Day 5 - Relationships: Lilies and Arcades
Ken's last stop was at a flower shop. He stopped in front of one and looked at the passenger's seat of his car. There were a bunch of things, like chocolate and a gift, and he couldn't help but wonder maybe it was too much for someone who was going to have a first date. But then again, he wanted to be a gentleman. He took a deep breath and stared at the wheels, contemplating whether he should go in or not. Eventually, he went with the first option. He made sure to get the most beautiful lilies in the story for the bouquet.

He arrived at the Yagami building about fifteen minutes later. Even if he was downstairs, his heart was beating strongly in his chest. He was minutes away from seeing Hikari Yagami. He was still having a hard time believing she had actually agreed to go on a date with him. He didn't think she would, to be honest. A smile came to his lips when he remembered that moment again.

It was the end of a spring day. The weather was warm and the golden and yellow tones in the sky were reflected in the water. Both Hikari and Ken knew they were purposely and deliberately left alone together by the rest of the new generation of Chosen Children, under the excuse they either had to cook dinner or do school work. But they all have picked up all the small subtle furtive glances and not-so-harmless comments thrown around sometimes; most of them weren't intentional though.
"Can you believe how obvious they were?" She asked, embracing her knees tightly.
"I know. I suppose they've had enough and purposely did this so we could actually do something." Ken shrugged and shifted rather uncomfortably. A gradual song could be heard and he shoved his hand into his pocket to pick his phone up. "I really need to answer this. I'll be right back."
"Alright." She looked at him for a moment and was about to stare at the water again when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. "Ken, you…"
But Hikari simply stopped talking and picked up the piece of paper he had dropped without noticing. She noticed there was something written on it, but she knew she shouldn't invade people's privacy like this, no matter how curious she was. Still, she tried to read it without flipping the paper around. Much to her surprise, she found out one of the words was her name and curiosity got the best of her. Though she knew it could be simply a noun used in a different context, she still flipped the paper up and her eyes went wide.
"Hikari, I'm sorry I…" Ken stopped dead right away as he realized she was holding his paper and saw the look on her face. "Where did you find it?"
"You asked them to do this?"
"I know it's bad, but I wouldn't be brave enough to do it on my own. I'm sorry. I will completely understand if you don't want to, by the way."
"I do." She walked to him and kissed him on the cheek.
"So you're not mad at me?"
"Maybe a little." She confessed. "But I can also understand why you did what you did. So to answer your question officially, I would love to go out with you."
"Are you serious?" Ken blinked, still trying to understand everything that was happening.
"I am." Hikari confirmed with a smile. "I think we've waited long enough, to be honest."
"Yeah." He said quietly. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

"Hi." Hikari greeted him with a smile and a kiss on the cheek when she walked out of her building.
"Hey." Ken returned the kiss even he was blushing and handed her the flowers. "These are for you."
"Lilies." She picked them up and smelled them. "They are so beautiful. Thank you so much."
"You're welcome." He intertwined his fingers with hers. "Do you want to take these upstairs before we go?"
"No." She shook her head slightly and smiled kindly. "If anything I can leave them in the car, if that's okay."
"Of course, that's fine." He assured her. "So shall we go?"
"Absolutely."

.

One of Hikari's favorite things to was to go to parks during spring and simply enjoy the fully flowery trees and have a picnic sometimes. However, it wasn't something she had experienced doing at night before, and she was thrilled at the possibility.
"Wow, the lights definitely make the flowers look different."
"Yeah." Ken looked around. "I didn't think there'd be so many people here at night."
"Now that you mention it." She lowered her gaze. "There are a lot of them. I think they just want to enjoy the nice weather."
"Hey." She softly touched his arm. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything is fine."
"You're bored, aren't you?"
"No, not at all. Hey." He searched for her eyes, to make sure she'd believe him. "I'm enjoying it."
"Really? Because I know it's not the kind of place you'd go for a first date."
"It's fine. I really don't mind being here with you."
Hikari couldn't help but smile weakly and reached for his hand. "Come on, let's sit under a cherry tree for a moment."

Ken was nearly falling asleep being under the tree. Things were so peaceful and there weren't many people around, so it almost sounded like a dream when Hikari spoke.
"Have you ever wondered?"
"What?" He raised his eyebrow and looked at her.
"How your first kiss would be like."
"Oh." He leaned back towards the tree. "I don't think so. It almost never happens the way you picture it, so…"
"The way you said makes it seem like your expectations were crushed."
"You can say that."
"So you've had your first kiss already?" Hikari asked surprised.
"Well, yeah. I mean, sort of. I'm not sure I count it as a first kiss though."
"Was it that bad?"
"It's a nice way to put it."
"Ouch."
"What about you?"
"I wanted to, but I also wanted it to be with someone special. So I decided to wait."
"Oh." Ken didn't know why he suddenly felt so tense. It wasn't like Hikari was waiting for him to be her first kiss all that time. It was stupid to think that. "Waiting is good too."
"Yeah." She said weakly and sat down straight. "It's getting a little boring here. What time is it?""Uh, it's almost eight. We should get going if we want to make it in time for the movie." He stood up and offered her his hand.
"Let's go."

.

Ken hated to admit it, but he was feeling much more relieved when they arrived at the theater. Hikari said he could choose the movie, but he insisted on letting her do it. So she was eventually won over and did it. Still, she chose one that he'd enjoy as well. And then they went to buy some popcorn and beverage to go with it.
"What do you want to drink?"
"I'm fine with green tea."
"Alright. How would you like your popcorn?"
"We're not sharing?"
"Well, I thought you'd want your own one. But I don't mind sharing it at all. Do you want anything on it?"
"Butter, is that okay with you?"
"Yes, it's fine." He smiled and turned to look at the line again. He couldn't help but feel like this date would be a disaster if he didn't something about it. "What if we ditch this movie?"
"Ditch the movie?" Hikari asked surprised. "You don't want to watch it anymore?"
"Not really, and we haven't bought the tickets yet, so… what do you say?"
"I'm in. I wasn't too thrilled about the movie either." She admitted. "Where are we going now?"
"I have an idea." He stretched his hand towards her. "Do you trust me?"
"I do." She grabbed it and smiled warmly at him.
"Then let's go." He stormed off through the mall.

