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"I'll see you tomorrow at practice, Masu-san!"
"Aight, see ya 'round!"
Man, Masking was proud of Pareo. She'd just waved her out of the apartment as the younger girl took her leave and she couldn't help but stand there in a proud-dad stance. For the past couple of weeks, Masking had taken on the role of Pareo's Super Cool Yuri Dealer (a title that she had quite obviously come up with herself), and every so often the gay little keyboardist would drop off at her apartment on her way to Chu2's place to be met with that week's selection of Yuri Goods. The next volume in a series Pareo was reading, the manga her new favorite pretty-girls-loving-other-pretty-girls anime was based on, the yuri recommendation of the week - Masking had it all. And each time Pareo made her collection and returned the manga she'd finished reading, seeing that giddy happy smile and sparkle in those big puppy eyes... This was it, Masking had thought to herself. This is what being a proud father feels like.
She thought about it some more when she began to slot Pareo's returned books of the day back into the small gaps they'd left on her shelf. It simultaneously seemed like a million years ago and yesterday since Pareo had rambled about Pastel Palettes and their sparkling beauty only to messily backtrack and exclaim how what she was saying was absolutely perfectly normal, only to then admit to being in love with Chu2 like she was confessing to murder days later. Well, maybe that was a poor analogy, but at the time Masking had never seen the kid show an ounce of anxiety until that moment. So seeing Pareo now, being who she was for her pride or whatever kids said these days, perhaps it would even bring Masking to tears if she thought about things hard enough. So it was a good thing her focus was on putting her returned yuri manga copies back on her shelf.
Or perhaps it... wasn't?
"Huh..." Masking crouched in front of the shelf, her brows furrowed intensely and eyes squinting with concentration. She'd put all the books back where they belonged, but... "Nahh... Hang on..." Her nose was now almost touching the spines of the books. Perhaps she needed glasses. But still, something was certainly off. "... What the hell is missin'?"
Despite how every manga had been returned, there were still gaps missing within Masking's collection. Did she give these to Pareo and just... forget? Nah, her memory's not that bad, especially in regards to this. And beside, some of these volumes were prized pieces of her collection! She'd absolutely make a note to herself to remember she'd bestowed such great works upon the little lesbian. Well, that was weird.
But... What was weirder was how they'd reappeared next week.
And on further inspection, new gaps on the shelf would also emerge.
This had completely baffled Masking for weeks. Every time she'd go to return manga to it's shelf once Pareo had left, the reappearance and disappearance of different books was a reoccurring thing. However, a pattern had begun to emerge on closer inspection: it always seemed to be the next installment of the previous manga that was taken. Say, if Kira Kira Kissu Girls Lily Club volume 3 had gone missing, on the day it reappeared volume 4 would be the next to vanish.
Masking was a little slow at times, but she certainly wasn't stupid. So she'd come to the following conclusion: She was either being haunted by a lesbian ghost with very good taste in yuri franchises, or it was-
"Pareo."
Masking's tone of voice wasn't supposed to sound like a gruff bark when Pareo set down her bag upon the bedroom table; she'd arrived at the apartment only a few minutes ago. The only-slightly-smaller girl paused mid-way through opening it, freezing for a second before big red eyes slowly blinked up at her. Was there a dash of guilt in Pareo's demeanor? Masking couldn't quite tell just yet. But there was something in the way she'd responded. "... Yes, Masu-san?" Her tone was quite casual, cheerful even. Hmm.
Well, she obviously needed to match Pareo's enunciation. Y'know, because this was a casual conversation. "What else is in yer bag?" Ah. That sounded more like an interrogation at an airport, even to Masking. It didn't help that she was standing there, hands on hips, staring down at the other girl who almost immediately began to shrink like a tiny animal. Pareo looked back at Masking more directly this time, an expression of surprise plastered across her face before she did her best to force casualness into her voice as she looked back down at her backpack as normally as she could.
"W-Well! Since... Masu-san asked!" And so, she began rummaging. "Umm... The manga Pareo was due to return today... Pajamas for Chu2-sama's house... Umm... Ah!" Eventually, Pareo pulled something from the bag and held it up with a cute little smile. "This adorable teeny tiny fluffy hot water bottle with a kitty cat on the front~! Isn't it the cutest?"
