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March 14 - White Day, a day of returning the favour of Valentine's gifts. It was a date that Maki had been both anticipating and dreading, a date she had underlined, circled, underlined, and circled again on her calendar before throwing it away out of embarrassment and setting reminders on her phone instead.
She had asked Yumeno a few days prior what kind of chocolate Chabashira liked - if she even liked chocolate at all - and got Kaito and Shuichi to help her make some. They had turned out surprisingly nicely, considering Shuichi barely ever baked and Kaito threw a bunch of his out when making them last month (though as it turned out, he actually just had really high standards), and even if they could have been better had she asked Kirumi instead, making them with those two had been a lot of fun.
Getting all the flour and egg out of her hair later had been considerably less fun, but it's nothing she hadn't dealt with with the kids at the orphanage.
Breathing deeply and making sure her face was as blank as always, she picked up the chocolates and made her way to find Chabashira before she changed her mind.
It didn't take long to find her - the two always ended up running into each other at the Gym, so, naturally, that was the first place she checked. She knew Chabashira was in there before she even reached the doors, her loud yelling signifying that she was training, most likely against a dummy-
-at least, that's what she thought before Yonaga crashed into her the moment she opened the door, sending the two toppling to the floor.
"A-AH! HARUKAWA-SAN!" The loud cry was accompanied by frantic footsteps as Chabashira ran up to them and Yonaga rolled off of Maki, laughing all the while.
"Nyahahaha, that was fun!"
"No it wasn't! H-Harukawa-san, are you okay?" She reached out a hand to help her up, and even though Maki could get up herself, accepting her help wouldn't hurt - she just hoped Chabashira didn't notice how her hand lingered in hers for maybe a second longer than necessary.
"I've been through worse. It's fine." Chabashira breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, momentarily distracting Maki from her next words before she glanced down at Yonaga, still lying on the floor and grinning at them. "More to the point, why were you throwing Yonaga around? That's dangerous."
"T-Tenko knows that, but Angie was supposed to hit the door, not you!"
"...That's not the problem. If you wanted to spar, you should've asked" 'me' "someone who can actually fight." Before Chabashira could explain, Yonaga jumped up and clasped her hands together.
"Angie needs to carry art supplies everywhere and sculpts a lot, so she is actually strong enough to spar for a bit! But, but, Angie still sometimes requires assistance... so, Tenko is helping her get stronger so she can do art for longer peiods of time!" Maki blinked.
"By... throwing you into doors?" Chabashira nodded.
"Yeah! ...Well, no, it's just part of sparring, but Tenko can't go easy on her just because she's an art student! It'd be an insult to both her and Neo-Aikido!" Maki would argue that, actually, she probably should be easier on her, but they both seemed happy enough, so... "By the way, why did you come here, Harukawa-san? Did you want to spar as well?"
Shaking her head, Maki reached into her bag... "No. I need to give you-" ...and pulled out the now completely squished chocolates. "...Oh. Um..."
This was awkward. Maki hadn't prepared for this at all. What's she supposed to do now? Technically they were still edible, but Maki remembered Yumeno mentioning that Chabashira was very sensitive to the texture of food. Would she still be able to eat the chocolates as they are now? If not, she'd mention it, right? Or would she keep quiet about it and accept them anyway?
Thankfully, she didn't have to worry about it for long before Yonaga gasped, putting both hands on her face. "Oh no! The White Day chocolates are ruined! Though..." Leaning forward, she seemed to be inspecting the chocolates with exaggerated confusion.
"Hey, hey, is this really all you made? Angie thought White Day gifts were supposed to be ten times as much as you got for Valentine's!"
"Three times, and it doesn't matter!" Chabashira looked at Maki and gave her a comforting smile, though she seemed quite red. "You can keep those, Harukawa-san! T-Tenko's just glad her gift left an impression on you!" Maki shook her head.
"I made these for you." She started squeezing one of her twin tails. "I want you to have them, so just... take them. You can give them to someone else if you don't want to eat them." Chabashira looked like she was about to say something, but Yonaga chipped in again.
