Ditching the Party
“…And I have to go because…?”
Kronii crosses her arms and slumps onto the sofa. She looks around, surrounded by pleading eyes. She sighs and looks at the ceiling. “You better not say because the entire Council is needed, because Mumei’s not going.”
Bae drags her hands across her face, “Bruh, cmon. It’s not like everyone should go but it would be nice to have as many members as possible.” She moves closer to the stubborn clock and pokes her cheek, “You’re just going to see your senpais, you’re not going to die.”
“You can just say hi and eat some free food, Kronii.” Fauna tries to chime in, “Besides, your mental support is going to be there!”
Kronii glares at the kirin. “What do you mean mental support?”
“Oh, don’t be like that, Kronini. I think everyone’s noticed by now.” Sana attempts to help her friend from certain death. “Every time we go somewhere with her involved, the two of you just stick together like glue!”
Kronii now stares at Sana while removing Bae’s finger from her face.
“…I literally don’t know who you’re talking ab—” Just as she begins to reply, Kronii realizes who they’re referring to. She blushes and looks away.
Sana smiles and pokes her for Bae. “Seeeee? It’s no problem if she’s there, ri— OW ow ow ow ow…”
She quickly removes her finger when Kronii tries to bend it. “Well, you didn’t have to be mean about it…”
Kronii smirks at her, happy that she actually got Sana to back away a little. She returns to looking at the ceiling. “I still don’t know what you guys ‘noticed’.”
Fauna giggles. “Okay Kronii, playing dumb won’t work here.”
Mumei lights up. “Oh yeah! Don’t the two of you always end up together at some point? You always walk up to her to talk and that’s all you do every party until there’s something we all have to do. It’s kinda cute, actually.”
Now that she realizes what they're talking about. She's completely embarrassed. Kronii stands up and walks away from them to avoid any more teasing from her friends. “So tomorrow, right? Okay, see you.” She started off walking normally but quickly picks up the pace when she hears their voices.
“WAIT, Kronii!” Bae calls out to her, but she ignores her. “At least remember it’s not a formal thing so you can dress with whatever!” Kronii takes no notice of them asking her to come back and heads straight home.
She does her usual activities then goes to bed without playing any games. “…I’m not the one who looks for her… Am I?” The conversation with Council becomes the only thing on her mind while trying to sleep. Naturally, she only manages to sleep for an hour.
Groggy and grumpy, she puts on some casual clothes and heads to the party. “…Who even starts a party at noon…?”
She recalls part of Fauna’s explanation.
It’s pretty sudden, they just wanted to meet up to have fun and some girls have to stream that day.
“…Right…”
When she arrives, most members are already there. The cheerful vibe of the girls revitalizes her a little bit. All of the branches were invited. While not everyone was able to arrive, a very good portion of them did. They all look really happy to finally be able to meet each other face to face. She manages to say hello to everyone, as nervous as she is since it’s the first time she meets some of them face to face. Slowly but surely, she warms up to everyone and has a good time. At some point she finally stumbles into her fellow Council members.
“You doin’ okay, Kronii?” Bae asks her while giving her a plate of snacks. “Here, in case you were hungry.”
“Thanks.” She only eats a few snacks and gives the plate back to Bae. “Are there any drinks around? I talked too much…”
Bae nods and points to another table. “Over there, there’s some boba and other stuff.” Her ears perk up when she hears something. “Oh, I think that’s Mio-mama. Wanna come talk to her?” She turns to where Mio is.
Kronii looks over there. She sees another group with Mio, while she has already said hello, she still feels a little intimidated to just intrude in their conversation. She shakes her head. “Nah, I’m going to try to chill a little while drinking something.”
Bae smiles and nods again. “It’s fine, Kronii. I’m happy you even came by.” She starts to walk away. “I’ll talk to you in a bit!”
Free from social interactions for a little while, she sighs in relief. After getting her drink she walks around to find a place to stay without bothering anyone. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots someone walking aimlessly. She looks at the girl and immediately recognizes her.
She tries to go to her. She notices the new hairstyle. Twintails, huh. Tied with different colored ribbons too. She’s about to reach her so she calls out to her. “HiRy—”.
