[fic] Source of Happiness - Reita x Aoi - 7/?
Title : Source of Happiness
Chapter : 7/??
Author : kei_kyuuketsuki
Fandom : the GazettE, Alice Nine
Pairings : ReitaxAoi, ToraxAoi, ToraxRuki, UruhaxSaga…
Rating : PG-13
Genre : AU, drama, angst… no… for this chapter? It’s rather fluff… ^^;
Warning : a little boring… maybe?
Disclaimer : story? Mine. Those cute boys? Not mine…
Summary : that beautiful being catches Reita’s eyes. Unfortunately, the Beautiful Being already belongs to someone that doesn’t know how to be grateful with what he had… now that Reita start to deal with that Beautiful Being’s problem, what will happen next?
Comments : OK… I’ll let Aoi rest for awhile… I’ll make him happy a bit… ^^v... enjoy..!
Chapter 1: Beauty; Chapter 2: Innocent; Chapter 3: View; Chapter 4: Blame;
Chapter 5: Truth; Chapter 6: Interest
SMILE
Aoi stood in front of the train station. He lowered his gaze and looked at the entire details that cling onto his body. He wore moss-green long sleeved shirt. It has a flexible material that showed Aoi’s body curve.
Initially Aoi hesitated to wear that shirt. But he didn’t find any other proper shirt for this kind of occasion. So Aoi wore it anyway. Then, to hide his body curve, Aoi wore a black blazer. He wore a pair of jeans to omit the excessive image. As usual, Aoi still brought his sling bag with him.
“I hope it’s alright…” Aoi said to himself after he looked as his costume for the third time. Aoi looked at his watch. It was still 9.36. He still had a lot of time “I guess I’m arrived too fast…”
“Well, I guess you’re not the only one…”
Aoi was surprised when he heard the voice. He looked at the voice’s owner and found Reita stood not far from him. Reita just wore a grey hooded sweater, jeans. He brought one black bag. He looked simple, yet looked cool too at the same time.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” said Reita.
“No. It’s ok. Really. I just got here…” Aoi smiled.
Reita looked at his watch. “We still have much time. I’m hungry. Want to eat first?”
“Mm… sure!”
Both of them then went to the nearest fast-food restaurant. There, they talked about a lot of things too. They didn’t talk about serious things. It was only some usual topics about their life, what they like and dislike, their favorite snack, etc. But those kinds of simple things that made Aoi felt comfortable with Reita.
That time, in the restaurant, Reita and Aoi sat face to face. At the third table behind Aoi, someone was sitting alone. Reita could only see his back. That person dropped his tissue accidentally. He bent over to pick up his tissue. From one of his hand that still on the table; Reita could see that the person was holding his cellphone.
“Reita?” Aoi called.
Reita was startled. “Oh, sorry…” He turned his focus back to Aoi and the food in front of him. After they’re done with their meals, Aoi and Reita continued to do their main plan: watching movie.
+*+
And there they are, inside the movie theater. They were looking at the list of the movies that appeared on the screen. “So?” Aoi asked. “What are we going to watch now?”
“That one…” Reita said as he was pointing into a poster.
Aoi looked at where Reita was pointing at. The poster showed mice that were hanging to a rope. From the poster, Aoi knew that it’s an animation about some mice community. Or something like that.
“G-Force?” Aoi asked as he chuckled at the movie title. “Are you serious you want to watch that movie?”
“Have any other idea? A week full of class, homework, my shift, I just want to release my stress. Uruha recommended that movie too anyway.” Reita grinned widely.
“Really?” That grin really amused Aoi a lot.
“Or…” Reita started to get hesitate. “Is there any other movie you want to watch?”
Aoi shook his head and smiled. “I’ll go with you.” Aoi returned his gaze to the poster about the mice. “It seems amusing. And… you’re right. We’re here to forget our stressful week awhile, right?”
Reita fell silent. He just couldn’t avoid THAT problem. His mind was immediately drifted to where Tora might be. Well, Reita couldn’t predict it appropriately thought. Reita could only hope that Tora didn’t do anything that could upset Aoi.
Reita startled by his own thought. His duty now is to make Aoi forgot about his problem, at least for today. ‘Cause tomorrow, and the day after that, Tora would be back. If that time comes, Reita wouldn’t be able to make sure whether Aoi would be alright.
