"Ya-yanagi... can we talk?" The normally composed Mikoto Kujou stuttered out her words, a bit odd for her.
"Huh? Oh, sure." The pair walked out of the club room, leaving Momoka to quietly listen to her senpai's clumsy rambling.
"So, what is it?" Hisato leaned slightly, hanging onto the door frame.
"Ah, uh-um, that is..." She grew silent for a moment, twiddling her fingers about nervously. Maybe Yanagi has already been to the amusement park, or maybe he even hates them... I wonder, is it is even alright to ask a friend to go to such a place? Ahh... why is my heart racing?
Yanagi then released his grip and leaned forward, more towards Kujou's height, a warm smile growing on his face at her cute behavior "What is it, Kujou?"
"These tickets," She opened up her hands, allowing the paper strips to be seen, "I got two of them to go to the amusement park, so I was thinking... Yanagi could- or we could...".
"Y-yes!" The blond male stood upright, a panicked blush igniting across his face.
"Ah, really?" The throbbing she had been feeling in her heart moments ago suddenly was lifted, making her smile slightly. "I feel like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders... odd."
If it was possible to have a heart attack from something cute, Yanagi would be a prime example of this as a variety thoughts rushed through his mind a mile a minute.
"Yanagi." He snapped back into reality, "When do you want to go?"
"Oh, how about this Saturday? We can meet at the train station, I'll drive you from there." A new burst of energy surged through his veins, making it impossible for him to stay still.
"Ok." Kujou turned on her heel, opening the sliding door to find a everyone had just arrived and was bustling with greetings, completely unaware of what had just happened between the other pair.
Kujou just went along pretty normally, just a bit more of a bounce to her step. Yanagi on the other hand was smiling like a maniac, too happy about how things were proceeding; his abnormal actions gained looks from the remaining members of the Astrology Club, especially Momoka.
But they brushed off the wealthy boy's wide grin, as Kujou was acting as naturally as ever, allowing club activities to go on as normal.
A day at the amusement park, huh? I've been to various amusement parks in and out of the country ever since I was a child, so why is this so exciting? ... I need to go with Kujou on the roller coaster, ferris wheel and into the haunted house no matter what! He half-spoke, half-thought his words. And... a kiss somewhere along the line wouldn't hurt...
"Yanagi, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Kujou approached in an cute outfit, wearing her usual stoic look.
"I'm fine!" He responded, embarrassed. After taking a moment to recover, his gaze fell to her bag. "Why are you carrying that bag around for?"
"I made a lunch; let's eat it together." She gave him a small smile, making memories from their high school days arise in Hisato.
"Did you make that?" Pink lightly dusted his face.
"That?"
"You know, tofu steak."
"Tofu steak? I didn't make any for today, why do you ask?" She looked thrown off.
"I ate some at your house back in high school, don't you remember?" He screamed internally.
"Now that you mention it, that's true." She commented.
"It was delicious, so next time, maybe you can make it."
"Next time?" She asked through the pink.
He turned red once more, not realizing how much he was driving himself into a corner with his own words. "Y-yeah, next time."
"Okay." She quickly let go of the topic going for the door to the passenger seat of the Porsche.
"Hey wait, give me your bag." He reached for it, accidentally making their hand brush up against each other. They both took a moment's pause before continuing on.
As they entered the park, they grabbed a paper map listing each attraction and a short description.
"Where do you want to go first, Kujou?" Yanagi inquired happily.
"Anywhere's fine with me." She answered.
"Well, why don't we walk around for a while before choosing where to go first then?"
"Alright."
...
They had been walking around for a good ten minutes when they heard a shriek from around the corner, causing them to pick up their pace; they found a small group of girls at a stand selling animal-themed headbands.
They sighed in relief and were about to move on when one of the girls called them over.
"Yes?" Yanagi put on his 'perfect boy' act, smile and all.
"You and your date should try some of these on, maybe take a commemorative photo? You look so cute together, it'd be a shame if you didn't!" She mirrored his smile, returning a just as bright one.
"Ah, okay. Kujou-"
"We're not dating." Kujou bluntly stated, earning a panicked look from Yanagi.
"Really? I thought-" The girl shushed herself after seeing how panicked the guy across from her seemed. "Ah well, it'd still be fun though, right?"
"Yeah, of course." He gathered himself back together, walking up to see what the stand had.
The variety was surprising, having more than a few on the brightly colored shelves. There were cat, bunny, and bear headbands to name just a few. Yanagi thoroughly envisioned each pair of ear on Kujou's head, in the end deciding on the bear ears.
Just as he thought, they looked absolutely adorable, and he paid the employee running the stand for the accessory.
They made their way around the park in the nice afternoon weather, spinning around in the teacups, riding a carousel, and snacking on churros before they took a little rest on a bench.
"The haunted house is right over there, we'll go in there after a few minutes." Yanagi went over his plan once more mentally; walk along normally, and wait for something scary, and then BAM! She'll be clinging to him like a baby. Yeah, this was going to be as easy!
After another moment of rest, they approached the house and waited until it was their turn to go in.
"You know," He whispered to her as they entered, "Kujou, if you get scared at all, you can hold my hand."
