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Momo stares as Kashima turns away, disappearing into the rampant destruction the aliens had caused. Her arms are still stretched behind her, fingers clutched in Okarun’s oversized jacket. In any other situation, she might’ve blushed and pushed him away, but she can’t find the energy.
Her heart is racing in her ears, pulse thudding almost painfully. She can’t believe Kashima just…left. She thought they were goners for sure!
She casually lets go of Okarun, and he stays silent. The world flickers and all the property damage disappears along with that dreadful black sky. Momo looks around for a frantic moment, taking stock of their surroundings. Her fingers are still feeling the phantom sensation of Okarun’s warmth, and she turns her head to check if he’s okay.
She looks him up and down, taking note of his scratched up feet and bandaged wrists. He must have woken up from his sleep and immediately come to help her and the others.
Their eyes meet and she realizes he was also trying to make sure she was okay. The thought makes her avert her gaze, trying to ignore how red her face probably is.
“She’s…gone?” Okarun asks, looking dumbfounded.
Momo just shrugs. She feels like she just fought off an alien invasion…oh wait, it’s because she totally did. And it was incredibly badass, except now she just wants to sleep for fourteen hours then eat double her body weight in crab.
They make their way down the street a bit aimlessly. No matter how many times it happens, she still isn’t totally used to the way all the destruction that happens when the sky goes dark completely disappears the moment the aliens are defeated.
Spirits and psychic powers are easy for her to get behind; she’s been learning about them since she was old enough to remember. But weird alien technology? It’s a little more difficult to wrap her head around. It’s fun, though.
Learning about something that Okarun loves.
Like maybe if she finds out enough about the occult, she’ll discover the secret to what he likes. She’ll discover the secret of how to make him like her- no, of course not. That’s stupid.
Time (and her vision) goes blurry for a long moment. Then, her house is in front of them in the street. Its long, insect-like legs bring an odd feeling of relief, and so does seeing Vamola and the rest. She spares a pang of sadness for Rokuro, but he was a Serpoian, anyway.
Even if he was better than the rest, she knows he probably would’ve tried to steal her “banana organs” if given half the chance. Momo shudders just at the thought, pushing away memories of how this all started.
The team comes flooding out of the house as it settles back on the ground, and Momo is barely able to keep up with her body as she flings herself at Vamola.
Vamola, who she kicked out. Who she told to get lost, only to find out that- that her entire home planet was taken over by these loser aliens, got separated from her family, and didn’t even realize what she was saying when she said she wanted to marry Okarun!
Looking back, Momo feels a little embarrassed at how she acted. She’s man enough to admit she was jealous of the beautiful alien girl who swooped in and just kissed Okarun out of the blue. And sure, she’s allowed to feel whatever, but the way she acted because of it wasn’t very cool.
She throws her arms around Vamola, and can’t help the few tears that run down her face. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” Momo says to the wide-eyed girl. “I’m really happy you’re here!”
She feels all goopy when Vamola returns the embrace, repeating her words with the same amount of emotion. Before, the whole call-and-response thing seemed annoying, almost mocking. Now, though, Momo can feel the sincerity of her words.
Momo turns, and even seeing Shiratori makes her feel happy.
“It's good to see you’re not dead,” she sniffles, wiping at her eyes with her palm. She goes in for another hug, and Shiratori sighs, letting it happen reluctantly.
“Same to you, I guess,” she says. Then, “Hey, don’t leak on my shirt! My outfit’s already ruined enough from this whole pain of an alien invasion.”
Momo laughs into Shiratori’s chest, rubbing her wet face against the fabric of her tank top. “Sorry,” she says, unrepentantly.
Shiratori yelps. “Stop it this instant!” she says. “This is why boys don’t like you, you little-”
When Momo looks up, though, the other girl is seemingly attempting to hide a begrudging smile. “I don’t need boys,” Momo says. “I have you guys.”
And if she starts crying again, it’s really not her fault, okay? She just had to save the world, and then almost got killed by the spirit that’s been haunting her nightly for days. Give her a break.
“You’re so emotional,” Shiratori complains, but she doesn’t push Momo away.
With one arm, Momo lets go and drags Vamola into the hug. The texture of her suit is odd and synthetic, some strange rubber-like material. Momo grasps at it tightly as she tries her hardest to squeeze the life out of both of the other girls.
We’re alive, Momo thinks wonderingly.
Before she can devolve even more, she extracts herself from the group hug and bites at her lip. Blinking rapidly, she turns to the boys. Jiji is still possessed by the Evil Eye, but they all look generally okay.
“Good job, guys. We did it!” Momo says, and despite her red eyes and deep exhaustion, the big grin on her face is completely genuine.
The Evil Eye spares her a single unbothered glance, then nods in response before he looks away again. Sakata responds with his own beaming look. He goes to raise his right arm for a thumbs up, but winces when the movement pulls on his bandages and stops halfway through the motion.
