[PP-F1] Virtual Days (Koumori)

[Starrine 0]

Starrine watched him carefully, kind of holding her breath as she waited for him to speak again. When his face grew red, she had the same realization. Oh gosh; she'd totally been holding a guys' hand, Koumori's hand at that, for a long time.. Her face grew bright pink, and she began fiddling with her thumbs, blinking her wide, amber eyes. She was sure if she spoke, she would start stuttering. It was a weird thing to think about after her breakdown, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. She glanced up at him, slightly surprised when she also found his face a bright red. Had he been thinking the same thing?

As he finally spoke again, she willed the pink on her cheeks to go away; to no avail, however. "W-well, then what if I make you a promise, instead?" Starrine mumbled, glancing up at him, her voice a bit shy as she spoke. Just then, their food arrived, and she quietly thanked the waitress, poking quietly at the food on her plate.

[[ I can't wait to see all of his reactions, haha! x'D And of course, the ending will be worth it, though. No matter who he chooses, hehe. uvu Or if one of them backs off.. I'm thinking Glory and Starrine are going to be good friends as well, too, so this'll be.. different, ahaha! I'm also thinking about bumping Starrine down a year or two since everyone's younger than her. o: ]]

Edited August 12, 2015 by Starrine

[Koumori 0]

It must've hit Starrine too. Just after I became flush with embarrassment her face changed to a color not totally different from a stop light. I didn't think she could've been thinking of anything else besides our hand holding. Starrine sat there twiddling her thumbs and batting her eyes, undoubtably trying to calm herself down. Unfortunately for her, it didn't seem to work. I, on the other hand, was having a little more luck. I was able to fully regain my compose, but the color of my face remained the same. I just couldn't get my mind off the awkward situation. I looked off to the side and thought to myself, what would Glory think? It seemed that Starrine was ready to speak once again. I brought my attention back to her to hear what she had to say. Huh? "What kind of promise?" I said as I swallowed deeply. 

(It's gonna be totally great I know it! Might as well, both Glory and Koumori are 16. Hey, do you think it would be funnier for Koumori to be oblivious or totally aware but not know what to do?)

[Starrine 0]

Starrine shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but showed no sign of saying anything about her thoughts. Finally calming down a bit as she took a bite of her curry, she glanced upwards, gaze fixated on him as he stared to the side, face still red. As soon as he turned back, she immediately averted her eyes, suddenly very focused on eating the curry she'd been served. As he spoke again, she shyly looked up, cheeks still hazed with pink from the earlier situation. "..I don't know, u-um.. If you come up with something, tell me, and I'll promise you." She suggested, her voice unsure as she took another bite of her food. Shuffling her feet underneath the table, she turned her gaze once more to the dark window, clearing her throat awkwardly. The more she looked at him the more she felt embarrassed at her pink cheeks, so for now she decided to look at something oh-so-interesting outside the window.

[[ Done! She's now 16, haha. Hmm. Probably totally aware but completely unsure of what to do, haha. I'd love to hear what he's thinking and stuff, pffhaha! xD ]]

[Koumori 0]

Starrine was doing her best to avoid looking directly at me as she began to slowly eat her curry. I hated seeing that I had made her uncomfortable like that. Maybe my own embarrassment wasn't helping the matter. I started on my ham as she told me the answer to my question. If I ever thought of something, huh? I was kind of hoping she'd already have something in mind but this was probably for the best. Anyway, for the  moment I couldn't think of anything she could promise, so I decided to make light of the situation. I stick my index finger up into the air and tilted my head as I spoke "Okay, I'll hold you to that one." She was still avoiding eye contact, but this time she was looking out the window. Her hands were pretty soft. Ahh!! What was that?! I violently shook my head to eject that thought. Some cool guy I was turning out to be I stewed to myself. Well, the situation wasn't getting any better. With Starrine staring out the window, it was dead quite. Looked like it was up to me to get things rolling again. "You know, I thought you were older than me but looking at you now it looks like we're actually the same age" I said with my chin resting on my chin as I peered at her. 

