Three's A Comfortable Crowd (ch5)

EARLY RELEASE FOR ALL MY PATRONS!!

To wrap it all up, we're finishing with another for the three of them~

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kagkei Revue Starlight.

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						Chapter 5.

For their past few days off, it seems as though there's always been one of the trio who couldn't accompany the others in whatever they were doing that day.

But luckily, this Sunday morning, all three girls are free and able to spend some time together.

As per usual, Mahiru is the first one awake this morning, and she gives her Suzudaru Cat plushie a hug and a kiss before quietly getting out of bed. She'd heard about a certain little event that would be happening in town today, and she's excited to surprise her roommates by bringing them there.

Hikari is curled up beneath her blankets on the floor, surrounded by her plushies as well, while Karen is splayed out on her back and dangling halfway off her bed, snoring. Mahiru sighs, but smiles as she tiptoes around Hikari to reach Karen, and carefully pulls her back into a less-precarious position on the mattress.

Mahiru heads out of the room to the communal restrooms and showers for the time being to let the other two sleep in a little, but by the time she's gotten dressed, dried her hair, and returned to the room, neither Karen nor Hikari has budged an inch. It's 9AM now, and Mahiru decides that's late enough for such a beautiful sunny day, so she gives a soft clap to start rousing them.

"Karen-chan, Hikari-chan. It's time to wake up!"

There's the usual amount of sleepy moaning and turning over from the both of them. Karen pulls her pillow over her face.

"Mmmn, five more minutes, Mamahiru-chan…"

"No can do," Mahiru says. "It's a lovely day, so we've all got to take advantage of it!"

Karen rolls back over again.

"Mmm, you're right… Hikari-chan, time to get up…"

"You first, Bakaren…"

"Both of you," Mahiru chides.

After a few more minutes, both Karen and Hikari push themselves up, their hair all ruffled and messy like their blankets.

Once they've tidied up their sleeping areas and stepped into their slippers, the three girls head to the kitchen for breakfast with their friends.

After Karen and Hikari have both showered and gotten changed, Mahiru dries and brushes Hikari's hair for her, and Karen brushes Mahiru's. As the three of them sit in the changing room tending to one another, there are blissful little sighs all around.

"Mahiru, that feels nice..."

"I'm glad! Karen-chan too, you're so good at brushing longer hair!"

"Oooh, praise from the mighty Mahiru-chan!"

They enjoy several moments like this, taking their time to savor their lazy morning, until Karen poses a question.

"So what do you guys think we should do today? Go to school and practice like usual?"

"That could be good," Hikari says.

Now, Mahiru smiles and decides to reveal her plan.

"Actually," she chimes in. "I have something else for the three of us to do today."

"Huh?! Really?!" Karen stops brushing to lightly grab onto Mahiru's shoulders in excitement. At the same time, Hikari cranes her head to look back.

"Like what?"

Mahiru giggles. "You two will have to wait and find out when we get there!"

" 'Get there'?" Karen parrots her. "Are we going somewhere?! A road trip?! Can you even drive, Mahiru-chan?"

"No, silly," Mahiru laughs. "Not like that. It's just in town. But I think it'll be fun for all of us!"

"Really? What is it? You gotta tell us, Mahiru-chan!"

"Karen," Hikari says firmly. "She doesn't want to spoil it."

She says as much, but Mahiru can see it in her eyes that Hikari is also dying to know the answer.

With one last stroke of the brush through her long black hair, Mahiru pats Hikari's head, then turns around to do the same for Karen.

"Well, I guess now that I've revealed it, I shouldn't keep you guys waiting too much longer. Let's get ready and we can go right away."

"Oh boy!" Karen jumps up and down like an excited little kid. "A surprise trip planned by Mahiru-chan? What could it be? I'm sooo excited!"

"Me, too." As always, Hikari expresses her enthusiasm with a much quieter tone, but an equally adorable smile.

So when they've all finished up, the trio heads back to their dorm room to grab their handbags and wallets with their student ID cards for leaving campus, then head out. Karen links one arm around each of theirs and marches at the center of the group as they take off down the sidewalk.

"A surprise from Mahiru-chan! I wonder what it's gonna be?"

"Karen? You should probably let Mahiru lead."

"Oh, good idea!"

"It's all right," Mahiru giggles. "We're going the right way."

As they half-walk and half-skip their way along, Mahiru is a little surprised neither of them have noticed the fliers promoting the exact event they're all headed to right now. But then again, part of her isn't really that surprised.

