Chapter 7:
Mizuki woke up to a rainy Sunday morning. Her and Kei made plans to hang out at the arcade they used to play at when they were kids and she was thrilled to finally spend some time with him. She had been extremely busy since her family moved back to Miyagi so this felt like an opportunity to have fun and relax with her friend. She even insisted that Mina and Rina come with them but unfortunately, they were busy preparing for their father's awaited visit.
Mizuki jumped out of bed and went straight to the shower. Afterward, she decided to wear a bright, yellow top with high-waisted, black jeans. She also made sure that she was wearing the T-Rex necklace he had given her when they were kids. After she finished putting on her makeup, she headed downstairs to tell her family about her plan for the day.
"Good morning!" Mizuki greeted her mother and younger brother as she sat down to eat breakfast with them.
"Morning!" Her brother, Jun, responded with a cereal-filled mouth.
"Morning honey," Mizuki's mother smiled, "You look extra cute today. What's the occasion?"
Mizuki grinned, munching on an apple, "Remember Kei?"
Her mother nodded slowly as she sat down and sipped her coffee. "Of course I do. He was your crush-"
"NOPE!" Mizuki interrupted her mother and cleared her throat, "He was my friend when we were kids, mom! I didn't have a crush on him!"
"Who's Kei?" Her brother asked curiously. Jun was only a toddler when they moved to Brazil so he didn't really know who he was.
"He's my friend," She repeated one more time, "We're going to that arcade that dad took us to a lot when we were kids. Remember Z arcade?"
"Oh yes... If your father was here right now, he would definitely be teasing you about him." Her mother added, smiling to herself.
The three of them laughed altogether before finishing up breakfast. Even though it still hurt talking about her father, Mizuki felt comforted that her mother and brother were there with her to grieve and remember him.
After a while, the doorbell rang loudly, meaning that her friend had arrived. Mizuki hurriedly ran to the door and opened it to find a soaked Tsukishima Kei standing on her front porch. He was wearing a black shirt with dark blue jeans that seemed a little too loose for him. He also had his white headphones draped around his neck.
"...I forgot to bring an umbrella." Kei muttered softly, his blonde hair drenched from the pouring rain. His glasses were covered in water droplets as he pouted in front of her.
She couldn't help but laugh which caused him to sigh in annoyance.
"Come in," She managed to say, wiping the tears that had formed on her face, "You live five minutes away from me and you couldn't get an umbrella?"
"I was at Yamaguchi's house." He removed his shoes slowly, "Besides, I didn't want to go home."
"And because of that, you're soaking wet." Mizuki nodded as she returned from the restroom carrying a dry towel.
"I get it." She smirked deviously as she handed him a towel.
"What?" He inquired, sitting down on the floor and drying his hair carefully.
"You got too excited to hang out with me. That's why you didn't go home first." Mizuki answered triumphantly.
Kei looked at her with a disgruntled expression on his face and stood up.
"...I'm going home," Kei grumbled, reaching for his shoes.
"I'm kidding!" She tried to hold in her laughter but it didn't work. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Mizuki frantically stopped him from putting his shoes back on. Kei looked smug which caused her to frown and cross her arms. He didn't mind being teased and annoyed by her. He actually enjoyed it. This could be a new source of entertainment for him.
"How are we going to the arcade if it's raining this much?" Kei changed the subject as he followed her into the living room.
"We can wait for the rain to stop..." Mizuki suggested, sitting down on the couch and turning on the television.
He sat beside her, which even though it was a little close, she didn't mind at all.
"I guess. Is your mom home?" He asked, leaning back on the couch and closing his eyes.
"She just left to go to work." She answered him, trying to find a movie that they would both like.
"What about your brother?" He responded back to her.
"He's at my grandparents' house right now," She tilted her head to the side, noticing all the questions he was asking, "Would you rather hang out with him?"
"Yes." Kei yawned, looking for a pillow to hold onto.
Mizuki rolled her eyes and pushed him slightly away. He could be so irritating.
