Chapter Twenty
"I love the ending of a movie where two people end up together. Preferably if there's rain and an airport or running or a confession of love."
-Taylor Swift
"I've liked you ever since I saw you in our bookstore!"
Ruri stood dumbfounded in front of the school gate along with Aoko and Kaito.
"Um, who are you?" she asked, quite confused.
The young man straightened himself. "My name is Higashiyama Touma! Please go out with me!"
Ruri thought the young man looked familiar and now she knew why. He was the grandson of the elderly couple who ran the bookstore near her house.
"Um, Higashiyama-san-"
"Call me Touma!"
"Er, Touma-san, did you ask...um...me out?" Ruri tried to croak out.
Touma nodded vigorously, his brown hair whipping about.
"I um... well-" she started to stammer and turn red.
"You don't have to give me your answer now. Just tell me whenever," he told her before running off.
Aoko turned to Ruri with sparkles in her eyes.
"What was that about, Ruri-chan?!" she demanded.
"Touma-san is the grandson of the owners of a bookstore I frequent..." Ruri trailed off after noticing the pure murder in Kaito's eyes.
He was still smiling, but that just made it look even creepier.
"What are you going to do?" Aoko asked, still quite ecstatic.
"I... don't know..."
"EH?! You got confessed to?!" Aki dropped the piece of fish she had picked up.
Ruri nodded shyly.
"Tomo! Did you hear that?!" Aki shook Tomoharu's arm who didn't have any emotion on his face.
"I did," he said, his voice completely void of emotion.
Aki took no notice of this and went on about how her little girl was finally growing up.
I never would've expected this to happen...
"Ruri-chan!" Touma called as she walked through the door of the bookstore.
Ruri smiled and waved.
"How are you, Touma-san?" she asked once she was close enough.
"Much better, now that you're here!" he grinned.
Ruri blushed.
That was when Touma noticed a little white dove sitting on the windowsill.
"What's this?" he walked over to the window and opened it.
The dove cooed and hopped over to Ruri.
At first, Ruri was reluctant to let it come anywhere near her, but then she saw a little bump on the dove's leg.
Ah.
"Come here," she said softly, extending her hand.
The dove hopped onto the outstretched limb and up her arm where it sat on her shoulder.
"Is that your dove?" Touma asked.
Ruri shook her head.
Touma scratched his head, mystified that the bird seemed so relaxed around humans.
"By the way, we got a shipment of that new book by your favorite author," he said, walking to the counter and pulling up a box filled with books.
"Oh!" Ruri's eyes lit up.
Touma pulled out a book and set it on the counter.
"Do you want to buy it now?" he asked.
She nodded, pulling out her purse.
"That'll be 2419 yen," he said as the cashier dinged.
Ruri handed him the money and he put the book in a little paper bag.
Just as she headed towards the door, he called out again.
"Ruri-chan!"
She turned to look at the older man.
"What do you say to a date this Sunday?" he asked, fidgeting.
Ruri started to decline but he cut her off.
"I just want one date! If you say no after it, I won't bother you again! I promise!" he pleaded.
She felt bad, so she nodded.
"Alright."
As Ruri walked away from the store, she could hear a loud, "Yes!" from inside.
She walked to a nearby park and sat down on one of the benches, the dove still happily sitting on her shoulder.
After handing the dove some leftover cream bread she had, Ruri pulled out a slip of paper and started writing.
When she was done, she rolled it up and held it in front of the dove.
"Could you take this back to him?" she asked, when it looked at her.
It quickly finished the bread and took the paper in its mouth. With a flap of white wings, the dove was off, carrying the paper back to its master.
Kaito unrolled the paper and stared at it.
"There's no need to watch. I'm fine," it said in beautiful cursive English.
He laughed a bit and stroked the dove's head gently.
"Thanks," he told it and the bird cooed in response.
A CHAPTER IS DONE AND I'M SO STRESSED OUT ABOUT SCHOOL. IT'S MY LAST YEAR AND I START TOMORROW. Which is why I'm probably not going to update with as much frequency as I first did. I'll try to at least update every month! DX The most frequent will probably be every week, and maybe twice a week if we're lucky and I have nothing to do! So let's cross our fingers and hope, ok?
Also, I'm sorry I introduced another character, but I had this idea about Kaito getting jealous of Ruri getting confessed to and this was born. I'm so sorry. The next little break chapter will probably be a summer one... maybe a Tanabata Matsuri chapter? Actually, I'll list some ideas below, and I'll write the one that gets the most votes! How's that?
Choices:
Tanabata Festival (with Ekoda gang; i.e. Aoko, Kaito, Hakuba)
Beach (with Ekoda gang)
Pool (with Beika gang and Heiji; i.e. Ran, Suzuki, Conan, and Heiji)
Karaoke (with Beika gang)
xXx
After the next big arc, Ruri will have her own run-in with the Black Organization and hopefully we'll start to get more into the plot! (Meaning she'll most likely meet Ai and learn about Conan/Shinichi and be a bigger help to him)
Hopefully some time soon, she'll be able to have some moments with Shinichi! (They need to formally meet...)
NEXT CHAPTER: RURI'S DATE
DFTBA EVERYONE!