Chapter 12:

To Face the Sun Again

Strawberry Milk


“I suppose…it’s that time again,” Saffron quietly whispered to the swaying spring flowers.

Puffy clouds above whimsically floated by. The sky was an infinite expanse of baby blue, cut short only by a gently curving horizon line, which was dotted with a colorful parade of wildflowers for as far as the eyes could see. This beautiful landscape stretched in all directions, as fragrant petals scattered with each small kiss of the breeze.

As Saffron’s dress gently waved, she enjoyed an all too familiar moment of peace and serenity. Her days in the waking world had long since passed, and these days, Saffron spent her time quietly tending to her endless garden. She cared for each flower as if it were own child, loving, nurturing, and savoring each moment of their growth.

“Those two…” Saffron paused. Her eyes welled with tears. She sniffled and wiped them away, replacing them with a smile. “They did so wonderfully this year.”

A pang of longing filled Saffron’s heart as she quietly reflected. She bent down and brought her nose to a fragrant wildflower. Its petals tickled her nose, and Saffron reflexively giggled like the inner child she’d long since forgotten.

“Aya, Kanna…” Saffron spoke to the breeze. It answered her call, scattering petals in a wild dance all around her. Saffron’s wild green hair swayed in the breeze, covering her eyes and blocking her vision. With a free hand she pushed her hair to the side, and gazed directly into the sky’s eye, at the brightest source of light there was.

“I hope this year makes up for everything…or at least starts to mend us.” Saffron smiled. The breeze calmed, and the cascade of petals gently began to return to the earth. “Everything that I went through…I hope it was all worth it. And…” Saffron clenched her fist. She gritted her teeth for a moment, and a well of emotions rose. The clouds began to pick up pace, as they now galloped along the horizon line. Petals scattered once more. With a deep breath, Saffron felt the winds within her calm and the land grow peaceful once more. Hope filled her heart as light beamed down on her, illuminating the darkness of her past.

“I hope one day, I can face the sun again.”

“Ohhhh no! It’s that time again, Kanna! How sad! I’m gonna explode in tears.” Ivy said loudly. Despite her overanimated phrasing, her body was shaking. As her partner, Kanna knew when her lover was trying to mask her emotions with humor. Ivy had a terrible habit of this, as she came to learn.

“There, there, Ives,” Kanna said as she held Ivy. Kanna scratched the back of her head, as she nestled herself within the curve of Kanna’s neck. Ivy took in Kanna’s familiar scent, and felt all the comforts of the sea wash her sadness away. “It’s never goodbye with us, my love. We’ll be back together next year,” Kanna said.

The two girls sat alone together at an empty train station on the far edge of town. They had spent a lovely day together on the beach, and could still hear the waves of the ocean from where they sat. The breeze on this part of town carried the nostalgic scent of the ocean with it, filling the two girls with fond memories of not only their last day together, but also of their entire first year that they spent living together in the green dorm.

“I know…” Ivy said. She sniffled and hugged tightly onto Kanna. The ocean breeze blew her beautiful fiery red hair in the breeze. It danced wildly with all of the passion and lightheartedness that was the woman Kanna grew to love. “...SIGH…I know. I know. I know!”

Kanna reached down and wiped Ivy’s tears that streamed from her eye. “It’s just for the summer. You haven’t seen your family in 7 years. You were just a kid the last time they saw you.”

“Oh I was more than just a kid…” Ivy paused. She looked away from Kanna and gave a heavy sigh. “I was also a boy.”

The spring breeze picked up, and the two felt their hair and clothing flap wildly as it passed. Kanna hugged tightly onto Ivy, and after a few moments, the sound of blowing wind was replaced with the serene lapping of the ocean waves and laughing children in the distance.

“You and I both know that’s not true,” Kanna said. “Remember what you told me all those months back?”

“What do you mean, Kanna?” Ivy looked up at her.

“You said, We both know who we are. That’s all you and I need,” Kanna smiled and ran her fingers through Ivy’s soft hair. “It was pretty scary, making that first step to trust you. But you readily accepted me. Not just me, but all of us.” Kanna gestured to herself.

