Tsubasa's household was all but a conventional one, no matter what angle or perspective one took. This was reflected even in the early mornings of her considerably large apartment. A mop of white messy hair, attached to a short girl, whose morning slouch made her appear even shorter than she was, slowly made its way to the kitchen, where an equally messy pink waterfall of hair was already occupying the spot right next to the fridge, staring at the coffee maker with all the killing intent of a starving lion.
Their eyes met. Now, at this time, that was no longer an issue of great dread, at least not the way it used to be. No. Now, there was mostly tolerance, acceptance and shared annoyance directed towards not each other but that blue haired dummy that they both couldn't bear to be separated from.
Scratching the top of her head, the mop leaned against the cupboard with her back, still able to see the waterfall. They weren't that talkative on their own, at least not usually. When one's life is all action most of the time, the normal reaction to quiet and peace is a feeling of not knowing what to do. And right now they were at the height of peace and quiet. No school, no work and most of all, no loud idiot and her sunshine making the mood. No, this was just these two, on their own time and left to their own devices.
Finally the mop broke the silence, sounding far less menacing and threatening than she liked. It came off more as a matter of fact than a complaint really. A statement she had made several times before. "You kicked me last night."
"I keep telling you that's Tsubasa, not me." The waterfall's answer never changed. Every other morning, this accusation was thrown at her feet, literally, and every morning she denied it. But today she would finally meet her match.
"You damn kicked me. Tsubasa was rolled half over you and the second I got back from the toilet you kicked me, like a territorial dog. I was here first!" Although that was technically true, it was similar to one twin always saying they were the older one whenever they pushed their luck.
Without me you two wouldn't even be at first base yet. She had learned quickly that there was really only one way to deal with the mop. If she did something wrong, she had to own up to it and apologize. If she acted stubborn or coy, or some kind of easily interchangeable alternative, they would argue about it all day long, even going so far as to harass each other eventually. Like using up all of the hair conditioner. "Sorry. The bed is so big that I started tossing."
And whenever she owned up to her errors so quickly, the situation got a different kind of weird. Because the mop wasn't actually able to deal with someone being so upfront with apologies either. Tsubasa, sure, that was another thing entirely. But not that useless waterfall. "It was a pretty wimpy kick. You're… probably right that Tsubasa is the one that's tossing most of the time."
Spending a good minute in silence while the coffee maker creaked, buzzed and creaked some more, the two of them repeatedly yawned and felt sluggish. They both thought the same thing every morning now. There's nothing to do… With the coffee machine almost finished, the pink half of the bored duo stepped away, opened a hanging cupboard and took out one cup and then a second after a moment deliberation. A white cup, with four pink stripes that went around and round, and a red cup, that had something like a bullet on both sides. Those were their designated lazy morning cups and saw a fair share of use nowadays.
They didn't need to talk to each other, or thank each other, for little things like that. Although the situation, when asked alone, was far from optimal, they were bearing with it the best they could. Sometimes, fighting for what you wanted until the very end was just not preferable to a compromise that made everyone happy. In this situation, the alternative would have made one person a little more happy, one a little less and one would be in the emotional state of an airplane that got on the bad side of Ichaival. Slurping from their cups, they spent several more minutes in silence, occasionally looking at the digital clock on the oven that showed it being quarter past eight in the morning. Other looks went towards the living room, adjacent to the kitchen, and the window, revealing a cloudless sky outside that promised to live up to another record high temperature in due time.
"Tsubasa training again?" Mop asked and went with her free hand through her hair, trying to loosen it up a little, so she wouldn't experience the quite painful feeling of hairs getting stuck in the brush.
"Hm." Waterfall confirmed. "How she can keep doing that so early in the morning is beyond me."
Unlike the two lazy bums, the owner of the household, Kazanari Tsubasa, woke up at six sharp, got out of bed without her two girlfriends, washed herself briefly before she grabbed a banana and an apple from the kitchen and went up to the roof to go about her daily routine.
"You say that but you join her every day." The white messy hair was ruffled intensely for a moment.
"An idol has to stay in shape. But Tsubasa overdoes it." Looking at the other girl, she yawned, slurped on her coffee again and then yawned a second time. "You should get some exercise, too." You're kinda eating a lot. Well, we all know where all those nutrients and fats go.
"I get enough exercise whenever that idiot or Tsubasa's uncle drags us out for a training session." Leaving her post before she started to meld with the cupboard, she walked towards the living room, putting her mug down on the table and lying down on the spacious couch. Reaching between the pillows, she started searching for something and became annoyed when even the third pillow didn't bear results. "Hey, Maria, did you take my Vita?"
"It's in the bathroom." Maria answered from the kitchen. Now that I say that… it's my turn to clean the shower and bathtub drains. Three girls with long hair, especially Chris' and my curly hairs… we shed a lot more than I thought. Shirabe and Kirika must have it nice… "You shouldn't play in the bathtub."
"You shouldn't come to bed with your hair still wet. I had a fucking nightmare about a seaweed noise drowning all of us the other night!"
"I spent three hours in front of the mirror fixing that." Maria tilted her head back and forth a few times to loosen up muscles. Finally leaving the kitchen, Maria stopped between the two rooms, just for a moment, to put down her cup on the sideboard and head for the bathroom. Meanwhile, Chris was just lounging on the couch, feeling listless for a change. The alchemist bullshit was a real shit show. I'm glad there's no more global fuck ups but, you know, it's kinda…. Making me talk to myself. That's how bored I am. I should get up and get my Vita so I can grind my high-score, but… eh… getting up… The listlessness was taking over.
Looking straight up for a couple minutes and just enduring the silence, Chris finally sat up and grabbed her coffee mug. Without school or any incidents, there's just nothing to do. Stopping purse snatchers or a bank robbery is a job for the police and not us, so that's that… what the hell is keeping Tsubasa? Sitting there for a moment, partaking in coffee, Chris watched Maria come back into the living room with just one eye's worth of attention. To her surprise, the pink hair monstrosity dropped off her portable gaming console as she walked by and sat about a leg's length further down the couch and reached for the TV remote.
