Eleventh

At the Transformation Club's room, Minamoto Chikaru stares at the window in deep thought. Her minions Kizuna and Remon were both busy trying to beat each other in a thumb-wrestling match.

"Kizuna-chan, you're not doing the same trick again to cheat on me." The blonde girl frowns as she pushes her thumb on Kizuna's. The orange-head's eyebrows furrowed as she exclaims.

"Hah! Just admit that you also liked it, Remon-chan!"

Remon blushes as she recalls that night at the lounge. As their club leader busily sketched designs for the costumes for Carmen, the two second year students were playing thumb-wrestling. The entire Astraea Hill had been talking about the upcoming play, of which residents of the Strawberry Dorms actively participate. Students kept speculating that Shizuma (the Etoile at the time) would play the heroine Carmen, while Amane of Spica would play Don Jose, the man who kills the gypsy woman in the end due to jealousy. Remon felt disappointed that their onee-sama's popularity was just below Shizuma and Amane. Her orange-haired friend felt confident that the Lulim president would also be a good fit to play the role of Carmen. Remon seconded Kizuna's motion as Chikaru's acting skills are superb and should beat Shizuma's. They continued their thumb-wrestling until Kizuna suddenly advanced into Remon and kissed her on the lips. Both of them fell to the floor, leaving Remon stunned and Kizuna counts to ten in a fast manner. They sat back up on their chairs and the blonde told her orange-haired friend how much of a cheater she was.

Fast forward to the present time, Remon seems to advance over her classmate's thumb. Kizuna frowns as her thumb starts to hurt. The orange-head whimpers while letting out her strength to push the blonde's thumb again. She is successful in doing so. Remon's thumb was under Kizuna's, with the orange haired second year pushing it hard. Seeing that the blonde is not able to get back up on top, Kizuna starts to count.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!"

Kizuna wins the match. The blonde sighs and sits down on the chair, staring at her reddened thumb. The orange-head jumps in joy and even cuddles little Kagome who happen to watch them. Remon turns her head and sees Chikaru on the same spot by the window. Her eyes seemed serious as she looks out on the dusky sunset. Chikaru senses that her minions had finished, she turns to the three younger girls and smiles at them. Few minutes pass, the four Lulim girls decide to go back home to the Strawberry Dorms.

They walk in pairs, Chikaru oddly gets paired with Remon and Kizuna pairs up with Kagome to play with Percival. While walking, Remon thought of starting a conversation.

"Chikaru-sama?" The younger girl calls out to her senior hesitantly.

"Yes?" The raven-haired girl's voice is chirpy. They continue to walk together slowly, letting Kizuna and Kagome go on ahead with their own business.

"How does it feel to fall in love?" The younger girl asks out of the blue.

"Ara, what is this?" The Lulim president smiles. She finds the thought of her younger minion falling in love quite cute. "Well, let's see. It's a great feeling. It's happy, yet scary at the same time."

Remon bows and asks her senpai another question. "Have you ever fallen in love, onee-sama?"

Chikaru is startled upon hearing the younger girl's question. She pauses, thinking carefully of her answer. "I…don't think I can consider it that way, Remon-chan."

"But have you ever liked someone?"

"Oh, yes I have." The raven-haired answers promptly. "But, it's not the same with Nagisa-chan and Shizuma-sama. I just…admire this woman…for her evident strength. She's very respectable and beautiful, too."

"I see. Do I know this person, Chikaru-sama?" Remon asks in curiosity.

"Oh, yes. Very much." Chikaru's response was candid. "But, it seems she has already found that person…the one that is meant to love her."

Remon silences herself to think. The very recent ones who've become a couple had only been Nagisa and Shizuma, then Hikari and Amane, after winning the Etoile election. She also thinks that Tamao may have already found someone else and has gotten over the redhead.

"Hey, Remon-chan. What brought this on, anyway?" Chikaru asks intriguingly. "Don't tell me you're in love, too."

"Well, I…am…not sure." The blonde girl stammers at her words.

"Is it Kizuna-chan?" Chikaru voice was loud. Remon blushes at the mention of the orange-head's name.

"What is it, onee-sama?" The orange-haired girl turns at her senpai. Turns out that Kizuna heard her name being mentioned.

"Oh, nothing important." Chikaru shakes her head and covers the blushing Remon. She knows that she made the blonde feel embarrassed. The raven-haired president softly apologizes.

"I'm sorry, Remon-chan."

The blonde student just fell silent as the four of them walked the path towards home.

In their room, Kizuna has laid herself down in bed. Remon has just finished putting on her sleepwear. She sits down on her side of the bed, just next to Kizuna. Remon's silence doesn't escape the orange-haired girl. She taps a hand on the covers, gesturing Remon to lie down beside her. The blonde complies and her body falls down on the soft bed. She was about to close her eyes when Kizuna suddenly held her hand.

"Remon-chan?" Kizuna softly whispers. Remon was still silent, unsure as to why Kizuna held her hand all of a sudden. Kizuna squeezes the hand gently and calls out to her again.

"Remon-chan. Do…you…like me?"

Remon looks at her side to see Kizuna, with auburn orbs looking at her lovingly. The orange-head closes the gap between them, giving Remon a kiss. The blonde student is surprised by her roommate's action. It's not the first time for Remon to get kissed by her classmate, but this kiss is quite different. The kiss was long, warm and sweet. As they pull off for air moments later, Kizuna softly whispers in her ear.

"I love you."

Remon's heart thumped as she heard the words. "Kizuna-chan…I—"

"I know. You don't need to say it." The orange headed girl cuts her off and pulls Remon into a tight embrace. As Kizuna held the blonde closer to her, Remon heaves a sigh of contentment.

"Kiss me…again, Kizuna-chan." The blonde girl whispers. Kizuna smiles and grants her request. As the dimmed lighting of the lampshade turns off, the two young lovers deepen their passionate kiss.