Chapter 6 – A date, just the two of us
It was Friday night, Hawks walked to his condominium like a zombie and got exhausted from overwork. As he opened and entered the door, he continued walking to his bedroom.
"Oh! Keigo, welcome home! I'm making dinner tonight," Ravena said.
"Hiiiii…I'll skip dinner. I'm tireeeeed…" Hawks yawned as he started to bed.
"Um… Okay?" Ravena confused.
Hawks collapsed on his bed and fell asleep. Suddenly, he smelt the scent of delicious savory as his eyes widened open. "Wait… That smell… Is that CHICKEN?!"
"Pi-pi-pi-pi-pizza! Summer Beach Barbeque! Chi-chi-chi-chi-chicken! Chicken Wings is all I love!"
While he heard Ravena's singing, he rushed out of his room. He blushed with his eyes widened as he saw Ravena wore nothing but only her red thong and her pink apron. It was been one month as boyfriend and girlfriend and lived in a condominium together within 2 years. They weren't supposed to 'make love' too early before getting married in the future but they broke the rules as rebellious teenagers, as long as they had protections. Hawks snuggled Ravena.
"Oh! Keigo? I thought you're going to sleep," Ravena confused while cooking and stirring the meal in the pot with the wooden spoon at the stove.
"You wake me up by your cooking, Ven-ven," Hawks chuckled.
Ravena giggled as she continued to stir the sauce from the pot. "Well, you better place all the utensils on the table because our dinner is almost done," she smiled.
Hawks nodded as he let Ravena go. He took two spoons, forks, and glasses and set them on the table in their dining room. As the table with utensils were organized, Ravena poured the creamy, white sauce with carrots and broccoli into two bowls, added crispy fried chickens on the top. Next, she placed the bowls on the plates so that she won't hold below the bowls because of the hot meals. She went to the dining room and placed their meals on the table. Hawks stared at Ravena's Fried Chicken with creamy white sauce and vegetables as he felt hungry and drooling for a delish dinner.
"Don't ya stand there, Keigo. Eat up," Ravena smiled.
Hawks sat down quickly on his chair, stabbed the chicken with the fork, and took a bite. The flavors hit Hawks' tongue. "Whooooa! It's delicious! And you put mashed potato inside the chicken," he astonished by the great taste.
"Of course! I was watching 'Cooking with Valkyries' while I was on a break from my mission. Because of the creamy chicken stew and fried chicken stuffed with mashed potatoes, I cooked these Creamy Potato-stuffed Chicken stew for you as my boyfriend-slash-pro-hero," Ravena elucidated cheerfully.
"Aaaaw! You're always sweet, even you're my best friend and girlfriend. I thought it came from Food Wars because my energy returned already," Hawks said and continued to eat his meal in his fortuitous vibe.
"Glad you like it… Also," Ravena opened the refrigerator as she took out two big, sealed, plastic cups of lychee fruit tea with orange, translucent, mini balls and straws. "I brought drinks. Although, I'm curious about the popping boba thingy."
"Oh! I tried that before," Hawks surprised.
"Eh? Does it good?" Ravena raised a brow.
"You need to find out, Ven-ven," Hawks winked with a smile.
As they ate Fried Chicken with creamy white sauce and vegetables together, Ravena sipped the lychee fruit tea and popping boba with a big straw. The first boba went to her mouth as Ravena bit gently and it popped out the sweet orange juice. Ravena was stupefied with her eyes widened open like a baby tasted the ice cream for the first time.
Hawks chuckled. "Surprised? That was my first reaction since high school."
"That's why… I thought it's the same as black pearls that I chewed," she pouted.
"Yeah but it's still good," Hawks smiled.
Ravena smiled and nodded for satisfaction.
After they finished dinner, Ravena placed all the dirty dishes inside the dishwashing machine and washed them away. She wanted to wash them with soap and sponge but she was too busy from work as well as Hawks passed out easily. While waiting for the dishes, Hawks hugged her.
