Date...?

NATHANIEL SCAR

The mission ended way faster than usual, thanks to Solaris's massive blast sun attack. I immediately went to Eric's office to give him a report of the mission. There were piles of papers on his table and the floor. I expected to see some to be lying around, but this was more than usual.

"Looks like you will be busy!"

"Sorry! But, it's looked like we had to cancel the date we planned on!"

"It's alright! Work usually comes first, especially this type of work!"

He looked up at me, staring at me with his calm emerald green eyes. "You came back really quick?"

"Yeah, Solaris finished off the rest of the demon. It was noon after all. However, he was acting differently than before. He seems to be furious about something…"

"That's rare indeed! Well, maybe he found something in life?"

"Sounds like it…"

I decided to go to the training arena to sharpen my skills while waiting for Eric to finish up his workload. I met Hazel Ross, a fellow captain who was five years older than me, on the way there. We went to the training arena together.

"Man, this would be your second year as captain. I didn't expect such a slender and tiny man to be a strong forward captain!"

"Sorry for being tiny!" I angrily, annoyingly said

"Tiny but mighty!" She commented

Ever since I was young, I have always been short and it's tough to build up muscles. When I was 25, I had a height of 170 centimeters and light, slender muscular build. Many speculate whether I could be an exorcist, and here I am, becoming the youngest Weaponary Exorcist captain of a squad. Thinking back, that was also the first day I met Eric. He was a captain, and I was an exorcist he picked to be in his squad. Now that I thought about it, he never told me why he chose me.

At first glance, many would expect me to be weak and would avoid choosing me to be in their squad and a captain. After a couple of months later, Commander Night chose me to be a Captain for Squad 10. That was the moment when everyone realizes that appearance can be deceiving. As they often said, big things come in small packages.

Lately, due to the increased number of demons, every exorcist had been busy, including the Commanders. According to Commander Night, we would be expecting a large workload, and maybe the war would arise once more. Because of that, Eric and I rarely spent some time together. Thanks to work, we couldn't go on a date. Here, I was hoping we could at least talk for an hour or so.

"Nath! Nath! Earth to Nathaniel!"

I snapped from my thoughts. "Yes...what is it?"

"Jeez! Were you not listening to what I was saying?"

"No! What did you say?"

"Nevermind about it! How about we go head to head?"

I need to get my mind somewhere else, so I agreed to it. I specialize in using swords while Hazel specializes in archery-bow and arrow-making her a marksman, and I was a forward. It had been quite some time since I had to fight with someone other than a demon.

"Ready when you are!" I exclaimed. Without any hesitation, Hazel began to fire her silicone arrows. Just like I had expected, she would fire her at my legs. She knew that I rely mostly on my speed to make up for the lack of strength. I knew her trick and strategy. It seemed as though she hadn't changed her style for the past year.

I dodged her arrows, charging my way towards her. Hazel moved back, and back at the same time was firing her arrows. This fight would be more troublesome than I thought it would be. Just like how I recognized her technique, she knew mine as well.

Instead of slicing or dodging those arrows as I would do, I decided to use her attack against her. I reflected those arrows up and made her to the area where those arrows would land. That seemed to shock her as it was unusual for me to do. As she was focused on dodging her arrows, I swiftly closed in on her, placing my sword up to her throat.

"I surrender!” Hazel said raising her hands, “I was surprised! You normally wouldn't do something like reflecting the enemy's attack!"

“Change of style…”

SELENE

I figured either Solaris or Rainer had brought me to my room.. Since I woke up late, Rainer made breakfast for us.

"When would you be leaving? When will you come back home?"

"I would be leaving at the same time as usual. I might be able to come back earlier. What about you? What are you going to do for today?"

"Raiden had asked me to go out with him to a cafe!"

"D-d-date??!!"

Now that he said it, Raiden did ask me out like he was inviting me to go on a date. I didn't think he was interested in me. I felt that he just asked me to go with him as a friend rather than a date. I looked at Rainer. He seemed to be paralyzed, muttering the same word 'date' over and over again.

"Come on! You'll be late for your meeting! Joe will get angry!"

"I know, I know!"

"Jeez! At least wear your tie properly!"

As I was fixing his tie, I could feel his eyes looking at me with intensity.

"What's wrong?"

"No...it's nothing! Be careful when you go out! Then I'll be leaving!"

