I decided that my attire should just be more casual, like something I would wear to a club meeting or something like that, and so my outfit for today consisted of: a white baseball cap, a sleeveless denim jacket, a black long sleeve t-shirt, and a pair of black jeans, it was somewhat similar to the outfit I had on when I first saw Hana at her job.
We both agreed to meet each other at the train station at approximately 12 pm, of course I informed my mother beforehand where I would be going, and how long I would be gone and she gave me the go-ahead.
*****
I was sitting on a bench waiting for my train to arrive, the place we were going was a good 2 hour walk away from where I lived so there was no way I was jogging there, by train it was about 20 minutes, I was on my phone watching a video about American history, it was something about the war of independence, while I was watching it I was blissfully unaware of my surroundings as would anyone else be if they were engrossed in whatever they were doing.
"Masaichi."
I turned off my phone and put it in my pocket. It was Hana, I looked up and was at a loss for words.
She was wearing a red plaid skirt, tights, a black blouse, and a red flannel, if she weren't so obviously Japanese I would have thought she was an American, since her fashion sense today gave off that vibe.
"Huh."
Hana looked down at me, and her expression went from flat, to pouty.
"Really, that's all you have to say for this effort, do you know how expensive this flannel was?"
"Jeez, why go to all this effort just to look more western?"
"Because you also do most of the time, and I wanted to try it out for myself."
I paused and looked her over once more, she did rock the style for some odd reason, she must have really put a lot of thought into how she wanted to look today.
"Hm, I think it suits you, you look nice."
"Eh?"
Hana's frown went cold, she froze up before immediately moving her gaze to the floor, she moved one of her hands up to scratch her hair, her face was a little red and she looked like she was doing everything to try and keep her composure.
"T-Thank you, Masaichi."
"You're welcome, anyways we have to catch the train soon, it's supposed to be here in about seven-ish minutes, give or take."
"Well then, let's try to have lots of fun today Hotshot."
Hana smiled and bent down slightly towards me, offering me her hand.
"I can stand up myself, I'm not a grandma."
"Yeah, but just take the gesture, idiot."
I sighed in resignation, and moved my hand towards hers and gripped it tightly, Hana pulled me up towards her with a firm tug, I was on my feet, Hana was here, It was time to get started.
*****
Going on this outing was the worst Idea of my life, my face was beet red, my heart was pounding and I felt unusually hot, Hana decided it was a good idea to force me to follow her inside a woman's clothing store, I thought nothing of it at first considering the front was lined with what you would expect to be there, Mannequins in a wide array of fashionable attire.
The back of the store however, was a different story.
"Of all the stores, why did this have to be the first one..?"
"What? My wardrobe is old."
"Jeez, but did I really have to go in?"
I was looking down at the floor but I had already caught a glimpse of everything on display. Bikinis and swimsuits were lined around the wall, and I wasn't particularly excited to see them.
"Masaichi, it's just swimwear, why are you being so moody huh?"
"Why did you have to pick out swimsuits now off all times? I thought you were just buying clothing!"
"This is clothing, dummy."
Hana paused, before I heard the clacking of plastic hitting plastic, she had just taking a swimsuit off the shelf.
"Do you think I would look good in this?"
My head remained down, I was not looking up for any reason and I was especially not going to comment on whether or not Hana would look good in a particular swimsuit or another.
"Hello, earth to Masaichi?"
I felt a hand on my shoulder followed by violent shaking, I still kept my gaze below me despite this.
Hana sighed, and I heard her put it back.
"Whatever."
I heard the screeching of clothes hangers rubbing against the metal rods of the shelves. She had taken something and put it in her shopping basket.
"Alright all done, I need to get some other things now."
"Finally…"
*****
After going to more clothing stores than I have ever been to in my life, Hana had decided that now would be a good time to eat, after seeing a tempting burger join on our way to another clothing store, me being the guy and all I of course had the 'luxury' of carrying the bags, they weren't too heavy considering that they only contained clothing, but I digress.
I, of course being me, ordered a single cheeseburger and fries, Hana however was feeling much more adventurous and ordered a baked chicken sandwich with onion rings, while we were waiting for our food to arrive Hana decided to break the ice.
"We have known each other for almost 2 years and a half now."
I raised my brow and crossed my arms, what was she getting at?
"Exactly 2 years and 4 months, give or take, what's on your mind?"
"We haven't talked about it since we met in the storage room."
"Oh."
She was right, I had completely forgotten about the events that had transpired that Sunday, we were too busy with school work to really have time to bring it up, until now.
"At first I was excited to find out that you were Gracious, but then I felt scared about what would happen after."
"How so?"
"Moving around every year was a common occurrence, there are only two times in my life where I can state I lived in one spot for more than a year, I didn't want to be separated from you."
"That would… certainly suck."
Hana's face then suddenly lit up, and a smile quickly formed across her face.
"But now I'm not worried about it. Thanks to you, and my fathers words, you really helped me out."
Hana paused, moving her gaze towards my eyes.
"Masaichi, do you like hiking?"
"Hiking? I mean somewhat I suppose, It's not like I would go out of my way to do it though, why are you asking?"
"We are going to need to do a lot of that, for where we are going."
Suddenly I hear someone call out for me and Hana.
"Order for Yamada Hana and Sato Masaichi?"
"Oh that's us, I'll get it Masaichi."
Hana pushed out of her chair and rushed over to the counter where our food was, the food was laid out on a tray, she picked it up with both hands quickly and hastily rushed back over to where we were sitting.
Soon enough we both scarfed down our food, and I was left fearing for what was to come.