The Date

Nakamura and I had arranged to meet up with each other in town that weekend. I'd barely been able to think of anything else over the last few days. But it was finally time. I couldn't help but grin to myself in the mirror as I got ready. I wasn't even phased when Hikari saw me jumping about the place.

“What's got into you?” She asked with a frown.

“I'm just excited, I've got plans today.”

She quickly replaced her frown with a sly grin, preparing herself to partake in her most favourite activity.

Teasing her brother.

“Oho? Off to see your girlfriend, Nii-san?”

“...Yeah, actually,” I responded sheepishly.

“Aha, i knew it,” she nodded smugly.

“...”

“...Wait. Did you just…Huh!?”

She rushed forward, pinning me up against the wall with an intense glare in her eyes.

“Hold up, hold up. I need details!”

Someone save me!

I eventually managed to slip away from Hikari and left to meet up with Nakamura. I found her waiting for me by the station. Her face lit up the second she saw me.

“Hey,” she called out to me.

I responded with an enthusiastic wave as she plodded over to me.

“So, What do you want to do?”

Crap, I hadn't even thought about where we'd go. I had been the one to ask her out today, it made sense that the planning would fall to me, but I admittedly hadn't thought that far ahead.

“Maybe something like… a movie?” I blurted out the first idea that popped into my head.

“Okay, sure,” she gave me a gentle smile, “sounds fun.”

In the cinema lobby, the pair of us were looking over the various posters of movies that were currently showing. I spotted a rom-com that seemed to be rather popular with young couples. That certainly seemed like the most appropriate for a date.

“How about this…” I began, pointing over towards the poster.

“Ooo, I've been wanting to watch this one!”

Nakamura hadn't noticed my suggestion, and was instead gushing over the poster of what looked like a murder mystery film.

“It's an adaptation of one of Kawaguchi Hina's books!”

“Heh, okay,” I nodded in agreement.

Yeah, I shouldnt overthink this. We didn't need to go out of our way to try to fit the mold of other couples. What mattered was that we had a good time together.

We took our seats in the middle row of the screening room. As the movie began and the lights dimmed, I felt Nakamura’s hand rest itself on top of mine. I gave her a shy glance, and she smiled back at me.

When the credits rolled, we returned outside. The movie was a little longer than I had expected, and the plot was a little convoluted. By the end of it, I still wasn't entirely sure what had happened, but I had enjoyed it all the same. The thought of Nakamura's fingers locked with mine flashed through my mind, and I suddenly felt my face go red.

Come to think of it, it hadn't really been the most involved date, had it? Sure, it was nice just being beside her, and I liked seeing her reactions to some of the more intense moments of the film.

Man, those looks on her face were cute…

But honestly, we had barely had the chance to talk with each other, and now that the movie was over, that meant the date was coming to an end as well, right?

Argh, why did I have to decide on a movie date of all things.

“Want to go somewhere else next?” Nakamura said, throwing out the suggestion.

You're amazing, Nakamura! You must have read my mind!

I nodded back without question.

“Cool,” she grinned.

We soon stopped outside of a familiar looking building.

“Oh, I remember this café. We came here before on our first date, didn't we.”

“Wait, you're saying that was a date back then?!”

“Of course it was,” she smirked as she led me inside.

We sat down at a table by the window and ordered some drinks. After a short wait, the waitress brought them out to us and laid them down on the table. We gave her our thanks, and each took a sip.

"So, what'd you think of the movie, Ren?”

I spluttered, almost choking on my coffee. Her sudden use of my given name made me do a double take. Nakamura's cheeks had erupted in a bright scarlet.

“I-is it too weird? I just thought I'd try it.”

“No, no! Not at all,” I exclaimed, “you just took me by surprise!”

She let out a sigh in relief.

"So, it's not too strange then?"

I shook my head.

"It's fine. It's... nice. I'm just not used to it, that's all."

She smiled at me.

