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Sayo was an incredible mix of excited and worried about her summer vacation trip, which she’d be spending with her girlfriend, her sister, and her sister’s girlfriend. A few people had asked her if she was worried about Ako and Hina causing trouble. Arisa had even asked if it was Ako or Hina who was more likely to cause an incident.
But actually, Sayo was barely worried about Ako at all. Yes, she did like playing pretend and did some rather silly things at times, but Tomoe had taught her how to behave more or less. Once they boarded the plane, she sat right at her seat, put on her seatbelt, pulled out a Nintendo Switch, and asked Sayo to play with her. The guitarist was grateful for this invitation; it gave her a reason to decline Hina’s request to see all the “really boppin’ seats in first class.” Ran, on the other hand, was unable to find an excuse that her girlfriend would accept and was dragged along.
Sayo really hoped Ran would be able to manage Hina. If she managed to do it for the entire trip, maybe this trip could actually be relaxing…
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“Hina-san, this is why you shouldn’t just burst into the first class rooms like that.” Ran scolded Hina, who seemed unfazed at her stern tone.
Despite her scolding, Ran wasn’t terribly concerned. The first class cabin seemed empty when Hina had dragged her to them wanting to explore the plane, and it was honestly cute seeing Hina excited to explore something as mundane as airplane seats. That is until Hina burst into an elderly gentleman’s cabin and started exploring without realizing it was occupied. When Ran dragged Hina out and apologized to the old man, he just laughed and said it wasn’t an issue. In fact, he seemed to find Hina’s curiosity endearing like Ran did, so it all worked out.
Despite her girlfriend being a handful at times, Ran was more worried about Ako behaving. Tomoe had approached her and had asked to make sure that Ako was on her best behavior and was not in the mood to have to deal with Ako getting in trouble, lest she have to answer to her big sister.
Ran wasn’t entirely sure why Tomoe was worried. It’s not like Ako was as high energy as Hina in her mind, though there was always the possibility that Ako ended up getting into serious trouble if anything went wrong.
She sighed to herself as she dragged Hina back to Sayo and Ako. She was hoping everything went smoothly, and that they could all enjoy this getaway…
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The four girls found themselves walking along Datitian, a place that was filled with beautiful flowers, and a tranquil-like atmosphere. Ako and Sayo were up ahead looking at some flowers and admiring them, while Ran stayed back and watched Hina admire the flowers, and answered any questions she had about what they were and what meaning they held in flower arrangement.
Ran smiled to herself. If she was being honest, this was the most relaxed she’d felt in a long while. She adored being surrounded by so many flowers, as well as watching Hina be in her element: exploring and being led by her curiosity. To top it off, Sayo only had to scold Hina once to not disturb nature, though Ran had to remind Ako the same thing a few times.
As she was musing, Ran then noticed a group of flowers to her right. Curious, she bent down and picked it up. Ah, it was a pink hydrangea. Ran suddenly turned red. In flower arranging, this symbolized telling someone that “you are the beat of my heart” which was super embarrassing for Ran, as she had been thinking of Hina a lot the last few minutes.
“RanRan! Look at this flower!!” Hina suddenly popped up, startling Ran who hid the flower behind her back. Curious, Hina tilted her head. “Wow you sure are red, Ran-chan! What has you blushing all of a sudden, hmmm?” Ran hesitated for a moment. She was worried about not telling Hina how much she meant to her lately, and had been looking for ways to do so. Maybe with the flower…
Suddenly, Ran thrust the flower into Hina’s hands and stuttered out “H-Here! It’s a Pink Hydrangea! It’s meant to say ‘you are the beat of my heart’! I just wanted you to know…how you…me…important…” Ran trailed off, losing whatever was left of her nerve. She looked at Hina’s face, who’s eyes were sparkling with affection. Suddenly, Hina tackled Ran into a hug, throwing them off-balance and crashing to the ground.
“AAAWWWW RANRAN, I LOVE YOU TOO!!” she yelled, nuzzling their cheeks together. Suddenly, both girls hear Sayo yell at Hina.
“HINA! You should not display such acts of PDA in public! You should be thinking of how Ran feels.” Everyone looked over at Ran, who was left in a gay mess, give a weak thumbs up as they helped the girls to their feet, dusting them off.
