[28] Date (1)

Chapter 28: Date (1)

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Tsubasa was sitting on a bench, her head down as she looked at her intertwined fingers, lost in thoughts. 

Things have been so hectic lately. So many things happened; magic was real; she was a human-vampire-tiger mixed race; and most importantly, her birth mother was suddenly alive, inside her no less. The last three days were very long for Tsubasa.

Amidst all of this, one might think getting asked out by a boy was a forgetful matter, yet Aqua's actions were what made time appear longer. She was asked out for a date, by her liar of a cousin and childhood friend – her childhood crush who had apparently been ignoring all her signals until now.

"Why so suddenly?" She had wondered to herself after Aqua left her house yesterday. "Why now of all times?"

Why did he suddenly feel attracted to her? No, did he feel attracted to her at all, or was he doing this for something else? Just what went through his head, she wondered. But she doubted she'd ever know, given he was such a big liar. He had so many secrets.

Sitting on a bench with her school bag by her side, she received a few passing glances from people noticing that she skipped school.

Some passerby old men shook their heads and said something about this generation being so useless, while some others found nostalgia in the scene. This kind of attention in this situation where she was committing a small crime basically, would have gotten Tsubasa flustered just a few days ago. Now though, she didn't feel any of that.

Perhaps it was the fact that she now knew and had witnessed with her own eyes that magic was real and so was Gods and Devils. In a world where beings of limitless power existed, was there any point in attending school or minding mortals' opinions?

Tsubasa quickly shook her head, muttering, "Not a good thought, let's move on."

She knew there were stars in the distant star systems that could devour our sun, there was a black hole in the center of our galaxy that could devour everything. She never put much thought into it, she didn't feel life was worthless just because those things existed. So what changed now? In the end, these Gods were basically that.

<<That, and you yourself can become like them if try.>> As if amused by her internal musings, a voice bloomed in her head. <<Stars and Black Holes were things beyond your understanding before, but with bloodline my help, you can move ahead understand them. Likewise, wield powers to destroy To create more of You become a God as long wish. There is no limit our growth, love.>>

That voice was Hanekawa Shinra, the soul of her mother that resided inside her now. She's been like that the entire time, telling her stuff as if to awaken some sort of greed inside her. Sadly, Tsubasa didn't share the same kind of grand ambition as her, not when this woman was the same one who would have basically taken over her body if not for Aqua's help.

So she ignored her words again, she didn't bother replying. But speaking of Aqua, she looked down at her wristwatch and felt an odd twist in her stomach.

"It's been two hours since I left home… Why is he not here yet?" He couldn't have dumped the date, could he?

Tsubasa told Miyako, her mom, that she'll eat in Ai's house. She left her home half an hour before school would begin saying that, while she messaged Ruby saying she will be leaving early due to some school matters. She lied to both and managed to slip out, it was the first time she had done something like this, all because of Aqua. Yet he was nowhere to be seen even hours later.

She was in a park, and more people were noticing her now. People were jogging in laps around this road, and this one man in particular was looking at her every time he passed her bench. His gaze felt a little uncomfortable. 

'Should I leave?' She did text Aqua earlier, but there was no response yet. She didn't want to call him because he might be doing a scene, in which case his phone might just have been silent all along. He did say it might take him a bit of time, but two hours alone was…

"Hey, excuse me." 

Tsubasa was startled out of her daze as a voice called her from the front. She'd have stood up due to the surprise, but the man who just spoke was standing too close, right in front of her, so she couldn't stand up.

"Uh, yes?"

She looked up at him, holding back an ugly frown due to the smell of his sweat. He was the creepy guy she was talking about, the one who kept glancing at her chest every time he passed. It looked like he built up just enough courage to come to talk to her.

He had short black hair and brown eyes, and he wore a tracksuit. He didn't look bad, he was above average, but did nobody tell him his sweat smells like shit?

"I noticed you've been waiting here for a while now. Is there anything wrong? We can talk about it if you want." The man tried, and Tsubasa managed a polite smile to turn him down.

"Haha, I am waiting for a friend…"

"You've been waiting for a long time. Did you have breakfast? Come, I'll buy you a meal." The man persisted, and Tsubasa grew a little nervous.

