Tangled Fates and Twisted Words

“You’re on a date with my sister?”

It is at this moment that I realize I have royally screwed up.

Pieces of my relatively uneventful life flash before my eyes as if they were a nostalgic memory; for a moment I revel in them and their beauty.

This is it guys, this is the end.

Taking my eyes off Koi as she stands in front of the restaurant, I look up to the sky – currently blocked by the large neon sign – and say a prayer to my glowing god.

It is not a prayer I can display in words, but more of a sentiment.

This has been fun.

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it a date.”

My gaze shifts back to Koi, her brutally scrunched-up face and her hostile stare.

“You’re either a liar or scum or both because that’s exactly what you just called it.”

I feel like I’m about to be murdered.

Damage control. Damage control.

“I said it was kind of a date, just like how two friends platonically hanging out might be a date, or heck, not even friends - acquaintances just hanging out in the same vicinity too long might be a date.”

“So, by that logic, then this, here - this is a date.”

The point coming back to me in this manner is entirely my fault. In order to save my own ass, I weakened the definition of date to a rather detrimental state.

“I mean I guess some people ma-“

Before I can utter those last few syllables, Koi’s face softens up – her reaction to the notion that this is a date actually isn’t as terrifying as I would have imagined.

Not that this is a date, we’re just talking in front of a restaurant.

A restaurant, I should add, that Sakura brought both of us here to at the same time without telling either party.

A restaurant, that Sakura herself is yet to show up at.

A restaurant – okay, okay. You get the idea.

Thinking back to the call with Sakura, I pay attention to the ambiguity of her words.

You can vent all your feelings about this on the date.

I mean when a girl and a boy go out and do things together.

Get there at six.

There was no point where she specified the date was ever with her or told me that she was going to meet me anywhere personally.

Koi’s voice breaks the silence, the tone matching the softness of her face since being caught off guard.

“I guess some people ma…”

Unintentionally ignoring her as she repeats my unfinished sentence back to me.

“This is a date.”

The words just come barreling out of my mouth as the realization comes. This is a date, Sakura set up a date, just not with her.

It’s a date with Koi.

Her face goes beet red and she turns away from me in a moment of embarrassment.

I didn’t mean to say it like that! I meant to say that Sakura set up the date.

At no point in the preparation for going out tonight did I ever consider the likeliness of going out on a date with Koi; it was always focused on the horror of going on one with her younger sister.

When I think about going on one with the girl in front of me, I’m not filled with the same disgust and horror.

It’s a different kind of feeling.

I’m not sure if it’s a particularly nice feeling.

Not that it’s a terrible one either.

It’s just…

Overwhelming.

“I don’t mean it like that!”

Koi looks back over at me, the anger starting to bring colour to her face.

“Is there something wrong with being on a date with me?”

On paper, the words sound like something that could be spouted innocently by a young maiden, the sort of thing that might make you feel a little sorry for them.

Unfortunately, Koi isn’t exactly what anyone would describe as a young maiden. The terrifying growl that this speech comes out with is the stuff of nightmares, so impactful it seems as if it influences the way I perceive her right now.

The powerful aura of my childhood best friend returns.

“No, I mean, I was playing a game with Sakura-“

“You’re playing games with my sister?”

Ah, at this point I don’t even know if she’s being serious or giving me jabs. To be honest I don’t think it matters because either way, my life is in danger.

“That came out wrong.”

“Your mother said something similar at your birth. So, you weren’t playing games with my sister?”

How does she know what they said when I was born? Putting aside the hurtful nature of that comment, I think I’m a few months older than you!

“It was more of a battle, but it’s beside the point.”

“The point being you toy with younger girls? Based on how you explained your last talk with Sakura, it seems like this is a common theme for you.”

That one hurts my soul a little.

“The point being that a younger girl is toying with me.”

Why?

Why did I put it like that?

It is at times like these that I wonder if all the abuse I get is entirely called for.

“So, you’re saying that Sakura set this up for us two to meet here and go on a date together?”

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying!

Wait.

“When did you figure that out?”

Koi’s face settles yet again, morphing into a cheeky grin as she puts her hands behind her back. She really can just switch moods at the tip of a hat.

“Whenever you figured it out, about a moment before that. Unlike some people, I can see the answer if it’s right in front of me.”

Why is everything a competition for these two?

“So, uh, yeah. I’m sorry for wasting your time.”

Saying that line makes me realise how much it reeks of desperation and self-pity, even if I didn't really mean for it to come out that way.

Koi perks up.

“The date hasn’t even begun and you’re already apologizing for wasting my time? That kind of thing doesn’t really inspire confidence in a girl.”

Wait, does she want to go out on this date?

The uneasy feeling starts to withdraw from my system, even if only just a bit. It’s not like there isn’t anything to worry about, it’s just that one of the things I was worried about seems to have been resolved.

I’m glad she wants to be here with me.

Turning around, she steps towards the entrance of the restaurant.

As the door opens, I feel a strange sense of déjà vu.

“Shall we go in?”

Even if Koi reuses the same melodramatic lines time and time again, and we fall into the same quippy traps every single time, I can’t say this doesn’t make me smile.