"We promised Chika we'd try and get closer too, and she was serious about it," Riko said, shoulder brushing against You's and sweaty hands clenched tight at her sides. "So, that's what we're going to do. I guess."

You rocked side-to-side on Riko's bed, eyes looking about the room. From the nightstand littered with pictures to the piano in the corner before glancing out toward the balcony, or across it to the house on the other side. "I know we agreed to this when we both confessed to Chika and she came up with the idea, but I'm still not used to, well, dating you, too."

"It's a little strange isn't it." Riko tried a chuckled. You didn't react. "But I know it would make Chika happy if we tried."

"I know." You looked down at her lap with her hands together. The odd silence of the room making her voice quiet and shaky "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I'm not sure."

The silence was overbearing. The only sound each other's deep breaths and the odd creak of the bed under them. Riko kept her lips sealed tight and her hands stiff at her hip with a mind racing to think of anything. She couldn't find it in her to look to the side, knowing You wouldn't be faring any better. They'd been friends since the start of Aqours, of that there was never any doubt. The tension fueled by new expectations and an odd sort of relationship that neither ever expected to get roped into.

"I liked the new song you showed us yesterday," You said, eyes straight ahead. "It sounded good like always. It made me smile."

"Really." Riko swallowed a growing lump down. "It was supposed to be kind of sad."

"Oh." You pinched down on her thigh, biting back a curse. "I think I could see that, too. It just made me happy to hear you made a new song or something like that."

Riko nodded, knowing it didn't matter as not a single attempt at eye contact was made. She licked her dry lips as she croaked out a response. "Thanks."

Taking out her phone, Riko took a quick glance at the time. They had been sitting together for ten minutes. She could have sworn it had been an eternity. Where was Chika when they needed her? No, thoughts like that wouldn't do any good. Promises had been made to at least try, and try they would.

"I heard you've got a diving competition coming up," Riko said. "I hope you do well."

"Thanks." You slid her hands down onto her knees, tapping at an uneven, nervous rhythm. "It's a small tournament with the local schools. It's not a big deal or anything."

"Will Chika be there?"

"She goes to all my competitions."

Riko cocked her head straight, but not willing to look at You. "I'll go with her then. I've never seen you dive before."

"I'll look for you, then." You tried giving a smile, but it was crooked and forced, not that it was going to be seen anyway.

A short lull brought with it the usual overbearing awkwardness. The tight grips on skirts and fear-driven thoughts were shared. Both waiting for the other to take some move, to say something to break a tension that was never known as just friends.

"This is all Chika's fault!" You shouted, jolting Riko's attention to her. "Everything's all awkward and weird now. She isn't even here to help with any of this, and she was the one who said all three of us were going to date each other."

"I think that's the point." Riko giggled, an honest and real giggle as You turned to her in half-fake, half-real exasperation. "Chika knows we both love her more than anything, but she feels weird if we don't love each other, too. Or something like that. I didn't get all it."

"Neither did I." You threw her hands behind her head, shoulders slack for the first time since walking into Riko's home. "But that makes sense. I bet Chika could never believe two people could love her like that at the same time."

"I bet she still can't." Riko looked into You's eyes, a pretty bright blue she was able to make out in the dim lighting. "She's probably thinking of a bunch of ways that it isn't true even though she already accepted. That we don't actually 'love' her or something like that."

"You're right." You's straight lips turned into the slightest of smiles. "'How could those two even love someone like me' that's what Chika's thinking right now, I just know it."

"But next time she sees us she'll smile and hug us like she's the one who confessed first." Riko leaned her face in closer to You's as a grin broke out onto her face.

"Right." You chuckled as her eyes met Rikos, a beautiful flare to them each time Chika's name came up. "And we'll have to make sure she knows we love her because she's so amazing."

"I can't wait to see it. Do you think she'll get all nervous and blush like she did when we confessed?"

You's voice lost its inhibitions, filled with its usual talking-about-Chika exuberance. "I hope so because that was so adorable, don't you think?

"It was the cutest." Riko surprises herself with an ability to vocalize thoughts she'd have sworn would go to her grave. "But I still think she's prettiest when she smiles and gets all determined like when she's leading Aqours."

You nodded along, humming an affirmative. "She shines when standing on stage, doesn't she? It's still so hard for me to get over how amazing she is."

"I agree, and I have so much to thank her for, but I doubt she even realizes it." Riko's expression softened as she thought back. A serious tone she hadn't meant to take came without any struggle. "I don't even know if I'd be able to play the piano anymore if it weren't for her, but now I'm dancing and singing with a group of friends. Now we're dating, and I can't even believe it."

You calmed into the conversations weight. "I think Chika's special to everyone, but she's been my best friends forever. I've loved her since I was little, and now to be dating her, it's a like a dream."

"We're lucky, huh?" Riko asked. "That Chika's so amazing and weird to think of this idea of all three of us dating."

"Super lucky." You set her hands flat on the bed, brushing against Riko's who did the same. "But I don't think it's weird, just different, and very Chika-like."

"You're right." Riko bit her bottom lip, a small bout of anxieties wormed into her mind before she could continue. "But that does mean we're dating now, too."

"Yeah." You wouldn't break eye contact, hands still brushing together as her heart sped up just a beat faster. "I was worried about it at first. I'd never seen you as anything but a friend."

"I felt the same way."

"But." You picked her pinky up, interlocking it with Riko's, but not daring to take it any further. "I think it'll work out well."

Riko flushed red, squeezing You's pink in her own. "I think so, too."

More silence, but the tension and awkwardness from before were forgotten. A tender and understanding warmth filled the room as understanding and love were found in the daintiest of physical contact. Hearts beat a touch faster, palms were sweating, and eyes couldn't meet one another, but there was a joy. A knowing that moving forward things wouldn't be so weird strange, just happy and satisfied.

The door to the bedroom swung open, breaking the calm. You and Riko didn't break apart, but their wide eyes shot toward the door.

"I hope you two are getting along like I asked." Chika barged in with bags full of snacks and cheery attitude.

Neither You or Riko spoke up, frozen in place in the same position they had been in only a minute before.

Chika eyes went from the shoulders touching to the connected pinky. Her smile grew even wider, and eyes lit up in a pure joy. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting something. I'll be back later and let you two finish talking."

"Wait, Chika!" Riko stood up as she shouted, tugging on You in the process, but Chika had already shut the door. "That girl. Shouldn't she want to spend time with her girlfriends?"

You stayed on the bed, looking up at a distraught Riko. "I guess she was serious about the two of us getting closer."

Riko retook her spot, still as close to You as before. "She could at least be here with us."

"It would be nice." You took Riko's pinky back into her own, not comfortable with much more yet, but the intimacy with Riko felt natural. "But so is this."

Riko looked away, cheeks a dark red. "It is."

Another comfortable quiet went by before You started again. "Did you see the way Chika smiled when she saw how close we were?"

Riko perked up. "Wasn't it adorable."