Author's Note: My beta reader-slash-beau was reviewing some new stuff on Salad Days and commented on how Mimi's turning into a manic pixie dream girl. I argued that it's not the case, and Mimi's definitely going to have some development. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense why Mimi is a manic pixie dream girl in general (minus being a flat character that most MPDGs fall into). This fits her very much if paired with a brooding Yamato or an indifferent Koushiro. So I thought, why not write about it? Haha. You can explore more about the MPDG trope on the internet.

I decided to set this one-shot aside from Mixtapes, since I think this is a format a bit different from the collection. Anyway, I didn't explore Mimi being a manic pixie dream girl all the way in this story. So set your arguments aside and just enjoy the idea of it (lol). However, I do, want to make a more in-depth story about this - maybe after I finish the eight-shot I'm currently writing. Enjoy, y'all Mimato fans!


MPDG

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He watched her voice out her complaints as she licked her dessert; unaware of his melted ice cream streaming from the cone to his fingertips. What bothered him wasn't that she didn't make sense most of the time – but rather why he kept listening, bearing this intense character on front of him.

It was raining, and here he is, taking refuge in an ice creamery at an obscure part in Odaiba – in his wet hair and clothes, eating ice cream with a girl who clipped plastic stars on her pink hair. The ridiculousness of the whole scenario increased as the cashier started to play a single AKB48 song on loop. Oh, the irony of it all..

"God, I missed this," said Mimi as she eyed her ice cream lovingly. "There's no seasalt ice cream in New York, you know,"

"Don't they now.." he commented nonchalantly as he wiped his fingers with a napkin. He stared at her also dampened hair and clothes, and her moistened face. This newly-found companionship with Mimi all started three months and four days ago, when all he wanted to do was to pay his cellular bills and write sad love songs for Sora. Until, of course, out of nowhere, the-Mimi-who-was-supposed-to-be-in-America appeared on his doormat, armed with gifts and other junk which eventually became his and Takeru's.

"It's a shame the exhibit's already closed," Mimi eyed the little brochure on their table. They were supposed to go to a small gallery at Shinjuku, where some of Hikari's photographs were featured among other bests. "Hmm. What about we go to somewhere nice, Yamato-kun?"

"Umm. Where? It's raining hard," he said, pointing at the window.

"Hmm.." Mimi pondered as she stretched her arms horizontally, her hair looking like cotton candy as it fell on the table. Her lips then form a pout, her eyes squinting. Nowadays, he was finding her cute - and it increasingly had become so, when Takeru said something funny to him last night:

"Mimi-chan is a manic pixie dream girl,"

'What the gibberish?' thought Yamato. "A what?"

"A manic pixie dream girl," repeated Takeru as he cozied up on the sofa. He swiftly typed in his smartphone. "Weird hair color, outgoing personality.. female who is most likely to bring out the brooding hero out of his cave.." he scrolled down for more.

"Teaches brooding hero about living life to the fullest, 'carpe diem', second love, and shit.. That's what Google says anyway." added Takeru.

"Am I the brooding hero in this case?" Yamato frowned, not liking the sound of it.

Takeru laughed on his stomach. He liked being brutally honest. "Oh aniki. Don't get offended."

The older blond sighed in defeat. "So..? This is relevant to Mimi because..?"

"She has all that," answered Takeru matter-of-factly. "plus, her pink hair adds up to the whole image."

Yamato shook his head, barely grasping the whole concept. "What does that even mean," he scratched his head as he opens his phone.

"Think Midori Kobayashi in Norwegian Wood," And Yamato did think – trying to remember that very weird novel Takeru made him read two days after his breakup. 'So.. Mimi is the supposed second and better love of my life?'

"Mimi-chan is definitely a manic pixie dream girl. At least to you, aniki."

"Why do you even know these things," he sighed in frustration, rubbing his forehead. He looked down on his phone, checking messages, notifications, missed calls, and e-mails. He received an email from Mimi, attached on it was an article about how there are more than just five stages of grief, and a postscript which said he should accompany her tomorrow at Hikari's exhibit.

"I'm a writer," proclaimed the younger one. "Oh yeah, do you want to go to Hikari's exhibit tomorrow? She asked me to come. Help me pick flowers for her, since you're good at those things,"

Yamato stood up from his seat as he went on his way to the kitchen. "I already have company."

"Who?"

"Mimi."

Takeru snickered, and smiled slyly as he watched his brother's back figure prepare their dinner. "Oh, and aniki?"

"What?"

"Manic pixie dream girls often don't end up with brooding heroes,"

"Yamato-kun!" Mimi pulled him back to reality. "What if we go to Palette Town? It's been a while since I got there!"

Yamato hesitated on the idea of potentially sharing a ferris wheel cart with Mimi. He was already picturing a typical sunset-filtered scene; Mimi being very hyper about the whole thing, saying something really weird as they float above a pretty scenic backdrop of Tokyo; which will leave him struggling to not get caught up with the moment.

He looked up to her intensified hazel-caramel-golden-something-that-is-not-brown eyes. "Please, Yamato-kun?"

He cursed under his breath, aware that he's the only one thinking of possibilities. He knew this was all just Mimi being Mimi. He did not like the fact that she was becoming like a little ray of sunshine in his uneventful life. He advised himself to be more careful around her.

"Okay."

And yet, he couldn't help but hope that it could be something more.