Disclaimer: I don't own To Love-Ru.

Chapter 21: ~Run_Reference~

Ever since knowing Rito is the Devilukean's princess's guardian, Ren has been extremely enthusiastic about competing with him through the entire afternoon. Rito had no choice but to go along with this challenge of the alien boy.

Every time the orange haired boy started to do something, he went and finished it in a hasty way before the boy could.

One time the elderly teacher Honekawa-sensei called out to Rito to help him bring a stack of books to the office. Before Rito could even stepped out from his seat, Ren quickly grabbed the whole stack on the table and dashed out of the room which made everyone in class looked at his back in amazement. Some were sweat dropped though, including Saruyama and Ito.

One time while Rito was carrying the dustbin to take out the trash, Ren yanked it from his grasp and ran ahead to the trash container behind school. Luckily, this time Rito was the one who had the upper hand since Ren accidently stumbled on his feet due to his thirst for winning got the better of him and the dustbin got thrown out from his hands. In the end, it was Rito who made it to the container before Ren. Ren hasn't given up though.

Another time when the two walked along the hallway, meaning Ren was following Rito obviously. They both saw a girl who was carrying a heavy stack of book walked down the stair, the girl steadily moved her trembling feet but the weight of those books didn't allow that as it pressed her down making her toddled like a child. Knowing the girl was about to fall down at any moment, Rito walked up the stair and offered a hand but was immediately interrupted by Ren as the alien boy shoved him aside and held the heavy stack for her.

"Here, let me help you."-Ren spoke with a gentle smile, making the student blushed.

The unreal sparkle special effect once again surrounded Ren and the female student, which made Rito looked at him with half-opened eyes and sweat dropped.

Various challenges happened between the two. The partial white haired boy even picked the smallest stuff to compete with Rito such as writing the lesson on the board, taking out the required book for the next lesson, etc.

Despite being forced to join in this so called manliness competition of Ren, Rito was just glad that nothing was broken or ruined during their rivalry.

Eventually, the battle between the two stopped when the school's bell rang at the end of the last lesson. As Lala stood up from her seat, readying to go home with the sibling, Ren quickly approached her with a victorious smile on his face.

"Lala-chan! What do you think? I have become manly, haven't I?"

Lala didn't reply back, instead she just blinked at him as if she was thinking about something else, something that Peke had told her back then when they were on the rooftop.

…..You should give him a chance, Lala-sama…

…..hm~, giving Ren-chan a chance….but what does Peke means by that?-she wondered.

The alien girl wasn't sure of what to think of Ren. Ren was one of her childhood friends and Lala was really happy when he came all the way to this planet to see her. Never before had she thought of him as someone more than just her closest friend.

But while watching the battle between him and Rito. Lala saw a side of Ren that she has never seen during their childhood and she found it different than what Ren always calls manliness.

"I don't really know."-and so she bluntly said."But if anything, I think you've become more interesting~."

Ren made a face like the world was on the brink of destruction after being hit with dozen of meteors, his eyes widen and his jaw dropped in pure shock. All the efforts, all the challenges he has competed with Rito to prove the manliness in him had went down the drain because of a simple word from Lala.

Why?

How could it be possible?

Was he still not manly enough?-were lied among the thoughts that are currently spinning around in the partial white haired boy's head. Disappointed, panicked, confusing soon filled all over his mind. Just what did he miss? How come Lala see him interesting but not manly?

Unable to come up with an answer to his own, a sense of dread hit him. Taking back a step, Ren's shaking hot pink eyes shifted to Rito who was watching him with an unreadable expression, unsure if it was a concerning one or not.

Does this mean he has lost to him?

…I don't understand…

He was clearly manly than him.

…I won most of the challenges…..

Ren bit his lip lightly as tear started on his eyes. He looked down on the ground, letting the bangs covered his face so no one could see it.

…don't...you're a man….Ren…you prepared for this, you don't want Lala-chan to see this weak side of yours. Something must have been wrong here, that's right! That's got to be it!

Resisting the urge to let out a single drop of tear. Ren looked up to Lala with a forced smile but he couldn't hide the fact that his eyes has become watery. Rito along with Saruyama and Ito all widened their eyes slightly at the sight. Lala didn't have a clue why Ren looked like that although she found it familiar since now he was almost like the nick-name that she gave him when they were young, cry-baby Ren-chan.

