"Hey isn't this our stop ? "
Chizuru took her eyes off of Kazuya for the first time in twenty minutes as he poked her with the question
At first she was unperturbed but once she snapped out of it , she glanced around and finally spotted the words Harajuku Station brightly lit up on the platform
It now registered in her mind that they had been stationary here for a minute or so .
She immediately stood up exclaiming ,
"Yes ! "
Kazuya got up as well and they marched towards the door of the train before jumping off just in time before the doors hissed and closed .
"Geez , what were we doing?", Chizuru complained as they both panted a sigh of relief.
They made their way out of the station and into the slightly frigid sunlight before Kazuya asked her ,
"So where are we headed ? "
"Why don't you get us started ?" ,she replied.
Kazuya thought about it for a while before answering uncertainly ,
"I'm not sure exactly where it is, but I've heard that there's a street around here lined with vendors and food carts where you can get really nice stuff for really cheap.
"Alright then ", an excited Chizuru replied,
"Let's find it " .
In the end it was very easy to find , a mere fifteen minutes away and so , they were soon standing at the beginning of the street .
They walked through it for a few minutes, just glancing at the various vendors before an abundance of delicious smells began to assault them .
All of a sudden the brownies seemed an age ago and as a result Kazuya and Chizuru headed straight for the food .
Their first stop was for gyoza dumplings , where they needed no persuasion to buy a plate each.
On the recommendation of the gyoza vendor , they headed next to a crepe shop where Kazuya chose one with cheesecake stuffed in it , while Chizuru opted for strawberries
Of course they ended up sharing both and after sampling candy floss and a rainbow colored drink , they decided to head onto the other shops .
They walked for a while without buying anything, rather just looking at all the accessories being sold before Chizuru finally stopped, near the end of the street.
"Okay how about a little challenge?", she asked.
"Sure ", Kazuya replied.
"Well, not a challenge exactly ", she admitted before continuing,
"Let's split up and try to find something for each other . Whoever gets something first , wins "
"That sounds great ", Kazuya agreed .
Chizuru let him go first and once he'd disappeared into the crowd , she turned to the vendor beside her.
"He's just too dumb sometimes ", she chuckled to herself
Of course she had come up with this challenge the second Kazuya brought had mentioned this street and had led him through it till she had decided what to get him .
She picked up a pair of sunglasses, dark rims with light green tinted lens , paid for it and waited patiently till he came charging back.
"You're already back !", he exclaimed slightly disappointed.
"What do you mean back , I never moved from here " , she cheerily replied .
"Huh ? So you didn't go yet? ",he asked
"I didn't say that " , she answered before adding,
"By the way , how did you know to come right back here ? I didn't say where we should meet ".
Obvious confusion appeared on Kazuya's face which made Chizuru burst out in laughter before she finally explained,pointing at the vendor next to them
"I was here all this time . This is where I got your gift " .
"Eh ? Then why did you ... "
"That was my revenge for your teasing ",she declared
"Didn't you already ... " , he began but Chizuru continued, with a devilish grin
"Don't think that I won't strike back " .
Kazuya smiled too admitting that she had played him like a fiddle.
She then handed him the gift and was satisfied with his usual explosion of excitedness and praise.
After he calmed down he put on the sunglasses before remarking,
"This is not the right season at all " .
"You still look very cool ", she assured him before he gave them back to her and she put then safely in her handbag
He then handed her the small cover he had been holding. She took it and pulled out a small rectangle box which contained the most striking of pendants, a black ring encircling a brilliant silver crescent moon .
She took it into her hands and stared at it for a while before muttering,
"Now I feel guilty for making you run around like that ".
Kazuya smiled as she continued to admire it before she finally put it back in his hands and asked,
"Help me put it on ? "
He nodded before she lifted up her hair from the nape of her neck allowing him to drape the pendant around her neck .
She then let go of her hair and adjusted the pendant slightly before turning back to him with a shining smile,
"Thank you " .
They had barely taken a few steps away from the street when she added,
"I won , by the way " .
"Didn't you cheat though ? ", Kazuya pointed out.
