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.

5. Chapter 5

WE ARE SO SORRY! (〃艸〃) - Misha Here btw-

It's been 3 months! yes, 3 months! and no updates! we are really sorry...
But Life got complicated for both authors.
We hope this chapter can compensate for those months away...

It is LONG, with LOTS OF DETAILS and very dense, so we hope you can enjoy it! So, if you need to stay at home, this is a good way to spend some time. So please, make yourself comfortable and enjoy the ride. ´･ᴗ･`

We remind you that there's A TIMELINE.
These stories have an order! the Timeline is on our profile! ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧ So please make sure to check it out.

Also, we have Twitter ( /at/Mishaworks & /at/NylundSarah if you want to say Hi and talk about whatever you want... :3)

Anyways... Let's welcome Mrs. Drama again.

See You at the end!

Enjoy! (ŐωŐ人)

(See at the end for more notes!)

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Shards Under a Mask.

Chapter 5.

The Answer lies Within.

—-**0. November 2016. 0**—

Her cheeks just couldn't stand much more smiling and laughing. Maybe she had bowed and said "Thank you" like thousands of times by that time of the day, but indeed, everything was worth it.

It was November the 2nd, and that only meant one thing.
Suwa Nanaka's birthday.

Well, also that it was AZALEA's second week on the radio, and for Nanaka to meet her fellow Subunit members on the day of her birthday, or doing some Sunshine related activities, meant that her Birthday wouldn't be unnoticed as the previous year.

Remembering that last year, it had been a Monday and after a very busy weekend, where she was busy with "Third Years" on the campaign for the First Single, she got that Monday off, her situation with Shuka was a mess, and she spent the afternoon drinking bad green tea at "Moriva Coffee" with Aina.

Sure, now it was different.

First of all, it was a Wednesday.

Her day started great, with all members texting her congratulations on the Aqours LINE chat. Shuka sent her a very polite message in the group chat and another more personal in their private one.

It made Nanaka smile softly about it, maybe Nanaka was just waiting for a regular message along with the other members, but it sure made her feel warm inside to know that despite Shuka being her Ex and all the problems they might have suffered, there was still friendship and some sort of love.

Shuka even uploaded a picture on her Twitter greeting her. It was the picture they had taken before the NAOMI's Room presentation. (The one where they looked cute and smiling shyly towards the camera.)

The one who wasn't soft or smooth about it was Aina.
She not only wrote on the Aqours LINE chat with lots of love stickers and very effusively, but also sent her a lovely birthday message on the private chat. For a second, Nanaka's heart shrank thinking that maybe all the effusiveness on the members' chat would be weird and would make them start wondering why Aina was so lovely while Shuka was just too polite, but then, this was Aina who they were talking about, and all of them knew that Aina was head over heels about Nanaka.

The weird thing was that Shuka didn't say a thing about it.

But, that not being an issue, she just went with the flow and continued her morning.

Her parents were also at home and celebrated her on the weekend; they celebrated her birthday and her cover in the "Nikkei Entertainment! Anime Special Actor Bible 2017"; and because her parents were there, it meant that she was spoiled all morning with a yummy birthday breakfast.

Later she needed to go to her agency, Amuleto, to define a new job she had gotten as the voice of "Sunny Funny" (a Sunflower on the spinoff series from "Parappa the Rapper"), and how she would need to attend on that matters on the 4th of the month.

Of course, going to her agency got her more love and birthday wishes from her colleagues and superiors.

Later, after a 30 minutes ride on the Yamanote subway line, she came to the Lantis Building for her recording session with AZALEA. And as she expected, she arrived on time for Arisa and King to congratulate her, but not only because of her birthday, but also because of winning the Center for the Third Single.

They gave her a cake while they reviewed the script, it was small but looked indeed yummy. It had cute cat patterns on top and a piece of chocolate that said: "Suwawa Happy Birthday, Let's hug".
So of course, she took some pictures of the cake. Arisa took one of her with the chocolate, and she was happy to take a selfie with it and her Subunit members as well. Those were uploaded straight to her Twitter.

But! They couldn't eat it until after the broadcast, because they needed to talk about it on the show.

The radio program went smoothly; King being the energetic one in the unit made it very lively as the main MC. Nanaka was feeling lively too, and even made the "Maru" sign for King's Call&Response, even if this was a radio show and no one in the audience would be able to see it, but it sure made King happy. (Mostly because King complained quite a few times about Arisa and Nanaka not doing it in the last episode. Nanaka even mentioned that it was silly...)

They self-proclaimed the program "Aza-raji", inserted a unique and only AZALEA section about doing some "love advice" corner, read some letters and played some SIF.

When they were discussing doing this special corner - a corner that Arisa wanted to do really badly- King teased Nanaka quite a lot because she was the one in a "Relationship" and knew better about love and stuff. Arisa let out a bitter laugh over this, while Nanaka just deadpanned them. But later they determined that Nanaka should be the one reading the concerned letters in her deep voice, in order to take this more seriously and to make it feel like a "real radio show". Truth to be told, Nanaka had the best deep voice of the three for that task.

The broadcast went pretty good with no further issues, and the program ended after 40 minutes with a last round of applause.

"That was fun!" said King taking off her headphones.

"Yes! It was, I'm looking forward to next week!" said Arisa also taking hers off.

Nanaka smiled softly at them but it wasn't convincing at all. She removed her headphones too.

"Eh? What's wrong Suwawa?" asked Arisa grabbing her papers.

"Eh? Nothing nothing…we need to enjoy it while it lasts, right?" said Nanaka also taking her papers.

"Oh, is it about you being fourth in the 'Uraraji' poll?" asked King grabbing her blank papers, "This weren't used!" she kept talking showing the blank paper, "I was totally in the mood for taking notes from our love section…"

Nanaka giggled.

"Oh, yes, that's a shame Suwawa, I'm sorry…" said Arisa softly while standing up, "I wrote down some things, but then it was no use, it was fun though."

"It can't be helped, and I have no regrets about it…I won the Third Single's Center…and that's great…Anchan will do a great job on the radio with you…" said Nanaka with a soft tone and taking her cake.

"I'm surprised, you were third in the midway results from last week…" said King now moving out.

"Well, it can't be helped…" said Nanaka moving along.

"Don't worry, we will do our best with Aikyan and Anchan!" said Arisa with a smug face.

Nanaka gave her an apologetic smile; of course, she would have loved to be part of the radio. She WAS a radio personality and had experience, also it's a job she liked, because she only needed her voice, no need to make a fool of herself, or try to be energetic like in a Niconama, but, the fans had voted, and the winners were Aikyan, Arisa, and Anchan.

It seemed that Anchan had climbed the poll the previous week, and then, there was nothing else to do.
But Nanaka was just happy about her own Center, the magazine cover, and the love she had received so far…

"Yes yes…" said King with a tired tone, "I wish I could win a thing, y' know?…"

"I can give you a piece of cake…" said Nanaka with a nonchalant tone.

King turned and looked at Nanaka with a deadpan face.

"C'mon, let's eat it… don't make such a face…" said Arisa passing by.

"I thought we could go and have lunch….it's almost time…" said King walking.

"Oh! That's a good idea…" said Arisa, then looked at Nanaka, "We can go and celebrate you! It's your birthday after all…"

Nanaka didn't say a thing…actually, she had plans.

"Let me see if I can find a good place nearby…" said King bringing her phone out of the pocket.

"We should eat the cake…I don't want to be carrying it around…" said Nanaka, but also, in order to spend time with her Subunit members and later tell them that she just couldn't go with them.

"Good point…" said Arisa.

They walked to Production's office to drop their scripts, receive the congratulations for a job well done from the Chief of Staff, and then went to the cafeteria area to start eating the cake.
While King and Nanaka searched for a good table, Arisa asked for some plates and a knife, they had already asked for some forks before the broadcast.

"But, what about lunch…?" said King still looking at her phone while taking a seat.

"It's still early, this can be a mid-morning snack…?" said Nanaka taking one of the fancy forks.

"It's a huge cake for the three of us…" said King looking away from her phone and looking down at the cake.

"You chose it…" said Arisa coming back with the borrowed knife and dishes.

She placed the plates on the tables; Nanaka picked up one for her.

"Ah, yes…because I thought Suwawa would take it home…" said King taking the plate for her. Arisa started cutting the cake.

"Eh? Still, at my place we are just three…" said Nanaka amusedly.

"Oh? What about Shuka? Isn't she going to your place today?" asked King.

Arisa stopped cutting. Looked at King, then looked at Nanaka seriously.

Nanaka had her "Suwa face".

"What?… What's with this mood…? Isn't she?" asked King again looking at both girls; Arisa and Nanaka shared some looks.
Of course, Arisa couldn't help her in that situation, so Nanaka should bring up a lie on her own.

"I…I don't think so…" said Nanaka blinking a few times, Arisa continued cutting.

"Oh…what a bummer…" said King without showing enough interest and her sight turned again towards her phone.

Nanaka looked at Arisa, both bit their lips.

Arisa cut three generous slices and served the plates, of course, there were leftovers.

Nanaka looked at the cake with a sad face.

"Looks Yummy…" said King, "Don't worry, remember that I'm one of Aqours' gluttons, I can take care of the rest…"

"You shouldn't eat that much…you need to take care of yourself…" scolded Arisa.

"You eat quite a lot too..." murmured Nanaka teasing Arisa.

"Aw, C'mon! I—"King was saying when a loud and well known voice interrupted her.

"HERE YOU ARE!" they heard.

The three girls turned around to look at a happy Aina walking towards their table; of course, her particular shout didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the people in the cafeteria, but at this point, people were used to Suzuki Aina's weirdness.

"Ainya?" asked King, confused.

"What is Aina-san doing here?…" mumbled Arisa, then looked at Nanaka; she raised her eyebrows.

"Was looking for ya' in the studio…Didn't know….oh—it's the cake!" said Aina with her happy tone pointing at it.

"Welcome…" said Nanaka softly.

Aina looked at her and extended her arms.

"Happy birthday, Suwawa-chan!" said Aina with a lovely tone; Nanaka stood up and answered the hug.

They stood there hugging for like a full minute.

"Does Shuka know about this?" asked King in her teasing tone.

Nanaka broke the hug and turned towards the table.

"Please have a seat…" said Arisa offering the chair next to Nanaka.

"Good job you three, that was a very funny broadcast!" said Aina moving beside Nanaka.

"She doesn't…" Nanaka answered King, and then sat again, Aina, followed through.
"She is busy today…I guess…"

"What are you doing here…?" asked King while eating her piece of cake, "Do we have practice?" said King looking at Arisa; she shook her head.

"Do you want some cake Ainya…?" offered Nanaka.

"We need another fork…" said Arisa quickly, trying to stand up but Aina stopped her.

"Don't worry Arisha, we can share…right?" she asked towards Nanaka; who smiled sweetly at her.

"Eh? May I ask again if Shuka is ok with this?" asked King, her teasing tone long forgotten.

"Leave Shuka alone…" said Arisa in a strong tone, then turned towards Aina "If I knew you were free today I would have asked you to come and surprise Suwawa with the cake, as she did for your birthday…"

"Eh? Yeah, it would have been a nice surprise… but I was busy this morning…" said Aina with a sweet tone, then looked at Nanaka with lovely eyes, "Besides, that would have been worse for Shukashuu, wouldn't it?" Nanaka smiled at her.

King deadpanned.

"So you were busy this morning…" continued King with confused tone and playing with her fork in the cake; her gaze glued to the cream.

"Yes...I was at my agency…I got new jobs that I needed to take care of…" said Aina with a happy tone and opening her mouth for Nanaka to feed her.

Arisa raised her eyebrows in surprise seeing that.

"Your agency…? Isn't in Shinjuku?…" asked King once again with suspicious tone, then raised her sight towards Nanaka and Aina, she blinked.

"What the hell just happen?" she asked

"How is it?" asked Nanaka towards Aina with a goofy smile, totally ignoring King.

"Delicious…" said Aina covering her mouth and looking at Nanaka with love in her eyes, "The cake too…" she mumbled at the end.

"Suwa-san, Suzuki-san…" Arisa called softly; both looked at her innocently.

King left her fork on the table and looked at them with curious eyes. Then fixed her sight on Aina.

"How is it that Shuka hasn't already punched you?" she asked.

"What? Why would she punch me?" asked Aina in her innocent tone; Nanaka took a bite of her cake.

"This is really good King…" said Nanaka, "Thanks so much for picking this cake…"

"Don't change the subject…" said King looking at Nanaka, then her sight turned to Aina once again, "You should be in Shinjuku at your agency…and…you are here, and not Shuka….she should be here…and be fed by Suwawa... don't think that I didn't notice that…this is weird...Arisha...?"

Arisa kept eating her cake with her eyebrows raised and nodding softly.
It looked like she wasn't going to get into this discussion, but somehow she agreed with King.

"What's wrong with a friend coming to see me for my birthday?…" asked Nanaka with a normal tone, like this wasn't important, Aina looked at her with sad eyes.

"You feed your friends?" asked King incredulously.

"Yes, sure, why not?… do you want me to feed you too?" asked Nanaka with a sweet smile.

King raised her eyebrows in surprise, she wasn't expecting Nanaka's answer being so straight to the bone.

"Here birthday girl, take a bite too…" said Aina with a lovely tone, who took the fork and fed Nanaka a piece of cake.

It surprised Nanaka, so her feeding was a little bit clumsy and got some cream on her right cheek.

"Oh oh, sorry…my bad…" said Aina hurrying up and leaving the fork on the table, and started looking around for some tissues or napkins. Nanaka froze on the spot feeling the cold cream on her cheek.

"I don't have a napkin…here…see?" said Aina with a soft tone while wiping the cream with her finger, then licked the cream from it, "Nothing happened…"

"Thank you Ainya…" said Nanaka in her singsong tone.

King opened her eyes wide, and her mouth like a fish. Then turned towards Arisa and with an outraged tone asked;

"And this is normal for you?… Aren't you going to say something?"

"This is normal for me…" said Arisa still eating, "You get used to them in the 'Third Years' group…"

"Eh?!" snapped King.

"Yes, they are so gay together…" finished Arisa with annoyance, knowing that Nanaka was playing with fire.

Nanaka and Aina kept feeding each other, almost ignoring the pair in front of them.

"Yo yo, yo...and does Shuka know about this in particular?" King asked Arisa.

"Mmm..." Arisa stopped eating and looked at Nanaka with annoyance, like saying, 'this is your mess clean it up', but Nanaka was more immersed in Aina's goofy smile and into feeding each other.

"I wouldn't make a fuss about it..." said Arisa softly, "And I would appreciate it if you stayed cool about it too..."

"Why? I mean... they look cute, but here ain't no cameras or fans for them to act like...this..." continued King in a concerned tone, "Don't deny that this look weird..."

"You get used to it..." said Arisa, not quite convincing.

Nanaka stopped baby feeding Aina and cleared her throat.
Of course, she wasn't expecting to have cake with AZALEA members after the recording. She agreed to have lunch with Aina and spend the afternoon as well since they wouldn't be able to have Nanaka's place for themselves due to Suwa Parents being home. And besides the fact that Suwa Parents loved Aina, it wasn't appropriate to unwrap her Aina present there.

With that in mind, as soon as Nanaka saw Aina walking into the cafeteria, her senses clouded and started to become all mellow and sweet with Aina because that was the plan she had. Of course, such behavior with Arisa around wasn't a problem anymore, but for King it was; she needed to cool down the situation.

"Kanako," called Nanaka in a very serious tone, King stopped looking at Arisa to lock her gaze with her, "Stop searching for nothing, Aina and I are close friends, Shuka is ok with it, so stop worrying..."

King made a bitter face while Aina bit her lips making a sad face.

"You…you would be surprised how mature Shuka has become lately…we have learned to behave with each other." said Nanaka in her monotone; it made Arisa and Aina almost choke with the cake.

Of course, it wasn't that Shuka had matured, they had broken up and started to get some distance from each other.

"So...it's ok if I upload that picture of me hugging you from behind that we took on the NAOMI's Room presentation?" asked King with a cocky smile.

"Sure, do it." said Nanaka without a care; Aina cleared her throat and Arisa almost dropped her fork.

Sorry, Shuka...

"Ok...if Shuka is ok..." murmured King.

"She is, and stop worrying, she was busy today, we can celebrate my birthday at another time…I'm just happy to enjoy this wonderful cake with my two favorite Units and people…So, please stop this inquisition… This is as stupid as your 'human candle thingie' with the cake..." and then she smiled at King.

"Hey! We can't light fire inside the building, no fair!… but, aw Suwawa you really mean it?" asked King, "She mean it…you are important Arisha…" King looked at Arisa.

Arisa rolled her eyes; of course, Third Years and AZALEA were there, the only real looney was King.

"Well, she better like me, at this point I'm the one who needs to bear with her shit…" said Arisa kind of annoyed.

"So nice…" said Nanaka with her "Suwa face", then turned to Aina; she was definitely not happy.
Nanaka made a sad face.

"Hahaha, makes sense, you two must be tired of seeing each other's faces… same must be for Shukashuu and Anchan, but they don't seem tired of each other…" said King amused, eating her last bite of cake.

"That's because they are kids… they get along…" Arisa said, "Here there's one spoiled girl with one adult…" finished Arisa, but Nanaka didn't react.

Her eyes were glued on Aina.

"Something wrong Ainya?…" asked Nanaka with a worried expression.

"Eh?…" asked Aina softly, looking at Nanaka, then made a goofy smile and turned towards Arisa.

"I didn't know you saw yourself as a spoiled girl, Arisha…" said Aina grabbing the fork once again and taking a piece of Nanaka's cake, "I'll eat the rest, you need to take care if you want that six-pack…" and she ate a piece.

"Eh?!" snapped Arisa and Nanaka at the same time, as if both had received a punch from Aina.

King laughed about that.
Of course, that was a subject from that day's radio show; Nanaka had mentioned on the broadcast that her aspirations for that year were of growing a powerful six-pack.

"Hey…no fun…" said Nanaka trying to have her fork back, but of course, Aina fought back.

"Ya' can stick with the Tofu then…" said Aina while fighting back.

Arisa bit her lips; even if they were "fake fighting" they looked gay.
And cute.

"Maybe Ainya is right, Suwawa, you should stop eating to focus on that six-pack diet," mocked King, then looked at Arisa, "I just can't see a 'Muscular Suwawa', can you?" asked King grabbing the knife, "Want more?"

"I think you shouldn't eat more…" said Arisa, then looked at Nanaka, "Any of you want more…?"

"Aina wants more…." said Nanaka with her fork finally in her hands.

"Oh? Really?" asked Arisa, she then looked at Nanaka, "Well…" she paused, as if studying Nanaka from her torso to the tip of her hair. Arisa raised an eyebrow.

"I can't see that either… how are you going to build that six-pack anyway?" asked Arisa with her classic bitterness.

"I think I want something else than a piece of cake…" murmured Aina; King cut her a new piece and looked at Aina with concern.

"I don't know yet… I'll train hard, I guess…" said Nanaka grabbing her plate and putting it closer to King.

"I'll love to see that…those tight abs..." said Aina with a goofy smile.

"You are drooling…" quoted Arisa in her low tone.

"You can't, that's Shuka's privilege…" said King cutting another slice.

"You can see a lot in the changing room…" said Aina receiving the plate with more cake.

"You are perv..." said Nanaka dryly, Aina just laughed in her 'old man' laugh, while Arisa rolled her eyes.

The good thing was that King had the attention span of a fly, so she dropped the topic about Nanaka being so strangely lovely with Aina and the fact that Shuka wasn't even there. So they ended up commenting on the broadcast and the silly but concerning letters of the "Love Corner".

Of course, time passed and it was time to leave. Arisa asked King about the places she was supposed to have looked up for lunch, but one; King hadn't done a thing besides eating Nanaka's cake with Aina, and two; at that moment Nanaka seemed too full to have lunch.

So she excused herself with her fellow AZALEA members and said she was ok, she really appreciated the effort and the cake, but she needed to head somewhere else.

"Eh? That's sad..." said King reaching Lantis building's entrance, "Are you hooking up with Shuka now?"

Aina gave a King a deadly glare.
Maybe she was upset because Shuka was constantly being dragged into the conversations, and rubbing on her face that Shuka was the girlfriend.

But Shuka wasn't even there!

Dammit, king...I'm sure this will only bring problems...

"No, I'm not..." said Nanaka dryly.

"Well, it's a shame," said Arisa with an apologetic smile, maybe already knowing what was going on, "Maybe we can do something as Aqours next week before the Kanshasai..."

"That would be nice," said Nanaka smiling at Arisa.

"Oh! Man! I didn't bring an umbrella!" snapped King walking towards the door and laying her hands on the windows, "Shoot!"

Nanaka looked in that direction, and effectively it was raining heavily outside. She couldn't help but smile at that sight. The wonders of Autumn, her favorite season.

"Maybe ya' can borrow one from Production's office?" said Aina walking in King's direction where the umbrella stand was.
Of course, it was raining when Aina arrived to Lantis Building, so her own umbrella rested there.

Nanaka just couldn't catch what King said because at that moment Arisa walked towards her and spoke.

"You are unbelievable." said Arisa in her disapproving tone; Nanaka looked at her with her "Suwa face"

"What?" she asked dryly.

"You flirting with Aina? Jesus, Suwawa, control yourself..." scolded Arisa softly.

"Ah, that... well, can't help it..." said Nanaka with little interest.

"You don't care at all...what about Aqours and all that Unit shit you said?" asked Arisa, now in an annoyed tone, Nanaka twitched her left eyebrow.

"Mmm...well, this is King, no big deal..." said Nanaka waving the problem off.

"No big? Suwawa what if she tells Shuka about this?" asked Arisa with concern.

"Shuka and I...are done..." said Nanaka now looking somewhere else, "I'm...I'm with Aina..." she finished with a cracked voice.

There was a real moment of silence. Until Arisa walked towards the door, then stopped abruptly.

"You are a terrible liar..." murmured Arisa not giving Nanaka a second glance, "Hey Kanako, I can share my umbrella with you..."

King and Aina looked back at them; King smiled wide at Arisa, while Aina gave Nanaka a sad look. Maybe realizing that Nanaka had a concerned look.

"Just to tell you, that I'm not going to save your ass anymore..." said Arisa, she turned to Nanaka, gave her a serious face, bowed politely and turned again to start walking towards King.

Nanaka pouted cutely.

Like I need your protection... I thought we were friends! Dammit, this...woman!

"Suwawa ya' coming?" asked Aina softly.

Nanaka blinked a few times and walked towards the door where Arisa was opening her umbrella and walking out with King. Aina took her umbrella and smiled at them.

"Well, it was a pleasure! Enjoy your day Suwawa!" said King, "See ya' for practice!"

"You guys are walking in the same direction?" asked Aina quickly before they started walking.

"I need to check on Rikako, she is struggling with some talk show she will have in Waseda..." said Arisa, "But I'll walk King to the station."

"Waseda?!" snapped King, Nanaka made a soft "Oh", Aina laughed.

"Have a safe trip!" said Aina.

Arisa and King bowed politely and started walking.

Aina and Nanaka stood there for a few seconds, watching the two tallest members of Aqours walk away.

"I think..." started Aina, "that...King should hold the umbrella..."

"I think...Arisa should stick that umbrella in that huge butt she ha—-" Nanaka was saying with bitterness.

"EH?! Suwawa what the hell?" asked Aina with an outraged tone.

"Her Butt is huge..." said Nanaka like if that was the topic.

"Yes I know, and juicy too..." answered Aina, but Nanaka gave her a disapproving look.

"Wait, What?"

"Why do you want to stick an umbrella up her butt?!" asked Aina concerned.

"You think her butt is juicy?" asked Nanaka annoyed.

Aina paused, licked her lips, her cheeks becoming bright red.

"...Why are we talking about her butt again?" asked Aina very baffled.

"You like her butt..." said Nanaka kind of angry, and she started to look for her own pink childish umbrella inside her bag, "That's it, I'm going home."

"Eh?! What?! Wait! Suwawa what's into ya'?" asked Aina grabbing Nanaka's hand; she stopped her to take out her own umbrella.

"I'm upset," said Nanaka dryly.

"Are you jealous?..." asked Aina with a goofy smile.

Nanaka's cheeks became red. They fell in deep silence for a few seconds, or maybe a full minute.

"One...one thing...is flirting...another is...admiring Arisa's butt...I don't have much of a butt..." mumbled Nanaka embarrassed and looking somewhere else.

"Oh..." said Aina blinking and understanding the situation, then smiled sweetly at her. Of course, all Nanaka's insecurities came out, because Arisa was a model, a gravure model, meaning that she had a nice body and was proud of it.

And of course, Nanaka being the demure person she was, used her fluffy dresses and cute wardrobe to hide her nonexistent curves.

Which was a disadvantage for Nanaka. And the fact that Aina was so bluntly commenting on her...

"I'm sorry, Suwawa..." said Aina softly, searching for Nanaka's hand. They locked gazes.

"I love your pale butt...I love your body...and I love you..." said Aina with her mature tone as she grabbed Nanaka's hand and held it with hers.

Nanaka's cheeks became wild red; she looked away. Aina giggled.

"So, cute Suwawa-chan, are ya' still mad?" asked Aina in a cute tone.

Nanaka pouted cutely and looked back at her.

"Today...is my day... spoil me." said Nanaka softly in a very mellow and cute tone, tightening her grip on their held hands.
Aina opened her eyes wide.

"You...you are so bad for my heart Nana..." said Aina losing her breath.

"Eh? Don't be silly..." said Nanaka recovering her singsong tone.

"I just can't take it, you pouting, your pigtails into braids, so cute... your cute pink coat, the girly way you are dressed, and you wanting me to spoil you...how old are you turning today again...?" asked Aina amused.