<<Haah, no way.>> Hanekawa's voice rang in her head. <<Why are you nervous, can kill him if want, that powerful. How my blood?>>

The last line irritated her and she was about to retort in her head, but the man in front of her reached out a hand to grab her by the wrist.

"Why are you silent? If you're shy, we-"

The following action was out of pure reflex. She yanked her hand away and threw her other hand at him to push him back, as the sound of bones cracking filled the area and the man was sent flying backward. He flew and hit someone behind him, who caught him in midair.

<<There it is! That's my blood.>>

"Ah…"

"Damn."

While Tsubasa stood up with a gasp, the person who caught the now unconscious man whistled. It was Aqua, who looked at her in surprise.

"I didn't know my cute and meek Tsubasa could be this violent. He is out cold. Uck, why does he smell so bad?"

* * *

[First Person Point of View]

Tsubasa asked me why I was half dressed like Dio, as while I changed my outfit from the cosplay one, my white shirt and black pants still had a similar theme to Dio, that's why I still had gauntlets around my wrist. My hair too was kept spikey instead of in a ponytail.

Though all that curiosity didn't last long as she grabbed me by my hand and ran from the park; worried that the police would come and arrest her for assaulting that man, whom we put on the bench before leaving.

After running out of the park and stopping near an alley, Tsubasa grabbed her knees and huffed. Soon, she began to crackle up. She found this enjoyable somehow- well, honestly it was fun seeing her act like this. I laughed a bit too, but it's up to me to take responsibility for this.

"Sorry for being late, the shoot was longer than usual since it won't air live, the episode will come out in the evening. So they had us record a lot of content that the editors will pick from."

"It's fine." Tsubasa stopped laughing and shrugged it off. "You already told me you might be late. I would have appreciated a text though…"

"Yes, so it's not fine, it's my fault." I said. She waited two hours for me, which was not at all fine for our first date. "We laughed off this situation, but this could have been bad if you hit him harder. You could have killed him, and that all would have been my fault."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're being too considerate; don't you think? When usually you barely care. What's gotten into you?"

"..."

A few seconds of silence passed until I put my hands on her waist and pulled her closer to me. She gasped, a blush spreading on her cheeks, as I looked into her eyes.

"Well, I'm trying to change the thing that's between us. It would be unusual if I didn't put effort into it." She stared at my eyes for a few seconds, before gulping and looking away.

"...."

"Ask me anything, I'll do it. That will be my compensation for being late."

Her expression shifted slightly at the word 'anything'. Soon, she parted her lips to say something, but I could feel that her answer would be nothing. Before she could speak, however, a burst of speed blitzed past us.

– Vhoom!

"Kya!"

I would have been surprised if I didn't see it coming, it was a motorbike. Since it came from the direction behind Tsubasa however, she didn't see it and screamed, hugging me tightly all of a sudden.

I hugged her back and looked at the way the motorbike went. 

A moment later, Tsubasa cleared her throat and spoke her mind. "Will you take me on a bike ride?"

Oh. A bike, huh? I didn't think she'd ever ask that. Thanks, Bike God, or whoever that was.

…..

I could give her a bike ride. But I didn't have a motorcycle. What a dilemma. In the end, I had no choice but to make a call to my sugar.

"Mama," I said to the phone just when the call was picked up. Ai, who was about to say hello, gasped from the other side.

"A-aqua? Is that you?"

"Yes, mama."

"..." There was silence from the other side while I stared face to face with Tsubasa, who too was shocked like Ai. "Did you actually hit your head or something? In the morning too you were acting weird…"

I called her just mom or mother, it's Ruby who calls her sweet and clingy 'Mama'. So naturally, she was surprised and soft all of a sudden. I decided to strike.

"Can I spend ¥30,000,000 from the card?"

["Oh…"] She said as if suddenly the world made sense. ["So that's what's up. That's weird, you don't usually spend on anything. What do you want that much money for?"]

"I want to buy something,"

["Duh. But what is it?"]

"You'll see what when I return home in the evening,"

["In the evening, why? Isn't your shooting done? Aqua, what are you up to? Are you doing drugs? Tell me truthfully if you are."]

