[log] Kenya & Yukari
May. 12th, 2018 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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tennis_hellWho: Oshitari Kenya & Shiraishi Yukari
What: See tl;dr below~
When: December 25th, 2017
Where: Near Shitenhouji's campus
Rating:D for Dumb G
It started during Christmas break.
Well, no, it started when Kenya took the entrance exam to Toudai.
….No, that was not really right, either. It started when Yukari met Kenya when she was eleven years old. That’s when it really started. Kuranosuke brought home his new friend from school - his friend with a bright grin brimming with barely contained energy. His hair was dyed blonde - what kind of first year in junior high dyes his hair? And then there were the curls. Yukari had never really looked at a boy and seen anything other than someone to play and compete with, but this was different. She didn’t really get it, but it made her shy around him, at first. But it was impossible to be shy around Kenya when he was overflowing with friendliness and fun. He treated her like a little sister which never felt quite right, but it made her happy.
Kenya had always been a cute guy, but puberty gave him striking, handsome features. Yukari did not fail to notice this for a second. And tease him about it, too, of course - thank goodness for puberty, he grew a real face!
It was winter break of her first year of high school when Kenya casually mentioned he had changed his mind about attending Handai in Osaka - that he wanted to stick with Yuushi and was taking the entrance exam for Toudai’s medical program instead. Yukari did something that made her feel like a crazy person - she lost her temper. Over a totally understandable life decision.
“...So you’re just leaving? What happened to going to Handai? Staying in Osaka?” She called him some names she did not mean, she cried, and finally just broke down and hugged him.
“I… huh?”
A brief look of confusion passed over Kenya’s face. Yukari had never said such things to him - at least not with so much passion and without the usual teasing tone in her voice. He wasn’t quite sure how to react other than wrap his arms around her in return. It was probably the first time he had ever seen genuine tears out of Yukari before that weren’t directly related to hurting herself when she was younger… and Kenya wasn’t quite sure how to handle them.
“I’ll miss you,” she muttered. “You better message me on Line every day.”
Without thinking, his arms tightened around her a bit more. He hadn’t stopped to consider that he would potentially be affecting others in his life outside of his family for this particular decision to test for Toudai. It had taken a lot of soul searching and overcoming the crippling fear of disappointing his family for not aiming to Handai considering it was practically an Oshitari tradition, that he didn’t really have the time to think about anyone else who might be upset by his leaving.
“Yeah… okay, yeah, I will.” The more that his thoughts lingered on his potential leaving, the more he realized that he really was going to miss those he would leave behind in the only home he had never known. He would come to learn later that he would be accompanied by more of his friends than he had anticipated, but in this particular moment he just didn’t want to think about it. And leaving Yukari…
Kenya wasn’t sure why it sent a twinge of something unfamiliar through his heart, but what he did know is that he couldn’t dwell on what it would mean to leave Yukari behind, either.
“I’ll miss you, too.”
So they did. They messaged on Line every day - sent morning selfies, talked about their adventures, talked through their troubles, and found they had more in common than they expected. Sometimes Yukari would challenge Kenya to races over the phone on their morning run. He always won, but did he really know he always won?
It seemed like it was a million years he was gone, even with brief trips home to Osaka over the breaks. Yukari missed him more every day, began to look forward to hearing from him more than anything else. She wanted to show him that - she wanted him to feel the same joy she felt every morning when she saw his smile.
So, she baked him a cake.
Well, actually, she baked him twenty different cakes over the course of several months and tested them on her friends, family, and anyone else that she could get to give her feedback. She always got, “wow, it’s delicious!” But they did not know how absolutely imperative it was that this Christmas cake be the best one Kenya had ever tasted in his life. She was so enraptured in her project to make it the best Christmas Kenya had ever had that she almost forgot to, you know, ask him to join her on Christmas. It was much easier than she expected… mostly because she failed to mention the part where she wanted it to be a date.
“Kenya-san~” she said on the phone. “If you don’t see me on Christmas, you don’t get ca~ake~” After all, the way to a man’s heart was universally known to be through his stomach.
So it was on Christmas day, in her cutest winter dress with her favorite coat, Kuranosuke’s scarf she stole from him, and a cute pair of ankle boots that she waited for Kenya at their agreed upon meeting spot - the shrine near Shitenhouji. It was maybe too cold to be wandering outside, but Yukari didn’t really want to be at home or in the Oshitari residence dealing with prying eyes. She had boxed the cake up neatly including two cute plates and pastry forks - it was the perfect Christmas gift.
She wondered if Kenya would have something for her, too…
Face flushed, she checked her phone to see if he had texted her as she waited.
Kenya knew his way around Shitenhouji. He had attended the school for years - it would just be impossible for someone to actually forget the iconic surrounding areas even with that someone spending the last two years in Tokyo. Yet, it seemed like had suddenly lost all sense of direction in the short period of time between stepping off the bullet train at Shin-Osaka station, spending a couple of days with his family, and then meeting up with Yukari for their promised Christmas outing.
He hadn’t thought anything of the invitation at first. Yukari knew fully well how much he loved Christmas cake (and any cake, really - he wasn’t going to turn away any opportunity for cake, especially coming from a very accomplished baker such as Yukari) and it wasn’t as though either of them had already made plans or anything. With how close he and Yukari had become during the time he had been living in Tokyo, it was completely reasonable to want to spend time with a close friend when they’ve been separated by distance.
That’s all it was… right?
But Kenya would have been lying to himself if he didn’t recognize the fact that there was something inherently a bit special about being invited out by Yukari on Christmas. It was not something that he would ever admit to anyone because admitting something like that would mean confessing to something greater, and that would just start a whole slew of additional problems for him. And that was the attitude he had right up until a certain someone pointed out that it certainly sounded like a date and all of the gusto that he had mustered to not think anything twice was thrown directly out of the window.
And that was exactly what had him scrambling to make it to the temple in time to not be horrendously late to meet Yukari. He fussed too much over his appearance in the mirror, took his brother’s suggestions for an outfit way too seriously (did he really want to listen to who was basically Yuushi’s clone at this point?), and barely made it out the door in time to catch the train he would need to be on to meet Yukari.
Not that being on time was ever an issue for Naniwa’s speed star. He made it to the Shitenhouji campus with plenty of time to spare. Even after somehow managing to make three wrong turns due to his mysterious memory loss of the area.
“Yukari!” Kenya held a hand up in greeting.
Yukari turned at the sound of her name, tucking her phone into the pocket of her coat. “Hey, Kenya-san.” She gave him a bright smile, holding the gift bag she was carrying in both hands in front of her knees. “You’re only seven minutes early, you know - that’s basically late in Naniwa’s Speed time.” Oh no, she thought, looking him over, he looks so cute.
Kenya laughed, folding his arms over his chest, and tucking his chin beneath the warm layer of his scarf. “Would you believe me if I said that somehow I got lost? I didn’t think it had been that long, but…” Even though what lay underneath the clothing was probably a little different than his usual fashion, he couldn’t resist the pull of his bright Shiten-green scarf. You can take the boy out of Osaka, but you can’t take Osaka out of the boy. Or Shitenhouji out of the boy. Something like that, anyway.
“Because it’s you, I believe it.” She held up the bag to Kenya. “Here - I got you something since it’s Christmas.” The bag was tied off with ribbons and a little Hello Kitty charm she knew Kenya would like. It was limited edition - one he missed out on while he was in Tokyo and Yukari had somehow completely convinced him it was too late, the charm was sold out everywhere.
“Eh?” His eyes fell to the charm and then back up to catch Yukari’s gaze. “You told me that it was all sold out!”
It had been Kenya’s quest ever since he was really young to collect all of the special Hello Kitty memorabilia that was limited edition runs in the various prefectures. Many of the pieces he collected from family travelling around the country, friends who knew of his collection and would bring them back as souvenirs, or even in his own travels. He had always been able to easily get the ones from Tokyo thanks to his family in Kantou, but it had been an upsetting realization when he thought of the logistics that would need to go in collecting the items from Kansai while he lived away.
“Yep, I lied.” Yukari winked. “But that’s not the real present - here.” She lifted the bag closer to him.
“Well, thank you.” Kenya grinned brightly and took the package carefully, knowing full well what was going to be in the bag, even if it was still going to be a surprise when he opened it. Yukari always put so much time and thought into her creations, and he was certain that this would be no different. It made his stomach do a flip, but he tried his best to set it aside for the fact there was cake in his future. “I bet I know what this.”
“I bet you don’t,” Yukari teased, leaning closer to watch him open the bag. He had to know it was a Christmas cake, but he didn’t know about the lemon creme, the powdered sugar, the light, fluffy angel food cake… Yukari was both glad that she put in two forks as well as glad that Kenya probably did not hear her stomach growl through the scarf on his head.
