Updated at 08/10/2020
On the central park in Kuoh, one could find a girl waiting there. She was dressed in a casual pink vest over a light yellow short dress that made her look quite lovely. Her usual twin tails were now a single ponytail that made her look a bit more mature and she had white sandals on her feet that made the cute but mature look become even more accentuated by an air of casualness.
She looked relaxed but, in truth, she was a pile of nerves. This was in fact her very first date in her entire life and she was nervous about what her partner on this would think of her. She wanted to have spent more time getting ready, select her clothes better, but her boss had made her work overtime and she was so late she only had time to take a quick bath and put on the first clothes she could get before darting out.
She put on a little extra perfume to disguise in case she had any kind of smell still lingering, and she feared that her date would notice her own smell.
"Ruruko, there you are." Ace's voice came from the side and she turned to look at him approaching. He was wearing black pants, a white tank top, and a white jacket above it. When Ruruko saw him she almost froze for a moment there and stared for a bit longer than she would have liked to admit.
[You gained +3 affection points with Heroine Ruruko Nimura (14/100)]
Ace saw this and ignored it, deciding that he shouldn't overly worry about this now. Regardless of anything else, this was his first actual date on this life, he might as well just enjoy it and leave his worries for later.
"Sorry I'm late, had a lot of work and on the way here I got called for another one. Thankfully that one was fast so taking care of it only took a few moments." Ace said and Ruruko nodded, remembering her many jobs as a devil and how they were all usually terrible in some way.
"It's alright I can understand that." She said. "Kaichou also makes me do all sorts of things and they are not always on a time I would have liked."
"Anyway what should we do? Considering the time, how about if we go to a restaurant?" Ace said and she nodded happily
"Sounds great. I was hoping to eat something first too, the snacks from the student council don't fill up at all, and I know a nice place to get us a good burger that I bet you would like." She said with a happy smile.
Nodding to her they started moving and after a few minutes of walking and talking the two quickly got along as they laughed a bit of some of the situations they could see back in school and how some of them turned out in a funny way or another.
"Here we go. This is where I thought would be a nice place." Ruruko said and it was a nightclub. It was a bit crowded despite still being a Thursday and not the weekend, many teens and young adults were going in and Ace raised a brow at the option. Seeing this Ruruko gave a light giggle and said. "What? The food here is actually pretty good despite not looking like someplace like this would have nice food."
"Interesting, never would have guessed it." Ace admitted freely, not used on being in a nightclub, at least not as a client. He worked as a bouncer one or ten times before, but never really went into one as a client. Too busy looking for money. Turning to Ruruko he asked. "So, I guess you like places like this?"
She gave him a bright smile and said back.
"Yeah, this kind of place is fun. Hey, after eating what if we hit the dance floor?" What Ruruko didn't admit is that she went to this place a few times hoping that at least one guy would try and flirt with her. It never succeeded as most guys thought of her as too childish and she didn't call nearly as much attention as other girls when it comes to sexiness, but she at least enjoyed the music and could dance freely while there. She even got to befriend many of the people that frequented the place.
Entering the place Ace and Ruruko could hear loud music and it was honestly quite a nice one. Moving to find someplace to sit and ask for some food Ace drew the attention of many people as he walked. His unnatural charisma and charm stats shining through as people turned to look at him as he walked and Ruruko sighed, knowing that she would never really drew nearly as much attention like him.
As they moved deeper inside they found a table and sat there. Not even a minute after a waitress appeared and gave Ruruko and Ace the menu and before long they gave orders for some potato chips and hamburgers as well as some drinks.
"So, what happened today? I thought I would meet you at school today but you missed it." Ruruko asked and Ace shrugged.
"To be honest, after the entire thing with the fallen angels yesterday I still had another job I had to make in Karakura Town. Unfortunately, I kinda got involved with rescuing a girl from the Old Satan faction and now I am one of her bodyguards." Ace admitted honestly, hiding only the people involved and who he faced.
"Wow, your life is so exciting." Ruruko said and Ace just gave a mirthless chuckle, in his mind he wanted to say he really wanted it was less 'exciting', but knowing his luck those words would only lead to more trouble... somehow.
"So, what happened today in school?" Ace asked and Ruruko answered.
"Taichou and Rias-sama were very stressed after yesterday. That made Taichou make us do a whole lot more work today and it seems like a rumor spread amongst your fangirls about our date today and I was almost lynched for it." Ruruko said and Ace gave her a sympathetic look.
"If it helps I feel sorry for your plight." Ace said and Ruruko rolled her eyes.
"Not that you feeling sorry will make that whole thing not have happened." She said and he gave her a teasing smile.
"Well, you were the one that called me out. I hope you almost get lynched like that was worth the date." He said and she gave him a teasing smile.
"If you put enough effort, maybe."
As she said this Ace smiled, it was truly quite easy to get along with Ruruko for him, relaxing even.
