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“C’moooon! The mall’s gonna close soon, ya know!”
Len trudged behind Iroha, his slow pace contrasting her quick steps. They were heading to their favorite place – the food court’s pretzel shop. No matter what they were dealing with, a trip to the pretzel shop almost always managed to cheer them up.
…Len wasn’t sure if he could enjoy pretzels the same way with what happened yesterday hanging over him.
After Iroha had ordered and received their food, they roamed the mall in silence. Iroha opened her mouth to start a conversation, but then closed it when she saw Len’s eyes shooting daggers at his pretzel instead of eating it.
Some time after Iroha finished her pretzel, she noticed Len had stopped walking, and his head was turned towards one of the display cases. Curious, Iroha walked closer to Len and peered over his shoulder.
It was an oversized orange hoodie draped on a mannequin. To be honest, Iroha probably wouldn’t have noticed if she didn’t see Len looking at it, but that was because she almost never wore hoodies unless it was freezing outside. Her friend, however, was mesmerized by it, practically pressing his face to the glass.
“Helloooo? Earth to Len!”
Len jumped, startled, before turning to face Iroha. “Oh, uh, sorry. I guess I kinda got distracted…” He scratched the back of his neck, not meeting her gaze.
“Want me to buy it for ya?”
A brief flash of excitement was visible on Len’s face before being replaced by confusion. “Didn’t you already spend the money you brought here on our pretzels?”
“Don’t worry, I have an agreement with the cashier!”
Len looked at her with a puzzled expression, but Iroha simply smiled and winked before heading inside the store. A few minutes later, she bounded out of the store with the hoodie in tow.
“Alright, let’s go back to my place!” Iroha beamed, obviously proud of herself for managing to get Len something that he wanted.
“What did you give the cashier instead of money?” Len and Iroha started heading towards the entrance together.
Iroha simply winked before chuckling to herself. Len wanted to press further, but now that they were living together, he figured that he’d have all the time in the world to ask her again.
--
“So, what do you think?”
Len stared at himself in the mirror. It wasn’t much of a change, to be honest; he had tossed his bow on the sidewalk the moment he left home, and Iroha had lent him a pair of jeans, but he was still clad in his old school sweater. Even so, it was one of the first times he looked in the mirror and truly liked what looked back at him – mainly because of his hoodie. It made him look more masculine, of course, but it was more than just clothing to him. Ever since he could remember, Iroha had looked out for him, stood up for him, and treated him like a blood relative when his own parents stopped treating him like a person. No matter what the world thought of him, Iroha would always love Len, and he would gladly do the same.
Len wiped the tears streaming down his face, grinning. “It’s perfect.”