Chapter 37 – Date with Rena [1]

The next morning, Rai went to Alpha City with Rena, who dressed up rather strangely.

Miss Clown wore a crop top and tight long black jeans underneath black tech jacket similar to Rai's. Then she also wore a hat and tied her hair in a ponytail instead of her usual twin tail. A black mask and sunglasses completed her fashion.

In short, she looked like someone who tried to hide her appearance and changed her style.

"What are you wearing?" Rai asked with narrowed eyes, looking at Rena suspiciously.

"Nyahahaha, I wore this to hide my appearance! Look, I am cute, right? Many people would hit on me if I didn't wear something like this!"

"… You have high confidence; I can see that. But I doubt that would happen. Rather than trying to stay low, you look really suspicious now."

Rai observed Rena once again from the toe to the top of her hat. After making sure that what he said was correct, he nodded in affirmation.

"Yes, suspicious. Take off the mask and sunglasses. That will be enough for people not to recognize you."

"Eeh? You don't know how scary this city is! Those boys… Ugh, they are so persistent! They won't give up even when I kick their balls!" Rena complained and trembled in disgust. "Anyway, they are annoying, so don't tell me to take these off unless necessary!"

"Alright."

Rai didn't push his opinion as Rena strongly refused to take off these suspicious articles she wore. They stood out more this way, and many people glanced over them.

And her reason was too weak to be a reason. Both of them had no problem killing those troublemakers, she said. Rena should've noticed that, too, as her eyes began to wander around behind her sunglasses, hoping that Rai didn't notice it.

'Let's pretend that I don't notice it. She must've got a reason why she didn't want to take these off, even though they looked as suspicious as hell. It literally screams that she's either a famous person or an anonymous actress.'

Maybe that wasn't far off. Her real face and Miss Clown's identity as Extity's minion might already be spread, so she wore the disguise to keep herself from getting recognized, and the boys she talked about were Guardians.

'That's possible.' Rai thought as he looked at Rena, who mumbled about something.

She was in her own world, and they hadn't moved from the front of the decoy building where the teleportation point was located. They were in District 8 again, as this District was the most suitable for a date.

There was no sign of her recovering by herself, so Rai poked her cheek to get her attention.

"Hya!" Rena yelped cutely and held her cheek with her hand. She looked at him, confused.

Sighing tiredly, Rai asked, "Where are we going? You were the one who asked me out, and I know nothing yet except for the place I've been before."

Even if he read some books, it was true that his knowledge was still lacking compared to the other people, especially those who were active in Alpha City.

And from Miss Clown's story earlier, it was clear that she had visited District 8 and other places in Alpha City many times before. So he would leave the direction to her.

Besides, she was the one who asked him out. It was natural that she had a plan in mind, right?

"O-Oh, right. Un, I have all of it planned. I plan to stay out until night if you don't mind. Nyahahaha, Leader already said that you don't need to train today. Aren't you glad, Rai?"

"For that, I must thank you. Having a day's rest is great." He said in a sarcastic tone, thinking of a certain spirit.

'Ossa should be smiling happily now, planning something in secret. There is no way he would let me skip the training for just a simple date.' He thought.

The spirit who loved negative energy would definitely not be that kind to allow his protégé to do something so wasteful. Or maybe Ossa did allow Rai to rest and was worried about his condition.

'As if!' He scoffed. His expression fell, feeling strange just by having such a thought.

"Nyahahaha, that's great then!" Rena laughed, ignoring Rai's sarcasm. "First of all, how about we look for clothes? Don't worry. I have promised the Leader not to force you to wear anything you hate! I will just recommend something. You need them, right?"

Rai nodded. He did need clothes and was about to buy them. His fashion sense was also not the best, so having someone who understood them to help him choose was godsent.

"As long as you don't force me to wear girly clothes," Rai said as he began to walk toward the mall. But then, he stopped after he remembered that the mall had been destroyed three days ago and turned to Rena. "Where are we going, by the way?"

"Nya? Ah, were you about to walk to the mall? Nyahaha, the clothes there are bad." Rena approached Rai and took his hand. "Follow me. Let me show you my favorite store! Some good collections are coming in today, so I want to look at them!"

She pulled him and began to skip around. Rai, who was a bit surprised, just followed Rena's lead. They went in the other direction from the mall to the area that he had never visited before.

After walking some distance, Rai managed to match Rena's pace and make her release his hand. It was a bit uncomfortable for him, who had only had a few skinship with women before. He loved to touch them, but he didn't like to get touched without permission.

As they walked, Rai looked around the floating holograms filled with ads and the latest information about Alpha City. The most common ones were about Guardians and the danger area where criminals were spotted.

The hologram on the skyscraper near the decoy building showed a list of criminals last spotted in Alpha City. There were 5 people, and one stood up among them with a strange appearance and no robotic part.

'Charlie the Clown.' Rai thought as his gaze focused on the hologram.

At that moment, Rena suddenly stopped and said.

"I don't like him at all."

Rai also stopped, looking at her.

"What?"

"Charlie. I hate him." She added, still looking at the hologram. Due to the mask and sunglasses, her expression was hidden.

However, Rai was able to feel that something was amiss.

'Again.' He narrowed his eyes slightly and heaved a sigh.

It was not his business how Rena felt about herself or something. But he didn't like that kind of gloomy atmosphere she had around her. It made him feel strange.

"So what if you hate him?" He said with a bit of anger and impatience mixed in his tone. "What's important right now is our date. Let's go to the store and get the clothes. And if we somehow meet him, you can just kill him. That's easy."

Rena looked at Rai. Her eyes widened behind the sunglasses, surprised by his response. It was apparent since the start that he was special. His lack of knowledge about this city and about her 'infamous' secret was obvious.

That was why she liked him. He didn't act strangely around her.

'Such a strange person.' She thought as her lips curled up into a smile underneath the mask.

"Nyahahaha, you're right." She laughed and skipped forward, putting her hands behind her back. "If we meet him, we can just kill him! Nyahaha."

Her laughter rang in the middle of the city, gaining the other pedestrians' attention, especially since she said something like kill or something. But once the people noticed the criminal on the skyscrapers, they didn't think much about it because everyone hated those criminals and wanted them to die.

Running back toward where Rai was standing, Rena pulled his hand once again.

"The store is just right around the corner, Rai. Let's go!"

"Alright, alright. No need to pull me."

And so, they continued to walk. After a minute, they reached a four way intersection, the most crowded area in District 8, and arrived in front of the clothing store.

"We've arrived!" Rena exclaimed energetically.