Respect and Admiration
by
Rocket Girl
Kojiro stood outside the Contest Hall of the Shinou Grand Festival holding a box in his hands and shaking. It wasn't that it was cold outside, but he was very nervous at what he was about to do.
"Come on Kojiro, you can do it!" Nyasu cheered his friend on.
"I don't know if I can Nyasu. This is a pretty big step." Kojiro replied, staring at the box in his hands. Its contents containing cookies that he had spent all night baking.
While he had cooked for his friends many times before, this was different. These cookies were made especially for Musashi, and thus they needed to be absolutely perfect. If they turned out burned, even only slightly, they weren't good enough. If they tasted slightly too sweet, they weren't good enough. Kojiro went through dozens of batches and used up nearly all the spare cash he had, but he finally perfected the perfect batch of cookies. He wrapped them up in tissue paper, and even bought a red box with a gold ribbon to hold them in.
In the Pokemon World, if you're presented with specially handmade food, it means the person giving you it has a romantic interest in you…
"Look, if you wont give these to Musashi, then I'll just have to eat…" Nyasu trailed off and jumped up to grab the box. Kojiro looked down and saw this, and quickly held the box over his head, causing Nyasu to fall flat on his face.
"All right alright! I'm going!' Kojiro angrily said at Nyasu. He lowered the box back down, looked straight ahead, took a deep breath, and marched into the Contest Hall. He didn't mean to snap at Nyasu, but he was so nervous it just came out like that.
Nyasu stood up and rubbed his now bruised nose."I've never seen Kojiro this nervous before. He must really be in love."
As Kojiro walked into Contest hall down to where Musashi was getting ready, he thought about the journey they had all been on to get to where they were today. Kojiro recalled Musashi's very first Contest back in the Houen region, and how she used a rainbow machine to make Dokucale appear to leave gorgeous colors in her path as she flew around. He then remembered her very first ribbon win, and how she was able to bring out Dokucake's beauty all on her own, without any tricks or special effects.
Kojiro smiled slightly at this, and his nerves seemed to settle a bit. This was how he fell in love with Musashi in the first place. She had changed so much from when she first began her Coordinator career. It wasn't just that she stopped cheating, but the way she acted. While she still loved being the center of attention in the appeals round, off stage she was much more serious and business like. Once she passed the appeal round all her focus was strictly on winning the upcoming battles. While Kojiro had always respected and admired Musashi, he had found that he was developing an even deeper respect and admiration for her now. It felt like another life time ago when the three of them had succeeded at anything really important, and now Musashi had found it in her to keep fighting despite all the setbacks, and make it all the way to the Grand Festival.
Kojiro reached the door of the room Musashi was in and started tearing up a little as he peered inside and saw her. She had that fiery determined look on her face, and he saw the confidence in her. But it wasn't the kind of confidence you get when you have a big ego, it was the kind you get when you truly believe in yourself and know what you're capable of. Looking at her giving a pep talk to their Pokemon left no doubt in Kojiro's mind that he had fallen in love with her. He couldn't be more proud of her than he was right now.
Over the past year or so the two had grown so close. They had faced death together and also worked together to win the five ribbons necessary to enter the Grand Festival. It was a strange new feeling to really care and believe in Musashi's Contest career. Before he only sighed and wished she would just give this up, but now he and Nyasu felt like fools for ever doubting her. Musashi persevering despite their distaste for it only made Kojiro's love for her grow. Musashi was so much stronger than him. She never let defeat or what other people thought of her get her down for too long. Kojiro truly wished he could gain the kind of self confidence Musashi showed him could exist.
Kojiro took a deep breath and entered the dressing room.
"Kojiro, what are you doing here?" Musashi turned and asked as she recalled their Pokemon, putting two of the monster balls inside capsules in preparation for the first appeals round.
Kojiro felt his heart race again, but he tried to steady himself and show the strength Musashi always shown.
