"This strange feeling in my chest…? Is it love?" Alexi traces circles on Nakasuko's abdomen as she clings on to her arm. The once cold metal has warmed up considerably.
"I think so." Nakasuko stares at the empty ceiling, unable to look Alexi in the eye.
"Am I in love with you…?"
"That, I don't know."
"Why not?"
"There's a difference between being in love and being in love with being in love." Nakasuko starts caressing Alexi's hair. "It feels good to love. But unless you're in love with someone truly special to you, it won't work out."
"You're wrong." The smallest bit of anger creeps into Alexi's voice. "I've never met anyone who treated me like I was real before. That alone is enough to make you special to me. Even my own mother always taught me that I was different.."
"That makes me happy to hear." Nakasuko turns over in bed to look Alexi in the eye. That humanity she saw earlier is still there, only much closer now that even Alexi can see it herself. "You finally get it now."
"Get what?"
"That in spite of it all, you're really not all that special, princess."
"Hm hm. I suppose not." Alexi smiles. "And what about you? Do you love me?"
Nakasuko averts her eyes from Alexi's gaze. In that instant, they both understand. "Sorry… I'm in love with being in love."
"Ah, that makes me so happy!" Alexi smiles so brightly that it's almost blinding.
Nakasuko stares at her for a good minute.
"Even if you're only in love with being in love, there's no rule that says I can't make you fall in love with me eventually, right?"
"...Well, I suppose you're right."
"I better work hard at it, then." Alexi nods to herself.
"You… really are a strange one, you know that?"
"You like that about me, don't you?"
"You have me there." Nakasuko smiles as she plants her lips on Alexi's.
The moon is high in the sky by the time Nakasuko comes out of the bedroom. Its silver gleam trickles in through the hallway windows before coming to a rest on Tami's blonde hair. She's posted up nearby, leaning against the far wall.
"I'm thankful these walls are thick, because otherwise my ears would be ringing." Tami slaps Nakasuko across the face with a fury hell could not hope to match. "You two really didn't hold back, did you?"
"Ah, well, you know how it is. She was…talented."
"Eugh!" Tami shakes her head, as if banishing her thoughts. "That was a rhetorical question! I did not need to know that!"
"Ah, sorry." Nakasuko scratches the back of her head awkwardly.
"Geez…"
"Hey, I mean, you did say to get her into a good mood, right?" Nakasuko lifts her shoulders. "She's in a pretty good mood now, I would say."
"Fair enough." Tami gives her a sarcastic pat on the back. " Good job. You lost your virginity to a robot."
"Just for the record, I lost my virginity a long time ago."
"Do I want to hear that story?"
"When I was thirteen–"
"EUGH! EW EW EW EW EWWWWW! I regret asking, I regret asking, I regret asking. That's gross. You're gross." Tami shivers head to toe. "I pity you."
"Sorry. Teen love is… weird."
"Whatever! Whatever. At least it's over with."
"..."
Tami squints at her. "You… didn't catch feelings… did you?"
"Well…" Nakasuko's eyes drop to the floor. "Oops?"
"Jesus Christ." Tami covers her face and sinks to her knees.
"Listen, Tami. Let your elder drop some sage advice on you."
"I'm twenty-four."
"Let your junior drop some sage advice on you. Love knows no boundaries."
"Sex crimes exist."
"Okay, that's… fair, actually." Nakasuko thinks for a moment. "Love transcends species?"
Tami looks at Nakasuko in abject horror.
"My bad, my bad." She thinks for another good minute or so. "Love should transcend minor superficial differences."
"She. Is. A. Robot."
"So?"
Tami shakes her head. "I give you a month before you break up."
"That's a little defeatist. I'd never manage to hold down a relationship if I was constantly counting how many months we had left."
"It's just the facts, I don't know what to tell you. Either you're going to get bored of her or she's going to get bored of you."
"Eh, we'll see about that." Nakasuko lets her gaze float up at the moon. "Anyway, I've got somewhere to be. You can probably take the couch downstairs if you want to sleep."
"How courteous…" Tami rolls her eyes. "Lucky for me, I don't need or intend to sleep."
Nakasuko raises an eyebrow.
"Relax, I don't have anything uncouth planned. Unlike the horndog you are, I have more productive things to do than have coitus with robots." Tami huffs. "I'm going to go meet up with Isaka and the others, check in on their progress."
"Sounds good. I have someone to meet up with as well."
"In the middle of the night?"
"She'll understand."
"Fair enough." Tami turns to leave but she stops and looks over her shoulder at Nakasuko. "Oh, and one last thing."
"Yeah?"
"Congratulations… on your new girlfriend, I mean."
"...Thank you, Tami."
"You're a good fit for each other.""
"Thanks."
"And by that I mean that you're both weird.
"...Thanks?"
"She may be a failure of an ICMG Major. But… she deserves a better life. I've turned a blind eye for so long. Me and everyone else." Tami opens a window and plants her foot on the sill. A cool draft engulfs the two girls. "Make sure she's loved. Don't fail her where her mother did."
It feels as though Tami's words reached into Nakasuko's chest and plucked a resonant chord on her heartstrings. "I'll do my best."
"That's good to hear." Tami jumps out of the window and vanishes into the night. After a moment, Nakasuko looks down at her bat leaning against the wall. Kasai's blade managed to break the seal on a spirit realm gate. It's time to see if she can do the same.
"「Taijutsu - Absolute Homerun」"