As he opened the bag, he tried to not focus too much on the fact Yukari was leaning so closely. Kenya was no stranger to physical affection - in fact, he could be quite touchy feely himself, in particular when he felt comfortable or particularly spurred on - but the sweet smell of shampoo drifting up from her hair was enough to cause his stomach to do those awkward flips again, and even the way she teased him while presenting him with a gift just felt really…
Kenya pushed the thought out of his mind as he revealed the cake, and marveled a bit dumbly at it. The stars shaped out of candied lemon peels gave hint to the flavor of the cake, and he could tell even through the thin layer of powdered sugar that it was likely a very light sort of cake - angel food cake, maybe?
It looked amazing. And delicious.
“You really made this for me?” Kenya turned his head enough to look at her from up close, his chin slipping out from underneath the fold of the scarf.
A few seconds drifted by between them as Yukari just looked into Kenya’s eyes. In the evening light, his eyes were dark. Wips of curly, blonde hair fell over his forehead - the curls were real, the blonde was not. “I… I mean, of course?” She laughed, trying to contain the acrobats putting on a grand circus in her innards. “It’s Christmas.”
The moment was shattered. Kenya laughed a little, his cheeks flushed not just from the cold of the winter air. “Of course.” He drew away to admire the cake more closely; the lemon zest was a nice touch. While he was in no way purest toward any particular type of cake, he had a feeling that this would likely be a top contender. “This really looks amazing. Thank you.”
“Of course,” she motioned in the bag. “But… I did put two plates in there so we could share. I mean, two plates and two forks. Obviously.” Why that whole statement had to be awkward, Yukari was not entirely sure, but she was definitely kicking herself for it.
“Great.” The nuance was completely lost on Kenya as he gave her another carefree smile. “Well, as much as I’m sure you want to hang around the shrine, did you wanna go somewhere where we can share? I have a present for you, too, of course.”
“Yeah, that’d be great.” Yukari tucked some of her fly-away bangs behind her ear, glancing around. “I mean, we could go back to my place, but… you know, everyone’s home. Maybe just find a park bench to sit down?” Mostly, she did not want to do any of this around Kuranosuke… it was bad enough that she was feeling this way about one of his best friends, let alone… Yeah, out in public was best.
It didn’t seem appropriate to take it back to the Shiraishi household when they had gone through that effort to meet up at a neutral meeting place… not that there was anything in particular that needed to be kept hidden from the Shiraishis, but… “Yeah, I think finding a bench or something would be great.” Kenya took a moment to rearrange the package so that he could easily carry the bag around once more. “There’s that tiny park a couple of blocks down. Why don’t we go there?”
“I think I know the one.” Yukari smiled up at him. “If you weren’t carrying the cake I worked so hard on, I’d say I’d race you....” That was the thing she told herself she missed the most about Kenya… their morning runs, always losing to him when they raced (no matter how damn tired he should have been). Without thinking, she took his hand to drag him along with her to the park - but of course as soon as she had done it, she couldn’t take it back without it being weird. And… it felt nice. Her hand felt small in his. He had long, elegant fingers. As much as he managed to shirk most of the Oshitari grace and elegance, it was all still there wrapped in a mis-matched, multicolored, crayola box explosion of stars.
Even once they reached the park, Kenya didn’t let go of Yukari’s hand right away. It wasn’t quite the baby-soft that Kenya was used to from the other women in his life - it was clear she worked hard at her sport, evidenced by the calluses from gripping a tennis racquet, but… there was something inherently Yukari about it. She was very pretty and always looked cute (this particular outfit might have been the cutest Kenya had seen yet), but there was a toughness to her that Kenya had always really appreciated.
But… it really wasn’t doing his heart any good.
Is she… she’s not letting go of my hand. Is that intentional? Or did she just not notice…? Okay, okay, no, Kenya, don’t think about it too hard. This is totally cool. It happens. She was dragging you. It’s just like when you go on runs together and you race, and those times when you grab her hand to drag her along more quickly. Right? Right.
In the voice outside of his own head, he said, “Bench, bench…” As though not to notice he was still holding her hand, he glanced around. “Oh! There, how about that?” He motioned with the hand holding the bag with cake.
Yukari followed Kenya’s motion, her hand naturally slipping out of his as she seated herself on the bench. She crossed her legs at her ankles, slipping her fingers under her thighs on the bench and smiled brightly at him. The bench was probably too cold to sit on for long, but if her cake was as good as she thought it was, they wouldn’t be sitting there long. Kenya’s ears, cheeks, and nose had become flushed from the cold making him look more wide-eyed and youthful than he was. “Perfect. But come sit down before I freeze my butt off.”
A light laugh escaped Kenya’s lips as he sat down beside her, settling the bag on his lap. “Sorry.” He carefully unwrapped it once more to lift the cake out and set it down on the bench before rifling through the bag to pull out the plate and pastry forks. “Oh, these are really cute,” he commented, looking back to her to give her another smile.
“Like you,” she joked... then wondered why that came out of her mouth. Then hoped the winter weather made it look like she was blushing not from embarrassment but from the cold air.
A few long seconds ticked by as Kenya looked at her a bit dumbly, the smile frozen on his face. “I--” Suddenly his brain kicked into overdrive and his smile brightened to hopefully cover his awkward blunder. “Thank you. You look really, really cute tonight.”
“Thank you,” Yukari said. She had just been thinking that she should use her New Year’s money this year to start working on a new wardrobe… now that she was going to be a university student, she had to look more like a sophisticated adult. “You like the new coat?” She held out her arms to the side for emphasis. “Though, it is Ku-chan’s scarf.”
“I thought I recognized it.” Kenya laughed, holding one of the plates out to her. “Hopefully he knows you’re pilfering through his wardrobe.”
Yukari took the plate and held it on her lap. “Oh, he’s used to it - we’re siblings.” Actually, now that Yukari thought about it, Kenya probably didn’t know how normal that was for siblings because Shouta would not be caught dead in anything that came out of Kenya’s closet.
As though on cue, Kenya responded with, “Oh yeah, I guess that is typical. My brother doesn’t go near my clothes.”
It took a careful balancing act to keep the plate, fork, and cake still enough so that he could retrieve the knife at the bottom of the cake. It really was evident that Yukari had put a lot of time and love into the cake. Not only did it keep its shape beautifully, but the presentation was cute - it was almost too pretty to cut. And that brought him to another dilemma - as much as Kenya was really excited to try it, he also wanted a picture of it.
“I’d like to get a picture. Can we take a selfie with it?” He gave her that charming smile once again not even realizing he was doing so.
Yukari hated that perfect smile, it made her stomach knot up. “Sure - you should take it, you have the long arms. I’ll hold the cake…” She set aside the plate and started to take the cake from him which set off a series of events where she was trying to take the cake, but touching Kenya’s hand again made her hyper-aware of how close he was and instead she ended up half-leaned into him with her hand under the cake in his lap. Her natural inclination was to look up at him, finding his face much closer than expected.
His critical mistake was to meet her eyes from that close of distance. In the gentle light of the moon and the streetlamps, her brown eyes seemed to sparkle; much like when she would tease him or make the jokes that would leave both of them in stitches. There were many things that Kenya missed about being home in Osaka - the food, in particular the street food, his family, walking past the gates of Shitenhouji where there always seemed to be something hilarious and causing uproarious laughter… but he would be blatantly lying to himself if he didn’t acknowledge that there was something else, or rather someone else, who played a very big role in what he missed.
For years, Kenya had been close to the Shiraishis, and Yukari had been no exception. It had been more in the context of a younger sister, but it had not entirely escaped his notice when she had blossomed into a young woman. He wouldn’t have dared say anything to Shiraishi at the time, he knew better than to make any comment on either of the Shiraishi sisters lest he incur his brotherly wrath, but it did give him pause.
Everything shifted when he told her that he was moving to Tokyo. The passionate outburst and tears had been completely unexpected and while at the time he was filled with nothing other than confusion and didn’t quite know how to respond, he looked back on that now and realized that something had changed in their relationship that day. In the context of what had been a very sibling-like relationship up until then suddenly turned into that of a close friendship, and Kenya found himself wondering if there could ever be such a day that Yukari wouldn’t somehow be part of it.
It made for the distance between his home in Osaka and his home in Tokyo not feel so vast, but at the same time it only seemed to compound when he considered how much he enjoyed spending time with her and how much he wished he could do it more in person.
It suddenly hit him one morning when they were going on their joint runs. They were of course still separated by hundreds of kilometres, but they had found the ability to track their distance and time of their runs through an app that would allow them to compete against one another. He wasn’t sure if it was just a morning in particular that he just wasn’t feeling it or if it was a morning where Yukari was just on fire, but when she commented on Line afterward to tell him that once again Naniwa’s Speed Star couldn’t be beaten when the app obviously indicated the opposite, Kenya’s stomach started completing a full gymnastics routine in what was definitely not the feelings from that of an older brother figure.
Usually it was relatively easy to ignore because otherwise, there was no reason to ever acknowledge it and he didn’t want to somehow change the perfect dynamic that they created by what could have easily been a little crush, but then when she invited him out on Christmas and someone rightfully pointed out that people went on dates on Christmas…
“I… um,” Kenya managed to say softly, unable to look away.
