Chapter Text
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Alya looked up at Nino and Orikko, who were also reading the chat. They were sitting on the floor of the school's broom closet, hiding from the Akuma alert.
“Y’know, I can’t believe we haven’t done this before, right? Feels like we should’ve swapped ages ago. Half of the others already have.”
Nino looked back up, and chuckled nervously, “Yeah, right? Lovebug is a pretty permissive team leader...”
Alya pulled off her orange bangle, as Sass floated between them, silent as ever.
“This’ll be so fun! Let’s do it already!” Orikko said, energetically flying between them.
Nino went to grab it but faltered.
“Second Chance…seems…difficult,” he says, not meeting her eyes.
Alya glances at Sass, who shrugs, before grabbing his hand. She could see his worries. Second Chance made sense to her, it was based of intuition. She was a reporter, she was used to following a hunch, following her instincts, to being intuitive in everyday situations. Nino seemed so used to denying himself of that privilege, second-guessing every word and every decision. She saw the snake as freedom, he probably saw it as a curse.
“Trust yourself,” she says, pressing the band into his hand, before sliding the thumb ring off his hand.
“If it’s too much, just talk to me about it,” she says, pulling the golden thumb ring on.
“Even in the middle of a battle?” He asks, incredulous.
“You’ve got infinity in your palm now. Take the chance,” Alya stands up, striking a power pose, “Orikko! Sunrise!”