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“～♪～♪～♪～”
Arashi sang to herself while finishing up her skincare for the night, the day had been tiring for her after all.
Those boys... I’m glad everything worked out for them in the end, I was worried at first hearing those awful, recycled love confessions, but in the end, I was seriously moved, especially Mao-chan and Midori-chan, fufu, innocent, clumsy love is so cute. I -
Her thought process was interrupted by a knock at the door, surprised, she approached the door.
“Oh, dear, who could be knocking at this hour?” Arashi questioned, opening the door for her unexpected visitor. She was surprised to find Mao, a bit uneasy and flustered, with his face so red she wasn’t sure if she found it cute or honestly concerning.
“M-Mao-chan?!?!? Are you okay? Your face is beet red! Is everything alright? Are you sick maybe? Did someon-”
“Ah, um... I’m mostly okay” Mao stuttered out, reaching out to tug Arashi’s sleeve, “But Arashi, Would you mind hearing me out? I need your advice.”
Before speaking, Arashi decided to choose her words carefully, still not completely sure if Mao was really okay, “Could it be, you’ve decided to come here for love adv-” Mao nods, burying his face in his jacket, face somehow burning even more scarlet than before, and Arashi could swear she could see steam coming from his ears.
While she was still concerned, her eyes began to sparkle at the thought of Mao asking her for love advice. Mao was overall a friendly person, but he was the type to be reserved when it comes to his struggles, so him coming to her in such a vulnerable state was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
“Of course, leave it to big sis! Mao-chan come in, come in!” she said, dragging mao by the arm to her room.
Mao sat across from Arashi, hugging onto one of her pillows, sitting in silence before he decided to speak up.
“Sorry to bother you while you’re in the middle of your face care routine, Arashi… the next time we’re together I can treat you to something in return.”
Arashi sighed, despite the fact it was 3 in the morning, she wanted to make sure her friend was okay, “Mao-channn.., I swear it’s fine, anything for a friend, right? More importantly, dear, are you really okay? What happened?
“Well... Umm… … … Makoto proposed to me? I think?”
It took Arashi all of the power in her soul not to lose it right then and there.
“W-W-What!?!? Makoto-chan? ” Seeing Mao-chan this flustered is an experience in its own, but Makoto-chan? Is this the end? Is the world going to end tomorrow?
Just as overwhelmed as Mao, she considers bombarding him with questions, but thinking about Mao’s current state, decided against it. “T-Try to calm down, okay? What did you say? What exactly happened, Mao-chan.”
“Well, after the wedding live with Ring a Bell, Makoto and I went out to eat at a ramen bar, and then....”
( 2 hours before )
“I’m beat! Thanks for eating dinner with me, Makoto.”
“Of course! it’s no problem” Makoto laughed, “This week has been a long week for you, with the wedding unit and all, hasn’t it?”
“To say it was long is an understatement… just thinking about it makes my head hurt. When Tenshioun-senpai pranked us and said Anzu was getting married, my head went blank, seriously.”
“Ahaha, I can only imagine, Isara-kun, you’re really fond of Anzu-chan, arent you.”
“Mmm, of course, but isn’t it the same for you? It’s just that Anzu is a precious part of Trickstar, and I would feel lonely if she suddenly got married I think. Before I realized it I got really attached to her. Mao chuckled fondly, reminiscing on their memories.
“Ah.. you’re right about that one. Seeing Anzu getting married would be like watching a close sibling depart to the next phase of their life. But what about you, Isara-kun? Would you ever get married?” Makoto asked.
“Wha- Why do you ask suddenly? Well, if I had to think about it, maybe not. I’ve always thought that marriage would come to me as time went by, like it’s a normal part of life you know? But when I think about it harder, it’s hard to see myself in a position with someone forever.”
“Hmmm..”
Makoto suddenly stopped walking, looking as if he’s thinking a bit hard about something, Mao was going to ask if he was okay, but before he could, Makoto took a long breath, and began to speak.
“Isara-kun”
“Hm?”
“Then how about marrying me one day?”
Now it was Mao’s turn to pause, a bit taken back, he runs with the thought that Makoto is joking with him (like an idiot) and decided to run with the “joke”.
“Ahahaha, that doesn’t sound half bad” He laughs, “Like a marriage pact type of thing? If we don’t find someone by the time we’re 35 we should marry each other, right? Ma-”
“No, like… let’s get married one day,” Makoto said, face much more serious than before.
Ok, wow, to say Mao wasn’t expecting that was an understatement, and with the way that Makoto completely stopped in his tracks, with his face flushed and hands shaking, he’s definitely serious.
