In retrospect, listening to any plan of Maki's that hadn't been talked over with anyone else before she presented it was a bad idea; it wasn't that she normally had bad ideas, but rather that her ideas always had a level of risk to them that ranged from dangerous to deadly. All the clues she gave were that she was going to be treating her friends to a night out, and that they weren't going to be doing anything illegal, which really answered zero questions but asked many more that were given a stern look and a prompting about if they wanted to die.
"Well, no," Rantaro had said at the time, stroking his chin and looking towards Shuichi, who was trying to get any further clues from reading Maki's body language, "and I think that's why we're asking where you're taking us, because we don't want to die. Are you sure this is going to work out?"
"It will if you put on an adventurous attitude and have an open mind, both of you." That was the rest of her explanation, and she left them both with a time that they needed to be ready to be picked up, before heading home to get ready for whatever she had planned. She certainly didn't seem like she was acting maliciously, and if she was playing into more of the deadly range of her typical plans then they'd get a warning in due time from Kaito telling them to stay out of things that night. That warning never came, and the pair was left having to decide for themselves if they were going to go with Maki on her offered night out, or if they were going to earn her wrath by choosing not to go.
"She's clearly offering to pay, and she wasn't acting like she had something horrible planned, so…" Shuichi trailed off, shrugging as he glanced at Rantaro's pensive expression. "I say we go for it, and if anything goes poorly it's not our fault, or our loss."
Rantaro continued looking pensively at nothing for a few more seconds, before shaking his head and smiling. "I'm sure it'll all be fine, what's the worst she can do to us that we haven't already been warned about? Unless she's planning on running this trip solo, I think there's nothing for us to worry about."
"You're just going along with this because she said we needed to be adventurous, aren't you?"
"That might be part of it, but you know me. Always up for some adventure." Rantaro's eyes found Shuichi's and he gave a gentle, warm smile once he knew he had his attention. "We'll have a good time, no matter what it is Maki's got planned for us. And if we don't? Then I'll treat you to a night out, just the two of us. Sound fair?"
Just about to accept the offer, Shuichi stopped himself as he opened his mouth, the soft and smooth way that Rantaro had handled that bribe nearly making him forget why they were both off that night in the first place. "Weren't you talking about doing that tonight before Maki got involved?"
"I might've been. So, I'll change it if that's what you want. Even if we do enjoy this, I'll still take you out next time we have a night off together." The smile on Rantaro's lips grew slightly, his words genuinely warming Shuichi right down to his core. Of course he would take being called out as a way to make things better, even though he didn't actually have to do it. As long as they were spending time together, that was what Shuichi wanted out of things, whether it was alone or with friends, but he wasn't going to tell Rantaro that his extra step wasn't necessary. He was just going to accept it for what it was, and hope that the night was so great that Rantaro would only want to top it in the future.
Once again, listening to any plan of Maki's that she'd come up with and presented without any discussion was going to ultimately be the death of the men, and while it wasn't as extreme as the "deadly plants" exhibit she'd walked them through, or the restaurant where they dined in darkness and had to hopefully not stab themselves with their knives, it was still not anywhere close to their cup of tea for a date night. They'd dressed up relatively nicely, putting on crisp button-down shirts and pants that were free from frays and holes, and when they were picked up by their gracious host and her tagalong boyfriend, they saw that they might have actually been a tad underdressed. "Probably should have warned you that you needed to look sharper than usual," she lamented, looking at the shoes the men were wearing and finding them to be casual, not dressy, "but it'll work. You at least look like you put in effort, like it's a dinner date or something."
"You mean to say it's not?" Shuichi asked, immediately regretting not asking for specific details about the night when the plan had first been presented.
"News to me too," Kaito chimed in, crossing his (both sleeved) arms over his chest as he looked down at Maki, who wasn't even paying attention to him. "All she told me was that I've gotta look nice for the occasion. I don't even know where we're going!"
She huffed, making the shoulders on her dress jacket rise slightly. "And we're going to keep it a secret from all of you until we're there. Now come on, the reservation isn't going to let us walk in if we show up late."
