KARMA INSISTED THAT he'd take mina on their first date before school started.
Now, he hadn't much of an idea in mind.
So he just asked, pretty straightforward.
Mina didn't mind, and after a while of thinking they concluded that they'd spent their first official date in the summer amusement park.
This shouldn't be a big deal, it really shouldn't. Mina Hayashi and karma Akabane hung out all the time. But when the brunette stood Infront of her mirror that Sunday morning, she couldn't help but irritatedly groan.
"Hey, I made you some coffee-" hori, who just walked into the small room of her daughter, stopped herself at what she saw before smirking mischievously "Well... look at you! Getting all pretty for your first date! Hey, should I take a picture of this? I probably should, right? To show your grandkids."
There were clothes scattered all around: on the desk, the bed, laying on top of her chair and her shelves. Mina had a feeling that she'd tried every piece of clothings she owned, and nothing seemed right.
"Mom!" Mina argued frustrated, letting her hand down. She sighed before letting herself fall back on her bed. "How do you do it? How do you the flirt thing?"
"I'm sorry?" Hori raised her eyebrows, laughing. She sat down next to her daughter and handed her the cup. " 'The flirt thing'?"
"You know.. I've watched you talking to men! You have a comeback for everything, you make him laugh, you smile all pretty.. and then you do the little hair flip!-"
"Twirl," hori grinned "it's a hair twirl."
"Fine, twirl, whatever! And then you walk away, and he just stands there, amazed, like he can't believe what just happened."
Even though the taller woman found it unbelievably amusing to see her daughter in distress over nothing, she couldn't help but see herself from 15 years ago. Geez.
"That's because I just stole his wallet, honey." She snapped out of it, and slowly started smiling while letting her hand run through mina's hair.
Daughter and mother looked at eachother for a while, silent.
Oh, lovely child.
"Want some help with the clothes?" Hori re-started the conversation. And when she received a light nod, grabbed a few clothes building an outfit in no time.
She grabbed the black skirt skirt her daughter wore fairly often, some light blue shirt to go over it and a white sweater-ish jacket that had an attached belt to tie around the waist in the same colour, with ribbons and patterns and everything. It was simple, yet so perfect.
Mina gasped audibly.
"Not fair, Miranda Presley! I've been staring at that white jacket for 30 minutes and you walk in- stay for 8 seconds and it's an outfit!"
"Hey! Years with my own personal fashion brain freeze dilemmas prepared me for this, okay?"
____
Once that red-haired, idiotic and stupidly tall moron appeared, everything calmed down for mina.
And She hated and loved it at the same time- that's what love feels like, isn't it?
"Okay," hori smiled widely, holding both of her daughter's shoulders. Karma had just ringed the door. "before you go, I have to tell you something."
"Alright..?" Mina raised her eyebrow after looking at the clock for the fiftieth time today.
"I.. okay, honey, I want you to know that I love you more than anything else in the world, okay? Recently, well- you know. After you snatched yourself the red-head," she started, grinning at the word snatched, jokingly, of course. "I've met someone."
"You.."
"I've met someone, romantically. Well, I'm about to meet him. We'll go for dinner tomorrow."
That was unexpected.
Damn unexpected.
"You know I usually stayed away from dating because of work, the pierre's- your dad, of course. But this man is really nice and refreshing and I just.. I mean, I just- what do you think?"
Mina didn't know what to think- which she wasn't able to do a lot recently. This was.. good? Bad? Great?
The girl hadn't seen her father in five years. This was inevitable, and yet it felt weird.
They didn't even have a fight or anything that would give both of the Hayashi Girls a reason to hate that European man.
Well, actually..
No.
Mina refused, then and there, that she'd waste a day that was supposed to be lovely and fun with empathy for her father. If she could even call him that.
So, she put on the best smile. Build with all the good and warm feelings she could collect inside of herself.
"That's okay."
"...Really?" Hori's smile stayed engraved on her face, before she let out a big and relieved sigh "Wow. I thought this'd be a lot harder."
"No, I mean," the brunette looked at her mother softly "it's your life, mom. I think a change will be good for you."
"Well, in that case..." and hori grabbed past mina's shoulder to swing the big wooden door open, revealing a confused karma and a nice summery breeze.
____
"I can't believe you seriously consider the 1978 Willy wonka better than the Johnny Depp one, that guy was so off putting!" Mina's voice echo-ed through the air As both teenagers strolled through the park, on their way to the entry of the annually set up amusement location.
"Well, sorry princess, but Johnny depp was two shades lighter than heaven and lacking so much melatonin that he could get an aneurysm from walking two steps out of that chocolate factory of his. Gene wilder all the way."
"You can't just-" she started with widened eyes, having to stop because of a free laugh that escaped her throat. "Moron."
"Ah, yes, there's the blind hatred again. How I missed it," karma commented with another sly smile. He had to laugh too, then.
The couple walked past the man at the entry asking for their tickets and the crying children, only to be greeted by handful of impressions.
As mina and karma entered the amusement park, they were enveloped by a cacophony of sounds, from the shrieks of thrill-seekers on roller coasters to the jubilant music blaring from the various attractions. The air was filled with the enticing aroma of freshly popped popcorn and sugary fruit punch, tempting their taste buds. Their eyes were drawn to the multitude of colors surrounding them - from the neon lights illuminating the rides to the vibrant hues of the games and food stands, creating an electric and festive atmosphere that set the stage for a hell of a day.
"Have you ever been to an amusement park?" Mina started the conversation up again, "My mom took me all the time when I was a kid. It was the only vacation she could afford, and we didn't have enough money for all the rides, but it was really fun." The brunette smiled softly as she remembered the woman she had left at home. Oh, how mina loved her mother.
