100 Yen for Your Love

by artsybeanpole

She always found herself looking, but sometimes the other would look back, and both would wish that they had enough red bean soda and homemade lunches so these days could last forever.

Of all the things that she found herself looking at, it had to be Momo Kisaragi.

Which wasn't really all that strange, rather, the strangest thing was that sometimes she would find her looking back.

And then she would tilt her orange ponytail in that sweet way of her's and then smile that Momo Kisaragi smile, and Kido found herself wanting to disappear more and more often because now sometimes it would happen the other way around and she wanted to die.

She seemed to love red bean soda to no end, so Kido snuck to the vending machine and fed it 100 yen coins before throwing them back up in the bathroom. Momo had walked in while she was throwing her guts into the sink, curiously holding up the soda, and beamed at her, and Kido thought that was the first time she had actually blushed while throwing red bean soda into a porcelain sink, though she doubted it would be the last if it were for Momo Kisaragi.

They sat on the bathroom floor until the window turned the tiles white to orange, sharing stories and laughter between sips of red bean soda and exchanges of how stupid their brothers could be sometimes.

When they had smiled and bid each other goodbye, both flopped into their pillows and blushed and rolled around on their beds until morning and wished that there could be a million more red bean sodas so they could hear that person's laugh bounce again on those dirty bathroom walls.

The first time Kido had positively beamed her very own signature Momo Kisaragi smile was when she had shared her homemade lunch with Momo and she had commented, nearly spitting rice as she enthusiastically downed red bean soda, that Kido was amazing, that is, at least until she had carelessly let slip that she would love for Kido to be her wife. Kido found herself trying to find rice to spit because now Kisaragi—no, Momo, she had told her to call her—was the same color as the aluminum can she was holding and while it wasn't quite the signature Momo Kisaragi smile that she loved so much, she loved Momo all the same, and made sure to say so, so now their faces matched.

Their red faces were perhaps the only things that matched, as Momo's brother had so idly said whilst eating dinner with his bright dimpled wife with two red clips framing her brown hair and scarf, but it was lost as all three girls had screamed (Kido in embarrassment, Ayano in delight, Momo in anger at her brother) and then there was hugging and Ayano's bright exclamation, "I can't wait for you to be my family too!" and Shintaro had said, "Hey, then there's one more thing to match," and they found themselves the color of red bean soda again.

Kido laughed and commented that she wished that she had as much money as Momo so she could buy enough red bean soda so she could be with Momo everyday, and Momo had laughed back and said she wished that Kido could cook her those homemade lunches everyday so she could see Kido smile more. "Just get married already!" yelled Kano from down the hallway, and both of them had turned red, until Momo yelled back, red faced, "Ok!" and grabbed Kido's collar and kissed her.

Kido really did wish she had enough 100 yen coins for all the red bean soda vending machines in the world.

They had enough 100 yen coins for an apartment to live in a room 107, and Kido had snuggled under a blanket with her fiancé while they watched a recommended 'hilarious' gore on the staticy screen and cutesy anime with short skirts ("You should wear that, Kido!" and Kido grabbed the remote and quickly changed it with a pink face).

The first ring they bought was 100 yen, too, from a cheap convenience store, and Momo suggested, after swinging Kido around enough times for them to travel the world twice, getting married right there and then—Kido should definitely wear the tuxedo, Momo decided—and Kido had been admant (after giving it a thought) that they should not seal their everlasting love over a red bean soda flavored ring pop.

When they did get married, Momo had smiled and whispered into the crook of her neck, "I wish all the red bean sodas in the world that I can stay here with you," and Kido had laughed and slid a ring pop onto her fourth finger and teased, "I wish all the homemade lunch boxes in the world that I could stay here with you," and they had laced their fingers together and believed that it was enough.