Lillia and Kalei stayed seated after their pinky swear to go ask out their crushes.

“So are we really gonna do this?” Kalei asked. “Because I…cannot get my legs to move right now.”

“This is maybe more difficult than we intended it to be,” Lillia said.

“Right, exactly!” Kalei said. “I was so pumped about this at the sleepover. I thought I’d still be amped like that right now, but.”

“But here we are, as still as the silence after snow.” Lillia said.

“Oh wow, you should write poetry dude.” Kalei said.

Lillia wasn’t sure if Kalei was being sincere or not, so she gave a tier 1.5 glare, which didn’t affect Kalei much.

“So like…what do we do?” Kalei asked.

“Maybe we could revise our pinky swear.” Lillia said. “To still follow the parameters, just…to make it something easier on us? Because I will feel awful if we stay here and do nothing.”

“But if we keep those ‘parameters’ as they are, we’re just gonna be sitting here all night.” Kalei said.

“I propose that instead of asking out, we simply ask if they want to spend time together with us.” Lillia said.

“So like instead of asking out…we ask if they wanna hang out?” Kalei asked.

“Yes.”

“Is that not just the same thing?”

“It’s less romantic, surely.” Lillia said. “I could ask you, Oka, or Zeta to hang out and it wouldn’t be romantic.”

“True, true…” Kalei said. “Wait, dude, that’s like. Exactly what we agreed to already.”

“Explain.” Lillia said.

“I was pretty zonked so I could be misremembering, but I think we said it wasn’t even going to be romantic. So like.”

The two sighed.

“Our options right now are to just do this and get it over with,” Lillia said. “Or stay here and accomplish nothing.”

“I don’t really want to do nothing,” Kalei said. “Maybe we can just…go with the parameters. And have this be our last hype ourselves up part.”

“So then, are you going to ask Nikki to hang out?” Lillia asked.

“Y-yeah. I can do that.” Kalei said. “And you’re gonna ask Ko?”

“Yes.” Lillia said. “You do realize that if we talk any longer, we’ll never do this.”

Despite that, the two stayed in silence for about five more minutes before working the nerve to stand up. Then about five more minutes of silence before they actually left for their respective missions.

* * *

Ko waited for Lillia outside the locker rooms connected to the gym building that had the beam chasers courts in it. Lillia took one last moment to compose herself before approaching, trying to not get too distracted by the sight of Ko tying her hair up, a common action for the twin that suddenly seemed more enticing to Lillia than normal.

“Greetings, Ko.” Lillia said. “I am going to say it because I have been thinking about it all day, and I don’t wish to keep it bottled in anymore.”

“Oh, uh, hey,” Ko said. “I don’t like the sound of that. You are…worked up. Did I mess up again? Or do you have more to say about me messing up the sleepover.”

Lillia tried to relax her tense shoulders to appear less worked up. It did not do much to make her appear less worked up.

“Ko, that’s not it. I’m.” Lillia pushed her glasses up. “I want to hang out with you.”

“Haven’t we hung out already?” Ko asked.

“No…I mean.” Lillia said. “I’d like to go on…a potentially…more…focused. Help.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Ko said. “You don’t have to get so worked up asking me for anything. Whatever you want, you got it. You wanna hang out?”

Lillia barely moved her head in a nod.

“And you want it to be a little more than a hang out?” Ko grinned.

Lillia nodded fully.

“I don’t want to delay anymore, so ideally if we could set a date far enough to not be too sudden, but not too far that we get bogged down with our daily routines and requirements, and the sudden things that come with life at a Cani school, and…”

“I get you,” Ko said. “That makes me really happy, Lillia.”

“Me too.” Lillia said. With the hardest part over, Lillia’s more logical brain had some more leeway, so she pulled out her planner notebook and a pen. “Please give me a list of dates and times that are preferable to you and I’ll cross reference them with my own. Once that’s accomplished, we can reconvene and discuss which would be most ideal.”

“Alright, one sec,” Ko took a step closer to Lillia. “Before I do that, could I get another hug first?”

“You absolutely may.” Lillia said.

Lillia found a consistent record for enjoying Ko’s firm hugs.

“Hey, so,” Ko said while still holding onto the embrace. “How about something a little more...?"

“What do you mean?” Lillia asked, trying to sound stoic despite her pounding heart.

“Just something little,” Ko said. “Like a stamp to make this official?”

Ko let go and tapped her right cheek. “Maybe…something here. Not the bandaged side, obviously. If you’re cool with that. It’d make my day.”

“Like what?” Lillia said. She said it too quickly despite knowing what Ko was asking for her. Her quick words were an attempt to buy herself some time to process things.

Ko wants a kiss. On the cheek. That’s. I’ve never done that. Can I do that? Let’s analyze the situation.

“Uh…Lillia?” Ko asked. “You’re kind of glaring really hard right now.”

“One moment.” Lillia said.

This is surely good, right? But am I capable of such a thing? Is this my reward for asking Ko out? Or my punishment? Or a trial required of me to ensure our date happens at all? We are in a relatively private space, but students could walk past us. Or teachers. Or faculty. Surely they wouldn’t say anything to a quick kiss on the cheek, though? And we aren’t roommates so we wouldn’t be subject to a situation like Oka and Zeta.

“Um…” Ko said.

Back to the most pressing matter. Can I do this? I want to, surely. Kisses on the cheek are always cute in the romances I’ve read and watched. I am capable of this as well. Should I perhaps stop overthinking here and just do this? Yes. But let me just envision how this will be if I don’t kiss her on the cheek, and how it will be if I do.

“Hmm…” Lillia decided that the probability of success for this encounter and future encounters with Ko would be much higher if she kissed her here than if she didn’t. “I must say though, you are aware of the risk of me having a fire breath power that could go off in a situation like this? Could you dodge quick enough in time if I begin to emit flames?”

“You’re worth the risk.” Ko said. “But, if you really don’t want to—"

Lillia gave a quick peck to Ko’s cheek. “Like that?”

Ko’s eyes widened. “That was perfect, thanks,” She said.

“Excellent.” Lillia said. As it sunk in what she had just done, she took a few antacids as she could feel her fire breath rising up. Once that was under control, she wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Do you want that stamp of approval too?” Ko asked.

“I’d greatly enjoy that.” Lillia said.

Ko leaned forward, holding her kiss on Lillia’s cheek a lot longer. Lillia kept her fire breath at bay, but she couldn’t hold back the soft murmurs forced out of her from the touch of Ko’s lips. When Ko pulled back, the smug look of satisfaction was almost too much for Lillia to bear.

“My…many thanks.” Lillia said. “I would…like to go. Process this.”

“No worries, talk to you soon?” Ko asked.

“Yes.” Lillia said. “And thank you again.”

“Thank you again too, Lillia.”