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Sayo awoke surrounded by a comfortable warmth. In their sleep, it seemed that Yukina had managed to twist and tug all of the blankets away, but Lisa had stretched out over her to more than make up for their absence, and Tsugumi had been tightly wrapped around her right arm from the very start. What bed was she in, again? Lisa's place
had been the other day, correct? Sayo looked around with bleary eyes, careful not to disturb any of the others, and noticed some green curtains before catching sight of
her guitar sitting safely in its stand near
the corner. All right, this was her house. Yukina shifted slightly, in her cocoon of sheets. She poked the top of her head free and looked at the clock on the dresser, and then across Tsugumi's sleeping form to Sayo. The two of them made eye contact, and no words needed to be shared between them. They both knew they would have to wake the others. Based on their positions, Sayo took the responsibility of pulling Lisa from her slumber. She reached up slowly, rubbing the other girl's arm. "Lisa?" No luck, and Lisa only stretched out more at the slight disturbance. She very much resembled a starfish, Sayo thought. "Lisa, it's time to get up..." Still nothing, and Sayo chose to resort to drastic measures. She moved as much as she could without breaking Tsugumi's death grip on her arm, and kissed Lisa's cheek. Her eyes flew open, and met Sayo's immediately. Even though she had been the one to initiate it, Sayo found herself looking away quickly, embarrassed, and Lisa gave her a sleepy grin. "Ahhh, Sayo, I don't think I have enough energy to get up... It's no use, I need another smooch..." If that was the case, Sayo simply had no choice, and on impulse she moved in to give Lisa a small kiss directly on the tip of her nose. Lisa's grin froze in place, and after a moment she buried her face back into Sayo's shoulder. "Sayooooo.... That's not fair." "I'm not known for being fair, Lisa." Her task accomplished, Sayo looked over to her other side to see Yukina reaching an arm through her blankets and repeatedly poking Tsugumi's back with no luck. She would need to lend her aid here as well, it seemed. She flexed her arm, realizing that it had been almost asleep from Tsugumi's tight
embrace, and felt her girlfriend stir at the movement. "Sayo... Your tail is wagging so much..." Tsugumi said through
a sleepy haze. "Haha... You're so fluffy..." What on earth is she dreaming about? Sayo reached over with her other arm, earning her a displeased noise from Lisa, and squeezed Tsugumi's shoulder. "Tsugu... it's time to wake up." "Wha..." Tsugumi looked up at her with cloudy, half-closed eyes, still wrapped around her arm, and Sayo felt her heart do a backflip. "Sayo... Is it really that late already...?” "It is," Yukina cut in, as she slowly and methodically began to extract herself from her blanket sarcophagus. "I believe you have practice with Afterglow scheduled soon?" Tsugumi propped herself up and stared at the clock's display. The sleepiness seemed to disappear from her body as her eyes widened. "Oh, oh, I do! I need to get ready!" She awkwardly clambored over Sayo and Lisa to get out of bed, and began searching for her things. "Don't worry, Tsugu, we'll help you!" Lisa said from the other side of Sayo. She felt the bed rock slightly, and knew Lisa had just pumped her fist to display her solidarity. The four of them spent the next few minutes rubbing the sleep from their eyes and removing the last few sheets from Yukina. After that was done, and they had helped Tsugumi get her clothes together and pack everything she needed for practice, Sayo opened the door to her room, intending to help them all out. But before she could, she was confronted with a new obstacle. "Whoa, Sis! Why are there so many girls in your room?" Hina said, standing in the hallway and craning her neck to see what was going on. The toothbrush in her mouth wobbled as she spoke. "You must have had a boppin' party last night!" Hina... didn't know. Not yet. Sayo had been meaning to explain her romantic situation at some point, really, but talking to her sister was difficult enough at times already. They had improved dramatically, of course, the fact that they talked at all made that evident, but every time she tried to bring up more personal details she'd felt herself clam up and lose her will. "Ah... Yes, we did," Sayo said weakly. Not entirely a lie, she reasoned to herself, as any time spent with her girlfriends felt like a party. Good lord, I sound like Toyama. As the others said their goodbyes, Lisa and Tsugumi waving goodbye to Hina as they left, Yukina reached over and stealthily squeezed her hand. She whispered to Sayo. "You should really tell her. I believe she would be very happy for you." And try as she might, Sayo could find no room to disagree.
