Redacted File
The First Date Pt 3
The two ate their meal in relative silence- although Mina did see fit to steal one of his sweet potatoes and quickly snatched it up before he could do anything. He stared at her for a few seconds, completely flabbergasted (which was a hilarious look on him) before he snatched up her umeboshi (since she’d eaten all of her tempura.) It quickly devolved into the two trying to steal even more of each other’s food and general tomfoolery and laughter after that. They made sure to pick up anything they dropped or spilled in the chaos, knowing full well that Raios’ mother would thoroughly chew them out if they didn’t. When the food (and cleanup) was finished, Raios loaded their tableware back on the tray to be taken away later, and the two moved to sit out on the walkway facing the garden.
“So, what comes after this?” Raios asked, half-grumbling.
“Well, I think it generally goes that you propose, I accept, and then we get married and live happily ever after,” Mina replied.
“I didn’t mean our relationship, you idiot!” Raios snapped, his face turning bright red. “I meant this date! I’m not exactly a fountain of knowledge when it comes to this!”
“Well-…” Mina flopped over on her side, laying across Raios’ lap and causing him to panic very briefly, “we could always go to your roo-”
“Rejected,” Raios spat, a cold and angry demeanor taking back over. “What is with you and my room anyways? If you try to recommend it one more time, I’m seriously going to smack you.”
“Got it. Won’t do it again,” she replied, a bit shocked by how genuinely angry he seemed to be at the mere idea of it. Shocked, but not perturbed. She’d try again next time.
“Pick something else.” He still seemed pretty pissed, but his tone had lost a bit of its edge.
“… Isn’t this fine?”
“Huh?”
“Being like this,” she replied, motioning to their position. “Or did you want to the one using my lap?” she teased.
“Hu- wh- No! That’s not what I meant at all!” Raios spluttered, cheeks turning dark again. “And this isn’t what I meant! Aren’t people supposed to do things?!”
“This is doing something though,” Mina replied calmly. “And I am plenty satisfied to just stay like this and chat for a few hours.”
“My legs will fall asleep,” Raios complained.
“Then we can switch! In an hour you can use my lap.”
“Somehow I get the sense that this isn’t exactly what usually happens on a first date.”
“Well yeah,” Mina replied. “Usually, the boyfriend isn’t grounded. We made the most of what we could, and it was fine. I mean, we’re not breaking any records, but I don’t want to set our relationship to the pace of others’.” Mina made herself comfortable again on his lap and stared up at him, starting yet another staring contest. She was content to keep going too until Raios eventually sighed and leaned over. She was so confused about what was going on that she didn’t realize what had happened until the sensation left her lips. She just stared up at him wide-eyed and quietly covered her mouth. There was a silence and then she raised a finger. “One more time.”
“Huh?”
“Do it again. I wasn’t ready.”
“No,” he replied, seeming pretty adamant this time.
“Oh come on!” She covered her face as she felt her cheeks start to actually physically burn. She kicked her feet against the wood floor and started to roll around in Raios’ lap, trying to remember not to let herself fall. “Just one more! Come on, please?!”
“I know you, it definitely won’t be ‘just one more’,” Raios replied flatly.
“You’re so mean!” Mina whined.
“Yup, I’m mean, horrible, awful- feel free to call me all the names you want, you’re not getting another one.” Mina gave one last futile, dying groan of disappointment and laid flat on Raios’ lap again.
“I didn’t think you’d do it.”
“You underestimated me.”
“Clearly.” Raios watched, slightly amused, as her face began to turn red again and she quickly tried to re-cover her face. “Ughhhhh… Let’s just end it here for today. I don’t think I can function after that.”
“You sure?”
“Not at all, but I think I’m going to be completely useless the rest of the day. Also my self-control just went in the garbage.”
“Huh?! Your self-control?!” Raios asked.
“I’m gonna die. I’m legitimately going to die.”
“You’re not gonna die from a kiss,” Raios ground out.
“I am so gonna die.”
“I didn’t realize you were such a drama queen.”
“And I didn’t realize you were such a tease!”
“Well there’s a lot more where that came from,” he replied, grinning smugly. She looked up at him only to cover her face again.
“Okay, now I’m gonna die.”
“I’m not playing this game.”
“GREAT! Because I’m already losing!” Raios just sighed and leaned back while his girlfriend silently freaked out in his lap. “Ugh… It should be illegal to be that hot…” Mina grumbled to herself.
“I’d be a lot more legal if you took off your rose-tinted glasses.”
“No thanks, I’m happy where they are.”
“You are just-…” Raios gave a sigh that was somewhere between ‘annoyed’ and ‘exasperated’.
“I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘incorrigible’,” Mina replied cheekily.
“That’s definitely the word I was looking for.”
“Ready to switch yet?”
“We’re not switching,” Raios replied flatly. “You’ll just use it to kiss me.”
“You saw through it…” Mina grumbled, clicking her tongue and crossing her arms in irritation. “Then at least give me your hand. That’s the least you can do.” She huffed and pouted until Raios eventually felt he had no other recourse but to give into her demands. He sighed and picked one of his hands off the wooden floor and offered it to her. Mina’s demeanor immediately turned from sullen and dour to gleeful and bright. Her two smaller hands immediately latched on, and her cheek quickly found its way into her palm.
