"C'mon," Rin groaned loudly.

"No," Haruka answered, growing agitated.

"Please?" Her girlfriend begged and gave a kiss on her shoulder.

Haruka took her gaze off the TV and snapped, "I told you no! I don't care about what I'm wearing," Haruka sighed, explaining this for the upteenth time, "and I have enough clothes-"

"Those 'clothes' are swimwear. You have everything from Sporto's to Gucho's Supreme wear, and I have floral print dresses, summer hats and shorts." Rin clarified with a snort.

"Why should I care if you have those? I can borrow them whenever you're not wearing them. You have so much clothes from every season that weren't worn or donated. I'm wearing them right now!" Haruka displayed her outfit with her arms being exagerated as though she was presenting a dress. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts to knees, sandels and a summery-patterened blouse that stopped to her shoulders.

Rin heaved a great gust of wind for her lungs and lunged out her truth. "You should care because I'm your girlfriend. I happen to like seeing you in cute dresses and shorts and...and something that isn't a swimsuit all the time! I love you, I really do but...you can't just wear bikinis all day, especially on our double date tomorrow! Do you really want to embarrass me in front of Rei and Nagisa, even though they do it so well with their matching outfits?"

Instead of answering that truth, Haruka gave her a pondering expression. She knew how this would go; some silent bargaining would be worth going to the mall with Rin for clothes.

"I'll cook mackeral for the whole day," Rin declared suddenly without hesitation.

"No."

"A week?" Rin sat beside her girlfriend, wrapped her arms around her waist and began kissing her exposed shoulders.

"Mmm...no," Haruka surpressed her snickers and remain poker-faced.

"The month, starting tomorrow, okay?" Rin battered her eyelashs, expressing her puppy face and even whimpered to her.

It took her five seconds before Haruka answered, "Okay then."

"Yes!" Rin dashed out of the living room only to rush back, kissed Haruka's forehead and declared, "Haruka Nanase, you're not gonna regret this!" Haruka watched as Rin skipped her way out before touching her forehead, a blush of light pink swept on her cheeks.

XxXxXxX

Haruka had counted her misfortunes since she and Rin stepped inside the third shop with two bags in each hand. Rin was ecstatically energized in the morning, having done Haruka's makeup and even cooked her favorite meal for breakfast, and now Rin is switching shirts and leaving them in random places.

Haruka looked at her full reflection and grimaced at the dark-colored floral t-shirt with a pocket on the left breast. Haruka tried to put her finger in the pocket but like all those fake outfits of today's generation, they were stitched in. What is the point of having them if you can't use it? Haruka thought, disappointed to the people who make these things and called them 'fashionable'.

Haruka thought after showing Rin the shirt she would be delighted, but Rin bombarded her with shirt after shirt, skirt after skirt, and even set pieces she found while rummaging in the store. She was exhausted just from putting them on and off, showing them to Rin and retreating back into the brightly lit room. Haruka had made a pile large enough for her to sit because the room had no chair, and she was too tired to care if she made creases on the material.

Then, Haruka's stomach growled in a plea for food. When Rin handed her a skirt through the curtain, Haruka asked if they could eat after this?

"Yeah, just give me the things you like and I'll buy them,"

"But..."

"What, is something wrong?"

Haruka glanced at the piles. The room was filled with clothes, her ankles were trapped in a flood of materials and she had a panic attack of what Rin's reaction might be.

"Um, I just saw this really cute skirt at the window and wanted to try it with this shirt I'm wearing," Haruka lied with guilt building behind her voice. "Could you get it for me please?"

"I thought you were hungry?"

"I can wait..." Haruka heard footsteps walking away and she immediately got to work folding and putting the clothes she wanted in the bag while the others were placed in a corner.

After successfully accomplishing her mission, Rin gave her the skirt she asked for and Haruka showed off her set which impressed Rin enough that she declared they will eat at the food court, ending the shopping spree today. Haruka felt her legs almost giving out but she forced them to the food court where, after getting her tray of food, slumped down in her chair with relief as Rin kept peeking through their bags and gleefully admired the outfits they bought.

"I'm so glad we got to do this today, Haru," Rin confessed as she ate her plate of curry and rice.

Haruka nodded, absent-minded.

