No Moping, I Swear

If his face were a reliable heat source the bedding would have probably lit into flames by now.

"I...I just don't...want to mess up..." He responded, though still completely frozen due to her words.

In the games when it came to stuff like this that meant kissing!? He hadn't ever touched on games like that, or well most games in general so it was completely alien to him in a sense. Why'd he have to talk so big about this stuff when it didn't involve him!? When it came to him that confidence just flew out the window! Sure, he knew why, he was a coward to his own emotions but still!

"I-I realize...there may be screw ups but...I don't want to make any...any big mistakes that...mm.." He didn't want to screw up beyond repair, he didn't want to hurt her...Hell, when he thought he had he'd taken a sick leave! Hurting his friends or...those close to him, it made him feel like absolute garbage considering how highly he valued having those relationships. Sure, romance was...something he eventually wanted, feeling fully against everything the elder's attempted to plan for him, but despite wanting it he still felt it was an unreachable thing...because in the end when it came to himself and his emotions, he was a coward.

"I-I don't think it could be worse than this!" Mia's mouth opened and she closed it, slowly moving out of the blanket. Their conversation was too important to be talking through stupid covers, and she quickly escaped the blankets. Her eyes didn't look up though as she kneeled on his bed, reaching out to tug at the pillow. "...t-this...is important right? S-Shouldn't...it...be face...to face..."

She couldn't understand how she was saying things like this! To him! To Masaru... in his bed. She was blushing and her hands went to her face as she hid it, unable to deal with being uncovered for now. "I-I...am fine...with mistakes... we...can make...them t-together..."

"I-I just would...r-rather try... and m-mess up...than not know..." Her voice was quiet, her heart racing about a million miles a second. What was she ADMITTING!? To him and herself. Did she want something? To try something? Try what...

"S-so...we should...should try it..then...?" He questioned, turning his head sideways slightly to where at least one of his eyes were visible after the pillow had been tugged from him.

This was...important, what they were discussing, and Mia was right when she said it should be face to face...it was just extremely difficult to do so. Just what were they getting into here with all of this? He didn't know what to say exactly, his mind was so jumbled at the moment; full of questions that didn't really have any answers to them.

"I-I don't k-know!" Mia's voice rose a pitch and she shook slightly, her body wishing it could flee. Her legs were not working though, her body a noodle mess of epic proportions. As a hand fell from her face, she caught a glimpse of Masa's one pretty eye and she flushed worse.

"I-If...you wanted..t-to...try with...m-me... I'd...still...be your f-friend even if...we c-can't...be...s-special...l-like that..."

The words came out, Mia had said them! Gulping down her nerves, she tried to reach out for Masa's hair before pulling back. All...all she wanted now was to soothe him. Make him feel okay and safe again. Both of them were awful at this whole feelings stuff, both for their own reasons. But right now, they had to say things even if all she wanted was to make him better again. Make him happy once more.

"We...We should...t-try it....then..." He'd averted his eye, glancing anywhere but Mia. If he were to make eye contact right now he swear he'd die, the heat in his face would ignite under is skin or something and kill him.

After some time, he pushed himself to sitting up though his eyes were still down, looking at either the sheets he sat on or moving to the floor off to the side. He wanted to hide his face still but...he'd been hiding...long enough...Out of nervous habit, his hand went to the back of head, scratching lightly for a moment.

"O-Okay then..." Mia's eyes could only focus on Masa's hands, nothing above that at all as he sat up. Her eyes would not lift any higher, nor could she move her body away or around. Frozen in place, her hands went up and started messing with long strands of her hair that were splayed around her body like a black curtain. It was good he wasn't hiding anymore, but she felt exposed now. No cloak, her kimono fit perfectly with no oversizedness to hide herself and...

The word neither one could say, needed to be. There...couldn't be any mistake, not for what this meant... It was important! Very important! That one word, she could say it even if she couldn't think it. "So...we...are...d-d-d-dating Masa? I'm...y-y-your....g-g-girlfr-aaahh!"

She couldn't finish this sentence! She was too red! Her eyes squeezed shut

"Mm..." Like before, when words couldn't come out right away, Masaru pushed himself to form a small nod, silence following for a few moments before he managed to push himself to speak. "Sh..ah...Should...I...uhm...how the...the games do..do these things?"

He didn't know! They'd...They were on the same page now for sure but now what!? Both of them looked like they'd collapse at die at the drop of a feather at this point!

"I-I...." Mia's face was about to spontaneously combust from the heat as Masaru agreed. She was his girlfriend...for now...and she was dating him. Could her heart take anymore? It seems not as Masa asked about what they would do according to games. She gasped slightly before trying to cover a nervous giggle. Um did he mean right now or...

"They...normally do...l-later... D-Dates...And...spending t-time together? D-Doing things you like... and l-learning more about the person... L-Like their pasts... or...things they l-like...their d-dreams..." Mia's voice dropped low, one hand going up to touch her lips. She...would she want this? Him to kiss her? Honestly? Yes. "T-They...right now...normally kiss...at this... at least...once... t-to affirm feelings... I-I..."

