Work Text:
Airi and Ena were dating, not that anyone knew that. It wasn’t that they were trying to keep it a secret; it was just that people never realized. Somehow, they had been dating for the last four years.It was amazing that their current friends couldn’t tell.
There were a lot of things that gave it away, yet no one even noticed.
1. Eyes
Eyes are a window to the soul, or whatever that quote said. In this case, a window to the affection the couple held for each other.
Airi spent a lot of time staring at her beloved girlfriend. Ena was so beautiful. Everything she did was just so pretty. Right now, she was watching Ena eat her cheesecake. Airi probably should’ve felt a bit awkward, given the fact she had tagged along on a Nightcord celebration meeting. Still, all her focus was on her beautiful girlfriend and her beautiful girlfriend’s cheesecake. Ena looked so happy; it was a childlike happiness that she rarely had on her face. Sure, Airi has seen it many times in the time they’ve been dating but it was still a rare sight in her book.
Airi watched as Ena savoured every bite of her cheesecake, various happy expressions being plastered on her face. Ena looked really soft right now, from her hair to her cheeks. Airi felt like reaching out to feel some of the smooth skin but decided that watching was enough for now.
Eventually, Ena’s eyes flickered up, meeting Airi’s gaze, “What…?”
“You’re pretty.”
A light blush dusts Ena’s cheeks, “you’re prettier.”
Airi rolls her eyes in amusement, “Can’t just take a compliment?”
“Never.”
“Whatever.” The idol says lightheartedly.
Airi had spent this entire time at the diner just staring at her wonderful girlfriend. She was sitting on the same side of the booth as Ena, so it was very noticeable that she was only staring at Ena and nothing else. Her body was even shifted to be in the direction of Ena.
“So, Airi, what were you doing with Ena before you two came here?” Mizuki asks.
“Ena and I had a sleepover last night, and she told me you were all going to meet up today, so I came with her.” She says matter-of-factly, not once breaking her gaze at Ena (or addressing her uninvited (and unexpected) appearance).
“You sure like to stare at Ena,” Mafuyu giggles (to Ena’s discomfort, the honor student persona was still very jarring to see).
“There’s nothing I’d love to do more than to stare at Ena for the rest of my life.” Airi simply replies.
“And you can.” Ena reminds with a small smile.
Mizuki looks at her fellow groupmates with an eyebrow raised, mouthing, “This is weird.”
Kanade shrugs, and Mafuyu doesn’t respond.
Ena eventually finishes her cheesecake, and her focus returns to her girlfriend staring at her. The two make eye contact. It feels as if they’re the only two in the world. Ena loved— no, she loves— to see the look of adoration and pure love that she would see in Airi’s beautiful pink eyes every time they made eye contact. She understands why Airi wants to stare at her forever. Ena could do the same for Airi.
They stare and stare. Staring like it was the last time they would ever see each other again.
“Enanan-!”
“Huh?” The brunette snaps out of her daze.
Mizuki tuts, “We were called your name multiple times!”
“Oh… Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention…” She says sheepishly,
Mizuki gives a brief look of something , Ena isn’t sure what it is and then it goes back to Mizuki’s regular happy smile.
“Well, we were telling you we were gonna head out now!”
“Oh, okay. Sounds good.”
“We’ll see you later, Ena! Airi!” Mizuki bids farewell while Mafuyu and Kanade wave with low energy and polite smiles.
Once the three were far from whatever that was, Mizuki scrambles to talk, “What was that ?!”
“What was what?” Mafuyu replies.
“Whatever Ena and Airi were doing!”
“I don’t know…” Kanade shrugs. “They just seem like close friends.”
“What?!” Mizuki gawks, “Nothing about that was friendly!! Come on! Mafuyu, you gotta agree with me!”
“I don’t care.”
Mizuki whines, “Why don’t you guys think anything of it?!”
“If anything, you’re thinking too much about it, Mizuki.” Mafuyu states.
Mizuki smacks herself in the face, “There was totally something!!”
