After School

Phantasm Sky

The same old sky branching across the same blue ocean of atmosphere.

Not a cloudy smear to be seen.

To many, it's just a hazy blue ceiling above our heads.

But it never looks the same to me.

Eniko Yuu wasn't sure how long she had spent staring up at that sky. Every day, she would climb to the isolated confines of the roof, remove her shoes and stockings and slip her bag underneath her head, and stare at its broad blue expanse. Sometimes it was so bright, it hurt to look at. With summer approaching, it was almost too hot to venture up onto to the roof, although to her delight, that meant it would always be empty.

When the spring of her first year of high school ended and she became a wistful second year, she still climbed to the roof to bask in its solitude every lunch period. After a while, afternoons began to become included in her daily ritual. Sometimes she'd fall asleep staring. Other times, she would feign it for an hour or two until she was ushered to go home. At the turn of her final year the following spring, it continued, but not alone.

It was the day before summer vacation. The cicadas chirped restlessly from their lofty perches high in within the enoki trees furnishing the sparse high school campus. The temperature was hot, but a generous wind had cooled off the worst of the muggy heat at the height of eleven, forty minutes before noon. Even in the shade, it felt hot, though it was arguably more ideal than basking in the sun's humid heat. This would be her last year atop this roof. The last year she could enjoy the solitude and the spaciousness and just melt off into her thoughts by herself. Graduation signaled becoming an adult, and adults had little time to enjoy such leisures. Laying atop a roof every day might be considered childish to some, but to Yuu, it was just another thrill in her daily routine.

Even with the heat spiraling down through the shade above her, Yuu could still perceive the warm body beside her. Every breath that shivered out past unconscious lips only seemed to chill her burning cheeks. Kurosawa Rinko was not quite a new face to the solitude of the roof. The small brunette had awoken one day to find the girl napping beside her. Straight, ebony hair curling down her resting body and legs absent of any stockings and shoes nearly brushing hers. She'd looked that day just as she did now, expect more mature with age. Their meeting hadn't been too amiable upon waking, nor had the raven-haired beauty desired anything to do with the solitary dreamer. But they had both staked a permanent spot on that lonely roof – a sort of cozy, secret niche – and they found themselves both returning to it again and again at similar times. It was only to be expected that they would someday converse and cross the nonspoken barrier that separated them. Two souls drifting in the same plane of existence, both acknowledging the other's presence, yet never once interacting.

That day of interaction had yet to come. Since close to the summer of the previous year, both girls had merely existed and acknowledged the other's presence on the spacious roof. They kept their distance, delighted in the company of themselves, and never once interacted. When interaction was required, a soft sound or a simple nod of the head was offered, mostly on Yuu's part. And although it usually went unreciprocated more often than not by the other, there was something about the new mutual company that kept both returning despite their secret worlds bearing a possible intruder.

As the year had progressed and both became familiar with each other's faces and company, presence was no longer an issue. Sometimes they'd forget the other was even there entirely. Other times, one would accidently lay themselves slightly closer than before but the other would never move to distance themselves. It became a sort of silent trust, and eventually, once Golden Week had ended, and the two officially entered their final year, one day, they had gotten as close as they had accidently the first day they had met. The closeness had been a new adjustment to get accustomed too, but it wasn't entirely unwelcome. The feeling of another's organic heat radiating off their sleeping body had been more comforting than just another augmentation to the already rising environmental heat. No words had been exchanged. Nor had either quite allowed their parallel body to touch the other's beside them. It was a new sense of comfort; of company; and touch was not needed in that newfound security.

Fragile lashes fluttered under the spiraling heat of the sun as the two warm brown pools slid open in waking. They were greeted with the flowing, ebony locks of the sleeping girl beside her. Yuu surmised she must have turned her head slightly while she was sleeping. The heat of the atmosphere felt like it was weighing her down. Although it was suffocating, the heat of the other failed to augment it any further, even when every soft couture and curve was snuggled against her slender side. Her arm was numb from where it lay underneath Rinko's; the other, excruciatingly sore from being folded at an awkward angle to rest behind her head. She had difficulty feeling her hand, too, for the heated fingers were tightly laced with the clenching of the other's. Legs remained completely stationary where they brushed, slightly inclined up and off to the side, branching off into the shade. The raven black strands that coiled over her chest curved up every so often with the contrails of the summer wind and whisked across a burnt cheek along with a soft breath. Each sway wafted a sweet citrus scent into the air. Yuu knew this scent well. Not just because she had slept next to this girl for many months up here in the solitude of the roof, but because it mirrored the brand of her own. A premium brand of citrus-scenting shampoo laced with a dash of a distinguishable peach scent. Recently, an occasional sweet gust of vanilla would blend with it, leading the small brunette to wonder if the girl had begun to move away from the citrus variant to something sweeter.

Yuu let her mind drift away with the comforting scent before turning her gaze to look at the cloudless sky. It looked almost bleached where the sun dominated the ocean of blue. She shifted the arm behind her head to shield her eyes from its blinding warmth. All this would be just another fading vapor in her memory. When the spring arrived, there would be no more Kurogaiji roof or lazy summer school afternoons for her to sleep on. She would graduate...her raven-haired companion would too. Never having spoken to each other or known each other's names. But Yuu was perfectly fine with that.

When she looked over again at the sleeping girl, crystalline blue eyes were staring sleepily at her. They were so bright; so lively and saturated with sunlight; she could almost see her own reflection clearly as well as the sky. Cloudless and shimmering with ribbons of heat. A hot breath escaped her lips. They had never let their gazes meet. Never had they looked over at the same time. Glances had been stolen in secret, but eyes would be shut as soon as the other's lashes began to flutter in the sign of rousing. Now, a silent conversation traveled between both pairs of eyes. There needn't been an exchange of words, yet smiling lips twitched, as if an ancient spell had been broken.

"The day is hot again today..." Yuu's voice was quiet.

"It will be hotter tomorrow..." Rinko added. Her voice was high-pitched and sweet, but held a unique roughness to it.

"But you will still be here again tomorrow, right?"

A soft giggle graced the other's smile. "Of course. And you?"

"Always."

Rinko held out a delicate pinky in front of the girl's face. They were still intertwined close together side-by-side, and although they were already burdened by sweltering summer heat, neither minded the added warmth of the other.

"Promise?"

Yuu extended a pinky and wrapped it over Rinko's.

"Promise."

Nothing would change. While they graduated and set off to live their separate lives, even though it might seem like it, nothing would change. The roof, the school, the heat of the sun; it would all still be there even years after their departure from the educational institute. And even when their memories of the school became clouded over and glossed by forget, the sky would never change. The cloudless blue sky above them, existing endlessly. As long as it was still blanketing the world when they looked up, the memories would never truly fade. Because that one scorching summer sky would never change...

"Eniko. It's Eniko Yuu, by the way."

"Nice to finally meet you, Yuu-chan."

"And you?"

The connected pinkies held a little tighter.

"Kurosawa Rinko."

And neither would they.