The Date

Since I kept passing on the group hangouts with Kishi, Yorikane, and other people, Kishi reached out to me before I could.

“Hey Saki, have you been busy lately?”

“Kinda. What’s up?”

I wasn’t sure what he was going to say so I thought I should ask first.

“I see. I just wanted to check in on you! I miss hanging out with you! When you’re not busy I hope you’ll join us.”

“I miss hanging out with you too. And actually… I was just wondering if the two of us could hang out together. If you want to.”

“Yeah, definitely! We can hang out, just us two! I’d really like that. When are you free?”

I told him and he said that day worked. I told him that we could hang out at my house and watch a movie or something. Our plan was set. I felt better about this than a group hangout. I’m excited to hang out with him. Maybe I can ask about something… Like if anything is going on between him and Yorikane…

Yorikane asked about another hangout in advance, saying the day would be the day of my and Kishi’s hangout. We had to tell him we were going to hangout by ourselves. That caused Yuasa to text me personally again.

“Just you and Kishi? Mind if I join?”

“You want to join us?”

“Sure.”

I thought about it. I kinda just wanted it to be me and Kishi so we could talk… I need to turn him down in some way.

“I want to hang out with Kishi alone since it’s been a while. Maybe next time.”

“Alright then. Definitely invite me next time.”

I’m not sure when the next time will be… But I’ll think about inviting him when or if the time comes.

The day of our hangout soon came. Kishi came to my house in the afternoon. We got some snacks and sat on the couch to watch a movie. We chose a fantasy film with magic since that’s Kishi’s favorite. It was a fun movie, maybe more fun with our comments throughout the two hours.

When the movie ended, I decided now was the time to ask.

“How has hanging out with Miya-san been?” I asked.

“It’s been great! He’s really nice and it’s fun being with him,” he smiled.

“I’m glad. Do you consider him a good friend now?”

“Yes! I’d like to be good friends with him. Do you think I can be…?”

“Yeah, sure. I think if you become someone special to him, you guys can be close. Do you want to be special to him?”

He paused. His cheeks turned pink. “Special… Um… I think… I do…”

“You really like him, huh?”

His face became red. “What? Like? Huh?!”

I couldn’t help laughing at his reaction. “What? Don’t you? Sometimes you look like one of his fans.”

“Really…?” He put his hands on his face, thinking about it.

“You can like whoever you want, you know. Miya-san seems like a good choice.”

“I… I like him… as a friend…” He continued blushing.

“Sure… Your face is always red around him, but I guess I got the wrong impression,” I shrugged.

“Really…? It’s always red…?” He shook his head.

I reached out a hand and grabbed his shoulder. “Kishi. You can like him. I’ll be cheering you on.”

He searched my eyes. “...but there’s no way he’d ever like me…”

“You don’t know that. You need to make more of an effort and put yourself out there. That’s the only way to figure out his feelings.”

“...I’ve never done anything about my crushes… I just pushed them to the back of my mind and tried to forget about it… I thought… It was weird… Or wrong…”

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with liking someone.” Yuasa flashes through my mind. I quickly shake him away. “Love is love. It doesn’t matter who the other person is as long as they treat you well.”

“Thanks, Saki… No one has ever said that to me…”

“Of course. I’m here for you.”

He smiled. “But then how do I put myself out there like you said…?”

“Well… First… I feel like you need more one-on-one time with him.”

“One-on-one…?! That makes me nervous…”

“It’s just one way to make him notice you. He only sees you as one of his other friends right now. You need to get closer to him!”

“It’s awkward to ask him out if it’s just me…”

“Hm…” I tried to think about a solution. “Maybe… We could plan a hangout with the four of us in the group chat… Then Yuasa and I could say something came up and leave you two alone. Or maybe we don’t need to involve Yuasa.”

“...maybe… I don’t know! I’ll be a nervous wreck when it’s just us two!”

“How do you expect to make him notice you if you can’t talk with him one-on-one? It’s your choice if you really want to do that. I’m happy to help.”

“Let me think about it…”

“Okay.”

I don’t have any games we could play together so we just watch TV. When father came home, I asked if Kishi wanted to stay for dinner. He said he had to go home since his mother already made him dinner. We hugged goodbye and he left. It was a productive day.

Kishi thought about our conversation and eventually gave me a greenlight. I arranged the hangout for him. I had to ask when Yuasa was free before we could decide on a day. Since it’s in the group chat, I figured I should make sure he’s technically included. Once the date was finally settled, I messaged Yuasa personally.

