"Hey." The ponytailed girl grinned. "Didn't think I'd run into you here. Sorry for barging in like that." Her face turned serious, and she looked her in the eyes. "Erm, I hope I didn't cross a line by butting in. You just looked a bit stuck, and I figured I could help."

Miyami energetically shook her head at the hero of a kouhai who'd saved her, the weight lifting from her shoulders.

Hinoka looked relieved at her response and nodded, nestling in a little closer.

"…" Ah. Now that she was out of danger, wasn't this a little intimate?

Miyami realized just how close they were to each other as the cashier typed in her details, and her heart thundered hard.

The warmth of her body, the brush of her hair, and her slightly sweet scent…

"Alright, that's your membership done," the cashier said, pushing Miyami's card back over the counter. "And will that be cash or card—"

Hinoka suddenly dropped a ¥5,000 note into the change tray, cutting the woman off.

"C-cash?," Miyami squeaked out, her cheeks burning hot as she trembled out of her inner reflections.

The young cashier gave a nod, ringing her through before sliding over the change to Hinoka. "Have a nice day."

Everything was running in slow motion as the two of them stepped away from the till. Hinoka grabbed her groceries and hung them around both her own and Miyami's arms.

Had her coworker-friend just saved her AND paid for her groceries?

She was going to faint. This stupidly awesome ikemen of a girl was going to give her a heart attack and kill her.

"Come on, let's go." Hinoka suddenly grabbed her hand, pulling her along and out the door into the humid air outside. "I figure you probably might need some help with those groceries too since it was forecast to rain today."

"…!" Miyami could only blink as she let her friend lead the way.

Just how considerate was she?! Was she a prince? Or a princess? Wait, what would that make Miyami? If she was a penguin princess, did that make Hinoka her penguin prince?

"…"

Miyami let out a small groan. She was going insane, wasn't she?

"Hey, are you doing alright? We really gotta keep up the pace, " Hinoka insisted, glancing back at her and giving her hand a quick squeeze. "I don't know if you heard, but it's going to rain soon."

"…y-yes," Miyami managed to squeak out, her body feeling light and airy. She'd be alright. Everything was fine.

"Good." Hinoka gave a quick nod, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink as their fingers interlaced. "Now come on, we just have a few blocks to—"

*drip*

"…" Silence, save for their steps on the concrete and the distant sound of traffic.

*Drip… drip… drip…*

Hinoka took a very deep breath before letting it out, her shoulders sagging.

"Ah. Well, looks like we're getting wet. Sorry, Miyami."

Miyami bashfully shook her head.

That was fine. It was a little too late for that anyway.