It didn't sound all that out there, with them with the...getting to know each other better thing and the spending time together...it wasn't that different from how they'd been. Just spending time together and becoming used to each other's presences...

While usually, his mind would have clung on to watch she said about learning about their pasts, it had clung on to her next words...about...what usually happened now. His face was seriously going to catch fire, it seriously was at this rate.

So that meant he should...

"I-I see...see then..." It took more pushing but he situated himself to face her more, swallowing a breath as he reached a hand out place lightly under her chin before leaning forward. He was close and again he had to push himself once more to close what little distance there was remaining.

Mia felt herself burn up, she could have sworn her entire body went up in flames as Masa's hand held her chin gently. She gasped slightly, her eyes staring openly at the man as he leaned forward. When their lips touched, Mia's first reaction was almost to pull away. But she couldn't, it felt so soft and gentle. Her first...kiss...

Her second instinct was for one of her hands to slip up to his sleeping robe, on his chest and grip it tightly. Her eyes were closed now, the good thing about her shock was that her brain wasn't doing stupid things like wondering what to do. It was just reacting.

Despite his brain wanting to freeze up when he felt her respond, her hand going to grasp his robes, he pushed himself to not to; at least, not until the kiss was over that was. When they eventually pulled apart, he felt like his face's heat could rival that of the sun's temperature.

"H-How...was...was that?" Immediately he wanted to slap himself for even speaking. How could he ask that!? He hadn't been able to move much after, only having pulled away some while his hand still remained under her chin.

Her eyes opened slowly, a small gasp escaping her mouth as she realized he hadn't moved far. His hand was still on her chin, almost every inch of it burning her skin with its bare touch. The hand not holding his robe slipped up to his cheek as she stared in awe at this rather ridiculous man.

"F-Fun..." Mia's mouth moved and formed words, more than a bit embarrassing in their reply to Masaru's words. She gave a quick glance to his lips again, turning more red as she realized they had...been pressed against hers so recently. How had...this happened?!

"...I-I'm glad..." He muttered, the heat in his face almost felt like a natural part of him at this point he couldn't tell if it had worsened or remained the same.

Fun...He could...He was happy with that. He'd...enjoyed it as well. Still, the fact that they'd just...just kissed still had him thoroughly flustered. They'd actually...after all of that crush talk and hiding they'd now...

Mia didn't want to respond to Masaru with the same thing he had said, but she wanted to let him know how happy she really was. How though?! Her face, his face, both of them were entirely broken at this point. They hadn't even moved off of his bed yet!

"Mhm...s-same..." The hand cupping his cheek burned as much from his red face as from touching Masa's skin, and shook slightly as she settled on a course of action. Mia's face moved closer to Masa's, her mouth settling on his again as she gave him another kiss. He had been brave enough to for her... she couldn't be so nervous! She could...kiss him... The hand gripping his robes tightened.

He was surprised, a second kiss not something he'd expected but after a short moment he managed to respond. Since she'd moved, the hand that'd been on her cheek had been left to hover; considering there was no where else for it to really go or so his brain figured anyway.

Mia felt ridiculous, why had she done that?! A hug would have worked, yes? Pulling away after a few rather flustering moments, her hands finally let go of Masaru and she stared at them in her lap.

It was like her whole body was going to combust. There had to be something they could do to distract themselves from the... fact that...well now they were a couple. Her heart jolted and she reached up to push some of her hair from her face. "U-Um... Do you...want me to go...or get off...your bed..."

So he could get dressed or something. He was just wearing sleeping robes, which shouldn't be something to be blushy over but she couldn't help it. A lot of his chest was showing and she wrapped her arms lightly around herself. What... did they do now? Mia was a hundred percent sure another kiss would kill her, but she felt like she needed to do something... So neither her nor her freaked out about what they were getting into.

"Ah, um...well I could go and change and meet you afterwards?"

He could go and change into something more appropriate than his sleeping robes and she could either wait here or meet him in the hall or something...if Nozomi was around then she could play with her, at least he figured Nozomi was likely waiting around; Mia had said she'd left her cloak with her.

That is, if Mia wanted to stay of course. Masaru was unsure if she had other plans to be attending to, from what he'd gathered she'd been playing with Nozomi and had likely caught word from her about his earlier moping...

"T-That sounds good." Mia nodded, looking away as she tried not to remember the bathing room incident. Why was her mind working like this now!? She had no qualms that potentially both of them were going to be stuck with red faces forever after this.

It had ended well, right? She...was...dat-Nope! Mia's brain could not handle that thought AND get her off of Masaru's bed. She glanced at him and felt a strong urge to touch him somehow but held it in. Crawling to the edge of the bed, Mia slipped off of it and straightened her kimono up a bit from its rough treatment on the bed. She almost moved towards the door but glanced back at Masa again, her purple eyes shining as she bowed. "I'm happy Masa!"

Covering her hands with her mouth, she rose and scurried from the room. As the door closed behind her, she covered her face and leaned against it. Would the red fade from her face ever!? No, no it wouldn't. She had that crazy Vice Captain's of Masa's to blame... and thank? No! That woman could never know ever.

