17 - Vignette - Post Reaper's Game
Dedicated to eolhcsullivan452, Shinra-ex-SOLDIER and Inita. For being my awesome NekuShiki buddies :)
xxxxx
Have Yourself a Fancy Little Christmas
Christmas in Shibuya - the lights shone brighter, the streets get more crowded and the smiles grew wider.
It's common to find restaurants and squares occupied by couples, hoping to enjoy a romantic evening together.
Which was why Shiki was wondering how she ended up in a fancy restaurant with Neku.
Alone.
When he had called her up earlier that day, she assumed that he'd invited the rest of their friends along too. But when she arrived at their usual spot in Hachiko, he was standing by himself, wearing a long black coat with a blue scarf wrapped around his neck. He greeted her with a smile, and before she could ask any questions, had dragged her off to this restaurant; La Cuisine de Shibuya.
There were two things this place was famous for: serving extremely expensive food, and being impossible to book reservations for.
She wasn't one to question good things but..."How did you get us a place here, Neku?"
Neku shrugged. "I booked early."
And she figured that that was all she was going to get out of him.
She looked around the restaurant, eyes taking in the Christmas decorations as well as all the well-dressed people dining there. She looked down at her green dress; Neku told her to dress nice but she never thought this was the reason why. She felt out of place her, it was seriously too fancy for her.
A moment later, a waiter dressed in customary French white collared shirt and black vest came to their table, giving them their menus. Shiki gulped as she looked at the prices of the food. She didn't bring enough money for this.
"Just order whatever you want. I'm paying," said Neku from behind his own menu.
"A-alright." Shiki settled for the cheapest thing - which was still really expensive.
When the waiter had taken their order and left, she whispered to Neku, "How are you going to afford all of this?"
"Don't worry about it, I've saved up some money for tonight," he assured her.
"Why? I mean, why are we here? How come you're taking me on such an expensive dinner for Christmas?" she asked, finally voicing what she had been wanting to ask since they sat down.
Again, he shrugged. "Just because."
She stared him down, waiting for a proper answer.
"Look, it's not that complicated. I just wanted to treat you to a nice dinner for Christmas," said Neku. "We've never spent Christmas alone together so I figured, why not this year?"
Something about that struck her as odd. "What makes you want to be alone with me on Christmas?"
Now that made Neku fidget, and he reached for his neck, pausing, then lowering it back down. Shiki giggled at the sight - Neku didn't have either his collar or his scarf to fiddle with. "..."
"Neku?"
"I...you..." He seemed to be struggling to find the right words. "I just do, okay."
"Okay." Shiki smiled at him. She thought she knew where he was coming from. It was a welcome change to spend Christmas just with him. They both loved their friends but it felt just a little bit more special with just the two of them.
The food arrived and Shiki breathed in the delicious aroma coming from it. Before she dug in, she looked at Neku. "Merry Christmas, Neku."
He smiled at her. "Merry Christmas, Shiki."
Tadaa! Miss me? I ran out of inspiration for writing NeShi for awhile. Though I blame that on studying too much x3 Anyway, hope you all had a good Christmas~
