a/n: two kumirei fics in one day! it's an "it's a confession of love" anniversary miracle
"It's a bit stuffy in here, don't you think?" Reina ran her hand along the edge of the seat, looking out the window.
"It won't be on the boat." Kumiko twiddled her thumbs in her lap. "A-all that open space and fresh air. Just us and the ocean."
"You've thought about this a lot," Reina noted. Kumiko nodded. The bus bumped along a pothole, jostling the two of them closer together. "Do you think the beach will be crowded?"
"Maybe." Kumiko closed her eyes. "H-hope not."
"It certainly won't be if it rains," Reina said, bluntly.
"I hope it doesn't rain," Kumiko said, just as bluntly.
It did rain, as it turned out, and Kumiko let out a low, long groan when she realized this, when she reached the sailboat and saw that it was already covered in a million little droplets.
"Should we go back?" she wondered, asking herself as much as she was asking Reina, who shrugged.
"You wanted to do this, didn't you?"
"W-well, yeah." Kumiko couldn't lie, couldn't mask the fact that she still wanted to go out into the rollicking waves with Reina next to her, weather be damned. Reina saw right through her, as she always did. That was comforting all on its own. "But should we?"
"You tell me," Reina said, and then she got in the boat. Kumiko grinned, rushing in after her.
They were both soaked in a matter of minutes, but Kumiko really couldn't bring herself to care. It didn't seem like Reina did, either, as a matter of fact. They'd probably catch pneumonia or at least a cold, probably lay in bed shivering and sniffling for days afterwards, but recklessness was sometimes worth it just for that delightful sense of adventure one felt deep in their bones during the event itself.
"It's certainly not stuffy," Reina said, keeping her hands on the edge of the boat. Kumiko let out a chuckle.
"It's really not." The sky was dark, incredibly so, but it didn't storm - thank goodness, because Kumiko and Reina might've been thrill seekers for the day, but careless people they were not. Thus, Kumiko - romantic as she was, remembering so clearly the day she'd thought about how she wouldn't mind losing her life looking into Reina's eyes, did not want to die today.
"What made you think of this, anyhow?"
"You took me up the mountain b-because nobody else would do it on a festival night. I figured nobody would go boating in the fall. I mean, it's not an exact comparison, but it's something, right?"
"It's more than something." Reina moved away from the railing to face Kumiko, her light coat all but uselessly hanging onto her body. "It feels . . . nice." She looked to the gray sky and let the rain fall on her face, closing her eyes. Kumiko chuckled again. "What's so funny?"
"You really don't make much of a case against the whole manic pixie dream girl thing, y'know that?"
"You've made me well aware," Reina retorted.
"I guess that makes me the lucky gal who gets to spend the rest of my life with you, then." Kumiko awkwardly crouched to one knee. "Look at me, please." Reina did, and her eyes widened. "Okay, s-so this isn't really a normal proposal because I don't actually have the ring with me, because I was scared the boat would lurch and then it'd fall into the water and that would be pretty stupid, wouldn't it? But anyway, Reina, I've known you since middle school and loved you since high school and I know so many people who've broken up with their high school sweethearts but we're not most people, Reina." She'd practiced this speech before, loosely, but what she said now was coming from some other place, deeper down. "We're, uh, we're special, and I want to be special with you forever. If you would, anyway, if you don't want to that's-"
"Yes." Reina's eyes glimmered with tears - even in the rain, Kumiko could see that. "Yes, of course." Kumiko stood up to wobbly legs and wrapped her in a tight, tight hug.
"I love you, y'know that?" she murmured into Reina's neck.
"You too," Reina whispered back, and the boat rocked back and forth and back and forth, but nothing had ever felt so peaceful.
a/n: this proposal was as much of a surprise to reina as it was to me, by the way. these girls have minds of their own, and i am but a humble vessel.