It started with a whisper.

Or to be more precise, a whisper between Chika and You. Riko didn't pay much attention to it at the time, in fact she barely noticed it, but all throughout the week they kept up their whispering, their eyes darting to the redhead and away again when she turned to look. Their giggling didn't help either.

So after the third day of Chika and You's constant whispering, she finally asked them what was going on.

"You-chan and I are planning a little surprise, that's all," answered Chika nonchalantly with a grin on her face.

The brunette nodded. "And we can't tell you anything else, because that would ruin the surprise."

"Oh but don't worry," added Chika, "Trust us when we say it's a good surprise. For you."

Her girlfriends' words had calmed her heart, but had also induced the slightest sensation of dread in her stomach. The last time Chika and You had given her a surprise, the three of them had to clean out the school's swimming pool while Dia glared at them to make sure they didn't 'get distracted' with each other. Riko had scolded them quite a bit for their scheme. In the end, the only person who came out unscathed and in good spirits was Mari.

But unlike last time, there were no random deliveries from Ohara Shipping, nor were there any sightings of special firetrucks designed to spray liquid chocolate. So while Riko was apprehensive, she didn't feel too bad.

She felt fine, even on this lovely Friday afternoon, when Chika and You had left early while Riko had to stay behind for classroom duty.

And now, walking home alone in the rain with nothing more than an umbrella for company, Riko felt fine. Her girlfriends couldn't pull off anything too huge, not at their homes. Mito-nee would kill them if they did anything to the ryokan, and Riko's parents were gone on a holiday so they couldn't get into her house either.

So imagine her surprise when she got home only to hear two voices singing a duet of Daisuki dattara Daijoubu. And imagine their surprise when she joined in.

When she finally found them, they were sitting together on the floor surrounded by various bags of miscellanies, gazing up at her looking miserable despite the smiles on their faces.

"Surprise!" they chorused weakly.


Earlier...

"Candles?"

"Check!"

"Rose petals?"

"Check!"

"Sensual perfume?"

Sniff. "ACHOO! ...Uh, check..."

You sighed lightly as she tossed the clipboard onto Chika's bed. "Never mind, we'll just leave the perfume here. Maybe we can return it if we say it was already opened."

Chika shook her head. "If it makes a better atmosphere then we should definitely use it," she argued.

"Chika-chan, it's not going be very romantic if you're sneezing every three seconds," replied You, grabbing the annoying bottle from Chika's hands.

The ginger frowned but didn't try to snatch the perfume back. "Riko-chan deserves the best," she said.

"Yes she does," agreed You as she set the perfume down on Chika's desk. "And that includes the best Chika-chan we can give her, right?" she asked pointedly. You smiled as Chika gave a small nod, and the brunette gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Next time we'll get another kind that your nose gets along with, but for right now let's just get the surprise set up, okay?"

Chika chirped an affirmative, and the two girls began loading up their various supplies into large burlap sacks. When that was done, Chika opened the door to her balcony and You prepared to throw. Shifting her weight, she heaved the light but unwieldy bag of rose petals over her shoulder and lobbed it across the gap between houses, satisfied as it landed exactly where she'd aimed. A low hum of approval sounded out behind her, and You hastily fixed her shirt that had ridden up before glancing back to Chika.

"Like what you see?" she teased.

"Maaaaybe," was the ginger's reply. "Though I'll need another look just to be sure," she said with a wink.

You smirked and folded her shirt up to just below her bra, enjoying the feeling of Chika's eyes on her as she threw over more bags. Eventually, after throwing over a sack containing some choice pieces of lingerie they'd bought specifically for the occasion, she felt a finger caress the small of her back, and she looked back at Chika who only responded by wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"I thought this was supposed to be for Riko-chan?" asked You.

"I'm sure she won't mind if we get started without her, so long as we don't finish without her."

You chuckled coyly, before leaning in to give Chika a long, lingering kiss. Chika wrapped her arms around the brunette, hands pushing up her shirt to feel even more of You's back, when You pulled away and put a finger to Chika's wanting lips. "Nope," she declared, "Not yet."

The ginger's face morphed into a pouting frown, which disappeared as soon as she hatched another plan. "Maybe once we have everything set up, we can practice trying to seduce each other?"

"Well," considered You, recalling Chika's words from earlier, "Practice does make perfect, and Riko-chan deserves the best..." She sent a wink Chika's way and continued the manual labor.

As the last bag sailed across the gap to land on Riko's now very full balcony, You wiped her hands off, donning a smile for a job well done. She turned to Chika. "Okay! Ready for the hard part?"

The ginger shrunk back, looking at You and the opposite balcony with apprehension. "Um... Not really. I mean, I know we talked about this when we planned this whole thing out, but there's gotta be another way! Why don't you just go over first and unlock the front door for me?"

"Chika-chan," said You with a frown, "You know perfectly well why we can't just do that. Now come on." She crouched down on her knees and faced the balcony, gesturing to Chika. "Mount me," she ordered. (Somewhere, Mari just twitched.)

