Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: Some characters aren't mine.

Chapter 25

"So I take it that was Himiya-san?"

"Yeah, that's Katsu-tan. Isn't she adorable?" Suki asked.

"Wait, I thought…are you saying you never actually met her?" Arisa was confused. "Earlier, you said…"

"Yeah, that's right," Suzuka replied, "I never actually met her, or any other members of Suki-chan's fanclub, for that matter, until tonight."

"But earlier when I asked you if you'd seen Suki-tan…"

"Like I said, I'd never met any of them before, but I've been meeting some tonight, among them an energetic fifth-year grade-schooler."

"Of course. Natsu-chan's easy to like. Her sister…"

"Can you try to be civil?!" Suki interrupted.

"She doesn't make it easy," Arisa said. "Besides, isn't this little episode probably over now that I've evened the score with Watagami-chan?"

"…Evened the score?" Suki asked.

"Yeah. For getting people to say things in front of people they didn't want to find out," Tatsuke said. "Or had you forgotten that I know about your threesomes?"

"…Oh, right. I guess that was kind of the same thing."

"Turnabout is fair play, right?"

"…I don't think this is over, though, because I do love Katsu-tan."

"The way you love me?" The two words didn't match up.

"…Yes. The way I love you." This time they did. Arisa frowned. (CCX: Which she shouldn't based on the way that sentence is constructed because the only one she's actually said it about there is Arisa.)

"So why are you here with us?"

"Because it's what Katsu-tan needs right now. She and Hanna-chan need to sort this out." They walked outside, only to find a surprising face waiting for them.

"Zafira-san? Where's Hayate-chan?"

"Something big came up. Hayate-sama sends her regrets that she couldn't be here in person."

"Why were you waiting around out here? You know that if anyone saw you, it would be considered suspicious."

"I didn't have an invitation." Zafira was trying to say as little as possible, as not everyone around was in the loop.

"…Okay."

"I should go."

"Okay. See you." He merely nodded and left.

"Who was that?" Suki asked.

"A member of the Wolkenritter," Arisa said, an explanation that would give Suki the answers she needed without revealing anything to Tatsuke.

*December 28th*

"Good morning, birthday girl!" Suki said, greeting Katsura with a kiss that she quickly moved to the cheek when she saw Natsume approaching. Katsura was a little disappointed, but understood.

"Morning, Sempai," came a voice from another room.

Suki acknowledged the girl on the couch. "Hanna-chan. So, is it just going to be the three of us today?"

"You mean I'm not invited?" Natsume said disappointedly.

"Sorry, imouto," Katsura said, "but this is my special day. Yeah, just the three of us. Most of my 'friends' are just people who put up with me because I'm Hanna's best friend."

"Katsura-chan!"

"You know it's true, Hanna-chan. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, but…I guess I just rub people the wrong way. Especially other girls."

"Eh?" Suki was confused.

Katsura laughed. "I know, right? Normally when you think of a girl as being 'one of the boys', it's because she's this big tomboy—kind of like your girlfriend. I'm not like that at all. I just…for some reason, most of my friends are boys. It's just sort of the way it is."

"I never would've guessed."

"Yeah, you'd think more of them would've shown up. You're certainly pretty enough to get their hormones going. I guess your beauty was just too much; some of them have talked to me about how cool it is that I'm friends with an upperclassman as amazing as you."

A silence. "What, no cynical remark?" Suki asked.

"Who, me?" Hanna replied. "No, I wasn't planning one. Why, do you think I should?"

"A girl as beautiful as Katsu-tan is popular with the boys? I'd be cynical."

Hanna smiled. "Then perhaps you need to relax."

First up on the agenda was a trip to the movies—a romantic comedy. Next was lunch. Hanna and Suki both wanted to pay, and ended up splitting the bill. From there, it was off to the mall for a day of shopping. Again, Hanna and Suki insisted that Katsura shouldn't have to pay for anything because it was her birthday, but she managed to convince them to let her at least pay for some of her merchandise.

"So what do you think?"

"It looks perfect for you. Why don't you try it on?" Suki asked.

"You're not going to come in here with me?" Katsura teased.

"Wouldn't be appropriate," Suki said. Katsura mock-frowned and took the skirt into the dressing room. "What are you chuckling at?" Suki asked Hanna.

"She only brought that one item in there."

"So? What's your point?"

"She's going to be 'showing off' for you either way. …Just what did you do to her at that party?"

"I-I didn't do anything! I let her set the tempo, because I was afraid that I'd go too far otherwise!"

