Chapter Text
In a busted up pod with broken, flickering lights and a shower pane punched in a rage, intrepid team leader Takumi Sumino sat on the edge of the surprisingly comfortable bed, making sure not to look in the direction of the bathroom. “C’mon weirdo, you’ve seen everything! And I know you perv on worse.” Sharp barbs and off kilter comments aside, the mood was relaxed as could be. Well, as relaxed as how the unstable woman believed it could be. Until her verbal garbage stopped and painful silence filled the room.
He was afraid of what that meant. And it came true.
“H-Hey um… Takumi…”
He turned to look. Normally a crazed, insane woman. Her long, bright blue ponytails and the ridiculous makeup she caked on herself all the time. Her red eyes, usually unsettling, pierce through him. But this time, Takumi did not flinch at any of that. He looked at the white stick she was holding and, even in the dim light, could see the 2 lines.
Oh fuck , they both though.
*****
The route started out disastrous for the time traveler. One bad decision after another led to the extermination of the Second-To-Last Academy’s squad: Kurara, Kyoshika, Yugamu, and Moko. With one notable exception: Nozomi’s last second rescue at the enemy relay station. But it, in itself, was another bad decision. While Takemaru and Tsubasa assured and thanked him for coming back and that he’d done the best he could do, Takumi was wracked with guilt. Why wouldn’t he? Four people died because of his decision and, once the secret was exposed that he knew how it would turn it out, well–
“FUCK YOU TAKUMI!” He couldn’t remember Karua ever cursing with such rage. “I AM NOT WHO YOU HAD A RELATIONSHIP WITH!” Sometimes he wished Nozomi never remembered him during the first 100 day run. It would have been easier to discard what he once felt for her, instead of feeling his heart shatter into millions of pieces at the feet of the enraged woman with the long, white hair.
But, among all the misery, someone was very thankful. And not who he’d expect to be a basket of sunshine.
“I woulda been dead if it wasn’t for you! That creep with the hood kept following me the whole fight.” He didn’t believe she would have died, but even then: was her life worth the deaths of four others and the alienation of the fifth? He hated himself for even thinking that.
Even as Darumi Amemiya’s smile gave him warmth and solace in a painful reality.
*****
Darumi picked up on Takumi’s grief. And, as much as she hated emotions like this, she felt a bit of survivor’s guilt watching him mope around. She didn’t like it. Jumping off the roof and getting recycled by the Revive-o-Matic didn’t get rid of it. But it drove her to try to think of something. Plans to get Nozomi and Takumi talking failed. Trying to convince Eito to be normal and join the team failed. Eating so many sweets that she could split like mitosis failed. Would anything work? The mind of the often-deranged woman bounced around, leading her to the library. “Surely there’s something useful in this dusty place.”
Ever the attentive leader, Takumi noticed and helped out. After all, it was even more beneficial for him if there was any way to bring back the four who died. The manpower issues, the team’s judgement, Nozomi’s wrath would all be gone. And so they did just that: spending day after day poring over the library’s contents. Long days and nights, interrupted only by a defensive battle or food. While defensive battles weren’t any issue for now, the fruitless work began to wear on them. Shouma eventually found them passing out on the library floor and, after being woken up with breakfast one day from the apologetic man, they decided to take some of these books back to their rooms, choosing to read there, lest someone else get burdened.
In another timeline, perhaps they would have found a book at this point, that would lead to some answers, maybe even reviving the squad members at the cost of one of their lives.
“Darumi, be careful!” Takumi picks up Darumi from the ground, barely avoiding a cannonshot from an invader.
“C’mon Takster, stop being such a wuss! It wouldn’t have hurt that bad. Or did you want us both to die? Such a romantic! You really do understand me after all!”
Standing nearby, Ima and Kako giggle to themselves, recognizing Darumi’s attempt at flirting and Takumi turning a shade of red that didn’t match the blood from his cuts.
Days pass. The more they talk, the more they learn about each other. Darumi’s actually kindhearted, turning to morbid jokes to keep everyone at bay. A lifetime of believing in people just to get stabbed in the back will do that to you. Seeing her at her best empowered Takumi, and her helping him mend his heart made him eternally grateful.
But for Darumi? This started far earlier. Back on that day when Takumi ran off the creep in the hood. She didn’t realize it, but the seed of affection was planted that day, watered by proximity and his kind smile. By the time she realized how she felt, it was too late to shut it down. Jumping off the roof and getting recycled by the Revive-o-matic didn’t do the trick either and she just had to accept the awful, awful feeling of having feelings. Made worse by how considerate Takumi is. How she admired him taking the leadership role and laughed at him getting saddled with odd jobs, while feeling mushy seeing him trying to help everyone.
And (call it women’s intuition) but she knew Takumi felt the same way about her. Especially when the excuses to meet got flimsier over time, some days barely even looking at books while they talked in one of their rooms.
“You don’t understand, the eroges are much better when they’re toxic!”
“W-Why would you want that? Two characters fall in love just to suffer?”
“It’s called TASTE!”
One night, after a defensive battle and book research going late into the night, their hands crossed, both landing on the same book. Talking stopped as they stared into each other's eyes, teenage emotions bubbling to the surface after so long. Heartbeats pounding, overlapping fingers burning with desire.
Pent up stress would get released on her bed, several times into the morning.
They both sat on opposite sides of the bed, naked and not looking at each other. Almost in abstract disbelief of what they just spent the whole night doing. “Darumi, we need to talk about this.” She just grinned. “I knew you were a future sex offender!” His horrified look almost made her feel bad. “N-No! You wanted it–”
“Shut up, Takumi. Um…”
They both looked at each other. Takumi’s never seen her give him a gentle smile. It’s almost unnerving, especially in the midst of their awkward attempt at talking through their relationship changing. But it drives him to push it aside. “L-Let‘s shower and go get something to eat. Maybe things will be more clear then.” Lucky for the team leader: she agreed. Of course, she pulled him into the shower and pinned him on the floor, getting hers. Takumi isn’t sure if he wanted it with how the previous night made him sore, but found it interesting to see her with all her makeup washed off.
He hated how much it made his heart flutter.
*****
Time marched on. Neither wanted to acknowledge the thing between them. Hiruko and Sirei raised their eyebrows at how much they were together, but didn’t think much of it. Takumi did his best to be normal when they were out and about, while Darumi just couldn’t help herself and tease him. One time, knowing he was behind her, she lifted her skirt up really quick, making him almost get a nosebleed. She wore black and white striped panties, the idea suddenly popping into her head that morning.
The second they were alone in his pod, he pinned her against the wall, making her pay for that. She certainly paid multiple times until her legs got weak, making Takumi carry her back to her pod after their hormones were well sated. Like always, she didn’t care how drained and exhausted he was.
“I-I am so sorry! I just got caught up and… um…”
“Heh, I see what makes your perverted mind work. You’re easy.”
“But those panties look nice on you! Almost like a dream.”
“Hehe. At least I had fun getting assaulted like an eroge heroine.”
“About that… can you not make that weird face when you’re uh–”
“WHEN I’M CU–”
“Shhh! You forgot we’re outside?”
“Like I told Sirei, I want to live my eroge heroine dreams! That comes with the double peace signs and the drooling tongue. If that robot wants to watch, all the better!”
Darumi refused to tell him, but she found his fluster cute.
And, laid back down on her bed, she pulled him in for a soft kiss, trying to convey something her words can’t.