The Equation of Hearts

√𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟺𝟼ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـﮩ٨ـﮩ

As the sun was still clearly in the sky, Cassandra waited on the porch for him. It was a warm night so she wore a high collared vest, but she still wore a parka jacket. Kato arrived and waved at her, she waved back. He excused himself to change into something better and she let him, continuing to text Odele.

He was actually a fun person to text, easy to share banter with since there was a lot for each of them to make fun of. And she was completely aware that he wasn't used to her way of thinking. So she found it entertaining. It was like a genius meeting someone smarter than them, but also put in less effort. It was frustrating in a competitive way.

Kato arrived wearing something similar to her, with a parka jacket over a high collared vest and army trousers. She instantly left Odele and grinned at him, "dressed nicely," she teased,

"You might want to change out of such nice trousers. We'll be running." He confirmed and she gave him her bag and phone, hopping over the wall between their houses and going into her house quickly. He looked at the texts Odele was giving her. He smiled at it to himself, Cassandra made a new friend.

Cassandra returned in cargo pants and popped her neck, already smiling like an idiot at the thought of what Kato had in store for them. The trip to Mt.Fuji was an hour or so by train, so they didn't waste time boarding a train and doing their own things.

"Do you want to stay there for the night?" Kato asked calmly, he was looking at hotels close by that he could book for the night.

"Don't you have work?" She raised a brow,

"We can leave early." He shrugged. She mumbled and looked at his screen,

"Uh... let's just share a motel. Way cheaper anyway." She shrugged, he nodded and looked at motels before finding one and focusing on her. But she was texting Odele again. He didn't mind, that was the point. "This guy..." she mumbled and he peered over, "sorry man, this guy keeps insisting we're going on a date." She grumbled and he hummed, he had a few things he could say, but he couldn't choose which one he wanted to say,

"Ask him to define it." He then decided.

"Oh! Good idea." She snickered and texted him. Odele's response of a nice restaurant dinner and then a club made even Kato laugh. Cassandra was shocked, he laughed. "Dude..." she saw him compose himself,

"Sorry," he apologised and pulled off his blindfold. She looked at him, shocked.

"Don't be sorry, that was literally- you can laugh?" Her jaw dropped and she turned off her phone, putting it in her pocket.

"I used to be a very expressive child," he recalled, "my first memory is me chasing after my mother down the halls." He tilted his head. Her first memory was a tiger licking her. "Regardless, I do hope that despite not having a nice restaurant reserved and a club to go to thereafter, you enjoy this outing." He rested a hand on hers and she looked at it. She never felt her face warm as violently as it did.

"It was my idea anyway." She huffed and kept her hand there, "you're... an awesome friend." She calmed down. He hummed and squeezed her hand,

"I wouldn't have wanted to have met anyone else." He agreed. She couldn't think of anything else to say, she never really complimented people, but with how welcoming Kato was, she was an absolute mess. She treated him like she knew him for years. She only knew him for a month, if that. But time felt slow with him, he knew everything she liked and exactly the right things to say to get her just how he wanted. Sure she treated him like she knew him for years, but he genuinely seemed to have known her for years.

They arrived at the station and rushed out as the Sun was beginning to set. He looked at the time and looked around, they could see the mountain, and they instantly, rather blindly, made their way. It was sparsely populated as it was, a national park. So they could be rather open as the pair jogged to a map and followed the route to a hiking trail.