Kanojo no Sukeban

by Glee-chan

10. Date.

School life changed for Yuuki as soon as everyone figured out that Manatsu and him were going on a date on Friday. It wasn't speculation anymore, there was a conclusion the month's long drama. Manatsu wasn't too pleased with Yuuki on the Wednesday afternoon they had decided on the date, but on Thursday she changed her tune. It seemed both of them were going to go all out on trying to ruin each others social lives. The only problem for Manatsu was, she had already won.

Nodoka's approval was heart breaking before, but now that she was actively suggesting romantic date scenarios it was soul crushing. She was enjoying her role as the matchmaker. To her, she was finally getting her shy, sheltered friend a girlfriend, and that made her happy. She even started pulling Manatsu aside to talk to her about various things about Yuuki's personality, likes and dislikes. It was horrible.

Friday afternoon Manatsu's friend Megumi pulled him aside at the shoe locker. He wondered what all this was about, but saw she was struggling with whatever it was she was trying to say.

"I won't hurt Goto-san, if that's what you're going to say."

"Like you could. That's not what I wanted to say." Megumi breathed in, then resolved herself to just say whatever it was. "Thank you for… for setting me straight."

"What do you mean?"

"On that day when we were talking about Manatsu-san spending the night at your house, you told me I wasn't being a good friend." Megumi reminded him. "I realized you were right. I've been thinking about it all this time, and I see that I haven't been. So I'm going to change that about myself and I just wanted to thank you."

"Oh…well you're welcome, I guess." Yuuki scratched his nose, not sure what he could say about that.

"And… even though I just said all that about Manatsu-san, that she's my friend… I want to tell you to be careful." Megumi looked ashamed. "None of us really know her, but what we all do know is that she likes messing with people. I don't know if that's the case here but … just be careful, okay."

"Thanks." Yuuki smiled at her.

As he left the main building and headed out the school entrance, he saw Manatsu waiting for him. She looked curious to what he and Megumi were talking about, as she no doubt could see them talking, but to her credit she didn't ask. Yuuki knew it was killing her, so kept it secret.

"So where are we going?" Manatsu asked. "Do I need to change or anything?"

"It's just a first date." Yuuki told her. "I was just planning on going somewhere to eat, maybe hang out somewhere afterwards."

"Typical." Manatsu smirked. "But not boring. I think it would be more fun if we changed clothes and met somewhere."

"If you want." Yuuki shrugged. "Is there any place you want to go in particular?"

"Hmm." Manatsu thought about it. "There is this ramen shop…"

"Not the same one you were talking about when you breaking up with Piss-Pants?"

"No, not that one. That one was really cheap and near his house. That's why we went there. There is this other one that's by the Cinema. I really like that place."

"I know where that is." Yuuki could picture it in his mind. "Do you want to meet there in two hours?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Manatsu nodded, then her eyes focused on something behind Yuuki for a split second. Before he could turn around to see what it was, she grabbed his shoulders and gave him a quick kiss. "Well… until then! See ya!"

She ran off. Baffled, he almost wiped his mouth, but stopped himself. He was supposed to be dating her now. Turning around, he wanted to see what Manatsu was looking at that prompted the kiss. Surprisingly it was his little sister. Her cheeks were pink on seeing the sight. He stopped and allowed Tomoko to catch up, his brain furiously shouting obscenities about Manatsu.

"Is that the girl you're going out with today?" Tomoko asked.

Yuuki didn't see the need to lie to his sister about that, though he kept the Blackmailing game going on between the two to himself. "Yeah."

"She's a bit… well…"

"Yeah. She a delinquent." Yuuki reminded her. "She used to date that guy who pushed me around."

"Are you sure this is okay?"

"Not in the least." Yuuki laughed. "Probably the stupidest thing ever."

Yuuki returned home and changed out of his uniform into something casual. But Tomoko decided he wasn't dressed up nice enough, even though he told her it was a casual date. After she played dress-up for a while, Yuuki had to leave before he was late. As he left his house, he realized that maybe he should have tried to be late, just to rub Manatsu the wrong way. Suddenly felt bad for rushing Tomoko along.

He placed his hands in his pocket and walked slowly towards the bus stop. In the back of his mind he knew Manatsu was going to try to bleed him dry, in terms of money, so he took special precautions. He and his sister both had a separate allowance given. Since Yuuki didn't have a social life, his funds had built up and knew he was safe in that regard. He just hated wasting it on someone like Manatsu.

"Woah, you're showing up on time?"

Glancing to his side he saw Manatsu join him at the bus stop. He had to double take, as this was one of the rare times he saw her out of uniform. She was dressed pretty stylish, though not girly in the least. She had faded crimson colored denim pants, with a long-sleeved striped shirt that was black and white, and a light blue denim vest with a hat that mirrored the pants she was wearing. He had to admit that she looked cute.

"What?" Manatsu asked, bring his thoughts.

"Sorry, just admiring your outfit." Yuuki told her truthfully.

"You were?" Manatsu looked down, then suddenly looked shy, and not a put-on fake shy that he knew she could do. "Uh…thanks."

When the bus dropped them off in town square, Manatsu led him towards the ramen shop, even though he already knew where it was at. Because of the recent storm the town seemed to be mostly deserted, which also meant the ramen shop only had one other couple inside. Somehow it made it embarrassing.

"What did you sister think of me?" Manatsu asked, after they had ordered. "I saw her come along, and I recognized her from the pictures in your house. So I couldn't resist."

