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Lidelle had always admired Raffina. She was so confident in everything she did, and even her haughtiness was just one of her charming points. Lidelle often wished she could be more like her, and maybe even get closer to her. However, she felt like Raffina was out of reach for someone as timid as she was. This was okay, she told herself. She could always admire her from afar, right?
As Lidelle left the Magic School after a day of studying and classwork, she noticed Raffina having a Puyo battle with Klug. She slowly walked over so as to not disturb the combatants.
“Tectonics!” Klug’s 4-Chain sent a decent amount of garbage looming over Raffina’s board. Raffina managed to fire off a defense before the garbage was able to rain down. “Static Shock!”
The battle continued like this for some time. Every time Klug fired off a large chain, Lidelle felt like her heart was going to stop. When Raffina countered the chain, she felt an immense relief. She was worried her heart would explode from all this excitement. Eventually, Klug got unlucky and couldn’t get the Puyos he needed for his huge chain, allowing Raffina to fire off her chain unopposed.
“Rainbow Deluxe!” The garbage piled high on Klug’s board, ending the match.
Lidelle got so excited at Raffina’s victory that she forgot to stay quiet. She let out an excited noise, which got the attention of both Raffina and Klug. Klug looked slightly annoyed as he turned to Lidelle. “Can we help you?” Lidelle, remembering she can be perceived, lost her starry-eyed demeanor. “S-sorry, I was just passing by, and, um… saw that you two were battling, and I… *mumble, mumble*” Raffina also had an annoyed expression, but hers was aimed at a certain bespectacled student. “Klug, be nice! Anyone would watch a battle like that!” “But that ending was a total fluke! If I were spectating, I wouldn’t be that enthused, that’s for sure.” “You only say that because you lost!” “No way! Right, Lidelle?” “That match was plenty exciting! Wasn’t it, Lidelle?” The two of them turned to Lidelle to solve their dispute. Lidelle knew what she wanted to say, but she was caught like a deer in headlights. After stammering a few incoherent syllables, she broke out into a sprint away from the school.
Lidelle had been running for a while when it finally caught up to her. As she struggled to catch her breath, she leaned against a tree. She couldn’t believe she had clammed up at such a crucial moment. In front of Raffina, too! She was about to sulk home when she noticed a rustling from the bushes. Against her better judgment, she decided to peek behind the foliage. As she pulled back the branches, she saw a certain squirrel… bear… man…? It was Risukuma, who was bent over the pieces of a strange machine. When did he get to Primp?
“U-um… Hello?” “GRRWERJGWHHEHWHRHWHHEGFGRR!!!!!” “Eep!”
Lidelle leapt back in shock as Risukuma spun around to face her. Upon seeing her, he seemed to calm down. “Ahem. My apologies, Lidelle. You caught me concentrating on repairing my latest device.” “R-repairing? What happened to it?” “It mysteriously made a mysterious popping sound and mysteriously turned off.” “Oh… Um, is it fixable?” “That’s what I am trying to figure out. Would you mind giving me a hand?” “S-sure…?”
Risukuma held out a small screw. “Hold this, please.” “Er… okay.” She removed her hands from her sleeves to make sure she didn’t drop the screw. As Risukuma kept working, he handed more and more screws of varying lengths to Lidelle.
“Pardon my nosiness, but you seem kind of down. Did something happen?” “Huh?! Uh… nothing in particular…” “Are you sure? It couldn’t hurt to talk about it. I am an expert on love, after all.” “W-w-who said anything about love?!” Risukuma set down the machine part he was holding, and looked Lidelle in the eye. “No matter what it is, I’m willing to hear you out.” Something about his expression was really reassuring. “O-ok…”
“…and then they asked me whether the battle was exciting or not, and I knew what I wanted to say… but I just froze up and ran.” “I see. What were you going to say?” “W-well, I was going to side with Raffina, since the battle was exciting! My heart was pounding when they were building chains that just barely countered each other. Just because Klug got unlucky at the end doesn’t change that, you know?” “Well, if you knew what to say, why didn’t you say anything?” “W-well, I knew Klug would be mad, and accuse me of being partial to Raffina or something. And, um, I just really didn’t want to deal with that.” “Ah, it’s clear to me now. You’re in love with Raffina, so you didn’t want to make things awkward around her.” Lidelle recoiled at the squirrel-bear’s accusation. “I-I-IN LOVE?! N-no, I just… admire her, is all!” “Are you sure? You don’t have to tell me, but you should think it over at some point. In any case, can I see that short phillips-head screw?”