Lying down and firing up her favorite on-rails shooting game, Chris just tuned out the news that were now running on the TV and that Maria seemed to watch. "Anything interesting? Meteor coming to crash the earth or anything?"
"They're reporting about a new stuffed plush's factory." Maria switched from local to national news, which was not much better. "Record temperatures across Japan."
"Well, we got air con, so we're cool." An awkward moment of silence gave both of them pause. Do… do I say I didn't make that pun intentionally? But then she thinks I'm embarrassed by making it accidentally.
Their salvation came in through the balcony entrance, a heavy glass sliding door. On their balcony, being the top level apartment and Tsubasa having quite a bit of money, was a small staircase that connected directly to the roof, that was littered with training equipment and a three meter high fence so nothing would go sailing over the edge and turn into an unintentional heavy object falling from above.
White sweat towel over her shoulders, blue hair tied into a functional ponytail, Tsubasa was glistening head to toe with sweat. Barefoot and only wearing a white, sleeveless shirt and blue hot pants, her usual training attire, she stepped foot inside her apartment and didn't look the least bit surprised to find Maria and Chris there. After all, it was her who said that they had to compromise – she couldn't and didn't want to decide between the two, so they could either all three be together or none of them. What she hadn't expected was that Chris and Maria would goad each other so much that they didn't trust the other as far as they could throw each other. And so they both insisted they move in.
For Tsubasa, this had been an enormous change in her life. She had been with Chris for a while but their relationship was advancing at a pace that was best observed in fast forwarding montage, even she knew that. Maria making a move on her caused a lot of fighting, arguing and even a Symphogear powered angry stand-off between the two. But in some ways, it was also the push she needed. There was no option to keep them at arms length and progress slowly. Like a wing, she had to take flight from one day to another and it really helped her emotionally. She rose to the task at hand instead of being crushed by it.
Maria, leaning back on the couch, with one arm on the backrest and her legs crossed over each other, felt a little smug. She always sat at the far end of the couch because it meant she would be in Tsubasa's path first which meant she would get to kiss her first thing in the morning. Before Chris. Deep down she felt guilty over being so competitive about this, but small sins like that could surely be forgiven.
Tsubasa didn't sit down, far too sweaty for that, and just bend down, resting her hand just to the right of Maria's shoulder to support herself and kissed her. Their kisses were, for the most part, not those of a couple freshly in love and all innocent. They were more tempered. Living together for a while now, the adrenaline, the hot running emotions, had cooled a bit, leaving them much more comfortable with each other than they would have been without that emotionally turbulent time before. "Morning, Tsubasa."
"Morning, Maria. If you're up, you should join me on the roof." She said this almost every day, and every day she received the same answer.
"I'm not that superhuman." Feeling relaxed, Maria reached for a mug on the table that was not there. Crud. I left it on the sideboard.
Chris noticed the blue curtain above her, paused the game and looked straight up, flat on her back. "Morning." Tapping her lips with her index finger, Chris closed her eyes.
This was a big difference between her and Maria, at least for Tsubasa. Chris was, on the outside, loud, impulsive, reckless and aggressive, but when it came to their relationship, she was often unusually docile, demure almost. Even though she was still demanding, which reflected in her brazenly asking for her morning kiss but closing her eyes because she was embarrassed about it.
Chris received the exact same kiss as Maria did and everyone in the room knew this. Tsubasa was true to her word and treated both of them equally, in their own way. Because their personalities were different and they had different needs, she didn't treat them the same way but equally, an important distinction that didn't really sound like one when she had to explain her situation to someone else.
"I'm using the shower you two." They had a few unbreakable rules in their apartment. One of them included that time in the big bathroom was sacred. Whether it was Chris taking a long bath or Maria spending two hours doing hair care or Tsubasa taking just a quick shower, if someone else had bathroom needs, there was a small toilet and sink only bathroom at the other end of the apartment.
Because of the nature of their relationship, everyone having their own room and all of them sharing a bedroom would have been redundant, so they broke down the wall between two personal rooms and divided up the space. It was only thanks to the combined efforts of Maria and Chris that the room ever resembled anything but absolute chaos. Tsubasa still had zero wife skills.
"Today's your turn." Chris thought she'd remind Maria of that. Combined efforts was more accurately something like great individual efforts every other day. Monday, Wednesday and Friday were Maria's responsibility. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday fell on Chris. Both of them got to take a bit of a break when Ogawa showed up on Sundays, helping out with general clean up.
"I know. How's the tub?"
"Eh, 's fine. You can skip it if you want but I'll skip it tomorrow too then."
"Sounds good."
Their mornings were unusually tranquil, considering what the last year and a half had been like. They both came from strange backgrounds that left them devoid of a routine for such a lifestyle. And as such, they tried their best to come up with a hobby. Chris picked up a bit of gaming while Maria liked to work on improving her career as an idol.
Twenty five minutes later, a mostly naked Tsubasa emerged from the bathroom and didn't really care too much about covering up as she walked into the living room and stood in front of the open balcony door. Chris was suddenly glued to her game while Maria could just barely endure stealing glances at Tsubasa's naked behind.
As the sword-wing kept standing there, patience ran out in the white mop. "Put on some damn clothes already! I can't focus on anything if you're standing there naked!" Chris' face was like someone had smeared tomato sauce all over it. "Maria, fucking say something!"
"Chris is right. This might be… a little too distracting." While Chris was aggressive and easily embarrassed, Maria was more the passive type but also easily embarrassed. There was just lots of embarrassment to go around.
"Hm, really? It never seemed to bother Ogawa or Tachibana."
"One of them is literally your maid and the other is an idiot and a pervert!" Chris' fuse was never going to get any longer.
"I am a little worried that you're comfortable like this around Ogawa." Maria worked hard on not being jealous. It wasn't too hard to not be jealous of Ogawa, considering how Tsubasa treated him.
"He's like… furniture. Or a butler. The kind that dresses you."
Hearing her say that took the wind out of her girlfriend's sails. "Furniture…? You're… well I guess I can see why you'd think that." Maria had seen first hand how pampered Tsubasa was, in an unusual and strange way.
