Memories of the Past

Chapter 8: Date time

Yea, it might have been anticipated for three weeks, but that didn't stop her from becoming the clumsy mess she was now. 'Oh gosh, I should probably know this by now, but the movies never show how scary or nerve racking this is.' Akari wondered why she was still so bad when dealing with these kinds of things. (That's because the author is a romantic writer and everything has to be over the top and exaggerated) She took her comb and quickly stroked her hair so as to not let any knots or calics appear. She decided even if she was going to be on a "date" with Nagisa, she really didn't need to prepare that much considering he was so dense. She put on a light layer of makeup to hide any impurities and put on a casual spaghetti strap dress and a transparent soccer (football) patterned top. Her outfit was pretty much the same thing she wore the last time she visited him, only this time his students wouldn't be around to bother them. 'Not like he'll notice anyways.' She thought to herself. She just happened to look out the window to see the sight of falling snowflakes and a white blanket of snow covering the city. 'Whoops, I forgot it was winter.' Akari quickly went back to her closet and put on a longs sleeved shirt and some pants. She kept the dress, but took off the patterned top so that it'd be easier to put her coat on. With that, she tied her hair into her two signature pigtails so that no one would notice her if they went out, and waited. To say she was nervous was an understatement. She was to the point where she was sweating bullets. Her hands were trembling with pure anticipation waiting for Nagisa to knock on the door. She really was a lovesick mess wasn't she. Akari figured it really wasn't good if you greeted your friend all nervous and trembling. So, she took a deep breath and calmed herself down. She was an actress, and right now she needed to settle down and be Kayano Kaede once again. For context, Akari liked to have different personas. Her Kaede side was a cheerful girl who made giant puddings and was just an overall normal girl. She usually used a persona when hanging out with friends or when out in public. It was basically a mask to help hide her true self, that being Akari Yukimura. Her Akari side was an actress extraordinaire and sister of Aguri Yukimura. This side of her was similar to her Kaede side, only it reflected more about her personal life and ambitions. Right now, she needed to be Kaede Kayano, a good friend of Nagisa Shiota. Her Akari side would have to wait until tonight, otherwise she'd probably embarrass herself throughout the entire day. She sat down on her sofa and started to browse through her phone. Karma, Rio, and Okuda had sent her winky faces. She could understand the first two were simply being themselves, but also concluded that Okuda was probably forced by Karma into sending her message. 'Well, at least they won't be spying.' She thought to her relief. So, there she was, waiting for him to come.

On the other side of things, said boy wasn't doing too well. He woke up past the time they were supposed to meet. Not only that, but Karma and Kayano barely gave him any information as to what they were doing. He decided since that was the case, it must've not been important enough to dress formally in any way. He threw on pants and a blue tee because he figured as long as he had his coat, wearing casual clothes shouldn't hurt. He ran to his car after saying bye to his parents, and as he got there, he realized he forgot his keys. So, he ran back upstairs and rushed to the cabinet where his keys were located and ran back down. Thus, Nagisa was on his way to Kayano's apartment to pick her up. By the time he got there, it was unfortunately half an hour before the scheduled time. He practically ran out his car and straight into the doors. As the elevator doors opened he accidentally bumped into someone while trying to get in. "Oh gosh, sorry, I didn't mean to-" As he looked up he saw a mop of black hair and two brown eyes looking at him "Wait, Nagi? I didn't know you lived here." As the girl looked up she noticed who the person she bumped into was. "Oh, hi Nagisa, uh yea it's ok. I was gonna tell you next week but I guess you already found out." She said scratching her head. Nagisa really did want to talk more, but he was in a hurry. "Ok, sorry, but I'm in a hurry. I'll see you later." With that he waved and she waved back. Nagisa pressed the button to the floor in which his actress friend lived and started his trek up the building. After a few seconds, the elevator dinged and he once again started sprinting. Well, because he was now in the living areas it was more like jogging since he didn't want to disturb the other residence there. Fortunately, he had been to Akari's apartment before so he easily made his way there without too much trouble. After finally getting to her front door and catching his breath, he knocked. Then he waited. 