Chapter 3 – Realization

As Saratoga lifted the plane into the air for their flight back to the base, the trio began to summarize the events of the day to the opposite party. While Hiroshi and Takao had been out in the city for their date, Saratoga had taken a day-long joyride driving in and around the city, purchasing keepsakes and gifts to take back to the base, similarly to Takao and Hiroshi.

After their conversation died off, the couple began to simply enjoy the scenery currently being presented to them – the setting sun now colored the sky with a soft orange-pink hue, which was reflected by the vast ocean beneath the aircraft. As they moved their hands to hold the other's, the two stared out the window, thinking only about the scenery and each other.

For about 10 minutes, the flight continued peacefully with Saratoga staring ahead into the sky, while Takao and Hiroshi enjoyed each other's company.

"Hey, Takao, you missed out earlier when you took your nap." Saratoga said to the back of the cabin, breaking the silence. Hiroshi suddenly tensed up, causing Takao to jump in her seat a little bit as well, and wonder what they discussed to make even the Admiral nervous.

"What do you mean, Sara?"

"Well, here's the question – who do you think wears bunny suits better, Carol or Ooyodo?"

"Ooyodo, obviously. She can take a normally shameful outfit and make it elegant like no one else." Takao said, not even requiring a second to think about her response.

Saratoga contained her laughter as Hiroshi grew redder next to Takao. "Just so you know, Hiroshi answered Ooyodo as well."

Even though the costume Saratoga was talking about was indeed shameful, Takao could feel a little jealousy in her heart – knowing him, he would have said something about how she would look the best in the outfit, so why had he answered Ooyodo?

"Hmph," Takao pouted as she turned to Hiroshi and poked his side, "If you like her that much, then you can have her instead of me."

"Takao, it's not like that at all – Sara is just messing with you." Hiroshi quickly responded, "You should know that my first response was you, not Ooyodo – Sara just 'forgot' to mention that part."

Saratoga burst into laughter, causing the aircraft to wobble slightly. "He's right, Takao," she said between her laughs, "I just wanted to see how you would react! Forgive me for teasing you two just a bit!"

"I thought you said you wouldn't tease?" Takao said, her pout now directed towards Saratoga.

"Well, not all the time, but hearing you say you didn't want to be teased made me want to see how you would react! I promise I'll do my best to not tease you in the future, Takao." Saratoga's laughter began to calm down, she then turned around and gave Takao an 'OK' sign and winked.

"Seriously..." Takao muttered to herself as she buried her forehead into her right hand. While she was now on better terms with Saratoga than she was the day before, she still wished that Kaga had been the pilot instead, as she wouldn't have made the jokes and teases that the American had said. "Just don't overdo it on me," she said to Saratoga, her head still in her hand.

After a few seconds had passed, Takao lifted her head once more, "I'm sorry," she said softly, returning her gaze to Hiroshi, "I should have trusted in you more."

"It's okay," he responded, patting her on the head, "I think it's good that you're letting out your feelings more than you did in the past. It's my fault for not coming clean and telling you what Sara and I talked about anyways. I thought it would've been awkward to bring that up with you."

"I forgive you as well." As she completed her sentence, Takao began to yawn, and covered her mouth.

"It's been a long day," Hiroshi commented. "Let's just forget about this and rest for a bit. Wake us up before we land, okay Sara?"

"Roger that, Admiral."


An hour and a half later, Saratoga had landed the small craft. Considering the time, and tiredness of the three, the extra luggage picked up while on the mainland was left inside the plane to be retrieved the following day.

"Well, I have some business to take care of, so I'll see you tomorrow, Admiral, Takao! I hope you two lovebirds have a good night!" Saratoga said as the trio entered the main area of the base. She quickly ran ahead of Hiroshi and Takao and rounded a corner, disappearing from sight.

"I guess we'd better head back to our room then and get ready for tomorrow's work." Takao said as she stretched, her arms reaching high above her head.

Unfortunately, or rather fortunately for Takao, the day's activities were not yet completed – there was just one last thing that she and Hiroshi needed to do.

