Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X

Chapter 47

Disclaimer: The usual.

*November*

"Well, I managed to convince my parents to at least let me host a Christmas party, since they obviously aren't about to let me attend anyone else's," Katsura said. "Can you guys come?"

"…Put us down tentatively for a yes," Arisa replied. "Although hopefully we have other plans…I just have a bad feeling that they're going to fall through."

"Be a little more optimistic, will you?" Suzuka asked. "They'll make it. Somehow…"

"…I want to believe that, too. But…does it really matter? As long as the two of us are here together…That's enough for me."

"Never thought I'd see the day. Not that I'm not flattered, but I thought Nanoha-chan and the others meant more to you."

"…They do. Maybe too much. What happens if they return and it stirs up old feelings?"

"…I don't know. You're right. A reunion would only lead to another goodbye…I hate goodbyes."

"Is that why you're already trying to ease yourself away from Dylan-san?"

"It just…wasn't working out. Dylan's a great guy, and I'm going to keep in touch with him as a friend, but even if it weren't for the whole long-distance relationship thing…we're too different. He's…just not really my type."

"You mean he's still too uptight."

"That's…not exactly it…but you're on the right track."

Arisa grinned. "I knew it. You've been leaning towards girls all along."

"Maybe. Or maybe it's just you." Suzuka kissed her.

CCX: Wait, are we just glossing over some serious plot developments? Well…okay, maybe a little. Autumn really isn't easy to work with here, because while summer vacation will always be summer vacation and the winter holidays will always be the winter holidays (and by that I'm referring not only to the December holidays but also to Valentine's Day), the most interesting parts of the autumn and spring in a story about high school are the beginning and end of the school year, respectively—which in Japan move to the spring and winter, leaving autumn barren of anything meaningful. I mean, yes, I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could come up with a plotline, but…well, this fic's been dragging on for awhile now anyway, and I think it's about time to wrap it up and move on to its, er, "sequel".

CC: …That's a pretty big announcement in its own right. Going into what happens after the couple finally gets together to stay has never been your strong suit.

CCX: I've made it work in my Touhou fics, haven't I? But, no, actually, there's a reason that "sequel" was written in quotation marks like that. Remember how I said that with how OC-driven this fic was to begin with, it wouldn't be that hard to go the distance and just rewrite this for Fictionpress?

CC: …You're going to rewrite it for Fictionpress.

CCX: No. Rather, I'm going to use the "distance" provided by the Pacific Ocean to continue writing high school stuff with some characters I've already established and mostly characters that will still be brand new. Probably the biggest challenge involved will be not having any yuri to lean on; this fic has plenty of het relationships but they're not the focus. Although, I kind of feel like it's a shame that I have to do it the way I am; I'd much rather tell the continuing stories of the characters on this side of the Pacific—there's some damn good unfinished storylines surrounding the class of 2018, and I'm sure if I tried hard enough I could get a bit more out of Miki—but it would seem weird to just write the canon characters out of their stories; not so much the ones with an ocean between them.

*mid-December*

"…Did you get a message too?" Suzuka asked. Arisa nodded grimly. Any thoughts of leave had been quashed by an unfortunate incident on a mission; Nanoha overworking herself to a dangerous level. (CCX: I have no idea what time of year that incident happened in canon, so bear with me if I'm playing a little loose with the facts again.) Arisa had called Katsura right away to confirm that they would be coming to her party, and Katsura had said that she could've sounded a little happier about it, only to be met with silence and the realization that she'd said something unintentionally rude.

*a few days later *

"You know, I just have to ask—what were you thinking, breaking up with your boyfriend as Christmas was approaching?" Miki asked.

"I wasn't really thinking about Christmas when I did it, although that probably wasn't a bad idea. After Christmas and New Year's, it's not that long until Valentine's Day, and then that leads into White Day and pretty soon the school year is over and we have to say our goodbyes still as a couple," Suzuka replied.

"It's kind of lonely, though, being single for Christmas. What are you going to do?"

"Well, Arisa and I are going to Himiya-san's party."

"Oh? I guess Himiya-san doesn't see us quite the same way the rest of those girls do. I probably wouldn't have gone to a junior high party anyway—I doubt Mr. and Mrs. Himiya would much approve of our behavior, given that they seem to be cut from the same cloth as my father on the subject of dating before high school—"

"Only because she tried to go too far too quickly," Suzuka reminded her.

"—but I'm sure Sakura-chan would have loved to go had she been invited."

