Kitty's plan is enacted here! What will Reiner's response be to the idea of this romantic date? He didn't seem too keen on the idea before, hopefully he can cheer up a bit and enjoy his date!

Also, thank you to everyone who read my story "The Heir to the Dragon". I would appreciate if you continue to read and support it in the future! You can get there through my profile! The story is finally completed! Thank you for reading!

The Semi-Final Round of the second Pokemon Academy Best Girl contest has begun! Which three of these six girls will make it to the Finals? So far we've only got a few votes in, and by that, I mean only four people have voted! We can do better than that! Show your support for your best girl and vote on the poll in my profile! We want this competition to be close, after all! Who's going to win?!

Semi-Finalists: Ayame, Sylvia, Marion, Sango, Elaina, Valerie

Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Hopefully it will be fun enough.

KedharS: Really hope it will be.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Sadly, not really. One relationship will come to a tragic end, however. I can confirm that much.

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 682

Night began to fall on the Pokemon Academy, and couples were starting to settle down for the night. Some were going to the dance, some were having romantic meals together, and some of them weren't doing a damn thing, sitting around and spending a peaceful night in.

Reiner was quite firmly in the third category, minus the part about his better half spending the evening with him. He was enjoying streaming a series online, rather than doing what he should have been doing and going on a date with Nikita.

Or studying.

Or training his pokemon.

For someone as diligent as Reiner, it was a surprise that he was treating Valentine's Day like an actual break, and slacking off.

It wasn't that he was bored, he just didn't have anything better to do. He didn't want to admit it, but he had actually been excited when Nikita had texted him earlier today and suggested that they go on a date together.

Reiner knew he wasn't a very romantic person usually, but that didn't mean the idea of a romantic date wasn't appealing to him, he could be romantic if he had a good reason, and Nikita was a very good reason. He liked Nikita, and wanted to spend time with her, it was as simple as that. He just had difficulty saying it sometimes.

Add in the fact that the whole problem with Blake had made things tense, and he couldn't be blamed for not trying to do anything romantic on Valentine's Day, could he?! Reiner was a guy who needed to plan things out, if he was going to do something romantic it would have to be elaborate, to show his girlfriend just how much he cared.

Blake's disappearance had put his priorities somewhere else. It had seemed in bad taste to plan a secret romantic event with his girlfriend knowing that Ayame might never see her boyfriend again. And by the time he had returned and Reiner turned his attention back to Valentine's Day, it had been way too late to do anything about it.

So Reiner had chocked the whole thing up as an unfortunate loss, and committed himself to making sure that the next Valentine's Day he spent with her would make up for the loss that had happened on this one.

It was a cold comfort, though. He knew what people must think of him, that he wasn't a very romantic guy, that he had no interest in stuff like love, and was incredibly insensitive. They weren't wrong to think those things, but…

No, there was more than that! He could be romantic too! He wanted to show his girlfriend something romantic, but it had just been an unfortunate mistake.

At the time, he had wondered if it had been for the best. Even if people thought that he wasn't very romantic, he knew that Nikita didn't have much joy for romance. Usually, anyway. Their relationship was a lot more… comfortable. They weren't like Blake and Ayame, who were making out all the time, or like Callie and Nick, with Callie tightly clinging to her boyfriend so excitedly.

No, they were just… They were just comfortable! That's the most he could say about it, and that wasn't so bad, was it?

Of course, Nikita did want to show romance sometimes. She had unsubtly implied that she wanted him to show a romantic gesture for Valentine's Day, which had been one of the things that he liked about her. She wasn't afraid to tell him when she wanted something. Nikita may have been shy, but she was forward.

It was definitely one of the things that made his relationship with her better than relationships that he had imagined himself having, based on watching crummy romcoms and reading trashy romance manga and novels.

Unlike those girls who forced him to read deeply into things and guess their intentions, something Reiner would probably be really shitty at doing, Nikita was a logical person who understood that if she didn't let him know what she wanted, he wouldn't know.

