After Story: Resolve

Chapter Eight: Improvements

After a bawling out and a good night's sleep, Mei promised to behave better the next day.

In fact, it seemed like she was overcompensating as she held my arm as we walked to the park. I was tempted to ask what was going on, but decided against it. I'd already asked several times, so I figured she'd tell me when she was ready and no sooner.

After a bit of teasing from Sunohara (as well as the usual banter between him and Nagisa's dad) he and I started our updated routine.

After the usual stretching we headed out to do the usual laps around the park. After that we found a grassy area and dropped and did twenty-five push-ups. Twenty-five sit-ups later we'd get back up for the laps again.

As we did our second set of laps I looked over to where the others waited. As usual, Nagisa's dad was messing with the grill, her mom was watching us with her trademark smile, and Nagisa was still trying to figure out how to work her pom-poms.

I was impressed with Mei, however; like Nagisa, she also had a set of pom-poms but, unlike Nagisa, she apparently knew how to use them, as she danced and kicked, waving the pom-poms the whole time.

"Hey, Sunohara," I started when we were out of sight of the group. "Your sister a cheerleader or something?"

"Yeah," he replied with a smile. "She mentioned it in one of her letters, but I've never seen her do it before."

"Huh. Must be nice having a cute little sister cheering for you." I didn't hear a response, so I looked over to find Sunohara staring at me. "What?" I asked.

"You are such an idiot," he declared, almost mirroring our conversation from yesterday.

***

As everyone went their separate ways Mei latched onto my arm again. I looked to Sunohara, who gave me a stupid smile, before looking down at Mei again. "Um, Mei? Don't you want to spend time with your brother?"

She didn't look up but I could hear her voice quite clearly: "Yeah, but I'll go to his place later. Right now...I want a crepe!"

"You just had lunch, and...whatever." I gave up; once she set her mind to something there was no stopping her. I guess she and Sunohara had that in common, at least. "Fine, I'll treat you."

"Yaaay! See you later, Onii-chan!" She waved back at her brother, who returned her wave as we headed off.

"Wait; don't you want him to come with us?" I asked. "I can't treat him, but..."

"It's okay," she replied. "Like I said, I'll be going to his place later, so..." she pulled away and tugged on my arm, "...let's go!"

I ended up half-dragged all the way to the shopping district. "Take it easy, Mei!" I protested. "I just finished a workout not too long ago!"

She just giggled as she spied the crepe truck and pulled me up to it.

I pulled out my wallet. "So, which one do you want...wait, what do thirteen-year-olds like, anyway?"

"I wouldn't know," she sniffed. "I'm not thirteen anymore."

So her birthday must have passed since the last time I saw her. "You're not? When was your birthday?"

"June 11," she answered as she examined her crepe options.

"In that case: Happy Birthday!"

She looked to me with an embarrassed smile. "Th-Thank you."

"I should get you something..." I realized. "Other than the crepe; I'd already promised you that."

"I-It's okay, Okazaki-san, you don't have to get me anything."

It was too late, though; I took a step back and looked her up and down, trying to get some ideas on what I could get for her that I could afford on my extremely limited budget. Finally, I got an idea. "Okay, let's get your crepe and then I want to take you somewhere."

She looked at me worriedly. "Where are you taking me?"

"Don't worry," I tried to reassure her. "You've been there before."

"O-Okay." She still didn't seem convinced.

I gestured to the crepes. "Hurry up and pick one or I'll pick one for you." I had a sudden flash of inspiration as she opened her mouth. "Ah! Too late! Go sit on the bench over there and I'll bring it to you." I smiled as she grumbled under her breath all the way to the bench. I then turned to the server. "One Princess Crepe, please," I ordered as I pulled the amount out of my wallet. It was expensive, but if it brought a smile to her face...

"Here you go, sir," the server said as she handed me the monstrous treat.

"And your money," I replied.

I saw her glance at Mei as she took my money. "Is it for her?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She smiled approvingly. "Even with her pout, she's a cutie. You take good care of her," she finished with a wink.

"Wait, you don't understand. She's..." It was still hard thinking of Sunohara as a 'friend', but... "She's my friend's sister, staying over for the summer while he trains to be a pro soccer player."

The server's face fell. "Oh, I'm sorry dear. With the way you two were looking at each other I thought..."

What about the way we were looking at each other? "I-It's okay, ma'am; she is my guest, so I'll take good care of her anyway."

"What a nice young man you are," she said with a smile.

"With the way you two were looking at each other..." Her comment repeated in my head several times as I made my way over to Mei who sat, still pouting, on the park bench. "Here you go," I said as I offered her the crepe. "A Princess for a princess."

Her pout quickly reformed into a smile at the sight of the enormous treat. "Okazaki-san! That must have been expensive!"

"Don't worry about it," I said as she accepted the crepe. "If I remember correctly, I ate parts of the last one that you wanted."

She nodded with her face buried in crepe. "I got over it, but...thank you for remembering." She pulled her face away from the treat and looked up at me from under her lashes. "Would you like a taste?"

Something about her gaze...I blinked as my heart skipped a beat. "Uh...n-no, thank you." I cleared my throat as I forced myself to look away.

"Okay." Her voice caused me to look back to her in time to see her pop a strawberry into her mouth. "Mmmmmmm..."

"Finally got the strawberry, huh?" I smiled, trying to ignore what had just happened.

She giggled through a mouthful of crepe.

"Well, you enjoy that." I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I looked around.

A few minutes later I heard the rustling of paper and looked over to see her crumpling up the wrapper as she swallowed the last of the crepe. "Thank you, Okazaki-san."

"You're welcome." I got up from the bench and held out my hand. "You ready to go pick up your present?"

She gazed at my hand before reaching out and taking it. "Y-Yeah..." It felt like she shuddered as she took it and helped herself up. Then she quietly took hold of my arm again and we headed out.