AN: Thank you Falsejellyfish and Roheline for pointing out that chs 3 & 4 were the same. I messed up in doc manager and had the text for chapter four labeled as chapter four. It is fixed now.

Chapter Three

Kuranosuke and Tsukimi barely left her room at all that day. They slept in, got up briefly to scavenge for breakfast, and then returned to the work they had left unfinished the night before.

"How about this one?" Tsukimi asked, holding up a drawing of a bulbous blue skirt with a lot of tulle.

"Oh! That one is so cute!" Kuranosuke's eyes got wide and he clapped his hands together. "What kind of jellyfish is that?"

"The Rhopilema Nomadica, commonly referred to as the Nomad Jellyfish, it is indigenous to the waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In it's mouth-arms it has vermicular filaments coated in venomous stinging cells, making it one of the more dangerous species..." Tsukimi tried her best to summarize the important aspects that she felt Kuranosuke might be interested in. Typically when she talked in depth about jellyfish, people's eyes glazed over and they nodded along, not fully grasping what she was saying. Lately though, things had been different. Kuranosuke's ability to follow her lectures had increased dramatically. She could tell he was always listening intently, doing his best to understand. He was taking everything seriously now, Tsukimi knew, so their line would be as detailed and perfect as possible.

"Nice, I really like this one and think it will definitely have a place in our initial line. Do you think we should give it a top to make it a dress or just leave it as a skirt?"

Tsukimi knew that her input into the fashion side of their discussions was limited severely by her lack of knowledge, but she had gotten more serious too. She had spent some time researching different fabrics and spent time each day looking at dresses online to add to her inspiration. Every time she would find one that resembled a jellyfish, she would try sketching it as is before transforming it. She appreciated that despite her limitations, Kuranosuke always took the time to seek her opinion.

"We've done a lot of full dresses already," Tsukimi said, glancing over at the bulletin board that displayed their favorite designs. Almost all of them were dresses. There was maybe one other stand alone skirt.

"Yeah, that's a good point!" Kuranosuke stood up and took the sketch from her. "Let's just keep this one as-is. Having a few skirts like this will add diversity to our line."

Tsukimi nodded, watching as he pinned her sketch to the board. Every day they had been working together to come up with at least two really good designs that they could agree on and the board was filling rapidly.

Kuranosuke must have been thinking something similar, because when he turned back around she could see the determination across his features. Will I ever be able to catch this side of him? she wondered. Mainly her only chances to sketch him were when he was sleeping. There was no way she could possibly get away with it without him noticing if he were awake.

"I think this weekend we should take these designs to Nisha and see which ones she thinks we can be made quickly and at a low cost. We've done a lot of work already, but it is time we start pumping out some actual dresses."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Tsukimi agreed. Nisha was smart and realistic. Tsukimi knew that between just the two of them they could easily get swept away, but Nisha was knowledgeable and blunt. Her input would definitely be a huge help in the decision making process.

"Wow, it's getting so late," Kuranosuke said, as he glanced at the time on his phone. "It's nearly six, we've been locked up in here, working hard all day!"

Oh no, I've wasted his entire day! Tsukimi thought to herself, her eyes going wide. "I'm sorry, sorry! You must have so much stuff to do!" How am I going to make this up to him?

Across the room Kuranosuke sighed. "Tsukimi, it's fine. It's not like you made me stay over or anything, calm down..."

"I'm sorry! I will calm down! Sorry!" Tsukimi stood up and put her sketchbook away. Kuranosuke was always so understanding of her, even when she burdened him like this.

"No, really, you don't have to be sorry or anything. I was just thinking we haven't had anything except for cereal and junk to eat today… maybe we should go out for dinner."

"Oh, right!" Tsukimi straightened her sweatshirt and smoothed her braids a little. "I think Chieko said something about making tonkatsu tonight. I am sure that the Amars will understand if you want to stay, since you've been working so hard to help us save Amamizu-kan."

"Tonkatsu..." Kuranosuke paused, an odd expression on his face. When he noticed her staring at him, he smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "Sounds delicious!"

Tsukimi couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about his smile seemed forced. She wondered if maybe he had wanted to leave but felt obligated to stay. Still, he seemed happy enough to follow her out into the hall and down to the kitchen.