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Serena paced nervously in front of the meeting place she and Ayane had selected. They’d decided to meet up by the tree they’d talked at after the camping trip, since it held emotional significance for them, but Serena had rushed there too quickly and arrived before the meeting time. It was still only 5:45 and they’d meant to meet up at 6:00. Now she was stuck waiting for Ayane to show up and stressing out about everything that might’ve gone wrong.

Serena lifted a hand and touched the butterfly pendant hanging around her neck and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. It would be fine, her mother had prepared her as best she could, and it was Ayane, she cared for Ayane, that was all that mattered. “It’s just like any other time we’ve hung out… just official now… I can do this… I WILL do this.” Serena said, slamming her fist into her palm to pump herself up.

“Oh thank god you’re as nervous as me” Ayane said, making Serena practically jump out of her skin.

“AH! A-Ayane! Please stop sneaking up on me.” Serena exclaimed, calming down quickly and letting out a sigh of relief as she turned to face Ayane, then stopped short and blushed.

Ayane was wearing an absolutely gorgeous white dress with elaborate embroidered designs on the cuffs and neckline, which was cut just low enough to show off a bit of cleavage. Her long, snow-white hair was tied back with a lace net tying it into a braid, and she was wearing a simple gold necklace to draw attention to her head. She’d also used makeup to bring out her eyes, which were currently silver, indicating her quirk was in its passive state. Serena had always thought Ayane was cute, but this simple outfit was enough to take her breath away and make her heart skip a beat.

“Sorry, I was about to let you know I was here but then I sort of just blurted that line out loud by accident” Ayane said sheepishly.

“O-oh, it’s ok” Serena said “I-I’m just extra on edge… I’ve never… uh… dated before.”

“R-really? But you’re so beautiful” Ayane exclaimed, then blushed “Oh… but I guess with your circumstances…”

Serena blushed brighter at the comment and looked away nervously “y-yeah…” she said

“So… we’re both complete novices then… that makes me feel a bit better” Ayane sighed “let’s just enjoy ourselves then. We’ll figure it out as we go.”

“Right” Serena agreed, grateful for an easy way out of the awkward conversation.

Ayane hesitated, then reached out and took Serena’s hand “come on, I made the reservations for 6:15, we might be a bit early, but it should be fine.” She said as she began pulling Serena along.

Serena’s instincts flared up as her hand was grabbed, but she forced herself to relax, and tightened her grip to hold Ayane’s hand in return, forcing herself not to pull away. “It’s Ayane, it’s just Ayane, it’s fine.” she thought to herself as she pushed down the fear.

Ayane paused for a moment, feeling Serena tense up for that instant “is this ok?” she asked, wanting to make sure she wasn’t forcing Serena into an uncomfortable position. She knew enough about psychology and PTSD, and about Serena herself, to know that even seemingly innocuous things like holding hands could potentially be a major source of stress.

Serena nodded “yeah, this is fine, don’t worry.” She said, giving a reassuring smile.

Ayane smiled back and nodded, leading Serena the rest of the way. It wasn’t long before they came to a mid-sized restaurant near a large building with a logo on it that Serena recognized.

“The Yosuku Manufacturing headquarters, that’s your company, which means this must be the business district, what’s a restaurant doing here?” Serena asked

“Well see, the company has people running it while I’m away, and they decided to do a little experiment with expanding into the food service industry.” Ayane said “this restaurant is called ‘The Hero’s Respite’”

“Why food service though? Seems an odd choice for a support equipment manufacturer” Serena questioned, looking at the restaurant curiously

“Well there were several lines of logic actually.” Ayane said “I actually ended up approving this venture personally once it got past the beta-stage. The first line is pretty short and sweet, you can’t fight crime on an empty stomach.”

“Ok that part makes sense” Serena said, nodding along as they approached the door of the restaurant

“Next is that support technology isn’t always just stuff like my shock baton or air-step compressors. That’s what I called those devices that let me move through the air freely” Ayane continued “many heroes have quirks that rely on having unique diets that can be inconvenient considering the nutritional content of most common foods.”

“Like what?” Serena asked, she hadn’t really considered diet as a part of using quirks before as nobody she knew needed it, but she could believe it.

“We actually know someone like that” Ayane said “Onaka’s quills are generated from her body. After her fight with you she asked me to use my quirk and analyze why she was having trouble producing more quills. Turns out that producing them consumes quite a bit of calcium. Her body has special glands that produce it naturally unlike most people, but when she overuses her quirk it burns up her reserves quick, and her bones began to feel the strain.”

“Huh, you’d think that’s something she’d have known beforehand.” Serena commented

“She said she’s never had to use so many quills that it was a problem before, and she’s always been a huge fan of milk apparently.” Ayane said “but I digress, point is, many heroes need an abundance of certain nutrients, or calories, or sugar, or whatever other dietary thing you can imagine. This restaurant serves a function as any regular restaurant, but we also have a staff of special chefs and equipment dedicated to making delicious food that can cater to these requirements.”

