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The problem was, Tanaka hadn't really expected her to say yes.
On Wednesday morning, Kiyoko had posted to her twitter in frustration: "The main water pipe going into my building got broken by construction workers, and now we're not going to have water or power for at least a week while they fix it, ugh!"
He had replied, kind of joking around like he always did, "You could come to my place if you need somewhere to stay." Their apartments in Sendai were only about a fifteen minute walk from one another, and they were both going to university there, so neither of them were too far away from campus.
When her DM had popped up asking if he was serious, Tanaka had been momentarily taken aback, but had immediately said yes, of course he was, how could he joke about something like that? "Great!" she had replied. "Is it okay if I come over in a couple of hours?"
Tanaka had said yes, and then gone to scream into his pillow, and then texted Noya. "Kiyoko is coming to stay at my place for a week, what do I do???"
"Clean up," was the deadpan reply. "Make sure things aren't disgusting. Then have a shower, if you have time."
That was a little harsh, but fair. His apartment could probably use some freshening up. Tanaka made a quick sweep through each room to gather up any garbage or used dishes, and made sure his dirty laundry was stuffed in a bin in the closet instead of spilling out into his bedroom. He ran a broom around the entryway to catch any dirt and dust bunnies, since he figured that would be what she'd see first. He sprayed air freshener everywhere, and then opened the windows, coughing, because everything smelled like lemon. That left him, he figured, just about enough time to make sure he was clean and presentable.
He was just hopping out of the shower when he heard the doorbell. He had a split second to decide - keep her waiting, or go answer the door in just a towel? He compromised by pulling on a pair of gym shorts, running back to the front entrance as quickly as he could. Kiyoko was standing there with a backpack and a big bag like the kind she used to carry sports equipment in. She blinked for a moment, blushing, and Tanaka realized maybe he should have taken an extra three seconds to put a shirt on too. But she'd seen him without his shirt on probably like, hundreds of times, so he hadn't thought about it being weird.
"Um, hi," he said, running a hand over his shaved head with an embarrassed grin. "Can I take something for you?"
She handed him the sports bag, which wasn't as heavy as it looked. "Thanks for letting me stay here. I'll try not to get in your way too much." She stepped inside, slipping off her shoes, looking around the small apartment.
"I figured I'd let you pick if you wanted to sleep on the couch or in my room," he said, to fill the awkward silence. "Either's fine with me, I don't mind taking the couch if you'd rather have a room with a door."
"Oh, I don't want to kick you out of your own room!" Kiyoko said hastily. "I can take the couch."
Tanaka nodded and turned to carry her bag that way, and tripped over the broom he'd left standing up against the closet door. "Shit, argh, fuck!" he shouted, flailing around but somehow managing to catch himself, the bag, and the broom before they all hit the ground.
Kiyoko laughed. He'd always thought she was gorgeous when she laughed, even though it was rare. Maybe because it was rare. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just stupid," he said with a bashful shrug. "Here, it's just through this way..."
"This will be fine," Kiyoko said, once they were in the small living room. "It's only for a few days, after all. I'll mainly be in class or at work during the day, and I'll take care of my own food..."
"It's really no problem!" Tanaka assured her. "You're not inconveniencing me. And I'm not a totally terrible cook - I don't mind making dinners we can share."
"Well then, at least let me pay for groceries," Kiyoko insisted, smiling shyly.
***
Tanaka found that with Kiyoko around, he put way more effort into keeping the apartment clean and tidy. He also kept up his promise to cook them dinner each night, and glowed with pride whenever she said that some of his efforts were not bad. He even studied more - since she spent an hour or two each evening working on her assignments or readings for classes, it gave him an excuse to hang out in the same room as her and work on his own coursework as well. He wasn't sure if it would help his grades (he was scraping by in most of his classes, aside from kinesiology) but he figured it couldn't hurt either.
Kiyoko helped out around the apartment, too. She'd wash the dishes, saying he'd done the cooking and it was the least she could do in return. She bought groceries, like she'd promised. After asking if it would bother him and being assured it wouldn't, sometimes she played pop music she liked. Tanaka liked coming home from a jog or from the gym and hearing it even before getting indoors, as he walked up the stairs.
He texted Noya a lot, hoping for some words of wisdom. Noya was popular with girls - if anyone would have good advice, surely he would. "Don't make things weird," Noya told him. "Just act normal around her. Normal for you, I mean."
Tanaka tried not to make things weird. At night, he lay in his room and tried not to imagine how she was sleeping just a short distance away, on the other side of the wall. He learned that she wore a t-shirt and shorts to bed, and tried not to think about that too much. Once, when he was going to get ready for bed, he'd wandered out of his room to get a drink of water and bumped into her leaving the bathroom, her hair up in a towel and her glasses off. She smelled like melon shampoo. Tanaka had panicked and jumped back into his room so she could make her escape. He thought he heard her giggle but he might have imagined it.
As the days went on, the thought of her leaving - of going back to an empty, quiet apartment, of having no one to cook for, no reason to try to pull his shit together - was depressing. Everything is just going to go back to normal, he told himself, so what are you so upset about?
