Laughing

A T-shirt dropped in front of her suddenly and a man's voice asked, "Is this funny or is it too creepy?"

She turned to look at the man holding it, and had to look up farther than she expected. She gazed at him a moment and said breathlessly, "Oh wow…"

He blinked and grinned down at her and asked, "Do you think a pregnant woman who doesn't want to be pregnant would find it funny? I want to send her something to cheer her up."

She looked back at the T-shirt and asked dubiously, "Does your wife like zombies and stuff?"

He replied doubtfully, "I have no idea, and she's not my wife."

Mizuki asked with interest, "If you want to cheer her up, why didn't you just bring your girlfriend on vacation with you?"

He gave her a sardonic look and said rather dryly, "No, I don't have a girlfriend right now, thanks for asking. It's for my friend's girlfriend, I think bringing her on vacation with me would be a really bad idea."

"Oh," Mizuki replied with an embarrassed grin.

He laughed and turned away from her and hung the shirt back on a rack. Mizuki looked around herself and said, "I hadn't realized I'd wandered into the maternity section."

"What were you looking at then?" he asked curiously.

She pointed to the display of shirts pinned to the wall above the racks and explained enthusiastically, "They have so many kinds of Pikachu shirts! I especially like that one that's all shadow and lightning."

He looked down at her and replied dryly, "I see. Maybe this is a good time to mention that I have no interest in dating a child either."

Mizuki glared up at him and declared, "Pikachu is a classic, he's older than you are!"

He shrugged, glanced back up at the shirts and said agreeably, "That's definitely the best one of those."

She nodded and then she arched her back and gestured toward herself and asked plaintively, "And even though I'm small, is my body so bad that you have to call me a child?"

He ran his gaze appreciatively over her curves and agreed, "It's very nice. So how old are you?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

She flushed with embarrassment as she replied a little defiantly, "Seventeen, almost eighteen."

He covered his eyes as he laughed. "Call me in a couple of years?" he suggested with amusement after he'd recovered.

Mizuki glared at him for a moment but then suddenly grinned and agreed, "Okay, give me your number?"

He shook his head and said, "No, sorry. I was just teasing."

She pouted at him and he grinned at her and picked up a different shirt and asked, "How about this one?"

She sighed and examined it before she agreed, "It is funny, but if she doesn't want to be pregnant I think it might make her sad." Then she looked up at him and asked, "What's your name? You can at least give me that can't you? Mine is Mitsukuni Mizuki."

He hesitated before replying, "Konami Sora."

She grinned at him and then suggested, "What about that one?"

"Which one?" he asked.

She brushed against him as she squeezed between him and the rack and pulled the shirt out. "This?" she suggested.

He laughed and then agreed, "It is funny, but I think she'd be too embarrassed to wear it."

They searched the racks for a little while, showing each other the best ones until Mizuki said, "This one, this is it, it's perfect."

"Oh?" he asked, looking over at her.

She held the black T-shirt up in front of her body and gestured. "It's simple, it will go with anything, and it's humor is a little dark, but nothing gross or embarrassing."

It had the words 'The Bomb' printed across the chest in white letters, and where a pregnant woman's round belly would push it out, was a curve suggesting a round bomb with a lit fuse illustrated at the top.

He grinned at her and agreed, "It is perfect, I'll get that one. Thank you Mizuki-chan."

She grinned back at him as she asked boldly, "Are you sure you can't date me?"

He gave her an exasperated but amused look as he replied firmly, "Yes."

She pouted but didn't have time to respond because her sister poked her head into the store and called out, "Hurry Mizuki! I found out which bus to take, and it's leaving right now!"

Mizuki stared at her for a second, then looked at Sora with a pained expression. She suddenly grabbed his hip pocket and pulled him toward her as she told him quickly, "It was really nice to meet you Konami-san, I really want to talk more, but I've got to go now."

He gave her a confused smile and replied, "I enjoyed meeting you too."

Mizuki ran after her sister, who was struggling with both bags. She picked up the largest one and they hurried to the bus.

When Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet to pay for the shirt, he touched an unfamiliar surface. He pulled out Mizuki's phone and stared at it. After a moment he grimaced and stuffed it back into his pocket.