“I think it was normal,” Kanade interjects, “I stare at Mafuyu a lot, and she stares at me too.”
“But you guys are weird!”
“We are?” Kanade slightly frowns.
“I didn't mean it like that- well, maybe I did but!! I don’t know!!”
“Just let it go. Momoi-san and Ena have been friends for years; I don’t think it’s anything abnormal.” Mafuyu mutters.
“Fine…” Mizuki sighs, “Maybe it really is normal….”
2. Merch
“Hey! What are you doing?!” Ena chides, running into her room.
“Cleaning your room,” Mafuyu replies as monotone as ever.
“I didn’t ask you to do that!” Ena grabs the clothes Mafuyu gathered and opens her closet, forgetting something very important was hidden in there.
Pink and more pink .
The Airi shrine was in full view.
Ema immediately slams the closet door shut, “YOU DIDN’T SEE THAT!!”
“Ok.”
-
Ena and Mafuyu sat in silence on the Nightcord meeting. Ena had her mic muted, but Mafuyu had hers on to make up for it. Kanade and Mizuki had their mics unmuted as well, but the call was silent on all sides. They had been working for a good hour and a half. A couple of words were said here and there, but overall, nothing too eventful.
Mafuyu breaks the silence, “Ena has a shrine of Momoi-san.”
“MAFUYU!” Ena screams while Mizuki has her own little freak-out on her side.
“What does she have in it?” Kanade asks.
“K, don’t do this to me,” Ena begs, putting her head on her desk.
“Fans, light sticks, wrist bands, bracelets, plushies, shirts, Momoi-san’s clothes, headbands-”
“Mafuyu, stop talking or else i'm kicking you out of my house and you’ll have to find somewhere else to sleep for the night.”
“Ok.”
“So, Enanannn~" Mizuki continues, “why do you have a shrine of Airi?”
Ena sighs. This is such a pain to explain, “Because she’s my best friend, and I have to support her by buying her merch!”
“Yeah, but you don’t need a shrine,” Mizuki snickers. “Does she even know you have that?”
“Of course she does! I’m not like those weird fans! She even gives me merch samples to add to it! AND IT’S NOT A SHRINE!”
“Wow,” Mizuki says, speechless at Ena's strange denial. She never thought Ena could be so obsessive. “How did you even get her clothes?”
“She leaves them here for when she has sleepovers! I don’t steal them!”
“Riiiiiight.” Mizuki rolls her eyes.
“I DON'T STEAL TH-”
“It’s nice that you’re so supportive of Momoi-san,” Kanade interrupts.
“Yeah…” Ena gets a little shy, “Well, I was also part of the reason she actually auditioned for QT.” Ena mumbles, “Sure, she wanted to be an idol, but she needed a push to actually audition, and I promised her I would be her first fan and her forever fan, so…”
“Ena is blushing,” Mafuyu states.
“MAFUYU, CAN YOU SHUT UP?!” She hisses.
“Ok.”
3. Touch
Mizuki and Ena decided to head to the mall for the day, with the goal of finding a particular perfume Ena had seen prior.
As they wandered the mall, they ran into a familiar duo. Airi and Shizuku dressed in their (shitty) disguises.
“Airi!” Ena calls out.
The pink-haired idol looks back, “Ena!”
Ena runs up to Airi, immediately taking her hand in hers and turning Mizuki and Ena’s friendly outing into Shizuku, Airi, Mizuki, and Ena’s friendly outing.
The four ran around the mall from clothing store to clothing store. Eventually, they passed by a fabric store—one that piqued Mizuki and Shizuku’s interest. When half the group was interested in going in, Airi and Ena shrugged and went into the store despite their disinterest.
Airi and Ena went into a corner of the store where they could not block the path of other shoppers. They wanted to be able to stand around comfortably without bothering anyone who was trying to pass by.
Mizuki looked at all the new fabric. A new dress didn’t sound like a bad idea, especially when it came to these nice fabrics. They were really well made, and Mizuki could not get enough of touching them.
Speaking of touch, Mizuki looked up at Airi and Ena. Ena was slightly leaning against Airi.