"That's not what I meant. Katsu-chan's always been a bit conscious of her body—she's always one of the first ones to finish changing for gym class because she doesn't really like being seen undressed. Now, obviously we haven't had class since then so I don't know if that's changed, but if she's actually going to come out of that room showing off that skirt, then…that's different."

"I see. Why is that?"

"Why is what?"

"You said she's always been self-conscious. This obviously isn't a puberty thing, then."

"…I suppose that you wouldn't really notice, since your skin's a bit lighter than most of ours too. But that pale complexion of hers…she never really liked it."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah. It's not…"

"…natural."

"I wasn't going to say it."

"I always said that she looked like a little porcelain doll. I guess I never thought about the fact that people aren't supposed to look like that."

"So how do I look?" Katsura came out of the dressing room, twirling around.

"It looks good. Perhaps we should see if we can find a good top to go with it."

"…Are you saying you don't like what you see?"

"Of course not. But…this is a public place. Are you really okay with being seen like that?"

Katsura didn't respond, turning after a moment to return to the dressing room, removing the skirt she'd tried on and replacing it with her dress, even whiter than her skin—though at the moment, she was a bit flushed anyway. It didn't take long, which was in line with what Hanna had said about her ability to change quickly. "I-I'm sorry…"

"You don't have to apologize. Hanna-chan was just saying that you aren't normally this comfortable with your body." Only now was it dawning on Suki that Katsura often wore tights even with the summer uniform, and outside of school, her clothes would be loose-fitting, but covered most of her body. It had seemed more of a matter of practicality, as skin as pale as Katsura's would sunburn easily, but…it was always just those. No layering so that she could be more comfortable indoors. Had that changed? Perhaps gradually over the course of autumn. Was it related to what happened at Tanabata?

CCX: As I'm looking back through previous chapters, something's bothering me. In chapter 20, Suki says "I love you" to Katsura, and although it isn't explicitly stated that it's aishiteru, the implication seems to be there, which would conflict with what happened last chapter. Perhaps we could chalk up that pause to Suki having to stop herself and change gears, since, after all, she said that she loved Katsura immediately after saying that she loved Arisa, whom she already has a serious relationship with.

"I'm…getting better about it," Katsura replied.

"Is it because I told you that I think your pale skin is pretty?" Suki asked. Katsura nodded. Suki wasn't sure how to continue, so she decided to just ask the questions she already knew the answers to. "Why didn't you like it?"

"It's…weird. Different. Even lighter than most gaijin."

"I…guess I can sort of relate. Both of my parents are ¾-Japanese and ¼-American, but somehow all of the recessive traits lined up for me and so I look American even though I'm ¾-Japanese. On my own, people just assume I'm a foreigner, but when I'm with my family, it's more like 'she's obviously adopted'. Which I'm not. It's…a bit unsettling." (CCX: When I first made the "with my family" remark back in Chapter 8, I think I'd sort of planned for Suki to have siblings, but now, especially after having sent the action over to her house, she definitely seems to be an only child. A rarity in this story, I know…)

"Um…so what do you think of this one?" Katsura was eager to change the subject.

"That'll be wonderful. Consider this one my treat." She found some other things to try on, and they left the store with their new purchases.

This was not to say that the "you're a teenager now; let's get you a teenager's wardrobe" trip was over. "What do you think?"

"I like the style, but…is it really your color?" Suki asked, as Katsura tried on the pair of black calf-length boots she'd picked out.

"It would probably look better with my new outfit," Katsura conceded.

"Even then…"

"It's hard to take me seriously in such a childish outfit, right?"

"I told you that patterned tights aren't for junior high students," Hanna said.

"Hold on…" She returned a few minutes later, a pair of brown over-the-knee socks over the tights. "Better?"

"Where did you…"

"Once you've paid for your purchase, there's really nothing preventing you from putting it on right away, though in most cases there's the little matter of whatever you were wearing into the store." She held up a bag, inside of which was a recently opened package, labeled as a three-pack and only containing two pairs of socks, one crème-colored and one navy blue. "Once we're done here, I think it's time for me to change completely. Are the bathrooms still too public a place for your tastes, Suki-nee?"

"Uh…" Suki looked over at Hanna, who looked back as if to say, "Why are you looking at me for approval?" "I suppose not…but I wasn't really planning on any…well, any of that."

"Good. So, which do you like better?"

"The calf boots. Knee-high boots don't really suit your figure. But…I still don't think black is your color. Perhaps you should try it in brown instead?"

"…We'd have to come back another time. They don't have the brown ones in my size."

