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On Sundays, Makoto Yuki had a habit of staying in his room on an online MMO. He received the game from his dorm mate, Junpei, shortly after the internet to the dorm was restored.
When playing the MMO, Yuki often let himself rot in his room until the evening- this was typically due to him spending time with an online friend he made, who he only knew as “Maya”- and when he left in the evening, no one was exactly sure where he went.
One girl at the dorm found that she sometimes had a problem with this schedule: Yukari Takeba. Yukari and Makoto had been friends for a while, meeting in early April, and growing closer over the last five months. Yukari sometimes found her mind lingering on Makoto for longer than usual, but she didn’t consider herself to be in love or anything like that. Still, Makoto was the only person who had ever lingered in her mind like this. Sometimes, Yukari wondered if she was simply denying having feelings in some attempt to prevent herself from being hurt.
Eventually, a sunday came where Makoto was rotting away in his room again, and instead of just being mildly upset for the day, she’d do something about it. She decided to try to drag Makoto out of his room before nightfall, though of course it was still his choice whether he wanted to go or not.
At around 3, she knocked loudly on the boy’s dorm door.
“Yuki-kun! You in there?”
Inside, Makoto looked up from his laptop. The game Innocent Sin Online was open, but he was alone in the game, not even Maya was there.
“One second.” He called out, barely raising his voice.
He closed out both the game and the laptop, then stood up from his seat, and began walking to the door.
Opening the door, Yukari stood, ready with a smile. “Oh good! You even look ready to go!”
Makoto slightly tilted his head to the side, confused. “...What do you mean?” As his voice reached Yukari’s ears, her stance slightly faltered.
Makoto continued to look confused at Yukari, who seemed to regain the small amount of composure that she lost, as she spoke right after hoping to herself that he didn’t notice the effect his voice had on her. “Well, I wanted to…” Yukari paused as she realized that she couldn’t just admit that she wanted to drag him out of his room for an objectively selfish reason. For a second, Makoto’s face began to express concern, however it went away as Yukari continued her sentence. “...Sorry, spaced out for a second there. Anyways, I wanted to go to Paulownia, but everyone else turned me down, so I was gonna ask you to go with me.”
Makoto didn’t take much time to agree. In fact it was instant. As soon as she finished, he agreed.
Yukari blinked before properly understanding what just happened. When it processed for her, she simply said “Cool!” and told Makoto to meet her at the lounge in 20 minutes, to which he instantly agreed. Again.
Yukari promptly walked away as she felt herself blush at Makoto’s apparent eagerness to accompany her.
While she was walking away, her thoughts lingered on that previous conversation, on Makoto.
His voice alone made her heart jump and it showed, maybe he didn’t notice it, but she certainly did. The exact moment that her heart jumped out of place, her stance faltered, and she had to recover. And while she considered that maybe it was just because he was so close, that explanation just seemed… lacking.
As Yukari looked into her mirror, she realized that the 20 minute wait time was perhaps a bit silly. Both she and Makoto were already fully dressed, and they’d only kill sunlight by waiting, however she decided that the wait was probably a good way to give Makoto time to think this stuff over, and maybe even… reject the offer.
As Yukari’s mind wandered to that thought, she actively frowned- her eyebrows drooped, and the hand that previously was holding up the lipstick that she decided to apply before going out fell to her side.
Why? The thought of Makoto changing his mind like that… it saddened her to a degree she hadn’t felt maybe since she was a child, who, like all children, would be easily upset.
Yukari couldn’t wrap her head around the obvious answer, so instead she just forced herself to think only about her makeup for the next 20 minutes. She never really gave makeup that much thought beyond making it look cute, but right now, it was a good distraction.
At the same time, Makoto sat behind his door with his head in his hands, a blush was present on his face. Ever since the Yakushima trip, he had always felt something when looking at or even thinking about Yukari, and while he didn’t want to admit it out loud for fear of losing a close friend, he knew in his heart that he was in love. Currently though, he was simply beating himself up for being so obvious in his pinning for her. He was playing through a significant quest that Maya put him up to, but dropped it for Yukari.
At least she didn’t seem to have any idea about his interest in her.
As the time drew closer to the agreed upon time, the both of them decided that what was running through their heads weren’t important, what was important was the date the two were about to go on.
Thinking about the word “date” in relation to the other person made both Yukari and Makoto slightly trip over themselves as they walked to the entrance.
Makoto was the first one there, he was closer to the door regardless, but also because he remembered Tomochika’s random dating advice that he gave Makoto one time after they spent time hanging out, “Always make sure you’re there first if you want to impress your date.” Makoto wondered to himself for a second what prompted that, but the thought process was cut short by Yukari’s arrival.
Yukari had reapplied her makeup during the time of break, but besides for that she was just in her typical summer casual wear.
Makoto felt his face tinge warm as he wondered if she reapplied her makeup specifically for him, but he quickly shook out the thought to make sure that he didn’t get his hopes up.
Yukari spoke first, “What? Stunned by my beauty?” She teased Makoto, but didn’t leave time for him to respond as she quickly spoke again, “Well, we need to head over to the mall quickly if we want to get the most out of the day.”
