Thank you everyone for your raving reviews. To be quite honest, I'm pleasantly shocked that everyone likes this story so much. So, without further ado, by popular demand, here is "I Like You" chapter 2.
As Kouichi and Mei rode the elevator that led to Studio M's second floor and living area, they couldn't help but exchange a small smile towards each other. Both were expecting to do a lot of talking while Kouichi spent the night, but neither of them had expected to enter the basement as friends and enter the second floor as a couple. Once the elevator door opened, they took off their shoes and exited with Mei leading the way to the living room.
"We don't have a guest room, so you'll have to stay here in the living room." Kouichi nodded as he carefully set his bag down by the couch.
"It's ok, Mei-chan. I expected something like that so I packed a sleeping bag as well. In the meantime, what would you like to do?" Mei looked away quietly, seeming to not know what to say before Kouichi followed her gaze to the kitchen.
"I get it now… you want me to make dinner for us, right Mei-chan?" He smiled gently as she nodded.
"Yes. I was hoping when you told me "someday", it didn't mean months or years from now."
He made his way over to the kitchen and washed his hands, sneaking a smile at Mei as he did before looking a way, hiding a very faint blush on her pale-skinned face. Kouichi held back a chuckle as he looked in the refrigerator and cabinets to see what was there to make for dinner before letting out a quiet sigh. Mei looked over at him when she heard him sigh.
"What's wrong, Kouichi-kun?" Kouichi looked back at her as he closed the cabinet he was looking in.
"We're gonna have to go to the market because there's barely enough ingredients to make sandwiches. Luckily, I just got my allowance when I went home today, so we should be okay."
"Are you sure? You don't have to cook if you don't want to." Kouichi smiled at her consideration of him.
"It's perfectly alright, Mei-chan. By the way, do you have any food allergies that you know of?" Mei shook her head.
"No, but I don't like spicy things like wasabi. It hurts my mouth and nose."
"I understand. That's no problem, because I don't like things that are spicy or bitter either." He went to put on his shoes as Mei followed behind doing the same before making their way downstairs and out the door.
"So, Mei-chan, is there anything in particular you have a taste for?" She looked down, her dark hair covering her eyes as she spoke quietly.
"Something…warm…" Kouichi looked at her with a curious and mildly worried expression.
"Is something wrong?" Mei simply shook her head and continued walking in silence before they finally reached the market. Once inside, Kouichi grabbed a hand-basket before they made their way through the store while he began brainstorming ideas on what to cook.
"Let's see… something warm… not bitter or spicy…" A light bulb suddenly clicked in his head as he smiled at the idea before making his way through the store to grab the necessary ingredients, along with a few extra ones for breakfast and lunch the next day. Once they made their way to the register, Kouichi and the cashier greeted each other before the food got scanned.
"That'll be 170 yen, young man." Mei reached into her pocket and pulled out a small money purse before Kouichi gently held her hand and shook his head.
"I have it, Mei-chan, don't worry." Before she could even argue the point, Kouichi counted out the money and paid the cashier before grabbing the bags, looking back at her with a smile.
"Shall we?" She looked at him in surprise before smiling gently and nodding as she followed him out of the market back to her home. Once they made their way back upstairs to the kitchen, Kouichi and Mei put the groceries into the refrigerator before he smiled at her.
"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" She smiles back at him and shakes her head.
"What are you going to cook, Kouichi-kun?" He simply chuckled a little and winked at her.
"That's a surprise, Mei-chan. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll like it." She turned away to hide her blush from his warm smile, though she didn't succeed, he still didn't see because he had already began washing his hands and wiping down the kitchen counters to begin cooking. Mei simply smiled and stood there watching as he began rolling out dough and flouring it repeatedly. That's when he hid a smirk as he got an idea in his head.
"Hey Mei-chan, come over here for a second." Curious about what he could want, Mei made her way over to him. Once she was within arm's reach, she flinched and closed her eyes as he quickly turned and flicked his hand at her. She felt something soft and powdery hit her face as he snickered quietly.
"Kouichi-kun…what did you just do?" He snickered again and pointed to the framed picture behind her.
"Take a look for yourself, Mei-chan." She turned around and walked up to the picture, using the reflective glass on it to see that Kouichi had indeed flicked flour right into her face. He had trouble holding back a laugh as she turned to face him and ask very slowly.
"Kouichi-kun… why did you just flick flour in my face?" He could no longer help himself as he started laughing hard at her reaction. Knowing she likely wouldn't get an answer, she simply snuck her way around Kouichi and grabbed a bit of flour.
