Aoba slowly crawled out from under her comforter, her hair a complete mess and her face resembling that of a sloth that had just woken up. Reaching for her alarm clock, she turned it around and looked at the time. Past nine… thank god it's a day off. Unless the DLC starts to make people's consoles set themselves on fire, no, even if it does, I won't have to go into work today.

"Nene…?" Aoba turned over and yawned. Fumbling about in bed, she found nothing but warm emptiness. Oh… right, she still has classes today. Yawning again, Aoba turned back over and closed her eyes. But now that she had been awake, sort of at least, once, she couldn't just go back to sleep like that. It's disappointing that our free days almost never align. Outside of Sunday at least. Kicking the comforter with her feet, Aoba turned a third time, smelling the other pillow in her bed. Nene… you used my shampoo again…

Staying in bed for a few more minutes, Aoba eventually sat up and struggled to get the comforter off her. Brr… it's so cold. Nene, did you not turn on the heat? Wearing blue pajamas, shirt and pants, Aoba got out of bed and checked the heater that was working fine. Winter sucks.

She then noticed a note on the table. Ignoring it for the time being, Aoba could guess what it said, the 3D artist made her way to the bathroom to wash up and maybe take a hot bath in the morning. Looking into the mirror, Aoba reached for her toothbrush and she grabbed a familiar object that was not her toothbrush. Looking at the cup that was supposed to house two toothbrushes, she only found Nene's. Her own was the sink itself, still wet. I really need to have a word with her… living together like this is not gonna work if she keeps using my stuff.

Cleaning her toothbrush and getting ready for a day of most likely doing mostly nothing but recovering from crunch time at work, Aoba lamented again. Maybe I'll go visit Nene at her college. But I gotta take the train and it's so cold outside and she's probably busy and… maybe I should just call her.

Getting back to her living room, which also doubled as a bedroom, Aoba fixed up her bed and then finally read the note. "I'll pick up dinner on the way home! My treat! Love you, Nene! PS: I ate the last choco pudding, sorry!" An impossibly smug smile formed on Aoba's face and she headed straight for the fridge. Reaching for the upper most part, she pushed aside a glass of pickled roasted paprika and unearthed the real final pudding. I love you too, Nene. But I am not letting you get away with pudding thievery. Getting a spoon and sitting down on her bed, Aoba pulled the comforter over her shoulders and ripped off the lid of the sweet treat. She's always there with me when we buy groceries, so I don't get it that she always thinks she eats the last one when the count doesn't match what we bought.

Putting the pudding down for a moment and opened up her laptop, Aoba waited for the OS to load back in after being in sleep mode. Grabbing her cellphone in the meantime, Aoba quickly typed a text message for Nene. Did you finish your test? Did it go well? "And send."

Eating her pudding and occasionally moving files around in her work folder to organize things, Aoba dreaded the end of quarter report on her performance. I think I did great, but… I don't want to get promoted. I don't want to have to put in even more hours. Money is not that tight with Nene and me living together and we don't have a lot of time alone as it is. Her phone vibrated and she checked the reply she got. Aoba snorted and nearly dropped her pudding when the reply was just four crying emotes followed by two poop emotes followed by a table being flipped emote. "That bad?" Hitting call, Aoba put the phone to her ear and huddled up under the comforter.

"Aocchi…!" Nene's distraught voice was on the other end of the line already.

"I even helped you study."

"I know! I totally drew a blank during the test! All I could think about was that episode of Kemono Friends we watched yesterday."

"Nene… No more anime for you the night before a test."

"But Japari Par-"

"Doesn't run away."

"But spoilers on twitter!"

"Mute the hashtag."

"But-"

"Nene."

"I know… ugh, I'll have to take the make up exam."

"When are you getting home today?"

"Hm, like four? Maybe? Did you see my note?"

"What do you wanna eat?"

"You mean what am I gonna bring?"

"I'll cook."

"You'll cook?!"

"Don't sound so surprised."

"I thought you were gonna take it easy today. You were fast asleep five minutes into the episode last night."

"I can't sit around and do nothing all day."

"Aocchi's… cooking..." Nene sounded strangely anticipating.

"D-Don't expect too much. I was thinking of making meatball pasta. I can make the meatballs and sauce myself."

"If we eat foreign stuff, I gotta bring some french bread!"

"You really love that stuff."

"Yup. Not good?"

"It's fine. Bring some. We can eat it tomorrow morning."

"The week should have three Sundays."

"We still would only get off on one of them. Or I would, at least." Aoba fumbled with her laptop and looked at her work schedule. "I can leave a little later than usual tomorrow, so we can get up together. That reminds me! You used my toothbrush again! And my shampoo!"

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just in a rush in the morning! It's farther from our place than it was from mine."

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into renting a new place."

"I couldn't move in with you at your parent's place!"

"Yes, yes, I know."

"Our new place looks almost the same as my old room. It's kinda cramped."

"You do have your own room."

"That we use for storage. And sorry Aocchi, I gotta bolt. The prof just walked in. Love you~."

Before Aoba could even respond, the line went dead. "I forgot to tell her to buy pudding." Texting her and saying as much, Aoba put her phone away and looked at her laptop. I need to get out from under this comforter and check if we have pasta and tomatoes. But it's cold!

Just sitting there, Aoba succumbed to her off-day laziness and laid back down. There's a supermarket nearby… I can just get everything there later. Looking at the TV at the other end of the room, Aoba was really happy with her new place. I said that to Nene, but it's actually not so bad to live on my own- sorta on my own. Aoba remembered a catastrophic failure with the washing machine on day three of living together and groaned. I'm never going to get that detergent smell off the walls.

Dozing off, only Aoba's arm reached out from beneath the comforter when her phone vibrated on the table. A message from Hifumi? Eh…? If I can come and meet her? Is she asking me on a date? Hitting the reply button, Aoba typed away. Sorry, going to take care of stuff at my new place and spend the evening with Nene. "And send." Putting her cellphone away for just a moment, it immediately vibrated again. Congratulations on moving in together. Followed by a number of emotes. If I reply again it'll never stop. Putting her phone down, this time for good, Aoba turned over and found that she was getting bed sores. Having her own place, or rather sharing a place with Nene, was great for being lazy and staying in bed without anyone bothering her. Other than Nene, of course.

