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Lavenza looked upwards at the school building in front of her. Akira had warned her this would take some time for her to get used to, and while she had understood the basics of human education from the rest of her family, seeing the facility in person would never not put her in awe, even back when Akira took her for orientation.
Lavenza took a deep breath, “It’s okay, Lavenza, you’re human now,” she told herself. “This is what humans do. You’re going to have a great time here.” Then she walked inside.
The sheer amount of people there made her pause in shock. Never had Lavenza seen so many humans in one place, even during her hangouts with Akira before she had become human.
“And being human apparently means contradicting your prior thoughts.”
She turned around to try and escape, but right as she reached back to the door, between all of the noise coming from the talking of the various students, something caught her attention. The unique sound of crying from someone.
A little ways away from her was a boy about her age, with shoulder length black hair and a black backpack covered with pins. He was hunched over slightly, tears in his eyes and hands over his ears, as everyone else stepped around and ignored him.
“Hello, I am Sakura Lavenza. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” said Lavenza brightly. “What’s your name?”
The boy hesitated, but then looked up, and his tear-filled eyes widened with what Lavenza assumed was hope. “Oda… Oda Sh-Shinya,” he mumbled.
Dad’s Tower…
Shinya jumped a little when Lavenza grabbed ahold of his hand. “I’m new,” she chirped. “Whose class are you in?”
“Ando-san’s,” replied Shinya.
Lavenza beamed. “That’s my class! Will you show me where it is?”
“...Sure.”
There was one important thing Shinya learned about Lavenza. Well, there were many things, but one thing in particular stood out the most.
Lavenza was a total cryptid.
Rumour had it that she had randomly shown up one day in Tokyo, and she always went quiet whenever people asked what her life was like before coming here.
Some said that she was actually a fallen angel who descended to Earth.
To Shinya, it almost felt like she was an angel, or at least that’s what he thought for a brief moment before shaking that thought out of his head.
“Stop it, Shinya! Focus!” He thought to himself in the middle of class. “You’re not supposed to think about girls like that! What happened to being cool and aloof?!”
“How was everyone’s summer?” their teacher asked. Crap, Shinya hid his head under his desk. The last thing he liked was needing to say something personal; it wasn’t like he did much in the summer anyway.
“My father fought a god,” A recognizable female voice stated. Shinya poked his eyes out from his desk to see who would’ve made such an absurd claim.
It was Lavenza.
After some giggling throughout the class, no one batted an eye and the other students continued the conversation. No one else must’ve heard Lavenza go back to taking notes on something and mumbling “School humans are weird…”
“Why did that sound exactly like those movies where an alien tries to live among humans?” Despite that, Shinya couldn’t look away from the girl, and ended up staring at her for the rest of the period with his chin in his hand, his earlier dilemma slipping away from his mind.
Lavenza learned a lot about Shinya over her first week of school. Shinya was an only child, who lived with his single mother in an apartment near Akihabara. That must be lonely, Lavenza thought to herself; she would have been so sad if she didn’t have Momo or Dad.
When she asked Shinya if he ever felt lonely, the boy went quiet, and Lavenza quickly changed the subject. “You like Gun About, right?”
“How did you..?”
“I saw you at the arcade once,” blurted Lavenza. She couldn’t exactly tell him that she heard about it from her Dad .
Shinya gave a shy smile. “Really?”
Lavenza nodded enthusiastically. “You were super cool!”
“We should play it together some time,” offered Shinya. “Give me your Chat ID, and I’ll text you later.”
“Sure!” Lavenza picked up her pen and grabbed Shinya’s hand, carefully writing her number on his hand, tongue stuck out in concentration. “There!”
If she had looked a little closer, she would have noticed the blush creeping onto Shinya’s cheeks.
Over the following weeks, Lavenza and Shinya became fast friends. They texted constantly, and Akira would often walk into Lavenza’s room to put away laundry, and find her on call with Shinya, kicking her legs in a way that reminded him a little too much of what he was like with Sumire before they started dating. Not wanting to intrude too much, he didn’t say anything, and left her to it.
When Shinya asked if Lavenza wanted to go to the arcade, Lavenza had shot out of bed, and bolted down the stairs. “Dad, can I go to the arcade after school on Friday?”
“Are you going with anyone?” asked Akira.
Lavenza nodded enthusiastically. “Yep! Shinya.”
His little girl had it bad.
“Okay, as long as you don’t stay out too late,” Akira said.