“What’s wrong?” Aoi asked suddenly.
“Hm? Oh, nothing.” Reita grinned. Reita would never want to reveal what he had in his mind. He would never let Aoi knew his thought. Reita then smiled. “OK. Wait here. I’ll buy the tickets for us.” Reita patted Aoi’s head.
Reita then waited in line. There weren’t many people that time. While waiting, Reita caught a glance of someone who kneeled in front of the toilet’s door. Reita saw that person was pocketed his cellphone before he tying his shoelace. Reita’s attention was distracted when the queue moved. There were only two men left before Reita could get the tickets for him and Aoi.
+*+
After the movie ended, Reita and Aoi exited the movie theater. They still talked about the movie. They laughed for every funny part in the movie. Reita was really relieved when he saw Aoi laugh freely like that.
“Ah…” Aoi looked at the sky above them when they got out from the theater.
Reita followed and looked up into the sky. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s cloudy…”
Reita saw it. The clouds were piled up. But the clouds weren’t dark enough to pour the rain. Still, it’s thick enough to make the day not as hot as it should be. “It’s pretty kind, isn’t it?”
“Eh..?” Aoi looked at Reita in confusion.
“Today’s weather. It’s nice. The weather knew about our occasion today. The weather then commanded the clouds to make this day shady. That way, we don’t have to feel the heat.”
Aoi laughed at Reita’s explanation. “What if the rain falls?”
“It won’t rain,” Reita answered it with a smile. It made Aoi fell silent. “The clouds weren’t thick enough to make the rain fall… moreover…”
“Moreover?”
“I told you that today’s weather is pretty kind to us, right? Today’s weather won’t let the rain pour on you…” Reita smiled.
“Eh..?” Aoi was surprised when he heard it. He didn’t realize it when he blushed for the words.
Reita just chuckled. “Come on!” Reita walked before Aoi.
“H-hey..!” Aoi followed Reita’s step. “Where’re we going?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t want to go home yet,” Reita said as he looked at his watch. “We still have much time, I guess. Don’t worry. I’ll take you home if it’s get dark.”
“Hey, I can go home by myself…” Aoi protested for he felt that Reita treated him like a kid.
“Ah, look!” Reita pointed at some shop. “I think that place is cool. Let’s go there!” Reita then walked before Aoi again. But some sight stopped Reita’s step. Reita saw someone sat on a bench in front of some cake shop not far from his position. The person’s back was facing Reita but Reita saw it when that person was watching something in his hand. Something that really looked like a cellphone. Reita’s attention distracted again when he realized that Aoi didn’t follow him. He turned to where Aoi stood. “Aoi?”
“You’re not listening to me…” Aoi crossed his arms and pouted.
Reita chuckled. He walked back and stopped right in front of Aoi. “Yes, yes… you can go home by yourself if you want to, Aoi-chan.”
“Hey! Don’t call me-”
Reita patted Aoi’s head again. This time, Reita caressed Aoi’s hair a bit. It made Aoi stopped his words. When Aoi felt like it was already surprising enough for him, Reita surprised him even further. Reita took a hold of Aoi’s hand and made Aoi followed his step.
“Come on! Let’s find something nice for you!” Reita said in a cheerful tone.
“R-Reita..!” Aoi got panic when Reita kept pulling him. It didn’t hurt Aoi. But just felt too awkward to take it as a usual thing.
But it seems like Reita didn’t really care about it. They entered the shop Reita mentioned before. It was a small shop. But inside it, there were many kinds of things like shirts, jackets, pants, caps, many shapes of sunglasses, perfume, accessories and there even CDs and music DVDs were being put neatly in one corner.
Reita let Aoi wondered in the shop by him-self. He wanted to know what Aoi like in the shop. Reita himself walked to the CDs and DVDs section. But his eyes still locked to Aoi.
Aoi was stunned when he saw the entire things in the shop. He didn’t expect that he would find a shop like this. This shop was small and almost inconspicuous when you looked at the shop’s front door. Between luxurious places like the shops at its right and left, the shop was being too simple. But after Aoi entered the shop, Aoi just found out why this place was designed that simple. The shop was just being what it is. That was exactly the charm of this place.
All this time Tora always took Aoi to classy places according to Tora’s taste. Tora’s prestige was way too high. Aoi even could make a bet that Tora would never want to go to a place like this.