'I should probably start working out, maybe that'll help me get some height and increase my stamina.' It had been a long time since he had been in the assassination classroom, so he was a bit rusty when it came to athletics or even assassination. His students pretty much gave him his daily workouts every day, but the specialized training that Mr. Kurasuma gave him wasn't really there anymore. Nagisa counted a good minute before he finally heard the front door unlock. "Hey Nagisa! Woah, you look exhausted." Akari said a noticeable surprised expression on her face. "Well, yea, I thought you'd figured that since I'm thirty minutes late." He said. Akari looked at her watch. "O-oh, yea I guess you're right." She said, trying to hide the fact that she didn't know they had a scheduled time. "Well, come in I guess." "Oh thanks." The two went inside and Nagisa shut the door. "Here, you can sit down for a while, I uh, I'm gonna go make some coffee real quick." Nagisa nodded. He started looking around the apartment. Come to think of it, he'd never been in Kayano's apartment before. Whenever the two met up, it was usually at his classroom or at her studio. Even when he did go, he'd just pick her up for an event or something, thus, had not seen the interior of her apartment room. For an actress like her, her living quarters was relatively bland to someone of her status. Although, it didn't really matter to Nagisa. He was just happy that his friend got the life she wanted. "Hey Kayano! Can I explore for a bit!?" "Hmmm? Oh yea sure!" Nagisa got up and started to walk around. Akari's apartment was relatively large. From the living area a kitchen, which was one step up, was located. However the kitchen was walled off leaving it separated, but connected by a large arch which people could walk through. The front door was located on the opposite side of the room facing the kitchen. If you took a right from the center divider, a hallway was located which contained doorways to a bathroom and two bedrooms, one of which Akari used as a guest room. The two bedrooms were connected by a single large bathroom located in between the two rooms. In total, she had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, quite a lot for one person. Nagisa eventually made it into Akari's room. The walls were colored a  shade of green similar to her hair color back in middle school and the ceiling was completely white. Nagisa figured it wasn't very polite to look into a girls bedroom, so he took his leave, However, upon making his way to the door Akari's phone lit up from the table and blasted sound all across the room. "HEY NAGISA!!!!!" Nagisa jumped back in and accidentally rammed his body into a nearby wall. "Oh gosh!" He screamed. Giggling came from Akari's phone and Nagisa quickly pieced together a conclusion. "Oh, hi Ritsu, I uh, why did you do that?" He asked while picking himself up. "Wellll, I was visiting Kayano to see how she was doing. Then I heard you walking into her room. I don't know why I did it, it's just fun ya know?" Nagisa straightened his back, all while saying "Well, I'm not sure that's a good way to greet someone ya know?" Ritsu shrugged. Nagisa walked over to the ai and sat on the bed. "So uhh, how've you been? I guess it's been a while you could say." "Well, overall it's been good. Being all over the internet has been quite the experience for me, it's such a vast and mysterious place. I'm not even sure I'm close to being done exploring it" She said cheerfully. Nagisa looked with a kind smile at her. In the seven years that Ritsu had been online, she'd grown so much. As she spent more time with people, and even herself. Her thoughts and emotions had begun to grow to extents of an actual human being. She didn't speak even remotely or even act like a robot anymore. She reached a point in her evolution as an ai to where she was more than just that. Interactions with her were a lot less void of thought, and sometimes, you forgot you were even talking to some kind of robot in the first place. Her opinions and worldviews were also very much matured over the years as well. Although that might seem like a negative, especially coming from an ai designed to kill, to class E seeing her grow was one of the many blessings they had gone through together. "Hey Nagisa! Are you in her?!" Akari was shouting. "Whoops, I guess I should get going, wouldn't want to interrupt you." Ritsu said, winking. She then left the screen leaving just a normal phone. Nagisa looked to see that Akari's background image for her lock screen was of him and her back in middle school. It warmed his heart to see how much she cared and cherished him. It also helped raise his dangerously low self confidence by quite a bit as well. Akari walked in with a cup of coffee stared at Nagisa. The blue haired boy not realizing that he was probably not supposed to be in the room, gave her a small wave. Akari sighed and decided it wasn't too big of a deal, she trusted Nagisa, so she didn't really mind if he was in her room. She put her coffee down on the table and sat next to him. "So, what are you doing in here?" She asked, very curious as to what the reason was for him hanging in her bedroom. Nagisa, finally realizing what he was doing for the second time, jumped off the bed. "Oh, gosh I'm so sorry, um, I didn't mean to come into hang out in your room, I just was exploring and I uh, kinda got distracted." Akari raised her eyebrow. Nagisa started getting more embarrassed each moment she held the questioning face she had. "Well, what I meant was ritsu kind of popped up on your phone and we started talking." He said, desperately trying to defend himself. Akari's expression changed from being slightly irritated, to quite hysteric in a matter of moments. After laughing for a little, much to Nagisa embarrassment, she started calming down. "Sorry, I was just messin with ya!" She said cheerfully. 