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"Ena is late again."
"Sorry, I kind of got lost trying to navigate this place, this aquarium is a lot larger than I expected."
"It's okay, I expected that much from Ena."
"You really enjoy making fun of me, huh?"
"Perhaps."
Their relationship started when Mafuyu accidentally confessed in one of their Niigo meetings with an innocent 'I like Ena', which surprised all their members. To her disbelief, Ena didn't shut her down when she blurted it out, she nervously stuttered for a bit before quickly exiting the call, leaving Mafuyu vulnerable to Mizuki's ceaseless teasing. Ena then privately messaged her to meet after school, and since then, the two of them had started to date each other.
A few weeks had passed since then, but truthfully, Mafuyu was entirely confused about how their relationship came about. She did like Ena, and she would also feel like holding her hands and hugging her tightly purely by instinct, but she understood nothing about why she wanted these things. Mafuyu was only good at posing as a good girl and processing logical information from textbooks, she was still clueless about her own feelings.
"Hmph! Revealing your true colours just like that... you're as blunt as ever."
"I see."
Mafuyu was indeed blunt, but she didn't know if it was a good thing. Ena was always the one who initiated their dates, this aquarium date was the first time Mafuyu had ever asked her out. Since she couldn't think of any other locations, she picked this aquarium by default. A lot of Mafuyu's actions did seem to be her 'default choice', she also realized how much shorter her sentences were compared to Ena's.
It was like this whenever she commented on Ena's drawings too. Mafuyu really liked her paintings, they were filled with something that Ena described to her as 'passion', a concept hard for Mafuyu to grasp. There were many more fanciful remarks that she could've added onto her own criticism, though she never said much in the end... perhaps she was thinking too much about it. Mafuyu was having trouble thinking about how she should treat her girlfriend better as the host of this date, although not wanting to leave her in silence for too long, she quickly scoured the surroundings for something to talk about.
"Ah, that shark over there looks cute."
"You think that hammerhead shark looks cute?! The way its eyes are arranged make it look like an alien if you ask me!"
"And that sunfish looks interesting to eat."
"Ha??? Whatever that monstrosity is, it looks too big for the both of us to eat!"
"But Ena always orders a lot of food. I'm sure you could eat all of it by yourself."
"So that was just an excuse to call me fat!"
"I never called you fat..."
Mafuyu found Ena's behavior to be fascinating, she'd react a lot over her words with a series of facial expressions, with all of it being genuine. Meanwhile, Mafuyu could only provide her with brief statements from her observations and, as Ena called it, the dumb look on her face. Ena talked a lot about wanting her talents, but Mafuyu wanted to be able to understand feelings like she did. She wondered if she really deserved to be with Ena. Strange, why was she doubting herself so much today?
"Hey, is something on your mind, Mafuyu? You've been staring into blank space for the past minute now."
Oh, it looks like Ena caught her deep in thought.
"It's nothing."
Ena suddenly advanced towards Mafuyu and clutched onto her shoulders with her hands. The weird sensation in her chest showed up again, along with a rise in her own heart rate. Her presence was comforting, and Mafuyu instinctively felt like embracing Ena with her arms to reciprocate, sending signals to her brain to not let go.
"Mafuyu, be honest with me."
"I don't know if I deserve to be with you."
"Huh? But why?"
"You've given me more than I could ever provide for you, while I'm still stuck trying to understand my feelings."
"...You're hopeless," Ena responded with a sigh of disbelief.
"What do you-"
Ena tackled her with a kiss, pressing tightly onto Mafuyu's lips. The lump of emotions within Mafuyu resonated within her as they twirled their tongues around the other. There was no logic behind this, yet it made her feel good, it was something that Ena had taught her. This was one of the few times where Mafuyu could taste something, the other being Ena's cooking. Beneath her boisterous personality lay something sweet that Mafuyu desired more of. It was a primitive gesture that required no thought, but it wasn't a bad thing. She lost sense of how much time had passed before their mouths released each other.
"There. That's my response to you, idiot..."
"Ah.. I feel... warm."
Was this what love felt like?
"You're annoying and troublesome, but that brutally honest side is what I like about you, Mafuyu. I'm probably the one person stupid enough to fall in love with a numbskull like you, though I can safely say that there's no need to change that part of you."
"..."
"I also have my own doubts about dating you. I'm ordinary as hell, I don't possess the altruism to save others that Kanade has, and as much as I hate repeating this, I'm not as talented as you are. However, I chose to be with you just because I wanted to, even if neither of our parents approve of our relationship."
"..."
"Besides, you're the one who confessed first, so you better take responsibility for your actions, okay?"
"..."
Ena was right. Even with all her natural gifts, Mafuyu didn't have the capability to believe in herself, but regardless, she would continue to try her best to pave the road towards what she wanted in order to understand herself better, taking her own initiative to do so with Ena by her side.
"Anyways, enough with all the sappy talk. What's your itinerary for our date today? I have a feeling that you have something special planned, hehe!"
"..."
"Still lost for words at my pep talk? I knew it, I'm a genius when it comes to romance!"
"...Your entire speech was corny, Ena, as if it was taken from a shoujo manga."
"WHAT?! I said all of that from the bottom of the heart, and yet you're still insulting me as if I'm spouting nonsense?? You ingrate!!"
Mafuyu felt a genuine smile form at her own lips.