“Guess she’s tired from walking around,” Mizuki mutters to herself.
As Mizuki was about to look back at her fabulous fabrics, she saw Airi’s hands move. They went down Ena’s sides, from her ribs down to her hips, where they stayed.
That was a little strange…
Then Airi said something to Ena, whispered it right against the brunette's ear. Mizuki felt her own hair on her neck rise. That was way too close to be normal!! Then, as if it couldn’t get any more suspicious, Airi buried her face into Ena’s neck, Ena giggling at the feeling.
“What the hell am I watching…” Mizuki says under her breath.
Mizuki looked back down at her fabrics. Her mood was a bit spoiled after watching whatever that was. So she went over to where Shizuku was.
“Hey, Shizuku, do you think Airi and Ena are a bit too close?” She gestures at the two as inconspicuously as she can.
Shizuku looks at the two, “Nope! There’s no such thing as too close, Mizuki-chan!”
“But she literally has her face buried in Ena’s neck!”
Shizuku pauses, a dejected look on her face, “I do that, too. Is that supposed to be weird?”
“Uh…” Mizuki looks around, making Shizuku feel ashamed of her actions was not on her list today! “No, it’s normal!!”
“Oh, okay!” Shizuku gleefully smiles.
Mizuki goes back to her fabrics, thinking, “Maybe I’m the weird one… I didn’t really have any close friends till now.”
-
Shizuku and Mizuki had decided to go to the bathroom, and when they came back. Ena was dozing on Airi’s shoulder, her hand intertwined with Airi’s. Airi stared down at Ena’s sleeping face as if she was the only person in the world, as if she was the only one who mattered .
Mizuki supposes people can appreciate their friends that much. That can’t be too abnormal now.
-
After waking up Ena, the four decide to go to a nearby food stall
Airi sat on a nearby bench as she tried her food. Mizuki was watching Airi and Ena a bit closer now, so she kept her eye on Airi.
Ena walked over to Airi, where, without hesitation, she sat on Airi’s lap. There was plenty of free space on the bench, but Ena specifically chose Airi’s lap as her seat.
Mizuki makes her way to Shizuku, “Is that not weird?”
Shizuku looks over at Airi and Ena, “What is?”
“Ena is sitting in Airi’s lap.”
“Is that not normal? I usually make Airi-chan, Minori-chan, Haruka-chan, and my little sister sit in my lap.”
“Uh… nevermind.” Mizuki mumbles.
Shizuku goes to sit next to Airi and Ena, Mizuki following.
“Mizuki-chan! Wanna sit in my lap?” Shizuku smiles brightly.
“Umm, uh-” Mizuki’s head was spinning with how flustered she felt, “I don’t think my heart can handle that!”
“So, no?”
Mizuki knew she’d regret saying no to this for the rest of her life. So she took a deep breath in and sucked it up.
She sat in Shizuku's lap.
“Yay!!” Shizuku wraps her arms around Mizuki tightly, nuzzling into her back.
Oh .
Mizuki was going to die today.
4. Sleepovers
Airi was over for her fifteen billionth sleepover at Ena’s house. She was fast asleep, cuddled up to Ena's yellow cat pillow and cozily under the covers. Ena had half a mind to join her pretty girlfriend, but she knew if she didn't finish her draft, Nightcord would have to delay their newest music video even further.
At around 3 am, Airi got up to use the bathroom without Ena noticing. Airi came back to Ena's room, putting a tentative hand on Ena's back.
Ena screamed and immediately jolted to stand up, “Airi!”
“You didn't hear me get up?”
“I wouldn't have almost pissed myself if I did!” Ena sits back down.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry.” Airi rubs her eyes, “Fix your posture before you start complaining to me later.”
“Fine, fine.” Ena sits up as straight as she can manage.
“Goodnight,” Airi pecks her girlfriend’s lips.
“Night.”
On the other side of things, also known as the other side of the Nightcord call.
“So, Airi is over, Enanan?” Mizuki asks.
“Yeah,” Ena replies.
