raraimu:
Waiting in line always felt ten times longer than it actually is to Raimu. As such, it was becoming unbearable for the girl not to open and have a peek at the pages of the magazine she had in hand. But she absolutely wanted to enjoy it quietly at home. How long did a girl have to wait to finally read her favorite manga?! She let out an exasperated sigh when she saw that there were only two people standing between her and the checkout, but one of them was taking their sweet time chatting with the cashier, slowing down the line. She had never understood how people could never run out of things to talk about whenever they met another another person. Her attention diverted, something else started to bother her even more. She often tended to overthink and imagine things, but this time she was almost one hundred percent sure that she could feel someone’s stare behind her back. A stare that froze her in place. She actually felt like someone was watching her ever since she was in the manga magazine section, but she brushed it off as her being too paranoid. But could it be..? It couldn’t be a mere coincidence that this happened right after she met him, right? Lost in her thoughts, Raimu didn’t notice it was her turn to pay, and flustered, she walked up to the checkout counter, being careful not to meet the cashier’s eyes as she fumbled with her purse and took a few extra seconds to make sure she gave the right amount of money to the clerk. She breathed a sigh of relief when she was done paying for her magazine. She could finally go back home! Right when she was about to leave the shop, she almost bumped into someone who showed up in front of her out of nowhere. Eh? Again?, she thought to herself as she recognized the man’s voice even before she could look up at his face. So far, he has sure been good at appearing in front of her in the worst and most irritating ways. She also might or might not be slightly annoyed about the fact that he didn’t recognize her right away. Even so, she couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he remembered her and took the initiative of talking to her, although she made sure to keep her face lowered so he couldn’t see it. But actually, she wanted to avoid him and just go back home. She was skeptical that he even genuinely wanted to talk to her. He was probably only being polite towards an old acquaintance. She took a step back and gave him a polite bow in response, before remaining silent. What could she tell him? She didn’t even know what kind of approach to take with him. It was probably her turn to say something, right? “Kazuya-san?”, she inquired in a soft and timid voice, looking up at him. She noticed that another customer wanted to leave the shop but they were blocking the exit. “I think that we should go outside,” she suggested and walked out of the shop.
The girl seemed caught off guard, taken aback by the way he decided to approach her. But since she seemed to recognize him too he wasn’t being too pushy, right? Hopefully. ”No no no, what are you doing.” Kazu reached for her shoulders when she greeted him with a bow, just for a second though before waving his hands. “No need to be so polite. It’s just me after all.” he chuckled. The freeter had always been more of the direct, casual and touchy type, even if this wasn’t everyone’s favorite approach. He only realized that they were blocking another customer when this one cleared his throat and the female suggested for them to go outside. “Uh.. yeah, of course.”, he could barely finish his sentence when Raimu was already leaving the shop. To catch up with her he just put the manga in his hand down at a random spot, probably annoying whoever would have to organize the store and bring it back to it’s original place. But after all he never planned to buy the book to begin with, he just needed a good excuse to approach his childhood friend.. if that’s what he could consider the girl. She was more a friend of his sister after all, and him just the annoying big brother who would sometimes have fun by messing with the two of them by trying to scare them with horror movie props he collected, while on other times actually being protective of the girls when he felt he had to.
When he left the store as well and caught up with the girl he stopped next to her, shoving his hands into his pocket and looking around. It wasn’t raining anymore but still cold, he could even see his own breath. “So uh.. Been a while so I almost didn’t recognize you there. Looking all grown up and pretty and all.” he straight up admitted while he tried to get a good look of her, which wasn’t easy because she seemed to make sure to constantly avoid his gaze and her hood was in the way to get a proper look too. Frankly he remembered her as an awkward teen but now she seemed to have grown into a ..well, still awkward but pretty young woman. However he also didn’t wanna sound like some sort of old uncle who met his niece after years, but he might have. Quickly he changed the topic “Anyway. It’s cold! Wanna get somewhere warm and have a chat?” he hoped not to be too troublesome because something told him maybe Raimu would rather just return home and not deal with the weather or being social. But he didn’t want this meeting to end with a “was-nice-seeing-you” kind of situation that lead to them not actually seeing each other again. “There’s a coffee shop just around the corner. They have really yummy hot choco~.” he hummed and swayed a bit while nudging her elbow with his own. If anything was able to convince her into wanting to go for a drink with him, it HAD to be hot chocolate after all, right? “My treat” he added just to be sure, now there was no way she could say no to that kind of offer.
