It's a little after dinnertime. Sora had gone to some kind of ice cream parlor with Kukai, they had fun, Sora insisted it didn't mean anything a couple times; and now they're walking together towards the Hisakata residences; where Sora lives.
Sora is making it a point to keep her hands in her pockets, and her gaze set straight forwards. Her shadow is almost the same, except its head is slightly tilted because that side of her is staring at Kukai's shadow. Reflecting that just maybe it did mean something.
It's getting warmer, as Winter turns to Spring, and Spring edges towards another hot Tokyo Summer.
Dinner is through, and Ayana has decided that homework is not going to happen in this heat. So instead, while Ikiko does dishes, Ayana has decided to 'hide' on the roof of the old feudal mansion.
The kitsune is lying barefoot on her back in a pair of bike shorts and a loose tank top, which she's pushed up just under her bust as she stares up at the stars.
Most people probably wouldn't even notice Sora's approach, but those fuzzy ears atop the girl's hair twitch in curiosity at the sound of approaching footfalls.
Rolling up to a sitting position, she peers down at the walk leading from the gate to the front door. Sora is with a boy?
It had been a good day. Kukai hadn't stuck his foot too far down his throat, even though Sora was a little arrogant, but she was entertaining and fun to talk to - they shared a lot of the same interests and things. He hadn't realized anything about her, either, all day - too distracted, probably.
He'd offered her his arm as they walked, but when she didn't take it he had shrugged and grinned and kept walking, talking for a bit anyway - mostly looking forward to the upcoming events. He'd fallen silent a little ways before he reached the residences and now is looking up at the gate. "Oh wow. This is amazing. It's so old - but it's in such good shape. Do you live here?"
Sora hasn't noticed Ayana yet, whether or not this is a good thing remains to be seen. "It's been in the family for ages; when the family grew we kind of converted it into an appartment complex." Sora explains why she lives in a mansion, "Everyone who lives here is either family, married to family, or an annoying fox." Isn't that nice, Ayana deserves a separate mention.
She then takes a moment to collect her thoughts, "So that was kinda fun, maybe we should do it again sometime." She still doesn't look towards Kukai however, "Just friends, you know, nothing else." She remains adamant about that.
The 'annoying fox' frowns at being described that way, but she decides picking a fight with Sora over it in front of her boyfriend is probably rude.
So instead, she creeps down to the very edge of the roof and peers down at them. The scent of Kukai draws a wrinkle of the kitsune's nose. "Ew, boys," she mouths, but does not voice aloud.
Still, Sora's with one, and this is suitably weird enough that Ayana remains attentively curious. Will he try to kiss her? Double ew!
Kukai looks back over at Sora and smiles. "Yeah, it was nice. You're fun to talk to - we should get together more and talk more often. Maybe even go for food next time instead of just ice cream. What do you like to eat, in that case?" Daichi peeks up out of Kukai's pocket, looking at Sora. "And somebody in your family has a pet fox? That's pretty cool. But it sounds like you don't like it much."
He looks back at the house for a moment. "Whatever we do, I shouldn't invite you to my place. I live with my brothers and they'd pester the hell out of you. And me."
Sora makes an uncomfortable little laugh at calling Ayana, however ignorantly, a pet. "It's a bit more complicated than that." She stretches a little, and that's when she notices the foxgirl on the roof, staring down at them. "Ayana, aren't you supposed to helping Ikiko with chores or something?" She calls out, annoyed at being noticed with a boy; and even more so at being noticed by /Ayana/ of all people.
"Uh... I gave you my phone number, right?" She asks, she has; nominally to help discuss the sportsball stuff they're supposed to be organizing, "Maybe we can figure out something over the phone."
Ayana's ears perk up at being caught, and she looks left and then right in hopes of somewhere to hide. No, rooftops do not have hiding places. Her options are: retreat (probably noisly), or accept that she is caught.
Like heck is she retreating for Sora. "It's okay if describing me as Ikiko's pet is easier for you," Ayana notes calmly. She doesn't stop watching them. "I cooked dinner already. She's doing dishes. I already did all of my chores. Don't you have chores you should be doing, instead of going out on dates with smelly boys?"