Masaru felt himself blush bright from Mia's exclamation before she left the room, for a moment he had to cover the lower half of his face even though there was no one to really hide it from. Eventually, he moved from his bed and to his closet, changing from his sleeping robes to a nice, black, yukata with a silver-trimmed design near the bottom.

So what...what next? Those were his thoughts as he busied himself with changing. Continue with the getting to know each other thing, right? What'd she say about the games? Dates and stuff? The getting to know each other better stuff could happen during those but...Where...Where would a date happen!? What would she...or where would she prefer going!? Perhaps...perhaps he was thinking too much on it now...just thinking about it made his face heat up again, his embarrassment returning rather easily.

One thing was for certain though, Aoi could not know of this! About how her advice had likely been the fuse to...to starting all of this. It was something he wouldn't admit! Even if she figured it out he wasn't giving her the satisfaction of confirming it!

Mia took a few moments to move from the door, though the sound of Masaru leaving his bed made her scurry a bit down the hall. Should she wait right outside his door? Maybe? Would that seem needy or... something? What was she supposed to do now? How were they supposed to act? She had kissed him and he had kissed her and... dating... Mia's eyes swirled as she leaned against his wall, unsure of how to proceed.

Her heart was racing, even now! But she didn't want to hide in her cloak, which was odd to her. She wanted....to be seen by Masa. To have him smile at her and not through her cloak. To have him see HER and not... the cloak... Her mind repeated many things over and over and over. She was going to work herself up WORSE even though he wasn't here right now!

What should they do about things?! Neither one of them were very open individuals...should they tell anyone? What if someone saw them together? Did...they kiss each other when they saw each other? Hug? Hold hands? What about...dates... did they... do things? Like parks? She should read books! Otome games were no help in this manner, they had...well... other things to intrude. At leas the games she played did.

What was she going to do about this whole thing? She tugged at the blue and purple kimono, before messing with her hair... Why had she left it down today? Couldn't she have done something fancy with it!? What about...her chest... it and her body was showing way more than normal, should she cover up? Even altered kimonos were hard to fit on her without showing SOMETHING! Oh man what a day... Mia touched her lips gently, still feeling a bit of tingling in them even now.

Nozomi, who'd been entrusted with Mia's cloak was sitting in one of the rooms meant for just lounging or enjoying tea. She wasn't sure if Mia and Masaru were done talking yet, but she'd waited around for a bit just in case and it hadn't seemed like either would be coming out soon...maybe they were napping? They were in Masaru's room after all.

Speaking of naps, the young girl was a bit drowsy herself; and Mia's cloak, which she'd tried on, was rather comfy and warm despite it being much too large for her. She rested her head on the small table she sat at, having previously been having a snack one of the maid's had provided her with. She gave a bit of a sleepy smile, she hoped Mia-nee had somehow been able to help Masa-nii...since he'd been acting really sad the past few days.


Masaru cleared his throat before stepping from his closet, making his way to the door to exit his room. When he noticed Mia he offered her a small smile, though it had a twinge of shyness to it; the tint in his face making it more obvious as he raised his hand to the back of his head again out of nervous habit.

"S-Sorry if I took...too long." He manged saying, a small, sheepish chuckle escaping him.

"N-Not at all!" Mia's eyes glanced upwards for a moment, taking in Masa's clothes and smile, a small matching smile appearing on her face as her eyes dragged to the ground. Her face was still a bit red and she noticed Masaru's same tint with her small glance.

Playing with a bit of her hair, she looked up finally and spoke, though her voice was rather soft. With the hand that was not teasing her hair, she held it out as if for Masa to take before she flushed brightly, realizing what she was doing. "Z-Zomi has...my cloak. W-We should find her...she's been worried about you."

Masaru blushed brightly when Mia held out her hand but after a short moment he walked forward, taking her hand before giving a small nod. "She's probably somewhere nearby...She-If she was taking care of your cloak she'd want to be easily found in case you needed it back."

He gave her hand a small squeeze as he led them through the halls. Nozomi...had a small signature, which made finding her easier; especially when it came to living in such a big home.

"O-Okay." Mia's voice was almost a whisper as Masa took her hand, her eyes glancing down at the hands before she had to look away or her face would melt off.

Following slightly behind Masa's steps, she looked a bit off to the side though her eyes glanced at the man who was leading her to Nozomi's location. Her eyes also glanced down as Masa squeezed her hand lightly, her grip on his tightening as well for a brief moment. It seemed...easier when they didn't speak about things. Just accepting it with quiet? Mia could do that.

At the feel of her grip momentarily tightening on his hand he couldn't help but acknowledge the heat in his face again, still burning bright. Eventually Masaru led them to a room, sliding open the door to find Nozomi dozing at the table.

"Looks like she fell asleep." He said, his voice quiet so as not to wake her.

She was wearing Mia's cloak though, if Mia wanted it back right away they'd have to be careful with moving her so she wouldn't wake up.