Tsubasa was panicking from the moment I spelled out the amount of money I wanted. It was roughly 20 thousand dollars, and that was a lot of money. She may be from a rich family now, but she was an orphan before, money held value to her. She didn't expect me to want to buy a bike like that out of the blue, she probably wanted to rent one for a few hours when she said she wanted to go ride. Of course, I was not cheap like that. Who would take a girl on a ride in rented vehicles? Not me.

However, Tsubasa's panicking expression was shattered as she failed to hold back a laugh, leaking a "Pft!" at Ai's words.

["Oh, are you with someone? Aha-! I see, I get it! Could it be that you are with a girl and want to spend money to impress her? Ugh, kids these days… They don't get that love can't be bought with money. Sigh." She went silent and soon spoke in an oddly happy voice. "Alright, make sure to not do drugs or anything dangerous. And when you return you will show me where you spent that money. And don't forget to use protection. I mean helmet. Byebye~"]

The call cut and I put the phone away. Tsubasa, looking flustered at the second last line, finally let out the scream she's been holding. 

"Hey! That's too expensive! What kind of luxurious bike are you going to buy?! At this rate, I don't want to go on a bike ride! Ah, you know what, let's do a usual date, movies and dinner and stuff! Come on!"

…Half an hour later, Tsubasa screamed at the top of her lungs as my Harley-Davidson Breakout broke through the streets of Tokyo and into the highway.

* * *

The wind bounced against my face as I practically flew through the almost empty highway. I could feel the power of the engine beneath me as I leaned into each turn. Behind me, Tsubasa sat with her arms tightly wrapped around me, her chest was pressing against my back.

I couldn't help but feel a sense of exhilaration as we sped down the road. Surely this wasn't the fastest I have moved in my entire lifetime, or even in this life, [Whirlwind Blink]'s teleportation was faster, but this had an odd sense of freedom to itself. The adrenaline was powerful.

What trill; this made me remember why I had missed the modern world so much in my last life. Riding the bike on an open road with a girl in the back seat, hugging me and screaming, telling me to stop even as she laughed, this was the modern romance that every man dreamt of.

"Hold still."

I said, and since neither of us wore helmets – a dangerous mistake for normal humans but not an issue for us superhuman – I hope she heard me. She must have, because she yelled what the hell was I planning now?

[Nimbus Stride] was what I planned, and the plan took off along with the bike as instead of the asphalt below the air became our road as we shot through the sky faster than before. I heard yells of surprise and horror from Tsubasa, mixed with the screams from the few cars that were in the street below.

When the terror passed, laughter filled the air along with the engine's road.

"Ahaha, what is this?! We are flying!"

We were indeed flying, and we did that for half an hour until I decided to drop in a village area. I had no idea where we were in Japan right now, but thankfully Google Maps still existed. It was a beautiful village near a forest, so we stopped and took some pictures. And even Hanekawa came to take a photo, half-possessed; that one was good.

[Image Here]

I swear, that woman has such an alluring aura around her. Is that a modern world slut thing?

When we left the village, we decided not to fly home. Because one of the cars that were on the road back then, recorded us flying. The internet naturally didn't believe it and called it an edit, but flying again and getting recorded by some passerby might change that. I didn't exactly mind, because it was one of my big goals to reveal the existence of the supernatural to the entire world, but I wouldn't focus on that today as I didn't want to be interrupted on my date.

In fact, returning by the road was more enjoyable. We went at an enjoyable pace, from the furthest of Chiba back to Tokyo. Maps said it would take us the entire day to return, and I was fine with it. That was for the better, anyway. 

The scenery was lovely and the air was fantastic as we took a few stops for meals in roadside restaurants.

After crossing the super-long Nakajima Bridge that connected Chiba with Tokyo, we soon passed by the Daikanransha area, which had the tallest Ferris Wheel in Tokyo. We were passing by it at an enjoyable pace, as the sun was beginning to sun, when I noticed Tsubasa's head turned to the left, eyes locked on the tall Ferris Wheel.

"Hm? Wanna go there?"

"Erm… It's late, we should probably just return home now."

"That's not a no."

I said as the bike turned around and headed to the wheel. I suppose that's a good place to conclude the date at.

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