About an hour before the group had decided to meet up at the festival, Futaba pushed open the glass door to Cafe Leblanc. At the sound of the bell ringing, Akira set down the plate he had been cleaning and went over to the counter to greet her.

"Hey Futaba, you look nice" He commented, looking pointedly at her outfit.

Futaba had not come wearing a kimono, but she had made an effort to at least look a little nicer than usual. Most days she'd just wear a tank top and sweatpants or something similar, but a combination of her mother's nagging and wanting to prove to her friends that she did, in fact, own other clothes, had prompted her to dig through her closet for something a little more festive. (It certainly didn't have anything to do with the fluttery feeling that she felt in her stomach at the thought of impressing Yusu- Nope. Not going there. Not at all.)

Oblivious to Futaba's inner struggles, Akira continued on.

"So, did you just come early for free coffe or?"

Futaba shuffled uncertainly, one of her hand rising to fiddle with the rim of her glasses. It would be so easy to just shrug it off and claim that this meeting was entirely unprompted, but she couldn't. Not only would Akira certainly see right through her (he'd developed an annoying habit of reading her like an open book over the years) but she had wanted to talk.

Her cheeks burned just at the thought, but nevertheless, if she didn't do it now she would never get around to it.

"Actually-" she started uncertainly, "I was kind of hoping to get some advice. About... some stuff." Akira raised an eyebrow, but he didn't turn her down or make fun of her. Instead he nodded, saying that they could talk after he'd closed the Café, which would be in fifteen minutes or so. In the meantime he made Futaba's favourite coffee, with plenty of milk and cardamom mixed in, and told her to make herself at home.

Fifteen minutes and one drained cup of coffee later, Akira showed her up the stairs to the attic which was as musky as always. Futaba waved her hand around, watching the dust swirl in the light from the windows, while Akira moved a pile of magazines from the surface of a dingy couch that stood by one of the walls. He sat down, and motioned for Futaba to do the same.

"Come and lie down on the couch, now tell me all your worries." He said, jokingly and Futaba punched him in the arm, taking a seat on a pile of boxes next to the couch just to spite him. She crossed her legs, looking up to see Akira gazing at her expectantly.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" He asked, pushing his glasses up (Like an anime protagonist, Futaba would have joked in another context.)

As it was, she twirled one of her bangs around her fingers, looking for the right words. How did she even talk about this?

She'd contacted Akira because he was one of the people who knew about her entire past, and one of the three people in the world she trusted completely. His mother was best friends with one of their most loyal customers and as such she'd frequented Leblanc often, bringing her son along on more than one occasion. Since Futaba often spent afternoons with Sojiro while her parents were working, they had met once and became fast friends. Akira would eventually start visiting the Cafe without his mother, and the pair had become almost like siblings, with Sojiro making sure they didn't get into too much trouble. So yeah, of course she trusted Akira, and he'd been there for her after… Well.

Point was, she'd needed someone to help her find out what was wrong with her. Because there was something, that she was certain of. It certainly wasn't normal to spend entire lessons spacing out because she was to busy thinking about how pretty her benchmate was, how soft his hair was and how adorable his smile was, nor was getting up an entire hour earlier than usual because she wanted her clothes to have the correct "Mix of colours and hues" or whatever the hell Yusuke had meant when he'd complimented her appearance that one time.

Yeah. Definitely not normal.

She decided to just start talking, since deliberating wasn't yielding any clever formulations.

"A lot of really freaking weird stuff has been happening to me lately-" she started, and then the words just spilled out of her.

She told Akira about when she'd first met Yusuke, how she'd gotten the completely wrong impression about him, (He laughed when she told him about the incident at the comic store, but she'd shut him up because Featherman R was serious business dammit.)

Then she talked about how they'd become friends, that time they'd went to Jimbocho and how she'd gotten to know an entirely different side to him at Hifumi's Shoji competition. Akira listened closely, smiling at her in that odd, calculating manner that Futaba recognized very well as the expression he'd worn when he'd once put a spider in the backpack of a girl who'd made fun of Futaba on the playground when they were in elementary school .

