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Another day, another homeroom.
Anon and her friends had pushed their chairs together around a single desk. Tomori was with them, but off to the side a bit. She didn’t really vibe with the chatter about who had started dating who and how Mr. Kanatsuji had graded their last test like a total hardass, but Anon always insisted on scooting over to make space for her in their little circle around the desk. She wanted her to feel included!
“Switch!” said her friend, Satoshi. She slid her copy of the Urbanite magazine over to Anon’s corner of the desk.
“One sec, I’m pretty much done with mine. Aoi?”
Aoi waved her closed magazine. “I finished a minute ago.”
They usually each bought a copy of a different magazine and swapped amongst themselves. It was kinda expensive to buy any number of these things, especially if you wanted to keep up with current releases.
“Yeah, I’m good too.” Anon passed her copy of Sixteen to Aoi. It had an eye shadow technique she wanted to give a spin, but otherwise not that interesting. Bit off an off week.
She leafed through the latest edition of Urbanite Satoshi had handed her, skimming for any headlines or pull quotes that merited attention.
Six tips to convince him to shave his beard.
Okayyyy maybe not so relevant to her.
Before you sleep with her: questions for a healthy sex life.
No thank you, definitely not ready for that quite yet. Another hard miss.
Wait. Run that one back.
Before you sleep with her: questions for a healthy sex life.
Her eyes hadn’t misread the words. It really was targeted at people like her. She glanced up quickly to check if her heightened interest had escaped her friends’ notice, then double checked to make sure Tomori also wasn’t paying attention. God forbid she got the wrong idea.
Shit. Everyone was reading (or organizing pebbles in Tomori’s case), but there was no way they hadn’t noticed her long pause on the article. Better to offer an excuse.
“Kinda crazy the stuff they run in these these days, huh?” Anon forced out a laugh.
Satoshi glanced over at the magazine in Anon’s hands.
“Is it?” asked Satoshi.
“Indeed, I believe it’s become quite ordinary. I heard two of the young women who graduated from 3-B the year prior were seeing each other,” said Aoi.
Anon straightened in surprise, then tried to play it off. Looking too interested would out her.
“Wow really! Guess it’s the modern era, after all. All types of people out there with all types of preferences!”
“Mmhm. I think it’s lovely that society has become more accepting of differences,” said Aoi.
“Yeah but this is kinda far, don’t ya think? I mean, dating advice is one thing, but sex advice? Between girls?”
Satoshi and Aoi glanced at each other in some silent communication Anon wasn’t privy to.
“Anon… you know we know about you and-,” Satoshi mouthed the name Tomori to avoid attracting her attention.
“The two of you are very sweet together. We wish for nothing but your happiness,” said Aoi.
For a moment, Anon panicked. She rose a centimeter out of her seat. It was only five meters to the door. She could make a break for it.
“What are you talking about! I dunno how you two got that idea, Tomori and I are just bandmate besties,” she considered laughing it off.
But. Here her friends were, offering their acceptance. They trusted her enough to share their beliefs. Was she really gonna toss that in their faces? After everything she learned from being with Tomori? Na, the new Anon knew that when someone offered you love, even if it was scary, you took it!
“You guys… Wah, I’m so sorry for not telling you! I didn’t want to make things awkward!”
Satoshi giggled, “Well, I actually wasn’t one hundred percent sure until you admitted it just now, but thanks for telling us!”
“What!! You’re the worst!” Anon gave her a light shove on the shoulder. She couldn’t manage to act angry, even out of obligation. Sunshine was shining through her chest. The big smile on her face totally gave her away. Her friends were the best!
“I spoke earnestly. I hope you two find lasting happiness together,” said Aoi.
“Thanks. It means a lot to me,” said Anon with all the earnestness as she could muster, because she really meant it! She was tearing up. Being able to be herself with her friends felt great.
“Soooo~ was it love at first sight? How long have you two been dating?” Satoshi leaned in, immediately on the hunt for tea. “Was it that time you two went to karaoke alone? Was that your first date?”
Was it okay to gossip with Tomori here? Anon glanced over at her for permission. She gave a little nod, which probably meant it was alright.
“Ehe~ Not quite that early. But it happened pretty soon after our band got back together. Maybe two months into the semester?”
“Woah… Anon rizz.”
“Please. We just have a lot in common!” Anon put a hand behind her head. Talking about her girlfriend like this gave her the warm fuzzies.
