quiet talk #3: Kiss of Fire

Hotel Maverick.
The twin-double room, a reward from the managing director, turned out to be a genuinely lavish setup — bedroom and living room, two full rooms.

Having washed away the exhaustion of a long day under a hot shower, Mikoto found herself smiling wryly at the sight of Shandy sprawled across the living room sofa like she owned the place.
Nothing like the poised figure Mikoto knew from across Antiqua’s bar counter. Hair down, dressed in casual off-duty clothes — she looked, for all the world, like an ordinary girl relaxing at home.

“So even you know how to relax like a normal person, Shandy-san.”
“I’m human too, you know~.”

Drawn in by Shandy’s languid, drawn-out tone, Mikoto settled onto the sofa in her bathrobe. Shandy promptly rested the back of her head against Mikoto’s thighs — a lap pillow.

“Not blushing bright red over something this small anymore? Have you gotten used to me, I wonder?”
“Yes, thanks to plenty of practice. Kotone’s always been the type to lean on me like this too.”

Fans probably imagined Kotone as some ideal, perfect woman, but to Mikoto she was just a lazy little sister. Whenever Mikoto sat down to watch TV, Kotone would drift over unprompted, settle into her lap, and be fast asleep within minutes. Freewheeling, doing exactly as she pleased — Kotone was practically a cat.

“How does big sister Mikoto love her little sister, I wonder?”
“As a sister, is how.”

Adding that clarification, Mikoto rested a hand on Shandy’s forehead. The same casual, unguarded affection as always — stroking along the flow of her hair, same as petting a cat that had wandered onto her lap.

“How is it?”
“I envy Kotone a little. This feels too good.”
“I never expected this side of you, Shandy-san.”
“Even I have nights where I want to be spoiled a little. Do you dislike it?”
“No, I think it’s adorable.”
“Then spoil me properly.”

Mikoto kept stroking Shandy’s hair for a while. Lowering her gaze, she found Shandy’s amber eyes looking straight back up at her. Under this clearer light, so different from Antiqua’s usual dim glow, her features stood out sharp and doll-like as ever, and Mikoto let out an unconscious sigh.

“…You really do look like a doll, Shandy-san.”
“You really do love my face, don’t you? Ah — no, wait. Isn’t it my heart you love most?”
“Well, yes, that too.”

Her eyes curved into a waxing crescent, and Mikoto, refusing to let her own expression give anything away, covered her eyes with one hand. With the other, she combed through Shandy’s blonde hair. Freed from whatever product usually held it in place, it fell in loose, natural waves, swaying softly.

“Oh, right. Since we’re here — care for a game?”

Still blindfolded, Shandy’s mouth curved with obvious delight. An invitation to play.

“Didn’t you already get your fill playing with Shirai-san earlier?”
“I never played with you, Mikoto-san. Tonight’s game was a joint operation, after all.”
“You really do love a contest.”
“I love you, is what it is.”

Mikoto pressed her covering fingers together tighter. Determined not to let her expression or reaction show, she kept her eyes shielded and asked.

“Fine by me. So, tonight’s match, and the stakes?”
“The same love-talk game I played with the Peach Lady.”

Ostensibly a conversation about a third party — the two of them trading what they loved about their respective someones.
Shandy’s hand was already exposed. Even in something close to a fit of desperation, even face to face, Mikoto had already confessed “I like you” to Shandy outright. Her someone was as good as identified — there was no need to name who, exactly.
A battle of wits, then.

“Fine by me, but it’s rather unfair to you, isn’t it? That last game already made your own feelings more than clear.”
“I never said this would be a back-and-forth, though?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“This time, it’s Mikoto-san doing all the talking about what she loves about her someone. I’m the one guessing who it is.”
“No, wait, that’s… isn’t that not really a contest?”

By those rules, there was no way Mikoto could win at all. The moment Shandy said her own name, the match would be settled instantly.
Still blindfolded, Shandy smiled, “fufu.”

“When you’re tired, sometimes you just want sweet words, don’t you? I win if I guess your someone correctly. You win if I can’t.”
“So I win by making you concede, is that it?”
“Yes. Go ahead and shoot me down with sweet words.”

