In Those Deep, Starry Eyes, I See Cherry Petals Depressed but breathing

Chapter 24: The Next Morning

Despite the stiff ache in her joints, she felt an odd sensation as her emerald eyes fluttered open. It was then that she had to stifle herself, a mix of a laugh and a yell trying to tear out of her throat, upon seeing that Suisei had drooled onto her shoulder as she slept. The shrine maiden winced, noticing these were her favorite pajamas. Hopefully a little drool wouldn’t ruin them.

Speaking of the comet, Miko found herself in a predicament a bit worse than a minor drool stain. Suisei was currently using her entire body to keep Miko all but chained to the bed. Long, thin arms circled around her torso and neck while two legs clamped down ferociously around her own. It wasn’t so bad, though. For all her sheer strength while she was asleep, the comet sounded like she was having the most fitful sleep of her life. Light breathing and a gentle push and release against her own chest were Miko’s only indications that Suisei was alive… besides almost having her bones crushed to dust by the bear hug.

Normally this wouldn’t be a predicament, but right now, it was very much so. There was only one reason for this.

Miko’s head hurt like CRAZY.

She’d heard of the horrors of hangovers several times before, mostly from voice actresses during radio talk show interviews and the like, but she’d never anticipated her head stinging this badly. She begged whoever was driving that nail in the back of her brain deeper to please let up, but the nail kept pushing further in. A frustrated wince spread across her face. As much as she wanted to just sleep with Suisei longer, she had to get some kind of painkiller in her.

Her fears became realized when she found herself unable to decouple Suisei’s limbs from herself. She struggled a few more times before giving up. ‘So this is how it ends, huh? Killed from a hangover in the arms of an angel.’ Just as she thought about what she wanted to write down in her Last Testament, though, Suisei shifted.

The bluenette picked her head up from its perch on Miko’s shoulder, leaning backwards and blinking her eyes open. They had a bleary squint to them, as though she couldn’t open them all the way.

“Mornin’ Mikochi.”

The comet’s rugged, gruff voice certainly ignited something deep within the shrine maiden, but Miko herself was in too much pain to really acknowledge it. “Mornin’ Sui-chan. Mind letting go so I can get some medicine? I bet you need some too.”

“Sure.” The comet leaned down, though, and placed a quick peck onto Miko’s lips. Just like that, as though it were the most natural thing to do. She then promptly flopped off the shrine maiden, sprawled out on the bed to Miko’s side.

Needless to say, Miko was stupefied by this action, but didn’t have her facilities about her to really question it. She instead just groggily picked herself up off the bed, careful to not move her head too fast lest the spinning world around her be thoroughly introducing her face to the floor, and gingerly moved to the door.

She slowly walked down the hallway before opening one of the doors. Her intuition was right. She found the bathroom. A wave of dizziness shot over her, forcing her to sit down on the toilet for a moment to just give herself a moment to breathe. Once she reclaimed her strength to stand, she made her way toward the mirror above the sink.

The mirror showed her the condition that she was in. She was… well, she’d looked better, but she’d looked far worse before as well. Her hair was splayed behind her, tangled like an overgrown pink jungle. That would explain why her scalp stung a little bit. Looking at her face, she saw that there were dark bags beneath her eyes, indicative of how little sleep she actually ended up getting. Then there were her lips. Man, were they swollen. Bright red, too. She hesitantly put a finger to them and winced as a tiny bolt of pain ran through them.