"Ven-ven, I want dessert," Hawks snuggled her neck.
Ravena blushed as she felt his hot breath to her skin. "I made an ice creamcake for dessert. Do you want some?"
"Nope… I want you," Hawks gave her the french kiss as he carried her in bridal style and went to his room. "You're wearing only your apron and thong… I think I still have my energy left," he placed her on his bed and went on the top of her.
"Well, all my clothes were washed and hanged them on the tight ropes until they dried but they're still wet. So, I ended up wearing ~sexy~ for you," Ravena seduced as she took Hawks' jacket and shirt out gently and carefully for his wings. She kissed him.
Hawks blushed and smiled. "Of course."
At 7:00 am, Ravena woke up from Hawks' bed and covered herself with the blanket. Her night with him was wild. She noticed all their clothes messed up on the floor and Hawks wasn't here. She got up with a little muscle pain from the extreme night and wore Hawks' oversized white shirt. She walked out of Hawks' room.
"Morning, Ven-ven!" Ravena jolted as she turned around. Hawks cooked 'egg in the nest' bread and rose tea at the kitchen, noticing that he took a bath. Then, he wore short-sleeves, a white polo shirt, and blue jeans.
"Good morning, Keigo. You wore nicely today. Do you have a meeting or something?" Ravena tilted her head.
Hawks shook his head. "Nah, it's my day off. Plus, can we go on a date?" he asked brightly.
"Oh! No wonder why… Well, sure. I mean, we were too busy from our jobs with no breaks," Ravena smiled with a straightforward answer. Knowing Hawks' workplace, he sometimes worked on Saturdays to extend his previous missions. For now, he deserved a break as Ravena didn't want to stress him out.
"True. Anyway, breakfast is ready," Hawks served their breakfast on the table.
At 9:00 am after breakfast, Hawks relaxed on the sofa as he watched TV. He added to wear black leather jacket with flame designs and flaming red rubber shoes. He was chilled as he waited for Ravena's bath and change of clothes. Although, he felt a little guilty that he didn't take her on a romantic date like the other couples because of his duty as a pro-hero. He waited for Ravena to complain or anger but she didn't do those reactions. She only understood his situation because her work and college studies were the same as his. They did work together as a team, sleeping, buying some groceries, cooking meals, doing house chores, and watching movies. For now, it was his first date with Ravena.
"I'm ready. Sorry for a long time," Ravena said.
Hawks turned his head to Ravena. "No worries, we can spend-" he stopped as he stared at Ravena's above-the-knee, black and red gothic lolita dress with chrysanthemums pattern designs. Her doll shoes were black with red Chrysanthemums on top of them. "Whooooooa… This is my first time to see you in gothic lolita style… Did you wear that on special occasions?" he surprised.
"Yup! Only on special occasions. I never wore this on work or important things. Do you like it? If it's too much, I'll change-"
"It's cool. Besides, you're beautiful," Hawks gave her thumbs up for approval.
Ravena blushed. "Why thank you… So, where are we going exactly?" she asked.
"To the mall, park, or amusement park?" Hawks suggested.
"Amusement park!" Ravena answered quickly as she was excited to ride on every ride.
After two hours, Hawks rode in his red sports car with Ravena and arrived at the amusement park. It was very childish but the amusement park was a great place for stress relief and fun adventures. All the families, friends, and couples were traveling around while enjoying their times.
"Keigo, can we ride a roller coaster please?!" Ravena begged with her 'big puppy' eyes as she pulled Hawks' sleeve.
"Sure but we should ride the relaxing ones for starter-"
"LET'S GOOOO!" It was too late for Hawks as Ravena pulled him to the line for the roller coaster.
As they rode on the roller coaster, it began to move up to the mountain top trail as Ravena was extremely nervous about it.
"Oh my god! Why is this so scary?!" Ravena shivered.
"Well, it's only one ride for the extreme nervous wrecking and we might not ride it again after we first try," Hawks explained with confidence.
