Sora met Mizuki at the train station Wednesday night. She was struggling with her suitcase, and he regarded her with surprise.
He grinned and scooped her up as soon as she got close enough, making her blush and protest. He kissed her thoroughly before he set her back down, and then pointed out, "That's not going to fit on the motorcycle anyway, so it's just as well I already planned to rent a car for the week?"
"I could have just left the case here if we were going back on your bike, I don't plan to take all of this home," she informed him.
"Moving in already?" Sora asked teasingly.
Mizuki blushed as she admitted a little shyly, "Sort of, I guess. I just figured it'll be easier to take the train without luggage."
"I agree," he said dryly as he lifted her suitcase.
She laughed, but explained quickly, "I figured that since I'll be quitting my job at the end of the school break, I'll just come visit you until the weather warms up enough for you to ride all the time again, so it's just this once."
"Oh, that's great Mizuki! I hadn't thought about that," he replied enthusiastically.
--
When they reached the area Sora's apartment was in, he looked around the familiar area more doubtfully than usual, and then suggested, "Maybe we should go apartment hunting this winter instead of waiting until you move in with me."
Mizuki looked around, but the only thing she particularly noticed was that things seemed a little run down and even the streetlights were an older style. "Why?" she asked.
Sora warily observed a couple of the men who were still dressed in day labor clothes, and replied uncomfortably, "This kind of area is fine for me, but you're so tiny that I'm not sure you should walk around without me Mizuki. If anyone gives you trouble you won't be able to resist."
Mizuki instantly objected, "I'm small, but I'm not helpless Sora! I've had self defense training and everything, so you don't have to worry so much." She looked up into his doubtful face and added, "This neighborhood doesn't look that bad, people look like they're busy and employed, even if they're not rich. It's not that much different from where we live."
"It's another couple of grades lower," he muttered uncomfortably as he mentally eyed the street from a small woman's view for the first time. "Not many women live in this area, none of them alone that I know of."
"It'll be fine," Mizuki assured him. "I won't be living here alone either," she pointed out with a grin.
He wasn't able to argue that, and agreed wryly, "Okay, but while I'm at work, please take the subway downtown if you feel like going out."
"Alright," she agreed with amusement.
--
When they reached the door to his apartment Sora warned her again, "It's small."
Mizuki laughed.
He grinned at her as he handed her the key, and told her, "And here's the key to my tiny castle." She looked up at him with surprise, and he gave an embarrassed shrug before admitting, "I got a copy from the office yesterday so that you could have your own."
"Thanks, though that was a cute but cheesy line," she informed him with a grin.
He shrugged, opened the door, and carried her suitcase in. She followed him in and laughed. He looked back at her questioningly.
"I can see why you called it a closet, with how you have your clothes just hanging on a rack on the wall," she said with amusement.
He looked around and asked, "Do you have a better idea? A dresser will take up so much of the floor that my futon will lay out into the entry and pick up dirt."
She shrugged. "It's fine Sora, very efficient." She grinned at him and added, "I bet it's the kind of thing programmers tend to get teased about. Like posts on the net where they do weird things like drying their socks in front of their computer fans."
"That really works well," Sora objected immediately.
Mizuki laughed until she was breathless. He set down her suitcase, shut the door behind her, and scooped her up. She kissed him while she was still laughing a little. After a minute she stopped laughing and concentrated on the kissing.
He regretfully set her down a few minutes later and told her, "Unless we're moving straight into the shower, we should unpack your case and lay out the bed."
"You're not going to feed me?" Mizuki complained.
Sora looked at her with surprise. "You haven't eaten yet? It's only an hour until midnight!"
"I didn't want to be late for the train," she protested. "I ate a few snacks though, so I won't suffer much if you don't feed me tonight."
"Is ramen okay?" Sora asked after a moment.
"Sure," she agreed promptly. "How do you stay in such good shape if you just eat ramen at home?" she asked a little enviously.
He ran his hands fondly over her curves and replied with amusement, "I have a good metabolism, Takumi complains about how much I can eat too. I don't just eat ramen every night though, I only eat at home if I'm too busy or tired to get something before I come back."
He released her and turned to the built-in cabinet doors above the microwave that was inset above a small refrigerator. He pulled out a packet without asking what flavor, but they were all identical. "Also, most days I go play for an hour or so after work, and do some kind of sport or game for exercise," he added as he filled the bowl at the inset sink.
"I can see why you don't eat here much," Mizuki admitted. She wandered over to the bathroom door midway down the wall on the other side of the little room and peeked in. "I'm guessing your bathroom is right next to the next room's kitchen."
"I think so," Sora agreed. "And it's not a bad design for this kind of place. I don't think there's any sound proofing in this building, and at least that way if you shut the bathroom door you get a little more privacy."
She walked over to the end of the room and asked, "Why did they bother putting in a window?"
Sora grinned and suggested, "Ventilation? Who knows, maybe that building wasn't there when they built this one." After a minute he told her, "We really can go look for a better place if you want to. I just got this because it's cheap."
"When I really move in with you, we're getting a bigger place, but this is fine for visiting Sora," she insisted firmly.
"Okay," he agreed as he handed her the bowl. "Takumi and Eri-chan invited us to dinner tomorrow night if you're willing," he told her hopefully.
"Of course, I'd love to finally meet them!" Mizuki declared enthusiastically. She looked around for a moment, then plopped down on the floor to eat.
Sora opened her case and grinned. "No wonder it was so heavy. Do you have any clothes left at home?" he asked teasingly.
"Of course I do," she insisted. "But I wanted to bring a little of everything, in case we want to go out and do something fancy, or messy, or whatever."
Sora frowned at his clothes racks and tried to make room for her things.
"If there's too much I can just leave a few things and take the rest home again," she suggested diffidently.
He smiled down at her. "Don't worry, if I need to I can add another rack beside the bathroom. But we'll definitely need more hangers. Maybe you could go buy some while I'm at work, if you don't just want to play on the console all day." He pointed to the game system set up on a narrow shelf below the clothes.
She looked at how high the rack was again. "Maybe I need to get a rack for the other side of the room so I can reach my clothes when you're not here?"
"Sure," he agreed, and stopped unloading her case.
"Where do you buy that kind of thing?" Mizuki asked after a moment.
"They're large towel racks," Sora explained with amusement.
She gave him a look and rolled her eyes. He laughed and she agreed, "It's obvious after you say that."
When she finished eating he washed the bowl in the tiny sink, and tossed the chopsticks in the trash next to the door.
"Wasteful," she complained.
"Tiny," he pointed out.
"I'm sure storing disposable sticks takes up more space than a few good sets," she objected.
"But then I don't have to use up the whole sink drying them, or store more towels to dry them with," he pointed out reasonably.
"Okay," she agreed.
"Get out whatever you need for the night, and set your suitcase by the door?" Sora suggested as he started rolling out the futon.
Mizuki quickly removed her bathroom stuff, closed the case up, and moved it to where he had suggested. She looked back and saw that his bed was both wider and longer than hers.
When he had it laid out she flopped down on it beside him and said with surprise, "Wow, it's so soft!"
Sora grinned down at her and told her, "We stayed at a hotspring once that had these. I liked it so much I found out where they bought them from."
"It's great," she agreed approvingly.
"Shower first?" he asked with amusement.
"What do we do with our dirty clothes?" Mizuki asked as she crawled to her feet. Sora pointed to the basket hanging on his clothes racks closest to the window. "I'll never reach that," she complained.
"I'll have to take your clothes off you," he suggested.
"Okay," she replied agreeably.
It wasn't long until they got around to the shower, which was quite sturdy, even if the walls weren't sound proofed.