Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Locating Kurumi was never a difficult task for Takina. She was in the spot that she always was: tucked around a corner and behind her computer. She didn’t even acknowledge Takina as she walked in, instead continuing to tap at what seemed to be different prices for airplane tickets.

“Kurumi? Do you have a minute?”

Kurumi spun around to face Takina with an impassive expression as she took a sip of green tea.

“Mhm. What’s up?”

Takina took a dramatic pause, breathing in and out before saying in a completely serious voice:

“I think that I’m allergic to Chisato.”

Kurumi blinked twice before turning back to her computer and turning the monitor back on.

“Wow, good one. You actually had me there for a second-”

“I’m being serious!”

With a sigh, Kurumi spun back around, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Alright then, enlighten me. How on earth did you come up with the wild idea of developing an allergy to a human being?”

Takina’s expression didn’t falter as she took a deep breath, leaning back in her chair while staring at the ceiling.

"It all started a few days ago…"

###

Flashback 

It was a warm Summer evening. The rhythmic sounds of the waves crashing against the beach was accompanied by the distant buzzing of mosquitoes as the sun shone through a window into the cabin, illuminating it in a dim yet warm red glow. Takina and Chisato were lying next to each other, the 2 of them having decided to stay the night in Chisato’s cabin in light of the fast-approaching nighttime. She didn’t have a spare futon, though, so the 2 of them were stuck sharing the one she had after they each tried and failed to offer to sleep on the floor.

It was times like this that Takina wished that she was better with words. Every few moments, she would glance at Chisato’s frame, wanting to tell her how scared she was that she would never find her, or how much she never wanted to let Chisato out of her sight again, but no words seemed to want to come out of her mouth. Every time she glanced next to her, she would immediately avert her gaze, feeling a strange sense of shame and embarrassment at how Chisato looked like when she slept. After the silence became too much to bear, however, she gathered herself, taking a deep breath in and out before turning to face Chisato again.

“Chisa-”

“So, what did you really mean back there? When you were talking about trying something I thought I’d given up on?”

Takina nearly breathed a sigh of relief as she, frankly, didn’t have a clue as to what she was about to say before responding in her usual monotone voice.

“I thought you already answered that for yourself?”

Chisato sat up, speaking in a tone that was somewhere between curious and accusatory as she peered down at Takina 

“Sounds good, but what do you have in mind?”

This time, Takina debated with herself over what to say. This time, though, considering that Chisato had already spotted something amiss, she decided to tell her everything. She spoke in a sheepish tone, breaking eye contact.

“I just thought… that maybe you could live a normal life with me?”

After a moment of silence, Takina looked over to find that Chisato had turned away, her face hidden from view. Takina steeled her nerves before breaking the silence.

“Anyone home? You there, Chisato?”

“Yep! Just, uh… Could you say that again?”

Takina tilted her head to the right as a slight look of confusion generated on her face.

“I want to spend the rest of our lives together.” 

After more silence and no audible response from Chisato, Takina continued as if trying to make a point.

“I… I never want to lose you again. I want to wake up every morning and see you next to me.”

That’s when she noticed Chisato’s ears beginning to turn red.

“Are you ok?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, never better! It’s just…”

Chisato turned to face Takina, hints of red on her cheeks. She leaned in close, a sly grin forming on her face.

“It just sounded like you were proposing to me!”

“Eh?”

Takina’s stoic expression jumped to one of shock before a blush flooded into her cheeks as she sat up.

“I… uh… I mean-”

*CRASH!*

“What the heck was that for?!”

Chisato was now on top of a simultaneously flustered and annoyed Takina after having tackled her right back into the futon. She got off of Takina while laughing, her own Summer sweat causing her clothes to cling to her body.

“Ahahaha… Yeah? You were saying something, Takina-chan?”

Incensed, Takina opened her mouth to say something, but she went silent, curling into a ball and tucking her knees into her chest before pouting.

“It was nothing.”

“Ah? So you’re not going to deny that it was a proposal?”

While Chisato lay on the futon with a carefree expression, Takina straightened up, her brow furrowed as more force entered her tone.

“I just wasn’t disagreeing with the fact that it sounded like a proposal.”

“So you’re admitting that it sounded like a proposal?”

While a pink blush had started to make its way into Chisato’s face, that was nothing compared to the redness that had completely overtaken Takina’s entire visage. She once again curled into a ball, only able to mutter in a defeated tone.

“P-please stop that. It’s embarrassing…”

“I’m guessing that you’re not going to deny wanting to sleep with me every night?”

Chisato was now wearing a wide grin as she scooted towards Takina while Takina tried her best not to make eye contact.

“Don’t refer to it like that, please…”

“I’m just repeating your own words back to you~”

Takina wracked her brain for a way out of this, trying to think of every way she could possibly get Chisato to stop before eventually deciding on doubling down.

“Well if you don’t mind, then I guess we could… y’know…”

Takina wanted nothing more than to disappear on the spot, burying her mouth into her knees but somehow managing to glance up at Chisato. Instead of continuing to barrage her, however, Chisato instead looked dumbfounded, a look of confusion mingled with embarrassment as Chisato took a step back before leaning in with a curious expression.

“That… wasn’t a proposal, was it?

Takina didn’t respond, breaking eye contact again and staring out at the sea as Chisato approached her. Seeing this, Chisato backed off, matching Takina stance as she curled into a ball and stared towards the sea, the sun bathing the 2 of them in a warm red glow.

“Hey… will you humour me for a sec?”

Takina hesitated for a moment before giving a nod before Chisato began to talk in a gentle, more subdued tone than usual.

“Say we actually got married…”

Takina bit her tongue as her cheeks burned at the mention of marriage.

“You sure would have a lot to put up with, huh?”

The blush on Takina’s face receded somewhat as her brow furrowed.

“Eh? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Chisato’s voice switched to a laid back register as she spoke.

“I mean, I’d definitely make sure to annoy you every single day, and don’t you even hope that I’d forget.”

Takina let out a giggle before catching herself and returning to a faux annoyed expression.

“I understand that.”

“Hey, don’t think I didn’t see you being happy at the thought of me annoying you everyday!”

“Shut up.”

Chisato give a chuckle before lying back down and continuing.

“You’d also have to deal with my awful sleeping posture. I mean, the only thing more active than me at night is me in the daytime!”

“We could find a way to deal with that.”

“You’re really hung up on the whole sleeping together thing, aren’t you? You didn't suggest sharing the futon with ulterior motives, right?”

Chisato’s voice went dead serious while Takina’s face burned bright red once again before Chisato let out another burst of laughter.

“Kidding, I was kidding! Jeez, you always take everything too seriously, Takina!”

Takina rolled her eyes before speaking with fatigue creeping into her voice.

“Want me to keep humouring you?”

“Yeah, I’ll let you know when I’m done with my little spiel.”

They sat in silence for a few more moments before Chisato continued in a relaxed voice.

“If we got married you could also bet that I’d never stop dragging you out of your comfort zone no matter how much you kicked and screamed.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Chisato raised an eyebrow as she stared directly at Takina.

“If you’re just humouring me, you’re doing a hell of a job of acting.”

“I am? U-uh, yeah…”

Takina met Chisato’s gaze for a second before looking away again.

“Anything else?”

“Hm? I guess that there’s one more thing…”

Chisato scooted right next to Takina, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on their ends.

“I would never stop loving you until the day I die.”

Chisato’s whispers sent chills down Takina’s spine as she scrambled away from Chisato, putting her hand to her ear, a surprised expression forming on her face. As with most things, Chisato seemed to find this immensely funny.

“Ahahaha! What was that?”

“What did you have to whisper in my ear for?”

“Hm? I thought it would be fun and it was!”

Chisato watched as Takina lay back down, hiding her face

“Well in thany case, it’s your turn!”

Takina turned back over, staring blankly at Chisato for a few moments while an innocent smile adorned Chisato’s face.

“Eh?”

“You heard me! What would you do if we got married?”

“Eh?! Why do I have to do that?”

“I just spilled my guts to you, so you’ve got to do the same for me.”

A blush formed on Takina’s cheeks once again.

“No way. That’s way too embarrassing.”

“You’re so unfair…”

Takina looked at Chisato to find her pouting as her eyes began to water.

Isn’t she the one being unfair?

With a reluctant sigh, Takina fully sat back down with her legs sprawled out in front of her as Chisato sat on her side.

“You really want me to do this?”

“Yep~”

Takina rolled her eyes at the smile that had replaced Chisato’s puppy-dog eyes the moment that Takina sat down. She contemplated her words for a few moments before starting to speak in a hushed tone.

“Well for starters, I’m a little slow so I won’t really be able to tell what you’re thinking all the time.”

“I guess I’ll have to spell things out for you a lot! Maybe I should get a dictionary…”

Takina rolled her eyes but cracked a smile, much to Chisato’s amusement.

“You already know that I can be really stubborn and I can dig my heels in for a lot of things.”

“Looks like I’ll have to push you as hard as I can, then! Ah, but cutting fingernails is a must for me.”

Takina looked confused for a moment due to Chisato’s grin and slightly pink cheeks before continuing.

“In any case you’ve got a long life ahead of you, so we’d be stuck together for a really, really long time.”

Chisato gave a chuckle as she lay back on the futon,prompting Takina to do the same as the red glow of the sun was replaced by the pale light of the stars and the full moon in the sky shining into an otherwise unlit cabin. Chisato then animated her voice so that it was comically seductive, saying:

“All the more time for you to look at my slammin’ bod’~”

Takina was silent for a few moments, opening and closing her mouth as if about to say something, but not a single sound came out. The sight of the pale light of the night sky reflecting off of Chisato against the backdrop of a dimly lit futon while the sleepwear that clung to her body mesmerized Takina, striking her dumb momentarily.

Seeing this reaction, Chisato’s cheeks went a little red as she returned to a curled up position, giving a shy giggle.

“Ehehe… Sorry about that…”

“Ah! No, I should be the one apologizing!”

Takina scooted over next to Chisato and the 2 of them stared at the dark ceiling, listening to the waves crashing against the shore in the distance and the crickets beginning to chirp around them.

“So… what now?”

Chisato was the first to break the ambience and her statement garnered a look of slight confusion from Takina.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, does that mean that we’re married?”

…

“Hah?”

Chisato responded to Takina’s dumbstruck expression by speaking in a relaxed voice.

“I mean, you just confessed your undying love to me a few moments ago.”

“Eh?! You just did the same, though!”

“C’mon now, it was all just hypothetical!”

Takina’s expression was now a mixture of embarrassment and hostility which was only intensified by looking at Chisato’s beautiful infuriating grin. Takina’s expression softened over the course of a few seconds as the energy drained out of her, leaving behind nothing but intense embarrassment. 

“I-I'm gonna go to bed now."

To be continued…

Chapter Text

"And what happened after that?"

Throughout the course of the recounting of events, Kurumi had grown more and more interested in what was happening. Takina, for her part, had turned redder and redder the further she went. By this point, she was stammering so much that she was barely coherent.

"W-well, when I w-woke up…"

Takina flushed and squeezed her eyes tight before looking away from Kurumi. 

"Yes? When you woke up?"

"Her arms were wrapped around my waist! I think I almost died trying to get out from there. Thank goodness she didn't wake up, though."

Takina took a deep breath, her face as red as ever as she struggled to continue.

"I think it's getting worse. Even if we so much as brush hands or use the same spoon, my heart beats so fast that I think that I'll die."

Kurumi leaned in, interested being piqued in her expression. This seemed like an entertaining puzzle for her to solve and she thought that the 2 of them looked like they would make a cute couple, so maybe she should try her best to help. 

"Now do you see how I'm allergic to Chisato?"

Then again, maybe they should solve their own problems for themselves.

"Look, just tell that girl that you love her already."

Takina's mouth went wide with shock as she looked to the ground.

"L-love? There's no way…" 

"Geez, how stupid- I mean sheltered are you Lycoris? I swear, you need to-"

"What's going on back here?"

Both Takina and Kurumi turned to face the entrance only to find…

"A-ah, it's you, Chisato." 

Takina stumbled over her words, avoiding eye contact and hiding her face before dashing off, muttering something about helping close the shop. Kurumi merely gave a sigh and looked to face Chisato.

"So why are you here?"

"Well you see…" 

Chisato's cheeks went pink as she sat on the seat that Takina had set up before.

"I think that Takina's avoiding me."

Kurumi felt very tired all of a sudden. She rubbed the side of her head before popping an ibuprofen tablet.

"Yeah? Why do you think that?"

"Well, she runs away whenever I try to talk to her and I think that she hates me!"

Kurumi facepalmed.

"Hey! I'm being serious!"

Kurumi merely sighed, taking a sip of the chamomile tea that perpetually sat in a thermos on her desk.

"So, you think that Takina hates you, correct?"

Chisato gave an uncertain nod.

“In that case, please listen to what I am about to say. Remember that everything that comes out of my mouth is for your good.”

Chisato gave another nod, prompting Kurumi to continue.

"Listen, you could not be more wrong. Like, you'd have to say that Mizuki has a boyfriend at least 5 times to be more wrong than you are right now."

Chisato went pale.

"That's a lot of times…"

"You know how you woke up in the hospital room by yourself?"

Chisato gave a nod.

"Well, that was some of the unluckiest timing you ever could've had."

"What's that supposed to mean? Did you guys visit me every day or something?"

Kurumi gave a sarcastic chuckle before continuing.

"Well, someone did. I swear, it's like that girl can't run out of patience. We had to drag her out of there for about 3 hours a day so that she could get proper sleep."

There was a moment of silence. Chisato looked absolutely stunned while Kurumi still had a look of vindication. After feeling as though she had let this fact sink in for long enough, she continued.

"And that was on the days we actually managed to get her ass out of there. Some days, no, wait, most days, she just slept there with a sleeping bag. It's a miracle we didn't get kicked out of the hospital. Actually, I think I’ve got a pie chart somewhere, and I think she was there 95% of the time you were there…"

After a few moments where no one said anything, Chisato was the first to speak.

"She did that much for me?"

Kurumi rolled her eyes again.

"She said something about repaying everything you've done for her."

They remained silent, all of this new information resonating in Chisato's mind before she tentatively asked:

"So what should I do now?"

Kurumi took another sip of tea before turning back to face Chisato.

"Isn't it obvious? Tell that girl that you love her."

Chisato stared blankly at Kurumi before her face flushed fire-engine red.

"Hah? What do you-"

"Jesus Christ, you Lycoris are stupid! You guys already are way closer than any couple, so just get a move on and get together already. And don't even think about worrying about the feeling not being mutual because I can assure you, it is."

With that, Kurumi booted Chisato out of the room, landing her face to face with Takina whose face immediately went flush.

"O-oh, hello there, C-Chisato."

Takina turned and began to walk away before…

"Wait! Takina, I have something I want to tell you!"

Takina stopped in her tracks, slowly turning around with a face that was completely covered in a blush 

"A-alright then. Let's hear it."

###

The 2 of them were now outside on a park bench, sitting side by side.

"S-so, what did you want to say to me?" 

Chisato gulped, her face going red before she shook her head, replacing her nervous expression with a determined one as she looked up to face Takina.

"What I said earlier! About us getting married!"

Takina's blush intensified as she looked Chisato in the eye. Chisato took a deep breath in and out, seeming to debate opening her mouth before steeling her resolve, her expression growing even more determined.

"It… it wasn't hypothetical."

There was silence for a few moments before Chisato began to clarify in a half-playful, half-panicked tone

"A-ah! I mean, I don't think we should actually get married, at least not yet, but uh…"

Chisato paused as time seemed to slow down and the rest of the world appeared to just fall into the background as the 2 of them found one another to be the only one they could focus on. Again, she wondered whether or not she should speak before tossing her shame aside, managing to get out:

"Why don't we live a normal life as lovers?"

Takina's eyes went wide, her mouth opened in surprise and before she knew it, she found her body moving on its own until-

"Because I really want to- mmph!"

She cut Chisato off mid sentence, planting a kiss directly into her lips. With a shocked expression, Chisato froze before managing to close her eyes and wrap one arm around Takina's neck. After what seemed like an hour (it was really just a few moments), they broke apart and tears started to well in Takina's eyes.

"Sorry…"

"Eh? What are you apologizing for?"

Takina sniffled, not saying anything. Chisato thought for a moment before a cheerful grin adorned her face. 

"I've got an idea!"

Takina looked up to find that Chisato had already started running off.

"Wha- where are you going?!"

Chisato stopped, turning back to face Takina.

"To get us matching necklaces. After all, we should commemorate this occasion, right?"

Takina stared at the sight in front of her, a warm summer breeze causing Chisato's hair to sway in the wind as the red light of the sun bathed them in a warm glow. Chisato seemed to turn back and realize that Takina hadn’t gotten up before leaning towards her with a cheeky grin.

"So what do you think? Or are you too busy staring to reply?"

Takina's eyes went wide for a moment before she muttered out another apology.

“I-I apologize, that was rude-”

"Ah, don't be sorry! So what do you think?"

Takina watched as Chisato gestured to a small shop up ahead before giving a gentle grin.

"Yeah. I like that idea."

Chapter Text

“Cheers!” x5

The 5 members of the LycoReco cafe clinked their drink glasses before each of them took drinks of varying sizes; Kurumi took a small sip of her chamomile tea while Mizuki emptied her wine glass in a single swig.

“Are you sure you should be drinking that much?”

Mizuki rolled her eyes at Takina, responding in a careless tone.

“What’s the issue? I’m 27, so it’s perfectly fine, isn’t it?”

“You haven’t eaten anything at all today, so it would be best to temper yourself, no?”

“Don’t be so controlling- ah, wait, the food!”

Mizuki got up with a start, causing Takina to flinch, nearly falling out of her seat. Chisato, for her part, seemed to be putting on the performance of a lifetime, her warm smile practically lighting up the room as Takina could’ve sworn she saw a halo atop Chisato’s head. Her goal?

“Can I have some booze too, Teach?”

“That’s illegal and you know it. Just wait until you’re old enough.”

Kurumi’s eyes darted from a slightly anxious Takina to Chisato and Mika. The 2 of them seemed to be playing a game of ‘keep away’. Chisato kept trying to grab the wine bottle from Mika who skillfully moved it out of reach every time. Takina, for her part, seemed to be worried about being too overbearing towards Mizuki. Kurumi simply laughed briefly before taking another sip of her tea.

“C’mon, just one taste!”

“I’ve already said that you’re too young.”

Chisato sat down, crossing her arms and letting out a huff, her lips forming a pout.

“I don’t get it. If we’re allowed to shoot and kill people, we should be old enough to get sloshed…”

“You don’t kill though?”

Kurumi and Mika both chuckled as Chisato made a ‘shush’-ing motion towards Takina.

“Food’s here!”

Takina turned towards Mizuki with a smile.

“Thank you, Mizu-”

Takina’s expression fell as she saw Mizuki on her way there carrying various food items along with…

“You brought back the poop parfaits?!”

Chisato exclaimed this with a massive grin on her face as Mizuki wore an equally wide, much more smug smile. Takina, on the other hand, put her head down on the table prompting Chisato to put her own head down beside Takina, crooning in a sultry voice, the tempo of her words swinging back and forth as she spoke.

“Cheer up, Ta-ki-na! We’re celebrating my return, aren’t we? Besides, there’s a bunch of other foods and your parfait still tastes amazing.”

Takina slowly turned her head over to face Chisato with a slight pout.

“Really?”

“Mmm, mmm! Really!”

Chisato’s incessant nodding seemed to return some energy into Takina who sat up and began shakily extending the for to the parfait.

“Ok then…”

“H-hey, I didn’t say you had to eat the parfait! I just said that you should be proud of it!”

“By the way, what’s with the necklaces?”

Chisato and Takina both looked at Kurumi, then down at their chests to see two seemingly cheap necklaces which looked as if they were purchased from a convenience store. Takina looked up and began to speak

“Oh, we decided to get these to commemorate- mmph!”

Takina’s eyebrows raised as Chisato clamped her hand over her mouth.

“I-it was to commemorate my return! Hehehe…”

Kurumi looked between the 2 of them with a look of skepticism before shrugging and taking a piece of pork cutlet.

###

“Heyyy… Why is the room spinning, ehehe…”

Mizuki was lying on Mika’s shoulder, her face red with alcohol as she stared off into the ceiling.

“C’mon, Teach! Mizuki can’t be the only one who gets to get hammered today!”