Getting out of bed, Aoba still took it easy and got dressed at her own pace. She still wore her suit to work, but on her days off, she preferred something more comfortable and simple. A white shirt, black jeans and sneakers, a very simple monochrome style. Looking at the clock, it was almost noon now.

"Time to be a responsible adult."

=== It's not all Fun and Games ===

"Delish!" Nene couldn't believe what she was tasting. "Aocchi, you made this?"

"You could be a tad less surprised. I cooked before." Aoba sat with Nene at the small table in front of their shared bed. "In general, I'm the adult between us two."

"Oho? If you're the only adult here, does that make you an adult that's dating a minor?"

Aoba blushed. "That's not what I meant!"

Nene was shoveling pasta and meatballs into her mouth until she looked like a comic book hamster. "Tish ish relly good!"

"Jeez, Nenecchi, chew first, then talk!" Aoba couldn't get mad at her girlfriend over something like this but she refused to give up on turning her into a respectable adult. "So how bad was the test?" Nene dropped her fork and covered her face in shame. "That bad? Really?"

Nene just nodded and sighed in a very dramatic way. "I think this might be R.I.P. for me. I'll definitely have to retake that class."

"What happened?"

"It was posing some question about temperature and cooling gradients and I just started thinking about that penguin friend-"

"I should prohibit you from watching anime the night before a test."

"Demon Aocchi."

"It's for your own good!"

"I am not the one that answered my phone with Welcome to Eagle Jump the other day."

"I have no defense." Aoba replied in-between fork fulls of pasta. "I'm glad you like what I cook. I was worried it might be too spicy."

"Are you kidding? This is awesome. I didn't get anything like that at my old place!"

"Considering your cooking… abilities, I don't understand how you got by at all."

"You should watch that anime Ben-To."

"Nene… you're not an anime character."

"Anime is not as cute as I am!"

"So what do you wanna do tomorrow?"

"I dunno."

"That's not helpful."

"Karaoke?"

"That sounds like something we should invite at least Hajime and Yun. Karaoke with just us two won't be very funny."

"Nah, your singing is pretty funny already."

Aoba kicked Nene's feet under the table. "Hey."

"They're not weirded out by us?"

"I don't think anyone at work feels that way. They'd have said something about Yagami and Tooyama already."

"Why not ask them too? They're going out, right?"

"Going to karaoke with my boss would be…. No, no, no. Hajime and Yun are fine. I don't think Hifumi would enjoy karaoke though."

"I'm okay with them coming, you know."

"I know."

"I'm not the jealous type!"

"What's our backup plan?"

"Clothing shopping? It's getting even colder. I'm already freezing my butt off waiting for the train every morning."

"That doesn't seem like much of a date."

"You didn't say we're going on a date."

"You don't want to?"

"We went on a lot of dates before we moved in together."

"You were always asking me out."

"I couldn't let someone else snatch you right under my nose!"

"Everyone thought you'd ask Umiko out."

"Scary!" Nene turned a little pale. "I'm not a soldier!"

I think you have a bit of a wrong impression about her, Aoba thought. "So should I text Hajime and Yun?"

"Sure thing." Nene finished everything on her plate and wiped the remainder of the sauce up with fresh french bread. "Oh, you gotta try this! Tastes amazing!"

"You're so easy to please." Aoba watched Nene swipe up the sauce with a big smile on her face. "Who do you think was gonna ask me out?"

"That Hifumi girl. She looked really attached to you."

"You might be right. But you came sweeping in like an eagle and-"

"That's an awful pun."

"What?" Aoba realized that she had made a pun only moments later. "I didn't mean it like that!"

"I think you made that pun before, too!"

"Did not!"

"I bet you did!"

"Did not!"

"Bet-"

"No seconds for you." Aoba turned away and started to pout. She felt the table shake a little just seconds later. She'll hug me from behind and ask for my forgive- wait, are those eating sounds? Turning back around, Aoba found that her own plate was gone and had been replaced with an empty one. "Nenecchi!"

"You only said no seconds!"

"You're incorrigible." Aoba sighed. "Can you do the dishes? I cooked and vacuumed and stuff."

"Sure." Nene finished Aoba's leftovers as well and immediately got up from the table, grabbing both empty plates while Aoba put on the TV. There weren't really any channels dedicated to the gaming world, but she knew of a few that at least ran more gaming ads than any other. It only took a minute before she found one that was playing the advertisement for the fairies 3 DLC they just put out. "Nene, did you play the DLC yet?"

"The one that came out yesterday? No. Don't spoil me!"

Big words for someone that spoiled a bunch of people on release day… in front of Yagami and Tooyama at that. Watching the ad, Aoba turned around to watch Nene instead, standing on a small stool so she could see the sink better. She's so cute. Yun keeps asking me how we ended up together since it was so sudden from her point of view. It was sudden for me, too, you know! Maybe I'll tell her the next time we go out eating and drinking. Maybe I'll actually be able to drink then.

"Are you gonna be putting out more DLC after this?"

"I'm not really supposed to tell you."

"Aw, come on, you can tell your wife!"

"We're not married, Nene."

"Waifu then!"

"What does that even mean?" Aoba started to laugh, together with Nene. "I could tell you if I knew that you can keep a secret."

"I totally can! Probably."

"If you can't, I'll break up with you."

"That's too harsh!"

"You were planning on not keeping the secret? Otherwise there is nothing harsh about it."

"You can be a real demon, Aocchi."

"The next DLC will be a small thing in two weeks, a few costumes and a cameo boss fight from Fairies 2. After that, there's another big one coming."

"That's a lot!"

"The original plan was to work on a spinoff game, but they decided we should focus on DLC first while the game is fresh."

"Are you gonna be really busy?"

"I don't know yet. The main part of the next big DLC has nothing to do with our department. I heard Umiko will be so busy that they're thinking of hiring some third party contractor to help out."

"So gameplay stuff then!"

"I'm happy that you like the game, but I think your save file has like five times as many hours as mine does right now."

"My own girlfriend worked on it! Of course I gotta play the heck outta it!"

"You already played the heck out of it during beta testing."

"That's different."

"I'm disappointing we don't hire freelance anymore."

"I looked into those professional quality assurance or whatever companies that Umiko talked about. They're just normal people that have done beta testing before. It's the same thing as hiring freelance!"

"Huh? Really? You don't need some qualification or stuff?"

"Nope! But I'm super busy with college, so unless it's over a break, I couldn't help out anyway."

