Sex Education

Lesson Fifteen (dating)

After messing with his hair for the seventh time that morning, Nagisa wonders if he might be overthinking things slightly. He knows Karma really doesn't care how his hair looks, truly, but Nagisa's never been on a date before. Even though this technically isn't even a real date. Just... practise or training or something. But it's not unreasonable for him to want to not look like he just rolled out of bed, right?

In truth, he actually has just rolled out of bed. But that's Karma's fault. When he initially mentioned dinner, Nagisa hadn't expected it to turn into 8am in Odaiba. Which just so happens to be the opposite side of Tokyo to where he lives. It took an hour just in trains to get here. Honestly, part of the reason Nagisa agreed to it was because 'Karma' and 'voluntarily awake at 8am' were a rare combination he hadn't wanted to miss.

Somehow he's still a little early though, hence the hair messing.

Eventually, Nagisa looks at his reflection and decides that the best way to start his first ever date, just for practise or otherwise, probably isn't in the train station bathroom. No, apparently that's the Statue of Liberty, according to Karma. Not the Statue of Liberty. Not even the secondary one in France. It's actually only about 12 meters tall or so. Nagisa's not sure why Tokyo even has it, but it stands out at least.

"Morning," Karma says, hands in pockets.

Nagisa swallows. His fears have come true. Karma... looks really good. Actually, he's not dressed too different to normal, though his black coat looks nice on him. But then again, Karma's always had a good sense of fashion. Nagisa should have messed with his hair some more. It's fine though, right? It's not like this is a first impression or anything.

He looks out across the sea, right towards the Tokyo skyline. "I think I get the whole Odaiba date thing now."

Karma seems to follow the line of his eyes. "It's a pretty safe option, but it's better in the evening."

"Oh, so then why-"

"Too much to do," he explains casually. "It made sense to start here, trust me."

Nagisa tilts his head, as Karma just takes off walking like that. "Are we going to Palette Town or something?"

Palette Town is just an area of various activities. Nagisa wouldn't even know where to start when it comes to dates, but there's probably a lot that might work. There's the light museum for example... he's not the biggest fan himself but he can imagine why that might be fun. Or the Ferris wheel! He's pretty sure that's more of a thing in America, but it still works.

"Nah. It's all about balance," Karma says, "for a first date anyway. You need the right level of interesting, but not too much to do. You want the chance to talk, right?"

Nagisa nods, wishing he'd brought his notebook. "So we're just walking?"

"Right," Karma says. "But if your date's boring, you can be all like 'wow the view is so amazing'."

He ends up actually looking. In a way, he is right. Nagisa's never been that impressed with Tokyo, really. It's kind of what happens when you grow up less than an hour away from it. It's a cool place to live, definitely more exciting than Kunugigaoka, but he doesn't care much for tourist like glee. But it is nice, seeing the sea and the city spread out like this.

"But," Karma continues, "you're even better to look at."

"H-huh-"

"Something like that," he says. "There's lots of options."

Oh, so he doesn't actually mean that? Of course not. Karma wouldn't say something like that about him for real... Despite that, though, Nagisa still flushes anyway, turning his head away to the side. He hates how nice that felt... And now he's seriously starting to doubt how he'll even get through the rest of the date.