Shards Under a Mask

by The Scarf Girls

After the events in Lies Under a Mask, Suwa Nanaka's heart needed to heal. Thankfully for her, she is not alone doing it. This time, Suzuki Aina is by her side to gather all the Shards of her fallen Mask and Heart. How can this affect Aqours, the project and Nanaka herself? Moving on is always hard. The 3 Part of the Masquerade Series.

2. Chapter 2

Notes:

Hi! Misha here! (๑ゝڡ◕๑)
We are finally moving on with the NanaAinya! yay!
This chapter is between Masquerade 12! so if you havent read that chapter you might get a little bit lost...
Once again we are sorry but the chapters are being longer... I hope that's ok with all of you...
Anyways...
There's R18+ material starting from here! you have been warned! (〃艸〃).
But please...
Enjoy!

---

Shards Under a Mask.

Chapter 2.
Wanted to...

The cold of the night was sending a chilling feeling on her spine. Nanaka offered her hand for Aina to hold, which she accepted with a wide smile. They shared some complicit glances towards each other, they held on tightly and kept moving towards Nanaka's place.

The truth was...that they desired each other just too much, and this could erupt like a volcano in extreme heat not mattering who could get burned in the explosion; and that, was far from Aqours being fine.

"You ok?" asked Aina with a sad tone reaching the main building door.

Nanaka took out her keys and opened it.

"It's been a long day Ainya...I'm tired..." said Nanaka opening the door and letting Aina go in.

"Sure... quite a ride wasn't?"

"Sure..." said Nanaka closing the door and locking it.

They moved in silence towards the elevator.

It had indeed been a ride.

A ride that normally would take a peaceful 15 minutes from Lantis building to Nanaka's place by car, but felt so much longer and tiresome due to that they had shared the ride with the one and only, Arisa Komiya.

And not because Arisa had been unpleasant towards Nanaka; they had managed to coexist within Aqours and took their "rivalry" in a sane direction, mostly because sharing the "Years group" and the "Subunit" was enough for her to stop treating Arisa like trash and started feeling at peace with her, but, it was so hard!

Because of Arisa's diligence and observation power was such a pain, that if Nanaka should worry about someone finding out that the NanaShuka relationship was now fake, that was Arisa.

A few weeks had passed since Shuka had broken up with Nanaka, and later Aina had left Nanaka with the heavy task of moving on "quickly" enough if she still wanted to be with her.

With Shuka, the situation was mostly acting as if nothing had happened in front of the members, except for the kissing and fucking, it was just like always, only for the sake of avoiding problems with the members and to not cause more damage to Aqours. If they knew they had broken up they sure would take sides and make everything worse.

Besides, that night in an "emergency meeting", it had become evident that some rivalry and discomfort existed within the "Years groups", and that being that Production always picked "Second years" to do pretty much everything, and now with the constants polls of dooms the project was throwing to the fans; the popularity poll for "Third Single", the Lisani Girl, the SevenEleven Girl, the new hosts for the radio, the Dengeki G's Magazine Cover Girl poll, and the SIF Winter Promo UR, all the girls were kind of nervous and bringing out their claws to jump on each other.

Well, everyone except Nanaka and Aina.

They were kind of living in their own magical world.

Aina was waiting for Nanaka to heal, and after the proper amount weeks of being just a nice and supportive friend, she had decided after the NAOMI's room presentation that Nanaka was ready to move on. So she had brought out all her guns and started being bolder towards her, and of course, started staying over at Nanaka's place once again, and way more often.

But it wasn't that something had happened between them yet.

Yes, Aina had stayed at her place, but they always came in super late and super tired, so if they were lucky they would hold hands and fall asleep. Also, Suwa parents were home.

But something was clear; there was a tension between them that was now palpable.

And that was why the taxi ride had been so unpleasant; that day they had to stay longer because of this "emergency meeting", and later The Chief had called three taxis per years members to drive them home, and the first tense moment had risen when the members pointed out that it had been a while since Shuka had left with Nanaka, and second, that Aina and Nanaka were like in their own lovely world.

And Arisa had pointed that out to them in the taxi.

And after a few elusive answers from them; Nanaka assured Arisa that everything was fine, that Aqours was fine.

After Aina's loud giggling about the "Suwa door" once again, they entered Nanaka's home.

"Just...how many times do you need to stay here for you to stop mocking me about the door?" said Nanaka turning on the entrance light.

"Like...forever..." said Aina still giggling, "pardon the intrusion..."

"Forever? I can't bare your mocking forever..." said Nanaka tiredly taking her shoes off and entering into her home.

"Awww don't say that," said Aina closing the door, "I can wait for you forever..."

The thump of the door closing was like a punch to her heart.

Nanaka stopped breathing and walking for a second.

Then she turned around to see Aina; she was taking her shoes off like nothing was happening.

Nanaka frowned.

Situations with Aina were like that; she said something, Aina retorted with a joke, or maybe the truth but disguised as a joke, so she never knew if Aina was serious, or if she wanted a clear intention.

The thing that Nanaka was certain of, was that she was afraid of trying to kiss Aina and be left like a fool once again.

I'm not sure about her anymore...
Uhm...
Maybe I should wait for things to happen on their own...?
Don't push it...

That was a plan.

Nanaka was clear that Aina had feelings for her, but when she tried to do something, it was Aina who stopped, saying that "she wasn't ready".

Was she ready yet? Or needed to wait a little more?

Nanaka scratched the back of her neck, confused.

Then she fixed her sight on Aina; she was taking off her jacket.

Nanaka's eyes traveled from Aina's cute neck, her straight hair falling down her shoulders, how good that white blouse was on Aina's body, and how delightful it would be to take that off her.

Then Aina stopped and her big black eyes glued onto hers. She smiled cutely.

"Suwawa..." called Aina smugly.

Nanaka blinked a few times.

"Wha-What?..." asked Nanaka softly, like coming out from the trance.

"You...are you awake? You seemed lost..." said Aina in a goofy tone stepping inside.

"I'm awake...I think..." said Nanaka still in a trance.

"Can I borrow some sleepers?" asked Aina cutely.

"Oh oh...yeah, sure..." said Nanaka like coming back from the space; she remembered that Aina was a visitor and she wasn't doing a good job as a host.

Nanaka moved towards the closet to take out some sleepers for her and realized that some shoes were missing; she took Aina's sleepers out and looked to the entrance, she then realized that her parents were home.

"Oh..." she snapped softly and gave Aina the sleepers without taking her sight off her parents' shoes.

"What...? Something wrong?" asked Aina putting on the sleepers.

"My parents are home..." said Nanaka softly and remembered that she still had her coat on, so she started to undress.

"Oh...how troublesome..." said Aina.

"Why is that?" said Nanaka hanging her coat over Aina's.

"I can't laugh..." said Aina, then laughed.

Nanaka deadpanned her.

Aina covered her mouth with both hands and mumbled a soft "Sorry".

Nanaka gave her a soft smile and sighed.

"They must be asleep, it's late..." said Nanaka walking inside, "you said you were hungry— can you turn off the light?" finished Nanaka entering the kitchen and turning on the lights.

"Yes~," said Aina in her goofy tone and Nanaka could feel that the light in the entrance was turned off.

The kitchen was neat and clean except for some covered plates resting on the kitchen counter.

"Actually I wasn't hungry...that was just for Arisha to stop bugging you..." said Aina entering the Kitchen.

"I thought so..." said Nanaka in her dry tone walking towards the covered plates, there was a post-it on top.

"Good job today! We are cheering for you. Love. Mama & Papa."

Nanaka took the post-it and smiled softly.

"They really love you..." said Aina standing by her side, of course, she peeped on the post-it.

"I know they do... I'm their only child..." said Nanaka in her monotone.

She put away the post-it and uncovered the plates.

"Are you sure you don't want to eat...mama cooked..." said Nanaka looking to her side, locking her sight on Aina's big black eyes.

"I..." tried Aina, but seemed to be glued to Nanaka's eyes too.

It was intense; Aina's gaze was devouring Nanaka's sleepy eyes, she was seeing her soul and making her feel hot and uneasy. Her cheeks became wild red.

"I ...I rather prefer... to eat something else..." said Aina softly like in a trance.

Nanaka swallowed, blinked a few times and tried hard to kick her senses from the back of her head.

"Something tasty, juicy and delicious?" asked Nanaka with her eyes fixed on Aina's plump lips.

Aina licked them as a reflex.

"Yes...something...something like that..." said Aina softly, lost in Nanaka's eyes.

They could only hear the kitchen clock ticking, and maybe both hearts pounding hard and fast. Both were nervous, it could be felt in the atmosphere. But nobody moved. Maybe they couldn't even breathe.

Maybe both were fighting the desire to send everything to hell and kiss for once.

The sexual tension was just too high! In Nanaka's mind, everything started to spin; ideas and fantasies started to play in her mind.

What if she just grabbed Aina's cheeks and kissed her deeply and desperately? Then grabbed her tiny body and started to undress her there, in the middle of the kitchen...there was plenty of space to lay Aina on top of one of the kitchen counters and devour her entirely, raw and hot...

Maybe Aina was thinking something similar, she was intensely licking her lips and getting closer to Nanaka when both phones rang at the same time.

Both girls jumped in place with their hearts in their throats.

"Goddammit!" snapped Aina in her loud tone with her hand on her heart.

"Jesus..." said Nanaka softly and looking somewhere else trying to hold her breath.

"Sorry, was I too loud?" said Aina taking her bag off her back to grab her phone.

"No no...it was...just...who is it?" asked Nanaka putting her bag near the plates to take out her phone.

"Eh Eh..." tried Aina a little bit complicated, she was still nervous, "Maybe Arisha?" said Aina digging in her bag.

Goddammit, Arisa Komiya...

Cursed Nanaka bringing her phone out.

Effectively, it was Arisa, it was her message telling them she was home already.

It made Nanaka mentally facepalm because she had been the one who told Arisa to send a message when she arrived.

But of course, she didn't know it could interrupt something...

It was something...right?

I mean...we almost...

Jesus Christ's... my parents are home...we can't...

"Well, she is home..." said Aina with her goofy tone like nothing was going on and put her phone away.

"Yeah, that's good," said Nanaka, she was going to close her phone too but she received another message.

She gave it a quick look. It was from Arisa but in her private chat.

Nanaka blinked a few times and then looked at Aina.

"Did you bring something to sleep in?" she asked.

Aina looked at her with a surprised face and then smiled wide.

"Yeah, I came prepared..." said Aina showing her bag.

"Good, if you want you can go ahead..." said Nanaka with a shy smile.

"Eh? I thought we would eat first..." said Aina softly, but then regretting it making the atmosphere weird again.

Nanaka bit her lips.
They shared some weird looks like not knowing what to do.

"Ok...I'll... go... yeah..." said Aina weirdly and moved out of the kitchen.

Nanaka looked at Aina disappearing and then looked back to her phone to open the conversation with Arisa.

Suwawa, remember what we talked about in the taxi! (ﾟヘﾟ)

I don't know what you are playing, but I'm worried! Should I need too? (；一ω一||)

Nanaka made a bitter expression.

Her act with Shuka was supposed to avoid worrying the members, but it seemed that her sexual tension with Aina was calling some attention, and her behavior towards Shuka wasn't as usual.

And it made sense, she just couldn't be touching her or kissing her so freely, it hurt her too.

But she had a plan, and at the moment, it was a good one.

She needed to stick to it.

With a heavy heart, she wrote.

Don't be! Everything is under control! (ง •̀ω•́)ง

Aqours is fine, and that's what matters. ღゝ)ノ

She smiled faintly.

She knew that Arisa wasn't a fool and maybe that message wasn't going to convince her, but she needed to stick to the plan.

Not a single minute passed and Nanaka had her answer back.

Ok, but if you need anything, I'm here. (o^^o)

Have a good night! See you tomorrow! ｡‿｡

Nanaka smiled faintly, Arisa was a good person, awkward, but good.

She sent her goodbyes and was going to close her phone when she received another message that took her breath away.
It wasn't from Arisa, it was from Shuka.

Nanaka switched to the conversation quickly.

Osuwa! You still up?...(〃艸〃)

Nanaka blinked a few times. Shuka knew she was a night person and used to stay up until late.
She sighed heavily. Having a conversation with Shuka was the last thing she wanted.

And just after she had some wet fantasies with Aina in the kitchen.

She typed with fast fingers.

Yes Shuka, I'm still up...(๑ㅂ๑)

What's wrong? (๑•́ω•̀)

Shuka, of course, was online, so her answer came right away.

I think we need to talk... |･x･`)

Today I said things I shouldn't have, and maybe I put us in a difficult position, I'm sorry! (o_ _)o

I'm still adjusting to the idea of us not being together, and, it's hard...(︿)

And because we need to keep 'us' close for the members, I don't know... it hurts me. (__|||)

Nanaka made a bitter expression.

It was hurting Shuka to hold hands and pretend to be something they weren't anymore.

What do you want Shuka?...
What do I want?
We had a plan... we bet on that plan...

Nanaka frowned.

Then she typed with her heart in her throat.

Shuka, we made a plan... (ﾟヘﾟ)

I think we need to think about what we want, remember we aren't alone, our decisions are the members too...

You wanted this! (・‐)ゞ

Then Nanaka closed her eyes.

Shuka had wanted to end their relationship, they knew the consequences. Now they had to live with them.

Aqours is fine.

Nanaka was snapped out of her mind with the next message.

Yes, I know... but I can't control it! (〃艸〃)

Can we talk? (ㆁᴗㆁ)

Nanaka frowned and then looked up to the kitchen clock. It was late, and Aina was around.

And to tell the truth, she didn't want to think about this issue at that moment.

It pissed her off.

Was Shuka such a brat that she just couldn't bear her own decisions? Was she regretting breaking up?

Just give me a break!

I can't be saving us all the time...

Then she typed.

Shuka, weather I love talking to you, I believe now is not the right moment. (ᴗᴗ)

It's late, I'm tired... (.づ﹏)づ.

And this topic is quite delicate to be talking in a tired state. (๑ᵕᵕ̤)

Nanaka sighed, she felt troubled.

"Suwawa?" she heard.

Of course, Aina was around.

Nanaka turned around and greeted a cute Aina in pink pajamas at the kitchen's doorframe.

"You haven't touched the food or anything...is everything ok?" said Aina walking towards her.

Nanaka gave her a sad face.

"Shuka…" said Nanaka dryly and Aina stopped instantly.

"Oh..."

"Yes...Oh..." said Nanaka tiredly, then her phone rang once again.

They locked faces, sad faces.

For a moment, for Aina, the "Shuka theme" hadn't been an issue anymore. Sometimes both forgot about it until of course, Shuka reminded them that she was still there, like a ghost.

And unfortunately, that ghost would never go away because they worked with it.

"You want to talk to her?" asked Aina in q very gentle tone, like knowing that this issue was important for Nanaka and her presence was disturbing.

"No, I don't... it's late, I'm tired..." said Nanaka, and then looked at her phone and read Shuka's message.

You are right, sorry I disturbed you with my silly insecurities...(*ﾉω-)

See you tomorrow (ง •̀ω•́)ง

Have a good night Osuwa. ｡‿｡

Nanaka wrote back a "goodnight" and then closed her phone with a tired expression.

"Maybe we should try your Mama's food?" said Aina trying to brighten up the mood.

"I thought you weren't hungry..." said Nanaka turning around to look at what her mother had made; it was a roll of Tamagoyaki and some Tataki Beef.

"I'm not, but I can eat... besides, I'd love to have some tea with you…" said Aina moving to the cabinet where the kettle was.

"Eh? Tea? Now?... Aina, it's late..." tried Nanaka, but Aina was filling the kettle.

"Yes, it's late, but, your mother made that dinner for ya', it would be a waste not to try it..." said Aina setting the kettle on the stove.

"Isn't a bit late for dinner?" said Nanaka.

"We can split it, that way neither of us eats that much..." said Aina with a grin.

Nanaka gave her a shy smile.

"Moreover, I think we need to talk..." said Aina with a cute tone.

"Eh? Really?" asked Nanaka tiredly

"Yes, I need to," said Aina taking out the mugs.

"Aina, I just rejected Shuka from having a talk...and you want to have one now?" said Nanaka pouting.

"Well, good thing I'm not Shukashuu," said Aina and winked at Nanaka.

That wink was straight to her heart and soul.
It made Nanaka blush so hard that she needed to turn around and fix her sight onto the untouched food.

"Geez!" said Nanaka grabbing her hot cheeks, "I see you have been practicing your winks..."

Aina laughed, but then remembers she couldn't be that loud.

"Well, 'Mari-chan' winks all the time, so I'm practicing winking with both eyes..." said Aina in a happy tone, "Did I capture your heart?" finished Aina in a teasing tone.

"Eh?..." snapped Nanaka turning around with a frown.

"I believe in the magic of words..." said Aina in a goofy tone getting closer to Nanaka.

"Are you singing 'Torikoriko PLEASE' to me?" asked Nanaka dryly and with a deadpan look; Aina stopped and giggled.

"Eh~ c'mon! I love AZALEA's songs," said Aina happily, "They are so romantic...so what do we have for dinner?" finally said Aina getting beside Nanaka and looking at the food.

Nanaka hummed.

Nanaka took out a few plates and started splitting the food for them to share. It wasn't that much; Mama Suwa knew that Nanaka wasn't a great eater, and it was more likely that she would just leave the food untouched, that was why both dishes were cold served.

"Are you going to be fine with this much?" asked Nanaka moving her chopsticks from one plate to another.

"Why are you asking me that? You think I'm always eating..." said Aina in a fake outraged voice.

They locked gazes.

Then Nanaka realized that they were too close to each other once again. Aina's eyes glued into hers; once again the gaze competition made Nanaka's heart pound fast and loud, the tension rising up, also the heat.

But this time it wasn't a phone but the kettle's whistle that interrupted the moment.

Both closed their eyes tiredly, feeling the magic fading.

Aina moved fast towards the kettle with a wide smile; she knew very well what was going on, but it was crucial to stop the kettle from whistling because of the noise.

Nanaka finished with the dishes and moved towards the dining table to set them down.

Silence filled the kitchen once again except for the kitchen clock and its tireless ticking.

Nanaka looked up to Aina; her eyes followed her every movement, every wrinkle in her pajamas, her hair waving from one side to another, then Nanaka's gaze stopped on Aina's face, her concentrated face while making the tea.

How Aina was biting her lips, her tongue sticking out slightly out of those plump lips.

Nanaka blinked a few times.

What if she just dropped everything and walked towards Aina and trapped her with a tight back hug against the counter and groped her, folded her, and started biting her ear sexily…

"Suwawa," called Aina in her serious tone.

Nanaka snapped out of her wet fantasies again, blinking fast and trying to stand straight.

"Ye—yes?" asked Nanaka shyly.

"I need some chopsticks too…" said Aina not even turning around.

Nanaka looked at the set table, of course, there weren't any chopsticks for Aina.

She blinked furiously and walked at her peace to take some chopstick from a drawer.

"Your gaze was heavy on me….cut it out…its making me nervous," said Aina pouring the hot water, her tone was serious.

Nanaka grabbed the utensils and looked at Aina with her eyebrows raised.

"So—sorry…" she said softly.

Then Nanaka realized that her reflection was on the microwave door.

Aina had caught her staring at her with that intense gaze through there. Nanaka felt her cheeks bright red.

This…this is taking us nowhere…

Maybe that's what she wanted to talk about...?

Nanaka moved again towards the table and left Aina's chopsticks on her side of the table.

Aina took the mugs to the table and sat in her designated chair.

"Everything looks tasty...even the food!" said Aina with her happy tone and looking at Nanaka; her cheeks became wild red.

