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Go for a walk. Meiko said. It’ll help you clear your heads. She said.
Unfortunately, ‘going for a walk’ wound up having an opposite effect.
Meiko practically kicked Akito and An off the stage and out of the cafe before Akito actually got upset at Rin and Len. One of the two had made some sort of comment about how the choreography he and An were making seemed boring or unoriginal: just like everything else they’ve ever come up with.
They went on their merry way, knowing that they were right, and they both had felt that something was off with the routine. It’s not a bad song they're working with, but for some reason neither of them can visualize what they want its performance to look like. A bunch of bad vibes were accumulating and Meiko was right to send them out, but to Akito especially, taking a leisurely stroll felt more wasteful than helpful.
An leads the two of them down the street in one direction; if they make even one turn, they’re bound to get lost among the endless winding streets and alleyways.
Admittedly, leaving the cafe is helping them defuse and realize how small the issue is that they’re facing, but it also allows for their thoughts to wander…
While they’re walking side-by-side, out of nowhere, An threads her arm through Akito’s, leans against him and asks, “Anything going on in that head of yours?”
He sighs, “Like what?” He spares her a glance before continuing to look ahead where they’re walking, since she isn’t paying attention at all.
“I dunno…anything really. Any ideas for the choreo? Should we wait until Kohane and Touya get here?”
“That’s not for like another hour. Besides, we told them we’d have something ready to teach them when they got here.”
“Well yeah, but it’s not like they won’t understand that we’ve hit a roadblock. You know that.”
Akito partly scoffs that she’s right and partly laughs realizing how worked-up he’s gotten. It's not that serious.
“We’ll get something eventually, and maybe they’ll have something new to bring to the table that we couldn’t think of.”
“Yeah.” He removes her arm from his to guide her to take a seat on a bench placed on the sidewalk across from a giant mural. An is always talking about sitting here to look at that art in particular. He takes a seat next to her and says, “Our partners are amazing afterall.”
“Oh~ My Kohane is just the best! I still can’t believe how far she’s come from that timid girl barely able to stand on a stage.”
“So, what, is Touya just chopped liver to you?” Akito asks with a smile.
“What? Oh my god, no! That’s not what I meant—I just meant like…” An knows he’s joking but she still gets defensive regardless. “He’s your partner and he’s amazing and Kohane is--Ugh, you know that I didn’t mean to leave him out!” She lightly shoves him to the side.
“Oh yeah? Do I?”
She stares at his stupid, unwavering smirk, and decides it’d be better to play along with whatever he’s doing, since he finally seems distracted.
“Well it’s like, I always kinda had a weird distorted kind of respect for you two, because of—”
“Excuse you?”
“Shh, this is going somewhere. I promise.” She waves her hand in his face and he promptly shuts up, kind of interested in where she’s taking this. “Because you had almost as much respect for my dad as I do, I thought you couldn’t be all that bad. When I found out you had taken on a partner to help you surpass Rad Weekend, I realized how serious you were, and it was around then when I started respecting you two as proper rivals, even though you guys had a rough start…"
“Yeah, it took a while for us to get any sort of foundation to build off of. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised you know that.”
“Are you kidding? For years, plural, years, I had to hear my dad mention how ‘nice that Akito kid is’ and ‘you should try befriending' or 'teaming up with him.’”
“And Ken was right, wasn’t he? Isn’t teaming up with us the best thing that’s ever happened to you?”
“No~ partnering up with Kohane was the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“Because she led us to team up.” Akito is still trying to poke fun at her, but he’s right.
So An replies in her own dry and mocking tone, “Yes, Akito. I am so very grateful to finally have such a valuable asset like you on my team.”
She thinks she was able to get an actual laugh out of him.
“Seriously though,” being serious constitutes looking away and admiring the mural. It's an abstraction of something that An hasn’t been able to determine. Hundreds of triangles in varying shades and hues of blue, red, and orange fit together to form some sort of image. Even though she doesn’t understand it yet, taking in the colors in the mock-sekai-sunlight elicits some sort of peace in her that the other places in the Street Sekai just don’t.
“You always being there—even before we started working together, just knowing that I had competition kept me going and helped me improve myself so much. I actually think I may have stagnated my progress by myself, and that’s when I started looking for my own partner. I knew from watching you and Touya improve over the past couple of years that there’s some things that can only be learned by working with other people.”
This is getting a bit heavier than she anticipated for a walk meant to clear their thoughts. But there’s so much she’s wanted to talk about for so long, and now she’s at a point where she feels like she can.
“Back when I thought you had sabotaged me and Kohane, I honestly felt more betrayed than anything. I think because I thought we were like-minded about putting on an amazing event and all, I put some sort of trust in you. I still don’t really understand why you took the fall for that, but ultimately, I’m glad things turned out the way that they did. I really have learned so much more by working together rather than against each other.”
She turns back to him to see that he’s also been looking at the mural, so intently. She bounces her shoulder against his to get his attention and asks, “Don’t you think so?”
