Hello guys, sorry if this took a while. I keep this story more frequently updated on my AO3.

-Nova

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The town car pulled away, leaving Ririka on the curb, still holding Mary in her embrace. They might have stood there longer if Yumeko hadn't caught their attention by clearing her throat. Mary pulled off and remembered the dress and the whole get up she was wearing.

"Uh, yeah, right. We just came back from an opening party for a new fancy bakery in the centrum." She tried to explain her strange appearance.

"Sorry for interrupting your night," Ririka said and Mary cringed slightly at the sound of the distorted voice through the mask.

"No, you're not interrupting anything." Mary reached out to remove the mask from the silver-haired girl. "But this needs to go, OK?"

Ririka blushed a bit when the mask came off.

Mary took Ririka's hand and lead her to the front door. Yumeko was grinning widely at the two but said nothing. She handed the small clutch back to Mary and she started to look for the keys. Ririka was the first one to speak and Mary was slightly surprised.

"Hello, Jabami-san. I did not mean to interrupt your night, my apologies." She gave a small polite bow.

"Don't worry about it, Ririka-san. I thought we were over with the formalities; you can call me Yumeko."

Mary's shoulders tensed a bit. She had totally forgotten the fact that Yumeko barely knew anything what was going on. She had found the keys and jolted to the door. "OK, we're in. Yumeko left some stuff at my place but was on her way back home, right?"

Yumeko was on board with the whole situation. "Yeah, I was on my way back home after this. Don't worry, I'll leave you two alone."

Mary ignored her teasing attempts and walked to the elevator. The whole ride upstairs went by in silence. Mary was feeling self-conscious in her unusual clothing, Yumeko took turns to examine both of the girls and Ririka was just being her own quiet self.

The awkward atmosphere followed them to the apartment. Mary was about to go and change but Yumeko stopped her.

"No, wait! I'll gather my things quickly and leave, could you call me another taxi?"

"Uhm… yeah, of course." Mary started to dial the number on her phone and glanced at Ririka to see if she was doing OK. The silver-haired girl looked uncomfortable and kept eyeing Yumeko carefully while she was gathering her things scattered around the apartment.

Mary walked up to Ririka whilst talking on the phone. She coyly ran her fingers on the back of the older girl's hand earning a small smile and a deeper shade of pink on the cheekbones.

Mary had just finished the call when she heard Yumeko clear her throat a bit.

"I'm ready. Sorry to intrude, I'm going downstairs to wait for the taxi now," Yumeko said, slightly lifting the bag in her hands.

"No, I'm the one who's intruding. There's no need for you to leave, I can just quickly—" Ririka was trying to be polite.

"Shush, you two have a good night! See you on Monday, both of you." Yumeko earned a glare of 'Please, shut up!' from the blonde. Mary was getting anxious to be alone with Ririka so she ushered Yumeko to the door.

"Thanks for the evening! See you next week," Mary was holding the door open. Yumeko gave her a last mischievous grin before disappearing to the hallway.

Letting out a heavy sigh she didn't even notice she was holding she returned to Ririka. The silver-haired girl was still looking bashful as ever.

"Everything OK?" Mary asked, noticing the girl was avoiding eye-contact.

Took a while for Ririka to give an answer. Mary was getting worried when she examined the girl in front of her hesitating with her response.

"Kirari showed up…" Ririka quietly started. Mary was already quite sure where this was going.

"She did?"

"She told me to return here. Told me you were going—" Ririka barely had time to finish her sentence when Mary jumped in.

"On a date?" Mary asked.

"Mmhm." Ririka replied, turning her gaze to the ground and looked embarrassed.

"Well, did it look like a date to you?" Mary pried, knowing she might be pushing the timid girl a bit too far.

"No." Ririka shot her a careful sideways look.

"So why are you acting so weird?" Mary asked, trying not to come off too offensive. She took a step closer and gently placed her hand on the other side of Ririka's head and turned it towards herself.

"You don't look like yourself tonight," Ririka said, Mary's hand still resting on her cheek.

"Oh, right… Gimme a sec, I'll get changed." Cheeks burning red, Mary was about to turn around and head towards the bathroom.

"No… I didn't mean you need to change…" Ririka paused for a while and Mary waited for what she had to say. "I just meant you look really beautiful tonight."

"Oh… thanks… But I'm still going to get changed, this doesn't really feel like my thing at all." Mary said, edging towards the bathroom. "Just make yourself at home, I'll be back in a sec."

