Work Text:
We Are Pretty Clueless
Chapter 1: Self Study
The final bell rang out the end of the day. Half an instant later, the classroom door opened, revealing an exhausted Honoka and Nagisa.
"It seems we didn't make it," Honoka puffed out, clinging to the door frame for support.
"And I was looking forward to catching up on my sleep," her ginger-haired friend whined, shuffling over to her desk.
Her brows drawing together at this comment, Honoka wavered before allowing the comment to pass. Instead, she said, "the Dark Zone never allows us to catch our breath, does it?"
"You can say that again." Nagisa said, dropping into her chair with a thump.
Watching this exchange with interest, Rina waited until Honoka had gone to her own seat before leaning over from her desk. "You and Honoka get 'caught up' in something again?"
The sporty girl nodded. "Yeah, something like that." When she sat up and turned to her good friends, she froze in confusion. Both were staring directly at her, exasperation in Rina's eyes, excitement in Shiho's.
"What?" She asked, patting herself down for any obvious wounds or grime from her last fight as Cure Black. "Is it something on my face?"
"Oh, just thinking about how lucky some people are," Rina said, rising from her chair with her nose in the air.
...
"...and, and, and! I think he was looking at me!" Shiho puffed out her chest. "I told you I was a catch!"
"Oh yeah?" Rina teased. "Then where's Mr. Charming now, huh?"
"W-well, I mean... maybe, maybe, maybe he's shy!"
Forcing laughter with her friends on their walk home, Nagisa couldn't help but feel a little bored. Try as she might, she couldn't get into the conversation--there was only one person she wanted to talk about like that, and she'd feel way too embarrassed to admit to something like a crush.
Apparently her friends had noticed, because that was when Rina turned to her and said, "Not too interested in our love-talk, huh?"
Her face glowing red with embarrassment, Nagisa flailed her lacrosse stick wildly. "W-what are you talking about!?" She said, desperately trying to give a convincing smile. "I just love talking about guys and stuff!"
"Uh-huh." Shiho pouted. "Well then, what's the name of the guy we were talking about?"
I have no idea. Nagisa's smile wavered, her brain scrolling through the names of every guy she knew. "Uh... Yamada?"
"So you weren't listening." Her redheaded friend sighed.
Rina nodded in agreement. "See, this is the problem with lucky people: they forget that the rest of us."
Scrunching her face up in annoyance, Nagisa turned to her friend and said, "Hey, what do you mean, 'lucky'? You said it earlier too, but I have no idea what it means!"
"Lucky people!" the pigtailed girl repeated, furrowing her brow. "Y'know, people who are in a relationship?"
For a moment, all was silent. "People who are in a...?" Nagisa repeated, her face blank.
Exchanging a confused look with her friend, Shiho said, "Y'know, y'know, y'know, like you and Honoka?"
Another momentary silence.
"...wait, you are dating, right?"
...
"I can't believe this!"
The trio now sat beside a familiar food truck, Nagisa's friends having explained the situation over takoyaki.
"Well, you two weren't making it hard." Rina began. "I mean, what about that time Honoka came over at the lacrosse game to wish you luck with that 'talking stuffed animal' routine?"
I mean, sure, that happened before, Nagisa thought, but that was just because she had to keep Porun from being discovered.
"Or all those times you two would disappear in the middle of class or something, then come back all tired and sweaty?" Shiho continued.
Wincing, Nagisa thought, Pretty Cure again--we're just disappearing to save the city. Not like I can tell them that, though.
"Oh! Or that time you kicked us out during our study session so you and Honoka could have a 'private sleepover'?"
"And that time Megumin and Maki saw you two holding hands by the water fountain?"
"Or how she's always staring at you, and she's so ready to help you out!"
"And how you never talk about anything but eating, lacrosse, and her?"
"I GET IT!" Nagisa shouted, cutting them off. "I'll admit, there's some stuff in there that might look pretty weird, and I'm sorry that I can't explain it. But honestly, the rest is just us being friends!"
Her friends exchanged glances, then returned their gaze to Nagisa. Clearly, they weren't fully convinced, but they'd run out of ammunition.
"Does Honoka know that?" Rina asked instead.
The oblivious girl blinked at this. "Huh?"
"I mean, you might not think of her like that, but what about Honoka?" The brunette said. "What about all the 'fan mail' you get in your shoe locker? Isn't it possible at least one of those letters came from her?"
Nodding at her friend's words, Shiho added, "Stuff that you don't think about, like holding hands and hugs and that kind of thing... all of it might seem normal to you, but if Honoka likes you like that..."
"Wait!" Nagisa cut in, throwing her hands up. "Like you said, if she likes me like that! You don't know for sure that she does!"