Nanaka pouted again.

"I'm joking, I'm joking..." said Aina quickly, then gave Nanaka her umbrella, "I think you should take it... unless you want to stick in my butt too..." Aina hurried to say.

Nanaka snorted and then giggled in her drowned kind of laughter.

"Ainya... don't be silly..." she repeated again and took the umbrella. Of course, she being the tallest, should take the umbrella. And in a way, it felt like Aina was giving her control of the day.

"So! What does the birthday girl want to do? Want some bad green tea at Moriva coffee again?" mocked Aina.

Nanaka giggled; then looked at her phone to check the time.

"It's kind of early to head to a café or a restaurant...besides, I'm still full of cake..." said Nanaka.

"Eh? Really? I thought that that was something to tell AZALEA to fuck off..." said Aina in a goofy tone.

"Well, it also worked..." shrugged Nanaka, "Do you have something in mind? I mean...I'm free for the day...and my idea was to spend the day with you..." said Nanaka shyly.

Aina smiled wide and tightened her grip on her hand.

"Well, if that's the case...I..." Aina started fidgeting, "I... I... ehhhhhhh—- would you like to come to my place...?"

Nanaka opened her eyes wide.

"Eh? Really...?" asked Nanaka with astonishment.

"Well— I know it's far...but but, there are some things to do there...and maybe we can build up some appetite on the way...it's a quiet place...and I don't know... I—"

"I'd love to go to your place...I don't care where, as long as I'm with you today..." interrupted Nanaka.

Aina smiled wide.

They stood for half a minute looking at each other, feeling the love.

"I would totally kiss you now..." said Aina lost in Nanaka's eyes.

"Yes, me too..." she smiled back.

"Let's go home..." said Aina, as Nanaka nodded.

Nanaka opened the umbrella and walked out of the Lantis building holding hands with Aina. It took two steps from them under that heavy rain for Aina to stop abruptly. Nanaka snapped in surprise.

"What?" asked Nanaka.

"We are walking in the wrong direction..." giggled Aina, "we are heading to my place today..."

"Oh... right... sorry, all this time 'home' was my place...my bad" giggled Nanaka.

"It's ok, this is new for ya'." said Aina and they turned around and walked in the other direction.

"So...how long does it take...?" asked Nanaka, as she walked carefully to not step into puddles.

"Well, normally...like two hours ride..." said Aina carefree.

"Eh?! What? That long?!" snapped Nanaka and somehow slowed her already slow pace.

Aina looked at her with some sadness.

"If you want ...we can go to another place, a love hotel...or you—" Aina was saying with a glimpse of sadness; of course, the fact that Nanaka wanted to go to her place was something huge. Because she lived far from everything and everyone, no Aqours' members was able to visit her or the sort.

"No," Nanaka cut in abruptly, "I want to go to your place..." she said with a shy smile, "two hours sounds like a good time to build up some appetite..."

Aina smiled wide; indeed, if she could share her special and private space with Nanaka filled her with illusion and happiness.

So hell, why not? In the end, it was just a bit longer than when she used to visit Shuka, all the way to Saitama.

Nanaka had a knot in her throat.
Yes, when she used to visit Shuka.

"Something wrong?" asked Aina still with worry in her voice.

"No no..." said Nanaka again.

"If you feel hungry we can stop somewhere in the way and grab a bite..." said Aina in her sweet tone, but Nanaka just shook her head and smiled. This wasn't because of the long distance issue, it was because Shuka was ghosting into her mind.

Of course, the first time she went to Shuka's, the feeling of going to Saitama wasn't new, because she was from Saitama too, so she was used to the travel time.

This time it seemed they were walking the other way around.

"Don't worry Ainya, just take me there..." said Nanaka softly as she returned to her normal speed, still holding Aina's hand. Aina did a sound of joy.

They kept walking for about eight more minutes to Ebisu station where they took the first train straight to Shinagawa station. Then they changed lines and took the Yokosuka line to take the Sōbu Rapid Line. At this point, Aina said it was the fastest at that hour, also the cheapest.

They changed once again to the local Sōbu Line for the last term of the journey.
Nanaka seemed sleepy, not to mention tired.

On the way, during this whole time, they commented about the AZALEA's broadcast and how funny it had been. Aina brought Arisa to the conversation asking again for why the bitterness because she thought that they had reached some peace in Awashima, but Nanaka answered that Arisa was just annoying and peace needed to wait again, and maybe their friendship worked that way.

They played some games on their phones or showed each other some silly pictures or videos on their social media. Nanaka from time to time checked her messages because of her birthday. To her surprise, King did upload that picture of her hugging Nanaka from behind before the NAOMI's Room presentation, congratulating her for her birthday.

It made her happy though, then she thought about Shuka seeing that picture and her heart shrugged.
It was true that they had broken up, and that she was somehow committed with Aina now, but deep in her heart, it felt kind of wrong.

"Are you feeling hungry?" asked Aina snapping Nanaka out of her head. Aina tightened their held hands.

They were waiting for the next, and hopefully, last train to end this never-ending journey.

"A bit...geez, Aina, I feel you are taking me back to Hokkaidō..." said Nanaka amused with some tiredness.

Aina laughed like an old man.

"Don't be silly, that's like a nine hour ride...I'm sorry Nana, I told you we could do something else..." said Aina with shades of guilt.

"No, it's ok...I'm just amazed that you have to do this every day..." said Nanaka now with softer tone; it must be difficult for her doing this as a daily routine.

"Well, see why I need to crash at your place...or Love hotels often? I'm somehow used to doing it...I mean, I came to Tokyo as soon as I graduated from high school, it was my dream to become an anisong singer... and well, if this is what it takes, then so be it!" said Aina with conviction, Nanaka blinked a few times with a soft smile.

"But y' know, with you here with me, the ride doesn't feel long...and everything feels so calm... " said Aina in her serious tone.

"Eh? How so?"

"Well, I'm always running late to everything, or because I'm just clumsy, I'm always dropping stuff, being all 'waaaaah' all over the stations...but with you and your slow pace... it gives me calmness...even though I'm really nervous right now..." and then Aina laughed nervously.

"Eh? Why...? Don't be—" tried Nanaka.

"I am... but...I'm happy too... I really want to show you my place..." said Aina with the widest smile, "But, if you feel hungry we can have something here, this is a big station..."

"How many stations are left?" asked Nanaka with a somewhat tired tone; Aina looked at the sign with the stations.

"Uhm, eight stops?..." said Aina shyly.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide.

Holy pancakes...we really should have stayed at my place today...

Aina laughed and fidgeted in her spot.

"Sorry Nana, I promise I can compensate this to you..."

Nanaka blinked a few times again. Yes, it was true that this was FAR, but it made Aina happy and this was for the best. The important thing wasn't the destination but the company. Aina was a good company, despite the fact that she would probably be good just lying dead in her one-man sofa looking at the ceiling and having her ice cream of the day...

"We've come this far...let's get there..." said Nanaka in her boring tone, "I'm just imagining how long it's going to take me to go back..."

"Oh..." Aina snapped into a very gloomy tone, "Right...sorry...I didn't plan this thoroughly enough..."

Nanaka bit her lips and made a sad face; maybe she didn't need to say that, of course, it made Aina sad.

The train arrived shutting up every vague intention of Nanaka of saying something to fix her unfortunate comment.

They were silent for at least the first 4 stations; Aina had her sight lost out the window, watching the rain hit the windows, while Nanaka debated with herself to bring a good and proper topic to talk about with Aina and help with the poor mood she had caused.

But it was difficult; Nanaka knew that she lived far, but never thought it was THAT far, and with so much train hopping and such. Also to realize that every time Aqours' members made plans, she had to take this trip, every day. When Aina appeared for her, or to spend the day with her, she had to take such a long and tiring trip.

Spending time in this part of the city indeed it would be a short visit. But maybe for Aina, spending time with her in downtown Tokyo might felt the same...

That's why Aina was always so insistent and stubborn of asking her to have their "daily dates" at the station for some quick tea at the combini.

Oh!
That wasn't even her station to begin with!

Of course, Aina would walk Nanaka to her own station, had the tea, chat some more about nerdy stuff and then they said goodbye. Nanaka would take her train, but Aina had to leave that station, walk all the way around and get to the other station, closer to Lantis building.

All for her.

"Stop thinking about it..." said Aina at the right moment when the train left the 4th station; Nanaka looked at her with a sad face.

"I'm sorry Aina, I didn't want to upset you..."

"It's ok...if you want I can take you back to your station if you want company for the way back..." said Aina in her mature tone.

"Eh?! No! Are you crazy?... I can't make you pay for another ride...or to spend another two hours on a train for me, I mean, you already went to downtown, you have already spent four hours on trains today..." said Nanaka somewhat losing her composure.

Aina giggled.

"Ok, point taken... then, let's make the most of it, shall we?" smiled Aina; Nanaka nodded.

According to her own schedule, she would only have time to have some lunch with Aina (maybe something quick?) and maybe spend 20 to 30 minutes at her place to look around or something and then head back to her place because her parents were home, maybe waiting for her to spend more time with the birthday girl.

Nanaka's heart shrugged a bit.
Maybe going to the confines of the city had been a bad call.

With this tight schedule, she wouldn't be able to open her "Aina special gift".

No no, Nanaka you shouldn't be thinking like that...there are more important things than sex.

"So, do you have something in mind?" asked Aina.

Nanaka blinked abruptly.

"In mind...?" she asked as in a trance; yes, she had something in mind, but she doubted that Aina was referring to the same thing.

"Yes, for lunch...what are you thinking? Are ya' out in your 'Suwa World'?" asked Aina kind of annoyed, Nanaka giggled.

"Sorry..." she said with an apologetic smile, "Well, I don't know...this is new for me, I've never been so far..."

"Oh c'mon! Suwawa, this isn't like I'm taking you to... I dunno, another country, or somewhere where there's nothing..." said Aina with an outraged tone.

"Well, You know better... and you know my tastes; no rice," said Nanaka dryly, Aina raised an eyebrow.

"I could just cook for ya'," said Aina.

Nanaka blinked a few times, then she shook her head.

"I like your food, but I want to spend time with you; if you cook, my time with you will be shorter..." said Nanaka with diligence.

Aina gave her a smug face. Then she went closer to Nanaka and whispered in her ear;

"You...wanna get laid..."

Nanaka's face became red as a tomato.
She opened her eyes like two fried eggs and took some air to start scolding Aina, but she was shut abruptly with Aina's left index on her lips.

"Don't say a thing, I wanna fuck you too..." smiled Aina.

Nanaka bit her lips.

There was something about that sentence that didn't fit right.

She wants to fuck... mmm

Aina just...fucks.

It was as if everything that Aina had been taught in their last encounter had jumped out of the train, or had been left in that Love hotel room.

Nanaka didn't want to just be fucked, she wanted to have sweet lovemaking with Aina. And of course, that required time, and maybe time was the last thing they would have, going this far from everything.

So maybe they would need just to fuck.

Mmm...I don't know if I want that for my birthday...

Last birthday it was true that Shuka had fucked up, but Aina fixed it...and then Shuka came and we made love...

...

Shuka...

"Suwawa?" called Aina squeezing her hand, "We need to get off... Wake up!"

Nanaka blinked out of her memories, and was clumsily dragged out of the train, and in the same way, dragged out of the platform.

She stopped at the main hallway of the building; to her surprise, it was a very modern building, with what it seemed like 2 floors. It was still raining outside, and she could clearly see that because of the building's high windows.

"What do you think about some soba?" asked Aina still holding her hand, but Nanaka was amused by the building.

"Is it me, or you are more into your world today?" asked Aina a bit annoyed.

"No, I'm just...sightseeing..." said Nanaka looking around, Aina deadpanned her.

"Well, it's a station... a JR station...like all the damn stations—Suwawa..." called Aina now tired about all this, and time was gold.

"Right, Yes...so, soba sounds good..." said Nanaka in her singsong tone trying to smile.

"Great!" snapped Aina and kept dragging Nanaka, this time out of the station.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide at the sight. She felt the clean and rainy air, but what took her breath away was the sight of the little town she was at. It reminded her of her own hometown.

All the buildings were small, no more than 3 to 4 floors. She smiled softly.

"You like it?" asked Aina, "It's better on sunny days, ya' can even see the horizon..."

Nanaka nodded and took out Aina's umbrella again.

"So, where's the soba, it seems perfect for this weather..." said Nanaka and opened the umbrella.

Aina smiled wide.

"Happily for you, it's close from here..." said Aina, as she grabbed Nanaka's hand and both started walking.

And Aina wasn't wrong, it took them just one minute from the station to the Soba place, called "Ogawaya Soba Store". It looked really traditional and maybe too small just judging from its facade.

"Oh...looks old..." said Nanaka getting closer.

"On good days the owner's bike is outside...also his wife's flowers...it's cute... of course, now with the rain you can't see that...their house is in the back..." said Aina proudly.

"Eh? Seems you know a lot ..." said Nanaka closing the umbrella while getting under the small roof.

Aina laughed like an old man, but didn't say a thing, she just opened the sliding door as if it was her place.

"Pardon the intrusion!" shouted Aina.

"OH! Aina-chan! Welcome back!" they heard the voice of an older man, "Good job today, I knew it was you! That laughter..."

Nanaka blinked furiously.

Aina entered, dragging Nanaka behind her; like in autopilot she left the umbrella in the umbrella stand at the entrance and closed the door behind her.

The restaurant was indeed small, it was just a square bar, and it was surprisingly empty. Well, lunchtime had passed an hour ago.

An old man appeared from the back wearing a classic white cooking jacket. He seemed kind.

"Afternoon!" said Aina taking her jacket off.

"Oh, you brought a friend..." he said getting closer to the girls.

Aina stopped, looked at Nanaka with a sad glance and then looked at the old man again.

"Yes, a friend, it's her birthday!" said Aina more cheerfully.

"Oh! Congratulations! May this year bring lots of wonderful things." he said and then took two glasses and poured some nice water from a jar.

"Thank you very much," said Nanaka very politely as she bowed.

"Very well educated and very cute, well done Aina-chan!" said the man as he set down the glasses.

Nanaka's cheeks became wild red.
Aina on her side scratched the back of her neck while laughing nervously.

"No no, don't misunderstand, it's just a friend," said Aina waving her hand, Nanaka smiled.

"Oh...ok, well, please feel at home." said the old man showing the girls to some seats, "Will you have your usual?"

Aina hung her coat on a hanger and made signs for Nanaka to take off her pinky coat.

"Ahhh no, today I would like some soba, it's raining like crazy..." said Aina receiving Nanaka's coat.

Nanaka took a seat and studied the glass of water. It looked clean.

And then mentally facepalmed. This indeed was Aina's territory, she just couldn't start with her picky princess thingie and start judging everything. It was clear that Aina felt pride in this old soba restaurant, and something was going on with this old man.

Maybe she lives here with this old couple!

Nanaka snapped.

"Hey Suwawa, What would you like?" Aina interrupted her thoughts, "There are some good dishes, curry... some yakiniku..." pointed Aina to an old board in front of them.

"Eh, Eh..." Nanaka took her time to read the board while saying some "Uhm" or "Eh" and then snapped.

"Tempura Ebi soba sounds good..." she said finally.

The old man nodded.

"Would you like some rice too?" he offered; Aina laughed loudly while Nanaka gave him an apologetic smile.

"No, it's fine, just the soba," she said politely.

"Oh..." the man indeed was surprised, "Is this your friend that doesn't like rice?" he asked Aina.

Aina nodded still laughing.

The old man smiled sweetly at Nanaka.

"Well, it can't be helped...I'll be right back with your orders" and went back to the kitchen to start cooking.

Of course, that wasn't that far from where the girls were seated, and they could see what he was doing very clearly. Of course, Nanaka thought that her privacy wasn't that private anymore.

"So... it seems that you are a regular here..." said Nanaka looking at Aina.

Aina stopped laughing and tried to behave.

"Well yeah, I come often..." she said.

"She lives on the back street, is not hard to hear her laughing..." said the old man coming again towards the girls and setting a plate with some "umeboshi" in front of the girls. "Please, on the house..."

Nanaka's eyes widened in lights.

"Oh..." said Nanaka softly.

"Nice! She loves those!" said Aina in her old man tone, "Are ya' happy Nana..."

"Thank you..." said Nanaka with a bright smile.

"Don't mention it, please enjoy..." he said as he left once again.

They started to dig into the "umeboshi".

"So, you are a loud neighbor..." said Nanaka tasting the plums; they were good.

"Yeah...can't be helped...also this isn't a big town you know, but people are nice, it reminds me of my hometown..." said Aina drinking some water.

"I get the feeling..." said Nanaka.

"As you can figure, I live next to the station...it's very common for me to crash here, that's why I'm a regular costumer...well, not just here, this area is filled with restaurants and traditional candy shops..." said Aina and finally ate a plumb.

"I see...with you it's all about the food..." said Nanaka in her monotone, and she could clearly hear the old man giggling at his cooking station.

Mmm, it's going to be hard to have a private conversation here...

"Eh! That's not true...my parents chose this location because it's close to the station...remember that I came to Tokyo at a very young age..."

"Yes, but this is still too far...why here?" asked Nanaka still eating.

"Downtown Tokyo is expensive...and dangerous for a young lady like me to be fooling around from here to there..." said Aina in a mocking tone, Nanaka snorted.

Aina wasn't very ladylike, and what happened when she stayed in Tokyo anyway?

"That's not the only reason..." said Nanaka dryly.

"Yes, of course, it's cheaper here...the place is good, it's quieter...and it reminded us to our home back in Hokkaidō... so it made sense..." said Aina with a "matter of fact" tone.

Nanaka smiled at her.

"And about the issue of it being far…Suwawa, it's been years since I moved here, I'm used to it…no biggie…" said Aina waving the problem off.

Nanaka was about to say something but then her phone rang; to her surprise, it was her mother.

She frowned a bit thinking that it was odd for her mother to be calling and not texting her, so maybe it was an emergency.

"Excuse me…" said Nanaka softly, Aina just nodded with a goofy smile.

"Hi," Nanaka answered Nanaka.

"Sweetie, hello, are you working?" she heard on the other side.

"Nope, I'm done for the day, why?" said Nanaka; she fixed her sight on Aina who was eating all the plumbs. Nanaka gave her a death glare.

"Oh, then are you coming home soon?" her mother asked; Aina left 2 plumbs on the plate and smiled cockily at Nanaka.

"I don't think so, I'm having lunch with a friend…" said Nanaka; Aina raised her eyebrows with sadness.

"Oh, but you will come back soon enough after that?" asked her mother.

Nanaka looked at Aina; both shared some sad glances.
Something was wrong with her, and it was clear as water now.

After a long pause, Nanaka said she just couldn't, and explained where she was having this lunch with her friend. Her mother teased her a bit about being so mysterious, with this "Friend", then recalled that it was her own birthday and asked about her plans because she and her dad wanted to go to their hometown and maybe celebrate with some other relatives.

Nanaka explained to her that she was far, busy, and frankly, she wasn't in the mood for THAT long trip all the way to Kawagoe. It was about a 3 hours trip from where she was at. So it was tremendous and a categorical NO.

She thanked the idea and intention, but she had already spent time with her family on the weekend and now she wanted to take it easy and enjoy her Soba.

With her friend.

Nanaka hanged up and let out a tired sight.

"Well, this means I'm free for the day..." said Nanaka placing her phone on the bar, but Aina didn't say a thing.

Nanaka looked at her with concern; Aina was eating one of the plums very slowly with her sight lost somewhere between the old man's skillful hands and the veggies being cut.

"Ainya?" called Nanaka softly.

"Eh? What?" asked Aina with a soft tone, "Are you done?"

"Yes...it was mom ..." said Nanaka.

"Uhm..." hummed Aina uninterested.

"They wanted to go to Kawagoe..." Nanaka continued saying, but seeing Aina so gloomy she tried again with a strong tone.

"What's wrong Aina?" she asked.

"Eh, nothing...everything's fine, ya' know, here having lunch with my friend..." said Aina, of course, emphasizing "friend".

Nanaka raised her eyebrows and made a drowned sound.

"Oh... I see..." said Nanaka softly, then picked up her glass of water and took a few sips.

Aina didn't say a thing, she just ate her last plum and swallowed dryly.

Nanaka blinked a few times.

Indeed Aina was mad about something, but she just couldn't figure out why. But the way she emphatically said "friend" was key. Was she mad about being called a friend? Maybe she should have said coworker?

"Aren't you my friend Aina...?" asked Nanaka in a concerned tone.

"I don't know, am I?" asked Aina with a tired tone.

"Yes, you are," answered Nanaka without hesitation, but of course Aina turned towards her with a serious face, her lips tight.

They stayed looking at each other. Their eyes searching for answers, love, and lust. But there was something else in Aina's eyes.

"And that's it?" asked Aina again in her mature tone.

Nanaka blinked a few times. Was this a test?

She hesitated; thought of at least 10 different ways of turning this conversation into something else, but it was absurd. Aina had been bothered for a while, maybe since Lantis building and she just couldn't ignore it. So she couldn't change the topic so easily.

"I don't know what you mean..." asked Nanaka playing dumb. Everything would be better if Aina had the chance to explain herself.

Aina deadpanned, maybe knowing quite well how Nanaka was playing her cards, so she took a deep breath and answered;

"I...I can't settle down with this...I don't want to be just your friend..." said Aina softly, but clearly. The old man stopped chopping the vegetables. He looked at the couple with kind eyes.

Nanaka just didn't know what was more uncomfortable; the old man's look or the fact that Aina had kind of confessed to her on the spot.

"O—ok..." said Nanaka unsettled, the man continued his work of chopping and it seemed that Aina was able to breathe again, but her gaze was still stuck in Nanaka's sleepy eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I just I couldn't take it anymore..." said Aina now turning her gaze down to her fingers, she started to play with them, "but...I don't know...before at Lantis building...you told King that I was a friend—"

"Aren't you?" interrupted Nanaka.

"I...I am...but..." fidgeted Aina, "I didn't go there as just that..." she finished shyly.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide. Of course, somewhere in her heart, she knew that.

"Shukashuu is supposed to be your goddamn girlfriend, but she didn't even bother showing up, it's—" Aina was complaining but Nanaka stopped her.

"Of course she didn't, Aina don't be unfair, with Shuka it is what it is, but she is also my Ex; there was no reason for her to be at Lantis building today, why should she be playing her role as the girlfriend? She plays it when she needs to, period. " said Nanaka kind of mad; was this a tantrum?

"I...I know...but what it bothers me is that... the members brought her up constantly, and I'm still your friend..." said Aina trying to control her own emotions.

"Aina, you will always be my friend, no matter what..." said Nanaka trying to sound calm, but that statement could work both ways; like saying that Aina would never evolve into something more, or the fact that their friendship was first to anything else.

Nanaka bit her lips.

"You know what I mean..." said Aina annoyed.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows with sadness. This was tricky, a few days ago, as Aina saw this "relationship", it was almost a one-way relationship because Nanaka was -according to Aina- still attached to Shuka, so in short, she wasn't ready to commit, but then, when Nanaka tried to show that she had moved on, it was Aina who was getting cold feet.

But blaming Nanaka.

Something wasn't right here.

Nanaka grabbed her temples and massage them softly.

"Ok, we... I mean, we have talked about this..." said Nanaka trying to kill the topic, "We talked, back in Awashima; Aina we can't start anything yet, for the Unit's sake..."

"I...I know...but...it makes me sad..." said Aina with a cute tone.

"Are you? Because I see you flirting with other girls anyway... or watching Arisa's butt." said Nanaka annoyed and eating the last plumb.

"Those mean nothing to me..." said Aina in her goofy tone.

Nanaka chewed looking at Aina with a nonchalant gaze.

"Really... I mean," said Aina giggling, "I've been bugging you for a year...why would I start bugging someone else now that I...have you..." she shrugged.

"Mmm, you don't have me..." said Nanaka now grabbing her glass of water and taking some sips.

"No, I don't... and that's why I'm bothered..." said Aina now in her serious tone.

They shared some sad looks.

No one had asked anything, so they weren't a couple, and because of the circumstances, they wouldn't be.
Because of Aqours.

But most importantly, could they be? They had started fucking around just a few weeks ago, maybe it was too soon? How soon? With Shuka, they waited one month after Shuka asked her out.

Was this going to be the same? Who would be the one to ask that question anyway?

Here it looked like Nanaka was more the Ikemen to ask that question, but was she really ready to start a new relationship?

"Aina..." started Nanaka softly.

"I know... we can't, Aqours is important..." said Aina abruptly.

"Yes, but not only that, I mean, are we ready?" asked Nanaka more seriously.

Aina opened her big eyes wide.
The old man splashed the noodles into the pot, it made a funny sound.

There was a huge moment of silence where they could only hear the noodles being cooked, and a few other sounds made by the old man doing his thing, but clearly his attention was also on the girls' conversation.

This was beyond awkward.

"You are not ready Nana..." said Aina dryly and now looking at the old man moving the noodles in the pot.

Nanaka gasped.

"Why am I not ready? I've already talked with Shuka about it..." retorted Nanaka not quite understanding.

"As long as Aqours remains on the top of your concerns, you won't be ready..." said Aina softly.

"Why is that?"

"Because she is in it," said Aina dryly and somewhat hurt.

"But you are there too..." answered Nanaka with astonishment.

"But I can take it! You don't want to publicly break up with her because you are protecting her, in the end, it's always because of her..."

"You said you were ok, that this worked for you..." answered Nanaka now tired of this.

"It works when they don't remind me that she's still your 'girlfriend'; when I'm not reminded that I'm just your friend...those things hurt you know..." said Aina looking at Nanaka shyly, her eyes full of tears.

Nanaka tightened her lips.

