It was a bit after everyone's graduation from Otonokizaka Academy that Kotori realized how big of a crush she had on Umi. Kotori didn't even realize it until one reunion between all of u's. Nothing's changed and karaoke went just fine until Nozomi, green eyes with a twinkle, nominated Kotori and Umi to sing Anemone Heart. It had been a while since they last sang the duet together but the moment Kotori looked into Umi's eyes something felt different. Her heart was racing and it was definitely not the same as the adrenaline she got from singing. Afterwards, when everyone's chatting in small groups, Kotori realizes. Oh, she has a crush on Umi. Oh, she doesn't know what to do. Oh, Umi is really dense. Kotori settles for attempting to secure a date.

"Umi, would you like to go to the theatre with me? I have tickets for the 23rd at 3 pm. You don't have class then right?" asks Kotori. She's twirling her ash brown hair in her hands, trying to make sure she doesn't sound too desperate.

"Oh the theatre sounds nice! Have you called Honoka to check if she's free?" One sentence and Kotori's plan already seems to be going downhill.

"I already asked and she said she was busy." Kotori makes a mental note to apologize to Honoka later by buying her sweets. But right now Kotori has to take action.

"Oh really? Maybe we should reschedule for a different time then." Kotori's plan transforms into a falling star, a meteor descending to planet failure.

"I already bought the tickets!" Kotori's voice is just a bit too loud but it's okay because Umi seems to have finally gotten the idea.

"I'll make sure to mark the calendar then? Make sure to dress appropriately for the weather okay? Don't forget your umbrella. Call me before you go so I can remind you in case you forget anything." A click later and Kotori givies herself a pat on the back. The first step of her plan has succeeded and the meteor managed to avoid the planet's gravitational field. Straight into the brick wall known as Umi's denseness.

The movie goes fine, but nothing has changed. In fact their, date wasn't any different from their usual get togethers. They talked the usual topics and Kotori resorts to dialing Nico for help after she gets home.

"What do you want? I'm busy." After graduation, Nico and Kotori stayed close on the pure virtue of their frequent shopping trips for new fabrics. Which often turned into discussion on the latest news on everyone else's events.

"I need help seducing someone." Kotori hopes Nozomi isn't secretly eavesdropping on this conversation with her spiritual power.

"You picked the right choice in calling Nico to- wait what." Kotori can already see Nico's pink eyes widening before squinting in disbelief. Then again Kotori also saw Umi's embarrassed face before today's date but that didn't happen so what does Kotori know.

"Nico, I need a certain someone to notice me okay." Kotori can't afford to waste anymore time.

"Well it better not be Honoka after-"

"Nico, do you like Honoka!?" Now this is an interesting development. Ignore wasting any time, Kotori needs to find out more about this relationship.

"No I'm not into Honoka! Shut up and let me finish okay? I'm just staying at her house right now. Look I just think it'd be awkward to discuss such a topic if it was her." There's a short pause, before Nico speaks again. "Wait, if it isn't Honoka then… Umi? OF ALL THE PEOPLE UMI? POSSIBLY THE ONLY PERSON ON U'S DENSER THAN ELI."

Was Kotori's crush really that obvious for Nico to guess?

"Don't yell it so loudly! Honoka might hear you! But yes please help me, I don't know what to do."

"Look have you tried, you know, actually giving her hints?" Nico's voice is sarcastic but also hit the spot right on the mark. Kotori can't even say yes.

"Nico, when are you going to be done on the phone? I'm going to start the movie soon if you don't hurry up!" Kotori mentally remembers this moment for later. In case she needs to convince Nico for favors she tells herself.

"I'll try. Tell Honoka I said hi, okay? Good night!" says Kotori and she hangs up. She can't wait for Nozomi to hear about this.

Umi agreed to a second date at the local aquarium. This time Kotori didn't need an excuse for why Honoka couldn't make it, she already had plans with Nico. Kotori didn't know what to think of this development other than to buy Nico a congratulatory cake later. Though given Kousaka Sweets, maybe she should buy her a book on diabetes.

"Kotori, I'm over here." Standing by the entrance is Umi who of course got here before Kotori. Kotori gulps a bit over how stunning Umi looks, how Umi's wearing the sweater Kotori made for Christmas last year. It's going to be a long day.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting,"says Kotori pulling out her wallet "Let's go buy tickets."

"I already bought us the tickets." Umi says it so nonchalantly but Kotori already feels guilty. Umi must have noticed because she says, "No need to worry about paying me back, I'm happy that you invited me out today."

