Be Your Rescue

Author's Note: A timeline we didn't see or something… that still goes to Hell, even with Ayano on their side here(?), because they still haven't figured out how to stop Shibuya Syndrome. Also an AU where Rindo figured out Shoka was Swallow or she told him earlier on.

"Shoka, stop talking!" Rindo urged his maybe-girlfriend, who might have been digging her own grave with what she was saying here, since they'd just recently found out Kubo had tried to erase Tsugumi for turning against him.

If Kubo found out that he and Shoka had been online friends for a long time—and that Shoka had probably thought about leaving the Reapers early on for it, and might have even been probably been doing so little by little—who knew what he would do to her?!

But Shoka didn't seem to understand Rindo's concern at all.

Instead, she seemed to shrug her shoulders confusedly and spoke to him in a gentle voice, as they talked to Kubo and Ayano in Miyashita Park here: "Rindo... I want Ayano to know that I left the Reapers, not because I hated her or anything like that… but since I had a friend in you. Who cares if Kubo knows how early I was defecti-"

And since Shoka was clearly not getting it, Rindo saw no other way to try and save her life, than to silence her with a kiss... and not only that, but to make-out with Shoka at that, to really try and get her to lose her train of thought here, and to maybe convince Kubo to leave, already!

And while Rindo would have liked to believe he was mostly doing this in a chivalrous manner... he wasn't completely lost to how wonderful it felt to be connecting with his best friend like this.

Shoka's lips battled with Rindo's own, as if they were meant to do so. And it was so much better than her battling with him about what they should or shouldn't be telling Kubo and Ayano right now!

Shoka pressed her body flush against his, as if trying to tell Rindo that even though he'd initiated the kiss, she could have just as much control and really steal his breath away.

Rindo tried to keep things mostly innocent—while Shoka was definitely messing with him—by just keeping his arms wrapped around only her neck... but keeping things chaste was becoming more and more difficult, when Shoka was getting the smell and taste of her cherry lipstick everywhere with Rindo. First on his lips, and now on his neck as she kissed and suckled it.

And if Rindo had made Shoka lose her composure at all during this, now it was her turn to do that to him.

"Shoka-" Rindo started to say, just when Shoka pulled away with a smirk... one that he loved too much, damn her.

And just as Rindo had said his girlfriend's name, all of the Wicked Twisters and Ayano had spoken at once.

"Bwaaahhhh!" Beat had exclaimed, clearly freaking out and nearly falling over whilst he stared at them, eyes and mouth agape.

Nagi had hidden behind her glasses as she had whispered something along the lines of, "It seems that I wasn't mistaken in thinking you two had feelings for each other. I, ever the empath, prove how sharp I am, yet again..."

And Fret had continued the Boss' train of thought—as Fret would have called her, Rindo knew—when he looked at the ground and said, "You're telling me! I always thought Rindude was pretty repressed. But I never imagined that when he finally exploded, it would be like this! Sheesh, dude! No wonder Shokie here has a crush on you and joined us!"

And Ayano looked half-like she wanted to destroy Rindo, and partly like she didn't want to ruin her perfect manicure to attempt that... and Rindo gulped, thinking he'd never been so scared in his life. "I can't believe that is how you treat my dear Shoka! Like a drunken, hormonal boy would! ...But if this is what you want, I won't stand in your way, my darling. You deserve to have a normal relationship, of course."

"Ayano... thank you," Shoka said with the sincerest note in her voice that Rindo had ever heard from her. She sounded like she was about to cry, even, and he fought the urge to hug her as he smiled at this happy ending, at least.

"Yeah! Thanks, Lizard Lady!" Fret chimed in then, not reading the room at all, and Rindo had to face-palm.

But what really mattered here was Kubo... who was laughing at Shoka and Rindo now, it seemed. And Rindo had never felt more like a specimen under a microscope in his life. "Nyeh-heh! I guess if youse left us 'cause you wanted to get laid, a man can't blame youse too much for that. You're off the hook from me, Kitty Cat! Now let mes go tell the boss!"

And thankfully, Kubo finally left them all alone. And he didn't try to erase Shoka like he had Tsugumi. As he left, Rindo let out a breath he hadn't he'd been holding.

"Rindo?" Shoka asked curiously, as she cooked her head to the side and regarded him.

But Rindo just smiled at her and chuckled slightly... and reached for Shoka's hand—trying to show Ayano here, and the rest of the Twisters, that he was actually wholesome and not a slave to his hormones—and told her, "I'll kiss you to shut you up and rescue you any day."

Everyone giggled at that, finally understanding the situation (and even Ayano seemed pretty pleased, Rindo thought... but he also could have been dead wrong about that. He didn't know her at all, after all). But of course, Shoka didn't take Rindo's comment lying down, and Rindo would have had it any other way.

She did hold hands with him, but her lips puckered—as if she'd tasted something sour—and she made sure to correct him. "In your dreams, Rindragon. I'll be the one kissing you to save your life, Sleeping Beauty."