Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Some characters are mine; some aren't; you know the deal.

*February 14th*

"Hm?" Arisa thought. "I didn't think Suki-tan would've risked being seen putting this in my shoe locker; I expected to get it after practice today…and I definitely expected her to give it to me in person. Although, I suppose maybe that would be even riskier…" She checked and found a note—handwritten, unsigned. She let out what could almost be considered a squeak in surprise.

"Something the matter, Bannings-san?"

"Just…just wasn't expecting this, that's all."

"Not from a 'special someone', then? I'm not surprised that you have a secret admirer."

"Ah…yeah, the note's unsigned." "But if she really wanted it to be a secret, she would've typed the note; how could I not recognize that handwriting after all of these years? Well, even then, the sentiments within would give it away."

Dearest Arisa-san,
You've always been there for me when I needed you, and I've never told you how much that means to me. I want you to know that you'll always hold a special place in my heart.

It wasn't marked as to whether it was giri-choco or honmei-choco, but it didn't have to be. No chocolate so beautifully handmade could be giri-choco. "Suzuka-chan… You said you were okay with being just friends, but this confession…" She decided to leave it in her locker for the time being. She didn't really want to risk Suki seeing that she'd gotten honmei-choco from someone else…

…Why? Suki had someone else special that she was making honmei-choco for, anyway. Suzuka didn't have anyone else. Wait, no, that's not right. Suki was her girlfriend; Suzuka was just her best friend. But that "anonymous" note really would have been anonymous if it had come from anyone else—even Suki. Seen it enough times to immediately recognize it? Arisa wasn't even sure if she'd seen Suki's handwriting once. Most of their interactions were on the basketball court, after all. They'd never had any classes together, because they weren't even in the same grade. But…that's meaningless. Grade level doesn't matter in the long run, does it? What does the long run have to do with anything, anyway? I'm just a middle schooler, goddamnit!

This raging internal argument was abruptly halted by a teacher patrolling the halls, who told Arisa to get to class. The next period had started five minutes ago.

"Hmm…you're carrying your bag awfully delicately, Arisa-chan. Perhaps there's a beautiful honmei-choco in there that you don't want to ruin, yet couldn't risk it being seen by others?" Suzuka asked playfully on their way home.

"There is indeed. After all, my girlfriend is so far in the closet that she actually has a boyfriend. It was really hard just for her to find a time that the two of us could be alone—or at least completely within company that is privy to our relationship—in which to give it to me." Arisa scanned her friend's face for any sign that the reminder of her relationship with Suki had caused pain. It was only the slightest frown, briefly there and then quickly gone. "Of course, there's also a second one still sitting in my school locker, left in my shoe locker this morning with an anonymous note. That one, I couldn't even take with me, for fear that she'd see it. I could've gone back for it after practice, of course, but there's no way I could fit both of them in my bag; the one from Suki-tan is not exactly small, and the one from the mysterious admirer is even larger." A smile and a blush from Suzuka, which she tried to hide.

"A mysterious admirer, huh?"

"Yeah…I wonder who that could be. …So, Suzu-chan, you expecting a pretty big haul for White Day?"

"Don't I always? I make a lot of giri-choco every year, so then I receive a lot."

"You deserve it. Your chocolate is always so good." She pretended to think for a moment. "You know, I don't think you gave me any giri-choco this year… Did you only bother making giri-choco for Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan and me so that you could secretly give honmei-choco to Hayate-chan and claim that it was giri-choco?"

"Th-that's ridiculous! I would never do something so devious and underhanded!"

"I don't know…hand-writing an anonymous note to someone who's known you long enough to recognize your handwriting so that nobody but the intended receiver would know where it came from seems pretty devious to me."

Suzuka turned bright red. "That obvious, huh?"

"Like I said, I'm fully convinced that you wanted me to know who gave it to me. I couldn't resist teasing you about it, though."

