“They’re back,” Erica said. Akira turned to the direction she was looking at. “Yuna seems to have calmed down.”

“She seems to have gone through a lot more than just calming down,” Akira observed.

Yuki came back to the camp looking the same as always, albeit wearing a shirt that had somehow gotten wet. Yuna however looked completely different from how she was when she ran away. Though her eyes were a bit red, she no longer seemed distracted or distraught. Her eyes were now sharp and had a fire behind them.

‘I wonder what Yuki said to her.’

Akira gave Yuki a look and he replied by putting a finger to his lips. Akira nodded. They’ll talk about it later. 

“If everyone’s done, we’ll clean everything up then we can head to bed,” Yuki announced. “Tomorrow, we’ll continue our march to Giant’s Peak. Got it?”

Everyone voiced their understanding and got right to helping with packing up and cleaning dishes and utensils. Akira watched as Yuna went over to help Yuki, giving him a shy little smile. The little interaction gave Akira a smile of her own. 

‘So that’s what happened. I’ll need to ask for details later.’

Yuki looked back at her and gave her a little frown that only made her smile widen. He did a little exasperated shake of his head as Akira stifled a giggle before it could come out. 

‘I know exactly what happened.’ Yuna’s behavior reminded her of someone’s. That someone being herself. 

Akira buried the firepit with a snap of her fingers and went to see if Yuki and Yuna needed any help. Yuki shrugged when she approached and gave her a sponge to help with the washing. Yuna greeted her with a bright smile.

“You seem happy,” Akira said to Yuna while scrubbing a bowl. “What happened?”

“Oh. Um.” Yuna turned away. “I’m sorry about earlier. I ruined the mood didn’t I.”

“Well, I think the mood was already ruined when Sarah asked Damian,” Akira replied. She caught Yuki smirk from the corner of her eye. “So don’t worry about that. What happened after?”

“Ah, Yuki came and comforted me,” Yuna said, staring off into the trees. “S—he was really kind. It helped me a lot.”

Yuna glanced back at the camp for a quick second before focusing on the dish she held in her hands.

‘Gotcha.’

Akira looked over at Yuki again, this time with a small smug expression. Yuki replied with another shake of his head. 

“Yuna, can you rinse off these?” Yuki asked. Yuna perked up at his voice and nodded.

“Of course,” she said, taking the bowls and utensils. 

She made a small shower of water that washed out the soap and Yuki heated the air around them to dry them off. When they were finished drying, Yuki snapped his fingers and they disappeared. 

“Alright. We’re done,” Yuki said with a nod. “Yuna, you have your sleeping bag right?” 

“Yes.”

“Do you mind sharing? I don’t think Erica has hers,” he said.

“Oh. Okay, I don’t mind,” Yuna replied. 

“Thanks, Erica will be very glad to hear that.”

“How did you notice?” Akira asked. She had known that Erica had forgotten her sleeping bag because of the many times Erica had brought it up during the hike. 

“She was looking through her things earlier when I said to clean up,” he explained. “I didn’t see a bag.”

“I see. She was annoying me about it the entire trip, so I thought maybe you heard that,” Akira smiled.

“Maybe I did. I might have forgotten. Yuna, can you go tell Erica that you two will be sharing?”

Yuna nodded and trotted over to where Erica was frowning at the ring she wore on her finger. Akira watched as Yuna tell her Yuki’s suggestion. Erica’s eyes lit up and she turned to where Yuki and Akira were standing to give them a thumbs up.

‘Oh no. I think she might be thinking that we’re giving the two of them alone time.’

Erica’s attraction to Yuna wasn’t the most hidden of secrets. She was quite open about it with Akira.

“Do you think I might regret this later?” Yuki asked as he watched Erica give Yuna a big hug. 

“Erica should be able to control herself,” Akira replied. She paused for a bit. “I think.”

“Hmm.”

“How about we let them enjoy themselves.”

“I know Erica will,” Yuki said. He tapped his chin. “I guess Yuna will as well. The two of them get along quite well.”

“Mhm. By the way, on the topic of sharing sleeping bags,” Akira said. “Say I forgot my own bag.”

“Did you?”

