NullSilver2005 - He's going to have a very Saiki like reaction to it.

Belated Valentine's Outing - Two More Enter The Ring!

He wasn't staring. He wasn't. Saiki wasn't staring at Lotus, but simply observing her, and it had nothing to do with his newly discovered feelings. Absolutely not.

"Sorry Saiki, I'm gonna have to postpone our lesson for tomorrow. Something came up."

That was what Lotus had texted Saiki last night. The two had scheduled a tutoring session for her powers, but she canceled, something she had never done before.

That was the only reason Saiki's attention was so focused on Lotus. He was just busy pondering on what Lotus could possibly be doing that would cause her to cancel her lesson, and since Saiki could not read her thoughts to immediately find out what Lotus was thinking, he was curious as to what was diverting her attention. That's why, not because of a crush, just curiosity.

The end of school came and everyone packed up their belongings ready to head home eager to start the weekend. As Saiki and Lotus gathered their things the two were joined by Nendou and Kaidou.

"So what plan's you guys got for the weekend I've got…"

"We don't care," Saiki stated, phasing out Nendou's words.

"I've got secret training," Nendou boasted

"Is it really a secret if you say it?" Saiki said

"I'm just gonna meet up with some people," Lotus said

"Meet up?" Saiki questioned

"With who?" Kaidou asked just as curios.

"Oh, you guys wouldn't really know them. Just some guys I met," Lotus said

"Guys?" Saiki's eyes narrowed a hint.

"I gotta get going. I have to change and it'd be rude to be late." Lotus headed for the door. "Catch you guys later!"

"Guys, we don't know? That sounds highly suspicious," Kaidou stated putting a hand on his chin.

He went to the door spotting Lotus. As she was leaving she ran into Kitaro having a brief conversation with the boy before she departed.

"Hey, you!" Kaidou called out pointing at Kitaro.

Kitaro, who was startled by the shout, jumped.

"Your friends with Warrior Queen Lotus, do you know what she's doing after school today? What did she just tell you?" Kaidou asked

"After school?" Kitaro hummed thinking, "She didn't mention anything about that."

"Gee lot of help you are," Kaidou said

"~Okay rude~," Kitaro thought sweat dropping

"Like your any better help." Saiki thought cutting his eyes at Kaidou.

"Maybe she's going out on a date!" Nendou proposed

"A date!?"

"A date?"

"A date?"

The other three boys said, Kaidou being the most surprised by that sudden comment.

"No way! Your way off Nendou!" Kaidou said

"I bet I'm not!" Nendou shouted

"You're so wrong!" Kaidou said

"Then what do you think she's doing?" Nendou asked

"I bet...she's going on a secret mission," Kaidou said

"That's even stupider than what I said!" Nendou shouted

The two teens started to argue back and forth poor Kitaro stuck in the middle of them.

Saiki, however, stood by the windows of the school watching as pink hair bobbed up and down as Lotus ran off the school grounds.

Saiki was positively not following. He was most certainly not following Lotus. He definitely wasn't following Lotus because she said she'd be meeting up with guys. Absolutely not. He was just curious is all.

Saiki found himself at the downtown shopping district, Lotus not too far from his view.

Lotus had switched out her school uniform for a light pink spaghetti strap romper that ended mid-thigh. The top was ruffled with a brown belt going around her waist. The outfit was paired with brown wedge heels. Her hair was thrown up in a messy but cute bun with a loose curled strand of hair on the left side of her face.

Saiki thought the outfit looked good, but nothing about it was out of the ordinary for Lotus. Her brother always had her dressed to the nines no matter where she went.

"Miss Lotus! Miss Lotus!"

A young blonde-haired boy was running towards Lotus waving happily. Behind him was a second boy, he was taller than the blonde with dark-blue, almost black hair.

Who were these two random guys? Someone Lotus had met months before, and Saiki knew who.

"It's the Beach Pervert," Saiki thought

Yup Lotus was meeting up with the boy she had rescued from the Beach. But he wasn't alone as the adorable Shima was with him.

"Miss Lotus it's good to see you again!" Shima greeted with a large smile.

"Nice to see you too, Shima." Lotus smiled back.

"~Alright now it's time to play it cool.~"

Maru closed his eyes, leaning against a sign flipping his hair. "Hello."

He waits for Lotus's response.

