"Heya, Chikage!"

Chikage jumped at the sudden vocal intrusion. A sharp clatter echoed across the kitchen as the bowl she had been holding hit the countertop and sent the spatula inside spinning into the air. She scrambled, grabbing the bowl and righting it as it threatened to tip over the edge of the counter and make a second drop to the ground. How much did she lose? She didn't know. At least the bowl hadn't fully turned over and spilled everything.

"Oh, what a reaction. Interesting."

The startled girl shot a deathly glare off to the side, straight at the offender standing in the doorway. Tamako's energetic grin spread even wider. It almost looked smug. She deepened her glare. Maybe the intruder would go up in a puff of smoke if she held it long enough.

"Doi-san," she said, when it was finally apparent the girl would not disappear quite so easily. "What is it?" She tried to keep her voice under control despite her heart racing at double the usual rate. If it had been Yuuna…

"I smelled something nice coming from the kitchen, so I came over to investigate what Anzu was making. But it's Chikage here instead!"

"I'm sorry to disappoint." Chikage silently cursed her luck. She specifically chose the school's student kitchen because everyone else used the dorm's for personal cooking. She should have had this whole kitchen to herself, to work in peace. So of course it would be her luck she was discovered.

"Nothing to be disappointed about! That was quite the show you put on for me. Tamazing ending." Still smirking. Really, how could she manage to look so delighted and smug at the same time? And pointing at her own face while talking as if to make sure she noticed. Absolutely irritating.

Chikage sighed. Honestly, it was no different from Tamako's usual antics, but interrupting her in the middle of making something so important felt so much worse.

"Tamacchi-senpai." Adding to the interrupting parties, Anzu appeared beside Tamako in the doorway.

"Oh, Anzu!" Tamako spun around to greet her. "You weren't in the classroom so I went looking for you!"

Anzu tilted her head. "Classroom? But the note…"

Anzu's hands shifted behind her back. Tamako wasn't in any position to see, most likely deliberately so, but Chikage could. In them, a small box delicately wrapped with paper in colorful shades of red. A surprisingly fancy ribbon wound its way around the whole package. What Chikage couldn't see was Tamako's face, but her body conveyed all she needed to know in the pause that followed Anzu's trailed off remark.

"… Wah! I messed up!" She grabbed her head and twisted her body back and forth. "Sorry, Anzu!"

A giggle escaped Anzu's mouth. She turned to look past Tamako and at Chikage. "It's fine, but you could have just called me. You didn't have to come bother—" She stopped mid sentence.

"… What?" It came out more forcefully than Chikage intended. The ire from moments ago hadn't faded away just yet.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing." Chikage thought for a moment she had scared the girl, but the gleam she saw start to form in her eyes indicated something different. It was far from nothing, and her followup was enough to make her worry. "Chikage-san, you're so full of opportunities right now!" Anzu's whole body wiggled with barely contained excitement. "I'm so jealous!"

Before Chikage could say anything back, Anzu grabbed hold of Tamako's arm and began tugging her away, back toward the classrooms.

"Wait, Anzu, you're not going to tell her about the—" Tamako began to protest, but Anzu lightly rapped her on the head.

"We can't. We mustn't interfere." She flashed an expectant smile back at the confused girl before rushing out of view with Tamako in tow.

Chikage let out a sigh and stepped over to the entrance. She glanced down the hallway in each direction and, not seeing anyone else, quietly shut the door. Honestly, she couldn't quite follow either of those two sometimes. At least Tamako she could always expect to be annoying, but Anzu had her quirks, too, quirks that always turned up at the oddest of times.

The intruders gone and her presence now hopefully concealed, she returned her attention to the much more important task. Her eyes dropped to the bowl she still cradled in her arms. It wasn't empty. The countertop had no obvious pools of the melted chocolate she was preparing, just a good amount of spatter atop just about everything immediately around her. She reached out and picked the spatula up off Hinata's recipe book at her side – she'd have to clean off the chocolate later, somehow – and counted her blessings. The chocolate lost from the bowl was everywhere, but it wasn't a lot. Maybe enough to have made one more treat. Not a disaster.

A wave of doubt rushed through her. But what if it was? What if that one treat was the difference between being accepted and—

Chikage shook her head vigorously and continued where she'd left off. No, she couldn't think like that. It wasn't a disaster. She still had the other part of the gift, too. Everything would be fine.