"I think Umiko would lose her mind if you worked there again."

"That's so mean!"

"I'll go and get the bath ready. Do you wanna go first?"

"We can't go together?"

"We tried that and it's too cramped."

"Tch. I'll go second, I wanna at least get the DLC download started."

"Ah, let me do that. I have an employee code that gets me the DLC for free."

"Lucky!"

"Even though you'll play it a whole lot more than me."

"There's a lot of fan-art for Sophie online, you know. I was checking Pixiv on my phone earlier and like one in three pics is of Sophie."

Aoba blushed by herself as she started up the console and went to the online store. Employee codes came in the form of discount codes, and after entering hers, the DLC was priced at an affordable zero yen. We're not hurting for money since we both don't need a lot of space and stuff and my parents were okay with me keeping all of my salary to myself from now on. It's still nice that we can save a few thousand yen here and there because I work for Eaglejump. "The download is running. It says it'll take thirty minutes."

"That long?!"

"Game files are pretty big. There's an update for some visual stuff bundled in."

"Are you okay with watching me play?"

"I don't know most of the content in the DLC either."

"So…?"

"I'll watch and play another time. I'm gonna heat up the bath now."

=== It's not all Fun and Games ===

"Oh, this area is all new." Nene was laying sideways on their bed, her head resting on Aoba's lap. "A crystalline forest? Oh, wow, it's super pretty."

"That NPC there, talk to her. I made that one." Aoba was continuously and slowly playing with Nene's hair, sitting on their bed in Japanese style.

"She's not as cute as Sophie." Nene talked to the NPC and then her face lit up. "Her name is Nene? Did you name your NPC after me?"

"I asked Umiko if the NPC had a name already and she was originally just gonna be called guide, so I asked her if she could change her display name."

"We were dating already?"

"You had just asked me out for the first time." Aoba bend down and kissed Nene's forehead. "I could tell that it wasn't just gonna be that one time."

"Aocchi is an ESP?!"

"I think anyone would've figured that out if my one and only childhood friend suddenly started asking me out on dates and stuff. You missed a treasure chest."

"Huh, where?!"

"Behind a tree. Go back. No, not that far. There! Nene, are you blind?"

"I don't see it!"

"It's a different color because it's a DLC chest!"

"Say that from the start!"

"You went past it again!"

"Ah, I see it now!"

Progressing through content, the couple got stuck at the first boss. "I'm max level, so I'm definitely not too low of a level. So why did that beam attack one shot me?"

"I'm a graphics designer! I don't know about the gameplay stuff."

"What a big help you are, Aocchi."

"That's so not fair!"

"Any bright ideas?"

"You can't dodge it?"

"I tried!"

"What if you hide behind a tree?"

"Let me try that."

Five minutes later, Nene looked at the game over screen again. "Umiko is bullying me even after I don't work at Eaglejump anymore!"

"I don't think that's the case."

"Maybe you need elemental protection."

"I have the Tetra Crux though."

"Does it protect against Ice?"

"It covers Fire, Ice, Lightning and Water."

"It's a white beam..."

"Maybe it's wind? Wind attacks are usually green though..."

"Does the tetra crux give you total immunity?"

"100% damage reduction."

"What if you need more?"

"The game doesn't let you have more than 100% reduction."

"So maybe you have to dodge it?"

"I have a better idea. That mage boss has a really long casting time for that huge beam, maybe I can just cancel it if I get all in his face." Switching around accessories and going full offense, Nene stepped into the area with the boss again.

"Now, hit it, hit it!"

"I am, I am!" Nene was mashing the attack button and cycling through skills like a professional.

"You did it, it staggered! Oh no, more monsters!"

"Psh, they can't hurt me, I have the best armor in the game upgraded to bonus 45!" Nene kept smashing the boss's face in and sure enough, the monsters summoned by the beam being canceled couldn't do more than scratch her.

With a big explosion, the boss went down and Nene jumped up. "Yes! Taste my cold steel, you old coot!" Turning around, Nene immediately jumped against Aoba, pushing her down and kissing her in the same motion. A childish kiss, out of pure joy, sweet lips meeting each other in surprise, the faint taste of lip balm spreading quickly between them.

Aoba tried to put her arms around Nene, anticipating a lot more pleasantries than this, but the blonde was out of her reach within the moment; back to playing the game. Nene… you buzzkill. Aoba, still on her back, turned over and watched Nene stare at her. "What?"

"We can do that stuff later! I wanna see what other bosses and gear I can find!"

"That stuff? You're really still a kid, Nene."

"Nah, a kid would be all oh my god, lewd stuff! But I wanna focus on this while we're up. We can cuddle and do adult stuff when we turn in for the night."

"I can't tell if that's grown up or really childish."

"You don't wanna see what the DLC story is?"

Aoba sat up and rubbed shoulders with Nene. "What are you waiting for then?"

=== It's not all Fun and Games ===

"Nene… let's go to bed. You've been butting heads with this boss for two hours." Aoba looked up from her laptop, browsing the net for a solution.

"I just don't get what I'm supposed to do once it goes into that enraged mode! All my attacks do zero damage!" Nene was sitting on top of a save point in-game and lying in front of the TV in real life. "Aocchi, anything useful on the net?"

"Lots of people are complaining about this boss. Some are saying it's glitched and that they want refunds..."

"It does feel glitched."

"Here is someone claiming they beat it but that the game does a really bad job at explaining what you have to do."

"So what's the solution? I don't care for spoilers, I just wanna beat it."

"It doesn't say."

"Argh!"

"Nene, let's just go to bed. By the time we get home from karaoke, people will have posted a solution. If everything fails I can text Umiko."

"It's gonna bug me all day!"

Aoba closed her laptop with a sigh. "I'm going to bed. If you want to keep going, use your headphones and keep it down. At least one of us will actually be alive tomorrow."

"But I'm never gonna beat it without moral support!"

"Good night Nene." Aoba crawled into bed and got comfortable. "Don't stay up too long." I wonder how long it will take her to remember that we had… plans for other stuff after that first boss. It's a bit late now, but if she comes to… bed… soon… One loud yawn later, Aoba was fast asleep.

And next thing the girl knew, she was turning over in bed, opening up one eye, looking at Nene, who was looking at her like she got caught in the act. "Nene…?"