Ako then bounced up to Ran and held up a strange looking flower to her. “Ran-nee! What does this flower say to the recipient?” Ran examined the flower closely for a second, and turned an even deeper shade of red before answering.
“It’s a calla lily, and it’s…very sexual in the world of flower arrangement…”
Ako and Sayo turned red upon hearing this information. Hina however had a mischievous grin on her face. Before Ran could ask her what she was smiling about, Hina bounced off and quickly returned with several calla lilies in her hand.
She presented them to Ran and said “Here ya go, Ran-chan! I hope you get what I’m trying to say, hehe~.” Ran internally combusted before promptly fainting into another gay mess. As Sayo started scolding Hina again, Ako plucked a few of the lilies from Hina and gave them to Sayo, who joined Ran into fainting into a gay mess.
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The night market was just as bustling as the most crowded congregations of traders in NFO. There were countless unique healing items (food) and side quests (carnival games) to partake in, but Ako was determined to do her best to focus on her main quest right now: discovering the highest level potion maker of frog egg tincture (bubble tea).
“Hmm… I think this one is really good, Hina-chin. The eggs are super chewy, which lets you enjoy the brown, no, earth-enchanted sugar that coats them,” Ako told her fellow tapioca connoisseur.
“Yup, it’s pretty boppin’, and a little zappity. But maybe a bit more zappin’ would be better even if it means it would make it less boppity,” Hina replied.
“Hmm… I dunno. Even if it’s less balanced, I think the best boba potions are the ones that have something super-special about them.”
Sayo and Ran followed beside them. Even a lifetime of living with Hina hadn’t helped Sayo understand her sister any better. But after dating Ako, she had started to understand her girlfriend’s eccentric word choice. Ran, on the other hand, was completely lost and fine being that way. She did have something to say, though.
“Ako, Tomoe told you not to eat too much sugar, right?” the Afterglow guitarist reminded.
“But I’m not eating it,” Ako protested, “I’m drinking it.”
“Even so, you know what she means. Look, at least take a break so you don’t get a stomach ache.” Ran chastised.
“Fine. Can we go try that game, then?” Ako asked, pointing to a stall with a bunch of balloons and a gun.
“Those are airsoft pistols, right? I suppose we can test your theory that winning a game of Apex makes you a master marksman,” Sayo said.
“Um, well, uh, I’ll show you my true power,” Ako said, not as confident as she had been when she’d been showing off her video games skills to her girlfriend.
The four of them walked to a booth where Sayo paid for Ako’s game. The drummer picked up the pistol. There was a laser at the bottom, but if FPS games had taught her anything, it was that aiming down the sights was more accurate. She carefully tried to imitate what she saw on screen when she played her games. Iron sights sure were a lot more shaky in real life. When she pulled the trigger, the gun jerked off target a bit and she hit the balloon above the one she was aiming at. That was still a balloon, though. Ako kept going, popping the balloons one-by-one as she got a bit more familiar with the airsoft pistol. In the end, every one of her shots managed to hit something, so she got to choose a small prize. She got a small plush dog keychain and handed it to her girlfriend.
“See Sayo, I’m totally an expert marksman,” Ako bragged.
“You did pretty well. Can you teach me so we can get matching keychains?” Sayo asked.
“Of course!” Ako said excitedly.
She told her girlfriend everything she had learned from the five minutes she had spent shooting balloons. It didn’t amount to much more than “the iron sights don’t pop on to the target when you sight in” and “clicking the trigger moves the gun if you’re not careful.” Thankfully, with targets so close, it wasn’t hard for Sayo to replicate Ako’s feat and they soon had matching keychains.
Sayo accepted Ako’s tight victory hug, perhaps an even better reward than the cute, but cheaply made, plush toys.
“We did it, Sayo! Two women who found love on the battlefield, prevailing against the enemy,” Ako narrated.
“Balloons are hardly an enemy, Ako-san.” Sayo replied, though she hugged Ako back, “Are you two going to have a try?”
“Yup! Getting your girlfriend a prize seems pretty boppin’” Hina said as she walked up to the counter and paid some money to the stand keeper.
Hina didn’t ask for any advice. She just picked up the gun and started firing, not even bothering to use the sights. They didn’t really work when she was copying all the zappin’ action from the show Eve and Chisato had appeared in recently. Miraculously, she managed to shoot not the stationary balloons that Ako and Sayo had aimed for, but balloons that were suspended on a quickly revolving wheel. For her efforts, she was awarded a choice of a big plush.
