#anyway proof number 2: like. most of her early season lines | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

diverdaddy · 5 years

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Set It Up: The Christmas Rush Part 2

Pairing(s): KanaDiaMari, NozoNicoEli Word Count: 12 770 Chapter : 2/2(?)

The 2nd chapter of the christmas collab with @nozoroomie is up!

The halls of the mall are semi empty as Eli Ayase enters the mall. She arrives early that morning to get the store open and running for the day. It’s another busy day for the christmas season and she cannot afford to be unprepared. Thanks to the other manager’s specific and wonderful closing routine, Eli knows that the store will be in tip top shape. All she and Kanan will have to do is a walk around of the store and setting up the tills and they’ll be set to open the doors for the business day.

As she’s walking down the halls on her way to Chacci’s she finds said co-worker is an early bird today too, thankfully. She smiles a bit grateful for that- her last part timer that worked opens with her was a late riser and was almost always late for their shift. Kanan’s the perfect opposite of them and it adds to her list of “reasons I enjoy working with Kanan Matsuura.”

Kanan stands in front of the store with a friend, and as Eli walks closer she can tell it’s the blonde girl from the chocolate store. What was her name again? Mar- Mariah? No, that’s the one that sings the christmas song, what was Kanan’s girlfriend named again- Mari! The one Dia says she’s dating!

Eli feels sheepishly embarrassed for forgetting that little tidbit for a hot minute.

“Kanan, and uh, Mari, good morning!” Eli smiles as she walks up to the couple who turns around to greet her in return.

“Good morning, Eli!” Kanan returns the smile, and Mari seems to beam at the sound of her name.

“Buongiorno!"

Eli gives herself a small mental pat on the back for remembering Mari’s name correctly. While they aren’t exactly friends, they’ve made small talk a couple times in the past and Eli doesn’t want to seem rude to someone she considers an acquaintance at least.

She notices Mari’s dressed up in the familiar purple uniform of Oharrero’s and takes note that she’s probably waiting for her coworker before opening up the shop. With that she glances over Kanan’s outfit and sure enough, it’s another keeper for sure. The green and red horizontal stripes of her overalls? pajamaralls? They looked so comfortable, and combined with a tiny hint of tree lights and that tight fitting white t-shirt underneath its a deadly holiday combination of both sexy and cute. Eli really needs to steal some fashion tips- this girl? You've heard of elf on the shelf, now get ready for Kanan's passion for fashion. She could probably rock a paper bag if she added some kind of festive decoration to it.

“Ready to open in a short moment?” Eli asks with her polite smile.

“Oh yeah! Gimme a sec.” Kanan grins and turns to Mari to say her goodbyes before they both get to work.

She busies herself with unlocking the sliding glass panes to open the store up for her and Kanan. As she does, she ends up a little closer to them and can overhear some words being said. Mari laughs a bit with Kanan and pulls away.

“Okay, I’ll invite Nozomi and Nico today and I’ll let you know if they’re gunna come, okay~? See if you can get Dia on board. Love you babe~” Mari gives her girlfriend a small wave before walking to the chocolate shop.

Eli hears those names mentioned and her curiosity goes from zero to a hundred in an instant. Inviting Nozomi and Nico? Get Dia on board? What could they be doing that involved her crushes and her other coworker?

Well she guesses it could be a lot considering Kanan and Mari are Dia’s best friends. It’s probably nothing more than a get together with friends. Deciding it’s not worth lingering on the thought, Eli pushes it to the back of her mind and gets into the workplace mindset.

She and Kanan enter and commence their walk around- they have fifteen minutes until the mall is officially open and so it’s up to them to make sure the store is presentable and ready for the rush of customers purchasing things for christmas. She realizes it hasn’t been that often that she’s got to work on shifts with Kanan and her alone, especially since most of the time Kanan was scheduled to join her and Dia on shifts. Today it’s the other way around, since Dia asked to come in later thanks to a planned brunch with her little sister and her girlfriends.

Eli decides to form a bit of small talk and get to know Kanan a bit more.

“So,” She starts, catching Kanan’s attention from the wall of expensive zip up sweaters, “How long have you known Dia?”

Kanan has a small hint of surprise in her eyes as her smile widens from the question.

“Grade school! We grew up together alongside our mutual friend-- my girlfriend, Mari.”

Kanan says it as if it’s one of the best things in the world and it warms Eli’s heart.

“I see.” Eli smiles warmly as she begins to count the till, making sure the change matches up with the required $150 that is meant to be left inside of it at the end of the night.

Kanan fixes up a couple of sweaters on the hangers and decides to keep speaking, wanting to confide more to her elder coworker.

“Dia is our best friend. To be honest, we’ve kinda been crushing on her for a long time now. Even when we started dating- we’ve always thought it’d be great if she could be apart of it too.”

Eli pauses her counting and her gaze immediately goes to the navy haired girl. Did she hear that correctly? The both of them have a crush on her?! Now this is some good, juicy love triangle gossip if she’d ever seen it. And Eli had seen a lot, on the big screen that is. Except it’s more like the triangle is Kanan and Mari mutually loving each other but also really loving someone else- So it’s less of a standard love triangle and more of an amazing polyamorous one. Like the ones she can’t watch on the big screen.

Eli decides that this is the perfect opportunity to pry.

“Have you guys thought about.. If she’s into dating two people?” Eli has to think about her question and Kanan seems a little. Disheartened.

“Sorta. Well, Mari made a lot of jokes about it in the beginning to the point where Dia doesn’t exactly believe us when we try to talk more about it, you know? She tries to joke less and be more serious these days, but because she’s so aloof and funny, Dia doesn’t really take it seriously.” Kanan laughs sheepishly and Eli nods, kinda understanding.

“Well, what about you?” Eli asks curiously, “Have you tired asking her out too?”

Kanan side steps a little and rubs the back of her neck, blushing.

“I uh. I try sometimes. When I show off- she gets reallll flustered around me cause she thinks I’m hot. But it’s like-” She pauses and laughs again, “I guess I’m not as brave as Mari and can’t really say it outloud like she can. I want to-- I want to a lot. I can say it to Mari but when i try to say the words “I like you” To Dia I just-”

That’s when Eli sees it. The look of a lovesick puppy. Kanan’s cheeks heat up in a way Eli’s never seen outside of interactions with her girlfriend every now and again. It makes her heart grow at least three sizes bigger. She’s rooting for these three! She can’t help it- she might not know Mari but if what Kanan says is true she can only imagine she wears the same lovestruck gaze Kanan does when talking about Dia.

“If it means anything, I think hearing it from you might make Dia take it a little more seriously.” Eli finishes up counting the cash and smiles reassuringly at Kanan, “She’s very fond of you, despite your fashion choices.”

Kanan laughs heartily at Eli’s teasing.

“One day, she’ll join us. And we’ll get that photo proof and Mari will have it blown up and framed inside of our cottage by the sea.”

Eli laughs. Damn- this girl really thought her future out with them. It’s literally the cutest thing she’s heard all day.

“What about you, Eli?”

“Hm? What about me?”

Kanan walks to the counter and leans on it, grinning up at her cheekily.

“So, anyone special you got your eye on?”

Kanan looks super mischievous and Eli hopes her cheeks haven’t tinted pink(they totally have.)

“Not- no, not exactly.” She replies, glancing away from her to the accessories rack.

Kanan waggles her eyebrows. Eli closes her eyes, feeling her gazes bore through her. She’s starting to understand what Dia means about Kanan being a handful in her own charming way.

“There’s some- well, a couple people who I’ve been interested in but.. Well, I have no time for it, really, and I don’t think it’d get further than acquaintanceship anyway.”

Excuses. All of them are excuses. Eli’s just a coward who can’t approach attractive possibly lesbian ladies. Unsurprisingly, Kanan can see through all of them like Elle Woods in the court, Eli is gay and European. She pushes herself off the counter and walks over to a display closer to Eli’s line of sight.

