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.

8. Chapter 8

Summary:

December 2016

Aqours is still preparing the Mini Live!
While being tired and exhausted The NanaAinya couple still is fighting to find some balance in their relationship.

Then, they are faced with some everyday chores like grocery shopping!
In seek of happiness; they find that it's hard to fit, but not impossible.

And last, the Christmas date on the Aqours' Tree.
Two girls and a ghost.
Can they find the meaning of happiness?

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Notes:

Hello Hello! (๑ゝڡ◕๑)
Misha here! FINALLY! AFTER 7 MONTHS... an update! ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧

We are SO SO SO sorry about this huge hole in the update, but life happened for both authors and this chapter took so long!
I hope the next chapter is sooner, this year at least...
I'm afraid that Mascarade will be still on hold until this insert ends.
But we are doing our best!. ٩(●ᴗ●)۶

This new chapter is LONG, with LOTS OF DETAILS, 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･`

By the way, Saeed is "Happy" in Arabic.

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 ( Mishaworks & NylundSarah if you want to say Hi and talk about whatever you want...3)
Anyways... Let's do this!

See You at the end!
Enjoy! (ŐωŐ人)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

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Shards Under a Mask.

Chapter 8.

Saeed.

The cold and chills were running through her now tired body.
It was late, it was dark, and it was so damn cold, that her feet felt numb in about just two seconds after she dared step out of Lantis building.

The snow piled up around her boots, making the chilling sensation on her feet even worse; indeed, that was the coldest day ever.

But, even with the cold and tiredness, Suwa Nanaka's nonchalant face couldn't be mistaken for anything but happiness.

Yes, happiness.

It was Friday, December 16th, another tiring and exhausting day of practice was over, and as usual, it was really late, so for the girls' safety, Production managed to send the girls home by calling taxis. One for each Year group.

"First Years" started a mini snow fight at the entrance of the building, while Anchan scolded them into taking the damn ride, as the second taxi came in time to take "Second Years".

With confusion, Nanaka watched "First Years" take the second taxi, leaving Rikako out of it, and then for some reason, only Shuka and Anchan took the first one, leaving Rikako out as well.

While Nanaka shook her head to the side in confusion, Arisa came out of the building and stood beside her after complaining about the snow and cold.

"Geez! How cold!— can't stand this weather", she complained, Nanaka just blinked looking at Rikako pouting, and why not, cursing too.

"Isn't our ride here yet?" asked Arisa now rubbing her hands trying to warm up.

"Nope."
Said Nanaka dryly, but with a faint smile, not even looking at Arisa.

"What happened?" asked Arisa trying to catch up.

"Rikako is being bullied…" said Nanaka with her Suwa tone, then snorted. Actually, it was quite a funny picture.

"Oh." snapped Arisa, now more concerned, "Hey! What happened?!" shouted Arisa towards Rikako.

Arisa tried to move towards her but was stuck in the snow, moving very awkwardly, she almost fell.
It made Nanaka giggle.

Rikako turned around quite annoyed and offended because of her fellow "Second Years" members' actions, not to mention "First Years" being rude as well; she started to walk towards them with a bit of difficulty due to the snow, and her being mad.

"Don't laugh..." murmured Arisa trying to set her body.

"I'm not ..." said Nanaka, containing her giggles.

Arisa looked at her with astonished eyes, of course, opened wide in surprise, as she slowly changed her expression to a soft smile.

Nanaka blinked a few times and looked at her with her nonchalant expression.
She raised her eyebrows like saying "what".

"Nothing..." said Arisa softly and smiled at her, "You look happy..."

There were a few seconds of silence, where they shared some soft gazes.

Nanaka blinked a few times trying to summarize up her options of why she could be "happy"; practice had been good, the project was moving along, she hadn't been scolded by the Lead Teacher, nor The Chief, she had eaten her daily ice cream, it was Friday also the week had been smooth as silk and...

"HAHAHA! Jesus Rikyako! What the hell happened to you?!" snapped Aina opening the building's door and laughing like an old man.

Arisa and Nanaka turned around to see little Aina laughing her butt off about Rikako being mad; Arisa looked back at Nanaka, her sight glued on Aina, with clear love in her eyes.

"Ah~ I get it," said Arisa, sighing softly; Nanaka looked at her with a nonchalant expression, just remembering that Arisa was still there, standing awkwardly beside her.

"So, aren't you tired of having Aina at your place this week?" asked Arisa, recovering her diligent tone and posture.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." said Nanaka softly, now looking at Aina; Aina exited the building and started talking with Rikako, of course, still laughing...

"Oh, so everything is good then?" asked Arisa.

Nanaka looked at Aina who calmed herself and shared some words with Rikako, and a few pats on her back, Aina clearly being her shiny self, lifting Rikako's poor mood.

"I guess I'm ok..." murmured Nanaka nonchalantly, ignoring the cold, the chills, and her tiredness, even ignoring Arisa by her side, her eyes only on Aina.

"I'm happy."

Yes.
She was happy.

After that Monday night when Nanaka had settled her feelings and her relationship with Aina at Ebisu's McDonald's, Aina started "living" with her. It was true that they had only spent some nights together, and it could still be said that it was too early to have a final verdict, but Nanaka was feeling at peace.

Aina seemed to be enjoying her time with her too, though nothing inappropriate had happened.
Mostly because of a lack of energy, and time.

They would start practice too early, and if they weren't practicing, they were attending other job-related things (like Nanaka recording her Fuwasata radio show, and of course Aina with her super tight schedule as always), to end up practicing again, so they would end the day at incredibly late hours.

So when they arrived at Nanaka's place, they were too tired to even move to second base in bed.
But putting that aside, Nanaka felt happy sleeping with Aina, hugging her as if she was a plushie on her bed, and then waking up with her.

See her every morning.

Was overwhelming.

And made her incredibly happy.

The third car finally arrived, of course, it meant it was for "Third Years", but now there was Rikako to complicate things a little.
The four shared some looks.

"What's with the bullying?" asked Nanaka in her boring tone, maybe ignoring the fact that the four of them couldn't share the ride.

"They do it for sport..." said Rikako bitterly, Aina laughed because it was true.
There were few things as satisfying as mocking Rikako and making her angry.

Arisa cleared her voice.

"So, what are we going to do?" she asked, looking at her fellow Year members, then her sight stopped on Rikako; the Taxi parked right next to them.

Nanaka looked at Arisa, whose sight was on Rikako, then looked at Aina; she gave her a coy smile.

"Why don't you two take the taxi, I can call a new one for Aina and myself." said Nanaka diligently.

"Eh?! No way!" said Rikako, now more concerned about the situation, "that taxi was meant for you three, you have to take it."

Nanaka shook her head.

"Nonsense," said Nanaka.

"Are you sure?" asked Arisa seriously.

"Yes, of course," said Nanaka, settling the final decision and grabbing Aina's hand; she gasped in surprise, because of course, she wasn't expecting Nanaka to be so bold, neither did Arisa and Rikako.

"My place is closer, it's not big..." finished Nanaka tightening their grip.

"Eh? But what about Ai-" Rikako tried to say, but was heavily interrupted by Aina.

"I love this idea!" said Aina in her happy tone, "Now you are free to go elsewhere!" she finished pointing at Arisa and Rikako.

Rikako laughed softly while Arisa just raised an eyebrow.
If Nanaka didn't know her well, she could bet that she was annoyed.

"Don't say nonsense, Aida-san needs to be in Ikebukuro very early tomorrow morning for the shoot." scolded Arisa, but Aina just laughed like an old man.

"C'mon! Suwawa needs to be there too, but I'm not gonna let her sleep tonight!" said Aina, still laughing.

"Eh?!" snapped Rikako, opening her big eyes wide, first looking at Aina, then at Nanaka.

Arisa also opened her eyes wide in panic and locked her eyes on Nanaka.

Nanaka blinked but remained silent.

"She is joking of course..." said Arisa quickly, and moving forward to the taxi, "I'll take the ride if you don't mind!"

Arisa opened the door and looked back at the girls.

"Please, leave,"
Said Nanaka in her dry tone.

Rikako bowed politely and jumped into the car, Arisa gave Nanaka and Aina an intense glare, then entered as well, and closed the door with a heavy thud.

Aina waved happily to the couple as the car became lost in the streets.

A few seconds of silence filled the moment.

The chilling wind hit them hard as they remembered how tired they were, and how late it was. And that there was still 15 minutes between that damn cold and Nanaka's warm and comfy bed. Nanaka snapped out of the memories of her bed when she felt Aina fidgeting by her side.

Then recalled that maybe they were fine working in their relationship, but Aina's recklessness hadn't gone unnoticeable by Rikako, not to mention Arisa.

Nanaka sighed.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked and pulled on her hand a bit, like scolding a child.

"Eh?! What?" asked Aina, cluelessly looking at Nanaka.

"Talking so boldly in front of Aida-san!" said Nanaka with a heavy tone.

Aina opened her eyes wide for a second, trying to understand what was this mad Nanaka talking about, to later just laugh in her old man tone and wave with her free hand as she retorted.

"Ah Suwawa don't ya' worry, this is Rikako who we're talking about!" said Aina with her goofy tone, "She's harmless!"

"I don't know how... She is a 'Second Year', she could tell Sh-" but Nanaka bit her lips abruptly.

"Don't be a worrywart! She could tell her what?!" said Aina, maybe not catching up to what Nanaka wanted to say, "Rikyako will forget as soon as she arrives anywhere with Arisha. In fact! I bet she already forgot it!"

Nanaka bit her lips, the fact was that she didn't care about Rikako knowing, she was afraid that Rikako might tell Shuka that Aina was staying at her place. She would find it weird, Nanaka AND Shuka were supposed to be a couple -a happy one- and all Aqours' members knew that Aina was a threat to them. So it wasn't normal for Aina to stay with her, or bluntly say that she wasn't going to let Nanaka sleep that night.

What for? It was weird.
Not to mention Arisa's scary face. Maybe they would get scolded in the "Third Years" LINE Chat later.

Then Nanaka kicked herself out of thinking about it.
Was she really concerned about what Rikako might think? Or in what she could say? Or to whom?

She was worried about Shuka knowing.
But why? Both had already settled their relationship and were actually working very well. They had even improved their act as a happy couple on stage because they had set boundaries.

Then Nanaka kicked herself once again.
Everything felt weird.

Who was going to stop the chain of lies?

"Suwawa?" called Aina now in her concerned tone, "Did I hurt you? Now, with Rikyako? Did I? I'm...I'm sorry..."

Nanaka looked at Aina with her boring "Suwa face", blinked a few times, and then gave her a sweet smile.
Aina looked adorable with her fluffy coat and her puffed cheeks. Not to mention her sweet face.

Nanaka shook her head and smiled at her.

"Don't worry, you might be right..." said Nanaka with a soft sigh, "Let's go home, I can't feel my butt..."

"What butt?" said Aina with a goofy tone and peeking towards Nanaka's back.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow in annoyance and retorted.

"The one that you are banned from seeing or touching until you behave."

"Owww...sowy?" said Aina softly, totally ignored by Nanaka who took out her phone with her free hand.

"Uhm…"

"What? No taxis?" asked Aina in her sweet tone.

"Uhm, I don't know…" murmured Nanaka looking at her phone.

"We can take a train… no?" asked Aina again with her sweet tone; Nanaka took her sight slightly out of her phone to look at Aina with her boring "Suwa face".

"Ainya-chan, it's 1:30 am, there are no trains in Ebisu Station right now… we need to take a Taxi…" she concluded, gluing her sight on the phone again.

"Oh… sure… then?… why are you taking this long?" asked Aina with impatience.

Nanaka hummed. Maybe the cold was taking a toll on Aina, standing there frozen to the butt.

"I'm looking for one…" said Nanaka softly, but the truth was that she was following the little car icons moving around the map.

It soothed her.

"Or you want to walk there?… it's a fifty-four minutes walk…" said Nanaka, now moving her diligent fingers, Aina snapped.

"Are ya' out of your mind?! Jesus No! We can't walk in this weather, with the snow, this cold, that's—" Aina was ranting, but was abruptly silenced by Nanaka showing her the phone.

"Don't worry, it's coming…" said Nanaka in her soft tone.

"Please don't scare me like that, this isn't the moment for a romantic walk…" said Aina with relief.

"I know… I'm tired too…" said Nanaka, "It's been a hard week…"

"And… it's not over yet; ya' need to be early in Ikebukuro tomorrow right?" asked Aina in a gloomy tone.

"Yes, I do…" said Nanaka with little enthusiasm.

Truth was that even though she felt happy about being chosen for the unique task of going all the way to Ikebukuro's Taito Station to just play SIFAC, she would rather invest that time sleeping and resting than going there.

Last October, Aqours' members went to the Osaka Thanksgiving event. A Place where the latest news about SIF were revealed, which included the new satellite station SIF's arcade mode called SIFAC (School Idol Festival -After school Activity-). The 9 members had tried playing it, but it seemed that the fans just didn't get how it worked.

So, Production in a Marketing act, decided that the Cast members needed to "teach them" and shoot a VTR to that end, but of course, they saw in the event that not all the members were good at it. And to tell the truth, they were in the middle of practice and production of new songs, so it seemed like a waste shooting a VTR with the 9 members for a whole morning when one of them could perfectly do it.

Logic could say that "Second Years" could have handled that shoot, but, in this particular case, Suwa Nanaka kicked everyone's asses at the game. Behind her and with a high score as well, Aiai showed useful too, and having a "Third Year" and a "First Year", Production said "Why the hell not", and asked Rikako to join them, not particularly because of her SIFAC skills, but mostly because she was a "Second Year".

Why did they ask Rikako instead of Anchan or Shuka?

It was a mystery.

Maybe Anchan as the leader of Aqours, a "Second Year", and voice of Chika, already had a lot of exposure. And Shuka winning the "Second Single Center" had gained a lot of attention already, leaving Rikako at some sort of disadvantage?

It wasn't clear, but of course, it was material for mockery over the week towards Rikako, and not to mention, for Nanaka too. Even if she was a pro at the game, she was so sleepy/boring, that a VTR with her alone would be like lullaby material for the fans, which would explain why Aiai had been chosen to join her, bringing up the question once again; why Rikako then?

Trying to not contradict Production's orders, Nanaka just remained silent while the girls mocked them. Yes, it was a weird trio to send to a Game Center and show how to play, but it was an opportunity for her to show herself useful to the Franchise. It was like sending her into her element.

On the other hand, what would the rest of the members do in the time this particular trio would be busy shooting the VTR? Normally, every member would mind their own business, like other jobs, rest, whatever, but Anchan in her role as leader had asked for "something to do" in those hours. Under the astonished looks of the rest of the members, The Chief said "ok" and scheduled a recording session for a new song.

Nanaka blinked.

That meant that Aina needed to be up early too.

"What are you saying? You need to be here at first light too…" said Nanaka looking at Aina with a frown, "And I guess we will meet here to later go to the Game Center, you know, in order to arrive together and such…"

"Oh… OH! Right, Right! We will be recording tomorrow!" snapped Aina like just remembering.

Nanaka blinked.

"Did you forget?"

"Eh? Haha, kind of? I guess I'm still not used to staying so many days in a row at your place... I was just feeling like sleeping the entire morning... I guess this disoriented me a bit." said Aina with a nonchalant tone.

"It's been just three days... That's not that much, " said Nanaka, now checking her phone again, her toes were getting cold.

"It's easy for you to say, it's your place..." said Aina in a serious tone.

Nanaka unglued her sight from her phone and looked down at Aina frowning her forehead.
Was that a complaint?

"Don't you like staying at my place?" asked Nanaka, concerned; Aina looked back at her, her eyes opened wide.

Both stood there under the cold, not only in her toes anymore but in their hearts as well.

Aina was staying at Nanaka's mostly because of logistics, yes, but also because it was what both wanted, it was like the perfect excuse to be together and spend "quality" time, because of course, they were in the shadows, and they just couldn't kiss or touch under Aqours' watch because of the big fat lie they were selling.

For Nanaka it was a win-win situation. But maybe for Aina, it wasn't.

The Taxi arrived and gave Aina the perfect cue to take her sight away from Nanaka's and put her attention on something else, like opening the door.

Nanaka didn't say a thing and entered with Aina; told the driver where to go, and with that, they started their journey to Nanaka's place.

The ride was almost quiet, even if that was weird for Aina -and even Nanaka- to believe.
Nanaka was now feeling smashed about what she had told Aina and her lack of answers.

Maybe Nanaka was being pushy? Maybe she had been a terrible host?
But actually, there was not that much to do for Aina; they were busy, Nanaka's place was practically just somewhere to crash at, take a nice shower, a warm roof over their heads, and a place to have breakfast and continue with their lives.

If she thought about it, it felt almost like a hotel.

So it wasn't like Nanaka had taken Aina as a prisoner. Aina was free to leave whenever she wanted.

"Have you thought about what we are going to do for Christmas?" asked Aina with a soft tone, but looking outside the car.

Nanaka gave her a soft look, but with sadness as well.

They had agreed to spend Christmas together, it was a nice opportunity to do something as a couple.
Knowing that Christmas was something more related to romance than family in Japan, and if Nanaka had to be sincere with herself, last year she hadn't been able to spend that day with her girlfriend, instead, she got to bear a tantrum from her days earlier.

She wanted to make good memories with Aina.
It was her chance.

"Well, I thought about watching the city lights?… Do you have something in mind?" said Nanaka trying to sound serene; Aina looked at her.

"Oh, right, that's like the common panorama to do on those dates…" she said, then gave Nanaka a smile, "Well, seeing Roppongi Hills right now, I thought you might want a fancy dinner or something…"

Nanaka raised her sight over Aina's windows, and effectively, they were passing by the Roppongi Hills building. Of course, its imposing shape and elegance made it an indisputable option for an elegant date, not to say that it was expensive too.

She frowned.

Suwa Nanaka might have some refined taste and could be picky sometimes, but she surely wasn't someone who wanted to spend her time (and money) in Roppongi Hills. Even if it was closer to her place.

Roppongi Hills was a development project in Tokyo, and one of Japan's largest integrated property developments, located in the Roppongi district of Minato, in Tokyo. The mega-complex incorporated office space, apartments, shops, restaurants, cafés, movie theaters, a museum, a hotel, a major TV studio, an outdoor amphitheater, and a few parks.

And of course, for Christmas, they did 400 meters of great and lovely illuminations for couples to stroll around.

It was indeed, a very complete place to do a full romantic date. Because, besides the infinity of restaurants and parks for the City lights, there was a hotel in the building (The Grand Hyatt Tokyo), a very exclusive one, to put the cherry on top of the evening.

Nanaka squished her thighs just thinking about finishing her lovely and romantic date with Aina, enjoying her body in a fancy hotel.

But of course, that wasn't what she wanted.

They passed by the Roppongi district and turned into the Akasaka district.

Nanaka cleared her throat.

"Uhm, unless you want to have dinner in the McDonald's in the building… I don't think I want to spend that night there with you," said Nanaka, locking her sight in Aina's.

"Oh, really?" asked Aina, "There's one inside?!"

"Yes, there is…. There are a lot of things in there." said Nanaka, now looking somewhere else, "But I don't want to go there…"

"Oh… good…" sighed Aina, quite relieved.

Nanaka frowned a bit.

"Why do you think I would like to spend that special night in a place like that? It's not your style…"

Aina gave her a sad look.

"But it is yours… you are refined, classy… and I'm just—" said Aina sadly.

"I don't need that…" said Nanaka dryly.

Aina opened her eyes wide and bit her lips.

"I don't care where we go, I want to be with you, see the lights, as cliché as it sounds, it's what couples do that day; I don't need fancy restaurants either…" said Nanaka with her eyes glued on the road, of course, her tone was strong and clear.

Why was it that Aina always thought about her being almost unreachable? Too fancy? Too lady-like?
Was Aina feeling misplaced with her? But she felt just like the nerd she was! An Otaku just like her.

With the same job. Almost the same taste in Manga.

Why would Aina feel misplaced with her?

"Are…are you sure?" asked Aina now with a cracked voice.

"Yes, I'm sure, we can have, I don't know, KFC at home, I don't care... Aina..." said Nanaka now with a tired tone and locking her gaze on her; she opened her eyes wide and with sadness.

"It's just a day... The important thing is that we will spend it together... Inside or outside, it's irrelevant, so please stop worrying..." finished Nanaka with kindness.

Aina just smiled at her and nodded with energy, maybe even feeling relieved to hear that.

They stayed silent for the rest of the ride, which wasn't that long, but there was a clear change in their mood.

Once the Taxi left them, they just held hands and went straight to the entrance.
It was Aina who brought the topic up again.

"I was wondering… have you seen the Aqours' tree already?"

Aina closed the main entrance door while Nanaka pressed the elevator button.

"Uhm…" hummed Nanaka.

"I thought… we could go…" added Aina in a sweet tone.

"Isn't that too crowded?" asked Nanaka entering the elevator; Aina followed through and started bouncing their held hands.

"Nana, it's gonna be crowded everywhere we want to go on that day…"

"Uhm, true…" said Nanaka with little enthusiasm.

"Rikako went to see the Aqours' Tree at the beginning of the month, she said it was cute and worth the trip…" said Aina with a happy tone.

Nanaka just blinked, watching the numbers on top of the elevator change until it reached the last floor.

Truth was that all of them had already gone, but Venus Fort closed that morning specially for the Love Live! Sunshine crew to record some short videos of the girls promoting the new single by the Aqours' Tree. But yes, it had been something completely work-related, with no people, and maybe without the season's real ambiance/vibe. So maybe it didn't count.

The sound of the elevator's bell snapped Nanaka out of her slumber, and without thinking she said,

"Yes, Shuka went last Saturday, she said it was a lot of fun."
And then she stepped off the elevator, almost dragging little Aina out towards her door.

"...What?" asked Aina.

Nanaka took out her keys and opened the door.

"What what?" asked Nanaka without thinking anymore, at that point of the night she was almost on autopilot.

She didn't even notice that Aina hadn't mocked her about the "Suwa Door".
And that was a lot to say...

"Shuka went too…?" asked Aina in a small voice.

"Yes, she went," said Nanaka, now entering, leaving Aina's hand to start taking off her boots and coat.

There was a very awkward silence, enough for Nanaka to stop the autopilot and to turn around to see if Aina was still with her at her place.

She indeed was, she stood at the door frame, the door still open, giving Nanaka a very sad look.

"What?" asked Nanaka in her boring "Suwa tone", she left her boots and stepped into her sleepers, and opened her coat.

"I…" tried Aina, but couldn't.

"Close the door, it's cold…" said Nanaka, turning again and with the intention to continue moving inside, but couldn't, she just stood in the middle of the hallway while Aina was still in the receiver.

"Why— how do you know that?" asked Aina in a serious tone, "You sure it was last Saturday...? Were you with her?"

Nanaka blinked a few times; she was tired.
It was Friday night - or Saturday early morning- she had a lot on her already to now bear a tantrum.

What was that?

Of course, she remembered quite clearly. It had been last Saturday when she and Arisa had gone on that sort of "date" and Nanaka was feeling lost, lonely, and abandoned. If Shuka hadn't been in Odaiba seeing the Aqours' Tree with her brother and mother, maybe what happened on Sunday would have happened that same Saturday.

Maybe, or maybe not, she would never know, the only thing she knew was that that Saturday she wanted to hang out with Shuka, but she was seeing the damn tree.
But Aina didn't need to know that.

It was in the past. It was time to live in the present and look forward to the future.

With Aina.

Nanaka turned around again, now more annoyed than tired.

"Close the damn door," said Nanaka with a glare; Aina did what she was told, and in seconds the entrance hall was drowned in darkness.

Happiness ran out of the door, letting the cold into Nanaka's place, and why not, into their hearts.

The "Shuka issue" was supposed to have been settled and sacrosanct since Monday, which should no longer be an impediment for Nanaka and Aina to finally move forward, but Aina had just dared show these kinds of colors.

Maybe Nanaka hadn't been clear enough?

After what felt like a lifetime, Nanaka's eyes became used to the dark, so she could spot Aina's body in the darkness, her watery eyes shining in the entrance thanks to the pale light that came through the living room.

"Suwawa…" called Aina softly from the entrance, her voice was soft, but cracked.
Something was clearly off.

Nanaka blinked a few times and tried to walk towards the switch to add light to the scene, but was abruptly interrupted by Aina's serious tone.

"You know what? It doesn't matter…" she said strongly.

Her voice was so mature, so confident that it sent chills down Nanaka's spine, she froze on her spot.

"I'm… I'm tired of this…" said Aina with a strong tone, at the same time, Nanaka could hear Aina taking off her shoes.

"Tired of...?" asked Nanaka shyly, not quite understanding.

"About this, about our situation..." said Aina, annoyed.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows with confusion, still not getting it.

Aina put on her sleepers, mostly blindly but succeeding; Nanaka remembered she was about to turn on the lights, but once again was interrupted.

"I miss you, I miss our friendship, I miss how things were before you won that damn Center..." finished Aina standing in front of Nanaka with a sad gaze, her voice clear as crystal.

The Center used to mean the world for Nanaka.
She didn't recall another happier moment in the last 2 months...

Happiness was that fragile.

Their eyes met, not minding if they were in the dark, the pale light coming from the living room was enough for Nanaka to see every feature on Aina's cute and serious face.

Nanaka frowned.

What did it have to do with Nanaka being the Center?
Was Aina blaming her for being the Center?

"What are you talking about?" asked Nanaka confused, "I've done nothing as Center yet, why do you blame that?"

"I'm not blaming it, it's just to set a point in time..." said Aina now looking to the floor in shame.

Nanaka blinked for a few seconds, wrapping that idea in her mind.
Maybe Aina was talking about the time before they started kissing and having sex. After becoming a thing.

When she was with Shuka.

Nanaka made a mental bitter face.

Something was troubling Aina from the bottom of her heart, and she wasn't going to make the same mistake again of just dragging her girlfriend around and making the decisions. Communication was always their strength as friends, why would that need to change now?

So she took a deep breath.

"Aina, what's wrong?" asked Nanaka softly.

Aina looked at her with sadness.

"That...I feel ashamed... I'm sorry, I'm sorry Suwawa, I've been a jerk...I've acted like a total moron these last months..." said Aina clenching her fists.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"And...I'm tired of it..."

"Ok... ?"

"I mean... we used to hang out, have fun, we relied on each other... and now...?" There was so much sadness in her voice.

"Now? What is happening now?" asked Nanaka seriously.

"Now... I feel we are in constant tension, that you are always mad at me, and I hate it," she said clearly.

Nanaka blinked a few times trying to understand.

It made sense, before it wasn't Aina's responsibility to make Nanaka happy, it was Shuka's. And she constantly failed at it.
So it was easier to have the role of the funny and trustworthy friend who was always at her side, giving advice towards the failed relationship.

And of course, everything changed when the situation turned around.

Maybe for Aina, now Shuka had become the trustworthy and funny friend who could help her complain about the chaotic relationship...

But that was Nanaka overthinking.

"Well, yes, we've had our ups and downs... I guess..." said Nanaka shyly.

"Yes, but— is not right..." continued Aina, "I feel ashamed, again and again, I feel there's nothing to give and no one to blame but myself."

Nanaka opened her eyes wide.
If she had learned anything about her later relationship, it was that these things were made by two people, if the relationship wasn't working, both were to blame.

So it wasn't fair to blame Aina for whatever she felt wasn't working.

But What isn't working?

I thought we were ok... how blind am I?

Nanaka turned her head to the side trying to figure it out. But Aina continued...

"All I wanted was to be with you, and since we got together, all I've done is mess you up, hurt you, put us in some weird position... and ... I can't ..." Aina said in shame.

"... I hate it." she finished.

Nanaka blinked in sadness.
It was true.

"Why?" asked Nanaka coldly and dryly.
This only meant that Aina had done everything she did on purpose. She was conscious about it.

"Why would you do that?"

Aina looked up to meet Nanaka's gaze, with such sadness that it hurt every inch of her soul.

"Jealousy," she said, no hesitation.

Nanaka tightened her lips and clenched her fists.
She realized that both still had their coats on, wrapped in scarves and insecurities, but it didn't matter, Aina's voice echoed in her mind.

Jealousy.

Then she closed her eyes, taking her emotions in.

Her relationship with Shuka had failed and crashed because of Jealousy.
And she had promised herself not to go into those waters again.

She thought that things with Aina would be different. She was always so chill about it, like even having an open relationship; and even with that, she was always so concerned about her. Aina was always there for her, to help her, cheer her, give her the world...

But it was true that everything had turned quite different since they started this sort of dating. Aina had shown some nasty colors, so all traces of happiness had faded.

Nanaka couldn't take it and made a bitter face.

Happiness indeed was so frail...

"Suwawa, I'm sorry..." said Aina now with tears in her eyes, her voice cracked.

Nanaka opened her eyes with a very special "Suwa Face".

"I know you told me that you didn't want to deal with jealousy anymore, I know you had a bad time with it and her, I was the main reason of it... but—"

"Then why?!" asked Nanaka, also feeling tears in her eyes.

"I can't help it..." said Aina trying to hold on to her feelings, "I just can't take her out of Aqours, I can't erase her from practice, and worst of all... I just can't hate her..."

Nanaka bit her lips while holding back tears.
Truth was that all this time she couldn't do it either.

But she couldn't help but feel that everything was repeating once again… the jealousy of doom.

"The thing is... that... I tried so hard to bear it, to be with you, for you, before anything I am your friend, and that was the first thing I offered to you, my friendship...but, once I got you..."

"You don't own me." clarified Nanaka in a very gloomy tone.

"I know... " said Aina, gluing her sight to the floor, "But, I know you, you are so kind, so pure, so correct... so not like me..." she sobbed.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

Is she talking about how she used to have other ladies while being with me? The open relationship and such…?

"I'm so ashamed..." said Aina again in deep sadness, and cleaning her cheeks with her forearm, "I'm so insecure Suwawa, even though you told me several times that you wanted to be with me, that your thing with her was over... it haunts me... I'm gonna lose you, I don't want to lose you...so I... I freak out, and I ended up doing stupid things..." said Aina looking at Nanaka again with pleading eyes and sobbing.

"Aina..." called Nanaka softly and kindly.

