a bunny's heart | karma akabane

042: stolen kisses

"Hey, Mina!" The familiar voice of maehara interrupted her train of thoughts. He was sitting by a game where you had to catch plastic fish with a net- it didn't look particularly interesting.
He waved her over, and the girl raised her eyebrows before accommodating.

"Why are you standing there all alone?" Something about maehara's presence was just automatic cheer up. He was somewhat of a male Rio, but that could just be hair bias.

The girl kneeled Next to him before shooting him a small, but exhausted smile. It wasn't fair for her to let her dispair out on others. "Well, why are you sitting here all alone?"

"Come on," he groaned, although in a joking manner "that's not the same. You're "sweet girl", miss social butterfly. You're friends with, like, everyone here. Even stone cold terasaka tolerates you after you kept him being infected a secret until after the mission, you know?"

"Like, dude, I don't know if you even ever think about me, and I'd consider you one of my best friends." He laughed a breathy laugh, making Mina smile at him softly.

Hearing those words felt nice, and coming from maehara, she knew that they were his honest opinion. The blonde boy was always fun to be around, he was honest- she grew even closer to him after the volleyball game.

"Seriously,though, what's up? You've been weird for quite some time now. Is it the fight with karma?"

Mina's face grew redder instantly, she looked at him flabbergasted "you know about that??"

"Sorry, but everyone and their mom knows about it by now." Maehara grinned, making Mina groan and letting her head fall into her knees, to hide.

She stayed quiet, then, so Maehara decided to say the only thing he could think of. The womanizer wasn't good at cheering people up, especially girls. But she seemed like she really needed it, so he at least tried. For Mina.

"You know, if it helps, karma hasn't answered to any messages or calls since he came back." Maehara mumbled, looking into the night sky. "Isogai and I tried to get him to go to a local football game with us, and he didn't even answer. I think he's just as upset as you, even if he might not show it to you specifically."

Mina slowly looked up from her knees, eyeing her blonde friend carefully, as if she was getting hopeful.

"He's here though, if you're wondering that. He's somewhere by the big hill behind the trees, I think he misses having you around a lot." He ended with a cheeky grin, looking back at Mina. He hit her shoulder lightly before laughing "i mean who wouldn't, right? I think you know what you have to do now, don't you?"

Mina stared at the blonde for a few moments, comprehending everything he just said. She looked down, carefully thinking about all of it.
She came to one conclusion, and one conclusion only: things had to be right again between her and karma akabane.

Mina didn't know what would've happened without Maehara and his info that night. She liked to think that they'd have made up anyway, but she was glad she didn't have to think about that due to her blonde friend. She was grateful.
He did one more thing, anyhow, that she remembered to this day.

Mina stood up, suddenly, with a determined expression. She quickly pushed herself through the people away from Maehara, even if her knees got wobbly with every step. Maehara grinned at the girl, proudly, before yelling one last thing.

"Hey, Mina!" He started again, so brilliantly, making her stop and look back with a questioning look.

"What?" She shouted back.

"Here," he stated before launching his arm to throw a little, white bunny keychain towards her. Mina catched it, examining it while he continued "isogai and I won it a few minutes ago. I think it fits you."