'Oh, well that's a relief.' Nagisa thought while exhaling. "You know, you're really fun to tease." "Yea, yea. Karma tells me that all the time. No need to rub it in." The two ended up staying in the room and started talking. "Yea, my manager is kind of strict. He's always talking about how I waste too much of my time and should focus on acting more, but he really is sweet when it comes down to it. He is very mindful of my personal life and always lets me request free time. Most of the time he hates it when I do that, but he's overall a very understanding person" Akari said happily. 'Wow, really? From what I've heard, usually managers are hard to work with and don't really care for your personal life." "Well, yea I guess. From what I've heard from other co actors and actresses, their managers are super bossy and really only care what's in it for them. I've had mine for as long as I can remember and he's been one of the nicest people I've ever met. He kind of reminds me of you in a way." Nagisa smiled at her compliment. "Well, it's nice to hear about that," He said getting up. "I'm gonna go to the restroom real quick. I'll be right back." "OK." With that, he left. "Hey Kayano, how's it going?" A feminine voice asked. Akari flinched at the sound. She looked over to her phone where Ritsu was sitting. Well, maybe it was laying. It's hard to tell when your friend lives in 2d. "Oh, uh hi Ritsu." she responded. "Sooooo, whatcha guys doin? I saw Nagisa earlier, you guys on a date?" 'YES!' Akari's heart shouted. "Um, no," is what she actually said. "Hmmm, that's funny, it kinda feels like you are. Well, if you guys aren't on a date, can I stay for a while? 'Please don't' her heart said. "Uhhhhhh, sure you can stay." "Ok thanks, I'm just gonna sit right here, she said,pulling up a virtual chair." 'Well, just great Akaria, you ruined your "date" with Nagisa.' Internally, she was scolding herself for letting Ritsu stay with them, but if she rejected her well, she would never forgive herself, especially since it was Ritsu who was asking. Nagisa walked back into the room and almost instantly saw what was on the phone screen. "Oh hey Ritsu, long time no see" He said jokingly "Hello Nagisa!" The ai responded. Once again they were talking on the bed. Kayano placed ritsu on a phone stand so it'd be easier and less awkward to talk to her. Soon enough, they had run the topic of jobs dry and decided to move on. "So Uhhh, I don't know, are you seeing anyone right now Kayano?" "Of course I am silly, I'm seeing you and Ritsu right now." She said sarcastically, yet seriously. If you couldn't guess, she was trying to avoid the question. If she talked about it now, her feelings might slip and then it'd be super awkward the rest of the day. She, of course, didn't want that to happen at all cost. "Well, sorry that's not what I meant. I meant, um, are you like, dating anybody at the moment?" His eyes showed a great amount of curiosity, kind of like what a cat would look like if it spotted a laser. Much to her misfortune, those eyes were directed straight towards Akari, which made it super hard to keep an act on. However, she was able to maintain and went on with the conversation as if nothing was bothering her. "Um, no, not at the moment. I really haven't met anyone that I like. I guess you could say I'm just waiting for the right time." Nagisa, satisfied with his answer, turned his gaze away, much to her relief. "Hey, I'm kind of bored, wanna go somewhere?" Nagisa cocked his head in confusion. "Ummm, sure that's fine, but where should we go?" Then, pure, uncomfortable silence came. Since it was the middle of winter, both of the two people didn't want to go outside, especially in the frigid conditions that were waiting for them. "Ehhh, actually I don't really wanna go anywhere if that's ok with you." Akari shrugged. "Hey Ritsu, you got any ideas as to wh-" Before he could finish, Nagisa noticed what she was doing on the screen. At the moment, Ritsu was kicking back on a lawn chair at the beach with half a coconut and a very warm, tropical sun. Figuring that she was teasing the two, Akari shut off her phone. In almost an instant the screen lit back to life andthe speakers started emanating a voice, "Hey! I'm still here ya know." Supringisly, the tropical beach was gone and Ritsu was back in her normal clothes. The background was now just Akari's background image and a few of her apps. The two former pigtailed students chuckled. Ritsu rolled her eyes, trying not to show that she was angry for turning her off. " Ok, fine you guh-." before she could finish what she was saying, the phone was instantly turned. "Whoops, I think I forgot to charge my phone last night." Akari said embarrassingly. She plugged the phone in and it instantly turned back on. It instantly booted up and went straight to her lock screen. Funnily enough, Ritsu was nowhere to be found. However, there was a little text found in her notifications that read "Sorry, I left. I saw through Karma's camera that he was doing something with Okuda and Nakamura and I wanted to go see it. I'll see ya guys later." 'Ummmm, ok.' Akari turned off her phone and turned over to face Nagisa. "Ritsu said she had to go." "Oh, ok then." So that meant that both Nagisa and Akari were left alone together again. "Hey, you wanna watch a movie?" Nagisa asked. "Ehhh, sure I guess, can't seem to find anything better to do." The two got off the bed and headed straight to the living area, where Akari went to the T.V stand drawers and started looking for something to watch. "Hmmmm, Hey Nagisa, is there anything you wanna watch?" Said boy was making his way on the sofa where he took a bag of popcorn and plopped himself down. "Uhhh, I don't really know, I'll be fine with anything you pick." Akari perked up and looked back at him. "Oh Nagisa, stop being so polite and just pick something." she scolded. Nagisa's face started sweating, he honestly didn't know what to pick so he was kind of at a loss. "Um, mind if I look into the drawer." Akari shook her head and Nagisa got up to look. All of them seemed to be in alphabetical order and were squeezed neatly between each other. 