They continued talking and a few minutes later the food arrived.
Ruruko ate with gusto but Ace was honestly not impressed.
"What? Is something wrong with the food?" She asked.
"No, it is not that. It is just that, for the price they are asking, this food isn't tasty enough to justify it." He said and she shrugged.
"I dunno, it tastes good enough to me." She said and Ace scoffed at that. Feeling a bit irritated she looked at him. "What? You can do better than this for the same price?"
"Easily." Ace admitted.
"Then prove it. Tomorrow meet me at the roof of the school and you must present me with a delicious dish costing no more than 30 dollars to make."
"Oho, that sounds interesting. And what makes you think I will do this for you?" Ace asked and Ruruko raised a single eyebrow at this.
"'What is wrong Mc'Fly? Chiken?'" Ruruko said and Ace gave a hearty laugh at what she just said.
"'Back to the Future', a classic. Just for that reference, I will do what you just said. I will make you the damn best food you can get from 30 dollars total." As Ace calmed down he looked at her. "Didn't expect you to know that movie?"
"There is a lot about me you don't know. So, how about you finish eating your burger and drink your cola before we get to the dance floor." She said and Ace nodded.
As the two finished eating they went to the dance floor. While getting there Ruruko was greeted by many people and it was clear that she knew a lot of people around as she threw a little chit chat here and there.
"I see that you are a regular here!" Ace said, teasing Ruruko a little bit.
"I used to come here, but thanks to Taichou I don't really have time to come here as much as I would have liked. It is always 'do this, do that', and 'don't do anything that will tarnish the reputation of the Sitri house' or whatever. She is quite controlling sometimes." Ruruko said sadly, she liked to come here but, lately, Sona has been annoyingly against letting her come because she deemed the place unfit for a servant of Sitri.
Well, to be fair Sona has grown up on an aristocratic world and Ruruko was by all intents and purposes just a normal teen until she got reincarnated. The way they see things is not the same, but regardless Ruruko banished such thoughts and immediately grabbed Ace's arm and pulled him to the dance floor.
"Come on, this is my jam!" She said excitedly as the DJ played a popular pop song.
Ace felt a little change in Ruruko's behavior as she seemed so carefree now. It was completely different from when she was in school as there she was always trying to act properly because of her position, but now she was quite unlike that. Her hair was flowing around as she moved and accompanied the song. Ace was right, as soon as Ruruko hit the dance floor, she began to dance beautifully, drawing people's attention, and Ace was no exception!
The DJ gave a shoutout to Ruruko like he was familiar with her, and in truth, he really was as he contracted her a few times before, not that Ace knew it.
As soon as she finished dancing, the others around began to chant for an encore, as they wanted to see Ruruko danced one more time!
At the same time, Ace was just standing there like a tree. He wasn't familiar with the song, and he wasn't particularly fond of dancing either despite being lvl 18 or 100 in dancing. As such, as to not embarrass himself, Ace decided to just stand there waiting for Ruruko to finish, choosing instead to appreciate her dancing.
But the DJ immediately changed the song, and Ace was a little bit surprised by the song that the DJ chose, it was Pussy Control!
Prince's booming single and music from Jojo Part 5!
Ace couldn't help himself and began to dance to the song as he always imitated the moves from that epic scene he had seen in JoJo part 5. He began to slide in, threw a hand up and much more bizarre move that appeared in the Jojo anime and, weirdly enough, the crowds began to watch Ace in awe, and some even began to mimic Ace's move!
"This dance is weird! But it's cool!" Some guy said as he tried to mimic Ace's movement.
Thanks to his stats Ace was decidedly a handsome guy with a charisma rarely seen amongst humans. Due to this, it was not hard to attract the crowd to mimic his dance moves. Even Ruruko also started laughing trying to mimic his move too. It could be said that everyone was having a good time on the dance floor, but the music had to end at one point, and after that Ace was finally done dancing.
"You are so cool! Your dance is awesome!" Some girl on the side shouted at Ace as he walked over to the side.
"Yeah, what dance is it? does it have any name?" Some guy asked Ace.
"To be honest, I call it Torture Dance." Ace said and, in his mind, he was chuckling at the thought of the dance. He wondered if he could somehow get the Ope Ope no Mi just so he could replicate that scene, it would be fun if he could.
Everyone was excited and asked for him to dance it again but he denied it, it was just luck that he knew at least that one dance but as another song started he decided to just say 'fuck it' and do whatever the hell his body told him to do.
He could only hope his Dancer skill would be enough to not embarrass himself.
Thankfully it was and soon he and Ruruko were dancing together and having plenty of fun.
Time passed and after some time they had to get going. They still had class the next day and it wouldn't do for them to miss it. Well, in truth Ace wouldn't care either way since he really didn't want to get to school when there is every chance some bullshit regarding Rias will happen but Ruruko's king would mind if she didn't go very much.
