How is the date going to go? Will Reiner and Nikita make things work? Or will things just get awkward and kind of die out because these two aren't the most social or romantic people out there?

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: Yeah, they're pretty adorable together.

Rowlets and Oshawotts: Who knows? We'll have to figure out how things work out, and who's doing the breaking up.

KedharS: He's really a pretty annoying dumbass isn't he?

Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings

Chapter 683

"…And Serefina said that I don't have to worry, that my egg is growing just fine at its own rate and will hatch eventually, so that's a relief." Nikita didn't know what sort of conversations people were supposed to have on romantic dates, so she was basically just telling Reiner about her day. She was quickly realizing that they were running out of discussion topics.

"That's good," Reiner said. "I'm glad, you were kind of starting to get worried about that, right? Since everyone else's eggs had hatched already. Hopefully the little guy will hatch soon! I'm glad you don't have to feel concerned anymore."

Nikita nodded. "Yeah, I can really rest easy now," she agreed.

The conversation kind of died off from there.

The problem was, they spent way too much time together, as she was quickly realizing. There just wasn't much to talk about when you had spent the last two weeks spending most of your day with the other person working side by side researching in the library.

So yeah, they didn't really have much to talk about on their romantic date, now that she stopped and thought about it.

Nikita wanted to bury her face in her hands out of shame. God! Why did I have to suggest a date like this?! Forget romantic, we're probably the two most boring people on the planet! What next, are we going to talk about archaeology?!

…Wait, that actually sounded like fun. Nikita wouldn't mind that.

Reiner noticed that Nikita was floundering, and tried to step in with a conversation topic of his own. "So, I'm working on training my pokemon, you know? I've been trying to do a lot more of that recently, after what happened in the Phantom Cup."

"Oh, really?" Nikita tried to sound interested, she really did, but pokemon battles weren't exactly the things that she preferred to bond over with her boyfriend. Mainly because she was pretty bad at them, all things considered. "…Well, maybe if you try hard, you can make it to the semi-finals of one of the tournaments here!"

…Didn't mean she wasn't going to get in a dig on him about how she and Kitty had gotten into the Winter Tag Team semi-finals and Reiner hadn't.

Reiner gave her a dirty look, and that just made her snicker more.

"Come on, you take this battling stuff so seriously," Nikita said. But then she saw a hard look pass his face, and immediately realized that she might have screwed up. "Oh, hey, sorry, I know that this is a complicated issue for you, let's forget about it."

"No, it's fine," Reiner said, shaking his head. But he clearly didn't look fine.

Nikita felt like an absolute mess. In spite of knowing that Reiner had some serious personal issues tied up in his relationship with pokemon battles. Shit, for all she knew, his family was pressuring him again, and she'd just…

God, why didn't she just learn to keep her mouth shut?! They'd been having a great time, and Nikita had chosen the absolute worst possible time to be her snarky self! This is why she never liked going to parties or social events, she would just end up putting her foot in her mouth!

"No, really, I'm sorry," Nikita pleaded. "Let's just forget it, okay? I didn't mean to bring up any bad thoughts."

"No, it… it's fine," Reiner said, shaking his head. "It's something that I have to deal with, it's not your problem. Sorry for being such a bother about this."

He smiled. "We can talk about it later. Right now, I want tonight to be about the two of us."

Nikita didn't believe his smile. He was forcing himself to have a good time now, and she hated that. She had completely ruined this date, and she had no idea how she was supposed to fix it.

"Are you… really okay with that?" Nikita asked. She didn't want to keep harping on the subject, because it felt like she was picking at a scab that he wanted to heal. But she could also see that he wasn't healing at all.

Reiner's wince told her all she needed to know.

"Reiner… we met because of your problems with your family," Nikita said. It was a fond memory that she treasured, meeting her boyfriend because he literally fell from the sky. "Remember? You were stuck with battles too, so…"

Nikita didn't know what she was trying to say, so she shut her mouth and hung her head in resignation. She was stuck. If only she could use that big brain of hers to think a way out of this problem, but no, she just had to be socially incompetent like every other nerd on the planet.

"I am glad that we shared that day," Reiner said. "But honestly, Nikita, I feel like every time we have a really meaningful moment together, it's when we're talking about hard things. And usually, those things are my problems."

Nikita didn't like the fact that that rang a little bit too truthful.

"So I don't want to do that tonight," Reiner explained. "I don't want our date to be yet another 'Reiner has a problem and needs Nikita to help him' or 'Nikita and Reiner are having relationship issues that they need to work out'. I just want the two of us to spend a night together enjoying each other's company with no bigger issues to work out."

He gave her a smile, already a bit of a rarity, but especially when the smile was filled with emotion like his was.

"Sorry for casting a dark cloud over this," he apologized. "I didn't mean to make this so awkward between the two of us, honest. This is a special day, after all, and we should spend time together enjoying each other's company. You worked so hard for this."

Nikita smiled a little. "I thought you didn't care that much about romantic dates," she teased.

Reiner glanced away, blushing. He ran his fingers through his hair. "W-Well, I mean… I know we said that it wasn't something that we wanted to do, but I mean, it wasn't… the worst thing. I actually, um… thought that you wouldn't have been interested in something like that."

