Shiho responds by burying her face in Ann's neck and hair, holding her desperately tightly, and just breathing in her scent and reveling in her presence.

Ann is here and safe and it's going to be okay.

See, brain? Shiho can feel and smell Ann right here. Her Light is right here, and she's safe, and she's shining so bright.

And for a while Ann and Shiho just hold each other.

Eventually, though...

"... I should really finish those pancakes you made me. I don't want them to go to waste after you were so kind to..." 

Ann blushes deeply. 

She giggles and nods, pressing another soft kiss to Ann's lips and then getting up.

"Okay then!"

Ann grins and gets up too, and goes back into the kitchen, where her half-eaten pancakes are still sitting on the table. She tosses them back in the microwave for a little bit, then sits to eat again with a sappy smile on her face.

Sappy smiles are the order of the day, then. Shiho waits until Ann's pancakes are out and then puts hers in as well, then just sits and eats, interspersed with more incredulous happiness.

Ann smiles and smiles and finishes her pancakes. 

"... I can't believe we get to just have this," she says. "It's so good to be yours."

"We do. We get to have this. Seeing you this happy and getting to be with you is the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Yeah..." Ann lingers over the word, that sappy smile still on her face. 

Then she gets up and starts putting the plates in the dishwasher.

"— you said Akira explained things. How much did she explain?"

"Metaverse exists, all four of you including Morgana have powers over there, Kamoshida has a castle embodying his desires, castle is lethally guarded, you're trying to steal something to make his desires collapse and make him confess."

"Sounds like she covered everything pretty thoroughly." 

Ann leans against the counter and kicks one foot casually back and forth. "So, I guess the two of us have some time to kill?"

She nods. "Yeah. What would you like to do?"

"I'm not sure. Definitely something with you. I want to spend as much time with you as I can."

She tilts her head. "We could try just cuddling for a while? I could talk to you about our adventures, maybe..."

She smiles softly, reaching across and squeezing Ann's hand. "How about both of those?"

"Sounds great to me." 

Ann squeezes Shiho's hand back, and back they can go to the bedroom again. 

Shiho deserves the full story, with the scary and embarrassing parts too.

Shiho folds herself into Ann's side on the bed, gazing tenderly at her, arms around her girlfriend.

Ann settles in, finding a comfortable way to lie with her girlfriend, and in a low voice she starts to explain from the beginning. Stumbling into the castle, the return trips. All the awakenings of their Personas. Even the details about how her costume and Akira's look in the Metaverse.

It's quite the suspenseful tale. She'd be worried if Ann wasn't right here in her arms. She gives her girlfriend a protective squeeze. When they get to Ann's awakening, she blushes.

"You awakened your powers over a threat to me?"

And then she can't help but kiss Ann fiercely.

"I... Yeah, I mean..." 

Ann ducks her head and flushes. "It was the only thing to do."

Shiho shakes her head and presses kiss after kiss after kiss across Ann's face. Her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, her lips, again and again interspersed with her shock and delight.

"The fact that—"

  Kiss.

"—I mean—"

    Kiss.

"—so much to you—"

      Kiss.

"—that your soul caught fire!"

        Kiss.

"You love me!"

She kisses and kisses and kisses Ann, running out of words.

Ann flushes deep pink and manages a small smile. It's just... she never expected to be rewarded like this. 

"Yeah," she says, softly. "I love you."

She snuggles in and rests her head on Ann's shoulder and sighs happily. 

"I love you too. Thank you."

A few tears roll down her cheeks and a wide smile stretches across her face.

It's kind of hard to feel worthless when her girlfriend awakened over a threat to her.

Ann is amazing.

Ann leans in and gently kisses the tears away. 

Shiho loves her and that is all she could have ever hoped for.

Shiho giggles at having her tears kissed away and snuggles in closer.

She could spend quite a while like this, honestly.

Then she'll have it. They have all day and Ann's going to use it. They have a lot of catching up to do.