Kukai is distracted for a moment as Sora stretches, then sees the look on her face change as she looks upwards. He looks up as well at the roof and the girl peering down at them - with fox ears? Kukai blinks for a moment and then points up. "Wow. You have fox ears!" He grins up at her and waves, functionally gormless.
He then lets out a small cry and crosses his arms. "I do not smell bad! I take a bath every day!" He seems to have taken some small offense at that, enough to where he sort of misses what Sora is saying entirely until the last 'phone'. "Huh? Uh. Yeah, I've got a phone, why?"
"This is Ayana, she's an annoying fox." Sora says quickly, and then introduces Kukai too, "And this is Kukai, he's a guy from Seiyou I'm working to coordinate a multi-school sports event with. It's school business." Not all of it was, but Sora leaves that out entirely. "And he smells better than you do."
Sora restrains herself from facepalming at Kukai's lack of attention. "Nevermind, Kukai. Call me later." Her shadow does facepalm, though with the way things are going, the only person likely to notice is Ayana.
"Like your nose could even begin to make that distinction," Ayana points out to Sora with a sniff of amusement. "He smells like a boy. Sweaty and gross boy. Boys do not smell good. Even you smell better than him, Sora-chan, and you smell like a meanie. Kukai-san, are you her boyfriend? Are you gonna kiss her good night?"
Kukai ohs and then hmms, looking at Sora. "Wait a minute. How do you know she's a fox, unless she told you? And I don't think she would.." He eyes Sora closely, not angry, more curious. "And yeah, I've got your number."
As for Ayana he glares at her for a moment. "Some guys smell really good! You're just biased! And Sora smellls fine too!" How he knows that is up for debate... He blinks, then grins at Sora. "Well we just met so boyfriend may be out of range, but boy who's a friend sounds close. As for kissing that's up to her too."
"My family is weird, okay?" Sora keeps it at that, and she's not wrong in that either. She shrugs, "We try not to draw attention to that, but this fox is making that harder." The whole boyfriend bit causes Sora's cheeks to glow red, "He's not." Mixed signals there, definitely.
"I'm not the one telling everyone about me being a fox!" Ayana counters irritatedly. "I even said you can call me Ikiko's pet if that's easier! I don't wanna make things hard," she pouts unhappiliy, ears folding down to either side.
"Anyways, Kukai-san, if you're going to kiss her you sh ould do it now," Ayana notes. "Her parents will probably come out soon and you don't want them to see."
Kukai crosses his arms and looks over at her, then grins. "Well. I've got a bit of that same weirdness in me, too. So I don't mind, really. I'm just surprised I didn't notice it sooner! You look so normal." He looks at her glowing red, then smiles. "Well maybe not boyfriend, but you sure look like you'd like a kiss."
He peers in close at Sora for a moment, then stands up, grinning. "And I'm not scared of your parents - we're not doing anything wrong. Just talking." He looks up at Ayana for a second, then back at Sora.
"I do not." Sora just blushes even more, frozen in place by the very idea. She tries to look away from Kukai, but can't. Her shadow facepalms, this time at her own behavior rather than that of anyone else. "Where's Ikiko anyway?" She desparately tries to change the subject away from herself.
Ayana tilts her head at Sora blushing, then grins. "I think she does look like she needs a kiss," the kitsune agrees with Kukai amusedly. "If you don't give her one, though, Kukai-san, don't worry. I'll give her one later."
Kukai Souma looks up at Ayana after a moment, then at Sora. "Well that's sort of a bad situation. I'm not going to force you into anything, because really, that's bad." He looks at Sora and grins. "But it seems very much like Ayana's trying to make sure somebody kisses you." He looks up at the foxgirl, then at Sora. "Does she like kissing you, or just kissing girls? Have you ever kissed her before? You might like it."
"She's Ikiko's girlfriend, and she's a mean, spiteful trickster!" Sora objects, and then her thoughts get spinning, "And she's trying to trick me into accepting a kiss so she can tease me about it later. I know that's what her game is!" All her objections aside, the blushing doesn't subside.