"No I didn't ", she replied innocently .
"Fine ", he relented before smiling curiously,
"So what's your reward? "
"Hmm ", Chizuru thought for a while before answering ,
"Let's stick with the challenges for now and whoever wins the most by the end of the day can ask the other for anything they want " .
"Sounds good to me ", Kazuya agreed.
They walked a bit more before Chizuru pretended to accidentally think out aloud,
"So what should I ask you for? "
"You haven't won yet !", Kazuya retorted
They soon left the vendor street behind and continued to walk . Neither of them had any particular idea of where to go next and so they almost aimlessly wandered around into a more upscale part of Harajuku ,where Chizuru was intrigued by a large sign.
"Louis Vitton Museum ?", she read out aloud.
"Huh ? ", Kazuya asked , confused before he too read the sign.
"Let's check it out then ", he suggested and they headed into the store.
Once they were inside they were directed to the seventh floor where their breath was taken away by the art space filled with dazzling sculptures and remarkable structures.
They spent about forty minutes in there before leaving, Kazuya had to almost drag Chizuru out of there in the end .
They had barely walked for five minutes before Kazuya stopped and pointed at a giant arcade building.
"How about some bowling? "
Chizuru paused and studied the signs and posters outside .
She them smiled knowingly before responding,
"Ha , you thought you'd got me didn't you?"
"Huh , what ?", Kazuya asked.
"I bet you were going to try and beat me at bowling after you suggested it as a challenge", she guessed
"Well , you're not wrong " , Kazuya admitted
"Too bad for you , I remembered you telling me once that you're really good at bowling", Chizuru declared victoriously before pointing at the sign.
"The arcade is still a good idea , but let's change the sport .
How about some ping pong ? "
Soon Kazuya and Chizuru were standing at opposite ends of a ping pong table and holding rackets .
"Take it easy on me , okay ? ", Chizuru asked with fake innocence.
"You should take it easy on me ", Kazuya shot back.
Chizuru served first and Kazuya returned it.
The ball moved slowly across the table, seemingly neither of the participants were particularly good at ping pong , but eventually Chizuru hit the ball hard towards the corner out of Kazuya's reach .
"1-0 ", she stated with a huge grin .
"I thought you said you hadn't played before ", Kazuya complained.
"Well , maybe just once or twice or few more times ", she playfully replied .
Chizuru served once again and as the ball traveled towards Kazuya , she thought to herself,
"Alright , let's go hard from the start this time " .
She didn't have the chance to though because before she could blink, the ball had already shot past her .
"Huh ? " , was all a dazed Chizuru could manage to say , blinking back and forth between the ball behind her and a sniggering Kazuya.
"You liar !", she exclaimed.
"You acted like a total novice , just so you could trick me " .
"Isn't that exactly what you did ?", he countered, still laughing at her .
Feeling that familiar competitive fire inside her chest , Chizuru picked up the ball , tossed it to him so that Kazuya could serve and vowed ,
"I'll get you back this time " .
An hour later an embarrassed Chizuru and a triumphant Kazuya walked out of the arcade .
Chizuru had ended up losing miserably ,despite the multiple redos and "best of fives" that Kazuya had allowed her.
"I'm totally going to beat you next time ", she muttered .
"I'm sure you'll kick my ass ", Kazuya agreed getting her to smile again.
They were silent for a while before Chizuru remarked,
"I can barely believe how smoothly this is going "
"Really ? ", Kazuya asked.
"I don't mean how good we are together, that's great, of course ", she assured him before continuing,
"It's just that this is usually the kind of scenario that somebody unwanted turns up and we're forced into an awkward scenario. Like... "
"Kibe or Kuri " , Kazuya put in.
Chizuru nodded ,
"Yeah , them or my friends or someone from work .
But so far so good.
I can't help being a little wary though ".
Kazuya thought about it a little before reassuring her ,
"Don't worry , we've always managed those situations and that's before we were together . Now we can handle anything "
She smiled, infused by his contagious optimism .
"On that note ", she resumed,
"How about we have lunch ? "
"Sure ", Kazuya nodded .
"I've actually heard of a great place around here.
