Italics indicate thinking

Bold is for attacks


Doryu's POV

I had wrapped up the back end of my remedial lessons, apparently some of the others interns still had a few more to go. I had finished up early so I was heading back to my dorm, slowly tapping my way along the pathway.

"La Ah~" I heard a voice singing out from nearby.

"What's that?" I turned back.

I was pretty sure there was just a tree line off to the right but that's where the noise was coming from.

I pushed through a small layer of bushes and came upon a small little park like grove, there were flowers, small bushes and the smell of pollen in the crisp air.

Suddenly the singing I heard stopped. I looked up and saw a female figure standing there but she seemed frozen as if she knew I couldn't be able to recognize her if she didn't talk so she was trying to hide.

"I'm sorry if I intruded." I told her.

"It's fine, it is not as though I was being quiet." A soft-spoken voice said.

This is…Ibara?

"I don't get many visitors here." She said "Please Doryu, sit."

I took a seat on a blanket she had rolled out.

"What are you doing our here Ibara?" I asked.

"I suppose you could call this my secret garden." She explained "I come here to relax, no one bothers me here…usually."

"Sorry." I laughed.

"No, I don't mind actually, having more guests would be nice from time to time." She said sitting with me "Though having someone hear me is…embarrassing."

"I noticed, you were singing." I said "You have a great voice."

"Stop it." She said waving her hand "I'm awful."

"No seriously you were good, I know a certain musician who's always looking for a vocal partner." I told her "You should share your talents with others."

"Maybe, I'm not much for performing in public though." She said "Thank you for the vote of confidence though…actually I owe you more thanks."

"Really for what?" I asked.

"Kendo, she seems to be in much better spirits as of late, since the two of you started dating." She explained "I was worried but she's much better now."

"Good, I've noticed that too." I said "She's been really happy lately."

"Other's seem happy too, Setsuna and Poni seem much more active these last few weeks." She looked at me "Just what is it about you that seems to make everyone so positive."

"Just my natural charm I suppose." I said "Careful stay around me and you might get caught in it too."

"No qualms about it I see." She told me "How unfortunate I thought you might have some charm, seems I was mistaken."

"Pardon?"

"You're rather brutish, flirting with so many girls, trying to gather as many as possible." She said in a superior tone "I find it rather unacceptable for someone to be so unbecoming."

"Hey it's not my fault girls find my attractive and charming." I defended myself.

"Attractive and charming, bah." She scoffed "You could only dream of such a thing. Unlike many other girls I have standards I won't be wooed by just anyone."

"I'm starting to take back those compliments." I grumbled.

"Think about it, do you honestly have a single female friend that isn't fawning over your, or trying to date you?" she asked.

"Uhh…"

"Exactly, you see, some may think you are some high-class charmer." She told me "But I see the true you, nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing, you pretend to be sweet when you want nothing more than to amass the largest harem you can imagine, you're no better than that tiny boy with plums for hair."

"I think they're grapes actually." I said.

"Whatever!" she hissed.

"You know, you're fun when you get angry." I laughed.

"Are you implying that I'm not normally fun?" she asked.

"You know what I think." I walked up to her "I think you're jealous of me showing attention to other girls, you want me to flirt with you two."

"P-Preposterous!" she yelped.

I held her hand "Well what if we went out for some fun, I'd love to hear you sing my praises my thorny rose."

"HMPH!" she pulled her hand back "nothing about you could convince me to find you pleasant company."

"Then go out with me tonight." I said "If you don't like it I'll leave you alone, if you have a good time you admit I really am just a nice guy girls like."

"…Very well." She huffed "You will pick me up at seven and not a minute later."

"I'm looking forward to it." I smiled.


Later

In retrospect this was probably a bad idea…

I pulled out a chair and let Ibara sit before pushing it in, after that I walked around the table and sat in my own chair. I adjusted my glasses and smiled at her.

"You look nice." I said.

"I'd say that's a compliment but you already know your just giving my pleasantries." She said "After all you can't see me."

"I know you have a conservative sleeveless white dress and have your hair tied up in a ponytail bun."

"Well…I stand corrected, apologies." She said as the waiter came over and we ordered "I was surprised you were able to escape your usual entourage.

"It took some finessing but they didn't seem to know, or mind." I laughed "So, I've gotta ask how you get haircuts?" I asked.

"Pardon?" she looked at me.

"Well do you just like go to a salon or something, is it like real hair or do they manage it more like plants?"

"I get it cut like normal hair." She explained "It grows faster than human hair though, it takes a lot to manage it."

"I'm sure you can handle it." I smiled "I've seen how you use it to fight it's pretty good."

"Why…thank you." She smiled.

We kept up the conversation throughout dinner, getting to know each other better. Ibara was softening up a bit the more we talked, relaxing and letting herself go with more of the date.

"Perhaps this wasn't an awful idea." She said as we walked back to school and the dorms.

"I'm glad you had a good time, I did too." I said standing outside her dorm.

"Well, I'll be going." She said "Oh but don't think this by any means makes me one of your girlfriends."

"Of course." I smiled "But I wouldn't mind doing this again sometime."

"Yes, perhaps." She hummed "Goodnight Doryu."

"Goodnight Ibara." I said.


AN

Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.

Ibara is always so quite so it's a bit hard to really know her personality, but I feel like she's very high strung in a way, she's definitely the girl who would think herself immune to being charmed.

Till Next Time!