Chapter 21 - Sunday Date
Today is Sunday, a fun day for many.
Yōta's plan for today is to go buy groceries with Miyako in the morning, and go to have a fun outings with Koyuki and Miyako in the noon.
He had three movie passes on him right now.
Three magical pieces of paper that allow you to see any movies that you choose at the movie theater on main street.
Shōichi gave these passes to Yōta before he left yesterday, apparently, he got them from the newspaper seller and he isn't even come back to the dorm since yesterday night.
Yamato on the other side is already going out to watch a movie with people from other classes.
And while Yōta walks in the hallway to meet Miyako in the front of dorm, he spots Chris.
She's standing upright in the yard under the sunlight. Her blonde hair and proper posture are beautiful.
"..."
She's not holding anything, but she stands ready. And then...
"Haa!"
She steps forward and thrusts her hand out as if she's piercing something, creating a gust of wind that blows everything in its way.
She's moving fast like a beast who's after its prey. She then comes back and stands ready again.
"You have a beautiful form, Chris-san." Yōta remarked from the sideline.
Upon hearing that, Chris turns her head to Yōta and smiles, "Yōta-dono, good morning."
"Good morning." He greeted back with a same smile, "I see that you're practicing Fleche."
Chris' eyes lits up at that statement, "You know how to fencing?"
Yōta chuckles and approaches her, "Yes. I'm not really boasting, but I'm quite proficient with any kind of weapons." He said before he takes a stance beside her.
She noticed the stance, it's the same stance that she just did, but somehow she feels like there's something different in it.
So she decides to observe him with full attention.
He brings his left foot back and bends his upper body forward, he then charges forward with a burst of speed, thrusting his empty hand at front.
A large amount of whirlwind blowing out from the tips of his hand to the sky above, wiping out one cloud above clean.
As Chris looks intently at the form and the way he executes that, she couldn't helped but to clap her hands.
"That was beautifully done, Yōta-dono."
Yōta smiles thankfully at the compliments, "Fleche is quite tricky and difficult move to execute." He started as he takes another stance.
Chris nods at that statement, she understands that much, her instructor always mentioned it to her.
"But it's very effective technique to counterattack someone from any position to keep you from being hit."
He mentions Chris to follow his movement, and the Friedrich follows him without hesitation since she notices that Yōta's trying to help her right now.
"Always make sure that your back foot's push is preparatory, just shifting your weight, and the primary push comes off your front foot, or the move is just a big step."
"You need to be able to step over without swinging your torso around. Don't overlunge, leaving yourself off balance on one foot and often your hand low."
"Be balanced enough that, if your point is near the target and you are not in immediate danger of being hit yourself, you can continue to move in."
"Make sure you keep a loose grip on your rapier as to make a fine-tuning and use your footwork to adjust the distance so that your opponent cannot reach your body but you can reach theirs."
"Then use your footwork to step in, pulling your elbow out back past the ribs; while you're doing it, a relaxed grip will allow you to 'snap' the point upfront before you twist your wrist, changing into a tight grip for creating more force in your jab."
"Go on, try it."
Without further ado, she takes the stance just like Yōta showed earlier, she brings her foot back, carefully shifting her back foot to the more comfortable position.
She then leans her body forward a bit, pulling her elbow out back past the ribs with loosen-grip and lunges her body before accelerating and thrust her hand forward.
While doing so, she twists her wrist in process and it generates a whirlwind from the tip of her hand.
It's powerful enough to blast the big stone along with all the plant pots and the wall in the yard that's not far away from them into a smithereens.
"..."
"...Oops. Should've point it above."
The explosion inside the yard caught Miyako's attention outside as she hurriedly jumps over the wall and lands on the yard, looking around with her keen eyes.
She then spots two familiar people with wry smile on their face as they scratched the back of their heads at the same time.
Both of them are looking very sorry right now, especially Chris.
"... Really?"
"I am sorry." Chris bows in front of Miyako.
"Well, it doesn't matter." Miyako shakes her head in response before she looks at Yōta, "You should fix it before Reiko-san saw her plants got destroyed like this."
"You're right."
"Fix it? How?" Chris turned her head to Yōta with a confused expression on her face.
"Just wait and see." Miyako replied while pulling Chris back to her side.
Yōta picks a stone and a branch from the ground before he slashes the stone and the wall at the same time with a branch, "Antithesis."
["How beautiful~"] A beautiful and soothing voice of a woman suddenly sang through inside of Yōta's head.
Yōta simply smiles at that, he's already getting used of her voices suddenly popping out inside his head whenever he used Karakusamoyō.