Someone else beats her to the punch. Nene grabs IRyS’ hand and pulls her away towards her group. Kronii can clearly see she’s nervous to go, but she doesn’t stop them. She recalls the conversation she had yesterday with her own group and gets self-conscious. She walks to a place with less people and leans on the wall. “When’s this ending again?” She pulls out her phone to check the time; it’s barely been 2 hours since it started. She sighs and raises her hand. “…Maybe if I speed things up…”
She makes a gesture like she’s increasing a dial and the others start to move faster… too fast, actually. “Hmm… Maybe not that much…” She decreases the dial, and everything moves at a slightly slower pace, but still faster than normal. She goes back to her phone and begins to scroll.
She glances every now and then at the Nephilim, she appears to be doing better but it looks like she’s also looking for someone. Kronii almost wants to go to her but stops herself. “…I’m not looking for her…” She focuses on her phone, scrolling and scrolling her feed.
It feels like it’s been around an hour. The lack of any interactions make Kronii’s sleepiness catch up to her. She yawns. Right in the middle of it, she feels something poking her cheek. Already annoyed by two girls poking her yesterday, she moves the dial back to normal speed and glares at whoever dared do this to her again.
Her frown is short-lived.
“Kroniichiwa!”
“H-HiRyS!” somehow, her sleepiness disappears, and she smiles.
IRyS pouts and pokes her again. “What did I tell you about not saying that in public?!”
“Hey, you started it.” Kronii gently moves her finger away. “What brings you to my humble corner, IRyS?”
IRyS leans on the wall with her and looks at the party. “Mmmm… No reason. I figured someone might be lonely.” She turns to Kronii and smiles.
“Aw you shouldn’t have.” Anyone could feel the sarcasm from the clock. “Well since you’re here already… I guess you can stay.”
“Thank youwu sow muwch, Kwonii-sama.” IRyS fires back with uwu speak while nuzzling on Kronii’s shoulder. “Oh, wait!” She immediately stops to walk in front of her. “Do you like them?” She shows off her twin tails, she even does a twirl.
It would be too much to tease her for this. “They’re cute.” Kronii replies, finally being honest for once.
“Really? Thank you!” She gives her a big smile as a reward, making Kronii blush a little.
She goes back to watching the party by her side. They talk about whatever comes to their minds, or just humming along to the music playing together.
“…Oh yeah!” IRyS holds up her arm towards Kronii, almost hitting her.
“…You wanna fight?” She looks at her incredulously, about to put up her own hands.
“What? NO, no no no.” She gestures towards her wrist. “Look! I got it fixed!” She points at her watch, tick tocking away.
“Finally?” Kronii grabs her arm to look closely. “Oh it does work now.” She notices a single imperfection on the glass, so she touches it. The scratch slowly disappears as Kronii’s finger slides on it. “Now it’s perfect.” She lets IRyS’ arm go.
“Oh! Thank you!” She looks at her watch, now good as new.
“You know you could’ve just asked me to fix it, right?” She turns to IRyS, still very happy for the help. “You could’ve saved some money.”
“Well, I couldn’t just bother Kronii-sama with such a minuscule problem.” IRyS responds.
She goes back to looking at the party. “…If it’s you I don’t mind.”
“T-thanks…” Kronii fails to realize IRyS’ blushing. She takes the chance to cover her face and breath to recover.
They stay silent for a little while, observing the others. From time to time, they notice them staring back with a smug look on their faces. Now they’re both blushing. They decide to keep talking to distract themselves from the others.
“W-why are they looking at us like that?” IRyS asks Kronii.
“Well… That’s kind of the reason I didn’t go to you earlier…” Might as well be honest again. “I talked to the Council yesterday, and they basically said we’re like a couple because… we always stick together…” She’s too embarrassed to face IRyS after explaining.
“…So?”
Kronii looks at her. IRyS is still blushing but she manages to smile. “These kinds of things are more fun like this.”
Kronii sighs and covers her face. “…How do you manage to say these things with a smile on your face is beyond me…”
“I say them exactly because of your reactions!” She moves closer and hugs Kronii’s arm. “Hehe!”
This back-and-forth flirting didn’t go unnoticed. They start to hear cheering from the other girls, making IRyS stop her hug immediately. She blushes again and hides her arms behind her back. Kronii gives them an annoyed look, making them stop.