Gulping down as much nervous energy as she possibly could, Chika hesitantly stepped over her girlfriend and lowered herself down onto the high-diver's back, her legs firmly clasped by You's hands as she wrapped her arms around You's midsection. Chika squealed as You stood, tightening her grip as You made ready to jump across to Riko's balcony.

The brunette backed up all the way to the other end of the room to get as large a running start as possible. "On three. One... Two... Three!"

You started running the short distance from the wall to the balcony, Chika's stomach dropping like a rock. When she saw the sky, she panicked. She wailed as her arms and legs locked up tightly, practically putting You in a new type of wrestling hold and playing hell with the swimmer's balance.

The brunette yelped as her momentum was arrested, eyes wide as she realized this likely wouldn't end well. Alas, it was far too late for correction as You's foot slammed the rail of Chika's balcony and the girls sailed into the air.

And instead of landing on Riko's balcony in the same way they'd left the ryokan, they didn't land so much as... hang.

You's hands gripped the top of Riko's balcony as Chika held onto her for dear life, the two dangling in mid air. You was trying to take in the situation rationally and find a solution to their predicament.

Chika, not so much.

"Oh my god we're going to fall and die and never get to be successful school idols or maybe we'll just fall and break our legs but that'll also stop us from being school idols and everyone will be sad because our legs are broken and Riko will be sad because we can't dance with her and our subunit dynamic is going to be ruined because you can't make three units from seven people and oh my god if I die who's going to take care of Shiitake?!" wailed Chika in a single breath.

But, long story short, You managed to pull them up.

Now collapsed against the hard floor, You could only groan in agony as soreness shot through her muscles. Chika was collapsed as well, though from the mental exertion as opposed to You's physical exertion. The pair stayed like that for a minute before Chika spoke up.

"I guess... let's keep going?" She received a half-hearted thumbs up in reply. Chika stood and slid back the door to Riko's room.

Or rather, she tried to. "It's locked!" she exclaimed, much to her and You's shock. Groaning in despair, the two could only sink back to the floor, all their hard work having been for nothing.

"Well," observed Chika, "At least it's not raining."

Just then, a loud crack of thunder pierced the air as dark clouds rolled overhead. You turned to her girlfriend and gave a disapproving stare.

"Sorry..." murmured Chika.


Humming lightly to herself, Riko made her way upstairs with a small tray laden with two bowls of hot soup. Despite the massive setback, Chika and You had still been determined to do their best to seduce Riko, even though they were cold and wet from the rainstorm. After relieving herself of her water-laden uniform, You had promptly sneezed and collapsed onto Riko's bed with a groan. Chika had taken one look at You and decided that she had the right idea before joining her.

It was clear to Riko that her girlfriends were sick, so after stripping them completely of their wet trappings, she dried them off with a towel and had them change into the spare underwear they kept at her house before tucking them beneath the covers of her bed, the girls protesting all the way.

Riko just smiled her serene smile and kissed their foreheads, telling them to get some rest while she made them some soup. (Cup ramen poured into a bowl with more hot water counted as soup, right?)

As she opened the door to her room, her heart melted as she came across the sight of Chika and You cuddled up together under the covers, sound asleep as they hugged. Setting the soup down on her desk, she changed into her sleepwear and joined them. Even though it felt a bit uncomfortable fitting three people in her bed, it also felt so very right.

As she drifted off to sleep, Riko thought about this little surprise of theirs. Although she now had to look after and take care of her overzealous girlfriends while they recovered from their colds, she could say with certainty that it was still a very good surprise.


"Here, here! How does it taste, Riko-chan?"

"It's delicious, You-chan."

"Riko-chan, Riko-chan! How does this feel?"

"That feels wonderful, Chika-chan."

In the morning, the girls had made the collective discovery that Chika and You were completely fine, but Riko had caught their cold. So now they stayed in bed pampering her, You feeding her homemade soup while Chika gave her a backrub. And of course, each girl showered her with little kisses of affection.

Yep. Definitely a good surprise.

.

.

.

Omake:

In the morning, the girls had made the collective discovery that Chika and You were completely sick and needed to stay in bed for the rest of the weekend. So they stayed in Riko's bed, because no one really wanted to move them elsewhere.

Riko was fine with this arrangement, for the most part. She got to spend all day with her girlfriends, internally gushing at how cute they were when they were sick. Of course, not everything was quite so enjoyable...

"Riko-chan, Riko-chan! Do the thing!" requested/demanded Chika.

"Yeah, do the thing again, Riko-chan! Please!?" echoed the ever-supportive You.

The redhead sighed and acquiesced. She went over to stand in front of the bed, Chika and You staring at her expectantly as they sipped from their juice boxes. Clearing her throat, Riko did the thing.

"Riko Riko-rii~! Anata no Heart ni Riko Riko-rii, Egao todokeru Sakurauchi Riko Riko~ Riko-rii te oboeteru Love Riko~"