6 Chapter 5

"Remember to keep your stance wide and to keep your body lower," Hide said to me. 

"Yes, sir," I said and I did exactly as he told me. 

"Excellent!" he said. "Now, are you ready for the stances with actual swords?" he said as he smiled at me. 

"Y-you mean it?" I asked in excitement. 

"Of course. We'll be doing the same thing tomorrow, so I should at least prepare you with that." 

"Yay!" I quickly grabbed a sword from the barrel and he did the same. 

"Okay, Basic Stance!" I did what he said and he said, "Good! Now, First Stance! Second Stance! Third Stance! Open Position!" I did all of those with him and he gave me a satisfied look. "I think, no, I know we are ready for tomorrow." 

"Yeah," I said as I smiled at him. Ever since yesterday, he seems different. "That's strange." 

"Whatever do you mean?" he said as he began to pack his stuff up. 

"Well, you're acting less strict today and you seem happier." 

"I don't know what you're talking about," he responded. Yeah, nice try, Hide. "Okay, I lied," he chuckled. I knew it! "Anyway, can I ask you something?" 

"Sure, what is it?" 

He exhaled and said, "Are you free today?" I looked at him dumbfounded. Is he asking me out? "What?" 

"N-n-nothing, I-I just wasn't, you know, expecting this from you." 

He immediately blushed and said, "It's not what you're thinking, Akira." 

"I told you to call me Aki and are you sure?" 

"Yes! We're just", he put his hand around his neck and looked down while still blushing, "hanging out." I felt my face start to heat up. He looked at me and judging by the way he looked at me, he was probably thinking that I thought that he was still asking me out. "I told you-" 

"It's not that," I said. "It's just, you look so cute when you blushed." 

His face got even redder. "I do not!" 

"You do," I teased. 

"Ugh, whatever! Just answer the damn question!" he pouted.

"Okay," I chuckled. "Yeah, I am, but the students aren't allowed out of the campus." 

"Who said that we're going somewhere out of campus?" 

"What is there on campus? This place seems boring." 

"And that's where you're wrong," he said. "I know the entire school, inside and out. There's something I want to show you. What time is it?" 

I looked at my phone. "It's currently 3: 39." 

"Get ready. I'll be at your dorm room at 5, okay?" he said as he started to walk out. 

"How do you know where my dorm is?" 

" I told you, I know this place inside and out," Hide said as he left. 

Holy shit. Holy shit, holy shit! I-I'm going out with Hide. I'm going out with Hide! My face began to heat up at the thought of it. I-I have to get ready! I Immediately started to pack my stuff up. Suddenly, Naki came in. 

"Yo, Aki-" 

"Naki, we have to hurry back to our dorm!" 

"Why?" 

"I'll explain later," I said as I grabbed my bag. I took Naki by the hand and ran all the way to our dorm. 

"What was that about?" she asked out of breath. 

Panting, I said, "Hide is taking me somewhere today." 

"Like a date?" 

"I guess, but called it hanging out." 

Naki's eyes beamed and it was almost as if she was a young child looking at a toy. "I-I'm-" she paused. 

"What-" 

"I'm so happy for you, Aki!" she said in excitement. "My baby girl is finally growing up." 

"What the fuck, Naki," I said, a little annoyed. "It's not even a date."

She smirked and said, "That's what he wants you to think, technically, he asked you out, so I am going to make sure you look your best!" 

Why do I have a feeling that I'm not going to enjoy this? "Fine, but don't put any ridiculous makeup on me." 

"Not even eyeshadow?" 

"No!" 

"Fine," she said as she pouted like a little kid. "You have natural beauty anyway, so you're good." 

"Whatever, let's get this over with." 

Naki opened our closet and searched through it. "Damn, Aki", she said, "you have no good clothes."  

Those words felt like someone stabbed me with a knife in my chest. "W-what? That's not true!" 

"Girl, the only good thing you have in the closet is your uniform." 

I clenched my chest. Damn Naki being so blunt and honest. "That hurts." 

She sighed. "Sorry girly, but it's true." She gasped and said, "I have an idea. Since your closet is filled with sweatpants, hoodies, shorts, and boring shirts, you can borrow some clothes from my side of the closet!" 

"What? Your clothes are not the type of clothes I would wear any time of day." 