"Oh, right, Maria, Ogawa called and asked me to tell you that we got an appointment at the recording studio at ten. I just remembered." Tsubasa dropped a bomb on Maria that made the other half of the singer unit Queen's of Music almost drop her mug.
Adrenaline and panic flooded Maria's head and she just stared at Tsubasa for a long minute. What brought her back to reality wasn't the girl she was dating but Chris. A wooden brush bonked Maria on the head, wood first. "I'll help but you're gonna owe me take out at the new Thai place eight streets down." Chris was, despite appearances and behavior, quite sharp. Handing a second brush to Maria, Chris split the wild bed hair in half, right down the middle, and started on the left side. Maria's hair was the most work out of the three of them and her bed hair was particularly disastrous. Tsubasa had the enormous luck that she didn't really incur bed hair of that magnitude. Chris had problems dealing with her own hair but nothing as bad as Maria.
"It makes me happy to see both of you get along. Maria. Yu- Chris." I always called Maria by her name because Cadenzavna Eve is just too hard to say, but after calling Yukine by her last name for so long… the last time I got it wrong they didn't give me dinner.
"You ever think about maybe getting a haircut or something? It's like I am trying to brush a jungle front!" I'm damn glad I got experience from doing this myself every morning. If she had to count on Tsubasa… no, don't even think about it. "What're you suddenly going to the studio for anyway?"
"The text didn't say." Tsubasa strutted around the living room for a few moments before she actually felt the need to put on some clothes herself. "Be right back."
"Lucky you." Chris felt jealous of Maria's singing talents. "Maybe I should look into being an idol like you two are."
"You'd have to exercise every day, keep your figure and build up a lot of stamina."
"Maybe a virtual idol."
"You'll have to spend a lot of time editing videos, filters, do your own make-up."
"If you ever wanna quit the idol thing to do something more relaxing, like being a full time symphogear user, I'll give you my vote. What happens to your hair when you sleep? It feels like this half is trying to eat the brush!"
"You should see what happens in high humidity sauna after swimming. Kirika called it the pink swirl of death."
"I'm amazed you left them at your old place on their own."
"They keep each other from doing anything too stupid." And I had Ogawa install a tracking app for their relics on my phone that lets me see where they are.
"Maria?! Have you seen my underwear?!" Tsubasa's shouting was coming from their bedroom.
"Just get new ones from your drawer!" Maria shouted back.
"The drawer is empty!"
Maria looked up for a moment. "Was it my turn to do laundry? I thought I did it last week."
"Fuck." Chris wanted to hit herself in the face. "I thought it was your turn. My bad. Tsubasa! Just get some from Maria's drawer!" A total, numbing silence that lasted a full minute followed until Chris and Maria realized that there was no way that Maria's underwear would fit Tsubasa. "Gimme a sec, I need to fix this."
Leaving Maria by herself in the living room, Chris half walked half jogged towards their bedroom, where she found Tsubasa half dressed – that was to say, Maria's underwear was on the floor, because Tsubasa lacked both the hips and the chest for those, and Tsubasa was otherwise seemingly dressed.
"You are not leaving like that." Chris put two and two together and immediately concluded that Tsubasa had tried on Maria's underwear as she had suggested and then just took it off again when it was too large.
"Nobody will know. Don't be a prude, Y- Chris. A sword can still be carried without a sheath."
"You can sheath that stupid idea of yours. Strip." Walking past Tsubasa, Chris knelt next to the bed and pulled out the right box that filled the space below their extra large sized bed. Inside were various sheets, covers for comforters and also spare blankets. And a very small number of panties and bras that were very clearly too small for either Chris or Maria. "Good thing I expected this to happen sooner than later." Throwing a rolled up panty and bra combo to Tsubasa, Chris rushed back out, back in and stood still in front of Tsubasa, who was back to being basically naked. And without doing anything other than briefly staring at Tsubasa, Chris ran back out. Why is this so much harder than with Fine? I mean, okay, Tsubasa's not a sadistic super villain, but come on… argh, fuck! "Maria, hurry the hell up."
=== Eve of Wings and Snow ===
The ice and shade made her current situation turn on its head, from uncomfortable to nice. Below, Yukine, popsicle in her mouth, wearing a light red and white blouse and a medium length skirt together with her usual plateau shoes. By her side, head resting on her shoulder and book in hand, Maria. Wearing light blue half-pants and a white blouse similar to Yukine's, together with pink high heels.
The white mop resting in Tsubasa's lap was looking slightly up, not to gaze at Tsubasa directly but play her game. Chris' feet dangling off the side of the bench they sat on, her eyes always wandering a little upwards to look at Tsubasa's face, the sun's rays hitting just above her forehead, creating a delightful contrast between the girl's remarkable face and her signature hair.
And the pink waterfall, now tamed and much more orderly than that morning, calmly rested her cheek against Tsubasa's shoulder and read a small novel she happened to bring with her to the studio. She was too tall to pull the same thing as Chris and Tsubasa had only one lap anyway. And if she was honest about it, she would be way too embarrassed to be seen like that in public.
Tsubasa herself was listening to music quietly, just enjoying the weather outside. And the company. She still had a little trouble acting like a proper girlfriend and according to Yukine and Maria, they didn't really mind – they knew what they were signing up for. But she couldn't let that stand. If she did something, she wanted to do it well! Kazanari Tsubasa did no half things!
But that was much easier said than done. Fight an enemy and can't win? Just fight harder or find a power up that's really crazy. Can't keep the house clean? Just call Ogawa more often. No. Wait. Something about that one felt wrong. Well, didn't matter. Can't… can't… her life was a lot of fighting and singing and she really hadn't encountered a can't sing well enough scenario just yet. Thinking about it, a whole lot of her life really revolved around Symphogear. Well, with Carol gone, that was probably settled. No more noise, no more autoscorers. But she couldn't let her training slip!
What was she thinking about again? Right. Being a better girlfriend. How exactly did trying harder work with that? She could ask Tachibana, but Kohinata also seemed to have a lot of complaints about her so maybe that was not the best idea. Was there anyone else she could ask?
