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Mana and Umiri were dating; Ave Mujica knew about it to an extent. They sort of just knew Mana and Umiri were pretty close—but in all honesty, they just didn't believe Umiri when she said that Mana was now her girlfriend.
Which was really annoying! Maybe not to Umiri but to Mana! Mana worked hard to get Umiri to date her!
When they first met, Mana couldn't take her eyes off of Umiri. She was just so cool! So obviously, when she got the chance, Mana talked to her! And through persistent daily texts and at least one hangout every week, they were finally dating!
So to hear that none of them believed Umiri when she told them was so rude! And while Mana would love to run into Ave Mujica's practice and yell about how much she loves Umiri, Mana was not that type of person, which may be a lie, but either way, she can't do it even though she so very much wants to. They'll figure it out when she and Umiri finally get married!
Whenever that would be.
But! Umiri seemed to have the same thoughts! After they started dating, Umiri asked Mana to marry Mana. Which obviously Mana said yes! Even though it had only been a couple of days since they started dating, but who’s counting?! Mana was a girl who knew what she wanted.
Gay marriage not being legal in Japan was not the only problem that Mana and Umiri faced. It was Mana's agency's no-dating policy. But honestly, Mana didn't care too much about that, she would never let a handsome girl like Umiri slip through her fingers!
It was a great thing to be into girls! No one thought she was dating Umiri no matter what she said! Of course, everything she said was with well picked words, but she said nothing that would deny or confirm their romantic relationship.
She spent a lot of time with Umiri, though. They ate lunch together (when they weren't in school), Mana slept over at Umiri's apartment a bunch, all that fun dating stuff! The lucky part was that Mana had a pretty prominent control of her own social media. Like all idols, she had guidelines to follow but none of them really hindered with what she wanted to post. However, now her Twitter media tab was pretty much only filled with pictures of herself and Umiri, sometimes solo shots, sometimes pictures of them together.
She had been a little risky a couple days ago when she decided to post a photo of herself kissing Umiri's cheek but no one said anything. Her manager didn't say anything and all the replies and quote retweets were just talking about how close of friends they were.
Mana could even very publicly flirt with Umiri and that wouldn't do anything! There were definitely a bunch of pros about being two girls.
She did have a feeling she was pissing off a lot of people who shipped her and Uika, though. But she still tried to keep up some sort of yuribait between her and Uika. Usually, Mana would ask Umiri if the next yuribait stunt that she and Uika would do was something that Umiri was comfortable with. But Umiri wasn't very in tune with her own emotions, so it would take a bit of time to help Umiri think through how she feels about it. If Umiri said she wasn't comfortable with that stunt, or even gave the slightest vibe that she was uncomfortable, Mana wouldn't do that stunt.
The agency did push for very specific yuribait stunts, though. Before, Mana had no reason to reject a stunt so she did them. But now it was different. But Mana couldn't reject too many stunts without raising suspicion so usually she would just try to comfort Umiri after telling her about it. Even if Umiri wasn't visibly bothered, Mana could never be too safe. Besides! A night of cuddling in bed was a win regardless of the reason behind it!
Mana found communication to be a very crucial part of any relationship. She didn't struggle with it, and she's always been quite the talker but she's never been one to beat around the bush. If she needs to talk to Umiri about something, she will! And vice versa!
But Mana isn't stupid, regardless of whatever image of idols people have in their minds. She knows when not to press. When communication shouldn't be the first option, the life she's grown up in was different from others. It would be naïve to believe that everything could be fixed her way. So even if confrontation would be her first choice, it's not the choice she makes for everything.
Google was a very helpful source, despite its flaws. When Mana had questions that she felt were too blunt, she’d search them online. Both for information and on how to help. Like when she noticed that Umiri would only really ever drink protein shakes and rarely eat real food. Mana slowly started getting Umiri to eat more real food through more indirect means.
Or when Umiri started wearing a binder. Mana did her best to make sure that Umiri felt safe enough to share her(?) personal preferences with anything possibly related to it.
The one thing that stumped Mana more than anything before was seeing the scars on Umiri's ribs and upper thighs. It wouldn't be visible through usual means, but the two weren't very shy about changing around each other—well, at least Mana wasn't. Mana didn't really know if Umiri gradually became more open to the idea or if Mana just always happened to be around Umiri when Umiri didn't need to change.
But that was not what she was focused on currently. Sometimes it wasn't just a scar, but a scab.
Mana didn't know what to do about that. What could she say? What could she do?
At the very least, she knew what she shouldn't do.
She didn't stare; she didn't even let Umiri see that her eyes had flickered down. She didn't change her wide smile—not even by a little bit. She just lay and waited on Umiri's bed for her to finish changing, and so they could continue cuddling.
She couldn't help but put a little more love than usual into the kiss she gave Umiri when she got in bed.
The single bed wasn't really a problem for them. Even when they were just starting to date, and even before they did. Mana just saw it as a perfect way to get Umiri to fall for her at the time. It was a bit of a surprise how little Mana had to do to get Umiri to cuddle her. All Mana did was make a bold move of asking if Umiri wanted to cuddle. She expected to get either a no or silence, but instead of that, Umiri replied with a simple “yes.”
Two cuddly people in a relationship is a dream. Mana would always choose to sit on Umiri's lap even when there was plenty of other space to sit. And Umiri always seemed to like it when Mana chose her over an actual chair. Umiri loved to hold hands, to hug, anything that involved touching. And Mana loved it too! Umiri was just like a clingy puppy and she wouldn't change that for the world.
Maybe it was through Mana's lead by example, but Umiri usually told Mana when she found something that made her feel a particular way—whether it was something that bothered her or something that Umiri found interesting. Like when Togawa-san was acting quite a bit more touchy with Wakaba-san than the rest of them. Or if Yuutenji-san posted a new video featuring Umiri. Or maybe even just a rock that looked a bit odd. Either way, Mana listened with the same enthusiasm. No word that her girlfriend could say was unimportant!
Umiri said that she didn't really talk all that much to her groupmates. Or sort of just explained it as Umiri didn't have a lot to say outside of music. Mana could understand that Umiri could be pretty monotone about speaking about pretty much everything, but it didn't bother Mana. Umiri was plenty funny, and her monotony and inexpressive face always added something to the joke she was telling.
Mana didn’t know too much about Umiri’s parents, and she wasn’t going to press. Sure, Umiri had met Mana’s parents, and they liked how well-mannered she was. While Mana’s parents weren’t completely aware of the type of relationship she had with Umiri. Mana still took it as a win. Though eventually Umiri did accept her mother’s calls when Mana was around, and Mana got to introduce herself. What Mana didn’t expect was that Umiri would just straight up call Mana her girlfriend in front of her mother. The good part was that Umiri’s mother didn’t get upset or anything; in fact, she was delighted and told Umiri to bring her the next time she went home. To which, Umiri didn’t say no. But she didn’t say yes either. But Mana was happy enough to know that another person would be able to know how much Mana loved her girlfriend!!!!
One day, when Mana can, she’ll definitely tell the world about how much she loves her girlfriend, all her unique qualities included.