It was one of the reasons their relationship worked. And even though she usually wasn't very romantic (they had only kissed a few times) he knew that she had probably been looking forward to doing something romantic.

Which made the fact that things had fallen through feel that much worse. But they had both agreed that it wasn't the right time to do something romantic, right? That they didn't have to care about Valentine's Day, talking themselves out of it by saying it was just needless romance, and there were more important things to get concerned about.

But internally, Reiner wished that they could still do something romantic together, and he had felt that from the moment the two of them had peaked in on Ayame holding Blake tightly, sitting on his bed. It had reminded him of how much fun it was to do something with someone you loved, and made him feel a fondness for one of their other sparse dates, in the Galar region.

So when Nikita had texted him earlier in the day, telling him that she was having second thoughts and wanted to do something romantic, he had been over the moon.

Of course, the realism of the situation had quickly made the plans fall through, because there wasn't anything romantic they could really do; neither one of them liked dancing, or being around others, so going to the dance was out of the question. And all the restaurants were booked up, which meant that they couldn't really do anything romantic together.

Reiner probably could have pushed harder, though. It wasn't like they needed a fancy dinner or anything to have a romantic evening. They could have just stayed in and watched something! But maybe that wouldn't have appealed to the logical Nikita's perception of romance.

Still, he could have suggested it, at least.

Reiner's phone beeped, and he got off of his bed, climbing down and walking over to the charger. Nikita had sent another text! He picked up his phone and checked it, reading her suggestion. He couldn't believe it. Maybe the two of them really were on the same wavelength.

After all, Nikita was bringing their earlier conversation back up, telling him that she had something romantic planned. Reiner was supposed to meet her outside of Bulbasaur House for their "date", and he should dress nicely.

He felt happy. Nikita had taken the initiative to do something romantic? Even though she had been the one to suggest earlier that they go on a date, he hadn't expected her to plan something out, that was a level of dedication to romance and their relationship that Reiner hadn't seen before. It made him feel relieved, like she really was as invested in this whole thing as he was.

Reiner quickly put his phone aside and changed into some nice clothes, barely having the time to text a reply to his girlfriend, carefully written to not make him look so eager.

His whole way down the stairs, Reiner wondered what Nikita could have planned. After all, she wasn't the most romantic sort. Maybe a hot and heavy… studying session? He suppressed a laugh, that was exactly the sort of thing that she would do!

When he got to the bottom of the stairs and walked outside, his eagerness took a serious blow. Standing in the path up to the dorm was Julia, wearing a scowl on her face. What was she doing here? He was supposed to see Nikita.

"Julia?" Reiner asked. "I'm looking for Nikita, where is she?"

Julia cleared her throat, clearly no more happy to be here than Reiner was that she was here. "Good evening," she said with a voice devoid of passion, like she was reading from a menu. "I'm here to serve as your escort for the night. Right this way, please…"

Julia turned and gestured towards a path of flat stone stiles leading from the side of the trail, clearly set down in the snow not too long ago. Reiner raised his eyebrow and turned to her for clarification, but her only answer was a sniff and a roll of her eyes. She waved her arm at him to get going down the pathway, griping about being "volunteered" for this the whole way.

Reiner reached the end of the tiled path and was surprised at what he saw.

Down the way, far enough from the Bulbasaur House that it wasn't a distraction, a table had been set up, with an awning over it. Lit in a circle around the table was a ring of candles, flickering and casting an orange glow across the bright snow, with more candles bunched up at the end of the path, forming a small entrance.

It was an approximation of a candlelit dinner that Reiner had to admit was an excellent job. Standing at the end of the path was Kitty, in a nice dress, wearing a smile.

"Welcome!" She greeted with a wave. "Your date awaits!"

She stepped back and gestured for Reiner to enter. He stepped past her and sat down in the empty table.

"Your date will arrive shortly," Kitty smiled. "In the meantime, can I get you anything to drink? A nice glass of ice water, perhaps?"