(Cool cool cool. Aware it is! I'll try and deliver the best thoughts I can)

[Starrine 0]

Koumori seemed to be thinking about something, sitting just as quietly as she was for a few moments. Smiling a bit as he told her he'd hold her to it, she nodded. Finally succeeding in pushing away her own thoughts, she was finally able to look him in the eye again, slightly lifting her head to do so. Her thoughts kept drifting back to the boy sitting in front of her, and she wondered why it wouldn't stop. Practically groaning internally, she wrung her hands together, trying to think of what to say to break the silence. Starrine resisted the urge to open her mouth and say something stupid, and instead paused to hear him speak. "Ahh, really? I'm sixteen now," she said with a still slightly shy smile, getting over the awkwardness. Well, a little. Realizing she'd been staring at him for a bit too long, she glanced down at her plate of food. "If it's okay to ask, how old are you?" The long haired girl asked, lifting her hand to eat another spoonful of curry.

[[ Looking forward to it, haha! I'm pretty sleepy so I might go to bed soon, so if I disappear you know why. c: ]]

[Koumori 0]

Starrine finally looked up from her food and was able to make eye contact with me. Actually, she was looking at me for awhile, almost longingly. What was that look in her eyes? My train of thought was cut off, however, when she answered my question. So she was 16. "Hey, I was right we're the same age. I'm 16 too" I said enthusiastically. Good thing she was, I'd feel weird talking to her if she was older than me for some reason. Just at that moment she pulled away her gaze. We'd been looking at each other for awhile. Feeling suddenly awkward, I looked down to my food.

(sorry for the short and substance lacking response, I'm SUPER tired)

Edited August 12, 2015 by Koumori

[Starrine 0]

Starrine took another bite of her food; she was nearly done with it, the way she was eating to intently, instead of doing something else. Her amber eyes scooted upwards slightly when he spoke again, and she made a little surprised noise. "Woah, really? What are the chances?" She laughed a bit, crossing her legs neatly under the table. Starrine ate a spoonful of rice to calm her burning tongue, Glancing upwards a bit awkwardly, she twiddled her thumbs again, a nervous habit. "Ah.. You know.. I don't really want to go home yet.. Do you think we could, uh, g-go somewhere else?" She stuttered cutely, staring at her now-empty plate. Every once in awhile, she glanced up to see if he would. She didn't want to force him, of course, and she was sure he was just as tired as she was; but, the truth was, she just.. didn't want to leave and be alone, just yet.

[[ Haha it's fine. c: Did'ja sleep well? ]]

[Koumori 0]

Starrine seemed pleased and surprised that we were the same age. But as soon as she spoke she closed back up and started fiddling awkwardly with herself again.  I noticed she played with her thumbs a lot particularly, probably a habit. In no time she had finished her food and I was just about done mine. As I took the final bite she sheepishly asked if we could stay together after we were done eating. I took a pause, fork in my mouth, as she said this to look up at her. She was staring at her cleaned plate, unable to look at me. I could tell she didn't want to be alone, that she wanted to be kept company. Knowing that, I decided I'd say yes. Besides, we were just getting to know each other so why stop there. And also, I couldn't explain it but I kind of wanted to stay with her longer too. I was becoming glad that I had wished her happy birthday earlier that day. I swallowed my food and answered her question, "Any place you wanna go I'll go with you, just name it." I said as kindly as I could. I wiped off my face with my napkin and set it on the table. She still wasn't looking up. 

(I slept great!)

Edited August 12, 2015 by Koumori

[Starrine 0]

Finally glancing up to meet his gaze, she found him paused with his fork mid-mouth. Seeming to think for a moment, he swallowed, and agreed. Starrine's eyes lit up quite a bit, and she did some kind of happy little wiggle in her seat, a smile forming once more on her face. "Well, I heard some other players talking about Frostbite Lake when we walked in, and they said it looked really pretty at night.. Maybe we could go? I don't think it's far from here!" She said, pulling up her inventory and pulling out the little guidebook you could get for free at NPC shops. After flipping through the pages for a moment, Starrine seemed to focus on one page, scanning it thoroughly before she looked up. She slid the book across the table to him, showing a page with information on the lake, as well as where it was. Not too far from where they were at now. Starrine looked up hopefully, some of the original sparkle back in her eyes.