“Who asked who?” asked Aoi.
“Well… we both kinda asked each other! Technicaaaaally Tomori asked first. But only by a second or two! I really was gonna, but she beat me to it!”
“Ah, so Tomori is the leader in the relationship…” Aoi trailed off with a smirk.
“What does that mean!!”
Aoi just raised a dainty eyebrow.
“I’ll explain when you’re older”, said Aoi, who was younger than her by several months.
“They say it’s always the quiet ones,” agreed Satoshi, her own grin hidden behind a raised hand. What she was agreeing with, Anon couldn’t tell.
Okay, that was enough teasing! Anon scrabbled in the dirt for any ammunition she could throw back at Satoshi to escape the heat.
“What about your love life! Weren’t you gonna ask that guy on the basketball team out?”
“Oof… Anon, dear…”
“Huh?”
“He said no!” wailed Satoshi.
“Oh no bestie! I’m so sorry! He’s gotta be stupid to pass up a catch like you!”
Anon heaped on the sympathy. Their conversation meandered through the basketball player (now the enemy) and his utter lack of fashion sense, into shoujo manga, and eventually Aoi’s digital illustrations. The happy buzz of acceptance didn’t leave Anon’s chest the whole while.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Anon paged through a grid of sample lipstick tubes. The cosmetics store’s fluorescent lighting made it slightly tricky to accurately assess the colors. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular; just browsing and waiting for a shade to speak to her. She had been meaning to try something more mature. A deep red caught her eye, so she plucked it from the holder.
Anon swatched it on her fingertip. It was bold, but it complimented her complexion.
“What do you think, Soyorin~?” Anon extended the tube towards Soyo. She held her finger up against her lip for a side by side comparison. Soyo considered.
”It’s good. It’s stronger than your everyday look, but it builds on your hair. It would compliment a bold eyeliner,” she said.
“Is that what you really think though?”
“Yes. Go buy it.”
“Okay~”
“I think you tell the clerk which one you want,” said Soyo.
Oh yeah, there were only samplers out on the shelves, nothing boxed up. Probably a space saving measure. Anon looked through the massive grid until she found the cell she got the lipstick from.
“Atomic Blowjob,” Anon read the name out loud. Yeeesh. “Why do they all have to brand themselves this way?”
“Sex sells.”
“Not to us! We’re sixteen!”
“If only social trends obeyed logic.”
“I am not saying that name to the clerk.” Anon wrinkled her nose in distaste at the thought. She’d probably get banned from the store for harassment.
“Show them the tester or something. I don’t care.”
“Yeah okay, fine,” she pouted. Typical Soyo. Fishing for sympathy from Soyo was like looking for birds in the ocean.
Anon wandered off to pay for her Atomic Blowjob.
Wallet fifteen hundred yen lighter, she reunited with Soyo and dragged her towards the newly renovated book and horticulture store deeper in the shopping district which was the original destination of their day out. They left an hour later, having browsed but obtained neither plant nor book, and said their goodbyes before Anon transferred to the local tram.
It wasn’t busy despite the nice weather, and Anon managed to nab one of the few window seats. Usually she scrolled when she took transit alone. The world moved quickly, and she couldn’t afford to waste time! It was her god given duty as a modern teenager to wade through an endless river of fashion trends and life updates that toed the line between humility and posturing with the nuance a political speechwriter would aspire to. She mindlessly handed out likes to every post in her feed; her thoughts were still on her day out with Soyo.
The flow of posts halted. She had accidentally tapped into a video.
One of the girl-crush K-pop idols she followed was showing off new choreo. Anon really liked her vibes; she was cool without being self absorbed, spoke thoughtfully in interviews, and had killer stage presence. She was aspirational! Anon watched the dance until it concluded with a thrust of the idol’s hips in the direction of the camera.
Anon jabbed the close button before the video could loop. What the heck, why was it everywhere all of a sudden! It wasn’t a crazy out there move objectively speaking, but it did not help Anon’s already frazzled mental state. Was this thing everyone kept nudging and winking at really that important?
She was happy with her relationship with Tomori just the way it was — more than happy! Tomori was easy to be with. She appreciated her gifts and didn’t judge her for being a dork, and her unwavering love and honesty put to rest Anon’s outsized insecurities. In Anon’s eyes, things were perfect.
