Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: We're up to maybe two original characters, I think.

CCX: I'm a little disapointed that my attempt at actually trying to get readers to review to keep reading failed. Is it that my regulars knew that I'd eventually cave? Yeah, I suppose my earlier notes about wanting to try to get each chapter out by the corresponding time of year it occurs pretty much gave away that if the goal wasn't met by early February, I'd put it out anyway.

Upon further reflection, I may have fucked up the timeline anyway, because with the Japanese school year ending in the spring, the "distant finale" of A's very well could've been implying that the three girls finished out junior high on Earth—which would've been only a little more than six years after the Book of Darkness incident, as they would've been nearing the end of their third-grade year at the time that that happened. But you know what? I don't really care.

*Early February*

"Something on your mind, Sempai?" Suki asked Arisa. "Tell Suki-tan all about it." The younger girl applied soap to her chest and started rubbing her breasts against Arisa's back while her pelvic area grinded against Arisa's ass.

"Ah… come on, Suki-tan; you know I always get bummed out after a loss."

"While I do indeed admire your competitive fire, this goes beyond just losing the game. Also you brood more after close losses, because you feel like they could've been won if things had gone a little different. A 52-40 loss to a team that hasn't lost all year is practically downright respectable." (CCX: Yes, that score seems about right; keep in mind that final scores tend to be lower the further down the line you go, and also that the women's game is usually lower-scoring than the men's.)

"Just…I don't know; maybe thinking about graduation upcoming or something." Suki sighed, obviously disappointed that Arisa would soon be leaving. "Oh, sorry…"

"It's okay. At least I'll still have a boyfriend. Although I kind of like having a girlfriend as well…"

"From what I hear, I'm not that different from a boyfriend anyway."

"Is that what this is about?" She started massaging Arisa's breasts and then worked her way down. "You're plenty feminine, Ari-sempai. Although you do have better abs than my boyfriend does," she added as she reached the older girl's toned abdomen. "I guess that's what I like about you. You're just as tough as any guy, but you don't sacrifice your feminine side to do so. Besides…" she grinned mischievously, "there are things that I can do with you that I can't do with a boy." With this, she fanned her fingers apart, her pinkies just lightly teasing at Arisa's labia.

"Suki-tan…!" Arisa gasped, before composing herself. "I'm sorry…I guess I'm not really acting like a girlfriend should. Not that I really consider us to be 'girlfriends'…I mean, yeah, we do…this, but it's kind of a secret romance. Not even the whole team knows. I'm more like a mistress than a girlfriend."

"Shut. Up." Arisa was surprised to find Suki's arms leaving her, and even more surprised to find the younger girl's lips pressed against her own, tongue pushing into her mouth. It was weird—they'd had plenty of skinship, and perhaps even a few quick kisses, but Arisa couldn't remember ever actually having a deep kiss with Suki. "Not the circumstances I would've liked for my first deep kiss with another girl, but…"

"So I was right; we hadn't done this before."

"Strange, isn't it? Considering what we have done already. Was this your first time, too?"

"First that I could ascribe real meaning to. I had—have—this one friend for whom making some sort of advance on you was—is—practically just her way of saying hello."

"To both sexes, or just to girls?"

"Just to girls, I think. Oh, and she also covered half of her apartment with mistletoe for her last Christmas party, so I managed to get some kisses from a couple of my other friends, but…they only ever really had eyes for each other."

Suki paused. "A few of your friends transferred out during winter break, didn't they?"

"Yeah, so? If you're suggesting I'm moody because of that, you're wrong."

"Whatever you say, sempai. I think we've been in here long enough." Suki rinsed off and left Arisa alone in the shower.

"Always one of the last ones out, Suki-chan. Such a typical girl. With all the attention you pay to making sure you look good afterwards, sometimes I wonder why you even play sports." Suki's boyfriend was waiting for her outside the locker room.

Suki responded in the most natural way—tell the truth in a sarcastic tone. "Eh, the real reason I take so long in there is because the team captain and I get intimate in the showers."

"Haha, sure, whatever. Still leaves far too much time unaccounted for after she left," he replied, leading Suki to the conclusion that her boyfriend didn't even pay enough attention to her games to even know which girl was the team captain. So that "tell the truth but make it sound like a lie" thing worked even better than expected.

