A/N: Originally written for KageprOTP Month in 2018.

So, Takane's supposed to go out on a date with Haruka tomorrow.

Well, not really a date, but close enough.

Earlier today, Ayano had given her two free admission coupons to that famous aquarium place. But the coupons were going to expire the next day. "Sorry," she had said. "I forgot these were lying around, and I'm not going to use it, so I thought maybe you'd want to use them?"

And so Takane had shrugged and called up Haruka to ask if he wanted to go see fishes and whatever other things you'd find in an aquarium place so that these free coupons wouldn't go to waste.

He'd been like, "Sure, that sounds great!"

And so they'd arranged to meet in front of the train station at 11am the next day.

Takane really wishes that Ayano's timing had been better, though. Takane's due to be back in school this Monday, and she has a lot of schoolwork piled up, you know, on account of being sort of dead for two years.

The current time: 5am

Amount of remaining homework: lots, very lots

"So, if I go to sleep now," mutters Takane, counting on her fingers, "go on my date with Haruka, and come back at around 5pm, that'll give me the evening and all of Sunday to do homework." She needs at the absolute minimum 6 hours of sleep, or else she'll be as good as useless the next day. "So, about 25 hours?…"

She looks at the enormous stack of work on her desk. She still doesn't think that's enough time, but she really has to go to sleep now, or else she'll be falling asleep on her feet on her date with Haruka.

So, with a huff, she sets her four alarms and plops into bed.

It's still mind-bogglingly hot outside. She's only been outside for a few minutes, and her thin white T-shirt is already starting to stick to her skin. Her tote bag (containing the two coupons, she made sure to double check that they were there before leaving) is also uncomfortably hot against her side.

She spots Haruka in front of the station and hurries over.

"Takane!" smiles Haruka.

"Yoooo," says Takane. "Ugh, I was up all night doing homework."

"Oh, me too," says Haruka, scratching his head sheepishly.

"…Damn school overlords," mutters Takane. "You'd think that they'd give us a bit more leeway after what we went through…"

On the station platform, Haruka asks her, "What station are we getting off at?"

"Yokohama station," says Takane, glancing at her phone. "That's about half an hour away. Then, we need to transfer to another line, and then take the bus."

"Okay."

Soon, the train arrives. Walking inside the train is like walking into a refrigerator. "It's so cool!" exclaims Haruka, spreading his arms.

"Thank god for AC," says Takane, fanning herself to let the cool air wash over her.

They grab a seat near the middle of the train, with Haruka at the right window seat and Takane on his left. She puts her tote bag at her feet.

It's at this moment that Takane starts feeling somewhat self-conscious, with Haruka sitting so close to her. Geez, this is really starting to feel like a date… She claps her cheeks. I'm not blushing, am I?

"Wah, feel this window, Takane!" says Haruka, smiling at her. "It's so hot!"

Takane reaches over and presses her finger to the glass pane. "…It is…"

"It'd be nice if this heat wave ended soon, eh, Takane?"

Summer is her least favourite season. "It sure would."

The door chime sounds, and the doors slide shut. With a brief shudder, the train begins along its route.

"…Is your body doing all right?" asks Haruka, glancing at her. "Not feeling any fatigue?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Takane crosses her arms. "It's all good. The doctor said that as long as I take it easy for the next couple of months, and don't do anything physically strenuous, I should be fine."

"I'm glad, then!" smiles Haruka. "But if you're feeling tired at any time over there, just let me know at any time, and then we can take a sit down, okay, Takane?"

"Sure," says Takane. She turns away and covers her mouth. Gahhhhhhhhhh I love him so much.

They sit in silence for a short while.

Haruka yawns.

"And you?" asks Takane. "What about your body? Are you doing okay?"

"Oh yes," smiles Haruka. He scratches his head sheepishly. "Even though those snakes caused us so much trouble… This body is healthier than ever, so I can't help but be a bit grateful…"

After returning to his body after that August 15 incident, Haruka had used his eyes to tone down how super mega OP his body was, making it more closely resemble his former appearance. However, one main difference was that Haruka was now in no danger of dying anytime soon.

