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The concept of two girls in love was kept from Pareo completely as she grew up. Her mother never even considered it a possibility when discussing, or rather telling, her daughter about how the world worked or what her future was set to look like. She was supposed to suit her town's concept of normality, to make her parents proud by becoming a doctor like how she promised to when she was just a first year in elementary school. Her mother always said she'd make another man happy someday, yet still seemed reluctant to have her daughter around any boys since Pareo had never been sent to school with them. It wasn't like Pareo cared about the latter part, though. She found growing up with only other girls in her life just fine. So fine, in fact, that she'd decided that maybe she'd rather make another girl happy someday instead.
But it wasn't an easy conclusion to come to at all. Realizing and accepting that she wasn't going to meet the expectations her mother had for her felt almost physically painful, pushing her to keep working hard to stay at the top of all her classes to hear the reassuring praise that people were proud of her. But after a lot of time, joining RAS, falling in love with her Chu2-sama and feeling the support of her friends, the pain had certainly eased. Not completely, of course, but the ease was at least relieving some weight off the young girl's shoulders.
Now, labelling her relationship with Chu2 was quite... tricky for Pareo at first. She'd only ever learned what she should call this "future husband" that she was told she'd have in the inevitable future, so she first just assumed that those were the things she'd call Chu2. You know, because she was a girl and Chu2 was who she was in love with, right?
"Good morning, Shujin-sa-"
"Shujin?!"
It didn't go down well.
It was through a conversation that followed that things began to make a bit more sense for Pareo, as well as after all the yuri manga she'd binged of course. It honestly felt like common sense when she'd realized it, but... they were two girls. Chu2 was a girl. Pareo was absolutely certainly in love with another girl, so that... made Chu2-sama...
Her Girlfriend?
It was about 10pm in the evening, a Friday no less, when it first dawned on Pareo. By this point, Pareo had been the most confident she'd ever been in her sexuality (in Tokyo and with herself, at least) so she'd fully established herself (again, in Tokyo, at least) and begun to accept the fact she was a well and truly a lesbian. Girls were very good, and her favourite girl and the girl she loved the most in the entire world was of course her Chu2-sama. Her Chu2-sama whom she'd been in an official relationship with now for several months, and the pair were inseparable. But she'd never ever called her Girlfriend.
Now, the fact it was 10pm was incredibly important for Pareo. Usually, it would be the time her mother required her to go to bed on a school night but tonight was Friday. She'd still probably need to get up early to catch the train to Tokyo as per usual, but she had a lovely extra hour before she'd call it a day. This hour was incredibly special.
Pareo was sat crossed-legged upon her bed, one leg bouncing with eagerness as she heard the sound of her mother's bedroom door close across the short hallway from her own room. She waited for a few excited seconds, giving her mother time to get into bed and go to sleep for the night, before shuffling onto the floor and lifting up the bed skirt using her phone as a flashlight. The underneath of Pareo's bed looked relatively dull as at a first glance as most of the things stored under there were boxes of things like clothes, bedding or merchandise she lacked room for. However, after some rummaging, Pareo gleefully pulled out a pretty pink shoebox and turned around to set it upon the small table. She set down her phone as a sort of DIY lamp before removing the box's lid; even the box itself was special, it was the box that contained the first pair of shoes Chu2 had ever bought her, back before the two were even dating. Of course Pareo was smiling with delight at the sight of this little bundle of happy memories. To get to what she was after, she first gently removed a neatly folded shirt that she kept over the box's contents but in doing so she couldn't help but bring it up close to her chest and give it a little hug. It was Chu2-sama's shirt, a shirt she'd recently given to Pareo in a shy and sheepish attempt to return Pareo's own gesture a couple of months ago. Oh how that pang of loneliness hit Pareo at that moment, but there was no need to fret! She'd be seeing Chu2 tomorrow and would be spending the entire weekend at her home, and... ah! There it was. Her diary.
