April 19 2015, SUNDAY
Mid-day“Oh my god,” a girl’s voice called, “Shoes.”
“Shoes,” Sato repeated.
The boy fell backwards until his shoulder blades hit the wall behind him, and he watched as Mika and some girl from her class fawned over the intense slashing on the pricing on the new shoes one of them had been wanting for weeks. He wasn’t even sure how he had gotten dragged into going shopping with Mika and her friend, but he had, and there was no way of backing out of it now. She had promised that she’d buy Sato something if he had went with them (for reasons he didn’t get), and seeing as there happened to be a new electronics store opening, there was no reason to not suffer through some shoe shopping for it.
When the girls disappeared into the clothing store, Sato begrudgingly followed them in, but just before he went in, he caught a glance of who he thought was Rokoru walking by. It didn’t matter though, and he was soon surrounded by various clothes and shoes and accessories. Girls and (significantly less) guys filled the store to the brim. The sales that were going on seemed to be boosting business well. The sales were probably the reason that Mika had decided to go there, and Sato grew increasingly confused on why he was there. He assumed most of the guys there were dragged there by their girlfriends due to the fact that there appeared to be only girls’ clothing in stock, and Sato was very far from romantically entangled with either girls.
After a while of waiting around, bored half to death, the girl he didn’t know threw a pair of shorts at his face. He unfolded them to reveal a pair of swimming shorts with a flame design down the right. “Try them on!” Mika encouraged, thrusting him into one of the changing rooms.
“W-wait, am I even allowed to—“ But the door slammed shut before he could even properly object. Sato looked at the shorts once more. There couldn’t be much harm in trying them on at least. And that’s what he did. He slipped his jeans off and the swim shorts on, and then exited to show them off to the girls. Both of them clapped, and Mika even let out a cheer. His arms flopped to his sides after. “So why am I trying on a lame pair of swim shorts?”
“Because!” A familiar voice exclaimed from behind him after an awkwardly long pause. Sato turned around on his heel to examine who it came from, and lo and behold, Rento and Yukiteru were standing there. The air Sato breathed suddenly felt like it was stale. He didn’t even know if they were allowed to wear nothing but what you’re trying on. “Golden Week!”
“Put some clothes on, freaks!” Mika laughed before throwing a shirt she was holding at them. Rento made a show of his shirtlessness before disappearing into the changing room and emerged a second later, adequately clothed. Yuki simply slid on his shirt in an instant.
Sato shifted his weight onto one hip. “So we—you guys—are going swimming for Golden Week?”
“We haven’t actually decided on a place yet, but it’s gonna be somewhere we can go swimming!” The girl said, bouncing up and down on her feet a bit.
“Isn’t it a little too cold to go swimming? Shouldn’t we save that for the summer or something?” Sato asked, looking down at the swimsuit he was wearing. He already had one from last year, but he supposed it couldn’t hurt to have another one. “I dunno if I’d like to go to the beach or whatever in April. Too soon.”
Mika looked slightly disgruntled, while Yukiteru nodded in agreement. The girl he didn’t know—though, after thinking about it, he was pretty sure she had told him her name at some point—looked briefly distraught before putting on a pouty face. “Fine then,” she said. “You don’t have to come!”
“N-no, I’d love to hang out with you guys, it’s just that this seems like it wouldn’t really work out. Maybe we can go to Tatsumi Port Island or something.” Before any of them could reply, he ducked into the changing room and slipped on his regular jeans. Rento and Yuki did the same, and they all went to the clerk to pay for them.
“Wouldn’t it be kinda expensive to go there? Last time I checked, we’re all pretty broke at the moment, ever since that Archery splurge we all went on.” Everybody except the girl Sato didn’t quite know nodded.
Rokoru found himself waiting around in the mall, somewhere near a bunch of stores he couldn’t care less about. He knew he wasn’t the most punctual guy around, and he dreaded being chewed out for being a couple minutes late, but it turned out to be Saya who was the one late. The boy stood rather awkwardly by some potted plant, his hands shoved into the pockets of the dull red pants he wore. He wore a black tank-top and his yellow-armed jacket, his face showing obvious signs of sleeplessness. After waiting for a bit longer, Rokoru flipped out his phone and checked for texts again. Nothing. Where was she?