As soon as he said that, he was tackled into a hug by his daughter. “Thank you so much! I love you, Dad!”
Akira petted her on the head. “I love you too, Vinnie.”
Akihabara was usually pretty busy, even late into the night, and there were so many people on the street that you could hardly move at all; Lavenza and Shinya had to practically fight through the crowd to get to the arcade. Once inside, Lavenza all but dragged Shinya over to the Gun About Machine, shoving the plastic gun into his hands.
“You have to teach me everything!” she exclaimed.
And Shinya’s heart fluttered a little in his chest. She actually wanted to hear about Gun About? The only other person who had been so enthusiastic about learning the game had been Akira… Every now and then, Shinya wondered where Akira was; maybe he went home after his probation?
“Okay, so you have to pay attention to the enemies' hitboxes,'' he began, fully ready to launch into a lengthy explanation, hands already fluttering with excitement before he even realised what he was doing. Once his brain caught up to him, he tried to force his hands to still, and was startled when Lavenza put her hands on his shoulder and excitedly said, “You flutter too!”
Shinya narrowed his eyes. “You mean the stimming?”
“Is that what it’s called?” asked Lavenza with a tilt of her head. “My dad always called it fluttering.”
“Dammit, she’s adorable…”
Shinya only realised that he had gone quiet when Lavenza tapped him on the shoulder and chirped, “Shin-Shin? You were telling me about Gun About.”
“Did… did she just give me a nickname?!”
“Right. So, like I was saying, you’ve got to pay attention to the enemies' hitboxes-”
Shinya launched into a lengthy explanation, which Lavenza nodded along to, paying perfect attention. She reminded him a lot of Akira; they had a lot of the same mannerisms.
After a brief demonstration, he handed the plastic gun to Lavenza. “Give it a go!”
Moving so quickly that Shinya almost couldn’t see her hands pulling the trigger, Lavenza downed all the enemies on the screen. It took her mere seconds, and left Shinya with his mouth agape, staring at the results.
She got a perfect score.
“Did I do it right?” Lavenza asked as she turned to Shinya. Her hair swished around her skirt, and everything else became a blur to Shinya, only seeing Lavenza and the sparkles around her. The sparkles within her deep brown eyes… Then he realised some random love song playing on the speakers of the arcade. The mood was set almost exactly like a cheesy romance movie, and Shinya hated it.
“Uh, yeah. You did great.” Shinya told her once he snapped out of his trance. “You wanna play more?”
“Absolutely!”
Two weeks later, Shinya received a text from Lavenza, much more serious than most of her previous texts (one of which was about whether humans could eat grass; Lavenza could be weird sometimes, but Shinya found it endearing).
Lavenza: Do you want to come over and study? My Dad thinks I’ll focus better with someone else there.
Shinya: I’d love to! Math is kicking my ass.
Lavenza: Yay! See you soon!
Not wanting to keep his friend waiting too long, Shinya packed his backpack, told his mom where he was going and headed to Lavenza’s house in Yongen-Jaya. The address was oddly familiar to him, but he didn’t think too much of it.
It only took him ten minutes to get to Yongen-Jaya, and he quickly found the address Lavenza gave him. Knocking on the door, he waited for someone to answer it. Upon the door opening, Shinya was greeted by a familiar face, and one he never expected.
“Hey, Shinya,” said Akira, a faint smile on his face.
Shinya baulked. “Akira?!”
The leader of the Phantom Thieves, and his sort of older-brother figure, stared back at him.
“What?” Akira tilted his head in confusion.
“You’re Lavenza’s dad?!”
“Did I not tell you?”
“No! How did you get a kid?! You’re like, twenty!”
Akira smirked at Shinya as he let him inside. “Let’s just say Phantom Thief adventures can nab you some pretty interesting souvenirs… She’s not my only kid, you know.”
“There’s more?”
“Hasn’t Lavenza told you about her little brother Morgana?”
“Your cat?” Shinya remembered Akira carrying a black and white cat around in his bag, and he was pretty sure it was named Morgana.
“Well, technically he wasn’t a cat,” continued Akira. “ It’s a long story. Come in and I'll tell you more.”
Akira very briefly filled Shinya in on what had happened in the past few years as he made Shinya some hot chocolate. “The Metaverse works in weird ways sometimes,” he said, placing the mug down on the kitchen table in front of Shinya. “Easier to just accept it sometimes, rather than try to understand it.”