Hiroshi offered his left hand out to Takao, who gladly accepted and interlocked her fingers with his.

"Let's go then, shall we?"

As Hiroshi led Takao through the dimly lit streets of the naval base with complete confidence, it was becoming increasingly obvious to Takao that they were not heading towards the building which contained their living quarters.

"Hiroshi..." she said quietly, "We're not going in the right direction. Are you tired? I can carry you to bed if you so desire."

Hiroshi let that thought sit in his head for just a moment. If this were a normal day, he wouldn't hesitate to oblige. However, if agreed to Takao's proposition, then it would be difficult to convince her to go where they needed to be – he would have to wait for another day for Takao to carry him back to bed.

Meanwhile, Takao stood confused as these thoughts ran through Hiroshi's mind and he kept walking in silence. Maybe she said it too quietly? Nonetheless, he continued leading her down the streets of the base, farther and farther away from their quarters. The seeds of doubt had been planted in her mind.

A few moments later, Hiroshi and Takao now stood by the entrance to the base's mess hall. While Takao did indeed feel a little hungry, why eat here? Dinner at the mess hall was usually served around 6:00 PM – if anyone wanted to eat past then, they would have to make food themselves. It was already well past dinnertime, so the mess hall would already be empty of both food and people...

Hiroshi also knew that their quarters had its own small kitchen. After all, the couple had prepared many a meal together when they did not want to eat in the mess hall in the past. Maybe he was tired of her cooking? She had taken many lessons from Atago, and even girls from other nations in order to balance and perfect her culinary repertoire, but was that still not enough? Takao felt a tear rush down her cheek at her own perceived failure.

"I just have to check on one thing here," Hiroshi broke the silence with Takao, "Then, we'll go back to our quarters."

The confirmation that Hiroshi was not looking for a meal relieved Takao. She knew deep inside that she shouldn't be having such thoughts in the first place, but her own inner insecurity had been a bad, long-lasting habit. Regardless of her thoughts, the question remained – why in the world would Hiroshi be checking on the mess hall of all places, and why at this time?

He gently opened the door to the mess hall, and as Takao expected, it was pitch dark. There would be no food to be found here.

Or would there? As Takao began to tug on Hiroshi's arm to lead him to bed, she caught the scent of food – lots of it. It couldn't be leftovers from dinner, since it smelled very, very fresh. But why would there be food in the mess hall now?

Before Takao could voice her concern to Hiroshi, the lights suddenly turned on, revealing a room packed with people, decorations, and, of course, food of all varieties, from the katsu curry that seemed to be the specialty of every Japanese ship to mountains of pastries and other baked goods.

"Happy birthday, Takao!"

The realization of what this was hit Takao all at once. Her welled-up tears from her internal insecurity rushed out as a mixture of joy and embarrassment. She began to feel her legs go weak, and she fell down onto her knees.

"Oh, how shameful…" She cried into her hands while simultaneously wiping her tears, "To forget about my own birthday…"

Of course, today wasn't actually her biological birthday, but rather the historical launch date of the ship she was associated with. However, most kanmusu alongside their compatriots treated it as such because of the influence their bound ship had on their lives.

"Now, now," Hiroshi whispered into her ear as he crouched down and wrapped his arms around her. "Don't beat yourself up over it. No one wants to see you sad, especially today of all days."

Takao sniffled as she used Hiroshi's body to help her stand back up, "I think I'm alright now…"

As she straightened her clothes, Takao scanned the room. The people that had gathered to celebrate was just right – it mostly consisted of those she considered to be her friends as well as close work associates, such as lower-ranking officers and her maintenance crew.

All the way in the back of the room, she spotted her sisters and Ooyodo standing upon a makeshift stage, wildly beckoning her to come up.

"What are you waiting for, Takao-chan? Get up here!" Atago's voice boomed over the speakers.

As soon as she said this, multiple people stood aside, clearing a path for Takao to take to the stage.

"Happy birthday, Takao!"

"Happy launch day!"

And many more greetings were extended her way as the two made their way towards the stage.