After helping Risukuma fix his contraption, Lidelle went home and pondered over what he’d said. Love? Surely that was too strong of a word for her feelings towards Raffina, right? People in love did things like hold hands or go on dates, and she didn’t want to…
As she floated the idea in her mind, things seemed to click. She DID want to hold hands and go on dates with Raffina. She turned a bright red. Is this why they say ignorance is bliss? How was she going to face Raffina now?
Alas, the next day arrived and Lidelle had to go to the Magic School. Arriving early, she made her way to the flower garden she was taking care of. The flowers always calmed her down, and all they asked in return was a little water and sunlight. A fair trade, as far as Lidelle was concerned. She watered the flowers and decided to hang out with them for a little bit. She wasn’t ready to head in just yet.
Eventually, she was forced out of her floral comfort zone by the bell, which meant Lidelle didn’t have much time before class began. As she entered the classroom, she took her seat and tried not to focus on Raffina sitting in front of her. Just act natural. She doesn’t know you had a life-changing realization, and if you’re lucky you can keep it that way.
Class seemed to drag on way longer than it usually did. By the time Ms. Accord finally dismissed them, Lidelle felt drained and ready to leave. As she collected her things and headed out into the hallway, she heard a voice calling for her.
“Lidelle, wait!”
She knew that voice. It was so beautiful it almost felt wasted on calling her name. She slowly turned around to see Raffina walking closer. Eep! Not now!
“H-hey, Raffina. C-can I help you?” Raffina looked embarrassed. “I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that.” Oh, right! The battle! Her running away from Raffina and Klug! It all felt so long ago, somehow.
“N-no, I shouldn’t have run away, I’m sorry!” “You don’t have to apologize, we were in the wrong.” “U-um, If you still wanted to know… I… I thought your battle was really exciting! I was just afraid Klug would get mad that I said that…” “I wouldn’t worry about him. He was just mad that he lost.” “O-okay…”
Suddenly, a crack of thunder made Lidelle jump. “Wow, that was sudden. When did it start raining that hard?” “I-it probably isn’t going to clear up anytime soon…” Raffina opened her locker and retrieved an umbrella. “Good thing I always keep an umbrella here.” Shoot! It’d completely slipped her mind to predict the weather this morning!’
“Yikes…I left mine at home…” “What?! Can’t you, like, predict the weather or something?” “W-well, I was distracted by something that happened yesterday, and… I forgot…” “Well, I guess it happens to everyone sometimes.” The two of them looked outside the window some more as the wind shook the trees, and the rain pelted the windows. “I don’t think you should walk home in weather like this, especially without an umbrella.” “Y-yeah, but I can’t stay here forever either, so… I guess I’ll just risk it…” “What? No, absolutely not. We can share my umbrella, and stay at my place until the storm clears. Does that work for you?”
Lidelle was not ready to try and share an umbrella with Raffina. The thought of being that close to her was terrifying. But there was no way Lidelle was making it through that storm on her own. “U-um… okay! We can try that!” “Alright, then! This umbrella isn’t exactly built for two, so stick close, okay?”
Lidelle absolutely could not do this. She was practically hugging Raffina to stay dry, and the wind threatened to tear the umbrella from Raffina’s grip. And, frankly, Lidelle felt like the wind would sweep her off her feet, too. Her baggy clothing was almost acting like a sail. Her heart was beating a million times a second, both in fear of the elements and anxiousness at basically clinging to Raffina.
