Not so Bad

The dinner plans started like any other.

Sakura helped her mother as much as she could with the cooking and cleaning.

At the end of the day, she wanted to be a good daughter, even if she didn't want this dinner.

Still, the girl wasn't exactly happy when her mother forced them both inside her room and started roaming through the closet.

"What are you doing?" Sakura eventually asked.

"Looking for something nice for you to wear"

"I can wear jeans..."

At that, her mother turned and looked at her very seriously.

"You have to look decent, Sakura!"

"Jeans are very in fashion..."

"No. You will wear a dress."

"A...what? Why?"

"Don't you want your dad to make a good impression with his colleagues?"

"Yes... But what does that have to do with..."

"You will wear it. End of the story."

One thing about her mother was that when she set her head on something, it was going to happen.

Well, Sakura is just like that as well...And that's exactly how the girl ended up wearing a white dress that reached just above her knees. She wasn't exactly fond of showing her legs, but her mother didn't give her much of a choice.

Unfortunately, the time for this enigmatic dinner came far too soon, and just before she knew it, the doorbell was ringing and 4 people entered. Yuzuru's parents introduced themselves and their children.

Turns out that the mushroom had an older sister, Saya. Good for him.

Sakura was a perfect example of a well-behaved girl during the whole evening and it turns out that her strategy to just ignore her classmate was successful in keeping her less on edge.

He wasn't having any of it.

It started with small kicks to get her attention and Sakura glared at him.

Why did he have to sit right in front of her?

"What?" She silently screamed at him only to have him shrug his shoulders in return.

"Yuzuru-kun, you already knew Sakura?" His father asked when he noticed the tension between them.

"We're in the same class." He said without any care in the world, making her eyes widen.

Doesn't he know when to shut up?

"Oh, really? That's so great, you must be friends."

"Huh...Sakura doesn't seem to like me that much."

The bastard... When she caught him by himself he was getting an earful.

"Why? Yuzuru seems like a nice boy, what's going on, Sakura?"

"I just like being alone" was all she replied.

It was rude, she knew as much, but it was better than admitting she was jealous of the boy in front of her.

"Friends are important" her mother scolded her immediately.

"How about you play some games together for a bit?"

"Games?" Sakura almost stuttered.

Her parents had mostly forbidden her to spend too much time in front of screens so she didn't expect games to be the first thing her mother suggested.

"I don't..."

"I think it's a good idea! Show me what you have!"

Reluctantly, the girl got up from the dinner table after excusing herself and just went to the living room where her Playstation was.

Yuzuru didn't lose much time before making himself at home and before she knew it, he was running a Mario Kart game.

"Mario Kart?"

"It's cool for multiplayer" he said right away.

After a decent fight for the characters that they were playing with, they got on with the game. Sakura had a feeling that this boy would be competitive, but nothing could prepare her for how much.

He won most of the games and even if it hurt to admit that he was better than her in the game, it was still funny to see his reactions whenever Sakura managed to miraculously pull a win over him.

"You cheated on that one!"

"I did not, you sore loser!"

It might have looked like a fight from the outside but she was surprisingly having fun with the mushroom.

He wasn't so bad...

"Sakura-chan?" He called out her name after they were silent for a while.

She blushed as soon as her name got out of his mouth with the very casual honorific that usually only her parents use. Yuzuru noted it right away, soft giggles leaving his mouth in reaction. That was more than enough to earn him a slap in the chest.

"Did I say you could call me that?"

"You're cute" he uttered, loving her small reactions to him.

"I... I don't want to be cute."

"Well, you are... Just deal with it."

"It's not fair! I will call you Yuzuru-kun."

"I like Yuzu-kun better" he answered with a smirk as if he had already been waiting for her reply.

"You act as if I care about what you like best..."

"You can call me whatever you want, Sakura-chan."

"Mushroom. I'm going to call you mushroom."

Yuzuru's eyes widened for a few seconds in reaction and she could see the expression shifting from amazement to surprise and even a tiny bit of anger. A pout followed all of those expressions.

"Mushroom?" He asked, looking offended.

"It's your fault, you wear your hair like that and look like one."

She thought he would be mad, that he wouldn't speak to her ever again but instead, he graced her with his giggles again.

"Ok. I will let you call me Mushroom." It made Sakura's brow rise in reaction. "With one condition."

"Hum... Let's hear it."

"You will eat with me at school."