"And your father would allow it?"

"…True. I'd kind of have to go in order to allow Sakura to do so, and even then it wouldn't be a sure thing."

"So how's your holiday outlook, Kanna-chan?"

"Pretty damn good, actually. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just had a rather interesting discussion with Miki-chan; she gave me hell about breaking up with Dylan-san so close to Christmas."

"…You still haven't told her about you and Arisa?"

"I dropped a subtle hint when I told her about my plans for Christmas, but…well, she'll find out soon enough."

"Meaning?"

"She's a close enough friend that I fully expect her to be at this year's New Year's party. I'm sure you already know that the alleged reason for my breakup with Dylan doesn't quite match the truth."

"Tell me later; you seem to have a plan so I wouldn't want your rumors to go off prematurely. Also, I've gotta run. Cheerleading. Wouldn't want Rika to miss me." Then she left Suzuka to ponder that thought.

*evening*

"So, your 'plan'?"

"First thing's first: who's 'Rika'?"

"Piyori Rika. First-year. Cheerleader. It's not easy, you know, trying to covertly sneak peeks at your squadmates' naked or near-naked bodies; very easy to get caught. You've got to be quick at turning your head away, but even so, you can often tell if you're alert. It's a little easier with the ones like Fusabi-senpai, because she's beautiful enough and vain enough to believe that any glances at her body by other girls are the product of envy rather than lust. Enough times, though, and a pair of wandering eyes will eventually figure out that they aren't alone. It wasn't hard to confirm; like mine, the mirror in her locker was at an angle, pointing towards Fusabi-sempai's. Pretty easy to broach the subject casually there—as well as give some friendly advice to my kouhai, that like I said, you can get away with looking directly at Fusabi-sempai because it's easy enough to blame any longing looks on envy, whereas Chigusa-sempai isn't as likely to fall for that; that's whose locker my mirror's trained on."

"Seriously? You found a fellow lesbian on the cheerleading squad?"

"I consider myself blessed to be able to keep things so discreet. Rika-chan has never even had rumors about her sexuality leveled against her—in fact, me even telling you this is probably a violation of trust—and I seem to have finally managed to escape the rumors from junior high."

"I thought you didn't care who knew you were a lesbian."

"I don't. Well, except for the whole part about the cheerleaders becoming uncomfortable. Now, speaking of people's sexualities becoming public knowledge…"

"Right. On the surface, I broke up with Dylan-san in order to make it easier for us to part ways when he has to return to the US. In reality, and he knows this, it's because while I certainly enjoy his company, I feel like I'm pretty certain that, barring the passing of a law that allows bisexuals to take both a husband and a wife, a committed relationship to a man just isn't in my future…and truth be told, there isn't much ambiguity as to the identity of my future wife, either."

"That serious? Slow down, Suzu-chan; we're only in our second year of high school."

"Worry not; I'm not in any great rush to get married, or committed or whatever; but I can't foresee my situation changing. And unlike two years ago, when I was still coming to grips with my bisexuality, much less my feelings for Arisa, or last year, when I was still fully convinced that I could go either way and Arisa had to deal with relationship drama that didn't even concern me, this year at midnight I'm going to take action to addressing all of those rumors. Plenty of people are going to notice this time."

"…It's still going to be awkward. Remember, thanks to your passive-aggressive strategy with Kokuro-san last year, you've now set a precedent for inviting the whole class. Meaning that your most recent boyfriend will still be right there when you declare to the school that you've gone lesbian."

"It's fine. It's not like his lips will be unclaimed at midnight either."

"He's got another girlfriend already? And furthermore, she'll be at the party?"

"…you didn't find it odd at all that he still ate lunch with us even after the breakup?"

"Well, the breakup was so amicable that it was easy to tell that you two were still friends, and being half-American Arisa-chan's always been a confidante of his as well. What are you saying?"

"That something finally went right for Kaburagi-san. She certainly deserves a break once in awhile, even if it's kind of a bittersweet one since Dylan-san's only going to be here a few more months."

"…who?"

Suzuka laughed. "I'm surprised hearing that from you, Kanna-chan; you're not the type to leave a pretty girl un-ogled."

"Which class is she in?"

"2-D, same as Arisa. She was in our class in junior high, too, although neither of us really talked to her that frequently until graduation."

"Oh, right. Arisa-chan's friend. Yeah, she's not too bad. She'd be a lot more memorable if she had some self-confidence; she doesn't really go out of her way to make her presence felt so it's easy to just forget about her even when you know she's there. I have to figure that will change now that she's with Keith-san, though."