-
The next night, Nightcord decided to have a camera-on meeting. Ena had her lights on and was simply drawing away.
Mizuki was boredly looking at all the members’ room backgrounds. Mafuyu was in complete darkness; Mizuki could barely make out her face. Kanade was more visible due to her multiple computer screens, but her background was also relatively dark, so there was nothing to look at there either. Mizuki had her lights on, and so did Ena. Mizuki looked around Ena’s room through the screen. She was a bit interested in what Ena had on her walls and, overall, in her possession.
When Ena’s background became too familiar (and the plushies started to feel like they were looking back), Mizuki decided to binge a new yuri anime that came out last anime season. Right as she switched her tab, she got a glimpse of a familiar pink—not her pink, but a different pink. Mizuki immediately switched back to her Nightcord tab.
“Hey, Ena. I finished your laundry.”
Ena looks back at the idol, “Thanks, Airi.”
“I’ll put it away,” Airi says before entering Ena’s closet.
“Okay.” Ena nods before going back to drawing.
“Airi is over again?” Mizuki asks.
“Yup,” Ena replies.
“Momoi-san does your laundry?” Kanade questions.
“I usually try to do it, but I wasn’t in the mood to do anything this week, so Airi did my chores.”
“That’s nice of her,” Kanade comments.
“Yeah… A little too nice.” Ena sighs, “She always forces me to let her do my chores if I didn’t do it already. That’s why I try to do them, but this was one of those weeks when I didn’t. I’m lucky to have Airi, but I feel bad cause she does so much for me…”
“HEY! DID I HEAR SELF DEPRECIATION?!” Airi yells from Ena’s closet.
“No!” Ena lies.
Airi comes out of Ena’s closet (was this a sign? Nah, Mizuki was thinking too hard about a non-existent subtext. Something like that only exists in games.), “I know you’re lying. Anyways, I do this because I want to, Ena. Have you ever seen me do something I didn’t want to do?”
“Yes?”
“And do I look like that right now?”
“No…”
“Great, now let me finish your chores.”
“Fine…”
---
The next night was similar to the last. Mizuki staring at the backgrounds of her friends’ Nightcord video call environments.
The same pink from yesterday night was spotted entering Ena’s room.
“Ena, let's go take a bath.”
“Huh?” Ena pulls off her earbuds, trying to make sense of what was said.
“Let's take a bath,” Airi repeats.
“Oh,” Ena thinks. It's almost as if she's buffering, “...Sure.”
“Are you okay, Ena?” Airi asks, reaching out to check Ena’s temperature. “When’s the last time you ate?”
“Like…” Ena pauses, true perplexion on her face, “I… don’t remember.”
“I’ll make you food, and then we can take a bath, okay?” She runs her hand through the brunette’s hair.
“Okay…”
Airi leaves the room while Ena sits on her chair. Her dazed expression not leaving once.
“You okay, Enanan?” Mizuki asks.
“Yeah. I'm fine,” The brunette rubs at her eyes, “just tired.”
“Maybe you should log off for the night,” Kanade suggests.
“No… I'm fine,” Ena says, picking up her tablet's pen and returning to drawing.
Less than 15 minutes later, Airi comes back with food. She sets it down on Ena's desk and pulls up a nearby stool.
“C'mon, Ena,” The idol pulls the earbuds from Ena's ears, ”Time to take a break.”
Mizuki watches their interaction with interest. Airi seems to be unfazed by the interaction— that's the wrong word. Airi is worried . Mizuki can see that in her eyes, but her actions say Airi has seen this millions of times. How she treats Ena sweetly, how she knows how to nudge Ena in the right direction. How she makes Ena food that she could never refuse. Mizuki has seen what happens when someone says the wrong thing to Ena and how it's hard to say the right thing. Yet, Airi manages to say everything Ena needs, in a way that Ena responds nicely to.
Then Airi does something else, something Mizuki never expected to see right in front of her eyes. She starts feeding Ena. Airi grabs bits of the food she’s prepared with chopsticks, holding it out for Ena to eat.