But... were they perfect for Tomori? Maybe she wanted more from their relationship? Or even expected it of her? It was true that Tomori was usually the one who pushed things further in the physical affection department. Tomori asked for their first kiss. She was the one who gave tighter hugs and asked to stay just fifteen minutes longer at the end of a date.
But then, it wasn’t like Anon wasn’t reciprocating. Anon always kissed back! She was plenty assertive! She loved her girlfriend, and she made sure to show it through gifts and hand holding and the casual sort of cool girlfriend arm-around-waist hugs that totally turned Tomori to gooey marshmallow on the inside (even if she didn’t show it outwardly).
A vignette flashed through her mind. It was ten years in the future, and she and Tomori had had a fight. The fantasy-Tomori walked past Anon where she was crumpled like a discarded tissue on their kitchen floor, and into the arms of an older woman waiting just outside. The woman wrapped Tomori in her leather jacket.
Tomori cast one last look back at her previous home. “I’m sorry, Anon. It’s not you, it’s me. I need a real woman. Someone who can satisfy me.”
The woman stealing Tomori looked weirdly similar to Ave Mujica’s Timoris.
Anon wanted to scream.
She let her fall against the window with a clunk. A sigh escaped her barely-parted lips. It wasn’t like she was strictly opposed to the idea of going further with Tomori. It sounded pretty nice, even. But it was a lot!
What if she was terrible at it, and Tomori told her so to her face? Tomori wasn’t mean, but sometimes she could be super direct. She would probably die of humiliation if Tomori said “You did alright” or something. The first time they kissed Tomori had told her it was “perfect, because it was with you”, which was extremely sweet, but she would’ve rather been showered with praise for her masterful heartbeat-raising technique!
Ugh, she had to get these thoughts out of her head. All this stress, and for what? It wasn’t relevant to her and Tomori, because they had never once broached the topic.
Her phone pinged with the notification tone she had set specifically for Tomori. Generally her phone was muted, but each member of MyGO had their own. She glanced up at the preview.
Anochan…! Would you like to come over this weekend? My parents-
Oh shit. She was mega cooked. That was, like, the most unambiguous overplayed “can we hook up” line. No chance Tomori meant it any other way.
Sweat pricked her palms. She tilted her phone towards the window so she wouldn’t blind the other passengers with the indecency being discussed. Anon stalled for a moment, then screwed her eyes shut and tapped the notification before her anticipation could get even worse.
She cracked her eyes open and forced herself to read.
Anochan…! Would you like to come over this weekend? My parents said I should ask you for help studying for the math test… I still don’t get Riemann sums >.<
Oh, thank god. It was completely benign.
yeah for sure! it’s a bit tricky to wrap your mind around the infinity stuff, isn’t it? i gochu covered. saturday?
Saturday would be perfect for me. Thank you!! I love you 💙
Her heart did a little flutter. Everything was great! She loved her girlfriend and her girlfriend loved her, so everything would work out!
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Everything was awful. Anon was stressed out of her mind. The weekend approached like a well paced thriller: a chain of stress where each link seemed to last forever, and yet the whole length played out before she noticed its passage.
She catastrophized about it the entire week. She read mortifying advice articles. She couldn’t sleep.
It didn’t help that Aoi had slid a juicy rumor her way at their Wednesday morning chit chat. There was a rumor going around that a third year couple had hooked up at a grad party the weekend prior. The fact that it had taken two days to reach her ears was a shameful indictment of the health of her social network, but that was beside the point.
Maybe the rumor was bullshit. Satoshi thought so. Aoi had hedged with several variations on “I was told” and “apparently” while sharing it, and probably two thirds of the secondhand whispers that floated past turned out to be exaggerated to unrecognizability or outright false. But on the tiny, off chance it was true, maybe this was just a regular part of life for all the cool and confident girls — both of which were labels attached to Anon. She was the frontwoman for a local punk band, after all. How much cooler could you get!
Today was just a regular study date, she reminded herself. Just a regular study date in her girlfriend’s bedroom. It was no big deal. It was nothing to be nervous about. It was all in her head. There was no way sweet innocent Tomori wanted to do something like that.
Tomori closed her bedroom door behind her in a completely normal way. It was so quiet she could hear the handle click as it closed. Anon jumped a little at the noise. That was just the regular door closing sound, not the lock engaging, right?