While the voice running through inside his head, there's a flower petals dancing around his feet for a second before it dissipates together with the wind.
And then everything that was destroyed by Chris' attack earlier comes back to it's original form like magic.
Chris was slack-jawed at the sight in front of her.
"Fufu, it's fascinating isn't it?" Miyako giggled behind her hand at Chris' funny expression.
It's always funny to see people's first reaction when they saw Yōta's Antithesis in work.
"You're just like Siegrun!" Chris clapped her hands with sparkly eyes.
"Siegrun?" Miyako tilts her head in response.
"Yes." Chris nods her head, "Siegrun Kohlschreiber, one of the core member of the Hounds! She has this amazing power that could heal everyone and she can also bring people's limbs back to its original form even if that limbs were destroyed! It's like a miracle!"
The secret behind of their powers are pretty similar but the way they executed it is very different.
Siegrun had to surrounds people's destroyed limbs with her Ki before returning it to its former, complete state.
She's using her own Ki to perform the technique which is pretty energy-consuming. She can uses this technique 2 times only in a day before all of her energy depleted.
Yōta on the other side doesn't even need to use any type of energy, he simply see the thread of concept before cutting it and swaps it with another to perform the miracle-like phenomenon.
He can perform this technique as much as he wants to as long as he has something in his hand to cut that concept.
"So there's another person who could play with some concept as well, huh..." Yōta murmured thoughtfully when he heard that.
As far as he knows, he only knew 2 people who could perform this kind of BS technique.
Kawakami Momoyo and her grandfather, Kawakami Tesshin.
Grampa Tesshin could manipulates a small amount concept of time to perform his Zeroth Manifestation, 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva.
The reason why Tesshin achieved the ability to manipulate concept of time simply because he's been training his mind, heart, and physics for a hundred of years to the point where he could finally manipulates the time even for 1 second only.
Momoyo's case on the other side is more bullshit. She achieved the technique of Concept Manipulation by simply copying Yōta and her grandfather.
With a simple look, and boom, lo and behold, she can also do the same thing. She just forces herself way to manipulate the concept with brute force, unlike Yōta and Tesshin who achieved them through their strong dedication and hardwork.
That woman is seriously too broken! This world is too unfair!
Momoyo is definitely born under the biggest star ever in the universe. She was born to be the greatest, the strongest! It's like her fate is already decided the moment she arrived in this world.
It takes Yōta decades and more just to achieved Karakusamoyō. But that woman simply looks at his technique and copying them like it was nothing!
How's that fair!? NERF PLEASE!
Miyako shakes her head in fond manner as she looks at her crush suddenly cursing Momoyo's name under his breath. She can understands his frustration.
She then gives a comfort pat on Yōta's back, "There, there."
"Is Yōta-dono alright?"
"He's okay." Miyako answered, "He's always like this when he starts to remember about how Momo-senpai copying his technique so nilly-willy."
In response to that, Chris hummed with a thoughtful look on her face, "I see that Goddess of War is really living up to her name... If she can copy this kind of technique with a simple glance... Her potential as a fighter must be unlimited, it's like there's nothing that could hold her potential back."
What a scary person.
"Now that you're already part of Kazama Family, I think you should try to get used with everything happened in this City."
"I will try my best."
-Scene Change-
Since the refrigerator was empty, Yōta and Miyako headed out to the nearby shopping district to buy groceries.
From brand-name clothing stores to supermarkets, there was an array of stores. There was even a drug store with daily necessities amongst them.
They decide to part away to buy the necessities.
...
"Something smells really nice over there."
While looking around the district for a while after meeting up in the plaza with plastic bags on both of their hands, they could smell something that's trigger their nose.
They then turned towards the source of it.
"Welcome~ Would you like to try some delicious, fresh takoyaki~?"
It's takoyaki shop with a girl younger than Miyako waved her hands as she politely drew customers in.
She looked like she was about ten or twelve years old.
The young girl then notices both of Yōta and Miyako, and ran over.
"You're so beautiful!" She suddenly points her little finger at Miyako who's caught off guard by that statement.
Miyako blushes lightly as she pats the little girl's head, "Fufu, thank you. You are cute too."
The little girl giggles at the affection she just got from Miyako before she grabs Miyako's hand.
"Would you like some takoyaki, Onee-chan, Onii-chan? It's piping hot, has a big octopus in it, and is really, really tasty~!"
Upon seeing that cute and sparkly blue big orbs staring at both of them with full of expectation, Yōta and Miyako couldn't help themselves but to look at each other with a wry smile on their face before they walk together with the little girl.
The girl guides them with little skips in her feet as they approach the food stall.
