"So... you're nailing my housemate."

"I am."

"...How's that going?"

"It's okay."

Well, Yukari just exhausted her one conversation topic with Chidori.

It had been a long road to recovery for the former SEES Members, who spent the majority of their third year in high school trying to pick up the pieces after the tragic loss of their leader. It was a period of experimentation, as they tried living separately once again, and learned a valuable lesson: They had become a family, closer than they ever could be tied only by blood, and were not meant to be apart, at least, not yet. As the juniors entered college, Mitsuru (who had been quite lonely herself) arranged for them to live together in a large house, and for transfers to her own university. Once they had all moved back in together in Kyoto, it just felt "right."

As everyone expected, Junpei and Chidori began to date not long after her release from the hospital. Despite the loss of most of her memory after their brush with death, it seemed as if they were just fated to be together, and came as a relief to the rest of the former SEES. Yukari, in particular, wanted a fresh start with the young woman she once called her enemy, now just an acquaintance who was dating one of her closest friends.

Which lead her here, to a pleasant little coffeeshop, where she had asked Chidori to come with her that day, and discovered that they had nearly nothing in common with each other. But dammit, she wasn't gonna walk out of here until she was friends with Chidori even if it killed her.

Chidori was scribbling away in her sketchpad. It would have been too much to ask to get her to leave the thing in her bag, but she really wished she'd at least look up when talking to her. What was she drawing anyway? Her favorite model wasn't here. Maybe if she leaned in a little...

"What are you doing?" Chidori's voice was neither scolding nor curious, just blank. She gazed right into Yukari's eyes with a quiet intensity that sent a shiver down the brunette's spine.

"Ah, sorry Chidori-san... I was just a little curious, I know you don't like people looking at your sketchpad..." This wasn't going great. Looking at Chidori's drawings without permission was a big faux-pas, and she should really have known better.

Chidori just shook her head. "It's fine, really... I've... come to appreciate others looking at my art..." She smiled very slightly as she held up her sketch for Yukari to see: a detailed, lovely drawing of Yukari herself. It was distinctly her, without being a caricature. It reminded Yukari of the art of Junpei she saw with the rest of the team when Chidori had died, she felt the same amazement as she did then, at how well she captured the essences of her appearance.

"Chidori it's... it's great! I love it! Can I... Can I maybe have a copy of it later?" She was so excited she didn't even notice her voice progressively getting louder and higher-pitched.

Her new friend wilted a little under the praise. "Thank you, Yukari-san... the people in my art classes say I'm good, but... I don't know if they only say it to be nice."

"No way Chidori-san, your art's fabulous! Can I see your other work?"

Chidori held up her sketchpad and thought for a second. "Um, maybe later... I have some work in here that... isn't appropriate for a public place."

Yukari's eye twitched. "It wouldn't happen to be of..."

Chidori gave a light blush and a faint smile. "Yes. He's a very willing model."

What a lovely corner to have painted herself into. "W-well, I wouldn't want to get in the way of your relationship, I'm sure you wouldn't want me to see- Uh, anyway! Ever gone to a karaoke bar!?"

She had not, as it turned out. And the wonderful thing about Yukari's new favorite place was that they had a liquor license, which made getting the shy and withdrawn Chidori to sing a whole lot easier. Get a few glasses of wine into that chick and she could really belt 'em out. They sang until they were (mostly) sober again and could stumble on out, still giggling and laughing uncontrollably.

"You're such a good singer, Chidori-chan!" She wasn't, she most certainly was not, but it sure seemed that way when you were sufficiently buzzed.

"I'm... not planning to give up art for singing just yet, Yukari-chan." As far as they were concerned, getting drunk at a karaoke bar together officially put you on first name-chan basis. "Besides, you're a far better singer than I..."

"One thing's for sure though; we're best together! Did you hear all that shouting and applause after our duet!?"

"Yukari-chan, I'm reasonably certain that was because a beautiful woman was singing and dancing on stage." Chidori's eyelids lowered ever so slightly as she praised her new friend.

"Nahhh..." Yukari said, leaning onto Chidori as she guided her into sitting on a bench. "It's cause there were two beautiful women on stage!"

Chidori blushed again, Yukari meeting her gaze with her own. A moment of silence passed.

Neither one was sure who initiated the kiss. Actually, they were pretty sure it was both of them equally. Yukari leaned harder and harder against Chidori until they were full-on making out, and the red-haired girl rolled onto her back with Yukari atop her. The kiss broke only when both needed to come up for air. Yukari's pink lipstick had added a touch of color to Chidori's natural lips, which went well with the shade of pink the rest of her face had turned. Both women gasped for air, and considered where to go from here.

Chidori broke the silence. "I have a boyfriend, you know."

Yukari thought on that for a second. "...I have an idea. Let's go see him."

Yukari lead them on the long way home to walk off the rest of the booze. Junpei didn't jump down people's throats or anything, but he still hated alcohol more than just about anything else, and she respected his reasons why.

"I'm home, and I brought your girl!" Yukari yelled as she barged into Junpei's room without knocking.

He didn't mind much. "Hey, Yuka-tan! Hey, Chidorita~! How'd your girl's night out go?" He grinned broadly. Evidently it went well, they were holding hands as they entered! It would make him the happiest guy in the world if his friends were friends with his girlfriend too.

"It went... well." Chidori murmured. There was a faint blush on her cheeks and she glanced at Yukari to continue.

She took the hint. "So, anyway Junpei, uh... There's no other way to say this, so I'll just say it-" She paused, flattened out her skirt, smiled brightly, and admitted: "We made out for several minutes. Wanna have a threesome?"

Junpei looked like he didn't understand at first, and then his face slowly ran through the emotions of shock, comprehension, consideration, resolution, joy, arousal, true contentment, realization, and finally fear as he tore his gaze from the two gorgeous women at his door to his bed.

Now, Junpei had a bunk-bed he had pulled off the street and restored. He and Akihiko shared the room, with Akihiko on the top bunk and Junpei below. The bottom bunk, however, was also used as a couch and blocked from the view of the door by a wardrobe. The surprised faces of Akihiko and Mitsuru peered around the large piece of furniture, from where they seemed to be having a study session.

Oh.

Well, if she's already at the bottom of the hole, may as well dig.

"Hey Senpais! M-Make it a fivesome?" She said, before realizing how ridiculous it was.

Mitsuru sighed, removed her reading glasses, and started to unbutton her blouse.

AN: I cranked this story out in a matter of hours while working on Ripples of Old Wounds, and thought it was terrible and I did the subject of polyamorous SEES (a subject near and dear to my heart) very poorly. I posted it anyway on AO3, simply because I could use the tagging system there to more easily warn people that I didn't think it was any good. A surprising amount of people liked it, and since Leafydream suggested I post it here too, here it is.

It's also going to be a series, of episodes from the college-era poly SEES crew. After I've gotten a few chapters in, I might probably open up requests or prompts, at least as suggestions. I'll do my best to keep it to a T-rating, but who knows what the future holds?

Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to let me know if you like this idea! Stay tuned for episode 2 soon!