Rogue

Chapter 18

It was Friday night and Izumi Kohei was sweating bullets. He tugged at the collar of his black button up, trying to return oxygen to his brain. He swears the neck was too tight and popped open the top button, revealing a but of his collarbone. In reality though, he was just nervous.

The doors to the Tachikawa Squad room opened, revealing the teen to the rest of his teammates, minus the blonde.

"Woah, what are you all dressed up for?" The captain walked over to his team's shooter, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Got a date or something?" Of course, Tachikawa was joking as always, but the younger boy puffed his chest out a bit.

"Yeah I do." Everyone deadpanned, shocked at the news. "I'm taking Akira out." Of course, the boy was taking the girl out because he really, really wanted to. He'd been wanting to since they fell asleep in her bed together for the first time. On the other hand, Tachikawa had some underhanded ideas going on. He was still set on doing his job, like always, and figured his teammate was too. He thought that Izumi was securing their relationship with the Neighbor to get the advantage on the Black Trigger.

"Way to go, Izumi!" Though they were on two completely different pages, they both seemed extremely proud of this moment. "Now, stop rubbing it in our faces and get on with it!" The blonde boy laughed, backing out of the room with his senpais smiling brightly at him―his older siblings. He'd only ever been the older sibling, so having others that filled that spot for him was refreshing.

The blonde had his hands shoved into his slacks' pockets, practically skipping all the way to Akira's bedroom. However, his nerves flooded his system once against as he knocked on the door. What if she decided not to go with him? Yes, she lost the bet, but he wouldn't force her to go with him if she really didn't want to.

Izumi was lost in thought when the door opened, revealing Akira in a tight, black dress that stopped a little above her knee. It was simple, but it hugged every curve just right. She looked nervous as well, tucking her hair behind her ear. She noticed how he stared at her without a word, making her nerves even worse.

"Do I look okay?" She looked down at the hem of her skirt as she continued to play with it. "You know what, let me change really quick―"

"No," he shouted. There was a minute silence as they both caught their breaths. "No, you look amazing." She finally met his eyes, a bright red hue on both of their faces. Izumi cleared his throat before extending his hand for her to take. "Shall we?" Akira nodded and gently let him guide her throughout Border, squeezing her hand in the elevator. The two walked out, quite a few eyes lingering on their figures due to their attire.

"Where are we going?" He looked down to his side, grinning at the blonde girl.

"It's a surprise~" Akira nodded and followed closely to a decently nice restaurant, following the male to a secluded back table with what appeared to be a grill. Her eyes suddenly lit up, her mouth watering just at the smell of the building.

"Yakiniku?!" Izumi chuckled and nodded, pulling out her seat for her. "Konami told me about this. I'm so excited!" The boy took his own seat across from her and took the menu to decide what they'd be eating.

"You haven't eaten a lot of meat here yet, have you?" 

"Well, if you consider Reiji's all-meat dinners, then yes." Izumi chuckled at her account, unaware of the living conditions within Tamakoma. "Back in Afto, meat is rare unless you're wealthy. We mostly rely on local crops. We're advanced, but heavily divided. A lot of the clans don't really like each other very much, so it's hard to move up in social classes."

"Weren't you more well off back home?" Izumi was referring to the fact that her father was a well-respected engineer and she was a prodigy. A woman suddenly came up for their order, interrupting their conversation. "Kainomi, Hire, and Tripe." After the woman left their table, he looked at Akira to answer the question he had asked before they were interrupted.