"But Umi…" Kotori says it half heartedly, but she knows she can't win. Umi must know too cause there's a glint in her amber eyes.

"No buts, come on. We have some time before the dolphin show so let's enjoy our time together." It's not fair. Umi's face isn't fair and Kotori just wants to kiss her but no, not right now. Of course Umi just has to take Kotori's hand and Kotori is definitely going to lose it. It is going to be a very long day indeed.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Kotori and Umi both agreed to say good bye after the show but once they've left the aquarium, they loiter a bit instead.

"Yeah, the ending was great but I also liked how the trainer let the kids try feeding the dolphin." Kotori would continue but she sees how Umi gazes into the distance. How the amber eyes are there but also not there."Why are you so tense, Umi? Is there something on your mind?"

"My apologies, the recent writing assignment has been causing me some trouble." Kotori giggles a bit hearing that. She remembers back when Umi had trouble writing song lyrics at times, often leading to unnecessary stress. "You seem rather tense yourself." Kotori freezes for a second before quickly thinking of an excuse. Kotori isn't ready to confess just yet.

"I'm just thinking of some designs for my latest project. The fabric I wanted to use isn't the texture I wanted it to be." Kotori keeps on expecting Umi's amber eyes to turn away as she continues to babble on but outside of blinking, it's Kotori who breaks eye contact more often.

"I think you'll do fine." If Umi says it then Kotori can believe it. Umi doesn't make false promises.

"We can't hide anything from each other anymore." Kotori's voice sounds disappointed but both of them know that they're most comfortable around each other.

"Even if you say that, you still try to hide things from me or hesitate. You know I can tell when you do that, right?" If that was true then Kotori wished Umi could see Kotori's crush and confess instead but sometimes life didn't go Kotori's way.

"Geez Umi, I'm trying my best here." Making Umi blush is easy, but Kotori still hasn't gotten much of any confirmation of interest out of Umi.

"I understand that too." Umi's navy blue hair shines just perfectly in the sunset and Kotori momentarily forgets what she wants to say. It almost makes Kotori want to confess.

"Besides, you always speak so formally to me even now."

"Sorry, sorry it's just how I'm used to speaking." The idle chatter continues like this for a while. Kotori doesn't mind but she knows she's on a countdown for the end of the date. "I'll see you on Tuesday then?" It's time for them to head back home and it's now or never for Kotori to confess.

"Umi, I-" Wonderful Rush starts playing and Umi looks embarassed. Kotori is going to kill someone, most likely not Umi.

"Good evening, this is Umi Sonoda." Kotori takes a bit calm down. Maybe today just isn't the day."Oh Honoka, why did you call me- WAIT WHAT." There's a lot of excited noises coming out of Umi's phone but it's mostly unintelligible. Kotori can't figure out what is going on until Kotori's phone vibrates and she checks to see an image of Honoka kissing Nico. After sending a congratulations text to Nico, Kotori gives up. Today definitely isn't the day to ask Umi out.

It turned out that the next 20 dates weren't the days either. Kotori had reached a breaking point. Repeated attempts at wooing Umi had led to the conclusion that Umi was denser than a black hole. Kotori chuckled to herself about the metaphor because like a blackhole, Umi threatened to consume every bit of Kotori's attention at this rate. If it hadn't already. Admitting defeat on both her romantic situation and her latest homework assignment Kotori resorted to her phone. She had Nico on speed dial. Eli and Maki were also called for good measure.

"Nice to see you after such a long time Kotori." Eli is formal when they meet up at the cafe, but Rin just runs towards Kotori at full speed and Kotori hasn't worked out in a while. She's on the floor, Maki is checking for a pulse and Nico looks amused.

"So based on your phone call yesterday, you're reaching desperation." Nico's voice, most likely, if Kotori hadn't lost all her brain cells after Rin's murder attempt. Kotori sits next to Eli after getting up from the floor. Across from her is a disaster waiting to happen.

"I'm lost. Umi is about as dense as Eli." Kotori tries to gesture at Eli whose blue eyes glare at her, looking offended but Kotori knows that Eli knows it is true. Eli is never going to live down the ring incident.

"You got to express all your feelings! Oh, buy her flowers, though make sure she isn't allergic like Hanayo was." Rin has a smug look on her face when she turns towards Maki who is already looking at the wall. Kotori debates sending Hanayo some allergy medicine but figures that Nozomi already beat her to the punch.

"I've tried that…"Kotori's desperation comes out like a whimper. Rin steals a cookie from Maki. Nico tries too but a quick movement of Maki's hand leaves Nico a bit red on her arm.