“What makes you think that? Have you ever tried to hangout with them or get their phone numbers?”

Eli can feel the air sucked out of her lungs at the idea. Kanan assumes too much of her- she couldn’t do that until they were at least a level 5 acquaintanceship and to get there would require Eli to actually take up Nozomi on her offer and visit the shop while she’s working (which, she has admittedly, not tried yet.) She laughs dryly.

“The only time I’m ever social is when I’m at work here with you girls. And well, I guess with my little sister.” She mumbles under her breath, “and sometimes my little sisters girlfriend..”

Kanan kinda pities her. Slightly. Eli looked like a functional lesbian when they first met, but now that she thinks about it? Disaster lesbian. The Eli peg on her mental chart of lesbians has moved and been solidly placed in that category.

“I’m kinda surprised! You look like the type of girl who would be a social butterfly, or at least someone involved in social activities.”

Eli shrugs a little.

“Looks can be deceiving. I was sorta cold and distant in school as a kid, and by the time I got to college I just sort of. Had no idea how to communicate informally around my peers. I’d get invited to go out to parties and stuff but the one time I went back in high school, it just felt awful. Super overwhelming and scary. I hadn’t really been to a party outside of family get togethers and it was all so different.”

There’s a twitch to Kanan’s eyebrow as she listens intently to Eli.

“But I don’t really mind. Parties aren’t my scene, I’m okay with that.”

It’s only five minutes until they’re open for business when Eli takes a quick look at her watch, so she decides that’s a good spot to end their conversation. Saved by the bell-- just in time.

“Five minutes left, let’s get ready to open the doors.”

“Ah, yes of course! I’m gonna turn on the radio, do you want AM or FM?”

Kanan walks behind the counter and picks up the small portable radio, watching as Eli goes to open the doors for the christmas rush that was coming their way. This plan could be a little harder than expected.

Eli folds some new sweaters that came in when Dia walks into the store ready for her shift. It’s just as she predicted- Dia walks straight up to Kanan with disgust plastered all over her face when she sees the girls attire for the day.

“Kanan Matsuura, what in the world are you wearing!? This is Chacci’s, not Santa’s workshop!”

Eli just can’t help it. With the new information she got this morning she has to see this through. She’s made it a personal goal to try to witness any and all growing feelings Dia could potentially have for her childhood friends. She folds the next sweater a bit slower to keep up with their small conversation.

“Oh come on, I’m wearing a normal t-shirt today!” Kanan laughs as Dia’s face grows more red.

“You know very well that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Despite how much Dia protests Eli can tell that she’s never really genuinely upset. It was amusing watching the two of them before, but now? Even more so, and the blush that dusts over Dia’s cheeks when Kanan is being her adorable self in those outfits makes Eli smile from ear to ear behind the stack of sweaters she’s folding where no one can see. Kanan and Mari were going to have another girlfriend in like, no time at all. Eli is already betting herself $10 that the two of them will succeed before the new year.

Eli folds the last sweater, and once she’s done a customer grabs her attention. A young woman, only a few years older than herself needs help with finding a couple christmas gifts. So Eli takes her to a couple different sections before they both land on the ‘Merry Chaccimas’ one. They have some of their bestsellers in that section, and Eli puts on her best customer service voice as she recommends the different fits to the woman.

The woman leaves the store happy with two of the higher quality blouses they sell in cute christmas designs and Eli surveys the store again to see Kanan and Dia had taken their conversation closer to the back of the store, sorting new products and pricing them. But what was this? Eli squints to see them better and-- oh my. They were standing much closer to each other all of a sudden.

She sadly can’t hear what they’re talking about all the way in the back of the store, so she decides to ignore it for now while she checks up on the counter. There’s some assorted clutter there and it’s a nice thing to focus on. She’s in the middle of tidying up the wrapping paper and ribbon when Kanan’s voice travels far enough to reach her ears.

“Is the Kurosawa Dia really going to turn down a challenge? I thought she could do pretty much anything.”

Did Eli just hear that right? What was this? Her ears perk up and she looks over to the two of them again. Her eyes as big as silver plates and ears tuned in like a radio for that juicy hot gossip.

They’ve moved a bit closer to where Eli was standing. Dia looks more than personally offended by Kanan’s statement, and then there’s Kanan with a smug confident grin on her face like she just won something. What was going down between them? Eli can only make blind guesses. Maybe Kanan finally confessed? Maybe she was going to confess? Wait Dia just finished putting away a pair of pants before turning her whole body completely towards Kanan, stepping completely into her personal space. Eli screams in silence as Dia lifts her hand closer to Kanan’s face. The tension, the suspense and finally the kiss-

Dia’s hand stops at Kanan’s shoulder before she jabs her very pointedly in the shoulder with her finger. It must’ve been pretty hard to, even Kanan who’s shoulders looks like they’re hard as marble winces slightly at that attack.

“How DARE you make such an assumption. Do you even know who I am!?”

“I just said your name a mome-”

“Then you know better than ANYBODY that I’m not going to back down. I’m going to do this-- and I’m going to win. Understood, Kanan?”

That’s when it falls into a more logical place, Eli’s seen the competitive side of Dia before but this is a whole new level. What’s Dia so determined to win? The small smile on Kanan’s lips looks like more of an uneasy one now, but it still has that hint of smugness that Eli can’t quite place. Its like Kanan agreed that Dia would win, but she wasn’t the one losing either way.

“Understood! I get it! You’re down for it!” Kanan tries to laugh it off but when Dia takes her hand away and goes back to the clothes, she see’s Kanan reach up to rub the spot she jabbed. Today’s the day Eli witnessed Dia Kurosawa dent a small bulk in the marble statue that is Kanan Matsuura. Whatever competition they have going on has to lead up to Dia getting together with Kanan and Mari. She’s betting on it.

“Anyway, Mari and I will fill you in later. I’ll be going to see her on my break to see if she got Nico and Nozomi to come so we’ll go from there.”

Eli hears that name again- Nozomi. That was the name of the pretty girl working at Oharrero’s. The really pretty one who dropped off chocolates Dia left at the store. Good god Eli really is a gay mess. She truly feels like a disaster lesbian. First she was daydreaming and cheering on her co-workers soon to be romance, and now she was back to thinking about that girl again, Nozomi...

Eli’s always known she’s been gay, but she never really acted on it. She’d delve into the depths of the internet and try to meet more girls online but being anti-social made it difficult for her to hold conversations with many of them. She had tried it all.. tinder, plentyoffish, match.com, but she rarely got past making a profile. She’d even tried going to a gay event at the college campus cafe once, but she couldn’t even bring herself to enter the door to the shop.

So she stuck with admiring pretty girls from afar, and it worked. For a while. Until she saw them working across the way. It started with the black haired girl- who Eli wants to say is Nico, given conversations she’s heard, but she has no confirmation on that- and it wasn’t long after before Nozomi joined the staff.

God it’s hard for her not to admire them on her shifts. She fantasizes about buying snacks from there just to get a closer look at their beautiful features. How pathetic- fantasizing about buying sweets to marvel cute girls instead of actually going to do it.

Sadly, Eli Ayase is a cowardly gay and could never. Besides they’re probably not gay. Even though she saw them holding hands leaving work one day and they totally blow kisses at each other. She’s seen it. But they’re definitely not gay. Or into her. They’re just gals being pals. Do they even know she exists? (a stupid thought- at least Nozomi knows she exists).

She pushes her gay crisis thoughts down with a small sigh and remembers work and her important task of managing the store.

She turns around to put away the gift wrapping supplies when she realizes Dia has come behind the counter to sort hangers from the changing rooms and such on the table behind her. (How long did she daydream for?).

