Shopping trip.

-10 months before the entrance exam-

"Is this necessary?"

Ayato could only ask, on the verge of whining as Rin dragged her along the road. His red-haired torturer turned her head to look at him with a smile. Ayato thought that she was making fun of his pain.

"You only wear black clothes, your wardrobe only contains two sets of black clothes for each season and a school uniform."

The young dragon shut his mouth at that, he did need... more variety in his choice of clothing... But he could order it online, couldn't he?

"You know, I never thought that I would be dragged to a date."

The absent-minded -not really- comment made Rin pause, he stood there with an impassive face, suppressing a smirk.

The girl leading him turned around, face rivaling her heir in color, and started spluttering.

Smirking at the girl who has been a constant friend for most of his second life, he intertwined their fingers and moved to her side.

"Kay, let's go."

The rest of the way, Rin remained silent as they walked, head tilted down to hide her blush.

Now, Ayato wasn't some dense anime character and noticed her avoiding his eyes like a plague.

Smirking at her embarrassed face, he leaned down to her ear.

"You want to get some coffee?"

Rin, being caught off guard by the whisper, she let out a startled "eep" and jumped away. This action resulted in him following suit due to their hands still being intertwined.

Smirk growing, he raises an eyebrow at her while letting out a low chuckle.

She pouted some more and let out a huff, turning her head away to the other side.

"So... Do you wa-"

"Yes!"

___

Sipping coffee with a straw, Ayato stared at rin. keeping his gaze locked with her, they both took another sip.

Ayato stared.

Rin returned the stare.

Ayato's stare intensified.

Rin blinked.

"Ha, I win."

She clicked her tongue and leaned back on the chair.

"Not fair, your quirk is letting you do that."

No, no it didn't. But she didn't need to know that.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night. Anyway, shouldn't we be using our time more productively?"

She rose a curious eyebrow at his words, taking another sip from her drink.

"What do you mean?"

Ayato had to suppress an eye roll, she wasn't innocent enough to pull that off.

"Shouldn't you be studying and I be training?"

Shrugging she took out her phone, read something, held out her cup, and snapped a picture of it.... and him.

Ayato raised an eyebrow in a silent question, she wasn't obsessed with social media, though she did have a lot of followers, and she usually posted every so often, so a sudden picture snap was weird.

"Mom wanted to know where I ran off to."

Ah...

You know, it's weird, whenever he suddenly disappeared, his parents didn't text him like that, they would usually ask after he got home.

What would happen if he didn't?

A sudden shiver ran up his spine at that question, his parents and grandparents used to be pro heros, Underground heroes, compared to them, his skills may be naturally powerful but they had more experience.

"Just because im going in the general course doesn't mean that I don't want to train, I need to keep in shape."

Half a year ago, she decided that she wanted to own a cafe, it was so sudden that Ayato just stared at her for a second, but his normal response kicked in and he shrugged.

"Hmm...-"

He took a sip from the almost empty cup and threw it away when it was empty.

"-You know what? Why don't we move into an apartment closer to UA?"

She stared at him for a second before gaining a glint in her eye that told him that she was about to do something to embarrass him.

"You're suggesting that we move in together?

At least confess to me first."

Too bad he had thick skin, being immune to her teasing was quite handy in times like these. Now...

"Yeah, I should, shouldn't I? Just waiting until I get in a situation where my life is at risk to realize that waiting is not the best idea, then I will come to find you, still bleeding from the fight, hug you like your my lifeline and confess my feelings right then and there."

Ayato, through sheer willpower, kept his face serious while finishing his speech and watching Rin's face grow redder and redder until she couldn't take it anymore and slammed her head down on the table.

"How do you keep doing this?"

He just snickered at another loss in her record.

He was unbeatable in this teasing game, even his mother couldn't embarrass him, And if a mother, who has all the embarrassing information about you can't manage to embarrass you, then your resistance is too high.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated and he reached into his pocket, taking out the said device to see who texted him...

It was the the company that he had a contract with, they wanted to know if I could provide two chapters since the school break was coming soon, the pay would be doubled, naturally.

Blinking for a second, he thinned his lips and sent a confirmation.

"Who's that?"

Looking up from the screen, Ayato saw Rin throwing away her cup in the trash.

"Oh, it's just a question about a manga from the company I have a contract with."

Rin blinked at him, Ayato blinked at her... Then it hit him, he forgot to tell her he was the "Author" of Attack on titan.

"Ah, well, you do have a talent for drawing, what's the manga called?"

-Three Hours later-

"..."

Rin was silent, scrolling through the first few chapters of Attack on titan. After they were done shopping, and by that, it meant Ayato had to drag her back home after buying seven sets of clothing, she took out her phone and looked up the manga.

Ayato was busy making something for them to eat since their parents decided that they had to have a day off to "Catch up". they were neighbors, there was no need to catch up. They just went to a spa.

"So... The ship is Eren and Mikasa, Right?"

Oh, you poor fool.