“If they can only get that food here though, that’s not super helpful to heroes out in the field.” Serena pointed out

“Well it’s an experimental thing right now, we’ve got some of our regular clients coming here regularly to help us refine the process, as well as develop some on-the-go foods that blend acceptable taste with ease of transport, quick digestion times, and concentrated nutrients.” Ayane said “once we’ve fully mastered our techniques, we’ll make this a chain, we’ll start with smaller locations linked up to hero agencies and expand from there.”

Ayane led the way inside, and a waitress immediately took notice of them “Oh! Ms. Yosuku! It’s an honor, are you here to inspect the premises? I can go fetch the manager if you wish?” he exclaimed

Ayane smiled and held up her hand “it’s fine Hana, I’m actually here as a customer today with reservations for two.” She said, gesturing to Serena.

“O-oh! Of course!” Hana said, clearly pleased that Ayane remembered her name despite her low-rank in the company. “Any special dietary requirements for your date?” she asked.

“No, the focus tonight will be on the food itself, not our experiments.” Ayane said “Do have the cooks prepare for an ‘all you can eat’ order however.”

Hana nodded and led them to a private booth with comfortable red-velvet seating, then rushed off to relay Ayane’s instructions.

“Wow, that was kinda impressive” Serena said

Ayane tilted her head in confusion “how so?”

“Well you were recognized on sight, you knew the name of a rank-and-file employee and treated her with respect despite the difference in social rank, and she seemed genuinely happy to get the chance to show off this place’s progress to you.” Serena said “according to what I know about Japanese business culture from Mom, that’s not common.”

“Is it not?” Ayane mused “I guess social hierarchies are pretty important in our culture here but… I don’t know… it just wouldn’t feel right for a former lower-class girl like me to talk down to working-class people. I try to promote a culture of universal respect and cooperation in my company. We’re all here working for the same goals, and we all have our own parts to play.”

Serena smiled “heh, that’s just so like you Ayane. But I like that, I think your approach should be more widespread.”

Ayane blushed slightly but managed to keep her composure by simply opening her menu and focusing on that. Serena followed suit, quickly noticing the all you can eat option Ayane had mentioned earlier.

“I know how much you like to eat when cost is no object and there’s good food available” Ayane said “it’s part of why I thought this place would be perfect to bring you to. Plus, it’s a pretty new place so there’s not huge crowds to make you nervous.”

Serena smiled, appreciating Ayane’s thoughtfulness “you really do think of everything don’t you?” she said as she lowered the menu, she scanned through it for a few meals she wanted to try, but figured that since there’d be unlimited servings she could just make her way through anything that seemed appealing one dish at a time.

Ayane picked out her order shortly after Serena, and Hana soon returned to take their orders. “We’ll have your food out as soon as possible” Hana said, bowing respectfully and rushing off.

“So… this is the part of the date where people usually talk to each other about themselves right?” Serena asked “but we already know a lot about each other…”

“Huh, I guess it is… and we do…” Ayane mused “well we mostly know the big things about each other. I don’t think we’ve talked the small stuff much.”

“Small stuff?” Serena questioned

“Like… what music you like… or favorite books… stuff like that” Ayane said, starting to blush “I… I wanna know all I can about you… because I… well… I feel…” her voice trailed off, getting too embarrassed to say what she’d intended to.

Serena blushed a bit as well “w-well, I can’t say I really have a favorite book, didn’t really get to do much stuff for fun when I was younger, and most of my reading after that was educational stuff to try and catch up.” She said “but I’ve always been a fan of alternative rock music… and I guess maybe a bit of rap, I had to listen to a lot of it playing in the slums and stuff so I guess I kinda developed a taste for it through Stockholm syndrome. Did a couple street performances of popular rap songs to make some cash once or twice too.”

“You? Rapping? I know your style trends towards rebellious but still” Ayane said

“What, you mean you can’t see me dropping some sick beats on the streets yo?” Serena said with a grin as she did an exaggerated ‘gangsta’ upside-down peace sign with both arms, then did some bad beatboxing to add to her joke.

Ayane laughed, covering her mouth with one hand “ahaha, nope, not at all”

Serena smiled as she gazed at Ayane’s laughing expression, she was just too adorable, the way her eyes lit up as she laughed, the soft tones of her voice, the way her tiny body shook slightly from it, her shy habit of covering her mouth as she did so. “Well your turn now, what music do you listen to?” she asked

“Well I like some rock music, I tend towards things that are more melodic though, genre doesn’t particularly matter so long as I like the sound of it” Ayane said “I sometimes listen to classical music at night too, when I can’t get to sleep, its soothing for me. Sometimes the information from my quirk can be overwhelming and keep me up even in its passive state. But the melodies and predictable structure of the music help soothe it.”