A round of applause engulfed the room as Takao and Hiroshi finally stepped onto the stage and were immediately taken up into a group hug with Takao's sisters and Ooyodo.

"Happy birthday, Takao-chan~!"

"Happy birthday, Takao-oneesama."

"Happy birthday, Takao-nee!"

"Ufufu, I know you had a wonderful birthday, Takao-chan."

"Happy birthday, Takao-chan! I love you."

"Thank you, everyone," Takao said, tears falling from her eyes, as the six of them separated from each other. "I am truly fortunate to be in your care."

"And we're glad to be in yours!" Ooyodo responded, which was accompanied by a series of nods from the other four. She then moved next to Takao and pushed her towards the microphone in the front and center of the stage, "Now how about you say something to our audience?"

"Uh…" Takao began, but it was too late to decline. The rest of the lights suddenly dimmed, and simultaneously, a single bright spotlight came to life and focused down onto her. This may have been a party full of people she knew and trusted but speaking to large groups had always been something she just let Atago do for her.

She briefly looked behind her for any sort of help but was met with a chorus of head nods and thumbs ups from all but Maya.

"F-Firstly… I would... I'd like to thank everyone for coming…" She stuttered into the microphone. With her first few words out, she had gained a bit more confidence, "I am unworthy of high honors such as this, but I am grateful that everyone went through the effort of planning and executing a party for me. I hope that we can all continue to work well together throughout the next year, and maybe even beyond that."

In an instant, her voice switched to that of the serious secretary that everyone had come to rely on, "However, even though this is my celebration, I hope that everyone will be able to show some restraint. There's still work to be done tomorrow, and I will not take it lightly if anyone uses this party as an excuse to slack off tomorrow."

With a mixed round of laughter and applause from the attendees, Takao backed off from the spotlight, with Choukai immediately taking her place as the other five got off the stage.

Meanwhile, Choukai's bright and cheery voice boomed through the speakers, "Hey there, everyone! Choukai was entrusted to provide entertainment for my dear Takao-nee's party! We'll have our equipment set up momentarily, so please be patient~!"

As Choukai stepped back and off the stage to join Takao and the rest, other musically inclined members of the base stepped on, bringing their instruments and other required equipment to begin setting them up. Since Choukai was mainly a singer, she needed only to bring her voice.

"Takao-nee, did you enjoy your date?" Choukai asked as she rejoined the group. "Did Choukai miss anything?"

"Yes, I did," she nodded. "We were waiting for you before saying anything about our day, so you're just on time."


After a brief recollection of the day's events, which of course peaked with the explanation of what happened at the aquarium, alongside a plethora of negative comments towards the guy that Takao knocked out, Ooyodo decided that now was the time for everyone to give their presents to Takao before Choukai had to go back up onto the stage to perform.

"Here you go, Takao-chan~" Atago happily said as she handed Takao a slip of paper with a crudely, yet cutely drawn chibi Atago drawn on it. "It's a coupon for 'Atago's Problem Solving Service!'."

Takao blankly stared at Atago. It wasn't a problem with the gift, but rather, helping solve Takao's problems was a service she often, and freely, gave to Takao.

"Ah," Atago added, noticing Takao's confused expression. "It also comes with a sashimi dinner made by yours truly~ Just let me know when you want it, and I'll have it delivered straight to your quarters or you can eat with us, whichever you prefer."

"Thank you, Atago," Takao said, her mouth watering a little at the thought of Atago's restaurant-quality cooking. Then, she looked over to Hiroshi, "Would tomorrow be alright?"

Seeing Hiroshi's nod, Takao turned back to Atago, "Then we'll be eating dinner with you tomorrow."

"Takao-oneesama, I have made this whetstone for you," Maya said in her usual soft tone, presenting Takao with a smooth stone the size of her palm. "I notice that you always polish your kitchen knives using the dorm's waterstone, so I wanted to give you something more portable and convenient. I pray it will be of good use to you."

"It will be indeed," Takao replied. She was quite honestly getting tired of bringing her and Hiroshi's set of kitchen knives down to the Japanese kanmusu dorms alongside her katana to polish on the large waterstone, so the small whetstone would without a doubt be useful for her.