I mean, that would be kinda metal if that was what Tomori was thinking. Something so bold and risky like that, especially while her parents were right down the hallway. It would be like those punk girls in yuri manga who made out at school, but even more so. But that wasn’t what Tomori had in mind!!
“Anochan. Are you okay? You’re stressed…”
“Fine!” Anon squeaked. “Riemann! Just excited for Reimann sums! Love my boy Riemann! My favorite dead German dude!”
“I thought your favorite was Kant?”
“Nope! I changed oshis!” Did she really talk about philosophy often enough for Tomori to remember?
“… okay. If there’s something bothering you, please tell me,” said Tomori.
She had to lie more convincingly if she was going to make it through the study session. Anon put on her best lazy grin and patted out the trembles in her voice. Hopefully it looked real. “Awww Tomorin~ I’m really okay, but I’ll let you know!”
Tomori sat next to Anon at the low table in the center of her bedroom at just about her normal distance. Or maybe a little closer than normal? She wasn’t sure. Tomori was close enough she could smell her ocean breeze conditioner — but then, Tomori’s room usually smelled like her. Not that she paid too much attention to that. She wasn’t weird!
They studied for a solid hour, during which Tomori went from flailing around the number line to summing with the confidence of a pocket calculator. Having a task to focus on helped Anon forget her nerves. Once Tomori could do several correct finite integral approximations in a row, Anon acted like she was unfamiliar with the concepts and had Tomori explain them back to her. Tomori’s face scrunched up with focus, but after she managed an explanation with only a few pauses and minor backtracks, Anon gave her approval.
“Thank you. I understand a lot better now,” said Tomori.
“Feelin’ confident about the test?”
“Yes! Thanks to you,” Tomori beamed at her.
“Hehe no problem! Glad to put my smarts to use,” Anon winked.
“Do you… want to take a break?” asked Tomori with a cute little (probably unintentional) eyelash flutter. That was Tomori-eese for “do you want to make out?”
“Sure! Break sounds good!” Did she want to make out? Uh, yes, of course, always?
Anon played it cool. She linked her fingers and did a biiiig overhead stretch to work out the overtaxed studying muscles. Then, she extended both arms towards Tomori to offer her a hug.
Tomori accepted. She scooted into her outstretched arms and looked up at her. Gah, so cute! The little anticipatory lean! The slightest start of a blush! She couldn’t say no to those eyes.
Tomori kissed her. No, she kissed Tomori! Whatever. They kissed.
And kissed some more. The physical proof of Tomori’s love was a cozy blanket tugged around her shoulders. Tomori gave a happy little sigh, and her hands found their way to Anon’s hips. She felt Tomori’s fingertips trail along the bare skin just above the waist of her jeans.
“T-Tomori!” Anon protested.
Tomori broke away. She was panting gently.
“Can I kiss you more?” Tomori leaned back in. Anon could feel Tomori’s breath pulse across her lips.
“Okay…!”
“Yes?” Tomori double checked.
Anon hesitated, then nodded yes. She didn’t not want to kiss. Like, she was nervous and her arms were a bit trembly, but the kissing itself was nice. And she didn’t want to disappoint; Tomori really seemed like she wanted to keep going!
Tomori pounced on her. Anon squeaked in surprise. She reflexively leaned away, and Tomori chased the kiss, sending them both tumbling to the carpet. Their teeth bumped unpleasantly on the way down, but Tomori didn’t slow. Anon landed with a soft whump. Tomori supported herself on one elbow and cupped Anon’s face, tilting it towards her for a better angle. A moment later, Tomori’s teeth joined her declaration of passion.
Anon tried to match her intensity, but between her nerves and everything Tomori was doing, her brain was going mushy. It was all she could do to keep her head from knocking into the floor. Instead, she tried to relax into Tomori and let her lead.
“I love you,” Tomori punctuated each carefully enunciated sentence with a separate kiss. “I’m in awe of your selflessness. You’re the morning sun. You fill the sharp parts of my mind with melody. You’re scared, and you still persist. Thank you.”
Tomori gave up on holding herself up. She put all of her weight on Anon and squished them together in a hug so tight Anon could barely breathe.
It was gauche to look while kissing, but she couldn’t help herself. Anon peeked.
She expected to see Tomori’s face cute and rosy from the warmth generated by their proximity and her eyes half-lidded with desire, but she was wrong. She was staring Anon down with a look much closer to the determination of a climber sizing up a mountain face.
