“Hey, baby senpai, how did it go?” Mio asked, her smiling face looking back at Emi from the phone screen. Behind her Emi could see the girl’s legs bouncing up and down on the bed as she lay on her belly to call her.

“We were denied,” Emi shook her head sadly. Asami still hadn’t returned to the room and Emi could only assume her and Moo were deep in the books trying to out administrate Riku by going straight to the wellspring of un-affiliated students. In a fundamental way Emi felt bad for Moo, but, by the same token, she’d kind of brought it on herself. Besides, Emi was pretty sure Moo didn’t mind too much.

“It was the advisor thing, huh?” Mio’s face remained a mask of empathy, but Emi could sense the hint of smugness in her voice.

“Yes, yes, well played. But we were, evidently, short a member also,” Emi wasn’t going to give her the entire win. Mio had mentioned that they’d probably require an advisor, an assessment Emi had largely brushed off. While she had been right, of course, and Emi had known it in her heart of hearts she was, she hadn’t been completely right and Emi was clinging to that knowledge like a drowning woman to a life raft.

Mio was far smarter than Emi in many ways, a realization Emi had been happy about. If one party was obviously more intelligent, she felt that sort of thing would only lead to pity or disgust eventually. Looking at Mio’s face, Emi had to smile. Her girlfriend wasn’t much of a people person, but her level of book smarts was far above what Emi could manage without a dedication she was disinclined to pursue. Beautiful and smart was a dangerous combination and Emi was proud to be with her. Regardless of whether Emi’s circumstances were conducive to being so or not.

“So, what are you going to do now? Railroad another foreigner?” Mio smirked at her.

“You wound me!” Emi gasped at her indignantly. “I did not railroad her! Rude!”

“I’m mostly joking!” Mio giggled, rolling playfully on her bed.

“I am your senpai! You need to respect me!” Emi sniffed imperiously.

“You are so right!” Mio bounced back on her knees and bowed low to the phone. “My most humble of apologies, baby senpai! Can you ever forgive this insolent kouhai?”

“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?” Emi scowled playfully.

“I would never!” Mio gasped in shock. Emi cocked an eyebrow disbelievingly. “Yeah! I totally am!” Mio finally admitted with a giggle.

“The insolence of youth is staggering,” Emi shook her head in mock sadness. “Our entire social structure is on the precipice of collapse because of just these sorts of thing.” Suddenly she grimaced, realizing that, even in jest, she was sounding like Riku.

“The times are changing, baby senpai,” Mio shrugged. “Society is ready to take that next step into a brighter future for everyone. You can’t fight the tide of inevitability. Today disrespectful youth, tomorrow equality for us all. It’s all part of the process.”

“Wow,” Emi chuckled, wishing that was really the case, “aren’t you just the little progressive revolutionary.”

“Progress hinges on youth. We have the energy needed to break the chains binding us to the past,” Mio nodded, grabbing a bag of jelly chews. “Don’t worry, baby senpai. I’ll free you from the staid yoke of your self-imposed repression and lead you to a brighter world.”

“As an aging obaachan, I appreciate you going to battle for me,” Emi nodded.

“I love you. It’s the least I can do,” Mio popped a jelly chew into her mouth and nodded sagely. Emi grinned like an idiot. She always did when Mio said she loved her. It was such a strange feeling, she decided. Strange in a good way. Mio demanded nothing of her but her time. There were no hidden conditions. There was no manipulation, no hidden agenda. There were only her feelings toward the person she had chosen.

Emi also felt immediately guilty. It was simple enough for Mio. It was far less so for Emi. She loved Mio unconditionally. But she also had the sword of Damocles of her impending marriage hanging over her head. She felt unclean when she told Mio she loved her. Like she was not worthy of saying it. Like she was binding the girl to an anchor getting ready to be dropped into the depths.

“I love you, too, my young renegade,” Emi smiled at her. It was true. She did love her. Though she had no right to do so, she truly did. “Although I’m frightened of you. You are leading me down a dark path and corrupting my pure baachan heart.”

“Old people can join the revolution, too,” Mio grinned. “They just need to be careful not to break a hip. The revolution isn’t televised so we don’t have ad revenue, which means we don’t have access to medical supplies. The budgets on revolutions are tight. As you can imagine.”

“You’re really leaning into this mockery thing, aren’t you?” Emi pouted. Mio burst into laughter and Emi couldn’t help but smile in return. “You’re a bad influence on me.”

“Pfft!” Mio put her fingers over her lips to stifle a laugh exaggeratedly. “Sure, I am! We’ll go with that.”

“Sooo rude,” Emi shook her head in mock sadness.

“Seriously, though, what are you going to do?” Mio effortlessly moved the conversation back to where she wanted it to be. This girl was good, Emi decided.

“Asami and Moo are checking unaffiliated people now,” Emi shrugged. “We’ll target them in our shock and awe campaign.

“Fishing with dynamite, then?” Mio produced a juice box from beside her bed and took a sip.

“If you use a bunch in a wide-enough area you’re bound to stun at least one or two long enough to net ‘em,” Emi shrugged.

“What about the advisor, then?” Mio asked.

“That’s…going to be more difficult,” Emi admitted. She really didn’t have any idea how to find one of those. All the teachers seemed far too unapproachable to do the job. “Maybe one has an only fans account, and we can blackmail her with it.”

“Now who’s being rude?” Mio scowled at her.

“Hey! I’m not one to shame anyone!” Emi insisted, holding a hand up innocently. “But this is war and intel wins battles.”

“I have an idea!” Mio exclaimed excitedly.

“Oh?”

“Yeah! Why don’t you try asking?”

“Whaaat?” Emi gaped at her. “That’s insane!”

“I know, right?” Mio gasped.

“Did you come up with that or hear about it from someone else?”

“I came up with it myself,” Mio puffed her meager chest out proudly. “Just now.”

“Truly impressive,” Emi breathed in awe.

“I get by,” Mio shrugged. “But, seriously, just ask. What’s the worst they can say?”

“Uh…no?” Emi replied matter-of-factly.

“So what?” Mio pressed the point. “You move on to the next one.”

“There aren’t that many teachers, you know,” Emi pointed out.

“If they all say no I’ll help you look for their feet porn accounts myself.”

“Fair enough,” Emi agreed. “How’re things there?”

“What does the Titanic and my home life have in common?” Mio sighed deeply.

“Your mom is growing out her beard like the captain of the Titanic?” Emi blinked absently. Mio burst into laughter.

“No! No!” Mio finally managed. “Though that was a pretty good guess! But no. The sinking was less emotionally scarring for the passengers than my house."

“Ah, well,” Emi giggled. “What’s going on?”

“You’re going to need a sparkling grape juice for this one,” Mio warned her.

“That bad?”

“That bad,” Mio nodded soberly.