It seems Tora had to change his way of thinking ‘cause Aoi found a lot of interesting things in this place. One that caught Aoi’s attention was the silver necklace with a wing-shaped pendant. Aoi once saw that necklace in a magazine he read not long time ago. Aoi just love the necklace from the first time he saw it. Every time he went with Tora, Aoi always looked for the necklace in every accessories shop they went. Unfortunately, they never found it. Tora then argued that if the necklace wasn’t there in the shop they went, that means the necklace was inappropriate for Aoi and Tora didn’t like it. Aoi just still didn’t expect that he would find the necklace here.
There were too many things that caught Aoi’s attention in the shop. Aoi found silver rings, bracelets and any other accessories with unique design. Those silvery things distracted Aoi’s attention and made Aoi didn’t realize Reita’s presence beside him.
“Found something interesting?” Reita asked suddenly.
“Hwaa!” Aoi screamed. “Y-you’re scaring me!”
“Hee?” Reita was confused. “I’ve been here for few minutes already, Aoi…”
“R-Really..?” Aoi said in disbelieved. “That long?”
Reita nodded. “Long enough to let me know that this silver necklace had succeeded in making you won’t stop smiling from the first time you saw it,” Reita said as he took the silver necklace with the wing-shaped pendant from the display table.
“Eh..!?” Aoi was surprised cause Reita founds out about it.
“You want this?”
“Well, I like it… b-but… th-that’s-”
“OK!” Reita smiled and took the winged necklace to the cashier.
“H-hey..!?” Aoi got panic.
Aoi just couldn’t count how many times Reita surprised him today. After the cashier guy put the winged necklace into a small velvet box, Reita paid the necklace. Reita thanked the cashier before he walked back to Aoi. Reita pulled Aoi’s hand and put the black velvet box on Aoi’s palm. Reita smiled, and pulled Aoi’s hand. They got out from the shop.
“Thank you. Thank you very much,” Aoi said with a smile.
Reita smiled too. “No problem.”
Aoi’s gaze then went to the plastic in Reita’s hand. “You bought something too?”
“Oh, this?” Reita took a CD out from the plastic.
Aoi read the title on the CD’s cover. “Sex Pistols?”
“Yup! I like this band. I love their songs. Have you listened to their song?” Reita asked. Aoi shook his head. “You have to try to listen to their song. You’ll like it.”
“What makes you so sure that I’ll like it?”
“Hm… I don’t know. I see you as someone who has a lot of interest in many kinds of things… well, probably.” Reita chuckled. “Sorry if I acted like I know you that well. I just saw it when you still wanted to borrow the book.”
“Book?” Aoi tilted his head in confusion.
“The book; Through the Looking-Glass. For some people, they won’t read it if they knew it’s surrealistic. But you still wanted to read it. It caught your interest, didn’t it? You didn’t find it weird for some rare topics like that. Well, that what makes me think that you’ll like this kind of music too…” Reita said as he looked at the CD on his hand. “Well, that doesn’t mean that Sex Pistol has a weird genre of music, though.” They both chuckled at that. “Oh! About the book. Have you finished reading it? Tell me what you think about it.”
Aoi smiled. “I like the part, ‘when I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast’.”
Reita laughed. “It was when Alice didn’t believe the Red Queen’s age, right?” Reita asked. Aoi nodded. “You know? That sentence made me believe that I can do things that once made me doubt to myself.”
It’s a surprising thing for Aoi. “Really? I didn’t know a person like you could have a doubt about yourself…”
Reita chuckled. “It’s few times ago. I really have a big doubt with every choice I had back then. Am I really going to choose that campus - our campus - as my next step after I graduated from high-school? If I choose that campus will I be able to pass the enrollment test? Then, it’s also when the first time I worked at the café. I doubt if I could memorize the book categories, genres; the position in the bookshelf, anything about books. But…” Reita smiled at Aoi. “Behind the doubt, I still have the confidence inside me. I’ll always face those doubts if I can’t get through it, right? For that reason, I was pushing myself to face it, no matter what. In the end, all of those doubts weren’t nothing compare to the confidence I have in me. All of it, the choice I took, it’s not as hard as I thought.”
Aoi smiled. “It must be really nice…”
“Eh?”
