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cursing herself, yume picks up the pace while heading back to the practice room. just today of all days, she had to forget her umbrella after practice.
the downpour outside was getting even louder, thunder roaring through the skies & interrupting her thoughts every now & then. in a swift motion, she turns the doorknob & opens the door.
of course, the room is pitch black. it hasn't been used since esupuri booked it a few hours ago. however, something feels odd about this... yume listens closely.
sniff
a sniffle...?
walking slowly towards the source of the sound, yume's eyes open wide at the sight of her unitmate, huddled over in a corner silently sobbing to himself: it was raika.
"um...." she breaks the silence. the other person looks up in shock, "ah, yume-san..." he wipes his tears clumsily, trying to act like nothing's wrong.
"forget 'sumn? kinda strange that yer 'round these parts at this time." yume is slightly annoyed at the attempt. she pulls something out of her pocket, a cute lavender handkerchief with a lovely flower pattern, offering it out to the other. he looks at her surprised, she refuses to make eye contact.
"...is something up?" she raises. "aye. ain't nothing getting past ye, huh." he dabbles at his eyes, almost being careful of not wrinkling the handkerchief. yume wordlessly sits next to him, putting their shoulders together. their eyes meet for the first time.
she looks very worried. raika is quickly overcome with guilt, making an expression almost like that of a kicked puppy.
"jus' feel like 'm draggin' yall's down. with the dance an' whatnot. golly gee, what a debby downer i am." the princess grabs his hand, squeezing it tightly. she seems allergic to saying something nice to him, but he'll take it nonetheless.
he relishes in the warmth of her hand for a while, until a sweet voice cuts through the silence: "yume doesn't think you are." silent enough that it'd be easy to miss, but raika doesn't. thunder sounds.
yume raises their hands, which at some point interlocked their fingers, & brings them up to her lips. a soft, caring kiss finds itself placed in raika's hand.
he puts his head in her shoulder, to which she doesn't protest, & the two of them sit silently in the room.
yume just hopes esu isn't particularly hungry tonight.