“Hey, sorry about the sudden idea to go to the movie theater, but you don’t actually have to go. We can bail so Kishi and Miya-san can be alone.”

“That was a scheme to get those two alone? Why?”

“That’s personal. But you don’t mind, right?”

“Fine. But if they’re going to hangout alone, we can do that as well.”

“Sure… If you want to.”

“Alright then. Let’s meet up at the same time but somewhere else. We can decide what to do together.”

“Okay.”

I wasn’t really expecting to be alone with Yuasa… But it won’t be the first time.

Kishi said he was nervous and I continued to encourage him. I mentioned that I was going to hangout with Yuasa too and to text me if anything happened. He wished me luck as well. He doesn’t know anything… He thinks I hate him… Which I do… He doesn’t need to wish me luck… For some reason it bothered me right up to the day of our hangout.

I met Yuasa in a cafe near the movie theater. I sent Kishi one more “good luck” text before he met Yorikane. Then Yuasa sat next to me in the cafe.

“What did you want to do?” he asked.

“We could look around the mall. Unless that’s boring…”

“Sure, let’s go.”

We took the bus to the mall and began going to random stores. We went to stores that we’d never go into. There was a particularly strange store with random nick nacks. I found an odd looking stuffed doll and showed Yuasa. He showed me something that was as equally as odd in return. I laughed a little. I noticed him smiling.

I kept checking my phone to make sure Kishi hadn’t sent anything. Yuasa seemed to be bothered.

“Hey, you’re with me right now. Let those two worry about themselves.”

I slowly put my phone away. “Right… I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t ignoring Kishi if he needed something…”

“He’ll be fine. Let’s get something to eat while we’re here. What do you want?”

We went to the food court to look. When we both ordered something, Yuasa paid. This is feeling like… a date… A date? No way. He doesn’t like me. We both have negative feelings towards each other. There’s no way that’d turn into something else…

Sitting across from each other while we ate, we talked about where we wanted to go next. We checked out all kinds of stores and I forgot about Kishi for a moment. When I checked the time next, I realized that the movie he saw should have finished by now.

“Shiotani…” Yuasa’s tone wasn’t happy.

“Let me just send one text!”

“He’ll text you as soon as he can. Just wait.”

“But…”

“Come on,” he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards a store. “Here’s a jewelry store. You like jewelry, right? Let’s look around inside for fun.”

I had no choice but to put my phone away and get dragged into the jewelry store with Yuasa. He asked if I liked jewelry but I don’t usually wear accessories… I might change that with the hair clip once I’m comfortable enough… I’m not sure why I’m considering wearing it anyway.

We looked at all of the necklaces, bracelets, and rings that were shining like jewels. There were some cute earrings as well. Yuasa was by the earrings and I joined him.

“When did you get your ear pierced?” I asked.

“Middle school. I felt a little rebellious. I decided to keep it. It looks good, don’t you think?” He looked at me.

“Yeah… I never got my ears pierced. I’m worried about the pain.”

“It’s not too bad. Just make sure it stays clean. There’s always clip-ons if you don’t mind that.”

“I’ll pass…”

He continued looking at the earrings and checking them by his ear in the mirror provided. It looked like he settled for a small black hoop.

“What do you think?” he asked while holding it by his ear.

“It looks good.”

“I’ll go with this.”

He bought it and we left. That’s when I felt a buzz in my pocket. I pulled out my phone and saw a text from Kishi. He said that the movie went well and they got something to eat as well. They’re going to part ways for today and he wondered if I was nearby.

“Let’s meet him halfway. Where is he?” Yuasa said, reading the texts over my shoulder.

I asked him and when he replied, we headed out to meet him. While on the bus, I happened to remember a question that I wanted to ask.

“Kitahashi… May I ask what you’ve been busy with? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…”

“It’s fine. I’m busy preparing for college. My parents also want me to inherit the company so I have to study for that as well. They take me to social events to help with my status in the company and society in general.”

“Wow… How rich are you?”

“Very. It’s my parents' money right now though. I’ll get there someday myself.”

“I see…”

“You seemed bothered when I paid for our food earlier. But you’ll let me treat you sometimes still, won’t you?” He smiled again.

“...you smile a lot lately.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“...no.”

He smiled wider before looking away. “You’re cute.”

My heart practically stopped. What… did he just call me…? My face was burning when our stop arrived. I was spaced out on our way to meet with Kishi. I tried to come back to my senses when I saw him.