NOVEL NEXT Arc 1, Ch.14: The not-quite-one-but-not-quite-not date
Asking someone to meet with you isn’t actually nerve-wracking, contrary to asking someone out on a date. My problem was that despite the fact that I was asking someone just to meet with me casually, my brain kept on singing ‘date, date’ all the time.
In the end, I was just as nervous as if I was actually asking Taizou out on a date. I drew circles around my room like a tiger in a cage before I managed to open the app.
Okay. I can do this. It’s just a regular meetup…
‘What do you think about thrillers? I got two free tickets for the cinema and there’s a movie with really great reviews running. Are you interested in going with me?’
I really did get the tickets. From my sister. He didn’t need to know that. The point was, I didn’t buy them myself, there were only two and I wanted to use them.
My fingers were all sweaty and I was chewing through my lip. I’d go crazy just waiting for his answer. But the last time, his points with me had been at friendship and we still talked like before and asking a friend to see a movie wasn’t weird, right?
I was sitting on my bed, but wheezing like I was running a marathon. Nervous! Way too nervous!
Helpless, I dragged one of my handheld consoles over to me and started a game. Just running around in the city, upgrading my equipment and doing small quests so that I could distract myself but pause the game at any moment. I wasn’t going to continue the main quest while this unfocused!
My phone rung with a message a good hour later. Not a weird amount of time for Taizou to answer, so that was good at least. I held my breath in hopes of my running heart calming at least a bit from the lack of oxygen.
‘I’m okay with thrillers. When did you think about going?’
I instantly shifted from lying on my back to sitting up into serious-mode, hurriedly typing an answer. If I answered fast enough, then he would stay on his phone and answer right away. If I waited too long, it’d take another hour for him to answer.
We went back and forth to decide on a good meeting time and place, preferably set in a way that he didn’t have to worry about his fan club appearing.
After a solid fifteen minutes of trying to match our schedules, we came to a great conclusion: The best time would be the run in three hours, during the evening.
I agreed, then panicked.
I threw my wardrobe open. Most of my clothes were leisurely styled, focused on comfort. Normally that wasn’t a problem, but Taizou wouldn’t come in his uniform on a weekend and I needed to stand next to him. I would look ridiculous enough as is, I didn’t want to stand out even more by going in my usual style.
I squatted on the ground and groaned.
Next to me, the door opened a bit.
“Riku? You okay?”, Daichi carefully asked through the gap, only opening when he realized I was sitting on the floor and not on webcam or something with my friends. (He never came in when I was busy.)
It took him one glance at the situation to form his own theory. “Are you going on a date?”
“I’m not.”
“...Are you going to meet someone and want to look good?”
“...”
Screw you. Since I didn’t answer that, he already had his answer. He patted my head.
“Stand up for a second.”
I obeyed him and he moved me like a puppet until we stood next to each other in front of the mirror, my back straight for once.
“Alright, we’re roughly the same height in total and our legs look like they're equally long, too. Come and see if my clothes fit you.”
The honour student Daichi had a completely different wardrobe than me. Stylish and modern, I was pretty certain none of it would suit me. “I’ll look like a clown trying to wear your clothes. The difference between us is too large”, I complained as he pushed me out of my room.
Daichi wasn’t interested in my complaints. “Nonsense. Of course they’ll look different on you, but I’ve got clothes that will suit your temperament well enough.”
‘Doubt’ was written all over my face but being the obedient little brother I was, I settled for sitting in his chair as he went through his clothes to pick something out for me.
I frowned but took them.
“Go on, change clothes.”
He didn’t leave the room but continued looking through his clothes. I didn’t mind changing in front of him so I stripped down, putting on what he had given me with the doubtful frown stuck on my face.
He glanced up when I was finished and gave a sound of approval. My hair was messed up a bit, my back set straight again - I was used to slouching - and then he pushed me in front of his own full-body mirror.
I admit I was surprised. I didn’t have a handsome face, but I didn’t look bad in his outfit.
The way he had pushed my hair made it look like it was messy on purpose, a sort of relaxed and easy-going style. The shirt and pants were quite simple but from a different kind of material and cut than I usually wore. The pants looked a bit more elegant, offsetting the more casual shirt and creating a clean overall appearance. I was quite tall, just like him, and along with these clothes, my otherwise ‘lazy’ aura turned into ‘leisurely’.
It was surprising to see how he had made me look so much better with just so little change.
“Remember to stand up straight”, he reminded me. “You tend to hide your height. You really don’t need to do that, you’re not ugly.”
More pats, this time supportive.
I tried to give him a smile and failed. The lucky thing was that older bro Daichi had now decided he wanted to help his lil bro, so he distracted me for another two hours, fixed my appearance once more and drove me into the city in time.
“Have fun, no matter what”, he called out after me before driving off.
I sighed and made my way over to our meeting place right in front of the cinema.
Standing straight was unusual for me so I decided to lean against the wall, which made it easy to watch my posture.
My back was bound to hurt after a while, since I never trained the muscles, but I had never seen any reason to stand up straight, with my shoulders pulled back and head lifted up.
Now, I found it unusual how much I could see and uncomfortably scanned the area every five seconds.
I didn’t need to watch out for Taizou, I just needed to watch the people around me.
...And then look into the direction that a lot of people glanced at.
At the same time, the black-haired boy looked around as well. I waved to attract his attention and made my way over to him.
“Hey. Thanks for coming over on short notice”, I mumbled, rubbing my neck.
He shrugged. “It’s fine.”
After that, he let his eyes wander over me and I twitched. “You look different.”
...I shrunk a bit, awkwardly opening my mouth when he himself frowned and hurriedly explained. “Not in a bad way. Don’t roll up again!”
Old habits die hard. I felt like hiding the moment I got insecure, but I managed to stretch myself out again after he assured me that I didn’t look weird.
“Let’s line up and get some food?”, I suggested, trying to change the topic. He nodded and looked through the cinema to find the correct line, then went up-front, me lagging behind.
Now there is something I have to explain before anything else.
The first time we met was sitting on the train. The second was a good bit away from each other in the streets. The third one was sitting in the library, another when he passed me by to sit on the ground. After that was us sitting to study or going up and down the stairs, sometimes passing me by, but I was always slouching.
Translation: I never really stood next to him for more than a second or two while actively looking at him.
But now I was.
Waist-up, his upper body wasn’t that much shorter than mine and I usually slouched, so I hadn’t noticed while sitting, but my legs were a good bit longer.
Yes, I was tall, but I also slouched to minimize the difference so I usually wasn’t too far from other people’s average height.
To put it bluntly, I could look down at him. Standing in line, a bit behind him, I noticed with utter fascination that he was smaller than me and found it terribly cute.