Pareo's diary was incredibly pink and incredibly cute, of course, but even though it was contained secretly under her bed it was still secured with two locks she'd already fetched the teeny tiny keys for. She couldn't help but get that small wave of anxiety as she fumbled with the small, heart-shaped locks - the thoughts of "Oh my gosh, what if mother was to see this?" and general worries of similar subjects flickered in her mind, but Pareo tried her best to push them away with reason as she finally opened the small book. She took out a fluffy pen that was also inside the box, flicked through all of the neat writing, doodles and photographs until she found a clean page. And now, it was time to write. This was Pareo's favourite Friday-night activity.
And so, Pareo wrote the following:
Dear diary,
I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and I think I've finally come to the conclusion I would like love to ask Chu2-sama to be my girlfriend! We've been in an official relationship for five months and twenty-two days now (twenty-three in just under two hours!), so I think it must finally be time to ask Chu2-sama to be my official girlfriend! My girlfriend!! ♡♡♡♡♡ I'm so happy I don't know how to put it into words, I just love her so so so so much! Calling Chu2-sama my girlfriend doesn't feel entirely real, it's a very peculiar feeling but... it feels right. It makes my heart feel all fluttery. To be very honest, the first few times I thought about it I felt a weird feeling. It was a bit like guilt, I think. Like something in my head is telling me off but... I think I’m starting to pay more attention to my heart than my head. My head likes to think about Chu2-sama, but sometimes I get tiny thoughts that sort of scold the nice thoughts. I don’t know if this makes sense at all, but I know for certain being in love with Chu2-sama makes me happy... so I’m going to stay happy! I’m going to ignore the nasty thoughts, because if I pay attention to them it makes me sad. I love Chu2-sama, and that makes me the happiest!
Pareo the took a moment to doodle “Tamade Reona” in the margins of the page. Hmm... She then doodled “Nyubara Chiyu”. Oh that sounded adorable. She scribbled some hearts around the two of them in celebration.
So I’m going to ask Chu2-sama to be my official girlfriend tomorrow!! I’m so excited and happy I don’t know if I can sleep!! Then after that we’ll be real official girlfriends!! Chu2-sama will be my girlfriend!!! Goodnight, diary. I’ll write every detail of Chu2-sama’s response in here tomorrow too! xx
When Pareo had put away her little capsule of happy thoughts back under her bed, sent a goodnight text to her love and turned off her phone once she got her reply, she really did wonder how she would possibly fall asleep for the night. She felt incredibly cozy in bed, feeling all warm and fuzzy as she hugged the mint-green raccoon plushie she always kept beside her bed and snuggled into her pillow. “Girlfriend...” Pareo found herself quietly practicing saying The Big G Word to herself with a giddy smile. “Hee hee.... girlfriend...!” But thankfully, she fell into a peaceful sleep pretty soon.
“Oh Chu2-sama! Pareo has an incredibly important proposal to make!”
“...Important proposal?”
It was the next day, and Pareo had barely been in Chu2’s home for five minutes before she’d eagerly put her bag down on the sofa, taken off her light jacket to show off her new shirt and pinafore dress she’d picked out especially for that day. Of course, Chu2 had noticed. She’d also taken notice of the pretty new shade of nail polish and the extra shimmer to Pareo’s lip gloss. Chu2, on the other hand, just looked as casual as ever. Numerous questions were sprouting in the small girl's head.
"Yes!" Pareo continued with an enthusiastic nod. "Pareo wanted to make it as soon as possible, before the others get here for rehearsals later!"
Now Chu2 was certainly intrigued. She folded her arms approvingly. "Go on then."
"Ah, may... Pareo hold Chu2-sama's hand?"
"W-What?" Even though Chu2 exclaimed with surprise, she meekly extended a hand that Pareo took happily. What the hell was Pareo about to tell her? Should she be worried if Pareo needed to hold her hand to tell her this? Well, Pareo certainly didn't look worried. She didn't look worried in the slightest. In fact, the girl seemed the happiest she'd been all week. Maybe even all month.
Pareo held Chu2's hand so tenderly, as if she was holding something so fragile and precious. She still hadn't exactly settled on how she was going to go about asking this big question even though she'd imagined (or rather, daydreamed) numerous scenarios in her head. At first she thought she would wait until early evening, then go out to the roof with Chu2 and ask her under the stars but... Tokyo's light pollution sort of prevented that. And besides, at this point she was just so excited she wanted to ask her as soon as possible. So, here she was.