“…Hey IRyS?” She turns to her again. “Have you said HiRyS to everyone?”
She pouts again. “…Yes, Kronii. I’ve said hi to everyone.” Just as she replies, Kronii reaches out to grab her hand.
“…Let’s go then.” She pulls her away from the party. Not looking back because she really isn’t in the mood to hear more cheering.
“W-wait!” IRyS tries to pull back, but quickly gives up. She turns around to catch Reine looking at them. She waves at her and Reine gives her a thumbs-up. She might have said something that could have been words of encouragement but IRyS was already too far away to hear.
They run away from the building where the party is being held. Unfortunately, their stamina only allows them to run half a block. As they’re catching their breath, they start to laugh.
“Hey Kronii… is it really okay… to leave?” IRyS asks Kronii, who’s already on the floor.
“Huh? …Oh, yeah it’s fine.” She gets up when she feels like she recovered a little. “I saw some girls leaving earlier.”
“Well, if you say so.” She grabs Kronii’s hand to make sure she doesn’t fall again. “Can we walk, then?” Kronii nods and they continue their escape.
After walking for a while, Kronii stops in front of another building. “…An arcade?” IRyS can’t help but giggle at the destination her partner decided on.
Kronii scratches her cheek. “…I saw this while heading to the party…” She looks at IRyS, she doesn’t seem against the idea. “Should be an okay time kille—” She stops herself. “…SHOULD BE A GOOD WAY TO PASS THE TIME.”
“Pffft. Hehehehehe.” Kronii stopped herself too late, and the robotic voice just made it funnier. “Hahahahahaha… Sure, Kronii… I’m down… Hehehe…” IRyS wipes a tear off her face while they head inside.
The place is what you would expect from any arcade. There are almost no lights in the ceiling, no need for them thanks to all the machines illuminating the entire area. IRyS almost thinks there are rainbows all around the place. She can almost hear some music, but it gets completely drowned out by the arcade machines. There's a good number of people around playing in the cabinets or observing people showing off their skills. Kronii can almost feel the same excitement from the people, but manages to hold off from going on her own when she looks at her partner. IRyS is stunned from all the lights and music from the machines, but Kronii holds her hand again helping her ground herself.
"T-thanks." IRyS stays close to Kronii while they go buy tickets and find games to play.
While inside, IRyS notices the crowd carrying bags. Upon further inspection, she sees they're all full of tickets; some even have entire rolls on them. "Oh that seems more convenient than carrying them around with your hands." She turns to Kronii. "Do we get a bag?"
"Way ahead of you." Kronii shows her an empty bag she's carrying. "I'm just that resourceful." She won't tell her the clerk gave them the bag while IRyS wasn't looking.
"Wouldn't Fauna be upset with all this... 'waste'?" IRyS continues to make questions, Kronii's a little glad. This means she's at least interested.
"Eh, she doesn't mind." She tries to explain. "There are other arcades that use a card to store all the tickets."
"...How do the tickets fit in a card?"
Kronii looks at her, she genuinely doesn't understand. She can't help but laugh. "No, IRyS... Let's call it... credit instead. You earn credit that goes to your card, no real tickets involved."
"O-oh..." Now that she understands, she blushes and keeps walking. "...So what are we playing first?"
They spend a good amount of time playing co-op games and racing games. Teasing each other when they die or when they lose. They have to stop after IRyS starts getting a bit motion sick from racing.
“Sorry, Kronii.” IRyS has to lean on her shoulder for a bit to recover. Kronii notices she’s a little sad.
Kronii pats her head. “It’s fine, we can play other things like uh… What’s it called?” She points to a machine that has a very big ring. “…Pop the lock?”
“Sounds good, bet you won’t even manage to do it.” Even while feeling sick, IRyS still manages to tease the clock.
“Oh, you’ll see.” Little does she know Kronii has a hand up her sleeve… One that IRyS should already know about.
50 to go… 45 to go… 30 to go…
IRyS watches in awe as Kronii presses the button at exactly the right time. It’s been a while since she sees her concentrated face.
10 to go… 5 to go… JACKPOT
“WOO! FIRST TRY!” Kronii turns around to celebrate. She can see IRyS jumping in joy. “See that?” Kronii gives her a smug smile.