"I hope that my girl isn't troubling you?" The owner of the food stand greeted them with a wry smile on her face.
Yōta shakes his hand lightly with a smile on his face, "Of course not. She's a nice and cute girl."
The little girl brightened up at the compliments as she giddily taps her little feet on the ground.
Yōta then crouch down, looking at the little girl with a soft smile on his face, "I'll take two orders of takoyaki. Can you do that for me?"
"Two orders?" Her large eyes blinked as she tilted her head.
"Yes." He nods his head in response before he points to himself and to Miyako after, "For me and this beautiful Onee-chan. Could you do that for me?"
The little girl's eyes brightened up before she nods her head repeatedly in a cute manner, "Okay! Mama, we've got an order! Two takoyaki!"
She then trotted her way to her mother with a bright smile.
"She's so cute, isn't she?" Miyako asked while looking fondly at the sight of the little girl happily interacting with her mother.
"It'll be nice if our kid in the future will be like that too." Yōta playfully said before he leaves Miyako who's suddenly freezing in place with her body flushes in red.
Did she hears that wrong? She's not, isn't she!? She clearly heard that! Yōta just said 'OUR KID'! OUR KID!
She sports the biggest smile she could ever form on her face as she's skipping her way to Yōta.
She couldn't be happier right now, it's already confirmed, it's seriously only a matter of time until they officially dating each other!
And she can do this and that with Yōta finally!
Uehehehe, she can't wait that.
-Scene Change-
It's now been four hours since the shopping, and Yōta made his way over to the main square by the station where he'd agree to meet up.
Miyako already went to meet up with Koyuki in the Sakakibara's house first before they come to the meeting place.
It's a little past 01:00 PM right now.
He put a lot of consideration into what he's wearing, which is rare for him. All that's left to do now is wait for both of the girls to arrive.
He decided to go with a distressed black denim jacket with hoodie over white t-shirt, and black jeans together with white sneakers.
Fancy outfits never works if you don't know what the hell you're doing, so he picked the safe route.
"They should've be here by now."
"Sorry we took so long."
And just as he closed his phone, after checking the time, and puts it inside his pocket, a playful voice could be heard coming from beside him.
He instinctively turns his head to the source of it.
"..."
His jaw slightly dropped at the sight in front of him.
There stands two girls that he'd been waiting for and their appearance just makes the Nagakura to lose his voice for a moment.
Miyako wore a New York cropped cable v-neck sweater vest with almond cake lightweight full-zip hoodie over the vest, below she wore white high-rise denim shorty shorts and faux fur double-strap cork slide sandal. She finished the look with slim rectangle sunglasses.
Koyuki on the other side went with white and black two-pieces casual cotton dresses with bunny prints on it, below she wore paily braided sandal.
Both of them immediately starts to draw the attention of the surrounding pedestrians.
"This clothes was actually something I bought this morning when we were out shopping." Miyako said as she twirls around, showing every bit of her to Yōta, "It's pretty sexy, don't you think?"
"Yes, it looks really good on you, Miyako-san." Yōta nods his head in agreement.
"Nee, nee, Yōta~" Koyuki tugs Yōta's jacket two times before she points herself with big smile on her face, "What about me~? Am I cute~?"
Yōta's demeanor softened as he reaches his hand out to pat Koyuki's head, "Yes, yes you are. You are so cute in this outfits, Yuki-san."
Koyuki pumps her fists cutely while giggling at the compliments Yōta just gave to her.
"Ehehe."
Miyako look at the interaction between the two with smile before she locks Yōta's arm, "So, what movie are we gonna see?"
Koyuki also looks very curious by that. She's been looking forward to this date since yesterday.
"The passes are for anything, so we can pick from the list of stuff they're currently showing."
Yōta shows both of them the movie theater flyer showing all the screenings he got on his way here.
They're showing four different movies.
There's one that's a war movie, and another that's an American CGI animation with panda as the protagonist.
The other two are a Spanish horror movie and a Japanese romance movie. So, a pretty wide variety in terms of genre.
A war movie on a date is definitely a bad move and suggesting a horror movie isn't either.
It's also pretty evident from the animation movie's character designs that it's for kids, so he doesn't know about that one either.
But, Koyuki might like it.
He means, just look at that sparkly eyes, she's basically sticking her nose to the flyer just to see the panda in the flyer.
She's definitely want to watch that movie.
"Which one would you girls like to see?"
"Hmm..."
Miyako hummed while looking at the flyer in her hand together with Koyuki beside her.
"They're your passes, so I think you should decide." Miyako smiled as she gives the flyer back to Yōta who raises his eyebrows in response.