“That’s interesting, does your quirk often cause that sort of issue?” Serena asked

“Not so much anymore, used to happen a lot when I was young and hadn’t really gotten used to it.” Ayane said “now it mostly happens if I’ve got a lot on my mind. I also get a nasty migraine if I try to use my quirk to predict the movements of large crowds, or if I use the activated form of it for too long. Music can help soothe those too if I block everything else out for a bit and just focus on it completely.”

“I see, my quirk doesn’t have too many issues like that one, though when I was first learning to control it actively there were a few times where things got stuck to me because I was absorbing their energy constantly and they couldn’t fall off” Serena said “one time I got a spoon stuck to my cheek for a whole day, I’d started absorbing without trying and it was stuck inside my mouth, I managed to slide it out of my mouth and onto the cheek but couldn’t figure out how to turn the quirk off and remove it. So I just walked around all day with a spoon on my cheek like it was magnetized to me.”

Ayane laughed again at the mental image “that sounds like it must’ve caused a lot of raised eyebrows.”

“Yeah, it was all pretty funny though, so I didn’t really mind, I just rolled with it.” Serena chuckled

Hana came out with trays of food floating around her, presumably kept in the air by whatever her quirk was. She put the plates of food on the table one by one, the trays continuing to orbit her slowly as she did. Ayane smiled and thanked her, then sent her off to go tend to other customers.

Serena wasted no time digging into her food, quickly taking a bite. Her eyes widened as flavor flooded her mouth, and Ayane could’ve sworn she saw Serena’s eyes sparkle with the hints of tears as the girl began shoveling food into her mouth.

Ayane giggled a bit “I take it you like it” she said as she began to eat her own food at a more delicate pace.

Serena nodded in between bites “so… mphf… good…” she said.

Ayane smiled and looked at Serena eating, the look of pure joy on her face was irresistible. Serena’s face was always so expressive, even if she didn’t realize it. When she was happy or angry or sad, her emotions shone through on her face, and especially the eyes. It was just one of the little quirks she’d grown to love about the girl, every subtle shift in expression conveyed some new emotion, and she could pick up every single one with her quirk.

The two focused primarily on eating for a while, with Serena’s eating frenzy making conversation rather difficult, and after the initial frenzy died down they returned to talking. They discussed some of the movies they’d seen and enjoyed, their hobbies when they weren’t training, shared funny stories, and even confessed to some of their celebrity crushes.

The night wore on, and eventually the topics for conversation started to run low. They were both thoroughly fed, with an almost comical number of empty dishes stacked up on Serena’s side of the table. They eventually stopped talking and were now just staring at each other contentedly.

Eventually Ayane took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, reaching a decision. “Alright, I’ve gotta do it” she murmured

“Huh? Do what?” Serena asked

Ayane reached across the table and gently grasped Serena’s hand with both of hers, then got up and walked around the table to sit beside her. “I’ve had so much fun tonight, more than I’ve had in a long time, and it’s all because of you” she said “I don’t think I can properly convey how much this night means to me, or what yesterday meant.”

Serena blushed, but she didn’t pull her hands free or move away from Ayane as the girl scooted even closer, she simply nodded.

“Watching what you did yesterday. It made me come to a conclusion about my feelings, and spending this time with you today has made me find the resolve to act on them” Ayane said. She took another deep breath and closed her eyes, slowly exhaling once more. Then she let go of Serena’s hands and cupped her face with her hands instead, pulling Serena’s head down a bit as she leaned up and kissed her. It wasn’t the tentative, gentle kisses they’d shared before either, but a loving, passionate kiss.

Serena’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at Ayane’s bold move, but they soon slid closed as she wrapped her arms around Ayane’s waist and held her close, returning the kiss with equal passion. She could feel Ayane’s warmth, feel their bodies pressing together. She felt a burning heat, but not the kind she could absorb, it was in her heart, filling her with warmth and happiness. Their tongues danced with each other as they embraced, sharing in this strange heat and joy in a single timeless moment where all was right with the world. For this brief instant, the world faded away, there was only the two of them, bound together by their feelings.

After a few moments that felt like an eternity, Ayane pulled away for air, her face flushed and her eyes filled with happy tears as she stared up into Serena’s equally tearful eyes. “Serena… I love you… I love your beauty, your strength, your indomitable will, and all the little things that make you who you are.” Ayane whispered “everything, from the way you stiffen when we touch but immediately relax because you know it’s me, to the way your eyes light up with a glint of mischief when you tease me. From how you rub the back of your hands when you’re nervous to the way you brush your hair out of your eyes. I love all of it.”

