Love Live! Everlasting Shine (Mari Ohara x Male Reader)

Chapter 17 - Shining Reunion

Five Months Later...

As I stepped off the plane, I looked out at the area around me and let out a sigh. Since Mari has the week leading up to Christmas and the week of New Years on break from classes, she ended up having me fly over to spend Christmas with her, with me also being able to see where she's been spending her time abroad. I guess this part of the US doesn't have snow which is a shame, but it's still gonna be nice to see Mari again.

As I stepped off and grabbed my baggage, I started to walk towards the entrance, only to see a certain blonde distracted and looking elsewhere. Figuring that for once I get to be the one to surprise her, I tried to act casual as I moved towards her, remembering from a book I read that it's easier to blend in if you're acting like you belong where you are. I made sure to avoid looking at Mari too much until I was behind the area where she was standing and said "Hey there, you sure look familiar."

I saw Mari flinch slightly as she turned to face me, and as our eyes locked, a smile grew on her face. It's been way too long since I last saw her, and I missed these moments together.

"Y/n, I was wondering when you'd come out the gate." Mari said "Here I was waiting to surprise you by meeting you at the gate, only for you to spot me first."

I shrugged and said "Turnabout is fair play after all."

As the two of us started to walk out of the airport, I asked "So I don't think you've mentioned where you've been staying. Are you just staying in the penthouse of the closest hotel your family owns?"

"Yeah, it's easier this way after all." Mari said "Of course I'm sure you won't mind sharing a room with me while you're here."

With my free hand I pulled her close and said "Of course not. I mean we're going to try and find a place together after you get back from Japan, so it'll just be some practice in cohabitating."

Mari giggled and said "That's true, so how are things going with your novel? Last time you talked about it, you mentioned that when your publisher announced the book you found out there was a small fan community from your first novel."

"It's going well. With the way things are going it should be released in two months. As for the whole fan community, I'll admit that I did a little bit of vanity searching and it seems like they're looking forward to it." I said, "Though I am a bit worried about how they'll react to the different genre."

As we stepped outside I found that Mari had apparently rented a car and that she had it parked in the lot. As we got into the car, Mari said "Don't worry Y/n, I'm sure that once they open it up and see all of your shining passion they'll love it."

"Right, thanks Mari." I said

The two of us caught up on the things that have changed since we last mentioned them, and I was so happy to finally be beside the woman I love again, after so long. However, as we headed closer to the hotel, Mari's phone rang, and after she said it was a classmate, the two of them started talking about something for one of their classes in english. According to my grades, I'm not exactly bad at English, but I've never been great either, and hearing a fluent conversation between Mari and the girl on the phone really made it clear just how weird it feels to only be able to understand bits and pieces of a conversation.

After a while the conversation came to an end, and before long we arrived at the Ohara hotel. It looks about the same as the one back home so I'm glad that's the same.

"Looks like I won't be too lost here at the very least." I said jokingly

Mari giggled and said "Funnily enough the penthouse is on the same floor as the one on Awashima, just the other side."

"Man, no wonder you decided to stay here." I said as we got out of the car and headed in.

It wasn't too long before the two of us reached her room, and after we entered the penthouse, I brought my bags over beside the couch as I noticed the time.

"Holy crap, it's 6:00pm over here? I mean I know the flight was long but I never realized the difference in time zones was that huge." I said, it had been 11:00pm when I left.

"I figured you'd be thinking something like that." Mari said "Now since you're probably jet lagged, I thought we'd take tonight easy, and we just cuddle until room service arrives with our dinner."

I gave her a smile and said "That sounds great Mari. Especially the cuddling part."

From there, the two of us laid down on the couch and cuddled as we watched whatever movies sounded good and talked about our plans for how we'd spend our time together before I head back after Christmas.

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As I slowly open my eyes, my eyelids feeling so empty, I see the penthouse is dark. Sometime after dinner I must have dozed off or something. As I regained my bearings, I saw that Mari was sleeping against me, with a pillow covering us. I guess that's one option on how to deal with it.

I looked at her sleeping face and I felt a soft smile appear on my face. It's been way too long since I got to hold her and kiss her like I got to today, and I missed it so much. I've missed her so much.

After a minute of waking up at least a small bit, I tried to carefully scoop Mari into my arms without waking her before taking her to the bed and after placing her under the covers, join her under them, laying beside her as I return to my sleep, my heart feeling so much fuller now that I'm with Mari again.