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‘Okay calm down..’ Sakura thought to himself, his hands shaking in his pockets as he walked through the almost dark and cold streets of Makochi. Snow slowly falling around him ‘You've fought dozens of guys on your own before, you’ve beaten dudes way stronger than you. You’ve even opened up to others, opened up to her…’
After that thought crossed his mind his legs stopped moving as his head hung low, and he began to stare at the snow on the ground. “You even asked her out on this date yourself you idiot”
Memories flooded back to his head, remembering how far he’s come after moving here. All the people he's met, all those he now has in his life. He lifted his head and looked at his surroundings.
A fond smile played on his lips as his expression softened, recognizing where he was, and the significance of this dear location.
“This was where I met Bocchi…” he whispered to himself, feeling his cheeks heat up “Right here..” One hand left his jacket pocket and gripped his inside shirt, his hand resting on top of his heart, that was beating heavily.
He stood tall and took a deep breath before beginning to walk again, his pace faster than before, with a determined expression and his face flushed.
The walk to Bocchi’s house wasn't exactly a long one, especially with the pace he was going. It was also one he was far too familiar with, having walked this way many times, usually accompanied by a dear pink-haired guitarist.
When he was nearing the Gotou residence he paused his steps when spotted from the distance that Bocchi was already standing outside. She leaned her back against the wooden fence in front of her house. She didn't seem to notice him yet, with her attention glued to her phone that was in her left hand.
She wasn't wearing her usual pink tracksuit, and was dressed in a cropped light green sweater, with a long black polka dot skirt, and black lace-up boots. And her guitar case was surprisingly nowhere in sight, and was replaced by a small hand bag in her right hand ‘She looks cute…’ He thought to himself before his face heated up once again after finally cooling down before he arrived in her neighborhood.
He shook his head to get the thought out of his head as he continued walking. It was clearly an outfit pulled together by Nijika and Kita knowing the girl's lack of fashion taste, with her only ever wearing a pink tracksuit over and over again. Though he knew he had no room to talk, he did need help from not only his friends in Furin, but also from Roppo-Ichiza for what to wear.
“H-hey Bocchi!” He called out when he was close enough, raising his hand close to his face to give a small wave to the girl. He felt a comical sweat drop and he let out a small sigh as he saw the guitarist jolt up and almost drop her phone as she turned to the origin of the voice.
Though when he saw Bocchi’s excited and happy expression he immediately softened his expression and a smile adorned his face. The pink-haired girl immediately stood up straight as she put her phone in her hand bag and hurriedly scurried towards Sakura’s side.
“Sakura-kun you're here!” She exclaimed, surprisingly cheerful (for Bocchi) with a small yet happy smile on her face.
“Sorry, did you wait long?” Sakura questioned, feeling bad at the thought of having her out in the cold waiting for him, especially since the sun was close to setting. Though Bocchi immediately dismissed this by shaking her head swiftly.
“N-no, don't worry! I-I just came out, so you're a-alright you came just in time actually” assured with her hands waving as a gesture to further push her point before she cleared her throat and spoke again.
“A-anyways let's get going,” She said pointing in the direction of where the aquarium was, to which Sakura responded with a grunt and a firm nod before they began to walk beside each other. With Sakura walking on Bocchi's right which was also the side that was closer to the road.
There was a comfortable silence that stretched through the air as they walked, somewhere around the way of the duo's journey, they began to enjoy each other's company to the point where they didn't need to speak.
And being around the other person was more than enough. At least for them it was. Though a sudden thought had crossed Bocchi's mind as she turned to Sakura and spoke up “Y-you know Nijika-chan said that there was a c-cafe that recently o-opened near the Aquarium…. I-it's open till midnight so y-you wanna check it out before we go?” Bocchi asked with a slight head tilt.
“Yeah sure, I could use a bite to eat.” Sakura responded with a thumbs up, both of his hands now out of his pockets as he put them down to his side. Bocchi nodded at him “I-i’ll show you where it is when we're near” she muttered softly, while discreetly switching her bag from right hand to her left. Which was left unnoticed by Sakura.
Though he did seem to notice when Bocchi shakily reached for his hand, jolting slightly as his steps came to a halt. His face flushed as he spinned his head towards Bocchi, who also stopped walking and her face also blushing. Her eyes widened when their gazes met, before she quickly turned her head away and slowly pulled her hand back before surprisingly Sakura reached back and held her hand.
Bocchi turned her head back in shock to be met with Sakura looking away from her, though from the sight of his ears burning it was evident he was blushing. Her shock (And blush) only grew as Sakura interlocked their fingers together, fitting together perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle.
Bocchi's astonishment at Sakura's actions left her speechless, lost entirely in her own world. Unable to speak, move, and possibly breath. The lack of response had made Sakura slightly worry about what he had done, if she regretted going for his hand, or even worse on this date. Though he quickly learned he worried about the wrong thing as he turned his head towards Bocchi.
With the blushing girl on the verge of melting into a pink puddle out of being flustered. Sakura let out an exasperated sigh before putting his other hand on her shoulder to lightly shake her and speak up to snap Bocchi out of her dazed dissolving state.
“H-hey come on, we got a d-d-date to go on…Remember?” He stammered in mock annoyance, finding it hard to say the word ‘date’ even now.
“Y-Yes! W-we should get going now, and it's our first ever d-date so l-let's enjoy it!” Thankfully that was just enough to snap Bocchi out of her own world and into real life. With her looking back at him with a newfound determined look in her eyes and began to walk again. Having the boy's other hand come off of her shoulder as she pulled him by their joined hands.
“H-hurry!” She exclaimed excitedly giggling as she dragged the boy away. With Sakura letting out a few small laughs as he let himself be dragged “Slow down!” He yelped though not fighting from her grip at all.
“We've got time,” Sakura said with a small fond sigh.