"Hm, that's good," says Takane. She pouts slightly.

Unlike Haruka, her old body still has the same problems as before, and she still needs to get huge amounts of sleep to properly function the next day. And apparently, the coma-like hibernation that her body falls into whenever she becomes Ene isn't the same as restful sleep, so she can't use her eye abilities to multitask sleeping.

Laaaame. She yawns.

Haruka yawns again.

Takane feels her head starting to droop.

…

…

…

"Attention passengers, we will be arriving shortly at Atami station," says a voice over the announcements system. "This is a terminal station."

Takane slowly blinks, opening her eyes. Wha…? She's leaning on something warm, and there's something sort of heavy resting her head.

"Please take a look at your surroundings to make sure you have all of your personal belongings," the announcements continue. "Please dispose of any waste into the appropriate bins on the train or on the station platform."

She slowly turns her head upwards, and her heart skips a beat when she realizes that Haruka is sleeping on her. Her eyes widen. Okay no, stay calm, stay calm…

She carefully extricates herself from her spot next to Haruka, and gently pushes him away. He stirs sleepily. "Wha…?"

With horror, she notices a wet spot on Haruka's shirt, where she had been sleeping just a moment prior. She wipes her mouth with her wrist, grimacing. Oh god, she had been drooling on him.

"Takane?…" says Haruka, sleepily stirring.

"Um," says Takane. She smiles sheepishly, and looks away. "Sorry… I kinda drooled on you."

"Oh." Haruka glances at his shirt, and then yawns stretching his arms. "That's fine. It'll dry soon enough."

"Also I think we kinda missed our stop. By a lot."

"Oh…" Haruka glances out the window. "That's fine, we can take the other train back." He smiles sheepishly. "Sorry, I fell asleep as well. It was so nice and comfortable…"

"Well, yeah." Takane yawns, covering her mouth. "I fell asleep too, don't worry."

"I was up late last night, and I didn't get much sleep, so that's probably why…"

"How much sleep did you get?"

"Um…" Haruka counts on his fingers. "An hour or two?… About."

"Oh my god! How are you not dead?"

He laughs sheepishly, scratching his head. "I've done some all-nighters before, so I'm used to it." He pauses. "Probably not very healthy."

"Sooooo not healthy," says Takane.

Haruka glances out the window again, at the station platform that's slowly coming into view. "We should probably get off here."

"Yeah."

The doors open, and they step out into the furnace that is a hot summer day. After being in the cool air-conditioned train car for over an hour, the air outside feels even more unbearably hot than usual.

After a short wait, they get onto the train going in the opposite direction. "This time, let's set an alarm so that we can sleep comfortably," says Takane, taking out her smartphone.

"Oh, good idea," says Haruka.

She estimates how long it will take to arrive at her stop, and sets her alarm accordingly. "Also, we should sit on the left side of the train, since there'll be less sun on that side, which will let us sleep more comfortably."

"That's also a good idea! Wow, it's like you're some kind of train-sleeping expert."

"Just who do you think you're talking to?" smirks Takane. "I'm the train-sleeping expert."

After they take their seats, Takane glances hesitantly at Haruka, pointing at his shoulder. "Um… Do you mind if I…" She looks away. Never mind, that's too embarrassing.

"You can lean on me if you want," says Haruka, smiling. "I don't mind."

Just marry me already. "Oh, um okay, thanks." She stiffly leans over to her left onto Haruka's shoulder.

He leans back, and snuggles up next to her.

Okay, I seriously need to confess soon, because if this doesn't mean he likes me back I'll eat a shoe.

To be honest, shoulders are not super comfortable to sleep on… Normally, she'd prefer a flat surface to sleep against. But this is Haruka, and actually the AC is making her feel a bit chilly, so the warmth is nice.

She's sleepy enough that she can fall asleep pretty much anywhere, anyway.

…

…

…

"Attention passengers, we will be arriving shortly at Tokyo station," says a voice over the accouncements system. "This is a terminal station."

"Okay, what the fuck!" shouts Takane.

Haruka startles awake at her sudden shout. Takane grits her teeth. They missed their stop again!?