"Kouichi-kun…" As neutral as she often sounded, she actually sounded a little angry, so he quickly calmed down and turned to face her, only to flinch as he saw her hand coming towards his face. The only thing that he registered a moment later was a powdery substance on his face, and a quiet giggling right in front of him. He opened his eyes to see that she was indeed before touching his face and looking at his hands to see that she had also flicked flour into his face.
"Now we are even, Kouichi-kun." He looked at her in disbelief as she stepped out of the kitchen and walked towards the bathroom, but not before she glanced a smile at him along the way before she was out of sight. Kouichi simply shook his head and chuckled in disbelief at Mei's antics as he continued working with the dough and chopping the other ingredients and having the water boiling.
The entire time he's cooking, his mind continuously wanders to Mei and what's been happening since he joined Class 3. He, along with Mei, are nonexistent to the rest of the class (thankfully not the whole school, because the people in the art club seem really nice), Yukari Sakuragi, Ikuo Takabayashi, and Sanae Mizuno are all dead due to the calamity, and the result of everything has ended up pushing them together and now became a couple. 'It's crazy how bad things can lead to good things and vice versa…' Kouichi silently thought.
Almost as if the universe agreed with him, Mei immediately came back into vision and again smiled at him. 'Mei sure has a pretty smile.' He tried to hide the blush quickly creeping up on his face by looking down at what he was doing, which was a good thing because he was about to start cutting up the dough into noodles. Once he was done with that, he placed the noodles into the pot of boiling water before stirring the pot that held the broth as Mei sniffed the air and smiled.
"It smells good, Kouichi-kun. What is that?" He turned around and smiled at her.
"You're gonna find out in just a few minutes, Mei-chan. Go ahead and sit down and I'll join you in a few minutes." She nods before going to sit down in the living room in one of the chairs. Coincidentally, it was the same chair that she sat in when Kouichi came here the first time. Barely five minutes later, Kouichi came out with a tray with two bowls, two sets of chopsticks, and two glasses of ice water and set it down on the table.
"Here we are, Mei-chan. This is a shrimp and pork ramen with carrots and celery in a pork broth. I hope you like it." She smiled at what Kouichi had prepared for them.
"It looks and smells great, Kouichi-kun. Itadakimasu."
"Itadakimasu." They both said grace at the same time before carefully blowing on their ramen before ingesting some of the noodles. Mei closed her eyes and smiled as she chewed slowly before swallowing, the noodles filling her body with comfortable warmth on the way down.
"I love it, Kouichi-kun. I'm impressed." Kouichi couldn't help but blush a little at her compliments.
"I'm glad, Mei-chan. Thank you." For nearly an hour, they quietly enjoyed the warm, delicious ramen, occasionally talking about random things such as the homework the teachers gave, some of the people in the class, Kirika's dolls, Mei's art, and even Kouichi being Mei's tour guide should she decide to visit Tokyo. Even after they finish the ramen and Kouichi washes the dishes and puts them away, they eventually make their way to the couch, but not before Mei goes to get an extra fleece blanket and pillow from the hall closet and places them on the couch.
"It gets cold in here at night, so I thought you might need those." Kouichi smiles at her as she sits down next to him.
"Thank you, Mei-chan, I appreciate it. How was dinner?" She smiled gently at him.
"It was delicious, Kouichi-kun. I really liked it a lot." She took a deep breath and let out a small shiver as she rubbed her arms, already cold from the room's temperature. Kouichi immediately noticed this and grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her before pulling her into his arms. She smiled at the action and even snuggled a little closer to him.
"Mmm… Thank you, Kouichi-kun, but what about you? Aren't you cold as well?" He simply smiled at her.
"No, not really. This is actually helping me stay warm as well. The heat from our bodies is helping us get warm, and this fleece is helping you stay warm." She smiled a little as she closed her eyes and snuggled a little closer.
"You're just full of health facts, aren't you, Kouichi-kun?" Kouichi chuckled quietly at her jab at his knowledge of health facts.
"When you spend a few months in a hospital chatting with a nurse, you tend to learn a few things." She almost didn't seem to hear as she started drifting to sleep.
"How lucky for Kouichi-kun…" She let out a small yawn as she finally fell asleep right next to him. Kouichi smiled as he carefully pulled the blanket from her and wrapped it around them both and pulled her to him as he sat back against the arm of the couch with her laying against him and his arms around her. He let out a long, quiet exhale as he went to sleep with Mei curled up in his arms.
Wow, this chapter took a while to write. This is chapter two of what was an originally a one-shot for "I Like You" which, much to my extreme surprise, received many positive reviews. I actually have an idea for the next chapter, so I'm going to sleep on that and hopefully have an update within a couple of days. Keep the constructive reviews coming people; I love feedback!