Jewelry Shopping

Akito's pov:

"Woah, that's one ugly fish!" Yumeko shouts as a blobfish swims by the aquarium glass.

"Yeah you're right, it is pretty ugly." I agree with her.

Blobfish are kinda ugly.

After our conversation clearing things up with the whole Kenji situation a few days ago, Me and Yumeko decided to hang out today and came to an aquarium.

"You know, when you scrunch your face everytime you're upset, you kinda look like that fish, Aki" Yumeko teases.

"Uh! You did not just say that!" I retort feeling my face heat up a bit.

"You gonna do something about it, Mr Blobfish?" She smirks.

"How about I have you join them in the large fish bowl they're swimming in?"

"Uh- okay I'll stop."

She surrenders and victory is mine.

Though, I don't think I actually have it in me to throw her into the water.

She's scary and would most likely kill me once she gets out.

"Oh Aki, look. There's a dolphin show later this afternoon. Can we go? Please?!"

A dolphin show does sound fun.

They splash people with water which isn't fun.

"But they're capable of crushing me with their tail" I groan.

"And I'm capable of throwing you in with them, so decide which is worse."

You know...

I can't help but feel frightened by her sometimes.

Girls, am I right guys...

"A dolphin show sounds fun." I gulp.

Don't wanna get on her bad side, Akito.

"Afternoon everyone and welcome to today's dolphin show. Please put your hands together as we welcome our first performer, Yoshi!" the lady anounces as she holds out a hoop which Yoshi effortlessly jumps through.

"Woah, he's so adorable!" Yumeko squeals from next to me.

I must admit, her personality is so infectious, even I'm starting to like them.

"Hey, you know what, I'm actually starting to like this." I whisper into her ear.

"I knew you'd like it." She whispers back.

Suddenly, a huge wave of of water splashes over the crowd.

"Goodness! Looks like Yoshi's excited!" The lady laughingly says.

The people in the first two rows are soaked!

I'm glad I didn't choose to sit up front.

The water did manage to get all the way up here, but it doesn't seem like anyone's drenched.

Aside from a few drops reaching us, it's not that bad.

Or... so I thought.

"Ah!" Yumeko screams, her hands in the air.

"Is everything... okay-"

How the heck is she so soaked?!

Everyone else in this row's completely fine, but she's drenched!

"How are you wet?! The water didn't even reach so far. Guess I didn't have to toss you in after all." I snorted while playing with her wet hair.

She glares at me, sending shivers down my spine causing me to lean back a bit.

"Uhh... I'm sorry." I utter, throwing my hands up in defeat.

"If I knew I was going to get soaked, I would've brought a change of clothes." She whines, twisting the water out of her skirt.

"You feeling any better yet?" I ask her as we walk out.

"Yeah, however I'm cold now." She says holding her shivering shoulders.

"Keep warm."

I throw my jacket over her to which she wastes no time putting it on.

"Thanks, Aki." Her smile as warm and lovely as ever.

"I think next time, we should go somewhere with less water." She consults as she ties her hair into a pony tail.

"Agreed. Though, it was your idea to come here."

"Next time, please talk me out of it." She suggests.

"Not like you'll exactly listen right away, but alright."

Time sure does fly, I say to myself as I'm browsing thorugh the what seems to be endless TV channels, but nothing good's on.

For some reason, I can't help but think about my date with Yumeko today.

She was so cheerful and full of energy. It was adorable.

I feel bad about how soaked she was.

She had and still has my jacket so I'm sure she's okay by now.

Knowing her, she got into the bath as soon as she got home. One thing about her is she loves being clean.

About thirty minutes later, I head to my room and throw myself on my bed, just scrolling through my phone.

Man, celebrities really are living their best life, huh...

I wonder what life would be like if I were to actually be friends with one.

Nah, that's crazy! I don't know any celebrities much less do I have any chance of becoming friends with one.

Okay, that's enough social media for one night.

I turn off my phone and tie my hair properly before going straight to sleep.

As I make my way down the hall to my locker, I run into Touka standing infront of hers.

She nods her head as I approach her.

"Heya, Aki." She cheerfully greets.

"Hey."

"I heard about you and Yumeko's little date at the aquarium over the weekend. Glad to see you two are so close."

"Wait, how'd you know about that?" I ask, a bit sceptical.

"Take a wild guess, why don't you."

Ohhhh...

Forgot their besties.

"Okay. I get it now."

"Just do me a favour and keep her smiling for me, Aki. I'm really glad to see her cheerful and finally enjoying life." She says in a soft tone.

Touka really cares about Yumeko.

It's nice to know she has such a thoughtful best friend.

"I promise. You can leave that to me." I pledged. To always keep her safe no matter what.

"Great! I'll see you around then, Akito." She waves goodbye as she dissapears around the corner.

"So, did you get Yumeko something for today?" Minami asks as he takes a bite from his takoyaki.

"What do you mean? What's so important about today?" I ask him, a bit confused.

"You seriously forgot?!" He gasped.

"Uhhh... What's going on? It's not her birthday."

"You guys are together for seven months today."

"No wait. You're talking about Thursday. Today's Tuesday, Minami."

"Oh, my bad. I got the dates mixed up." He nervously laughs.

"Yeah."

"But, what are you gonna get her? Seeing as you still got time."

"I don't know. What would be a suitable gift to give her? I haven't given her anything before."

Minami get's up and stands infront of me. "We can go look for a gift after school today and if we don't find any, we can check again tomorrow." He implies.

