Work Text:
"Just a little bit more to the left, and…" Ena leaned around her easel, giving Toya a thumbs up from behind her canvas. "Alright, that's perfect! Just stay where you are."
Toya nodded, careful to only move her head an inch or so and maintain her posture as much as possible. Holding her arms straight out like a T wasn't the most comfortable position in the world, but they'd spent nearly twenty minutes coaxing her into the most optimal stance and she wasn't about to ruin it. Ena had asked her last-minute to model for her painting for an art class, citing a project that was due tonight that she'd procrastinated on for far too long, and it would have been quite unlike Toya to turn a friend down in a time of need.
Ena's pencil scratched along the canvas, sketching an outline, and she peeked out to give her a once-over every few minutes. "I really appreciate you doing this so last minute," she said, laughing and wiping sweat off her forehead. "You know, I asked Mizuki first, and she just blew me off! Can you believe that?"
"That doesn't seem very much like her," Toya said, shutting her eyes and focusing on keeping her arms raised. The position was causing an amount of strain in her shoulders that she wasn't used to, though she was sure that probably had something to do with her tendency of her upper body to curl up when she wasn't actively focusing on her stances. Akito had chided her multiple times for her terrible posture, convinced that she would get scoliosis, and she had to refrain time and time again from explaining that this wasn't quite how that worked. It never mattered in the long run, though, not when these back-and-forth engagements always ended up with her laying on his chest while he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Anything to bring her closer to Akito was a win in Toya's book.
"Yeah, whatever," Ena said, huffing. "Not like I care. You're a much better model, anyway." She hummed, twirling her pencil between her fingers. "Just a few more details here and there…" After another moment, she set down her pencil, leaning over and giving Toya a nod of approval. "Alright, you can lower your arms now!"
Grateful for the relief, Toya let her arms flop to her sides, her neck craning downwards as she let the lines of tension in her body go slack. "Do you need me to pose for anything else?"
"Ehh, I don't think so," Ena said. She looked back at the canvas, rushing over to grab something off of it and set it on the table of materials beside her. "Thanks, though!" She gave her one more once-over, pursing her lips. "You have a really nice figure, you know that? You've really grown into yourself lately." Her lips quirked up in a smile, and Toya's face flushed.
"Ah, thank you," she said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I appreciate it. Akito tells me so all the time, but…" Toya bit down on her lip, shrugging. "I don't know. Thank you, Ena-san."
"Anytime," Ena said, making her way to the other side of the studio and grabbing some of the supplies she'd left on the counters. Toya took that as her cue to leave, stretching out her arms one last time and making her way towards the exit — but she should take a look at the foundations of Ena's piece before she left, right? It couldn't hurt, and it wasn't like she would be mad. She turned around, shifting her direction towards the canvas, when—
Hm. That wasn't right. Ena had been drawing for nearly twenty minutes, so why was the canvas entirely bare?
Toya's brows pulled together in a frown, and as she looked around, something on the table next to Ena's easel drew her eyes — a sketchbook, sitting beside the pencil she'd discarded. It was flipped open to a page with some outlined drawings on it, and as she drew closer, it clicked to her that those sketches looked a lot like—
"Don't look at those!" Ena screeched, sending Toya flinching away as she grabbed the sketchbook and shoved it into her messenger bag. Once the bag was zipped shut, her face blanched as she looked over and saw Toya, who had been frightened back into her usual shrimp-like posture. "Sorry. Didn't mean to yell. That's just — that's private! Sorry!"
"I didn't mean to impose," Toya stammered, folding her hands together and bowing in apology. "I'm very sorry for bothering you, Ena-san…"
"No, no, it's okay, uh…" Ena scratched the back of her neck, her eyes trained on the floor. "I just don't like people seeing my works in progress! That's all!"
That… didn't seem very Ena-like at all, but given the heaving of her chest and the somewhat crazed look in her eyes, Toya wasn't going to push the issue. "Alright. Once again, I apologize."
"It's no big deal. I'll see you around," Ena said, grabbing the last of her things, rushing for the exit fast enough to raise a cloud of dust, and leaving her empty canvas behind. Toya was left alone in her studio, watching the door swing shut and wondering what on Earth had just happened.
