Tour

It was a Friday. Akihiko was hanging around the club hallway after school. He was relaxing there wondering if Minako would meet up with him. He wasn't sure if Minako would come because he didn't ask Minako about it. Also he didn't know if she has plans or simply forgot about him. But then again he was hiding from the girls. He wasn't sure that Minako would have seen him.

"Sanada-senpai?" Minako popped behind a corner of the wall. Akihiko jumped slightly. "Did I startle you?"

"U-uh, no. Hey, Minako-chan." Akihiko tried to keep calm.

"Hi, Sanada-senpai. Are you free now?" Minako tilted her head.

"Yeah, I am. Do you want to hang out?" Akihiko asked.

"Ah-huh. I was hoping you could give me the tour you were telling me about."

"Sure, let's go then." Akihiko walked with Minako and went to Paulownia Mall and checked out some of the shops there. Once they were hungry Akihiko decided that they should go to his favorite restaurant, the Beef Bowl shop. They went to Iwatodai Station and went to get some beef bowl. Akihiko, like always, got an extra large. He ended up ordering Minako an extra large as well. Even though Minako highly doubted that she would be able to finish it, miraculously she did.

"Urg, I'm so full. I thought I wouldn't be able to finish even half of it. But it was so good that I ended up eating more than I normally do." Minako slightly slouched on her chair, feeling lazy after eating so much.

"See, I told you it was good. The sauce goes extremely well with the beef. It's the ultimate combination on how sweet and savory the sauce is. We should go to Hakagure sometime. They have the best ramen in town." Akihiko watched Minako relax and started to laugh a bit because Minako had some rice on her cheek.

"What's so funny?" Minako tilted her head in confusion. Akihiko grabbed the rice off her cheek and ate it. Minako's face turned really red. After a few seconds, Akihiko just realized what he did and started turning red too.

"Oh, uh, s-sorry. I wasn't thinking of what I was doing." Akihiko stuttered a little and turned even redder.

"I-it's okay." Minako tried to calmly reply but failed. There was an awkward silence between the two of them. Once the waiter came up and gave them the bill. They finally started talking again. They decided to go to Port Island Station for the last part of Akihiko's tour. It was getting dark. So Akihiko just quickly showed where the movie theater was and the flower shop, Rafflesia.

"Sanada-senpai, we should go to the movies sometime." Minako was looking at Akihiko brightly. But because she was looking at Akihiko so ran into someone and nearly fell. "I'm sorry, are you okay?" Minako looked at the guy she ran into.

"Watch the fuck where you're going, bitch." A teen male started yelling at Minako. Akihiko recognized him as one of the guys that were part of the bad crowds from school.

"She apologized to you; there was no reason to yell at her. You should apologize for insulting her." Akihiko was angry that the male was being rude and unreasonable, especially towards Minako.

"What d'ya say?" The teen male responded.

"He's telling us what to do." The teen male's friend came up to the group and gave an annoyed look.

"Let's go, senpai." Minako tugged on Akihiko's sleeve. "Let's just leave them alone." Akihiko was hesitant but knew it was best to stay out of trouble. As they turned around to leave, the teen male grabbed Akihiko's shoulder and punched him on the face. "Senpai!" Minako yelled out.

"That's what you get for being so smug." The teen responded. The teen looked at Minako and was about to punch her but Akihiko shielded Minako.

"That's enough." Shinjiro walked towards the group. "There's no reason to have a fist fight here. They didn't know what shit they were getting themselves into. I'll deal with them. Now leave."

"Why should we leave? We're dealing this ourselves you bastard." The teen's friend tried to punch Shinjiro but Shinjiro dodged and head butted him. While the teen male tried to hit Akihiko again. But Akihiko grabbed his fist and jabbed the teen. After getting those injuries the two males ran off while cursing at them.

Akihiko turned towards Minako. "Hey, you okay?"

Minako nodded but she was slightly shaking. "Are you okay? You got hit on the face."

"Don't worry about it. I've had much worse." Akihiko tried to reassure her.

"Wait right here." Minako ran off.

Shinjiro looked at Akihiko and slapped him on the back of his head. "You idiot, what were you thinking picking a fight with them. You're the captain of the boxing team; you shouldn't use your fists outside of the ring. Look at you now." Shinjiro lectured Akihiko while Akihiko was holding his swollen cheek.

"They're the ones that picked the fight. If I didn't, they would have hit Minako-chan. Are you saying that would be a better idea?" Akihiko yelled back.

"Why would I think that, stupid? You're such a kid. You need to take care of yourself better. No wonder you're parents worry for you sometimes." Shinjiro huffed in annoyance that Akihiko didn't grow up one bit.