"Chu2-sama... I actually think this may come off as a weird question if you think about it, but..." Pareo began, her gaze bashfully fluttering down to the smaller hand she held as she covered it with her free hand. Even though Chu2 was blinking up at her with big, round kitty eyes of confusion, she couldn't help but feel her face warm up at the contact. "I know we've been together for a long time now, and we tell each other "I love you!" and cuddle and hug and sometimes even kiss! But I've been thinking a lot about something... so, Chu2-sama!" And then, to Chu2's further surprise, Pareo proceeded to quite literally get down on one knee in front of her. Oh my god. It was literally as if she was proposing. Chu2 couldn't formulate a coherent thought.
"P-Pareo, what are y-"
"Please be my girlfriend!"
Girl... friend? The request took a moment to process in Chu2's mind, and quickly she found herself speaking her thoughts aloud. "Girlfriend...? P-Pareo, aren't we..." Oh god, those big sparkly eyes looking up at her - she looked so expectant, excited to hear her Chu2-sama's response. Although her first instinct was to be confused by such a question, honestly things began to make sense in Chu2's mind. Pareo herself had just said she'd acknowledged how they're already technically girlfriends, but perhaps hearing that confirmation and even asking the question itself was a big deal for her. She remembered how just a month or two ago Pareo had struggled to even say the fact she was a lesbian out loud. There was a happy swell of pride in Chu2's chest at the thought of how far Pareo had come, and besides, Chu2 also... had been struggling with labelling Pareo her girlfriend. It was for a completely different reason, of course, but Chu2 had always struggled with processing the fact that somebody so perfect was in love with her. Pareo was in love with her. They were together! It was surreal to think about, but... so, so nice. Maybe nice was an understatement, but oh god how Chu2's thoughts were getting all fuzzy from fluster.
And so, taking a big breath, Chu2 nodded and did her best to give Pareo a somewhat coherent response. "A-Alright. I'll... b-be... be your girl... ᵍᶦʳˡᶠʳᶦᵉⁿᵈ"
"Yaay~!" Without a second thought, Chu2 felt a little "mwah!" against her knuckles before being pulled into a big squeezey hug. "Chu2-sama's Pareo's girlfriend~! Chu2-sama's my girlfriend~!" She exclaimed with glee, nuzzling her tiny girlfriend's face.
"Y-You could have at least given me some notice about this! Don't sneak big questions up on me again!" Chu2 tried to sound stern, but her heart felt all gooey and full of gay feelings so she didn't really care that Pareo had launched that onto her out of no where.
Pareo didn't seem to take any notice of this, though. She released Chu2 from her embrace and got to her feet properly, brushing out the creases in her skirt before letting out a delighted gasp. "Oh my gosh! I can't wait to tell the others about how we're now official girlfriends!" She said with a little excited fan of her hands. "They'll be here for rehearsals in just over an hour~!"
"Pareo! You don't need to do that!" Chu2 had barely recovered from her little sappy moment to process the idea of Pareo declaring something so personal so loudly to the others. To Masking. Oh god, Masking. She could already hear the mocking kissy noises she so frequently made at them.
"Ehhh, but Chu2-sama always loves to hear about the advancements in Massu-san and Rokka-san's relationships-"
"I do not!"
"Do too~"
Chu2 went to give a snappy retort, but of course the bubbly playful expression of Pareo's face struck her through the heart once more. She gave in and only let out a little grumble. "Whatever, let's just get to the studio."
Pareo gave a little clap of her hands. "Yes, my darling girlfriend Chu2-sama!"
"P-Pareo!"
As embarrassing as it all was, Chu2 couldn't help but get that nice comfy warm feeling deep in her chest every time Pareo would refer to her like that. As her girlfriend. It was just a nice, cute reminder that the two were in love. Chu2 did honestly feel very proud of Pareo's newly found openness, but still... she did wish at times she wasn't so loud about it.