“Here you go, RanRan,” Hina said, handing Ran a somewhat malformed looking dog.
“Thanks, Hina-san. It’s certainly one of a kind,” Ran replied honestly.
With Hina, she’d learned that the thought was much more important than the action. A bit of a struggle with such a unique girl, but Ran wouldn’t date anyone else.
“We should get food now,” Sayo said, “And no, Ako-san, tapioca does not count as food.”
“Fiiine,” Ako whined, “How about those then?”
Ako was pointing to a stand that sold deep fried taro balls, filled with toppings such as red bean paste, chocolate, and strawberry jam.
“That’s still desert. Can you think of something with vegetables in it?” Sayo asked.
“Does a pork and scallion dumpling count?” Ako replied.
“I suppose it will have to. That stand seems crowded, so it should be good.”
“Shall we join them, Hina-san?” Ran asked her girlfriend.
“Nah, I had dumplings yesterday, so I want to have something different,” said Hina.
Of course, given that they’d gone to a night market last night, too, they’d already tried a lot of the food available.
“I suppose night market fare isn’t that unique,” Ran said as the couple walked through the various stalls.
“Yeah… but what about that?” Hina asked, pointing out a stand that sold Indian food.
“Sure, why not,” Ran said, mostly happy that her girlfriend had found something , “Just get me whatever you get.”
That ended up being Ran’s downfall. Hina cheerfully ordered two curries. The more flames it had, the more boppin’ right? For the idol, it was delicious.
“Wow, this is super flavorful! My tongue actually hurts a little. That’s pretty zappity-zap. Most of the signs that say spicy are just lying,” Hina said.
“Yup, they certainly weren’t lying here,” Ran said in pain, “Do you maybe want to get Ako and then you two can continue your ranking of bubble tea?”
Ran would gladly risk the scolding from Tomoe for a bit of relief right now.
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The next day, Hina had decided to drag a reluctant Ran off to get some ramen while Sayo and Ako wanted to check out a local anime store at the station.
While Sayo had no intention of buying anything as she didn’t feel it was a wise way to spend her money, she loved watching Ako get excited about the figures and gush about her favorite series. (Sayo would never admit it, but she also loved looking at the anime girl figurines.)
As Sayo was admiring a particularly cute Madoka Magica figure, she heard Ako squeal in delight. Curious as to what she was excited about, Sayo walked over to where Ako’s voice was and saw her with her face pressed against a glass case squealing at something.
“Ako-san! Hands and face off of the case, you are dirtying the store’s property.” she scolded.
Ako stepped back from the casing and pouted at Sayo.
“But Sayo, look! It’s the limited edition of NFO that came out earlier this year! There are only 1000 known copies and it comes with two cool figures, and an exclusive guide book for it!”
Sayo looked at what Ako was pointing at, and saw a very shiny game case for NFO next to a colorful guide book. She sighed and said, “That’s the chinese edition of the game that can only work on Chinese specific hardware. You wouldn’t even be able to play it, let alone understand what the dialogue would rea-” She stopped suddenly, seeing the two figurines that it came with for the first time.
It was her favorite character in NFO, along with its fluffy companion that she absolutely adored. Not only that, but it looked like there was a code for an exclusive buff that she could use for her character back home. Her wallet was going to hate her for this as it was expensive, but…
“...I suppose learning another language would be excellent for our brains, Ako-san…”
Ran and Hina were walking down the street with full bellies and in a good mood. Despite her reluctance initially, Ran had to admit that the ramen here was pretty good compared to what she was used to in Japan. Suddenly, they saw Ako and Sayo walking with merch in their hands.
Hina bounced over to them and tried to get a good look at what they bought. “Ooohhh what did ya get, sis? Those are cute figures!” Sayo held onto them protectively, worried about them getting damaged.
Ran looked closely at the game case’s cover, then looked at Sayo confused. “Isn’t that the Chinese version of NFO? You won’t be able to play them once we get back. Plus, didn’t you already own the game anyway?” she asked.
Sayo said nothing, earning Ran a glare as she walked past Ran looking embarrassed. Ran made a mental note to not bring the subject up again as she shook her head.