His smile only widened as Futaba started talking about what was truly the most challenging part, her emotions.

The strange tingly feeling to her stomach was difficult to explain and Futaba stumbled over her words while Akira gently encouraged her to continue. She talked about how she suddenly started thinking about them together in the strangest situations, (recounting a particularly annoying time when a memory had caused her to have to redo an entire chapter of a video game because she couldn't remember the name of a character's child.) The way she really just wanted to constantly be near him and talk to him.

She would spend lessons completely oblivious to the teachings since Yusuke had just finished a drawing he was proud of and was staring straight ahead with that aloof smile of his, the one that made it seem as though all the woes of existence had been cured.

She talked until her throat felt dry and the soles of her feel hurt from her having kicked them into the cardboard box she was sitting on. When she finished, she looked up at Akira who was giving her the most infuriating big brother stare™. He cleared his throat.

"Sooo in my very professional opinion-" He started, and Futaba gave him an exasperated stare.
"This is serious Akira, I don't know what to do here! I can't focus on anything, it's infuriating!" She kicked the box hard enough to create indentations in the cardboard.

"Right, sorry Futaba." He said, fiddling with his glasses and leaning back on the couch.

"You do know what's happening though, don't you?" He asked, and Futaba glared at him.

"Obviously not! Then I wouldn't be talking to you, would I?"

Akira gave her a dubious look.

"Seriously? Futaba- you have a crush on this Kitagawa-guy. I mean that was obvious even before you gave me this...exposition dump about your relationship." he said, and Futaba wanted to smack him for stealing her thing with using video game terminology, but she was too busy internally freaking out.

"There's no way- no way I have a crush on Yusuke. I mean- it's not like I want to date him or anything I just-"

Futaba's cheeks coloured as she spoke, her mind pulling up scenarios of her and Yusuke going on dates, that time they'd held hands, them hugging and-.

Holy shit. Maybe she did have a crush.

"O-okay. Say you're right. Hypothetically."

Akira raised an eyebrow, amused.
"What the hell do I do then? I can't exactly ask him out, now can I?" Futaba argued. Hell- if she'd completely misread the signs she didn't dare imagine what conclusions Yusuke might be drawing about her strange behaviour. Knowing him he'd delude himself into thinking she was some kind of hacker art thief or something. Completely out of touch with reality- as usual.

"Why not?" Akira retaliated. "That is usually how people deal with crushes you know."

Futaba drummed her fingers on the box. "Yeah but he's...Yusuke."

she said, as if that explained everything. Going by Akira's blank look, it did not.

"No look he's like...He's weird. I dunno if he even feels the romance stuff. I mean, to another human being. The one thing he loves above all is painting, so-"

Akira looked at her as if she was kidding.

"Well if that's the case why don't you just ask? You're friends, right? I mean, it's a wonder it hasn't come up in conversation yet, if you ask me. Just...pretend it's platonic concern, wondering if he likes girls or boys or neither."

Futaba was unconvinced. As much as she did want answers to that question, she didn't want to do anything that might put any kind of strain on her relationship with Yusuke (That being their completely platonic relationship, just like Futaba preferred. Of course.)

Her social skills were practically non existent, so she doubted she could sneak it into a casual conversation, but then again Yusuke's social skills were even worse than her own. Still, something didn't quite sit right with her.
There was still the chance that this might impact her relationship with Yusuke for the worse, and she didn't want to risk losing one of her best (only) friends because of something so stupid as a crush. The whole thing was very frustrating.

"I dunno dude. What if he takes it the wrong way? What if he's really not interested in me at all, I mean- what if this ruins our friendship? Things'll be super awkward between us."

Akira shrugged. "Look. If you just want to ignore it I suppose I can't stop you, but look where waiting has gotten you so far. You wanted a way to stop feeling distracted and to stop wondering, so this seems like the most obvious solution."

He...had a point, Futaba had to admit.

The reason she was here at all was because she wanted to know how to stop feeling distracted, and she'd played enough dating sims (Though it pained her to admit) to know that the character who resigned themselves to hiding their romantic feelings usually got left behind. They couldn't even get enough popularity to be classed 3rd Best Boy/Girl.