“Yeah. It must be really nice to be so optimistic like that… I want it too…”
“Why don’t?”
Aoi lowered his gaze and shook his head slowly. “I can’t act that way if I couldn’t get a good treatment from my surroundings…”
“Hey, didn’t I-” Reita halted his words. He just wanted to defend himself for he felt that he never treated Aoi like that. But until he realized that he’s not the person that Aoi was talking about, he fell silent. There was one person that closer to Aoi then him. That time, Reita felt a little upset for he couldn’t be that close to Aoi.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Aoi forced to smile. “I’ve just ruined the mood…”
Reita smiled. He didn’t want to add more burdens to the Beautiful Being. “It’s okay.”
“No… I think I have to pay for it…” Aoi looked at his surroundings. “Is there anything I can buy for the both of us…” Aoi said that to himself, as he was wondering. Then, a stand that sells crepes caught Aoi’s attention. “Hey, want some crepes?”
“Eh..!?” Reita was surprised.
“There’s crepe stand. Which flavor do you want? This time, I’ll buy it for us.”
“No, Aoi. Really. I-”
“I’m insisting.” Aoi showed his pout again.
That pout precisely made Reita smile. “OK. Let’s go there together.”
“But let me pay!”
“Yes, Aoi-chan. I know that,” Reita said with a chuckle.
+*+
It’s almost dark when they reached Aoi’s apartment complex. After Aoi treated him with the crepes, Reita insisted to take Aoi home. Before they reached Aoi’s apartment, they spent some time in a park. Reita and Aoi sat on a swing, side by side.
“Huaaa! I’m tired. But today’s so much fun!” said Aoi in a cheerful tone.
“I’m glad...”
“Hng? Why’s that?” Aoi looked at Reita.
“I’m glad to see your smiling face…” Reita said.
Aoi fell silent. He just couldn’t say anything in return. He didn’t know what to say. Aoi didn’t even realize it when he blushed. Reita saw the blush but he didn’t want to say it out. He just smiled. “Next time, let’s go with Uruha and Saga. It’ll be fun with more people…” Reita wink his right eye.
Aoi smiled. “Yeah. That must be really fun,” he said. “Thank you, Reita.”
“My pleasure, Aoi.”
“No.” Aoi shook his head. “I almost didn’t do anything, Reita. You’re the one that made my day.” Aoi then took the velvet box from his sling bag. “And thank you so much for this…” Aoi showed the small box to Reita. “And you’re right…” Aoi then pointed toward the sky.
“What?” Reita followed by looked at the sky too.
“Today’s weather… he’s so kind. The thick clouds didn’t pour the rain on us. We don’t have to run to take shelter.”
“I guess… no one want to do such thing to you, Aoi,” Reita said when he still looked up to the sky. Even so, Reita didn’t miss it when he felt Aoi’s movement beside him. The Beautiful Being looked at him again. Reita continued his words. “No one wants to make you stop smiling.”
“Reita…”
But Reita chuckled. “But it’s impossible, isn’t it? We’ll get stiff if we smile too long.”
“I want to feel it.”
“What?”
“Smiling, and laughing until my cheek get stiff…” Aoi said. “If it’s possible, I want to feel… just once will fine…”
The smile was still adorning Aoi’s face. But that’s not the sincere smile that Reita knew. Reita didn’t like it. He extended his hand and again, patted Aoi’s head. “You’ll be able to do it, Aoi… you’re a kind person. The kindness will be there for you too.”
Aoi lowered his gaze. “But… when, Reita?”
“Soon…” Reita said slowly. “Soon, Aoi…”
At one bench on the corner of the park, Reita and Aoi won’t notice if someone sat there. There, on that bench, someone was busy with his cellphone. He was pointing his cellphone toward Aoi and Reita. That person then pressed a button to take Aoi and Reita’s picture.
“Hm…” He hummed. He, Kai, Tora’s cousin was sitting on that park bench as he looked at the entire photos he tool today. “At the restaurant… ok. Movie theater… ok. At that tacky shop… ok. Crepe stand… ok. And the last is… at this park… yup! After this, I can show all of these photos to Tora…” Kai said with a smile.
***+++...___...___...+++***
A/N: there you go..I'll wrap it just like this. Hope you enjoy it. For Kai's appearance also. *chuckled*
As usual, comments and critics are so much love! (^o^)/
Chapter : 7/??
