Disclaimers apply.

Arata's focused eyes.

Chihaya feels a shiver running, but it's the good kind of shiver. The one that takes you by surprise, a rush of excitement that lingers when it's made its course. It takes your heartbeat and turns it into a fluttering bird that seems to go all the way down to your stomach.

This is Arata, this is karuta, she thinks. And she is pink in the skin when she tries to contain—to measure his passion.

How far does it go? No one can answer and that unfathomable thought makes her voice quiver into crude syllables.

So much passion for karuta…what would it be like; an uninvited thought wanders in, to receive his passion?

An unfamiliar desire strikes her then, and suddenly all Chihaya can think about is his gaze shading, not on the cards, but on her. She is laid on her bed with eyes squeezed shut, hands tightly coiled on her sheet. Sweat permeating on her forehead. She suddenly imagines that he is there in her room—in her bed, looking at her, eyeing her so coolly behind his glasses. His arms and legs braced over her like his form on the tatami. His eyes would sweep over her, slowly, languidly, memorizing her skin as if it were poetry.

Then for some reason, her clothes would inexplicably vanish and she would cross her arms in some fragmented sense of modesty.

"Don't."

His Fukui accent is husky and his smile is gentle, his eyes slightly narrowed with his words. Chihaya immediately knows this is a command.

The atmosphere is heavy. She starts gasping strongly and this makes her chest move ever so noticeably. Arata's eyes record every detail and she feels such a heat that she is certain his glasses will fog up.

She feels him shift his position. His weight now resting on his elbows, his legs giving.

And his body—she bites her lower lip from a pleasure so excruciatingly painful—touching hers.

The feel of his weight is intoxicating.

His face inches closer and he gently blows away a wayward strand from her cheek.

She moans. Her arms wrap around his waist, pulling him closer, wanting to soak him all in.

"A-Arata—"

"Wake up, you lazy bum!"

Chihaya wakens in surprise and spots Chitose leaning against her doorframe, glaring at her with impatience.

"Your breakfast is getting cold. Get moving. Geez."

Chihaya sits up reluctantly. And as Chitose starts stringing insults, she resists the urge to throw a blunt object at her sister.

Owari.