"Hey, that's sick though," karma grinned "I'd definitely take my kids to amusement parks, make em' humble."
"Oh, please," the girl couldn't help but suppress playfully rolling her eyes "You're, like, the most cocky person there is. Even amusement parks won't defeat those genes."
"Well," the red haired boy rested his hands in the pockets of his black pants, continuing with closed. Eyes "you're dating someone with a bunch of those genes, so according to your analogy, you're basically fucked."
Hold up.
In all of those times mina Hayashi Had been teased and ridiculed by karma Akabane, she had never thought she would get an opportunity to revenge herself so perfectly. Though, to be fair, whether or not they were actually dating was unclear to the girl, to this point, at least.
"Hmm," mina hummed, acting as if she was thinking thoroughly "I don't know, Am I?"
"Are you..?" Karma raised his eyebrow.
"Am I dating you? I mean, you haven't even asked me if I wanted to indulge in something like that. What if I'm a more casual type of girl? That's really inconsiderate of you, red-head." Mina strolled on through the small crowd of people, past another cheesy scam game. She kept her back towards karma, mainly to hide the big grin forming on her face.
Karma stopped walking. He crossed his arms while shaking his head with an unbelieving huff. "I thought!-.. you just want to torture me, Hayashi, don't you?"
"Maybe, who knows." The brunette finally turned towards him, resting her hands on her waist. "Okay, I will
Tell you what. I will date you IF you tell me what you did with Maehara and the other guys at the beginning of the summer holidays. You know, that thing you didn't want to tell me about in the class chat?"
The red haired boy thought that maybe the girl Infront of him had spent a little too much time with him, to be doing schemes better than anyone else. She had him, karma Akabane, in a chokehold, as one of the only people, that is.
"Seriously?" Karma walked a few steps, to be now standing directly Infront of his maybe-girlfriend. He looked down into her soft, brown eyes.
So, karma looked. Looked for a while.
He marvelled at the way the sunlight played with the strands of her brown hair, creating a halo of warmth that was missing from his usual routine, around her. Her hazel doe-like eyes sparkled with intelligence and kindness, drawing him in like a damn moth to a flame. He found himself lost in her gaze, admiring the flecks of gold and green that danced within them, so carefully. A soft smile graced her lips as she spoke, one that was intended to be teasing him. her voice like music to his ears. Or anyone's ears, honestly.
How the hell had he, some crumbling human-being at the verge of existence, got her to go on a date with him?
"Fine," he sighed, then "you win. But only because you look painfully pretty in that sweater."
"Thanks," mina smiled, though maybe she didn't realise the extent of his compliment because she was too focused on the feeling of victory running through her body. "Now, come on, tell me!"
"Alright, so.." karma started, looking for best ways to phrase what he was about to say. "It wasn't vandalism, if that's what you're asking yourself."
"Karma!"
"Okay, okay!" He held his hands up defensively "First, Maehara, isogai, Sugino, nagisa and I went to the arcade owned by maehara's older cousin. Normal, right? We weren't looking for trouble, I swear. However, that arcade happened to be in Shibuya. And the Shibuya junior high happened to be the school those, god, how do I say this nicely? Dickfaces from Kyoto went to. Now, I know you don't like me starting fights, but come on, princess, they were weak as hell. When they don't team up on you, at least."
Then, karma received his third kiss from Mina Hayashi. Just after he had finished speaking- and he wondered how many more of those it would take to make him sick of that electric feeling that went through his stomach. He was convinced that time wouldn't come, not once in his life.
Mina backed away from his face, moving a strand of hair out of her face before sighing. "I feel like that was a bad decision- Did I just do positive re-enforcement? Like when dogs do something right and you give them a treat? Please tell me you won't beat up more people because I just kissed you."
Karma grinned into the air, smugly, before moving his gaze to meet hers again. "Depends- did that just make you my 'official' girlfriend?"
"Oh, shut up." The brunette huffed, making karma fit into his role again.
"You actually seemed as cool and nonchalant as I am for a moment, when you tried to resist the overwhelming urge to fall into my arms after i said we were dating and instead let me wait a bit. Too bad my super good looks just took over lastly and you couldn't stand it anymore-" the red-head speed walked after an irritated mina with a huge and cocky smirk.
"You know, I was going to thank you for defending my honour. But you can forget that!"
"Maybe. Though, at least you're my girlfriend now! And you can't even deny it!"
"STOP!-"
BONUS
"Hey kiddos, how was the-" hori stood confident in that doorframe, raising her eyebrows as soon as she saw the image Infront of her. "What's with all the prices? Did you guys go all 'Jay Gatsby' today or what?"
Mina stood there with an annoyed face, having her arms crossed. She had a bunch of bags on herself. Around her neck, on her arms, even one attached to her waist with some weird knot. In those bags were a bunch of amusement park prizes: from games to plushies to candy.
"Well, hori," karma grinned, mischievously, at his future mother in law. He leaned against the doorframe, with one arm over his girlfriend's shoulder. "I am officially a boyfriend now. I have to do boyfriend things, you know?"
"Ah," hori smirked back, just as mischievously "I see. You never told me you got yourself a rich one, mina, honey."
Mina sighed deeply before letting her hands fall down, the bags making loud sounds whenever they reached the ground. She looked back at her mother, who, along with her boyfriend, looked at her amused.
"Chocolate."
Hori couldn't help but letting out a few laughs then. "Third bag in the kitchen, I went grocery shopping. Enjoy yourself, kid. I will talk a little with your boyfriend."
"Not you too!"
>>> Author's note
Thanks so much for 10K, readers <3
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2309 WORDS
SATURDAY, 13TH OF APRIL
@MIRAI