As It Is, If It Were

Eleven / Tokai Teio

Author's note: Happy birthday, Nice Nature!

*

Teio had always lived alone for as long as she could remember—since she left Tracen's dorms after graduation, at the very least—so it really came as a surprise for her when she noticed that something magical was happening around her.

At first, it was her hair dryer. Since she lived alone, Teio had been rather lax about where she put it back. She had a place for it, of course, but a day or two, she would just let it lay on her bed after her hair dried, and she'd only put it back either after she came back home or, if she was too tired to think of cleaning up, the next day. This habit of procrastinating a little bit on the little things didn't disappear even after she'd moved. However, the same could not be said about the cleanup—and it wasn't because Teio grew any lazier.

Simply put, the things she scattered were just no longer there.

Her hair dryer was always, without exception, back to where it belonged, on the top left drawer of Teio's dressing table. The first time it happened, Teio thought her room was haunted or something (which kept her up all night, though she wouldn't admit it if asked). The second time, Teio thought maybe she just got too tired and misremembered a thing or two. The third time, Teio realized that Nature had cleaned up after her.

The hair dryer was only how Teio noticed what was going on. After the third time, Teio realized that the same thing actually happened to the rest of her things—there was never a mess left in her wake, and never as much as a speck of dust on any of her belongings. Wherever she went at home, her entire life was basically in order. It was only smooth sailing for her whatever she was doing, her efforts aside.

And Nature never, not even once, brought the topic up herself.

Nature was the very picture of diligence, if Teio was to describe her. She occasionally did overtime at work, but apart from those exceptions, she did most of the cooking and cleaning. Teio herself was by no means a slacker when it came to cleaning—an experience she learned firsthand when she had to become the Leader of Team Spica during her long recovery back in middle school—but Nature even stopped Teio once before when she tried to help her clean.

"Cleaning is how I get my mind in order," she said. "I'll be relying on you any other day, but for today, please let me clean up by myself. I kind of want to sort things out in my head."

What she needed to sort out, she never told.

It actually got to the point that Teio was afraid of growing lazy. Even more than that, however, Teio realized that if she were to keep this up, she'd be imposing more to Nature than she could afford to ask for.

Nature showed no sign of holding back. In fact, if Teio's eyes didn't deceive her, she would seem to be the happiest Teio had seen her in a while, the kind of honest smile she'd only ever shown whenever she was together with Team Canopus or when she jumped straight to embrace Teio after her Arima Kinen comeback. The only problem, Teio realized, was her own ever-increasing guilt whenever she realized Nature did something for her that she never asked for.

And if there's anything she learned from her youth, it was that skirting around the topic wouldn't do. She stalled thanking McQueen for everything she'd done for days on end just because she didn't know that she would be so embarrassed just trying to thank her, and she still remembered how anxious it made her feel. There was absolutely nothing about that anxiety that she'd like to feel again.

The moment Teio thought that Nature was trying to sort things out in her mind about living together with her, Teio knew it was high time they have a talk.

*

Teio had no idea where to begin, so she started off immediately with the point—an apology. Needless to say, it threw Nature in for a loop.

"Eh?" Nature raised both her hands, as if considering if she should stop Teio. "Eh—ehh? Why?"

"I mean …," Teio considered for a second to rearrange the words in her head, "you've been cleaning up after me all this time. And not only that…."

Nature was always so quick to latch on to whatever topic Teio brought up. She always readily laughed at her jokes, enthusiastically respond to her conversations, and not a day was dull in her company. Their coordination was also perfect, excepting that one time Nature told Teio to let her do the cleaning.

Nature had to be compromising a lot just to make their life together work.

"You've been very accommodating," Teio said, her face still lowered. "You really … you really made us together work. If it weren't for you, I don't know if I can keep the two of us like this myself. So I just…."

"That's not the case at all! Please raise your head!" It was clear by her voice that Nature was beginning to panic. "I mean, I asked for this. For us. That you're even here at all is more than enough, I didn't really particularly clean up after you or anything. I clean up all the same."

"But," Teio raised her head, but then lowered it again. "But you have to … accommodate for me. And I don't even know what you have to compromise. And you even had to … sort things out…."

"Sort—eh?" Nature gave a puzzled look. "Sort what out?"

"Back when you were cleaning…."

Teio gave Nature the whole story, but at the end of it, all she got was Nature's soft chuckle as she shook her head slowly. She touched Teio's cheek and lifted her head.

"Teio," Nature said, "I was thinking about work. My boss was being a pain about something I believe I did well. Oh, and I actually did ask around about my work back then, I know I did well for sure. Cleaning helps me calm down. That was it!"

"So … you're okay with us?"

"Of course I am!" Nature's reply came a bit stronger than Teio expected. "I told you, I asked for this. Also, it's unfair for you to think that you're making me accommodate to you."

Teio tilted her head. "Why?"

"You've been accommodating to me, too. Don't you even realize that? You've been aligning yourself to my schedule. You've been keeping up contact. You've been making our ground rules clear, and you've been keeping it all. Heck, we've ever only gone out together since we moved in, and it was all because I asked you to come every single time I wanted to go out."

Teio raised her eyebrows. "… huh."

"Don't tell me you didn't notice."

"I didn't. Ehe."

Nature sighed. "Point is, Teio, you're not pressuring me to do anything for you. You're not making me accommodate, I just do this by nature." She stopped for a second. "Heh. By Nature. Hehe."

Teio held her groan at the pun.

"If anything," Nature continued, "I've been like this since we were kids. It's also why I worried for a while that I didn't have a personality…."

"You—what?"

"A-anyway, don't feel bad! That's what I'm trying to say!"

There was a kind, determined look on Nature's face. Teio felt a burden leaving her shoulders, and she slumped right away with a very loud sigh.

"T—Teio?!"

"That's a relief," Teio said. "I'm glad I didn't make you mad…."

"Why would you?"

"I mean…."

Their banter continued, but Teio's shoulders felt so much lighter. Maybe moving in was the right call, after all.