Too late, she realized that she hadn't responded to the question in a timely manner as Yuzu lifted her head and turned to look at her. "Mei?" She asked. "Are you alright?"
Mei smiled before replying, "Yes, I'm fine. They are quite cute. But we should really get going now, Yuzu..."
Yuzu took a step away from Mei, nodding her head. "Ok! But first, you have to pick which one you would take home. Otherwise, I won't leave!" At the last sentence, she crossed her arms defiantly to make her point. "And you need to have a good reason for your choice!"
Sighing, Mei knew it would be less time consuming to just answer her question than to spend the time arguing only to end up answering anyway. She turned back to the three puppies, trying to quickly find a good reason to choose one of them over the other. Unfortunately, all three of them looked exactly the same to her; they were all the same level of squishy, sleepy cuteness. It didn't help that they were all the same color, either.
Turning back to Yuzu, Mei found the girl eagerly looking forward to her answer. She was quite cute too sometimes...
"I've made my decision," Mei began.
"Great!" Yuzu exclaimed, breaking out her ultra-megawatt smile. "Which one?" She turned back to the puppies, expectantly waiting for Mei to point out which one she would take home.
"You." Mei said. "You're the one I'd like to take home." She was somehow able to say the words with the same level of composure she always had, not belying the sudden butterflies she felt in her stomach upon uttering that sentence.
"Me...?" Yuzu turned slowly towards her, confusion causing her to furrow her brow for just a few seconds before a smile began to light up her face. "Me?? Mei wants to take ME home??" She wrapped Mei up in a tight hug, which wasn't entirely unwelcome to the normally stern girl, as she could smell Yuzu's shampoo from this close. She smelled good...
"Yes, I'd like to take you home, so that we don't get caught breaking school rules," Mei said dryly in an unsuccessful attempt to erase her prior confession.
"Yeah, yeah..." Yuzu said as she let go of Mei, still grinning from ear to ear. "Let's get you home then!" She grabbed Mei's hand and began pulling her towards the exit. Stopping suddenly, she turned and leaned in close to Mei's ear, causing a whole new wave of butterflies to invade Mei’s stomach.
"Oh...by the way, Mei," Yuzu whispered, "I would choose you too."
Mei felt her face heat up as Yuzu withdrew and flashed her a loving smile. Mei opened her mouth to say something in return, but, for the first time she could remember, words failed to form on her tongue.
Seeing her loss for words, Yuzu simply laughed and grabbed ahold of her hand again, pulling a blushing Mei out of the store behind her.
