In the morning, Mari wakes up to find Akko sitting crosslegged on the floor, chin in hand, watching Mari with a relaxed smile. "Your mom said to remember to be home for dinner tonight." Mari blinks, her eyes widen, and she says "Huh? Oh, no! She came in here?" Akko laughs, "Yeah, she thought it was funny that you were sleeping on the futon, but I told her you made me sleep on the bed. I'm pretty sure she believed me. And your little brother didn't squeal, either." Mari sits up and stretches. Akko, suddenly looks alarmed. "Omigosh, I didn't email my mom yet!" She grabs her cell phone and looks at it, her fingers poised to key in a message, but her face turns red. "Um, what am I gonna tell my mom?" Mari laughs. "At least nobody in your family has seen us kissing!" "Mari!" Akko fumes. "That's not helping." Half an hour later, the email behind them and Takeshi in tow, the girls - Akko wearing slightly loose-fitting clothes Mari lent her - head out for the train. At the first station, Mari holds onto Takeshi's hand to keep him from getting lost, and Akko grabs Mari's other hand. Mari, startled, looks at Akko and desperately whispers, "Akko! Why are you holding my hand? I'm not going to get lost!" "I just don't want any perverts to take you away," Akko whispers. Akko looks serious, and Mari hair stands up a bit. Later, on the train, Takeshi asks his sister, "Nee-san, When did you confess to Oohashi-san? Mari claps her hand over her brother's mouth and bends close, whispering at him not to say it so loudly. Takeshi pulls her hand away from his astonished face, and whispers back to her, "Oh! Was it just last night? 'Cause mom's been thinking you had a boyfriend for the past year or so." Akko looks serious. "Mari, how long have you known? How you felt, I mean." "I guess since the start of second year. I was so afraid we would be in different classes, and then when you made new friends, I got jealous," Mari admitted. "And then when we didn't go to that mixer, and I ki-" She shoots a look at Takeshi, who is watching intently. Akko turns away to laugh quietly, and finds herself staring at Mari's reflection. A sudden realization hits her. "I loved you from the start." She turns toward Mari, and several other passengers look up, with interest. "I just didn't know it till yesterday, Mari." Ignoring the other passengers, Mari leans close to Akko and asks quietly, "Did I tell you how I met Harada?" Akko shakes her head. "I missed my stop because I was thinking...about you, Akko. And I was confused because I didn't understand what I was feeling, and you didn't seem to notice, and... And Harada-sempai had been watching me on the train for a while. It made me feel happy someone was paying attention to me." "The next time we met, he saw me standing in the station. I was thinking about you then, too, Akko. Harada saw me from the train, got off and rode back to the station to talk to me and ask me out. That's when we made that date, when you helped me with the makeup, and..." Akko pictures in her mind putting makeup on Mari, Mari crying in frustration at having to hide her feelings, then pushing Akko down and kissing her. "Mari, I... I didn't understand what you... I mean," but just then the conductor announces their station, and they grab Takeshi and sprint out of the door. Nobody in the station seems to really notice the two girls holding hands, smiling and laughing as they follow Takeshi at a run. The mood is light as they pay the Hanayashiki entrance fee. Akko is surprised at how fun everything looks, and keeps exclaiming, pointing, and grabbing Mari's hand to show her something else. They take a break in a café, sitting at a booth looking out over a busy path and a line of people waiting for a roller-coaster. The Ferris wheel sits in the distance, and behind it, the skyscrapers of Shibuya. "Akko, seriously, you're just like a little kid sometimes," Mari teases. Akko has a happy, relaxed smile on her face as she sits at a diner-style table with Mari, leaning on her hand and looking at Mari. Takeshi sees the looks on their faces, gets up, and blurts out, "I wanna go look at the fish pond. I'll be right back!" "Don't be too long," Mari calls after him. She turns to Akko and says, "Took you long enough." Akko looks puzzled for a moment, then sees Mari's intense look, and laughs, "Oh, I know! I'm so dense, sometimes! Do you know, I asked Sugi-san for advice a couple of times, and I'm pretty sure she understood months ago." Mari chokes on her tea. "Sugi-san? When was this?" "Too long ago," says Akko, looking a bit sad. "I'm sorry I took so long to figure out what you mean to me. And I'm glad you waited." Mari brightens and reaches her hand out to tough Akko's hands. "I was jealous, you know. Not of you, but of Kuno-chan's boyfriend." Akko's jaw drops, "Eh?" Mari giggles, "Yeah, I figured out who your mystery lover was!" Akko's smile fades. "It burned a hole in me knowing someone had been that close to you, and knowing that I never could." Mari's eyes tear up, and she looks away. Akko stares at Mari, then her teeth clench as Mari continues. "I always worried some other boy would come along, and you might go do things with him, too..." Akko thinks "What things? What is she talking about?" Then shock shows on her face. She stands, her eyes streaming. "How could you even think it, Mari? How could you?" And suddenly, she's walking away, her hair trailing behind her like a ship's banner in a storm.
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