"Why with you it's always food? Indeed you are always eating!" said Nanaka taking her seat with a nervous tone; Aina giggled.

"Food is love, and I love eating with you..." said Aina carelessly in her words and grabbing her chopsticks.

Nanaka couldn't say a thing, she was left astonished.

I... I can't stare at her, but she throws me this flirting without discretion!

What should I do?

Should I need to be bolder?

"Thanks for the meal!" said Aina happily and started digging in.

Nanaka blinked a few times and looked at her food.

It seemed that with Aina her conversations were always around food.

"This is great!" said Aina with her mouth full of Tamagoyaki, "This is what homemade cooking tastes like!"

Nanaka looked at her with a sad gaze, then looked at her plate again.

Of course, Aina's parents were in Hokkaido, so she used to be alone. To eat alone.

Nanaka sure spent her afternoons alone, she often also ate alone when her parents weren't around, but that wasn't always, at least they shared a few meals a week, or her mother left her something, proof that at least there was some care. It must be so hard for Aina being so far from her relatives.

And after what the Chief had said a few hours ago...

Nanaka blinked with determination.

"Ainya..." called Nanaka softly; her gaze glued on her plate, then she looked at Aina across the table with a serious look.

"Wha-What?" asked Aina with her mouth full of Tataki, locking her gaze on Nanaka.

"About what the Chief said back in the meeting, would you want to spend Christmas with me?" said Nanaka, serious but softly.

Aina blinked a few times, swallowed the beef portion of her Tataki, maybe not even tasting it, and opened her mouth incredulously.

"What...?" she said finally.

"What you heard, would you like to?" repeated Nanaka, now more shyly, feeling her cheeks red with embarrassment, she looked at her plate and grabbed one of the Tamagoyaki, and ate it.

"Suwawa...I... are you sure? I mean... it's a family thing..." said Aina with a sad tone.

Yes, it was, but Aina was deprived of spending her Christmas with her family due Production determining to have a special "Mini Live" around Christmas, meaning that Aina just couldn't go back to Hokkaido to spend the holidays with her family.

And that was just sad.

"I know, but I don't want you to spend that holiday alone, you are more than welcome to stay with us," said Nanaka while eating.

"You don't want me to?" asked Aina with a goofy tone.

Nanaka looked at her; both were silent, both were serious.

"That's what I said..." said Nanaka softly and ate another bite.

"And what do you know about what you want?" asked Aina seriously.

Nanaka took her time to chew.

Is this about Shuka? Is it about her? The project?

What the hell does she mean?

She swallowed.

"I think I know what I want..." said Nanaka softly, taking another bite.

"You think? Jesus, Suwawa... you just can't 'think'; you need to know!" said Aina with her serious tone and took another bite.

Both stayed silently chewing for a few minutes, then Nanaka broke the ice.

"I know that I want to spend Christmas with you," said Nanaka boldly, Aina stood like a statue in front of her with her mouth open like a fish.

Maybe it was because of Nanaka's determination on her words, or maybe it was because it was something that Aina was desiring since the previous year, but since Nanaka was busy with Shuka, it seemed like something far away, or even unreal.

"You...you want to be with me?" asked Aina astonished.

Nanaka blinked a few times; was she deaf? Or Aina wanted to hear something else?

"I wanted to... spend Christmas with you," repeated Nanaka, then she felt her cheeks become bright red, and looked at her food to hide. She grabbed a bite and ate it.

Aina smiled goofily.

"Suwawa..." called Aina with a goofy tone, but Nanaka kept grabbing food without making eye contact.

"Suwa...Suwawa look at me..." asked Aina softly, but Nanaka just couldn't, she was dying of embarrassment.

Aina sighed softly, she rested her chopsticks on her plate, cleaned her mouth with her napkin, then slowly grabbed her tea, took a few sips of it and then rested it softly on the table.

"Nana..." called Aina with her incredibly mature tone, which Nanaka just couldn't ignore anymore.

She swallowed and cleaned her mouth slowly to later lock gazes with a serious and beautiful Aina across the table.

Aina smiled at her sweetly.

"Do you love me?" asked Aina in that mature tone that made Nanaka's heart skip a few beats.

It melted her, it disarmed her.

All the shards of her fallen mask that she had gathered on these past weeks were trembling on her feet.

She felt totally naked, totally exposed.

And totally scared.

Did she?

Do I?

Did she love Aina? The same way Aina loved her back?

Was she ready to fall into that love...?

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness, her eyes becoming watery.
Her lips started to shiver, and an incredible chill ran down her spine.

The truth was that she couldn't answer.

Aina closed her eyes slowly; she sighed softly and then opened her kind eyes with a wide smile.

"It's ok Suwa-chan," said Aina in her goofy tone once again; Nanaka made a bitter face.

Once again, she had broken Aina's heart.

"Aina I—" tried Nanaka, but Aina interrupted her.

"It's ok Suwawa, I don't expect you to love me... at least not the same way as I do..." said Aina with her normal tone, "But I have to give you some credit, you really have healed a lot..."

Nanaka didn't say a thing.

This was SO HARD!

She had been in a one year intense relationship where she had given her all, she sacrificed her everything and had to brake her own heart for the sake of Shuka's mental health, it wasn't because she didn't love Shuka, that love was still there, and now she needed to glue herself quickly for Aina.

The truth was that she couldn't do that yet.

It was correct that she was trying to move on, she had done it so far, but one step at the time.

Nanaka covered her face with her hands and massaged her temples.

"Oh, Suwawa, please don't take it so seriously..." said Aina now like in panic.

"Aina, it's not that...of course I take it seriously..." said Nanaka behind her hands, "I just asked if you wanted to spend Christmas with me, not if you want to get married..."

Aina snorted and then broke into her laughter.

Nanaka took her hands off her face and slapped her palms onto the table with a loud thump. Aina jumped in her seat and abruptly shut up.

"Aina I'm serious!" said Nanaka fixing her sight on Aina's.

Aina bit her lips.

"I...I don't want to break your heart anymore, and I don't want to keep you waiting..." said Nanaka with pain in her words, "I... I love you, but I don't think I'm healed yet..."

"I know," said Aina dryly recovering her serious face.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"If you had told me that you love me I would say that it was a lie," she continued in her serious tone, "the truth is that you still love Shuka, and it's understandable, you two broke up just a few weeks ago, and not because you two stopped loving each other... I'm not blind you know..." she paused to take some sips of her tea.

Nanaka looked at her plate with her eyes welled in tears.

Then what are we doing?

What's with this tension?! What is this?!

Aina left her tea mug and took a deep breath.

"Suwawa, that's what I wanted to talk about, but I need you to look at me," said Aina in her serious tone.

Nanaka looked at her and couldn't help to feel a lonely tear running down her cheek.

"Please don't...don't cry..." asked Aina, "I feel like I'm hurting you..."

Nanaka shook her head.

"I think I'm hurting you, again..." retorted Nanaka.

This time Aina shook her head.

"Suwawa, I'm aware of your feelings, and I'm aware of your efforts...you are not hurting me... really..." said Aina with a shy smile.

"Then? What the hell Ainya?" asked Nanaka not quite understanding this whole dynamic.

"I'm messing with you…" said Aina with her joking tone.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide, her mouth slightly opened in astonishment.

That's…that was so fucking twisted!

"I'm sorry…" giggled Aina.

Nanaka put on her serious "Suwa face" and tightened her lips in anger.

Aina was messing with her heart.

"I just wanted to see your reaction…" said Aina giggling, but seeing that Nanaka wasn't laughing, but on the contrary, she was getting upset, so she stopped.

Aina sighed softly.

"I'm sorry, of course, I would love to spend Christmas with you and your family. Thank you," said Aina and then bowed politely.

Nanaka's right eyebrow twitched.

"And that was so hard to say?… " asked Nanaka mad.

"Hey hey…don't get angry, I'm sorry…" said Aina now with a sad tone, "You know when I get nervous I just… do whatever—"

"I thought you said you weren't Shuka, then don't act like a brat!" said Nanaka now looking at her side with her cheeks red in embarrassment and her eyes watery; she felt so ashamed and fooled.

Aina was messing with her heart by asking that big question that she didn't feel ready to answer, and was in deep pain because she felt that she had hurt Aina once again with her lack of assertiveness.

Was everything a constant joke for Aina?

"Well, it wasn't all a joke…if you are wondering…" said Aina taking the mug once again and recovering her serious tone, "Spending Christmas with you is a big deal; what about Shuka?"

Nanaka looked at her with a frown.

"What about her? I'm not spending the holidays with her…" said Nanaka in an angry tone; what did Shuka have to do with it?

"Are you sure? What if it's for the 'Members' and you need to act with her?" asked Aina seriously.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

THAT was the issue here.

Nanaka sat comfortably in her chair and looked at Aina seriously.

"So, that's the problem? Are you jealous?" asked Nanaka.

"I told you that with her I'm always jealous…" said Aina straightforward.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

Well, at least she is being honest…

"But, we are not together anymore—" tried Nanaka.

"Really?…" interrupted Aina, Nanaka bit her lips, "Because for me…and for all the members, you are still together, you are still a couple… and I have to keep seeing you with her, holding hands and the 'Sweetie' thing…" said Aina with bitterness.

"Aina, it's for the sake of the members—"

"Why do you care?" asked Aina seriously.

"Why—? Geez! Because I care about Aqours! And you do too, not long ago you said that we needed to maintain Aqours united, and if we broke up then the Unit would suffer!"

"Well, I take it back! This is insane!" said Aina outrage.

"You can't take it back!" retorted Nanaka, "And not now that the Unit is frail"

"Frail? Why? C'mon! Suwawa, if you keep this act with her you will never heal!"

"And maybe I'll never do! Jesus! Ainya, we work together! I see her every day, now we have to record a drama together, and—" Nanaka was saying.

"I know all of that! But you are getting it worse! You—" Aina was saying rising her voice.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide and bit her lips.

She felt like a deja vu.

"Stop stop!" said Nanaka raising her hands up making Aina stop her rant.

"What?!" asked Aina in her loud tone, she didn't realize that she was even standing up.

Nanaka brought her hands towards her face, covering it.

This is the same as with Shuka...

Goddammit, the jealousy!

"I…Can't do this…" said Nanaka behind her hands.

"Do what?" asked Aina now calmer.

"This…you…this is the same as with Shuka," said Nanaka still behind her hands, "I…I thought that with you it was going to be different, but…no…"

"Don't compare me with her," said Aina in a serious tone.

Nanaka took her hands off her face and deadpanned.

"Aina, you are complaining about my 'show' with Shuka, the same complaint I had to bear with Shuka over my 'show' with you…" said Nanaka dryly.

Aina opened her eyes wide, and in astonishment sat down again.

Nanaka blinked a few times.

"I'm not doing this anymore…I've had enough…" said Nanaka in her serious tone.

She took her mug and in deep thought, she took some sips of her now warm tea.

Of course, she thought that having a relationship with Aina could be different. But now it was clear that the jealousy factor would be an issue too.

Aina was stubborn with Nanaka about her breaking up with Shuka, that she was never healthy for Nanaka because of the jealousy, but now that the roles could flip, Aina was getting jealous about it.

So, was everything a trick? A manipulation?

Did Aina want Nanaka to break up with Shuka now for her own benefit?

"Suwawa…" Aina called sadly.

Nanaka looked at her with some sadness.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean too…" she said softly, "I… I'm not her, I can assure you…It's not that I'm here complaining about your 'show'….I want you to heal! And if you keep up with that 'show' you will never heal!" tried Aina strongly.

"Why do you care that much? You said you could wait, then wait!" retorted Nanaka.

"I can't wait forever!… Suwawa, I've been having wet fantasies with you this whole time! If you don't heal I can't make them real dammit!" said Aina now losing her nerves.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed in bright red.

"…Oh…" said Nanaka softly and glued to her chair.

She wasn't the only one having dirty fantasies.

In a way, that was good.

Aina took a deep breath.

"I…I know you have them too…I know that we have 'something', but…I don't want to be a replacement…I don't want to be Shuka…I want you to be with ME, no with a poor image of her; and you having this 'show' with her for the members, it's like you will never be able to move on…"

"I…I see…" said Nanaka softly.

"I'm not giving you a jealousy show, I want you to be free…free from her…besides, you don't know how this 'show' is affecting her…maybe you are clear about this is just that, a 'show', but her?… I don't see her as affected as I see you! She has the best part! Like—like… you hugging her, or holding hands…but without the commitment! Is that healthy?" continued Aina a bit warmed up.

Nanaka went into deep thought.

That was an interesting point.

It was like Shuka didn't want to lose anything; she still had the caring part of Nanaka, but with the freedom of not being in a relationship.
But, remembering the messages she had received a few minutes earlier, Shuka seemed tired about faking too.

"I care…" started Aina again with her mature tone; that tone that made Nanaka's heart race, "I care about you… I don't want to rush things when you are so messed up; the fact that you couldn't answer me that you loved me back is proof that you are not ready yet, no matter how many times you had undressed me in this kitchen…"

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"I don't want to be someone for you because you are horny, you ended your own relationship a few weeks ago, I can't be so naïve as to think that you are already healed… and I don't want to be Shuka's replacement…for the same reason I don't want you to think that I have jealousy issues like her…yes, everything you do with her makes me jealous, it always did, but I bare it, I supported you…and I always did…now I want you to end that 'show' with her to start fucking me." ended Aina with her goofy tone.

Nanaka snorted about that last sentence.

"Are you for real…?" asked Nanaka amused, feeling that all the mature speech died with that last part.

"That I want you to fuck me?… Sure!" said Aina also amused.

"No…that you want me to publicly break up with her…? Do we need that? What about Aqours?" asked Nanaka concerned.

"You worry too much…" said Aina waiving, "They will be fine! They all are adults…well, not Shuka…but the rest are!"

Nanaka raised an eyebrow.

So, we can't fuck until I publicly break up with Shuka?…

Why?…

"I don't get it…" said Nanaka seriously, "I already do stuff with you on camera, what I do with Shuka is just… holding hands and hugs…why does it bother you?"

"Why do you want to continue?" retorted Aina.

Both stayed looking at each other seriously.

They had reached a dead end.

Aina finished her tea and left the mug on the table with a sweet smile.

Nanaka, on the other hand, took some sips from her mug trying to understand why that was so important for Aina.
And if she could make it.

Maybe Aina was right and the news wouldn't change anything in the Unit.

But she didn't want to be responsible for the Unit breaking up because of the members taking sides; the so-called adults by Aina had been arguing earlier about Center positions, screen time, and polls.

She had a plan, she had made some bets.

She needed to do what she felt was right, and what she wanted to do.

They locked gazes for at least a full minute.

"I'll talk to her…" said Nanaka softly.

"Good!" snapped Aina with her goofy tone, "Because I'm tired of mentally undressing you, I want to do it for real…"

Nanaka blinked a few times feeling so puzzled that she even forgot her words; her cheeks becoming bright red and feeling a weird feeling in her lower half.

Nanaka licked her lips.

Then just do it!

Let's do it already!

"But I wanted to be sure…" said Aina softly and getting up, "I'll wait…you are not ready yet"

And Aina took the dishes and carried them to the sink.

Nanaka looked Aina's hips move from side to side.

Maybe I don't want to be sure…

I'm not sure about anything anymore…

"Suwawa, why don't you go, I'll finish here…" said Aina not even looking at her.

Nanaka frowned, and then stood up.

"Maybe you are the one who's not ready…" said Nanaka softly.

Aina stopped moving and slightly looked over her shoulder.

"Nana, if I wanted you would be over that table, legs spread and shouting my name, but your parents are home…" said Aina in her mature tone, so secure and so sexy that made Nanaka indeed wet.

Nanaka opened her eyes in surprise and gasped.

"And I can't settle with just a kiss…" said Aina turning around to open the tap to start washing the dishes, "We both know that we won't just kiss…"

Nanaka blinked ashamed.

Aina was right, if they made out, they would end fucking each other and all this conversation would be pointless. Besides, her parents were there and she had the feeling that Aina was loud in bed.

"Ok…" said Nanaka softly and with some difficulties grabbed her mug, drank the rest of the tea and took it to the sink for Aina.

Both shared some sexy glances towards each other, some shy smiles and then Nanaka move out of the kitchen with her bag and walking weird.

She was soaked.

Of course, it was late and she was feeling tired - and horny-; Aina's words about spreading her legs over the kitchen table and screaming her name made her really uneasy, but she just couldn't take a shower.

So, she changed into her PJs quickly, undid her hair, removed her contacts and makeup, put on her glasses to finally brush her teeth.
She was in the middle of that when Aina came into the changing room with a sweet smile.

In silence, she took out her toothbrush, the one she used to use...but she took out two.

"I see you still keep this one…" said Aina with an annoyed tone, of course, it was Shuka's toothbrush.

Nanaka looked at her with a deadly glare, but she ignored her.

Aina giggled.

"You are not ready..." she murmured leaving Shuka's toothbrush in its place and started brushing her teeth.

Nanaka felt annoyed about the situation. It was like a punishment.
Aina knew that she was horny, that she had feelings for her, even if it wasn't quite clear because she was still healing, but that was cruelty.
It was like showing candy to a kid and depriving him from eating it.
Maybe Aina was enjoying having this kind of power over Nanaka, after all, it had been a year since Nanaka had been rubbing her love for Shuka into Aina's face.

Nanaka finished her teeth and looked at Aina.

"You are having your revenge...I get it... but, don't play with fire, you might get burned..." said Nanaka turning around with her serious "Suwa face", that face that made even Rikako afraid and walked towards the door.

Aina made a sound for Nanaka to turn around, Aina stopped brushing to lock gazes with Nanaka.

"If I wanted to, I could have just fucked you a long time ago..." said Nanaka twitching her right eye and then leaving the room.
She could hear Aina making a weird sound.

Serves her right...
I'm the one who's going to spread her legs wide for her to shout out my name!

Nanaka entered her room and as she thought, Aina had set the room too.
Her bed was arranged just how Nanaka liked it, her plushies very well arranged too, and the futon on the floor.

She put her phone on the nightstand and got in her bed; a few seconds later Aina entered the room. They locked gazes and Nanaka could feel how the tension was raising.

Maybe it was a good call if Aina didn't crash at her house that often.

Aina turned off the light and got in the futon.

Silence filled the room.
This time there was no holding hands or anything, it felt like if they touched they could start doing it right away.

Nanaka's gaze was glued to the ceiling. Of course, it was dark and she couldn't fix her sight onto the grains.

She was about to close her eyes when Aina spoke.

"Suwawa..." she called.

"Yes, Aina...?" asked Nanaka tiredly.

"We... we'll be fine..." she said in a cute tone.

"Uhm?..." hummed Nanaka not quite understanding.

Aina giggled.

"I...I just...wanted to... tell you..." started Aina shyly; Nanaka opened her eyes wide, it was weird, Aina was weird, two seconds ago she was so mature and sexy, and now she was shy.

Nanaka turned to face Aina even if she couldn't see her.

"Tell me what?"

"Eh... for me...spending time with you... is more important than having sex with you... I... I just wanted you to know... " she said shyly and softly, like really thinking every word, "For me, our time together, Aqours together is important...it's gold... and whatever happens...we will be fine..."

"Aina..." called Nanaka softly.

"Goodnight, Suwawa-chan..." said Aina with a sad tone, and Nanaka could feel the futon moving.

Nanaka couldn't help but make a sad face.

"Goodnight Ainya..." said Nanaka back, with the same sad tone.

It was bittersweet.
She had so many plans, and now that she finally was moving on, Aina had messed with her.

Another bet.

