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“I’m home,” Nijika dully announced, only offset by the excited steps she heard in response. She couldn’t help but smile a little.
“Welcome back, Nijika!” Hitori replied the moment her girlfriend was within view. “And happy birthday!”
Nijika chuckled to herself. “You already said that this morning, silly.”
“Wh-What’s wrong with saying it twice?” Hitori tilted her head.
“Nothing,” Nijika said with a smile. “Nothing at all.”
Hitori seemed to be readying a response, but Nijika quickly fell into an embrace with her. She knew Hitori would be able to tell how exhausted she was from this, but she truly couldn’t care less right now. She needed her warmth.
Hitori took a while longer to respond, simply wrapping her arms around Nijika’s back. “…Tough day?” she decided on.
Nijika groaned in response. “This sucks… Why couldn’t I have spent my whole birthday with you?” Nijika complained.
Hitori gently massaged Nijika’s scalp. “I would’ve loved to spend the day with you too, but… school’s important.”
“School sucks! You don’t!” Nijika snappily replied. “You rock, actually…” she added on.
“Hehe, well… I-I’m here now, so… we can do whatever you want,” Hitori said with a sheepish smile.
“Mmm, right now I just need to unwind.”
“We can do that,” Hitori gently replied.
Nijika took a deep breath in to calm herself down. “Hm? Are you making something?”
“Mhm!” Hitori replied with a proud smile. “I made dinner to be ready for when you get back, and there’s a cake baking too.”
“Eh? Really?” Nijika replied, not out of doubt but genuine surprise.
“Let me show you~,” Hitori happily said, breaking the embrace and taking her love’s hand.
Nijika simply let herself get swept up by Hitori’s wave of excitement. It wasn’t often that the socially anxious girl would take the lead so readily like this, so she was more than willing to savor it. In fact, it was making her equally happy to know that Hitori was doing this for her.
As Hitori brought her to the kitchen, she happily explained all of the dishes she made. Nijika realized instantly they were all her favorites, deducing that she must have asked Seika about it. She couldn’t help but feel she had already surpassed Seika’s skill however, or what little of it there was. Hitori’s dishes weren’t exactly perfect, but Nijika could tell just how much love was put into them, and that meant more to her than any professional skill.
The cake smelled absolutely delicious. Nijika didn’t take a peek because she could tell Hitori wanted it to be a surprise, but she could recognize that rich vanilla scent anywhere. It was yet another one of her favorites after all~.
As emotions bubbled up in Nijika, she couldn’t help but latch onto Hitori’s back, resting her head on her shoulder. “Hitori, this…” is too much , she was going to say, but she decided to change her mindset. “This is amazing… Thank you so much~.”
Hitori happily giggled to herself, rewarding Nijika with that praise-loving face she loves so much. “You do so much for me… I wanted to try and repay that,” she said.
Nijika paused for a moment. “You already do so much for me,” she replied. “You give me all the strength in the world some days.” Nijika held her tighter.
“E-Even so-” Hitori cut in more forcefully than usual. “I want to do more.”
Nijika once again paused before a smile bloomed on her face. “Hehe, okay! My mochi’s always wanting to do better, huh? That’s one of the things that inspires me most, you know!” Nijika said cheerfully.
“N-No, I just… want to make you happy,” Hitori struggled to say, embarrassed.
“Well, you’re doing one heck of a good job~!” Nijika replied, beaming.
“…Hehe~.” Hitori smiled through her blush.
“Hey, hey, Bocchi~,” Nijika said in a playful tone before darting around to her front.
Just as she locked eyes with her beautiful girlfriend, she pulled her into a deep kiss. Those beautiful blue ocean eyes widened before settling in on the shared amazing feeling. No matter how many times they did this, Nijika couldn’t get enough of Hitori’s warmth. It made her feel at home.
After a few moments of getting lost in her eyes, Nijika happily pulled away. “I love you~!” she said.
Hitori looked stunned for a moment but once again fought through her burgeoning blush. “I love you too!” she replied, likely louder than intended. Nijika simply giggled at how cute it was.
Nijika’s eyes softened looking into Hitori’s once more. “…My dream’s changed a little, you know,” she said in a whisper.
Hitori simply looked at her expectantly, Nijika gave her a grin in response.
“I still want to make Starry a place that everyone loves… and I still want us to play a sold out show there… and, heck, I still wanna play the Budokan, but… I wanna keep playing with you too,” Nijika said warmly.
“Eh?” Hitori was caught off guard.
“Even if we do all of that, or even if we do none of it… I just want to keep playing with you. Watching you grow with the band has been a highlight of my life, even putting aside the fact that you’re my amazing girlfriend. I just… I wanna keep playing the drums to your guitar forever,” Nijika said, putting a hand to her chest.
“Nijika…” Hitori looked on, deeply touched.
“Is that, um, too greedy?” Nijika asked with an awkward laugh, realizing that may have been too much.
Hitori quickly took Nijika’s hands in her own. “Not at all,” she said, steadfast. “If that’s what you want, then I’ll play with you forever!”
Nijika let out a deep breath and smiled wide. “Thank goodness…” She lightly kissed Hitori’s forehead before whipping around and putting her hands on her hips.
“Alright! This year, Kessoku Band’s making some moves! I don’t care that Kita and I are still in school, we’ll work our butts off and make our next album happen! Then, we’ll do a summer tour next year and get loads of new fans, and then tell them to come check us out at Starry! Then we’ll get so big that the Budokan wants us, and we’ll tell all of them to see us at Starry!” Nijika exclaimed, the world in her eyes. She rarely showed this childlike dreamer side of herself to anyone, but… Hitori had earned it for being the best girlfriend ever.
“I’m not sure Starry could fit that many people,” Hitori said with a laugh.
Nijika simply responded with a pout before breaking into a laugh as well. “…Well, my goal right now is to eat the amazing dinner my girlfriend prepared for me~!”
“Hehe… I think we can achieve that one now,” Hitori replied before moving to get their plates ready.
“I actually have one more goal for the year…” Nijika whispered under her breath, out of earshot from her beloved.
She outreached her left hand and looked to the finger beside her pinky, affectionately smiling to herself. A reflection of a beautiful silver ring existed only in her mind’s eye, but…
This year, she would make it a reality~.