Chasing Dreams (Dropped)

Chapter 90: Burning Wills

"Have you been to any of the arcades in this area?"

Ren slowly shook his head, despite living in Vermillion City for awhile now he hadn't gotten the chance to explore the city much. For the most part the majority of Ren's free time was dedicated to training alongside Erica, or occasionally hanging out with Dustin and Suzume.

"Ah I see. That's a shame, there are a lot of good spots around here so if you are into stuff like this I would suggest checking out some of the other ones." Olivia said while walking down the hall "Besides...I've seen a few couples there, so it might be a nice place to take Suzume."

Ren thought about it for a moment before frowning. "Probably not."

Olivia raised a brow to this, to her Ren's response seemed a bit odd. "What? Why not, do you not like hanging out with her or something?"

Ren stared at her a bit dumbfounded "What? No no it's nothing like that. It's just..." Ren's voice dragged almost a bit reluctant to say anything. "Suzume prefers to go on more traditional dates..."

Olivia stopped in the middle of the hall before turning around fully to face Ren, only to meet his usual stupid grin. "Traditional dates? What the fuck does that mean?"

"Well you know, traditional." Ren muttered nervously, before rubbing the back of his head. "Well I guess they are more of the dates you'd see in movies!" Ren roughly explained "Like going to the beach, to the movies, mini golf..." Ren's voice grew increasingly flat as he went on "Restaurants..."

"...?" Olivia tilted her head "Why did you say it like that?"

"Say what?"

"Restaurant!" Olivia snapped "Do you not like going out to eat or something?"

Ren remained quiet for a moment, thinking over his words. There were very few ways he could say this without coming across as a total asshole. But the longer he thought about how he truly felt, the more dead his eyes looked.

"...Its not that." Ren's complexion began to pale "It's just that Suzume tends to..." Ren's confidence slowly began to dive "...she eats a lot."

"..." Olivia stared at Ren for a bit, seeing how depressed he became within a matter of seconds. "How much does she eat?" Olivia questioned "She isn't very big, so I can't imagine its much."

Ren's eyes became hollow as if he were staring at the face of death. Ren thought about it, vividly imagining one of their dates. How joyful Suzume was after every plate of food that she cleared. it didn't matter if it was bread sticks, steak, soup, or potatoes every single thing that the waiter brought Suzume gulped down in a series of seconds. By the end of the date Suzume had tasted every platter the restaurant had to offer, and still wanted dessert.

To this day Ren could remember how dry his wallet was, as if it had been coursing the hot sands of the Sahara desert.

"She ate so much that the chef told us to leave because they didn't have any more ingredients. I ended up blowing $800 that night."

It was a slow reaction but eventually a thin smile appeared on her face "Heh..."

"Hehehe..." Olivia gently covered her mouth trying to contain the soft cackle. But after a few seconds of attempting to suppress it, the hidden emotions grew too strong.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Olivia suddenly exploded in a fit of laughter, loud enough to echo throughout the small home.

Ren's mouth twitched, nothing about him being broke was funny. Of course he somewhat used to not having money, but he spent so much time saving that money only to spend it in a single night.