Eli takes a quick look around and the store, not failing to notice it’s dead right now. Perfect. Eli decides to strike up conversation. A small distraction from the girls across the hall.

“What do you think of Kanan’s outfit today?” She starts, watching as Dia almost snaps the plastic hanger in her hands. She looks at Eli with a pointed stare.

Eli stares back at Dia with that knowing smile, and Dia literally wishes she could say something. Anything. But she respects her too much and Eli knows it.

“We will not comment on That.” Dia states flatly.

Before Eli can tease Dia a little more Kanan approaches the counter.

“Is it okay if I take my break now?”

Eli takes a quick glance to Oharrero’s and sees that it’s the shorter black haired girl working there today.

“Sounds good, give me a second to get you some cash-”

“Don’t worry about it today Eli, I got you covered,” Kanan beams and leans onto the counter closer to Eli and continues in a quieter voice, “Mari promised a bunch of free samples for us today.”

Eli blinks and smiles.

“I’ll have to thank her later on then.”

Before Kanan leaves she makes brief eye contact with Dia. She gives her a small wink and cheeky smile and then she’s out the door and on her way across the hall. Dia glowered a little bit and Eli’s curiosity comes back, but she says nothing.

There’s not a lot do in the store now. Eli and Dia sort out the rest of the hangers on the table together when Dia decides to speak up.

“You know, there is a place you could thank Mari personally.” Dia starts, bringing them into a topic of conversation.

“When she’s working..?” Eli says with the hint of a question

“Well if you’re going to be a smart then yes, that’s one way to.” Dia almost rolls her eyes and Eli can’t help but feel like she’s a part of Dia’s inner circle. She’s gotten a reaction like that from her! She’s succeeded!

Eli laughs and smiles.

“What were you really going to say?” She prods.

Dia waits a moment, examining Eli for any further teasing.

“Mari is going to be hosting a christmas party at her place. She hosts a holiday party around christmas and she’s decided to do a big christmas party this year. Don’t worry, it’s not on the actual day. A couple days before hand actually.” Dia says it as if she’s remembering all the small details, but looks at Eli with a soft smile.

“I think you’d like it- There won’t be too many others there and Mari tends to have a lot of fun...events.”

Dia looks as if she’s holding back saying some juicy details- maybe from past party experiences. She just has this face that says she wants to elaborate on what they consist of. On one hand, Eli wants to ask her what kind of events they are, but on the other hand she’s surprised- she didn’t expect to be invited to hang out with Dia at her friends party and- well, it is a little coincidental that she explained how parties aren’t exactly her thing to Kanan only hours before hand.

She feels a little sad that she’s probably going to decline.

“Events huh...” Eli decides to at least pretend she’s pondering going to the party. For Dia’s sake at least.

“Oh yes! Nobody is required to bring a gift and yet Mari likes making sure everyone gets a little something? She calls them wrapped party favours. Last year she gave my little sister the exact plush toy she had been eyeing in the window of the toy store here. I couldn’t believe it- Ruby hadn’t mentioned it to anyone and yet... And yet!”

Eli smiles to herself because the way Dia talks about her friend is so wholesome and sweet. It seems kinda like she likes them as more than a friend. Actually, Eli is completely sure about it. Or she’s putting way too much thought into this ever since Kanan mentioned it (she’s definitely put a lot more thought into ever since Kanan mentioned it.)

“Your little sister gets invited too?” She asks curiously.

“Oh well-- yes. She’s friends with Mari as well. She has a small circle of friends outside of us, and they happen to be friends Kanan lived near as a kid. It’s weird, but we’re all connected somehow and we’re all very good friends.”

Dia has such a soft smile and Eli understands why Kanan and Mari love it so much. Dia is a very, very cute girl.

“But anyways, the party-” she goes back to the most important footnote of the conversation. “Would you be interested in coming along?”

“Ah- I will, uh.” Eli’s trying to find the best excuse. What can she even say? ‘Sorry, I can’t because I have plans to stay at home and watch christmas movies alone and eat a whole tub of icecream all by myself while my little sister goes on her christmas date at her girlfriend's family’s christmas party?’ That is literally an excuse for Dia to pressure Eli into going to the party even more.

She swallows. She literally has nothing to do instead and she’s not a confident liar. Secret keeper? Sure. Liar? Well.

Saving her from actually answering, Kanan comes back with a bag of chocolates and a huge grin.

“Here you go Eli! And Dia, guess what!” She looks ecstatic- the definition of a happy little working elf.

“Hm? What is it?” Dia asks.

“Nico said yes! She messaged Nozomi and Nozomi’s down for it too! This year’s party is going to be great!” Kanan beams even more.

“It will be fun to have some new faces around for christmas!” Dia smiles delighted. Finally, some good fucking news.

“Right!? Mari’s hyped it up a lot to them and the moment she said this year there was going to be karaoke, Nico seemed to instantly agree. Apparently-” Kanan’s voice becomes background music.

Dia said the parties weren’t really that big, and they were fun. If it was only a few select friends and the cute girls that Eli’s been ogling were going to be there. There really couldn’t be any harm in going, right?

Kanan and Dia discuss things a bit more before a customer walks over to them and asks if she could use the changing room. Kanan happily heads over to the changing station with them.

Now that Dia and Eli are alone again Eli decides to voice her decision.

“So... what day is the party? And could I have the address?”

“This saturday the 22nd, at the Ohara Mansion at 17 Cherry Tree Lane.”

Sure enough, after a long internal debate about going to a mansion christmas party, Eli finds herself on the front steps of the giant building. Mansion. She shouldn’t have agreed to going to a mansion of all places for a small christmas party.

But she did. And she’s here. In the nicest festive wear she could find (she does wish she had a more Kanan-like outfit, but the moment Dia’s lips said ‘Mansion’ Eli instantly went into presentable mode.) A simple long sleeve shirt with a cute snowflake pattern in a cute, light blue shade (her green one was in the wash and everything else she had didn’t quite scream christmas) followed by a cute and simple plaid skirt. If plaid doesn’t tell anyone at this party she’s here and she’s queer then she doesn’t know what will.

She’s perfectly on time, as one should be when going to a party (she assumes, she’s really guessing from her chick flicks). She isn’t sure whether to knock or ring the doorbell, but she imagines that knocking on the door when nobody is near it might be a bit useless. She locates the doorbell immediately and presses it.

Within moments Mari’s at the door and her eyes practically sparkle as she stares down at Eli. Wait- stares down? Eli blinks up rather surprised to see Mari is at least half a foot taller than she was before. A quick glance over shows Mari in a somewhat. Well. If Kanan’s fashion was bad according to Dia, Eli can only imagine how she feels about the voluptuous snowman and it’s “sexy and I snow it” caption beside it. Glancing downward she sees the dangerous looking christmas shoes Mari wears and suddenly her height change makes complete sense.

She really hopes Mari doesn’t break her ankle when she trips.

“Ayase-san! Welcome! Come right in, you’re one of the first few guests to arrive!” Mari steps to the side to let Eli into the colossal household. Before Eli can take a step further though, Mari stops her.

“Hold up! You’re under the mistletoe~”

Eli’s eyes widen in surprise and she looks around helplessly until she sees it- right on Mari Ohara herself. Directly inside the little loop of blonde hair she likes to wear. It looks like its solidly tied in and Eli can feel a nervous sweat beginning to form. She barely knows her and she has to kiss her?!

“E-erm.” Eli mumbles.

Mari breaks and laughs.

“It’s joke! Don’t worry, I won’t force you to give me a smooch if you’re not comfortable with it Ayase-san. You’re one of the three newer guests to the party so if you don’t want to, you don’t have to!”

“T-Thank you.” She smiles a bit awkwardly as she continues past Mari, slipping off her boots, “Thank you for the invite as well.”