"Then how about a fancy date? Oh oh there's a new restaurant by Maki's apartment that looks super good! I bet you Hanayo could tell you about it." Rin seems like she's going to go on forever but Nico stands up, all dramatic, an attempt to draw attention to herself.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST TELL HER YOU LIKE HER YOU UNDERCLASSMEN ARE SO HOPELESS JESUS CHRIST." People are staring. Kotori moves back a bit and before anyone can stop her, Maki opens her mouth.

"Didn't Honok-"Maki doesn't even get to finish. Even after high school, things never change.

"SHUT UP MAKI." More people are staring and Eli looks like she's preparing for damage control. Kotori wonders if this would've gone better or worse if Nozomi was here.

"FIVE ON MAKI!" yells Rin, another one of Maki's cookies entering her mouth. Definitely worse.

Kotori invited Umi to the restaurant as suggested. Umi shows up in the navy blue dress that Kotori made for her last birthday, the same hue as Umi's hair. Kotori stammers out her orders and the waiter looks very amused. Everyone in the whole world seems to have noticed Kotori's giant crush on Umi Sonoda except Umi herself. Kotori spends most of dinner debating to take off her cardigan. If Kotori knew that this as going to happen she would've chosen a color other than green to match her reddening skin.

"Did you enjoy the food?" Umi manages to pay for the date again and she even walks Kotori home, paying for the train fare as well. Umi cheats.

"It was very good although the portions were a bit bigger than I expected." Now's Kotori's chance. "Um Umi…"

"Yes?"

"Are you free tonight?" Kotori watches as Umi pauses and thinks.

"Yes, I believe so. Do you want me to stay over?"Umi smiles at Kotori, that smile that Kotori finds so reassuring yet now Kotori can only hear the sound of her heartbeat and her courage slip away.

"No, it's fine." Says Kotori. She doesn't want Umi to get the wrong idea.

"Why did you change your mind? Is there something wrong?"

"I just remembered I needed to finish my homework. I hope we can see each other tomorrow." It's not a lie technically. Kotori's been putting off her homework for a while now.

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow then." Kotori doesn't know what she wants anymore. There's a tiny bit a hope, waving good bye to Umi and thinks she can see Umi hesitating a bit, but she closes the door and just sits. Back against the door, phone open to Umi Sonoda's contact page. Her phone vibrates indicating a message from Nico. The contents are obvious but Kotori doesn't have the heart to tell Nico that she failed. 10 minutes later, Wonder Zone starts playing and Kotori checks to see who called her so late. Umi Sonoda.

"Hello?"

"Oh Kotori, this is Umi… Nico told me to call you but I don't understand why?" Kotori was going to buy Nico so many gifts after this. If Kotori didn't die first that is. "Are you okay Kotori? Do you need me to come back, I should have known that something was up when you wanted me to stay tonight. I'll be there right away."

"Umi," Kotori mentally steels herself before continuing, "I want to tell you something."

"Yes?"

"I love you. Will you go out with me?" Silence and all of a sudden Umi hangs up. Kotori's doomed and debates asking Nico if she wants to come over for ice cream. A knock on the door and Kotori sits up. Another knock, this time a bit harder. Kotori doesn't know what's going on but Wonder Zone is playing again. She picks it up without looking.

"I'm so sorry I dropped my phone." Another brief moment of silence and,"Kotori, I love you too. I'm so happy you finally confessed." Kotori's going to cry, scratch that she is crying. "Kotori are you alright? I'm so sorry did I hurt you?" Umi's voice changes and the worry in her tone makes Kotori want to cry a bit more.

"I'm fine Umi. I'm just, so happy."

"I'm happy that you're happy. But um… can you open the door?" Kotori wipes off her tears and turns the door knob. Umi's smiling with a phone in one hand and a bouquet in the other. Kotori's about to burst into tears again, but she doesn't really mind. Once they both have settled down on Kotori's bed, Kotori decides to ask a question.

"Why didn't you ask first?

"Because you never spoke up in u's," Umi hesitates a bit and in a quiet whisper, "and I wanted us to have a relationship where you weren't afraid to speak your mind." Umi isn't being fair right now and Kotori just wants to kiss her.

"Can I kiss you?"

"Of course."

Author Note: Posted from AO3 because some person left a comment saying I should. Check the AO3 version for notes and possibly better updated version. I can't remember if I copy pasted this off of AO3 or the google doc or if it even makes a difference.