Chapter Text
Sanae practically sparkled as she bounced at the table. “Hey! I heard you two got into video games!”
Reimu glowered with her eyes half-open. “If this is a scam to get us to go to your shrine and put coins in a machine, we’re not buying it.”
Marisa smiled brightly and turned to her. “Now now, Reimu, just ‘cuz you wanted to—"
Reimu’s finger was already waiting in front of her lips. “Shhhhhhhhh.” Her mouth was grinning but her eyes were scowling.
Marisa grinned as if she’d been tickled. “Shame it didn’ work out ‘cuz the game was too sca—”
“SHHHHHHH.” Nothing changed about Reimu’s expression but her eyes, which exploded into wild flames that spread like a gasoline fire.
“Hahahahahahaha!” Marisa laughed, resting her head on the table atop her folded arms and sighing with a fluttery, lighthearted smile on her face, closing her eyes and blushing comfortably. Reimu forcefully nudged Marisa’s chubby cheek with a folded finger, and Marisa peeked at her out of the side of her eye with a smirk.
Sanae cheerily waved off her concerns. “It’s nothing like that. I just want someone else to know what I’m talking about when I bring this up from here on out. It meant a lot to me growing up.” She rummaged through a shoulder bag she’d brought with her. “I’m so sad I never get to share this with anyone, and now that they started showing up in Kourindou, I will!” She glanced to them. “In fact, I’ll be giving them away for free!”
“Free!” Reimu leaned over the table toward her, sliding on her elbows. “Go on…” An interested smirk slowly curled at the side of her lip.
Marisa drowsily watched Reimu’s triceps ripple as she slid along the table, her loosely-tied sleeves sliding down as she went, soft white fabric giving way to toffee-colored muscle.
Sanae took out an old video game magazine. “It’s called Pocket Monsters, or as it’s better known, Pokémon!”
Reimu’s gears were still turning as a sly open-mouthed smirk widened, suddenly jolting away as concern leaped to the front. “This game isn’t going to try to eat me, is it?” The dour frown returned.
Sanae waved that off with a smile. “No, no! It’s like collecting little pets. They’re not like scary monsters, they’re cute!”
Brow furrowed, Reimu lightly nodded. She turned an inch toward Marisa. “You’re awfully quiet. Don’t you like free stuff and collecting more than I do?”
Sanae beamed. “I think her mind’s somewhere else.”
Reimu leaned in and tilted her head, then spun to her right just in time to catch the back of Marisa’s hand about to stroke against her arm. Marisa’s eyes popped as they made contact, then she bat her lashes and innocently smiled. Reimu bore a scowling smirk. “Thinking of your favorite flavor of ramen again, I see.”
Marisa winked. “That’s chicken, not beef.”
Straightening out, Reimu hissed in her throat and snarled with her eyes rolling up as Marisa let out a quiet and raspy but squeaky giggle.
Sanae looked very confused. “…are we having lunch soon?”
“No, we just ate.” Reimu turned to Marisa. “What beef thing was your favorite again?”
Marisa leaned forward herself, brushing up against Reimu, who reactionlessly settled against the soft warmth at her side. “Korean BBQ.”
Reimu dabbed her finger in front of her. “That’s right!” She turned to her again. “But that’s the only good one.”
Marisa turned her palms over as if to shrug, bobbing her head once to nod. “Right.”
The two of them giggled and leaned playfully against each other.
Sanae’s brow furrowed with concern, and her mind began to wander. Her thoughts were plastered all over her face. “Is Marisa hungry again already…?”
Glowering, Reimu loudly cleared her throat. “AHEM.”
Sanae jolted. “Huh-? Uh, anyway!” Sanae opened the magazine and hid behind it as she flipped through the pages.
Marisa snuggled her head against Reimu’s shoulder like a happy cat, her shaggy blonde curls fluffing all over, and while Reimu forwardly continued to glower, she rubbed Marisa’s back along her shoulders through her thick, messy curls.
Sanae stopped on a page. “Here we go!” Reimu and Marisa returned to their neutral positions, still brushed up against each other as Sanae laid the magazine down on the table. “This is Pikachu! It’s like the mascot! Isn’t he so cute?”
Marisa puffed an emotionless chuckle. “Heh. It’s like a stuffed animal.”
Reimu smiled at the little yellow mouse. “She kinda reminds me of you.”
Marisa blushed affrontedly, taken aback. “I’m sorry?”
“What!? Are you seriously offended?” Reimu incredulously gestured at the page, smiling but taken completely by surprise.
Marisa nodded disbelievingly, glancing away. “Yeah, okay, I know what you’re thinkin’.”
Reimu smiled adoringly at the picture. “She’s so small, and blonde, and cute…”
Marisa blushed, frown loosening. …and tubby…
Reimu prodded the Pikachu’s cheeks. “and she has fat little rosy cheeks…”
Marisa's cheeks turned so red she might as well have been a Pikachu.
Reimu pointed to Marisa. “Yeah, like that!”
Marisa covered her face as her entire body turned pink and Reimu giggled and hugged her, excitedly rocking back and forth.
Sanae snickered into a hooked finger. “She looks more like a Slowpoke now!”
Still in the hug, the two of them turned to her with bewildered expressions, cheek-to-cheek. “A wha?”
Sanae turned the page. “Oh, well, there’s a lot them! There’s 151 of them in gen one and one of the goals is to catch them all.”
Reimu let go as she felt Marisa lean in, and as Marisa reached the magazine, she quickly scanned down the page. “I love collecting stuff. Are there mushrooms?”
Sanae happily put her hands together. “Yep! Theeere’s mushroom Pokémon!” She pointed to Paras.
Marisa pumped her fist triumphantly. “Yes!”
Sanae pointed to Staryu and Starmie. “There’s stars too!”
Marisa leaped to her feet and jumped for joy. “EEYES!!”
Reimu smiled warmly at Marisa with her cheek resting in her palm.
“Eh, sort of.” One eye closed, Sanae rocked her hand like a boat. “Gen one’s kinda in a gray area on that.”
“Don’t care, I’m in!” Marisa happily power-walked through all the rooms in Reimu’s house, humming with a jolly spring in her step.
Reimu puffed wind from her nose with a lighthearted smile. When Marisa got excited, she’d have to burn it all off by running around, walking, dancing, playing, or doing something active. When she heard Marisa start washing the dishes, she knew she must have been bursting to try it.
Sanae spoke up. “Reimu? Do you wanna play?”
Reimu jolted to attention. “Hm-? Oh, uh… is there any way we can play together?”
Sanae’s face squeezed as she thought of how to word this, loosening up with a shrug. “Wwwwwell, we won’t be playing together at all times or anything,” she settled and smiled, “but we can certainly battle and trade with each other!”
Reimu blinked just so she could throw her eyes open in surprise, leaning in. A wide grin opened, her brassy voice blaring at uncomfortable volume, “You never said anything about doing battle!”
Sanae beamed. “My mistake. It is a big part of the game, it’s probably most of what you do actually.”
Nodding and smirking competitively, Reimu’s purr lilted. “mMMm~ okay.”
Marisa plopped down next to her again, leaning up against her and smiling at her expectantly, and Reimu returned her gesture with a pleasant smile of her own. Reimu sighed as though she were making a tough decision, but she was still smiling all the while. “Okay, I guess I can try it…”
Marisa blushed and giggled into a balled hand beside her chin. “Khnk-khnk-khnk-khnk-khnk!”