Aina shook her head meaning that she wasn't done speaking.

"I did a lot of harm... and now our relationship is weird... I made it weird because I'm hard to handle..." said Aina, recovering her seriousness, "So I want to fix it; this time, I am the one who's gonna fix it..."

"You don't—" tried Nanaka.

"Yes! I am." said Aina with determination, "On Monday you told me that you wanted to commit to me, to be with me, and you asked me for my commitment...no more ladies, no more flirting and shit… And I am determined to be the best for you... but... but…" Aina clenched her teeth.

Nanaka blinked fast, biting her lips and almost holding her breath.
She didn't know that Aina was in such pain and in such a dilemma with herself.

"But I just can't stand it!" said Aina loudly, bursting the last shard of her heart.

Nanaka opened her eyes in surprise, this conversation was turning in a very wrong direction.

"Aina, what—" Nanaka tried again.

"You flirting with her, you mentioning her… seeing you the whole week in practice how your shows go, it brings out the worst of me…I told you that I would always be jealous of her, but I can't take it anymore!" said Aina, recovering her normal tone, "That's why…" she took a deep breath, "I needed to tell you this…"

Nanaka blinked.

"This made me no better than her, I know she always complained to you about us, that's why this frustrates me so hard, and I don't want to cause you more trouble about it… I want to be better, for me, for you….for us…" said Aina, recovering her seriousness and locking her gaze on Nanaka, who was paler than a ghost.

"I…" mumbled Nanaka, not quite sure what the hell was going on anymore.

"I'm sorry, I needed to tell you this… burst it out of my chest!" said Aina, closing her eyes and gesturing like taking something out of her chest.

"I've been eating these things up this whole time, and after what we talked about on Monday, now… I realized that I don't need this inside me… not anymore..." said Aina now massaging her temples, then looked at Nanaka, "You… you still love me, right?"

Nanaka raised her eyebrows and nodded shyly, mostly because she wasn't sure what was happening with that tiny human being.

Was this a discussion? A confession? A Complaint? A tantrum? Aina just losing herself? Aina being Aina?

What?

"Good…" said Aina softly, then she gave Nanaka a smile, "I…I love you too…a-a LOT, and... same as you, I want the commitment… I want to be with you, no more ghosts, no more weird things… just… you and me… right?"

She finished with her sweet smile and her eyes covered in tears.

Nanaka, not sure what the hell had happened in the last minutes, just answered with a soft smile.

"I'm sorry, I…" said Aina, maybe realizing that she had just ranted about her emotions in a very weird way, she tried to clean her cheeks, "I just…I want to make you happy, Nana."

Nanaka exhaled with relief.
For a moment she thought that Aina might have lost her shit and was going to send her away, like breaking up or something. In a way, she had lost it, but because she was done with eating her jealousy, and somehow needed to set a final point on it.

And that was a very mature thing to do.

If they wanted to move forward as a couple, they needed to let some things go.
As Nanaka let Shuka go, Aina needed to let her jealousy go too.

Nanaka walked towards Aina, and with a sweet voice said:

"I love you too… "

And with that, Nanaka hugged her lovingly, pressing her forehead to Aina's.

"...and you make me happy."

Aina opened her eyes wide, feeling the tears run down her cheeks.

"…ah… Nana…" mumbled Aina, and hugged her tightly, to later burst into tears.

Nanaka just hugged her with love and tenderness, understanding that Aina must have been suffering all this time trying to endure her own pain. Acting as if she was above everything, jealousy proof until she just couldn't take it anymore. Shuka was always a threat for her, and instead of working on her insecurities, talking with Nanaka or something, she just took it out on her. Whether it was saying hurtful things, acting abruptly, or what was worse… taking Nanaka without her own consent.

And maybe Aina was impulsive, reckless, weird and all, but she was a good person, she used to be a good friend, she always wanted the best for Nanaka, she was always supporting her and wishing for the best, even if at the moment the "best" was with Shuka and not her.

In the end, she was human.

Humans made mistakes.

And that didn't mean that they couldn't be happy.

Happy eh?…

Am I Happy?...

Nanaka caressed Aina's back softly, feeling Aina had cried her worries away as now she just sobbed softly, and stopped crying in anguish.

"You ok Ainya-chan?" asked Nanaka softly.

"You smell so nice…" said Aina, buried in Nanaka's chest.

Nanaka deadpanned.

Yes, that was Aina being Aina.

"I guess you are ok…" said Nanaka, still in her embrace.

"I… I think I am…" said Aina softly, still buried in her chest. Then Aina hurried and asked, "Are….are you ok?!"

They broke the hug, but not the embrace, they looked at each other.

"I guess I'm ok."

Aina gave her a shy smile.

"I'm sorry, I just want... I want to do this right..." said Aina softly, lost in Nanaka's eyes.

Nanaka gave her a coy smile and pressed her forehead onto Aina's once again.

"Then we should... let's be happy, for once," said Nanaka, as she captured Aina's lips in a soft and tender kiss.

Maybe they should have started like this months ago.

Nanaka moving on from Shuka for good, letting herself be happy with Aina; while Aina should have settled her insecurities about Shuka.

But of course, thanks to the fact that the 3 of them worked in the same wannabe Idol group, they had to bear with each other, and all the consequences that it entailed.

Of course, this being the tip of the iceberg.

As for Nanaka and Aina, the iceberg and all the complexity could wait.
It was their time to be happy.

Aina tiptoed to reach more deeply inside Nanaka's mouth, starting a wet dance with their tongues.

It felt so nice that it was like reaching the clouds.

When was the last time that Aina's lips felt that right?
Maybe at the beginning, then everything felt a bit messed up…

But they were in time to correct it; feeling hot by the sensation of finally having Aina's lips devouring hers, she felt that it was finally time to take those coats off.

Nanaka eagerly broke the embrace to remove Aina's coat, but without leaving her lips.

The coat fell heavily on the floor, and the motion was followed by Aina losing her tiptoe position, and breaking the kiss because of that.

But it didn't matter, Aina understood what Nanaka wanted to do, and in seconds she also grabbed Nanaka's coat and started pulling it off, while Nanaka went straight to Aina's lips once again, sandwiching her against the wall.

Aina tried her best to pull the coat off, maintaining a new tiptoed position, and answering Nanaka's eager kiss, but it was difficult.
The damn height difference was making that kissing session quite difficult, and Nanaka was feeling a pinch on her back.

Aina helped her remove the coat, which fell near Aina's, then she pulled off her own scarf and dropped it too, making them break the kiss for a few seconds; Aina grabbed her by the blouse and pulled her to her lips.

They were lost in the kiss; Nanaka tried her best to keep sandwiching Aina against the wall and trying to keep their lips connected, Aina on her side hugged Nanaka with her tiny arms around her neck, strategically lifting her left leg to hook it around Nanaka's hip for stability.

When was the last time they ate their mouths in such a passionate and desperate way?
Maybe back in Awashima.

The memory, the passion, lit a fire in Nanaka's heart but was abruptly turned off.

Aina's position could add weight to Nanaka that she might not be able to handle at that time of the day -or night-, so a few seconds later she broke the kiss and stepped back with a painful gaze.

Seeing that Nanaka didn't move anymore, Aina understood that the session was over.

The only sound inside the place was their elaborate breaths.

After a few pants, Aina broke the silence.

"I'm…I'm sorry… did I hurt you?" asked Aina softly, still glued to the wall and with a worried face
"Am I pushing you?... I'm not forcing you right?" she asked in a panic.

Nanaka looked at her and shook her head.

"I'm sorry… I…" said Nanaka, then she covered her face in shame, "I'm sorry Ainya-chan…"

"What?… did I push you…? Are you ok?" asked Aina, now more concerned, walking towards her "it-it's ok, I-I didn't mean to— I'm sorry..."

Aina really sounded concerned and worried to a very different level; was this because of their last encounter? Was Aina still feeling guilty about taking Nanaka against her will?

But this wasn't the case...

Nanaka withdrew her hands from her face and covered Aina's puffed cheeks.

"No, no… it's the position…" said Nanaka softly, while she started to caress Aina's cheeks. "I'm... tired… I can't be on my feet any longer…"

"Oh…" said Aina, then she giggled. "Of course, Suwawa-chan…. It's been a long day…"

Nanaka closed her eyes in deep tiredness, and why not, sadness too.

She didn't know that she was actually that tired, but she had spent all day practicing, singing, and dancing, then Aina's whole speech in which she didn't know what the hell was going on, drained the last glimpse of energy left.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to mess up the mood…" said Nanaka shyly.

"Oh, pff, please…" said Aina, now chill, and then broke the embrace to hold Nanaka's hands, "I'm just happy to be with you..."

Nanaka smiled softly and gave her a tiny little kiss on her lips.

"Thank you…" said Nanaka softly, Aina just gave her a big smile.

Maybe she was tired, yes.
But also, she felt that it was wrong to make such a scene in the middle of the hall.

If she wanted to have good make-up sex, that would be in a proper bed.

"Very well…" said Aina, breaking their held hands, "Shall we put you to bed Suwa-chan?" asked Aina in her goofy tone.

Nanaka smiled softly, feeling her tiredness getting over her. She nodded shyly.

As if on cue, Aina turned around and turned on the lights, they greeted each other in a very messy way; Nanaka's blouse was all messy, while Aina's skirt was awkwardly lifted on one leg, almost to her crotch.

They giggled, while softly arranging their clothes and started collecting their dignity.

Nanaka hanged their coats and scarves, while Aina grabbed their bags.

"I guess it's too late to grab a bite," said Aina with their bags in hand and walking inside.

"Are you actually hungry?" asked Nanaka softly behind her, she turned the hallway light off while Aina turned the living room's on.

"What?! You know I can always eat..." said Aina moving towards the bathroom, "I'm always hungry…"

"Yes, you are…" said Nanaka with a tired tone as she set the heat, it was pretty chilly inside.

They moved as if they had lived together forever.

Aina was now used to being there and moved as if that was her own place, also they knew the routine since Tuesday -or maybe even before that-.

They usually came in very late, while Nanaka set the heat, Aina would move to the bathroom to set the washing machine to wash all the training clothes they had used that day. Eventually, Aina would come back to the living room to tell Nanaka that she would love a midnight snack (a real one), so Aina would start messing around in the kitchen, while Nanaka would arrange her room for them to sleep.

They showered back in Lantis Building, so they didn't have the imperious need to shower again, also they didn't have the energy to, even if Nanaka was dying to spend some quality relaxing time in her bathtub. But she just couldn't do it, she was afraid that due to her tired state she would end up sleeping in the tub.

Nanaka was closing the curtains in the Living room when she heard the beep from her washing machine starting. Meaning that Aina would pop up at any second to ask for that midnight snack.

As if on cue, she spoke coming to the room.

"Well, the washing machine is all set…" said Aina in her happy tone.

"Good," said Nanaka turning around.

"Actually, I think I'm going to head back home tomorrow…" said Aina with a shy smile.

"Eh?… What? Why?" asked Nanaka in panic, she thought that everything was fine now between them for Aina to run away.

"Oh-oh, don't worry, just temporarily…" said Aina, now tense.

"Eh?…"

"I mean, I need more clothes…" said Aina softly.

"But—" tried Nanaka.

"I've been wearing the same couple of clothes for 4 days, even if I wash them and all, isn't it weird that I go to Lantis building with the same shirts over and over?" said Aina, playing with her fingers.

Nanaka frowned.

"Don't make that face…" said Aina walking towards Nanaka, "Y'know I love spending time with you… but I just can't move in…"

Nanaka made a sad face.

"Are you bored of me?" asked Nanaka sadly.

"Eh? Geez! No, no, Nana, what are you saying?! Of course, not… I love spending time with you…now more than ever…." said Aina grabbing Nanaka's hands, they locked gazes.

"Then—"

"Nana, I need to go home, grab some new clothes, say 'hi' to my sister, and come back…" said Aina softly.

"Oh…"

"Yes, I'll come back…Nana, I'm not going anywhere…" said Aina softly.

"Uhm…" hummed Nanaka shyly with her cheeks red in embarrassment, of course, pouting...

"You are too cute Suwawa-chan…" teased Aina.

"Sto—stop it…" said Nanaka.

"Don't be so cute, or you will wake up my hunger…" said Aina in her mature tone.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows, but her cheeks flushed red, Aina smiled at her wide.

"Tomorrow is the perfect day." said Aina trying to cool down the mood, "Since you three will be shooting that VTR in Ikebukuro and we'll be recording, we have some open space after recording and practice…"

"I see…" said Nanaka, then her gaze softened.

Aina was an independent being, she was used to being on her own since forever, and maybe thanks to her living so far she was used to being around town often, like a free bird, and now she was captured with Nanaka and her boring pastel cute little world. She used to stay, but not for more than a night, it had now been 4 in a row, and she might be tired of being there. Of course, she missed her own place, maybe her own bed and otaku things.

"I'm sorry Nana…" said Aina softly.

"No, no, it's ok…" said Nanaka with a shy smile, "You need to do your things too, it's ok…"

"You sure…?"

"Yes, yes, sorry, I thought you wanted to leave…" said Nanaka recovering her shy tone.

Aina smiled at her.

"You are so bad for my heart Nana…" she said softly.

Nanaka looked at her lovingly.

"There's no place I would rather be but here my Nana… now, more than ever…" said Aina softly, melting Nanaka's heart.

Nanaka just couldn't take it any more and grabbed Aina's puffed cheeks and kissed her.

Softly. Tenderly. Lovingly.

How she missed those plump lips.

The kiss didn't last long, Aina broke it to ask;

"Can… can I have a midnight snack?"

Her voice was soft and cute; Nanaka bit her lips.

"I… I don't know…" said Nanaka shyly, trying to review a mental list about if she was prepared to have sex.

Her last encounter had been with Shuka the previous Sunday, and before that, with Aina two weeks earlier…

Nanaka opened her eyes wide.

Then looked at Aina who was giving her an eager smile, she even licked her lips.

"I—I'm sorry…" said Nanaka softly, she couldn't help but see Aina's smile fading, "I'm not in….condition…" she finally said in a very shy and almost inaudible tone.

"Eh?! What are you saying…? I'm talking about food… real food…" said Aina who burst into her old man laugh.

"…what…?" asked Nanaka, her cheeks bright red.

"Oh my! Nana, are ya horny?" asked Aina laughing at her, claps included.

Nanaka closed her eyes, resisting her bashfulness.

"You...are…" said Nanaka drowned in embarrassment

"You told me you were tired…" said Aina with a sweet voice, then smiled at her softly, "And I'm not going to push you for that..."

Aina turned around and added,

"I learned my lesson." and she started walking towards the kitchen, "If it happened that I ate you right now, you wouldn't be able to get up tomorrow…"

Nanaka pouted.

"Why are you so sure…?" asked Nanaka following Aina towards the kitchen.

"Well, I know you…" said Aina in a matter-of-fact tone as she started taking two cups from the cabinets.

"Uhm…"

"Fancy some tea?" asked Aina, then turned around to lock her sight on her.

"Well, why not..." said Nanaka, not quite convinced.
Normally, it would be Aina having a snack, while Nanaka did all her pre-sleep routine, like putting on her pajamas, taking off her contacts, etc.

"Great!" said Aina and started filling the kettle with water.

Nanaka gave her a tired look, maybe she just needed sleep and rest, but clearly, Aina wanted to spend some time with her around good tea, not the quick and cheap station sort of dates they were used to having after practice. And in a way it made sense, Aina had just come clean about her feelings, and maybe she wanted to let them sink in instead of just fucking their brains over it. -or ignore it so bluntly-

Somehow, that was how this relationship had started, and maybe it wasn't the best way.
And as she had determined; she was going to fight for Aina, and it seemed that Aina had determined the same when she said that she had had it with her jealousy.

So, she needed to put herself together, bear her tiredness and sit in that goddamn chair with Aina and her tea.

Nanaka moved into the kitchen and took a seat at the kitchen table.
She sat down almost like a sack of potatoes, maybe even feeling her soul leaving her body.

She was indeed very tired; she made a drowned sigh and rested her head in her arms on the table.

"You ok Nana-chan?" asked Aina not even looking at her.

"I'm tired, that's all…" said Nanaka with a gloomy voice from under her arms.

She heard Aina giggling softly as some movements went from one side to another, meaning that Aina was in control of her kitchen and setting everything for their tea time.

At 2:30 am.

After a few seconds, she felt Aina come towards her.

"You are doing great… Suwawa," said Aina seriously.

Nanaka lifted her face from her hiding spot to lock her tired eyes on cute little Aina, who looked at her with big round watery eyes.
She was somehow bent over the table to be at Nanaka's eye level.

"You need to resist a bit longer…" said Aina.

Nanaka deadpanned.

"Five more years?" said Nanaka in her gloomy tone; Aina giggled.

"I was talking about sleep, but sure, what are five years…?" said Aina smiling, "Where are you hiding the snacks Suwawa-chan?"

Nanaka blinked tiredly.
Five more years seemed forever.

"You know where they are…" said Nanaka tiredly, returning to her hiding spot behind her arms.

"There aren't any more left then…" said Aina in a gloomy tone, "I thought there were some cookies somewhere…"

"You ate everything…" mumbled Nanaka, then she bit her lips.
On Sunday, Shuka had eaten those cookies. But Aina didn't need to know that.

Nanaka took a deep breath.

"Not everything… there's one that I hadn't tried in a while…" she heard her say, and Nanaka slowly raised her body to lock her deadpanned gaze on Aina's.

She gave her a goofy smile.

"What?" asked Aina in her funny tone.

"Don't push it…" said Nanaka in a dry tone; Aina burst into her old man laughter.

"I'm not—"

Why was it so difficult for Aina to stay in her own pants?

The kettle whistled, meaning the water was ready.

Aina moved to attend the demanding kettle and pour the water on the tea.

Nanaka massaged her temples.
Maybe for Aina, it was difficult to "settle" with her. Aina had always wanted an open relationship, and maybe that worked for her, and all this time, when Nanaka denied her some sex encounters, Aina could find someone else to fill that blank.

But Aina always said that their love was strong, that she was with Nanaka not because of the sex, that wasn't important.

And even if it was true, that they hadn't done anything since that night at Aina's, where she took everything from Nanaka, as if she had eaten all the snacks Nanaka had to offer…

And now she had run out of candy for Aina.

Two weeks had passed since then, and Aina might have experienced some cravings, what was Aina doing about it? Was she doing something?
Well, clearly since she had returned from Korea, she hadn't. And now, after what Nanaka had told her on Monday, it was like putting Aina on a strict diet.

Nanaka was always too tired to fill Aina's cravings.

Of course, it wasn't fair.
There are needs in every relationship, and Nanaka needed to satisfy her partner, somehow.

"I think that there is some plum paste on the fridge…" said Nanaka softly, looking at Aina who placed the cups on the table.

"Oh…" said Aina softly, "really…?"

"Yes, take some, I'll go to the store tomorrow and get more snacks for you…" said Nanaka softly.

"Maybe…. Maybe we can go together?" asked Aina shyly.

Nanaka blinked a few times and then smiled softly at her.

"That would be lovely…" said Nanaka, grabbing her cup of tea.

Aina made some cute little jumps and then moved quickly to the fridge to take out the plum paste, then moved around the kitchen and took out a plate, a knife, and a slice of bread.

Nanaka followed every move while blowing her tea.

It was as if Aina wasn't tired at all.

"How do you do it?" asked Nanaka softly in her boring tone when Aina finally sat across the table.

"Do what?" answered Aina in her goofy tone, her sight glued to the plum paste and her bread, she started to arrange her things to start preparing her snack, "It's not that difficult to put some paste over a slice of bread... geez Nana, you really suck at cooking..."

There was a pause, where both gazes met; Aina with a goofy smile, Nanaka with a deadpan look.

"I wasn't talking about that..." said Nanaka bitterly; the truth was that she was too lazy to even to do that.

"Then? Do what?" asked Aina clueless.

"I don't know…everything…? Aren't you tired?" asked Nanaka softly.

"I am…" she said grabbing the knife.

Nanaka blinked.

"But I'm happy…" said Aina, now spreading the plum paste on the bread, "Aren't you?"

Nanaka blinked once again, she took her time to think about it.
What did happiness have to do with tiredness?

She rested her cup of tea.

"Happy…?" she repeated softly.

"Yes, happy…" Aina continued spreading the paste.

Nanaka looked at her, then she glued her sight on the tea.

Was she? She couldn't deny that she was doing better in her life than a year ago when all this madness had started.

Like, she wasn't available to sing and dance 1 song, now she was on her way to master 8 songs. Or, after being last in the popularity poll, now she had won a Center.

And despite her heart being broken by someone she loved, now she was being loved by someone who she loved back.

Of course, things like her health, her family, and her money issues, all were ok and solidly covered.

Then?

"During the day, I guess I'm ok…." said Nanaka with a soft sigh as she drank some of her tea.

"Just the day?" asked Aina amused by the answer, Nanaka left her cup softly on top of the table.

"Well, at night I'm asleep and tired...and I can't actually tell if I'm happy..." said Nanaka very seriously.

Aina blinked a bit astonished.

"What?" asked Nanaka genuinely clueless.

Aina had a bite of her bread without taking her eyes off Nanaka's sleepy face.

"Or maybe I am too..." said Nanaka moving her head to the side, but not quite convinced, "I love sleeping, so maybe that makes me happy too..."

Aina snorted and took her time to chew her snack, but without taking her eyes off Nanaka's.

"This doesn't make any sense," said Nanaka finally, returning her head to its original position.

Aina swallowed and shared with her a big smile.

"It's ok Suwa-chan, you asked me how I do it, and that was my answer..." said Aina cleaning her lips, then she had a drink of tea.

Nanaka blinked a few times, not sure if she was following Aina's train of thought.

"The truth is that I'm... exhausted! That's the real thing, and if any of us tells you otherwise, they're lying; but y'know? This makes me happy!" she said pointing with half her bread with the plum paste, "The fact that after a tiring and exhausting day, I can have 'this' and your company..."

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise, feeling her cheeks become the color of plump paste.

"Also, the feeling that I'm doing my best at practice, that I'm getting better! I mean, after all, I had a good time at practice, I laughed a lot, and that made me happy... I feel that we are getting somewhere as a group." finished Aina with a soft voice, then looked at Nanaka and gave another big bite to her bread, making herself sure to taste it.

Nanaka blinked and smiled at her softly.

Aina had always told her that it wasn't worth it if she didn't enjoy the ride.
And with reason, she had had a really hard time in the beginning, she had every reason to send the whole project to hell. How many times did she end up fainting, crying, and cursing after a recording or a practice session?

Truth was that she had lost count.

But definitely, she wasn't happy at practice, or while recording.
Then, it wasn't about her happiness.

Nanaka frowned.

Aina charged her batteries with "happiness" by being with her, by being with Aqours, and all those activities.

She could relate to feeling happy being with Aina, but that wasn't enough to make her wake up every day and drag her tired and pale body to Lantis Building to keep dealing with the madness.

And even if she had fun with the looneys around, that wasn't enough to feel recharged, it was quite the opposite, they were noisy and annoying, to say that she felt recharged and feeling happy with Aqours around, adding to this constant scoldings from the Lead Teacher, the Producer, The Chief, or someone from the staff.

Aina swallowed and looked at Nanaka with a sad gaze. Maybe she understood that she had unlocked something inside her Nana.

Or maybe she had finally fallen asleep with her eyes open.

"So, how do you do it?" asked Aina.

Nanaka blinked faster and then looked at her like coming back for the "Suwa World".

"Sorry, what?" she asked.

"How do you do it? How do you keep going?" asked Aina, eating the final bite of her snack.

Nanaka gave her a sad look because she now realized that she didn't know how she did what she did.
She was like a zombie waking up, going to Lantis Building, recording, training, practicing, and then going home, to then repeat all the same again on the next day.

Was she happy doing that?

She took her time thinking about it, but to tell the truth, she was tired, it was late, and now she was eager to get into her bed and stop having philosophical conversations with Aina.

In any case, Aina used to drag her into more serious conversations than Shuka.

"Well," started Nanaka with all her seriousness, "I drink a lot of Redbull."

Aina opened her mouth like a fish as she blinked a few times, astonished. Nanaka just blinked.

Maybe she wanted a more elaborate answer?
A More romantic one like hers, to tell her that she was happy too, the same way she was? Or maybe something more Arisa-like, to tell her "I do what I do because of money".

No, money wasn't an issue here.

Anyways, as always, deeper conversations around food were something like their thing, but the truth was that it was late for that, and Nanaka craved her bed more than anything else.

Nanaka took her cup and drank what was left of the tea, it was time to call it a day.

"I'm tired," said Nanaka with her boring tone as she stood from the table; Aina looked at her with her eyes wide open, and with hints of sadness.

"Sorry… I was…just—" tried Aina, maybe feeling that she had messed up the conversation.

"Don't worry Aina," said Nanaka walking to the sink to leave her cup, "it's just….I don't have the same kind of energy as you…"

"Suwawa…" she heard Aina call behind her.

"It's late, that's all…" said Nanaka in her gloomy tone as she opened the faucet to wash her cup, but as soon as she did it, she felt a tiny body gluing to her back.

"I'm sorry…" said Aina with seriousness in her tone; Nanaka felt her heart stop.

"Aina..." called Nanaka softly.

"I didn't want to upset you..."

"I'm not upset," said Nanaka softly; she stopped the faucet.

"Did I do something wrong?" asked Aina again in her watery voice.

Nanaka blinked and felt her heart in her throat. This wasn't normal at all.

Aina was now so scared to say or do anything because it might upset her, or hurt her.

How bad her conversation with Arisa had been that Aina became so insecure...?

This wasn't about jealousy anymore or Shuka. It was their weird relationship that was now making Aina insecure.

Nanaka being cold and distant for the last two weeks, denying her sex or affection, being in constant tension.

This wasn't healthy.

This is not how I want our relation to be…

Nanaka dried her hands and made some movements for Aina to understand that she was about to turn around.
Aina understood the motion and separated a bit from Nanaka, but not enough to break the embrace.

They faced each other.

Aina had a sad face while Nanaka tried to look kind, but it could be easily misunderstood with annoyance or sleepiness. (Or anything actually)

Nanaka made the move and hugged her tightly; Aina's little and soft body trapped in her arms.

For just a second they became lost in each other's eyes when Aina tried to speak...

"Su…Suwawa—" Aina was cut off by Nanaka's lips.

Nanaka closed her eyes trying to savor Aina's plump lips and trying to express her love with the kiss because it seemed that they just couldn't understand each other with words.

Nanaka tried to rest her back on the sink as she pulled Aina against her body, trying to get comfier and not break the moment/mood once again because of her being tired.

Aina somehow understood everything and clinched to Nanaka's body as if her life depended on it, tiptoeing to reach deeper into the kiss.

Kissing Aina always felt and tasted good. Somehow all her problems seemed to fade away while kissing her.

But of course, Aina just couldn't tiptoe forever and broke the kiss, but not the embrace.

They looked at each other with love.

There was something in Aina's eyes that always soothed her; maybe it was because they were big and shiny, or maybe because Aina had always loved her and that could be easily reflected in her eyes. Even maybe from as far as Nanaka trying to be happy with someone else, but Aina had always been there, loving her, whether it was with friendship, or now with more romantic ways.

And maybe that's why she still wanted to fight for their love, because of how unconditional Aina's love for her was.

Truth was that she loved everything about Aina.
Because, if it wasn't that way, then how could she still stick around Aina after everything she had done to her?

"Aina… you ok?" asked Nanaka softly.

Aina closed her eyes softly, feeling somehow guilty.

"Am I ruining it?" asked Aina, hugging Nanaka, hiding her head in Nanaka's chest.

"No…" said Nanaka kindly, "But you need to stop worrying about it…"

Aina gave her a shy nod.

"We will be better; one day at the time…" said Nanaka with a sweet voice, knowing that all processes took their time. Aina's behaviors couldn't change from one minute to another, and Nanaka needed to be patient.

Aina had been patient with Nanaka and waited for her, and her love, it was fair that Nanaka gave Aina space to undo her twisted ways with her. She wasn't like that, and she shouldn't be anymore.

"Uhmmm you smell so good…" said Aina against Nanaka's blouse; Nanaka smiled softly as she started caressing her back.

Nanaka closed her eyes for a bit, feeling the warm body against her, Aina's slow breathing, and the ticking sound from the kitchen clock.

Maybe this was somehow close to happiness?

Nanaka opened her eyes softly, and as if on cue, Aina looked at her; her big and shiny eyes glued on her sleepy ones.

They smiled at each other and then they kissed again.

"Thanks, for the plumb paste…" murmured Aina against Nanaka's lips.

"My pleasure…" said Nanaka as Aina gave her another wet kiss.

Thanks to Nanaka leaning on the sink, it was easier to hold them in that standing position and enjoy how the kiss became messier and wetter within seconds.

Aina's hands started to move and fondle Nanaka's hips; it made Nanaka frown a bit, because, whether she loved Aina's touch, it had been 2 weeks since Aina had last put a single finger on her body, and besides, she just couldn't have sex with her, her body wasn't ready.

Aina put on some pressure on the act, and as she introduced her tongue deeper into Nanaka's mouth, her left hand wandered to Nanaka's rear, it made her open her eyes abruptly, and as if on cue, the washing machine beeped, telling them that their training clothes were ready.

Nanaka broke the hug and softly pushed Aina back.

Aina slowly opened her eyes with a goofy smile, but it slowly faded away, replacing it with a worried expression.

"Oh…" said Aina softly, "so—sorry, I didn't want to push it, you ok?"

Nanaka bit her lips, Aina was apologizing, again.

"I'm ok…the clothes are ready…" said Nanaka softly, making some movements to tell Aina to move out of her way, but Aina only moved halfway, she grabbed Nanaka's hand.

"Suwawa, I'm sorry… I didn't mean it!" Aina apologized again, almost whining.

Nanaka looked at her with a sad gaze. Aina was feeling guilty, still.

This only told Nanaka that they weren't ready to be a couple.

She took a deep breath, blinked a few times, and looked at Aina with tenderness.

"Aina, it's not your fault…" said Nanaka softly, "I… I can't have sex right now…"

"Eh…?"

