Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat continued to run around the city, the latter sporting a wide smile while the former tried her hardest to keep up with her.
After all, if she got stuck even once while Sugarcoat was still running, Sour Sweet was gonna be dragged across the floor.
"S-S-Sugarcoat, wait! Please, hear me out!" Sour Sweet called, grabbing Sugarcoat's hand with both her hands. "I-I can follow you just fine by myself, j-just please, tell me where we're going!"
"Trust me, it'll speak for itself when we get there!"
Sour Sweet would've liked a more conclusive answer, but oh well, what could she do?
The pair kept running for a while until they arrived at a fountain.
And this time, Sour Sweet didn't somehow get pushed into it. That was a plus, anyway.
"And here we are," Sugarcoat said as she released "Sorry that I had to drag you here before telling you where we were going."
Sour Sweet rolled her eyes and rubbed her hand.
"Oh no, don't worry, it's okay; you just nearly ripped my hand off!"
Then she looked around, and failed to get even the slightest hint of where they were.
"Anyway, where are we?"
"We're at the city plaza," Sugarcoat answered, her smile slowly faltering. "Don't you remember this place?"
Sour Sweet, noticing Sugarcoat slowly getting upset, took a deep breath and frowned.
"Sorry, my hand hurts so much from being pulled around, and you just grabbed it and ran so suddenly, that I'm still trying to recover from the shock. H-However, the plaza, it's special to you right? Surely that has to be for a reason."
Sour Sweet took a couple steps forward.
"Let me take a look around, maybe I'll find something that'll refresh my-"
Suddenly, Sour Sweet felt a sharp pain in her legs before she collapsed, prompting Sugarcoat to run to her, grab her shoulder and lift her.
"Sour Sweet, are you okay?!"
"Y-Yeah, I think my legs just gave in since we were running so fast."
Sugarcoat helped Sour Sweet sit on a bench.
"I forgot your legs aren't anywhere near as strong or as durable as mine."
"And I want to sue magic for that! I mean clearly, the nerdy one of us should have the bad stamina, not the girl with attitude!"
"Then I'll act as magic's defendant to keep the blatant privilege they've gifted me!"
They girls paused for a second, before their cheeks puffed up and they laughed out loud, their laughter slowing down as Sugarcoat sat next to Sour Sweet.
"Now, try to look around this place for a moment," Sugarcoat said as she brushed Sour Sweet's head. "Are you remembering yet?"
Sour Sweet looked around for a moment... and then, she suddenly remembered.
"This is...!"
Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat stood in front of the fountain, the evening sun illuminating their surroundings and giving everything a glowing shade of orange.
Sour Sweet placed her arms behind her back and looked elsewhere, blushing a little as she tried to think of what to say.
Sugarcoat? She was as stoic as ever.
"S-So... S-Sugarcoat, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now."
Sour Sweet put her hand on her chest.
"It's something that's been in my heart for a while now, and which developed before I had even noticed."
Sour Sweet clutched her chest.
"Even now, I don't know when did this feeling developed, but... what I'm trying to say is..."
Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow as Sour Sweet hesitated, her blushing intensifying until she finally spoke:
"I... I like you..."
Sugarcoat's eyes widened.
"Would you go out with me?"
Sour Sweet closed her eyes and clutched her chest even tighter, expecting Sugarcoat's answer any minute now.
It could be a rejection, it could be an agreement to date, whatever came next, Sour Sweet had already gone past the point of no return.
"That's it?"
Sour Sweet flinched and looked at the confused Sugarcoat.
"I like you too, we're friends after all, but did you have to call me here to tell me that?"
Sour Sweet blinked twice.
"N-No, I don't mean that I like you as a friend."
"Then what do you mean?" Sugarcoat folded her arms. "Just because I'm pretty blunt myself doesn't mean I can get the message right away: I need you to be blunt with me too."
"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't get it," Sour Sweet took a deep breath. "Sugarcoat... I like you, as in, like-like you."
"I said be blunt, not redundant."
Sour Sweet narrowed her eyes.
"I like you as something more than a friend."
"And now you're being vague."
Sour Sweet clenched her fists and stomped the ground.
"I love you!"
Sugarcoat paused to process this revelation... and responded with the same stoic tone as before.
"Could you be a little bit more specific-?"
Sour Sweet finally snapped.
"Ugh, how much more blunt can I get?! I just said I loved you! Not as a friend, not as something more than a friend, as a love interest! As a significant other! As someone I want to spend with every day, and possibly the rest of my life, together!"
Sour Sweet got up close with Sugarcoat's face.
"How much more blunt do I need to be for you to get it?!"
Sugarcoat chuckled, startling Sour Sweet.
"You don't have to be blunt: I got it the first time."
...
"W-What?"
"Yeah, I understood what you meant when you said you liked me," Sugarcoat smiled. "I just wanted to play a little with you before I gave you my actual answer."
