9Akira turned left and right, looking over her image in the mirror. She had chosen to wear a knee length over sized green
emerald green shirt, black tights, and simple white tennis shoes. Her makeup had been done in a natural style, and her
hair had been tamed. She gave a nod of approval and grabbed a light black leather jacket. Just as she was coming down
the stairs when her grandmother opened the front door and Makoto stood with his natural warm smile.
"Oh! Good evening Tachibana, Akira is just about ready." She said letting the young man in. He was in casual clothes, nice
jeans, and a white polo shirt with his usual black and green jacket on.
"Good evening Ootani-san." He said, and at this point Akira cleared her throat. Makoto and Grams looked up at her and
Akira couldn't help the light dusting of red on her cheeks when Makoto smiled at her.
"Hey." She said coming down the stairs trying to fight off the blush.
"Hey." He replied calmly. She envied his calm demeanor. Grams opened the door again and Akira grabbed her purse.
"Have a good time you two!" She called after them.
Makoto Felt his heart pounding in his chest, he was sure she could hear it. She looked so cool though, like it didn't faze her that they were out on their first date.
So Makoto did what he always did when unsure of himself. He smiled.
Akira glanced at him from her side and then glanced at his free hand that wasn't in his jacket pocket. She wanted to grab it, and her fingers flexed anxiously. She bit
her lip, the last time she felt this way she was about to play her first live concert. Makoto moved a bit closer to her side to allow a mother and her children more
room on the sidewalk. When they walked by their hands bumped and Akira grabbed his. Her smaller hand had awkwardly grabbed two of his longer fingers and she
cursed inwardly but didn't let go. Makoto had hoped she would take his hand, but he almost laughed out loud when he saw her face. He could see her blush now,
and she refused to look up from the sidewalk. He stopped walking and she followed suit and looked up at him confused.
"Here." He said turning his hand over and lacing their fingers together. He smiled at her and she had to smile back at him.
"Much better." she said and they continued to the movie theater.
Gou, Nagisa, and Rei, unbeknownst to the couple, all peaked around the fence they had hid behind. Gou had a small pair of binoculars, while Nagisa squinted to see.
Rei who had been dragged along, shifted his glasses but found that he was watching them too.
"Oh! They're holding hands! You go Makoto-senpai!" Gou said enthusiastically. Nagisa frowned.
"Let me see!" And Gou handed him the binos.
"Okay, let's go!" She said determined to 'observe' the date that the whole group had been anticipating all that week. By now the whole school had heard about
Makoto's confession, and then the school had been in an uproar when Gou had let it slip that Makoto and Akira were going on a date. Akira had whacked her with an
empty water bottle.
"Don't you think Akira will be mad when she sees us?" Rei asked, reluctant to follow the couple for the entire date. Gou laughed at him in a very haughty sort of way.
"You underestimate me! We'll be wearing these!" She said pulling out three hats and and sunglasses from her oversized purse. Rei instantly felt a bad feeling in his gut. Nagisa however was ecstatic.
"Genius!" He said snatching a baseball cap and pair of glasses. Gou put her's on and handed the last pair to Rei.
"Someone is bound to notice us now." He muttered slipping the hat on and forgoing the sunglasses.
Makoto and Akira settled on a action comedy movie, and after paying for tickets (All Makoto) went to grab some popcorn and a large drink that Akira insisted that they share.
"We should watch the Ring sometime, you know? Baptism by fire for you. Once you see that movie you won't be afraid of some school haunted house." Akira said snagging a few kernels. Makoto felt the blood drain from his face.
"Joke. It's a joke Makoto." She said throwing a piece of popcorn at his head. He let out a shaky laugh.
"Right." He said as she pulled open the door to the theater for him since he was carrying the drink and popcorn.
"Don't worry Makoto, I won't let Sadako get you." She said snickering at him.
As soon as the trio entered the movie theater people stopped to watch them. Gou hid behind a big fake potted plant before sending hand signals to Rei and Nagisa.
Of course Nagisa followed suit and barrel rolled her way, however Rei simply walked.
"Okay team, they went into that Taniyama film. A good call for a first date. This will be tricky so, stay tight and get it right!" She said peaking around the atrium.
Nagisa gave a serious nod and a thumbs up. Rei sighed at the ridiculousness of it all and apologized to patrons around them. With a military like signal they moved
out towards the targets.
"So you have a little brother and sister?" Asked Akira. Makoto nodded as he stuck a straw into their drink.
"That's right, Ren and Ran. Do you have siblings?" He asked her. Akira shook her head.
"No, my mom only wanted one child, she and my dad work a lot so..." Makoto nodded.
"I think I would have liked a brother or sister though, maybe I would have been nicer then." She said laughing at herself a bit.
"You are nice." He said confused. Akira stopped laughing and stared at him.
"No I'm not." She said wondering if he even remembered her the first time they met.
"Sure you are, like the time you actually took the time to gather your fan mail, or when you gave Kou that magazine, and when you taught those girls to be
considerate." He seemed to be numbering off instances in his head. Akira felt her eye twitch.
"Makoto. I don't think you remember those instances the way I do." She said shaking her head. Makoto offered her some more popcorn.
"You mean well." He said happily.
The movie started, the action was cheesy, the humor at a third grade level, and Akira had laughed so hard at one point that soda had spewed from her nose. Makoto hardly watched the movie.
Rei had gotten into the movie after seeing that Gou and Nagisa were constantly sneaking up and down the stairs to get a better vantage point. He could hear Akira
laughing though, and he could see Makoto smiling. He hoped that they were having a good time, he had to smile for his friend. Gou suddenly sunk down next to him
and Nagisa did the same on his other side. Both looked rather tired.
"I think that so far this date is a success." Nagisa said with a nod. Gou agreed.