Makoto nodded in agreement, then opened the door and held it open for Yukari. She appreciated the gesture, but made her voice like some rich aristocrat as she told him “thank you” to slightly tease him. The two chuckled between themselves as they started walking to the mall.
On their walk, a silence presented itself for the first minute or so. Makoto was too nervous to speak, and Yukari was only then realizing they had no plan besides for going to Paulownia, to which she began panic-drafting a plan. She decided that instead of keeping it in her head, she'd talk to Makoto about it, and make sure they’re on the same page.
“So… Yuki-kun.”
Makoto tilted his head as he looked directly into her eyes. Yukari didn’t notice for the moment though, as she was still thinking about making a plan.
“I was thinking, we should come up with some sort of plan before we get there.”
Makoto nodded in agreement.
“Okay, so… do you have a preference?”
Makoto thought to himself for a second. There wasn’t exactly anything at Paulownia that he was desperate to go to, so he just shook his head no.
Yukari was simultaneously elated and disappointed with his response. Instead of getting mad though, Yukari just gave out an exasperated sigh, and told Makoto that he “can’t be bothered with any of the places I choose then.”
Makoto smiled as he agreed to the statement.
Upon making it to the mall, Yukari immediately took him to the clothing store that was in a second part of the mall. This second part of the mall was the part of the mall that Makoto was unfamiliar with, but any of his usual would-be discomfort was washed away by the company of Yukari.
As Yukari wandered the store, inspecting shirts and materials, she half-expected Makoto to resign himself to a nearby chair or bench while she browsed. To her surprise however, when she turned around, there was Makoto.
“Ah, sorry.” Makoto apologized as he stepped out of Yukari’s path.
“Nah, you’re good.” Yukari spoke as she walked, but she kept her attention towards Makoto. “To be honest, I didn’t expect you to still be following so closely.”
Makoto’s head tilted to the left, “I can distance myself a bit more if you need me too.”
Yukari looked back at him as she shook her head. “You stay where you are, mister. You’re not getting out of this that easy!”
Makoto smiled as the two laughed between themselves. He then nodded his head, “I’ll be right behind you at all times.”
For some reason, Yukari felt safe hearing those words. The knowledge that he planned to always be behind her was comforting. ‘Almost like he’s a safe space-’ Her thoughts were cut short as Makoto asked her where she was heading to next.
Yukari, deciding she was done with the clothing shop- they had already been there close to an hour- told him that they were going to go to a nearby accessory shop.
“But I thought this place also sold accessories?” Asked a confused Makoto.
“No buts! You promised to not be bothered by my store choices today!”
Makoto nodded. He knew that, but it was still confusing to him.
“Besides, that store actually specializes in accessories, this place is probably just all the cheap stuff but marked up!”
Makoto took in her words, they made perfect sense, so he just nodded, “Alright then, let’s go.”
Makoto began to walk out the door, and Yukari followed him. She had to speed up for a second to begin walking in tandem with him, but she noticed that he slowed down once she was back in his view.
“You know…” Yukari began as she noticed that Makoto’s attention had lingered on her face for a few seconds before she began to speak. She took a second to mentally restart like a computer, before continuing her sentence. “...You know, I bet we could find some good accessories for you.”
Makoto looked at her with an innocent curiosity. It made what Yukari was planning on doing even funnier to her.
Yukari led Makoto by the wrist deep into the accessory shop. In her other hand, Yukari held a small in-store basket provided at the entrance, which she filled up with many accessories, some were cute with animals or mascots, some were just pink, some were more modest- simple browns with nothing on them- and a growing amount of them were black and spiky, they almost looked like the type of accessories that the stereotypical emo would wear. Makoto, upon noticing that the “emo” accessories were beginning to surpass the other types of accessories in the basket, looked at Yukari, visibly confused, her only response was to snicker to herself as she told him not to worry.
“You’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Yukari winked at Makoto, whose confusion overshadowed any infatuation he might’ve otherwise felt after the action.
The first accessories Yukari tried on were the more “modest” ones. As she assumed, they didn’t exactly fit. Most either blended in with her hair or stood out in a bad way on her outfit.
After that, she tried on some of the more cutesy accessories, even dragging Makoto to the mirror she stood in front of in order to get him to try some too. They all looked decent enough on the two of them, Yukari thought they looked especially good on Makoto, though she was unsure why. Her mind drifted to two possibilities: The contrast of the cutesy animals and Makoto’s demeanor, or the fact that she had feelings for him.
Upon thinking about the latter option, her cheeks began to burn red.
“Takeba-san? Is something bothering you?” Makoto’s voice rang out from behind Yukari, who had turned away in embarrassment.
“Yeah… Everything’s fine.” Yukari sounded defeated as she took a second to mentally cool herself down.
“You sure? You sound-” Before Makoto could finish, a slightly red Yukari turned around and walked to the basket of accessories. Makoto took a step towards her, but she began walking back at the same time, causing him to freeze in place, waiting to see where she went before continuing.
Yukari told Makoto to give her the accessories he currently had on so she could put the other ones on.
Makoto obliged and waited as Yukari pulled out accessory after accessory, then either told him to put it on, or did it herself.
