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Futaba hovered over Sumire anxiously. Normally, having a cute girl in her bed would be a source of joy, if not a great deal of stress. But then, normally she wouldn’t have had to carry the girl there. Her arms still ached! If anyone was going to get carried, it ought to be here. Sumire was an athlete after all; there was no doubt she’d be capable of carrying her!
She wasted a few minutes imaging Sumire carrying her, before shaking her head. No, now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that! Anyways, Sumire had a pretty good excuse for not carrying her, what with being unconscious and all. She’d gotten zapped by one of Maruki’s machines, and hadn’t woken up since. There didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with her, so Futaba had volunteered to take her back to her place. If she didn’t wake up soon, she’d go ask that doctor who worked nearby for help.
Of course, Akira had been hesitant to let her go off with Sumire alone. It wasn’t like her anxiety had permanently gone away or anything, and taking the subway with a passed-out Sumire was bound to raise some questions. But they were on a strict deadline. Losing a day of progress might mean the difference between defeat or victory. In the end, Haru had exited the Palace with her, calling her personal driver to take them home, before returning to join the others.
Futaba was startled from her panicked thoughts by Sumire beginning to stir. “Hey!” she said with forced cheer. “You’re up! That’s good.”
Sumire stared at her blankly for a moment, before her eyes came into focus. “Oh. Hello,” she said, smiling slightly. “Where am I?”
“My room,” Futaba said, gesturing around. “Uh. How are you feeling?”
“Much better now that you’re here,” Sumire said, her smile growing. She sat up, patting the space on the bed beside her.
Futaba cleared her throat nervously, before joining her on the bed. What had she meant by that? “Okay! Just to make sure everything’s okay. What’s your name?”
“Sumire,” she answered promptly. “Sumire Yoshizawa.”
Futaba sagged in relief. “Good! Jeez, that could have been really bad.”
Sumire cocked her head. “You mean, if I didn’t remember my name?”
“Or remembered a different name,” Futaba said darkly. “Do you know who I am?”
“Your name is Futaba Sakura,” Sumire said earnestly. “We met through Akira-senpai.”
“Got it in one!” Futaba said cheerfully. Maybe that device of Maruki’s hadn’t messed up too much. But what about Phantom Thief knowledge? Did she remember her as Oracle? “Do you know anything else about me?”
Sumire blushed slightly, looking down. “Well,” she said shyly. “I know that you’re my girlfriend.”
Futaba froze. “What.”
“But-I mean, we haven’t gotten too far!” Sumire added quickly. “We-we’ve just kissed a little. And, that one time we were watching Featherman here in your room, and you put your hand up my-”
“Okay, okay!” Futaba said hurriedly, her face reddening. What? What was this about?! They weren’t girlfriends! She had never even kissed anyone! In fact, she wasn’t even out as bi yet, although she was pretty sure that Akira knew. And Inari, unfortunately, since he had leaned over her shoulder to look at her laptop screen while she was in the middle of writing a femslash fic. And Makoto had once given her a LGBT brochure out of the blue.
Okay, maybe a few people knew she was bi. But Sumire was definitely not one of them! Why would she think that they were girlfriends?
Wait. She had been the first one to touch Sumire when she’d been exposed to the device in Maruki’s Palace. Right? The Palace that was all about manipulating reality and memories…
Oh crap.
“Okay,” Futaba said hesitantly. “I-I think I’ve got some bad news, Sumire. I think your memory may have gotten messed up. Again.”
“Oh. Really?” Sumire asked with a frown. “Well, that’s...unnerving. Can you fix it?”
“Uh...not sure!” Futaba said nervously. “First, let’s see how bad the damage is. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Sumire thought for a moment. “Well...we went into Dr. Maruki’s Palace,” she said slowly, clearly concentrating. “We were making pretty good progress until I triggered a trap. Then I got hit with some sort of...ray? And the next thing I knew, I woke up here!”
Futaba let out a sigh of relief. So she did remember Phantom Thief stuff! That was reassuring. Everything she said sounded right too, so the changes to her memory were probably pretty minimal.