"But Aki", she said, "don't you want to look cute?" 

I looked down. "Well, yeah." 

"And you have nothing cute on your side of the closet, correct?" 

"Yes," I sighed. 

"So, you don't really have a choice." 

"Ugh, you're right," I groaned." 

She continued looking through the closet. "Okay, so I know that you don't look anything that's flashy and sticks out, so I think I'll look for something simple." Suddenly, she gasped and looked at me. "Aki, I think you might like this one, or at least I hope you will." 

Naki showed me a dress that that was a minty green with flowers of different colors such as purple, pink, blue, and yellow. At and the end of the sleeves and the bottom half of it, it was white. The flowers reminded me of my mother and the dress was gorgeous. Tears began to spring from my eyes and Naki's face showed concern. Before she could speak, I said, "I-it's perfect, I-I love it," I said as I smiled through the tears coming down my face. "Thank you, Naki." 

Satisfied with my reaction, she said, "You're welcome." She gave the dress to me. "Here, try it on, I knew that you'll look really nice in it." 

"Thank you again, Naki." 

"What are best friends for?" 

I went to the bathroom to change. I looked at myself in the mirror and moved my bang aside. I wonder what would happen if Hide were to find out that I was the half-demon child. I put the dress on and came out of the bathroom. Naki looked at me in awe. 

"So", I said, "how do I look?" 

"Goodness, you really are a natural beauty," she said. "In other words, you look like a goddess." 

I giggled, "Thanks." 

"Now, all that is left is to do your hair and choose some shoes for you to wear." 

I gulped. "You're not going to move my bang aside, are you?" 

"Girl, don't be silly," she said. "You think I want your secret to getting revealed and have the officials take you away? Hell, no, not while I'm around." She got a brush, a hair tie, a sock, and some pins. "While I'm talking about this, you don't plan on showing Hide your eye, do you?" 

"Of course not. I don't know if I can trust him with a secret like that." 

"Good," she said, sighing in relief. 

"I'm not going to any time soon. I need to know him for a decent amount of time before I can do that. Plus, he's the son of one of the top generals fighting in this war. This realm, the human realm despises demons, but they fail to realize that not every demon is bad. If I'm being honest", I continued as Naki did my hair, "my father controls them to do his bidding." 

"Your father is a psychopath," she said with bobby pins in her mouth. 

"Well, he is the King of the Demon Realm." 

"And you're all done!" I touched my hair. "Be careful, Aki! Don't ruin my masterpiece!" 

I went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. She put my hair in a bun. 

"It looks amazing, Naki, thanks!" 

I swear that I could feel her smiling, even though I couldn't see her from the bathroom. "I'm glad you like it!" 

I looked at my phone and it said 4:45. Still a little early, I thought. 

There was a knock at the door and I started to squeal. "Naki, he's-" 

"Girl, I have a plan. So, I'm going to answer the door and let him in." 

"Okay," I said. "Continue." 

"I will tell him that you're still in the bathroom, so use this time in here to let your nervousness out, but don't be too loud. A minute later, I want you to come out and show yourself to him, okay?" 

"G-got it!" 

"Okay, get into position!" 

There was another knock at the door and Naki answered. "Oh, Hide", I heard her say, "hey."

"Hey, um, is Aki here?" 

"Oh yeah, she is, she's still getting dress, but she'll be out in a minute." Naki always has my back, man. "Akira, Hide is here!" 

"Okay, I'll be out in a sec!" I shouted from the bathroom. 

Okay, calm yourself. You will be okay, you will be fine, I kept repeating to myself in my head. 

After I got my shoes on, I headed out of the bathroom in the most graceful way I could. Be confident, Aki. I looked up at Hide whose face was a little red and was in shock. 

"So, um, how do I look?" I asked, looking down. 

"Y-you look, um, amazing," he said awkwardly. 

I could feel my cheeks flushing. "T-thanks, you look amazing as always." Oh no, what did I just say?

"H-huh?" 

"Nothing, nothing, forget I said anything." I walked to the door, embarrassed by what I just said to him. "Anyway, let's go." 

"R-right," he said as he followed the door. 

I opened the door and Naki told us teasingly to have fun while closing the door. 

I hope this won't be a nightmare.