Scarlet Love: Unforgettable Memories of Nobody

Day 6: Red

Ichigo POV: 

"So, I did it."

"Did what?" Rukia asked, climbing back in my window before me.

"I asked Senna to the dance."

"And?"

"And she said yes of course!" I proudly boasted.

"Heh, well I'm glad," Rukia smiled genuinely.

"She even showed me the exact color her dress is," I pointed the phone screen toward Rukia for approval.

"Alright. That's something we can work with." She sounded impressed. "What about before the dance? Are you guys meeting up for dinner? Taking pictures together?"

I felt my face immediately drop.

"Oh, Ichigo... If you didn't tell her this was your first time taking a girl to a dance, she'll find out easy enough." Her head found her hands.

...

I could hardly sleep at all that night, or any other night for that matter, in the days leading up to the dance. I was able to find a nice button-down shirt to match Senna's dress, along with a black and red patterned vest and sleek black coat. Chad told me he was going to wear a flashy white suit, but Senna insisted that I looked best in black. The arrangements for before the dance luckily lined themselves out without much maneuvering, as it seemed we all planned to stick together for the night.

Rukia was even going to attend. I could tell she would've felt left out if she declined all our invitations, but she still assured that she'd be first on call in case of an emergency so we could enjoy the night.

That just left this part then...

I paused for a moment; one hand poised to knock on Senna's door and the other fiddling with a red rose that I hoped matched her dress. We planned to meet up with everyone at the restaurant soon, but I couldn't have my date walking there alone.

Knock, knock.

The door swung open to a kind-faced woman of about fifty years old. Her short brown hair laid right above her ears with a styled bang in front.

"Hello dear, you must be Ichigo," her eyes crinkled with a smile.

"Yes ma'am. I'm here to pick up Senna if she's ready," I said with the slightest bow.

"Oh yes, she'll be right out. Please do come in."

I stepped inside the warm house that immediately smelled of Senna. It was fruity and sweet, kind of like her smile. I politely followed Mrs. Suo into the main room declining a drink, a snack, and potentially dinner next week, when I heard heeled footsteps approaching from the other room.

I saw the magical twinkle of red before anything else, just like the day I caught her ribbon on the bridge. I'd never seen anyone more suited to the color red than Senna. The dress was a simple, sleek number with refined fabric that dipped all the way to the floor. Thick shoulder straps covered Senna's shoulders and plunged into a V-neck where I should definitely not be looking at the moment with her mother in the same room.

Her hair was half pinned up, the pieces that were still hanging waved away from her face. To top it off, her signature ribbon was intertwined within it all in some exquisitely intricate way.

I probably should've been the first to say something, but instead, I just watched her float toward me from across the room.

"Hey Ichigo." I know I wasn't imagining her blush this time as she eyed the rose in my hand. I held it out to her, managing to eek out at least a couple words.

"For you."

"A flower, for me?" She beamed, gladly accepting and holding it to her nose. "Thank you, Ichigo!"

"Ready to get going?" I could finally manage a short sentence.

"Oh, wait guys! Pictures first!" Her mom suddenly sprang everything into motion again.

It didn't take much to convince Senna to stand still for pictures once I tucked her under my arm. With that done, the rose placed in a vase, and goodbyes said, we headed off under the glowing streetlamps toward the restaurant.

"You look good Senna," I complimented, naturally stepping to her side closest to the road as I always did.

"Thanks, you too," she smirked with a fierce blush. "Thanks for the flower by the way. I can tell you've done this before."

"What?! Okay, promise to tell Rukia you said that when we get to the restaurant," I laughed. "I went to my first homecoming just for the experience, but that's it I swear."

"And you haven't been back since? Was it really that bad?" She wondered.

"No, no it's not that. I mean I'm not very good at these social things in general, and I don't know... There's always something special about your first time, right? You can never experience it the same after that."

"Well, you're making my first one pretty hard to beat Ichigo." She smiled up to the clear, starry sky.

"This is still a first for me too, ya know?" Her head snapped over to meet my gaze. "I actually haven't had a date to the dance before."

She chuckled, shaking her head like she couldn'tbelieve me. "It's going to be a memorable night for both of us then, isn't it?"

With the surprise addition of Renji to the group as Rukia's date, there were eight of us crowded in the little room at the local sushi bar for dinner. Despite the close quarters, the energy was light as laughter consistently floated around about this and that. If I stopped to think about it, I really couldn't have imagined Senna becoming such a cohesive part of the group when I invited her to sit with us all those weeks ago. Between chatting with Uryu about biology or belting out laughter on account of some joke from Tatsuki, there was hardly ever a moment that she was quiet apart from pausing to politely listen to others. It felt nice to see her so at ease, especially because I'd admit that I actually wanted her to stick around.

END PART 6

The big day is drawing closer and closer!