Note: Written for PenguinZero in Yuletide 2021
We have our feast times
by EstiRose
Undine had never thought about dating or being part of a couple, until it had happened with Kokoro. Kokoro hadn’t been somebody she expected, either, because she’d always presumed that she’d be with Team Alchemical until she retired. She’d been looking forward to it in a couple of years, retiring as a Magical Girl with Tessa, Sally, Sylvia, and Gwen. It just happened that way.
She’d never been interested in anyone before. Her friends were her friends. They were her teammates. She had never thought about the four of them in any other way than that. She’d presumed that it would be the same way with Kokoro; a fighting partner, maybe for a while, while she tried to find the monster responsible for the death of her teammates and indirectly for the loss of Tessa’s powers.
But Kokoro made her feel different. Kokoro had been the one to hug her when she’d told Kokoro about her reason to keep fighting, been the one to encourage her to rest, been the one who had treated her like a normal Magical Girl instead of one who had just lost her entire team. Yes, the last was by accident, Kokoro having no idea about what had happened to Team Alchemical; but it was still great, and even endearing when Kokoro had apologized to her.
And now, though it felt unbelievable, they were on a date. Or supposedly on a date. Said date would depend on how quiet they could keep it, of course, and what paparazzi showed up, eager to report on the two of them dating. The two of them had had discussions during quiet moments over the last few nights - whether to try for a picnic lunch, dinner and a movie, or something that could happen after the barrier had come up. After all, Magical Girls were not required to fight every night; it was just expected. But Undine didn’t want to spend her patrol time on a date; the purple girl - Goops, Bud had named her - was still out there, after all.
But in the end, they’d decided on dinner and a movie. Right now, the press was excited about the glimpse of two new Magical Girls, so maybe there would be more attention paid to them for the moment rather than herself and Kokoro. Undine felt bad for Zoe and Zoe’s unnamed partner - a potion user of some sort, it looked like - but at least it might give the two of them some peace.
It was so far a quiet Sunday. A short day of classes - only twenty minutes per class - had quickly gone by. After some very long and intense discussion between them about the idea, and some nervousness on both their parts (Kokoro had said something to the effect of “I want to meet your parents!” though with the wide-eyed panic of someone who wasn’t quite sure of what they’d gotten themselves into), Kokoro was going to show up at Undine’s house. It was only fair that Undine’s parents met her partner, after all, even if they didn’t know that they were girlfriends yet. Kokoro had been the one to talk about the idea. Undine was afraid that the two of them would embarrass her - but she also wanted them to not worry so much about her, especially with what had happened to Team Alchemical. After all, they’d known the members of Team Alchemical; they didn’t know Kokoro. And she wanted them to know Kokoro and have them feel even safer about her chances of surviving being a Magical Girl.
After that, the two of them should be able to get to a restaurant. It wasn’t where Undine usually went - it was near one of the Farms - but she and Kokoro were going to be covering a gap there anyway so it worked out. It was fancier than they usually ate at, but Kokoro assured her that she’d be able to cover the cost.
Undine looked at herself in the mirror. She’d put on a dress - blue, of course, not as fancy as her Magical Girl dress, but still nice and long - over some tights and was brushing her hair into shape nervously. She was sure it was fine, it was just… well, it was a date, even if her parents didn’t know it yet.
She took one more deep breath, put her brush down, and walked out of her bedroom. Her parents were sitting down at the dining room table, speaking softly. There were smiles on their faces. It was somehow scary, though maybe not scarier than the monsters she fought at night.
At the moment, she’d rather fight the monsters. At least they wouldn’t embarrass her in front of Kokoro.
“Oh, you look so pretty!” her mother exclaimed. “It seems fancy.”
“I’m going to a fancy restaurant - at least fancier than I’m used to, I guess, and a movie,” she replied, debating whether to sit down or to pace nervously. “Then we go out on patrol.”
She could ignore the fear in her parents’ eyes, a fear that she understood all too well after what had happened to her friends.
“So, which fancy restaurant?” her father asked, as if to break the fearful silence.