Mikoto turned the strategy over in her mind.
This game wasn’t about keeping her someone’s identity hidden — deliberately talking about some fictional third party, for instance, would be pointless. This wasn’t really a battle of wits to begin with, and she couldn’t lie about her someone anyway — didn’t want to, either.

Which meant the right move was simple: speak honestly about what she loved.
And, exactly as Shandy had said, fire off a volley of sweet words until she’d been thoroughly embarrassed into surrender.
There was one more thing working in Mikoto’s favor — she wouldn’t be caught in those amber eyes. If she could avoid having her own expression read and turned back against her, she’d have a real advantage for once.

“Then let’s begin. Do your best to guess.”
“Fufu. Go ahead.”

Mikoto drew a breath. Beneath her, the pale porcelain skin waited; she began weaving words meant to bring color rushing to it.

“First — her face. Adorable, the exact opposite of mine, and I can’t help envying her for it. Wanting what I don’t have, maybe.”
“How adorable, exactly?”
“Let’s see. Adorable enough that I’d want to dress her in clothes to my own taste and take her out on a date. My someone is slight, long-legged — she’d probably wear anything like a mannequin.”
“What kind of clothes would you want to dress her in?”
“She wore a maid uniform once, and it suited her so well it was almost unfair. Whoever gets to be her master must be an incredibly lucky person. So… I’d want to see her in something lovely, something I could never quite pull off myself.”
“Fufu, I hope that comes true for you.”
“Yes.”

Drawing a breath, Mikoto continued.

“Next, what I love — how she saved me from real trouble. As you know, when I was in a genuinely dangerous position, she put herself on the line to help me.”
“Sounds like a kind person.”
“Yes, kind. Kind, but mischievous at times too. Always defeating me and reveling in it — a genuinely troublesome woman. Whatever should I do about her?”
“Fufu, what a wicked woman. If it were me, I’d get her back for it.”
“Yes, I keep trying to, but it never quite works out. Adorable and formidable both — I spend most days wondering if there’s any way at all to actually beat her.”
“My, imagine having someone so thoroughly captivated by her. I might start feeling jealous.”

Both of them knowing exactly who was being discussed, they traded sweet words back and forth.
Mikoto’s teeth practically ached from it. The itching embarrassment nearly cracked her voice.
And if this kept going much longer, she suspected she’d be the one to hit her limit first.

“Any guesses yet, Shandy-san?”
“No, none at all. Give me more hints, please.”

Shandy answered without so much as a flicker of change in her expression. Even bare of makeup, her pale pink lips carried a natural glossy sheen, smile never fading.
Mikoto pressed on, determined to strike deeper still.

“And then — she’s a genuinely mysterious person. I still don’t know her real name. Not her age, not her birthday. Ask, and she only deflects.”
“Oh my, is that so? What an awful woman.”
“Yes. It leaves me anxious enough to wonder if I even register with her at all. Compared to me, she’s just so much more of an adult — someone I look up to. Which is exactly why I doubt someone like me could ever really matter to her.”

Mikoto realized something. This game wasn’t simply about listing what she loved about her someone. Shandy’s little interjections, seemingly just playing along, were actually working to draw Mikoto’s real feelings out into the open.
If so, Mikoto would play by the same rules right back. A little retaliation, aimed at her own mysterious someone.

“…Maybe that person’s the anxious one, don’t you think?”
“Anxious how? What do you think, Shandy-san?”
“Who knows? I’d need to hear more about what you love about her first.”

Laughing “fufu,” Shandy deflected while pressing Mikoto to keep going.
She really was several steps ahead, as always. A half-baked bit of push-and-pull wasn’t going to bring her down easily.

“…In any case, my someone is full of mysteries. But even so, I’ve realized the mystery itself doesn’t really matter to me.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Her name, her age, her birthday… her blood type, where she’s from, whatever life she’s lived up to now — none of it, I don’t know any of it. But even if I learned the whole truth of it, my feelings wouldn’t change.”
“…………….”

For the first time, Shandy fell silent.
That mouth, which had never once stopped smiling, hung open slightly now, as if caught off guard.

“Shall I keep going? Or would you like to concede?”
“Do keep going, please. I don’t have nearly enough to guess from yet.”
“Understood.”

Even if only for a moment, she’d managed to rattle Shandy.
Determined to press the advantage all the way through, Mikoto pushed her own embarrassment down.

