S-Rank Heart

Chapter 11 - A Date With Andrea

Noemi put on some semi-professional clothes and headed out to the guild. She asked the staff at the front desk if she could speak to Andrea. They asked Andrea, and Andrea approved, unsurprisingly.

Noemi stepped into Andrea's office and took the seat in front of Andrea's desk.

"It's rare for you to come into the office," Andrea said, setting aside the papers she'd been working on. "What's up?"

Noemi swallowed. "I was just wondering if you had any free time in the next few days."

"For you, I'm always free," Andrea said, beaming. "Why do you ask?"

"Would you like to go somewhere? As like, uh, a trial date or something, I guess."

Andrea stared at Noemi for several seconds, blinking. She picked up her phone and dialed a number. "Hello. Yes. Please cancel all my appointments tomorrow that can be cancelled. Any that can't, assign to Maria." Andrea hung up. "I'm free. Did you have anything in mind?"

Noemi glanced between Andrea and the phone. "Wait, is that really okay?"

Andrea smirked. "S-Ranks can get away with a lot."

"It feels a little cruel to make Maria do your work while we go on a date."

"I'm sure she'd be fine with it."

Noemi recalled what Maria had said earlier that morning. "Well, maybe. Anyway, I want to learn more about you, so I'd prefer if you picked the location."

"Hmm, let me think a bit." Andrea leaned back in her chair, folding one leg over the other, crossing her arms. "It's hard to think of anything I want to do more than take you home."

"You can bring me back to your place after," Noemi said.

Andrea's eyes widened. "What, really?"

Noemi nodded, then smiled. "So, think of something you want to do before that."

Andrea's mind raced. "Do you... no, that won't work, hm. How about — wait, no..."

Noemi was quite amused by Andrea's struggles. "You don't have to decide right now, you can text me later when you think of something."

"Are you comfortable with singing?"

Noemi considered it. "If it's just us, and nobody else can hear."

Andrea leaned forward and folded her arms on the desk. "How would you feel about going to an empty karaoke bar?"

Noemi raised her hands. "You don't have to go that far."

"I own such a bar, sort of," Andrea said. "It's not public, so it's no trouble."

"Then, I guess it's okay."

"Great." Andrea beamed. "Meet me at my place around three tomorrow?"

Noemi nodded. "Sure, I'll be there."

"I'm looking forward to it."

A day passed. Noemi took a taxi over to Andrea's house, wearing one of the dresses Maria helped her pick out. It went down past her knees, so even though she didn't wear dresses often, it didn't feel too revealing. She wore a light coat over it and pantyhose under it.

Andrea lived in a rather large house, which Noemi should have expected. Looking at it from the outside, it had two stories and at least a dozen rooms. The spacious yard had a few large trees and several flower bushes that had finished blooming months ago.

Noemi pressed the doorbell for a couple seconds and waited. Andrea opened the door, wearing a black vest over a white button-up shirt. "Ah, Noemi! Come in, come in."