'Wow, she's organized.' He thought. His eyes wandered straight towards the end of the drawer to find that the collection of movies stopped at the letter H. "Hey Kayano, do the other drawers have the rest of the alphabet?" Akari cocked her head before shortly realizing what he meant. "Oh yea, the rest of them have all the other movies." Nagisa nodded and started searching through the rest of the compartments. After searching through the entire alphabet and finding nothing he was interested in, he eventually made it to Z; and after finishing up, found that there was one other drawer that had been left unchecked. He looked inside to see that it contained all of Kayano's movies and shows she had acted in, as seen in each cover of each case. Nagisa was curious to see what his friend had been starring in after all these years. He had watched quite a number of her films and other productions, but knew he really wasn't even close to finishing all of them, especially since bing watching her shows took forever. "Hey Kayano, mind if we watch one of your movies?" He yelled. Akari, who was right now grabbing some pudding poked her head from around the dividing wall. "Uh, sure I guess." "Thanks" After browsing through the many dvd's in the compartment, most of which he had watched, his eyes came across a particular movie that he had never watched before. "Well, minus well do this one." he thought. He took the dvd out and inserted it into the player. "Sho, wat movie didu pick?" Akari asked, mouthful of putting to add. Nagisa turned around to face her. "Ummm, it's called school, love, and spirits" Her eyes widened and her skin paled at what he stated they'd be watching. Nagisa didn't really see it though because he was busy looking at the movie's casing. The reason for Akari's reaction was that that movie was one of, in her opinion, the cheesiest most embarrassing movie she's ever acted in in her life. Ironically it did incredibly well in the box office and it's ratings were in the top ten of her entire career. Basically, the plot of the film was that a girl, whom she acted as, was a normal student doing normal things, in a "normal" world. One day she meets a boy who transferred over to her school and she quickly befriends him. With that she also learned a dark secret of his pass and about his quest to destroy spirits who were messing with the world. The entire film was generalized as a comedy, but the development and backstories of the characters got people hooked. However, since it was a comedy, the characters portrayed by the actors were less than normal. Akari sighed and decided it wouldn't really hurt. Considering that it was well received and Nagisa hadn't watched it before, she figured it wouldn't embarrass her too much. Plus, it'd been a while since she watched it herself so it would be a good trip down memory lane. Boy was she wrong. Throughout the movie she had to suffer her cheesy one liners and cringy remarks and actions she made at stupid looking ghost. Nagisa was laughing his head off the entire time, making him oblivious to the girl beside him. Her face was red and sweaty for the entire first hour of the film; and she just wished that she could die at that moment. However, when it came to the mid end of the film, the two came across a scene that Akari had very clearly remembered and dreaded. It was a confession and kiss scene. Now, the reason for her very clear memory of it, was because she filmed this when she was a first year in highschool, back when her feelings for Nagisa were all new and fresh. It had been her third film after going back into her acting, however, it had been her first film ever where she had to kiss a person. Sure she had played being in love before, but never did it come to a kiss. So, how did she get past this tricky dilemma she was placed in? Well, she mentally replaced the actor playing her significant other, with Nagisa; and boy was she into it. She'd been so enormed in the fact that she was kissing Nagisa again, that she actually forgot that it was not him. The director was so impressed with the realism in her acting that he decided to put it in the official movie. Her co actor, who was also in his early teens, stood there for quite a while before regaining conscience, signifying that that was probably his first kiss as well. With that said, Akari, though still incredibly flustered, decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try and find out if Nagisa thought the same way about her, at least, before later tonight. When the scene played, she turned around to see Nagisa's reaction to it. Even though the room was pretty dark, she could see his eyes were wide. They looked surprised, almost angry or sad even, although the trippy lighting of the tv made it hard to tell. However, this gave her hope. If she was lucky, then maybe, just maybe, that look in his eyes meant he was jealous of her co actor. This gave her a boost of confidence, knowing that her chances of him accepting her confession were higher than before. Now all she had to do was wait till the right time.