"Mumei what are you doing?"
The question from Bae snapped Mumei out of her daze and she quickly motioned for the rat to crouch down beside her.
"Shhh. Oh my god. It's so cute Bae. Look at them!"
Mumei pointed towards the table at the mall foodcourt where Kronii and Fauna sat, waiting for them to return with the food.
"I've been watching them for like 5 minutes now and my face hurts from smiling. They are. OK. They are, SO CUTE together. Just listen." Mumei's words tumbled out of her at a fever pitch, as they often did when she was excited.
"Kronii. Kronii?"
"Wha?"
"Did you hear what I said?" Fauna looked at the girl across from her, searching her face for signs of life, like the James Webb Telescope scanning Sana.
"Oh sorry man. I didn't mean to zone out there. I was just, you know, no thoughts head empty." Kronii struggled to regain her composure as she returned her gaze to Fauna.
"That's okay. It wasn't important." Fauna smiled at Kronii, "I was just saying that it's taking Mumei and Bae a long time to come back with the food. What if they got lost? That would turn into quite the pickle."
"Funniest thing I ever..." Kronii trailed off mid sentence, reciting the meme almost as a reflex. "Haha. Sorry. I can't help it."
"No, it's okay." Fauna assured her.
"No, it's not, you were trying to make conversation and I was just going to spout off another meme. I always do this and I'm sorry man." Kronii sighed, tired and exasperated with herself.
Fauna let out a soft quiet giggle, almost like a whispered laugh. "You know I do like that."
"What?"
"When you call me 'man'. I don't get that often because I don't feel like I'm a bro at all y'know. Anytime you call me that I'm like AH! I'm- I'm her bro! We're bros!" Fauna let out another giggle.
"Oh. Well yeah. We make a good team." Kronii's face broke into a grin.
"And you know I like your memes too." Fauna continued. "I like you and I like your memes. I like a lot of things about you. So don't be so down on yourself you know?"
Kronii's face reddened and she was silent. Fauna reached across the table and grasped her hand. "And you know what else I like? How you're always trying your best to improve. I love it."
A bead of sweat ran down Kronii's face and settled on her collarbone. Fauna was close, much too close. She leaned in and whispered to Kronii like a KU-100, "So if you ever decide you want to turn over a new leaf..." Using her other hand she raised the hem of her dress ever so slightly, giving Kronii the tiniest peek at the tights underneath.
"Um...Ah...I mean..." Kronii swallowed a lump in her throat, trying to find the words.
"But mostly, I love how fun you are to tease." Fauna leaned back into her seat, an impish smirk on her face as she watched the flustered Kronii.
Kronii blushed furiously, as Fauna broke into laughter. "GOD DAMN IT. AGHHHHHH." Kronii let out a groan like an older Charlie Brown whiffing the kick on a football.
"I really do like you though Kronii." Fauna squeezed Kronii's hand as she beamed at her.
"I...I like you too." Kronii mumbled down to her lap, unable to look Fauna in the eyes."
Mumei fell backwards in ecstasy, blood gushing out of her nose.
"Mumei? MUMEI!" Bae's panicked voice cut through the air as the camera panned upwards through the ceiling skylights and to the bright blue sky. A single word echoed as the "See you next Episode" appeared in the bottom right hand corner.
"BRUH."