Chapter 28

"A date?"

His smile grew. "Yeah, a date… you… me… anywhere you wanna go… I'm buying…"

Nobara froze at the offer. It's been a while since he asked her out again, mainly because he was more focused on his brother than anything else. But this time around he appeared more playful to the notion and wanted to see if Nobara would try and spend some time with him again.

But he knew that look on her face too, one of being greatly conflicted. "We had fun, won't you at least admit that?" he asked of her.

She turned red. "I admit, we do…"

"Then…" he said and tried to give her a gentle nudge to join him in doing something.

She gave off a defeated sigh. "Okay… what did you have in mind?" she asked.

For a moment, he froze. "Honestly… I got nothing… I didn't think I would get THIS far…"

She giggled.

Instantly that caught his attention. "Oh? You laugh?" he said with a coy grin.

But she was quick to regain her composure. "Ahem… how about we go for a walk around the city?" she said offhandedly. "Try something new? If there's a place to eat at…"

"Ah, I like that. Sure… Let me get ready" He was trying not to smile too much since he knows it freaks her out, but as he reached his dorm, he couldn't help but grin in victory. "She's going out with me again!" he whispered in excitement.

He was quick to wear a warm outfit, granted, the cold doesn't bother him but he didn't want to stand out too much. He found some nice looking warm pants and a modest sweater to wear. His hair was brushed up as he gave himself one final look over and nodded approval. When he walked out, she was already.

She dressed modestly herself, wearing a spring jacket and comfortable pants of her own. "So. How are we going to go into town? Neither one of us drive…"

He smirked once more as he approached her. Sweeping Nobara off her feet he grinned as he carried her out the door. "Don't open your mouth, you may catch bugs," he warned.

"What…"

It was like a flash.

Next thing Nobara knew, they were in Tokyo City!

"How… how fast are you?" she asked.

Suiryu shrugged his shoulders. "Depends on what I need to be quick for, I don't want to waste a moment with you, come on!" he said.

She still appeared hesitate but he could feel her slowly lowering her guard.

#

'What the hell am I doing?' Nobara thought to herself. 'Seriously, you are dating SUKUNA!' she scolded herself.

Yet as the night wore on, she found him acting rather… playful in a sense. Suiryu was interested in trying whatever she wanted to do, if there was a snack, he would taste test himself, she wanted to go to a store, he went in with her. Normally guys wouldn't want to do anything a girl wants, and yet, he appeared to be game for it!

Stranger still, no one batted an eye as they walked the streets. Despite him standing next to a rack of magazines, three had his face on them. No one approached him on the matter. She grew curious to it all. "Suiryu… how is it that no one… recognize you?" she whispered.

"Do you want them to?" he asked. "Right now, I have a bit of cloaking on my face, I will seem familiar to those around us but no one will put them together to say the least. Unless you want me to let people know we're out on a date… you won't get a moment's peace if that happens," he warns.

She thought it over, despite the time she was featured in a tabloid, she didn't really like the attention she got afterwards, especially when people hounded her and kept asking 'where's Suiryu? Or are you just a fling?'

"On second thought…" she muttered. "Let's keep going,"

They wondered the city together, Nobara kept looking about, but her eyes kept drifting towards him, he has yet to take his eyes off of her! "What is with you?" she muttered.

"Hm?"

"I mean… why are you so fascinated with me?"

He smiled. "I like a strong woman," he explained. "The moment I saw you, I was thinking, damn, she can hold her own. Your eyes speak to me a lot, in particular they tell me 'Don't fuck with me' and I like it." He said with a grin. "Besides… you helped keep my brother safe, you are an amazing woman to see beyond what he was. You didn't see a demon vessel, you saw someone who was dealt a bad hand in life and saw the human aspect of him… I wonder if perhaps those eyes would see the same in me…"

She paused. "How… How can you be so poetic in words?!" she demanded of him. "It's not fair,"

He snickered to her. "Honestly, I don't speak to anyone else like this but you. Not even Yuuji, we got more of a brother dialogue there, but with you… I can't help but be upfront and honest. Brother also warned me to not push it with a woman, they will hold it against you forever, and your wrath… God if I ever pissed you off, just send me to hell with Sukuna already!"

