Kiko
The day was ending, a Rika stared out the window at the light of the setting sun reflecting off of the other buildings’ windows.
The display on her PC read 17:00 o’clock.
“The work day is over! Good work everyone.”
Yuki and Kiko spun around in relief.
“Good work!”
They all began gathering their things and turning off their PCs.
“So, what’s everybody doing after work.”
Yuki looked up. With her dark circled eyes.
“Sleeping.”
Rika looked considered.
“Please get a good night’s sleep.”
Yuki nodded tiredly, and yawned.
“I will, thanks.”
Kiko stood up, tapped Rika on the shoulder and whispered.
“I’ll wait for you out front.”
Rika silently nodded as Yuki closed her eyes while yawning again.
“Let’s go?”
She took Yuki’s hand and they walked to the elevators.
Yuki slowly followed along blushing.
“Uh, but work?”
Rika smiled as they both stepped into the elevator.
“Work is over. And, I’m worried about you.”
Yuki blushed and looked at the ground.
“Really?”
“You just...You don’t get enough sleep. It’s not good for you.”
“Oh...Sorry, you don’t have to worry.”
Rika looked into her eyes.
“But I do. I’m not sure if I can help, but I can try.”
Yuki smiled and looked around at the other people in the elevator, all of them with earbuds in their ears, staring at their phones.
Yuki quickly leaned in and Rika felt a soft kiss on her cheek. She then turned bright red.
“Thanks.”
Rika touched her cheek and smiled.
Yuki winked, and whispered.
“Work is over.”
The elevator arrived at the lobby floor and they both exited making their way to the exit.
Outside the front door Rika stopped and took Yuki’s hands.
“Are you sure you’re ok? I can ride the train with you or get you a cab if you’re too tired.”
Yuki nodded tiredly. Then Rika embraced her. Yuki was slow to react but then buried her face in her shoulder.
“Good night, if you want you can call me at any time.”
Yuki talked with her face still in Rika’s shoulder.
“I will, goodnight.”
Rika gently kissed the top of Yuki’s head.
“See you tomorrow.”
Yuki lifted her head up from Rika’s shoulder, her cheeks blushed.
“See you tomorrow.”
She gently pushed away from Rika’s hug and kissed her cheek. She then turned and made her way to the station.
Rika stood and watched her as she left.
/It’s dumb how hard it is to say goodbye./
Rika turned to see where Kiko was, she had told her to meet her there.
She quickly noticed Kiko leaning against the building wall, her arms crossed, and smiling knowingly.
Rika approached Kiko bashfully.
Kiko straightened up and patted Rika on the shoulder.
“You two are actually adorable. Right then you were definitely thinking. ‘I wish I didn’t have to say goodbye.’ Or something along those lines.”
Rika looked away and pouted.
“I’m not teasing you, I’m serious! It’s really nice to see. Anyway, you want to go to the bar and talk?”
Rika beckoned with her head in the bar’s direction.
“If you have time.”
Kiko laughed.
“I have all the time in the world. Let’s do our best!”
“It’s a relationship, not a baseball game.”
Yuki waved her hand.
“Semantics.”
Rika laughed.
“Thanks for talking to Yuki earlier today.”
Kiko straightened her face, and shook her head.
“I have no idea what you mean by that.”
“Well, still.”
Kiko giggled.
“We all need someone to talk to sometimes. And she’s young and new to this I assume, I can be big sister Kiko, if she needs me to. But you...”
She pointed at Rika.
“You only get long-time friend Kiko who will nitpick and point out all of your faults.”
Rika sighed.
“I figured.”
“Really though, is there something you need to talk about that badly?”
Rika looked at the ground, conflicted.
“It might be kind of dumb, or it is pretty dumb “
“...But you’re going to talk about it anyway?”
Rika lightly pushed Kiko.
“You know it.”
“Well I wouldn’t have it any other way. I already finished the last route on my new otome game too. So...”
Rika looked a Kiko.
“It’s like you have moments of kindness then make them mean.”
“You know me...”
They both walked into the bar, and the bartender looked up.
“The usual?”
They both waved.
“Yes please!”
They sat at their usual table and sipped their drinks. Kiko put her mug down then rested her chin on her fist.
“So what did you want to talk about.”
Kiko went to take another sip of her drink, Rika stared off and suddenly spoke.
“When do you say ‘I love you’.”
Kiko nearly spat her drink out.
“What?”
“What is the right time to say it. I didn’t want to too soon.”
Kiko only stared at her.
“That’s a dumb question.”
Rika looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s only ‘too soon’ if neither of you know that you do.”
She took a large swig of her drink.
“Do you?”
“Uhhhhh.”
Rika rubbed her neck nervously.
“Can you not figure it out? They are your feelings.”
“I care for her, and like her, a lot.”
“I’d say that constitutes love. In fact it may just be a description of it.”
“Right. But isn’t it a big step for ‘like’ to become ‘love’?”
“I guess for a high school student, ‘like’ is what you use for a crush. Like when you’re, not, a couple.”
“I don’t know, just from reading and watching things I feel tha-.”
Kiko held a hand up to stop her.
“These things your reading and watching, they’re romantic manga and anime?”
“Well yeah bu-“
Kiko interrupted her again with her hand.
“I, like, romantic manga and anime, but they’re almost never accurate, you shouldn’t gauge dating standards from them, especially considering a large amount of the target audiences are...”
She pointed to Rika. Who’s hand was on her face in embarrassment.
“High school.”
“Bingo! Also, you see how I used the word ‘like’ there, to describe my feelings for a genre?”
Rika shook her head slowly, still held in her hand.
“Yes.”
Kiko drank the last of her highball, looked at the bartender, and nodded for another. The she turned back to look at Rika.
“I get it. I know how I feel, I also want to be sure she feels the same. Otherwise I’m springing too much on her too soon.”
Kiko nodded slowly.
“That would be a problem. You’d be able to tell by her actions and words though...”
Rika looked at her frankly.
“You want the details of last weekend.”
Kiko nodded.
“I would like that. Even a synopsis would be great.”
She smiled.
“I think you also secretly want to tell me.”
Rika looked over to the bartender.
“Another beer please.”
The bartender nodded, and gave a thumbs up.
She turned back to Kiko.
“Alright."