Yukari found herself also just staring dumbly, motionless, looking back at him. The moment seemed to drag on into an eternity with nothing but the soft, distant sound of the city and a faint rustle of the breeze through leaves. She swallowed deliberately, trying to bring herself back into the moment, and slowly pulled the cake away from Kenya. She lifted it up closer to her chin and offered a bit weakly, “we’re taking a selfie, right?”
“...Right. Yeah… yeah we are.” Kenya shifted to pull his phone out from his coat pocket, positioning it in front of them so that he could take the picture. Hanging off his phone was another little Hello Kitty charm - this one a custom charm that Yukari had ordered for him for his birthday last year, where Kitty-chan was hugging a bright yellow star, balanced on the end of the chain holding it into the auxiliary port. He hadn’t taken it off since. “Say Merry Christmas~”
Yukari held the cake near her chin and echoed, “Merry Christmas~” The soft wafting smell of the lemon from the cake wasn’t enough to overpower whatever the scent was coming from Kenya… she had a hard time believing it was aftershave, so had he worn cologne? That seemed… like he was thinking it was a date.
Kenya snapped the picture and then pulled his phone closer so that they could both look at it. As to be expected, Yukari looked adorable as ever, and Kenya’s face, well, it was his face. He was making a typical big, dopey grin. “That’s a great picture. I’m gonna set it as my background.”
“Send it to me, so I can, too.” Yukari held up the cake to Kenya, again. “But let’s dig in - I can’t wait for you to try it. Actually…” She picked up the fork Kenya had set aside for himself and dug into the cake. She held up the fork to his mouth. “Try it~”
With the fork in his face, he had no choice but to lean closer and take the bite, immediately closing his eyes in enjoyment. It was sweet, but not too sweet - the lemon added a hit of sourness that mixed well with the powdered sugar, and as expected it was definitely some sort of angel food cake. “This is amazing!”
Yukari beamed at him. She knew it was amazing, but being in constant search of the perfect cake for Kenya was only worth it if there was payoff. “You like the lemon creme?” She handed the fork back to him, then just took up her own fork to try a bite - no reason to cut it and serve it on plates if they could just eat it right off the platter.
“Yeah, it’s so good.” Kenya thought that Yukari had the right idea and didn’t bother to hesitate for a moment before digging into the cake. “I really love the lemon slices shaped like stars.”
“Those took an embarrassing amount of time. I still feel silly. I tried to cut them all by hand and then Mamma pointed out that if I cut triangles from the sides of the lemon, it would make the stars when it was sliced…” She took a larger bite of the cake, feeling comfortable now that they were talking about something that was her element. “You know, like how you make paper snowflakes.”
Kenya wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about such things, he wasn’t much of a master in the kitchen other than the ten solid recipes he could cook to perfection to ensure that he and Yuushi didn’t starve, but he did admire that Yukari was able to both produce such a delicious tasting and aesthetically pleasing dessert. But even he could manage paper snowflakes. “That actually makes a lot of sense. Good thinking on Mama’s part.”
He took another big bite, taking his time taking his time pulling it off the fork. The lemon creme really was what made it - Yukari was right.
“Oh - you’re getting it…” Yukari lifted her hand, brushing her thumb over Kenya’s lip to catch the creme that didn’t quite make it to his mouth. “...On…” She froze, her hand still hovering at his cheek - she knew she was turing scarlet.
Words seemed to fail Kenya for a moment as he just held onto Yukari’s gaze, unmoving. The imprint of her thumb on his lip lingered even as the contact was broken. His heart began to pound against his chest to the point he could hear it beating in his ears, and he was quite certain that if he moved even a touch that the moment would be broken.
“Um…”
“Uh…” Yukari responded.
Kenya hesitated for a moment before he reached his hand up to gently touch a couple of fingers to her palm. “So…”
A tremble ran through Yukari as the moment seemed to come to a head - she was going to have to face this a little faster than she was really ready for. She was glad she wasn’t standing, the tremble seemed to centralize around her knees and her lower lip and she knew her eyes were going wider. “...So?” Her hand closed partially around Kenya’s near his face.
Which wasn’t to say that Kenya was ready to face it yet, either. But when Yukari looked at him like that, with bright, wide eyes, and an unusually shy demeanor, it made his stomach begin a tumbling gymnastics routine. His hands felt a bit clammy, but he used Yukari’s initiative to wrap his hand around hers fully instead, holding it against his cheek. “I’m… really glad you invited me out, tonight.”
Kenya’s skin was warmer than it was outside, but still cooler to the touch than usual. “Yeah… me too.” Yukari took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. This was not like her at all, fumbling around when something important was happening. “Kenya-san… I’ve been working really hard to make the best possible cake for you because I know how much you love Christmas cake and I wanted it to be perfect.”
Still not quite finding his words properly, he took his lip between his teeth for a moment before giving her a bright smile. Just the fact that she had put the thought into doing something that would make him so happy warmed his heart even more so than her warm hand in his. Which wasn’t to say that he didn’t enjoy that too - quite the opposite - but it was that thoughtfulness of Yukari, and her bright spirit, that he enjoyed the most.
“Well… really. Thank you. I love it.” He gently lowered their joined hands, but didn’t go.
Why was he still holding on? That was going to make this harder. And this was hard. Yukari sucked in another sharp breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out in an abrupt sigh. “Kenya-san… I really like you. That’s why I worked so hard on this.” She forced herself to keep meeting his eyes, even though every instinct she had told her that she should be looking down and hiding her face in embarrassment.
“...You do?” There were his words. Not that they were particularly good words, but just as she seemed to somehow managed to eloquently express herself, Kenya instead was nothing better than a goldfish.
Yukari sincerely hoped that he wasn’t going to make her repeat herself, it was already scary enough to have said it the first time. Her face fell as she tried to express this to Kenya without having to find the courage to talk.
That was when Kenya’s brain kicked into overdrive, suddenly running at a million miles per second, faster than any sort of speed star could hope to keep up with. He didn’t expect to actually hear those words. While it wasn’t the first time anyone had ever spoken such words to him, he had been really popular with the girls at Shitenhouji and even at Toudai, but for them to come to someone who made him feel so…
So…
“I… I don’t really know what to say.” He laughed a bit nervously, running his other hand through his hair to toss the curls. “I’m - I’m really happy.”
Yukari wasn’t sure how to respond to that, either. It wasn’t unexpected, exactly - she knew that she and Kenya had become close and that somewhere along the way something had changed in their relationship… probably around the time that Kenya moved away. Every day started with him, now - and she wanted every day to end with him too. She wanted every middle of the day to be with him. Her expression gave way to a small smile. “...Really?”
“Yeah.” The throbbing in his ears lightened to that of what would be more or less a normal heart rate, though he could feel warmth creeping up his neck and touching the very tips of his ears. Even if this was uncharted territory, it was still Yukari - and Yukari was Yukari, and Kenya never had any troubles talking to Yukari. Even given this, it didn’t change the fact that this was the girl that he had decided a while ago would always be in his life in some form or fashion. This was just the best possible scenario he ever could have come up with.
Despite her blush, Yukari gave him a teasing grin. “So, when were you going to say something, Kenya-san? Don’t make the girl do the confessing all the time.” She set aside what remained of the cake to give him a little shove on the chest. But then just rested her hand there.
Kenya laughed lightly, leaning forward slightly to put some weight on her hand. He liked the feeling of it there and it made him feel lighter somehow - like he was going to float off on some sort of cloud of happiness. “You took me by surprise! I didn’t even get the chance to say anything!”
“Maybe you should use that speed to get in something first, then!” Yukari laughed, her whole body relaxing. This felt natural and normal, again - all the weirdness of the evening and the shakes were gone replaced with the relief of knowing she wasn’t just… imagining this connection.
“I’m trying!” Kenya also laughed, brushing her hand away from his chest so that he could take it in his again. Somehow, this felt natural - like it should have been like this all along and somehow he had just not gotten the memo, or had just really failed to acknowledge that maybe it had existed longer than he had really given it credit. It felt like a bit of a pipe dream that she could feel the same way - that the cake wasn’t just because she wanted to do something nice as a friend, but because she wanted to show him, in her own Yukari way, just how he felt.
“Kenya-san,” she said between giggles, leaning toward him. “You’re still not doing it!”
Of course - he hadn’t said the words in return. But she was just so bright and so pretty, and he loved the way her entire expression lit up when she was happy and full of laughter. It was partially what drew them to one another - they fed off each other’s energy and there was just never a dull moment when they were together. “Uh, right,” he grinned a bit sheepishly, running his fingers through his hair. Somehow the words were more difficult to say out loud than he anticipated, but it was only fair that he be brave when she had done so first.
“I really like you, too, Yukari.” The sheepish look turned into something softer - a bright smile that was reserved for those times when his heart was happy and full of joy. There was something really special about saying those words for the first time; he hoped that they made her smile just as they had him.
“I already know that, silly, you’re way behind the times.” She moved her hands away from his to wrap her arms around him, instead, in a tight hug. “I’m really happy, too,” she said more softly as she pressed her cheek into his chest. She could faintly hear the beat of his heart under the layers of his clothing and coat. Unlike the rest of him, his heart beat slowly as it would be with any high performance athlete. It was steady and reassuring.
