"Since it hasn't snowed for awhile, Jian-kun and I were planning to hang out in the park today. We're gonna have some huge hoagie sandwiches for lunch and call it a picnic. Do you want to come?"
Neko sighed. "I don't want to intrude on your date."
"Oh, it's not a date. We're just going to hang out. And you can bring Tenshi-kun."
Neko didn't seem convinced, which just confused Mi-chan all the more. Surely, she should have won with the Tenshi argument. Neko and Tenshi were more or less inseparable. In fact, in an unprecedented state of affairs, recently Neko had been spending more time with Tenshi than with Mi-chan. Mi-chan had figured that it was only a matter of time before Neko became closer to Tenshi than she was to her own twin, but she would have rather it happened sometime in the far, far future - say, after they got married�. Still, she knew that it was going to take more than the extra quality time the couple was spending together to equal the bond that the twins shared. Tenshi and Neko were devoted to each other, but they had only been dating for eight months.
"Neko-chan, it's a beautiful day out! The sun is shining, and you're not grounded! When for the rest of the winter are we going to have the opportunity to go for a picnic again? Come on!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
An outing with her twin sister and her once-best-friend was not high on Neko's list of things she wanted to do today. The short list mainly consisted of going back to sleep and waking in a parallel universe where she had never met Tenshi. That was the only way she could see of escaping this heart-wrenching feeling inside of her.
Not that she was really happy thinking about the scenario of never having known Tenshi these past eight months. Tenshi had been one of the best things in Neko's life. With the exception of Mi-chan, Neko might have ventured to say the best thing. But now, the thought of Tenshi made Neko's entire being ache. Knowing that they could never be together, Neko's heart broke every time she thought of Tenshi. And she thought of her a lot.
But Neko had broken up with her. Not because Tenshi had done anything wrong - quite the contrary, for Tenshi would die before she purposely hurt Neko - but because Neko couldn't see hurting Tenshi either. And she was certain that if she and Tenshi stayed together, Tenshi would be killed. She believed that the nightmares she had been having recently were prophetic. And if so, then at least Tenshi and possibly Mi-chan would die. But if Tenshi didn't come to save Neko, she couldn't die that way, and Neko wouldn't be forced to make the decision between saving Mi-chan or saving Tenshi. So she had broken up with Tenshi. Lied to her, telling her that she didn't love her. Broken Tenshi's heart. And while it was killing her, Neko felt justified in doing it. But she also felt like hell.
And she really didn't feel like going on a picnic in the middle of winter when it should be snowing, or at least raining to match her mood.
However, she knew that Mi-chan wasn't going to let her get away with spending her first day of freedom in the house, especially since she hadn't told her about the breakup or her dreams yet. So Neko let herself get talked into the trip to the park.
Yet despite Mi-chan and Jian-wa's happy mood, Neko just couldn't get into the spirit of the trip, refusing to join in their snowball fight, eat any of the food Mi-chan had packed, or even smile. She knew Mi-chan was worried about her, despite the smile she was wearing for Jian-wa's sake, but Neko just couldn't help but be depressed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi stood outside the Mizuno household, rehearsing what she was going to say to Neko. Every time she came up with something she felt was decent, she quickly discarded it, deciding that it sounded dumb after all. Finally, she decided to wing it. She had almost never gone wrong flying by the wind of her natural charms.
So wound up was she that she almost fell over when Kimahou answered the door instead of Neko. She had pictured the scenario a zillion times, but it had always been Neko at the door.
"Tenshi-san!" Kimahou seemed as surprised to see her as Tenshi had been to see Kimahou.
"Hi," Tenshi started, suddenly slipping into the cool English greeting that they often used at her house for a second. Then she caught it, "Ano, ohayo gozaimasu. Is Koneko here?"
"Iie, she's out with Mi-chan and Jian-wa-san. They went to the park."
"Oh." Tenshi had no clue what to do now. Her entire plan had hinged on catching Neko at home right now. Would she come off as stalker-ish if she went to the park? Would she seem pathetic if she hung out on the porch here until Neko came back?
Kimahou was confused. She had talked to Tenshi after they had saved Puroko the other day, and even though her sister was safe, Tenshi had seemed depressed. And then Neko had spent the past day and a half in her room. Kimahou was certain that Neko's gloomy mood wasn't caused by her punishment, and today she had seemed just as miserable, although she had left her room. So Kimahou had deduced that Neko and Tenshi had broken up after the fight with Team Eclipse. But here was Tenshi, obviously trying her hardest to look good for Neko.
"Ano, Tenshi-san? I thought- You didn't-? Gomen, but I thought you and Neko-chan broke up."
Tenshi stared at her in shock. Not because it wasn't true, but just because she had said it. It only made it seem more like the truth. Tenshi had been clinging to her optimistic belief that Neko had somehow been confused on Friday, or temporarily mad at her, or something. But when Kimahou said it� Tenshi felt like she had just been struck.
"No," she replied firmly. "Koneko thinks we broke up. But it's not true." There, that made her feel a little better, but not much. "It's not true," she reiterated for her own benefit.
"Ara, I'm glad," Kimahou said truthfully. She liked Tenshi and wouldn't mind having her for a sister-in-law someday. Plus, if Neko just thought that Tenshi had broken up with her, then she would be over her moodiness as soon as Tenshi cleared up whatever misunderstanding they were having. She was all for that.
"Ne, Tenshi-san? You want to sit down and talk?" Kimahou asked. Then Tenshi would have an excuse to be here until Neko came back.