“Corinth,” Undine replied. She didn’t know much about it other than it was somewhere in the northeast quadrant. The city was so huge that it took many teams and solo Magical Girls to protect it. “It’s named after some mythical domed city, I guess?”
“Mm.” Her mother nodded. “I’ve heard of the city, but not the restaurant. It’s from the time before, but that’s about all I remember.”
It was more than Undine knew. Kokoro had found it, possibly during one of her solo patrols. Undine wasn’t quite sure. Maybe she had asked around, or asked her manager, or something like that. Undine would have asked her own if she’d thought about it. He would know. He’d suggested restaurants before to the team.
It didn’t seem right to hide the fact that she and Kokoro were more than battle partners, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to announce that to the rest of the city. After all, everybody was still getting used to the two of them being a team.
There was a knock at the door. It could be anyone, but Undine hoped it was Kokoro, there to save her from any awkward conversation with her parents about what she was going to be doing that evening besides being on patrol.
“Oh, let me get that!” her mother exclaimed. “I can’t wait to meet her!” She headed out towards where their front door was.
Undine tried not to facepalm. She hoped her mom would not embarrass her too much, and so headed out behind her.
“Oh!” she heard her mother exclaim. “Heartful Punch! I’ve heard so much about you. Come in, come in!”
Indeed, it was her partner at the door. She twisted a little to get a good look. Kokoro had worn a beanie to hide as much of her hair as she could, and sunglasses in an attempt to hide her pink eyebrows. She was looking nervous, holding a handful of flowers. Undine didn’t know if they were for her or for her folks.
Her mother finally let Kokoro inside after a few heartwrenching seconds and shut the door behind her.
“Undine!” Kokoro’s face brightened as she made eye contact. Then she turned to Undine’s mother. “Um. These are for you.” She practically thrust them at Undine’s mother, and her mother accepted them with a smile.
“These are very nice, thank you!” her mother exclaimed. “I’ll put them in water right away. Mason! Could you grab the blue vase from the top cabinet?”
Her mother hurried forward towards the kitchen, as if the flowers would wilt any moment if she didn’t get them in water.
Kokoro pulled the beanie off her head, leaving behind messy pink hair that she tried to sweep back into place.
“There’s a bathroom down the hall, right around the corner, if you want to, um….” Fix her hair, Undine wanted to say, but she did not want to embarrass her partner.
“Thanks!” Kokoro hurried down the hall, pulling a hairbrush from her bag as she went. Undine stood there, waiting for Kokoro to finish brushing her hair back into shape. Her partner reappeared after a few minutes, having gotten her hair back into a reasonable facsimile of her normal hairstyle. Which had to be a minor miracle, from what Kokoro had told Undine about the amount of time it took to whip it into normal shape.
Undine had to smile at that. She took Kokoro’s hand for a minute before realizing that her parents didn’t know and probably shouldn’t know about their relationship at that point. “Mom and Dad have been wanting to meet you.”
Kokoro gave her a wan smile in return and seemed to visibly gulp at that. Undine led her into the kitchen where her parents were waiting. Her mom was putting the flowers that Kokoro had brought into a vase, and Undine froze up for a moment. She and Kokoro had discussed what she should call Kokoro in front of her parents, but at that point it hadn’t seemed so real.
“Mom, Dad, this is Heartful Punch, my partner,” Undine said, and she hoped it sounded like she wasn’t scared out of her wits to introduce Kokoro to them.
“Just call me Kokoro,” Kokoro added. They’d agreed, the two of them, that if Kokoro felt comfortable giving her name to Undine’s parents, it was her choice. Undine was fine with having her parents call Kokoro by her Magical Girl name if that’s what Kokoro wanted.
“Oh, what a beautiful name!” Her mother exclaimed, with her dad rapidly nodding in agreement.
“Pleased to meet you, Kokoro,” her father said, reaching out to shake her hand. He was restraining himself, she could tell. “Thank you so much for everything! Come, sit down, sit down!”
“Where are our manners? Want anything to drink?” her mother asked, springing into action towards their fridge. “Oh, I am so excited to meet the girl my daughter’s been patrolling with! We’ve been fans of yours for such a long time.”
“Our little girl is our favorite, of course, but we watch the D.U. every morning,” her father said, hugging her to him briefly. “I’m so glad you’re together.”
