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“Oh, my savior! My hero! My knight in shining armor! I now owe my very life to you, so say whatever it is your heart desires, and I’ll bestow it upon you. Fame! Fortune! Perhaps even true love’s-”
“Chisato.”
“Yes, darling?”
“Stop moving; you’re going to reopen the wound.”
Chisato pouted from her position on Takina’s lap. She pouted with the force of a thousand children denied fast food, hard enough that she hoped she could beam the image of her pouting face directly into the other girl’s brain, even if her gaze was transfixed elsewhere.
Given that Takina’s eyes did not waver from her right shoulder, currently wrapped in several layers of gauze with red faintly visible underneath, her subliminal message did not go as she hoped. Realizing that path would lead nowhere, she opted for ol’ reliable: being so loud and overbearing Takina couldn’t ignore her. “It’s funny, isn’t it? Just the two of us, stranded together here. It’s like time is standing still. It’s like destiny.”
Takina stole a quick look up, to confirm that they were still in fact in a dingy abandoned warehouse. “It’s like we had to escape after a bad tip led us into an ambush,” she muttered, her tone only the slightest bit sarcastic.
With an exaggerated shake of her head, Chisato swung her whole torso around to place her right arm on the other girl’s shoulder. “C’mon, you have no sense of romance. Live it up a little!”
“Please don’t do that,” Takina stated, her expression and tone now both much flatter.
“Why?” asked Chisato with a grin, running her left hand down her exposed chest. “Afraid you’ll catch a peek when I’m exposed like this?”
“It’s a bit hard to enjoy the view when it includes that splotch of red.” Takina pinned Chisato’s right arm to the ground, earning a wince from the other girl as she continued, “And I already told you, you’re going to make it worse.”
“Aw, but what else am I supposed to do? Sitting around and waiting is so booooooring.”
Takina quietly noted that boredom seemed to be causing the other girl more pain than the actual injury, and mentally storing that note, she replied, “Perhaps in that time you’ll learn to enjoy some peace and quiet.”
Chisato’s retort was instant. “I’d rather die.”
Takina sighed. “I figured as much.”
Despite her protests, Chisato grew quiet after that exchange. At first Takina was happy to see that she was learning, and the only sound in the warehouse was the wrapping of more layers of gauze. But the longer the silence lasted, the more wary Takina grew for the other girl’s condition, wondering if she said something she shouldn’t have. Chisato’s head was turned away, denying her the chance to gauge her emotional state from her ever expressive countenance. However, before she could apologize for something she wasn’t sure she did, the other girl spoke up. “Takina.”
“Yes?” she replied immediately.
“I know I’m just making a big dumb joke out of this, but I really am thankful for you.”
“It’s nothing. This kind of field training is expected of us.”
“Not just the first aid. I mean being here in general. With me. With everyone at the cafe. Everyone’s grateful that you’re there.”
Takina paused, the statement causing the lightest of blushes to color her face. She thought carefully about how to respond, and as she did so, her eyes wandered. They eventually wandered down, and as they did she couldn’t help but notice Chisato looking at her from the corner of her eye. The brief second of eye contact intensified the pink on her cheeks ever so slightly, and she started, “I-”
“Gotcha!” Chisato flew up from her position in Takina’s lap, lunging like a lion upon her prey. The motion stunned the other girl into silence, and she threw herself over her, wrapping both arms around her and continuing, “You were playing hard to get, so I knew I had to fluster you someho- oooow.”
Accompanying Chisato’s seething in pain was a brighter red coloring her wound, and as she broke her embrace to place a hand over the injury, she took note of all embarrassment in the other girl’s face having died in an instant.
“Told you so,” said Takina, and with that, she pinned Chisato’s shoulder down once more, starting the treatment over again from square one.
Once more silence fell over the two, though this time both were much more complacent with it. Takina generally preferred the ambience, and Chisato knew that after the stunt she pulled Takina would never let her get a word in edgewise.
Takina finished dressing the wound once more in short order, and as she helped Chisato put her top back on, the sound of a van pulling up broke the silence. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the vehicle in question stop outside through a nearby window, and as she hoisted the other girl up in a princess carry, she noted. “Perfect timing.”
“Aw, see? I knew you cared,” Chisato said with a coo, cuddling up to the other girl.
Takina pointedly ignored that remark as she made her way outside, electing instead to warn Chisato, “There should be no lasting damage from that wound; so long as you rest up and move that arm as little as possible, it should recover with little issue.”
She glared directly into Chisato’s eyes upon mentioning her arm, a gaze which the other girl answered by winking and sticking her tongue out. With a sigh, Takina continued, “If you need anything while recovering though, be sure to let me know. I’ll help out however I can.”
Takina came to a stop as she reached the van, its back door already open. Before she could step inside though, Chisato said in a hushed tone, “There actually is one thing you could do for me now.”
“Of course. What is it?” Takina replied, looking into her eyes once more with a much gentler gaze.
“Kiss it and make it better,” Chisato requested immediately, pursing her lips.
Takina’s answer was to chuck the other girl into the back of the van. She landed with a thunk and let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a cry of pain, causing Mizuki to snap her head back from the driver’s seat. “What do you think you’re doing?! She’s already banged up enough! Medical bills aren’t cheap, you know!”
“Not to worry!” Takina answered with a salute as she hopped into the van herself. “I’ve already thoroughly inspected her wounds, and she requires no further treatment beyond some bed rest!”
“Yeah, don’t you worry, Mizuki!” Chisato managed to squeeze out between her laughter and seething in pain. “All that money can keep going to your alcohol fund!”
Mizuki started to protest, but after seeing the looks on both their faces, decided not to bother. She faced forward in her seat, muttering as she ran her hand through her hair, “These kids are gonna be the death of me.”
The van came to life with a sputter, and Chisato was quick to slide into a sitting upright position. She winced as she did so however, clasping her left hand over her right shoulder. A frown briefly crossed Takina’s face as she noticed this, and she knelt next to the other girl.
“What’re you-” Chisato began, but stopped as she felt Takina pull at her collar, exposing the faintest hint of her shoulder. Her eyes widened as the other girl slowly pressed her lips against the bandages (thankfully having the common sense to not place them directly over the wound), then looked back at Chisato.
“I thought I owed it to you after just throwing you down like that," she said, with a sheepish smile. "Did it help?"
Chisato’s mouth morphed to a grin that took up nearly half her face, and she practically squealed with delight. Dragging the other girl into a hug over her protests, she yelled, ostensibly to Mizuki but in a voice loud enough for half the city to hear, “You see that, Mizuki? She kissed it and made it all better! It’s a miraculous recovery!”
“I sure did,” Mizuki replied with a grin, glancing back through the rearview mirror. “Young love’s really something special, isn’t it?”
“Yep!” exclaimed Chisato as she embraced Takina even tighter. “I’ll have to let Teach and Kurumi know as soon as we get back!”
Takina stuttered helplessly in the other girl’s grasp, her face burning a bright red and her brain totally incapable of processing a proper response despite running miles a minute. After giving the matter entirely too much thought, her brain short-circuited completely, and she settled for burying her face in Chisato’s embrace. If nothing else, she could at least hide how red her face was from the other two.
And although she would never say as much aloud, something about that embrace was comforting.