" Good then we can go home." Rei said. Gou sat up so quickly that her red hair went everywhere.
"Uh. No. We have to see this through!" she said in a rushed whisper.
"Yeah! Till the very end!" Nagisa agreed. Rei shook his head. These two where too much.
After the movie Akira and Makoto chatted about their favorite moments of it and walked to a nearby fast food place. After that they decided that it was time to go
home. School was tomorrow. On the way back they easily held hands. Like they had been doing it forever. There was a natural calm about them, and the silence
wasn't awkward, but comfortable.
"Do you guys have a swim meet coming up? I heard about it from Gou." Akira said as they climbed the hill to her house.
"Yeah, we'll be qualifying." He said as if suddenly remembering.
"Can I come?" Akira asked. Makoto was a bit taken back that she would ask.
"Of course, Kou is always there and Amakata-sensei is too so you wouldn't be by yourself." He said smiling at her.
They made their way to her front door, just as the porch light (which was on a timer) switched on.
"Well, I had a good time. Thanks for taking me out." Akira said looking up at him. Makoto stood across from her and smiled.
"Me too." He said.
Gou and Nagisa were squished together shoulder to shoulder each trying to get a better look while Rei yawned and looked out to the ocean trying to give Makoto the privacy he deserved.
"Come on senpai! Go for the gold!" Gou said.
"Kiss! Just kiss already!" Nagisa said next to her.
But it wasn't Makoto who went for the gold. Akira leaned up on her tip toes, and placed one small hand on his shoulder. Gou and Nagisa held their breath.
Akira scrounged up what mental strength she could and closed her eyes, she knew that he was too tall for her to make it all the way to his lips, he would have to
bend down a bit to help her out. So Akira leaned as far as she could and waited.
Makoto who had been working on how to hug her, let alone kiss her, didn't move at first. He stared at her waiting, and nearly jumped when she opened one eyes.
"Are you going to kiss me or not?" She said smirking at him. All thoughts of how he could mess it up seemed to increase ten fold, but his hand found it's way to her waist, and his mouth moved down to hers on instinct.
Gou and Nagisa highfived each other.
It was a brief, warm, sweet peck. That was it. Both Makoto's and Akira's faces where pink, and as she leaned back onto her heels and his hand moved back to his
side they said their goodnight.
Makoto waited till she was inside and the door was closed before he turned to walk home. He could have floated home for all he knew. The trio held their breath as he walked right by them without notice.
"Well I'd say that it's mission complete!" Gou said as she and the two boys watched Makoto walk dazedly down the hill.
"Good then I'm going home." Rei said happy to be free.
The next day Makoto waited at the gate for Akira, and when she saw him she smiled and waved. His gut twisted a bit, in a good way and he waved back.
"Morning." She said as she reached him.
"Good morning." He replied. It wasn't long till they were joined by Gou and Haruka, who had apparently walked together. As they made their way into the school
Gou smiled slyly at Akira and Makoto.
"So, how was the date?" She asked watching their faces. Haruka looked between his best friend and Akira.
"You guys went out on a date?" He asked in his usual oblivious way. Akira sighed and shook her head, Makoto had most likely told Haruka about it.
"We had fun." She said looking knowingly at Gou.
"Today we will use the rest of the day to prep for this weekends school festival." Amakata said happily. The class began to chat amongst themselves excitedly. Akira
had been approched with trepidation by a few girls who had volunteered to make the costumes. Their worry about her famed wrath was unwarranted, with Makoto
next to her.
"We were thinking something scary but pretty, since you know...you're pretty." One shy girl said twisting in her seat like she had a bladder full.
"I'd rather be super scary." Akira said bluntly neither caring or in fact noticing the girl's discomfort. The girl seemed to jump out of her chair surprising Akira and
Makoto, even Haruka twitched from his seat.
"Right! Okay, we can do that, totally!" She said verging on tears.
"Are you okay?" Makoto asked sympathetically. Akira watched him comfort the girl in confusion, had she been mean again?
"You can make what you want really. I didn't mean to be mean. I'm sorry." Akira said getting a nod of approval from Makoto.
"She's...She's...just well I am we all are...a tincey, tiny bit...shy you see...we're from the sewing club..." Another bespectacled girl finally spoke.
"Well why don't we play on the fact that I terrify you." She said more as a joke, but the third girl perked up.
"Well...I did have an...idea..." She said pulling out a sketch book and flipping a few pages till she slid it to Akira. She honestly should have been insulted. The girl was
a good artist, she'd giver her that. A lightly sketched version of her was on the page, with fangs, horns, and all in decomposing samurai armor. She was even holding
a severed head. Makoto blanched at the sight.
"Perfect. This is awesome. Can you really do this?" Akira asked imagining scaring the pants off Makoto, and then realizing that his pants would be off and then completely blushing.
"Course we can, we're pretty good." The third girl said with some pride. Akira held out a fist to her and smiled.
"Sweet I'll be your demon queen then." The other girl tentative fist bumped Akira and the three staggered off to their own desks. Makoto, still white faced sat back down.
"Do you have to dress like that?" He asked trying to smile. Akira laughed and smacked his shoulder. She was about to tell him how unfounded his fear was when her phone buzzed in her pocket.
Coming to your school festival! Chi got us some time off! Oh but one thing, Kyou is coming too..._ sorry! - M
Akira didn't know if she was happy that her friends would be coming or furious that HE would be there too. Makoto watched her carefully, she had gone quiet and looked angry.
"You okay?" He asked and that seemed to snap her out of it. She smiled at him.
"Yeah, the band is coming for the festival."
Thank you guys for your reviews, they really help! I had to change the name, it was supposed to be a tsundere story but it turned out way more different than I imagined LOL.