Ena’s eyes are dull, something Mizuki didn’t notice earlier. Mizuki’s eyes follow Ena’s empty gaze to Airi’s eyes. There’s a specific look in Airi’s eyes that’s always present when she looks at Ena and it's there now. Mizuki has never seen Airi look at anyone else like that. It was a look reserved only for Ena.
“Ena, if you don't start eating now, I will start doing ‘Here comes the airplane.’”
Ena makes a soft snort(?), and it seems like the light in her eyes has returned. It's dim, but it's there. Ena softly smirks and continues to leave her mouth closed.
“Wowww, Ena,” Airi rolls her eyes, “doing it on purpose now?”
Ena stays silent and stares at the food held by the chopsticks.
“You asked for it,” Airi huffs with a small smile, “here comes the airplane.”
Airi waves the chopsticks in a faux airplane route, and Ena opens her mouth so the food can land.
Ena can't help but giggle when it finally reaches her mouth, and she can chew.
“Are you going to make me do this for the rest of the food?”
“Would you?” Ena asks.
“Of course, I would if that means you eat.” Airi brushes her fingers on Ena’s cheek.
“Tempting offer.” Ena smiles, “but no. Just keep feeding me.”
“Alright,” Airi says, picking up another bit of food.
Mizuki wishes she had recorded that first part. It would've been so good to bring up to
blackmail
show Ena later! But that was beside the point! This shit was weird! Mizuki’s eyes have been victim to all this gay shit! No one can possibly say this is just what girl best friends do!!
Though.
Mizuki never really had a girl best friend. Welp time to ask Kanade and Mafuyu! (Not on voice chat, though.)
Amia, K, Yuki
Amia: have you guys been watching what’s been happening on enanan’s side of the call??
Yuki: I deafened
K: I’ve been listening to it and looking back at the call every now and then
Amia: Well you guys have to agree that feeding your best friend is gay as hell!!
K: I feed Yuki sometimes
Yuki: And I feed K most times
Amia: ….
Amia: hm
This was going nowhere. Time to ask someone else!
Mizuki to An
Mizuki: heyyy an
An: hey mizuki! whats up?
Mizuki: have you ever fed kohane food
An: all the time!
An: she’s so cute when she eats
An: her cheeks get all puffy and her eyes glimmer so bright and
An: SHE’S JUST THE CUTEST THING IN THE WORLD
Mizuki: maybe you were the wrong person to ask this question to
An: ???
Mizuki sighed. She did not have enough friends to ask this question to, but it was worth one last try.
Mizuki to Rui
Mizuki: hey rui!!!
Rui: mizuki? you never text me too often
Mizuki: yea yea sorry (；´ ∀｀)
Mizuki: i had a question!!!
Rui: and that is?
Mizuki: do you feed your groupmates? Like pick up food and put it in their mouth??
Rui: sometimes
Rui: Emu likes to feed us more
Rui: I am more of a receiver than the giver
Mizuki: i see
Mizuki: Is feeding your friends really that normal??
Rui: I’d say so
Mizuki: we never fed each other tho!
Rui: we can
Mizuki: oooh
Mizuki: only if you bring the food! (≡^∇^≡)
Rui: noted
Mizuki: (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) .ᐟ.ᐟ
Well, that was a bust. Mizuki’s search for her own personal echo chamber wasn’t going to happen today. Guess it was just all the yuri manga she was reading that was making her think that what was happening with Ena and Airi was gay.
…Maybe she should cut back on all the yuri.
Nah. She could never.
Yuri is amazing.
-
After Mizuki's great detective mission, she looked back at Ena's side of the video chat, and to her surprise, they were gone! Where did they go?!
Mizuki did remember that Airi originally said they were going to take a bath… together?
Was that normal for friends, too?
She didn't want to ask her friends again. They would probably end up just reaffirming her inexperience with having friends again.
Besides!
She's pretty sure that friends go to bathhouses together! And stay multiple nights in a row with each other!
