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Shortly after the Investigation Team rescued Naoto, Yukiko decided to host a sleepover to welcome Naoto to the group. Surprisingly, the sleepover was going rather well, until there was a bit of a lull, and Rise exclaimed, “We should play a game!”
“We’re not playing the King’s Game again,” Chie deadpanned.
“That’s not what I’m thinking of,” Rise said, grabbing an empty bottle from the table, which had once been full of soda. “Let’s play Spin the Bottle!”
“Spin the bottle?” Yosuke mumbled. “The hell’s that?”
“It’s an American party game,” Naoto explained. “You sit in a circle and spin the bottle. Then, you have to kiss whoever the neck of the bottle faces. It’s a bit childish, don’t you think, Kujikawa?”
“I already told you to call me Rise! And I think it’ll be fun!”
“I’m down if everyone else is,” Kanji said, shrugging. “Sounds like it might be kinda funny.”
“It’s just kissing, right?” Chie said. “I guess I could do that.”
Yukiko added, “If I’m the host, I should play too.”
“I don’t know about this,” Yosuke muttered.
“Scared you’ll be a bad kisser?” Yu joked.
“W-What? No!” Yosuke stammed. “I mean… I guess it is just a game.”
“I’ll play too,” Yu added. “Teddie, you wanna join?”
“Sure! Sounds like fun.”
Naoto sighed. “I maintain that this is tremendously childish, but I suppose I will participate as well. It will be a learning experience, if nothing else.”
“Great!” Rise cheered. “Everyone, sit down! I’ll spin first, and whoever it lands on can go next!”
When Rise’s spin landed on Yu, she didn’t know whether to be excited or annoyed. On the one hand, Yu was extremely attractive and exactly her usual type. On the other hand, she didn’t really feel a spark between them, even though she really wanted there to be one, and besides, everyone in the Investigation Team had a quiet understanding that Yu was into Yosuke anyway, so having a crush on Yu was bound to be fruitless.
Hey, a girl could dream.
“Looks like it’s me and you, Senpai,” Rise said, leaning over to press a kiss to Yu’s lips. He leaned into it, a hand in her hair, just the right amount of push to make her feel special, without pushing too much.
Urgh, of course their perfect leader was an annoyingly good kisser, too. Some guys were just the whole package…
Finally, Yu pulled away, smiling a little. “I spin the bottle now, right?”
And… the illusion was shattered, just like that. Oh, well - Yu was a great friend, so Rise didn’t even mind that he didn’t like her in that way.
“Yep, your turn!”
Yu spun the bottle, as instructed. It landed with the neck facing Yosuke, who immediately turned a bright shade of red.
“He’s gotta spin it again, right?” Yosuke checked. “Until it lands on a girl?”
Kanji looked confused. “Huh? Since when was that in the rules?”
“Since… always?”
“I thought you did not know this game until Kujikawa brought it up,” Naoto said.
“I didn’t, but… I mean, that’s gotta be a rule.”
“It isn’t,” Rise said. “You kiss whoever it lands on.”
“No one’s going to make you participate if you genuinely don’t want to,” Yu said. “It’s only a game, but if the idea really upsets you…”
“S-Shut up! I don’t care about that! I just… thought you’d care about it,” Yosuke mumbled. “I mean, if it’s only a game, I guess it’s fine…”
“In that case…”
Yu learned over the middle of the circle, taking Yosuke’s chin in his hands and kissing him, though the kiss lacked the passion Rise expected. That sort of made sense, she supposed. He probably didn’t want to push too far when Yosuke seemed a bit… nervous about the whole thing.
She really hoped they figured their shit out. Watching them dance around each other was agonizing.
“Whoa… you’re good at that,” Yosuke muttered, before catching himself. “I mean–”
Yu chuckled. “It’s alright. I know what you meant.”
For the rest of the night, every time he and Yu met eyes, Yosuke would be momentarily stunned into silence.
Yosuke snatched up the bottle before anyone could say anything, spinning it around with a little too much force. When it landed on Naoto, he stammered, “Can I spin it again?”
Naoto made a face. “That’s a little rude, don’t you think?”
“You’re a bit intimidating,” Yosuke mumbled. “I dunno, I don’t wanna piss you off.”
“Relax, Hanamura. I don’t have my pistol on me, if that’s what concerns you.”
“... it wasn’t, but now it sorta does?”
Naoto scoffed. “Are we going to kiss or not? I would appreciate it if you stopped wasting my time.”
“F-Fine!” With that, the two kissed. Yosuke made the whole thing look tremendously awkward, and Rise was sure he’d rather be kissing Yu again. His technique was a little sloppy too.
“How was that?” Yosuke asked, pulling back with a triumphant look on his face.
“Disappointing.”
The triumphant look immediately took its leave. “Seriously?!”
“You use too much tongue. It was like kissing a dog.”
“You can be a real jackass, you know that?”
“I am only being truthful.”
“At least you weren’t kissing a guy again,” Chie interjected. “Not that Naoto’s a girl, but… you know.”
“Just spin the damn bottle,” Yosuke grumbled, his head in his hands.
“Very well.” Naoto carefully gripped the bottle, spinning it with just enough force to make a full rotation, whereupon it landed on…
Kanji, whose bashful expression betrayed his extremely obvious crush on Naoto. “I, uhh…” Kanji paused to clear his throat. “You don’t gotta, you know that? I mean, if you think it’s weird, you don’t gotta…”
“Nonsense,” Naoto said. “If nothing else, the experience will be something of a novel experience. It cannot be nearly as difficult as Hanamura made it look.”
“Hey!”
Naoto shuffled over to Kanji, before pausing their advance to ask, “Could you lean down a little? You’re rather tall.”