Maya simply bowed in response.

"Takao-nee, here is Choukai's gift for you!" Choukai announced, placing a small, hand-bound book into Takao's hands.

Looking down, Takao began to flip through the book. As expected of the hobbyist artist Choukai, it was a compilation of scenic drawings – a lone sakura tree on the top of a hill, a peaceful pond with koi lazily swimming within, just the sort of art that Takao liked. However, upon reaching the fifth page, the art style shifted into that reminiscent of a manga. In fact, upon flipping even more pages in, it was apparent that it was a manga, the main characters being Takao, her sisters, Ooyodo, Hiroshi, and other prominent figures on the base, portrayed within some sort of JRPG-like fantasy world.

Takao was awestruck. "Choukai... How did you find the time to draw all of this?"

"Ah, it was nothing," she meekly answered. "Choukai remembers that Takao-nee said something about wanting to see a manga centered on a justice-seeking samurai that-"

"Uh... That's enough, Choukai. I get the point." Takao interrupted, before Choukai could say all of her tastes in fiction aloud.

"Sorry, Takao-nee..." Choukai apologized. "But anyways, Choukai worked on this whenever she had nothing else to do over the past month."

"This is really impressive, Choukai..." Hiroshi complimented as he now flipped through the book.

"Thank you very much, Takao-nee, Teitoku-sama! Choukai will have a second volume done soon, then!"

"Here you go, Takao-chan," Ooyodo smiled as she pushed up her glasses, presenting a small, long box with her other hand.

"Thank you, Ooyodo," Takao returned the smile to her friend as she took it and opened it to examine its contents.

Upon seeing what lay within, she looked back up to find that Ooyodo's smile had transformed from friendly to smug in nature. Takao merely bit her lip as she thought of her response.

"Forgive me for my bluntness, Ooyodo," she said a second later. "But I thought you of all people should know that I prefer my contacts. I simply cannot understand how you and others can wear glasses during combat."

It was somewhat of an open secret around the base that Takao was actually short-sighted, so it would be awkward for her to just suddenly start wearing them. Additionally, she saw them as merely tools, rather than fashion accessories, which was something that Ooyodo had been (unsuccessfully) trying to convince her of on-and-off over their long friendship.

"I know," Ooyodo replied. "But maybe you'd want to give it another shot? Just around the base, not during combat, I swear. You know, Atago, Kirishima, Gneisenau, and Hiroshi all told me that they think you look good in them."

"That's quite a biased selection, wouldn't you say, Ooyodo?" Takao said through a sarcastic smile. Although Ooyodo had always exceeded her when it came to math, Takao at least knew that asking 'would Takao look good in glasses?' to Atago and three glasses-wearers would undoubtedly result in an answer of 'yes' from all four.

"I have no answer to that," Ooyodo admitted. Then, she pointed to Takao and Hiroshi using her middle and index fingers, making a 'V' shape, while pointing at herself with her thumb, "But you know, the three of us can match with these!"

"How so?" Takao asked.

Meanwhile Hiroshi chuckled to himself as he looked at the pair that Ooyodo had gotten for Takao, understanding what she meant.

"Well," Ooyodo pushed her glasses up, "I have lower-rimmed glasses, the ones I gave you are upper-rimmed, and Hiroshi completed the set with his full-rimmed glasses! I know you still prefer your contacts, but please~? If not for my sake, what about Hiroshi's?"

Takao sighed. Just how many times would Ooyodo try to tell her to wear glasses?

"How about this," she said in a deadpan. "If you want me to wear glasses, then I want both you and Hiroshi to try contacts."

"Huh?!" The two in question gasped in sync.

Ooyodo shook her head towards Hiroshi, signaling for him to not say anything more. This was the closest she had ever gotten to getting Takao to voluntarily wear her glasses regularly, save for the rare occasions in which she lost her contacts.

"Deal," Ooyodo decisively said, crossing her arms.


The party continued on...

