Shards Under a Mask

by The Scarf Girls

After the events in Lies Under a Mask, Suwa Nanaka's heart needed to heal. Thankfully for her, she is not alone doing it. This time, Suzuki Aina is by her side to gather all the Shards of her fallen Mask and Heart. How can this affect Aqours, the project and Nanaka herself? Moving on is always hard. The 3 Part of the Masquerade Series.

7. Chapter 7

Notes:

Hello! Misha here! ´･ᴗ･`

I'm so late!٩(●ᴗ●)۶ but after a lot of thinking and working, the chapter is here! ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧
This is 100% insert. It's right after Shards 06, and between Masquerade 13, so please go check them if you forgot something.
Our intentions were to finish this insert by December, but I'm afraid I just can't write 3 more chapters in such a short time (Yes, this insert it's going to have 10 chapters).
I'll do my best to deliver them as soon as possible.

There's 18+ content of course! please NanaAinya shippers don't hate me! (/ω＼)
Remember that everything we write is for a reason and a purpose... (๑ᴗ๑)

We remind you that there's A TIMELINE.
These stories have an order! the Timeline is on our profile! ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧ So please make sure to check it out.
And with that said, see you at the end! (･ω)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

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Shards Under a Mask.

Chapter 7.

Thin Air.

Love. Is free.

And now it was there, for the two of them to figure out how to overcome the situation. They had come too far to turn back, it was there where they needed to stand and face it, one step closer, they would go there, into thin air.

It was a cold night indeed.
And it was very late.

But the anxiety, nervousness, and anticipation, were filling her whole body with an indescribable feeling.

Their entangled hands were sweating, their footsteps were quick, they knew that what they were doing might be wrong, but they wanted it.

They needed it.

Desperately.

Passionately.

Fervently.

They had been holding on for just too long.

And if Nanaka had learned anything, it was that she just couldn't play with Suzuki Aina's hunger after a long day of practice.

It was Monday night and the Chief had just called it a day.
It was a very difficult day if Nanaka could dare say; because it had been an exhaustive day of practices, news, the new costumes fittings, and facing their new schedule.

The Mini Live was 15 days away and they needed to focus on practice and finish mastering the songs for the event. For that purpose, Production had determined that they need to be at first light in Lantis Building and go home at dusk -or later.

But seeing that the previous weekend had been exhausting for six of the members ( KaYoBy trio had worked that weekend, and Aina, King, and Rikako, had just arrived from South Korea...) they set them off "early" for them to rest a bit more and to get their selves ready for the following weeks practice marathons.

Which could only translate into Aina having trouble with the logistics.
She lived too far, they needed to be in too early, and they ended practice too late. Meaning, that she needed to stay in downtown Tokyo.

And, in Nanaka's mind that could only imply that Aina should stay with her for those days/weeks.

In other times, that would be awesome, and why not, to die for, a wish come true to spend time with the wannabe girlfriend, but no.

It troubled Nanaka because she wasn't in her centered self, she was having doubts about her moral scales.

And that was because of what she had done the night before...

It was too much, it was unbearable.

Being with Shuka on Friday, lust about her all of Saturday, and ending her Sunday duties with her in her arms, with her scent, with her warmth. With Shuka calling her sweet names.

She just couldn't take it, either could Shuka.

The idea of having a sweet and innocent ice cream blew away with the afternoon wind, for them to get lost in each other's eyes, and Nanaka inviting Shuka over.

At that moment Nanaka just couldn't think straight and plan something fancy like inviting her over to a Love Hotel, or a normal hotel, or somewhere else that wasn't her place.

Thinking about it in retrospective, inviting the Ex to her house, where now she was doing Aina, with the intention to finally label her relationship with her was a foolish idea.
It was like sabotaging everything.

But at that moment it didn't matter.

Love was free, in time, at pace, and it was there.

So no one questioned anything; Shuka said "yes" with the brightest smile ever to that invitation to Nanaka's place; Both knew why and what for.

And as Nanaka had told Production, the ride was just 15 minutes from that Joysound in Ginza to her place.

They held hands all the way, they didn't talk the whole ride, afraid of breaking the spell; they just stared at each other, undressing the other girl with their luscious sights.

The longest 15 minutes ever.

The anxiety, nervousness, and anticipation were filling her whole body with an indescribable feeling.

Their entangled hands were sweating, their footsteps were quick, they knew that what they were doing might be wrong, but they wanted it.

They needed it.

Desperately.

Passionately.

Fervently.

They had been holding on for just too long.

And this time it was a different type of hunger.

Nanaka never had opened the door of her building that quickly; having Shuka by her hand all the way and being lost in her eyes, scent, and presence, erased all vague memory of Aina.

So there wasn't a moment of doubt in her mind or heart; that was what she was looking for...

It felt like a dream.

Maybe she knew how it felt, but it could be all in her mind.
The entire weekend being pushed and pulled from her decisions, from her feelings, through her life.

What to do, what to feel, how to feel, how to act, who to love.

What was right, what was wrong.

She was so messed up that she felt swallowed up into some dark place, just existing, almost as if her life had just vanished from her eyes until Shuka appeared that afternoon to go to Joysound to work.

And then it seemed that there was life in her eyes once again.

Nanaka opened the door and stepped into her place; her lungs being filled with her home's Sakura and Yuzu scent.
She turned around to welcome Shuka, to her life once again after almost 4 months apart.

But she couldn't.

Nanaka's sight became stuck in Shuka, who closed the door not taking her eyes away from her.

Shuka looked so determined, so mature, so empowered.
She didn't look like her kid anymore; the one who once was there for the first time and knew nothing about love, sex, or what to do with a naked body.

No.

There was a woman in front of her, with no masks on her.

Only love.

And all that Nanaka knew was that she loved her.

Yes, I love you.

And it felt like they were already flying.

Nanaka dropped her keys and her bag as she walked with determination towards Shuka who did the same, dropping her bag and walked towards Nanaka.

They didn't think about it, just felt it.

They kissed.

Desperately.

Lovingly.

And passionately.

The air was too thin, they were dying.

Shuka hugged her tightly as Nanaka tried to hold them in that standing position, but they just couldn't be stopped.

Shuka caught Nanaka's cheeks between her palms and fiercely started devouring her mouth, pushing her inside her home.

Nanaka grabbed Shuka's sweater as if her life depended on it.

She missed her.

She missed her so bad that it might have broken the last piece of her mask, it shattered all over the entrance hall.

With smooth movements she took her right shoe off and stepped in walking backward; Shuka took the impulse and pushed her back again as she quickly took off her shoes using only her feet; her hands were busy.

Nanaka dropped her left shoe as she felt all the clouds taking her higher, the world far below was on fire.

They stepped inside; Shuka withdrew her hands from Nanaka's face and moved towards her body.
The impatience was taking over Shuka while her hands traveled faster through Nanaka's light coat, moving her backward towards a wall, and with quick fingers, she unbuttoned it.

Nanaka gasped into Shuka's wet kisses when she felt the wall.

She held out her hand just to touch her.

Nanaka just couldn't believe it, once again, maybe it was all in her mind?

No.

It was real. Shuka was there, at her place, inside, kissing her, devouring her.
Touching her.

Once again Nanaka confirmed that she loved her, that was all she knew.

And with that in mind, she counterattacked holding onto Shuka's sweater with one hand, as her other hand was entwined in Shuka's hair, deepening the kiss.

She could be there forever...

It was Shuka's turn to gasp into Nanaka's mouth and her skillful tongue. Yes, she had taught her kid well, because at the next second Shuka was introducing her tongue as well and removing Nanaka's coat.

The piece of cloth gracefully fell to her ankles, but it didn't matter.

Nothing mattered anymore, just them, just the moment.
Just Shuka.

Her soft lips devouring hers, the firm touch of Shuka's hands all over her, trying to touch as much as she could.

Oh God, how she had missed her hands, her touch...

A reason for being there forever.

And maybe Shuka was in some similar heavenly state, she felt so alive.
She kept pressing her body against Nanaka's, trying desperately to reap off her clothes.

But Nanaka stopped her.

She took her hands and stopped Shuka.

Nanaka's body was stuck against the wall, with an eager but weirdly mature Shuka looking intensely at her; like trying to read her mind, to reach her soul, just staring in the depth of Nanaka's eyes.

They entwined their hands not even looking at them, just by memory; they knew each other's hands so well, they knew each other just too good.

Shuka's lips were swollen, her breathing was heavy; her eyes desperately trying to catch for the green light to continue.

For a second there was a doubt in Shuka's eyes; maybe she was afraid that Nanaka could back down, but it wasn't the case.

Nanaka just wanted to make sure about that moment, that Shuka was there, that this was something that both wanted, that no one was going to stop halfway naked or something.

But it seemed that Shuka was determined to stay there, to take charge of her actions, her desires...to love her.

Nanaka blinked.

She felt her heart running, trying to break out of her chest, cold sweat running down her spine, her eyes filling up in tears; it felt unreal, there were doubts.

Maybe it was her who wanted to turn back...

But she couldn't.

In a quick movement, Shuka broke off their entwined hands and grabbed Nanaka's cheeks between her hands. It was a quick but soft movement that made Nanaka feel her heart stop. They became caught in each other's gaze, their love, their passion.

It was there, it was still there, it had never faded away.

There were no masks on them, there were no lies but the love they once shared, the pure and innocent feeling they had discovered together.

They were just a whisper away...

"...Nao"

Her heart stopped.

She could feel the tears running from the corner of her eyes as she whispered.

"... Yuchika..."

Nanaka closed her eyes feeling the tears running from her eyes as Shuka captured her lips once again in a lovely and passionate kiss.
Nanaka's hands traveled to hug the younger woman into a lovely embrace.

They had come too far to turn back.

This was where they stood and faced it, this was who they were...

No masks, no Nanaka, no Shuka, no Aqours, no Idols, no jobs, no doubts.

Just them. Just love.

It was a salty kiss, almost like the last one they had shared when they broke up 4 months ago.
But it was full of love.

Shuka left her lips slowly as she opened her eyes. Nanaka did the same.

They stood still for a few seconds, looking at each other; absorbing all the love, all the passion.

Shuka caressed Nanaka's cheeks softly, wiping her tears.

"Don't cry Nana-chan..." murmured Shuka, smiling softly at her.

Nanaka sniffed and shook her head softly.

"These...these are just tears of joy..." murmured Nanaka while Shuka cleaned a lonely tear from the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry..." said Shuka softly, Nanaka blinked.

"Are you?" asked Nanaka more seriously.

"Of course I am..." said Shuka with a serious face, "I never stopped loving you..."

And neither did Nanaka.

But her heart was in another place... for the last 4 months she started wandering in another woman's heart and body.

Nanaka's heart stopped as she bit her lips.

This was definitely not the moment to bring THAT into the conversation.

She kicked her thoughts to the back of her mind and embraced the moment; Shuka's body, Shuka's scent, her love, and her lips.

Nanaka hugged Shuka tightly, capturing her lips once again, and fiercely started to devour her mouth in a passionate kiss.

It surprised Shuka greatly, she wasn't expecting Nanaka to be so empowered since Shuka was sandwiching her against the wall.

But Nanaka was determined to finish whatever they had started in that hall, but of course, not there.

So while Nanaka fiercely kissed Shuka and biting her lips, she started to move away from the wall and the hall.
Of course, Shuka wasn't the submissive kid from their first encounters, where Nanaka did whatever she pleased...

No, Shuka now knew what to do, how, and where.

Also, she had the strength that Nanaka lacked so it was somewhat of a weird, not to mention absurd moment "fighting" for dominance.

They started to walk in this weird way while kissing; first Nanaka trying to sandwiching Shuka against the corridor wall, her hands trying to take Shuka's sweater off, then it was Shuka pulling her to the other side unbuttoning Nanaka's blouse; finishing with Nanaka pushing Shuka backward against the Kitchen door while she stood against the corridor wall with her blouse half open, exposing her cute pink bra and her pale white skin.

Both breathing very elaborately, exhausted from trying to undress the other while kissing in this nonsense fight for dominance.

This was definitely new between them.

If they needed to declare a winner, that might be Shuka, just because Nanaka hadn't managed to take her sweater off and it was all in a very messy position, while Nanaka's blouse was wide open.

They looked at each other; Nanaka against the wall, Shuka against the kitchen door; both looking at each other as prey.

The pale light of the street was sneaking inside the hallway from the living room window, making Nanaka's pale skin almost glow in the dark.

"This...this is new Nana-chan..." said Shuka with her lovely smile.

Nanaka blinked.

But she didn't say a thing, she was saving her energy for what would come next.

If she had learned something on those almost 4 months apart from Shuka, it was how to play with kinks.
She had always been on the receiving end of Aina's kinks, but now she was not going to suffer that again.

This was her house, meaning her rules...

Nanaka snapped.

Her eyes focused on Shuka in front of her; she had a lovely smile and a loving and lustful gaze.
Shuka wasn't playing any kinks. She was there trying to recover their love.

She was trying to win back Nanaka's heart.
Not trying to mess with her or dominate her... She was trying to love her.

Shuka was always trying to be ikemen for Nanaka, even if Nanaka was the experienced one or the adult in the relationship. She was always trying her best for her...

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

This wasn't a kink.
This was Shuka, not Aina...

Their way to love was different, their heart's shapes were different.

Her own heart and way to love were different, she just couldn't stand there and use her new shaped heart that had been adapting to loving Aina for these past 3 months to now love Shuka.

It didn't work that way.

Shuka took her time to recover her breath and stood straight.

"Dontcha' worry, I like this too..." said Shuka with a smug tone while taking her sweater off; then dropped it on the floor, "... I like everything that comes from Nana-chan..." finished Shuka with a sexy voice and her hair all disheveled.

Nanaka squished her thighs.

"Shuka..." murmured Nanaka, but with sadness.

"What?" asked Shuka walking closer, unbuttoning her own blouse, "Don't you want this...?"

Nanaka opened her eyes wide seeing how sexily Shuka walked and exposed her skin for her.

When did Shuka grow this sexy? Had she always been this confident?

She stood in front of her with her blouse wide open too.

Did she want that?

Nanaka gulped dryly.

A few seconds ago she was so determined to finish what her desires told her to start, and now she was having second thoughts?

Was it worth to have them now? She had already kissed Shuka.
So what now?

There was no turning back, this was who they were, no masks on them, one step closer...

No kinks. No rules. No doubts. No Aina.

Nanaka closed her eyes.

I'm sorry...

Then she grabbed Shuka's blouse and pulled towards her with strength and captured her lips with her own in a passionate kiss.

It felt sweet and right; and maybe Shuka was feeling the same because even if the passion and love were there, it didn't have the same eagerness as the kiss in the hall.

Maybe both understood that they were there, alone, and with time to connect with each other like they used to.
The "barrier" of kissing the Ex had already been torn apart.

And it had to be said; they desired each other for a long time since they broke apart.

So they were immersed in that soft kiss, full of passion and love when they decided to bring the action to the only place they used to feel safe and to seal their love; Nanaka's bed.

They walked holding on to each other while kissing; same as before, but totally different. Now there was no fight for dominance, no pulling and pushing against the walls, there was no need, they understood that both wanted that, but also wanted to enjoy it.

To make it last.

It almost felt like their relationship had developed; it had stated abruptly, clumsily, eagerly, just like the kiss on the entrance, their actions as if this was a competition for who imposed her way, who dominated the relationship to abruptly stop it, take a break from it, and now they were in some kind of synchronized dance.

Shuka smoothly took her own blouse off and let it fall in the corridor.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise while enjoying the kiss; she could clearly feel Shuka's soft skin against her bare belly, but her blouse was in the way, and maybe that thought crossed Shuka's mind too because on the next second her skillful hands grabbed Nanaka's blouse and took it off her, dropping it on the floor as well.

They kept the intense kissing session, even though the hallway was dark, they didn't need any light.
They knew each other's bodies by heart, and also their way to the bedroom.

This wasn't the first time they were caught in a whole day of desiring each other to come back to Nanaka's place to kiss even their shadows and make love to their souls, but this time Shuka was in the leading role.

Maybe Shuka had planned this a long time ago? Or maybe Shuka was more in control of it? How long might she had desired to do this with Nanaka?

Shuka was an active kid, Nanaka could remember how hard it was for her to keep her horniness in line while she struggled with practice and work, how hard was it for Shuka to hold on all these months?

Because meanwhile Nanaka was being satisfied by Aina...

Nanaka opened her eyes abruptly and took a step back breaking the kiss.

They were in Nanaka's bedroom.
The curtains were open, of course, letting the fading blue light from the street in.

She could clearly see Shuka's body, her tight abs, her cute bra, her cute and sexy face, all covered in a fading pale blue hue.

She had a worried face, but at soon as their eyes meet, she smiled at her.

Wide, cute.

And so sexy...

Nanaka made a sad expression, but Shuka held her hands and broke the distance once again.
They stood really close to each other's lips but didn't kiss.

They became lost in each other's eyes. It was addictive, Nanaka just couldn't take her eyes away from her.

When did Shuka become like this? Had she always been like this?!

Shuka licked her lips.

Nanaka could only feel her breathe.

They were just a whisper away once again.

Suddenly she felt Shuka's hand removing some strands of Nanaka's hair behind her ear; then she realized that with all the struggles in the hallway, Shuka had undone her pigtails.

She snapped.

Maybe everything was happening too fast and not under her control.
She felt her heart in her throat, the air was too thin...

"It's ok, Nana-chan..." whispered Shuka snapping Nanaka out of her own mind.

Nanaka just couldn't say a thing, she was dazzled by how in control Shuka was in the situation. Definitely, if someone was ready to do whatever, that was Shuka.

Nanaka felt in the clouds once again, with no clear thoughts of what the hell was going on.
Everything was happening too fast, and too steamy to have a clear dimension of what was going on.

At one moment she was singing Aqours' songs in a Karaoke chain, then she was being in this sexy and messy situation with Shuka...

She felt Shuka's hand on her cheek, caressing it; her soft touch indisputably brought Nanaka back from her Suwa World. Again.

"It's me, you know me..." she heard.

Of course, she knew her.
She knew her too well, and she was feeling so drowned by her that she felt as if her thoughts were melting into some Shuka rush that was intoxicating her...but it didn't feel wrong.

Nanaka closed her eyes feeling it, enjoying the touch, her scent.

Shuka's perfume was driving her crazy.

And somehow it made her feel safe.

It felt right, something she wasn't feeling with Aina lately.