Serena was sure she’d never blushed quite as bright as she was now, her heart was racing and her face burned with the heat of the sun. “Well now you’ve put me on the spot” she said nervously, then gulped loudly. “I… I love you too” she said, “your kindness, your intelligence, your absolutely adorable everything, your understanding, and above all your patience with my issues. I love your shy habits and your sharp wit, I love your modesty and your inspiring level of dedication to what you believe in. You’re incredible, and I’m truly grateful for the chance to love you, and even more so for the blessing of you returning those feelings.”

Ayane smiled “then let’s make it official, you’re my girlfriend now, and I yours”

Serena paused at that “wait there’s a process of becoming official? How…”

Ayane laughed “just kiss me you big dummy.”

Serena didn’t need to be told twice, she leaned down and kissed Ayane again without hesitation, savoring the moment as long as she could before breaking away for air again.

As Serena broke away she and Ayane were showered in confetti, something which surprised both of them and caused them to turn to the source, a line of cooks and servers stood at attention, with Hana and a man who was likely the manager of the store in front with confetti poppers. “Sorry Miss Yosuku, But when Hana informed me you were here with a date I thought we ought to stand by and congratulate you if it went well” the man said

“Ah, Gareth, you didn’t have to do that for me, right now I’m just a regular customer” Ayane said, fidgeting nervously.

“Be that as it may, it is you who saved me and my team from unemployment by buying us out and allowing us to open up shop here with your company.” Gareth said. “We all owe you a personal debt, and all of us are wishing for your success in all areas of life, romance included.”

“I keep telling you that you don’t owe me anything for that!” Ayane protested

“And as always, I will reply that that’s nonsense, we owe you more than we can repay, the least we can do is support you as best we can” Gareth said without hesitation

“I think what Ayane means to say is thank you for this wonderful gesture, isn’t that right Ayane?” Serena interjected, trying not to laugh at Ayane’s adorable awkwardness.

“Ah, yes of course.” Ayane said with a smile “thank you all very much”

There was a round of applause and bows from Gareth and the staff, then they dispersed to return to their duties.

“So there’s a story there I presume?” Serena asked.

“A short one” Ayane replied, “we were about ready to launch this place when my family had dinner at a restaurant that was going out of business. The food was amazing but they’d suffered heavy losses from villain activity in the area. So they were going under and I bought them out, then transferred the whole staff here to work for me instead. Now they all treat me like I’m their daughter or something. It’s sweet but I really don’t know how to respond to it.”

“Just let them be grateful silly” Serena laughed, “you really helped them out, and refusing their efforts to repay you is actually just going to make them try harder. If anything, refusing them could be considered an insult.”

“I… hadn’t considered that I might be insulting them by refusing their gratitude…” Ayane said, “you know, for someone who is a self-proclaimed social novice at best you often have quite a lot of great insight and advice about social situations.”

Serena chuckled a bit “you can thank my mom for that, I am still hopeless, but she’s done a good job hammering as much social wisdom as she could into my thick skull.”

Ayane laughed at that, and waved Hana over to pay for their meal. Then she and Serena stood up and made their way to the exit. After waving goodbye to Hana and some of the other staff that they encountered on their way out, they stood outside the restaurant and were just in time to catch the sunset.

Serena looked at the setting sun, then to Ayane and grew flustered. She began to fidget nervously as she turned to face her new girlfriend. “So… um… I don’t really want this night to be over yet…” she said nervously “w-would you like to c-come over a-and spend the n-night…? With me?”

Ayane’s face instantly turned crimson “A-ah! W-w-well I… I know w-we’re an… an item now b-but that’s a b-bit!” she stammered

“W-we d-don’t need to… um… d-do anything… like that” Serena clarified, stammering just as much “j-just… spending the night… together… n-not that I wouldn’t want to… do things… if you wanted to. Because I would… b-but only if you wanted to too… um….”

The two fell silent, trying to regain their composure enough to talk things over with some semblance of calm. Ayane was the first one to recover and speak up “A-alright…. Let’s do it.” She said

“By d-do it do you mean?” Serena asked

“Let’s… let’s see” Ayane said “we’re both girls so… we don’t need to worry about some of the things other couples do… so there’d be no harm in it… but I don’t know if I’m ready yet. So… let’s spend the night together and see.”

Serena nodded, in truth despite how attracted she was to Ayane, she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready yet either. All her life sexual encounters had been nothing but a source of trauma for her. Even if it was with Ayane, she wasn’t sure how ready she was to take that step. But it was also true that for them there wasn’t any tangible reason to be abstinent either, since the risk of pregnancy wasn’t a factor.

Serena took a deep breath, then reached out and grabbed Ayane’s hand, squeezing it tightly. Ayane stepped in closer and leaned against Serena as they began to walk home as a couple for the first time, gazing at the sunset as it lit up the sky in brilliant shades of orange and yellow. Much to Serena's surprise, she felt no fear as Ayane drew close to her, only warmth and happiness. To her that was, perhaps, the most beautiful thing of all.

