Author's Note: I was doing my research of characters and even got to sort them out on MBTI (God, I have so much of my spare time), all for the future of Salad Days. Anyway, I re-watched the whole series of 01 and 02 in Japanese - and boy - English dub sure screwed Mimi's character. At times I'm just starting to reckon she became slightly introverted in 02.

Anyway, the idea came out from the whole 'Yamato and Mimi can't be together because they won't have anything to talk about' thing, rather from a song. Enjoy!

Mixtapes
Picturesque

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"Yamato, this – it's actually about unrequited love." said Mimi, pointing her index finger at the frame.

But like most of the time, he didn't agree with her. Yamato raised a brow and took a good look at the painting again. He couldn't understand how a man pushing a frilly-dressed girl be about one-sided romance. Frolicky, rather. The fact that it was under rococo art just nullified his girlfriend's interpretation; but what probably mattered more to him was how she managed to come up with such a unique understanding.

"I think the real motive behind this was that he just found her pretty," he said, burying his hands in his pockets. "It actually came from an art movement in France.."

He looked to her side, and saw the expected frown on her face. He would have said sorry, but he thought it wasn't right to indulge her with apologies. It's stupid to apologize for having an opinion.

And when he did not, Mimi turned her heels and moved a bit away from him. After all, it wasn't the first time he made her feel foolish.

She looked around, feeling very intimidated that most people around the place wore black, grey, or white as they contrasted her pink, blue, and orange. She wondered if there was a certain dress code – and if it was an unwritten rule among art enthusiasts; because Yamato's all-black attire made him look ten times handsomer, classier, and smarter.

Mimi looked at him, who was two yards away from her left. He was staring at a replica of another classical French painting; and his eyes remain glued to it for a minute or two, until a random person in grey had come up to him for a conversation.

She had heard words like 'chiaroscuro', 'repoussoir' being uttered by the fellow beside him – but the only thing she understood was 'mono no aware'. And it bugged her to bits how 'chiaroscuro', 'repoussoir' and 'mono no aware' made sense altogether. Now she half-wished she didn't take him here, because it made her feel stupid and inferior.

She was very much aware of this insecurity though. She just wished Yamato would remain unaware of her ignorance and self-assumed stupidity. Her primary intent of bringing him here was to exactly prove to herself she was more than just amusement parks and festivals.

With hands clasped behind, she moved further, and further away. While her company remained busy, she wandered around the gallery, going from room to room; soaking up all of the timeless beauty that she knew her hands were incapable of creating.

It didn't take Yamato that long to notice Mimi's sudden absence in the room. After noticing the only figure in pink, blue, and orange disappear from his peripheries, he searched for her like a parent who had just lost his child at the mall.

But thank God! He easily spotted her at the leftest wing, crowded with people in black, grey, and white. She seemed to have immediately felt his presence since she directly looked at him, smiling, and was signaling him to come over.

And so he did.

"Okay Ishida, this," she said, pointing to an abstract painting on front of them.

Yamato's interest turned to indifference. "What about it?"

"This could definitely mean anything,"

He looked at it again, confused as she was. "I see.."

Mimi bit her lip, looked at the artwork again. There was just no lying – a single splatter of black paint over white canvas just didn't mean anything to her at all.

"No... forget it. There's just nothing in this," She said, putting her palms up for surrender. Even she could have gotten away with her kindergarten attempts of painting.

He started to hear her resentfully murmur a lot of 'I am' followed by words like 'idiot' and 'ditz'. Only then it became clear to him– what she was trying to do earlier, and why she was so keen to visiting the museum today, and why she was so desperate to get him to talk about art.

Maybe he really should have just apologized earlier, and probably tell her – No, you're not stupid. You're just weird. Because Tachikawa Mimi is weird for eating her sunny side-ups with sugar and soy beans; for attending random workshops about drama and camping; for singing songs much older than his granddad every time they go to karaoke; for dying her hair pink – and those stars on her hair, I just.. I can't even. What else was probably going in her pretty little mind was just beyond his understanding – and he was fascinated.

But knowing Mimi, saying those would only make her feel worse. And so, Yamato supplemented his apology with a kiss on her forehead. He looked at her, being reminded that just a few inches below his face was the most beautiful picture he had seen.