Planning for the Future
Author's Notes March 26, 2020:
Because of the virus I am stuck at home. So I hope to write a little faster for now.
Author's Notes Nov. 23, 2020:
This is a older segment I had already wrote part of, I think I know what to write next so I am putting this out now but hope to get the next chapter out before the end of the year.
Naru gets busy:
Waking up Naru tried to plan her day, it was important to get her studying done, but it was also important to get enough of the game finished so she would have the opportunity to go to Tokyo. After doing her morning bathroom routine and getting dressed for school she quickly went downstairs for breakfast. Only to find both her sister and mother seemed to be waiting for her to arrive.
"What are your plans for the future?", her mother started asking, only to have her sister butt in, also asking, "Do you like any of those boys from school? Really? Or are you still thinking of that boy at the dorm in Tokyo?".
Naru grabbed and started drinking some Miso soup to give her time to think before her replied. It did not take much to see the two were waiting for her to answer them.
"I have no personal interest in those boys.", she said truthfully, "I just want to help them develop the game in time to show it at the Tokyo game conference.", she also added but was internally surprised to find she really wanted to help the boys in their project, she had never wanted to help any males before, they were only after one thing, but these boys had something else on their minds.
"And what about that boy in Tokyo?", her sister asked. "Yes, you seem to be very interested in go back there.", her mother added.
Naru thought quickly, "I am more interested in entering Tokyo U, and getting a chance to see all the girls. After-all they are my friends.", she defended herself, but again secretly found she wanted to see Keitaro too.
Her mother looked at her questioningly for a moment and then just nodded her head. "Better eat the rest of your breakfast and be off to school.", she said as she turn away, "And do not be too later coming back by spending too much time with those boys.", she added.
Naru took the hint and sat down to finish the meal.
Back at the Hinata-Sou:
Motoko found herself on pins and needles, she expected to get photographic evidence that Keitaro was a pervert, but not only had he done nothing wrong lately, she also found herself having doubts about how she had interpreted her memories and more importantly the comments of the other girls of the dorm describing his past actions.
As time went by she found she had more and more doubts about how she felt about Keitaro, yet at school the actions of the other boys she saw matched exactly what she expected of all males. In-fact comparing them to Keitaro it became very clear there was a marked difference of attitude between where Keitaro's interests were and his actions/words about the opposite sex vs the girl crazy school boys who seem to chase anything that wore a skirt.
Motoko decided she would complete her mission to protect him while monitoring the manager and get some final proof about Keitaro's true nature.
As each person entered the dining room to have dinner they would stop in surprise as they found Motoko and Mutsumi had taken the two chairs opposite each other but right beside the chair at the head of the table where Keitaro was expected to sit.
They finally all sat down and they waited for Keitaro who was still a little slow getting to the table.
Their attention in particular was drawn to the melon-girl. Mutsumi looked even more different than before, at the study session she had radiated energy and health, but today it was like a goddess was sitting there. A quick comparison made it clear that Motoko was not overshadowed by Mutsumi. Motoko still had the vibe of a warrior, but it was on a whole new level compared to what they had seen before. None of the girls except Mitsune knew what to think or say, "Excuse me, I have to dash off to my room for a moment", Mitsune said as she quickly exited the room.
Keitaro stretched in bed as he prepared to get up and start a new day. Fully extending his arms a sudden pain in his ribs told him he still was not fully healed and he should move slowly when possible. Still it did not limit his movements too much and he got ready for breakfast.
Arriving downstairs he was not surprised to see an empty seat at the head of the table but Motoko was also on the next seat over within easy reach of him. She patted the empty seat as a message to him to sit there.
He still was not used to sitting so near to her and especially since his past experience was that she would attack him over the littlest thing that offended her, but it had been a while now and she had not attacked him once. Still it was strange that she carried a camera that he never seen her use everywhere that she went now.
Opposite of her sat Mutsumi, an incredible good looking Mutsumi that immediately made Keitaro start looking around for an angry Naru for daring to sit besides such a beauty of a woman (Yes, he thought woman, not girl). After a long moment's hesitation realizing she was not around any longer Keitaro moved to the place indicated.
Motoko kept an eye on him, she felt nervous about having Mutsumi looking so good while also sitting so close to him.
"But if anything is going to bring out his perverted nature, having her right beside him is sure to make him act. And I will be right here to stop him from going too far,", Motoko theorized to herself.
