Tomo and Atari had always been friends from the very moment the former had unexpectedly found herself in the latter's world.
Nothing would be able to break this kind of bond, not even the first time that Tomo...lost her temper.
Taking care of her sister was nice, too. Sure, she had her own issues, too, but helping her was her job, too, aside from the usual cases that Tomo didn't always get assigned despite having the same job Atari had.
The half-Puyo didn't really understand why, but...
Somehow she felt something when she'd been with her.
She'd been thinking about her nonstop when she was alone, and this was clearly not normal.
Sure, she'd gone out with some guys and even other women, but those were one-and-done meetings.
This was different.
This wasn't just a friendship anymore, as she'd started to realize.
This was some sort of other bond entirely.
Atari was kind of starting to notice this as well.
They needed to address this.
But who'd do it first?
It was a somewhat warm day.
The two sat outside Atari's house watching the sun rise.
One of them was going to have to bring it up eventually.
"Atari, I wanna talk to you for a second."
"About what?"
"So, I've got these feelings. And not the kind of feelings that seem normal."
"What do you mean by 'not normal,' exactly?"
"Ever heard of 'pair-bonding'?"
Wow, that was fast.
"Huh?"
"It's like... You know when you find someone, and something just...clicks?"
"Could you elaborate a little bi—"
"Atari, I think I'm in love with you."
This was absolutely not how she wanted to address what was happening recently.
"...What?"
"Oh. Oh. I'm so sorry I didn't mean to say that before you finished what you were gonna say please forgive me—"
"I knew."
"Wh..." The half-Puyo stared blushing hard, gray eyes starting to take on a slight pink hue. "A-are you trying to say that..."
"After a while, it just seemed kinda obvious. I know how you feel. And if I had to be honest... I love you, too."
"Like..." Her blush deepened. "ACTUALLY love me? As in... As in love love me?"
Before she could even finish asking a string of questions she had in mind, Atari kissed her.
She kissed her.
She really kissed her, on her lips, and she'd said "I love you" as in...
She never wanted this moment to end.
But it did.
"I guess we should make this friendship something else, then."
"Atari, you..."
"Yeah, I know. Unexpected. But this is probably how we'll be pair-bonding, isn't it?"
"Uh..." Neither the blush nor the heat in her face that arrived when she'd been kissed would go away. "I... I guess..."
"Good."
From that moment onwards, the two would be able to have a much stronger bond, in a new form, than before.
Nothing more, nothing less.