Author's note: Hey, hey. There~! I promised some of people on Tumblr to write some Pocky-Game thingy for ShinKido but it took actually too long for me to be finished… I really hope you'll enjoy reading~ reviews/favs are greatly appreciated~
Please forgive the grammar issues and kindly ignore them.
{{P.s: I don't own the characters, only the plot.}}
…
It started as a normal day; everyone who spent the night in the base woke up and had a delicious breakfast made by the skilled leader of the Mekakushi Dan. As soon as he finished his meal, Kano headed outside to only-god-knows where without any kind of warning for any of the other members, as always.
"Where could he be right now?" wondered the young Medusa.
"Nah, he always disappears like that." replied the brunette in the green hoodie. "More importunately, since today's my day off, and since the weather outside is quite nice… how about we go for a picnic? What do you say, Danchou?"
"Mhm, I don't think we can afford such a thing right now." Replied the leader as she washed the last dish and placed on the dishes rack.
"Awwwh, but I really wanted to go out with everyone!" bled Mary, pouting and gazing at the floor tiles sadly.
"Oh, we don't have to buy lots of stuff! Also, not the whole group will go; only me, you, Mary, Shintaro, and Kano; if he came back earlier. None of the rest mentioned returning until the evening."
"I don't think something would happen if you allowed them to go, though. It's just a one day a week and I am sure that Seto wants to spend it doing something special, too." noted the NEET, sipping from his soda can.
"Uh, I guess it is fine then–"
"Yay! We're going out! We're going out!" cheered Mary, hopping in her place few times in a row.
"Yeah. But, don't spend your pocket money over unnecessary stuff. Alright?"
"Alright."
A soft sigh escaped her mouth as she left the other two to prepare themselves. She headed towards the one lying on the sofa, picking the empty can he just finished and threw away of him. "Nothing could've happen if you pulled yourself a little and threw this where it belongs." She leaned her head to gaze at him straight in the eyes, a hand placed to her hip.
The NEET gazed and blinked few times as she popped in the area of his vision; he was wearing his earphones and he couldn't hear what she was trying to say.
Rolling her eyes, she reached to pull the earphones off roughly. "I said: it won't cost you anything if you threw this in its place!"
"Aah, sorry. My bad. I'll put that in mind the next time. Now, can you give back my earphones? The radio is playing my favorite song right now!"
"Whatever. Just get ready. We're going out, y'know." She shoved the said item towards him.
"Ugh, I don't really want to go out right now. You guys can–," his words were cut off as he realized that the Danchou was glaring at him with one of her famous terrifying glares. "O… okay, fine. I'll go…" He sat up, his body shuddered.
"Glad to hear. You should move this fragile body of yours more often. And, I'd never leave a member behind when everyone else to going to have fun." The last part of her speech came out as a murmur, but it was loud enough for the NEET's ear to hear.
"Awh, I am touched~ I can't believe that Danchou cares about me that much~" placing a palm to his cheek, he faked some tears.
"If you don't shut up now I'll lock here forever!"
…
Few hours later, everyone was about to leave the base. And the leader had prepared some snacks for everyone. 'I still feel bad that we didn't bring the others with us as well…'
"What with that gloomy face of yours? Oh! Are we going out?!"
"Eeep! K, Kano! When did you come back?"
"Few seconds ago. But it seems that you were too deep thinking about your boyfriend to notice me~" he teased, pointing at the one with the red jersey who was busy tapping on his Smartphone.
"H, he's not my boyfriend!"
"Those red cheeks are telling me the otherwise~" He laughed, enjoying the awkward face she made.
"Sh, shut up! And what the hell is that in your hand?"
"Oh this? It's a surprise~"
"Ugh whatever. Let's go."
"Hai~"
…
All the way there the group had multi-conversations, most are started by Mary. The NEET was wandering on their trail, not really showing that he was amused by walking all the way there. Even though he had to admit that the weather indeed was fresh –but it wasn't simply his type at all.
Lowering his gaze to his phone's locked-screen, he mumbled something about 'where Ene could be right now?' The day was quite peaceful without her around, which made him miss her slightly.
Finally, they were there. 'The local park' was what could be read on the sign that the fancy gate held upon. They chose a nice spot, mostly it was chosen by Mary who was extremely excited to spend a fun time with her friends –half of them at least.
"Taadaa~" cheered the blonde as he opened a bag filled with many kinds of sweets.
"Waah! It look delicious!" said the white-haired, clenching her hands together and hugging them to her chest. The rest peeked behind her shoulder at the treats.
"Wait. Where did you get all these from?" the leader crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah. Long story short: I won a bet against someone and this was my prize. I don't really like sweets so I thought I'd share it with you guy~ ain't I such a warm-hearted?" He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. Mary nodded her head twice roughly.
