...
The two of us begin to walk around the city, nervousness rolling off me in waves.
"Where to first?" Koneko asks.
"Well, I figured we'd swing by the arcade. I haven't been there in years." I say, looking down at her as we walk. "You up for it?"
"Of course." She says simply, but I can see a competitive glint in her eyes.
After a short walk through the lively city, we arrive at the arcade. I look around at the machines for a moment, until I see it.
"Oh hell yeah, it's still here!" I say, happily.
"What is?" My short date asks.
"This." I say, pointing to an old arcade cabinet. "Guilty Gear! Me and my friend used to play this for hours and hours, I think I still remember how to play it."
She nods resolutely and moves over to the machine. Oh yeah, this'll be fun!
A few moments later, I absolutely lose. Both rounds, at that. "Okay, I haven't lost my touch as much I thought I would've, but you're really damn good at this." I say, slightly shocked at her skill.
"One hour of video games a day." She explains. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but oh well.
"Rematch?" I ask, she nods.
I lose again and again, and again, and again. "You done?" She asks.
"No, I wanna beat you, at least once. And don't let me win either." She nods and we play again. After a total of 10 losses, I get serious, putting in all of my focus... then I win.
Upon winning, I breathe out a loud sigh of relief. "Okay, that's enough of that. Wanna play something else? You can pick this time."
She looks around and eventually chooses the dance machine. "DDR? Never tried it. Let's give it a shot." I grin.
About a half and hour passes as I check my watch after playing DDR. We both are drenched in sweat, but don't mind it, as we both were just having too much fun. Noticing each other panting in exhaustion, be share a laugh. "Okay, one more thing." I say. "Then we'll go somewhere else." I walk over to the claw machine, bane of my existence.
"Claw machine? Seriously?" She asks.
"It's customary, and probably a bit cliche, for a guy to get a girl a present on a date, usually a stuffed animal of some sort." I gesture to all the stuffed animals in the machine. "So, I'm gonna win you one."
I try my hand at it. Looking around for a target, I spot it. A black cat plush. I activate the machine and go for it. The claw moves, and picks up the plush, to my surprise. It pulls towards me and releases it into the box. I stare wide eyed for a good minute or so. "That is the first time I have ever won this damn machine. I cannot believe it."
Koneko merely takes the plush out from the machine. She looks at it for a moment, inspecting every angle of it. Before holding it tightly to her chest. I stare, confused for a moment. She's holding onto it as though it might disappear... "Thank you, Issei." She says, after a second.
I merely smile at her. "You're welcome, Koneko. You hungry?" I ask. She nods, placing the plush in her purse. We both leave the arcade, side by side, and walk through the city once more.
—————
A little while later, we sit down in the small cafe, recently rebranded as a cat cafe, in a secluded part of the city. Seems like it was a good decision, as Koneko smiles when a cat rubs against her. She leans down and starts petting it.
I can't help but smile at the sight as well. "You like cats, too, huh?" She just nods at me and goes right back to petting the cat.
Eventually, she has to stop as we order some drinks and snacks. They arrive shortly after.
"Say..." I begin, drawing the short girl's attention from her snacks. "You mentioned you've got friends that go to Kuoh. Anyone I know?"
"Probably. They're really popular, for some reason." She says.
"Popular? Don't tell me you're friends with some of the 'Great Onee-sama's?" I ask.
The short girl nods in affirmation. "Yes, Rias and Akeno."
"Well, I wish them luck."
"Why?" She asks with a cute head tilt.
"I can't imagine how hellish it would be to be seen as an idol in school. Those girls have my sympathies." I take a sip of my tea. "Probably my praise, too. They don't let it show that it's annoying them or anything."
She lets out an agreeing hum. "Yuuto's like that too."
"You mean Kiba? The... what did they call him? The Prince of Kuoh? He's probably got it worse than them." She looks at me, silently asking a question. Sensing what it is, I answer "Because of the girl/boy ratio there, those girls are desperate, and he's handsome. It's a perfect storm, so to speak."
We go back to eating for a moment. "Do you have any friends there?" She asks.