“That’s sensible.”
“Anyways, Lavenza will be down in a few minutes,” added Akira, “She’s just getting ready.”
“Right, cool.”
Just then, a younger boy walked into the room, and his eyes lit up upon seeing Shinya.
“Hey, Shinya! Remember me?” He tackled Shinya and trapped his legs.
“Careful, Morgana.” Akira warned. “Sorry, he’s not used to his own strength.”
Shinya awkwardly rubbed his sideburns and avoided eye contact with Akira’s son. “Heh, you sure look different from the last time I saw you.”
“It’s so good to finally talk to you!” Even though Akira told him he could, it still felt weird hearing Morgana speak. “Lavenza’s told me a lot about what you’ve been up to with her lately.” Morgana looked to Shinya with an expression that implied he too knew this terribly-kept secret.
“She-she has?” Shinya managed to break from Morgana’s grasp.
“I’m ready, dad!” A comforting voice called from upstairs.
“Speak of the devil.”
When Lavenza came down the stairs, Shinya imagined a princess walking down the stairs to a ball. Was his jaw open again? He could hear Akira chuckling. “Great, now he knows…”
Lavenza gasped. “Shin-shin! You came!” She sped down the rest of the stairs and wrapped Shinya up in a hug, only to cause him to get redder.
“H-hi, Lavenza. You’re kinda squishing me right now.”
“Oh, my apologies,” mumbled Lavenza, pulling away from him and straightening out her skirt. “You wanna come study in my room?”
Before Shinya could even nod, Akira interjected. “You two should study here so I can keep an eye on you.” He punctuated that particular phrase with a meaningful look in Shinya’s direction.
Lavenza gave him a mock salute. “Yes, Boss!”
Akira chuckled. “Why did I let Ryuji teach you that?”
“Because he’s your brother and you love him,” replied Lavenza, not skipping a beat.
Ruffling her hair, Akira replied, “You’re lucky you're cute. Have fun studying with Shinya.”
“Will do!”
After a little while of studying - Shinya couldn’t help but notice that Lavenza’s written Japanese was shaky, like she hadn’t picked up a pen for a while - Akira inspected their work, and said he was impressed with what they had done.
“Shin-Shin helped me with the kanji,” said Lavenza.
Akira hummed, flipping through her workbook. “I can tell. You’ve really improved, Vinnie.” He turned to Shinya. “If you two want to play videogames in the front room while you wait for your mom, you can. We have Mario Kart, and a few others.”
Shinya wasn’t really a fan of Mario Kart, but if Lavenza liked it, who was he to say no?
As they were playing, Morgana walked into the room. “Hey, can I play with you guys?” Thankfully, there was an extra controller, but only two chairs.
“You can sit here.” Lavenza said, getting up, and before Shinya knew it, Lavenza was sitting on his lap. Shinya had to move his head out of the way of Lavenza’s back, and he pressed his cheek on her side.
Then he looked at Morgana sitting on Lavenza’s chair, and the boy smirked back at Shinya. He obviously knew. Shinya’s eyes widened at the realisation that Morgana might’ve been helping him. Did he even want help with this?
Oh, Lord… he did.
Shinya tried to distract himself by looking at the screen, where Lavenza was selecting Waluigi as her character. “Did not take you as a Waluigi fan.”
“I analysed every single vehicle part combination, and have discovered that the purple man riding on the caterpillar all-terrain vehicle with the smallest wheels possible gives the most optimal stats for racing.”
“Oh god… she’s become one of THOSE players…” Shinya thought. “It was pretty cute how invested she was though…”
“You ready, Shin-Shin?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
Lavenza easily beat Shinya in Mario Kart. Multiple times over.
Well, that wasn’t completely accurate; she absolutely destroyed him. Shinya would never pick up a controller again. He was too humiliated to face another match. His days as a gamer were over!
He might have overreacted a little.
Morgana might’ve encouraged it, since he wasn’t happy that Lavenza beat him too. Luckily enough, Lavenza found the whole thing hilarious. “Best of three,” she offered. “Come on, I’ll let you win.”
“It’s not as fun when people let you win,” grumbled Shinya, picking up his controller. “I’ll beat you this time for real.”
…He lost again. Twice in a row.
“How are you so good at this stuff?” whined Shinya.
Lavenza smiled. “My dad taught me! Uncle Ryuji too.”