I'm sorry...

Nanaka snapped from the trance and opened her eyes abruptly, capturing Shuka's lips with hers into another wet kiss. She could clearly feel Shuka smiling proudly into the kiss.

Shuka moved her hands and embraced Nanaka with her strong arms; it indeed sent Nanaka to the clouds and above into that sweet sensation of being loved.

This was the kind of love that fit her heart...

She embraced Shuka back accepting her, accepting her love.

But of course, Shuka wasn't so patient and feeling that she had Nanaka on her same page, she didn't want to lose another minute.

Maybe afraid that Nanaka might make another dramatic pause where she could doubt this act of love they wanted to make, she quickly started to move her hands again, but now towards Nanaka's waist, straight to her skirt.

She heard a click, and in seconds the cloth fell to her ankles.

Nanaka felt panic.

Yes, she felt safe, yes this was Shuka... but deep in her heart, something was wrong.

Maybe because it was Shuka.

Nanaka opened her eyes and broke the kiss, but Shuka just didn't care about that, she had other things to do than look at Nanaka's panicked face.

Shuka started kissing Nanaka's neck while with diligent hands started to fondle her; her back, her waist, her thighs, everything she could touch on Nanaka's body.

Nanaka was a mess.

She loved that sensation but was conflicted.

Something was bursting inside her, but she just couldn't know for sure what, but it was clouding the moment.
It made her wander into dark places of her mind while she should be there, enjoying Shuka's kisses and caresses.

With that thought, and not so sure about what to do, Nanaka started caressing Shuka's skin. It felt awkward, she was just standing there in the middle of the dark room with Shuka kissing and fondling her fervently, while she was just there in her undies.

Like a statue.

Nanaka blinked.

That wasn't right.

Shuka deserved better. It wasn't her fault that Nanaka was conflicted, and now so dispersed, especially if she contributed to ending up doing that.

She wanted that.

She had come too far to turn back; it was time to stand and face the situation. She could deal with the consequences later.

Of course, consequences had a name, and it was Aina.

I'm sorry...

Nanaka took a deep breath and finally threw her worries to the back of her mind and took the control she had lost.
She took Shuka's cheeks and moved her head towards her face.

She took a few seconds to look at Shuka straight into her eyes, into her soul. Shuka was surprised because she wasn't expecting that.

"I love you, Yuchika" and locked her lips with Shuka's, who gave in to the kiss so passionately that it felt like a dream.

Shuka was at her place, half-naked, they had kissed and touched their skins, they had even used their real names, there was no use in using any mask anymore.

The world could be set on fire later.
That was their moment, and Nanaka was determined to enjoy the most of it.

She wanted to feel loved, and Shuka was more than eager to make it up for her.

Nanaka deepened the kiss, introducing her playful tongue inside Shuka's mouth, of course, she answered the bold move as she hugged Nanaka by the neck.

Nanaka moved her arms and hugged Shuka by her waist into a tight embrace. Maybe they could stay in that position devouring each other's mouths, shadows, and souls, but of course, they just couldn't.

They had waited for almost 4 months to hold each other, to touch each other's skin once again.

There was no time to waste.

So Shuka moved her hands over Nanaka's hair, entwining her long and thin fingers in it as she started to move their bodies straight to Nanaka's bed.

Shuka knew her Nana-chan quite well; she knew that Nanaka liked to feel loved on her bed, being treated tenderly and lovingly. And of course, seeing that Nanaka was in doubt on the hall and the hallway, Shuka wanted to do it right.

This was her only chance, she needed to do it right.

She softly made Nanaka sit on her bed, while she kept the hot and wet kissing session; Nanaka tried to hold onto Shuka's body, but she started to softly climb on the bed using her knees as support, softly pushing Nanaka to her back and straddling her.

Nanaka had a few seconds of debate with her desires; would she want to be the top or the bottom that night? Normally Nanaka was first in doing Shuka, and later Shuka would return the favor. But, this time it felt different.

Shuka seemed more eager to show Nanaka that she still loved her.
That she had grown up and now she was an adult that could handle the situation.

And with that in mind, Nanaka just smiled on the kiss, and moved her right hand straight to Shuka's back, to the hooks of her bra, and with quick and diligent movements she unclasped it.

Being under Shuka didn't mean that she was going to stay still.

"Mmm..." hummed Shuka as she removed her hands from Nanaka's silky hair to take off her bra.

The sight was to die for.

Shuka didn't have any issues with her nice and supple body, so for her raising her torso to remove the piece of cloth was just too natural.

The pale blue light from the street covered her body with elegance and almost in an artistic way. Shuka's nipples were erect, and they were just as Nanaka remembered them.

Nanaka licked her lips involuntary.

She could have stayed there staring at Shuka's body forever.

But of course, they didn't have much time. And Shuka wasn't there to be admired, so in seconds she threw her bra somewhere else and returned to the kissing session with Nanaka.

Nanaka was in heaven.
Feeling Shuka's naked torso against her skin, their lips into this wet and intense kissing made Nanaka feel uncomfortable in her panties.

There was definitely something going on in there.
And maybe Shuka knew it because at the mere thought Shuka moved her right hand straight to Nanaka's hips at the hem of her panties.

But she stopped.

They broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. Thanks to the street's lights it wasn't hard to notice all of Shuka's sexy features.
Her face was serious, her sight was full of love, she was breathing a bit elaborately due to the intense kissing session, but she felt steady.

"May I?" asked Shuka with a very mature voice.

Nanaka bit her lips once again, and shyly nodded.

Yes, this was how she wanted to be treated...

Shuka blinked softly and gave her a wide smile.

"I'll be gentle, Nana-chan..." murmured Shuka as she moved forward to steal a kiss from Nanaka's lips.

They became lost in the kiss; Nanaka blindly started to fondle on Shuka's skin to reach her breast, they were soft and smooth. On the other side, Shuka went down to Nanaka's sweet spot.

It made her jump in excitement even if Shuka touched her over her panties, they even broke the kiss because Nanaka felt the need to grunt.

It was a simple touch on the wet spot, and Nanaka was on the edge of losing it.

"You are so wet..." whispered Shuka as she started moving her fingers over Nanaka's panties.

Nanaka twitched under Shuka's body.

Shuka's finger was touching her...
...it was driving her crazy.

"Sss-top teasing me..." complained Nanaka with very unsteady legs.

"Oh, what's this? I'm really enjoying this Nana-chan tonight..." said Shuka now with a more childish tone, and feeling that Nanaka was eager and ready, she didn't lose a second and introduced her long and thin finger from the side of Nanaka's panties, just to check how wet she was, but she just couldn't believe it herself.

It was so damp and silky that her fingers went straight inside Nanaka's core.

Shuka made a soft gasp of surprise while Nanaka moaned.

Shuka's fingers are inside...

Her long and thin fingers are inside me...

Oh—...

Her thoughts just melted.

Nanaka's head went fiercely to her back as her hips raised.

"Jesus, Osuwa... Ya' are so wet..." said Shuka like in shock, it was so spontaneous that it caught Shuka off guard.

But Nanaka didn't say a thing, her thoughts were around the fact the Shuka's fingers were inside her. It had been months away from that, and she needed to say that Shuka's long and thin fingers reached places that not even Aina's skillful tongue could reach.

Not to mention Aina's cute baby hands.
Her hands were cute, but they just couldn't reach as Shuka's did.

The mere thought made Nanaka reach the clouds; she started to move her hips and Shuka started to follow her pace. There was no time to take Nanaka's panties off, never mind her bra, she was fervently moving her hips letting Shuka take her.

Shuka with her left hand grabbed Nanaka's left leg and pulled to the outside, forcing Nanaka to open her legs more.

Nanaka started to moan loudly.

Shuka raised her torso, of course, Nanaka just couldn't keep touching Shuka's breast, she was just moving her hips, head back, and moaning like there was no tomorrow.

She could clearly hear Shuka starting moaning and grunting with her, maybe just from seeing this out of control Nanaka under her.

Nanaka grabbed the bed sheets with a strong grip as she could feel Shuka's fingers curving inside.

"Insert... another..." murmured Nanaka between moans.

Shuka was an obedient kid, as she was asked, she delivered.
She introduced a third finger that had no problems at all to reach inside Nanaka's soaking wet core.

"Oh... Nana—..." murmured Shuka surprised, maybe she had never seen, in a year of the relationship, Nanaka being so horny, so wet, and so out of control.

It made Shuka lick her lips.

Of course, she was also horny, and eager to touch Nanaka seeing this spectacular show that she was provoking...

Shuka's grip on Nanaka's left leg became strong, she squeezed Nanaka's thigh tightly to later move her hand to the back of Nanaka's knee and pulled it up making Nanaka expose more, her leg almost touching her torso.

Nanaka of course moaned in the act, the sloppy sounds coming out of her core as her loud moans from her mouth.

Shuka bent over to start kissing Nanaka's neck fiercely, she needed to keep her mouth busy just to prevent herself from moaning and maybe coming too.

Their movements became quicker; the plushies that used to decorate Nanaka's pure and innocent bed started to fall off, the bed's springs started to squeak.

Nanaka moved her arms and hugged Shuka tightly while her right leg rounded Shuka's hips, their movements became stronger, absorbed in a frantic frenzy, both started to moan loudly.

Shuka stopped kissing Nanaka's neck to start grunting and moaning right into Nanaka's ear.

It felt out of this world; Nanaka just couldn't hold on to the feeling, into the pleasure, into Shuka's love...

She just couldn't help but moan loudly, arching her back and hugging tightly to Shuka's body.

Of course, the room wasn't silent.

Both girls kept panting loudly and softly grunting.

Shuka started to kiss Nanaka on her neck once again, then her cheek as she softly let go of Nanaka's left leg, and gently set it down.

Nanaka's breathing was very elaborate, she was just in the clouds, feeling that this was a dream, a very pleasurable dream, when she suddenly felt a soft hand on her hair, caressing it, stroking it with so much love that she felt her heart shrink.

Nanaka took a deep breath and started to open her eyes, softly.

She could see her ceiling, covered in that bluish hue thanks to the light from the window. Of course, she couldn't see the grains that she used to study on it, but instead, she saw a lovely face peeking out of the corner of her eye.

Shuka's face was so lovely, so full of love that it melted everything inside Nanaka. Shuka used her left hand to softly put some strains of Nanaka's hair behind her ear, and then to tenderly caress her cheek.

Her touch was soft, it was so good.

Nanaka licked her lips, she couldn't help but feel her lips cold.
Of course, all her blood was down there...

"Are you ok, Nana-chan?" asked Shuka softly.

Nanaka just couldn't say a thing, she was still feeling post-orgasm symptoms throughout her body. But tried to focus her sight on Shuka's lovely face.

She was there, looking at Nanaka with a gaze full of love, full of passion.

Nanaka moved her right hand to touch Shuka's cheek and started to caress it softly.

There was so much love in their eyes that they couldn't do anything else but kiss.

Yes, the world could crash and burn outside that room.

Kissing Shuka was like walking on soft clouds made of cotton candy. So soft and sweet...

Once again she could stay there, lay on her bed just kissing Shuka's soft lips and enjoying her touch, but she forgot that Shuka's right hand was still between her legs. Inside her.

But to tell the truth, she didn't care.

It was Shuka who broke the kiss and grunted moving her torso back.

"What's wrong? You ok?" asked Nanaka softly feeling the magical moment fading.

"I'm good," said Shuka smiling, then looked at Nanaka with a smug face, "it's just...I'm... I'm taking them out..."

"Oh..." snapped Nanaka, of course, Shuka was still inside, and her wrist must have been in pain due to the position.

"I'll take them out..." announced Shuka, Nanaka nodded and as Shuka withdrew herself from her core, Nanaka grunted in pleasure.

She couldn't help but let out a soft moan.

Then an uncomfortable sensation invaded her; her panties were so soaked that they felt tight around her lower self.
She frowned.

Shuka sat comfortably on Nanaka's hips and looked at her with a smug face.

"Geez, Osuwa..." she said, and started analyzing her wet and sticky hand, "You came so much…"

Nanaka opened her eyes in panic, but couldn't say a thing, in seconds Shuka was licking her fingers off.

"Shu-Shuka!" tried Nanaka to scold her kid, but she just squeezed her thighs. It was just too sexy to see.

"What..." said Shuka while licking, "I missed your taste...so...much..."

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness. Somewhat remembering that this wasn't normal.

They weren't together anymore, no matter if everything felt good and natural between them.
They were no longer a couple.

She bit her lips.

No.
No, I don't want it to end yet...

She closed her eyes in some sort of pain.

"What? Am I hurting you by doing this?" asked Shuka in a scared tone.

Nanaka opened her eyes and locked her sight on Shuka on top of her. She still had her pants on, but her torso was naked, and the pale light from outside was right in front of her, there was nothing left for the imagination. And her erect nipples were telling Nanaka that Shuka could still do more.

And so could she.

"No..." said Nanaka in her husky tone.

"Good..." said Shuka now recovering her mature tone, "Coz I'm not done yet."

"Eh?" snapped Nanaka in surprise.

But Shuka being the energetic child she was, dismounted Nanaka's body in a quick motion, stood on the floor, grabbed Nanaka's panties from the sides, and in a quick movement took them off.

Nanaka gave a drowned gasp.

Then a thought struck her like thunder; was she prepared to have sex?

Her last encounter with Aina was, to say the least, a bit messy, and heartbreaking. And since that specific night, the NanaAinya relationship started to show some dark side from both. And besides that, they had been busy with practice and work, so sex had been off from the quick dates after practice.

So, yeah, she wasn't in any shape to have sex.

Of course, when she woke up that morning, eager and happy to see Shuka again and to have a whole day with her, sex wasn't in her mind at all. She was just happy enough to spend her time with Shuka.

This was a bonus.

Maybe a few kisses here and there, but definitely not the whole thing.

She had never needed sex in the NanaShuka relationship, it was like a bonus, something nice, yes, but she could survive without it; it was Shuka who would show some abstinence symptoms. But for Nanaka it wasn't the point of being with Shuka.

But of course, the passion grew between them, the sexual tension of almost 4 months grew in their hearts, and the air became too thin in that hall to resist. Which led her to this situation.

A situation where she just couldn't do much about, because at that second Shuka was taking off her pants, and panties.

"I think there's no use for this now..." said Shuka with confidence, and indeed, now there was no point in turning back.
They had kissed, they had touched, they had seen skin, and Shuka had already taken her.

So yes, there was no point in acting shy or running away.

Nanaka gulped as she slowly incorporated in the bed.

Shuka threw her panties somewhere, of course, plopping wetly on the floor. And then stood gorgeously in front of Nanaka.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide; Shuka was still facing her and the window, all the light from outside giving Shuka the spotlights for Nanaka to review her incredible and supple body.

Nanaka felt her throat dry, her lower lips getting wet. Again.

She blinked.

"I believe..." started Shuka saying with her mature tone and coming back to the bed, "that I just couldn't congratulate you properly about winning the Third Single Center."

"Eh?" mumbled Nanaka squeezing her thighs and trying to cover her lower half.

"I remember you..." continued Shuka moving towards Nanaka, "...congratulated me for my own Center," she said now crawling back to straddling her.

"Oh...ye—yes..." was the only thing Nanaka could say.

Shuka was really determined about what she was doing, and Nanaka felt so weak about it.

With a quick movement, Shuka rounded Nanaka and unhook her bra with such ability that Nanaka thought that that skill might be new.

She took Nanaka's bra and also threw it somewhere else. Nanaka shyly tried to cover her chest.

Then Shuka bent down and stole a soft kiss from Nanaka's lips, to later return to her position almost at the edge of the bed.

"I want to return the favor..." said Shuka huskily, and with no warnings grabbed Nanaka's knees that were covering Nanaka's lower half, and with strength, she opened them up.

Nanaka gasped in surprise and then made a terrifying sound.

Prepared or not, Shuka was seeing her most private place as it was.

"I- I..." mumbled Nanaka not knowing what to do.

But Shuka was looking at her, at her face; she smiled.

"Don't cha' worry, I love every inch of you, Nana-chan..." said Shuka with a mature voice; Shuka knew that she couldn't screw this up, so she was thinking everything very carefully.

Nanaka just couldn't take her astonished eyes away from Shuka as she lowered between her legs. Shuka didn't take her eyes away from Nanaka's, in a way to tell her that she didn't care what was below, the only thing that mattered was the love they had for each other.

"Shu-Shuka..." whispered Nanaka, but it was so soft and low that Shuka maybe couldn't hear it.

Shuka kissed Nanaka's inner thighs, then started covering her skin with a trail of kisses. Every single kiss was sending electric sensations deep down to Nanaka's core.

"Mmm...something smells nice..." purred Shuka against her skin.

Nanaka bit her lips.

"Congrats..." was the last thing she heard as she closed her eyes.

The grip on her thighs became tighter and then she felt the incredible sensation of having Shuka's tongue all over her lower lips.

It felt amazing.

She wasn't a great and as hungry an eater as Aina, but clearly, she knew how to move that tongue of hers.
It was quicker and on point. Shuka made sure to cover all the spots, she still remembered them.

Nanaka started to grunt and pant.

The wet sounds started to fill the room as Nanaka started to moan.

Suddenly she felt Shuka's left hand leaving her thigh to greet her clitoris which she started rubbing fiercely. Nanaka moaned loudly, her hands grabbing the sheets once again.

Then she felt Shuka's tongue playing with it, sucking it, squeezing it softly with her teeth while her left hand started spreading her lower lips.

Nanaka just couldn't help but start to move her hips.
It was intoxicating, the sensation of having Shuka between her legs, eating her out once again.

She moved her right hand and grabbed Shuka's silky hair entwining her fingers in it, she started pushing her against her core.

Nanaka bit her lips holding back her moans.

But Shuka knew exactly what to do.
That was the clear sign that Nanaka needed something deeper.

Shuka stopped for a few seconds and pushed her head up against Nanaka's weak intentions of keeping her between her legs and doing her job.

Nanaka looked down to greet a very smugly smiling Shuka between her legs.

She licked her lips very sexily, tasting Nanaka's nectar.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide.

"Wha-at?" asked Nanaka panting really elaborately; she was enjoying herself, but Shuka thought it was a good idea to stop.

Shuka blinked and then smiled wide.

"Nothing, I just wanted to see you..." she said shyly, her breath ticking her clit, it sent some electricity to her core.
Nanaka moved her hips.

"What?!" asked Nanaka with a frown.

