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“She rejected me!”
Mizuki flops onto the dining table, sending the cutlery fluttering and her chair screeching to catch her weight. Nene, her roommate, flinches as some of her hot cocoa lurches out. Mizuki returns upright, twisting her sleeve away. “Oh, sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nene says and goes to the kitchen. She reaches for the paper towel holster, but finds it empty. Mizuki sits wordlessly, twiddling her thumbs, bouncing her leg impatiently, shifting her weight in her seat. She eyes Nene from the side, clearly wanting to say something, but holding back.
Nene opens up a few cupboards, before sighing in resignation. “Ena rejected you?”
“Ena rejected me!” Mizuki slumps back onto the table, careful to avoid the mug and its spill.
Nene comes back with a towel, lifting her cup and wiping up the lost cocoa. She takes the bait over enduring the stagnant silence. “What happened?”
The pink-haired pokes at Nene’s stripy mug with a pout once it returns to the table. “I don't know! I thought the date was going so well… Then she drops the bomb that she already has a girlfriend!"
It really was a nice date. It was a cloudy day that threatened rain, so she and Ena went to a quiet cafe in a back alley of which Mizuki is often a patron. There was warm mood lighting, pretty roses in the vases, and the sappy sweet scent of Valentine's Day specials in the air.
The evening panned out slowly, to Mizuki's remembrance. Groups of people shuttled in and out of the door, the bell tinkling each time. The waitress was a cute lady with summery blonde hair, and their orders came out without a hitch.
They enjoyed their pastries happily, comfortably dropping words here and there. Mizuki cherished that convenience, that easy banter they passed between each other like a baton. It's one of the reasons why she likes Ena so much.
Just as she felt the perfect lull in conversation to point the question, out of nowhere Ena mentions she's already seeing someone.
“She just, like, said it! Absent-mindedly, like she didn't even know I was the slightest bit interested in her!” Mizuki groans at the recollection and drops her head with a thud.
“Is that so?” Nene prompts seemingly uncaringly, but Mizuki already knows that's just her way of letting her know she's listening.
“I mean, why else would a girl ask out someone on V Day Eve?! Like, she wasn't even fazed! By any of it!” Mizuki buries her head in her arms.
“Who confesses on Valentine's Day Eve?”
“People who wanna look like a cute happy couple on Valentine's Day? Obvi!”
“How misleading.”
“Hey, anyone can profess their love any time they want to!”
Nene swallows the last of her drink and stands back up. She pulls another mug, stripy pink this time, from the pantry. “Actually, did you even confess to her?”
“...” Mizuki's eyes dart away.
She can sense the irritation radiating from Nene’s very soul.
She fiddles with her hair sheepishly. “… Well, there’s no point if she's already got a girlfriend!”
“So she didn't reject you?” Nene rebuffs, fumbling with the kettle on the stove.
“See, I—” Mizuki pauses, flusters a little, then switches tracks. “What are you suggesting, getting with her and her gal?”
“You never know with you, Mizuki,” she retorts plainly, erecting a deep gape from Mizuki.
After momentarily pondering, she shuts her mouth.
Nene rolls her eyes with a smile, then comes back wielding a second glass of hot chocolate. Mizuki tips her head to the side. “For you?”
“For you,” Nene corrects, sliding the cup across the countertop like a pro bartender. Mizuki can't deny the flutter in her chest that rises as she grins. She experimentally feels the temperature of the mug.
“Awh, you made it colder for little old me? I'm charmed!” Mizuki giggles cheerfully and gulps down a quarter of it at once. “And marshmallows?! You're much too kind!”
“Careful not to choke,” Nene scolds.
Mizuki holds her glowing face in her hands. “C’mon, you love me~”
Nene fails to reply, the nape of her neck warming as she sips on her own cocoa. Needs sugar.
———
“What’s your favorite type of chocolate?”
Mizuki prods, brushing her hair with a styling comb.
Nene scrolls on her phone inattentively. “Like, what brand?”
The two of them are sitting in their living room on their small, cramped sofa that has seen way too many food and drink spills than should be humanly possible for two people. Luckily, Mizuki is a fabric guru, and she always fixes it up to look more presentable after.
The lights are out, but Mizuki has her warm nightlight plugged in, which is surprisingly bright for its small size.
Mizuki clumps the loose pink strands into a hairball to be disposed of later. She scoots down the couch, leaning in toward Nene. At this distance, the latter can smell Mizuki's special flowery perfume. “No, like milk, dark, white… Y'know!”
“Mm,” Nene hums, clicking off social media and onto an FPS game. “I don’t really like white chocolate.”
“Okay, but that's what you don't like, Negative Nancy,” Mizuki huffs, squinting at her. She kicks one of her legs over Nene's thigh. “Which one's your favorite?”
Nene taps more vigorously. “I don't eat chocolates that often."
“I’ll have to buy you a bunch to try tomorrow, then!” Mizuki declares, letting her head fall back against the couch.
Mizuki hears an uncommon ‘Game Over!’ tone ring out from her roommate's phone. Nene grumbles softly, setting the device face-down on the side table and sprawling across the couch.
She rolls to face Mizuki. “What about you?”
“What about me?” she replies pointedly.
“Favorite chocolate?”
“I dunno.”
Nene’s face churns into a deadpan expression.
Mizuki catches a glimpse of it from the side and smiles innocently.
“... Get on with it.”
Mizuki puffs out a laugh, “I’m just teasing~”
A small sound rumbles in Mizuki's throat as she taps her chin. “I don't think white chocolate is all that bad. It can get a little sickening after too much though, so it's going to C tier.”