Description
Serena paced nervously in front of the meeting place she and Ayane had selected. They’d decided to meet up by the tree they’d talked at after the camping trip, since it held emotional significance for them, but Serena had rushed there too quickly and arrived before the meeting time. It was still only 5:45 and they’d meant to meet up at 6:00. Now she was stuck waiting for Ayane to show up and stressing out about everything that might’ve gone wrong.

Serena lifted a hand and touched the butterfly pendant hanging around her neck and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. It would be fine, her mother had prepared her as best she could, and it was Ayane, she cared for Ayane, that was all that mattered. “It’s just like any other time we’ve hung out… just official now… I can do this… I WILL do this.” Serena said, slamming her fist into her palm to pump herself up.

“Oh thank god you’re as nervous as me” Ayane said, making Serena practically jump out of her skin.

“AH! A-Ayane! Please stop sneaking up on me.” Serena exclaimed, calming down quickly and letting out a sigh of relief as she turned to face Ayane, then stopped short and blushed.

Ayane was wearing an absolutely gorgeous white dress with elaborate embroidered designs on the cuffs and neckline, which was cut just low enough to show off a bit of cleavage. Her long, snow-white hair was tied back with a lace net tying it into a braid, and she was wearing a simple gold necklace to draw attention to her head. She’d also used makeup to bring out her eyes, which were currently silver, indicating her quirk was in its passive state. Serena had always thought Ayane was cute, but this simple outfit was enough to take her breath away and make her heart skip a beat.

“Sorry, I was about to let you know I was here but then I sort of just blurted that line out loud by accident” Ayane said sheepishly.

“O-oh, it’s ok” Serena said “I-I’m just extra on edge… I’ve never… uh… dated before.”

“R-really? But you’re so beautiful” Ayane exclaimed, then blushed “Oh… but I guess with your circumstances…”

Serena blushed brighter at the comment and looked away nervously “y-yeah…” she said

“So… we’re both complete novices then… that makes me feel a bit better” Ayane sighed “let’s just enjoy ourselves then. We’ll figure it out as we go.”

“Right” Serena agreed, grateful for an easy way out of the awkward conversation.

Ayane hesitated, then reached out and took Serena’s hand “come on, I made the reservations for 6:15, we might be a bit early, but it should be fine.” She said as she began pulling Serena along.

Serena’s instincts flared up as her hand was grabbed, but she forced herself to relax, and tightened her grip to hold Ayane’s hand in return, forcing herself not to pull away. “It’s Ayane, it’s just Ayane, it’s fine.” she thought to herself as she pushed down the fear.

Ayane paused for a moment, feeling Serena tense up for that instant “is this ok?” she asked, wanting to make sure she wasn’t forcing Serena into an uncomfortable position. She knew enough about psychology and PTSD, and about Serena herself, to know that even seemingly innocuous things like holding hands could potentially be a major source of stress.

Serena nodded “yeah, this is fine, don’t worry.” She said, giving a reassuring smile.

Ayane smiled back and nodded, leading Serena the rest of the way. It wasn’t long before they came to a mid-sized restaurant near a large building with a logo on it that Serena recognized.

“The Yosuku Manufacturing headquarters, that’s your company, which means this must be the business district, what’s a restaurant doing here?” Serena asked

“Well see, the company has people running it while I’m away, and they decided to do a little experiment with expanding into the food service industry.” Ayane said “this restaurant is called ‘The Hero’s Respite’”

“Why food service though? Seems an odd choice for a support equipment manufacturer” Serena questioned, looking at the restaurant curiously

“Well there were several lines of logic actually.” Ayane said “I actually ended up approving this venture personally once it got past the beta-stage. The first line is pretty short and sweet, you can’t fight crime on an empty stomach.”

“Ok that part makes sense” Serena said, nodding along as they approached the door of the restaurant

“Next is that support technology isn’t always just stuff like my shock baton or air-step compressors. That’s what I called those devices that let me move through the air freely” Ayane continued “many heroes have quirks that rely on having unique diets that can be inconvenient considering the nutritional content of most common foods.”

“Like what?” Serena asked, she hadn’t really considered diet as a part of using quirks before as nobody she knew needed it, but she could believe it.

“We actually know someone like that” Ayane said “Onaka’s quills are generated from her body. After her fight with you she asked me to use my quirk and analyze why she was having trouble producing more quills. Turns out that producing them consumes quite a bit of calcium. Her body has special glands that produce it naturally unlike most people, but when she overuses her quirk it burns up her reserves quick, and her bones began to feel the strain.”

“Huh, you’d think that’s something she’d have known beforehand.” Serena commented

“She said she’s never had to use so many quills that it was a problem before, and she’s always been a huge fan of milk apparently.” Ayane said “but I digress, point is, many heroes need an abundance of certain nutrients, or calories, or sugar, or whatever other dietary thing you can imagine. This restaurant serves a function as any regular restaurant, but we also have a staff of special chefs and equipment dedicated to making delicious food that can cater to these requirements.”