"I swear I set that alarm!" says Takane, rummaging through her bag and pulling out her phone.

They look at it.

"Um… It says you turned off the alarm 2 seconds after it started ringing," says Haruka.

She stares at the phone, a blank expression on her face. "I don't remember that," she says, scratching her head. She turns to Haruka, a defensive look on her face. "I'm serious! That last thing I remember is falling asleep…"

"I believe you, Takane!" says Haruka. He turns to the window, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. "Maybe it was a programming glitch."

"No, it's more likely I just turned it off in my sleep," says Takane, scrowling. "I've done that before."

They get off the train.

"Next time, you set the alarm on your phone," says Takane. "So that I can't turn it off in my sleep."

"Okay, good idea."

In their seats once again, Takane watches Haruka set the alarm.

"Okay," says Takane, grabbing onto Haruka's arm and leaning onto his shoulder. "Now, to sleep!"

"Oh, um…"

Takane blinks. Wait, what the hell, since when am I this forward? This sleep deprivation is doing strange things to my brain… She peeks upwards at Haruka, trying to look apologetic. "Ah…"

Oh my god, he's smiling back. "Okay," he says, and snuggles back.

I've so got to tell him I love him soon, she thinks drowsily as she drifts off to sleep.

…

…

…

"Attention passengers, we will be arriving shortly at Atami station…"

God dammit! As Takane drifts back to consciousness, the first thing that she notices, even before she opens her eyes, is that everything seems to be a lot darker.

She sits up, opening her eyes, and squints suspiciously out the window. There are dark grey clouds covering the sky now.

She blinks, and then yawns, stretching her arms. She glances over at Haruka, who is staring perplexedly at his phone. He notices that she's awake, and flashes her a hesitant smile. "Oh, um… Sorry, I don't know why I didn't wake up. It says here that the alarm went off!"

"Oh," she says.

"I'm not trying to mess up our d—trip to the aquarium, I swear!"

"It's fine, I believe you," says Takane. Pff, like Haruka could ever lie. "Lemme see?" She looks at the phone. "Oh, that's right," she mutters. "I forgot that all these alarm apps only sound your alarms for a minute before they stop."

"Wha… really?" says Haruka. "I didn't know that."

"I guess a minute isn't enough," mutters Takane, shaking her head.

The rain begins to fall outside.

"Oh hey, look," says Haruka. "Rain."

"Oh," says Takane. "Well, I always bring an umbrella, just in case, so we should be fine."

"Oh, okay, that's good."

The rain gets heavier. The pounding of raindrops on the train car roof is getting louder.

"Um," says Takane.

The rain is coming down in buckets now, and the sound of rain on the roof is almost deafening.

Takane and Haruka give each other a look.

The train pulls into the station. Fortunately, the station platform is sheltered from the rain, so they can get off without needing the umbrella.

"Oh wow, it's a lot cooler outside now," says Takane as they step onto the platform.

"That's nice," says Haruka, looking at the heavy rain outside the station with concern.

"Okay, this time, we're setting alarms on both of our phones," says Takane. "And multiple alarms. One alarm every minute for the 10 minutes leading up to our stop, and then 20 minutes afterwards. Got it?"

"Wow, um, that's a lot…"

"I'm going to be so annoyed if we miss our stop again," mutters Takane, configuring the settings on her phone.

…

However, this time, an announcement wakes them up long before they reach their stop.

"Attention passengers, we apologize for the inconvenience. Due to severe flooding from the heavy rain, this train will be turning back at Odawara station. We repeat. Due to heavy flooding…"

Takane's groans sleepily. "You can't be serious."

At the next stop, the conductors usher everyone off the train.

Takane thumbs through her phone, frowning. "Damn, trains are out everywhere…"

Haruka is also checking things on his phone. "It looks like some places are going to get as much as 100 mm of rain in an hour, and it's not going to end any time soon…" He shows his phone to her. "Um… Takane, apparently, it's a Severe Tropical Storm…"

Takane flushes with embarrassment. "Well crap. I knew I should have checked the weather forecast." She covers her face. "You know, I was wondering why the trains seemed like they were emptier than usual…"

"No, it's my fault too, I didn't check the weather either." Haruka smiles. "Well, at least on the bright side, we finally got some rain! We haven't had any in over a month. This is good!"

