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The reflection in the mirror stares back at Riko, mimicking her as she turns from side to side. She’s wearing a dark red knee-length sleeveless dress with a dark blue hem to it, underneath, she has a light pink long sleeve blouse that has a slight floral pattern to the shoulders. Her dark red hair is tied back into a ponytail, a style she’s started to like wearing as of late.
“Riko, You is here for you!” A voice calls to Riko from the other side of her door, causing her to immediately freeze up for about a second before she starts to dart around her room, shoving her outfits that were spread out on her bed into her closet.
“G-Give me a second!” She takes a second to look around the room. Okay… I think that’s the last of the mess. “I’ll be right out.” She starts towards the door to her room, heading down the stairs once outside.
You is waiting for her in the kitchen. She’s wearing a white sweater with a deep blue collar and a lighter blue pattern bordering it. On her lower half is a dark blue mini-skirt, with some light grey thigh-high stockings. Her ashen hair is in its usual shoulder-length style. “Riko!” Her face lights up as she notices the red-haired girl.
Before Riko has a chance to respond, You flings her arms around the girl and has pulled her into a hug. “Hello You, it’s nice to see you too.” Riko feels herself relax into the embrace as she says this. She can smell the familiar lavender perfume that You usually wears, mixed with the warm scent that can only be described as “You’s smell”.
As the two break apart, You slides her hands down Riko’s arms, taking the girl’s hands in her own. “Sorry I’m a little early, I just couldn’t wait to see you.”
“It’s okay, we can just hang out in my room for a little bit.” Riko lets out an internal sigh of relief. I’m glad I didn’t leave everything out… “Shall we go up there now, or do you want a drink of some kind?”
“I’m okay, thanks.” You drops one of Riko’s hands. “Lead the way.”
Riko walks the other girl up to her room, their fingers intertwined as they walk. Once they’re inside the two make their way over to the bed and sit down. “Are you looking forward to later?” Riko looks over at You as she says this, her thumb starting to brush against the back of the other girl’s palm.
“Of course, I always love aquariums.” You lies back on the bed so that she’s staring up at the ceiling. “But, it’ll be even better with you.”
Riko mimics her girlfriend but quickly turns onto her side, watching the rise and fall of the other girl's chest. “I’m glad I brought those tickets then.” She tightens her fingers around You’s hand gently for a brief moment.
You turns onto her side to face Riko. “It was such a surprise when you showed me them.” She shifts slightly closer on the bed. “But it was the perfect gift.” Her eyes close slightly and she leans in, pressing a kiss against the red-haired girl’s lips.
As soon as their lips touch together, Riko feels a spark ignite inside her, travelling throughout her entire body and filling her with the warm feeling that she’s grown to love. Her body shuffles slightly closer, their chests lightly brushing against each other.
When the kiss breaks, Riko keeps her eyes closed. She gently presses her forehead against You’s and just stays there in silence, feeling the other girl’s warm breath on her lips with every exhale. “This is my favourite thing.” Her voice is a whisper as she slides her hand down You’s side, letting it rest on her girlfriend’s hip. “Just lying here, close to you.” She lightly brushes their noses together from side to side. “It just makes me feel safe… like everything is going to be okay.”
Riko doesn’t need to open her eyes to know that You is smiling. She can feel the other girl’s nose shift a little and how her hands immediately slide around her. You’s head then shifts again slightly and her lips lightly brush over Riko’s, the soft skin of their lips gently sliding over each other, before pulling away. “I love you Riko.”
With each word leaving You’s lips, a warm exhale of breath falls on Riko’s lips. “I love you too.” She pulls You back in for another kiss, her tongue sliding past the girl’s lips, only to feel the other girl’s tongue come to meet it, dancing together in their mouths. You’s arms tighten around her, pulling their bodies completely flush together, their legs entangling together. The spark from their kiss before, reignites inside Riko’s body, sending a pleasant tingle through her body and causing her to slide her hands under the hem of her girlfriend’s sweater, resting on the soft skin of the small of her back.
You’s hand starts to slide up Riko’s thigh, causing the red-haired girl to pull away. “You… we can’t. There’s no time.” The hand slowly withdraws from her the skirt of her dress.
“S-Sorry… I got a little carried away.” You gingerly smiles at Riko.
“You don’t need to apologise… if it went on for much longer, I might’ve done the same.” Riko can feel her cheeks tingling as she says this, so she presses her lips gently against her girlfriend’s to cover herself up. “Shall we get going soon?”
“Yeah… it’s probably best if we do.” You breaks away from their embrace and stands to her feet, straightening her clothes out as she stands there.
Riko does the same after she stands up, before turning to You. “Ready?”
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The walls inside the aquarium are made to look like you are walking through a tunnel of sand. The paint has been done in a way that looks like thousands of sand granules have been piled up to create an archway. Walking along the aquarium, there are several windows on both walls that look into the large tank that surrounds the tunnel that’s swarming with many different types of fish, with descriptions on each one on a board beside the windows.
As Riko walks up to the first window, she notices that there are only a couple other families in the tunnel. Isn’t this place usually swarming with people? The thought leaves her mind when she looks into the window and finds herself face to face with a large grumpy looking fish. “Ah!” She jumps back a little.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared of fish Riko…” You teases her as she steps next to the girl. “It can’t hurt you.”
“Shush you, it just startled me.” She shakes her head from side to side and looks back into the water.
