--
There's only one thing you can say right now, isn't there?
"I'll never cheat on Kaina, if that's what you're worried about!" You declare, holding your fist high up in the air, your eyes brimming with determination.
Your seemingly random shift in conversational tangents surprises Max. She's very, very good at acting not-surprised. Her poker face is commendable. But you've spent enough time fawning over Max's cute face through recorded footage and press releases to pick up on some of her expressions. Her nose wrinkles ever so slightly, the corners of her eyes tighten just a bit.
Hmm! Even Max's surprise is pretty cute~!
"I'm sorry, why are you talking about – About Kaina right now?" Max asks.
"Of course, I'd never cheat on Kaina, Kaina's special," you ignore Max's question, choosing instead to engage in one of your favorite past times.
Fangirling over your girlfriend and gushing over how wonderful she is~!
"Like, have you seen her smile? Kaina's smile is so cute and innocent, and you'd think she isn't the kind of girl who smiles a whole lot because of how cool her resting face is, and how serious she gets, but oh my gosh when she smiles…! It's subtle, but her face really does light up, and it's just the best thing ever-" You gush, clasping your hands above your chest. If only you modded yourself so you could have hearts in your eyes…
Ooh, would Max appreciate a mod like that? Food for thought!
Max takes a step back, looking more openly unnerved as you continue to talk about how great Kaina is – To someone who understands how great Kaina is!
"And when Kaina took me to the beach, wow, I thought she looked like a fairy; she was so frickin' cute I almost died; she looked amazing, and then she was also so cool when she defended me against those total weirdos when I went to go pick her up for another date, how is it even possible for a girl to be this cool and cute seriously her gap moe makes me go hnngh sometimes, and it did horrible things to my heart when we shared an – an indirect kiss for the first time, I didn't realize she liked pumpkin frappes that much-"
Okay, you're playing things up a bit but in all fairness, Max was the one who tried to get you off-balance first. All you're doing right now is poking a bit of fun at your love by trying to get her off-balance.
"You went to the beach, huh?" Max asks, sounding a bit overwhelmed. It seems like she's deciding to focus on that one fact to steady herself.
Time to go in for the killing blow. After all, you won't start earning affection points from Max in a vacuum. There's a definite method to your madness here.
Sort of.
"Sure did! You know, Kaina mentioned you when we were at the beach. She said you always looked out for her. Even when she was all alone in the world, you were the only person who tried to reach out and make her not feel so alone. So I'm not mad that you asked me here under false pretenses. I know you're only looking out for Kaina," You explain gently, in a tone far different from the manic one you'd previously adopted.
"..." Max blinks, looking a bit pole-axed. She recovers pretty quickly, though. "What, you think I just invited you here to-"
"Yes, I think you invited me over because you worried about your friend. You wanted to see who she was dating, to meet the girl she was dating. I'm not mad; there's nothing wrong with that," you explain calmly. "I don't know if it's because you're trying to protect Kaina so she can protect everyone else, or if it's because you love her -"
Max hides her surprise more poorly the instant the L-word slides out of your lips. Her face reddens, she opens her mouth to protest; and is that a strand of fear you see in her eyes?
That's… Interesting. Something to follow up on, perhaps?
"- Like a friend, or an adoptive daughter or something," you continue, staring directly into Max's eyes because you want her to know that you're being sincere about everything you're saying right now. "But I know the only reason you invited me over was to get a better sense of who I was so you'd know that Kaina was in good hands. And, again, that's fine. But you didn't have to go this far, framing it like an official corporate thing. I almost got the wrong idea, y'know?"
"… Ah, fuck," Max sighs now, pinching the bridge of her nose. "… You really think that's the only reason I invited you over? I could just be genuinely interested in the CEO of this up-and-coming corporation-"
"You asked Kaina to invite me over," you reply dryly. "Kaina texted me."
Honestly, you should've realized this meeting was less business and more personal from that tidbit alone. If Max were interested in something all official-like, she'd have gone through the proper channels and sent your secretary an invite.
Like she did the last time she wanted to meet you and you… Had to defer because you had a lot going on that week. Maybe you should've taken Max up on her earlier offer. Eh. Hindsight's 20/20.
"… And you figured it out from all that?" Max asks, clearly baffled by your leaps in logic. Hey, you surprise yourself too sometimes!
"That and the fact that you've been giving me the run-around for the last two hours, tinkering with you instead of doing Actual Corporate Things like negotiating contracts or shaking hands with some fuddy-duddys in suits, or having me watch some intern's presentation that they cooked up last night," you candidly admit. "And then you wanted to ask me about who I was as a person, which, like, you wouldn't remotely be interested in me that way unless you were personally interested in me for some reason."
"… Guess I should've been more subtle," Max mumbles. "… You're seriously not mad?"
"Why would I be?" You tilt your head, letting your confusion show.
Honestly! You'd be willing to forgive your loves almost anything. They're your loves after all! The cute, pure girls you love so dearly from the bottom of your heart, to the point where it makes your knees go weak and your head go blank sometimes thinking about all of the wonderful things you want to do with them.
