It was difficult (and embarrassing) to get them and when she finally managed it, she couldn't bring herself to do anything further for several more days. If she wasn't something of a public figure it wouldn't have been such a problem, but as things were she had been forced to sneak around to obtain what she wanted. She was pretty sure that he hadn't thought things out at all, and she wasn't about to ask him. No, waiting for him to make the first move wouldn't do any good.
When she had finally decided to broach the subject with him there didn't seem to be a good way to do that, either, so she just threw the box down on his desk and looked up at him pointedly. Akihiko blinked and picked it up. Then, in a thoroughly characteristic manner he opened it and studied the instructions. After she was fairly sure he'd had time to reread them several times, he set the box down and cleared his throat.
"Are you sure it was a good idea to choose ribbed?"
Mitsuru was exasperated. "Do you know what I went through to get those?"
"I'm sorry. I was just thinking of…well, you." He was clearly trying to keep his voice steady.
Mitsuru relented a little. "…it was all they had."
Akihiko nodded and then drummed his fingers against the back of the desk chair distractedly. What in God's name was he supposed to do now? "Well…anyway, thank you. I'm sorry you had to do that, I can always get them n…next time." His voice caught just a little as he realized what he was actually saying.
Mitsuru sat down on the bed. "That would be appreciated."
"Did you…" he took a breath and started again, "…want to…?"
"Now?" She flushed. "We're going to Tartarus tonight! I hardly think--"
He cut in quickly. "Right, sorry."
She got up nervously. "Well then, that was all I wanted to…to talk about. So, I'll be going."
"Right," he said heavily.
She nodded jerkily and fled. Akihiko rubbed his face for a moment and then went straight to Junpei's room and pounded on the door.
"You want what?" Junpei paused from munching his Carls for two seconds to stare at Akihiko, wide-eyed.
"Shut up, you heard what I said the first time."
"Um, yeah, okay Senpai…" Junpei went over to his closet and dug around until he came out with his very prized, very secret collection. "What kind do you want?"
Akihiko blinked. "…excuse me?"
"Nevermind." Junpei found some decidedly mainstream ones and handed them to him. Akihiko picked them up gingerly, frowning. He was rather grateful at that moment to be wearing gloves.
Junpei looked at him and then decided there weren't very many good ways to handle a social situation like this, so his best course of action was to go back to playing video games. He accordingly unpaused his game and did his best to become engrossed in it while Akihiko sat down on his bed and flipped through the first magazine.
After a few minutes though, curiosity forced Junpei to pause it again and turn around. Akihiko was studying the pages intently with a contemplative scowl on his face. Junpei was more bemused than ever. "You look like you're studying for a test!"
"…is this really how they do it?" Akihiko didn't look very convinced.
"Um…more or less, kinda."
"I see." More intent reading. Junpei itched to ask him about ten different questions and held himself back with difficulty.
Finally Akihiko put them down with an air of having no further use for them. He looked far from satisfied, but at least he seemed a little less agitated than when he had burst into Junpei's room and demanded to see his porn collection. "Thanks," he muttered, and left without any further explanation. Junpei shook his head and put them away again. In a world where people changed into coffins for one hour every night, some things could still surprise him apparently.