"Eh? Have you ride this before?" Ravena looked at him in puzzlement.
"No-ooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Hawks screamed as the roller coaster drove down faster and did the loop while everyone screamed.
"OOOOOHHHMMMMYYYGOOOOOOOOD! I DON'T WANNAAAAAA DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" Ravena screamed in fear.
"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Hawks screamed with overjoyed and no fear at all.
After the extreme roller coaster ride, Hawks helped Ravena as she tried to stand up from her wriggling legs.
"That ride was super intense as I can't walk straight. It's so scary!" Ravena whined.
"At least, we experienced it for the first time. True, it was intense but it wasn't fast enough," Hawks chuckled.
"You're so cocky that you're the fastest bird alive," Ravena pouted.
"Maybe… Now, what's next?" Hawks asked.
"Let's ride that boat!" Ravena pointed at the 'ship away' ride.
"Um… Ven, you need to take a-"
"BOOOOOOOAAAAAAAATTT!" Ravena shouted as she rushed to the next ride with excitement.
"Is she high?" Hawks confused.
Ravena and Hawks rode any extremely rides as fast as possible until they completed them. At the food court, Hawks ordered two fruit shakes and bottles of water and walked to the table as he sat down and placed them on the table. He waited for Ravena.
"Keigo, they ran out of chicken BBQ but I ordered something new," Ravena placed the huge plate of two turkey legs with French fries and salads on the table.
"Whoa! They were huge drumsticks. Guess it was an early Thanksgiving," Hawks joked.
Ravena laughed. "Yup! Kinda surprised that Japanese markets have turkey meats. I thought we have beef, pork, chicken, and most kinds of seafood."
"Not only that. We have bizarre ones like shark meat, frog, snails, fugu fish, and other animals that were legal. As long as they need to increase their animals' population," Hawks reminded.
"And you eat those bizarre foods?" Ravena asked with her eyebrow raised.
"Nope, I'll stick with seafood, pork, beef, and most chickens," Hawks replied honestly.
"I see. Well, let's eat," Ravena sat on her seat as they ate the turkey legs.
"So good. The turkey meat is kinda thick but juicy. It was a perfect match for salads and fries," Hawks amazed as he took another bite. "Anyway, why you want to ride the extreme ones? Are the relaxed ones like 'merry-go-round' and 'Ferris wheel' boring to you?"
"I want to experience all the extreme rides because I want to feel the balance of fear and fun for the very first time. As for the second one, nope because I'll save them for romantic reasons," Ravena replied.
Hawks nodded. "I understand. The amusement park will be close at midnight. So, we can spend our time here," he smiled.
"Yehey! This will be the best day-off ever!" Ravena cheered as she clapped her hands happily. "After lunch, we should play carnival games and try desserts at the food stalls," she suggested.
"Alright. Are we going to collect prizes from the games? For me, I rather give them to the kids from the orphanage," Hawks reminded.
"Cooool! You're so sweet, Daddy Bird. I should cook some free meals for them too," Ravena giggled.
"Don't forget, Mama Dracula. Kids are picky when they come to veggies. You're going to make them cry," Hawks teased her.
"Hmph! Tahimik ka, pulang manok!(Quite, you red chicken!)" Ravena turned her head with a puffy face.
After they finished their lunch, they explored and played many carnival games. They enjoyed the shooting game, fishing rubber duckies, strength test and so many games in the afternoon. Hawks got a lot of prizes. Unfortunately, Ravena got one, small, ugly bear keychain.
"Grrrrrr… Why I didn't get cool prizes?" Ravena groaned angrily.
"Well, it wasn't easy to play games like that," Hawks said.
Ravena pouted. "Oh really? You won all the games because you're skillful and talented. Also, Mama President's favorite child."
"Not really… Only I worked harder," Hawks chuckled. "How about some strawberry snow ice with popping boba? My treat?"
Ravena changed to her cheerful self. "Yay!"
