The afternoon sun hit Suzume's face, and sounds filtered in slowly around her, muffled and distant like she was underwater.

  Honoka's voice, asking one of the rescued Players to hold still. Emiko's voice, coordinating with the police officer who'd been waiting outside. Hikari's voice, giving Takeo feedback on his performance during the extraction.

  Normal sounds. Mission debrief sounds. The kind of sounds that should have grounded her back in reality.

  They didn't, though, because Kasumi had kissed her. In the dungeon. Like thirty seconds ago. And now Kasumi was over there, casually chatting with Hikari like nothing had happened, like she hadn't just grabbed Suzume by the collar and short-circuited every neuron in her brain. She was even laughing at something Hikari said, her posture relaxed, her whole demeanor easy and unbothered.

  Meanwhile, Suzume was standing here with her lips still tingling, trying to remember how breathing worked.

  "Hey, Guild Master!"

  Suzume flinched so hard she nearly left her skin behind. Takeo had appeared at her side, grinning broadly, his sword sheathed and his eyes bright with post-mission energy.

  "That was awesome! The whole team just, like, clicked, you know? Hikari-san's got great instincts, and Rina-san moves like a ghost, and Honoka-san's healing is super smooth. This is way better than clearing dungeons for loot, I'm telling you."

  "Mm," Suzume managed, which was about as much as her brain could produce right now.

  "So, uh, am I...?" He trailed off, the question hanging in the air between them.

  Suzume blinked at him.

  "Huh?"

  "Am I in? Like, officially? Part of the guild for real?"

  Right. The trial run. That was a thing that had happened today. That was a thing she was supposed to be evaluating.

  "Y-Yeah," she said, her voice coming out slightly strangled. "You're in. Welcome to the Dungeon Rescue Guild."

  Takeo's face lit up like someone had plugged him into an electrical socket.

  "Seriously!? Yes! Thank you, Guild Master! You won't regret this, I promise!"

  And then he bounded off to share the news with the others, leaving Suzume standing alone with her malfunctioning brain.

  [Okay. Okay. I can handle this. I just need to not think about it. Don't think about Kasumi. Don't think about her lips. Don't think about the way she looked at me right before she—]

  Kasumi glanced over and caught her staring.

  She smirked.

  Suzume looked away so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash.

  ---

  The car ride back to headquarters was an exercise in survival.

  Suzume had claimed the front seat before anyone else could even think about calling it. She'd practically dove into it, slamming the door behind her and buckling her seatbelt with the intensity of someone preparing for a crash landing.

  "Someone's eager," Yumi had commented from outside the car, her eyebrows raised.

  "Shotgun," Suzume had said flatly. "I called it. It's mine now."

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  No one had argued with her. Probably because they could all see the slightly unhinged look in her eyes.

  Now she sat rigid in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead at the road, acutely aware of Kasumi's presence in the back seat directly behind her. The others had crammed in around her—Hikari, Honoka, Rina, and Takeo—but Suzume's entire consciousness was focused on the one person she was desperately trying to ignore.

  "Good first mission," Kasumi said from the back, her voice casual and conversational. "Everything went smoothly."

  "Mm-hm," Suzume agreed without turning around.

  "The extraction was clean, too. No complications."

  "Yep."

  "Suzu really took charge in there. It was impressive to watch."

  Suzume's grip on her seatbelt tightened.

  "Very hands-on leadership," Kasumi continued, and Suzume could hear the smile in her voice even without looking. "Knew exactly what she wanted and went for it."

  "Thank you," Suzume said through gritted teeth.

  "I like that in a Guild Master. Someone who isn't afraid to... take initiative."

  Hikari coughed.

  Honoka, bless her innocent heart, spoke up from somewhere in the back.

  "Kasumi-san, are you feeling okay? Your voice sounds kind of funny."

  "I'm feeling great, Honoka-chan. Never better, actually."

  Suzume stared at the road ahead with the intensity of someone trying to bore a hole through the windshield using sheer willpower alone. The drive from Nerima to their headquarters was approximately forty minutes under normal traffic conditions.

  It felt like forty years.

  ---

  The moment Emiko parked the car, Suzume was out the door and moving.

  "Great work everyone, mission successful, debrief tomorrow, I have to go."

  She speed-walked toward the guild hall entrance, already calculating the fastest route to somewhere that wasn't here. If she could just get inside, get to her office, lock the door, she could have her mental breakdown in peace and quiet without any witnesses to her humiliation.

  "Suzu."

  Kasumi's voice stopped her dead in the hallway.

  Suzume's feet refused to keep moving. Her body, apparently, was a traitor that had decided to side with the enemy.

  She turned around slowly, bracing herself for whatever was about to happen.

  Kasumi was walking toward her, her stride unhurried, and there was something in her expression that made Suzume's heart rate spike. She looked focused. Intent. Like she'd made a decision about something and wasn't planning to back down from it.

  "We should probably talk about that," Kasumi said once she'd closed the distance between them.

  Suzume's brain went into full panic mode.

  "About what? The rescue? It went well, everyone's safe, mission success, Takeo's officially part of the team now, I think he'll be a great addition, his combat style meshes well with Hikari's and—"

  "Su. Zu."

  Kasumi took another step closer.

  Suzume took a step back, and her shoulder blades hit the wall behind her.

  [I'm trapped!]

  "I like you," Kasumi said, simple and direct.

  The words hung in the air between them.

  "I've liked you for a while now," she continued. "And I'm done pretending I don't."

  Suzume's mouth had gone completely dry, and her palms were sweating, and her heart was pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears.

  "I..." she started, then stopped, because her voice had cracked embarrassingly on the first syllable.

  She tried again.

  "I like you too."

  It came out quiet, almost a whisper.

  Kasumi's expression softened at that.

  "I just don't know how to..." Suzume gestured vaguely at the space between them, at herself, at the entire concept of feelings and relationships and whatever this was. "I've never done this before. Any of this. And every time you're around my brain just stops working and I can't think straight—"

  "Suzu."

  Kasumi reached out and took her hand, and Suzume's rambling cut off mid-sentence.

  "You don't have to have it all figured out," Kasumi said. Her thumb traced a small circle on the back of Suzume's hand. "I'm not asking you to have the answers right now. I just need you to stop running away from it."

  Suzume swallowed hard.

  "I'm not running."

  "You literally sprinted to the car so you wouldn't have to sit near me."

  "That was... strategic positioning."

  Kasumi laughed at that, soft and fond, and Suzume felt something in her chest loosen just a little.

  "You're such a disaster," Kasumi said.

  "I know."

  They stood there for a moment, Kasumi's hand warm around hers, the hallway quiet around them.

  Then Kasumi leaned in and pressed a kiss to Suzume's forehead, gentle and quick.

  "Think about it," she said as she pulled back. "No pressure. Just... think about what you want."

  She released Suzume's hand and walked away, disappearing around the corner.

  Suzume stood in the hallway alone, her forehead warm where Kasumi's lips had been, her hand still tingling from the contact.

  [What do I want?]

  She had no idea. She'd never really let herself think about it before. But, one thing she knew was that she wouldn't figure this out on her own.

  So, she pulled out her phone and typed out a message to Yumi.

  Help. I think I'm having a crisis.

  The response came almost immediately.

  lmao finally

  come over

  bring wine

  Suzume stared at the screen for a long moment. She had no idea if this was a good idea or a terrible one, but she was pretty sure she couldn't figure this out alone.

  She pushed off the wall and headed for the exit.