We Stand Together

Chapter 1: Uncomfortable

Each night passed and she inched closer and closer with each attempt. There were only a few hairs out of place at this point. She must have fallen over a hundred… no, a thousand times since she had started. Seeing this kind of drive and determination in her… was I had never witnessed before.

Of course, she was a passionate girl. If there was something or someone she cared about, every person around her knew about it.

Like how we all knew she loved mikan.

Like how we all knew she loved her family.

Like how we all knew she loved her school.

But when she created Aqours, I saw a sparkle in her eyes that I had only dreamt of her having. For so long, she watched on the sidelines, pushing others to achieve their dreams and take their lives as far as they could go.

The result of the sparkle was change.

Chika-chan had changed right before my eyes.

But that wasn't a bad thing. If you had asked me that a few months ago, I might not have agreed.

But I had changed too. We had both grown together… and now we were standing on the verge of a miracle. With only a few days left before registration for new students closed… I knew only one thing.

Chika would be able to perform the move Kanan had told her about... and…

She would save the school.

"You-chan… you really don't have to wait for me here every night." The orange haired girl wiped some of the sad off her pants and took a sip of her water. "Oh, does Chika-chan not want me here?" I crossed my arms and stuck my chin up high.

"No no, that's not it! I just feel like I'm keeping you here."

A smile spread across my face. "Of course you're keeping me here. I won't go home until you call it quits for the night." Chika stomped a few times in place before she stormed back towards the beach to continue practicing.

I laughed to myself and kicked my feet.

"You'll never get me to leave, Chika-chan."

My eyes had started to feel heavy, so I had been on and off resting them for short periods of time. As long as they were open long enough to make sure Chika was ok.

The wind had started to pick up and the breeze off the water sent a chill down my spine, waking me up a bit. It was just after 2 A.M., but she continued to push herself. Every few minutes I would hear a thud on the ground followed by a short grunt.

Now that I thought about it, I hadn't heard her fall recently. I rubbed my eyes and looked towards the ocean.

Chika was on the ground with her arm over her face.

You, you idiot!

I called her name and ran out towards her. "Chika-chan! Are you-" Before I could finish my sentence, the expression on her face stopped me. She was gritting her teeth together, hiding her eyes with her right arm. Between breaths came short sniffles, even though she tried to cover them up by coughing or shifting her arm down more.

Kneeling beside her, I reached out and put my hand up to her cheek, wiping away the few tears that escaped captivity. Normally I wouldn't be able to do something like this without panicking... but there was nothing worse than seeing her like this to me.

Chika moved her arm down further and gripped mine. "Why… why can't I do it?"

Until recently, listening to Chika open up to me had become a rare event. For the last few months, she had always gone to Riko, looking for comfort from her new friend. I made the mistake of believing she no longer cared for me. It would be a lie if I said there wasn't any jealousy at the time. The two had bonded immediately, just like we did. Instead of Chika being on the sidelines during one of my competitions, I felt like I was on the sidelines in Aqours… and in Chika's life.

But she hadn't ever gone anywhere. She biked to my house just to make sure I was alright after I had been feeling down. She spent the night and listened to me talk about how I had been feeling those last few weeks. The entire time I wanted to die of embarrassment. Complaining of such an immature insecurity felt so selfish… but Chika just held me.

She apologized for not spending as much time with me as we previously did. She told me that no matter how close Riko and she got that no one could take my place at her side.

From that day on, she and I were the same as… well, no, that wasn't true. We hadn't gone back to how we were previously. Chika and I weren't as close as we were before…

We were closer… and knowing that made my heart flutter each time I heard her call my name or hug me without warning.

Chika had been there for me when I most needed her.

Now I need to be there for her.

"Chika-chan… you're tired and dirty… let's go home." Instead of fighting me like she used to, she wiped her eyes and pulled herself up.

I removed my jacket and placed it around her shoulders. "No, You-chan… you'll get si-"

"Says the girl who's been exhausting herself doing flips all night." My shoulder brushed up against hers.

"Trying."

"Wha-"

"Exhausting myself trying to do flips all night."

