I wake up to a new day. It is Sunday, today I will go on a date with Yuki. The thought makes me giddy. I get ready, style my hair, wear a simple grey t-shirt and jeans. I go towards the doorway and step into the genkan to reach for my shoes. Before I could put them on, I hear a voice calling my name.
"Bopy," I turn and it's my mom. She has long brown hair and looks quite young for her age and she is usually jolly, but right now her eyes are squinted in thought, hands on her chin. "Bopy, how do you know we are going to leave? You want to come with us?" She says, looking at my clothing. I am confused and reply, "What?"
Something clicks in her mind and she says, "Oh well, me and your father will go to meet your grandparents. I didn't tell you this until now." She smiles and continues, "Looking at your clothing I thought you somehow knew and wanted to go with us. I have never seen you this excited before."
I try to hide my smile but fail. "Um, I will go and meet my friend." She smirks, maybe she knows what going out with a friend means for me while I try to hide my smile and fail.
"I see, go ahead and meet this 'friend' of yours. We will leave after you come back." My mom then winks at me. "And please introduce this 'friend' of yours to me after we come back from the visit."
"Yea, I will," I reply back and jokingly think, "My mom is very 'subtle'. I probably got my blunt personality from her." I put my sneakers on and leave. I walk towards our meeting destination, it's a park. After a while I reach it. Colourful green grass, brightening the day, some people are walking. Long trees giving shade. I then go towards a bench and take a seat, the tree over me shielding me from the sunlight. I wait for Yuki, my hands moving nervously on my lap. Then she arrives, and I look at her and I am stunned. The first thing I notice is that her hair is down and freely flowing past her shoulders. And her face, she is bright and smiling. She looks confident here due to her clothing. She is wearing a black blouse that is buttoned up and the sleeves are short and just go past her shoulders. I can see her slender arms. And matching her black blouse perfectly is her dark blue jeans which have a shank button, and following her jeans down, they are rolled up at the end to reveal she is wearing a brown open-toed gladiator sandal with multiple straps across the foot that extend up the ankle.
"Wow, Yuki, you look gorgeous." She takes the compliment and her cheeks become slightly pink. My eyes then go to her arms, her right arm is behind her. She notices me looking. She then brings her right arm forward and the gift she has for me surprises me. It's a white rose. I am getting a flower from a girl on a date.
"For you, Bopy." The words leave her mouth and make my heart beat faster. Her posture is composed but her face isn't, she is trying to hide her nervousness. I take the flower, our fingers brush against each other briefly. She holds my gaze and says, "My mother said receiving a flower on a date is common." After a pause she asks, "Do you like this, Bopy?"
I look at the white rose. It's light in my hand yet so heavy and full of meaning. I can feel the warmth in the rose. "Yes, I like it." I then look at her and her clothes. "You have put a lot of effort into this date, Yuki."
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and says, "Thank you, Bopy." She then awkwardly puts her hand towards me to pull me up from the bench. I look at her and think, "So the roles have been reversed here." I put the white rose in my jeans pocket and take her hand and let her pull me up. When I rise up I am close to her, and she looks down at me. She is happy. We stay like this for a bit.
"Yuki... Do you want to take a walk in the park with me?" I softly say the words to her.
She nods. "Yes, I would love that." We then walk together, our hands are close but not touching. The white rose is safely kept in my pocket. The entire world seems brighter while walking with Yuki. The grass seems more green. The branches of the trees sway gently. We take in the scene and then stand in front of a fountain. Water sprays softly into the air. We admire the beauty of it.
I look at Yuki and she looks back at me. I say, "So Yuki, you got any favourite food? Any dislikes?"
She replies, "My favourite food? Yes, I like sweets. And as for dislikes, I guess you could say crunchy food that makes noise. I like peace."
I take in her words and reply: "You don't like crunchy food because of the noise? That's understandable. So do you also not like talking while eating?"
She shakes her head. "I didn't say that. I can talk while eating. Talking isn't noise." She then slightly tilts her head and asks, "Bopy, what about you? What is your favourite food?"
I happily reply, "I like sweets and bakery products such as cookies, muffins, and cheese sandwiches." Her eyes glow behind her glasses at our matching interests. "Bopy, you also like sweets? That's perfect. There is a bakery nearby. We could go there and eat." I give a soft chuckle and say, "Oh Yuki, you are leading? You are full of surprises!" She laughs back. "I had said I would surprise you, Bopy."
I say, "Let's go now." We two are eager and walk and exit the park. We enter the streets. There are other shops but we ignore them and enter the local bakery. The door opens with a chime. We walk towards the display. There are many food items. Yuki grabs a tray and hands me the tray and she then grabs the tongs. We walk along the display case.
"What do you want?" She asks. "That one," I point at a cream puff. We pick up different foods such as sandwiches, cookies, etc. and pay at the register. We then get a table by the window, and eat. I say, "Hey, since we like reading, do you want to go to a bookstore?" She nods while eating. "Yes, I would love that. We both are in the literature club. That's our thing."
We then finish eating and exit. The door chimes. As we walk down the street to the bookstore, I look down at my pocket to make sure the white rose is safe. We are close, hands almost touching.
"So what will we check out? A manga?"
"I suppose I could read something new, instead of the usual psychological genre."
"Yea, we could find something together." We continue to walk for a while until we come across the store, brown in colour, and then we enter inside. Some people are there but it is quiet.
"I like this," Yuki says to herself. "Me too, let's see what do they have," I reply back. Aisles are tight. Two people could barely pass each other. A small table near the back holds a stack of different books, probably old ones or people didn't buy them. A sign taped to the wall, 50% off.
I point towards it. "We should go there." Yuki looks where I pointed and smiles. "Even if we don't buy anything, going through them will be fun." We go between the cramped aisle, our hands make contact but we don't mind. We reach the table towards the back. On the very top of the cover page, there's an obsessed girl, definitely a yandere. I pick up the manga and just flip through the pages, towards the ending.
I say, "I've read a lot of them,"
"And?" Yuki asks.
"The ending basically comes down to two options. Get together with the yandere... or die by her hands."
I then smile. "There's no in between."
Yuki is interested. She adjusts her glasses and says, "Bopy, you said you read romance genre. By romance, you meant this?"
I put the book down. "Well, they also come under romance genre, so there is no reason to ignore them."
Yuki says, "Well, since we are looking for something new, let's not choose romance or psychological genre. Maybe action?"
I look at her. "You want to read Shonen?"
She smiles. "Yes, that does count as something new."
We then go through the books to find a Shonen manga. We find one. On the cover page, a goody-two-shoes MC is posing. We pay for it and exit. Outside the afternoon sun is strong.
Yuki says, "I had a lot of fun with you, Bopy."
I then bring out the white rose and look at it and back at her. "Yea me too Yuki, and I will take care of this rose."
Yuki blushes and softly says, "You don't have to, it's just a rose."
"But you gave it to me. So it's special."
We are smiling and stay in silence for a while. And then we say goodbye to each other and head towards our homes.