Mizuki had nothing better to do besides wait, so she increased Ena’s call volume and swapped it to her anime tab. This season’s yuri was going to be amazing. It had a yuri that she’d been following since its first chapter, and she was not about to pass this up!!
-
About an hour later, Mizuki heard a door open (and it wasn’t her’s!), so she swapped tabs and watched intently.
Ena looked much more lively, which relieved Mizuki. Her hair was wet, and so was Airi’s, but they were both in new, clean clothes. It seems Mizuki was right to think that they had taken a bath.
Ena sat back in her chair, looking at her tablet. "Man, this looks better than I remember.”
”That’s why you have to take breaks,” Airi comes into frame with a blow dryer, pressing a soft kiss on Ena’s cheek.
Mizuki’s eyes widened. Now, that can not be friendly.
….
Or could it be?
She's seen Shizuku do that to a good amount of people before, Airi included!
Mizuki was going to have a brain aneurysm with all this thinking she was doing. Maybe she should say it how it is.
She has a yuri addiction, and it’s ruining her perception of life.
With that information under her metaphorical belt, Mizuki sat there in silence.
“Welp! Nothing I can do about that!” She says, putting her headphones on max volume and full screening Ena’s video.
5. Sharing
Mizuki was watching a scene she never once expected to see in her life.
Ena was feeding Airi her cheesecake!
Mizuki once tried to ask Ena for a bite of cheesecake, but Ena almost pulled her arm off! She’s still terrified of asking Ena for anything food-related. Mizuki’s arm gets phantom pains when she even thinks of asking Ena to share!
Airi had to be special. Maybe everything Mizuki was seeing was actually something . Maybe all the gay shit was truly gay shit! Not just girl best friends!
But wait.
What if it was both?
What if Ena and Airi have a crush on each other but haven’t told each other yet?! Everything Mizuki was watching was flirting ! Airi and Ena were two teenage girls trying to get over their internalized homophobia and trying to become yuri!!!
It all makes sense now!
Mizuki leaned over to Mafuyu, who also happened to be at this meet-up for whatever reason.
“Hey, Mafuyu?”
“What?”
Mizuki lowers her voice, “Do you think… like… that Airi and Ena have a crush on each other?”
“I don’t know. I don’t care.”
“But Mafuyu! Aren’t you at least a little bit interested?!”
“No.”
“C’mon! It’s unnatural how Ena shares her cheesecake, the one thing she loves in this world, with Airi!” She whisper yells.
Mafuyu doesn’t answer or gives anything that could be a response (unless slurping noodles with a dead stare counts.)
Airi’s fellow idol (and also Mizuki’s beloved oshi) was also along for the ride that they called this hangout. Mafuyu had her “regular” smile on her face, but she wasn’t very talkative. She let the conversation be carried by the other four while she ate her own food.
Sadly, Minori knew nothing of Ena’s usual actions, so Mizuki couldn’t
force
get Minori to agree with her thoughts.
But what happened next was a perfect amount of fuel.
Ena took a sip of her milkshake and held it out in front of Airi. Airi took the straw, and with her perfectly moisturized lips, she took a sip from the straw.
Mizuki looked over at Minori, who seemed to be having a freakout of her own. She was flustered and her eyes were so wide open that Mizuki slightly worried that they would fall out of the idol’s head.
Mizuki leans over to her other side, where Minori sat, “Hey, Minori. Do you think Airi and Ena have a crush on each other?”
“They,” Minori stutters amidst her blush, “Just indirectly kissed!!”
“They did! And you don’t know this, Minori,” Mizuki gets a sly grin on her face, “But Ena never shares her food. I’ve only ever seen her do that with Airi.”
“Really?!”
Before they can say more. They’re cut off by Ena saying something.
“Airi, your lipstick smudged.”
Airi gets her phone out to presumably look in her phone camera at herself, “shit.”
Ena digs through her bag and hands Airi a tube of lipstick. She smirks, “Always come prepared.”
“But I knew you were coming with me, so I didn’t have to bring as much,” Airi teases, taking the tube of lipstick and reapplying it.
