In the morning, when Sora fretted again about the way Mizuki had missed school on Friday, she grumped, "When I'm sick, you think me missing my last two days of work is nothing! But when you're sick, it's a huge deal if I miss one day of school?"

He protested stuffily, "It's different. It affects your future."

Mizuki rolled her eyes at him, and a humorous corollary occurred to her. "I guess you'd better marry me right away then," she suggested teasingly.

Sora gazed back at her unhappily without replying.

She considered his expression for a moment, and then leaned against him lightly. She patted his arm comfortingly, before confessing reassuringly, "I'm teasing, I'll wait for you."

Sora sighed and laid back against his pillow before asking, "What kind of wedding do you want?"

"The kind where I'm marrying you and you're happy about it," Mizuki replied without hesitation.

Sora asked with amusement, "So you'll be fine with just submitting registration forms?"

"Sure," she agreed promptly. He gave her a really dubious look, and she grinned at him as she explained seriously, "I love you Sora, I want to be with you, I don't care about the rest."

He pulled her up tight against him and muttered, "Only one way to deal with you."

He kissed her until they both ran out of breath.

"I love being dealt with," Mizuki informed him happily after she caught her breath.

He laughed and suggested teasingly, "Digital registration it is then?"

"Sure," she agreed. "Should we file it today?"

Sora pointed out dryly, "We can't, because we promised to invite people."

"We didn't tell them how far in advance they would receive their invitations," Mizuki argued laughingly.

He gave her a look, and then asked lightly, "Oh, have you already prepared everything else we'll need?"

Mizuki bit her lip and he touched her mouth and said, "Stop that."

She bit his fingertips lightly instead.

"What about the blood tests?" he asked after a moment. She blushed and he raised his eyebrows at her.

"I was just curious Sora, I haven't really prepared everything," she explained anxiously. "I really don't want to rush you."

He caressed her cheek and told her gently, "It's okay Mizuki. I don't want to wait for years before we can live together either. I adore you. So what did you find out?"

"The blood tests we got together for STD testing are sufficient, if we do it while they're still valid," she explained with embarrassment.

"I wouldn't have thought they'd have been testing for the same things," Sora objected with surprise.

"Apparently the parental planning labs all include it automatically," she mumbled with embarrassment, as though it were her fault that their genetic relationship had been checked.

"Okay, that makes sense," he agreed. She looked at him uncertainly, and he grinned and proposed, "Then let's go ahead and file it now, we can still invite everyone to an actual ceremony later after all."

Mizuki opened her mouth and then shut it without making so much as a squeak.

Sora chuckled as he hugged her against him and assured her, "Don't worry, there's no rush. I'll wait for you too."

In a rush of words Mizuki complained, "I totally want to file it right this instant! But I feel like doing it while you're feverish and taking cold medicine would be cheating. I really was just teasing when I suggested it."

Sora challenged laughingly, "What will you do if I change my mind when I'm feeling better?"

She frowned at him and grumbled, "I guess I'll feel relieved that I didn't take advantage of you while you're sick, and wait until you're ready to ask me to marry you."

He pulled her in for another kiss, and when he released her again he assured her, "I won't change my mind Mizuki. I've been thinking about it a lot, and one of the happiest couples I know has a ten year gap."

"You didn't exactly look enthusiastic when I brought it up," she pointed out warily.

"Doing a traditional ceremony sounds both exhausting and expensive right now," he admitted.

She considered pointing out that he had been the one who insisted that she quit working until she finished her school year, but agreed, "Then as soon as you're well we can file it, and we can do the rest when you're ready."

They kissed again.

--

A while later Sora asked, "What did you mean earlier about wanting to talk about money?"

"You're putting half of what you earn directly into savings," Mizuki commented after a moment.

He nodded. "We should be able to afford a small gathering within another couple of months."

She pointed out, "If we get a more expensive place right away, you won't be able to continue to save half and provide enough for my tuition and stuff, if you're the only one working."

"That's fine, your tuition can come out of savings, it's there for that kind of thing," he assured her promptly.

She frowned at him. "Are you sure? What about everything else?"

Sora stuck his tongue out at her and suggested teasingly, "I am pretty sure that if my wife is planning to do other things with our savings, she should be telling me about it in advance?"

Mizuki smirked at him and replied promptly, "Of course there's something very expensive I might do with you sooner or later Sora."

"What?" he asked curiously.

"Have a baby," she suggested. He flinched and she suppressed a laugh that she hadn't expected to bubble up. She added quickly, "Unless you don't want kids?"

Sora shrugged, and replied uncertainly, "I guess I have sort of assumed that we will have one or two eventually, but I would rather wait."

Mizuki regarded him thoughtfully and asked, "But you're willing to get married now?"

"Yes, but being with you all the time is one thing, and raising another person is different," he replied unhappily.

After a moment she suggested, "Why don't we get a cat of our own when we get a bigger place," Sora looked at her with confusion as she continued, "and I'll get my tubes tied."

Sora protested, "I'm not saying I'll never be ready Mizuki."

She leaned in and kissed him again, but she could feel his uncertainly. She pulled back after a moment and informed him dryly, "According to quite reliable sources, it is still pretty easy to have a baby after that. It just means it costs more, and you have to get pregnant at the doctor's office, instead of in bed."

"I don't know," he replied hesitantly, "it sounds really extreme."

"I love you Sora, so I want you to be happy and comfortable, even though I don't want to use chemical birth control," she explained.

He blinked at her in surprise, and then his eyes widened. This time when she leaned in to kiss him, his response was warmer. Afterward he squeezed her tightly and buried his face in her hair.

"I love you. I have no idea. Mind if I think about it?" he asked.

"Of course not," Mizuki replied affectionately.

"You said we were going to talk about money," he pointed out a while later.

"Well, my tuition seemed like something you might not have considered," she pointed out.

"But you actually wanted to ask about having a child," he questioned.

"Isn't having a kid one of the most expensive things we could do in the long run?" she asked with amusement. "You pointed out how Takumi-san still regards his parents as his safety net."

"I don't know anymore," he admitted. "Look at the way your parents are preparing to look after your grandparents. Takumi will probably do that too someday. It goes both ways."

"Well, I've been thinking about it a lot," she admitted. "And I think that I had just been assuming that I would have kids after I found the right person. But my fifth niece or nephew is already on the way, and while I adore my nephews, I also really love being able to give them back to their parents."

Sora gazed at her with surprise. "You are allowed to change your mind about wanting to have children any time before you actually have one," he pointed out.

"Right?" Mizuki agreed laughingly. "And people are even having their first kid in their forties or later these days! So we both still have a couple of decades until we really need to decide."

His relieved smile told her that she had worked her way to an answer that they could both live comfortably with.

--

By the time she returned home Sunday night, Sora was mostly over the cold, and Mizuki suggested on her way out, "Why don't we invite the handful of people we've promised to invite, to watch us file the digital registration? Kill two birds with one stone? It's not like we don't both have data on our plans, and most places that can host a group have free Wi-Fi."

Sora pulled her back for one last kiss instead of replying, but her train had barely pulled away when his message arrived, "Sure. Want to take your father up on his offer to help, and make him shut down his bar for a night, for a private event?"

She messaged back, "Very economical, I think he'll like that plan. I'll ask!"