By that time Mitsune arrived back at the table, and it was clear she had fixed up her looks as well. Motoko was surprised at first, but also thought Keitaro now would surely show his true nature surrounded by beautiful girls like he was now.
But as time went by, and plate by plate the food vanished down the throats of the hungry residents, and Motoko found to her surprise that while Keitaro seemed very nervous at first about the girls, over time he seemed to open up and was trading gossips and jokes with all the other girls around the table.
"Maybe Keitaro-san is the exception?", she started to wondered while still having a major distrust of males in general. She looked at Keitaro as he was eating breakfast. He looked so innocent at the moment.
As she watched, Keitaro subconsciously stretched out his left arm to work out a cramp and brushed Shinobu's dress as she was walking behind him to serve others at the table. Shinobu noticed right away and blushed a deep red, but it was also obvious that Keitaro had not noticed a thing.
"Before I would had attacked him without thinking. And he would not even know why I was attacking him. He would just think I was beating him up because I could.", Motoko was deep in personal thought. "I wonder how many times that happened, he was not being perverted, it was just how Naru-san and I interpreted it.".
"On the other hand it is totally clear Keitaro-san is very careless in his actions and causes problems without thinking about what he is doing.", she also had to conclude.
Motoko finished her meal, but she was deep in thought the entire time.
That afternoon:
Motoko found herself to be busy making sure everyone was doing the maintenance work needed, and at the same time she constantly had to keep going back to Keitaro to make sure he did less work around the building, it was clear almost anything he tried was causing him pain and she found herself worrying that Keitaro might injury himself some more if he tried to work too hard.
Following morning at the Hinata-Sou:
Again everyone meet for breakfast. Motoko noticed Mutsumi seemed a little nervous as they waited for Keitaro to show up in his slow way (but he did seem to be getting faster and better).
Controlling Su and Sarah was easy, since Keitaro was so slow getting to the table Motoko found she always have enough time to make it clear that they needed to behave or they would have her to deal with later, it usually worked for the next hour or two.
Keitaro finally arrived, sat down, and smiled at everyone present. Shinobu was busily shared out food, Mitsune was taking a drink and Su was inhaling the smell of the curry when Mutsumi asked:
"Kei-kun, could we have a melon date tonight. I think the melon is properly ripen and it is best we eat it now, especially since it is the one you bought for me.", Mutsumi looked towards Keitaro with a longing look that would melt the heart of any man.
Shinobu's serving spoon hit the floor. A very little quiet shriek escape her lips.
Mitsune choked and sprayed out the sake she was drinking.
Motoko automatically went to grabbed for her sword but in a split-second later changed the motion towards her camera.
The two younger girls froze for a second, and then Su said, "Melon date? Is it as delicious as it sounds?".
"No, no.", Mitsune answered while at the same time thinking she should had asked Keitaro for a date first.
Keitaro, his brain short-circuiting stared at Mutsumi, just opened his mouth but no sound came out.
"I really wanted us to eat the melon on the top of Mount Fuji as the moon raises at night,", Mutsumi continued, "But is apparently illegal to go there at night, then I wanted to go to the harbour and play on one of the beaches but I am told they are not safe at night time either.".
"Where were you thinking of going?", Keitaro asked, not realizing both Motoko and Mitsune thought this meant he was already agreeing to go on a date with her and both dorm girls were getting very mixed feelings about the idea.
"I thought about it a lot,", Mutsumi said as she leaned closer to Keitaro, (Motoko wanted to snap a photo, but Keitaro insisted on only looking into Mutsumi eyes and not her tempting body), "But I finally thought if we will be alone, that we could simply watch the moon rise from the front steps of the Hinata-Sou.".
Keitaro nodded his head at what sounded like an innocent idea.
Motoko almost audibly sighed in relief, she wanted to object but knew had no good reason to do such. On the other hand it should be easy to spy on them at the front steps and snap a photo if Keitaro did anything wrong. "If? Why did I think if?", Motoko now found herself questioning her own expectations, "Keitaro always does something wrong, does not he?", Motoko now wondered why she thought anything else.
Giving in to the close presence of the melon girl Keitaro gave in and said "Yes, I will be there tonight, 8 PM?", he asked, knowing when it started to get dark.
"Better make it 9 PM, the moon will soon rise afterwards.", Mutsumi smiled as she also straighten up her sitting position.
Mitsune meanwhile was shocked, not only had she be beaten to the punch, Motoko had not said a single word of objection. "What is going on here?", she was thinking to herself and took a serious chug from the bottle of sake she was holding.
