Akira taps her chopsticks against the side of her bowl, but doesn't pick up another gyoza. 

"... can I share something? Some music, I mean."

She nods. "Definitely! Just switch the splitter over to your phone."

Akira swaps the splitter over, and queues up the track. 

"Ready?"

"Ready," she nods.

She presses play.

Shiho starts to smile at the opening violin, then a bit wider at the hopeful-sounding piano.

Her smile turns bittersweet as the lyrics start, soft with remembered pain and growth.

When the singer starts talking about music bridging the gap, her mouth falls open with a quiet, "oh."

She reaches out and squeezes Akira's hand.

By the end of it, her smile is warm and tender, and a few tears have rolled down her cheeks.

"Oh Akira, I love it."

Akira's also a little teary, but she squeezes Shiho's hand back in return. She rubs her eyes with her free hand and takes a long breath. 

"... I'm going to need a little break after that," she says. She picks up her chopsticks and tries another dumpling. It helps.

Shiho nods. "Me too, honestly. Just... wow. You get it. You actually get it."

She shakes her head, still smiling tenderly, and eats a couple gyōza of her own.

"Reaching out is hard, but..." 

Akira looks down at her gyōza. "I made a promise to myself a few years ago. I'd just flunked my online courses... It was a nightmare trying to deal with being in the closet and my parents' high expectations. They were livid at me, not even for being trans — they didn't know — but simply because I'd lost focus on my studies.

They started enforcing a sharp curfew on computer time. This was before I got my phone, which is... a long story in itself, I'll leave that part aside for now. So I started not having time to even see my acquaintances online. They... it's just like with Kamoshida, they did their best to isolate me and make me have no-one to turn to. 

I promised myself I'd... keep trying. Keep looking for someone who understood. Keep working to find a place for myself. That kind of resolution." 

Akira fidgets with her chopsticks, not quite going far enough to pick up another gyōza. "The bargain was that if I... made it to twenty and was still in that house with them, then I'd be allowed to... give up."

"That promise kept me going for... long enough to find you, and Ann, and Ryuji, and Boss. Through the worst of it. I had always hoped, but..." 

She meets Shiho's gaze. "I never thought I'd really make it until literally a week ago."

"Oh. Oh Akira." Shiho's expression turns bittersweet again, and she scoots her chair around the table close enough to wrap an arm around Akira.

"I'm glad you made that promise," she whispers, "and I'm glad we met you in time. I... I get it, though. Better than I want to admit."

She squeezes her gently.

Akira sets down her chopsticks and turns to hug Shiho. 

"I'm sorry," she murmurs. "You shouldn't have to hear all this."

Shiho shakes her head, hugging Akira close. "You don't have to apologize for confiding a hurt in your girlfriend. That's just... not how relationships work."

Akira laughs, mostly because it's that or cry. 

"Yeah," she says. "I guess... yeah."

She takes a deep breath, pressed in against Shiho's shoulder. Shiho smells faintly floral. Is that lavender...?

Akira pries herself away, and rubs her forehead. "Just, you know. Some date this is, you take a girl out for gyōza and music and she cries and monologues about her family." She cracks a wry smile. "It's just... all closer to the surface with you, I don't understand it. I guess it's how seriously you take me. I feel like I can say anything and you'll just nod and say "that makes sense." And it's... really good to have that. I've never really had that before."

"Maybe it's because we've both been hurt. We can relate to each other." Shiho shrugs. "I'm pretty new to all this too, there's a lot I don't know. I know I'm glad to help, though."

She hugs Akira some more.

"Okay." 

Akira lets herself be held.

Shiho keeps holding her.

"I...," she begins after a bit, "I smile a lot and reach out to you and Ann and Ryuji, but... I think I'm in shock or something, from how good my life has gotten since you showed up and Ann came back. Before... I thought about the roof sometimes. So I get it."

"... Yeah. Now we both have something to stay for." 

Akira slips back a little bit from Shiho, and looks into her eyes. 

"Shiho... May I kiss you?"

Shiho gazes back at Akira, smiling gently. "Yeah, we do, and you may."

Akira leans in, and gently kisses Shiho. She has a little more practice now, so it's less fumbling than her first try with Ryuji. 

Shiho returns the kiss softly, moving a hand up to caress Akira's cheek, sighing warmly when they separate.

"Thank you," she whispers with a tender smile.

"No, thank you. For... listening to all my squishy feelings. The hard ones, and the warm ones too. The gentle ones and the spiky ones. You're really made today unforgettable for me."

She leans in and presses another soft kiss to Akira's lips. "Same," she breathes.

Akira kisses her again, a little firmer. She lets out a soft sigh, her eyes fluttering closed —

She's in public. 

Reluctantly, she pulls back. 

"... Um," she says. She rubs the back of her neck. 

Is there somewhere more private we could go —

A flush rises to her face. No, she hasn't even finished her gyoza. Priorities. 

She looks away. "You're really beautiful."

"So are you," Shiho replies with a blushy grin.

She looks down and pops a dumpling in her mouth.

Shiho's not the only one who has suddenly redeveloped an interest in her food.

The dumplings are only lukewarm, now. She'd better focus on the food. Akira takes a few minutes, and finishes off her bowl of gyoza using the dip she already has open.