"Okay, okay. Thank you, Mister Generous. But no one will eat from it until I see those rice balls vanishing."
'Awwwh. But I wanted to try them now… guess I'll finish my share quickly then~" she grabbed one rice ball and tucked it inside her mouth. She reached to grab another one but her movement was prevented by Seto.
"M, Mary. Don't shove the whole thing inside your mouth like that; your stomach will hurt you!" cried the brunette as he held her wrist. "At least chew the one you're already eating!"
The leader chuckled lightly as she watched them arguing on the other side, Kano laughing at them next to her. After a short while she noticed that the NEET haven't say a word since they arrived. "Are you bored or something?"
The other was staring blankly at the skyline, as if he was thinking deeply in something, until a familiar voice distracted him. "Oh. No, no. I, I am enjoying my time, really. I am just not used to this whole 'family' atmosphere and such…"
Kido's eyes shone as he said so. Thinking about the group as a family meant so much for her; she couldn't hide the proud smile that tugged her lips. "Alright, if you're really enjoying you time, then why don't finish your share of rice balls as well? I am sure you'll like it. You have to like it." she pushed the florid plate filled with three rice balls towards the NEET.
"Hah. Yeah, I am sure they'll taste good and whatever, but I'd like it more if you fed me yourself instead~" A wide grin appeared on his face.
"Huh?"
"Yeah. Y'know, just like any other normal couple."
"Yeah, Kido~ Feed your boyfriend~ we won't laugh at you, right guys?" said Kano –who just stopped giggling to listen to the 'interesting' conversation the two had going– lying on one side and propping up his head with a hand and turning to face the other two who were arguing earlier. "Oooh~ is that really what have been going on between you two? Don't worry, I find it rather cute for you guys to start dating~" said Mary as she hurled the last piece of her share inside her mouth. "Whoa! No one mentioned that to me before! Is that really true, Shintaro?" "Yeah. You see, she had a crush on me long time ago and I was acting as if I didn't notice until now." "Oohoo, isn't it really cute to have a crush on someone, Kido~?" Kano's teasing words made Mary nod in agreement. "I bet you'll have the cutest kids in the future–""Sh… SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUUP! ALL OF YOU GUYS ARE HRRIBLE!"
A brief moment of silence followed Kido's sudden burst but it didn't last long until the others started laughing out loud, forcing the leader to use her ability and vanish into thin air.
"Aah, that was a good bit of laughing~ Thank you so much, Kido~" said the blonde, whipping a tear with his index finger. "Oh, right! Come to think of that, let me show you what I brought earlier."
"Oh right! The delicious candies!" whooped the white-haired, clasping her hands against each other.
"Yes, yes. Now where did Kido hide that bag? Hmmmh... Oh, there it is! Can you hand it to me, Shintaro?"
"Hm, yeah sure." Reaching behind where the leader supposed to be still sitting, his hands clutched onto a packed plastic bag. "What the hell do you have inside this thing?" grasping the plastic handles, he opened the bag with a muffled rattle sound. Inside the bag there were various kinds of famous Japanese sweets to be found: Caplico, Kitkat, Hi Chew, and most importantly: Pocky, and so many other kinds.
"Waahaa~ there's a lot here!"
"M, Mary, you can't eat all of that, you know."
"Uh, I know that! I just want to try a few. Just a few~" she peeked inside the bag which was placed now in front of the NEET. "Hmmh~ I tried this one before… and also this one~ this one is catchy for sure~" she muttered as her hand travelled inside the bag. "Oh! What is this one?" she gazed at the male in the red jersey, her curious eyes focusing on his, waiting for some kind of explanation.
"Ah, it's called Pocky. It's quite famous, and there's a game that you can play it only using one stick of it with a mate."
"Wow! That sounds fun! Tell me more, please!"
"Errm, you put one end in your mouth, and the other person puts the other end in their mouth. Bite the Pocky until it gets smaller and smaller, and whoever pulls first losses."
"I want to try it!"
"Yeah, but–," he was interrupted by Kano's hand patting on his shoulder.
"Sure, why don't you ask Seto to join you?"
"E, eeh? M, me?"
"Yeah, why not? It's just a innocent game to play with your 'friends'~" he tried to hold back his laughter as much as possible.
"C'mon, Seto. Please. I want to try this new game so bad!"
"F, fine…"
And with that, Mary snapped the cartoon bag and did the same with the plastic one inside of it. She picked a biscuit stick that was dipped in strawberry cream. She placed the covered-in-cream end inside her mouth, waiting for the other who approached the other end shyly.
