Seiko was surprised to pick up her phone that afternoon, seeing Ruruka's phone number flash across the screen. She slid the accept call button and put the phone to her ear.
"Ando?" She asked. "W-why are you calling me?"
"Seiko, you gotta come over to my place!" Ruruka beamed over the phone. "I got something I wanna show you!"
"The l-last time you told m-me that, we broke into M-Miaya's house," Seiko stuttered.
"She didn't press charges. I don't know why you're still hung up about that," Ruruka said.
"What is this about?"
"Come over and I'l show you~."
Ruruka's tone of voice made Seiko shudder.
"O-okay," she agreed. "I'll see you in, um, h-half an hour, then?"
"It's a date! Bye, Seiko!"
"Bye, Ruruka. Love you."
Seiko hung up. She froze.
"Oh," she realized. "Oh no."
Seiko prayed to god that by the time she'd gotten to Ruruka's house, she'd forget about that little slip. She rang the doorbell, muttering to herself and trying to calm down. The door opened and out walked Ruruka, shimmering in the sunlight. That was probably just Seiko's imagination, but she glowed.
Not right now, gay. I'm trying to work this out, Seiko thought.
"Hey," Ruruka smiled. "It's been almost an hour. Where've you been?"
"I-I've just been thinking about s-some stuff." Seiko said, trying to concentrate on something that wasn't how Ruruka looked like an ethereal queen at that moment. And every moment. Holy shit, gay, can you chill for a second?
"Well, come on in!" Ruruka stepped out of the way. "It's up in my room. Follow me."
Ruruka and Seiko walked up to the second floor into Seiko's room. It was lavishly decorated, tasteful shades of pastel pinks, purples, and baby blues. Ruruka's bed covers had little wrapped candy patterns printed on it, pink and white repeating. Mounted on the wall next to it was a large, flat-screen tv that Seiko always envied whenever she came over to Ruruka's house. There was a chest next to it which Ruruka was currently digging around in, giving Seiko a perfect view of her-
Seiko averted her eyes, cursing herself for having a sense of vision.
Ruruka pulled out a machine the size of her head with two ports on the side facing Seiko. Two wires trailed onto the floor that ended in microphones.
"A karaoke machine," Seiko noted. "Why d-do you need this?"
"To have fun," Ruruka shrugged. "I was hoping you'd try it out with me."
"I-I can't really sing," Seiko admitted.
"Come on! You gotta try it!" Ruruka plugged in the machine and gave on microphone to Seiko. She turned on the tv and flipped it to the station where the karaoke options showed up. "What do you wanna sing first?"
"Whatever y-you want," Seiko said. "I-I mean, I don't know. You can decide for me."
Ruruka smirked mischievously. Seiko gulped.
Ruruka flicked through the songs on her remote when she landed on "Candyman" by Christina Aguilera. Oh. Oh no.
"It's not a duet, but I can deal with singing alone," Ruruka said. She looked up at Seiko. "Can you be my backup dancer?"
Seiko felt her face flush.
"U-um..."
Ruruka slowed down.
"You know, I feel like I've been pushing you a little bit," she said.
"Wh-what? No. You're fine," Seiko assured.
"If you don't wanna sing with me-"
"I-if it's you, I don't c-care what we do," Seiko cut her off. "I-I know I give you a-a hard t-time, sometimes, but I don't m-mean it, and... and... I'm getting c-carried away, aren't I?"
"No." Ruruka smiled again. "I... really like it when you talk." Seiko's heart fluttered. Ruruka cleared her throat. "A-anyways, let's get this started. There'll be a dancer on the screen, unless the box art lied to me. So just copy her. Okay?"
"Okay."
Seiko clicked the start song button. On the screen, a white spot shaped somewhat womanly walked on screen. Lyrics popped up word by word as they played. Ruruka sang them in perfect time. Her pitch wasn't perfect, but she looked so enthusiastic, Seiko had to be enthralled. Seiko tried to contort her limbs as not-awkwardly as that phrasing. Key word being "tried."
"♩ Candy Man can, swingin' on a vine ♩!" Ruruka sang. "♩ Candy Man! Candy Man! Sippin' from a bottle of vodka double wine ♩!" She whispered the next lyrics, dancing up to Seiko and pressing her lips to her ear. "♩ Sweet. Sugar. Candy Man. ♩" Ruruka started swirling around Seiko's increasingly tensing hips. "♩ He's my one stop, gotcha hot, makin' all the panties drop. Sweet. Sugar. Candy Man. ♩" Seiko started sweating. "♩ He's my one stop, gotcha hot, makin' my," Ruruka sighed lustfully. Seiko sweat harder. "pop. Sweet. Sugar. Candy Man. ♩"
That's when she did it. That's when Seiko finally pieced it together. Why Ruruka had asked her to come over, the sexual nature of the song she chose, the fact it was Christina Aguilera, who Seiko had confided to Ruruka had a voice crush on. That's when Ruruka finally made her move.
That was the day that Seiko died.
When Ruruka pulled away, she let the song fade out behind her. She smiled cautiously up at her.
"Sorry," she said. "I... didn't know how else to do this. I thought this'd be romantic, I guess. If you want to stop being friends, o-or something else, I understand. I-"
Seiko collapsed onto her knees. Ruruka rushed to her.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! Wh-what's wrong?! Do you need a doctor! Oh god, this is all my-!"
"Thanks," Seiko choked out. "It's fine."
"Oh," Ruruka paused. "... So... While you're on the ground... Can I ask if we're... like, girlfriends?"
Seiko could barely breathe.
"G-girlfriends..." she whispered.
"... Can I take that as a yes?"
Seiko nodded, shaking and in awe. Ruruka sat down next to her. She whispered, "♩ Sweet. Sugar. Candy Man. ♩" She gave Seiko's head a little kiss and giggled at Seiko's squeals.