She needed to talk with Shuka about what to do with the relationship; if they told the members or not about the breakup.
But, what for? Just because she wanted to be "totally" free to start fucking Aina?
Was that "being ready" for Aina?

Why couldn't they just enjoy the little things in life? Some pleasure?
Why was it all or nothing? Black or white?

She needed to think; what was more important? The balance in Aqours, or her heart?
She needed to think about what the hell she wanted...

.

.

But first thing first.
She needed to talk with Shuka.

If she wanted to start fresh with Aina she needed to fix, once again, her relationship with Shuka.
Even if now they weren't a couple, they still had a friendship/colleague relationship that was affected by the fake relationship they needed to act out.

At some point, it had even become confusing.

Talking with Shuka was never easy; maybe some airhead subjects, or about the project, or dancing, yes it was easier, but when it was some serious or delicate issues, Shuka was a hard nut to crack.

Especially when it was about the relationship.

But this time, what was giving Nanaka a hard time over having this conversation wasn't actually Shuka, it was Aiai.

Nanaka was sitting in the Lantis building cafeteria, taking a well deserved break from the Drama recording for the Christmas Single.

Production had determined that because Nanaka, Shuka, and Aiai were the elected "December trio", it was good for them to start recording the dramas and be first at recording their track. Something that should have taken a few hours, now had extended like a week (for all the other trios as well), because this being in such short notice it seemed that it had given the scriptwriters a stroke or something, and they couldn't manage to write a good script for the track, and the girls had ended up having to do some ad-libs for it.

And Nanaka sucked really hard at ad-libbing, but Shuka and Aiai, as the loonies, had ended up doing a lot of weird things.
Funny, but weird.

The track ended up being called "Chef Ruby", and presented the girls doing something with a knife.
Nanaka didn't actually know what the hell was happening in that booth, even up to that moment, and it had been a week from that.

In short, she had been recording a track, that after five days, didn't know what it was about.
The only thing she knew was that finally, Kanan was the "funny man" of the track, and she didn't even know how.

The issue was that, that week it was the perfect instance to talk with Shuka, and because this track was being a pain in the three girls' asses, Nanaka just couldn't, but mostly because Aiai was there, and not precisely being quiet.

Aiai was always mocking Shuka, with Shuka, ad-libbing with Shuka, or in the breaks, fooling around with Shuka.
It made Nanaka wonder how Anchan did it in CYaRon!'s recordings with these two unleashed loonies.

Was Anchan able to hear her own thoughts by the end of the day? Or maybe Anchan was more serious with them around?

At the end of the recording, Nanaka had had enough and ended up almost running to the cafeteria for some peace, trying to hear her thoughts once again.

She bought herself a green tea, and while she was there enjoying it, massaged her temples trying to put herself together.

Suddenly her phone rang with a message.

Nanaka took her hands off her face to look at her phone. It was Aina.
She smiled softly and opened her phone to read.

Afternoon Suwawa-chan! ୧(๑ัั๑)୨ॢ

How are the looneys doing? (๑ゝڡ๑)

Did you finish recording already? (o^^o)

Nanaka took a sip of her tea and wrote her back.

Hey! Ainya-chan! (౪)

Well...I ran to the cafeteria...(__|||)

Aina then sent her a lot of laughing stickers and in no time the phone rang, of course, Aina was calling.
Nanaka smiled wide and answered.

"Hello~?"

"Are you running away from your job?!" asked Aina in a fake mad tone; Nanaka giggled.

"I wish I could, being with the loonies is hard, you know?!" said Nanaka more comfortable in her chair; Aina laughed.

"I can bet my head that now you feel blessed in AZALEA, right?" asked Aina amusedly.

"Yeah, I miss Arisa, whether you believe it or not..." said Nanaka looking at her green tea; Aina laughed louder about that.

Taking aside that weird "rivalry" she had with Arisa, being with her at least was in silence.
And diligent.

"Well, you need to buckle up, coz you are sharing the Niconama with them..." said Aina in her goofy tone; Nanaka deadpanned her, even if she couldn't see her.

"Not funny...I don't know how I'm going to do that..." said Nanaka softly.

"Aww, you will be fine..." said Aina with a soft voice on the other side of the phone, and somehow it worked, Aina's voice was so soothing to Nanaka, "You saw the other day that Anchan survived her Niconama, not a big deal..."

Yes, the previous Friday had been the October trio Niconama, with Anchan, Rikako, and Aikyan. Of course, Nanaka had watched it, and of course, it made her laugh her sorrows away. But that trio wasn't as loony as having Aiai with Shuka together.

"Don't compare, Rikako was in that trio...the only loony was Aikyan..." said Nanaka with bitterness, "You must watch out for King in yours!"

"Awww don't worry about me, you should worry about Arisha..." said Aina in her goofy tone.

"I'll worry about you..." said Nanaka softly, but then regretted it, closing her eyes bitterly.

"Awww Suwawa~!" called Aina loudly, "You are making me blush! You are such a cutie!"

Nanaka mentality facepalmed.
Was Aina mocking her? She always took everything so lightly...

"Sto—stop it..." mumbled Nanaka embarrassed.

"What? Are you being shy...? Is Suwawa being embarrassed with me?" mocked Aina on the other side.

Nanaka twitched one of her eyebrows.

"You are unpleasant; I'm going to hang up!" warned Nanaka.

"No no! Geez! So serious!" mocked Aina.

"Why did you call in the first place Aina?" asked Nanaka seriously, now realizing that this conversation was almost pointless.

"Why? Pff— because I miss you..." said Aina carelessly; Nanaka's heart stopped abruptly.

Aina just dropped bombs from time to time, just like that.
And of course, Nanaka was never expecting anything like that and so abruptly.

Jesus...I...

...I didn't see that coming... Christ! I can't read her!

And of course, with Shuka it was different, she could read her kid from miles away. But Aina was a constant joke with legs and loud laughter.
How could Nanaka take her seriously if she was always joking?

"...Suwawa are you there?..." asked Aina; of course, Nanaka had fallen in deep silence because of her embarrassment.

"Are...are you joking...?" asked Nanaka shyly.

"Joking? About missing you?..." asked Aina in her goofy tone.

"Yes..." answered Nanaka softly and more embarrassed.

There was a silence that almost cost Nanaka's breath, then Aina spoke again.

"Of course not," said Aina now in her mature and sexy tone, "of course I miss you, Nana, I miss you every day, and I'm worried about you because I know these past days have been difficult, not only because you need to bare the loonies...Shuka is there..."

Nanaka tightened her lips.

"And I don't know if you have had that talk already..." finished Aina trying to control her eagerness and goofy tone.

Nanaka narrowed her eyes in suspicion; Aina was worried about the conversation she needed to have with Shuka, why?
Was she in a hurry to know the resolution of that?

"I haven't had the conversation yet..." said Nanaka softly.

"Oh, why? You've spent five days with her; are you having cold feet?" asked Aina with a serious tone.

"Eh? No no, Aina, we are working here...and Aiai is here too...it's not easy to be alone; Aiai is the first one to get here and this two are really buddies, it's not that I can have a conversation alone with Shuka with her around..." explained Nanaka.

"I see...then...call her." finished Aina.

"What?"

"I just heard a lot of excuses...Suwawa, you hang on me and call Shuka to go there to the cafeteria and talk to her!" demanded Aina.

"Eh?! What are you saying—" tried Nanaka

"You heard me! You need to end that thing now!" ordered Aina.

"Why—why are you now so demanding? Why are you in such a rush? What's the hurry?" asked Nanaka with an annoyed tone; no one told her what to do, not her parents, and surely not Aina.

There was a silence, maybe Aina was counting to 10.

"Suwawa...tomorrow... tomorrow we will go to Numazu..." said Aina softly.

Nanaka frowned; what did that have to do with Shuka?

"Eh?—" Nanaka was going to ask, but Aina cut her off.

"I think you just can't delay that, so you better hurry..." said Aina fast, then, faster than Nanaka's capacity of speaking, she added, "If you don't call Shukashuu I will, but you need to have that settled by tomorrow! Good luck!"

And with that, Aina just hung up.

Nanaka blinked a few times quickly, trying to understand what the hell had happened.

What was this "ultimatum thing" about? Why was Aina so interested in settling things before going to Numazu?
Why was she in such a rush for her to talk to Shuka?

Nanaka looked at her phone and gave it an angry face.

No one tells me what to do
Go fuck yourself, Suzuki Aina!

And she left her phone on the table with a heavy thump, clear sign that Suwa Nanaka was upset.
She took her now cold tea and was ready to give it the last sip when she was interrupted...

"Osuwa?"

That was clearly Shuka's voice.
No other Aqours member called her that.

Nanaka turned around, and to her luck, Shuka was there with a worried expression.

"Shuka..." called Nanaka softly, somehow her annoyance fading.

"What are you doing here?" asked Shuka, "Do you mind if I sit?"

"Please..." said Nanaka offering a chair, "Just drinking tea..."

"I see..." said Shuka sitting beside her.

Nanaka narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Did Aina send you?" asked Nanaka with bitterness.

"Ainya?— pff, what? No, no, Osuwa, you left the recording studio almost running...I got worried..." said Shuka with a sincere tone, "After I knew that you fainted the other day...I guess...I'm worried..."

Nanaka bit her lips.
Of course, the news of Nanaka fainting would have traveled to Shuka's ears.

"Don't worry, it won't happen again..." said Nanaka softly; of course, not every day you were dumped by the girlfriend...

"I know...but...geez! I was looking for ya' in almost every restroom in the building!" said Shuka worriedly.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Really?..." asked Nanaka softly.

"Of course!" said Shuka, she then twitched her tongue, "Suwawa, we braking up doesn't mean that I don't care about you anymore..."

They locked gazes. Sad gazes.

"You...you told me that..." said Shuka softly, "that day...you told me that you would always be around for me, no matter what... Well, the same goes for you..."

Nanaka gave her a shy smile, her eyes softening.

"I don't like to remember that day..." said Nanaka sadly, looking at her tea.

"Me neither..." said Shuka with the same sad tone.

Nanaka blinked a few times and then closed her eyes in bitterness.
This was her opportunity to talk with Shuka about the issue.
And it wasn't because Aina had called Shuka, or because Nanaka was obeying Aina's demand; the topic had come on its own.

"Shuka..." called Nanaka opening her eyes and then fixing them on Shuka's

"Yes..."

"You wanted to talk the other day...and I want to talk to you, and I believe that it's the same topic..." said Nanaka seriously, but softly.

"Oh-oh, yes, that..." said Shuka sitting more comfortably in her chair, "I...geez! This week has been so crazy that I forgot" finished Shuka giggling.

Nanaka smiled softly; of course, Shuka used to hide in CYaRon! when she didn't want to deal with something, and this time she had hidden with Aiai.

"It's ok Shuka, Aiai was around...where is she by the way?" asked Nanaka.

"Furi left...she's got things to do...and certainly she couldn't be looking for ya' in every restroom..." said Shuka amused, Nanaka giggled.

"Ok... sounds fair..." said Nanaka with a shy smile.

"So...what's up?" asked Shuka with a grin; Nanaka blinked a few times not understanding.

"Eh?..."

Shuka raised her eyebrows.

"Don't you 'eh' me; you wanted to talk..." said Shuka amusedly.

"Me? You wanted to..." retorted Nanaka.

Then both locked gazes and laughed.
The truth was that both were hopeless.

The laughing lasted until Nanaka's phone rang, it was a message.

"Excuse me..." said Nanaka to look at the message; Shuka stopped laughing and nodded, it was from Aina.

So?! Did you call her?! (-公- ;)
Or should I do it? (・‐)ゞ

Nanaka made a bitter expression, Aina was such a pain!

What was with this hurry?

With quick fingers, she answered.

Don't be an ass! ( *з´)

I'm busy right now! （）

Maybe Aina had received the hint to stop bugging her because in seconds she answered;

See you tomorrow Nana~ (艸`)

Miss you~~~3 (๑๑)

Nanaka couldn't help but make a goofy smile at that.
She closed the phone giggling and left it on the table.

Then she remembered that Shuka was in front of her.

She quickly looked up to face her; Shuka had a sad smile.

"Those were good news..." said Shuka with a sad tone.

"Sorry, I know we were in the middle of something..." said Nanaka embarrassed.

"I guess...it's not..." said Shuka with a weirdly mature tone, "If you prefer to answer your phone instead of talking to me—"

"You know that's not true..." said Nanaka with a frown.

If I hadn't answered, Aina might have called Shuka, and this would be worse...

Because, how can I explain Shuka why Aina was calling her in the first place?

"But—" tried Shuka.

"It doesn't matter Shuka, let's settle this thing instead..." Nanaka cut in with determination.

"Ok, you are right, now what I think doesn't matter..." said Shuka trying to endure herself.

Nanaka blinked a few times; knowing Shuka as she did, Nanaka could have bet her Sanrio plushie collection that Shuka was trying to act as the Ikemen she always wanted to be and be tough.

"It's not that what you think doesn't matter...but now, my personal life isn't your concern..." said Nanaka dryly.

"I know, I'm sorry..." said Shuka shyly and looking at her shoes.

"We need to decide what we are going to do with Aqours," said Nanaka.

Shuka looked at her with sad eyes.

"We didn't want to hurt Aqours, so we are lying to them about us to avoid a Unit breakdown..." continued Nanaka, Shuka nodded.

"And, because of that, we are the ones getting hurt..." finished Nanaka.

"Yes..." said Shuka softly.

Nanaka hummed.

At least we agree on this...

"So, it's been almost a month of that...what do you want to do Shuka?" asked Nanaka with a serious tone and face; Shuka looked at her with sadness.

"I...I... I don't know..." mumbled Shuka; Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness, like knowing this already.

Shuka never knew anything.
Nanaka was always the one in charge of the relationship's decisions.
Good or bad, it was her who did everything. Even ripping her heart out of her chest for Shuka to be at peace.

Nanaka sighed.

"Then what? I'm done making decisions for us..." said Nanaka with a tired tone.

"I'm sorry..." Shuka tried to apologize.

"You should be; well, you told me that our fake show is hurting you, so I guess you want to tell the members and we should stop this," said Nanaka trying to hold the back pain. It was like ripping her heart off her chest for a second time.

"Isn't this hurting you?" asked Shuka with surprise.

"Of course it is Shuka; YOU dumped me...it wasn't my call..." said Nanaka, "And I was the one who ended the relationship on your behalf because you couldn't do it...so I guess it's on me to tell the members—"

"Stop! This isn't fair!" said Shuka now with a louder tone.

"Fair?...don't talk to me about being fair; you ended me, and then you come to me when you please! When you need it! And now you are asking me if this isn't hurting me?..." said Nanaka angrily.

Shuka was speechless.
Her eyes were wide like two fried eggs. The demure Nanaka she used to know was done with her shit.
Maybe Shuka understood how far she had fucked it up.

Nanaka sighed softly, calming herself; she indeed had a lot inside.

Maybe she was so in control of the situation because deep inside she knew that she had nothing to lose; Aina was on her side and agreed with her, maybe Arisa would stand with her too because Shuka had never been in her grace.

So, even if it just almost a month had passed, she was healing at a good speed.

Nanaka's tone softened, as did her gaze.

"I'm moving on...I need to focus on my career, and I need to keep Aqours untouchable...that's why I'm still faking this..." continued Nanaka, "But if this is hurting us...what's the point?"

Shuka made a bitter expression; somehow she understood the situation.

"I think..." started Shuka while playing with her fingers and her sight glued on them, "…that you might be right…"

Nanaka blinked a few times, waiting for something more, but Shuka's fingers seemed more interesting than having that conversation.

After a few more seconds, Nanaka thought it was enough.

"Ok! So it's settled, we will break up again…" said Nanaka grabbing her tea and trying to stand up, but Shuka stopped her.

"No, wait!" said Shuka grabbing her arm.

Both locked gazes.

"What?" asked Nanaka dryly.

"You…how— why are you so cold about this?" asked Shuka; Nanaka opened her eyes wide in astonishment.

She's got to be kidding me?…
This feels so surreal…

Nanaka put down her tea and looked at Shuka's hand, the one who was grabbing her arm. Then she looked at Shuka.

Shuka gasped; maybe she recalled that episode where Arisa had done the same, and Nanaka glared and talked to her with such anger that even Arisa Komiya backed off.

She withdrew her hand quickly.

"So—sorry… my bad…" apologized Shuka.

Nanaka blinked a few times, in the end, Shuka was a kid, and maybe she wasn't having good guidance in the matter.

Who could be helping her if no member knew about this?

Nanaka was "lucky", because the moment that she had had her heart broken, Aina was there to collect her and didn't have a choice but to tell Aina the deep dark truth. That was why she had an ally, otherwise…

...I'd be equally lost…and alone...
Yes, Nanaka, this isn't fair…

She softened her gaze, took a deep breath and asked;

"What is it Shuka?"

Shuka gave her a sad look, her eyes welled in tears.

"I… I feel so lost without you…" said Shuka softly, "I know I'm a fool, that I fucked up big time…this time apart has…given me time to think…I…I miss you Suwawa… and when we fake in front of the members I feel...for a bit…I feel good again…"

"But it's fake…" retorted Nanaka.

"I don't care…with you…" said Shuka with a soft tone, locking her eyes on Nanaka's, "…with you I can do anything… my fears…my—"

"Don't, please…" interrupted Nanaka, "Yes, I get it…but as soon as everything is ok, you leave again…"

Nanaka made a bitter expression recalling their time recording the NAOMI's Room program.

Shuka bit her lips.

"I'm not going to lie to you Shuka, I miss you too, but we need this time apart…" said Nanaka.

"I'm sorry…" said Shuka like just realizing her behavior.

"I know it's not easy, and I think that if we continue faking in front of the members…it's going to be even tougher…" said Nanaka, "We…we need to see each other every day… and work together and such…and adding the 'relationship' I think isn't healthy…"

"Yes, I get it…I felt that too a week ago, that's why I wanted to talk to you…" said Shuka sniffing.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

"Aren't you contradicting yourself?…" asked Nanaka narrowing her eyes.

Shuka giggled.

"Yes… a bit."

Nanaka deadpanned.

"Then?…" asked Nanaka.

"I think my jealousy kicked back…" said Shuka shyly, "I…I saw how you were fooling around with Ainya while in the meeting, and…it was like you forgot our plan! And I got jealous of …and…I thought... 'why should we keep this lie if she is so over me now?' and such, so that's why….I…geez!" finished Shuka covering her face, of course, trying to hold back her tears, "I thought that maybe we should stop this…" finished Shuka, sobbing.

Nanaka made a bitter smile; what should she do? Did she need to comfort her? Should she do nothing?

They were friends, colleagues, but….also exes.

Nanaka touched Shuka's shoulder softly, it made Shuka take her hands off her face, of course, she was crying, it made Nanaka raise her eyebrows in sadness.

Shuka was always sunshine and rainbows, but she was struggling as well.

This, was her true face behind her mask.

No matter what I do…I still keep hurting her…

"Shuka…" called Nanaka softly.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" said Shuka wiping her tears and face, "You don't need this…you are moving on…"

"And you too…" said Nanaka trying to control the urge to hold her.

Shuka looked at her with an astonished face; her eyes wide, her mouth slightly open, like if Nanaka had suddenly grown a second head.

"Don't give me that look Shuka; you are moving on too…and this proves to me that we need to put an end to this thing…we are hurting each other!" said Nanaka with a knot in her throat.

Shuka sniffed a few times and dried her tears; this time Nanaka wasn't cleaning her lonely tears, she wasn't holding her, for the first time Shuka needed to endure her pain alone.

She nodded.
Nanaka gave her a sad face.

