Wakana took the soft bundle, his fingers brushing against hers, sending a quick spark between them.
He registered the scent of the hoodie immediately, matching the girl in front of him.
"Thank you, Marin," he said softly, using her first name again without thinking.
Marin froze.
Her eyes went wide, and her blush deepened to a violent crimson.
He had said it so casually, so naturally, right before taking her personal clothing item into her bathroom.
"Y-y-you're welcome, W-Wakana!" she stammered, firing back the counter-ult unintentionally.
Wakana, feeling equally flustered, quickly averted his eyes. "I... I'll be quick."
He practically bolted down the hallway.
The usage of first names, which were gradually becoming normal to them, immediately became a critical attack on both.
Marin stood by the side, her chest heaving, listening as the bathroom door clicked shut and the low, steady sound of the shower turning on began to fill the quiet apartment.
She had already showered before he returned, scrubbing quickly and applying her elaborate skincare routine with speed.
She now wore a simple pair of pink, short-sleeved pajamas with a small heart pattern.
Marin sat on the couch in the living room, constantly flipping through a manga, but her eyes were fixed on the bathroom door.
The shower inside continued to splash.
'Wakana-kun is showering in my house right now.'
'Am I really not dreaming?'
Marin realized she was holding her breath.
She forced herself to exhale and focus on the manga in her hands, but the panels felt like they were a blur.
The sound of running water continued to echo in the empty house, and her heartbeat kept beating at an irregular pace.
Hearing it now, and knowing it was Wakana, the boy she favored, her mind kept wandering all around the place.
Finally, the shower turned off.
Marin's heart jumped, and she froze, mid-page-turn.
She heard the small sounds of the plastic bag rustling, the towel rubbing, and then, a slow, deep breath, as if Wakana were bracing himself.
The amount of time he'd taken in there made her feel a little bit more relaxed, helping her calm down as time passed by.
The bathroom door opened.
Wakana emerged, his newly bought dark shorts and t-shirt giving him a clean, neat silhouette.
But what Marin's eyes immediately locked onto was her oversized, black hoodie, which held a print of a character in an ahegao pose, making the boy look like a stereotype shut-in otaku.
(Photo)
He was still towel-drying his hair, which was damp and slightly messy, a look she had never seen on him before.
He looked... incredibly handsome, and devastatingly cool.
"Kitagawa-san?" Wakana asked, his voice softer than usual.
Marin felt the blood rush to her ears.
She forced a smile that felt tight on her face. "Oh! Gojo-kun! You finished! Uh... you look... comfortable!" she blurted, a torrent of thoughts running through her mind: He's wearing my hoodie. He smells just like me. He's sleeping at my house. I'm going to die.
Wakana shifted slightly, acutely aware of the questionable hoodie. "Thank you for letting me stay, and the... the hoodie. It's very soft."
Although his eyes couldn't help but twitch at the design print, he didn't say anything else. "I'm sorry I took a little longer."
"N-no! It's fine! I, uh, I take a while, too! You know, for the hair and the face mask stuff," she lied seamlessly, though she hadn't worn a face mask since last week.
"Right," Wakana said, nodding slowly, not quite meeting her eyes.
He stepped past the threshold of the hallway and into the soft, dim light of the living room. "So... about where I should sleep."
Marin's posture straightened instantly. "Right! The sleeping arrangements!"
She patted the large couch next to her with unnecessary force. "You get the couch! It's super comfy, I promise! I'll go get you some bedding now."
She jumped up, using the sudden movement to distract herself. She hurried to a storage closet in her room and retrieved a thick, folded blanket, a spare sheet, and a pillow.
When she returned, Wakana had already neatly tucked his small bag of clothes away and was standing awkwardly near the center of the room.
"Here you go," Marin said, her voice slightly breathless as she handed him the supplies. "We can unfold the sheet right here."
The act of making the bed together on the living room floor felt like the most intimate thing they had ever done.
Sure, compared to their other deeds, this seemed quite mild.
But how could others possibly understand the thoughts running through their minds right now?