"I should hope so. Up until getting together with Dylan-san, she'd had nothing but horrible luck with men. He's really the perfect guy for her right now."

"Even though he's going home in a few months?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you say that?"

"…Well, because he's a good person, who will treat her the way a girl deserves to be treated." Suzuka couldn't exactly say the real reason—"because I practically had to drag sex out of him, so he's the perfect boyfriend for a rape victim."

*Christmas, around 9:30 AM*

"Suzuka, Arisa-chan's here to see you."

"Tell her to come on up."

"Hey, what's up? I thought we were going to spend the whole day together?"

"We are. It's just going to start out here in my room."

"Well."

"Not like that."

"[Uh, Suzuka? Isn't having a friend in the room with you going to make it kind of awkward?]"

*…which is around 7:30 PM Christmas Eve in eastern Kentucky*

"[Oh, don't mind me; I'll just sit and observe,]" Arisa replied.

"[…Right. I forgot you told me your best friend was half-American.]"

"['Best friend'? Is that all I am to you?]"

"[You couldn't have asked that question in Japanese?]" Suzuka asked. "[Of course you mean more than that to me,]" she said, kissing Arisa, "[but that's not public knowledge yet. Soon, though. Very soon.]"

"[Ah. I'd heard that you and Dylan had broken up. It's because you finally decided to fall on the female side of the fence?]" After a moment of thought she realized she'd failed to introduce herself. "[Katie Barrett, by the way. I think you've probably already met my cousin Dylan.]"

"[Alisa Bannings. Or Arisa; generally I go with the former in America and the latter in Japan. Suzuka mentioned meeting Dylan's family this summer. …Among other things.]"

Katie turned red. "[Can we not talk about that? It…well, it happened, and it wasn't unenjoyable, but…it was just an experiment and I'm not switching sides.]"

"[I'm surprised you're taking the time out for a video chat on Christmas Eve,]" Arisa said, changing the subject.

"[Well, family gatherings,]" another female voice chimed in, "[it's not like the two of us have that much to do, being the only two girls in the family.]"

"[Hey Julia,]" Suzuka greeted her. "[Also two of the youngest, though I suppose the fact that you're not the youngest anymore is part of the problem, isn't it?]"

"[I was never the youngest. Jackson was the youngest.]" She smiled, and Suzuka explained to Arisa in Japanese that Jackson and Julia were fraternal twins. "[But, yeah, new babies kind of dominate a room. Although we all met Carrie for the first time at Thanksgiving.]"

"[Ah, yes, Thanksgiving. I don't suppose Tommy won the pool, did he?]"

"[Suzuka!]"

Julia laughed. "[Nope, most of them on rebuys now. Hopefully they don't disallow rebuys for a long time.]"

"[Julia?]"

"[Oh, come on, you didn't think I'd pass up a shot at easy money like that! Eventually the boys will have to concede that it's never going to happen, and when they do, I'll be the winner.]"

"[Am I missing something here?]" Arisa asked.

"The rest of their cousins are betting on how long it takes for Jackson and Katie to ignore their familial relationship and start making out," Suzuka explained.

"[Oh. Didn't expect anyone to be in here.]"

"[Hey Kris. I thought the changing table was upstairs.]"

"[No, she—]" Kristina paused, smelling, "[—Ah, shoot, you're right. Carrie, you're supposed to go to the bathroom after eating!]"

"[Probably needs to make room for more food,]" Katie suggested. Kristina brought the baby upstairs to change her. "[Well, there you go. You've now met the youngest member of our extended family.]"

CCX: Yeah, Katie's going to be our main protagonist over on FictionPress.

*mid-afternoon*

"I see you didn't invite the Ichirei sisters," Hanna pointed out.

"Well, it's not like they go to our school. We've got some mutual friends, but we're not really friends."

"Then this has nothing to do with Kuwata-san?"

"You're my best friend, Hanna-chan. I wouldn't go behind your back and date someone you don't want me dating—not that I'm allowed to date for over another year anyway."

"…Something about your wording seems off."

Katsura grinned. "Like I said, I'm your best friend. And it's painfully obvious that you two have feelings for each other; Natsu-chan was able to see it even before I started letting her hang out with us more often."

"Feelings called hatred. So that's your story; that you kept Sakura-san away from the party for my benefit?"