"And then she grabbed the sketchbook almost out of my hands, and — well. I'm just not quite sure what to make of it," Toya said to Mizuki, who was half paying attention and half engrossed in the selection of colorful fabrics they'd found themselves in front of.
"Eh, she's always been protective of her art stuff," Mizuki said, giving her a lighthearted shrug and sorting through the sea of fabric bolts. "Though she used to share her screen with me when she did art for our group, so I have no idea what she's on about…"
"Maybe it's like some kind of special secret," An said, twirling her hair around her finger, "and she can't tell you till she's — owww!" She reeled away, scowling at Mizuki, who had inexplicably just stomped on her foot with all her strength.
"Just ignore her, Toya-chan," Mizuki said, elbowing her in the side. "She's got nooooo idea what she's talking about! Ahaha." She grinned, the corners of her mouth perking up just a bit too high to feel normal.
Toya raised an eyebrow, about to raise an objection, when Mizuki gasped, her eyes darting to another bolt of fabric on the rack. "Oh my god. Holy shit. This is so pretty." She darted forward, pulling it down and thrusting it in her direction. "Look, look! It's so shimmery…"
The fabric that Mizuki had pulled down was iridescent, sheer and dotted with sparkles throughout the pattern. It had stitching that resembled scales, and Toya's first thought upon seeing it was that it seemed like something Kusanagi would like to make a costume out of. Her second thought, however, was that it… wasn't quite worth the hype that Mizuki was giving it. Not that it was a bad fabric, or anything, it just… wasn't her style.
"Hm. You look disappointed," Mizuki said, and Toya bit her lip, looking away. "What's the matter?"
"Oh, no, I'm not disappointed," Toya said, tilting her head to the side. "I just…" She hummed, glancing at the fabric once more.
"You can just say you don't like it, you know," An said, leaning against her side and wrapping an arm around her torso. "She won't get butthurt or anything."
Toya sighed, hanging her head. "I know, I know," she said. "It's just… Mizuki invited us out to help find material for her next project, and I haven't felt strongly about a single thing she's shown us. I feel like I haven't been very helpful at all."
"Well, if it doesn't click, it doesn't click," An said, shrugging as she looked around the aisles. Her eyes lit up, and she turned back to Toya and Mizuki, her lips splitting into a wide grin. "I've got an idea! Why don't we just let Toya pick herself?"
Toya furrowed her brows, her gaze flitting between An and Mizuki. "And that means…?"
"Just look around and pick one you like, silly," An said, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her towards the bolts of fabric. "Nothing else to it."
"But this is Mizuki's project," she protested, though she didn't resist An pushing her down the aisle to look for more fabric. Nevertheless, her eyes caught on one lonely bolt in the corner of her vision — it was a floral pattern, dotted with leaves and golden flowers, and she made her way over to it, feeling the texture of the fabric. It was perfectly soft, lightweight enough to feel like nothing in her hands, and the colors were much more vivid up close.
"You like this one?" Mizuki said, popping up beside her and grabbing the bolt off the shelf. "Let's get it, then!"
"Wait, but—" Toya started, but Mizuki wagged a finger in her face, shaking her head.
"No buts, Toya-chan! You like this one, so that's the one we're using!" Mizuki marched towards the checkout, leaving An and Toya behind in the fabric aisle to watch her speedrun through the payment process.
"Why does she care so much about the fabric I like?" Toya murmured, sparing a glance at An out of the corner of her eye. An whistled, averting her eyes and stuffing her hands in her pockets as she waltzed out of the fabric aisle. "An. An?"
"I'm sure it's nothing," she said, and as Toya tried to catch up to her, she started walking faster. "She probably just likes it too!"
Toya narrowed her eyes, watching as An followed Mizuki out of the store. In the few seconds that she'd been out of their sight, she'd started a phone call, and she was holding her phone between her and An — this far away, she couldn't make out the words that were being said. An glanced over her shoulder, making eye contact with Toya and biting her lip, and that sealed the deal.
Something was off about today. Her friends were hiding something from her, and much to her chagrin, Toya had absolutely no idea what it was.
Just as she was about to march outside and confront the two of them, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Toya checked her messages, wincing at how late it had gotten — it was only early afternoon, but she couldn't spend much longer out today, given that she had a date to prepare for in a few hours.