"What about these?" Hanna brought over another pair, this one only ankle-high. "I think you'd look good in them. My gift if you like them."

Katsura sweatdropped. "You girls do remember that you both got me birthday gifts before this shopping trip started, right?" Hanna replied in the affirmative. Suki was elsewhere. Katsura didn't bother wondering where, as Hanna was waiting to see how she looked in the pair of boots she'd picked out. "Yeah, they're great. Thanks, Hanna-chan."

"Then these are on me," Suki said, returning with another shoebox.

"Suki-san?" Katsura was still struggling to figure out how to address Suki.

"Happened to see someone restocking shelves. Asked if they had the brown ones in your size. Looks like we won't have to come back another time, after all."

"That's wonderful."

"So what was with the 'sweet lolita' look, anyway?" Suki asked, pulling the dress off of Katsura.

She removed the matching white tights. "It 'fit', don't you think? The whole 'doll' look?"

"…I'm sorry about that."

"What? Why are you apologizing?"

"I don't know. I'm definitely glad that you feel better about the way you look thanks to my comments, but…I don't necessarily want to change you."

"What's wrong with changing a little?"

"…Nothing, I guess."

"…I think this blouse is a bit too summery on its own, even though it's long-sleeved. And I didn't buy anything suitable to wear underneath it."

"Then wear a different outfit."

"Aw…I wanted to wear the first one we picked out. The skirt and the boots were both your treat. And besides…most of my purchases were fairly dark-colored," she said, removing the top to reveal her very white bra.

"Well then, you should be glad you're not as busty as I am," Suki smiled, removing the undergarment and dropping it into the bag of clothes. "You can actually get away with this."

"Can I?"

"Yes. Well, not if you get all excited about it."

"How can I not get excited when I'm being undressed by the girl I'm in love with?"

"Try not to focus on what's in front of you, but on what's behind you."

"…That is a very good point. It's kind of hard to get aroused with your back pressed against a public toilet. I think I'm going to need a long shower when I get home."

"Hmm…you know, I think I know where we should head next."

"By 'next', I assume you mean 'as soon as we buy Katsura some nice new intimates to go with her nice new clothes', right?"

"I…didn't, but if that's what you want, then yes, okay."

"I'm…not exactly done growing yet, but, well…I don't really have much in the way of lingerie."

"You just turned 13. I'd be more worried if you did. Although those panties you had under your dress at my Christmas party were pretty sexy…"

"Yeah, but all of the support for that was in the dress, remember? No bra?"

"I see."

"Yeah."

"So, which outfit are you going to wear?"

"Well, that turtleneck looks pretty nice—though like I said, I'm a little nervous about wearing it with no bra. And the brown skirt goes well with it. You didn't finish undressing me," she said, pulling off the brown knee-highs, "I'd rather wear the blue ones, to go with the top. And the boots that Hanna-chan picked out." Katsura was already putting these items on as she named them, leaving Suki with little to do other than admire her.

"I like it. But you were worried that the other blouse wouldn't keep you warm, and now…" She put one arm around Katsura to brace her as she lifted the girl's leg up in the air and planted a love bite on the exposed thigh.

Katsura blushed. "I don't think I'll have much trouble staying warm with you around, Oneesama."

"…So you've decided you still haven't seen enough of me?" Katsura teased as they arrived at the onsen.

"Yeah, I'm not entirely sure I'm comfortable with this," Hanna said. Suki, however, was already paying. Katsura rushed forward, all too eager. Hanna sighed and joined the other two. "What gave you this idea?"

"Katsu-tan did, actually. It's the perfect place for a bit of bonding, not to mention a nice treat with the winter weather setting in."

"And I get to clean myself up."

"Just what did you two do in there?" Hanna asked. "No, wait, I don't want to know."

"No, that's…you're misunderstanding. There wasn't any of that going on. It's just…well, public restrooms and all that…"

"…Whatever. I'll leave you two alone."

"Aw, Hanna-chan…" Katsura said.

"Nah. You probably wouldn't be interested in what I want to do while you two are having your fun together. Well, okay, sempai might be, but she probably shouldn't."

"Hanna! Aren't you supposed to be the reasonable one?"

"What? What's she planning?"

"She's going to try to peek at the male side of the onsen. You do realize there probably won't be anyone else close to our age, right?"

"That's fine. Guys around my brothers' ages are hotter anyway."

"…There probably won't be too many of those, either." (CCX: The oldest Watagami is a first-year university student, so he's two years older than Atsuya and therefore six years older than Hanna.)

Suki intervened, "Let her peek. Worst that can happen is that she finds someone on the other side trying to look in on us."