"Well...I suppose-" Before she could finish the sentence, Futaba's phone chimed in her pocket and the Featherman R theme song played throughout the attic. She opened it to find a message from Hifumi to their joint chat, specifying a time and place for their meeting. Akira, who'd also read the message on his phone, got up from the couch and brushed off his pants.

"I guess that's all the time we have for this therapy session. Tune in next week for the exciting follow up," he joked, and Futaba's face fell.
"No, come on, I still don't know what to do!" She crossed her arms, glaring down at her phone.

"I think you do." Akira argued calmly

. "Look, this stuff is never easy, but I think things will work out for you Futaba. I mean, I was just as nervous about asking Goro out as you are right now, and look where we are now."

Futaba raised her eyebrows. "You panicked while pouring his coffee, and practically screamed an invitation to him as he was leaving to get his shirt thrown in the wash."

"In front of the entire café, yes. I got comments about that from customers for days." Akira laughed. "My point is, sometimes these things just work out, you know? Have a little faith, and trust yourself to do it right."

Futaba still wasn't sure. She didn't feel like she'd gotten any closer to solving her problems, but maybe it was as simple as Akira put it. Just ask, and go from there. Honestly, Futaba wanted to curl into a little ball and ignore the world and her feelings until they went away, but she knew better. Besides, they were supposed to meet up with Hifumi, Nijima, Akechi and...Yusuke, in less than five minutes.
"Well, at least it can't go much worse than your confession." She said, distracting herself with witty commentary as she was prone to. It worked...kind of.

Akira couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, yeah, I already get enough of that from Goro. Come on now, we don't want to be late for your date."

The pair arrived at the train station where they'd decided to meet in a timely fashion, only a couple minutes late. Hifumi and Nijima were already there, as was Akechi. Akira left Futaba's side almost immediately to greet his boyfriend, and Futaba made a mental note to tease him to hell and back about that when they got back, as revenge for his comments about her and Yusuke.

She approached Hifumi and Nijima a bit self consciously, seeing as both girls were dressed up in beautiful Kimonos, and seemingly engaged in a heated debate about Shogi. Futaba stood by them awkwardly for a few moments, before Hifumi noticed she'd arrived and broke off the debate to greet her.

"Wow, you look great Futaba!" She commented, wholly hypocritically seeing as she herself looked absolutely stunning in a flower-patterned red Kimono, matching the ribbon in her hair.

Nijima looked just as good albeit a bit more somber in a blue, mono-coloured kimono. She kept a bit to the side as Futaba and Hifumi talked but was pulled into the conversation again eventually as the topic inevitably changed back to Shogi, leaving Futaba to hover awkwardly beside them.

She was rescued a few minutes later by the arrival of Yusuke, about 15 minutes late. Futaba turned to greet/yell at him for being late, but was stunned into silence as she saw him.

Yusuke was wearing a yukata, and he looked absolutely stunning.

It was similar to Nijima's in that it was a deep blue, but combined with his pale skin and vivid hair it looked a thousand times better. Yusuke had rambled about some kind of effect that light and dark colours had on each other once, making the bright shine and the dark gloomy and Futaba had never seen a more perfect example. The contrast made his skin appear fair and his blue eyes practically glow, while the blues of the yukata and his hair matched stunningly. Futaba had to admit, albeit begrudgingly, Yusuke had one hell of a sense for colours.

The entire group had greeted the final member by the time Futaba snapped out of her train of thought, and Yusuke had forgone pleasantries in favour of delving deep into an analysis of the colour symbiosis on Hifumi's kimono. He hadn't even acknowledged Futaba, and as much as she tried not to seem bothered it stung a bit.

"Hey Inari! Where were you? We were supposed to meet fifteen minutes ago, you know." She said as greeting, taking it upon herself to bring the matter of the festival up before Yusuke was too far gone.

He looked up, as if only then realizing she was there. His gaze scanned Futaba once, then twice, before he settled on her face and smiled pleasantly. "I got off the subway one station earlier to save money." He explained airily. "I hadn't realized it got so late."