"You fall asleep too quickly, Aocchi!" Nene hissed; a natural result of trying to sound upset and whisper at the same time.

Aoba responded by pulling on Nene's arm, so the girl lost her balance and just fell down into bed after cautiously trying to slip under the comforter. "Stupid." Wiggling under the comforter like a small animal, Aoba got close enough to kiss Nene on the forehead. "Did you beat it?"

"Huh? I turned the console off one more attempt after you went to bed. So like eight minutes ago." Nene held down Aoba's left arm and kissed her properly. "And stop kissing me like I'm five." Pouting like she was five, Nene looked slightly to the side, at the pillow. "You're my girlfriend now… you're supposed to kiss me on the lips! Lips! Not forehead or cheek!"

"It's not very mature to get mad over that."

"I am super mature. I'll show you- hey!" Nene puckered her lips and tried to get another kiss but Aoba turned her head away.

"You'll never change, Nenecchi." Aoba was far too tired to make out in bed now. It was well past midnight and even if she had slept in very late that morning, she hadn't exactly done nothing all day. Looking back at her girlfriend, still with just one eye open, Aoba let her kiss her; Nene hadn't given up.

Kissing Nene was always different, each and every time. The innocent taste of her lips, the touch of balm, the natural sweetness they had and the fierce passion of their movements; something one couldn't guess from just looking at her. Aoba's maturity melted away as she was completely on the receiving end of their exchange. The gentle wet that Nene brought to their kisses trickled down the insides of her mouth, the passion luring out her tongue quickly. And even there, a slippery and hot battle of tongues; Nene dominated unexpectedly, forcing herself on Aoba with the ferocity of a warrior aiming to defeat their sworn rival, seeing their approval and concession both. So complete, so encompassing was her attitude; her movements, that not even a tiny trail of saliva could escape.

The pillow beside them then, it was below them now. Getting on top of Aoba with a single practiced motion, Nene pushed down on her, relentlessly touching tongues and lips against each other, the heat rising to their faces as the seconds turned to minutes, as breathing turned to moaning.

Aoba desperately reached for a break, attempting to push Nene away, but she was wholly outmatched; her body desired breathing as much as it did Nene's lips and tongue, her passion and fiercely loyal feelings – her love. And finally, when even Nene could no longer sustain her onslaught, the decimated Aoba panted heavily beneath her, her face flushed red. One of these days I'm gonna pass out… for various reasons.

"S-See? T-Totally mature kiss." Nene was panting as well. She was excellent at kissing but her nerves turned to goo whenever they tried to go further than that. She just wasn't mentally prepared yet.

"Vampire." Aoba jokingly complained and managed to shove Nene off. "You'll suck out my tongue one day..."

"I don't do it that hard!"

"You do."

"Don't."

"Do."

"You're just jealous of my super adult technique!"

It's kind of super all right… and the way it makes me feel… "Careful, your nose is gonna get all long and pointy."

Putting one arm around Aoba's waist and holding hands with the other, Nene smirked. "Jealous Aocchi."

"I'm not jealous!"

"Oho? Is that so? You always look pretty jealous after we kiss though!"

"That's not jealousy!"

"It totally is," Nene said and smirked.

It's because I'm turned on! But if I try to take things further than kissing, you freak out. I can't tell her that… "I just get… kinda hot."

"E-Eh. I-I guess." She means… that, right? Like… getting all hot and bothered, that thing? Nene faked a yawn and cuddled up with Aoba. "Let's sleep?"

Nenecchi… you chicken. "Sure." How am I going to sleep now? Stupid Nene.

=== It's not all Fun and Games ===

"Hah..." Aoba caught herself sighing and quickly adjusted her attitude. That's not good, letting my personal life affect my work. Focusing on what was happening on her screen, Aoba compared her model to the design sketch. I didn't know costume DLC was this much work.

"What's wrong, Aoba?" Yuna turned around in her chair. "That's like the tenth sigh today."

"W-What? That many? I'm sorry!"

"Things not going well with Nene? You looked super close when we went for karaoke the other week."

"Ah, it's nothing really."

"You're sighing ten times over sighing?"

"Ugh." H-How am I going to talk myself out of this?

"If you don't wanna talk about it… is it something lewd?"

"Hey, hey, what are you talking about at work?" Hajime couldn't let that go. "Let me join!"

I thought you were gonna object! Aoba remembered that she definitely couldn't count on Hajime in situations like these. "It's just… things haven't progressed at all with Nenecchi."

"Progressed?" Yun thought about it for a moment and then realized what Aoba must mean. "So Nene is surprisingly the coy type?"

Aoba blushed fiercely. "Y-Yes."

"You gotta take the lead." Hajime sat backwards in her chair. "You know, push her down, look deep into her eyes and- Ow, Yun, what the heck!" Yun had hit her on the head with a rolled up fashion magazine.

"What are you talking about at work!?"

"I'm sorry I brought it up." Aoba let out another sigh and immediately hid her face behind her hands. "I'm so sorry!"

"This is not the place to talk about it, but Hajime is right."

"Yeah." Hajime looked at Yun. "Like we-" Hajime dodged a second swiping strike from the magazine. "Hah, you'll have to do better than that to hit me!"

"Having fun, I see." A voice came from the entrance of their shared cubicle. Tooyama was dropping in to check on her subordinates.

"Just a itsy bitsy tiny break!" Hajime immediately turned back to her PC.

"Suzukaze, Iijiima, Takimoto, we are a bit behind schedule, so if you could get to the original target set for tomorrow by tomorrow, that would be great."

"That's gonna be tough." Yun didn't foresee that happening.

"We'll do our best!" Aoba was more optimistic than that.

"Please do. Especially you, Yun." Rin was really hoping to make the deadline. The programming department was already working on the next DLC because that one was going to be very light on the graphics department.

Their boss was barely gone with Aoba let out a different kind of sigh. "I thought we were gonna get yelled at."

"This is thankfully not that kind of company," Hajime offered, aiming to be helpful. "How many costumes are you guys even doing?"

"I'm handling the Fairies 1 and 2 cameo pack."

"S-Swimsuits." Hifumi had stayed out of the conversation earlier because she was not completely okay with Aoba dating Nene.

"I'm done with the ancient east costumes but I still have to do the victorian era western costumes and the Blaze Emblem crossover costumes." Aoba had so many reference pictures piled up on her desk that she thought she could pass as a salarywoman at this point.