"And… yeah… you kissing me… like that… makes me… all horny…" said Nanaka quite embarrassed, her cheeks bright red, she even looked to the side, "So…yeah… but I…just… can't now…" finished Nanaka with some bitterness.

"Oh-oh!" snapped Aina in her loud voice, "It's that time already?!"

"Uhm…" nodded Nanaka shyly.

Aina started doing some math with her fingers and then gave Nanaka a wide smile. Of course, Nanaka had a very embarrassed face.

"Oh my, don't make that face, you are so bad for my heart Nana…" said Aina in a better mood and a mocking tone, "It's ok Suwawa-chan! I understand…" Aina tried to move out of the kitchen, but this time it was Nanaka who grabbed her hand and made her look at her.

"Aina," called Nanaka in her serious tone, it made Aina's smile fade.

They stood looking at each other with seriousness for a few seconds, both blinked and made some worried expressions.

"What? Don't scare me like this…" said Aina with her serious mode on, "You are really bad for my heart…"

Nanaka made a bitter face.

"I should be good for you, not bad…" said Nanaka in her dry tone.

"It's an expression…" said Aina softly, then she swallowed, "What?…what is it…?"

"I… I think we are not ready…" said Nanaka softly, trying to sound in control, but not mad.

"Ready… ready for what?" asked Aina confused, "Ready for sex?… Ready to go to bed?…"

Nanaka shook her head.

"Ready to be a couple…" said Nanaka softly.

"Oh…" said Aina, clearly surprised.

"I… I'm sorry…" said Nanaka.

Aina frowned and moved her head to the side.

"Wait… what does that mean?" asked Aina now with her voice cracked, then she searched for Nanaka's free hand to grab it firmly, "I mean!" she became louder, "After all I said back in the entrance?! That I want us to do this right?!"

Nanaka opened her eyes wide, she held her breath, Aina and her explosive character, of course, she was losing it.

"Seriously! I explained it to you! What I feel, what YOU make me feel! And how sorry I am for what I did! And now you tell me this?!" said Aina now losing herself, there was clearly anger in her voice.

Nanaka blinked, took a deep breath, and spoke softly.

"Exactly, that is why…"

Aina opened her big eyes wider.

"SERIOUSLY?!"

Nanaka raised an eyebrow, it was clear that Aina wasn't getting it.
Aina was about to let Nanaka's hands go, when Nanaka grabbed them firmly, making Aina remain in her position.
Both shared some serious faces.

"Seriously, you don't let me finish," said Nanaka in control.

Aina gave her an angry look, but Nanaka just couldn't take it seriously, because Aina looked adorable when "angry". She even pouted.
If Nanaka wasn't talking about something serious and delicate, she could have eaten Aina's mouth.

But no. It was a serious conversation, and as Nanaka had determined on Monday night at McDonald's, she now was in control of what she wanted and how she wanted it, and she thought that Aina had understood the situation and agreed to collaborate, but it was quite clear to Nanaka, that Aina wasn't ready, she had issues, which she had spilled out earlier at the entrance, and somehow, now there was some kind of "trauma" due to her behaviors.

And not happy and good results can come out from a relationship based on those kinds of things.

Of course, Nanaka wanted to commit to Aina, and she would have all the patience in the world to wait for Aina to undo her doings, which clearly affected her, meaning that she just couldn't officialese her relationship with her.

"Don't take it wrong Aina… I still want to commit to you…" said Nanaka softly, watching how some tears gathered in the corner of Aina's eyes.

"I don't understand…" said Aina softly, then sobbed.

"Aina I thought we were on the same page, but it's clear to me, thanks to all the things you said earlier that you still have issues… and it's ok, you are figuring it out…" said Nanaka in a soft tone.

"But—" tried Aina.

"It's ok Aina-chan, I still want to be with you, I just said that we can't make it official…" said Nanaka with a kind smile.

"Eh?… Ya' wanted to make it official?" asked Aina, but Nanaka wasn't sure if it was with a happy and joyful tone or a somewhat scared one.

"Of course Aina, then what the hell are we doing?" asked Nanaka, a bit astonished.

"But… wait, I'm not following …." said Aina confused.

"Aina… I told you that I don't want to have 'an open relationship' as we were doing till… Uhm, Monday… I guess…" said Nanaka, now scratching her chin, "I thought that was clear…."

"It was!"

"But, I can see that you have issues, you are still jealous of Shuka, and you are still afraid…of… touching me…" said Nanaka softly.

"What?! I'm not!" retorted Aina quite offended.

"You are! You are apologizing for everything! Afraid of being with me, afraid of doing your weird things again!" answered Nanaka with a strong tone.

"That's… not—"

"Yes, it is, and I can't, we can't work as a couple like that!" said Nanaka, "Because you are too insecure about us… about yourself…"

Aina closed her mouth in bitterness because Nanaka was right.
Aina looked at her shoes in shame, her hands started to shake in Nanaka's.

"You said that you've had enough; our behaviors were triggered because of your jealousy of Shuka and your insecurities, and that made you take me without my consent," said Nanaka strongly, Aina was feeling weak.

Nanaka held her hands with strength, making Aina look at her.

"And I get it…" said Nanaka softly, trying to sound kind, "You need to let that go"

"But…But, I said I was done with that… I—"

"Yes, but that kind of thing doesn't go away from the hall entrance to the Kitchen; you telling me that, and that you are done with it, it's only the first step…" said Nanaka softly.

Aina closed her eyes and some tears ran from them; Nanaka raised her eyebrows with sadness.

"Aina-chan, please don't cry…" said Nanaka, drying Aina's cheeks.

Aina sobbed and shook her head.

"No, no, you are right…" murmured Aina between sobs, "We can't be a couple if… if… I'm such a mess…"

"That's why I said, 'one day at a time'…" said Nanaka drying Aina's other cheek, "We can still be happy together..."

Aina opened her eyes with a sad look.

"Aren't you…breaking up with me…?" asked Aina shyly.

Nanaka raised one eyebrow.

"What?…"

What.

Aina sobbed and looked at Nanaka confused.

"Aina… "called Nanaka, then she massaged her temples.

"I…I don't get you at all…" said Aina now recovering her normal tone, "Why are you so difficult?… Jesus! Girls are so difficult…" now Aina was massaging her temples.

"Geez, no…" said Nanaka, then she recalled how Shuka told her the same. Because of course, it would be easy to just accept having a whatever relationship, with no rules at all, and not consider the consequences. But Suwa Nanaka didn't work that way.

"Then?"

"Aina, I love you, I want to be with you… but you, right now… need to figure some things out…" said Nanaka like losing her patience.

"Me uh?" asked Aina a bit annoyed.

Nanaka looked at her with a deadpan face.

"Yes, you. I know what I want," said Nanaka diligently, "I told you on Monday."

Aina blinked.

"Right…" murmured Aina.

"You have jealousy issues, and now a guilt complex coz of your behavior towards me…not to mention that you need to get rid of your 'old man' kinks…" said Nanaka diligently.

Aina looked at her with a serious expression.

"Then, ya' want to change me?… you want me to fit into what YOU want….?" asked Aina in a serious tone.

Nanaka looked at her. Blinked a few times.

Yes.

"No, what are you saying…" said Nanaka, "You just told me that you were done feeling jealous of Shuka; so work it out. You told me that you were sorry for taking me without my consent and being pushy; then stop apologizing or treating me that you are hurting me all the time, I've already forgiven you; your 'old man' act is because you drool over other girls while trying to be with me; stop it!"

Aina looked at her with bitterness.
Maybe that was a lot to ask. Maybe Nanaka was now being pushy, so she hurried to add:

"Unless… all of that makes you happy…"

Aina twitched her tongue.

"Please Suwawa, you know that's not the reason." said Aina with a tired tone, "How can I be happy feeling jealous of her, or wanting to keep hurting you with my impulses…"

Nanaka shrugged.

"Of course, not…" said Aina softly, but she looked away, still ashamed, "I'm weird…"

"Yes," said Nanaka as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Aina deadpanned her.

"What? You are…" said Nanaka as she held Aina's hands once again, "And I love you, weird and all…" then she stole a little kiss from her lips. It was salty.

"But—"

"What I meant to say was, that I love you, I want to be with you, but we are not girlfriend material yet; is that clear to you?" asked Nanaka softly.

Aina blinked a few times trying to put the pieces together.

"So… for you… it's a label thingie?" asked Aina shyly.

"A label?"

"Yes… I mean, we are still… together…" said Aina.

"Yes Aina, we are…" answered Nanaka softly.

"Exclusively…right?" asked Aina again.

"Yes, no more ladies or open relationships…" said Nanaka now with less patience.

Aina curved the tips of her lips.

"Then it's not a problem at all!" snapped Aina with a big smile, even rising her arms to the sky.

Nanaka looked at her speechless.

"Don't give me that look, I thought you were breaking up with me." said Aina with a wide smile, "But that's not the case, then everything is fine!"

"It is?" asked Nanaka a bit confused, Aina was so weird that she could go from crying to laughter in seconds.

"Of course!" said Aina in English while using Mari's tone, "As far as I understand; we are still together, exclusively, and you will be by my side, waiting for me to sort my shit out…"

Both shared a soft gaze; Aina smiled goofily as Nanaka just blinked.
Sometimes Aina's way of putting her ideas in order was somewhat… unsettling, not to mention, a bit basic.

"Then no problem!" said Aina, now more chilled, "The most important thing is that we are still together, that you still love me…"

"Yes…"

"Then, I guess it's ok!" said Aina with a smile.

"Are you?" asked Nanaka, now feeling that she might have been a little pushy.

"Yes, Nana, I am… you are right…" said Aina more securely, "We can't be labeled as a couple if I'm still feeling jealous or afraid of being with you; so I guess we are fine… we are dating, no biggie…"

Well, if it works for her… then I guess it's ok.

Nanaka smiled wide.

Aina was so chill about it, that it was almost scary.

Then Aina snorted.

"Gee! And I'm the weird one..." said Aina in her goofy tone.

"But you are"

"Nana, ya' are wasting sleep time in this conversation because you just don't want to label our thing, but truth is that we were just fine without it, don't get why the fuzz!" said Aina shrugging and moving towards the table to start clearing her things.

Nanaka blinked.

"But the thing is that I wanted to..." said Nanaka in a sad tone.

"You wanted what?" asked Aina, gathering her stuff and putting them in the sink.

Nanaka frowned, maybe feeling silly about her own feelings.

"I... Aina, all this time..." started Nanaka, then she scratched her right eye, "All this time you were asking for commitment, you wanting me to openly break up with Shuka to the members, you wanting for me to move on and to be with you..."

"Yes, I wanted all of that..." said Aina with a normal tone, almost as if Nanaka was talking nonsense.

"Well, it happens that I'm ready to give you that..." said Nanaka softly, trying to make Aina understand her point, "Maybe not the 'telling the members part', because, well, we've talked about it, but all the rest... I mean, you waited months for me to heal, to feel ready to commit... and that was on Monday..."

Aina raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Yeah— are ya'?" asked Aina with a weird tone.

"Yes Aina, I am, but today, it was clear that you aren't ready for that," said Nanaka, now scratching her other eye. It seemed that her contacts were making her eyes itchy, it was time to sleep.

Aina looked at her seriously, maybe now understanding better why Nanaka had told her what she did.

"It is true?" asked Aina seriously.

"What thing?"

"That you moved on? I mean, please don't think it's my Jealousy speaking," hurried Aina to say, "but you used to love her, a lot, you flirted with her, today again, the lineup, the rehearsals, all, she is like, everywhere around you..."

Nanaka blinked tiredly.
Wasn't it really the jealousy speaking?

"Aina, I'm done..." said Nanaka tiredly, "I want to be with you, my thing with Shuka is done, the only thing we have is friendship, and Aqours... and I'm sorry that the lineup is giving you a hard time, or practice... a lot of that 'flirting' is in the script... script that Production made..."

Nanaka ended her phrase biting her lips guiltily, because, yes, Production determined some things, but it was all based on how these two interacted as a "happy couple" for Aqours to buy the lie, but Production didn't manage to do anything about the NanaAinya or the sort, and maybe it was all because of the lineup.

Aina gave her a sad gaze.

"I... I get it..." said Aina sadly, "So, the table turned on me, uh? Now I'm the one who's not ready..."

"I get that this might be new for you..." said Nanaka softly.

"Yes... yes, I mean..." said Aina in her serious mode, "All my relationships had been 'open', no strings attached, no exclusivity, or such...of course, no labels..."

"I thought that might be the case..." said Nanaka.

"But Suwawa, you are different..." said Aina being sincere, "I've loved you since day one...and I learned that you are different, special, and I can't offer you what I used to give... to the other ladies, you aren't like them, and clearly, it's not what you want from me... our love is stronger."

Nanaka nodded.

"I... I want to give you the world..." said Aina, still in her serious mode, "So I accept it, I'm gonna work on my shits, and I'll try to become the person who can stand by your side, weird and all..." finished Aina giggling, but clenching her fists in a sign of a fight.

Nanaka gave her a smile and extended her arms in a sign of a hug.
Aina curved the tips of her lips.

"What's this? 'Kanan-chan'?" mocked Aina, but in seconds she was receiving the hug.

"Let's hug." said Nanaka softly in Kanan's voice, Aina couldn't help but giggle.

"I love you Suwawa... a lot..." murmured Aina in Nanaka's chest. Nanaka gave a soft kiss on Aina's head.

"I love you too..." said Nanaka, both broke the hug and smiled at each other.

"Sure you are ok?" asked Nanaka again with concern, "I don't want to make decisions on my own..."

"Yes yes, I am, actually I feel relieved..." said Aina sighing.

"Maybe this sounds a little stupid..." continued Nanaka in a tired tone, "but, as I'm an organized person, I don't like being on the loose...I'm sorry, it doesn't work for me, the 'open relationship' thing, that's why I like labels..."

Aina smiled at her wide, somehow she knew that; Nanaka was too diligent with her life, and of course, that applied to work and relationships too. She liked to have everything organized and in order, so of course, someone as crazy as Aina just coming into her life to rock her world, she needed some ground rules to somehow make her feel as if she had some control.

"Yes, I know..." said Aina turning around, "even if we don't have one right now, I somehow knew that you just can't like the idea of having an 'open relationship', silly me that proposed that..."

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.
Aina felt that she was incapable of doing it.

Of course, she didn't like the idea of sharing Aina with someone else, but Aina didn't have any issues sharing Nanaka with someone. Maybe because Aina always knew that "diligent and correct" Nanaka wouldn't even try.

She bit her lips.

"I should have asked you out, in the first place..." said Aina giggling, "Anyways! I'll take the clothes out of the washing machine..." finished Aina, walking towards the hall.

Nanaka was left in the kitchen with a dish, a knife, and two mugs to wash.

She raised an eyebrow.

What the hell...

Nanaka started doing the dishes almost on autopilot, but with a clear frown on her forehead.

What just happened was weird, not to mention that everything felt upside down.

Nanaka was someone who liked things in a concrete way, not some things flying around senselessly. Having an "open relationship" was something like that; it was something ethereal for her. So she wasn't used to doing that, instead, she had set a couple of rules.

Like everything in society, it needed rules to work, whether they were socially imposed, or more personal.
Something like the moral scales. Society told you what was right, and what wasn't... (and wrong, of course).

When she started dating Shuka, of course, they went through a "beta phase", where they dated, fucked, and did everything they did in the shadows. Yes, they didn't have a label, although Shuka didn't want that, they had some sort of implied exclusivity. Meaning it wasn't an open relationship.

Things, of course, changed on that special date where Shuka confessed to Kawakami Nao and had asked her out officially.
There, they had become a labeled couple.

Nanaka closed the faucet.

Was it that important to use a label?

The very first months of the "beta dating" with Shuka had been almost like a honeymoon. She didn't have to have so many rules with Shuka, because Shuka was on the same page. Both wanted each other and no one else, neither wanted to explore anywhere else. So, if they were doing good, why did they have to go through all the trouble of making that thing official?

Maybe it was what Nanaka felt was right at the moment, but Shuka had agreed, so it was what it was.

Aina on the other hand, was never on the same page as Nanaka, because while they were in their "beta dating" time, she wanted to be free and have the good stuff while Nanaka wanted to commit. (And was healing from her breakup...)

The difference between a serious relationship with a casual one.

It wasn't just a label thingie, it was commitment.

It was a way to control Aina.

Nanaka put the dishes on the drying rack and let them dry on their own. She dried her hands and did a small "uhm".

She felt puzzled by a big contradiction with legs called Suzuki Aina.

Aina wanted her, but she also wanted to be free at the same time.

But maybe it wasn't just Aina's fault, of course not, when you love someone you need to love them with all pros and cons; and that included that Aina's heart had a very special shape, a shape that was different from hers, and if she wasn't careful enough, this relationship might fail hard.

She turned the kitchen's light off with a gloomy mood and walked towards the changing room inside the bathroom to start changing into her pajamas.

She entered and found Aina hanging the clothes carefully, both shared a smile as Nanaka walked in.

Nanaka started to remove her blouse in silence, and Aina couldn't help but make a drowned sound.

"What?" asked Nanaka without a care in the world, leaving her blouse in a basket and not even looking at her.

"This is unfair… you are being unfair…" murmured Aina trying hard to not peek at Nanaka's now bared skin.

"Eh? Why?" asked Nanaka grabbing her pajama tops and unfolding them, "You see me every day, here, and in the changing room at Lantis"

"Why?!" snapped Aina, as she turned towards her, her eyes wide and shiny, "Suwawa! You are undressing here in my face! We are alone! And you expect me not to do anything?!"

Nanaka looked at her with her "Suwa Face", blinked a few times with no expression at all, she unhooked her bra, and in front of Aina's astonished eyes, removed the piece of cloth that fell gracefully at Nanaka's ankles, Aina's orbs glued to Nanaka's chest as the old man she was.

Without saying a thing, and seeing that Aina was in some kind of lewd spell, Nanaka just put on the upper part of her pajamas. When she was done, she bent down, picked the bra back up, and looked at Aina.

"Exactly," she said dryly.

Aina blinked, and far from being sad or annoyed, she looked at Nanaka straight in her eyes and said;
"You are so cute" with a bright smile.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise, of course, that wasn't the comment or even the reaction she was expecting.
Once again, Aina letting her know she couldn't control her, not even read her.

"What? Ya' surprised…?" said Aina with her wide smile as she unhooked her own skirt.

In seconds the cloth was at her ankles too, revealing Aina's gorgeous legs.

Nanaka felt her heart stopping.
Of course, both could play the same game.

Aina smiled wide, she knew that she was playing with fire, but she didn't stop there: with quick hands, she took off her sweater and her blouse, leaving her only in her undies.

Nanaka mentally cursed.

Maybe her eyes were also glued on Aina's body, like falling into a lewd spell herself, because she just couldn't move.

Aina, knowing everything she was doing, took her clothes and put them in the same basket, then turned towards Nanaka, and with her wide smile said;
"I need you to lend me some pajamas, I just washed mine."

"What?" snapped Nanaka surprised, like remembering where she was, Aina instead bent down slowly and took her pantyhoses off, one leg first, then taking her time with the other leg, to finally put them in the basket too.

Nanaka took her time to study Aina's body carefully...

"What ya' heard, I washed mine now…" said Aina with an innocent tone and pointing them out amongst the clothes that were hanging to dry; Nanaka blinked.

"Wh—what, why would you do that…?" asked Nanaka astonished, trying to unglue her eyes off Aina's body.

"It was dirty, what else…see? This is why I need to go back to my place and bring more clothes…" said Aina in her funny tone.

Nanaka was just processing the information when Aina started to move towards the sink.

"But I can stay like this if ya' don't mind…" said Aina grabbing her toothbrush.

Nanaka shook her head heavily and continued, trying to ignore an almost naked Aina on the other side of the room.

Who was being unfair now?!

Nanaka just couldn't have sex with her at that moment due to biological issues, not because she wanted to teach Aina some kind of lesson.

She tried to hurry up and change into her pajamas, while Aina brushed her teeth, and maybe her face too, she couldn't know, at that moment she could only hear the faucet open and some water sounds, but she tried to ignore them to finish up quickly.

When she did, Aina was leaving the bathroom, Nanaka hurried and shouted "Put something on!"
But she could only hear Aina's old man's laughter fading towards her room.

She was unreadable, uncontrollable… and at that moment, untouchable, and her name was Suzuki Aina.

And unfortunately, she had stolen Nanaka's heart, and even if Nanaka just couldn't read her or control her, there was something that triggered all her emotions and made her love Aina even more.

After her nightly beauty session, Nanaka walked to her room, pajamas on, her nerdy glasses too, and ready to sleep, to find that Aina was already in her bed sniffing her pillow. She couldn't help but stop in the middle of the room.

Of course, when they were alone Aina would sneak into Nanaka's bed, never minding the guest futon. The story changed when Nanaka's parents were there, mostly due to respect for her parents. But that week, they were alone, and Aina was more than delighted to share the bed with her Nana. Even if nothing had happened in those 4 nights in a row, but still.

"What are you doing…?" asked Nanaka with a deadpan voice, seeing Aina dramatically sniff Nanaka's pillow again, followed by her sighing "Ah~!" Then looked back at Nanaka, and did it again, with more passion.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow.

"I love your smell…" said Aina giggling.

"I see… are you dressed?" asked Nanaka walking to her nightstand.

"Uhm… I'm wearing undies…." said Aina followed by her sniffing the pillow again.

Nanaka blinked tiredly; Aina was weird, and of course, was provoking Nanaka.
But, she was tired, so, this time she ignored her.

"You will catch a cold…" said Nanaka dryly, leaving her glasses and her phone on the nightstand.

"That's why ya're here; to keep me warm!" said Aina moving more to the wall to give Nanaka space to sit.

"You should take your health seriously..." said Nanaka in a tired tone as she grabbed her blankets and opened them to get inside.
She stopped breathing.

Then she blinked a few times.
Closed her eyes and took a deep breath, to open them again and stick her sight on Aina's eyes. Of course, Aina simply answered with a lewd smile.

"You are really weird..." said Nanaka slowly.

Of course, Aina was only wearing her undies.

"What?! Ya' see me in the changing room every day, this isn't new..." said Aina giggling.

Yes, Aina was paying her back, but Nanaka was just too tired to even retort.
Of course, they saw each other every day in the changing room, but one thing was changing clothes, and another was sleeping with an almost naked Aina beside her.

And not even being able to touch her.

Nanaka went inside at her slow pace, and as soon as her body was in the bed, Aina glued to her.

"Please take care of yourself..." said Nanaka softly, feeling the warm and tiny body get closer, she rounded her with her left arm.

"I'm doing my bestruby," said Aina trying to mock Aiai's catchphrase.

Nanaka gave her a final look before turning off the light, she couldn't help but smile at her.
Aina also changed her goofy face for another more serious one, and then smiled sweetly at her.

Maybe both understood that at the end of the day, that was the happiest moment in it.

When they only had each other, and there was nothing else to worry about. No jealousy, no practice, no labels, no Aqours, nothing.

Just them.

And Aina in her undies.

Nanaka smiled softly and kissed her forehead. In response, Aina went even closer and found her place between Nanaka's almost non-existent breast.

"You are so pretty…" said Aina in a soft tone, it made Nanaka's cheeks turn furious red.

Nanaka softly stroked Aina's hair and closed her eyes, feeling the moment.
Slowly their breathing becoming a soothing sound as they started dozing away into deep sleep.

Holding each other's hopes and love.
One step at a time.

Feeling that maybe the project was a pain in her ass sometimes, maybe the whole Love Live! Sunshine thing was a bit too much, and she might end up exhausted, and willing to send everything to hell, but if it weren't because of this project and all its complications, she might have never found Aina.

And with her, her current state of happiness.

.

.

Happiness was a very difficult mood.

It could last seconds or even hours, and maybe for Aina, it was almost like a normal.
How that worked for Aina was a complete mystery to Nanaka. It was like, no matter what she faced, Aina was always so full of energy, always had a smile on her face, and had a good time.

And not even minding whatever difficulty she was facing; Aina always did her best with a smile.

Even when she was failing on a task, very different from Nanaka, whose face turned into an annoyed one when she was scolded. Of course, no one liked to be treated as a failure, or as if she was slowing the whole group down.

Of course, it frustrated her, it annoyed her, but not Aina.
She was always smiling, mocking, and taking the scolding as another joke.
Maybe too lightly.

Maybe everything was to be taken lightly for Aina.

Even being on time for their improvised "date".

It made Nanaka massage her frowned eyebrows, trying to understand how someone so small could puzzle her, made her heart crazy, and also made her wait in the cold.

As they had talked the night before, they had agreed to meet and do some grocery shopping, so Aina could get her favorite snacks, fill the fridge, and why not some deserved treats, but also spend some quality time, even though Aina insisted on going home to change some clothes, say "hi" to her sister, and then go back to Nanaka's.

Nanaka was a bit hesitant about it and insisted on adding more stuff to the schedule for Aina to realize that the trip back and forth to Chiba was worthless and a waste of useful time.

But Aina just waved that aside with a bright smile.

SHE WANTED TO GO.

Period.

The same way Aina had to work out her jealousy issues with Shuka - Thing that now Nanaka was aware and conscious of, and seemed to be very difficult to handle due to the lineup and the script- Nanaka had to work on her patience.

Aina wanted to go home and do her things, and Nanaka needed to live with that and bear the fact that Aina needed her space too.

So, after practice -which for some reason ended earlier- Aina decided to go as quickly as she could to Chiba, while Nanaka, with a very gloomy face, decided to spend time in a commercial district in Shibuya near the Lantis Building to wait for Aina. BUT, of course, the amount of time Aina needed to spend just traveling was about 4 hours, (2 going, 2 coming back), and if she added an hour to spend with her sister while arranging her new batch of clothes… it meant that Aina at the least would take around 5 hours.

Nanaka tried to be busy at that time.

So, after Tweeting about their SIFAC playing session in Ikebukuro, she might have visited all the stores in Shibuya, looking for nothing in particular, but every bored girl with a generous wallet could manage to find something to buy.

She had almost forgotten that she was making time waiting for Aina when she found a clothes store called "Fint"; it was heaven.
All her one-pieces dresses and doll-like clothes were sold in that store, and she couldn't be happier to spend money on that.

It was as if Christmas had come ahead of time.
That definitely made her the happiest.

But as Nanaka knew, happiness was a short mood state, and soon that feeling faded with the store announcing its closing. Of course, it was very late, and whether she liked it or not, she had to leave.

She checked the time and frowned.

It was really late, and maybe all the stores in Tokyo were closing by that time, including the supermarket.

Nanaka bit her lips; of course, 5 hours for Aina to do her things, was a lot of wasted time.

Maybe it was better for Aina to stay in Chiba and forget about the "express date".
It wasn't worth it.

The mere thought shrugged Nanaka's heart. It made her sad.

With her heart in her throat, and feeling gloomier than ever, she walked through the streets towards the station.

It was snowing, and she was cold to the bone. Besides that, she felt tired.
She was not only returning home from a day of shooting, practicing, and now she had dared to go shopping. She was surprised that she was still on her feet.

Waiting for a green light, she realized how empty she felt about telling Aina to stay home and not rush back. The thought of having to spend a night alone was colder than the snow she was stepping on.

She felt her heart stopping.
Sadness invaded her.

Was it because of a dependent feeling? She was used to being alone.
She LOVED to be alone, but returning home alone, after 4 days where Aina was with her...

It felt wrong. It felt sad.

She looked at her bags with sadness; things didn't give her happiness, just joy for a moment. Now, those bags full of cute doll-like clothes were just emptiness in her hands.

Was she filling a blank space in her heart?

After the previous night's conversation with Aina about happiness, she had started wondering, was she really happy? Was Aqours making her happy? Her job? Aina? Being in love? Was she just filling the emptiness of not having the ideal relationship with Aina with this sensation?

Did she need that many clothes? Maybe she should have bought something else?

No, that wasn't the answer, actually, she didn't need anything material.
She was all covered, but she needed to fill that gap, not actually knowing with what.

Was it because Aina was living her life, and so was Shuka?
Maybe it was because she wasn't fitting in their lives anymore...

Maybe she needed to have more jobs or the sort to fill that empty space; seeing Aina a lot busier than her, and with way more responsibilities, like a house, her sister...and Nanaka only had free time to fill while shopping for empty dresses...

But maybe, now that she was doing well in her career it was time to reward herself with everything she wanted, but never really needed?

The green light turned on, and she continued towards the station.

She realized that this shopping spree had just been a whim in order to kill time. The more she took, the happiest she was, but in the end, it was just emptiness.

It felt like her love life.

I feel ashamed...

After a quick stop in the nearest Combini for her "ice cream a day" as the last self-reward, she decided that it was enough.

She stood on the platform waiting for her train back home when she looked at her phone again.

She took a deep breath and grabbed it firmly while deciding to call Aina and cancel everything.
She just couldn't be THAT selfish to make Aina take an express trip to her place, say a quick "hi" to her sister and then force her to another 2 hours trip, just because Nanaka was feeling lonely and empty.

It wasn't fair, Aina loved her sister a lot; when was the last time they could be together? Aina had gone to Korea, and that same week was "forced" to live with Nanaka, preventing her from seeing her sister. Of course, Aina deserved her space too.

But, she couldn't make the call (or the text). Aina had sent her a message on their private LINE chat first; Nanaka felt her heart stopping and almost dropped her phone on the train tracks.

The message was lovely, not to mention full of stickers. It was Aina telling her that she was on her way, arriving at Ebisu station (The closest to Lantis Building), so where on Earth was she?

Nanaka closed her eyes and smiled goofily.

Aina could take not only one breath away, but she also rocked her world.

With shaking fingers she wrote that she was waiting for her train home in Shibuya Station.

OH! NANA WENT SHOPPING FOR GIRLY CLOTHES! （๑✧∀✧๑） *:. o(≧▽≦)o .:*

I hope you haven't spent all your money on a dress! б（＞ε＜）∂

Save for my Christmas present! ( ੭눈 _ 눈 )੭

Nanaka smiled; Aina knew her so well.
But it also made her frown, she quickly glanced at the time once again, and it was late.

Maybe everything would be closed between now and then, of course, it bothered Nanaka, because no matter how she looked at it, Aina was late to their date, even if they had set a time.

