An Encounter of Blinding Passion (My very first Nikke fanfiction) An Excerpt. Full fic on AO3.

"Here is my fireeeee...♩♪"

The Commander hums a little tune that he picked up thanks to listening to Red Hood's cassette player. Rapi herself may not be into country music, but the Commander grew into appreciating it.

After about 5 minutes of walking down the hallway, he meets an all familiar maiden. One that has been at his side since his first mission. The leader of the Counters herself: Rapi.

And yet, rather than the usual garb and color schemes she wears, her attire is different.

"Good morning, Commander!," Rapi greeted while giving a salute.

"As you were, Rapi." The Commander returned the salute with a smile before dropping the military formalities and giving her an embrace in which Rapi responded in kind by wrapping her arms around him tightly, but not too tightly. She is still a Nikke, after all.

Breaking off the embrace, the Commander took a good look at his date's choice of clothing. "I must say, I have not seen that uniform before. You actually look good in white and blue, you know?"

"Uh..t-thanks, Commander," The Nikke blushed. "I can't help but notice how much you smell nice. Nicer than usual, I mean. A new cologne?"

"Cologne?" the Commander was puzzled before he took a whiff of his uniform. It did smell nice, but he never bothered with it until now. "Oh, this. It's actually from that fabric softener I bought a few days ago. Do you like it?"

Rapi leaned in close to smell his clothing, the scent feels calming and soothing. It reminded her of the scent of morning grass.

"I love it, Commander. You chose well." Rapi grinned as the two walked side by side towards the elevator. The gates slowly closed shut as they ascended towards the surface.

"So, Commander." Rapi initiated. "You said that our next trip will be up on the surface. Where are we going?"

"Remember your first commission to me?" The commander answered with another question, facing Rapi with a gentle smile.

"Y-yes, I remember. We found a letter from what I think was Red Hood's friend. And we fixed a swing together?” In retrospect, it was silly of her to make such a request under a different online handle.

“Well, you pushed me while I was on the swing.” The commander continued on. “And I felt bad that I could not return the favor given….” He immediately held his tongue out of fear of offending Rapi. She may be a Nikke and she may have been a comrade in arms in their endeavors against the Raptures and Heretics, but she is still a woman, after all.

“That I was too heavy?” Rapi filled in the blanks for him as she moved to make eye contact. She could see the commander’s eyes widen up in response, his cheeks flushed red in an attempt to defend himself. “Was he always this cute?” she thought silently to herself.

After a while, the commander sighed and relented. “Yes. But since that time, I pulled some strings with Mighty Tools and Liter has been such a kind soul to do some work on the swing’s seat.”

This time, it’s Rapi’s eyes that widened up and her face started to blush. “Commander…you really didn’t have to go through all this trouble for me.”

“I didn’t have to, yes. But I wanted to.” The commander said as he looked up. He estimated a good 10 more minutes before the elevator would come to a stop and open it’s doors to the surface.

“But, Reclamation Site 01 is quite the trek from the Ark, Commander.” Rapi interjected. “It took us about a week from the Ark on foot to get there the first time. How are we going to make it there quickly?”

The commander didn’t answer. Instead, he let out a smug little smile.

Suddenly, the elevator let out a sound indicating that they have arrived at their destination. The doors opened to reveal the surface. The surroundings are nothing too spectacular. Just an open grassy field with a blue sky and a bright sun greeting the human and Nikke as they exited the elevator.

It was there, the Commander put two fingers from both of his hands into his mouth, inhaled and let out a very loud whistle. It echoed all across. He was certain this area had no Raptures as he had been through this field once before.

A few minutes pass.

From a distance around East of their position, they see a silhouette move towards them. Rapi looks and becomes wary.

“Stay back, Commander. It could be a stray Rapture.” Rapi said, taking up a combat stance.

“Encount-”

[Full fic on my A03. Will provide link in comments]