"What should we do until then?" He mumbled drowsily. He took his headphones off and placed it on the coffee table.
"We could watch a movie?" Mizuki proposed, throwing another pillow at him to wake him up.
"No." He answered lazily.
"How about we make some food?" She offered, "We can make cookies!"
"No." He repeated casually.
"How about we play video games?" She sighed deeply, already knowing what he was going to say.
"No."
"Okay, Mr. No, what do you want to do?" Mizuki crossed her arms, waiting for his response.
"...I want to sleep." Kei yawned once more as he closed his eyes.
"Fine, you sleep. I'm going to watch a movie." She laid down on her couch as she put on a movie called Your Name.
It continued to rain outside which heavily dampered on their plans to go to the arcade. Kei couldn't really sleep even if he was tired. He noticed that after about ten minutes, Mizuki had fallen asleep. He rolled his eyes as he moved slowly to grab the blanket that was on the other sofa chair.
She said she was going to watch a movie and ended up falling asleep anyway. What an idiot, Kei thought to himself.
He covered her with a blanket, but not before noticing how peaceful she looked as she slept. It was as if all her troubles had disappeared. If only he could help her feel better.
After a few hours, Mizuki had naturally woken up from her sleep.
"What time is it?!" She exclaimed, frantically looking for her phone.
"It's almost 4 in the afternoon." Kei answered blandly.
"I fell asleep for 3 hours?!" She gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Yeah..." He nodded, stretching his arms and legs. "You were snoring too."
"Why didn't you wake me up?!" Mizuki threw a pillow at him, ignoring the comment about her snoring.
Kei shrugged before standing up, "It's still raining outside, anyway. I heard there might be a thunderstorm too."
"No!" She whined, opening the curtains to see that it was still raining heavily. "Does that mean we can't go to the arcade? I was really looking forward to it..."
Kei noticed how upset Mizuki had become and decided to do the one thing he promised himself that he would never do in a million years.
"I'll call my brother." He stated unwillingly. Mizuki stared at him with a perplexed expression on her face.
Kei asked his brother if he could pick them up and drop them off at the arcade since it was going to be difficult to get there using public transportation. He excitedly agreed and within five minutes, he was parked at the front of her house.
"Mizuki-chan! It's so good to see you again!" Akiteru hugged her tightly, marveling at her growth, "You've grown up so much!"
"You too, Tsukishima-kun!" Mizuki laughed, "You've gotten even taller!"
"Thank you!" He motioned for them to enter the car and soon, they began driving through the rainy streets of Miyagi. "So, you guys are going to the Z Arcade, huh?"
"Yes!" She grinned cheerfully, "Thank you again for dropping us off there!"
"Are you sure you guys are going to be okay?" Akiteru looked back at them slightly, "I heard there's going to be thunderstorms and Kei here-"
"We'll be fine." Kei interrupted his brother as he cleared his throat, "Thank you for your concern."
Mizuki wondered what that was about but she didn't pry any further. About thirty minutes later, they had arrived at the arcade. It looked a little different from years ago due to the fact that they had renovated and added a joint restaurant beside them. On the right side were racing games, claw machines, and vending machines whereas the left side had more varieties such as air hockey tables, shooting games, dancing machines, and basketball games. The environment appeared to be different physically however, it felt familiar and warm. Mizuki couldn't help but smile which caused Kei to smile.
"What should we do first?" She clasped her hands together. It was as if she had become a kid again.
Before Kei could answer her, sudden jolts of thunder could be seen and heard from inside the arcade. He shuddered slightly, but not enough for Mizuki to notice.
"Let's play basketball!" Mizuki grabbed Kei's arm and headed to the left side of the arcade. She inserted a few coins that she had exchanged from the front desk into the machine. She seemed to be enjoying herself and he was not going to ruin this experience for her. Mizuki kept missing her shots, but she didn't seem to care. She was having the time of her life with Kei beside her, who also happened to be missing all the shots.
