Shopping Spree And Feelings

It was the end of June, the last Saturday of June to be precise. Airi and her best friend Hana went shopping in the only shopping street of Midoridai, the Midoridai Shotengai. There were several shops in all kinds of sizes with all the things you need that weren't purchasable in supermarkets or konbinis. It was also the place to go, if you wanted to be entertained because there was also a cinema, an arcade and even a love hotel for some other entertainment. But Airi and Hana were here to shop for some new clothes in the summer holidays, for example a new bikini and some summer dresses.
"Hey, Ai-chan! You're perfectly on time as always, haha." Hana said while smiling at her best friend.
"Hii, Hana-chan! Of course I'm not letting the best friend in the entire world wait for me for me." Airi said as they hugged each other in greeting.
"I was looking forward to this shopping day a long time ago!" Hana said sparkling with excitement.
"Yeah, I was too. It's been so long since we last met up properly. Especially to go shopping." Airi retorted.
"So let's go buy some clothes then!" Hana said while pointing at the clothing store, grabbing Airi by her left hand and marching towards it. Airi couldn't resist and got dragged along by Hana.
The clothing store was big and had a huge selection of clothes. From hiking gear to swimsuits and everything in between like dresses, suits and everyday wear, the clothing store had it all. And therefore it was a highly visited place in the district of Midoridai.
First, they went to the swimsuit corner to look for new bikinis. They wanted to look good when they went to the beach or to the Aqua Park—a massive park with all sorts of water slides and pools—after all. They looked for some pieces and then one after the other were trying them on and wanted to get a judgement if the bikini was fitting and looking good or not.
That part was the most difficult one because Airi looked good in everything, so it was hard for Hana to decide which one was the best fitting for Airi. Airi, on the other hand, had it pretty easy compared to Hana. Hana was beautiful as well, without question. She also had guys asking her out but not as much as Airi. But Airi has an eye for style. She knew exactly what kind of bikini Hana should buy with only one look.
When Hana finally chose one bikini out of the five Airi picked, they both went to the dress corner to look for summer dresses. Then, the same problem as before occurred again. Airi knew exactly which one Hana should buy but Hana struggled with it. Airi helped her a bit with saying which one she personally liked the most so Hana didn't have such a hard time to figure the right one out but it still was hard for Hana.
But they made it and finished their actual goal of today in one hour in the store. There was only one other problem. They both had money left to spend and so they also looked for other interesting clothes like pants and blouses or shoes. After three hours in the store, they left it with both carrying two shopping bags and with laughter.
"I had a really fun time with you, shopping for new clothes. And they're all sooo wonderful. Especially yours Hana!" Airi said after walking out of the store.
"Thank youu Ai-chan! You're soo lovely! But I have to say that you look even better than me in your new clothes!"
They went back and forth with the conversation until Airi's stomach started to growl.
"Oh, I see. You're hungry as well. Then let's go to the Fujimori Bakery! I heard that they have a special cake today!" Hana said with excitement which Airi immediately encouraged as well.
"Oh, yeah! That's a great idea!"
With that said, they both went to the bakery. At the front door was a sign that was advertising a summer vacation job in the summer holidays. After looking at the sign, Airi and Hana went in and took a table for two. The bakery had waiters so Airi and Hana only had to wait until one of the waiters came and asked them for their order. They both ordered the special offer—it was a piece of strawberry cake with whipped cream and a vanilla mochi—and a coffee. It didn't take long until a waitress came and gave them their cake with mochi and a coffee. Airi and Hana thanked the waitress and began to chat while eating their order.
"Hey, ummm, Hana-chan. I have a question," Airi began, "it started one week after my meeting with Ren that whenever I see him I'm feeling happy and I think my heart races a bit. What is it that I'm feeling?" Airi asked a little embarrassed and nervous.
"Ohoo, my, my." Hana retorted but then continued. "Hmm, what do you think it is, Ai-chan?"
"I don't really know..." Airi said thoughtfully.
"Oh, I think you know it already but you can't think of it as a real possibility right?" Hana said. Then, she confronted Airi with her index finger pointing at her.
"You L-O-V-E him." She said.
"WHAT?!" Airi was shocked. "Why should I?"
"You already said you were interested in him, didn't you? So with overachieving your expectations you had for Ren, he surprised you so much that you fell in love with him. That's my take from what you told me had happened the other days."
"You think so?" Airi asked unbelieving.
"You told me things that sound pretty similar to being in love with someone Ai-chan. Your heart is racing when you see him..."
"Only a little!" Airi interrupted her.
"Well, then 'only a little' and you're happy when he's around you so in your case in the same classroom as you. That sounds very much like love when you ask me."