"Some of that is true," Ayana admits amusedly at Sora's claims. Kicking her feet curiously, she says, "I am Ikiko's girlfriend. And I am a bit of a trickster, although I prefer kind-hearted and benevolent. Also, I'm not trying to trick anyone into kissing you, Sora-chan. Either Kukai will kiss you now, or I'll kiss you later. EIther way, could be fun."
It takes a moment of Kukai rubbing his chin, before he looks at Sora. "Well. I'll say this. If you kiss me, there's nothing of it, you're doing it under duress from a tricky foxgirl. It could be fun, yeah. But there's two things to consider." He ticks them off on his fingers. "One, if you kiss me, you prevent her from having the fun of kissing you. Or two, if you kiss her, you then have the fun of going to Ikiko and telling her that Ayana kissed you and you didn't want to. So the volleyball's in your court."
Sora turns towards Kukai, still blushing strongly, and leans forward a little. She doesn't say another word, but she purses her lips a little uncertainly. It's clear that, given the choices available to her, which choice she's made. Her shadow seems a little more eager, rushing out to grab Kukai's shoulders.
Ayana's eyes widen in surprise when Sora makes her choice. She thought sure the girl wouldn't actually do it. Giggling, she calls, "Kiss her good! Oh wait a sec, I gotta get my phone." She scrambles back up the roof a bit, grabs her phone, then comes back down and points it at the pair. "Okay go!"
It only takes a moment for him to realize what Sora's chosen, and he moves in close, smiling. He's warm, and he does smell nice - clean and fresh, even after a day of school and walking around. He can almost feel her hands on his shoulders as he puts his arms around the smaller girl and leans down, ignoring Ayana resolutely.
He presses his warm, soft lips to Sora's, eyes closing part of the way as he kisses her. He's not totally incompetent, either - not too aggressive, not passive, just gentle and strong and slightly sweet from the ice cream earlier.
He may only have one arm around Sora, though - the other may be up behind him, making a rude gesture at the camera up above them.
Sora only grows redder, and she also ignores Ayana. For a bit. She smells fairly neutral, she goes through some effort to counter sweat but doesn't really like perfumes. As far as the kissing goes, she's pretty much just operating on pure instinct and trying to follow Kukai's lead; it's easy to tell she's never done this before.
She does wrap her arms around Kukai, pulling him a little closer. When she thinks it's been long enough, she pulls back, still very, very much blushing, but also angry. "Ayana, I swear. I'm going to break your phone. That is not cool."
Ayana giggles even more as she records the whole kiss on video, even Kukai's rude finger gesture does not dissuade her. "Woo! Sora's got a boyfriend!" she catcalls from above excitedly. Then she laughs and tucks the phone in the waistband of her shorts, then waves to Kukai. "Good job, Kukai-san! come back any time!"
There's a moment where that one arm holds Sora close against him. If she looks up at him, maybe she can see a little glint of green fire in his eyes, reflected from somewhere nearby. Then it's gone and he smiles down at her, letting her pull back. "If you break her phone your parents will just make you buy her another one. What you do is just find a way to delete the picture off it."
He looks up at Ayana, then grins, shaking his head. "Well... I dunno if that makes me a boyfriend or not, but..." He looks at Sora and smiles. "I would still like to talk to you again sometime."
Sora still blushes, still looks angry, but rather than act upon her anger or say anything else just rushes the front door and goes past; hurrying to her own appartment. At least Kukai has her phone number, maybe he should call her when she's had time to process all this?
Ayana snickers and waves again, then ducks in through the window she made her way to the roof from in the first place. "G'night, Kukai-san!" she calls, heading off to upload the video to the youtubes.
Kukai Souma blinks as Sora zips past, heading for the gate. "Seeya..." He looks up at Ayana - who's vanished. "Seeya both." He looks at the sealed gate, then shrugs and grins, heading back up the street and towards the more occupied parts of the city, licking his lips.