Eventually, Makoto was covered in a rather mainstream representation of the slowly dwindling emo culture at the time. Makoto found the contrast of his casual summer wear and the pure black and white accessories rather unpleasant, but seeing Yukari smile as she asked to take a photo of him “all decked out” made him smile as well.
Yukari ended up buying a few of the cuter accessories, but teased Makoto as they left, asking if he was sure he didn’t want any of the accessories she recommended. After the two laughed, a silence settled as the two entered their thoughts.
Makoto had had it on his mind for a while, but despite the fact that he had gone to Paulownia with Yukari before- as well as other people- this was the first time he had felt interest in preserving the moment.
Yukari was cursing herself out inside her head, as she realized that despite only having visited two shops this entire time, the sun was already setting. She wished it could’ve gone longer, but-
“Takeba-san.” Makoto’s voice cut off Yukari’s train of thought.
“Hm? What’s up Yuki-kun?” Yukari quickly turned to face him.
Makoto slightly coughed, or maybe it was him clearing his throat, before speaking again. “I was wondering if you wanted to go to one last place. Y’know, before the sun sets.”
Yukari looked at Makoto for a second, then she nodded in the stead of a verbal yes.
“Great, I was thinking we could go to Chagall Cafe. Right now should be slow for them, as it’s after the lunch rush, but before the date night rush.”
Yukari blinked once before smiling at Makoto. “Sure, let’s go.” Makoto smiled back as the two began walking towards the cafe.
When the two made it to the cafe, Makoto was exactly right. Only a few elderly customers were there, and the waitstaff seemed surprised to see someone enter.
The two sat down and ordered regular coffees, as Yukari told Makoto that she’d bury his body if he tried to order the pheromone coffee then hit on her. Makoto hadn’t had the idea anyways, but he still decided to not take his chances ruining any good moments they’d had today by doing such a thing.
After a while of idle chit chat, Yukari circled back to the prior discussion of the pheromone coffee, specifically to apologize.
“Why?” Makoto asked as he put down his cup of coffee.
Yukari’s gaze drifted to the side in embarrassment as she spoke, “I dunno… I guess it’s cause I know you wouldn’t do something like that. Besides, even if you did hit on me, it’s not like you’d be serious.”
“How do you know it wouldn’t be serious?” Makoto asked sincerely. As he asked, his lips seemed to curve downwards.
“Oh- Well, y’know…” Yukari truthfully didn’t have a good explanation that wasn’t the truth. The truth being that she had convinced herself he wasn’t into her as more reason to call her feelings anything but love. “I just… I wouldn’t expect such a thing from you… that’s all.”
Makoto’s lips continued to curve downwards, but stopped as he had an idea.
“That’s fair… Anyways, would you like to repeat something along these lines next week?”
Yukari stared blankly at Makoto. “Huh?”
“Would you like to come back here next weekend? We missed quite a few stores so…” Makoto slightly shrugged in Yukari’s direction, before picking up his coffee to hide the blush forming on his cheek.”
Yukari internally panicked for a second. Makoto was quite calm when (essentially) asking for a second date. Sure, he didn’t specifically ask for a date, but there was no denying that those words were the kind people said when they wished for a second date with someone.
“Sure, that’d be fun.” Yukari said in a small voice.
Makoto barely heard her response, but heard the sure, so he wanted to ensure Yukari was actually fine with the idea. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Makoto’s voice was purposefully clear of emotions. He didn’t want to force her into anything she didn’t want to do herself.
Yukari shook her head aggressively before speaking up. “Yuki-kun, I’d love to come back here with you.”
The two spent a few seconds dwelling on those words, but before either could say something about them, customers began to pour into the cafe. It seems rush hour was beginning, so the two got out of their seats and made their way to the crowded exit.
When they exited the mall, they noticed the sun’s absence in the sky, only some color leftover from the sunset remained. They began walking back in silence. The two were processing the words exchanged between them (not even just those last words, they both thought about the entire day.) As the sky darkened even more, Yukari instinctively began walking closer to Makoto. Their time spent in Tartarus as well as his actions in general lead Yukari to assume that Makoto would be reliable in any mugging or assault.
As Yukari thought about this, the idea of Makoto feeling safe popped into her head, and after a second of thinking about it, she agreed with the idea. In recent times especially, she really felt that Makoto was safe to be around, in multiple aspects of the word.
Makoto spoke up to discuss when they wanted to meet next week, adding that Yukari could cancel at any time if she so wished.
Yukari nodded, unwilling to share that would likely hate herself later in life for turning the offer down.
As the two arrived at the dorm, the silence was broken by Yukari. Who asked Makoto if was sure about what he said about going back next sunday. Makoto simply smiled and affirmed to her that he was sure. Yukari sighed in relief to herself.
After the two entered, they noticed that no one was in the lobby, and from there, Yukari thanked Makoto for the good time. As she quickly walked up the stairs, she looked back at Makoto, who stared right back. The two were locked in eye contact for what felt like an entire minute.
“Good night, Takeba-san.” Makoto’s low voice carried through the empty lobby, and it reached Yukari perfectly.
“Good night, Yuki-kun.”