Chapter Text
Esora patted Tiara as she laughed into her phone. She was lying down on her bed in her room, legs kicking into the air. Her green hair was down and her clothes were more on the comfortable side; she was meant to be sleeping by now, but putting her phone down seemed difficult. Late night calls were rare with Yuka. “Oh, are we going to be able to reach the dolphin show? I always wanted to see one.”
“I think so, the dolphin shows usually happen around the afternoon. If we go there early, we can enjoy a few other things beforehand.” Yuka replied. Esora knew she was also on her bed, probably sitting up instead of lying down. “This is the first time I’m going to an aquarium without taking pictures.”
Esora glanced at her lovely Tiara again, the little pig was snuggled up beside her, already trying to sleep. She smiled and scratched the back of its ear. “We’re meeting up at the aquarium, correct?”
“Sure, wouldn’t want to go back and forth, you know?” Yuka’s voice was softer, maybe she was starting to grow drowsy. “I can’t wait.”
Esora turned to look up at the ceiling with a smile. “Me either.”
“Esora?” Esora’s eyes opened when Yuka spoke. A few minutes must’ve passed. “We should sleep now, it’s getting late.”
She was a little sad their conversation was coming to a close, but she didn’t want to be late to their hang out. “Alright then, I’m also getting a little sleepy.”
“Good night, Esora.” Yuka muttered, there was shuffling in the other line; she must be lying down now.
Esora turned to see Tiara again, now deep in slumber. “Good night, Yuka. See you tomorrow~”
“You too.” There was the sound of a call ending, Esora moved her phone off her ear to see if her guess was right. Yuka’s profile picture was a picture she took weeks back, the photo was of her winking at the camera. Esora smiled at how cute she looked.
She put her phone on her nightstand, not in the mood to dig out her charger from the floor. The battery was still good, and if it was a low battery, she could just charge it in the morning for a few minutes more. Esora went and scooped up Tiara from her bed, making her way to Tiara’s own little bed a few steps away from her own. The little piglet shuffled before it continued to sleep. Esora left a quick kiss on its forehead before she went to bed; she needed to keep her promise with Yuka, after all.
Her eyes shut. As soon as darkness covered her eyes, Esora went to sleep.
💚💚💚
She tapped her fingers on the table, not wanting her heels to annoy the other customers in the restaurant. She glanced around with a grimace, especially at the people that entered and exited the establishment. Her water was already half empty and the food she ordered a couple minutes ago was already gone. The time on her phone showed what time the dolphin shows must be happening. Yuka must’ve been enjoying herself with the little sea critters and animal shows.
She recalled the phone call she had to make a few hours before that caused her to be in this formal restaurant.
She knew her chauffeur was giving her a concerned look. Esora looked out the window of her limousine as she muttered, “Yuka, I’m really sorry, I might not go to the aquarium with you later.”
“What? Why?” Yuka’s voice was dripping with sadness; she felt terrible she had to do this to her.
The green-haired massaged her forehead. “Well, it turns out I have a date with a– with this guy. Our parents set up this date a few days in advance, which apparently means I need to drop everything else I need to do today.”
“B-but you’ll go here eventually, right?” Yuka sounded a little hopeful, which in turn gave some to Esora. “It can’t take the whole day… right?”
Esora sighed. “It hopefully won’t, but I can’t promise you this either. I’ll update you if I can go there. Just enjoy it for me, okay? I wouldn’t want this to be a waste, in fact, can you take pictures of the dolphin show for me?”
“Okay.” Yuka’s voice was flat, which shocked the green-haired; her flat tone was a rare occurrence. Her normal tone returned when she said, “I’ll buy a souvenir for you too.”
Esora smiled. “I’ll try to buy something for you during this stupid date, to pay you back for that souvenir, you know?”
“You don’t need to do that, I’ll be okay.” Yuka laughed before sighing. “I’ll go now, see you.”
Esora tried to speak only to see that the call was already dropped.
Esora sent an apology to Yuka an hour ago about how the date was taking longer than she thought. She thought there would be a reply by now, but Yuka didn’t even see her message yet. She made a frustrated sound, her time was getting wasted on a guy she didn’t know instead of Yuka.