/This is better, I guess. Then they won't get spoiled for it./

Karen is absolutely buzzing, and not a minute passes by without her excitedly asking, "Mahiru-chan, are we there yet?" And Mahiru can see the same burning question in Hikari's eyes as well. But Mahiru keeps shaking her head.

"Not yet!"

For about ten minutes, she instructs the group of which way to go. Eventually, she guides them toward a small athletic field. Mahiru squeezes Karen's hand in anticipation.

"All right, you two. Now we're almost there!"

Karen starts to bounce again.

"Oh boy! Hikari-chan, are you ready?"

"Yeah." Hikari squeezes her hand back.

Mahiru can already hear the sounds of crowds of people enjoying themselves up ahead as the trio passes through the parking lot. And at last, today's secret special event is revealed to them.

"Here we are!"

It isn't that there's a sports game being played here today. Instead, the field is set up with various little pens and fences, which are padded with hay and soft grasses. There's a very distinct smell on the air, but no one really minds that when they finally see what's in store.

Karen and Hikari finish each other's sentences.

"Mahiru-chan! Is this-?"

"-a petting zoo?"

"Ding ding!" Mahiru smiles. "I saw posters for it a few weeks ago and thought you guys might like to come on our day off. What do you think?"

At this point, Hikari is already beyond the point of words, as her mouth is hanging open and her eyes are sparkling and unable to move from the sight before her. So Karen's response will have to suffice for them both.

"Are you kidding?!" Karen breaks their hand-holding chain so she can throw both arms around Mahiru in an exuberant hug. "This is amazing, Mahiru-chan! We love it! Right, Hikari-chan?"

"I wanna pet them…"

Mahiru staggers a little from the impact, but gladly squeezes Karen back.

"I'm so glad! It's gonna be a lot of fun!"

"We should tell everyone!" Karen gasps. "They'd love to come!"

"Actually," Mahiru says. "Everyone else already knows about it. It's just you and Hikari-chan who didn't know about this event. You were just so focused on other things."

"Really?"

Mahiru nods; she'd worded it kindly, but the real reason Karen and Hikari hadn't known about the petting zoo until now was because they're both a tad unobservant sometimes and hadn't noticed the fliers posted up around town for the past week. But she'd never tell them as much.

"Yeah," she smiles. "I know Banana-chan and Junna-chan plan to come later, and I'm sure the others will probably show up eventually, too. But for now it's just us, so let's go pet some cute animals!"

"Yeah!" Karen jumps and pumps her fist in the air. "I'm gonna pet 'em all!"

"Me, too," Hikari agrees. "Especially the fluffy ones."

So with the surprise now revealed, Mahiru leads her friends to the line, where a small fee is collected before they're given little cow stamps on the backs of their hands and permitted entry.

The first little area they come to has a pen full of chickens running around. The three girls find some space amongst the families gathered there, and crouch down to watch the birds.

"Look at that one!" Karen says, pointing to a brown hen, which is the only one sleeping. "It reminds me of Kaoruko-chan!"

"I think you're right," Mahiru muses. "And the one that keeps pecking at her is Futaba-chan."

"If Mr. White was a chicken," Hikari says. "He'd be that one." She points to a big white one with long fluffy feathers.

After a few moments of watching and commentating on the birds, Mahiru taps her friends on the shoulders and motions for them to follow her. She leads them to a big table that's been set up nearby, and sitting on top of it is a giant incubator filled with heated lamps.

"Look!" Mahiru beams. "This lets you watch the baby chicks getting hatched!"

"Oh! I remember seeing one of these as a kid!" Karen exclaims, huddling eagerly up to Mahiru's side. Hikari pops in at her other arm to observe.

"Babies…"

"Oh!" Karen squeals. "Look! That one's cracking!"

The three of them turn to look at the egg Karen is referring to. There are tiny little cracks near the top, and as they watch they can see an even tinier beak poking its way out. They all squeal softly.

"Ah! It's so small!"

"C'mon little guy! You can do it!"

"Do your best."

It takes a few minutes, but eventually the little chick pushes its head out through the shell. The egg rolls sideways, and from there the newborn chick gradually manages to wiggle itself free. The girls clap for it.

"Good job!" Karen sniffles. "Welcome to the world, little birdie!"

"They're so cute!" Mahiru sighs.

"Mahiru, can we take one home?"

"Hikari-chan, we can't have animals at school…"

"Oh, right…"

The newly-hatched chick is picked up out of the incubator by one of the caretakers, who lets the girls get a closer look.

