Naoki-kun," Kotoko called him at the traffic light stop.
"Yes?" He turned to see her, still stunned because they had spent some time together walking the streets of the Shibuya district without getting into any place, and it didn't seem that they would end soon. The fatigue was coming, but he refused to give priority to sleep since he was with his special person and he wouldn't change that for anything.
"Do you think if we go to a place?" She asked, showing her expression of doubt, grinding her teeth and shrugging her shoulders. She looked like a girl when she made that expression.
"Local?" He raised an eyebrow, suspicious. "Didn't we just come to film the apparent movement and come back?" He tilted his head in a good-natured gesture.
"Well" She laughed nervously, looking away. "It's that I got hungry" She confessed.
A genuine smile escaped him.
"Come on, Kotoko" He said, softened by the situation.
Both entered a cafeteria in the Shinjuku district from which they took a bus and got off at the indicated stop, walked a few streets called "Breizh cafe Creperie" of French food. They took a seat at a circular wooden table for two people.
"Creperie, eh?" Kotoko sighed curtly, raising her eyebrows.
"What do creperies have?" He inquired uneasily of his reaction.
"They seem formal to me." She placed her fingers on the table, resting her forearms on the edge of the circular table, dropping her shoulders toward the floor. "They have a serious atmosphere, I dare to say that pretentious, yes, that" At that moment the waitress appeared, who managed to listen to Kotoko.
Naoki clenched his jaw in the same shame, bringing a hand to his forehead wanting to disappear from there.
"Your menu." She handed them two menus with a frown, not looking at Kotoko's face laughing at her meddling.
"Thanks" She thanked mockingly. "Waitress" She burst out laughing, showing her childish side, who just by smiling at things began to look at a better angle.
"Kotoko, we didn't come here to make fun of the waitress." He scolded in an authoritative pose, bringing his torso toward the table in imperative action.
"But you chose the place" She huffed stubbornly.
Oh right…
She was right, he had chosen the place without thinking about the consequences of Kotoko's imprudence, although it didn't bother him at all that she did what she pleased, as long as he saw her smile. He would even dare to see the world burn.
"At least behave in this place" He ordered, crossing his arms, raising an eyebrow in authoritarian mode.
"Are you telling me?" She raised her eyebrows playfully. He nodded without saying a word. "Well, it's justifiable" She said repeatedly. "Because I let you choose, since I always choose"
"Obviously," He said narcissist.
"You are very conceited, Naoki-kun" She replied, wrinkling her nose, crossing her arms resignedly.
He would not say the presumed term, but presumptuous.
Although he discarded out being a man of many words because saying a lot, he was rather few words, but always getting to the point.
He sighed overwhelmed by the situation he considered derailed, because he wanted to cover other issues with Kotoko, rather personal issues.
Talking about feelings were not his thing, they were pure nonsense of youth.
Talking about music was not his forte either, but he had been spending time collecting cassettes of the genre of music that Kotoko liked.
But he had to do something, it was talk, that is, talk.
The waitress reappeared to take their order, however, Kotoko changed her expression to a joker, but not presumed.
"Waitress." She laughed behind her hands that covered her mouth.
The waitress made a selfless shake of her head, snorting irritated. Naoki, decided to intervene before the problem got bigger.
"We know what we're going to order" He spoke, making his best kind smile, forcing his voice out elegant.
"Yes?" The waitress, who, in his view, was interested in him, wrote down both of them and as soon as she looked at Kotoko's mocking face she left again, irritated.
"Kotoko, stop laughing at the waitress" He scolded her sternly, frowning, placing both hands open on the table, making her stagger from the impression of seeing him that way.
"Okay." She put her hands defensively at chest height. "I will leave the waitress alone" she assured, opening her eyes, regaining the earlier relaxed posture on the chair.
He lowered his shoulders, feeling that the accumulation of tension emptied of his body as if the bad energies vanished from his point of settlement. The tension, in itself, was not because of Kotoko, but of being run from the restaurant and being objects of mockery for the other clients that were in the premises. Being an object of mockery was an idea he didn't like at all.
He didn't know how Kotoko could live by being the laughing stock at her acquaintances and, on top of that, to endure it.
"Naoki-kun?" She called him attentively, directing her a fixed look, tilting her head.
"Hm" He regained his attention, somewhat disoriented, but at least recovered.
"You looked thoughtful" She commented, bewildered, without losing sight of him. "I'm intrigued to know what you think." She laced her fingers on the table, raising a dangerous hunch in him, because he felt his cheeks begin to turn a pale pink.
"What do I think?" He questioned, his heart pounding from his chest.
She nodded.
"I won't tell you what's going on in my head" He grunted grimly, raising his chin in selfless air.
"But I do tell you what's going on in mine." She boasted, shaking her head from side to side, whistling. "For example, I told you the story that happened when I lost my house"
"The one when the earthquake passed?" He asked smiling mockingly. She nodded.
"Do you understand my point?" She smiled sideways.
"Yes" He snorted, straightening his back, giving himself a mature appearance, but without appearing frivolous as his past self would. "To talk more about my thoughts" He said in an annoying facade.
"Exactly" She pointed affirmatively. "If you're not honest with people, how are they going to understand you?"
You won't say the same if I tell you that I like you, he snorted in his mind.
"I got it" He refuted grimly, biting his lower lip trying not to dodge her eyes in case he looked obvious in his supposed annoying attitude. "You don't have to explain it to me"
"Really?" She stopped with her mouth open, blinking.
Naoki giggled, thinking that she looked funny making that gesture.
"Kotoko, I'll talk when I feel willing to do it" He explained, sketching a side smile, raising both eyebrows and then lowering them. "So there's no need for you to tell me, okay?" He raised an eyebrow, sounding clear.
"I believe" She affirmed, moving her mouth tight, as if she were assimilating it. "You don't want to talk, then?" She asked doubtfully, narrowing her eyes.
"It's not that" He refused. "The point is that I don't want to talk about myself"
Kotoko pondered his comment, nodding his head slightly, assimilating —what he supposed, he had said—.
"You better focus your attention on the food" He said resigned to talking about himself. "It's better that way"
He acknowledged being clumsy to start the conversations, joining what happened with the rogue captain who called himself Nakagawa, that nothing of grace seemed to give him more than pure embarrassment.
He discarded his annoyance in Kotoko, because he liked her, but he didn't rule out the idea that she might be interested in finding the supposed cousin of Nakagawa, because he knew she was a rather curious person, and if so, his opportunities could go to trash if he didn't hurry. He was irritated when he remembered that he must be quick and assertive in matters of love, but he was still clumsy, insecure, even looking away.
That new facet of him caused him nothing but discomfort.
He swallowed, weighing both hands together, causing friction.
He noticed that Kotoko couldn't understand what he wanted to explain, so he decided to intervene.
"Don't worry about me" He said sparingly. "You better focus on your things that are more important than mine, I can solve those things" He said affirmatively.
"I'm interested in you" She confessed hastily, giving him an intense look, causing him to drown in his own saliva.
What had just happened?
"Excuse me?" He muttered scratchy.
"You interest me, Naoki-kun" Kotoko looked at him with such intensity that he thought he would die right there. She had never looked at him that way. "I'm interested in what happens with you, what you do, what you want to do" She said wildly. "I'm interested in everything about you"
He was slow to respond, paralyzed by Kotoko's sudden confession, which had partly left disoriented him.
Did Kotoko hint that she felt things for him?
"Now I am clear?" She concluded, sketching an innocent smile.
Naoki swore that his heart stopped at that brief moment.