"Oh, you drew the short stick." Hajime turned around and looked at Aoba's back. "That's a lot of different styles."

"Hifumi got it easy."

"There are… a lot of swimsuits." Hifumi picked up a piece of paper and held it up. "Twenty-three."

"Twenty-three?!" Yun nearly fell out of her chair. "Why that many? Who is gonna buy them? Who are they even for!"

"Six for Sophia. Eleven for the protagonist. Six for the DLC girl, Claudia." Hifumi was not worried about finishing in time, but she didn't want to see any more swimsuits for a long time.

"I'm suddenly glad I have so much variety..." I guess the grass is not always greener on the other side. "But why did you get stuck with all the swimsuits, Hifumi?"

"I… did swimsuit designs before."

"She's also the only one between you three that has the figure to wear some nice swimsuits- woah!" Hajime had to duck in her chair and roll away to dodge the triple swing from Yun. "Violence at the work place is forbidden!"

"This ain't violence, this 'b rightful vengeance on evil doers 'n a villain!" Yun's accent slipped and she was ready to get out of her chair.

"You are never going to finish on time if you keep chasing Hajime around."

"Tsk." Yun turned around and put on headphones. "This ain't over with yet, Hajime. Don't ya dare think so!"

"Thanks for saving my bacon, Aoba." Hajime put her hand vertically in front of her own face. "I'll calm her down later by- Aoba?"

Aoba was staring at her. I'm… not worried about figure, but the way she said that kinda pisses me off. "I hope Yun teaches you a lesson later."

"A-Aoba?" Hajime was left all alone when Aoba also turned back around and put on headphones.

When lunch break came, Aoba was working half of it to make up time. In the middle of her break, her phone vibrated off the desk and fell on the floor. Picking it up, Aoba pulled out her headphones and answered. "Nenecchi?"

"Hiya! How's work?"

"Still behind schedule. Are you between classes?"

"A prof didn't come; sick apparently. So I'm just taking it easy for a bit. Huh, no, I'm on the phone with my girlfriend. What? Of course she's real! Aocchi, say hi to Kasumi please."

"Uhm… hi Kasumi?" Nenecchi… what are you doing?

"Hello! Is it true that you and Sakura are dating?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"You know, it is pretty rude to doubt her. She might be a bit childish on the outside, but she is a great girlfriend!" Aoba sounded really offended and the line went quiet for a moment.

"Huh, I'm a great girlfriend. Hehe, I knew it!"

"I take it back."

"Too late! You can't take it back, I have a witness now!"

"Why do I get the feeling that you planned this."

Nene whistled into the phone. "I'd never do that."

"I bet you did."

"Did not!"

"Did."

"I wish college was closer to your work so I could come over for lunch."

"I'm just gonna get something from the cafeteria today. I'll be home late, too. I don't want to be the one that holds everyone else back."

"Is costume DLC really that much work?"

"Nene! You can't just blabber about that on the phone!"

"Why not? It's on a Eaglejump blog post that you're releasing costume DLC next and I don't know more than that anyway."

"We have a blog?"

"Aocchi… you are so out of touch with the modern world."

"I don't want to hear that from a girl that uses Catch you Catch me as their ringtone."

"It's a classic!"

"If you say so."

"It is!"

"Nenecchi, wasn't your make-up exam today?"

"Ugh."

"Nene."

"I did okay! I studied harder than hard, I'll be fine."

"If you did good, I'll treat you to yakiniku."

"You should have told me that first! I would've been supercharged!"

"Nenecchi..."

"So you'll get home late?"

"Hm."

"Want me to cook-"

"I'll eat something on the way home."

"You responded too fast!"

"Nene, the last time you cooked we had to buy two new pots."

"It's not my fault! The instructions were bad!"

"Just grab something on your way home, Nenecchi. Or order a pizza. I don't want to come home and find the fire department workers there."

"Aocchi… you're horrible."

"I'll have to go and get something to eat before lunch break is over. I love you Nenecchi. Don't use the kitchen. I'll see you tonight."

On the other end of the line, Nene sat at her desk and looked at the phone. "Boo. She hung up on me."

"She's working, right?" The Kasumi girl from before was taking it easy together with Nene.

"Uhu." Putting her phone away, Nene took just a small peek at her textbook. Uh… not now.

"So you're into older women?"

"What?" Nene looked at the girl strange and burst into laughter. "Aocchi is my age!"

"And she already works? Wow. Must be nice, having a girlfriend that actually makes money."

"I actually worked as a beta tester at the same company before. I found a ton of stuff!"

"So their coding is pretty sloppy?"

"Huh? No, totally not. Wow, that's kinda rude." Why am I getting so angry?

"You said you found a lot of stuff though."

"Well, duh, that's what beta testing is for! No game rolls out perfectomundo, you know."

"Your girlfriend does what?"

"Graphic designer. She makes the pretty stuff. Have you played Fairies Story 3?"

"Not really much into video games."

"Ah. Okay. Wait a sec!" Quickly goggling some stuff on her phone, Nene held up her phone to show off some screenshots. "That's what it looks like."

"Woah, what's that? It's super cute! I didn't know they made games like that." The girl paused. "And your girlfriend makes all that?"

"Nah, not all of it. That's like, a super massive amount of work."

"Hey! Sakura! Come over here for a sec! You finished the Fairies 3 DLC, right?"

Be right back. My masterly expertise is needed!"

=== It's not all Fun and Games ===

"Gosh darn it, I'm soaked!" Aoba shook her head and water sprinkled everywhere. "Why did it suddenly start raining? I was almost home, too!" Noticing the lack of response from inside the apartment, Aoba called out directly. "Nenecchi! I'm home!"

"Aocchi, welcome home! I'm a little tied up!" The voice came from the main room but Aoba couldn't see Nene despite having a direct view of it. Taking off her shoes and getting to the main room, Aoba found her girlfriend next to the bed, taking photos with her phone of a big box and the contents that she had spread out across the bed.

"What's all this?"

"Today is the day!"

"Oh, Darkness Souls Tri came out today. Is that it?"

"Yep! Deluxe edition and all! I rushed to the store between classes to get it."

"So all that part-time work paid off."

"I never wanna flip another burger in my life."

"Are you making pictures to post them online?"

"Hm. For my blog."

"You're still writing that?"

"Hey, it's popular! Life with a Game Designer!"

