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“Ah! Look at that, Natsumi! They really sell weapons in a place like this!”
Stopped by Koyuki tugging lightly on her arm, Natsumi turned to see what Koyuki was pointing at.
“Um… No, those are just game controllers. I don’t know of any malls that sell actual weapons…”
“Oh… So not a type of nunchucks, then?”
“No, but…” Natsumi giggled. “I’m sure you could use them as a weapon easily, Koyuki.”
Other people would give Koyuki weird looks, but even if it made things embarrassing sometimes, Natsumi couldn’t imagine finding her strangeness anything less than charming. She wouldn’t be Koyuki without it.
Really, she’d never had a friend quite like Koyuki before.
She’d had friends before. Close friends, even. She’d been hanging out with Yayoi and Satsuki every other weekend for years now. But her friendship with Koyuki… It felt unique.
Maybe it was because they both lived with aliens?
“Hey, it looks like they let you play demos!” Natsumi took a few steps towards the game store’s entrance, turning to look back at Koyuki. “Wanna play a little together?”
“Yeah, yeah!”
They picked out one of the games, and as they sat down side by side, Natsumi had the sudden urge to say, "I’m glad I have a best friend like you, Koyuki."
Koyuki lit up, and leaned against her, and Natsumi felt warm.
Stupid, stupid aliens, and her stupid, stupid life! She was never going to have a normal summer vacation again. Why would she think she could ever get a normal vacation?! No, it always had to be kidnappings and alien threats and explosions and protecting Fuyuki and worrying Mama and fighting in this stupid, stupid suit!
It was just her, Momoka, and Koyuki holding the line here. Fuyuki was somewhere up ahead, with the fridiot and his friends, and between dodging and firing she found the time to hope they were all okay.
Natsumi spun in the air, giving one of the attackers a solid kick as she moved to cover Momoka. As she completed the turn, she saw it - a bright beam of light right where Koyuki had been fighting.
And Koyuki was falling.
"Koyuki!"
It didn’t even occur to her to tell Momoka to stay put. She just moved, flying towards that falling figure, dodging attacks without entirely realizing they were there.
Please be okay. Koyuki was bound to be okay, she was strong, resilient, admirable. Koyuki had to be okay, Natsumi would make sure of it, or else she swore…
She swept in moments before Koyuki would’ve hit the ground, catching her in her arms and cushioning her fall. Before she could even check on Koyuki, she was already dodging another beam attack, and quickly moved to hide in a safe-looking alcove among the rubble and catch her breath. Strange how exhausted she felt when it had really been the suit moving, not her.
She looked down at the girl in her arms and felt herself sigh with relief, finally breathing normally again, when Koyuki opened her eyes and looked up.
"Natsumi…?"
"Jeez, Koyuki… Don’t ever scare me like that again!" Natsumi tried to smile, but suddenly tears were threatening to spill out of her eyes.
“Sorry…” Koyuki wrapped her arms around Natsumi’s neck and shoulders, adjusting herself to keep hanging on. “I promise I won’t!”
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Natsumi said, taking a steadying breath. Without thinking much about it, she added, “Don’t you ever leave me.”
With that, she burst out of the rubble, throwing them back into the fray to keep protecting the Earth, their friends, and each other.
Natsumi hadn’t had much time to think, in the moment. Her mind had nearly gone blank, focused only on the path between herself and Koyuki. In the days and weeks since, however, it seemed like it had been racing nonstop. She couldn’t help thinking about if things had gone differently, if she’d really…
The fear of what had almost happened was a spear to her heart, but in some strange way, so was the relief that it didn’t. Every time she had seen Koyuki since had felt like a tidal wave of relief threatening to knock her over and straight into Koyuki’s arms, a flood of I’m so glad you’re okay, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you weren’t, please always be okay, please always be your resilient, carefree self, because I always want to see you like that.
It felt as if their lives were tied together. As if losing Koyuki would mean losing a vital part of her own self, and she’d never be the same. That was the thought that kept haunting Natsumi, most of all, the thought of her life - her future - without Koyuki there.
And that thought just made her think more.
One night, Natsumi came to a decision.
When she saw Koyuki at school the next day, she pulled her aside, somewhere they wouldn’t be overheard. “I have something… kind of… important to ask you…”
She tore her eyes away from her own fidgeting hands to look at Koyuki’s face, smiling at her as always. “Of course! Whatever you need!”
Looking back on their relationship now… Natsumi felt like she already knew how Koyuki was going to respond, but somehow that only made her heart beat faster. She had always explained some things away to herself as Koyuki just not understanding what certain things meant, but now that she really thought about it, and now that she was here…
This was excitement, not nervousness, Natsumi told herself, because it was much, much too late now to let herself be defeated by nervousness. She steeled herself, and took a breath.
“Would you like to go on a date with me?”