“Then why did you make such a big deal over me saying something!” He laughed freely and wrapped his arms tightly around her in return, the cake long forgotten on the bench. The sweet smell of her shampoo tickled his nose as he pressed his cheek to the top of her head. It was not the first time they had hugged by far - in particular during those times when they parted ways when he was travelling back to Tokyo, they would hug each other and linger for longer than what would have been appropriate as just friends.
“So,” she murmured into his coat. “One… little, itty-bitty problem.” It was actually a major problem and she wasn’t sure how this was going to go over with him. The reality of their situation was that it was all well and good that they were together right now, but as soon as break was over, he was off to Tokyo again. She did have a surprise for him that might ease some of that, but Kenya didn’t do great with separation. “...You leave in a week and don’t come home for a few months. If… we were to… you know, date, I guess…”
And then there was the bomb. Kenya couldn’t help the frown that formed on his lips, though he didn’t move away so as to not let her see it. It was true that Kenya didn’t deal well with distance and it was that particular quality that led him to consider moving to Tokyo for university to begin with. Yuushi had moved away when they were entering middle school, and Kenya had taken hard to the separation - to the point where his parents had explored ways to help him cope so that he wouldn’t become so wrapped up in his own head. That is how Speedy came to be in his life. He had always loved reptiles, lizards in particular, and it had been a happy day when he brought her home. It didn’t lessen the blow of Yuushi leaving, but it gave him someone who could fill the Yuushi-shaped hole when he wasn’t physically around his cousin.
It had been difficult to be so far away from Yukari, though it had taken a bit for the true separation anxiety to hit. He was much better equipped to handle it these days, both with the fact he had both Yuushi and Speedy in his life, but as he and Yukari had become closer over those months and subsequent years, in his lower points he would begin to dwell on it. Kenya didn’t like to admit it to himself, but it was partially one of the reasons why he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the direction their relationship had been turning - it was difficult enough maintaining a close friendship with so much distance, but a romantic relationship was a whole new story.
“Yeah… we’ll be separated, huh.” Kenya moved his head so that he could rest his chin on top of her head, as well, to stare absently into the distance. “That’s gonna be hard.”
She could tell from the tone of his voice that Kenya was thinking exactly what had been nagging at her - it had already been hard enough to be apart as friends, especially as they had become almost codependent in their routines. She couldn’t start her days without him, anymore. “...At least, until April. You know, when I start at Toudai.” Yukari curled her fingers into his jacket.
“Eh?” Kenya pulled enough enough to look at her, though careful to not hurt her fingers by moving too quickly. “Really?”
“Well, I mean, if I pass the exam next month and all that. It’s a pretty competitive program…” Yukari wanted to study pharmaceuticals like her father and had originally been planning on attending Osaka University. But after Kuranosuke moved, Kenya moved, the others… well, it made her reconsider her choice. Of course she had friends aiming for Osaka University and would know people there, too, but… she was happy in her choice. “But if you can make it into the Medical department, I can make it into the Chemistry department, right? They’re taking all kinds of jocks these days.”
Kenya laughed and curled his fingers around his in his coat. “You’re laughing now, but just wait. The exam is going to make you want to die.” Which was probably not the best thing to tell a third year in high school, the pressure of doing well on entrance exams was already bad enough without adding his terrible sense of humor to the pot, but he was fully confident that she would pass. “You’ll be just fine. I know you will be.” And that was pretty much the best news ever.
Yukari smiled up at him. “Well… assuming that goes well…” All of the confidence slipped away and was replaced by a bit of shyness again. It was easy making fun of their mutual fear of entrance exams and status as jocks trying to enter science-based careers, but it was harder to talk about feelings. “What do you think… about this?”
More gently, Kenya removed Yukari’s hand away from his coat to instead take it between both of his hands. He didn’t feel clammy, anymore, but there was warmth where their skin met and Kenya thought that he could happily stay here forever if it meant that the moment would never be broken. “I’m really happy.” He repeated his words from earlier, running his thumb over her knuckles.
“Me too.”
Then it hit Yukari like a sack of potatoes.
“We can’t tell Ku-chan.”
And there was the other matter that had made Kenya not give too much thought of what the budding relationship was between he and Yukari. Generally speaking Shiraishi was level-headed and understanding, but he just didn’t know how that would go in the context of dating his younger sister. There was always a certain risk that came along with opening any sort of can of worms where the relationship between siblings was concerned - in particular when one was an older brother, and the other a younger sister. It wasn’t like that with him and Shouta. He didn’t really have to worry about his brother doing something stupid, there was no doubt that he was a direct product of the Oshitari genes, but he also knew that Shouta was a bit of a simpering romantic like Yuushi.
“No, we really can’t.” He didn’t want to be the one to incur Shiraishi’s wrath in the event that he wasn’t cool with it.
Yukari put her hands on her cheeks sheepishly. It was not so much that she was worried that Kuranosuke would be upset about Yukari dating someone, but the the fact that it was one of his closest friends. It was bad enough that Hara Tetsuya had straight up admitted that his type was their older sister… “...I mean, I guess I don’t know what we’re not telling Ku-chan. If there’s nothing to tell him. But, if there is…” Yukari, what are you trying to say?
Yukari hid her mouth behind her hands, looking at Kenya over her fingers. “I mean - is there something to not tell him? Are we...?”
“Huh?” Kenya wasn’t sure if his brain wasn’t quite working well enough or if there was something that he missed in their conversation. “What do you mean?”
Yukari puffed her cheeks out at him. “Don’t make me say it! You’re the guy, here!”
It really wasn’t his intention to be dense, but apparently that’s what he was today. Yukari’s exclamation fortunately was able to kick his brain into gear and laughed a little sheepishly. Of course. A mutual confession didn’t necessarily equal the beginning of a relationship; he had heard enough from Yuushi’s romance novels to at least be somewhat smooth, even if he hadn’t ever been in any sort of serious relationship.
“Right, right, sorry,” Kenya laughed, putting a hand on her cheek to de-puff them. Under his hand, her cheek was smooth - there was a warmth despite the chilly winter air, and it was flushed pink from their laughter. It was an intimate touch despite the playful nature, and it made the pounding in his ears begin again. The last thing he wanted to do was take his hand away.
“So…” he gently brushed his thumb over her cheekbone. “...Will you be my girlfriend?”
After all of his waffling, Yukari made sure that she took extra long to answer, just looking into his eyes. She counted the seconds in his head, watching a tiny bead of sweat form on his forehead. Just when he looked like he was about to crack and retract it, she grinned and said, “Yeah, that’d make me really happy.”
“Yukari!” Kenya laughed, moving his hand away from her cheek to instead bump his side against her shoulder. “Don’t do that to me!”
Yukari just laughed joyously, and bumped his shoulder back. “Your face was perfect, though!” She then settled her cheek on his shoulder gently. The texture of his coat was rough on her skin, but she barely noticed it. She was happy.
“Still!” Kenya laughed, but didn’t dislodge her from his shoulder - it felt nice. That he could get used to very easily. “Yuushi’s gonna have a hayday with this one when I get home.”
“Wait… are you telling Yuushi-san?” Yukari looked up at him. “If we aren’t telling Ku-chan, we can’t just go around telling everyone else. He’ll find out.”
It didn’t even occur to him that she might compare telling Yuushi to telling Shiraishi. While of course Yuushi was family just as Shiraishi was, it was different - and the thought of trying to hide anything from Yuushi was pretty much nigh impossible, especially since the moment he got home he anticipated Yuushi wanting all the details of their…
Well, Kenya supposed now he could actually call it a Christmas date. Their date, then.
“I tell Yuushi everything, though. He won’t tell anyone.”
“...Yeah, you’re right.” Yukari smiled a little and picked up what was left of the cake. “We should finish this before it freezes.” She dipped her finger in some of the exposed lemon creme and wiped it on Kenya’s nose.
Kenya laughed. “Hey!” If it were any girl other than Yukari, Kenya might have thought twice about repeating the action on her, but all was fair when it was Yukari. He did it to her right in return.
Yukari wrinkled her nose. Now he had really done it. She just took a fistful of the remaining cake and squashed it in his face, smiling proudly at her handiwork. “Merry Christmas,” she said as a piece of the cake dripped off his cheek.
There was no way that Kenya could spin this in a way that wasn’t anything other than the fact that he deserved that one. “Merry Christmas to you, too,” he laughed lightly, wiping some of the cake off his face. I mean, if she thought that he wasn’t still going to eat it… He put his finger up to his mouth to lick the cake off. “Mm, still good.”
Yukari snorted. As usual, Kenya’s comedic timing was perfect.
tl;dr
☆ Yukari and Kenya meet up for NOT A DATE on Christmas
☆ They share the Christmas cake Yukari baked for Kenya
☆ Spend 5,000 words not confessing to one another
☆ Spend another 2,500 words trying to get a confession out of Kenya after Yukari points out he sucks at this
☆ Oh geez, we can’t tell Ku-chan
☆ But Yuushi’s okay?