Back in the locker room, Arisa continued to stand under the spray of the shower, lost in thought. It had been a few weeks since Suzuka had said that she wouldn't mind being more than just friends, and Arisa felt very conflicted. Suzuka was one of her few remaining friends, although she supposed that she considered most of her teammates to be friends as well, to a degree. And she was so kind, and smart, and…pretty… Arisa felt as though she could relate to what Hayate had felt. All three of the other girls had been there when Suzuka had finally spoken up about her feelings for Hayate, and Hayate said that she had refrained from treating Suzuka the same way she treated the other three girls precisely because she didn't want to ruin their friendship by being her usual perverted self and was under the mistaken belief that Suzuka was straight. Knowing Hayate, it must have taken a lot of self-control for her to keep from going after Suzuka…especially since Suzuka was such a beautiful girl.

Wait…Suzuka and Hayate disappeared for most of the night at Hayate's Christmas party… That was also the night that Arisa learned that Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate would be leaving for Mid-Childa. She'd spent most of the night with Nanoha, Fate, and the Wolkenritter, but at the time, she hadn't seen anything strange about it… Had they gotten…close? Was Suzuka no longer unspoiled after all? How cruel that would be, for Hayate to do that just before leaving…the next time she saw the brunette mage, she'd have to chew her out for that.

…Wait, what? Arisa had seen the magical girls in action, and as tough as Arisa was physically, she wouldn't stand a chance against magic. And she already knew that much of the magic they used was explicitly nonlethal, so it wasn't even like they'd have to hold back if they wanted to use it on a friend. Picking a fight with any of those three would be foolish…hell, even before she became a magical girl, it was foolish to pick a fight with Nanoha. "Nanoha…" This derailment of thought didn't last long, however, because the hot water in the shower ran out, and Arisa was blasted back to reality by cold water. She dried off and got dressed.

But for the time being, there was someone else she needed to pay more attention to: Suki-tan. Arisa got out her cell phone and dialed Suki's number, but it went to voicemail. Arisa didn't feel like leaving a message. "She's probably with her boyfriend right now, anyway."

Arisa was correct about that. Suki had in fact outright turned her phone off when she was with her boyfriend when they had first started going out, but that had gotten her in trouble with her parents, so she instead took to ignoring any ringtone that didn't indicate that it was her mother or father calling. When the two parted ways, she checked her phone and saw a missed call from an unfamiliar number, but one that looked like it could be a nearby cell phone. She checked her voicemail and found nothing, so she tentatively dialed the number listed. "Hello?"

"Hey, Suki-tan."

"Sempai? Not that I'm not thrilled to hear from you, but I don't remember giving you my number…"

"One of the benefits of being team captain. I've got everyone's number."

"Oh, right…so what's up?"

"I've been thinking about what you said, and you're right. I haven't been a very good girlfriend to you. Maybe we could get together sometime outside of school? It doesn't have to be like a real date if you don't want; we could just go to the mall or something, you know, a perfectly innocuous activity for two school-aged girls to be doing together…"

"I'd love that. This Saturday, then?"

"That's perfect. I'm not much good at making chocolate, myself, so I need to pick up a lot of Valentine's Day chocolate anyway."

"A lot, huh?"

"Mostly obligation chocolates. Although I'm sure I'll get some teasing for it, because even the girls that don't know about us know that I'm, well, a lesbian."

"Wait, are you getting giri-choco for the entire team?"

"Heheh, yeah…of course, for you, I'll also get honmei-choco…"

"No need. Valentine's Day is traditionally when the guys get chocolate; one giri-choco I can explain, but if I received a honmei-choco…"

"Should I wait until White Day to give that to you, then?" Arisa teased.

"It's only fair, since I'm making a honmei-choco for you for Valentine's Day."

Arisa blushed. "R-really?"

"Oops. I probably shouldn't have told you that in advance. Oh well… See you on Saturday."

"See ya."

CCX: Nice and long…word count is still low, but I measure chapter length in pages, and this is a six-pager.

…A six-pager…

…Oh shit no. No, no, no, no, no, no…

Damnit. Damnit to hell…I thought that getting the I:\ drive wiped was just a mere inconvenience, and that most of the truly important stuff had been backed up to other drives. But it wasn't, because I haven't actually made any progress in Dream since 2009, before my computer got undeployed and therefore back when the I:\ drive was still the home for My Documents. I therefore actually have less on my computer now than what's been posted on FictionPress thus far. Now, granted, I was at a huge standstill, but…because I hadn't been progressing, I had wanted to keep a backlog. Those missing chapters were some of my best work. One of my favorite characters really only broke out in those chapters. And you know how I am about having to rewrite stuff…not that I'm sure if I even could rewrite those chapters of Dream.

…Cyberchao X, signing off. *sigh* And it turns out it's really only a four-pager.