Today was the day. Yep, this was it. Kenji had finally spoken to Akko and today was the day they'd finally arranged to meet-up with each other.
There was nothing wrong with that, everything was going to be totally fine.
If that was the case then why was he sweating buckets, with a withered and defeated hobble he collected himself and headed out the door. Kenji wasn't exactly sure how it was going to turn out and right about now that was his absolute worse worry.
'...This is the reason why I didn't want this to go anywhere, I was so sure that Akko didn't like me! Why would I!? I may be an Isekai protagonist, but I'm not that self-centered to think girls would like me!'
Getting it over and done with, Kenji swung his dorm door open heading down the hallway. To his surprise, there were no murmurs from the typical catty girls that would sneer at him from behind his back.
Even as he passed Hannah and Barbara, the two of the same only had a look of admiration on their faces. He genially couldn't tell why, all that had changed was he'd put on a combination of clothes that he'd bought recently.
'Its not like I'm trying to get up my own ass, but maybe I'm more attractive than I give myself credit for..'
The two of them had arranged to meet at the nearby town, if Kenji remembered correctly, they'd gone there for a Nightfall festival a few months back.
That definitely felt weird to think about. That he'd been here long enough to remiss on stuff he'd done a while ago, all of it was incredibly surreal, part of that was the main problem with this entire situation though.
Akko was one of the first girls he'd ever actually felt any feelings for, sure he'd had relationships, but they'd only ever lasted longer than 2 months and he'd never really felt anything towards them.
But with all of that put together, he'd have to go home eventually.
Lost in his own thoughts, Kenji's larger stature ran into a girl, "Oh sorr-"
"Off on your date I see Kenji..."
He recognised that pessimistic judging tone, "Ah Sucy, have you come to mock me in my time of need?" Kenji questioned dramatically, comedically beginning to cry.
"I mean I would...but you're already looking pretty suave and depressed, only one of those in new though so your looking 50% better than usual..." Sucy grinned at him, knowing that it would eat away at him on which one it was.
Kenji: 0 Sucy: 1
"Damn..." Kenji bit on his own thumb out of anger, "..That's a point to you, and I won't be able to get enough to win!"
"What are you talking about? Points I've never heard of them?" She finished her sentence with even more of smug grin.
Kenji's eye twitched once more, holding in his aggression he slowly walked past her, "I'm above this today, you can go have fun with your mushrooms I'll be going.."
With that, he nudged past and silently began quickening his walking pace down the hallway.
"Oi Kenji!" Sucy yelled out to him in one of the rare instances that she would raise her voice.
Begrudgingly, the angsty teen turned back around to meet eyes with her, he hadn't said anything simply waiting to listen to whatever she had to say, "Make sure you show her a good time.."
Kenji couldn't help but let out a little smirk, "I thought you said you don't care about anyone, has the dull Sucy finally become empathetic?" He could tell that had struck a nerve.
Kenji: 1 Sucy: 1
The mauve-haired girl gave him a sidelined embarrassed glare, "No I just don't want to listen to Akko sobbing for the next few weeks because you did something to break her heart..."
'..Right.'
"Right.." Was all Kenji could say, before swiftly turning away from the soon to be awkward interaction.
Yet again, Kenji walked in his shame and confusion, '..Dammit! I don't know what to do'
Sitting on a lone bench by herself was Akko. She fretfully kicked her legs back and forth, doing her best to maintain the utmost amount of composure she'd managed to keep on the way here.
But she was definitely having a hard time doing that. Of course, she was happy that her and Kenji had finally arranged to meet, it even felt a lot like a date and her heart was thumping repeatedly at that.
Picking out an outfit and actually managing to make it to their meeting spot earlier than Kenji was another big thing for her. She hadn't tripped over or dirtied her summer dress, but now she her true anxiety was starting to come out.
'This is fine everything will be fine, Kenji will come and then we can just have fun...nothing bad'll happen like all the other times I've asked out the people I like'
Things like that had happened a lot before Luna Nova, there was several boys that Akko had tried to ask out in the past but it had only ended in...at the best times just being turned away and at the worst, she would be humiliated.
Akko twiddled with her fingers, shaking the sweat dripping down them off, "...No, Kenji isn't like that, even if he doesn't want that he wouldn't want to hurt me.." It was fairly obvious that she was saying that to try and convince herself.
At the end of the day, she would just have to wait and see what would happen.
Rushing down and across the stone layered pathway, Kenji almost stopped directly in his tracks and had to hold back from audibly commenting on how Akko looked.
