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“Welp, that was tiring.”
The streets of Japan where packed that night, though they were always like this in Shibuya. Kid had sent them on a minor mission to take care of a potential kishin, and even with all their experience these egg kishins always found ways to keep up with them, using the foreign architecture as an advantage. But with the mission accomplished Maka and Soul were now wandering around looking for something to eat, they were uninjured but the meister seemed to be the most tired in the duo.
“Have you been here before?” Soul asked while looking around all the people surrounding them, putting one shoulder around Maka, avoiding touching her.
“Not really…” she stopped to look at the view, a rainbow of lights in the multiple buildings, Soul turned to look at her after noticing her trailing off, only to see her amazed kaleidoscopic eyes accompanied by the pale freckled skin that now could turn green, purple, and blue. A warmness flooded his chest. “My mom’s from here but never came back.” She turned to him. “What do you wanna eat?”
“You know what I’m going to say, and you won’t like it.”
“I’ll just eat some nuggets or something then.”
“You’re a disgrace.”
She chuckled “C’mon, let’s look for sushi.” Her calloused hand grabbed his when the red light turned green, running through laughing teenagers and businessmen, if Soul could watch this moment from the outside, in another body, from another life, he would believe they were in a movie.
When they had crossed the big Shibuya Street Maka didn’t let go off him, with her phone out and looking for directions to get some sushi she took the lead. He would dare to say that Maka wanted him to have the best experience of Japan that night, or at least the best food. He noticed she was walking with a lump in one of her legs, noticing a bright red scratch in her knee.
“I need to buy something first.”
“What? Let’s just go and eat.”
Soul took the lead now, heading towards a convenience store in the neon lighted night, once there, Maka was reluctant in entering and she actually didn’t go inside for some minutes. Soul stalled by looking at the products like they were the most interesting thing in the world, they might have been, I mean, dark chocolate potato chips? Just the thought of eating something like that made the albino cringe. He passed through the magazines section, not understanding a thing in the front pages but being amazed at the bright colors in them, he could assume they were fashion oriented, and fashion was something he was always interested in, streetwear being his favorite type of clothing. He took his time at glancing at the stack of different magazines until some Rilakkuma band aids were thrown at him, barely catching them.
“Look, I got some Hello Kitty’s too!” The little box of band aids was closer to his face now. “They are so cute!”
The one’s Maka had thrown at him had the iconic bear in a yellow background laying back and seeming very relaxed by the way his eyes were drawn.
“Pfft. That’s literally me.” He laughed.
“That’s WHAT I THOUGHT! And look at these too, I can’t decide between this one or this box of My Melody.”
They started walking over the auto service cash register while Maka ranted about not being able to decide because they were all so cute and she loved them, and what if they never came back to Japan?
Soul grabbed some mint gum, Maka put the two band aid boxes in the register and gave him a big smile. Once they paid, or more like Soul had to, they were on their way to (finally) find something to eat. Maka noticed a traditional restaurant and decided they should go there. With warm yellow lights dimmed, a few customers sitting at the bar and some others at the tables.
Maka chose a booth as she usually would (do) and Soul took seat in front of her.
“Now, for real, what’cha gonna eat?” he asked in a mocking tone and a spiky grin.
“I’m craving for some teppanyaki…I used to eat it on Wednesday’s when I was little.”
The waiter came with some glasses of water and the menu’s and rapidly left.
“You’ve never mentioned that.”
“It was a while ago, when they were together.” She shrugged it off and took a sip her water. Sweat coming off their glasses, Soul noticed it was a warm summer night, but he and Maka could keep up with it, after all, they are from the desert, or well, at least she was but Soul learned to manage.
“You know, I started liking eating fish because of the music events my parents always made us attend to. It was the only thing I liked from them.”
“Did you only eat it when you were at those?”
“Yeah, my dad didn’t like the smell so I couldn’t eat it in their house.”
Maka hummed in response.
“Good thing he can fuck off now, mhm?”
Soul burst in a heartfelt laugh, resonating, and echoing in Maka’s chest. She smiled back, with her cheeks blossoming pink, and it was as refreshing as his first memory in Japan when they arrived. Petals floating around and between them, caressing his hair, contrasting in both of their black jackets.