"Alright, I'm down for that. By the way, where is Yumeko anyway?"

"She left class with that guy a while ago."

"Her cousin?"

"Is that guy really her cousin?" He questions.

"Yeah, she told me so herself."

"Oh. He certainly doesn't seem like it. But if Yumeko said it was, then I guess that's that."

"Yeah. I'm glad I asked her about it. Now I can stop worrying so much when she's with him." I smile.

"I guess. Just remember, we have a mission after school."

"Yes, I remember. Where would we even begin to look though?"

"What better place to start than a jewelry store." Minami says as we stand infront of the jewlery store.

"Wow. How original." I sarcastically respond.

We make our way inside and immediately I start browsing thorugh the bracelets they have on display.

What do I even get for her?

There are so many options.

Minami notices my anxiousness and nudges my shoulder. "Calm down, Aki. We'll find something. Just think about what Yumeko likes."

"She likes flowers."

"Any specific type?"

"Tulips"

"Cool, now let's keep looking. They seem to have bracelets and necklaces with different flowers decorations." He heads off fo the necklaces and starts browsing.

Uh, there's one.

I found a bracelet with little tulips hanging on it.

It's black though. But I remember Yumeko actually loving black, so I'm sure she'll love it.

Her favourite colour and flower.

"Mianmi, I found one!"

He immediately comes over and seems impressed by my find.

"Great job. I'm sure she'll love it."

"Yeah!"

"Well, let's pay for it and head out."

We walk up to the counter and the cashier takes the bracelet and places it in a beautiful jewlery box.

"Thanks so much." I take the box and we head out.

"That went faster than I expected." Minami says.

"It sure did. I'm glad I actually found something." I say holding the box in the air.

"Only one day left before you get to give it to your girlfriend."

Ah, okay!

It's Thursday so the day's finally here.

I got my gift and I'm ready to give it to her.

Yumeko comes walking into class, looking as radiant as ever. "Morning Akito." She greets with a lovely smile.

"Morning, Yumeko."

She places her bag next to her desk and turns to face me.

"Man, I'm tired!" She groans as she takes her seat.

"Busy night?" I ask her.

"Yeah, too busy. I sat up with my books most of the time, and then Kenji called."

"Kenji called? What for?"

"It's nothing important. He was just being annoying as usual."

"Haha, I see. You two get along well."

"I guess so. Though we don't know each other long."

"Don't know each other long? But I thought you said you guys are cousins."

"We are, we just never really interacted much until just recently." She adjusts herself in her seat, laughing nervously.

"Oh, Well alright then. Know what today is?"

"Not really, why? Is something happening? Oh my god, are we writing a test?" She complains.

"No, not exactly. It's-"

But I'm cut off as Kenji walks into the class and over to Yumeko.

"Morning Akito, Yumeko." he cheerfully greets.

"Morning."

"Kenji, Good morning!" Yumeko excitedly greets.

Suddenly she has a burst of energy just by him walking in.

"Here, I got u that chocolate you were eyeing the other day." He hands a her a box and she gracefully accepts it.

"Thanks so much! I've been craving these for such a long time." Her eyes lighting up.

Okay, what's going on?

"My pleasure. Hey Aki, you want some too? I bought extra."

"Uhh, sure. Why not."

He hands me box and I thank him.

"We still on for later, Yume?" Kenji asks.

"Uhh, I'll see where the day takes me. I'm still exhausted from last night. I barely got any sleep."

"What do you guys have planned for later?" I interject.

"Oh, we were just gonna hit up the arcade for a little while." Kenji responds. "Care to join us Aki?"

"I guess. I haven't seen Yumeko game before so I don't mind."

"Great. We'll meet up after school and head on over."

After school, we meet up in Kenji's class.

The halls have just about emptied as everyone made their way home or to their respective clubs.

"Great, you all made it!" Kenji cheerfully says.

"Yeah, prepare to be taken down by my awesome gaming skills." Yumeko cheekily says with a smirk on her face.

"You game, Aki?" Kenji asks me.

Guess I stood out due to my awkwardness.

"Yeah, kinda." I say, my voice just above a whisper.

If we're gonna be with Kenji all afternoon, I might not get a chance to be alone with Yumeko and give her the gift.

"Cool, can't wait to see you in action."

Yumeko starts to look around in a panick and realises that she had forgotten her bag in class.

"Oh shoot, I forgot my bag!"

"How'd you manage to forget your bag? It's supposed to stay with you." Kenji laughs.

"Oh shut up! I hope they didn't lock up yet." Yumeko says in a panick.

"I'll go have a look, just calm down." I offer.

"Thanks, Aki. I appreciate it."

I make my way back to class and find Yumeko's bag on her table.

Honestly, I don't know how she missed it.

I guess she really was tired if she was so absent minded.

I grab her bag and make my way back down the empty hallway.

Man, the school's a whole lot quieter when it's this empty.

My phone buzzes and I immediately take it out to find a message from Minami.

'Goodluck on your special day, dude.'

Yeah, thanks man. Though I might not actually be able to do it today.

I respond, 'Thanks Minami. I'll give it my all'.

I put my phone away and continue walking back to class, getting lost in thought.

As I'm about to turn into the class, I stop myself at the door as I come across a scene that causes my heart to sink to my stomach.

"No... No, no, no!" I say under my breath as I take a step back, dropping the bag to the floor, the sound echoing through the empty halls.

Yumeko's eyes fix on mine, but I turn around and just walk away.

"Aki, wait!"

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