30 Day OTP Challenge ft. Sannochieyomi

"I Love You"s

Nikei was beginning to understand what Emma meant by 'you might not get another chance.' Before he could make up his mind about when to propose, Mikado had nearly succumbed to the effects of his fading Divine Luck. Because of his inability to decide, he nearly lost one of the people he'd grown to love.

Nikei knew that he had to make a move to do something soon, so he planned to finally propose on the upcoming Saturday. That was still a while away, as it was Monday, but he had a few days to prepare and hype himself up for being the one to ask the question. He would need to ask Emma for money to buy rings, if she was willing to donate to the 'help Nikei's shenanigans' fund yet again.

He was happy that Mikado was back home and would safely live long enough to see his next birthday, but that didn't change the fact that he still needed to do his job to earn money. Mikado would be stuck with only doing his hacking for a while since neither Nikei or Setsuka were keen on letting Mikado do all the household chores in his state, and Setsuka was still a private eye.

"I'm heading out!" Nikei called, putting on his jacket and making sure that his notepad was flipped to a blank page. "Bye, love you!"

As he closed the door behind him, Setsuka and Mikado looked at each other from where they sat at the table, their breakfasts still in front of them. "Hm, I think that might be the first time he's said 'love you' to us without flustering himself," Mikado remarked. "He didn't even say it quietly either. How cute."

"Well, maybe we should catch him when he gets back. Maybe reward him for saying that," Setsuka giggled with a mischievous grin, one that told Mikado how screwed Nikei was going to end up. "I mean, he's so cute and easily flustered, it's hard to not use that against him. Hell, I'm pretty sure he enjoys it too, he doesn't try to fight or run!"

"No distress, no need to get away, no pain in affection. I don't blame him at all," the wizard agreed. "I'd take his place on the best of days, but my muscles haven't fully healed yet. Dammit."

"At least your almost finished your physical rehabilitation with your muscles. The marks don't look so enflamed now, and at least you can breathe properly again." Setsuka watched as Mikado finished his breakfast, and she took both of their empty plates to the sink to wash later.

Mikado looked over his arm, the red marks nearly faded to a dull pink. "With my Divine Luck fading, I was meant to suffocate and burn again. How I'm still alive is beyond me, if I can be honest."

"Ahaha, do I really need to repeat myself again?" The detective chuckled awkwardly. "You think fate is just one linear thing, but it's determined by your surroundings and your actions. That's all there is to it. Since Nik and I got you to the hospital in time, you ended up living."

"...I suppose that ended up happening in the end. Perhaps my preconceptions were wrong in the end," he concluded, though his voice told Setsuka that he was still indecisive about the topic. She decided to drop the subject for now, instead walking over to her boyfriend to give his a small kiss on the cheek. As she expected, he melted into it.

***

A few hours later, Nikei finally came back home from work, looking more excitable than usual. "Guys! Big news!" he exclaimed, quickly getting their attention. "A huge parade is going to be hosted tomorrow!"

"Oh, really? What for?" Setsuka began to ask, then stopped herself. "Wait a second, is this about the government giving LBGT people more rights? I've heard rumours going around."

"Yeah, the government has been giving the LGBTQ community more rights because of the low birth rates, especially polyamorous people, so they've been coming out of the woodwork recently," the journalist explained, then put his hands on his hips as he smiled widely. "Including us! Let's go to to the fake pride parade!"