"Okay, I can do this, I can do this", Koshi said to himself. He looked down the hall to see the other residents of the Goddess' Dormitory cheering him on. The young boy took a deep breath and reached out his hand to the door, knocking on it. It creaked open and a pink haired girl popped out. "Oh, Koshi! Can I help you with something?"
Koshi swallowed a big lump, and prepared for what he wanted to ask. "A-Atena, i-i-if it's not too much trouble, then would you..."
Atena tilted her head curiously, before the young boy before her finally blurted out what he wanted to say.
"Would you like to go out on a date with me?!"
The pink haired girl stood frozen in place, while Koshi had his eyes shut in anticipation.
Atena felt butterflies fly around in her stomach, a feeling she always would ignore whenever she was around Koshi. Seeing how high his hopes were right now, she had no choice in her answer.
"Y-yes." "Wha-?" "I'll... go on a date with you."
Koshi felt a huge wave of relief come over him. Frey squealed from the other end, but was silenced and pulled back by the other girls.
"Do you want to go now?", asked Atena. "Y-yeah. But you can get ready first! I'll do the same!", said Koshi. The female college student nodded.
. . .
"You look so adorable, Koshi!", exclaimed Frey, who was looking at the outfit being worn by her dorm mother. It was a grey button down shirt, with a pair of brown slacks to go with it.
Koshi turned around, and saw Atena approaching him. She wore a light blue skirt that reached down just below her knees, as well as a lavender blouse.
"Shall we head out?", she asked. Koshi, snapping out of his daze at how beautiful his date looked, nodded.
The two of them awkwardly connected hands and walked out the door.
"Have fun you two!", said Mineru. "But not too much fun!", Kiriya said teasingly.
Koshi and Atena blushed insanely. "L-let's go." Atena felt herself being dragged along by her young date.
"So, where are we going first?", asked Atena. "I-I didn't want to make the wrong choices, so I thought I'd let you decide", Koshi shyly said. Atena mentally squealed to herself. "Why do you have to be so cute?!" "Well, dates you usually have dinners involved, so maybe..." "I-is there anywhere you would like to go in particular?", asked Koshi. "Um, there is this one restaurant I like going to, but it's not that fancy..." "Doesn't matter! If you like it, then let's go there!"
Atena wanted to object, but decided against it. This was Koshi's date with her, and she didn't want to ruin that for him. Instead she let him lead her to the restaurant she spoke of. Once they arrived, Koshi didn't hesitate to ask for a table. The waiter looked at him with confusion, then glanced at Atena, who silently nodded for him to continue. "Right this way then."
The waiter lead the couple to a table. Once they sat down, Atena looked around it. "So what can I get for the two of you?", asked the waiter. Koshi quickly scanned through the menu. "Could I have the chocolate milkshake?" "Oh! Um, me too", said Atena. "Anything to eat?" "We still need to decide."
The waiter nodded and walked off. Atena then continued to look around at the table. "Is something wrong? Is the table not good?" "No, it's okay, it's just I've been sitting at this exact table the last few days I've come here." "O-oh."
An awkward silence came between the two. "Can I ask you something?", Atena said. "Um, y-yeah! Go ahead." "Why did you ask me out? I'm curious."
Koshi blushed and looked down. "Is it something embarrassing?" "N-no! It's just... the others edged me on to ask you out." "But why me?" The young boy was still blushing madly. "If it's a sensitive topic, then you don't..." "It's because I have a crush on you!"
People looked at the couple after hearing Koshi blurt those words out, but they then continued doing their own things. "A c-c-crush?", stuttered Atena.
The awkward silence returned, and so did the waiter. "Here are your drinks. Would you like to order meals now?" "Could we have some crumbled chicken, please?", asked Atena. "Of course, ma'am. Anything else?" "That will be all, thank you." The waiter left, giving Atena a chance to speak to her younger date. "So... you have a crush on me? For how long?" "For a while. But it's probably nothing! You obviously don't like me that way. You said so yourself, you want to be an older sister figure for me. I'm just glad I got to act on my feelings and have this date with you."
Atena felt a little sad at hearing this. When she heard Koshi mention the sister part, she couldn't help but also feel guilty, almost as if she wished she never said those words. She reached out her hand and held Koshi's. "Then let's make this a great date, then." The young boy smiled and nodded.
The waiter returned with their meal, and Koshi looked at it hungrily. "It'll be better if you actually eat it", giggled Atena. Koshi awkwardly laughed and put a piece of the chicken in his mouth. He closed his eyes and hummed in satisfaction. "It's good, isn't it?" "It's delicious!" Atena smiled and took a bottle of sauce that was already on the table for them. "You should try it with this. You won't regret it." Koshi didn't hesitate to coat his food with the sauce, then took another bite. "This is heaven."
Atena couldn't help it, but ended up staring dreamily at her date. "I could get use to this", she thought.
. . .
The couple walked down the street with their hands joined. "That was fun. You were pretty good for your first date", said Atena. Koshi scratched his cheek with his index finger. "You really think so?" "Yes! Definitely!"
As they continued walking, Atena began to think to the conversation she had with her date earlier. "Um, Koshi, can I make a selfish request?" "O-okay?" "You said you might want to to do this only once. But... I don't want to." Koshi was more confused. "If it's alright with you, I want to do this again. A date, I mean. Between the two of us."
Koshi felt himself get excited, but kept his composure. "Really?" "Yeah. And who knows, maybe if we keep doing this, I could think about being more than just a sister to you." "A-are you saying..."
Atena put a finger to Koshi's lips. "Don't jinx it."
The couple walked further until they arrived at the Goddess' Dormitory. "So, our date is now officially over", said Koshi. "Actually, I think... we're supposed to kiss to end a date." Koshi froze when he heard this. "K-kiss?!"
"It doesn't have to be over the top! Just... just a quick kiss, okay?" Atena crouched down and closed her eyes. Koshi closed his eyes as well and leaned in. It was only for a few seconds, before they separated.
"Um, we should head inside. It's getting late, you know?" "R-right."
The couple walked into the dorms, smiling to themselves.
This was the beginning to their love story.
