Salmon - Agree/Affirm
Bonito flakes - Disagree/deny
Kelp - Greeting
Mustard Leaf - Concern / Worry
Salmon Roe - To grab attention
Tuna - Focus
Tuna tuna - Look
Tuna mayo - Talk
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There's a comfortable silence as Inumaki walks you home. Neither of you have said a word since the shared kiss on the bridge. Your heart continues to skip as you feel his warmth from your intertwined fingers. There's a gentle tug from Inumaki that catches your attention. He comes to a halt as you turn around to look at him. The boy casts his eyes down to the concrete beneath his shoes.
Unable to see his entire facial expression, you try to search his eyes for his emotion. Feeling your eyes on him, Inumaki slowly raises his eyes up to look at you directly. Having his eyes on you causes your heart to skip. He looks sad to part away from you. You catch yourself smiling at the thought. Inumaki is very cute when he wants to be.
You give his hand a gentle squeeze. "I miss you already Toge." You speak sweetly in a soft tone. Inumaki's eyes widen slightly before they soften and avert to the side. There's a slight tinge of pink that crosses his face. He crinkles his nose adorably. You watch him point to himself before pointing to you with a gentle nod. You're sure that means he feels the same way towards you.
Your shoulders droop and the smile on your face falls slightly. A sigh slips past your lips when you stare at your joined left hand with Inumaki's right. "It sucks that we don't go to the same school. If we did, we could see each other more." Muttering under your breath, you don't notice Inumaki's frown behind his collar. He slowly nods his head to agree.
But you push the negative thoughts to the side while gripping tightly to his hand before releasing your intertwined fingers. "It's not all too bad though. This just means we'll have more affection to shower one another with the next time we meet." Your voice grows silent as you feel your face flush from your words. Scrunching your nose, you tuck a few stray hairs behind your ear. "I'll look forward to it. I hope you will too."
Your breath hitches when you're roughly pulled forward into an embrace. Your face makes contact with Inumaki's chest. His scent fills your nostrils and his strong arms hold you in place. His soft low voice fills your ears. "Salmon."
Slowly, you wrap your arms around Inumaki's waist and close your eyes. This simple gesture overwhelms you with so much happiness. You've never felt this exhilarating feeling before. You easily melt in Inumaki's arms as you feel his fingertips run through your hair. A comfortable silence is shared between the two of you.
Until you hear a familiar voice that belongs to your mother. She whistles from the front door causing your body to stiffen. You aren't the only one who feels the same way. Inumaki paralyzes within your hold as well. The two of you pull away from each other in an instant as if the two of you are caught doing something you shouldn't be doing. "Now what do I see here?" A playful hum shouts out across the yard. Face flushed, you cover your eyes with your palms.
This is so embarrassing.
You hear Inumaki rustle beside you. Peeking between your fingers, you notice the boy bowing down. Confused, you drop your hands away from your face. "W-What are you doing Toge?" You stammer out with raised brows. Your mother is just as confused when she joins the two of you.
Mother places her hands on Inumaki's shoulder, straightening his form out. "Are you apologizing for hugging my daughter? There's no need Toge. If anything, I should thank you for making my daughter happy. She hasn't stopped talking about you these past few days. Do you think he likes me still? What if he's no longer interested?" Your mother mimics your voice as you hold in your breath.
Gently you shove your mother's arm for bringing up your worries. "M-Mom!" You croak out with an even redder face. Inumaki finds the conversation amusing when his eyes crinkle and a low chuckle escapes from him. You wonder how Inumaki will carry on a conversation with your mother. You kept quiet about his cursed speech from your parents.
But luckily, your mother is a social butterfly. She easily holds the conversation on her own. You let your mother ramble on before cutting her off when she's spoken too much about your distress the last few days. "Alright, alright. I think that's enough mom. We should let Toge head home before it gets late." Your mother gets the hint when she notices your flushed face.
"Fine. Do come by when you can Toge. I'll treat you to a nice homecooked meal." Mother winks at Inumaki before turning to look over to you. "Come inside once you see him off, Y/N." With a smile on her face, she turns around and returns back inside. You only relax when you watch the door close behind her.
