World 0

World 0

The summer night air is cool on her face, and the grass tickles the bits of her shins left uncovered by her pajama pants.

There is a warm body beside her, her best friend, and she can feel her eyes staring at the pale color of her cheeks.

She doesn’t dare look back to her and keeps her gaze on the night sky.

"Hey, Yuri-chan?"

She doesn’t turn her head even still- she knows what she'd see if she did.

"Yuri-chan."

She takes a shallow breath."Hm?" She answers at last.

"Yuri-chan. Suppose, hypothetically, someone told you they wanted to be in a romantic relationship with you. What would you say in that situation?"

For her to ask, it must be more than a mere hypothetical. But she doesn’t have the energy to call her out on it.

She does, however, take a moment to give the question some thought. Not that it actually helps.

"Hmm," she begins at last. "I think...in that situation, I wouldn’t know what to say. I dunno what that kind of romantic attraction feels like, so I couldn’t say for sure if I'd return the feeling or not. Hypothetically."

"Hm. And..." a nervous swallow sounds from her right. "What if...what if, hypothetically, that hypothetical wasn't a hypothetical?"

"I think my answer would stay the same."

A streak of light flashes across her vision and she seizes the opportunity to change the topic.

"Ah? Oh- a shooting star! Wanna make a wish?"

Maybe it's nostalgia when her friend makes an agreeing sound. Maybe it's sorrow. Regardless, beneath the waning moon and the starry sky, they make their respective wishes.

I wish to understand what it means to love and be loved.

I wish she realized how much I love her.

The star sails above them and disappears to the other side of the sky, and Yuri stands up.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed," she says, stretching her arms above her head.

"Okay. I'll...stay out here a little longer."

Yuri pushes herself up and walks the short distance to the tent. She crawls inside and into her sleeping bag, and falls asleep almost as soon as her head hits the pillow.

Not long after, her best friend goes to join her.

And yet, when she crawls into the tent, she finds the sleeping bag empty.

Somehow, without making a single sound, Yuri had disappeared.