To be Honest

The night that we arrived back from the research facility, I didn’t wake up, from what Hatomi had told me, I was passed out the entire time.

Luckily, it was a weekend and there was no need to be worried about going to classes. On Saturday, we spoke to Asami-san about what we’re going to do about the whole matter of the research facility.

After talking it out, we decided that the best thing to do was report it to the government just like Asami-san herself wanted to do so for years.

Upon submitting the report and all the evidence that she had obtained, we managed to shut down the facility temporarily and at the same time, managed to get the head researcher fired and sentenced to jail.

Today, on Sunday, I had promised Hatomi to accompany her throughout the city for two reasons. The first one being that I had pushed myself and she wanted to make sure that I was alright, the second reason was simply because she needed to do some shopping of he own.

And this day, was going to be the day in which I would finally abide by my feelings. I would do what they had been wanting me to do for all the time that I knew her.

I would confess. I would tell her my real feelings, but even then I feared the idea of getting rejected. But I knew If I didn’t do anything, someone else would take her away from me and I would simply feel even more guilty for not speaking up.

“I won’t let it end like that. I’ll do it!”

I made my way over towards her house and as I rung the bell, I patted myself to check if I was looking alright and upon doing so, I let out a sigh of relief and waited for her to answer the door.

After a few seconds, the door opened and standing before me was Hatomi in a beautiful lilac color dress with white lilacs embroidered on it.

The way she looked right then and there was more then enough to take my breath away. I couldn’t help but stare at her for a bit and before I knew it, she flicked my forehead.

“What was that for?!”

“Because you’re just staring at me. You’re not even saying anything”

“S-Sorry… I was just surprised, that’s all”

“I see…” She let out a sigh and got a bit closer towards me “How do I look?”

“Y-You look nice”

“Thank you…”

A moment of silence fell between the both of us and seeing that we weren’t getting anywhere, I called out to her “Are you ready to get going?”

“Yes, let’s go”

She locked her door and the both of us started making our way down the road. As we did so, I sneaked a glance over at her and couldn’t help but want to say even more about how she looked, but at the same time, I couldn’t. I was too nervous to say anything else.

“Where exactly do you want to go first?”

“Can we go to the clothing store inside the mall? There are some clothes that I want to check out”

“Ok, let’s get going”

We continued making our way down the road and upon arriving at the city, we headed directly towards the mall and started walking towards the store.

Upon arriving there, I couldn’t help but notice a familiar figure walking towards the same direction.

“Good morning Natsuo, Fujimura-san”

“Good morning, Ichikawa-san”

“Good morning…”

I didn’t even activate my ability at that point. There was no reason to know what she was thinking in that moment.

“Are the both of you on a date perhaps?”

“Well…”

“Yes, we are”

Upon hearing those words, I couldn’t help but start feeling my face a bit blushed “Is she serious about this?”

“I-I see…” Sumiko-san seemed a bit surprised at the answer she had given “I should be going. I wouldn’t want to intrude on this date of yours”

With those parting words, she bowed at the both of us and couldn’t walking away from the both of us,

“I wasn’t expecting that answer from you…”

“I’m not lying. We’re on date”

“I-I see…”

We continued making our way towards the store and upon entering, she made a her way towards the women’s section of the store and immediately started looking through the clothes without a care in the world.

As she did so, I played around with my phone for a bit and as I did so, a sudden sound of static passed through my ears and u started hearing a voice I recognized all too well… It was Hatomi herself.

“I wonder what type of clothes Natsuo likes… Does he prefer a girl that wears causal clothes or more girly clothes…”

“I-Is she serious?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Why was she worrying about the clothes that I liked? Didn’t she come here because there were some clothes that she wanted to get?

“Natsuo?”

“Y-Yes?”

“What clothes do you like from here? Do you prefer girly clothes or more casual clothes?”

She was asking the question that was plaguing her mind for a moment “I don’t really have a specific type. As long as the other person likes it or if it looks good on them, then that’s fine with me in my opinion.

“I see… Thank you”

With that, she continued looking through the clothes and after a few more minutes passed by, she picked out two outfits. One casual and one more girly.

