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“Do you think she likes me back?”
“Well, I’m pre-”
“What if she hates me?”
“You’re friends she ca-”
“What if Kazuto murders me?”
“He wou-”
“This is a terrible idea, what am I thinking?”
Asuna gave Rika a sympathetic pat on the back, trying to help her in any way she could. Her friend was frantically pacing up and down the street in front of Agil’s cafe where their friends were supposed to meet them. The catch was, their friends weren’t coming.
Rika, who had been helplessly crushing on Suguha for months, had begged Asuna to help set up the perfect opportunity to ask the girl out on a date, and they had decided to tell her to meet all of them for dinner so she wasn’t suspicious of Rika’s intentions. The plan from there was easy enough, Rika just had to tell her how she felt and hope the feelings were reciprocated.
“What if she doesn’t feel the same?”
“Rika!” Asuna grabbed her friend by the shoulders, looking her in the eyes, “She’s been blushing every time she sees you, giggling at everything you say, staring at you whenever she gets a chance and taking every opportunity we give her to spend time with you. I think she likes you too,”
“No, no, Asuna this is all wrong,” Rika worried, “She only sees me as a friend. I’m about to make things awkward and she’ll never talk to me again and then-”
Asuna sighed, dragging her friend inside the cafe and directing her to a small booth in the far corner. Rika bounced her leg nervously, chewing her nails and- was she actually trembling? Maybe she needed more help than Asuna had first thought.
She made her way to the bar, handing Agil her debit card, “I’ll take sparkling water with ice and the strongest drink you have for Rika, please,”
Agil raised a brow at her, “Considering she’s seventeen, the strongest drink I can offer her is a really sour lemonade,”
“Add as many lemons as you can,” Asuna slid her car through the machine on the bartop.
The man turned to the shelves of bottles and drinks behind him, chuckling. Ah, young love at it’s finest - albeit most frustrating - peak. He hoped the afternoon went well for the poor girl, who was turning into an anxious ball in the corner.
“Here,” Agil slid their drinks to Asuna, “I’ll you how it goes, I’ll keep an eye on them,”
Asuna thanked him, then took their drinks to Rika, who immediately began sipping at her lemonade, hardly even phased by the strong sour citrus that Asuna could smell as she held the glass. Nerves truly were a hell of a drug, apparently.
“Asuna, this won’t work,”
“Rika, this will,”
“But-”
“No! I don’t want to hear it! Unless something goes wrong - which it won’t! - I’m only listening to valid concerns and worries. You’ll do fine, I know you will. I promise you, this girl’s as crazy for you as you are for her. Believe in yourself,”
“Okay, I can do this!”
She finished her drink, slamming her glass on the tabletop a little too loudly. Thankfully there weren’t many customers to hear. Though, she would have liked a few more people and a little more noise so her conversation with Suguha wouldn’t be projected over the entire diner.
“Good luck, text me when you’re done!” Asuna gave her a tight hug, kissing Rika’s cheek, then left, waving goodbye to Agil on her way out the door.
Rika didn’t have time to be nervous. Seconds later, Suguha walked through the doors of the cafe, looking confused. She saw Rika and made her way over to the booth, smiling and waving.
“Hi! Is everyone else coming? I just saw Asuna leave,”
Rika felt her breath hitch in her throat. She could do this. Just tell her how she felt. That was easy enough, right? Just tell her how she felt.
“Who’s Asuna?”
Suguha looked at her for several long moments before Rika awkwardly cleared her throat, then choked on air.
“Are you okay? You’re acting a little strange,”
“Actually, I have something I need to tell you,” Rika said, heart racing in her chest like it might break free at any second, “Asuna and the others aren’t here, they actually aren’t coming,”
Sugu nodded her head, “I kinda guessed when I saw Asuna leaving here earlier. So… Why are we here? You aren’t moving away or something, are you? Have I done something wrong and offended you? I am so sorry, I’m-”
“I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Several moments of silence passed between them. Neither of them said a word, Suguha was too busy staring wide-eyed at the tabletop, Rika was too busy staring at her hands in her lap wondering if the room was spinning or if it was just her.
“That’s… Um, okay,” Suguha looked like she was deep in thought and Rika wanted the ground to swallow her, “That’s really sweet of you, Rika,”
“But you don’t feel the same?” She guessed a little gloomily.
Suguha’s eyes widened, “No, no! The exact opposite! I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you for a while,”
Then it was Rika’s turn to stare at her, almost in disbelief. She had to be dreaming. She’d wake up at any moment and none of their conversation would have happened. Maybe Suguha was all a dream herself, she was certainly dreamy enough to be. At least to Rika she was.
“Really?”
