Double Date~

It was Saturday, and it only took an hour after I awaken for this maniac to arrive at our house, at least he didn't storm in before breakfast per his usual habit.

Yet rather than bothering me about the incoming double date and its details, it seemed like something else caught his attention, and made him uneasy.

"Is something bothering Kazutora? He's been acting strangely suspicious those past few days..." I guess since they had been meeting religiously, for those past few months, and Keisuke had a keen eye for people, it was no surprise why he caught on so quickly.

"So you noticed too." I let him know that I was aware of the sudden changes in my brother's behavior.

"Listen... I tried to speak with him, to get to the bottom of this, but he is refusing to open up about his troubles... how about you ask him what bit his ass? Considering you two are more familiar with each other?" Keisuke agreed, but only after we came back from the date. I guess he didn't want the negative spirit to tag along.

"Great... Yet there is something else that worries me entirely, Tora has been telling me to stay away from Mikey, nowadays even more so than before. It feels like he expects Mikey to hurt me in so way, do you have any clue what that is about?" Keisuke just bit his lip, maybe he didn't want to share his and Tora's dark past. Too bad for him I only questioned him because I wanted him to realize how little I was supposed to know about my sibling's past.

"If you don't want to tell me you don't have to." Keisuke sighed in relief however he promised he would explain everything some other day.

A mission popped up in the notifications, Venus being so kind to tell me what it wanted me to do because I didn't care to read it myself.

"Would you rather ask Keisuke Baji what kind of outfit you should pick for the date or choose it yourself but change in front of him?" Wow, I felt bullied by the system.

"Instead you can help me pick out an outfit." He actually nodded his head, as I decided to narrow down his options to five.

He wanted me to wear a skirt, it seemed like.

"Thanks, I need to look good... for Senju."

"Hey! Are you going on a date with her or me?" What did he even expect me to say?

"Senju," I said in the bluntest voice, he was revolting against me, but I toned him down because I heard a message coming thru on the second phone.

"Why do you need another one?" He asked as I responded.

"For more professional matters," I said but why would a 13-year-old need a work phone? I read the message and found out Hanma had the jacket ready and wanted me to come during the evening, I quickly turned to Keisuke.

"Today we won't be able to hang out for the whole day..." He probably was expecting the same outcome during the last date.

"I have something to do, so please take this to wipe your tears with." I walked over to the bag that had the body pillow covers and handed him one.

"You really made them?" Keisuke asked unfolding it to have a closer look at the picture.

"Yep, as you see." He looked back at the bag.

"You have more?" I refused to answer, he probably would try to snatch the other ones as well.

"Who knows." I quickly picked the bag up and shoved it into my closet.

"Are you planning to give it to someone else?" I just started to push him thru the door.

"Look at the clock I should start preparing for the date." He refused to move before I gave him a definite answer.

"Or are you planning to peek at me... Pervert." He moved away but wasn't too happy about it.

Once we actually left to meet up with Senju and Chifuyu tho, his mood became better.

Whereas when Chifuyu spotted us holding hands, he couldn't stop talking about it.

"I knew you liked him, you're just too dense to realize it." He pissed me off so much that I just zoomed towards Senju and stole her from him.

"New rules, this is my date and yours is Keisuke." I hugged Senju as she returned the gesture, but she whispered asking me to not bully Chifuyu too much.

"But he started it... I can get chummy with my soft girl, and those muscle guys can figure it out on their own." Chifuyu tried to separate us but I was holding on for dear life.

"Was this your plan all along?" Chifuyu asked as I confidently nodded my head.

"So shall we move or do you plan to stand around here all day long?" Senju took the lead and I linked our arms together, we went to the subway station to use it as means of transportation to our destination. Keisuke and Chifuyu had no other choice but to tail us behind. This revenge felt so sweet.

Senju was telling me about her outfit, but then I noticed something in the corners of my eyes. Was this disgusting man groping a girl? Did he really think he would get away with this on my watch?

"Excuse me..." I interrupted Senju and didn't even hesitate to grab this man's arm and twist it in a weird way.

"You have a lot of nerve mister, she essentially looks like she could be your daughter." He was begging me to let him go. Considering his strength and endurance was shit, I was overpowering him easily.

"Shouldn't you apologize to her?" I kicked his legs to make him kneel on the ground and he was quick to beg for forgiveness.

"No don't direct it at me, but at the poor girl you groped." After that, we all went out the next station and turned the guy to the police.

We asked the girl if she wanted us to take her home, instead, she called someone she knew to pick her up.

Once she left Chifuyu yelled.

"You looked so awesome, taking care of this guy." Keisuke nodded and patted my head, I guess this wasn't so bad.

"I would probably just rush in and punch him, and later get in trouble," Chifuyu admitted, I was pleasantly surprised to find out they would step in such a situation. They never showcased such bravery in the manga.