Shuka giggled.

"Sorry... it's...just..." she was saying, but her breath was still tickling Nanaka's sensitive spots, making her move unconsciously.

Nanaka grunted.

"It's like you just want to come...are...are you enjoying it?" asked Shuka softly and shyly.

Nanaka opened her eyes like fried eggs, not even believing her ears.

"Sweetie...what the hell?!" said Nanaka a bit unsettled.

Shuka opened her eyes wide; that was a scold from Nanaka to her kid.

"So—Sorry..." murmured Shuka, and like a scolded puppy went back to her job.

Straight to her clit; she gave it a strong lick that sent Nanaka's head back again, to later start rounding it with her tongue, sucking it, playing with it.

It made Nanaka start moaning and grunting again; the wet sound coming back as her hand grabbed Shuka's head.

Shuka moved her right hand from Nanaka's thighs, and as Nanaka wished, inserted two of her long thin fingers inside, with no problems at all.

Oh, it made Nanaka moan louder.

Shuka started to move them inside, curling them, touching her sensitive spots; that was key before starting thrusting them in. Nanaka's leg started to move with impatience...
...she wanted to be fucked.

Then Nanaka opened her eyes abruptly, her sight glued to the ceiling.

No...no...I don't want to be fucked...

... I ... I want...

...to be loved.

Nanaka bit her lips suppressing her moans and grunts.
She knew what was happening.

This was the inheritance that being with Aina left her.
The Kinks.

The fact that she needed to come quickly to move to the next round with Aina.

Was she even enjoying the sex now?
That was quite a question that Nanaka herself had wondered about while doing Aina at the time.

Aina was always too quick to come, to loud, always ready for action.
Almost as if she was now possessed by her.

She was just doing the same, but with Shuka.

Did she forget why she had ended up having sex with Shuka in the first place?

Nanaka made a bitter face, of course, this wasn't what she wanted, and it was beyond twisted the fact that she ended up thinking about Aina, or even treating Shuka as if she was having a kink.

And thinking about it; Aina had given her blessing to be with someone else, as long as the kinks were with her.

So, she needed to stick to her true self with Shuka.
As she had always done.

Nanaka closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the act. In Shuka's fingers and her playful tongue.

She was still moving her fingers in her, but still not thrusting them inside Nanaka's core.
It was like if Shuka was playing with her juices.

Nanaka frowned. Her kid was, sometimes like that.
Maybe she was a little bit naughty...

But it was Shuka.

And if she recalled correctly, Nanaka had been her first, she had learned with her, she had started to explore with her, with her body and her love.

And this made Nanaka smile.

She withdrew her hand from Shuka's head and moved it to her cheek; with a soft touch, she caressed it and pulled her away from her clit.

Shuka was surprised of course and looked at Nanaka astonished, sticking out her tongue.

Nanaka smiled at her; Shuka licked her lips.

Nanaka kept caressing Shuka's cheek with a soft touch and a lovely gaze.

Shuka, of course, stopped all her movements and looked at Nanaka with sadness; if Nanaka knew her kid well, she was feeling guilty or ready to be scolded.

Then Nanaka understood, Shuka was still a kid, no matter if she tried to act mature or ikemen, in the end, her mask crashed when Nanaka imposed her ways.

"Come here..." said Nanaka softly, "kiss me…"

Shuka raised her eyebrows in surprise

"Eh...? Really? But—" mumbled Shuka, of course, Shuka remembered that Nanaka didn't like her own taste, besides, she was kind of busy doing her...

"Yes, come here Sweetie, I want to kiss you..." said Nanaka with a soft voice.

Shuka nodded shyly, and slowly took her fingers out of her, of course, Nanaka grunted in pleasure but focused on Shuka crawling towards her.

Nanaka cupped Shuka's cheeks and slowly moved her towards her lips.

They kissed softly; Nanaka did her best to leave out her own taste from Shuka's lips but caring enough to transmit her love into it.

Shuka moved her hands towards Nanaka's head, answering to the kiss and entwining her fingers into Nanaka's hair, accepting her feelings and her love.

It was salty but sweet.
Just perfect.

And both knew that this was what they wanted, this was what they missed of each other.

They broke the kiss and looked into each other's eyes; then they smiled.

"I missed you…" said Shuka softly.

"I missed you too..." said Nanaka with a gentle smile.

Yes, she missed the slow and good lovemaking too.

"Then—" tried Shuka, but Nanaka put her index on her lips.

"Let's come together..." said Nanaka with her sweet voice, which brightened Shuka's eyes.

Shuka nodded vigorously and moved off Nanaka's body.

Shuka quickly grabbed a pillow and gave it to Nanaka, who nonchalantly put it on behind her head.

It was as if they were reading each other's minds; they didn't need to talk, they knew each other, of course, they had been together for a year!
So when Nanaka wanted to "come together" it could only mean one position, and they had done it just too many times.

They knew that they needed a pillow, Nanaka needed to lay on her back, and Shuka with her strong arms needed to grab Nanaka's legs tightly, spread them, and take position between them.

"Are you comfortable?" asked Shuka softly.

Nanaka blinked a few times; yes she was comfortable, but awkwardly aroused in her lower half, remembering that she had stopped Shuka from doing her with her gorgeous thin long fingers and her playful tongue.

"Yes... I'm good..." said Nanaka shyly, covering herself with the back of her left hand and looking to the side; the light that came through the window kept peeping inside the room, covering Shuka's wonderful body, it unsettled Nanaka.

Shuka was cute, strong, had a wonderful body, a bright smile, and more other features that made Nanaka feel shy about being there lying on her back, legs wide open, and exposed to her.

"You are so cute Nana-chan..." said Shuka softly caressing Nanaka's legs, her eyes glued to her face.

Nanaka looked at her and felt her cheeks bright red.
When was the last time Shuka had made her blush and made her heart rush?

She couldn't help but cover her face in embarrassment.

"Eh? Did I say something wrong?" asked Shuka moving towards her face, ruining her position between Nanaka's legs.

Nanaka just closed her eyes as her hands covered her mouth. She felt embarrassed about the situation; Shuka was a temptation, her weakness, like kryptonite, and the fact that she was on her back under her, letting Shuka make love to her, made her feel vulnerable, loved, and happy.

Her heart wanting to burst out of her chest from joy.

Shuka took some strands of Nanaka's hair and softly put them behind her left ear.

"Hey, don't be so cute..." said Shuka with a strong but lovely voice, then took Nanaka's hand out of her face, bent down, and stole a kiss from Nanaka's soft lips.

Of course, it surprised Nanaka, she just felt overwhelmed by Shuka.
Maybe they could just give into some frantic lovemaking like they almost did on the entrance hall. But Shuka was taking her time. Maybe for her, it was something important too and also was thinking that the world could wait.

She wanted to enjoy her, softly, lovingly.

There was no rush in loving each other.
It made Nanaka emotional.

She entwined her fingers with Shuka's hand as she closed her eyes, she let her feelings in.
Her eyes welling in tears.

Shuka inserted her tongue in her mouth, Nanaka answered with hers, accepting her, accepting her feelings and whatever this remember could bring.

There was no use in denying it anymore, both loved each other, they never stopped loving each other.

They kept kissing with passion, but tenderly; it seemed that Shuka was taking the lead, mostly because of their position on the bed.

She broke their entwined hands; her right arm went over Nanaka's head for support, while her left traveled south to touch Nanaka's sweet wet core.

Shuka soft touch in her most private place made her excited once again, maybe feeling her body just too small to hold so much happiness. With her now free hand, Nanaka grabbed the sheets holding back the desire to start moaning loudly, but she couldn't. Her mouth was busy with Shuka's.

She started teasing Nanaka's slit, enjoying the wetness, the silkiness; then she went to her clit and rubbed it some more...

The sloppy and wet sounds started once again to escape from Nanaka's lower half.
It was the cue that both needed.

Shuka stopped kissing her, withdrew her hand, and replace it with her own wet lower half.

Nanaka couldn't help but moan.

Their bodies just fitted each other, the 7 cm difference was nothing, Shuka fitted with her body as butter and bread.

And at the second that both felt that they were in the right place, Shuka started moving forward and back.

Oh, yes, friction.

Nanaka extended her arms to encircle them around Shuka's neck and started to move her hips at her pace.
Feeling Shuka's erect clit with hers was a sensation that she thought she would never feel again.

Of course, with Aina, this kind of position felt different. Aina was just too short, the 10 cm difference didn't allow them to be like that, for Nanaka to feel embraced by her lover. Aina needed to decide if she wanted to satisfy Nanaka's lower or upper half.

Shuka had long arms, a long torso, and strong legs; she could clearly hold Nanaka in her embrace while thrusting her hips against hers.
While making love to her.

Nanaka started to moan, and as Shuka grabbed the bed sheets firmly, she started moaning as well.

The sensation was growing inside both girls, passion was being released; Nanaka lifted her legs and hooked them on Shuka's hips embracing her body.

Both girls getting lost in their love, in the friction between them. The room becoming steamy by their movements, the sweat, and their hot breathing.

It was intense, it was hot, but it wasn't enough.

And Shuka agreed.

She moved backward, breaking the lock from Nanaka's leg to grab her right leg, lifting it up while pushing the left one to the bed, exposing Nanaka's more sensitive place.

This movement made Nanaka lose some of her concentration and move her torso a bit to the side.

"Wha—at ...what are you doing?" asked Nanaka between pants and grunts.

"I need, more..." murmured Shuka also between pants; she separated her lower half from Nanaka's for a few seconds, hugged Nanaka's right leg making Nanaka move completely to her side, and then, she stuck their cores once again.

It made Nanaka moan in pleasure.

The next few seconds were frantic; Shuka started thrusting against her soaked core, wet and sloppy sound filling the room. Their moaning and panting followed.

In that position, Shuka had more control of everything, even of Nanaka's body.

In other times, that would have bothered Nanaka, but after being in Aina's kinks, and being submitted into wild stuff with her, this was nothing.

It was Shuka pleasuring her.

Well, maybe both were being pleased.
Because Shuka was out of herself thrusting her fiercely, and moaning with no control.

The bed starting to squeak again.

Nanaka couldn't take it; she felt her body moving involuntarily, her legs hanging, her torso bouncing, and her hands desperately trying to find something to hold on to.

She found her pillow, and as she grabbed it with all her leftover strength continued moving her hips, moaning and panting like she never had before.

"I'm...I'm gonna..." said Shuka with a thin voice, almost like a drowned whisper; her hips moving faster.

Nanaka's response was just a moan.
An even louder one that she wanted to drown into the pillow, but she couldn't.

Shuka did her last and hard thrusting movement, which made them go to the ceiling and above.

Both girls let out a final moan, so loud that Nanaka could bet that her neighbor had heard it.
Her back arched, and her nails dug hard on that poor pillow while Shuka's back also arched, but her nails dug into Nanaka's leg.

Thank God, Shuka wore her nails short...

That had been an intense orgasm.

Nanaka could feel her body really sweaty, her breathing unsteady, and her heart running hundreds of miles per hour.

Shuka was in a tired state too; she was kneeling on the bed, but still hugging Nanaka's leg as if her life depended on it.

Her breathing was also very unsteady.

Nanaka closed her eyes, feeling the tiredness, but also the joy.
She felt happy.

Tired, but happy.

"You ok?" she heard.

Nanaka didn't even open her eyes, she just nodded tiredly. Maybe this activity had just reminded her that she was just really tired, she didn't have a day off that week, and she had used up her last quota of energy having sex with Shuka.

...!

She abruptly opened her eyes.

She had had sex with Shuka.

Nanaka felt her heart shrinking and somehow all her sweat became cold.
Then she recalled that she was still in a very indecorous position.

But she couldn't move. She felt that if she moved maybe the world might explode.

Something inside her crashed.
Not a mask, not a feeling... no, something even deeper.

Her moral scale.

Nanaka tightened her lips suppressing the imperious desire to shout as she closed her eyes, repeating to herself that this was just a dream, but of course, it wasn't.

She felt her leg being kissed, softly until Shuka gently left it on the bed. Then Nanaka felt Shuka start crawling back to her, slowly while giving Nanaka some more sweet kisses on her sweaty and now cold body.

She purred over her skin, she touched her with so much kindness that it gave her goosebumps. In no time Shuka had covered almost all her body with soft kisses and touches as she laid down with her, hugging her tightly into a spooning position.

Of course, she knew that Nanaka liked to cuddle after sex.

"Are you ok, Nana-chan?" asked Shuka behind her with a lovely voice.

Nanaka tightened her lips once again, suppressing tears in her eyes.

"Geez! You were on fire..." continued Shuka now with a more playful tone, "I liked it..."

Nanaka opened her eyes; she felt a tear escaping from her right eye, her sight glued onto the headboard. The lights from outside still covering the room in pale blue light. She could feel how her surviving Plushie collection on the bed watched her with judging eyes.

Also, very disappointed of her.

Then she felt her hair being stroked, very gently.

"I like everything about you... your hair, your skin... your sweet sweat..." said Shuka with such a normal tone that it made Nanaka frown.

She slowly turned around with that frown on her face; of course, Shuka greeted her with her wide and bright smile. Their sights glued onto each other.

"What?!" asked Nanaka unsettled; Shuka giggled.

"I knew that you would turn around!" said Shuka with humor, "but I'm not lying..." she finished with her serious tone and hugged Nanaka tightly with her strong arms.

"Your sweat is sweet..." said Shuka and kissed Nanaka's forehead.

Nanaka felt her heart in her throat, and her belly being filled with butterflies.
Shuka was adorable.

"Don't...don't say such things..." said Nanaka embarrassed and almost pouting.

"Ahhh don't do that, that's even cuter!" said Shuka and kissed Nanaka's cheek.

Nanaka looked at her with sad eyes. She was terribly conflicted.

Shuka was there, kissing her, loving her like she had always done, not knowing that Nanaka's heart had been trying to commit to Aina for the past 3 and a half months.

She wanted to move on, to leave Shuka behind, and give Aina a chance...

But what had she done?!

"Eh? What's wrong? You didn't like it?..." asked Shuka with sadness, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to make you uncomfortable..."

"It's... it's not that..." said Nanaka trying to recover control of all of this.

"Then? You didn't like it?" asked Shuka keeping her sad tone.

Nanaka made a sad expression, took a deep breath, and then fixed her sight on lovely Shuka.

Now that the passions had been consummated it was time to deal with the consequences.

She was clear that she had a wannabe relationship with Aina, that their love was strong, but after what had happened a few weekends ago, how Aina saw their relationship, it made her heart doubt, and thanks to Arisa, she felt empowered to have this, to have it in "Aina's way".

They could have some other affairs, but the kinks were with her. That was Aina's only rule.

That was what Aina had been doing all these months, with her ladies, while Nanaka was fighting against Shuka's charms, and trying to stick with Aina.

It was really unfair if Nanaka put the situation into perspective; Aina had the easy job to just wait for Nanaka to do everything. End her relationship with Shuka, heal from it -quickly-, then start a relationship again but with her, then she wanted for Nanaka to openly break up with Shuka in front of Aqours, attempting to their stability as a group, and later tell everyone that they were now a couple.

Everything seemed to be Nanaka's task, meanwhile, Aina was fooling around with other girls, went to freaking Korea leaving Nanaka with the job of "working on her loneliness issues" because Aina didn't want the commitment...

...because for Aina, Nanaka wasn't ready.

It made Nanaka's mind and heart explode.

So, it wasn't fair to blame Arisa for this.
Nanaka had made the decision, and to tell the truth, the sexual tension between Nanaka and Shuka was growing as foam, and maybe they needed this.

Sooner or later they might have given in to their desires. Her situation with Aina just gave her the push she needed to do it. She knew that Shuka was eager to be with her, but she was sticking to Aina, making these kinds of situations impossible for someone with Nanaka's sense of justice.

But something wasn't working in their relationship, and she had ended up doing it.

The same way that Aina needed to fool around with someone else, and having some "days off" from Nanaka.

But, it hurt her, because she wasn't the type of girl to do these sorts of things.

When Suwa Nanaka loved someone, it was until the end.
Until there were no more tears to cry.

And she had already experienced that with Shuka, it was Another Love.

So what the hell was she going to do now? What was Shuka thinking?

"So...?" asked Shuka softly, knowing that Nanaka might have hidden in her "Suwa World".

Nanaka blinked a few times, of course, coming back to reality.

"I... I think we need to talk..." said Nanaka dryly with her boring "Suwa face", of course, Shuka closed her eyes tiredly.

She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and separated herself from Nanaka's body, to stand up, out of the bed.

Nanaka was left there, naked and cold, not understanding if she had just fucked up everything by saying that...

She could only watch Shuka looking for her clothes around the room.

Nanaka blinked.

What the hell was this? Another tantrum?
Like, once they fucked that was it? Let's fuck and I'm gone? Was Shuka afraid of talking?

Someone needed to say something!

"Hey hey!" said Nanaka now more into a panicked state, "What are you doing?"

Shuka stopped and looked at Nanaka with sad eyes, she had her pants in her hands.

"I'm going to lose my train..." said Shuka with a sad tone.

"What?" asked Nanaka not believing it, it was obvious that Shuka didn't want to talk.

"I don't know what time it is..." said Shuka now in her normal tone, "Where are—? Oh, this is a mess...it's getting cold..."

Nanaka blinked; Shuka had a mental spaghetti that not even her could understand.

"Wait a second, Shuka..." said Nanaka now incorporating in the room, she sat. "What's the rush?"

"I told you, I'm gonna lose my train back home..." said Shuka now grabbing her panties and looking for the rest of her clothes.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness. Shuka didn't want to talk about it.

She never actually liked that, because Nanaka always imposed her ways, always fixed everything.

And maybe now Shuka just wanted that, to fuck, and nothing more.

Nanaka tightened her lips feeling her heart crashing.

Did she just break her moral scales for a casual fuck with the Ex? Did this mean nothing to her?

Nanaka could feel her eyes welling in tears.

Was this the feeling of having an affair? About not committing to anyone?

She felt so cheap. So used.

At least Aina always bragged about their love being strong, and despite the fact of the other ladies' existence, she was number one in Aina's heart. At least she made her believe that.

What the hell had just happened here?!

She couldn't stand it, and she wasn't going to tolerate it.

She took a deep breath and gathered all her pride to stop this madness.

"Stop right there, Saito Shuka!" she shouted.

Her tone was clear, cold, and mad.