Undine had to try not to blush at that.
“Water’s fine, Ms. Wells,” Kokoro said, perfectly politely but with a huge smile on her face. “Undine and I work well together. I never thought I’d have a partner.”
“Oh, I wish you were staying for dinner! Maybe next time, I hope,” her mother said, fetching the water and handing Kokoro the glass. “I know you’re going there because that’s where you’re patrolling near, but there’s nothing like a home-cooked meal!”
“We’re going out to celebrate officially being partners.” Kokoro took Undine’s hand with her free one. “But I’m looking forward to eating dinner here next time!”
“Of course, of course,” her mother said. “You want to be out in the spotlight for tonight. We understand. It must be so exciting!”
Actually, she didn’t want to be in the spotlight, and neither did Kokoro, but there was always a chance that there would be reporters looking for their next scoop, and them having dinner at the Corinth would be less privacy-invading than having the reporters track down her address.
“Yeah, we’re supposed to meet our cameraman at the movies after,” Kokoro said casually. Neither of them liked putting civilians at risk, even for publicity. The man that Kokoro’s agent had hired was apparently good at ducking out of danger as well as getting good shots, but one could never be too careful.
“Well, we won’t keep you!” Her father gave them an even bigger smile, if that was even possible, but Undine could see the pain behind it. She knew what he was thinking: is this the night where my daughter doesn’t come home?
“I’ll be back as soon as the barrier’s reestablished and I can get home,” Undine promised. She trusted that between Kokoro and herself that they would survive the night just like they always had. “Don’t worry.”
But they would always worry. Parents always did.
The two of them said their goodbyes, Kokoro apparently giving up on being inconspicuous. Undine never was inconspicuous, but the neighbors knew them and she also knew they watched the D.U. and knew that she and Kokoro were battle partners. She trusted them not to call in the press, as well.
They walked towards the nearest trolley line. They’d need to take another one after, but that was okay. Sometimes patrol areas weren’t quite where one lived. At least there was only one line nearby; Undine had seen places where there were five or six, or two lines crossed the same intersection. The city was big enough that its citizens needed a variety of lines to get around.
She and Kokoro were standing there, waiting for the westbound line that would take them to the northbound line, when she heard yelling. She tensed, but there were no monsters, not yet. Not this early. And Magical Girls didn’t handle stuff the police did. They might help catch a criminal, but they were not called to do their duty until 10pm.
“Hey! Is the trolley supposed to come soon?” a voice called. The girl - college-age, if Undine had guessed right - hurried to the stop shrugging a backpack on. “I was worried that I was going to miss it.”
Her non-reaction to their hair told Undine that she’s either far more interested in the trolley, saw Magical Girls all the time, or was once a student at Future’s Promise. Or all of the above. “I think it’s coming soon.”
The girl flashed a smile at the two of them. She looked faintly familiar - maybe had a sister or cousin who’s a Magical Girl, or was maybe someone who Undine herself watched on the D.U. before she got her own Dream. Or maybe there was some other connection that Undine hadn’t made. “I’m Ari. I went to Future’s Promise myself, if you’re wondering. You’re Alchemical Water and Heartful Punch, right?”
“Right,” Undine said with relief. This was someone she’d probably watched, though she still couldn’t match face with Magical Girl name. “Which college do you go to? Truman or Peach?”
“Peach - I’m studying pre-Darkness history, the time before the City came into being.” Ari shrugged. “Or Darknesses before the City came into being - we’re not sure, but current thought is that there was more than one. The name ‘Peach’ is apocryphal in itself.”
“It sounds interesting!” Undine said, smiling back at Ari.
“It is! We’re all pretty sure that everything started with a rogue intelligent machine trying to destroy humans, but how long it took for humanity to recover we’re not sure.” Ari was waving her hand around as she talked. “I’ve been interested in history ever since mom and dad took me to the history museum and I saw the DD transport there - that’s a kind of trolley that only takes two or three people at a time. Very inefficient, but it got me reading as many history books as I could.”