Mari beams as Eli decides to take in her environment. She can tell they take the holidays very seriously in the Ohara household. On every door frame and banister were decorations galore- some were a variety of christmas lights, some were fancy garlands with decorative little ornaments hanging from them. In almost every corner was a fancy christmas themed object of sorts- the most visible things were the miniature christmas trees and their themed ornaments (Eli swears she saw one that just had a bunch of ornaments that were photos of Mari and her family. It’s actually very cute.)

And then there was the giant golden statue in the middle of the room that looked like, no. It was a Mari statue, decorated in a christmas sweater and reindeer antlers on its head, and it even had a red nose attached somehow too. What exactly had she walked into?

Mari leads her into the house after she takes off her boots and directs her to where the party will be held- the main living room. Elis eyes widen and she gasps in wonder at the delightful decorations. There’s a long table by the window filled with punch and snacks of all sorts, a gigantic christmas tree with a star on the top (and another image in the star- a photo of Mari? good lord.) the ornaments are a decorative red, green, gold and silver and the lights aren’t super bright leds, but beautiful dim and golden. Honestly, Eli can’t believe how wonderful the place is- she feels like this isn’t just somebody's house.

A voice pulls her from her thoughts and she turns to find Dia sitting on a sofa with a shorter, red haired girl next to her. She seems a little startled by Dia’s greeting but her eyes are all on her. It only takes one glance at those wide green iris’ for Eli to make the connection between her and Dia- that’s Ruby! Eli smiles and decides to head over to that spot.

“You made it Ayase-san!” Dia says happily, “On time too! That says more than the other guests.”

Eli would object but it does seem a little odd nobody has arrived at the correct time. Then again, parties seem to be a casual get together so Mari might not be a stickler for guests being a little later than the planned time. Mari comments on how she’s going to see if Kanan’s ready and that she’ll be back in a few minutes, and that clears up where her other coworker is. She’s happy to know they’re both here and she wouldn’t be alone in a strangers house waiting for them.

She and Dia fall into small conversation. Dia properly introduces her to Ruby, and while Ruby seems a little shy, she’s a delight to be around. She loves to knit and has a huge interest in sweets, particularly hard candies. She makes a mental note of that.

Mari returns shortly after, taking a seat with the group and commenting that Kanan’s just finishing getting ready and will be down soon. Dia and Ruby decide to grab a couple snacks from the table and that leaves Eli alone with the Oharrero’s employee.

Eli decides to dive right into interrogation.

“Ohara-san?” Eli says, turning her body to face her. Mari is attentive and smiles.

“Call me Mari~” she responds with a grin, “What’s up? Did you need anything?”

“Please call me Eli then!” She responds in kind, continuing to speak, “I don’t really need anything in particular. I just kinda wanted to ask about your relationship with Dia.” She glances to the refreshments to make sure Dia is preoccupied. “Kanan’s told me a brief history, but I was just curious about how you feel.”

Mari is surprised by the question, but if there’s a blush on her face it’s practically invisible.

“I’ll give you the longer version another time, but all I can really say about it right now is I plan to change our relationship somehow tonight. Hopefully for the better.” She flashes Eli a playful wink and it brings out the first of what she hopes is many laughs.

“Is that Eli?! You made it!” A new voice comes in and before Eli can even identify the speaker, there’s a loud shriek.

“KANAN MATSUURA WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS.”

On the staircase on the other side of the room, Kanan wears a red and white themed christmas suit of sorts? It’s definitely a suit, it’s a proper suit jacket but with short sleeves, and instead of having pants it’s a pair of matching shorts. She wears almost knee length red and white striped socks matched by converse with a red backdrop followed by snowflake patterns. The little christmas trees on the fabric of the clothes add more of a colour pop, even the tie matches the suits fabric, and honestly its. Well, it’s a lot. Eli appreciates Kanan’s sense of style (or lack thereof) but she wonders if there’s more to the outfit choice than its christmas spirit and stylish accessorising.

Eli watches as Dia goes through the seven stages of grief almost instantly. Ruby looks concerned but there’s a slightly amused smile threatening to show itself. Kanan can’t help but laugh as she adjusts her santa hat.

“Awh, come on Dia! It’s christmas! Mari gave me special permission to adorn this outfit tonight~”

“Kanan Matsuura you are going to be the death of me.” Dia says exasperatedly before turning to Mari with a pleading gaze. “Mari Ohara, tell me you didn’t.”

Mari, immovable as she is, flashes her a peace sign.

“It was all Kanan wanted for christmas this year! I couldn’t say no!”

Eli wishes she was filming Dia’s face as her lips formed a tight line and her gaze burned into Mari’s. She turns to Ruby and Ruby looks up at her, wondering what her choice will be. Eli’s tempted to visit the popcorn bowl just to snack and watch the younger girl as she decides whether she’ll spend the night here or not.

Her decision is made for her when the doorbell rings, signalling the arrival of other guests.

Eli sort of loses track of time. She’s aware two people have arrived together- two more unfamiliar faces. They greet Mari with cheek kisses as if it were an everyday thing before moving like magnets towards Ruby. Eli learns from Dia that they’re her younger sisters friends and companions (A fact that surprises Eli a little bit- her little sister has two girlfriends before her? Eli almost pities Dia.) The shorter, chubbier girl is named Hanamaru while the taller, lankier and goth looking one calls herself Yohane (a self given nickname, according to Dia.)

Shortly after them is a group of three girls, two who were Kanan’s other childhood friends. Chika and You grew up on the same street as her and Chika and Kanan’s families have been friends since before they were born. Their other friend, Riko, has only been attending the christmas parties for a few years now, but as used to it as she should be she’s still pleasantly surprised by the size of the mansion like Eli is.

Which, somehow, with all these new people arriving, makes the huge building so much smaller. Eli’s beginning to feel the onset of that familiar anxiety she feels when being in large groups. She moves to the refreshments table, pretending to eye all the goodies as a tactic to keep her mind off of socializing with the unfamiliar girls. Dia’s gotten lost in a conversation with the the girl named Riko and somehow Kanan has ended up chatting it up with Dia’s little sister and her girlfriends. Eli’s only other option is Mari, but she doesn’t seem to be around at the moment?

As she has that thought she realizes why that is.

“Okay everyone! Looks like all our guests have arrived!” Mari calls from the entrance of the room and Eli’s eyes land on the guests she’s been nervous and excited to see all night.

Mari’s coworkers have arrived, both together and Eli is almost floored by their appearance. No christmas party is truly complete without everyone enjoying the festive sweaters and Nozomi and Nico are no strangers to it. Nico wears a sweater with the body of an elf starting at the collar of the sweater. It makes it look as if she herself is the elf and its humorous and adorable all at the same time. Eli notices the scrunchies in her hair have holly and little jingle bells tied to it and god. Waiting awkwardly in that odd span of time just to see how this girl could rock the ugliest of christmas sweaters was worth it. She wonders if its her makeup that helps complete the look- it looks so simple and yet so elegant- Nico definitely knows what she’s doing to make those eyeliner wings look on fleek and Eli doesn’t even know if her contour is makeup or natural- in this lighting it’s really hard to tell.

That’s only Nico though-- Nozomi on the other hand has taken a page from Mari’s book. Her hair is tied in a beautiful long braid with little holly decorations weaved through the strands to match Nico’s, but the sweater is something else entirely. The chest part of the fabric is covered by mittens and the text reads in bright red ‘Tit’s the season.’ It’s awful. It’s a seriously corny joke. Eli might not even be fond of it if it wasn’t for the fact one of the cutest girls here was wearing it.

She has no idea how she’s going to make it out of this party alive. She reaches for the punch, pours herself a cup and throws it back, drinking it all in one gulp before pouring herself another cup. When did she get this thirsty?

