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The cold chill of winter air coated the porch of the shrine in a thin layer of frost, forcing two shrine maidens inside, under a kotatsu, in a room with a floor that was unnaturally heated but fully welcome.
Reimu stuck a pocky stick in her mouth, the 17th one so far, according to Sanae’s count.
“Yeah, this is really good actually.”
Sanae smiled, her face so bright, one would think it was also contributing to the welcoming warmth of the room.
“I’m glad you like it! It took a lot to make these, after all, and I was really missing them...”
Reimu happily stuck another in her mouth, nodding with a surprising amount of enthusiasm for the girl.
Apparently, Sanae had been craving “pocky” recently, since a certain teenager from the outside world had been reminding her of her old home. She had managed to make her own, and while she asserted that “it’s not as good as the real thing,” to Reimu, it was the real thing.
It was difficult to tell if Reimu was smiling necessarily, but anyone experienced in the subtleties of her face knew she was content, reading the latest mystery novel from Suzunaan and just barely short of stuffing her face with sweets. As for Sanae, she had brought her own reading, but she seemed strangely insistent on not letting Reimu see what it was. Not that Reimu minded, although the curiosity picked at her mind just a bit.
Lucky for Sanae, the enthralling mystery of the Agatha Chris Q novel was more than enough to keep Reimu distracted, from both the blatant girl-kissing on the pages of Sanae’s manga, and Sanae’s eyes constantly drifting to the other shrine maiden and then forced back to the yuri in front of her.
The plan was simple but also badly thought out: Bring a bundle of pocky sticks, ask to play the game as a simple joke, and then see what happens. Sanae had hoped that her old manga would give her courage but had little time to realize that made no sense at all.
If anything, flipping through one of her favorite mangas somehow deepened her blush. Sanae forced herself to face her book once again, fairly confident that Reimu didn’t notice how red her face was, and figuring that maybe this much was okay for today.
“Hey, are you alright?”
And that was, of course, the moment Reimu chose to look up at her. Great.
“Y-yes! Don’t worry. I’m good.”
Reimu raised an eyebrow that silently said, no, I don’t think you are.
She put her book down and put her hand up to Sanae’s forehead, briefly short-circuiting the brain cells that were already in overdrive.
“... Hmm, you don’t seem sick.” Reimu proceeded to move her hand to the back of Sanae’s neck, leaning in much, much closer.
To say that Sanae was panicking would be an understatement. If every beat of Sanae’s heart was a second, Reimu must have kept her hand on Sanae for a year. About 6 months into that year, Reimu’s face began to morph into slight concern.
“You are heating up though… Are you sure you’re good?”
“Y-yes!” The yelp that cracked through her throat was embarrassing but apparently, it was a good enough response for Reimu to pull her hand away. Sanae shut her eyes tight at some point, but even as her muscles relaxed, she still felt a sense of longing for Reimu to come back.
“Oh. So that’s what you’re reading.”
Green hair whipped to the side as she noticed that 1, her book was now on the floor, flat open, completely open for any and all in the room to see, and 2, the Hakurei shrine maiden was definitely seeing it.
Some kind of strangled noise escaped Sanae’s mouth as she scrambled over to grab her manga. Unfortunately, by the time her hands desperately yanked the book off the floor, Reimu had leaned back upright, apparently piecing something together in her head as she had her eyes closed, hand in her chin in a moment of quiet reflection.
“U-um… yeah.”
“You know you don’t need to hide that, right?”
“Oh… well, I mean.”
“My best friend is dating two other girls, it’s seriously not a big deal to me. Or pretty much anyone else I know.”
“Y-yeah, but!”
The slight whine in Sanae’s voice was desperately trying to convey the words that she was having trouble putting together herself.
It’s still embarrassing.
“Seriously. It’s fine.”
Sanae slumped back down, forehead crashing onto the wood, defeated.
And then it got worse.
“So that’s why you brought these pocky things?”
Her head whipped back up, and there Reimu was, with one stick in her hand, pointing at it as if it were conveying everything she needed to say.
“W-what?!”