Shuka, of course, stopped in the doorframe. And slowly turned around.

"I can't care a damn about your train, bring your butt right here, we need to talk," said Nanaka in one clear breath. No doubts.

"But—" tried Shuka.

"No buts, just bring yours here, if any, you can spend the night here, or I can pay your taxi back to Saitama, but this isn't over..."

Shuka blinked sadly.
Then gave her a shy nod, turned on her heels, and walked back towards the bed.

"Ya' wanna have another round?" asked Shuka leaving her clothes on the bed.

"What?" asked Nanaka in her boring tone, "Do I look like I want to have sex right now?"

"Eh, right..." said Shuka sitting down.

"Who do you think you are? Coming here, kissing me all over, to then grab your stuff and leave? Do I need to pay you for your services or what?" asked Nanaka now mad, maybe not controlling her own feelings and words.

Shuka looked at her, ashamed.

"I'm... I'm sorry... I panicked..." said Shuka softly, "I thought you would kick me out...anyways..."

"What? Why?" asked Nanaka now softly.

"I don't know... We aren't together anymore, why would I stay? Was this wrong?" asked Shuka now sad.

Nanaka blinked and gave her a sad gaze too.

Was it?

Maybe.
If Shuka knew that she was trying to have something with Aina but now was having sex with her, well, it was wrong.

Her moral scale all but broken.

But, Aina had allowed it.
She had her blessing, then, WHY THE HELL DID IT FEEL SO WRONG?!

"That's no reason for you to run away..." said Nanaka dodging the question, "You can't come here, have sex and then leave...I thought we were better..." finished Nanaka sad.

"I'm sorry, didn't mean that... I panicked..." said Shuka now more calmly.

"Pff, I can't kick you out of the house anyway..." said Nanaka sitting more comfortable, "You know I'm not like that..."

"Sorry... I guess... I'm still a child..." said Shuka covering her face, "I'm sorry Osuwa, I'm sorry..."

Nanaka didn't say a thing.
She wasn't in any moral state to forgive someone. She was feeling guilty about breaking her own moral scale with someone that wanted to run away from her. Made her feel that everything was a huge mistake.

They fell into deep silence, they could only hear the sounds from outside creeping through the window.

Some cold breeze toured Nanaka's spine and remind her that one, she was naked, and two it was almost winter, meaning that it was cold and it wasn't prudent to be wandering around the house naked post-sex, meaning sweaty.

That was like asking for a cold.

Nanaka was about to suggest to put some clothes on, but the sound of some distant music interrupted the moment.

"What's that?" she asked instead.

"Oh, that's my phone..." said Shuka snapping out of her hands, "must be mom..."

"Oh... right..." murmured Nanaka. Of course, it was late, and Mama Saito should have been very worried about her child not being at home since their job at Joysound had ended a long time ago.

Maybe it was dinner time and her kid wasn't at home?

Shuka stood up abruptly and walked fast towards the entrance.

"I'm not escaping! I swear!" shouted Shuka from the hallway.

Nanaka deadpanned.
Of course, she wasn't, she was naked.

Shuka went to the entrance where their bags had been abandoned to rescue her phone.

Nanaka sighed softly and stood up.
It was her time to put on some comfy clothes and think about the situation a bit more.

She needed a plan.

She just couldn't tell Shuka, "yes, you know, I'm doing Aina now, but since we are in a sort of wrong place in our wannabe relationship, I felt horny with you around and we just fucked, this is a onetime only thing though, I hope this is ok for you. Are we good? Thanks, Sweetie."

Nanaka felt sick of the thought of it.

She wasn't like that. She just...couldn't.

Because it wasn't true.
This hadn't just happened because she was horny.

There was more than sexual tension between them, right? They used to be in love, to love each other.

Maybe that had changed for Shuka? And now she was some quickie thingie for a Sunday afternoon...

That thought made her sad.

Nanaka took out a hoodie from her dresser and looked at it with sadness. Then she remembered Aina.

Maybe Aina's ways were a little bit too much, but Aina was an intense person, it was different, yes, but she loved her.

What the hell am I doing?

Nanaka closed her eyes.
Trying to summarize all the events. Everything had ended up that way because of a reason, not because she wanted to do any harm.

That was the last thing she wanted. Everything she had ever done was to avoid harm to people; to avoid more harm in Shuka's life, she had ended their relationship to avoid harm in Aqours, they were still faking it, to avoid harm on Shuka again, she wasn't telling her that she had something with Aina...

Nanaka snapped.

What had she done to avoid Aina's harm?

Then she remembered their last serious conversation at her place; Aina was actually mad that everything Nanaka ever did was to spare Shuka any harm, but Aina had been suffering since day one, but she, as the mature and grownup woman she was, bared it.

Why couldn't Shuka bare it too?

It shrunk Nanaka's heart.

Nanaka put on the hoodie and sighed heavily.
Aina was right to be mad, Nanaka had been protecting lovely Shuka even if they weren't together anymore.

It wasn't fair.

And this, whatever it was, was wrong.
Aina deserved better.

Shuka's happy steps told her that she was coming back to the room. Nanaka quickly took cute pink panties from her dresser and put them on in time for Shuka to appear in the room, with Nanaka's blouse and more clothes, plus her bag.

Both sights met; Nanaka with her "Suwa face", and Shuka with her eyes wide like fried eggs.
Then Shuka smiled.

"I thought you would want to put these away..." said Shuka coming in, "I know you like your house tidy and clean..." she finished and started putting everything on the desk.

"Thank you..." said Nanaka softly; yes, Shuka was right, she knew that Nanaka didn't like mess, even if they had come in with passion and everything.
The thought of her parents barging into the house and seeing clothes scattered all over the place was always a concern for her.

"No prob!" said Shuka focused on her doing.

Nanaka couldn't help but stare at Shuka's supple body while tidying up. Shuka was naked, and Nanaka was weak. It made her re-think her last statements.

Nanaka blinked a few times and shook her head.
She needed to settle things with Shuka, this kind of encounters couldn't happen again.

"Who was it?" asked Nanaka trying to avoid an uncomfortable silence.

"My mom," said Shuka naturally, "she was worried that I hadn't come back..." she finished and turned around for Nanaka to admire her body.

Under the pale street light that came from the window, her body looked gorgeous.

She swallowed.

"And what did you say?" asked Nanaka in a thin voice almost squeezing her thighs.

"Well, I told her that I was here, with you...but I'll call her later if something comes up..." said Shuka shyly not really knowing what exactly might come...

"Yes..." said Nanaka softly still dazzled from the sight.

"Well, ya' wanted to talk..." said Shuka softly and slowly extending her arms, like showing Nanaka that she had nothing to hide. And in fact, she didn't.

How could she concentrate on telling Shuka this was a one-hit-wonder, and it might never happen again while she just stood there NAKED and showing all without any shame.

It was too much.

"Why don't you put some clothes on?" said Nanaka quickly turning around, moving her hands quickly to find something for her. "It's getting cold, I don't want you to catch a cold..."

"Thank God Nana-chan is taking care of me..." Nanaka heard as a warm naked body stuck to her back in a tight hug.

Nanaka's heart stopped.

She could feel curious hands fondling her waist and slowly moving up to her chest. Some dark memories started to fill in Nanaka's mind.

Shuka's words rumbling inside Nanaka's head like a sweet echo.
She was taking care of Shuka. She was always taking care of her, even if they weren't a couple anymore.

Nanaka snapped.

And with a soft movement made Shuka back off.

"Shuka, stop it..." said Nanaka in her serious tone; Shuka was a good kid and left her, taking a small step to the back.

Nanaka turned around with a sad face and a hoodie for Shuka in her hands.

"Please, don't do that..." said Nanaka in control, "Put this on."

Shuka took the hoodie with a pout but put it on seconds later.

Nanaka blinked a few times. Shuka was a good kid and Nanaka could always have control of everything with her, and that was the difference with Aina.

Aina ran with her own colors and did whatever she pleased.
There was no chance at all that the situation with the hoodie and Nanaka's back could repeat, not with Aina, and definitely not with Shuka.

"Ok, now I have clothes..." said Shuka in a very gloomy tone.

"Good...let's define what are we going to do..." said Nanaka turning again, closing the wardrobe.

"Do we really need to do this?" asked Shuka in a sad tone.

Nanaka turned around to look at her with concern.

Shuka didn't want to have this conversation at all.

"What do you want Shuka? You want to keep having sex?" asked Nanaka, of course, which was an ironic question, but Shuka's eyes lit up.

"Well, why not? We were doing fine..." said Shuka.

Nanaka passed by Shuka and sat on the bed, then patted her side for Shuka to sit.

"You know that's not right..." said Nanaka sadly.

Shuka looked at her with a sad expression, sighed softly, and sat by her side.

"Is it not...?" asked Shuka liked a scolded kid, "Is it because you didn't like it?"

"Is not that I didn't like it Shuka, but we are not together anymore," said Nanaka without fooling around.

Actually, it could be really easy to just avoid this hard conversation, ignore morals, and start fucking their brains out. But for Nanaka the moment of passion and frenzy had passed, now she was in her right state of mind to let that happen again.

And sometimes it was better to just take the band-aid off mercilessly, not fooling around or playing softly. It had to be removed quickly.

"Yes...we are not... but we did it anyway..." said Shuka trying to act mature.

"Yes...we did..." quoted Nanaka.

"So what now?" asked Shuka with a wide smile looking at Nanaka for answers.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Then she realized that nothing had really changed between them.

In times where the relationship was a concern, Shuka lost all of her Ikemen confidence and let Nanaka make the decisions. As always.

"Wha—at, what what now?" asked Nanaka now getting serious, it was supposed to be an adult conversation, not a unilateral one with a kid.

"What do you want to do?" asked Shuka getting serious again; Nanaka blinked, then looked somewhere around the room.

"Well…this can't happen again." sentenced Nanaka dryly and with determination, not even looking at Shuka.

There was an awkward moment of silence.

Then Shuka stood up abruptly.

Nanaka snapped and turned to her side to see her.

"Then I'll go home," said Shuka with clear pain in her tone and not even looking at her.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide. That was indeed fast.

Shuka started walking towards the door; those seconds that Nanaka thought it was in painful slow-motion. Their love was so frail that Shuka wasn't even questioning what Nanaka had sentenced.

If Nanaka said it was enough, then it was.

And sadly, that was the logic they used to have in their relationship. And that made Nanaka sad.

A relationship is made by two people. Every part of it counts.

"Wait," said Nanaka not even thinking, but in time for Shuka to stop at the door.

"What?" asked Shuka not even turning around.

"You came just for that…?" asked Nanaka seriously, "You came just for the sex? What do you want Shuka? Why am I making all the decisions?"

There was another silent moment; Nanaka stayed seated while Shuka gave Nanaka her back.

Maybe that had been the wrong move.
Maybe it would have been better for Shuka to collect her scattered clothes and had just left. After all, Nanaka thought that she was being unfair to Aina and she needed commitment, not these kinds of affairs that she wasn't used to having, and for what? It seemed that Shuka was still the same kid that needed her to decide for both of them.

But, there must be a reason why Shuka was there, or did she just want sex? Was she horny and that was it?

What Shuka felt for the whole year of the relationship was just a big mystery for Nanaka. She never knew what was in her mind or what she wanted. Shuka just followed what Nanaka decided.

It seemed that she talked about her feelings with other people, but not with her.
It was Aiai who told Nanaka how miserable Shuka felt in the relationship.

She only made tantrums when she wasn't happy with Nanaka's decisions, but Shuka was never clear... because at the first doubt, Nanaka fixed it. Until she took the last decision of breaking up.

With Aina, this wasn't the case because Aina did what she pleased, and it was Nanaka who didn't want to follow her. That was why there was no commitment.

After a few seconds of terrible silence where Nanaka felt sad about everything, Shuka finally turned around with watery eyes and spoke with sadness.

"I just wanted to be with you..." she said.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness and stood up.

"I never told you to leave..." said Nanaka softly and started walking towards her.

"But you said..." said Shuka finally turning around; Nanaka stopped in front of her and extended her arms inviting Shuka to a hug.

"I said that we can't do it again, not for you to leave... please, can you stay?" said Nanaka with a sweet tone.

Shuka bit her lips, it seemed that she thought about it for a second, and then softly nodded while receiving the hug.

Hugging Shuka always felt nice. Nanaka had this weakness with short people that was just too hard to resist. And maybe Shuka liked her hugs too, because at the second Shuka's body became comfy between her arms.

She just couldn't deny it. Of course, hugging her, feeling her, smelling her sweet scent moved her inner butterflies all over again. She could stay there hugging Shuka forever, but of course, that would be a huge contradiction of what Nanaka had said a few minutes ago.

"Why do you want me to stay?" asked Shuka softly, it made Nanaka break the hug.

Nanaka separated her body a few steps from her, it was true that she cared about her, and loved hugging Shuka. But it wasn't right.

Nanaka took a deep breath.
If she wanted to stay with Shuka long enough to have a civilized conversation, she would need to be constantly kicking herself by the thought of her commitment with Aina.

She needed a proper distance from Shuka.

"Shuka," started Nanaka, "us breaking up doesn't mean that we can't be together in the same room, or talk...I like your company, I love talking with you..."

Shuka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

"I'm confused..." said Shuka, Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness too.

Me too...

I wish I had an answer for this...

And spare us the pain...

Nanaka sighed softly.

"Let's talk, we owe each other a good talk..." said Nanaka walking to the light switch and turning them on.
The room was a mess.

"Do you want a cup of tea?" asked Shuka now more in her tone.

Nanaka looked at her with a soft smile. Shuka knew her.

She knew that Nanaka liked her green tea while having a moment.
Whether was a relaxed moment or a tense one, a good cup of tea could make everything better.

"Sure, that would be nice..." said Nanaka in her soft tone.

"Great, I'll be back—" tried Shuka, but Nanaka grabbed her arm softly before she left.

"I'll wash your panties...so you can't go until they are dry," said Nanaka coldly; both locked gazes.

"Fair enough..." said Shuka and Nanaka let her go.

She heard Shuka's steps got to the kitchen and how she started turning on lights and moved things around.

Blinking she snapped out from her "Suwa World", and with a tired pace, first she closed the curtains. Then grabbed all the scattered clothes and determined that making the washing machine work for just a couple of panties was an offense to the planet. So she just grabbed everything and walked to her washing machine and started it.

Then she came back to her room to clean the mess.

To tell the truth, it wasn't a real mess, but there were some plushies on the floor, poor things.

She was picking them up when she found little Mari, the one that Aina had left her for company.
Nanaka looked at it with a sad expression. Of course, when they came into the room her morals were actually the last thing in her mind.

She was supposed to be in love with Aina, yet she was lusting over another woman. How was that supposed to work? That wasn't normal. Did that mean she wasn't in love at all?

No.
Because when she was with Shuka, she was in love. Deep, intoxicating love, but lusted about Aina as well. And now that she had Aina's love (in Aina's particular way...) she was again lusting towards Shuka.

So who was more twisted? Aina because she openly flirted and lusted over other girls? Or Nanaka who was secretly slicing her brains and heart out because she loved 2 girls at the same time?

Truth was that she wanted both, but couldn't have them.

And that was wrong.

She placed all the plushies and extra pillows over her desk and arranged her bed as if she were redy to sleep. Then her eyes met the Mari Plushie again; her heart shrank.

"Don't you dare judge..." said Nanaka dryly towards the happy Mari.

But she just bit her lips. Then her eyes traveled towards her bag and spontaneously remembered that Aina was a real human being who was off in Korea, and that she hadn't had any news from her for the whole weekend.

Nanaka felt her heart running miles per hour and walked towards her bag. With clumsy hands, she opened it to rescue her phone.

As she thought, she had tons of LINE messages and emails from Amuleto, her agency.

Sometimes she just forgot how this industry worked, and there was no time for personal business - or dilemmas- and that came actually very handy.

With quick fingers she started browsing through her emails and work-related messages, nothing seemed really important but the task she needed to do that same day, which was going to Joysound and take pictures to promote the collaboration.

So far, she went, she had fun, she took pictures, but it was time to promote it.
Maybe it wasn't the moment with Shuka half-naked walking around, or at the point of having a deep conversation with her, but at the moment it seemed like time to do it. Maybe she would be busy later, who knew!

She opened her Twitter and started typing her post.

She was almost finishing it when she received a message that took her breath away; Aina had just written a LINE message in their private chat.

Hello!~ ヾ ( ) Nana! Guess Who's back! б （＞ ε ＜） ∂…

Nanaka felt her heart in her throat.
She couldn't read the whole message due that it was just a notification. But that was enough for her to start sweating bullets.

What should she do? Aina hadn't written in almost 3 days, she only wrote in the Aqours LINE chat when everybody commented Nanaka's appeal on LisAni TV, and the only news she had from her were taken from King's, and Rikako's Twitter.

And everything seemed to be sunshine and rainbows.

Nanaka frowned.

Was that the right behavior?

Aina really puzzled her. If she showed interest like a girlfriend should, she felt overwhelmed, but if she didn't write, then it was a lack of interest.

Nanaka hummed thinking about what to do; answer fast might give Aina the wrong impression, like somehow desperate, but if she didn't answer could mean that she was busy.

Busy a Sunday late afternoon.
Weird.

Then a rain of messages snapped her out of her dilemma. There were a lot of stickers and lovely emojis to a final one that started like this...

How are you?!• ू (ᵒ̴̶̷ωᵒ̴̶̷*• ू ) ) ੭ु ⁾ How was your weekend? б （＞ ε ＜） ∂ Did you do something ...

Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

What's with this excitement...

And out of curiosity she just changed her Twitter App for the LINE App to read and answer Aina's overflowing messages.

Hello!~ ヾ ( ) Nana! Guess Who's back! б （＞ ε ＜）

Nya-chan! Of course! (=^ ^=) We just landed! This is crazy~( ๑ ͒ ͒ ๑ )

Nanaka deadpanned. Aina was crazy.

She scrolled through all the emojis and stickers to the final message.

How are you?!• ू (ᵒ̴̶̷ωᵒ̴̶̷*• ू ) ) ੭ु ⁾ How was your weekend? б （＞ ε ＜） ∂ Did you do something interesting?~(˘ ˘~) Is Nana bored?~(˘ ˘)~ Want me to come over? (~˘ ˘)~

~(⁰ ⁰)~ (^з^)-

Nanaka frowned with more enthusiasm while reading. Was she joking or something?

She murmured a soft "unbelievable..."