Mary held back a chuckle when she returned and saw the other girl obediently waiting for her, sitting on her bed. She walked up to join her and sat down next to her.

"You don't really know what the phrase means, do you? Make yourself at home," Mary asked, still hiding her amusement not to offend the older girl.

"Can't say that I do. Did I do something wrong?" Ririka asked and looked a lot more at ease with Mary now that she had the excessive make-up removed and was wearing a cozy t-shirt and college pants. Her blonde hair hung loose, she hadn't felt like pulling it up on her usual twin-tails, she wasn't exactly planning on leaving anywhere later.

"Not at all," Mary said and leaned in closer to plant a small kiss on the soft lips she had missed so much. She let her forehead rest against Ririka's temple. "Could you stay with me here tonight?"

"I would like that, if it's not too much trouble?" Ririka replied quietly. Mary was glad to see her smile a bit.

"There's no trouble at all! Would you like me to get you a more comfortable shirt to sleep in?" Mary asked and leaned back a bit, taking notice of the rather formal clothing the other girl was wearing. Ririka nodded and Mary got up to retrieve an extra shirt.

She returned with a plain white t-shirt that was the first one she found.

"Need anything else?" The blonde asked, handing the shirt over to Ririka. Ririka shook her head.

Mary realized she should give her some privacy. "Uh—I'm going to get a glass of water. You can get changed if you want to, I won't watch. I promise."

Leaning against the kitchen counter, Mary was getting impatient to go back and tell Ririka all about the awful week she had with Kirari. Any trace of the anxiety she might've been harboring disappeared though when the silver-haired girl appeared in the kitchen doorway, wearing only the t-shirt she had been given a moment ago. The blush on Ririka's cheeks was deep shade of crimson and Mary felt a wave of warm and fuzzy feelings wash over her.

"I probably should've given you a bit more than a t-shirt to wear," Mary said, taking a few steps forward and was close enough to close her arms around the helplessly flushed girl.

"No, this is fine." Ririka replied and nuzzled her head against the crook of Mary's neck.

"We should probably get to bed, I don't want you to get cold," Mary said, sounding concerned of her guest's well-being. The silver-haired head nodded in response and Mary led her to the bed.

Once comfortably under the sheets, Ririka was cuddled in Mary's arms and the blonde's thoughts returned to the past few days. She wanted to ask about the trip and its purpose, what had she been doing and why Kirari had been acting as the Vice President. She was torn with the internal conflict, part of her needed to know everything that was going on, screaming for answers. The other part was happy and ecstatic to be holding the bundle of cuteness, wanting to tell her everything was going to be alright and the only thing that mattered was that they were together now.

Mary watched curiously as Ririka brought the sheets to her face and inhaled deeply.

"What are you doing?" Mary asked slightly amused.

"Everything here smells like you," Ririka said and tilted her head a bit to meet Mary's eyes.

"Well, I live here so… It's probably just the fabric softener I use, though." Mary looked thoughtful.

"What is that?" Ririka raised her eyebrows slightly.

"I don't remember the brand, but the scent was strawberries if I remember correctly…" Mary replied.

"Oh… I meant—never mind." Ririka looked away, blushing.

"Wait… You don't know what fabric softener is, right? That's what you meant?" Mary smiled. "Have you ever had to wash your own laundry?"

Ririka kept avoiding Mary's gaze. Took her a while to finally answer quietly. "No."

Mary suddenly felt very intrigued and thought of other ordinary tasks normal people went through daily.

"Okay, this might actually be a fun guessing game. If I guess a thing you haven't had to do, I get a kiss? If you have done it, you can decide your own reward. Wanna play?" A mischievous smile spread across Mary's face.

"Are you making fun of me?" Ririka asked and pouted.

"No, not at all. You know so many of my daily activities, I just want to get to know some of yours." Mary chuckled at the thought of the folder that was lying somewhere in Ririka's drawers.

"I guess it's fair, then. But kissing you isn't exactly a punishment for me," Ririka said, turning her face back to look at Mary.

"Never said it'd be a punishment, just my reward."

"Fine. Go ahead, guess." Ririka agreed to the rules.

"Hmm… OK." Mary took a while to think of something. "Well, have you ever cooked a meal?"

"No, I haven't." Ririka answered and gave Mary her reward.

"Hmm, yeah, I think I like this game… Uhm… Have you ever used a vacuum cleaner?" the blonde was already preparing for the next kiss and let her hand slide around the back of the other girl's neck. Ririka smiled and leaned in for another kiss. The reward was lengthier than the last one.