"See you later!"

I went to clean things up. After doing the laundry, cleaning the rooms, and watering the plants on the balcony, I went to take a shower and change clothes. Raiden and I agreed to meet at Kaya Station, which was the closest to Rainer's apartment. Today would be a hot day so today I would be wearing light clothes.

I wore an off-shoulder white blouse, denim blue shorts, and a brown leather crossbody bag. After making sure, the lights were off, and the stove was not on. I went to wear my white sneakers, grabbed my sunglasses, locked the door, and went to the Kaya Station. It was bright outside. I hadn't been out for a long time. It felt nice to be out!

Raiden was already waiting at the station. I saw several girls blushing and gossiping as they looked at him. I looked at the time. He came five minutes earlier. I had to admit he looked dashing in those clothes. He wore a white long-sleeve shirt where he unbuttoned the first three buttons, exposing his sexy collarbones. The shirt seemed to be a bit too big for him. He wore blue pants and white sneakers.

He styled his hair to a high ponytail. He was checking out his phone. I looked at him from head to toe, then looked at what I wore. Our shirts, pants, and shoes were in a similar shade and color. I sighed. Expecting that tomorrow there would be news about Raiden's secret girlfriend. For now, I would be keeping this sunglasses on.

I ran over to Raiden's side. He was surprised to see me early. As it was close to lunchtime, Raiden asked me if I would like to eat lunch first. I wouldn't mind as long as we went to the cafe today. We rode the train to go to central Hikari. As it was a weekday, there weren't many people except for some teenagers and kids.

I looked at the restaurant Raiden suggested we would eat lunch. It was a nice restaurant located in Hikari Mall, the largest Mall in the land. He wanted to take a stroll after eating. I agreed to it. Now it sounded more like a date.

"Aren't you going to take those sunglasses off?"

"No!"

"Why? It suits you, but it's weird for someone to wear sunglasses inside a train!"

"I didn't want anyone to recognize me as I am sure there would be pictures of us plastered around the internet! I'm sure I would know you as your' girlfriend'!"

"What makes you think that?"

"Take a look at what we're wearing! Matching outfits are trendy among couples, you know!"

"Do you not like being in the spotlight?"

"Not really...I would much like to avoid it as much as possible!"

Raiden was quiet and reassured me that everything would be fine. He would try to make sure that not a single picture of me was on the internet. I was grateful that he would go that far because I mentioned that I didn't like being in the spotlight. For some reason, I had a feeling that I would eventually be in the spotlight.

We eventually reached the infamous restaurant named Laponica. Raiden managed to get a private room. The moment I saw the menu, I was surprised to see how much the food cost. The prices were low enough for an average person to be able to afford.

"How was it?"

"It's delicious! I was surprised to have such delicious meals at a lower price than it should have been!"

"Laponica is well-known for its delicious food at a reasonable and low price, that is why many people go to that restaurant to eat! I would say their regulars come at least thrice a week. Some may even come every day. That is also how Laponica managed to earn a profit!"

"I see! Despite having reasonable and low prices, they could earn profits from their loyal customers who would come. If they have larger, broader loyal customers who would come at least thrice a week or so, then the total sales would be greater than their expenses, which results in a higher profit earned! The prices were reasonable as to ensure consumer loyalty!

If a consumer found a restaurant that makes food on the same level as a high-end restaurant at half the price, consumers with a tight budget would go to that restaurant more than the high-end one!"

I didn't even realize that I was talking out loud.

"You sure sound like an entrepreneur! Did Rainer teach you about how to run a business?"

"Well, sort of, I read through some of the business books he had!"

"Oh, I see!"

After eating lunch, we found ourselves in a theater. Raiden got us tickets to the earliest time of a movie. The cashier noticed Raiden and I were wearing matching clothes. She was surprised.

"Are you two..."

Before she could finish, Raiden put his finger in front of his lips, signaling her to keep quiet. She nodded. After handing us our tickets, we went to wait for a while before we entered the room. The movie was about the mystery novel I had read, so I was glued to the screen.

"They had changed this scene, more like they had improvised the scene!" I mumbled softly. I watched each scene closely, remembering each detail and how they found out the serial killer.

"Alright! Let's go to the cafe! We don't want to make Auntie wait for so long!" Raiden exclaimed. He grabbed onto my wrist, pulling me gently.