Nanaka started typing not so happy; it felt like Aina had just remembered that she had a wannabe girlfriend back in Japan. Like if she wasn't around she assumed that Nanaka was bored and needy. Maybe no Korean girl was interested in Aina and she just came back horny?

Maybe she missed her?

Did Nanaka miss her?

"Osuwa?" she heard softly by the entrance of the room; Nanaka snapped out her phone to see a cute Shuka in the entrance of her room, bottomless, just wearing a hoodie and holding a tray with two cups of steamy green tea. Or at least one was green tea. And a small plate with cookies.

"Everything ok?" asked Shuka walking towards the nightstand.

Nanaka followed Shuka with her sight; she could see her cute round pale butt, it made her turn her sight quickly towards her phone with her cheeks bright red, Shuka was always so carefree about being naked.

This was too much, and Nanaka determined that she needed her attention on one front at a time.

"One sec..." said Nanaka softly and continued typing very fast.

Welcome back! ヽ (´ ･ ω ･ `) ､ Why would you come here? ( ;) Isn't your place closer to the airport? ( ・・ ) ?

Anyways, it's late, I had a very busy weekend, and I'm tired. (_ _|||)

See you tomorrow at practice~ ": .• ⁽⁽ ଘ ( ˊᵕˋ ) ଓ ⁾⁾*+:•*

(* з ) ﾉ Good*Night

And send.

Nanaka thought that Aina would be too busy with the airport common business to answer her back. Nanaka had her pride, and if Aina had been just "too busy" for her the whole weekend, well? She was busy now.

As Arisa had told her, there were other ways to love, and she was trying Aina's way, that at that moment it somehow worked.

Nanaka looked at Shuka; she was setting down the cups and the plate of cookies very carefully.

"I brought you some green tea, some cookies I found... maybe ya' wanted your ice cream..." said Shuka now looking back at Nanaka with a coy smile.

Nanaka shook her head.

"No Sweety, that's fine, Thank you..." said Nanaka softly.

"Really? I can cook too..." said Shuka standing up properly and turning for Nanaka to see her; Nanaka swallowed up dryly at the sight. "I loved to cook for ya'..."

Nanaka blinked.

Yes, Shuka used to cook for her, but maybe that could wait.

"That's fine Shuka, besides, I don't know how this is going to end... cooking takes time," said Nanaka trying to look somewhere else. Maybe she was cooking something inside her panties again.

"Oh, well, seemed that you put all my clothes in the machine!" giggled Shuka, "I have time..." continued Shuka walking by Nanaka and raised the tray, "I'll leave this back in the kitchen... be right back."

And she left the room.

Nanaka blinked fiercely trying to erase the memory of bottomless Shuka, to try to stick to her plan. But it felt that she was in the middle of a contradictory decision. She had just blown Aina off and sent her to sleep, but she was also going to send Shuka to sleep because there was nothing going on between them and this had just been a matter of being horny.

Was that the case?

Nanaka looked at her phone; there weren't any signs of Aina, so she determined that she needed to finish her Twitter post before it was too late.

It should be something quick and funny, so with her diligent fingers, she finished typing and started browsing some of the pictures they took earlier.

Actually, all the pictures looked so good. She couldn't deny that both girls looked happy, and comfortable around each other. Aiai was somehow kind of in the way of the pictures, especially the one where they were drinking out from the same drink.

Nanaka smiled.

"We look good," said Shuka by her side; Nanaka snapped, of course, she hadn't heard Shuka coming back.

"Whatcha doing? Miss me already that ya' are looking for our pictures?" asked Shuka with a wide smile.

"Well, I was writing my post for the collaboration..." said Nanaka trying to pick the right pictures.

"Oh, right..." said Shuka, then she looked at the pictures, "Definitely you should use that...I like your pigtails…" she pointed to the picture of them drinking from the same glass.

Nanaka nodded, they differently looked cute.

Besides the one of them drinking from the same drink, she picked one of the collaboration drinks, one that Shuka took of her writing on the wall, and another with Aiai to don't be that obvious with Shuka. In the end, these pictures would be on her Twitter for the World to see, and that included Aina.

"Thank you..." said Nanaka softly and finished her post.

"Aren't you going to do it?" asked Nanaka, then she closed her phone and looked at Shuka. Their faces too close to each other.

Shuka's eyes traveled from Nanaka's eyes to her lips and unconsciously licked her own. Nanaka could feel her heart rushing, making her cheeks flush red, her butterflies moving around, her eyes also became stuck on Shuka's lips. It was as if a magnet pulled them together, because they slowly and softly started moving towards each other, almost holding their breaths, and slowly closing their eyes, once again the air became too thin between them.

Nanaka just felt in the clouds, surrounded by warmth, by something soft, and a gentle hand that moved some hair strands behind her ear...

It was Shuka who made the move and stole a soft kiss from her lips.

It was short but full of love and kindness. At the next second Shuka broke the spell and walked towards the bed and sat.

"I'm sorry…" she said with a soft tone.

Nanaka blinked.

She grabbed the phone with strength.
Maybe feeling impotence and a bit of frustration about the situation. Shuka could still steal her heart with actions like that, she still could make her heart race… There was love that she just couldn't ignore, no matter if Aina loved her with all her heart.

I'm sorry Aina...

Nanaka left her phone on the desk without even looking at it and walked towards Shuka and sat on the bed.

Both locked gazes; serious faces.

"Before I do it again, and you hate me for doing it…" started Shuka in an incredibly mature tone, "let's settle this…"

"I agree…" said Nanaka with a soft nod, then made a sign for Shuka to pass her the green tea.

Shuka did what she was asked, and they had a few moments to enjoy their hot drinks. Shuka still remembered how Nanaka liked her tea. The taste made her smile.

"Ok…Gosh, this is hard…" said Shuka with a sigh.

"I know it is… I'm sorry for putting us in this position…" said Nanaka looking at her tea.

"You wanted to talk…" said Shuka; Nanaka looked at her with her serious face.

"Yes… because this is no right…" said Nanaka firmly.

"You regret it…?" asked Shuka shyly.

"It's not that…" said Nanaka thinking her words carefully; she just couldn't know what was going to happen next, but having Shuka half-naked at her place, with all these sexual tensions around, the magnetism they had, everything was screaming that they would end up eating each other's mouths and skin again.

And maybe that was what they needed? A good screw to overcome those feelings and then everything could go back to normal?

Was that how it worked? Maybe she needed to ask Aina all the small details about this kind of love.

But telling Shuka that she regretted felt somehow too soon because she wasn't regretting anything… yet.

"Shuka… you and I, broke up… you just don't go and have sex with your Ex… that doesn't feel right…" said Nanaka more in her mature tone.

Shuka bit her lips nervously and squeezed her thighs.

"We are still Exes…" said Nanaka.

"We can fix that…" said Shuka softly; Nanaka opened her eyes wide.

"Let's get back—" tried Shuka.

"No." said Nanaka dryly and abruptly, it made Shuka's smile fade.

"Sorry, Sweetie…but it doesn't work that way…" said Nanaka with a softer tone.

Besides…

I'm with Aina now…

As twisted as it looks and sounds…

What am I doing?

Nanaka shook her head to the side trying to think of an answer to her own question.

"This isn't just me Osuwa…" murmured Shuka; Nanaka looked at her.

"What?" asked Nanaka cluelessly.

"Ya' said, 'you just can't go and have sex with your Ex'; but we both did it, it's not just me…You had sex with your Ex too," said Shuka seriously.

"Yes, I did…" said Nanaka in the realization.

"Then?…" asked Shuka; Nanaka blinked.

It was like an alley with no exit.

They did it. Period.

"Well… we both did it… nothing to do about what we have already done I guess…" said Nanaka softly.

"But you don't want to get back with me…" said Shuka almost pouting.

"No, I can't…" said Nanaka sadly.

"Why? You don't love me anymore?" asked Shuka with a sad tone.

Nanaka opened her eyes in surprise.

"Shuka, that's not the issue… I mean…" Nanaka was saying; she blinked a few times to put her thoughts in order, "You broke up with me, it's not like I stopped loving you or something… we… we did a lot of harm to each other… I...you... I needed to set you free from your misery…" finished Nanaka with real angst in her voice.

That breakup had indeed been terrible. The mere thought of it brought back the memories.
Shuka crying in her blouse, her own heart being crushed in thousands of shards on Production's office floor, her body left there to be consumed by her own tears and screams of pain.

That breakup cost her the Third Years' trip to Numazu and the constant mocking from The Chief of Staff about Nanaka being a weak girl who succumbed under the stress and fainted.

This wasn't something to take so lightly.

"I'm sorry…" said Shuka with sadness; she left her cup on the nightstand, "I… know I was a fool…"

Nanaka looked at her; her eyes welled in tears because of the memory. She realized that the pain was still there. Almost 4 months later, the pain was still there, no matter if Aina had been caring and loving enough to help her heal that wound.

Nanaka gave her everything to make them work, and in the end, Shuka was so damn miserable that she needed to do what she did.

She closed her eyes. She was miserable too.

But didn't want to admit it.
She had always thought that she was doing the ultimate sacrifice to spare Shuka more pain, but the truth was that she was suffering too. And at least that night on the floor she had Aqours support, but what had happened with Shuka?

Nanaka opened her eyes and fixed them on Shuka.

How damage was Shuka really? Had she learned anything over these almost 4 months if she wanted to repeat the same "mistake" of dating Nanaka again?

"Shuka…" started Nanaka, Shuka raised her eyebrows inquisitively, "May I ask you something…?"

Shuka gave her a coy smile and nodded.

"Sure Nana-chan," she said. Nanaka took a deep breath.

"That day… the day we broke up…" Nanaka started, then paused, it was painful, but she needed to continue, "That night… where did you go?"

Shuka opened her eyes wide and made an "o" with her mouth, then her expression was covered by sadness.

"I went home…" she said with a sad tone, taking her sight away from Nanaka.

"Oh…" said Nanaka; of course, she went home. Where else could Shuka go with her broken heart?

"Did you…" Shuka interrupted her thoughts, "Did you really faint that night?"

Nanaka looked at her with sadness in her eyes. Pride or not, Shuka broke her heart.

"No, I did not…" said Nanaka serious; Suwa Nanaka did not lie.

"What happened?" asked Shuka concerned.

"After you left… I collapsed…" said Nanaka in her normal tone, "I… I was just too sad and broken to even move… but it wasn't because I fainted…it was just sadness..."

Shuka made a sad face and tried to touch Nanaka's hand, but she regretted it halfway.

"I just couldn't tell the Chief that I was broken-hearted, what kind of Seiyuu am I?... so we lied to him, that I fainted... I just couldn't travel to Numazu in that condition..." finished Nanaka with sadness.

Nanaka raised her sight and looked at Shuka; both shared sad faces.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't be there…" said Shuka softly, "It was my fault…"

Nanaka shook her head.

"No… we couldn't endure a relationship… we were kids Shuka," said Nanaka with a sigh, "I guess we both made mistakes and we ended up hurting each other…" finished Nanaka, and took a sip from her cup.

"I get it…" said Shuka softly, "Y'know, that night… I ran out of Lantis Building, trying not to bump into anyone… I was so sad… I…I really wanted to… to be with you… but it hurt…" Shuka made a pause; Nanaka stopped drinking to look at her.

"I cried all the way back home… it was… horrible; for the first time I felt the way to Saitama lasted forever…but I couldn't help it… I felt so helpless." said Shuka with a sad tone.

"Does your mother know?" asked Nanaka softly, but then mentally kicked herself, because it was obvious that Mama Suwa knew that she had broken up with Shuka. She needed to tell her to explain why Aina was now a common visitor at her place and why she was eager to spend Christmas with her.

Nanaka bit her lips.

Aina was supposed to spend Christmas with her, and there she was, in bed with someone else…

Nanaka took a deep breath and determined that that thought was for later. She was now being told something that she had always been curious to know. How affected Shuka really was about them breaking up.

"Yes…she knew…" said Shuka with sadness, "Suwawa, ya' know that I'm always laughing and fooling around, I don't like to cry in public… I was destroyed… not just because…we….we weren't together anymore… I was a coward!…I couldn't tell you how I felt! How I was… y'know, dealing with us…I wasn't dealing with it at all… I was so ashamed… You had to end our relationship because I was a coward…I… tried to act as tough as I could when I came back home; Mama was waiting with dinner… and when I saw her I just broke with her…"

Shuka stopped her story to sob a few times.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness. She was in pain as well.

They loved each other, but couldn't be with each other. How painful was that?!

"I'm sorry Sweetie…" said Nanaka really feeling it.

"Me too, I'm sorry you had to be with me…" said Shuka with a sob, "I really missed you…" she cleared a tear from her eye.

"This is why we can't be together…" said Nanaka softly, knowing that maybe she was being a bit heartless; Shuka looked at her with her eyes wide, maybe feeling Nanaka a bit cold about her story.

"Shuka, it's clear to me, that… we love each other but we can't be with each other…" said Nanaka squeezing her heart.

Shuka didn't say a thing, she was resisting the punch.

"Sweetie…listen…" started Nanaka, and gave Shuka her cup for her to rest it on the nightstand, "Thank you; we broke up not because we didn't love each other… we really do... We can't pretend that we are not… then what the hell happened here a few minutes ago?…" said Nanaka showing the bed, "But… we can't be a couple…not anymore."

"Why not? If there's love—" tried Shuka, but Nanaka shushed her with her index.

"Because you haven't learned a thing…" said Nanaka dryly. Shuka pouted.

"How? How are you so sure?!" asked Shuka now a bit angry.

"Well, you wanted me to decide for us like we used to…" said Nanaka, "And I'm still healing…"

Shuka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

"Yes… sorry…" said Nanaka with a sad tone, "And I know very well what I'm doing now…" said Nanaka, even if deep down in her heart she didn't know what the hell she was doing, because she wanted to be with Aina, but now Shuka was in her bed, and everything seemed confusing; she knew that she was trying other ways to love, Aina's way.

Love Aina in their "Strong love", but with the freedom to be with someone else.

The tricky part was that she "picked" Shuka to start practicing.

"So…what are you doing now…?" asked Shuka seriously.

Nanaka looked at her with a serious expression. Actually, she didn't know what to say.

How could she say that she was "practicing Aina's ways of love".

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!

Shuka might run away bottomless.

Nanaka blinked.

"I decided to enjoy my time with you…" said Nanaka diligently; Shuka opened her mouth in surprise, "What are you doing Shuka? What did you expect to find coming here?"

Shuka bit her lips.
Maybe she wasn't even digesting Nanaka's answer to give her a proper response for her questions.

"Wow…" said Shuka overwhelmed, "Now I feel cheap…"

"How's that? I asked you to stay… you were the one who wanted to leave…" said Nanaka in control.

"I don't know… it sounded like that…" said Shuka now scratching her head, "So… do you think you want to enjoy your time with me more often?"

Nanaka deadpanned. That was a proposal to be Friends with benefits.

"I don't know; depends on your answer, did you come for that?" asked Nanaka softly.

Shuka giggled.

"Why is it so hard?! Nanaka, just say yes, let's get back…" she tried in her playful tone.

Nanaka giggled.

"Actually I don't know what I came looking for…I wanted to be with you…that's the only thing I know…" said Shuka sincerely, "And I thought you were looking for the same…"

"How so?"

"Well... I don't know… all these months… the touching, the flirting… or I misunderstood everything?" asked Shuka now afraid to look like a fool.

Nanaka shook her head.

"You didn't misunderstand; we did flirt a lot…" said Nanaka in her tired tone.

"Then?… I thought it was a given… what we have…" said Shuka with hope.

"But it's not the same…" said Nanaka seriously.

"Why not? What changed?" asked Shuka now a bit confused; Shuka was still a kid and Nanaka just couldn't take care of her anymore.

"I did," said Nanaka softly, "I changed..."

Shuka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

"What—what does it mean?" asked Shuka softly and afraid.

"That I can't pretend that I'm the same as four-months ago Shuka; I hurt you, you hurt me, I've been healing, I've been focused on my career, on getting better at dancing, singing, and my job at Aqours, I've moved on..." said Nanaka trying to believe all that herself.

"Then what did all the flirting and everything mean for ya', if you moved on? Is that what it is to move on?!" asked Shuka annoyed, and with reason, if Nanaka had moved on and over Shuka, as she said she had done, then what hell was that flirting about?

Nanaka bit her lips, the truth was that she didn't have any answers for that.

She wasn't over Shuka, and yet, she was trying to be with Aina.

Both stayed in deep silence looking at each other.

Maybe Nanaka got to a point of confusion and contradictions that her brain just couldn't even manage. She stopped working.

It was Shuka who spoke next.

"Then don't blame me..." she said with a mature tone, "If all these months you flirted back, and gave me signs, it's almost natural that I thought that you and I have a chance of getting back...maybe that's what I came here for...maybe I want that...I want a second chance." finished Shuka seriously.

But Nanaka just gave her a sad look.

She just couldn't give her that.

"I can't," said Nanaka softly, "I can't get back with you..."

Shuka made a bitter face. Maybe she thought about the possibilities of standing up and leaving, bottomless and all.

But she bared the pain and looked straightly to Nanaka's heart.

"Why?" she asked, "Why did you flirt with me, tried to hang out with me, made love to me, and then you can't get back with me?"

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness; there was so much bitterness in that sentence that it crushed Nanaka's heart all over.

She bit her lips.

Because of Aina...

Because I love Aina too...

Because I can't be with both of you...

"I..." murmured Nanaka, "I'm not ready..."

"Not ready...ready for what?" asked Shuka trying to understand.

Nanaka looked at Shuka with her serious face, but also with a lot of sadness; feeling her tears trying hard to escape from her eyes.

Shuka loved her, that was true, they did love each other. And maybe she just couldn't tell her that now she was trying to be with Aina, the truth was that she was scared to make the same mistake again.

And she needed to be honest with Shuka.

When you gave everything for the sake of success in a relationship; when you gave your all and even that wasn't enough, you just lost the will to keep trying.

All this time, Nanaka was resisting Aina and Shuka because she was scared. She wasn't ready to have a relationship with Aina when she was scared to make the same mistake she had done with Shuka; give her all, and that not being enough.

The way Nanaka loved, it couldn't fit Aina's ways, and her love just smothered Shuka. So why keep trying? In the end, everyone ended up being too miserable.

The line was too thin.

Everyone got hurt. Nanaka included.

