Sweet Nothings
Last night, when I was looking over my new Shinkenger photobook, Portraits Appare!, one picture stood out so much that I had to do this ficlet. The story is being told from Kotoha's point of view.
Dorayaki is a Japanese confection consisting of a dollop of sweet red bean paste sandwiched between two small pancake-like sponge cakes.
Disclaimer: Samurai Sentai Shinkenger and all related characters and references are the property of Toei of Japan. No infringement is intended or implied.
After calligraphy practice this afternoon, I was feeling kind of hungry, and I was craving something sweet. I remembered that the other day, I'd seen a package of dorayaki in the pantry, so I went to the kitchen. When I got there, I nearly bumped into Chiaki, who was on his way out. He must have been in a snacking mood himself, because he had a dorayaki in his hand.
"Hi Chiaki," I said. "Are there any more dorayaki left?"
Chiaki was in the middle of unwrapping the dorayaki when he stopped. "Oh no," he replied. "This was the last one. I'm sorry." He looked kind of sad.
Aw, that's no good. I was actually looking forward to having a dorayaki. Oh well. There's plenty of other food in the pantry; I'm sure there's got to be something else sweet in there. I put on the sunniest smile that I could. "That's okay. I'll see if there's something else I can snack on." I stepped past Chiaki into the kitchen.
"Hey, Kotoha." I turned around. Chiaki tore the dorayaki in half and held one of the halves out to me. "Here," he said, smiling.
Okay, I wasn't expecting that at all. "Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's okay."
"Thank you," I said. "That's very sweet of you." As I took the dorayaki half from him, I felt my face getting warm. Why does that happen a lot when I'm around him? "Are you sure you're okay with this?"
"Don't worry about it. I don't mind at all," said Chiaki cheerfully. He tapped his half of the dorayaki against mine, as if we were holding wine glasses and toasting each other. "Enjoy," he said, raising his half and taking a bite.
"Thank you." I bit into my half of the dorayaki. Mmm, yummy. This was exactly what I wanted. Suddenly, I became aware of Chiaki watching me, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was blushing. "Is something wrong?" I asked.
"Hmm? No, not at all. I'm just happy that you're enjoying it." He chuckled and bit his lip like he was nervous or something. I was right! He is blushing! I wonder why?
Then again, I think I'm blushing… why?
Short and sweet… that's all it needs to be! ^_^