Nikita blinked, surprised. Wait, Reiner thought that she didn't want to be romantic? "Wait, what? But I was the one who was upset that you didn't have anything planned for Valentine's Day way back when, remember?"

"I know, but like, I didn't think…" Reiner sighed. "I thought that since that whole thing with Blake happened, that you wouldn't, well… you wouldn't be in the mood for doing anything romantic. And then, when Blake came back, it was way too late to plan anything out, and so I was like 'fuck it, I'll have to do better next year then, because this year is a total mess'. So I just sort of let it drop, since I thought that if you wanted something romantic, it deserved to be, well… more."

Nikita couldn't believe what she was hearing. She resisted the urge to burst out laughing. Reiner… Reiner actually thought…?

She was shocked that Reiner, who she had assumed was one of the least romantic people on the planet (beaten out only by her) would actually have wanted to do something for Valentine's Day. What a shock, the two of them had nearly messed up because they were both shit at communicating. No, Reiner wasn't being a tool because he wasn't romantic, he had just decided that there would be no sense in doing something if it didn't fit up to his high standards for what a romantic Valentine's Day date was supposed to look like.

Which, in a way, made the current date they were on into one of the most romantic dates that it COULD have been, given what he had just confirmed about his feelings towards her.

But there was something else that he had said. He'd just casually slipped it in without even thinking, but to Nikita it was all she could think about.

"Next year?" She asked.

Reiner blanched. "W-What?"

"Next year, you said next year," Nikita insisted. She hadn't been hearing things, he'd definitely said it! "You said that you would 'do better next year'."

"Y-Yeah, so what?" Reiner asked, the scowl on his face doing a poor job of hiding how embarrassed he obviously was.

"So does that mean you think that we'll still be together, a year from now?" Nikita asked, raising an eyebrow. She probably looked a lot more teasing and mischievous than she would have liked, but it was better than seeming too hopeful and eager.

Reiner swallowed, his eyes dropping into his lap. "Well, I mean… why wouldn't we?"

And just like that, all of Nikita's doubts about their relationship were blown out of the water faster than fish pokemon facing Marion on coffee. She couldn't see how brightly her face lit up with joy hearing him say that, but Reiner could, and he turned red with embarrassment.

"Oh, that has got to be the most adorable thing you've ever said, Reiner!" Nikita gushed. "I'm so happy! And here I thought you weren't romantic!"

"Hey!" Reiner snapped. "I'm romantic! I can be super romantic if I want to, I just don't want to!"

"Out of you three guys, you're, like, the least romantic out of all of them," Nikita replied.

"Hey!"

"What? Nick and Callie are adorable! Nick tries so hard, and in the eyes of someone as shy as me, he's really doing a great job," Nikita explained. "And if you think that you can even begin to show the level of devotion that Blake does for Ayame, you really are deluded."

Reiner opened his mouth to shout, but Nikita's eyes weren't capable of being argued with. He grumbled something and glowered at her instead.

"…But that's okay," Nikita added. She reached across the table and placed her hands over his. "Because even if you aren't the most romantic guy in the world, you're still a great guy, Reiner, and that's more than enough for me."

Now it was Reiner's turn to feel like he was going to die of embarrassment.

Meanwhile, back on the path leading to the dorm, Julia and Kitty were watching the two of them, the girls having much different reactions.

"They know that we can see the two of them, right?" Julia asked, a look of disgust crossing onto her face. It wasn't just because it was Reiner (though that didn't help) but seeing all this sappy, mushy stuff was a little…

Well, Julia wasn't much of a fan.

Kitty, on the other hand? The little cat girl was squirming in place, resisting the urge to let out cheers of joy. She was watching the two of them intently, happy that her roommate was having the romantic date that she had hoped for.

Nikita had been worried about Reiner's lack of romance, but from what Kitty was hearing this was a problem that had absolutely fucking resolved itself, and then some! Kitty couldn't be happier for her friend!

She was so happy, that she'd actually given Julia a shush with her finger and a dirty look, because she didn't want the other girl's attitude to spoiler the mood.

Julia, to her credit, could see that this meant a lot to Kitty, and decided to keep her opinions to herself. "Sorry," she griped, rubbing her arms to warm herself up. "But I'm freezing out here. Whose bright idea was it to have a romantic date in the middle of the wilderness, during winter? I know spring is right around the corner, but come on!"

Kitty slumped down, feeling the sting of Julia's words pierce her far more than the chilling winter cold.

Oh crap. I bet Kitty was the one who came up with this date idea, wasn't she? Julia gasped, realizing how much of an ass she just made of herself. She quickly set her mind towards comforting her friend, instead.

"Hey, no, Kitty, I didn't mean it like that, honest," Julia said, placing her hand on Kitty's shoulder. "Look, I'm just in a bad mood because I'm cold, and bored. I didn't mean that your idea was bad. Actually, I think… I think it's a really, really sweet thing you planned out for them."

Kitty perked up a little, turning to give Julia a hopeful look. "Really? I thought you just said it was a 'bright idea'," Kitty dryly replied, throwing Julia's sarcastic words back in her face. She wanted to believe that Julia meant it, but-

She didn't have time to consolidate her doubts before Julia cut her off.