The trolley’s bell clanged as it came into sight, and Ari said nothing more as they boarded, being absorbed in a book shortly after. Kokoro seemed content to watch the scenery pass by, and Undine decided to do the same. They switched lines and were eventually outside the restaurant.
Undine didn’t know how to handle going to a fancy restaurant with Kokoro. They’d eaten together before, but this seemed more formal and more official. A celebration, too, of sorts for the press to see so they might leave the two of them mostly alone.
The hostess seemed briefly awed when she saw who had come, but she quickly asked if they wanted privacy. “No,” Undine said boldly, and there was a quiver in her voice that she hoped the hostess didn’t pick up on.
So she led them to a booth and gave them menus, then quickly retreated. Maybe Undine and Kokoro weren’t the only ones who were nervous. As Undine scanned through the menu, she saw that the prices were quite a bit higher than the usual restaurant prices, but wasn’t that a given? She picked out a nice pasta dish and waited for the waitstaff to come, which they did in short order. There weren’t a lot of other diners around, which made sense given that it was between lunch and dinner.
“I’ll have the pesto alla Genovese,” she said simply, and then Kokoro ordered her own chicken dish. The waitress seemed calm and not awestruck, as if Magical Girls came to the restaurant all the time. She wondered if the chicken was from the nearby farm, but maybe it didn’t specialize in livestock. Chickens might be able to live on rooftops, too, so it might be sourced from there, even if cows had to have pastures on the ground. She’d never thought about it until they’d toured a farm in elementary school.
Kokoro let out a sigh with a content smile on her face. To some extent, the two of them had to be careful about what they said while they were in the restaurant. Not about Magical Girl business; if anyone wanted to listen in on what their plans were for patrol that evening, that was fine, as well as topics that didn’t verge into the fact that they were more than patrol partners.
“What’s on your mind?” she asked Kokoro.
“Your family’s nice,” Kokoro said after a few moments, and Undine was wondering if Kokoro was dreaming of being Ms. Wells-Aichi. Or even maybe Ms. Wells, though Undine would hope that Kokoro didn’t want to give up her surname. “I want to have dinner with them sometime.”
Her mother would be thrilled, Undine knew. She was not so certain. Maybe it was because she didn’t want to share Kokoro, even with her parents.
“They are,” Undine told her, with a smile. “They worry a lot, but they’re very proud of me. And they were so happy to meet you finally.”
There was a bit of an awkward silence. Undine really wanted to talk about their relationship, but this was not the time, and she suspected Kokoro was choosing her words carefully also.
“Anyway, I haven’t had a cameraman come out with me for quite a while… cameraperson,” Undine added nervously. After all, Team Outrageous’ cameraperson had been female. It was just that cameramen were more common.
Very few people were outside after 10pm if they had a choice. The few civilians who found themselves caught outside that weren’t out filming or had good reason to be out either ran to safety centers or were escorted to them by Magical Girls. The man she had met, Mark, was one of those rare exceptions.
She hoped he was safe. And staying inside.
The waitress popped by with their drinks - coffee for both of them - and muttered something about the fact that their coffee was on the house before retreating. Maybe she wasn’t as calm as she had acted, but Undine chose to ignore that.
“We’ll keep them safe,” Kokoro said with confidence. It wasn’t actually something that Undine was too worried about. Cameraperson deaths were extremely rare. Magical Girls made sure of that.
Giving Kokoro’s statement a nod, she contemplated the table. It was a nice table, and the flickering candle in the middle gave it a nice ambiance.
“I’m glad you agreed to be partners,” Kokoro said casually. Undine looked over, and she caught Kokoro’s subtle worried expression.
“Did you think I wouldn’t want to be, after everything?” After all, Kokoro had been there for her, and she had tried to be there for Kokoro.
Kokoro looked away. “I was afraid… afraid you’d reject me.” She frowned at her reflection in the window, as if she wasn’t perfect enough for Undine.
“Of course not!” Undine knew her partner sometimes was insecure behind her brave front. “I wouldn’t! I meant what I said.” She reached across the table. “I miss my old team, but I’m glad you came into my life… and my patrol.”