Then, with quick hands, she gave Aina the instructions that she would be waiting on the platform for her on the Ginza Line. Meaning that Aina needed to make a combination because she was riding the Yamanote Line, and that combination included for her to get out of the station, walk outside of the huge building, to go inside again, and change lines.

A pain if you asked Nanaka.

And here was where Nanaka was massaging her frowned eyebrows, trying to understand how someone so small could puzzle her, and make her heart crazy while waiting in the cold.

For people, Nanaka would just be her odd self and send everything off, to send people home, including herself, for a relaxing night in her tub with her glow-in-the-dark toys, to later wrap herself in blankets, and drink tea while watching Anime.

It made her rethink everything she had been feeling for the last couple of minutes.
Of course, when something didn't happen as Nanaka might have thought or planned, it bothered her.

And maybe the impulse to call Aina back and cancel everything, to then go and spend her wallet again kicked her back.
Joy versus Happiness.

But she didn't, Aina was a few stations away, and now it would be definitely rude of her to tell Aina to go home.

It wasn't for about a few minutes, and a few trains passed by when Nanaka recognized Aina's tiny features fighting against the people on the platform.

Nanaka's heart stopped, her mind went blank, and she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her belly.

Aina was just so damn cute, so much that now Nanaka felt that she was bad for her heart.

She knew that she had seen her earlier in Lantis Building while practicing; while changing, and when they departed to their afternoon activities; but still, Aina was always an enjoyment for her eyes.

Nanaka blinked a few times out of her trance to see that Aina had difficulties finding Nanaka in the massive crowd. Remembering that it was late, but Shibuya's commercial district was very busy at any time of the day, so the platform was busy with people going anywhere. Actually, Nanaka felt lucky to just spot her in the distance amongst all the people.

She decided to save her lady in distress, she moved surefooted towards her, passing through the people, and maybe ignoring all sounds around her. She fixed her eyes on the price; little Aina was just moving her head from one side to another and tiptoeing from time to time to see over people -not succeeding that much- while trying to not get in the way.

Nanaka rushed her steps trying to be careful with her shopping bags; she saw that Aina was full-handed with shopping bags too, aside from the bag she was carrying on her back, and maybe that was why she wasn't calling her on the phone or something to find her.

But it wasn't necessary, Nanaka rushed in time to call for her.

"Aina..." said Nanaka with a soft voice, but loud enough for Aina to turn around for her; Nanaka's heart stopped once again, and she couldn't help but stop abruptly.

Aina gave her a wide smile like she used to do.

"Aww, Nana! Here ya' are!" said Aina with her wide smile and loud tone.

Nanaka blinked a few times, ignoring everyone around them, and the place they were at. She just focused on the woman in front of her, the heavy bags on her hands, her tired feet, that at that moment felt like feathers and the feeling that invaded every inch of her.

Happiness.

The sadness of her earlier revelation of going home alone and not being able to spend her time with Aina, and how empty she felt about buying just bags of temporary joy, versus the idea of spending another night holding Aina in her arms.

Even if she just couldn't touch her yet.

That wasn't important.

All the sadness left with the train departing from the station, making the place quiet and at peace.

Nanaka smiled at her.

Aina moved towards her confidently.

"Hi," said Aina with her goofy tone and looking at Nanaka with a funny face, "are ya' here?, I see that you were doing just fine without me," said Aina looking at Nanaka's bags.

Nanaka snapped out of her "Suwa World".

"How are you? How was your sister?" asked Nanaka, quickly dodging the question; of course, Nanaka needed to fill her empty space with something, and nothing better than clothes from "Fint", but Aina didn't need to know that.

"Good; she has been busy with work, all good, she was glad to see me..." said Aina smiling at Nanaka sadly, then she looked at the train tracks saying with her eyes that they needed to move towards the tracks to catch the next train, Nanaka nodded as they walked.

"Well," started Nanaka with a sad tone, "you could have stayed..."

Aina stopped.
Then she looked at her with a sad face.

"What?"

Nanaka swallowed dryly. It was even painful.

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

"Seriously?"

"Well—"

Aina moved towards her, their bags touched each other.
Both held each other's sights.

But none could say a word.
The train came into the station making its noise and bringing a strong and cold wind into the station, and their hearts.

Nanaka blinked.
Maybe she had fucked up hard this time.
Aina had decided to spend less time with her sister in order to come back quickly enough to be with her, and Nanaka just had suggested she could have stayed.

She mentally kicked herself.

When the sound of the train eased and the doors opened, Aina spoke.

"You want me to leave?"

Nanaka opened her eyes wide, noticing her stupidity and feeling the self-sabotage to her own happiness.
Moved by the thought of ruining everything she grabbed Aina's arm with her free hand.

"Never; let's go home," said Nanaka with a strong tone.

"Oh..." murmured Aina in surprise as she was almost dragged into the train by Nanaka.

Of course, it was warmer inside but also crowded, even if it was late and it wasn't rush hour.
It was a Saturday evening in Shibuya, which meant that it was always crowded.

They couldn't find seats of course, and Nanaka couldn't help but notice that both of Aina's hands were busy, so she wouldn't be able to hold on to any safety bars or something. So, Nanaka did the first thing that crossed her mind; hug Aina.

Aina gasped softly from the action, and in no time the train started moving again.

The first few minutes Aina just became comfy in Nanaka's chest and soft coat, as Nanaka was lost in Aina's hair perfume.
She closed her eyes, letting the joy in.

Of course, the moment lasted until they reached the first stop.

Aina separated herself from Nanaka's body and rested one of her bags on the floor.

Nanaka looked at her with a frown.
Aina was supposed to just grab some clothes, not her whole wardrobe, so what the hell was Aina carrying?

"What are those?" asked Nanaka softly.

"Oh, these…" said Aina in a surprised tone, showing one of the bags, "Well, since we promised a quick date, but now it's kind of late, and because of me we might not be able to get into anything, I stopped on a market on my way here… saved us some time…"

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"I took the fast train to Chiba, so It took me just an hour and a half, this way I could spend more time with my sister; on the way back, as I needed to change lines, I did some grocery shopping in 'Kinshicho Station'…" said Aina with a happy tone and lifting the bag to show it's contents.

"What?" murmured Nanaka, not sure if she was glad or mad about it.

The train started again.

"Yes, there are at least three supermarkets in the station, it's madness…" said Aina, opening the bag and looking inside. Nanaka, with her free hand, grabbed Aina so she wouldn't lose her balance.

"I bought lots of green tea; there's this place called 'The Garden Jiyugaoka', first time there, but looked fancy, so fresh! There's this '100¥ corner' where you can purchase three veggies for just 100¥! So I bought—"

"There's one in Ebisu" interrupted Nanaka.

Aina looked at her.

"Oh, really?…" asked Aina surprised.

"Yes, it's on the other side of the station though, not where we used to hang…" murmured Nanaka a bit conflicted, because Ebisu Station was where Lantis Building was, so...

"Oh that's even better!" snapped Aina happily, closing the bag, "Means that if you like some of the things I bought there, we can buy another day in Ebisu."

Nanaka blinked, Aina seemed always happy.
No matter if Nanaka said something bitter, Aina just turned the tables.

"We could... have gone there now..." said Nanaka in her dry tone.

"Oh... I didn't know there was one there... " said Aina closing the bag, but still smiling, she bent to grab the other bag from the floor.

"You could have told me that those were your plans, Aina," said Nanaka in a normal tone, but somehow a bit bitter.

"But we knew the plan, the plan was having a date... and I was running late..." said Aina a bit ashamed.

Nanaka blinked a few times; Aina had done what she did for the better.
She went as fast as she could to her place -knowing that fast trains are expensive- stayed as much time as she could with her sister, to run back in another fast train, stop mid trip to do grocery shopping -actually, that what was the date was about- to continue the journey to find Nanaka.

What was the purpose now if she had already done the groceries?

She should be happy that Aina had gone through all the trouble to go back and forth from Chiba the fastest way possible to come back to her, but she couldn't help but feel annoyed about it. She understood that Aina thought it was better to do the shopping in the way because she was running late for the date, but instead, Aina had a date on her own.

Nanaka wasn't even necessary.

Nanaka hummed.
The train stopped at the second station.

"Then... what are we going to do as a date?" asked Nanaka softly.

Aina looked at her with her lips slightly opened as if Nanaka had asked the dumbest question ever. Almost as if she had grown a second head.

The whole minute the train was stopped In Gaienmae, they looked at each other.
Maybe for Aina, Nanaka was asking nonsense, as for Nanaka, it was a very genuine question.

If Aina had already done the groceries on her own, why the hell had she killed time in Shibuya? Why not go home, spend that time in her tub, or anything else. Why bother to set a place and a time? It was way faster for Aina to go straight to Nanaka's place from Chiba than doing the loop on Tokyo downtown for her to just pick her up.

The train started once again, Nanaka half-hugged her for balance, when Aina opened her eyes wide and in shock.

"Oh my, I fucked up, didn't I?" asked Aina in shock, Nanaka just bit her lips.

"Oh my, Nana, I'm sorry... you are right, this makes no sense..." said Aina now with watery eyes and guilt in her tone.

Nanaka blinked a few times and softly sighed.

"Don't worry Ainya-chan... it's ok..." said Nanaka with a loving tone.

"Is it? Why? I mean, you could have gone earlier to your place today! Stay warm... and—" Aina was saying, but Nanaka hugged her tightly, telling Aina to stop.

"It is, thanks to that I got some new dresses..." said Nanaka with a smile.

"But..."

"No 'buts'. Aina, you did it because you thought it was for the best because you were running late... no big..." said Nanaka resting her head on Aina's.

"I feel ashamed…" murmured Aina.

"Don't worry, I love spending time with you... even if it's on a train..." said Nanaka with a lovely tone.

Aina rubbed her face against Nanaka's chest to answer the hug since both her hands were busy with the grocery bags.

"Next time you call me, ok? Don't decide without me," said Nanaka, Aina just gave her a shy nod.

"I love you Nana…" said Aina, drowned in Nanaka's coat.

Nanaka blinked and smiled softly.

Aina was just like that, maybe too damn cute for her own heart, and it was ok.

The train stopped at the next station, Omote-Sando, and Aina moved from her position between Nanaka's arms to let people move off the train. They moved from their position where Aina could rest one of the bags on the floor.

"You ok?" asked Nanaka, "Maybe I can help you with that…"

"It's ok, you have your own bags to carry," said Aina with a tired tone, not looking at her.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows with sadness. How long had Aina been carrying those bags, she must be tired as well.

Moved by her desire, she moved her left hand and grabbed Aina's free one, she entwined their fingers.

Aina stopped moving and looked at Nanaka with a surprised face. Nanaka just smiled at her kindly.

"You sure?" asked Aina shyly.

"Why not?" said Nanaka nonchalantly, "We are on a date."

Aina opened her eyes wide, of course, she wasn't expecting Nanaka to make such a bold move as grabbing her hand in a romantic way in the train, with a crowd watching.

"I…" tried Aina, but she stopped herself, sighed softly, and looked at Nanaka with a shy smile, "Nothing, you are just bad for my heart."

Both giggled and shared some lovely gazes.
There was love, there was the spark that Nanaka thought they might have lost.

But no, it was there.

And if they hadn't been in the public eye, Nanaka might had stolen a kiss from Aina's lips.

So she pulled towards her instead, making Aina go closer to her, their hands entwined.
Aina smiled shyly at her, while Nanaka just raised her eyebrows and smiled smugly at her.

The train started once again.

"Aren't you embarrassed ?" asked Aina shyly.

"No, why?" said Nanaka with confidence, "Are you?…oh" snapped Nanaka quickly and looked at her.

"If you are uncomfortable, let me know." Nanaka hurried to say, Aina just shook her head.

"No, I'm good, but, this is new….that's all…" said Aina, still in her shy mode.

Nanaka smiled softly, she just adored "Shy Aina", which was such a big contrast from her normal crazy, and nosy self back at work.

Also, holding her cute little baby hands.

It was new for them to express their love in public.
Of course, that might sound exaggerated, but this was 2016 Japan, and they had held hands before, but in narrow streets, places that weren't crowded, under a table, or when they were alone in the changing room.

Also, holding hands was all they could do, because of the normal moral behavior on streets in Japan. It was very rare to see couples making out or giving each other small kisses. That was reserved for the privacy of their homes. And that was for heterosexual couples, gay couples were out of the question.

But, for some reason, two girls holding hands or arms seemed more common between friends, so it wasn't THAT shocking. But it made an impact on Nanaka and Aina.

Their relationship as a couple grew in the dark, under the untouchable Aqours, behind Shuka's innocence, and in front of Production's lie as the "NanaAinya" thingie, so these kinds of public shows of affections were something that Aina thought she wasn't worthy of, and Nanaka thought that she might never show towards Aina because of their situation with Aqours and the good old lies.

Lies that were feeding in her veins since she had started her thing with Shuka, and she needed to keep the chain for the sake of the harmony in the Unit.

And maybe Aina understood it and was patient enough to bear it, but Nanaka needed to stop the bleeding inside and feel again.

So that was what she was doing, embracing happiness, holding onto Aina's hand.

Finally, they stopped at Nanaka's station.
They left the train holding arms because Aina's hands were busy of course, but that didn't bother them, they were just happy to share their moment together. On the way out of the station, Nanaka asked Aina if she had bought her some specific snack she used to munch on while watching TV, and Aina shyly said that she had forgotten them.

Nanaka just waved that away and told Aina that they would have an extra stop before going home.

Aina just needed to nod.

So they walked a few steps in a different direction from Nanaka's place and took another exit from the station.

"You must love those snacks if we're walking in the wrong direction…" said Aina in a more joyful tone.

"As a matter of fact, I do…" said Nanaka nonchalantly.

Both made a drowned sound when they faced the cold and snow outside the station.

"I thought you might be too tired to keep going…" said Aina softly, resisting the cold.

"Well, I am…" said Nanaka looking at the crossing, "But I just can't watch TV without them."

"Can't wait till tomorrow?" asked Aina with a bit of a whine.

Nanaka stopped at the crossing and looked at Aina; she answered with a shy smile.

"No. You went grocery shopping without consulting me, if you had, I would have told you that I ran out of Jagabees, so no, we will go and buy some," said Nanaka with a strong tone.

"Geez! So stubborn!" said Aina beside her.

"Don't complain, it will be just a second," said Nanaka.

"I bought you some milk cake…" said Aina hopefully.

"It's not the same…" murmured Nanaka.

"Thought so," said Aina while following Nanaka through the crossing.

Sotobori-dori Avenue was a big, bright, and very busy street, not from it being a touristic spot or some important avenue in Tokyo, and was very busy even for a cold Saturday evening, it made Nanaka rethink about having a "shopping" date with Aina in another neighborhood that wasn't hers. Why? If Akasaka had everything she needed, near and quick.

"Oh, Bic Camera is still open!" said Aina with a cheerful tone.

"I thought you were tired…" said Nanaka softly.

"Oh, yes I am, also with bags and things…" said Aina thoughtfully while both kept the pace.

"Maybe we can try tomorrow?" said Nanaka.

"Maybe, if we can survive practice… I'm shocked that you can still walk and all." said Aina with concern, "How was the shoot?"

"Uhmm…" hummed Nanaka reaching the store on the corner, "Good I guess, I was cold to the bone though, Production hasn't finished the winter outfits for everyone, so we had to use the Summer ones; here it is, you want to come inside with me?"

Both stopped in front of a Daily Yamazaki store. It was a convenience store like the essential SevenEleven or Lawsons', but its specialty was the bakery. It was more known for its bread, pastries, and other confectioneries, both traditional Japanese and Western styles, but also sold drinks, snacks, and manga.

"Oh, yes yes, I'll go," said Aina in her happy mood, even doing little jumps, as Nanaka opened the door.

"So, how bad is Rikyako at playing the game?" asked Aina with a goofy tone.

"Pretty bad," said Nanaka, taking a basket.

"I bet that was fun— do you want some sandwiches?" asked Aina.

"I came for my snacks," said Nanaka, walking straight to the right aisle, Aina walking behind her.

"Ok…nothing else?" asked Aina.

"About?… you will see the VTR on the next Nama," said Nanaka looking for the right spot to stop.

"I was talking about food…" said Aina stopping by her side, "but sure, I'm looking forward to the VTR as well…"

Nanaka looked at her and smiled.

"I had a blast, I played SIFAC all morning in Extreme and Challenge mode, so I kicked some asses…" said Nanaka bluntly, Aina opened her mouth in "o" shape.

"You will enjoy watching it, specially Rikako trying to play in Hard mode." finished Nanaka, looking towards the groceries once again.

"I have no doubt about it; watching my Nana in her element!" said Aina with a proud tone, "That's something I wouldn't miss for the world!"

Nanaka blinked a few times, feeling her ears red, and her cheeks on fire. She left her shopping bag on the floor for a second and grabbed a bag of snacks.

"Well, it felt good, finally I was useful to the franchise…as you said, my 'element'," said Nanaka with her sight glued on the snack.

"Eh? What are you saying?" asked Aina with surprise, and looking for Nanaka's eyes.

"What you heard…" said Nanaka in a sad tone, then gave Aina a sad look, "I'm not a good dancer or singer, and I'm not a mood maker, but I do play games… and I'm so good at it…"

"But this is now, you will get better…" tried Aina.

"I guess you are right…but today, it felt I was the best of us all…I could somehow lead the shoot, people will enjoy seeing me play more than sing or dance," said Nanaka in a gloomy tone.

"BAH! Don't say such gloomy things Suwawa! You are the new Center for a reason! People want to see you!" said Aina in a happier tone.

Nanaka turned again with her eyes wide in surprise, she had somehow forgotten that she was the new Center, and there was a Christmas Live around the corner, so she needed to give her best on those.

"People chose you, don't prove them wrong." continued Aina with a smile, Nanaka smiled softly at her.

Aina was always supporting her, from the beginning, since she couldn't dance just a single song without fainting.
Aina had faith in her, as no other member did.

"I'm doing my Rubesty…" said Nanaka with her cheeks flushed, she turned around quickly and looked at the snack.

"I know you are, I watched you at practice today, you are killing it…" said Aina with pride in her tone.

Nanaka started filling her basket with bags of Jagabees (something like potato chips), while Aina continued.

"It's not easy to watch you ya' know, moving so sexy and all."

Nanaka snorted and looked at Aina with a crooked smile.

"Aina, we are singing and dancing Christmas songs! There's nothing sexy about them," said Nanaka, and started to grab some Butter & Soy Sauce Jagabees.

"You are sexy to me…" said Aina in a bold tone.

Nanaka dropped some of the snacks in the basket and looked at Aina with no expression at all.

"Ya' know, the movement you do in 'Jingle Bells ga Tomaranai'; 'Issho ni sugoshitai nara~', where I feel like I'm a chicken…" said Aina in her normal tone, Nanaka snorted.

"What?" laughed Nanaka.

"The movements, for me, look like I'm a chicken, I hope no camera gets that from me." continued Aina trying to do the movement, but failing because her hands were busy with bags.

"I don't think you look like a chicken…Should I buy more?" asked Nanaka looking in the basket.

"I think that's enough." said Aina peeking in, "But I do, I really do, the thing is that you don't pay attention to me while practicing, that's why you don't notice that I'm a chicken in that part…"

Nanaka dropped the last Butter Jagabees and looked at Aina.

"That's not true, I do watch you…" said Nanaka, picking up her shopping bag from the floor, "Actually I do watch you a lot."

"Seriously?!" snapped Aina seeing Nanaka start moving to the cashier.

"Yes, I do…" said Nanaka nonchalantly, "I saw that today you had it rough; you kept having trouble with the leapfrog, you kicked Shuka like three times on the instrumental part of 'Jingle Bells', not being on time in 'Aojump', you know, that part where you need to reach my shoulder, or not being on time in 'Pops Heart', or how you missed Arisa's hand in 'Humming Friend', forgetting your lines on the MC's, and the sort..." said Nanaka with a calm tone, almost as if she was enumerating a shopping list.

They stopped at the cashier. There was a small line.

"Oh… Geez! Basically, today wasn't my day," said Aina, giggling.

Nanaka looked at her with a sad face, for Aina that was funny. Failing almost the whole setlist, being scolded by the Lead Teacher, and delaying practice felt like a joke.

"You got scolded a lot Aina, what happened?" asked Nanaka.

"I had trouble concentrating… it's hard to focus with you there," said Aina with giggles, Nanaka just raised an eyebrow.

"Don't put that blame on me," said Nanaka in a normal tone, this wasn't funny at all.

"I'm not." hurried Aina to say.

"Then? You were noticeably distracted today, you were scolded quite a lot, and you just waved that off; while I admire your sense of humor and happy mood about everything, this isn't right, does this have something to do with what we talked about yesterday?" asked Nanaka seriously.

Aina opened her eyes wide and gave her a sad smile.

"Is it just that obvious?" asked Aina softly.

"No, but you being reckless was." said Nanaka with her "Suwa Face", "You are a professional at your job, you work hard, you don't just mess up, and you received a scolding and everything with a smile? what's wrong with you?"

"I see." said Aina in a sad tone, "I... I can't help it."

Nanaka looked at the cashier, it was almost her time to pay.

"I'm doing my best with my jealousy, seriously, I am!" defended Aina, "But she is annoying."

Nanaka frowned.

Of course, Aina was talking about Shuka. And setting aside that Shuka was her Ex, and that they needed to keep the chain of lies, Aina was super nice with her.
Both seemed to like fooling around; Shuka being a dork, and Aina being a creep who laughed about everything.

Were those laughs a lie? Was she acting?

It couldn't be.
Aina's laugh was genuinely easy to happen.
And Shuka was a looney. Nanaka had seen them talking normally, laughing, and having fun.

"You know that's not true," said Nanaka bluntly.

But the conversation stopped for a minute while Nanaka paid for her snacks. Aina waited near the entrance with her bags and a gloomy face.

Both left the store in silence and started walking at Nanaka's pace towards her place.

"I'm sorry," said Aina softly.

Nanaka looked at her with no expression at all.

"Why are you apologizing?" asked Nanaka.

"Because you are right, she isn't annoying, she is really cute, and nice, I see why you dated her," said Aina with her sight glued on the ground. Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

"But I'm not dating her, I'm dating you," said Nanaka clearly.

"Yes, I know... but I wish the lineup was different, I wish I wouldn't need to see you with her around...or the sort— why did they make you interact so much with her? Even in the choreography! Geez! What happened with all that 'NanaAinya' thingie?!" snapped Aina annoyed.

"Can't do much there Ainya-chan, I didn't make the script, and I'm not in charge of the choreography, as much as 'Kanan' is on the Anime..." said Nanaka with a sad tone, because, it might be hard for Aina to bear everything.

This wasn't a tantrum, this was frustration.

"I know, and we talked about it, but it's really distracting..." said Aina.

"I'm sorry," said Nanaka.

"No, you're not to blame, you are doing your job, and you are doing it great!" said Aina, recovering her happy tone, "It's me, I need to focus on the price!" finished Aina with one of her weird voices.

"One day at the time," said Nanaka softly, "I can't expect you to overcome your jealousy and your concerns from one day to another Aina, I know it's hard"

"You do?" Asked Aina with a sad tone.

"I do." started Nanaka with a kind voice, "You have to see my Ex, as I do too, that's the tricky and hard part of dating one of the members…"

Yes, it was hard to watch Shuka in the beginning, but now that both had set boundaries, at least for Nanaka it was easier.
Her heart was in the right place, on Aina's side, and that gave her peace to work and act as if nothing was happening.

"So, you aren't mad, right?" asked Aina shyly.

"No, I'm mad that these kinds of things affect your performance, make you look like you don't know what you're doing, and on top of it, you hide it with a smile," said Nanaka stopping at a crossing.

"Eh?"

"Aren't you frustrated?" asked Nanaka, "If I received all the crap you got today, I would be mad, frustrated, and definitely not laughing." Of course, based on her own experience, because it had happened to her at the beginning of the Project. She was definitely doing better now...

Aina looked at her, and then she crooked the tip of her lips.

"But Nana, you never laugh, what are you telling me," said Aina, and then laughed.

Nanaka deadpanned.

"You are always working hard, you don't have time to laugh," said Aina.

Both looked to both sides of the street and crossed.

"That's not true, I laugh too," said Nanaka seriously, Aina snorted.

"If you say so…" murmured Aina.

"It's there something else?" asked Nanaka.

"Something else?"

"Yes; Aina you have been watching Shuka— watching us, since day one, and I never saw you this distracted…" said Nanaka with bitterness, she knew quite well that Aina had feelings for her, and in order for Nanaka to be happy, Aina had stepped to the side, but that didn't mean that she wasn't suffering.

Aina stayed silent.

They were walking by "Hanamaru Udon" when Aina spoke again.

"It is what annoys me from her…'' started Aina, "She is not annoying, but it's the way she looks at you what annoys me, I can see her love for you, how she smiles at you, the fact that both of you share space in the lineup, and that makes you interact with her, how she touches you for no reason—maybe she is just following the script, which says 'you both need to chit chat', but she touches your back, why? That's not in the script … and I can't do those subtle moves because Arisha's in the way…"

Nanaka kept silent. Aina was right.

The script said things, but Shuka managed to be all over her. And because they were still selling the chain of lies, Nanaka wasn't aware of it. They had been in love almost from the beginning, so watching Shuka's lovely gaze over her was normal. If she touched her back, or her shoulder, it was also normal.

And because she had settled her thing with Shuka and started committing to Aina, all those behaviors were just part of the routine. It was common between them as a couple, and since they still needed to act on each other, maybe none of them was aware that they needed to stop that.

It wasn't intentional. At least, not from Nanaka.

"But please don't get me wrong!" hurried Aina to say, "I… I don't want you to feel that this is a tantrum or a jealousy talk like yesterday…"

"Ok…"

"I wanna let you know that these things are happening to me… I know you are committed to me, that you are with me," continued Aina," it's just her, how she keeps looking at you, the difference between now and then, was that you were with her, and you were happy with her, so I sucked it up, I've always told you that if you are happy I am too, but now, you are not with her anymore, you are with ME, and we can't share screen time for me to look at you the way she looks at you all day… I want that, and I can't... I can't do anything… It's frustrating… "

"Aina…" Nanaka called softly.

Both stopped in front of Moriva Coffee.

They looked at each other with sadness.

"I love you just too much," said Aina with all of her sincerity, Nanaka couldn't retort because Aina spoke again.

"Yesterday I told you how messed up I was, and how I've been ruining everything… and now we are working on it, but it was today that I was aware of this; she is still in love with you, and I still have to keep seeing that, even if you don't feel the same. That was what distracted me today."

Aina finished, looking to the ground in shame.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in sadness.

"I'm sorry…" said Nanaka, Aina shook her head.

"It's not your fault, I am the one who's sorry because I am the one who's dealing with this, I bet you did too, but I trust you, that everything with her is over, right?" asked Aina with sadness.

"It is; Shuka and I are colleagues, we are friends, everything is settled between us, my heart is with you," said Nanaka in just one breath. She really meant it.

Aina smiled shyly, of course, her eyes welled in tears.

"You are so pretty…" said Aina in a soft tone.

Nanaka smiled.

"Now you are looking at me the way you wanted," said Nanaka, Aina smiled wide.

"Yes… because I'm in love with you." she said softly, "And you make me happy."

Nanaka felt her heart stop. Aina had always loved her, from the very first day, even from far, she loved her.

"Do I make you happy?" asked Aina softly, holding back tears.

Aina knew that she had been behaving like an ass for the last couple of weeks -or maybe last month- but she was trying; trying to love like Nanaka did, to be with her, on her terms. Dealing with her old ways, and her jealousy.

If you love someone you have to prove it, take action, not just words, and Aina was trying.

And that made Nanaka indeed Happy.

"You do," said Nanaka softly, feeling her cheeks bright red.

Aina opened her eyes wide and gave her a relieved smile; some tears fell from her left eye.

Nanaka gasped in surprise.

"Aina… don't— don't cry…" said Nanaka, and without thinking she just dropped her bags, and softly, but with concern, just grabbed Aina's puffed cheeks, their sights met.

"I'm sorry… it's just… its—" but Aina was cut off; Nanaka just hugged her.

"I love you, I'm not going anywhere," said Nanaka softly in Aina's ear, it made Aina gently drop her bags, as she started shivering.

Nanaka started rubbing Aina's back softly; Aina hugged her back and started bitterly crying, trying to hold her emotions in, after all, they were in the middle of the street, but Aina just couldn't hold it anymore. She just cried.

How long had Aina been holding back the urge to be held?
To express her frustration. To be weak. To stop the silly laugh to cover her pain.

The situation was a bit odd, they were expressing their feelings in front of the Moriva Coffee where a year ago, Aina had invited her there for their "Birthday sorta date", it was there when Nanaka had realized that Aina was willing to suck up her pride and her feelings to call Shuka for her. To send "Shuka the Brat'' to Nanaka's place for them to reconcile.

Because that was what made Nanaka Happy.

Since then, Aina had sought Nanaka's happiness.

"I'm sorry Suwawa…" murmured Aina against her coat.

"It's ok… it was a hard day Aina, you need to let it go." said Nanaka softly, still rubbing Aina's back, "You need to stop beating yourself up."

"It was hard to endure the scoldings and my mistakes…" sobbed Aina, "But I had to, I needed to hold on, I needed to look fine, I don't want to cause you more trouble…"

"I know, I was worried…" said Nanaka softly, "It wasn't right…You don't need to fake it or endure it alone, I want you to be happy too."

"Happy?" asked Aina.

"Of course…"

"Happy?" asked Aina in English, Nanaka frowned.

"Yes.."

"…Party…?"

"Eh?"

"…Train!"

Retorted Aina into her chest, and then broke into her old man's laughter, Nanaka couldn't help but burst into laughter too.

They didn't break the embrace even as they laughed. Aina was that random, and even if it unsettled Nanaka, she adored that weird side of her. Turning a sad moment into a happy one was one of Aina's specialties.

And in a way, Nanaka was glad to finally know what was happening inside Aina's heart and mind. When you finally learned that a person's behavior had more to do with their own internal struggle than it ever did with you… you learn grace.

And that made Nanaka feel strong, because now she was the one supporting Aina, and not the way around like it always was.

