Love Live Oneshots

Calming (KotoUmi)

(Published September 12, 2021)

No One's POV

The ashen is tying her long hair into a ponytail. This is to prepare for another baking session of her favorite delicacy. Then a ringtone suddenly plays in the living room, she walks to that part of the house and picks up the phone. She smiles fondly at seeing a familiar name on the screen.

"Kotori-chan! Happy birthday! What are you up to right now? Let's hang out together!"

"Thank you, Honoka-chan. Calm down for a while. Let me take a seat first." Kotori chuckles at the unchanging enthusiasm of her childhood friend. She changes her hold on her phone and puts it on loud speaker. She bends over to place her phone on the kitchen counter.

"Kotori-chan?"

The called girl puts on an apron and ties it with her expert hands. She also pulls out a bowl and pours flour and some eggs on it. She beats it with steady rhythm.

"Honoka-chan, I just couldn't be doing nothing after all." Kotori laughs at herself for finding another work for her uneasy hands.

"Ah! You shouldn't be doing anything much today. I should come over and give Umi-chan a proper scolding." Honoka grumbles on the other side of the call. "No, I shouldn't have been thinking that. Now I feel a shiver down my spine, I'm sure Umi-chan is looking at me with those cold eyes."

"It's fine. I think she's flustered for suddenly making a mistake at her work." Kotori laughs at the scenarios playing in her head. She's pretty sure too that Umi is thinking about what to do for her today, making her slip up at work.

"You're right, Kotori-chan! I can imagine that happening." Honoka calms down at the reassurance, that she relaxes to the point of laughing her heart out.

"Did you really just call to call me out?" Kotori finishes mixing the batter and takes out the pan to set the batter for baking.

"Yep, really. I just wanted to greet my friend on her birthday..." Kotori definitely hears the pout in Honoka's voice.

"I'm just kidding Honoka-chan. You don't have to take everything at face value." Kotori just put the pan in the over for baking, now she has to wait again. She sets the timer for the appropriate time. She picks up her phone and heads to the living room to finally relax on their couch. "Are you alone? Where's Tsubasa-chan?"

"She's right here with a cup of coffee in her hands." Honoka looks to the person beside her who suddenly smiled that she had to look away from embarrassment.

"That's good to hear." Kotori giggles.

The two of them continue chatting away until the timer for the baking cake reaches its end. Kotori could also hear a little bit of Tsubasa-chan's grumbles from the other side of the phone, that she couldn't help but wanting to tease the two. They end the call with another birthday greeting from Honoka and also a greeting from Tsubasa, while Kotori ends the call full of gratitude for checking up on her.

"Now, where was I?" She puts her phone back on the table as she heads her way to the oven. Kotor slides her hair to her back and opens the oven, taking out a glistening cheesecake that it made Kotori smile at herself for doing another good job.

She carefully places the cake onto a big plate, then she remembers something she has to do before partaking in the homemade delicacy. Kotori runs back to where she left her phone and takes it with her. Now back in front of the cake, she takes out the camera function of her phone and pictures the cheesecake. Satisfied with the photo she took, she sends the photo to Umi and posts it in her social media while she was at it.

When she just takes in her first bite, her phone rings again. Her phone lights up and sees the name of the person she is waiting for. She opens it and chuckles at the reply she got. She replies with a request for the blue haired girl to come home quickly. She doesn't get a reply after that. She imagines Umi to now be working speedily to be able to leave work early. Taking another bite of her cheesecake, she leaves her phone alone.

She finishes one slice of her cheesecake and keeps the rest into the refrigerator. She proceeds to do a little cleanup since its been awhile since she was at home alone like this.

The creaks open when she was just about finished in her cleaning up. She expectantly walks to the entrance to see Umi staggering by the door. Kotori catches her in time with the door closing.

"You pushed yourself too hard again. Umi-chan." Kotori also lets herself fall on the floor with Umi in her arms, she couldn't resist stroking Umi's hair while silently scolding the girl.

"...Sorry. I just had to come home immediately when you sent that message." Umi snuggles into the embrace while wrapping her arms on the ashen's back.

While Kotori is still distracted with her tired body, Umi drags her bag closer to her other hand to take out her present for today's event. She didn't have to buy cake anymore since Kotori sent her that picture and replied with a hesitant reply that she was going to buy the cake. Then the reply to that message was sent and it made Umi do what Kotori thought, thus her current situation.

Still, she had already bought the present she had in mind for Kotori. The only step she has to take now is just give it to her without being too embarrassed by it. Umi groggily separated herself from the warm embrace of Kotori, slowly getting the present into the view of Kotori.

"Happy birthday Kotori. Here's to another good year for the two of us." As expected, Umi couldn't stop the light blush on her cheek. She is still not used to this setup, she also unconsciously brings her left hand to her lips, specifically the ring.

"Thank you, Umi-chan. You're still so awkward about this stuff, it's so cute seeing you like this everytime." Kotori takes the present and places it beside her. Then she pulls the wrist of Umi and kisses the same ring, which only resulted in a deeper shade of pink on Umi's cheek.

"I can't help it. You became my wife not a month ago." Umi averts her gaze to the side, too embarrassed by the fact that she just blurted out.

"You became my wife too!" Kotori laughs as she makes Umi look at her in the eyes.

"I know." Umi is struggling to keep herself together at the tender way Kotori was looking at her.

"Did your weariness already fly away?" Kotori teased.

"You know the answer already..." Unable to bear the affectionate gaze of Kotori, Umi just moves in to hide her face in the ashen's chest.

"Exactly." Kotori doesn't hesitate to reciprocate the hug.

They stay in that position until Kotori mentions dinner.