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“So, you’re spending Valentine’s Day all by yourself~?” Ao said to Ranka as the two of them walked inside the mall.
“You too,” Ranka replied, “I thought you were seeing Hikaru?”
“Nope, we’re just friends,” Ao shook her head. “She’s far too obsessed with Nee-sama anyway~”
“Really?” Ranka raised her brows. “I’ve heard rumours saying that Hikaru saw you naked through video chat. Is that true?”
Ao made a face. “If you believe everything rumours say, you’ll also think that Nee-chan has a crush on some random girl she accidentally cooked, or that Nee-sama is involved in a weird love triangleー”
“Who knows, that could totally be true.”
“ーwith Tokime Shizuka and Tamaki Iroha.”
“…Fair enough. Still, is the video chat thing true or not?”
“Well… yeah,” the blue-haired girl reluctantly admitted. “But that was just an accident!”
“Aha!” Ranka grinned gleefully. “So it’s true after all!”
“Geez, stop it!” Ao’s face flushed in embarrassment. “Hey, let’s talk about your love life instead. You like Nee-chan, don’t you~?”
“Nah, not like that. Plus, I won’t be surprised if Juri is also into Yuna-san.”
“What can I say~?” Ao shrugged. “Everybody loves Nee-sama.”
“Can’t blame them, honestly. Yuna-san’s got charisma, even though she may not have, ahem, what you have.”
Ao deadpanned at the smirk lingering on Ranka’s face. “Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?”
“Oh, for sure.”
“Pfft~ You and Nee-chan, you’re both perverts.”
“Haha. Is that so?”
Chatting cheerfully, the two girls arrived at the game arcade.
“Hmm,” Ao observed, “this place seems to be quite crowded.”
“Naturally. It’s the best one in Kamihama after all!” Ranka’s face was already gleaming with excitement.
“Let’s try our hand at that one, shall we~? The queue in front of it is relatively short.”
“Good idea. But make no mistake, Ao, I won’t let you win!”
“You wish~!”
“My victory!” A few minutes later, Ranka loudly declared.
Ao sighed at the green Game Over screen in front of her. “Aw, dammit~”
“To be completely fair, you did pretty well too. After all, I've played this many times.”
“Wait a minute, I just got a message,” Ao said, taking out her phone. “It’s Nee-chan. Let me take a look first.”
“Then I’ll see what we can play next,” Ranka turned away to look around the arcade.
A moment later she stopped walking, her hand freezing in the air.
Fate is a bitch, Ranka thought, her painted nails biting into her palm. In the end, three total months of trying to forget about that stupid motherfucker were in vain.
…
“Here you go, Kaede! It’s the colour you wanted.”
“Eeeh!! It’s adorable! Thank you so much!”
“And this one is for you, Momoko.”
“Ah, cute! Thanks. Now you can pull for your own doll to match ours!”
“Actually, Rena is out of allowance already.”
“Really? In that case, you can have mine back.”
"There’s no need for that. Rena never liked that colour, anyway.”
“It’s rare seeing Rena-chan being so generous… But, um, is it really okay for me to take this?”
“Stop worrying! This is just a thank you. Thank you, um, for putting up with Rena for so long. So, yeah… Happy Valentine’s Day, Momoko, Kaede!”
“Aww! Rena-chan is such a sweetheart!”
“W-what, that’s absolute nonsense!”
“Well, let’s all go grab some desserts after this, shall we?”
“Sure! For now, how about we check out that new rhythm game first?”
…
“Ranka. Hey, Ranka~? Ranka!” A voice seemed to be calling.
“Oh,” the black-haired girl blinked. Ao had found her.
“So, what do we play next~?”
“I… don’t like this fucking place.” Ranka snapped harshly. “We should go somewhere else.”
“What?” Ao couldn’t believe her ears. “You love arcades!”
“Not today.”
“Really~?” Ao’s voice was doubtful. “Well, I don’t mind. Perhaps we can go to the dessert shop on the 3rd floor?”
“No. I really don’t feel like eating anything sweet right now.”
“Ohh, I get it now~” Ao nodded in understanding. “Then, let’s go to that cafe upstairs. I went there with Nee-sama and Nee-chan once, it’s pretty nice.”
“Well, why not?” Ranka said as she followed Ao out of the arcade. “Hang on, what did you just get?”
“That you don’t want to see those sickeningly sweet couples in the arcade, because, well, you’re kind of alone on a Valentine’s Day.”
“Alone…?” Ranka frowned. “I’m not alone. I have you with me, Ao.”
Ao’s eyebrows were raised in surprise. Hesitantly, she said: “But, this isn’t… like a date. Right…?”
“Well, who said it couldn’t be?” Ranka gave a small grin. She continued absent-mindedly: “You’re pretty cute after all, with eyes and twintails as blue as your Accele discs…”
“…My what? ” Ao asked incredulously. “Ranka, are you okay?”
“Forget about it,” Ranka waved her hand dismissively. “What was Juri’s message about?”
“Oh, about that. Turns out that Nee-chan is actually at an outdoor recreational club near Central Ward,” Ao answered. “She’s swimming there with Hikaru right now.”
Evidently, that was enough to bring Ranka back to normal.
“Okay, what the fuck?” She exclaimed. “They’re swimming outdoors in this ice-cold weather? And on Valentine’s Day no less? What are they thinking?”
“How would I know~?” Ao shrugged. “All they told me was that it’s for a bet.”
“That’s… Yeah, that sounds about right.” Ranka felt like hitting her head on the wall. “Well, I suppose Juri also sent you a photo of them together, along with the caption ‘no homo”?”
“Yes, yes exactly,” Ao nodded, shocked and impressed. “How did you know that?”
“It’s intuition, I ain’t gonna explain shit.”
And with that, the two arrived at the cafe. It was packed with people, many of which being couples on Valentine’s Day dates. Ao and Ranka chose a small table near the window, and sat down there.
“So, what do you want to order~?” Ao opened the drinks menu on the table.
“Cappuccino, I suppose.”
“I’d rather have tea, or perhapsー”
“Hold on,” Ranka suddenly nudged Ao, pointing at a table on the other side of the cafe. “Isn’t that Yuna-san over there?”
“Oh, you’re right!” Ao looked up from the menu. “And… there’s someone else with her?”
“Holy shit,” Ranka gasped. “She’s actually going out with someone?”
“Oh boy~ Someone is going to be sad when she hears about this.”
“Indeed,” said Ranka, even though she wasn’t sure who Ao was referring to. “I can’t tell who that person is from here, can you?”
“Nope~”
“Hmm. Who could it possibly be?”
“Not Hikaru or Nee-chan,” Ao unintentionally imitated Juri’s thinking pose as she was saying this, “because they're at the swimming pool.”
“Not Sakuya either, because she's withー” Ranka flinched slightly, realizing her mistake, “ah, nevermind.” She stood up from her chair: “I'll go and see.”
Ao grabbed her by the sleeves of her coat. “No no, how about we guess first~?”
“Guess?”
“Mhmm~” Ao nodded, her expression serious and grave. “I'm willing to bet, with 5000 yen, that it is Tamaki Iroha herself.”
“Fool!” Ranka tried to act offended, but could hardly hold back her laughter. “It's obviously Tokime fucking Shizuka and I'll bet 5000 yen on that!”