Work Text:
"Suzuka-san is coming back to Japan tomorrow!"
With chopsticks still in her hand, Spe-chan announced it in a bright, overflowing voice.
There was a grain of rice stuck to her cheek, and her tail was swishing wildly. Watching Spe-chan express her joy with her whole body filled Grass Wonder with a fond sort of warmth.
"Spe-chan, that's bad table manners, you know?"
Even after Grass wiped the rice off her cheek with a cloth, Spe-chan just kept grinning. Her mouth was loose with happiness. The sight of Spe-chan smiling so innocently made even El and Se-chan soften in response. Honestly, all of them were hopeless.
"Just thinking that Suzuka-san is coming back means I won't even be able to sleep tonight..."
Her expression melted even further. At this rate she might turn into jelly.
"So that's why you were nodding off in class earlier?"
"Ehehe..."
Whenever Spe-chan spoke, El was usually the first to respond—but today Grass responded to her twice in a row before anyone else did. Even Se-chan was holding back to watch. With her mouth curled into a catlike shape, she simply observed Spe-chan's foolishly happy expression.
"I have so many things I want to tell Suzuka-san!"
Her voice was as sweet as candy—sweet enough to make Grass's teeth ache.
"What kinds of things do you want to tell her?"
"Well, let's see..."
As Spe-chan tilted her face upward and thought, Grass leaned in to listen with literal and figurative ears alike.
Spe-chan began counting off all the things she wanted to tell Suzuka-san on her fingers. There seemed to be more than both hands could hold.
When it came to Suzuka-san, Spe-chan had a habit of losing sight of everything else. To her, Suzuka-san was her admiration, her goal.
Suzuka-san, Suzuka-san.
Grass wondered how many times she said her name.
It wasn't as though she was jealous, of course.
She did feel frustrated when Spe-chan looked away from her during a race, but outside of racing? Surely that was fine. She wasn't so childish that she'd be bothered by something that petty.
Grass chimed in along with Seiun Sky, while lightly scolding El for talking about getting revenge.
Once Spe-chan had finished, Grass murmured quietly,
"Spe-chan really does adore Suzuka-san, doesn't she?"
Today, she was more talkative than usual.
"D-do I...?"
Spe-chan rubbed under her nose shyly. Se-chan teased her, saying she was totally lovestruck, and Spe-chan's cheeks turned apple-red at once. She really was so honest and so easy to read—exactly the sort of thing that brought out Se-chan's mischievous streak.
Grass wondered if she was the same.
She found herself wanting to see Spe-chan go even redder.
What would happen, she wondered, if she said she wanted to come along too?
Spe-chan was too nice to reject her firmly. But she wanted Suzuka-san all to herself, so she wouldn't be able to say yes, either.
It might be a little mean, but perhaps Grass would get to see something interesting.
"Spe-chan, may I come visit Suzuka-san with you tomorrow?"
Come now, Spe-chan. Show me that troubled face.
"You wouldn't leave me out, would you, Spe-chan?"
Grass drooped her ears and deliberately put on a sad look, then pressed a little harder when Spe-chan fell silent.
All she wanted was to see the face Spe-chan made when she couldn't bring herself to refuse.
If she apologized afterward, she was sure Spe-chan would forgive her.
What kind of expression would Spe-chan show her?
Grass was just about to take off the mask and tell her she was joking, when—
"...Grass...-chan?"
"...Eh?"
The trembling voice, unable to fully hide its turmoil, shook Grass instead.
Cautiously, she looked at Spe-chan's face.
There was no expression there at all.
She looked absent, like a child following a butterfly with her eyes. It was as though time had stopped around her alone.
Grass couldn't understand how she felt.
That unreadable expression was terrifying.
"Spe...-chan?"
It felt as though Grass's own time slowed too.
"...No... you can't..."
In that tiny voice, and in the brief flash in Spe-chan's eyes, Grass saw it—the feeling that she didn't want Suzuka-san taken away from her.
People really do say the eyes speak more than the mouth.
"Grass-chaaaan. Isn't that a little too mean, even for you?"
Se-chan's slow voice stabbed straight into Grass's guilt.
"Grass gets way too heated when it comes to Spe-chan. But this time, you really overdid it, desu."
Even Grass couldn't argue with El on this one.
Even as a joke, she shouldn't say things that hurt someone.
"...I'm sorry, Spe-chan. I was teasing you."
"...Huh?"
Spe-chan's time started moving again.
"N-no, it's okay! I was the one who kept talking about Suzuka-san over and over—sorry!"
She was back to being the usual Spe-chan.
"You really are crazy about Suzuka-san, huh?"
"So passionate, desu! Woo-hoo!"
"Mooou, stop teasing me..."
Thanks to those two being so good at smoothing things over, the usual warmth of their little gathering returned.
Grass let out a quiet breath of relief where no one could notice, and she reflected on how ugly she had behaved.
She had seen a clear possessiveness in Spe-chan's eyes. Spe-chan herself may not even realize that she wanted to keep something all to herself, but...
...It was far scarier than being shouted at.
Scarier than being rejected.
If Spe-chan had stayed frozen like that, what would have become of Grass?
"...Make sure you reflect on this properly, desu."
El whispered it softly into her ear.
"Yes... you're right."
Just as there were things Grass could not yield, there were things Spe-chan did not want taken from her.
You mustn't steal what someone loves.
She ought to engrave that lesson into her heart.