Sayo sat on the edge of bed, nervousness showing in her posture, and her sister sat cross-legged on a chair next to her. There's no easy way to start this, is there? Sayo
thought to herself as Hina looked at her quizzically. "Sis, what did you wanna talk to me about? Is this about the party?" All right, no more delaying the inevitable. This was going to be a difficult conversation, but it was a necessary one. Sayo folded her hands in her lap and addressed her sister. "Hina... you are aware that I like girls, yes?" Hina grinned and nodded in reply. "Mmhmm! You make it super obvious, sis!" Fair, Sayo thought, and continued. "And you are aware that I'm dating Tsugumi Hazawa?" "Yeah! She's really nice, and she gave me some cake for free the other day when I stopped by the cafe!" Hina scratched her head. "I asked her about you, too, but she got all red and zoomed away." "...What exactly did you ask her?" Sayo said, an uneasy feeling rising in the pit of her stomach. "Just if you had kissed her yet!" Hina crossed her arms, and pouted. "She wouldn't say, but if you haven't, you really should! She looks very kissable. And I bet she has to taste a lot of the sweets at work, too, so that could make it even better!" Sayo sputtered, and chose to let it go. This conversation was going nowhere. She had to gather her willpower all over again before continuing. "Hina. You know Lisa and Yukina, from my band?" Hina nodded. "Well... You know, sometimes, when multiple girls all like each other... they can all decide to be together, and... combine..." Sayo felt herself struggle to form the words. "Like a Toa Kaita!" Hina shouted, excited. "Yes, like a Toa Kaita," Sayo said faintly. Hina clasped her hands together, wiggling in her seat and watching Sayo with wide eyes. "Big sis, are you saying you're dating all of them?" "...Yes. Tsugumi, Lisa, and Yukina... They are all my girlfriends. They have been for several months now." Sayo couldn't help but feel a warmth deep in her chest, saying it out loud. The three of them meant so much to her, more than she could possibly put into words. They had helped her grow so far beyond the person she had been when they first met. "Three girlfriends!! Wow!" Hina leapt up at her and gave her an enthusiastic hug. Sayo tensed up at the contact, but slowly allowed herself to hug her sister back. Hina broke away earlier than she expected, and looked up at her with a wide smile. "That's almost as many as I have!" Sayo stared at her, speechless, before finally forming a thought in response to the bomb that had just been dropped upon the Hikawa household. Is she truly even better at being gay than me? As soon as that thought passed through her mind, Sayo felt a laugh bubbling up at the back of her throat, and she didn't make any attempt to stop it from coming out. Hina seemed almost alarmed to see her giggling so openly, but after a moment she began bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet with a huge smile lighting up her face. "Hina... Hina, when did you even find the time to start dating four other girls? And you're an idol, too..." The logistics of the situation suddenly stopped mattering, as another thought burst into Sayo's head. She stood up from the bed, then reached out and gripped her sister's shoulders, gently stopping her bounces. "Hina. If any of them ever hurt you or treat you poorly, please let me know, and I will erase them from this world." "Gotcha!" Hina replied. She leaned in for another hug, and this time Sayo was less reluctant to melt into it. “I don’t think you’ll need to do any erasing, though! The only thing they make me feel is... You know when your heart goes dundundundun and your brain goes pzzzt and you just wanna yell out and tell everybody that you’re in love?” “I... suppose so,” Sayo replied, doing her best to translate her sister’s sounds into something she could more easily understand. She knew despite Hina's strange word choices, and her inability to explain herself at times, her sister was much better at processing her feelings than she was. Maybe Sayo could learn a thing or two from her.
After Hina had left the room, skipping through the door and all the way down the hallway, Sayo checked her phone to see several new messages in the group chat. She tapped its name (Tsugutena and the Rose Brides, Lisa's idea), and looked over what her girlfriends had said in her absence.
Yukina Minato: Sayo. If you are discussing our sitation with your sister I wish you the best of l Yukina Minato: uck Yukina Minato: My apologies. I seem to have hit the enter key too soo tsugu: it's all right yukina you don't have to worry!! :0 Yukina Minato: n. What Lisa<3: LOL Yukina lemme come over n help you Lisa<3: And Sayo you got this girl!!! tsugu: sayo!!! you can do it!!!!! we all believe in you!!!!!
Then Tsugumi had sent a sticker of a dog with a determined expression, holding a sign in its paws that read 'NEVER GIVE UP'. Lisa, not to be outdone, had followed that up with an impressive array of heart emojis, and then Yukina had returned with... She squinted. What on earth was that sticker? Whatever it was, it had made Yukina think of her, and so it made her happy. Sayo looked over the messages again as she held her phone tightly with both hands. As she took careful inventory of her feelings in that moment, she realized that her heart was indeed going dumdumdumdum, and her brain was giving off a distinct pzzzt. "I'm in love,” she said in a quiet voice to the empty room, and smiled to herself. “Fuck yeah!” she heard Hina cry back at her from the next room over.