A relationship was made by two, and it always looked like Nanaka was fucked up and needed guidance. But now it was clear that they needed to support each other, that was what meant to be in a relationship.

Nanaka stopped laughing and hugged Aina tighter.

She felt more in love than ever with Aina, feeling the urge to love her, to protect her, and spoil her, like a baby.

"That was a nice one," said Nanaka softly.

"Couldn't help it, we've been repeating the name all day, and we got the lyrics today as well…" said Aina in a steadier tone.

"Oh"

Happy Party Train was the name Production had given to the Third CD Single, Nanaka's Center. Of course, that was still confidential, and they were planning to release the name and date on the Mini Live. Its release day would be on April the 5th of 2017, and even if it was still December 2016, Production had determined that they needed to work on that "ASAP".

Maybe because Nanaka was the damn Center, and that could mean for Production that the song would take forever because she had to set the tone. But, Production was somehow full handed, with the Mini Live, the First Live, Niconamas, recordings, etc, they just determined that the song would start recording in January.

At the moment they were struggling with the Mini Live and the recording of the VTR, plus the new song for the "Aqours original Song CD6", which was that morning and that was a lot.

Nanaka snapped.

"How was the recording session? I just couldn't ask you earlier..." asked Nanaka.

Aina separated a bit from the hug but never broke the embrace.

"Well... it was good," said Aina, then sobbed, "You'd hate it though."

"Eh? Why?"

Aina moved her head to the side thinking.

"Well, it's a Rock-like song, very 'Genky'…" said Aina in deep thought.

"Oh…really?" asked Nanaka with a frown.

Of course, slow-speed songs worked better for Nanaka's range voice, the last Rock-like song they had sung was "Aqours Heroes", and every time she practiced while dancing had an awful result. She was just too tired to reach the high tones, not to mention how off that "Hayaku" sounded.

"Don't cha worry, you'll do great, 'Thrilling One way' is a funny song," said Aina with a soft smile.

"You didn't have trouble recording it?" asked Nanaka.

"No… you weren't there, so I couldn't be distracted…" giggled Aina, Nanaka deadpanned.

They stood still a bit longer, looking at each other with loving gazes.
Of course, Aina really meant it. Without Nanaka she indeed could concentrate on recording.
And that was wrong.

"Are you serious?" asked Nanaka in her boring tone.

Aina gave her a twisted smile and burst into her frustrations.

"Ahhh! I hope I can chill and stay the same!" snapped Aina, "Stop this crap and feeling again."

Nanaka made a bitter face, Aina was indeed struggling inside.

Aina broke the embrace and wiped some lonely tears from her cheeks.

"You will be better in time, WE will be too…" said Nanaka with a soft tone, "Are you ok?"

"I guess I'm ok," said Aina, "I... I'm kinda ashamed to have done this, here..."

Nanaka shook her head.

"Don't you worry," said Nanaka nonchalantly, then bent to get her bags "We should go home, it's enough for today."

Aina nodded and took her bags too.

"This means that you don't want to have a date now?" asked Aina.

Nanaka looked at her and blinked a few times, not sure of the question. Aina understood the confusion and hurried to add:

"Eh... I don't know, there are a lot of things around that are still open... maybe you want—"

"No." Nanaka stopped her dryly, Aina bit her lips.

"We are tired...I bet you are too, and I want to stay home if you're ok. I want to cuddle you, fondle you, and kiss you all over; we can't do that outside."

Aina smiled brightly.

"Sounds perfect to me..." she said with a smile, "We got lots of snacks, and I can make dinner."

Nanaka looked at her astonished.

"Aren't you tired too?" asked Nanaka.

Aina snorted and started walking, they finally crossed the street.

"I am, but I love cooking for you," said Aina, "and since I fucked up our 'grocery date', I must make it up to you."

Nanaka didn't say a thing. If Aina was ok, then...

"So, what do you think? We can go home, you take a well deserved bath while I cook." Aina offered kindly.

"Actually that sounds perfect," said Nanaka eagerly.

"I'm assuming that we can't share the tub..." said Aina.

"You're right... I'm out of limits once again..." said Nanaka with a sad tone.

"It's ok," said Aina, stopping suddenly.

Nanaka looked back at her.

"What?" asked Nanaka, seeing Aina glued to the building they had beside them.

"Is this a Hotel?" asked Aina with genuine curiosity.

"Eh? This, I guess it is..." said Nanaka looking at the building, it had a big sign on the front praying "Hotel Vista", of course, it was a hotel.
"Why?"

"I've walked this street hundreds of times and never noticed it..." said Aina moving towards Nanaka.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow.

"Why would you want to stay in a hotel, if my place is just a few blocks away?" asked Nanaka with some annoyance.

Both kept walking.

"Well, aren't your parents coming back for Christmas?" asked Aina.

"Yes, they will arrive on the 24th in the morning...I guess my grandma is coming too," said Nanaka nonchalantly, but with a happy feeling. She loved Christmas, and she loved her parents.

"I see, that's next Saturday..." continued Aina, Nanaka frowned not quite understanding how her parents and that hotel were connected.

"You want to send my parents to the hotel?" asked Nanaka, confused.

Aina snorted.

"Hahahaha, no no, that would be ridiculous! How would I be able to kick out the real owners from their own place, geez!" said Aina giggling.

Nanaka shrugged.

"Next Saturday is our date Nana..." said Aina with her mature voice, "That's one week from now... I guess, you would be ready... for me..." finished Aina a bit embarrassed.

"Oh!" snapped Nanaka, that was true.

"Have you forgotten?" asked Aina giggling.

"No, I thought we were going to Odaiba and see the Aqours' Tree…" said Nanaka reaching the corner, "You want to have our date at that hotel?"

Aina laughed.

"No! Of course not, we will have a proper date. But, I want to spend the night with you…" said Aina, a bit embarrassed.

"Oh…" snapped Nanaka, her cheeks becoming quite red.

They turned right and started walking the final steps to Nanaka's place.

"But before you think I just wanna have sex, I tell you it's not," said Aina quickly.

"Mmm…"

"I don't care if we do it or not, all this time I've spent the nights with you, we haven't done anything and it's ok."

"Are you? I mean, I thought that you might be frustrated with me…" said Nanaka ashamed.

"What?! No! What do you think I am? A man? Geez!" answered Aina in a fake mad tone, "We don't need that."

"We don't….?" asked Nanaka, not quite convinced, all this time Nanaka felt a bit down for not being up to Aina's expectations.

Not only because she thought that she might be a bit "Vanilla" for her, knowing that Aina had a lot of kinks, and the fact she had other ladies. It made Nanaka feel that Aina had quite a sex drive and she wasn't enough, so she needed to explore other people.

"We don't. I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression," said Aina in a serious mode.

Nanaka stopped. They reached the building but she stopped on the sidewalk. Aina looked at her with a very serious gaze.

"Whether I love your body and make you feel good, or your touch on me, that's not the reason I want to stay with you… all these nights just sleeping in your arms was enough…"

Nanaka blinked, she had run out of words because all this time she had thought about it wrong.

"I can't deny it, of course, I love to see you naked and all, and we might have started our relationship like that… I understand that I might have given you that impression, but it's not. So if you don't want to have sex it's ok, and my idea with the hotel is that your parents and your grandma are going to be at home that night, even if we don't do anything, I want to kiss you, hug you, be with you in a relaxed environment…" Aina was saying with her normal tone.

Nanaka nodded softly.

"So… yeah, if you don't want to go to that hotel, we can look for one in Odaiba, I don't care… but… but it's that, I want a safe place for us, to be ourselves…" finished Aina, a bit embarrassed.

Nanaka smiled softly, and with a decisive step moved towards Aina, bent and smoothly stole a kiss from Aina's lips. It was quick and soft but full of love.

They were outside, yes. But it was a narrow street, it was late, it was dark too, and the moment called for Nanaka to seal the deal. Because Aina had stolen her heart, she could clearly see and feel that Aina was trying to overcome her struggles, and was thinking about her and them as a couple. Maybe that was what they desperately needed, a moment where they could be themselves.

After the kiss, both shared some cute smiles and loving gazes.

"So." started Aina again, now a bit embarrassed, "At night, I'll sit by your side waiting for you, to give me a sign…" said Aina with a smile.

"We will see next Saturday…" said Nanaka with a sweet smile, because although she loved kissing and touching Aina, she wasn't in any condition for more than little kisses and cuddles.

Aina nodded happily.

"I'm counting the days, and I've nothing to say…" said Aina shrugging, in a sign that she would wait until Nanaka gave her the green light.

Nanaka took a deep breath.

"Well then, shall we enjoy our date tonight…?" said Nanaka pointing at the Building's entrance, Aina giggled.

"I agree!" said Aina with a big smile, "I want you to show me those dresses…"

"Oh… right… the dresses…" murmured Nanaka looking at the bags; she smiled.

The emptiness of her heart in the shape of dresses, which she had forgotten, thanks to Aina, but it was a burden that she had carried all the way, until she felt safe and happy again.

"I want you to model them for me!" said Aina in her old man tone, as she started to walk towards the entrance, Nanaka followed through.

"Why don't you talk to me more about the new song?" said Nanaka, trying to distract her.

"Oh! Sure! Well! At first—"….

Nanaka and Aina entered the building to have maybe the best of dates till that date. Nanaka took her relaxing bath with her glow-in-the-dark toys, while Aina just cooked for her.

They ate, tried on the dresses, and shared lots of cute kisses. Aina needed to be careful not to get carried away with them because there was no chance to travel to second base. Even if Nanaka offered to relieve some of Aina's stress, she said no.

"Both, or none."

She was just happy with kisses and the cuddles. And Nanaka agreed.

They chit chatted a lot about the new song; Aina was just so excited about it, that it was almost all over the place, it drove Nanaka crazy, and maybe with the will to send Aina to Arisa's for being annoying just because she missed the chance to record it that day due to the VTR shooting, and she, with Rikako and Aiai had to wait for a reschedule.

So basically Aina was talking about something she didn't know, and she wasn't there to enjoy with the rest of the members.

And maybe that was why Aina didn't have any issues or became distracted. Nanaka wasn't there, meaning that Shuka couldn't look or act towards Nanaka so lovely. Well, Aina needed to learn to deal with that, because Shuka wasn't going anywhere, and neither was Nanaka. And there was a limit for Nanaka to act towards Shuka; she had already settled the line with her, she was doing her part, but she couldn't control how Shuka might look at her.

Aina needed to bear it.

Aqours needed to continue to be Untouchable.

One step at a time.

But, after what happened that afternoon, or better said, that weekend, Nanaka was sure to start enjoying her relationship with Aina.

This time feeling completely happy.

.

.

.

Finally, December 24th came.

And with that, the NanaAinya date.

That day Nanaka and Aina went home really early in the morning after an intense official rehearsal. It had been an intense day, which started very early in the Toyosu PIT venue, with everything involved, from official outfits, lights checking, camera checking, remembering that at least one of the 2 sessions was going to be streamed, practicing outfit changing on stage, to logistics, and all.

The whole deal.

Of course, the last official rehearsal was scheduled for December 26th, but Production didn't want anything on the loose, and practice made perfect. So they needed to suck it up and endure the rehearsal.

Clearly, when they arrived home, they were just too tired to do anything but sleep. Not even Aina's big appetite was in the way for her to crash onto Nanaka's bed.

That week Aina gave her everything at practice; after the conversation with Nanaka, she was determined to show her that she was moving on with her jealousy, and tried to ignore all of Shuka's interactions and love gazes with Nanaka, concentrating on being on time with the choreography, or not to mess up the practice session with her recklessness.

So it made sense for Nanaka to see Aina really tired at the end of the day. Her effort not only were being physical but also mental. So no matter how much Aina "recharged" with Aqours and her happiness, she could lay dead too.

It was madness, and that wasn't even their First Live, this was an almost ridiculous 8 song show.

Oddly enough, Nanaka took her time to tidy up the living room a bit, recalling that her parents and grandma would be in first thing the next morning, to celebrate Christmas.

The feeling invaded her heart greatly.
She loved Christmas; loved the atmosphere, her mom's food, and the loving and caring love her grandma would give her.
She was a very spoiled child, and that moment of the year was when that showed the most.

Drugged by the good feeling and happiness that Christmas gave her, she decided to give some love to her fans on Twitter and searched for a good Christmas picture to enlighten their souls.

And from her latest pictures, the only Christmas-like she found were the ones she took in the Christmas Niconama at the beginning of the month. It made her doubt a bit.

What would Aina say if she saw those pictures with Shuka? Well, she had pictures with Aiai too...

Poor Aiai was almost like an accessory...

Frowning a bit and with a soft "meh", she just kicked that thought to the back of her head. They were part of Aqours, and pictures with Shuka were part of the deal, and it made all the sense in the world if she posted some pictures of the Christmas Trio on her Twitter for the sake of the festivities, and the project.

She selected a picture of herself, and two with the looneys.
In any case, Aiai was there too, no biggie.

Proud of herself, she posted them, finished her business of tidying the living room and declaring that the rest she would do it in the morning, went to her bedroom to finally sleep.

Of course, when she came in, Aina was already sleeping, holding her pillow tightly.

It melted Nanaka's heart; Aina looked like a cute baby, and it was almost painful to sneak under the sheets to move her, but she needed to.
She needed a good night sleep to recharge for the great day that was ahead, and holding Aina in her arms was the best way to start it.

And as if it was meant to be, they just couldn't start the day relaxed; they were just too tired to wake up at the sound of not just Nanaka's alarm clock, but neither with Aina's.

It was Mama Suwa's voice of her "I'm home!" that made Nanaka jump out of bed, almost fell with her plushies on the floor, and greeted her parents and her grandma almost in her living room.

In glorious pajamas.

They were loaded with bags and baggage, of course, this visit was something more extended than just a night.

Clearly, the sight of just "waking up Nanaka" could be easily mistaken by her normal "in house shape", but it all made sense when Aina came in walking sleepily behind her, saying a too cute "Good morning..." as she rubbed her right eye.

At least, she was wearing pajamas too.

Mama Suwa understood the situation immediately, and with the nicest tone "explained" towards the people present that both girls had been working their asses off, that that day was their day off, and they needed rest, so everything was ok.

Their laziness somehow covered under the judging eyes of Papa Suwa and Grandma Suwa.

Then she sent Grandma Suwa to the kitchen to start making breakfast, while Papa Suwa moved the groceries towards the kitchen.
Later, Mama Suwa would look at her kid with a mischievous smile, told her that she needed to at least lay down a futon in her bedroom for appearances, and take a shower.

Nanaka just frowned because she knew that sex was out of the question for at least 2 weeks, but, once their parents were home, Nanaka became a good and obedient kid.

Nanaka took a very elaborate shower.
She knew that that day she would have her date with Aina, and even if they had talked about having sex or not on it, she needed to be prepared.

With Aina, she never knew.

So, after breakfast, Mama Suwa told them to take their time on "their day off" (meaning in their date), and if they weren't coming back, to please let her know, for Grandma Suwa to take her bed.

And to take it easy.
They would celebrate Christmas as a family on the 25th, she and Grandma were cooking.

Nanaka's eyes glowed with joy.

That day indeed shined with happiness.

Truth was that they were almost kicked out of the house early, and in a way that was better, because with so many people around, Nanaka just felt invaded in her own place, and she just couldn't feel relaxed with Aina around that madness also.

That meant that their date started even earlier than expected.

But that didn't bother them, they were just happy to go out on a proper date together, finally after 3 months.

As Aina knew very well, Nanaka liked to organize her day and schedule. And also, and very important, was the hotel thingie.
So, in the middle of the week, they found some free time between practice and lunchtime, to plan everything carefully.

It was good for Nanaka to know that Aina, as the adult she had to be sometimes, could concentrate and be her diligent self as they planned everything.

Which subway lines to take, which places to visit, where to eat, where to buy their Christmas presents, and whether they would spend the night in Odaiba, or just crash in the Vista hotel around the corner.

They received feedback from First Years, who had been there the previous Saturday and took lots of pictures around the tree but also recommended a good place to eat. It wasn't strange for any of them to give them recommendations to go there. Not even Aiai doubted or judged why Nanaka was going with Aina and not with Shuka.

Maybe it felt right to them, and Nanaka wasn't going to push the issue.

Shuka was busy with Anchan and Rikako, while Arisa was in her own world preparing her own event to even care what Nanaka and Aina were doing.

But all that preparation had been for nothing, because they weren't expecting to be there so early, so they needed to improvise a bit. -not to mention everything-

But with Aina, that seemed easy.

They took the Ginza line straight to Shimbashi station and took the Rinkai line that took them to the heart of Odaiba in no less than 40 minutes.
God save Japan's subway/train system.

Odaiba is an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, across the famous Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo, which was initially built in that area for defensive purposes in the far ages of the 1850s.

Nowadays it's a popular shopping and sightseeing destination not only for Japanese, but also for tourists, and has a vast list of attractions that may make people stay for more than one day.

But that wasn't the case for the NanaAinya couple, so their first stop had to be Venus Fort to see the Aqours Tree in its natural and festive environment. It was to Nanaka's surprise that the shopping Center was already crowded that early in the morning. But that didn't stop the couple.

Feeling cute due to them even being dressed alike in their white and cozy coats, also their hair was almost the same, with the exception of Nanaka's small braids on the side of her hair, they rounded the Tree in order to take the best pictures of them and the Tree in as many angles as possible, using Nanaka's long arm as a selfie stick, and they were happy with the result.

It was quite fun, and they couldn't erase the lovely but silly smiles on their faces.

It was their first date doing what couples do -not just eating or having cheap tea at the Combini- they were walking hand in hand, visiting stores, taking pictures of the Christmas decorations, and shopping for their Christmas presents.

In the zone there were at least 3 shopping Centers easy to move from one to another, so Aina needed to bear Nanaka's impulses to visit whatever girly shop she found.

It made her happy, and why not, Aina too, because it was the chance for Nanaka to model for her, even though she ended up embarrassed about Aina being annoying in her old man attitude, and started behaving a bit viciously. I wasn't har for Nanaka to notice how Aina's sex drive was gradually turning on, so she needed to cool down the mood, or they could end up having sex in a dressing room.

And even if that could be sexy and exciting, it wasn't how Nanaka wanted to have make-up sex.

So, she needed to lure Aina with something that she could actually eat and suggested having lunch somewhere else.
During a break, Nanaka hurried up and uploaded the happy pictures to her Twitter, for everyone to see them happy. It was a difficult choice due to all the pictures being so damn cute.

After the lunch break, they started the discussion about going on Odaiba's iconic Ferris-wheel, or do more indoor activities; Nanaka who suffered from motion sickness tried to avoid the Ferris-wheel at any cost, knowing that Aina was a sucker for extreme outdoor activities, and that chill and slow ride on the wheel was nothing in comparison to bungee jumping -which she had already done-

She needed to offer something as exciting as that, so she mentioned going instead to the Bandai Namco store.

That made the date worth everything.

The Bandai Namco store was an arcade inside Venus Fort.
Its strength was the UFO machines, and there the very best of their Otaku blood popped out of them, making them spend the rest of the afternoon there.

It was magical; Nanaka with her skillful gamer hands managed to take a "Mari" and a "Kanan" figure from the machine, and of course, she later gave them to Aina as a complimentary Christmas gift.

Of course, Aina started jumping from one side to another making a big fuss about it. She hugged her like 10 times as she was clearly telling her that she loved her and that she was the best.

Nanaka's cheeks became as red as the Bandai logo. A bit of embarrassment from Aina shouting to the wind that she was the best and that she loved her, and the other half because of Aina being careless and making a scene...

Aina was just too loud, and sometimes forgot who they were, even if it was crowded everywhere, they were "public figures" and they needed to try and act as normal people do, and Aina's laughter wasn't something that went unnoticed by fans, also her "SUWAWA!" being shouted in her characteristic tone.

How many "Suwawas" could exist in Japan, and in Odaiba... IN A FREAKING BANDAI NAMCO STORE?!

But, if they hadn't been in a public place, maybe Nanaka would have kissed her all over, because Aina was just adorable, and cute, making all the butterflies in Nanaka's belly flutter.

Aina was always a lot of fun, and despite the fact that she sometimes was just a bit too much, and could embarrass her, she loved her.

They loved each other, and that day was just perfect.

A day to remember.

They walked out of Venus Fort holding hands; they were greeted by the cold and strong winds of Winter, as the Christmas lights all over Odaiba shined in their hearts.

The whole island was covered in a very gold-like shine by the illuminations and decorations, the place felt more alive than ever. And of course, they just lost sense of time, because it was already dark, and not to mention, late.

Dazed by the lights, they kept walking hand in hand to nowhere specific, they just enjoyed the moment, the person who was beside them, the Christmas atmosphere, and the happy feeling they shared.

They paused for Nanaka to eat her "Ice cream a day" while Aina drank some Bubble Tea and mocked Nanaka about eating such frozen things in that cold weather. Nanaka just retorted that the tea was cold as well, so what was her point?

They strolled hand in hand while watching the lights as the lovely couple they were.

Aina stopped suddenly and looked at Nanaka with a serious face. They were in the middle of a park in between the shopping centers and the Unicorn Gundam.

She fidgeted a bit, but after Nanaka's kinds eyes, soft touch, and smooth voice, she spilled the beans; she wanted -really hard- to go on the Ferris wheel, now that all the lights were on and the sky was even clear. That was going to be the cherry on top of their date, and that was beyond romantic.- she said.

Nanaka couldn't say no to those puppy eyes.

She gathered all her strength and courage as she held on to Aina's hand and love.

"Oh my God Nana, I didn't know you were this scared of heights..." said Aina with a goofy tone once in the cabin.

The Wheel moved slowly, giving a chance to see everything, indeed it was an incredible view, but it took almost all of Nanaka's strength to be there.

"I don't like it..." said Nanaka shyly and embarrassed.

"Eh? Really?..." asked Aina softly, now squeezing Nanaka's hand, "But, it looks so good from here... see?"

Nanaka closed her eyes.

"You can't see if you close your eyes..." scolded Aina, "Look over there, it's Tokyo Tower! Looks so bright!"

Nanaka opened her eyes but felt her heart in her throat.

"We are really high..." murmured Nanaka.

Aina just gave her a bitter smile.

"I'm sorry, you hate it..." said Aina with a sad tone.

"I'm sorry... it's just too high...and it's moving..." Nanaka was saying when she felt Aina hugging her.

"Hey...look at me..." she murmured, Nanaka did what she was asked, Aina's cute face was inches away.

"Aina..." murmured Nanaka.

"I'm sorry..." she said.

Nanaka just raised her eyebrows, but then her heart stopped as Aina kissed her.

Of course, it surprised Nanaka, she was just too scared to be romantic in that scenario, and that was why she didn't see it coming.

"I've been dying to kiss you all day..." murmured Aina when she broke the kiss, "I'm sorry..."

Moved by the fear of being in that wheel, and the eagerness of tasting Aina's lips once again, Nanaka just grabbed Aina's cozy coat and pulled her towards her to continue the kissing session.

The fear and motion sickness flew out of the cabin.
Nanaka was busy eating Aina's lips, and there was no height that could stop her from doing it.

And maybe Aina thought the same, because as soon as their lips touched, they forgot everything about being in a Ferris-Wheel, if they were public figures or even the sights, passion was greater.

Nanaka knew that this was very wrong; a simple kiss would turn on not only Aina's sex drive, but hers as well because she was also dying to kiss Aina all over.

The kiss became messier when Aina entangled her fingers in Nanaka's hair, reaching the back of her neck, making the kiss deeper, Nanaka held tightly to Aina's coat, letting a soft whimper escape her lips.

Aina's free hand went quickly towards Nanaka's thigh, making her jump in her seat. That wandering hand traveled to the hem of Nanaka's dress.

Nanaka gasped in surprise, but Aina didn't let her catch a breath, her hungry lips continued devouring hers, as she introduced her playful tongue inside Nanaka's mouth.

The cabin moved and Nanaka snapped out of the kiss, softly letting Aina know that she needed a break.

Both kept looking at each other breathing very elaborately.

"S—sorry…" said Aina out of breath, Nanaka blinked.

Nanaka looked a bit around the cabin, they were slowly going down now.
Thanks to Aina, she wasn't totally aware of the height anymore.

She smiled softly, Aina was horny, yes, but she was sacrificing the view and sightseeing to make Nanaka feel safe.

Nanaka looked at Aina with a lovely gaze.

"Don't apologize, just…don't rush it… ok?" Asked Nanaka, shyly grabbing Aina's coat once again.

"Oh…oh…" mumbled Aina.

"We… can we keep…going on? But, slowly..." asked Nanaka shyly not even looking at Aina.

"Of course, Nana…" murmured Aina who started to move closer to her.

"Sorry, you wanted to see the lights…" said Nanaka with sadness as she touched Aina's cheek.

Aina gave her a sweet smile, she blinked and told her;

"You are the brightest light of all…"

And they kissed.

It started slowly, softly, even cute.

Aina's lips were so soft, so delicate, and delicious. Both being in that seating position was perfect because no one needed to do extra effort for the kissing session.

Nanaka kept caressing Aina's left cheek with her right hand, as with her left she put some loose strands of Aina's hair behind her ear, as the kiss started to move into the next level.

Aina licked Nanaka's lips, making her open them slightly for Aina to get her chance to introduce her tongue inside, slowly.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise and trapped Aina's tongue with her teeth, both opened their eyes and looked at each other with a spark in their eyes.

Aina smiled coquettishly as she hugged Nanaka tightly to continue the kissing session.

Aina's tight embrace made Nanaka safe, in order for her to just close her eyes, free Aina's tongue, and capture her lips with hers with no hesitation.

Both continued kissing at a slow tempo, enjoying their taste, their lips, and the softer touch of Aina's hands on her back. Nanaka felt the impulse to hug Aina from her shoulders as they continued kissing.

It felt as if the time had frozen inside that cabin.
Being held by Aina's arms, being loved by Aina's lips and desire, the playful tongue that only wanted to give her new depths of pleasure, but love at the same time. No rush. No eagerness.

Just them, making wet sounds coming from their mouths, trapped in an intense dance of love.

Yes, love.

Their lips were trapped with each other, there was nothing but a synchronous dance; almost as if the Lead Teacher had made a choreography just for them.

It was effortless. It was like their lips were meant for each other.

When was the last time Nanaka had been kissed with such intensity, not out of lust, but just love?

Maybe with Shuka, but she could never reach that deeper connection with Aina.

Nanaka opened her eyes in surprise, at the same time she felt the cabin making some sounds and moving.

She couldn't help but break the spell; she snapped and took some distance from Aina.

Aina opened her eyes slowly, but with a cocky smile; Nanaka could notice that Aina's legs were somehow impatient. Maybe Aina was making a lot of effort to not go for Nanaka's body right in the cabin and just gave her a good deep kiss.

Both smiled at each other.

The cabin made a last hard sound and moved even slowly, then both realized that they were reaching the base and that the windows were all foggy.

"My, that was a good one..." said Aina giggling.

"Ye—yeah..." said Nanaka embarrassed.

"Geez! We might get scolded..." said Aina now looking out the window; with the back of her hand she wiped some of the fog, "we can blame the heater..."

"There's one?" Asked Nanaka with a funny tone; she grabbed her bags and purse that were on the opposite seat.

"Don't know, but we could assume that there is..." said Aina giggling.

"Uhm..."

"They might think we had sex in here..." said Aina giggling, she took her bags too and put on her backpack.

Nanaka blinked, feeling her ears hot and her lower half wet.

The cabin moved slowly in the base as someone from the staff opened the door for them to get out.

Both girls smiled shyly as they jumped out, with Aina laughing like an old man because of her guilty thoughts.

Of course, no one from the staff said anything, and that was a relief for Nanaka as well.

They walked happily, holding hands and at a quicker pace out of the Ferris-Wheel, giggling, knowing that they had a "bad behavior", even if they did nothing wrong, but it felt like mischief, something "morally" wrong, but that felt damn good. They shared that complicity in their sights, making them want to tell morality to fuck off and keep the intense kissing right in the middle of the park.

But of course, they couldn't.

They slowed their pace as they approached the Tokyo Waterfront City across the park.

"Geez! That was fun..." said Aina, sighing and walking funny.

"It was..." said Nanaka in her monotone.

Aina laughed.

"What?"

"Your tone... just differs with what you are saying..." said Aina.

"Uhm, you know that I'm not like you." said Nanaka still in her "Suwa Tone".

"Yes, that's what I love about you..." said Aina.

Nanaka's heart stopped, she felt her cheeks bright red and still aroused by the make-out session in the cabin.
She couldn't help but stop walking, and Aina did the same.

Both looked at each other with serious expressions, but with a happy feeling.

Nanaka blinked and smiled at her.

"I'm happy." Said Nanaka with a very strong tone, but with kindness.
Aina raised her eyebrows in surprise and opened her mouth in an "o" shape.

"Are...are you?" Asked Aina surprised, and somehow like in shock, as if she had accomplished a mission, Nanaka nodded.

"Yes, it was a good day, I had a lot of fun...and..." Nanaka paused to get closer to Aina, "And I was with you, and that's enough"

Aina opened her watery eyes in shock as if Nanaka had taken her breath away.

"I..." murmured Aina.

Nanaka smiled at her and blinked slowly, like sending Aina a kiss. (Almost like a cat)

"Oh, my God, Nana I love you so much..." said Aina sighing, as if her soul was leaving her body as if she was releasing some heavy weight.

Nanaka didn't say anything, just held tightly on Aina's hand.

"You are so pretty..." said Aina with a smile, "I love hanging out with you... a lot..."

"You do?" Asked Nanaka with a goofy smile, "Even if I'm boring?"

"Boring? You?!" snorted Aina, "Please! You are a delight to my eyes... and I love spending time with you, like this… on a proper date, doing whatever we want, with all the time in the world...just for us... I love walking with you, just being with you makes me happy..."

Finished Aina, slowly closing her eyes and enjoying the moment.

Nanaka blinked and looked up.

Maybe Aina needed to close her eyes to reach her inner feeling of happiness, but Nanaka needed to look up and be sucked up by the vastness of her surroundings.

The real dimension of her happiness.

A place filled with lights, joy, and the person she loved by her side.

That, was happiness.
She was happy.