The insides of the tank have been sculpted to look like a reef. The bottom of the tank has what seems like hundreds of types of coral, stretching out as far as the eye can see. Large rocks sprout out from the beds of colour sporadically, creating places for some of the fish to hide.
As the two of them move further down the tunnel, they find themselves seeing more of this large tank, but they also notice that, after a certain point, the coral becomes a painting, making the tank look much larger than it actually is.
At the end of the tunnel is a small room that makes you feel much more indoors. The centre of the room is has a cylindrical tank with some fish swimming around in the deep blue water. Around the sides of the room, the walls are painted to look like waves.
After You leaves the tunnel, she looks back over her shoulder, looking down the near-empty tunnel. Her gaze lingers there for a few moments.
“You?” Riko reaches out and touches her shoulder, causing You to look back over at her. “Are you okay?”
“Huh… oh, yeah.” You’s lips curl into a smile. “It’s nothing important.”
“Are you sure, you look lost in thought.”
“Yeah, it’s just a stupid thing. Let’s continue on.”
“Okay… Just know you can tell me anything.” Riko slides her hand down You’s arm to take the girl’s hand in her own and the two head towards the exit.
The next corridor has a mirror running down the left wall. The right has sheets of glass that look into tanks containing jellyfish, with a light at the bottom that constantly cycles between blue, purple, yellow and green. The corridor bends to the right at the end, with the entire wall at the end of the corridor being a large tank.
Riko finds herself drawn to watching the creatures glowing in the different lights as they seem to bounce up and down in the water. She looks at their tops, which look like moving bubbles in the water. I wonder what they’d feel like. The one she’s looking at moves up slightly in the water and she finds herself looking at the strands of wispy thread that hang down from the head.
As they round the corner of the jellyfish corridor, they find themselves looking at a much brighter room. Three of the walls are the same wave pattern that they’d seen before, however the fourth was entirely made from glass. The water the other side comes up to about halfway up, large rocks protrude above the water. A couple of walruses are lying back on the hard stone, basking in the sun, while another is pulling itself from the water.
Riko looks over at You to see her staring past the glass, but as she follows the girl’s gaze, she notices that her girlfriend is just staring at the rocks. Riko’s hand tightens slightly around You’s. Something’s definitely wrong…
Partly because You seems to not be enjoying things, and partly because the walruses give Riko the chills as she looks at them, Riko decides to lead the two of them out of the room as quickly as she can.
They find themselves in another tunnel that, after a short distance, opens out into a large circular room. The walls of the room are just curved sheets of glass, only broken up by pillars of stone that have sparkling lights on them. On the other side of the glass are hundreds of fish swimming around in the tank. Along the floor is another coral reef, the multitude of colours creating a painted canvas for the aquatic creatures to swim in and out of.
As soon as Riko sees the room, she can’t help but let her mouth fall open a small amount. This is beautiful. She steps forward into the centre of the room and slowly turns on the spot, looking around the vast open room and the sight that lies past its glass walls.
A pair of arms wrapping around her from behind snaps Riko from her daze and she feels the familiar warmth of her girlfriend pressing against her. “You?” She attempts to turn her head to look at the other girl.
“I’m sorry… I’ve been horrible company on this date.” You’s head is pressed against the back of Riko’s shoulder, and her voice is slightly muffled. “We came here to have a good time.”
“You… you’ll never be a pain to hang out with.” Riko places her hands on top of You’s, allowing their skin to touch gently. “Just being in the same room as you is enough to turn a bad day upside down for me.” She brings the girl’s hand up to her lips, pressing a kiss to its palm. “I love you, and I always will.” Riko turns in her girlfriend’s arms so that the two of them are facing each other, dropping the hands she was holding and bringing her fingers up to You’s cheeks, cupping them both and tilting the head up to meet her gaze. “If you want to go home, we can.”
You shakes her head briefly after hearing this and tightens her arms around Riko. “Thank you.” She pulls the girl into a kiss and the two of them get completely lost in the sensation.
Once they finally break apart, Riko slowly opens her eyes. “So… what is wrong?”
You’s eyes remain closed and she exhales a deep breath. “I’m just annoyed that we can do that here knowing that no one will see. We’ve been in this place for ages and we’ve seen a few people here and there, but nowhere near the amount that should be here.” She opens her eyes and looks around them. “This room used to be filled with people, it used to be somewhere that many families enjoyed at the same time, you’d see schools bringing their kids here, but now it’s a place that two high schoolers can make out in without anyone noticing.”
“I didn’t think you cared so much about this place.” Riko’s hands, which are currently resting on the small of You’s back, start to draw small circles into the soft skin. “Do you want to do something about it?”
“What could we possibly do?”
“A performance? We could bring Aqours here, this room is big enough for us to perform and still have a load of people watching.”
You’s lips press against Riko’s once more. “Riko… I love you so much!” She breaks away from their embrace. “That idea would work perfectly!”
“We can tell Chika about it later,” Riko says, her lips curling into a smile as she watches her girlfriend’s mind tick away at the details. “But You… I think you should be the one to write this song…”
“Why me?” You’s eyebrows furrow slightly.
“You know much more about aquariums than the rest of us and I can tell this one means a lot to you, having you write it would make everyone understand the charms of it!” The red-haired girl explains excitedly. “However, we can think of all that later, for now we’re on a date.” She presses her lips briefly against You’s.
You smiles warmly and nods in response. The two of them break apart, their fingers interlacing, and they continue to walk around the aquarium, holding each other’s hand and enjoying every second of it.