"Are you sure? You girls can pick if you want, you know?"
Koyuki shakes her head and grabs his hand, "No, Yōta choose."
"I'm not really in the mood for a horror movie, by the way. So, anything but that, please." Miyako reminded.
Koyuki inclined her head repeatedly in agreement, "No horror. Horror is bad."
"All good." Yōta smiles at both of them, "I'm on the same page as you two there."
He looks over the girls for a minute before his gaze falls upon Koyuki, and the said girl tilts her head cutely in response.
Miyako realizes the meaning of that stare that Yōta gave to Koyuki and she nods her head in agreement.
She also noticed that Koyuki is really interested in that movie so much right now.
Yōta smiles softly at Miyako for being an understanding person.
"Alright, let's watch this one."
He points the Kung Fu Panda movie.
Koyuki trembles in excitement as her smile brightened up at the choice, she stares at both of her friends with eyes full of anticipation.
"Can we really watch this?" She asked while showing the flyer with big smile.
Yōta and Miyako look at each other for a moment before they chuckle, "Of course."
Koyuki claps her hands in excitement before she grabs Yōta and Miyako's hands at the same time, "Let's go!"
Since the next screening of it is gonna be starting soon, so they enter the theater with haste.
-Scene Change-
["This is the end of the world!!!"]
["It was an epidemic unlike any other. Within days, millions were infected. Within weeks, they were forced together. And then left to die!"]
["But 25 years after the outbreak. Containment has failed."]
["To find the cure, they must return to the world they left behind."]
"I don't know, but by looking at this trailer, I'm positive it'll end up being super boring." Miyako deadpanned at the trailer showed up in the big screen in front of them.
"Is this zombie movie~?" Koyuki tilts her head in confusion, "I don't know..."
Yōta on the other side simply shakes his head in amused manner.
They managed to get to their seats right when the trailers started showing. They also brought drinks and two bags of popcorn with them.
"It's starting."
The dimness of the room makes Miyako and Koyuki instinctively taking Yōta's hands for themselves.
Yōta doesn't say anything and simply enjoy the warm and cold sensation of their hands on his.
They focus on the screen, staring intently at it.
The Nagakura slightly moving his eyes over, so he can stare at Miyako and Koyuki's face respectively without them noticing.
Well, Miyako noticed it if the playful smile on her face is any indication.
Koyuki on the other side is like an excited child doing a window shopping for new toys.
The opening scene shows a lone panda walking with a stick on his hand, he's casually entering the shop with a lot of animals inside glaring at him.
The panda sits down and eats a dumpling, ignoring the glare.
Koyuki's already immersed herself into the movie's world, leaving Yōta and Miyako who's looking at her with warm gaze.
She's always been like this.
When Yōta took her along to go watch anime movies, it'd only take a few minutes after it started for her to be completely immersed in it.
All of his childhood friends can manage some almost frightening levels of concertation when it comes to things they love.
...
"Hehe, he's so silly~"
Koyuki laughed at the scene of Po imitating Master Shifu by using two empty bowls as the ears and a lone noodle as the beard.
"Fufu, he is." Miyako hides her smile behind her hand.
Yōta also laughed in low tone, unlike other people who laughed at the scene in free-minded way.
And the laughter gets louder when Master Shifu comes into the room, witnessing Po messing around.
...
"Huh...? Why the flowers starts surrounding Mr. Tortoise...? H-Huh...? Where he's going...?"
Koyuki looks very confused at first before she starts crying when Master Oogway suddenly disappears together with the flowers, leaving Master Shifu alone.
The others are also crying at the scene.
Yōta caresses Koyuki's back in comfort and Koyuki instinctively leans to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"It's okay, Yuki-san." Yōta comforts the girl gently, "He's resting in a better place right now."
"He is...?"
"Yes, he is."
Koyuki stays silent for a second before she nods her head and hug Yōta's arm tightly, trying to hold her sobs.
She feels sad for Master Shifu.
Amongst the girls, Koyuki is a girl with the strongest empathy and sympathy within her.
She can easily connect herself to someone else and feels their emotions all the same.
...
"NOO!!"
The audience shouted at the same time when Tai Lung was about to finish Master Shifu off. But Po makes his appearance to stop Tai Lung and it makes the audience roars in excitement.
They're about an hour and more into the movie now, so they've been waiting for this battle.
Tai Lung charges at Po and pushes him off to the long stairs below. They fall down and Po smacks the tree, making it bends backward.
He then rolls sideway, letting the tree to return to its original form and it smacks the leopard away.
But Tai Lung still charges at Po.