Suddenly, a gust of wind stronger than any they had faced hit the duo head on. Raffina managed to keep hold of the umbrella, but Lidelle lost her balance and braced for impact with the muddy ground.
But the impact never came. When Lidelle opened her eyes, she was almost parallel to the ground. Looking around, she realized that Raffina had her arm around Lidelle’s waist and was carrying her like a log. “Are you alright, Lidelle?” “Y-yeah, I’m fine! T-thanks!” “Of course. I can’t have you tracking mud into my house, can I?” Raffina smiled at Lidelle before continuing onward. Lidelle’s heart was still pounding, and she hoped Raffina didn’t notice.
Eventually, they reached Raffina’s mansion. Upon getting inside, Raffina set Lidelle down and put her umbrella away. “Sorry I carried you without asking. You weren’t uncomfortable, were you?” “N-not at all!” Please carry me again. “That’s good. I just didn’t want you falling again, you know?”
“Anyways, it seems like I’m the first one home, so we have the place to ourselves.” “O-okay!”
The two of them sat in silence as they watched the rain outside. Lidelle resisted the urge to stare at Raffina, but still snuck in a few glances here and there. She was still as beautiful as ever. This was the perfect time to get to know Raffina better, but Lidelle had no idea what she wanted to say. But she knew she had to say something, right? At the same time, if she was going to say something, she didn’t want to just blurt something off the top of her head. She inwardly panicked for a little bit before Raffina broke the silence.
“Hey, are you doing okay?” “W-what? Uh, yeah, I’m f-fine!” “You don’t sound fine.” “Well, it’s just that… I wanted to say something to break the silence, but I didn’t know what to say…” “Ah, I see. Well, I can think of one thing we could do.” “Oh! I think I know what you’re thinking!” “Great! Let’s move to somewhere more open.”
Raffina’s mansion was way bigger than Lidelle realized. Raffina led her to a mostly-empty room with some training equipment. “Wow, you even train at home?” “Of course! A lady must always be striving to improve herself!”
The two of them stood a couple yards or so apart and began to Puyo battle. This battle started out much less intense than Raffina’s from the day before, but Lidelle still wanted to show Raffina her skills. They both began building their chains, and Lidelle was the first to fire hers off. “Tifone!” Raffina wasn’t about to go down without a fight, and fired back to mitigate most of the garbage. “Scorch!”
“Uragano!”
“Static Shock!”
“Tuono!”
“Fireworks!”
“Arcobaleno!”
“Rainbow Deluxe!”
Somehow, a casual battle to pass the time turned into the duo giving it all they had. As they sent garbage back and forth, they offset enough to enter Fever at the exact same time. As they kept clearing fever chains, the garbage they were passing back and forth grew steadily.
As their fever time neared its end, they both sent their last chains off and prayed.
“A-A-Arcobaleno!”
“R-R-Rainbow Deluxe!”
The sound of garbage falling filled the room. Raffina’s board filled to the brim, and the battle was over. The two of them sat down, finally relaxing from their intense battle.
“Wow, you’re good, Lidelle!” “Y-you think so?” “Of course! I wasn’t expecting a battle that intense.” “Me neither. I just kept thinking ‘I want to show Raffina what I can do!’ and it just kept ramping up…” “I was thinking the same thing!” Lidelle suddenly felt hair on the back of her neck. Reaching up, she noticed that her signature buns had come undone sometime during their battle. “Eep! M-my horns…” Lidelle rushed to try and put her hair back into the horn-concealing buns, but without a mirror this was nearly impossible. “Need some help?”
Raffina moved behind Lidelle and started styling Lidelle’s hair back into its usual shape. “Ah! T-thanks…” “Why do you keep your horns hidden, anyways? They look nice!” “Y-you think so? I used to get teased for them a lot, so I started hiding them…” “Names.” “Huh?” “Who teased you? I’ll have them eating garbage Puyo for breakfast before they can blink.” “T-thanks, but it was so long ago… I’d rather let it go.” “Okay, but if anyone teases you about them again, let me know, alright?” “S-sure!” I’d love to see her pummel someone for my sake… N-not that I want to see someone get pummeled!
