#kouris

She hopped into the shower, humming a little as she washed up. She made sure to focus a good deal on her hair, she always did. She ran her hands through her blonde hair, tipping her head back as she did so. She closed her eyes briefly and just let the water run over her shoulders then she sighed. She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her waist, already reaching for her hair dryer.

She hummed some more as she brushed through her hair with her hair brush and ran the hair dryer. She held down the button and finished drying it on cool air. She brushed through it again, it was still slightly wet, but it would dry very quickly. She left the bathroom and quickly put on undergarments. She opened her closet and thumbed through some of her sweaters.

She threw a light brown turtleneck on, her favourite type of sweater. She felt snug already as she closed the closet. She pulled a drawer open in her dresser and rummaged through it. She found her favourite pair of skinny jeans. She nodded and slipped into them before grabbing a pair of socks from another drawer. She flopped onto her bed next to Howlmon.

“You almost ready? I wanna go, Aris!”

She laughed, pulling her socks on. “Yeah, yeah, just give me two minutes. I still need to put my sneakers on.” She heard Howlmon groan as she stood up and shoved her phone and some money into her pocket. “Oh, cut it out and come on, Howlmon!”

Her partner hopped off the bed and followed Aris to the entrance hall, where she was already tying her shoes. Once they were tied, she stood up. “Let’s go!” “Alright!” Howlmon bounded out the door and Aris shut it behind her. It was a pretty nice day, despite the ever so slight chill on the wind. Aris felt giddy, she’d have a lot of time to spend with everyone, especially Koushiro. They were going to have lunch and then do some walking and shopping until it got late out. It’d been a while since Aris was this excited about an outing with a few friends.

She and Howlmon talked about their plans to next visit the digital world as they walked. Aris was excited, she loved when they got the chance to all camp out in the digiworld, something that she hadn’t gone and done in a while now. She hoped it wouldn’t become an incident again, though. She and Howlmon parted ways at the park, Howlmon loved to go off and play around with some of the children when Aris was busy.

Aris was the first to arrive at their meeting location, a small cafe in the shopping mall. It was the one place they felt everyone would like something from. Mimi and Hitomi arrived shortly after, together of course. Aris couldn’t help but smile, the two of them were awfully cute together. She was happy for Mimi, finding someone she loved so much who loved her back. Now, if only I could. Or if only I could just make Koushiro fall in love with me. Aris sighed, but smiled when they said hello.

“Morning Okomina, Mimi.”

“Agh! Aris, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Hitomi?!”

Aris laughed, “As many times it takes until I call you Hitomi?” She definitely signed up for that smartalec answer. Hitomi groaned, but Mimi laughed at the two and squeezed her girlfriend’s hand.

“Oh, you know how Aris is. You should know better by now.”

Hitomi rolled her eyes, “Yeah, but… Ah, whatever! Just call me Hitomi, damn it!” Aris and Mimi laughed when Koushiro walked over.

“Oh, morning Izzy!”

“Good morning Koushiro!”

Aris smiled at him and gave him her good morning, simple and sweet.

“Who else are we waiting on?”

“No one.” Aris turned to see Takeru and Hikari approaching them and it dawned on her. Oh, she was setting me up. This definitely feels like some kind of triple date! She’s gonna get it later… Aris smiled, waving to them. They waved back and everyone greeted them cheerfully.

Once they were all seated in the cafe and had ordered lunch and drinks, they started chit chatting, mostly about their planned visit to the digiworld. Aris chimed in here and there, feeling excited for it already. However, she cut the chatter once their food arrived, feeling starved almost suddenly. Her turkey club never tasted quite as good as it did then.

After lunch, they all wanted to walk a bit, before really starting to look in any shops. Aris was only half paying attention to their conversations as she walked behind the rest. Koushiro slowed his pace a little to keep step with her, but she didn’t notice. She was too caught up thinking of how to get back at Mimi and Hitomi for this. She hadn’t noticed until it was too late. Her shoulder bumped into someone else’s and she stumbled, only to be pulled back to her balance.

“Woah, thanks Koushiro! Sorry, I should pay attention, huh?”

He nodded, looking a bit worried. “Yeah, try to, okay?” She nodded and thanked him for helping her again, a light blush on her cheeks. She heard someone, or two someone’s, giggling and shot a glare at them as soon as Koushiro was looking away. Oh, they knew that she knew what they were up to. They knew. They resumed their walk after Hikari had asked her if she was okay and Takeru made sure to point out that she did that often. She made sure to be more aware of their surroundings this time though. She also paid more attention to their conversation this time too.