“To tell you the truth, I've been wanting to try it out all day, but I couldn't find the right time while we were at the movie theater,” she laughed.

“That's too cute.”

Hang on, did I say that part out loud? I really hope I didn't say that out loud.

“W-well anyway,” she continued, trying - and failing - to maintain her composure, “you can call me Ayane too, if you want.”

We spent a good while discussing the movie we had just seen, the ups and downs, the actors that had the most standout performances, and so on. Eventually the discussion started to drift to other things, and I realised there was one topic that I been wanting to hear her opinion on, something that had been bugging me lately.

“Hey, Nakam…Ayane. There's something I’ve been wondering.”

“Hmm?”

“About what Inaba-senpai was talking about the other day…”

“Oh, about our futures?”

I nodded, “it's been playing on my mind a lot since then. Do you have any ideas of what you want to do?”

Nakamura - Ayane, rather, I needed to get used to calling her that - pondered this for a while as she took another sip from her cup.

“Hmm, I would like to get into something I'm passionate about. I'm not a writer myself, but I'd love to be able to do my part for the industry. Maybe something for a publishing company, as an editor maybe.”

“Oh, that'd be perfect for you,” I said, thinking back on all the times Ayane had given me pointers with my own writing, “I can totally see you as an editor!”

“Thanks,” she chuckled, “if things work out that way, then maybe we'll end up working quite closely together?”

I forced a smile back at her.

“Maybe…”

“You don't seem so sure?”

“It's just, am I really that good enough to make a career out of it? I've been thinking that maybe it'd be better if I give up on it and start thinking of something more practical.”

“Is that what you really want?” Ayane asked, eyeing me carefully.

“I just don't know yet.”

“Well, I wouldn't let it bother you too much. We still have over a year before we need to decide.”

“Yeah, you're right.”

“And, for what it's worth, I think you have enough talent to make it if you tried. I'm not just saying that as your girlfriend either, I really do mean it. I've always thought you had potential since the first time you first let me read your writing.”

We finished off our drinks shortly afterwards, and called the waitress over to pay. Once we had left the café, we made our way down towards the station, where we'd soon be parting ways.

“I guess we'll see each other again on Monday then, huh?” Ayane said, coming to a stop.

I hesitated, “yeah.”

“Something wrong?” She asked with a slight frown.

Truth be told, there was… something. But I didn't quite know how to say it. We were a couple, saying goodbye at the end of a date. Wasn't it common for us to kiss each other or something here? I looked around to see if anybody was looking. Nobody was.

This is silly. Just ask her already.

Ayane was standing in front of me, watching me with a puzzled expression. I wondered how she would react if I told her what I was thinking of. We had both agreed to take things slow, after all.

“You're acting weird. What is it, are you waiting for a kiss or something?”

“Ah! Um, no. Not exactly, it's just… um… yeah, sorta.”

Ayane burst out in a fit of laughter.

“You don't need to panic over it,” she said, wiping away a tear, “we are a couple now.”

I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly.

“And besides, I’ve been thinking about it too, you know?”

Wait, she'd thought of it too? Did this mean…?

Ayane smiled and closed the distance between us.

Tap, tap, tap.

She was now inches away from me, gazing up expectantly.

I gulped.

Why was my mouth dry, now of all times?

Ayane was close enough that I felt her body flinch when I took hold of her hand.

Was she feeling nervous about this too?

I slowly leaned closer and closed my eyes, feeling the warmth of her breath against my face.

Our lips met.

We eventually parted, and I opened my eyes to see Ayane smiling softly at me.

"Well, you'd better get going, you wouldn't want to miss your bus,” she said.

“Ah! Y-yeah, I probably should…”

“Okay, I'll see you later then.”

She leaned forward and planted another peck on my cheek, before spinning round and giving me a wave goodbye. She left me standing at the station in a trance, unconsciously rubbing my cheek.

It still felt a little warm.