"She already knows about you." Yuuki was happy kill any illusions Manatsu had of shocking Tomoko. "She just didn't know what you looked like."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She was just shocked on how you look. When I told her about you, I guess she thought you'd be ugly because you were dating an asshole ape. You're obviously not so…"

Manatsu laughed. "Even the devoted sister thinks her loser bother can't land a pretty girl."

"What's that say about you, going out with such a loser guy?" Yuuki quickly fired back.

"Whatever." Manatsu conceded that tiff. "How do you like this hat?"

"It's nice." Yuuki told her, not sure why she'd care.

"Nodoka recommended it. She said you always had a thing with short haired girls wearing hats."

A low blow. "Yeah, she's right. You might want to watch yourself, I might not be able to stop myself and start a scene trying ravage you right here."

"Like you could." Manatsu smirked.

The ramen arrived shortly after this exchange and the two ate in relative silence. Aside from the slurping. Manatsu made no bones about making as much noise as possible as she sucked down the noodles. Yuuki wondered if she thought it'd embarrass him, but it didn't. So he did the opposite and was as quiet as possible, hoping that would get to her. Everything between them seemed to be a competition.

"Ah, I missed this place." Manatsu sat back once she had finished eating. "I used to come here with my sister."

"Why'd you stop?"

"She doesn't like to be seen with me anymore. Teenagers." Manatsu rolled her eyes.

"You're a teenager too, you know."

"Yeah yeah… but she's 14, which means she thinks she knows everything there is about the world. Along with that she hates her big sister for the time being. I know. I was like that with my older sister. I grew out of it though."

"My sister hasn't come to that stage yet." Yuuki pushed his ramen bowl away from him. He hoped Tomoko never would become like that.

"I'm sure it's different with everyone, but sooner or later your sister will get in that rebellious phase. Be careful."

"I love how a delinquent is telling me about rebellious phases."

"I'm not like that all the time. When I'm home, I'm nothing but a loving sister."

"Don't forget thunder storms."

Manatsu turned away, but it was clear she was genuinely blushing.

After a while she looked at her watch then sighed. Yuuki figured she was bored. Part of him didn't care, the other part wanted her to be pleased with the date. There was a duel thing at play. He wanted to succeed in the date just so that he had the satisfaction of doing well at it… but the other part didn't want to view Manatsu as a girl and wanted her to be miserable. He wasn't sure what part would win over. Again she checked her watched, and looked annoyed.

"What?" Yuuki couldn't take it anymore.

"Huh? What now?" Manatsu blinked.

"You're checking your watch."

"Oh…" Manatsu looked slightly shifty for just a split second, which told Yuuki whatever she was going to say now would be a lie. "I'm just bored is all. If your plan is for me to waste my time, mission accomplished."

Yuuki decided to bet on his intuition. "Well if you're bored we can go somewhere else or just go home."

"NO!" Manatsu said a bit too loudly.

Leaning back, Yuuki looked at her and laughed. "Okay, what did you plan that not's working out?"

Manatsu leaned against the table trying to look innocent. "Nothing."

"Okay." Yuuki smirked. "Let's go then."

"Alright." Manatsu agreed but was taking the slowest time possible getting ready and getting up.

In the meantime, Yuuki paid their bill and waited for her by the door. She slowly made her way towards him, but had no option now but to leave. As they walked toward the public square, Yuuki laughed a bit. Manatsu glanced at him, knowing full well what he was laughing about.

"Okay fine. You got me." Manatsu couldn't take it anymore. "Megumi-chan was supposed to show up and take pictures of us together."

"Why would you want pictures of that?" Yuuki raised an eyebrow.

"I was going to rub it in Odo-san's face."

Yuuki felt another kick in the stomach at that. Seems Megumi's warning was valid, but he was glad he got on her good side, albeit unknowingly. "Nodoka-chan's happy about us being a couple. So I don't care."

Manatsu scoffed. Yuuki found a bench and asked Manatsu to sit down. She did, and Yuuki sat next to her, pulling out his phone.

"What are you doing?"

"The next best thing." Yuuki placed his arm around Manatsu, then took a few pictures of them together. In all but one of the photos Manatsu looked less than pleased. He deleted those and kept the best out of the bunch then handed the phone to Manatsu. "You can send it if you want too."

"You don't think I will?"

"Nodoka-chan and I will never be couple. It's time for me to move on." Yuuki said, though inside he didn't believe a word he was saying. He really didn't want that picture going to her either. But right now, Yuuki wanted to beat Manatsu, and if Nodoka was going to get in the way of that, like she did before, he'd never win.

"Don't be stupid." Manatsu looked slightly angry and handed back the phone.

His heart pounding, Yuuki wrote out a text for the photo "Things seemed to be working out. Thank you for all the great advice." He set it up to send and showed Manatsu. She was looking down at it, then back at Yuuki, looking into his eyes, studying him.

"You won't do it."

Yuuki pressed send.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Manatsu looked at the conformation message appear that the message was sent.

"I guess I sent it…" Yuuki sighed heavily, then placed his phone in his pocket. Even though he was trying to be cocky, it still hurt him.

"Come here." Manatsu said to him, pulled him closer. She looked into his eyes, then pressed her lips gently into his and kissed him. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, and for a time the remained like that. When she pulled away, her trademark smirk returned. "You're fucking crazy, so I think you deserved that."