An Udon restaurant. It looks like your average small Udon shop but this ones actually got a Michelin Star ".
"Wow , sounds great ", Kazuya enthusiastically replied.
"Alright, let's go " .
Half an hour later , they realized that they had been going in circles .
"What were you saying about things going smoothly ? " , Kazuya grumbled.
"We'll find it ", a cranky Chizuru replied, exasperatedly.
Finally they spotted a small store with the letters Udon painted on and they all but ran in and sat at the counter.
They had just sat down when the owner , an old man with twinkling eyes , asked them ,
"By chance would the two of you have been looking for the Michelin starred Restaurant?"
"This isn't it ? ", Kazuya asked .
The man laughed before explaining ,
"No that restaurant is about five minutes from here
Not that I'm complaining , half my customers wander in here like that .
Now how about you two , I may not have a fancy award but I make Udon as well as anyone can ".
Slightly embarrassed by their mistake and motivated further by their hunger, they decided to stay .
In the end they were glad that they did because they had what they both described as "the best Udon they'd ever had " and proceeded to demolish five bowls between them .
Eventually, unwillingly they said goodbye to the old man and left the ship after which they proceeded to collapse at the nearest bench.
Chizuru leaned against Kazuya's shoulder and they sat there for a good few minutes before regaining their capacity to walk .
"There's one more place we definitely have to go", Chizuru told Kazuya.
"Yoyogi park ? ", Kazuya guessed .
"Exactly ", Chizuru replied
They took a bus to Yoyogi park which was technically in Shinjuku but adjacent to Harajuku Station which was good enough for both of them .
They walked in and soon the hustle and bustle of the city faded away into the quiet serenity.
The park was not as beautiful as it would be in the spring, or at least that's what the young woman working at the entrance had told them .
Apparently the park would light in an array of beautiful flowers all of which were tended to by the woman and her grandfather who was the caretaker.
Kazuya and Chizuru still enjoyed the majestic beauty of the park in winter , it had an almost forest aesthetic to it .
Eventually they came upon a bicycle stand from where bicycles could be rented .
Instantly they decided. The final challenge would be a race .
They both grabbed a bicycle , pushed it along till they found a suitable starting point.
They agreed on a large pine tree as the finish line before sitting on the bicycles, counting down together and set off .
It could be described as a race for the ages , neck to neck , nail biting tension, barely inches between them .
And then Kazuya's front wheel met a rock , forcing him to swerve off the path before he lost his balance and fell into a clump of grass.
Chizuru shrieked and jumped off her bicycle, running towards him and worriedly asking ,
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine ", Kazuya waved away her concern .
"Really ? ", she asked again.
Kazuya had barely repeated that he was fine when Chizuru suddenly raced back to her bicycle and sped across the finish line after which she circled back towards him.
She was laughing so hard that she nearly fell off her bike herself, Kazuya's astonished face only providing more fuel to her till finally she sat down next to him.
"I can't believe you did that ", Kazuya told her, slightly bemused .
Once she recovered, she turned towards him and remarked ,
"Alls fair in love and war. And this was both .
I win ".
"Fine ", Kazuya agreed smiling.
"You win , so what do you want ? "
Chizuru sighed and looked away for an instant before she moved as quick as a flash of lighting and put her arms around him .
She pulled herself up so that their faces were level with each other and then she whispered softly,
"My boyfriend was so sad and worried last night and today he's back to his usual self .
He's.. You're happy and smiling and stupidly optimistic.
You're back to the usual you.
What more could I ask from you ? "
"It's all because of you ", Kazuya replied fiercely.
She chuckled just a bit before she tightened her hold on him .
"Maybe just one thing then ", she whispered before she placed her lips on his and kissed him gently .
A/N : And so the date comes to an end , just a nice fun day out for the two lovebirds
Announcement: I've got a pretty hectic schedule for the next couple of weeks and so unfortunately there will be no chapters for the next two weeks .
Resonance will continue in May when it'll be one year since I started this story .
See you guys then .
Next time : A surprise observation at the park leads Chizuru to long for the next step of their relationship.