Aftermath 1

So after everything that happened with that Gross thing, Chiara invited me into her room. She was crying into my shoulder. It broke my heart. How dare that Gross thing make my darling Chiara she'd tears over him?!

Chiara sniffed, "I'm fine now Emi-chan. I'll be okay." she tried to reassure me

"I don't believe you." I said as I stroked her hair. "Can I crush that thing's jewels after all? Please?"

"Violence isn't the answer Emi-chan!" she exclaimed.

"That wasn't a no~," I lilted.

Chiara smacked my shoulder, "Yes it was!" she giggled.

Now she was feeling a little better. Now to distract her even further, "Chi-chan. Can you make me some sfinge?" I asked

"....are you sure?" she asked "You don't actually want zeppole?" 

"I mean if you're offering, I won't say no. but I'm in a ricotta mood today." I elaborated.

"Fine. Anything else?"

What would be relatively easy to make but time consuming...? Ah! "Torta..."

"Delle rose? Yes Torta Delle rose sounds good. She pulled me to my feet as she stood up. Looks like she was already in baking mode. "Let's go to the kitchen, Emi-chan! I'll need your hands!"

Well I distracted Chiara from what happened and put her focus on baking. So I will consider this a win. Even if I know my arms will be tired after this.

"Thank you, Emi." Chiara said.

"You're welcome," I responded.

_________________________________________

It was the next day and Chiara was hanging out at my house after school. We were pretty much done studying so we were taking the time to relax and recharge. She started an incredible conversation all of a sudden.

"Emi-chan? You know how you blacked out when You saw what Kimotani was doing?"

"Gross thing?" I asked, "what happened?"

"Well, luckily and with Mimi-chan's help, I was able to hold you back long enough for you to only beat him up a little. You regained consciousness soon enough but....you were possessed by your emotions Emi-chan." she explained.

"Eh?" That means I awakened to my Extranormal abilities the way Kaa-chan did. But more importantly, I gulped, "Wha-What did I say?"

"It's fine," Chiara reassured me,"You just said, 'How dare you hurt my Dearest Chiara. Face my Thunderous fury!' Then you punched him to the wall. You were letting off sparks though."

I let out a relieved sigh, that sounds like something I would have said and done if I was conscious. "Sparks? Do I have electric powers?"

"Maybe?" Chiara was just as uncertain as I was, "We'll have to ask your mother. It might have been Eldritch lightning."

"Oh! I could get a broom license if it was! wouldn't flying be fun?" I was excited.

"Definitely," Chiara agreed, "But you were possessed by your emotions, Emi-chan. That only happens when your power is too much for your body and mind to handle. Which means as the person closest to you, I'm in charge of calming you down when that happens."

That makes sense. "So what do we have to do?" I asked.

"Well mama drew up this consent form. It's pretty much what I usually do to calm you down when you get angry. Hug you, feed you, sing to you but we may have to...." Chiara trailed off just as I was reading the reason for her hesitation.

"Kiss?! What?! Are Auntie and Kaa-chan messing with us again?!" I'd be happy if they weren't but I wasn't going to say that out loud.

"I thought that too so I asked around and....it seems like.... kissing your dearest ones is the easiest way to get out of the emotion possessed state." Chiara said turning a lovely shade of red.

I wonder who she asked was it that pitiable underclassmen with bad luck and great charisma? I decided to ask. "Who told you about this?" I asked as I finished signing the consent form.

"It was the shy member of Shouya-kun's group."  Chiara answered.

"Oh! Rikako!" I recognized her. That makes sense. Sometimes her embarrassment takes over and she disappears without noticing. Apparently only Shouya can find her when she's like that. I think they'd make a cute couple. "I'm definitely rooting for her!" I said enthusiastically.

"Me too!" Chiara agreed. "Focus!" Chiara scolded both me and herself."We can gossip later. The point is we'll need to kiss eventually. And I don't want your first kiss to be taken when you start to rampage."

"What about yours, Chi-chan. Didn't you want to give it to your...." I trailed off.  I realized the problem with that sentence immediately. She'd wanted to give her first kiss to her first boyfriend but then that thing happened.

"It's fine. You're more important than that." Chiara said a little curtly. In a gentler tone she said, "I'd rather you have your first kiss with me than someone who will take advantage of you," she said with a hand on my cheek. "Okay?"

"Okay." I said entranced. Then Chiara knocked out teeth together. "Mm?!"

"Ow!! Sorry Emi-chan! Let me try again!" Chiara apologized

"No. I'll do it!" I objected.

"But I'm supposed to kiss you!" she objected to my objection.

She had a point. " Fine! But I want to kiss you as well!"

After three more failed attempts we finally managed to kiss each other twice my tongue, teeth and lips hurt by the time Kaa-chan shimmered into the room with Chiara's mama in tow. 

"I'm home, my beloved daughter! Hello Chiara-chan!" she said like I couldn't hear her laughing in the hallway on our second failed attempt. "We have good news! You've both been accepted into the Escalated Academy of Extranormal Learning!"

"Congratulations. You've been accepted in recommendation, Strawberry" Auntie said to me, and presented us with plates of Budino. I suspected Auntie also knew what happened. "Good job. And I did indeed suspect what would happen. First kisses are hard."

"Thank you."  I accepted the dessert and explanation gratefully.

"So does this mean we can spend the rest of the school year slacking off?" Chiara asked hopefully. She had already gotten her recommendation earlier, through the power of money. But she should have known better than to ask that to Auntie. If she didn't we probably could have.  I glared at Chiara.

Chiara realized her mistake and apologized with her eyes 

"Well now that you mention it. We can't have students not learning during the school year. And Emi does have a better grasp on Italian than even a native like me. Sign language should be relatively simple." Auntie said smiling happily. I knew we couldn't escape 

"Oh! There are the broom lessons too! I've noticed that you are in fact gifted with magic, Emi!" Kaa-chan smiled. Well that would be fun. Maybe I could use that as an excuse to get out of some of the sign language lessons? "And Sign language is good for magic as well!" 

'Darn it!' I lamented and grabbed onto Chiara's arm She was taking out a jar of Ink. "Together!" I emphasized. I won't let you leave me to their whims alone.

"...." she put the jar of Ink down."Always" she responded. Which meant: I'm leaving if they try to put me in cosplay. I agreed.

And so we ended middle school. Chiara's next love awaited her at the academy. So too did mine.

to be continued.