Nobody said anything for a moment. Finally, Rina said, "Just try to make sure sooner or later. I mean, she's our friend too! We really don't want to see her hurt."
"What are you all talking about?"
Turning, the trio saw a certain blonde first year in an apron--the closest thing to a uniform Akane had given her, apparently.
And also, perhaps, the second person Nagisa wanted to see least right now.
"Hey, you're... Kujo-san, right?" Rina asked, stroking her chin. "That First Year who transferred in?"
"Right, right, right!" Shiho agreed. "You're the one that ran out onto the field at that lacrosse game!"
"Come to think of it," Rina said, "haven't you been hanging around Nagisa and Honoka lately?"
Blinking in surprise, Hikari nodded and said, "Well, yes! I really look up to them both! Why?"
A shadow falling across her face, Shiho offered a sinister grin. "So, I guess that means you can give an opinion on something!"
"Sure!" Hikari said with an innocent smile. "What did you want?"
"Hey guys," Nagisa tried to cut in, "maybe we shouldn't drag-"
"Tell us, tell us, tell us, do you think Honoka and Nagisa are dating!?"
The part-timer's head drooped to the side. "Aren't they?"
...
Training her eyes on the sidewalk, Nagisa kept her hands firmly over her ears. This was made necessary by her two 'friends' jeering laughter filling the emptying streets.
"'Aren't they,' 'aren't they,' aren't they'!" Shiho guffawed. "And you were so surprised!"
Her head bobbing in agreement, Rina added, "I mean, that First Year really has been palling around with you two a lot lately." The tall girl threw up her hands. "If even she believed it, you might as well face it: you two look like a couple."
"I can't believe this!" Nagisa whined, finally releasing her ears and letting her arms dangle at her sides. Rina and Shiho, I get, the sporty girl thought. I guess it would look kind of suspicious without the Precure stuff. But... Hikari knows about that! Why would she think me and Honoka were like-
For some reason, this gave her pause. Like what? I mean, I get that they think we're dating, but... what does that actually mean?
She started thinking of the things she'd actually do with someone she was dating, and came up unexpectedly blank.
Well... I guess I would go get food with them, right? That's pretty normal for a date.
Her mind wandered to all of the times she'd gone for food with her friends--including Honoka.
No, those don't count. she thought with a shake of her head. You're supposed to go to, like, fancy restaurants with a date, right?
Immediately the image formed in her mind of sitting in a fancy restaurant, dressed in her best (imaginary) clothes, sitting beside...
The lacrosse champ shook her head, her cheeks flushing at the thought of a certain bluenette dressed to the nines. It's not like who I'd go there with matters. Besides, I don't go to expensive places like that in the first place!
...I guess Honoka could, though...
Another image of a fancy restaurant took shape in her mind, but this time, Honoka was accompanied by some faceless, formless figure.
A sinking stone settled in Nagisa's stomach at the thought. Failing to dispel it with another shake of her head, the short-haired girl instead turned her focus back to the original question.
Maybe people go places when they're dating? Like... the aquarium, or the planetarium? She frowned. Those sound fine, but... weirdly familiar. And kinda science-y...
Then she remembered: she'd been to both those places with Honoka. Smiling at the memory despite herself, she had to admit she'd enjoyed the day out. Then she remembered what she was thinking about--and how she was thinking about her friend.
W-well, people who are dating, it's, like, more about what you do than where you do it, right!? I mean, they, uh... do go places together...
Which she'd done quite a lot of with Honoka.
A-and they hold hands!
Again, though it happened under strange circumstances, she'd done it with Honoka. Her own hand grew warm just thinking about it, and Nagisa flexed it involuntarily at the memory.
Eventually, they could spend the night together!
The time she'd fallen asleep hand in hand with her best friend's floated to the surface of her thoughts, lighting a fluttering burn in the lacrosse captain's chest.
B-but! That one thing that people who are dating can do is kiss, right! And I've never done that with Honoka!
Another image took shape in Nagisa's head, one where she gently placed a kiss upon the lips of-
It's not like I'd WANT to, though! She said, mentally waving away the image (with more reluctance than she'd admit). Jeez, who am I even making these excuses to...
Her reverie was interrupted as Shiho's hand met the off-duty magical girl's back with a solid smack. "You've been real quiet, quiet, quiet for a bit now, Nagisa!" Smirking, she added, "still mad that we're right?"
"What? No!" Nagisa replied, waving off the suggestion. "I was just thinking how..."
...how aside from kissing, me and Honoka really DO look and act like a couple.
...
Most people, when presented with some deep, fundamental shock to their relationship with a person, want some time away. Time to re-evaluate who you each are, where you stand. Nagisa wanted that kind of time.
