Date 2: HokutoxYukiho

Hokuto had, as much as he liked to deny it, been rejected by both Makoto Kikuchi and Azusa Miura of 765 Pro. The two incidents were bitter memories for him, as they had been the first time anyone had ever rejected him. And to think that not one, but two girls had done it. Conveniently both girls belonging to 765 Pro. Therefore, this game was the perfect time for him to get even. Not by dirty, underhanded ways, of course, because Jupiter didn't work like that.

He would woo them. Woo them so effectively that by the end of it all they would have no choice but to go on a date and admit that it was the best one they'd ever had. And the only way to do that was to play on their good side. Hence him asking out Yukiho Hagiwara first, as his research had shown that she was in fact Makoto's best friend. And if Yukiho could admit that it was an incredible date, Makoto would have no choice but to agree to go out with him!

It was a flawless plan.

He would invite Yukiho into his amazingly fancy and expensive car and take her for a drive around town. In fact, maybe he would even let her drive, to show that he had no problem with allowing someone beside him to take control of his car. He wasn't a picky person. He just had to show these girls that.

And once the drive was over and he'd finished his work on Yukiho, who by the end of it all would be in a daze over his fabulousness, Makoto and Azusa would see what they'd initially missed out on. Luckily for them, Hokuto believed in second chances, and second chances he would grant them until he had his own wonderful harem and was bestowed the title of Jupiter's Most Attractive.

But first things first.

He had to get Yukiho to stop freaking out at the sight of him.

/~/~/

"You bastard, what're you trying to do to Yukiho?" Makoto demanded, instantly stepping in front of the hyperventilating girl.

She gave a death glare to Hokuto, not that he was intimidated or anything, and then her gaze wandered to his incredible awesome car beside them. She stared at it in disbelief. Well, of course she did. It was an awesome car. Hokuto smirked and brushed his hair lightly with his fingers, waiting for the praise of how cool he was to own such a car.

"Were you trying to kidnap her? I should just report you to the police right now!"

"No, I wasn't trying to kidnap her," Hokuto frowned, offended. "I was merely attempting to woo her to come into my car."

Makoto snorted, very unladylike. All part of her charm, in Hokuto's opinion. "Like that's any less sketchy. If Yukiho's going anywhere with you I'm coming, too!"

"Even better. Come along, then, we haven't got all day." Score! This was like killing two birds with one stone. Not that he wouldn't be having a proper date with Makoto later. She was just a tagalong so that she could observe how well he treated her best friend. "Yukiho will be sitting in the passenger seat and you can sit in the back. Unless, of course, she'd much rather drive?"

Here, Hakuto pointedly looked at Makoto to see if she'd caught his generosity. She hadn't. She was too busy trying to get Yukiho to calm down.

"You know, Yukiho-chan," he tried again, "you don't need to be so scared of me. I can assure you that I have no intention of harming you in any way. All I wish for today is for you to have a good time."

The brown-haired girl whimpered, hiding behind Makoto who immediately shot him another glare.

Maybe he should try a different approach.

"Yukiho-chan~ I'm sure many have already addressed you as the princess of 765 Pro. In that case, wouldn't you like to go on a date with the Idol Prince?"

This time, Yukiho actually responded. Not that he could hear her. All he picked up was, "Makoto... prince... date." Makoto promptly turned a bright red. Hokuto felt he wouldn't have to think too hard to actually get what she'd said.

"Wait, did you just say date?" Makoto said accusingly.

"That I did. Why? You interested?"

"As if I'd let Yukiho go on a date with you!"

"Then by all means, come along. Anything to make the little princess feel more comfortable." Wink.

Makoto only looked even more upset by that. "Stop being such a creeper, Hokuto! I told you already, you're not going anywhere with Yukiho. Now go away. And tell Touma that if he lays a single finger on Haruka I'll kill him ten times over!"

Haruka? So that was who Touma had gone for first? Well, considering how pathetically terrified he was of Takane, how he couldn't stand Miki's third person speech, and how annoyed he got by Hibiki... yeah, no real surprise there.