However, the secrecy would have to wait. For now, Saki was requesting a few moments of her time.
"Thanks for being willing to come hang out with me," Saki said in a sing-songy tone, bouncing around the racks of her favorite clothing store. "All my partners were busy, can you believe it?" Eyes blown wide in surprise, she shook her head, ponytails flying every which way.
"Well, I'm glad to have the chance to accompany you," Toya said, reaching up to tighten her own ponytail. Over the course of the day, more and more hair had fallen out of it — she was probably going to have to re-tie her hair soon, if things continued like this.
"Well, clothes shopping is always ten times more fun with a friend!" Saki said, running her fingers over the shirts hanging on the rack. "And we haven't had a girls' day in soooooo long, Toya-chan! It feels like I've barely seen you at all!"
"Well, we've both been quite busy with school, as well as our music," Toya mused, looking through the racks opposite of Saki. It was true — university was taking a toll on all of them, and Toya's practice schedule with VBS was rigorous enough as is. She couldn't imagine how much stress Saki must have been under, especially with her band's upcoming tour.
"Yup," Saki lamented, flopping onto the rack and sighing. "They're working us to the bone!" She pulled a few items off the rack, weighing them against each other. "I'm super excited, though. We're playing a bunch of smaller places in smaller cities, so I'm really looking forward to those shows!" After a moment, she pressed one of the shirts she's grabbed to her chest, looking to the sky with a wistful expression. "That's why I dragged you here, actually. We don't have practice today, and I need new clothes for the tour!"
"I see," Toya said, bracing herself as Saki pulled item after item off the racks, gathering a stack almost too high for her to see over. "I can carry anything, if you need."
"Thank you!" Saki handed some of the items over to her, pausing in front of the dresses. "Hey, Toya-chan, humor me for a bit, won't you?" She grabbed a few different dresses off the rack, hauling their load of clothes over to the nearest dressing room at a pace so fast that Toya struggled to keep up.
Once they arrived, Saki hung the dresses outside of one of the rooms, taking the rest of the clothes off Toya's hands. "You should try some of these on! I bet you'd look so cute!" Her earnest expression, a face-splitting smile paired with her signature puppy dog eyes made it impossible for Toya to say no, and she relented, taking the dresses into the changing room and swiftly changing outfits.
The first was a knee length dress, paired with short sleeves and ruffled trim around the edges. It was a nice dress, aesthetically pleasing, but a bit puffier than the sort of things Toya normally liked to wear, and it wasn't the most flattering dress in the world. As much as Saki wanted to deny it, she seemed to agree with that judgement, based on the way her smile became slightly strained when Toya exited the changing room.
"I mean, it looks good, but I feel like something else would look better," Saki said, tugging on the ends of her hair. "Sorry. That first pick was kind of a flop, huh…"
"It's alright," Toya said, looking at her shape in the mirror. She wasn't always that particular about her dresses, but this one just wasn't going to work for her, and that was fine. There were two other options hanging up right behind her, so she decided to retreat to the changing room and try her luck a second time.
The second dress was leagues more comfortable than the first, floor length with three quarter sleeves and a scooped neckline. It was just one color throughout, which was less visually interesting than she would have liked, but it wasn't a bad dress. Stepping out of the dressing room, Toya did a little twirl in front of Saki, her lips quirking up at the way the skirt swished around her legs. "This one is a bit better," she said, grabbing the fabric and lifting it up to feel the weight of the skirt.
"Would you say it's your favorite?" Saki said, tilting her head to the side and twisting her hair between her fingertips. "What do you think?"
"Well, it's a much more flattering cut than the last one," Toya said, pulling her ponytail out and letting her hair fall around her shoulders. She turned straight forward and looked in the mirror, squinting at her reflection and trying to decide how she felt about it. The dress was nice, it looked good on her, but… "I don't think I'm a fan of this kind of neckline," she admitted, crossing her arms over her chest as her smile fell into a slight frown.
"Okay, okay," Saki said, pursing her lips and clapping her hands together. "So that won't work… why don't you try the last one? I think you'll like that one!"
Toya nodded, dipping back into the dressing room to switch outfits one last time. She pulled the final dress over her head, pulling the zipper up and — Oh. Oh, she really liked this one.