Their ride over to wherever Maki had arranged for them to go was nearly silent, the only voices the occasional whisper between Shuichi and Rantaro as they tried to figure out where it was they were being taken. As they passed the usual restaurants that they would go to together, Maki's cryptic statement slamming dinner dates made more sense, and soon they were entering the seedy business district of town, which none of them ever willingly entered—except for her, naturally. The destination she had in mind was in an old warehouse, with lights illuminating the front entrance and a spotlight on the banner reading the name of the establishment: Kick Axe and Look Pretty.
"I think we're really being walked to our deaths right now," Shuichi whispered to Rantaro as he read the sign, only for Rantaro to hush him with gently touching a finger to his lips and reminding him that they needed to be adventurous for the night. "Yes, I know that's what we're supposed to do, but did you see that name? She's going to get us killed here."
"No way, you're getting too worked up about it. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why we're at this place." Rantaro had also looked at the sign and didn't seem to be quite as bothered by it as Shuichi was, even though his finger was shaking slightly as it hovered just above Shuichi's lips. "Let's give it a shot, see how it goes. Remember, we're still getting our own date out of this."
"Are you two coming or not?" Maki snapped, as if she was waiting for them to finish their moment before she intruded on it. "Kaito's already inside checking us in, you're holding us up and I'm not sure I like it."
They both apologized and got out of the vehicle, somehow finding each other's arms to hold as they walked inside the warehouse behind her, the sound of wood splintering filling their ears once they'd gotten through the front door. The person at the front desk was waiting for them eagerly, gloved hands laced underneath their chin as they watched the trio enter, and without needing to say anything to them Maki motioned for the men to follow her solely with her head, and they obliged, being called after to have a good time. It was down a small hallway that they found Kaito standing in front of a long, empty space, at the other side of which was a wooden target surrounded by shredded planks. "Didn't even have to give our name, they recognized me right away up front," he said to them with a grin. "Glad to know they remember their regulars, eh, Maki Roll?"
"I'd say," she replied, sliding her jacket off of her shoulders and down her arms, tossing it at Kaito so that he could catch it. "We've only been coming here every week since they opened, they better remember us at this point. Did you make sure you got enough for all of us?"
"It was already taken care of when I got down here." Pointing to a bag on the floor with his foot, Kaito carefully hung Maki's jacket up on a hook on the wall before considering removing his own, only doing so after seeing her looking judgmentally at him. "So, you gonna give them the rundown while I get us some drinks? Or are you doing drinks and I'm doing the explaining?"
Wordlessly she pointed back towards the front entrance and he got the hint, nodding eagerly and bounding away to get whatever drinks he was talking about. "You've been here before, that's a good sign," Shuichi said to her, as she bent down and opened the bag on the ground that Kaito had shown her, and she merely grunted in return. "Guess that means that you didn't, say, bring us here to murder us and leave our bodies to rot. Not like you would, that is, but we're covering our bases here."
"What Shuichi means to say is that he's never been to what's clearly a formal axe-throwing spot before, and he didn't know what his expectations should've been." Rantaro put his hands on Shuichi's shoulders and patted them gently, trying to get the point across that everything was going to be fine, but he could tell by how tense he was that it wasn't quite working. "I must say, it's an interesting place to bring us. Are we going to get to throw, or—oh wow that's quite the axe you've got there." He'd been distracted in the middle of asking his question when Maki pulled out the top axe from the bag, brandishing it with the head up as she whacked its base against her hand. "I was imagining something smaller, maybe like a pickaxe, or the ones used for climbing, not something quite so large."
"You're probably used to saying you're expecting things to be smaller, but this," she smacked it against her hand again, "is what we're going to be using to enjoy ourselves tonight. First one to hit the center of the target takes a shot. Last one takes two. Fun when you're not paying for yourself, and you get to see how bad of aim your friends and lovers have."
Shuichi was shaking his head in disbelief at what challenge had just been thrown down, but Rantaro raised an eyebrow and proceeded to ask further questions to the woman still waving the axe around. "Middle two don't have to drink?"