Hopefully Touma wouldn't screw this up too much. Even if Hokuto was obviously going to win the game, it'd look bad on Jupiter as a whole if word got out that Touma had mistreated another idol on a date. Plus, all of Hokuto's chances with Makoto and Azusa would probably go right down the drain. Seriously, if that happened Makoto would just have to deal with not being able to send Touma to hell because he'd do it himself.

"Come on, Yukiho, we're leaving."

Hokuto snapped back into reality just in time to see Makoto dragging Yukiho back into the 765 Pro building. "Hey, wait!" he called out in alarm. "Don't leave yet!"

They ignored him. How hurtful.

/~/~/

Plan B. Wait for Yukiho to walk home at the end of the day. Once she comes out, start walking with her. Oh, but first he had to park his car somewhere up ahead so that when they passed by it he could offer her a ride home. Then she'd accept and he'd take her home and the next day she'd tell Makoto about how amazing he was and Makoto would finally agree to go on a date with him!

Again, a flawless plan.

So Hokuto stood completely non-stalkerishly outside of the 765 Pro building, ignoring the other idols' questions about why he was lurking there (unless they were Azusa, Chihaya, Yukiho, or Makoto). Not that Yukiho or Makoto ever took another step outside since earlier that day.

Around 6:45 pm, Yukiho finally exited the building, her purse slung over her shoulder in indication that she was done with work and ready to head home. Lucky Hokuto was there to keep her from getting lonely.

"Hello again, little princess~" he greeted, coming up from behind her and pacing himself so that they walked side by side. "Mind if I walk home with you?"

The shriek she emitted was honestly the last thing he'd expected.

"Oh, ow that was loud," he winced, holding a hand to his ear to make sure it wasn't bleeding. Then he remembered the girl and looked down to see her practically petrified in fear. Honestly, was it just him or was she like that to every guy? "I already told you, Yukiho-chan, I don't intend to hurt you. I just want to get to know you better."

"But," she whispered so quietly Hokuto had to strain to hear her, "y-you're... a man."

No kidding. So it would appear the little princess had a slight fear of men. No matter- it was these kinds of girls that Hokuto lived for. If he couldn't woo her he had no right to call himself the Idol Prince.

"That I am. A man who simply wishes to be friends with you, if that's not too much to ask," Hokuto smiled in what he was sure was a very charming way. "Would you give me this honor, Yuki-hime?"

To his delight, Yukiho blushed at the nickname. Good. He'd spent a long time coming up with that. Okay, no, not really, it'd actually been kind of obvious, but still.

"If it makes you feel more comfortable, I'll stand over here." Hokuto took a large step to the side so that there was a fair amount of space between him and the shy idol. "Is it alright with you if we walk like this?"

Yukiho mumbled something, turned her gaze to the ground, and then squeaked out, "I... guess so..." She promptly began walking again, although she didn't look up from her feet.

A small smile on his face, Hokuto proceeded on as well. If she wanted to stare at the ground like that it was up to him to make sure she didn't bump into anything and hurt herself. That was fine. It wasn't actually too long a walk to his car.

/~/~/

"Oh, well would you look at this," Hokuto exclaimed after a good ten minutes of walking in silence. "My car! Might this simple servant offer to drive you home, Yuki-hime?"

Yukiho yelped at the sudden conversation starter and then glanced warily at the Rolls Royce. Clearly she was remembering the events of that morning, particularly what Makoto had said. "Um... you really don't have to-."

"I insist, Yuki-hime," Hokuto opened the door to the driver's seat with a grand flourish. "In fact, I invite you to drive it. It's the least your servant can do for you."

"N-no, I'd be better off walking home. But... thank you, Hokuto-san," Yukiho gave a quick bow and turned to leave. Not that Hokuto would let her go that easily.

