28 DAYS [MakoHaru]

thirty one → 12/26

Chapter Thirty-One: December 26th

Makoto receives a second text at around ten in the morning, this time, thankfully, from Zoe (Makoto was almost too afraid to check his phone when he heard the text tone).

I'd love to meet you! I'm leaving tonight for Switzerland, so perhaps at 11 am? The Starbucks downtown? I'll be wearing a pink scarf!

Makoto nearly smiles at the three kaomojis that follow her text. He sends an affirmative response.

Sounds good. See you then.

Sighing, he sets his phone down on his bedside table, next to the bowl of rice he hasn't bothered to clean up yet, and pulls himself out of bed, deciding he needs to get ready quickly if he's going to be downtown in an hour.

As he dresses for the day, realization sets in. Today is his first date with Haruka, he remembers, and judging by the way that conversation with his dad went last night, it could very well be his last.

His heart lurches in his chest at the thought. He layers a blue cardigan over a striped shirt to wear with brown jeans and emerald green Converse high-tops.

Entering the kitchen, Makoto spots a neon pink post-it note on the refrigerator. Makoto- it reads, I took the twins out to spend some of their Christmas money. Dad is going to be staying at a friend's for a few days. We'll talk later. Make sure you eat lunch! Love you, Mom.

Crumpling up the note and tossing it in the trash, Makoto nabs a 1000 yen note from the mad money stash in the cupboard and tucks it into his wallet, locking up the house and because he's early, he decides to make the walk downtown.

Downtown Iwatobi isn't much in comparison to the big city; instead it wasn't more than a large apartment complex next to a couple grocery stores, a few restaurants, and a shopping complex.

Listening to music while he walks, Makoto realizes halfway there he never charged his phone last night and it eventually shuts off, Makoto staring at the now-black screen helplessly.

About ten minutes later, he makes it into the shopping complex, which isn't as busy as it usually is, being the holiday season and all. Makoto enters the Starbucks, completely enveloped in the bitter scent of coffee beans and the sweetness of vanilla in an instant. He glances around the shop in search for Zoe.

In the back, staring at a bedazzled phone, is the petite blonde he recognizes from his class. On the table in front of her is a rainbow-looking drink, like a unicorn was thrown in a blender and glitter had been thrown on top. Makoto is willing to bet money not even a drop of coffee could be found in that explosion of pink and blue.

Like promised, she's wearing a pastel pink scarf in a French-style knot, alongside a powder blue polka-dot sweater, a pink corduroy button-up skirt, and black cat stockings. Her hair was done in a messy side-braid, with two curls framing her round-shaped face. Makoto notices she's wearing shiny lip gloss.

He easily slides into the booth seat across from her and she looks up from her phone, perking up instantly. "Hi, Tachibana-kun!" She greets him cheerfully. "You came!"

"Of course," Makoto smiles timidly. "I said I would, didn't I?"

"Right, right, you sent that text, which obviously means you're coming, I don't know why I thought you weren't going to show up, silly me-" She cuts herself off with another stream of sentences. "You thirsty? Sorry, I bought my drink ahead of time. I got here fifteen minutes ago. Have you had the limited edition Unicorn Frappuccino? It's so cute, right? Though, it's really sugary. Um, are you going to get anything?"