"Tsubasa."
She couldn't ask her uncle. There was just no way. And absolutely not her father. There was even more no way. What about Kirika and Shirabe, maybe they could… no, they were too young. It was not exactly shameful to ask them, but Maria would probably not approve of that.
"Hey, sword idiot!"
If she couldn't ask anyone she knew, maybe she could look it up? There had to be tons of people that were worrying about this sort of thing. There had to be self-help books on the matter and if she could do anything then it was helping herself. Although Yukine always complained when she helped herself to the leftovers in the fridge. Something about having saved them for later? But it was later then, and she was hungry, so she didn't understand why Yu- Darn, she was doing it again.
Tsubasa's eyes widened when all of a sudden Chris pulled her down, grabbing her by her neck. Their lips met and she felt the tongue of her kouhai in her mouth. It only lasted a couple seconds but it left an impact on her.
"Finally got your attention?!" Chris looked a bit annoyed. More embarrassed than annoyed but still.
"I apologize, I was considering self-help books on principles of being a better girlfriend."
"Step one to helping yourself! Pay fucking attention when your girlfriend calls you!" Chris had no trouble calling herself Tsubasa's girlfriend. Maria on the other hand always fumbled her words when it came to that and stuck to partner instead.
"I will make note of that." Tsubasa tried to smile but whenever she tried to force it, it just looked really weird.
"You are so bad at this. How can someone that is so good at fighting, singing and dancing be so bad at everything else?" Chris laid back down on Tsubasa's lap and looked up. "What are we gonna do after this?"
"We are not going to an arcade again," Maria said in a really upset, snobbish way.
"I didn't ask you!"
"I'm giving you an answer anyway! We went to an arcade three times in the last five days!"
"You just don't want to get humiliated again!"
"We can go but you are going to face me in DDR!"
Chris paused. That was dangerous. Maria was a really fit, workout type of person and also a professional idol.
"What, where did all that bragging bravado from last time go?"
"You're on! I'll play you into the ground!"
Tsubasa watched them argue without so much as looking at each other. "I'm glad the two of you get along so well." Chris and Maria both sighed at that. "What? Did I say that wrong?"
"Karaoke after the arcade?" Maria offered that to Chris, who just agreed with a hum. "Tsubasa, you are terrible at reading the mood."
"Huh? But-"
"I still can't believe they tried to drag me into your idol stuff. Do I look like I have the stamina for something like that?" Chris just talked over Tsubasa.
In normal circumstances, Tsubasa was definitely the one with the reins. Giving orders, making them swoon. But when they were all together like this, she was so out of her element that she somehow ended up on the other end of the spectrum.
"They're not going to give up just because we told them no." Maria turned a page in her book.
"They didn't even have the gall to ask me in person."
"Now, now, I think they just wanted to gauge how interested Maria and I are in having you be part of the unit."
"It wouldn't even be Queens of Music anymore then." Chris dismissed that by waving her hand slightly above her head. "It sounds kinda corny to begin with. I'm not even the right height for that. I'd look silly in one of those idol dresses anyway. Not to mention I'd look like a dwarf next to you two on stage."
"If you want to do it that much, we can talk to the producers about it." Tsubasa smiled at Chris, whose face just turned red. "I didn't expect you to put so much thought into it."
Chris was about to burst into full denial but she could see Maria's smirk from the corner of her eyes. "S-So what? Thinking about it doesn't mean I wanna do it!"
"You're not that short, with the right shoes. They had a list of preliminary names, like 'Snow Wings' or 'Lyra'. I actually liked Lyra." Maria wasn't really as opposed to the whole thing as Chris was. Most of all, she would love to see Chris sweat and struggle with the training they went through.
"That would just confuse the fans." Tsubasa shook her head. "The only one I liked was 'Eve of Wings and Snow'. They abbreviated it as EWS."
"They're just hijacking our three names for that one and sticking it all together." Chris made a mistake in her game and started cursing. "Goddammit, now I died. Ah, fuck!"
"Queens of Music isn't all that original either." Maria didn't mind and turned another page. "I'm one page away from finishing this chapter."
"I just died." Chris turned off her hand held console, and looked up. "Tsubasa, you ready to go?"
=== Eve of Wings and Snow ===
"Over there." Maria pointed at the Dance Dance Revolution corner. "You're not going to be a wuss and hold on to the bar, right?" She was going to teach Chris a lesson she wouldn't forget anytime soon. I'm glad I wore half pants today. Doing this with a skirt would be catastrophic.
Little did Tsubasa and Chris know that Maria used machines like this to train both her legwork and also her stamina. It was insane how much of a workout the harder songs could give one. She wasn't a competitive player, but she did manage to A rank some of the harder songs. And this time she was just going to be happy with a clear.
Standing on top of the platform, maria selected the song. It was the hardest one she ever managed to clear and she specifically picked it because it was brutal on the dancer's stamina. Someone like Chris would just crash and burn halfway through the two minute song, no doubt. "Elemental Creation Challenge." Maria looked smug. "Unless you can't handle that?"
"Bring it on. I'll show you that a little bit of dancing around isn't so special." Chris ran her mouth and immediately regretted it. The song started and even though she knew how to play the game, she knew right away that this was going to be brutal. That damn Maria had picked some super high difficulty song. Why did she let her pride get the better of her and agree to this? She'd definitely destroy her fifteen times over in whatever they played after this!
Chris was sweating blood and water, trying to keep up with Maria, who was basically an expert, flying over the Dance Dance Revolution pad like a bird, barely missing a step. Chris on the other hand was holding on to dear life with just her teeth at this point. Not only was her skirt hindering her, she was also definitely not someone who had the stamina for this. There was a slowdown all of a sudden and she knew that the next part would wreck her.
She could feel the sweat run down her face, dripping on the dance floor. And of course Maria had made sure that she couldn't hold on to the bar without losing face! But despite being humiliated, Chris could feel that Maria was sort of amazing for just managing to not fall beneath full health. Just how much practice, how much leg strength, did she have?