Leaving the nightclub the two began walking home. Ace walking her to her house as they talked. She asked to know more about him and he did the same, the two leisurely talking about whatever came to their head.
"Hey, Ace-kun. Can I ask you something?" Ruruko asked as they were close to getting into her home.
"Sure. What is it?" He asked back.
"I was wondering, could you be my contracted magician?" She said and he answered.
"It depends, as you know I have no idea about anything regarding magic." Ace admitted and reinstated this that he had previously told Sona and her entire Peerage, which included Ruruko.
"I know. I don't mind teaching you the basics, I am sure you will be able to get the hang of it soon enough. Besides, it is not like I am having much luck on getting a magician contract either way. I am still young and not well known so no one even sent a request for me." She said sadly and Ace gave her head a head-pat.
"It will be fine. I would love to be your contracted magician." Ace said and it was true. As he continued patting her head he gave her a smile and some notifications appeared in front of him.
[Event Completed: 'First Date'. You gained +30 affection points with heroine Ruruko Nimura (44/100)]
[Requirements met; Skill learned, 'Head-patting': a passive skill it grants a 'Kind touch' when patting a heroine's head. Every pat will be felt as if it is filled with the love and kindness found only in Shoujo Manga]
Ace ignored this as Ruruko blushed up a storm and turned away from him.
"I, I see. Good. Tomorrow, at lunch, you better bring the food. I will research what I can to try and help you learn magic as fast as possible." She said while refusing to look at him.
Finally, Ruruko could see her home in the distance.
"Anyway, this is my way to say, you know, thanks." She said hurriedly before moving to him and giving him a light peck on the cheek. Smiling at Ace she quickly darted to her home, without waiting for Ace to take her there as she was just too flustered to deal with this right now. That light peck was as much as she could currently do.
Entering her home Ruruko put a hand on her chest and smiled, this was her first date ever and she loved it. With a smile on her face, she walked into her home, trying to remember all she could about regular magic that she could help Ace with but in her mind memories of what she just did playing again and again in her head.
As for Ace, he just smiled and shook his as he moved back to the mansion. This was a normal date, nothing spectacular about it, and that made him enjoy it all the more.
In his mind Ace still hoped he could sleep for a bit before it was time to get up, especially since he would need to get up early if he was to prepare some good food.
'Well, worst come to worst I can just change to the Hormone fruit and give me an extra dose of adrenaline, that will let me move about without an issue.' Ace thought as he put a fond smile on his lips.
The day might have been chaotic for Ace, but he had to admit that the end of it was quite nice, even if his system creating impossible skills and whatnot was a tad irritating. Ruruko was not a girl that could make heads turn or that was exotic, far from it, but she was just so easy to get along with that Ace couldn't help but like her more than he ever expects he would.
And so the day ended and Ace had to admit that, despite all the problems and headaches, this was a good day.
AN:
Shorter chapter but I figured this would be a nice point for the chapter to end. This chapter may not be good on the eyes of many, God knows I struggled with myself if I should have made it more exciting or not, but in the end, I am okay with this.
A simple date was a good enough chapter for me, having some chapters to just develop a more proper relationship instead of it all being done off-screen or in extreme situations and 'one-liners' looks like a good idea in my eyes.
Also, I am somewhat struggling to find some way for the MC to get the training to level up he decidedly needs. Currently, I am divided between the following options:
- He was born with the Longinus Dimension Lost but the system locked it away, Azazel manages to awaken it when the two meet, and Ace can use this gear to come and go from Hueco Mundo where he can train as much as he wants;
- Ace manages to obtain the Door Door fruit and he can use this fruit to come and go from Hueco Mundo where he can train as much as he wants;
- He was born with the Longinus Innovate Clear but the system locked it away, Azazel manages to awaken it when the two meet, and Ace can use this gear to pretty much have Id Create from the Gamer, but there are no items given to him nor drop items, it is just a place to train and face monsters. He can also only control the general level of the monsters as well as their numbers, not their strengths, weaknesses, sizes, or most other things. Heck, he may end up facing a hundred enemies just to end up surrounded by Muks from Pokemon or those terrifying rabbits from Re:Zero;
- Ace gets an agreement with Rias to help her and her Peerage train to fight Riser in exchange for the whole thing being somewhere where there are plenty of monsters and that exterminating them won't be an issue. This would only be a temporary solution but it would work, even if Ace would still have low stats for a time;
- Ace enters in a contract with Azazel where Ace is the one to do the 'cleaning' of any stray devils that show up in Fallen Angel territory, Azazel only needs to teleport Ace to the city where Ace has to exterminate the stray and then bring Ace back. Ace gets paid for each extermination but not by a lot;
Those are the five options I could figure that can potentially work. Which one works best I am honestly not sure, I am in quite a bit of doubt there.
Anyway, thanks for reading and until next time, peace.