Choukai was now on the main performer on the stage; right now, she was singing a cover of a love song from a certain space opera anime she enjoyed. Even though Choukai was only comfortable with singing in Japanese, everyone seemed to be enjoying her songs, even those who could not understand a word of what she was saying - the power of love and song really did transcend all barriers.

Meanwhile, the other five had taken some time to eat, but soon after finishing, Takao asked to be left alone so she could talk to anyone who wanted to wish her well or gift her something in a one-on-one. Respecting her wishes, Hiroshi, Ooyodo, and Takao's other two sisters obliged and went off as a group somewhere else within the mess hall, leaving Takao alone to wander around and make conversation on her own. Thankfully, she was at least somewhat familiar with everyone in the room, so she wouldn't have too many difficulties with making conversation... hopefully.

"Congratulations, Takao-dono," Ibuki bowed as Takao approached her.

The two shared a special dynamic. Ibuki had first arrived on the base some months after Hiroshi and Takao got engaged, during the apex of the annual kendo tournament. The finals, unsurprisingly, were between Takao and Atago. Atago was the fan-favorite to win the tournament – the vast majority of non-followers of the sport naturally gravitated to her because of her outgoing and motherly nature, and more importantly, she had a nearly two-to-one win-to-loss ratio against Takao. However, in a severe upset, Takao prevailed against her younger sister and won the tournament, inspiring Ibuki, who was spectating the match.

It was then that she decided that Takao would be her master in the art of the blade. While Takao had initially refused, citing that she had only been lucky, Ibuki had stuck to her like glue, striving to be like her chosen master so much, that she even moved into her former room within the dorm shared by Takao's three sisters. Eventually, a reluctant Takao began to refine the rough swordplay of the blue-haired heavy cruiser under her own philosophies and style, and their constant sparring since led to the friendship the two shared today. At this point, Ibuki was essentially a member of the three younger Takao-class sisters in all but name.

"Ibuki," Takao nodded in acknowledgement. "Thank you. Forgive me for not being able to spar with you today."

"Of course, Takao-dono. I am glad that you were able to spend time with the one that you love," she said in her usual soft as a feather tone. "Here is a token of my appreciation for you, Takao-dono. I made it myself."

She handed Takao a circular piece of wood that was elaborately carved into the shape of a sakura bloom. She ran her hand over the carving, noting the fine craftsmanship used by Ibuki to get such intricate cuts into the wood.

"Thank you, Ibuki. I can tell that you really poured your heart into this," Takao said.

"You honor me, Takao-dono," she bowed in thanks. "Please enjoy the rest of your evening."

As Takao placed Ibuki's gift back at the table where she was temporarily storing the gifts she had been given, she felt a tap on her back. She instantly turned back, as a jolt surged up her back – she could never get used to these kinds of surprises.

Her attacker was none other than the tall, brunette carrier known as Saratoga.

"Happy birthday to you, Takao-chan," she greeted with a smile. "I'm glad that you enjoyed your trip today, but just know that counted as my birthday present to you~"

"That is perfectly acceptable, Sara," Takao said nonchalantly. "Again, thank you for earlier."

"Oh, you know I'm just kidding!" Saratoga broke into a much more playful tone as she revealed a box of chocolate chip cookies that she had been holding behind her back. "Here, I made these last night. I hope that you and Hiroshi will enjoy them."

"Uh, Sara…" Takao said confusedly, while pointing at her secondary dog ears, "You know that I cannot eat this right?"

Saratoga gasped, "Oh my goodness… I'm so sorry, Takao!"

Slowly but surely, a weak, borderline devious smile formed on Takao's face. "That was a joke, Sara," she said with a slight giggle. "Some of us Japanese kanmusu may take on the features of beasts, but thankfully we don't inherit their distastes in food."

Saratoga heartily laughed as she handed the box to Takao, "Oh, that's a relief! You had me good for a second there! I didn't know you had it in you to tease!"

"Well, I try to only do it sparingly, and with people I feel I can trust," Takao answered softly.

"You trust me?" Saratoga gasped, covering her mouth with one hand. "Aw, you don't know how happy that makes me, Takao~!"