He looked pensive, as if he wanted to elaborate or make another comment, but refrained with a shrug.

Futaba gave him a weird look. Well- she supposed- it wasn't the strangest thing Yusuke had done. Besides, she knew he didn't really have an income, so she guessed it made sense. She wondered with a smile if part of the reason why Yusuke was late had been making sure that his outfit was meticulously colour coded. It certainly sounded like him, in any case.

Now that the group was gathered, they all headed toward the festival together. As the established couples naturally gravitated toward each other, Futaba found herself walking alongside Yusuke. She didn't mind it one bit, though she was a bit miffed at Akira for completely abandoning her with only a wink and a subtle "good luck".

The festival street was like something out of an anime, colourful and sparkling and warmly lit by lanterns and streetlights. Futaba was momentarily taken aback and had to remind herself that she wasn't looking at a painting or digital landscape, but a real life place. The colours and shades made the entire world look much more beautiful than was conceivable and Futaba almost didn't want to walk closer and ruin the pretty sight, (She realized amidst musing that she sounded like Yusuke. Wow, this crush thing was hitting her hard apparently.)

Yusuke was similarly entranced, of course, and both of them ended up stopping to take in the sights as the other members of their party entered ahead of them. With a wave and promise to meet up later from Hifumi and a wink and blown kiss from Akira, Futaba was left standing awkwardly on the pavement as Yusuke did that weird hand-frame-thing at the view.

Five minutes passed. Yusuke might as well have been a statue, if not for an occasional hum or click of the tongue escaping him.

"Hey dude. You've been staring for a while now. What are you even doing?"

Futaba squinted at the sight, but while it was very pretty she didn't see the point of staring for over five minutes.

"Framing." Yusuke answered distractedly. "Oh- if only I had brought my sketchbook or some oils. This would have been a marvellous painting, no doubt."

"Yeeah. Sure," Futaba agreed.

She fished up her phone from her pocket, reaching up to snap a couple of shots from the same angle that Yusuke was...framing? with his hands.

"Here. You can stare yourself blind at these later," she said, waving the phone in front of him.

Yusuke reacted as if she'd woken him from a trance. "Oh of course! Thank you, Futaba."

He gave her a sheepish look.

"Ah, I seem to have lost myself a bit. Were you waiting for me?"

Futaba rolled her eyes. "Nah- it's fine. You didn't even ramble this time."

Yusuke seemed downtrodden, so she shrugged and pushed up her glasses with one finger. "Anyway, now that you're back in this reality, shall we get going?"

She held out her hand expectantly before even considering the gesture, remembering with fondness how Yusuke had helped her with the crowded Shogi competition.

As pretty as the festival was, Futaba wasn't liking the crowds one bit.

Yusuke only gave her hand a cursory glance before taking it loosely while he used his free one to snap pictures of the view.

"Watercolour would make the purple shine marvellously, though oils might be more prudent considering the shadows," he hummed in thought, and Futaba took that as her cue to start leading him forward, lest they miss the entire festival because Yusuke would rather discuss colors.

"Yeah, yeah it's pretty but they've got festival foods and fireworks. Come on-" She pulled on his arm and her voice was annoyed, yet Futaba didn't feel peeved in the slightest.

Actually, she was completely fine with letting Yusuke wander and talk about whatever complicated painting-topic (that she knew nothing about) that he wanted.

So she did.

Well, they did a bit more than wander, truth be told. Futaba dragged Yusuke to go get Yakisoba, try goldfish scooping (to absolutely disastrous ends. Even the owner of the stand couldn't keep from laughing when Futaba almost managed to loose her balance and tumble right in the water with the fish) and at least three different shooting games before they both admitted to being pretty tired and resolved to get off the main roads.

After a few moments of looking, Yusuke found a relatively quiet spot in a completely deserted playground about two blocks from the festivities where they decided to set up camp.

Clutching a cup of shaved ice, even though the summer night was probably too cold for it, Futaba had perched herself on top of the lowest of monkey bars with her feet dangling freely in the air while Yusuke stood beside her with his own cup.

