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The first thing Rui noticed was that she had a dead arm.
Whether that was from the events she went through hours ago or the girl ardently clinging to the limb in question, she couldn't tell.
Squinting at the intrusion of light after so long, Rui looked blankly at Touko, locked to her arm with a will stronger than she would have ever expected from her back during Morfonica's initial formation.
Touko slept soundly against her side. Her face was buried in Rui's arm to the extent where Rui couldn't see it anymore, as much as she would have liked to.
It was strange how calm Touko was considering her attitude the night before.
Tsukushi and Rui had just wanted to reward them all for their efforts with a night on the town. A real one - not the ones Nanami lovingly and naively proposed to them using a nearly expired strand of Subway coupons that Touko forked over, giving her a playful nudge in the wrong direction and teaching her the 'normal behaviours' she was so well-versed in. Rui had scolded her countless times, reminding her not to be a bad influence. In truth though, they both always seemed to enjoy it and would always be so self-satisfied at the end of it… so it wasn't too much of a problem as long as they never got hurt or ridiculed for it.
Rui felt a prick of amusement as she recalled all the past scenarios where they had all been caught up in mischief like that. Her resistance really did wear away further by the minute.
Now however, she was gradually learning to focus more on the present, rather than needlessly dwelling on the past. Last night was close enough to the former.
Their night had been going perfectly. Nanami had been trying out another different and obscure style of fashion, all of which seemed to be made just for her with how well she suited them all. Tsukushi had styled everyone's hair, only making Nanami even harder for Rui to tear her eyes from. Touko's flirting had been sweet and sometimes suggestive, and Mashiro's gentle smile as they all chatted was so, so loving and warm, not to mention how beautiful they all looked...
And then the chef undercooked Mashiro's food like an absolute buffoon. Mashiro was a sweetheart who wouldn't say anything in fear of spoiling their dinner but Rui noticed, Rui always noticed, so she was passively (politely in her words, passively in Tsukushi's) aggressive to the chef until Tsukushi actually dragged her out of the restaurant with all the strength there was in her tiny body. She didn’t understand though - raw chicken could make someone ill. It was a matter of public safety, albeit mostly Mashiro’s.
Touko scolded her for an hour about how socially unacceptable her behaviour apparently was, but coming from someone who once climbed over a spiked gate to get her girlfriend a blouse after the opening hours had long past waned, Rui didn't pay much attention. She knew that Touko filmed the whole spectacle so it could go viral later anyway.
How many likes would the post have now? Her girlfriends always bet over it, the losers being the ones to pay for snacks the next time they all went out after work (though Nanami and Rui never failed to sneak them the money back when they weren't looking). The total like count would be somewhere in the seventy thousands, probably. The accuracy of that estimation would rely on how long they had spent in bed, but there was no doubt that it would be a hit upload sooner or later.
Fondness danced delicately in the atmosphere as Rui looked down. At least she was sure to keep her full face out of shot so Rui couldn't be recognised for the whole ordeal, rather than known for their music.
Rui would have to get the blood in her arm flowing back around eventually, but she wasn't concerned with that right then.
"Ruirui," Nanami called out tentatively from her other side. "Did you see Shiro-chan and Tsu-chan?"
"Hiromachi-san, you're awake?" Rui answered dryly, ignoring the question. "When did you get up? Did you sleep well?"
"You're not listening to me, huh Ruirui?" A pout formed on her lips to emphasise the one in her voice. "I got up a while before you, but I pretended to be asleep so you could have all the glory. And yeah, I slept fine. Crazy hangover from all the Sprite I chugged last night though."
"That isn't an alcoholic drink. How could you get a hangover from it?"
"To-may-to, to-mah-to~."
Propping herself up on her elbows, Rui made the tired decision not to question Nanami further.
"Is your arm dead already or anything?" Nanami inferred. "Touko-chan's a real heavy sleeper, and by that I mean that she's pretty okay to carry, but if she falls asleep on you, you're dead because she magically shifts her weight to a ton. She's our emotional rock and a literal one. Women know how to multitask alright."
Rui didn't know how to respond to all of that, but Nanami gladly continued the conversation on for her.
"Hey, did you check on Shiro-chan and Tsu-chan yet? And shake Touko-chan off your arm before you lose it already, it's not like she's going anywhere."
Nanami wouldn't understand how hard prying Touko off of her would be for Rui. The day someone fell asleep on Nanami's arm was also the day they discovered that she apparently sleepwalked and that Tsukushi had really easily bruised skin.
Mashiro defeatedly arranged their affection hour a hell of a lot earlier on after that.
Nanami's gaze sharpened. The fed-up huff Rui was met with conveyed to her that she had spent far too long working up the willpower to masterfully extract Touko from her body.
"Listen, you guys look really cute together but either you save your arm's ability to move or I will. Now look at Shiro-chan and Tsu-chan right now because they look even cuter than, uh… Tsu-chan when she gets angry."
"Futaba-san wouldn't like to hear that," Rui deadpanned. "She'd prefer it if you took her anger seriously and stopped fawning over her for just one second to do so."
"Well, if she could stop being so damn cute then maybe, but she can't, so she's stuck being the cutest girl in the world forever," Nanami reasoned. "Tied with three others, of course."
“Hm… Well, I’d argue you aren’t too far off the mark yourself.”
“Ehe, thank you~,” she gushed. “You’re gonna make me blush if you keep that up.” Pausing for a moment, Nanami went into a pensive state. “Actually, the heat would be good. There’s no need to waste electricity and I like, super need a coffee right now.”
“I doubt we could boil water well on your face. You’d just cool down…”
“Hey, I’m no genius.”
What a grand liar.
“Aaaanyway,” begun Nanami, stretching with tired and half-lidded eyes. “Work today. We need to get up. Gotta shake this hangover off…”
“Again, you don’t have a hangover.”
“Again: to-may-to, to-mah-to.”
Uncharacteristic as it was, Nanami had already begun to hypnotise herself into leaving the comfort of a warm bed. She walked with eyelids ever so close to shutting, moping around the room.
“Would you… like that coffee?” Rui offered.
“Please.”
Rui watched as Nanami eased Mashiro’s fringe out of the way and leant down, planting a gentle kiss to her forehead. It was a simple and routine action, but even when she played the observer role, it meant the world to Rui.
It summarised their strange little lifestyle perfectly - ever so considerate and filled with tender love.
Nanami would then hover over Tsukushi, and then Touko, dosing them both with the same affection despite how neither would be awake to perceive it. That didn’t matter, though; all five knew it was always there.
Once that was done, though…
“Here, Ruirui,” Nanami called out, meandering over to take her hands and leaning up to meet her. “Kiss.”
“Mm,” Rui hummed in acknowledgement, feeling a smile tickling at her lips. “Kiss.”
She angled herself down, squeezing Nanami’s hands in hers as they formed a more intimate kind of connection.
It was going to be a good day.
Rui felt it in the ever-familiar curve of Nanami’s smile.