Head Over Heels From The Scarf I Lent Her Chapter 8

The day of the movie.
Tooru put on a sweater and jeans. Somehow, he ended up wearing what he usually does.
He has a few outfits he could have worn to dress up a bit, but they just didn’t feel right. So, he settled for his usual look.

Tooru checks his watch. There’s still a while before it’s 9:00—the time they promised to meet up.
He’s all worked up about today. Eager and raring to go, aren’t you? Tooru quips to himself.

As soon as he thought to pick up a book while waiting for Satsuki, the intercom rings. Tooru looks over, surprised by the sudden noise.
There’s only one person that could be.

“Coming!”

He calls out towards the front door, just in case if it’s a delivery person or something.
Then, he opens the door to find Satsuki standing there as expected.

She’s wearing a s.h.i.+rt underneath a grey knitted sweater. The sleeves are rolled up, revealing her beautiful, delicate arms.
Her white skirt shows fluttering glimpses of her knees.
Tooru froze at the sight of a girl as cute as Satsuki is.

Not because he was repulsed, but the very opposite—she is adorable. Surely, you’re at the wrong place, Ms. Miyamoto.
His jaw was left hanging open in astonishment. But seeing him, Satsuki looked visibly uncomfortable. Tooru was, after all, eyeing her up and down. That’s got to be at least slightly intimidating.

“I look weird, don’t I…?”
“N-Not at all! You’re so cute!”

Satsuki looks up and smiles after hearing that.

“Oh, good. I wouldn’t know how to react if you said yes.”
“No way I would. Have some confidence.”

Tooru isn’t lying. She honestly is cute. Rather, Tooru isn’t clever enough to lie on the spot anyway.
Satsuki knew that as well. She turned bright red and casted her eyes down. Her hands tightly gripping her skirt.

“I’m so glad you think it looks alright on me. I don’t have much confidence, see.”

It’s apparent that her words come from the bottom of her heart. Her body tenses up.
Seeing that, Tooru places a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re fine. You look great, so take a deep breath.”

To ease the girl, Tooru sets an example and takes a deep breath. Satsuki follows suit and does so too. By the end of her breath out, her body relaxes a little.

“… thank you very much.”
“It’s nothing to thank me for. Anyway, we’re a bit early, but shall we head out?”
“Let’s!”

And just like that, the two of them head out towards the entertainment district of town.

The street is lined with arcade centers. Everything from big name brands to small mom-and-pop stores.
Not only is there entertainment, but there are many destinations for gourmets and fas.h.i.+onistas as well. If you’re going out for fun, you’ll have to come here.
But perhaps Satsuki doesn’t go out much. She’s looking around left and right at all the different shops.

“There sure are many different things in town.”
“Hmm? You don’t come this way often, Miyamoto?”
“No, I don’t… if I’m not doing ch.o.r.es, then I’m at home studying. I don’t go out much with friends.”

There was a lonely look to her face after hearing her say that. Tooru’s determined to have her enjoy herself today.
Satsuki seems to be unhappy talking about her home. Even if only for a while, Tooru would like to cheer her up.
After making his mind up and thinking how cool he is, Tooru’s stomach growled. Satsuki let out a slight giggle and Tooru blushed up to his ears. Not so cool after all.

“Did you skip breakfast today?”
“Y-Yeah. How about you?”
“I haven’t had breakfast either. Why don’t we get something to eat?”

That’s a good idea. Nothing wrong with eating out once in a while. And, it’s his day off.
Plus, he planned to splurge a little and had stuck a ¥10,000 note in his wallet. There’s nothing to be worried about.

“Alright, then I’ll treat you. What do you wanna eat?”
“Huh? It’s fine, I have brought my wallet with me.”
“Don’t worry about it. Consider it my thanks to you.”
“But…”

She looked like she was about to say something, so Tooru looked at her with eyes as kind as possible. Losing the battle of attrition, Satsuki relented and agreed.

“… okay. But only today, alright?”
“You’re always taking care of me, so let me spoil you.”