It was around midnight that Takao decided that it was time for her, as well as Hiroshi by extension, to retire and get rest to return to business-as-usual tomorrow, effectively ending the party. Hiroshi, Takao, her sisters, and Ooyodo were now gathered towards the lobby of the mess hall, while everyone else was working on cleaning up the space so that it could be used normally in the coming hours.

"Mission accomplished, Teitoku," Ooyodo and Takao's sisters reported in sync, giving him a salute.

Hiroshi nodded and briefly applauded, "Very well done, ladies. Everything went perfectly."

"Thank you all once again," Takao bowed. "I had a lot of fun."

"And I'm sure that you'll have even more fun in bed tonight~!" Atago cheerfully added, sending a wink towards the couple.

The others gasped, and Takao immediately turned red as she darted her eyes away from them and towards the floor. At the same time, Hiroshi shot a glare at Atago, shaking his head with disapproval.

"I think we'll be off to bed now… Have a good night, guys…" Hiroshi said, putting his hands on Takao's shoulders.

"Yes… Good night, sisters, Ooyodo..." Takao said quietly, still avoiding eye contact with them due to her embarrassment.

With that, Hiroshi spun himself and Takao around, and the two began walking towards the exit of the building and off to their quarters.

"You know that I wouldn't break our promise to wait until marriage." Hiroshi whispered into Takao's ear as they stepped outside.

Takao gave a quick nod, and the two walked in silence back to their room, their heads now filled with mildly lewd thoughts ignited from Atago's teasing comment. It truly was a miracle that their promise had lasted this long with the lewd demon known as Atago in the mix.


Meanwhile, the other 3 sisters headed back towards the Japanese dorms.

After a brief scolding session from Ooyodo regarding Atago's lack of discretion, Takao's three sisters were now headed back to their dorm. Ooyodo had opted to stay behind in the mess hall and make sure that cleaning was getting done, while Ibuki had volunteered to help clean as well, since she was not as heavily involved in the planning of the party like Atago, Maya, and Choukai.

"Ahhh, those two are so cute~!" Atago commented aloud with a large grin on her face.

"Onee-sama, I think you went a bit too far there," Maya gave a disapproving frown to Atago.

"Maya-chan, you know I was just teasing her." Atago sighed, "I swear, these days, you're more uptight than Takao-chan ever was..."

"Well, with Takao-oneesama staying in Teitoku-sama's quarters, someone has to keep you in check..." Maya scoffed, looking off to the side. "Not like Choukai or Ibuki would ever be able to do that job."

"For your information, Maya-nee," Choukai butted in as she moved next to Maya and crossed her arms with a pout, "Choukai disapproves of Atago-nee's comment as well!"

"Then you should show me with your actions rather than sweet nothings," Maya responded.

"Choukai is sorry, Maya-nee! Choukai will do her best next time!" Choukai wailed as she began to cling onto Maya's arm.

After a moment in which nothing but Choukai's half-fake, half-real sobs were heard, Atago dropped her second bombshell comment of the day, "You know, maybe I should help you look for a boyfriend, Maya-chan~"

"Onee-sama… I really hate you sometimes…" Maya growled.

Atago reached over and gave two swift pats onto Maya's head. "And I love you too, Maya-chan~!"


Following a lightning quick double shower that would leave even Shimakaze speechless, Hiroshi and Takao laid in bed, facing each other with their hands interlocked. After a long and eventful day, the couple laid in silence, staring into each other's eyes and enjoying the warmth of the other. For the first time that day, the two were now truly alone, with no chance of being interrupted by a random passerby on the sidewalk, or an officer or kanmusu who needed something work-related.

"Hiro, I have something to confess to you." Takao broke the silence between the two, now opting to use her nickname for her lover in their complete privacy.

"Your undying love for me, Kao-chan?" Hiroshi chuckled, using his own nickname for her as well, "I know that already, but feel free to go ahead and tell me again~"

Takao smiled, and gripped Hiroshi's hand tighter. "That's true – you're the only one in the world that I want to spend the rest of my life with... But this confession about something else. It's about why I forgot my birthday…"

"It was because you overworked yourself, right? You've been doubling down on your training, and taking on way more work than you usually do… You know that I don't like to see you pushing yourself to the point of exhaustion."