She stepped back out of the dressing room, her smile the widest it had been all day as she twirled again for Saki and turned back to the mirror. "I think this might be my favorite so far. You were right."
This dress was more simple than the others she'd tried on — a halter top with a knee-length skirt, made with a light, airy fabric that felt like a sundress. The only issue with this dress was the neckline, but with a dress this pretty, she'd be willing to deal with it.
Saki gasped, clasping her hands together and spinning around. "It's perfect! It fits you like a glove!" She made her way around the room, looking at Toya's figure from every angle. "Is the neckline on this one better? What do you think?"
"It's not the best, but I've always preferred turtlenecks anyway," Toya said, adjusting the dress so that it settled more comfortably on her shoulders. "I like this, though. Thank you for choosing it."
"Of course," Saki said, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and giving her a tight hug. "Anything for my favorite sister!" She pushed Toya towards the dressing room. "Let me buy it for you. As a treat!"
"Saki-san, I have more than enough money—" Toya protested, but Saki was hearing none of it, shaking her head vigorously.
"Just get changed and meet me at the checkout," Saki said, waving her off. "I'll see you in a minute!"
Toya changed back into her regular clothes, hanging the dresses to be discarded on the rack outside and looping her final choice over her arm. She made her way towards the checkout, only to look over and see… Saki, standing by the rack they'd found the dress at earlier, measuring its proportions with a small measuring tape.
…What was she doing?
"Saki-san?" Toya called, and Saki nearly jumped out of her skin, shoving the tape into her pocket and clasping her hands together behind her back.
"Toya-chan!" Saki's face was blooming bright red, and she dashed away from the rack, grabbing Toya by the wrist and dragging her towards the checkout. "Took you long enough, haha! I was wondering where you were!"
"It took me two minutes to change."
"Well, it felt like a lot longer…" At the self checkout, Saki scanned her things as fast as humanly possible, tossing them into a bag — and storing Toya's dress with them. "I'm glad we found something you like, though! That makes me really happy, I think this is the perfect kind of dress for you, and—"
"Saki-san, you're acting strange," Toya said.
Saki froze where she stood, her gaze concentrated down towards the total on the checkout. "I, uhhh…" She cleared her throat, turning to Toya with a smile that was just a bit too wide on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about! Haha! I'm acting completely normal!"
"Someone who's acting completely normal wouldn't make it a point to emphasize how normal they're acting," Toya pointed out, and Saki wilted, sucking in a breath through her teeth.
"Look, I just… you gotta trust me, okay?" Saki held her shoulders back, forcing her smile back onto her face. "There's nothing that—" Her phone, sitting on the side of the self checkout, buzzed loudly, and she snatched it up, a frantic look in her eyes. "Oh, wow, would you look at the time? Hona-chan wants me to come to practice! Sorry, Toya-chan! I gotta go! See you later!"
"But I thought you said you didn't have practice," Toya said as Saki rushed off, taking the bag with her. That wasn't the strangest thing that she'd done, though — Toya had seen her phone screen for only a moment before she had snatched it up, but the moment was long enough for her to read the name Mizuki Akiyama on the contact.
That was more than enough evidence. Toya's friends were up to something, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it. Where to begin, though…?
Well, that was easy. Off the top of her head, she knew one person who would never be able to lie to her, no matter what.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice," Toya said, stirring a small amount of creamer into her cup of coffee and raising it to her lips. "I know how busy you've been with school and work, so I appreciate you making the time for me."
"Well, of course! Anything for my second biggest fan," Tsukasa said, puffing out his chest with a satisfied look on his face. "And I was meaning to ask if you wanted to catch up sometime, so this is perfect timing. It's lovely to see you, Toya."
"It's nice to see you as well, Tsukasa-senpai," she said, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I did have some questions for you, though, if you don't mind me asking."
"Well, if I have answers, I'll be happy to listen," Tsukasa said. He folded his hands together, leaning over the table in the cafe. "Is there something on your mind?"
"Not much," Toya said airily, trying to give off as much of a nonchalant attitude as she could. "I was just wondering if you knew how Saki-san's band was doing. You know, with their rigorous practice schedule and all."