"Wow. Talk about weird. It's like...I dunno, are we really still in Shibuya? It feels different, somehow."
Futaba spoke out loud before she herself realized, breaking the comfortable silence and making Yusuke turn to her.

"It certainly has an air of...calm. Serenity, I suppose, or something equivalent. I believe the change is caused by the unusually bright and lovely evening, combined with residual adrenaline from playing all of those shooting games."

Futaba had to squint, but she could have sworn Yusuke was smirking at her through the dark.

"Well, that and all of the sugar I've had," she added with a laugh.

"The world becomes a magical place once you've stayed awake long enough and ingested enough glucose to overdose a minor anthill."

Yusuke nodded dutifully. "I suppose that might play a part in it, yes."

Silence descended on them again, and Futaba suddenly felt light as a feather, perched on top of the monkey bars with her legs kicking back and forth. She felt an irrational desire to prolong their conversation into infinity, building a large wall around the playground to keep the rest of the world out as she and Yusuke kept on being happy together forever.

Futaba had once read a lovesick protagonist, (Either from a book or fanfiction, she honestly couldn't remember), describe an irrational desire to "create their own bubble universe" so they could stay happy there forever.

She'd thought it was a pretentious and honestly pretty crappy metaphor, but now she couldn't help thinking maybe that author had been onto something.

She wondered just how many romantic clichés were more accurate to life than she'd first realized, and decided that she kind of wanted to find out.

"Hey-" she said quietly, only to realize that Yusuke had moved to stand in front of her, his face just about level with her lower stomach, and was looking up at her with an unreadable expression.

Futaba's cheeks flushed as she realized Yusuke wasn't just looking at her, the way someone might glance at someone to gauge their expression or mood, or point out that they had a stain on their shirt.

He was looking at her, like he was simply enjoying the sight.

Futaba was terrified and mortified and delighted all at once.

"Hey- um- what's up?" She asked, swallowing thickly and grabbing onto the metal rod she was perched on with her free hand. God- she could almost taste the embarrassment she'd be exposed to if she fell down now.

Yusuke stared at her for a moment longer before seemingly coming to his senses. It was a visible change, like a wave of emotions passed over his face and it wasn't until this moment that Futaba realized she'd been looking too.

Yusuke's face and hair and entire being were fantastic, gorgeous and way way too close for comfort holy shit.

"I- My apologies. I lost myself. I must say- that with the dim lights and soft colors you looked breathtaking Futaba. I was awestruck."

Holy shit how could he say stuff like that without feeling embarrassed?

Futaba seriously felt as if she might fall straight down and faceplant in the sand.

"I uh- thanks," she mumbled lamely, daring to glance down and meet Yusuke's brilliant, entrancing eyes (Yep. She's actually thought that. Wow. Futaba was beyond saving).

"You're not so bad yourself," she mumbled and Yusuke's face lit up with delight and adorable confusion at the compliment.

"I- thank you. I had hoped so, but I fear my own judgement is insufficient to judge."

He said it as if, by some miracle, Futaba's wasn't.

The tension in the air was so thick you might as well have been able to cut it, and Futaba found herself completely losing all sense of time or direction. After making eye-contact, she was no longer able to break it and Yusuke seemed to have found himself in a similar predicament, causing them both to be stuck in some kind of bizzare time loop where both of them wanted to act but neither could.

Slowly, agonizingly, Futaba felt her own chest rise and fall beneath her jacket. Every second stretched for hours, the dark playground bathed in purple and pink as the sun set but Futaba didn't notice. She stared, transfixed, until something broke the moment.

Yusuke placed a hand on the monkey-bars.

That, in of itself wasn't that extraordinary, except it wasn't just that he'd placed it where Futaba was sitting. He'd placed it on Futaba's hand, which was still desperately clutching the metal as to steady her.

For a minute, the entire world stopped, and then they both, breathlessly and dazedly, broke the eye-contact to glance at the spot on the metal rod.

Yusuke's bigger, pearly white hand with Futaba's smaller one beneath, splayed out on the dark red metal. Yusuke seemed to inhale sharply, his hand jolting as if he was regretting the decision to move it, but before he had the chance to rescind Futaba let go of her steadying grip and turned her palm to his.