"Ready to have a relationship..." said Nanaka now understanding, "Shuka, I know we have love for each other, but if we get back together, I'll do the same mistakes I did before..." she said sadly.

Shuka looked at her with sadness.

"Maybe I'm the one who isn't ready..." Nanaka continued, "I loved you so much Shuka, that I hurt you, I hurt us... and I'm afraid that if we get back, I'll do it again... that's why I can't..."

"But I've learned..." murmured Shuka.

Nanaka shook her head.

"Is not about you, is about me... this isn't what I want, and this isn't what you need..." said Nanaka now in control of her feelings, "And because I have feelings for you, is that this, can't happen again..."

Shuka raised her eyebrows with so much sadness, that it was clear to Nanaka that she was trying hard to not cry.

"Do you understand?" said Nanaka softly.

Shuka took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Maybe in her head, a huge ball of spaghetti was forming, so Nanaka needed to clear the issue out.

Shuka was a kid, and why not, Nanaka too. If in almost 4 months she came to the resolution that she just couldn't move on, it was because she hadn't learned a thing; on the contrary, she was getting messed up in another love, and in the way hurting Aina about not being completely clear with her.

The most painful thing was realizing that Aina had seen this from the beginning. But Nanaka wanted to lie to herself telling Aina that she wanted the commitment when at the first chance she had ended up in bed with Shuka.

"Sweetie," started Nanaka with a tender voice; Shuka opened her eyes, "I love you, I never stopped loving you, but we can't be together for the simple reason that I'm not ready; I already hurt you too much, I hurt myself... I suffered a lot too...and I know I'll do it again...and trust me, it's not something I want to repeat." she said extending a hand for Shuka to grab.

Shuka doubted for a second, but held her hand anyway, not knowing why, maybe she felt that Nanaka needed support to say what she was saying.

"I love to spend time with you, even with Anchan, when the three of us hanged out..." said Nanaka with a small smile, "I miss it, but this isn't healthy... we have this love, this attraction; what we did is the reflection of that, and if we keep doing it, we will get hurt again..."

Shuka closed her eyes slowly. A lonely tear ran for her right eye.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness.
She was doing it again, she was hurting Shuka.
This felt like breaking up again...

"I'm sorry Shuka..." said Nanaka softly, feeling the pain too.

"I understand..." murmured Shuka, and with her free hand cleaned her tear. "You are right..." then she sobbed softly.

"Did you get it?" asked Nanaka making sure to make herself clear.

"Yes," said Shuka more into her tone, "I know it has been hard; I mean, we see each other almost every day, it's normal that maybe our wounds haven't healed yet...silly me..." snorted Shuka, then let go of Nanaka's hand to wipe another lost tear in her left eye.

"Don't treat yourself like that," said Nanaka softly.

"I deserved it..." said Shuka now into her mature tone, "I'm sorry Nanaka, I made you—" but Nanaka stopped her and grabbed her hands again.

"You didn't make me do anything; Shuka, see what I meant? Both of us are still pretending and acting like we used to...I can't be making all the decisions anymore, let's close this..." said Nanaka softly.

They stayed there a few seconds looking at each other when a distant beep interrupted them.

"That's... those are my clothes..." murmured Shuka; and that was the decisive moment.

Shuka was supposed to stay until her clothes were ready, and that was it.

They both knew what that beep meant.

"What should I do...?" asked Shuka softly, lost in Nanaka's eyes.

"What do you want to do?" asked Nanaka; this time giving Shuka the chance to decide, Nanaka always decided for them, it was time for Shuka to bare her decisions.

Shuka bit her lips.

"I..." she shuttered, her eyes locked in Nanaka's eyes. "I want to stay," she said firmly.

Nanaka blinked.

"I know, I know..." Shuka hurried to say, "we can't repeat it again... but I want to, please, give me this night." she said firmly.

"I'm not going to change my mind..." said Nanaka quickly, knowing that she needed to close her thing with Shuka to focus on Aina.

"I don't want to change your mind...I heard you; we can't be together as we can't be casual lovers...it's gonna hurts us in the end..." said Shuka softly and so sadly that it hurt Nanaka to the depths of her heart.

The logical thing was for Shuka to grab her clothes and leave Nanaka's place with her pride, dignity, and all. Close this thing, they had already done it, they bore out their feelings, and the resolution was clear...

But Shuka was stubborn to the bone.

She stood up with Nanaka's hand still in hers.

"I don't want to convince you, I want to stay with you, I want to love you one more night..." said Shuka with her serious face and tone.

"What?" asked Nanaka a bit incredulous; it was as if the last 40 minutes had been in vain.

"You said it yourself, we have this attraction, we have this love... we can't share it anymore, but today; I'm already here..." said Shuka with her serious tone.

Nanaka looked at her with a sad face.

They stayed like that for a few seconds that felt like minutes; maybe Nanaka was searching in the deepest parts of her heart for the courage to break her moral scale once again.

Shuka was asking her for a last night. Then everything would turn back to normal.

This was how a "one night stand" worked? A "touch and go"? Or something of the sort. One night, and then goodbye.
Of course, this didn't apply to them, they had practice first thing in the morning and were part of the same group of Seiyuus/Idols.

How was this supposed to work?!

It hadn't worked for the past 4 months, on the contrary, the sexual tension had only grown...

Nanaka blinked a few times. Then frowned.

"How is this going to work?" asked Nanaka seriously.

"What do ya' mean? I'll stay with you tonight... but before you ask, this isn't about the sex..." she hurried to say; Nanaka opened her eyes wide, "Nana-chan, I'm in love with you more than with your body, I just want to be able to kiss you, hug you or be cute with you without thinking that what we are doing is something wrong...if we can have sex; if you let me love you one more time, then... perfect... but it's not just that, my love for you was beyond the sexual part..."

Nanaka's cheeks became bright red. Shuka was sure and determined that Nanaka was now regretting giving her control of the decision.

"I'm not asking about that..." said Nanaka now a bit ashamed.

"Then what? What it is?" asked Shuka a bit anxious.

"What's going to happen with us? I mean, ok, you stay, you love me or whatever might happen... Then what? We have practice tomorrow; where does this ends?" asked Nanaka seriously.

Shuka took a deep breath, closed her eyes a few seconds, and then opened them with a serious expression.

"It ends at first light... I just asked for the night..." she said.

Nanaka blinked a few times, and hummed in discomfort.

"The changing room," said Nanaka; Shuka snapped, "we have practice tomorrow... you will not have enough time to go back to Saitama, change, and then come back to Tokyo...let's go together to Lantis Building..."

Shuka gave her a wide smile.

"This means that it's a 'yes'?..." said Shuka with a cocky smile.

"I haven't said a thing, I'm covering the bases; I don't want anything on the loose..." said Nanaka diligently

Shuka smiled proudly.

"Fair enough, give me your conditions..." said Shuka confidently.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow; Shuka knew that she would have it her way, and she would end up convincing Nanaka to give her the night, even if that had conditions.

"If I give you the night..." started Nanaka, "we need to stop the flirting..."

Shuka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"I don't know if that's even possible, but I'll try...?" said Shuka shyly

Nanaka blinked.
Yes, that was a difficult task for herself too.

"Ok..." said Nanaka softly, "then, this is a one thing only... as I said before, we can't do it again, it's not healthy..."

Shuka nodded.

"And we will stop at the second we enter the changing room..." said Nanaka, "the night ends there..."

Shuka nodded again.

"Anything else?" asked Shuka smugly.

"No kinks," said Nanaka dryly; if she was going to break her moral scale, she would stick to the only rule Aina had set for her. The Kinks were with her.

"Sure, I don't need them." said Shuka taking a step forward, "Anything else?"

"We will be friends and nothing else..." said Nanaka in a small voice.

"Consider it done," said Shuka taking another step, this time her body was inches from Nanaka's, their eyes devouring each other.

They stayed a few seconds feeling how the conversation had now turned more into a gaze competition.

"Do you need...anything else?" whispered Shuka, her scent turning Nanaka's heat on. Her intense gaze over her was driving her crazy, Shuka was so secure and serious about making the most of that night, that she could definitely intimidate Nanaka, but not in a bad way.

Somehow seeing Shuka so determined to love her, to give her the world for one last night, made her feel safe. That maybe Shuka had learned something in their time apart, and she was willing to show it to her.

"Yes..." whispered Nanaka seriously, "two things..."

Shuka raised her eyebrows; their lips were a whisper away.

"You make breakfast..." said Nanaka in a murmur; Shuka smiled wide, "...and ..."

"...Love me"

And they kissed.

Shuka smiled wide into that kiss; she broke off their held hands to grab Nanaka's cheeks and deepened the kiss, softly pushing Nanaka to her back.

She slowly gave into Shuka's kiss, tongue, and touches; she softly touched Nanaka's cheeks as she started moving backward to be more comfortable on the bed, and Shuka placed one of her knees on top of it too, trying to balance her body over Nanaka.

In seconds Nanaka was lost in the kiss as Shuka straddled her; her curious fingers touching her thighs and moving forward under the hoodie.

Shuka was gentle, soft, nothing was rushing her anymore, and Nanaka was lost under that lovely spell. But Shuka needed more and grabbed the hem of Nanaka's hoodie and started trying to take it off.

Nanaka couldn't know how or why, but while she was struggling with the piece of cloth a sound of something delicate falling over interrupted her halfway, then a sound of liquid flowing made her enter into panic.

"Shit!" murmured Shuka.

Nanaka took off her hoodie and looked at Shuka with panicked eyes

"What? What happened?" asked Nanaka quickly; she looked at Shuka; she was looking to her back, her sight on the nightstand.

"I'm sorry..." murmured Shuka who got up off the bed to look at her mess.

Shuka somehow hit Nanaka's teacup and all the green tea was a mess over her nightstand.

Nanaka frowned for two seconds; the cup seemed fine, and there wasn't anything important on the furniture to be worried about, only a poor plushie got stained by it.

Shuka tried to move leave the scene to start cleaning, maybe recalling that Nanaka was a tidy and clean girl who didn't like these kinds of messes, but Nanaka stopped her by grabbing her by the arm.

Both locked gazes.

"Don't worry..." said Nanaka seriously, sexily.

"But—"

"You have one night only..." she sentenced, and with that said, she threw her hoodie somewhere else, exposing her naked torso to her.

Shuka opened her eyes like two fried eggs.
Nanaka was right, she had only a few hours to love her, to touch her, kiss her and so ever, a spilled tea could wait.

Shuka smiled sexily, licked her lips, and in quick movements, threw her own hoodie far away. Exposing her naked and supple body to her.

"I'll make the most of it,"
Said Shuka who crawled back to bed and to the top of Nanaka's body.

That night they slept just a few hours. And mostly because their bodies had given in more than anything else. They made love multiple times on Nanaka's bed and told each other all the sweeties words they could.

Maybe that night more than one spring of Nanaka's bed became loose, and maybe the neighbor would complain the next morning about the headboard knocking on the wall constantly for half the night. Not to mention the loud moans.

Nanaka just didn't care.
Somehow being there with Shuka and being loved by her for the last time was like floating over clouds.

Also, it gave her strength and energy to endure more rounds than she usually had with Shuka. Or maybe all the rounds with Aina and her kinks made her last longer too.

She taught Shuka very well, and she still remembered how to pleasure her Nana-chan, as Nanaka still longed for Shuka's body and taste.

They had a few breaks to take some water, clean up the tea accident, take Shuka's clothes out of the washing machine and let them dry, share some words about everything and nothing, and start the lovemaking all over again.

After the nth round they were just too sweaty to keep doing it on Nanaka's bed, so they moved to the bath.

Shuka really wanted to spend all the time possible with her, and it was lovely.
Inside the bathroom Shuka took a more spoiled attitude, remembering that she was the youngest in her family, she liked to be spoiled lots while bathing.

And to tell the truth Nanaka adored that from her. Shuka was her kid, and she just loved to spoil her in the showers.

Nanaka was a great comfort for her; she hugged her a lot, as they talked like they had always done, but with caring Nanaka taking care of her; meaning scrubbing her, and helping each other with bathing.

Of course, being naked and loving could only end up in having more intense sex in the steaming room. But that time it felt more delicate than those rounds in Nanaka's room.

Maybe because Shuka was more emotional, or maybe she was feeling weaker there. To tell the truth, Nanaka didn't ask anything, she just hugged Shuka lovingly and told her that she loved her, she never stopped doing it, and she was grateful to have that chance to share with her.

Shuka ended up crying on her chest.

Not knowing exactly why, but Nanaka guessed that it was because maybe Shuka had just realized that this was a goodbye; she had asked for a last night, and no matter how much they loved each other, they just couldn't be together and they needed to live with that, assuming it and baring it.

Get used to it.

And maybe at that moment, naked and weak, in a room where the air was too thin, Shuka took in the real weight, and it busted out of her chest. Spending time with her Nana-chan for the last time was bittersweet.

Of course, Nanaka felt sad too, but at that moment Shuka needed comfort. Truth was that she felt contained in her emotions. She knew that she had broken her moral scales that night, but she wasn't regretting it.

She loved Shuka. Period.

And the next day, she would be able to focus on Aina, because she was there closing a chapter, and it was necessary for them to get rid of that damn sexual tension they were having.

It was almost cathartic.

It was Nanaka's moment to show Shuka how much she loved her. So she made love to her softly and sweetly, like Suwa Nanaka used to.

After the bath, they felt just too tired to keep doing it. So Nanaka lend her cute pajamas and went to bed holding hands. Shuka just went out like a light in no time, not before murmuring a soft "I love you Na-..."

It melted Nanaka's heart.

She loved her too, but they just couldn't be anymore...

You live, you love, you learn and then, you move on.

Nanaka closed her eyes with deep sadness, it was time to move on.
She fell asleep in no time.

Of course, morning came.

The sound of their alarms woke them up.

Nanaka would be lying if she said that she didn't like the sight of a disheveled Shuka by her side in bed. It melted her heart.

They shared some good morning kisses and as they had agreed, Shuka made breakfast.

It made Nanaka happy to have a proper meal including soft kisses and lovely gazes. It made her feel that she could like Monday mornings.

As Nanaka had said, it was too late for Shuka to go back to Saitama and comeback, so she needed to supply the logistics problems.

"I don't know Osuwa...we agreed to use our new t-shirts today..." said Shuka sadly while trying on a light blue T-shirt that Nanaka just given her.

"Looks good on you..." said Nanaka not even looking at her, she was busy putting in her bag the Kanan T-shirt that Production had kindly given her in the last Osaka event for them to practice motivation.

"I don't know..." said Shuka softly and taking the shirt off.

"Sweetie, you can't go back to Saitama... or you rather come late to practice?" asked Nanaka taking out sweatpants from her drawer, "Be grateful that I found a light blue shirt for you..."

"I am, this smells like you..." said Shuka snuggling into the shirt.

Nanaka looked at her with her "Suwa face". She blinked and then put her sweatpants away.

Shuka giggled and gave Nanaka the shirt back to put it in the bag too.

"We can't be picky... we didn't plan this..." said Nanaka now folding her light blue shirt.

"I know..." said Shuka softly, "Thank you Suwawa..."

Nanaka looked at her and smiled.

"Anytime, Shuka-chan"

Both shared a smile and lovely gazes, then they kissed.
It was a short kiss, but with love.

"Shall we go?" asked Nanaka breaking the lovely moment. Shuka pouted.

"We should stay ... can't we take a day off? Say that we need to take a leave or something?" asked Shuka partly joking, partly serious.

Nanaka gave her a sad look.

"Shuka, we agreed..." said Nanaka with a sad tone; Shuka nodded shyly.

"Sorry, I should have asked for more than a night...maybe a day, or a week..." said Shuka pouting.

Nanaka giggled.

She zipped up her bag and looked at Shuka.

Both looked at each other, there was indeed sadness, but no one said a thing, both started walking towards the entrance to put on their respective shoes and take off.

"It's pretty chilly today…" said Nanaka taking her matching shoes out of the closet, then she looked at Shuka, "You will catch a cold."

"Eh? Ya' think?" said Shuka looking at herself.

Shuka was in the same clothes as the day before; some torn jeans and her sweater. Nothing else.

"You want to use one of my coats?" asked Nanaka with concern.

Shuka looked at her with a smile. It melted Nanaka's heart.

"I would love to… but I can't…" said Shuka with a sad tone.

"Eh? why? I'm just seven centimeters taller than you…And my coats are even big for me…" said Nanaka with a diligent tone. Nanaka was just taller, but all her other measures were pretty similar to Shuka's. She didn't have more back or front than her.

"You are just too precious…" said Shuka softly, "It's not about that…"

"What do you mean? Do you prefer a jacket then?" offered Nanaka.

Shuka shook her head.

"It's not that… Suwawa… after we…after we cross that changing room door, we will…we will be back to friends, maybe just to colleagues… it's not right that I just appear there with your clothes…" said Shuka in a very serious way, but with sadness.

Nanaka blinked. She made a sad face.

She just forgot that there was a limit for them.

"What about my training clothes?" asked Nanaka.

"That's….because I really need them…If I could, I would go back to Saitama…I don't want to cause you more trouble…" said Shuka scratching her head.

Nanaka blinked.

"Besides…" said Shuka now into a more mature tone, "You can't be taken care of me anymore…"

Nanaka made a sad expression.

"You are too nice to me… I need to do things on my own…" said Shuka and turned around as she sat in the entrance to put on her shoes.

Nanaka stood there looking at her with sadness.

Shuka understood everything and determined that Nanaka just couldn't be there to take care of her anymore, to make decisions for them anymore. Both were healing and the process demanded to stop worrying about her. For good.

It felt piercing.

Nanaka clenched her fits.

One of the things she loved most about her NanaShuka relationship was taking care of her kid. And Not being able to do it was the first thing that hurt her.

But there was something off, it was true that they couldn't be a couple anymore, but that didn't mean that Nanaka could just walk away and not worry about her anymore.

Shuka was part of Aqours, she was a colleague, she was a friend.

Nanaka took a deep breath, turned around and took a scarf from the hanger, and walked towards Shuka; she softly placed it on her neck.

It made Shuka snap in surprise.

"Osuwa…what's—" she said touching the scarf and looking back at Nanaka.

Nanaka smiled at her.

"Don't ask me to stop worrying about you, Shuka…" said Nanaka taking a step down into the hall, Shuka stood up by her side grabbing the scarf.

"But we—" tried Shuka.

Nanaka finished with her shoes and looked at her.

