One of the Reasons I Love You
Nagisa Shiota was sitting on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant where he had taken his date for the night, his girlfriend, Kaede Kayano. Nagisa had a black eye, his suit was torn up at the collar and the sides, and one of the pigtails on his head was undone. What had happened was that while Nagisa and Kayano were in the middle of a nice date, laughing about what happened in school that day, a couple of Class D kids who used to be Nagisa's friends, Nobuta Tanaka, and Chosuke Takada, came up to them and began bothering them. Nagisa and Kayano attempted to ignore them, but one of them decided to push Kayano when she called them out, and Nagisa, completely out of character, immediately jumped the Class D student and started a fight.
Nagisa had only meant to punch him in the face a few times to get him to leave, but when Nobuta and Chosuke fought back, Nagisa felt as though he had no choice but to fight back, resulting in him flipping over the table that they were eating at, and throwing Chosuke into the wall face first. Nagisa was so furious at the two Class D students that the yells of Kayano to stop fell upon deaf ears as he continued exacting his revenge on these two for harassing his girlfriend. However, once Nagisa had clearly won the fight, he, the Class D students, and Kayano were kicked out of the restaurant.
Kayano was back in the restaurant, talking to the management to try and explain what had happened. While this was going on, tears began forming in the corners of Nagisa's eyes, self-deprecating thoughts began flooding his mind, his hands running through his blue hair. Nagisa tried to take some deep breaths and calm down to prevent the tears from flowing, but the blue-haired aspiring assassin was so wracked with guilt that he couldn't stop the tears from spilling down his cheeks. Nagisa then began shaking as he put his face in his hands, crying at how badly everything had gone, especially since his mind wouldn't stop telling him that it was all his fault. While Nagisa was in the middle of crying, his green-haired girlfriend came walking out of the restaurant, and before she could say anything, she noticed how upset Nagisa was.
"Nagisa…are you OK?" Kayano asked while walking over to her sad boyfriend, and sitting down next to him.
"…no…" was all Nagisa could mumble out while continuing to blubber.
"Why? What's wrong? Are you OK? Did one of those assclowns hit you!?" Kayano asked, getting on her knees so that she could lean forward and look over her blue-haired boyfriend's body for some bruises and cuts.
"No. I'm…I'm just sorry," Nagisa responded while shaking his head, confusing Kayano.
"Sorry? Sorry for what?"
"For ruining our date."
"Ruining our date? Nagisa, you didn't ruin our date."
"Yes, I did! You deserve a perfect date, and I wanted to give that to you tonight! A simple dinner and a simple trip to the movies, and I still messed it up! I should've just ignored those Class D idiots, but when they started harassing you, I couldn't help myself! I'm so sorry," Nagisa yelled out, though he muttered an apology due to feeling bad for yelling, before continuing to cry. Kayano sighed before running her hands up and down Nagisa's back in an attempt to try and calm him down. Kayano had known that Nagisa had Autism, so when he got upset, he would stay upset for a while and it was hard for him to calm down. It was especially hard when Nagisa got self-loathing thoughts in his mind, causing him to blame himself for things that weren't his fault. Kayano hated when Nagisa got like this, so she decided to nip this problem in the bud before Nagisa got more upset.
"Nagisa look at me," Kayano asked, but when Nagisa kept looking down at the road below, Kayano grabbed both of Nagisa's cheeks and turned him to face her. "Look at me," Kayano said a little more firmly, and sure enough, when she let go, Nagisa maintained eye contact even though he was still crying.
"You did not ruin anything. Yeah, I wish the dinner had gone better, but I do NOT blame you AT ALL for what happened. You were trying to protect me, and I found it really sweet. You stood up for me when other guys would've just stayed put and done nothing, and I really appreciate that," Kayano explained in a calm and even-toned voice, making sure that Nagisa got the message while not being spooked by her voice being too loud. Nagisa didn't look too convinced, attempting to look down at the ground, which Kayano stopped by putting her hands back on both of Nagisa's cheeks, making sure that his eyes stayed on hers.
"But…I…" Nagisa attempted to argue, but Kayano stopped him by putting a pointer finger over his mouth.
"No buts. Nagisa, I don't care about our date being perfect, I care about spending time with you. Before all that bullshit happened, I was having a great time with you, and just because we can't eat at the restaurant anymore doesn't mean we can't continue the date," Kayano said with a smile. Nagisa, after seeing the warm smile on Kayano's face, the blue-haired aspiring assassin put his head on Kayano's shoulder, hugging his girlfriend tightly as if he would evaporate if he let go of her. Kayano responded to the hug with no hesitation, continuing to run her hand up and down Nagisa's back, noticing that his breathing was getting back to normal. After another minute, Kayano let go of Nagisa, who was trying to wipe the tears from his eyes. Kayano then grabbed one of Nagisa's hands and helped him back up to his feet before planting a kiss on his cheek.
"But…maybe we should skip the movies for tonight. I know you aren't the best with crowds at the best of times, especially when you're already feeling upset," Kayano offered. Nagisa, while continuing to rub his eyes to dry his tears, could only respond to a nod.
"Great! I know this really good ice cream stall that's at the park. It should still be open, and they have Cookies and Cream; your favorite!" Kaede exclaimed excitedly. Nagisa, for the first time since he got kicked out of the restaurant, smiled and nodded while drying off the last of the tears on his cheeks. Kayano smiled, gave Nagisa another kiss on the cheek, and led him to the park so that they could continue their date.
While they were walking to the park, Nagisa couldn't take his eyes off Kayano, who was talking about all the times she had ice cream at this stand and how delicious the ice cream was. Kayano always knew just what to say and what to do to help Nagisa feel better no matter what. Whether it be a not-so-good grade or a bad night with his mother, the green-haired girl was always there for Nagisa. And that was one of the things that attracted Nagisa to Kayano; she made him feel good about himself no matter what happened or no matter how he was feeling. The blue-haired aspiring assassin knew that he wasn't easy to interact with, especially when he was upset. He had low self-esteem, was a more reserved person, hated being in crowded places, and had a load of sensory issues that included his hatred of being touched in certain ways that would be common to most people, such as hugging.
But no matter what, Kayano never yelled at him, called him stupid, or lost patience with him like so many people before had. Rather, Kayano was caring, patient, and was willing to wait for Nagisa for as long as he needed to make sure that he was OK. Nagisa could never thank Kayano enough for all she'd done for him, and one day, he was going to. Nagisa was pulled out of his thoughts when Kayano presented him with a cup of Cookies and Cream ice cream complete with a spoon and napkin. Nagisa had been so stuck in his thoughts that he didn't even notice they had already made it to the park.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome, sweetie," Kayano said with a smile before the two found a bench near the lake. While the two were eating their ice cream, Nagisa's gaze was once again locked on Kayano, who was licking the Party Cake ice cream at the top of the cone. In a rare moment of boldness on Nagisa's part, the blue-haired assassin put the spoon back into his cup of ice cream and planted a quick peck on Kayano's cheek.
"Thank you for everything, Kayano," Nagisa mumbled before attempting to go back to his ice cream. However, Kayano wasn't going to let the peck on the cheek go unanswered and responded by planting a kiss on Nagisa's lips before the Cookies and Cream could touch them. The mix of Cookies and Cream and Party Cake flavors in his mouth was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. The two continued eating their ice cream, perfectly content to enjoy the silent night together, Nagisa and Kayano's heads leaned against each other's shoulders as they continued to enjoy the view of the stars reflecting off the pond in front of them.