“How could I not?” Ivy said, as she quietly closed her eyes, savoring the sensation of her lover’s touch.

“It didn’t stop there, you took every chance you could to understand me. Every part of me. You held me through my most painful switches in the days and weeks after. I leaned on you more than once.”

“I just did what any good partner would do,” Ivy softly whispered.

“Well, I want to do the same for you, Ives.”

“What do you mean?” Ivy asked.
“Your family misses you. I know how painful the sting of rejection is. But, they deserve a chance to meet the real you. The whole world does.” Kanna paused. “I want to see you shine as radiantly as you do for me. Because you make everyone’s lives brighter.”

“They might very well feel disgusted by me, Kanna. I can’t even bear the thought.” Ivy squeezed on Kanna’s leg. Kanna reached down and moved her fingers in the space between Ivy’s.

“If that happens, then you have my full permission to give them the finger and come home early!” Kanna smiled. “I’ll be waiting for you at your journey’s end. Right here at this same spot.”
The two interlocked fingers and squeezed each other's hands. They gently smiled at each other.

“Heh. You’re right, Kanna. Geeze…” Ivy sat up and turned to face her. “Totally worked up over nothing. Such behavior is completely unsuitable for the school witch!”

“Hehe, the witch who can read the stars, huh?” Kanna grinned.
“Yup. All part of destiny’s design,” Ivy winked. “Sorry Kanna, I don’t make the rules!”

The two girls chucked softly and embraced one another. The ocean continued to lap against the shore, setting a peaceful backdrop to their slowly impending dread.

“Maybe next year we can find a way to be partners?” Ivy said quietly.

“I’d say we already are, Ives.” Kanna winked and flashed Ivy a peace sign.

“I meant for the school project you big dummy!” Ivy crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. “Ugh! Honestly, Kanna! Where did that attitude of yours come from.”

“From you, if we’re being real,” Kanna flashed a second peace sign with her other free hand.

The roar of the train quickly crept up on the girls, bringing their moment of serenity to a roaring end. The two girls faced each other one last time and tightly exchanged the goodbye that they’d rehearsed countless times up till this point. Without any effort, the two faced each other and exchanged one final kiss, marking the end to Kanna’s first school year. As they parted, Ivy quickly grabbed her things and made for the train door.
“You’d better live in your phone, girl!” Kanna shouted. She held up her phone and pointed to her messenger app’s icon. “Let’s play some games together and call each other tons, ‘kay?”

“You bet!” Ivy flashed Kanna a wink and gave her a big thumbs up. “We’ll be terminally online together. Our addiction will be so bad that we’ll be scolded and put into rehab together.”

“Hahaha, Love you, nerd!” Kanna shouted.
“Love you tooo!” Ivy shouted back.

The train door closed, and with a loud roar, Kanna was left with nothing but the endless expanse of the ocean and her own thoughts. She walked over to the beach, savored the sand between her toes, and sat on the shore. She gazed beyond the water, and beyond the horizon line itself, feeling comforted as the night slowly began to emerge from its long slumber.

“Guess it’s that time again…” Aya looked to her feet with a downcast expression. “Feels like I just got here.”

Yae sat on the corner of Aya’s desk. It was the last period on their final day of class together. The whole class sat in anticipation, waiting to receive their graded projects back. Professor Fu, in her usual dramatic fashion, opted for the last possible moment to hand them back. As the two waited to receive their grade, Yae gently moved their hand and placed it over Aya’s.

“Each end marks a new beginning, my love.” They smiled warmly and squeezed her hand. “We’ll be back next year.”

Aya savored the warmth of Yae’s hand. She parted her fingers in the familiar way that the two had practiced many times before, making room for them to slip their fingers in the space between her’s. They both gently squeezed their interlocked fingers and smiled up at each other.
BAM!

A loud slam on the desk right next to the two, turned a few heads, including Yae’s and Aya’s.
“Sorry to interrupt, love birds. Figured you’d wanna, I dunno…maybe see what you got on your project?” Fu flapped a sheet of paper in front of the two and smirked. “Had to break out the extra red ink cartridge for this one! Yae, for being a novelist, you sure do leave behind a graveyard of grammatical mistakes.”