"They've been quite hard at work lately, haven't they?" Tsukasa said, his eyes glistening. "I'm so proud of Saki! She seems to be doing so well."
"Mhm." Toya nodded in affirmation. That wasn't even close to the answer she was looking for, but it was fine — she'd coax it out of him eventually. "I'm sure she must be relieved to have a break from practice, though. They didn't have practice today, right?"
Tsukasa hummed, stroking his chin. "Yes, she did say as much earlier… it was their first weekend break in a while, so she was quite excited to make the most of her day off!"
Got him. Toya fought back the urge to smile, clearing her throat. "That's interesting," she said, straightening up in her chair, "given that she bailed on the end of our shopping trip earlier to go to practice with her bandmates."
Tsukasa stiffened, biting his lip, and that was when Toya knew she had caught him in the act. "Well, that's certainly strange," he said, clearing his throat. "I'm not sure why she would do that!"
"Yes, I'm not quite sure either," Toya said, leaning forward and folding her hands together to match his stance. "What makes it even stranger is that this behavior isn't isolated to Saki-san. In fact, everyone I've seen today has been acting quite odd. Mizuki, An, Ena-san… it's a bit concerning."
"What a strange phenomenon," Tsukasa said, a bit too quickly. He wasn't meeting her eyes — his gaze was aimed just a little to her left, in a move that would resemble eye contact if you didn't look too closely.
"A strange phenomenon, indeed." Toya steeled her gaze, forcing herself to look him straight in the eyes. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"
Tsukasa's posture was rigid, and he forced a smile, sucking in a breath through his teeth. How oddly familiar. "Err… sorry, but no! I hope you can figure this out, though! In the meantime, perhaps we should—"
"Has anyone ever told you that you and Saki-san have the same nervous tells?" Toya asked, cocking her head to the side. "Because you do." Tsukasa's smile faltered, and as he clicked his tongue, she continued, "I'm beginning to think you know a bit more than you're letting on."
He was in on it. Of course he was. How many of Toya's friends had banded together for… whatever this was? After all this time, she still had no idea what it was that they were trying to accomplish.
"I really don't know what you're talking about," Tsukasa said, leaning back in his chair enough that Toya could see his leg bouncing. "I wish I could be more of a help to you, though!"
"Oh, that's quite alright," Toya said, rising from her chair and pushing it back in to the table. "I'm afraid I have to get going, though. I have a date to get ready for tonight."
"No!" Tsukasa exclaimed, shooting up from his chair in a move that startled them both. He cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck and looking away. "I mean. Well. We only just got here! Why not spend a little more time catching up?"
"…You're trying to keep me from going back to my apartment," Toya said, and Tsukasa froze, shaking his head so fast he turned into a blonde-and-pink blur. "Is there something there that I'm not meant to see?"
"Of — of course not!" Tsukasa said. He worried his lip, keeping his hands at his sides, and Toya sighed.
"You know, for a trained actor, you're not a very good liar," she said, grabbing her cup of coffee and making her way to the exit. Tsukasa would have been hot on her heels had the door not slammed shut in his face right before he made it to them, and by the time he'd exited the cafe, Toya was already long gone, riding the bus back in the direction of her apartment.
It all made sense, now — the conveniently timed hangouts that were just close enough together to keep her from coming back home, the mysterious behavior from everyone, Tsukasa's insistence on her not going back just yet. It all originated with one person, without a doubt, and once Toya got back to their shared apartment, she was going to have words with Akito Shinonome.
"So," Toya said, leaning against the doorframe of her apartment and leveling the girl keeping her from entering with a neutral stare. "I thought you had practice."
"Uh, well, about that," Saki said, biting out a strangled laugh, "it… got cancelled?"
"Shit, is that Toya?" she heard a voice that sounded suspiciously like Mizuki coming from inside the apartment, followed by a crash and a loud yelp.
"Keep your voice down, dumbass!" someone else hissed. "She's gonna know we're here!"
Toya sighed. "I can hear you too, Ena-san," she said, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Saki-san. Can I come into my apartment now?"
"Uhhhh…" Saki scratched the back of her neck, looking over her shoulder. "I don't know."