"Yeah…" Takane's stomach growls. Her face heats up with embarrassment again. God, that was loud. "Um."

"…Have you had lunch yet?" asks Haruka.

"…No."

"It's okay, I haven't either."

There's a small little shop at the train station, and they decide to get lunch there.

"You know," says Takane as they walk towards the shop, looking at the sheets of rain pouring down outside. "I don't think an umbrella's going to last long in this weather."

"It looks like the shop also has some cheap rain ponchos," says Haruka. "Let's get those as well!"

They emerge from the shop, each with a beef patty in hand and a new rain poncho worn on top of their clothes. Takane chose a bright blue poncho, and Haruka chose a light green poncho.

They take a seat on a bench on the station platform, where it's sheltered from the rain, and begin eating their lunches there.

"These are some strong-ass winds," comments Takane, watching rain droplets splatter at her feet even though they're sitting a good distance away from the edge of the platform roof.

"Yeah," says Haruka.

"What should we do now?"

"…"

"I think it's too late for the aquarium."

"…Yeah."

"How are we going to get back?" She turns around points at the map on the wall of the station. "According to that, we're still like, what, 80 km away from home?"

"…"

"Do we know anyone who can drive?" Takane takes another bite from her beef patty. "The only guy I can think of right now is sensei, and he's kinda, you know, dead."

"Oh… Yeah."

"What about your father?"

"No." Haruka fidgets, looking away. "I mean, I'd rather not. What about a taxi?"

"That's going to be sooooo expensive… If anyone's willing to drive in this weather at all." Takane turns to Haruka. "How much money do you have on you?"

Haruka counts. "6015 yen."

Takane goes through her wallet as well. "I have 5800 yen." She sighs. "But we still need money for the tickets back…"

They continue eating their meals in silence.

Takane feels her eyelids grow heavier and heavier. She's chewing more and more slowly…

…

"Takane, Takane." Haruka is gently shaking her.

She inhales sharply. Geh, she almost fell asleep there. She finishes chewing the food in her mouth and swallows. She pinches the bridge of her nose. "…Crap, I'm still sleepy."

"What should we do now?" asks Haruka.

"I don't know…" murmurs Takane.

There's a short pause. "Do you just want to just get somewhere to sleep?" Haruka asks hesitantly.

"Hmm," says Takane, taking out her phone. "Maybe there are some cheap-ass motels around here…" She blinks. "Oh, there's one here, right next to the station."

"That's great, let's go!"

They're in the rain for less than 5 minutes, but she can already feel the water leaking through their recently-acquired rain gear. And her shoes are starting to squish with water.

They walk up to the front desk. "Um…" Takane turns to Haruka, who just smiles back, hesitantly. Oh, so I'm the one who has to say it? I'm not good with talking with people! "O…One room please," she says, wincing at how her artificially high her voice sounds. Damn nerves…

"Sure, we certainly have room for you two," says the receptionist, smiling as she opens up a binder. "Got caught by the storm?"

"Y…yeah," says Takane, looking away.

"I heard all the trains are out. That must be a real shame. But they're usually fast at fixing the damages once the storm's out, so don't worry!" She types something into what looks to Takane like a very old-ass computer. "Were you and your boyfriend heading to Tokyo?"

"Oh. Um, yeah," says Takane. Boyfr—!?

"Looks like we didn't make it," Haruka adds, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, before Takane has a chance to say anything.

"Oh, that's real bad luck," says the lady, jotting something into a notebook. "Just an hour or two earlier, and you would have made it! Well, that's life for you! Anyway, here you are, I just need you to sign here."

Takane glances back at Haruka, who just smiles back again. Oh, am I the signing authority here? She quickly writes her name onto the sheet of paper.

"All right then, here you go, you have room 106," she says, handing a set of keys to Takane. "Checkout is by 11am, and we actually have a small complimentary breakfast from 7 to 9am here in the lobby, so be sure to check it out! Be sure to enjoy your stay, okay? Have a nice day!"