What could she say? Was she ready to commit to Aina already? It's had only been two months since Shuka broke up with her, maybe it was soon to bring that news into the Unit without any casualties.

Of course, Nanaka was trying to endure this situation because of Shuka; within the members, she was the one who could be left marginalized, or could be mocked over it. But Aina wasn't giving her an easy time either, maybe in the members' eyes, if they started a relationship it would also look bad, because "poor Shuka".

In the end, she was protecting both girls.

How could Nanaka fix this?

Was the members' opinion that important?

Well, it is! We work together, we can't break the balance amongst us...and I doubt that Shuka is going to be all sunshine and rainbows knowing that I'm doing Aina... like all her fears had come true...

...

...Shuka.

Suddenly the nice old man put some bowls in front of the girls.

"Ebi Tempura Soba, for the birthday girl, and some curry Soba, with a portion of rice, for Aina-chan," he said smiling at them.

It was clear that he emphasized "birthday girl" for Aina; she snapped realizing that she wasn't making lunch any nicer with this heavy topic.

"Thank you..." said both girls shyly.

"You are welcome..." he said, but before he could turn around added, "you know, Soba is a simple dish, so all the components have to be spot on, the noodles should have a nice firmness, and the ingredients should be of quality where you can taste the buckwheat," he was saying with seriousness, "the water should be pure enough as to not add or detract from the nutty aroma of buckwheat; if the Soba is not made or cooked well, it will be too soft or brittle and it will not stand up to dipping or sitting." he finished with a smile; both girls blinked.

He then added,

"Patience is key for enjoying a good Soba, also, love."

Then he turned around and left.

Aina made a goofy smile. Nanaka just blinked.

Did he just compare our relationship with making soba?

"Well, ya' heard him..." said Aina recovering her goofy tone and grabbing her chopsticks, "You can't be on the pot for too long, or you will be too soft to stand up."

Nanaka smiled, then giggled, and lastly retorted;

"You can't take them out too soon either, or they will be brittle...don't be pushy on Soba."

Then both shared some gazes, some cute smiles.

"So I guess, the answers lie within the pot..." murmured Aina as she became the bold soul taking the risk and stealing a kiss from Nanaka's lips.

It was a cute peak on the lips, but it was enough to take Nanaka's breath away.

She opened her eyes wide and made a terrified face, then looked to the front to see if the old man was there to witness that "sinful" act, but luckily he was gone. Maybe he understood that the girls needed privacy.

"Don't worry about him, he is a nice man..." said Aina now looking at her dishes.

"I...I see..." said Nanaka in astonishment.

Maybe he was something like a father figure to Aina? Knowing that she had come at such a young age to Tokyo, maybe she had found something in this old couple, and soon he had become like a confidant for her? Maybe she crashed really often in the store, maybe she felt really lonely being that far from everything and everyone, so she ended up relying on this old man.

I mean, he knew that Aina had a friend that didn't like rice...

...what else had she told him?!

"Suwawa, aren't ya' gonna try it?" asked Aina snapping Nanaka away from her concerns, of course, Aina was already devouring her Soba.

"Oh, right..." said Nanaka taking her chopsticks, "they look tasty..."

"Best Soba ever!" said Aina with energy.

Nanaka tasted them, they were indeed really delicious.

"Oishii~," said Nanaka softly.

"I know! The Soba too," said Aina shyly.

Nanaka stopped eating to look at Aina, then smiled.

"Well, you know... I don't need to go back soon now..." started Nanaka, Aina raised her eyebrows in surprise and slurped her noodles right into her mouth at high speed.

"Oh! Don't ya'?!"

"No, my parents left to Kawagoe...weren't you listening?" asked Nanaka while returning to her noodles.

"Sorry, I was busy being mad...my bad..." said Aina cleaning her mouth.

"Geez..." murmured Nanaka as she tried another bite of her noodles.

"Oh oh oh, this means that you can stay!" Snapped Aina excited, "Please, Nana, stay..."

"Eh? You want me to stay?" asked Nanaka softly.

They shared some gazes; Aina smiled wide at her, while Nanaka blinked a few times.

"Of course, Nana, I would love to play as local...I wanna share my bed with ya'...and we can return together tomorrow... that way our travel wouldn't be boring!" said Aina so excitedly that her Hokkaido dialect was slightly slipping in.

Nanaka blinked furiously.

"Eh...Eh I'm not prepared...to stay the night..." said Nanaka shyly, of course, once again Aina was playing her cards and made Nanaka unsettled about staying the night when that wasn't in her plans at all.

"Eh? Again? I have razors at home—" Aina was saying as if that was the most common thing in the world.

"NOT THAT, Jesus! That— that's not the problem..." Nanaka said with embarrassment.

"Oh, is it your period? When is it by the way? Should I know this? Did Shuka know this?— " Aina was stumping her own words and ideas.

"AINYA! Stop, stop...oh my..." finished Nanaka while massaging her temples, sometimes Aina was just too much.

And somehow she still kept comparing herself with Shuka...

Aina shut up and tightened her lips.

"I... I don't have pajamas...or something to stay...nor a toothbrush or such... this wasn't in my plans..." said Nanaka shyly, but Aina just slowly curved the tip of her lips, and then broke into her old man laughter.

She maybe spent a whole minute laughing, claps included, while Nanaka blinked by her side. The old man even popped from behind to see what was going on.

Indeed, she was a LOUD neighbor.

Nanaka made a sign to the old man relaying that everything was fine, he nodded. Maybe he was very used to her too.

Then Aina stopped.

Nanaka continued eating as if that had never happened.

"Oh, boy, ya' are so funny Nana..." said Aina trying to compose herself, Nanaka slurped some noodles.

"Those are just excuses Suwawa..." started Aina, "If ya' don't wanna spend the night with me just say it, but those are just excuses..." Aina picked up her chopsticks again, she cleaned a tear from her eye, "I have everything as you've had for me when I stayed at your place..."

"Uhmm..." said Nanaka not convinced.

"This is because I unsettled you, this wasn't in your plans, and that scares you..." said Aina now digging into her rice.

"Well, if you know that so well, don't suggest such things..." said Nanaka in a gloomy tone.

"Nonsense! This is the best..." said Aina recovering her mood, "How old are ya' turning?—"

"Twenty—"

"Doesn't matter!" interrupted Aina with her loud voice and with passion, "Suwawa it's your birthday, you should try to do different things! You have the whole world for ya'! You are the new Center! You were on the cover of a magazine, you can do so much more! Don't leash yourself in your demure self! Break your shell! Do whatever you want! Whatever you desire! No one will tell you that you are wrong! You just have to do—" was Aina cut short.

Nanaka grabbed Aina's sweater and pulled towards her and stole a kiss from her plump and soft lips; it made Aina almost fall from her chair, remembering that she was just too short for those kinds of chairs and her tiny little feet didn't reach the floor, but it was ok, she endured it until Nanaka broke the kiss.

"You are just too loud..." said Nanaka in her nonchalant tone as she returned to her seat and her noodles as if nothing had happened.

"Oh..." murmured Aina with her puffy cheeks bright red.

Nanaka continued eating while Aina stayed unsettled beside her.

"Was that bold enough...?" asked Nanaka not even giving her a second glance.

"I...I think I can work with that...yes..." said Aina now too embarrassed to even continue eating.

"Good..." said Nanaka slurping her noodles, indeed, the love that the old man had used for the Soba was something else.

Aina shyly returned to her dishes; sometimes not even Aina had control over her own persona, she could be bold, careless, reckless and daring, but easy to turn around, and now she was all shy and cute.

In a way, Nanaka was starting to understand her behavior, her way of thinking and more importantly, how to control her.

Nanaka twitched an eyebrow.

Control Aina...

With Shuka it was piece of cake, she was such a kid, reckless, childish and inexperienced, that it was easy for Nanaka to make every decision and take any action the relationship needed. Also, Shuka was so dependent on her that she never knew what to do or say, so Nanaka was always there to fix any mess.

But Aina was different.

Aina was independent from an early age, she made her own decisions, her actions, she was always so clear on what she wanted that she never needed anyone's approval, she just did as she pleased. Also, she was very different from Shuka, she was more daring, more spontaneous which made Nanaka more daring in her own decisions and actions, what of course, was unsettling for herself.

And if it was unpleasant, Nanaka had to fix it.

Control it.

"So, this means...that...that you would stay...?" asked Aina now with a shy tone.

Nanaka looked at her side, of course, she was so immersed in her "control plans" that she had forgotten that Aina was eating beside her.

"Uhm..." said Nanaka thinking.

"I...I want to make your birthday special..." said Aina in such a cute tone. That was too hard for Nanaka to resist.

"Uhm, ok, I'll stay...with one condition..." said Nanaka grabbing her bowl; Aina opened her eyes wide and gave her a huge smile.

"Say it! I can do it! I...I'll do it!" said Aina eagerly; Nanaka took her time to drink all the broth. Of course, Nanaka just couldn't be spontaneous, so some rules had to be set.

She calmly set down her bowl, cleaned her mouth, slowly, left her chopsticks on one side, also, very slow.

Aina was fidgeting beside her, her eagerness eating her out.

Nanaka took a deep breath and looked at her.

"You need to kiss me lots today..." said Nanaka with her serious face; Aina opened her eyes astonished, "and you need to spoil me even more..."

"Mo—more?" said Aina like trying to comprehend everything. Like if there was a higher level for spoiling her.

"Yes, it is my birthday...I want to be spoiled..." said Nanaka confidently.

Aina gulped dryly.

This only meant one thing to Nanaka; Control.

Aina needed to give her total control of the day.
And it was somewhat odd because she was playing as guest in Aina's territory, but Aina had to give her full control of the situation.

Nanaka smiled at her softly, but confidently. Knowing Aina the way she did, she wouldn't refuse to this petition.

Maybe she was playing as guest in a place she didn't know a thing about or where what was, but she would have the final decision.

Control.

Aina smiled at her after a few minutes in which maybe she pondered her options.

"That's easy, I thought you'd ask for something else..." said Aina smiling and continued eating.

"Eh? Like what?" asked Nanaka slightly surprised; what she had asked for wasn't easy.

"I don't know, a kink, or something..." said Aina nonchalantly.

"A kink? Eh?!" snapped Nanaka surprised, "What kind of kink?"

"A sexual one of course, what do you think kinks are...?" Aina continued saying while slurping her noodles.

"Mmmmm... Aina, I'm pretty boring in bed... I don't have kinks..." said Nanaka nonchalantly. Actually all the bold stuff she had done was fulfilling somebody else's kink.

Aina slurped her noodles hard and loudly, then looked at her with an astonished face. They locked faces.

She swallowed.

"You gotta be kidding me..." she said, Nanaka just shrugged.

"I think I am boring..." Nanaka repeated, "You know I like nice and cute lovemaking..."

Aina scratched her chin in deep thought.

"Maybe I should ask Shuka about it?" said Aina concerned; Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

"You stay away from her..." said Nanaka seriously.

"Why? She should know—"

"That isn't right Aina; and if any had kinks, it was Shuka, I'm pretty boring and normal, leave it that way..." said Nanaka annoyed, being reminded of her sexual encounters with Shuka was somewhat painful.

Yes, Shuka had a punishment kink, to succumb under any authority, Nanaka in this case, and being pushed around under orders and punishments. A very heartbreaking practice if Nanaka had anything to say, but at the end of the punishment, Shuka rewarded her with sweet and tender lovemaking that made her fall in love all over again...

Nanaka snapped out of her memories and caught herself touching her cute and well-done braids that were made into pigtails. Shuka's favorite hairstyle in Nanaka's head.

No no, this isn't right, I can't be thinking in her... not today, and not when I'm with Aina...

"Ok, tell you what..." said Aina finishing her own broth and putting her bowl down, "we can be a thing, nothing official and no strings attached because we can't compromise Aqours and all that, but with the only conditions that you give into kinks with me..."

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Both could play the rule setting game.
Aina was no fool.

"How...how's that work?" asked Nanaka a bit scared of the answer.

"We can't commit to each other, you said that...maybe we aren't ready to do so, but it's clear as rain that we have something going on, that there's love and we like fucking each other..." Aina was saying, Nanaka frowned, "So what I suggest is, you can play your role game for the members with Shuka, maybe have an affair or two, but the kinks, you do it with me."

Nanaka shook her head.

"What?!" She asked loud and annoyed.

"It's a win-win situation!" said Aina with a goofy smile but with serious tone; very unsettling.

"Wait, What?! You don't want any commitment but want to play the kinks with me?" asked Nanaka astonished.

"Suwawa, what the hell do ya' want then?! You give me NOTHING!" said Aina now losing her temper.

Nanaka blinked.

"You don't want to commit to me, because Aqours, ok, I get it... so we can't be a couple yet, but we like to be with each other, we fuck, ok...then what?! If you don't want to label this, it's ok, it's fine with me...but you need to give me SOMETHING!" finished Aina a bit wormed up.

Nanaka could be hard as a nut sometimes.

"Oh..." said Nanaka softly.

Of course, Aina could be patient, understanding, caring and all that, but as in every relationship, there had to be an exchange of something. Whether was love, money, or loyalty.

"So...you want a sex buddy?" asked Nanaka shyly.

"I see you more than that Nana..." said Aina resting her chopsticks on her bowl, then looked at Nanaka, "I want more than to just fuck you, you know that...I love my time with you, I love to spend my time with you, and I understand that maybe you aren't ready for that commitment, I get it...also, the Aqours factor... okay, but if we want to be together I need something too, you can't leave me here hanging to a tightrope all the time..."

Nanaka gave her a sad glance.
Of course, according to Aina, Nanaka wasn't ready to commit.

But the truth was that Aina wasn't ready either, otherwise, she would have stopped bringing Shuka into the conversation.

"So, that is what works for you; kinks and that's it?" asked Nanaka.

"Well, it's the tip of the iceberg...we can still date and have fun right?... I... I believe that our love is strong," asked Aina shyly.

Nanaka smiled wide at her.

Yes, she wants a sex buddy...

"Ok Aina, if that works for you; no commitment but the kinks are with you, is that it?" asked Nanaka A bit complicated, of course, this wasn't something she was used to.

Suwa Nanaka was a loyal and caring girlfriend; she put her loyalties in one partner and that was it. Here Aina was setting a contract with lots of blank spots.

"Yes, works right for both sides..." said Aina with a smile.

They would have kissed to seal the deal, but the old man arrived just in time for them to ask for the check.

The old man tried to insist on treating Nanaka on her part of the check, but Aina insisted that she would take care of it, and the old man didn't push it any further. They left being very grateful, it had indeed been good Soba, and it made Nanaka think about her relationship as noodles with broth.

So after paying for the Soba they left, and to Nanaka's surprise they took a 2 minute walk back to the station, to a Lawson store at the opposite side of the station's exit.

Aina insisted on going to the convini because if she needed to spoil Nanaka, she'd pull out all her guns, which meant snacks and ice cream. Also, Nanaka took the opportunity to buy a toothbrush and a comb to leave at Aina's place, for "future visits".

The rain was getting worse as the day passed and Nanaka was starting to get tired, cold, and not say a bit annoyed too because it seemed that everyone knew Aina. But not because she was a famous Seiyuu or her role in Aqours, but because of her.

That town was indeed very small, or seemed like that because everybody knew her, and was just too nice to her, and she was way too cute to them too. It pissed off Nanaka and Aina sensed that, because she hurried up with the bags.

They walked back those 2 minutes but instead of using the street of the Soba restaurant, they went down the backstreet where the old man had said Aina lived, but they walked to an old Japanese confectionery store that was just in the corner beside a very narrow alley.

Aina excused herself and told Nanaka she needed to go into that store too because she had ordered some special Dango, and now that she was also there, she'd get something else too, she joked about not having any Moriva Coffee cake.

Of course, the owner knew Aina quite well, and her reaction was almost like with the old man from the noodle shop. Nanaka had to count to a very high number which she ended up forgetting to endure the fact that Aina was just too cute for her own good.

After buying traditional candy from the shop, to Nanaka's surprise, they turned right into that narrow alley. It was wide enough for a motorcycle or a bike to ride through, but there was no space for a car. Also, they had some trouble with the umbrella as they both tried to walk under it.

The walk wasn't long, and in just a few more steps they arrived at a 2-floor white wooden house. Its entrance was indeed small, a white fence separated the house from the street, and the distance between the house and the fence was just too small, it was like the house had been made for Aina.

Aina explained that the house that was diagonal to the right of them was the old man's house, and the Soba restaurant was just on the other side.

Aina opened the fence like nothing, of course, there was no lock on it and made Nanaka come in. To her surprise, the house had 2 entrances. Aina guided them to the farthest door, and opened the door just like that, no key was needed.

"Wow, no key?" asked Nanaka watching Aina open the door, she just laughed, and with a bit of difficulty went inside with all the bags from her last-minute grocery shopping.

"It's so quiet here, why bother? Also, who would wander down this alley?... This house is sandwiched between the two big corner houses, the confectionery, and a toy store..." said Aina opening the door for Nanaka to come in.

She closed the umbrella, shook it outside and then rested it in the umbrella stand at the entrance.

"Pardon the intrusion..." said Nanaka softly, she was received by some floral and citrus scent, indeed, Aina's smell.

Aina closed the door and left the bags softly on the floor to later smile proudly at Nanaka.

"Welcome home...good job today," said Aina softly as she went closer and hugged Nanaka by her neck, as a reflex, Nanaka hugged her back from her waist.

"I'm back..." murmured Nanaka as they lost themselves into a passionate kiss.

It was a great kiss, maybe had been desiring to do it since Lantis building and had to leash up their desires and passions. But right at that moment, in the safety of Aina's place, they were able to succumb under their love.

The kiss started to grow messy and wet; Aina's tongue was eager in searching Nanaka's mouth, as Nanaka tried to hold them both in a standing position, Nanaka could feel Aina's hands starting to become inpatient and how she diligently started taking off Nanaka's pink coat. So Nanaka broke the kiss.

"Wa...wait..." said Nanaka, also breaking the hug.

Aina was abruptly left in tiptoes, blinking, but her breath quite elaborate.

"What? Wasn't this one of your requests? Kiss you lots...?" asked Aina confused.

"When have you been that obedient?" asked Nanaka with a coy smile, Aina giggled and stood still at the entrance, Nanaka took off her coat and realized that it was drenched.

"I'm obedient when the prize is to my liking..." said Aina licking her lips, "but you are right...it isn't polite of me to not let you inside properly, this is your first time here..."

Nanaka smiled at her and nodded.

"There's no reason to rush things, right?..." said Aina and offered her hand for Nanaka as a sign to give her the wet coat.

Nanaka gave it to Aina, and with quick moves, Aina left her shoes at the entrance, stepped into the house and disappeared in one of the rooms.

This gave Nanaka some time to look around.

The house was indeed old. And looked quite opposite to how Nanaka managed her own place, neat and clean. It wasn't that the house was dirty, but it seemed things were messier, the shoes all scattered, some clothes too, and the house decorations seemed very colorful and old, clearly it wasn't Aina's kind of decorating.

Or at least that was what Nanaka thought.

With quick steps, Aina came back with a pair of sleepers for Nanaka.

"Sorry for the wait..." said Aina softly, she also took her coat off and maybe hung them in another place because they were soaking wet.

"Don't worry..." said Nanaka taking the sleepers; she left her bag on the floor and started taking off her boots.

"Did you get wet anywhere else?" asked Aina with concern; Nanaka stopped to look at Aina with surprise.

Both stayed looking at each other for maybe a full minute, Nanaka's cheeks quite red.

Aina snapped.

"Oh-oh, YOUR CLOTHES! I was asking about your clothes...geez..." said Aina embarrassed.

Nanaka giggled.

"Geez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that..." said Aina laughing softly and embarrassed.

"Because of the rain...I think my dress is a bit wet...but nothing more..." said Nanaka softly.

"Ok, let's put on some dry clothes, let's get comfy!" said Aina in a happy and diligent tone, she took the grocery bags and looked at Nanaka.

Nanaka took her bag again, put on the sleepers and stepped in.

"Thanks for having me," said Nanaka and bowed.

"My pleasure Nana." smiled Aina as she turned around and walked in.

They went straight to the kitchen for Aina to put the groceries away, while in the way Nanaka looked around; it was a big house indeed, old and all, but it looked just too big only for Aina.

She explained that her parents had rented it thinking of the whole family and relatives from Hokkaido to crash there when needed. Actually, a cousin would crash there in three more days, which made her very happy because she didn't really know this cousin.

Also, her sisters usually crashed there too, but that day was a lucky one because they had the house to themselves. Not that Aina had planned it like that, she never thought of having Nanaka at her place that day, and prove of that was that the house was a total mess.

So Aina apologized hundreds of times about it, but she just couldn't keep up with the cleaning and such when she needed to calculate a 2 hours travel time to get to her jobs or the such. Another reason why she liked to stay at hotels, Love hotels or Nanaka's place. She didn't need to think about cleaning and domestic stuff.

Nanaka made a mental note to offer Aina to leave some clothes at her place next time, maybe that would help her in this situation.

In short, that sandwiched house was the Suzuki headquarters in Tokyo.

Nanaka didn't know how to feel about it.

As the house tour continued, Nanaka's worries grew. Learning that Aina had to grow up so young and start taking care of herself so early, her siblings, a house, and all that at such a young age, made Nanaka feel troubled.

She was an only child, she always had the love and attention of her parents and when she had decided to start her Seiyuu career, her hometown, Kawagoe, wasn't that far from the school in downtown Tokyo. Saitama wasn't that far, she could get there in an hour and a half, and when she came back, her mother was always there to receive her, to take care of her.

So, who took care of Aina? If she was sick, who took care of her? Maybe that was why she was so friendly with her neighbors and people around? Was she feeling lonely?

And even if Aina looked so independent, everybody needed someone.

The tour ended up in Aina's bedroom. Of course, it made total sense that she had the master bedroom since she was the main occupant of the house, and also the one who paid most of the rent.

Her room was as childish as Aina herself. It had shelves filled with anime figures and the wall with posters of some male anime characters.

Nanaka smiled softly at the sight; Aina always laughed at Nanaka's plushie collection or girly decoration, but Aina was an otaku herself too. She also explained that back in Hokkaido it was the same. But since that was like a common house for the family and relatives, she just couldn't mess with the entire house's decorations, so she just claimed the master bedroom, and with that, she was happy.

Aina was someone of simple tastes.

She opened her wardrobe and took out some sweatpants.

"Would you be more comfortable wearing these?" Aina asked Nanaka, showing the pants.

"Uhm...will it fit?" asked Nanaka troubled and taking the pants.

"Well, there's a way to find out..." said Aina looking at Nanaka somewhat hungrily, "as you see..." Aina started saying while moving smoothly towards her, "I'm not gonna lend ya' a pajama tonight..."

"Eh? What?" asked Nanaka surprised; Aina hugged her by her waist, trapping her between her arms in a tight embrace.

"You aren't going to need any..." murmured Aina with confidence, "this is my house...my house, my rules."

And that said, Aina, tiptoed and kissed Nanaka passionately. Of course, Nanaka answered the kiss with equal passion, but it took her one more second to figure everything out...

Aina understood that Nanaka's request was to take her control away, but what Nanaka hadn't considered was that she was playing as guest, and under her own rule, set weeks earlier, under someone's roof, their rules applied.

And not just that; Nanaka agreed to do kinks with her.

So, where was her control over Aina now?

Holy, Pancakes... well played Aina, well played...

Now she needed to go with the flow, do as Aina said and bare whatever weird request that crossed her mind.

Nanaka broke the kiss in realization with a panicked face.
Aina just gave her a goofy smile.

"What?" asked Aina in her goofy mode, maybe realizing that Nanaka had figured out that she had no power.

"I... I don't know..." murmured Nanaka; truth was that she felt scared.

Aina had already taken her against her will, three times, and two of those had been at her own place. So now that she was there, against all odds, what would Aina do with her?!

"Eh?... What is it Nana?" asked Aina now turning a bit sad, maybe perceiving that she was scared of this.

"I..I ... Aina..." Nanaka was having a hard time putting her thoughts in order.

But Aina smiled wide at her and gave her a soft glance as she raised her left hand and cupped Nanaka's cheek, softly caressed it with her fingers showing her tenderness...

"Don't worry Nana... I love you...I learned my lesson... maybe this is my house and my rules, but I'll be glad to bring our bed into mine..."

Nanaka blinked a few times, trying to wrap around that idea.

"It's your birthday, I agree—no, I want, to spoil you...and there's nothing that could make me happier than to make love to you today..." said Aina in her "Mature tone".

It took Nanaka's breath away.

She tightened her embrace, dropping the sweatpants and kissed Aina, no doubts this time, no hesitation, just love.

Aina smiled at the kiss, and reciprocate it with equal passion, it was even notorious because Aina needed to tiptoe to deepen the kiss, as she left Nanaka's cheek and grabbed her blouse with the strength to not fall.

Aina's mouth tasted like cherries, they were soft, plump and so tasty that Nanaka just lost control in her own desire. Maybe she had been holding that passion back since Lantis building, or maybe she was starting to get dizzy on Aina's scent, whatever it was, it worked, she just wanted more, and maybe Aina was thinking the same because in seconds Nanaka felt Aina's hands wandering her hips, and felt a click.

Nanaka tried to break the kiss, but Aina didn't let her, she introduced her playful tongue inside her mouth as her hands moved quickly, in seconds Nanaka felt cold in her rear.

Nanaka's skirt fell to her ankles heavily, of course, the cloth was wet because of the rain, and she started to wonder if her panties would follow next.

But they didn't, because, of course, that position was tiresome for someone as short as Aina; she just couldn't tiptoe forever, so she needed to break the kiss. Both girls were left panting heavily and hungrily looking at each other, Aina held onto Nanaka's blouse and Nanaka held Aina in a tight embrace.