Okarun gives her a soft, sweet smile. It doesn’t make her heart flutter at all, of course. Not one bit.
“You were amazing, Ayase-san!” he tells her earnestly, adjusting his glasses. “Your attacks are crazy powerful!”
Momo punches his shoulder lightly. “And what about you, huh? Picked up some new tricks while napping, didn’t you? I saw all that junk where you went into the electrical stuff, or whatever, it was crazy cool!”
He looks up at her. “R-really? You think so?”
“Duh. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it, stupid.” Momo rolls her eyes, then punches his shoulder again. For good measure.
“You’re right, sorry,” Okarun says. He looks away from her, but she knows he’s wearing a pleased expression from the way he stands slightly taller than usual. When he’s not hunched over himself like he’s trying to take up less space, they’re almost the same height.
Momo thinks she likes it best when they can look each other straight in the eye.
“Don’t apologize, it’s annoying,” she says, to stop herself from saying something gross and embarrassing like I don’t think I could live without you.
“R-right!” Okarun shouts. He stands at attention, saluting like she’s some type of military officer.
Momo laughs. Then coughs, the previous action jarring her lungs after all her crying and getting thrown around during the battle.
Okarun rushes to put a hand on her back, hovering with an air of concern. “Are you alright? Ayase-san?”
“I’m- fine,” she manages. Then she turns around so he doesn’t see her spit out a glob of phlegm. “Blech,” she wrinkles her nose, teeth scraping at her tongue.
When she looks back to Okarun, he looks amused.
“What are you laughing at, punk?” Momo frowns, hackles raising.
“Nothing, nothing,” Okarun says. He raises his hands in some placating gesture.
Momo crosses her arms menacingly, but when he doesn’t elaborate, she lets it slide. Standing quietly for a second, the bone-deep exhaustion once again makes itself known.
Seeing everyone safe gave her a spike of adrenaline, but now it’s wearing off and the world is a little wobbly at the edges.
“Jeez,” she says to herself, rubbing at her eyes and hoping to clear her vision, “I never used to pass out before all this alien and ghost stuff started happening.” She blinks a couple of times and it helps the building come into slightly better focus.
Suddenly, Okarun is right in front of her face.
“Pass out?” he echoes, frantic. “You said you were fine!”
“God,” she says. “I am fine, I’m just crazy tired since we just literally saved the world! Aren’t you?”
He blushes, looking away. “I mean, of course. I just worry, you know.”
“You don’t need to,” she tells him fondly.
At that, he looks at her seriously. He says, “Of course I do. I…I don’t think I could live with myself if something happened to you, Ayase-san.”
Momo punches his shoulder again, face burning hot.
“Ow!” Okarun cries out, “What was that for?”
“You can’t go around just saying stuff like that, idiot!” Momo yells, grabbing hold of his shoulders and shaking him. “You caught me off guard!”
“I’m just being honest, Ayase-san,” Okarun responds. Even as she continues to shake him, he smiles at her. She pauses.
Momo can’t tell how long they just look at each other. Okarun doesn’t look great, admittedly. He’s pale from having stayed in bed multiple days and his hair is a disheveled mess. His glasses are so cracked she doesn’t know why he bothers to keep them on, and he’s practically swimming in his shirt. Still, though, her heart pounds furiously.
God, she’s such an idiot.
Momo realizes she’s still holding on to his shoulder, and she snatches back her hands like she’s been burned. “Anyway,” she mutters, looking at the ground.
“Y-yeah.”
She turns her head toward the house, and realizes everyone else has already started going inside. “Time to go home, I guess,” she says.
Okarun is too silent, so she turns and finds that his face is bright red and his eyes are shining.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, tilting her head in confusion.
“Nothing!” he says. “Nothing’s wrong at all. Yes, let’s- let’s go home.” He sounds almost wondering.
Momo squints at him. He doesn’t seem sad or anything. “…Whatever.”
They walk back together, and she can’t stop herself from being drawn to his figure. She’ll gaze at the surrounding buildings for a second, determined to act normal, but fail a second later when her eyes absentmindedly wander to the smudge of dirt on his cheeks or the way he keeps adjusting his oversized shirt.
Once they’re all in the house, there’s a second of unsteadiness as its legs unfold and it starts walking back to her grandma’s actual property.
The Evil Eye promptly falls face first onto the floor, instantly snoring. Okarun laughs at the sight, and it makes Momo feel warm.
“Sakata-san, will you help me get him into an actual bed?” Okarun asks. “I don’t want Jiji to wake up with a back ache.”
Sakata nods immediately, but when he goes to carry half of Jiji’s weight, he lets out a stifled noise of pain.
“I- I’m fine!” he says. “That whole battle was nothing for the likes of myself, I barely even felt it. Don’t worry about it, I could probably take this guy all the way up by myself.”
“Yeah, well, just do it if it’s that easy,” Shiratori says. She picks at one of her cuticles, frowning when she realizes her nails got scuffed during the fight. “Damn, I’m gonna have to redo these.”