"Thank you," says Haruka as they turn to walk away.

"Th-thank you," says Takane, stumbling over her words slightly.

After another brief minute in the rain, they arrive at their room. Takane unlocks the door and pushes it open. They walk out of the rain and into the room.

Haruka flicks on the lights, and Takane locks the door behind them.

She glances at the interior of the room. "Oh, of course," she says. There's only one bed. And even though there are two pillows, indicating that it's a double bed, it's honestly still kind of small.

"Um…" Haruka smiles sheepishly. "Maybe we can get another room?"

"Nope, we don't have enough money," says Takane, carefully taking off her shoes and peeling the soaking wet socks off her feet.

"Then I can sleep on the floor?" says Haruka.

"The bed is fine," says Takane, taking off her poncho and hanging it up in the closet to dry. She walks over to the bed and takes a seat on the right side of the bed, plopping her wet tote bag next to the wall. "J…just don't cross the middle line, and we'll be fine."

Haruka scratches his head. "The floor is actually really comfortable, you know… I've always wanted to try it. And they say that sleeping on hard surfaces is good for your back…"

"Haruka." Takane points at the bed.

Haruka sighs, taking off his shoes and socks and poncho as well. "If we're staying overnight, we should tell our parents."

"Oh, right." Takane takes out her phone. She makes a face. "I'll just tell Grandma that I'm staying over at Ayano's." She turns to Haruka. "And you tell your parents that you're staying over at Shintarou's."

"Sh…should we really lie like that?" asks Haruka, looking nervous.

Takane frowns. "…I mean, Grandma will probably understand, but… This is kind of weird, you know?"

"It's weird? Why?"

"You know, because you're a boy, and…"

"And?…"

"…"

"How about this," says Haruka. "I'll just say that I was going out with a friend, but we got caught by the storm and decided to stay at a hotel overnight to wait out the rain," says Haruka. "That's pretty truthful. Is that all right?"

"…I guess that can work."

"Dad's still at work anyway, so I'll just be leaving a message."

"Sure, cool."

After a couple of phone calls, they quickly prepare for bed. Their wet socks are hung up to try. Takane's skirt actually got slightly wet too, but she's not taking that off. It'll dry soon enough, anyway.

"You're sleeping too, right?" says Takane. She yawns as she hops into bed. "Turn off the lights?"

"Right," says Haruka, walking over to the front door.

With a click, the room darkens. Then, Takane feels the bed shift underneath her as Haruka gets onto the bed.

She stiffens. Yeah, this is kind of awkward… She moves closer to the edge of the bed. So far that she's starting to feel like she might fall off at any moment. It's safer this way, though. "Night," says Takane.

"Good night," says Haruka.

(It's actually only 3pm though.)

Takane has the vague feeling that she should be more flustered at the thought of sleeping in the same bed as her crush, but really, the force of sleepiness is not something that should be underestimated.

The swirl of sleepy dissociated thoughts quickly wash away any reservations, and she's fast asleep in under a minute.

…

…

…

When she drifts back to consciousness again, she feels much more rested. She slowly opens her eyes. She's in a much less tense, sprawled out position now, occupying a lot larger more of the middle of the bed.

She turns her head, and notices that Haruka is already awake, sitting back against the backrest of the bed, the light from his phone lighting up his face in the dark room.

Takane yawns, sitting up. "What time is it?" she asks drowsily.

"Oh Takane, you're awake!" says Haruka. He turns his phone to show her the time. "It's 11:13pm."

"Well, there goes my chance at maintaining a normal sleep schedule," mutters Takane, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She turns to him. "You've been awake long, Haruka?"

Haruka shakes his head. "Only about an hour or so."

"Is that so?…" Takane yawns again, stretching her arms.

"Hey, do you want to get something to eat?" asks Haruka.

"Is anything even still open?" mutters Takane.

Apparently, WcDonalds is still open. A short walk in the (considerably less heavy) rain quickly takes them to the nearby fast food joint. The place is pretty empty at this hour, though.

