pluviophile • a.nakajima

4 | second meeting

"[l/n]-san! long time no see!"

atsushi eventually was able to muster up the courage to greet [y/n], and now here they were, standing in front of each other while shyly keeping their eyes from making eye contact. soft blushed colored their cheeks as both of them internally malfunctioned at meeting each other again. for a moment they simply listened to the familiar 'pitter patter' of the rain hitting the ground and their umbrellas.

"so..." atsushi started, breaking the silence. "how are you? are you busy right now?..."[y/n] finally lifted her head from the interesting sight of her shoes and the puddles beneath her at atsushi's conversation starter. "oh...i'm doing..decent, I guess...and no, i'm not busy at the moment, why?"

the question sent atsushi in another internal short-circuiting, his blush growing a deeper hue. "w-well, i was hoping maybe we could...get to know each other a bit? walk around, chatting, you know?" he said with faint gestures with a bashful smile, a hand running the back of his neck as his eyes flickered from the ground to [y/n]'s.

"sure! why not? you seem like a nice guy, especially since you actually bothered to check up on me that time despite being a stranger...you even went through the trouble of buying this umbrella for me," [y/n] replied as she gestured to the umbrella in her hand with a shrug of her shoulders, another hand pocketed in her baggy sweater. "speaking of which, is there any way i can repay you in some way?"

"it was nothing really! there's no need to repay me, i wanted to get that umbrella for you," atsushi insisted with a few waves of his hand. "that aside, where would you like to go?"

yet another silence ensued as they both began to slowly process what was happening. and on cue, the same thought passed through their minds in that moment of realization; is this a date?? of course, both of them didn't mention it, their minds denying it while their hearts silently wished it was true. but their longings would have to wait for another time.

"well, there's this cafe i like not too far from here; it's cozy, and it has pretty good food and drinks, so why don't we head over there to talk?" [y/n] suggested, her signature smile making its way to her face.

atsushi nodded, followed by an excited hum, and soon they were walking to the said place side by side. it felt pleasant to be in each other's presence, just like the day they met, except now they weren't strangers anymore. now both of them were growing more and more comfortable with each other. it was almost surreal to enjoy a moment such as this. after all, when was the last time they had something like this?

this was totally a date.