"Well, that's only partially true…" Takao started, "When I was on the floor earlier, I remembered the reason why I overworked myself in the first place..."

Takao's face was getting redder by the second; at the same time, her voice was rapidly getting softer from the embarrassment of recalling her tale aloud.

"It was so that I could get all my work completed before my birthday so that I could spend it with you…" She continued in a whisper, "In the process of overdoing myself, I guess I forgot my initial goal… I'm glad that I was still able to spend the day with you regardless of my foolish actions, Hiro."

"It's fine that you forgot about your birthday, Kao-chan." Hiroshi reassured her, squeezing her hand back, "You've been known to forget your birthday in the past anyways, so all of us planned today with the assumption that it would slip your mind. I think it's better that you were completely surprised earlier, anyways. Regardless, I'm glad that you enjoyed our date; it felt really nice to have a day all to ourselves for a change."

Takao smiled and nodded, "I look forward to the day the war ends, so that we can enjoy more dates like that..."

"As do I."

With that, the couple had nothing more to say, and once more, they laid in silence, the only sounds coming from the soft sloshing of waves off in the distance

Soon enough, Takao began yawning heavily, and Hiroshi noticed her eyes beginning to flicker as they struggled to stay awake. It was only seconds later that Takao caught a similar wave of tiredness wash of Hiroshi as he too began yawning. She could barely see his face at this point, but she could definitely tell that his grip on her hand had weakened in his sleepy state.

Hiroshi inched his body even closer to Takao with the little consciousness he had left, wrapping his right arm over her, while his left hand remained entwined with Takao's right.

"Sweet dreams, Kao-chan," Hiroshi said softly, "I love you."

"I love you too, Hiro." Takao responded, her voice barely audible.

The couple embraced each other one last time, and then almost instantly fell into a deep sleep within each other's warmth.


A/N

And that wraps this short fic up... Originally this was all going to be a single chapter, but I decided against it after my original document was hitting around the 10,000 word mark. I hope this one wasn't too unpolished. This was the first fanfic that I tried writing after deciding to take the dive into writing fanfics again around early April last year, but I ended up taking a break from this after being unable to finish it by the end of May last year. I only picked it up again a few weeks ago, so there may be a few dips in quality. If it's too unpolished, I'll probably either just rewrite this sometime in the future.

I really wanted to have this finished on the 12th, but I had my finals the last week of April, and there was only a week break between my Spring and Summer semester, which I spent relaxing by playing video games, so I didn't have as much time as I had originally planned to get this done.

Thinking about it now, isn't this kind of similar to the Valentine's fic I wrote? I guess I kind of unconsciously used some of the ideas I had for this fic in the Valentine's one… Future fics won't be like this, I swear… That being said, this fic is the one I kind of teased in my author's note back then. If you liked this and the Valentine's fic, then I'll be continuing this anthology semi-regularly with whatever scenario pops into my mind. I have a few scenarios sitting on a planning document, already, so hopefully I can get a few more out this year. This will definitely be the last holiday-themed fic I put out until Christmas/New Year at the very least, however.

Also, apologies if some scenes (especially the emotional ones) lacked a lot of detail. Although I have ideas of emotionally charged scenes, I'm not so sure if I can really execute them as well as they appear in my mind. Hopefully I'll get better at these kinds of scenes as I keep writing. I also felt like I tried to fit in too much stuff in this, so I think I should have just rewritten this from the ground up, but I was just too lazy for that.

If you read my main fic, Macross Horizon, expect the next chapter sometime soon, hopefully within the next week or two (no promises, though). Oh, and if you do read that, then you can think of this and Macross Horizon are AUs of each other. I swear that the love triangle isn't that one-sided. You know what they say: it's about the journey, not the destination!

Anyways, I guess that's about all I wanted to comment about for this one. Feedback of any kind is appreciated. Cya.