"Huuuuuh? You don't even expect Tenko to want them?" She had a huge smile on her face, seemingly devoid of any maliciousness to those who were unfamiliar with her. "Angie knew Maki was cold, but even God could not forsee this event of cruel heartlessness! You would put in so little effort after Tenko put in so much last month? Do you really not have feelings at all?"
Maki scowled - she had forgotten how infuriating Yonaga could be. "That's not-"
"It isn't? Angie can't see proof of that, so-"
"Let me finish." Maki glared at her, and Yonaga mocked zipping her lips closed, expression the same as ever. Thinking fast, Maki stepped closer to Chabashira, looked up at her, and asked "Where do you want to go?"
Seemingly taken aback by Maki's sudden forwardness, Chabashira turned redder, struggling to respond. "Where Tenko wants to go? Why?!"
"I want to take you somewhere today but I don't know where you want to go, so I figured I'd ask instead of choosing myself. We can go at anytime." Every single word that came out of her mouth was... well, not a lie. She did want to go somewhere with her, she just wasn't planning on doing so today.
"Well, um... there's a new beach-themed swimming pool that opened nearby. Tenko wanted to check it out but there'd be lots of strangers there, including sketchy menaces, so going alone is dangerous! But... if it's not too late and you go with her, it'll probably be fine." A pool? Not what Maki expected, but she wasn't going to complain.
...NOT because she wanted to see Chabashira in a swimsuit, but because she didn't know how much money she had, and this didn't sound too expensive.
Willing herself to not think about swimsuits, she nodded. "1 o'clock, then? That way there's time to eat lunch beforehand." Chabashira nodded back, smiling, and they simply looked at each other for a minute before a happy laugh took them out of it and they turned to look at Yonaga, who was still there for some reason.
"Nyahahaha! Splendid, splendid!" She was looking oddly... accomplished. Was she purposefully trying to goad Maki into this? She thought for a second that Yonaga and Ouma would either get along or hate each other if they talked more, before pushing it to the back of her mind. "Well then, Angie will take Tenko to get ready for her date! Bye-onara!" She took a step forwards before finally succumbing to the pain from the previous sparring, falling back onto the floor. Chabashira hurriedly went to pick her up, stuttering out a nervous farewell before heading to the nurses office, face still glowing.
Not that Maki's was any less colourful.
"You asked her on a date?!" Kaito both sounded and looked surprised, before a huge smile spread across his face. "Holy shit, Harumaki, congrats!"
Maki was squeezing one of her twin tails again, looking away, blushing and pouting. "I guess it's a date, but she's probably not thinking too much of it since it's part of her White Day present."
"Still! Do you think Shuichi realised his first date with Kiibo was a date?" Shuichi blushed.
"Kaito-!"
"Of course not, and look at them now!" Cheeks still dusted pink, Shuichi turned to Maki.
"A-anyway, where are you going?"
"The new pool that opened nearby." Her eyes widened ever so slightly in realisation. "I don't have a swimsuit." Well, this was just perfect. Before she could worry too long, Kaito slammed his hands on the desk and stood up.
"Okay then! Me and Shuichi are gonna take you to buy a swimsuit!"
"Wait, Kaito, I don't think-"
"It'll be fine, trust me! Well, unless either of you don't want to." Maki thought for a moment, before speaking up.
"I'm fine with it. I'm comfortable around you two, so..."
"Alright! Let's go, then!"
Maki took a deep breath as she surveyed herself in the mirror in the changing rooms at the pool, pulling out the scrunchies holding her twin tails in place. She had found a swimsuit almost immediately (though Kaito still insisted on trying on others 'just to be safe'), a simple red one-piece with an accompanying skirt that Shuichi had run off to get when she had stepped out of the dressing room. There was also a waterproof shirt that Shuichi had brought from his house, but she wasn't wearing it right now, simply carrying it around just in case.
Stepping out of the room, she saw Chabashira standing outside in a two-piece swimsuit. Her hair was loose, slightly wavy from her braids, and she had a frilly light-green skirt, maybe slightly shorter than Maki's, but for her top she had a bikini top, not skimpy by any means but revealing enough for Maki to get flustered - especially since her abs were on full display.