"But…what about Aqours? I thought….I thought we would spare them the pain" asked Shuka still sobbing; Nanaka made a bitter face.

"Well, they…they are adults….they will understand…" said Nanaka remembering Aina's words.

"Geez— Furi will be so pissed…" said Shuka with a fake smile, "Haha, I guess Ainya will be thrilled…"

Nanaka blinked a few times in concern.

"Aina?" called Nanaka softly.

Shuka snorted with amusement.

"Of course, I bet she is eager for us to 'break up' isn't she? Like a vulture, stalking….waiting…" said Shuka with bitterness; Nanaka frowned.

"Shuka, don't say that, she is our friend…you can't say those things!" said Nanaka in her very "Big sister" tone.

"What? Are ya' gonna denied it? She loves you….and she is eager to get into your panties!" said Shuka with courage; Nanaka made a drowned sound.

Oh my!

Tomorrow we will go to Numazu!…

Dammit, Aina! She…she can't hold it anymore, doesn't she?

So I need to free myself from Shuka…for her to be in my panties! That was with the rush!

My my my my…

Nanaka massaged her temples.

Of course! Aina was rushing Nanaka to do her job of 'breaking up' with Shuka again, for her to have a clean conscience to start doing Nanaka.

Why on this trip?

Well, I guess the temptation will be too big to resist?…

Both alone…in a room…far from home….in the fancy hotel…oh…

Wait wait…Arisa is going to be there…

GEEZ!

Nanaka stayed silently working on her thoughts while ignoring Shuka's rant.
So, of course, it pissed Shuka off for not getting a reaction from it.

"What?! You'll deny it?!" tried Shuka to face her; Nanaka stopped massaging to look at Shuka with a frown.

"What?! Shuka please, don't talk nonsense! Do you think I want to be in another relationship with a member?! Sorry, but I learned my lesson!" said Nanaka waving the idea off with an agitated tone.

Shuka bit her lips, opened her eyes wide and shut up.

"Yeah…well… after us, I guess…that Aqours will split…so dating will be forbidden for sure…" said Shuka softly.

"It's already forbidden—what do you mean?" said Nanaka recovering her tone.

"Seriously Nanaka? Furi will be pissed off at me…so will Anchan…they will see me as a failure of a girlfriend…and— and…geez! King and Aikyan will mock me so hard…" started Shuka in pain, "Of course, 'Thirds years' will support you…And Rikako maybe… or I don't know…"

Nanaka looked at her sadly.
So it was more probable that Shuka was going to be left unsupported in the Unit.

"Don't be so dramatic Shuka… Anchan as the leader will not tolerate this…" said Nanaka waving the problem away.

"Yes, maybe, maybe she might stand up for me, but that would detonate a foolish disagreement within 'Years members'; you think that Ainya is not going to defend you? Or Arisha?… This could bring humongous chaos!"

Nanaka bit her lips.
They already knew that. But…what to do?

"We…we know that…" tried Nanaka.

"Yes, but…is it worth it?" asked Shuka now more serious.

They shared some looks.

"What do you mean?" asked Nanaka.

"I mean…" Shuka stopped for a few seconds to think the right words.

"I mean, Suwawa, we are facing a very delicate time, as Aqours we will face this 'Mini Live' thing and our First Love Live; is it worth it to break the Unit…? If we tell the truth we will have to endure more pressure while practicing, while recording, or so ever…"

"Yes Shuka, that's what it means to break up…you think that for me it has been sunshine and rainbows to come to work every day and see you? I have to bare it! Do you think I'm over you? Shuka, we were together for over a year! It isn't easy..." retorted Nanaka.

"Yes! Neither for me, but… we are two… not nine…" said Shuka softly.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"It's better if just two of nine are the ones that need to bare it…we alone need to struggle….you said it yourself, Aqours needs to be untouchable…and if we speak, we will break it…in the worst time…" said Shuka still in a very rare serious mode.

"So, you don't want to do anything?" asked Nanaka incredulous, feeling that she had wasted the last half hour.

"I think… what we should do…is …to gradually stop doing couple's things…" said Shuka.

"We already do that…" quoted Nanaka tiredly.

"Yes, but more…let's lower the relationship's profile; show them that we have learned to behave with each other…or something…" said Shuka now recovering her smile.

Nanaka raised one eyebrow.

"Maybe in time, when they get used to us not being with each other, we can drop that thing, like 'Oh yeah, we are not together, funny uh?!'…than to drop that now were all I hear are complains about 'Second years' and Centers with polls!…" finished Shuka tired and bitter.

Yes, the so called adults…will mix everything with us…the environment is already too tense to drop another thing…

Nanaka hummed in deep thought.

Maybe this wasn't a solution, but Aqours was everything to them. It was better to "sacrifice" 2 instead of 9, Shuka was right, and if they got each other clearly, both were moving on, meaning that sometime in the future this wasn't going to hurt, and it would be something that the 9 could bare as if it was something meaningless.

It was a bet.

"Ya' know, life itself is hard, we have a hard job too… to drop another thing to care about on this people..." said Shuka in deep thought too, Nanaka looked at her with a serious face, "I… didn't ask Suwa Nanaka to be my girlfriend… so why should that problem be here in Aqours…?" asked Shuka with a mischievous smile.

Nanaka snorted.

"So, that's your solution?" asked Nanaka grabbing her tea.

"Well, for now, …it may work…" said Shuka shrugging.

It was A plan.

Nanaka looked at her seriously; maybe this wasn't even a solution, but Shuka seemed so determined about it.

She took a deep breath.

"Is this…what you want…to do?" asked Nanaka seriously, like for the first time she would agree with what Shuka was suggesting as a plan.

Shuka smiled wide.

"Yes, that's what I want to do…Aqours is important…we can't do this to them" said Shuka with a very mature tone, "Knowing them, they would get involved in this drama, which is ours...not theirs to struggle with, we should leave them alone...I... I'll behave..."

Nanaka smiled softly at her.
She nodded calmly and then stood up.

"Alright then…If that's what you want to do, I agree," said Nanaka grabbing her bag too in front of an awed Shuka, "I guess…our time apart served you right…"

And Nanaka turned around as she started to move on.
This was like taking off a band-aid, it needed to be removed quickly.

"EH?! You're leaving?!" said Shuka standing up but abruptly stopping, maybe understanding that the plan was starting now.

"Bye Bye Shuka…" said Nanaka waving, but not even looking at her.

So, Nanaka missed if Shuka pouted or something.

To lower the relationship's profile, she would need to start treating Shuka more as a colleague than a friend or an Ex.

They hadn't ended on bad terms, it was just that their love couldn't be.

It was clear that Shuka was still feeling jealous of Aina even while faking the relationship, meaning that she hadn't learned anything yet. Of course, Shuka wasn't over the relationship, but it was normal, not even a month had passed since then. So it was understandable that Shuka was still feeling jealous.

Of course, Aina did her thing because she already knew that there was no relationship.

But with this conversation, Nanaka somehow felt like some pressure had been taken off her chest. Maybe she wasn't free from Shuka, but at least she had Shuka's blessing to stop caring about her. The key was to ignore her, and gradually the members would forget about them as a couple, and Aqours would be left untouched.

Another bet, another plan.
But finally, it was Shuka who had determined that; what she wanted to...
And because of that, Nanaka would agree with her.

After all, they had already broken up, so there was nothing to lose.
If Shuka's idea failed or not, Nanaka's heart had already been broken, and what was important was Aqours, they needed to succeed.
And that was what she wanted to...

This conversation had for sure given Nanaka some closure to this issue, and made her ready for what was next, to finally "be ready".
And right now there was nothing stopping her from moving forward and embracing her new challenges…

And that was called Suzuki Aina.

.

.

And indeed, Suzuki Aina was a real challenge.

Her wild and random way of being was, for Nanaka, really challenging.

Sometimes Aina was sweet and childish; her big and shiny eyes, her sweet and babyish tone was something that melted Nanaka's heart completely, and matched perfectly with Aina's physical features, like her short height, her puffy cheeks, her plump lips, her sweet gaze, her soft baby hands, and curves in the right places.

And the cherry on top of Aina's Sweet Mode was her mellowness.
She was so fondly and caring that she sent specific jolts of pleasure and heartwarming sensations to Nanaka.

But, Aina had her "mature" mode too; her deep and serious voice, her sexy tone, and her straightforward determination, the boldness to do what she pleased, which made Nanaka's heart shake in excitement, her knees to quiver, and feel week in her lower half, but also, it made her feel puzzled.

Puzzled because of Suzuki Aina's other mode; "The Goofy Mood". Aina could break her other modes with this one and make jokes and tones for almost every situation, that of course, made Nanaka feel confused about the later "Modes". It felt like everything was a constant joke for Aina, and more than once made Nanaka feel troubled.

It was like a rollercoaster of moods. But that was indeed one of Aina's charms.

Within Aqours, Aina was always in "Goofy" and "Sweet" mode; from time to time she could break in her "Perverted Old man" mode, turning her in something like a meme inside the Unit close with Aiai and Shuka, as the "Chibi trio" (The 3 shorter girls in Aqours), who fooled around and liked to make people laugh. It was normal to see Aina with a smile, laughing about everything and nothing, or quoting weird things out of the blue. This way she was unreadable, because no one could ever know what would Aina bring out of her goofy and weird personality.

So being with Aina was like opening a box of chocolates; you never knew what to expect.

But this also made Nanaka's heart pound very hard and fast.

Finally, the day of the trip to Numazu came.
And Nanaka just couldn't bear with her excitement to open that special chocolate box.

With her issue with Shuka somehow "solved", she felt proud and secure in telling Aina that finally, she was ready.

But of course, with Aina, nothing was certain.

They met that afternoon at Lantis Building to take a minibus to Numazu.
While Aina seemed really excited about the trip, Arisa had pretty much her normal boring face, the same as Nanaka.

Something that could take less than an hour on the Shinkansen, was now going to take them two and a half or so because they needed to travel with the outfits, the camera thingies, and all what production would need. They went with a whole little crew, from The Chief of Staff and his assistants, the Audiovisual department, to the hairdressers and makeup staff.

Nanaka felt ashamed of herself while seeing this whole procession load the bus with the equipment. Her "fainting" thing had caused all those people trouble, and she couldn't help but make a bitter face while watching them get on board.

But Aina was there to hold her hand and softly say; "Don't worry, it's part of the job, and we will have a great time! Ok?"

Nanaka smiled softly; Aina was always there for her, no matter what "Mood" was she in.

Of course, they sat together, Arisa having to sit with one of the assistants.

The bus started with no delay while Nanaka took her motion sickness pill and then waited calmly for it to kick in.
But of course, Aina wasn't a quiet seat companion; Aina's excitement was all over her, from her quick swinging tiny feet that didn't reach the floor, to her clapping, fidgeting in the seat or doing some cute little jumps.

"Ainya..." called Nanaka in her slow and dry tone.

"Yes! Suwawa~?" asked Aina with her big and shiny eyes.

"Can you— could you stop already? You are making me nervous..." said Nanaka in her "Suwa tone".

Aina giggled.

"Awww, don't be so serious! We are going on a trip!~ " said Aina in a singsong tone.

"This is not a trip, we are going to work! Geez!" scolded Nanaka.

"We are going on a trip!~ We are going on a trip!~ " Aina kept singing while still swinging her feet and clapping.

"You are really excited; you know, it's just Numazu..." said Nanaka trying to calm her.

"I know... but it's going to be special..." said Aina with a big smile, her eyes widen in excitement.

"Eh...?"

"Suwawa, we are going as 'Third Years', I can feel it's going to be special!" said Aina still bouncing.

"Special?" repeated Nanaka confused.

"We are going on a trip!~ We are going on a trip!~ " continued Aina as if ignoring Nanaka.

Nanaka deadpanned and made a bitter expression; Aina was in her "Goofy" mode, meaning that she would joke about everything and would ignore every serious thing Nanaka might say...

So, Nanaka just ignored her.

But as soon as she turned to look out of the window she felt her right arm being grabbed; it made her jump in her seat, so she looked at her right to see Aina clinging to her arm, and her head softly looking for a spot on Nanaka's shoulder.

"Ainya..." murmured Nanaka a bit worried; maybe it wasn't right to be so close? They just couldn't do that with people around, but Aina just moved her head to lock faces with Nanaka.

"What?" asked Aina curling the tip of her lips.

"Is...is this ok?... there are people around..." said Nanaka in a whisper.

"Don't worry..." she said softly; Nanaka just tightened her lips.

"You know..." started Aina in her serious tone, but softly, almost like a whisper, "this trip is special because I can spend more time with you...no matter if we are working or just sightseeing... I'm happy just to be here with ya'."

Nanaka felt her cheeks becoming wild red.

"I..." tried Nanaka to say, but she was feeling nervous; Aina was changing her moods to abruptly.

"So let's enjoy it, ok?" asked Aina sweetly; they locked gazes, intense gazes.

Aina's eyes were big and sweet; Nanaka could lose herself in her eyes, watching Aina's lips, and started fighting the urge to start kissing her right there.

Maybe the feeling was mutual because Aina just couldn't stop licking her lips.

This intense gaze competition was painful.

They were so immersed in their eyes as if they were devouring each other just with them.
Nanaka in her trance lifted her left hand towards Aina's face, and softly removed a few strands of hair off her face, and slowly moved them behind Aina's ear, and then started caressing Aina's cheek.

Aina's skin was so soft, almost like a baby's.

Aina closed her eyes softly, enjoying Nanaka's touch.
Maybe she could have stayed like that forever, and Nanaka was enjoying Aina's presence, as her warmth.

Aina smiled wide but with her eyes closed.

"Suwawa..." she called softly.

"Yes, Aina...?" answered Nanaka with her deep voice.

"Did you...talk with her?" asked Aina, of course, she was referring to Shuka.

Nanaka took a deep breath, and then answered;

"Yes, I did..." she paused to see if Aina opened her beautiful eyes for her, but no, so Nanaka added,
"Don't worry...everything is settled..."

And then Aina opened her eyes.

Her big and shiny eyes locked into Nanaka's sleepy ones.

There was a spark in Aina's eyes that was unexpected and inexplicable.
It was as if Nanaka had flipped on a switch.

It was the green light.
And both knew it.

Of course, they couldn't do anything on the bus, not with The Chief, the assistants, the staff, or Arisa there.

Also, Aina didn't ask any further about the matter, she just closed her eyes and enjoyed Nanaka's touch in silence and comfort.

Nanaka kept caressing Aina's soft cheeks sweetly until her arm felt numb and she needed to rest it on her lap. But quickly Aina moved her right hand to entwine fingers with her, so they kept the soft and tender cuddling on the bus in silence.

Nanaka closed her eyes and rested, finally, at peace.
That day's ride was surely quite, because that morning she had spent her half-day off in Sanrio Puroland, and later she had to almost run back to Tokyo to catch up to this trip. The day's rush, plus her excitement about meeting Aina again had made her exhausted already, but that calm and sweet two and a half hour ride would charge her for the rest of the evening.

The Minibus took them to Uchuira, where they descended to take a ferry.
Yes, the "TekuTeku Aqours with Third Years" would take place in Awashima Marine Park, the island.

And despite the poor and cloudy weather, the island indeed looked beautiful from the pier.

First years covered some footage on some beach; in Numazu's Gamers store, because Yoshiko had been elected poster girls for the store, so it made sense they were there. Then they went to see the wrapped Izuhakone line train, the wrapped taxis, and buses branded with the Love Live! Sunshine project, they went to an aquarium, and they ended the episode with the three of them eating burgers in "Numazu Burger".

Second years covered some more meaningful places for the Anime; first, the School, from the building to the slope that was featured on the Anime, later the Ryokan which Chika's house was modeled off, later they went to Mito Sea Paradise, the Aquarium that was used for the Second Single PV; The beach where the characters used to practice and wrote "Aqours" in the sand, to end the episode in a cafe that was also featured in the Anime doing some "Mikan Dorayaki".

Since Mari and Kanan lived in Awashima, it made total sense that "Third Years" episode was set there. And because "First years" had covered Numazu, "Second Years" Uchiura, "Thirds Years" should be on the island.

Of course, The Chief explained all these while moving the luggage and the equipment onto the ferry. They used, of course, the "Sunshine wrapped ferry" to get to the island. The trip was just 5 minutes. Then they walked at a relaxed pace for about another 5 minutes to reach the hotel.

Indeed, Awashima was a very small island; a circumference of about 2.5 kilometers.

The 5 star Awashima luxury resort was located on one of the sides of the island and presented a lot of luxury facilities such as an Onsen, 4 restaurants, privileged views to Mt. Fuji, a fancy lobby, a music hall, a wine cellar, and a variety of luxury rooms.

Mari was such a lucky girl.

The girls stood astonished in the Lobby's reception, looking with her eyes full of sparks at the fancy decorations, almost ignoring everything the Chief and the receptionist said about the hotel.

"Ok girls," called The Chief, "people, listen up!"

The girls stood in line with the crew behind them.

"We will be set on the third floor, in the Japanese style rooms," said the Chief taking out his folder, "here I have the keys...don't get too comfy, we have a lot to do..."

The crew and the girls said a soft "Yes".

"The members will be on suite 317, and because this kind of rooms are like apartments, there are two rooms inside, so we will use the spare room to put all the outfits and makeup supplies…" said the Chief giving Arisa the room keys, there was one key for each.

Nanaka and Aina shared some troubled glances.
Somehow, the new about sharing the room with Arisa wasn't of their taste.

Then Nanaka shook that idea away because it was obvious that they would set Arisa in the room with them because they were only three and every time they traveled as "Third Years" they did share the room. Of course, on those times Aina wasn't in her affection of desires.

"The rest of the crew will share suites 315 and 316, they are similar; two rooms inside the suite…" said The Chief and tossed the keys for the Assistants and the rest of the crew.

"The Onsen hours are from 5:00 to 11:00 am, and later from 14:30 till midnight…. please, there are no Yukatas, so you need to use your own clothes… there are towels in the bathrooms and don't worry, the baths are not mixed…" said the Chief.

Arisa gave Nanaka and Aina a quick glance and smiled.

"That sounds fun! We can have our time in the hot spring!" said Arisa with a diligent tone; Nanaka smiled apologetically at her, but Aina gave her a wide smile.

"There's also a Spa…but production won't cover that…" he continued and giggled, "and I don't know if you will have time to receive a massage…" Arisa made a drowned sound.

Then the Chief looked at his folder.

"Ok, the meals will be in the "Rufal" Restaurant, it's on the first floor, where there's a buffet…" and then he closed the folder.

One of the assistants started giving the girls some schedules for the day.

Nanaka blinked a few times; there was a LOT of things to do in just a few hours; of course, this wasn't a leisure trip, they were there to work.

"As I said, first thing first, I need all of you to settle your thing," said The Chief, then looked at the Makeup and hairstyle crew, "I need the girls ready in 20, I'll check on them in a few…we need to start shooting with daylight and we are quite behind and—"

"Wait, I don't understand!" cut in Arisa in a hurry, "Aren't we going to start shooting the 'TekuTeku' tomorrow?… Why are we behind?…"

Nanaka and Aina shared some looks, maybe they were asking themselves the same questions.

It was late in the afternoon and they weren't supposed to start shooting the episode until the next day, so why did they need to be ready? For what?.

The Chief took a deep breath. Then he scratched the back of his neck.

Maybe the whole crew knew what was going on, but not the members.

"Ok," started the Chief, "you are right…we didn't tell you…"

The girls shared some looks with concern. Of course, them staying the night in the luxury Hotel had a purpose, recalling that none of "First years" or "Second years" had stayed the night while shooting their episodes made them wonder why they needed to actually stay.