Eventually, Lidelle’s hair was back in it’s usual style, and Raffina was once again leading her around her mansion. The storm had yet to subside. It had gotten worse, if anything.
“Y-yikes… I don’t think it’s gonna let up until tomorrow…” “Well, I guess you’ll have to stay over. That’s okay, right?” “It should be fine… but are you sure?” “Of course! I wouldn’t kick you out into that kind of weather. You almost blew away earlier!” “Ehehe… Thanks!”
Raffina led Lidelle down another dozen hallways to a door labelled “Raffina”. “Well, here’s my room.” As she opened the door, Lidelle looked around the room with wonder. “Woah… this room looks so nice!” “Of course! It it mine, after all.” The room was very lavishly decorated, and Lidelle almost didn’t want to touch anything for fear of breaking it. She made her way to Raffina’s bed and sat down. The bed was soft and comfortable, and if she wasn’t careful, she could fall asleep right there.
Raffina sat down at her desk, and awkward silence seemed all but inevitable. Lidelle decided to take this opportunity to ask Raffina something for once. “S-so, you really liked my horns?” “Yeah, why would I lie about that?” “I-I wasn’t saying you did! But… I haven’t really shown them to other people ever since I started hiding them… so it was kind of scary.” “I see. Well, I’ll say it as many times as you need me to. They’re nice horns.” “T-thank you!” “I haven’t been scaring you, have I?” “N-no, not at all! Just… there’s been something on my mind since yesterday, that’s all.” “What is it?” Eep! There’s no way I can tell her I have a crush on her!
“I-it’s nothing!” “If it was nothing, it wouldn’t be bothering you, would it?” Raffina seems dead-set on getting to the bottom of my worries. Little does she know, she’s already there.
Normally, Lidelle admired the part of Raffina that didn’t give up until she saw her goals through. But tonight, that part of Raffina was aimed square at her heart. She thought about running away again, like she had the day before, but another part of Lidelle wanted her to find out. At the very least, Raffina could let her off gently and they could remain friends.
“Well, after I ran away from you and Klug, I ran into Risukuma on my way home.” “Risukuma? What’s he doing in Primp?” “N-no idea. Anyway, he was working on a machine, and he asks me to hold some screws for him so he doesn’t lose them, right? So I say sure, and I watch him do his thing for a bit. And then I guess he saw that I was feeling down, because he asked me what was up, so I told him about how I ran from you and Klug even though I knew what I wanted to say, and he was like…” Lidelle put on her best Risukuma impression. “You’re in love with Raffina, and you didn’t want to make things awkward between you, right? And at first I was like ‘that can’t be right’, but after thinking about it, I…” Lidelle trailed off. She had got so caught up in telling the story, she forgot to stop before she told Raffina everything.
“G-go on? After thinking about it, you…?” Raffina looked flustered. Well, she’d already basically spelled it out. No sense in beating around the bush, right? “I-I realized I am, in fact, in love. W-with you.” Lidelle was also super flustered at this point.
“I-I see.” Raffina looked to be deep in thought. She’s probably thinking of ways to let me down gently, right? But before Lidelle could rescind her confession, Raffina spoke again. “W-would it surprise you if I had a crush on you, too?” Lidelle was in shock. There was no way! Raffina shook Lidelle out of her daze. “D-don’t shut down on me!” “S-sorry! I just… Wow! What are the odds?” “I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s true! Do you think I would invite just anyone in here?” “I… I’m so happy!” Raffina held Lidelle’s hands in her own, and they stared into each other’s eyes for what felt like forever.
The next day, Lidelle and Raffina held hands as they walked to the Magic School. Their classmates noticed that the pair had suddenly become inseparable. Lidelle felt energized like she never had before. If she was with Raffina, nothing was out of reach for her.