ai | s. manjiro & m. takashi

じゅう

When the weekend came over, Ai originally had plans with Nami and Kairi, but when Mikey invited Ai to hang out with him and Draken, Ai's original plans suddenly popped like a bubble. Immediately, both Nami and Kairi pretended that they didn't have anything planned for today and that they could have Ai for all they want before scramming away.

"Me and Ken chin come here to eat! Eat with us, Ai!" Mikey says, softly prolonging the last letter of her name. And of course, who was Ai to deny an invitation from the boy she likes? Mikey didn't needed to ask her twice, because the moment he asks her to eat with them, Ai is already nodding her head.

And as Draken, Mikey and Ai enter Joying Sun (the three of them unaware of Takemichi trailing them from a good distance), sitting almost in the far corner near the window. Mikey pulled Ai to sit in the same booth as him, Draken sitting in front of them. A waiter appears and stood by their table.

"I'll be getting the curry katsu" Draken says, closing the menu pamphlet.

"The fluffy pancakes for me!" Ai says

"Kid's meal!" Mikey announces, happily pointing at his choice. 

But even though Mikey chose the kid's meal with a flag, it arrived without one.

"What the heck is this?!" Mikey suddenly shouts. "I'll never forgive this!" He adds

It was the first time Ai saw him sulking over something. But she figured that Mikey must have really wanted a flag sticking on top of his food. She turned to look at Draken for help, immediately, he understood.

"I got the kid's meal because I was excited about the flag!" Mikey huffs, immediately deflating himself on Ai's shoulder.

"There, there, Mikey." Draken says, taking a flag out of his cardigan pocket, sticking it on top of his rice. "Your flag."

"You're so cool, Ken chin!"

As the three of them started to eat, Ai couldn't help but feel a burning look by her side. While chewing onto the fluffy pancake inside her mouth, she turned to look at Mikey who was pouting at her.

"I want to taste it too!" He whines, earning himself from a head shake from Draken.

But Ai found his pouting look to be an adorable sight. Cutting a bite size and leaning it close to his lips, Ai felt a little flustered when he moved closer to her. Looking away, Ai tried to calm her fast beating heart by stuffing her mouth with pancakes.

As soon as Ai finished her food, a gasp escapes her lips when Mikey leaned down to lay on top of her lap, sleep consuming him. She wanted to tap his shoulder, tell him to wake up and that sleeping inside a diner wasn't appropriate. But the way he looked so small while sleeping made her not want to wake him up.

"You're not going to wake him up are you?" Draken asks. Smiling apologetically, Ai shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Draken!" Ai chuckles softly.

"I've had enough of this!" Now it was Draken's turn to shout.

"He should really fix his habit of sleeping right after eating." Draken complains, getting up from his seat before going over to their side. Ai helped by gently lifting Mikey up and hoisting him in Draken's back.

"We'll be heading off somewhere. Are you sure you can go home alone?" Draken asks as he places his arms behind Mikey's knees.

Ai nodded her head. "Of course! I'll be heading home now. See you two again!"

Waving her hand at them, Ai walked out of the store and went to the direction towards home.

But on the way back, Ai couldn't help but feel like she's being watched. Every time she turned around to look behind her, there was nothing and no one in sight. Maybe because she's not used to going home alone? Or maybe her mind's playing tricks on her? Ai shook her head and disregarded the feeling.