“Maybe I should ask if they could teach me too…”
Before he could continue that thought any further, Shinya got a text from his mom, saying she was there to pick him up, and Shinya hurried to pack up his things. “I gotta go, Vinnie,” he said. “See you at school Monday?”
Like always, Akira was rubbing off on him. He seriously used the nickname he gave his own daughter. Shinya scrunched his face as he got in the car. Everything about Lavenza was so weird, but so endearing at the same time.
He could only wonder why…
It was late in the evening, and Lavenza was sitting on the couch, texting someone on her phone - undoubtedly Shinya - and absentmindedly kicking her legs. There was a huge grin on her face, and she furiously typed a reply, giggling a little.
“You want some hot chocolate, Vinnie?” he asked.
“Please!” chirped Lavenza, putting her phone down on the table. “Dad, I have a question…”
Akira hummed in response, prompting her to continue. “I think there might be something wrong with me,” continued Lavenza. “Whenever I talk to Shin-Shin, I get this weird, fluttery feeling in my chest. Like butterflies.”
“Flutter, I think you have a crush,” said Akira, placing the hot chocolate down in front of her.
Lavenza baulked. “Is it fatal? Am I gonna die?”
“You’re going to be fine,” assured Akira, sitting down across from her. “It just means you like him romantically. That’s what a crush is.”
“Oh, so like Morgana used to have on Auntie Ann.” Lavenza sighed. “Am I as hopeless as he was?”
Akira shook his head. “Not at all. Do you remember what happened with me and your mom when we met?”
It took Lavenza a few seconds to recall. “Yes, you had not realised you returned her feelings until after you learned about her true identity.”
“I stimmed just like you did right now when I texted her.” Akira chuckled at the memories. “What can I say? I like a girl in glasses.” Akira picked up Lavenza and put her in his lap. “Now that I think about it, weren’t you one of the first people I admitted to having a crush on her?”
“Yes! You asked me for a Persona to help you with your confession, and I gave you… which one was it again?” Lavenza pondered as Akira patted her on the head.
“That knight with the orange skin and no pants?”
“That’s right! Siegfried!” Lavenza felt her father’s arms wrap around her, and she turned her head around to see him smiling back at her.
“I couldn’t have done it without you, Vinnie.” Akira said, causing Lavenza to flutter once again. “And now I have an amazing, love of my life and I get to raise you and your brother.”
“Am I going to have to get hypnotised into thinking I’m Morgana in order to confess my crush to Shinya?” Lavenza asked in a panic.
Akira answered as quickly as possible. “No. Even if you didn’t base that off of what Sumi did, that would be the worst advice ever.”
“I hoped so.”
“You’ll figure it out.” Akira reassured Lavenza as he stroked her hair. “I won’t rush you. It might be soon, it might take longer. Love is weird like that.”
“I understand now. Thank you, my trickster…”
Sometimes, old habits die hard…
When Shinya found out that Lavenza had never been to a library, he was shocked. Lavenza totally seemed like the kind of girl to like books, if the full bookshelves in her room were anything to go by, so he sort of assumed that Akira had taken her to the library before.
Lavenza had practically jumped at the chance to go to the library with him, and they did have a research project to do for school, so it made sense.
“So, we have to draw out our family tree,” said Shinya. “What are you gonna do, since you’re adopted and stuff?”
“Ando-san said I could do my adoptive family instead,” Lavenza replied. “I have so many aunties and uncles though. I'm definitely going to run out of space on this paper.”
“Akira has siblings?”
Lavenza nodded. “Yep, he has four, and two of them have kids.”
“Wow. You have a big family,” mumbled Shinya. “You know, Akira told me a bit about how you two met… I don’t want to be rude or anything, but the project made me wonder, did you have a family before meeting him?”
Lavenza froze and whispered to Shinya. “How much did he tell you?”
“Not much. Just that you met on Christmas Eve right before that whole rally-against-a-god thing happened, then you met again later on and you asked him to take care of you.”
“Oh I see…” Lavenza lowered her head. “Then he must not have told you the full story.”
“What do you mean?” Shinya asked.
Lavenza let out a sigh. “I was not always… normal.” She proceeded to explain to Shinya the story of what she used to be, her experiences guiding Akira, and how she became human.
“…and now, I am here.” Lavenza finished. “A normal human student, just like you.”