"May I...?" asked Aina shyly, getting lost in Nanaka's eyes.

Nanaka blinked a few times, her sleepy eyes locking on the short woman, of course, it was weird but extremely cute that Aina was actually asking for permission or to taking the lead in their lovemaking, well in the end, Aina wanted to make love to her, so, why not?

"Yes Aina, you may..." said Nanaka softly and tenderly caressing Aina's left cheek.

Aina smiled at her, she spent a few more seconds just gazing at her with such love, that maybe she just wanted to stay like that, but Aina made her move. She softly moved her hands towards Nanaka's cheeks and cupped them tenderly as she moved forward.

"Happy Birthday, Nana..." said Aina with a soft voice as she moved and placed Nanaka on her bed. Of course, now that Nanaka sat on the bed she was more reachable for Aina, so, as soon as she could, Aina kissed her once again, this time with nothing that could stop her in her task; Aina climbed on the bed placing her knees on it, straddling Nanaka as she placed her body flat against Nanaka's while continuing the kissing session.

Aina was eager; maybe this "lovemaking" was a bit slow for her taste, so she started to speed it up, moving her kisses towards Nanaka's neck and her hands, to move towards the hem of her blouse.

Nanaka didn't want to waste time either and moved her hands to reach Aina's skirt. Good thing that both were the girly type and wore skirts, with Shuka these kinds of passion was a bit uncomfortable due to Shuka's pants...

Nanaka stopped abruptly at the touch of Aina's skirt and made a drowned sound.

Shuka...

Nanaka grabbed Aina's skirt tightly and opened her eyes wide. Of course, this was noticed by Aina, who stopped kissing her neck and withdrew her hands from Nanaka's blouse.

"Sorry, am I a bit pushy?" asked Aina with a soft tone, "I...I can slow down..."

Nanaka made a sad face. Of course, Aina thought that it was her fault, not that Nanaka was being attacked by Shuka's ghost. Again.

No, no, not at these moment...

Nanaka shook her head and then smiled softly at Aina.

"No Nyan-chan," said Nanaka with her loving voice, "I'm ok... do me…"

Aina smiled wide at her, moved again towards Nanaka's face, and stole a kiss, a deep and wet kiss. It was enough for Nanaka to find a pace and continue to move her hands under Aina's skirt. She was greeted by Aina's firm and soft thighs.

Nanaka moaned into the kiss.

Aina didn't want to lose against Nanaka's touch, so she continued taking the hem of her blouse, and with quick movements removed it, cutting the kiss for a few seconds but to capture Nanaka's lips again for her for to continue; in the end, Nanaka had requested lots of kisses.

The blouse flew somewhere around the room, but in truth, it didn't matter; Aina was busy eating Nanaka's mouth as if it was an afternoon snack, and Nanaka wasn't complaining either, but Aina just wasn't going to settle just with that.

Once again she left Nanaka's mouth to keep kissing her all over her body. She continued with her neck, filling it with bites and wet kisses, the mere intent of a moan escaping from Nanaka's lips; her hands trying to keep up with the activity and started to search for Aina's rear under the skirt.

"The skirt... you should—" Nanaka tried to say but was shut up by Aina and her hunger.

Aina had grabbed Nanaka's right breast and pulled up her bra in one quick movement to star sucking her nipple.

"Mmm, so...someone's eager..." murmured Nanaka.

"Sorry..." said Aina but didn't stop sucking and licking Nanaka's breast, "I missed your body...so much..."

Nanaka grunted in pleasure from the sensation of having Aina's wet tongue playing with her now erect nipple.

But, a glimpse of sense came into Nanaka's mind; if Aina wasn't going to undress, or allow her to undress her, she needed to counterattack, or at least tell Aina that she wasn't in total control of the situation. And lucky for her, the height difference was in her favor in that position.

So, Nanaka moved her right hand under Aina's skirt and searched for her core; she was amazed to find a hot and wet spot between her legs. She started touching Aina's panties with two fingers, finding a prominent wet spot on the cloth.

Oh, God, she is soaked already...

Aina broke her duty of teasing Nanaka's nipple to moan, and of course, she wasn't shy about it. Nanaka bit her lips about that.

This was Aina's house, so of course, she would be moaning without a care in the world.

"I...I thought I was...doing...you..." said Aina biting her lips trying to hold back her own moans, but Nanaka's touch was just too good.

"You are so wet Aina..." said Nanaka in her husky tone, "How am I going to waste this opportunity...?" said Nanaka while still teasing the wet spot, now trapping the prominent erect bump of nerves between her fingers.

Aina moaned and arched her back.

"This...this isn't fair Nana..." said Aina holding back her moans, her breathing very elaborate.

Nanaka smirked.

She had her control back.

"Take off your skirt..." commanded Nanaka in a very strong tone.

Aina doubted for a few seconds, but Nanaka was sure to make her point and pushed her middle finger with the cloth and all inside Aina's core.

Aina moaned loudly and arched her back once again, but soon her torso came back to her front, Nanaka withdrew her hands from under Aina's skirt and placed them flat against the bed.

"Do as I say...or I'm not going to touch you anymore" said Nanaka with her low tone and an inquisitive look.

Aina opened her eyes wide in surprise. Her lips shivered a bit, of course, this time it was Nanaka who was surprising Aina. Wasn't Aina supposed to make love to her? Softly and tenderly...

"Wow...Suwawa..." said Aina softly and shyly, her eyes a bit watery, "I...I thought you didn't have kinks..."

Nanaka opened her eyes wide snapping out of this dominant role.

No, I don't have...

Nanaka bit her lips.

But Aina, shyly and obediently, raised herself using her knees as support, and slowly took her sweater off, leaving her in a nice pink lace bra. She left it beside them on the bed.

"We should have started with this..." murmured Aina, then unhooked her skirt, "Your words are my command."

No no, this isn't right!
This isn't Shuka!

"No!" Interrupted Nanaka quickly, grabbing Aina's hands in hers, somehow the mood faded. But Nanaka's voice was quite broken, more than another order or command.

Aina looked at her astonished. Maybe she now believed that Nanaka was bipolar or something.

"What the hell?! Make up your mind!" said Aina annoyed, but then looked at her and her gaze became softer; Nanaka's eyes were full of tears.

"Eh? Hey, Suwawa, what's wrong...?" asked Aina now more panicked, getting closer to her, "What, what is it?"

Nanaka quickly grabbed Aina's puffed cheeks and kissed her; Aina not understanding a thing kissed her back, but full of doubts. Nanaka broke the kiss.

"Take..." she started, "undo my braids..." she begged.

Aina blinked a few times not understanding a thing, once again and looked at Nanaka moving her mouth like a fish.

"Aina!" called Nanaka to bring her back to Earth, seeing Nanaka starting to undo her right braid.

"Oh-oh, yes, ok..." mumbled Aina while with diligent hands started to undo the other braid.

Sometimes the pains of the heart can't be erased that fast. You just can't brush them under the rug and pretend that everything was ok. Because clearly, here, they weren't.

Shuka's ghost was just too strong for Nanaka to handle without Aina's help. She had developed a kink, a control kink that was Shuka's, but she had become to used to that role when she needed to punish her. Here, it wasn't that Aina needed punishment, but Aina had taken her control away, and that unsettled her, and the only way she had found to get it back was falling into the "dominatrix role", the role that she had used with Shuka.

So she had started to boss Aina around.

And now the hairstyle, she needed to get rid off it. It reminded her too much of Shuka to keep it on in this lovemaking. Aina was trying her best for her, and it was just ruining that.

"I'm...I'm sorry Aina..." said Nanaka sitting up once her braids were undone, her hair now falling curly on her shoulders. Indeed very sexy.

"Are you ok...?" asked Aina with real concern.

"I'm better now...I'm sorry...I ruined it..." said Nanaka now in shame and covering her face with her hands.

She felt Aina standing up from the bed, and a few seconds later she sat once again in front of Nanaka.

Nanaka withdrew her hands to see her, her cheeks bright red in shame and embarrassment. Aina had taken her skirt off, so she also was only in her undies. She smiled sweetly towards Nanaka, like saying that everything would be ok.

"Suwawa...you look so beautiful with your hair curly..." said Aina, softly caressing her hair.

"Aren't you mad?" asked Nanaka shyly.

"Eh? Why...? No, but, are you ok?" asked Aina with a caring tone, "We don't have to have sex, you know? we can chat... play video games...eat snacks... whatever ya' want, my Nana..."

Nanaka opened her eyes wide, she felt her heart stopping, her breath taken away, and butterflies all over her belly.

So who was the child in this relationship?

Nanaka shook her head and then smiled at her.

"We can do everything..." said Nanaka and gave her a sweet smile, "I'm ok... I'll be ok if you kiss me..."

And she pouted cutely.

Aina made a drowned sound.

"Suwawa, you can't do that, it's bad for my heart..." said Aina giggling, "But I love it..." she smiled, "of course, Nana, I'll kiss you lots today...and every time you allow me too..."

Both shared some smiles, and as if it was on cue, both moved forward and kissed.

Soon, the kiss became messier, hotter and wetter. It was a good sign that their love was so strong that even with all the interruptions they could manage to continue.

This time taking their time, enjoying each other's taste, lips and tongue. On this opportunity, Aina guided Nanaka to the back of the bed towards the pillows, of course, without breaking the kiss.

"You ok?" Aina interrupted the kiss, Nanaka nodded.

Both shared a smile.

"I love you Nana..." said Aina shyly, but with a strong tone; Nanaka looked at her deep in her eyes, she could see the love in Aina's eyes.

"I love you too, Aina..." said Nanaka softly and sincerely, she touched her cheek and caressed it tenderly.

Aina went closer and stole another kiss. A quick one. Then softly and slowly took care of Nanaka's socks. It made Nanaka shiver and get goosebumps at how slowly and tenderly she was being touched. Then, she got rid of her bra, again, softly and slowly.

The last piece of cloth on Nanaka's body were her panties. But Aina stopped.

Without saying a thing Nanaka sat up, and at the same pace started taking Aina's clothes off, gently; her socks first, then her bra, leaving her only in wet panties a well. The key to this whole act was that they took each other's clothes without taking their eyes away from each other. Without rushing anything.

Admiring the other girl's beauty. It was like making their feelings naked for each other. No rush, or pressure, only love. The mere act of holding back their desires to just undress the other was a clear sign of how their love was so meaningful.

It was communication. A bond.

Aina was the one to move forward and kissed Nanaka softly, enjoying her lips, and somehow telling her to lay on her back.

And she did.

Nanaka laid softly on the bed, her head on the pillows and Aina started to caress her body, kissing it, tasting it, some places even bit it, but softly. She traced Nanaka's body completely with her tongue, with her fingertips, with her lips, she wanted to memorize it completely.

It gave Nanaka a hot sensation between her legs, but also it made her feel loved. Aina was being very gentle with her, but also very sexy. From time to time Aina murmured against her skin how beautiful, tasty and pale she was.

She reached her panties with a gentle touch and locking her gaze with hers, slowly withdrew them. She set them on her side slowly, something weird because Aina usually liked to throw all the clothes away in her eager desperation to fuck.

But now it was different.

Aina stopped and took her time to see and admire Nanaka's pale body. She smiled softly and lovingly. She moved forward to steal one last kiss from her lips.

"You are just like a Soba noodle..." murmured Aina getting away and returning to her spot between Nanaka's leg; Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise, "So thin...so pale..." Aina said while tracing Nanaka's chest, belly and finally, her core, to say; "...so wet…"

She then traced a finger through Nanaka's slit from north to south, which made Nanaka moan and grab the bed sheets firmly.

Aina licked her lips, of course, she had Nanaka just where she wanted her; grabbed Nanaka's legs, spread them wide and started to lick and kiss her inner thighs, teasing her, making Nanaka a bit eager, and why not, hornier.

Nanaka started to lose her patience, all this was nice and cute, but they had been loving their bodies for just too long, she needed some friction, or at this point, something inside her...

And Aina understood.

So after giving her a big and wide suck on her right inner thigh, she grinned at Nanaka.

"I'll love to slurp you up, just like one…" she said opened Nanaka's legs wider, all her treasure just for Aina to see, Nanaka just moaned at the sensation of having her most private place exposed like that, feeling the air and Aina's intense gaze on her.

Aina licked her lips and went right to Nanaka's clit. She placed it between her lips and started sucking it hard, making the room fill up with wet sounds and Nanaka's moans.

"Don't... hold...back..." said Aina between licks and sucks, "I...want...to...hear more..."

Aina was a big eater, no questions about it, she could twitch and move her tongue with such skills that Nanaka doubted that there was something better than it to explore her wet place and make it even wetter.

Like no matter how fast and good Aina ate her, it made it worse and messy, so Aina needed to eat her even more deeply.

It was a lot, but not enough.

"Ah...Ah~Aina...more..." said Nanaka feeling the ecstasy; Aina understood the request and started fucking her with her tongue.

But it wasn't enough.

It felt good but, not enough.

Nanaka kept moaning and moving her hips, her hands grabbing and pushing Aina's head against her core, but she needed something deeper.

"Mo—more...more...deeper..." said Nanaka losing herself in pleasure; she wasn't the talkative type of girl during sex, but this time she was feeling over the top. Maybe it was Aina's influence or something, but she just wanted to cum, explosively, passionately, and loudly...

Aina was a bit troubled feeling that her tongue somehow wasn't enough, so in a quick move she removed her tongue from Nanaka's insides and placed 2 fingers right inside her, it made Nanaka moan in pleasure, Aina smirked and then went hungrily to her bump of nerves, capturing it once again between her lips and started sucking it hard while her fingers did the job thrusting against her core.

Maybe they spent a few minutes like that, where Nanaka moaned as she never had before, but somehow she just couldn't come. Aina curled her fingers and tried to move at a faster speed, as did her tongue.

But it was no use.

Nanaka just couldn't come.

Nanaka tightened her grip on the sheets. Now getting tired of moving her hips, feeling her legs sweaty and maybe a bit numb because of the position.

She started to mentally curse; Aina was giving her all for her to come and she was being loud, but nothing. Something was off.

Nanaka tightened her lips. She opened her eyes and focused her sight on Aina's face, she was so fiercely eating her clit and with her left hand trying to reach Nanaka's spot, but it was useless...

...her fingers...
...her...HER FINGERS ARE TOO SHORT!

Cursing once again, she abruptly moved her head back. Of course, one of Aina's best charm points for Nanaka was her cute and tiny baby hands. Yes, they were soft, cute, and very comfortable to hold... but her fingers weren't long enough to reach Nanaka's G spot.

She could just try and focus on Aina's tongue and how it played with her clit, but no, now she was wandering around the idea that Aina's hands weren't enough, her fingers weren't enough.

A different thing with Shuka, she had long and thin fingers...

NO! STOP!

Nanaka opened her eyes wide, her sight fixed straight to the ceiling. That wasn't fucking right.

She took a deep breath and moved her torso up; of course, Aina noticed that her Nana wasn't moaning anymore, so she shyly stopped licking and sucking to lift her face from her crotch. She looked concerned.

Aina was no fool, and she had always noticed when Nanaka's mind was more in her "Suwa World" more than in reality, and today Nanaka was more in that side of the universe than there.

"Aina..." called Nanaka softly.

"What's wrong...?" asked Aina softly, also stopping thrusting.

Nanaka blinked a few times trying to control her breath, and to put her thoughts in order. She just couldn't tell Aina that her fingers were too short, that hadn't been an impediment before, why now? Well, it didn't matter at that moment, Aina needed answers and maybe a task to do...

Maybe the best call was to rub against each other.

"I...I want you..." said Nanaka shyly.

"Eh? Am I not doing it right?" asked Aina naively.

"Not that..." said Nanaka, then moved her hands and cupped Aina's cheeks and made her come to her face, of course, this made Aina withdraw her finger's out of her, she grunted from the sensation.

Nanaka kissed Aina softly, holding to her own taste. And without saying a thing moved her hands towards Aina's panties and pulled down.

"I want to come with you..." said Nanaka with a loving gaze. Aina gave her a goofy smile. Of course, everything was fine in Aina's lenses.

Aina nodded, and moved to remove her panties, they weren't wet, nor soaked, but drenched. She stood in front of Nanaka using her knees as support. And before Aina could do anything, Nanaka reached Aina's core with her right hand and started teasing her wetness.

Aina grunted in pleasure and while holding her pleasure she looked at Nanaka.

"Geez, I thought—ah~ that we would come...together..." said Aina with difficulty, grabbing Nanaka by her shoulders for balance.

"And we will, I'm just...lubricating more..." said Nanaka with a smirk, not taking her eyes off Aina's.

"Geez—ah ah! Nana, I'll come if you...keep...AH, going on..." said Aina with difficulty, but not doing anything to stop her from doing so, in fact, she opened her legs more for Nanaka to reach deeper.

Nanaka licked her lips.

Who had the control now?

As Aina gave in and started to rock her hips against Nanaka's hand, Nanaka just couldn't take it and inserted 2 fingers inside her, of course, Aina moaned loud from that.

Nanaka was amazed how smoothly her fingers just came in, maybe she could hold even a third finger already; Aina was just so easily aroused...

Nanaka blinked a few times and licked her lips again. Maybe she had become distracted and couldn't come yet, but this was helping enormously.

"Come here Aina..." she murmured in a husky tone, and with her left hand grabbed Aina's hip; both understood the idea, so Aina moved her body towards Nanaka, hugged her tightly while straddling her in that sitting position and lowered her hips, feeling Nanaka's long and thin fingers going deep and softly inside her.

Of course, Aina moaned so loud and so sexily against Nanaka's ear It was like flipping on a switch.

Aina started moving her hips now without a care in the universe; Nanaka need to hug her tightly from the waist to maintain a steady position, but Aina was out of control. She was moaning loudly and moving her hips fast, fucking Nanaka's fingers.

Of course, dirty talk started to escape from her lips as she moaned and grunted. Indeed, it was turning Nanaka on, watching Aina so lost in pleasure, pleasure that she was giving her, made her smile with pride.

She licked her lips again. This was the best birthday gift.

Aina's torso was moving too, making her breast move into a hypnotic dance in front of Nanaka, it was too much, so she fiercely grabbed Aina's right nipple in her mouth and started sucking it and playing with it.

"OH~yes, YES! Fuck me harder Nana!" Aina shouted out of control.

Of course, that "dirty talk" was still unsettling for Nanaka, but she tried selectively only hear the moans and grunts more than Aina's sex talk.

Nanaka inserted a third finger, though she needed to hold back the pain in her wrist because Aina started to move even faster and harder against her hand.

Of course, Aina moaned even louder.

It was sexy, it was messy, and incredibly wet. Their bodies now covered in sweat, Aina's love nectar was all over Nanaka's hand, not to mention all the wet sounds that filled the room. Nanaka was aroused from that for sure, and her eyes, heart, and concentration were only in making love to this short woman.

"Oh Nana...I'm...I'm gonna cum..." said Aina between moans and pants, "it feels so good~!"

Nanaka withdrew her mouth from Aina's Brest and huskily said:

"Come Aina-chan...come for me..."

Aina moaned loudly, arching her back, Nanaka could feel her inner walls tightening against her fingers as something warm enveloped them. Nanaka used all her strength to hold Aina in that position, her knees shivering as she received the intense orgasm.

Aina tightly held her grip on Nanaka's shoulder, as her breathing tried to take a normal rhythm. She ended up hugging her, and somehow seating on top of her, not minding that Nanaka's fingers were still inside her. Nanaka started to softly kiss Aina's neck.

"You ok, Nyan-chan?" asked Nanaka cutely.

"I love you, I love you so much..." murmured Aina against Nanaka's skin, "I ...I want...I..." but Aina couldn't finish, she was having a hard time recovering her breath and strength, maybe her thoughts were like pudding in her head.

Indeed, Nanaka had screwed her brains out.

Nanaka smiled at her, Aina was indeed too cute for her heart. She tightened the embrace.

"I love you too my Aina, " said Nanaka intensely, so full of love, that Aina's heart stopped.

She moved her torso back and locked gazes with Nanaka. Both lost into each other's eyes. Aina's were all watery, of course, she was the emotional one.

Aina couldn't resist it anymore and kissed her. Passionately.

Nanaka would totally stay in that position forever, kissing Aina while her fingers were connected to her, feeling her warmth and wetness from both of Aina's set of lips, but Aina broke it.

"I... I can't feel my legs..." she said shyly, Nanaka smirked.

"I can't feel my hand..." retorted Nanaka.

Both giggled.

"Are you ok Nana?" asked Aina now with more concern in her tone and face, "You were distracted...you need to come..."

"Why do I need that...?" asked Nanaka softly, "I'm always happy to make love to you..."

Aina smiled.

"I know you do..." said Aina faintly, "But I want you to come..."

"Eh? Why? Aina, I'm happy like this..." said Nanaka and tightened the hug, "You are so warm..."

"Because I want..." said Aina with more strength and made a motion to stand up.

Nanaka was drawing a blank, and due to her lack of strength wasn't able to hold Aina in that position anymore; Aina stood up on her knees and with a grunt left Nanaka's fingers. She moved her right leg while she lifted Nanaka's left one and rested it on her right shoulders.

Of course, Nanaka ended up on her back once again.

"Wha— what are you doing...?" said Nanaka trying to maintain her control, but couldn't. Aina smiled softly at her and pressed her drenched core with Nanaka's now soaked one.

Nanaka moaned at the sensation.

"Seeing that my fingers weren't enough...let's come together..." said Aina and moved her hips starting to make some friction with her.

Nanaka gasped and then grunted in pleasure. Feeling Aina's wet core pressed on her own was giving her some crazy sensations.

She moved her right hand towards the sheets for something to hold on to, but couldn't, she realized that her hand was sticky with Aina's juices. Her common-sense could only tell her one thing to do; she started cleaning her fingers with her tongue as she looked up towards Aina.

Aina opened her eyes wide at that sight, it was indeed incredibly hot for her; she bit her lips trying to hold back her moans, but of course, couldn't.

"OH~! Suwa-wa, don't...do...that...geez!" shouted Aina now shutting her eyes closed and arching her back to keep thrusting their cores together, faster. The wet sounds starting to fill the room once again.

"Can't...help...it~! Ngh..." grunted Nanaka with difficulty, between moans, the movements and licking Aina's nectar off her hand.

"Geez~ you are so hot..." said Aina now looking down on her, moving her hips intensely.

Nanaka couldn't keep licking her hand, Aina's thrusts were becoming too hard and fast, she needed support, and she just couldn't take much of such a good sensation, it was too much.

She stopped thinking.

Her left hand went to the pillow to hold on as she started to moan loudly, moving her hips fast at Aina's pace, she wanted more friction, she wanted to feel even better, all her desires turned into pleasure, she gave into Aina, gave her the control, letting Aina fuck her hard.

Aina started to moan with her in ecstasy. Both bodies just giving in more into pleasure and desire than love.

Their moans, Aina's dirty talk, their panting, grunts and wet sound from their passions echoed with the intense sound of the headboard banging against the wall.

It didn't take long for both of them to climax in an intense orgasm. It was just too good.

It was Aina's panting that continued filling the room. She seemed really exhausted while Nanaka just laid there like a starfish on the bed, breathing elaborately, but not as loud as Aina trying to catch her breath. It had indeed been intense.

"I can't...feel my legs..." said Aina with a wide smile on her face.

Nanaka didn't say a thing, she had her eyes closed, also with a smile on her face as she recovered from the orgasm. All her thoughts gathering once again in her mind.

Aina grabbed Nanaka's left leg and softly put it down, of course, that motion made Nanaka look at her. They locked gazes, sweet and lovely gazes.

"You ok Suwawa?" Asked Aina softly.

Nanaka nodded softly, and then giggled.

"You look...worse than after practice..." murmured Nanaka while seeing Aina all messed up; she snorted and put her arms in jar shape.

"You aren't one to say...you look very messy as well..." said Aina with a very fake outraged tone. Nanaka giggled, then extended her arms towards her...

"Come here Nyan-chan, I want to cuddle..." asked Nanaka in her mellow tone; Aina smiled wide and moved towards her.

"Of course, my Nana..." said Aina moving her legs very awkwardly towards Nanaka's embrace.

They cuddled. They entwined their sticky legs as they stayed looking into each other's eyes.

"Happy birthday Suwawa..." said Aina in her cute tone, "I hope this year turns out better for you..."

Nanaka blinked a few times, somehow Aina's words triggered some foggy thoughts in Nanaka's mind, these thoughts that she was constantly trying to hold back while Aina tried to make love to her.

"...I hope you've had a better birthday than last year's..." finished Aina and then closed her eyes with a wide smile. A smile full of pride.

She missed seeing Nanaka's sad face.

Of course, what Aina triggered, were Nanaka's memories of Shuka. The Previous year she was with Shuka, last year's birthday she was mad at her, and thanks to Aina she was able to make love to Shuka in the end of the day. But it was Shuka. Her ghost, her feelings...

...feelings laying within herself, which she hid under a rug.

Nanaka closed her eyes and tried to act cool. Of course, that hurt her, but if she wanted to prove to Aina that "she was ready to commit" and prove her wrong about "not being ready" she just couldn't act affected by her words. She just couldn't.

They laid like that, Nanaka held Aina lovingly in her arms, while holding her left hand in hers and caressing it softly; because of its softness, it reminded her to a baby's hand. So small, soft and cute.

Aina was cute.

But sure, behind that cuteness, hid sharp surprises, that of course, unsettled Nanaka. The fact that Aina did whatever she pleased, and sometimes acted like she didn't care about a thing but her own interests. It was just like Soba broth, it looked tasty, but if the broth wasn't well made it could give you an unpleasant surprise.

