Selfcare or Self-destruct?
Ada was quick to explain to us the rules of this game, well the rules were easy, and so was the game, you simply had to say your favorite thing mentioned, literally a kid's game
"So what's your favorite pet? Mine is a hamster!" Ada said happily
"Hamster? Don't they die like they are moths or something?"
"Yeah, but they are cute!"
Okay...
"I will have to go with parrot!" Aoi said
"Parrot? Just because they speak sometimes? Come on that's even lamer than the hamster!"
Ada seemed sad about what I said
"Oh yeah? What's your perfect answer then big shot?" Aoi asked angrily
"A cat is humanity's second best friend and the most relaxed"
"BASIC!" The girls said together
"It's basic but not horrible like yours!"
Moving on to the next
"What's your favorite color? Mine is probably purple! I like it so much that I made my phone purple-themed!" Ada said as she showed us her phone
I guess that's cool
"Mine is black, I know it's basic but it's very efficient at everything!" Aoi said
The girls then turned their eyes to me ready to bully me because of my choice
"Mine has to be blue, it's the color of the sky and the sea, it just brings a calmness to my mind as it cleanses it from anything bad"
"Hmmm" They both said
I think they don't have anything bad to say to me
"My turn to ask! What's your favorite person?" Inei said as he came out of nowhere
"Huh? Who invited you? Leave!" Aoi told him
"You have quite the guts to tell me that when you are laying under my umbrella!" Inei said with a calm smile that emitted angry energy
"Mine is my dad! He is the strongest and lets me do anything I want!" Ada said with a bright smile on her face
"Mine is my mother, she is a single mother trying hard to raise me and I have to thank her for what I have become today, I'm truly blessed!" Aoi said with a true smile on her face
"I have to go with my father too! He is simply the greatest no questions asked!"
Inei's answer was anticipated by everyone
"My favorite person? That must be me..."
Everyone was kind of confused by my answer
"You can't be your favorite person dude! Pick someone else!" Ada told me in an annoyed tone
"Then my father, he is quite cool and he always did everything to satisfy my will"
I don't know why I tried to answer jokingly before, why didn't I say him?
"That game is fun and all but I'm really thirsty can someone get us all a bottle of ice tea?" Inei asked as he desperately tried to cool himself off with his hands
I felt that many eyes stared at me when the question was posed
"I will not go!" I said
…
They still kept on staring at me
"Let's decide fairly! Let's draw straws or something!"
After agreeing on that Aoi lost and because I felt bad I tagged along, but I had another reason I wanted to go to town with her
…
"Skincare product? Why the hell would you want something like that?" Aoi asked me confused
"You said it too! I don't look like I belong with Yua so I want to change that, I want to change myself! Please your skin is super clean and you don't have any acne, you must have a secret!"
Aoi seemed very happy about this praise
"I see all these years of skincare were noticed! Fine, just because you were nice I can suggest you something nice!" She said as she wrote down a brand name on a piece of paper
"This did wonders for me, also your hair is long but very messy so you can also start using hair powder, your shampoo plays a big role in your appearance so you should be worried about this too!" Aoi talked by herself while writing her products on the paper
~Nothing will change the shitty look of your eyes though~ Yu said as he spoke to me from the reflection of a refrigerator outside that small shop we took a break at
"Here you go, use that and you will be less ugly, that's the best thing I can do for you, I will now return to the guys as for you, make sure you buy everything I told you!" Aoi said as she quickly left me behind
That won't be enough...
…
After buying everything I went to a barber shop and I asked him to cut my out-of-control hair into a comfier fit and that's what he did, the barber made my bush-like hair into a more fashionable and comfy hair and after that, I also bought some summer clothes
Thankfully I didn't run out of money and also managed to return before everyone left
"Whoa, what the hell did you buy? Wait, did you cut your hair?" Ada asked me
She was very surprised to see my total of three bags and my hair
"Probably erotic magazines!" Aoi said as she was sunbathing with a shirt on her face
"Really? Let's read them now!" Ada said as she rushed to my bags
"W-Wait..."
Before I could stop her Ada made me drop all the beauty products I bought
Everyone remained silent when they saw that
"Why do you need all this? You look alright to me, is it because you don't like how you look?" Ada asked me with a sad tone
"I-It's not like that, I just wanted..."
Before I could finish my sentence Inei approached me and for the first time since I came to Japan I felt like he talked to me from the heart
"I know what you asked Aoi-chan, I don't know what you think of my little sister but she isn't the type to judge someone's appearance, I understand if you want to do this for yourself but if you do it for Yua then stop this, you will just waster money fixing something that isn't broken!"