And finally, the song was over, resulting in a massive victory for Maria – who was sweating and breathing a bit fast but otherwise not too spent. Chris on the other hand could barely stand and didn't even achieve a clear – she had died right at the end.
"You… damn monster." Chris had to hold on to the bar to support herself. And then she noticed the crowd. Ah, but of course. Maria and herself were both the busty type. Jumping around like that had to be quite the spectacle. But she didn't have the energy left to shout at them.
Tsubasa proved that sometimes she did understand how to be a girlfriend and lifted Chris right off her feet, princess carrying her away, to the other arcade machines. "Chris, do you mind if I play a few rounds with Maria? She looks like she wants to continue?"
Being carried and Tsubasa talking to her like that changed Chris' mood immediately. She still wanted to punch Maria in the face sometimes, but her anger was fleeting now that Tsubasa paid extra attention to her. "Don't play so much that we'll have to go after."
"I'll be right back." Putting Chris down on a cushioned stool mounted in front of a street fighter four arcade cabinet, Tsubasa hesitated for a moment. What would a normal girlfriend do now? Leaning in, she was about to kiss Chris on the cheek, changed course and kissed her right on the lips. "You looked really good up there, even without practice."
"I won't forgive you if you look worse than Maria." Chris wanted Tsubasa to avenge her, but it looked like Maria was just raring to go, waving over the girlfriend they shared. "Destroy her."
Stepping onto the platform that Chris had been on, the crowd was still there, even if most likely just to see Maria jump and bounce around. Tsubasa in her light blue jeans, sneakers and light shirt was proving to be a pretty stark contrast to Maria. "To warm up lets do the song that Chris just failed horribly at." Maria was not going to let anyone beat her at this.
There were over six hundred steps in that song and doing it for a second time in a row, even with about a minute break after, was really difficult even for Maria. Tsubasa was dealing with a lot less bouncing – none, actually – which made things easier for her. And her sense of rhythm was just naturally good. She was light on her feet too.
And still, Maria won out after the hundred and twenty seconds had passed. But Tsubasa had completed the song and all she had done was broke a bit of a sweat while Maria was looking pretty groggy already.
"Is there a song we can play together?" Tsubasa didn't enjoy competing against Maria. In work they were cooperating and that was what she preferred.
"Co-op mode at this level is really brutal and takes a lot of practice to get right. We'd have to go for a much easier song." Maria knew she had at most one more song in her. So why not go big and then go home? "There's a song I've been trying to clear for a while. Want to try?"
"Sure. Bring it on." Tsubasa was never one to shy away from a challenge.
But this was one of those scenarios were just trying harder was not enough. The ninety second song had as many steps as the last and a plethora of holding notes and parts where you had to actually jump to make the next note in time. It also switched from high BPM to low BPM at one point.
Maria and Tsubasa both failed in the last thirty seconds, getting cheered on by the crowd to try again. While pink was trying to look tough, her legs were hurting. Doing this without holding on to the bar was making it ten times as hard and she doubted it was even possible.
Tsubasa was bent over, breathing hard. "This is good practice. How long have you been trying this?"
"A couple weeks. I think this was attempt thirty or something. I could probably do it by holding on to the bar but I like to actually get the workout." Maria stepped off the platform and felt tired. "I'm ready to have Chris destroy me in whatever fighting game she plans to play."
"Tsubasa? Maria?"
It was a voice both of them recognized. From within the crowd appeared Hibiki, dragging along Miku.
"Tachibana." Tsubasa also stepped off the platform now, quite ready to take a break. She was impressed with the level of endurance Maria had. "I didn't know you came to arcades."
"Miku always takes me out when we have time." Hibiki looked almost bashful about it. "Were you two just doing Go for the top challenge difficulty?!" Forgetting being bashful, Hibiki sounded impressed. "I didn't know the two of you played DDR!"
"Tsubasa and Chris don't really play." Maria noticed that Miku was eying their scores. "It is more of a surprise to me that the two of you play."
"I'm just the help." Hibiki looked still proud of that. "Miku is the real master."
"Master, huh?" Maria stepped out of the way. "I kinda want to see that now. Tsubasa, can you get Chris? I think she'll be impressed."
"I'll meet your expectations." Miku looked very confident about herself. This was one of her favorite past times, all in all. It also kept her in good condition.
At first, Hibiki stepped on the left board while Miku got on the right. Tsubasa didn't carry Chris into the crowd but was dragging her by her hand. "That idiot and Miku are here too?" Hopefully they didn't see me lose. I'll never live that down.
Tsubasa stood between Maria and Chris now, leaning towards the taller of the two. "Is that a hard song they are playing?"
"Possession Single Challenge." Maria sounded almost reverent. "I would rate that the fifth, maybe fourth hardest song in the game. And they're doing that right away?"
The song started and three jaws dropped. While Hibiki was struggling a little bit early on and throughout the song, Miku was basically like a master grasshopper, flying over the board at speeds that made it seem like she had four legs, not two.
The crowd was cheering and this time, it was for their skill, not the bouncing boobs – of which Hibiki still provided some. The song ended and Hibiki stretched for a moment before they did another; the same song Chris had failed before. Hibiki was just acing this one, and Miku looked like it wasn't really bothering her at all to do those two back to back.
"I underestimated Kohinata."
"Is this really that amazing?" Chris was not big into games that demanded so much physically, so she didn't really know if this was amazing or not. It sure looked like it, but looks could be deceiving.
"I want to be that good one day." Maria leaned forward to look past Tsubasa, at Chris. "This could do wonders for your stamina, you know?"
"Shut the hell up about my stamina."
And the second song ended with a Full Perfect Combo for Miku, who looked positively warmed up now. Hibiki was panting a little but nearly as much as Chris or Tsubasa had. And still she stepped down. "It took a lot of practice and guts to become good enough to be Miku's partner. But the really amazing thing is gonna happen now." Positioning herself next to Chris, Hibiki calmed down a lot by controlling her breathing properly.
Maria, Tsubasa and Chris all stood there with their mouths wide open. If the singles had been impressive, Miku doing Possession Challenge Double on her own, without touching the bars at that, was mind-blowing. Almost like she really was superhuman, like Tsubasa's uncle.
