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

Chapter 6 - Silver Path Confession

As the first snow of the winter falls gently outside, I sit in the library reading, trying to at least partially keep an eye out for anybody coming in to borrow a book rather than end up engrossed in what I'm reading. As I sit there, I notice my phone vibrate and I see that Mari had sent me a text. It's just asking if I'm free to meet up later and walk part way home together. I tell her that I'm definitely free, but as I send it, I end up curious about why she's sending it to me, after all she typically walks homes with her friends in Aquors after school, so I wonder if something is different today.

I wanted to think more about it when a couple students came in asking about particular books, and so I put those thoughts aside for the moment, my last thought before I did so being that maybe this could be a perfect situation to try and tell Mari about how I've started to feel about her.

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Mari's Perspective

As I saw that Y/n would be happy to walk home with me, I felt my smile widen slightly before I put it away as I got to Dia and Kanan.

"Is something up? I mean I just saw your smile grow a ton." Kanan said

"Y/n was just telling me that he'd be free to walk home with me today, and so I should be heading back with him today." I said. Y/n occasionally has plans lined up for after school so sometimes he isn't free to walk with me.

"So you'll be walking home with Y/n again? I'm glad that you two get along so well, but I'm also a little surprised since I've never seen you act like this towards anyone else before." Dia said

"It's because I've really ended up in love with him." I said

There was a split-second pause before Kanan smiled and said "Oh really? I'm happy for you."

"Yeah, here's hoping that he returns your affections." Dia said

I gave them a fake pout and said "What was that pause for? Did you really think I'd joke about something like that?"

Kanan let out a small laugh and said "Well you're quite the jokester so sometimes it can be a little hard to tell with you."

I let out a smile and said "I thought that was the case, but it just goes to show how well we know each other since it only took you a second to realize I was telling the truth."

The three of us continued to talk as we headed to meet up with Chika and all the others in Aquors, including me telling them a bit more about my feelings for Y/n.

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Y/n's Perspective

As I stood by the entrance to the school to wait for Mari, I noticed that it had stopped snowing, it had been pretty brief, meaning there was nothing but a small carpet of snow on the ground. That's a bit of a shame, the mental image of Mari smiling at me, snowflakes in her hair, is such a wonderful thought.

I shrug and decide to maybe just try to do a bit of brainstorming for my next story, but in my struggle to get in the zone, I only ended up with a minute before I feel somebody come up and hug me from behind "Hey Y/n."

I turned my head to see a little bit of Mari in the corner of my vision as I said "Hey, gotta admit I wasn't expecting this kind of greeting." Well I say that but Mari is definitely the more physical type of person, which I can definitely appreciate.

"What can I say? I was looking forward to meeting up with you?" Mari said.

"If you say so, now how about we get going?" I asked

"Of course, let's go." Mari said

As we headed out together, the two of us ended up talking about what we had been up to today, until my curiosity flared up again and I said "By the way, is there any particular reason you wanted to walk home with me today? I mean you usually walk home with your friends in Aquors, after all."

"Not really, I just wanted to spend some time with you." Mari said, skipping ahead slightly, turning to face me as she did so.

However as Mari skipped ahead, due to the snow beneath her shifting in response, she started to slip. However, as she did, I quickly took hold of her hand and pulled her up, bringing her up to me. As she stood so close to me, her eyes and lips so close to me, I felt my heart skip a beat. Maybe this is my chance to tell her how I feel. "Mari, I want you to know that I..."

As I was about to tell her that I've ended up with feelings for her, my mind went blank, and I froze. What exactly am I supposed to say to her? I'm not exactly the most eloquent speaker, and I don't want to mess up this chance up because I said something stupid. Maybe I should just pull back for today and figure out what to tell her another day. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I mean it's not like she's going anywhere, right?

"Er... nevermi-" As I started to say nevermind, I felt her soft lips against mine, and I froze again.

As our lips parted, Mari giggled and with a light blush said "You can be so cute sometimes, you know that? Though that's just one of the reasons I fell for you. That's what you were going to tell me, wasn't it?"

I felt my heart beating faster, and my brain slowly started to comprehend what Mari was saying to me over what felt like a while to me but was probably only a second. Not only is she into me too, she straight up led the situation after I faltered. As I realized that, I felt a smile form on my face, and I said "That's right, I've ended up with feelings for you."

Mari took hold of my hand and said "I'm so happy to hear that!"

As we shared a moment together, this truth being revealed for the two of us, I asked "So since we both have feelings for each other, I'd love to turn this into an actual relationship. Er, what I was trying to ask is will you be my girlfriend?"

"Of course I will be. Here's hoping for a wonderful, shiny, relationship for the two of us." Mari said, holding my hand and moving to stand close to my side.

I took a deep breath and said "Hey, apologies for freezing like that, I just couldn't help but worry that I'd trip over my words and mess up the mood, but I promise that soon I'll be ready to tell you just how much you've grown to matter to me in the short time we've been together."

"I know you will Y/n." Mari said, squeezing my hand and leaning against me as we walked. The rest of our trip home felt like a slice of heaven as Mari and I enjoyed each other's presence and the thought that from now on we're actually dating.

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A/n: I have no clue if this title is any good. It sounded good in my head but now I'm more iffy on it and may change it later. I wish I had something more relevant or serious to add to this author's note but I'm really struggling trying to come up with anything to tell you folks