They both fight in airborne, punching each other and falling from the stairs in very cartoonish way.
The audience screams when Tai Lung strikes Po with powerful punches that powerful enough to destroy the immediate vicinity, creating a large crater.
But then they goes wild when Po suddenly fighting Tai Lung equally and starts beating him up with funny moves, like using his butt or stomach to attack the leopard.
"Go, Mr. Panda! Kick that meanie leopard's butt!"
And when Po used Wuxi Finger Hold on Tai Lung?
The audience couldn't hold themselves back, they cheered and roars out their excitements.
And with that, the movie comes to an end.
While many of the people around them get up, Koyuki stays in her seat with her eyes focused on the credits screen.
Yōta, on the other hand, was, unconsciously so, fixated on her face.
-Scene Change-
"Ice cream~" Koyuki raised her free hand happily before she starts to lick her vanilla ice cream.
"Delicious." Miyako said as she bit a small amount of her chocolate mint ice cream.
Yōta on the other side simply nods his head and enjoys his strawberry ice cream.
After enjoying that one-hour-and-a-half-long movie that felt both long and somewhat short, the trio now find themselves at the mall's food court.
They sit at a table and eat the ice cream they bought.
"I have to say, I'm impressed with the movie." Yōta started the conversation.
Miyako inclined her head in agreement, "Yes, it was pretty great."
"I love it~!" Koyuki giggled while rocking her legs in excited manner. She proceeds to joyfully eat her ice cream, "Mr. Panda is so cute and strong~"
Yōta chuckles when he remembers something about the movie, "Not gonna lie, I love Po's fighting style."
"Fufu, the way he used his whole body just to mess with his opponent is indeed fun to see." Miyako agreed.
"Like this~?"
Koyuki jumps out from her chair and starts to shake her butt and stomach cutely just to copy Po's movements like in the movie.
Upon witnessing that silly movements, Yōta and Miyako couldn't help themselves but to laugh.
Even the pedestrians smiles and chuckles with a good intention when they saw Koyuki's cute movements.
Koyuki's little dance session accidentally caught the attentions of nearby children.
And before they know it, Koyuki is now surrounded by a bunch of children as they're laughing and dancing together.
She's really look the best when she's being surrounded by laughter like this.
On the sidelines, Miyako smiles warmly at the scene, "I love how happy she is right now..."
Yōta rests his chin on the palm, looking at Koyuki who's playing with the children, "Me too. And she deserve it, no, you two are deserve this happiness after what you had been through in the past, Miyako-san."
He turns his head to Miyako with a serious expression on his face, "I'll try my best to protect this normal life of ours with my everything, Miyako-san, so you girls can live your life to the fullest without any regrets."
He then gives her the warmest and kindest smile he could afford, "I just want you to be happy and always have a smile on your face. After all I really love it when you all are smiling and having fun."
Miyako's purple orbs shining with such intense emotions when she heard that declaration, she unconsciousky takes Yōta's hand with both hands and squeeze it.
She then kisses Yōta's knuckle before sticking her cheek to his hand, making Yōta blushes a bit at the gesture.
"I love you." Miyako murmured, "I just love you so much, Yōta..." She once again stated but with more low tone than last time.
Her voice slightly trembling as she's trying her best to hold her tears. She just couldn't hold herself back right now.
Only Yōta who would ever say something like this to her.
Not even her father did. That man doesn't even apologize for neglecting her in the past. Not even once.
But to her, it doesn't matter anymore though.
She already got Kazama Family now who cares and love her for who she is. She got Yōta who will makes her the happiest girl in this world too after all.
This is her treasure, and she will do everything just to keep this treasure safe with her. Not even death could sever this bond!
Yōta takes Miyako to his arms as he gives a comfort hand to her, caressing the back of her head gently.
Not after long, Koyuki comes to them with big smile on her face as she takes both of Yōta and Miyako's hands at the same time.
The Shiina's also already recovering as she's finally able to get a hold of her own emotions.
Yōta's always been good at calming her down, so it doesn't really take long for her to get comfortable in his arms, and simply enjoying his warmth.
"Let's dance together, Yōta, Miyako~"
Yōta and Miyako looks at each other for a second before they smile and let the excited Sakakibara to drags them with her.
They spends their time by playing with the children in the playground nearby, of course with their parents' approvement.
And since Koyuki doesn't want to say goodbye any time soon, so instead head straight home after playing with the children, they strolled around the shopping area by the station for a bit.
They saw a movie earlier and ate ice cream together afterward, and now they're walking around while gazing at the scenery, enjoyng each other's company.
It turned out to be a proper fun Sunday date.