Nanaka thought that maybe it had to do with Aina having the role of Mari and needed to stay in the hotel, but that theory was absurd, due to that Anchan had Chika's role and they hadn't spent the night at the Ryokan.

So, why?

"Production wants to publish a special magazine called "Walker", it's like a guide of Numazu, Uchiura, and Awashima, of course, it would feature all the places that are showed in the Anime, showing the similarities and what to do in the area; such as Cafés, restaurants, the Aquariums, and all other activities… to promote tourism in the zone...and because making a reservation and getting permission in this Hotel is quite difficult we need to take advantage of the time as much as possible within the facilities to take good shots…" said The Chief with a final point.

The girls nodded.

"Ok, with that said! Please! Be quick! We really need daylight!" he said in his harsh tone and everybody started to move.

Suite 317 was a huge, about 70 square meters and had an incredible view of Uchiura, and maybe on a good day to Mt. Fuji. And as the Chief had said, it had 2 Japanese style rooms, a bathroom, a toilet room, a changing room, and a balcony.

It was almost as an apartment and it was indeed very Japanese... Aina was the first to enter and ran into almost every room making sounds of excitement and joy.

"Wow...I wasn't expecting this..." said Arisa closing the door.

Nanaka had just left her shoes in the entrance and walked at her pace with her bag.

"This is fancy..." said Nanaka looking around.

"I thought we would stay at the 'Riverside hotel' as the other day, but I think we will be fine here..." said Arisa entering with her bag too.

"This is a lot..." said Nanaka locking gazes with Arisa, they shared a smile.

Then some weird sounds interrupted them.
Arisa sighed softly while Nanaka giggled.

"Aina-san, can you stop fooling around?" asked Arisa with a tired tone, "You left your bag and shoes everywhere..."

Nanaka giggled once again.

"You should see this! Come here!" Aina shouted from the bathroom.

Nanaka and Arisa shared another look and then moved towards the bathroom; they passed through the changing room to meet Aina.

The room was quite big and had an incredible tub with a spectacular view of the sea.

"Woh..." mumbled Nanaka with a small voice, astonished.

"Yes...you are right..." said Arisa equally amazed.

"Guys, we fit inside this things...the three of us..." said Aina with a perverted smile, of course, Nanaka and Aina looked at each other; Nanaka couldn't help but feel weak in her lower half.

That bathroom was screaming loud and clearly for sex. And Aina knew it.

"Maybe you are right, but wouldn't it be better to take a bath in the Onsen? It should be bigger..." said Arisa looking around, "Here is fine, but I guess it will be more comfortable in the hot spring..."

Nanaka and Aina shared some looks.
Arisa could go to the Onsen, sure, but they were going to "bathe" there, their complicit looks told Nanaka that.

"Aww, I think it's a shame..." said Aina moving out of the bath a bit quickly for Nanaka's taste, maybe Aina was having "dirty thoughts" in that bath already, same as Nanaka.

"Why? We can bathe together in the hot spring..." said Arisa walking behind her.

Nanaka gulped and started to move out a bit awkwardly, she was starting to feel wet just thinking about taking a bath with Aina...

"But that's not that intimate..." said Aina amused and with a little bit of a perverted tone.

Arisa twitched her tongue.

"Aina you have seen us naked before, there's nothing new..." said Arisa taking her forgotten bag in the middle of the hall.
Nanaka stopped her steps in the changing room doorframe.

She doesn't want to see you...she wants to see me...

"So, which room should we take?" asked Aina walking back to the entrance to fix her shoes and grab her bag.

Nanaka, who had walked towards her forgotten bag said:

"I think we should take the one with the view..."

"Oh the other room doesn't have a window..." said Arisa looking to the other side, "You are right! We should take the one with the view and the balcony..."

The three of them moved that way and left their bags there.

What was very characteristic in a Japanese style room was the classic low table with chairs around it. Of course, when it was time for sleep the table and chairs would be arranged and placed somewhere in the room to bring out the futons and set them on the floor.

"Should we take out the futons?..." asked Aina looking at Arisa.

"I dunno... actually I don't know what we are going to do now...or what we should be doing..." said Arisa with an exasperated tone.

Nanaka blinked a few times, it looked like Arisa wasn't always in charge of everything, so she took a deep breath and took out the paper the assistant had given them earlier.

"It seems that we will be going to do a photoshoot..." said Nanaka reading, "You know, for the 'Walker' thing…so I guess we need to change into the outfits..."

"So tomorrow we will shoot the 'Tekuteku'..." said Aina.

"I think we should set the futons...so we don't have to do it later..." said Arisa with her diligence.

"Maybe we will come back to tired to do it?" asked Aina moving to the nearest closet.

"That's right..." said Arisa grabbing one of the chairs.

Then there was a knock on the door.
Everybody froze in their position looking at each other.

"Room service?" asked Aina.

Arisa and Nanaka giggled.

"The makeup and hairstyle artist..." said Arisa; Nanaka nodded and moved out of that room to open the main door.

Of course, it was the makeup artist, the hairstyle artist with the assistants, all of them with a big hanger, like those they had in the production's office. There were 6 zippers hanging on it.

Nanaka made them come inside and take the other room.
They didn't bother removing the table with the chairs in that room and started placing the necessary tools on it.

Nanaka couldn't help but ask why there were 6 zippers if they were 3, the school uniforms should each be in one of those zippers, then what about the other 3?

The assistant told her to wait for the Chief for instructions.

Nanaka walked back to their room and found out that the futons were quite big, and the three futons were placed really close to each other, like almost making a big and large bed with the three of them.

"A—…aren't they close…?" asked Nanaka softly.

"Eh? You think?…" asked Arisa placing one pillow on one of the futons.

"The closer the better! It will be warmer!" snapped Aina in her happy tone while setting the other two pillows.

"The futons are already warm…" said Nanaka in her monotone.

"I want the one facing the window!" said Aina dropping herself on top of the futon, completely ignoring Nanaka.

"Wow, Aina-san! Beha—" tried Arisa.

"Suwawa, you should take the one in the middle!" interrupted Aina looking up at Nanaka with puppy eyes.

"Eh…?"

"Take it… I'll take the one next to the door…" said Arisa dropping her long coat on top of the first futon.

Nanaka blinked a few times and then looked at Aina with a goofy smile; now they would be sleeping next to each other.

They couldn't stay that much time enjoying their futons because the assistant came to tell them that it was time to arrange their hair and makeup.

Of course, Nanaka had it done in her characteristic ponytail, Aina did her braid but not Mari's loop, and Arisa just left it straight. After makeup, the Chief came into the Suite for instructions.

"Ok girls, how are you doing?" he asked peeping inside the room; the girls smiled wide at him.

"What's with the extra zipper?" asked Arisa finishing her mascara.

"Yes, I was wondering about that too," said Aina in her goofy tone.

Nanaka hummed.

"Well, as you might have noticed, it's quite chilly outside…and soon it will be winter, so you will need…a winter outfit…" said the Chief, and with that, he took one of the zippers and opened it revealing the new uniform.

The girls made an "oh" sound looking the outfit. It was a school uniform.

It was similar to the Summer one, but the only difference was that it had long sleeves. It had the long green handkerchief as well, marking it as a "Third year" uniform.

"Oh…no vest for 'Mari-chan'?…" asked Aina looking in her zipper, her uniform was the same as the other two.

"We thought about it…but it would look weird… this uniform is thicker, of course, this is like a jacket…" said The Chief with concern, "We made this uniforms special for the three of you…we are still making the ones for the rest of the members…" he said taking Nanaka's outfit out of the hanger.

"Why?… Thank you…" said Nanaka receiving the uniform.

"You will wear the Winter uniform for the Walker pictures, and tomorrow you will use the Summer uniform for the TekuTeku, we thought it that way because when we come with the rest of the members to shoot for the Walker it will be Winter…it's gonna be cold for them to be in the Summer one; so in the pictures, they will be wearing the Winter one, and you need to be wearing them too…something about to uniform the uniforms…" he laughed about his own lame joke.

Nanaka shared a sweet smile, Aina laughed about it, and Arisa sighed.

Basically, all the members should be using the same outfits for the magazine to be coherent. Also, the episode of the TekuTeku was going to be shot in the Summer outfit, so they needed to wear that too, no matter if it was freezing outside. "Second Years" did shoot while raining.

"Hopefully tomorrow we will have nice weather….so let's get our hopes up!" said The Chief, then clapped.

"Ok, girls let's change… and we will be waiting outside the Hotel for the first photos…" and with that said, he left the room.

The girls changed into the new outfits.
What was different in Aina's outfit was her pantyhose; she was wearing a white one, while the other two just had black socks.

They took pictures in front of the hotel, beside the fountain, copying some "Third Years" illustrations of the characters with the hotel behind them, with Aina alone, and so on...

Then they walked towards the frog museum that was used for Kanan's house and took some pictures too.
Some single pictures for Nanaka because it was Kanan's house, and other ones with all "Third years" just hanging out on the "Diving shop's" terrace.

Nanaka was particularly happy about this photo session because the frog museum really played its part by setting this place as Kanan's house. They had gone through all the trouble of placing some oxygen tanks with tags for the owner of the shop, for Kanan, and for the guests, but they also had diving suits on a hanger. It felt almost as if Kanan lived there.

It made Nanaka really happy to see and feel that Kanan was loved by so many people, and despite the fact that she was constantly "failing" to be her, there were people out there cheering for Kanan as well.

And maybe this was the best of it; because Mari maybe had the hotel, but there was no sign inside the hotel that Mari "lived" there, or outside of it. The hotel was private property, it even had a sign outside that its path was only for hotel guests, this way all the fans must stay outside the hotel.

And as for Dia?

First thing, she didn't live in Awashima, so her presence was null in the whole island, and her house was back in Uchiura were no one knew after which house it had been modeled. And therefore, it was a house, not a museum, or hotel, or a cafe, or an actual place where people could go inside.

This issue was bullying material for Arisa, as Nanaka and Aina were always bringing up the fact that Dia DIDN'T live on the island so she should stay quiet, or keep her opinions to herself. This made Arisa feel like the third wheel she was, because at that moment the flirting and complicity between Aina and Nanaka was back.

After the frog museum, they walked back to the hotel where the hotel staff was waiting for the girls with dinner. But just for them.

Of course, it was part of the Walker thing, so they needed to sit at one of the round tables and keep smiling for the shoot.

The shoot was in the "Rufal" restaurant on the first floor. It was a really fancy place, tables with tablecloth and all.
Also, the crockery was luxury.

"How could a girl like 'Mari-san' live with all this?" asked Arisa with an amused tone while watching the different kinds of dished the waiter was serving them.

"What do you mean?" asked Aina with an outraged tone, "You think 'Mari-chan' can't behave?"

"I think this thing has rice..." quoted Nanaka looking at her dish.

"Of course~, it's 'Mari's curry!'," said Aina with Mari's tone and in English, with a wide smile, of course, the waiter had told her that.

Arisa looked at Nanaka.

"Are you really Japanese?" she asked towards Nanaka.

Nanaka ignored her while taking her spoon and pinching some weird balls in the dish.

"And what the hell is this?..." asked Nanaka.

"Stop pinching the balls..." said Aina with a weird tone.

"Can't blame her, these dishes are just too fancy..." said Arisa while her plate was served in front of her.

"You think?" asked Aina a bit worried.

"Well, did the first course have caviar?" asked Nanaka, Aina made a sad face.

"We have lobster here..." said Arisa pinching her own "sea animal" that was resting in her dish, Aina pouted.

Nanaka gave her a sweet smile.

"Ainya...don't take it so personal; you are not 'Mari', this is not your place and you don't need to worry about the food..." said Nanaka with a sweet tone, Aina smiled at her sweetly.

"Seriously?" asked Aina with a very relaxed smile.

"Eh? Were you worrying about that?..." asked Arisa astonished.

"Can't help it..." said Aina, "This hotel IS 'Mari-chan's' house...I feel responsible...as Suwawa felt 'responsible' in the frog museum..." she finished with a soft tone and giving Nanaka a sweet and calm sight.

Nanaka looked at her with loving eyes.

Arisa deadpanned them. Of course, she felt so left out, because Aina was seated in the middle and Nanaka to her right, and these flirty glances were on that side of the table.

"Guys, c'mon!" said Arisa bitterly.

Aina giggled, while Nanaka looked at her with her "Suwa face".

"You are just bitter because you don't live on this island and you can't feel what it's like to have a place and feel responsible for it..." punched Nanaka towards Arisa, once again, poor Dia being bullied.

Of course, Arisa made a mad face but couldn't say a thing because the photographer started giving them instructions for the photos.

In the end, they had to eat all the special dishes, including the rice.
And with that, the shoot was finally over.

The Chief dismissed them and set them free for the night. He reminded them that they needed to be at breakfast at 07:00 am sharp, because they would start shooting at first light in the morning, so wouldn't stay up until late fooling around.

The girls went to their room by themselves and took off their outfits to start their free time.
They changed into their respective pajamas.

"I think we need to go to the Onsen and enjoy ourselves, we deserve it..." said Arisa hanging her zipper.

"I'll ...pass..." said Nanaka putting her outfit in her zipper.

"Eh? Really?" asked Arisa astonished.

They locked gazes. Arisa frowned, while Nanaka gave her a sweet smile.

"Why? What about you Aina-san?" asked Arisa quickly; Nanaka didn't say a thing and continued putting away her outfit.

"Eh? Me... I... geez!" said Aina troubled and then started to laugh nervously with her outfit in her hands.

Of course, she doesn't want to...

She wants to stay here with me...

"What? Why? You two are just too weird..." said Arisa with an exasperated tone.

"I'm tired, I want to stay in the room; the bath here is enough for me..." quoted Nanaka in her slow and boring tone while hanging her zipper.

"Ok, what about you Aina-san?" asked again Arisa with her hands on her hips.

"I... I think I want to stay too if you don't mind..." said Aina in a sweet tone.

Arisa raised one eyebrow with skepticism.
She looked at Nanaka who gave her a sweet smile, then looked at Aina who gave her a goofy smile.
Then sighed softly.

"Go and suit yourselves..." and left to the other room to get her things.

Nanaka looked at Aina; both shared a wide smile.

"Do…do you think she…might notice something?…" asked Aina softly and shyly, abruptly changing her moods.

Nanaka blinked softly, and with gentle hands grabbed Aina's outfit without taking her eyes from Aina's.

They stood there, devouring each other with their gazes.

"I don't know… is there something to notice…?" asked Nanaka softly in a very husky tone; Aina giggled nervously.

Nanaka gave her a cocky smile and turned around to start putting Aina's outfit in her zipper.

"She…She isn't dumb…" said Aina softly.

"She can think whatever she wants…" sentenced Nanaka hanging Aina's zipper.

"Thank you…" said Aina, and suddenly Arisa popped into the room with her long coat on and a small bag, maybe her bathing things were there.

"Ok, I'm off…Sure you don't want to come…?" asked Arisa; both girls locked gazes with her.

"I'm ok…" said Nanaka in her boring tone.

"Are you feeling lonely?…" asked Aina with an amused tone; Arisa snapped in surprise.

"Eh?!…no no, it's just…it's a weird occasion for the three of us to be alone…I dunno, I thought it would be a good chance to deepen our bonds…" said Arisa with trouble and embarrassed.

Nanaka curled the tip of her lips; Arisa was feeling lonely and a bit left out because of the "weird" dynamic she and Aina had.

"Like we did on the training camp? You suggested for us all to go to the Spa and such…" said Aina with her amused tone.

"Exactly…" nodded Arisa.

"I'll pass…" said Nanaka again and moved out of the room.

Arisa followed her with her sight.

"Don't you care about us 'Third Years'?…." she asked; Nanaka stopped in the hall and turned around with her "Suwa face".

"I care, but I don't think the three of us taking a bath might change the dynamic we already have…there are other ways…" said Nanaka and turned again to continue her way.

"Maybe you are right…well, be sure you check in with Shuka…" said Arisa in a dry tone, Nanaka stopped and abruptly looked at Arisa.

Both locked gazes. Serious gazes.

"I bet she isn't happy that you are here spending the night with Aina-san … so you better check in on her…" said Arisa, then she looked at Aina who gave her a sad smile and later left the room with a heavy thump on the door.

Was that a warning?
Arisa knew about the sexual tension Aina and Nanaka were having towards each other, so maybe that was a warning for Nanaka to remember where her loyalties were? That she was with Shuka, so better check in on her?

But…we are no together anymore…

But of course, Arisa didn't know that.

Aina closed the sliding door of the spare room after turning off the lights and looked at Nanaka from the hall towards their room.
Both locked gazes with serious looks and a strong heat could be felt rising from one side of the room to the other.

Finally, they were alone.

Aina smiled at her.

"So…Shuka huh?…" said Aina with a cocky smile.

"Should…we…take a bath…?" asked Nanaka trying to change the conversation; talking about Shuka wasn't in her mind, and of course it would ruin the mood.

"Oh… you really want to take a bath…?" asked Aina in the door frame.

"Don't you?…"

They stood in their spots without saying a thing but looking at each other.

Nanaka fidgeted in her spot.

This is….awkward…

Aina giggled.

"Ok ok, bathroom then…I'll set the water…" said Aina with a nervous voice but trying to be diligent.

"Oh…hum…" said Nanaka shyly, seeing Aina disappear into the bathroom.

Nanaka massaged her temples while turning around to set her gaze on the sea in front of her.

The view was indeed beautiful from the room's balcony.
It was late but the sunset had just passed and there was still some light from it, so Uchiura bay was pretty easy to see from there.

She walked in her slow pace towards the terrace before the balcony, dodging the nice furniture, but not opening the window, she just wanted to enjoy the sight, it was indeed soothing and relaxing her.

Normally she would have everything under control, but with Aina everything was a mystery.

Would Aina accept her feelings? Or according to Aina, she wouldn't be ready yet?

But she had talked to Shuka, she had settled things, and Aina was eager to take this trip.
To be alone with Nanaka…

But why do I feel so nervous about?…

Is she going to reject me again?… Is she?…

Then a sad feeling invaded her entire body.
The fact that she couldn't read Aina as she used to read Shuka was messing with her.

The other day at her house she had made a fool of herself because she read Aina's signs, but she had rejected her. And the last time Aina had been at her place, there was palpable sexual tension, which Aina had also rejected, because Nanaka's parents were there, and because she "wasn't ready".

So how was she supposed to read Aina's behavior? Or Aina's moods? What the hell did she want to do with Nanaka?!

"Suwawa…" Aina called softly from behind her.

Nanaka turned around with a clear sad expression that melted Aina's heart.

"What….what's wrong? Are you ok…?" asked Aina walking towards her.

"I…I don't know….maybe I'm tired…" said Nanaka massaging her temples again.

"Oh… well… the bath will help…" said Aina shyly.

Both remained silent, looking at each other.

The only sound they could be heard was the water running while filling the tub, and maybe their hearts pounding fast and hard in their chests.

"Are…are you going to….share the bath…with me…?" asked Nanaka softly, her voice cracked from nervousness.

"I…I don't know….do you want me to…?" asked Aina shyly.

Nanaka blinked; was Aina in her "Childish Mood"? What had happened with the straightforward Aina from the other day at her place? The one who would open her legs and make her moan her name?

Maybe she isn't ready?…

"Aina I—" but Nanaka was interrupted.

"OH! I'm going to close the faucet…" said Aina and quickly ran towards the bathroom.

Nanaka was left astonished in her spot.

Aina was equally nervous and stressed out about it.
Now that both of them were alone, with a tub full of nice and hot water, the only thing left was to get undressed and…cross the line.

Cross the line… we have been leashing up our feelings till now….why should we keep holding back?!