“Yeah!!!” IRyS responds with a high five. “Do it again!”
Riding the wave, Kronii starts the game again. While playing, IRyS notices something. As the line gets faster and faster, Kronii uses her free hand to move an imaginary dial, just like before. No wonder she looked so confident. IRyS starts to laugh right as Kronii wins once more.
“What’s wrong?” Kronii walks to the Nephilim, worried something happened again.
“Hehehe… Nothing, nothing.” The date would be ruined if she tells her, so IRyS decides to keep this to herself.
After winning a good amount of tickets with that game, they move onto something else. They play a few games of Skee-ball… It didn’t go as well as with the last game. “…Let’s play another game.” Kronii grabs IRyS’ hand again and takes her away from her shameful display. IRyS kept laughing the entire time.
They stumble upon the Big Bass Wheel game. “Wanna try your luck?” IRyS asks Kronii, only to be met with a smug smile.
“IRyS… IRyS… I don’t need luck.” She pulls the handle while looking at her. “Just watch.”
“Oh yeah you don’t need luck when you have hope by your side!” IRyS grins at her.
“N-No not… Okay, maybe but… I didn’t mean that…” Kronii can’t decide between pouting, getting angry or just blushing so she looks away. “…I’m praying to Kronii.”
“…You’re praying to who—”
JACKPOT
Kronii slowly turns to her, with a huge grin on her face. “See?”
“Alright well, let me try then.” IRyS grabs the handle. “I just need to pray to Kronii, right?”
“WELL… If Kronii prays to Kronii, of course it’ll work.” Kronii tries to make it up as she talks. “But OTHER people… They have to offer something in return…”
“Oh, really?” IRyS already figured she’s just making it up, she smirks at her. “Then I guess I’ll give Kronii a smooch if I get the jackpot”
“Wait you WHA—”
Kronii’s too late to stop her, IRyS pulls the lever with conviction. The poor clock’s heart is almost beating out of her chest. IRyS is a little bit embarrassed about offering such a reward, but it’s too late to go back on it.
There’s no way it lands on a jackpot again. Kronii thinks to herself.
The wheel slows down.
There’s no wa—.
JACKPOT
“WOOOOO!” IRyS throws her hands up in celebration, then turns to look at Kronii. “Well, I guess I have to pay up, huh?”
“Fwawwoh n-no you don’t haha…” Kronii backs away. “Gweh, sometimes K-Kronii feels too kind and… You don’t have to offer anything!”
These excuses do nothing to stop IRyS, she keeps walking towards Kronii. She can’t back away anymore. She closes her eyes and braces herself.
“Chu~.”
She feels something on her cheek. She opens her eyes to see a flustered IRyS staring at her. “…W-what?” She touches her cheek; did IRyS kiss her there?
“What’s wrong Kronii?” IRyS goes on the offensive some more. “Did you perhaps… want the kiss somewhere else?” She slowly touches her own lips, making Kronii beet red. “Hehehe, Kronii… I didn’t know you were like this~.”
“N-NO THAT’S NOT WHAT I—”
IRyS comes face to face with her. “Hey, hey Kronii… Why didn’t you stop time to run away?” She walks back a little to stop torturing her. “M-maybe… Gasp. Maybe you actually wanted—“
“I’m leaving.” Too embarrassed to face her, Kronii starts walking away.
“NO WAIT KRONII DON’T”
It takes a little bit to get her back, but they both manage to calm down and keep playing. They also keep teasing each other for the smallest things. Kronii pretends to be upset, but she’s having a lot of fun.
While playing air hockey, Kronii notices IRyS getting paler and paler. She scores on herself to finish the game quicker. IRyS looks at her confused. “You okay?”
She smiles. “Lil’ bit tired, don’t worry.”
“Don’t tell me what not to do.” Kronii goes to her side and grabs her hand. “Let’s go out for some air.” She carefully walks outside with her, stealing glances a few times to make sure she’s fine.
Once outside, they find a bench to sit on. IRyS already looks a bit better. “Sorry Kronii…” She tries to explain. “I’m actually not that good with arcades… All the noises and bright lights tire me out after a while…”
Kronii frowns. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She squeezes her hand. “We could’ve gone anywhere else.”