"Unfortunately I can't let you pet this little guy," the woman says. "But if you go to that stand to the left, there are older chicks you can touch."

"Really?"

"Thank you very much!"

Together the three of them move to the next spot as instructed, and there they find a pen full of fluffy yellow chicks running around. Dozens of people are standing around holding them and cooing and taking pictures. Karen is already vibrating in anticipation.

"Mahiru-chan, this is a dream come true!"

"I'm excited, too!" Mahiru replies.

"Are you sure we can't take one home?" Hikari asks.

"Sadly, yes."

They wait their turn until one of the caretakers motions Karen over first. The woman picks up a tiny yellow chick and instructs Karen on how to position her hands before transferring it over to her. Karen channels all of her excitement to her feet and runs in place a little bit so she can keep her hands steady.

"Oooh my gosh! It's so cute!"

Next, Hikari is given a chick to hold. She's shaking a little bit from nervousness, so Mahiru keeps a hand on her back and stands with her for support. As soon as the little bird is placed in her palms, Hikari makes a tiny peeping sound herself.

"Ah… It's so fluffy…"

Mahiru smiles, certain that Hikari's heart must be beating a mile a minute now with how overjoyed she is, and Karen is already having entire conversations with her chick.

At last it's Mahiru's turn to hold one, and as soon as it's in her hands she feels like she might melt.

"Awww! Hey there, little guy. You're so adorable!" She strokes her finger gently over its head and back, and when it looks up at her she really almost considers taking it back to school with her.

The three of them marvel and coo at their little birds for a few moments side by side.

"I named mine Mr. Yellow," Hikari announces.

"That's cute," Mahiru smiles. "I'm sure he loves it!"

"Hey, hey!" Karen says. "Doesn't this mean I can say I'm good at picking up chicks?"

Mahiru sputters.

"K-Karen-chan!"

"You didn't pick it up, Bakaren," Hikari reminds her. "The worker handed it to you."

"Oh, I guess you're right."

Mahiru chuckles a bit nervously, but is thankful they don't realize the other meaning of the phrase.

A few minutes later, they hand the chicks back over to the caretaker. Karen sniffles all the while.

"Bye, little guy! Grow up big and strong, okay?"

"You too, Mr. Yellow."

"There, there." Mahiru pats them both on the shoulders and gently guides them away. "Come on, let's wash our hands and we can go onto the next petting station."

The trio pauses at a little hand-washing station to clean and dry off, and by then Karen has stopped crying and is already looking forward to the next animals.

They walk to a pen that's much larger than the chickens' was, with more people standing around. This pen contains a whole flock of white sheep, half a dozen brown and grey goats, a few black alpaca, and a chestnut-colored llama.

"Wow! So look at them all!" Karen takes her roommates' hands and hurries over.

There's all sorts of bleating and baa-ing sounds as the animals run all around from person to person, except for the big llama who just sits and watches quietly from the center. Mahiru grimaces at him.

"Somehow, I can't help but feel he's familiar somehow… With that long neck and those eyelashes…" She almost envisions him as being yellow with brown spots…

She quickly shakes herself off and disregards the thoughts, kneeling down between Karen and Hikari now to reach through the fence.

An energetic goat has scampered its way up to Karen, and she's currently having a great time scratching its ears and rubbings its head.

"Look at your little horns! You're so cute!"

The goat makes a funny bleating sound back at her and headbutts her hand lightly.

"Wow…" Mahiru mumbles. "Those two are kind of alike…"

On her other side, Hikari has reached out to stroke her fingers over a sheep's muzzle, and then proceeds to lightly squish its thick wool.

"So fluffy… I'm gonna call you Mr. White."

Mahiru giggles.

"These two, as well."

Mahiru looks up to see that one of the alpacas has come to inspect her. She holds her hand out for him to sniff, and then starts petting his head and ears.

"They're all so adorable," she sighs.

Karen and Hikari are in heaven on either side of her, petting their respective animals and cooing to them quietly. Karen's goat eventually scampers away to play with some of the other goats, and even tries climbing up onto the llama's back, but he mostly just falls and jumps off.

Mr. White, as Hikari has named the sheep, meanders off to start nibbling at some grass, and Mahiru's alpaca migrates toward some children who are offering corn.

The three girls stand up together and wave goodbye as they make their way to the next pen. This one is full of-

"Bunnies!" Karen exclaims. "Wow! There's so many!"

And there are. Big bunnies and small bunnies, short-haired bunnies and long-haired bunnies, bunnies with tall ears and bunnies with floppy ears. They're all hopping around in a big pen that's padded with bedding, and a few are tossing little jingly toys around with their mouths.