She was practically perfect, Kenji denial filled brain could at least admit that to himself. Everything about her was pretty much stunning, the way her pink dress perfectly complimented her, along with the way her hair had been styled to match alongside it.
'She looks beautiful...'
Luckily, he had managed to keep that to himself, "S-So Kenji...how do I look?" Akko twirled a little as she popped the question.
"Y-You look...really pretty Akko.." Kenji replied nervously.
The two of them stood in silence among the hustle and bustle, not knowing how or what to speak on, '..God this is so awkward!' They thought in unison.
That was when the plan Akko had forged a day prior burst into her head all at once. On complete instinct, she reached for his wrist pulling him along like she had done multiple times beforehand.
"Come on then Kenji, there's a lot we can do here, it's not even that crowded today so we can enjoy the town to our hearts content!" Akko exclaimed dragging him into a nearby cafe.
'...This really is a date, isn't it? I'll sort this out by the end of it, I'm sure I can get her to understand at the end of it all'
Making it into the old-fashioned looking shop, Akko giddily led them to an open chair. Kenji fiddled with the crystal around his neck as he sat down doing his best to keep up with the brunette in front of him as she spoke at rapid fire.
"Wait Kenji! You didn't tell me...what happened with you and Constanze? Did she agree to make you that portal with the blueprints or was she still being stubborn?" Akko bombarded him with an array of questions, not taking a second to stop.
And to be honest, Kenji didn't mind one bit, "Well, she agreed after we worked together to stop a bunch of gremlins to build it, Constanze has at least grown to tolerate me a little.."
Akko listened happily, "Oh and I got her to talk to me, it was just one word but you bet I'm going to hold her to do that!" Kenji pressed his fingers down onto the table, trying to prove his point more.
"Really!? What did she say? I guess it doesn't matter to be honest...and all of those gremlins were the reasons the school was looking more and more worn down, they took one of my pillows!" Akko yelled out in frustration.
This was nice. Akko and Kenji were completely immersed in their own conversation to even realize that they were speaking above everyone else. The brunette had even forgotten the reason while he was so nervous in the first place.
Right about now, Kenji didn't want to think about the reasons that he couldn't work with Akko.
He scrunched up uncomfortably and did his best to ignore those itching thoughts at the back of his mind, the fact that he'd have to talk this over with her was finally beginning to settle.
"Kenji? Are you ok? Are there too many people here?"
"No...that's not it. Look Akko I really need to talk to you about...us there's just a lot that I want to say-"
"Oh shit! You're a witch from Luna Nova, right?"
Shortly cutting Kenji off was a groggy voice from behind them, they had presumably just walked into the cafe. Kenji blinked at the interaction that was about to take place, he'd seen enough sources of media back home to know the kind of stereotype he was.
"Can we not do this? This plotline is already boring to begin with.." As expected, he turned around to see a lanky looking man. He was probably close to their age, but with his loose black hair and scratched clothing choice he could be mistaken as older.
"What I wasn't talking to you, I get that you're with her and your probably her boyfriend but I've just never seen a witch before...you seem familiar to, don't you go to the witch school as well?"
The stranger had uttered the words that had burst the dam in the cafe, several people began murmuring over him. Kenji had spent so much time in Luna Nova or hadn't made himself known whenever he went to the towns outside of it, that he'd forgotten that it was public knowledge and fairly big that a boy had been let into the all-girls witch school.
Now Akko had stood up from her desk, "Yeah I go to Luna Nova," She spoke a little annoyed, frankly she couldn't stand people like this and right about now wasn't the moment she wanted to deal with something like this.
"No need to sound all that defensive I was just asking, I've never seen witches before. You guys look just like us, I don't get what makes you all so special just because you can do some phony spells.."
Kenji winced internally at that, 'It's like this guy was made to just interfere with Akko and me...'
"Magic isn't phony, it's what can bring everyone together! Don't bother to make fun of it in front of me!" Akko blurted out, raising her voice a little too much.
Listening to what she had to say and watching the life drain from the stranger's face, Kenji just came to the decision to just go with it at this point, "I'd listen to her if I were you, with what she can do with magic I wouldn't test it.." He struggled to stifle his own laughter as he leant on Akko's shoulder.
Even more than before, the man stared off into the distance as if his soul had been ripped right out of him.
The rest of the cafe watched with either a confused stare or slight amusement. Kenji and Akko seized the chance to rush past them all, laughing as they did.