In her haze of admiring her crushes and drinking punch, Eli finds herself back in the spot she’d been sitting in before. She idly watches the two of them out of the corner of her eye and she see’s Mari share a laugh with the both of them. Nozomi’s eyes crinkle adorably as she giggles and Nico’s match and god- agreeing to this party is either the best idea she’s had in months or it will kill her on sight (much like Kanan’s outfits for Dia.) In her staring she fails to notice that the two have started walking over towards the couchs where she sits and she hasn’t even looked away.

At this point Eli really wishes she would be taken out, in a date way or a sniper way, she wasn’t very picky right now. She definitely just got caught staring. She brings her attention downward and decides hey, her punch is probably a much better topic to focus on at the moment. She looks down and peers into the cup and its.. empty? When did she drink her second glass?! She vaguely remembers bringing the cup up to her lips as she was watching the Oharrero employees and- well. She realizes she probably took another one big gulp in that moment. This is embarrassing.

The spot next to her sinks and Dia has taken the spot next to Eli. She looks a little defeated- or exhausted? It’s hard to tell at the moment. She smiles a bit sympathetically at her and Dia only sighs. She’s aware other people have decided to sit near them and Dia’s defeated gaze only perks up, a fire igniting inside them as she smiles politely.

“Toujou-san! Yazawa-san! It’s great to see you could make it too.”

Oh my god Eli really has to stop spacing out- she thought the two of them were across the room still and now they’re already taking seats with them. She’s unprepared! What’s a good conversation topic? What happens if they point out she was staring? Does she have any excuses prepared? Oh god- she’s doing it again. She pushes the anxious gay baby thoughts away and makes a new goal for the party; no more spacing out. Ignore the cute girls- stay present for any and all conversations she’s included in and make it out of this alive with her pride damaged as little as possible.

She’s aware they’ve greeted her and she can feel her muscles robotically moving to wave a tiny bit. She says hello and puts her arm down. It feels like this itself is an out of body experience and she feels so awkward. She prays that they don’t notice.

Dia strikes a conversation with the three of them and Eli is. Vaguely aware of the topic. They’re talking about the mall. She can hear her replies and she’s taking in everyone’s words but it feels so forced. She feels a little uncomfortable. She can feel the walls of the mansion slowly closing in on them all and the air is getting a little harder to breath. When did the room get so small? Did everyone suddenly move closer to them? She glances around to be sure but there’s quite a distance between her and the other guests who have taken seats on other various furniture pieces surrounding them.

The sensible side of her is gone and she realizes that it took very little time for her to begin spacing out again. This is hopeless. At least Dia is here to keep conversation between the four of them going.

As she thinks that Dia suddenly pauses her conversation and stands up, glaring in the direction of Kanan.

“Ruby don’t you DARE put on Kanan’s tie! I refuse to let her cursed clothes go near you!” She’s pushed herself off the couch and over to them. Kanan and Hanamaru start to laugh while Ruby pushes herself into Yohane to make sure that Kanan’s tie really doesn’t touch her.

Eli’s eyes widen and her smile becomes a little tense as she realizes she’s been abandoned by the one person helping her power through talking to her crushes. Nico watches Dia move in amusement and Nozomi’s lips move and words come from her mouth and- oh! oh shit, she’s talking to her!

“S-sorry?” Eli mumbles a little helplessly. You’ve heard of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer, now get ready for Eli Ayase the red faced lesbian. The embarrassed blush that lightly dusted her cheeks all night suddenly becoming a giant beacon of bright red.

Nozomi only smiles that lovely soft smile and Eli feels like she could melt into the damn couch.

“Is this your first Ohara christmas party too?” She asks again.

This is her chance. She can feel it- her anxiety is screaming at her but she forces it down once again. She takes in a small breath and speaks, hoping her reply is more confident than cold.

“It is.” She says. She can feel it- her prides patting her on the back. Her brain cells kiss and cheer while her heart is beating louder and happier. She did it! She spoke to the cute girls at the party!

Now it’s time to see if she can keep the conversation going.

“This is- i-it’s my first christmas party I’ve ever been to that didn’t include my extended family.” She feels a little embarrassed and mumbles a little quieter “Actually it’s more like the only party I’ve ever been to without my extended family.”

“Really?!?” Nico replies a little loudly but she looks very shocked- alarmed even, “Are you saying you’ve never been invited to christmas parties at all?!”

“Oh! No- no no. That’s not it. I mean-” Eli laughs a bit fumbling with her words, “I don’t really go to parties at all. I get invited to things here and there but I’ve never gone to anything until now really.”

God she hopes they don’t find that lame. Nico looks at her with a little disbelief while Nozomi hums. She nods a bit as if to understand something not spoken.

“I wondered- you seem like an introvert.” She says it a bit bluntly and Nico nudges her a bit as if she’s said something offensive.

Eli kinda laughs at that. Nozomi really hit the nail on the head with that comment. She reaches her hand up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear before looking at them with an uncertain smile.

“Is it that obvious?” She asks a little sheepishly.

“Only to Nozomi.” Nico responds immediately and reassuringly, “This girl can read anybody like the palm of their hand- Literally. She’s a fortune teller.”

A cup of something has manifested itself into her hands and Eli realizes that someone has walked over to them with a tray of drinks- wait, a server?! What kind of party is this? She thanks the waiter and realizes there’s a good amount of heat coming from the cup and the aroma of hot chocolate fills her senses and soothes her entire soul. Maybe Mari is looking out for her somehow- sending a waiter with her favourite hot beverage is definitely helping her keep this conversation alive.

She remembers the last bit of Nico’s sentence and looks at Nozomi with curiosity and a crooked smile. A fortune teller! That’s pretty neat!

“Fortune telling?!” She says with a voice that dies to ask more about it.

The violet haired girl laughs and waves her hand.

“It’s nothing impressive, just basic fortunes for questions about the future, careers, school,” She looks at her with this gaze that’s somehow very different from all the ones she’s seen before as she says the next word, ”Love,”

Love. Eli wonders what kind of love fortune she’d get if she were to ask Nozomi about it. The temptation to ask her for one is real but she knows it’d be pretty rude to ask for such a personal fortune in the middle of a party.

“That’s amazing!” Eli decides to say, conversation finally coming easier to her. She looks to Nico with bright eyes filled with wonder, “What about you? Do you have any hobbies like that?”

Nico smirks and Eli swears she can see Nozomi shake her head.

“Absolutely! You’re looking at the soon to be number one idol Ni-”

“NICO-NII~” Mari interrupts and finishes as she puts her arms around Nozomi and Nico’s shoulders and puts her head between them. “You girls having a good time~? I see you’re chatting it up with Eli!”

Nico looks offended for being interrupted and Nozomi looks like she was trying to hold back a laugh. Then Nico notices it. The little plant inside Mari’s hair loop.

“Mari, is that mistletoe in your fucking hair?!”

“You bet! Now pucker up and plant one on the cheek!” She directs her to her cheek and grins. “I��m the tallest thing here and the rule is as long as you’re under it you must smooch!”

Looks like Mari’s not shy with people she’s closer to. Eli feels a little special knowing she wasn’t forced to do it while these two are. Nico, while hating it, doesn’t protest and gives her a peck on the cheek. Mari then turns to Nozomi ready to tell her to do the same, but Nozomi has a different idea. Instead, Nozomi lifts her hand up to tilt Mari’s chin just a bit lower with her hand. Mari looks flustered for a brief moment, a little confused about what’s about to happen until Nozomi plants a short, chaste kiss directly on Mari’s lips.

The party practically freezes as everyone notices The Mari Ohara has been smooched on the lips by someone who isn’t Kanan. Conversation pauses and Eli wishes- oh how she fucking wishes- that she was Mari Ohara in that moment. Kanan whoops when Nozomi pulls away from Mari with a cheeky grin. Mari comes to and laughs, pushing herself up.