"But we don't really know each other." Airi remarked.
"That's true but there's also something called 'love at first sight' and these lovers don't know each other as well, you get what I mean?"
"I think so?"
"Oh, come on, Ai-chan. You're really smart, you should get that easily." Hana pointed out.
"Yes, but I was never in love before Hana-chan! What should I do now?" Airi asked desperately.
"That's up to you my dear. The best thing to do is to ask him out but you could also lock up your feelings for him and leave it as it is. But I don't recommend the latter."
"But I can't tell him that! He's so reserved and doesn't like it being around other people than the ones he really trusts!"
"But he trusts you, doesn't he? I mean you're working together and from what I heard you two get along quite well."
"Yeah, but he still hasn't really told me anything about himself. Only last time, when we were at the diner, he told me about his favourite anime and about his little sister."
"Ha, so you just have to wait until he opens up to you. You've almost got him there." Hana noted.
"That sounds like I'm manipilating him." Airi retorted indignantly.
"No, you're not! Don't start talking nonsense Ai-chan!" Hana said, slightly irritated.
The conversation topic went on for a while until Hana and Airi had enough of it and so they switched topics. From the topic of love to what they want to do after the bakery and to other topics like school, anime and Airi's live streams.
In the meantime was Ren, again, running with his little sister Yumeko in the Kagehama Park. As they went around the little man-made lake, they took a break and chatted on a park bench.
"Big brother Ren-chan. What do you do when you get out of the house in the evening? You always tell me that you're meeting with a friend but you only have one friend and that's Haruto but if you would meet with Haruto you would say so, right?" Yumeko asked Ren. She looked a bit worried about her brother. She even was worried about him. She noticed everything that happened back then, when Ren got bullied by his friends in middle school so she's naturally worried about him as well.
"Like I told you, it's just a friend Yu-chan." Sometimes Ren calls Yumeko by her nickname but it's only occasionally.
"Ha! So it is true that you're meeting with someone other than Haruto! But who is it?" Why won't you tell me big brother?" Yumeko asked him with her puppy dog eyes.
"Yeah, you're right but you don't have to know everything Yumeko-chan!"
"But I'm worried about you. I don't want you to experience the pain from the past another time."
"That's good to hear but it's up to me to decide who I befriend, and I'm already very cautious, so if I think I can trust someone, then you should trust my judgment too." Ren answered with an urgent look at Yumeko.
"Okay, but can you please tell me a little bit about your new friend?" Yumeko remained persistent.
Ren let out a deep sigh, then answered her.
"Okay, if it's comforting you. SHE is called Airi Fujimoto and is in the same class as me. She's a year younger and is the class president. And I'm her vice president because Haruto suggested me. Because I, gladly, didn't win, I had to be vice president. Otherwise I would've been class president and I didn't want that to be the case. She is a real beauty and is one of the most famous girls in our class. There were some boys who already confessed their love to her but she turned everyone down. That made her hype up even more because she then became the unattainable beauty. In short, she's really popular."
"And when are you going to confess your love to her?" Yumeko asked with an innocent look.
"What?" Ren was confused. "I didn't say I was in love with her. We're only classmates and are both representatives for our class, nothing more. We're slowly getting closer but I wouldn't even call her a friend if it weren’t for misleading you."
"Oh, so it's like that." Yumeko said with her head down and a sad look.
"Why are you sad now?" Ren asked even more confused now than before when Yumeko asked her when he confesses his love to Airi.
"Because you trick me. ME, the cutest sister in the world!"
"Come on, now you're overreacting Yu-chan!" Ren tried to calm her down.
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!"
"Hmpf" made Yumeko and pouted. She really was the cutest sister in the world. Especially when she was angry at him, thought Ren.
"Look, I do everything you want for dinner if you stop being angry at me. Is that okay for you?" Ren tried to make a deal with her.
"No, I'm only happy again when you invite her to our house so I can also meet her!" Yumeko retorted.
"No, I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because we aren't even friends yet and I don't think she wants to come to my house anyway."
"Okay, but I don't think so big brother. I think you're already friends so it should be totally fine to meet up at each others homes, right?"
"Why are you so sure about that?"
"Because I secretly observed you when you came home from the meetings and everytime you came home, you were pretty happy and all hyped. It looks like you two get along pretty well so I don't think that she wouldn't come over."
Yumeko had a keen sense for such things, and her powers of observation were not to be sneezed at. So you could trust that what she said she had observed was, in most cases, what had happened or what was the case.
"All right but don't blame me if I'm angry at you because you ruined our friendship or whatever that is." Ren said to Yumeko and with that the conversation was closed and they both were fit enough again to run another round and back home.