When Sora picked Mizuki up from work that night, he told her, "Your mother asked me to bring you home for dinner instead of taking you out tonight."
"She probably wants to talk me out of moving in with you so soon, but I wanted to go look for couple's rings tonight," Mizuki protested mildly.
He regarded her with amusement and asked, "Do you want to go look for an hour before we go back? If she can persuade you not to, you probably shouldn't move in with me yet."
"Sora!" she protested, but then asked a little plaintively, "Don't you want me to?"
"I do," Sora insisted. "But I'm not completely comfortable with your age Mizuki," he admitted uncomfortably.
Mizuki raised her hand to protest, but didn't know what to say.
"It bothers me less than it used to," he assured her quickly. "But I'm really not sure that getting married while you're still a teenager is a good idea, and your mother really seems to think we should get married if we're going to live together." He reached out and hugged her against him before adding, "I like your parents, and the rest of your family Mizuki. I don't want them to disapprove of you being with me either."
She gazed up at him with mixed feelings. After a minute she sighed and buried her face against his chest. "I'm glad that you like my family, but I kind of wish you didn't care what they thought," she informed him in a muffled voice.
Sora protested laughingly, "You can't have it both ways Mizuki. I love you. Let's go look for rings? Where?"
"Okay," Mizuki agreed more cheerfully. "I'm not sure, can we wander downtown?"
"For a bit," he agreed.
She warned him as she mounted behind him, "My mother is not going to be able to persuade me not to come live with you, as long as you're okay with it. We might really have to get married early."
"Okay Mizuki," he agreed calmly.
She grinned smugly against his back where he couldn't see her expression. It wasn't so much that she wanted to get married right away, as that he was willing to. Although she was far more willing to get married than to keep living apart.
--
They looked around the shopping district for a little while before Mizuki spotted a street vendor display that caught her eye. She dragged Sora over to it, and he followed a little dubiously. He read the little sign that claimed 'silver' with skepticism.
Mizuki knelt and examined the rings on display for a moment before looking up at Sora, and announcing happily, "These are the kind of rings that I was imagining Sora!"
"I think one of these ear clips would suit you more Mizuki-chan," suggested the vendor.
At the sound of his voice Mizuki's head snapped back towards him. She gasped, and abruptly leaned farther over the display. As she overbalanced, she caught herself by placing her hands against his chest, and stared up into his face. "Katsuji senpai!? What happened to your hair!?" she exclaimed questioningly.
He looked down at her, without objecting to her overly familiar hands, and grinned widely. "My girlfriend pointed out that I was dyeing it for the reaction that I got, and told me that there was nothing wrong with changing how I look if I wanted a different reaction," he explained. "I wanted to get a real job, so I went ahead and did it."
After a moment of shock, she tried to sit back upright, but couldn't find a place to put a hand down in the crowded display. "Help me Sora?" she asked plaintively as she flailed one hand behind her while the other still steadied her on her old friend's chest. "I can't sit back up without crushing something."
Sora, who had been staring at her with something between amazement and alarm, reached out to take the hand she extended back toward him and pulled her upright. Katsuji dropped his own hands, which had been reaching for her shoulders, and gave a small shrug instead.
Once she was repositioned on her knees, she looked across the display again and admitted unhappily, "I am so embarrassed that I didn't recognize you until you spoke."
"Don't feel bad Mizuki-chan, neither did my own mother when I came home after getting it dyed black and cut so short," he insisted cheerfully.
Mizuki couldn't help returning his smile, before looking down at the jewelry that filled the space between them, and then asking a little doubtfully, "A real job?"
Katsuji laughed again, and insisted, "You know that for a lot of people this could very well be considered a real job! But I also have a regular job at an electronics store."
"Is this a new hobby then?" she asked.
"Kind of," he admitted to her surprise. "My girlfriend makes these, but she's too shy to sell them herself."
"I thought you were going to college?" she quizzed as he held out a tiny articulated dragon.
"I did for a while," he agreed.
He showed her how the dragon would clasp the curve of an ear, as though he knew that she wouldn't be able to resist. She eyed him a little sharply, but couldn't help taking the dragon as he set it in her hands.
"So, then?" she asked.
"That's where I met her," he admitted cheerfully. "And I love her like crazy, but she's three years older than I am, and her parents object. They said that they would stop paying her tuition if we kept dating."
"Three years isn't much difference," Mizuki objected.
"I know," he agreed. "Since she is already in her last year, I stopped school to work. And when she has her degree, she'll work, and I'll go back to college," he explained in an enthusiastic rush.
She looked at the tiny dragon in her hands, curved it back and forth for a moment, and then confessed, "It's really cute, but we're looking for a pair of couple's rings."
"We could get both," Sora pointed out from beside her.
Mizuki looked up at him in surprise and asked, "Are you sure?"
He grinned at her a little wryly as he assured her, "Of course. So will you introduce me to your friend?"
Mizuki blushed again as she finally made the introduction. "We used to hang out whenever we both had time," she explained uncertainly.
Katsuji nodded, but then frowned a little as Sora reached out to ruffle her hair, as though she were a child. Mizuki felt reassured by the casual caress, and smiled, which made Sora's lips curve like a reflection. Katsuji settled back, as though reassured.
"I'm glad to meet you," he said politely.
Sora's eyes crinkled a little as he assured Mizuki's friend, "Me too."
Mizuki sobered a little as she admitted, "Tooru and Katsuji-senpai were two of the best friends I had."