“I told you, no. I only have so many shoulders.”

Chisato crossed her arms before her pout turned into a more playful look as she whispered to Takina:

“Sheesh. After Hawaii, I am 100% taking us to Germany and I’m gonna go to the first bar I see and drink until I drop.”

Takina wondered what a drunk Chisato would look like. An image of red-faced Chisato begging to be carried home, or one whose hands would go just about everywhere they weren’t supposed to, or maybe one that would go even further all popped up in Takina’s mind, causing one thought to resound through her head:

Scary.

Still though, seeing the complete state of joy that Mizuki appeared to be in caused conflicting thoughts in Takina’s mind. Who knows? Maybe having a drink with Chisato could be a rather enjoyable experience. This thought was, however, interrupted by Chisato making another advance towards the wine bottle. Mika put his hand down on the table, speaking in a calm, yet firm voice.

“That’s enough. You should be home by now.”

“Eh? But it’s only-”

Chisato’s look of defiance was wiped off of her face as she looked at the clock, her lips thinning. Mika looked at the clock as well before finishing her sentence.

“-5 am. C’mon, you should turn in already. Your flight leaves tomorrow.”

“...Fine.”

Before leaving the room, however, Chisato walked up to Takina with an innocent grin on her face.

She’s definitely up to something.

Chisato leaned into Takina, causing Takina’s cheeks to go slightly pink before whispering:

“Are you sure you don’t want to join my futon?”

Takina’s face flushed before she placed her hands over her mouth and sheepishly shook her head.

“Alright then! Let me know if you’re ever interested, Ta-ki-na-chan~”

After Chisato left, there were a few minutes of deafening silence before Mizuki loudly broke it.

“What the hell was that display?!!?!”

“I-it was nothing-”

“‘Nothing’ my ass! She walks off with that coy smile and you’re gonna tell me that it’s nothing! Something’s going on here!”

“I-I swear, it wasn’t anything-”

Takina was looking to Kurumi for help but unfortunately for her, Kurumi seemed just as incensed and her face was just as red. Takina noticed an empty wine glass at her seat before realizing:

They’re both blackout drunk!

“I knew that something was going on when I saw those necklaces! You guys are 100% a couple! Jeez, you were so obvious! I knew something would happen after Chisato ran off after you!”

“That’s not… I mean…”

Takina now turned to Mika who merely chuckled to himself, an empty shot glass of spirits confirming her worst fears:

Our manager’s a lightweight! How’d I get trapped between all these drunks?

“I guess I’ll be having a daughter-in-law soon…”

“H-hey, that’s not what I… I mean… uh… I’ve gotta head to bed, bye-”

“You’re not leaving until you give us the scoop!”

Takina sheepishly sat back down in her seat, red-faced but still relatively clear-headed.

“I-if you must know, then…”

###

“Yeah? And what happened after that?” - Kurumi

Takina was no longer clear-headed.

“W-well… I kissed her.”

Takina’s face had been completely red for the past 5 minutes as she recounted the events of the evening. Mika and Kurumi had remained mostly silent, but that only meant more time for Mizuki to interject and embarrass Takina even further.

“This isn’t fair! How come I try all my life to get a boyfriend and you just come in and take Chisato?”

Takina cleared her throat, ignoring Mizuki’s comment.

“A-anyways, after that, she said she wanted to get matching necklaces…”

"So, that’s what happened after the 2 of you ran off to the park together?"

Takina raised an eyebrow.

"How did you… did you watch us with a drone?!"

"A hacker never reveals their secrets~"

Takina was about to tackle a smug-faced Kurumi to the ground before her thoughts were interrupted by Mizuki.

“You’re turning our vacation into a honeymoon…”

If Takina’s blush had receded at all from offering the idea of the vacation, it returned in full force from Kurumi and Mizuki’s comment.

“I-it’s not a honeymoon and we’re not getting married yet…”

Takina had all but lost the ability to speak, prompting Kurumi to fill the silence instead.

“In any case, I have been looking to try some games on american servers and while I would prefer the mainland, I guess this is the best I’ll get for now.”

Mika nodded in agreement.

“I think that the trip will be a nice change of pace. Mizuki? Thoughts?”

“I think that Hawaii will be fun.”

“You’re just thinking about the hot guys you can meet-”

Kurumi was cut off by Mizuki knocking her on the head with a platter.

By this point, Takina had somewhat regained her speech, even giving a giggle at Mizuki and Kurumi’s exchange. Mizuki, however, had a look of realization before leaned forward as if examining Takina.

“Wait… If you two are dating, then doesn’t that mean that Chisato was telling the truth about the underwear that one time?”

“What on earth do you mean-”

And then Takina’s blush came back with a vengeance.

“T-that’s not- We weren’t dating back then!”

Kurumi jumped on the opportunity to tease Takina a little.

“Oh? So, the 2 of you were already in a relationship where you share underwear?”

“You guys share underwear?! So if I look right now, then-”

Mizuki tried to flip up Takina’s skirt before getting a clean right hook in the side of the head from Takina who ran off to her room.

“I’m going home now!”

Kurumi stared at Mizuki’s limp frame on the ground for a few moments before muttering out:

“You deserved that.”

“I know…”

She apologized in the morning.

Chapter Text

“All remaining passengers traveling on the flight to Hawaii, please board the plane through terminal 23.”

Chisato and Takina both got up, both of them wearing a backpack behind them as they made their way towards their seats.

“I can’t believe you managed to convince the others to go to Hawaii, let alone score tickets for us at the last minute!”

Takina gave a proud smile while responding.

“Well, they just had a few spots available, so I took them. They only had 2, though, so the others are taking a different route. It works out, though, since it means that they can set up shop before we get there.”

“So, you gave us time to goof off?”

Takina rolled her eyes at Chisato’s innocent look as they found their seats and stowed their bags under the seat in front of them..

“That’s not exactly what I was planning, but sure. You could call it that.”

“Oh, so it’s couple bonding time?”

Takina stopped in the middle of buckling her seatbelt, snapping to look at Chisato with her face turning red.

“U-uh, I… uh…”

Chisato interrupted her thinking by flicking her in the forehead.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“You’re just too defenseless, Takina-chan~”

Takina grumbled at the jolly look that Chisato had on her face. For all that talk about loving her until the day she died, Chisato sure seemed like the only thing she loved to do was to torment her. Still, it wasn’t as if this was too unpleasant as Takina found herself humming a tune while the plane taxied

“So what happened after I left?”

“Hm?”

A look of curiosity adorned Chisato’s expression, prompting Takina to recount the events of the previous night.

“I convinced them to come with us on vacation.”

“Yeah, but there’s gotta be more than just that, right?”

“There is…”

Chisato listened with interest creeping into her expression.

“Yeah? There is?”

“Kurumi asked about the necklaces, so I told her about us.”

“About us? But doesn’t that mean-”

Chisato cut herself off mid sentence, her cheeks going red as her expression turned into an uneasy smile.

“O-oh, you told her?”

Alarm bells rang in Takina’s mind as worry darted across her face.

“Was I not supposed to do that? Goodness, I’m so sorry, I should’ve consulted you first before-”

“No, it’s fine! I-in any case, is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?”

Takina squinted at Chisato’s face, growing more concerned by the second. It wasn’t hot at all here; it was quite cold. In addition, Chisato seemed to be red-faced and sweating, her stammering not making things better at all. 

“Are you alright, Chisato?”

Chisato stopped giggling to herself before giving a nod.

“The plane hasn’t taken off yet, so I’m better than ever. Was there something- eep! ”

Takina had leant in, brushing aside Chisato’s hair as their faces got closer and closer.

“H-hang on, Takina! W-we’re in public, and isn’t it a bit early for this kind of-”

*press*

Chisato was all but struck dumb, only able to make an indecipherable squeak as Takina pushed aside her own hair, pressing their foreheads together. Their eyes were locked, neither of them able to look away before Takina broke the silence.

“I think you might have a fever.”

“U-uh, maybe, but before that, uh…”

Chisato covered her mouth with the back of her hand, barely able to mutter out a complete sentence in a hushed yet flustered tone.

“Personal space? P-please…”

Takina’s eyebrows raised as a look of realization swept across her face accompanied by a blush just as powerful as Chisato’s. As they broke eye contact, Takina was only able to mutter out one word before both of them locked their gazes to the floor in front of them.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, it just surprised me. That’s all.”

After a few minutes where neither of them said a word, the engines roared to life, taking them into the air. Takina found herself distracted, her embarrassment being replaced by a sense of wonder as she stared at the ground rapidly disappearing beneath them.

“You glad you took the window seat now?”

Takina turned to see a smug grin coming from Chisato before rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, fine. I admit it, I’m glad that you forced me to take the window seat.”

While purchasing the tickets, Takina and Chisato had argued over who would take the window seat and the aisle. Takina insisted on taking the aisle as she said that it was safer in the event of a crash, only changing her mind when Kurumi asked her if she would rather Chisato die in the crash.

“I’m curious though, why’s it different now?”

Takina raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, when we do missions, we use stuff like helicopters and planes all the time.”

Takina thought for a moment before giving a shrug.

“I guess it’s easier to enjoy these kinds of things when you’re not worried about getting shot at.”

Chisato let out a loud belly laugh, clutching her sides as she kicked at the air in front of her (they were in business class and there was enough space between the seats for this).

“Pfft, ahahaha! Was that a joke I just heard? Are you sure that you’re the real Takina?”

Takina grinned at this over the top reaction before feigning annoyance.

“Oh, come on. Even I know how to loosen up.”

“And who’s that thanks too?”

Takina looked back at Chisato to see a wide, overly innocent smile on her face. Breathing a sigh with frustration mingled with amusement, Takina spoke in a resigned tone.

“That would be you.”

Chisato covered her mouth with her hands while giggling into them and kicking her feet (a gesture that Takina would never admit that she found adorable) before seeming to remember something and reaching into her bag.

“Need something?”

“Yeah. I remember packing everything I needed…”

Takina rolled her eyes. The 2 of them had gotten ready in a scramble in order to make it to the flight on time. Well, the more accurate thing to say would be that Takina had gotten ready in a scramble as Chisato had packed her bag with almost nothing, deciding instead to send the rest of her things with the others.

“I bet you wish you’d done what I did, hm?”

Takina turned away, making an irritated noise. Sure, she had spent about an hour making sure that she had packed everything she needed in addition to another half hour checking her baggage, but that wasn’t her fault!

“Shut up, Chisato.”

The seatbelt symbol turned off and Takina looked out the window, becoming immediately distracted.

“Look, Chisato. Doesn’t that cloud look like a poodle?”

Takina waited for a few moments only to get no response. She looked over at Chisato who still seemed to be looking around in her bag.

“Chisato?”

Chisato flinched before looking up with an apologetic smile.

“Ah. Sorry about that. What were you saying?”

“Doesn’t that cloud look like a poodle?”

When Takina turned around, however, she found that the cloud had either dissipated or been turned into something incomprehensible.

“Huh. I guess it does.”

Takina gave Chisato a slightly confused look as she leaned past her to look out the window from the aisle seat.

“Is something wrong, Chisato?”

That’s when Takina noticed that Chisato’s skin seemed to be oddly pale. In addition, her hand felt cold as it brushed past her thigh and her face seemed to be sweaty, glistening in the sun.

“Huh? Oh, I just forgot my motion sickness meds, heh.”

Chisato gave a weak laugh before slumping back into her seat. Seeing this, Takina reached into her own bag, pulling out a box of pills.

“I’ve got some you can use.”

Chisato lit up as she began to reach over.

“Really?! I guess wasting 2 hours to prepare isn’t such a bad thing after all!”

An irritated expression immediately formed on Takina’s face as she pulled her hand back, eliciting a confused look from Chisato.

“What are you doing?”

“Remember to ask politely with a ‘please’, ok?”

Chisato blinked twice before continuing with a shaky grin.

“Ehehe, very funny, Takina! Now, if you excuse me-”

Chisato tried to snatch it again only for Takina to again pull her hand away at the last second.

“C’mon, just hand it over!”

“All you have to do is say ‘please’. Is that so hard?”

“Just give it to me already!”

Whether it be because of Chisato’s weakened condition or dumb luck, it was fairly easy for Takina to keep the bottle away from Chisato. Takina felt a strange sense of glee welling up inside of her as Chisato’s cries became more and more desperate.

“P-please… Can I have the bottle, T-Takina?”

Takina’s eyes went wie and her mouth opened in surprise. Between Chisato’s renewed sound of desperation mingled with defeat and humiliation, a feeling that Takina hadn’t experienced often before crept into her mind: a feeling that she couldn’t quite describe due to the lack of ‘education’ that Lycoris received on this topic.

“I-I said please already, so could you…”

“Ah, right.”

Takina handed over the bottle, her mind filled with a strange mixture of confusion, excitement, and embarrassment. She was snapped out of her trance by a tap on the shoulder as she turned to see an indignant Chisato with a furrowed brow and a pout.

“You really loved to see me defenseless like that, hm?”

And that’s when the realization hit Takinia like a truck, the meaning of what she was feeling finally clicking which caused her cheeks to burn bright red as she mumbled out a shaky apology.

“I-I’m so sorry, I was being selfish. I shouldn’t have acted like that; it wasn’t professional-”

“Woah, slow down there.”

Takina stopped as Chisato began to speak in a matter-of-fact tone.

“First, you don’t really need to apologize. After all…”

Chisato seemed to struggle to continue for a moment before giving a sigh.

“...I kinda brought this on myself. Second, you don’t have to worry about being professional since this isn’t a professional relationship.”

Takina felt a tinge of embarrassment but nodded nonetheless.

"Third, we're in the kind of relationship where that kind of 'selfishness' you mentioned is completely ok. Just maybe let me know when you're feeling 'selfish'."

Takina went bright red but Chisato continued for whatever reason, seemingly having something more important to do than teasing Takina.

"And by the way, if you're still feeling apologetic, then…"

Now it was Chisato's turn to blush as she extended her hand out to Takina who stared at it for a few seconds before Chisato clarified:

"I'm still feeling a little bit unwell, but I think I might feel a bit better if you held my hand for a bit."

A look of realization hit Takina before she spoke in a slightly nervous tone, her voice shaking as she spoke.

"In that case…"

Takina's blush intensified before she took Chisato's hand, their fingers interlocking as they shared the armrest.

"Is this much ok?"

Chisato looked at their interlocked hands before giving a few quick nods and a smile.

"Mhm! This is perfect!"

They stayed like that, their fingers intertwined as Takina tried and failed to distract herself with the clouds. Eventually, Chisato let go as she stood up.

"Hm?" 

Chisato simply gestured to the bathroom. After a few minutes, she came back to find that Takina's arm was no longer on the arm rest. Upon seeing her return, Takina muttered out a brief explanation.

"You seemed better, so you don't need to hold my hand, right?"

Chisato stayed seated, taking her time buckling her seatbelt before speaking in a somewhat shy but also playful voice.

"I don't need to, but…" 

Takina let out a gasp as Chisato reached past the arm rest, her fingers brushing over Takina's thigh before she found Takina's hand and took it in her own with a smile, placing it back on the arm rest.

"...how about I do it anyway?"

Takina's cheeks burned as she gave a quick nod.

"Of course, you can…"

They stayed like that for the rest of the flight.

Chapter Text

LycoReco’s new location was supposed to be under the radar, mainly serving as a location to make ends meet and get a foot in the market as long as they were in Hawaii.

At least, that’s how it was supposed to be.

Chisato had dashed into the back of the RV to find Takina tapping away at the computer while Kurumi watched over her shoulder.

“C’mon, Takina! We’re completely swamped, so we need you to come out here!”

Takina didn’t even blink.

“I’m working on our finances right now. Vacations don’t pay for themselves.”

Chisato pouted and sulked for a moment, staring at Takina work before she seemed to get an idea. She leaned right into Takina’s line of sight, a playful expression brewing on her face.

“So how do I look?”

Takina looked over at Chisato who was wearing a smile that seemed to light up the whole room.

Cute.

Takina went back to the computer, her expression mostly impassive.

“Isn’t that the same uniform as always?”

“Hey, that’s not answering the question!”

“I mean, you look the same as always.”

Kurumi watched this exchange with a rather amused expression on her face.

“Either way, the 2 of us are busy, so you’d better get back out there.”

Chisato gave Kurumi an irritated look.

“And what are you doing?”

“Supervising.”

Without missing a beat, Chisato spun Kurumi around and grabbed the back of her collar before dragging her out of the room.

Takina looked at the spot where Chisato was standing previously for a moment before getting back to work.

“I feel like there’s something she wants from me…”

###

“It’s finally over…”

Takina gave a tired, affirming nod as she and Chisato sat on the floor, leaning against each other with their backs touching.

“Whose turn is it to close up shop, again?”

“That would be you, Chisato.”

Chisato’s voice took on a whiny tone.

“But I don’t wanna close~ We’re on vacation, so shouldn’t we be relaxing?”

“You still have to clean up after yourself.”

Chisato sighed before standing up quickly which almost caused Takina to fall backwards.

“I’ve decided!”

Takina regathered herself and looked up at Chisato who had a determined smile on her face.

“You’ve decided?”

“After we clean, we’re going clothes shopping!”

Takina considered the idea for a moment before standing up and giving a nod.

“Sounds fun.”

Takina stared as Chisato went off, coming back with a broom, dustpan, mop, bucket, and washcloth.

“Isn’t it?”

Takina looked between the various items in Chisato’s grasp, giving her a quizzical expression when she held the broom and dustpan to her.

“What are you doing?”

Chisato spoke in the most pure, innocent voice she could muster.

“Well, I really want to spend more time with you now that we’re together, so what do you say we tackle this as a team?”

It was almost as if an arrow had struck Takina in the heart as Chisato seemed to emanate more light than the sun itself.

“Yes, that’s a great idea!”

Chisato beamed at her before going to get 2 aprons and pairs of gloves before they got to work.

###

“By the way, Chisato.”

Chisato stopped mopping and looked over at Takina who was washing cutlery.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

Takina hesitated for a moment before saying:

“Why don’t we start cleaning together from now on?”

“Eh? But I-”

Chisato was about to complain, but when she saw Takina’s look of expectation and innocence, it was as if someone had supercharged her heart and before she knew it, she couldn’t stop herself.

“Of course! When’s the next time one of us is closing?”

Chisato cursed herself for giving in so easily.

“Oh?”

Takina checked the schedule before turning back to Chisato.

“That would be in 4 days.”

Chisato sighed, going back to mopping.

“That’s pretty far away….”

Takina shrugged.

“It could be fun, though.”

Chisato snorted and there was a bit of silence for a bit before an idea began to form in her mind.

“So, is it a date, then?”

“Eh?”

Takina immediately felt a hot blush beginning to spread across her face.

“B-but I… uh…”

Chisato looked at Takina with a smug grin, enjoying every bit of her attempts to recollect herself.

“I don’t-”

“Yeah, yeah, it would be pretty boring if our first date as a couple was just closing the shop.”

Takina still hadn’t fully processed the situation. Upon receiving no response, Chisato continued, taking a deep breath in and out.

“Do you have any plans for today?”

Takina seemed to come back to earth when she was directly asked a question.

“N-not in particular.”

Chisato’s face took on a pink tinge as she giggled and walked up to Takina with a shy smile.

“In that case, why don’t we make our first date happen today?”

Takina was taken aback for a moment, unable to talk as her blush overtook her whole face before she broke eye contact, giving a small nod.

“Y-yes, we could do that… Uh… Where do you plan on going?”

Chisato began to pack up the cleaning supplies before turning back to face Takina.

“On a different note, how do I look?”

That question caught Takina off guard. With a slightly confused expression, she responded in a questioning voice.

“The same as always? Why do you ask?”

Chisato gave an indignant look before finishing putting away all of the supplies and running up to Takina with a decisive expression.

“I’ve decided where we’re going!”

“Hm? Ok. Where is it?”

Chisato gave a cheeky grin before grabbing Takina’s hand which immediately garnered another blush from the both of them, though Takina’s face was measurably redder than Chisato’s.

“Wha- Chisato! What was that for?!”

With a slightly surprised expression, Chisato let go, putting her fingers to her chin, a faux thinking expression generating on her face.

“I wonder…”

Chisato’s hands then both went behind her back as her cheeky grin reappeared as she bent forward so that her face was mere inches from Takina’s.

