TRY AGAIN | Ken Sato | Ultraman Rising

7. I Wanted You To Stay

Hana's room was drenched in perfume and clothes spread out across every surface. She was currently holding up two tops up to her chest wondering which one she should pick. Meanwhile Kenji had been psyching himself up to leave his room.

Hana put on the last touches of makeup and Kenji popped a mint in his mouth, the two reaching out for their door knobs and somehow opening their doors at the same time.

The two froze up at the sight of one another. "Heyy.. you," Kenji smiled. "Hey," Hana replied, feeling a little bit more tense than usual.

They made their way to the ground level where Hana took in Emi's sleeping state. "Mina we got plenty of fish and pond de rings right?" Kenji asked, "Yes Ken, we're all stocked up," Mina replied.

"If she wakes up, put her show on please, let her dance her little heart out to her song" Hana smiled, walking back over to Kenji, "And if there's any trouble just ping me on this" Kenji added, motioning to his watch.

"Ken, Hana. Emi is safe. Now have a good time you two" Mina assured, watching on proudly at the pair who seemed to finally have worked things out.

"Bye Mina, we'll be back soon" Hana waved off.

...

"So where are we going?" Hana asked, taking the helmet Kenji handed to her. "It's a surprise," Kenji smiled, hopping on his motorcycle as she got on right behind him.

"Hold on tight" he said, flipping his helmet visor on. "Wait I'm not-" Hana was cut off with her own yelp as he suddenly drove off, her arms wrapping around his waist in reflex. She could hear him laughing. "You jerk," she said, trying to bite back her smile.

...

"We're here"

Hana pulled the helmet off her head, her mouth dropping when she saw the restaurant. "Oh my god no way, I haven't been here in ages" she bubbled, her obvious excitement putting a smile on Kenji's face as he casually brushed it off.

"I just thought it'd be nice and all since it's your favorite ramen restaurant." Although Kenji was acting nonchalant about the whole thing in reality he spent almost the whole night meticulously picking out which spot to take her.

The two entered the restaurant and took their seats near an empty booth in the back.

"You've been doing good this past year?" Kenji started, thanking the waiter who smiled at the two as he placed the two ramen bowls in front of them. "Yeah, skating's been going great, qualified for next year's Olympics," Hana said, getting right into eating.

"I heard about your win streak, impressive" he chuckled. "You heard about that? Last season was incredible" Hana's heart warmed in relishing in the memory of her victories, it felt so good to win.

"You know you were on everyone's mind last year, especially when you announced your move to the giants." She shook her head, "I remember you hating the team when we were younger."

Kenji shrugged his shoulders, "Thought it'd be a good change in pace.. It's not really going well right now but I'll get it together eventually." "You and me both" Hana sighed, the two wondering when their prayers would finally be answered.

They spent their time together chatting, it was pleasant and all too familiar. If you had asked Hana about a year ago if she would ever have a meal with Kenji and laugh about their past she would probably scream 'no' and curse out everyone in the room.

But the world never seems to want a peaceful story.

As if the universe had intended to intervene on the two mending their relationship, a group of guys passing by their booth stopped to get a double take as if not believing what they saw the first time around.

"No way that's Ken Sato and Hana Masahiro" one of them muttered, loud enough for the two to hear. Kenji was the first one to direct his attention over to the group and smiled at them as they approached.

"Really sorry to interrupt but we were wondering if we could get a photo with the two of you" a guy nervously spoke, scratching the back of his head. Hana and Kenji shared a look before agreeing, how could they ever say no.

They got a waiter to take a picture of all of them, there were four guys and Kenji and Hana were in the middle. Once they took the photo the group thanked them but before leaving one of them asked a question, "Sorry if this is really intrusive but are you two back together?"

Hana's eyes widened. I mean no, they weren't technically back together but it would be obvious for them to start back up soon anyways. I mean it did make sense otherwise why would he ask her out to dinner or act the way he has the past few weeks. Right? Right..?

"No, we're just eating together.. casually" Kenji replied, not even skipping a beat.

Right. It meant nothing.

The guy thanked the two and nervously scampered off, noticing the awkward atmosphere he had left behind.

"Would've been bad if the media had caught on huh" he said casually and Hana couldn't help but get annoyed by the comment. Of course it was about the media, they were celebrities so it made sense. The annoyance came from a memory brought on by his comment.

"Yeah, it's always about the media," she said, her tone indifferent and Kenji could sense a change.

"Oh what is it now"

"What is it now??" she said, her eyebrows raised.

"Ok, I admit I could have worded that better"

"Oh you definitely could have"

Kenji sighed, "Let's not do this here Hana." She looked at him with agitation, "Then where will we have this talk? Because we have to talk about it at some point."

"Then go ahead, talk about it," he jeered. "This is how you act? After what you did?" She said, scoffing. "What I did? You were the one who broke up with me, over text" he said incredulously.

"Maybe if you came to see me when I left you that letter instead of going to that talk show and blatantly choosing your career over me, maybe we wouldn't have broken up" she spat, taking a deep breath in when she noticed he wasn't responding.

"..Letter?"

Kenji looked over at her with confusion laced in his voice and she couldn't help but falter until she noticed the beeping coming from his watch. She reached out for his wrist and brought it to her so she could see and she immediately gasped. He turned to look down as well and the sight of Emi walking out of the entrance of his house made him immediately panic.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," Hana panted, throwing her purse over her shoulder as she ran out of the booth, Kenji right next to her as he let down a few bills of cash on the table.

"I thought Mina said she was safe??" Hana fretted, her worry evident in her voice. "We'll get her back, come on" Kenji huffed, the two exiting the restaurant as they thanked the chef.

This was bad.