Minako came running back with a water bottle. She drenched her pink handkerchief with the water and ringed the excess water out. She put the handkerchief on Akihiko's cheek to cool it down. Akihiko winced a bit but the handkerchief made it feel better.

"You shouldn't have shielded me from their punch." Minako looked at Akihiko's cheek that was swollen.

"Don't worry, guys are meant to be sturdier. It's just a scratch." Akihiko tried to wave it off.

"It's not a scratch. It's really swollen badly now."

"If it's swollen badly, then it's better that I got hit instead of you. You're a girl after all. It would've been much worse if you got hit." Akihiko started holding the handkerchief instead of Minako.

"Don't worry about Aki, I punch him harder than those guys will ever will." Shinjiro jumped into the conversation. "Don't worry about him too much."

Minako slightly bowed towards Shinjiro. "Sorry that I didn't say this earlier, but thank you for helping us."

"I didn't do anything. Just, don't mess with those types of crowds." Shinjiro blushed and grabbed his beanie. He turned his head at Akihiko. "You should take her home. It's dark now. I'm going back home." Shinjiro walked away.

"Sheesh, I know that Shinji. You always treat me like a kid." Akihiko murmured to himself. "I'll take you home. Do you want to hold my hand? You're still shaking a little." Akihiko offered other hand to Minako to take. Minako nodded and grabbed his hand. They walked to the dorm in silence. Akihiko was holding Minako's handkerchief in one and Minako's hand in the other.

Once they got to the dorm. Akihiko spoke up, "sorry about today, it was a lousy ending of the tour. I hope that you'll still hang out with me."

"It wasn't your fault. I should thank you for protecting me, Sanada-senpai." Minako smiled. "And I would like to still hang out with you. I'll see you at school later. Night senpai."

"Night Minako-chan." Akihiko smiled back. Minako went inside the dorm only to be welcomed by her cousin.

"You're back late."

"Sorry I'm late Minato. I had an eventful day today. I'm going to my room and sleep. I'm really tired."

Minato nodded. Minako went upstairs and prepared for bed. She thought about what happened today. When she fell asleep, she had a dream that had a familiar feeling, like a memory. She dreamed about something about a tower, monsters, fighting, and power she had. She remembered calling out "persona" in her dream. And she wasn't alone, there were three other people with her with the same power. She couldn't see their faces but they feel important and familiar.

Author's Note: There's so much snow outside. Yesterday was a "Winter HORRORLAND". It snowed all day and night. And the roads were so bad. A drive that should only take 5 minutes ended up taking 30 minutes. =A=;; It was hard getting all the snow and ice off the car. Anyway good thing is, I'm alive! BTW I don't know if I can update next week. I have to study for finals (urg). I'm sorry, but I only have one final that worried about. The rest are fine because I'm sure that it's going to be easy. Oh and I also have to finish my project too. . ...So I'm sorry but you guys will have to wait for 2 weeks for the next chapter. Forgive me .

*sweatdrop* Ah dang it... I still need to make the pasta salad for dinner. Well I'll just quickly type all this up... I said I would make pasta salad today after all.

Deidara'sgirl19: Since this is the next life, I decided that Miki and Akihiko's parents should be alive. That's why I added her.

Jonaleepuff: Akihiko is so dense, I could see him grab Minako's hand without knowing it. haha XD I'm glad that you think this story as a lot of potential.

LilLaoRyo704: Haha Minato is protective about his cousin. Akihiko is so shy normally and normally doesn't know how to handle the other gender so well. Remember Yakushima? XD I'm sorry to tell you that you'll have to wait for 2 weeks for the next update. ;-; sorry. OTL ... (Oh and icon, I seriously love Sheryl and Alto together XD)

Ryurieri: I'm glad that you think the story is cute. But Akihiko's character is cute in general.

CrAzY-SiLLy-Me: Thanks again for the comment again. XD I'm glad that people are having a fun time reading my stories. I'll do my best to make it just as enjoyable! Although sorry that for the next chapter you'll have to wait for about 2 weeks. But don't worry, by the time that the one death final is over with, there's going to be a lot of ideas piled up in my head. The death final is the first final I have to get through with. All the other classes are fine when it comes to finals because they're classes that I haven't fallen asleep in.

fly7angel: Don't worry about the same comment thing. Even though it said the same thing, it still made me happy. These comments often make my day when I'm drained out of energy from classes and all this snow. *stares at outside* Glad that you look forward to my stories. It makes me happy to hear that hehe.