Realizing that there’s no fighting it, Satsuki smiled.
Now that she’s been convinced, time to pick out a place to eat.
Girls don’t generally like spicy food because of sweat. But a café wouldn’t fill Tooru up. Where to go?

While Tooru was looking around for restaurants, he felt a tug on his sleeve.
Beside him was Satsuki, pointing to a certain store.

“That place. I would like to try that place out.”

It was an Italian restaurant. In that case, Tooru can order enough to fill his belly up while satisfying Satsuki’s wish. There’s no reason to say no.

“Alright, let’s go there then.”
“Okay!”

The décor was very Italian-inspired; fancy, yet relaxed. Breakfast looked very promising.
After having been seated, the two looked at their menus. There’s pizza, pasta, salad, and other staples and they all looked very tasty.

“I’ll do pizza and salad. How about you?”
“I would like the spaghetti alle vongole, please”
“We’re set, then.”

Tooru pushes the buzzer and the waitress comes by.

“May I take your order?”
“I’ll take your Mediterranean-style pizza and a salad and the spaghetti alle vongole for her please.”
“Your meals will be here shortly.”

The waitress quickly jots down the order on a notepad and then quickly again goes towards the kitchen.
After following the waitress with his eyes until she leaves his sight, Tooru’s gaze returns to Satsuki. Perhaps not as much as before, but Satsuki looked around with fascination.

“Is it that special?”
“Yes. I’ve had take-out, but never ate out before…”
“Then I’m glad we came.”

He rests his elbows on the table and looks at slightly nervous Satsuki. And maybe because she realized she was being studied, Satsuki’s eyes darted around even quicker than before.
There are many couples in the restaurant. Of course, not all of them were couples, but many of them were happily eating bite after bite.

Then Tooru realized that they looked like a couple sitting together too.
There were guys inside the restaurant catching glimpses of Satsuki’s beauty, but they would avert their gazes as soon as Tooru looked at them.
Even women on the street are looking in at Satsuki, almost as if singing her beauty praises. Let alone Satsuki for being the center of attention, Tooru was getting slightly embarra.s.sed by it all.

“Are you alright? Is it uncomfortable for you?”
“No. I’m not sure why they do, but I’m used to people staring.”

What a shock. She’s used to people staring, but she still doesn’t realize her own beauty? Satsuki should be enchanted by her own reflection in the mirror. That’s how attractive she is.
Finally, the waitress carried over two trays with their food.

“Thank you for waiting so patiently. The Mediterranean-style pizza with the salad and the spaghetti alle vongole.”
“Thank you.”
“Bon appét.i.t.”

The waitress left the table and the two readied their forks.

“Let’s eat!”

They called out in sync. Tooru started with his pizza and Satsuki took a bite of her pasta.
Then, their eyes widened.

“It’s delicious.”
“Isn’t it? It’s leagues ahead the pasta I make.”
“Looks like we’ve made a good choice, eh?”
“I think we have. I’m so glad.”

Tooru was relieved to see Satsuki’s smile.
How embarra.s.sing it would be Tooru if the place was awful, even if Satsuki did pick it out.
But thankfully, such was not the case. Tooru’s pizza was yummy. It had a thin, crispy crust that would be hard to find outside an Italian restaurant. Even the toppings were generous. It was just enough to satisfy.
And, because the food is good, they kept eating and finished everything in a flash.

“Thank you for the meal.”

They clasped their hands together.
It wasn’t until Satsuki came by more that he picked up this habit. Well, it’s a good habit to have.

“I’m so full!”
“Yeah. Just right for me though.”
“Men sure eat a lot.”

Tooru felt a little bashful as Satsuki giggled. He felt like he pigged out a little.
As soon as the food settled in their stomachs, Tooru looked over to Satsuki then called out to her.

“Shall we go?”
“Oh, okay. But the bill…”
“I said don’t worry about it. Wait for me by the door?”
“… thank you very much.”

This time, Satsuki didn’t put up a fight.
She dipped her head in a shallow bow and walked towards the door.
After she was out of his sight, Tooru walked towards the cash register.

: // // // // // // // /ch008/ /next/