Amu took one final glance at the comical bacon and eggs clock hanging on the kitchen wall before getting up to place her dishes in the sink. She hurriedly walked toward her front door where she paused shortly to slip on her most comfortable black sneakers. Flicking off the light switch beside the door, she took a moment to gaze forlornly at the empty house. "I'm leaving now…" She muttered, knowing all too well no one was there to hear her words and bid her a goodbye. Abandoning her sorrow, she stepped out onto the porch.
One hour later, Amu stood behind a counter, stifling a yawn. Surrounding her were a variety of balloons, streamers, and small plastic toys. For the past year and a half, Amu has spent the majority of her free time working two jobs. Late mornings and early afternoons in the summer, she worked as a clerk at a small party store. Throughout the school year, she'd work here for only a couple hours after school, before heading to her other job.
Most other seventeen year old girls were out having fun with their friends, sneaking into clubs, dating cute boys... but Amu was heavily concerned with finding a way to afford her lifelong dream of attending university abroad, in America. Her parents were also helping; waking up earlier to put more hours in at their own jobs. Even her younger sister Ami, bless her heart, took up a paper route in the morning to help with contributions. Amu felt great guilt from their actions, but despite her pleas, her family insisted on helping her.
Leaning against the check-out counter, the pink haired teenager began steadily drumming her fingers against the glass. Business was unusually slow today, and Amu just couldn't for the life of her figure out why. It was, after all, early summer; prime party season. Tightening her apron strings, she decided to use this opportunity to organize the balloon station. Whoever had the late afternoon shift on the day prior left the colorful latex in unsightly disarray. Grabbing handfuls from beneath the countertop, she began piling the deflated balloons in front of her. It was as she was sorting when the familiar bells let loose their cheery jingle, alerting her of her first customer of the day.
"Ah, welcome to The Party Station. How can I he- Ikuto?!" Amu's honey eyes widened significantly as she stared at her senior standing in the doorway.
"Amu." He smiled warmly, happy to have finally gotten the chance to pay his favorite girl a visit after so long.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be studying?" The pink haired girl babbled, still trying to wrap her head around his presence.
Ikuto bit back a chuckle, glad to see she hadn't changed at all in the past few months he'd been away at University. "It's summer, Amu. My final class for the year was yesterday. I've come back to spend the summer at home." He explained offhandedly, striding confidently toward her. "You weren't at your house, so I assumed you had already left for work. Which I see you have." He remarked, glancing around at the decorations.
"O-oh is that so? Well congratulations on completing your third year!" Amu offered, her voice trembling in nerves.
Amu Hinamori and Ikuto Tsukiyomi were long time friends; rather, acquaintances, as Amu claimed to prefer. They'd met when Amu was just twelve years old and had to fend the much older Ikuto off when he tried to steal her precious eggs. Their roles at the time would dictate for the two to be sworn enemies, but Amu's big heart and Ikuto's growing crush would never allow that to happen. Ikuto watched Amu grow into a beautiful young woman, over the years. She'd grown her hair a bit longer than when she was younger, and Ikuto was very excited for the small amount of cleavage she'd gained. Her height had only increased marginally, leaving the blue haired boy to continue towering over her. The most significant change, however, was the loss of her charas. Around her fifteenth birthday, Amu lost her dear friends just as Ikuto had lost Yoru. The memory of the small and unnaturally energetic little companions was a bittersweet one; leaving it as a subject to rarely be treaded.
"It's good news, wouldn't you say? Just one more year of school keeps us apart. Then, we can be together forever." Ikuto breathed, as if it were such a natural thing to say.
Amu's face instantly heated up, causing her to lose the ability to make eye contact. "I-Ikuto, you don't know what you're saying. Besides, you know I plan to move to America after this last year of high school…"
Ikuto leaned forward onto the balloon-covered countertop, deciding he was bored of the prior conversation. "So, do I get a free balloon for completing another year of university?" He inquired, playing with the object in question between his fingertips.
Amu's eyes shot back up to his as she rapidly snatched the piece of latex away from him. "No, I don't have the authority to do that." She glowered, setting the balloon with the others of the same blue color.
"How about a free kiss?" He purred, leaning closer toward her on the opposite side of the counter.
"A-alright you want the blue one?" Amu sputtered, grabbing the same balloon he'd been holding back in her hand before spinning toward the helium tank.
Ikuto tapped his thin in mock thought as her mulled over his choices. "No, I prefer pink ones." He answered.
Amu's face at this point was burning up. She could feel herself sweating and was thanking the gods that today wasn't one of the days she forgot to wear deodorant.
Swapping out the blue balloon for a pink one, she purposefully took her time with the helium tank. As the latex began expanding, she could feel herself calming down and her blush residing. She knew Ikuto never meant the things he said; he was only teasing her. So why did she allow herself to get so worked up?
Making a mental note to pay for the balloon before she left for the day, Amu removed the balloon from the nozzle and carelessly tied it closed. "Did you want a specific string?" She asked, refusing to face him. "For this color, we recommend red, white, or black."
Despite her not being able to see it, Ikuto let a coy smirk fall upon his lips. "Blue, please." He asserted, ignoring her suggestions.
"Ah, Ikuto…" Amu instinctively spun to look at him, ignoring her brain telling her it was a bad idea. "It clashes…" She tried to reason.
Her response only made Ikuto's smirk turn into a genuine smile. "No… I think it's perfect." He insisted.