"H, hey, Kano. Are you sure it's okay not to tell her?" the NEET approached and whispered near his ear.
"Yes yes. It'd be fun~" he replied then turned towards the two competing. "Okay~ you may start now!"
As soon as she heard Kano's words, Mary started chewing too quickly on her side that the other startled before start chewing as well. In a few seconds the duo was a few inches away from each other; so their movement came to a stop. Mary had to think of what to do next before gazing confusedly at the two watching –originally, it'd be three watchers, but since Kido it using her ability; then none would guess whether if she was actually watching as well or not –. Kano started making kissing noises and Mary finally realized what the point of the game is: making out until someone back away and be considered the loser.
Her gaze was fixed again on the brunette whose face was bright red, and his eyes were looking somewhere else away from hers. She didn't want to continue, but she didn't want to handle Kano teasing her over being a 'chicken' for god-knows how long at the same time. '… I guess I have no other choice, then…' she closed her eyes firmly and pushed her head forwards, waiting for her lips to meet the other's, but instead of feeling more warmth approaching her, she felt a breeze hitting the surface of her skin caused by the other's figure backing away himself.
"O… okay… I lost this time…"
"E, eh…?"
"Oooh, too bad it ended so soon; I just started to enjoy myself~" he knew that she was glaring at him angrily, but he didn't really care. "Alright, Shintaro and Kido are next~"
"Wh, what?"
"Yeah, why don't you play this game with your girlfriend and be all lovey-dovey~"
"Umm, I don't really–"
"Let's do it!" with that, Kido suddenly appeared from thin air next to the NEET. Her eyes were still red due to her using her ability recently.
"Wh… are you sure?"
"Yes! I am 100% convinced that you'll lose, anyway."
"What th–, are you trying to challenge me? I am the master of all kind of online games; you can't beat me!"
"Hah. We'll see about that!" snatching the bag from Mary's hand, she hurried and pulled a new stick and placed one end to her mouth. Muttering "Show me what you got!" to the other.
The NEET frowned and placed the other end in his mouth as well, still irritated by the unforgivable challenge. The duo gazed at each other angrily, waiting for Kano to give the beginning signal.
"Ah, right… start."
They both started chewing forward as the words reached their ears. Carefully and impatiently, the distance between their lips was shrinking quickly… but they can't retreat now. A short hesitation moment overwhelmed them before their lips finally touched.
'I can't stop now. I accepted her challenge after all!'
'I'll show you who's going to win!'
He pulled her chin closer; so he can press his lips against hers. Kido let out a squeal in return.
'What the– he supposed to back off, not to doing that!' refusing to lose, she copied the other's movement and clutched onto the front of his jersey to help her pulling closer as well 'I am still going to win.'.
Meanwhile on the other side, the three watching were in a total shock of what was happening before their eyes. "A, aren't they supposed to stop?" questioned the Medusa out loud. A shrug of shoulders came as a respond from the brunette settling next to her.
"Nah, leave them. I am finally getting my real fun~ Hehe." The blonde burst out, grinning widely.
The two were possibly starting to lose oxygen by now; the embarrassment and excitement that overwhelmed them helped in speeding up the air loss. But knowing how stubborn both of them were, the idea of 'backing away' wasn't an option right now… or maybe that what it seemed to be like.
Few seconds later, it was too much to put up with, so both of them pulled away almost at the same time. Kido shoved the NEET away as a result; she murmured 'idiot' mostly to herself in progress. "S, see. I… I told you I'd win!"
"Mm, are you kidding me? It's obvious that you pulled first! I win!"
"Wh, no way! You pulled first!"
They growled until they remembered the one who suggested the game from the very beginning.
"Hey, Kano! Tell him who the winner is!"
"Hey, Kano! Tell her who the winner is!"
They shouted the same phrase at the same time, facing the other three whom cheeks were tanned pink, as well. Kano's grin never vanished even for a short while. "Ah, yeah. Both, both are winners~"
"What? There's no way! She pulled first!"
"No! You did!"
"… ugh, arguing like this won't get us to anything thing…"
"… Yeah… I guess you're right–"
"But I have to admit; I never thought you'd keep pace when I kissed you. I guess you really wanted to try something out of me~ but your lips are quite soft, too~ I never saw that coming from you at all, Danchou~"
"… YOU WISH! I'LL KILL YOU AND KILL YOU AGAIN, SHINTARO KISARAGI!"
"Oh shit–," he stood and started running away before she managed to get to him, she followed him right away. The two ran in indiscriminate circles between the giggles of the other members. Even though they never expected something like that to happen, they were thrilled that the two finally became honest with themselves and with each other –even if the way it came out was indirect.
…
That night the rest of the members were told that Kido and Shintaro officially started dating now.