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The moment she cinches the bowtie in place, Rise’s arms dramatically swing up and away from the box. The fancy knot couldn’t be tied any better, and she still has yet to finish her makeup before leaving.
Five minutes tick away now. When that precious time leaves her, there will be nothing else to do at all before her escort turns out testy. After all, it’s inside Rise’s gift box that will be what counts by the end.
With a weary huff, Rise swivels back to the vanity mirror. Her eyes trail the long copper locks she happily let down from her trademark twintails, and few unruly strands poke out (if any at all). Her vibrant sleeveless shirt and translucent halter top are favorite staples of her summer wardrobe, lilac-scented and precisely unwrinkled by iron for tonight.
Knowing that she’s looked over her makeup enough by this point, Rise silently pleads for her own two feet to drag her out the door at last.
As kind and impossibly peppy as she is, Kanami shouldn’t have to wait on Rise for a night at Kichijoji’s newest darts and billiards hub. A private room at Penguin Sniper was tricky to book, so a single minute wasted could devalue the effort put forth for tonight.
Then again…
Rise turns her head down to gaze at her present. When she considers that Kanami Mashita, the rising star that almost replaced Risette entirely, had a flooded spring of admiration for someone as proud, yet impish, as Rise Kujikawa—
—when reflecting on the lessons that Rise and her friends of the Seekers of Truth were forced to learn—
—when recognizing the tragic hypocrisy of backing out now, knowing that she would be denying yet another facet of her being?
Rise can’t keep quiet anymore.
She’s not the kind of idol who’s forced to enable parasocial relationships with her fans. If… something came about her personal life and leaked to the public, only the few creepy fans would mourn for something they couldn’t ever have.
As for Rise’s actual friends from the quiet, not-so-foggy-anymore town of Inaba, they’ve all but carried on long, post-interrogative chatter of “Rise-chan and Kanami-chan.”
And, no matter what, Rise needs to deliver this fancy “gem” to Kanami before her next series of recordings and concerts muddy their downtime.
Thus, she settles it before her mirror: she has no right to backpedal anymore.
Besides, there’s always her excellent hygiene and fashion sense to bask in. Rise feels extra cute in her outfit tonight, even if said ensemble has been a smidge too constant this summer. But surely, Kanami has her own preppy blouse or vibrant dress for a night out.
In any case, Rise gently scoops up the bowtied package and puts her essentials bag together. By the time she meets her cab, she could’ve had a couple of minutes to spare.
Kanami’s stage look always strikes a balance of cute, fashionable, and encouraging of her audience to eat up on the sweet and savory (the pop group isn’t “Kanamin Kitchen” for nothing). However, Kanami never gets much of a chance to take pride in walking around without her wig and concert makeup. Rise hopes that can change soon, so her confidant can have just as much pride in her natural beauty.
In fact, it takes a moment for Rise to understand the dissonance between “Live Stage Kanami” and “Live Life Kanami” when she catches Kanami outside Penguin Sniper.
For those first quiet, motionless few seconds, she just gawks at Kanami—out of costume and so impossibly gorgeous.
Her dark, voluminous hair is strung up in a wavy high ponytail, her bangs curled inward at the ends. Her sophisticated updo blends magnificently with, not only her trusty square glasses, but also her fuchsia-pink summer dress, dancing daintily with the late-summer zephyr that has steadily grown since Rise leapt out of her escort’s car door.
Rise can’t say if Kanami managed to doll herself up, or if she borrowed one of her bandmates to help (if any of them could best match their leader with a chic evening outfit, it’d likely be the serene Tomoe…though a pink enthusiast like Sumomo isn’t unlikely). Regardless, it’s worth seeing Kanami idle sagely before the building entrance. Even for all her clumsiness, her casual, composed leaning back against the outside wall nearly tricks Rise into thinking an impromptu photoshoot was happening. And even when the illusion breaks, she seems comfortable out here by herself—
“OHMIGOD, Rise-chan!”
Her oak-brown irises consume the bulk of her eyes, like she is standing before car headlights on the nighttime highway. Rise waves eagerly, her awe just about clouding her awareness until Kanami pushes off the wall, suddenly swaying erratically on her daisy-white heels.
With a spastic skip in her pulse, Rise lunges forward in time to wrap Kanami in an awkward half-hug, keeping her lovely face from whamming itself on the paved sidewalk.