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“Sayo, I’m flying!” Ako said as she spread her arms out and stood at the edge of the observation deck on top of Taipei 101.
“I was a bit skeptical about visiting another tall building, but I admit it is nice to get a bird’s head view of Taipei.” said Sayo, standing calmly near her girlfriend.
“You’re supposed to hold me, Sayo, just like in Titanic,” Ako complained.
“I think I’ll refrain from that sort of embarrassing thing for now,” Sayo replied.
“Hmm… speaking of flying, weren’t you playing a game where you could jump off towers and glide around the world?” said Hina.
“Breath of the Wild?” Sayo asked.
“Yeah, that was the one. I bet it would be boppin’ to hang-glide down from here,” Hina said.
“It’s too bad that they wouldn’t allow that kind of thing here,” said Ran.
She didn’t look upset about that fact at all.
“Don’t worry, RanRan,” said Hina, “Sometimes, rules are flexible. I bet if we called Kokoron, she could set up an event or something.”
“Ooh, that sounds super-cool, Hina-chin. Where should we hang glide to? That night market we went to? A park?” Ako asked excitedly.
“Could I persuade you to keep the hang gliding to video games, where you are not at risk of actually dying?” asked Sayo, “I’ll do that Titanic thing you wanted me to.”
“Deal!”
So, Sayo relented and grabbed onto her girlfriend as Ako spread her arms and faced the wind. Hina looked on, wondering if it was her older sister or Ako who was the master negotiator.
After Ako was satisfied,the four girls went back inside and started climbing down the steps. Ako trailed a bit behind, to pull off her master plan.
“It’s over, Sayo! I have the high ground!” Ako declared.
Sayo turned to face her.
“Is all this from those movie nights you have with your sister? Whatever the case, you underestimate my power,” said Sayo.
With that, Sayo picked Ako up into a bridal carry.
“Whoa, that’s not fair Sayo! First of all, in the movie, Anakin lost. And also, it’s way too cool,” Ako said, blushing.
Then Ako shifted in Sayo’s arms to give her girlfriend a smooch, making Sayo blush, too.”
“That looks zappin’,” Hina said, “Let’s do that, too, RanRan.”
“Uh, I’m fine, thanks,” said Ran, seeing the looks they were getting.
“I guess I just have to do it myself, then,” said Hina, picking Ran up and creating one more blushing mess.
Thankful for Ran, she was quickly set down when they got to the room with the mass damper. Hina ran forward to get as close as she could to the huge golden sphere in the center of the room. Ako wriggled out of Sayo’s arms and joined her.
“Behold, the great golden egg of the, uh, abyssal, uh…” Ako wondered to herself.
“It looks more like an egg yolk to me,” said Hina, “Which makes Taipei 101 a giant chicken egg. What if there’s another Taipei 101 with a giant chick inside of it?”
“Oh! And then when some giant godzilla comes to destroy the city, the giant chicken could hatch to save the day!” Ako exclaimed.
“I think those two could make good children’s book authors,” Sayo told Ran as they watched their girlfriends.
“Yeah. I bet Hina would fill it with words like boppin’ and zappity-zap. That kind of thing is good for kids' books, right?” Ran said.
For a moment, Ran imagined a book where the only adjective was boppin’.
“I’m sure Ako would include all sorts of grand adventures,” said Sayo.
She imagined a book about a heroic necromancer raising an army of zombies to save the day.
“On further thought, maybe it’s better for children that Ako and Hina are not children’s book authors,” Sayo said.
“You may be right,” Ran replied.
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It had been a fun trip, but with how much they went out, also a tired one. Once Sayo got into her seat, she was happy to buckle her seatbelt, then just lean her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder and drift off to sleep. Ako still kind of wanted to play games, but she was also determined to be the second-best girlfriend (the best was Sayo) so she put on her headphones and started the Switch edition of Dark Souls for a nice, meditative ride.
Meanwhile Hina had completely passed out on Ran’s shoulder, snoring softly while a bit of drool slid down her agape mouth. Ran smiled softly at the sight. This was a hectic trip that was tiring, but Ran wouldn’t trade it for the world. She softly kissed Hina’s forehead and rested her head against her seat, slowly drifting asleep. What she didn’t see however, was Hina smiling softly when Ran had kissed her.