☆ Kenya gets caked in the face
☆ GUESS IT’S A DATE AFTER ALL, HUH
What: See tl;dr below~
When: December 25th, 2017
Where: Near Shitenhouji's campus
Rating:
It started during Christmas break.
Well, no, it started when Kenya took the entrance exam to Toudai.
….No, that was not really right, either. It started when Yukari met Kenya when she was eleven years old. That’s when it really started. Kuranosuke brought home his new friend from school - his friend with a bright grin brimming with barely contained energy. His hair was dyed blonde - what kind of first year in junior high dyes his hair? And then there were the curls. Yukari had never really looked at a boy and seen anything other than someone to play and compete with, but this was different. She didn’t really get it, but it made her shy around him, at first. But it was impossible to be shy around Kenya when he was overflowing with friendliness and fun. He treated her like a little sister which never felt quite right, but it made her happy.
Kenya had always been a cute guy, but puberty gave him striking, handsome features. Yukari did not fail to notice this for a second. And tease him about it, too, of course - thank goodness for puberty, he grew a real face!
It was winter break of her first year of high school when Kenya casually mentioned he had changed his mind about attending Handai in Osaka - that he wanted to stick with Yuushi and was taking the entrance exam for Toudai’s medical program instead. Yukari did something that made her feel like a crazy person - she lost her temper. Over a totally understandable life decision.
“...So you’re just leaving? What happened to going to Handai? Staying in Osaka?” She called him some names she did not mean, she cried, and finally just broke down and hugged him.
“I… huh?”
A brief look of confusion passed over Kenya’s face. Yukari had never said such things to him - at least not with so much passion and without the usual teasing tone in her voice. He wasn’t quite sure how to react other than wrap his arms around her in return. It was probably the first time he had ever seen genuine tears out of Yukari before that weren’t directly related to hurting herself when she was younger… and Kenya wasn’t quite sure how to handle them.
“I’ll miss you,” she muttered. “You better message me on Line every day.”
Without thinking, his arms tightened around her a bit more. He hadn’t stopped to consider that he would potentially be affecting others in his life outside of his family for this particular decision to test for Toudai. It had taken a lot of soul searching and overcoming the crippling fear of disappointing his family for not aiming to Handai considering it was practically an Oshitari tradition, that he didn’t really have the time to think about anyone else who might be upset by his leaving.
“Yeah… okay, yeah, I will.” The more that his thoughts lingered on his potential leaving, the more he realized that he really was going to miss those he would leave behind in the only home he had never known. He would come to learn later that he would be accompanied by more of his friends than he had anticipated, but in this particular moment he just didn’t want to think about it. And leaving Yukari…
Kenya wasn’t sure why it sent a twinge of something unfamiliar through his heart, but what he did know is that he couldn’t dwell on what it would mean to leave Yukari behind, either.
“I’ll miss you, too.”
So they did. They messaged on Line every day - sent morning selfies, talked about their adventures, talked through their troubles, and found they had more in common than they expected. Sometimes Yukari would challenge Kenya to races over the phone on their morning run. He always won, but did he really know he always won?
It seemed like it was a million years he was gone, even with brief trips home to Osaka over the breaks. Yukari missed him more every day, began to look forward to hearing from him more than anything else. She wanted to show him that - she wanted him to feel the same joy she felt every morning when she saw his smile.
So, she baked him a cake.
Well, actually, she baked him twenty different cakes over the course of several months and tested them on her friends, family, and anyone else that she could get to give her feedback. She always got, “wow, it’s delicious!” But they did not know how absolutely imperative it was that this Christmas cake be the best one Kenya had ever tasted in his life. She was so enraptured in her project to make it the best Christmas Kenya had ever had that she almost forgot to, you know, ask him to join her on Christmas. It was much easier than she expected… mostly because she failed to mention the part where she wanted it to be a date.
“Kenya-san~” she said on the phone. “If you don’t see me on Christmas, you don’t get ca~ake~” After all, the way to a man’s heart was universally known to be through his stomach.
So it was on Christmas day, in her cutest winter dress with her favorite coat, Kuranosuke’s scarf she stole from him, and a cute pair of ankle boots that she waited for Kenya at their agreed upon meeting spot - the shrine near Shitenhouji. It was maybe too cold to be wandering outside, but Yukari didn’t really want to be at home or in the Oshitari residence dealing with prying eyes. She had boxed the cake up neatly including two cute plates and pastry forks - it was the perfect Christmas gift.
She wondered if Kenya would have something for her, too…
Face flushed, she checked her phone to see if he had texted her as she waited.
Kenya knew his way around Shitenhouji. He had attended the school for years - it would just be impossible for someone to actually forget the iconic surrounding areas even with that someone spending the last two years in Tokyo. Yet, it seemed like had suddenly lost all sense of direction in the short period of time between stepping off the bullet train at Shin-Osaka station, spending a couple of days with his family, and then meeting up with Yukari for their promised Christmas outing.
He hadn’t thought anything of the invitation at first. Yukari knew fully well how much he loved Christmas cake (and any cake, really - he wasn’t going to turn away any opportunity for cake, especially coming from a very accomplished baker such as Yukari) and it wasn’t as though either of them had already made plans or anything. With how close he and Yukari had become during the time he had been living in Tokyo, it was completely reasonable to want to spend time with a close friend when they’ve been separated by distance.
That’s all it was… right?
But Kenya would have been lying to himself if he didn’t recognize the fact that there was something inherently a bit special about being invited out by Yukari on Christmas. It was not something that he would ever admit to anyone because admitting something like that would mean confessing to something greater, and that would just start a whole slew of additional problems for him. And that was the attitude he had right up until a certain someone pointed out that it certainly sounded like a date and all of the gusto that he had mustered to not think anything twice was thrown directly out of the window.
And that was exactly what had him scrambling to make it to the temple in time to not be horrendously late to meet Yukari. He fussed too much over his appearance in the mirror, took his brother’s suggestions for an outfit way too seriously (did he really want to listen to who was basically Yuushi’s clone at this point?), and barely made it out the door in time to catch the train he would need to be on to meet Yukari.
Not that being on time was ever an issue for Naniwa’s speed star. He made it to the Shitenhouji campus with plenty of time to spare. Even after somehow managing to make three wrong turns due to his mysterious memory loss of the area.
“Yukari!” Kenya held a hand up in greeting.
Yukari turned at the sound of her name, tucking her phone into the pocket of her coat. “Hey, Kenya-san.” She gave him a bright smile, holding the gift bag she was carrying in both hands in front of her knees. “You’re only seven minutes early, you know - that’s basically late in Naniwa’s Speed time.” Oh no, she thought, looking him over, he looks so cute.
Kenya laughed, folding his arms over his chest, and tucking his chin beneath the warm layer of his scarf. “Would you believe me if I said that somehow I got lost? I didn’t think it had been that long, but…” Even though what lay underneath the clothing was probably a little different than his usual fashion, he couldn’t resist the pull of his bright Shiten-green scarf. You can take the boy out of Osaka, but you can’t take Osaka out of the boy. Or Shitenhouji out of the boy. Something like that, anyway.
“Because it’s you, I believe it.” She held up the bag to Kenya. “Here - I got you something since it’s Christmas.” The bag was tied off with ribbons and a little Hello Kitty charm she knew Kenya would like. It was limited edition - one he missed out on while he was in Tokyo and Yukari had somehow completely convinced him it was too late, the charm was sold out everywhere.
“Eh?” His eyes fell to the charm and then back up to catch Yukari’s gaze. “You told me that it was all sold out!”
It had been Kenya’s quest ever since he was really young to collect all of the special Hello Kitty memorabilia that was limited edition runs in the various prefectures. Many of the pieces he collected from family travelling around the country, friends who knew of his collection and would bring them back as souvenirs, or even in his own travels. He had always been able to easily get the ones from Tokyo thanks to his family in Kantou, but it had been an upsetting realization when he thought of the logistics that would need to go in collecting the items from Kansai while he lived away.
“Yep, I lied.” Yukari winked. “But that’s not the real present - here.” She lifted the bag closer to him.
“Well, thank you.” Kenya grinned brightly and took the package carefully, knowing full well what was going to be in the bag, even if it was still going to be a surprise when he opened it. Yukari always put so much time and thought into her creations, and he was certain that this would be no different. It made his stomach do a flip, but he tried his best to set it aside for the fact there was cake in his future. “I bet I know what this.”
“I bet you don’t,” Yukari teased, leaning closer to watch him open the bag. He had to know it was a Christmas cake, but he didn’t know about the lemon creme, the powdered sugar, the light, fluffy angel food cake… Yukari was both glad that she put in two forks as well as glad that Kenya probably did not hear her stomach growl through the scarf on his head.
As he opened the bag, he tried to not focus too much on the fact Yukari was leaning so closely. Kenya was no stranger to physical affection - in fact, he could be quite touchy feely himself, in particular when he felt comfortable or particularly spurred on - but the sweet smell of shampoo drifting up from her hair was enough to cause his stomach to do those awkward flips again, and even the way she teased him while presenting him with a gift just felt really…
Kenya pushed the thought out of his mind as he revealed the cake, and marveled a bit dumbly at it. The stars shaped out of candied lemon peels gave hint to the flavor of the cake, and he could tell even through the thin layer of powdered sugar that it was likely a very light sort of cake - angel food cake, maybe?