As Hawks bought a cup of strawberry snow ice with popping boba and gave it to Ravena, he told her that he'll bring all the prizes in his car because he can't carry more while dating. Ravena agreed as she decided to wait at the food court. While Hawks went to the parking lot, Ravena was eating it happily.
"Kyaaaaaah! It's All Might!"
"Oh my gosh! He's here!"
"He's soooo hot with his abs!"
"Let's eat him!"
"Whooooaaaa there! I'm not a food!"
All the fangirls rushed closer to All Might but All Might ran away without any harmful actions. Ravena giggled to watch him as they chased him. Suddenly, she remembered that Hawks had fangirls. He was not a flirtatious type like the other pro-heroes try to flirt with other ladies. For the open-minded women, they saw his personalities. He was carefree, blithesome and highly intelligent as he can read their emotions and logics.
'What happened if Keigo got a better woman than me?'
'Will he break up with me?'
'Can we still be friends?'
Ravena shook her head to not think of negative questions. She knew him more than anyone.
"Why didn't you make us proud, Maria?"
By hearing the whisper, Ravena gasped as she glanced at the surrounding. The people were enjoying their lives. Consequently, in her vision, she saw ghosts of the women covered in blood while the people walked through them without further notice.
"Why you didn't avenge us?"
"You abandon our sisters!"
"You didn't recreate our sisterhood!"
"How did you do this to us?!"
All those voices in Ravena's mind made her ran away. She kept running as the crowd noticed or ignored.
"Please leave me alone!" Ravena cried.
"Maria, you inherited my power and you wasted it!"
"Come to us, Maria!"
"Let's devour men and let the women join our sisterhood!"
"VEN?!"
"Oof!" Ravena bumped at Hawk's chest as she looked at him with her tears.
"Are you alright? Did something happen to you?!" Hawks asked and checked on her.
Ravena wiped her tears and took a breath. "I'm fine. Sorry. I was a little scared."
Hawks observed that she almost had a mental breakdown. Leaving her alone in the crowd wasn't a good idea or maybe she was stressed from work. "Do you want to go home?" he asked worriedly.
"W-w-what?! No! I don't want to ruin our date. Let's move on," Ravena answered as she suddenly changed into a cheerful mode. Even though, she wasn't herself.
"I see… Hmm… One last ride, the Ferris wheel. Is it okay?" Hawks suggested as Ravena nodded.
After the long line for the ferris wheel, Hawks and Ravena finally entered the huge pod and began to rotate higher for the next passengers. They were calm as they starred at the magnificent sightseeing of the night with city lights. Ravena fell silent at the moment.
"What's wrong, Ven? Is there something trouble?" Hawks asked as he was concerned.
"I'm fine…"
"Ven, it's okay for not okay. You can talk to me as your best friend. Just like the good old days. If it's personal, I try my best not to ask," Hawks reminded.
"… What if it's a family matter? Are you still family, right? Promise not to freak out?" Ravena looked at Hawks' eyes as she wished to be honest.
"Absolutely," Hawks accepted and readied to listen.
Ravena sighed as she lied back on her seat. "Five years ago, the HPSC brought me to the Helios Academy for Heroes and Witches. When I entered school, the hero students gave me friendly vibes while the witches gossiped about my appearances."
"Witches? Are they real?" Hawks raised a brow.
"I thought it's a fandom at first. When the bully did the sexual harassment to the witches, they turned him into a frog. So, basically yes and I don't want to interfere with them. I saw the witches used magic spells with different languages, which is very different from quirks."
"Huh… Then, why they gossiped about your appearance? I mean, people with quirks have different appearances, like me. I'm a birdman," Hawks joked.
Ravena giggled. "Silly Keigo! Anyway, the reason is they thought I was one of the extinct Blood Witches. I only know Blood Magic as they used them for immortality, manipulation in the persons' bodies, dark arts, and sacrificial arts but Blood Witches are the most significant and venturesome sisterhood than other witches. According to the legends from the witch library, the first Blood Witch was a half-vampire and half-witch. Her parents weren't married and in love. Her mother killed her father and abandoned her since she was eight years old. Long story short, she discovered her unique blood magic from her father's side and created a huge sisterhood of Blood Witches."
