(Ophelia)
***
Sheathing my hand in the slick fabric, I squeezed the box without removing it.
*Right… There's no way this can go wrong, but why am I so worried?*
Koharu rolled around the bed as she rose from it like a tarnished goddess, stretching her arms upwards with a deep inhale.
"Mm," she mumbled in a groggy voice that raised in pitch at the end before fizzling out as a gust of air. "It smells weird in here."
As the room likely came into focus, she rubbed her eyes, all hints of amusement still absent from her expression.
*That's… a reaction, I guess.*
"Good morning, Koko," I told her sweetly, and she shifted her gaze to me.
Almost a little too eager for this wicked hour of the morning, I walked over to her and grazed against the headboard. Her body was covered in a castle uniform that was a little too big for her, covering enough of her lower body to obscure the fact she wasn't wearing undergarments.
(And the only other articles of clothing that still adorned her lovely figure? Socks. Fucking useless tubes.)
Starting to glow like the colors outside, she smiled brightly like cleaned copper.
"Morning," she said to me, still a bit out of it.
I wrapped my arm around her waist, using my other arm to grip one of hers and stand her up. As she balanced on her feet, she nearly tripped, but we both laughed it off as her rear plopped onto the bed. When she steadied herself, I spoke to her again.
"You're hungry, right? I still need to take care of you."
*Why does my voice sound so shaky? This isn't a fucking igloo, but it might as well be when I'm breaking out in a cold sweat!*
I stood there, hoping my hands wouldn't become too slippery to hold her to my side.
"Mm… depends on what we're talking about here," she joked as suggestively as always.
Then, while I was cocking my arm back like a weapon with which to tap her on the head, there was a deep rumbling noise, and we almost fell to the floor, giggling.
"That's an answer."
She kissed my cheek gently and moved away. "Let's go. Wait…" With her attention directed towards the soup, she paused for a moment to think, the mound of the comforter hiding the dishes. "Was that what I smelled in here?"
As we broke apart, I raised an eyebrow teasingly. "You'll see."
The couch and long wooden table weren't far from the bed, and Koharu gasped with a grin when she saw a set of bowls.
"You brought breakfast to my room today?" With the speed and energy of a piano tumbling from a higher floor, she landed on the couch. "Thank goodness. Now I don't have to get dressed." She laid on the arm with her elbows poking out behind her like she wanted to pass right back out on it.
"Don't go back to sleep!" I yelled, probably letting my words seep into the nearby rooms.
(I must have been a terrible, boisterous neighbor, but I couldn't be bothered to care.)
"Why?" She opened one eye. "I have more time to sleep since I don't have to go down for breakfast."
Standing in front of her, I opened my palms. "Because of *this*."
When she scanned them, she cackled. "Did you burn your hands trying to make breakfast?"
I flipped them back around, frowning at the embarrassing red streaks that still vaguely hurt from an hour before.
"…Yeah."
She picked up the small bowl, prodding at some of the natto on the top. "You must really love me to wake up before the asscrack of dawn and wreck your hands after we were up so late last night."
"Maybe I do."
I tried to pretend I wasn't smiling, but the expression still revealed itself on my face as I sat next to her and grabbed some rice from the table.
***
The following conversation was superfluous and unimportant in a sense, but I could listen to her talk about anything she wanted all day as long as she looked at me with that affectionate expression of hers. If she wanted to spout the most boring scientific theories or discuss the logistics of paint drying (not that she would), all she had to do was grab my hand, stroke the top of it a few times, and suddenly, anything she said became the most important thing to which I could listen.
Even so, beyond the topic, what mattered the most was what *wasn't* said. Like with a houndstooth pattern, ignoring the negative space was the easiest way to miss the entire point…
"Lia?"
"Mm?" I hummed, glancing back up to Koharu after being entranced by some grain of rice.
"You've been zoning out. Is everything okay?"
*I don't know! I'm so nervous that my thoughts are a wreck, but sure…*
"I think I'm fine." I laughed. "Everyone's lagging three steps behind when the sun isn't even up."
She contributed to the lighthearted tone of the chat, but as the bowls in front of us became empty, I could feel it drawing to its inevitable, awkward close.
"Yes, it's the same for me right now." While she stifled another yawn, it seemed her eyes were about to loll back. "I always wanna check, you know."
"Yeah."
To face me, she shifted on the couch, cupping one of my hands with both of hers. "Are you sure everything's okay? There's nothing with your family or anything…?"
I snapped and decided I might as well get over the anxiety and just fucking go for it.
"That's not it. Just… Well…"
"Well?"
*Well…*
I placed my other hand atop hers. "Can you do something for me?"
With a white crescent of a smile, she replied, "You know I'd jump over the moon if you asked me to."
"The thing is: You *could* jump over the moon."
"Maybe." She giggled. "I'd try. But what do you need me to do?"
I felt myself succumbing to the faint ache of queasiness. There was no way I was backing out now unless I made some ridiculous excuse that she could see right through like an apparition.
I took my hand from under hers to sift through my pocket and dragged my fingers over the smooth texture of parchment and a wax seal. I seized the envelope, hoping to avoid a paper cut (as if anything could be more humiliating). Taking the letter, I pointed it towards her, nudging it upwards.
"Read this for me."
With a chuckle, she let out a breath she was holding as she took it from my hand. "You went to school, baby. Why do you need me to read your letter—"
"Read the front of it."
She tilted it so that she could see to whom it was addressed.
"Ah."
I didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but it made my nerves go on edge to the point my heart thumped against my bones. It wordlessly told me it wanted to escape before it watched me do some stupid shit I would regret. I couldn't blame it.
Turning the paper back over, she peeled off the red wax. Part of the sheet ripped, but the envelope was honestly just some ugly thing meant to conceal its contents; I took no offense to the messiness. All I cared about was seeing her reaction to the inside.
Once it was open, she folded the triangle back and grasped an unimpressive sheet of paper. It got caught on the edge of the envelope, so she wiggled it out like it was shedding a winter coat.
Every motion of hers felt calculated down to the angle at which she unfurled the thirds of the letter. Even the seconds seemed counted by her as if to tease me, but there was no hint of such a thing on her face—only an otherwise unreadable expression of vague curiosity.
She giggled. "You really wrote one of these when I'm right here…?"
"Please just read it already, or I'm going to have a heart attack."