"I'll take that as a no." Mary said breathlessly. "Changed the bed linen?"

"No." Ririka managed to say before she kissed the blonde again.

The questions and rewards went on for a while. The kissing got gradually longer with each turn. It wasn't before Mary got to asking if she had ever ridden a bus when Ririka pulled back a little.

"I've been in a bus for some of the school trips. What was my reward again?" Ririka's head was a little dizzy from all the kissing.

"Uhm… You can decide what you want," Mary said, already feeling impatient to get the girl back to kissing her again. Ririka took a moment to think about her options.

"Hmm… Would you teach me how to do all those things you just asked me?" Ririka finally asked. Out of all the possible options, Mary hadn't expected this to be the one that Ririka would have asked for.

"Wait—what? You want to know how to wash laundry?" Mary was taken aback.

"That and everything else you do, Mary." The blue eyes stared with determination.

"You're not joking, are you?" Mary asked with disbelief. Ririka shook her head. "Fine. I'll show you; I was planning to do most of the things on that list this weekend anyway before I knew you were going to show up here."

The morning dawned and Mary woke up first. Her face lit up and a smile formed on her lips when she saw strands of silver hair splayed across the sheets next to her. The older girl's face looked peaceful and Mary brushed her fingers softly on Ririka's cheek and tried to remember when they had fallen asleep. The conversations filled with kisses in between had went on until late last night. Mary was about to get up and make some breakfast but remembered she was supposed to teach Ririka how to make some, so she decided to wait for the other girl to wake up.

Ririka eventually opened her eyes and saw the blonde staring back at her.

"Morning, Riri. Did you sleep well?" Mary was affectionately running her fingers through the silver hair.

"Mmhm. Good morning… I'm not dreaming this, am I?" A smile curled on the sleepy girl's lips.

"No, silly. You're not."

"Good. It's a bit strange to wake up here. Feels like a dream," Ririka mumbled and snuggled closer to Mary. "Can we stay like this for a while?"

"We could, but there's a whole list of chores you wanted to help me with today, so we'd better get started soon." Mary teased. "Or have you changed your mind? Honestly… I wouldn't mind if you had."

"No, I haven't. I was serious, I want to know how to do all those things," Ririka said while pulling away and propped herself up on her elbows. "What do we start with?"

Mary chuckled and sat up. "You're a bit weird, Riri. Never met anyone so excited to do house chores before."

"Well, I wouldn't like you to think less of me. I don't want you to see me as a spoiled brat who has everything delivered to them on a silver platter," Ririka said with a serious face.

"Whoa—Wait… I never said anything like that." Mary protested. "I know you're not like that, you don't need to prove anything."

"The only thing I'm trying to prove here is how much I like you, Mary." Ririka observed the red tint rise on the blonde's cheeks. "So, what do we start with?"

Mary took a deep breath to gather herself. "Breakfast."

After getting most of the things on the list done, the apartment was getting sparkling clean. Mary was constantly amused of how Ririka could find such small details interesting. They had even gone as far as to check a laundry machine manual for all the different programs Mary never felt a need to use or wasn't sure what they were meant for. Mary suggested after they were done with all the cleaning that they should go to the grocery store to buy some ingredients for dinner.

"Is curry OK? I don't really know how to cook anything special," Mary asked.

"If that is what you would normally cook, then curry works fine for me." Ririka was beaming. Mary gave the enthusiastic girl her 100th look of disbelief of the day.

"Then curry it is."

Cooking the meal had proven to be another lengthy task, Mary had been explaining and demonstrating the use of almost every household item she had in her kitchen. After Ririka managed to cut herself while slicing vegetables Mary took over the rest of the cooking. Ririka hunched over her shoulder and observed every move the blonde made.

"How do you know how to do all this?" Ririka asked.

Mary stopped stirring the sauce for a while and thought about it for a moment. "I guess it's because I've been helping my mother around the kitchen since I was a kid."

"You must have been a cute child…" Ririka seemed to drift off in her thoughts for a while. "Do you have any pictures?"

Mary felt uneasy and she was not quite sure why. "No, but there's lots of pictures at my parents' house."

"I want to go there someday," Ririka said and was oblivious of the other girl's discomfort of the subject.

Mary turned around and her heartbeat was getting a bit faster. "Wait—You want to meet my parents?"

"Well, yes. But mostly because of the pictures of little Mary." Ririka smirked.

"Uhm… That's… Do you even know what you are asking?" Mary blushed heavily.

"I'm guessing it's something embarrassing, judging by the shade of your face right now." Ririka teased. "What's so embarrassing about old pictures?"

