Chisei woke up to a nibble on his cheek. He turned around to see Lyris, who was asleep, putting a hand and a leg over his body. Her lips parted as she was mumbling these words:

“I love you... Oh, I love you so much... How can I live without you...”

Chisei smiled, knowing he was the one in her dream...

“My roasted sweet potatoes...”

Or not.

He frowned. Lyris spent the next five minute talking nonsense about the potatoes. She even thought his cheek was one.

“Didn’t I tell you to eat more earlier?” Chisei was displeased, but more than that, he was worried.

Lyris slowly opened her sleepy eyes. “Huh? You say something?”

“Oh, you’re awake? Are you hungry?”

“Yes... a bit... My roasted potatoes...”

She turned to the other side, hugging her pillow. Chisei smiled and placed a kiss on her head. “I’ll get them for you.”

***

Lyris moved her arm around the bed, finding the warmth she was familiar with, but it was empty. She opened her eyes and realised she was the only one in the room.

“Chisei?” She sat up, rubbing her eyes. “Chisei? Chisei?”

She heard footsteps rushing to the open door. There he was, looking like a handsome mess who just drove around Tokyo streets in his pajamas at midnight. And he did. In his hands was a bag of roasted sweet potatoes.

“I’m here.” Chisei panted. But he soon reclaimed his calmness. He sat down on the bed at gave Lyris the bag.

“Whoa!” She cheered.

“You kept saying you wanted these in your sleep.” Chisei explained, the back of his head. “So I thought I should get you some.”

“But... It’s really late!”

“I know. Fortunately, the small stall near the kabukicho was still open.”

“You... you went all the way there?” Lyris blinked. “In pajamas?”

Chisei blushed faintly. “Yeah... I guess...”

His girl let out a soft chuckle. “Thank you.” She said, then she curled herself in Chisei’s arms and rested her back on him. “You’re the most handsome roasted sweet potato in pajamas anyway.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Japanese relationships, as the couple grows closest together the pet names progress like this.

Stage 1) Honey, sweetie, baby - cute, generic pet names.

Stage 2) Cute shortened versions of their given names: Maybe calling her Lyly and she calls him Chichi or something like that

Stage 3) ‘Code names’ - These are names that make no sense to anyone else but them. Most people would not understand these pet names unless they truly were close to the couple. These names are only used between each other and rarely in front of other people.

I feel like Lyris calling him the Japanese word for “Roasted Sweet Potato” - Yakiimo ‘焼き芋’ would indicate that their relationship has reached Stage 3.