Upon seeing Maki, Chabashira gasped and smiled. "Wow, Harukawa-san! You - your swimsuit is super cute!"
"Thanks. I... bought it especially for this. Your swimsuit is really pretty too, Chabashira."
"Ah, th-thanks..." She looked as though she were about to disagree with her, before shaking her head and grabbing Maki's hand.
"Okay, let's go! The pool awaits!" And with that, she dragged Maki towards the pool area.
There was a section of normal concrete floor near the entrance, but the rest of the non-pool bit was sand - not real, though it was hard to tell, and the pool itself seemed to just be a normal concrete one. The walls and ceiling were painted to look like a bright blue, cloudless sky, the 'sun' being a large, singular light that illuminated the entire area. There were no other people there, most likely due to work or school, and Maki breathed a small sigh of relief. Chabashira immediately ran onto the sand, kicking a bit of it up, and stood in it for a moment before running into the pool, creating a huge splash. Maki followed behind at a much slower pace, sinking into the pool as Chabashira splashed around, wincing a bit when some got in her face but playfully splashing back before Chabashira could apologise.
That went on for a while, as did a few races (though Chabashira seemed hesitant to go too far in the deep end) and an hour had passed before they knew it. Tired out, Maki sat near the edge of the pool as Chabashira floated aimlessly on her back.
"Tenko should have brought a parasol."
"A parasol? Why?"
"So that she could feel like a celebrity!"
"How so?"
"Well, celebrities lounge under a parasol on a sunny beach, so-" Before she could finish her sentence, the doors to the pool area opened up, and a small group of boys walked in.
Most of them went to the deep end, and Maki and Chabashira were on the side away from the door, but when Maki turned to look back at Chabashira she had submerged herself up to the top of her neck. "Menaces... shouldn't they be in school right now...?"
"Do you want to get out?"
"...yes, but..." She looked down at herself, still covered by the water, but Maki could vaguely see her arms in front of her chest. Realising the issue, she got out of the pool to where she had put down the shirt, and brought it over.
"Here. It's Shuichi's, if that matters, but it might help." Chabshira nodded, taking the shirt and putting it on, before the two of them made their way to the changing rooms.
Once they got back, Chabashira took the shirt off and handed it back to Maki. "Thank you, Harukawa-san! Tenko could and would've beaten those menaces up, but then she might be banned from here..."
Maki shook her head. "It's nothing to thank me for. This was your White Day gift, so I can't let you be uncomfortable, especially if I can do something about it." She looked away.
"...Not to say I wouldn't do anything I'm able to to make you happy anyway."
Chabashira shook her head too, blushing.
"Ah, you shouldn't say things like 'anything' Harukawa-san! People might take advantage of you!"
"People might, but you wouldn't, and it's you I'm saying it to."
"S-still, you wouldn't do anything for Tenko!"
"What wouldn't I do, then?"
"You wouldn't kiss her." There was a beat of silence, complete stillness as Maki took in the words. Chabashira was just stating what she believed to be a fact - she doesn't want Maki to actually kiss her, of course. Even so, she had never been good at hiding her emotions, and she seemed sad, almost resigned as she said it. Not wanting to mess up, Maki grabbed Chabashira's left hand and kissed the back of it.
"There. See?" When she looked up, still holding her hand, Chabashira was almost completely red.
"Th-that was just a hand kiss! Tenko meant you'd never kiss her on the... the lips..." She had looked away in embarrassment, so Maki had to use her free hand to turn her face back towards her before connecting their lips.
The kiss was short, but when Maki pulled away, Chabashira's face had fully coloured. "See? Obviously there are things I can't do, but if it's something simple like this, that..." She looked down. "...that I like as well, I can't think of a reason I wouldn't do it."
"...Then..." Maki looked up, meeting Chabashira's eyes, and both of them struggled to not turn away. "W-would you go out with Tenko again?" Maki smiled, and squeezed Chabashira's hand.
"I'd love to."