Chapter 13: The Surprise
"Man, this is so good!" I say, sipping my caramel frappe.
"You've yet to explain what that was about," Ram says.
"That's why I bought vanilla milkshakes for you two so I wouldn't have to," I say.
"But it would be nice if you just told us," Rom says.
I sigh.
"Sometimes, people hear or see something that gets them really excited and as a result, their nose will bleed. How bad it gets depends on how excited they are," I explain.
"Feels like you're purposefully leaving something out," Ram says.
"It's best to ask Blanc, not me," I say quickly.
I will NOT be responsible for damaging their minds.
"Okay, we won't pry about it anymore," she sighs.
"Thank you," I say.
Finally reaching the apartment building, we go inside.
The elevator should be fine with a shopping cart in it considering my stuff was considerably more heavy.
Back on my floor, I unlock the door and they immediately run in.
"Whoa, this is a pretty cool apartment!" Ram exclaims.
"Super roomy too," Rom says.
I let out a sigh of relief.
Now that I'm back home, I can take off this murder scene of a shirt.
Should probably lock down my bedroom too because they don't need to see all of the Blanc merchandise let alone go looking in that cursed chest.
"I'll be back in a minute. Please don't break something," I say, walking into my room.
"Will do," Rom says.
"Aye aye," Ram says.
Ditching the bloody shirt, I keep my jacket on because I don't feel like digging through a box to get out another shirt.
Pulling out the chest, I ensure it's securely locked before putting it back.
Now which box did I put that extra merch and book copies in?
Here it is!
Pulling out one of my branded bags, I stuff it with all of the volumes of Attack On Giant, One Date Man, and Stir S that are currently out.
That should do it!
I walk out of my room with the bag in hand.
Looking at me, Ram wolf-whistles.
"Ram!" Rom swats her on the shoulder.
"What? You can't say that I'm lying," Ram giggles, making no attempt to whisper.
"Leon, why are you wearing a jacket without a shirt?" Rom nervously asks, her eyes struggling to not look down.
Spontaneous flattery of the day, I suppose.
And from Blanc's sisters no less.
T-Though it's not like my body is built!
More feminine than anything else really!
The curse of being Linda's twin as I already established.
N-Not that I'm necessarily complaining!
"It was too much work to go digging through my boxes for a shirt so I decided to forgo it. I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?" I question.
Rom's face turns red.
"N-Not at all! I w-was just asking is all," Rom stammers, frantically waving her hands in denial.
"Certainly not making me uncomfortable," Ram daringly comments, smugly smiling.
"Ram! Control yourself!" Rom shouts, embarrassed at how Ram is acting.
"Says you! You can't control yourself either!" Ram retorts, overly enjoying the situation.
Yeah… just gonna pretend like I don't hear none of what's going on or has been said.
"Girls!" I raise my voice over them, causing them to stop their squabbling and give me their undivided attention.
I clear my throat.
"This is the surprise I spoke of. Take a look inside," I say, giving the bag to them.
Opening the bag, they are taken aback.
"Are you being serious?!" They both ask, seemingly unable to believe it.
"Of course I am. Every single volume that's out so far of the series that you two love for you to take home," I say.
"They're even signed by Ruruichi himself?!" Ram exclaims, examining a cover of one of the volumes.
Completely forgot I even signed those extra copies.
Guess that's just the cherry on top.
"There's no way we can take this from you!" Rom says.
"It's far too valuable for you to part with," Ram says.
"It's not really that valuable to me. I've got a bunch of extras so don't worry about it," I say.
"E-Extras?" Rom questions.
"Why would you have extras?" Ram asks.
Am I really about to tell them the truth?
Hell yeah I am!
"Isn't it obvious? I'm the mangaka," I chuckle.
They both look at me in shock, wide-eyed from the revelation.
"You're Ruruichi?!" they ask, surprised.
"The one and only!" I answer proudly, hands on my hips like a superhero.
"We've been looking at a shirtless Ruruichi this entire time! I flirted at Ruruichi without even knowing, Rom! Imagine that!" Ram fangirls with her nose bleeding while shaking Rom.
So I guess Ram is a bigger fan than she lets on.
"I get this is really exciting for us but you gotta calm down! You're getting blood on his floor!" Rom says, trying to pacify her sister.
"Then it's just as Ruruichi said! My nose bleeding is an example of how exhilarated I am so your nose should be bleeding too! Unless you're actually a fake fan!" Ram says.
Goes to show how much her mind's in the gutter at the moment.
"I'm the one who introduced you to Ruruichi's books! There's no way I'm a fake fan!" Rom says.
This is very far from how I anticipated things would go.
Amidst their yelling and freaking out at each other, I walk over to the cart and pull out some wipes.
"That's enough of that now," I say, grabbing Ram's chin and cleaning her face.
"L-Leon, I think you're only gonna cause more blood to flow by trying to help!" Ram warns.
"Let's try to avoid that, shall we?" I chuckle.
"No way! This is just like the one scene from One Date Man! It's my personal favorite and it's being recreated before my very eyes!" Rom exclaims suddenly, her nose starting to bleed as well though nowhere as severely.
"You're supposed to be the reserved one, Rom!" I shout.
"I tried to contain myself but I've reached my limit! Sorry, Leon!" Rom apologizes, fangirling with her hands on her face while wiggling her body in place.
To think my reveal to them would turn into this!