She gently grabbed his own hand in hers, wondering with bewilderment what on earth she was doing. She's told herself, she'd promised herself to not to anything that would jeopardize their friendship, crush be damned. She hadn't even taken Akira's advice in checking whether Yusuke even could be interested in her.

Still, considering that the options were to either let go or keep holding Yusuke's hand in a tight death-grip, Futaba decided that right then, right there, she wasn't letting go for anything.

When she looked back up, Yusuke's eyes met her own again and this time he was even closer. Close enough that he must be standing on his toes, Futaba reflected and then she didn't have the time to think anymore because she was also moving toward Yusuke and soon enough, far too soon, they would be close enough that they would be-

BANG!

A harsh sound reverberated throughout the playground and Futaba startled so badly she dropped her cup of shaved ice. She yelped, grabbing onto Yusuke's hand with a death grip as her free hand desperately scrambled for purchase.

She kicked wildly in the air, and Yusuke let out a soft grunt so she deduced she'd probably hit him, but despite Futaba's best efforts she toppled backwards on the monkey bars until she was hanging upside down with her knees swung around the metal rod.

Man was she glad she'd chosen to wear pants instead of a skirt.

"Fuck!" She swore, spitting as some of her hair got in her mouth.

"Oh- oh my goodness, Futaba, are you okay?" Yusuke rambled, looking incredibly distraught (Though, since Futaba was currently looking at him upside down, he was quite blurry).

"Fine- I'm fine. Just let go so I can get down," she yelped, taking a moment to adjust her grip on the monkey bar.

Yusuke seemed to get the hint since he immediately released Futaba's hand and stepped back, letting her swing the full way round and land on her feet again.

"H-holy shit-" Futaba swore, breathless and pretty disoriented from the whole ordeal.

"Y-yes. Quite-" Yusuke agreed, wrapping his arms around himself and apparently that was the final push Futaba needed because suddenly that was the most hilarious thing she'd ever experienced.

She began to giggle, leaning her head against the very metal rod she'd been sitting on seconds prior. "H-holy sh-shit-"

Yusuke, evidently infected by her amusement, began to smile widely, covering his mouth with one hand to stifle his own laughter.

"You sh-should have seen your face!" Futaba laughed madly, wrapping her arms around herself as her stomach began to hurt from the force of it.

"Holy shit- that was priceless."

Her legs giving out, she slumped down onto the sanded ground, rubbing at her eyes with her palms as her body convulsed with laughter.

"I couldn't help it! I was surprised!" Yusuke argued indignantly, which only made Futaba laugh harder.

The startled, borderline terrified expression on Yusuke's face would be something she never ever forgot, she knew that much.

As they laughed, another bang reverberated throughout the air, and when Futaba looked up she saw a shower of brilliant colours above.

Shit. How could she have been that stupid. She'd known there would be fireworks, for crying out loud.

"Uhm. If I may be so blunt," Yusuke begun once her giggles had calmed down somewhat. "What… what exactly happened just now?"

Futaba contemplated stalling for time by asking what part he meant, but she was pretty sure she knew.

The part where Yusuke took her hand and they were about to kiss before being interrupted by fireworks, of course.

"I don't know." She said instead, getting up off the ground and turning to face Yusuke. "I...I didn't dislike it though." She didn't voice it, but the implied question was obvious. "Did you?"

Yusuke shook his head slowly. "No. No it was certainly...inspiring."

He took a step forward as more fireworks sounded in the distance and Futaba realized the mood was rapidly changing back to something like before they'd been interrupted.

Was she actually going to have her first kiss while someone shot fireworks?

God, Futaba thought, When had her life become a dating sim?

"So you wouldn't mind- uh-" She held out her hand again, a deliberate invitation this time, as opposed to the instinctual one that she'd offered before.

Yusuke didn't answer, didn't look like he could, but he took her hand and Futaba found that was answer enough.

They moved closer.

Closer.

Closer still. Holy shit, Futaba was practically standing on Yusuke's shoes at this point.