"La…..Lala-chan….."-Ren spoke softly, there was a hint of nervous in his tone."….w-what…..what do you think of me right now?"

"Hm~."-Lala placed a finger on her lip and answered thoughtfully with a bright smile."I think Ren-chan is a really good friend."

Well, she did giving some thought to his question…didn't she?

Ren immediately flew back comically as that statement struck him hard like being punched straight to the face.

This is….

…this is not what I work so hard for…

Ren shut tight both eyes, trying his best not to let out those "manly" tears streaming out. As if in desperate, Ren hurriedly grabbed his school bag and ran toward the door. He pushed the door hard enough that a loud bang echoed in the entire hallway and ran away from there, away from Lala, away from everyone in the room.

All his classmates looked at him in wonder as he disappeared from their sight. Lala's eyebrows raised a little not knowing what was happening with her childhood friend. Risa, Haruna and Mio just simply stared at the door that was burst opened by Ren like other students, didn't quite caught up with the circumstance. Ito briefly shook his head while let out a short sigh, feeling pity for the alien boy. Rito remained silent as he really didn't know what to think about this. Saruyama stood next to him, scratching the back of his head.

"So…..does this mean you win the challenge?"

All eyes directed at the orange haired boy once Saruyama said that line.

Of course, there was no respond to his question since the sibling stared at him with half-opened eyes.

…..

The sun went down and night came. Like the other usual nights, the charming light it brought from a billion of stars spread across the whole sky. Haruna's blue eyes glittered a bit as she looked up, letting the image of the black sky reflected deep into her eyes. Walking beside her was a small Boston Terrier named Maron.

Currently, Haruna was having a walk with her pet dog around the town at night, an activity that they both did occasionally. Since Haruna was busy studying at school and her older sister always went off to work and came home late, the dog had to stay at home most of the time in a day. The girl often takes Maron out for an exercise walk so he could enjoy the refresh, clean air of the outside that he didn't have a chance to during the day back in their apartment.

While they were taking the familiar routine around the town, Haruna's pet dog suddenly rushed off to somewhere else and caught its owner by surprise as it pulled the leash out from her grip.

"Ah! Maron, where are you going?! Come back!"

Haruna called out to the dog and chased after him. But after a short moment, Haruna ended up losing sight of Maron since he turned at one of many alleyways and quickly disappeared into the dark street with great speed.

"Ma-Maron!"

The girl called his name one more time but the pet dog didn't came back, the quietness of Sainan town in the evening was the only respond she could receive.

Haruna began to feel worried for the small dog, afraid that Maron would be involved in some kind of trouble with that strange behavior of his.

Then, unexpectedly after that, the silence was broke by a screaming voice.

…

"Kyyaaa! W-w-what is with this creature?! Please leave me be!"

The voice's owner ran as fast as she could to escape from the fearful yet small animal that was chasing right behind her. Trying not to look back at the weird being, tears started to form in her eyes.

It was just a moment ago that she still strolled around the town for no real particular reason. While taking a small bite from the food holding in both arms, she was walking leisurely along a small road next to a big, long grass field that lied a river in the middle. As the girl enjoyed the night view of Sainan town, this thing suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. At the moment, there was no street light in that area so the girl couldn't see the thing well, so with a roar from the animal, she thought itself was a beast. It brought panic to her and the girl started running.

Not letting the small beast has a chance to catch it prey, meaning the girl herself or she believed so. She turned and went past a bridge near there, the only path that could lead the way back to her home. However, as she did so, a few pieces of the food she was eating fell out from the bag and hit itself on the solid surface.

Yet the girl didn't look back and kept running when the thing's heavy breathing sound becomes even more intense from behind. Then, there was chewing sound, like the noise of a pointy object dug into a fresh meat many times in an extremely violent way.

Finally out of the bridge, the girl stopped in her track, only dared to turn her head a bit to take a brief glance at what was happening with the food that were fell out from the bag earlier. Over there, she saw a small dog who was digging his teeth into all those aliments.

Swallowing the last piece, the dog finished everything in a beat and stared at the light green haired girl with the glowing eyes of a hungry beast. It let out a faint growl as its front feet put a step forward and slowly approached the helpless maiden.

Maron couldn't help it, he couldn't control his desire for wanting to taste that strangely delicious stuff in the bag that she was holding. The aroma was so strong and sweet that the moment he smelled it, all the keen instinct inside him has been completely shut down. Right now, licking it and eating it over and over again was the only one thing that the small Boston Terrier wished to do.