“What in reverse world is so fun about this?” Raios grumbled. Mina’s thought process was completely beyond him most of the time, but he found this sort of behavior especially weird. It wasn’t like this was the first time. She’d done stuff like this to flirt with him even before they started going out, but he didn’t really understand this need for closeness she seemed to have. He understood wanting to hold hands and be close, but hers seemed to border on outright cuddling. He didn’t mind, but he didn’t quite get it either. They sat in silence like that for a while; she spent time feeling out the callouses on his fingers and tracing the wrinkled creases of his palm like she was trying to memorize every inch of it. A while passed like that without speaking, and eventually Mina sat up and chose to latch herself to Raios’ arm instead. “I’ve been meaning to ask for a bit, but you’re the type that likes cuddling, aren’t you?”
“If I say ‘yes’, can we cuddle?” she asked hopefully.
“Absolutely not,” Raios replied flatly. “What if one of my family walked by? We’re in the garden. At least pretend to have a bit of shame.”
“But if we weren’t somewhere with other people around?” she asked, eyes glinting with mischief.
“…I’d think about it…” he replied quietly.
“Alright!” Mina cheered, pumping her fist.
“I didn’t say ‘yes’!” Raios snapped, a bit flustered.
“It’s just as good,” Mina replied.
They sat there and chatted for a while longer, continuing their game of pushing and pulling every now and then until the sun was halfway to the horizon. Raios looked up and judged that it was probably around 5:00pm. Mina probably had to get home soon.
“Come on, get up,” Raios said, shrugging the arm that she was still very much latched onto.
“Don’t wanna,” Mina pouted.
“Get up,” Raios ground out. “I gotta take you home.”
“I thought you were grounded,” Mina replied skeptically.
“You honestly think the old hag would allow me to not walk you home?”
“… Fair point.” Mina reluctantly released him and stood up to stretch. “We can work out the details of our next date on the way. I wonder where we should go~”
“Ever the opportunist,” Raios sighed, slowly getting up and working the pins and needles out. The couple made their way over to the entryway, making sure to stop by the kitchen where Raios’ mother would be. He popped his head in and got his mother’s attention. She put down the dish she was using to taste the soup, a little surprised that her son had come to find her.
“What seems to be the problem?”
“I’m taking Mina home,” Raios said.
“You know you can’t leave the house, correct?”
“You would really have me not accompany her to ensure she gets home safely?” Raios growled. Mina was a force of nature. No one messed with her if they were trying to have a good and decent day. But it was the principle of the matter. Mrs. Minori’s placid face slowly morphed into a sly smile, and she turned back to the soup in front of her.
“If you’re not back in 30 minutes, I’m sending your sister after you.”
“I’ll come right back,” he replied quickly. That was the last thing he wanted. His sister would interrogate him the entire way back and drive him insane. Dinner was already going to be bad enough, he didn’t need it to happen without the distraction of food (and he was sure their parents would conveniently ignore her jabs in an attempt to satiate their own curiosity.)
“D’you get permission?” Mina asked.
“Yup, but I gotta be kinda quick otherwise aneki will be sent for me. Being alone with her would be the most obnoxious thing in the world.”
“I’m not envious.”
“Must be nice being an only child.” Mina just shrugged and started slipping her geta on. Raios quickly followed, suit and the two left to go to her place.
“So, where should we go next time?” Mina asked.
“A date on the mainland is a bit hard since it’d take most of the day to get there,” Raios mused, “but we might be able to get on a ferry to one of the nearby islands that has more to do.” He looked over to find Mina pouting which completely bewildered him. “What? Why are you making that face?”
“Those’re fine ‘n all, but I want something quieter,” she grumbled.
“So what, you just wanna hang out on the beach on the quiet side of the island or something?” Her eyes lit up, and Raios once again came to the conclusion that there was no understanding his girlfriend. He sighed in resignation. “I guess that’s what we’ll be doing then.” Mina clapped her hands and giggled in glee before once again latching onto his arm. Raios didn’t even bother trying to get her off this time. If someone saw them, then they saw them.
It didn’t take long to arrive at Mina’s house, even with the awkward way she was hanging off him, and Raios stopped at the door.
“Alright, let go. It’s time for you to go home.” Mina grumbled under her breath and stubbornly clung to his sleeve. “Come on, I’ll see you on Monday.”
“It’s too long…”
“It’s the day after tomorrow!” Raios snapped.
“I wish we could just skip to being married already,” Mina pouted, moving to grip the collar of his yukata.
“That’s gonna be a bit,” Raios replied, feeling a bit sheepish. “We’re not even old enough.” Mina pouted, feeling disheartened when faced with the truth. “Quit that. You’re being ridiculous. At least consider for a moment the idea that you may be happier with someone else.”
“Not happening,” Mina growled at him. “It’s definitely gotta be you.” Then, Mina violently tugged on him pulling him downwards and caught him completely off guard. The one Raios had given her had been soft and fleeting. One of his many ways of gently telling her he loved her and appreciated her. The kiss Mina gave Raios was longer and firmer, and she didn’t even give him a chance to try and lead it. When she finally let go of him, he covered his mouth with his arm and stumbled back, a violent blush covering his entire face and creeping down his neck. Mina was almost sure she saw steam coming out of his ears too.
“YOU-!!” Mina just flashed him a smug smile and stuck her tongue out at him.
“See you Monday~” Mina said, waving to him as she went inside, feeling like she’d set off a whole warehouse’s worth of fireworks.