"This is great," Takane says dryly, taking a bite from her hamburger. "Here we are in cheap-ass rain gear, just having come from that cheap-ass motel, eating some cheap-ass food."

"Well, we don't have much money left, so cheap is a good thing," says Haruka, looking at the chicken burger that he got. "And at least it's open 24 hours, which is convenient!"

"Well, yeah…" She glances out the window. The rain has lightened up a lot since earlier this afternoon. The water levels on the roads are still tremendously high, though.

After another long walk through the dark, rainy weather, they're back in their motel room.

"So what now?" asks Takane, taking off her shoes.

"Erm." Haruka shrugs. "Not sure…"

"Ideally we'd be working on our homework right now, but I left all that stuff back at home."

"Same for me…"

In the end, the both of them just end up doing aimless things on their phones, like showing each other internet videos and playing various internet games with each other.

At around 4am, Takane starts getting sleepy again, so she takes another nap. She ends up sleeping all the way until almost checkout time.

Haruka reluctantly wakes her up, although it takes her a while to become fully cognisant.

Haruka saved her some of the food from breakfast.

"It's not much, but…" says Haruka, holding out the apple.

Marry me already. "I'll take it," says Takane, taking it out of Haruka's hands, and beginning to munch on it. "Erm… Thanks."

After Takane is done eating, they quickly pack up their things and check out at the front desk.

It's still raining slightly, but it's more of a drizzle than a downpour now.

"At least the rain is a lot less OP now," comments Takane, lifting her arm to watch the tiny droplets roll off the sleeve of her rain poncho.

"Looks like it," says Haruka.

Amazingly, the trains are back in service already. They buy a couple of tickets and are soon back at their home station.

They part ways in front of the station.

"Erm… see you then," says Takane.

Haruka nods. "See you in class tomorrow." He pauses for a moment. "Um. This… was fun. Let's do it again sometime."

Takane snorts, rolling her eyes. "Yeah. Right. Sleeping on the train was great fun, I'm sure."

"It actually was!" protests Haruka. "For me at least, spending time with you was a lot of fun. Whether that involves sleeping or fiddling around on phone games, it was fun."

Takane feels her face turning red. "…Right."

There's a pause.

Takane stares at Haruka, her heart starting to race. Now? Do I do it now?

"So, um…" says Haruka. "See you?"

"See you," says Takane automatically. She watches Haruka nod and turn around to walk away. "Wait," she says.

Haruka stops mid-step. He turns around.

"Um…" Takane walks forward and hesitantly touches Haruka's sleeve. "Hug?" she asks, avoiding eye contact.

She glances back in time to see a wide grin spread over his face. "Sure," he says, and wraps his arms around her in a bear hug. Takane hesitates for a moment—what do I even do with my arms?—before she awkwardly returns the hug.

The hug feels a bit wet and slippery because both of them are still wearing their cheap-ass ponchos, but… it's still nice.

And then with a smile and a wave, they're both on their way.

Eh… I'm fine with what we have for now, thinks Takane, looking fondly upon Haruka walking away in the distance. I'll tell him later.

Extra:

Takane… moves a lot in her sleep.

In his room, Haruka thinks back to the events from yesterday.

During that evening in the motel, Haruka kept needing to keep pushing Takane back to her side the bed, because she kept rolling over.

Haruka had actually tried to move to as far over to his side of the bed as possible, to the point where he was almost falling off the end of the bed. How am I supposed to sleep like this!? he had been panicking.

Of course, he'd fallen asleep in less than ten minutes after that.

When he'd woken up hours later, he'd realized that in his sleep, he had moved closer to the middle of the bed, and Takane was sprawled out on her back, her leg and arm haphazardly resting on his body.

His face had heated up with embarrassment. "Oh. Sorry, Takane…" he had murmured. After a moment's pause, he had carefully moved Takane's limbs back to her side of the bed before getting out of bed to wash up.

"Well, that's Takane for you," Haruka says to himself, thinking back happily upon those memories. He's really looking forward to seeing Takane in school again.

He glances at the clock. 6:52am.

His smile tightens, thinking of the pages of homework problems that he still has to finish within the next couple of hours. Noooooooo, I won't make it…!