"Musashi, I, uh…" Kojiro froze in terror. He suddenly realized he had never prepared what he was going to say to her. He had only focused on making the cookies just right.
"Hey, what's in the box?" Musashi asked, ignoring the nervous look on his face.
"This…" Kojiro looked down at the box, then back up at Musashi, realizing this was his opening. "This is for you." Kojiro held out the box for Musashi to take.
"A present? For me?" Musashi cheered. "Thank you Kojiro!" Musashi jumped up and down, set the Monster Balls in her hands down on the counter next to her, and excitedly took the box from Kojiro's hands and quickly tore into it. Not caring or noticing just how nicely wrapped it was or why Kojiro was giving her a present all of a sudden.
"It's something I thought about giving you for awhile now, and I thought there couldn't be a better time than this." Kojiro nervously smiled at Musashi. His heart was racing so fast and he was shaking so bad he thought he might faint. What if she doesn't feel the same way? What if she doesn't realize what this means?
Once Musashi threw all the tissue paper on the floor she gasped at what she saw. Kojiro stood frozen in fear.
It took Musashi a few seconds, but her brain started putting all the pieces together. The cookies looked perfectly made, and she looked on the ground at the wrapping and realized that the packaging was awfully nice just for cookies…
"Kojiro…" Musashi looked up at Kojiro and inquisitively asked. "Did you… make these yourself?" Musashi was almost afraid to ask the question. Afraid of what would happen to the two of them if the answer was yes.
Kojiro gulped and nodded. "I hope you like them, I spent all night working on them."
Musashi's eyes bugged out of her head a little. She knew exactly what these cookie represented now, and she started shaking a little herself.
"You're… in love with me…" Musashi stated. She didn't even realize she said it out loud. She was just so shocked at Kojiro's seemingly sudden change of heart toward her.
Kojiro jumped at this. He had no idea Musashi would just blurt the truth out in such a matter of fact way. But he had come to far to back down now, so he steadied his nerves as best he could and replied "Yes Musashi, I am in love with you."
Musashi gasped. She could hardly believe this was really happening, and couldn't help but wonder how long he had felt this way.
Kojiro saw Musashi's confusion and jumped in to explain before she could ask.
"You see Musashi, this all came about recently. It's just, I've grown such a respect and admiration for you, in how you've changed because of Contests."
"Contests?" Musashi didn't understand what that had to do with anything.
"Yes," Kojiro smiled. "You've just become so talented and dedicated at them. At first, I didn't think much of your contest career," Kojiro blushed in embarrassment. He hated admitting this to her. "But you've grown so much since you began in Houen! You no longer cheat, and you've become so serious about them. We've both gone through so much in the past year, and all our struggles and near death experience have only brought us closer together. And with your newly found confidence in yourself as a Coordinator, I've just become so immensely proud of you, and couldn't help but fall in love with you."
Musashi stood in shock at Kojiro's confession. She had been so focused lately on preparing for the Grand Festival that she never even realized that Kojiro's feelings for her had begun to change. But now that she thought back on it, she realized he had been acting a little strange around her. He seemed to be a bit more flustered and nervous around her, and it all suddenly made sense why.
"Kojiro…" Musashi smiled. "You really feel that way about me?" Once the initial shock of Kojiro's confession wore off, her fears of how their relationship might change disappeared, and a wave of happiness fell over her. No man had ever confessed his love to her before, and Kojiro said it so beautifully that Musashi had started to tear up. Ever since she was a little girl she had dreamed of this moment, and she could barely believe this was finally happening.
Kojiro let out a sigh of relief. His worst fear of Musashi rejecting him didn't look like it would come to pass."Yes Musashi, I really do."
Musashi, no longer able to contain herself, immediately rushed over and hugged Kojiro, giggling, a huge smile now on her face. Kojiro giggled and hugged her back. He felt like he was on top of the world. They held each other for a few seconds, and Kojiro wondered why he never realized how nice it felt to hold Musashi in his arms. But his smile faded, as he soon realized he had a very important question to ask her.