“I thought you’d be used to heels by now,” Rise snorts in disbelief. “Watch your footing, Kanami-chan, please? You shouldn’t start falling over yourself when I just got here!”
It takes her a moment for regret to plaster her face in flushed heat, seeing Kanami’s agape mouth close into a wavering flatline.
Tonight or bust, she thinks to herself. Don’t mess it up this early, Rise!
“Especially when you look so stunning,” Rise sighs, her hands dropping to Kanami’s wrists. “Just when people think you couldn’t look any prettier than you do on camera…”
Trailing off, Rise silently affirms that, someday, Kanami needs to start holding confidence in herself when she’s not jumping around in a heavy, fluffy pink wig. Kanamin Kitchen is popular for good reason, and doubtlessly at that. But when the adrenaline calms and the day’s agenda is cleared out, the entire band feels more genuine, but still enthusiastic, in their character.
It never ceases to amaze veteran idol Risette. In flashing spotlights, the singers and dancers are unquestionably beautiful. But the stage exits occur, the lights go out, and the same people somehow look even prettier—and they can exude charm without the filters of hollered cheers and rehearsed expressions.
But Kanami must not know that quite yet—so Rise isn’t surprised to see her hands fly into several bashful poses, one after another, like cycling through an album of them for just the right one.
“W-w-well thanks a bunch!” Kanami finally yelps, her cheeks flaring a pink as bright as her dress. “I like to think the extra-marbled meat I had at dinner last night was good for my skin!”
Even when frazzled and bewildered, Kanami forces her senior to ferociously suppress an awkward squeal or awe. Maybe Kanami’ll recognize when she feels overly coddled?
Rise should get the both of them inside, anyways. The nosy paparazzi can work fast anywhere, anytime.
“And that’s,” Rise murmurs, “just about how we finish this…yep! Our sushi order’s been sent!”
She clicks off her phone screen and flexes her dominant hand a few more times. Her hands may be far from sore or ache-riddled, but they’ve dealt with less before (somehow). If her eventful hiatus in Inaba taught Rise anything about friendly social outings, it’s that her charm will have to make up for how her prowess at these games is scarce to nonexistent.
Kanami may have been the catalyst of some laughable mishaps at darts and billiards, but Rise was just… forgettably bad.
At least with darts, anyways. She made a few commendable shots at billiards, and she likes to think her partner had more fun at that game, too.
In any case, with a sushi delivery platter in the works and only another hour and a half in their room, Rise is more intrigued by Kanami’s new “OT Viva,” as it seems the recent handheld console has been the cause of so much buzz in the video game world. It’s easily bled into the mainstream news feed, coming across a lot of the television and online networks that push themselves into the deep limelight.
“If you ever wanted to try some casual games,” Kanami blurts, “the Viva’s already got some cute platformers, and some really good rhythm games. Maybe those’re up your alley?”
Rise sagely nods, humming sweetly as she scans the flashing screen. “But this doesn’t look like those Super Giorno games, or even something really…rhythmic?”
Kanami giggles bashfully. “I’ve been a sucker for some RPGs recently. I’m still learning to not struggle with the few I have, but I’m getting an okay hold on this one!”
Rise watches quietly, eyes flitting between the characters’ stat boxes and the ghoulish enemies standing before them. She has only the foundation of an idea of how Kanami picks all the right attacks and all the decent buffs and healing spells. Even so, her attention glues itself to the action for a whole several fights and the dungeon crawling in-between. Whatever Kanami is doing, it’s not just right, but tempting Rise to throw some of her savings out for her own OT Viva.
“Honestly, Vivian’s my favorite character in the story so far,” Kanami adds, pointing to the princess of pink hair that trails right behind the main character. “She’s…easy to wear out and leave helpless, though. She’s basically a glass cannon, kinda like an unattended pot of boiling noodles. So I try to keep someone with healing skills on my team all the time.”
Rise hums in agreement, a few vaguely familiar magic spells catching her eye. “That, and maybe those buffs could keep her standing.”
“Yeah, yeah!” Kanami suddenly opens the pause menu, flitting through her party’s skills. “Though I also like the team navigator here, too . Easily my second-favorite in the cast. She’s a quirky singer in the game’s first kingdom, but I did relate to some of her backstory. Plus, she’s really good at analyzing some of these enemies, and helps me out of some jiffies. She’s the fan-favorite, apparently, and I can honestly see why…”
As Kanami trails off, Rise finds her cheeks flare with the tiniest sparks of heat. Kanami’s new interest in Thousand-Year Super-Ultra Reincarnated Fantasy 4 hits way too close to her now.