Nanaka sat on the armrest of one of the terrace seats, looking towards the room while massaging her temples.
It wasn't that she had a headache, but because she was really stressed out about what should she do about this situation.

And Aina was equally lost, so she couldn't read her, therefore, she just couldn't take the lead….what if she was rejected once again?

"Ok, the bath is….ready…" said Aina walking back in, but she stood in the door frame.

Once again both locked gazes that were mixed with eagerness, shyness, nervousness, and sexual desire.

Nanaka licked her lips; Aina was adorable in pajamas that actually fit her, not like the ones she used to lend her.

"Ok…" she said softly, but she didn't stand up.

They waited for a few seconds that felt like minutes.

Aina was the one who broke the ice.

"Suwawa…" she said and started walking towards her, softly, "Are…are you sure you talked to Shuka…?"

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Yes, Aina, I told you… everything is settled…" said Nanaka recovering her confidence.

"So…when will the official date be…?" said Aina stopping in the middle of the room on of one of the futons. "You…need to tell the members….you heard Arisha…"

Nanaka blinked a few times, trying to adapt to the new light, it was indeed getting dark.

"Aina, you don't need to worry about the members, what's important is that Shuka and I are done and we settled things…" said Nanaka in her low tone, very serious.

"But…are you….are you sure…?" asked Aina once again with fear.

"I am…" said Nanaka softly.

Aina started to walk towards her once again, now with determination.

"You are not lying…right…?" said Aina with a serious tone.
Of course, Aina was debating with her own convictions about it. Her fears were that if Nanaka was "free" for her, not if she was ready…because she was not going to reject her.

Not anymore.

Aina stopped in front of her, and because Nanaka was seating on the armrest they were at eye level.

Nanaka shook her head softly; the truth was that she was so nervous that she couldn't speak. Aina was standing in front of her, with her big eyes looking straight at her, her tongue constantly licking her plump lips, her scent was making Nanaka dizzy, this was too much.

Was this right? Was Aina going to accept the "plan" she had made with Shuka? Her bets?

But in the end, I failed in so many plans…

I wanted to be sure I cared and wanted so much more little things in life…

...and some pleasures that I was denied...

Nanaka grabbed Aina's hand and pulled towards her, and softly, almost like a whisper she said;

"I…I feel satisfied…That I left all my debts behind…"

But it wasn't Nanaka who kissed Aina; Aina bit Nanaka's lower lip without taking her eyes off her, somehow slowing the motion. They shared an intense look; Nanaka's heart was beating a thousand miles per hour. In a moment, Nanaka thought she would be rejected once again, but no...

Aina moved her left hand and softly went to Nanaka's chin, lifting it, she left Nanaka's lower lip for just a second to move forward to kiss her, closing her eyes while doing it.

Nanaka smiled on that kiss and closed her eyes too.

It was soft, tender and sweet.

But mostly, slow. It felt like a year of waiting was worth it for that moment.

Aina broke the sweet kiss to look at her with a smile, Nanaka blinked a few times and smiled back at her.
They couldn't say anything, they were in a complete state of ecstasy just looking at each other as if no one could believe what had happened.

Nanaka looked at Aina straight in her eyes, like searching for more, to tell herself that; Yes! She had finally kissed her, and Aina was doing just the same.

They had Kissed.
And they liked it.

A few seconds passed from the realization that they had finally crossed the line, now there was no turning back...

Both girls sent their troubles out the balcony and stopped leashing up their feelings towards each other.

Nanaka in a quick motion opened her legs to get more access to Aina and hugged her by her hips, while Aina moved forward and encircled her arms around Nanaka's neck as they locked their lips once again, now in a messy and wet kiss.

Now there wasn't anything to be nervous or to feel bad about, they were devouring each other lips with fierce passion.
Nanaka was the one who started introducing her tongue inside Aina's mouth, and Aina greeted it playfully with her own.

Both tightened their embrace towards each other while deepening the intense kiss, this wasn't enough; Nanaka wanted more, she wanted more from Aina...

...and it seemed that Aina wanted more too.

Nanaka moved her right hand from Aina's hip towards her cheek, cupping it for her tongue to get deeper into Aina's mouth while Aina stuck her tiny body more into Nanaka's and entwined her fingers in Nanaka's silky hair, moving her head more towards the kiss.

Wet sounds started to eco inside the room as the kiss deepened with soft grunts of pleasure and soft moans that started to escape from the girls' mouths.

Nanaka moved her hand from Aina's cheek towards a few strands of Aina's hair that were in the way and locked them behind Aina's ear.

Aina bit Nanaka's lower lip in a way of thanking her, making them softly open their eyes and to have a bit of air.
They were inches apart from each other's lips, panting heavily against each other's scent, their lips were really swollen.

Nanaka brought her hand once again towards Aina's cheek and joined their foreheads. They shared some intense looks trying to catch their breath. Aina thought she could imitate Nanaka and cupped both of her cheeks with her hands.

"I...I'm happy..." murmured Aina with her eyes fully of tears.

Nanaka smiled at her softly and kissed once again.
Of course, Aina smiled on that kiss and answer it with another even more passionate one.

Aina's lips were so soft, tasted like cherries, and were so plump that made Nanaka start biting them and licking them more eagerly; Aina didn't want to stay behind and answered back by devouring Nanaka's lips once again...

They started to intensify their kissing session in something that Nanaka just couldn't explain; it was like an explosion of heat, of lust, and she was becoming addicted to it to the edge of losing her self control.

She wanted more. She wanted more from Aina.

A kiss wasn't enough.

Nanaka moved her left hand that was resting on Aina's hip, hugging her, to under Aina's pajama shirt to start caressing her back; Nanaka's touch made Aina shiver and to abruptly stop the kissing session because Aina arched her back and moaned.

It was a moan that made Nanaka open her eyes wide and to try to close her legs, of course, she couldn't, because Aina's body was in the way, but made her thank her old self for not fucking Aina at her place while her parents were home.

Aina was loud in bed.
And Nanaka discovered a new addiction.

"Did you...just...com—" tried Nanaka, but Aina shushed her with her left index.

"Don't say a thing..." said Aina in her sexy tone, panting very elaborately and with sweat on her temples.

Nanaka bit her lips while looking at her with malicious eyes.

"Just...fuck me, Nana..." said Aina in her 'mature mood'. That mood that made Nanaka soaking wet.

Nanaka licked her lips.

Aina wasn't a kid, she was a woman, she didn't need to go shy, or with sweet talk.
She wasn't Shuka, and certainly Nanaka doubted that this was Aina's first time. There was no point in holding back.

Nanaka grabbed Aina's puffed cheeks and in her low and sexy tone she said;

"Alright then, this night I'm gonna make you moan Shiny till dawn…" and Nanaka sealed the deal with a deep kiss that, of course, Aina received with her tongue and made it feel even wetter and messier than before.

Aina's body started to move in a weird way, of course, Aina was searching for some friction in her lower half, so she started to rub against Nanaka's body.

Nanaka opened her eyes for a bit, looking at Aina who was so desperate to be fucked; Nanaka determined that that wasn't the place, so she hugged Aina tightly and stood up from the armrest making Aina snap in surprise and tried to hold her position on tiptoes.

The 10 cm difference was taking a toll on this kind of situation.
Aina was just too short. And that made Nanaka hornier.

Nanaka started to move towards the futons while still kissing Aina fiercely, of course, Aina was reciprocating every kiss, every bite, and the playful tongue.

Without breaking the intense kiss, Nanaka made Aina sit on the first futon while Nanaka just kneeled in front of her.

They were eager to start touching each other and it was pretty clear when both started desperately grabbing each other's shirts. All those clothes were just in the way.

Without taking their lips away from each other, the clothes were disappearing from their bodies and reappearing somewhere else in the room, until they were left just in their panties.

But passion was bigger than anything, they didn't stop to look at each other's bodies, they kept kissing as if they needed to take back all the kisses they missed that whole year. Nanaka was addicted to Aina's lips, to her tongue, to her bites, it was intoxicating her.

Nanaka pushed Aina to her back without separating their lips, she slyly slid her left knee between Aina's crotch while Aina slyly pulled Nanaka's scrunchie out of her ponytail, making her hair fall gracefully over her, as Aina lifted her right leg to hook it with Nanaka's hip, and moving her left thigh to touch Nanaka's crotch as well.

Nanaka had to stop kissing her to moan; her lower half was begging for some rubbing.
Aina smiled wide about it and hugged Nanaka's head desperately to keep the kissing going as she started to move her hips, of course, Nanaka couldn't do any less than to start moving as well, making some good friction between them.

The movements weren't slow; they were fast and passionate as both were desperate to hear each other's moans, the kissing session was abruptly cut by Aina's louder moans that were making Nanaka even wetter.

"Su—Ah~! Ah~!…Suwawa~! AH~!" Aina moaned loudly in her super high pitched tone.

Nanaka had to bite her lips to control her own moans, but she increased the speed of her hips making more friction in Aina's crotch, and at the same time trying to stick her own into Aina's thigh.

She could feel her left thigh soaked, as her lower lips making her panties and Aina's thigh also wet.
It was in a way uncomfortable, but she just couldn't stop her movements to take off her panties, she just needed to cum in her panties the same as Aina.

Aina's moans became louder and Nanaka just couldn't control her own any longer, so she started to moan with her in a symphony of wet sounds, body friction, pants, grunts, and loud moans.

"Suwa…wa….I'm…I'm...I'm…coming~…AH!...AH!…" Aina was moaning, Nanaka hugged her tightly.

"I'm…I'm coming too…" Nanaka tried to say controlling herself, but both just couldn't hold any longer, and moaned louder, at the same time sticking to each other's bodies, pressing firmly against each other crotches with their thighs.

Aina's back arched as Nanaka's butt stuck out more from its position trying to hold on tight in the intense orgasm.

Finally, calm reached the room, except for the panting from the girls.

Nanaka felt her all her strength and couldn't help but to fall over Aina's tiny body; Aina made a drowned gasp.

With clumsy hands, Aina hugged Nanaka and softly started to stroke her hair.

Nanaka moved her head a bit to look at Aina; she was resting, breathing heavily, eyes closed. but with a huge smile on her face.
Nanaka blinked a few times and couldn't help but smile wide too…

Finally, they had crossed the line, they had kissed and shared an intense orgasm together. It was incredible.

But…I don't feel satisfied…

Maybe Nanaka was filled with love, with happiness and joy, but she just ignored her tiredness and her sore legs to muster the strength to push herself up once again, her eyes darkening in lust, moving up to face Aina once again.

They had waited a year, they needed to make the most of it. One round wasn't enough.

She caressed Aina cheeks softly; of course, at the moment Aina felt Nanaka's body starting to move on top of her she snapped out of her tiredness too and looked at Nanaka who was moving toward her.

They locked gazes, loving gazes, as no one could believe that finally, they were consummating their love, the love they always had but were denied to enjoy, until now.

They were making their own precious memories in a place where no one else was. If they had made love to each other in Nanaka's place, Shuka's ghost would have been there hunting Nanaka, the same thing as in the Lantis building. Those were NanaShuka love spot, but now, they had made a NanaAinya one, and Nanaka wanted to make even more, one kiss wasn't enough, one rub wasn't enough.

And now that they had crossed the line, they had consummated their passion and they had each other's bodies, it was time to start enjoying Aina.

"You ok Suwa-chan?" asked Aina in a loving tone.

Nanaka smiled wide at her, still caressing Aina's cheek.

"Yes…and I'm happy too…" said Nanaka also in a very loving tone; Aina smiled wide.

But Nanaka wasn't there to talk.

She moved forward and started kissing Aina softly, but deeply.

Of course, Aina reciprocated the kisses, feeling their heat increasing once again.

Nanaka cut the kiss this time.

"I…I want to make love to you…" said Nanaka in her low and husky tone, "I…I want to see your body and enjoy it…"

Aina smiled wider and nodded shyly; Nanaka smiled at her softly as they locked their lips once again in another tender kiss.

But, as Nanaka should have known by that time, it was that Aina was unexpected.

So in a quick movement, she turned around making Nanaka stay on her back as Aina straddled her.

Aina cut the kiss while Nanaka snapped in surprise from the quick movement Aina made her do.
She blinked abruptly, trying to comprehend what the hell was happening.

Aina wasn't as passive as she had thought.

Aina smiled maliciously at her while locking gazes.

"A…Ainya…?" called Nanaka with surprise, but Aina hushed her with a kiss.

"Don't worry Nana, you will make love to me…but I like to be on top…" said Aina smiling cockily at her, and then raised her torso revealing herself to Nanaka.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide at the sight, and at the same time cursed that she didn't have better night vision contacts.

Of course, night had fallen and the room was quite dark, except for the light coming from the window behind them, which made Aina's body look even better.

Her huge chest, her right curves in the right places, her thick thighs, and her wetness through her panties.

There was nothing shy in Aina's body, and everything looked so perfect that it was even unreal that such perfection was just in front of her.

"I hope you are enjoying the view…" said Aina, while with her right hand started to pull down her panties as her left hand tried to cover one of her breasts, but obviously failing at it.

Nanaka blinked a few times trying to come back to reality, this was happening and she needed to stick to this dimension.
So, she brought her hands and touched Aina's thighs firmly.

Yes, they are real… and…so…delicious…

Nanaka licked her lips unconsciously while her sight traveled from Aina's thighs towards her big and shiny eyes, not losing any details, studying her carefully.

Then she stayed in complete astonishment of how Aina lifted her right leg to take off her panties, to later take it off her left leg.
Finally, Aina was completely naked for Nanaka to enjoy her.

My, I think…I'm going to come just with this…

Nanaka blinked again and gulped dryly.
She was out of breath.

But full of passion.

Aina threw her panties God knows where, while at the same time Nanaka lifted her torso to hug Aina's body; thanks to the height difference, Nanaka's kisses landed straight on Aina's lips. She started to kiss her passionately while Aina stuck her body to Nanaka's, her hands entwined in Nanaka's silky hair.

Nanaka's hands started to feel Aina's soft skin; her right hand went directly to her cute and firm butt, while her left tried to grab one of her breasts.

It was like a drug, kissing Aina while touching her silky skin; Aina broke the kiss to start moaning and grunting from Nanaka's electric touch. Nanaka had the opportunity to start kissing Aina's neck and started filling Aina's desired with her hot kisses, while at the same time started to squeeze her breast.

Aina's firm grip onto Nanaka's skull became a little bit painful as Aina's legs started to shake.

Nanaka started a trail of kissed on Aina's skin through her neck, to her collarbone, until reaching her right breast and fiercely started sucking it, while her left hand groped the right one properly.

Aina arched her back while moaning, her hips started to move with eagerness, she indeed needed some rubbing once again.

Nanaka sucked Aina's nipple hard enough for Aina to again moan loudly, to later go to her other nipple to start the teasing her all over again.

"Oh…Nana~…Suwa—wa~…Suwawa just…fuck me already…." demanded Aina between moans and grunts.

Nanaka stopped sucking Aina's nipple and looked up to meet her gaze, but that glance was just two seconds; Aina grabbed Nanaka's head and gave her a deep kiss that made her shiver in her spot and something hot burned inside her own panties.
Maybe she had just come from that, but she couldn't think too much about it, her Aina was eager to be fucked by her.

So, with diligent hands she reached Aina's core, her right hand being soaked by Aina's wetness.

Nanaka abruptly broke the kiss while at the same time she reached Aina's clit and started teasing it.

"My, Ainya…you are soaked…" said Nanaka with a husky tone but with a lot of surprise.

Aina just moaned louder.

Nanaka was delighted by the sight; she slid her fingers in Aina's slit, feeling the wetness, moving her fingers from one side to another trying to tease her more, but Aina's legs were now shaking.

"Ow! Suwawa~!" called Aina with almost a whine, looking at her with pleading eyes; Nanaka looked at her while stopping her fingers.

Nanaka's eyes were darkened in lust; Aina was at the verge of oblivion, her knees shivering, her core dripping wet on Nanaka's hand, her hips eager, her arms around Nanaka's neck, and looking at her with teary eyes while biting her lips.

She wanted to be fucked so hard. Aina just forgot that Nanaka wanted to make love to her, not to just fuck her. That was even vulgar.

But that was what Aina wanted, to be fucked.

Nanaka licked her lips and with a husky, sexy and low tone murmured into Aina's ear;

"Beg me to."

Aina grunted in pleasure, Nanaka's low tone maybe made her cum again, but Aina just couldn't take it.

"Fuck me, Suwawa, fuck me hard!" said Aina in her loud and begging tone, that, of course, made Nanaka smirk proudly.

So who is screaming who's name now...legs spread and soaking wet!

As Nanaka moved towards Aina's lips to lock a new wet and intense kiss, she moved two fingers inside Aina, deep and without warning.

Aina moaned louder into the kiss, as her hips started to move fast, fucking Nanaka's fingers without care.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide, that sight was extremely delicious.
Aina was out of herself moving her hips, moaning louder and holding Nanaka's head as if her life depended on it.

Nanaka blinked, fiercely trying hard to stick in the act and to not come just from seeing Aina fuck her fingers, she was supposed to be fucking Aina, not her being a dildo.

So, Nanaka licked her lips and started to kiss Aina's breast with passion and eagerness, while her other hand hugged Aina's waist with the strength to keep her in position.

Nanaka sucked Aina´s nipples hard, and started giving her hot and wet kisses on her neck while starting to move her right hand at pace with Aina's movements, being careful to curl them and move her fingers prodigiously inside her.

Wet sounds started to fill the room as Aina's moans started to get louder.

"Ah~ Ah~ So, Good, Suwawa~!... ah, ah!, AH! AH~! I'm gonna...I'm gonna~" Aina was moaning louder for maybe all the hotel floor to hear.

Nanaka sucked her neck hard while inserting a third finger inside Aina, deeply.

Aina just couldn't take it and arched her back with a final and even louder moan.

Finally, silence one again.

Aina's body fell over Nanaka's, and Nanaka just hugged her tenderly and with love. Aina kept her position over Nanaka's hand, her knees supporting her tired body, as Aina's arms encircled Nanaka's neck. Her head resting on Nanaka's shoulder.

Aina's breathing was quite elaborate and she was panting hard, trying to come back from the orgasm.

Nanaka rubbed her back softly while starting to give Aina soft kisses on her shoulder.

"Ainya-chan... are you ok...?" asked Nanaka in a very sweet tone; Aina nodded without moving her head out of Nanaka's shoulder.

Nanaka smiled softly, then she moved her fingers still inside Aina, teasing her again; Aina moaned again.

"My my...you are still so soaked..." said Nanaka with a teasing tone while moving her fingers, filling her ears with the wet sounds and Aina's soft grunts.

"Suw—Suwawa...mmfff!" tried Aina, moving her torso back to lock gazes with Nanaka; both locked gazes, while Nanaka had a huge grin, Aina was with a troubled face, her cheeks red in embarrassment and all sweaty.

"Sto—stop...Ah~! You...mmfff" Aina bit her lips, suppressing her moans and grunts.

Nanaka stopped her movements but didn't remove her fingers; Aina looked at her panting.
Nanaka smiled at her softly with a lovely gaze. She moved forward, their lips inches from each other.

"I love you, Suzuki Aina..." and she kissed Aina, deeply, lovingly, tenderly.

Aina closed her eyes and accepted Nanaka's feelings, hugging Nanaka's head with more strength and answering back the kiss with the same love and passion.

Nanaka departed from the kiss when she felt something wet and cold on her cheeks, so she moved away from Aina to find that she was crying on the kiss.

"Oh, Ainya-chan...did I hurt you? Are you ok?" asked Nanaka in panic and forgetting that her right hand was still under Aina with 3 fingers inside.

