“I’m home~!” Chisato opened the door to Safe House 3, the one they had cleaned and used after coming back from Hawaii.
“Welcome back.” Takina greeted back to Chisato even though they both stood at the doorway, having arrived together. “I’m back.”
“Hehe~ Welcome back to you, too~” Chisato greeted back with a big grin as Takina smiled, finding that jolly expression contagious. “Since we already ate at the cafe… Want to take a bath first?”
“…Then, I’ll take the offer.” Takina nodded as she headed for the bedroom to grab a change of clothes, while Chisato immediately headed towards the living room, as if busy with something.
Chisato was normal for most of the day, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something had been different since Kurumi’s birthday party ended. While she’s good at hiding it, Takina knew that she seemed a little uneasy, worried, even.
What could be something that could get Chisato worried nowadays? Was it a problem about her heart? They’ve just gotten back from Hawaii, was she feeling lost about what to do with her life from now on?
Takina watched the water flow down her body as she thought what Chisato’s possible worry could be, and all she wished was that the reason she invited her today was to tell her. The warm shower water trickled down the marbled floor after warming her body. Nonetheless, her wants were going to be the same. She will be with her, no matter what.
~*
Chisato busied herself as she set up the living room a little bit different from usual. The request came from Kurumi, and with how things were, even without the push she received… She was already planning on doing it, but on Christmas eve.
“I’ll just take advantage of the courage Kurumi gave me… while it’s still here.” Chisato looked at the box in her hand, flinging it open as she looked at a thin strapped dark blue and white themed small wristwatch. “I hope she’ll like it.” She closed the box and set it under a cushion on her side where she usually sat.
She set down a bowl of packed cookies at the center of the living table, followed by a stand of tall unlit candles, with the lighter set next to it.
“Okay… Gods of Romanticism, please forgive me for how simple all this… and give me the courage to–“
“Chisato.”
“Gwaahahhrhg! Takina!” Chisato half jumped as Takina suddenly appeared behind her. She scrambled to look behind her, the dimly lit living room, and pushed Takina backwards, towards their bedroom. “W- Wait in here, while I take a shower, okay?”
Takina only blinked as she watched Chisato retreat from the bedroom. “Okay…?”
“Don’t go out! You gotta promise! I’ll be quick!” Chisato looked panicked and a little bit on a hurry. “Promise me.”
Takina blinked in confusion. “I promise…?”
“Good! Be back in a jiffy!”
Takina busied herself with her phone as she waited. There was an unsettling feeling in her chest, but her instincts told her it wasn’t a bad feeling… What could it be?
~*
Chisato finished her shower in twenty minutes tops, dressed in some warm clothing with her heart ready to leap out of her chest. She knocked on her bedroom door first before entering even without hearing a response.
She tiptoed towards the bed and found Takina half lying down on the bed with her feet on the floor, sleeping.
“Ah… She must have been tired… We’ve been busy most of the day, after all.” Chisato smiled at her wryly before sitting next to her. “Takina? You have to get on the bed properly if you’re sleeping?”
“Mm… Not… Sleeping…” Takina lazily opened her eyes as she grabbed Chisato’s arm gently. “I was waiting and I suppose, sort of dozed off a little.”
“You sure looked like you were knocked out there, though?” Chisato smiled at her.
“Hm-mm. I’m okay, it was a good nap.” Takina slowly sat up and yawned. “I did not just yawn.”
“Okay, okay.” Chisato smiled at her wryly. She’s so cute. “Then~ I’ll cover your eyes for a moment, as I prepare for you a surprise, then?”
“Why do my eyes have to be covered? That feels unsafe.” Takina blinked as Chisato stood behind her with a neatly folded bandanna in her hand.
“Just humor me a little~”
“…Understood.” Takina closed her eyes as Chisato wrapped the bandanna over them.
Chisato tightened the bandanna on the back of Takina’s head and settled her hands on those slender shoulders. “Is it tight?”
“No, it’s okay.” Takina held her hands out trying to find Chisato, and immediately finding those warm hands guiding her.
“Okay, then follow me~” Chisato slowly and safely guided Takina out of the bedroom, and then, to the living room. “Wait here for a bit, don’t move, okay?”
“Understood.” Takina nodded as she heard Chisato fumble around the living room, moving some pillows and such from one place to another, and then something to another. Then a few clicks from something unfamiliar, and then a weird scent surrounding her. “Chisato?”
“Takina~ I’m done.”
Takina felt Chisato run behind her, and the bandanna was then untied. She caught the bandanna with her hands, slowly taking it off as her eyes got used to the dim light.
“This scent… Lavender?” Takina looked around the living room.
There were tall candles lit on some of the corners, and a few ones placed on the table surrounding the bowl of cookies. What used to be a boring and dark cinema setup looked a bit more dim… and comforting.
“Chisato?” Takina looked for Chisato who was standing next to the couch.
“Come here.” Chisato patted the couch as she sat down, Takina nodded and quickly complied. “Normally I’d invite you to a fancy restaurant, but this is the most romantic I could do with what I had.”
Takina blinked. “Romantic?”