Marin knelt on one end, Wakana on the other, smoothing out the wrinkles in the sheet across the length of the couch.
Their hands didn't touch, but they were working in tandem, side-by-side, their knees mere inches apart.
"The pillow is a little thin, but my dad says it's good for your neck," Marin spoke, trying to fill the silence.
"It looks great, thank you, Kitagawa-san," Wakana replied, placing the pillow precisely at the couch's edge.
He avoided looking directly at her, instead focusing intently on the blanket he was folding for the top layer.
Marin watched him absent-mindedly, not knowing what was going through his mind now.
"Well," Marin said, standing up a little too abruptly, causing the sheet to shift. "That should be it! I'm gonna... turn in now. My room's right down the hall. Feel free to use the bathroom whenever you need."
Wakana stood up too, towering over her a bit in her oversized hoodie.
He finally met her eyes, and the shy sincerity he saw in them made his breath hitch.
"Thank you, Kitagawa-san. Really. This is very kind of you."
Marin felt a wave of protective affection and desire wash over her.
She fought to keep her expression casual.
"Don't sweat it, Gojo-kun! Like I said, you're my responsibility tonight," she flashed him a quick, nervous grin. "G'night!"
She practically fled down the hallway, closing her bedroom door behind her with a soft click.
Wakana stood alone in the dim light of the living room, staring at the closed door.
He could hear the faint, muffled sound of her moving around inside her room.
He slowly walked over to the couch, sat down on the edge, and pulled Marin's soft black hoodie tighter around his shoulders.
'I'm sleeping at Marin's house.'
He didn't bother lying down.
Wakana knew, just like Marin knew in her room, that neither of them would be sleeping for a very, very long time.
Because of this, he decided to pull out his phone instead and scroll through his feed.
As he continued scrolling, he saw a familiar account handle: Marine_WG.
A silly smile unconsciously appeared on his face.
Marin Kitagawa's account, Marine being her cosplayer name, which sounded quite funny, considering that it sounded just like her first name.
And the WG, an abbreviation of his name, Wakana Gojo, is a tribute to him for his support.
He once again saw Marin Kitagawa's Mirajane Strauss cosplay post, along with their picture at the end.
He saw his tired but happy smile, as well as Marin's joyfulness, emanating from the photo itself.
If he wasn't afraid of being caught, he would have wanted to use it as a screensaver.
Half an hour later, the quiet of the apartment was only broken by the distant sound of the city.
Wakana was still sitting upright on the couch, the phone screen casting a soft glow on his face, though he was no longer actually reading.
Click.
Wakana heard a door opening down the hall.
He looked up just as Marin's head peeked cautiously through the crack in her bedroom door.
Her dark, natural eyes scanned the dimly lit room before landing on him.
Wakana smiled softly, the shared tension having burned away most of the initial panic. "Couldn't sleep?" he asked.
Marin bit her lips and nodded. "You too?"
"Yeah," Wakana nodded back. "Do you want to talk for a while?"
He patted the empty space on the couch beside him, indicating the generous amount of cushion space.
Marin immediately agreed and walked over, sitting down beside him as she hugged her legs up to her chest.
Most of their nervousness was gone, but a silent, ambiguous atmosphere slowly rose between them.
"So what made you decide to dye your hair like that, and contacts?" Wakana asked, staring into Marin's eyes, which now held her natural dark brown color.
"Oh," Marin seemed interested in telling her story. "Actually, it's because I saw people dying their hair blonde lately. I only added the pink ends to make it look cute and unique, as well as the pink contacts to match it!"
Looking at her happily chattering, Wakana smiled. 'What a woman of action.'
"How about you, Wakana?"
Immediately using her ultimate move as she lost her nervousness, she asked Wakana a question that she had been wondering about for a while now.
"When did your dream of becoming a fashion designer start, and how are you so good?"
Hearing her question, Wakana paused a bit before answering.
"Five years ago, my parents died because of a car accident, leaving me to stay with my aunt," he began, his voice lowered for the late hour. "During that time, as any child would be, I was extremely depressed and refused to go out."