“I guess that you’re so cute I couldn’t help myself~”

It was at times like these that Takina really wondered about just how weak she was to this girl’s charms. Her red eyes seemed to pierce right into Takina’s soul, her skin was rough from years of combat yet it seemed as though it was completely perfect for her. And her smile. How could it be so infuriating, yet so irresistible at the same time?

“So are we going? Or are you gonna keep ogling me?”

Takina snapped out of her trance, a defensive expression rising into her face.

“I was not- I mean…”

Her fire immediately dissipated as she tried to hide her face with the ends of her hair.

“W-we should change out of our work outfits.”

Chisato looked at Takina’s new form with an amused smile before giving a giggle.

“Alright then~”

A/N: Short chapter this week. Was thinking of taking a break but couldn’t stop myself from doing a little bit of writing. Back to roughly full-length next week~

Chapter Text

“A department store?”

Takina gave Chisato a bemused look as she saw Chisato carrying a multitude of different clothing items in her hands with a grin.

“Yeah! We’re on vacation, so we may as well be dressed for the occasion.”

Takina nodded along before Chisato disappeared behind the door. A firm *click* was heard as it locked behind her.

“I wonder what kind of outfits she wanted to try on?”

Takina wondered this aloud to herself, closing her eyes and imagining Chisato in various different outfits. However, whether it was a sundress, shorts, leggings, with or without a sunhat, or with any other clothing combinations, Takina could only come to one conclusion.

She’d probably look cute no matter what she wears…

After a few more moments of anticipation, the door opened to reveal Chisato wearing an orange shirt with the word “HAWAII” written on it with a picture of what looked like a beach. She wore this along with a pair of biking shorts and her hair down.

“So how do I look?”

Takina eyed her for a moment before giving a shrug.

“Pretty average.”

Chisato deflated, a defeated smile appearing on her face.

“You sure don’t pull any punches, huh?”

“What do you mean?”

Chisato rolled her eyes before an idea seemed to pop into her head as she ran off into the clothing section.

“What are you doing?”

“Just stay right there, I’ll be right back!”

Takina watched as Chisato ran off into the endless sea of clothing before returning with an outfit. Takina waited for Chisato to run back into the change room only for Chisato to stop in front of Takina and shove the clothes towards her. Takina raised an eyebrow, prompting an explanation from Chisato.

“It’s for you!”

“Eh? You sure?”

Chisato responded to Takina’s look of skepticism with her usual bright smile.

“Sure, I’m sure! I showed you one of my outfits, so you’ve gotta dress up for me! Don’t think that you can look at this free of charge.”

Takina rolled her eyes when Chisato struck a pose, but gave a smile all the same as she accepted the outfit and went into the changing room. However, upon seeing the complete set of clothes, an observation found its way into her mind.

Wait, isn’t this a lot like… 

Without a second thought, she quickly changed into the new set of clothes and put on her sandals before stepping out of the room to greet an obviously excited Chisato.

“So, how do I look?”

It wasn’t a complicated outfit. It was a silky white sundress and a simple sun hat with a blue stripe through it, but Chisato seemed to love it all the same. She had practically lit up, zipping around Takina as if examining every inch of her body.

“Oh my god, it looks so adorable on you, Takina!”

“Isn’t this similar to what you were wearing in that photo that Saori-san sent us?”

Chisato paused for a moment before giving a cheeky grin.

“Maybe it is?”

What is this girl up to?

“I guess if you don’t want to try anything else, it’s my turn again?”

Takina snapped out of her trance before giving a quick nod which prompted Chisato to dash back into the room. Takina, meanwhile, changed back into the overalls she was in earlier.

When Takina exited the change room, Chisato was already there waiting for her.

“What the-”

The sight of Chisato wearing a white crop top with denim short-shorts had rendered Takina speechless. Chisato said nothing as Takina’s face began flooding with colour until Chisato decided that saying something would make things just a little more interesting.

“So, how do I look?”

Takina wasn’t facing Chisato but managed to mutter out a response through the hand that was clasped over her mouth.

“You look… you look cu- I mean…”

Takina regretted falling in love with this moron.

Chisato, for her part, had begun to smile wider than she ever had before in anticipation.

“Yeah? What do I look like?”

When Takina remained silent, however, Chisato began to grow slightly indignant.

“C’mon, what were you going to say?”

“I can’t just blurt it out, it’s too embarrassing!”

Chisato gave a sigh before a look of determination began to generate from her face.

“Alright, then. If you can’t make yourself say it, I’ll just force you to.”

And with a final grin, Chisato dashed back into the changeroom, causing Takina’s mind to begin to race.

Geez! I swear, I don’t think I’ll be able to take any more of this! Is that girl trying to kill me or something?

Takina had buried her head in her hands, trying to stop her imagination from running wild while she heard rustling on the other side of the door.

“I’m done, Takina!”

Takina braced herself as the door swung open but no amount of preparation would prepare her for what she would see.

“So how do I look now?”

Chisato had a pink 2 piece dress with a flower necklace and crown draped on her neck and head. Her dressed flowed for what seemed like forever and the flowers seemed almost seemed to dance off of her body and before Takina could stop herself, her mouth began before her mind as she said:

“Beautiful.”

Chisato’s smile was briefly replaced by a shocked expression before being immediately replaced with a giddy grin as Takina’s face burned bright red.

“Ah! You finally said it, you said it, you said it! Ahaha!”

“Y-you can stop saying that now…”

Chisato backed off, though her toothy smile remained on her face.

“So, do you have anything else you’d want to try?”

Takina shook her head, her face still feeling hot to the touch.

“I think I’m good for today…”

Chisato raised her eyebrows before patting Takina on the head a few times, eliciting a short squeak.

“!”

“Aww, did I stimulate you too much? It’s alright, we can always come by later~”

Takina said nothing, her defences having been completely dashed by her partner.

###

The 2 of them were now at the cash register. Takina hadn’t tried on any other outfits and as such, was in her black shirt and denim overalls while Chisato wore the same 2-piece dress and flower accessories she had as before.

“Shouldn’t you pay for those?”

Chisato gave a sheepish grin.

“Well… I kinda already did?”

Takina narrowed her eyes.

“Wait, you don’t mean-”

“I might’ve prepared for today, just an eensy weensy bit.”

Takina’s cheeks went pink as she paid for her own dress and hat with a sigh. So Chisato had gone through the trouble of pre-purchasing an outfit and then pretending that she had just found it all for the express purpose of being called beautiful? In any case, as embarrassing as this was, Takina found it just a little bit endearing.

“I finally got you to call me beautiful~”

Just a little bit. She didn’t care about the adorable sense of childish joy that emanated from her one bit, or the wonderful sight that was the flowers that seemed to perfectly compliment her hair and skin, or maybe-

“Hello? Earth to Takina? You’re about to-”

*WHAM*

After realizing that she had tripped, Takina gave a sigh before rolling onto her back. The 2 of them were now on the beachside and the sun had begun to set. She then looked up to see Chisato extending her hand. Takina took it, feeling herself being pulled up by Chisato’s surprisingly strong arms before dusting herself off with her free hand.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Takina was slightly confused by the lack of Chisato’s usual energetic tone but ignored it, continuing to walk off.

Or at least, she tried to.

“Chisato? Can you let go?”

Takina looked at the playful grin on Chisato’s face as she felt her grip tightening on her own hand. That’s when she realized that Chisato wasn’t going to let go that easily.

“C’mon, we’re in public and this is embarrassing…”

“Oh? Is it?”

Crap. She’d just given Chisato an idea, hadn’t she?

A concerned and confused look adorned Takina’s face before she was yanked towards the sea at a breakneck pace.

“Wha- Chisato! What are you-”

Takina stopped as Chisato stopped running. She stared curiously as Chisato cupped both of her hands over her mouth, took a deep breath, and…

“I’m in love with Inoue Takina!”

Takina’s body jerked and her face instantly flashed beet red.

“What the heck are you doing?!”

Chisato continued, seemingly unbothered.

“Relax! There’s no one for miles!”

Chisato took another deep breath before yelling in an excited voice that caused Takina’s heart to leap into her throat, her face becoming overcome with embarrassment.

“I get to be with the girl that I love for the rest of my life! I’m the luckiest girl in the world!”

Takina was absolutely burning with embarrassment at this point.

“Isn’t this way too much?”

Chisato gave a loud laugh, clutching her belly.

“What?! This isn’t even close to enough! C’mon, it’s your turn now.”

“I…”

Takina’s face was still flush, but she cleared her throat and stepped forward.

“You’ve gotta loosen up, Takina!”

Chisato gave Takina a light punch in the shoulder, eliciting a small smile. Takina took a deep breath, cupping her hands over her mouth and leaning towards the ocean.

“The girl who saved my life is in love with me and I’m going to be with her even when she becomes too old to walk on her own! I-I’m really the luckiest…”

Takina became unable to continue when she felt Chisato’s gaze on her back. When she turned around to face her, her face had already been turned completely red.

“Why’d you stop?”

Takina looked away towards the ocean, tucking her knees into her chest.

“It was too embarrassing.”

“Eh? C’mon, don’t stop. I want to hear you proclaim your love to me some more…”

“You talk too much.”

“It’s what you signed up for.”

There were a few more moments of silence as Chisato sat down right next to Takina, her playful grin remaining on her face.

“So, did you like it?”

Takina’s nerves had somewhat subsided. She turned to shoot Chisato a look of slight confusion.

“Hm?”

“Holding hands.”

“Gak-”

Takina put her arm between the 2 of them, yet this didn’t deter Chisato who leaned under it so that her face was mere inches away from Takina’s.

“So? What did you think about it?”

“I…”

Takina broke eye contact.

“That’s confidential…”

Chisato pouted for a moment before leaning back and crossing her arms.

“Hmph. Fine, if you didn’t like it, then I guess I won’t do it again.”

Takina looked back at Chisato.

“Hah?”

“If you don’t admit that you liked it, then we aren’t holding hands tomorrow.”

“Wha-”

Takina hesitated, looking at Chisato’s look of irritation for a moment before finally cracking. 

“In that case, then…”

“Yes? ‘In that case’?”

Takina winced with embarrassment before tentatively reaching her hand out to Chisato.

“In that case, then can I please have your hand back?”

Chisato almost went giddy with excitement, her smile nearly falling off her face before she eagerly took Takina’s outstretched hand.

“Well, who am I to refuse such a heartfelt request?”

“You talk too much…”

Chisato rolled her eyes, but that remark wasn’t enough to wipe the smile off of her face.

“You’re a real charmer, y’know?”

Takina didn’t respond and the 2 of them walked in mostly silence before…

“Y’know, I was wondering when you guys were going to notice me.”

The 2 of them whipped around, still holding hands before they spotted a drone with a familiar logo on it. Realizing who it was, Chisato dropped Takina’s hand as if it were coated in acid before shouting out:

“Kurumi?!”

The drone once again flickered to life, raspy audio making it through a speaker that neither of them were able to see, even with their excellent eyesight.

“Yep. Once you guys are done making heart eyes at each other, you can come back to the RV to pick up the keys to your safe house.”

With that, the drone flew off, leaving a red-faced Chisato and a stunned Takina in its wake. 

“Well… I guess we should get going, right?”

Takina gave a nod and was about to start walking before she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Chisato’s outstretched hand.

“Shall we?”

Though her cheeks were bright red, Takina gave a reluctant nod and grabbed Chisato’s hand with a shy smile.

“Alright then.”

A/N: Honestly, I want to thank you all for sticking around this long. It’s frankly shocking to see just how supportive the LycoReco fanbase is. I guess we’re all starved for ChisaTaki, huh? In any case, I want to make it clear that I am 100% seeing this fic through to the end.

That being said, I’ve got other fics to work on- I mean a life outside of writing so I’m going to be taking a month-long hiatus from this fic.

So yeah. Thanks for sticking around and I’ll see you guys in a month (or sooner if you read my other fics).

Chapter Text

The house that Chisato and Takina arrived at seemed relatively unassuming. From the outside, it merely looked like an abandoned warehouse. As Chisato strode through the door, she began to eye the kitchen from top to bottom. 

“It looks better on the inside, huh?”

Takina nodded in agreement. While the kitchen seemed to be relatively normal with 1 sink and an average amount of cupboards/cutlery, it was a far cry from the decrepit appearance than what the outside possessed.

“I suppose we should start unpacking, Chisato?”

“Mhm!”

Bringing their bags with them, they headed into the bedroom. It was fairly barren with a window that had light curtains along with a hard wooden floor.

“Dang, I guess that Teach didn’t spring for a good bed, huh?”

“I’ll start unpacking. Can you try to find the futons?”

Chisato gave a peppy smile and a salute.

“Aye-aye, captain!”

Takina rolled her eyes, though she couldn’t suppress the smile that began to form on her face as she began to dig around in her bag. Meanwhile, Chisato appeared to think to herself for a few moments, tapping her foot as she did.

“Well in any case, I remember Mizuki-san saying that the futons were in the bottom of the closet, so…”

Chisato headed into the closet, poking around until she managed to spot the futon on the floor.

“Gotcha! Now, where can I find the other one?”

Chisato looked.

And she looked.

And she looked…

…

“So in the end, you could only find one futon?”

“Yeah, it’s funny how that works out, heh…”

Even though Takina and Chisato had already shared a bed, the 2 of them were painfully aware that this would be the first time they would be sharing a bed since, well…

Since we became lovers…

They stayed silent for a moment, both turning slightly red at the prospect before Chisato let out a nervous giggle.

“Ehehe… I suppose your wish is gonna be coming true, huh?”

“Hm? What do you-”

Takina’s face went completely flush as she remembered their previous statements about sleeping in the same bed.

“...We should go eat dinner…”

“Eh? I thought we were unpacking, though?”

Chisato’s mechanical heart melted when she watched Takina attempt to hide her face by wrapping it in her hair. This effort proved fruitless as her cheeks were still completely visible from the side. However, Chisato had largely regained her composure and began prancing off to the kitchen.

“So, what are we eating?”

Takina took a deep breath, feeling the blush receding from her face as she looked in the fridge, then in the pantry.

“Hm… some veggies, eggs, and noodles… I guess we’re having those today. You find an apron anywhere?”

Chisato scanned the room before spotting one hanging off the handle of a cupboard.

“Found one!”

“Thank you-”

Takina looked at the front of it, finding that there was a phrase written on the front:

“The secret ingredient is LOVE! ”

The word “LOVE” was enclosed in a heart, causing a pink tinge to appear in Takina’s cheeks.

“What, are you embarrassed just by seeing the word ‘love’?”

Takina rolled her eyes at Chisato who merely wore a cheeky grin.

“Go keep unpacking or something while I cook.”

“Aye-aye.”

Chisato headed off and began to do various different tasks to make the house slightly more livable such as setting up their toothbrushes (Chisato took great pleasure in putting them both in one cup) or moving their clothes from their suitcases to the closet (Chisato made sure to steer clear of the underwear). However, after finishing that, her face began to droop as a new feeling began to set in.

Bored…

She flopped back onto the futon, staring at the ceiling.

What to do… I got our clothes, I set our toiletries, and everything's just a out done… I guess I could always bother Takina a little.

A mischievous smile began to appear on Chisato's face as she sprung up onto her feet, making her way into the kitchen.

"Hi, Takina~"

Takina took one look at Chisato's face before a sense of nervousness mixed with anticipation began to overtake her.

"Hi. You done?"

Chisato gave a nod before leaning over Takina's shoulder, visually examining the pot of noodles before taking a whiff of it.

"Mmm! That smells lovely!"

"S-so it does…"

Chisato's words went in one ear and out the other as Takina found it impossible to concentrate on anything but the feeling of Chisato’s chin on her shoulder and her body pressing into Takina’s back.

“U-um, Chisato? Could you…”

“Could you pass the ladle?”

Takina’s voice was cut off as Chisato swiped the ladle from her hands, taking a hearty slurp from the soup.

“Argh, hot! But good.”

Takina gave a brief giggle at this reaction, forgetting about their current position foir a moment.

“Well of course it is, I’m still making it-”

At that moment, when Takina turned to face Chisato, she found that their faces were now mere inches from each other. Everything flooded into Takina’s senses all at once from Chisato’s body on her back, or her arms that were almost wrapped around Takina’s front, or the feeling of her breath on Takina’s face, or the shy blush that had began to form on both of their faces.

It took everything she had to stay standing.

The 2 of them stayed like that for a few moments, neither of them daring to move closer to one another, yet seemingly refusing to move further apart. The world seemed to stand still until the scent of noodles reminded them of the open flame right in front of them.

“Gah! I’ll finish this, alright Chisato?”

Chisato gave a quick nod before backing up to the relatively small wooden table in the middle of the room. She responded in her usual peppy tone, albeit with a slightly shaky texture to her voice.

“I’ll be waiting for you, then.”

###

“Here we are.”

Takina set the pot down on a coaster and both she and Chisato filled their plates with noodles.

“Itadakimasu.” x2

They each took a pair of chopsticks and began to eat. As they did, however, Takina looked over to see a rather peculiar expression on Chisato. She seemed as though she had become a critic overnight, mulling something over in her mind as she closed her eyes to increase her focus.

“Like the food?”

“Not exactly…”

It was as if an arrow had shot from Chisato’s mouth straight into Takina’s heart. She went pale, barely managing to make a sound as she slumped onto the table.

“My food… isn’t… good…”

“Ah, wait, that’s not right!”

Chisato began to wave her hands about in front of her in denial before shifting to a thoughtful expression, though sweat continued to drip out of her face.

“How do I put this… It’s not good in the way that food from a 5-star restaurant would be, but… It’s more like the food that Teach makes? But it’s different somehow…”

Chisato opened her eyes, mindlessly scanning the room before her eyes fell on the apron.

“The secret ingredient is LOVE! ”

Chisato’s face went red as she leaned her face on her arm, supporting her cheek with her hand. After a few moments of this, however, seeing the still-dejected look on Takina’s face prompted a giggle from Chisato as she reached over to Takina and…

*pat* *pat*

“There, there, everything’s fine. You know, I still prefer your cooking over everything else, Takina.”

Chisato was slightly confused when Takina didn’t visually react to this until she saw the redness in Takina’s ears and what little of her face Chisato could see. 

“...Stop…”

“Hm? Do you really want me to stop?”

Chisato smiled to herself as Takina merely made a sound of indignation, staying still as she gave a sigh afterwards.

“I guess you just really want to be spoiled, huh Takina-chan?”

Red-faced, Takina looked up and tried to mount some sort of defense…

“That’s not- mmph! ”

Both Chisato and Takina’s eyes shot open as Chisato leaned in, attempting to give Takina a kiss on the forehead, only to close her eyes and miss entirely hitting Takina’s mouth instead.

The 2 of them sprung apart, each of them turning entirely red and remaining silent for a few moments until Chisato tried to diffuse the tension.

“Ehehe… I guess I just stole my first kiss back?”

“Huh? What do you-”

And then Takina thought back to their first kiss. She remembered the passion she felt in that moment, the way she felt as though she had lost control of her body and the seemingly endless bliss she had felt. After a moment, however, she came to a startling realization, bowing her head down.

“I’m sorry.”

“Eh?”

Chisato was more than slightly confused at this display.

“For what, exactly?”

“For our first kiss.”

“Eh?!”

Chisato’s face filled with colour as she averted her gaze.

“What are you mentioning that for?”

“Back then, I didn’t consult your opinion before kissing you.”

Chisato raised an eyebrow before a look of realization shot across her face.

“Ah, that’s not a problem! You can kiss me whenever you want, Takina.”

Chisato watched carefully to gauge Takina’s reaction. First, she seemed relieved, all of the tension in her muscles letting go as she went back to her food. As she was about to take another bite, however, an idea seemed to pop into her head.

“Takina? You doing ok- eep!”

Chisato let out a squeak when Takina began to lean across the table towards her, moving closer and closer. She braced herself, closing her eyes until…

“H-hang on, maybe wait until after dinner? I-”

*wipe*

Chisato reopened her eyes to see Takina putting a napkin from her hand into the trash before coming back to the table.

“Why would I wait to do that?”

Chisato sunk into her chair, her voice taking on a more husky tone.

“Oh, it was nothing. Just thought you were gonna do something else…”

Takina raised an eyebrow.

“What exactly did you think I would do?”

“Do I have to spell it out for you? Well, I guess that I signed myself up for this…”

Chisato pulled out her phone, holding it up to her mouth and saying:

“Hey, siri? Search ‘kiss’.”

