Inside a well-lit room in a luxurious apartment complex, Momo was sitting at her desk and staring at the phone as if it owed her money. The reason for that was simple: it had been a week since Ayaka had talked to her, due to a fight they had had.
The fight was about coming out to Momo's grandparents, and what should've been a calm conversation turned into a fight because of shitty communication and Ayaka's preexisting anger over the situation.
(A week earlier)
When Ayaka tried to convince Momo to come out, she continued to be adamant about it, saying that she didn't want to upset her family and that it wouldn't change anything if she told them, needless to say that did not sit well with Ayaka.
When Momo told her that, Ayaka's eyes widened slightly in surprise and deep indignation, "We have been in a committed relationship for nearly two years, and you don't think it matters enough to tell your grandparents, because "it won't change anything"?"
"Yeah!" Momo answered the last part of the question without thinking, not realizing that she had just told her girlfriend that their relationship didn't matter enough to tell her family.
Ayaka felt like someone had just stabbed her in the chest and twisted the knife. Anger took the best of her, and before Ayaka could think of something to say, she answered.
"What the fuck did you just say?" She wasn't proud of what she said, and even a week later she still regrets how she reacted. Ayaka took a deep breath, deciding not to say anything before Momo explained why she said that.
It seemed she finally understood what she implied, and panicked to try and rectify it, "I'm so sorry, you know that's not what I meant. Our relationship matters to me more than anything else, but-" Ayaka interrupted her.
"You say that, but it REALLY doesn't seem like it. All this time, you keep trying to spare the rest of your family from what!? Oh, the pain, my granddaughter is in love with another woman, my life is completely and utterly ruined. For god's sake Momo, are you embarrassed by me or something? Seriously, I cannot think of another reason why you're so adamant on only your parents knowing about us."
"Fine, if you want me to tell everyone so badly, I'll do it right now!"
"That's not the point, I shouldn't have to beg for you to do this kind of thing, you're my girlfriend and I'm yours. I don't want you to do something just because I asked, you should do them because YOU understand how important they are." Ayaka got up from Momo's desk and walked towards the door, before getting stopped by Momo.
"Ayaka, wait! Let's talk properly about this." She pleaded to no avail.
Ayaka turned her head and answered in an angry tone, "To what end? We have been going in circles this entire goddamn time, and I don't know have many more rounds we need before you realize that you can't make everyone happy." She furiously turned towards the door and opened it, before adding to her sentence, "I think I need some time by myself, and so do you. I'll call you when I'm ready to talk." And with that, she slammed the door and left.
Now that her room was empty and silent, Momo started to process what had happened. She felt like her stomach was folding on itself, getting tighter with every second, and her palms were beginning to sweat. When she sat down on the bed, tears flowed down her face.
Similarly, Ayaka was feeling anxious on the way home, reliving the moment continuously, pushing away other thoughts.
'God, I was such an asshole…' she hit her head against the interior of the train, 'Aaaaargh! I feel terrible, I was so angry that I didn't even let her talk. It's not like I can go back now, I'm not in the wrong, I'll apologize after she does." It was a long ride home, Ayaka kept contradicting her own resolve with the urge to apologize, now she was lying on her bed, face buried in a pillow.
"Why did I have to be so awful to her?! I probably made her cry and she must be feeling terrible now. Argh! I'm a horrible person, human trash, I yelled at the love of my life and made her cry, and for what?! I shouldn't have made such a big deal out of it, it's not like she wouldn't have told them eventually." She turned and stared at the ceiling, "I acted like a child…" Ayaka kept cursing herself for some time before sulking in silence.
Coming back to the present, Momo sent a text to Ayaka saying that she had talked to her grandparents and the rest of the family in the group chat and came out officially. It was better than she expected, most of them didn't really care, and some found it strange and unnatural, getting brushed off by Momo.
It took six days for her to say anything, Ayaka's words stuck to her like glue, she shouldn't do it just because she said, Momo only did it after she understood that. And now, she was waiting an agonizing 24 hours for Ayaka to respond, hence why Momo was staring at her phone.
Finally, her phone lit up and there it was, the text message from Ayaka. Momo snatched the phone and read it.
"We need to talk. Meet me at the playground in ten minutes." Momo instantly knew where this was, the playground where Ayaka confessed to her. She put on some decent clothes and rushed outside.
Momo ran to the train station and arrived at the playground, where she found Ayaka sitting on the swing by herself. She sat on the other swing and pondered what to say.
"How did it go with your family?" Ayaka was the first one to speak.
"As well as it could, not everyone was on board but the majority of them didn't care."
"That's great…" she hesitated and nodded her head, "Listen, I'm really sorry for snapping at you last week. I overreacted and hurt you, that was the last thing I wanted."
Momo smiled and placed her hand on Ayaka's shoulder.
"It's alright, I can't blame you for reacting that way. Now it's my turn to apologize." She scratched her throat before doing it, "I'm truly sorry about how I treated our relationship, I was being immature and I promise you that from now on our relationship will always be the number one priority in everything. I promise you, I'll be by your side in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, and I'll love you for the rest of my days."
"I hereby accept your apology and eternal love." She joked and hugged her, "May I kiss the bride?" Ayaka caressed Momo's face and touched their foreheads.
