As I approach the entrance at the cafe, I nervously stroke my shirt. The dark navy looks good, and I hope I made the right choice. I pushed open the door, with cats coming all over my legs.
I look around the place and immediately spotted her, sitting by the window, looking at the phone. Without trying to hurt the cat, I slowly walk towards my seat where Ayumi was seating. As I get closer, she finally looks up from her phone and her face light up when she sees me.
"Hey, Haru!" she says with a smile. "I was starting to wonder if you got lost."
I smiled back. "Yeah, I almost did."
I settled in my seat and look around the cafe.
"So, how's your day been?" she asked.
"It's been alright," I replied, turning my attention back to Ayumi.
Ayumi laughed softly. "I figured."
She took a sip of her latte and asked "Do you know why I called you here?"
That question got me by surprise. It's an odd question to ask and I thought we were just hanging out like old times.
"I don't really know. Mind telling me?" I asked with a straight face.
Ayumi laughed "I don't know too! It's just something that's been telling me to ask you for a hangout since we haven't seen each other for a long time."
"Ahh. I get it!."
I don't. It must be a lie or something. Sure, we haven't seen each other in forever, but asking someone to hang out without a reason feels suspicious. But maybe, it's not...
"So, wanna go somewhere next? It's still early." she asked.
"Ya, sure" I replied.
I'd only stayed still because I still have my dignity to uphold. It's still pretty embarrassing for me to get invited by a girl from my childhood. You can say it's my first time. But, the question I've wondering, is this a date?
"Then, Let's go now!" she replied, with an excited face.
"Wait, wait. My coffee hasn't even arrived yet. Wait until I finished it, ok?" I said.
"Ya, alright." she replied.
After talking for somewhile about our life and finishing our coffee, we soon headed out of the cat cafe.
"So.., where are we going?" I asked and checked my watch (1:09 p.m.). It's still quite early to say it's the end of the day.
"Just follow me" she replied. She started walking straight to the road.
"Ok" I replied.
It was a awkward walk with her in front of me. I looked at her for while not looking ahead of her. She was dressed nicely and her standing in front of me looked beautiful.
While we didn't talk because we had nothing to say to each other, I was stressing out on what to say to her. I had used all my time in the cafe so I had barely anything to say. We walked to a place that I'd never seen before. It looks like a amusement park, That's the only thing I can say with all the rides and booths. Basically all the common things that forms a amusement park.
"So, this is the place that I wanted us to go to." she said with a excited face.
"Let's go then. I'm excited." I replied.
I looked around the outside structure of the amusement park while walking in. The name 'Star Land" seems familiar. Then, the memory popped out in my head...
It was when Hikaru invited me to the amusement park called "Star Land" on Friday. That memory that popped out in my head becomes seemingly vivid.
"Hey Haru! Wanna go to Star Land on Sunday this week." he asked, turning his head towards me.
"Ya sure." I said.
I looked at his face and it was a expression of sad, happy? I can't remember, But, that memory makes me feel unease of something distress. It was a short vivid memory and everything else is too blurry for me to remember.
I let that memory go for while and focused on what's in front of me. Once I entered the amusement park, the surrounding around me changed with lots of people feeling happy and excited. I could see booth selling drinks and food, rides that goes from the air.
This was the first time that I'd felt so excited about going to a place. I wished Hikaru was with me...
"So, where do you want to go first?" she asked with a smile.
I looked around trying to find a good place to have fun first, "Maybe.. that." I replied. I pointed at a random ride that seems fun to ride.
"Sure, let's go." she said with a excited face.
She suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the ride. My heart pounded, not from the amusement park, but from the sudden contact with our hand. This generally feels like a date rather than just hanging out. It was nice.
The ride was her laughing at me screaming because it was my first time riding. So, I was honestly scared. We then hope on to the next. Each one was different but fun. By the time we've ridden almost every rides, it was already 8 p.m. The lights at the park flickered on.
We stopped by a booth that sells food. Ayumi ordered a dessert and I ordered takoyaki. The image of that food looks delicious so I had to order one to try. We found a bench that was located between the trees and sat together. There wasn't a lot of people so it was good. I looked around the park while eating the takoyaki. I could see rides that we had gone and some that we haven't tried.
I took a bite of my takoyaki and it was delicious. There was a lot of umami that makes this quite tasty. I glanced at her enjoying her dessert, her expression lit up as soon as she tasted her dessert.
After a moment of silence, Ayumi started talking. "This was fun, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yeah, it really is." I said.
It really felt like a date, but I'm not sure if she also feels it that way. I wanted to ask her that. It was every boys including me worse nightmare. Confession. I was way to scared of the answer so I decided to wait a bit longer until I can say it.
"Hey, Haru." she said as she looked up at the sky.
"Yeah," I replied, looking at her.
"Have you ever think what it would've been like if we hadn't lost touch after middle school? she asked.
That question caught me off guard. I did think about it. All the time. I've think of the possibilities of what would happen if we didn't lost touch after middle school. My life would be better than this one, or maybe worse. I thought of a lots of positive possibilities and a few negative ones.
"Ya, I guess..." I said.
"Same. But it's kind of nice how things were now, don't you think?" she said.
I looked over at her, and for the first time, I truly felt something deeper was happening. "Maybe this could actually change my life upside down." I thought to myself.
"Yeah, it is" I replied.
We stayed there for a while, eating our food. The night and the surrounding felt peaceful and we stayed quite. This will last as the best day I had with her forever..