Takina took a moment to process this before her face went completely red. They stood still for a few seconds before a short *snap* sound was heard. Barely holding back laughter and wearing a shit-eating grin, Chisato slowly turned her phone around to reveal a picture of the exact moment that Takina’s brain had finished loading.

“Chisato!”

Takina dove across the table, trying to swipe the phone, only for Chisato to swipe it away.

“Delete that!”

“Never!”

Their dinner lay forgotten as they dashed around the house, continuing the chase late into the night.

Chapter Text

“In the end, you couldn’t even touch me, huh?”

It was already dark outside and Chisato & Takina were now back at the dinner table.

“Whatever.”

“But it was fun, wasn’t it?”

Takina rolled her eyes before a pink tinge appeared in her cheeks as she looked to the side.

“You… you said you wouldn’t show anyone, right?”

“Of course not! After all, I’m the only one who deserves to see you like that.”

Takina was struck dumb as she tried to mount a semblance of a defense. Failing to do so, she merely returned to her food without contest.

“Better you than Kurumi, I suppose…”

Chisato gave a brief giggle before the 2 of them settled back into silence. She watched Takina eat her food, noticing how her movements were loose and fluid, tendons stretching and pulling back and forth both in her arms and her face. Her movements, however, began to get more rigid over the span of a few moments.

“Is something wrong, Takina?”

Takina didn’t say anything for a moment, staring so hard at her food that she practically drilled holes into it.

“No, it’s just that…”

Takina’s cheeks began to go red as her voice took on a delicate, almost wispy tone.

“Could you stop staring, please?”

The realization dawned on Chisato’s face before she too turned red and mumbled out an apology.

“S-sorry about that…”

…

“Y’know…”

Chisato looked back up, her attention being easily drawn by Takina.

“Yes?”

Takina put down her chopsticks before holding out her thumb and index finger curled close to each other before saying:

“I-if you want to, you can look a little bit…”

Chisato was speechless for a few moments before a hot blush spread across both of their faces.

“I’ll keep that in mind…”

She kept sneaking glances for the rest of dinner.

###

Having already finished eating, Chisato now stared out the window at the night sky.

“It’s already dark out, isn’t it?”

Takina nodded, grabbing each of their plates and moving over to the sink.

“Yep. Almost lights out, huh?”

Chisato raised an eyebrow.

“That’s how you’re gonna call it?”

“Well, we have to bathe and such beforehand, but yes.”

Chisato suppressed a giggle at Takina’s slight look of confusion before getting up with a laid-back expression.

“Well in that case, I’ll take the first bath?”

Takina gave a nod.

“Yeah. I’ll clean up over here in the meantime. Don’t forget your change of clothes and a towel.”

“No need to nag me about it~”

With a smile, Chisato exited the room, leaving Takina alone in the kitchen. She rolled up her sleeves as a determined smile adorned her face.

“Looks like I have to get to work.”

After locating the detergent, Takina got to work scrubbing the dishes. However, while she finished up (they did not have many dishes), a thought crossed her mind.

I guess this is the first time we’re living together as a couple, huh?

A light blush generated on Takina’s face as she remembered the first time she had seen Chisato right after getting out of the shower. She hadn’t paid her much mind, thinking of it as nothing more than a procedure that ensured their comfort while cohabiting, but now…

“I’m back!”

Takina nearly leapt into the ceiling as she heard a sugary voice behind her. Before she could say anything or even turn around, however, she felt the warm weight of arms wrapping around her waist, completely freezing in Chisato’s arms.

“I missed you~”

Takina wasn’t quite sure what she felt when she heard Chisato crooning in her ear, but while not exactly in her comfort zone, it wasn’t exactly… undesirable either. She would probably ask Mizuki what to do later.

For now though, there was nothing to do but to continue washing the dishes and wait for Chisato to tire and let go. After all, it wasn’t as if she disliked the feeling of being hugged, even if it made it slightly harder for her to focus on the task at hand. Still, she was almost done, so she would probably have to shake off Chisato in a little bit.

Maybe I should work a little slower?

It was incredibly warm. It wasn’t often that Takina felt at ease; her job provided plenty a reason to be on her toes, but in Chisato’s arms, it was almost like all of that had melted away. All that was left was the comfy feeling of having a partner to lean on.

“Still not gonna say anything?”

Realizing that she hadn’t been speaking, Takina snapped back to reality.

“O-oh, sorry, I was just a little lost in the moment.”

Takina wondered why Chisato wasn’t saying anything. Curious, she tried to loosen herself from Chisato’s grip, only for the hug to tighten around her stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of her.

“Gak! What the heck?”

“Ah, sorry! It’s just that…”

Takina just managed to crane her neck back, just barely glimpsing Chisato’s red face before being forcibly turned back forward. 

Huh? What the-

Realization dawned on Takina’s face along with a hot blush as she became all-too aware of Chisato breathing out words on the back of her neck.

“Just… don’t look at my face for a few moments, ok?”

Shakily putting away the last dish, Takina got a quick nod and the 2 of them stayed like that for a while. They each simply stood there, taking in the fresh air flowing in through the window as their breaths slowly became one. They subconsciously began to sync their breathing, inhaling and exhaling at the same time, feeling the rise and fall of one another’s chest while Chisato had buried her face in the nape of Takina’s neck causing all sorts of sensations to form until after what seemed like forever, they finally broke apart.

“That was nice, hm?”

Takina couldn’t help but shyly nod in agreement as she turned to face Chisato.

“I guess so… In any case, it’s my turn for the bath, so…”

Her voice trailed off as she began to eye Chisato from head to toe, taking in every little detail she could find. She looked at Chisato’s simple pink nightgown and her hair which now hung just below her shoulders. Her signature red ribbon was now tied to a loop in her nightgown, forming a little bow as-

“Ah? So you get all embarrassed when I stare at you, but when you do it, it’s ok?”

Takina caught herself, her eyes going wide as a blush quickly spread across her face. She averted her eyes, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

“Nothing gets past you, huh?”

Chisato gave a grin before making a ‘watching you’ motion with her fingers, pointing them at her own eyes, then at Takina.

“Special eyes~”

Takina felt the tension drain out of her as she suppressed a giggle at this.

“I’ll be taking my bath now.”

She headed into their bedroom, grabbing a simple set of monochrome, blue pyjamas along with a towel before heading into the shower. As she undressed, she looked in the mirror, checking herself for any major blemishes or injuries she had acquired unbeknownst to her.

Nothing of note. At least, nothing new.

She gently ran her finger down the scar that cut across her shoulder. It didn’t hurt anymore; it had been far too long for that to happen, but she could still recall the feeling of having her nerves burned off from the sheer friction of the rope pulling against her body. Her attention then went to the bathtub which was empty, causing a look of confusion to manifest on her face.

She never used to drain the water after bathing. I wonder why she did-

Takina’s train of thought was derailed by a sudden realization that caused a blush to spring onto her face.

Ah. That’s why.

She filled up the tub and stepped in, her mind beginning to clear as she soaked in the water.

I wonder how this week is gonna look. Tomorrow, we’ve definitely gotta pick up some stuff like toiletries, a new futon, and probably some mould killer to do some cleaning, even if we’re just living here for a week. As for what happens after this week…

Takina paused, contemplating many different possibilities.

Maybe we could go back to Japan? There’s probably a lot of things we could do back there. Or maybe we could actually go to Germany? I’ve always been interested in that place, not to mention…

Takina shuddered at the thought of a drunk Chisato.

It’s hard to imagine any girl being more touchy than she already is…

Many of Takina’s thoughts came and went. After all, it wasn’t often that she could get some time where she could simply contemplate the thoughts floating around in her mind, but eventually, she got changed into her pyjamas and returned to the bedroom to find Chisato lying down in the futon with an open space next to her and a pillow in between herself and the space.

“What’s that?”

Chisato’s eyes fluttered open as she gave a smile.

“Hi.”

Takina could feel her heart skip a beat as she heard Chisato speaking with an almost childlike cuteness that almost seemed to feed her very soul. Slowly, she lowered herself down on the other side of the pillow, facing with her back to it.

“So, why the pillow?”

“I thought that it would be a little more comfortable for us. Y’know, since we just started dating and all.”

So even Chisato felt conscious of this kind of thing. There were a few moments of silence before Chisato spoke up.

“So, what plans do you have for tomorrow?”

Takina raised an eyebrow.

“Shouldn’t we be getting some sleep?”

“Yeah, but I thought it might be hard for you to sleep next to a girl as beautiful as myself.”

Takina couldn’t see Chisato’s expression, but she could almost hear the smirk in her voice as she said this.

“Well, am I wrong?”

If Chisato just turned around, Takina’s blushing face would’ve been all she needed for confirmation.

“...No.”

“Perfect! Then, what do you have planned?”

Takina hesitated for a moment, contemplating her options before merely saying:

“I guess I’ll be making up for lost time.”

…

“Eh? Eeehhhh? What’s that supposed to mean? C’mon, Takina, tell me! I wanna know!”

Takina gave a light chuckle at the whiny tone that Chisato’s voice had taken on before fully snuggling under the covers.

“I guess you’ll just have to wait until the morning.”

“Wha- don’t tease me like that, Takina! Dammit…”

Amidst Chisato’s whines and complaining, Takina finally managed to fall asleep with a content smile.

Chapter Text

The first thing that Takina realized when she woke up was that she probably should’ve closed the blinds before sleeping as rays from the sun shone directly into her face. The second thing that she noticed, however, was a familiar warm feeling wrapped around her waist and pressed up to her back. Sure enough, when she craned her neck to take a look around the room, she found the pillow that Chisato had set up tossed to the wayside as the girl in question had enveloped Takina in a tight hug. So tight, in fact, that she couldn’t even get out of bed.

“Chisato?!”

The only response that Takina received was a noise akin to purring as Chisato dug deeper into her back, seemingly pleased at hearing her name. Takina reached around, attempting to physically wake up Chisato only to lightly stroke her hair out of fear of potentially hurting her.

“Chisato… Could you please let go?”

Chisato let out sounds of pleasure, letting Takina know that nothing short of a meteorite would loosen Chisato’s grip. Defeated, Takina let out a sigh, sinking back into Chisato’s grasp.

This girl… I bet she’s gonna wake up and find out that her arm fell asleep or something. Then again, maybe she’ll be too embarrassed to notice. After all, she’s been getting embarrassed more easily recently.

As Takina felt Chisato’s grip loosen slightly, she turned around, finally seeing Chisato’s face.

This wasn’t the first time that Takina had seen Chisato asleep, but now it seemed… different somehow. While this wasn’t the first time, Takina rarely had an opportunity to see Chisato while she wasn’t busy being a living embodiment of sunshine, or being a petulant brat, or being the living embodiment of non-lethal death. She had a serene look about her. Her eyes were closed and her hair was messy, but her breathing had an odd sort of a relaxing pattern to it. Takina felt herself relaxing, gazing at Chisato’s face and inspecting every millimetre of it as she felt Chisato’s breath on her own face. She stayed like that for a few moments, not moving at all before a look of realization dawned on her face along with a hot blush as she averted her gaze.

What was I doing just now?

Takina instinctively leaned back, but the moment that she did, she felt herself being pulled right back forward.

“Chisato! Stop- mmph!”

Chisato pulled Takina right into her chest, cutting off her airflow for a moment before she turned to the side.

“Jeez! How heavy a sleeper is this girl?”

After receiving no response, however, Takina settled into this new position with a sigh, getting used to the new sensation.

There really isn’t a heartbeat, huh?

Takina felt an odd calm fall over her in this position. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why, but being nestled close to Chisato’s heart felt strangely therapeutic to her. 

I could probably slip out by now. Her grip isn’t quite as strong as it was before, so I wouldn't have many issues, but…

Takina looked down at her wrist, reading the time as “7:32”.

I’ve still got time.

Slowly but surely, she felt herself being lulled into a sense of tranquil security, becoming more and more relaxed until she eventually drifted back to sleep.

###

The first thing that Chisato realized when she woke up was that she probably should’ve closed the blinds before sleeping as rays from the sun shone directly into her face. Her eyes fluttered open for a split second before squirting shut.

“Guh… What time is it? I’ve really gotta-”

The second thing that she noticed, however, was a familiar warm feeling pressed up against her chest, interrupting her thought process. She groggily reopened her eyes to try to find the source of this before her whole body tensed up as it went straight into fight or flight mode.

“Gah!”

“Hm? How long was I-”

This seemed to immediately wake up Takina who, though momentarily groggy, quickly got to her feet and pulled up a floorboard before pulling out a handgun from under it.

“Where are they? Whoever’s there, show yourself!”

“Woah, Takina, calm down!”

Takina seemed unresponsive, her eyes darting around the room until she seemed to be certain that there was no one there. Once she did, she knelt down next to Chisato who had just managed to pull herself up and into a sitting position.

“Is everything ok? What happened?”

“Everything’s fine! I was just a little surprised, is all!”

Takina stared blankly for a few moments before giving a simple “ah” as she slipped the gun back, putting the floorboard back in place.

“False alarm, then?”

Chisato gave a quick smile and thumbs up, though the panicked sweat that had formed on her face hadn't fully dissipated.

“Y-yeah. False alarm.”

Takina flopped back into bed next to Chisato, giving a sigh of relief.

“That was scary, though! Do you always act like this whenever you hear a tiny bump in the night, Takina?”

Takina shrugged.

“Comes with the job.”

A light pink tinge appeared on Takina’s face as she turned away slightly.

“If anything, you should be a little more alert…”

“Eh? What’s that supposed to-”

Chisato stopped when she saw the redness in Takina’s ears, a blush quickly forming on her own face as well. She scanned the room, her eyes falling on the pillow that had been tossed to the wayside before quickly putting two and two together.

“...What exactly did I do, Takina?”

Takina flinched in surprise, the blush in her face becoming even more intense as she stumbled over her words.

“W-well, when I woke up, the pillow was gone and you were hugging me really tight, so…”

Her voice trailed off after that, but she figured that Chisato could probably fill in the blanks from there.

“I see…”

Chisato, for her part, had crossed her arms over her chest, her blush showing no signs of going anywhere.

“Well, in that case, why don’t we, uh…”

Chisato tapped on Takina’s shoulder which prompted her to turn around, going completely red when she saw Chisato’s outstretched hands.

“Why don’t we pick up where we left off?”

Takina looked from Chisato’s bright smile to her arms before shuffling herself into her arms with a nod.

“Mm. That would be nice, if you don’t mind…”

###

“By the way, what was that plan you were talking about last night, Takina?”

“Ngh…”

Chisato raised an eyebrow as she looked down at Takina’s head. She watched as Takina slowly raised her head, her eyes fluttering as their gazes met again.

“?”

“Takina? Did you…”

Chisato continued to watch as Takina began to blink rapidly before reaching up to rub her eyes.

“Nggghhh… What time is it?”

Chisato continued to stare with a slightly concerned expression.

“It’s 7:35…”

Takina gave Chisato a perplexed look.

“And?”

“You fell asleep in, like, 2 minutes! I mean, seriously, who does that?”

Takina looked at Chisato’s teasing smile, blinked twice, then proceeded to nuzzle into Chisato’s chest, eliciting a yelp of surprise.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to sleep. Wake me if anything bad happens.”

Chisato felt her face heating up from this contact as she watched Takina drift off again in a matter of seconds, making a mental note to never mess with Takina in the morning.

###

Takina was unsure of how Chisato had been functioning for the past 18 years of her life.

“C’mon, it’s 10:38. I’ve been trying to get you to wake up for 15 minutes already, so just get out of bed.”

Chisato responded to Takina’s nagging by pulling the sheets above her face.

“5 more minutes…”

“You said that 10 minutes ago.”

“Yeah, but don’t you want to just sleep a little more with your lovely girlfriend?”

Chisato opened the blanket with an inviting smile, looking as though she would wrap her arms around Takina the moment that she entered, causing a hot blush to spread across Takina’s face. She turned away, her stern voice faltering a little bit.

“Seriously, you should just wake up already.”

Takina waited silently for a few moments before, upon receiving no response, giving a sigh and returning to the futon.

“Eh? You actually did it?”

She responded to Chisato’s confusion with a quick shrug.

“I figured it was more trouble than it was worth.”

Chisato gave a quick grin.

“I guess that you just wanted to sleep with me that badly, eh~”

“...Shut up.”

Takina was greeted with yet another tight hug from the back which didn’t help with her blush at all.

“Still, it’s kinda sad, though.”

Chisato snapped out of her smiley trance, a bit of confusion springing onto her face.

“Eh?”

“I mean, I had plans for today, but if you’re too tired, then I’ll just save them for tomorrow.”

The instant she said that, Chisato let go of Takina and turned away with a sulky look.

“Hello? Chisato?”

After a few moments of silence, Chisato turned back to face Takina with a pout.

“Fine. You win this time.”

Takina looked at Chisato in confusion as she watched her stand up and out of bed.

Did I miss something?

Takina got up to match Chisato, still perplexed.

“Chisato? What exactly do you mean?”

Chisato gave Takina a blank look before letting out a sigh and a weak smile.

“To think that you can make me give up like this without even trying…”

Takina wasn’t too sure of what Chisato was talking about, but whatever it was, it seemed to get her out of bed, so she didn’t mind. A smile beginning to form on her face, she called out to Chisato one last time before she exited the room to get changed.

“By the way, what do you want for breakfast today?”

Chisato looked somewhat surprised for a moment before a cheeky grin appeared on her face.

“So, you’re doing the cooking?”

Takina was quick to clarify once her mistake was pointed out.

“No, but I’m feeling nice today.”

Chisato gave a wide smile.

“In that case, I’d love a strawberry parfait!”

Takina deadpanned.

“Remind me not to let you choose our meals.”

“Wait, I’ll choose something reasonable this time, Takina!”

They ended up having some brown rice with egg and avocados.

Chapter Text

“So, where are we headed, Takina?”

The “workday” (3 hours long) had just ended and Takina and Chisato were now on their way to… well, Chisato’s been trying to figure out where exactly they’re going for a while now.

“I told you, it’s a surprise.”

“C”mon! Why can’t you just tell me already?”

“Just wait until we get there.”

“You’re so mean…”

A sense of skepticism began to grow in the back of Takina’s mind as she watched a mischievous smile begin to form on Chisato’s face.

“Something up?”

“Oh? It’s nothing~”

Takina didn’t buy that for a second. She closed her eyes, giving a sigh and beginning to speak in a dismissive tone.

“You say that, but you’re definitely planning something, aren’t you? I’ve known you for long enough to- eh?!”

Takina was almost immediately cut off when she felt fingers begin to intertwine with hers. She looked down at her hand being held in Chisato’s. She felt a hot blush forming on her face as she cupped her cheek in her free hand, mumbling out objections.

“Chisato… We’re in public…”

“Yep! And you’re my girlfriend!”

She didn’t even have to look up to figure out the fact that Chisato wore the same jolly smile she always had when seeing Takina’s face this red.

“That doesn’t mean that we have to flaunt our relationship everywhere we go…”

“Hmph. Well, I beg to differ. I think that everyone should know about how awesome we are, and more importantly, how awesome we are together.”

Takina decided not to further provoke Chisato save for a quiet grumble. 

“Well in any case, we’re almost there.”

“Eh? Almost where-”

When Chisato lifted her gaze, her entire face lit up and she squeezed takina’s hand in both of hers as she snapped her body to face Takina, saying:

“It’s an aquarium!”

Takina resisted the urge to sigh as she watched as Chisato seemingly held onto her hand for dear life, jumping up and down so fast that she almost became a blur.

“Ohmygod! You actually brought me here? You know, I thought that the aquarium back in Japan was pretty nice, but a Hawaiian aquarium’s gotta be on a whole ‘nother level!”

Eventually, as they reached the entrance, Chisato’s hyperactivity began to fade, though her smile was in no way smaller than it was before.

“Still, I’m happy that you’re being this thoughtful, Takina.”

Takina raised an eyebrow.

“What do you mean by that?”

Chisato’s eyes went wide before going narrow as she began to pout.

“What, you don’t remember our first date?”

After receiving no response save for a slightly confused head tilt, Chisato sighed as she began to shake her head.

“I can’t believe this… Remember? Back when you had no fashion sense and I practically had to drag you everywhere we went?”

That’s when a look of recognition flashed across Takina’s face along with a light blush.