=== Eve of Wings and Snow ===
"I'm dying..." Chris threw herself on the couch in their shared apartment and really felt like she was about to breathe her last breath.
Maria was not doing too hot either. "I'm gonna be sore tomorrow." Sitting down on a different part of the couch, shoes still on, Maria just fell sideways, her head not too far from Chris'. "Who was it that thought it would be an amazing idea to practice with Miku in rotation?"
"Who do you think?" Chris tried her hardest to get out of her shoes without actually using her hands or moving more than absolutely necessary. "I'm amazed we're still alive at all..."
"She's got to be a demon… and I thought I was in pretty good form."
"You were the one that volunteered for every stupidly difficult song."
"Me and Tsubasa both."
"Yeah, but she's almost as superhuman as Miku is."
"Why did you volunteer at all? You were already spent after one song!" Maria turned over, looking at Chris' head upside down. "Tsubasa had to carry you all the way to the door because your legs were jelly."
"You try being at some get together of friends and be the only one that goes all 'oh, no, I can't join in on the fun, I'm too out of shape'. That's embarrassing as hell!"
"And it wasn't embarrassing when you nearly fell off the stage and Hibiki had to catch you?"
"That idiot just should have minded her own business! I was fine! Totally am fine now!"
"Look who you're trying to tell that." Maria turned over and felt every muscle in her body. "I dance pretty often, but Miku is like some kind of DDR alien."
"We gotta make sure there's nothing left of that Shen… shen… the heck was it?"
"Shenshoujing?"
"If she ever gets her hands on that again the rest of us can retire."
"You're exaggerating."
"Maria! Chris! What should I make for dinner?!" Tsubasa was shouting from the kitchen.
There was a brief moment of silence before a loud noise came from the living room, like a couple of heavy things falling off a desk. Before she even knew what was happening, Maria was shoving her from behind while Chris was pulling on her arm. "I was trying to be considerate and make food since you two looked really tired." Tsubasa didn't really understand why they were suddenly so energetic about pushing her out.
The second Tsubasa was out of the kitchen, already in apron and holding a single potato and a far too large knife, Chris and Maria closed the door and slumped down against it. "The last thing my body can take right now is her cooking."
"Calling it cooking is pretty generous of you." Maria knew that she wasn't exactly a superb cook either, but Tsubasa was downright dangerously incompetent with anything that involved anything but cutting.
"What are we gonna do about dinner though? Order out?"
"After we shoved her out of the kitchen?"
"Good point." Chris did care about Tsubasa's feelings, even if she didn't mince her words or actions when it came to telling her how bad she was at anything involving chores.
"How exactly did we end up with all the house chores anyway?"
"We both agreed it would be creepy to have Ogawa come around the house unannounced and clean up. Especially considering that Tsubasa always leaves her clothes and underwear everywhere."
Maria had revisited that issue a few times already. Cleaning up after Tsubasa was more of a chore than she had ever actually expected it to be. "I wish she'd figure out how to not make so much of a mess."
"Between the three of us she's the biggest breadwinner and both of us kinda invited ourselves, but yeah, you're kinda right."
"So… how about mashed potatoes and spinach? We just gotta microwave the spinach in the special glass container. We can let Tsubasa handle peeling and cutting the potatoes."
"We had fries yesterday and oven potatoes the day before. All the carbs are going to kill me."
"They won't be a problem today." Getting up, Maria helped Chris stand and the two exchanged a meaningful look. As much as they each wanted to polarize Tsubasa, they knew that it would just ruin everything. And in the end, they had become a lot closer thanks to living together. Although there were plenty of challenges as well. Chris and Maria both always tried to bathe at the same time for example.
"I'm allowed back in?" Tsubasa was still standing in front of the door. This happened so often lately that she sort of figured out the process of what was going to happen next. They wouldn't actually let her cook, but she was allowed to help with the preparations – as long as it was limited to cutting things.
"You know you could let me handle something else sometime… there is no way I could mess up mashed potatoes." Peeling potatoes with the skill of a seasoned master, Tsubasa was proving to be quite the help in the kitchen.
"The last time we let you boil the water for potatoes, there was so much salt in it that the water wouldn't boil at all and we couldn't even get the potatoes in." Chris was just grabbing the necessary pots and such from the cupboard in the back. "Maria, the big or the small glass thing?"
"The big one. We're not having any side dishes." For all of Tsubasa's strengths, helping around the house was not one, but that had brought her two girlfriends closer together. "And Tsubasa, we talked about this."
"I feel bad letting you two do all the work."
"It'll be even more work if you try to help. I still had nightmares about the washing machine throwing up." Chris was casually pouring oil in the fire from behind.
"I told you I just misread how milliliters for min. liters!" Tsubasa was blushing now.
Chris put the biggest pot they had on the kitchen work space and then turned around, utilizing the moment where Tsubasa was between two potatoes to pull on her arm, step on the wooden stool they had in the kitchen for her to kiss the diva. "It's fine. We don't really have a problem putting up with this, even if we sometimes complain."
"We knew about your lack of usefulness in a household long before we became your girlfriends." Maria turned on the water and grabbed the pot, putting in the sink. Picking up where Chris had left off, she turned Tsubasa around and gave her a kiss also.
"Maria." Chris handed over the salt shaker behind Tsubasa's back. "If you peel all of those we'll have too much." Taking the three largest potatoes away, Chris put them back into the basket in their little kitchen store room.
"Why do we even need to cook the potatoes if we're mashing them anyway?"
Chris just raised her right hand in a 'this is your turn, Maria' gesture and went on to find the frozen spinach in the freezer.
"Uncooked potato tastes… not good. It's not healthy to eat either. Also, it would be super hard to actually mash uncooked potatoes. They're really hard." Maria stopped the water. Tsubasa stepped out of the way without being asked and Maria put the pot on the stove, turning on the heat.
"You don't put in the salt first?"
"The water boils faster without it." Maria had learned about that when cooking for Kirika and Shirabe.