Ohhh... Oh man. Pareo was right. It was cute as hell. "Man, that is real cute..." Masking had begun, fixing her rather intimidating gaze on the object as Pareo gently bounced it to-and-fro in her hands. But wait, this must be a distraction! A scheme! Because Masking knew Pareo. She knew Pareo hated lying, and instead of lying Pareo would distract. And Pareo knew what distracted Masking best. Hey, Masu-san! There's a cute doggy walking past the window! She would say when stealing things off her plate to give to her tiny girlfriend in Ramen Ginga or Masu-san, Maya-chan just posted on Instagram! when she wanted her to stop rambling on about something. Pareo knew. Pareo was smart. Pareo was...
"... Masu-san?" ... Looking at her with confusion.
Ah, shit. Masking didn't realized she'd zoned out. "Books." Was just how she eventually replied.
"A-Ah! These are the ones I'm returning-"
"The other books."
There was silence for what felt like years after that.
Pareo had completely frozen. The guilty look that quickly covered her face was very evident by now, and the poor kid had run out of excuses. Rather sheepishly, she reached into the backpack and began to pull out two stacks of manga, setting both down on the table. The first, Masking had recognized as the books she'd leant to Pareo herself whereas the second...
Those were the latest disappearances.
"Ha! Knew it! I Knew ya were the one-" But Masking paused her triumphant cheer and ceased her outstretched and ready-to-ruffle-some-hair hand. Was Pareo... crying? "O-Oi, Pareo,"
Oh. She absolutely was. "I-I'm so, so sorry Masu-saaaan~!" The younger girl had cried, hands gripping the hem of her skirt as she lowly bowed her head. "I'm really, truly, endlessly sorry! I will never be able to make this up to you, Masu-san! I will spend the rest of my days forever in guilt for exploiting the trust that Masu-san has bestowed upon me...! I...I-I...!"
"Huh...?" Masking... didn't exactly know how to respond. Pareo was still bowed over, sniffling and mumbling further apologies, but Masking... "I ain't mad." She replied, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. She was never the best at responding to people crying, not because she didn't care or anything, but the sudden surge of pity and sympathy for the kid that she was feeling seemed to make her brain freeze up. Still, she spoke as casually as she could. Hopefully her chill vibes would be reassuring. "It's kinda impressive how you've been doin' that for weeks and I never even caught ya. Only noticed when I was puttin' stuff back."
After a couple of little sniffles, Pareo slowly stood up straight. "Masu-san... isn't upset?" She asked, briefly rubbing away a few stray tears from her eyelashes. "But I... I was practically... S... S-Stealing! For such selfish reasons, too!" God, Masking felt like her heart was being put in a blender. She knew how polite and quote-on-quote "well raised" Pareo was, and part of her was actually relieved that she'd caught her in the midst of her yuri heist otherwise the guilt would probably end up eating the girl alive. But at the same time, this also raised more questions.
"Yeah, no hard feelsies 'round here. Kinda wished ya would've showed yer skills in 7/11 the other day and nabbed me a free soda. But, uhh... Why?"
"... Why?" Pareo repeated, although her eye contact with Masking seemed to stop at that moment.
"Uh, yeah. Why'd yer go through all this hassle? Yer could've asked me what ya wanted instead of..." The taller girl gestured the to Stolen Goods pile on the table. "Y'know..."
"A-Ah... I... U-Umm..." For some reason, Pareo's face had begun to turn quite pink. Not in a cute blush way, but more... genuine embarrassment? She glanced to the side, avoiding Masking's gaze as she fiddled with her sleeves as she began to blink as if tears were about to return to her eyes. In some confusion, Masking began to sift through the pile of books. The hell could Pareo feel so flustered about? She didn't have anything in her collection particularly risqué for obvious reasons, all of these manga were just the traditional stuff aimed at gay teenage girls. Ah, but there was just one book that featured some older college student characters. Again, it was still a very much suitable manga for a teenager to read, just that the lovely cast of ladies were often drawn in something a little bit more mature.
But as that particular manga entered Masking's hands, Pareo glanced over at it only momentarily before she once again looked away. She turned her head away more sharply this time, but in the short amount of time that Masking got a glimpse at her eyes... man, Pareo really looked close to crying.
In a messy attempt at trying to give off some, you know, chill casual vibes, Masking spoke up as it seemed like the baby lesbian wasn't going to be forming a response any time soon.
