" koibito "
note!
if you know the meaning of 'koibito' then please don't spoil it. and for the people who don't, try not to search it, if you want the full experience; it is explained later in the chapter :)
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀IT CAME FROM A place of mockery. Riki seemed to have made it his mission to remind her of her shortcomings ever since he discovered she'd been trying (and, sadly, failing) to learn Japanese after he'd muttered a sentence to her in the language under his breath.
It wasn't her fault, she reasoned. The language was difficult to understand and had many sounds she couldn't pronounce, not to mention the grammar. When she asked Sana to assist her, the blonde simply replied, "Well, you just...have to know, I guess," which didn't help much either.
So, not only did she still have no idea what he'd said to her all those weeks ago, but she also seemed to have gotten a nickname from him that served no purpose other than to annoy the shit out of her. A nickname that dangled the fact that she still hadn't mastered the language above her head.
In all honesty, she wanted to punch him every time he used it. With such carelessness and nonchalance, as if he didn't care, as if he didn't know what he was saying, as if she didn't know.
Oh, she knew, alright. And she hated it.
It was most noticeable when they were alone together. Riki never failed to call her the stupid name when it was just them and their friends were in the other room.
Sometimes he used it in moments of exasperation, like when he'd try explaining the rules of a video game to her once again and she still didn't get it.
"Koibito, just - listen," he'd sighed, taking the controller from her hands and repeating what he said earlier.
She dropped out of the conversation the moment he said the nickname. His lips moved, and the rules were repeated, but not a single word registered in her mind - if only out of spite. She felt like he used it to mock her at times.
The times she detested the most were when he'd pair it with a piece of laughter as if what she'd said was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard - all made worse by the reminder of her failure thrown in for good measure.
The moments that confused her most were when he'd been almost nice to her.
It wasn't until months later that she realised what Riki had been calling her all along. And it was all because of a young man at the market. "Have a nice day, koibito," the boy said, his charming smile fading as soon as Y/N rolled her eyes at the nickname.
"Mhm, thanks," she replied dryly, accepting his bouquet before turning around. She took a deep breath to relieve the itch in her stomach and turned to Sana with a forced smile. "You ready?"
The blonde remained motionless. Instead, she looked at Y/N with her eyes widened and her mouth slightly agape. "Wha - why did you do that?" She asked, returning her gaze to the boy as the two began walking back towards one of the shops. "He was pretty cute."
"Why wouldn't I?" Y/N said, fumbling around the bouquet to bring one of the daisies to her face. Smiling, she sniffed the flower. "The nickname's rude."
Sana, who'd stopped in the middle of the street at her words, let out an exclamation. "What do you mean?" She said loudly, jogging a bit to catch up with the younger girl who continued walking. "It's sweet, one of the sweetest nicknames."
Y/N frowned and gave her friend a look that showed her disagreement. "It's patronising," she stated and placed the daisy she'd smelled back with the rest of the flowers. "And demeaning, I hate it."
"What?" Sana stated that she had grabbed her arm and forced them both to stop walking for a moment. She looked at her with her eyes wide open and blinking quickly. Then she laughed. "Y/N, babe, who in the world told you that?"
The frown on her face had changed from one of disagreement to one of confusion. "Riki," she said as she observed Sana's reaction. Y/N shifted her weight, shrugging and pulling the strap of her bag back up her shoulder, which had begun to fall. "Well, not exactly," she replied. "But he's made it quite clear from the circumstances, yes."
Sana made a sound similar to a seagull cawing as a huge grin crept onto her lips. Nonetheless, she made every effort to conceal it. "Okay, okay, cool, cool," she said, clearing her throat. "Just to be certain. Nishimura Riki, calls you koibito?"
"Yes, along with kawaii-chan"
A soft squeal left Sana's mouth, though some form of restraint was still there. "Right." Again, she cleared her throat. "And you thought it was patronising and demeaning, because?"
"Because!" Y/N exclaimed, sighed, and tightened her grip on the bouquet. "He began using it after realising I didn't understand Japanese for shit, Sana! It's just to remind me that no matter how hard I try, I can't learn a language, and that I failed."
"Oh, Y/N, darling," Sana cooed, her face filled with sympathy and amusement after previously being filled with ecstasy. She put her hand on her shoulder. "You have no clue what the name means, do you?
"Yes, I think we've covered how incompetent I am regarding the Japanese language," she answered, a slight bitterness in her voice.
"Y/N," Sana said, a small smile on her lips this time. "Koibito is a name people use for their partners or someone they fancy. Literally translated it means sweetheart. And Kawaii-chan means cute"
"What?" Y/N muttered, a small frown on her brow. Her brow furrowed and she shook her head no. "No, that - that can't be right."
She sat and waited. She waited for Sana to tell her she was lying, that she was joking, and that Riki had been mocking her the entire time, but it never came. Instead, the blonde fixed her gaze on her as she watched her go through the realisation.
"Right," the younger girl said, her voice quiet.
She could hear Sana rambling on about how she knew Riki liked her since she met them and how she was going to bully him with it and how ridiculously funny she thought it was. However, Y/N wasn't mentally present at all at that moment.
"All right," Y/N abruptly interrupted Sana's excited rambling. She forced a smile and gave her friend the lovely flowers. "I'm sorry, just a moment. I have to take care of something."
"SWEETHEART?!"
Her voice echoed throughout his living room, the only sound louder than it was the harsh slamming of the door behind her. Y/N walked towards the couch, her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes wide as she looked at him in disbelief.
"Kawaii-chan" She exclaimed after and watched as he placed the remote controller he'd been using on the couch. Riki leaned back and laced his hands together as he watched her. She laughed. "Are you fucking kidding me, Nishimura?"
For a few seconds, he didn't say anything at all and just looked at her. Then, he simply grabbed the remote controller once again and continued playing. "Took you long enough," he said.
"Wha - you - no, don't give me that shit, because I can hear you," she said and pointed at his heart. "Do not give me that cool guy shit."
Riki huffed as she took the remote controller from his grasp and tossed it back onto the couch next to the one he was sitting on. Luckily it landed on one of the pillows. He looked a look at the discarded item.
"If you don't start talking, you're going to join it."
He didn't seem to care about her threat. "I thought you'd like it," he said.
Y/N scoffed, her tongue kissing her teeth. "I'm this close to throwing you out a window," she said, pointing to him with her fingers, a barely visible gap between them.
"Well that would just be a waste of energy," Riki said. "You wouldn't be able to lift me either way." He teased.
Y/N smiled. "Do you really want to find out?"
Riki smirked. "Maybe,"
She opened her mouth again, ready to vent her annoyance on him, until she realised what he was doing.
She looked down at him as he looked back at her, with his smirk replaced with a small smile. The light from the television mixed with the moonlight illuminated Riki's facial features.
They fell into a comfortable silence. Y/N had calmed down somewhere along the way. She walked over to the other couch and grabbed the controller she'd thrown in her rage.
"Here," she said, holding it out for him.
Riki looked at her and accepted it. He discarded it next to him.
"I could stop," he offered. "If you want me to."
Y/N may not be able to read Japanese to save her life, but she could read between the lines very well, especially the lines Nishimura Riki wrote. And thus, she smiled at his words.
"No," she said. "It's okay." It really wasn't as bad now that she actually knew what it meant.
Riki smiled and offered her the controller, "This is a new game I found. I could teach you if you want, koibito"
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