“Oh, uhh… my bad.” Kanji leaned down a bit, hunching over until he was around Naoto’s height. “This any better?”
Naoto smiled. “It’s perfect.”
Before Kanji could respond, Naoto leaned over and kissed him. Naoto took a more analytical approach, trying a few things to see what worked, and their kiss lasted a little longer than the others’, with how much Naoto seemed intent to try out. After a few minutes, Naoto hesitated, before pulling away. Without their hat to hide their blush behind, the heat on their cheeks was noticeable. “Kanji-kun, you should… spin the bottle.”
“R-Right!”
Those guys aren’t fooling anyone, Rise thought, as Kanji reached for the bottle. How long are they going to dance around each other? Geez… maybe I should talk to Naoto later? It’s not like Kanji’s ever gonna make the first move…
Kanji spun the bottle with a bit too much force, causing it to spin around and around a few times. When it stuttered to a stop, the neck of the bottle was facing Yukiko. “M-Me?!” Yukiko gasped, her face turning as red as her pyjamas.
“Oh, boy…” Yosuke murmured. “This should be good.”
Chie, whose teeth were already gritted, elbowed him in the ribs.
“Hey!”
If Rise thought Kanji seemed awkward when he was kissing Naoto, that was nothing compared to the levels of awkwardness the poor guy exuded as he shuffled over to Yukiko. She pitied the poor guy – the daggers Chie was staring at him probably weren’t helping his nerves, either.
The moment Kanji pulled away from the kiss, Yukiko burst into a fit of nervous giggles, and once she started she couldn’t stop. Though Kanji initially seemed annoyed, letting out a frustrated huff at his attempt being met with laughter, he mellowed out a little soon after. Yukiko’s laughter could be downright contagious sometimes, and soon enough, Kanji was laughing along.
“I guess this whole thing’s a bit absurd, huh?” Kanji said with a chuckle, pushing the bottle into Yukiko's hands. “Go on, Yuki-tan. Your turn.”
When Yukiko finally stopped laughing for long enough to spin the bottle – which took a fair bit of time – everyone watched the bottle spin round and round, eventually landing on…
… Chie.
Rise smirked. This should be good.
Yukiko cheered when the bottle landed on Chie, who was sitting next to her. Flinging her arms around Chie’s shoulders, Yukiko pulled her in for a kiss, which lasted substantially longer than any kiss thus far. Chie’s cheeks were bright pink, and it took her a moment to reciprocate, but once she did, it was clear neither of them wanted to break off the kiss anytime soon. Rise was almost worried they’d forget to breathe.
Finally, Chie pulled away, totally breathless. “Damn, Yukiko… you’re good at that.”
Yukiko smiled. “You’re not so bad yourself, Chie-chan.”
“Guess I just can’t compare,” Kanji grumbled. Naoto gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.
“I guess it’s my turn,” Chie said, reaching for the bottle. When she saw who it landed on, she made a face. “Ewwwwww, Yosuke? Can I spin again? It’d be like… kissing my brother or something…”
“Wanna see if you can spin Yukiko again?” Yu joked.
“Kinda…”
“I hate when you guys decide it’s Bully Yosuke Hour,” Yosuke grumbled.
Teddie grinned. “I don’t! It’s funny!”
“Zip it, Ted.”
“Geez, you don’t have to get upset about it,” Chie grumbled, leaning over and pressing the world's briefest and most chaste kiss on Yosuke’s lips. “There. Happy now?”
“Thank you? I guess?”
“Man… kissing you right after Yukiko is such a letdown.”
“Can I help you?” Yosuke exclaimed, incredibly affronted. “You’re all being so mean…”
“I dunno, Yu was pretty nice to you,” Rise said, winking. “He really knows how to treat someone right, don’t you think?”
“S-Shut up!” Yosuke snatched up the bottle, spinning it. When it stopped with the neck pointing to Teddie, Yosuke threw his hands into the air. “That’s it! I’m done with this stupid game! I’m not kissing the bear! I’m just not!”
“Awwwwwwww… but I didn’t get to kiss anyone yet,” Teddie said, pouting. “It looked like fun, too…”
“Well, that’s just not fair,” Rise huffed. “You know what? I’ll do it! Come here, Ted!”
Teddie gasped. “Is this scoring, Senpai? Am I scoring?”
Yu let out a laugh. “Sure seems like it, Ted.”
“Yippee!”
In spite of the stereotypes that surrounded idols, Rise had never done anything as remotely romantic as kissing a boy - not even in some film or another. Well, except kissing Yu earlier in the game. The management company wanted her to uphold her image of perpetual singleness, after all.
But… kissing Teddie… Inoue and his employers could stuff it, if it meant she had a chance to do it again. She liked him way more than she expected to…
Later that evening, Yu approached Rise in the kitchen, where she was microwaving popcorn. Everyone else was busy setting up for a movie upstairs. “So… how long have you liked Teddie?”
“How long have you liked Yosuke?” Rise shot back.
“... touché.” Yu paused for a moment before adding, “You’re not… upset about that, are you? I know you flirted with me for a while, so...”
“Honestly? I was, at the time. I really wanted to like you, but… you liked Yosuke, and there just… wasn’t a spark between us, like I thought there’d be.”
“No hard feelings, though?”
“Nope. Not at all.”
Teddie’s voice carried down the stairs. “Riseeeeeee! Is the popcorn ready yet?”
“Almost!” Rise called back. Chuckling as she turned back to Yu, she said, “Well, we should probably get back up there.”
During the movie, Rise picked a spot on the couch right next to Teddie. She got snuggly during movies, so sue her! And Teddie was the best cuddler in the Investigation Team by miles.