And that is what made the Soba so tasty, it's broth, alone it was just a tasteless noodle. Balance was key.

But it was clear that on this opportunity, the noodle was overcooked by another element away from the Soba.

The afternoon went smoothly, after some cuddling, they determined that it was time to be nerdy; they put on some comfy clothes and went to the kitchen to take the snacks out and play some video games, share the traditional sweets Aina had bought, and continued celebrating Nanaka's birthday while doing what she liked most, lying around doing nothing but play games, watch videos and talk about manga.

And with Aina around everything was funny and cute. They shared kisses, cute touches and hugs. Nanaka liked for Aina to sit on her lap or between her legs and just hug her tiny being while doing whatever, meaning playing, eating or watching TV, and Aina was fond of it.

Of course, they had more sexual encounters. Aina was no fool and sensed that Nanaka's mind was, in some moments, somewhere else, so she tried hard to keep it under her watch. And remembering the rules they had set before, in Aina's house it didn't matter where they did it, so they did it where Aina wanted and how she wanted.

At the end of the day, Nanaka had lost all control of it, she just couldn't fight it anymore, so she pleased Aina with whatever kink she wanted. After all, it was part of the deal anyway.

The last kink she learned about Aina, was used as an excuse of her having short fingers, so under Nanaka's terrified eyes, Aina took from her nightstand drawer something long, purple and with a rounded tip. It was quite an adventure to know another side of both girls, sides that none of them knew of each other.

Nanaka just couldn't say for sure if it was good or bad, she held to the idea that if it was with Aina, it should be fine. If that could erase Shuka's ghost and let her glue her shattered mask back together, then, so be it.

But the truth was that she was left with more questions than answers.

.

.

Autumn fell upon the girls with all its strength, and with it, their duties.

Two weeks had passed since Suwa Nanaka turned 22 years old, won the Center election and receive the massive mission of fulfilling a Mini Live, and of course, their First Love Live.

It was in a practice meeting where the Chief presented them the new Sunshine crew for the events and the setlist for the Lives.

Pressure.

Of course, now with the anime broadcasted having ended, the Christmas Single already done, Subunits Singles finished too, The Teku Teku Aqours with all members recorded as well and the last "Aqours Original Song", "Daydream warrior" done, it seemed they wouldn't be busy with the project, and they could focus on practice for the Lives.

But of course, it wasn't that way.

Production just couldn't afford to leave the girls without something to do, so the second weekend of the month, Production sent them to Osaka for the "School idol festival Thanksgiving Festival 2016 ~Osaka~". The event was held on Sunday the 13th, but the girls had to travel on Saturday evening to get everything ready.

It would be a lie to say that Nanaka wasn't happy about it, because if Production had learned a few things about her, it was that she was the best at SIF among the members, and that gave her some extra camera time. Also, she was able to travel with all the members and not only with her Subunit or Years members, and that indeed made her very happy.

It was true that now they saw each other almost every day for the Mini Live practice sessions, so when they were apart for a few days she truly started missing them. Of course, they felt like a family now.

Even if there were some issues among them;

First, of course, there was Shuka. It shouldn't be so obvious, but seeing that her ghost hunted Nanaka and made it difficult for her to focus on her relationship with Aina, she started to act colder around her.

Marking a very strong point to Shuka that they were done, that now she was moving on and that she just couldn't depend on her anymore.
It was seen in practice and it seemed that Shuka understood it. Not so happily, but at least it was something.

So, this gave peace to Nanaka towards Aina, showing her that her "Shuka issue" was fixed and that she could commit to her. The first proof of that was to start making out with Aina in the changing room and be cute and lovely in her former "safe place" with Shuka, of course, this happened before the members would arrive for practice, but at least it was something. But Aina had her own issues to work on.

Aina still believed that Nanaka wasn't ready, and even became angry because Nanaka took special concern to the fact that she lived alone and so far away and almost in misery, that her "motherly instinct" kicked in and tried to "fix" Aina's life, offering for her to leave clothes at her place or trying to act so girlfriend like when there was no label to their relationship at all.

It was SO damn confusing.
It seemed that Aina was playing with Nanaka's feelings; she didn't want to commit, but later she was seen fooling around with other girls on Twitter, her colleagues from the Queenty thingie, and even with King in the November Niconama, and Arisa teased Nanaka about it.

Nanaka had a word on that matter with Aina and Arisa on their way to Osaka; Aina just waved off the issue telling her that their love was stronger than that, but it was clear to Nanaka that it was with some cruel double intention, because of how she felt every time Nanaka did anything with Shuka in front of the members, even if Nanaka had stopped that; and the later just put on her smug face and told her that she deserved it.

Nanaka started questioning her weird friendship with Arisa.
And Aina was just too cute to get mad at.

But, that Sunday it seemed that they all were in high spirits and had lots of energy.
And who was more energetic than ever, was Shuka.

Nanaka knew she was an energetic kid, and that she was eager to be on stage fooling around like she always did, but her attention span was just too focused on Nanaka. Weird thing because of how cold she had been treating her lately, but of course, Nanaka just couldn't say "no" to her kid.

The soul purpose of this event -the "School idol festival Thanksgiving Festival"-, was to bring the fans the latest news about the game and the franchise in the game department, new merchandise, and to promote the new Christmas Single that had been designed for SIF. The novelty and why this event was so important for the girls was; 1- the Christmas Single, and 2- The launch of the Arcade version of SIF, the "School Idol Festival, After School Activities".

So, production scheduled a very long day for the girls; they needed to attend the opening ceremony (a ceremony that lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes approximately), record a special VTR promoting the arcade version of the game, and attend the closing ceremony of course. These ceremonies were like a long extended Niconama that was aimed more at entertaining the attendants than bringing the news to the people.

Of course, it was all about Marketing.

The girls were a good image, sold very well, and they needed to make the most of them.
Of course, The Chief was no fool and told the girls that they needed to take these ceremonies as a rehearsal for their Lives; that it was a good time and place to practice their Calls&Responses they had taught the fans back at the Numazu event.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide; yes, the last event that Aqours had held as a 9 member Unit had been back in July, in Numazu. That event where Nanaka and Shuka had watched the Summer fireworks while holding hands, where she had ended blinded by tears at her closing speech because she was just too overwhelmed at how far she had come in the project…

But now it wasn't the moment to be emotional.

The very first thing they did was record the VTR with the new arcades.
To Nanaka's surprise, everything was recorded with people around in the middle of the exhibition.

They aligned them in the SIF order, meaning Anchan in the middle, to her right Nanaka, Shuka, King, and Aiai, and at Anchan's left, Rikako, Arisa, Aikyan, and Aina.

They gave them 3 microphones to work with and a quick script to memorize, then, they just needed to play in front of a bunch of fans.
This was piece of cake for Nanaka, it was SIF, but in an arcade, and being the master of SIF she was - and a nerd- she was a machine while playing. Another thing was for the rest of the members that played on "Easy" mode or Shuka who tried to play it on "Hard", but no one could beat Nanaka in "Extreme".

The only thing that distracted her while playing was the freaking cameraman that had stood too close to her and took his shots just too close to her face.
And Shuka.

Shuka being placed by her side, all day, was dangerous because, with this weird attention focus she was giving her since the night before arriving at Osaka to the moment they aligned them that way for recording, Shuka started giving Nanaka smiles and lovely glances which were a bit unsettling. Because if she was so stubborn to treat her coldly for Shuka's ghost to stay away, how could she actually push Shuka away if she was giving her those lovely shows of affection?!

It was hard.

For the whole hour shooting the VTR, Nanaka tried to be strong, to not answer Shuka's lovely smiles, or her gazes full of love, or retort to Shuka's lovely compliments about how good she was at playing.

It was almost as if Shuka was bringing out the shards of Nanaka's heart from under the rug…

And all of that had happened in Aina's face.

Nanaka used her will power to focus on something else, like teaching Anchan how to MC something she sucked hard on.
Anchan had asked Nanaka to do it instead, seeing -and knowing- that Nanaka dominated SIF and everything SIF related so well, but no.

Nanaka was still too demure and shy to be an MC with such short notice, so she put on her best smile and told Anchan that she trusted her, that she could do it, because it was the role of the leader to be the MC and taught her in record time everything she needed to know of the arcade machine and the game.

This made Anchan feel very insecure, but Nanaka put on her best face and with kind words told her; "Anchan, I'll be in the machine right next to yours, I'll be looking after for you if you need any help, I'll be watching."

This somehow gave Anchan some mental peace, and the Chief of Staff a great idea to use Nanaka's nerdiness in some other task, but he never revealed anything or what for.

So, in the actual recording, Nanaka was sure to keep an eye on Anchan if she ever tried to say or do something wrong, she memorized the scrip in case she needed to jump in and save her or something, somehow trying to ignore an energetic or maybe jealous Shuka on her other side, asking her stuff too. But of course, everything turned out very well.

They signed the machines they used, said a few farewell words, where Anchan asked Nanaka her opinion, and Nanaka just couldn't hold back her enthusiastic emotions talking about it. She couldn't help but notice how Shuka smiled full teeth in pride and love at her side while she was speaking.

She couldn't deny it, the butterflies in her belly had started to move their wings.

Of course, Aina's and Arisa's face were a poem.
Arisa maybe was just too tired for Nanaka's shit, and Aina wasn't understanding too much but they didn't have time to talk about it.

They had to run quickly for makeup and hair details for the opening ceremony.
They needed to review the script super fast and be very focused to be interrupting the meeting for trivial things like what was Shuka playing at, what was Nanaka feeling, or what was Aina thinking.

What Arisa was thinking was irrelevant at this point.

But it seemed that Shuka was determined on winning Nanaka's attention, and the fact that they needed to stand side by side in the lineup was fundamental.
And Nanaka just couldn't pretend that she didn't care anymore.

In the beginning, everything was pretty normal; waving to the crowd, doing the Calls, showing the new march, "First Years" doing their looney stuff with the handy cam, until they showed the highlights of the exhibition.

Shuka was in charge of that corner with not so skillful reading ability, so of course, and because Nanaka knew that, by instinct, she started to mentally read her own script and to correct Shuka when she said the words wrong.

Of course, the first thing they showed was the new arcade and the game.
Here Shuka only wanted to talk about how skillful Nanaka, beside her, was at playing; Anchan jumped into that telling the crowd that she was also by her side seeing that and it was indeed amazing, and Arisa asked if she was playing on "Expert mode", but Nanaka took a deep breath and with a smug face said that it was in "Extreme".

Arisa was left with a fish face.
Priceless.

And after that, two things started to happen;

First, Nanaka and Shuka started their thing of glances and touches once again, slightly holding hands, even hip hugs from Nanaka or some pat on Shuka's back when the camera wasn't looking.

And second, Aina stood quiet. She smiled when she needed to, spoke when required, but Aina was serious for almost the whole presentation.

And Shuka knew it, she started acting extremely nice to her too, very Ikemen; it was more notorious after Shuka insisted on doing the Key Visual pose on stage, and of course, in that visual Kanan and You were together, You clinging onto Kanan's arm.

Nanaka still wasn't sure why or how Production had determined to draw this clinging You on Kanan's arm, because it wasn't a very characteristic thing for You to do, maybe the Creepy assistant was to blame, but she stopped thinking about that because who cared? At that moment it was a chance to pose next to Shuka.

But of course, to do the pose, they needed to get rid of the scripts in their hands, and Shuka was kind to Aina to give her their forgotten script after they made the pose.

Of course, everything was caught by Arisa's watch. And because of sympathy; she started to help Aina on stage, telling her where to move, or even guiding her to the other side of the stage when they needed to move to play in a giant feet controlled SIF machine.

Aina was like in shock.

But Nanaka was a bit too busy to notice that.

Mostly because of excitement, because after they played one time on the giant SIF, it was Nanaka, over all the members, who started like a 5 years old child to shout "one more time! one more time!" and under the Staff and the members astonished eyes, they did play another round. But Nanaka was kind enough to give Aina some water from a bottle while she was holding the sketchbooks for the next segment of activities, totally ignoring everything she had done with Shuka before.

And maybe Aina just smiled off the problem as she always did, because later she was happy and jumping once again, because the last activity they did was to try out the collaboration juice they were advertising on the exhibition, and that was food, and that was delicious. So Aina was able to be happy.

They ended the opening ceremony under applause and ovations to rush them into the changing/rest room they had for the event.

Of course, they had to "hide" in that room until it was time for the closing ceremony, because the fans just couldn't see them wandering in the exhibition. That was the hard part of this industry; the dead hours hiding in a room.

They entered into that big room. A room filled with tables, their bags, hangers, makeup, and hairdressing articles.

Of course, they entered making their characteristic noise.

Anchan first, who seemed to be in a hurry to "disappear" from the public, followed by "First Years", who were fooling around, next was Nanaka with Aina and Shuka by her side, to end the line with Arisa and Rikako.

"Oh man I just fucked up!" said Anchan loudly and very hard on herself while massaging her temples.

"C'mon leader, don't be so harsh on yourself!" said Aiai with a mocking tone passing by her with Aikyan and King.

"Don't sweat it!" said Aikyan, "GOD! What should we do for all these hours?! We are gonna die in boredom!"

"Yeah, any of us could have made mistake …" said King also downplaying the issue, "Ya' right, what a pain waiting…"

"First years" entered the room and took seats at their table at the end of the room.

"But it was mine… It should have never happened…" murmured Anchan tightening her fits.

Nanaka looked at her with sad eyes; Anchan made a slight mistake on the broadcast, she was having some trouble with the script and said a line wrong, of course, they fixed it on time and everything went in the right direction, but of course, she felt the failure...

"Don't be silly," interrupted Nanaka by her side, "they brought up the 'ending music', it was natural for us to think that it was over… don't be so hard on you…"

"Really?" asked Anchan in her innocent voice.

"Of course, and in fact, it even looked cute…" said Nanaka, and then gave her a sweet smile; she wanted to turn around and go to her table and have a seat, but Anchan held her arm stopping her.

"Wait Suwawa…" called Anchan; Nanaka looked at her with her nonchalant eyes.

She could see Arisa and Rikako entering the room and taking place at their own table. For some reason, Shuka and Aina stood by Anchan's side watching and hearing their leader's weird weak moment.

"I…I want to thank you." murmured Anchan shyly; Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise, then looked at Shuka who gave her a wide smile, then looked at Aina who gave her a goofy one; then at Anchan in front of her.

"Eh? Why?" asked Nanaka almost with no interest at all.

"Because, since the VTR, you were watching over me…and giving me your support and all…and now when I fucked up—" was Anchan saying.

"You didn't fuck up; Anchan, you were reading a script where you didn't understand a thing of what you were saying; seriously, you need to play more SIF…" interrupted Nanaka, then added "...and I told you that I would be watching you…I was following the script closely for if you needed help…"

"Yes, she does that with me all the time!" said Shuka by her side snapping into the conversation, "She is always watching my back!"

Aina raised her eyebrows with an outraged face. Nanaka blinked.

"Well, that's because you don't know how to read…" said Nanaka bluntly.

"HEY!" said Shuka, but then smiled at her and grabbed her arm clinging to it; Aina opened her eyes wide with discomfort, as Nanaka blinked furiously.

Shuka, what the hell are you doing…?

They looked at each other.

Shuka was smiling widely and lovingly, lost in Nanaka's sleepy face.

"Well, maybe that's true, but I have you to correct me every time…" said Shuka resting her head on Nanaka's shoulder.

"You should learn to read…" said Aina annoyed and walking by their side to the "First Years" table, she sat beside Aikyan.

Nanaka looked at her with a sad face, but Anchan called her attention again.

"You are so lucky Yucchan, to have Suwawa always supporting and helping you; today every time I felt uneasy I found calm in her sleepy face…"

"Right?!" said Shuka squeezing Nanaka's arm again, "Suwawa is the best!"

Nanaka gave her a weird glare, then looked at Anchan.

"Well, you have my support and help too…you always have." said Nanaka with a smile; Shuka visibly pouted.

"Mou!"

Anchan laughed nervously.

"You know what I mean!" said Anchan

"Yes, we do, but Anchan, you need to work in your confidence, remember that you can have all our support, but you are still our leader, you need to wrap around that role…" said Nanaka with a serious tone.

Yes, it was a bit unfair, Anchan didn't want the leader role in the first place, but the same way as Production had taken Nanaka's attributes away, they forced the role of leader on Anchan because no other member fit the spot as Anchan did. So she needed to bare with it.

"I…I know…" said Anchan softly and shyly.

"C'mon, don't be so gloomy; your mistake even looked cute, so don't worry, you should worry if you got... I don't know, a panic attack or froze in the middle of a Live…" said Nanaka with some bitter humor, both young girls snapped.

"Geez! That would be terrible!" said Shuka losing her grip on her clingy hands.

"Maybe…I wouldn't know what to do…" said Anchan with watery eyes.

"Don't think on it too much, remember that we are nine, if one of us is in trouble, there are eight of us pushing from behind…" said Nanaka remembering Anchan's same words, and also remembering that Aqours was important.

She was going to do the bold move to hold Shuka's hand in hers to prove Anchan that they were still "a couple", showing "unity", but the Chief of Staff and his assistants came into the room.

"Good Job today girls!" he greeted in his particular loud tone, "Please, I need some minutes…"

The girls unconsciously took a seat at their respective tables to listen to the next round of instructions.

"Well, I know that this is one of the hard parts of the job… killing time here, " he giggled, "the closing ceremony is at 16:50 and it will last to 17:50 approximately, so you now have four hours to kill …then we will run to take the Shinkansen back home...so please, change fast, no delays!"

"There are other things we could be doing during these hours…" said Aikyan with boredom but looking at King with suggestive eyes.

"Don't give me ideas…" said King giggling.

Nanaka gave Aina a glance, they shared their glances for a second, but Aina abruptly took her eyes off her.
She was mad.

Instead, she felt Shuka clinging to her arm again. Yes, Shuka sat beside her.

"We can't move from here, so don't dare to try anything funny…If any, leave the room" murmured Rikako by their side, she sat on Nanaka's the other side.

"I know! Geez! We learned to behave…" said Shuka giggling but clearly caressing Nanaka's arm.

Nanaka looked at Shuka with a frown on her face; yes, maybe it looked good and sweet on stage, but now she was sending confusing messages towards Aina.

"Swee— Shuka, please, The Chief is talking…" said Nanaka softly, and Shuka left her arm but gave her a cute smile.

The butterflies moved their wings once again.

"I know it's not fair that you have to be trapped in this room for four hours, you know the rules, but not everything is bad you know—…" the Chief was saying.

"I want to play more on the arcade…" said King, "It was so much fun! Right Suwawa?!" she mocked.

Nanaka turned around and gave King a silly smile.

"Yeah, that was another Suwa-san for us…so fun!" mocked Aiai too, and the girls started to comment about it with happy energy.

Of course, SIF was a game that Nanaka enjoyed a lot and made her lose her sense of time and space. Playing that and showing the members, the Staff and the fans that she was actually pretty good gave her the confidence to smile wide and be her nerdy self.

"Girls! Please!" scolded Arisa; The Chief had a tired face, of course, the girls always interrupted him with silly quotes...

The girls shut up abruptly to let him finish.

"Since you can't go out and wander around the exhibition, we brought you some stuff for you to play with…" said The Chief as the assistants entered with some branded bags and a tray with juice cups from the collaboration.

The girls stood up as the assistants delivered a bag for each member, the tray was left on a table.

"You will find some merchandising from the exhibition inside…some new shirts for you to use on practice, and very importantly…the cardigans…" he said, but it was like talking to thin air.

The girls were all crazy about their bags, taking out the merchandising and showing it to the next member they had by their side.

"What the hell are these?!" said Aikyan with a happy smile taking some Alpaca mask out of the bag.

"It's a mask, what else…" said Aiai with a "matter of fact" tone, taking it out of the bag, "So…people are actually buying these…?"

"Oh oh this one, Aikyan try this on…" said King and wrapped an Alpaca thingie on Aikyan's side bun, "It fits!"

"It was made for 'Yoshiko's' bun…" said Aiai laughing; of course, Aikyan looked very silly, but the 3 kind of enjoyed looking silly and making fools of themselves.

"So, they are giving us some 'toys' to play with for four hours…? I feel like I'm grounded or something…" said Arisa with bitterness in her voice in front of Nanaka while looking her bag, "this looks so silly…" finished Arisa taking her Alpaca mask out.

"You wore a rainbow afro wig two days ago on camera for all of Japan to see …and you are complaining about a cute alpaca mask?" mocked Nanaka with a grin; Arisa looked at her with an annoyed face.

"Are you still mad?" asked Arisa with a mocking face.

Nanaka was about to retort but, the Chief interrupted...

"Girls girls! Please…" begged The Chief calling for some silence; the girls shut up and looked at him. "I'll give some instructions and then you will be free to do whatever. But now, hear me out…"

The girls giggled and went closer to him and the assistants.

"Ok, first, for the closing ceremony we want you to wear those cardigans because it's gotten pretty chilly…they're the same you wore doing the opening ceremony for the Gamers Store in Numazu..." said The Chief; Arisa raised her hand.

"What about the winter uniform?" she asked.

"We have winter uniforms?" asked Anchan and King at the same time; Nanaka and Aina looked at Arisa, of course, the only ones that had worn them was "Third Years" while shooting the Teku Teku Aqours. But for The Walker magazine.

The Chief deadpanned Arisa, like if she had just spoiled the surprise for the rest of the members.

"Those aren't ready yet…so you need to wear the cardigans." the girls nodded while murmuring a soft "yes".

"You have four hours to review the script…but the most important announcement we will make is going to be the new cast for the radio show, please read it carefully…" he continued as the assistants tossed the new scripts to the girls.

"I'm sorry Osuwa…" said Shuka softly by her side.

"Uhm? Why?" asked Nanaka nonchalantly while receiving her script.

"You almost got that…" she answered.

"Ah… but I don't mind, Anchan is going to do a great job…" said Nanaka proudly; Shuka smiled at her.

"You are so kind…"

"If she succeeds, Aqours succeeds, then I succeed too…we are as one Shuka" retorted Nanaka listening to The Chief give some other instructions.

"What about the Center…that was your success…" asked Shuka, then added shyly, "I'm sorry, I couldn't congratulate you properly….you earned that…"

Nanaka looked at Shuka and gave her a sweet smile.

"Me being the Center means some personal achievement…but remember that Aqours is a group, we are here as one, it doesn't matter who has the Center, we all share the same love..." said Nanaka in a soft voice.

Shuka gave her a look full of love; if Nanaka knew her any better she could have bet that Shuka had fallen in love with her again, because she gave her a smile she knew quite well...

Nanaka smiled and then looked at the Chief.

"That's what makes this franchise so special..." said Nanaka in a soft tone.

"Why are ya' so nice with her…?" said Shuka looking at Anchan and asking with some shyness, maybe knowing that it wasn't her business anymore.

Nanaka smiled again at her and with a soft tone said.

"She is a kid like you Shuka, and also our leader, she needs support, guidance, not sure if I'm the right one for that, but if there's something I can do to help her, to calm her, then I guess, I'll do it... I promised her that..."

Shuka was about to say something but the Chief interrupted.

"Suwa-san, Saito-san, something to add?"

Both girls snapped in surprised and looked around to find all gazes on them; the members looked at them lovingly but the Chief, Aina, and Arisa with some annoyance.

"Sorry..." said both girls softly.

"Well, and the last thing," he said looking at his folder, "remember you need to go to the Sega Collab Cafe that is being held in one of the SEGA buildings in Akihabara to promote it... but I don't recommend you go as Aqours...so please go alone, in pairs or trios...We have some dates and hours that you can go, the café will close for you to go, I'll leave the schedule with Inami-san for you to choose the date..." he said while giving Anchan a piece of paper.

"Remember that this same method will be used for the Aqours Tree in Odaiba...we will tell you when it's ready for you to go due that today the advice is going to be broadcasted on our Youtube Channel..." he was saying while searching something in his schedule.

Nanaka frowned. Again another trip to the Collab Cafe. The last time she went as a date with Shuka. She recalled that they went all lovey-dovey with Shuka, and Aina was just so pissed off that she didn't even take a picture.

Why did they need to go again?!

"We can't do anything as Aqours… that's so boring…" said King in a gloomy tone.

The Chief shrugged and then told the girls that they would serve them lunch and for the girls to stay in the room waiting for the call. He said his goodbyes and closed the door.

The 9 girls were silent inside.

"There are times like that, aren't there?" said Aiai in her mocking tone, of course, doing her meme thing.

"This feels like prison…" said King annoyed again and walked to her table.

"Well, it's true that we can't do anything as Aqours, but we are going to Tokyo Disney tomorrow!" snapped Aikyan in joy as she walked towards her table.

"Aren't you excited?!" said Aiai giggling, then looked at Arisa and Rikako, "You two are still going right? These two can't be unwatched…"

"You worry too much…" said Arisa reaching her bag again.

"Suwawa, Shukashuu, are you sure you don't want to come?" asked King from her table; Nanaka blinked a few times, she had forgotten about that weird invitation the girls had made the previous week.

It seemed that King, Aikyan, Rikako, and Arisa were planning something like a triple date to Tokyo Disney, and of course, invited the real couple. But seeing that Nanaka and Shuka weren't a couple and that was wrong and out of the role, Nanaka said she was busy with work, and Shuka turned down the invitation because without Nanaka it didn't make sense.

Shuka of course looked at Nanaka with a coy smile, maybe trying to see if Nanaka had changed her mind.

But no.

"I'm sorry, I'm busy tomorrow…" said Nanaka nonchalantly and looking at her bag to check out her goodies.

"Shuka?" asked Aikyan.

"Eh?...No, I… without Osuwa… there's no point…" she answered again shyly, she shared some glances with Nanaka; she nodded.