"No, I really think so!" Julia said, pulling Kitty away from the chatting couple so that she could explain things a little more clearly. "It was so sweet, seeing you root for Nikita's love life, and going to all this trouble to help them. And the fact that it was your idea? That makes it even better. Just… keep in mind next time, that it's winter, and you're having them eat outside next time."

Kitty snorted in spite of herself. Now that Julia was talking about it, her nose was starting to feel a little red from the cold.

"…Yeah, maybe," she admitted.

"Besides, I'm not a romantic person by any stretch of the imagination, so if I think that this is a good date idea, then you've got to be onto something," Julia said. She honestly was surprised. While she didn't like romance that much, she could appreciate how much effort Kitty had put into it, and how much the two seemed to appreciate it.

"Thanks," Kitty said.

"…With that in mind, this is supposed to be a dinner, right?" Julia asked, turning her attention back to the couple. "They're just… talking. They haven't even taken a look at their menus. How long are we supposed to wait out here?"

Kitty shivered. Now that Julia had brought her attention to it, she was cold. And as heartwarming as the sight of the couple in love was, it wasn't the same as a toasty blanket.

She was really starting to regret this waitress costume, frilly skirts and tights may have been cute, but were pretty poor for blocking the elements.

"Yeah… you're right," Kitty admitted. She didn't want to pressure the two of them, but she was certain that Cynthia was probably bored out of her skull. She was supposed to be cooking, but no one was ordering any food, after all.

Of course, Cynthia was chilling in the common area watching a movie, but it wasn't like Kitty had x-ray vision.

"Are you enjoying your… drinks?" Kitty asked, glancing at the couple, trying to keep from sounding too pushy.

Startled, Nikita and Reiner's heads shot up, as if they had just realized for the first time that they weren't alone.

The two started fumbling for words, but Kitty wasn't listening. In the interest of being diplomatic she pushed ahead like any good waitress should, at least in her opinion. When it was freezing outside and she wanted some hot chocolate of her own, anyway.

Okay, fine, Kitty was a nice person, but even she had her limits.

"Are you ready to order yet?" She asked, giving service with a smile.

Nikita and Reiner glanced down at their menus, untouched since Kitty had left them there what felt like hours ago. They both gave her sheepish looks.

"Yeah, um, just give us a second," Reiner said, picking up the menu. "Wow, um… not a lot on here, actually."

Well, that went without saying. Finding a good cook was one thing, magically conjuring up ingredients was another ballpark. They were all lucky that Cynthia wasn't just a good chef, but one who enjoyed practicing in her spare time and thus had a lot stocked up in the refrigerator. Otherwise it would have been a romantic cup noodle date.

"Apologies, what we lack in selection we make up for in quality," Kitty said. She waved her hand. "And of course, ambiance."

"…Yeah, okay, so, I'll take the fettucini then," Reiner decided, pointing at one of the few things on the menu, the one he found the most appealing. "That's good, right?"

"Yep! It's the best!" Kitty smiled. "Nikita? What about you?"

Nikita was taking a little bit more time studying the menu. "Hmm… are you sure that Cynthia can make a good hamburger?"

That threw Reiner for a loop. "Wait, Cynthia? Cynthia's the person you got to cook our food?"

"Yeah, why?" Kitty asked, not sure what the problem was. "She makes delicious food!"

"Well, I guess I can expect spit in my pasta tonight," Reiner laughed. "If not other fluids."

"She wouldn't… um… okay, but…" Kitty wasn't exactly finding it easy to defend Cynthia on this.

"I'll have the burger," Nikita decided. "Come on, Reiner, it was really sweet of Cynthia to agree to do this for us."

"I know, I'm touched, I really am," Reiner said. "It's just…" He glanced over his shoulder at the departing Kitty. "Well, do you really want to owe Cynthia a favor?"

Nikita paused. Okay, yeah, Reiner made a really good point.

"Hey, come on, it's Cynthia, she's not that bad…" Nikita said, wanting to believe in her friend, even if Cynthia was a little… troubling. No, no, Nikita wasn't going to doubt that. "Hey, come on, Reiner, that's mean!"

"I know," he sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "Sorry, I'm just kind of nervous now, knowing that Cynthia is going to be the one catering our date. Like… doesn't she just seem like the kind of person who would put chili peppers in our food?"

Nikita opened her mouth to defend her again, but as a prankster herself realized… shit, yeah, Reiner was right on the money with that one.

Kitty, who had overheard their conversation as she walked away, began to pick up the pace a little bit. Cynthia was going to take this seriously, alright, or there would be consequences.

Kitty didn't know what those consequences WERE, but you don't mess with her! Especially when she was playing cupid!

The date was just getting going, and she wasn't about to let anything interfere with it, not her friends, not her crush, not even those two!

She wanted to believe that there could be a little bit of happiness to spare for a shy girl and the aloof target of her affections, after all.

Aww, Kitty's really trying her hardest! It's clear that this means a lot to her. Hopefully, nothing will go wrong on the rest of the date.