Different directions

In going through my "unused" document of scraps or scenes that I decided to take out for one reason or another, I came across this one, that would have taken place after the initial (sex) scene in Chapter 52, "Thrall." In it, there's a very brief exchange about both protagonists' limited culinary skills, and it would have led to (basically) the same conversation that occurs between Yukiko and Chie over onigiri, only in Junes. I removed it because it took the story out of the apartment, where the chapter kind of needs to stay for the power struggle at the end.

This excerpt also starts to present a more telling explanation of the relationship between Chie, Kuma, and Yousuke as a not-quite-threesome, though I decided that that description would be better served later in the story. It turns out that I needed an additional character (Kanji) to make that conversation really work, and he definitely would have felt out-of-place in this chapter.

“Chie-chan...?” Kuma's voice murmured softly from beyond the door. “Yousuke?”

Chie hummed, feeling Yousuke tighten his embrace around her shoulders. She rubbed her cheek against his chest, wishing for just another few uninterrupted minutes.

“What is it?” Yousuke called hoarsely.

Kuma knocked again, more inquisitive than insistent. “Hungry, kuma,” she muttered. “There's no food.”

He craned his head around toward the door with a sigh. “Oh, that's right,” he said, then looked back toward Chie again with a grimace. “We sort of scavenged the last of the food for dinner last night.”

She snickered, snuggling up to him for another brief moment. “I was wondering why the okonomiyaki had natto in it.”

“Beggars can't be choosers,” he replied with a smirk in his voice. Then he kissed the crown of her head and shifted away from her, the loss of his heat saddening her a bit.
“You want to run to the store with me?” he asked, kicking himself free from the comfy confines of the bed. “We can just get some staples and come home....”

She watched him rise, admiring the lines of his body with a smile. “...And you can get naked again...?”

He grinned at her over his shoulder as he stood. “Only if you do,” he replied, and then stepped toward the wardrobe for some clothes.

They ended up walking to Junes in the drizzling rain, mostly because Kuma insisted on joining them, and Chie had long ago given up arguing outrightly with the girl when she had her naïve mind set on something. Yousuke was a bit more stubborn about not letting Kuma have her way – arguing that they would be able to eat faster if he and Chie alone took his bike, that Kuma would need to get dressed to come with them, that they'd have to walk in the rain if the girl accompanied them – but even he gave up after several minutes, when Kuma simply sparkled and smiled at him, turning on her very best cute-girl charms for him. (Even while she had watched them in amusement, Chie doubted that the sparkling had much to do with Kuma being able to coerce Yousuke; he was simply a soft touch when it came to the girl, despite what he said.)

I do enjoy the description of how Kuma relates to Yousuke in particular, and Chie's estimation of them both. But it turned the scene too sweet, when the undercurrent of "Thrall" is supposed to be one of burbling portent of menace. The minor conflict of domination/submission in this chapter is, after all, a much more overt thrust toward the conflict of character that occurs in Chapter 57, "Nightmare."