Yuuna would still be happy with this gift. Surely.

"And… done."

Chikage smiled. Amongst the mess around her, a single box wrapped in pristine pink paper sat at her fingertips. The chocolate treats she made were nestled safely inside, and the box was carefully tied with a small red ribbon: one of her own red ribbons she ties her hair with every day.

The box Anzu was holding earlier. So much more colorful and showy than hers. Doubt crept back into her mind. Despite all the feelings she wanted to convey, the promises she wanted to make, was just this much okay? Would she be accepted with only this much?

She glanced up at the clock on the wall. It was getting late. Much later than she'd planned on finishing. It would be getting dark soon. She needed to retrieve the other part of her gift from her room and find Yuuna before it got too far into the evening. Cleaning up would have to wait until later. The staff wouldn't mind if she left a note saying she would return to clean later, right? With that written and settled, she tucked the precious box into her arms and exited the kitchen.

"Ah! Gun-chan!"

Chikage spun around. Bathed in the reds and oranges of the setting sun, Yuuna stood at the end of the hallway with her arms behind her, as if she was patiently waiting for someone to appear. She gazed across the distance separating them with a small smile on her lips. Chikage gazed back, remaining still as Yuuna began walking. The lights and shadows cast by the sunset danced across the red-haired girl as she approached. Chikage's heart thumped, her mind raced. She hid the box behind her back.

She didn't have everything with her.

She wasn't ready.

Before long, they were a mere arm's length apart. The girl standing before Chikage never lost that smile, that energy in her movement, as she looked up at her. It was so unfair. Looking into each other's eyes, Chikage knew she couldn't put it off. She couldn't act as if there wasn't anything she needed to do.

Silence. Moments passed. All the words she wanted to say were forgotten. And Yuuna, she was mysteriously quiet as well. Chikage opened her mouth to speak, but still nothing came out.

The edge of Yuuna's lips twitched, and then Chikage saw it. The anxious tremble in her expression. Her smile all but buried it under a facade of normalcy, but the cracks were laid bare for Chikage. She could see them from time to time. No one else ever seemed to notice. But she could, and it made her heart tremble every time.

But why Yuuna was so troubled, she didn't have an answer. She hoped, prayed her fears when lying alone in bed at night were only just that. Seeing her so anxious right now made her heart ache, two worries twisting inside her. But it spurred her on. She had to ask, had to know, and a determination set itself into her expression as she drew in a breath.

A look of recognition crossed Yuuna's face, and her eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Gun-chan, you were baking tonight?" Instantly, Yuuna's voice cut through the moment with an innocent tone, her anxious look whisked into the air with it.

Caught off-guard, Chikage paused and nodded. "Ah, yeah. Just a little something…" She glanced away. Her fingers tightened against the box she still held hidden behind her.

"That's rare. And in the school kitchen, too." She grinned. Chikage imagined she was like glass in front of her best friend, like she could see right through her right now. "Is anyone else with you?" She leaned forward to peek through the doorway into the kitchen.

"No, it was just me. Though Doi-san and Iyojima-san did—"

"Wah! The kitchen still needs to be cleaned!" Yuuna's mild exclamation interrupted Chikage. It felt almost like a distraction. "Gun-chan, let's clean up before we—"

"Takashima-san." Chikage called out to her. She couldn't let herself be led astray. Not right now.

"What is it, Gun-chan?" Yuuna stepped back from the door and faced Chikage again.

Chikage took a deep breath and slowly let it out. She could do this. First, the gift.

"Takashima-san, here." She held the box out in front of her with both hands. "I made these for you."

Yuuna's smile brightened immediately. Nothing hidden behind it. "So pretty!" She pulled one of her hands from behind her back and lightly touched the ribbon adorning the box. " Is this…" she began, her eyes turning to the loop in Chikage's hair, "… one of your ribbons?"

"Yeah." Yuuna's smile softened as she looked at the box, at the ribbon, for a moment longer. Their fingers brushed against each other, a lingering touch, the act hidden beneath the box. Then, slowly separating, she took hold of the gift and brought it to her chest.

"So this is what you were doing…" She clutched the gift against her heart and closed her eyes. "Thank you, Gun-chan."

Finally, she brought out her other hand from behind her back. In it, another small box, wrapped in red and tied with a singular pink and white ribbon.