"You may," she closed her eyes and kissed Ayaka, it felt like a big weight lifted off her chest, a final reassurance that her relationship was still standing. "You've got no idea how relieved I am right now. I thought I messed things up."
"Don't even think about that, I would NEVER end things between us over something like this. Again, I'm sorry I overreacted."
"There's no need to apologize, let's just leave that behind us and enjoy our lives together. The UA test scores come out next week, and since I'm sure we passed, classes will start at the beginning of April, so we'll have a decent amount of time to look at homes, buy furniture, and decorations. My point is, we have much to look forward to, and we already solved this issue, I don't think apologizing more will have any effect."
"Yeah, you're right," Ayaka stood up and stretched her hand towards Momo, "Why don't we get something to eat, then we can go to my place and spend some time together, we've been apart for like a month."
She giggled and stood up, taking her hand, "It did feel like a month, didn't it? What do you feel like eating?"
"Hmmmm, I could go for a sandwich at that fancy cafe."
"Oh, that place is great. I heard they added new things to their menu."
The world's cutest lesbian couple walked towards the sunset, and lived happily ever after, not having another fight until they began living together.
Another week quickly followed, the two spent an ungodly amount of time together, slept together almost every day of the week which caused protest from Momo's parents since their daughter was barely spending time at home.
Ayaka met Momo's grandparents, and it went as well as it could've. Not very pleasant people, at least with her, strong old timer energy.
And now, the day everyone who took the UA's entrance exam was waiting for was here, the test results were out. Ayaka was at her home, refreshing the website every thirty seconds, and so was Momo at her apartment.
After refreshing it again, something finally appeared on the screen, it was a letter, which read:
"Dear Ms. Hanabusa Ayaka
We are pleased to inform you that you have passed the examination for admission Hero Training Course at UA University-" she skimmed through the rest of the letter and saw her scores at the end, a total of 192.
Her heart nearly popped as she stood up, making her chair fall to the ground. High-pitched screams of joy echoed through her room, the thuds of her jumps caught her father's attention, who went to check on his daughter.
"Is everything alright, honey?" He opened the door and saw his daughter do a backflip with a huge smile on her face.
"Holy shiiiiiit, I got in!!! Dad, I passed the exam," she caught her breath, "A total of 192 in the Entrance Exam, good lord, I can barely breathe. I need to call Momo."
Her Dad hugged her and excitedly said, "I'm so proud of you. We should go out to celebrate tonight, I assume your girlfriend is also going to celebrate, so we should invite her family as well."
"Thanks Dad, I'll invite her right now." Before she could call Momo, her cellphone rang. "Oh, she called me first," Ayaka picked up, "Hey babe, what's up?"
"What do you mean what's up?! The results are out, did you get in?"
"Hell yeah! What about you?"
"I did! What score did you get?"
"Total of 192, so I'm going out with my dad to celebrate tonight, want to come with your parents too?"
"Wow, that's incredible, congratulations! Actually, we were planning on inviting you both for dinner at a great Japanese restaurant we know."
"That'd be great, send me the restaurant's address."
"Alright, I'll see you later then. Love you, bye bye."
"Love you too."
A restaurant picked by the Yaoyorozu family was exactly what Ayaka expected, fancy as hell and with incredible food and drinks. They all ate their fill, made toasts for their children's accomplishments, and cried at the thought that they would leave their homes. Their parents drinking together can deepen their bond. Unfortunately for Ayaka, no one let her have any alcohol, a bunch of goody two-shoes.
They stayed there until late, enjoying each other's company. When Ayaka got home, she showered and fell asleep in seconds due to her exhaustion.
It all felt surreal to her, the dream she had had since she was a child was finally going to come true, and the person who planted them into her mind wasn't there anymore. That night, Ayaka dreamt about her mother for the first time in a long time.
The dream was simple, it was their daily life. Her mother was there, alive, cooking her favorite meals, putting her to bed, reading her stories, all the things she used to do.
Today, she woke up early with the urge to visit her mother's grave. It had been months since she last came, the grave was dusty and had leaves on top of it, which were rapidly cleaned by her.
Ayaka stared with melancholy at the grave, looking back at everything that had happened in the last two years. She mourned and suffered the loss of the most important person in the world, pushed people away, and put walls around herself. This sorry state lasted for months before she gained a new resolve, Ayaka met new people, made friends, and even got a loving girlfriend, and yet something felt missing.
It wasn't that she was unsatisfied with her current situation, it was simply different. The feeling of being a child and winning something, your heart is beating fast, your palms are sweating and your excitement is burning, but when you look at the crowd you only see the faces of strangers, the person who would've cheered on your victory as if it was their own wasn't there.
The grief that she felt wasn't close to what it once was, but she cried nonetheless, tears mixed with sorrow and joy flowed down her cheeks. She put down a bouquet of white chrysanthemums and carnations, together with a letter which contained a copy of her admission letter.
"I finally did it, Mom…" she sighed, and cried in a trembling voice, "I just wish you could see me right now. Your little girl fulfilled her dream and you can't see it. I…" Ayaka paused, it felt like her throat tightened, she swallowed her saliva, and continued talking, "I hope I can keep the promise I made you all those years ago…"
Ayaka spoke to her mother a little longer, promising to bring Momo the next time she visits, it was about time they met. She felt like an invisible load was lifted from her very soul, which would help her walk into this new chapter of her life.