“That’s not… We weren’t even dating at the time, so…”

Chisato opened her mouth, appearing to think to herself for a few moments before she flashed a toothy grin at Takina.

“Still a date~ Unless you want this to be our first?”

“Yeah. That’s what I was thinking.”

Chisato wasn’t quite sure what to say at that, so for once, she said nothing. She began to look around the lavishly decorated exterior of the aquarium. She glanced at an octopus poster here, a starfish there, until her gaze finally settled on…

“Hey, Takina! Look!”

Takina spun around, her vision tracing the path that Chisato’s finger was pointing at until settling on…

“A fish? Are you surprised at seeing a giant picture of a fish in an aquarium , Chisato?”

“We should do the thing!”

Takina was slightly confused.

“Hah? ‘The Thing’?”

Chisato quickly nodded several times.

“Yeah, you know.”

Quickly looking around herself to establish that there was no one within arm’s length, Chisato stuck her palms together in front of herself, sticking her arms out and pointing her fingers forward as she kicked one leg out behind herself while balancing on the other. She did this all while saying in the most energetic voice she could muster:

“Sakana!”

Takina stared at Chisato, wondering why she ever fell in love with this girl.

“It can’t be helped, can it?”

Takina made her way to Chisato before putting her hands above her head, saying:

“Jinyagaku!”

*snap*

“What the-”

Takina’s reluctant smile turned to bewilderment as she saw Chisato give her a cheeky grin from behind her phone.

“Say cheese~”

“Chisato!”

Chisato laughed as Takina stormed over, quickly holding her phone behind her to prevent Takina from reaching it.

“Come on, Takina. You sure you want to make a scene here?”

Takina looked around, noting the large number of people in the building before giving a sigh and looking off to the side, kicking her foot against the ground.

“Cheater.”

“Hm?”

Chisato smiled at Takina’s indignant expression before pointing at the front desk of the aquarium.

“Well, Takina? Let’s head up and-”

Takina heard Chisato’s voice cut out as in one motion, she grabbed Chisato’s hand and intertwined her fingers with Chisato’s, holding on tightly. She saw Chisato’s face heat up as she leaned so close to Chisato’s ear that she was practically kissing it, saying:

“I guess that I can play dirty too.”

When Takina saw Chisato finally look her in the eye, a cheeky grin appeared on Takina’s face as she saw that Chisato’s face had flushed bright red. Chisato simply shoved her free hand in her pocket and began to walk towards the desk, Takina following beside her. Chisato wasn’t looking at Takina, directing it instead to the floor as she mumbled out:

“Guess that even you can be aggressive sometimes, huh?”

Takina, having witnessed this whole display, smiled to herself as she saw Chisato became immediately distracted by the fish that were on display by the front desk.

###

“Oh my god! Look at this one, Takina!”

For the past 2 hours, Chisato had dragged Takina from exhibit to exhibit, never spending more than a minute or two at each one, not that Takina minded watching her bound from fish to fish, marvelling at them as if it was her first time seeing water. Eventually, they’d made their way around the whole aquarium twice and on their 4th run, Chisato found herself attracted to some sort of odd lizards.

“Hey, Takina, come see!”

Takina got up off of the bench she was watching from and made her way to Chisato, looking through the glass.

“It looks like a lizard.”

Chisato shook her head while clicking her tongue.

“Ah, ah, ah. It’s an axolotl.   Those feathery gills on each side of its head are what it uses to breathe. They eat worms, insects, small fish, and just about anything else that can fit inside their mouth and swallow whole, including other salamanders!”

“You’re just reading off of the information plaque, aren’t you?”

Chisato’s only response was a smile and a peace sign, eliciting an eye roll from Takina. 

“Wanna look at the glow-in-the-dark jellyfish, Takina?”

“For the third time, it’s fluorescent jellyfish.”

“Eh? Who’s reading off of the information plaque now ?”

Takina gave a sigh, but couldn’t help but smile as she watched Chisato practically skipping her way to the jellyfish.

###

“Chisato, it’s been an hour. Are you absolutely sure that you want to spend more than 25 percent of our time petting the same stingray?”

Chisato narrowed her eyes at Takina for a moment before turning away, sticking her nose in the air.

“I’ll have you know that Flapper and I have grown very attached. I can’t just leave him alone here!”

“You named it?”

Takina watched as Chisato seemingly completely ignored her. After a few more moments of watching, Takina pushed herself up off of her chair and walked up to the stingray, crouching down beside Chisato and beginning to pet the stingray as well. Immediately, the stingray gravitated towards Takina and before long, it had drifted over so far that Chisato couldn’t even reach it.

“You stole Flapper!”

Needless to say, Chisato was not pleased. Takina, on the other hand, simply smiled as she began to lead Flapper further and further along the edge of the glass. 

###

“We’re finally at the gift shop!”

Chisato quickly forgave Takina for the stingray theft after Takina promised to buy her anything she wanted from the gift shop. Takina, for her part, seemed to be slightly tired.

“All that talk about not wanting to leave Flapper alone, yet the moment I offered, you practically sprinted here. I don’t see why people fall for these places. They’re clearly just thinly-veiled tourist traps anyway-”

“Takina, look!”

Takina opened her eyes and stopped her mini-rant to see Chisato holding up a mug with eels dotted all over it and another with fish. Takina sighed at this, her voice slightly more subdued than it had been previously.

“I said ‘one item’, Chisato.”

Immediately, a pout formed on Chisato’s face as she stepped closer to Takina to the point where they were only inches apart.

“Come on! Don’t you want something matching? Please?”

Takina went red, turning away as her voice began to grow in power.

“Like I said, ‘one item’ is all you’re-”

The moment that Takina turned back to look at Chisato, she was bombarded by the most powerful, most devastating sight she had ever seen. More than Chisato’s usual expressions, heck, even more than gunfire, this sight almost sent a bullet through Takina’s heart. What was this sight?

Puppy-dog eyes?

Slowly, Takina drew herself up to her full height, taking a deep breath as she took the items and marched over to the cash register..

That’s ridiculous. What kind of person would resort to a tactic like that to get what they want? I don’t know where these are from, so I’ll just ask where to put them back and be on my way.

Takina’s eyes had almost as she walked over to the register, seemingly functioning on autopilot as she set the mugs on the table, saying:

“I’ll take your entire stock.”

Chisato burst out in uproarious laughter as she yelled:

“That’s way too much!”

###

“So, how’d you like our date, Chisato?”

By the time the 2 of them had left the aquarium, the sky was already starting to go dark. Chisato started swinging the bag holding the matching mugs they had gotten back and forth.

“It was super fun! The fish were super cute and we got our first matching stuff! We should totally do stuff like that more often. What about you?”

Takina looked surprised for a moment.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You know. How’d you like our date?”

“Wasn’t I the escort, though?”

“Your enjoyment is important too, you know.”

Takina put her fingers to her chin, closing her eyes in thought before speaking in a neutral tone.

“Mm. It was pretty fun, though once we started looking at the fish, I guess…”

Takina hesitated for a moment before looking off to the side and getting a little bit quieter as she said:

“It felt a little bit less like a date and more like we were just friends hanging out, y’know?”

There was a moment of silence and Takina’s nerves began to kick in as she rushed to clarify her position, turning to face Chisato.

“Ah, but it was still fun, so I don’t really mi- mmph!”

Takina’s eyes went wide as she felt Chisato nearly tackle her to the ground, planting a massive kiss right on her lips and hugging her from the waist. Takina’s eyes darted from side to side, but after several moments of trying to speak, she eventually just gave up and closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around the back of Chisato’s neck and reciprocating the kiss in full. After what felt like several hours, they broke apart for a breath only for Chisato to dive right back in and continue right where they had left off. Sometime during this, they had found their way to a bench and Chisato had found herself almost pinning Takina against the bottom of it. Eventually, they separated (if you count a few inches as separation), still breathing heavily and sweating from their display of passion. 

“Ehehe… That was a little embarrassing, huh?”

Sitting with her hands placed flat on the bench at her sides, Takina noticed that Chisato’s face had a light pink tinge across it, though she figured that her own face was probably at least ten times redder than Chisato’s.

You’re saying it’s embarrassing?

“So, Takina…”

Takina felt something close on top of her hand before looking down and seeing that Chisato had placed her hand on top of Takina’s. Takina stayed still for a moment before slowly turning the hand that Chisato was holding over, sliding her fingers in between Chisato’s. Doing the same, Chisato then abruptly stood up, nearly yanking Takina off the bench as she did so.

“Gah! What was that for?”

Chisato gave a giggle as she watched Takina make a feeble attempt at dusting herself off with her free hand.

“Well, we’ve gotta go buy another futon, right?”

“Oh… right.”

Chisato raised an eyebrow at Takina’s sullen expression before a devious grin appeared on her face.

“Wait, don’t tell me… Are you disappointed?”

Takina said nothing, merely turning pink and looking away.

“Did you really want to keep sharing a futon that badly? I mean, if you want to, it’s not like I’m going to refuse-”

“We’re buying another futon!”

Chisato let out another laugh at Takina’s bright-red face before they headed off to the nearest store, neither of them letting go of the other’s hand once.

Chapter Text

“Are we there yet, Takina?”

“If I’d known you’d complain this much, I would’ve bought a cart or something to help us carry this.”

Takina wondered how the most athletic Lycoris in Japan was struggling with carrying one half of a futon. Heck, it was barely a challenge for her, so Chisato shouldn’t have been struggling at all.

“We’re almost there. I’d say that you should be as quiet as you can to make sure we aren’t being followed. Actually, maybe we should take the long way to the safe house. You know, just in case we’re being followed.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Takina raised an eyebrow at Chisato’s sudden cooperativeness, turning around to find that Chisato had fixed her posture briefly before going back to her slouchy, tired posture the moment Takina showed any hint of turning. 

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

Takina narrowed her eyes, slowly turning back to face forward. As she did, however, she felt some of the weight of the futon being taken off of her shoulders. Immediately, her muscles tensed up as she prepared to whip around, but even before she had turned around, she felt the weight of the futon return to its original amount as she found a slouching Chisato behind her.

“Are you seriously doing this right now?”

Chisato merely gave a giggle as she stood up straight. Takina rolled her eyes, but before she could return to her original orientation, she felt the futon being wrenched out of her grip which was immediately followed by a red blur flashing past her.

“Chisato!”

They ran all the way to the safe house.

###

It didn’t take long for the two of them to arrive. As Takina discovered, Chisato was unfairly fast when she wanted to, even while lugging a futon on one shoulder. Takina opened the door, holding it open.

“Come on in, Chisato.”

Chisato took two steps forward before…

*BANG!*

She tossed the futon in front of her into the air before kicking it straight into the wall. Takina watched this, her eyes immediately going wide as she could’ve sworn she saw smoke billowing from it. Takina stood still, staring at the futon, trying to discern whether or not there was any damage done to the wall. This was interrupted, however, when she heard Chisato flopping onto the couch.

Seriously? 

Takina gave a sigh and walked over to Chisato after closing the door. She was about to shake Chisato awake, though she hesitated right as she was going to put her hands on Chisato’s back. Shaking her head, she pushed forward and began to rock Chisato back and forth on the spot.

“Oi, you can’t fall asleep now. It’s your turn to cook today, remember? And we still need to set up the futon.”

“Urgh… 5 more minutes…”

“Judging by what happened this morning, your definition of ‘5 minutes’ isn’t exactly trustworthy!”

Chisato grumbled as she slowly sat up out of the bed, though instead of heading to the kitchen, she began walking towards the bedroom. Takina began to follow her, beginning to grow annoyed.

“Where do you think you’re-”

“I’m just getting changed. What, do you wanna watch or something?”

Chisato gave Takina another grin as she went bright red at this remark. Waiting outside, Takina sat with her back against the door, thinking to herself.

Guh… How’d I even fall for her?

She cupped her face in her hands, having sat down and brought her knees up to her chest as she stared at the floor.

So, what’ll we do now? It’s about 7 pm, so we’ve got a few hours to kill. I can probably make the futon in 15 minutes and cooking, eating, and cleanup should be about an hour to an hour and a half depending on if Chisato cooperates. I wonder what food we have?

Takina got up, heading over to the fridge and taking a look inside.

Hm… some ground meat, veggies, fish… ah, dumpling skins. That should work. I remember having a few dumpling dishes back at the cafe, so Chisato should be able to figure that out.

Takina began to hum a tune as she took the dumpling skins and various ingredients from the fridge, setting them up on the table.

Now that that’s all done, all I need now is Chisato.

She looked towards the bedroom and to absolutely no one’s surprise, the door hadn’t budged an inch. Rolling her eyes, Takina walked up to the door and placed her hand on the handle before stopping herself right as she was about to open the door.

Wait… if Chisato is changing on the other side right now…

Takina went crimson as she shook the thought out of her mind. Taking her hand off of the door handle, she lightly knocked on the door several times. After no response, she tried again, this time yelling to get Chisato’s attention.

“You there? It’s been, like 15 minutes.”

…

No response, huh?

Takina rolled up her sleeves, taking a deep breath before:

“Chisato! I am coming in there whether you like it or not! You have 10 seconds to finish changing! 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!”

The door swung open as Takina pushed it forwards with a flourish, only to find that:

“She’s not here? But where-”

And that’s when she looked down. Lying down on the futon was a smiling, definitely-already-having-changed Chisato.

“Seriously? C’mon, it’s not even 8. Wake up, Chisato.”

After receiving no response, Takina sighed as she started to shake Chisato back and forth.

“It’s time to wake up. Just get out of bed already.”

Chisato appeared to stir, her eyes fluttering open for a moment as she poked her head out from under the covers just enough to see out of it. Takina watched as Chisato opened the covers with a grin as she said:

“It’s been a long day and it’s already dark. Don’t you want to join me here?”

Takina’s eyes locked onto Chisato’s frame, taking in every single element in front of her. The only thing that she could hear was the slow inhaling and exhaling coming from Chisato, the only thing she could see was the rhythmic rise and fall of Chisato’s chest, and the only things she could think about was how perfectly Chisato’s pink pajamas fit on her and how inviting her arms were beginning to look.

“Seriously… we should really go now…”

Takina tried one last time to rouse Chisato, but to no avail. All the while, Chisato stayed in the same position, gesturing for Takina to follow.

“Honestly…”

As Takina slid under the covers, she cursed herself for being so weak to this girl’s charms.

###

“Chisato…we should really get up now.”

It had been 20 minutes and by this point, Chisato was hugging Takina from behind with a smile of absolute bliss that didn’t falter no matter how much Takina said that they should leave the futon.

“You know you want to stay, Takina~”

Takina felt her breath hitch as Chisato wrapped her arms even tighter around her stomach, going red as she started trying to squirm free of Chisato’s grasp.

“Seriously, we need to make dinner. Honestly. Just get out of bed already.”

“Eh? But I already have all the snacks I need right here, though?”

“What’s that supposed to-”

*chu*

Takina froze as she felt lips pressing into the nape of her neck.

“Chisato, I’m being seriou-”

Takina’s voice was once again cut off as she felt something touch the back of her neck, but this time, it didn’t feel like just a kiss. Whatever it was, it felt harder, more rigid, and after feeling a light prick, Takina realized that she wasn’t feeling Chisato’s lips.

She was feeling her teeth.

“Chisato! Why are you… nngh…”

Takina flinched as she felt Chisato sink her teeth into her neck again, again, and again.

That’s gonna leave marks…

Takina covered her mouth, stifling any noises that may have unintentionally left her lips before, all of a sudden, the bites stopped as Takina felt Chisato’s grip on her loosen. Time seemed to stand still, Takina wondering if Chisato could tell how red her face was as neither of them said anything until Takina decided to try one more time at extracting Chisato.

“It’s probably already 8 now. Aren’t you hungry, Chisato? I mean seriously- ngah!”

Takina failed to stop a moan from surfacing as she felt Chisato lick over each of the bite marks she had made before saying:

“I already told you, didn’t I? I told you that you’re just the snack I’m craving right now.”

Takina didn’t have to turn around to know that Chisato was probably sporting the biggest grin of her life. Takina’s face burned bright red and her voice went quiet as she said:

“P-please have some self-control, Chisa-”

*GROWL*

Both of them stopped and Takina turned around, trying to discern the origin of that noise before spotting Chisato staring at her own stomach. Without hesitation, Takina stood up, dragging Chisato along with her to the kitchen.

“Hey, wha- Takina! Put me down!”

“We’re eating.”

“Ok, ok, I get that! Just put me down already, ok?”

And as Chisato ran ahead into the kitchen and got started with making the dumplings, Takina thanked whatever gods there may be for Chisato’s lack of awareness in terms of the colour of her face.

Chapter Text

“Itadakimasu.” x2

Over the past few hours, Takina had been worried about Chisato’s cooking abilities and/or her willingness to cook. It wasn’t as if she lacked faith in Chisato, it was just that, well…

Anyways, it looked like she was worrying for nothing.

“Seriously though, I’m impressed, Chisato. I didn’t think that you’d go this hard just for dinner.”

Indeed, the dinner table was full to the brim with all sorts of food from dumplings, to leafy greens, to… ok, well, it was more quantity than variety, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

“Eh? Is that so? Well, I’m glad you like it~”

Chisato leaned forward, resting her chin on the back of her hands as she watched Takina grab a pair of chopsticks and begin to eat a dumpling.

“How is it?”

Takina wasn’t quite sure how to describe the taste that she was experiencing. Sure, Takina had probably eaten higher quality food at some point in her life, but something about this was… different. Takina swallowed, taking another dumpling as a contemplative look appeared on her face until it hit her.

“So? How does it taste, Takina?”

Takina looked away, seeming to debate whether or not she should open her mouth, but eventually, she managed to whisper out:

“It… I guess it tastes like love. Or something.”

…

I’m an idiot!

Takina cursed herself for her foolishness!

Why would I say something like that? Was I trying to be aggressive? In any case, I fell flat on my face! I mean, seriously, what the hell was that?

“I-I’m sorry I really shouldn’t have- mmph!”

At that moment, Takina was cut off as she felt a dumpling being shoved right into her mouth. She looked back to Chisato, watching as she slid the chopsticks out of her (Takina’s) mouth. Chisato smiled, her voice taking on a sultry, singsong tone.

“I think you told me everything I need to know, Takina~”

“I… uh…”

Unable to think of a response, Takina began shovelling food into her mouth.

Seriously, why do I just go and say stuff like that? Am I trying to embarrass myself? And why is Chisato staring at me?

By this time, Chisato hadn’t even touched any of the food. Rather than looking at the dinner table, her gaze had been glued to Takina since she’d sat down.

I’d ask her why she’s staring at me, but she’d probably just say something like “It's because of how much I love you” or something.

Takina thought to herself, weighing the options as her face went a little pink.

…

Maybe I should ask after all?

“Chisato? Shouldn’t you start eating?”

Chisato appeared to consider this proposal before shrugging and leaning down on the table.

“I could, but then I’d have to take my eyes off you.”

Takina wasn’t sure whether to curse or congratulate herself for this series of events.

###

It was alright at first, but this is really getting embarrassing…

Takina had been red for about 15 minutes now and by this point, she could still count the amount of times that Chisato looked away from her on one hand.

“Could you please stop staring at me?”

Chisato seemed to ponder the question for a moment, wondering if she really wanted to stop admiring the sight in front of her before giving a shrug.

“Well, since you asked so nicely, I guess that I could…”

Takina held her breath as Chisato went from leaning back in her seat to leaning so close to Takina that they were almost touching as she closed her eyes and said:

“...As long as you kiss me.”

There was a moment where neither of them spoke. Takina watched as unease began to work its way into Chisato’s expression, her smile faltering before she put her hands up in front of herself in denial.

“T-that is, if you want to, of course. I wouldn’t force you to do anything like tha-”

*chuu*

Takina pulled back for a moment, her grip on the collar of Chisato’s shirt not faltering before she closed the distance again, this time both of them closing their eyes as they enjoyed the sensation of one anothers' lips. After what felt like hours, they broke apart momentarily, gasping for air before meeting each other in the middle once again for one more kiss. As they each returned to their seats, Takina, still heavily breathing, managed to whisper out:

“I did that because I wanted to. Not because of what you said.”

If Takina had managed to take even a glance at Chisato, she would have seen the deepest shade of red known to man, but instead, she noticed that the floor was, indeed, made out of floor. Her face also having gone bright red, Takina started looking for any sort of distraction from the situation at hand before deciding to grab another dumpling and popping into her mouth.

