Complicated relations pt.2

"Around 60 times, directly and indirectly, combined."

"And how many of them have you accepted?"

"Only eight of them." Ryota said as he looked at the awkward expression on Akane's face, "I think the longest that lasted was three weeks, so I don't know if I can even call them relationships. You must know how it is, after all, you're quite beautiful, to begin with."

"Me? beautiful?" Akane smiled shyly, "I have never been asked out before though."

"Really?" Ryota asked not quite believing her.

"I am serious since I have never been close with any boy before," Akane said seriously.

"I guess I'll trust you with that then," Ryota said seeing her cute serious expression as he chuckled a little, they began walking out of the school as Ryota asked, "But you must think it's really weird, right? Me dating many girls and rejecting a bunch of them as well."

"I don't think so, but it just makes me curious," Akane said.

"I am not a good guy as people think I am." Ryota said, "Even if I am in love, there would be plenty who would still be in love with me and I can't ignore all of their feelings, so sooner or later I'll slip out."

Ryota intentionally dramatized the whole thing, to make sure Akane understands what she is getting herself into and what kind of person he is. Though exaggerated, the thing isn't further from the truth as after all, even back in the past when he was truly in love there were many others who were still in love with him. No matter the temptation he never cheated and remained faithful, but the girl he loved became the target of the other girls' anger and jealousy and paid the price for being in love with someone like him. And in the end, even the girl too gave up on him though he did nothing but love her.

That's why Ryota hated the idea of a normal relationship, which ruined both friendship and love. So he preferred an open relationship where he wasn't tied to anyone and could love whoever he wanted to. And that's why he idolized harem relationship he saw in anime and mangas or like kings and their concubines, where everyone got to have their happy ending. With no one in pain and no one hurting one another for the sake of love.

Akane was a smart girl and she clearly understood what Ryota was trying to say to her but she just shook her head looking at him with a smile. "Ryota-kun, I think you just need someone who will love you with all their heart. So much so, that you'd never even think about looking at another girl."

Ryota gulped as even her words sounded sweet and her expression was still lovingly cute but the tone of her voice was what scared him a bit.

"I have been meaning to ask you Akane-san, have we met before?" Ryota asked trying to change the subject.

"Yes, we have." Akane nodded, "I know you don't remember about it as well but I want you to figure it out yourself."

Ryota stared at her intently for a while but he couldn't just point a finger on it. To be honest, he just randomly asked her the question because he was too nervous and just blabbered out the first thing that came to his mind, which was a basic pick up line. So he was a bit surprised seeing Akane's answer.

"Don't think too much about it." Akane said laughing seeing his expression, "After all, what really matters is the fact that we got to meet again. I just can't help but feel like it's destiny."

"Destiny, huh." Ryota said, "I have a really bad gut feeling that this destiny is going to bite me in the ass one day."

"Did you say something?"

"Nothing, I was just talking to myself."

"Ryota-kun, I have been wondering for a while but why are these people following you?" Akane asked looking cautious, "Do they need something from you?"

"People?" Ryota wondered as he looked around but couldn't really find anyone but then he remembered the agreement with his grandfather, "Oh don't worry they are here to protect me. But it's surprising how you can sense them when even I didn't know about them."

"I am kind of sensitive about these things." Akane said shaking her head as she showed a concerned expression, "Are you in some sort of trouble, Ryota-kun?"

"Well, it's a secret but I have a special family." Ryota said vaguely, "You'll know about it soon, so till then just ignore them will you."

Akane nodded not asking further questions. They soon separated mid-way as their houses were in different directions from that point onwards, but not before exchanging their numbers. Ryota skipped all the way to his home as today he was in the best mood he had been ever since his mother's passing.

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"Congratulations, you have succeeded," Michael said as he walked around Ryota who slowly opened his eyes feeling happy, as he got the whole clearing the head thing right within an hour of today's dream, "It's nothing to crow about but you still did good and it shows you have potentials. And here I was worried, Lucifer just dumped just any other soul on me for this mission."

Ryota coughed wondering what Michael would think if he ever found out that this was exactly what Lucifer did. Ryota soon found another advantage of having a clear mind and that was, Michael couldn't read his thoughts anymore, not unless he thought out loud.

"So let's begin our lesson for today." Michael said as he snapped his fingers and a sword appeared out of nowhere, "Show me everything you've learned so far."

"I am more of a Katana guy, you know," Ryota said as he grabbed the sword which to his surprise transformed into a katana. Not being bugged out about it for too long, he began showing him every little thing he had learned so far, even the quick-drawing technique he had been practicing since yesterday.

"Your movements are sloppy and you have a lot of openings." Michael commented after watching his swordplay, "The only thing you have to your advantage is your speed and strength, which you still don't know how to utilize well."

"You sure love to complain, don't you?" Ryota said as he compared Michael to a mother-in-law who always kept nagging at you and would always find a fault in everything you do, no matter how hard you worked on it.

"I am not done." Michael said, "I see that your fighting style is quite reckless containing different techniques, though I can understand why you picked it, after all, it matches your personality well."

"You think I am reckless?" Ryota asked not sure what to make of Michael's judgment on him.

"Not to the point of being suicidal about it but yes, you're quite reckless." Michael said, "Is there any other reason you picked this fighting style?"

"Well, to be honest, I have always loved the idea of being unpredictable in a fight." Ryota answered, "So I wanted to learn a freestyle fighting technique but that is hard to come by, so I started practicing an Yakuza-style of fighting which is the closest I'll get to the technique I want to learn. To give you a clear idea, I think the best example of it would be something like 'Champloo kendo"

"So you don't want to be tied by common disciplinary techniques." Michael said nodding, "Well you've chosen quite the difficult fighting technique but with your ability to copy it shouldn't be too hard, as long as you get used to the movements and fighting."

"It's called 'Perfect copy'," Ryota said as Michael clearly ignored him beginning their lesson.

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Author note:

Champloo Kendo is from Samurai Champloo, the sword style used by one of the main characters, Mugen.