Short Story: Kaori Miyashita’s Love Life

“What do you think about going out with me, Kaori?” asked Keigo Kohinata, medical research grad student and former schoolmate of Kiyotaka Yagashira. He put his coffee cup down and smiled, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses. His casual tone of voice was probably on purpose due to nervousness. As proof, he was scratching his head to hide the fact that his ears were bright red, since his hair was too short to cover them.

Looking at him, Kaori Miyashita thought, Yeah, he isn’t a bad person.

They were on the second floor of a world-famous cafe near Teramachi-Sanjo. Kohinata had asked her on a date, and when he’d inquired if there was anywhere she wanted to go, she had said she wanted to see a movie. That was a good choice for going out with someone she didn’t know well. It let her immerse herself in her own world, it took up a lot of time, and afterwards, they’d have something to talk about. It just so happened that there was a movie she had wanted to see too. Normally, she didn’t mind going alone, but this one was a horror film. Her best friend, Aoi, had declined her invitation, saying that she wasn’t brave enough to watch something like that on the big screen.

“When you said you wanted to watch a movie, I thought it’d be one of the popular romance ones. I wasn’t expecting horror, but it’s just like you to suggest that,” Kohinata had said with a laugh.

Kaori wondered what he meant by that. At the start of the year, they’d had dinner with Aoi and Holmes. After that, they had swapped contact information and began exchanging messages. Their conversations had been nothing more than small talk about what was going on around them, so Kaori doubted he knew her well enough to say that something was “just like her” to do.

Today, they had watched a movie at the Sanjo theater before deciding to have tea at a nearby cafe. Their idle chatter had continued for a while, and when the conversation died down, those words came out of his mouth.

“Going out with you...” Kaori put down her cup and hummed.

“You have a really grim look on your face.”

“Oh, pardon me. I was thinking about it.”

“About what it’d be like?”

“That, and I was wondering why you wanted to go out with me in the first place.”

Kohinata’s eyes snapped wide open. “Huh? It’s because I think it’d be nice, of course.”

“That’s what I don’t get. I’m not sociable, I can’t say clever things, and I’m kind of a fangirl and a geek. I don’t think I’m that appealing as a girl. The people around me are way more feminine, like my sister and Aoi. Like, even as a fellow girl, they make me feel like I want to protect them. And Aoi wanted to make a necktie for Holmes since his birthday’s coming up, so she went to the trouble of asking a sewing club to teach her. It’s crazy how hard she can work for her boyfriend’s sake. I don’t have that in me at all,” she said with a serious face.

Kohinata burst out laughing.

“Is this really the time to be laughing?” Kaori asked.

“Sorry, I just thought it was funny because that’s what I like about you.”

“What?” She looked down, her cheeks suddenly feeling hot. “You have bad taste, huh?”

“Really? There are an infinite number of tastes people can have, so I wouldn’t think of mine as bad.”

Kaori fell silent.

“You know, I have three older sisters,” he continued.

“Three?”

“Yeah. It’s embarrassing to say this about my own family, but all three of them are attractive and popular in their own ways. But I’ve seen how they keep up appearances while being terrible when no one’s looking, so for as long as I can remember, I’ve had a slight distrust of women.”

“I think I know how you feel,” Kaori said with a laugh.

“Right? That’s why I’m relieved that you’re always your natural self. I figure you must be the same way whether you’re at home or outside.”

Kaori felt like she could accept that reasoning.

“I hope you understand where I’m coming from a little better now,” he continued. “Will you consider it?”

“At first, I thought you were just pulling my leg...but I think I kind of understand now that you aren’t.”

“Only ‘kind of’?” He shrugged.

“I understand, but I don’t have any special feelings for you yet.”

“When you say ‘yet,’ that means there’s a chance you will in the future, doesn’t it?”

Kaori smiled awkwardly and looked down. Even as she said these things, she couldn’t help but think about the manager.

“Is there someone else you like?” Kohinata asked.

She blushed and averted her gaze. “I’m not sure, but it might be love.” Her hands on the table trembled as she spoke.

“Someone at your university?”

She shook her head. “He’s a lot older than me, so I’m not even in the running.”

“Hey, you never know.” He rested his chin on his hand with a smile, but it clearly wasn’t a sincere one.

“He’s not someone I should be falling in love with in the first place.”

“Is he already married?” he asked, his tone of voice dropping.

Kaori quickly looked up and said, “No, it’s not something like that.”

Kohinata leaned back and sighed. “I don’t know if I’m relieved or disappointed.”

“Huh?”

“Because if you were in love with a married man, I could openly object. You said it ‘might’ be love, but it totally is. It’s written all over your face.”

“It is?!” Kaori put her hands on her cheeks.

“Yeah, you were making a really cute face that said ‘I love that person.’” He laughed mischievously and then heaved a sigh. “Too bad.”

She couldn’t say anything in response to that.

“So what are you going to do?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you going to keep doing nothing because he’s a lot older and wouldn’t see you that way?”

Kaori weakly looked away.

“You might be surprised to hear this, but it took a lot of courage for me to ask for your contact info and invite you on a date, you know?” he added.

She looked up, startled. It was surprising. She hadn’t thought of him as a playboy, but he did seem to have a lot of female friends. She had assumed that asking girls out was an everyday thing for him.

“Okay, you don’t have to look that surprised.”

“You seem like you’re used to asking girls out, so I thought it’d be easy for you.”

“Well, it’s easy to ask out a girl I don’t really care for, but if it’s someone I want to date, it takes courage. I don’t think men and women are very different when it comes to that.”

Kaori nodded.

“So, if you’re willing to respect my courage, I want to ask you to be brave too, Kaori,” he said with a smile.

She gulped and lowered her gaze.

Seeing her fall silent, Kohinata panicked and said, “Oh, but this is just a selfish request from me. Don’t feel pressured, all right?”

“I know.” She nodded and brushed her bangs out of her face.

Suddenly, she noticed a poster on the wall that said “Limited-time Valentine’s Day Menu: Chocolate Drink.”

“I think I’ll do something about my feelings,” she said with resolve.

Kohinata looked at the poster too. “Oh right, it’s almost Valentine’s Day.”

“Yeah. It’s Holmes’s birthday too.”

“Wait, really? Yagashira’s birthday is on Valentine’s Day?”

Kaori burst out laughing. “What, you didn’t know?”

“Well, yeah. Guys don’t ask each other what their birthdays are, and besides, that guy doesn’t talk about himself unless you ask.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“I’m pretty good at seeing through people, but Yagashira is truly mysterious. I could never tell what he was thinking. I thought he’d never open up to anyone, let alone get a girlfriend and turn into that...” Kohinata covered his mouth as he burst out laughing, probably recalling the scene at Shokado Garden Art Museum when Holmes had come running to see Aoi.

“Yeah, I know exactly how you feel.” Kaori nodded and laughed with him, then looked at the poster again.

I’ll face my feelings, and when I have my answer, I’ll go and give him chocolate on Valentine’s Day.

She wrapped her hands around her cup and squeezed it tightly.