"It's a shame..." said King.

"Oh! By the way, we should organize how to visit the Café..." added Anchan waving the sheet of paper.

There was some silence in the room.

"Last time we went as nine right?" asked Aiai.

"Yes, but I guess now we can't..." said Aikyan bored, "That's so lame."

"It needs to be done this week..." quoted Anchan.

"I can't go this week..." said Aina who received some sad looks, "...I have to work, sorry..."
Nanaka made a sad face because she wanted to go with her...now what?

"It's understandable," said Anchan, then looked at the rest of the members.

"But how does it work? We can choose any day?" asked Rikako getting closer to Anchan to peep into the paper.

"There are a few dates and hours, I guess you need to compare it with your work schedule and apply?" said Anchan.

Nanaka walked towards Aina.

"You sure you can't go? You haven't seen the schedule..." said Nanaka softly by her side, Aina gave her a sweet smile.

"It's gonna be a busy week... and I don't know if I can make it, so I don't want to commit..." said Aina, Nanaka pouted.

"But ya' can go with Shuka, your girlfriend, why don't you ask her..." said Aina with a smile on her face, Nanaka tightened her lips.

That was a hard punch, raw, fresh and unexpected.

She didn't say a thing, Aina made her move, it was a checkmate and Nanaka just couldn't answer back.

Of course, the members were too busy discussing the schedule to notice this; Nanaka blinked a few times, took her dignity and turned around to blend with the members' noise.

Aina took her phone out and lazily started to ignore everyone around.

"So, there are three days available…" said Anchan.

"I think I can make it on Wednesday…" said Arisa checking her phone.

"Wednesday?…I….I think me too…" said Rikako in a hurry.

Nanaka took her phone and started checking her schedule, they couldn't go on the same day, so she hurried and said;

"Friday works for me…"

"Friday it is…" said Anchan writing her name on the paper, "Who else?"

"I can go on Wednesday too…" said Aikyan looking at Rikako, "I can go with my little demon Riri!"

Rikako made a goofy smile, while Arisa raised her eyebrows showing her expressive eyes.

"Eh? I thought you would go with us….as 'First Years'!" snapped Aiai outraged.

"I can go on Wednesday too…" said King, "We should go as 'First Years'!"

"Eh? But what about not going as Aqours?" asked Anchan not writing down any names.

"Fuck him." said King.

"Kanako…" called Arisa.

"What?" she asked outraged, "Who cares? Let's go on Wednesday, fuck the system…"

"Choose another day…Suwawa is going on Friday…" said Anchan.

Silence hung in the room.
All looks were on Nanaka, then moved to Shuka.

Maybe all the members were leaving that date alone for the couple to enjoy on their own, remembering that last time they had been sweeter than the Café's desserts.

"Eh? What?" asked Shuka with a stupid smile maybe not understanding a thing.

"When are you going?" asked Anchan.

"I… I think I can't go on Friday…" said Shuka sadly, Nanaka made a sad face.
Shuka nor Aina were going with her.

But Shuka didn't even check her phone to see if she would be busy, she just didn't want to go with her that day.

"Eh? really…?" asked Anchan astonished; the rest of the members raised their eyebrows in clear surprise too.

"This mandatory, right?" asked Shuka looking at Aina who seemed to be in a world of her own.

"It is unless you have a good reason not to go…" said Arisa following her thoughts, "I believe Aina's schedule is tight…"

"Mmmm…" hummed Shuka in deep thought.

"Well, I'll go on Friday with Suwawa," said Anchan in a happy tone and writing her name on the paper.

"EH?! Really...?" asked Shuka now freaked out, but Anchan just looked at her with a blank expression.

"You said you couldn't... I'm not going to let Suwawa go alone..." said Anchan.

Shuka looked at Nanaka with doubt, then at Anchan.
She was fighting with her mental spaghetti.

"When is the next date?" asked Shuka.

"Monday 21st…" said Anchan.

"Ok, I'll go on Monday…" said Shuka with a grin.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

No one wanted to go with her.
Not Aina, nor Shuka.
Shuka rather preferred to go alone, than going with her.

Aina was pissed, and Shuka was holding to their word that they had broken up, and going together on the same date wasn't part of the role. Well, it could be, but this time it wasn't necessary, so she avoided it.

"Ya' know what?!" interrupted Aina suddenly in her loud tone, "Anchan, add me on Wednesday…I'll go…"

"Eh?!" almost all the members snapped, Nanaka just opened her eyes wide and with discomfort.

"What about what the Chief said?" asked Anchan with fear.

"Fuck the system…" said Aina repeating King's words, "This is my job too…I'll go with Arisha and the rest…"

"But…" tried Anchan, but she was just too weak to face the members, all of them started talking and complain and it was impossible for her to do her role, but Nanaka just frowned too annoyed to help Anchan.

Nanaka turned around, she felt hurt.
Aina and Shuka had punched her right in her heart.

She determined that her participation with the members was enough, she had chosen a date, now she could focus on something else, so she retreated to her table and her bag.

She left the members deciding on the schedule, but at soon as she felt noise, she understood that everything was already settled.

"HEY! Shukashuu!" called Aina in her happy tone, "Let's take a selfie!"

"Eh?…" said Shuka with surprise.

"Oh…that's a good thing to kill time…" said Aiai with one of the masks.

"We have a lot of props!" said Aikyan putting the mask on.

"Oh Sweet!" said Shuka.

Nanaka looked at the weird pair trying to take a Selfie; Aina was a real professional, because despite being upset about, whatever she was upset about, she was there with Shuka, fooling around and taking pictures or videos...

Maybe this was Aina celebrating how both girls had punched her ego...

She raised one eyebrow.

Well…if that works for them…so be it…

Nanaka fixed her sight in the bag.

There was Kanan's merchandising, a shirt with Kanan in the KoiAqua costume, the alpaca masks, and the cardigan.

She took out the cardigan.
It was very lightweight, pastel yellow and it had the school logo on the left breast. It was true that she was feeling a bit chilly so she decided to try it on. And surprisingly it still fit her since she wore it last February 27th for the opening ceremony of Numazu's store.

"So, what's with Ainya today…?" asked Arisa by her side; Nanaka looked at her.

"I don't know…" said Nanaka with her sleepy face.

"Oh..that looks cute on you…" said Arisa complimenting the cardigan.

"Eh? Really?" said Nanaka with real surprise, not because of the clothes, because Arisa was being nice.

"Yeah, that color suits you…pastel colors look nice on you…" said Arisa, she then looked inside Nanaka's bag and took out a Kanan strap, "But, with this, it would look cuter…" and weirdly Arisa started to hang it on Nanaka's uniform.

"See?… now you look more into 'Kanan-chan'…" said Arisa with a smile.

"More? I'm kinda the only one who still follows their character's hairstyle…" said Nanaka giggling; Arisa chuckled.

"I know, that's why you are so diligent; I felt 'Dia-chan's' hairstyle pretty boring…" said Arisa being weirdly nice. Of course, Arisa messed up with Dia's hair by doing a braid on the right side of her hair.

Nanaka narrowed her eyes; this felt weird.

"You should put 'Dia's' strap on too…that way you will also have something of her… since you don't have her hairstyle…" said Nanaka trying to be nice too.

"Oh, great idea…" said Arisa as she stretched her arms to grab her bag and looked for the strap.

"You know..." started Arisa while searching, "it's none of my concern…well, actually it is…but… what's with you and Shuka today…?"

Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

I knew it, she wasn't just being nice…

"Nothing actually…" said Nanaka with a sad tone; Arisa took out the strap, looked at it with a tiny smile, then showed it to Nanaka.

Nanaka smiled at it, it was cute.

"You are hurting Aina…" Arisa said softly while starting to hang her strap.

"You came to tell me that…?" asked Nanaka now looking somewhere else.

"No, I'm worried…with you I don't know what to do, what you are thinking, what you wanna play…there!" said Arisa finishing with the strap; Nanaka locked her gaze with hers, she was about to scold her or tell Arisa to fuck off and mind her own business, but Arisa was faster;

"It's not because I want to scold you, I've always told you that you can fuck whoever you want, but I can't save your ass…it puzzles me because I can't help you…" said Arisa seriously, Nanaka raised her eyebrows with surprise.

"What?"

"Nanaka, the other day, you were so lovely with Aina in front of King; how could I help you…? You say you want to stick with the lie to hold Aqours together, but then you do such things…even if King is a looney, she is from Aqours too… I don't know what you are playing, so I can't know how to help you, do I need to stick with the lie? Stay silent? Tell Shuka?… I don't know anymore…"

Nanaka hummed softly.

"And now… you kept the flirting with Shuka, you think I didn't notice… I noticed yesterday when she asked you to do her nails…" said Arisa now more tired.

"What's wrong with that? Arisa, she is my friend too…so because she is my ex I can't be with her? I can't do her nails anymore? This is absurd, we are colleagues, also team members …Arisa, I can't shut her out of my life, I work with her…and if that is hurting Aina, I'm sorry, your acting on the Friday Niconama wasn't any better…" said Nanaka with annoyance.

"That's different... That was on purpose…it was a joke…"

"A very bad one…" said Nanaka with bitterness.

"Why does that affected you that much?" asked Arisa with concern.

"Aina is just too cute for her own good; you don't see her flirting with every cute butt that crosses her way…as I do." said Nanaka hurt. Arisa put on "o" mouth shape.

"I didn't know that…I mean, she is a perv sometimes, but I thought she was joking…" said Arisa surprised.

"That's herself…" said Nanaka with a bit of sadness, "…with all the girls…"

"And you can't control her…" said Arisa softly by her side.

Nanaka looked at her with her "Suwa face", not knowing if she needed to hug her, scold her, hate her or what.
Arisa Komiya could read her like an open book.

They had this weird moment of silence where none could say a thing.

Then Arisa smiled at her.

"Is that your phone?" she asked.

"Yes, why?" retorted Nanaka.

"Let's take a picture…everybody is doing it…" said Arisa trying to change the topic; Nanaka smiled at her and nodded.

After taking the picture, Arisa added; "Would you like to grab some ice cream one day?"

Nanaka looked at her astonished.
Was that real?

"Don't look at me like that…I'm human, I like ice cream…so you do…" said Arisa shyly.

Nanaka smiled at her and giggled softly. Arisa was a dork.

"Sure, I'd love to…" she said softly.

Both nodded awkwardly at the deal.
They indeed didn't know how to be nice towards each other, but at least they were trying.

Arisa returned to her spot to take some selfies with the cute alpaca mask although she looked very silly.
Nanaka took out the mask too and had the deep thought of trying to be silly too.

She sat on her chair and tried the mask on. She started to silly giggle about it.

"If you take a picture with it, no one will notice that it's you…" said Rikako sitting by her side, also with the alpaca mask on her hands.

"If I upload it on my social media they will…" said Nanaka softly, taking her mask off and feeling very stupid.

Rikako giggled.

"Suwawa, you need to loosen up a bit too, everybody here is fooling around …life is too short and you only live once you know…" said Rikako; Nanaka just looked at her with a frown, and she could clearly feel Arisa's sight on Rikako's words too.

"You are hooking up too much with Aikyan… these thingies are for the looneys…" said Nanaka; Rikako laughed.

"Well, being in Guilty Kiss might be the reason…I've learned to laugh more; maybe you would make King behave in your boring Unit…" said Rikako.

"Hey! You mind?! AZALEA is not boring…we are intellectuals…" said Arisa from the other side of the table.

Nanaka smiled amusedly; the truth was that they were boring.
But King was the funny part of the Unit so they didn't bother in trying to change her.

Nanaka looked at the Alpaca in her hands mask once again.

Maybe everything would be easier if she turned into someone else; If she could hide in that Alpaca mask and not deal with Aina, Shuka or whatever this love triangle had become. It was hard, being around them was hard. And now that the three of them were apart, it felt sad.

Not to mention lonely, but what could she do?
She needed to stick to the lie, make the members believe that everything was fine, but that hurt Aina. But she just couldn't go and hug Aina or do stuff with her… the lie, she needed to stick to the lie.

But also, she couldn't go and hug/kiss Shuka to make the lie even bigger; Shuka had feelings, they were moving on and both needed to make an effort.

So what to do?!

She stopped thinking, she stopped even listening, and just put the mask on.

In the first seconds, she felt silly, but no one laughed at her, the sounds outside were the typical noises from the members. She took a deep breath, grabbed her phone that was on the table and opened her camera.

She looked silly, but she couldn't recognize herself.

It was a cute Alpaca head with cute brown eyes. But what caught her attention wasn't her head covered with the mask, it was the person that sat behind her. She was also wearing one of the silly Alpaca masks but was immersed in her phone.

In a way hiding from the world herself.

Aina…

Was she feeling lonely too? Betrayed? Annoyed? What was she thinking? What was she feeling?

Without taking her mask off, she turned off the camera and opened the Line App, somehow she felt powerful with the Alpaca mask on, and it was in Nanaka's nature to "fix things". She wanted to fix her communication with Aina.

She opened the chat she had with Aina and wrote;

Hi, cute Alpaca-chan! ( ◕‿◕✿ )

Nanaka felt her heart in her throat, then she re-read the message and thought that it was silly, that maybe Aina would send her some hateful sticker. Somehow she couldn't read her. She never did.

Nanaka closed her eyes, maybe feeling that that was so stupid; both hiding behind some silly Alpaca mask instead of confronting each other. But how? Both were trapped inside that room, they couldn't make a scene…

Suddenly her hands shook telling her that a message arrived, Aina's response…

Hey! Cute pale Butt! ( ๑ ᴗ ๑ )

Nice cardigan… ( ๑ ゝ ڡ ๑ )

Nanaka blinked, maybe Aina wasn't pissed at all?

She frowned.

Is Alpaca-chan mad?...( 〃 ．． )

She needed to ask.

And being hidden behind that mask she could hide the very mess she was about this whole situation.

Suddenly the door opened and the assistants entered with some trays with food and beverages.
They left the trays for Anchan and Shuka to deliver them.

Nanaka returned to her phone.

Mmmm… Maybe… ಠ _ ರೃ

Suwawa, just what the Fuck?! (- 公 - ;)

I thought your act with Shuka was with the members, not with the fans! ( )

Nanaka's heart stopped for a few seconds; there it was, Aina's anger.

She sighed.

It was true that she was hiding under a mask to avoid reality, maybe she was always wearing some mask of her own.
Suwa Nanaka was indeed masked from reality.

Well, Aina has always seen me for who I am, I've never had a need to hide from her…

And with conviction, she wrote.

I'm sorry Nyan-chan… ( ﹏ )

I wanted to go with you to the café, and you knew that I want to do things with you…( ︿ )

I don't know why you are so pissed off… You know that I want to commit to you, but you still don't believe me…( 〃 ．． )

I thought that our love was stronger!

She paused before sending the message. Her eyes were watery not knowing quite well if it was because of the mask, or because her emotions were climbing out of her chest.

Her emotions within her.
Her questions lying within her.

Before sending the message she wrote…

I Love you, Aina.

And Send.

If nothing of that reached Aina, she felt somehow protected behind that Mask. Her shards hidden, her lies hidden, and of course, her feelings. All behind a perfect Masquerade, which she made of her own reality, and that was called Suwa Nanaka.

"Oh, good the food is here!" said Rikako by her side, "I was starving!" she said, of course, Rikako was another of the gluttons within Aqours.

It surprised Nanaka that she could hear her by her side in the catatonic state she was.

"Oh, were you taking a picture?" asked Rikako.

Nanaka snapped.
She felt silly.

"Eh…Eh… yeah…?" she murmured.

"Oh take it…I'll be funny for you, as proof that I can be funny too," said Rikako with a smug tone and started to bite her mask, posing to the camera for a selfie.

Nanaka closed the Line App and opened the camera one, she lifted her hand, but as on cue, a message came in and popped like a notification on the top of the screen...

I love you too Nana.

Nanaka smiled at the same time she pressed the button for the picture.

It was a silly picture, but it worked.

"Is it good?" asked Rikako.

"Yes, it's good…" said Nanaka, "Thank you…"

"Sure…"

Nanaka opened her Line App again and wrote to Aina.

Nyan-chan, let's talk about this after the event, can we? ( 〃艸〃 )

I want to spend some time with you (' '●)

She sent the message and suddenly felt a body by her other side who left a tray in front of her.

"You look cute with the mask…" said a voice that she recognized quite well.

Nanaka left her phone on the table and took her mask off; she greeted a smiling Shuka by her side, of course, she was there delivering her lunch.

"You don't think it's silly…?" asked Nanaka dropping the mask on the bag; Shuka giggled.

"There's nothing silly about you Osuwa…" said Shuka softly.

Nanaka's cheeks turned bright red, she even felt her temperature rising, and now the cardigan felt too hot.

"Oh…" was the only thing Nanaka managed said because both seemed lost into each other's eyes.

"Oh, good idea to hang the strap there…" said Shuka pointing out the detail on her chest.

"Oh, yeah, this was Arisa's idea…" said Nanaka softly touching it, but was merely mechanical.

Maybe she spent more seconds that Nanaka would have wanted to look at Shuka's eyes, but she felt dazed by her...

Arisa cleared her throat snapping both of them from their intense gaze competition; Nanaka looked at her, she was sitting in front of her, and gave her a very inquisitive look.

Right…
Aina…I'm with Aina now...

And Aina was seated behind Nanaka's back, maybe she had seen that?

This situation felt so complicated!

"Osuwa…" called Shuka softly but seriously "Can we talk?"

Nanaka felt her heart in her throat and somehow her ability to speak vanished; she looked astonished at Shuka not knowing what to say or do…

"Go outside…" said Arisa in a low tone; both girls looked at her surprised.

"Arisha…" said Shuka softly.

"You don't need an audience… go and talk outside…" said Arisa now looking at her lunch giving a vibe that she wasn't even interested in what was going on, but she was.

She was saving Nanaka's ass, again...

Nanaka looked at her, then looked at her side to see if Rikako was aware of what was going on, luckily she was busy eating her lunch, then Nanaka looked at First Years' table, they were busy fooling around recording videos or taking pictures, and of course, being noisy, then she looked at Aina, she had taken her mask off to start having lunch.

Then she fixed her sight on Shuka.

"Let's grab the collab juices, shall we?" said Nanaka standing up; she removed the strap of her uniform just in case, grabbed her phone, looked at Arisa, and said a soft "thank you"; Arisa nodded.

They walked towards the exit; Shuka grabbed her own cardigan and put it over her own shoulders, then her drink from the tray. Nanaka gave a last look at the room; Anchan was immersed in the closure script and Aina noticed that both of them were leaving the room...together.

They shared some looks; serious ones.

Nanaka took her drink from the tray as Shuka opened the door and both went out.

Nanaka felt her phone vibrating, she gave it a quick glimpse; her heart stopped.

Of course, Aina's answer...

Our love is strong. ( •̀ ᄇ • ́) ﻭ

Nanaka didn't open the app, her attention needed to be with Shuka in that hallway.
Somehow she felt hot and dizzy; Aina could have sent another kind of message like a "fuck off" or "go to hell you liar", but no.

Aina wanted to trust her. To believe in her.

To believe in that sentence that their love was stronger. And she felt Aina's support, no matter what childish tantrum Shuka might throw, or if Nanaka was acting weird around Shuka, Aina trusted her, and that was enough.

They stepped outside; there were people from the staff in the hallway, who immediately looked at them with a face wanting to scold them to get inside, but Shuka raised her hand in a sign that they wouldn't escape or anything and walked to talk to them anyway.

At that moment, Nanaka left her phone and the cup on a table that was placed just outside the door with food, props and things for the staff that was around. She took off the cardigan and placed it over her shoulders as Shuka did.

Truth was that she felt nervous and her temperature had just raised because of the eagerness of having this conversation with Shuka. Last time they could talk alone and seriously had been weeks ago after recording their Drama track for the Christmas Single, where Nanaka had been clear that she was moving on, and that was even before starting doing Aina.

Of course, at that moment she felt empowered by her own sadness, pain, and with Aina putting some pressure on that she needed to "publicly break up" with her, more sooner than later. But now?

Nanaka took her cup of juice and took some sips through the straw, it tasted quite different from what she remembered on stage; she frowned and turned around to greet a smiling Shuka, she giggled.

"They said it's ok if we make the conversation short...Osuwa, that's my cup..." said Shuka amusedly; Nanaka quickly withdrew her lips from the straw while Shuka lifted her right hand with, indeed, Nanaka's cup on it.

Seemed that Shuka wanted to act Ikemen-like and took Nanaka's cup for her.

"I'm sorry..." said Nanaka with her cheeks bright red as they exchanged cups, "I thought you took yours…"

Shuka giggled and shook her head.

"Don't worry, it is not like we haven't kissed before..." she giggled, "Though I wasn't thinking in bringing mine...and certainly both looked quite similar…"

"True..." said Nanaka, then both drank from their respective cups doing a weird pause.
In a way, Shuka and Nanaka were indirectly kissing...but this had been an accident, it didn't count or something.

"So, what you want to talk about...?" said Nanaka leaving her cup on the table, trying to hurry up the situation. Not only they couldn't be outside the room, but Aina knew they had left together.

"I..." started Shuka shyly and fidgeting on her spot, "I... well, to tell the truth... I ... I wanted to spend some time alone with you..." and she started to play with the straw, her cheeks bright red.

Nanaka blinked a few times.

This will cost me greatly with Aina, and all because she wanted to spend time with me?

Just what the hell...

"You got to be kidding me..." said Nanaka in her annoyed tone and was about to turn around again to take her stuff and leave but Shuka stopped her.

"Wait wait...why so mad? I thought we were having a connection...before...on stage..." said Shuka softly, Nanaka looked at her quite annoyed; of course, she felt that connection, it even felt nice, it even made her doubt her feelings for Aina...

This wasn't funny.

"Then, why did you deliberately choose another day to go to the Café? The members were leaving Friday open for us!" retorted Nanaka, Shuka snapped in surprise.

"Did they?" Shuka played dumb, Nanaka deadpanned her.

"C'mon!"

"Sorry..." said Shuka shyly, "I thought it was for the best...I thought that that was what you wanted… y'know, seeing that you don't want to have or share anything with me anymore…"

Nanaka bit her lips, she wanted to go with Aina, but since they had started fooling around on stage, she had become mad and now everything was like that… a mess.

"Well, you are a fool, now you need to go alone…" said Nanaka with a tone mixed between upset and sadness.

"Yes, but well, it's for 'The big picture', but what caught me off guard was Anchan wanting to go with you..." said Shuka seriously; Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

"What? Are you throwing a tantrum?" asked Nanaka coldly; it seemed that "the moment" they had on stage had vanished and she had started to treat her coldly again, Shuka was jealous, but this time with Anchan.

"Eh? No no, but it surprised me, that's all... I didn't know you two were close..." said Shuka softly and then took some sips from her straw.

Nanaka softened her gaze, this was the real issue; Anchan.
Shuka was becoming jealous of her closeness with Anchan, and it was something that was bothering her since the Chief had given the instructions, or maybe before that, while shooting the VTR.

Nanaka took a deep breath and made herself more comfy leaning on the table.

"Shuka, first of all, it isn't that I don't want to do things with you, we are friends, colleagues, and teammates …I did your nails yesterday didn't I?" asked Nanaka with a sweet smile.

"Yes, you did…thank you so much for that…" said Shuka shyly and looking at her shoes in shame.

"Shuka, I always liked my time with you, I would have loved to go to the café with you, even if that would be just because we needed to stick to the lie…" said Nanaka with a soft tone.

"I feel…like…you hate me now…" said Shuka softly and almost pouting; Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

"Why would I?…" asked Nanaka with sadness.

How could Shuka think like that? Shuka was her kid. She adored and loved her kid.
Maybe this new cold way of being towards her had given her that sensation?

"Because …I…I broke your heart Suwawa…" said Shuka with sadness, but also with a serious face, like taking the real weight of her actions.

Nanaka blinked a few times; maybe Shuka had broken her heart, but Nanaka had broken something in Shuka as well.

"Shuka, if a relationship doesn't work out, both sides are to blame, and I can't hate you… we tried, we had a wonderful time together and I don't regret a thing of what happened, it didn't succeed but here are no more casualties… we are still friends right?" asked Nanaka now shyly.

"Of course of course!" said Shuka quickly, "I just…I can't imagine my life without you…or without Aqours…"

"...Aqours…right…" said Nanaka messaging her temples.

"What? Geez…"

"Nothing, Shuka you are right…and that's why we stick to the lie, for the Unit, and that's what concerns us all..." said Nanaka grabbing her cup again and taking another sip.

"Right…" said Shuka softly.

"About Anchan," said Nanaka resting the cup again on the table, "This is not new Shuka, we used to hang out with her too, we use to watch her shows, maybe now that you see me less in your regular day is why you might think this is new for me, but I used to talk with her a lot…before and after 'us'."

"Eh?! Why I never knew this?" asked Shuka amused.

"I don't know…you never asked I guess…" said Nanaka nonchalantly.

"Did you ever—?"

"No, what are you thinking?" interrupted Nanaka knowing exactly what Shuka was trying to imply, "I never cheated on you, Shuka, I only had eyes for you, Anchan is like…a younger sister to me…"

"Eh? Really?…" asked Shuka surprised.

"Why do I feel that you think that I messed around with every member, who do you think I am…?" asked Nanaka now a bit annoyed.

"No no, It's just…well I don't know, today you two seemed too close, and you were just too concerned about her…you are so nice with all of them." said Shuka troubled.

Nanaka deadpanned her.

"You haven't learned a thing in these two months…" said Nanaka sighing softly.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Don't you 'hey' me; Shuka, I've been watching Anchan since…day one, since training camp, you thought you were the only kid with confidence issues?" asked Nanaka softly.