“Dang Toujou, I would’ve reapplied my lipgloss if I knew you were gunna go for the lips~”

“What can I say Marichi-” She glances over to Eli when she says this, but its brief, “I’m full of surprises~”

The small group laughs and Eli joins in, finally feeling completely relaxed in the party setting. There’s a blush dusting her cheeks and she lifts her cup up to take a sip of her hot beverage. She closes her eyes and lets the content feeling wash over her.

With that over Mari announces for everyone to get hyped because it’s time for the christmas karaoke contest! Mari will select four people to draw two names from a hat and the people who are picked will become the drawers teammates. Each group will choose a christmas song to sing and the team that gets the best score on the karaoke machine is the winner!

Dia, Yohane, Chika and Nico are selected to draw the names from the special karaoke hat. Yohane goes first, sticking her hand into the hat and drawing two pieces of paper. Chika follows suit, quickly picking her two. Dia dives in next and that leaves the last two names for Nico.

“Okay girls! Open it up, tell us who’s gunna be with who! Then we’ll take five minutes to decide our christmas carols before the competition begins~” Mari says with a grin.

“Ah! Lily! Mari! Guilty Kiss is reunited for another year!” Yohane looks over to Mari, who brings her arm around Riko’s shoulders and pulls her close. Riko, though mildly alarmed, smiles.

“HEY! YOU! RUBY! I GOT YOU GUYS!” Chika shouts and looks excitedly to her friends. Dia’s little sister jumps from surprise, but her eyes reflect nothing but excitement. You salutes.

Dia opens her papers and she looks mildly surprised.

“Oh! would you look at that. Looks like I’ve got Hanamaru and-” her tone of voice changes as she leers at the tall festively dressed girl, “Kanan.”

Kanan beams and Hanamaru claps her hands together.

“I guess that means I got you guys.” Nico turns to Nozomi and Eli with a half grin, “Don’t worry- you’re both in great hands with a karaoke star like me~”

“You say that but we won’t know until we hear the others sing now will we?” Nozomi says in a teasing tone. Nico sticks her tongue out at her and the two of them share a laugh.

Eli swallows a bit nervously as the girls disperse into their groups. Nico’s playful expression suddenly dissolves and becomes serious. She lifts her hands and gestures for both Nozomi and Eli to come in close. Nozomi gets it instantly but it takes a few more gestures towards Eli from Nico for her to realize what she’s asking.

“Ah! Sorry!” Eli moves closer to them and huddles in close. She can feel Nico’s arm come around her shoulder to bring her and Nozomi closer so that nobody could hear what they were saying and- is that a hint of honey? It smells like honey, cinnamon and maybe even a hint of vanilla? God, what festive scents were these two wearing?!

“Okay listen up- I knew this was happening and already demanded for the set list of songs to choose from. Mari gave them to me no problem but scanning these girls, it’s easy to see who will choose what song. So it’s up to us not to choose the same song and rock it, alright?” Nozomi and Eli nod once and Nico continues, “Great, so I already know Mari’s for sure.”

“My only wish?” Nozomi asks with amusement in her voice.

“My Only Wish.” Nico confirms.

Eli blinks as she thinks of what song that is.

“Oh! The Britney one!” She says, a tiny proud smile on her lips.

Nico looks almost endearingly at Eli and there’s something about it. She feels like Nico just came to a decision somehow. She blushes a bit under her gaze and avoids looking directly into her red eyes.

“Yeah, the Britney one! So, we gotta get them with something just as good and pop sounding- but not Mariah Carey.”

“Eh? Why not?” Nozomi asks kind of hushed, “How do we compete with Mari’s team if we can’t sing that?”

“Because team over there,” Nico jabs her thumb at Ruby’s group “Has the one who was talking about how it’s her favourite christmas carol so they’re definitely going to sing that. Have you seen her? She’s an adorable ball of cute and there’s no way the butch girl and the orange haired girl will say no to that.”

“Aah, I see I see.” Nozomi frowns. “Well, what song do we sing then?”

Nico and Nozomi look to Eli for a suggestion and Eli kinda blanks. What could combat a wonderful pop song by famous ladies at christmas time? Certainly not an old timey tune. What kind of christmas carols do the boy bands sing around this time?

It doesn’t take Eli long to think of an option.

“Erm.. Maybe Beautiful Christmas by Big Time Rush? It isn’t super popular, but if we use a boy band song we could have a chance.”

Nozomi’s eyebrows rise and Nico thinks about it. They ponder Eli’s choice and Nico slowly nods. She likes the idea the more she thinks about it.

“That could work. You’re right, it’s not popular, but I think we all know it, right?”

“Yup! I remember it.” Nozomi replies, “Think we can sing it better than they can?”

“Are you kidding?!” Nico says with a smirk, “We’re gunna make it more popular after this party.”

They pull out of their huddle and Eli giggles, unable to hide her amusement. She’s kind of excited to see how they do- she hasn’t sung in front of a big group since her family reunion earlier this year so she hopes it’s a great time. It’ll be her first of what she hopes is many karaoke times with these girls.

The other groups are ready and there’s a quick lottery game to decide the singing order of each group. Chika gets the longest straw, so their group will be singing first. Followed by Dia, then Mari’s and finally, them. Nico grumbles, hating her terrible luck but Nozomi pats her on the back saying the best are always saved for last. Eli smiles a bit when Nico leans into her and her chest feels warm. Their relationship is really wonderful. Part of her aches to be apart of it too, but nevertheless, she’s content to see them happy and affectionate with one another.

The competition soon begins and as Nico predicted, the first song by their group is Mariah Carey’s christmas hit. They rock it and get a pretty decent score before handing the mics off to Dia’s team. They surprise a few people with their choice of jingle bell rock, but it’s absolutely adorable watching the older girls and the younger one jam to the tune as they belt out the words. Finishing up for the other teams is Mari’s and of course, as Nozomi and Nico knew they would, they sing Britney’s christmas ballad to a perfect t. Their score is an all time high apparently and Dia looks as if she’s unhappy already knowing her team is either in a hard second or an unfortunate third place. Eli wants to laugh- that girl really does get way too into the spirit of competition a little too much.

She really hopes they don’t mind third place once her team takes the winning score.

The microphones are handed to the three of them. The other nine girls seem surprised by their song choice and that fuels the competitive rush that grows inside of Eli. She wonders if she’s just absorbing some of that energy from Nico, because this girl radiates absolute confidence for their group. Their colours are chosen for the lines and verses they’ll get to sing outside of the chorus and soon the tune begins.

Being a former ballet competition dancer had its perks in her youth- she may not have been social with peers, but she learnt at a young age how to get through stage nerves. She stands with Nico and Nozomi and before long the three of them are singing along to the words. Eli gets absorbed into the moment, focusing on the lyrics and singing loudly and proudly. Her voice echoes throughout the room and while she can’t pay attention to the audience, she adores how Nico faces her instead of the screen with the lyrics.

They get to the chorus and for a brief and wonderful moment, it feels like its just her and her crushes. Eli feels like the three of them are in some weird kind of limbo, singing a cheesy boy band christmas song and having a good time with just one another. They get really into their performance and Eli isn’t too nervous or embarrassed at the end of it when Nico and Nozomi drape their arms around her and they laugh together.

“Holy shit! How come you never told us you could sing that great?! You were fantastic!” Nico’s face is red from the exertion and their labored breaths are synchronized as the machine finishes tallying their score.

“OOH! We have a tie! We’re gunna need to pick a tie breaker song!”

The three look at the machine and sure enough, their team tied scores with Mari’s. The three of them lock eyes and as a consolation prize, the remaining six girls get to decide what the tie breaker song would be. They’re all huddled up around the machine screen while the others wait patiently. Since there’s only three microphones, the groups decide to do a tag team competition; two girls from each team will get to sing a part of the song together at the same time and swap out until the ending chorus, where they’ll all try really hard to sing together with their limited microphones.

