Writing Blog

“Wow, Hinata, your house is really big!” Chiaki’s eyes looked around just the foyer with awe. Sure, she knew that his parents were pretty loaded, but this?! It was incredible, like a castle almost.

Hinata scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed. He tried to avoid taking many people back home because he didn’t really like to flaunt his parents’ wealth around, but it did seem to impress Chiaki a bit. “Sorry, I should have warned you beforehand, uh, I don’t like to-”

His girlfriend cut him off, “Is that a Piano? Do you play, Hinata?” Before he could even answer she was already strolling over to it, admiring its design.

“I mean, I did for a while but I haven’t since I started going to Hope’s Peak. My parents thought that I would get in as the ultimate pianist, but I honestly just didn’t make the cut.”  

The longing in his face made Chiaki almost wish she hadn’t brought it up. The fact that he was a reserve course student was always very sensitive for him, but she honestly had no idea that he was a pianist. “Would you be willing to play me something?”

Surprisingly, Hinata seemed to brighten up a bit, having come up with an idea. He pulled a book from the shelf that wrote “Edward Elgar” on the front, flipping open to a page that had been dogeared. “This is one of my favorite pieces. It’s called Salut d’Amour, French for ‘love’s greeting’ or ‘love’s hello’. It was originally written as a duet for lovers, but this one was arranged into a solo piano piece. It’s kind of sad if you think about it…”

“I don’t think so. It’s like, uh, like you’re playing it for the person you love, I think.”

“I guess it could be like that…” Hinata sat down at the piano bench and placed the open book on the stand. “And, uh, if that’s the case then, more so now than before, can I play it f-for you, maybe?”

If he hadn’t been looking down at his hands folded in his lap, he would have seen the light flush that rose on the cheeks of his girlfriend, who had mentioned the comment without even thinking about the fact that he was most definitely about to play it. Chiaki approached him and squeezed his shoulder gently saying “I would be honored.” She sat down in one of the parlor chairs a few yards away from him and waited patiently.

“Player One wins!” the television flashed. Hinata looked over to his girlfriend to see her with a sly expression on her face yet again.

“Come on Chiaki, can’t you let me win at least one round?”

Chiaki shook her head, “No way, i’m not just going to go easy on you. Don’t be such a sore loser!” She punched his arm lightly and gave a small smile; she was merely messing with him. In fact, playing video games with Hinata was one of Chiaki’s favorite past times, and she wasn’t one to back down. He would have to get his win the hard way, or so she thought.

“One more round, okay?” Hinata pleaded, giving her a bit of puppy dog eyes, though he had a mischievous glint in his eye that she just happened to miss.

“Alright, are you ready to get beat again?” Chiaki lifted up her controller, ready to go again.

“No, but I’m ready to prove you wrong!”

She rolled her eyes at him and pressed the start button and a countdown began to descend from “3”.

The two gave each other a quick glance; Chiaki was sure of herself, but was a bit bewildered at Hinata’s uncanny confidence.

“2”

They both readied their controllers, gripping them tightly.

“1”

Chiaki inhaled sharply, ready to hit her boyfriend with a combo attack the moment the screen said “start”

In that moment, however, Hinata leaned in and kissed her on the lips, hoping in her dazed state afterwards that he would be able to knock her character off the stage.

The kiss lasted a couple seconds, and Chiaki certainly wasn’t dissatisfied with it. But it was in those few seconds of lip to lip contact that Hinata heard it; the familiar sound of defeat.

“Player One Wins”

He pulled away, completely bewildered. How could she have won? This was supposed to distract her!

Chiaki laughed at the look he gave her and cupped his face gently saying “You know I could still see the TV while you kissed me right? I told you to prepare to lose again.”

Hinata shrugged his shoulders in a dejected manner but looked up at his girlfriend and smiled saying, “how can I have possibly lost when I have you?”

Hinata bounced his leg while he gazed longingly out the window. She would show up, right? Maybe she had only agreed to this out of pity for him, I mean he was just a reserve course student. No, Chiaki was different from a lot of the other ultimates at Hope’s Peak; she wouldn’t look down on him like that.

He glanced down at his watch. But what if she got nervous, what if he had been too forboarding what if-

Before he had anymore time to think, he heard the bell above the cafe door jingle, and the most gorgeous girl walk in; she was here.

Chiaki looked around for a bit, she was dressed in light pink jumper with a white undershirt, which complemented her cute sense of style wonderfully. Her eyes finally caught Hinata’s, and he clumsily stood up from his seat to go greet her.

“H-Hey Chiaki, I saved us a table! Uh, have you ever eaten here before?”

She pondered for a moment and shook her head, “No, I haven’t done much outside of the academy, I’m not really from this area, but-” her eyes wandered over to the display case full of different pastries and sweets, “the food looks really good, I think.”

“Yeah it is really good! I come here a lot on the weekends since there isn’t really much to do on the reserve student campus.” Hinata scratched the back of his head a bit flustered; he wasn’t really one for conversation, especially around cute girls like Chiaki. He was more of the type who showed how he felt through his actions, which he thought to himself as he pulled a chair out for his date. “Let’s sit down, I can show you what the best things on the menu are.”

While Hinata showed her the menu, he realized what was so different about seeing her today than any other day. Chiaki had put her game console down for once and was actually looking at him while he talked (even when he wasn’t talking, it seems like she was quietly observing him, but she always did it with a slight smile on her face). It’s not that he minded when she was playing games, it’s who she was for the most part, but he delighted in getting to actually look into her eyes and really see how beautiful she was. In fact, the two got so lost in each other’s gazes that they didn’t notice when a waiter had appeared to take their orders.

Hinata shook his head, clearing his thoughts, and turned to Chiaki, “Uh, have you decided what you want?”

“This.” she said pointing to a picture of a strawberry shortcake on the menu, “and uh, could we please share it, Hinata?”

His face flushed a bit at the thought of sharing a dessert with her; would she be the type to swipe in for the last berry or would she let him have it? It was sometimes difficult to tell; Chiaki seemed like the type of person that you could push over and get your way, however, Hinata knew she was much more strong-willed than that. During their video game sessions together, she wouldn’t even let her focus go for a moment to let him win. It was… well, cute, in a way, but he liked her take shit from nobody attitude that hid underneath her timid exterior. Well, he liked almost everything about her. Did she know that, or did she think they were just going on this date as friends?

Without even giving him a chance to ponder any longer, Chiaki answered  his question. “Hinata, I just want to thank you for taking me out today. I, erm, I’ve never really done anything like this, and I’m glad you were my first date ever, I think.” She thought to herself for a moment again, fiddling with her hair a bit too, like she didn’t know what to do with them without her handheld. “I really like you Hinata, so I’m glad to be here with you!”

“R-Really?”

She snorted- wait, snorted? He had never seen her burst out like that, it was so adorable. “Would I have said yes if that wasn’t the case?”

“I mean I guess not. But what if you-”

Chiaki reached across the table and placed a finger to his lips, in a shushing gesture, “You worry too much, Hinata. I like you, and i-it took a lot of courage to come out here today so, you better not be messing with me!”