Watching the dog stuck out his tongue and saliva dripped out non-stop, Run could feel her entire body shuddered.

"D-don't come near me!"-she yelled out loudly but the effort seemed to be a waste as her voice was so soft and shaken.

Maron put another step forward.

"S-stay back!"

Another step…

"No! Why am I have to be in this kind of situation?! R-Ren!"-in panic, Run called out the name of the alien boy for help by reflex although she knew it's impossible.

"Woof!"(Miss Young lady.)-Maron let out a woof.

Run startled, her grip on the bag became harder.

"Woof! Woof!"(It might be rude for me to say this all of a sudden, but please….)

The dog suddenly launched himself toward Run, both eyes sparkled, aiming for the bag.

"Woooooffffff!"(Let me have another taste of the delicious stuff inside that bag!)

"Go away!"

Mistakenly thinking that the small dog was going to attack, Run closed her eyes and swung the bag rapidly in a defensive manner. It hit Maron by the face with full force and he was sent flying backward. His whole body landed and bounced comically on the ground like a stuffed toy. Stars flew above his head, it seemed the hit has momentarily took out his consciousness.

Run let out a small gasp as the danger was over. But before she could get herself to calm down, the sound of footsteps and a shadow coming toward the bridge from the other side gave her another light jolt.

Fearful for another dangerous encounter, Run immediately spun around and ran away from there as far as possible, not noticed that the impact from that hit has thrown out nearly all the food in her bag.

Following the voice from earlier, Sairenji found herself arrived at the bridge that connected to a part of the town lied under the mountain. The blue haired girl widened her eyes when she saw her family's pet dog lying on the ground with some strange objects near him.

"Maron!"-she gently lifted up the dog."What happened to you? Suddenly went off like that….Maron?"

Sairenji trailed off as she noticed the dog didn't show any sign of moving or more like he was sleeping soundly. Sairenji glanced around her spot and those strange objects caught her eyes.

…..hm? What is this?

Sairenji grabbed one of the strange stuff and stared at it as if this was the first time she saw it. It has a sweet scent and apparently looks really tasty considering the soft feeling she could feel in her hand just by touching it. It was like she was holding a bread with strawberry and vanilla favor mixing together. Before Sairenji could give out any more assumptions about this discovery, Maron's eyes shot open and he snatched it from her hand, chewing like it was a matter between life and death.

"M-Maron?!"

… Maron doesn't look like his usual self, I wonder what's wrong.

Well, indeed he doesn't. With Maron's sensitive nose, it would be extremely difficult for him to resist against the strong aroma the food was emitting.

While Confused and clueless of Maron's behavior, Sairenji took a brief glance to her surrounding when she noticed that the owner of that voice from earlier wasn't here. She was worried that Maron has caused trouble to them considering the amount of this strange stuff scattered on the ground.

Bam!

Sairenji snapped out from her thought with a jolt by the sudden loud noise. Inside an alleyway far from the bridge, a trash can slowly rolled out until it finally hit the river down the grass field.

She saw a girl with light green hair sat up next to a pile of dirt and trash, she must have tripped and stumbled into those on her way.

Sairenji picked Maron, who was still chewing those food, up and fixed her gaze at the girl until she was no longer in her sight.

Now, alone with Maron and unsure of what to do next with all these strange food, Sairenji decided to put it in a nearby trash can near before going back to her usual walk with the pet dog.

Well, you know what they say. Keep the environment clean.

As the blue haired was ready to leave, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a familiar figure of a boy in her class heading into one of many alleyways where the girl with light green hair just stumbled not long ago.

…..is that…Yuuki-kun?

…..

[A few hours ago…..]

"Ouch….ouch…."-came a groan from a certain black spiky haired boy as he rubbed the bite mark on his head, anime tears rolled down from his eyes."This is hurt…..this is really hurt. Index, just how sharp your teeth is?"

"….."-the little girl in white habit pouted and angrily turned her head to the side, ignoring the boy.

"Um….Index, are you mad?"

"Hmph."-she huffed him, still looking away.

"L-look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shove the naruto into your face, my hand just slipped! I didn't know there was a piece of onion under my elbow!"

"…..."-Index still won't look at him.

