3: Fearless
Summary: Taiki takes Akari out for a little drive in the rain. A sequel to "Rainy Afternoons are for Romantic Heroines."
Timeframe: Approximately 5 years into the future.
A pretty 17-year-old dressed in a black and white knee-length, one-shoulder dress stood in front of the mirror and sighed.
Stupid rain. I can't believe Nene canceled her graduation party because of the rain…and I had spent so long trying to look nice, too!
Akari scowled at her reflection in the mirror. She was never one to care much for appearances, but Nene's graduation party called for it. After all, she was the only incoming senior of the group, and Nene had made a special exception to invite her as the only underclassman because they had been friends for so long. So Akari knew she had to present herself well, since she was privileged enough to be invited. Her other motive, however, was to dress to impress since a certain gogglehead was going to be at the party too. She had spent the entire day last week looking for a nice dress (since Nene had said it was going to be a dance party), and then the entire day today doing her nails, her hair, her makeup.
Wow, I totally wasted the entire day…all that effort…now what?
She flopped down on her bed. Of course, she'd have to remove her makeup, shower the curls out of her hair, change…but she was feeling too lethargic to do anything at the moment except mope around on her bed.
And I was really looking forward to Nene's party too…to see Taiki all dressed up nicely… She blushed a little imagining that. Stupid rain… She abruptly sat up after hearing a little tink on her window. What the—
"Taiki!"
The handsomely dressed-up 18-year-old outside of her bedroom window grinned. "But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Akari is the sun."
Akari rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Romeo. What are you doing below my window? This isn't some shoujo romance anime, you know. Or Romeo and Juliet, for that matter," she added.
"Oh come on, is that any way to treat the guy who's going to give you a little ride around town right now?" He smirked. "I might change my mind though, since my Juliet doesn't seem to want it—"
Akari turned red. "Don't call me your Juliet," she glared at him. "But…were you really going to take me around?"
Taiki laughed. "Of course, my lovely Juliet. When Nene called me about the party's cancellation, she told me to go cheer you up since you sounded pretty bummed out. So I thought I'd swing by and just drive you around town. Shinonome looks really pretty at night, y'know."
Akari blushed when she realized that it was Nene who sent Taiki over. Dammit Nene! Though…that girl can really read minds… After all, Akari was the most excited to see Taiki all dressed up, and now that he was here, all dressed up for her… Well, not exactly dressed up for me, but whatever. I can certainly take advantage of it though, can't I?
She grinned down at him. "Sounds great. Let's go!" She closed her window and scurried downstairs to meet him.
"Ready to go? You look stunning, by the way."
Akari blushed again. "Th-that's because Nene told me to dress up! I-I didn't dress up for you or anything…" Damn my tsundere tendencies! That was soo obvious…
But Taiki only laughed. "Oh really? Well then Nene should tell you to dress up more often because you look really nice."
"Y-you l-look really n-nice too!" Akari managed to stutter.
"Really? Thanks. Though it feels weird not wearing my goggles…oh well!" He held out his arm and Akari took it. "Let's go."
Akari gasped as they walked to his car. Although it had stopped raining, the ground was still wet, and the illumination of the streetlights on the puddles seemed to make the street and sidewalks glow. She suddenly had an urge to ask him to slow dance with her right there in the middle of the street, but she ignored it. They got in the car.
"First stop—the Great Harumi Bridge! I heard it lights up at night, and…"
Akari stopped listening. How could she continue, when all she could focus on was how handsome her best friend (and longtime crush) looked? She fought back an urge to just scream "I LIKE YOU" when he ruffled his own hair.
I have Taiki…all to myself...
"Whoa! It really does light up at night! Isn't it pretty?" Taiki's amazed reaction got Akari's attention. She looked out the window.
"Uwahh! It really is!" From the corner of her eye, she noticed Taiki smiling softly at her. She turned slightly red. "A-anyways, where to next?"
"Hmm, I don't know…let's just drive around!"
They passed countless streets. To avoid Taiki's gaze, Akari steadily looked out the window. Taiki was right; Shinonome really did look pretty at night, with all of its colorful neon lights blinking along the streets. Taiki suddenly pulled over near a park on the edge of town.
"Here. Let's take a stroll here!"
Akari was surprised. "Eh? Right now? Dressed like this?"
"Of course!" He opened the passenger door and grabbed her hand. "Let's go!" He half-dragged, half-led her around the park. "Mmm I love the smell of rain. It's so fresh."
"Yeah…" Akari half-replied as she was caught up in the moment. Just then, it started to lightly drizzle. "Eh? Rain?" She felt a few fat drops hit her face. "Oh no, my makeup…! Let's get back to the car, Taiki!"
But he only grinned at her. "Aww, don't worry about such a trivial thing! Didn't I tell you to lighten up whenever it rains like five years ago or something? It's just you and me out here; there's no one to impress." He paused for a moment and added, "And don't say, 'But there's you, Taiki!' because no matter how you look, I'm always impressed by you. By your kindness."
And I don't know how it gets better than this, you take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless.
Akari looked down at her heels, embarrassed. Partly because of Taiki's words, and partly because of her ruined makeup—no matter what Taiki said, she was not going to show him a messily made-up face. As she looked down, she noticed the glow of the pavement again and that urge to suddenly slow dance with Taiki surfaced.
Forgetting about her ruined makeup, she looked up at him and narrowed her eyes playfully. "Okay then, I'll lighten up. How about a dance, right here, right now?"
Taiki looked surprised. Where did this personality come from? Was it something Akari had been hiding all these years? Nonetheless, "Sure. I'd love to."
Akari blushed hard when she realized what she had just done. No wait, I didn't mean that! I thought you were going to laugh at me or something…wait, what do I do now?
As if he could hear her thoughts, Taiki laughed. "Just relax and follow my steps." He wrapped his hands around her waist and as if it was second nature, Akari wrapped her arms around this neck. They started to sway rhythmically to the beat of the raindrops.
Mmm…can we stay like this forever? Just you and me, dancing alone in the rain…
And I don't know why, but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress, fearless.
Pretty soon Akari felt a little tired and rested her head on Taiki's shoulder.
"…like you."
"Huh?"
But Akari only gave a small, content sigh and closed her eyes. "Nothing." She didn't feel like repeating it. She just wanted to stay the way they were, forever. As she stood there in the rain, eyes closed, head resting on her best friend, she wondered how she managed to confess her love for him (even if he didn't hear her) at that moment when she couldn't all other times.
It must be because…
It's fearless.
A/N: This one was (obviously) inspired by Taylor Swift's "Fearless." As I was writing "Rainy Afternoons," this song came up on shuffle and of course, since it had a lot of rain imagery in it, I just had to make it a sequel to "Rainy Afternoons." Although nothing about it makes it a sequel except for a very weak connection to what Taiki had said earlier—for Akari to lighten up. Oh well :/
The Great Harumi Bridge…yes, it exists in Koto (Shinonome is a part of Koto), but no, it probably doesn't light up; I just wanted to write in something exciting, okay? Suspend your disbelief ):
Nerd fact: Akari means "light" in Japanese (similar to hikari), so it was a bit of a pun when Taiki recites Shakespeare's lines and replaces Juliet's name for Akari's.
Aaaaaand you know the drill. R/Ring would be nice :)