Sour Sweet's rage turned into concern as she took a step back.
"W-Which is?"
Sugarcoat grabbed Sour Sweet's chin, pulled her a little bit closer, and with their eyes locked in a stare, she answered with her usual bluntness.
"I wouldn't mind giving it a shot."
Sour Sweet lowered her eyelids and smiled.
"S-So... you're okay with me?"
Sugarcoat smiled, and silently edged her and Sour Sweet's close together... and kissed.
"Yup, this is the place where you asked me out, and our relationship blossomed," Sugarcoat said as she looked at the sky with a cheerful smile. "Ever since then, I often come back to visit this place when things between us can get a little heated. Or just to have a trip through memory lane."
Sour Sweet remained silent as Sugarcoat stood up and took a couple steps forward.
"Anyway, about the thing I wanted to talk to you about-"
*sniff*
"Please..."
Sugarcoat flinched and turned around, finding out that Sour Sweet not only stood up with her legs trembling, but was shedding tears in the process.
"Don't do this to me... do anything else, but..."
Sour Sweet covered her face with her hands and dropped to her knees.
"Anything but this... anything but this, please..."
Sugarcoat immediately ran up to Sour Sweet and crouched down.
"Sour Sweet! What's wrong this?!"
Sour Sweet lowered her head.
"I-It's just *sniff* I just *sniff* I didn't think *sniff* you'd *sniff* be so mad *sniff* as to make me *sniff* remember what I *sniff* how our relationship began..."
Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow, but quickly went back to looking concerned for her girlfriend.
"What are you talking about?"
"I-I know I *sniff* I did a bad thing by *sniff* snapping at you at the school *sniff* and I *sniff* a-and I-"
"Sour Sweet, calm down," Sugarcoat said, putting her arm around Sour Sweet's shoulder. "What I want to tell you isn't related to how you snapped at me at the school!"
Hearing that, Sour Sweet's mind slowly processed what the bespectacled girl had said, her tears and sobbing slowing down to almost a halt as she lifted her head and looked at Sugarcoat, immediately spotting her concer for her.
"B-But... I snapped at you... when you were just trying to see if... if I was feeling okay..."
Sour Sweet lowered her eyelids.
"Aren't you angry about that?"
"Well, I'm not really used to such extreme mood swings from you, so I'm still a little shaken," Sugarcoat scratched her back of her head. "But getting angry at you? I've seen how some people have reacted after those pop quizzes, and trust me, you're not even among the top five worst breakdowns."
Sour Sweet blinked twice.
"S-Sugarcoat-"
Sugarcoat put both her hands on Sour Sweet's shoulders.
"What I wanted to tell you, was to remember what I told you when we did start going out at first: We'll both have our backs when times get tough, and we'll be there for each other, no matter what."
Sour Sweet started crying again.
"So if you're feeling pretty angry or upset, or whatever over something, just remember you have me by your side. Granted, there's quite a lot of things I won't be able to help you with-"
Sour Sweet narrowed her eyes. "Don't ruin the moment, please."
Sugarcoat giggled. "But the point is, remember you can count on me."
Sour Sweet smiled, and shed some tears as Sugarcoat embraced her in a hug, patting her back as off in the distance, Suri Polomare watched the duo from a cafe, sipping her drink with a smile on her face.
The next day at school... felt kinda weird. And not just because of how both Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat noted how things seemed to have resolved a little bit too easily.
No, the weirder thing was that, while there was a surprise pop quiz as expected, it somehow felt less demanding than the previous ones before. Indeed, Sour Sweet managed to be the second student to complete the quiz, after Suri and Sugarcoat, of course.
She didn't expect to get anything more than a B, but it was infinitely better than getting a -F grade.
Up to this day, nobody knows how that was even a thing.
Regardless, once the bell rang and everybody walked out, Sour Sweet was approached by Suri.
"Are you feeling okay, Sour Sweet?"
Sour Sweet blinked twice. "Why do you ask?"
"You were pretty calm the entire class: even when the pop quiz appeared, you didn't do much more than groan in frustration," Suri answered, scratching her cheek. "It's certainly calmer than when you threw your desk over the window last time."
"I still hope that cat's okay," Sour Sweet bemoaned. "But yeah, I see what you mean: I just can't angry as before, knowing there's something I can count on."
Suri raised an eyebrow, but soon got what Sour Sweet meant when the duo reached her locker, and found Sugarcoat standing nearby, sporting a little smile.
Sour Sweet returned the smile, and Suri glanced at the duo.
"I'll, uh, go see if Trenderhoof wants to walk back home."
Suri ran out of view, jumping and clapping in the air as she did, leaving the girls to walk closer to each other, eyes interlocked and cheeks blushing as red as tomatos.
"Hello, Susie."
"Hello, sweetie."