IRyS giggles a little. “I was having too much fun to remember.” Kronii still has a worried face. “It’s fine, I’m happy you brought me here, Kronii-sama~.”
Kronii sighs, she gets up and walks back into the arcade with the bag full of all their tickets. IRyS curiously watches her go out of her sight. She almost wants to join her, but she stays put, playing with her twin tails.
A few minutes later, Kronii returns with a slight blush on her face. When she sits down next to her, she looks away, as if she doesn’t want to face her. “Did something happen, Kronii?” She looks at the ticket bag, it's completely empty.
“…Here.” Kronii puts something in IRyS’ hand. She looks at it.
It’s a phone strap. It has a simple design, but more importantly, it has both her and Kronii’s colors. “Woooow…” She holds it up to get a better look. Kronii feels a little relieved after seeing her happy face.
“…It’s a thank you, for coming with me.” She pats her head carefully, making sure to not ruin the twin tails. “And sorry for dragging you here… And also, for not saying hi earlier… And—”
IRyS stops her by patting her head back. She gives her a smile to reassure her it’s fine.
They stay on the bench for some time, watching people play inside the arcade. IRyS also keeps looking at her gift, flustering Kronii. “Did it take you too long to pick this?”
Kronii slowly facepalms. “…Well… Yeah but… Also no…” She crosses her arms and looks at the place where she redeemed her tickets. “…ARCADE PRICES SUCK, OKAY.”
“Really?”
“I wanted to get you something cuter but… That would have taken so much time and… Ugh…” She leans her head on her hands. “…At least the colors are nice.”
“Yeah!” IRyS shows her the strap. “Look, look, it has our colors!”
Kronii’s eyes widen, she didn’t realize that. “O-oh… Yeah, they do…” She decides to double down. “It’s so… You don’t forget about your boss, h-haha…”
IRyS is stunned for a second, but she fights back. She leans on Kronii’s shoulder and hugs her arm. “Yeah, I deeeefinitely won’t forget about my dear, dear Kronii~.” She smirks at her.
Neither can take it anymore and they look away while blushing. “…Oh, I wonder if the party ended.” Kronii says while pulling out her phone. She has a few unread messages from Bae.
don’t think I didn’t see you sneak out with your sweetheart.
it’s ok if you don’t come back btw other peeps already left.
A few hours pass before the last message.
party’s over now don’t worry.
you gotta tell us how the date went next meeting tho.
xD
“How DARE you XD me” Kronii says while responding to Bae’s messages.
“W-what?” IRyS turns to her, not realizing she was checking her phone. “Oh!”
“Yeah, the party ended, it’s fine.” Kronii stands up with her. “Are you feeling better now?”
IRyS nods. “Yep, thank you.” They start walking away from the arcade. “…Guess we can go home now.”
“You have to stream later tonight, right?” Kronii turns to her. “You sure you’re okay?”
The Nephilim looks at her and smirks. “How’d you know?” Kronii looks away while IRyS continues. “Did you look at my schedule while looking at your phone at the partyyyy~?”
“…Forget it…”
“Stop being such a worrywart, Kroniiiiii…” IRyS puts a bit more weight leaning on Kronii, making her stumble. “I’ll be fiiiine.”
“…Alriiight…”
IRyS keeps playing with her gift, giggling from time to time. “I’ll gift you something back next time we come here.”
Kronii squeezes her hand. “…We’re only playing until you start to feel bad, okay?”
IRyS smiles at her. “It’s a promise then!”
Kronii arrives home. She takes off her shoes and walks to her sofa, throwing herself on it. She grabs a pillow that was about to fall off and covers her face with it.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”
She kicks while screaming into the pillow. Remembering what happened today is just too much for the poor clock. She starts rolling around she ends up falling to the floor.
“…At least I got her a few times…” She slowly removes the pillow. She thinks about the gift she got her.
“…Maybe I should’ve gotten two…”
Meanwhile, IRyS is spinning around in her chair, waiting to start her stream. She keeps giggling to herself while scrolling through twitter on her phone. She stares at her phone’s cute new accessory. She blushes a little and brings it close to her chest.
“…I hope there’s another party soon…”
t. Nameronii
Sources for the art used:
https://twitter.com/ydh2101/status/1473317696179961857
https://twitter.com/NAMIORII/status/1483355667373395970