I extended my hand and grasped hers. "Once you clean up, I'll want you to talk to me." Chika's head sunk and she mumbled her words. "But it's late and I don't want to bother you… and I don't want to make you stay over."

"Make me stay over? If anything you'd have to kick me out. Why wouldn't I want to spend the night at my best friend's place?" In saying that I felt my cheeks flush. Each time I got this away around her I would try my best to hide my face. Thankfully, the night was the perfect mask for me.

Chika continued to mumble and accepted my persistence. "Thanks, You-chan."

While I waited for her to finish showering, I made her and I some tea. Thankfully her sisters and mom didn't hear me. We would've been in a bit of trouble if they knew we were out this late.

As I was entering her room, she had just finished throwing her pajamas on and wrapped herself in a blanket on the floor.

I placed the tea on the table in the middle of the room and sat down, scooting myself up against her left shoulder. The two of us sat in silence for a few minutes before speaking.

"Chi-"

"It's going to be my fault the school is going to close." She was holding her knees to her chest, tears welling up in her eyes. "After hours, day after day, of working on this one move, I still haven't gotten it once. We failed when we didn't qualify for Love Live the first time. We failed when we didn't qualify for the second time. What, now I'm going to be the sole reason we don't qualify for the third straight time? I'm going to ruin the high school lives of all the students at Uranohoshi all because I'm not good enough."

Her words made my heart feel as if it had been stabbed. "No, Chika-chan. It wouldn't be anyone's fault. If it were Kanan failing to perform the move, it wouldn't be her fault the school closed. What Aqours is trying to do is help the school. We can't control whether it's saved or not."

"But I can't help… I would be able to help if I weren't so average…"

I threw myself at Chika and wrapped my arms around her neck. The force of my hug was so much that we fell over. She looked up to me from the floor, eyes still watering. Looking down on her, I wanted more than anything to tell her what she meant to me.

"Chika-chan… you are so far from average." I wiped away another of her tears and continued. "Never have I met someone who can make others smile you do. Never have I met someone who cares so deeply about others."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "You are such an inspirational leader. You motivate us every day, no matter how difficult the challenge. You put each member ahead of yourself, even when you desperately need someone to be there for you."

She took her arms and covered her face again. Trying to get her to stop, I lightly pulled at her hand.

"Chika-chan…"

"I don't…"

Her response caught me off guard. "What do you mean you don't?"

Chika continued to cover her face. "I don't… put others before myself."

I moved my hand down to her cheek and cupped it. "You're just disagr-"

"I didn't put you first when you were hurting."

It felt like time had stopped. Was she talking about when I was feeling jealous? She couldn't be. "I don't understand…"

"All that time, you were hurting. I saw that something was wrong… but I didn't stop because I was so preoccupied with our idol group."

What was this? Why was this coming out now? "But you did come to me when I needed you. You didn't forget. We talked about this, remember?"

Her breathing was sporadic. I wanted to reach out further to help… but she wouldn't stop blaming herself. "You talked about it, You-chan… I just sat there and comforted you… knowing the entire time that I needed to tell you how what I did was so wrong."

Chika pushed herself up and knelt next to me, staring at the floor. I longed for her to just look up, letting me see those beautiful pink eyes of hers.

"You-chan… I was a horrible friend to you. I-"

"Chika-ch-" She lifted her head up with a remorseful look. For the first time since we joked earlier, her eyes met mine.

"Please… just let me talk." Nodding slightly, my hand moved on its own and grabbed hers. She desperately wanted to keep eye contact, but she was struggling without choking herself up.

"From the time we were little, you've always been the one looking out for me. I'd be afraid to do something, Kanan would egg me on, and I wouldn't be comfortable. She always had the best intentions and never pushed me to do something I didn't want to do… but as a kid some of her games and ideas of fun were intimidating to me. Each time I would show any hesitation or discomfort, you were there to wrap your arms around me and ask if I was ok or not."

Her hand tightened around mine. The room was dark, but I could see her cheeks were reddening slightly. At least, that's what my mind was hoping I was seeing.