"This is…"

"Ehehe. We had the same idea, Gun-chan," she said, tilting her head so the pink and white ribbon tying her hair up dangled and waved in Chikage's view. She held out her gift to Chikage.

"For you."

This time, Chikage took her turn to accept the gift, and just as before, they lingered on the soft sensation of their hands meeting before parting. Chikage's heart jumped this time. Was it the anticipation? Holding the gift to her heart just as Yuuna was, she looked across the gap between them to meet her eyes. The distance between them felt so much smaller now. How she longed to reach across that distance and touch her again.

A tremor in Yuuna's lips caught her attention. Yuuna looked truly happy, and yet still she had an air of nervous hesitation. And beyond that, perhaps even uncertainty? Yuuna looked away for a moment, but returned to her gaze with a renewed determination in her eyes.

She readied herself. Now had to be the time to—

"Gun-chan." This time it was Yuuna's turn to call out to her. "I… have something I want to tell you."

Chikage's thoughts screeched to a halt.

"You're my closest friend, Gun-chan. Closer than anyone else. Being with you makes me feel happy. Safe."

Yuuna's smile disappeared. Her shoulders tensed as she drew in a long, deep breath.

"But even then, I always kept my feelings hidden. From everyone, but… even from you."

"Takashima-san…" The gift in Chikage's hands felt heavy. What was Yuuna saying? She put her feelings into her gift, didn't she? How could she say they were hidden?

"I'm a little bit of a coward." A self-depreciating grin formed for just the tiniest moment as she said it. She averted her eyes. "Even when I say something really honest, I just… hide. Pretend whatever I said was a joke, or just being friendly. What if my feelings…" Yuuna's trembling hands gripped Chikage's gift against her chest even tighter. Her head hung low, eyes hidden. "It isn't fair. You keep opening up to me in ways I never could bring myself to."

Chikage's mind raced. Where was she going with this? It almost sounded like—

"But that's why…!" Yuuna's words came out shaking. Her shoulders trembled slightly as they rose and fell with each deep breath. In the silence of the hallway, they sounded like a yell filled with emotion.

Yuuna lifted her head and gazed straight into Chikage's eyes. Her heart leap into her throat.

"That's why I want to be the one to say it."

Yuuna took a single step forward. They were so close now.

"Gun-chan… I want to be even more honest with you. No matter what happens. I want to be the one by your side. Will you let me?"

She took Chikage's hand into her own. The trembling she felt, whose was it?

"Will you… be my Gun-chan from now on?"

Chikage's legs nearly gave out from underneath her. She had been prepared for this moment, but not with her on this side. All her carefully considered plans were useless. Words rushed through her mind, words she so desperately wished to say. She stood motionless, taking in Yuuna's soft expression, her nervous biting of her lip, the anticipation in her eyes. The happiness welling up in her chest threatened to spill over and truly turn her into a mess of emotions.

Not knowing what else to do, she reached out, wrapped her arms around Yuuna, and pulled her into a tight embrace. Noises escaped her that she could only hope conveyed what she actually wanted to say.

Yuuna went limp in her arms. She rested her forehead on Chikage's chest and sighed deeply. Her relief was palpable.

"… I'm so glad. Gun-chan… Gun-chan, I… I was so worried that I was wrong. That maybe you–"

"Takashima-san." Chikage stopped her short. She took her by the arms and held her out so she could look directly into her eyes. Those beautiful red eyes belonging to the girl she adored.

"I love you."

None of this was how she had planned it, but finally, the words she held in for so long came tumbling out.

A quiet gasp. Yuuna eyes watered up in the breathless moments that followed. Her hands found Chikage's and held on tight.

"I love you… Gun-chan. My Gun-chan."

Under the last light of the day, their shared happiness could be felt in the warmth of their smiles.

Time passed quietly. The hallway slowly dimmed with the coming of the night. Still gazing into each other's eyes, they drew closer, drawn in by the a longing feeling deep inside them both.

A lamp just outside the window kicked on. The two girls jumped and released each other, the sudden burst of light breaking them out of their reverie. Hearts racing, they looked out at the offending lamp, then each other. Seconds drifted by. Their cheeks reddened. Silence returned.

They broke into giggles at the same time.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Yuuna started, regaining her composure before Chikage. "I thought so much about saying it, I never thought about what I should do after." She moved toward the window and looked to the sky.