"You're so mistrustful. I told you it had nothing to do with Kuwata-san in the first place."

"Actually, you didn't tell me that. When I asked you that, your answer began with the words 'You're my best friend, Hanna-chan'."

"So picky. Maybe that's why you've been single for the past six months in spite of your massive tracts of land."

Hanna instinctively covered her breasts. "I'm single because I've turned down every guy who asked me out."

"I know some people who could relate to that problem, but I'm not sure you'll like what they have to say." Hanna responded to this by shoving an entire cushion in Katsura's face. "It's not healthy to be so grumpy at Christmastime," Katsura said.

"I'm only grumpy because you're annoying me," Hanna said.

Katsura looked hurt. "Sorry," she said, hugging Hanna from behind. "I'll try to be less 'up'." She lowered her voice so her parents couldn't hear, "Besides, in theory I shouldn't be this happy at Christmastime, seeing as how I can't date."

"We're still kids. We get presents from our parents. Also you're hosting a party, which makes you 'cool' despite not being allowed to date."

"I suppose." She wasn't convinced.

"You do remember that second year's almost over, right? Kuwata-san and I will be competing against each other for Student Council President."

"All the more reason to go for it. Get a rival out of the way."

"You know neither of us would back down, even if we were in a relationship."

"Of course not. You're both smart enough to know that such a relationship would only be temporary anyway, and that in the long run, you'd regret backing down on a one-time opportunity for the sake of a short-lived romance."

"So then it should go without saying that even if I'm right about you liking him, you'd still vote for me. Friends are forever, right?"

"Not all friends. But we are. …I wonder if that was the plan all along."

"Plan?"

"The greater chess game. He was the one who suggested the possibility that he was only showing interest in me to irritate you, but when I told him that I was aware of that possibility, he had to consider the possibility that my apparent acceptance was so that I could mess with his head on your behalf. So I doubt he really expects my vote anyway."

"So there was something."

"Of course there was. Think about it for a moment and it'll make sense to you."

"…What will?"

"…Why do you have such a long-standing rivalry with Kuwata-san?"

"Because we both want to be the best, and there can only be one number one."

"Keep going."

"And we're both ultimately driven towards leadership roles, so it's impossible for the two of us to get along. I don't really know him that well, of course, but I guess he's probably not that haughty to everyone…"

"Well, I haven't really seen much of him with his friends, either, but he seems pleasant enough towards most people—even if it might only be because he wants them to vote for him."

"So, not really true friends."

"How many 'true friends' do you have?"

"…Good question. Most of my friends are really your friends."

"You think? I always thought it was the other way around."

"…Well, you can be a bit much to deal with sometimes…but I'm not exactly the friendliest person either. I guess we balance each other out; you're too emotional and I'm too rational, but together we can get along with almost anyone."

"Now you're getting it."

"Getting what?" Katsura just smiled. "I'm sorry; I'm really not getting what you're hinting at."

"Think about where this discussion started out."

"…It started out about Kuwata-san, but then you made it about me. You're not saying…"

"You even said that the reason you two can't get along is because you're both alpha types. You know I've got your back when it comes time to take sides, but you can't see why I might like a guy who's just like my best friend?"

"I think you're full of it…but thanks. When you put it that way, I guess it's a bit less unpalatable. Besides, it's still a moot point because by the time you can actually date again, you'll no doubt have landed someone better."

"Think she's already got someone like that," came a voice behind them. Katsura didn't even turn around, reaching back and hugging Suki. "Hey Katsu-tan."

"You're early. I'm not even dressed up yet."

"You look beautiful right now."

"Yeah, but I've got a lot to live up to now, after the way I took your breath away last Christmas."

Suki kissed her; not on the lips because she doubted Katsura's parents would take their eyes off of her for long even before the guests (read: boys) started arriving en masse, and told her, "Don't worry about it. You'll always be beautiful in my eyes."

Katsura blushed. "Suki-chan…"

CCX: I feel like there should be something more to this chapter, but I'm not quite sure what, and the length is pretty good already. Perhaps if I figure out what to do with the party itself, it'll be next chapter. Until then, this is CCX, signing off.

Actually, before I go, I figure I should probably explain why I handle the romanization of Arisa's name the way I do. I know that, canonically, "Alisa" is the right romanization, but I prefer to use "Arisa" because "Alisa" and "Alicia (Testarossa)" are too similar. That said, I kind of like the idea of her using both pronunciations so as to best fit with each language.