“If they can only get that food here though, that’s not super helpful to heroes out in the field.” Serena pointed out

“Well it’s an experimental thing right now, we’ve got some of our regular clients coming here regularly to help us refine the process, as well as develop some on-the-go foods that blend acceptable taste with ease of transport, quick digestion times, and concentrated nutrients.” Ayane said “once we’ve fully mastered our techniques, we’ll make this a chain, we’ll start with smaller locations linked up to hero agencies and expand from there.”

Ayane led the way inside, and a waitress immediately took notice of them “Oh! Ms. Yosuku! It’s an honor, are you here to inspect the premises? I can go fetch the manager if you wish?” he exclaimed

Ayane smiled and held up her hand “it’s fine Hana, I’m actually here as a customer today with reservations for two.” She said, gesturing to Serena.

“O-oh! Of course!” Hana said, clearly pleased that Ayane remembered her name despite her low-rank in the company. “Any special dietary requirements for your date?” she asked.

“No, the focus tonight will be on the food itself, not our experiments.” Ayane said “Do have the cooks prepare for an ‘all you can eat’ order however.”

Hana nodded and led them to a private booth with comfortable red-velvet seating, then rushed off to relay Ayane’s instructions.

“Wow, that was kinda impressive” Serena said

Ayane tilted her head in confusion “how so?”

“Well you were recognized on sight, you knew the name of a rank-and-file employee and treated her with respect despite the difference in social rank, and she seemed genuinely happy to get the chance to show off this place’s progress to you.” Serena said “according to what I know about Japanese business culture from Mom, that’s not common.”

“Is it not?” Ayane mused “I guess social hierarchies are pretty important in our culture here but… I don’t know… it just wouldn’t feel right for a former lower-class girl like me to talk down to working-class people. I try to promote a culture of universal respect and cooperation in my company. We’re all here working for the same goals, and we all have our own parts to play.”

Serena smiled “heh, that’s just so like you Ayane. But I like that, I think your approach should be more widespread.”

Ayane blushed slightly but managed to keep her composure by simply opening her menu and focusing on that. Serena followed suit, quickly noticing the all you can eat option Ayane had mentioned earlier.

“I know how much you like to eat when cost is no object and there’s good food available” Ayane said “it’s part of why I thought this place would be perfect to bring you to. Plus, it’s a pretty new place so there’s not huge crowds to make you nervous.”

Serena smiled, appreciating Ayane’s thoughtfulness “you really do think of everything don’t you?” she said as she lowered the menu, she scanned through it for a few meals she wanted to try, but figured that since there’d be unlimited servings she could just make her way through anything that seemed appealing one dish at a time.

Ayane picked out her order shortly after Serena, and Hana soon returned to take their orders. “We’ll have your food out as soon as possible” Hana said, bowing respectfully and rushing off.

“So… this is the part of the date where people usually talk to each other about themselves right?” Serena asked “but we already know a lot about each other…”

“Huh, I guess it is… and we do…” Ayane mused “well we mostly know the big things about each other. I don’t think we’ve talked the small stuff much.”

“Small stuff?” Serena questioned

“Like… what music you like… or favorite books… stuff like that” Ayane said, starting to blush “I… I wanna know all I can about you… because I… well… I feel…” her voice trailed off, getting too embarrassed to say what she’d intended to.

Serena blushed a bit as well “w-well, I can’t say I really have a favorite book, didn’t really get to do much stuff for fun when I was younger, and most of my reading after that was educational stuff to try and catch up.” She said “but I’ve always been a fan of alternative rock music… and I guess maybe a bit of rap, I had to listen to a lot of it playing in the slums and stuff so I guess I kinda developed a taste for it through Stockholm syndrome. Did a couple street performances of popular rap songs to make some cash once or twice too.”

“You? Rapping? I know your style trends towards rebellious but still” Ayane said

“What, you mean you can’t see me dropping some sick beats on the streets yo?” Serena said with a grin as she did an exaggerated ‘gangsta’ upside-down peace sign with both arms, then did some bad beatboxing to add to her joke.

Ayane laughed, covering her mouth with one hand “ahaha, nope, not at all”

Serena smiled as she gazed at Ayane’s laughing expression, she was just too adorable, the way her eyes lit up as she laughed, the soft tones of her voice, the way her tiny body shook slightly from it, her shy habit of covering her mouth as she did so. “Well your turn now, what music do you listen to?” she asked

“Well I like some rock music, I tend towards things that are more melodic though, genre doesn’t particularly matter so long as I like the sound of it” Ayane said “I sometimes listen to classical music at night too, when I can’t get to sleep, its soothing for me. Sometimes the information from my quirk can be overwhelming and keep me up even in its passive state. But the melodies and predictable structure of the music help soothe it.”

