If Only for a Moment ☓ You and Her

The Closet

You're taking hands long before the two of you are even together. She's affectionate; this you learn quickly.

At first you wonder if she treats the others like this, but it's easy to decide that you don't care when she smiles like that. You never imagined she could smile like that. She had been so stoic when you'd first met - icy and calculating, like a storybook detective.

Now she trusts you with everything. Everything, including her smile.

She comes out to you a few weeks after the investigation is done. Adachi is locked away, Ameno-sagiri is defeated, and Izanami has been stopped, and the Investigation Team can finally return to their lives.

She's known for a while, now, but she'd never had anyone to tell. At first, she hadn't known what to think, but facing her shadow self had given her the courage to accept more than just what it had addressed. The truth is she had never been interested in men - only ever women.

She waits with her heart in her throat as you ponder your answer. You've never really gone through this whole song and dance before. Sure, you've told people - but not in the traditional "mom, dad, I have something to tell you" kind of way. Coming out came easily in a place where old homophobic customs were becoming outdated.

But this is not one of those places. Especially in a small town like Inaba, you have to be cautious about who you tell.

You don't know what to say to make her feel less anxious. The only way you know is to put yourself in the same vulnerable position she is in right now, watching you openly yet cautiously at the same time as she awaits what you have to say.

So you do. "Me too."

She doesn't understand at first. It isn't at all what she had been expecting. This was a sudden and unexpected third option where she'd thought to be only two clear paths.

"You..." she pauses, unsure of what she wants to say.

"Yeah, what are the odds, huh?" You smile a little before cocking your head in thought, "Actually it probably isn't that unlikely, forget that."

"You mean to say that you are...like me?"

"Gay, yeah. Super, actually." You shrug nonchalantly and lean back on your palms. "I mean I didn't mean to hide it from you and the others, it just sort of comes out when it does, I guess."

You snort, then, because that had been the most unintentional pun you'd ever made.

It takes a minute, but you see her shoulders lose their tension. She isn't sitting like she's got a metal pole for a spine, anymore. She's smiling.

"In that case...while we're still on the topic of confessions..." Her eyes meet yours, and there's significantly less anxiety there than there was a second ago. "I have one more thing to tell you."