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“Daww, a crush?!” Hagakure squealed, clasping her hands together.
Kouda nodded, fidgeting with his hands nervously. He really didn’t like all of the attention his friend was giving him. He was hanging out with his friends: Hagakure, Ojiro, Shouji, Satou, & Tokoyami. They were all chatting when the topic of relationships came up. Kouda ended up accidentally revealing his crush, which he really regretted doing now.
“Who’s the lucky duck?” she asked.
Kouda moved his hands to sign, not feeling confident to speak in fear of fumbling his words. ‘It’s Jirou,’ he signed quickly before putting his hands behind his back.
“Are you planning on asking her out?” Ojiro asked.
Kouda’s head shot up. He shook his head violently & waved his arms.
“I’m guessing that’s a ‘no’ then,” Shouji said.
Kouda moved his hands, signing again. This time, even more nervous. ‘I can’t ask her out. It’ll ruin a good friendship.’
“But it could also start a great romance,” Satou replied.
Kouda shook his head. ‘I just can’t. I don’t want to take chances,” he signed. ‘I’ll just…’ he paused, thinking of how to word it. ‘I'm just gonna let the crush take its course & go away on its own.’
“Understandable,” said Tokoyami. “But if you ever do need assistance, we could all help.”
‘I appreciate the sentiment, but no thank you. I just can’t.’
Hagakure looked a little disappointed. Well, as disappointed as someone who can’t be seen can look. She slumped her shoulders a little & sighed. “Alright…” she said. She was really hoping to help Kouda with his crush. But if he doesn’t want help, she can’t exactly force him to.
The next day, it was clear how hard Kouda really fell for Jirou. He was completely mesmerized by her. Almost as if he was under some love spell. He would look away every so often when he felt his friends’ eyes on him. But other than that, his focus was on his crush.
He wasn’t too confident in himself. Jirou was beautiful in a way that he couldn’t be. Even when nearly everyone in the world had some strange thing about them, he had a lame quirk & looked like a literal rock. While others had quirks that made people fall for them, he had features that made others laugh.
He knew he’d get rejected if he even tried to ask Jirou out. Her answer would completely destroy him & he’d probably stay in his room for weeks as a result.
He was snapped out of his thoughts when a hand tapped his shoulder. He began to focus again, realizing it was Jirou herself. Great. He’s gonna make a fool of himself. Wait, why was she up here?
“Class ended like two minutes ago,” the punk girl said. It was as if she read his mind.
Kouda looked around the classroom. She was right. He looked back at her & signed. ‘I guess I zoned out.’
Jirou chuckled. “Yeah. Don’t blame you though,” she said. “The lesson was boring anyways.”
Kouda nodded. He didn’t actually know what the lesson was. He’d have to ask someone about that later.
“Any plans today?” she asked.
Kouda shrugged. He really didn’t have any plans, but he knew that being alone with his crush would only stress him out. ‘Not really,’ he signed, getting up from his chair.
Jirou smiled, walking out of class with him. “Cool ‘cuz I’ve been meaning to check out to this new music store that opened up but no one seems to be available today,” she explained. “So I was hoping we could go together since going by myself kinda takes the fun outta stuff y’know?”
Kouda nodded, not saying anything else for a while. The two were now walking together in silence until Kouda spoke, using his voice this time. “That s-sounds like a g-good idea. I haven’t hung out with anyone really one on one though,” he said.
“It’s cool dude,” she said, nudging his shoulder. “For me, sometimes crowds of people hanging out together can freak me out. But so can being alone somewhere. So I tend to hang out in small groups or just one other person,” she explained.
“S-same for me. Well, the big group part anyways,” Kouda responded, twiddling his thumbs. “I-I think us hanging out would be nice then…”
“Looks like it’s a date then,” she said, smiling at him.
Those words stayed in Kouda’s mind the rest of the day.
“A date?!” Hagakure squealed for the second time this week.
‘She meant a friendship date,’ Kouda signed. His face was still red from that comment. But he shook it off knowing that what Jirou said was purely platonic.
“Did she say that?”
‘Well, no but I know that it can’t be a date date.’
“How do you know for sure?” she asked.