***
On Saturday, he woke up and wandered out to the kitchen to make some breakfast. Normally Kiyoko was up pretty early, but he figured maybe she wanted to sleep in on the weekend, so he tried to be quiet as he quickly threw together some eggs and rice. Once he'd finished his food, he went out for a run, the way he did most mornings. He figured by the time he got back, Kiyoko would have had a good chance to rest, and he'd return to the sounds of music playing and her bustling around in the kitchen.
Instead, it was quiet when he made it back an hour or so later. Slipping his sneakers off, he peeked into the living room, to see Kiyoko curled up in a ball on the couch. At first he thought she was still sleeping, but he heard a faint moan. "Kiyoko?" he asked hesitantly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm not feeling well," she mumbled.
"Can I get you anything?"
There was a pause, and Kiyoko peeked out from under the blanket. "It's just... you know. Girls' things."
Tanaka nodded, brightening up. "Oh, yeah, I understand. I mean, I have a sister, so I get it..."
"I don't have my usual stuff with me," Kiyoko said, still looking uncomfortable.
"You want me to go out to the store for you? I can run there and be back in a few minutes." Before she really had a chance to answer, Tanaka was already pulling his shoes back on. "I'll be right back, okay?"
It was only once he reached the grocery store and was staring at the row of pads and tampons and everything else that he realized he didn't really know what she wanted. Not wanting to look like an idiot by messaging her, he just picked out a box of light pads and another of heavy ones, a box of tampons, a bunch of warming packs, and a bottle of the kind of painkillers that he knew Saeko used. As an afterthought, he also added some chocolate bars.
The woman at the checkout gave him a knowing smile. "Girlfriend?"
"No, well, no, she's not, but... a friend who's a girl," he said, blushing as he paid.
With his shopping bag overflowing, he raced back to the apartment, out of breath and sweaty, pushing through the door and hurrying to bring the bag to Kiyoko. "Here, I hope this is okay, but let me know if there's anything else you need."
Kiyoko's eyes widened at the contents of the bag. "This is perfect," she said, managing a faint smile. "Thank you."
***
With increasing anxiety as the predicted week's duration neared its end, he phoned Saeko on Tuesday afternoon when he was walking back from class. "I think it's been going okay, but she's probably going to leave soon once the power comes back on at her apartment. What should I do?"
Saeko knew about his crush on Kiyoko, of course - she couldn't have lived in the same house as him in high school and not noticed him pining over the team's manager. Still, she couldn't help but laugh at her little brother. "Are you asking me if you should kidnap her or something?"
"No! I just... I'm not sure what I should say to her. Should I tell her I like her before she leaves?"
"Look, Ryu," Saeko told him, growing more serious. "She already knows you like her. She'd have to be dense not to have noticed by now, you've liked her for years. But if you want to go out with her, you could tell her that. Just don't act like a jerk if she says no."
"I'm not gonna act like a jerk!"
"No pouting, no begging, no wheedling," Saeko instructed him firmly. "If she says no, you say 'I understand,' and you let it drop and keep acting normal around her. Normal for you," she added.
After he hung up on his sister, Tanaka stopped at the store and picked up a few groceries. At the front there were some bouquets of flowers, and on an impulse he bought one of those too. Having it would force him not to chicken out, he figured.
When he got home, music was playing and he could smell food cooking. That part was unexpected, since he'd been assuming he would make dinner as usual. Instead, he found Kiyoko was making curry udon. It smelled incredible, sweet and savoury and a little spicy, and he couldn't help but smile as he stepped inside.
"Hi," Kiyoko said, not looking up from the pot she was stirring. "I thought I would cook dinner to say thank you for letting me stay here all week, so I hope you like it!"
"I'm sure it's great," he told her. He looked around for something to put the flowers in, with a dawning awareness that he didn't own a vase. Instead he used one of the large water bottles he had, a heavy one that hopefully wouldn't tip over with the flowers in it.
"Those are pretty," Kiyoko said once she could turn her attention from the stove for a few minutes. "What are they for, is it a special occasion?"
"Just for you," Tanaka said. "For your last night here. I wanted to do something nice for you."
"You've already given me so much, Tanaka, you didn't need to..."
He almost lost his nerve then, but pressed on, determined not to let the moment pass. "I've really enjoyed spending this week with you, Kiyoko. And I wanted to ask you... ask if you'd like to go out with me," he finished in a rush. "If you don't want to, I'll understand. Everything will still be normal. Normal between us, I mean. I won't make things weird."
There was a pause that felt like it lasted a century, and then a smile that looked like the sun coming out from behind clouds spread across her face. "I don't mind when you get weird," Kiyoko said. "I'm used to it. And... to be honest, this week has been really nice. I'm a little sad about leaving."
"Well, you don't... have to..." Tanaka stammered, taking her hand. "Wait, was that a yes?"
"Yes," she said, and stepped closer, standing up on tiptoes to kiss him. Tanaka wasn't expecting it, but didn't waste any time in putting his arms around her and pulling her close.
"Um," he said, a few minutes later, "I hate to interrupt this moment, because I've been waiting for it for five years, but I think the curry is burning..."
"Oh, shit!" Kiyoko rushed back to the kitchen, pulling the pot off the heat. "I hope it's not ruined..."
Tanaka followed her over to have a look. "Nah, it's okay," he said. "Just a little scorched on the bottom. The rest will taste fine, don't worry." He kissed her on the top of her head, still not quite believing the fact that he could. "We can make it work."