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They were the last two remaining in the karaoke booth. Uguisudani and Gotanda had a movie date lined up so they had taken off first, followed quickly enough by Otsuka, who had felt the need to drag Shinbashi out by the arm while giving Hana a significant look over her shoulder. Hana could almost hear the words she didn’t say out loud: “Make the most of this alone time with your boyfriend!”
The room was still booked for another fifteen minutes, but Hana’s throat was already feeling a little dry from overuse. She had sung more than usual, thanks to Otsuka putting on a SweetBerry theme song, but Ueno had barely sung at all. He was always happy to pass the mic to Shinbashi, who was admittedly the most talented among them. Still, she wished she’d had a chance to hear her boyfriend perform by himself, even if it was something silly like the Ace Man opening theme. She didn’t know if her heart could handle it if he sang a love song.
“Ueno-kun,” she said hesitantly. “Do you want to sing next?”
“Sure.”
She turned to offer him the microphone, but as she reached over to hand it to him, a gust of cold air slipped under her T-shirt’s hem and she shivered. They were in the middle of a summer heatwave, and her lightweight shirt, while perfect for the outdoors, was rather flimsy against the chill of the AC at full blast.
Ueno discarded the mic on a side table, looking at her with concern.
“Tabata, are you cold?” His hands went to his own shoulders, as if to take off a jacket to give to her, but then found he too was only wearing a T-shirt. He blushed slightly in confusion. “If you're uncomfortable, maybe we should just head out.”
“It’s okay!” she rushed to reassure him. “It’s—it’s just because I haven’t been moving around enough.” She rubbed her arms vigorously and stood up.
“Then…” he grinned mischievously at her, standing too. “Are you going to give me a dance performance next? I can provide the vocals.”
She felt her face turning red as a tomato. “You’ve already seen me dance and you know I’m no good at it. Even with all your help.” She lifted her arms a bit and then let them drop to her side. “I’m just… awkward.” She blushed more.
Ueno took her hands. “You made a lot of progress when we practiced together, he said encouragingly. “I was impressed. And besides, you’re not awkward, you’re just…Tabata-like.”
She smiled despite herself, in response to his own familiar grin. “Tabata-like…” she mumbled. “I’m not sure I really want to know what that means.”
“It means…” His own blush deepened. “Cute.” Before she could respond—or spontaneously combust—he pulled her into a hug. “This should help warm you up a little,” he murmured into her hair. He was pretty warm. Giving into instinct, she pressed closer against his chest, turning her head to rest her ear below his collarbone. The sound of his heartbeat reverberated through her, and she was surprised at its rather frantic pace.
“Ueno-kun,” she said, before she could think better of it, “your heart’s beating really fast.”
“Oh, yeah?” His voice attempted casualness and failed. “...What about yours?”
An unexpected counter-attack.
“It—” It always beats faster around you. She bit off the words before she could let such a mortifying sentence past her lips. “It’s…beating pretty fast too.”
He loosened his arms a bit and bent his head down as if to press his ear against her chest in turn—then froze, and jerked backwards.
“Sorry, that’s—I shouldn’t have—I wasn’t thinking—” His face was a shade of red rarely achieved by him.
Hana waved her hands frantically. “It’s fine, you didn’t do anything wrong!”
But Ueno was clearly suffering a fit of heightened gentlemanly virtue, and put his head in his hands, not looking at her. She felt the air-conditioned cold even more sharply now in his absence. “What would your father think of me?” he muttered.
Hana desperately searched for a way to diffuse the sudden awkwardness that had blossomed between them. “It’s really fine—it’s—it’s—uh—you could feel the pulse at my neck instead!” she offered, then hesitated. Was that weird? But Ueno was looking at her again.
“Are you sure that’s okay?” he asked.
“Of course!” she said, maybe too eagerly. She was blushing again, as he tentatively reached out a hand to settle feather-light fingertips on the side of her neck.
“It’s—uh—I think it’s a little bit above that…kinda, just below my jaw…”
His gentle touch on the skin of her neck was making her feel hot all over. She reached up and helped guide his hand to her carotid artery, feeling her pulse jumping against the light pressure of his index and middle fingers. If anything, her heart was beating even faster than before.
Still very red, Ueno offered her another smile, a little sheepish this time. “I guess you’re in the same boat as me,” he said, clearing his throat.
“Yeah,” she said, unable to form a coherent sentence. She thought she might shiver again, but this time, not from the cold.
He hesitated for a moment, then pulled her into his arms a second time. “I’m glad I’m not the only one.”
She was reassured to once again hear that pounding heartbeat through the warmth of his chest. “Me too.”
“You wanna sing another song?”
“Not really…” She snuggled in closer against him. His arms tightened.
“Me neither.”
When, several minutes later, the karaoke booth attendant startled them apart by opening the door, neither of them had the appearance of being chilled by the air conditioning anymore.