"Are you scared?" She asked, making eye contact.
"Eh? Of course not? Where did you get that from?"
"I won't laugh at you if you say yes, you know?" Her smile sent a shock through his body.
"No, I'm telling you, I'm fine!" He assured her.
...
"This place has quite the atmosphere." Kujou observed, looking about the dimly-lighted hallway.
"Yeah." Yanagi easily agreed, annoyed by the lack of terror the map had asserted.
Eventually, they came upon the door at the end of the hallway, prompting them to open it, revealing a manikin with very elaborate makeup. Kujou seemed more interested than scared and Yanagi was dumbfounded by her.
This happened multiple more times until they eventually came out, more bored than when they entered.
They glanced around momentarily, looking for another activity, preferably with a shorter line, and the nearby rollercoaster perfectly made the cut. The were able to squeeze into the last cart and go off on the ride.
As they rose higher and higher into the air, Kujou began to shake, earning a worried look from Yanagi.
"Hey," He asked over the rumbling of the carts, "Kujou, are you afraid of hei-" His voice was cut off by the loud screams of the other passengers, some throwing their hands into the air in excitement as the carts flew down at a high speed.
He saw tears forming in her eyes and panicked. How was I supposed to know that she was afraid of heights if she didn't say anything?!
...
After going through hell and back watching his crush tear up, Yanagi swiftly got off the coaster the second the safety bars came up. Kujou came right after him, grabbing onto his hand at the first chance she got.
"Eh?" The blond squeaked out, trying to figure out if he were dreaming or not.
"Ah," She quickly released her hand's grip on his hand, using it to wipe away the tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry... you just said to hold your hand if I got got scared earlier, so I subconsciously..."
"I-it's okay." He stuttered out, "You're still shaking, so you can keep on holding it if you want."
"Al-alright." The same throb that ran through her a few days ago started once more, except this time it was less heavy; this time it was a lighter, more happy feeling. She complied and held onto to his larger hand.
...
They stopped at a shaded area with picnic tables, ready to eat lunch. Kujou unpacked her bag, taking out two small boxes and a bottle of spring water for the two of them.
As Yanagi finished up a rice ball, he reached for the bottle of water, noticing that the black-haired woman in front of him was taking a small sip, lips touching the tip. She glanced at him before holding out the bottle towards him, offering it to him.
"N-no!" He refused the offer, not as grossed out as he was flustered.
"Okay." She went back to eating, munching on a rice ball herself.
Is it just me or is she eating less than she normally does? Maybe she's a little sick?
...
They perused the premises further, coming upon an arcade; out of desperation to keep the 'date' going, Yanagi insisted they go and play around a bit; have a bit of fun. She agreed and they observed the games until they came upon one they liked.
A Whack-a-Mole-esque game caught their eyes and they decided they would give it a shot.
Yanagi went first, earning 99 points out of the possible 100, a mechanical voice praised, "Amazing! 99 points!"
Next was Kujou's turn, and got 100, and the same mechanical voice from before praised once more, "Perfect! 100 points!"
"Eh?" Yanagi's 'rival switch' turned on and he demanded, "One more time!"
"Why?"
"Shut up! I'll definitely win this time around!"
"Hey, let's go on the ferris wheel." Yanagi said, internally praising himself.
"Sure."
...
They sat across from each other, legs slightly brushed up against the other's because of the lack of space.
To think that I was able to make today's goal become a reality without any problems... alone in a ferris wheel together! "Ah, erm, are you still feeling sick from earlier?"
"Not anymore, I feel fine now..." That restless feeling from earlier is completely gone.
Maybe I'm thinking into this a bit to much... I'm not too good when it comes to these things.
"It's... it's been so long since we've been alone for this long..." The words slipped from her mouth thoughtlessly with a light smile, giving Yanagi the last push he needed to go through with his plan.
He suddenly grabbed both of her hands, staring only at her, her lips in particular. It was just them, and nobody was around to ruin this moment.
"Yanagi, are you-" Her question got cut off by the sudden stop of the wheel, causing the small gondola to jolt like a swing; Yanagi was scooched backwards and Kujou was shoved towards him.
In the moment their lips brushed together awkwardly and they were left listening to the loud cheers and screams from the other visitors of the park.
Kujou found her face getting hot and her heart speeding up profusely for some unknown reason. And Yanagi found himself in a similar situation, but he knew all too well why this was happening.
The girl in front of him was the reason why. In all of the years that he had known her, she had never looked at him the way that he looked at her, and that hurt. A lot. But from the view of the surrounding area this ride was going to end soon, and chances like this were so scarce. So...
He threw away his regrets and let go of her hands, moving his own to her soft cheeks, then slowly leaning into a quick, chaste kiss.
The lingering sensation left on her lips was definitely an unfamiliar one, but oddly satisfying. And for some strange reason, her lips wouldn't go back to their normal straight line; they stayed curved in a small smile, accompanied with a slight layer of blush.
With blue and brown eyes locked, they spent the rest of the ride in small chat, as if nothing had happened. Except now, Yanagi felt a bit more secure. That rare smile had meant more to him than anything.