"It's been so long since I've been to an arcade. That was actually a very good idea."
"I'm glad you think so." Ken stopped in front of a gun booth. "Tell me which stuffed animal you want."
"Hmmm…" Hikari looked at them all carefully. "The duck one."
"The duck one? You can ask for a bigger one."
"I know. I just think that one is really cute."
"Alright then." He went to the cashier to buy some chips to play the game and returned to where she was.
"Have you played this before?"
"No, but it shouldn't be that hard."
"Shouldn't we go play something else? Something less dangerous."
"It's going to be fine." Ken assured her as he grabbed the gun. "Besides, I'm gonna learn how to use one sooner or later."
"I know, but it's going to be in college."
"This isn't a real gun, it just looks like one. They wouldn't be crazy enough to do that."
"That's true." She gave a couple of steps backwards and watched him from afar.
"Alright, here we go."

"So how did I go?" Ken asked while he handed her prize.
"You actually went pretty good." Hikari replied with a smile when she grabbed her newest stuffed animal. "You're gonna be a great detective or police officer."
"Thank you."
"I'm glad we ditched the movie, to be honest."
"Me too." He confessed. "I thought it'd be boring, really. And I didn't want this date to be a failure because I really like you and want to go out with you again."
"You want to go out with the girl who took you to a park for the first date again?" She teased. "You must be crazy."
"I really must be." He laughed. "But it's true, I want to go out with you again."
"Well, tonight is your lucky night then." She reached out for his hand and intertwined their fingers together. "Because that girl also wants to go out with you again. And again, and again."
"I get it. So it means it was a good first date."
"Hmmm, it was an alright first date."
"An alright first date? I'm disappointed."
"I'm just messing with you." She giggled. "It was a great first date."
"You don't need to set the bar so high. I promise the other ones will be better."
"I'm sure they will be."
"How about some ice-cream?"
"I'd love that."

Hikari tried to hold her duck with her arm while she tried to take her phone out of her pocket to see who was calling her so insistently. She rolled her eyes and rejected the call.
"Do you need help with anything?"
"No, everything is fine." She finished her ice-cream. "It's just Taichi acting like an older brother."
"Oh I see. So you're not gonna answer him?"
"He probably just wants to know when I'm going home and things like that. I'll just talk to him when I get home."
"In that case I should take you."
"You don't have to, really. We can stay a little more."
"Are you sure?"
"I am." She nodded. "I don't feel like going home right now. I want to stay here a little more. If that's okay with you, of course."
"Sure, that's fine with me." He squeezed her hand a little. "Come on, let's sit down for a while."

.

"So how was it?" Hikari asked suddenly, avoiding having eye contact with Ken. "Your first kiss. I mean, if it's okay to ask you that."
"It's fine. It was… weird and bad."
"She wasn't a good kisser?"
"No, no, she was. But I was so nervous I didn't know exactly what to do and couldn't think straight. So it was a disaster."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Nah, it's alright. Most of first kisses are bad, because they are unknown. You get better with practice."
Ken looked at her, trying to decipher if she wanted him to kiss her, but she still avoided looking back at him.
"Is it a good feeling?"
"Honestly? I think it's an amazing feeling when it's with someone you love. I don't think I would be able to do it otherwise."
"So you would only do it with someone you loved?" Hikari finally looked up at him when they were close to his car.
"That's right." He felt a lump on his throat. It wasn't like he didn't want to kiss her; in fact it was the opposite, but he wasn't sure about how he was supposed to handle the fact he was going to be her first kiss. "I don't see a…"
He never got to finish his thought, as surprise overtook him. He wasn't expecting Hikari to make the first move, but deep down he was glad she did it. Ken wrapped his arms around her, unsure at first. He tightened them when he felt hers around his neck, and he responded to her kiss right after his initial shock passed. He decided not to use his tongue at the moment; there would be plenty of opportunities for that later. Their sweet and soft kiss came to an end after a couple of minutes and they stared into each other's eyes.
"That was…"
"Was it that bad?"
"No, no!" Ken said quickly. "It's quite the opposite, to be honest. I wasn't expecting, that's all."
"Well, surprises are good sometimes, right?"
"Absolutely." He reached for her hand with a smile. "This was definitely a good one."

Ken stopped in front of Hikari's building and looked at her. "So, I guess that's it."
"Thanks for bringing me home."
"You're welcome. I'm sorry for anything I may have done tonight."
"You didn't do anything wrong." Hikari assured him and looked down at her flowers and the stuffed duck. "I had a lot of fun tonight."
"I'm glad to hear that. So do I."
"Good." She kissed him in the cheek and then turned towards the door. "I really should go now. My mom is probably beyond worried I'm taking too long."
"Right."
"So I'll see you soon."
"Of course." Before he knew it, he was holding her forearm to stop her from leaving.
"Ken, what are you…" She looked over her shoulder and was surprised by a kiss. She placed the bouquet over her lags and closed the door before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down towards her.
Ken was actually shocked when her tongue slipped into his mouth, but quickly tightened his grip around her body. Their second kiss lasted a little longer than their first one, and they only pulled away from each other to breathe. Hikari couldn't stop smiling.
"Would you like to be my girlfriend?"
"There's nothing else in the world I'd want more than this. Yes, I do."