It wasn't material, it wasn't dresses, it wasn't fame, it wasn't money.
It was something totally untouchable.

It was the moment.

Suddenly, music started playing very loud in the background, which snapped both girls out of their inner emotions seeking, to look everywhere in kind of panic, not knowing what the hell was happening, Nanaka went closer to Aina, holding her hand tightly. All the people started gathering near where they were and started to look up at the sky.

"What the hell is going on?" Asked Aina, but it was hard to hear her. Nanaka shook her head and looked around, the place was crowded, there was no way they could leave at the moment.

"Hey hey! Look!"

She could hear Aina, Nanaka looked at her, Aina had her eyes glued to the sky, Nanaka looked up too; her eyes widened in amazement.

Then it began.

A fireworks show with very lovely music to follow the lights and colorful shapes that painted the sky.
Behind them, the Rainbow bridge shined in a lot of colors, matching the fireworks.

The sky was clear, the temperature was nice, and everything was set perfectly.
That date couldn't be any better.

Nanaka's heart was filled with the strongest emotion ever; filled with so much joy she felt her eyes watery.

She had spent a great day, from the beginning to later that afternoon, that there was no place for doubts, for sadness, just happiness, and joy.
And all beside Aina.

Nanaka blinked.
She slowly lowered her head to see Aina by her side, and couldn't help but smile softly at her.

Aina's eyes were glued to the sky, she had a goofy smile on her face and was reacting to every firework that exploded in the sky. It was cute and lovely, and Nanaka could tell that Aina was equally happy and enjoying herself being there.

Aina always looked happy, no matter what or where she was, but as she had learned a few days ago, Aina was a professional at hiding her feelings under her mask of a goofy looney, and Nanaka was learning to be supportive to her, as Aina was learning how to love her, and indeed was different from what she used to feel around Aina.

That thought cracked something in her mind.

Nanaka kept looking at Aina; she was still reacting mesmerized by the fireworks.

What happened inside the cabin was the first time they had a lovely kiss session where there was no rush nor lust, but love. Since they started their romantic relationship, the whole NanaAinya was about "fucking", "kinks", and passionate encounters.

And maybe at first, it made all the sense in the world, because there was this magnetic attraction between them, that was hard to ignore, so it made sense that they fucked their brains out back in Awashima -where it all started- and then, their time together was just too little and too bounded, that being cute and lovely wasn't part of the equation.

Maybe for Aina that was a waste of time.

For Aina, it was all about having casual sex until Nanaka hit the table and told her that she didn't want that, but before that, Aina had messed up Nanaka's will with kinks and lustful encounters for them to enjoy their love in a more healthy way.

And now that had changed dramatically inside that cabin. Maybe old Aina and her kinks would have stripped Nanaka right there against the window and would have eaten her out quickly and messily.

The thought made Nanaka squeeze her thighs. But it hadn't been the case. Aina understood that Nanaka wanted to go slowly, and they did.

And the result was to get that deep connection she used to have with Shuka.

Nanaka blinked once again, snapping out of her thoughts to look up once again at the fireworks and the show.

Once again being filled by the vastness of her surroundings, that feeling she could recognize as "happiness", she recalled the last time she had it in her chest, in her belly as butterflies moving around, it had been a year ago, in a crowded place, looking at something and nothing at the same time, but feeling joy, the happiness that she deserved beside the one she loved.

It was in an aquarium.

She lowered her head with her eyes open wide. She didn't even blink.

Somehow she stopped listening to her surroundings, the fireworks and the music faded from her senses, she could only see flashes passing by, but her sight was stuck in the back of someone else's head.

Happiness had to be measured in moments.

"Suwawa" she heard.

Nanaka snapped from her dark moment to look at her side; Aina's serious face looking at her, the flashes of the fireworks illuminating Aina's features in bright colors.

"I love you," said Aina, somehow Nanaka could hear her clearly, not minding the music or the fireworks exploding in the sky above them, it was crystal clear.

"Aina..." Nanaka could only murmur, looking at her with her eyes wide open.

Why... I'm just... stop it Nanaka!, I've been beating and beating and beating myself...

"I... I don't think I can hold on..." continued Aina.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Wha—" tried Nanaka.

"I can't hold any longer, I don't think I can make it to Akasaka," said Aina with some trouble.

Nanaka bit her lips, not quite understanding.
Why couldn't make it to her place? Did Aina want to go back to Chiba? Go see her sister? Break up with Nanaka?
WHAT?!

Nanaka finally blinked holding on to her panic.

"What are you saying?" asked Nanaka, trying to sound in control, she started to hear the people, the fireworks, and the music again.

"I need you, now..." said Aina in her serious tone, "And going back to your place is forty minutes from here, maybe more, because this place is crowded..."

"Eh?!"

"Don't look at me like that..." said Aina with a goofy tone, "I feel like a penguin, I need to do something..."

"Like a penguin?..." asked Nanaka cluelessly with a frown on her face.

"I don't want this date to end yet..." said Aina back in her serious tone.

Nanaka opened her eyes wide. Her heart in her throat.

Definitely, she had heard those words before.

From her own mouth.

"Aina..." murmured Nanaka.

"We...we can't go back yet, and even if we could, I can't do anything because your parents are there..." said Aina with a very mature tone, "We need to do something about it."

Nanaka just stood there, still, it seemed like the fireworks could last forever as a background soundtrack of their own drama.

"Let's get out of here!" Said Aina with a decisive tone and pulled Nanaka from her spot.

Nanaka snapped in surprise and started walking fast behind Aina, thankfully they were still holding hands, otherwise, Nanaka might have gotten lost in the crowd.

While they moved, Nanaka could see that Aina was indeed walking funny. She might have been really wet from the kissing session, but respected Nanaka to not succumb to her impulses and desires to actually do something inside that cabin.

They left the crowd and continued walking at a fast pace to somewhere, but Nanaka just couldn't figure out where.

"Aina..." called Nanaka, but Aina was immersed in walking in the opposite direction of the crowd and noise.

They continued walking until they reached a crossing and Aina finally stopped.
She broke their held hands to take out her phone and check it.

"Aina." called Nanaka again, "What are you doing? Where are we going?"

Aina checked her phone, she was looking at her map app.

"I... wait..." murmured Aina, focused on reading the directions.

Nanaka blinked a few times, then turned around to where the crowd was, it seemed that the Fireworks show had ended.

"We are close..." said Aina.

Nanaka turned around towards Aina and grabbed her arm.

"Aina, stop." said Nanaka with a strong tone, "What is it?"

Aina put her phone in her pocket and looked at Nanaka with her serious face.

"I don't want this date to end yet, and we can't come back, I'm playing my cards," said Aina with conviction.

"Meaning?" asked Nanaka.

"Meaning, that I know a good hotel nearby..." said Aina, who grabbed Nanaka's hand again and started walking.

"Oh..."

"We need to save the evening..." said Aina walking at a fast speed.

"And will we be able to find a room? I mean, it's Christmas Eve!" Said Nanaka a bit incredulously.

"We will; leave it to me," said Aina with a happy tone.

They kept walking.
It could be hard for Nanaka to tell exactly where, because that part of Odaiba wasn't too popular, meaning that there weren't any attractions for anyone, just window-like buildings that could have been offices or the sort.

Maybe Aina was leading her to a seedy love hotel or something in the underground.

Then Nanaka recalled that Aina knew a lot of the "Hotel world" in Tokyo. Knowing that because of logistics she was used to spending nights in different hotels around the city, then it wasn't too weird for her to know "a good hotel" in the Good Odaiba.

They stood in another crossing and Nanaka's eyes widened, they reached Aqua City, another commercial center.

"Are you sure we are going in the right direction?" asked Nanaka.

"Yes, I'm sure, actually we are going there..." said Aina looking to the other side of the commercial center.

Nanaka looked at the building, but she wasn't surprised at all.

"A parking lot?" asked Nanaka with a deep voice.

Maybe that was the mother of all of Aina's kinks; doing it in a parking lot.

"What?! No silly, whatcha saying... beyond the parking lot," said Aina pointing to the tall building behind.

Nanaka blinked.
From that crossing, she just couldn't recognize the building because it was another tall building, but somehow it felt like a lonely building in the middle of nowhere.

"I feel lost..." said Nanaka.

"You don't come to Odaiba often, do you?" asked Aina crossing the street.

"Not really, and if I come, I go to shopping centers, or the touristy places, like we did today..." said Nanaka reaching the other side.

"I see, well, this side of the island isn't that touristy..." said Aina moving along.

"I can tell..."

"Most of the hotels are on the other side of the island..." continued Aina.

"Eh...?"

"On this side are the special ones... the exclusive ones," said Aina, not even looking at Nanaka.

"I guess you come quite often..."

"Not really, but I have some connections..." said Aina with a smile, Nanaka just raised an eyebrow.

They walked a bit more till they found the entrance.

Nanaka's eyes widened in surprise, and she almost dropped her jaw in astonishment.

It was the Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba.

"I bet you dropped your panties," said Aina going inside.

"Aina-chan! Don't say such things..." scolded Nanaka a bit in shock, her orbs totally out of focus, "How could this be?!"

"Why? This is a hotel, and we need a bed..." said Aina as if she was entering into a SevenEleven, no biggie.

"Aina, you were scared to spend Christmas in Roppongi Hills, and you dare to bring me here... what's wrong with you?" Asked Nanaka partially amused, and partially concerned.

The Grand Nikko Tokyo Daiba was a 4-stars luxury high-rise hotel, and inside it, there were 12 restaurants, bar outlets, 2 pools, and even a running track. (What the hell?!)

Maybe Nanaka was losing her panties already because the Lobby was a piece of art. It was giant and felt very impersonal due to the polished floors, it's really high ceiling, and the monstrous pillows that were bigger than Aina. Even if they wanted to warm it up with Christmas decorations and their big and pompous tree, the waiting area featured a domed ceiling with a crescent-shaped sprawl of chairs for people waiting to check-in.

But Aina moved inside as if she was the owner.

Nanaka walked behind her paler than ever.

How could these 2 little girls in their early 20ies, wannabe Idols, afford this kind of hotel?

Nanaka started to do some quick math in her head if she had that kind of money right away.
Maybe Aina was an expert finding Love Hotel, or regular Hotels, but not luxury ones.

How could she?

"Do you have a Sugar Daddy or something?" asked Nanaka with some panic in her voice.

"What? No! Whadda ya saying?!" said Aina amused while reaching the reception.

Nanaka blinked, not even believing what was going on.

"Maybe a Sugar mommy?" Nanaka insisted.

"Eh?! What? Nana, what the hell?" laughed Aina maybe too loudly.

"Then? What is this? Can we really spend the night here?!" Asked Nanaka now more panicked.

"I'll take care of it. Please Suwawa, chill! This is nothing..." Aina waved off as she started checking them in.

Nanaka blinked a few times and felt so weird in that situation. She lost all control of everything.

Aina never told her that this was her plan.
They thought of going back to Akasaka to the "Hotel Vista" near Nanaka's place and seal the date, but going to a luxury one, wasn't in any plan.

At least in the plan that Nanaka knew.

She couldn't help but feel annoyed.

It was supposed that this date was for both of them, and Aina had made this decision on her own, not even asking her. If Aina wanted to spend the night in Odaiba, Nanaka would have preferred to spend it in a normal one, even a good Love Hotel could have made the deal, but that felt like a lot.

Once again, Aina thinking for both of them and making decisions on her own, "for the best" for them.

But Nanaka just couldn't do a thing, Aina was managing the situation and felt that she had everything under control. So Nanaka had to stay put like an obedient child waiting for Aina to settle everything.

After a few minutes, Aina received some instructions and the room keys.

So, it was happening, they would spend the night there.

A bellhop helped them with the shopping bags.
It was just a few bags and no luggage, which of course, was weird, but the nice guy didn't say a thing and just moved to an elevator.

It would be SO DAMN weird for any person from the hotel staff to see these two children, just with shopping bags and no luggage staying just for the night. It was still early, so there were no excuses as "there are no trains left" for these kids to go home.

It made Nanaka feel uncomfortable.

"Alright! We're all set!" snapped Aina in a happy tone, completely ignoring an "Annoyed Nanaka".

"Care to explain?" Asked Nanaka not even moving an inch.

"What? Is this new for you?" Asked Aina with her goofy tone.

"Come to a luxury hotel without me knowing? Yes." Said Nanaka, not holding back her mad tone.

Aina snapped and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Geez, are you mad?" asked Aina in genuine surprise.

"Am I? Aina, what are we doing here? Why didn't you even tell me?" asked Nanaka trying to hold on.

"But... I... this is a surprise, yes, a surprise... this is part of my Christmas present... for you..." said Aina trying to sound convincing.

"What?! But Ainya-chan, this must cost a lot!" said Nanaka.

"Don't worry about it!"

"But I do! Aina, you should have told me; I would have prepared..." said Nanaka now stressed, "I didn't dress for this kind of place...also you already gave me my Christmas present! Then this—"

"Stop," said Aina now with her mature tone and looking at Nanaka really seriously.

Nanaka bit her lips.

"First of all, you don't need special clothes, Suwawa, you are perfect, you are always perfect and you look amazing, that's not the issue..." said Aina without blinking, "Second, this is part of my Christmas present, if I had told you, you would have denied coming..."

Nanaka took a breath to retort, but she couldn't.

"Third, we have been working too damn hard, we deserve some relaxation and a peaceful time; we deserve a good meal, and most of all, you serve to be happy."

Nanaka blinked.

Happy? Really?

As Nanaka had realized before, she was happy with something untouchable as a magical moment with Aina and not with the fancy pansy things.

Like a night in luxury.

Nanaka made a bitter smile, it meant that Aina didn't understand how her happiness worked.

"And you think that this makes me happy?" asked Nanaka, stretching her arms like showing the place.

"Well... to tell the truth..." started Aina scratching her cheek, "I made a reservation like, at the beginning of the month..."

"What?" snapped Nanaka.

"Yes, the next day you invited me to spend Christmas with you... I had this idea... I wanted to give you a night to remember... I had a few Hotels in mind... but then we had the conversation about Roppongi Hills... and well, you told me it wasn't necessary... but as you can see... I..." Aina stopped talking to look at Nanaka; her face was a poem.

Aina gave her a sad smile.

"I'm sorry Nana, I fuck it up, right?" asked Aina in shame, "If you don't like it, we can leave..."

Nanaka blinked a few times.

What could she do? Of course, it annoyed Nanaka to not even had been asked about it, but everything worked as a Christmas present, and the "character" of Nanaka that Aina had in her mind at that time was a very spoiled and classy child that would love to spend a night in luxury. Of course, Nanaka had very specific tastes, but maybe that kind of taste was more for King or Rikako...

But, Aina didn't know that Nanaka would rather spend her night in the Bandai Namco Store playing UFO machines than having a fancy dinner at a luxury hotel.

Besides, this also meant that Aina was thinking about her and that night with her for that long. Even if it wasn't the way, Nanaka would have lied to say that that didn't make her happy.

"It's ok..." said Nanaka.

"Eh? Really?" asked Aina shyly.

"We are already here, it would be a waste not to get the most of it..." said Nanaka with a sigh.

"You sure?" asked Aina, "Suwawa, I want you to be happy, I'm sorry if this hurts you..." hurried Aina to say.

"Don't worry Aina," said Nanaka now with a more genuine smile.

"Seriously?" asked Aina shyly again.

"Yes, I'm good...let's enjoy it, it's a very beautiful hotel, and I'm glad to be here and spend the time here with you..." said Nanak with kindness.

Aina smiled wide as her eyes became all watery.

"I'm glad..." said Aina with a whimper.

"Sorry, it was a misunderstanding..." said Nanaka in her normal tone, Aina shook her head.

"I... you are right, I should have asked you..." said Aina looking at her shoes while playing with the room key in her hands.

Nanaka smiled at her and took a deep breath.

"Ok, thanks so much for this opportunity; please take good care of me," said Nanaka maybe too politely while she made a small bow.

Aina opened her eyes wide as her cheeks turned bright red.

"Oh, oh, Oi... likewise!" Hurried Aina and bowed too.

Nanaka could bet that now the receptionists and the staff understood that these two kids would fuck that night.

Both girls started walking towards the elevator with her cheeks bright red, once the doors closed Nanaka instinctively grabbed Aina's hand. It was as if both could keep breathing normally.

"Well, what's the plan?" asked Nanaka looking at the numbers turning over the elevator door.

"Uhm, I don't really have one anymore..." said Aina.

"Really?"

"We are already here, and my intention is for you to relax...and enjoy..." said Aina with her mature tone.

Nanaka tried hard not to look at her. That tone made her melt inside.

Aina was always thinking about her.

Always.

She was always looking for the details, even if sometimes she just had her way not minding Nanaka's opinion, but most of the time it was "for the best of both", or "what Nanaka would like". Of course, it bothered Nanaka because she felt like losing her control, Aina was just too independent and she wasn't someone who waited for instructions.

But taking that aside, Aina was always listening, watching, and aware of the details. What Nanaka wanted, needed, desired. (Even if she would get the wrong impression of her being a fancy pansy person) at least she was there, trying and making an effort to fit in Nanaka's way to be.

And that was always the tricky and hard part in any relationship; to fit.

Maybe all relationships started with chemistry and desire, but the very first months of the dating process was the matching and fitting within each other; if they had likely taste, education, culture, etc.

And it was in this part of the process where most people failed at; fitting.

Because at first, it was always about being good to the other person, being accommodating, and not really being their true selves, and the relationships started to go down when that facade started crashing because the other person just didn't fit with what the other part wanted. Whether it was cultural, ideological, or just the brand of soap.

And the next months or years became a battle of fitting.

People spent just too much time trying to fit and make the other person fit into their ways that they forgot about themselves, about the relationship, and ended up frustrated because the other person just couldn't fit into their expectations.

In some cases, both parties gave in and it worked, but in other cases, it just couldn't.

And that was what happened with Shuka; Nanaka forced her ways, tried to make Shuka fit, but they couldn't, and now she was doing the same thing with Aina.

Trying to change her, to make her behave in a way to fit her necessities, and what was Nanaka doing about it? Was she fitting into what Aina needed/ wanted?

Was Aina frustrated with her?

Nanaka blinked a few times, escaping from her "Suwa World" to look at Aina; she was nervously fidgeting in her spot.

"Are you still like a penguin?" asked Nanaka.

"Eh? What?" asked Aina, surprised.

"You were walking like a penguin before…" pushed Nanaka.

The elevator rang telling them that they were on their floor.

"Well, not as bad as when we were watching the fireworks... but, you know..." said Aina walking out of the elevator, "With you, I'm never dry..."

Nanaka swallowed dryly.

They were on the 21st floor, and as for Nanaka, everything looked really fancy. Not for them to be talking about wetness and dryness.

"So what kind of room did you reserve? Please tell me that it isn't the presidential one or something..." said Nanaka moving behind Aina while looking at the room numbers.

Aina laughed.

"Geez Nana, Seriously! I'm not that powerful..." said Aina in her happy tone.

Nanaka just blinked, it was hard to tell.

Maybe any of Aina's ladies would be happy and beyond to be invited to spend a night with her in whichever hotel Aina knew -because it seemed she knew a lot of that stuff- and maybe Nanaka was being rude to just not accept it and be grateful about it.

But, was this a regular behavior from Aina?

Was that her way to get her ladies?

"I chose a 'Deluxe Room'," said Aina without a care in the world and stopped in front of a door.

Nanaka's eyes widened in surprise; she also stopped but didn't say a thing.

She was using all her willpower to be there with her best "Suwa Face", and facing the fact that Aina was giving her a luxury night, in a luxury hotel, in a deluxe room.

Did that fit in Nanaka's happiness?

Aina opened the room and let herself in, Nanaka followed through.

The room was like a normal western type room, it was filled with a low yellow light coming from some lamps at the end of the room, and one floor lamp beside the window. Nanaka could notice that their shopping bags rested where the luggage should be located, meaning that the bellhop had already been there. The bed was HUGE, but her attention went straight towards the window and the view.

It was to die for.

The colorful Rainbow Bridge in all its splendor was there, proudly next to skyscrapers of the Tokyo metropolitan area. Tokyo Tower was there too, with its iconic red lights.

It indeed was a breathtaking view.

Both stood in the middle of the room with their sights glued on the view, Aina closer to the window due to her entering first. The door closed behind them with a heavy thump, both snapped in surprise.

After a few seconds of silence, Aina spoke.

"There weren't many options, you know?" continued Aina without looking back at Nanaka, just her sight glued in the view, "I wanted to give you this, this sight...this view..."

Nanaka took her eyes from the window to look at Aina; she turned around to face Nanaka.

"Merry Christmas, Nana."
Said Aina with a sweet smile and her eyes shining in love.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise and felt that strong feeling in her chest again.

The same feeling while watching penguins in an aquarium, the same feeling while watching the fireworks; happiness.

Without thinking, Nanaka moved surefooted towards Aina, dropped her purse on the bed, grabbed Aina's cheeks, and kissed her.

Aina didn't say a thing, she just went with the flow and answered the kiss with equal passion; she hugged Nanaka tightly, grabbing her white cozy coat firmly.

This time, they were alone, on the 21st floor of a luxury hotel, in a deluxe room, where no one could reach them.

It was perfect.

Driven by that thought, Nanaka moved her hands straight to Aina's coat, and with her skillful fingers, opened it wide. Aina gasped softly into the kiss, but Nanaka didn't let her say anything else, she just continued kissing her.

Aina broke the embrace, and without leaving Nanaka's lips, took her backpack off and threw it on the floor, to later remove her own coat.

Aina was trying to fit into Nanaka's world, yes, but if Nanaka was starting the kissing and moving forward with it, Aina wasn't going to refuse, or to stop it.

On the contrary, Aina would help.
And maybe it was Nanaka who needed to fit into Aina's world.

First, Aina grabbed Nanaka's coat and pulled towards her to make the kiss deeper, then with strength, she just opened Nanaka's coat; Nanaka opened her eyes in surprise, and without thinking, helped Aina to remove it.
It fell around Nanaka's ankles.

She tried to move away from the kiss to regain control of the situation, but Aina didn't let her; with her left hand, she grabbed Nanaka's right cheek and continued devouring their lips as if there was no tomorrow.

And maybe there wasn't.
Aina wasn't that patient when it came to having sex.
Correction.
Actually, she had been patient enough, it was time to give Aina her deserved snacks, no, the whole meal.

With that on her mind, Nanaka just sent her senses away, 21 floors down to the bay.

Nanaka started moving Aina towards the window, still eating her lips, with hunger and devotion, she needed some support for their kissing session, remembering that they had that terrible but adorable 10 centimeters height difference that made that kind of session painful for Nanaka's back and Aina's toes, so she just pushed Aina against the window.

Aina gasped in the kiss when she felt the glass on her back.
But Nanaka didn't stop.

Aina liked the challenge, dynamic, raw, and frantic sex, and it was still early, the room seemed big enough to play around for hours, everywhere, the bed could wait a bit.
Passion needed to be consummated first.

So Nanaka put her strategic knee between Aina's legs, separating them; Aina moaned softly in the kiss.

Nanaka gasped a bit annoyed because Aina was wearing a long skirt, and of course, that was troublesome for her knee, not to mention that it was an obstacle to get optimal results.

Nanaka frowned, this was a little mishap, she would have her control back.

Using her skillful and quick fingers she went towards the long skirt and pulled up to Aina's hip, giving her space for her thigh to get in, straight against Aina's crotch, while with her other hand grabbed Aina's scalp, her fingers entwined in her hair, making Aina move her head up for Nanaka to deepen the kiss.

She moaned.

Maybe the sensation of having her Nana empowered, sandwiching her against a window, with her butt exposed, was making her wetter. Nanaka couldn't deny it; she was enjoying it.

Was this what meant to fit into Aina's world?

Nanaka broke the kiss as her train of thoughts, it wasn't the moment to go into the "Suwa World" searching for philosophical questions and answers.

Aina was horny and needy, and that was her fault, she needed to deliver.

Nanaka moved towards Aina's neck and started kissing, biting, licking it, it was divine. All of Aina's perfume was there, it felt like heaven had reached the 21st floor for Nanaka to taste it.

Aina started to grunt in pleasure with every kiss, every lick on her hot body.
Her hands traveled from Nanaka's body towards her hair as she entwined her baby fingers with her hair.

"Geez! Suwawa!" snapped Aina, but Nanaka just ignored her.

She knew what Aina needed.

Nanaka started moving her hips, making friction with Aina's crotch, as her right hand grabbed her thigh with a strong grip.

Aina moaned. Loudly.

Aina's legs were always a delight for Nanaka because they were strong, there was a lot where to grab and bite.

Nanaka withdrew her hand from Aina's hair and slapped heavily against the window for support. Even if Aina was being sandwiched against the window, there was still a height difference between them that made the position uncomfortable.

But that wasn't going to stop her; with determination, Nanaka came back towards Aina's lips and they became lost into another passionate, wet, and messy kiss, Aina's fingers firmly grasping Nanaka's hair became painful. Maybe the tiny braids on Nanaka's hair were all gone.

Aina started biting Nanaka's lips, trapping her tongue within the kiss, as small grunts and moans continued to slip from her lips.
Aina was going to the top, and it would be a crime to stop it.

Her hips started to move frantically against Nanaka's thigh. She could bet that her own skirt was wet too.

Nanaka moved her right hand from the strong grip in Aina's thigh towards her most sensitive area; she broke the kiss when her fingers touched a very notorious wet spot in Aina's panties.

"Ainya-chan…" Nanaka whispered.

Aina moaned.

"What's the meaning of this…?" asked Nanaka with a teasing tone, as she started rubbing Aina's clit against the fabric.

Aina grunted in pleasure; she closed her eyes, enjoying Nanaka's fingers on her notorious lump.

"Ah, Nana—!" Said Aina trying to hold her moans back, and pleasure.

"Mmm?" Nanaka started, Aina for sure loved that.

"I need you…" murmured Aina, holding back another moan.

"What's with this rush? I'm enjoying 'my view'…" said Nanaka in control of everything, she sped up her fingers against Aina's clit; Aina's grip on Nanaka's hair now started to be painful. It seemed that Aina had her nails long. Again.

Kicking that thought out the window, Nanaka moved her hand to the hem of Aina's panties and pulled them down, Aina helped with her right hand to take them off, and with the impulse, took her shoes off too.

Aina hadn't lied when she told Nanaka that she had been walking like a penguin since the Ferris wheel.
She was so soaked that those panties needed to go straight to the washing machine.

Nanaka left the wet fabric on the floor and looked up towards Aina with a lustful look. Aina was against the window looking for Nanaka to continue and was kind enough to hold her skirt up to show Nanaka what she had missed these last weeks.

Nanaka blinked fast, and unconsciously licked her lips.

Aina was inviting her for dinner.

And she wasn't going to miss that chance.

Nanaka knelt in front of Aina, gently touching her soft thighs, and enjoying how her touch sent Aina an electric sensation, her hips becoming impatient.

"Mmm, something smells nice here…" purred Nanaka against Aina's skin.

"Jesus Christ! Nana is such a meany!" snapped Aina moving her legs a bit, she was impatient.

"It's been so long…" murmured Nanaka softly, she started kissing Aina's inner thigh, "I want to enjoy it…"

Aina made a drowned sound as her head turned back; Nanaka could feel part of Aina's skirt against the back of her head, meaning that Aina was getting weak on her limbs. Also, that she was more aroused than ever.

Licking her lips once again, she murmured "Tadaima/I'm back"

And Nanaka gave Aina a long lick in her slit.

Aina moaned, making her head turn back once again, maybe hitting the window. Nanaka couldn't know, because Aina started to make a lot of noises.
She started to grunt in pleasure, small squeaks, and from time to time, moans. Not to mention the wet sounds that escaped from Aina's lower lips because of Nanaka's crazy and playful tongue.

Nanaka's tongue started licking everything she could, even if it was difficult due to Aina's wetness, but it wasn't impossible.
It was like, the more she licked, the damper it turned. It was heaven.

Aina's left hand grabbed Nanaka's head firmly, her nails digging into her scalp.

"Oh my God!, this is so good!" shouted Aina as she started rocking her hips against Nanaka's face.

Nanaka used all her strength to hold on to Aina's thigh, resisting the claws in her head.
It was a mixed sensation of pleasure and pain.

But she never stopped her tongue touring around every corner she could reach, or her lips from catching the erected lump of nerves and to start suctioning it vigorously.

It made Aina moan in pleasure and rock her hips faster against her face.

"Ah… more... I need... more…" murmured Aina between moans, her head all the way back, Nanaka blinked and started licking Aina's clit faster.

Aina moved her left leg up, breaking Nanaka's grip on her thigh, to expose more of her most precious place for Nanaka to devour her.

Nanaka understood the motion and let Aina rest her leg on her shoulder, using her right hand to hold it in its place.
As Aina gave her more space, she wasn't going to miss the opportunity to make Aina come in all glory.

She moved her lips quicker, her tongue faster, as she licked, sucked, and rubbed Aina's clit fiercely, while with her left hand, she entered inside Aina's most special place.

Nanaka's thin and long pianist fingers reached the goal.

Aina started moaning, not holding back this time.

As Nanaka sucked and licked Aina's clit, her fingers trusted inside Aina, following the pace of her hips. Her claws becoming painful in Nanaka's scalp, but totally worth it.

Aina started to move her hips vigorously, not giving Nanaka a chance to catch her breath.
Nanaka's grip on Aina's left leg became her only way of holding the position.

"Ah, so Good….Na…na…" murmured Aina, losing herself into pleasure; Nanaka closed her eyes, everything was music for her soul.

Aina's moans, Aina's wet sounds, Aina's hips moving against her. Nanaka in total control.

Nanaka inserted two more fingers, and Aina just couldn't take it.

"OH MY GOD!" she moaned. Loudly.

Beautifully.

From zero to one, Aina reached an orgasm.

Nanaka moved slightly away from Aina's crotch to look up; she was breathing very elaborately, her legs shivering while trying to stay standing.

"You ok?" asked Nanaka softly.

Aina couldn't say a thing, she was still in her post-orgasm state.

Nanaka grinned.
She knew that that wasn't enough to keep Aina satisfied, and she had been denying Aina a lot of sex and love because of their insecurities, Aina's jealousy, and everything.