Because yes, even in the hot summer of Japan Maka had to wear her gabardine and Soul his leather jacket.
Bad decision? Maybe.
They left their plates clean.
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Once again out in the street the two of them got instinctually closer to each other as they walked to the train station. Soul wondered if any of their friends did this too, he knew they did, even Maka did it with all of them but it always felt different with him…
“I know what you did back there.” She said still looking straight.
“Mhm? At the sushi?”
Maka smiled while denying with her head.
“How is your knee anyways?”
“’s good now.”
Maka had put on one of the band aids she had purchased, or more like Soul had, at the restaurant.
“You’re too stubborn.”
“Aw cut me some slack” She leaned into him. He pressed himself back. “I’ve had worse.”Soul was about to say something but a long yawn came out her mouth, interrupting him.
“What, did the alcohol hit you?” he mocked.
“We know between you and me you’re the lightweight so shut up.”
“Uncool, dude “
“Let’s just get on the train please, I wanna go to bed.”
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They got up on the train, taking their respective seats, Maka at the window and Soul in front of her, that way they wouldn’t fight to see the view. The ride would take an hour and a half, they had to head to the hotel at another city, sleep and then do another mission.
It didn’t take too long when the blonde eyelashes of the meister had started fluttering, Soul watched as Maka started to bounce her head, falling asleep and then waking up abruptly (and sometimes with a tiny gasp). He knew she looked if he had seen her but Soul would always look away.
Until her languid green eyes caught his deep cherry eyes. And then she didn’t take them away from his.
“What?”
“’s nothin…”
They kept staring. Maka’s eyes started to slowly close.
“You don’t have to stay up, I can wake you up when we get there, ya know.”
“I’m not falling asleep. It’s just the jetlag, it messed me up.” She hummed. “And if I were to, why would you tell me right before falling asleep?”
“Maka, I don’t need you to justify if you’re falling asleep. And I know how we like reassurance, that’s why.” Words came out harsher that he meant but his tone remained calmed. Maka frowned. Soul sighed. “I- sorry I didn’t mean…just get over here next to me.” He padded the seat at his right.
The girl observed the free seat in front of her but didn’t move. She eyed Soul again, waiting for him to realize she wouldn’t take a seat near the corridor. He did take his time.
“You’re so naïve some times.”
“Huh? What did I do now?”
She patted the seat next to her. Now Soul frowned and hesitated until he switched seats.
Maka shifted in her seat in a try to get comfortable and closer to Soul, she rested her head near his shoulder. His fragrance hit her, it wasn’t that scandalous as someone would imagine, instead it was a subtle woody smell with maybe a bit of sweat.
“Don’t you dare drool.”
“Ha ha.” She grabbed his arm close to her and closed her eyes. “Wake me up a station before ours.”
“Not even a ‘please’?”
She regained her posture in the seat, now she was facing him “Oh, dear Soul, my best friend, the coolest guy in the world, the cheese to my french fry, the salt to every single one of my foods, the-- ”
With one hand the weapon had shut his meister up.
“Ookay that’s enough, smartass.”
She giggled in his hand, some girls passed near them and giggled with her. Soul rolled his eyes. In that brief moment Maka studied his long and full pale eyelashes, his slightly crooked nose which she liked so much, how some hairs fell in some natural way that just made sense for his face and made him look so good.
“If you keep staring at me, you’re gonna scare off all of the Japanese cuties.” Her high-pitched voice was muffled by his partner’s hand.
“Aren’t you Japanese?”
Oh. Oh.
Blood started to warn both of their surprised faces. Maka didn’t back off and neither did Soul.
“I uh…I—“
She took his hand out of her mouth “Are you kidding?”
Silence felt eternal.
“No. I…do think you’re…cute.”
Maka stayed silent, now the boy’s eyes were studying her reaction, waiting for any sudden move from her. But there wasn’t, there were only her bright doe emerald eyes and blushed in a strawberry tone highlighting her cheekbones in contrast to the fair color in her skin.
“Do you still wanna go to sleep…?”
She looked back at him with a crooked smile and said “I don’t think I can now.”