You rest a hand over your thumping heart and heave out a heavy sigh. You apologize for your mothers loud mouth before looking over at Inumaki. He doesn't look bothered by her in the slightest. In fact, he's smiling from ear to ear. You watch the boy take out his phone to type something on the screen.
"So...you couldn't stop talking about me?" A playful smirk flashes on Inumaki's face. There's a shine to his eyes. You scoff and shyly look away from his comment. The next action he does causes you to be rendered paralyzed. You feel the plush lips of Inumaki on your forehead. "Cute." Inumaki hums out with his voice.
You're quick to cover your red face with your hands, internally squealing. Cute? He's the cute one here! "Now you're just teasing me." You grumble out as you slowly drop your hands to your sides. Inumaki shrugs with a chuckle. He types on his phone again before resting his eyes on your face.
"It makes me happy to know I was on your mind. You are constantly on mine." The corner of his lips curl as he gazes at you with a delicate expression. Your heart easily wavers from his words. You only ache to hear these words said by him personally, but what can you do. Pursing your lips, you clear your throat. "How can you say something so cute casually? I'm scared my heart will explode if you keep it up."
Inumaki chuckles from your comment. He extends a hand out to stroke your cheek. The two of you stare at one another, neither of you wanting to look away. You focus on Inumaki's lips as he silently words out, "Because I like you." You bite your tongue and break eye contact from him. You feel happiness wash over you from his response.
Without having the strength to reply verbally, you return his answer with a quick shy kiss to his lips. "I want to get the same reaction out of you too Toge." And you definitely get a similar reaction from him. He looks surprised from your sudden kiss. The tips of Inumaki's ears redden and his eyes remain wide and wavering. He dramatically clutches the school uniform in his hand above his heart.
You giggle at his playfulness before insisting for him to head back now. "Text me when you get back to your dorm room, okay?" Inumaki seems hesitant to leave at first. His eyes cast down and you watch the earlier sad expression loom over his eyes. Inumaki spreads apart his arms, a silent request for a hug. You smile at his cute gesture before giving in.
Warmth embraces you and it's not just from the sun that beams on the two of you. You're once again intoxicated by the smell of fresh linen from Inumaki. His head nuzzles on the side of yours while his arms give you a tight squeeze. You return his embrace with your own tight squeeze around him. Even though it's just the start of your relationship, it seems like the two of you are equally infatuated by each other. It's hard to say who loves the other more.
Unwilling but having to, you pull yourself away to look at Inumaki. Your eyes fall to his collar and you nervously pull it down. Inumaki remains still, a curious look on his face. You feel your heart in your throat when you boldly press a kiss to his lips. You feel his breath hitch between your lips when you pull away. But you're stopped by his hand on the back of your head.
Inumaki hastily kisses you in return before a smile forms on his lips. You giggle at his response before releasing the collar of his school uniform. "For real this time, get back to the dorms Toge. I'm sure you have things to do, right? I should head inside before my mom comes back out to embarrass me too." You watch Inumaki's shoulders droop and his head fall forward slightly. He nods his head slowly and raises a hand up to say goodbye.
With a smile, you raise your hand up to say bye to him too. You hurry towards the front door but turn around to look at Inumaki once more. He stands there with his hands in his pockets, not leaving his spot until you're safely inside. You feel nothing but happiness when you look at the beautiful colors for the last time today. Cupping your hands together, you call out to Inumaki. "I really like you Toge."
The boy widen his eyes before pulling down his collar to reveal a wide grin. You feel your heart thump roughly against your chest. Not too long ago were you afraid to confess to him and now you're confessing to him easily. Inumaki pulls out a confidence in you. He cups his hands together to shout back, "I like you more Y/N." Blushing, you refrain from smiling widely. You hurry inside after waving goodbye to him.
Inumaki snickers under his breath when he watches Y/N hastily run inside. His heart is beating wildly and he's overjoyed with everything that's happened today. His worries earlier today is steered away. Turning his heel, he walks back towards the area he came from. Inumaki pulls out the cough syrup he keeps a hold of in his pocket.
Twisting the cap, he takes a few sips of the liquid to subside the scratchy feeling in his throat. Inumaki aches to say more but he worried about the future consequences if he were to continue. He changes his thought process to something much brighter. Now that the two are officially a couple, what should they do for their first date? Inumaki ponders on the idea as he walks back to the dorms.