"When you put it that way…might as well give them what they want," Katsura replied.

"Who's 'they'?"

"The peeping toms."

"Eh?"

"Let's just say I'm not the only one with some body insecurities. Although Hanna's a bit more inconsistent; she's happy enough, but she still tends to hide them for some reason."

"Hide…" Suki noticed Hanna getting undressed. "Geez, Hanna-chan!"

"Wha…hey, hands off!"

"Just how tightly did you have these wrapped? That's not good. You should let them breathe."

"Keep your hands to yourself!"

"Would you prefer it if I massaged them?" Katsura asked, trying to mediate between the two.

"I, uh, I…that won't be necessary…"

"Doesn't it hurt, though? I wouldn't know, because mine are still small, but…"

"…A bit. But I don't know what you're going on about. Mine are much smaller than Sempai's."

"You think?" Katsura grabbed them. "Yeah, I guess they are. They just look bigger because you're otherwise more or less the same size as me. But why bind them?"

"Well, like you said, they don't really suit me at my current height. Uh…sorry for getting mad at you, Sempai. Was it like this for you, too? Were your breasts the first thing to start growing?"

"…Everything just sort of happened at the same time."

"…There are some physical attributes of yours that I envy. Yes, maybe even your breasts, a little bit, but mostly I'd just like to be taller, so my body would look right again."

"…I get it. But you don't have to wrap them quite that much. I'll help you if you want."

"…Thanks."

"So now that we're all friends again…shall we engage in our onsen peeking together?" Katsura suggested, surprising both of the other girls. "What? I knew what you were up to right away because we'd done it together before," she reminded Hanna.

"R-right…that was fun…"

"I didn't realize you two were so perverted at such a young age."

"I've been told that I have a very innocent 'look' about me," Katsura replied, "and Hanna's an honor student so people don't expect her to be a secret pervert."

"I blame my older brothers. They were a bad influence." Hanna could barely keep a straight face as she said this, though, and the two soon burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay. But first, I believe there's a back that needs scrubbing."

CCX: And again, the chapter ends somewhat abruptly. CCX, signing…oh, do I have other things to address? Ah, yes, the curious decision to have the immediate results of Hanna's confession entirely off-screen, only to show the trio a few days later. It just didn't feel right to have that scene. I think showing the three of them afterwards does a better job of conveying what happened than a scene between just Katsura and Hanna ever could. As you can see, Hanna's happy with Katsura and Suki being…whatever they are, and Katsura…still thinks of Arisa, not herself, as Suki's girlfriend.

There's also another issue here, and that's ages. I'm assuming that somewhere, the official birthdays for the characters from the canon have been released, but I have no idea where to find them, so I've been trying to avoid the age issue whenever possible. A year has passed since the start of the story, so it's pretty safe to say that Arisa and Suzuka are both 16 now…probably. As for the OCs, I've mostly avoided it for them, too, because I keep getting screwed up by the fact that in Japan, new school years start in the spring and so usually the oldest members of a given class are the ones with April birthdays whereas in the U.S., they start in the fall and so the oldest are the ones with (depending on the district) either September or October birthdays. Now, the fact that I'm avoiding tying it to a specific year prevented me from giving an exact date for Tanabata, but this year Shinamori's birthday fell the day after it, so I figure it's probably like early August—don't have an exact date, though. And now, Katsura's has been revealed to be December 28. Suki's, well, I don't know exactly when Suki's is, but she was 13 when we first met her and she's 14 now. Given her noted Mary Sue qualities, the logical thing would be to give her my own birthday, but I actually did make reference to her being 13 in Chapter 14 (the same chapter where I pointed out what a Mary Sue she was), which would not only make her still 13 but would also mean that she was 12 during her debut, and possibly (given my unsureness as to whether chapter 7 took place in late March or in early April) also during her first sex scene. Also, the thought of someone noted to look too old for her class actually being the youngest one in the class (barring anyone who outright moved ahead a year) is a bit jarring. So I can assure you that if there is a character in this story that shares my birthday, it's not Suki. Maybe it should be Miki? No, that would make too much sense, and I think I decided that it would be more fitting if she was actually one of the earlier birthdays in her class. The last place where I explicitly reference her age is Chapter 17, so it's totally possible that she actually turned 16 even before Shinamori did. I think I like this idea.

I'll figure out the OCs' birthdays eventually. (You probably noticed one change already—Natsume was referred to as a 10-year-old in chapter 20 (set in August), but an 11-year-old in Chapter 23 (December).) This is Cyberchao X, signing off.