"I'm not a game designer, though..."

"Close enough!"

"It actually has two player co-op!"

"I am terrible at this sort of game though."

"The mighty Lady Nene will carry you!"

But about forty minutes later, Nene was feverishly dodging attacks. "Aocchi, heal, heal! I'm all out!"

"Again? I told you that investing in all those heavy weapons would probably make it hard for you."

"Aw, I'm dead! Noo!" Nene sat back. "This is a lot harder than Darkness Souls Duo."

Aoba was still alive and slinging spells at the boss. "I feel like magic might be a bit too strong."

"Nah, it just feels that way. Look at the damage you do. It's barely chipping the health gauge." Nene scratched her cheek. "Aocchi, can I use your laptop? I think mine is still charging."

"Are you gonna write a blog post? Now? I am not dead yet."

Nene glanced at the health gauge. "You'll run out of spells before the boss is dead."

"You won't know that!"

"So can I use your laptop?"

"Okay. But no sniffing around in work files!"

"I know, I know."

And about two minutes later, Aoba was indeed out of spells and died. "I'll cook some rice. What do you want with it?"

"Fish."

"Because it's easy to eat?"

"Hm."

"Aocchi, for stuff like the costume DLCs, did you talk to Umiko a lot?"

"Hm? No, not at all, actually."

Their kitchen was small. They were both out for most of the day, so their flat was not that big and it didn't have to be. They shared a bed and neither of them had all that much stuff. There was one extra room where they stored everything they didn't immediately need. And Aoba still had a number of boxes in the basement of her parent's place.

Checking the contents of their fridge, Aoba looked at expiration dates. "We have a lot of greens that we need to eat soon."

"Eh…?" Nene knew that she couldn't be too picky. "Side dishes?"

"Fine with me."

"I read online that you had to push back the next DLC."

"By a week, yeah. The beta testers we hired got yelled at and fired for getting over three weeks behind schedule." Aoba was more open about sharing work details with Nene now. So far she kept quiet about everything, and Aoba trusted her with the odd secret now.

"I bet Umiko wishes I was there."

"She actually asked for you by name the other day. I completely forgot about that because I was in a rush to meet you at the theater."

"Eh? And you didn't tell me?!" Nene jumped up and walked into the kitchen. "I could have done that instead of flipping burgers!"

"I'm sorry! I told you, I forgot! I only just remembered."

"Boo!"

"You have her number, just call her."

"I… might have misplaced that card."

"Nenecchi!"

"I lost it when I moved out, okay!"

"Wash the veggies, I'll call Yagami and ask for Umiko's number."

"What am I supposed to say why I didn't call her?!"

"Fess up you lost her card."

"She's gonna yell at me."

"Do you want to flip burgers for your next purchase?"

"I'll fess up, I'll fess up!"

Leaving Nene to wash the veggies, Aoba picked up her phone and dialed Yagami's number. "Ah, Yagami? It's Suzukaze. Do you happen to have Umiko's private number? She asked me to tell Nene to contact her and- Okay, thanks. Yes, I'll write it down." Typing the number on her laptop, in notepad, Aoba nodded twice. "Yes, that's what I put down. Thank you so much. Yes. I will see you tomorrow. Good work." Hanging up, Aoba then dialed the number she had just gotten but refrained from pressing the actual dial button. "Nenecchi."

"Now?! I'm not prepared!" Quickly drying her hands off on her skirt, Nene grabbed the cell from Aoba.

"She's not going to bite off your head." Aoba switched places with her girlfriend.

Hitting dial, Nene felt like every beep was a signal for her to hang up. "Who is this?" A voice on the other hand answered.

"Ah, it's me, Sakura. I'm calling from Aocc- Suzukaze's phone. You asked her about me."

"That was ten days ago… in any case, yes, I asked her if you could contact me since I was told you live together now and your previous number was no longer connected."

"You want my awesome beta testing skills again?" Nene remembered who she was talking to just in time. "I-I mean, am I being needed again?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "I personally would like to refrain from hiring back on an individual basis, but we are very much short on qualified people right now."

"I still have college though."

"In this instance, I can give you access to our patch server. You will be given login credentials and be able to get beta builds of the DLC. I recommend backing up your local save games first, however. You can write your reports and upload them to the server from home. In case you are wondering, this method would put too much stress on our servers with the main game, which is why we are only using it for DLC."

"Oh, I can definitely do that then." Aw, crud. I did just buy Darkness Souls Tri… I guess I'll have to blog about real life getting in the way.

"Your assistance is appreciated. Our previous testers-"

"They got fired, right?"

"How would you know that? Suzukaze is not at liberty to disclose such details. If she did so, it would be-"

"A lucky guess! I figured, you said you were hiring pros and then you pushed back the release and, and, you want me to beta test again, so I gotta figure, they messed up big time and got themselves fired!"

"Is that so? Well, yes, that is mostly correct. Please give me your email so I can send you the login data later tonight."

"HotelCreamPrincess777 ," Nene replied quickly.

"Check your email later tonight then." A short pause before Umiko continued. "It is a relief to have you working for us again."

"Wait, wait, am I getting paid the same amount as last time?"

"Yes. We cannot make exceptions for individuals unless we permanently hire them."

"Nah, that's okay. I-I mean, I'm satisfied with that."

"Then. I am looking forward to your first report. Please remember to check for updates from the patch server. I will leave instructions in the email on how to download the patch to your console." And she hung up.

"Aocchi, I just got hired as a temp."

"How are you gonna juggle college and work?"

"It's all set up so I can work from home. I guess Darkness Souls Tri will have to wait."

"Umiko must have been really relieved."

"She didn't sound like that."

"I think she cares more than she lets on."

"Eh, is that so?" Nene paused. "I guess. I'll go play-"

"Before you rush off to play Souls Tri, set the table."

"Aye, aye."

=== It's not all Fun and Games ===

Hugging Nene from behind, Aoba watched her play the new DLC for Fairies 3, or rather than play, beta testing it. It was revision 0.8.665, whatever that meant. "I don't think I'll ever play super hard mode."

Nene put down the controller and leaned back into Aoba's embrace. "It hurts my fingers after a couple hours. I beat hard mode okay, and the balance is fine, but super hard mode is kinda… it's not bad, but the bosses are just brutal."

"Wanna call it quits for today?"

"Hm… you want to cuddle? Hehe… is Aocchi lonely without me?"