“And then, um… she’s terribly mischievous. But lately, I’ve started to think that maybe I actually like being teased by her.”
“Oh my, my.”

Shandy’s voice pitched up instantly. Even without seeing her mouth, Mikoto could tell she was delighted.

“A feeling I’ve never had toward another woman before — or toward a man, for that matter. It’s left me genuinely confused. Twenty-seven years of living, and it never once occurred to me that I might be like this.”
“Does she know about your worries, this someone of yours?”
“Yes, I told her directly. And in response, she told me she’d wait — until my worries had cleared.”
“How did that make you feel?”
“Deeply grateful.”

Still stroking Shandy’s hair, Mikoto continued.

“I imagine she and I probably feel the same way about each other. She must already know I care for her — and yet, she hasn’t tried to push me down and claim me outright. She could have easily overwhelmed someone as inexperienced as me, and chose not to. Why do you think that is, Shandy-san?”
“A difficult question. What do you think, Mikoto-san?”
“…I think she loves me. For all her mischief, all her nightly habit of embarrassing me — she still has the kindness not to force her way into what actually matters.”
“And that’s exactly what makes her adorable, doesn’t it? What a skillful woman.”
“Yes, truly. Frightening, almost. The more I try to unravel her mystery, the more drawn to her I become.”

Not once did Shandy make any move to say her own name. True to her word about wanting sweet words, she seemed intent on savoring every last bit of it.

—Almost time.
Mikoto quietly wet her own lips and reached a hand behind Shandy’s head. Still keeping her blindfolded, she lifted herself up off the sofa.

“I’m about running out of things I love, at this rate. As I said before, my someone’s a woman of mystery — she never reveals much of her private self.”
“Fufu. Perhaps she’s simply shy.”
“I think so too. So — have you figured out who my someone is?”
“Let’s see…”

Shandy pressed a finger to her lips, putting on a show of deep deduction.
In truth, there was nothing to deduce. If Shandy wanted to win, she only had to say her own name. If she wanted to concede, all she had to do was say “I give up.”
From the very start, this match had never been one Mikoto could win.
But losing didn’t mean there was no way left to land one last blow.

“Just a few more hints would-mm.”

Blindfolded, Shandy had no way of reading Mikoto’s expression or movements. No way of seeing her hopelessly flushed face, or the resolve hardening in her eyes.
Which was exactly why, before she could be seen through and humiliated for it, Mikoto sealed Shandy’s lips with a sudden, unannounced kiss.
She refused to let anything show on her face. Covering those amber eyes tightly with one hand, and holding Shandy’s body in place with the other so she couldn’t slip away or deflect, Mikoto leaned over her. Tongues tangling together, their balance gave way, and they toppled together onto the sofa.

“…Fufu. Being pushed down, am I…”

Mikoto sealed her lips again before she could finish. Tangled together, the line between their two tongues blurred entirely — a strange sensation, as if she and Shandy were dissolving into each other inside a single mouth. Forcing her own dissolving thoughts back into focus, Mikoto finally pulled away.

“…Say you give up, and I’ll stop.”
“Do you really think I wi-“

If sweet words couldn’t settle the match, then sweet kisses would. That was Mikoto’s plan. Of course, she knew perfectly well Shandy would never actually concede.
Which meant—
If she was going to lose regardless, she wanted to lose having shown her resolve first.

“…I’ll keep going until you concede.”
“One more, and I might just say i-“

She’d lost count of how many kisses that made. Pinning Shandy to the sofa, Mikoto kept stealing her lips again and again, punctuating each one with more words, pressing the assault further.
Her face, her voice — there was no need to guess at how flushed with embarrassment they’d become. But without those amber eyes — the ones that saw straight through everything — pinning her down, Mikoto found herself pressing forward more boldly than usual.

Partly, this was payback for everything up to now.
And partly, it was to show — even in small steps — some growth, for the someone still waiting for her.

“…Mikoto-san. Won’t you show me your face soon?”
“No. I won’t show you.”
“Then let’s just call the game a draw…”

Shandy’s pale cheeks had taken on a faint, telling flush of color.

“…Do more, please. Enough that someday I’ll be glad I waited for you.”
“Yes. As much as you like.”

For a while after, their lips stayed joined.

#26: Mikoto →