She dropped the manga back on the table and pointed at its cover. "Aha, crackin' honka-honkas on her, right?"
Pareo immediately looked back at her.
Her expression did not seem positive.
There was a moment of silence.
"Y-Yeah not gonna lie, it felt weird as hell to say that in front of ya..." Cue more awkward rubs of Masking's neck. She quickly got back to the topic at hand. "Nah but, for reals. Is like.. this it?"
Maybe the awkward shock of what Masking had said had done Pareo some good. Perhaps it was a weird reassurance that the two were both lesbians and there was nothing to be ashamed of, or perhaps it was a reassurance that... nothing could get more embarrassing than that. Still, Pareo seemed to fidget as she spoke and her gaze was still cast aside. "S-Sort... of..." She began. "It's just... I thought it was too... embarrassing... to admit I'd like to read these things out loud..."
See, Masking had basically been doing the "hard part" for Pareo. She was the one who'd first gifted Pareo her very own yuri manga, completely unprompted, as well as suggesting that she could lend her some more when she was done with reading. All Pareo had to do was show up, she never had to ask for things as Masking would just give her whatever she thought she'd like. And it wasn't like Pareo was entirely ashamed of who she was anymore, Masking knew that too, but... the kid was healing slowly. She'd had a lot of repression to un-repress, and a lot of mindsets to rid herself of. "I feel... I feel icky about some things, sometimes... Even when I think about Chu2-sama! If it's not just us or not just us and the rest of RAS... sometimes I think I shouldn't be..."
In a mix of guilt and not wishing to talk about her random spells of guilty feelings, Pareo shook her head. "But still, that's no excuse for my behavior! Masu-san, I want to repeat my deepest apologies for-" But before the younger girl could finish her sentence, two strong hands grabbed her shoulders. "A-Ah??"
"Nothin's wrong with ya. Got it?"
"Eh...?"
"Pareo. Do yer ever bat at eye at how the men-likin' girls look at dudes?" Masking was staring Pareo straight in the eyes as if her questions were a matter of life or death. Pareo glanced to the side.
"A-Ah... Not... really?" She replied, followed by a few blinks of confusion. “But,”
”Then why’s it any different?” Masking continued. “I know it feels like the world’s been tellin’ ya yer wrong, but yer feelin’s ain’t gonna change any time soon. Nothin’s gonna poof all the lesbianisms out yer brain, and ya don’t want that to happen either, right?”
Pareo seemed to suddenly be taking in the older girl’s words very carefully. Slowly but surely, the guilt and embarrassment had begun to fade from her eyes. “N… No! I… I really like who I am… And I love loving Chu2-sama!”
Masking gave her a “gentle” supportive shake. “Exactly! So whenever ya feel kinda gross about yerself, just remember that… Uhh…” Ah. Where was she going with this. Her train of thought had come to a halt. Doing her best to hide how frantically she was searching for the right words, Masking tried to continue. “Yer a… A member of RAS now. And that means ya can’t keep a lid on yer gayness, got it?” Yeah! That’d do.
Ah shit who was she kidding, that came out so… lame. Man, just as she thought she was giving the little baby gay some sound advise. But before Masking could even open her mouth in an attempt to blurt out some different and hopefully more satisfying conclusions, she felt herself receive a hug so hard she was almost winded.
”Thank you, Masu-san…!” Came a quiet yet happy voice muffled into her shoulder. Masking may have thought what she said didn’t come out as intended, but to Pareo those words had made her realize something.
Masking, Lock and Layer felt like family to her. She’d known that for a while now. But what she remembered at that moment was that this was a family who didn’t have expectations for her. They knew who she was, in all her little lesbian endearingly cringe glory. Her lesbianness wasn’t going to go away, nor did Pareo want it to, so why bother dwelling in those thoughts that made her feel gross for simply finding other girls pretty? And so, despite how Masking felt like her advise had fallen a little flat, Pareo had internally vowed to herself to remember what she’d told her whenever those horrible thoughts would cloud her mind.
And Masking was a little confused. Happily confused, though! She gave Pareo a soft pat on the back of the head. Man, she was sick at advise after all. Look at her go, giving the babiest gay of the group some motivation! Just like a proud father. Or maybe even,
”You really are like a big sister sometimes, Masu-san.”
Oh. Ohh. Oh wow.
Perhaps it was now Masking’s turn to cry.