When Futaba lifted her gaze, she came face to face (Or rather- face to neck) with Yusuke, and her cheeks burned. The only thing stopping her from running away in embarrassment was that Yusuke looked just as, if not more, embarrassed than she and that was quite the achievemet since Futaba honestly hadn't been sure that Yusuke could even feel embarrassment before that point.

Slowly, as if she were compelled by some kind of force, Futaba's free arm moved on it's own accord to settle around Yusuke's back, taking ahold of the fabric of his dark Yukata. She swallowed thickly, glancing up and seeing a shower of reds, green and yellow in the sky above make an excellent backdrop for Yusuke's stunned, absolutely gorgeous expression.

Futaba closed her eyes, knowing what would come next.

Honestly, either of them really knew who'd closed the final distance. Both had been so wrapped up in eachother, in the wonder and embarrassment and feelings that this kind of closeness enduced that Futaba would later explain it as "it just happened." Her eyes closed, she breathed in and suddenly her lips were on Yusuke's.

One thing was for certain, though. She might not remmeber exactly how it happened, but Futaba would never forget the magical, electric feeling of that kiss.

Yusuke's arm wandered up to wrap around her midsection and suddenly they were pressed close, lips locked in a shy, awkward kiss as neither really knew what they were doing. It was strained, with Futaba having to stand on her toes to even reach in the first place, and unsteady since both of them were shaking with adrenaline and excitement.

But even so, the short version was that it was the greatest moment of Futaba's life. Hands down.

The previous contenders, the day she'd recieved the premium edition of the first 5 volumes of Featherman R for her birthday and the mother-daughter day Futaba had spent with Wakaba last summer vacation weren't even close to comparing to the wonderful, intoxicating feeling of getting her pining (Which, Futaba was woman enough to admit, had been exactly what she'd been doing up until now) rewarded in such a clear way.

Futaba could have stood there forever. She probably would have, except before she felt she was even remotely close to finished, she heard someone yelling.

"Futaba, Yusuke! Guys! They're over here!"

Futaba opened her mouth to tell Yusuke to ignore it, to keep the kissing going and let whoever wanted their attention wait a bit because she wasn't finished dammit, but Yusuke had already broken off, letting his hand fall back to his side.

She reluctantly followed suit, though she kept holding Yusuke's hand tightly, aiming to shoo off whoever was bothering and get right back.

A dark figure was running at them from the street, and when Futaba looked closer she recognized it as Akechi, of all people.

"What? Did something happen?" Futaba shouted at him as he came closer, because Goro Akechi was panting and rushing and looked like death itself was chasing him.

Futaba had never, ever, seen him show any emotion let alone fear to this extent before.

Akechi slowed down as he approached, bracing his arms on his knees as he caught his breath.

"Futaba I- you- I got a call from the station-" he began, gasping for air. Futaba could see more shapes approaching behind him, must be the others she supposed.

"What's wrong?" She asked quietly, swallowing down the worry. What on earth would Akechi want with her, and why did he look so distraught?

"Futaba- I'm sorry," Akechi said, straightening himself and burrowing his shaking hands in the pockets of his coats. It wasn't that cold- in fact it was barely chilly.

"I- It's your mother."

A/N

So...Yeah this story almost went an entire year without updates. Words cannot convey how sorry I am, truly. There have been a whole bunch of things that have led to me losing the will to write this. School has been a nightmare and personal drama has arguably been worse but through a lot of ups and down this chapter was finally made.

Right now it's almost midnight for me and I haven't proofread shit, so I'm probably going to edit this tomorrow after I get some much needed sleep. I just felt like I'd waited far too long to post anything, and waiting even another day would be too much.

Also, while I'm rambling, I'm thinking of moving this story over to Archiveofourown. This won't mean that the story won't continue to update here, but it'll be avalible over there too if you prefer to use the site (like me). I already have two stories from a different fandom posted on AO3, RPs which I've written with a friend, and I'd like to have all my stories in the same place so...

I hope, despite everything, that the few of you who're still reading this enjoy the chapter. I'd like to thank every single person who has followed or reviewed the story. Seriously. Even after all this time, the thought that people are still discovering and enjoying my story absolutely blows my mind.

Thank you so much for reading!