But now it was different.
She was going to make sure to enjoy her happiness as much as she could, and with the privilege of sharing it with Aina.

Aina used to have more stamina than Nanaka, so it was normal to go a few rounds in a row with her.

With a plan in mind, Nanaka made Aina rest her left leg on the floor again, while she pulled her three fingers out of her, of course, the motion made Aina grunt in pleasure.

Nanaka smiled wide at this.

Aina's skirt fell back in position while she was still recovering.

"I hope you are ready," said Nanaka in her low tone; she moved her right hand to her face and licked off Aina's nectar, slowly.

"Ready?" Murmured Aina out of breath.

"I'm not done with you…" said Nanaka with the same low tone, not changing her expression.

After those three months of dating, and lots of kink sessions, Nanaka had learned that Aina loved to be commanded, and even if Nanaka wasn't sadistic, masochistic, or someone extreme, she could put an effort and boss her around with her best "Suwa face" in her low tone.

Unfortunately, last time, Nanaka was really and genuinely angry, but Aina understood that as part of the kink.
Thankfully, this time was different.

Aina looked down at her with watery eyes as she brought her left hand towards her mouth in a cute gesture, letting Nanaka know that she was in her submissive mood and that she was ready.

They locked eyes.

Nanaka blinked a few times, and then gave Aina a sweet smile, letting her know that she was ok and that everything was fine.
Aina smiled back.

And that was the green light.

Nanaka, at her characteristic pace, stood up, cleaned the corner of her mouth with her thumb, and went closer to Aina, pressing her against the window again.

They looked at each other with a softened gaze, now that Aina had her first orgasm it was easier to control the lust around them.
Aina hugged her by the waist as Nanaka answered it, and pressed her forehead against Aina.

Both enjoying their moment.
Nanaka getting lost in Aina's big eyes, which shined in love for her.

Nanaka recalled that she was still leading, so she needed to stop admiring Aina and give her lots of love and pleasure.

So, with no further delay, she bent to steal more kisses from Aina.
She, of course, answered them with great enthusiasm.

Aina was tiptoeing to reach Nanaka's lips, and in no time she started to deepen the kiss as she introduced her playful tongue inside Nanaka's mouth. Of course, Aina was hitting up the mood once again.

This time, Nanaka was more assertive; she broke the embrace and went straight for Aina's legs, her left hand grabbing Aina's right leg and hooking it on her own hip, as her right hand grabbed Aina's skirt and lifted it once again.

Nanaka broke the kiss, and huskily said;

"Spread your legs..."

Aina nodded shyly and moved her left leg out, exposing her most sensitive place to Nanaka.

Nanaka raised an eyebrow without taking her eyes off Aina's.
Then grinned.

"Good girl." purred Nanaka, and softly moved her right hand back to Aina's slit.

It seemed that Aina was ready for action because Nanaka could only touch her dampness.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Wow… Ainya, you are so wet…" said Nanaka breaking character, as her finger went touring inside Aina's slit, up, and down.
The room became filled with Aina's wet sounds once again.

Aina shivered.

"You— You meany…" said Aina with difficulty as she started biting her left index finger, trying desperately to hold back her grunts and moans.

"Am I?" asked Nanaka now with a grin on her face, she started to speed up her finger's ups and downs until she reached the erected clit.

She started rubbing it in circles.

"You… you-ARE! Geez!… Your touch… your sight on me… " Aina was mumbling behind her finger.

"What? Are you saying that this…" Nanaka was saying as she sped up her pace, "…is my doing?"

Aina moaned.

"Yes, yes… you, make me this wet…" said Aina with trouble, and her hips started to move impatiently.

"Oh…" said Nanaka with her "Suwa Tone", fascinated.

Aina grunted, troubled, she needed friction, or to be taken.
Maybe both.

"Let me help you…" said Nanaka as she moved to reach Aina's lips, and at the same time her skillful fingers went all the way in.

Aina's moan was suppressed by Nanaka's eager kisses, but could surely feel Aina's moan escaping into her mouth.

Aina grunted.

Nanaka grinned at the kiss and started thrusting softly at first, but feeling that her two fingers were inside with no troubles at all, she started to speed up.

Both needed to break the kiss.

They needed desperately to breathe, and Aina to moan.

Aina's arms rounded Nanaka's neck for more stability, while Nanaka tried desperately to hold them up in that standing position.
But Aina was still tiptoeing, and with one leg hooked on Nanaka's hip, it wasn't that comfortable at all.

And it was needed to be said, but Nanaka wasn't that strong.

Nanaka started to sweat.
Aina was already sweating but was just too busy moaning and grunting to even care about their clothes.

Thrusting Aina against the window was Aina's kink, she would rather prefer thrusting her against the huge and comfy bed than there…

Then Nanaka took her eyes away from Aina for a moment and looked beyond her; the window was starting to get foggy, and of course, Aina's body was so hot, and outside must have been chilly and cold.

Nanaka blinked, and then looked at Aina once again. She was moving her hips out of control, wanting to get deeper, her moans becoming louder.

"Stop it," said Nanaka dryly, and clearly.

"Eh?!" Snapped Aina, while still moving her hips; Nanaka stopped thrusting.

"I want to enjoy my present…" said Nanaka huskily, and she withdrew her fingers out of Aina.

Aina moaned because of the sensation, but quickly made a sound of frustration.

"Eh? What are you saying?!" asked Aina somewhat annoyed, and with reason, she was enjoying herself.

Nanaka helped Aina get her leg down off her hip.

"It would be a crime not to enjoy this view," said Nanaka looking at Aina, and then out the window.

"Eh?!" snapped Aina incredulously.

"And I want you to enjoy it too..." said Nanaka in her monotone, but with a grin.

"What?" asked Aina in disbelief.

"Turn around…" commanded Nanaka dryly, but with soft touch guiding Aina to turn and face the view,

Aina stood a few seconds astonished by the view as she felt Nanaka's strong arms around her.

"I want to enjoy my view…" murmured Nanaka softly in Aina's ear, it made her shiver.

"Oh…" Aina was only able to say.

"Thank you…" said Nanaka, still in a whisper into Aina's ear.

She used her left hand to touch Aina's cheek and softly guided her to turn her head around for Nanaka to steal a deep kiss from her.

They got lost in that kiss, she could feel Aina slowly giving into the passion once again, and Nanaka took advantage of that.

While still kissing, she slightly moved her right and sticky hand back under Aina's dress; Aina jumped in surprise and broke the kiss.

"HEY! Suwa—!" but Aina was silenced by Nanaka grabbing her butt with strength, it made Aina bend towards the window.
She used both hands to support herself against it.

"Mmm, what?, you are still so…" Nanaka was said while playing with Aina's juices once again, "…wet."

"But, what…what if someone… sees us?" Asked Aina in a shy mood.

"Eh?…" Nanaka said while starting to rub her clit in circles, "You have been showing your pale and perfect butt from here…"

"AH!" Moaned Aina.

"And now … you are concerned that someone… might see you?" teased Nanaka with a husky voice against Aina's ear while rubbing her clit mercilessly.

Aina started moaning and moving her hips impatiently as if she was receiving some electrical shock. She bent even more against the window.

Nanaka smirked.

She was playing with Aina's insides under her dress, so there was no chance that someone from outside could see them, also they were on the 21st floor, and with the view towards the bay and the bridge, who could possibly be watching that?

Nanaka licked her lips.

The sight was to die for, but adding a submissive Aina, almost in all fours against the window, was the cherry on top of this "gifted view" needed.

Nanaka licked her lips once again. It was too delicious.

Still tasting Aina's nectar in her lower lips she inserted two of her fingers inside Aina.
Of course, she moaned loudly.

Nanaka, with her left hand, grabbed Aina's hips, and started thrusting. Slowly at first.

Aina started grunting as her breathing became heavier.

"Oh my God!" shouted Aina in her loud tone as they started speeding up their pace.

Aina started moving her hips against Nanaka's hand vigorously.

Nanaka's breathing started to speed up too because she was just beyond aroused at that point.

"Ah—Nana, feels so good…" said Aina out of breath.

"Yes…It does…" said Nanaka, but somehow, it wasn't enough.

Consumed by lust she determined that she wanted more, so she just inserted a third finger.

Aina moaned loudly, her knees shook as she started to lose balance, her hands also slipped a bit from the windows, she bent even more.

"AHHH NanA!" moaned Aina.

"Don't come yet," said Nanaka with difficulty, she was feeling her panties too tight now, and her own legs shivering because of her own arousal.

"Ahhhhcan'ttakeit!" complained Aina, but without stopping her hips, or pulling her butt from Nanaka's hands.

Nanaka started grunting too, that was too much for her heart and her crotch too.

Aina's inside started to get tighter, and Nanaka knew that that was her call.

As a final touch of this act of love by the City lights, Nanaka went out with all the artillery; she moved her left hand that was trying to hold Aina in her position towards Aina's clit, and started furiously rubbing it.

Aina just couldn't take it.

She started moaning louder, moved her hips, and almost fell because the window was just too slippery.

Nanaka used all her strength to keep Aina standing up, using her body to support her. Aina tried to hold on too using her hands, one touched the floor as the other one just stayed on her knee.

"Oh, My-GOD-! Na-NA! I'm—" Aina tried, but was cut by her own orgasm.

Her body arched against Nanaka's body. Nanaka took her fingers out of Aina's insides quickly and hugged her tightly.

Both breathing heavily and trying to not lose balance.

Nanaka was sweating bullets but needed to be strong to hold Aina. She used all her strength on her legs to hold both bodies while Aina breathed very elaborately, and was almost a rag doll. Maybe that was one of the strongest orgasms Nanaka had ever given her.

Aina was a mess; her legs felt like overcooked spaghetti, same as her arms that were hanging from her body too tired to do a thing. Aina was practically holding on against Nanaka's body, and thanks to her hug.

Nanaka blinked a few times trying to recover as well. Watching and hearing Aina moaning and coming so hard -twice- of course, came with the toll of taking care of her. Maybe she had come too, silently on her own panties.

But that was a worry for later, at that moment Aina needed love.

Nanaka tightened her embrace and snuggled in the crook of Aina's neck.
She closed her eyes to feel Aina's perfume and natural essence.

Aina's breathing started to normalize, as did her strength. Nanaka could feel that all the weight of Aina's body was now being shared. Nanaka slowly opened her eyes. Of course, she was greeted by that beautiful sight of Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow Bridge, but also came to her attention that she could see their reflection in the window.

Nanaka couldn't help but smile wide about the sight.
They looked just too adorable.

She moved her face a bit and kissed Aina's cheek.

"I love you, Aina." said Nanaka with her normal and most sincere tone, "And you make me happy."

Aina moved her arms towards Nanaka's and answered the hug.

"I..." started Aina with difficulty, her throat was dry, and with reason, she had been moaning loudly for maybe the last hour.

Nanaka kissed her cheek again and rubbed it with hers, as if she was a cat.

"I love ...you too Nana..." said Aina with a weak voice.

"I'm glad..." said Nanaka with a sweet voice.

Aina didn't say a thing, she was still recovering.

"Thanks for this incredible Christmas present..." said Nanaka as she kissed Aina's cheek once again, to later move her head to face the view.

That feeling invaded her again; happiness.

Being there, with Aina in her arms, post-love-making with her with that view as witness, was everything.

Nothing could beat that sensation.

Life was made by moments, and moments like those were everything.

Aina did her best to make her happy, to fit in her world and give her moments like that, even if it was somehow a coincidence, for Nanaka it was worth the try. Aina was trying, she was learning and Nanaka owed her this time. She just couldn't set this relationship to fail because Aina used to fuck everything up, maybe Nanaka failed too, but Aina never pointed it out for her to fix.

In a relationship, both needed to give in and fit, otherwise, it was condemned for frustration.

Nanaka felt a pinch in her legs and decided that it was enough contemplation for the view and she was feeling tired and wet.

"Ainya-chan, are you ok?" Asked Nanaka softly in her singsong voice.

Aina took a deep breath and recovered her good energy.

"I'm ok..." she said, then made some movements for Nanaka to break the hug.

"How are you? Did... is everything ok?" asked Aina turning around, Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

"I'm ok," said Nanaka with a smile.

"Really?" asked Aina with concern.

"Yes Aina, I'm good...are you?"

"Yes yes, geez, Suwawa... how bold..." teased Aina, grabbing her cheeks in embarrassment.

Nanaka giggled and moved around the room.

Her first step was beside Aina's panties and shoes.

"What do you want to do with this?" asked Nanaka, grabbing Aina's panties, they were really, really wet.

"Heyheyehey, don't touch that!" Said Aina moving quickly towards Nanaka, taking the wet cloth from her hands, Nanaka giggled.

"Before taking care of this, I should take care of you!" said Aina with a grin, she licked her lips suggestively, and was about to throw her panties away, but Nanaka stopped her touching her hand.

"I can wait," said Nanaka with a soft smile.

"Eh?! Seriously?!" asked Aina, astonished, as if Nanaka had grown a second head.

"Yes... we have all night... besides, I want to get comfortable first..." said Nanaka with red in her cheeks.

Aina stood in front of her not understanding.

Nanaka moved without explaining herself or anything and walked like a penguin towards her coat.
Aina let out an "oh".

"You know? This is not your place... we can leave our clothes scattered around the room, no one will tell..." said Aina amused.

"I know, but this isn't right..." said Nanaka, picking up their coats and Aina's backpack.

She left the backpack on the huge bed, then walked towards the closet to hang their coats.

Aina giggled.
Sometimes some behaviors couldn't be fixed.

"Oh..." said Nanaka with a calm tone after opening the closet.
She took a hanger and hung her coat, then repeated the same with Aina's.

"What?" asked Aina who was grabbing her shoes.

"There are two Nightwears and robes," said Nanaka, taking a white robe out, then turned around to face Aina.

"Oh! Fancy!"

Nanaka blinked a few times, she used those seconds to study the room.

The room was mostly decorated in greens and blues, and the bed was seriously huge.
Like a super King size one, maybe, Aina would get lost between the sheets.

Besides the big bed, there were nightstands that matched the headboard, next to the window a tiny table with 2 armchairs, that thanks to the frantic love-making she hadn't even noticed. A floor lamp beside them. And in front of the bed, of course, the TV rack filled with magazines, 2 bottled water, a desk with a lamp, and its chair.

It was quite normal for a "Deluxe" suite.
Maybe the distinguishing point was the huge bed.

And well, the view.

Nanaka hummed, then looked at Aina.

Aina just grabbed one of the bottled water and started drinking from it as if there was no tomorrow...

"Do you mind if I take a bath?" asked Nanaka, Aina just opened her eyes wide and left the bottle abruptly.

"Eh?... what?"

"It's been a long day, I know I took a shower in the morning, but we walked a lot..." said Nanaka leaving her Nightwear and her robe on the huge bed, Aina left her bottle on the rack.

"No, I mean, I don't mind..." said Aina moving towards the closet, leaving her shoes there, "But... now I feel ashamed..."

"Why is that?" Asked Nanaka, then paused to take off her sweater, she had indeed been sweating like crazy.

"I didn't shower... and you... well..." said Aina embarrassed.

Nanaka giggled.

"Thanks for the treat." teased Nanaka.

"Hey! I was serious!" complained Aina, "And I don't think I can fit in this robe! Damn it!"

Nanaka snorted, Aina was too small to even reach the hanger.

"You might need to sleep tied to one of the nightstands, or you might get lost in the bed." mocked Nanaka as she helped Aina with the hanger.

"Ha, Ha, so funny..." said Aina in a fake mad tone accepting the hanger, "Thank you…" she ended with a cute tone.

"At this point in our relationship, are you ashamed that I went down on you without you taking a shower?" asked Nanaka going back to her duty.

"It's not that, I mean, why the hell are ya' gonna take a shower?!" asked Aina with her regular mocking tone.

"Because I stink..." said Nanaka, taking her shoe off without even sitting on the bed.

"That's not true." insisted Aina.

"I do, it's different from you because you went first, now I'm the penguin, and I don't feel comfortable..." said Nanaka, now taking her other shoe, "I want to take my panties off and wash them for them to be dry tomorrow morning..."

"Oh, that's why you're not sitting on the bed?" Asked Aina amused.

"Of course..." said Nanaka, leaving her shoes in the closet and taking out a pair of sleepers. She blinked.

Then she turned around with a silly smile.

"This place is not meant for you, these slippers won't fit you either..." said Nanaka in a mocking tone; Aina opened her eyes and mouth wide.

"Ha, Ha again for you!" said Aina, annoyed.

"Maybe we can ask for kids clothes to fit you," said Nanaka in a serious tone as she started putting the sleepers on.

"I'm not a kid!"

"You are...a baby," said Nanaka walking by and kissing Aina on the forehead.

Aina didn't move an inch.

"So, I'm going to take a shower..." said Nanaka.

"Wait, shouldn't you tell your mom that we are gonna spend the night out?" suggested Aina.

"Oh, you are right... now it's kind of late..." murmured Nanaka.

With quick steps, she moved towards her purse and took out her phone.
She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Her phone was a battle zone.
Between all the LINE chats messages, SMS, missed calls, and emails.

Nanaka stood there watching her phone without blinking, maybe for about a full minute.

"What?" she heard Aina asking.

"I'm overwhelmed..." said Nanaka in her monotone.

"Eh?, Geez! Nana, find the chat with your mom and tell her that you will be fucking all night long, to save you some chicken for tomorrow…" said Aina, "It's Christmas Eve! What the hell would they want from you now?!"

Nanaka snorted.

"You know that I can't tell her that..." said Nanaka giggling, but she did half of what Aina told her. She started scrolling for her mom's chat, but couldn't help but stop on Shuka's.

Nanaka blinked a few times. Swallowed dryly.

Shuka had written to her earlier in the afternoon.

She just read the first half of the message, she didn't want to open the chat.

"Merry Christmas Osuwa! I saw that you went to see the Aqours' Tree with Ainya..."

Nanaka stood there reading that part of the message like 10 times.
Not moving, not blinking, maybe not even breathing. She was scared of opening that chat.

Why should she care? They had settled their thing, it wasn't Shuka's business to say anything.

Of course, Shuka saw her Twitter, and the pictures, and the post saying that she was on a date with Aina.
Nanaka made a bitter face.

She was now with Aina, having a great date, why was she caring about Shuka? She wasn't with her anymore, she had settled her heart, and even spent the last night with Shuka.
It should be done.

Then why do I feel this bad?

Why do I care?!

Do I care?!

"Suwawa!" she heard behind her.

Nanaka snapped and looked at Aina with a panicked face.

Happiness was SO DAMN FRAGILE.

It took Shuka one silly message to crash it.

Aina looked at her with a sad expression.

"I…" mumbled Nanaka.

"Something wrong? What's wrong? Do we need to leave?" Asked Aina with concern, walking towards her, "Is it your mom? Your Grandma?"

Nanaka shook her head.

"No, no… they are fine…" said Nanaka with a soft tone.

"Then? Did I do something wrong?" asked Aina, now sad.

Nanaka snapped and dropped her phone on the bed.

"Don't say that… " said Nanaka, turning around and hugging Aina.

Aina didn't say a thing, because that hug might have surprised her greatly, she just answered the hug shyly.

"I'm ok… we are ok…" murmured Nanaka, "It's nothing…"

"Yo—You sure?" Asked Aina, whose face was being crushed against Nanaka's non-existent boobs.

"I am…" said Nanaka with her low tone.

"Ok…"

That "ok" didn't sound convincing at all.
It was as if Nanaka was holding on to Aina to hide from reality, or whatever was on the other side of her phone.

Aina always respected Nanaka's privacy, and never asked more than a few times. If Nanaka didn't want to tell her, she respected that.

What made Nanaka angry wasn't the fact that Shuka had texted her.
They were friends, Aqours colleagues, and they could text each other.
What made her angry was herself, that a text could crush her, and that Aina felt responsible for it.

And that was wrong on so many levels.

Aina was trying hard to fit into Nanaka's life, and if Nanaka wasn't happy or pleased, Aina assumed it was because of her, because of all the previous damage, but now Aina had nothing to do with it.

It wasn't fair. And Nanaka knew it.

"Would you…take that bath with me?" asked Nanaka, breaking the hug, but not the embrace.

Aina opened her eyes wide and gave her a sweet smile.

"Of course, whatever my Nana wants…" said Aina with a sweet smile.

Nanaka nodded shyly.

"Alright!" snapped Aina with her happy tone, "Ya' can tell your mom later, ya' need that bath now…"

With that, Aina grabbed Nanaka's hand and guided her towards the bathroom.

She turned on the light and both stood in the doorframe.

"Oh."

Both said at the same time.

"Fancy…" murmured Aina.

"Yes…" said Nanaka like coming from one shock to another.

The bathroom was all marble and gold.
There was a tub, it wasn't that big, but thank God Aina was pocket-sized. On the other side, there was the toilet and the shower. The shower had a receptacle and glass partitions, and the toilet was just there.

Outside, nothing to cover it.

"Well…well…" said Aina, who was looking at themselves through the mirror over the ostentatious vanity in front of them. It was small, round, but marble with gold.

"After this stay, I hope you are no longer shy with me anymore…" finished Aina now looking at her.

"Eh? What?" snapped Nanaka now in shock.

"Here we can't hide a thing!" said Aina in her happy tone.

"Hey Hey, don't get too comfy! One thing is to have sex, shower, and taking baths, but there's no way I'm gonna use the toilet with you in the room!" scolded Nanaka out of herself and embarrassed.

"EH? But what if I want to brush my teeth?!" asked Aina.

"You wait till I finish! There's a limit!" said Nanaka now red as a tomato, Aina just laughed like an old man.

"You want to go now?" offered Aina showing the toilet.

"No… do-do you want to?"

Aina stood a few seconds in silence, looking at her and blinking a few times.

"Jesus! Go…" said Nanaka and tried to turn around, but Aina held her in place.

"Hey hey! No, I'm teasing you!" mocked Aina, "You want to shower…let's shower…"

Nanaka blinked a few times, it seemed that Aina didn't have any shame about sharing that part of her with Nanaka.

But, no matter how much trust they had, there were limits.

"You can go first, I need to take care of this…" said Aina who moved to the sink, she opened the faucet and started washing her panties.

Nanaka blinked.

She has no shame at all…

Then Nanaka nodded and went out of the room to take her clothes off.

"HEY! What are you doing?! Where are you going?!" she could hear Aina shouting from the bathroom.

"Taking my clothes off…" said Nanaka, reaching the bed where the robe and the nightwear were.

"I thought you were doing that here!" she heard.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows and started getting quickly undressed.

"Censorship!" shouted Aina.

"Don't say silly things…" said Nanaka.

She took everything off and put the robe and the sleepers on.
Nanaka being just 1,57 cm (a normal height for a Japanese woman…) the robe fit perfectly. She took her wet panties and studied them carefully.

Between Aina's and hers… maybe there weren't any differences.
But she needed to wash them too.

She was about to move back to the bathroom when her phone shined, another message had come in.

Nanaka swallowed dryly.

But she wasn't brave enough to see who it was. She bit her lips and turned around.

Aina and a shower waited for her.

She came in and Aina was still messing around with her panties in the sink.

"Can't believe you are shy about it!" said Aina looking at her through the mirror.

"I'm not shy… the robe was there…" said Nanaka casually and walking towards the shower, but stopped abruptly at the entrance.

There was a second of silence where the only sound was Aina messing with her panties and the water.

"What?… What is it?" asked Aina.

"I… I don't know how this works…" murmured Nanaka shyly.

Aina laughed like an old man.

"Well, first ya' need to take that out, or you will get it wet!" said Aina, closing the faucet.

Nanaka, ashamed about her spoiled comment, opened the glass door, and looked at her with her cheeks bright red, because she was right.

"Uhm…"

Then she realized her panties were in her hand.

"You want me to wash them for you?" asked Aina with a serious tone.

"What?! No!"

Aina snorted.

"Geez! Nana, you know that we see each other every day in the changing room, I've seen you naked, I've seen parts of you that you don't even know, and you are embarrassed by me washing a piece of clothes!" said Aina with humor.

She stretched her panties and let them rest on the sink.

"It's… it's not that simple…" said Nanaka with trouble.

"C'mon, don't be silly…I'm a girl like you! There's nothing new under the sun, and remember, I have a sister too, no biggie!" said Aina, and with a quick move took Nanaka's panties off her hands.

"Besides! This is my doing! Let me clean up my mess…" finished Aina with the clothes and turned on the sink once again.

Nanaka just massaged her temples. Aina was right on everything.

She turned around and took off the robe, hung it on the first hanger she found, next, she entered the glass shower and started manipulating it. It took her some trial and error to get the shower to the right temperature.

She could feel Aina fidgeting, maybe debating with herself if peeking at Nanaka or not.

The water was amazing, and in a few minutes, she forgot about anything going on outside of the glass.
Even in her mind.

The day had been incredible at Aina's side. She had been so thoughtful, so into the details. And she was really happy to be there with her, to share moments, unique moments with her, and she couldn't feel more ashamed about what had happened with her phone, and Shuka's text.

Maybe it was something silly.

Maybe it was just a greeting. Just a Christmas greeting.

Shuka used to hang out with her family on those dates. Maybe she wanted to have a "Friendly date" with the Aqours' tree?

Nanaka snapped.

What are you…. Thinking?!

I can't keep going on and beating myself with this…

"With your permission…"

She heard behind her, and a cold breeze touched her butt.

She turned around quickly to see Aina, with her big and shiny eyes smiling shyly at her.
She was, of course, naked.

Nanaka didn't say a thing, she invited her to share the shower, which was completely normal.

"I'm filling the tub…" said Aina softly.

"The tub?"

"I thought you might want to take a bath…sorry, I couldn't bring your glow-in-the-dark toys…" said Aina with a sad tone.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows.

Aina thought about everything. She was just too much.

"Don't worry…I have an Aina…" mocked Nanaka, Aina giggled.

"Also, I brought you soap and shampoo, geez! Nana, how do you want to shower without them!" said Aina, giving Nanaka a soap as she started washing and leaving the shampoo on the little shelf inside the shower space.

Nanaka looked at the soap in her hands, and of course, it made all the sense.

"Sorry…" murmured Nanaka, not knowing why.

"Suwawa… you ok?" asked Aina, now concerned.

Nanaka looked at her and gave her a shy smile.

Aina didn't need words.
She understood that something troubled her, but she didn't want to be pushy as she had already asked just too many times.

Aina grabbed Nanaka's hand and made her come towards her, and hugged her.

"It's ok Nana, I'm here…" said Aina while hugging her under the hot water.

Nanaka answered the hug and felt the imperious desire to start crying. But didn't.

"Is it ok… if ... we just… bathe?" asked Nanaka shyly.

"Eh? Aren't we doing that?"

"Yes, but—"

"I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to…" said Aina with a strong voice.

Nanaka didn't say a thing.
Old Aina would have been all over Nanaka, trying to have sex in the shower, in the tub, or the sink, but no, now she was there just to hold her.

And that was all Nanaka needed.

"I love you, and being with you like this is enough…" finished Aina.

"I love you too," said Nanaka as she kissed Aina softly.

Of course, they bathed, washed their hair, shared a kiss or two, and it would be a lie to say that they didn't touch other places just fooling around, but nothing sexual happened. Aina stuck to her word.

They even went into the tub to enjoy themselves and relax. Of course, Nanaka sat with her back to the edge, and Aina between her legs. Even if the tub wasn't that big, they managed to fit inside and cuddle.

They started reviewing the day and promised each other that the next full-day date would be in Tokyo Disney, because it was a magical and exciting place. Nanaka suggested going to Sanrio Puroland, but Aina just laughed, telling her that that place needed more "adrenaline".

Of course, it wasn't a place for Aina, it was just too cute, and with "slow" and "boring" attractions for kids.

Nanaka pouted about it and told her that Aikyan and Rikako had gone with her the previous year and they had a blast. Aina of course laughed, telling her that Rikako was a kid trapped inside a bitter old lady, and that Aikyan was just a sucker for Rikako.

Not quite getting it, Nanaka just dumped the idea down the drain of inviting Aina to her dearest Puroland.

Also, having to match Aina's agenda was quite difficult.

This time they had coincided because of the Love Live! Sunshine Staff had monopolized their agendas and pushed back everything that wasn't related to the project, at least for those 2 weeks, with the excuse that the Mini Live was something like a "life or death" kind of deal.

If they couldn't pull off a ridiculous Mini Live with 8 poor songs, they would fail greatly on their First Live.
And of course, that wasn't an option. So, they needed to be there exclusively for Love Live!. Nothing else mattered.

She knew that she had a lot to do starting January, but she didn't know how loaded Aina was going to be after the Mini Live.
Maybe that would be their best date until they didn't know when.

Of course, it made Nanaka sad.

"AH! So GOOD!" said Aina loudly, stretching her arms while walking out of the bathroom.

Nanaka was out too, in her bathrobe and a turban on her head, she was drying her neck with a hand towel.

"That was indeed good—" Nanaka was cut off when she saw Aina walking with just a turban on her head.

Nothing else.

Nanaka blinked.

"There's no shame in you…" said Nanaka softly.

"Again with this?" asked Aina while giggling, "I knew that anything here wouldn't fix me…"

Aina took off her turban and left it on the desk, next to the bottled water.

"Really?" asked Nanaka, astonished.

"Of course, it never does, so I…" Aina was saying as she stopped in front of her backpack, "brought my backpack…"

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh'," she said, opening it and taking out her pajamas and her sleepers.

"You were prepared…" said Nanaka with little enthusiasm.

Of course, Aina knew that they would spend their night far from Nanaka's place, so of course, she was prepared.

"I brought another pair of panties for tomorrow!" said Aina with her happy tone, Nanaka frowned.

"Really?"

"But it's not just my stuff Suwawa, I brought your panties too," said Aina taking out cute pink Sanrio panties and showing them to Nanaka's astonished eyes.

"WHAT?!"

"Yes! See? Now ya' don't need to worry… I got you!" said Aina so chill.

"When? Why?" Asked Nanaka embarrassed.

"This morning, of course, I took my favorite panties for you, I love this character…" said Aina looking at the garment.