Soon the song is chosen and both Nico and Nozomi push Eli up to sing the first verse against Riko. The two make eye contact briefly before the look to the screen and the words “Last Christmas” pop up. Eli smiles. It’s her favourite version too- Cascada’s.

The begin to sing and Eli shows Riko no mercy. She swaps with Nozomi, high fiving her and handing her the mic as she steps up to compete with Yohane. They have a little more fun with it, bringing their mics closer and singing so competitively you’d feel like they were competing on the voice. The next verse is handed off to Nico and Mari who, albeit a little dramatically, conquer the second last verse before the rest of their teams are brought up. Nico and Mari hold their mics while the teams sing and once the song ends, the room is filled with a lot of laughter and applause.

By the end of it Eli’s contently between both Nico and Nozomi as the score is calculated and she really doesn’t care. Mari’s team could keep the prizes if it meant she would continue to have this much fun alongside her crushes. She’s lost in the way it feels having them so close, the warmth that comes from the two of them and the pure happiness she has.

This is the best (first) party ever.

As a fun cool down they decide to sing a few more songs, with solo performances and different teams coming together. Somehow everyone convinces Eli to sing ‘Where are you christmas’ and Faith Hill’s version has nothing on hers. By the end of it Nico’s actually shed some tears and is desperately finding something reflective to make sure she didn’t smear her makeup too much. She looks over and see’s Kanan somehow comforting Dia over her loss, offering the girl a cookie cut into the shape of a santa hat.

Dia takes it and nibbles on it when Mari announces they have to make some space for the next activity. The guests get up and assist with pushing some of the furniture to the side and Kanan goes off into another room, bringing You for some assistance.

When they return they have what looks like two level changing posts- like something you’d find in a gym, sort of, and then a long, red and green decorated pole. Kanan and Mari begin to set it up and within seconds Eli’s put it all together- They’re all about to limbo.

There seems to be a catch when Mari comes out with a few pillows.

“Good thing we all wore sweaters we can stuff this into! otherwise Santa limbo wouldn’t be as fun!”

Oh my god. They’re going to pretend to be santa and limbo. Eli is ecstatic- this is so much better than she anticipated the game of limbo to be and she feels like this is going to be one of the funniest games she’s ever witnessed. She’s still pretty closely huddled to Nozomi and Nico and Nico wears the most sour expression Eli’s seen to date.

“That thing is gunna look hideous under my sweater. Nozomi I don’t like this.” Nico mumbles in an unamused tone.

“Aww, but you’ll look like an adorable chubby little elf! And who knows, you could win since you’re the shortest one here!” She laughs at her own joke and Nico glares.

“You know what Nozomi? For that I’m gunna kick your ass at this game.” Eli can feel Nico moving away from her and Nozomi in favour of grabbing a pillow to start the limbo.

Everyone gets a turn and the game starts out pretty great, but turns into a catastrophe the moment they set the bar lower by three levels. Mari’s heels have become her ultimate weakness as they slide out from underneath her and she lands flat on her back, her belly knocking the pole down instantly. When she gets up she trips and falls directly onto Dia, who falls right onto Kanan, who lands perfectly on the floor and cushioning the two of them from a dangerous fall. Eli makes sure to get a quick snapshot on her phone before Dia, beet red in the face, squirms out from between the laughing girls. Chika and Ruby both do the exact same thing and puff the santa belly out too much, sliding the pole off before they could bend back more. Yohane got knocked out in the first round, but she roots for her other girlfriend as she maneuvers perfectly. Kanan, Nozomi and Eli don’t last longer than the first three rounds and Eli sits in the losers section with her watching as the game slowly narrows down to its semi finalists: Hanamaru, Dia, and Nico.

The pole gets dangerously low and all eyes are on Dia. She’s significantly taller than Nico and Hanamaru and her determination to win could end up being her downfall. Hanamaru herself doesn’t look to bothered, but Nico looks. Well. She��s happy she’s gotten far but she realized partially through the game that she’s proving Nozomi is right by winning this. She pats the pillow stuffed under her sweater and turns in the direction she and Eli sit and glares at them before she goes in for another turn, clearing yet another level of the lowered pole.

When Dia goes up next, she unfortunately pulls a Mari and slips. She falls directly onto her back with a loud thud. The pole falls on top of her and she’s booted out of the game. Eli can’t hide her little giggles as Dia moves to the losers couch next to her to grumble about the game being unfair to the taller members.

“Don’t sweat it Dia, you did great!” Kanan says with a positive smile.

“Yeah! For one of the taller girls, you really lasted so much longer than we thought! We assumed you were going to lose right in the beginning.” Mari jokes and Dia glares in her direction.

“You underestimate the power of a Kurosawa. Unlike Kanan here, who doesn’t doubt my drive to win.” Kanan feels a bit of pride at that statement and Mari laughs.

“Oho! You say that but you have yet to complete the biggest challenge of the night- giving me a kiss~” Mari points to her mistletoe and smirks, “You’re like, the only one here who hasn’t given me one! It’s rude! This is an activity too you know! You gotta kiss under the mistletoe!”

Dia opens her mouth to object and then closes it. Then opens it again and blushes. Eli’s eyes are glued to the scene next to her and she practically forgets about Nico and Hanamaru dueling it out under the limbo pole as she watches Dia figure out what to do with the situation. She watches Dia take in her scenery, noticing Mari is behind the couch and draped between her and Kanan. Eli see’s the look of an idea come to her and an even bigger blush forming on her cheeks and watches as Dia reaches past Mari to grab Kanan by her christmas tie, pull her in closer and plant a small kiss directly on her lips.

Mari practically falls backward, losing her footing from the imbalance of her reeling backward off the couch and not catching herself in time. She lands on her butt for a third time and she almost screams in delight. Eli beats her to it, gasping only loud enough for Kanan and Dia to hear her. She covers her mouth to refrain from making anymore noises but Nozomi and a couple others look over to see Dia pulling away from Kanan, both of their faces bright red. The corner of Kanan’s lip quirks upward is disbelief and Mari pulls herself up from the ground to look at Dia in disbelief and awe.

“Excuse me!? Did I just see what I think I did?!” Mari practically shouts, catching the attention of everyone now.

Nico, who is under the limbo pole, drops to the ground from the surprise of it all and ends up losing the game (something she intends to argue about later, when the commotion has died down.) Ruby’s eyes sparkle with almost as much excitement as Eli’s do while the others look on mildly surprised and a little confused.

“You bet you did. The rules of the mistletoe is you have to kiss someone under it. There was only Kanan under it, because you’re wearing it. Challenge won. Now excuse me.” Is all Dia says as she stands up and decides now, of all times, is the best time to use the restroom real quick (but Eli knows a gay panic when she sees one and Dia’s going to give herself a brief moment alone to do just that).

The commotion seems to fade into the background as everyone celebrates Hanamaru’s win from the limbo game. Kanan, still stunned, sits on the couch with her hand going to her lips while Mari decides to grab Hanamaru her prize before scampering off to find Dia and question her some more on those loopholes. Eli can’t stop the smile on her face. It’s huge. This is literally everything she could have wanted from a party and she feels absolutely blessed. Nozomi seems to notice and she nudges her a bit.

“How long have you been waiting for that to happen?” She grins as she asks the question.

“Since the day I got invited to this party,” Eli admits a little sheepishly, “Kanan filled me in on a lot of things and I’ve sort of been rooting for them ever since. Dia’s very inexperienced and you can tell she’s always wanted to be some kind of thing with them. It’s not evident, but it’s there, you know?”

Nozomi nods because she knows. She knows all too well about someone being very inexperienced and wanting to be some kind of thing with someone. She looks at Eli with a stare that says she knows a lot more than what Eli might think when it comes to inexperienced gays pinning for people. Eli continues speaking, not really thinking about her words.