In fact, they might just be...Futaba gulped. “So...” she said, as casually as she could manage, “About us dating…”
“Oh!” Sumire blushed lightly. Inwardly, Futaba groaned. Why did she have to be so cute?! “Well, okay,” she said shyly. “But not for too long!”
What? Before Futaba could figure out what she meant, Sumire leaned forward, kissing her lightly. For a moment that felt like an eternity, Futaba froze, the unfamiliar sensation of a girl’s lips on hers paralyzing her, before she let out a shriek, jerked backwards, and toppled off the bed.
“Oh my gosh!” Sumire said panickingly, leaning over the edge. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine!” Futaba said quickly, scrambling to her feet. “I’m fine, it’s fine! Everything’s okay!” Despite her words, her heart felt like it was going a thousand miles per hour. Her first kiss! Her very first kiss!
“I’m sorry!” Sumire said worriedly. “I-I thought that’s what you wanted!”
“No, it’s-it’s fine!” Futaba repeated, still flustered. “I was just-just wasn’t expecting it.” She placed a hand on her chest, breathing heavily like she’d just run a marathon. Was this always how it felt after kissing a girl? It couldn’t be; could it? “I just wanted to ask you when we started dating,” Futaba said as calmly as she could manage.
“Oh!” Sumire said, smiling awkwardly. “Well, Akira-senpai introduced us in September, at the coffee shop? But we didn’t actually start dating until November.”
They’d started dating in November? She’d only met Sumire near the end of November, after Akira’s “death”. Futaba still remembered how idiotic she’d sounded greeting her. Seriously, who still said “wassup?” Stupid anxiety.
“It was actually really funny how you asked me out!” Sumire said, cheerfully unaware of Futaba’s self-recrimination. “You gave me a bouquet of my favorite flowers, with a card inside. It said ‘I think you’re a Q.T.! Will you be my waifu?’ I didn’t know what that meant, so you had to explain it. But I still think it was sweet!”
Futaba winced. That was how Sumire remembered her asking her out? And it worked? Ugh, that was so lame! She could do way better than that! When she confessed for real, it would be a million times more romantic!
Wait…when she confessed? She wasn’t planning on confessing to Sumire! Futaba slapped the red from her cheeks, startling the girl. “Okay!” she said a little manically. “I think I know what’s wrong.”
“Oh?” Sumire asked, looking at her attentively.
Futaba took a deep breath. This might be hard. “So,” she said, climbing back onto the bed and looking into Sumire’s eyes. “Think back to the first time we met. At Leblanc.”
“O-okay,” Sumire said uncertainly.
“Why were you at Leblanc?” Futaba asked, leaning towards her.
Sumire thought for a moment. “I-I was worried about Akira-senpai.”
“Why?”
“Because-I’d left him in the Casino, and then-on the news…” Sumire trailed off. ”Wait...wasn’t-didn’t that happen later?”
Futaba nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“But-we met in September,” Sumire said, sounding confused. “So-why would I-” She froze, her eyes widening. “Oh no,” she said weakly.
Futaba grimaced. “Do you remember?”
Sumire stared at her for a moment, before her entire face went red. “I-no!” she cried, burying her face in her hands. “I-I am so sorry, Futaba-senpai! I-and then I kissed-oh no!” she moaned.
Futaba sighed. “Yeah, you remember,” she said resignedly. “Sorry for all the questions! That’s basically how Akira broke me out of it.”
“It’s-it’s okay,” Sumire said weakly, still covering her face. “I’m sorry that kissed you! That must have been very confusing.”
“Uh...a little,” Futaba admitted. “Nice though. You’re a good kisser.” Immediately, she slapped her forehead. Why would she say that?! Even if it were true, it would only make things more awkward!
Sumire lifted her head to stare at Futaba for a moment. “Oh,” she said, sounding equal part confused and embarrassed. “Um...thank you?”
Futaba hummed, looking around awkwardly. Distraction, distraction, she needed a distraction! “So,” she said quickly. “We’ve got some time until everybody else gets back! You wanna watch something?”
“Sure!” Sumire said, clearly eager to think about something else. “What would you enjoy?”