Oh jeez. She hadn’t been overthinking it. Tomori really wanted to go further.
That’s fine! Totally fine! Anon was ready for this! Even though she didn’t own any sexy underwear. She had thought about this super in depth, and it was definitely what she wanted. I mean, how could she not? Tomori was so adorable and perfect, and it wasn’t like she had never thought about doing this kind of thing with her. She wasn’t a kid. She had those kinds of desires, just like anyone else.
Nothing to worry about. She just had to follow the script and Tomori would have a great time and fall even deeper in love with her and all that! Literally any sacrifice was worth Tomori’s love. Not that doing this with Tomori was a sacrifice! She wanted to! She wanted this!
Her thoughts were running. Deep breath.
Through cultural diffusion she had learned there were basically four steps she had to follow. There were slight modifications she would need to adapt the steps from the heterosexual edition of the textbook floating through the social ether, but she could figure it out well enough. Anon was a straight A student after all. Which is why they were studying for their test tomorrow.
No thinking about school right now! School wasn’t sexy!
First step was kissing!
Well, they were already doing that, and quite enthusiastically. Mission accomplished.
That meant she could move on to step two. She was supposed to, uh… touch Tomori… touch her… boob……
How she was supposed to do that while they were squished together was beyond her! And when Tomori’s lips and little nibbles were driving any coherent thoughts from her mind!
Anon screwed her eyes shut tight and brought her hand up to brush awkwardly against the side of Tomori’s chest. Her hand was stiff as a corpse’s, and they were too close together for her to really get at anything. It felt more like she was trying to tickle Tomori than do anything sexual.
That couldn’t’ve possibly been how she was supposed to do it. Fuck. She screwed up. They still had all their clothes on and it was already going south. She was a failure of a girlfriend.
“… Anochan?”
Anon’s eyes flew open. Tomori was watching her, surprised, but not resistant. She propped herself back up on one arm to make space between them so Anon could do her thing.
Anon tried again. Her gaze slid off to the side, hiding from Tomori out of embarrassment, but she took the plunge anyway. She brought her hand back to Tomori’s chest, and this time she managed to get a proper handful of Tomori. She held her boob kinda like she would a ripe mango. Now that she was here, she realized she didn’t actually know what she was supposed to… do with it. Just cradle it? Rub it? Squeeze it?
She tried a gentle squish. Tomori went still. Maybe she was so distracted by the incredible job Anon was doing that she couldn’t move? Anon didn’t look back at her; she was afraid of seeing Tomori’s reaction. She tried the kind of firmer squish she would give a stress ball. It was incredibly soft in her hand, just like the rest of Tomori. If she hadn’t been so laser focused on doing a good job, the sensation would’ve been very nice.
Still no response. Tomori’s legs felt tense between hers.
Anon looked up. There were tears spilling out of Tomori’s eyes and down her cheek. One of them formed a droplet, and splattered on Anon’s forehead.
“T-Tomori?”
No reply.
Oh god. Not only had she forced herself on Tomori, but she’d totally ignored her discomfort. Tomori was so afraid of her that she couldn’t even ask her to stop.
“I need to go. I’m supposed to help my mom cook dinner!” What? That didn’t make any sense!
Anon struggled out from under Tomori and fled the room.
“Wait!” cried Tomori. Anon did no such thing.
The hallway was claustrophobic. Her breath came in panicked gasps. Where should she go? Out the front door? No, Tomori’s dad was a nice guy, but if he realized what she did to Tomori he might turn. She would end up stuffed in a suitcase and tossed in the bottom of the bay or worse.
Anon ducked into the tiny bathroom and slammed the door shut.
She was awful. She was pure evil. She had taken advantage of Tomori for her body, just like all those horrible stereotypes about lesbians. Britain. She would go back to Britain where the death by a thousand cuts of racist microaggression hell would be her penance. It was the only way to make sure she never hurt Tomori again. Anon was halfway through assembling a mental checklist of what she would need to pack when there was a knock at the door.
“Anon?”
“I’m not here!”
She had to get away! The window? Tomori’s apartment was on the sixth floor, but better she break her legs on the way down than have to see Tomori again after assaulting her like this.
Anon got one foot on the toilet seat to boost herself up.
“Please don’t leave,” said Tomori through the door.
Anon froze with one hand on the window.
“I’m awful. I always make life worse for the people I care about,” said Anon. Bitterness seeped into her voice as she spoke. “I deserve to be alone. I don’t want to hurt you any more, so just let me go, alright?”
