The first thing that Takina realized when she woke up was that she probably should've closed the blinds before sleeping as rays from the sun shone directly into her face. The second thing that she noticed, however, was a familiar warm feeling wrapped around her waist and pressed up to her back. Sure enough, when she craned her neck to take a look around the room, she found the pillow that Chisato had set up tossed to the wayside as the girl in question had enveloped Takina in a tight hug. So tight, in fact, that she couldn't even get out of bed.

"Chisato?!"

The only response that Takina received was a noise akin to purring as Chisato dug deeper into her back, seemingly pleased at hearing her name. Takina reached around, attempting to physically wake up Chisato only to lightly stroke her hair out of fear of potentially hurting her.

"Chisato… Could you please let go?"

Chisato let out sounds of pleasure, letting Takina know that nothing short of a meteorite would loosen Chisato's grip. Defeated, Takina let out a sigh, sinking back into Chisato's grasp.

This girl… I bet she's gonna wake up and find out that her arm fell asleep or something. Then again, maybe she'll be too embarrassed to notice. After all, she's been getting embarrassed more easily recently.

As Takina felt Chisato's grip loosen slightly, she turned around, finally seeing Chisato's face.

This wasn't the first time that Takina had seen Chisato asleep, but now it seemed… different somehow. While this wasn't the first time, Takina rarely had an opportunity to see Chisato while she wasn't busy being a living embodiment of sunshine, or being a petulant brat, or being the living embodiment of non-lethal death. She had a serene look about her. Her eyes were closed and her hair was messy, but her breathing had an odd sort of a relaxing pattern to it. Takina felt herself relaxing, gazing at Chisato's face and inspecting every millimetre of it as she felt Chisato's breath on her own face. She stayed like that for a few moments, not moving at all before a look of realization dawned on her face along with a hot blush as she averted her gaze.

What was I doing just now?

Takina instinctively leaned back, but the moment that she did, she felt herself being pulled right back forward.

"Chisato! Stop- mmph!"

Chisato pulled Takina right into her chest, cutting off her airflow for a moment before she turned to the side.

"Jeez! How heavy a sleeper is this girl?"

After receiving no response, however, Takina settled into this new position with a sigh, getting used to the new sensation.

There really isn't a heartbeat, huh?

Takina felt an odd calm fall over her in this position. She couldn't quite put her finger on why, but being nestled close to Chisato's heart felt strangely therapeutic to her.

I could probably slip out by now. Her grip isn't quite as strong as it was before, so I wouldn't have many issues, but…

Takina looked down at her wrist, reading the time as "7:32".

I've still got time.

Slowly but surely, she felt herself being lulled into a sense of tranquil security, becoming more and more relaxed until she eventually drifted back to sleep.

###

The first thing that Chisato realized when she woke up was that she probably should've closed the blinds before sleeping as rays from the sun shone directly into her face. Her eyes fluttered open for a split second before squirting shut.

"Guh… What time is it? I've really gotta-"

The second thing that she noticed, however, was a familiar warm feeling pressed up against her chest, interrupting her thought process. She groggily reopened her eyes to try to find the source of this before her whole body tensed up as it went straight into fight or flight mode.

"Gah!"

"Hm? How long was I-"

This seemed to immediately wake up Takina who, though momentarily groggy, quickly got to her feet and pulled up a floorboard before pulling out a handgun from under it.

"Where are they? Whoever's there, show yourself!"

"Woah, Takina, calm down!"

Takina seemed unresponsive, her eyes darting around the room until she seemed to be certain that there was no one there. Once she did, she knelt down next to Chisato who had just managed to pull herself up and into a sitting position.

"Is everything ok? What happened?"

"Everything's fine! I was just a little surprised, is all!"

Takina stared blankly for a few moments before giving a simple "ah" as she slipped the gun back, putting the floorboard back in place.

"False alarm, then?"

Chisato gave a quick smile and thumbs up, though the panicked sweat that had formed on her face hadn't fully dissipated.

"Y-yeah. False alarm."

Takina flopped back into bed next to Chisato, giving a sigh of relief.

"That was scary, though! Do you always act like this whenever you hear a tiny bump in the night, Takina?"

Takina shrugged.

"Comes with the job."

A light pink tinge appeared on Takina's face as she turned away slightly.