"We are still friends… you can't wear my coats, but you can use my scarfs…" said Nanaka with a smile.

Shuka's eyes brightened as she smiled wide.

Nanaka softly nodded, took her bag, and turned around to open the door.

"We have until the changing room…" said Nanaka in her soft tone.

Shuka walked by her side and grabbed her hand. They entwined their fingers.

Both looked at each other with loving gazes.

Their love, their friendship, their hopes on healing and moving on.

They sealed it with a last and soft kiss.

Both started walking towards the train station with their hands entwined and enjoying their moment, with a bittersweet feeling but at pace.

Nanaka did break her moral scales for the sake of being at peace with Shuka. She determined that if she once had done everything for Shuka, Aina deserved it too.

Now she needed to know if her heart could manage "Aina's way to love". She had crossed the line with someone else, she had broken her moral scale, now she needed to figure out if that worked for her.

And that night had been key to settle that, her feelings for Shuka needed to change, and she needed to move on, maybe they couldn't be girlfriends anymore, but they could be very close friends.

It was time to focus on her love for Aina.

She had come too far to turn back, that was where she needed to stand and face it, that was who she was, one step closer…

… into thin air.

.

.

.

Of course, the night, even the first hours of the morning were easy with Shuka by her side, as if what she had done was weightless, but clearly, once they entered the changing room and the spell disappeared, reality hit Nanaka hard.

Seeing Aina once again, and back from her trip made her start treating Shuka coldly.
Making Shuka regret what had happened that last night.

And it was clear for Nanaka; her heart didn't work that way.
She just couldn't have sex with Shuka all night and then later, on the next morning, face Aina as if nothing had happened.

She just couldn't.

She was constantly sweating bullets every time something about that weekend snapped out of the member's mouths. Like Friday's Niconama and how the NanaShuka had been fooling around and eating each other's gazes through the camera, or how they were stuck with each other on Sunday at Joysound.

The fact that Shuka was wearing a clearly borrowed shirt for practice when all the members had agreed on wearing the Osaka one troubled the young girl too. Not to mention how uncomfortable this also made Nanaka feel.

And of course, this constant tension over being "found out" by Aina made her behave coldly towards all Aqours members.

She felt misplaced all day.

And even if Aina had given Nanaka her blessing for sleeping with other people, it felt wrong to her. So it was quite obvious for Arisa and herself that she didn't have that type of heart, so she just couldn't do it again.

But now the consequences were being served were doubled; facing Aina with the guilt of what she had done, and baring Shuka with her sadness.

And that wasn't easy thanks to the Lineup and all the Mini Live MCs, interventions, and choreographies.

It was like rubbing the NanaShuka relationship on everyone's faces. Most of the members were happy, Shuka seemed sad but baring it, Nanaka felt misplaced, and Aina seemed as if she didn't care anymore, but Nanaka could guess that she felt annoyed. Mostly because they kept selling the lie of a relationship, that in truth, wasn't anymore.

But it worked.

And once again Nanaka hurt 2 of the people she cared about the most.

It made her feel indeed sad and annoyed with herself. But what bothered her most was being uncomfortable with her decision all day, feeling guilty but seeing Aina drool over Arisa in her Christmas outfit as if nothing was happening.

Aina sometimes was just too cheery about her own libidinous way of being, that she wasn't even aware of how harmful it could be for Nanaka.

And maybe there, in the middle of the Christmas outfit session, she understood -and thanks to Aiai- that if she wasn't cautious, Shuka might steal her Nana away.

So it was like a constant struggle for Nanaka; in one hand having a gloomy Shuka who was like a loose bullet, at one moment was "yes" and another was "no", to wait for Nanaka outside the changing room with her scarf on her neck wanting to "share a train" with her.

Knowing that Nanaka wasn't going to Saitama.

And on the other hand, a silent Aina who stopped fooling around to fall into deeper thoughts and hardly accepting a dinner invitation from Nanaka to "talk", mostly because Arisa had pushed them to.

And there they were, outside Lantis Building, holding their sweaty hands, with quick steps trying to be out of there, knowing that what they were doing might be wrong but they wanted to go anyway.

And also that Suzuki Aina was hungry.

"So!" started Aina with a happy tone, "You wanted to have dinner, where do you want to go?"

Nanaka snapped out of her "Suwa World" and looked at Aina with a tired face.

Truth was that she was tired and the last thing she wanted was to keep struggling with a situation that was almost like a dead end.

"Well, we can try the 'Ippudo ramen' like we used to?" asked Nanaka softly and looked to her left.

"I'm afraid it's closing by now..." said Aina, who moved quickly in one direction, pulling Nanaka by her hand.

The "Ippudo Ramen Ebisu" was the perfect choice for all Aqours' members who liked to go to eat something substantial after practice because it was just beside Lantis Building. It was quick, cheap, and delicious. And by that date, they were almost regular customers.

Besides all that, it was a cold almost winter night, and good hot ramen would have been very welcoming.

But, Aina was right.

Aina glued her cute face to the window that faced the kitchen of the restaurant and saw one of the masters who saw her, he gave her a pitiful look and then shook his head.

"Awww..." murmured Aina; Nanaka assumed that she was giving the man her puppy eyes, then Aina turned around with a pout.

"We took too long to change..." said Aina.

"What about 'Gokigendori'?" asked Nanaka with her boring tone looking to the store beside Ippudon.

Aina deadpanned.

"Are ya' feeling fancy Nana?" asked Aina in a teasing tone; Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise, and at the second Aina unglued her tiny self off the window and ran to the last store in the corner.

Nanaka blinked.

"Same thing here...it's closing..." said Aina, then looked at Nanaka, "And you know? I'm hungry...these fancy pancy dishes will just hurt your wallet..."

"My wallet?" asked Nanaka walking towards Aina; indeed the restaurant was closing.

"You are inviting..." said Aina with a severe tone, Nanaka looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Me?" asked Nanaka dryly.

"Yes, you wanted to talk..." said Aina taking her phone out.

Nanaka just blinked a few times very annoyed. She wasn't the only one who wanted that conversation. Nanaka, Aina, and even Arisa wanted for them to have it.

"Maybe we should invite Arisa, she wanted us to have this conversation more than us, it seems..." said Nanaka with her boring tone.

"Sure! Good idea, maybe we can offer her a threesome too..." said Aina with her goofy tone, her eyes glued to her phone.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow with clear annoyance. Maybe Aina was "joking" about it, but in the deepest of her twisted desires, she would love to have Arisa in her bed.

Nanaka shook that idea vigorously from her head.

"This is taking us nowhere..." said Nanaka losing her patience.

"Uhm?" hummed Aina still on her phone.

"What are your plans for tonight? Going back to Chiba?" asked Nanaka taking her own phone out.

"Well, yes, I'm checking the trains..." said Aina, and then unglued her sight from her phone to look at Nanaka, "You aren't going back to Saitama, is what you said to Shukashuu..."

"I have nothing to do there...is no use if I have a place in Tokyo to stay..." said Nanaka with diligence checking for possible restaurants that could be open nearby at that time on a Monday night.

"Oh, sure..." said Aina not too convinced.

Nanaka blinked a few times and after a second deliberating her options, twitched her tongue.

"You know what?! I need a burger," said Nanaka closing her phone quite annoyed. It seemed that neither of them wanted to talk, be there, or anything; both just wanted to go home quickly.

"What?" asked Aina looking at her with astonishment.

"You heard me, I want a burger..." said Nanaka with a strong tone as she started to move to the other side of the street.

"Burger? What? Suwawa!" called Aina now jogging to catch up, "Didn't we just finish an afternoon of wardrobe fittings? And ya' want a burger?"

But Nanaka didn't answer, she just kept walking past Lantis Building.

If no one wanted to have a conversation -but Arisa- it was somehow pointless having it, but Nanaka didn't know if she could spend another hour with this guilty feeling, or uncertainty about Aina and their wannabe relationship.

She had settled a point on her relationship with Shuka, and now she wanted to settle things with Aina; she wanted to fight for it, even if at that moment she just wanted her bed…and maybe that burger.

"Suwawa... hey hey! Wait a minute!" said Aina jogging behind her.

"I don't have any issues with my body or my outfits..." said Nanaka stopping at the crossing; Aina caught up to her there and looked at her with her big watery eyes.

"Do you?" asked Nanaka.

"No, I... surprisingly I didn't..." said Aina in quite a shock; after her trip to Korea, where King and Rikako confessed that they had eaten quite a lot, of course, trying on the outfits for the Mini Live had been an issue for the gluttony trio. Specially Rikako.

"Then? It's not a problem," said Nanaka walking.

Aina didn't say a thing and followed her through the crossing to the other side.

"I guess it's fine..." said Aina softly, "we can have junk food from time to time..."

"I agree..." said Nanaka dryly.

Both continued their walk in awkward silence.

But Aina just couldn't stay quiet.

"Are you mad?" asked Aina shyly.

Nanaka looked at her; Aina had just a sad face and taking weird slow steps, like walking behind her intentionally.

"Should I be?" asked Nanaka dryly, then mentally kicked herself. If someone should be angry, disappointed, or mad, it should be Aina.

Nanaka had kind of cheated on her. With Shuka.

Nanaka blinked quickly.
Her moral scales kicking her hard.

She just wasn't in the position of being angry with Aina.

"Well, maybe?" said Aina shyly; Nanaka stopped and turned around.

They stood there in the middle of a narrow street, looking at each other with intensity.

Nanaka tried to study Aina carefully, trying to guess why could she possibly be angry with her. Then she thought about being guilty of the previous night's events, feeling that no matter how wrong could Aina do, her sins were worse.

The wind became chill, and with it, the air too thin between them.

"I'm sorry, I've been hurting you..." said Aina shyly now looking to her shoes.

"What?" asked Nanaka not quite understanding.

Aina looked at her and gave Nanaka a shy smile.

"Let's get your burger..." said Aina with a goofy smile and continued walking.

Nanaka frowned.

"You are so unfair..." said Nanaka lastly as she kept walking too.

"Yes, I am..." said Aina with honesty, maybe too much honesty for Nanaka's sake, like if Aina knew something huge and she had been hiding it from her all those months.

Or maybe it was just her imagination.

"But…" continue Aina at her pace, "You know that I would do anything for you…daffodils, daisies, bare Shuka…now it's a burger…so let's go for it..."

Nanaka frowned; the way Aina spoke was as if she was tired of Nanaka. That she had sacrificed "a lot" for Nanaka, or even as if Nanaka was someone difficult. Like a spoiled kid who asked just too much of her, and Aina just needed to deliver.

Spoiled kid, maybe… but Nanaka didn't ask too much from her, just her love and somehow, respect.
No to be shared with other ladies.

"If you want to go home…just go home," said Nanaka now in a solid tone.

Aina stopped her footsteps and looked back at Nanaka.

"What?" asked Nanaka dryly.

"Why are you angry?" asked Aina.

"Me? Angry?" asked Nanaka as she continued walking, "I'm not angry, you are saying hurtful things…"

Aina followed her.

"I'm...I'm sorry…" she heard behind her, "I-… why didn't you even call me on the weekend?!"

Nanaka stopped her footsteps.

She felt the cold wind on her legs, touring under her pompous skirt.
Not even her coat could stop the chills.

Nanaka closed her eyes slowly.
She could hear the murmurs of the busy streets, the water flowing under them on the small creek.

Then she slowly turned around and opened her eyes to little Aina in front of her. The street lights covered them in pale lights. Aina started fidgeting in her spot, nervous, shyly, of course, embarrassed.

Suzuki Aina didn't do tantrums. That was Shuka's job.

Aina bit her lips nervously and shyly started playing with her fingers.

"You've got to be kidding me…" said Nanaka bitterly.

Aina blinked a few times and looked at her shoes.

"I'm sorry Nana…" said Aina shyly, "it's just… I miss you… I miss 'us'…and—"

"Then shut up." said Nanaka dryly and senselessly.

It was late, she was tired. Having the burden of guilt all the damn day to end up in the middle of the streets receiving a tantrum from Aina because no one wrote to the other over the weekend.

They were adults, Aina wanted her space, Nanaka was busy working and trying "Aina's way to love", somehow caused by Aina herself, and now she needed to give her some explanations?

Besides, she was hungry and wanted a damn burger.

Aina's tantrum could wait.

Aina opened her eyes wide and bit her lips.

Nanaka sighed softly and looked at Aina.

"Let's eat, then you can tell me how much you missed me…" said Nanaka in a softer tone extending her hand, "We need to talk, but we need to eat too…"

Aina gave her a coy smile and grabbed her hand softly.

"I love you Nana…" murmured Aina shyly.

"I love you too…" said Nanaka in her nonchalant tone.

If she wanted her relationship with Aina to succeed, she needed to work for it. No matter if two people got along and desired each other, all relationships needed work.

They continued walking through that narrow street holding hands.

"So… where are we actually going?" asked Aina looking around, "Seems to me that we are just going to the station…"

"Yes... we are going to the station…" said Nanaka nonchalantly and turning right.

"Oh…"

"I thought about going to a 'Sawayaka' or a 'Bikkluri Donki', but they are far and most likely closed at this time…" said Nanaka nonchalantly.

"Oh so you have a clear craving…" said Aina in a goofy tone, "Isn't there a 'TGI' near your house?"

"Yes, but… it might be closing by now…and…well…" said Nanaka and looked at Aina, "You aren't going home with me…"

Aina made an "o" mouth and then made a sad face.

"Yes…sorry…but—" tried Aina.

"I understand Ainya…You need to go home…" said Nanaka, she cleared her throat, "Your home…"

"It's just for this night…" said Aina, "I can stay with you tomorrow…"

"Can you?" asked Nanaka shyly, "You want to?"

"Of course!" snapped Aina in her normal happy tone, "Why wouldn't I?…"

They turned again and kept walking.

"Uhm… I don't know…" said Nanaka softly, "Maybe you want to spend your nights with someone else…"

Then Nanaka closed her eyes. She would rather have this conversation with something in her belly, or not with this tired feeling. She felt weak and exposed.

"I don't want to spend it with no one else…" said Aina softly, "just with my Nana…"

Nanaka looked at her, her cheeks bright red.

Why?! After what I did!…

Do I deserve this?

"What?!" asked Aina with her goofy tone.

"No—nothing…" said Nanaka shyly.

Aina giggled.

They kept walking again in silence a few more blocks until they could spot Ebisu Station.

"So, I guess it's McDonald's?" asked Aina in a goofy tone.

"It's open 24/7… have burgers…fries…" Nanaka was saying.

"And Ice-cream…" finished Aina, "You haven't eaten your Ice-cream a day…"

"No… I don't know if would be able to do it with this hectic schedule…" said Nanaka in a more gloomy tone.

"There's a Lawson's near Lantis Building, we can go on lunch hours…" said Aina with her happy tone; Nanaka looked at her with a blank expression.

"What?!" asked Aina giggling.

"We?" asked Nanaka.

"Yes, we… why is that weird?… don't you like to spend time with me?" asked Aina.

They reached the McDonald's entrance.

It wasn't that busy for a Monday night, but because it was a McDonald's and so close to the station, it wasn't empty.

Nanaka looked at Aina and smiled at her.

"I love spending time with you," said Nanaka with a bright smile, and very Ikemen, she opened the door for Aina to go inside.

Inside was very mechanical.

Queuing on the order line, ordering, and splitting the check. Aina told her that she could treat her the ice-cream, though it was late and cold for that, Nanaka said that it was never too late for an ice-cream. Or too cold for it.

Both grabbed their orders and went straight to sit at a very far table.

At first, neither talked; eating was a priority.
And knowing that Aina had a very large appetite, Nanaka just couldn't dare to interrupt the younger woman as she munched on her burger.

Well, that wasn't totally fair since Nanaka was famished too, but she was refined enough to eat her burger properly.

But couldn't help but watch with amusement and amazed at how Aina did her magic while eating. It made her even stop eating and watch her more like entertained.

It made Aina stop and look at Nanaka with her cheeks full as a hamster's.

"What?" asked Aina, mouth full, she kept chewing.

Nanaka shook her head and took a bite of her own burger.

Aina swallowed.

"No, seriously what?" asked Aina cleaning her mouth.

"It just amazes me how you are so passionate about eating..." said Nanaka and took another bite.

"Well, ya' know how I am when I'm hungry... and when I have delicious stuff between my hands..." said Aina, then she gave Nanaka a very suggestive look, "Or when I'm between them..."

Nanaka opened her eyes wide and unconsciously closed her legs squeezing her thighs.

"Maybe we could skip the ice cream and have dessert in one of the rest rooms…" quoted Aina with no shame at all, grabbing some fries and eating them.

Nanaka blinked and gave her a panicked look.

"What?! Are you gonna tell me that you never did that with Shuka?" asked Aina maybe too relaxed while spreading the fries in ketchup and then eating them.

Nanaka deadpanned.

Shuka again.

She took her time to take another bite from her burger and tried to savor it, but somehow it felt terrible. Because Aina was right, more than once, the passion between Shuka and her interrupted the date and they ended up doing it in some public toilet or the sort. Not to mention in Lantis Building...

But she was there, trying to have a nice meal and settle things with Aina.

And bringing Shuka to the conversation, in a very sexual context, only made her remember her, and what they had done the previous night. She couldn't help but play some of her memories in her head.

She finished eating that bite of her burger with difficulty.

"No?" asked Aina suggestively playing with her fries.

"Aina, why you keep comparing things with Shuka?" asked Nanaka seriously, then took a sip of her drink.

Aina stopped what she was doing and swallowed. Her face was one of surprise.

"I— I'm not—" tried Aina, but was interrupted by Nanaka.

"Yes you are, you always have..." said Nanaka softly, leaving her drink, "Since day one, as I want to have a new relationship with you, you have always brought up Shuka for comparison..."

"Don't compare me with her," said Aina now annoyed.

"Then what do you care what we did in public toilets; it's irrelevant," said Nanaka diligently, and grabbed some fries.

Aina pouted.

She grabbed her drink and took a noisy sip from it, like a scolded child.

Nanaka blinked, she knew that she had hit a spot.

"That isn't fair Suwawa, " said Aina now leaving her drink, "you did quite a lot with her, so why can't we do the same?"

"Why do you want the same? Aina... I thought this wasn't an issue for you..." said Nanaka softly and with a tired sigh.

"I'm sorry...I know..." said Aina massaging her temples.