“Maybe I did. What would you do?”

“Hmm. If that did happen, I would offer to let you share mine.”

“I think I forgot my bag.”

Akira felt a gaze on her and found Yuki giving her a raised eyebrow. She raised her arms.

“What?” she said, feigning innocence. 

Yuki stared at her a bit longer before a small chuckle rose from him. With a snap of his fingers, a rolled up sleeping bag appeared in his hands. He held it out to Akira.

“Well, if we’re sharing, you can at least find us a nice place to sleep,” he said. 

“Thanks,” Akira said with a smile. “I can’t believe I was so careless.”

“Mhmm.” 

With that, Akira found a relatively dry and flat spot that was mostly barren save for some grass and a few leaves and twigs. She cleared them away as Yuki made his way to her. 

“This is quite private,” he remarked as he looked around. 

“I wanted to talk,” Akira shrugged. “About Yuna.”

“Ah. Sure, I don’t mind. But let’s wait until everyone is situated.”

They waited patiently, watching the others as they found their own places to sleep. When it looked like everyone was prepared for the night, Yuki waved his hand and the light illuminating the camp site disappeared. The only thing light left was that from the stars and the moon above.

Yuki wiggled his way into the sleeping bag first. After a small moment of hesitation, Akira came in after. Though it was her idea, she didn’t really expect Yuki would actually agree.

When she finished wriggling her way into the bag, she found herself staring into a set of silver grey eyes that were tinged with the colors of the rainbow. Then she felt something soft pressing on her chest and looked down.

“I thought you said that you won’t risk it while we’re outside,” Akira whispered. 

“I already broke that rule today,” Yuki replied with a small smile. “No one is going to see us anyway.”

“I guess.”

“I’m more comfortable like this,” Yuki said. “Humor me, why don’t you?”

“I like you better like this anyway,” Akira said. She stared at Yuki’s breasts pressing against hers. “Though, I’m still a bit annoyed that you’re bigger than I am. How does that even work?”

“I don’t know.” Yuki looked down. “You still have time to grow. You’ll get bigger. Don’t stress over it.”

“You’re the same age as me.”

“Maybe I peaked already?” Yuki said. 

“Hmph.”

“Anyway, you said you wanted to talk right?” Yuki rested her head on her hands. “About Yuna?”

“Yes,” Akira nodded. “She knows now, right?”

“Yup. I had to tell her. It was the only way she would have calmed down,” Yuki explained. “I don’t mind her knowing anyway. I’m sure she’ll be able to keep this to herself.”

“You know she likes you."

Yuki laughed. “I’ve gathered.”

“She’s going to be going after you now,” Akira warned. “Just so you know.”

“I know. I think she can control herself until the end of the mission. And if I had to bet, she doesn’t seem to be the aggressive type,” Yuki mused. Then she smirked. “Unlike you.”

“Hey, Erica is much more aggressive than me,” Akira pouted, her face heating up. 

“True, but that’s like saying dynamite isn’t a nuke. They both can explode. It’s just that one has a much bigger boom.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“Why were you asking about this?” Yuki said, switching topics. “You seemed to have gathered everything that happened just from watching.”

“I just wanted to make sure that my assumptions were correct, that’s all,” Akira replied, not looking Yuki in the eye.

“Mhmm. Is that all~?”

“Good night.”

Akira turned away and faced a tree that stood to her left. She was acutely aware of Yuki’s breast pressing against her back and their legs tangled together. She clamped down on her breathing and calmed herself. 

‘Erica has been rubbing off on me,’ she thought. ‘Imagine if she was here though.’

“Well, if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine,” Yuki said behind her. Her breath tickled Akira’s nape. 

Akira didn’t reply for some time. Yuki must have fallen asleep by now, her breathing had become slow and regular. 

“I won’t let her win first,” Akira whispered. Yuki’s breathing didn’t change. And Akira was just fine with that. The declaration was for herself. “I’ll be your first¹You can interpret this anyway you want..”

She closed her eyes and let sleep take her away. But before her mind succumbed to the beckoning of sleep, she heard a small whisper behind her.

“You already are.”

Akira didn’t know what that meant. And before she could think about it, sleep took over.