ic ☀ in the night memory opals

[mellowyellow]

i. raira trio

The memory begins as three high schoolers walk down the streets of Tokyo in awkward silence. The two in front, a boy and a girl, share dark hair, plain features, and an inability to look each other in the eye. These must be Mikado and Anri. Directly behind them is an easily recognizable Masaomi. He glares past their frustrating physical distance and endures their nonexistent conversation for a good few minutes before deciding to take the situation into his own hands.

"Man, I didn't think you'd get to her before me!" he chimes as he slides in between them.

"That's not what happened!" an embarrassed Mikado insists for the umpteenth time.

"But it worked out fine," Masaomi chugs along unfazed. "If I were in your position, I wouldn't have let that chance go either. The two of us would be speaking of love together in West Gate Park!"

His hands press deeply against his chest before he suddenly whirls around and gets down on one knee, cutting off Anri's path.

"So, yeah. Go out with me!"

Masaomi's poor victims sputter at his sudden gesture, and he seems to be enjoying their surprise. The moment Anri tries to answer, however, he waves his hand in front of her, urging her to stop.

"Oh, you don't need to answer right away. I'm waiting on responses from seven other girls, and I'm still figuring out which one I want to date."

As Anri stares blankly into Masaomi's smug grin, Mikado turns his head in mock disdain. "Sonohara-san, don't take him seriously. You'll just get tired." A treacherous, little grin spreads across his lips as he continues. "Besides, he may look like a playboy, but he's actually not. Even when he goes out to pick up girls, he-"

"Oi, Mikado!"

Mikado turns his head back just in time to see Masaomi balanced atop the stair rail next to them. The blond grins like a mad man, then leaps off the railing to tackle Mikado to the ground. As the two boys wrestle out of each other's grasps, Anri quietly watches. She can't look away, as if she's seeing something truly novel.

"You two... are good friends, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we are," Masaomi immediately agrees with a smile.

"Not that I don't want to be rid of him..." Mikado concludes with an even bigger smile.

As Masaomi forces him back down for a well-deserved tickle fest, the memory fades out.