It looked amazing. And delicious.
“You really made this for me?” Kenya turned his head enough to look at her from up close, his chin slipping out from underneath the fold of the scarf.
A few seconds drifted by between them as Yukari just looked into Kenya’s eyes. In the evening light, his eyes were dark. Wips of curly, blonde hair fell over his forehead - the curls were real, the blonde was not. “I… I mean, of course?” She laughed, trying to contain the acrobats putting on a grand circus in her innards. “It’s Christmas.”
The moment was shattered. Kenya laughed a little, his cheeks flushed not just from the cold of the winter air. “Of course.” He drew away to admire the cake more closely; the lemon zest was a nice touch. While he was in no way purest toward any particular type of cake, he had a feeling that this would likely be a top contender. “This really looks amazing. Thank you.”
“Of course,” she motioned in the bag. “But… I did put two plates in there so we could share. I mean, two plates and two forks. Obviously.” Why that whole statement had to be awkward, Yukari was not entirely sure, but she was definitely kicking herself for it.
“Great.” The nuance was completely lost on Kenya as he gave her another carefree smile. “Well, as much as I’m sure you want to hang around the shrine, did you wanna go somewhere where we can share? I have a present for you, too, of course.”
“Yeah, that’d be great.” Yukari tucked some of her fly-away bangs behind her ear, glancing around. “I mean, we could go back to my place, but… you know, everyone’s home. Maybe just find a park bench to sit down?” Mostly, she did not want to do any of this around Kuranosuke… it was bad enough that she was feeling this way about one of his best friends, let alone… Yeah, out in public was best.
It didn’t seem appropriate to take it back to the Shiraishi household when they had gone through that effort to meet up at a neutral meeting place… not that there was anything in particular that needed to be kept hidden from the Shiraishis, but… “Yeah, I think finding a bench or something would be great.” Kenya took a moment to rearrange the package so that he could easily carry the bag around once more. “There’s that tiny park a couple of blocks down. Why don’t we go there?”
“I think I know the one.” Yukari smiled up at him. “If you weren’t carrying the cake I worked so hard on, I’d say I’d race you....” That was the thing she told herself she missed the most about Kenya… their morning runs, always losing to him when they raced (no matter how damn tired he should have been). Without thinking, she took his hand to drag him along with her to the park - but of course as soon as she had done it, she couldn’t take it back without it being weird. And… it felt nice. Her hand felt small in his. He had long, elegant fingers. As much as he managed to shirk most of the Oshitari grace and elegance, it was all still there wrapped in a mis-matched, multicolored, crayola box explosion of stars.
Even once they reached the park, Kenya didn’t let go of Yukari’s hand right away. It wasn’t quite the baby-soft that Kenya was used to from the other women in his life - it was clear she worked hard at her sport, evidenced by the calluses from gripping a tennis racquet, but… there was something inherently Yukari about it. She was very pretty and always looked cute (this particular outfit might have been the cutest Kenya had seen yet), but there was a toughness to her that Kenya had always really appreciated.
But… it really wasn’t doing his heart any good.
Is she… she’s not letting go of my hand. Is that intentional? Or did she just not notice…? Okay, okay, no, Kenya, don’t think about it too hard. This is totally cool. It happens. She was dragging you. It’s just like when you go on runs together and you race, and those times when you grab her hand to drag her along more quickly. Right? Right.
In the voice outside of his own head, he said, “Bench, bench…” As though not to notice he was still holding her hand, he glanced around. “Oh! There, how about that?” He motioned with the hand holding the bag with cake.
Yukari followed Kenya’s motion, her hand naturally slipping out of his as she seated herself on the bench. She crossed her legs at her ankles, slipping her fingers under her thighs on the bench and smiled brightly at him. The bench was probably too cold to sit on for long, but if her cake was as good as she thought it was, they wouldn’t be sitting there long. Kenya’s ears, cheeks, and nose had become flushed from the cold making him look more wide-eyed and youthful than he was. “Perfect. But come sit down before I freeze my butt off.”
A light laugh escaped Kenya’s lips as he sat down beside her, settling the bag on his lap. “Sorry.” He carefully unwrapped it once more to lift the cake out and set it down on the bench before rifling through the bag to pull out the plate and pastry forks. “Oh, these are really cute,” he commented, looking back to her to give her another smile.
“Like you,” she joked... then wondered why that came out of her mouth. Then hoped the winter weather made it look like she was blushing not from embarrassment but from the cold air.
A few long seconds ticked by as Kenya looked at her a bit dumbly, the smile frozen on his face. “I--” Suddenly his brain kicked into overdrive and his smile brightened to hopefully cover his awkward blunder. “Thank you. You look really, really cute tonight.”
“Thank you,” Yukari said. She had just been thinking that she should use her New Year’s money this year to start working on a new wardrobe… now that she was going to be a university student, she had to look more like a sophisticated adult. “You like the new coat?” She held out her arms to the side for emphasis. “Though, it is Ku-chan’s scarf.”
“I thought I recognized it.” Kenya laughed, holding one of the plates out to her. “Hopefully he knows you’re pilfering through his wardrobe.”
Yukari took the plate and held it on her lap. “Oh, he’s used to it - we’re siblings.” Actually, now that Yukari thought about it, Kenya probably didn’t know how normal that was for siblings because Shouta would not be caught dead in anything that came out of Kenya’s closet.
As though on cue, Kenya responded with, “Oh yeah, I guess that is typical. My brother doesn’t go near my clothes.”
It took a careful balancing act to keep the plate, fork, and cake still enough so that he could retrieve the knife at the bottom of the cake. It really was evident that Yukari had put a lot of time and love into the cake. Not only did it keep its shape beautifully, but the presentation was cute - it was almost too pretty to cut. And that brought him to another dilemma - as much as Kenya was really excited to try it, he also wanted a picture of it.
“I’d like to get a picture. Can we take a selfie with it?” He gave her that charming smile once again not even realizing he was doing so.
Yukari hated that perfect smile, it made her stomach knot up. “Sure - you should take it, you have the long arms. I’ll hold the cake…” She set aside the plate and started to take the cake from him which set off a series of events where she was trying to take the cake, but touching Kenya’s hand again made her hyper-aware of how close he was and instead she ended up half-leaned into him with her hand under the cake in his lap. Her natural inclination was to look up at him, finding his face much closer than expected.
His critical mistake was to meet her eyes from that close of distance. In the gentle light of the moon and the streetlamps, her brown eyes seemed to sparkle; much like when she would tease him or make the jokes that would leave both of them in stitches. There were many things that Kenya missed about being home in Osaka - the food, in particular the street food, his family, walking past the gates of Shitenhouji where there always seemed to be something hilarious and causing uproarious laughter… but he would be blatantly lying to himself if he didn’t acknowledge that there was something else, or rather someone else, who played a very big role in what he missed.
For years, Kenya had been close to the Shiraishis, and Yukari had been no exception. It had been more in the context of a younger sister, but it had not entirely escaped his notice when she had blossomed into a young woman. He wouldn’t have dared say anything to Shiraishi at the time, he knew better than to make any comment on either of the Shiraishi sisters lest he incur his brotherly wrath, but it did give him pause.
Everything shifted when he told her that he was moving to Tokyo. The passionate outburst and tears had been completely unexpected and while at the time he was filled with nothing other than confusion and didn’t quite know how to respond, he looked back on that now and realized that something had changed in their relationship that day. In the context of what had been a very sibling-like relationship up until then suddenly turned into that of a close friendship, and Kenya found himself wondering if there could ever be such a day that Yukari wouldn’t somehow be part of it.
It made for the distance between his home in Osaka and his home in Tokyo not feel so vast, but at the same time it only seemed to compound when he considered how much he enjoyed spending time with her and how much he wished he could do it more in person.
It suddenly hit him one morning when they were going on their joint runs. They were of course still separated by hundreds of kilometres, but they had found the ability to track their distance and time of their runs through an app that would allow them to compete against one another. He wasn’t sure if it was just a morning in particular that he just wasn’t feeling it or if it was a morning where Yukari was just on fire, but when she commented on Line afterward to tell him that once again Naniwa’s Speed Star couldn’t be beaten when the app obviously indicated the opposite, Kenya’s stomach started completing a full gymnastics routine in what was definitely not the feelings from that of an older brother figure.
Usually it was relatively easy to ignore because otherwise, there was no reason to ever acknowledge it and he didn’t want to somehow change the perfect dynamic that they created by what could have easily been a little crush, but then when she invited him out on Christmas and someone rightfully pointed out that people went on dates on Christmas…
“I… um,” Kenya managed to say softly, unable to look away.
Yukari found herself also just staring dumbly, motionless, looking back at him. The moment seemed to drag on into an eternity with nothing but the soft, distant sound of the city and a faint rustle of the breeze through leaves. She swallowed deliberately, trying to bring herself back into the moment, and slowly pulled the cake away from Kenya. She lifted it up closer to her chin and offered a bit weakly, “we’re taking a selfie, right?”