"Well, it was a good thing I was there then, to take care of the matter." I linked my arm with Keisuke's having no need to get in between the love birds anymore.

So first things first we went to the movies, which seemed like one of the cheaper alternatives, thankfully Senju and Chifuyu weren't one to be cheesy, so they opted to go see an action-packed film. It must have been Senju's idea, which I loved. Romance I could only stomach in manga format or k-dramas.

I decided to buy some popcorn and share it with my supposed date.

"If I time it right, our hands won't touch," I said glancing at the package determined to make it work. Nevertheless, all my effort went to waste when a quest appeared.

'Would you rather kiss Keisuke Baji, or make your hands touch when reaching for popcorn together?' It was time to pick one of the lesser two evils. So opting for the second option I reached for the food item at the same time as he did. Our hands met, though unexpectedly I heard a chuckle coming from him. And our greasy hands were suddenly interlocked together. I sighed and whipped out a package of wet wipes and cleaned our hands.

"Who wants to hold a greasy hand, I can't believe you," I whispered.

When the movie was over we went over to a coffee shop, per my request. I bought an iced tea and offered to pay for others beverages as well.

"That movie was awesome." It was good to see Chifuyu in such good spirits. These two were discussing the movie so eagerly that I just sat back and watched them, which surely wasn't an invitation for Keisuke to wrap his hand around me. Oh well, I let him be. Until the topic suddenly changed.

"Can't you just date Keisuke, at least for a week?" I was ready to smack Chifuyu, couldn't he mind his own business for once?

"Stop acting as Keisuke's wingman, I swear to god, I will date someone else just out of spite from your constant nagging." Keisuke then decided to create more drama.

"I mean you were thinking about dating someone else, and it was not out of spite." The other two gasped but for different reasons.

"You cheated on Keisuke," Chifuyu said as I just kicked him under the table.

"Was it that guy that kissed you?!" And we suddenly became engulfed in awkward silence.

"Takeomi..." I was going to strangle this guy.

"Yea yea, him," I admitted, Keisuke got awfully close to me.

"He rejected you and then dared to kiss you?" I mean since that's the gist of what happened I just nodded my head.

"If he crosses my path I won't hesitate to smash his face in." Wow, he really seemed pumped to keep that promise.

"Do you still like that guy?" Keisuke asked when it was only the two of us.

"No," I answered, he seemed to not believe me.

"Listen I don't, so never bring that guy up again. He did something shitty, red flags aren't attractive Keisuke."

"I'm shook you got over him so fast." Well if he targets my family, why would I let him off the hook? But then an idea entered my mind.

"If you can't stop thinking about him, I give you a better topic. If you ever see some guys that proclaim themself to be my concubines, just ignore them." Keisuke sat there stunned.

"What is that supposed to mean Michi?"

"I refuse to elaborate... see now you have a whole new topic to theorize about." It was hilarious seeing him freaking out.

At some point, I left to prepare myself for the Valhalla meeting. I made sure to not be seen by Kazutora wearing insoles, whether I decided to put in the hair extensions in a public bathroom instead, with the mask.

"Great all set." Once my outfit was finished I walked to the meeting place. Naturally, Hanma had to be seen smoking again, but didn't he mention something about me being the only addiction he needed? Could I use that fact to make him smoke less and stop the others from smoking inside?

"Here's your jacket." Thankfully it was the right size, he didn't mess it up. I started a conversation with Hanma, leading him to my well-prepared trap. I lead him to blurt out things about me.

"So this girl is really entertaining, but claims she will never date me because I smoke." Perfect, this is where I wanted to arrive.

"Have you considered doing that?" I never thought I would manage to make him open up to me.

"Too much hassle." Was his response.

"I can always help you out if you want..." Please swallow the bait.

"And how would you go about it?" I thought about it, all I needed is forcing a no-smoking zone in this building.

"I can cheer you on and give you tips, but I won't promise great results, after all everything depends on your own determination." He smirked.

"Sure let's give it a try." Was my presence in itself really so motivating?

"Step one, no secondhand smoking. So let's prevent everyone from smoking in this building." He actually agreed, were the heavens on my side suddenly?

"Step two, first reduce the number of cigarettes per day." Wouldn't it be hard for him to cut it off suddenly? Wouldn't he get some kind of backlash from it?

"Step three, set realistic goals. Every day you make a new promise to yourself, that today you will reach for fewer cigarettes." It was hard to keep something long-term for most people, so we could do it in small steps.

"If you can keep the promise for today, and then the following day suddenly it will turn into a week and so on and so forth."

"Eh~ I didn't think you would put so much thought into helping me." Why was he suddenly gripping his chest while saying this? Was he perhaps moved that someone was worried for his health?