“Yeah!” The raven-haired girl almost laughed, “I’ve been thinking about it for a month or so, I just didn’t have the guts to actually tell you. I figured you’d always see me as Kazuto’s sister instead of, you know, girlfriend material,”
“No, Suguha, you are so much more than just my ex-crush’s little sister,”
“Your ex what?”
“As I was saying,” Rika moved along quickly. Surely her face was the same colour as her avatar’s hair, “You’re an amazing girl. You’re talented, you’re strong as hell, you’re cute, you make me laugh, you’re always there for me. You’re perfect. I just didn’t know if you liked girls, and I didn’t know if you’d like me like that specifically,”
“Of course I’d like you like that! You’ve always been pretty cute, and you’re really funny, but you’re also so sweet. I’m surprised you’re still single,”
“Well, you see, I’m actually trying to not be single anymore,” Rika leaned closer to her the tiniest bit. She’d let her close the gap if she wanted to.
“Oh,” Suguha’s face fell for a moment, before realisation caught up to her, “Oh!”
“Do you wanna go out sometime?” Rika asked, “We could get dinner or just play video games together or anything really. I’d just really love to spend some time together, just the two of us,”
“That sounds nice. We’re already out if you wanted to order something to eat now,” Suguha’s eyes looked around the cafe, blushing when she realised at least two people were staring at them. Were their love lives really that entertaining?
“That sounds great,” Rika blushed more, “I can order for you if you want?”
They both decided on what they wanted and Rika walked up to the bar, insisting Suguha stay in her seat. The date started a little unconventionally, but she’d make sure she did things the “correct” way for the rest of the day.
“Did you tell her?” Agil asked as he wrote down their orders.
“Yeah, we’re on a date right now!” Rika practically squealed, resisting the urge to jump up and down on the spot. She was a little excited, it was hard to stand still. She really liked Suguha, to be on a date with her was a dream come true.
“Congratulations,” Agil grinned. He held his hand out for a high-five, Rika instead standing on her tiptoes to hug him, leaning over the bartop. The wood dug into her lower ribs uncomfortably, but she was too happy to not share it around.
She pulled away after a long minute, letting him get back to his work. She had a date to get back to. A date who was frantically typing on her phone, teary-eyed.
“Everything okay?” Rika asked as she sat down.
“Oh, I’m just texting my brother!” Suguha told her, showing her the texts she’d sent, “I kinda asked him for dating advice a couple of days ago and he wanted an update on how today went. Isn’t that so lame of me?”
“It’s not lame, I got dating advice from Asuna just to work up the nerve to be here today,”
The pair laughed, relaxing a little once they realised just how nervous the other had been. Maybe they’d been a little over-anxious, it seemed like things were going well. Their meals arrived and they thanked Agil before digging in. Rika had ordered a slice of chocolate blueberry cake and Suguha had ordered a small meringue with cherries.
“This is really good, do you want some?” Rika offered. Suguha nodded her head and accepted a bite of the cake from Rika’s fork.
“That’s really good! Do you want some of this?”
Rika took a bite of the meringue and almost moaned at the taste of it, “This is delicious!”
They ate their meals quickly, both occasionally looking up at each other just to blush and giggle before staring back down at their plates intently. The first date nerves were still there, but at least they were more manageable.
Suguha picked up a cherry of her plate, eyeing it before she popped it in her mouth. Rika watched her intently as, a minute or two later, she pushed the cherry stem out between her lips, now tied in a neat little bow.
“How did you do that?” She asked in awe.
Suguha shrugged, smirking, “I learnt it from an anime. It’s not really that hard,”
“Well then, if it isn’t hard you should have no problem teaching me how to do it,” Rika’s voice was meant to sound bold and flirty, but she couldn’t get rid of the slight shake in her tone.
“It’s pretty easy,” Suguha leant forward, standing a little to meet Rika across the table, “You just do… this,”
Their lips met and Rika’s entire heart turned into butterflies that didn’t go away, even after Suguha - regrettably - pulled away, settling back into her seat. Surely, she was dreaming. There was no way she wasn’t.
“Th-thank you,” Rika stammered as she sat back down, heat burning her face.
Suguha couldn’t help laughing a little, Rika was just too adorable for her to handle.
“You’re welcome, thank you, too. For the date and the kiss,”
“Do you have plans this time next week?” Rika asked as her heartbeat returned to normal.
“Of course, I’d love to see you again,”
The girls arranged their second date, and from the window by their table, Kazuto and Asuna watched on.
“Don’t you think they’re perfect for each other?” Asuna asked.
“Yeah, I guess. That’s still my baby sister, though,” Kazuto mumbled.
“Here, something to cheer you up,”
Asuna pulled him into a kiss, the world melting away around them. Which would have been a good thing if the girls didn’t leave the cafe at that moment, Suguha screaming in embarrassment that her brother was spying on her first date. At first, he tried to deny it, but it was useless.
At least Asuna kept him distracted the following week when the girls went out again.