A soft chorus of 'awwww!' goes up from the three girls. Hikari clings to Mahiru's arm as if she'll collapse if she lets go.

"Mahiru… can we-?"

"I'm sorry, Hikari-chan!" Mahiru turns and pulls her into a dramatic hug. "I might've almost said yes to taking one of these guys back, but we still can't!"

"Look!" Karen squeals. "They're handing out lettuce! We can feed them!"

"Really?"

All three of them wait their turn as the caretaker hands each of them a piece of fresh lettuce. Then, they crouch down together and reach their hands through the little wired fence.

Right away, several bunnies come hopping over to start nibbling. Karen gets two dwarf bunnies, one black and one speckled white, who keep trying to tear the food away from the other.

"Now, now," Karen says. "No fighting! There's plenty for both of you!" She pulls the lettuce back for a moment to tear it in half, then gives them each one. "See? All better!"

Mahiru smiles. And on her other side, Hikari has made sure to give her lettuce to the one little bunny who hadn't gotten any yet because it kept getting pushed aside by other bunnies.

"Here you go," she murmurs. "I'll call you Mr. Brown."

Mahiru has to stop herself from giggling out loud like she wants to. She loves them both so much.

She also splits her lettuce up to feed several different bunnies, gently petting a few on the tops of their heads.

They spend a bit of time with the bunnies before getting up to wash their hands again. From there, they pass by a wide space in the field where pony rides are being offered to the little kids. Mahiru has to hold both Karen and Hikari back.

"You guys are too big!"

So they settle just for leaning over the fence when the ponies finish their rounds to pet their heads and scratch their ears.

After that, they see some more goats and sheep and even some pigs, making sure they stop by every single pen of animals and don't miss a single one. They go back to watch some more baby chicks hatch in the incubator, and then end up at the same chicken pen where they'd started.

And at last they decide it's time to head back. After washing their hands one more time, the three girls link up with Mahiru in the middle and begin the walk back to the dorms.

"That was soooo much fun!" Karen chants. "All the animals were so cute! I can't remember the last time I got to go to a petting zoo!"

"Me either," Hikari agrees. "Thanks, Mahiru."

"Eh? Oh, you don't have to thank me! I'm just glad you both had fun!"

"Non-non, Mahiru-chan!" Karen says. "Hikari-chan is right! It's only because of you we got to have so much fun today! So thank you!"

With a tug, Karen pulls Mahiru (who then in-turn pulls Hikari), into a big group hug in the middle of the sidewalk. Mahiru's heart is so happy and warm that she doesn't even mind the other people giving them puzzled looks. She just hugs both of her roommates back as tightly as she can.

"No. Thank you guys. I had so much fun with you!"

"No! Thank yoooou!" Karen says back.

"Um, I can't breathe…"

"Oh!"

"Sorry, Hikari-chan!"

Chuckling, the three girls part from the big hug and revert back to their hand-in-hand link before continuing down the sidewalk.

"It's just about lunch time now," Mahiru says.

"Perfect!" Karen sighs. "I'm staaaarving!"

"Me, too."

"Then let's hurry back," Mahiru says. "I'll make us a really big lunch!"

"Yay! I can't wait!" Karen sings.

"And maybe after lunch…" Hikari mumbles. "We can take a nap…"

"That sounds nice," Mahiru agrees.

And that's exactly how it goes.

Once they've returned to Starlight Hall and had their lunch, most of the other girls are just heading out to visit the petting zoo themselves. So Mahiru, Karen, and Hikari return to their room and settle onto the cushions and blankets on the floor.

Mahiru takes her Suzudaru Cat plushie from her bed before snuggling in between her roommates. Karen hugs her tight and lets out a big yawn, and Hikari curls up like one of the baby lambs they'd seen today and nuzzles against Mahiru's other side. Mahiru fondly drapes an arm around each of them.

"Just for an hour or so," she murmurs. "Then we've got more things to do."

"Mmm kay," Karen mumbles. "Sounds good."

"Goodnight…" Hikari mutters, already half asleep. Karen isn't far behind her.

Mahiru basks in their warm for a few moments before kissing them each on the head, and finally closing her eyes as well.

And so the three's exciting morning comes to a quiet and very warm conclusion.

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A/N: Ahh it was so nice and fun to write these three for a change! They're so much fun to write in everydat, non-revue situations! Mahiru's sweetness, Karen's humor, Hikari's air-headedness. They're perfect.

Thank you for reading!