She wondered if the two of them would become like Melty Flame and Melty Frost, known almost as much for their romance as their work as Magical Girls. She hoped not. It took a certain personality type, or more courage than Undine had, to share her love for Kokoro with the world.
Kokoro looked over, and from the look in her eyes, she knew what Undine had meant, had wanted to say.
“My parents like you too,” Undine added hastily.
“I like them too,” Kokoro replied, and Undine remembered after a moment that Kokoro’s dad had not approved of her being a Magical Girl. It was strange that way, because all of Team Alchemical had parents who supported and were proud of their Magical Girl daughters, even if they were scared each day that their kids might not come home the next morning.
She’d sometimes started to ask Kokoro how her parents were, and then remembered before she could say anything.
Because she didn’t want to lose wonderful, dorky Kokoro. She didn’t want to lose the best thing besides becoming a Magical Girl. She didn’t want to say the wrong thing.
“Um, hi!” The voice knocked Undine out of her thoughts. “Could I have a photo with you?”
Undine looked up. There was a young woman standing there. A second young woman hurried to her, a look of both embarrassment and annoyance on her face. “Yenay, you just can’t….”
“Ti….” The first woman sighed. “Be adventurous!”
“Um.” Undine didn’t know what to say. Most people respected their privacy. It was considered at least bad manners to go and bother a Magical Girl that was off-duty, at least because they were famous. She’d never been approached outside of the occasional reporter, and she wondered if Kokoro had.
“Sorry for my girlfriend,” Ti said. And with that, the two of them were off, The second girl saying as they disappeared something about how Yenay should know better, that they had fans too, why did she have to do that?
Kokoro sprang up, hurrying after the two young women, and then reappeared a few minutes later with a sticker of some kind.
“Is everything all right?” Undine asked, looking from Kokoro to the sticker and then back to Kokoro.
“Oh yeah.” Kokoro gave her a grin. “Snoozy is a fan of their band - the Carmine Whimsies.”
“Snoozy?” Undine asked. She remembered Kokoro mentioning this person before, but not in what context.
“Snoozy… she’s my R.A. - Resident Assistant. She can heal the inner barrier, but she doesn’t have any offensive powers, so….” Kokoro shrugged. “She just sits at the front desk the whole time, waiting for everyone to come back. Orange hair, dark skin?”
“Oh! Suzy!” She’d talked to Suzy before. Suzy had seemed a little abrupt at times, but was nice enough and seemed genuinely upset that her powers weren’t offensive. Team Alchemical had escorted her once or twice to patch up a hole that happened early on in the night. “She’s in some of my classes.”
Suzy had confided to Undine that she sometimes suffered from insomnia, which Undine supposed that Kokoro had gotten the nickname from. Also how much she worried about the girls at the boarding house not coming home one day. She’d given Undine a hug when Undine had come back to Future’s Promise and told her she’d be there if Undine needed her.
“So I thought I’d do something nice for her.” Kokoro handed the sticker to Undine. It looked like it had been signed, probably by the two young women. “I guess for being late sometimes.”
That was the way that Kokoro was. Yes, sometimes she could be a little thoughtless. But she cared, Undine knew. She cared about others enough to go out night after night, alone, for several years. She knew when it was time to be a good friend, when to step away, and sometimes when it was just time to just punch things too. Undine couldn’t have asked for a better girlfriend.
“I want to come to your place sometime.” Undine leaned forward. “You got to meet my parents.” She knew that Kokoro’s dad was a sore subject, but hoped that her place wasn’t so much so.
“It’s not very exciting. Just me and Kicks.” Kokoro shrugged and had a sip of her water. It didn’t surprise Undine, somehow, that Kokoro was probably not ready to have Undine in her space yet. It would take time.
But time they would have, if things kept going the way they were. They’d defend each other. They’d keep each other safe.
Wasn’t that all that mattered?
Undine was confident that it was. She resolved to talk to Kokoro more about it some evening, maybe the next. When they weren’t being accompanied by a camera. It hurt slightly that they had to leave it unspoken for the moment, because it wasn’t time to let the rest of the City know. She could keep Kokoro to herself a little bit longer.
As their dinners arrived, she smiled at Kokoro, and Kokoro smiled back, and all was right with the world.
-end
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