Author : kei_kyuuketsuki
Fandom : the GazettE, Alice Nine
Pairings : ReitaxAoi, ToraxAoi, ToraxRuki, UruhaxSaga…
Rating : PG-13
Genre : AU, drama, angst… no… for this chapter? It’s rather fluff… ^^;
Warning : a little boring… maybe?
Disclaimer : story? Mine. Those cute boys? Not mine…
Summary : that beautiful being catches Reita’s eyes. Unfortunately, the Beautiful Being already belongs to someone that doesn’t know how to be grateful with what he had… now that Reita start to deal with that Beautiful Being’s problem, what will happen next?
Comments : OK… I’ll let Aoi rest for awhile… I’ll make him happy a bit… ^^v... enjoy..!
Chapter 1: Beauty; Chapter 2: Innocent; Chapter 3: View; Chapter 4: Blame;
Chapter 5: Truth; Chapter 6: Interest
SMILE
Aoi stood in front of the train station. He lowered his gaze and looked at the entire details that cling onto his body. He wore moss-green long sleeved shirt. It has a flexible material that showed Aoi’s body curve.
Initially Aoi hesitated to wear that shirt. But he didn’t find any other proper shirt for this kind of occasion. So Aoi wore it anyway. Then, to hide his body curve, Aoi wore a black blazer. He wore a pair of jeans to omit the excessive image. As usual, Aoi still brought his sling bag with him.
“I hope it’s alright…” Aoi said to himself after he looked as his costume for the third time. Aoi looked at his watch. It was still 9.36. He still had a lot of time “I guess I’m arrived too fast…”
“Well, I guess you’re not the only one…”
Aoi was surprised when he heard the voice. He looked at the voice’s owner and found Reita stood not far from him. Reita just wore a grey hooded sweater, jeans. He brought one black bag. He looked simple, yet looked cool too at the same time.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” said Reita.
“No. It’s ok. Really. I just got here…” Aoi smiled.
Reita looked at his watch. “We still have much time. I’m hungry. Want to eat first?”
“Mm… sure!”
Both of them then went to the nearest fast-food restaurant. There, they talked about a lot of things too. They didn’t talk about serious things. It was only some usual topics about their life, what they like and dislike, their favorite snack, etc. But those kinds of simple things that made Aoi felt comfortable with Reita.
That time, in the restaurant, Reita and Aoi sat face to face. At the third table behind Aoi, someone was sitting alone. Reita could only see his back. That person dropped his tissue accidentally. He bent over to pick up his tissue. From one of his hand that still on the table; Reita could see that the person was holding his cellphone.
“Reita?” Aoi called.
Reita was startled. “Oh, sorry…” He turned his focus back to Aoi and the food in front of him. After they’re done with their meals, Aoi and Reita continued to do their main plan: watching movie.
+*+
And there they are, inside the movie theater. They were looking at the list of the movies that appeared on the screen. “So?” Aoi asked. “What are we going to watch now?”
“That one…” Reita said as he was pointing into a poster.
Aoi looked at where Reita was pointing at. The poster showed mice that were hanging to a rope. From the poster, Aoi knew that it’s an animation about some mice community. Or something like that.
“G-Force?” Aoi asked as he chuckled at the movie title. “Are you serious you want to watch that movie?”
“Have any other idea? A week full of class, homework, my shift, I just want to release my stress. Uruha recommended that movie too anyway.” Reita grinned widely.
“Really?” That grin really amused Aoi a lot.
“Or…” Reita started to get hesitate. “Is there any other movie you want to watch?”
Aoi shook his head and smiled. “I’ll go with you.” Aoi returned his gaze to the poster about the mice. “It seems amusing. And… you’re right. We’re here to forget our stressful week awhile, right?”
Reita fell silent. He just couldn’t avoid THAT problem. His mind was immediately drifted to where Tora might be. Well, Reita couldn’t predict it appropriately thought. Reita could only hope that Tora didn’t do anything that could upset Aoi.
Reita startled by his own thought. His duty now is to make Aoi forgot about his problem, at least for today. ‘Cause tomorrow, and the day after that, Tora would be back. If that time comes, Reita wouldn’t be able to make sure whether Aoi would be alright.