"~ She's sure taking her time…..maybe I stunned her into silence with my suave nature?~"

Saiki had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes, "Yeah right."

Opening his eyes Maru gaped seeing Lotus wasn't paying any attention to him and was still conversing with Shima.

"~What?! When did those two become so buddy-buddy?!~"

"...Right, Maru?"

"Huh?" Maru tuned in to the conversation when his name was called.

"I said that the new cafe was great right?" Shima said

"Oh yeah. Uh let's get going we wanna beat the crowds," Maru said

"Yeah!" Shima cheered

The three started walking to their destination Saiki slowly trailing behind.

"Hey Shima, how are you so close to her?" Maru whispered

"Oh, me and Miss Lotus have been texting ever since the Beach," Shima said

"What?!"

Shima gave his friend a confused look, "Haven't you been talking to her too? I did give you her number."

"Well I…."

Maru did not want to admit it, but he had been too nervous to actually contact the girl. He typically would just stare at the number contemplating on what he would say before abandoning the whole idea.

"Well now's your chance to get to know her. Miss Lotus is great, she's also super funny," Shima said

Maru at first seemed crushed over the closeness his friend already shared with Lotus but then his eyes steeled with a look of determination.

"~By the end of this day I will be just as close to Lotus as Shima is, and I'm making it my goal to get a kiss!~"

"Not happening." Saiki narrowed his eyes

The trio, or group date, or whatever you would call Lotus, Shima, and Maru, entered a pop culture store. Lotus made a beeline for the collectibles fawning over the manga and anime related things. Shima joined her the two gushing and conversing over the various items.

"Attention Ladies and Gentlemen!" A female voice spoke over an intercom. "Going on sale is the limited edition of Slayer Striker: Final Edition! Hurry before we're all sold!"

"Slayer Striker! I love that series!" Lotus said

"Me too!" Shima said

"We have to get a copy, right!" Lotus said

"Right!" Shima agreed

Maru watched the two still taken aback by how close they were. Who knew they would have so much in common?

Lotus and Shima were about to take off heading to the front of the store in hopes to grab their own copy of the Manga but a rumbling sound made them pause. From around the corner came a stampede of people running to the front of the store.

"Wha-Ahhhh!"

Shima shouted as he was swept up into the crowd being carried off by the wave of people.

"Ah! Shima!" Lotus shouted running after the poor boy.

Maru sighed, "It's sad but that's not the first time that's happened to Shima."

Maru was about to help but paused a smirk forming on his face.

"~Hehe I know, while those two are busy I'll get the last edition of that manga and Lotus will surely reward me.~"

Maru took off sprinting to the front of the store heading for the display. He turned a corner seeing-

"Ah, they're all out!" Maru shouted

He fell to his hand and knees defeated.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Maru what are you doing on the ground?"

Maru looked up to see Shima and Lotus standing before him, both of them holding the exclusive limited-edition manga.

"~Wha?! But how the heck did they get those?!~"

"Th-Those Manga how'd you…." Maru questioned pointing at the books.

"Oh, Shima grabbed them. The wave of people carried him to the front of the store, right where the Manga was displayed. He was able to grab them and with his small stature he was able to slip right back out of the crowd really easily," Lotus explained

Shima smiled nodding his head. "Yup. It was almost like I floated right on top of the people. Look Maru I was able to grab you one too."

He handed the manga over to his friend who took it with a shaky hand.

"Th-Thanks Shima."

Attempt 1 — Fail

Shima skipped in between Lotus and Maru as the trio made their way to their next destination. They came to a crosswalk, waiting for the light to change along with the rest of the pedestrians. The "Do Not Cross" light changed and everyone started walking. Within the large crowd, a group of rowdy children ran though bumping into people, one of those people being Lotus.

Lotus tripped as a boy ran into her side.

"~Chance!~"

Maru smiled holding his arms out with the expectation of catching the girl.

"Nope." Saiki waved his hand and Lotus was pulled back on her feet.

Maru's smirk got bigger as a body landed in his hands. He looked down anticipating the large doe eyes of Lotus.

"Why thank you, young man."

Instead of Lotus, there was an elderly woman in his arms.

"~Who the heck are you!?~"

Attempt 2 — Fail

"Wow, this place looks great!" Shima exclaimed

The group finally reached their destination, a cafe that was designed to resemble a giant cake.

