All You Need is a Sip of Boba

A Story by m17

~ a Saori x Rika fic ~ Saori's woes catch up to her when Rika suddenly shows up to her place unannounced, holding boba tea.

"Saori-chan!"

Oh my god, she's so loud, Saori thought as she sighed. Rika is never one for subtlety, she mused in her mind. She dragged herself off of her workstation and slowly walked down to her door, where Rika was standing. Peeking in her door's eye socket she saw the orange coconut walking to and fro, waiting for her to respond.

"Open the door, Saori!" Rika groaned. "I've been waiting for two hours!"

"Two hours?! Why didn't you just ring my doorbell, or... I don't know... text me that you were arriving?"

Rika grinned. "I forgot!"

"I swear to God," Saori mumbled under her breath as she slowly unscrewed the hinges of the locks. "Fine, fine, you can come i-"

"THANK YOU SAORI!!!" Rika jumped with glee; quite literally, as she pranced on Saori, their combined weight causing them to fall down on the floor. The sensation isn't new for DJ Floor Killer, but the pain is still all too familiar.

"Owwie! Rika, please get off me!"

"Whoops!" the orange coconut let go of the purple haired girl, who seemed to be blushing all over. Rika looked around the place before looking back at Saori. "My god, I haven't been to your place since the hearings. It's still as cozy as I remember it!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not one for extravagant things, you know that Rika," replied Saori, trying to get back on her feet.

Standing up, she noticed the two drinks in the sidewalk. She remembered Rika holding them while she was waiting for her to open the door, but she thought she'd forgotten about the drinks. Saori pointed at the drinks to signal Rika, and she responded by looking back.

"Oh right!" Rika hurriedly got the two plastic cups and straws. "I figured we should enjoy these together!"

The cups contained boba tea, with each component perfectly arranged, as if they were two of Saori's tracks. Saori couldn't help but be amused at how the cups are arranged, but then remembered that Rika would buy boba for all of Merm4id usually... not just for the two of them.

"Wait, just us?"

"Yeah," Rika replied. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Saori paused, her heart slightly skipping a beat, making her gasp for air in a split second. "I just thought... you'd buy boba for all of us."

"Well uh, Marika and Dalia said they had work to attend to so I couldn't invite them here really."

That figures, thought Saori. She was nervous for nothing. Although, she was still worried that Rika might have noticed her blushing through the longest ten minutes of her life. In fact, Saori mused that Rika probably already knew of the meaning behind her flustered motions. "A-Anyway, we should move." Saori gently closed the door behind them, and the two college girls made their way to Saori's room, which conveniently had an extra chair.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

For the first few minutes after sitting down, the two girls didn't speak any word with each other. Rika was sipping her boba tea in pure bliss, much to Saori's amusement. This amusement, however, turned into lamentation. She couldn't believe how easygoing�" or rather, how even more happy-go-lucky Rika seemed to be nowadays. Even after the intense battles they have been on: D4FES in USA, and the battle with the malicious AI, she has become even more cheerful, which Saori was jealous of.

Saori sighed. As I suspected, I could never be like you, Rika... she thought while looking at her excited expression. Rika has always been their unit's heart; without her, she wouldn't have had the confidence to say what she meant. It's ironic, really... Saori couldn't have improved on her life quickly without Rika. Saori was able to tell her off when she was feeling down; and Rika was also able to alleviate Saori's worries whenever she was feeling down. Saori's eyes lit up as Rika's expression became more somber. Maybe she knew that Saori was already thinking about her, and this thought made Saori even more flustered.

Because unknown to Saori, Rika has also appreciated her. Everything Saori thought of Rika, Rika thought of the same with Saori. They never seemed to grow apart from each other, despite only knowing her since the formation of Merm4id. To Rika, Saori is her light.

The two girls realized they have been staring at each other for quite a while as they both turned into various shades of red. Rika couldn't believe what she was feeling, and that was only brought about because of Saori. Saori couldn't believe that her emotions are running at an all time high, and Rika even suspected Saori wouldn't make the first move on her emotions.

But in fact, Saori was the first to address it.

"You're an idiot, you know?"

Rika was shocked so much that she almost choked on her boba tea.

"What do you mean, Saori? Where did this come from?" Rika replied with nervous laughter. She wanted her musings to be played off as a joke so no more awkwardness can come through them.

"Rika please," Saori continued, her palms sweating of nervousness; the sweat adding to the moistness of the cup due to condensation. "I thought you knew..."

"Hm? Knew what?" Rika replied, feigning ignorance. However, at this point, Rika already knew what she was going to say.

In the end, however, she was not ready for what Saori had to do to her. Saori couldn't handle it anymore, and without any warning, Rika felt Saori's lips onto hers. She tried gasping for air, but the passage of air was stuck, as Saori held her face. Saori didn't want to let go of the moment. She wanted Rika to know something, but Rika still has no idea what it is.

Saori finally let go, tears swelling from her eye's tear ducts. She tried wiping them off but it just kept on coming.

"Saori? Are you okay, Saori?"

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to feel like I'm confident like you, but- but I didn't know how to..." Saori cried, her voice breaking trying to reply to Rika.

Rika couldn't believe it. After all this time, Saori still doesn't believe she can be as confident as her or even more. She has been blind to the woes of the purple DJ, and after everything they have gone through, she finally realized how much burden Saori was in trying to be confident like Rika. Overcome with all of these, Rika held her arms around Saori, her right hand touching the back of her hair, gently stroking it to calm the crying DJ.

"You've helped me once before, Saori," Rika said, calmer than how she would usually talk. "If anything, that's what matters."

Saori, trembling from her hands, slowly embraced Rika as well.

"Don't you worry about anything anymore, okay?"

A trembling, tender laugh escaped Saori. She smiled.

"Okay."