Hm? This tastes weird.

A confused expression began to generate on Takina’s face as the dumpling tasted far different than the other one’s she had eaten. She wasn’t quite sure what was wrong with it as she tried to come up with a possible explanation.

Maybe it’s undercooked? No, that can’t be right-

And that’s when Takina noticed the childlike grin that had appeared on Chisato’s face. The temperature in her mouth began to rise, the heat beginning to travel up to her nose as her eyes started to water, snot began to drip out of her nose and she covered her face as Chisato began to burst out in laughter.

“Ahahaha! You like the surprise I made for you, Takina? It’s the finest wasabi on the market, so you’d better enjoy it- mmph!”

Chisato’s gloating was promptly cut off by yet another kiss from Takina, only this time, Chisato could feel the half-eaten dumpling being passed into her mouth. Chisato’s much smaller spice tolerance was immediately made evident when her eyes began watering far more than Takina’s as she made a mad dash to the fridge for some milk. 

After a few minutes, the chaos eventually died down as the 2 of them finished off the rest of the dumplings at the dinner table. Chisato’s expression of pain and anguish had turned into a sheepish smile as the heat from the wasabi faded.

“I guess that I kinda deserved that, huh?”

After Takina didn’t say anything, Chisato continued on, returning to her usual playful tone.

“Still, I didn’t expect you to have that much spice tolerance, Takina! I mean, besides turning red, you were basically totally fine after a few minutes!”

Meanwhile, in Takina’s mind…

Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, I just went for it and french kissed her! And she doesn’t even seem to mind? Does that mean we’ll be doing that more, then? Should I have not done that?

Needless to say, she wasn’t red from the spice.

###

After they cleaned up, Takina went through her nighttime routine fairly quickly. She was now in her bedroom, slowly breathing in and out as she appeared to empty her mind:

What the hell was happening today?!!?!

Appearances can be deceiving.

First, we go on a date, then we kiss out in public, and then we practically make out when we get home… And then, I just go ahead and French kiss her while I still have food in my mouth? What was I thinking?!

The moment that Chisato walked in,Takina immediately stood up, bowing in apology.

“I’m sorry.”

“Eh? What brought this on?”

Chisato wore a surprised smile, staring at Takina’s apologetic stance for a few moments before heading over to the light switch.

“It’s getting late, so let’s lie down, ok?”

Chisato turned off the light, prompting Takina to get back into the futon. Chisato followed suit, lying down in the one next to hers.

“So, what exactly are you apologizing for?”

Takina seemed to hesitate for a moment before replying in a voice that was almost like a whisper. 

“It’s just… I feel like I was being too forward today. Like, We’ve only been dating for about a week, but it’s like things are moving too fast, you know?”

The room fell silent for a moment before Chisato spoke up, only now, her voice was more stoic and soft when compared to her usual tone.

“Is that a bad thing? Do you want to slow things down?”

…

“I don’t know.”

“Are you ok with how things are right now?”

“I… I think so.”

“Have I been making you uncomfortable at all?”

A longer pause. Almost an entire minute passed before Takina responded.

“That depends on what you mean by that. You’ve definitely been embarrassing me and getting me flustered, but I wouldn’t say that I hate it.”

“Want me to slow down a bit? Lighten up on the flirting?”

“...No. No, I don’t.”

“Then, is this ok?”

Takina wasn’t sure when the feeling of Chisato hugging her from behind became a familiar sensation, but she welcomed this nonetheless.

“Yeah.”

They stayed like that for a bit, Chisato having left her own futon behind in favour of Takina’s.

“By the way, Takina, do we have work tomorrow?”

“No, we don’t. Why?”

Takina could almost hear Chisato cracking a smile as she nuzzled into the back of Takina’s neck.

“Well, I’ve got some plans in store for us.”

“Eh? Really? Where’re we going?”

“It’s a secret~”

An indignant grin appeared on Takina’s face as she protested.

“Chisato! Can’t you just tell-”

Then again, this is how I was acting yesterday.

The 2 of them stayed in that position, sharing the blanket, the futon, and their body heat, and as Takina began to drift off to sleep, she could feel a sense of excitement building within her.

I can’t wait for the morning.

Chapter Text

The second thing that Chisato noticed when she woke up was the light beginning to leak into the room from behind the curtains. The sliver of light that found its way past the curtains shined directly into Chisato’s eyes, nearly blinding her. She guessed that that was what woke her up.

Of course, the first thing that she noticed was the fact that her arms were still very much wrapped tightly around Takina’s waist.

“Takina? Are you awake?”

After whispering into her ear and not receiving a response, a grin began to generate on Chisato’s face as she nuzzled her face against the base of Takina’s neck.

“Mm…”

After a few moments, however, Chisato felt a slight twitch from Takina before pulling back and taking a good, long look at her from behind. That’s when Chisato noticed that Takina’s ears had gone bright red.

“So, you were awake.”

The 2 of them were silent for a few moments, Chisato smiling as she waited for a response. Eventually, Takina simply pulled herself out of bed and looked down at Chisato, extending her hand towards her.

“Time to get up for the day.”

“Don’t wanna.”

Takina sighed as Chisato pulled the covers up past her nose.

“C’mon. Didn’ you say that you had plans today?”

“Oh, yeah, right!”

Chisato tossed aside the covers, taking Takina’s hand as she pulled herself up and out of bed.

“So, who’s turn is it to cook today, Takina? Wanna play rock, paper, scissors to decide?”

Takina shook her head.

“I was thinking that we could make something together?”

Excitement began to brew in Chisato as she nodded along.

“Sounds good to me!”

###

After eating and getting changed, the 2 of them left the house and began walking through some of the more urban areas of Hawaii.

"So, where are we headed for?"

Chisato's only response was to turn around and give a cheeky grin, saying:

"Not telling~"

Takina slightly regretted her decision to stay silent when they went to the aquarium.

"Meanie."

This reaction only served to put a smile on Chisato's face as the spring in her step got even more pronounced.

"Takina, if you're gonna act all cute like that…"

Without missing a beat, Chisato snatched Takina's hand right from inside the pocket of her dress.

"...then I'll have no choice but to attack."

Takina elected not to mention how red she'd gone, instead simply pulling their hands out of her pocket.

"Hm? What's wrong, Takina?~ Was my maidenly skin too perfect for you?"

Ok. Well, that merited a response.

"You wish. I was just trying to get your hand out of my clothes."

"Kyaa~ Takina's going tsundere on me~"

Takina wasn't sure what exactly was fueling Chisato's even-stronger-than-usual playful energy, and she wasn't sure if she loved it or hated it, but she felt as though there was only one thing to do in this situation.

"But, yeah. We should totally cook breakfast together more often. Like, that was super fun, so- mmph!"

The feeling of Takina's lips on hers wasn't unfamiliar to Chisato, nor was it unwelcome. In the moment it took to process, Chisato almost instinctively wrapped her free hand around Takina's shoulders. Pulling her in close, she began prodding her tongues against Takina's lips and was just about to begin toying with her tongue when-

"No!"

Chisato blinked twice, slightly surprised when Takina pushed her away, covering her mouth.  Immediately, Chisato's mind began to race and she felt a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I thought since, y'know, with yesterday, you'd be comfortable, but-"

"That's not it!"

Looking at Takina now, Chisato noted the redness in Takina's cheeks and the renewed softness in her tone.

"I-its just that we're in public, so…"

Well, this was quite the turn of events. Taking Takina's hand, Chisato was almost scared to ask, but as she brought Takina's hand to her lips, Chisato whispered into Takina's hand:

"So, if we were at home, then…"

Just as Chisato was about to start wishing that she was home, however, something else caught her eye, causing Takina to lurch forward when Chisato stopped in her tracks 

"Oh! We're here!"

Takina raised an eyebrow at this building.

"Isn't this the same place where we went clothes shopping?"

Chisato rolled her eyes.

"How could I forget when that dress you bought is the only thing you wear outside of work?"

"If you’re not counting work, then we’ve only been out of the house once.."

"Which means that you've worn it 100 percent of the time. In any case, the reason we're here is far more important than plain old clothes shopping! We're here…"

Chisato paused for dramatic effect, letting go of Takina's hand and running out in front of her, doing a curtsey as she said:

"...for swimsuit shopping!"

Chisato looked to try to gauge Takina's reaction, but the only thing she saw was a blank stare on her face.

"Takina? Hello? Are you there- woah!"

Chisato swiftly caught Takina who, thankfully, appeared to be alive.

"Takina? You alright? Did you faint or did your legs just give out from how perfect and cute I looked just now?"

Takina feigned unconsciousness, but the colour of her face gave her away. This was a fact that Chisato did not hesitate to exploit.

"Well, I guess that I'll just have to kiss you awake, Takina-chan!"

Whether she really wanted a kiss or was just calling Chisato's bluff, she wasn't sure, but it wasn't going to matter because moments after Chisato pressed her lips up against Takina's, Takina sat up in Chisato's arms.

"Hello, there-"

Both of them were quite taken aback by how close their faces were. Takina slowly got to her own feet, simply stating:

"We should go shopping now."

"R-right! Shopping!"

And with that, the 2 of them headed inside.

###

We're already here, but…

Chisato wasn't completely immune to shame or embarrassment. Upon entering the swimsuit section, she blushed whenever she laid eyes on a particularly stimulating outfit as she would begin picturing Takina wearing that attire only to shake the thought out of her mind before spotting another racy article of clothing, wash, rinse, repeat. She'd hoped that Takina would at least be as embarrassed as her or even more, but, well…

“How does this one look, Chisato? Or how about this one? Or this one?”

…those hopes were dashed when Takina turned into a virtual bulldozer. 

“Um… that one’s fine.”

Chisato pointed at a blue one piece that Takina held, prompting her to head over to the nearest changeroom to try it on. Chisato stood outside of it, tapping her foot impatiently.

Geez… How’s she staying this composed? I just panicked and picked one on a whim… 

“I’m done, Chisato.”

Chisato hesitantly turned around, almost unable to open her eyes, but when she did, the first thing that she noticed was:

“Where’d you get that scar?”

“Oh, this?”

Chisato bent forwards, staring at the long scar that ran down Takina’s shoulder, not realizing that she was unconsciously reaching towards it until the last moment. She jolted backwards, looking up at Takina with an apologetic smile.

“Ah, sorry.”

“What for?”

Takina traced Chisato’s line of sight from her eyes to Takina’s own shoulder before putting two and two together.

“You can touch it if you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

Almost as if afraid of damaging her skin, Chisato rested her fingers on the scar, her fingertips barely grazing Takina’s skin as she ran them down the length of skin that it covered. Her voice lowered to almost a whisper as her face rested inches away from Takina’s ear.

“You sure you don’t want to cover it? I’m sure we can find a swimsuit that goes over the shoulders-”

“Why would I want to cover it?”

The volume and strength of Takina’s voice startled Chisato, causing her to flinch momentarily before recovering and returning to running her fingers up and down the scar as she talked.

“Well, I just thought that… Something like this wouldn’t be something you’d normally show to people, right?”

Takina shrugged, causing Chisato to lurch back right before the shoulder made contact with her nose.

“You alright?”

The second adrenaline rush in less than a minute seemed to knock Chisato back to her senses. 

“Yep! Never better.”

Or back out of her senses, depending on how you look at it. Either way, Takina decided that she wanted to give a response.

“I got this scar from saving your life, so it’s not something I’d want to hide. I guess you could say…”

Takina paused, debating whether or not to continue before turning away and saying:

“I guess you could say that it’s a symbol of my love for you.”

…

The 2 of them shuffled on the spot for a few moments, turning red as they did before Chisato broke the silence.

“B-by the way, I couldn’t find an opportunity to say this, but that swimsuit looks good on you.”

“You think? T-thanks. I’ll try on this one now.”

If Chisato thought that she was going to be free from embarrassment, she was dead wrong as she noticed that the swimsuit in Takina’s hand wasn’t another one piece, no, no, no.

She’s seriously pulling out a bikini right now…

Chisato was having trouble staying still, shuffling on the spot in anticipation. Knowing Takina, though, she figured that she wouldn’t have to wait long for her to finish, and lo and behold:

“Come on in.”

“Eh?”

“It’s a little embarrassing to be out there right now…”

Chisato gulped, holding and rubbing her own hands together in an effort to soothe herself.

“Sorry to intrude…”

For once in her life, Chisato had no idea what to say other than that purple was definitely Takina’s colour. A part of her almost wanted to chastise Takina for dressing like this in a public setting yet another part of her never wanted this moment to end so that she could keep on looking, and looking, and never stop-

“I-I know that I asked you to come in, but do you have to stare that hard?”

Ah. Right. Chisato looked off to the right, praying that Takina didn’t notice how red her face had gotten. Then again, Takina had also probably gone the colour of a fire engine, but I digress.

“S-sorry.”

“It’s no problem, just… How do I look?”

Again, Chisato was speechless. It was as if she could go on for days, preaching to the heavens of the beauty of the girl standing across from her and how perfect that purple bikini looked on her, but for some reason, whether it be due to embarrassment or otherwise, no words came out besides:

“You look… perfect.”

“Oh…”

Indeed, Takina’s face had gone from a fireplace to a wildfire in terms of how hot it was, and when Chisato said that, she was pretty sure that her brain had started to short-circuit from sensory overload. She merely gave a nod before grabbing her dress, saying:

“I… guess I’ll buy it then.”

The 2 of them stood in the room in silence for a bit longer, neither of them daring to break it until Takina managed to get out:

“C-can you let me change now, Chisato?”

“Ah, right! I-I’ll be grabbing some swimsuits for myself, so you just wait here, ok?”

“Ok.”

And with that, Chisato exited the change room, debating whether she should do everything within her power to purge her memory or if she should burn this into the back of her brain.

###

“You can come in now.”

Takina had done an unimaginable amount of things in her short life. She’d stopped terrorists, saved lives, hip-fired a machine gun into a room without so much as scratching a hostage. Due to all of this, one would think that Takina would be the picture of composure upon entering this room.

“H-hello there, Chisato…”

But one would be dead wrong! Her legs are shaking so bad that she can hardly stand, she’s looking about as far away from Chisato as she can, and don’t even get me started on the colour of her face! 

As for Chisato, she was initially embarrassed, but after seeing Takina’s lack of composure, she immediately went on the offensive.

“So, how do I look, Takina?”

“Um… You look great…”

“Oh? I didn’t realize how much I resembled the corner of a changeroom.”

Peeling her eyes from the corner of the changeroom to the floor, Takina’s voice went from on the verge of breaking to an annoyed mumble.

“Shut up.”

“Come on! Just look at me, Takina!”

“I…”

Slowly, Takina raised her gaze, cautiously reopening her eyes. The changeroom was exposed, Takina realized, what with the harsh fluorescent light beating down on the 2 of them. The atmosphere was claustrophobic, there being little to no room to move around, but the bare walls and presence of the love of her life right in front of her became too much to ignore. 

Takina took a quick glance in front of her, immediately taking note of the amount of exposed skin that Chisato had.

“Um… You look good, but this is a little, uh…”

Takina put her hand over her mouth, mumbling out:

“It’s a little too stimulating…”

Chisato gave Takina a curious look before a sheepish expression appeared on her face.

“Ah. Um… sorry. I probably should’ve had you pick, huh Takina?”

“It’s not your fault it’s just…”

Takina took a deep breath before saying:

“If I looked at you for more than a second, I don’t think I could stop…”

It was as if someone had taken an arrow and shot it straight through Chisato’s heart, but in her defense, whose heart wouldn’t burst at this kind of proclamation? 

“Well, just so you know, Takina…”

Takina froze as she felt Chisato place her hands on her cheeks, directing her gaze straight at her face. She had a soft smile, not like the one that she wore when she was teasing. Rather, it looked as though not a word coming out of Chisato’s mouth would have an ounce of dishonesty as she said:

“...We have all the time in the world, so don’t worry about causing me trouble. You can just keep your eyes on me, ok?”

Takina could barely breath as her gaze flit between Chisato’s face and her chest, unable to say a single word besides:

“Ok…”

That’s when Chisato felt something off. Over the course of the past few seconds, Takina had been getting less and less red until her face began to lose colour at an alarming rate. Chisato let go of Takina’s face, growing more worried by the second.

“Takina? Are you ok-”

And then, just like that, all the blood that had previously pooled in Takina’s face came rushing out of her nose, almost flooding Chisato’s lap as Chisato swiftly caught her before she could collapse.

###

“Hgnh…”

When Takina came to, the first thing she noticed was the gentle pressure and tissue being applied to her nose. The second thing she noticed was that her seat was unusually soft. Once she grabbed it, however, she noticed the third thing since she’d awoken, namely, the fact that this was not a chair.

“Um… good morning? Or, uh, I guess, goodnight?”

It was Chisato’s thigh.

“Gah!”

Taking stood up, realizing that they were now back at home at the kitchen table. Had Chisato carried her all the way here? 

“I’m so sorry, I’d just woken up and I wasn’t thinking and-”

“Don’t sweat it. Honest.”

Taking note of the pink tinge on Chisato’s face (though Takina’s own face was probably at least 5 shades deeper), Takina put her hand to her nose, wiping it.

“There’s no more blood.”

“All thanks to yours truly~”

Even when nursing Takina, Chisato never failed to find new ways to annoy her in the most adorable ways imaginable. I mean, were those jazz hands really necessary? 

“Anyways, it’s about time for lunch, Takina. I’ll cook, so you can just rest up.”

“But I-”

“No buts! They don’t call me the greatest chef in Japan for nothing!”

“They don’t call you that and we’re in America.”

“You get the point! Just head to your futon and let the witch work her magic.”

As Takina walked back to the futon, though, a sense of unease began to well in the back of her mind. She’d passed out, but all in all, Chisato seemed to be mostly unaffected by all of this. Did Takina really have that little of an effect on her? But if she was affected and did see Takina in that way, that was also a little scary. Takina felt like the second would be preferable, but that brought up a new question:

Did Chisato want to… y’know… do it? And if she did, when would it happen? And was Takina ready? Takina definitely didn’t feel ready, especially since the mere sight of Chisato in a bikini was enough to make her pass out, but what if Chisato insisted? 

Would I just go along with it to prevent her from leaving?

“Oi, Takina! Lunch is ready!”

“Eh? That fast?”

The door to the room burst open as Chisato hauled Takina off, dragging her by the arm.

“Weren’t you going to let me rest? And again, how’d you cook it that fast?”

“Your body needs calories for energy and as for your second question, I just heated up some leftovers from this morning.”

“So much for ‘greatest chef in Japan’.”

“Hey! Even the greatest chef in the world enjoys cup ramen every now and then!”

And as a giggle escaped her lips, Takina decided that she could worry about that another time.

Chapter Text

After dinner, Chisato had guessed that Takina would simply return to the futon and collapse on it for the rest of the night. It turned out she had guessed wrong. What Takina had done instead was to rummage through Chisato’s impossibly large movie collection before picking out one that appeared to interest her. Before long, Chisato found herself on the couch next to Takina with a rather oversized bowl of microwave popcorn sitting between them

“So, Takina.”

“Yeah?”

“Which movie’d you pick?”

“It’s this mecha that came out a bit ago. Have you heard of ‘Witch From Mercury’?”

Immediately, Chisato’s eyes lit up like those of a child in a candy store.

“Oh! The new Gundam! Though I thought that that was a series?”

“Yeah, but you had the blu-ray and we’ve got some time to kill, so…”

Takina didn’t have to say this twice. Chisato took the blu-ray from Takina’s hands and got it set up while Takina watched from the couch. Truth be told, Takina was feeling a little tired, but just watching some TV shouldn’t be any trouble to get through.

“Alright! We’re all set!”

When Chisato returned, however, instead of sitting on the opposite side of the popcorn, she ended up sitting right next to Takina, leaving Takina in between her and the popcorn.

“Chisato?”

“What?”

Takina turned to face Chisato with the intention of questioning her decision, but the moment she saw the cheeky grin on Chisato’s face, she realized that Chisato had no intention of moving.

 The first episode started and almost immediately, Chisato had taken Takina’s hand for herself, her touch slowly travelling up Takina’s arm as she held on for dear life. Takina merely tried not to think too hard as Chisato went from ensnaring Takina’s arm to wrapping herself over Takina’s body. Takina scooted forward, giving Chisato some space behind her to find a comfortable spot. Chisato smiled at this, quickly draping her arms around Takina’s neck and leaning against her back. Takina tried and failed to ignore the softness pressing against her back.