‘She said she needed someone to hang out with & that she didn’t want to go alone to the music shop today.’
While Kouda was signing, he stopped to notice Hagakure was checking Kouda for something.
“Wh-what a-are you doing?” he asked, now feeling self conscious.
“I’m trying to see what style would look best for a ‘hang out’ with you two,” Hagakure responded.
Kouda shook his head. “I-it really is just a hangout.”
“You should at least look your best though. Either way, it could impress her.”
“M-my closet doesn’t have anything good though…” he said.
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Satou said. “You can probably make a cool outfit with whatever you have on.”
Kouda sighed, getting up to lay all of his clothes in front of his friends to see.
“Y’know, maybe the big guy is right. Some of these clothes suck ass,” said Tokoyami’s quirk. He popped out from behind just to see the clothes.
It was nothing too bad. At least, Kouda didn’t think they were bad. There were a few pastel shirts & some animal themed shirts. Some cartoony animals or animal puns. He even printed out a picture of him & his pet bunny Yuwai on a shirt.
“Dark Shadow,” Kouda said.
“Yeah?”
“Shut up-”
“Yeesh, who pissed him off today?” he grumbled to his owner, going back inside.
Hagakure then offered her phone, waving off the interruption from the quirk. “Now, I found a few style ideas online that you can look through so we can find out what you’re gonna wear!” she said.
“I-I don’t think it’s necessary. These outfits are good enough,” Kouda said. “I just wanna look nice, not like a fashion model or anything.”
“What about this one?” Shouji said, pointing to a short pink sleeved shirt with a white bunny on it.
“I forgot I had that one actually…” the shy boy replied. “I-I like it…”
“Perfect! We got the shirt, now for the pants!” Hagakure said.
“These jeans would go well with it,” Ojiro said, holding them up.
“Th-that works…” Kouda was a bit overwhelmed from the support he was getting from everyone trying to help him on his hang out. It was just a hang out, so why were they so invested in this?
“You think we could style those little flaps on you?” Hagakure asked, pointing to the flaps on Kouda’s head.
The shy boy immediately covered them, shaking his head. “I-I’m good! But thanks!” he yelped. Causing a few of his friends to laugh
Kouda finally picked an outfit that he liked. Dark blue jeans, a pink shirt with a white bunny on, & a nice, cozy, teal jacket.
When he met up with Jirou, it was evening. She was dressed casually. Ripped blue jeans, & a yellow tank top. Maybe the big boy was overdressed, but it was kinda chilly for him so he didn’t know.
“Ready then?” she asked.
Kouda nodded. He could do this. This wasn’t a date. It was just a hang out. Nothing weird about it. He tried not to let the previous talks with his friends mess with his head, but it was hard. The more he thought about what they said, the more he thought about when he told them about his crush. Now all he can think is how pretty he described Jirou to be. Which isn’t a lie. She really is pretty, beautiful even. But he shouldn’t say that out loud.
“You okay dude?” Jirou asked.
Kouda zoned out again. He came back into reality when Jirou spoke.
“Your face is getting all red,” Jirou said.
Kouda’s face flushed even more & he turned his head. He knew why he was red. Thinking about it only made him more red though. He waved off the concern, flapping one of his hands as he spoke. “W-well it’s just really hot out today…” Kouda lied. The truth was, he was cold. Even with the jacket on. But he didn’t want to tell the truth.
“Really?” Jirou said. “It’s kinda cold for me.” She crossed her arms, hoping that it would slightly warm herself up.
“U-uh well, you can…” Kouda didn’t know how to word it so he signed instead. ‘You can wear my jacket if you want. I don’t mind.’
Jirou looked up. Kouda could swear she was blushing as she accepted the jacket. But it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Giving him false hope. It was true what they say about people in love being delusional.
Jirou put the jacket on. It was quite big on her. On the plus side, it did keep her warm. “Man, this jacket feels like a nice hug. I can see why you chose it,” she said, snuggling up to it more.
“Well, it’s a lot more fitting on me,” the large boy said.