She was about to call for the bill before a guy sauntered up to her, wearing the same frown she had when she realized who he was. He had bored brown eyes, light skin and curly blonde hair that looked bleached; his thick brown eyebrows supported her guess. His hair was tied up in a ponytail that showed off his undercut that already started to grow. If his ponytail was colored green, she would’ve assumed his hair was a pineapple. Esora noticed a shine near his right ear that was caused by a silver helix piercing. He wore a simple button-up and pants combo that made even Shinobu look presentable.
“Sorry, I lost track of time.” He muttered, taking the spot right in front of Esora. He glanced down at Esora’s finished plate and coughed. “Uh, business stuff.”
Esora forced up a smile at him. She made a note to tell her parents that she didn’t ever want to meet this boy ever again. “I understand…?”
“Oh, Osahito. I’m Osahito Domyoji.” He muttered, eyes not meeting Esora at all. “Son of… uh, the Domyoji family, have you heard of them?”
The green-haired took a sip of her water, giving her an excuse to relax her body. She can endure this. “Of course I have. After all, they did contact me a while ago.” She held her tongue before she said something less than kind.
“Oh.” He coughed again. “So, you must be Esora Shimizu, huh? The Shimizu Group?”
She nodded. “Yes, indeed.”
“Got it.” He then called one of the waiters and pointed to something in the menu he wanted. Esora glanced over her phone screen as he spoke, noticing that Yuka still didn’t reply. She just shut it off and turned back to Osahito. She had a feeling Yuka wouldn’t reply for a while.
He glanced around the restaurant. “Did you pick this place?”
“I didn’t.” Esora replied curtly, she didn’t mean to, but her voice was starting to betray her. She cleared her throat and took another sip. “I was told that your parents picked this place.”
Osahito made a scowl directed at her before turning away and switching to a bored expression. Odd. “Alright.”
“What do you like doing in your free time, Domyoji-san?” Even if her impression of the guy was less than pleasant, she at least wanted to give him a chance. She ignored how annoying his scowl was.
He sucked in his teeth, scratched his hair and answered, “I like going to planetariums in my free time, pretty much just anything relating to stargazing.”
“Do you own a telescope at home?” Now there was something she could work with! She could save her wasted time by talking about something she vaguely knew about.
Osahito glanced at his watch on his left hand before replying, “Yeah, I guess.”
“What did you order for lunch?” The time was way past lunch, but she didn’t want to bring attention to the fact he was very late; maybe he was genuinely busy.
He made proper eye contact with her for once in these past minutes. “Do you genuinely ask this many questions and be this talkative on a first date?”
“Ah.” Esora saw red for a moment but held it in. She cleared her throat. “Well, I thought to fill the air with something because of how unresponsive you are.”
He had that annoying scowl and went to open his mouth before his food was set down in front of him. He glanced at the waiter. “Thank you.”
“Excuse me, may I order some…” She glanced at the menu’s dessert section. “A banana shake?” The waiter nodded and wrote down the order. Esora sighed, Yuka told her that bananas were good at stress relieving; she was in dire need of some right now.
He chewed with his mouth shut, Esora was surprised he at least knew basic table manners; she almost forgot this man was the only heir of the Domyoji name. “So, Shimizu, what were you saying about how I acted?”
“Don’t mind it, Domyoji-san.” Esora just sighed and did her best to ignore the missing honorific; she would’ve accepted an ‘Esora-san’ instead of just ‘Shimizu’. If she could, she would rather get soaked head to toe with water in a dolphin show than deal with this mess of a date.
Their time together continued, Esora asked a little more on what kind of people Osahito’s family was and a clear idea of what their business was; he managed to answer such questions well enough. The Shimizu Group already dabbled in a few of the businesses the Domyojis were in, but Esora surmised that the extra help in those departments wouldn’t be terrible. Osahito went from mildly rude to plain disinterested and back to back as the minutes went by. If he disliked her being so talkative, then she would simply keep quiet. The amount of times Esora leaned on straight up leaving the guy was more than the digits on her hands, but she did her best to hold on. If there was any comfort in her situation, she had a nice banana shake and a very clear image of the Domyoji family’s values.