“That’s interesting, does your quirk often cause that sort of issue?” Serena asked

“Not so much anymore, used to happen a lot when I was young and hadn’t really gotten used to it.” Ayane said “now it mostly happens if I’ve got a lot on my mind. I also get a nasty migraine if I try to use my quirk to predict the movements of large crowds, or if I use the activated form of it for too long. Music can help soothe those too if I block everything else out for a bit and just focus on it completely.”

“I see, my quirk doesn’t have too many issues like that one, though when I was first learning to control it actively there were a few times where things got stuck to me because I was absorbing their energy constantly and they couldn’t fall off” Serena said “one time I got a spoon stuck to my cheek for a whole day, I’d started absorbing without trying and it was stuck inside my mouth, I managed to slide it out of my mouth and onto the cheek but couldn’t figure out how to turn the quirk off and remove it. So I just walked around all day with a spoon on my cheek like it was magnetized to me.”

Ayane laughed again at the mental image “that sounds like it must’ve caused a lot of raised eyebrows.”

“Yeah, it was all pretty funny though, so I didn’t really mind, I just rolled with it.” Serena chuckled

Hana came out with trays of food floating around her, presumably kept in the air by whatever her quirk was. She put the plates of food on the table one by one, the trays continuing to orbit her slowly as she did. Ayane smiled and thanked her, then sent her off to go tend to other customers.

Serena wasted no time digging into her food, quickly taking a bite. Her eyes widened as flavor flooded her mouth, and Ayane could’ve sworn she saw Serena’s eyes sparkle with the hints of tears as the girl began shoveling food into her mouth.

Ayane giggled a bit “I take it you like it” she said as she began to eat her own food at a more delicate pace.

Serena nodded in between bites “so… mphf… good…” she said.

Ayane smiled and looked at Serena eating, the look of pure joy on her face was irresistible. Serena’s face was always so expressive, even if she didn’t realize it. When she was happy or angry or sad, her emotions shone through on her face, and especially the eyes. It was just one of the little quirks she’d grown to love about the girl, every subtle shift in expression conveyed some new emotion, and she could pick up every single one with her quirk.

The two focused primarily on eating for a while, with Serena’s eating frenzy making conversation rather difficult, and after the initial frenzy died down they returned to talking. They discussed some of the movies they’d seen and enjoyed, their hobbies when they weren’t training, shared funny stories, and even confessed to some of their celebrity crushes.

The night wore on, and eventually the topics for conversation started to run low. They were both thoroughly fed, with an almost comical number of empty dishes stacked up on Serena’s side of the table. They eventually stopped talking and were now just staring at each other contentedly.

Eventually Ayane took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, reaching a decision. “Alright, I’ve gotta do it” she murmured

“Huh? Do what?” Serena asked

Ayane reached across the table and gently grasped Serena’s hand with both of hers, then got up and walked around the table to sit beside her. “I’ve had so much fun tonight, more than I’ve had in a long time, and it’s all because of you” she said “I don’t think I can properly convey how much this night means to me, or what yesterday meant.”

Serena blushed, but she didn’t pull her hands free or move away from Ayane as the girl scooted even closer, she simply nodded.

“Watching what you did yesterday. It made me come to a conclusion about my feelings, and spending this time with you today has made me find the resolve to act on them” Ayane said. She took another deep breath and closed her eyes, slowly exhaling once more. Then she let go of Serena’s hands and cupped her face with her hands instead, pulling Serena’s head down a bit as she leaned up and kissed her. It wasn’t the tentative, gentle kisses they’d shared before either, but a loving, passionate kiss.

Serena’s eyes widened slightly in surprise at Ayane’s bold move, but they soon slid closed as she wrapped her arms around Ayane’s waist and held her close, returning the kiss with equal passion. She could feel Ayane’s warmth, feel their bodies pressing together. She felt a burning heat, but not the kind she could absorb, it was in her heart, filling her with warmth and happiness. Their tongues danced with each other as they embraced, sharing in this strange heat and joy in a single timeless moment where all was right with the world. For this brief instant, the world faded away, there was only the two of them, bound together by their feelings.

After a few moments that felt like an eternity, Ayane pulled away for air, her face flushed and her eyes filled with happy tears as she stared up into Serena’s equally tearful eyes. “Serena… I love you… I love your beauty, your strength, your indomitable will, and all the little things that make you who you are.” Ayane whispered “everything, from the way you stiffen when we touch but immediately relax because you know it’s me, to the way your eyes light up with a glint of mischief when you tease me. From how you rub the back of your hands when you’re nervous to the way you brush your hair out of your eyes. I love all of it.”