Aina just shook her head and with her left hand wiped a few tears.

"I'm...I'm just happy..." said Aina softy, "these are just tears of joy..."

Nanaka raised her eyes in sadness.

Of course, Nanaka had finally confessed her feelings for Aina, truly and purely, not just because Aina was pushing her in some disagreement or conversation as they usually had.

No.

This time Nanaka confessed to her, finally, Aina's love was being reciprocated.

Nanaka smiled at her lovingly.

"I'm happy too..." said Nanaka and pushed forward to steal another kiss. But this time it was a short one. "And I have to warn you, I'm fond of kisses..."

Aina giggled and rested her forehead on Nanaka's for a few seconds, taking in all her feelings and Nanaka's.
Her breath was now calmer.

"Suwawa...can you...You know?... take them out?..." Aina asked shyly, locking gazes with Nanaka.

Nanaka smirked and licked her lips.

"Too bad, it's really warm inside you..." said Nanaka in her husky voice, and removing her fingers.

Aina grunted in pleasure and her gaze stuck on Nanaka's fingers, of course, Nanaka was showing them to her.

"You came quite a lot didn't you?" teased Nanaka, and before Aina could say a thing Nanaka licked her fingers not breaking eye contact.

"Oh~ don't— don't do that...Suwawa..." said Aina shyly, and pulled Nanaka's hand away from her lips and tongue.

"Why...you are delicious..." said Nanaka in her dry tone, "I think I'm not done with you..."

"Eh? Suwawa..." called Aina with eyes wide, "I ... I came a lot of times..." finished Aina shyly.

Nanaka gave her a proud smile; Aina raised her eyebrows.

"Actually...now that you mention..." started Aina, but paused to move Nanaka's "dirty" hand towards her face, looking her own nectar on Nanaka's sticky fingers, "I feel hungry..." and Aina licked Nanaka's hand, making Nanaka snap in surprise, of course, Nanaka wasn't expecting that.

"Hey!" said Nanaka trying to move her hand back to, her but Aina was eagerly licking her fingers and her own cum from Nanaka's finger, "Sto—stop!" said Nanaka, until she was finally able to withdraw her hand out of Aina's mouth.

"What?...seeing you, makes me hunger..." said Aina recovering her 'sexy mood'.

"Eh?..."

"You heard me, I'm hungry, and I warn you..." Aina was saying while moving her body forwards, which made Nanaka stay in her back once again against the futon, "I'm a BIG eater..."

Nanaka opened her eyes wide as Aina turned her sex switch on once again and abruptly started kissing her again, sloppy, fiercely and wetly, introducing her playful tongue and using her hands to start fondling Nanaka's body.

Of course, Nanaka at this point of the night didn't need any more teasing, she would maybe have to throw her panties away because of the wetness, as if there was no washing machine capable of cleaning her wet messes.

And maybe Aina knew, it because her kissing session didn't last that long, in no time she started to move down on her, giving Nanaka some hot and wet kisses on her neck, her collarbone, but she stopped on Nanaka's cute chest.

Nanaka felt some shy hands squeezing her breasts; she couldn't help but look down on Aina, her eyes wide in love with Nanaka's breasts, looking at them with curiosity and with a goofy smile.

"Ai...Aina...?" called Nanaka, somehow feeling a bit awkward.

"Eh?" snapped Aina who suddenly changed into her 'Goofy mode', "Oh, don't mind me...it's just, I'm in love with your body..."

Nanaka opened her eyes wide and felt embarrassed.

"Ok...but...don't... don't stop to look at my breasts...geez!" said Nanaka throwing her head back to the futon; Aina laughed at her.

"Awww Suwawa-chan, you are so cute when you are frustrated..." said Aina squeezing Nanaka's breasts, "don't worry... I'm going to make you feel good..." said Aina, as she slowly stuck out her tongue and started to tease Nanaka's erect nipple.

"It's just..." continued Aina between licks, "I've wanted to do this...from...a...long...time...ago." she finished by sucking the nipple with strength.

Nanaka moaned softly.

Aina did the same with the other breast but didn't stay long on Nanaka's breast, she continued down, licking and kissing her; Nanaka's legs started to move with impatience.

"I know...Nana, I can smell you..." said Aina kissing Nanaka's belly, still going down. But she abruptly stopped on Nanaka's hipbone.

Nanaka looked down with pleading eyes to see why Aina had stopped.
They locked gazes; Aina smirked.

"I have wanted to do this...since I saw you in the showers..." and gave Nanaka a deep and strong kiss on her hipbone.

Nanaka moaned louder and her back arched.

Aina had found out her weak spot thanks to that day when she had seen Shuka giving Nanaka oral sex in the showers, Shuka teased her hipbone and Nanaka just couldn't control it. Aina SAW that, and now Nanaka was defenseless under Aina's control.

Aina was teasing her hipbone just so much that she needed to hold Nanaka's legs in position.

"Oh, Aina, Aina...stop it! I ...I'm..." Nanaka moaned out of control.

Aina continued teasing, and with her hands removed Nanaka's soaked panties, while her tongue and lips still worked on Nanaka's skin.

"Mmm… I think dinner is ready..." murmured Aina against Nanaka skin, as she kept going down, "It's a shame that this won't be featured on the 'Walker'..."

Nanaka was about to say something, but Aina found Nanaka's bump of nerves and sucked it hard, making her moan and throw her head against the futon once again.

"...mmm better this way, more for me..." murmured Aina between Nanaka's legs, but continued teasing Nanaka's clit without mercy.

Nanaka grabbed the futon tightly with both hands while Aina was devoured her; Aina's tongue started to travel from north to south through Nanaka's slit, moving around twitching and moving crazily in Nanaka's most private place.

She just couldn't hold back any longer, and Nanaka in a complete state of ecstasy brought her right hand towards Aina's head and pushed her down, lower to her entrance, her fingers entwined painfully in Aina's hair while moaning.

Somehow Aina understood the motion and started to fuck Nanaka with her tongue.
And it was madness.

Aina was indeed a big eater, and her tongue was craziness. The way it moved, twitched, and turned was madness even for Nanaka to hold. Maybe she wasn't deeper inside Nanaka, but at that point of the night, Nanaka just wanted to erupt in all her pleasure, in a strong orgasm and a loud moan.

And she did.
She came louder, holding onto Aina's head and holding her left hand.

It was intense and incredibly satisfying.

Silence was in the room once again, except for Nanaka's heavy panting.
She softened her tight gripping on Aina's hand and head, feeling completely drained. She wasn't used to having 3 rounds straight, with Shuka it was indeed different.

"You ok Suwa-chan?" asked Aina in a soft and sweet tone from between her legs.

Nanaka opened her sleepy eyes softly to fix her sight on the dark ceiling, she felt totally out of this world.
She could feel Aina crawling back to her chest.

"Hehe, you are done... I'm glad I learned something that day..." said Aina placing herself on Nanaka's chest, of course, referring to the time in the shower with Shuka.

Nanaka made a sad face. Her time with Shuka.

Charged by sadness she moved her arms to grab Aina's cheeks and made her look at her, she also tried to lift her torso enough to lock gazes with her.

Aina greeted her with her big and wide shiny eyes, looking at a very sad Nanaka.

"I don't want to hear that; I'm with you now, please…" asked Nanaka in a very soft and serious tone; Aina raised her eyebrows in sadness, but then blinked and gave Nanaka a sweet smile.

Aina moved forward and kissed Nanaka softly.
Nanaka tried to hold on the taste; she just didn't like her own taste.

"I'm sorry Nana..." and she cuddled on Nanaka's chest; Nanaka hugged her with the rest of the strength she had.

Nanaka closed her eyes tiredly, feeling only her heartbeats and Aina softly breathing.

Aina needed to understand that moving on took time; maybe Nanaka was ready to move on, to sleep with her and take that step, but, Shuka had broken up with her not a month ago, start bringing her up in the middle of sex or after sex, or even comparing her was awkward, twisted, and why not, painful.

Nanaka started to feel some cute kisses on her chest and one of her breasts being squeezed softly, so she needed to wake up from her slumber.

Eh? Does she want another round?! Jesus!

"Ai...Aina..." called Nanaka softly but with a shaky tone.

"Are you awake?" said Aina still squeezing her left breast.

"Of course I'm awake... what are you doing?"

"Playing with your chest..." said Aina as if that was the most common and normal thing to do.

Nanaka deadpanned towards the ceiling.

"Sto-stop that..."

"Eh? Why? They are so cute..." Aina said while still squeezing, "Does this put you in the mood again?..." teased Aina now teasing the erect nipple.

"Of course, but I'm drained... Aina, I'm low in stamina...mmmm — please stop!" said Nanaka, and with a tired hand removed Aina's finger from her chest; Aina laughed like an old man.

"Geez! C'mon! Don't get mad...it's just...I love your body...I... I want more..." finished Aina softly with a cute tone, then looked up to Nanaka's face.

"Should we...take that bath?" suggested Nanaka still looking at the ceiling, but then looked at Aina; Aina's eyes showed a special spark.

"That's actually a very good idea..." said Aina raising her body; Nanaka smiled at her.

"Besides...Aina, we did it on the futons...and Arisa might come back in any second..." said Nanaka trying to gather strength to move.

Aina looked at Nanaka with an astonished look.

"Fuck, you are right...Arisha is sleeping here too..." said Aina with a dry tone, she had completely forgotten about her.

Well, Nanaka had too.

"Jesus!" snapped Aina as she quickly got up.

Nanaka blinked a few times and with a lot of effort sat on the futon.

Without any warning, Aina turned on the lights.
Nanaka blinked abruptly, trying to get used to the light and making some complaining grunts about it.

"Sorry, it's just...we need to fix the room..." said Aina in her diligent tone, "It won't be funny if Arisha finds our wet clothes scattered everywhere right—...Oh." finished Aina.

Nanaka who was scratching her sleepy eyes stopped her at the same time as Aina stopped talking and turned around to see why, but her eyes widened in surprise too.

To see Aina standing up fully naked in the doorframe.

Now with clear light, she could see everything in very crisp HD. Same as Aina; she was frozen in the doorframe, looking back at Nanaka with a goofy smile, and from time to time her eyes moved around the room looking at "the mess".

The clothes scattered, Aina's and Nanaka's futon all messed up.
Their love being consummated at last, and Nanaka naked in the middle of the room.

Both shared a smile. A happy smile.

"Y' know, I'm wondering if the bath is going to be of any use..." said Aina walking slowly back to the room and grabbing her PJs.

"Mmm, why not...you can clean your messes in there..." said Nanaka standing up and helping with the scattered clothes; she found her lost scrunchie form before and smiled at it.

"My messes?!" said Aina with clothes in her hands.

Nanaka found her soaked panties and lifted it for study, then she turned around and shyly showed them to Aina.

"You made this mess..."

Aina smiled wide and proud.

"I want to clean my messes..." she said softly.

They stood looking at each other devouring their bodies with their sight for a few seconds until they determined that it was unbearable, so both walked to meet each other in another kiss in the middle of the room but started to move towards the bathroom between giggles, kisses and awkward movements.

They bathed, that was for sure, but not before they had fucked their brains out once again, now in the bath.

They ended up relaxing in the tub; Nanaka laid on one side and lovingly hugging Aina who sat in front of her between her legs, both looking at the window with the incredible view of the sea.

"I'm soooooo~ tired..." said Aina getting comfy on Nanaka's chest.

"Me too...how are we going to record tomorrow...?" asked Nanaka hugging Aina tightly.

Aina gave her a sweet kiss on her cheek; Nanaka looked at her; they locked gazes, love gazes, and they kissed again.

"I'm so happy..." said Aina breaking the kiss; Nanaka smiled wide at her.

"We should suggest to Arisha to go to another room..." said Aina turning her face again towards the window.

"Eh? Why?" asked Nanaka cluelessly, of course, at that moment between the tiredness and the drunken feeling of being in a tub with Aina she just couldn't think straight.

"Because, you said you would make me moan Shiny till dawn, how are you going to do that if Arisha is in the same room...?!" snapped Aina in her loud tone.

Nanaka giggled and hugged her tightly, pressing her cheek with Aina's.

"Besides...I want to have more sex with you...I want to touch you more... and with her, in the room, it's gonna be impossible..." said Aina with an outraged voice, Nanaka giggled again.

She was messing around with another kid with sex abstinence problems.

"Well, you are right, it's going to be difficult with her in the room...besides, she still thinks I'm with Shuka..." said Nanaka nonchalantly.

Silence filled the room except for the sound of the water.

Suddenly Aina broke the embrace and turned around to have more space from Nanaka.
They locked gazes, worried ones.

"I think you need to explain that to me..." said Aina in her serious tone.

Nanaka blinked tiredly.
Of course, before they were just too horny and too eager to screw each other to stop their sexual desires to have this conversation.

"You are going to break up with her right?!" asked Aina.

"Aina, we already broke up, we aren't together...and we thought it was no used telling that to the members..." said Nanaka softly.

Aina opened her eyes in discomfort.
Nanaka could have sworn that she saw a frown on Aina's face.

"How is that possible? You lied to me!" snapped Aina angrily and abruptly stood up.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide at the sight.
It was delicious and of course, a little bit unsettling.

She blinked a few times trying to hold on.

"Ai...Aina could you sit, please...?" asked Nanaka trying to control her desires.

"No no! I'm done! You lied to me! You made me believe that you had settled things just to fuck me around!" said Aina in her angry tone and making awkward moves to get out of the tub.

"Hey hey, don't say that," said Nanaka holding her hand and making face her, "Can you calm down, sit and listen?" asked Nanaka politely.

Aina took a deep breath and sat abruptly like a scolded child in front of Nanaka.

"Don't be so cute, or I'll fuck you again..." said Nanaka in her dry tone; Aina was about to say something but Nanaka hushed her with her index.

"We talked, with Shuka...I had all the intentions to make our breakup public to the members, but then we thought about it more carefully..." started Nanaka, Aina raised her eyebrows.

"Aqours is in a very frail state right now, all the members fighting each other because of the Centers, the polls, the fact that 'Second years' are always picked...trying to add more to the mix is going to be unbearable..." said Nanaka in her low tone.

"But we talked about it...Suwawa we are adults! We can take it!" tried Aina.

"I think we can't! Do you imagine how the members are going to react? Who is the one to blame about my relationship not succeeding?" asked Nanaka.

"Shuka of course!" said Aina with a "doh" tone.

Nanaka looked at her with her "Suwa face".

Aina blinked a few times.

"It isn't?..." she asked shyly.

"That's your point of view..." said Nanaka softly, "what if Anchan or Rikako think I'm the one to blame?"

"But that's not true! If you want I can— oh..." stopped Aina realizing what was going on.

She closed her eyes softly and nodded.

"Ok...I got your point..."

"Do you? ..."

"Yes, now that you mention it...I'm going to be the first one to defend you, maybe Arisha will too... and the Unit will be broken..." said Aina softly.

"We are dealing with people like 'First years' too, they feel that everything is a game, so imagine if they think that Shuka is the one to blame, how unbearable will their mocking get? " added Nanaka.

"Are you protecting her again?" asked Aina annoyed.

"Aina, I'm protecting Aqours, if one of us isn't comfortable in the practice room, can you imagine how that practice is going to be?..." asked Nanaka, "And maybe they might think that I fucked up and they could start messing with me..."

"I'll stand for you!" added Aina with passion, but then realized that that was also wrong.

"Taking sides...breaking the Unit... we don't want that..." said Nanaka softly.

"Then? What are you going to do?" asked Aina in her sweet tone.

"Well, we are lowering the relationship's profile...we will stop doing things...we will try to ignore each other more...and gradually our thing will not be an issue..." said Nanaka nonchalantly.

Aina blinked a few times.

"And you are ok with that?" asked Aina astonishedly.

"Of course, I'm moving on...and...well, I'm with you..." finished Nanaka shyly.

Aina gave her a wide smile, but in a second faded.

"What about Shuka?"

"She agreed...actually, it was her idea...so we will try it..." said Nanaka resting it importance.

"Ok..."

"What do you think? Does that work for you?" asked Nanaka shyly.

Aina moved her head from one side to another, maybe weighing the pros and cons of the issue.

"If we publicly breakup, that doesn't mean we, I mean you and I, can start a thing anyway..." said Nanaka in her low tone; Aina looked at her with a sad face, "Imagine, Shuka and I broke up and one month later you and I start a thing...what are the members going to say?..."

"Yes, that's another mess..." said Aina softly.

"What's important is that Shuka and I agreed to downplay the relationship thingie to focus on Aqours, and to move on...is that ok with you?" insisted Nanaka.

Aina gave her a shy smile.

"Yes, Nana, it works for me..." said Aina in her sweet tone.

Nanaka extended her arms inviting her to hug again, and Aina agreed.

They stayed hugging each other, lovingly sharing some cute kisses and soft touches while enjoying their time in the tub.

Of course, they needed to get out of the tub.

They tried hard to resist having sex once again and to actually dress up in their pajamas.
But the thought that Arisa might come at any moment was frightening enough for them to even hurry up in changing.

They helped each other with the hairdryer and their beauty sessions.
Of course, they shared some kisses from time to time, because they needed to share their love as long as they could.

Aina left the bathroom first, while Nanaka brushed her teeth and finished up with her contacts.

When Nanaka left the room she was surprised to see that Arisa was there on her futon, happily talking with Aina.

Nanaka took her place in the middle futon, which was surprisingly clean and neat once again.

Arisa told them that the Onsen was incredible and that she had taken so long because the staff had arrived and had ended up in some fun conversation, and after they had gone for some drinks in the hotel's bar. She had a good time and it was a shame that Nanaka and Aina had missed it.

Nanaka didn't say a thing, but Aina was laughing and giggling about everything Arisa was telling them; when Arisa asked what about them, Aina told her that they had spent the time talking about nonsense, and then they took the bath, nothing important.

They kept the chitchat a bit longer until Nanaka just couldn't bear her eyes open and went to sleep.
The other two girls giggled and followed through.

Arisa turned off the light, and silence filled the room.

Nanaka turned to face Aina and was surprised to find Aina facing her as well.
Both smiled at each other.

Of course, after everything that had happened a few hours earlier, they had the imperious need to hold each other or to be closer.
And because the futons were next to each other it wasn't hard.

Both moved to the end of their respective futons to be closer, they held each other's hands entwining their fingers.
They were lost in each other's eyes, it was sweet and extremely painful.

Aina just couldn't take it and moved forward to steal a kiss from Nanaka's lips. It was soft but powerful.

Nanaka felt all the heat rising once again, but she couldn't do anything, Arisa was at her back and in the same room.

They looked at each other understanding; they shared some few quick kisses and then cuddled.
Aina in her spot between the crook of Nanaka's neck, as she held her lovingly and tightly between her arms, entwining their legs.

It had been a long day, and both drifted away to sleep.
Holding on tight on a love that finally was able to be satisfied from both sides.

Slowly the shards of a broken heart being pasted together, feeling what both girls wanted to.

.

.

.

A faint light reached Nanaka's sleepy eyes making her wake up from her slumber.
She frowned softly at the sensation of light on her eyes, but as she was reaching new levels of consciousness, she was becoming more aware of her surroundings.

It was quiet, it was warm, but there was something that bothered her around the chest.
Nanaka frowned now more prominently at it, and with no strength at all tried to figure out what it was that bothered her.

She could feel some soft and silky hair, like a bump that was glued to her torso.
It was warm, cozy, and extremely soft. She thought that maybe it was a pillow, but a soft pinch in her breast told her the contrary.