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Eventually the girl was asleep, comfortably laid in Soul’s chest. The calm breaths coming from her mouth had a specific rhythm and timing, he counted every second that passed with each one of them making him enter in this hypnotic and relaxing pace. All sounds surrounding him told him to sleep, the low lights on top of them were low, allowing them to close their eyes in the intimate setting.
Anyone in their friend group and even outside of it knew Soul was deeply in love with Maka. Since when? That wasn’t certain, they thought it had happened organically and that not even Soul knew. But he did. It happened when he was turning 16, a gloomy cold day in January when Maka made him chocolate chips pancakes with some strawberries on top and whipped cream. When she discovered the sweet tooth Soul had and that he loved strawberries, it was only obvious for her to make him desserts with the fruit. She used to do this, make a sweet breakfast before going out to anything she had planned with all of their friends to celebrate him. That day they had an emergency call right after breakfast, there had been a maniac killing a bunch of innocents, so they had to take a flight to Russia. As someone as responsible and ready like Maka, they had made some emergency bags for most occasions mostly based on the weather and added some underwear and the hygiene essentials.
Of course, their friends told them they could go instead, but thet had refused, assuring that they had nothing to worry about. A strong enemy awaited them in Russia and after some hours fighting and wounds in Maka’s legs and torso, they laid in the pavement where they had been fighting some minutes ago. Maka was using Soul’s abdomen as a pillow while catching her breath from all the action and punches she had received. One arm was reaching out for her left rib and her legs were extended, Soul had one arm resting his head and the other one was playing with one of Maka’s pigtails.
“What a birthday,” he sighed. “I hope BlackStar didn’t mess up the fucking cake.”
Maka hummed in response “I’m sure Tsubaki will stop him or even Kid.”
Soul groaned.
“Besides, I can buy you one here. A strawberry one.”
Both of them stayed silent again. Soul kept playing with his meister’s hair and became aware of his chest going up and down. That was weird, he never had to pay attention to that while being with Maka (unless it was for training).
“I’ll take that offer.”
Her giggles filled the cold empty air, at the position they were they couldn’t see each others faces. But Soul could picture her smile, and that was the one, the one that’d made him pick up heat in his heart and light up his chest. It was like he was glowing within, right there laying in the ground beside her.
The gulp he took felt audible, but Maka didn’t hear it. She got up easily even though her injures but he knew the black blood had something to do with. She offered him her gloved hand. From the ground he could see how her pointy nose turned pink, one of her ponytails was lower than the other and some hairs were sticking to her forehead. Her fierce eyes from battle were now softened and made him wonder if she was aware of it, of how all of her softened whenever they were together…well, except when he was messing up with her.
He grabbed her hand and propelled himself to stand up, she smiled at him and hugged the slender body of her partner.
“Good job with the bad guy!”
He laughed and thanked her.
Sometimes she was the weirdest.
Soul knew it was there that he had fallen in love with Maka. The day he turned 16.
Sometimes he thought about the immense heartbreak it would be to stop being friends with her, because every year in that day he’d remember her even more. The way that, in a freezing night, she made him feel the warmest.
A fatalist indeed.
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The train had stopped in its last station, four more station after they had to get off to their hotel. Soul was woken up by a worker, nudging his shoulder a bit. He growled at the movement but finally opened his eyes in panic with Maka still asleep in his chest. The worker told him something he couldn’t understand in Japanese, and he seemed to notice the confusion in Soul’s frown.
“This is the last station, all passengers need to exit the train please.”
A soft rumbling was felt against Soul’s chest; it was Maka waking up.
“Uhh…thank you, we’ll be in our way.” He smiled awkwardly. “Hey, uh, Maka, we’re here c’mon.”
Barely waking up, she struggled to open her eyes. She stood up with laziness and made in autopilot her exit to the station.
Oh fuck oh fuck.
A voice could be heard over the speakers of the station, welcoming them and all the passengers to it, mentioning the name and that it had a souvenir store.
Maka froze. Soul took his space behind her, preparing to run with one foot ready, he slightly turned to the left before her voice, like a command, made him stay in place.
“Soul,” he could feel her furious glare even when he turned his head away from her, and then her iconic Maka Chop hit him “you idiot.”