"Please don't be angry at him, Index. You do know that Daigo is really favored by misfortune, right?"-the orange haired boy, who was walking next to Daigo spoke up nerviously."It was just an accident, he really didn't mean it."

"Index-chan, just forgive Madoka-san this one time. He has already apologized."-Mikan chimed in, tried to ease the bad mood of the little nun.

Index turned her head and looked up at Daigo with half-opened eyes, frowning slightly.

"Daigo shoved food into me."

"I'm sorry!"-he bowed his head down.

"Daigo ruined my appetite."

"I'm so sorry!"-the spiky haired boy paused and raised an eyebrow at the nun."Wait, since when did you have an appetite? You usually eat everything on the table in one-"

The boy stopped his word instantly when a dark aura began to emerge from the nun. Daigo sweated and trembled at the same time as the moon's light shined upon those bared teeth that Index was showing to him with a low growl escapes from her mouth. The black spiky haired boy quickly hid behind the back of another boy with red haired, who was wheeling a bicycle on his left while walking on foot. Ryuuma didn't say anything and simply sweat dropped.

They all walked along an empty street, making their way back home. When the twin came back to their house after school ended, Rito received a message from his father, Yuuki Saibai, saying he needs some helps to clean up all the mess in his studio. Rito and Mikan went there to help him and it took them quite an effort to tidy up the place since papers and ink bottles lied almost everywhere in the apartment. Lala and Ito didn't go with them though, the alien girl said she was busy with something, something like creating an RPG game and she needed Ito's help.

After finishing everything, Mikan and the orange haired boy headed back and decided to buy some foods for the other two at home as it was getting late. As he promised to Lala that he will show her Japan's cuisine in the trip not long ago, both made their way to a famous ramen restaurant in Sainan, the Ichiraku Ramen. Over there, they met Daigo and Index digging into the ramen cups. However, the moment they saw those two was also the exact moment misfortune mercilessly struck the spiky haired boy. As Index asked for more narutomaki, Daigo willing to share his by gripping the piece in his bowl and passed it directly to Index who was sitting on the other side of the table.

The boy told her to open her mouth by saying "ahh~" and for a moment it became a very intimate sight for everyone there. This made Index blushed a bit and although hesitating, she still leaned toward him, closed both eyes and her mouth opened wide. Daigo also leaned forward using his left elbow to support the body while his right hand put the narutomaki piece into Index mouth.

Immediately, his left elbow slipped in a way that couldn't be any more ridiculous and it wasn't a pretty sight. Daigo's face went straight into his own ramen bowl and the food holding in his chopstick was shoved right at Index's face. What happened next was that the unlucky boy earned a deadly bite from the small nun.

That was what lead to the current situation between them. As for Ryuuma, they just met him on the way back as he finished some works of the Yorozuya in a nearby town named Kuoh.

Now, back to the present….

"P-please calm down, Index! I'll make it up to you so please retract those teeth!"-Daigo said in a shivering tone.

The dark aura around the girl became more intense as she stepped toward him.

"I….I…I'll c-cook another meal for you!"

"Really?!"

Sparkling and shining effect flew around Index as the nun looked at Daigo with full of hope. The dark aura wasn't there anymore.

"Really! I'll make another meal for you! Ju-just name the food and I'll cook it!"

"I want to eat sushi!"

"Sure."-Daigo sighed in relief."What kind of sushi do you want to eat?"

"All kind of it~!"-Index smiled brightly.

Daigo went extremely paled after hearing those spoken words. He now realized that he just dig up his own grave.

"Such misfortune."-he muttered.

Rito, Mikan and Ryuuma sweat dropped, feeling somewhat pity for him.

….

Later, the group parted away as they reached the apartment where Daigo and the nun were living. The two waved good bye at the group and continued their argument about the sushi. Ryuuma walked to the other way with his bicycle after giving Mikan and the orange haired boy a light nod, he didn't talk much.

"Oh well, it's only us now."-Mikan stretched out both hand in relaxation."I think we should go home fast, Lala-san and Ito must be hungry by now."

"No, you head home first, Mikan. I need to go somewhere for a bit."

"It's pretty late now, where else could you go at this time?"-Mikan blinked at him, surprised by the sudden decision.

Rito pointed to the mountain far away on the other side of the river.

"I want to go have another look at the place where I saw that spaceship last night."