"Don't…. Don't stare at them, it's creepy!" complained Nanaka, her cheeks bright red, Aina laughed like an old man.

"See? Nothing to worry about, I also brought your comb, your toothbrush, also your paste… And!" Aina was saying, taking the objects out as she mentioned them, "Your favorite toy…"

Nanaka's eyes opened wide, her mouth in an "o" shape.

Aina showed her the purple dildo that they had used back at Aina's place.

"You—you brought that!" Nanaka asked, astonished.

"Of course! Why do you think I went back to Chiba the other day? Just for my sister? Of course, I needed clothes and say hi... But! I needed to bring this little buddy to play~"

Nanaka blinked a few times, but maybe made a terrified face, because Aina's smile faded.

"Eh? You don't like it?" she asked with a sad voice.

Nanaka blinked a few times, not finding the words.

"I'm sorry..." said Aina and put the dildo back in the backpack, "I mean… my fingers are too short…" started Aina looking at her hands, "I want to make you feel good, I… geez, sorry… I'll do my best without it…"

Nanaka's eyebrows raised in sadness.

Aina was blaming herself again for trying hard for her.

"It's not.." tried Nanaka, Aina looked at her with a sad face, "This…just… surprised me…"

"Oh…really…?"

"Aina… I mean…" Nanaka tried again, "You were at my place with that thing, and now….you were hanging out, around all Odaiba… with THAT!"

Aina shrugged.

"It was in the backpack, no biggie…" said Aina with a sincere tone, "My priority is to make you happy… and good… if I can make you happy and good at the same time, then… I guess it's ok."

"Complain if I wanted to used it on you while in the Ferris-Wheel, or if I was outside waving it like if it was an ice cream or something…" said Aina now a bit annoyed, "It was in my backpack, hidden, and if you don't want to use it, it's ok, I'm not gonna force you."

Aina finished her words with a bit of bitterness.

Maybe frustrated.

Nanaka blinked a few times. Was Aina being happy right now?

It seemed that Aina tried and tried and tried, but all her efforts bounced back. Never really reaching Nanaka or her happiness.

I feel ashamed.

It felt as if it was never enough, that all her effort to do something for her, annoyed her more than making her thankful.

Once again, Aina tried to do something for the better, for Nanaka's pleasure that both could enjoy, and there she was, beating her with the attitude.

This was proof of the fitting theory; once one part of the relationship couldn't fit expectations, frustration came on.

"I'm sorry," said Nanaka now calmer, "it's ok, we can use it."

"But do you want it?" asked Aina now in a serious tone; Nanaka blinked, "Because, if you are gonna tell me not to hurt my feelings, then don't bother…"

"It's not that, you know I like it…" said Nanaka sad, feeling that the night could go all wrong because of this.

Because of Nanaka not appreciating Aina's efforts.

"Really? Or you just 'like it' to not hurt my feelings and go with my crazy kinks?!" said Aina, clearly annoyed

"What? No! I really like it." said Nanaka a bit embarrassed, recognizing that she liked that little buddy...

"Yes, but I bet it's not enough!" snapped Aina, now giving into frustration, "I'm sorry I don't have long fingers like Shuka!"

Nanaka's heart stopped.

She opened her eyes wide in surprise and felt everything falling from the 21st floor.
She felt cold, she felt pale.

Shuka was a ghost between them.

Aina was naked, mad, and frustrated.
And maybe it was her fault that Aina felt that way.

"And I bet you miss her fingers or her, and I- I saw your pictures this morning... I-" Aina was losing it.

Nanaka took a deep breath and moved towards Aina.

"Hey...don't say that..." said Nanaka softly, "I'm with you now, remember that."

"But it's not enough…" said Aina, her eyes glued to her toes.

"Don't say that." said Nanaka getting closer, "I'm sorry for not noticing your efforts…"

Aina looked at her with a sad gaze.

"I know you have been trying… a lot… and I'm a jerk…" said Nanaka softly.

Aina bit her lips and pouted.

Nanaka's heart melted. Aina was adorable.

"I'm sorry… Can you forgive me?" asked Nanaka.

"I'm sorry too…" murmured Aina shyly.

"Hey, I told you that I love hanging out with you, being with you…" said Nanaka touching Aina's right cheek, her skin was cold.

"I know…but I feel that everything I do bothers you…" said Aina.

"But that's not true…" said Nanaka.

She took off her turban and dropped it on the bed, then opened her robe and covered Aina with a hug inside it, Aina being pressed, once again, on Nanaka's non-existent boobs.

"I'm sorry…" said Nanaka in her low tone.

"You are so unfair Nana…" whined Aina.

"Why?"

"Because I adore you, I love you, this feels nice…but I feel mad…" said Aina hugging Nanaka back.

"I… don't know what to do…" said Nanaka sincerely.

Shuka worked with them.
She was there.

SHE WAS ALWAYS THERE.
So it was really understandable for Shuka to be haunting not only Nanaka but Aina as well with her insecurities.

And besides that, the constant fitting between them.

If Aina couldn't fit in Nanaka's world, because of the ladies, her constant flirting, or her old ways, it was going to frustrate Nanaka, because Aina acted in a way she didn't like.

And no matter how hard Aina tried to change, she wasn't like that, and Nanaka would always look for something to complain about. Or to be against.

And that didn't bode well for the relationship.

If Nanaka couldn't fit in Aina's way -a thing that she had already tried- because her heart didn't have that shape, then it was also going to frustrate Aina, because Nanaka would do things that she didn't like. And it would look like Aina was hurting Nanaka because she didn't work like that.

That didn't bode well for the relationship either.

Somehow, the situation felt a little bit swamped.

And for the first time, Nanaka didn't have a plan.

She just couldn't fix the situation.

"It's ok Suwawa…" said Aina in a soft tone against her skin.

"Is it…?" asked Nanaka, unconvinced.

"Yes, I mean…" started Aina, she broke a bit from the hug to face Nanaka, "I know it's my job to overcome my jealousy… and these are my insecurities, but… I wish…I wish we could do more things together… to feel secure."

Nanaka looked at her but didn't say a thing.

"I wished we could be in the same Subunit…" said Aina with a soft tone.

"Oh… really?"

"Yes, of course, I would love to sing with you… of course, at that time… you wanted to be with Shuka in the same Unit…" said Aina with a sad tone, then giggled, "What are the odds… the three of us ended up separated…"

"It was for the best actually…" said Nanaka with a relieved tone.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that I'm not hurt…"

"What do you mean?" asked Nanaka clueless.

"I…" said Aina, maybe trying to put her thoughts in order, "I feel like you and I will never have the chance…We are not close in the lineup, we are in different Units, what are the odds of us singing together? We are always apart, we don't have time together... and because of the lie, we can't spend time in the changing room together..."

Nanaka frowned.

We are in the same Year group…

There's the KanaMari thingie…

She is not that far from me in the lineup…

Shuka got it worse; different Years, different Units, no screen time as characters, the only advantage was the lineup!

And we made it work, how? Why?

Wait…

"Aina, don't lose hope…" said Nanaka as she made her look at her.

They locked gazes.

"We have screen time, we have the Year group, and we have each other's love…" said Nanaka, "And you're not that far… we can kick Arisa out of the way…" she giggled.

"Nana…" murmured Aina.

"I know it's hard, and I'm not here trying to fix it, because I can't, I don't have a plan…" said Nanaka with all sincerity, "But, we love each other, and we are trying, one day at a time, meaning that we both are learning, also the project is still in it's begging, there is much more to do, as 'Kanan' and as 'Mari', even as their Seiyuus, we don't know what's ahead of us, you don't know if we are going to sing as duets or trios, or solos, or what…" Nanaka paused to look at Aina with a kind smile.

"We have chances to still do things together… you don't know if The Chief gets bored and changes the Lineup, or if there are more Year Group songs… or whatever, as long as you want to be with me… I'm here…And I don't have any plans of going anywhere, or with anybody else..."

And Nanaka hugged her again.
The hug lasted at least a full minute. They were just adjusting their emotions.

"I love you, so, so much…" said Aina into the hug.

"And I love you too…" said Nanaka with a lovely tone, "And I'm thankful…"

Aina looked up at her again, with a sad face. Of course, breaking the hug but not the embrace.

"Thanks for a great day Aina, I loved it, I've had a great time, and the best of it was being able to share it with you." finished Nanaka.

Aina gave her a very cute pout and Nanaka just smiled.

Nanaka softly touched Aina's cheek, now they felt warmer.

Aina closed her eyes, enjoying Nanaka's soft touch, and maybe feeling at pace.

It might have been hard for Aina to get to the emotional place that she was at that moment.

If her love for Nanaka hadn't been that big, she would have sent her to hell in the first month. Aina was used to being free, doing whatever she wanted, and there she was, making efforts because she felt that Nanaka was worth it.

Nanaka grabbed Aina's cheeks with more strength, and slowly she bent to steal a kiss from Aina's lips.

They kissed.

Slowly, passionately, lovingly.

Nanaka wanted to transmit her love for her, to make Aina realize that there was no one else but her in her heart.

She broke the kiss, and cupped Aina's puffed cheeks with her hands, making Aina look at her; their eyes meeting in a pure love gaze competition.

"Aina wo aishite imasu." said Nanaka with her purest voice, Aina opened her eyes wide, her mouth slightly opened, it felt as if her heart had stopped.

All this time they were using more of a "Daisuki" kind of expression, but now Nanaka aimed the BIG and DEFINITIVE gun.

That word that might be used once in their life.

A lonely and slow tear escaped from Aina's left eye, but she didn't say a thing, because it was a happy and joyful tear, Nanaka could tell that right away.

Maybe Aina thought that she wasn't worthy of love.
That maybe her way of being was just too reckless, she might be too random or crazy for someone to settle with her, to love her, completely.

But then, there was Nanaka.

Aina closed her eyes and started crying; Nanaka just hugged her tightly.

"My baby..." murmured Nanaka against Aina's hair, as she rubbed her back softly.

Aina just couldn't talk or say a thing, she just sobbed.

This was another way of happiness.
Tears of joy.

"You ok Ainya-chan?" Asked Nanaka with a soft voice, she just felt Aina nodding.

"I... you are so good to my heart Nana..." murmured Aina holding her tears.

Nanaka raised her eyebrows in surprise. There was a change in the sentence, which of course, made Nanaka happy.

Nanaka broke the hug and looked at Aina with all the love in her world.

"I'm glad..." and she kissed Aina's forehead.

Aina wiped her tears and gave Nanaka a cute smile. Then Nanaka cleaned another lonely tear off Aina's cheek.

"You make me happy..." said Aina holding back her emotions, Nanaka smiled at her.

"And you make me happy too..." said Nanaka softly, she smiled again to later press her forehead against Aina's, "Would you... make love to me tonight?"

Aina blinked a few times, then smiled wide.

"I'd be honored to do so... my Nana."

And with that said, Aina softly grabbed Nanaka's robe, and gently took it off from her, making it fall around her ankles. Never taking her eyes from Nanaka's.

Both stood there, naked, their hair messy and wet.
But their sights were stuck on each other.

There was no place for shyness anymore. That was everything that Nanaka could give to Aina; herself.

They went closer and kissed.

The kiss was soft, pure, and full of emotion.
Aina hugged her softly, as Nanaka cupped her cheeks once again to focus on the kiss.

Their lips went into this dance of love and passion, slowly introducing their tongues into the game, as Nanaka liked to bite Aina's plump and tasty lips. Soon the kiss started to speed up, Aina's eagerness taking Nanaka to the next level.

Of course, Nanaka loved being taken in a proper bed, and Aina knew it.

So, Aina slowly started guiding Nanaka towards the bed, without breaking the kiss.

Nanaka had asked Aina to make love to her, so she wasn't going to resist to what Aina was doing.
She trusted her to stick with what Nanaka liked, more than what Aina desired to do to her.

And there laid their main difference.
Aina loved to be taken raw and messy, while Nanaka liked slow and cute lovemaking.

Without breaking the kiss, Nanaka managed to sit on the huge bed; Aina blindly started moving things out of her way, the bed was big and wide enough for those things to get lost, out of their love nest.

Nanaka ended up laying on her back, as Aina went on top and straddled her.

Their lips still connected, Aina started to fondle Nanaka's pale and soft skin. Her baby hands touching her sent some electric sensations all over her body, it felt good, and most importantly, she felt loved.

Aina broke the kissing session, though both could keep it forever, they needed to breathe. But, Aina didn't want to waste time admiring Nanaka's body, she wanted to taste it.

She toured her whole body; first, went for her neck, started leaving small and cute kisses around it, slowly going towards her left ear, Aina rounded the shell with her tongue, making Nanaka grunt in pleasure. That was a hidden spot.

Aina giggled, but never stopped teasing around Nanaka's ear, her lobe, or leaving more kisses on her neck. While Aina's lips were busy on the top, she started to wander on Nanaka's chest.

This time Aina was being soft, her kisses were delicate, it seemed that she had learned not to leave marks on her pale body.

Her touch was also very delicate, she was treating her right breast gently as if it was porcelain. The chill sensation of being exposed to the cold, but under Aina's body, touch and breath, was sending the right instructions to her body. And Aina could interpret them clearly.

Aina started to squeeze her right nipple, and that woke up her hunger.

She purred against Nanaka's skin and slowly started going towards her chest, still kissing her soft skin, gently and lovingly.

It was melting Nanaka.

Aina reached her nipple and started licking it, at first slowly, then sucking it gently, while with her other hand started massaging the left nipple to get it erect as well.

Nanaka shivered, between the sensation of having Aina's crazy tongue and lips around her nipple, and the drops of cold water that fell towards her now hot body.

Nanaka moved her right hand to touch Aina's wet hair; she moved some loose strains to the back of her ear.

For a moment she thought that her hair was also wet and they might need to dry it before they could catch a cold, but that would also mean for Aina to stop and cut the good and lovely mood they were having.

Maybe that was the last coherent thought she had because at the next second Aina started moving down on her.
Tracing her with hot and soft kisses on her belly, her cute and soft fingers on her were enough to shut her second thoughts.

Her legs started to move a bit impatiently. Aina surely was taking her time.

She felt Aina's kisses now on her hips, her hands softly caressing her thighs.
Nanaka just felt her mind melting.

"Mmm, are ya' cooking something for me Nana?" purred Aina against her skin, "I can smell it..."

Nanaka grunted.
Aina and her comments sometimes were a bit unsettling...

Of course, Aina wasn't expecting an answer, she was busy kissing and licking Nanaka's inner thigh.

Nanaka was just losing her mind, and Aina could notice it because her limbs were a bit slippery.

Maybe Aina understood that "sweet lovemaking" wasn't synonymous with doing it slowly.
Nanaka was wet, eager, and becoming horny, she needed to be taken care of.

And maybe at that moment, Aina had to make some decisions.
Her ways were always doing things recklessly, messy, quick, and sometimes a bit extreme with her kinks.
Nanaka didn't work that way, but going to the other end, slow and boring, wasn't the way either.

Aina stopped a few seconds and popped out from Nanaka's legs to look at her.

Of course, this wasn't unnoticed by Nanaka who lifted her torso, both gazes meeting.
Aina had a worried expression while Nanaka had doubts.

"What's wrong?" asked Nanaka with clear concern in her tone.

"I... I'm sorry..." said Aina with a sincere tone.

"Why? What happened?" asked Nanaka, now sitting up.

"It's just... I don't know how to do it..." said Aina with a sad tone; Nanaka blinked.

After their last encounter, where Aina had just taken everything she wanted from her, to Nanaka later turning the tables and taking Aina in a destructive way, had cracked their intimacy. Nanaka could make love to Aina the way she liked, but Aina just couldn't do it for her.

Something cracked for both of them, that now seemed like a barrier between them. Mostly in Nanaka's end.
Because it seemed to be easier to love Aina, more than to love Nanaka.

And after everything they had been through, Aina was now lost, insecure, and with doubts about how to love Nanaka.

She didn't know how.
And that was the most shocking thing of all.
Maybe she relied too much on her open relationship policy, the quick touch and go, to relieve a desire and low instinct quickly. Relying on her toys more than in her own capabilities.

Aina just knew how to play kinks, take things raw and messy, but maybe no one had taught her how to love someone.

It melted Nanaka's heart.

She is just a baby...

"Hey... it's ok..." said Nanaka with a kind voice.

"No... it's not... how am I supposed to love you if I can't make you feel good?" asked Aina in a very sad voice.

"Come here..." said Nanaka softly, and guided Aina to crawl back to her.

Aina, not sure, but as a scolded child, crawled towards her; Nanaka cupped her cheeks once again and kissed her.

At first, the kiss was shy, but as soon as they felt safe again, Aina started taking more control of it.
Her tongue started to get its way inside Nanaka's mouth, where she greeted with hers.

Nanaka knew that Aina needed a bit of guidance, but also some incentives...

She smiled on the kiss as her right hand moved smoothly under Aina's body and touched right in her sweet spot.

It was wet.

Really wet.

Aina snapped out of the kiss, but Nanaka didn't stop teasing that special and sweet place.

"Geez! Hey! What are you doing...?" asked Aina, but didn't move or did anything to stop Nanaka.

"I'm touching you..." said Nanaka, as it was obvious.

"Yes, right...but..." Aina tried to retort, then looked at Nanaka with pleading eyes, Nanaka smiled softly at her.

"Do it." said Nanaka, Aina opened her eyes wide not knowing what Nanaka was referring to.

Nanaka opened her legs a bit.
Aina was on top, but mostly in a kneeling position, making it very easy for Nanaka to reach her private area and mess around.

Aina understood.

She moved her left hand and reached Nanaka's wet place.

"Oh my..." murmured Aina then looked at Nanaka.

"It's not difficult..." said Nanaka, biting her lips and trying to hold her "teaching position", if she wasn't careful enough it could send the wrong message to Aina.

"I... I know... but I want to do it right..." said Aina with a sad tone.

Nanaka blinked a few times and gave Aina a soft smile.

Aina had been traumatized after their last encounter, forgetting that she was able to make love to her.
Maybe Aina had forgotten their encounters in that Love Hotel, where Nanaka had won her Center. But, Nanaka was patient, and she loved Aina, they could feel happiness together…

"Ok..." said Nanaka with a decisive tone.

Nanaka made some movements to tell Aina to take her hand out of her, as she did, Nanaka pushed herself towards the pillows and laid with her back on them.

Aina knelt up, looking astonished.

"Come here..." said Nanaka, inviting Aina to come to her body again.

Aina didn't say a thing.

"We can explore different things, but first I want to be taken by you more traditionally..." said Nanaka spreading her legs.

Aina's orbs were like two fried eggs.

She didn't have to think twice.

Aina crawled fast towards Nanaka, but the second Aina reached one of her legs, Nanaka closed them.

Aina pouted.

"That's cruelty..." murmured Aina, still pouting.

"No, that's the easy way..." said Nanaka, then made herself comfy on her back.

"You are not easy Suwawa..." said Aina in a more serious mode.

"I know..." said Nanaka with a grin, knowing that Aina was debating with herself and her inner desires to just fuck her there.

Aina blinked a few times and then started moving with determination.

First, she went for Nanaka's lips, to continue where they left it.
Their intentions were still there, so they started kissing with their tongues included, no shyness about it, wet sounds started to escape from their lips.

And Nanaka knew that some of the wetness was escaping from Aina's lower lips as well.

She lifted her leg, her left thigh taking place just below Aina's slit; she grunted into the kiss and Nanaka couldn't help but to notice Aina's wetness.

Aina understood somehow that she needed to respond to that, and moved her left hand towards Nanaka's sensitive place. Of course, it was damp, but Aina didn't say a thing, her mouth was busy playing with Nanaka's lips and tongue to start commenting on how wet Nanaka was under her touch.

So after a few seconds, she started moving her fingers inside Nakana's slit; Nanaka moved her left hand towards Aina's hips and touched them, giving her the instruction to move them.

Not sure about it, Aina hesitated, and instead of starting to make friction, she just raised her hips.

Nanaka frowned into the kiss, of course, Aina didn't understand the instruction, but Nanaka was quicker and moved her hand under Aina's crotch, and effortlessly introduced 2 of her thin fingers inside.

Aina broke the kiss to moan.

Aina might have lost some balance, but she stood in her place.

"Hey—Hey!" complained Aina, looking at Nanaka, who just grinned.

"Incentive…" she murmured as she started thrusting her fingers inside Aina.

Then Aina understood.

Biting her lips, maybe suppressing her moans and grunts, Aina moved her soaked fingers down to Nanaka's entrance and inserted one of her fingers effortlessly.

"Oh my god…" murmured Aina, but Nanaka started thrusting her fingers quicker to let Aina know that she needed to move hers too.

Holding back her moans and grunts, Aina started thrusting too.

Nanaka bit her lips.

Aina being that short, that position was excellent for both of them to enjoy being inside each other and thrusting...
Nanaka let a moan escape.

"Kiss…kiss me…" asked Nanaka, trying to hold her legs in position.

Aina didn't need to be asked twice, she bent down and started kissing Nanaka fiercely, trying to keep the pace in her hand.

Nanaka started to move her fingers faster; Aina broke the kiss once again to moan.

"I…I can't concentrate!" said Aina loudly; Nanaka opened her eyes wide, her concentration breaking as well.

"Take them out, or I can't concentrate at all on you…" said Aina, now her breathing very elaborate, "I need to take you…"

Nanaka smiled softly and removed her wet fingers from Aina, not even taking her eyes off her.
Aina shivered in her spot.
Then, Nanaka moved her fingers toward her mouth to taste them, again, not breaking eye contact.

Aina bit her lips, maybe suppressing a moan.

"Mmm… so tasty…" murmured Nanaka after licking them.

Aina closed her eyes and squeezed her thighs.
This "love-making" was indeed hard for Aina, and not to mention for Nanaka as well...

Nanaka twitched one of her eyebrows; with a quick movement grabbed Aina's hips and made her sit on her thigh once again.

"Move…" commanded Nanaka. Now Aina understood.

She started to make some friction with Nanaka's thigh as she kept thrusting inside her.

"Use…use another…" said Nanaka, her voice a bit troubled.

"Geez Nana, so demanding…" murmured Aina as she inserted another finger, and went straight toward Nanaka's mouth to shut her up with kisses.

It was a good call.

Nanaka started moving her hips at pace with Aina's fingers going in and out, Aina's hips moving too against Nanaka's skin, while their lips devoured each other.
Aina's free hand went for balance towards Nanaka's breast, and Nanaka answered that with her right hand grabbing one of Aina's boobs as well, softly squeezing it.

Aina left Nanaka's lips for a few seconds to moan, but Nanaka reached her lips again, making Aina grunt with pleasure.

They were trapped in this frantic dance of hip movements, wet sounds coming from so many places that it was hard to tell from where, the bed started to move with them as well, but of course, Aina just couldn't take it and broke the kiss to start moaning.

She arched her back and kept moving her hips frantically against Nanaka's thigh, somehow forgetting her job inside Nanaka.

So, Nanaka determined that she needed to fuck her fingers waiting for Aina to come first.

"Oh my god… yes!" shouted Aina, moving her hips faster, friction was doing its job.

Nanaka bit her lips, because that was indeed a good view of everything that Aina had to offer; her crazy hips moving, her breasts bouncing, her face filled with pleasure…

A delight for her eyes.

Nanaka moved her hands towards Aina's hips to keep her in place.
She started to grunt with her, as small moans started to escape from her lips too.

"OH! Suwawa….Suuuu—Ahhh!" moaned Aina, arching her back and stopping her hips.

They fell silent for a few seconds, only Aina's agitated breath could be heard.
Nanaka was trying hard to keep focused, she was still horny.

Of course, Aina was supposed to make love to her, but Nanaka seemed a bit complicated and maybe, just maybe, Aina needed some guidance and some push in the right direction.

If Nanaka could awaken her sex drive, maybe Aina could forget her traumas and go with the flow.
Horny and all.

And maybe that was how this relationship worked...

"You ok Ainya-chan?" asked Nanaka, touching Aina's legs.

Aina's breath was quite elaborate; they locked gazes.

Aina was sweating, agitated but she was there, with love and lust in her eyes.

"I'm not done with you…" said Aina, now taking control; Nanaka smiled.

Aina understood, and moved up slowly from Nanaka's thigh, of course, leaving a mess in her skin.
Aina grunted but didn't say a thing.

Her fingers were still inside Nanaka, and she knew it.

She also knew that Nanaka had let her finish first when she was supposed to be doing her.

Because of the height difference, Aina needed to choose where to pleasure her Nana. Of course, she was halfway on her lower part.

Aina moved quickly towards Nanaka's legs, and without saying a thing, her face just hid between Nanaka's legs.

Nanaka's head went backwards.

Aina's strength was her appetite.

Thank God they were in a hotel and those sheets weren't theirs.

Aina's fingers were still inside Nanaka, but her mouth started doing all the magic.

While her fingers thrusted, she started devouring everything she found.
Her lips trapped her clit as she sucked it hard, licking it quickly, and making Nanaka squirm in pleasure.

Nanaka's hands could only grab the sheets, this counterattack took her by surprise and couldn't do much more but moan and move her hips against Aina's face, and prodigious tongue.

She started moaning and grunting.

The wet sounds becoming louder.

Suddenly, Aina stopped her licking and placed a third finger inside Nanaka.
She moaned louder, now her mind melting in pleasure.

Aina knew that she was doing a great job, but that wasn't enough.

She moved out of Nanaka's legs, towards her face, she quickly held Nanaka's left hand with hers and kept thrusting.

Nanaka's right hand now grabbing the pillow with a strength she didn't know she had, her right leg opening up for Aina to keep thrusting her fiercely.

Aina started panting beside Nanaka's left ear, of course, Nanaka started moaning louder, which was odd for her, but she was feeling so good…

"Oh my God, Suwawa I love you…" murmured Aina with difficulty as she used all her might to make Nanaka come and hold back her own pleasure.

Maybe holding on to her own physical capacities… Ana was shorter, her fingers were short as well, but she was giving her all to make Nanaka feel loved, and safe, under her love and body.

Nanaka just couldn't hold on anymore and arched her back in an intense orgasm.

The room was filled with just their elaborate breathing and panting.

Nanaka could feel sweaty and tired.

"Oh, my, you are so sexy…" said Aina, whose body just collapsed on top of her, her face on the crook of Nanaka's neck.
She took her fingers out of Nanaka with a heavy grunt, maybe the position was now taking a toll on Aina.

Nanaka didn't say a thing, she was recovering.

Aina's breathing was equally elaborated, of course, it caught Nanaka's attention.

"Did… did you come too?" asked Nanaka with her eyes closed.

Aina giggled.

"Just… just a bit…" she giggled again.

Nanaka snorted.

"What? Geez! Suwawa, why can't I come? If you are just too cute…" said Aina, who moved towards Nanaka's right ear and started giving soft and quick kisses, which made Nanaka start shivering again in shyness.

"You are too cute, I could eat you again…." said Aina in a teasing tone, while still mocking her with kisses.

"Sto—stop…" tried Nanaka, "You ate enough…"

Aina stopped and looked at Nanaka with a challenging expression.

"You know I can eat more…" said Aina, then moved her left hand towards her mouth, thoughtfully tasting them, "You are just too delicious…"

"Hey! Stop that…" said Nanaka, embarrassed with her face bright red, "I'm not …that good…"

Aina moved her torso up more to a sitting position, she smiled wide at Nanaka.

"Don't be silly." said Aina, then moved her left hand into an "OK" sign, "You taste like perfection!" and winked at her.

"A—Aina!" snapped Nanaka, to embarrassment as she covered her face.

Aina laughed like an old man.

"C'mon, Suwawa…" said Aina softly; Nanaka withdrew her hands and looked at Aina with her embarrassed face.

Both held for a few seconds, looking at each other, then kissed softly and lovingly.

"Well… what do you want to do now my Nana…?" asked Aina while cuddling.

Nanaka made herself comfortable on the bed with Aina in her arms, enjoying her Aina in her embrace.

"Uhm… we could… take another shower…" said Nanaka giggling, "I'm sweating…"

Aina laughed.

"I don't think that's a good idea, I want to make love to you…more... all night….long…" said Aina getting comfy in her spot.

"Uhm…" murmured Nanaka, and gave Aina a soft kiss on the forehead.

"I'd like that…" she murmured, but no one said another word.

They felt that they needed time to recover and to enjoy the moment.

Happiness in its most raw and naked form.

And that was everything she needed.

No expensive gifts, no expensive dinners, or expensive places.
Happiness was in moments.
Being loved by Aina, fitting with each other the best ways they could, and making it last.

Because happiness was frail and lasted only that, just moments.

But, she was sure to reach that goal with Aina.
Because both wanted to change and move on, and improve at the time, with patience and love, maybe, and just maybe, she could cut the chains of lies she had been beating herself with.

Cut the chains. Feel again.

Enjoy the person she chose to love and be happy with them.

They continued cuddling, feeling themselves being filled with each other's presence and body; feeling nothing but perfection.
Hoping that they could stop time and be there forever.

Nanaka looked at her luxury bedroom made into a mess. The towels scattered all over on the bed, her purse open wide on one side of it, Aina's backpack also open, with the purple dildo looking shyly from inside of it, and her phone on the other side of the bed.

Nanaka blinked a few times, remembering that she hadn't written to her mom. That task had been heavily interrupted by Shuka's message.

She blinked.

Aina was naked and happy by her side.
She was naked and happy by Aina's side…

And even if Aina was reckless, and maybe this whole "good love making" wasn't Aina's strength, but she was learning, Nanaka was teaching her, and they were moving along, together.

There was nothing to feel Swamped about more than Aina's love and touch.

It was necessary to stop those beating thoughts, chill again, and stay like that, enjoying the moment, stopping the bleeding, and feeling again what Nanaka thought she would never be able to feel.

Happy.

She looked at her phone with a deadly glare.

I've nothing to say to you.

-0oo0-

---

Notes:

... Jesus the drama is back!
I think this was the longest chapter ever.
Hope I had compensated for the lack of writing...

Thanks so much for the Comments, Kudos, and Likes!
We remind you that both Authors can be found on Twitter or in my case (Misha) on Instagram as well with hot and crazy doodles! ( Mishaworks & NylundSarah)

That's it, See you in...SOON I hope!... (ŐωŐ人)
And stay SAFE!