Next, they moved on to play air hockey. Kei adjusted his glasses, trying hard not to focus on the booming sounds of thunder outside. He noticed that his hands were beginning to shake so he took a deep breath in order to help himself focus on the game in front of him. As soon as the game began, he slowly forgot about the thunderstorm outside. He and Mizuki were too busy trying to beat each other and win.
"I knew you sucked at air hockey but I didn't know you sucked this much!" She teased him, scoring yet another point. It was now 4-3.
Kei smirked before crossing his arms, "I'm letting you win, don't you know that?"
Before Mizuki could retort back, a deafening boom interrupted her thoughts. She noticed that he seemed to be uncomfortable and restless judging from his shaking body and the fact that he was biting his lip way too hard.
"Kei, are you okay?" Mizuki asked, moving closer to him. She was very worried as she'd never seen him like this before.
"Yes." He cleared his throat, looking away so that she wouldn't see him trembling.
Kei was not fine, she thought to herself. The thunder booming outside intensified and became louder and louder. Mizuki noticed how petrified Kei was. She soon realized that he was afraid of thunderstorms.
"Kei, are you scared of thunder?" She murmured quietly, meeting his gaze.
He appeared fearless to her, especially because as kids, he was the one who taught her not to be afraid of spiders, the dark, or clowns. Apparently, that wasn't the case.
"No. I'm not." He shook his head immediately. He was saying one thing but his body was expressing another.
Suddenly, a jolt of thunder appeared from the sky, along with a blaring roar. He closed his eyes as he trembled harshly.
"Yes, a little..." Kei admitted timidly.
Without saying another word, Mizuki dragged Kei to the nearly empty restaurant next to the arcade. She thought that by listening to the music that was playing there, he would feel a little relieved. It was to distract him from his fear. This was something he taught her when they were kids.
For a while, it seemed to work. They were talking about volleyball and Kei's upcoming match with Aoba Johsai that he didn't seem to be too interested in. After a while, he excused himself and went to the restroom. Oddly enough, Mizuki had been waiting for nearly 15 minutes and he wasn't back yet. She decided to check if he was okay by heading off to the restroom. She knocked on the door of the men's restroom first, as she didn't want to run into any indecency. She opened the door slightly and noticed Kei sitting on a bench in the restroom.
What Mizuki saw overwhelmed her with feelings of sorrow. This was her fault. Kei had his ears covered by his hands and his eyes were tightly closed. He looked up to find her staring at him, in tears.
"I left my headphones at your house." He revealed softly, forcing a smile.
Mizuki rushed over to him, not caring about the fact that she was in the men's restroom. They gazed at each other's eyes before she finally spoke up.
"We should've just stayed home..." She mumbled faintly, "I'm so sorry, Kei. It's my fault."
By now, she was crying as the feelings of guilt gradually surrounded her.
Kei didn't understand why she was so upset. He hid in the restroom because he didn't want her to feel sad that he wasn't having as much fun as she was with him. He wanted her to feel genuinely happy, even if it was only for one day.
"It's not your fault..." He held her hand, gazing down on her weeping face, "I didn't want you to be disappointed."
Mizuki realized that even though Kei knew that there were going to be thunderstorms and that he was deathly afraid of them, he still went to the arcade with her because she wanted to go. He was thinking of her and how she felt. In fact, lately, he seemed to be always thinking about her and her needs. She never once stopped to ask about his feelings or dilemmas because she was scared of saying the wrong thing or pushing him away.
"Why does it matter if I'm disappointed?" She choked up, staring at his hand tenderly holding hers.
"I don't like seeing you disappointed or upset." He admitted, wiping her tears away with his other hand.
"I don't ever want to let you down." Kei whispered, his breath quivering in uneasiness.
At this point, he didn't know whether or not he was more frightened of the thunderstorm or making Mizuki feel disheartened. She couldn't help but cry even more. He was the one that was afraid, yet here she was, bawling like a baby. He was comforting her, instead of the other way around.
"I'm sorry you didn't have fun today," She sniffled, "I promise next time-"
"I had fun today," He confessed, smiling slightly, "I always have fun when I'm with you."