KOF School

Date

Everyone could see a visible glow on Chizuru's face as she came in for class. She was still professional as she taught them the day's lesson in Geography, but she was still very clearly in a good mood.
"Did your uncle do something nice for her?" Ryo asked Iori in a low voice when recess came.
Iori snorted. "Nah. She asked him out on a date tonight. Kagura-sensei must really be looking forward to it."
"She asked him out?" Kyo chuckled. "Wow, my dad was right. He is rusty in the romance department."
"Hey, the guy took ages to confess," Kay added. "That says a lot."
"Tell me about it," Iori sighed in agreement. "But don't talk like you're any better, Dash."
Kyo snickered and pointed at Iori in agreement. "He's right. Dash still hasn't confessed to Kula."
"I'm waiting for her to become more mature, idiot," Kay sighed. "She's still too childish to know anything. Also, please don't make this about me."
"So you can make fun of Yagami's uncle, then?" Kyo piped up. "Bad Dash!"
Kay just sighed. "Fine, I'm sorry."
Iori burst into laughter. "Didn't expect that, Kyo. But thanks."
Kyo just grinned and continued eating his fish burger, made with the fresh fish that Saisyu caught the day before, carefully boned and made into a patty. Shizuka was certainly good at that sort of thing, the effort she would put in preparing food.
Ryo brought mochi bits cooked in curry, which he seemed to slurp like noodles as he ate. He turned to look at what Kay was eating and was surprised to see him nibbling on nothing but beef jerky.
They still didn't know how he could function off that alone...

Kazuhiro started getting ready to leave for his date with Chizuru when the rest of the family showed up. He found it strange, how they had disappeared but suddenly materialised just as he was leaving.
"Going for your date?" Iori grinned.
"Yeah," Kazuhiro nodded.
Aiko grinned too. "You look nice, by the way, Uncle."
"Thanks," Kazuhiro smiled. "I save this outfit for good occasions."
Masaomi suddenly came up and placed his hands on Kazuhiro's shoulders, then started sniffing him.
"Niisan, what are you doing?" Kazuhiro gently pushed him off, surprised.
"Did you shower?" Masaomi asked, much to his children's amusement. "Because I don't want you to stink."
Kazuhiro groaned. "Niisan, seriously. Like I'd even sweat. It's winter!"
That seemed to have convinced Masaomi as he moved off.
"Guys, I'm already nervous, you're only making me feel worse," Kazuhiro sighed.
To his surprise, his family dispersed as quickly as they had appeared. Kazuhiro shook his head and grabbed his things before leaving through the garage, calling out to the rest that he was leaving while at it.
As soon as he disappeared, the rest reappeared in the living room.
"He's leaving," Iori said.
"Good," Masaomi said. "So we can get to work."
"We're following you to work?" Aiko said in surprise.
"No, I took the night off," Masaomi chuckled. "You don't expect me to actually go to work when there's something interesting going on, right?"
Iori looked at him. "Dad, are you planning to spy on Uncle?"
"Nah, not on your uncle," Masaomi chuckled, swatting his hand slightly. "I'm planning to spy on his date! Who's with me?"
"Dad, seriously," Aiko groaned. "Why?"
Masaomi crossed his arms as he looked at them. "Tell me you don't want to."
"You're right, we can't," Iori chuckled. "Aiko?"
Aiko grinned slowly. "Let's go."