Feeling the atmosphere getting heavier, Marin slowly grabbed his arm and muttered, "Wakana... You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..."
Wakana shook his head and told her that it had been a long time now, so it didn't matter much anymore, and continued.
"Around that time, the daughter of my aunt's neighbor, Nobara, whom I called Non-chan, tried countless ways to cheer me up."
Hearing a girl's name from his past, seemingly becoming a plot for the childhood friend trope she usually saw in anime, Marin's grip on Wakana's arm seemed to unconsciously tighten.
Wakana didn't notice this and continued, "Although it wasn't very successful, it did work to a point. We became friends, and I could finally go out."
"My Grandpa immediately took me to his workshop at our current home, wanting to show me the Hina dolls to help cheer me up."
"And it indeed worked. Although it wasn't the Hina doll itself that I fell in love with, but the beautiful outfits it wore. From then on, my dream was to become a fashion designer who could make different clothes that would be just as beautiful."
Wakana ended his story.
However, hearing no mention of the girl, Nobara, Marin couldn't help but ask. "What about Non-chan? What happened with her?"
Wakana looked up at the ceiling, feeling a little nostalgic. "I took her to see the Hina dolls, wanting to talk to her about my dream. But before I could even explain, she misunderstood that I was obsessed with the dolls themselves, called me disgusting, and ran off. A week after that, their family moved, and I haven't seen her since."
Wakana laughed it off lightly.
Hearing what he said, Marin jumped from her seat and fumed. "That's horrible..! How could she say something like that to you?!"
"It's okay. I didn't really take it to heart. It was a misunderstanding on her part anyway."
"But still..!" Marin frowned. "Even if it was a misunderstanding, she still called admiring Hina dolls as something disgusting! Gramps makes Hina dolls, so wouldn't it be applicable to him too?!"
Hearing her logic, Wakana Gojo couldn't help but nod. "That's true... But considering how we were still kids, it was most likely that she felt like my attention was being stolen from her. Children easily get upset, after all."
Hearing his side, Marin also couldn't argue anymore and swallowed the rest of her words. "But still... I can't believe something like that happened to you, with your closest friend at the time, nonetheless."
She gently gazed at Wakana, feeling a different emotion brewing within her after hearing his past.
"Yeah. It's alright, it's all in the past now," Wakana sighed.
Quickly gathering her courage, Marin slowly blurted out words she truly meant.
"Wakana... I..."
"Hmm..?"
"I swear I'll never hurt you like that!"
"Eh?" Wakana was shocked at her sudden declaration.
Looking at Marin's red face, there were some questions that he wanted to ask, but instead, he chose to toss them in the back of his mind for now, fearing that the girl might run away if he asked.
Instead, he gave her a gentle smile with his eyes. "Thank you, Marin."
Hearing his words, Marin's gaze softened as she looked at his face.
She leaned in and placed her head on his shoulder, feeling a deep sense of comfort when she stayed close to him.
"Please let me stay like this for a while... Continue stories about your childhood too..." She quietly whispered, seemingly falling into a deep trance of sleepiness.
Looking over at the girl lying on him, Wakana's heart was full of sweetness, wishing that this night could last forever.
"Mhm."
Time slowly passed while Wakana continued to softly whisper, talking about his experiences before entering the industry as a young designer and until his success.
Eventually, he looked at Marin, still lying on his shoulder, who had stopped making her grunts of agreement, now breathing quietly instead.
"Marin?" Wakana softly called out.
However, he received no answer.
Marin Kitagawa had fallen asleep.
Looking at the girl who had the face of an angel, he reached out, brushing the strands of hair on her face behind her ears, clearing the view.
His gaze softened as he gave a gentle smile.
"Goodnight, Marin Kitagawa."
As if a spell was suddenly cast on him, Wakana Gojo felt a wave of sleepiness hit him.
And just like that, he soon followed the girl into the dream world.
Leaving the two of them quietly leaning on each other, as their breaths intertwined.