"Whoa! Sounds epic. It's like your great grandmothers, aunties and sisters have girl power. I wonder why they were nonextant," Hawks wondered.
"The most horrendous reason was because of their vampire sides. The Blood Witches drank men's blood until they died. They needed for youth and immortalities. They don't care about their 'husbands' or 'sons'. Therefore, they only accepted their daughters and other female witches from other countries as they forced them to be one of them. As the Blood Witches' cause of deaths, they were murdered by vampires that disguised themselves as angry mobs," Ravena clarified. She sighed and glanced at the window. "As a result, I continued my dream and became a pro-hero. I called my quirk, Blood Arts. Not planning to avenge my family because of man slaughter. Because of my bullshit curiosity about 'I want to know my biological family', I had the worst illusions about them as they forced me to be one of them which I honestly disagreed."
Hawks felt cringe about the Blood Witches' crimes and the murderers. Both of them were messed up in the darkest age. When he looked at Ravena, he remembered her dream about meeting her real family since they were kids but the harsh reality shattered her as he always believed that she hated to repeat the history as the blood witch and understood her decision. He sighed. "At least, you knew the truth. You're not the only one who had a bad family history. Five years ago, the HPSC informed me that my parents were arrested for illegal drugs and robbery. As I checked on them at the prison, I saw my parents got beaten up by the other prisoners. I was hesitated at first if I could help them or let them be. After what they did to me in the past, I just left them without a word or seeing each other. Someone might think that I made a bad choice but…" he went silent.
"With your past experiences and scars, you did the right thing by not let them hurt you or use you as an escape. Still, you're right that I'm not alone. Some of us had terrible past with horrifying people but we choose to move forward for the right paths. As for the horrifying people like the Blood Witches and your parents, they need to realize their heinous mistakes and atone for their sins… It depends on them if they accept it or denied it," Ravena said.
"That's what I'm going to say unless I let you speak up. I read your emotions earlier. So, I opened up to you about our families, which they're serious… I know that I'm no therapist but I can help you as we fix it together. Is it okay for you?" Hawks asked as he blushed with a kind smile.
"Therapist for free? Of course!" Ravena replied cheerfully.
"Nope… I want yakitori and fried chicken for the exchange," Keigo grinned happily.
Ravena giggled as she pinched Hawks' cheeks. "Still a chicken lover boy… But still, thank you and I love you," she kissed his cheek.
Hawks smiled and kissed her lips. "I love you too. I'll be there for you… Promise me that we're still together no matter what."
As they were going to kiss again, the fireworks exploded into the night sky as they sparked like surprising stars. One of the staff members played the song 'I choose' by Alessia Cara from the auditorium to add lovely music. All the people were amazed by the candescent fireworks. Ravena and Hawks watched them with the smile on their faces and holding hands. Ravena led her head on Hawks' shoulder as he comforted her. Their date was a success. No stress from work. No calamity from the villains. Just a simple, romantic day for them.
Meanwhile, at the mansion from the mountain top, Minikui watched a video of Hawks and Ravena kissed inside the capsule of the Ferris wheel. She hired a private investigator to spy on Hawks. When their date went smoothly, Minikui gritted her teeth and gripped her wine glass as she threw it at the flatscreen TV.
"That bitch?!" she grunted.
"Meinu-san, is that the woman you want me to assassinate?" the man in black tuxedo asked her. He was in his mid-30's and worked as a yakuza.
"Yes. I'll pay you one million to kill her. If you burn or destroy her body, I'll pay you one billion," Minikui smirked as her sin of envy wished to erase Ravena's existence and her lust for Hawks. "Make sure that we don't reveal ourselves, got it?"
"Certainly, Miss Meinu," the man bowed with her respect.
Minikui starred at Hawks with her satyriasis desire. "You're going to be mine, Keigo Takami."