[[ Awesome, haha! ]]

[Koumori 0]

Starrine seemed to jump with joy when I agreed to spend more time with her. She wiggled around in her seat and she looked at me with sparkling eyes. Did she really like talking with me that much? I was just being myself really, so I couldn't pin down what it was that I was doing. All I knew was that she was happy, and I was getting a little excited myself. But as I was thinking about this my face turned red again. Luckily for me, she was busy looking through her guide book, trying to find the Frostbite lake she had mentioned. When she found it she slid the book to me so I could have a look. According to the book, Frostbite lake was a semi-frozen lake only ten minutes from where we were, and it was a monster free zone. It sounded pretty nice all in all. I closed the book and handed it back to her, "Looks really nice, let's go there" I said. With that, the waitress came back over and collected payment. I transferred the col and stood up to leave, leading Starrine to the door and opening it for her. The experience of walking into the warm air earlier was recreated in the opposite fashion as I stepped outside, the cold air nipping it my face. It was already night time and the snow was picking up. I rubbed my hands together and blew on them before turning to Starrine, "I memorized the way, let's hurry before we turn into popsicles" I said to her, even though I knew it would be equally cold where we were going. But for some reason I didn't mind. I was warm enough. I patted her on the shoulder and started walking. Let's see just how nice this lake is. 

[Starrine 0]

Starrine nodded as he agreed again, saying it looked really nice. Smiling as they both walked towards the door, she quietly thanked him for holding it open for her, and stepped back out into the cold air. Once again wishing she had prepared warm clothing, the girl stared up into the snowing sky. It was eerily serene, with the darkened sky and falling snowflakes, yet.. not as cold as she had expected. As Koumori spoke again, she nodded quickly and followed after him, gingerly touching the shoulder he'd just patted, a weird look on her face. Gotta stop thinking like this, she thought quietly to herself as they walked, reaching up to pat her own cheeks.

Walking in the silence was a little weird, but oddly comforting in a way; she took happiness in the fact that they didn't have to talk to be comfortable in each other's presence. Starrine simply followed behind the boy, listening to the snow crunch under her feet. "I wonder how big the lake is." She wondered aloud, glancing at Koumori as she spoke. Rubbing her hands together to keep them warm, she glanced ahead, trying to calculate how far they still had to walk.

[Koumori 0]

We left the resturaunt together and began walking to the lake. She stayed behind me most of the way so I couldn't see what she was doing, but I could tell from the rythem of her footsteps that she was looking forward to reaching our destination. We walked in silence for awhile, a strangely nice and calm silence, before Starrine asked how big I thought it was. I was about to answer her as we came to the top of the hill, but was stopped by what I saw when we reached the top: the lake was huge. It was almost completely covered in ice, ice that emitted a beautiful glow that rivaled the moon in brightness. The snow and icicles danced on the combined light in such  a way that every color of the rainbow twinkled in the large opening. Players joyfully skated back and forth on the ice while others sat in the plentiful benches. Of to the side a group of young players was even having a snowball fight. The visible breath that was appearing in front of my mouth at a steady pace vanished as I was left breathless. I'd never seen something so beautiful in Aincrad, maybe even the world. "That big" I said slack jawed. I looked over at Starrine and saw the wonder in her eyes before I could off down the hill at a quicker pace. When I got to the bottom I just stood and stared once more. "It's amazing Starrine"

(hahaha the shoulder touching response, perfect)

Edited August 12, 2015 by Koumori

[Starrine 0]

Just as she asked, the lake came into view. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped as she stared at the shimmering, glowing lake, lit up perfectly by the moonlight. Taking a moment to take it all in, she swallowed thickly, not even realizing Koumori had walked down the hill. Finally coming to reality, she dashed down the hill at a speed she probably shouldn't have gone at. She stumbled, and with one miss-step, sent herself tumbling into Koumori, and both of them into a pile of snow. After a moment of laying face first in the snow, she sat up, laughing to her heart's content. "I'm -- phhahaha -- I'm sorry," she laughed, wiping away a tear from her eye, still spluttering in laughter as she looked down at her friend.

Oh. Wait. Down, at Koumori? Her face flushed a bright red immediately, and she pulled herself off of him as fast as she could, practically falling over again as she attempted to scuttle away. As she turned around to face him again, her mouth hung open, unsure of what to say, her cheeks remaining a bright pink. "U-uh, ahh.. Sorry.. about that, heh.. Are you okay?" She asked in an extremely embarrassed voice, sheepishly scratching her cheek with her pointer finger, laughing nervously to try and cover up the fact that her heart was pulsating out of her chest.