“Language is simply the medium for the heart of the human spirit. The message itself is of the highest importance, in my humble opinion.” Yae smiled and shrugged.

“Well color me surprised. I didn’t realize those teen novels with the busty, lady filled covers were getting so deep with their messaging,” Fu said with a foxlike grin. Yae frowned and clicked their tongue.

“Damn, so I take it we flunked?” Aya said with a long sigh.

In Aya’s previous school life, her grades remained firmly at the bottom of the class. Her personal circumstances back then were so dire, that the mere thought of school was too far down her list of things to ever even begin to consider. Aya had grown used to seeing F’s over the years, even on her best attempts never making above a C.

“Nah. Here, kid.” Fu handed Aya the paper. Aya quickly made her way to the grade written in red at the top.

“Yooo! Check it out! We passed!” Aya shouted, her eyes were lit up like a child’s on christmas morning.

“Not just passing, but we got an A+,” Yai said, matching Aya’s level of excitement. The two excitedly looked at eachother and scanned the paper, flipping through the various comments left on it in red. After a moment Yae regained their composure and nodded respectfully. “Thank you for your feedback, Professor.”
“Just doin my job, kiddo,” Fu made a ‘finger guns’ motion with her hands. “Besides, I did you lovebirds zero extra favors. Ya’ll earned this one. Though…” Fu patted Aya on the shoulder and smirked. “This one and I had a helluva start.”

“You really gotta bring that up,” Aya said, puffing out her cheeks.

“Things worked out for the best, and all is well,” Yae said with a warm smile.

“Didn’t I tell ya? Knew from the start you’d both get along too well.” Fu chuckled. She moved over to them both and roughly ruffled both of their hair until they were each a frizzy mess of green and pink. “Enjoy your summer, kids. You know where to find me if you wanna chill.” She turned around and walked to her desk, gesturing with a wave.

Aya turned to Yae and gave them a big smile, her eyes welling with tears. “Didn’t know I had it in me…It’s all thanks to you, Yae.”

“We did it together, my partner.” Yae moved over to Aya and gave her a hug.

Rays of sparkling sunlight sparkled through the classroom window. Students all around were laughing, talking about their papers, and sharing summer plans. Meanwhile, Aya and Yae quietly embraced one another, each sharing in a moment of pure bliss. Before long the bell rang, signaling an end to their moment together, and to their chapter in life as class partners.

“The end of one chapter marks the beginning of another,” Yae said with a smile as they gathered their things. Aya followed suit and picked up her school bag. The two followed the rush of students pouring from the classroom into the hallway.

“So um…” Aya paused.

“Yes, my little squid?” Yae smiled.

“I was thinking…the story we wrote together for our project doesn’t really seem finished,” Aya said. She put her arms behind her back as she swayed nervously. “Would you be up for writing a volume 2 with me?”

Yae smiled. Aya couldn’t help but notice their eyes sparkle, and they looked happiest she’d ever seen.

“But of course,” Yae said. They stopped and extended their hand towards Aya. “Then I suppose we’ll be partners over the summer.”

Aya smiled a warm smile that went from ear to ear and firmly took Yae’s hand. The two were filled with such bliss, that each of them let out a small giggle.

“Yeah. Let’s do it. I wanna make a volume 2 with you, Yae. And…” Aya paused. She took a deep breath and smiled over to Yae with confidence. “I wanna keep writing novels with you, for as long as you’ll have me as your partner.”

“I’d love that, Aya.” Yae smiled, and for only a brief moment, Aya spotted tears welling at the corner of their eyes. “Let’s go on an adventure together, you and I. One that lasts all summer…and that never ends.”

“Yeah, with you, Yae, I’m up for anything,” Aya squeezed their hand, and the two began walking down the hall together, towards the exit of the school. They both pushed open the doors and stepped into the light of the late spring afternoon.

“So uh, wanna go to Fu’s shop? I was kinda in the mood for that one drink we had.” Aya paused and put a finger to her lip. “You remember the flavor, right? It was the one we had when we first met.”

“Oh, that one.” Yae chuckled. “Yes, my love. I remember. It was-”

“Oh no wait! I just remembered! It was…”

“Strawberry Milk!”