Serena was sure she’d never blushed quite as bright as she was now, her heart was racing and her face burned with the heat of the sun. “Well now you’ve put me on the spot” she said nervously, then gulped loudly. “I… I love you too” she said, “your kindness, your intelligence, your absolutely adorable everything, your understanding, and above all your patience with my issues. I love your shy habits and your sharp wit, I love your modesty and your inspiring level of dedication to what you believe in. You’re incredible, and I’m truly grateful for the chance to love you, and even more so for the blessing of you returning those feelings.”

Ayane smiled “then let’s make it official, you’re my girlfriend now, and I yours”

Serena paused at that “wait there’s a process of becoming official? How…”

Ayane laughed “just kiss me you big dummy.”

Serena didn’t need to be told twice, she leaned down and kissed Ayane again without hesitation, savoring the moment as long as she could before breaking away for air again.

As Serena broke away she and Ayane were showered in confetti, something which surprised both of them and caused them to turn to the source, a line of cooks and servers stood at attention, with Hana and a man who was likely the manager of the store in front with confetti poppers. “Sorry Miss Yosuku, But when Hana informed me you were here with a date I thought we ought to stand by and congratulate you if it went well” the man said

“Ah, Gareth, you didn’t have to do that for me, right now I’m just a regular customer” Ayane said, fidgeting nervously.

“Be that as it may, it is you who saved me and my team from unemployment by buying us out and allowing us to open up shop here with your company.” Gareth said. “We all owe you a personal debt, and all of us are wishing for your success in all areas of life, romance included.”

“I keep telling you that you don’t owe me anything for that!” Ayane protested

“And as always, I will reply that that’s nonsense, we owe you more than we can repay, the least we can do is support you as best we can” Gareth said without hesitation

“I think what Ayane means to say is thank you for this wonderful gesture, isn’t that right Ayane?” Serena interjected, trying not to laugh at Ayane’s adorable awkwardness.

“Ah, yes of course.” Ayane said with a smile “thank you all very much”

There was a round of applause and bows from Gareth and the staff, then they dispersed to return to their duties.

“So there’s a story there I presume?” Serena asked.

“A short one” Ayane replied, “we were about ready to launch this place when my family had dinner at a restaurant that was going out of business. The food was amazing but they’d suffered heavy losses from villain activity in the area. So they were going under and I bought them out, then transferred the whole staff here to work for me instead. Now they all treat me like I’m their daughter or something. It’s sweet but I really don’t know how to respond to it.”

“Just let them be grateful silly” Serena laughed, “you really helped them out, and refusing their efforts to repay you is actually just going to make them try harder. If anything, refusing them could be considered an insult.”

“I… hadn’t considered that I might be insulting them by refusing their gratitude…” Ayane said, “you know, for someone who is a self-proclaimed social novice at best you often have quite a lot of great insight and advice about social situations.”

Serena chuckled a bit “you can thank my mom for that, I am still hopeless, but she’s done a good job hammering as much social wisdom as she could into my thick skull.”

Ayane laughed at that, and waved Hana over to pay for their meal. Then she and Serena stood up and made their way to the exit. After waving goodbye to Hana and some of the other staff that they encountered on their way out, they stood outside the restaurant and were just in time to catch the sunset.

Serena looked at the setting sun, then to Ayane and grew flustered. She began to fidget nervously as she turned to face her new girlfriend. “So… um… I don’t really want this night to be over yet…” she said nervously “w-would you like to c-come over a-and spend the n-night…? With me?”

Ayane’s face instantly turned crimson “A-ah! W-w-well I… I know w-we’re an… an item now b-but that’s a b-bit!” she stammered

“W-we d-don’t need to… um… d-do anything… like that” Serena clarified, stammering just as much “j-just… spending the night… together… n-not that I wouldn’t want to… do things… if you wanted to. Because I would… b-but only if you wanted to too… um….”

The two fell silent, trying to regain their composure enough to talk things over with some semblance of calm. Ayane was the first one to recover and speak up “A-alright…. Let’s do it.” She said

“By d-do it do you mean?” Serena asked

“Let’s… let’s see” Ayane said “we’re both girls so… we don’t need to worry about some of the things other couples do… so there’d be no harm in it… but I don’t know if I’m ready yet. So… let’s spend the night together and see.”

Serena nodded, in truth despite how attracted she was to Ayane, she wasn’t entirely sure she was ready yet either. All her life sexual encounters had been nothing but a source of trauma for her. Even if it was with Ayane, she wasn’t sure how ready she was to take that step. But it was also true that for them there wasn’t any tangible reason to be abstinent either, since the risk of pregnancy wasn’t a factor.

Serena took a deep breath, then reached out and grabbed Ayane’s hand, squeezing it tightly. Ayane stepped in closer and leaned against Serena as they began to walk home as a couple for the first time, gazing at the sunset as it lit up the sky in brilliant shades of orange and yellow. Much to Serena's surprise, she felt no fear as Ayane drew close to her, only warmth and happiness. To her that was, perhaps, the most beautiful thing of all.