“That was Ena’s wasn-”
“You smudged yours too, Ena.” Airi says, moving a bit closer to Ena, “Let me.”
Airi cups Ena’s cheek, a grasp so soft that it makes Mizuki wonder if that was an action with ulterior motives. Then Airi slowly reapplies the lipstick on Ena’s lips.
“Oh my god, they’re gay,” Mizuki whispers to Minori.
“Another indirect kiss!!” Minori manages to stutter out and keep her voice low.
Airi finishes reapplying Ena’s lipstick, and she stays unmoving. She stares at Ena, her eyes flickering down to Ena’s lips.
“Are they going to kiss????” Minori asks.
“In front of us???” Mizuki adds.
Airi seems to shake out of her daze and pulls back, “All finished.”
Ena nods, “Thank you, Airi.”
Mizuki once again leans over to Minori, “They’re definitely into each other.”
Minori nods her head rapidly, her eyes unable to be torn away from the two.
“Minori, we have to work together to get them together! I cannot have another failed yuri on my watch!”
“Huh?”
“You didn't hear that last part!”
“Okay!” Minori nods, forgetting what seems to be Mizuki’s motive, “Shouldn’t we tell this to the others too? Wouldn’t it be better to have more help with this?”
“That’s true….” Mizuki ponders, “I think that I should organize a hangout between me and Ena’s music group, along with More More Jump! I’ll give them all the rundown on what we’re doing and we’ll spend the entire hangout trying to get Airi and Ena to finally get together!”
“That’s such a good idea, Mizuki!!”
Mizuki giggles at the praise (she was definitely not about to explode because her all-time favourite idol oshi praised her. No, that would be absurd.)
6. Kiss
“Alright, now that Ena and Airi have gone to the bathroom. I can finally tell you guys what this meet-up was for!” Mizuki beams.
Mafuyu gives her usual dead stare while the others give at least a sort of interested look.
“Right, so! Hopefully, you all have already noticed that Airi and Ena act incredibly close. Closer than just bestie vibes only!”
Shizuku raises her hand, “What’s more than ‘bestie vibes only?’”
“Ah, well! It’s like when two people like each other but haven’t started dating yet.” Mizuki explains.
“I like Haruka-chan, Minori-chan, Airi-chan, and all of you a lot. Am I supposed to date you all?” Shizuku asks.
“Uh… I meant in a romantic way! Not just liking them as a friend!”
This time, Haruka asks a question, “How can you tell the difference?”
“This is a conversation for later!” Mizuki’s head spins in confusion; she doesn't even know the answer to that question either! “We’re supposed to be focusing on Airi and Ena!”
Everyone stays silent and Mizuki takes that as a sign to continue.
“Alright!” Mizuki begins, “I brought us all here today to help get Airi and Ena to date! They’ve been hopelessly pining for each other for god knows how long, but I’ve seen it with my own two eyes! I’ve seen how in love they are, yet they can’t tell each other because the world is cruel to girls who love other girls! Which is why my favourite yuri animes keep getting canceled…” She trails off into a whisper at that last part.
“How are we supposed to help?” Kanade asks.
“I’m glad you asked!” Mizuki grins, “We’re going to get Airi and Ena into romantic scenarios where they have no choice but to confess to each other or kiss! Like we force Ena fall into Airi’s embrace! Things like that!”
The girls (minus Mafuyu) seem to take that as a fair enough plan and nod.
“Alright! It’s go time! They’re in the bathroom, so lets go!”
Mizuki leads the way to the bathroom, opening the door and immediately stopping in her tracks.
There it was. Airi and Ena disheveled in a public bathroom. Their lipsticks smudged, their clothes wrinkled, and their faces both resembling a deer caught in headlights.
“Aw, man!” Mizuki whines. “You guys got together without our help!”
“What are you talking about?” Ena asks, stepping away from Airi.
“Well, you two just got together!” Minori stammers, her face red from the scene before her.
“What?” Ena says with true perplexion on her face.
“Just got together? Me and Ena have been dating for almost 5 years.”
….
…
..
.
“Wait, what?”