Aoba was frustrated with work because it was mostly learning the ins and outs of new software right now. And her frustration was mirrored in how she behaved at home. "Yeah…" Moving her hands beneath Nene's shirt, Aoba was sick and tired of waiting for Nene to be the aggressor. "I am."

"Aocchi?" Nene giggled. "That tickles… h-hey, you're getting a little high for tick- Aoccchi?" Nene shuddered when Aoba started putting down kisses on her neck. "Aocchi, wait, I'm not-"

"We'll never be ready, Nenecchi." Her hands moving over the frilly fabric that was Nene's bra, Aoba unintentionally pulled up the shirt more and more, baring Nene's belly to the warm air of their comfy home. "You don't like this?" Her breasts are so soft… I can tell, even through her bra. Her fingers barely strafed the blonde's nipples and the girl trembled in her embrace. "You're so cute, Nenecchi..."

Nene's response was a blush as hot and red as a fire, taking hold of her face and mind alike. All her experience with kissing, her boldness and personality, took a backseat to feeling embarrassed and nervous. It's… it's happening! Aocchi is taking charge!

"They're big..." Whispering lewd things into Nene's ears was just something Aoba figured was expected of her. Awkwardly feeling the outline of Nene's breasts under her shirt, Aoba's mind was a serious of embarrassed noises and thoughts. She didn't know how to sleep with someone either!

"They're not that big..." Nene felt like she wanted to hide her chest, but instead she just closed her eyes.

Finally finding the courage to properly lay her hands on Nene's breasts, Aoba nearly pulled away when Nene made a sound that resembled a moan. D-Did I make her do that? N-Now what? Pushing down a little harder, Aoba heard another sound. That was definitely a moan! Ah, I can't believe we're always kissing like that and I'm like this just feeling her breasts! I'm not twelve! Aoba squeezed as hard as she could the moment she finished that train of thought.

"Ow, Aocchi, you brute!"

"S-Sorry." Aw, that was too hard, s-so more like… when I touch mine? Laying her fingers softly on Nene's breasts, Aoba got the desired reaction. A pleasure induced breath, a small gasp, barely audible over the looping game music. A little more… little harder… Breathing in Nene's neck, Aoba bent forward a little, kissing the blonde's nape, first gently, softly, to go with her inexperienced fumbling around under Nene's shirt, then a little stronger, her fingertips sinking lightly into Nene's breasts. They're definitely smaller than Hifumi's… what am I thinking about?

Ah… she's scared of doing anything now. "Aocchi…" Grabbing her girlfriend's hands with her own, Nene pushed them against her breasts with more strength than Aoba was using. "This much… is fine..."

Finding the right balance took Aoba a few more tries and Nene grew visibly and audibly more impatient. Now that she was getting turned on more and more, she wanted to break away and so she did. The surprised Aoba just sat there, with her legs spread, when Nene, like lightning, turned around and sat between her legs, putting her arms tightly around her neck, forcing the same kind of strong, passionate kiss on her that they had shared so many times before. But this time was slightly different. After a moment of confusion, Aoba reached for Nene's bared chest, sliding her bra over her breasts and touching the hot skin beneath directly with her fingers, the tips resting firmly in her palm, poking her skin a little.

Aoba's back rested against the bed frame and Nene kept pushing against her; so much that Aoba's shoulders hurt a little as she kept touching Nene. Their kiss ending prematurely, Aoba got up and crawled backwards on the bed, pulling strongly on Nene's arm to follow her.

Nene's skirt was left behind when she followed after Aoba. And with a single rustling motion, the comforter covered the two of them, shielding each other's eyes from sights that would definitely made them turn so red that they couldn't continue. A singular arm escaped from the comforter prison, carrying the pajama pants and blouse that Aoba had been wearing, throwing them aimlessly out of their secluded world.

Beneath, two nearly naked girls were locked in a tight embrace with each other. Taking away the stimulant of being seen by each other, their courage rose, multiplied, and so they became daring. "Aocchi-!" Nene broke off a second kiss in surprise when she felt her girlfriend's hand go down her stomach, towards a certain place. "W-Wait, I'm-" Aoba pulled her hand away and Nene breathed a sigh of relief, just a second too early; Aoba instead squeezed her leg between Nene's, moving her thigh all the way up so she could feel Nene's panties against it.

Returning the favor, Nene grabbed hold of Aoba's butt and immediately after didn't know what to do, so she just squeezed and fondle – To her surprise; with great effect. Aoba's subdued moans came out one after another.

The air beneath the comforter became stale and very hot quickly and both of them emerged gasping for air at the same time, their eyes desperately closed. If… if I look at Nenecchi now, my head is gonna explode!

If Aocchi sees me like this, I'll die!

To make sure their significant other would not open her eyes, to make absolutely sure, they bot fell back into a kiss, ignoring how hot their faces were, their hands and legs doing whatever they wanted; their bodies heating up like they were inside an oven.

Each moan amplified how turned on they were, regardless of who let it out. Nene tensed up and was stiff like a plank when Aoba started to pull down her panties. There was not even room for thoughts with all the embarrassment inside her head.

Aoba's hand was shaking, from nervousness and excitement alike, and the felt Nene's arms, tightly wrapped around her waist, shaking just as much if not more so. But there was no backing out or retreating now.

=== It's not all Fun and Games ===

Aoba's naked back was touching against Nene's naked back under the comforter. Sweaty, exhausted, neither of those things mattered to them. They both couldn't bring themselves to look at each other, only a singular thought dominating their minds; We… really did it. I'm so embarrassed!

"Nenecchi… uh… er… that was..."

"Yeah. Uhm… did you..."

"Hm." Aoba covered her face in embarrassment despite Nene looking in the completely opposite direction. I was moaning and… was I shouting too? I totally was shouting her name! Going all Nene, Nene… ah, I'm gonna die.

"Me too." Nene was a little less embarrassed and managed to at least stare at the pause screen of the game. I… totally did it with Aocchi. We totally did it like adults. O-Of course we are adults!

Aoba's stomach growled. They had eaten only a very light diner and she had almost an hour of exercise behind her now. "Nenecchi, do you… see my pajamas somewhere?" There was no way she could get out of bed naked now. How do other couples do this? I loved every moment of it, but- but I can't even look at her now!