She giggled once more. "Ah, got you again… you're cute when you laugh," he whispered.

Instantly she stopped. Her mind keeps screaming at her to run, and yet at the same time, she can't bare to do it! Suiryu paused at a small cart that served hot drinks. He got two for them and they continued on. "You still see me as Sukuna, don't you?" he asked.

She froze once more, but couldn't bring herself to speak. "It's okay, it's not an easy face to trust or voice for that matter… I think I said that before to you last time we were out."

"You did…"

"Nothing has changed huh?"

She shook her head.

"Well, I'll just try harder then," he said without much of a concern to the task before him.

"Why try so hard to be with me though?" Nobara asked. "You got your pick of women…"

"Don't want them," he stated rather defiantly. "Each time I look at their faces, their eyes… even the words they speak to me… they never meant anything. Sure they said they would do me, but why? Why would they want to be with someone like me? Easy, because I'm a model. I'm a celebrity now apparently since I look good in tight boxer shorts! But there is no substance to it. I may not know much, but I am quite familiar with those who are dead in the inside and are merely passing the time, trying to fill an endless void in themselves that will never be full until their next conquest."

"Deep…" she whispered and took a sip of her drink. It was rather good! "Say, what is this?"

"Hot chocolate with peppermint salt water taffy," he said. "They freeze dry the candy so it just melts in your hot chocolate and flavor it. D'angelo brought me one, said it would be nice for a date…" he took a sip as well. "Mmm, not bad."

They didn't talk all that much, yet Nobara was seeing another side of him. She always thought of Suiryu as being annoying, like Yuuji but worst than him. There was no innocence to him, there was also the stigma of Sukuna he consistently deals with on a regular bases. And yet, the more she speaks with him, the dimmer those comparisons become.

"NOBARA!"

"MIKA!"

Mika was out and about herself, shopping by the looks of it. But she paused as she saw Suiryu lingering beside her. A coy grin came over her face. "Oh, isn't this forbidden?" Mika teased a little. "A student and teacher…"

"Not on the clock," Suiryu replied and smirked. "Besides, no one takes me THAT seriously as a teacher…"

"Really? Mister I'll teach you underwater combat?" Mika muttered.

"Hey I taught as best I could. Who would have thought that sorcerers suck at underwater battles? Well… except for Yuuji, myself… and even Nobara to an extent…"

She remembered those tests well. Everyone just got their barrier to work, when he brought everyone under the pool and taught them underwater combat. The problem was, when in a physical alteration, the barrier weakens greatly. Not to mention the focus one has to have to maintain it yet also summon their abilities it's a double hit.

She still remembered how well Itadori fought in his mock fight with Suiryu in the pool. Then again, he also just mastered his water elemental and it was an easy fight for him. He didn't have to worry about making a barrier at all!

"Besides that, what are you two doing out? Is this a date?" Mika asked curiously.

Suiryu was silent.

"Well?" Mika said.

"I suppose you could call it that," Nobara confessed. "It's our second one,"

Suiryu's eyes widened as he appeared to have perked up a little. "So it's official? I didn't want to say anything or else it would have made the rest of the night weird."

"You told me they liked you modeling underwear since you weren't a crotch stuffer the last time we went out!" she protested to him.

Mika suddenly turned red. "Wait, what?!" she demanded.

"Most guys shove a pair of sock down there when they do underwear shoots. I'm all natural!" he said with a proud grin. "Not bad for a sixteen year old's body…"

"Uh, you do realize when you say something like that, you are also speaking about Itadori right?" Mika said with a very unimpressed tone.

"Oh God, why did you remind me!" Nobara demanded of her.

"HA!" Suiryu laughed as Nobara panicked, she completely forgot that Suiryu's body is cloned from Itadori's! But still, that mischievous grin of his didn't fade away. "Come on, it's not that bad, besides, Yuuji to you is like a brother isn't he? An annoying little brother… huh… come to think of it, I really do see a theme going here for that guy…"

"Still, MIKA!" she protested.

She snickered too at her freak out. "Well, I'll be off. Have fun you two!"

"You do realize I will make you pay for this next class!" Suiryu shouted back at her yet in a playful tone. "Ah, so this is mortal interaction… it's not bad,"

"Please stop talking like that," Nobara muttered.