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Pink and blue look cute together, Tamao thought as she eyed the reflection of both herself and Pirika as they walked around the Patch Village.
But of course there is absolutely no way she’s saying that outloud.
That didn’t stop her from thinking it though.
Constantly.
Their daily walks quickly became one of the nicests things of her, otherwise very dull, days. Pirika was easy to talk to. She wore her heart in her sleeve in a way that didn’t make her feel overwhelmed. You could tell whenever Yoh was bored or Anna was angry, but it was difficult to see anything beyond that. It was getting increasingly harder to read either of them as the tournament advanced.
But somehow, regardless of the stress everyone was going through, Pirika was still capable of laughing so hard her tea would come sprouting out of her nose. She could still hum along the radio in the shops they visited, she could still show kindness to members of other teams.
Pirika was so loud, too. She was specially loud when she took Tamao’s hand and Tamao just…. Froze on the spot.
Tamao could hear her asking what was wrong, still holding a firm grip on her hand, which felt tiny on Pirika’s grip and Tamao decided she quite liked it. She didn’t like being yelled at, but the more impatient Pirika grew, the closer she got to Tamao, and Tamao decided she quite liked that also.
“It’s just…” she started, but she stopped when she realized her voice was trembling a little bit.
Something about the look Pirika shot her placed no doubt in her mind that she would only be louder if she didn’t finish her sentence.
“Noone’severheldmyhandbefore,” she said, and she realized it was one of the few times she didn’t take her pad and pen out to write what she was feeling. Instead she sputtered out, just like that. She didn’t want to let go of Pirika’s hand. Writing would require her to do so. Sacrifices had to be made.
She closed her eyes, half expecting the older girl to laugh at her or tell her how pathetic she was being, she was probably embarrassed to be near her. She didn’t want to see the look on her face. She imagined Conchi and Ponchi’s mocking smirk instead and closed her eyes harder, as if it would erase the image.
Instead, the same warmth she felt on her hand transferred to her entire body, and as a soft smell of pansies came to her, she realized Pirika was hugging her instead.
“You’re so cute, Tamao” she said in a hum and when she pulled away, she was still holding her hand. She gave it a squeeze before continuing the tour she had planned for the afternoon.
And Tamao decided that maybe, next time, she'll work up the courage to tell Pirika her new favorite color was blue.