Chapter Text
When Okusawa Misaki first donned the mascot suit on that fateful day, she never thought that she’d be changing her whole life by being Michelle in the process. Okay, sure, that may sound dramatic but, if you step back and think about it, there’s a whole lot of difference from giving out fliers and working at a part-time job to earn some extra money--
to suddenly find yourself with a bunch of weirdos,
finding yourself making legit music and prancing on stage as a large, pink, DJ Bear
and finding yourself screaming 10,000 feet above the ground as said large, pink, DJ Bear with the aforementioned bunch of weirdos.
But for the record, she doesn’t know what’s scarier—falling from the sky or falling for the Sun.
An hour after touching the ground and escaping death after what might be the scariest ten minutes of her life, Misaki finds herself lying on the grass, basking at the gentle light of the sun. The grass tickled her legs and she inhales the earthy scent of the ground. Her heart is still rearing from the rush of adrenaline and her body is both beyond exhausted and riled up from the skydiving encounter that she doesn’t know if wants to sleep or kick Kokoro in the face.
She snorts.
As if.
No matter how infuriating the blonde woman is, Misaki could never, ever hurt Kokoro.
“She’s my soulmate, after all.” Misaki grumbles to herself, fiddling with the black cap that had fallen next to her. Even without glancing at her wrist, she can still make out in her mind the Words etched into her skin since her childhood.
Don’t tell her I like her though, written in bright yellow colors.
She’d be lying if she says that she can still remember play by play the moment her Words came to life through Kokoro’s lips. She doesn’t exactly remember what happened, what they were talking about, what lead up to it. After all, when it happened, Misaki’s brain stopped functioning, imploded and then exploded, erasing all past memories and leaving her in ruins. Which in retrospect now that she actually had time to relflect about it, seems nothing new when it comes to Kokoro.
What she vividly remembers though is Kokoro’s beaming smile at her—well, at Michelle to be exact. It's a known fact that the Tsurumaki heiress is always happy, Kokoro is always, always smiling but the smile back then is so different. Misaki would blame Kaoru for influencing her like this but there's no more beautiful words that could explain that moment: like being battered by the storm when you only knew the gentle falling of rain. And then being shown upon a ray of warmth and light after being cold for so long from the storm. She closes her eyes.
“You know, Michelle, Misaki is a one-of-a-kind person! I know you already know this, you're her friend after all! She’s the type to say she’s tired, she’s done, she’s going home or she’s had enough…” Kokoro trails off, her eyes gleaming. “But she always sticks around. Always gives her 200% for HaroHapi. She’s precious like that. That’s why I like her. Like, a like-like feeling of like. Oh! Don’t tell her I like her though! It’s a secret between us, okay!”
Michelle simply nod, speechless and the vocalist turns around to find the others. Misaki can feel herself getting hot and sweaty and she’s damn sure it’s not because of the bear suit. She can’t see it but she knows, feels the Words itch just a bit, she pictures it glow bright yellow. Just like Kokoro’s hair or eyes.
Yellow, it finally dawns on Misaki three minutes before their performance, hands still sweaty.
Of course, it’s Kokoro—it had always been her.
“Mi-sa-ki! Why are you sleeping here?” Misaki’s train of thought comes to a halt as she abruptly opens her eyes and gets assaulted with bright yellow. Long strands of golden hair fills her vision and the girl from her flashback comes to life, never without that trademark smile. “Is the grass comfy?” Kokoro asks with a curious tone, tilting her head. Her bright, yellow hair blocked out the sunlight but Misaki can’t see the difference at all.
Kokoro is the Sun—she’s blinding everything that revolves around her. Fierce and passionate and gentle and warm all at once. The Sun will keep on shining, and Kokoro will be Kokoro.
“No, I just had to gather my bearings.” Misaki sat up, starts beushing away stray grass that got stuck to her hoodie. She would like to lie down some more but knowing Kokoro, she’d lie down next to her and then Misaki will have a hard time trying to get her to get up.
“Where are the others?” she redirects the conversation before the singer can even start to form any ideas revolving grass.
“Hagumi and Kanon are helping Kaoru who is still nauseous from the jump!” Kokoro exclaims, tone unbelieving as if she doesn’t realize that falling from the sky can make anyone feel like they want to die. “Kanon asked me to come and get you so we all can get Kaoru back home.”
Misaki nodded, slowly standing up. She puts her cap back on and gingerly takes Kokoro’s hand which the girl obliged rather happily.
“Let’s go, Kokoro.”
One week after the skydiving activity, Misaki gets a glimpse of Kokoro’s wrist and her Words. It’s not like she took a peek on purpose, though the thought had crossed her mind a million of times. Words are blurry until they are spoken and even if it is, just like with Misaki's case, other people including her soulmate can only see blurry colors until she says her soulmate's Words. Unfortunately for Misaki, she didn’t see the words itself, just a tiny flash of pink amidst a yellow tornado coming right at her.
“Mii-kun! Wait for us!” Shouting across the whole school, Kokoro and Hagumi sprinted towards her like madmen thirsty for blood. Misaki, not knowing what to do and too tired to actually do something, braced for Hagumi’s tackle. However, what made the impact was Kokoro, who jumped towards her and decided to latch on her back like a very happy and very yellow koala.
With Misaki as the unlucky tree.
The two of them would have fallen to the ground if not for Misaki’s reflex, well-developed muscles and the strong will to not embarrass herself in public.
“Woah, nice catch there Mii-kun!” Hagumi exclaims, catching up on them. Misaki was about to comment about how there was no need to catch Kokoro when she latched onto her when she sees a spot of purple and blue towards them. “M-Misaki-chan! Are you okay?” Kanon asked, slightly heaving as she and Kaoru catch up on them.
Misaki could make out a blur of pink peeking out of the long sleeves of Kokoro’s wrists around her but she forces her eyes to look at other things instead. She turns to her blue-haired senior, slightly shifting her weight so she can actually carry their singer in a piggyback who settled in at her back. “Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks for asking.”
“What a feat! Misaki you stood as strong as a mountain, truly fleeting!” Kaoru praises her, dramatic as always.
“Misaki, you’re so strong!” Kokoro beams, wrapping her arms around Misaki even tighter.
“Just like Michelle!” Hagumi adds.
“I am Michelle.” Misaki mutters to herself, the words lost between the three idiots laughing.
“Oh! I almost forgot why we had to go to Misaki!” Kanon gasps. “Kokoro wanted us to have our band meeting at a family restaurant today. You can also think of it as a celebration for surviving our skydiving session last week.” her senior explains further.
Kaoru continues. “Oh, the memories as we escape the narrow hold of Death itself against the winds. Truly fleeting!” Kaoru reminisces dramatically with her hands. It’s very brief but Misaki can see her turn pale just for a bit, probably remembering what might be a traumatic experience.
To be honest, Misaki can’t really blame her.
“Yeah, you should go with us Misaki! It’ll be very fun!” Kokoro chided, blonde hair tickling Misaki’s ears. She tries to ignore the heat on her back. “Well, I guess the fact that we’re alive and somehow in one piece after plunging to death is something to be celebrated.” Misaki smiled exasperatedly. "Sure, I'm in." With the last member in, the whole band cheered and they made their way to the family restaurant with Misaki (and Kokoro by extension) following close.
Sensing that there’s no chance of having the yellow koala off her back, she adjusted her hold on Kokoro’s legs, trying to ignore how stupidly soft her soulmate's thighs and legs are.
“Hold on tight.” She tells Kokoro.
She can’t say how but she feels Kokoro smile wider, if that’s even possible. “Let’s go, Misaki!”