"I was thinking," Rin mused thoughtfully, "maybe we should get new swimsuits, but the matching kind? I know Rei and Nagisa probably do it, but I thought you might enjoy a break to look at swimming gear?"

Surprised of hearing this, Haruka almost spoke her answer in agreement but was cut short when some chicken slipped down in her throat and she coughed loudly as she choked.

Rin aided her with heavy pats on her back and assisting Haruka with drinking her water when trouble came brewing after Haruka recovered. Haruka noticed two teenagers around their ages approaching them with cocky smirks, acting all cool with their hands in their pockets and pulled up sleeves when it just made them look stupid.

"Hey, what's up?" One of them said curiously.

Seriously? Haruka thought at the idiot who couldn't tell the situation as she lightly breathed herself to normal.

"Nothing," Rin answered, patting Haruka's back with lighter pats.

"So, uh, that's a lotta bags you girls got there..."

"We could totally help you with those, since you got like...a lot."

"Thanks, but we got it under control. We wouldn't wanna trouble you boys." Rin sarcastically thanked them with a irritated smile.

Haruka suddenly felt protective of Rin when one of the boys got too close to her, so she took Rin's hands and intertwined their fingers just to show off their relationship. However, it hardly faltered their advances when they suddenly took the seats beside them and sat closely. Haruka smelt the overwhelming scent of body spray and coughed deeply, Rin felt disgusted with the other who was giving cocky grins and not taking note that his teeth had something green in between.

"It's not trouble at all, ladies," idiot one purred.

"Not at all! We just wanna make sure you girls get home safely. I have a car full of gas and you can even pick the music on the way there, we just need to know where you guys live-"

"Hey, haven't we given you enough signals to fuck off?" Rin snapped at them both.

Haruka felt her stomach drop, her lunch settling badly as she watched the two boys exchanging annoyed glances until one of them made a grab for Rin's shoulder. That was a huge mistake because before Haruka could think a better way to get out, Rin took the idiot's arm and twisted it efficiently. He gasped and shouted in curses as he cradled his injured arm while the other stood back, putting distance away from the girls.

"C'mon!" Rin had taken Haruka's hand and they soon dashed off into a run.

To her horror, the idiot's partner in crime was chasing after them. Rin was holding onto Haruka's hand, leading them all throughout the mall and even attempted to go into the food court for the bags but were foiled when the other idiot recovered and chased after them in a fit of rage. Now Rin and Haruka were on the run like criminals under the law, but it made no sense whatsoever as they ran up the escalator going up and saw the door sign that said 'train station entrance'.

Rin looked at Haruka, a look of unease and excitement in her eyes. Haruka gave a signal nod, took her wallet out, produced her train card and after pushing their way through the small crowd, Haruka swiped on the machine for both of them and they were running up the stairs. Haruka had paused just for a moment out of breath when she saw the idiots had jumped over the gate and they caught sight of her.

Rin and Haruka got up the stairs and Rin was going to go inside the train right at the moment it was preparing to have its doors open when Haruka pulled her aside, hid behind a group of adult women who were busy on their phones and watched from a distance as the idiots ran up and went into the train. Once the train had closed its doors, Rin ran up to the window and waved at the boys who pounded on the doors as the train lead them to its next stop.

"Farewell, idiots! We sure showed them who's boss, haha!" Rin laughed, waving at the departing train in delight.

"Let's get our bags and head home," Haruka took Rin's hand and softly pulled her away while Rin still waved the train away.

Rin didn't say much as they walked back into the mall but her bright smile and pink-flushed cheeks made it obvious that what had happened was thrilling, much to Haruka's exhaustion.

Out of nowhere, Rin leaned in and gave Haruka a sweet kiss on the cheek. Haruka's flushed cheeks grew darker, her feet almost tumbled but she stopped her movement on time and stared bashfully at her grinning girlfriend.

"What was that for?" Haruka spluttered.

"For giving me a really fun, great memory and for indulging me in my shopping spree!"

Haruka looked away, her heart racing as she tapped her foot out of nervousness. Rin took the lead in pulling Haruka but Haruka let go, dashed up front of Rin and gave her a kiss on the lips. When Haruka felt her girlfriend's grin fleet slightly and engaged into kissing her back, Haruka realized she made the right choice indulging in her girlfriend's activities.