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Hikari had grated on Mahiru when she first joined her and Karen in their dorm room—mysterious and silent and stoic and stony and all sorts of other dark, brooding adjectives that could be used to describe Mahiru’s first impressions of her—but after seven long months without her and one very successful play with, Mahiru thinks that Hikari has managed to make an impression on her heart comparable to Karen’s.
(Though, perhaps not entirely in a good way.)
“Mahiru,” a low, flat voice says, ominously close to her, and even though Mahiru had thought she’d finally gotten used to Hikari’s eerily silent way of skulking around, she still struggles to stifle the urge to jump two meters in the air off her bed and let out a shriek loud enough to wake up the rest of the dorm.
Which! Would be two entirely reasonable reactions to finding a dark shadow looming over your bed! (and ones Mahiru thinks she deserves an award for not succumbing to!)
“M-Mhm? What is it, Hikari-chan?” she asks once she’s caught her breath, though she can still feel her heart hammering from Hikari almost scaring the life out of her. Mahiru will admit, she’s a little worried it might one day give out from fright! But that’s probably a distant, far off concern, unlike whatever it is that’s made Hikari come to her now.
Though Mahiru no longer holds those same insecure jealousies she once did towards Hikari, the two of them still don’t interact much one on one without Karen to smooth over any rough patches with enthusiastic spirit and bright smiles. Which. Makes sense, considering Karen is most of the reason they interact in the first place.
See, after Karen had disappeared into the Twilight Theatre with nothing but a promise and a stubborn wish and emerged with Hikari in hand, she had once again stubbornly decided that she was going to have her way no matter what, and would date both of them at the same time. Ever since then, the three of them have operated on a rough, honorary system that exists only in Mahiru’s mind, where Karen exists in a constant state of rolling, exuberant two-person sleepover party that hops beds and partners every day or so.
And it is according to this schedule that Mahiru knows it’s Karen’s turn with Hikari tonight. There is only one problem with this though, and most likely the reason Hikari has come to her now.
Karen is currently conked out in Mahiru’s lap, contentedly drooling on her pajamas.
It’s not Mahiru’s fault, really. She very much wants to give Hikari their mutual girlfriend back, but really, Karen just looks so comfy and cozy right now, and as cute as it would be to wake her up, Mahiru thinks it would be even more cute if Karen were to sleep now, instead of through her alarm in the morning, and maybe, just maybe, Mahiru starts to feel a little cold and lonely whenever it’s Hikari’s turn with Karen, and Hikari would understand that if she told her, right? Right?
Hikari takes a step forward. Leans in. Tilts her head, a little like an owl. It’s kinda cute, Mahiru finds herself thinking—because she’s tired and gay, or because Karen’s thick head cutting off circulation to her legs is affecting her brain somehow. Either way, Mahiru thinks there should be a dorm rule against pretty girls like Hikari standing over her bed at night, because otherwise she might start having wicked, unwarrented thoughts like—
“I want to sleep with you,” Hikari says, and Mahiru’s mind stutters like an ancient spotlight about to burn out.
“What?” Mahiru says.
“Eeeeeehwaaah?” is what comes out.
It takes several seconds of consecutive blinking and stealthily pinching her thigh to check, but Mahiru does eventually realize that she has not, in fact, passed out next to Karen and is dreaming alongside her, and that Hikari is still standing over her bed with the expectation of an answer and a passion in her eyes Mahiru thinks is usually reserved only for Karen.
“Uuuuuhhhhhwhyy?” she manages through furiously blushing cheeks. Karen shifts in her sleep, turning over. Mahiru and Hikari both pause, not wanting to disturb their partner’s rest.
Of course, Karen has to pick now of all times to become a light sleeper. Mahiru quietly clears her throat.
“Why?” she repeats in a lower voice, now aware of the danger of waking Karen. Hikari tilts her head to the other side, lips scrunching up in thought.
“Why not?” she says eventually. “Karen already is.” A pause, as if considering what else to add. “And she always seems… satisfied.”
Hikari’s eyes flicker to Karen, then back to her again, and maybe it’s just a trick of the light, but Mahiru thinks the look on her face might be something like jealousy. And oh, no, that’s not right! It’s supposed to be Mahiru imagining wild, fantastical scenarios of whatever it is Hikari and Karen get up to over there without her, not the other way round!
“H-Hikari-chan,” she manages to stammer. “Karen and I haven’t—“
“Haven’t… what?” Hikari echoes, her head ticking even further to the side. Mahiru’s blush deepens. She thinks she might erupt.
“A-Anyways!” Mahiru croaks, like a steaming teapot. Her hair antennae spin in woozy circles. “It— It isn’t like I don’t want to—“ Hikari is lovely, really, and Karen loves her dearly, and Mahiru can see why, even if it took her a little while to get used to Hikari and her long, silky black hair, and her piercing blue eyes, and that blunt, cold demeanour of hers that’s actually kind of cute in its own way—BUT! Hikari is Karen’s girlfriend, not hers, and even more pressingly: Karen is still sleeping on her lap.
Hikari follows her gaze to the pile of sleepy stage girl and blinks.
“Oh,” she says, quite simply. Then: “I don’t think she would mind.”
“What?”
“If I’m quick, she won’t even notice.”
“What?”
“The only reason she’d wake up is if you keep making noise.”
“What?!”
This last one comes out as nothing more than a stifled squeak, and one that Hikari seems to take as a yes. She clambors onto the bed with all the deftness of an actress jumping onto stage in front of an audience, and carefully manuevers herself around Karen in order to reach Mahiru.
Hikari hovers over her for the longest half second of Mahiru’s life, and after so long boiling in her own personal homosexual hell, Mahiru is almost relieved when she simply flops down against her pillow beside her and slips a hand through the crook of her arm.
“Hikari-chan?” she mumbles, still dazed. “What’re you doing?”
“It’s a sleepover,” Hikari says flatly, snuggling closer into her side. “We’re sleeping together.”
“Oh.” says Mahiru. “Ohhhhhhhhhh.”
She feels her lungs deflate like a sad little balloon that’s been stretched out too far. It seems she hasn’t grasped Hikari’s blunt way of speaking as well as she thought.
“Oh,” echoes Hikari. “You thought I meant sex.”
And Mahiru is immediately thrust back into Gay Panic mode, her cheeks flushing a deeper red than the light on top of Tokyo Tower. Her hair antennae spin wildly in alarm, and if Karen weren’t already pinning one arm to her side and Hikari the other, Mahiru might’ve reached up and ripped them off herself.
“We can do that later, if you want.” Hikari sets her chin atop Mahiru’s shoulder. “I think Karen would want to be awake for it, though.”
And if that wasn’t enough, Hikari nuzzles against the side of her neck, gently presses a smug little kiss against the tender skin there.
That’s it. Mahiru’s done. Hikari broke her. She stares up at the ceiling with blank eyes and feels her poor little gay soul start to drift up out of her body.
Oh. Wait. Does this mean Hikari is her girlfriend now too?
Huh. Weird.
Exciting, too, she thinks. Even if she’s not sure her heart will still be beating in the morning to treasure it.
Well. If Mahiru dies, at least she can do so with the knowledge she has done so sandwiched between the two most important people in the world to her.
And all in all, maybe that’s not the worst way to go.