At the same time Shinobu hurried to the kitchen for something to cleanup the floor where she had dropped the spoon, but she first stayed in the kitchen for a few minutes to calm down first. When she left to go back to serving food to everyone she was smiling but inside she was full of emotional aches and longings.
Eating at this point became a quiet affair as everyone was making plans for what they planned to do when the 9 PM date happened.
Keitaro spent the rest of the day either in his room or looking around the dorm to see if there was any work to be done. However, the looks he kept getting from Motoko and Mitsune made him feel uncomfortable, and even Su seen to be looking at him a little differently, and Sarah seemed to be taking clues from Su.
All in all he spent most of his time in his room getting ready for a date and trying to think of things to talk about that would not get him in trouble.
Dinner also was a quiet affair, Keitaro tried to start some conversations but they just peppered out and died. He knew this was because he agreed to be going on a date with Mutsumi that same night, "But it is just outside on the steps, even them must trust me if it is just outside.", he thought to himself.
One bright side to this he had to admit, not being hit all the time was a marked improvement in his life.
8:50 PM
There was a light knock on the door, and normally Shinobu would answer it, but since everyone knew of this up coming date with the manager, Keitaro was the one to open it.
As the manager opened the door he got a full vision of loveliness, carrying what looked like a wicket picnic basket.
"Are you ready?", a happy Mutsumi asked a stunned Keitaro. He just nodded his head.
"Well, let's go!", Mutsumi put out a hand and lightly dragged Keitaro out the door.
Elsewhere, different girls used side-exits to leave the building to spy on the two as them made themselves comfortable on the steps.
Sitting on the steps Keitaro watched as Mutsumi unpacked plates, a knife and the melon he bought her.
"Now remember,", she said, "Don't eat any of the melon until the moon rises above the horizon, and you eat from the slice I am holding while you hold out your slice for me to eat from.", she finished.
"Why?", a very puzzled and dense Keitaro asked.
"To show I am in your care, and you will care for me in the future.", Mutsumi honestly replied.
And Keitaro as always did not clue in what that could mean, he only thought of it as his duty as the Hinata-Sou manager.
Unknown to the two daters, sharp eyes watched them very carefully.
Motoko had adjusted her camera for a night shot, the lighting was still not that good at the moment, but once the moon had risen there should be more than enough light for a clear shot.
Elsewhere more eyes belonging to Su and Sarah were more concentrating on the melon as it was being cut to pieces than on the two daters.
"We can make our move just as the moon rises and they are looking at it instead of what is around them.", Su whispered.
Sarah nodded in agreement, Su could not see her but could feel nod as they were touching each other.
As the moon started to appear, Mutsumi picked up two slices of the melon and held one out to Keitaro, ready to start making her dreams come true. Motoko raise her camera and started to take pictures as she had plenty of film and did not want to miss a key moment.
When suddenly out of the bushes on the other side of the stairs two war painted hellions jumped out and made a beeline for the melon.
Motoko bite back a curse word she should not even know as the two daters instead of leaning in towards each other instead whipped their heads around to see what was coming at them at the full speed as fast as their little legs would impel them.
"I want some melon too.", yelled Sarah. "Does it taste good?", asked Su as both girls grab pieces of the melon for themselves. The expressions on their faces as they bite down made it clear they were enjoying what they had taken.
The mood broken by the young girls grabbing as much of the melon as they could get and the moon was now completely above the horizon, Mutsumi gave up on trying to get a private and romantic moment with Keitaro, instead they would just eat and enjoy their melon slices without there being an hidden meaning. But even as they ate, Mutsumi smiled to herself, but there would be more opportunities in the future.
Motoko slide back into the bushes, she did not get the pictures she had hoped for. The two young girls had ruined the situation, but there would be more opportunities in the future.
Kitsune at the same time had been watching from one of the windows, it did not bother her what the two young girls had interrupted. She wish it was her who had ask Keitaro first, but there would be more opportunities in the future.
Shinobu had not seen the events on the steps, but she had been looking thru the cook books, win or lose - she would be making food for her Sempai that would be sure to be noticed. And there may be small opportunities in the future.
Su and Sarah were looking for an opportunity - but an opportunity to get more of the melon slices that they could see remained on the plate. Their thoughts were only on the now, not the future.
Keitaro saw no opportunities - as he ate his slice of melon, he was too dazed and confused to see any.