Reiner raised his eyebrow, looking around. "It's like 40 degrees outside, Kitty, I think I'll pass on the ice water."

"Hot chocolate, then?" Kitty suggested instead.

"…Yeah, that actually sounds nice," Reiner agreed, nodding her head. "I mean, I can't think of anyone who would want ice water in this temperature, can you?"

Kitty shot him a dirty look, but put a professional smile on her face. "Yes, one hot chocolate, will that be all?"

Reiner nodded. "Yeah, only need one thing to drink, after all."

Kitty had kind of walked into that one. She didn't have nearly enough experience being a waitress, even if the outfit was right in her color scheme.

"I'll be right back," she said, turning to head down the path.

Reiner had something he wanted to confirm. "Oh, Kitty, I almost forgot to ask, when is Nikita supposed to get-"

Reiner's voice was cut off by the sight of his question being answered for him. Coming up the path was Nikita.

She looked amazing. She wore a sleek black dress that make her dusky complexion shine in the candlelight, a dark shawl wrapped over her shoulders to account for the weather. It would be normal to assume that the reason she wasn't wearing heels was due to the snow, but no, Reiner knew that Nikita was just the type of girl to wear sensible shoes.

Her long hair was done up in a bun, a surprising hairstyle from her. Any hairstyle was surprising on Nikita, as the girl was more the type to just leave her hair loose if she didn't pull it back into a lazy ponytail, but it looked like she had really gone all-out on her appearance.

Reiner didn't like romcoms, but he was starting to see the charm of the cliché "nerdy girl dresses up and becomes gorgeous" trope. As if that was what she was aiming for all along, Nikita had removed her glasses, wearing contacts that made her amber eyes shine with her bright smile. There wasn't anything she could hide behind, she was presenting herself directly to him.

"Hey," she said softly, giving him a wave as she approached the table. She was standing over him, but due to her shy demeanor Reiner felt like he was the taller one. It made sense of course, considering that the amount of times that she had dressed up like this was a very small number in Reiner's memory. Usually, it was for parties that she didn't care about anyway.

But right now, Nikita was dressed up for his sake. She was smiling at him, and only him. And that brought a smile to his face as well.

"I'm sorry I sort of just… sprung this on you," Nikita apologized. She knew how much her boyfriend liked to follow a set schedule, and the fact that he had agreed to something so off-the-cuff was a wonderful surprise. "Kitty said that it would be best to make it a surprise."

More like Nikita was afraid that if she had asked and he'd said no, then she would be in a bummer mood for the rest of the evening. Better to get the preparation done now and then ask, to maximize her hopefulness (and give him less time to back out).

She hadn't needed to worry, of course.

"Nikita, wow, you look-"

"Nice night out tonight!" Nikita blurted out, quickly sitting down and whipping her head around so fast that she nearly broke her neck trying to appreciate the scenery. Anything to keep his attention off of her appearance. She was nowhere near ready to hear about that.

"…Uh, yeah, it is, but I was saying-"

"How have you been? How was your day?" With help from Julia, Cynthia, and Kitty, Nikita had developed a list of conversation topics, and she was letting them out rapid-fire style in order to keep the conversation moving.

That wasn't how dating was supposed to work, but the alternative was dying of embarrassment at the fact that he was checking her out so blatantly.

No, she wasn't flattered! Nikita was an intellectual girl, who appreciated Reiner for loving her due to her brain and personality, and not her appearance! If it wasn't for Cynthia's insistence she would have never worn a dress like that.

…He did like it though, right?

Trapped between her internal desire for Reiner to compliment her and her fear about her appearance (along with her stubbornness) Nikita wasn't about to give him a chance to confirm either her hopes or her fears.

Luckily, Reiner knew her well enough to know that when she would start rambling about something, it was because she was either really excited about a research paper, or internally dying of embarrassment. And tonight wasn't a night for thesis writing.

He resisted the urge to smile at how cute his girlfriend was. Sure, she looked amazing in that dress, but the fact that she was so embarrassed about how amazing she looked was even more amazing, and Reiner, well…

He was amazed.