"Eh? Anchan has confidence issues?" asked Shuka astonished.

Nanaka was about to "Sweetie" her but bit her tongue. So she mentally counted to 10.
It seemed that Shuka was in a fantasy land more than in reality, and that was a big thing to say coming from someone who was constantly in the "Suwa World".

"Why do you think Anchan is stuck there reading the closure script? Get out of your 'Shukaland'" said Nanaka amusedly, "On our first meeting she even had a notebook and was taking freaking notes; Shuka, she is a kid that had the pressure of guiding us in whatever the hell we are getting into…and she needs to do it right, and she can't do it alone…"

"Shukaland….I like that…" murmured Shuka, like ignoring the important things in Nanaka's speech, "Is it like your 'Suwa World'?"

"That's beside the point…" said Nanaka dryly.

"Sorry…you are hanging around too much with Ainya, you are even cursing…" said Shuka amused, and she leaned beside her on the table.

Nanaka looked at her a bit annoyed. She took a deep breath and continued...

"Well, the thing is Shuka, that she needs support, and I promised to help her in whatever I could; that could be just hearing her out, exchange opinions, ideas… and today for the first time I felt that I could contribute to her because of SIF; we need to support each other Shuka, and it surprises me that you didn't notice her lack of confidence since you two share Units…"

"Bah! It's like if I said that you don't see Arisha's problems…" Shuka mocked her back.

Nanaka looked at her side with an eyebrow raised.

"Look, my situation with Arisa is quite different from you and Anchan, both of you are friends and looneys in arms…" said Nanaka amused.

"Are you still mad with Arisha?" asked Shuka softly.

"No, we learned to survive together and we actually work pretty good in our Units…" said Nanaka taking her cup again, Shuka imitated her and both paused and drank from their respective cups.

Maybe they spent a full minute like that, just enjoying each other's presence.

Shuka stopped drinking and said…

"I miss you, I missed this…I miss us…" she said with a soft tone.

Nanaka blinked a few times and looked at her, truth was that she missed it too.
Maybe she was trying to be with Aina, their love, the kinks, their good chemistry, but Shuka would always be her kid, they were friends before trying to work as a couple. And of course, she would miss spending time with her just like that, chitchatting and hanging out.

She missed Shuka's scent, Shuka's smile, her cheerful and positive way of being, her energy, their long chats, even the private practices. Shuka was a very important part of her life and her first months on the Sunshine Project. She was a great listener too, when Nanaka needed to get her frustrations out about dancing or the project. And remembering that they had broken up not because of their lack of love, but for their immaturity …

Meaning that Shuka might still love her.

They shared gazes; Shuka's facial expression was soft, she was serious, but her gaze was full of love. They fell, lost into each other's eyes like they used to.

Shuka's body was so close to her, that if she could do a bit of an effort she could trap those lips with hers within seconds, just ignoring everything around her, the staff, the members, even maybe the phone that was furiously vibrating on the table...

I miss you too...

Nanaka was about to answer, but Shuka added;

"Maybe our love wasn't that strong, but surely our friendship is, right?" said Shuka while smiling wide; Nanaka opened her eyes wide in astonishment waking up from the love spell.

Then she became aware of her phone vibrating at her side; she took her phone giving a quick glimpse to the screen, it was Aina calling her, so she held it tightly, sticking to it, sticking to Aina's last words.

And then she became a mess.

It wasn't that her love for Shuka wasn't stronger, because it was. And it hurt her to hear that for Shuka that wasn't strong enough when Nanaka had been trying with all her strength –and stubbornness- to make them work for a year long relationship. If that wasn't strength, then what…?

And for a second, she almost fell for Shuka once again. Of course, she felt like she was a weakness because Shuka was still adorable, the butterflies in her belly were still there, moving their wings every time she felt Shuka's touch or her sight on her.
Shuka was still her kid and she missed her, they missed each other…

But gladly she had received a wakeup call. Literally.

Of course, Aina had seen them leaving and maybe they had been taking too long in this "conversation" that Aina had become worried.

Aina saved her from falling again, she was moving on, she was developing a love, a strong love for Aina, and she was working hard to erase Shuka's ghost. Aina was on the other side of the door, waiting for her...

And this wasn't fair.

So, Nanaka just closed her eyes, nodded, and dryly said;

"Right."

Shuka blinked a few times, clueless.

"You ok?" asked Shuka gently.

"Yes yes, sorry… I…maybe I'm tired…" said Nanaka clumsily; truth was that she had lost all of her senses there, as if she needed to reset herself.

She took her cup and drank from the straw falling into deep thought.

Shuka maybe felt Nanaka's silence and also took the time to just drink from her cup. Nanaka used to give her that; peace, calm and vacations from her own stupidity. Maybe those moments with Nanaka were when Shuka used to rest, slow down her revolutions and maybe enjoy her surroundings a bit more.

"Thank you…" murmured Shuka with the straw still in her lips; Nanaka looked at her with her eyebrows raised like saying "what?"

Shuka curved her lips and smiled, still with the straw between her teeth.

"Let's take a picture!" said Shuka happily, "Ya' have your phone here…"

"A picture…" murmured Nanaka, looking at her phone on her hands, of course, Aina stopped calling.

"It's been a while since we took one…c' mon!" insisted Shuka with a gentle smile, "And it will look weird if the members don't see us taking one…"

Nanaka blinked a few times and without taking the straw from her mouth she turned on the camera and extended her left arm for the selfie, and before Shuka could smile properly, she took it.

"Hey! I look silly!" said Shuka checking out the picture, "Take another one…"

"Eh? Really? I think it looks natural…" said Nanaka in a teasing tone and putting her phone away.

"That's not fair!" pouted Shuka, too cutely for this world.

She felt her heart stop. The butterflies in her belly finally moving around.
This was too much.

Nanaka stood up from her position and looked at Shuka with her best "Suwa face".

"Neither are you …" she said dryly.

And there Nanaka determined that she needed to go back.
Her time with Shuka was too dangerous, and she needed to limit it for just on stage, nothing more, because Aina wasn't going to be around to save her every time she felt weak.

"See you inside Shuka…" said Nanaka with a shy bow, and with determination, she went back to the room.

Of course, the first sight she saw on her was Aina's.

She was now sitting with Arisa, in Rikako's chair. Both looked at Nanaka with concern, but changed their expression to a sad one when Nanaka came walking in at a weirdly fast pace for her, pale and almost pouting. Maybe she was holding back tears.

But no one said a thing. They followed Nanaka's movements with their sight but never said a thing.
Third Years knew how to behave, and that was something Nanaka was always grateful for.

Nanaka came to the table, and like in autopilot she left her cup, then her phone, sat beside Aina, got closer to her, and held her hand under the table.

Arisa and Aina shared some looks like not understanding a thing, but Nanaka just closed her eyes and tried to put her thoughts in order. Arisa understood that Nanaka was in a deep dilemma with herself and the universe.

"It's ok Suwa-san…" she said softly and then turned her attention to other things that Nanaka. Of course, she couldn't know because she was with her eyes closed, but felt that Arisa understood her situation. Or at least wanted to believe that.

Aina just squeezed her hand under the table telling her that she was there with her.

Nanaka opened her eyes and shyly looked at her; Aina gave her a sweet smile but didn't say a thing.

Nanaka smiled faintly at her; she felt like a puppy, like if she was about to do something wrong but had stopped on time to return to her owner...

Then she remembered that Aina and her weren't a couple.
They were a thing, but no a couple. So actually there weren't loyalties over cheating...

Aina told her that she could do what she pleased as long as she did the kinks with her... so, if something could have happened with Shuka outside the room, it wouldn't had mattered...

It matters to ME!
I can't cheat... even if I'm not cheating!

Nanaka's eyes welled with tears, she was feeling guilty of her owns feelings. Again.
And it was thanks to Aina's presence that she could break her impulses towards Shuka...

What would have happened if Aina hadn't interrupted? Or called? Or whatever...?

It was clear as water; she still loved Shuka, and if she wasn't strong or careful, she might fall again under her lovely charms.

And that would be a terrible step backward in this whole healing process, of moving forward, and she couldn't cast that away. It was like tossing away Aina's feelings as well...

"Ai...Aina," called Nanaka softly; Aina softly squeezed her hands.

"Yes, my Nana..." answered Aina softly and lovingly; Arisa raised her sight to see the two girls in front of her with a tender gaze; maybe Arisa was letting Aina take care of Nanaka for once.

"Can... can I stay with you...tonight...?" asked Nanaka with a soft and shy tone.
This was the very first time she had asked for company, normally it had been Aina or Shuka who asked to stay with Nanaka.

Aina looked at Arisa with a concerned face; Arisa smiled at them and softly nodded.

Of course, Aina said yes, and resting whatever importance to the fact that they would arrive at Tokyo at such a late hour, even if they were taking the Shinkansen. It didn't matter, not to Aina, and surely not even to Nanaka.

They wanted to spend that night together.

The closing ceremony went quite well; the girls went on stage full of energy once again, cardigans included, and in "First Years" case, with the Alpaca mask and props too. Maybe Nanaka didn't bring the Alpaca mask, but she was sure to use her own "Suwa Mask".

Of course, Shuka tried her glances and smiles once again, but Nanaka was determined to fight that back and not succumb under her spell. She tried to hide in "Third Years" love and support, and this was pretty clear as Nanaka shared lots of conversation and chitchat with Arisa, (even though Aina seemed more silent and thoughtful than usual...), held hands with the two of them on the "Quiz Segment", and clearly denied Shuka a hug to instead hug "Third Years".

She ended the closing event holding hands with Aina and clinging to Arisa's arm, all this under a pouting Shuka. Maybe this wasn't a clear solution for her feelings problems and heart conflicts, and maybe it was a selfish way to see it; clinging to what she knew in order to not face what was really going on inside her own heart and mind.
But one answer was quite clear; Shuka was back, aiming all her guns towards Nanaka.

And Aina wasn't fooled by it. She never asked what had happened with Shuka on those minutes outside that made Nanaka come back in with such face and behavior. But for sure if it affected her on stage due to the fact that Aikyan needed to hold her hand for support, because it was really odd to see a silent and quiet Aina on stage. But that wasn't something that she shared with Nanaka. Maybe Aina was respecting Nanaka's privacy and feelings, after all, they weren't a couple.

So, for the first time, they didn't communicate and hid this under a rug.

Could their love be that strong?
Somehow, a new shard was made on Nanaka's mask.

.

.

.

Friday came in the blink of an eye.

It had been a very busy week indeed, between Mini Live rehearsals, SIF recording sessions, the last AZALEA radio show, and the start of recording of the "Third Years" song, besides all the other side jobs that Nanaka was getting into. Winning the Center of the Third Single was indeed a huge step in her career.

She was spending a lot of time in Amuleto with her manager defining what to do, what works to take, their possibility of doing other things, maybe brand collaborations, Clothing brands, Merchandising, her own Niconama show, maybe her own radio show, they even discussed her possibly participating on TV shows, Seiyuus Magazines, or even doing a Photobook.

Nanaka was overwhelmed; the song hadn't been made yet, and she had worlds of possibilities.
It was overwhelming.

So, she needed to think carefully about which direction she wanted to launch her career.
This wasn't being a Seiyuu or a Radio personality anymore, this was her chance to do a lot more.

But what the hell did she want to do? It was tricky, would she be able to do something like her own clothing brand? Why would anyone buy her stuff? Brand collaboration, but which ones? Which was that the image she wanted to show?

There were a lot of questions and "Buts" in those meetings, she wasn't sure if she would be able to do anything of what her manager was proposing.

Was Shuka even listed this much when she won her Center?
This was even one of Nanaka's fears when she learned that Shuka had won the Center, but it seemed that hadn't meant that much success.

Because, of course, if she was, she never mentioned anything to Nanaka, but it seemed that she hadn't, because Shuka didn't seem busier than normal in the Sunshine Project.

So maybe Shuka was right to be so pissed off over winning a Center that, still, after a year of winning it, she still wasn't able to sing or dance it.
Yes, the Single was out, a whole campaign had been made, but Nanaka doubted that "Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM" had launched her like this new Center was doing with her.

Or maybe, her manager sucked really hard and didn't do the job properly of launching Shuka to a world of fame.

In a way, Nanaka was thankful for that, because that meant that Shuka could have stayed as her kid a bit longer.
Even though it was a selfish way of seeing it.

Anyways, Friday came, and with it, good weather.

It was a nice and sunny afternoon when Nanaka waited in Akihabara station after a 25 minutes ride on the Keihin-Tohoku Line from Amuleto for Anchan to arrive. She was done with work for the day and planning for her future, thou in her bag rested a few folders with some projects for her to review over the weekend and give her final decision on what to do with the fame she hadn't even earned yet.

The sad thing was that she had no one to share these concerns.
Yes, maybe with her manager, but it wasn't the same as discussing it with Aina for example.

Aina didn't need a Center to be filled with jobs and things to do. She was really busy as she said on Sunday at the event, actually that week they saw each other for practice and brainstorming of the "Third Years" song. But everything was under work and professionalism. Aina stayed at Nanaka's place only on Wednesday night after visiting the Café with the rest of the members.

A visit that, by the way, had very much pissed off The Chief, because no one cared about the "You can't go as more than 3 people" thing. What if a fan had seen them? They were 6 members loose and "alone" in the heart of Akihabara. It was really reckless and very irresponsible of them to ignore those instructions. Of course, the 6 members complained about it, something about the schedules and whatever, but the Chief was no fool and scolded them anyway.

You just can't fuck the system so freely.

And about Aina; she had spent the night but they just cuddled and shared soft kisses due that one of them was indisposed, and also it was late and Aina needed to be early at work on the next day. Neither of them brought up the issue of what had happened on Sunday, so they just continued with their lives as if that had never happened.

Nanaka tried her best to enjoy Aina's company, meaning coming super early to Lantis building to make-up in the changing room, or have more time for themselves just to hold hands or cuddle before the rest of the members arrived. Aina also tried to stick with the "quick dates" at the convini drinking tea, but those couldn't last too long due to Aina being indeed busy.

And busy with other girls as well.

Nanaka tried really hard to stay away from her Twitter, and ignore all the back and forward messages she had even with other Aqours members. But it was of no use. Aina did what she pleased, and "flirting" was so damn natural to her, that Nanaka wasn't sure if Aina was really aware of her behavior.

And on the other hand, Shuka was still aiming glances and dangerous smiles at her, but since she only did that on practice that was, in a way, easier for Nanaka to fight them back, hiding with Arisa or another member and just focus on the job.

"Suwa-san?" she heard.

Of course, Nanaka snapped in surprise to look at her side, Anchan was beside her, she lowered her sanitary mask and shared with her a cute smile.

"Sorry, did I scare you…?" asked Anchan.

"No no, sorry, I was in my own world..." said Nanaka with a nonchalant tone.

"Sorry for the wait," said Anchan and bowed politely, then put her sanitary mask on again.

Nanaka shook her head.

"It's ok, shall we go?" asked Nanaka and both started walking to the café at SEGA tower.

"Thanks so much for coming with me..." said Nanaka softly while they walked.

"Eh? Don't mention it...I'm happy that we can hang out like this, it's been a while..." said Anchan.

"Indeed..." said Nanaka; of course, since Shuka broke up with her, their dates and time hanging out with Anchan also decreased.

"Are you and Yucchan in a fight?" asked Anchan bluntly, so raw and straightforwardly that Nanaka felt her heart in her throat.

They stopped at a crossing.

Nanaka blinked a few times then looked at Anchan.

"What?" she played the fool.

"Sorry sorry, maybe it's none of my concern..." said Anchan clearly embarrassed, "But, it's been a while since you've hanged out with us..."

Us...?

Oh, of course, Shuka and Anchan still hang out, the fact that I'm not in the equation anymore isn't an impediment for them to still go out and have fun...

Nanaka hummed.

"Well... I've been busy Anchan...that's all," said Nanaka trying to wave off the problem, "Did Shuka tell you something?"

"Eh? No, not that I recall...but..." started Anchan but then bit her tongue.

"But?"

The light turned green so they started walking again.

"Nothing nothing..." said Anchan quickly waving.

"What? Now you have to tell me..." said Nanaka with a stronger tone.

Anchan looked at her with gentle eyes.

"I'm not sure if I should tell you this..." said Anchan softly.

"Anchan please...you asked in the first place..." said Nanaka reaching the other block.

"Yes, you are right..." she giggled, "...well, you are her girlfriend, it's the right thing to tell you...I guess..."

"You guess...?" said Nanaka bitterly but somehow annoyed, they weren't girlfriends anymore, but sure, she was curious.

Since they broke up, she just couldn't know how Shuka was really struggling with the breakup, because every time they had talked Shuka seemed fine. But maybe she was really lonely, with the deal of "no member must know" and sticking to the lie.
At least Nanaka had "Third Years" backup and Aina's love.

Anchan giggled.

"I guess you are right...please don't tell her that we talked..." said Anchan really frustrated.

"It's ok Anchan, you can tell me..." said Nanaka softly, somehow taking her role of an older sister with Anchan and the "protective girlfriend" to her kid.

"I— I know she is always super energetic and all, but she seems lonely lately..." said Anchan softly while turning left to reach the building.

Nanaka stopped to look at Anchan with a sad expression.

Anchan turned around to lock gazes with her; both seemed sad.

"Sorry..." said Anchan softly.

Nanaka blinked a few times, took a deep breath and continued walking.

"I need some tea..." said Nanaka walking by her side.

"Su—sure..." said Anchan following her.

There were a few SEGA towers in Akihabara, each of them held different types of arcades, UFO machines with merchandise, and on the last floor a collaboration Café. The love Live! Collab Café was in tower number 3 that was in the heart of Akihabara. Of course, the tower was full of people enjoying the arcade and stuff, somehow that was a great way to spam their attention for the girls to just blend inside and go unnoticed through the corridors to reach the elevator.

This made Nanaka think that the people inside really lost their sense of time and space because it would be really easy to notice 6 looneys chitchatting loudly like the members usually did. Aina's laughter was particularly singular and noticeable, also "First Years" noise.

Maybe Arisa and Rikako could blend in better...if Arisa was properly dressed.

They entered the building mostly in silence and with their sanitary masks on, just in case.
Inside the elevator, there was a huge piece of paper letting people know that the seventh floor was closed, so the Collab Café was clear for a few hours.

Once the elevator doors opened the girls were greeted by a small hall that was filled with Love Live! Sunshine's existence. Posters, merchandise displayed in a showcase, music, everything.

Of course, this wasn't their first time there, but it still amazed Nanaka to be surrounded by Aqours in its 2D form and that people actually paid to just go there.

On the other side of the hall, there was a desk that worked as a reception/store for the Café. Of course, its back was filled with more merchandise that people could buy, and the person who ran it.

The girl in charge of the desk looked at Nanaka and Anchan walking towards her with their eyes glowing and dazzled from seeing all the decorations; Anchan glued herself to one of the showcases to see the merchandise on display, and even if she was wearing a sanitary mask Nanaka could see her wide and pride smile behind it.

"I'm sorry, the floor is temporarily closed..." said the girl behind the desk; Nanaka stopped, and Anchan her sounds of joy to look at her, "The Café isn't serving today, my apologies." and the girl bowed politely.

Nanaka looked at Anchan but she seemed frozen to the showcase.

Of course, they had gone as "normal people"; Nanaka wore one of her girly one-piece dresses, with some checker pattern in black and white, her hair in a very girly form of half-bun with braids, and Anchan was just wearing jeans and a white blouse. She had her hair loose as always, so in short, they looked like random girls that just came into the Café and were being dazzled by Love Live! Sunshine.

Like any other fan.

Seeing that Anchan was caught off guard, Nanaka took the lead.
She walked to the desk and took off her sanitary mask.

"We know, good afternoon, I'm Suwa Nanaka, with Inami Anju," said Nanaka pointing at the frozen nerd beside the showcase, "We made an appointment for today..."

The girl opened her eyes wide in astonishment.

"Oh-oh, I'm sorry..." she bowed politely, Anchan moved towards Nanaka and removed her mask as well.

"It's ok, good afternoon," greeted Anchan.

And as if it was on cue the door on the side opened, revealing another staff member of the Café, and surprisingly, the Creepy Assistant.

Nanaka frowned.

The last time they where there, no one from the Sunshine crew was there.

The Creepy assistant greeted them and made them go inside the Café. She didn't explain her presence there but it was implied that she was there to give some instructions or keep an eye on the activity. Of course, Production making the members go to the Café wasn't just for leisure proposes, they needed to start signing coasters, posters, and life sizes cutouts.

So, for the first half hour Nanaka and Anchan were busy doing their jobs like signing stuff; It was really clear to them that the other members had been there, their signatures on the life sizes cutouts had sold them out. And now the only one missing was Shuka.

Of course, the room was filled with Sunshine decorations, from the walls to the tables.
Nanaka and Anchan sat at one of the tables, Nanaka with her back towards the wall and Anchan across from her.

While Anchan and Nanaka signed the merchandising, the Creepy assistant was sitting close at another table, coordinating something with the café staff, maybe a new menu? But from time to time she directed some glances towards the girls and took some notes.

"It's a shame that we couldn't come together…" said Anchan while signing a coaster, "Last time we had such a great time…"

"Well, it's normal that now we can't…" said Nanaka nonchalantly, signing a Kanan coaster, "Try to make seven looneys behave …"

"Seven?" asked Anchan amused.

"I'm not counting myself…and surprisingly I'm not counting Arisa….I'm afraid we lost Rikako," said Nanaka giggling.

Anchan giggled.

"Well, sometimes I get what the Chief has to bear with… we can be really difficult," added Anchan; Nanaka looked at her and blinked, "Last time I just couldn't…and we got scolded by the Chief…" finished Anchan with a nervous smile.

"Well, you can't take that blame…" said Nanaka softly.

"Eh? Why? Suwawa I'm the Leader, if one of us fails …it's my fault…" said Anchan; Nanaka stopped her sharpie abruptly, making a screeching noise and then fixed her "Suwa face" on her.

"What?" asked Anchan giggling.

"No Anchan, that's not correct." sentenced Nanaka seriously.

"No? But I'm responsible—" tried Anchan.

"No, Anchan," interrupted Nanaka," You being the Leader of Aqours doesn't mean you are the one to blame if one of us fucks up."

"But—"

"This time it was King and her stupidity of wanting to defy the Chief's orders and 'The System', but that wasn't your fault…" said Nanaka with a strong tone, "You can't be responsible of our actions, we aren't kids, we are all adults here and we need to assume our failings and mistakes…"

Anchan smiled at her.

"You are right…I'm sorry…" said Anchan softly, "And thank you…"

Nanaka smiled at her and resumed her duty by writing on the coaster.

"…I… sometimes I wonder... how would Aqours be if someone else was the Leader…" asked Anchan softly and shyly.

Nanaka stopped writing again, looked at her signed coaster and frowned, somehow Anchan was making this really difficult.
Then she looked at her.

"We already had this conversation…" said Nanaka trying not to go back there, but Anchan pouted.

"I…I know…but sometimes…I just wonder…being the Leader is such a pain, sometimes I don't feel up for the task…" murmured Anchan shyly.

Nanaka looked at her with a sad face.
Yes, the first time Anchan had doubts had been at the Training Camp a year ago, and Nanaka had given her the task of figuring out if that was what she really wanted, but knowing the answer already because even if Anchan didn't want that role, Production would do whatever was in their power to make her fit into it.

The same way they did with Nanaka and Arisa.

It wasn't fair, but, Anchan was screwed, she had to do it.
And because of that realization was why Nanaka had started helping Anchan out, since back then.

Whether it was, helping her reviewing the script, calming her with her nonchalant way of being, or answering her phone calls at whatever hour Anchan was feeling insecure or anxious about the job.

And Nanaka understood why; Anchan was insecure, she was one of the youngest, and she had the heavy task of MCing all the events, a task that Nanaka hated to do and thought that Anchan had been doing a great job so far. But of course, being the Leader wasn't about being MC at the events, it was more than that and Anchan knew that and wanted to do it right, and that was a bit stressful for the young girl.

Including assuming things that didn't correspond to her, such as blames and failings.

"Anchan, I know it's a lot of pressure, but I don't see any of us doing it beside you…" said Nanaka with a soft smile, "And you have always said that if any of us is in trouble, there are other eight girls pushing from behind… we've got your back…"

Anchan smiled wide at her.

"I know…all of you already support me in that way…" she said softly, but clearly still had doubts.

Nanaka capped the sharpie and rested it on the table, feeling that her duty was done.

"Your leadership doesn't define Aqours Anchan…" finished Nanaka; Anchan raised her sight to lock it with Nanaka.

"Eh? What do you mean?" she asked shyly.

"You can't change the looneys from being the looneys… you being the Leader is like…how can I say it…" Nanaka was saying in deep thought, "Well… You are like a neutral figure in the Unit, but you don't define us… we are nine, we all have our own persona, and whoever had the role, that can't change…"

Anchan put on a serious face. Maybe she felt that her role was meaningless.

Nanaka cleared her throat.

"What I mean is; If I was the Leader, I bet Aqours would be the same… but, maybe messier….but its essence would be the same…or if Arisa had the role, if we want to go to some extreme example; she can't change 'First Years' essences, no one can change my nonchalant way of being or Aina's old man laughter, we are what we are and the Leader's role is of guiding us…and you fit perfectly into that." finished Nanaka with a smile.

"Why me…?" she asked with sadness.

Nanaka looked at her, blinked a few times and locked her gaze to Anchan's. Nanaka gave her a tender smile.

"Because you see the best in us, and that's what it takes to make us shine," said Nanaka with a sweet tone and softly touching Anchan's hand.

Anchan smiled at her with her eyes welled in tears.

"Thank you Suwawa…" she murmured.