He takes a brief moment to respond. “I don’t really remember why I did that either: taking the blame. But I knew that if you found out that guy was trying to mess you, you would’ve started paying more attention to him and his irrelevant games rather than your goal.”
“Don't think that I didn’t notice you dodging my question, but that kinda sounds like it was steeped in a bit of jealousy!" She meant that as a joke, but one brief look into his eyes and she could see the sincerity hidden away. Yeah, he probably would've been jealous if she had lost sight of their rivalry for even a moment.
Something like that is grounds for more teasing, but instead An is quickly becoming aware of how close they are right now: sitting shoulder-to-shoulder at one of her favorite places, talking about their true feelings in a world designed for that very purpose. "Does this mean you also had some respect for me back then?”
“Why wouldn’t I? We had—have the same goal and drive. And you’re right. Working together has turned out a lot better than I thought it would. I mean just listen to all that mushy shit you were spewing a couple of seconds ago.”
“Aaand now the moment is over.” An dramatically slaps her hand on her knees to hoist herself to her feet though she doesn’t walk away. She drags her feet around and behind the bench and leans onto Akito by his shoulders.
“Thank goodness, I was starting to panic thinking you were actually showing me some vulnerability.” Moment over = now he’s back to mocking.
“Sorry to break it to you, pal ,” She squeezes his shoulders as hard as she can for emphasis. “But now that we’re together together you may have to start getting used to this side of me.”
He leans his head all the way back so that he’s looking directly up at her. “And what side might that be?”
“The side of me that gets mushy over people I care about.” She pulls her hair to one side so it stays out of his face as it drapes down. “I have a tendency of letting people know how important they are to me.”
Akito doesn’t know how to respond. There’s not enough moments left on his phone battery charge that would allow him to find the courage to be as open with her as he’d like to be. He would rather pass away than admit it's something she can do that he can't. So instead he just maintains their eye contact, hoping that she understands that even though he can’t say it out loud right now, he cares about her so much and thinks she is so important. For now, all he can do is to continue doing what he does best: picking at her.
“I can see it all over your face, you want to kiss me so bad.”
...
'Huh?'
'Right now?! Was that an invitation? He’s joking obviously, but is he also serious? Isn’t this kind of awkward? ’
Millions of adjacent thoughts race through An’s mind all at once. She doesn’t have time to notice how flushed her cheeks have become, because the last thought she listens to is:
‘May as well go for it. What's the worst that can happen?’
And so she does. She lowers her head down and tries to kiss Akito upside down. The keyword is “tries” as Akito starts laughing as soon as their lips meet.
She immediately pulls back thinking she did something wrong, “What? What’s so funny?”
“So—Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, I just—That was terrible.” The nerve of him…He sits back up as he continues to laugh.
"I'm sorry? Were you not asking for it?” She’s getting a bit defensive in addition to her brain trying to recover from short-circuiting. “I didn't realize you were sooo experienced with initiating first kisses while upside down."
She is incredibly flustered and trying to hide it by walking away back in the direction they came from. She doesn't even take a few steps before Akito grabs her hand and swings her back, and she gracefully turns into him and intertwines their fingers. He takes hold of her other hand and lets them fall to their sides.
It’s taking a lot of An’s willpower to look him in the eye after embarrassing herself like that. Little does she know Akito doesn’t think anything of the sort.
"I’m sorry for laughing. It wasn’t directed at you, I was just shocked because I didn’t expect you to actually try anything.” Willpower is overrated. An looks away, the mural is still there. “It was actually my first kiss too."
"Well, I’m sorry for ruining it for you."
"You didn't ruin anything.”
He leans in to kiss her again, but more properly this time. For just a moment she forgets all about pouting and melts into it.
Akito is able to break his own record for how long he can last without laughing. Although after breaking them apart this time, his laugh is much softer and gentler.
"Oh my god, what is it now?"
"You're so nervous right now, your hands are sweaty and shaky."
An scoffs, "You're incredible!" And not the cool or amazing kind of incredible, but the ‘I can’t believe you would ruin our moment two times in a row just to get at me’ kind of incredible.
She yanks her hands away to wipe them on her shorts and starts walking again. She would probably seem mad if there weren’t such an impervious smile stuck to her face.
He wastes no time following her and takes her hand in his again and they walk side-by-side.
"I thought my hands were too gross for you."
"Okay, now you're putting words in my mouth. Please tell me exactly when I said that."
She doesn't answer for a second. "You implied it."
"I was just making an observation, that's it! I think it’s adorable that you would get so flustered over lil ol’ me."
"I could leave. Right now. My phone’s in my pocket. And you'd never hear from me again."
"Okay, good riddance."
An rests her head on Akito’s shoulder while they continue to walk back to Crase, hands still sweaty and slipping a bit, but Akito just holds on tighter to make sure they don't fall apart.
They weren’t able to clear their heads on their walk. If anything, they just made it more difficult to focus, and they certainly weren’t thinking of what to do about the choreography at all.