"I don't count, I'll hit it dead on first try without even looking. This is between you three men, and I can tell you right now, Kaito's pretty bad at aiming, so as long as you both manage to out-aim him, only one of you has to take a shot." To prove her initial point Maki checked to make sure she was lined up with the wooden target, turned her back to it, and threw the axe behind her with not only enough force to get it to impale the wood, but to have it hit directly in the painted circle rings. She looked over her shoulder, saw that she hit her mark, and turned back to the men, smirking as she did. "It's not going to be the end of the world if you both take shots, but you'll have to listen to Kaito brag if he beats either of you, so make your choice now."
It was obvious that they wanted to eliminate as much of the drinking as possible, especially after Kaito came back with three glasses in hand and announced that they'd poured him only the vilest liquor they had. "Turns out they think challenges like this are fun, gets people paying to throw more," he explained, as he set the glasses down on the shelf underneath where their jackets were hanging. "Let's get right to it! Can't wait to see how good I've gotten at this with all of my practice with Maki Roll!"
Rantaro and Shuichi looked between each other, not surprised that they'd just heard that statement but also dreading what it would mean. They knew what their task was, they just needed to know how to make it happen, and quickly. The axes were not light by any means, and throwing them took a lot of force that required a lot of trial and error to get them moving towards their target, and after the first few throws their arms were aching. Maki was clearly enjoying herself as she'd take an axe and hit dead center over and over again, while the men struggled to consistently even get theirs down to hitting the wood. At one point, the axe that Rantaro threw seemed to disappear out of everyone's sight, requiring him to go up to the counter and ask for a new one to replace it (and they never did find where it went that night, to everyone's enjoyment).
Several hours passed and they became better at hitting the target, but getting the bullseye did not seem like it was going to happen for any of them, no matter how many inspirational quotes Kaito would shout, or how many times Rantaro would assure Shuichi that they'd both make it and call the game over. It got to the point that Maki, growing annoyed at their incompetence, told them that they needed to try harder, and to sweeten the deal she told them that if any of them could make it into the center in their next throw, she'd take their shot for them.
"All she's doing is making this worse," Shuichi said, grabbing the axe he'd been using and preparing to throw it. His hands felt like they were filled with splinters from the wooden handle, and he was certain he'd popped a seam or two in the shoulder of his shirt, but it was his turn to make an attempt and he wasn't going to hold them up any longer. He gave his best go at aiming, threw the axe as well as he could, and watched as it made contact with the target just below the inner ring, barely outside of the goal. It was impressive how close he'd gotten to making it, but the feeling of pride that filled his chest was quickly erased when both of the others, by some stroke of luck, managed to make the center of the target on their throws. The devastation of being shown up so quickly was evident on his face, and Rantaro did what any caring and loving boyfriend would do to erase it, giving him all the reminders of how great he was at other things and a couple strokes of his chin before they were interrupted from their moment by the sound of a glass shattering.
"Oh, I was only supposed to do one of those, wasn't I?" Maki asked, looking at the two empty glasses and the third broken one, all on the table. "Not like it mattered, Kaito didn't even get real drinks for you guys to take shots of. Can you imagine, trying to do this while not fully here? It would be too dangerous for anyone, even myself."
Kaito was trying his hardest not to break into laughter at the looks of betrayal and disappointment on his friend's faces, even as Rantaro asked, "So you mean…none of those hits really mattered? There were no consequences?"
"Not really, you just showed me how much there is for you all to learn in the ways of axe throwing," she replied, reaching for her jacket to put it back on. "Now let's get out of here, we've had our fun and you guys deserve something to make up for this. Dinner's on us, let's find somewhere to eat."
Following along with one of Maki's plans might not always have been a dangerous idea, but Shuichi was rather looking forward to when he could have his date night with Rantaro instead, because there was only so much axe throwing and dining with people who'd out-tossed him that he could handle.
A/N: I had gotten tasked with writing amasai for the ship week on tumblr, and so I did it lol