"You dolt… never mind. Could you set the table? The food is nearly done. You know where to find the plates and everything else," Mary said and turned back to face the stove.

Mary didn't say much as they sat down to eat. Her mind was occupied with thoughts she had been pushing away since Ririka appeared. The silence was broken when Ririka's spoon made a loud sound when it dropped on the plate. Mary was suddenly awoken from her thoughts and she noticed the silver-haired girl was shaking slightly and holding back silent sobs.

"Hey, you OK? Did I say something I shouldn't have?" Mary sounded worried.

"No…" Ririka said quietly. "I'm just—the food is…"

"The food is not good? You don't have to eat it if—"

"No, it's the best thing I've ever eaten." Ririka started sobbing.

"You're crying because of this curry?" Mary knew there was something else the other girl was not telling. She reached across the table and touched Ririka's hand gently.

"Yes… Well, no." Ririka looked up and started drying her eyes with her sleeve. She took a few long breaths to gather herself. "I'm just so happy here, I don't know how else to say it."

"So, happy tears?" Mary was still suspicious but Ririka's nodding was sufficient enough and she refrained from prying any further. "Well, you surprised me today. To be honest, I never thought cleaning up this apartment would be so much fun."

Ririka laughed a bit. "Really?"

"Yeah. I had fun with you, Riri. And I think—" Mary took a breath and mumbled the rest awkwardly. "I think I'm happy too."

Ririka sighed in relief and returned to her curry. Mary gave a few curious looks at the silver-haired girl, trying to figure out what the sudden burst was all about.

"So… Ririka, what exactly do you think that this is?"

"What is?" Ririka asked perplexed and tried to look for the answers on the blonde's face that had suddenly turned serious.

"You and me. This." Mary held her breath.

Ririka was staring quietly at Mary who kept avoiding a direct eye contact. "I'm not sure what you want me to say, Mary."

"It's not about what I want you to say. I guess I just want to know if—" Mary took a long breath and stared at the half-eaten dinner in front of her. "I just need to know how serious you want this to be." She added quietly.

"Told you I'm serious about this, Mary." Ririka said, smile disappearing from her face.

"I know… But what do you mean with that exactly? Are we dating? Do you want to—No, do you have to keep this a secret?" Mary felt her heart trying to hammer its way out of her chest.

"I just know that I want to be with you, Mary. I don't know how that will work. But I want to find out, that's why I'm here." Ririka was getting her eyes teary again.

"You came here because Kirari gave you a permission, didn't you?" Surprised that the words left her mouth before she could stop them, Mary knew there was no turning back now. There were questions she didn't want answered and she had just asked one of them. Swallowing back her own tears she slowly raised her head to glance at the silver-haired girl sitting across the table.

Ririka's breathing had gotten heavy and Mary's heart dropped at the sight of the girl in front of her crumbling. "That's not fair, Mary."

The blonde wanted to jump across the table to comfort the almost sobbing girl. She cursed herself in her mind for bringing the subject up. Having Ririka around was everything she never knew she wanted. She didn't want it to end. Knowing that she was asking too much from Ririka, asking her to make her own decisions and go against her family didn't make the situation any easier. Mary saw how torn Ririka was with everything, she understood the situation was complicated as it was, and she hated herself for just making it even harder for the older girl.

"So, do you want me to leave?" Ririka was having trouble getting her words out and the last syllables were barely coherent due to her chin wobbling.

"Hey—what, no! Of course, I don't!" Mary felt like the air had escaped her lungs.

"The only thing I've wanted for the past few days was to be with you, given permissions or not—" Ririka's voice trailed off.

"I should've never said anything about that, Riri. I'm sorry." Mary apologized and the chair screeched against the floor when she rose up. She held out her hand for Ririka. "I don't care what brought you here. The only thing I care about is that you are here now. Please don't leave."

Ririka grabbed the hand and got up on her feet. Ririka wrapped her hands around Mary.

"Don't apologize, please. What is happening with my family is not your fault," Ririka said quietly against Mary's ear. Mary held the taller girl mid-waist and pulled her closer.

"No need to talk about it, if you don't want to." Mary replied and wanted to push the subject off her mind.

"If it was up to me, I would tell you everything." Ririka sounded thoroughly defeated.

"I know." Mary tightened her hold of the other girl. This was the first time Mary noticed how tired Ririka was.

This time the silence was welcome.

AN: Japanese people usually eat curry with a spoon. Just in case if someone was wondering.