Even now, you have to consciously hold yourself back from just jumping Max's bones and trying to have your way with her. Argh, she's right there, and you can't nuzzle her face, or kiss her cute cheek, or h – hold her adorable hand a little bit more…
Anyway, the point is you'd never get angry at your loves. Ever! Not even if they did something that seriously hurt you! Emotionally and physically! All's forgiven in the face of love, after all.
And you love Kaina. You love Max. You love these cute, silly girls more than you love yourself really, you love them so much you'd do anything for them, just as long as they love you back, so they have to love you back, you want them to love you back, you'll do anything to make them love you-
It's a minor miracle you manage to keep your lips in a beatific, innocent smile instead of the depraved expression you so desperately want to let loose right now. Phew! That was close. Gosh, you get so silly sometimes…
It is kind of a struggle, though, to look Max in the eyes and not confess your undying love towards her like the love-struck maiden you are. There's so much you want to say to the cute, confused girl standing before you…
"Gosh, you're being so silly Max. Can I still call you Max?" You sigh out, planting your hands against your hips dramatically as you puff up your chest. A gesture that makes the buttons of your blouse start to strain.
"… Sure?" Max replies, continuing to eye you quizzically like you're a puzzle to be solved.
"Max, you just want to know about me, right? You asked who I was, and what I wanted. Well, I'll go ahead and tell you about my deepest, darkest desires then. You see, all I want..." You begin, your voice beginning to take on sinister undertones. Gosh, this is a little embarrassing; you didn't think you'd be able to confess something so depraved and dirty to your love…
Max leans in, looking intrigued.
Right. Here goes!
"All I want is to become a cute girl's w – wife!" You explain, your face burning red from the sheer embarrassment of confessing something so – so wholesome. "I wanted to be able to do that thing where my wife comes home after a long day of work, a – and I'm cooking dinner, and I come up to them wearing an apron and ask if they want dinner, a bath, or m-"
You can pinpoint the exact moment Max's cool facade cracks and breaks.
"Are you fucking serious right now?!" Max demands, her eyebrow twitching.
"Yeah. I am," you smile sadly because the truth of it is, well.
… You're not actually lying.
You're not a complex girl when it comes down to it. Your wants were pretty simple even before you became a Magical Girl.
"Did you know what my life was like before I met Kaina? I grew up young and penniless. Mom abandoned me, and I only managed to pay for school by working. A lot. Even with scholarships, and student subsidies, I was up to my eyeballs in debt before I graduated high school. And it was even worse when I had to go to college. And then I entered the workforce, and, well..."
Work, eat, work, nap, work, eat, work, sleep. Work, work, work. That was the reality of your life before you became a Magical Girl, and it's what your life devolved into after becoming a Magical Girl. Just another cog in the corporate machine, cast from a mold and set to spiral until you broke and had to be replaced.
Becoming a Magical Girl?
That just made you a shinier cog that couldn't be replaced as easily. Working with other shinier cogs the stupid corpos never valued properly; they just threw away your entire team-
"It was pretty rough," you continue, doing your best not to let the sudden murderous outrage you're feeling show in your voice. "Did you know I wanted to work for your company back then? Well, it was your father's company back then-"
Ooh, there's an unmistakable twitch. Max really, really doesn't like hearing about her father, huh?
Something to make a note of. Mmh.
"But the reason I wanted a job at Steele Tech, was because I knew it'd offer me some amount of… Of stability," you rattle off pretty easily. "Steele Tech was one of the only companies that treated its employees well. And that was a dream I tried to hold onto, even when I had to pull 120-hour work-weeks and when there were some days, it seemed like the only thing keeping me going was the free soy-caf down in the break room. I just wanted to be able to pay for rent without having to worry about my electricity or water getting cut off in the middle of the night. And I wanted to get married because, well… For the same reason, really."
"Stability?" Max asks. Your love looks a bit punch-drunk. Like you've physically reached out to smack her in the face.
"Yep. I didn't want to die alone," you smile. Just from seeing how Max's face contorts you can guess your smile's not a happy smile. It's probably a fairly bitter, empty expression. "And there were some days where, well. It did feel like I was all alone in the world. So yes, I'm being completely serious when I say that one of my deepest desires back then was to have a cute girlfriend and that I wanted to get married so I could be a cute wife for my cute girlfriend."
Your goals have shifted some since you've snapped, but not all that much. You've found the girls you love, so now? All you want is to make them happy. To make them beautiful. So you can build a stable life together where the four of you can be happy together. Because it just so happens that you know, for a fact, that they're not going to truly find happiness until after they've been lured into your loving embrace. After all, who else can love these girls as much as you?
In this disgusting, concrete jungle teeming with filthy fleshlings obsessed with petty things like money and stocks, this meaningless banal city where the stupid garbage people live in squalor and constantly fight and use each other up in an endless cycle of greed and misery, a city that makes so much work for your loves to have to clean up through their pointless violence and petty feuds…
Who else truly cares for Kaina, Max, and Mia like you do? All you want is for them to live happily together with you.