"Huh, I didn't know that either." Chris had found the frozen spinach and was now peeling the basically brick blocks of green out of the paper wrapping. "Tsk, would it kill them to use something so the stuff doesn't stick to the paper? Maria, lemme use the sink."
Stepping away, Maria stood behind Tsubasa, looking over her shoulder. "Did you have fun?"
"I did. We should do this again soon. I didn't know dancing could be a game." Tsubasa sounded a little excited about it and she didn't notice the annoyed grunt that Chris let out.
"We might have to leave Chris behind. She's not fit enough for that sort of thing." Maria plotted a single date, even though she knew Chris would never allow it.
"Chris is a lot tougher than you think, Maria. After how much she complained she is still helping with the cooking." Tsubasa didn't realize it, but what she said nearly caused Chris to boil in embarrassment. "You were pretty amazing, too, Maria. We all got a bit overshadowed by Kohinata, but still."
"I'm just glad Miku has that idiot. I wouldn't want to deal with even more competition than I already have." Slapping Maria's ass really hard, Chris earned a playfully annoyed look from her.
"And I'm glad Kirika and Shirabe have each other. It would be troublesome if they liked the same girl I do."
"You two always act like I am some womanizing flirt."
"That you don't realize that is part of the appeal." Chris finished rinsing off the spinach and put it into the microwave suitable glass container. "Maria, gimme a hand." She wasn't quite tall enough to put the heavy container into the microwave.
Letting go of Tsubasa and grabbing the glass container, Maria knew that Chris had taken her place even before she turned back around. "I think it is actually worth a thought or two, Chris."
"What?"
"Joining us in the idol business. Tsubasa would feel less guilty about the time we are alone at work together."
Chris turned around and leaned against Tsubasa, back to back. "You feel guilty? Seriously?"
"I try to treat both of you equally, but Maria and I work together also, so I get to spend more time with her."
"You make out at work?"
"No. When I'm at work, I work. When we fight, we fight. A warrior focuses on one thing at a time."
"So there's nothing to worry about."
"You trust me that much?" Maria interrupted their discussion now, leaning down to face Chris. "I appreciate it."
"What, did you think I was all jealous and envious? I know you two work hard. Who do you think does laundry after your training sessions?"
"Hey. We do not smell that much."
"No, but you sweat a lot."
"Do not."
"Really? Want me to save your bra the next time you come from the studio and have you smell it?"
"Ugh..."
"That's what I thought."
"You two really do get along well." Tsubasa was finished peeling the potatoes and was about to throw them into the way when Chris quickly put a lid on the pot. "Chris?"
"Just leave the rest to us. You can set the table if you want. Although I'm feeling kinda lazy today, so how about we eat in the living room over some TV?"
"Ah, right, there is that anime that you-" Maria didn't get to finish that sentence because Chris stomped on her right foot.
"Shut your damn mouth! Who the hell watches anime?!"
Tsubasa hadn't been fully shoved out of the room just yet. "I thought you were always recording that… what was it… Black Stone Shooter?"
"Rock, not stone." Maria was surprisingly knowledgeable. "The main character fights a lot like Chris does."
"Shaddup, both of you!" Chris's looked just as red as her symphogear did. "One more word and you'll find out just how good I am with a gun!"
"Yes, yes." Maria patted Chris's head and immediately retreated when Chris flailed in her general direction.
Tsubasa worked on setting the table a few moments later, leaving Chris and Maria alone in the kitchen. "You didn't need to tell her about the damn anime!"
"Why not? I watch Pretty Cure every sunday morning."
"That is what you've been doing? I never could figure out what the hell would get you out of bed that early other than trying to sneak some alone time with Tsubasa."
"I like the thematic of the show. They're re-airing Fresh Precure and the way Passion joins up with the other reminds me a lot of you and me. More me, though."
"One comment about my height and I will end you."
"I wasn't even thinking it."
"Good."
"You do look better in heels than platform shoes though."
"I legit can't tell if you're messing with me or not."
"You think after spending so much time together I wouldn't spend a few thoughts on you?"
"W-" Chris turned scarlet red. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Wait, I thought we were on the same wavelength with this. With you always slapping my butt."
"It's called messing around!" Chris could barely keep her face straight. "Y-You can't be serious? I thought you were only interested in Tsubasa?!"
"I-" Now Maria finally realized that she had let something really sensitive slip. "Of course I am! I was just messing around!"
"Yeah, right!"
"Maria?! What kind of cutlery do we need?! Should I get the sharp knives?!" Tsubasa was shouting from the living room.
Without warning, Maria bolted from the kitchen and went to assist Tsubasa, and most of all prevent her from doing something bothersome.
"That idiot. What's she doing ogling me instead of Tsubasa?" Chris was still blushing when she absentmindedly threw the peeled potatoes into the boiling water, forgetting to add salt. "Shit." Quickly adding the salt, she stirred the pot, which was now ready to spill. "I mean… she's not bad. Not Tsubasa, but… nope. I am not going down that path."
=== Eve of Wings and Snow ===
"Who was the idiot that peeled all those potatoes..." Chris was flat on her back, her head resting on Tsubasa's lap. An empty dish was on the table half a meter away.
"Who was the idiot that only took three of the potatoes away… we're not feeding Hibiki here..." Maria had her head leaned against Tsubasa's head, feeling far too full to really care about anything right now.
Tsubasa yawned. With one hand she patted Chris's head, with the other she rubbed Maria's shoulder. "You two shouldn't have forced it down. It's not like we're hurting for money."
"It's bad in a lot of ways to let food go to waste!" Chris tried to get angry but her strength was just sapped out of her body.
"I agree with Chris actually… I always taught Kirika and Shirabe that they should eat what they put on the table..." Maria felt like she was going to explode. "Do we have anything on the schedule tomorrow…?"
"Garbage collection is tomorrow…"
"I'll handle that. You two just stay here." Tsubasa was the only one that hadn't finished her plate which ended with Chris and Maria eating her leftovers. Trying to get up, she was grabbed by her arms.