"Someone as delicate as you shouldn't be forced to walk all the way home after such long hours of singing and dancing," Hokuto insisted. "Please, even if it's just for one day, allow yourself a reward your hard work." He swept his arms in an extravagant manner and bowed deeply. "That is, if you'll allow me first, Yuki-hime. I should hope that this car is good enough for you to grace it with your presence."

It could've just been a trick of the light but for a fraction of a second there he thought he saw a smile flash briefly on Yukiho's face before it disappeared back into her reluctant expression. "I..." she paused. Looked away. Hokuto waited patiently. Finally, she whispered, "I can't drive."

Can't drive? She didn't know how to drive?

Hokuto allowed himself a moment of satisfaction. He couldn't have asked for anything better.

"Then please allow me to teach you."

/~/~/

"You really don't have to do this, Hokuto-san."

"I know," he gave her another one of his charming smiles. "But I want to."

Yukiho was sitting stiffly in the driver's seat, seatbelt strapped as tight as it would go and hands gripping the wheel so hard her knuckles were turning white. Hokuto looked at her sympathetically, wishing he could pat her or nudge her to ease her fears but he knew if he did so it would only freak her out even more.

"It's easy, I promise," he said instead. "Start by turning on the engine. The key's already in so all you have to do is turn it."

She whimpered but followed his instruction, jumping slightly when the car's motor roared to life. She turned her head to glance at him and he nodded encouragingly. Taking a deep breath, Yukiho slid her hands down to either side of the wheel and awaited the next order.

"Now just press the gas pedal and steer the car by turning the wheel however you want to. There you go... you're doing great. See? Nothing to it," Hokuto said in a pleased tone. The car was inching forward slowly due to Yukiho's unwillingness to press the pedal any more than a millimeter. "You can go a little faster, you know. Just make sure you don't bump into that-."

He winced as the car scraped by a parked truck.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Hokuto-san."

"No, no, don't worry about," Hokuto swallowed back his gasp of horror. Waving his hand, he said, "Go on. Just... you can turn the wheel to make sure you don't hit anything."

"Okay..."

"And really, you can go faster. Press a little harder, it's not as though anything that bad can happen in a parking lot- NOT THAT FAST, YUKIHO! SLOW DOWN! SLOW DOWN! SLOW- OH CRAP!"

/~/~/

"Hokuto-san, I'm so sorry about your car..." Yukiho apologized for the fifteenth time as they continued their walk to her house. "I'll... I'll just... I'll go dig a hole and bury myself in it!"

Hokuto laughed tiredly and shook his head. "No, really, it's fine, Yuki-hime. I can just get a new one... probably. More importantly, are you sure you're okay? You're not hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine. But, um..." Yukiho trailed off hesitantly.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to... thank you. For being so nice to me today." She smiled, which Hokuto realized was a lot more charming than he could ever pull off. "I'm sorry that Makoto-chan was being rude to you this morning. But I don't think you're that bad."

So it hadn't all been for loss. Even if he'd had to sacrifice his car along the way.

"Really?" he arched an eyebrow. "Then might I ask you to write down what you just said and show it to Makoto-chan?" Hokuto shook his head sadly. "For some reason she seems to have this idea that I'm a terrible person. I'm sure if her best friend tells her otherwise she could have at least a slight change of heart."

"I... I don't mind," Yukiho seemed slightly confused by the request but obliged nonetheless. Taking the piece of paper and pen provided by Hokuto, she wrote down her words and signed her name at the bottom. "Um... here you go."

"You have my many thanks, Yuki-hime." Wink again. "Also, if you ever find yourself in need of a good time, please don't hesitate to call me. I'm always available for cute princesses."

Complete win for the Idol Prince. After pleasing Yukiho so much, Makoto would have no choice but to accept that Hokuto was amazing. Now the next person on his list was Chihaya- so long as he could entertain her well enough, Azusa would be more than willing to go on a date with him, and then he'd have all four signatures and be declared Jupiter's Most Attractive. Showing up Touma while he was at it, of course.

Because, obviously, that was the only thing that mattered. Not these girls. They were just some bonus points he could gain along the way.

Next Date: ShoutaxYayoi