“Just like me…” Shinya shook off his blush to comprehend everything Lavenza just told him. “That sounds awesome!” He shouted before getting a stern shushing by the librarian. After a quick apology, Shinya continued with a whisper. “So what was it like back in that Velvet place? Was there anyone else while Akira was doing other things? Was that where your birth family was?”
Pausing, Lavenza thought for a moment. “In a way, I did. There was Igor, who was like a… like an uncle, I suppose. I had an older sister too. Her name was Margaret, but she left the Velvet Room for good not long before I met Akira.”
“Do you want to include them in your tree?”
Lavenza began to write something down before erasing it. “Probably not.” She explained. “It would be too hard to explain.”
“Fair enough.”
The two of them completed their project in around an hour and a half, and Shinya texted his mother to tell her that he was done.
The two of them spent the rest of their time sitting next to each other on the couch provided to them in the reading area on their phones. Shinya’s phone buzzed, and he noticed it was a text from his mom telling him that she had arrived at the front of the library.
“Hey, I gotta go.” Shinya said as he got up and grabbed his backpack. “Thanks for the help!”
“Safe travels, Shin-shin!”
A little while after Shinya left the library, Lavenza found herself drawn to a certain shelf labelled “Romance Novels”. Picking up the closest book, she read the blurb. It was about a girl her age who had a crush on a boy in her class, and how they figured out their feelings for each other. Flicking to the back, Lavenza skimmed the last few chapters. The protagonist told the boy that she liked him, and they kissed, which was where the book ended.
So this was how she could show Shinya she liked him… Dad kissed Mom a lot, and Auntie Ann and Uncle Ryuji kissed their wives too. It was something people who were in love did, so it made sense.
She had the perfect plan!
When Lavenza texted Shinya, asking to go to the arcade again, Shinya thought nothing of it. If anything, he assumed she wanted to kick his ass at Gun About again. Lavenza could get pretty competitive sometimes.
The last thing he expected was for Lavenza to run over to him, placing her hands on his shoulders…
“Lavenza, what are you…?”
… and kissing him on the lips. Everything happened so fast and so suddenly that Shinya’s mind couldn’t comprehend anything around him. It was like he was buffering.
It was a miracle that the machine was able to break his fall…
When Lavenza pulled away from Shinya, letting go of his shoulders, he fell to the ground. That… wasn’t meant to happen.
“Did I do it right?” asked Lavenza. “Are we in love now?” She got no response, and gave Shinya’s shoulders a gentle shake. “Shin-shin? Are you okay?”
No matter what she did, Shinya wouldn’t wake back up.
…Had she broken him?
Even worse, did that mean he didn’t like her back? In the book, when the main characters kissed everyone was happy, and they started dating. What did she do wrong? Maybe Dad would know what to do? Panicking a little, she pulled her phone out her pocket, frantically texting Akira.
Lavenza: DAD I BROKE SHINYA!
Akira: What?
Lavenza: We’re at the arcade in Akihabara.
Lavenza: I kissed him and he fainted.
There was a brief pause before Akira replied.
Akira: I’ll come and get you both. Stay there.
Lavenza: Thank you.
Akira: But we will have to talk about this once he wakes up.
Everything came back to Shinya all at once.
The first thing to come to his mind was ‘Holy smokes! Lavenza kissed me.’
The second thing was ‘And I fainted like an idiot !’
The third, as he looked around, was ‘Why am I in her bedroom? ’
“Shinya, are you awake?” asked Akira, stepping into the room.
“Huh? Akira?”
“Lavenza called me and I came as soon as I could. Don’t worry, we called your mom and told her that you’d be home a little late.”
Shinya’s waking grogginess vanished upon that realisation. “Wait, she knows about this?”
“Don’t worry.” Akira reassured him, sitting next to the bed. “All we told her was that an issue came up, but you’re safe.” He took a deep breath, putting his hands together. “So, Shinya…” His voice turned gravely serious. “What are your intentions with my daughter?” he asked.
Shinya blushed bright red right up to the tips of his ears and stammered out, “Sh-she told you about that?” Akira gave him a stern look; Shinya sheepishly mumbled, “Look, I dunno what she even sees in me. She’s so beautiful and amazing and… I’m just me, you know?”
To his surprise, Akira chuckled. “You really are a good kid, Shinya. I can see why she likes you so much.”
“Wait… Lavenza likes me too?”
“I thought that was obvious,” replied Akira, standing up. “She did kiss you.”
Oh yeah… Shinya hadn’t really let that sink in yet.