"Y-you don't have to make me anything for White Day if you don't want to…"

"You know better than to expect a homemade chocolate from me, Suzuka-chan. But of course I'll buy something good for you, worthy of that lovely chocolate you made me."

"Th-that's…"

Arisa smiled. "Come on, don't be shy now. You made your feelings for me quite clear. I saw how happy you were when I told you that yours was bigger than Suki-tan's."

"Which is one of the only times that'll be true," she thought ruefully (CCX: And as we know, inaccurately—Suzuka grows up quite nicely). She said nothing, though.

"It really made me think; am I making a big mistake? Kind of overthought things, actually; got in trouble for being out in the halls after class had already started."

"Oh? Now I'm curious."

"Well, we've known each other for far longer. I had to admit to myself that if Suki-tan wrote me an unsigned note, I wouldn't necessarily be able to recognize it. But…I can't just change the way I feel. Suki-tan means a lot to me. We had our first date on Saturday—nothing that would be immediately obvious to any random passerby that it was a date, but it definitely was. And I think we're going to have another this weekend. And you, Suzu-chan…you mean a lot to me too." Arisa had noticed that they'd already passed the point where they'd normally part ways, and Suzuka was still with her. Suzuka didn't even seem to notice that she was heading towards Arisa's house, though. "You're a very special friend, and…I don't know, I guess I do feel something more…"

"You really mean that?"

Perfect, they were already at her front gate. Arisa said nothing, just grabbed Suzuka's wrists and pinned her against the outer wall and kissed her, a deep, passionate kiss. Suzuka was stunned at first, before slowly returning the gesture. She wanted to pull Arisa closer, wanted some deeper form of physical contact…just her luck that this moment would occur in deadest winter. Unable to move her arms and unwilling to break off the kiss in order to make demands, she hooked a foot around Arisa's ankle and nudged at her; this sufficed to get the message across, and Arisa closed in, letting Suzuka's arms go free to return the embrace…

Well. She hadn't expected Suzuka to get that close. "Wow, Suzuka-chan, I didn't know you were so bold!" she teased.

"It's just too many layers to be intimate. It's not like I'm touching your bare skin."

"I take it you'd rather come indoors?"

"Well, kind of…but it's kind of romantic out here. Look…it's snowing." (CCX: Oh G-d that's such a cliché.)

Arisa giggled. "Just come inside. Explain that you decided to come over here, and send for someone to pick you up later. No need to explain why you're here." She disengaged from Suzuka, although she wasn't really sure for whose benefit she was being discreet. Well, maybe that wasn't true. While her parents were perfectly aware of her sexuality, Suzuka's was still very much a secret—to everyone, in fact. Most people believed her to be heterosexual, and Arisa only knew that this was incorrect, but neither she nor Suzuka herself had figured out whether Suzuka was lesbian or bisexual. Still… "Why must I constantly skirt around all of these closets?"

CCX: Because, dear Arisa, without conflict, there is no story. And since our love triangle has a foregone conclusion, this is the best way to create drama. Think about it—the most classic type of love triangle, with an admitted lesbian at the point and two closeted ones, one of which still isn't sure if she's not bisexual and the other of which is sure she is bisexual, as the two suitors. This might actually be my greatest challenge yet, but I'm confident that I can overcome. After all…I've overcome a lot of challenges in the past year or two, like first-person, tsunderes, and songfics that aren't extremely awkwardly shoehorned together (and even creating a lemon songfic, a concept I'd thought up years ago with what eventually would've become the sequel to What Might Have Been). Actually, love triangles of any kind are still probably considered one of my weaknesses, although in the past year or so I've gotten a lot author's note was originally a lot longer, but it was mostly me prattling on in greater detail about which fics were examples of my improvements and mourning the loss of Dream. Just another piece of evidence as to why I shouldn't write after midnight, but luckily I had more than enough delay between writing and posting. This is CCX, signing off.