The music was loud in Ayame’s ears.

She’d never been to a club before, but it was Halloween, and a friend she’d made recently had talked her into coming to one of the rarer night clubs in Kyoto. She was far from Gion, not nearly as familiar with the area as she was with her home district.

She watched Takayuki panic at the advances of her newest friend. He clearly didn’t know how to react to the tiny bunny girl outfit she was wearing, nor to how forward she was in her attraction to him.

It was Halloween, and she wasn’t sure how she had managed to talk him and Ayame-han into coming with her, but she had. They had even dressed up for the occasion.

Originally she had wanted them to dress up as Sun Vulcan (she had a SunEagle costume that she’d been wanting an excuse to wear out), but Ayame-han had refused that idea. Her second suggestion had been the Powerpuff Girls, which she’d been okay with.

Ayame was pretty sure the reason she agreed to it was because she already owned a dress that would look close enough to Bubble’s, so she didn’t have to spend any money on a costume.

Takayuki had been talked into (bullied by in Ayame-han’s case) dressing up as Buttercup, though he was wearing shorts instead of a skirt.

Which meant Ayame was dressed in a short red dress (well, a lot shorter than she was used to, as it only reached about mid-thigh), dressed up as Blossom.

She watched Ayame-han where she stood leaned up against the wall as she made her way from the bar. She looked so cute in pigtails, it had made Ayame swoon when she first saw her with her hair up, her giggles uncontrollable as she watched her when they first met up outside Yumezato. Ayame-han had almost turned right back around when she wouldn’t stop, Ayame’s face bright pink.

She abruptly stopped as she saw a man approaching Ayame-han, getting right into her space.

Ayame felt an unfamiliar feeling make her chest grow heavy. The feeling made her throat feel tight in a way that was different to the feeling she got when she was about to cry. Her fingers were tingling, her heart racing for all the wrong reasons.

Whatever this feeling was, she didn’t like it.

As she watched the man smile sweetly at Ayame-han, trying to talk her into dancing with him, she managed to finally put a name to the emotion.

Jealousy.

Never in her life had she been jealous before, not like this. She was pretty sure she had felt it for a little while after her dad died, watching other kids hold their fathers’ hands, playing with them, but that had been such a long time ago.

She started walking again, weaving through the crowd. She was just about to call out to Ayame-han, when she saw the look on her face.

If looks could kill.

“H-hey, there you are, I got you a drink!”

Ayame-han looked over at her, picking one of the drinks out of her hands with a nod as thanks. She briefly turned back to the man.

She looked him up and down, a cruel sneer parting her lips. “Get lost,” she said, turning away from him.

And now that there wasn’t just one girl to corner, he finally backed off, leaving them alone.

And just like that, her heart felt easy again.

She didn’t like feeling jealous. It had felt so constricting, a suffocating feeling in her chest. Like no matter how big a breath she took, it didn’t carry enough oxygen.

She smiled happily at Ayame-han, leaning against her side as they came to stand propped up against a wall. Ayame-han’s arm was warm where it pressed against hers in their matching sleeveless dresses. She could feel her hair tickle her shoulder as she drank out of her glass.

It had grown longer, the bleached curls reaching much farther down her back than when they had first met.

She smelled amazing, just a tiny hint of the soft floral soap that she’d gotten the chance to try out herself the last time she stayed over at Ayame-han’s apartment.

Ayame looked forward to the end of the night, if only for the fact that she wanted so badly to kiss her as soon as they got back to Ayame-han’s apartment.

Sipping on her drink though her straw, she thought, maybe a little jealousy wasn’t so bad if her heart got to soar so high above the clouds afterward.

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