"Don't mention it," she smiled at the young woman, "this is my role in the Unit, I guess..."

Anchan smiled wide and giggled.

"You are right…" said Anchan returning her gaze to her duty of signing the coaster, "Glad you found your role too…" she added as she placed a period on the coaster.

Anchan took it, looked at it with pride, and nodded; then placed it on the table.

Nanaka shared a smile with her.

"I don't know if that really is my role inside Aqours…" giggled Nanaka, "But somehow I feel it is… supporting the members…"

"Just like 'Kanan-chan'" quoted Anchan.

"Eh? You think?…" asked Nanaka outraged.

Anchan giggled.

They took a brief pause because people from the Staff came and took all the signed merchandise and sharpies and gave them the menu so they could order something, in the end, they were in a café.

The menu was quite simple. It was just a sheet of paper wrapped in plastic.

It had a beverage section, one for each member, and iced coffee. No tea.

Then only two food options were; "Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM", Seafood Pasta with a cute Uchichi picture. Or "Yume de Yozora o Tarashitai", Beef Stew with a Chika flag.

And for dessert, there only 3 options: a "Yume Kataru yori Yume Utaou" Parfait in 3 different versions, "First Years" "Second Years" and "Third Years". The differences, of course, were in the flavors.

Nanaka frowned at the sight of there not being any tea in the menu. But well, nothing to do about it.

So, after studying it carefully and giggling with Anchan about it, the waitress came; Nanaka, of course, ordered the "Kanan" juice, which was clearly green and consisted of Muscat jelly (grape) and white grape juice. She could have chosen another one but felt that she needed to drink her character's because it seemed right to do.

Then she ordered Anchan's juice; because they had talked about it, and because of the same lame reason, Anchan wanted the "Chika" juice, which was obviously orange because there was Mikan jelly and orange juice in it.

For food they agreed on having one of each dish for both of them to try; here Nanaka was really serious in asking the waitress if any of the dishes had mushrooms, because Anchan didn't like those thingies in her food, so better they took them out. The waitress, of course, took note.

For dessert, Nanaka ordered the "Third Years" parfait because its flavor was Green Tea, and maybe that would be the only tea she might have, and well… she was a "Third Year" as well, so it was the best choice. For Anchan, Nanaka ordered the "Second Years" flavor which was Cheesecake, mostly because she was loyal to her "Year group".

They gave back the menus, did some polite bows and resumed their attention on each other.
Anchan couldn't help it but giggle cutely and embarrassedly.

"What?" asked Nanaka seriously.

"You always do that; do you always do that when you are alone with Yucchan too?" asked Anchan giggling.

"What thing?" asked Nanaka confused.

"Eh…Take the lead? Order her food…" she said shyly.

Nanaka blinked a few times realizing what had happened.

Of course, she was the oldest so she always took the "responsibility" of ordering for the girls, to think about their preferences and to bug the waitress if the dish had anything that the girls didn't like. She could be a very unpleasant customer if her instructions weren't followed, but mostly not for her, but for the girls.

And it seemed that every time the three of them went out Nanaka took the lead, as the oldest one.
Almost as if she was their mother or something.

"Oh…!" she snapped in realization, Anchan giggled.

"Don't mind me…I like that you are like that…so thoughtful…well, like 'Kanan-chan'…." said Anchan.

"Well, I can't help it Anchan, I'm older… I feel responsible for you…at least, off stage…" giggled Nanaka, "You are responsible for us, as 'Chika' on events, outside of that role, you are just Anchan…"

"Yeah…you are right; I wish I could be in 'Chika-chan's" role outside as well…" said Anchan really gloomily; Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

Truth was that this girl, was their Leader.

"Don't be so gloomy Anchan, you have been doing a really good job…And you can't be that annoying all the time, so thank you." said Nanaka with a smile and giggled.

Anchan pouted cutely but agreed.

"Yes, well, trying to live with 'Chika-chan's' positivity and straightforwardness is kind of hard…" said Anchan behind a troubled smile, "But she has definitely helped me a lot, watching her, the way we have grown together, I think we became more positive too, and for that, I'll be always thankful… "

"I'm glad you think that way…" added Nanaka.

"Well, we have struggled, as you know I used to think that 'Chika-chan' and I had nothing in common; she is so bright! She is the youngest sister, and I'm an only child, I had to ask Yucchan for advice! Imagine how that turned out!" said Anchan holding her laughter.

"Bah! Shuka is very helpful when it's about something work-related; she helped me a lot with dance classes…" said Nanaka with a soft voice, of course, those memories made her heart warm-up.

"Yes, she told me… though, you stopped going…" said Anchan, and both fell in deep silence.

Nanaka made a sad face; and of course, Anchan caught it.

They stood looking at each other for a few seconds; the waitress came with the order and set the table.

Nanaka blinked; truth was that she didn't want to have that conversation, not with Anchan, actually with none of the members at all.
She was a terrible liar, and she just couldn't hide the fact that learning things about Shuka in their time apart was hurting her.

Because it seemed that Shuka was in pain as well, and Nanaka just couldn't help her. It hurt her.

And also, this topic was screaming loud and clear that she needed to lie to the members that everything was fine, but clearly, it wasn't. King noticed something, Aiai, the other day in the changing room, had also mentioned something, and now Anchan was making her own conclusions.

Of course, they didn't continue the topic until the waitress had left.

Nanaka tried to be faster and change the subject, so she paid attention to the coaster she received; of course, she had Kanan. Though the staff was supposed to give random coasters to the costumers and no one had a chance to choose.

"Oh! Look I got 'Kanan'!" she said with her singsong voice, of course, Anchan got Chika.

"Oh, yes yes… hello 'Chika-chan'…" said Anchan taking the coaster in her hands.

Nanaka took her coaster and smiled happily about it.
Suddenly the Creepy Assistant stood beside her. She asked if everything was fine with the food; both girls nodded that it was. Then Nanaka asked for a sharpie again to write on her coaster; the Creepy Assistant was surprised by the request and just went to pick one up and tossed to Nanaka.

She took her time to write "Uranohoshi High School" on it with some music notes and hearts, mostly filling time for Anchan to just drop the topic. Of course, then she returned the sharpie to the Creepy Assistant and watched her sit at another table, it seemed that they wouldn't be left alone.

She placed the coaster in front of her glass to take a picture.

"Eh? Are you taking pictures too?" asked Anchan surprised.

Nanaka took the picture and smiled proudly; one because the picture was good, and two, Anchan had set another topic for conversation.

"Sure…that's why we are here Anchan…" said Nanaka amused, "You think production just made us come here to sign stuff and that's it? Or for the free a meal?"

Anchan laughed.

"I really suck at social media…" said Anchan, "I totally forgot about it…"

"Eh?! How?! I mean that was the whole point of this, aren't you uploading pictures on your Twitter? All of us do…" said Nanaka placing the coaster in its place, under the glass.

"Mmmm…I take pictures… but I just forget to upload them…" and then giggled, "I think I haven't uploaded a thing since…I just can't even remember…"

"Why? It isn't that difficult…are you having trouble with it? Even Arisa is doing it…" said Nanaka now with real concern.
And Arisa was the last of them to have Twitter, and she was a real dork with it.

"I know," she laughed, "I just forget…"

And she took some sips of her drink.

Nanaka blinked a few times trying to wrap that idea in her mind.
How clumsy was their Leader that she was herself defying Production's orders of uploading pictures. Wasn't this against the rules?

"Anchan, doesn't this get you in trouble with Production?" she asked with concern and started digging into her "seafood pasta".

"Eh?...No…well…yes, at the beginning…" said Anchan in her carefree tone, she started digging into her stew, Nanaka blinked a few times for her to continue.

"The Chief talked to me once; he asked me why I wasn't uploading pictures or the sort, why I wasn't that active…" she said taking a bite.

"And?" asked Nanaka worried, then she looked at her plate; she took out the Uchichi picture and she couldn't help but think of Shuka.

"Well, it's no big deal…My social media is mine, of course, there are people watching our media because of the fans, or if we fuck up with the content… that's how he figured out that I wasn't that active…" she continued while eating, "But it's in my own business …"

"Eh? I don't get it…" said Nanaka dryly.

"It means, that the only one who's damaged about not being active is me… If I don't upload pictures, it's like I'm not active with the fans, in a way I can lose popularity... so it's up to me whether I upload stuff or not..."

Nanaka opened her eyes wide in surprise.

"You— you don't care?" asked Nanaka.

"Well, I don't know..." said Anchan troubled, "I mean, I think I prioritize other things? I feel regular and normal, like 'Chika-chan'; why would people bother following me?... I think all of you are more interesting than me..." she said and finished laughing.

Nanaka frowned trying to understand Anchan's train of thought.
For Nanaka, Twitter was a powerful weapon to be in touch with her fans, to do her NanaAinya campaign, to gain more popularity, of course, it was important to always be updating her media. "First Years" even had Instagram so their updates were in two fronts. And sometimes they even posted videos of themselves out of the Sunshine Project.

Maybe Chika didn't need to be popular? She was the main character of the story anyway, and she already had a Center and a lot of lines in the Anime. Her position as Leader also gave her the spotlight more than any other member. So why bother?

"C'mon, don't make such a gloomy face..." said Anchan giggling, "It's no problem for me...I think that my concerns are about us, as Aqours, more than myself..."

"Uhm? Why is that?" asked Nanaka eating her pasta, "I agree on the commonwealth of the Unit over the personal success within the unit, but is there something else?"

"I know you do." smiled Anchan. She continued eating, and after swallowing she went into deep thought.

"Well, I'm really worried, I've been overthinking this a lot, we talked about it at the first meeting, and now that we are four months away from the First Live it still terrifies me...and I know I need to be calm and take it easy... I just can't get it out of my head..."

What Anchan was saying really concerned her; Nanaka kept eating while listening carefully, this was Anchan the Leader relying her concerns on Nanaka, one of the supports of the Unit, so she needed to be aware of every word that Anchan was struggling to get out of her mind and chest.

And somehow solve the puzzle.
It was true that Anchan was a kid, but because she had the Leader role she needed to grow up faster to struggle with situations that maybe were just too much over her own capacity to deal with, so she might have be a spaghetti mess of ideas, just like Shuka with hers.

But she was more coherent than Shuka.

"...the fact that people actually hate us, still compare us with μ's, that I'm still being compared with 'Honoka-san', I mean 'Chika-chan'... Suwawa, people think that we are imitations of them, still, how can we stand on that stage, in Yokohama Arena full house, and let them know that we are not their replacements? That we are just inexperienced Seiyuus trying to climb a huge, and a mean a HUGE wall...and we were told to climb it while people are throwing rocks at us, and I, I'm in charge of making us climb it..." her voice started to crack.

"So what matters to me, is that we, as Aqours can climb it, I don't care about my own popularity as long as we succeed, as long as we climb that wall... and I know it's hard, I... I loved μ's as well, I...if I wasn't part of Aqours, maybe I would have hated these new bunch of girls trying to imitate my idols, so I get the why of the hate...but it still terrifies me, I want us all to succeed...I want to show all the people that are still doubting us that we can make them smile too... that we are normal girls too..."

"You consider us normal?" quoted Nanaka.

"Well, I am...I consider all of you extraordinary..." said Anchan shyly; Nanaka opened her eyes wide, how could Anchan see her that way? Or all of them but herself.

Nanaka took a deep breath, this was a lot to process.

"And before you say something," continued Anchan, "maybe that's why I relate to 'Chika-chan' she was a normal and regular girl, I was too...I used to be on the other side, as a fan, and now I need to be on stage... How I'm I supposed to do that?!" she asked terrified.

"Well, the same way you have been doing it so far..." said Nanaka almost nonchalantly.

"What if I fuck the choreography up? Or the lyrics?! You know that I was having a hard time too, I have a really bad memory! Without the members I just can't stand alone on stage..." finished Anchan taking some long sips from her juice.

Nanaka looked at her with sadness.

Yes, this was their Leader.
And she was scared; scared of Aqours failing, scared of failing herself.

And it was understandable; if she had failed the leapfrog, or Shuka while jumping, or any of the other members while dancing, or what if Rikako failed hard while playing the piano? Anchan just couldn't take that blame, but of course, she would, because that was her conception of leadership, she felt responsible, she was "the one in charge of making them climb".

And that was wrong.

Anchan rested her glass on the table, took a deep breath and then looked at Nanaka with a shy smile.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to burst all of this out..." she said shyly.

Nanaka shook her head and took the last bite of her pasta.
She took her time to enjoy it while thinking about her speech; she swallowed and started...

"I think it's your turn to listen and eat..." said Nanaka resting her fork.

Anchan took her spoon and nodded.

"First, let me tell you that if we fail, you're not to blame; I want you to work on that, Anchan please, you are putting the role way too heavily on your head, we, the nine of us, made the decision to climb this wall, you are not the responsible for that, if one of us falls trying, then there are eight more right there to help...so stop trying to take that responsibility, because it's not," said Nanaka seriously while Anchan looked at her shyly.

"About everything else you said, I agree, we were receiving a lot of hate, and we knew that that would be the case, but you know what? We have been in the spotlight alone for about seven months...and look at where we are..." said Nanaka softly, then she extended her arms and hands to make Anchan look around.

"Look, look around you, this is where you belong..." started Nanaka, Anchan left her spoon to lock her sad gaze on Nanaka's eyes, "Don't be afraid, you are not the only one..."

Anchan gave her a sad expression, and then started to look around as Nanaka was telling her to do; of course, what Anchan could see was Aqours, Aqours everywhere, a place filled by them, a café that was closed because they were there, but in a normal day it would be filled from wall to wall.

People came to see them.

"Don't let your days go by in doubt, or you won't be able to see the answers..." continued Nanaka making Anchan look at her.

"Life, is short, so learn from your mistakes, and you need to stand behind the choices you make, as Anchan, as Leader, and as Aqours. You need to face each day with your eyes open wide and try to give it your all every time you can, don't keep it all inside...you can't let the day go by in your negativity...in your insecurities, you are not alone in this, I understand your fears... but it is what you have been saying all this time, we are nine, you are not standing on that stage alone…we move as one." said Nanaka trying to wrap up her own ideas and feelings.

Anchan also paused to process the deep info; then looked at Nanaka with a little frown.

"…Why aren't you the Leader again?" asked Anchan softly.

Nanaka blinked, then gave her a soft smile.

"Because I don't fit in that role Anchan, and again, that's a 'role', but we made our decision for the well being of Aqours, WE are Aqours…And you can choose to keep going gloomily into a role that you feel that you don't fit or just embrace us as we are, you included, not trying that hard…" said Nanaka taking some sips from her glass.

Anchan shrugged in her chair. It seemed that she was feeling like a failure as a Leader, thinking she was "responsible" of 8 other members, or taking their blames. The captain of a sports team is just the visible face of the team, nothing else. Well, Anchan tried to do more than that, but basically that was it.

Nanaka gave her a sweet smile, and added;

"Anchan, Sweetie, You've got the future on your side, you're gonna be fine, trust me, I know whatever you decide, You're going to shine," said Nanaka with a soft tone, and taking the Uchichi picture off her plate and resting it in her hands looked at it with a kind gaze, "don't let a day go by in doubt, the answers lay within…" she murmured.

"What?" asked Anchan.

Nanaka shook her head and smiled at Anchan.

"Nothing." said Nanaka with a soft tone, "We will support you Anchan, always, don't doubt that."

Both shared some smiles but were abruptly interrupted by the waitress that came to take their dishes away. Nanaka kept the Uchichi picture as Anchan the Chika flag. The waitress placed the two parfaits in front of the girls, bowed, and left.

"Thanks, Suwa-san," said Anchan and bowed; Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Wo… so polite…" said Nanaka taking a spoon from a basket on the side of the table.

"Well, you are always close to guide me…to help us…so I'm really thankful of you, and for you to be part of us…" said Anchan also taking spoon from the basket, "I believe that you could have been a great Leader…" she added with 'Chika's' voice and then giggled.

Nanaka laughed.

"Nah, it's your turn to Lead… I messed up with the old Aqours… this one is better…" said Nanaka in Kanan's voice.

Both looked at each other and then broke into laughter.

"What are you going to do with that Uchichi picture…?" asked Anchan pointing out the picture that Nanaka was still holding in her hands.

"Eh?… I don't know… keep it? A memento?" said Nanaka looking at it with a kind face.

"You should give it to Yucchan…" said Anchan taking a bite of her parfait, "Ohh delicious…" she murmured.

Nanaka looked at the picture and made a bitter smile. Of course, Uchichi reminded her quite a lot to Shuka.

She left the picture on the table and started eating her matcha parfait.

"Suwawa…" called Anchan in a very serious tone; Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise, with the spoon in her mouth.

"This is the third time I mention Shuka-chan, and you managed to change the topic, your attention and haven't said a word about it."

Nanaka blinked a few times.
Anchan was no looney.

"Ok…" said Nanaka softly and took the spoon out of her mouth.

"So, I'm concerned…is something going on with you two? I mean, I haven't seen you two doing things in the changing room, or what she told me that you dropped your private dance classes at her house…are you guys fighting?" asked Anchan, her tone steady and filled with concern.

Nanaka blinked.

"I…I really feel that something is off, you are not going out with her, you didn't come to see my last play with her…and she really feels lonely… is something wrong Suwawa?"

Nanaka blinked again.

Yes, this, was her Leader.

Nanaka rested her spoon on the table and tried to make the gears in her mind work fast.

She had agreed with Shuka to shut the members out of their conflict, and it seemed that Shuka was keeping her word because from all members Anchan was the closest to her.
Aina found her being a mess, and Arisa had caught them doing it. That was why she had failed in keeping her word, but it seemed that Shuka was struggling alone with this.

"Oh..." Nanaka managed to say, "Is it that notorious?"

Anchan blinked a few times, maybe she thought that Nanaka would keep changing the subject.

"Well, Suwawa, I'm the Leader, it's my job to keep an eye on the members..." said Anchan with seriousness, Nanaka just deadpanned.

Again with the Leader thingie...

"Mmm, really?" started Nanaka with a teasing tone, she picked up her spoon again and continued digging in.
That was her ice cream of the day and she wasn't going to miss it because Anchan was playing the Leader detective.

"Yes... of course, we have talked about this; how the members act towards each other and that..." said Anchan, she took her spoon too and continued eating, "and I'm always watching us because I need to know, I need to see Aqours united and in good spirits... the same way you watch me, I watch you back..."

Nanaka raised an eyebrow.

"So, you see Shuka lonely..." asked Nanaka dryly.

"Yes, I know that inside the Unit she is cheerful and noisy, mostly because of 'First Years', but outside...she looks so gloomy..." Anchan continued saying.

"And what about anyone else?" asked Nanaka.

"You are trying to change the topic again Suwawa," said Anchan with a strong tone, then she smiled at her.

Anchan was no fool.
And now that they had started the topic, she was going to end it. But of course, Nanaka just couldn't say the truth. If she could stick with the lie, then so be it.

"Not exactly," said Nanaka and she kept eating.

"Then? I think I'm lost..." said Anchan now in her naive tone.

"You are just telling me about Shuka feeling lonely, but there are other members in Aqours that might have issues with her, not necessarily me..." said Nanaka trying to throw the blame on someone else.

"I believe this concerns you... and her..." said Anchan softly.

Nanaka hummed.

"You sure?" she tried again to play the fool.

"Yes, Suwawa... I know you both, I know how in love she is with you, how both of you used to be, I don't know, glued to each other...I loved to see her happy like that...to see you that happy..." Anchan was saying while eating, "Besides, remember that we used to hang out a lot... the three of us, and now you just don't... seem to want to..." she finished noticeably troubled.

Nanaka kept eating her ice cream, trying to find something believable to tell Anchan and to end this interrogation.

"Also, it took my special attention...she didn't want to come to the café today...with you..." said Anchan playing with her spoon.

"She was busy, she said..." said Nanaka not even looking at Anchan.

"And you believed her? Really?..." asked Anchan seriously.

Nanaka stopped eating; locked gazes with Anchan, a serious one.

"If I don't believe her then what kind of relationship is that we have? Our relationship is based on trust and loyalty Anchan, of course, I believe her, of course, I trust her..." said Nanaka seriously.

Maybe they weren't a couple anymore, but when they were, she truly believed those things. Now it was obvious that Shuka didn't want to go with Nanaka because she thought it was for the best, and now she needed to stick with the lie.

"Oh...Sorry..." said Anchan now more softly, "It's like, I know she doesn't have any more projects, and today we didn't even have practice...so what made her so busy? Busy enough to deny a 'free' date with you? Last time we were here I was sure that you two would had start doing it on the table..." said Anchan giggling.

Nanaka's cheeks became bright red remembering that.
She kept eating her ice cream.

"Well, she got busy, no big..." murmured Nanaka hiding behind the ice cream.

"So...you two are ok then?" Anchan asked again.

"It bothers you that much doesn't it?" asked Nanaka from behind the glass.

"Of course, the members concern me... she concerns me because I don't see her happy..." said Anchan.

And what about me?

Am I happy? Why isn't she concerned about me? This is about Shuka, no other member...

Nanaka sighed.

"Ok," she said dryly and left her spoon, slowly took her bag and started searching inside.

Anchan looked at her with her eyes open like fried eggs.

"This, these are the reasons...why I can't hang out with you..." said Nanaka dropping the folders with the future projects her manager had given her hours earlier; Anchan opened her eyes even wider.

Nanaka needed to lie. Yes.
But this wasn't so far from the truth. She needed to show Anchan that she was genuinely avoiding them not because she just couldn't hang out with her Ex, but because she was busy with work.

A perfect excuse.

"What...what are those...?" asked Anchan.

"New projects...new jobs, me winning the Center has had these consequences..." said Nanaka seriously.

"Can I?" asked Anchan shyly.

"Sure..." said Nanaka as Anchan took one of the folders to read it.

"Mmmm Puroland?" asked Anchan.

"Yes, it might be..." said Nanaka once again eating her ice cream.

"It looks like the perfect job for you..." said Anchan shyly.

"Maybe...well, there are a lot of other things..." said Nanaka while eating.

"I see..." said Anchan closing it, "Can I see another?"

Nanaka nodded. It seemed that her bait was a success.

"Wow...ok I get it...this is...Suwawa this is a lot!" said Anchan reading the other folder, "Can...can you do them all?"

"Eh? No... Aqours and Sunshine are first..." said Nanaka, "But there are a lot of them that I want to do, the rest of folders are at my agency, but I took the ones that I really want so I could study them over the weekend..."

"Oh... does Yucchan know about all this...?" asked Anchan from behind one of the folders.

No...

"Of course, well not all of them because today I got more...but well, maybe that's why she feels so lonely, I've been busy..." said Nanaka trying to rest it importance.

"No shit..." murmured Anchan looking at another folder.

"I'm sorry I missed your plays Anchan..." said Nanaka.

"Oh-oh, you have been busy, it's ok..." said Anchan and smiled, "I hope she could see it that way too."

"Well, maybe when she is with me I just can't see her feeling lonely...but thanks for telling me that Anchan, I'll make sure to fix that... and to spend more time with her..." said Nanaka with a gentle smile. Of course, she couldn't even if she wanted to, but that was what Anchan wanted to hear.

"That would be lovely," said Anchan smiling widely.

Of course, Aqours' wellbeing was Anchan's concern, and she saw one of the members down; Shuka in this case, so she went to Nanaka to fix that.

But this couldn't be fixed.

They shared some cute smiles and somehow dropped the "Shuka topic", and started talking about Nanaka's future jobs, and Nanaka had some other opinion about them and how to face them.

Anchan was a kid, but she was indeed made to be Aqours' Leader.

The evening ended with the Creepy Assistant thanking them for going to the Café and had them sign on the wall next to their characters. Nanaka just couldn't miss the opportunity to take a picture with Anchan and the signed wall.

Then she couldn't help but think that it was really possible that on the next step of the Sunshine project some "ChiKana" interaction could be made from that evening. After all, the Creepy Assistant worked in mysterious ways.

They left the Café in high spirits and laughing a lot.
Anchan was truly like the younger sister she never had and earned a special place in her heart. And it seemed that it was mutual because Anchan really respected Nanaka and her work, how much effort she put into it and how she always kept an eye on her, well, on every member anyway.

But surely it was Anchan who had won an older sister.
Someone who was always there, with advice, support, and unconditional love.

They said goodbye at the station, but not before Anchan told her;

"Give that Uchichi to Yucchan! That would make her incredibly happy, well, after you...see you on Monday!" and she bowed and left.

Nanaka stood there a few seconds, which felt like minutes.

She took her phone and looked the hour, it wasn't that late, and she had a free afternoon.

The first thing she thought was to go all the way to Saitama.

She knew that Aina had had a very long and tiring weekend because of an event that lasted both days.
Could she be selfish enough to crash at her place and her plans just because she wanted some company?

Because she was feeling weak again?

She took the Uchichi picture out of her pocket and looked at it.
She smiled sadly.

Maybe she needed to stop lying to herself and be more honest in order to answers her own questions and just do what was right.

The last thing Nanaka did was making a call on the phone telling her interlocutor that she was free at the train station and if she didn't mind some company for the evening. She received a positive answer, so later she caught herself taking a train to the outskirts of Tokyo.

If that was right, or wrong, the answer laid within...

-0oo0-

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Where the hell did she go?! (〇o〇；)

Suwa Points for the one who can figure it out where does Aina Lives... (In the Story of course)

Did you catch all the details?

We hope we could have the next update in April 2020. Fingers crossed.

Yes, Next Update is still on this side of the road, Masquerade is still on hold.

Please be safe! wash your hands! and if you need to be at home, we remind you that there are more chapters that you can re-read! I highly recommend reading again Masquerade 12.

Thanks so much for Favs, Kudos, and Comments!

See you next time! (◕‿◕✿)