The look of uncertainty remained on her face, but, as they say, the customer is always right. Turning back toward the thin ribbons, she tied the dangling end of the blue one just below the knot in the pink balloon. Letting the balloon float above her, she gave a good yank on the string to make it longer, before taking the scissors in her light blue apron and severing the string from the rest of the spool. Employing the scissors once more, she quickly ran the open blade over both ends of the ribbon, causing it to curl up into perfect ringlets. Smiling in approval at her handy-work, she turned once more and outstretched her hand toward her 'customer'.
"Congratulations on completing your third year of University, Ikuto." She offered, a shy smile dancing on her lips. Amu faltered, as for a second, she swore she saw something of a sparkle in Ikuto's midnight eyes. It was a flicker of something she'd never seen before. Though, now that she thought about it, how often did she look into his eyes? With the ways he teased her, she often found herself too embarrassed around him to actually look at him.
"Thank you, Amu." He spoke, his words drifting softly between them, sincere and for her ears only. He reached forward to take hold of the balloon, allowing his hand to lightly brush against her much smaller one as he took the ribbon in his fist.
And there it was again.
Amu noticed the same bizarre look in his eye as their hands met. It only lasted as long as the skin contact did, prompting Amu to speculate it was she who brought it on. Part of her wanted to test her hypothesis – the part that Ran would once-upon-a-time grant permission to take over the reins – but another part of her held her hand still on the glass countertop. Deciding to think about it some other time, she busied herself with completing her task of sorting the balloons.
She caught Ikuto's movements out of the corner of her eye as he trapped the blue ribbon he held beneath a balloon weight on the counter. She wasn't quite sure what he was doing, until he grabbed a handful of the unsorted latex and began placing them specifically in their allocated piles. Amu wanted to tell him he didn't have to (it was, after all, her job), but she couldn't bring herself to say the words. What with business being so slow today, she could really use the company any way.
"You did know that the sign on the door says you're closed, right?" Ikuto finally mentioned, after sixty long seconds of silent sorting.
Amu looked up at him, alarmed. "Wait… what? You're joking, right?!" She shouted fearfully, running from behind the counter toward the glass entrance door to see for herself. "Oh man! No wonder no one's been coming in. I can't believe I forgot to switch it…" She groaned, seeing that Ikuto had indeed been telling the truth. Taking the opportunity now, she flipped the red sign around so that the word "Open" was now being displayed, as it should be. "Oh, Amu, you're so stupid…" She mumbled to herself, feeling guilty that the day's profits would suffer, and it was all her fault.
Ikuto looked at her, part with pity and part with the same guilt. He knew the sign was a mistake; he should have mentioned it sooner or even just flipped it on his own when he walked in. Glancing around for a way to cheer her up, his eyes rested on the radio hooked up to the various speakers around the shop. Moving behind the counter, he turned the black device on, and spun up the volume. Naturally it was already set to some party music station, so he didn't even have to work to find a song Amu would enjoy. While he himself preferred classical music, he knew Amu was a devout fan of the Pop genre.
Hearing the melody of one of her favorite songs drifting throughout the store, Amu spun to see the cause of the disturbance. "Ikuto?" She questioned, "What are you doing? Ah, get out from there; you shouldn't be behind the counter!" She berated, rushing toward him to usher him out, as if he were a clueless cat.
Without saying a word, Ikuto grabbed both of Amu's hands as she approached him. "I-Ikuto?" She sputtered. Letting his actions be her answer, he led her out into the open center of the shop. The rhythm of the music flowed through him as he began twirling the girl of his dreams. It took Amu a moment, but once she understood his intentions, she couldn't help but smile and follow his lead. And for the duration of that song, Ikuto and Amu spun and danced right there, in the middle of the party store, in front of the floor to ceiling windows, where anyone passing by could glance in and see.
As the next song started up, Amu shook her head as she allowed her better judgment to overweigh her desires. "Ikuto, I can't do this right now." She asserted, pushing her hands against his chest to keep his sinful body at a distance. "I need to focus on working. I've got to work extra hard to make it up to my boss for making us lose out on sales…" She explained, feeling bad for having to turn him away, as she knew he was only trying to cheer her up.
Ikuto nodded, saddened to hear her words and have to stop touching her, but also understanding her position. Looking at her downcast expression, he knew he had to find another way to make her feel better. He glanced around the small shop once more, before his eyes fell on a stack of fliers set up on the other side of the window, beside the entrance.
"Don't worry about it, Amu. Your sweet Ikuto will make it all better." He assured, vaguely.
"What are you-" The pink haired girl managed to get out, before being caught off guard by a quick peck on her cheek. Stunned by his actions, Amu watched as Ikuto snatched up his balloon and scurried out to door, only to pause momentarily as he grabbed a large portion of the sales fliers. Looking at her through the window, Ikuto smiled at her once more before darting down the street, toward the park.
Amu was left alone, only able to guess at what Ikuto had planned.
It took about twenty minutes for the shop to be filled with excited female customers, happily placing orders for balloons, purchasing various goods, and inquiring about the store's rentable inflatable bounce-houses. Amu was overjoyed by the sudden throngs of customers, not minding one bit all the work she had to do to attend to so many people. While she couldn't for sure figure out what Ikuto had done, she was able to catch snippets of conversations about the "hot shirtless guy in the park".
Ikuto… thank you. Amu thought, as the guilt for her earlier mistake faded away and she was left feeling surprisingly warm inside.