Isn't that for the best…?
"..." You watch the gears turn in Max's head as she processes your confession and resist the urge to smirk. Because the best part of what you're saying right now? It's all true. You haven't lied one whit. Not about your past, not about anything. You do suppose you should feel a little ashamed that you're using your sordid past to try and guilt-trip your love into lowering her guard around you.
And okay, you do. Sort of. But not all that much.
"Is that how you – you got Kaina to fall in love with you? By feeding her the same story you just told me?" Max asks.
"No?" You shrug helplessly. "Do you know where Kaina and I first met? Nova Space Burgers. I had a craving, and I just happened to bump into her there. She was trying to order a burger from the automated kiosk… And she didn't know how."
"… Oh no. Don't tell me," Max moans out, already putting a hand over her face.
"She dithered in line for fifteen minutes because she forgot how to order a burger. And she was too nice to ask the clerk how to work the kiosk. There I was, standing behind this cool, beautiful girl… And she'd forgotten how to order food. It was the most adorable thing I'd seen. And that's when I fell in love with her," you admit.
"Oh, that's so Kaina," Max groans. "Goddammit Kaina, you couldn't just ask for help…? So that's how the two of you met, then?"
"Yep. And then I asked her out because I liked her a lot. And she said yes. And honestly, I'm not sure when she fell in love with me but… I'm happy she did. Because Kaina… Kaina's been alone too, for a while. Just like I was. It was obvious after talking to her for a while. So..." You trail off now, deciding to let Max draw her own conclusions.
Max lapses into silence, turning away to stare at the holographic projections still being displayed off to the side. The wireframe images of the fishy models the two of you have been working on.
"… You really do love her, don't you?" Max says quietly.
"I do," you confirm. "And she's just… So earnest, you know? Like, of course she's not going to really know what to do on a date, but she tries so hard to be a good partner..."
"… I was the one who started giving her relationship advice the second I learned she was in a serious relationship for the first time," Max admits. "I know exactly what you're talking about."
Wait a tic. You start thinking back to that date. That unforgettable third date with Kaina at the beach…
"Were you the one who got us passes for Suncrest Isle?" You blurt out.
"Yeah. That was me," Max's smile is tight. And slightly pained. Odd that, but it's not something you can focus on right now!
"That was you? Gosh, thanks!" You gush, reaching out now to – to clasp Max's hands between your own. Because that was a really nice thing she did, the beach was amazing, you got to teach Kaina how to swim and there were fireworks and you kind of did that thing where you applied sunscreen to Kaina with your naked bod, and you'd love to do the same sort of thing again-
"Y- yeah, no problem," Max replies, her smile growing even more strained. You feel her tug, trying to unlace her fingers from your own, but she gives up and stops after a few aborted attempts. "… So that's… Really all you want? To – To get married to Kaina at some point?"
"She's a wonderful girlfriend, and she deserves all the happiness in the world," you assure Max. "So yes, of course, I'd like to marry Kaina… Eventually. If she's alright with the idea. And because I like Kaina so much… I'd really like to get along with all of her friends too. Especially the ones who've been trying to support her when she was… When she was so miserably alone."
You don't even have to fake your tears when you think about how alone Kaina was, and how cute but sad she was when you met her the first time. Ugh, just thinking about that's getting you all sniffly…
"So I would really like for us to be friends too, Max," you finish. "That's why I wanted to meet you today, to be honest. So I could meet Kaina's precious friend and say… Thank you for looking out for Kaina."
You don't want to just be Max's friend, but hey. There's no need to rush things yet. First friendship, then who knows? Maybe you can talk Kaina into loving other girls with you… It'd be nice if your loves fell in love with each other as well. It's more love for everybody!
"..." Max turns away, looking awkward and embarrassed by how earnest you're being. "… Yeah, well… You're welcome. I guess. Wow, you're really just – just laying it out like that, huh? You're not even bothering to talk around this whole – this whole thing?"
"Did you want me to start acting evasive and start talking in doublespeak?" You ask. "Because that sounds like it'd have been a headache. And it'd be boring! And we wouldn't have been able to bond as well as we did!"
"… Yeah, I guess that's true," Max sighs.
"And as your new friend, I want to give you, um, gifts!" You say, rummaging around in your bag to present Max with one of the gifts you've prepared. The perfume's probably a bit too much, the contracts probably won't fit now… Aha!
Triumphantly, you hold up the vintage vinyls you acquired. "Vintage records of all of the old bands. There's an assortment here. We've got AC/DC, Zeppelin – All tunes from before the Resource Wars!"
"… It's my favorite music," Max says dully, even as she accepts one of the records and examines the lurid paper cover protecting it from the elements.
"Yes!"
"And you – You really just want to… To be friends with me. Just because Kaina's my friend," Max continues. Repeats really, like she's trying to come to terms with what you're saying.
Well, no, you'd really like to nuzzle Max's abs and pet her hair, but you'll settle for being her friend.
… For now.
"Sure do!" You cheer.