‘“Oh, have you seen Featherman?” Futaba asked excitedly. “It’s action-packed! My favorite is-” She stopped, watching Sumire redden again. Belatedly, she remembered the girl mentioning Featherman. Something about Futaba putting her hand- ”Or we could play a game!” Futaba said hurriedly, feeling her own face heat up. “Any game!”
“Um, okay!” Sumire said in an unsteady voice, pointing desperately to a case next to her computer. “What about that one?”
Futaba followed her finger, groaning when she saw where she was pointing. “Any game but that one!” Futaba said in a pained voice. This was why she didn’t like people being in her room! “That-that’s an eroge.”
“What’s an eroge?” Sumire asked, tilting her head.
“It’s an...adult game,” Futaba said uncomfortably.
Sumire closed her eyes with a pained expression. “Ah,” she said simply, letting her hand drop. “I-I see.”
Futaba nervously scrunched up the sheets in her hands. This wasn’t going very well. “Uh,” she said awkwardly. “Sorry. About, you know. Taking your first kiss. If that was your first.”
“No, it was my fault,” Sumire said with a sigh, opening her eyes. “It was my misunderstanding. Was it your first?”
“Uh...yeah,” Futaba said, scratching the back of her head. “But-y’know. I don’t mind! That stuff’s kinda silly, anyways. Besides, I’m-I’m glad that my first time was with you!”
“What?” Sojiro exclaimed, sticking his head in the door.
Both of the girls yelped. “Sojiro!” Futaba yelled. “Why are you here?!”
“I closed up early and came to see what you wanted for dinner,” he said, staring at them in shock. “More importantly...did you say...your first time…?”
Sumire squeaked and Futaba felt as though her soul was leaving her body. “No!” she exclaimed. “We weren’t-we didn’t-we’re not talking about that!”
“O-oh,” Sojiro said, relief coloring his voice. “Good. I’ll-I’ll be downstairs.” He withdrew from the doorway, closing it behind him.
“Sojiro!” Futaba growled after him. Meanwhile, Sumire looked as though she were going to die of embarrassment. “I’m sorry about him,” Futaba said irritably. “He’s always so nosey! One time-”
“Did you mean it?” Sumire asked, interrupting her.
Futaba frowned. “Mean what?”
Sumire took a deep breath. “That-you were glad your first kiss was me. Did you mean it?”
Futaba eyes widened. Ah. She had said that, hadn’t she? Damnit. “Uh...yeah,” she admitted. Honesty was probably the best approach here. “I mean-you’re super-cute, and really nice! Like, so nice it’s kind of funny. Like how you call everyone senpai. And your body-” Futaba cut herself off. Okay, maybe not that much honesty! “Anyways!” she said hurriedly. “That’s why I’m happy with my first kiss being with you.”
Sumire was silent for a moment, before letting out a sigh. “I...um. It made me really happy to hear you say that,” she admitted. “You’re very cute as well.”
“...Oh,” Futaba said, a little shocked. “Uh. Cool!” God, that was such a lame response! She could do better than that! Think! What would Akira say in this situation? “Glad to know my girlfriend thinks I’m cute,” she said as breezily as she could
Sumire reddened again, and Futaba hurriedly backpedaled. “Sorry! Sorry, that was a joke! I know you’re not my girlfriend!” she blurted out. Why was she like this? Stupid NEET social skills!
“...What if...what if I was your girlfriend?” Sumire asked quietly.
Futaba stared at her, not daring to hope. Was she saying…”Um. I mean, that’d be pretty awesome,” she awkwardly. “Like...really amazingly awesome.”
“Um.” Sumire bit her lip. “Then...would you...uh. Do you want to try it? Being girlfriends?”
Futaba blinked, trying to process this. Unfortunately, her brain seemed to encounter an error. She just stared at the girl without saying a thing.
“Uh? Futaba-senpai?” Sumire asked tentatively.
Futaba continued to stare.
Sumire tentatively reached out and shook Futaba lightly. The feel of her hand shocked Futaba back into action. “Yes!” she said, both much too quickly and much too loud. “Me girlfriend you!”
Sumire withdrew for a moment, startled, before her face broke out into a smile. “Me girlfriend you too, Futaba-senpai!” she said cheerfully, before reaching out and pulling the stunned girl into a hug.