With now a prominent frown on her face, she tried to open her sleepy eyes; she couldn't help but open them up abruptly to find out that Aina was glued to her chest like a koala, and was delightedly groping her right breast under her pajamas.

Nanaka snapped softly, but enough for Aina to look up and lock gazes with her; she made a goofy smile.

Completely ignoring Nanaka's astonished face, Aina moved up a bit and locked her lips with Nanaka in a sweet peck.

"Morning…" she murmured in a soft whisper, then returned to her spot on Nanaka's breast.

Nanaka blinked a few times not believing what was happening, while feeling her breast being squeezed as Aina snuggled in her chest.

Not every day she woke up with Aina groping her and glued to her chest.
Then she recalled that the previous night they had screwed each other for a long time in some consecutive rounds of incredible sex.

No, it hadn't been a dream, and now she was feeling clearly awake because Aina was still playing with her breast and something warm was coming out between her legs.

With her poor strength, she shook Aina softly.

"Hey…" said Nanaka in a whisper: Aina looked up once again with a goofy smile, "wha—what are you doing?…"

Aina smiled wide and without any warnings, lifted what was left of Nanaka's pajamas and sucked the teased nipple.

Nanaka bit her lips to hold her grunt and her breath in.
She grabbed Aina's hair with some strength.

"Ai—Aina!" Nanaka tried to scold her in a whisper, feeling Aina's tongue playing with her nipple, but of course, Nanaka was ignored.

Nanaka's prominent frown made another appearance in annoyance while she tried to separate Aina's body from hers, but Aina was strong enough to resist as the koala she was.

Aina left Nanaka's nipple with a snap that made Nanaka shiver.

"Sto—stop! Aina, Arisa is here…" whispered Nanaka annoyed; no matter if she liked the sensation of having Aina glued to her body, that wasn't the place.

Aina looked at her with a malicious grin still playing with Nanaka's erect nipple.

"I'm hungry…" murmured Aina curving the tip of her lips.

"I—I'm not breakfast…" said Nanaka with annoyance, trying to keep her voice down.

"I beg to differ…" said Aina with a spiteful low tone, and in seconds she started to touch Nanaka's groin.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide in discomfort.
One thing was her almost not existence breast, but another was her private place.

A place that was beginning to get very wet.

Aina moved up to look at Nanaka's freaked out face while still touching Nanaka's groin over her pajamas with her left hand and started to kiss Nanaka's neck softly, trying to be quiet.

"C'mon Nana…" murmured Aina in her mature and sexy tone," I know you are ready…"

Nanaka bit her lips muffling her grunts and a soft moan that tried to escape from her lips; Aina introduced her hand in her pants, and because her panties were soaked about the previous night's encounter, she wasn't wearing anything below, so Aina reached her soaked core in an instant and started teasing her clit at a soft pace.

"Ai—Aina…" called Nanaka softly, but it was easy to confuse it with a whine or a pledge.

"Shhh…You don't want to awake Arisha up…" said Aina moving her fingers faster.

Nanaka bit her lips and tightened her eyes.

Maybe she could stop Aina, but the sensation was quite good; how long had Aina been teasing her breast for her to become this wet.

Nanaka's breathing started to be more agitated.

"Ai…Aina…" called Nanaka with difficulties and tightening her grip on Aina's pajama.

But Aina's response was to increase her speed over the bump of nerves, of course, wet sounds started to escape from Nanaka's lower lips as soft moans tried to escape from her higher lips.

Aina looked at her with some spark in her eyes; she moved up once again and hushed Nanaka's moans while kissing her and increasing the speed of her fingers, not giving Nanaka's clit any chance of a break.

She was squeezing it, rubbing in circles and touching it on its top, making Nanaka to tighten her embrace on her and to lift her right leg over Aina's body, giving more access to her treasure.

Aina smiled wide on the kiss and tried to insert 2 fingers with difficulty, while with her thumb she was still rubbing Nanaka's clit mercilessly.

The difficulties were because Aina was too short for Nanaka's body, she needed to choose if she wanted to kiss her or to get inside her, but she couldn't do both at the same time in a proper way, especially if they wanted to be quiet and not be noticed.

So, Aina chose to keep kissing Nanaka and keeping her quiet, and her hand was back on the bump of nerves, causing Nanaka's leg to shake and move.

"Shhh Nana, be quiet…" said Aina in a whisper between kisses; kisses that were making her get even wetter, and maybe those sounds would be very difficult to silence.

Nanaka grunted in desperation about it, but Aina placed two fingers inside her mouth to hush her abruptly; Nanaka opened her eyes wide in discomfort and noticed that there was an indescribable taste in those fingers...

"C'mon Nana…come for me…" purred Aina in her ear, and maybe that was enough for Nanaka to lose herself completely.

Aina's sexy voice, her fingers rubbing against her clit, the excitement of being caught in the act, and the fact that a cell phone started to ring at the same time, overcoming Nanaka's moans just perfectly.

With the sound of the cell phone, Aina withdrew her fingers from Nanaka's groin and pants, and out of her mouth, to later roll back to her futon as this had never happened.

Nanaka was left like a statue in a fetal position, and with her hands in her mouth shutting any sound that might have come out of it from the orgasm. But her sight was glued on Aina's figure.

The phone was Arisa's alarm clock.
Of course, it was time to wake up.

So, in no time she felt some movements behind her; futon movement, Arisa yawning, and seconds later the phone being silenced.

Arisa was awake.

Nanaka closed her eyes feeling her temples sweating.

God, dammit! Aina!

Then she felt more movement coming from behind her; Arisa standing up and walking out of the room, few footsteps later a door was closed.
Maybe she had gone to the toilet?

Nanaka opened her eyes in clear annoyance.
She saw Aina's bump not even facing her.

I …I can't believe this!

How could she!… How dare her!

Nanaka frowned.

"Aina…" called Nanaka, but nobody moved; Nanaka frowned.

"Hey…don't ignore me now…" said Nanaka with clear anger in her voice, then she recalled that her pajamas were in any order but the correct one. So she invested the next seconds trying to get her clothes in the right place when she felt a door opening and Arisa's footsteps coming back into the room.

"Hey! You two…it's time to wake up…" said Arisa entering the room.

There was a moment of silence while Arisa moved things around until she spoke again.

"Aina-san, Suwa-san…we need to move! Wake wake wake up—!" said Arisa in a cheery mood, which was even weird for her.

Aina moved in her futon sitting up, like if she just had woken up.

Nanaka deadpanned her.

What a nerve!

Aina yawned and then looked at Arisa with a wide smile.

"Morning!" she said almost in Mari's tone.

"Morning Aina, how you feeling?" said Arisa still moving around.

"Good, I slept like a log!" said Aina, also with a very happy tone.

"Good, today is going to be a very busy day…we need our energy…" said Arisa.

Nanaka looked at Aina with a frown, but Aina's gaze was stuck on Arisa.

"Do we need to go down with our outfits already?…" asked Aina still sitting.

"No, we can go down with our clothes to have breakfast, if we go down with the outfits we might get them dirty…" Arisa said.

"Oh, breakfast…" said Aina softly.

"I hope the buffet is good…" Arisa was saying while things were being moved, Nanaka bet her head that Arisa was changing clothes, "Geez! I'm starving…"

"Yes…me too…" said Aina while she took her hand out of the futon and started licking it, locking gazes with Nanaka, who opened her eyes wide in astonishment and embarrassment.

Aina smiled wide at Nanaka and later removed her hand from her lips.

"Are you?" asked Arisa, maybe she had missed that.
"HEY! Suwawa! Wake up!" said Arisa in now a more diligent tone.

Nanaka snapped in her futon, blinking furiously.

"Uhm…" Nanaka murmured softly, but looking at Aina with her "Suwa face".

"Maybe she isn't hungry…" said Aina softly, then her eyes locked on Arisa once again.

Arisa didn't say a thing, Nanaka could tell from her footsteps that she had walked out of the room again.

Nanaka blinked and then sat in her futon looking at Aina.

"You…are….incredible!" said Nanaka in a low tone.

Aina smiled wide and gave her a smug look.

"Awww Nana, I know I am…people tell me that…but I'm more confident with my tongue," said Aina licking her fingers again.

Nanaka opened her eyes astonished, and her cheeks red in embarrassment.

"EH! No…not that! Geez!, Aina—" Nanaka tried to say.

"Thanks for breakfast…didn't know you tasted this good…" Aina cut in; Nanaka bit her lips.

"You can't do that! What if Arisa had caught us?!" scolded Nanaka.

"But she didn't!…C'mon Suwawa, we are safe…" said Aina waving the issue off, "And you liked it!"

Nanaka mumbled some words; she just couldn't say that she didn't, but surely it wasn't the place. Not to mention that it felt like if Nanaka was kind of a toy for Aina to play with whenever she pleased.

"Tha—That's not the point here…" said Nanaka in a low tone.

"Hey! What's with you?!" interrupted Arisa entering the room again; Nanaka turned around and locked faces with Arisa.

She had a ponytail and was fully dressed, but her big and expressing eyes showed exasperation.

"We are just waking up Arisha…" said Aina smiling.

"What's the hurry?…didn't the Chief say that breakfast was at 7 am?" asked Nanaka in a sleepy tone.

"Hum…yes…but I don't want to cause any delays…I hate being rushed to do things, and you two sure takes everything with such a calm…and…I want to go, I'm really hungry…" said Arisa moving inside again.

"Eh?… How?" asked Aina, Nanaka just followed her with her sight.

"We had dinner quite early yesterday… didn't we?" said Arisa taking out something from her bag.

"Yes, we did…" said Aina.

"Weren't you hungry?" asked Arisa without turning around.

"I had quite a lot last night…" said Aina and looked at Nanaka suggestively; Nanaka's cheeks became wild red.

"But you are still unsatisfied…" said Arisa calmly.

"I'm always hungry…" said Aina softly.

Arisa turned around with a wide smile, Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

"But I don't see you getting dressed….Suwawa, you awake?" asked Arisa now turning to Nanaka.

Nanaka looked at her and blinked a few times.
Her "Suwa face" could be a sleepy face as well.

"I'm…awake…" said Nanaka softly in her slow voice.

"Sure…well…" said Arisa standing up and looking down at both girls, "I'm going down, or you want me to wait for you…?"

"Just go…make sure to don't eat the entire buffet…" said Aina standing up.

Arisa giggled and started to move out of the room.

"Don't take too long! Can't make any promises!" said Arisa while walking out and closing the door.

Silence filled the room.

Nanaka looked at Aina and made a bitter face.

"You and I, aren't done yet…" said Nanaka in her dry tone.

Aina looked at her with her big eyes and smiled.

"Oh, you want me to continue?" asked Aina.

"Eh? No…Jesus, Aina, you can't do that!" said Nanaka now trying to move out of her futon, "It was risky!"

"Risky? Says the one who used to fuck in the showers…you are really funny!" said Aina in an annoyed tone.

"The circumstances were different…" said Nanaka now standing up beside Aina with a serious face.

"You could have stopped me…" said Aina softly, getting lost in Nanaka's eyes.

"I tried, but you were really stubborn…" said Nanaka getting equally lost in Aina's eyes, her disheveled hair, her plump lips, her everything.
Indeed Aina looked quite different that day.

It was almost as if her skin was brighter, and her hair softer.

"I couldn't resist it…" said Aina softly, "I have wanted to sleep cuddled up with you for so long…" then she made a sad face, her voice softening, "I …I love you…please don't be mad…?"

Aina finished with a cute pose, and her childish tone, using her powerful puppy eyes.

It melted Nanaka's heart.

Nanaka blinked a few times in awe.
That was Aina's greatest power over Nanaka. Her cuteness was as effective as kryptonite.

She felt weak in the knees and Aina knew that, so she moved towards her and hugged Nanaka, encircling her arms around her waist.

"Now…that Arisha is gone…maybe we could greet each other properly…?" said Aina, still with her cute and childish tone.

This was so unfair. Nanaka was so weak against this Mood.

But she just couldn't resist.

Nanaka hugged Aina's neck and joined her forehead with Aina, smiling softly at her, fully in love with the short woman.

"Morning Suwawa…" said Aina getting on tiptoes and kissed her softly.

Of course, Nanaka reciprocated the kiss tenderly and softly, feeling her angry state fade away…

But of course, the kiss couldn't be soft and tender forever; Aina started to bite Nanaka's lips hungrily.

"Mmm…mm...Ai…Aina…" said Nanaka trying to break the kiss; Aina just stopped with a surprised face.

"What…?…" asked Aina surprised.

"We… shouldn't we be getting ready…" said Nanaka shyly, like debating herself to stop these loving kisses to start getting ready.

Aina made a big smile and hugged Nanaka tightly.

"I need more kisses…Let's...change the formalities," said Aina shyly, "Now…that I have you—" but she couldn't finish.

Nanaka started kissing her hungrily; maybe she was still in the mood, or Aina's cuteness was a drug, or maybe she was thinking the same as Aina, they had waited a year to be all over each other, and that was the moment to kiss Aina, and even her soul.

It was early, and Arisa had left almost in a hurry, so they could spend a few more minutes in kissing and loving each other.

Nanaka moved Aina towards the nearest closet while still kissing her and sandwiched her against it; Aina started to moan into the kisses as Nanaka slyly put her right thigh between Aina's groin to cause some friction.

Aina started to pant and grunt louder between the kisses.

Of course, now they didn't need to be quiet about it, and Aina knew.

Nanaka started to fondle Aina's body with passion, using her long fingers to touch as much as she could, but the clothes were in the way again. In quick movements Nanaka grabbed Aina's shirt and removed it, throwing it somewhere in the room, and Nanaka started to grope Aina's chest with diligent hands.

She started to move her hips at peace while applying pressure on Aina's groin, groping her chest, squeezing her breast with a firm touch, making Aina moan into the kisses.

"Suwawa…Suwawa…" called Aina louder between kisses.

Nanaka stopped the intense kissing session but didn't stop her hips, she looked at her with eyes darkening in lust.

"I'm...I'm ready…" said Aina in quite a desperate tone.

Both locked gazes, both panting heavily against each other's lips.

"O…Ok…" said Nanaka separating a bit, but Aina grabbed her shirt.

"Take….take it off…" said Aina shyly.

Nanaka licked her lips; Aina was in the Cute mood, the one who teased her in the futon long forgotten.

While Nanaka removed her own shirt, Aina took off her pants.

Maybe she had had the same problem as Nanaka with her panties being soaked, so she wasn't wearing any.
Aina was naked in front of an astonished Nanaka.

Now with clear daylight, Aina's body looked so delicious.

Nanaka took a deep breath, her lust coming back with fierceness.

She locked her lips with Aina's, squeezing their bodies against each other, continuing their kiss and Nanaka's thigh now against Aina's wet core.

"Fuck me….fuck me Suwawa~…" moaned Aina in their intense kiss.

She didn't need to tell her twice: Nanaka grabbed Aina's left leg and lifted it, locking it on her hip.

"Hold on tight…" said Nanaka in her low and husky tone; Aina did as she was told and hugged Nanaka rounding her arms on her neck, and trying hard to not fall because all her weight was on her right leg.

Nanaka trapped her lips once again and at the same time she inserted two fingers inside Aina.

She moaned loud breaking the kiss.

"OH~ God!" she snapped.

Nanaka started to move her hand and hips at a fast pace, her movements being consumed by their lust and desires.
They were possessed, moving toward each other, banging against the closet, Aina moaning louder as Nanaka was panting very elaborately.

Seeing Aina so out of control and moaning louder was indeed making her feel weak in the knees.

She started to curl her fingers inside; Nanaka was thinking of inserting a third finger when Aina started to moan in her ear…

"Oh~! Suwa—wa~! Deeper! Ah~, Ah~! AH~! AH~!" moaned Aina, and Nanaka just couldn't think anymore.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Nanaka thought her heart had stopped; she stopped unconsciously moving, her eyes opened wide in astonishment and looked at Aina, who opened her eyes wide and bit her lips but didn't stop her hips.

Nanaka tried to control her breath while turning around with a pale face.

Arisa Komiya was standing in the door frame with her expressive eyes showing great discomfort.

"Don't stop!" snapped Aina at her side in a loud tone, "Finish me…"

"EH?!" mumbled Nanaka now feeling dizzy, her mood had somehow thrown itself out the window.

"Jesus Christ!" said Arisa troubled and slid the door, closing it.

Nanaka felt the thump, but she felt troubled as well: Aina was panting, moving her hips at pace trying to come, her leg locked on Nanaka's hip, and Arisa was seeing THAT.

Oh my God….She…She—

"Nana! Focus!" scolded Aina and grabbed Nanaka's cheeks to lock gazes with her, they look at each other with passion.

Nanaka nodded, understanding that they were fucked anyway and there was no use in stopping, they needed to finish.

So, she started to move once again at pace and moving her hand once again to make Aina come.

Aina's arms came back to Nanaka's neck for support as her moans continued to get louder and messier.

It wasn't long for her to scream a beautiful moan and arched her back in a wonderful orgasm.

The room became silent once again, except for the girls' pants and heavy breathing.

Aina let go of Nanaka's hip but no of her neck while Nanaka took her wet and sticky long fingers out of Aina.
They rested their foreheads while sharing some cute smiles and kisses.

"You...you ok Ainya-chan...?" asked Nanaka softly and mellow; Aina nodded.

"I…geez….that was good…" said Aina out of breath.

Nanaka just couldn't say a thing, her was heart in her throat.

"I…I would love to do it again—" Aina was saying softly.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" they heard from outside the sliding door.

Aina looked at Nanaka with her eyes wide open, like remembering that Arisa had seen them.

Nanaka bit her lips guiltily, while Aina just covered her mouth giggling.

"Aina…this isn't funny…" murmured Nanaka with a sad tone.

Aina didn't say a thing.

"ARE YOU DRESSED?" they heard again.

"Did she?…just waited outside…?" asked Aina shyly, her cheeks bright red.

"And you are shy now?…" said Nanaka a bit annoyed, grabbing her shirt, "NOT YET!" Nanaka shouted back.

Aina took her pants and started looking for her shirt.

"THIS IS HOW YOU WANT TO DEEPEN OUR BONDS SUWA-SAN?" she heard again from outside.

Nanaka frowned.
Of course, Arisa was talking about how she had rejected the Onsen idea to deepen the "Third years" bond.

She put her shirt back on and shouted.

"OF COURSE, NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!"

Aina gave her a troubled look.

"Are you serious?!" scolded Aina putting on her pants.

"Of course not!" said Nanaka annoyed.

Aina put on her shirt, and as if it was on cue, Arisa slid the door open.
Aina and Nanaka stopped their movements, they even stopped breathing.

She was…mad?

Arisa had a serious expression, but Nanaka just couldn't read what the hell was wrong with her, but she wasn't happy.
That was sure.

Nanaka swallowed hard and dry.

Aina walked to her side with a serious face and held Nanaka's hand entwining their fingers, clear sign that Nanaka wasn't alone, and if Arisa was going to scold someone, it should be the both of them.

Arisa cleared her throat and entered the room.

"You need to tell me what the hell is going on, and don't you dare keep lying to me," said Arisa with a strong voice.

Nanaka tightened the grip in Aina's hand and took a deep breath.

This was indeed the last thing she wanted to…

-0oo0-

Notes:

Dammit, Arisa and her timings...also her as third-wheeling...
We need to give some love to Arisa... u.u

Masquerade is on HOLD! because Shards Under a Mask needs to move to catch up. So the next updates are going to be on this side of the road! Thanks so much for your support! ( ´౪` )
Thanks a lot for all the support!, Kudos, Favs, Comments, and good vibes!
Remember that we LOVE feedback and we are really happy to share some thoughts with you!

Till next time!