“I didn’t know you were this accommodating, Takina.”

By this point, Takina had nearly shuffled so far forward that she was practically off of the sofa.

“Well, if you’re enjoying it, then…”

Chisato saw the blush that was forming on Takina’s face from their proximity and in it, she saw an immediate opportunity.

“Well, Takina, it’s no fun if you’re not just as comfortable as me.”

Takina looked on in slight confusion as Chisato hopped off of the couch, looking straight at her.

“Shuffled back a little.”

Still not exactly sure what Chisato was doing, Takina obediently shuffled backwards.

“Perfect.”

Judging by the monstrous grin on Chisato’s face, Takina felt as though she had just left her guard wide open but said nothing as Chisato approached closer and closer until…

“I think that this seat’s my favourite!”

She plopped herself directly on Takina’s lap.

“So? You seeing the screen ok, Takina?”

“I… uh…”

Takina.exe has crashed.

Restarting…

“Hm. Good talk.”

Chisato closed her hands in her lap, looking off to the side while Takina stayed mute for a very long time.

###

Eventually, they were nearing the end of season one. Having not exchanged a single word, Chisato decided to restart the conversation.

“So, how're you liking this?”

Takina wondered why in the world Chisato chose to talk about the fact that she hadn’t moved off of Takina once in the past few hours. Nevertheless, social convention demanded that she respond, and as such, she tried her best to formulate any kind of coherent reply.

“Well… It’s, uh, very…”

Chisato didn’t have to turn around to know that Takina’s face was approximately the same colour as a firetruck.

“Yeah? How is it? You liking the service, Takina?~”

Takina’s breath hitched as Chisato slid even further back, allowing Takina to catch a whiff of her back. They used the same body wash, but the way that it mingled with Chisato’s natural body scent was almost…

“It’s really stimulating…”

Time seemed to stand still as both Chisato and Takina were frozen at what Takina had just uttered.

“Hah?”

“U-uh, I mean…”

Takina tried (and failed) to organize her thoughts before merely getting out:

“You’re… very stimulating… to me…”

If there was ever a moment where Takina wanted to shrivel up and disappear on the spot, this would be it. She half expected Chisato to turn around and begin either teasing or kissing her on the spot, but rather than that, Chisato appeared to merely scratch her cheek for a moment.

“O-oh? Is that so…”

Chisato appeared to weigh her options, tilting her head back and forth before, after what seemed like forever,

She turned around.

Time was beginning to speed up and Takina wasn’t sure what exactly Chisato was doing, only that Chisato’s hands had now found their way to the back of her neck. They were still, each of them seeing nothing but the profile of the other until Chisato wrapped her legs around Takina’s back, saying:

“In that case, why don’t we do something stimulating?”

Second after second passed, Chisato leaned into Takina who fully reciprocated her kiss, their lips and then their tongues crashing against one another. Takina tugged at Chisato’s waist and Chisato held onto Takina for dear life with all 4 of her limbs, each of them holding the other in an embrace not unlike but still different to anything they’d done previously.

Ah… This is…

The tension in Takina uncoiled, her grip tightening around Chisato as their passion was left to run wild outside of the gaze of the public. Takina’s mind was almost dancing with desire, the sounds of lust coming from Chisato’s mouth not serving to dampen this in the slightest. The tension inside of Takina that had just unwound began to tighten once more as a realization came through her brain.

It wasn’t a matter of if Takina wanted to do things like this, nor was it a matter of if they would eventually end up ’connecting’ on their futon. It was a matter of how much Takina wanted to do it and when they would.

And then, Takina came to another realization: one that caused her to break apart from Chisato while clamping her hand over her own mouth with shock:

This was terrifying.

“Hm? Takina?”

Takina knew that she shouldn’t look at Chisato right now. She knew that one look at the needy expression on Chisato’s face would send her over the edge.

So why was she already opening her eyes?

“Chisato…”

They stared at each other in silence for what seemed like forever. The strand of saliva that connected them snapped and just as Takina was going to lean in to make another one…

*GROWL*

Takina’s gaze shot from Chisato’s lips to her stomach as her brain reset. Her entire body froze, and Chisato, noticing this, took a hand off of the back of Takina’s neck, hesitantly pointing towards the kitchen.

“You wanna get dinner?”

Takina didn’t move a muscle. Chisato could see that every muscle fibre in Takina’s body was screaming to do any number of different things. In the end, though, after having gone bright red and covered her face, Takina replied with a simple gesture.

*nod*

With that, Chisato simply hopped off of Takina and headed into the kitchen, leaving Takina alone with her thoughts.These thoughts came and went, whizzing about her head as she struggled to discern them from one another. While most came and went, a singular thought lingered, first at the back of her mind before jumping to the forefront.

What would have happened if Chisato’s stomach hadn’t rumbled?

###

After eating, cleaning up, watching a movie with significantly less contact (albeit, still holding hands the whole time), it was finally bedtime. By this point, Chisato and Takina had completely given up on the idea of a single futon and now shared the larger one that had already been there when they’d first arrived.

“Hey, Takina.”

As the first to get to bed today, Takina was the one to open the covers and invite Chisato inside. After struggling to think of something to say for a few moments, Chisato was the first to break the silence.

“Takina? You still awake?”

Takina nodded.

“I just let you in a few seconds ago, didn’t I?”

“Heh. Right.”

Their backs were turned against each other now. To Takina, this had been a sign of trust. That they trusted one another enough to show their back to each other. But now, it was coupled with an odd sense of distance. Chisato’s voice was careful and wary, as if she was afraid of saying something wrong.

“Uh, how do I put this? Well… Sorry.”

Takina raised an eyebrow, turning to face Chisato. When she did, she saw that Chisato was already facing her, albeit, with a sheepish expression. Takina was slightly surprised at both this and the apology, raising an eyebrow.

“Hm? What are you sorry for?”

Chisato cupped her hands in one another, trying to find the right words before moving her hands behind her back and saying:

“It’s just… I was being a little aggressive earlier, and I kinda felt like I was sort of… pressuring you into doing stuff you were uncomfortable with. Y’know?”

Takina blinked twice, trying to process this new information. Chisato thought that she was making Takina feel uncomfortable? Did Takina make it look that way?

“That’s not what I was trying to do…”

Chisato waited for Takina’s response, watching as Takina shifted her hands and her gaze left and right before taking a deep breath.

“I guess… I guess that I’m just a little worried. It’s’ not like I don’t have any desire at all…”

Takina and Chisato both went flush at this, though Takina was many times redder than the girl across from her as she struggled to find the right words to articulate her thoughts.

“It’s… I’m scared. We’ve only been dating for a few weeks, so I’m… I’m scared that we’re moving too fast or something- ah, though it’s not as if I don’t want to do it at all.”

The 2 of them stayed quiet for a bit longer but just as Takina was about to turn around again, Chisato stopped her, her face turning the colour of her ribbon as she said:

“Just so you know, I’ll wait for you for as long as you need to feel comfortable. After all, there’s no point in doing anything if both of us aren’t enjoying it. But also…”

Chisato appeared to hesitate for a moment before saying:

“I’m ready whenever you are.”

But before Takina could fully process what this meant, she felt a quick kiss on the lips as Chisato turned around, going to bed. As the weight of what Chisato had just uttered sank in, Takina’s face burned bright red, but eventually, she too managed to drift off to sleep.

Chapter Text

The second thing that Chisato noticed when she woke up was the noticeable lack of sunlight flooding into the room like it usually did. Of course, the first thing that she noticed was the debilitating pain searing throughout her whole body.

"What the…”

Chisato was no stranger to muscle aches, but this was the first time she’d had one this bad.

I wasn’t even doing anything that intensive yesterday, so why- wait, where’s Takina?

In the matter of a few moments, Chisato stood up as fast as she could, regretted all of her life choices as she was reminded of the soreness in her legs, and headed out of the room despite this.

“Takina? You there?”

When she heard sizzling coming from the kitchen, however, Chisato breathed a sigh of relief.

“There you are. Seriously, Takina, you’ve gotta wake me up for these kinds of things. Are we going to the beach or wha-”

When Chisato made her way across the corner, the second thing that she noticed was that rain was pouring right outside the house.

Of course, the first thing that she noticed was the distinct lack of clothing on Takina.

She’s wearing her bikini here?!

Takina turned around, allowing Chisato’s nerves a moment to recover as her front was largely covered by an apron.

“Oh, I didn’t see you there, Chisato-”

For a moment, it looked as though Takina was completely unbothered by her choice of dress at the moment. However, just as Chisato was wondering how unshakable this girl’s composure was, Takina’s face flushed a deep shade of red as she instinctively turned her back on Chisato before remembering that it was more exposed than her front, then turning back to face Chisato, looking straight at the floor.

“U-um, it was hot, and I was cooking, and you were asleep, so I figured that I’d just wear this since we won’t be able to go to the beach either way, so…”

Chisato, whose eyes had been glued to Takina from the start, simply gave a weak laugh as she spoke in an equally timid voice.

“Ahaha… It really is hot in here, huh?”

The 2 of them stood there, Takina beginning to feel more and more embarrassed under Chisato’s gaze until she grabbed the pan and set it off to the side before walking off to their room.

“U-uh, I-I’ll find something to change into-”

“Hang on a sec.”

Takina stopped, turning around to find that Chisato, despite her embarrassment and red face, had grabbed Takina by the shoulder, stopping her.

“D-did you need something?”

“It’s, well…”

Chisato appeared to hesitate, but after a few moments, a cheeky grin appeared on her 

“How about instead of that, I… join you?”

###

“How do I look, Takina?”

True to her word, Chisato had changed into her own swimsuit. Takina, barely managing to keep her gaze on Chisato, merely nodded.

“You look good.”

This brought a smile to Chisato’s lips as she took Takina’s hand and led her to the dinner table.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s eat!”

“Do you need to hold hands for the five steps it takes to get to the kitchen?”

“Yep.”

Takina rolled her eyes, beginning to relax her shoulders as Chisato let go and they each sat down.

“Ow…”

Takina raised an eyebrow at Chisato’s pained expression as she sat down.

“Something wrong?”

Chisato shrugged.

“Just a muscle ache. For some reason, it feels like I got hit by a truck…”

“You doing ok?”

Chisato weighed her options as an idea began to swirl in her mind. A grin sprouted on her lips as she pressed her fingertips together.

“Well, I think I’d feel a whole lot better if a certain beautiful girl were to give me a little massage~”

To Chisato, that fiery red blush and look of utter embarrassment that appeared on Takina’s face whenever she pushed her buttons. Beginning to giggle to herself, Chisato put a hand over her mouth as she put out her open palm towards Takina while clarifying.

“Of course, I’m only kidding-”

“Sure.”

Chisato stopped, her eyes going wide and her body freezing up as she watched Takina give another nod.

“Eh? What are you-”

“I’ll give you a massage as soon as we finish dinner.”

If it weren’t for the fact that she was refusing to meet Chisato’s gaze out of embarrassment, Takina would have seen the sight of an absolutely red-faced Chisato who was too shocked to even touch her food.

Wait… When she agreed, does she mean that I keep wearing this? Is Takina going to give me a massage while the 2 of us are half naked? This is…

The complexities of the human mind can often be boiled down to a single phrase, especially for people like Chisato and in this moment, the phrase that best described how she was feeling was:

This is the best!

However, that jubilation was quickly hampered when she saw that Takina still hadn’t looked up from her food this whole time. The uncertainty on Takina was on full display as she poked at her veggies.

Is she… forcing herself to do this?

###Meanwhile, in Takina’s mind…

This is bad.

Takina was a little bit on edge. Red faced, she was gripping her chopsticks so hard that they threatened to snap at any moment. Her hands were twitching so much that she struggled to even get food to her mouth. The reason for all this?

Does she intend on wearing that for the whole day?

Takina’s gaze rapidly flitted between her food and Chisato’s mostly exposed upper body before clasping her cheeks in her hands.

I keep asking myself if I really want to do it right now, but with a body like that, it’s like she’s cheating!

But this monologue could not continue forever, and after what seemed like forever, they finally finished their 2:00 pm breakfast.

“Chisato?”

Chisato’s attention was immediately focused on Takina who went into the closet, taking out a yoga mat and laying it on the floor in front of the TV, gesturing towards it while looking at Chisato.

“W-well? Are we doing this or not?”

Chisato gulped, cautiously lying down, stomach first. Taking a deep breath in and out, Takina crouched down beside Chisato, slowly steeling her nerves.

Relax. It’s just a massage. Nothing more, nothing less.

But even as she said this, Her gaze drifted from Chisato’s face, down to her neck, then her shoulder, then to her shoulder, then…

Her chest.

Takina’s gaze lingered on the exposed side of Chisato’s chest before looking off to the side, her blush intensifying even more as she thought:

Then again, she said that she’d be ready when I am, right? If that’s the case, then…

Takina stood up, turning around as she put a leg over Chisato before…

This much is ok, right?

Slowly crouching down, she finally sat on Chisato’s back, facing her feet. Chisato covered her mouth with her hands, flinching and nearly letting out a shriek at the unexpected contact before both she and Takina flushed at this energetic reaction.

“I-is everything ok? Did I do something wrong?! I can stop whenever you want, Chisato.”

After a few moments, Takina heard some shuffling before a quiet:

“No, keep going. I told you that I’m ready whenever you are.”

“...Got it.”

Takina took another deep breath, cracking her knuckles and stretching before she put her hands on Chisato’s feet, deciding to work her way up. As she leaned forward, however, she heard a crack, prompting her to stand up.

“Am I too heavy?”

Chisato quickly shook her head.

“What? N-no way! You’re looking at the best, most athletic Lycoris in the world, you know?”

Despite her playful tone, Takina could hear the unease in Chisato’s voice. Cautiously sitting back down, Takina placed herself over Chisato again.

She started slow. Takina’s touch was so light that Chisato almost felt like she was being tickled. Once she got into a groove, however, well, there’s only one way to describe it.

It was heavenly.

Chisato didn’t even have the mental capacity to block out her own sounds of pleasure as she spoke.

“You;re- mmph!- really good, Takin- hah!”

Truthfully, Takina barely registered a word that Chisato said, partially because she was focused on the task at hand, but also…

Do you really have to make noises like that? I can’t concentrate if you’re making those kinds of sounds…

Slowly, Takina’s hands migrated upwards as she took note of the exact feel of Chisato’s calves. They were firm - no doubt due to her athleticism - but they were also soft, probably due to taking it relatively easy in Hawaii. Unfortunately for Takina’s sanity, Chisato’s ‘noises’ only grew louder the higher she went. 

It’s just a massage… It’s just a massage… nothing more than that.

But even as she told herself this, Takina found herself pressing down on Chisato even harder, digging her palms deeper into her muscles as she unconsciously wanted to hear Chisato’s noises grow louder and louder as she did and as this happened, a strange thought entered Takina’s mind.

It’s just a massage, but…

What if it wasn’t?

And even if Takina didn’t realize it at the time, when this thought led Takina’s mind down the rabbit hole, there was no going back.

“Chisato?”

Takina’s massaging had abruptly stopped and this question prompted Chisato to catch her breath before responding.

“Y-yeah?”

“Can I go a little higher?”

Confused, Chisato gave a nod.

“Mhm. Sure, you can.”

“Please, if you feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable, then stop me.”

Normally, Chisato would respond with some sort of quip, but at this moment, she was too exhausted to think of one.

“Gotcha.”

Takina moved from Chisato’s calves to her thighs, almost pressing her palms all the way down to the bone which prompted even louder moans, whimpers, and other miscellaneous sounds of pleasure from Chisato that she didn’t even bother to try to stifle anymore..Again, Takina paused, leaving Chisato panting for air as she waited for Takina to say something.

“Can I go a little higher?”

This again?

“Sure.”

Takina was now at her upper thigh, and after some more pressing, she stopped again, asking one more time:

“Can I go a little higher, Chisato?”

Eh? But that would mean…

Her entire face flushing bright red, Chisato simply squeaked out a quick: “If you’re ok with it” before Takina once again got to work.

Although, this time, ‘getting to work’ didn’t quite describe it. At first, Takina had been keeping in mind her own past experience and training in terms of how she massaged. But now, more and more, it was going from massaging to, well…

Groping.

She did mix in some actual massaging, but in between presses came moments where Takina simply grabbed handfuls of Chisato’s flesh, eliciting more and more sounds of pleasure from Chisato. Eventually, however, the touches stopped and Takina got up off of Chisato, turning around and putting a leg on either side of her body as she said:

“Could you turn around, please?”

Hesitating for a moment, Takina watched as Chisato took her time turning around her body until, finally, she could see her face.

Chisato’s face was something else. Takina had seen Chisato when she was vulnerable before. Moments where she was embarrassed, or flustered, or anything else, but this was different. Noting her heavy breathing, Takina also noticed a bit of drool on the side of her mouth and the dishevelled state that her hair was in along with the furious blush that had overtaken her entire face. Takina crouched down, her face hovering over Chisato’s face as she said:

“I love you.”

When she leaned down and gave Chisato a swift kiss, she could feel the heat emanating off of her, her sweat glistening even in the dim light of the room. And when she noted this, she suddenly realized how hot she was feeling. And then, she realized that she probably, in one way or another, looked just like Chisato. And that Chisato was feeling every bit as ‘energized’ as her.

Takina turned around, away from Chisato’s face as she got to work. This time, she started from the ankle, slowly making her way to the lower, then upper calf.

“Can I go a little higher?”

“Y-yes…”

Chisato’s noises began to pick up in intensity as Takina moved higher and higher, massaging with a firm, yet gentle touch that seemed to make Chisato shiver underneath her.

“Can I go a little higher?”

Takina craned her neck to spot Chisato’s nodding. Since Takina hadn’t stopped massaging during this, Chisato felt as though if she tried to speak, rather than words, the only thing that would escape her mouth would be more sounds of pleasure. Of course, as Takina migrated to her thigh, this effort proved futile as Chisato’s moans escaped her lips without a single attempt to utter a word.

“Chisato, can I go just a little bit higher?”

Chisato froze. Takina’s fingers were almost touching the edge of Chisato’s bikini bottom. If she were to go higher, then…

“Takina?”

“Yes?”

“You’re not… forcing yourself, are you?”

Takina pondered the question for a moment before responding in a sheepish tone.

“Yes, I am…”

Chisato’s face fell as she looked off to the side.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because, uh…”

Takina hesitated for a moment before saying:

“I didn’t want you to think that I was immodest, or perverted, or something like that…”

Chisato blinked twice, looking straight at Takina in shock.

“...Hah?”

Takina continued.

“W-when I say that I’m forcing myself, it’s more like I’m forcing myself… not to do anything. You know? Like, I’ve been holding myself back for a while now, and we started dating, and I’m happy, but… I feel like I want more.”

Chisato was frozen, once again rendered speechless as Takina’s voice started to break and her face somehow went even more red.

“I-I didn’t want to burden you with this, so I just kept it to myself, a-and I told myself that I didn’t need it, but when you said that you’re ready when I am-”

“Takina?”

Takina stopped, now looking down and meeting Chisato’s gaze. She watched as Chisato slid out from under her and stood up, extending her hand to help Takina up. Takina could see the uncertainty in Chisato’s eyes, but despite that, Chisato’s voice held mostly firm as she asked:

“Wanna take this to the bedroom?”

Chapter Text

Hey guys! Just posting this chapter to let you guys know that I've decided to put all the explicit fics in a sister fic called "Lycoris ReLife: After Dark". You know, just in case anyone doesn't want to read ChisaTaki smut for whatever reason. In any case, you shouldn't feel that disoriented as both can be enjoyed in a vacuum, but I would say that it's better to read it in its intended order. No judgement if you're not into that kinda stuff, though! Just warning you that you'll probably be getting less content in the future. Oh, also, I'll be taking a bit of a break after I finish wrapping up this arc to focus more on myself and my other fics. That being said, thanks for sticking around and I hope to see you soon!

Chapter Text

The futon that Takina had bought for herself was a single, and now, Takina wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse as she and Chisato were now squeezed against each other, just having showered, eaten, and gone through their nightly routine. For ‘space conservation’, Chisato had elected to hold Takina as tight as possible while remaining comfortable. Not that Takina minded, of course. The feeling of Chisato’s arms over her front gave her a sense of security that was hard for someone like her to come by.