[[ If you thought that was funny, how about this? Haha! x'D ]]

[Koumori 0]

Starrine hasn't answered me, that was weird. I looked to my side and saw that she was conspicuously missing. Where has she gone? Just as I was thinking this I heard a tumbling noise from behind me and I turned around just in time to see Starrine flying towards me. She slammed into me with incredible force and sent us both backwards into a pile of snow. I had instinctively wrapped my arms around her so that I would take the blunt of the impact. I landed into the snow with her on top of me, her forehead pressed against mine. It took me a second to register what was going on but when I did I could've sworn my raise in body temperature melted the snow. I could feel her breathing on me, it took everything in my power to hold my breath. Eventually she raised herself back up and laughed while she asked me if I was okay. Then she froze. She looked down at me, her cheeks a bright shade of red, and lunged herself off of my chest. I inched myself up on my elbows to see her kneeling on the ground in front of me. She was nervously chuckling as she scratched her face. "Yeah, I'm okay haha. Let me help you up" I stood up and reached my shaking hand down to pull Starrine up. That was when I noticed the pounding noise in my ears. What was going on here?

(oh my god that was great. I had to compose myself before I could start writing hahaha)

[Starrine 0]

Starrine peered nervously at him as he propped himself up, reassuring her that he was fine. Bu-bump. Bu-bump. She feverishly willed her heart to stop pounding so hard; holding one hand to her chest as she tried to look at him. But the second the image of his face so close to hers appeared in her head, she fell back down to step one again, her face reddening at the thought. As soon as she'd regained some of her consciousnesses, the girl looked up to find his hand reached out for her. She hesitated a second too long, before reaching up and grabbing it, awkwardly quiet as she gripped it, allowing him to pull her up.

And then, absorbed in her thoughts, she'd realized that she hadn't let go of it. Once more pulling her hand away, her eyes swirled and a bead of sweat trickled down her temple, a nervous laugh sounding from her vocal cords. "Oh, woops, h-ha-haha," she spluttered, rubbing the back of her head. "I must have knocked my head," she spouted uselessly, not even realizing that her excuse was invalid because knocking her head on the ground wouldn't do anything in game, besides maybe knock her down a few HP. Only then did Starrine realize that they'd somewhat made a scene, a few groups of players here and there staring at them and giggling.

[[ Oh my god-- that was hilarious. I had to, as well hahaha! ]]

[Koumori 0]

Starrine sat on the ground, gripping her chest in her hand. Was she okay? She didn't seem to realize I was holding my hand out to her for a few seconds and hastily grabbed it when she did...but she didn't let go. We stood there, hand in hand, staring at each other. Her face the glew read again and she pulled it away awkwardly giggling, blaming her head injury for her ailments. I was going to ask if she was really okay when I realized we were being stared at. Most of the players around us had stopped what they were doing to watch our antics. I wondered how much they saw. Maybe they thought I pushed her into the snow? I didn't want to give them the wrong idea and think something was wrong. There had to be a way for me to play the situation off. It didn't take me long to come up with something, but Starrine probably wouldn't like it. I quickly reached my arm out and wrapped it around her back to her far shoulder and pulled her in closely "This ones clumsy isn't she haha. Sorry, we'll get out of your way." And with that, my arm still wrapped around her, I walked us over to an out of the way bench. I brought my arm back to my side after we sat down and let out a sigh "Whew, that was close. Could've been really bad, right?" I said to Starrine as I looked up to the sky. It hadn't yet clicked what I had just done. 

(I really wanted to see what her reaction to this would be, don't disappoint! Hahaha)

[Starrine 0]

Koumori seemed to stand there staring at the watching players for a tad too long, and then, as if coming to a conclusion, turned to look at Starrine, quickly reaching his arm out and wrapping it around her shoulders. Spouting something about her being clumsy, and then getting out of their way, he pulled her along to a bench on the far side of the lake. As they both sat down, Starrine hadn't really comprehended what had just happened, but her amber orbs were permanently fixed on Koumori, her whole face flushed red as she sat with a gaping mouth. Her heart was pounding louder than she thought was possible, and some stupid part of her brain wondered if Koumori could hear it.