"Musashi," Kojiro began, pulling back from the hug. "How do you feel about me?" He couldn't risk taking her reaction as meaning she was in love with him as well. He needed to hear the words from her own lips.
Musashi wasn't expecting this and moved a few steps away from him and stammered a bit, her gaze looking anywhere but his. She hadn't really thought about how she felt for Kojiro other than he was her best friend that she never wanted to leave.
"I guess I hadn't really thought about it before." Musashi said sheepishly. Kojiro's heart sunk a bit. He wasn't entirely surprised by her reaction, but it did sting. Musashi felt bad for hurting Kojiro's feelings, and she tried to think of something to say to make him feel better. In her nervousness, she involuntarily took a bite from one of the cookies.
"Wow, this is delicious!" Musashi exclaimed and quickly finished the cookie in her hand, and then grabbed the next.
Kojiro half heartedly smiled, but he couldn't help but fear where their relationship would go from here. He let out a small sigh and hung his head slightly. Musashi finished the second cookie and looked up at Kojiro to tell him how delicious they were, but once she saw his sad reaction she quickly remembered what the cookies meant. Musashi sat them down on the counter and got a serious look on her face. It suddenly hit her what she wanted to say to Kojiro now.
"Kojiro, just because I don't know how I feel now doesn't mean I just want us to remain just friends."
Kojiro lifted his head up in shock. "Really?" He smiled and said in an excited tone.
Musashi smiled back. "Of course! How could I listen to a confession of love like that and just ignore it?"
A huge grin appeared on Kojiro's face and it took all he had to not jump and down and squeeze Musashi for all she was worth. But he knew this wasn't the time to be acting childish.
"So, does that mean," Kojiro said in a hopeful tone. "that you'll go out on a date with me?"
"Of course! That's what boyfriend and girlfriends do after-all."
"Boyfriend?!" Kojiro said in a high pitched excited tone. You want us to be boyfriend and girlfriend?"
Musashi's smiled widened. "Of course. How else am I supposed to figure out how I feel about you?"
"Musashi!" Kojiro was about to say more, but then something interrupted his train of thought.
"Welcome everyone, to the Shinou Grand Festival!" a voice yelled. Musashi and Kojiro turned their attention to the loudspeaker and then heard thunderous applause.
"Ah, the Grand Festival!" Musashi exclaimed. She was so wrapped up in Kojiro's confession that she had forgotten all about it.
"Oh no! I completely forgot!" Kojiro said and turned his head back toward Musashi. "Musashi, we can talk later, go and do your best!"
"Right." Musashi nodded and grabbed her Monster Balls and hurriedly raced out the door. Kojiro smiled as he watched her leave, happy that things seemed to be working out. He grabbed the cookies and started to turn around and go find his seat in the stands, but once Musashi was a few feet out of the dressing room, she screeched to halt and raced back to where Kojiro was.
"Musashi, what's wrong? Did you forget something?"
Musashi responded by closing her eyes and giving him a kiss on the lips. Her childhood fantasy wasn't complete until the two kissed. It was too romantic a moment to leave something like to later.
Kojiro froze in his place and his heart skipped a beat. He began to wonder why Musashi suddenly kissed him, when he realized just how good this felt and closed his eyes and kissed her back.
Musashi was also surprised at just how good this felt. She wanted to continue this a little more, but knew she needed to get on stage. She quickly pulled away, opened her eyes, and tried to regain her composure. Kojiro's eyes also suddenly shot open, not expecting the kiss to end so abruptly.
"Well, I uh," Musashi began, looking at Kojiro. "We're not officially boyfriend and girlfriend until we kiss you know." Musashi blushed and smiled.
"Uh, right." Kojiro said. His brain not quite comprehending what just happened.
"Well, I'm off!" Musashi said, and quickly ran toward the stage, leaving a dazed and confused Kojiro. He blinked a few times, then his confused expression gave way to a smile and small giggle.
"This Grand Festival already feels good."