A/N: please see the bottom of the chapter for an explanation of where I've been and everything that's happened recently.
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Chika wasn't usually a person to hold back and take things slowly, preferring instead to jump forward into anything that stood in her path with boundless optimism and a never-give-up attitude, but she was feeling oddly pensive about this topic.
Sitting in the Ryokan together with her two childhood friends Chika was dressed up looking rather more mature than usual in a white kimono as part of her family's summer plan to bring in more tourists by changing what they wore, and had her orange hair down for a change. Neither Yo or Kanan were used to seeing the ginger with her hair down very often, and had to quietly admit that it certainly made the ginger look more mature.
The three girls were sitting around Chika's room after the ginger sent out a hurried message to her two oldest friends for help with a problem that she had said was of "utmost importance!" Needless to say the two had hurried over since Chika normally wasn't so serious about these kinds of things, and were somewhat worried about their mikan friend.
"So what was the big emergency about Chika?" Kanan was the first to breach the topic as she sat on her younger friends bed trying not to blush at the sight of Chika looking so mature as she nursed a cup of tea the ginger had served to her guests.
Blinking her bright pink eyes over at the diver as though she had no idea what Kanan was talking about, Chika straightened from handing a cup of tea to Yo and turned to face her other childhood friend fully "What do you mean Kanan, can't I just call you two up to spend time together every now and then?"
Kanan might have believed Chika's lie if not for the years that she'd known the ginger, and was able to pick up the obvious nerves in Chika's laugh, or the way that her eyes were darting around the room anywhere but at the older girl, and was going to press a little further in hopes of making her best friend break.
Yo saved Kanan the trouble by reaching up with the hand not holding her cup of tea and grabbing onto Chika's fingers, gaining the attention of the girl and causing her to half-turn back to look at Yo sitting on the floor.
"There's no need to worry about anything first mate Chika, captain Yousoro is here to listen to your problems!" The ashen-haired girl announced in her most confident voice, even offering a salute to her childhood friend after setting down her teacup momentarily. The show of support from her friends brought tears of happiness to Chika's eyes, and she was tempted to launch herself at Yo for a big hug, only holding back because she knew that her sisters would yell at her if she wrinkled her kimono.
"You should stop trying to take all of the worlds problems upon yourself Chika" Kanan advised gently to her friend with a comforting smile, only making the gingers heart swell further and make it difficult to hold back tears.
It took a few minutes for Chika to regain her composure so that the girls could talk about whatever was weighing on Chika's mind, but finally the trio were able to get to the heart of the problem as Chika took a seat on the bed next to Kanan and hugged her shrimp plush to her chest.
"Guys…" Chika began in a quiet voice as she stared down at the floor nervously, making Kanan and Yo lean in closer to the girl in anticipation of whatever the ginger's secret could be. Neither girl were prepared for what the ginger admitted though despite any amount of preparation.
"I think that I'm gay!" Chika cried out as though it were a big secret, likely shaking the entire ryokan and causing chaos erupted in the room as both Yo and Kanan fell back and began laughing at their silly Mikan's fears.
"Mou, this is serious guys!" the ginger whined at her friends as she watched the duo whom she had hoped would take her seriously were laughing about her problem as though it weren't a big deal. Suddenly Chika felt like she should have followed her first instinct and told Riko about her problem instead, unaware of the madness that would have ensued from that choice.
Once the two managed to catch their breath the duo were all apologies for losing their composure over Chika's admission, and a quick apology to Chika's older sister for being so loud when she poked her head into the room to scold the trio, so that they could get down to the crux of the matter.
"I think that everyone in Aquors knows that you're gay Chika" Kanan informed the ginger as though it were no big deal despite how much it had been weighing on Chika's mind leading up to her admission.
"How could anyone possibly know about this before I did?" Chika inquired with her big eyes that made both of her friends coo at how adorable the ginger could be. They only barely managed to hold back from pulling Chika into a hug and making a mikan sandwich out of the leader of the idol group.
"All of the signs were pretty obvious Chika" Yo admitted to her best friend with a light laugh at the ginger's expense as she pouted "have you not noticed the way that your eyes linger on everyone while we're getting changed for practise?"
Blinking in confusion at what Yo was attempting to imply, Chika offered her own opinion on the matter "I just thought that was something that all girls did" she told her friends innocently, earning a muffled scoff from Kanan.
"Chika, you have to be the third most gay member of Aquors, right after Mari" Kanan informed her two friends. Both girls caught the look in Chika's eye at the information and knew perfectly well what question the mikan was going to ask next.
