Transcendence

Disclaimer: Don't own Higurashi; When They Cry belongs to Ryukishi07, and may he always reign. I'm just borrowing the characters, and will put them back when I'm done.

(solitaire3 prompt #15 – azalea; really seeing you for the first time)

"Ehh… I'm not really sure this suits me."

Mion plucked at the pink frills of the fairly frilly shirt, and spread the folds of the black-striped skirt. Her lips were pouted to one side, her eyes narrowed, and her cheeks ever-so-lightly flushed. Even so, she did a stilted runway turn in front of the mirror, hesitating at the end like she half-wanted to strike a pose but felt too awkward to do it.

From where she and Shion were sprawled out on the bed, Rena clapped her hands to her cheeks and sighed, eyes glittering. "Mii-chan is so cute in this outfit, so cute! I wanna—"

"You can't take her home, Rena, she's got a date to be on. Wait 'til she's done," Shion proclaimed with a mischievous giggle, cutting the other girl off. "Sis, you look fine. We're twins, so what looks good on me will look good on you. Trust me, his eyes are going to fall out of his head. If he thought you were girly before…"

"I'm telling you, this old man isn't cut out for cute clothes like this," Mion protested in a faint grumble. She was smiling a little bashfully, though, taking the edge off her words.

And then:

"I wonder—if Kei-chan is really gonna like these clothes…"

"Sis, don't sell yourself short—he puts you in frilly costumes and the Angel Mort uniform every time he manages to beat you at the club. If that's not proof that he thinks you're hot, nothing is. You have boobs; for heaven's sake, use them!"

Shion and Rena both laughed, and Mion hid her face in her hands. Some moral support they are…!

Still—she was happy to have them here. Mion had never had any problems facing anyone down across a game board, and had faced down Takano and her gun unwaveringly, but first dates were terrifying. Without Shion and Rena to goad her into things like picking a girly outfit and steeling herself for the actual event, she would probably be hiding in a corner of the tool shed by now.

…It probably said something bad about her that she thought dates were scarier than torture devices—especially torture devices she'd lost five fingernails to last year—but Mion didn't want to think about that.

Faintly, she heard the buzzer ring—he was here, he was at the door.

"Deep breaths, Sis! I'm sure Kei-chan won't think less of you if you have to put your head between your knees for a minute or two," Shion said wickedly, grinning.

"Mii-chan's blushing, blushing! I wonder if Keiichi-kun will be blushing too… aaah, Mii-chan and Keiichi-kun all red in the face are so cute, I wanna take them home with meeee!"

Thinking black thoughts about evil sisters and insane best friends, Mion gave her cheeks a galvanizing slap and headed out of her room and down the halls towards the entrance to her family estate.

Keiichi was there. He was wearing a new shirt—she'd never seen it, at least—and a nice pair of khakis, but he looked the same as always. Except that his smile of greeting turned into a stunned look, and his eyes did a quick scan of face-chest-skirt-chest-face-chest before he glanced away, visibly embarrassed.

Mion's own stare flicked from him to a nearby tree and back again a few times before she told herself to get a grip and looked at Keiichi directly.

"Uh… yo," Keiichi managed.

"H-hey," Mion replied, trying her hardest not to squeak.

"You—look really different today. Really good."

…Mion had to give up trying not to blush.

Owari.