Sakata manages to drag Jiji up the stairs without any more expressions of pain. It helps that Okarun is doing most of the work, making sure to keep the weight off of Sakata’s right arm.
Momo watches them disappear into the guest bedroom.
After that, she practically has to haul herself up the stairs and into her room. Vamola and Shiratori follow without much fanfare.
Sighing, Momo collapses into her bean bag chair.
“Don’t you want to sleep in your actual bed?” Shiratori asks, slightly judgmental.
Momo groans. “I don’t even care, I just need to be unconscious as soon as possible, okay? Stop talking to me.”
Shiratori huffs out a breath. “What happened to crying on my shirt, huh? You’re so two-faced.”
“You’re one to talk,” Momo says in return. “Just go to sleep before you pass out on the floor, drama queen.”
“I- fine!” Shiratori stalks away and starts meticulously preparing her futon. It’s the middle of the day, but somehow it doesn’t feel right to stay awake after such a taxing experience. Momo smiles at Shiratori’s perfectly postured back.
She’d never admit it to her face, but the annoying, demon-obsessed girl has kind of grown on her.
Vamola stays standing, blinking placidly. She points at herself. “Pass out on the floor?” she mimics.
Momo blinks. “What? Oh, no, Vamola, you also have a futon, remember? If you’re not tired you can read some of my manga if you want. I don’t have that many, though.”
Vamola is still for a little while, before she nods like she understands. She goes to the corner and grabs a book after a second of staring at their covers.
Momo looks on in contentment as she starts to flip through the pages, looking at the drawings with undisguised enthusiasm.
Before she knows it, her head feels impossibly heavy. She sinks into the softness of her bean bag, the steady rocking of the house as it ambles through the streets endlessly soothing.
The last thing she remembers is thinking, We really did it.
—
When Momo peels open her heavy eyelids, the world that greets her is dim. She can’t tell exactly how much time has passed but the sun is no longer high in the sky and it casts shadows everywhere in her room.
She picks some crust away from the corner of her eye. When she looks around to see what woke her up, Okarun is standing hesitantly in the doorway.
“Okarun?” she whispers, voice scratchy from sleep. “What’re you doing here?”
He startles at her question, almost jumping in the air. “A-Ayase-san?” he whisper-shouts. Then, he bows so low she can only see the back of his head. “I’m so sorry for waking you up!”
“Hmm? It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” she says. “Is there anything wrong?”
He studies her for a second, then sheepishly rubs the back of his neck. “No, everything’s fine. I couldn’t really sleep, so…I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Sorry,” he tells her.
Momo’s head lolls forward, and she smiles up at him, still tired. “‘S’okay, Okarun, I want you to be alright, too,” she says. “C’mere.”
“W-what?”
“Need to check on you,” she says, not elaborating. She reaches out towards him, and he comes closer at her request.
Momo brushes a hand against the fabric of his shirt, remembering earlier when she had her arms wrapped around him. “You’re really warm, you know that, Okarun?” she asks, a little nonsensically.
His brow furrows in confusion at her comment. “Thank you, I think? Ayase-san, I really think I should-”
“Stay,” Momo interrupts. Her brain is lagging behind her mouth, and when she realizes what she let slip she freezes, suddenly feeling much more awake. “I- I mean-”
But Okarun is looking at her like she said something amazing.
“Do you mean it?” he asks quietly, so painfully unsure. His hands are straight at his sides as he hovers close to her, and she can’t help thinking about when he saved her earlier today. When he’d said, Thank goodness you’re alright, like she was the most important thing in the world.
“Yeah,” she breathes. Then, repeating herself, “Come here, Okarun.”
He does. A little stiff, he lies down next to her on the bean bag. The beans shift at his weight, molding around the two of them.
They stare at each other in the dim light for an instant that seems to stretch far longer than it actually is. Momo can’t take it, the raw expression on Okarun’s face.
Slowly, so he has time to pull away, she wraps her arms around him and tugs him closer. His head rests delicately against her sternum as she holds onto him as tightly as she dares.
Okarun relaxes into her grip slowly, until they’re pressed close together.
“I can hear your heartbeat,” he whispers. He pulls his arms away from where they were awkwardly caught between them, and circles them around her in return. His slow movements belie the desperation with which he clenches his hands into the back of her shirt.
“I’m so happy we’re alive, Ayase-san,” he says, a little choked up. His fingers press into her spine. “I’m so happy you’re here. Thank you.”
Momo squeezes him back, heart so full she swears it might burst. She rests her head against his, and his face is warm from the tears pouring down it. Okarun is a silent crier, but she’s glad he doesn’t try to pretend that he’s not crying at all.
She’s glad he feels comfortable with her.
Before she can think of regretting it, Momo leans down to press a kiss to his temple. Her face is practically glowing in the dark, she’s so pink.
“I’m really happy you’re here, too,” Momo confesses.
She grabs one of his hands and curls it into hers, fingers intertwining. Two becoming one.