“What’s wrong?” Aoi asked suddenly.
“Hm? Oh, nothing.” Reita grinned. Reita would never want to reveal what he had in his mind. He would never let Aoi knew his thought. Reita then smiled. “OK. Wait here. I’ll buy the tickets for us.” Reita patted Aoi’s head.
Reita then waited in line. There weren’t many people that time. While waiting, Reita caught a glance of someone who kneeled in front of the toilet’s door. Reita saw that person was pocketed his cellphone before he tying his shoelace. Reita’s attention was distracted when the queue moved. There were only two men left before Reita could get the tickets for him and Aoi.
+*+
After the movie ended, Reita and Aoi exited the movie theater. They still talked about the movie. They laughed for every funny part in the movie. Reita was really relieved when he saw Aoi laugh freely like that.
“Ah…” Aoi looked at the sky above them when they got out from the theater.
Reita followed and looked up into the sky. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s cloudy…”
Reita saw it. The clouds were piled up. But the clouds weren’t dark enough to pour the rain. Still, it’s thick enough to make the day not as hot as it should be. “It’s pretty kind, isn’t it?”
“Eh..?” Aoi looked at Reita in confusion.
“Today’s weather. It’s nice. The weather knew about our occasion today. The weather then commanded the clouds to make this day shady. That way, we don’t have to feel the heat.”
Aoi laughed at Reita’s explanation. “What if the rain falls?”
“It won’t rain,” Reita answered it with a smile. It made Aoi fell silent. “The clouds weren’t thick enough to make the rain fall… moreover…”
“Moreover?”
“I told you that today’s weather is pretty kind to us, right? Today’s weather won’t let the rain pour on you…” Reita smiled.
“Eh..?” Aoi was surprised when he heard it. He didn’t realize it when he blushed for the words.
Reita just chuckled. “Come on!” Reita walked before Aoi.
“H-hey..!” Aoi followed Reita’s step. “Where’re we going?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t want to go home yet,” Reita said as he looked at his watch. “We still have much time, I guess. Don’t worry. I’ll take you home if it’s get dark.”
“Hey, I can go home by myself…” Aoi protested for he felt that Reita treated him like a kid.
“Ah, look!” Reita pointed at some shop. “I think that place is cool. Let’s go there!” Reita then walked before Aoi again. But some sight stopped Reita’s step. Reita saw someone sat on a bench in front of some cake shop not far from his position. The person’s back was facing Reita but Reita saw it when that person was watching something in his hand. Something that really looked like a cellphone. Reita’s attention distracted again when he realized that Aoi didn’t follow him. He turned to where Aoi stood. “Aoi?”
“You’re not listening to me…” Aoi crossed his arms and pouted.
Reita chuckled. He walked back and stopped right in front of Aoi. “Yes, yes… you can go home by yourself if you want to, Aoi-chan.”
“Hey! Don’t call me-”
Reita patted Aoi’s head again. This time, Reita caressed Aoi’s hair a bit. It made Aoi stopped his words. When Aoi felt like it was already surprising enough for him, Reita surprised him even further. Reita took a hold of Aoi’s hand and made Aoi followed his step.
“Come on! Let’s find something nice for you!” Reita said in a cheerful tone.
“R-Reita..!” Aoi got panic when Reita kept pulling him. It didn’t hurt Aoi. But just felt too awkward to take it as a usual thing.
But it seems like Reita didn’t really care about it. They entered the shop Reita mentioned before. It was a small shop. But inside it, there were many kinds of things like shirts, jackets, pants, caps, many shapes of sunglasses, perfume, accessories and there even CDs and music DVDs were being put neatly in one corner.
Reita let Aoi wondered in the shop by him-self. He wanted to know what Aoi like in the shop. Reita himself walked to the CDs and DVDs section. But his eyes still locked to Aoi.
Aoi was stunned when he saw the entire things in the shop. He didn’t expect that he would find a shop like this. This shop was small and almost inconspicuous when you looked at the shop’s front door. Between luxurious places like the shops at its right and left, the shop was being too simple. But after Aoi entered the shop, Aoi just found out why this place was designed that simple. The shop was just being what it is. That was exactly the charm of this place.
All this time Tora always took Aoi to classy places according to Tora’s taste. Tora’s prestige was way too high. Aoi even could make a bet that Tora would never want to go to a place like this.