"I had a year-long relationship with her, it's obvious that we did a lot of things, but that doesn't mean that we need to everything like I did with her..." said Nanaka grabbing her last piece of burger, "There's a reason why we are not together and why we started...to do ... what we are doing..." finished Nanaka not quite sure of the last sentence.

Aina gave her a sad face.

"What are we doing?" asked Nanaka confused and eating her last piece of burger.

Aina kept her sad expression and nodded.

"Arisa told me the same..." said Aina with a sad voice.

Arisa again...

Arisa and her damn nose...

Nanaka closed her eyes annoyed; earlier Arisa told her that she had called Aina last night and they had a small talk.

Nanaka could understand that Arisa was trying to be her friend, that she cared about Aqours' wellness, and having 1/3 of the group in a fight was hard, not to mention bad and at the edge of a civil war. But sometimes her meddling was just too much.

This was something between Nanaka and Aina.

"Why is Arisa in this conversation?" asked Nanaka annoyed after swallowing, "Why do you need to bring up other people... Aina, this is our relationship, no one else's."

Aina cleared her voice.

"I know...but you know that you lost all dating privileges the second you started screwing a member... and I told you that in time, the moment you screwed a member you would start dating every Aqours member too! So now you need to bare it!" said Aina now more enthusiastically.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow.

"Then you are clear that we can't say a thing to the members..." said Nanaka dryly.

Aina opened her eyes wide and bit her lips.

Checkmate.

Aina fidgeted for a few seconds, opened her mouth like a fish a few times, and then bit her lips once again.

"This...this is different..." said Aina softly.

"Why is that? You said it if you screw a member you date the whole gang; if we told them that we have been together for the last three months and all my act with Shuka is a joke... the consequences are just too much..." said Nanaka now in control, grabbing a few of her fries.

Aina fell in deep thought.

"What did you talk about with Arisa?" asked Nanaka taking her control back.

Aina looked at her and gave her a coy smile.

"She called me last night, she is worried about us..."

"Why?" asked Nanaka knowing why but wanting Aina to say it loud and clear.

"She...she said that I'm just too self-centered... that I'm causing you harm..." said Aina conflicted, then she glued her eyes on Nanaka across the table, "Am I? I mean...how are the hickeys? It's because of what I... I did a few weekends ago? I'm sorry— I didn't— I won't—!" but Aina was interrupted by Nanaka raising her hand.

Aina bit her lips.

Nanaka closed her eyes trying to arrange her ramen mind. First, the hickeys.

Yes, Aina had marked her body with huge hickeys of which she wasn't aware of when Shuka had undressed her the night before. Maybe after 2 weeks they were gone, or maybe Shuka didn't even notice them because of the faint light.

Anyways, the hickeys and marking her as if she was somehow her property had been wrong. But Nanaka did the same in response, so she could call it as being even.

Second, was what she had done that weekend.

Yes, that was the part that hit her the most. That hurt her the most.

Aina and her kinks, Aina and her way of being so carefree on their relationship, and not committing.

Yes, it was something that made her wander into dark places, into feeling unloved by Aina. Replaced.

Aina could tell her that she was her number one, that her eyes were for her only, but on the next second Aina was drooling over Arisa's legs in such a carefree manner that Nanaka felt that Aina was just full of crap.

And all these insecurities made her look to the side, to Shuka.

Nanaka opened her eyes seriously and glued them on Aina; she could hear her swallowing dryly.

"Aina, about the hickeys, let's try to not do that anymore…" said Nanaka softly, Aina nodded shyly, "then… Aina, what do you want from me?"

Aina raised her eyebrows and opened her eyes wide.

"I want to know…" said Nanaka softly and softening her gaze; she had just closed her chapter with Shuka, what she had done was wrong in her moral scale, and she was determined to not do it again. To start committing to Aina, and Aina alone.

But she needed to know if both hearts could survive together.

If Aina was willing to just be with her when she pleased and in her spare time go with other ladies, then this wasn't what she wanted and what she needed. It was the moment to settle that.

"Ok…" said Aina adopting a more serious posture, "You are right…"

Nanaka blinked.

"I want your everything…" said Aina seriously; Nanaka blinked again.

"Ok…" murmured Nanaka nodding for Aina to continue.

"I know I did wrong last time, and I want to apologize for that… I hurt you, and that's not going to happen again…" said Aina doing a small bow, "I can bow lower if you need me too…" she murmured.

"Don't do it…" said Nanaka a bit ashamed; they were in a freaking McDonald's, it wasn't the place for Aina to bow as politely they needed.

"Ok…" murmured Aina raising her sight.

"Apology accepted…" said Nanaka seriously, "Then what?… What's everything then? You want commitment?"

Aina made a sad face.
It froze Nanaka's heart because maybe she didn't want that.

It made Nanaka slap herself mentally because last night Shuka was willing to have a relationship with her, but she said no because of Aina, and now maybe Aina didn't want the relationship. Making Nanaka lose both girls in less than 24 hours.

Nanaka shook her head.

"Of course I want… but I would like to have it with the whole package…" said Aina with sadness.

"The whole package?" asked Nanaka not quite understanding, like if she was there selling her love into packages and hours.

"Yes, you know I would like for all the members to love us…to support us like they used to support you and Shuka…" said Aina with a sad tone; Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

Nanaka bit her lips. Maybe she could do that sacrifice.

But then, in her mind, she saw Shuka's face and backed down from that idea.
That news would probably hurt Shuka the most, more than cracking the full Unit.

She closed her eyes. Once again, she was protecting Shuka.

Dammit, this is not going to take me any further…

"What about you and your ladies?" asked Nanaka bitterly; Aina snapped.

"Geez! Nana, that hurt you very bad…" said Aina maybe too carelessly; Nanaka frowned.

"Of course! Ainya-chan, I want you for myself, no one else, and you just said that to me so bluntly, that you needed to please other ladies…how do think I felt hearing that?" said Nanaka with seriousness.

Aina bit her lips in shame and looked at her almost empty tray.

"I'm ashamed…" said Aina.

"You should! That's no good… and I don't want to commit to you if you are still seeing your ladies…it isn't right…" said Nanaka taking back control; Aina looked at her with her big eyes.

"But you can do the same…" said Aina softly, "That's the good thing of being in an open relationship…"

Nanaka slammed both her hands on the table abruptly, making both trays shake.

"That's not what I want," said Nanaka dryly and firmly, "I don't work like that, my heart doesn't have that shape."

Aina opened her eyes wide.

"If you want my everything Aina, this is it! I don't want to be with anybody else, as I don't want to share you with anyone…" said Nanaka strongly, with conviction.

Now that she had tried "Aina's way", and from experience knew that it didn't work for her, she could now say it clearly.

"Or you would be happy knowing that I'm doing other girls besides you?" said Nanaka now trying to sound less hard.

Aina gave her a goofy smile.

"Well, can you?" asked Aina with a mocking tone.

"I could, but I don't want to…" said Nanaka; Aina laughed like an old man.

It was clear to Nanaka that Aina thought that she wouldn't dare try it.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow.

If she knew…

Well anyways…

She isn't going to know. What for? Let's spare her the pain...if there's any...

Nanaka cleared her throat.

"Listen Ainya, I love you… I want us to get somewhere, and where we are isn't going to be very fruitful…" said Nanaka very seriously, "The Mini Live is getting closer by the day, and I don't want to have this issue bothering me, I want to concentrate on it with the security that we are on the same page… can we do that?"

"Oh… I see," said Aina in a serious state.

Nanaka could be very diligent too. What Aina had said once that "love was a burden" was true, and all the time Nanaka was fighting for her relationship with Shuka she just couldn't concentrate on her job. But with Aina, she felt able to.

And right now, she was the Center, the Mini Live was right around the corner, and after that, their First Live. And not to mention ALL the other things the Chief had dropped that day at practice. It was a merciless bombing.

She needed her heart settled, in the right place, with Aina or alone, but at pace.

Her job was first.

"That's why I'm asking…what do you want from me…" asked Nanaka, "I don't want to go into dark places with you anymore…it isn't healthy…"

Aina nodded.

"You are right... that's why I told you, I've been unfair to you…" said Aina softly, "You are just too precious... and I've been... a bit... pushy..."

"A bit?" asked Nanaka, ate some fries.

Aina giggled.

"Yes, I am, that's who I am! You can't change me, I'm weird, I'm crazy, I'm happy, and I'm a bit intense..." said Aina with her passion and all.

"That's not a justification for what you did..." said Nanaka dryly.

"I know..." said Aina softly, then took a deep breath, "I'll behave!" She said with enthusiasm, "I'm going to do it right this time...I'll-" but Aina cut off her own inspiration.

Nanaka blinked a few times.

"...What do you want from me Suwawa?" asked Aina softly and holding back her eagerness, "I told you what I want from you, but are we on the same page?"

"I want everything, I love everything about you... even your pushy thingies, but you need to control your bad habits, it's not fair to me to listen or read about you lusting over other girls..." said Nanaka diligently.

Aina blinked.

"What about you Suwawa...you need to flirt with other girls..." said Aina now trying to stick in the game.

"But you know it's a show... I flirt with you, no one else..." said Nanaka nonchalantly.

"Oh, so it's a show..." said Aina very gloomily.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, we started flirting for the show, but you know now that it isn't anymore..." said Nanaka patiently.

"What about what you do with Shuka..." asked Aina shyly; Nanaka looked at her annoyed.

Shuka. Again and again and again...

Nanaka massaged her temples.

"I'm sorry, I know it annoys you, but I can't help it!" said Aina in a stronger tone, "You and her, flirting in the lineup, in the intermissions, what the hell?!"

"What is this..? Are you jealous?" said Nanaka trying to hold back her nerves.

"With her, I'll always be..." said Aina seriously, "Because you still love her..."

Nanaka looked at her with her best of the bests "Suwa face". Aina always knew the truth that Nanaka was always trying to hide in the deepest of her heart.

But she wanted to be with her anyway.

Nanaka wanted to move on, but she couldn't because she worked with Shuka, and she needed to see her every day and be exposed to temptations from day one.

Aina wanted her to move on, so she had started pushing at the moment she felt convenient for Nanaka to end her mourning and start dating her.

Both were to blame; Nanaka wasn't ready to move on, and Aina had pushed her to it. Nanaka should have said "no" to Aina instead of succumbing to her desires and saying "yes".

Aina always knew that Nanaka was still in love with Shuka, but she wanted to try anyway.

So it was unfair for Nanaka to get shit about something that Aina knew was happening.

But Aina didn't know that Nanaka had just closed that chapter.

Nanaka blinked a few times.

"Stop worrying about her, or Arisa, or any other girl..." said Nanaka strongly, "I want to be with you, to commit to you, but you don't let me."

Aina opened her eyes wide.

"Me? Why—"

"Yes you," interrupted Nanaka, "you don't want the commitment because you want to keep flirting openly with other girls, I don't want you to do that, I want the commitment, I don't want an 'open relationship', what the hell is that?"

Aina gave her a serious face.

Nanaka looked at her with the same intensity.

"I'm serious..." said Nanaka.

Aina gave her a sad face.

"So serious about it, that I want you to stay with me these weeks." said Nanaka with the same seriousness as when she used to speak about Sanrio and their characters, "It's going to be hard for you to come and go with practice and the project, you should stay in Tokyo, and you should stay with me."

"Are you... for real?" asked Aina shyly.

"Yes, it's what I want...you will spend Christmas with me anyways, so why keep resisting..." said Nanaka finishing her last fries.

Aina stood still with her eyes glued to nothing in particular, like deliberating her options.

Nanaka frowned.

"Maybe you want to spend it with Arisa...or any other member...or one of your ladies..." said Nanaka with bitterness, Aina snapped out of her thoughts.

"Suwawa, stop with 'the ladies' thingie, it sounds like I have a harem or something, and even if I wish badly for that, I don't have it," said Aina annoyed.

"You sounded like you had one, sorry." said Nanaka with bitterness while shrugging, "Maybe I'll make a harem of my own, how about that?"

Aina laughed like an old man.

"You wouldn't!" sentenced Aina still laughing.

Nanaka frowned with more enthusiasm; for Aina, Nanaka was like a saint, impossible to do anything out of the rules.

Somehow it bothered her.

To Aina, it was impossible for Nanaka to cheat, it was impossible to have a harem, practically she was a prude incapable of daring to do things.

"Maybe I can surprise you..." said Nanaka cleaning her tray "I have 'Kanan' by my side..."

Aina kept laughing.

She stopped laughing when Nanaka stood from the table annoyed to the bone and ready to leave.

"Hey hey, I'm sorry..." said Aina recovering.

"You should be careful, your laugh is quite notorious and the fans might notice you..." said Nanaka in her boring tone.

"You are just hilarious..." said Aina cleaning a tear from her right eye.

"Ok, I'm leaving-" said Nanaka trying to turn around.

"Wait wait!" said Aina standing up and almost dropping her drink, "Oh, what's the hurry?—Suwawa?" but Nanaka continued walking.

"I'm tired, I'm done talking with you if you behave like that," said Nanaka dryly, walking to leave her tray.

Aina giggled and followed.

"Sometimes you are just too serious..." said Aina doing the same.

"Sometimes you are just a constant JOKE; Aina we were having a conversation... an important one, and you don't care..." said Nanaka annoyed and trying to walk out of the place, but Aina stopped her grabbing her arm.

"I do care, I care about you... this makes me sad too, and angry..." said Aina changing into her serious mature tone, that tone that made Nanaka shiver, "I was so mad at you last night that I had to take a bath, a long one, those with the manga-like bath..."

"Eh? Why?" asked Nanaka moving for Aina to let go.

"Because you didn't write to me the whole weekend! And then you sent me to sleep! You didn't even want me to go over, or call or something, you just—" Aina was saying very passionately but Nanaka just placed her index on her lips.

"Don't you dare put the blame on me," said Nanaka with a death glare, "you were out in Korea, I was here working, you didn't call either, and you were very clear that I was too dependent of you, so I did my life, I'm sorry if that offended you, I have a life too."

Aina closed her lips and nodded.

Understanding that Nanaka was now in a complete state of herself. The messed up girl who was at her house 2 weekends earlier and let Aina screw her over and over, was gone.

Nanaka was clear now of what she wanted and how she wanted to be treated that she wasn't going to tolerate any tantrums from anyone.

"So this is quite simple," said Nanaka now walking, Aina followed almost jogging, "Are we? Or we are not?"

They exited the building and faced Ebisu Station.

The station was huge and at that time didn't look too busy.

Nanaka started walking towards the station when Aina grabbed her hand and stopped. Nanaka blinked a few times and looked at her; Aina looked at her with big watery eyes and held her hand entwining her fingers with Nanaka.

The street was dark except for the station lights. It was getting cold, not to mention very late.

She could feel tension, yes, but now she was in control.

Of her emotions, of what she wanted, even maybe of Aina.

"Suwawa, I'm sorry, for everything I've done to you," said Aina with a soft voice, "I want us to be girlfriends, the whole thing..."

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"I need...I need you to be patient with me..." said Aina shyly, "because I have impulses..."

"I know," said Nanaka with a kind voice, Aina looked at her, "but I want to try, I want to fight for you"

Aina opened her eyes and mouth wide in surprise.

"Do ...do you?" asked Aina genuinely touched.

"Yes, I want to move on, I want to grow, I want to keep moving forward, and I want to do that with you..." said Nanaka.

"I... I want that too..." said Aina softly.

"Then behave, stop flirting with other girls..." said Nanaka strongly.

"What are you going to do with your flirting?" asked Aina, of course, referring to Shuka.

Nanaka made a sad face because no matter what, this was a constant concern for Aina.

"I can't change what's in the script Aina, but I'll try to control it too, we are in this together..." said Nanaka trying to convince Aina -and her- that she would be capable to stop the flirting with Shuka.

Besides, Shuka had agreed to behave with her flirting too.

Aina nodded.

"About the members..." started Nanaka, but Aina shook her head..

"Don't worry about that, it's now very clear to me that we still need to be in the dark...so we need to stick to our plan..." said Aina; Nanaka nodded.

"Very well then..." said Nanaka softly.

"Yes...and about spending these weeks with you..." continued Aina, Nanaka smiled sweetly, "I want to... I want to spend my nights, my time with you..."

"Good..." said Nanaka satisfied.

"Good right...?" asked Aina, but with some sadness in her tone.

Nanaka blinked a few times, maybe Aina was making a sacrifice by being with Nanaka. That meant no flirting and no other dates than Nanaka. So that meant that Aina wasn't sure or satisfied with that, it seemed that it was Aina's turn to try Nanaka's way of love.

Both kept the staring competition until Nanaka bent down a bit and Aina tiptoed; they sealed the date with a kiss. Soft and short, because they were in the street. But it was enough.

Nanaka missed Aina's quick soft kisses, that was for sure.

Both walked hand in hand to the station while the conversation turned more into what Aina should bring to spend the weeks with her Nana. Nanaka was just satisfied and almost walking on automatic pilot, so it was mostly Aina monologing, Nanaka just smiled at her and nodded.

Mostly because she felt at peace.

The date ended when they took the train, it was the same train line but in opposite directions. They waved to each other and said some happy goodbyes, knowing that they would meet each other the next day, now with a more relaxed and happier aura.

Nanaka came back to her place, and she couldn't help but be hit by her own memories; when she left her place that morning she left with Shuka by her hand, and now she had come back alone, but with Aina feeling her heart.

It felt weird.

Walking through her own house where hours ago she had been eating Shuka's lips, being touched by her, and now she needed to fix her heart, her body, her feelings for Aina.

She settled. They settled.

She needed pace in her mind and her heart to keep going, the road seemed tough enough for her to keep dragging her heart problems around, and it had somehow worked, for a moment.

As her body collapsed into her cute and sweet bed, she felt consumed by tiredness, but a weird sense of satisfaction of everything she had accomplished that day; she had come too far to turn back, it was where she stood and faced it, that was who she was, one step closer, she went there…

…to thin air.

-0oo0-

---

Notes:

Why they always solve their problems around food?
Now I need a burger too...(¯﹃¯*)

Well, at least Nanaka is at some sort of peace ´･ᴗ･`
How long would she be actually like that? ( ౪ ⊙)

Thanks so much for the Comments, Kudos, and Likes!
We remind you that both Authors can be found on Twitter or in my case (Misha) on Instagram as well with hot and crazy doodles! ( AT Mishaworks & AT NylundSarah)

That's it, See you in... December? January?... (ŐωŐ人)
And stay SAFE!