Chapter Text
Kita wants to rip her hair out.
College is hard. Kita is in over her head. She’s a people person! This sort of stuff is supposed to be easy for her. She talks to people with an easy, bright smile and slides in and out of the friend groups in her program. People like her.
But somehow she’s exhausted. She’s friends with so many cliques. She gets so many invitations. She says hi to six different people on her way from one building to the next. For the first time in her life, Kita is defeated by social interaction. When she arrives back at Starry for practice, she’s exhausted. She waves to Seika and slumps into one of the hexagonal chairs. Looks like she is the first to arrive.
She feels carved open. Maybe if she just closes her eyes and rests a little…
Kita wakes up to fingers carding through her hair.
Her head is stuffed with cloudy thoughts and barely formed sentences. She sighs, feeling content. The hand stops, but Kita leans into it, chasing the warmth like a cat. The hand starts again and Kita melts into the touch. The weight on her chest feels far away.
Wait. Who? Kita blinks blearily at the girl next to her. “Nijika?”
Nijika is grinning. “Hey sleepyhead.”
Kita remembers practice and nearly shoots up, but Nijika gently stops her. “I sent Bocchi and Ryo back. Practice is canceled today. You looked like you needed the nap.” Nijika’s fingers are back in her hair, scratching lightly into her scalp.
“What the heck…” Kita whispers. The tension is fully leaving, and she is having a hard time opening her eyes. “You’re too nice. I’m the nice one. I have to kill you now.”
“And be the only one left between Bocchi and bankruptcy? Ryo will suck her dry.”
“Shit.”
Nijika’s eyebrows shoot up. “Oh my god, a swear? Our girl is growing up. College is changing you. First it’s swears and next it's boys and drugs.”
Kita moves so that her head is on its side and squints at Nijika. Her sight is blurry. The lights above them bleed into each other. To her disappointment, it makes Nijika’s hand fall away. What she doesn’t expect is when Nijika’s arm curls around her, and her fingers start running through her hair again. Nijka is leaning on her other hand and smiling down at her. It feels intimate, but Kita’s brain is too foggy to figure out what’s happening. Nijika says sing-song, “Our tiny, precious, Kita. Youngest of them all. You adorable thing.”
For some reason her heart trips and falls in her chest. She wants to hide her face. She mumbles, “I’m two months younger than Hitori. You make me sound like a baby.”
Nijika brushes hair behind Kita’s ear. “You’re my baby.”
“What the heck?” She whine. Then, “College is hard. I can’t do it.”
“Yeah yeah, Kita can’t handle a single month of college.”
“I want to drop out. I’m too popular.”
“Terrible,” Nijika deadpans. Her smile is tender and indulgent and all of a sudden Kita feels wide awake with something stumbling in her chest.
She squints. “You’re taking advantage of my vulnerability right now. This is an abuse of power.”
Nijika shrugs her off. “What are you going to do about it?”
The whole interaction is familiar in a way that warms Kita’s chest. She hasn’t been back in a whole three weeks. College quickly overwhelmed her and seemed to shove aside everything else that wasn’t an impending assignment or a relationship she had to newly cultivate. They weren’t the closest in the band, but at some point Nijika became a solid foundation she could fall back on.
It’s nice taking a breather.