Kazuhiro drove directly to Chizuru's house and found her waiting outside, with her grinning sister peering through the gate. Maki waved at him and urged for her sister to get into the car. Chizuru chuckled and waved at her before getting in beside Kazuhiro.
"Hi," Chizuru greeted with a smile.
"You look nice," Kazuhiro greeted back. "By the way, your sister looks almost as excited as my folks back at home."
Chizuru sighed. "Tell me about it. Your people too?"
"Yep," Kazuhiro sighed as he pulled into the main road. "They practically ambushed me just as I was about to leave. And they seemed to have come out of nowhere too."
"Same with my sister," Chizuru shrugged. "But hey, they're just happy for us."
Kazuhiro couldn't help but agree with her. "They are. Anyway, you wanna grab dinner first or do you wanna go for the movie first?"
"Oh, yeah, you booked a movie," Chizuru nodded to herself at the reminder. "We should grab dinner first, then. The movie would finish late, wouldn't it?"
"It would. Yeah, we should eat something."
Chizuru smiled. "There's this nice shop in the Lower Ground floor."
Kazuhiro frowned slightly when remembering the conversation he had with his family that night. "They... they don't happen to serve alcohol... do they?"
"Oh, I'm not sure," Chizuru quickly said. "I don't drink, so I never really paid attention to that detail."
Kazuhiro sighed in relief. "Good. I don't drink too. I'm just... tired of seeing all those drunkards at the bar I work at. I'm planning to move to a Live House soon. Seems a lot more chill."
"You sure it isn't the same there?" Chizuru chuckled.
"You're right, it is," Kazuhiro sighed. "But there, people come for the music and not the drinks, so there would be a better audience, I think."
Chizuru adjusted herself on the seat. "You know, I've never actually seen you in action before. What instrument do you play again?"
"The saxophone," Kazuhiro said as he drove. "You've seen Aiko, taught her everything she knows."
"She must really take after you, then," Chizuru smiled. "I don't know what it is, but live music, doesn't matter if the song is good, there's just something about it that gives me... goosebumps." She smirked as she looked at him. "Especially saxophone music."
That made Kazuhiro blush slightly. "Maybe... maybe you can come see me at work some time. They have a non-alcoholic bar as well, usually where I hang out between performances. You should come, it would be a blast hanging out with you."
Chizuru smiled. "I just might."

The Yagamis strode into the mall, trying to find where Kazuhiro and Chizuru were off to. The couple had a pretty good head start since it took them some time to get a taxi. The only reason they caught up was Masaomi knowing where Chizuru lived. What made it harder to find them was the fact that Kazuhiro's car made a beeline straight for the basement parking lot while these guys had to be dropped off in the ground floor lobby.
"Where do you think they are?" Iori asked.
"I don't know, but something tells me that we would see them if we... go down," Masaomi said, pointing to the escalator. "Let's go to the lower ground floor. They might show up there."
Aiko nodded. "Yeah, they might. And they might even see us." She gulped. "Oh gosh, they might see us..."
"And that might get us caught," Iori added. "Dad, why didn't we think of this?"
Masaomi was at a loss. "Uh..." was all he could say as he scanned the area for an idea. That's when he spotted a shop that sold wigs. "There! We're getting wigs!"
"Won't they be expensive?" Aiko sighed.
"Nah, that's a costume shop," Iori chuckled. "Dad, you want us to walk around in... Anime hair?"
Masaomi snorted. "Look around you, Iori."
He did, and a lot of people had either dyed hair or was in full-on cosplay. Iori figured there must either be a convention somewhere in the building tonight, or there were just a lot of otakus around. Either way, he shrugged and followed his father to the shop. It was starting to look like a bad idea, but it's not like they wanted to admit it.
"Dad, I feel like we shouldn't spy on them," Aiko suddenly said while they were walking among rather flamboyant wigs. "Like... Uncle's already pretty stressed about the date. Wouldn't it make it worse if we show up?"
"She's got a point," Iori shrugged as he pointed a hand at her.
"Yeah, but we can't just go back," Masaomi groaned. "We paid a taxi here! We should make it worth."
Aiko casually lured them out of the shop. "Then how about... we hang around as well? I mean, this is a mall. Maybe we can go shopping, have dinner—I'm starving, by the way— or we can go to the arcade?"
Iori nodded as he turned back to his father. "Yeah, that sounds like more fun."
Masaomi sighed. "Well, I guess you're right. It's better to just leave those two alone."