“Yeah!” Chisato smiled. “Well… Not like you’d have preferences of it, though…”
“I’ve only seen them in some of the movies you recommended. However, what do you mean about romantic?” Takina tilted her head to one side as she watched Chisato lift one leg on the couch, putting her hands between her legs to relax.
“Takina. Have you ever thought about love, before?” Chisato stared at her own hands first, before looking at Takina, then turning away. “I’m sure you haven’t, right? Maybe it has never even ran across your mind–“
“I have.” Takina answered honestly, looking at Chisato’s face before turning. “While you were away, Mizuki-san asked me about it… and then I thought about it.”
“O- Oh…” Chisato was taken aback. The blush, the shyness, she never expected to see a Takina like that, talking about the topic of something like ‘love’. “I did too… I thought about how, wow, I’m not dying yet, maybe I should’ve told Takina about what I feel, things like that.”
“About what you feel?” Takina asked.
“Mm…” Chisato smiled. “I’ve liked you… I always have. I thought that I was contented with just having good memories to be left with you, with the things you learned from me… but now suddenly, I’ve been given all these time I don’t know what to do with. So I hesitated.” She placed an arm around the couch’s back rest, leaning her head onto it. “I hesitated for a long time, while we’re in Hawaii, and then now that we’ve gotten back, I was still hesitating.”
Takina watched Chisato. Usually she’d be a ball of force, always moving forward anything, everything, that she wanted to do. However, being given more time… Maybe this was one of those moments where she actually felt lost… Filled with hesitation. “What… were you hesitating about?”
Chisato smiled wryly. “…Whether I’m fitting to be the person to stand beside you the most.”
Takina raised an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes as if offended. “Did someone say that you weren’t?”
“No, no, no. Whew, that’s scary. No. I just thought of it–“
“Then you’re wrong.”
“Come on now~ I know that now.” Chisato smiled at her. “Takina.”
“Yes?” Takina watched Chisato, her expression calming down as the other girl reached for something beneath the cushion behind her. “Chisato?”
“Starting from now on, and forward…” Chisato held the box in her hand and opened it. “…Would you spend your time with me?”
Takina blinked as she looked at the wristwatch in the box. “…Normally it’d be a ring, right?”
“Well, yeah…” Chisato laughed. “Would you be my girlfriend, Inoue Takina-san?”
Takina smiled at Chisato as a blush crossed her cheeks. “Are there any other answers besides a Yes?”
“Nope.” Chisato answered with a big grin as she took the watch from the box and reached for Takina’s left wrist. “There’s only one answer.”
Takina felt her cheeks heat up as it traveled down to her chest, and up to her ears as those gentle fingers touched her wrist, wrapping the tiny watch, and making sure the face was on her wrist, just like her’s. “Chisato, I’ve always liked you too.”
“Mm. I knew.” Chisato grinned as she finished putting the watch on Takina’s wrist. “Now we match!”
“…That’s true.” Takina smiled. “Chisato… What do we do here from now on?”
“Become closer, and do lovey-dovey stuff!” Chisato grinned as she took in Takina’s hand in her’s.
“Lovey-dovey?”
“Yep~! Like holding hands or… Kissing… or… Y- Yeah?”
It was that moment when Takina noticed it. Chisato’s hair wasn’t as kept as it usually was. Her hand’s were a bit cold, maybe a little shaky, the blush on her cheeks. Taking around the whole romantic setup, it was rushed, but it was very like her. Takina couldn’t help it but laugh a little.
“Wh- What? What’s funny?” Chisato blinked.
“…I noticed that you seemed worried and uneasy about something… I’m glad that it was just something like this.” Takina giggled once again.
“Just something like this?!” Chisato looked at her, mouth open, as if offended.
“Yes.” Takina smiled. “I thought it would have been something like… Your heart, or not knowing what to do from hereon. I will always be with you, with, or without this.” She raised her hand, that was still in Chisato’s.
“Takina… Well, I did think about that but I think I know what I’m going to be doing from now on.”
“What would that be?”
“To make you happy.” Chisato gave her a confident grin as she squeezed her hand. “I’ll do what I can to make sure that you smile and have fun everyday!”
“…Then, I’ll do my best to do the same.” Takina squeezed her hand back.
“Hehe~ I look forward to everyday with you, Inoue Takina-san~”
“Likewise, Nishikigi Chisato.”
(The Push Needed/END)
“Chisato.” Takina turned her eyes away from the movie they were watching after Chisato had cleaned up all the candles and stuff, and looked at Chisato. The two of them are now snuggled with each other on the couch, watching a new movie.
“Hm?” Chisato leaned her head onto Takina’s not taking her eyes away from the film.
“…Is this what Mizuki-san would call a ‘riajuu’?”
Chisato blinked and turned to Takina. “You’re still thinking about that?”
“I was curious so I looked it up earlier. I thought for sure that I was already having a good life, however… I feel like life is going to be so much better from here on.”
“Don’t let Mizuki hear you say that, okay?”
“Why so?”
“Just… don’t.”
“I understand.”
The story of Kurumi revealing the secret about their matching wristwatches, and Takina and Chisato having to hear an earful about how ‘riajuu should just explode din riajuu planet’ is for another day.
(END)
