Prerhythm Arch

Mirage (Part 2)

"Um, Soraru-san, is something wrong?" MafuMafu asked tentatively.

      "Of course there's nothing wrong. Why would you ask something like that?" Soraru responded.

      "Well, you're acting really weird all of a sudden... It kind of reminds me of the time when we ran into Suzumu-kun while visiting your hometown," MafuMafu pointed out.

  Soraru merely gave a low hum in response. He supposed he was acting pretty similar to that time, wasn't he?

      "If there's something bothering you, you know you can tell me. I might not be able to do anything about it, but talking might help..." MafuMafu trailed off.

  Soraru sighed. "There's nothing bothering me. I'm just tired and I'd like to go home as soon as possible."

      "Okay..." MafuMafu didn't sound quite convinced that this was true, but it seemed like he was willing to leave it at this for the moment. "We still need to go to the grocery store, though. But if you want, I can go there alone and you can head home without me."

      "No, I'd rather go with you," Soraru responded.

      "Are you sure?" MafuMafu questioned.

  Soraru nodded. "Of course. We still need to plan what to make for dinner, remember?"

  MafuMafu smiled slightly at this. "That's right. I have a few ideas of what we could make, but they might be a little too much..."

  With that, MafuMafu started talking about all the different foods he wanted to make while Soraru listened and occasionally added his own input. Hearing MafuMafu talk so cheerfully put Soraru's mind at ease, and he found himself smiling despite the topic of the conversation not really being one that he cared a lot about. There's no way that I'd ever lose you, Soraru thought to himself, starting to zone out and paying more attention to MafuMafu's expressions than his words. I just won't allow that to happen.

      "Ah, we're here," MafuMafu said, bringing Soraru out of his reverie.

  Soraru looked up in front of him to see the large building used as a grocery store. It was really the only place in town that you could buy food from other than a restaurant, so it was always pretty busy. And now that it had gotten later in the afternoon, there were even more people than there would've been earlier milling about. Soraru had only been here a few times since usually either Lon, MafuMafu, or Kashitaro would do the grocery shopping for the guild, so he didn't know this place all that well. He supposed this wasn't particularly important, seeing as how he had MafuMafu here with him as a guide. Besides, grocery stores normally weren't that hard to navigate anyway.

      "Hmm, what to do about dinner...? Kashitaro-san made stir fry last night, so it'd probably be good to do something less vegetable based..." MafuMafu mumbled thoughtfully to himself as the two entered the store.

      "We could make some kind of rice dish," Soraru suggested.

      "Oh, yeah, we could do that. That would probably be good," MafuMafu responded with a smile. "Let's see, the rice is down this aisle...?"

  MafuMafu started down one of the many aisles in the store with Soraru following after him. For a while, they went around collecting ingredients for dinner and various other food items.

      "You know, going shopping like this with you kind of feels like something a married couple would do," MafuMafu commented, smiling faintly to himself.

  Soraru's face heated up slightly at this, and he veered his gaze to stare at a suddenly interesting box of cereal. "What's up with you and saying weird stuff today?"

  MafuMafu chuckled softly. "If I'm not honest, you'll never get it. Plus, it's kinda fun seeing you get embarrassed."

      "I seriously wonder why I'm still with you sometimes..." Soraru muttered.

      "How mean. And to think, I was saying something nice too..." MafuMafu pouted childishly, before turning and walking off down the aisle.

      "Oh, so you like the idea of getting married?" Soraru questioned, a hint of an amused smirk forming on his face.

      "W-Well..." MafuMafu stammered, clearly not knowing how to respond to this.

      "Hey, if you're not honest, I won't get it. That's what you said, right?" Soraru pointed out as his smirk broadened.

  MafuMafu's face flushed bright red, and he made a very clear effort to focus his gaze on the items lining the shelves in the aisle. "I, um... don't think it's a bad idea..."

  Soraru chuckled and leaned over to give MafuMafu a peck on the cheek, causing the white-haired male to let out a small squeak. "Well, maybe someday you'll get your wish."

  MafuMafu didn't seem to know what to say to this, so he just continued picking out food for the guild while trying to ignore the scarlet color of his face. Soraru let out another low laugh as he watched the flustered white-haired male. How he loved it when he could turn the tables.

A/N: Just a short and fluffy chapter I managed to get out before exams. All I have to do is make it through these next few days of testing and I'll be on winter break! Let's just hope I don't die before then ><