"Hahhaaahha! Did you see the look on his face, he was shitting bricks right there!" Kenji burst out laughing struggling to stand up without the support of his knees, Akko followed alongside him heaving constantly.
"Why did you have to threaten him Kenji!" Akko couldn't get her words out, a breath to full of laughter to get anything out.
"I don't know, people like that are so stereotypical that I couldn't help it!"
After a while of laughing in the open street, the two of them continued to walk around for a little. Not doing all that much besides from talking and occasionally stopping to buy some food.
Soon enough they came across a large crowd of people, "Oh! I wonder what there all doing," Akko's voice was heavily muffled thanks to the mouthful of food she had stuffed in her mouth.
Kenji didn't comment on it all that much, simply wondering if he could even deal with that large group of strangers. He'd gotten better at dealing with strangers and thanks to everyone at Luna Nova he wasn't all that much scared of camera's anymore.
But seriously. For someone like him, even this could be considered as a little too much.
However, he could see the look of pure curiosity and awe on Akko's face, so he couldn't bring it upon himself to tell her that he couldn't handle it.
'Just gotta suck it up and get through I guess...'
With blushed looks on their faces, the two of them weaved hand and hand through the crowd trying to make it the middle. Kenji could guess that it was some kind of performance, much akin to the ones he'd see on the streets back home.
Just like he'd predicted, when they made it to the middle, they saw around three people choreographing a dance together.
He guessed they were using magic in some way to get each other so high in the air, "I forget about it sometimes, but magic in this world really is amazing..." Kenji spoke his thoughts aloud, earning him a joyous open-mouthed grin from Akko.
"It really is! I love magic, more than anything!" Akko voiced her opinion above the blaring sea of people.
"I can tell Akko..." Kenji said almost robotically, doing his best to act normal with the huge number of people around him.
The dancers, unfortunately spotted them looking at their spectacle in admiration, "Alright! We'll now be choosing two people from the audience to be involved within our routine!"
All the colour on Kenji's face was drained off as if a sponge had been wiped over it, he had to escape to the depths of the teeming collection of strangers. If he was picked then he would lose all motor functions fairly quickly.
"How about you young miss and the man that you're with.."
'Of COURSE!' Kenji cursed fate for putting this upon him.
Although, it wasn't exactly like he had to do it. Most of the time when members of the crowd are called on, they usually deny it and the performance continues on like nothing.
But there was just something about Akko's childish expression of joy over getting involved in a demonstration of magic. Maybe that was why he'd gotten so infatuated with her and had such intense feelings for her.
Being around Akko just made Kenji feel...better.
'Stop...get those thoughts out of your head, you were supposed to be thinking of the reasons it can't work remember?'
Akko was oblivious to his own growing fright, to lost as she wandered up to the trio practically hopping on her feet. Kenji did the same, only looking much more dishevelled than her.
"Alright!" The dancer started his loud voice alarming Kenji a bit, "..We'll first be including you in our dance, don't worry you won't have to do too much just make sure perform your own style of dance or magic whilst your midair!"
'This seriously feels like a videogame cutscene..'
In the blink of an eye, Kenji and Akko were thrusted into the dance. The two of them were having trouble keeping up with the rest of the strangers, Akko more so as she didn't know what other magic to use other than metamorphosis.
Kenji was stuck in a daze, doing his best to still function while not passing out cold and dead right then and there.
Finally, Akko took notice of this, flicking her wand in front of both of each other, "Metamorphie Faciesse!" She exclaimed, a large puff of smoke enveloping the two whilst also snuffing out in front of everyone.
The two of them morphed in unison, Kenji was unable to hold in his smile... it was almost like she was trying to pay him back for what he'd done at the cafe.
He liked it that way, they were always helping each other out.
Once the smoke cleared, Kenji and Akko reappeared as both a mouse and falcon, Kenji being the latter. They both flipped and clambered over each other as the dancers hastily managed to follow their lead.
'As scared as I am right now...I can't lie and saying I'm not having fun!'
In one full leap, all of them completed the dance together.
Even if it looked scuffed to the crowd, but to the duo, it was a perfect conclusion.
As they did finish however, Kenji's brain finally lost a screw stumbling him to the ground, he could see the full view of the crowd and he'd just about filled his meter of social cues for today.
"Ah sorry!" Akko helped him up, sounding extremely apologetic, "...Hey Kenji, since you want to get out of this crowd we can go to where I wanted to end our date.."
She had a red blush stamped onto her voice, her face snapped so far to the side that he could only barely see her.