"If anything, you should be a little more alert…"

"Eh? What's that supposed to-"

Chisato stopped when she saw the redness in Takina's ears, a blush quickly forming on her own face as well. She scanned the room, her eyes falling on the pillow that had been tossed to the wayside before quickly putting two and two together.

"...What exactly did I do, Takina?"

Takina flinched in surprise, the blush in her face becoming even more intense as she stumbled over her words.

"W-well, when I woke up, the pillow was gone and you were hugging me really tight, so…"

Her voice trailed off after that, but she figured that Chisato could probably fill in the blanks from there.

"I see…"

Chisato, for her part, had crossed her arms over her chest, her blush showing no signs of going anywhere.

"Well, in that case, why don't we, uh…"

Chisato tapped on Takina's shoulder which prompted her to turn around, going completely red when she saw Chisato's outstretched hands.

"Why don't we pick up where we left off?"

Takina looked from Chisato's bright smile to her arms before shuffling herself into her arms with a nod.

"Mm. That would be nice, if you don't mind…"

###

"By the way, what was that plan you were talking about last night, Takina?"

"Ngh…"

Chisato raised an eyebrow as she looked down at Takina's head. She watched as Takina slowly raised her head, her eyes fluttering as their gazes met again.

"?"

"Takina? Did you…"

Chisato continued to watch as Takina began to blink rapidly before reaching up to rub her eyes.

"Nggghhh… What time is it?"

Chisato continued to stare with a slightly concerned expression.

"It's 7:35…"

Takina gave Chisato a perplexed look.

"And?"

"You fell asleep in, like, 2 minutes! I mean, seriously, who does that?"

Takina looked at Chisato's teasing smile, blinked twice, then proceeded to nuzzle into Chisato's chest, eliciting a yelp of surprise.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to sleep. Wake me if anything bad happens."

Chisato felt her face heating up from this contact as she watched Takina drift off again in a matter of seconds, making a mental note to never mess with Takina in the morning.

###

Takina was unsure of how Chisato had been functioning for the past 18 years of her life.

"C'mon, it's 10:38. I've been trying to get you to wake up for 15 minutes already, so just get out of bed."

Chisato responded to Takina's nagging by pulling the sheets above her face.

"5 more minutes…"

"You said that 10 minutes ago."

"Yeah, but don't you want to just sleep a little more with your lovely girlfriend?"

Chisato opened the blanket with an inviting smile, looking as though she would wrap her arms around Takina the moment that she entered, causing a hot blush to spread across Takina's face. She turned away, her stern voice faltering a little bit.

"Seriously, you should just wake up already."

Takina waited silently for a few moments before, upon receiving no response, giving a sigh and returning to the futon.

"Eh? You actually did it?"

She responded to Chisato's confusion with a quick shrug.

"I figured it was more trouble than it was worth."

Chisato gave a quick grin.

"I guess that you just wanted to sleep with me that badly, eh~"

"...Shut up."

Takina was greeted with yet another tight hug from the back which didn't help with her blush at all.

"Still, it's kinda sad, though."

Chisato snapped out of her smiley trance, a bit of confusion springing onto her face.

"Eh?"

"I mean, I had plans for today, but if you're too tired, then I'll just save them for tomorrow."

The instant she said that, Chisato let go of Takina and turned away with a sulky look.

"Hello? Chisato?"

After a few moments of silence, Chisato turned back to face Takina with a pout.

"Fine. You win this time."

Takina looked at Chisato in confusion as she watched her stand up and out of bed.

Did I miss something?

Takina got up to match Chisato, still perplexed.

"Chisato? What exactly do you mean?"

Chisato gave Takina a blank look before letting out a sigh and a weak smile.

"To think that you can make me give up like this without even trying…"

Takina wasn't too sure of what Chisato was talking about, but whatever it was, it seemed to get her out of bed, so she didn't mind. A smile beginning to form on her face, she called out to Chisato one last time before she exited the room to get changed.

"By the way, what do you want for breakfast today?"

Chisato looked somewhat surprised for a moment before a cheeky grin appeared on her face.

"So, you're doing the cooking?"

Takina was quick to clarify once her mistake was pointed out.

"No, but I'm feeling nice today."

Chisato gave a wide smile.

"In that case, I'd love a strawberry parfait!"

Takina deadpanned.

"Remind me not to let you choose our meals."

"Wait, I'll choose something reasonable this time, Takina!"

They ended up having some brown rice with egg and avocados.