“I’ll go and pay for them”

“Got it”

She head off towards the registers without skipping a beat all the while I made my way towards the entrance of the store. As I waited there for her to be ready to continue on, I started thinking about when exactly to tell her how I felt.

"Should I tell her throughout the day that I love her or should I do it at the end of the day?"

Since I had never confessed before, I didn't really know the best moment to do so. Since I didn't get to talk with Tetsuya about what I was going to do, I simply had to go with whatever my guy wanted me to do.

"I'm ready"

"Want me to carry that for you?"

She stared into my eyes or a bit and I could more or less guess that she was going to reject the idea, but instead, she slowly handed me the bag "Thank you"

"N-No worries"

I took the bag and we continued making our way through the mall without any problems at all, luckily, it didn't seem like we were going to bump into Sumiko anymore which was nice to know, but at the same time, I couldn't help but feel like there was something else to her acting this way with me.

"I know that she's not reading my mind since the sound of static and her voice isn't being transferred over to me, so what else can it be?"

"Is there any place that you want to stop by, Natsuo?"

"Me? No, not really..."

"I see..." She looked back to the stores and continued looking through the windows without uttering another word.

"I wonder what's wrong with her..."

As we continued making our way through the mall, my mind was going through a never ending loop of possibilities. First, I was positive that everything was going to be alright, but immediately after, I would start thinking the worst thing that could happen to me.

"I hate feeling like this!"

I took a few deep breaths and decided to not think on the matter any more. It would only hurt me more if I did.

"Let's go in here"

I snuck a quick glance inside and noticed that it was a small perfume store. Upon entering the store, the barrage of smells attacked my nose without even letting me prepare for them.

I couldn't help but cover my nose for a bit to prepare myself. Hatomi on the other hand seemed to be perfectly fine which was more then enough to make me think if she had entered this store before.

"Do you come by here often?"

"No, this is my first time"

"I-It is?"

"Yeah, I thought I could use a perfume since I don't wear any"

"I see..." "I thought for sure that she wore perfume"

As we walked through the store, she started looking through the perfumes on display all the while I followed her. Since there was nothing I could do inside, the best thing that I could was simply to follow her wherever she went.

We stopped for a bit to look at the perfumes that they had on display and upon doing so, I glanced over at the entrance of the store and noticed that more and more people were coming inside without a care in the world.

"Natsuo"

"Hmm?"

I glanced over at her and noticed that she was showing me the back of her palm "Can you smell the both of them please?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, I want to get your opinion on them"

I stared at her for a bit and then glanced back down at her extended hands "What do you want me to tell you exactly?"

"Which one you like"

"..." "She's being serious here!"

I let out a sigh and proceeded to take a quick sniff of the first perfume which was a mixture of berry smells. I then backed away and took a quick sniff of the other one which was of lilacs.

"I prefer the lilac one"

"I see..."

She stared at her palms for a bit and before I could say that it was her choice to make, she picked up the bottle of lilac smelling perfume and started on heading on over towards the register.

"I wonder what's going through her mind right now..."

Once she paid for it, we made our way out of the store and as I grabbed her bag, a voice called out to us "N-Natsuo?"

"Hmm?"

I glanced back and noticed two familiar figures this time. It was both Tetsuya and Chitose.

"The both of you on a date?"

The one to speak up was Tetsuya himself, for some reason he seemed to be a bit too excited, but nevertheless, I answered just like always "Well..."

"Yes, we are"

"Good for you, Tetsuya!"

He let out a chuckle and glanced over at Chitose "What about the both of you?"

"Tetsuya invited me, so I decided to go out for a bit..."

"Yeah, I had some time to kill so I thought it was a good idea"

"I see..."

"Talk to you later!"

"Yeah, see you on Monday"

As we parted ways with them, I could hear their thoughts. One of them was saying just how excited he was to be able to confess while the other one was being a bit saddened about our presence and the fact that Hatomi had said that we were on a date.

"I'm sorry... But we need to go our separate ways... I want to continue being friends, but at the same time, I want to experience my own share of love"

"I'm sorry, Chitose... I know that Tetsuya will make you happy"