"Who's the most gay member if Mari is second?" Chika asked in an innocent voice that didn't reflect the topic that the three girls were talking about. Neither girl wanted to reveal that information to Chika though, so they quickly changed the topic with practise gained from years of working together to steer conversations away from dangerous topics around Chika.
"So what made you finally realise that you were gay Chika?" Yo asked the mikan straight on, having somewhat of an idea but wanting to hear it from Chika's mouth. Both girls unconsciously leaned in towards Chika curiously at what the gingers answer would be.
Chika blushed and began to fidget on the bed with her hands in her lap as all attention fell upon her, the girl's pink eyes looking anywhere but at her two friends as she tried to work up the courage to admit her deep secret to the duo.
As the combination of emotions swirled in her head to a breaking point, Chika grew angrier at herself for being unable to just spit it out, and finally jumped to her feet to shout it as loud as she could to her friends "I think that Yoshiko is super-pretty!"
Yo and Kanan were momentarily stunned at Chika's announcement and watched the ginger with large eyes, thankfully Chika couldn't see any judgement in those eyes and quietly sighed in relief that she could still rely on her two oldest friends with this information.
The moment was completely ruined when Kanan was the first to turn away from Chika and mumble something under her breath that was likely supposed to remain a secret, but both second-years managed to catch "damn, it looks like I owe Mari lunch."
"What! You were betting with Mari to see who I/Chika was interested in?" Kanan's two friends shouted at the girl, earning a blush from the normally unflappable blue-haired girl along with a nervous laugh.
"I didn't really get it when Mari insisted on making that bet with me, so I agreed without really thinking about it" Kanan assured the pair quickly. Hoping to ease some of her friend's concerns Kanan chose to add a little extra information "if it's any consolation Mari managed to talk Dia into joining the bet as well."
Chika loudly sat down on the bed with a pout and Kanan caught the ginger mumble something about 'friends making bets behind her back,' but Kanan was sure that the girl wasn't really angry about it since Chika wasn't that kind of person, so they just sat in silence for a few minutes.
This was broken by another interruption from the demon of the inn appearing to give a second warning, and Mito also warned the trio that if they kept it up she was going to throw the two girls out and put Chika to work for the rest of the day, quickly making the trio assure her that they would keep it down.
"Okay, so you have a crush on Yoshiko, what are you going to do about it Chika?" Yo asked her friend as they settled into more casual conversation now that all of the surprises were out of the way.
"I don't know!" Chika moaned back as she sat next to Kanan and hung her head "Yoshiko is so special and amazing, how am I supposed to catch the attention of someone like her?"
Neither girl would use those particular words to describe the fallen angel, but gave Chika the benefit of the doubt for now and carried on with the conversation "do you want to ask her out on a date?" Yo was the first to broach the obvious solution.
"Would she even accept me if I did?" Chika replied doubtfully, sounding surprisingly unsure of herself considering her normal personality to her friend's surprise.
"I don't think that anyone could dare deny you with your boundless optimism Chika" Kanan tried to reassure her friend with an amused smile and light laugh that Yo shared, while Chika pouted at being teased for the way she acted.
Yo momentarily became pensive as the real question of how Chika could gain the attention of the fallen angel bounced around in her mind, and found herself coming to a solution that would certainly fit Chika.
"I think that I might have an idea, but we're going to have to work together to make it happen" Yo informed her friends with a small smile that they quickly matched, always willing to play along with Yo's ideas since they were normally a lot of fun.
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A/N: Okay so a lot of stuff happened between the last time I published anything and now, so I should probably explain a bit of the core details.
First of all I wasn't too sure about how I wanted to do the second part of this for the last month or so, and have been focusing on rough drafts for other ideas when I've gotten working on stories, so that's been a bit of a stumbling block.
Second my computer decided that it wanted to start crapping out on me, so I ended up doing a format back to an earlier version. Only it decided to cause a driver conflict that made the sound on my computer refuse to work that I personally couldn't figure out, so I was hesitant to reinstall my core programs back onto my system in case I needed to take it in to a shop to fix (ultimately had to take it in anyways, but the problem was fixed).
Third a new Warcraft expansion went live this month, and I couldn't resist getting back into the game (despite multiple times thinking I was "done" with the series after burning out three times at endgame, and have been playing through the new content slowly.
Otherwise I've been doing more real-life stuff that takes me away from my computer for a few hours at a time, which means less time to write when I get the urge, but is probably more healthy for me (arguably.)
Regardless I already have a mental image of how I want the third part of this story to go down, and I believe that I'm going to top off the story at four parts, so look forward to the next two chapters coming up hopefully sooner than this one did.
I'm really sorry for the delays, but I still love you guys and are thinking about you and how to update (most) of my stories. Until next time everyone!