"Well, I suppose there's Aika, but we're more classmates than anything." I take a sip of tea, and lean back. "Last real friend I had was my neighbor, Irina, and she moved to England when we were six. Since then, I've just kinda been a loner. Not by choice, mind you, it just... sorta happened."
That's a slight lie. I stayed alone because kids are annoying, though I can't say that to her.
"Maybe that's why I was so happy when you agreed to be my friend, even if it was overshadowed by the joy I felt when you agreed to this date." I admit.
"You were... happy?"
"Yeah." I say, embarrassingly. "When I first met you, I thought you were the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. Hell, I still have no idea why, but I just couldn't getcha off my mind. When Ojii-san told that story, I decided to just ask. And I'm... I'm really glad you said yes, this has been really fun."
"...Same here." She says, shyly, after a moment. She averts her eyes. "It's been fun. Never been on a date."
"Same, this is my first. Hell, I even scouted the city for places to visit yesterday." I say with an awkward chuckle.
We both continue to eat our snacks in mostly quietness. Soon, we depart for our final stop.
—————
"Where are we going now?" Koneko asks, as we walk through the city.
"I found this place yesterday evening, and I wanted to show it to ya." I explain, as we climb many sets of stairs, placed onto hills in the park. "There's a nice viewing area up ahead, that's our destination."
We continue to walk. We climb the final staircase. As we reach the top, Koneko stills for a moment, eyes wide, before she finished climbing the staircase. In front of us is a small platform with a railing, which she walks to and stares at the view in front of us.
The platform overlooks the city. The whole city, and it's at the right angle to see the sun set behind the various buildings. The world is illuminated in a soft, red-orange glow.
"I felt like it might've been a bit cliche, ending a date looking at a sunset, but... you've gotta admit that it's one helluva view." I say, looking at the view.
"...It's pretty." She mutters, causing me to just smile again.
My cheeks are starting to hurt from all the smiling I've done today.
We both stare out at the city, before I muster the courage to ask the small girl something. "Hey, Koneko?" I ask, looking down at her.
"Yes?" She asks, looking up at me.
"Would you... like to do this again sometime?" I feel my face heat up, nervousness and embarrassment flooding my body.
She thinks it over for a moment. "I... I'd like that." She admits, shyly.
I can practically feel the grin appear on my face. "I'm glad. You, uh... want me to walk you home?"
"Why?"
"Well, that's standard date stuff, right?" I ask, with a nervous chuckle. "Walk the girl home?"
"...Why not?" She says with a small smile.
The sun has nearly disappeared, but it's light is enough to illuminate our walk.
My body stiffens for a moment, as I feel something brush against my hand. Looking down, Koneko is looking away from me, as she's holding her left arm with her right. Almost like she's holding herself back.
Deciding to be bold, I move my right hand, and take her left in mine. Her body stiffens as she looks at me in surprise. I just awkwardly shrug, and motion my head forward. She nods, her face crimson with a blush, still visible, despite the sun's disappearance.
And so, we walk, hand in hand.
A perfect end to the date.
—————
We eventually arrive at a small apartment complex. The girl walks to the first door on the top floor, of the two floor building, and goes to unlock it.
"Well, uh..." I begin, not sure what to say. "I suppose I'll text you sometime."
"Yeah." She says, equally as nervous as I.
"I guess I'll... see you later."
"Yeah..." She moves into her apartment and begins to close the door, only to stop it to speak again. "Good night... b-b-boyfriend." She stutters out shyly.
My eyes widen in shock as my brain tries to comprehend that which she just said. "N-Night, g-girlfriend." I stutter out before I can form a proper response.
The small girl shuts her apartment's door, as I'm left standing there.
Emotions are whirling around in my body at thousands of miles an hour.
Soon, my brain starts working again, and I begin to walk home.
If anyone were to see me, I'm sure I'd have a stupid grin on my face.
I...
I have a girlfriend.
I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!
Huh, my brain must still be lagging.
—————
AN
Sorry about the wait, I started writing other stuff.
I've been listening to nothing but Guilty Gear OST for weeks now and have no idea if there actually are Guilty Gear arcade cabinets, though there probably are.
Also, I started a Blue Archive story and a one-shot. Go check them out if you have the time.
Edit: October 4, 2022: Made some changes.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next!