“Kanami?” Rise is sick of distracting herself by checking the delivery status, and her anxiety is all too palpable in her tone. “I, um…thought I’d bring something for you.”
Kanami yelps, but Rise’s too antsy to look back at her. “You too?! I thought I’d bring something for you!”
It’s almost too good to be true. Rise isn’t asleep, right?
But, Rise must hold herself longer. She can’t say the cat’s out of the bag only because they’ve ended up exchanging gifts. Maybe that just comes off as a sweet, but platonic coincidence.
…Rise wouldn’t be rushing Kanami into anything, right?
“Ta-da!”
Rise is silent, save for an awed coo, as she processes that Kanami has a pristine white jewelry box shoved right in front of her friend’s amber, newly-sparkling eyes.
She stays silent for a few beats too long.
“You gotta see the inside first!” Kanami’s hands inches the box closer to Rise’s face. “You wouldn’t think the box alone is worth the same as a whole sushi platter, right?!”
“Haha, what?” It takes her quick willpower to not break out in an anxious sweat, though her voice has already squeezed itself into a hideous laugh and whimper. “No, I’ve got something worth more than that too !”
The peach hue in Kanami’s skin turns an alarming pale. Her expression is otherwise blank, her mind blocking off any means to express whatever else she feels.
“Are you okay?” Rise asks, her voice struggling to keep her deadpan tone from throwing out a squeaky inflection or emotional quiver.
Suddenly, Kanami’s hand plops flat on the cushion, the box still in her loosened grip.
“Would I be a…um, a ‘Speedy Goemon’ to say…well—”
Perhaps Rise can’t consider herself as ditzy as she even lets on. When she knows what’s coming up next, she knows she can speak for both of them this time.
“You think you’re rushing me? Or rushing yourself?”
The hip-hop jam on the jukebox speakers makes for the most awkward atmosphere for the pair’s predicament. That doesn’t stop Kanami from emitting the sparkliest dark eyes amidst her quivering words.
“I guess I can’t hide that I love you,” she murmurs. “But still, I don’t know if I should’ve kept my mouth shut or—”
Rise can relate, but she can’t even lie past that.
“I feel I’ve been too quiet for a while,” she laments. “I don’t know about how you feel, Kanami-chan, but if there’s anything I should’ve done sooner, it’s at least tell you that I get those flutters and…loving thoughts every time you find a way into my head.”
Kanami’s urk lies on the threshold between a snort and a sob. “Sorry I seem to be that kind of parasite for the brain.”
Rise giggles, just nearly able to compete with Yukiko’s cackles of so long ago, if not for her own hiccups and tears. “Ohmigod, who says that during a love confession?!”
The girls laugh amidst their tears, Kanami’s hand pulling out from under the jewelry box she once held.
“Well I do,” she jeers while whimpering. “Besides, someone saying they love me like this—”
She charges into Rise’s torso, burrowing her head into Rise’s neck while the other wraps her arms around gingerly.
“—it’s so wonderful,” she cries, “but also so strange.” A few silent beats go by, and her face turns out from Rise’s shirt. “If you were wondering, I thought I’d get you this nice jewelry set with sapphires. Even if you said no to me…you’re still pretty enough to look good in blue.”
“But I do love you!” Rise gawks, pushing Kanami off to look into her eyes. “And besides that, thank you for that jewelry.”
Kanami scratches the back of her dark hair, tears streaming while the sobs dissipate. “I guess that surprise was ruined, huh?”
“Well, there’s what I got you,” her confidant snorts, shivering from the strength of her weeping and the air conditioning overpowering for too long. “And no matter what, as weird as I probably made it, too…just know that I love you. For your kindness, your silly quirks…just everything you are.”
To bring out her feelings, Rise didn’t need to charm Kanami with the sparkling pink necklace and ring for a start. It wasn’t even until they finished sushi and left Penguin Sniper together that Rise actually saw the sapphire earrings and necklace that awoke a new song idea in her head.
And though they still stumbled to settle on their shared feelings, Rise and Kanami wouldn’t fall off cloud nine so easily. Not when their feelings clicked and held together this way.
So genuine, so loving…perhaps a clumsy love confession was exactly what the girls needed.