“...Right. Yeah… yeah we are.” Kenya shifted to pull his phone out from his coat pocket, positioning it in front of them so that he could take the picture. Hanging off his phone was another little Hello Kitty charm - this one a custom charm that Yukari had ordered for him for his birthday last year, where Kitty-chan was hugging a bright yellow star, balanced on the end of the chain holding it into the auxiliary port. He hadn’t taken it off since. “Say Merry Christmas~”
Yukari held the cake near her chin and echoed, “Merry Christmas~” The soft wafting smell of the lemon from the cake wasn’t enough to overpower whatever the scent was coming from Kenya… she had a hard time believing it was aftershave, so had he worn cologne? That seemed… like he was thinking it was a date.
Kenya snapped the picture and then pulled his phone closer so that they could both look at it. As to be expected, Yukari looked adorable as ever, and Kenya’s face, well, it was his face. He was making a typical big, dopey grin. “That’s a great picture. I’m gonna set it as my background.”
“Send it to me, so I can, too.” Yukari held up the cake to Kenya, again. “But let’s dig in - I can’t wait for you to try it. Actually…” She picked up the fork Kenya had set aside for himself and dug into the cake. She held up the fork to his mouth. “Try it~”
With the fork in his face, he had no choice but to lean closer and take the bite, immediately closing his eyes in enjoyment. It was sweet, but not too sweet - the lemon added a hit of sourness that mixed well with the powdered sugar, and as expected it was definitely some sort of angel food cake. “This is amazing!”
Yukari beamed at him. She knew it was amazing, but being in constant search of the perfect cake for Kenya was only worth it if there was payoff. “You like the lemon creme?” She handed the fork back to him, then just took up her own fork to try a bite - no reason to cut it and serve it on plates if they could just eat it right off the platter.
“Yeah, it’s so good.” Kenya thought that Yukari had the right idea and didn’t bother to hesitate for a moment before digging into the cake. “I really love the lemon slices shaped like stars.”
“Those took an embarrassing amount of time. I still feel silly. I tried to cut them all by hand and then Mamma pointed out that if I cut triangles from the sides of the lemon, it would make the stars when it was sliced…” She took a larger bite of the cake, feeling comfortable now that they were talking about something that was her element. “You know, like how you make paper snowflakes.”
Kenya wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about such things, he wasn’t much of a master in the kitchen other than the ten solid recipes he could cook to perfection to ensure that he and Yuushi didn’t starve, but he did admire that Yukari was able to both produce such a delicious tasting and aesthetically pleasing dessert. But even he could manage paper snowflakes. “That actually makes a lot of sense. Good thinking on Mama’s part.”
He took another big bite, taking his time taking his time pulling it off the fork. The lemon creme really was what made it - Yukari was right.
“Oh - you’re getting it…” Yukari lifted her hand, brushing her thumb over Kenya’s lip to catch the creme that didn’t quite make it to his mouth. “...On…” She froze, her hand still hovering at his cheek - she knew she was turing scarlet.
Words seemed to fail Kenya for a moment as he just held onto Yukari’s gaze, unmoving. The imprint of her thumb on his lip lingered even as the contact was broken. His heart began to pound against his chest to the point he could hear it beating in his ears, and he was quite certain that if he moved even a touch that the moment would be broken.
“Um…”
“Uh…” Yukari responded.
Kenya hesitated for a moment before he reached his hand up to gently touch a couple of fingers to her palm. “So…”
A tremble ran through Yukari as the moment seemed to come to a head - she was going to have to face this a little faster than she was really ready for. She was glad she wasn’t standing, the tremble seemed to centralize around her knees and her lower lip and she knew her eyes were going wider. “...So?” Her hand closed partially around Kenya’s near his face.
Which wasn’t to say that Kenya was ready to face it yet, either. But when Yukari looked at him like that, with bright, wide eyes, and an unusually shy demeanor, it made his stomach begin a tumbling gymnastics routine. His hands felt a bit clammy, but he used Yukari’s initiative to wrap his hand around hers fully instead, holding it against his cheek. “I’m… really glad you invited me out, tonight.”
Kenya’s skin was warmer than it was outside, but still cooler to the touch than usual. “Yeah… me too.” Yukari took a deep breath and steeled her nerves. This was not like her at all, fumbling around when something important was happening. “Kenya-san… I’ve been working really hard to make the best possible cake for you because I know how much you love Christmas cake and I wanted it to be perfect.”
Still not quite finding his words properly, he took his lip between his teeth for a moment before giving her a bright smile. Just the fact that she had put the thought into doing something that would make him so happy warmed his heart even more so than her warm hand in his. Which wasn’t to say that he didn’t enjoy that too - quite the opposite - but it was that thoughtfulness of Yukari, and her bright spirit, that he enjoyed the most.
“Well… really. Thank you. I love it.” He gently lowered their joined hands, but didn’t go.
Why was he still holding on? That was going to make this harder. And this was hard. Yukari sucked in another sharp breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out in an abrupt sigh. “Kenya-san… I really like you. That’s why I worked so hard on this.” She forced herself to keep meeting his eyes, even though every instinct she had told her that she should be looking down and hiding her face in embarrassment.
“...You do?” There were his words. Not that they were particularly good words, but just as she seemed to somehow managed to eloquently express herself, Kenya instead was nothing better than a goldfish.
Yukari sincerely hoped that he wasn’t going to make her repeat herself, it was already scary enough to have said it the first time. Her face fell as she tried to express this to Kenya without having to find the courage to talk.
That was when Kenya’s brain kicked into overdrive, suddenly running at a million miles per second, faster than any sort of speed star could hope to keep up with. He didn’t expect to actually hear those words. While it wasn’t the first time anyone had ever spoken such words to him, he had been really popular with the girls at Shitenhouji and even at Toudai, but for them to come to someone who made him feel so…
So…
“I… I don’t really know what to say.” He laughed a bit nervously, running his other hand through his hair to toss the curls. “I’m - I’m really happy.”
Yukari wasn’t sure how to respond to that, either. It wasn’t unexpected, exactly - she knew that she and Kenya had become close and that somewhere along the way something had changed in their relationship… probably around the time that Kenya moved away. Every day started with him, now - and she wanted every day to end with him too. She wanted every middle of the day to be with him. Her expression gave way to a small smile. “...Really?”
“Yeah.” The throbbing in his ears lightened to that of what would be more or less a normal heart rate, though he could feel warmth creeping up his neck and touching the very tips of his ears. Even if this was uncharted territory, it was still Yukari - and Yukari was Yukari, and Kenya never had any troubles talking to Yukari. Even given this, it didn’t change the fact that this was the girl that he had decided a while ago would always be in his life in some form or fashion. This was just the best possible scenario he ever could have come up with.
Despite her blush, Yukari gave him a teasing grin. “So, when were you going to say something, Kenya-san? Don’t make the girl do the confessing all the time.” She set aside what remained of the cake to give him a little shove on the chest. But then just rested her hand there.
Kenya laughed lightly, leaning forward slightly to put some weight on her hand. He liked the feeling of it there and it made him feel lighter somehow - like he was going to float off on some sort of cloud of happiness. “You took me by surprise! I didn’t even get the chance to say anything!”
“Maybe you should use that speed to get in something first, then!” Yukari laughed, her whole body relaxing. This felt natural and normal, again - all the weirdness of the evening and the shakes were gone replaced with the relief of knowing she wasn’t just… imagining this connection.
“I’m trying!” Kenya also laughed, brushing her hand away from his chest so that he could take it in his again. Somehow, this felt natural - like it should have been like this all along and somehow he had just not gotten the memo, or had just really failed to acknowledge that maybe it had existed longer than he had really given it credit. It felt like a bit of a pipe dream that she could feel the same way - that the cake wasn’t just because she wanted to do something nice as a friend, but because she wanted to show him, in her own Yukari way, just how he felt.
“Kenya-san,” she said between giggles, leaning toward him. “You’re still not doing it!”
Of course - he hadn’t said the words in return. But she was just so bright and so pretty, and he loved the way her entire expression lit up when she was happy and full of laughter. It was partially what drew them to one another - they fed off each other’s energy and there was just never a dull moment when they were together. “Uh, right,” he grinned a bit sheepishly, running his fingers through his hair. Somehow the words were more difficult to say out loud than he anticipated, but it was only fair that he be brave when she had done so first.
“I really like you, too, Yukari.” The sheepish look turned into something softer - a bright smile that was reserved for those times when his heart was happy and full of joy. There was something really special about saying those words for the first time; he hoped that they made her smile just as they had him.
“I already know that, silly, you’re way behind the times.” She moved her hands away from his to wrap her arms around him, instead, in a tight hug. “I’m really happy, too,” she said more softly as she pressed her cheek into his chest. She could faintly hear the beat of his heart under the layers of his clothing and coat. Unlike the rest of him, his heart beat slowly as it would be with any high performance athlete. It was steady and reassuring.
