Ch 16: When People around You Knew

What's the plan Hiromu?

Hiromu and Youko stared at each other's eyes intently.

He pulled out a yellow memo pad from his pocket and flipped through its pages until he reached his desired leaf (A/N: The yellow memo pad can be seen in ep.14 of Gobusters. It was Youko's, but it remained in Hiromu's possession for long). Youko held her breath as he read the leaf in silence.

"Costumes, ready? Props?" Hiromu asked finally.

Youko pointed the black bag near her feet. Hiromu gave a nod and proceeded with his list. He added, "Map? Sweets?". Youko pointed her yellow purse which contained the map and her sweets for her fuel.

"I coordinated with Morishita-san, we won't be needing much of the map but just in case that we get—lost." He placed the memo pad in his pocket and sighed.

"Are you sure about this?" Youko asked, with a hint of uncertainty in her tone. "What if it's not a marriage interview?"

Hiromu paused for a while or so. "To tell you the truth—it won't matter to me if they'll end up in marriage anyway. Since it's Ryuu-san, I don't have any reservations."

"Then why do this?" Youko asked again, her facial expression sour. She thought that she won't be having any reservations either since Hiromu's oneesan was a refined lady.

"I'm just…curious" Hiromu replied back. Surprised by his untimely curiousity, Youko put a palm on her forehead and sighed. "We won't be using Nick for our transportation otherwise Ryuu-san and oneesan would notice. I'll drive" he added, pulling a car key from his pocket.

Sensing that the buddyroids were approaching from the hallway, Hiromu stood straight and added "tokumei: search the restaurant at Asakusa and find out if Ryuu-san and oneesan are dating". Youko immediately placed a thumbs-up sign on her chest and said, "yokaii!"

The plan: 1.) Search the restaurant at Asakusa 2) Spy as pretend-couples 3) Exit the place without being noticed.

Destination: Asakusa

Hiromu and Youko went out of the car in their respective costumes. He wore an exact copy of a school uniform from a prestigious private school in Tokyo. Hers was the same but she held her hair in a ponytail and topped it with a black beret. They wore thick-framed glasses to hide their eyes. From behind a car, Youko used her sougan to investigate the restaurant from afar.

"Ryuu-san and Rika-san spotted" she confirmed, showing the picture of a couple emerging from an SUV.

"Good. We're at the right place" Hiromu said, taking the sougan from Youko so that he could inspect the place himself. From his observation, the restaurant's ambience was nostalgic/traditional but well-suited to the tastes of affluent people. Typical oneesan's choice, Hiromu thought to himself.

He and Youko waited for the couple to be seated. The couple occupied a small room with a low end table in the middle. Rika-san sat on the floor delicately while Ryuu-san did an Indian seat.

Hiromu and Youko moved stealthily inside the premises while the couple busied themselves with a menu. They chose the room next to Ryuu-san and Rika-san.

Hiromu pressed CALL MODE in his morphin brace and called Morishita-san. He asked the latter to activate Ryuu-san's CALL MODE so that they could hear their conversation. Morishita-san hesitated at first because it's illegal, but Hiromu insisted that he and Youko will take responsibility. Morishita-san gave in and thus Hiromu and Youko indulged themselves in their espionage.

Ryuuji: Nice place, isn't?

Rika: Haii, Iwasaki-san. You chose this place really well.

Ryuuji: You may call me Ryuuji or Ryuu-san if you like.

Rika: That's how Hiromu and Youko-chan call you, ne?

Hiromu and Youko giggled—while trying their best to contain their laughter. They indulged themselves in the conversation more until they reached a delicate discussion that might answer their forthcoming questions.

Rika: Did you receive the package I sent? How was it?

Ryuuji: The crepe was delicious as your previous ones. Hiromu made an exact copy for Youko-chan. He learned a lot from you.

Rika: Arigatou Ryuuji-san. It seemed that they're getting along well.

Ryuuji: Haii. Hiromu seemed to treat Youko-chan like a little sister.

Rika: and you seemed protective of Youko-chan, just like I am with Hiromu.

Ryuuji: Sou-desu. That's why whoever likes Youko-chan would have to pass through me.

Rika: If I may ask, did you happen to show them this folder?

Ryuuji: I did, but they never looked inside. They sort of panicked without any reason, which made me think—

*pause*

Ryuuji & Rika: They must have thought that this is a marriage interview!

Ryuuji: My bad! I didn't tell them that we're working together on your next book which is a tribute to the gobusters!

Rika: Don't panic Ryuuji-san. We'll just have to tell them later, ne?

Ryuuji: Haii!

Hiromu pressed CALL MODE again to end the espionage. Both he and Youko put a palm on the forehead and sighed. Ryuuji and Rika-san were just having a business date—no romantic ties as usual.

"I think Ryuu-san will grow old by himself" Youko commented. Hiromu gave a nod and thought about his oneesan growing old by herself too. "Shall we go now?" she added, standing up.

Hiromu grabbed her wrist to gesture her to sit down. "Let's enjoy the food here, Youko." He added, with a smile.