"My night's been going okay," Reiner said, playing along. If he was going to get a compliment in, he would have to be sneaky about it. "Not doing much in particular," he continued. "Just watching bad romcoms because it's the season, you know?"

Nikita sighed in relief, grateful that Reiner had decided to move on. And maybe just a tiny bit annoyed at him, too.

"Oh, I almost forgot," he added. "I'm on a date with a gorgeous girl, so yeah, my night is going amazing, how's yours?"

Nikita buried her face in her hands and ducked under the table. A muffled scream echoed out from underneath it as Reiner leaned back in his seat and smiled, resting the back of his head in his hands in triumph.

Kitty walked out of the dorm with Reiner's hot chocolate, looking around in confusion as she set it down in front of him.

"Where'd Nikita go?"

Reiner pointed at the table while Nikita screamed again. Kitty groaned, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

Reiner took a sip from his hot chocolate as he let Nikita get her screams of embarrassment out of her system.

A few seconds later, Nikita pulled herself out from under the table and returned to her seat, looking rather composed for someone who had spent the last few minutes screaming. She cleared her throat, only a little flustered.

"Sorry about that, that was my evil twin," Nikita waved it off. "I'm here now, ready for the date to begin!"

"That so." Reiner took another sip, letting his girlfriend keep her pride.

"I'm glad the two of you are finding the furniture to your liking," Kitty dryly said. She put on a smile. "Now, welcome! This is Kitty's Outdoor Café, the most romantic spot to spend Valentine's Day with that special someone! Nikita, can I get you something? A hot chocolate perhaps?"

"I'll have an ice water, actually," Nikita replied. Kitty turned bright red as Reiner burst out laughing, much to Nikita's confusion.

"…Right, one ice water," Kitty replied. "In the meantime, I'll leave these here! Let me know when you're ready to order!"

Kitty set two menus down on the tablecloth, and returned to the dorms to go get Nikita's ice water.

"So this was your Valentine's Day idea, huh?" Reiner asked.

A shaky smile found its way to her face, and she felt herself heating up. "Um, yeah, if you say so," Nikita said, nodding.

"I mean, it wasn't my idea, so…"

"R-Right! Yes, this was my idea," Nikita said, nodding. "I just, well… I thought that since we couldn't get a date at a restaurant, well, maybe we could just… have a romantic night together at a restaurant of our own?"

Nikita didn't know if she was seeking her boyfriend's approval about the idea, but she was definitely feeling a little insecure. Maybe she had just overthought it, and this was a really bad date plan in the first place? No, no, Reiner wouldn't say that, even if he thought it! He could be a jerk sometimes, but definitely not that much of a jerk!

"I think that's a great idea," Reiner said, and Nikita burst out into a massive smile, overjoyed that he actually liked her plan.

"Really?!" She asked, more than a little too eager. Her attempt to keep her cool was completely smashed to pieces.

Reiner felt a little embarrassed himself, seeing how happy she was to get the compliment to her date idea.

"Y-Yeah," he said, trying to stay cool. "Anyway, um… if you ask me, I think it's maybe…" God, was he really saying this?! Why couldn't his mouth just stop moving?! "I think we might be on the most romantic date out of everyone," he finished, trying to play it off with a laugh like a romantic date wasn't anything that special.

"W-Wow," Nikita said, honestly surprised and touched. "Yeah, that's… yeah, I think so too, actually," she agreed.

Reiner laughed again, trying desperately to play off how embarrassed he felt for speaking up like that. "I mean, I think that something like this is kind of wasted on the two of us, since we don't care much for romance?"

"Yeah, definitely," Nikita said, laughing it off as well. Neither one of them actually felt that way, but they assumed that the other one did, and didn't want to make this uncomfortable for the other.

And of course, Reiner had to ruin it by being a smartass.

"…At least the waitress is pretty cute," he smirked, Nikita shooting him a dirty look.

Reiner, get out of your own way, damn it. Just be romantic, you two!