Kalium

It was cold. Had February always been this cold? There were no seasons in the Ganma world. Kanon couldn’t remember what it was supposed to feel like. She rubbed her hands together, looking up at the theme park entrance, and wondered if it would be too cold to enjoy the rides.

Makoto had tried to insist on accompanying her, but she’d put her foot down this time. Akari would be there, so wasn’t that good enough?

Akari was Kanon’s very good, very platonic friend, as far as Makoto knew. She didn’t want him knowing she had a girlfriend.

She didn’t think he’d care about the girl part—after ten years in a hell dimension, he had more important things on his mind, and besides, she’d seen the way he looked at Alain. It was the romance part to begin with. She knew how Makoto could get when her well-being was at stake; even if it was a childhood friend like Akari or Takeru, she knew he’d go into Overprotective Big Brother mode.

She’d tell him eventually. Just not today.

Akari arrived just on time—Kanon had been early. She thrust out a heart-shaped box of chocolate. “Here,” Akari said hurriedly. “And... I got you this, too.”

When she handed Kanon a charm bracelet with four little differently-shaped atoms dangling from it, Kanon gasped. “Oh, they’re so cute! You didn’t have to—”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! Here.” Akari helped clasp it around Kanon’s wrist, stepped back, and grinned. “By the way, in order from right to left those are sulfur, uranium, potassium, and iodine.”

Kanon tilted her head. “Isn’t uranium radioactive? Gee, Akari, how romantic,” she laughed.

Akari flushed slightly. “It’s not about their chemical properties, it’s about their symbols.”

Kanon thought. She knew her Roman letters, but she’d never learned much about the elements before being whisked away through the monolith. So she guessed. “S, U, P, I?”

“Close—Potassium is K. It’s from the Greek—”

“Ah... aaaah!” Kanon turned bright red and hid her face behind the box of chocolates.

That was so cheesy!

But it was also so like Akari.

Even as Akari fretted, asking whether she’d done something wrong, Kanon cracked a smile. She lowered the box and said, “I like you too, Akari.”