Unfortunately, she had a math test tomorrow.
So, she found herself shifting uncomfortably from one foot to another outside Honoka's house, working up the courage to go in.
I mean, it's not like she knows what Rina and Shiho said. The ginger-haired girl fret. Act normal, act natural, and everything will be fine!
Before she could gather her courage, however, a muffled barking announced her arrival. Guess Chuutaro's not gonna let me catch my breath, either. Seized by indecision, she was frozen in place until the outer door slid open, revealing...
Nagisa had seen her best friend plenty of times. How could she not, considering how long they'd been together? She'd seen Honoka at her best, and seen her at her worst. When she was torn up and tattered from their bloody fight as Pretty Cure. When she was made up like a princess to play Juliet. And, in all of those times, though in different ways, Nagisa had thought of the blue-haired genius as pretty.
Today?
Lights danced in Honoka's eyes, setting them aglitter like priceless diamonds. Her skin and her hair were smooth, almost aglow in the early evening sunlight. Ordinarily, she was pretty; now, she was gorgeous.
Oh no.
"Oh, so it was you, Nagisa! I was curious why Chuutaro had..." Honoka trailed off, her lips drawing together in concern.
Oh no no no no.
"Is something wrong?" She asked, putting her hand on Nagisa's forehead. "You're looking very red. I suppose going to lacrosse practice after fighting the forces of the Dark King must've left you feeling rather exhausted."
For a moment, the ginger-haired girl involuntarily leaned into the touch. Snapping back to her senses, Nagisa flinched away from her best friend. "N-no way! I'm fine! Don't worry about it--totally A-okay!"
I don't believe iiit!
Honoka opened her mouth, and then closed it again with a sigh. "Well, please at least allow me to give you some water or tea. Heatstroke's a very serious problem! I wouldn't want to see you hurt!" She stepped aside, inviting her friend in.
I like Fujipi!
"I-I'll have to, uh, take you up on that!" Nagisa forced a laugh and a smile, pointedly not acknowledging the concerned tilt of her best friend's head.
So that means there's no way I can like Honoka, right!?
...
"...before inserting the result into this formula." Honoka pointed at the equation in her textbook. "Then, you calculate the answer!"
Sitting around the bluenette's small, round, small table with her school supplies spread out, Nagisa found herself torn. Even though nothing had actually changed, everything still felt different. Now, she had no idea how to act around her best friend.
On the one hand, Honoka wasn't around for the conversation about their relationship. The sporty girl still had no idea how to be Honoka's... something, but she definitely knew how to be the genius's friend; why should that change?
On the other hand, she was starting to question that. DID know how to be the scientist's friend instead of her...
Something.
And, as her cheeks and chest burned every time Nagisa felt the other girl's arm bump her own, every time the gentle girl fixed her gentle eyes on her, the fumbling girl found herself wondering. What if, maybe, she DID want to be her best friend's...
Something.
"I'm sorry, did I explain that too quickly?"
Knocked free from her train of thought, Nagisa found those deep blue orbs filled with worry and fixed on her.
"What!? No way!" She waved her hands wildly. "It was totally fine! I'm just a little... distracted."
"By what?"
That was a perfectly reasonable question for which the ginger-haired girl lacked a reasonable answer. "Lacrosse stuff?" She finally offered with a shaky smile.
Her brow furrowing with worry, Honoka leaned closer and studied her friend's face for any sign of worry or clue to its cause. For her own part, Nagisa put on her best poker face and tried to think about absolutely nothing. Especially not how pretty the face inches from her own was, or how nice her dear friend smelled.
And she was definitely succeeding. Definitely.
Eventually, unable to evidence her suspicions--or deciding it was best not to pry--Honoka leaned back with a small, soft huff. "Well, alright. Perhaps it's best to take a break." The serious girl lit up. "I know! I rented some films recently, but I've been too preoccupied to watch them. Would you like to watch one with me?"
Finally, a distraction. Nagisa thought with a smile. "Yeah! Sounds like fun! What do we got?"
Before Honoka could list out the titles, she was cut off by a "Girls!" spoken just outside the bedroom door.
A scrambling filled the room as Porun, Mepple, and Mipple--previously playing by themselves to let the girls study--quickly transformed into their compact phone shapes with a poof! The two magical girls threw pillows over their companions, adding an additional layer of camouflage.
"Dinner is ready! Will Nagisa be joining us?" Honoka's grandmother asked from the other side of the screen.
"Yes!" Honoka called back with a shaking voice. "We'll be there in just a moment!"
Once again, they'd successfully hidden their secret. I wish I could turn my feelings into a compact and shove them out of sight. Nagisa thought with a dry grin. At least then, I wouldn't have to think about them.