“Hey, Chisato?”

“Hm?”

“I was thinking… Is there anywhere else you’d like to go?”

Chisato raised an eyebrow.

“Where’s this coming from?”

“Well, it’s just…”

Takina waited for a moment before saying:

“Well, our cafe here’s been making a lot of money, so I did the math and it turns out, well… we have enough money for another week of vacation.”

Judging by the way Chisato’s hands tensed around her, Takina figured that Chisato had not expected this.

“Hah?! Really? Did you tell the others?”

“About that…”

Takina fidgeted with her thumbs for a moment before meekly stating:

“It appeared like there was only enough money for two…”

Chisato gave a gasp, putting one of her hands over her own mouth while speaking in faux offence.

“Oh? Getting the two of us an all-expenses paid vacation free of work and distractions? Are you sure you’re not proposing?”

The effect that Chisato’s words had had on Takina’s face was made evident by the fact that her ears had turned bright red.

“That’s not-”

“And I’d bet that you found us a safe house with only one bed again! Are you trying to get into my pants again, Takina?”

Steam was emanating from Takina’s head and her face was red, but she merely stated:

“I-I won’t deny that…”

The effect that Takina’s words had had on Chisato’s face was made evident by the fact that her entire face had turned bright red.

“A-ah…”

Chisato buried her face in the back of Takina’s neck, weighing her options for a moment before…

*lick*

“Wha- Chisato!”

Takina spun around, flushed while Chisato merely grinned.

“I’m just a little excited is all~ Does it feel any different?”

Takina looked off at the ceiling before giving a tentative nod.

“Y-yeah. It feels like… like we’ve connected somehow, you know?”

“You think so?”

The two of them now lay side by side, staring up at the ceiling while Chisato offered Takina an arm pillow which she graciously accepted, snuggling up to Chisato.

“Hey, Takina?”

“Mhm?”

“We’ve got one more day here, right?”

Takina slowly nodded, waiting to see where Chisato was going with this.

“And tomorrow’s a special day, isn’t it?”

Now, Takina was stumped. Was it an anniversary? No, they’d been together for less than a month. Any holidays? None that she knew of. With that, Takina shook her head, much to the amusement of Chisato.

“Eh? Is that so…”

And then she saw it. That same crafty expression that Chisato wore whenever she was cooking up a plan.

“Something going on?”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! Just make sure to sleep in tomorrow, ok? Wouldn’t want you to be tired and cranky on the plane, now would we?”

Takina was about to protest, but something about Chisato’s expression told her to just listen. So she did.

“Alright. B-but, uh…”

Chisato listened, hanging onto every word that Takina said.

“Yes?”

“It’s just, uh…”

Takina extended her arms out at Chisato, blushing as she asked:

“Could you, uh, be my pillow?”

A smile immediately sprung onto Chisato’s face and with one enthusiastic “Of course!”, Takina comfortably nuzzled into Chisato’s chest before the two of them drifted off to sleep.

###

When Takina woke up, the second thing she noticed was the fact that the sky outside was still dark.

Of course, the first thing she noticed was an obnoxiously loud alarm accompanied by the sight of an energetic gremlin leaping out of bed beside her.

“Ugh… Chisato? Why’d you set an alarm for… 2 in the morning?!”

The only response that she got, however, was a smile as Chisato simply stated:

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just go back to sleep, ok?”

“I…”

Takina sat there for a moment, processing what Chisato had just told her for a moment before holding onto the hem of Chisato’s pajama shirt, saying:

“D-don’t leave, ok?”

Chisato opened her mouth in surprise, not even having considered this reaction. Kneeling down, she scooped Takina up into a hug in one hand and patted her head with the other as she lowered her voice to a quiet, soothing tone.

“Takina, I swear on my life that I will never leave you again.”

“Pfft…”

“Hah? What’s so funny?”

“...Poor choice of words, Chisato.”

“Eh? What do you- ah, crap! U-uh, um… I swear on all the fish and garden eels in the world! There, is that better?”

The sound of light laughter coming from Takina helped to calm Chisato’s nerves as she put Takina back down.

“Alright. I’ll wake you up once I’m finished, ok Takina?”

Chisato hovered over Takina, waiting for a response.

“Hello? Takina? Earth to Takina! Where are y-mmph!”

Finding herself promptly cut off by Takina’s mouth followed by her tongue, Chisato found herself red-faced and panting while Takina merely dove under the covers, laughing all the while.

“Takina! What was that for?!”

Takina didn’t respond for a few moments before practically singing:

“Just felt like it~ And I love you.”

Chisato couldn’t help but smile at that as she stood back up.

“Alright then! See you later!”

And with that, the door closed behind Chisato as Takina drifted back to sleep.

###

“Wakey wakey, Takina!”

The sight of Chisato hovering over her was a new sensation to Takina, though it wasn’t exactly an unpleasant one. On one hand, Takina was quite used to the need to suddenly wake up, but on the other hand, the futon was warm, Chisato was warm, and it was still mostly dark out, so did she really need to get up now?

Recalling the way that Chisato would cling to her in the mornings, a smile began to spread on her face as ideas spread in her mind.

“C’mon, Takina! You’ve gotta get up-”

Before she could finish her sentence, Chisato was cut off with a kiss for the second time that day before being dragged under the covers next to Takina.

“Eh? What’s going on?”

Takina didn’t say anything, merely smiling at Chisato, who, in turn, started smiling back.

“Takina~ It’s time to wake up.”

But to Chisato’s surprise, Takina simply shook her head, kissed her full on the lips again, and when she finally allowed Chisato a chance to breathe, she simply said:

“Nope. I think I’ll have a little snack first.”

Chisato blinked, temporarily struck dumb before managing to get out:

“G-geez! Who taught you to be this aggressive this early, Takina- a-ahhn…”

Chisato’s voice abruptly trailed off into a moan as Takina nibbled at her neck before saying:

“I learn from the best.”

###

After each of them showered, Takina and Chisato got dressed before heading out to LycoReco. While Takina’s face was still flush, Chisato had relaxed into a smile as she walked with the same spring in her step as usual.

“Why is it that you always end up on top?”

Chisato flashed Takina a toothy grin, merely stating:

“Because I love you more.”

“Liar!”

“Ah? We’re doing this now?”

“,,,No. I was just wondering how you got so good so fast. Are you sure that this morning was only your second time?”

Chisato shrugged.

“I guess that I just know your body the best, Takina.”

“Seriously? I mean…”

Takina’s voice started trailing off as Chisato sucked at her neck just enough to render her speechless. After a few moments of this, Chisato backed off, wiping her mouth as she said:

“Delicious.”

“U-uh, Chisato?”

Chisato’s smile was slowly replaced by a look of horror as Takina revealed a purple mark on her neck.

“It… there isn’t anything there, right?”

Chisato looked away, sweat beginning to form on her brow.

“Uh, well, you see…”

###

“Are you sure that they won’t be suspicious?”

“Well, yeah, but you know what they say! Innocent until proven guilty!”

“I’m not sure that applies here…”

In the end, the 2 of them had bought matching flower necklaces as a way to cover Takina’s neck. Takina tried to pay, but for whatever reason, Chisato insisted on opening her own wallet, saying something along the lines of “I can’t make you pay on a day like today!”

Rhyming aside, Takina wondered what exactly was special about today of all days.

Regardless, she had bigger things to worry about as she followed Chisato.

“Oi, Chisato?”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t this a different route than what we usually take?”

Chisato shrugged.

“We decided to try out a different location since it’s the last day and all. You know?”

Takina nodded.

“Makes sense.”

Despite the explanation, Takina couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of suspicion as they walked. Nevertheless, they continued until they’d reached a parking lot where Chisato eagerly ran up to one of the cars, much to Takina’s confusion.

“Chisato? What are you-”

“Get in.”

Takina blinked twice.

“Hah? Did you get a driver or something?”

Chisato merely laughed to herself for a second before puffing out her chest, saying:

“Yeah. And you’re looking at her.”

Again, Takina blinked twice.

“You… got your driver’s licence here?”

Chisato waved her hand dismissively, giving a light laugh as she did.

“Oh, it’s really nothing special. Lycoris are allowed to drive as soon as they complete their respective courses.”

“But doesn’t that only apply to when we’re in Japan?”

Chisato shrugged, stepping inside the vehicle, prompting Takina to take the seat beside her, albeit reluctantly. 

“”Are you sure that this is a good idea?”

“Oh, yeah, positive! When have I ever had a bad idea?”

“I can name a few of them…”

“Just relax, Takina! I managed to score over a 90 on the local driver’s ed test and I even have a full licence!”

“Kurumi made that for you, didn’t she?”

Ignoring that, Chisato stepped on the gas and they began to pull out onto the street.

But they didn’t stay on the street for long as Takina noticed that the road they were travelling on turned to a dirt path under their tires.

“Are you sure that you’re comfortable driving in this, Chisato?”

“Oh, yeah, totally. Besides, we’re almost there.”

The path stretched on, Takina gazing out at the pacific ocean to pass the time. After a while, Takina noticed that they’d started drifting closer to the beachside.

“Chisato? Are we stopping on the beach?”

“Mm! Yeah, we are! In fact, I think I can spot our spot right up ahead!”

Takina craned her neck before realizing that the LycoReco vehicle was, indeed set up on the beachside. However, Takina found the secluded nature of the spot they were in to be strange as it wouldn’t be conducive to attracting customers. In addition, the outside area typically reserved for customers was smaller than usual, only featuring one table. Yet that single table appeared to be more lavishly decorated than even their normal store, being decked with streamers and balloons. As they pulled up and exited the car, Takina shot Chisato a confused look.

“Chisato? What is this-”

“Happy birthday, Takina!!”

4 bursts of confetti shot straight into Takina’s face, but her only reaction was to stand there in shock.

“Hah? What the-”

And then she remembered the date.

“O-oh. Right. It’s my birthday.”

Chisato raised an eyebrow.

“What? You forgot?”

Takina looked at the ground for a few moments before turning to vaguely face Chisato as she said:

“I-I guess that that explains what you were saying earlier…”

“Well, forget all of that now! I say we just have as much fun as possible now, ok?”

Takina looked up, first at Chisato, then the other members of LycoReco before giving a nod and smile.

“Mm. Sounds like a good idea.”

Chapter Text

“You brought water guns?”

Chisato gave Takina several quick nods, picking up a pistol and tossing another to Takina which she caught.

“Yeah! I thought that this would be fun since we never got to go to the beach! And this is all distilled water, so there’s no need to worry about ruining your outfit too bad.”

Takina looked down at herself (as always, wearing the sundress that Chisato picked out for her), looking down uncertainly.

“I dunno… I mean, it’s still not a swimsuit, so I probably shouldn’t- mrplglthf!”

…Before being shot in the mouth with a stream of water.

“Huh.”

Chisato looked down at her hand, grinning to herself as she did…

“I didn’t expect to hit it that well. I mean, I’m not much of a sharpshooter, so- mrplglthf!”

…Before being responded to in kind.

“That does it! You’re on, Takina!”

And so, the other 3 watched as Takina and Chisato dashed out onto the beach, laughing as they darted around one another, blasting and dodging faster than what seemed to be humanly possible.

“Whose idea was it to give the Lycoris water guns?”

Mika merely shrugged while Mizuki sighed, saying:

“The only thing I don’t understand is why those 2 get to go to Germany while we’re stuck running the shop.”

“Well, Takina’s saved the shop on numerous occasions, so it just seemed reasonable that she gets a favour every now and then. At least they’re not dragging us into that water fight- mrplglthf!”

Right as she was going to look down at her (thankfully waterproof) laptop, Kurumi looks up to find a giggling Takina having a gun pointed at her along with Chisato who yelled:

“Oi, c’mon and join the fun!”

Mizuki looked at the indignant expression on Kurumi’s face, laughing as she put her hand over her mouth…

“Pfft. Looks like they got you-”

…Before meeting her eventual watery demise.

“That does it! You stupid brats are gonna see why you need to respect your elders!”

And with that, Mika began to laugh as he watched the other 4 splashing each other silly.

###

After everyone came back soaked (except Chisato who managed to dodge every shot, much to the chagrin of the others), it was time for:

“Cake!”

Takina stared at the 2-layer Chiffon cake on the table with 2 rings of candles. It was rather large, a ring of 8 candles having been placed on each layer. Takina stared at it, not saying anything until Chisato leaned out in front of her with a smile.

“What do you think? I made it myself!”

“I made the recipe.”

“And I did all the cleanup.”

“Mizuki, Kurumi, I would love it if you’d shut up right now.”

Takina giggled at this display before her attention was diverted to Mika handing her a lighter and another candle.

“So? Are you ready?”

Giving a nod, Takina lit a candle and used it to light the other 16 before placing it into the centre of the cake. By this point, the sky had darkened, the only light in the area being from the moon and the candles.

“Alright! Time for singing!”

Mizuki raised an eyebrow.

“Eh? But-”

“No buts! Now, everyone! Happy birthday to you~”

The year prior, Takina’s birthday had come and gone, what with the sombre news of Chisato’s condition. But now? With the entirety of LycoReco’s crew singing (albeit off-key) for her was… something else.

“Happy birthday, dear Takina~”

Takina couldn’t help but giggle at the exaggerated tone that Chisato used when singing that line in particular before blushing when she felt a kiss on her lips. But all too soon, the song came to an end.

“Takina, c’mon! Make a wish!”

“Ah, right.”

After shaking out of the trance that Chisato had just put her in by swiping her into a side hug, Takina took a deep breath, mulling over the question.

I think… I know what I want.

And as Takina blew out the candles, the thought lingering in her mind was:

I want to be happy with these people forever.

###

“Are you satisfied with today?”

After everyone else had fallen asleep, Takina and Mika were the only two conscious individuals remaining. In response to his question, Takina merely nodded.

“Yeah. We played and we ate. It was fun. Mizuki and Kurumi’s presents were also very thoughtful.”

Takina had been quite touched by Mizuki’s gift of a German-Japanese dictionary and she had nearly rejected Kurumi’s gift of a brand-new laptop.

“That’s good.”

They sat in silence for a bit, watching the sun set before, after a little, Mika spoke up.

“I know that I’ve said this before, but again, thank you for saving my daughter.”

“Wha- uh…”

Takina was slightly startled by this, and not exactly knowing how to respond, she said:

“I-it was really nothing. Plus, it’s not like I wanted her dead.”

“Ha! Fair point.”

Takina looked down at the sleeping blonde in her lap, undoing the red ribbon and smiling as the freshly released locks of hair tickled her thighs. Seeing this, Mika sighed.

“Still, I’ve only just gotten my daughter back and the first thing you do is to steal her away.”

Immediately, Takina stopped, taking a moment to process what she’d just heard.

“Um… I, uh…”

“I was joking.”

“Oh.”

Takina breathed a sigh of relief before going back to admiring Chisato’s sleeping form. The moment was only slightly marred by the fact that Chisato had begun to shiver.

“I think that I should take her home now.”

Mika nodded.

“That seems prudent. Ah, but before you go, I’d like for you to have this.”

Right when Takina had finished laying Chisato down in the car, they turned around, seeing Mika standing in front of her, holding out some kind of box. Taking the box in her hand, Takina was slightly confused as she opened it.

“What is-”

And the moment that Takina saw the little slow in the middle of it was the moment that Takina knew the purpose of this box.

“U-uh, I probably won’t be using this too soon.”

Mika nodded.

“That’s fair. Oh, and you know how to drive, right?”

Takina nodded, stepping into the front seat as she shoved the box into a pocket.

“Yeah.”

And as she started the car, Mika merely looked up at her, saying:

“Take care of her. Ok?”

“I will.”

And with that, Takina drove back home.

###

“Chisato, we’re home.”

“Mmngh… 5 more minutes, Takina- Wait, your presents!”

Rather than asking to be carried inside like Takina was hoping expecting, Chisato sprung to her feet, patting herself down.

“Crap, crapcrapcrapcrap, where’d I-”

A curious smile began to form on Takina’s face as she watched Chisato freak out.

“Chisato, it’s fine. I can wait until we get inside-”

“There it is! Takina, close your eyes.”

“Why-”

“Just do it!”

Takina obliged, her eyes fluttering shut as she felt something slipping onto her left wrist.

“All done! Take a look.”

Takina opened her eyes, taking a long look at Chisato’s face.

“Uh, you’re beautiful as always, Chisato.”

Immediately, a goofy grin spread across Chisato’s face as she laughed, wrapping Takina into a tight embrace that was swiftly returned. Once they broke apart, she said:

“I meant at your wrist, silly!”

Bringing her wrist up to eye level, Takina’s eyes went wide as she found that there was now a golden bracelet adorning it. The orange glow of the sun reflected beautifully off its surface, making the bracelet shimmer as Takina held her hand up to the light.

“It’s… perfect.”

Takina took a moment longer to admire it before nearly being bowled over by Chisato as she hugged her from behind.

“I know, right? I’m just that good of a girlfriend~”

Takina sighed, reaching back to pat Chisato’s head.

“Yes, yes you are.” 

And then the 2 of them stood there, Chisato peering over Takina’s shoulder as the 2 of them watched the sun set.

###

“So, how do you feel, Takina?”

The last bits of the sun were well and truly over the horizon, but despite the fact that the moon hung high in the air, illuminating the room, neither Takina nor Chisato had fallen asleep. Considering the question for a moment, Takina merely shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you just had your 17th! Don’t you feel, y’know, older? Plus, today was basically 2 birthdays in one! Since you didn’t have a 16th, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Again, the room fell silent, Takina’s back rubbing up against Chisato’s front in the futon as she thought.

“I guess I feel different. In the past few years, a lot has changed.”

“I know, right? You got kicked out of the DA, joined our cafe, got together with me-”

“And I learned how to enjoy myself. Or, more accurately, you taught me how to enjoy myself.”

When Takina turned around to face her, Chisato was nearly transfixed. They hadn’t bothered with makeup and Takina’s hair was, frankly, a mess, but something about her was just… mesmerizing. 

And then, Chisato remembered that she was supposed to say something.

“Ah, well, I help you get started, but really, you’re the one who changed yourself! And you’ve also… you’ve shown me that my life’s worth living, Takina. So thank you for that.”

Takina gave a short laugh, planting a kiss on Chisato’s forehead before saying:

“I guess we’ve really helped each other out, huh?”

“Yeah, totally! And I can’t speak for you, but I’m definitely happier when you’re around!”

“Same.”

There were a few more moments where neither of them spoke, the silence hanging in the air growing thicker and thicker until Chisato noticed a look of worry on Takina’s face.

“Something eating at you?”

Takina shook her head.

“Worried you’ll lose me again?”

Takina sighed, wrapping her arms around Chisato’s shoulders and pulling her close.

“Stop reading my mind.”

“Nope, never~”

…

“Want to talk about it?”

…

“It’s just… What if your heart stops working again? Or what if someone attacks us? Or what if we fall out of love? There’s just so much I don’t know about when it comes to… when it comes to us.”

Chisato took a moment to take this in before planting a light kiss on the tip of Takina’s nose.

“I get that. I’m scared about stuff like that too. But that’s stuff that any couple has to worry about, right? At any moment, you could have a heart attack, or get cancer, or rabies, or get attacked, but… the least we can do is enjoy ourselves before any of that happens. Right?”

“I guess so…”

The worry in Takina hadn’t left, however, so Chisato continued, rubbing her knuckles up and down Takina’s back as she did.

“But I can tell you right now, that the one thing you won’t have to worry about is that I’ll never stop loving you, Takina.”

Takina looked up at her, revealing the tears that had begun to form in her eyes.

“Really?”

“Really. Remember what I told you that day you found me?”

Takina was confused, but after a moment, a look of realization hit her as she whispered out:

“That you’d never stop loving me until the day you die…”

“See? So until one of us dies, you won’t have to worry about anything!”

“Pfft… You are so corny…”

Despite the insult, Takina couldn’t help but smile through the tears, pulling Chisato into an even tighter embrace as she said:

“I guess we’re more of a normal couple than I thought.”

“Right? Plus, with how amazing my new heart is, it might even outlive yours! So let’s keep living together until we’re too old to move, ok, Takina?”

“If you think that being too old to move is going to make me stop loving you, you’re a bigger idiot than I thought.”

They shared a laugh, then a kiss before saying:

“I can’t wait for our next adventure, Takina!”

“I can’t wait to see you in the morning, Chisato.”