"Not so fast there, Romeo." Chris turned sideways, facing the TV. "You can still take out the trash later."
"Yeah… just stay here so neither of us has to actually move." Maria closed her eyes for a moment. "What were we watching again..."
"Anime..." Chris yawned and closed her eyes as well. "Don't you dare try to sneak off, Tsubasa..."
"Yeah… we'll never..." Maria nodded off mid sentence and Chris was quietly asleep as well.
Tsubasa heard the door being unlocked and knew that could only be one person. Sitting there, being a pillow for both Maria and Chris, Tsubasa couldn't turn a lot. "Ogawa?"
"Did I come at a bad time?" Using a normal voice, he came around the couch to face Tsubasa, only to find two thirds of the household asleep. "It seems I did."
"Is there an emergency?"
"No. I couldn't get in touch with you through your phone, so I thought I would come over to talk to you in person."
"Did the agency make a decision?"
"As expected, you threatening to go on hiatus made them reconsider their push to include Yukine."
"Being an idol is hard work and I already work with Maria. I don't want all three of us to be busy with events and concerts and everything. Chris still goes to school, so she should enjoy a peaceful life."
"As peaceful as being a symphogear user permits."
"If something happens, I will consider it you jinxing us."
"Nothing will happen. It was already an anomaly that Carol showed up. I see you're quite tied up right now. Should I take care of these?" Reaching for the dishes, Tsubasa shook her head. "They don't want you to be around the house and do stuff. I think they see it as part of their job in exchange of living with me."
"I do have to remind you that it must be kept a secret that the three of you are involved together."
"I know. If your jinx comes true, we will be able to behave professionally." Tsubasa did feel pretty full herself now. "We all need a shower but I don't want to wake them up."
"Should I-" Ogawa stopped himself. "I just came over to inform you about the agency's decision regarding Yukine. The apartment does look a lot cleaner than I expected."
"Everyone says I can't clean..." Tsubasa sounded like someone who was finally accepting a harsh truth. "But there are things I can do, too!"
Ogawa just stood there and looked at the smeared remains of their dinner. She probably peeled the potatoes. She does know her way around the kitchen with a knife, but not much else. "Then, I'll let myself out. Take care not to spend the night on the couch, you will be sore and cold all over tomorrow otherwise."
"I'd have punched you if you let him take care of the dishes." Chris spoke with her eyes still closed. "Why does he even have a key?"
"I'm pretty sure he'd get in even without a key… seriously, between Tsubasa's uncle, Miku and Ogawa, we're surrounded by people that are basically beyond the definition of people. We should get Ogawa to train Miku, she'd be able to join us even without a symphogear."
"That idiot wouldn't be able to focus on anything. Just imagine Miku, with training or Shen… fuck it, I forgot the name again. Or that mirror relic. Just imagine those two strolling around, beating up noise, being so obnoxiously obvious about being a couple… they'd drive off noise, autoscorers and alchemist all the same by being too annoying to deal with."
"You two have quite the opinion of Kohinata..." Tsubasa wasn't aware that they were looking at her like that. "She did save us by throwing Solomon's cane into the hole in the sky."
"What was that about anyway? What is she made of?" Chris turned over and wished she had a blanket.
"Imagine how tough you have to be to sleep in the same bed as Hibiki every night." Maria didn't realize what kind of comment she was making.
"Do you have nothing but lewd shit in that damn head of yours?!" Chris twisted her neck to look at Maria. "I doubt they're doing it every single night!"
"That's not what I mean! I was thinking like, Hibiki probably tosses and stuff, so you'd have to be pretty tough to not get hurt from that!"
"Nobody but you would get that interpretation!"
"Okay, no arguing about Tachibana and Kohinata." Tsubasa covered both arguing mouths at the same time, giving both of them a stern look. "Chris, roll off. Maria, sit up. I'm going to draw a bath." Issuing orders that neither of the other two had energy to fight, Tsubasa managed to leave the couch and made her way to their bathroom.
"She can handle that, right?" Chris laid there on the couch, looking up at Maria.
"She manages to shower without flooding the apartment, so theoretically, yes."
"Rock paper scissors on who gets to go first?"
"You mean has to go first, today."
"First comes rock-"
"We could go in together."
"I am not into you, Maria! Stop being so thirsty!"
"Who- wha-!" Maria was back to blushing. "I did not mean it like that! If I wanted to ogle you I could do that any time we use our symphogear! Your outfit isn't hiding anything!"
"You're one to talk!"
"At least my boobs aren't on full display!"
"You ever heard of a skirt? Wear one!"
"You don't wear one either! How many times do you think I've seen your butt?"
Chris rolled over again, propping herself up on the couch with her arms. "You seriously have a thing for me?"
"I don't!"
"Sounds like you do- woah!" Feeling someone's hands on her butt, Chris turned her head. "Tsubasa, what-" Chris lost her breath when Tsubasa suddenly pulled on her leg. "Okay, okay, I'll come." She is always so touchy about spending time in the bath since both Maria and I are the long bath type and she is the shower type. Managing to get off the couch and on her feet without throwing up, Chris staggered towards the bathroom.
"Maria, you too. I still need to take a shower after and after the last time we all went in together I am not doing that again. My hips were killing me the entire next day." Tsubasa was already walking towards the pink mess when said girl hurriedly got on her feet and went after Chris.
"The heck are you doing?"
"Tsubasa shoo'd me."
"So what? I am not letting you ogle me!"
"You think I am blind when we sleep with Tsubasa or something?"
"You're supposed to look at her! And what the fuck are you saying?"
"Oh come on, should I remind you of who keeps saying dirty stuff when we're all in bed?"
"I'll kill you!"
Both of them vanished into the bathroom, leaving Tsubasa behind, who sat down in peace. I'm glad they get along. I just wish they'd trust me a little more. I can clean! I can definitely clean! I'll show them!
Getting back up, determined like never before, Tsubasa grabbed the empty plate and immediately dropped one of them on the ground. I definitely can clean. This is nothing. I just need to try harder!
Maria and Chris would clean up for an hour and a half after they had finished their bath.
=== Eve of Wings and Snow ===