Reimu pushed forward, blunt and casual, but a calm observer (that was not available in the room at the moment) may have noticed a slight dust of pink on her cheeks.
“The kissing thing, in that book you were reading. Were you… thinking about that?”
“O-oh well. I mean, you see, well,”
Sanae stuttered for a bit before stopping herself, slapping her cheeks, and catching her breath. Before shutting her eyes tight, putting her head down, and doing her absolute best.
“WellyouseeIwasthinkingaboutitandstuffandIrememberthinkingIwantedtotryitwithfriendswhenIgotabitolderbutitwasabitbeforeIfiguredoutthewholelikinggirlsthingandthoughtHeyIshouldtrythatnowsoanywaydoyouwannatrythepockygame?”
They both let that word spaghetti stew for a second and, unfortunately, Sanae wasn’t entirely certain she would be able to get her head back up and explain that properly.
“... I see.” Reimu didn’t see entirely, but she figured she got the gist. “So, you wanted to try it?”
Sanae still had her eyes shut, eyes looking down, but she nodded.
“...With me?”
Another, more spirited and clearly embarrassed nod.
“... Alright.”
“...Huh?”
Sanae slowly pulled her head back up, and the disbelief on her face was apparent, although Reimu was too busy averting her eyes to notice.
“...We can try it if you want.”
Sanae hesitated, then scooted forward a bit, excitement, both the nervous and eager kind, pushing her through.
“... Yes. I’d like to.”
“... Alright. So… how does it work?”
Right, yes, it was usually important to know how games worked before you played them with others.
“Y-yeah! Well, we just… take one pocky stick… put one end in each of our mouths… a-and then kinda just. Take one more bite of it without touching it with our hands or taking it out of our mouths.
“... I see. And we do that until our… lips start touching?”
Neither of them noticed that the other was looking everywhere except at the shrine maiden in front of them, on account of looking everywhere except at the shrine maiden in front of them.
“W-well, no, you can stop whenever you want! And whoever stays longer wins, and if you don’t stop… it's a tie?”
“Is that so?”
Sanae was genuinely not certain, but she was in too deep now!
“Y-yes.”
“Okay then…”
Reimu initiated, surprisingly, by putting the chocolate-covered stick she was holding earlier in her mouth, and slightly grunting at Sanae, as if telling her to get over there and get it over with.
Anxiously, Sanae did, moving over and placing her lips on the other end. However, once she did do that, she didn’t have the bravery to keep her eyes open.
She wasn’t quite certain, but she was fairly sure she heard some kind of… Angry grunt at the other end? Before feeling the weight at the other end of the pocky stick shift a bit. Reimu must have taken a bite further. So Sanae followed suit, or at least as best as she could with her eyes completely shut.
Reimu seemed to take another bite. And Sanae followed suit.
And then another bite.
And then another bite.
Sanae had no idea what was left, but they had to have been coming close. She could feel the heat of another face near hers, hear the breaths of both her and Reimu, and feel her heart pounding so hard that it made earthquakes feel tame.
And then she felt the weight on the other end completely disappear.
That was that then. Not all the way, but she should’ve expected as much, she supposed. Sanae did say they could stop at any time, so…
And just before she began to open her eyes, she felt it. She felt Her.
Reimu’s lips pressed against her own at a speed that wasn’t quite a crash, but forceful enough to make Sanae almost fall back.
But Reimu kept her lips there, seemingly trying to pull what little remained of the chocolate sweet out of Sanae’s mouth with her own.
And for some reason, in the heat of the moment, Sanae thought, I won’t let you. She pushed her tongue past her own lips, and into Reimu’s mouth, onto hers where they entangled, danced, as Sanae pulled whatever remained of the sweet into her own mouth.
They pulled away from each other, a thin line connecting their lips as they both caught their breath, desperate for the air they seemed to have forgotten they needed.
A minute in, as their breathing finally began to slow, Sanae spoke first.
“I… I won.”
Reimu would’ve looked more incredulous if she weren’t still trying to recover.
“I… t-thought you said we would… tie if we… if we kissed.”
“... I lied.”
“... Then I can still win.”
Reimu went back for another round, and Sanae welcomed her.