"Hm. No peeking!" Nene crawled half out of bed and grabbed the light blue pieces of clothing that were hanging off the table. Retreating rapidly back beneath the comforter, Nene carefully, and awkwardly, passed the clothing to Aoba by slowly pushing it over to her.

"T-Thanks." Aoba fumbled the clothes around, trying to figure out if it was her blouse or pants. Just the pants? "D-Do you see the other part?"

Nene looked around and found them. "C-Close your eyes!"

Aoba was very much tempted to look, now that she was told not to. The comforter suddenly got a whole lot bigger and more spacious and there were loud food steps passing through the room; then back and the comforter returned to the same cramped set-up. "H-here."

"T-Thanks." Aoba struggled under the comforter to put on her pants and accidentally kicked Nene. "S-Sorry!" The moment she was dressed, Aoba felt gross. She had worked up quite a sweat and now that the embarrassment of being naked was gone, she was painfully aware of that. I… need to take another bath.

Nene vanished below the comforter and wriggled around. "Aocchi… I can't find my clothes." Her muffled voice reached from below the comforter.

Aoba left the confines of the comforter, dressed but sloppily so and her pants on backwards, and stepped across the room. Her face was still red like a blister when she saw where Nene's underwear had landed; on top of a standing lap. Picking up Nene's panties, Aoba felt almost compelled to sniff them, something she had seen in some questionable manga in the past. Her bra was nearby too, and this time Aoba couldn't help herself but holding it in front of her own chest. They felt pretty nice… I wonder what size-

"Aocchi? You're not doing anything weird with my stuff, right?!" Nene didn't want to look at what Aoba was doing at the off chance that she was doing weird stuff.

The skirt was on the floor, all the way by the kitchen, and Aoba had no idea how it ended up there. The shirt was halfway between there and the skirt. Aoba stuffed the entire bundle under the comforter. "N-Nenecchi, I'm taking another bath."

"Hm." Nene's feet popped out from beneath the comforter, only to vanish beneath right after.

Aoba's mind was racing with images of a naked Nene, sweaty and hot, trying to get dressed under that comforter. If I was a game character, I would get a nosebleed now. Standing in the bathroom – looking into the mirror, Aoba felt a second wave of embarrassment come over her. I really slept with Nenecchi!

Letting hot water into the bathtub, Aoba took off her blouse, just minutes after putting it back on, and glanced at herself in front of the mirror. Nenecchi was… all over me. Aoba couldn't bear to look at the mirror any longer when she heard Nene whispering inside her head. You're so pretty, Aocchi. Squealing by herself like a little girl, Aoba was still hopped up on endorphins.

Outside the bathroom, Nene managed only to put her underwear back on. She felt all icky, especially her legs, and she couldn't sit still. Picking up the controller, she couldn't focus on the game either and died within seconds. Opening a window and breathing in some of the icy cold winter air at night, Nene's face still felt like it was on fire. Aocchi and I really had sex. Hehe… I'll totally be able to brag to my friends on campus! But… it'll be super embarrassing if they ask me about it. I know! I'll tell them I expertly lead Aocchi through her first time. That's… kinda close enough to the truth.

=== It's not all Fun and Games ===

"Nenecchi, I told you to stop sitting around in your underwear! What if the neighbors see!" Aoba closed the curtains. Nene was on summer break. And since EagleJump didn't have a project for her to beta test, she was spending all her time at home.

"I wouldn't if the AirCon was working!"

"We can't help it. They're broken everywhere and the repairman is booked out. I'm super hot, too!"

"So why don't you take off your clothes? It's not like I haven't seen you in your underwear before. Or less." Nene smirked wide. "You could-"

"I am not stripping!" Aoba put her foot down and puffed up her cheeks. "I can't believe you're like this when you couldn't even look at me when we first had s-s-sex."

"Eh, I'm not the one that still can't say sex without flinching." Nene put up a tough face but the corners of her mouth were twitching. Hehe, Aocchi, I pulled ahead! I'm the one that's more like a grown-up now!

"Sitting around in your underwear just makes you look like a NEET." Aoba walked away and opened up the window. "At least get some fresh air in. It's so hot, it barely makes a different."

"We could go to the pool. Altho it'll be super duper crowded."

"You just wanna show off your new swimsuit."

"Totally not!"

"Totally yes."

"Not!"

"The water is gonna be lukewarm, at least."

"Ew..." Nene groaned. "So we just stay home and boil alive?"

"We turned down Hajime and Yun in joining them at Comiket."

"I think they are regretting going just about now."

"Yun is tough. She probably thinks of all the sweating as a way to lose weight."

Nene snorted and fell to the floor laughing. "That's so mean, Aocchi! Too mean! You're like an imp!"

"Am not!" Aoba looked away. "Maybe a little."

"Hajime told me; you've been teasing Hifumi at work lately."

"She just has these really cute reactions!"

"Cuter than me?"

"Way."

"Hey!"

"Doesn't matter how cute they are. There's only one girl I like."

Nene blushed a little and picked her controller back up. "A-o-ni."

"Whose a blue ogre!?" Aoba felt hotter with every reply. "I can't do this. It's too hot."

"If we go out in this weather we'll end up looking like Umiko."

"I think that could look sexy on you."

"No, no, no way! I don't wanna be a mini Umiko!"

"You get along a lot better now."

"How?! She keeps calling me to do unpaid work for her! I'm like a slave! But if I tell her now, she does that scary Sakura voice and I just..."

"Why can't you listen to me like that?"

"Duh, you're not that scary."

"I can be!"

"You'll need a hundred years to reach Umiko level of scary. She's world class scary."

"Are you sure you don't actually like her?"

Nene shuddered. "Keep saying that."

"Huh?"

"I felt a real chill just now!"

"Nenecchi… You're impossible."

"You mean it's impossible for anyone to be cuter than me!"

"I don't think you can call yourself cute while you sit around in your underwear and play video games."

"My cuteness is universal!"

"What about me?"

"Aocchi… you're close, but no cigar!"

"I can't believe you're like this after just ten months of dating."

"Hehe, this is not even my final for- ow, Aoocchi, stop, ow, hey!" Nene was being battered by soft and playful punches from her girlfriend. "Okay, okay, you're also universally cute, ow, stop, hey!" Nene couldn't help but laugh. Manga is right. The childhood friend always wins, Nene thought self-satisfied.

=== Yes, it was all Fun and Games ===