“Makes me kind of envious, you know? I’ve always wanted a girlfriend and suddenly my coworker has two potential ones who want nothing more than her to be with them too.”

Great! Eli just practically outed herself to this girl in more ways than one. Her eyes widen and she can feel the colour draining from her face as she watches Nozomi’s eyes illuminate and make all the connections she really, truly hoped wouldn’t happen for months after this party. The colour comes back in a full, bright santa suit red and Eli wishes she could fade into nothingness as Nozomi gazes at her. Nozomi leans closer and Eli finds herself wanting to lean back a bit, but she’s frozen. She has no idea what to do.

“She doesn’t have to be the only one getting two girlfriends at once.” she says in a voice like a whisper, pulling back only to wink and causing Eli’s face to ignite into even more brighter shade of red.

She blinks once. Twice. Her mouth opens and she gapes for a moment. Was that correct? She heard that correctly right? She can’t confirm it because everyone around them isn’t paying attention to the two of them and Eli’s mind is spinning with thoughts.

“What.” Is all she manages to squeak out, not even in a questioning tone.

Nozomi laughs and stands up, holding her hand out for Eli’s. Eli hesitates before reaching up and taking it. Nozomi glances over to see Nico is distracted with the other kids, wanting to get a retry out of them. She pulls Eli along towards the glass doors by the refreshment table, deciding their conversation should be a little more private. For Eli’s sake, really. Eli lets herself be pulled away and as they reach the glass doors she notices Mari has returned, hand in hand with Dia and a big bright grin on her face- Something tells her that Mari got exactly what she’s been wishing for this christmas in that time alone with Dia.

It’s chilly outside, but not bad. Her face is so hot Eli can’t even really tell that it’s cold at all. They stay a few feet away from the door, standing on the stone patio together. Nozomi lets go of her hand and turns to face her, smiling affectionately.

“I’ve been trying to pin you somewhere on my gaydar- I knew you were either bi or a lesbian, but I think you just confirmed it for me.” She says it in a playful tone and Eli wishes she could just stick her head into the ground.

She feels both intimidated and relieved. Thank god her gay ass is obvious- it’s helpful for her to know this as she does try to show and express it. She does wish she had a gaydar like Nozomi’s- it’d be easier to find other lesbians and get into the gay scene.

“I wish I could read people as well as you could.” She laments with an awkward smile, “It would’ve saved me a lot of unwanted conversations and maybe given me the courage to try a few more things.”

“Like the ones you want to have where you come visit me or Nicocchi at work?” she can’t stop her teasing and Eli almost puts her face into her hands.

“God was I that obvious to you two?!” She almost cries and Nozomi can’t stop her laughs.

“We ended up creating a game over how many times we caught you looking over at us! I’m in a five point lead right now~”

Eli wants to shrivel up and die. She hates this. She came to the party to have fun with her crushes, not accidentally out herself only to learn that they could tell she felt something for them the whole time.

“God I’m so embarrassed.” She mumbles, shyly pulling at a strand of hair that frames her face. “If I wasn’t so socially awkward I probably wouldn’t have embarrassed myself this badly.”

Nozomi’s laughs have died down and she wears that warm smile again.

“Well, if you ever want more social practice, you know you can always come find me. I wouldn’t mind spending a day with you helping you with social cues and how to not stare too much at girls you’re crushing on. Maybe some time after christmas when we’re both free? We could even try to rope Nicocchi into it.”

Eli laughs this time, her blush dwindling down a bit. Her embarrassment is gone seeing Nozomi is completely comfortable with this and is in fact flirting with her. She wonders what that may mean for them. Maybe she would get two girlfriends tonight too? It’s hard to tell- Nozomi definitely seems to want to have something more with her, and whether its a friendship or a relationship, Eli really doesn’t mind.

“I think I’d like that a lot.”

Nozomi’s smile only grows as she closes her eyes and laughs. She looks relieved- kinda like she was putting herself out there asking that question. Eli’s heart beats harder, playing with the idea that Nozomi may have been nervous asking her that. She opens her eyes and Eli can’t tell if it’s the cold or just embarrassment that brings the rosy pink colour to the other girls cheeks.

“It’s a date then!” She says, leaning up to plant a small kiss on her cheek.

There’s a loud slam on the glass door and Eli doesn’t even get the opportunity to enjoy the kiss as they hear a muffled shout of “I WIN” coming from inside that sounds like Dia? They look over, their faces still close to see they have ten spectators watching them from the inside. Dia’s practically glowing with pride and has earned a few laughs from the others. Nico watches on with a smug look, raising her eyebrow at the two of them (which somehow makes Eli feel a little more embarrassed than being watched by the other girls.It’s a mystery.)

She begins to wonder if that could be the reason why Eli was invited in the first place. If Nozomi and Nico could easily read her, then there’s no doubt that Dia could as well. Was she really invited to celebrate the christmas cheer with everyone here, or did they set it up? Was it all just one big set up to get Eli to actually talk to her crushes? As she wonders about this with a fond smile on her features, something cold and wet lands on Eli’s hand and she looks away from the window and instead upward. Was that..?

“Was that a snowflake?” Nozomi asks aloud, also looking up.

It catches the attention of everyone inside of the building enough to get them to open the door and peer outside. Sure enough, the snowfall begins to grow and grow by the second and soon Eli and Nozomi begin to get covered in a thin layer of snowflakes. There are gasps of delight at the surprise weather change and Mari cheers excitedly, announcing that it might just be a white christmas after all. Dia, having more sense tells Nozomi and Eli to hurry inside before they become soaked.

They do so immediately, Nozomi taking Eli’s hand and bringing her back inside, where they enjoy the rest of the party at the Ohara mansion together with their coworkers, new friends and new found loves.

#love live! school idol project #love live! sunshine!!#nozonicoeli #kanadiamari #eli ayase #dia kurosawa #nozomi toujou #kanan matsuura #nico yazawa #mari ohara #love live #love live sunshine #nox writes #my shitpost?#my shitpost #the fic isnt the shitpost just the fake netflix poster dw dw #fanfiction

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webcamfox440 · 3 years

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Fruit Of Grisaia Steam Restoration Patch

Grisaia No Kajitsu Game

The Fruit Of Grisaia Steam Restoration Patch

The Fruit Of Grisaia Uncensored

The Fruit Of Grisaia Steam Restoration Patch

Fruit Of Grisaia Restoration Patch

The Fruit of Grisaia Steam Restoration Patch Adds back adult content from the 18+ release (r37934) to the Steam version (r34972). Is there anyway to patch the steam game so that the unrated version will play instead? I've played through Grisaia no Kajitsu steam version, and honestly I'd say it's pretty good even when people say the H-scenes are important. Though i do want to buy the game on a steam sale and also be able to get the 18+ content.

FAQ: A Grand Entrance for Visual Novel Grisaia: Phantom Trigger

For the most up-to-date information about the status of our project, check our project updates on Kickstarter!

The Fruit of Grisaia 18+ Steam Patch I already know, that such a patch does not exist, wich means, this isn't my question in particular. But I informed myself about this topic and found the 'Imouto Works Patch' wich was taken down.

R18 patch:: The Fruit of Grisaia General Discussions. Content posted in this community. May not be appropriate for all ages, or may not be appropriate for viewing at work. Don't warn me again for The Fruit of Grisaia.

Does Grisaia: Phantom Trigger have H-scenes? Will there be an 18+ patch?

Grisaia: Phantom Trigger was created and designed as an all-ages game, and therefore features no sexually explicit content. Accordingly, no restoration patch will be necessary, as the digital and physical versions will contain the exact same content. That being said, the manga adaptation features more adult-oriented content, as do many of the supplemental items we are offering (i.e. the artbook and tapestries).However, please do note that the series does feature scenes of intense violence and language.