Kiyotaka Ishimaru took a deep breath and knocked on Touko Fukawa's door, her newest novel in his hands.
There was an explanation behind this – Ishimaru did not generally read the type of thing that Fukawa wrote, if he read fiction at all it was classic literature, or something that he could get some knowledge out of, but his mother was a fan of her work, and considering his mother's birthday was coming up…
He was going to get it signed, no matter what it took.
He heard a rustling behind the door, but nobody came to answer it. He knocked again. "Fukawa-kun?" he asked. "It is Ishimaru! Please open the door! I need to speak with you!"
There was more rustling, and Ishimaru was about ready to knock again when the door flew open. Fukawa stood on the other side, scowling with only one braid in. "I'm trying to get dressed," she muttered. "Make it quick."
Ishimaru held out the book. "My mother's birthday is coming up, and I have purchased your new novel for her, as she quite enjoys them, she has all of them apart from the newest, and I thought that perhaps, I could-"
"You're just using me to get a book signed."
Ishimaru's face heated up. "I-I would be willing to pay you, if you needed me to," he said. She frowned and kept her eyes on him, and he shifted under her glare. "Or something else. I could perhaps tutor you – not in anything literature-related, ha ha, of course, you would probably have to tutor me in that department! – or I could take you out to dinner, or something like that!"
"A- you'd take me out a date? You?"
Ishimaru was not sure where she had gotten that idea, but – oh. He'd mentioned dinner, hadn't he? Dinner counted as a date, he supposed.
"I-"
"You're lying. Anyway, why would I want to go on date with you?"
Ishimaru shifted, feeling more uncomfortable by the minute. "Would you please sign the book, if nothing else?"
She muttered something, grabbed the book, and headed back into her room. After a brief moment, she called back, "Well, come on!"
He followed her into her room, feeling more awkward by the moment. Papers and books were strewn everywhere; he had to seriously maneuver strangely to avoid stepping on anything. Fukawa was at her desk, digging through a pile of pens.
"What's her name?" she asked.
Ishimaru told her.
"Alright," Fukawa said. She scribbled in the book and, with a flourish that she never seemed to have anywhere else, signed it. As soon as she turned back to him she was back to normal. She shoved the book into his chest and if he was any less of a man he would have stumbled back a few steps. "And fine. If you really aren't trying to make fun of me, I'll go on a date with you."
"Ah," Ishimaru said. "Perhaps. Perhaps this Saturday?"
She eyed him, then nodded. That was when Kiyotaka Ishimaru decided that his best course of action would be to turn and leave.
…
That Saturday, Kiyotaka Ishimaru knocked on Touko Fukawa's door. He was wearing his old uniform. He had figured out enough that he should possibly not wear his Hope's Peak uniform on a date with Touko Fukawa, but he saw nothing wrong with his white uniform. It was quite smart, if he did say so himself.
Fukawa answered the door in a dress that fell down to her knees. Her hair was in braids down her back, as always, but her hair did look as though it had been washed. That was always a gamble with Fukawa, Ishimaru had gathered.
She eyed him and scowled. He beamed at her. "Are you ready, Fukawa-kun?"
"D-does it look like I'm not ready?" she snapped. Ishimaru blinked.
"I mean – I was not sure – if you needed to grab something, or-"
Fukawa grabbed his arm and pulled him along. He followed her, mentally calculating where, exactly, they could go to dinner that would not make him absolutely broke. Buying that book in the first place had already been bad enough for his finances. Hopefully Fukawa would be alright with a cheaper place to eat.
"Where are we going?" Fukawa asked as soon as they were out of the school. Ishimaru thought about it for a bit.
"Would you mind if we simply got coffee, and then went back and ate at the school?" he asked finally. He thought that would be fine. Coffee was a date thing, probably. He had never seen anyone out getting coffee by themselves that looked happy at all, and he often saw couples.
"I guess," Fukawa said. Ishimaru smiled at her, though his smile was a bit shaky. What was he doing? He didn't know how to go on a date with someone, let alone someone like Fukawa.
He cleared his throat and was about to say something else, but then they nearly got flattened by a bus and he decided that talking would probably distract him.
They arrived at a cheap coffee shop approximately seven minutes later. Ishimaru turned to Fukawa. "What would you like?" he asked. "Please get whatever you like!"
Thankfully, Fukawa's favored coffee wasn't an expensive one, and Ishimaru waited for their coffee while Fukawa sat at a corner table. She sat with her hands in her lap and her eyes down, as well as a bright red flush in her cheeks. Looking at her blush made Ishimaru blush a bit, too, so he switched his thoughts back to the coffee.
The shop wasn't that busy, and their coffee was done after a few minutes of waiting. He carried it over to her – his twelve-ounce black coffee and her slightly larger, slightly sweeter coffee – and was happy to report that he had not spilled a drop.
She muttered a thanks and he beamed at her. Though she was a bit strange, and a bit disconcerting sometimes, she probably was not that bad. And either way, his mother was going to love her birthday presents.
This was written for an anon on Tumblr, who wanted me to write whatever tsumiki or fukawa pairing I wanted and it's been a while since I've written ishifuka so I decided to give it a shot! Not so sure how I feel about it, but it's been a while.