It seems Tora had to change his way of thinking ‘cause Aoi found a lot of interesting things in this place. One that caught Aoi’s attention was the silver necklace with a wing-shaped pendant. Aoi once saw that necklace in a magazine he read not long time ago. Aoi just love the necklace from the first time he saw it. Every time he went with Tora, Aoi always looked for the necklace in every accessories shop they went. Unfortunately, they never found it. Tora then argued that if the necklace wasn’t there in the shop they went, that means the necklace was inappropriate for Aoi and Tora didn’t like it. Aoi just still didn’t expect that he would find the necklace here.
There were too many things that caught Aoi’s attention in the shop. Aoi found silver rings, bracelets and any other accessories with unique design. Those silvery things distracted Aoi’s attention and made Aoi didn’t realize Reita’s presence beside him.
“Found something interesting?” Reita asked suddenly.
“Hwaa!” Aoi screamed. “Y-you’re scaring me!”
“Hee?” Reita was confused. “I’ve been here for few minutes already, Aoi…”
“R-Really..?” Aoi said in disbelieved. “That long?”
Reita nodded. “Long enough to let me know that this silver necklace had succeeded in making you won’t stop smiling from the first time you saw it,” Reita said as he took the silver necklace with the wing-shaped pendant from the display table.
“Eh..!?” Aoi was surprised cause Reita founds out about it.
“You want this?”
“Well, I like it… b-but… th-that’s-”
“OK!” Reita smiled and took the winged necklace to the cashier.
“H-hey..!?” Aoi got panic.
Aoi just couldn’t count how many times Reita surprised him today. After the cashier guy put the winged necklace into a small velvet box, Reita paid the necklace. Reita thanked the cashier before he walked back to Aoi. Reita pulled Aoi’s hand and put the black velvet box on Aoi’s palm. Reita smiled, and pulled Aoi’s hand. They got out from the shop.
“Thank you. Thank you very much,” Aoi said with a smile.
Reita smiled too. “No problem.”
Aoi’s gaze then went to the plastic in Reita’s hand. “You bought something too?”
“Oh, this?” Reita took a CD out from the plastic.
Aoi read the title on the CD’s cover. “Sex Pistols?”
“Yup! I like this band. I love their songs. Have you listened to their song?” Reita asked. Aoi shook his head. “You have to try to listen to their song. You’ll like it.”
“What makes you so sure that I’ll like it?”
“Hm… I don’t know. I see you as someone who has a lot of interest in many kinds of things… well, probably.” Reita chuckled. “Sorry if I acted like I know you that well. I just saw it when you still wanted to borrow the book.”
“Book?” Aoi tilted his head in confusion.
“The book; Through the Looking-Glass. For some people, they won’t read it if they knew it’s surrealistic. But you still wanted to read it. It caught your interest, didn’t it? You didn’t find it weird for some rare topics like that. Well, that what makes me think that you’ll like this kind of music too…” Reita said as he looked at the CD on his hand. “Well, that doesn’t mean that Sex Pistol has a weird genre of music, though.” They both chuckled at that. “Oh! About the book. Have you finished reading it? Tell me what you think about it.”
Aoi smiled. “I like the part, ‘when I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast’.”
Reita laughed. “It was when Alice didn’t believe the Red Queen’s age, right?” Reita asked. Aoi nodded. “You know? That sentence made me believe that I can do things that once made me doubt to myself.”
It’s a surprising thing for Aoi. “Really? I didn’t know a person like you could have a doubt about yourself…”
Reita chuckled. “It’s few times ago. I really have a big doubt with every choice I had back then. Am I really going to choose that campus - our campus - as my next step after I graduated from high-school? If I choose that campus will I be able to pass the enrollment test? Then, it’s also when the first time I worked at the café. I doubt if I could memorize the book categories, genres; the position in the bookshelf, anything about books. But…” Reita smiled at Aoi. “Behind the doubt, I still have the confidence inside me. I’ll always face those doubts if I can’t get through it, right? For that reason, I was pushing myself to face it, no matter what. In the end, all of those doubts weren’t nothing compare to the confidence I have in me. All of it, the choice I took, it’s not as hard as I thought.”
Aoi smiled. “It must be really nice…”
“Eh?”
