Becoming Her Lover

Chapter 4

The New Members

After some time, Muse gained some news members including Rin, Hanayo, and Maki. It wasn't pretty, but those girls supported the idea of saving the school and wanted to help out as much as possible. Getting new members was a sign that they were doing a good job at being idols, but there were some problems and most of it was for Kotori. The new first-years took a liking to Umi. Since she was one of the coolest girls at school, they spent a lot of time with her. Being the person that she is, Umi decided to go with it. They had fun together as Umi brought them up to speed on the whole situation. Unfortunately, Kotori was extremely jealous.

For her, Umi belong to her and only her. Seeing her with the other girls made her feel jealous… Extremely jealous. Whenever she tried to talking with Umi, the first-years would pop out of nowhere and steal her away. Umi was saddened that she couldn't talk with Kotori more, but she wanted to be a good senpai towards them.

During her time with the first-years, it got her thinking about Kotori's question. She wanted to know how Umi felt about her, but she realized that she still hasn't answered that question yet. She hasn't even been thinking about it herself.

Kotori is a very sweet girl. Ever since I met her, she's been so nice to me. She very pretty and very selfless. It may not seem like it, but I've managed to see that in her. I can't really think of any reason not to like her. She knows me so well, as I to her. Have I just come up with my answer to her question? As school finished up for the day, Umi made her way through the hall when she spotted Kotori walking towards her. She took a deep breath and told herself that she would answer her question, but as they neared closer, Umi was intercepted by the first-years again.

"Hi Umi-senpai. Can we walk home together today?" Umi looked up and immediately saw Kotori's sad face as she started to turn in the other direction.

"Sorry, but I promised someone else that I'd walk with them today." She spoke in a clear voice so that Kotori would hear here. The first-years were saddened a little by her announcement, but couldn't hold her against it so they said goodbye and walked off. Meanwhile, Kotori was still standing the hallway facing the other direction. She quietly walked over to her and took her hand. "May I walk you home today?" Kotori turned her head and her face immediately brightened up with joy.

"Yes you can." With her other hand, she grabbed Umi's arm as the two of them walked home.

As they did, Umi started to feel a little nervous. She did tell herself that she would answer Kotori's question, but now that she was in the situation, she wasn't sure that she could actually do it. Thankfully, Kotori was a happy enough person to occupy the walk with fun conversations so it made things a little for Umi to calm down and try to focus. Kotori's was the first stop so they stopped in front of her house and said their goodbyes.

"Umi-chan, thank you for walking me home."

"Of course. Anytime, I love walking with you."

"Haha, don't you remember we used to do this all of the time when we were kids."

"Yeah, that was pretty fun. I always had to carry you since you got tired really easily."

"Hey, that's not fair." Umi started to laugh which eventually caused Kotori to laugh as well. "Okay, well, I'll see you next week." At that moment, Kotori leaned on Umi's shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. "Bye Umi-chan." Umi felt her cheek and was extremely warm. And then, she remembered what she came here to do.

"Uh, Kotori, can you hold on for a moment?" She stopped right before getting to the front door. That's when Umi started to feel really nervous. She dropped her head and her heart started to race.

"What is it Umi-chan?"

"I, uh… I have an answer to your question." She tried looking up, but it was just too hard.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your question. You said that you loved me and that you wanted to know how I felt about you."

"Oh right. If you're feeling pressured by it, you don't need to answer. You can take all the time you need. I don't want you doing something you're not comfortable with."

"But I want to. I feel bad about leaving that question unanswered when you were completely honest with your feelings."

"It's okay Umi-chan. I kind of feel bad about putting you in that situation. If you feel you're not ready then…" Out of nowhere, Umi gripped her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Kotori, I love you." At that moment, a tear fell from Umi's eye.

"Umi-chan?"

"Huh?" She let go of Kotori's shoulders and brought her hands up to her face. "Why am I crying?" She tried cleaning up her face, but Kotori's hands stopped her before she could. When their hands met contact, the two of them could feel each other's warmth. It was so strong and so genuine.

"I love you too Umi-chan… so much. Please don't ever let me go." Kotori melted into her body and Umi could feel the tears leave her eyes. They soaked up into her shirt, but she didn't care. They were crying for the same reason. They both loved each other and that was all that mattered. "Umi-chan, do you mind spending the night again? I promise I won't do anything like I did the last time." Immediately, Umi felt a lot better about this than before.

"Okay." Kotori's face lit up as she turned around to open up the front door. After that, she grabbed Umi's hand and pulled her inside.

When they got inside, Umi couldn't help but laugh a little. Usually when she visits Kotori's house, it's after a long period of time, but she literally was here about a few days ago. They went upstairs where they got freshened up and had some dinner. This time, Kotori was the one who prepared the food. Kotori was never good at cooking when in comparison to Umi, but she tried her absolute best not to disappoint her. When they sat down to eat, Umi took her time chewing and made sure she tasted everything. On the other hand, Kotori was sitting across the table with her tongue in between her teeth.

"Umi-chan, how is it?" She finally swallowed her food and looked over at her. By now, Kotori was sweating from every pore of her body.

"It's delicious."

"Ugh!" She nearly fell out of her seat from the anticipation. Umi didn't tease her a lot, but when she did, she hated it. However, this was one reason why Kotori loved Umi so much. Umi just knew her and how to deal with her as a person whether it was being serious or as a joke.

Once when dinner was done, they headed upstairs to get ready for bed. They took individual showers with Umi first and Kotori after her. Umi was a selfless person so she saved enough hot water for Kotori. When she was done with her shower, she walked back into Kotori's room and walked around a bit. On the walls, she noticed some things she didn't notice the last time she was there. All of the pictures on the walls were her and Kotori, Honoka was in none of them. Out of nowhere, this made her face turn bright red. In every picture, Kotori was either holding her hand, squeezing her arm, or kissing her on the cheek. She couldn't believe it. Her childhood memory wasn't the best so she was caught off-guard by these memories. She didn't even realize all of these things happened. After a few minutes, Kotori finished up her shower and walked back into her room to see Umi setting up the futon.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Setting up the futon?" At that moment, Kotori rolled up the futon and threw it into her closet. "What are you doing? I was going to use that." She shook her head stubbornly.

"You can sleep with me tonight."

"But why are you setting up the futon? Don't you want to sleep on your bed? You don't have to worry about me."

"Don't be silly, Umi-chan. Of course I want to sleep with you," she said as she removed her bath robe. Umi quickly brought up her hands to her nose to stop the bleeding. Kotori was wearing a very thin tank top and black panties.

"Um, Kotori," she said with her hands over her mouth, "where are your pajamas?"

"Huh? These are my pajamas." It was so hard to concentrate since Umi knew that this wasn't her normal sleepwear. "Now, come on. You can sleep next to the wall." Kotori threw over the blankets and gestured her to climb into bed. It took her a while, but Umi eventually climbed into the bed. Not far behind, Kotori snuggled in underneath the blankets and cuddled into Umi's body.

"Kotori!"

"What? I'm cold."

"Then wear your…" Umi suddenly stopped mid-sentence. She couldn't believe it. This girl was already asleep. She sighed and put her arm over her body as she kissed her on the cheek. "Why do you push yourself? Good night Kotori."

End of Chapter 4