"Mm." Chikage nodded, following her lead while trying to cover up her embarrassment. She set down Yuuna's gift on the windowsill and sighed. Her heart was pounding. From being taken off guard? From what she was about to do? She didn't know what Yuuna wanted, and yet…

"I still have to give you the other half of my Valentine's gift," she said after a moment's pause.

"Other half?"

"Yeah, I, uh, also got you some flowers." Chikage fidgeted a little. Thinking about it now, it seemed like a bit much. "I wasn't expecting to see you here, so I left them in my room…"

"Ah, thank you, Gun-chan!" Yuuna smiled bright and grabbed her hand excitedly. "I want to see them!"

Chikage smiled in return and gestured with her other arm. "Let's go back to my room, then?"

Yuuna began to give an enthusiastic nod but froze mid-gesture, her eyes locked onto Chikage's. Her cheeks flushed a light red again, and she turned her face down to their joined hands as though she intended to examine them extremely closely.

Chikage tilted her head to the side slightly. Did she say something weird?

A few seconds passed.

Her cheeks flushed bright red.

"Ah, no, I, um…!" She fumbled her words and vigorously waved her hands in front of her. "I didn't mean…!"

"Hey, Gun-chan," Yuuna said, before Chikage could continue. She gave her a sidelong glance, her pink-tinted face still turned away. Chikage sensed a sudden, familiar danger.

"Before we go, can I have a taste of your chocolates?" Yuuna's innocent yet slightly quivering voice was accompanied by a smile on her lips, curled up ever so slightly. Her eyes still radiated that nervous energy, but now there was something else Chikage saw with it. Still stumbling from what she knew had to be a misunderstanding, she merely nodded, not quite comprehending.

Yuuna glanced back to down to their hands and smiled. She faced the girl before her straight on and held Chikage's gaze with her own. She drifted closer. Each breath she drew slowly as she looked up at her with longing eyes. Gently, she lifted their joined hands higher, higher, until they were almost touching both of their cheeks.

In the corner of her eye, Chikage saw a small dark spot against pale skin. Hers. Chocolate on the underside of her wrist.

With one smooth motion, Yuuna closed her eyes and leaned her head to the side. Lips met skin. The soft, warm touch caressed the spot, sending tremors through Chikage. Seconds felt like hours. The unfamiliar sensation filled her mind, leaving her frozen, an observer helpless against the threat of Yuuna sending her heart racing to record-breaking speeds.

Yuuna's eyes fluttered open. She lifted her lips off her wrist, leaving a small, moist patch in its wake, in place of the chocolate spot present just moments before. A wisp of her breath touched it, sending a chill through Chikage as a parting gift. Her cheeks flushed crimson as Yuuna turned her eyes up to her.

"So sweet…" Her eyes briefly glanced down to Chikage's lips and then returned. "I'll leave the other one for later." She grinned with a playful air and then giggled as she pulled away.

"Ehehe, just kidding."

It was too much. Chikage stood there, motionless, her mouth agape, the still fresh sensations gripping her consciousness. What was that? Some part of her understood Yuuna's intent, but the feelings it sent careening through her, she wanted to bury her face in her hands and scream. And what of the chocolate? How much more was on her? Is that what Anzu had meant? Did she do all this looking like a mess? What did Yuuna think?

Yuuna watched wide-eyed as the emotions roiled in her. She rubbed her own arm with her hand and turned her face away. The playfulness had disappeared, replaced again by a nervous air. The red in her cheeks deepened to match her eyes as they darted from spot to spot, trying to find something else to focus on, never daring to look back to the one she just teased. But she was smiling, clear and full of excited joy underneath her embarrassment.

Chikage felt her chest tighten. What Yuuna had said, what she wanted to overcome. Her fear of being honest. She wasn't alone. From now on, they would walk that path together. She would show her that being honest with her feelings would turn out okay.

"No, Takashima-san."

The words that burst into Chikage's consciousness compelled her. Every beat of her heart was deafening. Fear and excitement gripped her. Before any doubts could creep into her thoughts, the words had already left her lips.

"Let's have the other one together…"

One last time, the distance between them disappeared. She slid one hand around Yuuna's waist and pulled her in tight. A sweet aroma. The other hand cupped her cheek and she gazed down into those beautiful eyes.

She stroked the edge of her lips with her thumb.

Warm. Tender.

Inviting.

Her voice was but a whisper.

"… right now."

She pressed their lips together.

Yuuna wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in deeper.