“Yeah. It must be really nice to be so optimistic like that… I want it too…”
“Why don’t?”
Aoi lowered his gaze and shook his head slowly. “I can’t act that way if I couldn’t get a good treatment from my surroundings…”
“Hey, didn’t I-” Reita halted his words. He just wanted to defend himself for he felt that he never treated Aoi like that. But until he realized that he’s not the person that Aoi was talking about, he fell silent. There was one person that closer to Aoi then him. That time, Reita felt a little upset for he couldn’t be that close to Aoi.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Aoi forced to smile. “I’ve just ruined the mood…”
Reita smiled. He didn’t want to add more burdens to the Beautiful Being. “It’s okay.”
“No… I think I have to pay for it…” Aoi looked at his surroundings. “Is there anything I can buy for the both of us…” Aoi said that to himself, as he was wondering. Then, a stand that sells crepes caught Aoi’s attention. “Hey, want some crepes?”
“Eh..!?” Reita was surprised.
“There’s crepe stand. Which flavor do you want? This time, I’ll buy it for us.”
“No, Aoi. Really. I-”
“I’m insisting.” Aoi showed his pout again.
That pout precisely made Reita smile. “OK. Let’s go there together.”
“But let me pay!”
“Yes, Aoi-chan. I know that,” Reita said with a chuckle.
+*+
It’s almost dark when they reached Aoi’s apartment complex. After Aoi treated him with the crepes, Reita insisted to take Aoi home. Before they reached Aoi’s apartment, they spent some time in a park. Reita and Aoi sat on a swing, side by side.
“Huaaa! I’m tired. But today’s so much fun!” said Aoi in a cheerful tone.
“I’m glad...”
“Hng? Why’s that?” Aoi looked at Reita.
“I’m glad to see your smiling face…” Reita said.
Aoi fell silent. He just couldn’t say anything in return. He didn’t know what to say. Aoi didn’t even realize it when he blushed. Reita saw the blush but he didn’t want to say it out. He just smiled. “Next time, let’s go with Uruha and Saga. It’ll be fun with more people…” Reita wink his right eye.
Aoi smiled. “Yeah. That must be really fun,” he said. “Thank you, Reita.”
“My pleasure, Aoi.”
“No.” Aoi shook his head. “I almost didn’t do anything, Reita. You’re the one that made my day.” Aoi then took the velvet box from his sling bag. “And thank you so much for this…” Aoi showed the small box to Reita. “And you’re right…” Aoi then pointed toward the sky.
“What?” Reita followed by looked at the sky too.
“Today’s weather… he’s so kind. The thick clouds didn’t pour the rain on us. We don’t have to run to take shelter.”
“I guess… no one want to do such thing to you, Aoi,” Reita said when he still looked up to the sky. Even so, Reita didn’t miss it when he felt Aoi’s movement beside him. The Beautiful Being looked at him again. Reita continued his words. “No one wants to make you stop smiling.”
“Reita…”
But Reita chuckled. “But it’s impossible, isn’t it? We’ll get stiff if we smile too long.”
“I want to feel it.”
“What?”
“Smiling, and laughing until my cheek get stiff…” Aoi said. “If it’s possible, I want to feel… just once will fine…”
The smile was still adorning Aoi’s face. But that’s not the sincere smile that Reita knew. Reita didn’t like it. He extended his hand and again, patted Aoi’s head. “You’ll be able to do it, Aoi… you’re a kind person. The kindness will be there for you too.”
Aoi lowered his gaze. “But… when, Reita?”
“Soon…” Reita said slowly. “Soon, Aoi…”
At one bench on the corner of the park, Reita and Aoi won’t notice if someone sat there. There, on that bench, someone was busy with his cellphone. He was pointing his cellphone toward Aoi and Reita. That person then pressed a button to take Aoi and Reita’s picture.
“Hm…” He hummed. He, Kai, Tora’s cousin was sitting on that park bench as he looked at the entire photos he tool today. “At the restaurant… ok. Movie theater… ok. At that tacky shop… ok. Crepe stand… ok. And the last is… at this park… yup! After this, I can show all of these photos to Tora…” Kai said with a smile.
***+++...___...___...+++***
A/N: there you go..I'll wrap it just like this. Hope you enjoy it. For Kai's appearance also. *chuckled*
As usual, comments and critics are so much love! (^o^)/