They were talking about relationship advice, she immediately went back to ignoring the conversation. She had no input to give and definitely did not want anything about relationships to involve her right now. She knew Mimi was trying to get her to accidentally let it slip. Oh, Aris was so much smarter than that. She continued to hear tidbits of the conversations, surprised by how quick they could change topics and unable to keep up with each topic. It was a little overwhelming, especially when she tried to say something, or wanted to, but they had already moved onto another topic.

It was getting busier by the time they all started going into shops. Hell, even Aris found herself wandering into a women’s clothes shop with them and looking at some scarves and sweaters. However, she didn’t buy anything and was the first to rejoin Koushirou and Takeru waiting outside the shop. She stood nearby, holding her arm and shuffled her feet a little. There really was a lot of people here, what if she got lost? Mimi interrupted them from the shop entrance.

“Come on! Next shop we go!” She was waving with Hitomi and Hikari. Takeru quickly made his way over to them, almost naturally fitting in right by Hikari’s side. While they were walking to the next shop that spotted someone’s eye, Aris fell behind a little. Koushiro noticed and slowed down to keep an eye on her, in case they got separated. He could tell she was a little nervous with all the people around.

“Aris!” She bumped into another person and he grabbed her hand. “Stay close to me so you don’t get separated…” He felt a little embarrassed, saying something like that so suddenly to her. She nodded, their hands still held together. In a brief moment of daring, she twined their fingers together, so it would be harder for them to get pulled apart. He looked flustered at the action and she quickly stammered, “S-so it’s easier for us to stick together, o-of course!”

“Right, right, o-of course!” He nodded, rubbing the back of his head as the two of them walked, a little ways behind their friends. She leaned over a little, trying to avoid someone and accidentally bumped him with her shoulder. She squeaked out a quick sorry, her face pink from embarrassment. He coughed a little, using it as an excuse to cover his face with his hand.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t worry!” She nodded, not looking in his direction. The two of them finally caught up to their friends and, reluctantly, each let go of the other’s hand. Aris glanced at Koushiro and then held her arm again, walking quietly. She waited quietly with him and Hikari as the others went into a shop. What the heck am I even supposed to say now? Hey, I liked holding hands with you, could we do it again? She shook her head, frustrated with herself. It felt so stupid.

“Aris? You’re awfully quiet…”

She jumped a little. “Sorry, sorry, guess I’m just thinking.”

“Right…” She could hear the doubt in Hikari’s voice, but she was grateful when she dropped the subject. Koushiro glanced at Aris, a little worried. Did he go too far holding her hand like that? No, she wouldn’t have twined their fingers if he had, she would have pulled away. Was it something else? Was she nervous from the crowds?

“Aris-”

“Hey! Aris! Have you decided what you want me to buy you?” He was cut off by Mimi running over to them while shouting. Aris gulped.

“Mimi, I’m serious. I don’t want anything!”

“Nope! I’m gonna buy you something since I missed your birthday! I even got extra money just for your gift! Choose anything!” Then Mimi leaned in close and whispered, so only Aris could hear. “Except Izzy, you have to get that yourself.”

Aris blushed darkly and lightly hit her shoulder. “Ow!” “Mimi, I swear, if you say that again, I’m going home!”

“Alright, alright. How about a deal? You let me buy you a gift and I never say that again?”

Aris grumbled, but reluctantly agreed to it. That was how she ended up with a new, blue and green tartan scarf. It was really warm and Aris was actually looking forward to being able to wear it when it got cold. Aris was a little disappointed when it was time for them to split up, she hadn’t quite gotten the time she’d wanted with all of them.

“Aris, hold on a second.”

She stopped and looked at Koushiro quizzically, not sure why he would stop her. He panted a little.

“Could I,uh, would you mind if I walked you home?”

Her heart raced and she felt her face heating up ever so slightly. The thought of that…

“O-of course!” She cursed herself for sounding as excited as she felt, but smiled when he did. He was a little red in the face too, she assumed it was from jogging to catch up with her. They walked side by side. Aris felt the need to say something, but she wasn’t sure what she would even say, so she didn’t say it. They made small talk about anything in general until they were at Aris’ drive. She felt disappointed.

“Aris, are you, uh, busy tomorrow? Cause if not, I was wondering if you’d like to just kind of spend some time together? You know… like we used to?”

“Izzy, I…. would really love that, actually. Yeah.”

“Great, so, I’ll see you tomorrow then?”