Once Osahito finished his food, he looked over his phone and seemed to be messaging someone. After what seemed to be forever, Esora experienced tranquility. She took this as a sign to check her own phone, noticing a reply from Yuka. She did her best to hold down a smile as she clicked the message. Yuka saved her yet again.
The first thing Esora noticed was the 32 photos that were sent, she didn’t hold back at all. All of the photos were the same quality as the ones Yuka used for her competitions, even though Esora knew she used her phone. There were different sets for what seemed to be each part of the aquarium. Notable moments Yuka captured were two otters that formed a heart and schools of different fish making a make-shift curtain underwater. One set of photos made Esora pause and stare: The dolphin show. Yuka managed to take different pictures of the dolphins up in the air, seeming to fly in the sky; the sun shone brightly as small droplets of water were scattered all around them. Esora’s heart squeezed at the sight. The effort Yuka put into photography when asked for it was terrifying.
“Shimizu.” Osahito said, Esora looked up to see him glaring at her phone. What was he going to say now? “Is that your real boyfriend you’re talking to?”
Esora held in a scream she was about to make, instead she coughed did her best to make it look like she choked a little bit. Her face was hot. “No, sh– she’s just a friend. I don’t have a boyfriend yet. Why would I cheat on him by going here?”
“… True.” He shrugged, eyes a little wide for once with how bored he seemed. “Don’t need to be so defensive.”
Esora sighed, she did need to admit that she was pretty defensive. ”Fine, then why are you so damn disinterested?”
“Wow, I thought you were just a little goody-two-shoes.” He grinned, which ruined Esora’s no-frustration streak that lasted a couple minutes. “Do you want me to be interested in you?”
She closed her eyes, took a breath. A beat. She opened her eyes and exhaled. “No, to be honest. You’re… clearly not meant for me.” She held her tongue at the part where she wanted to add his terrible attitude.
“Good, cause I’m not interested at all.” His grin dropped, turning again to his phone. “Can we just let this date end now? You’re not interested, I’m not interested, and I have some plans later I don’t want to be late to.”
Esora forced a smile and glanced at her phone. It was already night. The aquarium must be closing and Yuka must be going home by now. At least the torture was over. “We wouldn’t want you to be late, call the waiter.”
Osahito did as he was told. Esora looked over her contact with Yuka, typing up a message about how her date was finally finished with another apology about how their day didn’t go as expected. Yuka replied a few seconds later, telling her not to worry and they can reschedule another hang out along with a picture of her smiling in her room. Esora noticed at the corner of the photo something light blue. She wanted to message a question about it before she heard the footsteps of the waiter with the bill in hand. Osahito glanced over it before starting to check his pockets.
“Hold on.” He patted down his pockets, before having a face that Esora was sick of seeing emote. It was a smile, a very nervous smile. “H-hey, Shimizu-san, do you have any money?”
Esora closed her eyes and made her smile even wider. At least he said ‘Shimizu-san’. “Of course~” She laughed, less out of joy and just at the mere insanity of her date. She looked over her purse and pulled out her credit card, paying up their bill.
“I’m really sorry.” He muttered as he fixed his plates. His voice was genuine for once. “I left my wallet ‘cause a friend was gonna treat me today.”
Esora took back her credit card and placed it back in her wallet. Her part of the table was already neat. “Oh, it’s fine. I was planning on treating a friend of mine today as well, but those plans were canceled.”
“Oh.” He furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. Wow, this guy can be something other than mad or bored? “Uh, I can–”
Esora put her hand up. “No, it’s fine. This is just some small spending to me, after all, I am the heiress of the Shimizu family.”
“Uh, right.” He scratched the back of his head as they walked out. Esora was a little annoyed he was following her, but it wasn’t his fault there weren't two exits. “I’m genuinely sorry for making you pay.”
Esora sighed, her face couldn’t handle holding up that smile anymore. Her back faced Osahito. “Please don’t be, I’m going home. Have fun with your friend.”
“Okay.” He walked off, Esora glanced to see him dragging his feet on the pavement, already on the phone with someone.
She looked away, calling her chauffeur to pick her up.