"Emiru-chan~"
"Hm?" the addressed girl turned to her classmate, "What is it, Kotori-chan?"
"Well...I just thought that you always go home right after school and wondered if you want to hang out with me for a bit?"
"Ah...I'm sorry." She gave her an apologetic look "Maybe another time. I have something else to do today"
"I see...Well, how about tomorrow?" Just like her sister, Nono Kotori was never one to give up easily.
"Sure."
"See you tomorrow then"
"Have a nice day"
After saying goodbye to Kotori and leaving school, Emiru took the path to the park, where she wanted to practice playing the guitar.
However, when she arrived at her favorite spot, there was already someone sitting there, looking at the sky.
"Lulu?"
The other girl looked at her, as if she had not noticed her before. "Emiru..."
"What are you doing here?"
"I just needed some time to think about something..."
"I see... I wanted to practice for a bit, do you mind?"
"Sure, go ahead." While Emiru took out her guitar, Lulu turned her attention back towards the sky.
For some time, neither of them spoke, the only sound between them were the soft notes Emiru played.
But after a while, she got curious, as Lulu seemed completely absent-minded.
"Is there something on your mind?"
Lulu turned her head, a surprised look at her face. "Why are you asking?"
"You are my best friend, I can tell...You seem more distant than usual today, and you look a bit helpless, so I thought you might have some trouble..."
Emiru stopped talking, realizing she was intruding into the other girl's private matters.
Lulu, however, gave her a soft, yet somewhat sad smile. "Thank you, Emiru."
"You know...if you want someone to talk to, I'll listen to everything that troubles you."
"Yeah." Lulu turned away, once again looking into the sky.
For a while, there was only silence between them. But then...
"Say, Emiru..." Lulu seemed a bit hesitant.
"What is it?"
"Can you tell me about love?"
The younger girl was shocked, "Whaaat? Why do you want to know?"
"I'm just curious...You always talk about how you love playing the guitar. Hana often says she loves her family. But I don't understand it."
"I see..." Emiru leaned back, now looking into the sky herself.
"I'm still young, so there might be things I can't explain properly, but..." she started slowly, carefully trying to find the right words, "Basically, to love someone or something means you like that person or thing very much. When I say that I love playing the guitar, it means that I really enjoy it, while Hana-senpai's love for her family shows that she likes being with them, and feels at home with them."
"I see...thank you, Emiru." Lulu gave her another smile.
"You're welcome."
Once again, there was silence between them, until Lulu spoke up again.
"Say, Emiru..."
"What is it? Do you want to know something else?"
"Well...is there another kind of 'love'? In books and films, characters often talk about how they love each other, but they don't appear to be family..."
Emiru let out a small sigh. "There is, actually. I don't know if I can explain it properly, though."
"Can you try?"
She hesitated for a moment, then gave a small nod.
"That kind of love is...special. They say if you love someone in that way, you basically want to be even closer to them than just being friends. You want to be at their side forever. Just thinking about that person..." her voice got softer, with an almost unnoticeable sad undertone, "Just thinking about them makes your heart beat faster. And when you are close to that person, you feel warm and just happy, like nothing else matters as long as that moment lasts forever..."
"I see... But what if that person does not answer these feelings?"
Emiru turned her face away "It hurts...it hurts so much you feel like you're about to die...like you'll never be happy again..."
"Emiru..." Lulu, having noticed the change in her friend's voice, was concerned "Could it be...that you are in love with someone?"
The younger girl's body twitched, still facing away from her. Then, she slowly raised a hand and put it on her chest.
"I don't have any experience in these things, but... I think I am."Slowly, she turned around, looking at Lulu again. "What about you?"
"Eh?" Lulu looked down, taking a moment to answer the question. "Well, I am an android, so I don't really have a 'beating' heart, but...I think that I do know that 'warm and happy' feeling you're talking about. So I'd say yes, I am in love with someone."
"Is that so...?" Emiru turned away again, hiding her painful expression from her friend. "That person, what...what are they like? What do you like about them?"
"What I like about that person...? Well, she's a nice girl who puts everyone else before herself, even if it makes her own life harder. She even accepted someone like me, even when she found out what I was..." Lulu's voice trailed off.
"I see...she's talking about Saaya-senpai..." small tears were in Emiru's eyes as she came to that conclusion,"I can understand it, though. Saaya-senpai is kind and beautiful, of course anyone would fall in love with her rather than..."
"Emiru?" Lulu's concerned voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"I-it's nothing..." wiping her tears away, she quickly stood up. "But I have to go now..."
She started walking away, but before she was even able to take three steps, she felt a pair of hands holding her back before Lulu hugged her softly from behind.
"Lulu?" Suddenly, she felt something hot and wet dripping on her shoulder. It took her a moment to realize that now Lulu was the one crying.
"Please...don't leave..." hearing her friend's pained voice made Emiru's heart hurt as well.
For a short while, neither of them moved, one of them trying to understand the situation, the other one trying to calm down.
Eventually, Lulu loosened her embrace.
"I'm sorry..." she murmured, barely audible "It's just...when i saw you leaving, it really hurt...I felt like I would never see you again if I didn't stop you..."
"Lulu..."
"Emiru... I love you. I love you more than anyone or anything else. Even if your heart belongs to someone else, I want you to accept my feelings, even if you can't return them..."
"Lulu..." Emiru was surprised, a faint blush reddening her cheeks. But then, she smiled.
Gently, she took her friend's hand and placed it on her chest.
"Can you feel it?" she asked the other girl.
"Your heart...it's beating faster than usual..." There was a slight undertone of sadness in the answer given to her, and the hand was slowly pulled back. "Could you be thinking about that person...the one you're in love with?"
She turned around and gave her a soft smile before putting her hand back on her heart.
"Right now, I don't need to think about that person. That is because that person, the one I love...is right here."
"What...?"
She wiped away a single tear flowing down her friend's face before using the same hand to pull the other girl's head closer to her own.
"What I want to say is...The one person I fell in love with...is you."
She closed her eyes and brought their faces together.
Their lips met just for split second before they separated and Emiru opened her eyes again to look at her beloved.
"You know, if we tell the others about this, Hana-senpai might be so shocked she falls down and hurts her head."
"Probability...84%. Better prepare a cushion." This time, Lulu was the one bringing their lips together for a moment.
"If my brother knew, he'd probably lock me up in our house because girls should not date each other in his opinion."
"Probability...zero. I'd never let anyone take you away from me, not even your family." Another short peck.
"If you kiss me more, I might fall in love with you even more and hug you so tight that it might hurt you..."
"Probability...unimportant. I don't care if you hurt me, as long as it's out of love."
And, once again, Lulu kissed her now-girlfriend. But where the kisses before had been short and shy, this one was longer, full of her emotions.
And Emiru tearfully returned the kiss, but this time they were tears of happiness.
Hello everyone,
writing this story took longer than expected (it was almost completely planned 24 hours after episode 20 came out, but damn exams...) Disclaimer: The usual stuff about me not owning Precure (sadly) or the characters (which is even worse)
Also, these two are absolutely cute together, maybe I'll write about them some more later.