Kenji didn't respond as he wordlessly let Akko pull him to their final spot.
They had finally made it to Akko's planned location after he'd managed to pull himself together, he took a second to take in the flowing field around him, 'It's beautiful..'
It was as if the wind was perfectly blowing alongside the grass and flowers in complete harmony.
"You always say how you like going to places that aren't to crowded, I know you probably wouldn't mind going to places where it is but...I just wanted to do something for you.." Akko explained bashfully.
'Dammit...! Why does it have to be like this, why do I have to be from another world!'
Akko could see the fearful and frustrated look on his face, her heart practically sunk. Had she done something wrong? She'd done her best to scout out the best locations for them to go.
So why did he look so defeated?
"Kenji are you alr-"
"Why did you have to like me Akko! You couldn't have just seen me as a friend like everyone else!?" Kenji exclaimed pulling even harder at his hair, he blinked at his accidental words.
Scrunching her face up a little, Akko now had her look of loss, she was clearly hurt by the outburst.
Kenji couldn't stop now though it was going to be tough to here but the insecurities that had been boiling up inside him for the past two weeks broke open like water from a dam.
"I-It's just...I'm from a completely different world Akko, which has no magic and more importantly no way of getting back!" Kenji continued even further on his rant, taking a breath before starting again.
"That guy from before, the person who was here before me and left the crystal here...he never came back, he made a way to get home and was never able to come back, it didn't matter if he wanted to or not, it simply isn't possible...what would happen if we did try to make it work, we'd have no way of communicating, no way to ever talk to each other, why the hell would you want that, all that would lead to is you getting hurt!"
That was it, Kenji and finally gotten to voice his worries, no matter how much he hadn't wanted to.
Just as he'd expected, Akko looked as if she was on the verge of breaking down right there. He wouldn't have been surprised if she'd ran off then and there, Kenji hadn't wanted to do anything to hurt her.
Holding his hand out anxiously, Kenji reached out for the crimson eyed girl trying to at least explain himself, "Akko look..." He squeezed his eyes shut, slapping himself for not saying it any sooner, "I really like you, your funny, klutzy, kind-hearted and everything about you and your flaws make me feel better, but no matter how you think about it, it won't work..."
"Why can't we try!" Akko spoke the first words she had in a while, wiping away at her stuffy nose and eyes that were brimmed with small fragments of tears, "You're just talking about the obvious Kenji! There's nothing to gain if we do nothing but you say I'll just end up hurt, but I want to go out with you, share more memories with you, I'll just end up hurt if we can't do anything like that!"
Kenji almost fell back from the total whiplash of what she was saying, he hadn't expected it in the slightest. Why was she still so determined about this, she couldn't have like him that much right?
"B-But even if we do choose to make all of those memories! What happens when I eventually go home, you were already scared of me leaving before, how bad do you think it'll be if we started getting closer to each other! Do you really want that above everything?" Kenji sharply retorted, wanting to state his opinion even further now.
If there was one fault of his to call out, it was that he was incredibly stubborn.
"Then...Then...Then we'll just get Constanze to make a portal that works both ways!" Akko yelled out something outrageous.
"What...in what world does that work!?" Kenji pointed out the stupidity of it all.
"Because we have more time, people and resources to make one that can! You can't tell me that isn't something you don't want to at least try!"
Ever so slightly, Kenji hesitated flipping his wrist back a bit, "I just can't...if that doesn't work, what if we can't do that!?"
Moving on instinct, Akko grabbed at his hand pulling them close to her chest, "We have to TRY! I want to more than anything...be with you Kenji.." She murmured the last part a little embarrassed.
Kenji looked down at the pleading, loving glance she was getting from Akko. His heart was practically beating a mile a minute, he couldn't deny that what Akko was suggesting tugged at his chest even tighter.
He really did give Akko special treatment.
At the end of the day, no matter how much the bad thoughts would weigh on his mind, the joyful ones plagued through them even more. He would actually be spending his days in another word with a girl who liked him.
Who could deny a choice like that.
"Fine then...Atsuko Kagari will you do m-me the honour of going out with me?" Kenji stuttered a little bit, trying not to make it sound awkward.
Akko giggled a little at the use of her full name, "I would be honoured to go out with you, Kenji Otsuka...there's still a lot we can do before our dates over d-do you maybe want to have a picnic?"
Kenji smiled at the pleasant nature of the situation. He'd be worried about the future for sure. But right now, being able to be with her just like this was enough for him.
He'd ended up falling for a witch and that was absolutely fine with him.