Just as Toya was about to move her out of the way and walk in herself, footsteps thundered towards them, and she looked to her right to see Tsukasa rushing towards them. "Sorry!" he gasped in between pants, leaning against the wall and wiping beads of sweat off his face. "I tried to — to keep her there, but she — phew." He was absolutely drenched, completely out of breath, and Toya realized that she'd gotten on the last bus heading to this side of town for the next half hour.
"Did you… run all the way here?" Her eyebrows shot up as Tsukasa gave her a thumbs up, pressing his free hand against his chest as he tried to catch his breath.
"Just wanted to see if—" he paused for a moment, taking a few deep breaths "—I could catch you before. Before you got back here."
"Well, you almost did," Toya said, shrugging. "Good effort. However…" She turned back towards the door, eyes locking onto Saki — and Mizuki, who had popped up beside her. "I really would like to know what all of you are doing at my apartment."
"…Hanging out!" Mizuki said, grinning. "Just a fun girls day. Hanging out."
"At my apartment. Without me."
"Uhh…" Mizuki faltered, looking down at the ground, and Toya sighed, pushing past her and Saki to enter the living room. She slipped her shoes off, looking around the room to spot An and Ena sitting on the couch.
"So, would any of you like to explain what's going on here?" she asked, and as the words left her mouth, a door down the hall slammed shut. The sound drew her attention immediately, and she looked down the hall, pinpointing the exact door in an instant — Akito's design studio. Before anyone else could interject, she'd started making her way down the hall, marching towards the door, but her progress was halted by An grabbing her wrist and holding her in place.
"Wait, just a second, uh…" An tried to pull her in the direction of the kitchen, a frantic look on her face. "I made coffee! You want any coffee, Toya?"
"No thanks. I've already had some." Toya pulled her wrist free from An's grasp (with an embarrassing amount of effort required) and continued down the hallway. "Thank you, though."
With that, she grabbed the doorknob, pushing the door open and laying eyes on her partner.
Akito didn't even notice she was there for a moment, too preoccupied with shoving materials into drawers and throwing things around the room. When he saw her standing in the doorway, he froze, eyebrows shooting to the top of his head, and he swung around, clasping his hands together behind his back. "Toya! Hey!"
"Hi," she said, her voice flat. "You've got a bit of explaining to do."
"Ah, look, I just…" Akito's voice trailed off, but Toya looked to his left, her eyes finally catching on the garments on the mannequin in the corner, and… Oh.
He followed her gaze, and his shoulders slumped. "Goddamnit," he said, shaking his head. "That was supposed to be a surprise."
"This is…" Toya walked towards the mannequin, taking the half-finished dress draped over it into her hands. The shape of the top half was similar to the final dress she'd tried on earlier with Saki, with the neckline high enough to count as a turtleneck, and the skirt must have been long enough to fall halfway past her knees, made with the same fabric she'd picked out with Mizuki and An earlier. When she looked to the side, she caught a glimpse of the sketchbook Ena had been so protective of earlier, flipped open to pages with sketches of her in all kinds of dresses, notated with measurements. "Did you… oh, Akito."
"You mentioned that you were having trouble finding dresses you really liked that still fit your style," he muttered, his face scarlet red in the sunlight of the studio. "And I figured… well, I'm not getting a degree in fashion design for nothing, you know? Thought I could do something about that."
He took the fabric into his own hands, holding it up to the light. "I'm not totally finished with it — that was why I asked everyone to keep you occupied, actually, so that I could finish everything I needed to do. But once it's all done, you should be able to detach the skirt from the top and wear them separately — I was thinking of making a jacket or shawl or something with the spare fabric, too, but I'm not sure if I have enough — oof!"
He was cut off by Toya pulling him into the tightest hug she could muster, burying her face in the crook of his neck and melting into him. "Thank you, Akito. This is wonderful."
"Y-yeah, of course." Akito hugged her back, rubbing circles into her shoulders. "I wanted to make you something you'd feel like yourself in."
He pulled himself out of the hug, taking off his jacket and tying it around his waist. "I'll finish the dress in a bit," he said, dusting off his pants. "If you'll excuse me for a sec, though, I'll be right back."