“Isn’t pain part of being human? Life has been painful since you saved me. I prefer it this way. I would rather hurt with you than go back to being empty.”
“You realize that’s a bad thing, right?? A relationship isn’t supposed to be painful! That means I’m bad for you! I’m trying to keep you safe from me!”
“Nothing is worth losing you.”
Her voice was granite. She meant it. Stupid, selfish Tomori, always refusing to let her go no matter how much she deserved it. Frustration balled her hands into fists. Anon let out an angry sigh and got down off the toilet she was using as a stool.
“We’re going to be together for life, right?” asked Tomori. It wasn’t a question, but a reminder. Anon slumped against the bathroom door. She let the back of her head bump against it.
Her promise. No matter how pitiful and weak willed she was, she couldn’t break it again. Not after Tomori had given her so many more second chances than she deserved.
“You’re so unfair…” said Anon.
“I’m okay with that.”
Anon’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. “I know you are, for better or worse.”
After a minute like that, next to each other but separated by the door, Anon spoke up. “It’s just what you do, you know? It’s what you’re supposed to want. Everyone says so.” She folded her arms in front of her.
No immediate reply from Tomori. Well. Maybe she didn’t know. That wasn’t the kind of thing she paid attention to.
“Who is everyone?” asked Tomori.
“Just, you know, like. Everyone. Classmates and society and stuff. The man!” It sounded stupid, even to her ears.
“Do we have to have sex?”
“No!! Of course not!! We don’t have to do anything you don’t want!”
“But I want to.”
Ah-
Anon’s mind went blank. Tomori wanted her like that? The thought was flattering. Immensely so. But also scary and incomprehensible. Why would someone perfect like Tomori want a wash up like Anon when there were so many more attractive girls out there?
“But… I can’t. I’m sorry. It’s frustrating,” said Tomori. “What you were doing felt like being in the train station at rush hour. My body was a star.”
“In a good way…?” Tomori liked stars?
“No.” Oh. “Like I’m hydrogen burning under a million pascals of force.”
“That doesn’t sound pleasant…”
“It hurts,” Tomori said, voice curling in on itself.
Anon cracked the door open and let it swing open. Tomori was waiting for her. Her tears had been wiped dry.
“Hug?”
Tomori nodded. “Gentle, please.”
Anon put her arms around Tomori in a hug light as the air, careful to avoid contact with any bare skin.
“What you said earlier, about pain being part of being human,” Anon said into her shoulder. “I know being human is important to you. And you’re right that hurting each other sometimes is kinda unavoidable. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to prevent it as much as possible. If something is too much for you, you gotta tell me. It’s okay to push yourself a little, but I’m gonna be upset if we do something you’re uncomfy with and you don’t stop me. My limits are your limits, alright?”
“Okay. I’ll be more aware of how I feel. I’m sorry for not communicating it,” said Tomori.
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for! I’m the sorry one. I should’ve just asked you what you wanted instead of planning-,” Anon waved her hands around, “-all this.”
“You planned?” She felt Tomori’s head tilt to the side in question.
“Kinda…” Did staring at her ceiling unable to sleep because she was stressing over unlikely worst case scenarios count as planning?
“Promise you’ll tell me when you’re stressed over something. I want to know all the thoughts in your heart, not just the light ones,” said Tomori.
“I promise. I’ll bring it up if something’s bothering me instead of bottling it up. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hide it. I didn’t realize how much it was getting to me.” Anon stepped back to arm’s length so she could look Tomori in the eye properly. “We cool?”
Tomori nodded. “We always were.”
“Silly! You’re allowed to get mad at me when I screw up, you know! I need someone to keep me in check! Taki’s certainly not able to.”
“Why would I get mad? You didn’t mean to hurt me. You never would.”
Anon shook her head, exasperated. Well, Tomori’s unique way of viewing the world was part of what made her so endearing, even if it led her to some conclusions Anon didn’t totally agree with. But they didn’t have to see everything the exact same way — that’s what it meant to move forward even when you were lost.
“Wanna study some more? We didn’t cover trapezoid sums yet~” Anon tossed her head in the direction of Tomori’s bedroom, where her textbook was still open on the table.
“Okay,” said Tomori. “Thank you for always looking out for me.”
“Of course! That’s my job as your girlfriend!”