I quickly picked everything up
"It's not like that, I'm just restocking!" I said before leaving them behind
"Sorry! My father called!" I told them before leaving
There is no way they believed me, but I don't feel like telling them the truth, not this time
~Everyone is wearing a mask like you always said Su, but no mask can hide a person's soul, and why do I mention souls? Because that's what people love, not someone's appearance, if you like someone simply because of their image you don't love them, love is something deeper, something that only comes from the soul and is directed to the soul of the other, so if Yua doesn't like you the way you are then she doesn't love you!~ Yu told me as I was riding my bike home
'It's not like that, I do this because I'm insecure, what you say may be true but I can't help myself from doing it anyway, you know even if I know Yua is going to love me I still feel like I have to better myself not just for me but for her too, many greater, brighter, smarter, and prettier boys will cross her path, I have to keep up you know, I need to be better in the future, only then I will feel worthy enough to date Yua carelessly' I told Yu
~What about the present Su? Did you ever wonder why she liked you in the first place? Did you ever wonder why she didn't go after the greater, brighter, smarter, and prettier boys? Maybe you don't have to be someone else for her to like you, maybe you should be genuine~ Yu told me as I parked my bike in the garage
Maybe Yu is right, no, he IS right but that doesn't change the fact that I want to be better, I will exceed every expectation and limit people have set for me in their head
"Welcome back son! Yua-chan is waiting for you in your room! Nice haircut by the way"
"I'm back! Nice to see you... WAIT WHAT DID YOU SAY?"
"I said nice haircut"
"Not that comedian! Why is Yua here?"
"Well she said something along the lines of wanting for you to go out for a walk or something" My father said while trying to remember
I dashed to my room and surprisingly Yua was sitting on my PC playing a game
"Welcome! I was just gridding some runes on your account!" She casually said
"Why are you here?" I asked her as I made a sudden entrance into my room
"Shut up gorilla! This is no way to ask your girlfriend something! Ask again but more politely!" She demanded
She seems to have ignored my hair
"What's the reason you occupied my room?"
"I just wanted to see you (LOL)" She said as she turned back into the PC
. . .
She isn't asking me about what I have in the bag so we are safe
"You do the weirdest things you know that?" I told her as I put everything in their place
While I was busy fixing everything Yua disappeared from the PC
"Lotion? P-PERVERT!" She said as she blushed a little
What she said went over my head for a moment
"W-What? Why did you assume that in the first place? This is for my skin... Wait are you a closet pervert?" I asked her as I cornered myself in the corner of my room
The thing she asked me on the beach and now that, I'm really starting to believe that
"N-No..." Yua unconvincingly said as she blushed
"Why did you really come here for?" I asked her once again
I desperately wanted to change the topic
"I wanted to ask you something that might be a little weird for you..." She said
"I'm listening!" I said while paying attention to every movement of her lips
"H-Hey! I'm not going to ask you THAT! I was wondering if you are interested in meeting my mother... I was planning on meeting her tomorrow and I told her about you so naturally she asked me to bring you with me, you don't have to come if you don't want to!" She said with an underwhelming amount of confidence
It's like she knows that I'm going to refuse
"Why not? I just have to tell this to my father and Hikita" I said as I started walking toward the exit of my room
Suddenly Yua grabbed my arm
"T-They know..." She said as she looked away
"I think I know what is happening!" I said with a cocky smile
"This is the moment when the girl introduces her future husband to a mother unwilling to give the hand of her daughter to the boy!"
Yua looked surprised
"I hate how close you are to that but I promise you that nothing bad will happen, she just wants to talk to you! Probably..." Yua said with an unsure look on her face
"Is that all?" I asked her
"What? Did you expect something else to happen when a girl and a boy who like each other are in the same room alone?" She asked ironically
I think I know what I have to do but I can't bring myself to do it
"So?" Yua asked as she became a bit red
"I don't know what you expect!" I said in the most unconvincing way I could
"COME ON! I DID THE FIRST MOVE WHICH IS THE MOST CRITICAL!" Yua angrily said as she progressively got redder
I gulped and went for it, I put my hands around her waist and pulled her close, looked into her eyes and gave her a smooch, and then backed down
"IS THAT ALL?" Yua asked visibly unsatisfied
"Look I can't do that while looking at you..."
"Coward!" She said as she walked past me
I thought that she was going to leave the room but was beyond surprised when she closed the lights and locked the door
I was blinded since I was used to the light
Suddenly I felt her hands around my neck
"How about now?" Yua whispered in my ear
My heart skipped a beat
My body moved on its own, I guess it's the teenage spirit, I didn't think about anything this moment, my hands moved on their own and my emotions got the best of me...