Chapter Text
Kaoruko was on her way to meet up with Rintaro for a date. They had agreed to meet up at the new mall that had just opened that Subaru had told Kaoruko about, which she thought sounded like a wonderful date idea for her and Rintaro. She had spent quite some time on her appearance. Curling her hair, doing her makeup, and most important of all, picking an outfit. Kaoruko wore an earthy green and brown plaid dress with a muted brown knitted cardigan over it, as well as a dull yellow beret hat with small ribbons of a similar shade. She seemed rather giddy as she entered the mall. which opened into a large open area where Kaoruko could see about half a dozen floors overlooking it. The decor of the mall interior was detailed and artistic, with many curves and organic patterns. The mall had a plethora of oblate skylights dotted across its ceiling, perfectly designed to provide the plants in the general area with more than enough sunshine. She made her way to the meetup spot — a little column on the ground floor — when she started looking around at the vast assortment of stores, restaurants, and cafés on each of the floors, thinking which ones she’d like to go to first.
Kaoruko had reached a point where the column that Rintaro had said he'd wait by could be seen. She had thought Rintaro was very handsome standing there. It had rained a little earlier and it seems as though that’s when he went to the mall since his hair was down. Rintaro wore a grey t-shirt with a white hoodie and black pants. A simple yet effective outfit. He was of course wearing the earrings that Kaoruko had given him for their first Christmas together. Seeing those made her remember the kiss that they had shared that day, which led to her somewhat hoping that she had the luck to kiss him today as well. She had also noticed, while staring at his lips, that he was smiling. Not only was he smiling, but he was also looking down at a slight angle and talking to someone.
Kaoruko looked to see who her boyfriend was talking with so happily and she saw that it was a girl, one that Kaoruko could not seem to recall from her memory. The girl was a little taller than she was, and most important of all is that she was blushing too. Although, it did not seem as though she had put much thought into her look. At first, Kaoruko thought that it might just be an old acquaintance of Rintaro, but then her head started being filled with negative thoughts instead. 'What if she has a crush on him? What if he starts liking her more?' Kaoruko thought to herself. She never thought that Rintaro appeared particularly scary or intimidating to others. She knew how handsome Rintaro was and how nice he could be. The mere idea that other girls might want to have him too, or take him away from her, made her worry. Her approach towards Rintaro had slowed. The girl had noticed Kaoruko and said something to Rintaro before leaving. After which, Rintaro looked at Kaoruko and waved at her like usual.
After the unfamiliar girl had left, Kaoruko went up to Rintaro, trying to hide her unease and uncertainty.
“Who was that?” asked Kaoruko with a weary sadness to her tone.
“Oh her? She’s an old friend of mine from middle-school.” replied Rintaro. After a momentary pause, he continued. “Any place in particular you want to go to start off?”
“I spotted a little café earlier, actually quite a few, and I feel a little hungry. How about we go get a bite to initiate this day of walking?” she suggested with a smile on her face.
After some walking around, they found a cozy little café, which was dimly lit with dark green walls accompanied by black floors and ceilings, and the furniture was made of wood. As Kaoruko and Rintaro went up to the counter to place their order, they noticed the quaint little glass display window for the desserts, as well as the chalkboard menu. They ordered their desired desserts and sat down together to eat and chat. Kaoruko grew weary again. She was spacing out during conversation and became shifty. She opened her mouth slightly to say something, but changed her mind and forced her mouth shut. Rintaro had also started to grow worried. Seeing that Kaoruko was acting uneasy made him worried. ‘What if something happened? Did someone try to harm her again?’ Those were the kinds of thoughts rushing through his head.
He hesitated to ask, but he gave in and asked “Is something the matter? You seem troubled.” with a soft voice, trying not to startle her.
Kaoruko hesitated for a moment before eventually replying. “That girl you were talking to earlier, who was she?” she asked with an equally soft voice.
“Didn’t I already tell you? She’s just a friend from back in middle-school. There’s not much more to it, I promise.”
“Are you certain? Someone could easily have thought she was your girlfriend if they didn’t know any better.” she started interrogating her boyfriend. She continued “So then what were you two talking about?”
“We were just catching up. I did meet her momentarily a little while ago when she approached me shortly after I said goodbye to you at the station.” he replied. “We were really just catching up. Her name’s Satsuki Nabata, we sat next to each other at the end of our third year. Even back then, we didn’t interact much.” Rintaro was recalling what he knew about this ‘Nabata’ that he thought Kaoruko would need to know.
“Nabata… Why did she come talk to you?” asked Kaoruko.
“Oh! She came up to me for my contact info, so I gave it to her.” said Rintaro back.
“HUH?!” Kaoruko exclaimed. “A girl you haven’t met properly in three years and barely talked with in your life comes up to you and asks for your contact info and you just gave it to her like that? Do you realise how stupid that is? Explain yourself at once, young man.” Kaoruko seemed more mad than worried while saying that. Although, she was definitely still worried.
“Okay, okay. I get that it sounds bad now that I say it out loud.” Rintaro replied with a surprised look, partially thinking this angrier side of Kaoruko was rather cute. “Our class is about to have a class reunion now that we’re graduating high-school. She had asked for my contact info so she could keep me updated, as there’s no set date yet. And to add me to the group chat. I’m serious, that’s it.” said Rintaro.
This seemed to have calmed Kaoruko down a bit.
“So it’s really just a class reunion? Then why would she stay to talk with you?” Kaoruko continued questioning Rintaro, but this time with a calm voice.
“Oh just to catch up and chat. We were just talking about what we’d been up to through high-school whilst I was waiting for you. She left when she saw you because she already knew we had planned to meet up.” Rintaro answered.
“I shall accept your answer for now. Let’s just get on with the day.” Kaoruko said with a little pride to herself after being reassured by her boyfriend that he only has eyes for her.