She took a deep breath and continued. "You always knew how to make me comfortable. I could do anything if you were by my side. Even from the very beginning of Aqours, I felt like I could do it because I had my best friend with me… because I had the person who made me feel most comfortable."

Tears began to flow faster down her cheek. I tried to move to wipe them away, but she avoided my gesture. "That's why I'm so selfish, You-chan… I made you feel uncomfortable. Since you cried into my shirt that night, you've been yourself again. But you wouldn't have been if you knew how awful I had been to you."

"Chika-chan…" With my hands, I touched her face, wiping away what tears I could with my thumbs. "Why are you telling me all this now?"

"Because I hate showing weakness. If I'm weak, then I'll be a burden to them. I was already so upset about failing so much today that I figured that if I was going to disappoint my entire school, I may as well get hurting you out of the way." She took her fists and slammed them into her head, crying harder with each pound. I wrestled her arms away from her control and latched onto her, squeezing her so she couldn't hurt herself further.

"You've never hurt me, Chika-chan. During that time, we were both going through so much. You were becoming a leader, something you'd never experienced before… and I… I was learning how to share my precious friend. That was something I never had to do before… and looking back on it… it was all for the best."

Her breathing began to slow as I placed my chin on the top of her head. As much as I hated seeing Chika like this, being able to hold her so close felt like something out of a dream.

"Both of us grew. We both grew closer to our other friends… and I feel we both grew closer to each other. So do not, for one more minute, think that you made me uncomfortable."

Chika relaxed herself further, pulling away from me but keeping my hands grasped between hers. Her tears had mostly stopped, but her cheeks and eyes were swollen.

"I just never want to see you cry like that again. I want to be the one to make you feel better. I want to be the one who makes my You-chan smile the brightest." Chika slid her hands slowly up my arms, leading up to her holding my shoulders.

No, she's just being her normal self, trying to make me happy.

"I want to be always be your precious friend." She leaned forward slightly and looked into my eyes.

Tell her she always will be and stop this before you do anything that could hurt her. "O-of course you will be, Chi-"

"I want us… to be something…"

Everything I had been told growing up was screaming at me to push her away and say no… but selfishly, this was what I had secretly desired for so many years…

In this moment, I decided to be selfish.

My love for her closed the gap between us and my lips pushed up against hers. My breathing was awkward. I had no idea what I was doing.

But those few seconds were the happiest I have ever been.

The two of us a broke apart, out of breath from what had just happened. I looked up to the girl whom I was so in love with and was met by the brightest pink eyes in the universe. The smile she was wearing was unlike any she had put on before.

"You-chan…" She pulled me close again, this time wrapping her arms around my neck and rubbing her cheek against mine.

"I love you." She pressed her soft lips against my left cheek and held them there for a few moments. "I have for a really long time."

Without even realizing it, I had started crying. Drops began appearing on my glasses, so I quickly removed them tried to wipe my eyes. "You-chan, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong or-"

I wrapped my arms around her tighter and pushed my face into the crevice of her neck "No, Chika-chan… I've never been happier." With my face so close to hers, I felt her cheek bones rise, telling me that she was smiling again.

Why did it have to be so hard?

"Then why are you crying? This is a happy moment. One that we'll never forget as long as we're together…"

I pushed my head harder into her neck, not wanting to face what came ahead.

"Chika-chan…"

"Hmm?"

Taking a few deep breaths, I pushed away and stared into her eyes.

"This… I know how we feel about each other…"

Her pink eyes were so expressive. They went from loving to worry in an instant.

"How are we supposed to do this? I know we don't see it that way… but to everyone else…"

Memories of the past burned in the back of my mind. I never expected to face this since I never believed Chika-chan would love me back… but now it was time to cross that path. I looked into her eyes, unsure of what she would think.

"To everyone else... this is wrong."

A/N: Thank you all for reading! This will be multi-chapter but I am unsure of how long. I would like to make it a decent length though so we'll see what happens. I know the direction I am taking it is a bit different, but it isn't something I've seen done so I wanted to give it a shot. Don't worry, there will be lots of ChikaYou. That should never be a concern since I am obsessed with them. Please review whether you liked it or not. Your criticism helps me become a better writer.