Toya nodded, giving him a thumbs up as he left the studio, walking down the hall. She turned back to look at the dress, rubbing at the tears brimming in her eyes — Akito had always tried his best to help her find clothes she was comfortable in, and now, he'd gone the extra mile to make them himself. It was so kind of him. He was a kind person, as much as he tried to deny it, and Toya couldn't have been happier to have him as her partner—
"I gave you people one fucking job!" he yelled from down the hall, and she burst into laughter, leaning against the table. If Akito was going to crash out, it was well deserved.
"I still can't believe we managed to reach out to Tsukasa-senpai at the same time," Toya said, fighting back a laugh at the hilarity of it all as she took a sip of her drink. "What are the odds?"
"Eh, I asked him to be on call in case we needed to distract you, so it's not all that crazy," Akito said, shrugging. He was already halfway through his second slice of cheesecake, and Toya reached out with her napkin, brushing a few stray crumbs away from his cheek.
"It shocks me that you got this many people involved, though," she said. "I didn't know that you and Saki-san even knew each other."
"Oh, we don't," Akito said between bites. "Was An and Mizuki's idea. They figured she'd be able to kill two birds with one stone — keep you busy, get your measurements. Figuring out what kind of dresses you liked was a plus, too."
"Well, it turned out excellently," Toya said, spreading out the fabric of the skirt over her legs. "Thank you for all the effort you've put into this. It means the world to me."
"You mean a lot to me too, so we can call it even," he said, leaning back in his chair. Their eyes met, and Akito smiled, an expression so fond that it made Toya's heart sing. "You look really pretty tonight. And happy."
"I feel nice," she said, her throat closing up a bit. It was a strange feeling, being on the verge of tears even though she felt like she was on cloud nine. It was hard to even speak when she felt like she'd tear up again. "It's a pretty dress."
"Pretty dress for a beautiful girl," he murmured, and Toya couldn't stop herself from tearing up at that. "I tried my best. I'm glad you like it."
"Well, your best was more than enough," she said, leaning over the table to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Shall we take the check? I was hoping we could go for a walk."
They paid for their meal, walking to the park they'd spent so much of their younger years practicing together in. "It's hard to believe this is — what, our sixth anniversary?" Toya said, taking Akito's hand and rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. "I'm glad we've had all this time together. I didn't realize it had been so long."
"Well, here's to another six years," Akito said, pausing in front of the fountain in the center of the park. "And another six years after that. And more." He took her other hand, turning to face her. "Here's to the rest of our lives, Toya."
Her eyes welled up again, and just as she was about to wipe her tears, Akito leaned forward, capturing her lips in a kiss. Startled for a moment, Toya leaned into it, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding him close.
After a moment, he pulled away, resting a hand on her shoulder and looking up at the moon. "There was one more thing from today that you didn't know about," Akito whispered, and just as Toya was about to ask, her phone buzzed with a text message. "Go ahead. Check it."
She pulled her phone out of her pocket, opening the text from Kohane — and her breath hitched as she looked through the album of photos she'd just been sent, full of pictures from her various excursions over the course of the day. Posing for sketches with Ena, shopping for fabric with Mizuki and An, trying on dresses with Saki, storming out of the cafe with Tsukasa hot on her heels… And the final picture, the one that made her eyes crinkle with delight as she pressed her phone to her chest, was the kiss she and Akito had just shared.
She looked to the side, catching a glimpse of Kohane standing behind one of the trees nearby — Akito gave her a thumbs up and she gave him one back, waving to both of them and backpedaling away from their setup. "Let me know how much I owe you for the photoshoot!" he called after her, and Kohane shook her head, giving him another thumbs up as she turned tail and ran out of the park.
"How on Earth did you manage to pull that off?" Toya said, eyeing him with a skeptical look. "I swear, I would've noticed her at some point."
"Well, you were a bit preoccupied," Akito said, taking her hand and giving her another kiss on the cheek. "It's just you and me now, though. We've still got all night, what do you want to do next?"
"…We should stop by Vivid Street," she said, taking him by the hand and leading him towards the exit to the park. "I want to show off your handiwork."
Akito grinned. "Whatever you say," he said, keeping pace with her as they made their way to the exit.
Truthfully, it didn't matter to Toya where they went or what they did. As long as she could stay like this, hand-in-hand with Akito, and keep this warmth in her heart, she would be happy.