He opened his mouth to try to speak, only to close it after he figured out he was at a loss for words. As if his senses were going through a delayed reaction, his face finally flushed after processing Makoto’s words, eyes seeming to spin everywhere but Makoto’s face, before deciding that yeah, staring at the ground would probably be his safest bet.
Deciding to break the silence, Makoto walked towards Mao, Interlocking their hands as he continued to speak.
“If we got married, I’m sure we’d be happy. I’d make sure you never overworked yourself, and I’d shower you with all the love and confidence you’ve given me-- if that’s even possible-- If it’s what you want, I’d do anything for you.”
Ah, that last line was from that one confession assignment we had to do last year… Maybe he’s-
“I’ve never really given marriage a second thought, and when I think of marrying a random girl my stomach gets all queasy and I feel awful,” Makoto continued, “But when I think of the type of person I would want to be with for the rest of life, my mind always wanders to you. And, well, I’ve always thought that. If I could get married, it would be nice if I could marry Isara-kun, that’s why… um....” Makoto’s voice trailed off, confidence dwelling down by Mao’s lack of response, but to make himself feel a bit better, Mao’s face is darker than the shade of his hair, his ears flaring red, and Makoto could feel the hands he intertwined with Mao getting hotter and hotter, so maybe this isn’t going as terrible as he thought.
Finally, Mao opened his mouth. “Makoto, I-”
“Did those lines sound okay?” Makoto interrupted.
“...What?”
“Did Anzu not tell you? A few more of us got chosen for a wedding gig that’s taking place in a few days, and we don’t have that long to come up with proposal lines. Ahh, I guess I should’ve started with that, I’m sorry if I surprised you Isara-kun”
Mao went silent for a few seconds, flaring his eyebrows while the blush all over his body didn’t fade, despite Makoto’s attempt to play it off as a joke, Did I maybe make him angry? Makoto thought to himself anxiously, before the boy in question began to speak.
“Yup, sounds good,” Mao smiled, rubbing the back of his head, “You had me fooled for a second there! I was convinced you were being serious, and I didn’t know what to say… It sounds really nice! I gotta admit, my heart skipped a beat there, you were charming, Makoto.”
Makoto beamed at his words, gripping their hands a bit tighter, “Thank you Isara-kun! I really wanted to get this right, I wouldn’t want to face Narukami-san’s wrath after all.”
“Of course, let’s go back to the dorms?” Mao replied.
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“And then we went back home, other than a simple goodbye, neither of us said anything the en..” Mao’s words trailed off, burying his face in his pillow as he finally deemed himself too embarrassed to finish talking.
After hearing Mao’s story, Arashi completely understood the sentiment of his alarming red face, she could feel her face heating up just listening to the whole thing.
“How romantic,” Arashi gushed, “To confess then play it off so clumsily, hah.. Like a dream”
“And then? You didn’t think to reject him, did you?”
“That’s the issue… I didn’t think I had the strongest feelings for Makoto, but when he started talking I began to think about how it would be like if we were married, living a life together and I just… In the first place, isn’t his order a bit off? Should he have asked me out first? I-”
“Mao-chan, you’re talking a bit too fast, calm down. You look like you’re going to fuse any second.
“...I was going to tell him I felt the same, that I’d definitely make him happy too, then he dropped the subject, so I..” Mao sighed, “Augh…”
“For now, why don’t you try to calm down and sleep? Makoto-chan may have taken your silence for a rejection, and that’s why he tried to play it off, maybe talk to him tomorrow and see how it goes?”
After making a foreign sound, Mao looked Arashi in the eyes, “You’re right, thank you Arashi, seriously thank you, see you tomorrow...?”
“Of course, Mao-chan !” She replied, waving him off with a wink as he left her room, “Sleep tight, and try to sleep comfortably”
Now alone, she plopped on her bed, letting herself have an internal monologue.
He’s gone... Geez, what a handful he is. Mao-chan has never been really honest with himself ever since I’ve seen him around his first year of high school, so to even speak with me is a huge change. Good for him, Good for him.
But, Mao-chan and Makoto-chan? It’s not something I can’t see, and it’s not surprising, but those two came a long way, haven’t they? It’s almost as if it was yesterday when they were first years, two boys who could barely get along at the beginning, now look where they are, hah.. Young love at its finest, I hope things work out, really.
Giggling to herself, she started to fade into sleep.
Ufufu, good luck, Mao-chan, and if all goes well, don’t forget to invite me to the wedding, okay? I’d love to be your maid of honor …. ♡