Love between Cucumber and Peach (3)

So we managed to convince miss Chan to have a date with Tokio, along the way back toward the latter's house, Sakura had seemingly been in her thought.

"You know... I am not going to charge you for asking if that is your concern," I showed a toothy grin, my teeth were sparkling.

"Hehe, so you notice," Sakura spat her tongue.

"I am always watching beauty," I said, "then... what's the problem?"

Sakura didn't have any change in her expression upon hearing my flirt, she said, "I remember what you said before we arrived at Miss Chan's residence, a man or woman should not degrade themselves by promising that they will do anything for the people they like, isn't making Tokio change his behavior for the sake to court Chan kind of contradictory?"

"Which part is contradictory?" I nodded my head and smiled at the bypassing elder, which responded back with another smile.

"The 'do anything for the people they like'."

"So you think someone shouldn't do anything for the people they like?"

"Um..." Sakura immediately at lost.

"The keyword here is 'degrade', do you know what degrade mean?" I asked with a tone like a kind teacher asking his student, soothing.

"Lowering the quality of something?" Sakura said without a single pause, right, it's a common word after all. Still, you got to praise someone when they answer something correctly, especially if you wanted to get their attention.

"You are smart, Sakura," I smiled warmly, this time I saw a slight change in her expression, it's probably a shyness, it's a good start.

Then I continued, "When you do something for someone, or let's say you change for someone, as long as that act or that change turned him or her into a better person, isn't it called an upgrade instead of degrade? Do you know what upgrade mean?"

"Of course, the contrary of the lowering the quality."

"Again, smart," I lifted my chin and looked upward, said, "Do you remember what Tokio looked like when we first arrived?"

"Err..." Sakura seemed to hesitate to answer, although everyone clearly knew it already, he was pathetic.

"Don't we like to see the crybaby Tokio man up? Instead of bawling his eyes out just because a girl rejected him, he either moved on from her like a gentleman, or he sucked it up and firmly pursued her like a dedicated man. The reason why he liked that was because of his personality, and if for Miss Chan, he will abandon that and don a new personality, as long as it good for him and the other people around him, then he is might as well do it."

"But what if it doesn't good for him?"

"If doesn't good you mean it's causing him some discomfort, that's what other people always felt about changing, but slowly they get used to it; if you often ate meat and suddenly change to eat a vegetable, probably for diet, you will feel not comfortable, but you eventually will get used with the new habit, and new habit can develop a new personality."

"But if doesn't good you mean causing harm to himself and the people around him, then this change is a degrade, he might as well stop developing it further or it may lose him more than he gains."

Sakura suddenly stopped, she looked at the floor, long time quite in the silence, then she whispered, "Do you think...that boy's change... is a degrade?"

I looked at her for a while, then walked toward her front, she probably saw my feet were getting closer, but she didn't lift her head. Perhaps she was afraid of my answer, therefore she didn't dare to look at my face.

"Yes."

Sakura snapped her head upward in an instant, meanwhile, my hand was ready in the air, then I flicked her forehead.

Ping!

"Aw!" Sakura's head flung backward slightly, she looked at me with disbelieve as she covered the sore spot with both hands.

"So what if he is degraded? Don't the boy has the girl to bring him back?" I smiled afterward and turned around, continued walking toward Tokio's house.

The date was a lunch in a rather expensive restaurant, Tokio was rich anyway, it's not like he was going to lose anything. As for the topic he should have talked with Chan, although we had made preparation before, we worried Tokio might not be able to pull it off, so we helped him with earpiece transmission, lest we controlled the flow of the conversation.

"This date is going to be so lit!" Naruto fist-pumped the air, for someone who had no interest in this before, he surely the most excited between us.

"No, the date is going to fail," I said flatly, earning a dumbfounded expression from the rest of the three.

"But how do you know?" Naruto looked confused.

Sakura thought for a while, then she said, "Is it because Miss Chan has no interest in Tokio?"

"You remain to amuse me, isn't it Sakura?" I winked at the pink head, only now that she seemed a little blushing, then puffed her cheek, perhaps she thought I was bullying her.

"So, how come a simple reason like that enough to cause this date to fail?" Naruto crossed his arms, thought a lot.

"Sakura, do you think I am handsome?" I turned my face to look at her.

"Eh? W-where is this question coming from?" she showed an awkward gesture, receiving the stare from Naruto and Kakashi, she was even more flustered, she glared dagger at me first, blaming me for bullying her time to time.

"That... maybe," she said while scratching her cheek, her tone was quite low, but neither of us was common people here, so her mosquito voice was like a normal tone actually.

"Well, how can you answer with maybe, handsome or not, which is it?" I played rogue at the moment, it's quite fun to tease this girl.

"Fine, you are handsome!" Sakura placed her hands on her waist and looked at me as if she about to pummel me.

"Ok, let's say that Sasuke is out of the equation; if I am to ask you out, will you agree?"

"Sakura is going on a date with you?!" Naruto looked shocked and jealous, of course, he also had a feeling for her, but it kept only one-sided crush for our blondie here, poor dude.

"It's an example, Naruto," Kakashi quickly reminded him.

"Oh, thank goodness," Naruto took a deep sigh and patted his own chest.

"Well, Sakura, how is it?" I continued to ask the pink-head.

"If there is no Sasuke... I probably said yes..." she looked to the side, but sometimes would sneak a glance at me.

"That's because you got hooked at my first selling point, the physical appearance," I said. People might say that 'don't judge a person by their appearance', but the problem was, people would always judge you with your appearance, how you dress, your face, your figure, how you walk, how you speak, how you eat, people would judge you, so don't be naive.

"?" Naruto tilted his head.

"What Abe said, basically, Miss Chan doesn't find Tokio attractive so she wasn't interested in him," Kakashi explained.

"Well, isn't she a precious?" Naruto looked angry, then said, "I have seen her, I will not say she's even better than him."

"Regardless of how she viewed herself, it doesn't matter, if she didn't like Tokio, then no matter what topic he will bring into the conversation, she is unlikely to have the interest, even if she showed it, it just a pretense to show courtesy, she grows up in the noble environment after all, etiquette and mannerism has been ingrained into her bone," Kakashi said slowly, good he could explain it for me.

"Right, that's why we are going to make additional preparation..." I smirked, then looked at Naruto, said, "why do you say, the biggest prankster of Konohagakure? Shall we have a good time?"