Asakusa Shrine

"Let's go to the temple Hiromu" Youko suggested. They didn't change their attire just in case Ryuuji and Rika-san would pass by at the temple too. The first thing that they did was to pay respect at the shrine.

The spring weather at the Asakusa shrine was nice and cold. Hiromu had to pull out his red scarf from his bag to put it on Youko.

Youko raised her eyebrows, "I gave you this" she said. Then she frowned for remembering the time when Hiromu hadn't communicated with her during her spring break—the time when she was supposed to confess her feelings to him.

"daijobou?" Hiromu asked.

Youko nodded and tried her best not to be sad. She saw game booths from the pathways of the shrine and invited him to play with her.

They tried the skill crane first. Hiromu had a flaw for skill cranes because he thought the cranes looked like chicken feet. Youko tried it herself and won a plush. Skill cranes for her were easy because she used to drag megazord parts using RH-03. For the first round, Hiromu-0 and Youko-1.

Next, they tried the game where a ball will be used to overthrow bottles. Hiromu tried it first and scored his first prize. Youko made also a successful attempt. For second round, Hiromu-1 and Youko-2.

The third game was target shooting. Target shooting was popular with the children because of the prizes offered by the game master. Hiromu and Youko pitied those who weren't accurate enough in shooting. They offered to play so that frustrated children may get a prize. It took them a while as more children requested that they play for them. When finished, a small girl tugged Youko's hand and said, "arigatou oneesan. You and oniichan look good together."A small boy did the same with Hiromu's hand and said, "Your girlfriend is kawaii, oniichan".

Hiromu patted the boy's head and said, "She's not my girlfriend. But yes, she's kawaii"

The children looked at one another and dispersed one by one. Hiromu and Youko proceeded to walk on the pathway with less people. Hiromu glanced at his companion and he wondered why she wasn't smiling.

"baka Hiromu" Youko muttered, her face frowning.

"doushite?" He asked, his eyebrows raised. He retraced what he said earlier and added, "You don't want to be called cute?"

"Not that, baka" she retorted, her footsteps becoming heavier and heavier.

"then—was it about the relationship matter?"

Youko didn't reply back. But she stopped walking.

"Youko," He called, "why are you angry?"

Youko turned to face him. Her cheeks were red from being puffed. She put her hands on her sides and said, "because I have feelings for you, baka, and you wouldn't notice!"

Hiromu felt himself froze on the spot. He waited patiently for her to resume talking again.

"I hated studying yet I proved to you that I could change. In fact I enjoyed studying because it's an opportunity for me to be with you. It didn't matter if I stay up late or had trips to the library without being noticed by you. I cried really hard when I thought you liked phantom thief. I waited for you to come back from the country side just to let you know that I—that I love you!"

UZO! She covered her face using her plush in shock.

Hiromu's mouth parted in surprise. For a few minutes, he tried to process everything that she had told him.

He moved closer to her and removed the plush from her face.

"Youko, arigatou," he said, grinning wide, "and gomen for making you suffer."

He waited for her to regain her composure from embarrassment. When she did, he held her hand as they exited the temple.

What's the plan, Youko?

Hiromu and Youko returned home with one thing in their mind: to ask Ryuuji and the others if they could date.

"You tell Ryuu-san" Youko insisted as she pushed Hiromu through the door of the engineering office, "you're blunt."

Hiromu remembered the conversation that he had with Ryuuji before (and of the one that Ryuuji had with his oneesan). "Whoever likes Youko-chan will have to pass through me". Then Hiromu imagined being locked up in a big cage with chickens. He almost froze on the spot thinking about it until Youko whacked him at the back.

"Hey you—" Hiromu said, pulling Youko's cheeks together. "Am I the only one who doesn't want to hide this relationship?"

Youko removed his hands forcefully from her face and pushed him more until they reached Ryuuji's desk. Ryuuji was there, browsing through Rika-san's drafts of her impending book entitled, A Gobusters Tribute.

"Ryuu-san," Youko called, "Hiromu wants to tell you something."

"Doyu-koto? (what's going on?)" Ryuuji asked, closing the folder that he was browsing.

Hiromu cleared his throat and bowed low, "I would like—to take Youko out. Onegaishimasu". He nudged her from his side so that she would imitate what he did.

"Onegai, Ryuu-san" Youko begged, her hands clasped in a praying position.

Ryuuji's eyes had gone wild. His eyes danced from Youko to Hiromu. "Youko likes you?!". Why didn't I notice this before? He said to himself.

It took a while for Ryuuji to digest everything. Hiromu and Youko looked more tense than ever.

"alright," Ryuuji said finally. But I'll crack a prank to this kid first. He turned to Hiromu and said, "whoever likes Youko-chan will have to pass through me. Let's check your weakpoint tomorrow, shall we?"

Hiromu thought of being locked up in a coop with wild and hungry chickens.

A/N: A Preview

"that's-a cage" Youko said, nervousness building up in her heart. "Ryuu-san, you don't mean this, do you?"

Ryuuji didn't pay attention to what she said. "You're ready, Hiromu?" he asked.

"yokaii" Hiromu replied, looking resolved.