more than the past ➶ natsuri [ddlc]

★ chapter 13

She needed to make it clear to Katsuo that she only saw him as a friend.

This, however, felt different than when she turned down everyone else. He was the most popular guy in school, who was more popular than Monika. If she turned him down, surely people at school would start to wonder why Yuri turned everyone down. She wasn't sure they would quite believe the "I don't want to date." story she had formulated back in her third year of middle school. After all, she was a third year. She was a senior. 

Almost every senior was dating someone or attempting to win the heart of someone. Those who didn't date were inferior-- at least according to the social hierarchy. So, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to date Katsuo; just for the last year of school.

"Yuri-san!" Katsuo exclaimed. His stomach erupted with butterflies at her smile. 

"Hello, Katsuo-kun." 

"I know a coffee shop we should visit. They have tea," Katsuo suggested.

Yuri smiled warmly. "That sounds perfect."

"You look beautiful today," Katsuo said as they stood on the train. "Not that you...er... not that you don't look good every day. I meant that you look really good today but you also look amazing other days. Like-"

"Thanks, Katsuo-kun," Yuri said, saving him some breath. She stared at him, collecting data in her mind.

His smile was slightly crooked, but she supposed she could consider it charming. She was sure that's how most people saw it. His body pressed against hers in the crowded train, allowing her to smell his cologne. Just enough to have a scent to associate with him. She was genuinely surprised. She thought all athletes sprayed cologne as if it were a shower in a can.

At their stop, Katsuo took her hand and pulled her into the coffee shop. "Isn't it so nice in here?"

"Yeah," Yuri said quietly. Maybe dating him wouldn't be so bad. After all, she could probably learn to like him like that. "It really is."

_

_

"So, Yuri-san, I have something to ask you."

Yuri sipped her tea. So this was it. She had been through it dozens of times. It was like clockwork. It was a little different depending on the clique, age, and gender of the person confessing. Though there were many variables, each confession had the same backbone, per se. This was the same as any other, but there was one huge difference. It was the thing that set it apart from all of the others-- was that she would not be rejecting this one.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a purple flower.

"I like you!" He exclaimed, bowing his head and extending the slightly smashed flower.

Yuri laughed to herself. She took the flower out of his hand, setting it down in front of her. "Thank you."

His eyes widened as he had realized his mistake. "Do you..." he nervously chuckled to himself, his face growing red. "Do you want to date?"

Yuri put on her best and brightest smile. "Yes, I do."

Katsuo grinned from ear to ear, as Yuri sipped her tea. "I'm so glad."

"I have a few questions."

"Anything."

"What about me do you like?" Yuri asked, genuinely curious.

"Well," Katsuo chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "You're gorgeous. You're intelligent. I saw you come to my basketball game with your sister.  I remember being in awe. My buddies kept teasing me, thinking I liked Monika-san. I found it so hard to focus on the game."

_

_

"Why do we have to go?"

"All my friends are going, and I don't want to go without you," Monika answered, finishing her makeup. "Come on, Yuri, it will be fun!" 

Yuri sighed. "Fine, but let me go get my book, so I can read during the game. Do you think that they have concessions?"

"Of course they're gonna have concessions!" Monika exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're coming!"

At the game, Yuri had spent all of the first half reading her book.

Katsuo, the team captain glanced over at the stands, seeing all of the girls swooning over him. His eyes landed on a girl reading her book. Tanaka Yuri. She was sitting with her sister who was staring somewhere on the court; he couldn't tell. He didn't care.

"Watch out!" his teammate yelled. A ball was rocketing toward him. He instinctively batted it away before realizing what he had done. He had sent it straight to a guy on the other team. 

"Harata!" his coach yelled.

Before he knew it, his coach had subbed him out of the game. He couldn't stop staring at the purple haired girl.

_

_

As Katsuo finished recalling the story, Yuri was deep in thought. "I see," she muttered.

"Then I got to know you, and fell even harder for you. You have no idea how happy I am to hear you feel the same way."

Yuri forced a bright smile. "Good to know."

He took another sip of his coffee. "Can we possibly...hold hands as we walk back home?"

Yuri thought for a moment. "I suppose now that we are in a relationship, that is the kind of thing to do."

"Is that a yes?"

Yuri grinned. "Yes."

"Also, since we are dating now, you can call me by my name alone."

"Then you can just call me Yuri as well," Yuri replied, finishing the last of her tea.

_

_

Natuski finished her cupcakes, taking her time in frosting them. They looked so good, and the entire house now smelled like a bakery. Sayori came rushing down in one of Monika's T-Shirts. "I smell cupcakes!"

Monika followed calmly, having a seat at the island. "I do too."

"You two want some?" Natsuki asked, taking off her apron.

"Do I ever!" Sayori exclaimed, grabbing a cupcake and shoving it into her mouth whole. She gave Natsuki an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Monika took one and daintily at the cupcake, taking her time to savor it.

"Monika!" Sayori squealed. "You're eating it wrong!"

"How am I supposed to eat it?" Monika frowned. She leaned in and licked a crumb from Sayori's face. "Like that?"

Sayori's face turned as red as the red velvet cupcakes. She took a deep breath in and puffed out her chest. "That is an acceptable way to eat a crumb, but not a cupcake."

Monika laughed. "Whatever you say." The more I fall in love with her, the cuter she gets.