"…Rito…"

"Remember when I told you back in dad's studio that Lala's childhood friend came into my school to see her? I think that spaceship could belong to him."

"But it's dark now, why not tomorrow? You could either ask him at school."

"I'll be quick, alright? I want to confirm again whether that thing is another one of my hallucinations or not. I know that going into the forest at night is not a good idea but I'm sure you would be less worried about my "sickess" if that ship is truly existed. So the sooner is the better."

Mikan opened her mouth to say but stopped midway, she knew Rito had a point. She was worrying about his "sickness" ever since he brought up that spaceship topic and couldn't find it yesterday. The younger sister looked straight into her brother's eyes and she knew he was serious. No matter what she said, he would likely never change his mind.

"Fine."-Mikan gave out a small sigh."Just don't stay up there for too long, Rito."

"I won't."

"But…."-she pointed up a finger."If you couldn't find that spaceship you were talking about this time then I want you to stop staying up late."

"…?"

"It's not healthy, you know. And it's not like you don't have all the time in the world to admire the stars either."

"Well…"-Rito's voice trailed off as he tried to find the right word to speak.

"Rito, before Lala-san came to Earth, I knew you were staying up late almost every midnight only to draw some constellations and watch it. Sometime, I knock the door and go into your room to wake you up in the morning, I always saw the window was wide-opened and you were leaning on its frame, sleeping."

Rito glanced at the sideway and rubbed his cheek awkwardly. The little sister folded her arms and continued with her lecture, her tone was serious yet full of concern.

"Honestly, you should sleep properly, I don't know why you like doing those stuff but staying up late it's a bad habit. It could even be the reason why you have hallucination again."

"W-wait Mikan, like I said, we're still not sure if I actually have hallucination again or not."

"Then prove it to me that the ship you saw yesterday really exists."

"Will a picture do?"

"No need for it, I want to hear it directly from you."

"…..?"-Rito's eyebrow raised a bit at Mikan's words.

"I need only the words from you and I can tell if you are lying to me or not."-the little sister grinned."Because after all, you are never good at lying."

"A-alright."-Rito sweat dropped as he handed her the bag with two ramen packs and turned around."I'll be going then."

"Hurry up and come home, don't keep Lala-san waiting for too long."

….

[Present time…]

He took off and now he was here, staring at the dark, narrowed path that lead him deep into the forest and to that vast opened field. A small breeze rushed through the orange haired boy as he stood, letting all the thoughts circulated in his mind. This will be the second time he went to confirm the existence of that "shooting star". He knew it wasn't an illusion, he believed his eyes won't deceive him again but yet he felt nervous of the thought that it wasn't there from the beginning.

….can't lose confidence now. It has to be there.

Touching the scar on his head for a moment, Rito shook his head and proceed forward. The dim light of the street lamp covered the entrance of the pitch black road began to flick as he walked past it. The sound of the wind and the quietness of Sainan town at night made the forest becomes more mysterious and somewhat darker than it always looks. Stepping closer to the dark road, Rito found himself slightly shivered when he heard a faint sobbing noise in the cool breeze.

He looked over his shoulder to locate the source of the chilling sound.

….it's near here.

Completely switching his focus onto the sound, Rito followed it. He couldn't leave it, it was soft and a little bit broken as if the owner of it was on the verge of tear. The orange haired slow down his steps when he arrived at a small park for children.

In there, sitting on one of the swings was a familiar girl with light green hair.

Author's note: I know what you're thinking, sorry for ending this chapter so abruptly. Originally, I planned this chapter to be longer than 6000 words but the upcoming final exam didn't leave me any choices. After I posted this, I would head straight to the "battlefield" and use everything I have learned so far to win with flying color.(at least I hope so, knowledge is important after all)

Willgm: Thanks for listing it. Yes, you nearly got them all(There are still more though), the nun is none other than Index from To Aru series. Daigo, the IB and the memory problems are...not quite what you have guessed, but I would say that you are...half right and half wrong (hoho, interesting isn't it?). To tell the truth, I'm a fan of To Aru series, too and I'm happy to see a To Aru fan following my story. These references that I hid are not merely a cameo, it's a preparation for a debut of another fic I have in store. Anyway, I hope you like the scene between the nun and that spiky haired boy in this chapter.

Alright, time to get back to study.

So one again, sorry for the sudden cliffhanger.

After the examination, I will see you guys again...in the next note.