“Are you mentally dragging them into a tier list?” Nene extends her palm, gesturing a ‘give it here’.
“What’s so bad about a tier list?” Mizuki hands her the comb.
“You doomscroll too often.”
“Says you. Hypocrite.”
“I game. You're always on socials. There's a difference.”
“I play video games! I have my cutesy dressup game!”
“The one with the in-game cellphone and the posting function?”
“Back to the chocolates,” Mizuki interrupts stubbornly. Nene undoes her side ponytail and wraps the ribbon around her wrist. Mizuki fluffs her hair out, allowing it to splay over the cushions.
Nene tugs the other down to lay on her lap, and she begins to untangle the knotted strands with the corner of the comb. Mizuki sighs in relaxation. “Where was I?”
“White chocolate, C tier,” she repeats.
“Thank you. Milk chocolate has a lot of that sweetness factor, however…”
———
“Are you sleeping?”
Mizuki whisper-yells to Nene across the way.
It's pure darkness within their dorm, save for the twinkling moonlight oozing in from between the blinds. Nene and Mizuki bundled into their respective beds after cleaning up accordingly and chowing on some dinner. Nene was tuckered out thanks to a compilation of Friday deadlines, but Mizuki appears to be restless as usual.
“Not anymore,” Nene returns.
They settle for a few palpable beats. Muffled snores from their next door neighbors can be heard through the thin walls of the dormitory, a pleasing white noise that could lull Nene back to dreamland.
But before that can happen, Mizuki shuffles around noisily in her covers, peeling the sheets off of herself. She fans her face and slips out of bed.
“Is it a little hot in here?” she says in a less hushed volume.
Nene sits upright. She yawns and shrugs. “You can open the window, just remember to close it in the morning.”
“Gotcha.”
When the window slides open, a cool breeze immediately flies in, soothing the parts of Nene’s torso uncovered by the blanket. She and Mizuki sigh in instant relief.
While she's standing, Mizuki pulls a drawer and not-so-sneakily unseals a packet of candied gummy worms.
Nene stares from her shadowed corner.
Mizuki pops one in her mouth, then looks over her shoulder at Nene. She waggles the bag in the air like luring a cat out from an alleyway. However, Nene only scowls.
“I’m not an animal, y’know.”
“Aww, but you’re so cute, I just wanna pet you!” she grins devilishly. She chews on another one.
Nene’s posture shrinks and she gives Mizuki a weary look. Mizuki laughs.
Before Mizuki can pull another worm from the bag, Nene approaches her swiftly. She takes the other’s hand and delicately guides it to the crown of her head.
“Go on, then,” she mutters.
Mizuki almost drops her goodie bag.
Nene looks up at her and nudges her arm impatiently. Mizuki smiles, red cheeks faintly glowing under the moonlight, and pats Nene’s soft sage hair.
Cooled air wafts in from the window, hugging the two in its frosty embrace. Mizuki’s gummy worms go long forgotten.
Nene subconsciously leans into Mizuki’s gentle touch. “That… feels nice.”
“So glad we opened that window,” Mizuki says, her voice wispy. Nene darts her eyes away. “Y-Yeah, that…”
Mizuki taps Nene’s head twice, a sign of departure. Her hand leaves her head, and Nene already becomes so much colder.
She grabs Mizuki’s wrist again. “Wait.”
Mizuki pauses. She nods slightly, a silent granting of permission. What is it?
“I…” Nene swallows thickly. Her voice comes out raspy. “I think you should know. That– That I…”
Mizuki wraps her fingers around Nene’s so tenderly, it makes Nene’s heart swell, an incomparable warmth.
“I like you.”
Nene sucks in a breath, half way to a gasp. Mizuki gnaws at her lower lip—a nervous habit—before it weaves into a smile. “I think I always have.”
Nene releases Mizuki’s wrist, only to reconnect through their intertwined fingers. “I do too. Like you, I mean.”
Mizuki’s eyes close as she smiles the brightest smile Nene has ever seen. It lures her in, and she takes the bait. Their lips press together easily, and Nene feels herself being whisked off her feet. She’s… relieved.
They separate not long after. Mizuki stares into Nene’s eyes, maybe into her soul, before letting her head fall on her shoulder. “I thought I was crazy for thinking you liked me back for even a second!”
“Like,” she slides her arms around Nene’s waist and looks down at her, “we’re always so touchy-feely domestic vibes all the time, so it felt so… natural.”
“Is that not what people who date do?” Nene asks.
“Well, yeah, but we weren't dating, so it was like—what are we right now? And you always acted so normal!”
Nene narrows her gaze. “Sorry I don’t daydream about you on a daily basis, then.” Even though I do.
“Whaaat!” Mizuki wails. “Well, let it be known that I daydream about you on a daily basis.”
Nene reaches back and snatches the bag of gummy worms, and she eats one. She quickly changes the subject to hide her embarrassment. “Why were you trying to get with Ena if you like me?”
“‘Cause I convinced myself I had zero chance.”
Nene flicks her forehead. “Stupid.”
“Hey!!” Mizuki whines, rubbing the spot she rudely attacked. “I’m not stupid, I’m proactive.”
“Sounds like stupid to me.”
“I thought you were my girlfriend!” Mizuki tugs Nene closer, jabbing a finger to her chest.
Nene crosses her arms. “You haven’t asked me out.”
“Wha—” Mizuki pouts at her. “Fine then! Will you go out with me?”
Nene smiles, “I’ll think about it. Maybe after Valentine’s Day?”
“Hey!!!”