*:･ﾟYou Bet I Stare ･ﾟ:*

CHAPTER 5 - cupid

KOU
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As Mitsuba and I walk up to the pastry shop that I was talking about, I open the door for him and follow him inside, watching him as he takes a big inhale of the smells coming from all the different pastries being baked. "It smells really good in here. How did you find out about this place?" He looks up at me and I glance at him, "Oh, I mean, I like to fancy myself as a baker I guess.. not that I'm all that good at it, but.." I look at a case that some pastries are being held in, "I sometimes come here to see what new kinds of pastries I think would be fun to learn how to bake, and sometimes I stop by here on the way home from school to bring my little sister something home." I look back at Mitsuba, unsure if the smile on his face is him brewing up a comment to make fun of me with—or if he's genuinely interested in what I have to say—regardless, I'm just glad the smile is there.

"So you fancy yourself as a baker, huh?" Mitsuba looks up from his plate of flan that I got for him, and I nod in response with a mouth full of sponge cake. "What kinds of things are you able to bake?" He watches me struggle to finish my bite, because I don't want him to be kept waiting while I pathetically swallow the bite in a rush. "Anything really, cookies and cake mostly though." Mitsuba nods, "I wish I could bake like that, but photography is really the only strong suit that I have." He then shrugs and looks back down at his plate. "Photography is really the only thing I can ever see myself pursing all the way, I guess." I sit there staring at Mitsuba, I could tell he was being genuine about what he said. His shoulders were rested as he continued to speak, and I could just feel myself admiring him from where I sat. Across from him at that small table in the pastry shop.

"I don't know.. I guess I just haven't really brought into consideration all the other things I'd be good at." Mitsuba looks up at me, meeting my eyes with his eyes. He then smiled as he got up. "Walk me home?" I watch him get up then snap out of my staring trance. "Oh. Yeah, of course- where do you live?" I grab all my things before looking at him again. "Do you want to take something home to your mom? I'm buying-" Mitsuba smiles widely. Wider than his already existing smile. "Yeah, she'd like that." He says as he nods, then we both walk back up to the counter to get a pastry serving to-go. We then leave the little shop and begin to make our way to the Mitsuba household.

As we walked into a residential area, both me and Mitsuba looked up at the sky. The stars were already starting to come out, and the moon was shining brighter than usual. "The night sky is pretty awesome around here," I break my gaze with the sky and look down at Mitsuba as we walk. "Is it like this all the time?" He shakes his head, "I don't really know, I'm not usually out in town this long." I nod and look back up at the sky. "Ah, Right." We then cut away and stopped in front of a residential apartment building, and I followed Mitsuba to his apartment. When we made it to a door that had a nameplate situated by the front door that read "Mitsuba", I knew we must've made it. Mitsuba then looked up at me and smiled, "Thanks for offering to hang out with me after school, I had a lot of fun." I nod and hand him the boxed up pastry that I was carrying for him. "I'm glad you did—I'll see you at school tomorrow, yeah?" He smiled and took the box, "Yeah, or you could just.. give me a text later on." I raise an eyebrow as Mitsuba places a folded up piece of paper into my palm, and before I can even say anything, I feel a flushed feeling overwhelm my face. He looks up at me and smiles, closing my stiff palm. "See you tomorrow, Minamoto-kun." Mitsuba then opens the front door and walks inside the apartment, leaving me alone to stand there like a flustered idiot.

Before I leave, I glance at the door; my face was even more flushed and I could feel it. Why was I so flustered all of a sudden? We're just friends.. and he gave me his number.. like what friends do. I shake my head and secure the paper in my pocket before rushing home, since Teru was most likely worried sick about where I was. I could feel my phone buzzing the whole time I was out. As I left the apartment building, I looked up at where I could recall Mitsubas apartment being before smiling wildly and rushing home.