“Still, it’s really soft.” Jirou kept walking with Kouda until they finally made it to the music store. “Sweet, we’re here!” she said. She grabbed her friend’s hand & led him in. The shop was a lot warmer. There were record players on the first floor & on the second floor were where all of the instruments were.
Kouda sighed, no longer feeling cold. For Jirou, it was now getting kind of hot. She took off the jacket, tying it around her waist, walking with Kouda to where the music players were. There were a few sets of headphones for people to choose a song & listen to. She handed one to Kouda & put one on herself.
“Any song you wanna play?” she asked.
Kouda shrugged. “M-maybe something not too loud or something?” he suggested. “At least right now.”
Jirou nodded. She picked a calming song. It was slightly upbeat with a nice melody to it. The lyrics were also nice. It was about having a crush on a friend. Kouda swore that whatever higher being was watching over him at that moment was trying to mess with him in some way.
After the song ended, Jirou played another song. It was more to her taste, but wasn’t too loud & didn’t have any death metal screaming. Kouda listened to it, smiling a little. The song was actually pretty good! He felt as if he were being transported into another world as the song played.
‘I like it!’ signed Kouda.
Jirou nodded, signing. ‘Me too.’
They picked a few songs together & goofed off listening to the songs. Kouda looked up the songs on there so he could listen to them later. Despite a good chunk of them being more rock, he actually liked them.
He walked with Jirou upstairs to the second floor where they kept all of the instruments. They ranged from a ukulele to a whole drum set. Kouda looked over at the acoustic section, spotting a pretty guitar. It was a plain one, but he liked it.
Jirou noticed the boy fixated on the instrument. “You wanna try playing it?” she asked.
Kouda shook his head. “I’ve never played the guitar before,” he answered.
“How do you think people learn?” Jirou asked. She found a seat & picked up the guitar. Kouda sat next to her & watched as she strumed. “We can start on the easy stuff. Just start strumming a scale.” She gave the guitar to Kouda who hesitantly took it. He was so scared of dropping it that his hands began to shake.
Much smaller hands were gently placed over his. He looked up to meet the soft eyes of his crush. “Nothing bad’s gonna happen,” she assured. “I promise.”
Kouda nodded. He looked down on the guitar & began to play a scale. Jirou smiled. “Perfect! Next thing, I can give you some fingering positions & you can repeat after.” She grabbed another acoustic guitar & sat back down. She began to play a few easy chords.
Kouda followed, messing up a few times but ultimately getting the hang of it. “You’re doing pretty good dude!” she said. Kouda smiled before putting the guitar down. He was getting kinda tired now & playing the guitar when he could zone out at any moment didn’t sound like a good idea.
“Wanna listen to a few more songs downstairs before calling it a night?” Jirou offered.
Kouda nodded, following her back downstairs.
When they returned to their dorms, they were the only ones in the main living area. They took their private time to talk a bit alone without anyone interrupting.
The emptiness of the living room was a relief for Kouda. He thought for sure one of his friends, mainly Hagakure, would try asking about their ‘date.’
Jirou sat down on the couch, grabbing a drink from the fridge & giving one to Kouda. “Y’know,” she said. “I’m kinda glad you were the one to hang out with me.”
Kouda smiled. “I-I’m glad too…” he said.
“Any plans for next week?” she asked.
Kouda thought for a bit & shook his head. “I may have some homework but other than that, no.”
“Well that’s good. I was kinda hoping we could hang out again. I dunno if you’d want it to be like a hang out or a date, because I mean, you’re pretty cool to hang out with in other ways than a friendly way.” Jirou admitted.
Kouda looked over. “Like a date date?” he asked.
“Yeah, I mean I don’t really know how strong those feelings are, but I mean. I like you. More than a friend would anyway.” It was hard for her to explain. Her feelings went from platonic to romantic, but she felt like saying love so soon would turn him away & freak he poor guy out.
Kouda squealed. Well, it was more of a yelp in surprise. He nodded, a bit excited. He didn’t trust his words at that moment. He’d probably say something stupid, so he turned to his hands. ‘I’d love to!’ Maybe that came on too strong. He really hoped not.
“Great!” Jirou said, scooting closer to Kouda. “So it’s a date?”
Kouda nodded again, his face turning red again. “It’s a date!”