A Precious Time

The girl waiting inside isn’t who Koyuki expected to see.

She knows her, of course, instantly – haven’t they scouted together often enough? But La Pucelle isn’t wearing her armour. She isn’t carrying her sword. She looks strangely vulnerable – not only a normal human girl, but a nervous one.

Koyuki lets the door shut behind her, ignores the welcome of the waitress, and heads for the table.

La Pucelle holds a drink in her hands, hot amber tea, and she has a cake that she’s left untouched. She glances at Snow White as she approaches, then sees her properly. Her eyes are very wide.

Koyuki drops her bag, and slides into the seat opposite La Pucelle.

‘Sorry to keep you waiting,’ she says. The very words of which are enough that La Pucelle’s face pinks.

‘I was early,’ La Pucelle says. There’s something peevish in her voice, as if she was expecting something else.

‘It’s a little unfair,’ Koyuki says, looking at La Pucelle’s outfit. La Pucelle’s turtleneck is figure-hugging, and Koyuki wonders if she bought it specially, or if it was repurposed. ‘I’m just me.’ It’s never occured to her to change her clothes as Snow White – but then her transformations are somewhat less dramatic.

‘You’re always you,’ La Pucelle says. She smiles at Koyuki. ‘Besides, this is more natural, right?’

They’re interrupted by the waitress before Koyuki can respond. Koyuki orders tea and cake too. Maybe if she eats her cake, La Pucelle will eat her own.

Then she asks, ‘What do you mean, more natural?’

‘Two girls, right?’ La Pucelle says. She takes a drink, and avoids Koyuki’s eyes. ‘No-one can make any assumptions.’

Koyuki goes very still.

She’s made an assumption.

‘When you asked me to meet you,’ she says, and hesitates. Maybe she doesn’t want to go on. ‘That’s what you were thinking?’ It’s more a mumble than a question.

She’s made an assumption.

‘Well, I just ...’ La Pucelle stops. ‘Did I do something wrong?’ She sounds anxious, and Koyuki shakes her head, too embarrassed to explain.

‘I didn’t mean to make it awkward,’ La Pucelle says.

‘It’s fine.’

‘You’d rather I changed back.’

‘It’s fine.’

Koyuki’s cake comes, and her tea. She picks up the cake fork, narrows off a slice.

She’s surprised to see La Pucelle like this, that’s true. But it’s not like it matters to her, what form La Pucelle takes. What form Sou-chan takes.

But she’d thought maybe La Pucelle had asked her here because she liked her.

The cake is soft on Koyuki’s tongue, but she can’t taste it.

‘Is it okay?’ La Pucelle asks. ‘I don’t really come to this kind of place.’

Koyuki cuts another piece off neatly, holds it out on the end of the fork. She can make the best of this, at least. ‘Try it,’ she says. ‘You tell me.’

That’s the kind of thing girls do, right?

But it’s the kind of thing boyfriends and girlfriends do too.

La Pucelle takes the cake in her mouth. If it’s just girls, it probably shouldn’t make Koyuki blush to watch her.

‘It’s nice,’ La Pucelle says. ‘You got the cherry one? Try mine.’ La Pucelle pushes the cake forward, so Koyuki can cut it herself. ‘I thought we should try and do something normal. With everything going on, it just seemed like ...’

‘Like it might be our last chance?’

La Pucelle’s energetic look falters.

‘Sorry,’ Koyuki says.

‘I wasn’t going to say that.’

‘It was a good idea.’

‘You think so?’

‘Yeah.’ It’s not La Pucelle’s fault that Koyuki had thought this might be something else. Koyuki makes the effort to smile. ‘Thanks for asking me.’

When La Pucelle smiles back at her, Koyuki can’t be sorry any more. All the time they have together is precious. It doesn’t matter whether La Pucelle likes her like that or not.

And however La Pucelle wants to appear, Koyuki will meet her that way.