“Okay, maybe I do like her a little bit…” Shinya pouted, turning away from Akira. “But I wish I didn’t! It’s weird!”
“There’s nothing wrong with being in love,” Akira assured.
“But I’m supposed to be that cool and aloof guy who doesn’t need anyone else! Romance is for losers…”
“Do you think I'm a loser?” Akira asked.
“Of course not. You’re great.”
“Well, I have a wife. Surely that’s lamer than a girlfriend?”
Shinya slowly turned his head towards Akira with a gaping mouth. “That-that’s different! You’re an adult. Falling in love is only cool when you’re an adult.”
Akira ruffled Shinya’s hair. “Well you’re growing up. It’s just one of those things that comes naturally as you do.” Akira explained further as Shinya pushed his hand off of his head and put his hat back on, which was on the side of the bed. “Of course, that’s not to say every adult falls in love. I have a brother who’s perfectly happy with his life, even without any romance.”
“Huh…” Shinya looked at Akira with a tiny smile. “You really have your whole life figured out when it comes to love, don’t you?”
Before he could think about that for too long, the bedroom door slammed open, and Lavenza was standing then, a frown on her face. “Don’t be mean to my boyfriend!” she exclaimed with a pout, wrapping her arms around Shinya. “You have to say sorry.”
Her boyfriend… That felt nice to hear.
“Right,” said Akira, “I’m sorry for being mean. You two should have a little chat.”
Lavenza smiled a little. “Okay. See you soon, Dad.”
The second Akira left the room, Lavenza cuddled up next to Shinya, hands in his hair. “I was worried you were hurt,” she mumbled. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
This time, Shinya was the one to kiss her first. “I like you,” he said, pulling away, “Like, romantically. And I’m sorry it took me so long to say it.”
“You really like me?” asked Lavenza, clearly a little surprised. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” Shinya mumbled, a touch of blush on his cheeks. “You’re the coolest girl I’ve ever met.”
“But I’m not even supposed to be here,” Lavenza insisted. “I was never meant to be human in the first place. I defied fate to do so."
“That’s awesome!” exclaimed Shinya, squeezing Lavenza tight. “How could I not love someone like that?”
Lavenza looked a little sad as she said, “Because it’s unbelievable.”
“Well, I believe it,” assured Shinya.
The smile that lit up Lavenza’s face was like nothing Shinya had ever seen before. It was so bright, and warm, and it made him feel adored. “I love you, Shin-Shin,” she mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I love you too, Vinnie.”
Noticing he was still tired from the fainting incident, Lavenza asked Shinya, “If you find yourself to be tired again, can we try something my parents often do?”
“What’s that?” Shinya yawned.
“Would you mind resting your head on my lap?”
Shinya looked at Lavenza’s dress, and admired how soft it was. “What?”
“It’s okay if you’re uncomfortable with it!” Lavenza squeaked. “We have only been a couple for a few hours after all…”
“No, I want to do this!” Shinya nodded, still blushing. “Just… don’t make it weird, ok?”
“I will try my best…”
So Shinya found himself using Lavenza’s lap as a pillow, his hat being brushed off by her soft hand. The feeling of Lavenza’s hand going through his hair was strangely therapeutic to him, like he could enjoy that feeling forever…
“Your hair is so fluffy…” Lavenza sighed. She looked down into Shinya’s eyes, and both of them could finally realise why the other loved them so much. All of the anxiety Shinya had concerning his relationship with Lavenza faded away, replaced with the soothing comfort of being with his girlfriend as the former attendant lovingly stroked his hair. His eyes began to close, and he fell asleep right on Lavenza’s lap.
Lavenza couldn’t move now without waking Shinya, but she didn’t want to. Instead, she placed a kiss on Shinya’s lips, and continued to stroke her boyfriend’s hair.
The pair fell asleep like that, cuddled up together.
When Akira found them, he let out an affectionate chuckle and went to text Hanae. Clearly, Shinya was going to spend the night at theirs, so he texted Hanae if she would be okay with that. Thankfully, she was accepting.
Not long after, Shinya invited Lavenza on a date at the arcade, since his fainting sort of ruined their last visit. This time, he decided to have another go at a tricky level of Gun About that he hasn’t been able to beat before.
As he lined up his first shot, hands shaking a little, Lavenza leant over and kissed him on the cheek. “For good luck,” she said, with a small smile.
Once again, Shinya couldn’t stop the blush from creeping up his cheeks.
He could get used to this…