“Then why did you make such a big deal over me saying something!” He laughed freely and wrapped his arms tightly around her in return, the cake long forgotten on the bench. The sweet smell of her shampoo tickled his nose as he pressed his cheek to the top of her head. It was not the first time they had hugged by far - in particular during those times when they parted ways when he was travelling back to Tokyo, they would hug each other and linger for longer than what would have been appropriate as just friends.
“So,” she murmured into his coat. “One… little, itty-bitty problem.” It was actually a major problem and she wasn’t sure how this was going to go over with him. The reality of their situation was that it was all well and good that they were together right now, but as soon as break was over, he was off to Tokyo again. She did have a surprise for him that might ease some of that, but Kenya didn’t do great with separation. “...You leave in a week and don’t come home for a few months. If… we were to… you know, date, I guess…”
And then there was the bomb. Kenya couldn’t help the frown that formed on his lips, though he didn’t move away so as to not let her see it. It was true that Kenya didn’t deal well with distance and it was that particular quality that led him to consider moving to Tokyo for university to begin with. Yuushi had moved away when they were entering middle school, and Kenya had taken hard to the separation - to the point where his parents had explored ways to help him cope so that he wouldn’t become so wrapped up in his own head. That is how Speedy came to be in his life. He had always loved reptiles, lizards in particular, and it had been a happy day when he brought her home. It didn’t lessen the blow of Yuushi leaving, but it gave him someone who could fill the Yuushi-shaped hole when he wasn’t physically around his cousin.
It had been difficult to be so far away from Yukari, though it had taken a bit for the true separation anxiety to hit. He was much better equipped to handle it these days, both with the fact he had both Yuushi and Speedy in his life, but as he and Yukari had become closer over those months and subsequent years, in his lower points he would begin to dwell on it. Kenya didn’t like to admit it to himself, but it was partially one of the reasons why he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the direction their relationship had been turning - it was difficult enough maintaining a close friendship with so much distance, but a romantic relationship was a whole new story.
“Yeah… we’ll be separated, huh.” Kenya moved his head so that he could rest his chin on top of her head, as well, to stare absently into the distance. “That’s gonna be hard.”
She could tell from the tone of his voice that Kenya was thinking exactly what had been nagging at her - it had already been hard enough to be apart as friends, especially as they had become almost codependent in their routines. She couldn’t start her days without him, anymore. “...At least, until April. You know, when I start at Toudai.” Yukari curled her fingers into his jacket.
“Eh?” Kenya pulled enough enough to look at her, though careful to not hurt her fingers by moving too quickly. “Really?”
“Well, I mean, if I pass the exam next month and all that. It’s a pretty competitive program…” Yukari wanted to study pharmaceuticals like her father and had originally been planning on attending Osaka University. But after Kuranosuke moved, Kenya moved, the others… well, it made her reconsider her choice. Of course she had friends aiming for Osaka University and would know people there, too, but… she was happy in her choice. “But if you can make it into the Medical department, I can make it into the Chemistry department, right? They’re taking all kinds of jocks these days.”
Kenya laughed and curled his fingers around his in his coat. “You’re laughing now, but just wait. The exam is going to make you want to die.” Which was probably not the best thing to tell a third year in high school, the pressure of doing well on entrance exams was already bad enough without adding his terrible sense of humor to the pot, but he was fully confident that she would pass. “You’ll be just fine. I know you will be.” And that was pretty much the best news ever.
Yukari smiled up at him. “Well… assuming that goes well…” All of the confidence slipped away and was replaced by a bit of shyness again. It was easy making fun of their mutual fear of entrance exams and status as jocks trying to enter science-based careers, but it was harder to talk about feelings. “What do you think… about this?”
More gently, Kenya removed Yukari’s hand away from his coat to instead take it between both of his hands. He didn’t feel clammy, anymore, but there was warmth where their skin met and Kenya thought that he could happily stay here forever if it meant that the moment would never be broken. “I’m really happy.” He repeated his words from earlier, running his thumb over her knuckles.
“Me too.”
Then it hit Yukari like a sack of potatoes.
“We can’t tell Ku-chan.”
And there was the other matter that had made Kenya not give too much thought of what the budding relationship was between he and Yukari. Generally speaking Shiraishi was level-headed and understanding, but he just didn’t know how that would go in the context of dating his younger sister. There was always a certain risk that came along with opening any sort of can of worms where the relationship between siblings was concerned - in particular when one was an older brother, and the other a younger sister. It wasn’t like that with him and Shouta. He didn’t really have to worry about his brother doing something stupid, there was no doubt that he was a direct product of the Oshitari genes, but he also knew that Shouta was a bit of a simpering romantic like Yuushi.
“No, we really can’t.” He didn’t want to be the one to incur Shiraishi’s wrath in the event that he wasn’t cool with it.
Yukari put her hands on her cheeks sheepishly. It was not so much that she was worried that Kuranosuke would be upset about Yukari dating someone, but the the fact that it was one of his closest friends. It was bad enough that Hara Tetsuya had straight up admitted that his type was their older sister… “...I mean, I guess I don’t know what we’re not telling Ku-chan. If there’s nothing to tell him. But, if there is…” Yukari, what are you trying to say?
Yukari hid her mouth behind her hands, looking at Kenya over her fingers. “I mean - is there something to not tell him? Are we...?”
“Huh?” Kenya wasn’t sure if his brain wasn’t quite working well enough or if there was something that he missed in their conversation. “What do you mean?”
Yukari puffed her cheeks out at him. “Don’t make me say it! You’re the guy, here!”
It really wasn’t his intention to be dense, but apparently that’s what he was today. Yukari’s exclamation fortunately was able to kick his brain into gear and laughed a little sheepishly. Of course. A mutual confession didn’t necessarily equal the beginning of a relationship; he had heard enough from Yuushi’s romance novels to at least be somewhat smooth, even if he hadn’t ever been in any sort of serious relationship.
“Right, right, sorry,” Kenya laughed, putting a hand on her cheek to de-puff them. Under his hand, her cheek was smooth - there was a warmth despite the chilly winter air, and it was flushed pink from their laughter. It was an intimate touch despite the playful nature, and it made the pounding in his ears begin again. The last thing he wanted to do was take his hand away.
“So…” he gently brushed his thumb over her cheekbone. “...Will you be my girlfriend?”
After all of his waffling, Yukari made sure that she took extra long to answer, just looking into his eyes. She counted the seconds in his head, watching a tiny bead of sweat form on his forehead. Just when he looked like he was about to crack and retract it, she grinned and said, “Yeah, that’d make me really happy.”
“Yukari!” Kenya laughed, moving his hand away from her cheek to instead bump his side against her shoulder. “Don’t do that to me!”
Yukari just laughed joyously, and bumped his shoulder back. “Your face was perfect, though!” She then settled her cheek on his shoulder gently. The texture of his coat was rough on her skin, but she barely noticed it. She was happy.
“Still!” Kenya laughed, but didn’t dislodge her from his shoulder - it felt nice. That he could get used to very easily. “Yuushi’s gonna have a hayday with this one when I get home.”
“Wait… are you telling Yuushi-san?” Yukari looked up at him. “If we aren’t telling Ku-chan, we can’t just go around telling everyone else. He’ll find out.”
It didn’t even occur to him that she might compare telling Yuushi to telling Shiraishi. While of course Yuushi was family just as Shiraishi was, it was different - and the thought of trying to hide anything from Yuushi was pretty much nigh impossible, especially since the moment he got home he anticipated Yuushi wanting all the details of their…
Well, Kenya supposed now he could actually call it a Christmas date. Their date, then.
“I tell Yuushi everything, though. He won’t tell anyone.”
“...Yeah, you’re right.” Yukari smiled a little and picked up what was left of the cake. “We should finish this before it freezes.” She dipped her finger in some of the exposed lemon creme and wiped it on Kenya’s nose.
Kenya laughed. “Hey!” If it were any girl other than Yukari, Kenya might have thought twice about repeating the action on her, but all was fair when it was Yukari. He did it to her right in return.
Yukari wrinkled her nose. Now he had really done it. She just took a fistful of the remaining cake and squashed it in his face, smiling proudly at her handiwork. “Merry Christmas,” she said as a piece of the cake dripped off his cheek.
There was no way that Kenya could spin this in a way that wasn’t anything other than the fact that he deserved that one. “Merry Christmas to you, too,” he laughed lightly, wiping some of the cake off his face. I mean, if she thought that he wasn’t still going to eat it… He put his finger up to his mouth to lick the cake off. “Mm, still good.”
Yukari snorted. As usual, Kenya’s comedic timing was perfect.
tl;dr
☆ Yukari and Kenya meet up for NOT A DATE on Christmas
☆ They share the Christmas cake Yukari baked for Kenya
☆ Spend 5,000 words not confessing to one another
☆ Spend another 2,500 words trying to get a confession out of Kenya after Yukari points out he sucks at this
☆ Oh geez, we can’t tell Ku-chan
☆ But Yuushi’s okay?
☆ Kenya gets caked in the face
☆ GUESS IT’S A DATE AFTER ALL, HUH