She didn't even answer him as he asked, "right?" and simply sat, gaping. He was practically hugging me, for like a whole minute! With her brain on autopilot, she stiffly nodded, closing her mouth and fidgeting in her seat embarrassedly. He didn't seem to think anything of it, was she just overreacting? She lifted both of her hands to her hot cheeks, blinking and wondering if that even just happened; had she imagined it? She didn't even realize that if Koumori looked over, he would see an extremely flustered, red-faced Starrine.

[[ Hope I delivered well! LOL! ]]

[Koumori 0]

...then it hit me. I looked back down from the sky and saw Starrine was a shaking mess. Why would she be acting like that...oh god what have I done! I hadn't even realized it but I had been essentially embracing her for more than a minute. It was so natural to have her in my arm like that I wasn't even thinking about it. I must've made her really angry. But wait. If she was angry at me she would've said something. Instead she was acting like a child. Had she enjoyed it? Was she flustered because she liked me holding her like that. If that was true, than that must mean..bu-bump. Now it was my turn to be all jumbled up. A strange feeling becan washing over me, the same feeling I felt when I was with Glory. Could that even be possible? I couldn't think about that then, I had to remedy the situation. I looked back to Starrine, who was now holding her face in her hands, and realized we couldn't stay on this bench for much longer. For the moment, we needed something to do to let off some steam. As I was thinking this I saw something moving in the corner of my eye and turned to look, it was someone ice skating. Great! I excitedly turned back to Starrine, never letting any of my discomfort show to her, and then spoke "Wanna go ice skating?" 

(You've done well my padawan. Keep it up!)

[Starrine 0]

With her mind still racing, Starrine shivered a bit, only just now realizing that she was.. pretty cold, which was surprising, due to how hot her face felt. Taking her hands from her face and rubbing her arms, she took a chance and slowly looked over at Koumori, who seemed to be absorbed in his own thoughts. Breathing in her hands because she was trying to brush off her own feelings, and do anything but think about them, she glanced upwards. Huh? What did he just ask? It took her a moment to realize he'd just asked if she wanted to go ice skating. Blinking a pair of wide eyes, she hesitated, and nodded, slapping on a smile so it wasn't five times more awkward. Anything would be better than sitting on this bench alone, in the silence. Even if she didn't know how to ice skate.

Unsure of where to get skates, she thought of the real world, looking for some kind of booth as she stood up. She took a step forward onto the ice, and blades automatically appeared underneath her shoes. Ehh? Must've been some special auto-command for the lake, considering it looked like one of the only places for specifically ice skating. Taking a deep breath, she put her other foot on top of the ice, and immediately fell on her butt, grimacing on impact. This was harder than it looked. Glancing back at Koumori, she giggled nervously. "Uh.. I don't really know how to ice skate," she said, rubbing the back of her head foolishly as she attempted to prop herself up again.

[[ I'll try my best! Haha ]]

[Koumori 0]

Starrine hesitated at first but agreed to skate with a smile. Perfect, we could ditch the awkwardness which was that bench. We both stood up and began looking for some sort of booth to get skates. I looked along the border of the lake but couldn't see any obvious structures. I was about to go ask around when I saw Starrine step onto the ice, skates appearing beneath her feet. That was interesting. The lake must've triggered a special item spawn. This really was a pretty interesting place it seemed. Unfortunately, no sooner that the skates appeared Starrine found herself sprawled out on the ice. I noticed she was struggling to get up so I walked over and stepped out onto the ice myself, skates forming beneath my feet. I carefully made my way over to her to help her out. As I reached down to lift her up she told me that she didn't know how to ice skate. That wasn't good. I've skated many times before myself, but I wasn't sure if I was able to teach it to someone else. Well this excursion would be over very quickly if I didn't at least try, so that's what I'd do. But for some reason, I had an uneasy feeling. A feeling like something was going to happen. I decided to put that thought aside and tell Starrine I'd help her. "I've skated before, I'll try and teach you" With that I skated behind her and placed my hands just above her waist. "Stick your arms out for balance. When you're ready start with your right foot, kay?" I said with a smile. But my smile quickly faded as I myself realized what I was doing. I was totally invading her personally space. I had both my hands firmly placed on her sides and our bodies were only mear inches apart. I was starting to get really nervous for some reason. But I decided I wouldn't let it show. I didn't want her to think this was bothering me, if she did I wouldn't be able to teach her. 

(I'm back!)