The sun was high up in the sky and seagulls were making their walk along the shorelines of the beach. Slight breezes rushed through the two girls as they walked bare feet to a location that was safe and comfortable. Mina was excited to come here, but Momo had mixed feelings. She watched as Mina—despite having a sore ankle from earlier—was hobbling around and kicking the warm sand with her feet while swaying the picnic basket around. Watching Mina have fun was quite a sight for Momo. But she couldn't help but wonder to herself why was she even here in the first place? Why did she agree to give Mina a chance? She had no idea why. In Momo’s eyes, she felt as if Mina was just a lonely rich girl who’s always controlled by her overprotective father, and had never experienced something called love before; so when she first met Momo, it was just a feeling of a short lived infatuation that she felt. There was no way Mina would be in love with her.

“Should we set the picnic cloth here?” Momo called out to Mina and the girl flashed a gummy smile. It made Momo instinctively smile too. Mina nodded and limped over to Momo as she helped the the girl spread out the cloth, placing down the basket at the side.

They both seated on the cloth, close to each other as Mina started to remove the items from the picnic basket. Futomaki, rice cakes, and a couple cans of Pocari Sweat were spread out nicely.

Momo laughed upon inspection of the futomaki, “What is this?” she asked, the pieces of futomaki was squished together.

“It’s futomaki!” Mina said happily.

“It doesn’t look like futomaki.” Momo laughed and Mina frowned.

“It was hard to make it look perfect” she said with a tone of defeat.

“Oh,” Momo said, “I’ll eat it deliciously” she assured Mina and the girl was smiling once again.

Momo picked up a piece and placed it in , upon contact with her taste buds,  she could tell the rice was extremely salty. Not wanting to hurt Mina’s feelings, she chewed and swallowed, taking many gulps of the soft drinks afterwards to wash away the taste in .

“Is it good? I haven’t tried it yet.”

“Yeah it’s good,” Momo nodded, forcibly smiling and Mina picked up a roll to taste it herself, she turned away and spat it out the moment it touched her tongue.

“It’s so salty!” she said, coughing.

“What? No it’s not.” Momo lied, picking up another roll of futomaki as she forced herself to enjoy it, plopping it inside of before she started to chew and swallow once again.

“It’s delicious!” 

Mina frowned.

“No, it’s not.”

“Something must be wrong with your taste buds because I think this is the best futomaki I’ve ever eaten.” Momo said, trying to cheer the girl up, but it turned out to be the opposite of what she was hoping for.

“I know it’s salty, you don’t have to force yourself to eat it or say that it’s delicious.” Mina said, she was a bit unhappy.

“Well, you made it, we can’t just throw it away.”

“I even cut a finger too. But it's okay, it was more like a paper cut. There wasn't any bleeding”

“Where? Let me see it”

“Here”

Momo sighed, grasping Mina’s hand as she made a close inspection of the cut.

“Did it sting?” she asked and Mina nodded her head.

“I don’t mind though, because it’s for you.”

“Don’t say that, you make me feel guilty if you say that”

“Why would you feel guilty? You shouldn’t feel guilty over anything!”

“Because you are a princess. You shouldn’t be doing something like this for people like me. I’m not worth it. I’m not worth all the time you are wasting on me. Can’t you just go shopping instead of doing all of this nonsense? I’m not an experiment for you to experience love on”

Mina was indeed like a princess, she was pampered ever since she was little and she would always get everything she wanted, but what she want wasn’t materialistic things, what she wanted was for Momo to acknowledge her love for her and stop pushing her away. 

She was maddened over Momo’s blatant stereotyping and insult, but what maddened her even more was that Momo was not taking her love seriously at all.

“Is that all you think of me? I pour my heart out to you and you think that all of this is just a joke?” Mina asked, her eyes wavering.

Momo sighed, regretful over what she had said. 

“I didn’t mean it like that”

“You definitely meant it like that”

“Okay what if I am? Isn’t it true? Maybe I shouldn’t have said what I said about the shopping part, but me being just an experiment—isn’t it true? You’re just a lonely rich girl out on a search for what you think is true love, you just want to feel what it’s like to be in love. Isn’t it true?”

“No. It isn’t true. You can say all you want about me, I don’t care. Just don’t say that my feelings for you are not real.”

“But our social class—” Momo started before Mina interrupted her,

“—Who cares about some God damn social class! I don’t care! I don’t want to belong in this social class of mine if people just generalize me like you do, I don’t want that! Do you understand me? I want people to take me seriously, I want you to take me seriously. I’ve never fallen hard for someone like this before, like I am for you. And maybe, just maybe you are right. I shouldn’t be wasting my time on you, I shouldn’t be wasting my time on someone who takes my love for them like it’s a joke.” 

Mina couldn’t hold it in anymore, she let all her emotions out. She wanted Momo to know about her true feelings and if Momo keeps taking her love for granted, she won’t be wasting any more of her precious time on her.

Mina tried to stand up, she tried to, but she couldn’t because Momo was holding onto her arm, she was grasping Mina’s arm firmly, and as much as Mina tried to shake that grasp off, she couldn’t. Momo was gazing at her, those dark brown eyes gazing at her and Mina couldn’t meet those eyes with her own.

“Just let me go.” Mina demanded, facing the other way.

“What if I don’t want to?”

Mina turned around to face her.

“What do you mean?”

“I said, what if I don’t want to let you go?” Momo said with determined eyes.

Mina tried to stood up again, but Momo once again, held her back.

“And why is that?”

Momo froze. She didn’t know what to say, she was unsure about her feelings, but all she knew right now, was that she didn’t want Mina to go.

“I’ll be going now” Mina said finally, standing up and this time Momo didn't grab onto her. She stood up too, looking at Mina straight in the eyes and leaned closer. Mina froze, she could feel Momo’s hot breath on her face as they were just mere inches away and gradually there was none. Momo sealed the gap between them, she pressed her lips against Mina’s and they both closed their eyes. Momo moved her hands up to Mina’s face and gently held it, caressing it as she continued on with their gentle, lingering kiss. Her lower lip attached over Mina’s, lightly nibbling it, lightly grazing her teeth to those lower lips. Mina wrapped her arms around Momo's waist and pulled herself closer to her. They were both kissing passionately, Mina’s heart rate rose and Momo could almost feel her heart beating because their bodies were pressed so close to each other. The kiss proved what Mina already knew, Momo had completely taken her heart. 

She slowly pulled away and looked at Momo with hopeful eyes, “What does this kiss mean to you?” she asked, she wanted Momo to kiss her because she has feelings for her, unlike the first kiss they shared. 

Momo was taken aback by the sudden question, she felt guilty that she wasn’t able to answer right away. What does this kiss mean to her? She knew that in her heart, there was a place somewhere specifically for Mina, but she wasn’t sure. Her heart is nodding a yes, yet her mind, and her mentality is telling her that this is not it.

“Well?” 

Momo looked at Mina and froze, she didn’t know what to answer the girl.

“I..” Momo suddenly stammered, she was usually confident but not in this case, “That kiss..I”

Mina’s awaiting smile developed into a scowl, she knew the exact answer to Momo’s hesitations.

“You don’t have to say it. Goodbye Hirai Momo. I won’t bother you anymore”

And she stood up; Momo looked at her, but she wasn’t able to do anything. She just stared at Mina as she hobbled to her car. Momo focused her gaze at the picnic food containers on the cloth and back at the car being driven away.  

It was only then, that Momo realized she was making a big mistake.