"Cool, I've never seen a cafe like this before," Lotus said

The teens walked in and were warmly greeted by a waiter who brought them to a booth in the back. Maru sat first and was about to offer the empty seat next to him to Lotus but halted seeing Lotus sit across from him with Shima sliding in right next to her.

They picked up their menus going over the various options.

"It all looks so good. I can't decide. What do you guys think?" Lotus asked

"I'm gonna try all the cake!" Shima cheered like an excited kid.

Lotus giggled patting Shima's head. "Shima you're adorable."

Shima gave Lotus a beaming smile in return.

Maru silently cried behind his menu "~Why is this happening to me? Shima you traitor!~"

A few tables back a menu was lowered revealing Saiki.

Attempt 3 — Fail

The group left the restaurant a sullen Maru following Shima and Lotus.

"~This has been the worst date ever.~"

Lotus looked to Maru's downcast form, feeling a bit bad for the guy.

"~Let's see...who would make the perfect target?~"

A voice filtered into Lotus's mind prompting her confusion.

"Target?" She thought

"~Hmmmm….yeah she looks good. The guys she's with don't look like a threat either, especially the blonde one.~"

"Wait is he talking about-?"

Before Lotus could finish her thought her purse had been wretched out of her arms.

"Hey! My purse!" Lotus shouted

"My purse now lady!"

"How cliche is this!?"

"Hey stop!" Maru shouted before he took off running after the thief.

"Maru wait! It could be dangerous!" Shima called out.

"Ugh what to do? Maru's not going to catch up to that guy and I can't exactly use psychic powers to stop him either I don't have that kind of control."

Lotus looked around before spotting something and a light bulb sparked over her head.

"Now that I can use!"

Lotus approached a vendor selling some fruit. She grabbed a nice unripe firm apple promising to pay the vendor in a moment. Shima stared confused by the girls' actions.

"~Her purse got stolen, but she's getting an apple?~" He thought confused

Lotus tightly gripped the fruit in her hand before taking a deep breath. She pulled her arm back in a windup eyes locking on her target then Lotus launched the apple.

"Whoa!" Shima gaped as the apple flew overhead in a speedy perfect arc.

The apple soared through the air before coming back down to earth. The thief continued to laugh believing he was going to get away not noticing the fruity projectile heading his way.

"I said stop!" Maru shouted getting closer to the thief.

"Not ha-AHHH!"

Just as Maru put his hand on the man's back, the apple hit its target beaming the thief right in the head. He fell to the ground dropping Lotus's purse in the process.

Maru hopped right over the fallen thief's body scooping up Lotus's purse.

"I got it!" Maru cheered holding the purse up like a trophy.

"~Wow I've really gotten strong. Just one shove, and he fell to the ground.~" Maru thought

Saiki once again had to suppress an eye roll.

Maru stood proudly holding the purse up like some kind of prize.

Lotus and Shima walked over as the authorities joined in. They cuffed the thief dragging him off.

"Here you are Lotus," Maru grinned handing over the bag to Lotus.

Lotus gave her own smile. "Thank you so much for getting it back for me."

Maru chuckled abashedly, "It was no problem."

Shima was confused but looked to Lotus. She smiled winking putting a finger over her mouth in a hushed motion. Shima smiled nodding his head in understanding copying Lotus's motion.

Maru was still reveling in his "capture" of the thief that he didn't notice the two's exchange.

"~I'm the hero! I saved the day. Now all that's left is to receive my reward. Maybe Lotus will even give me a kiss.~" Maru thought with a flushed face.

"Now I regret it. It's gone to his head. Think again, buddy."

Lotus made an uncomfortable face seeing Maru attempt to lean in for a kiss. She was about to put her hand up to block him, but she didn't have to as a splash of water landed on his head.

"What!" Maru shouted

"Sorry about that kid!"

Maru, Shima, and Lotus all looked up to see a window washer above them.

"Must've kicked over my bucket without knowing. Sorry," The man apologized

The corner of Saiki's lips were slightly upturned in a minuscule amused smirk.

"~This really sucks.~"

Lotus sighed feeling bad for Maru, not enough to kiss him though. Digging into her purse she pulled out one of her embroidered handkerchiefs.

"Here you go, obviously it's not big enough to get you dry but it's better than nothing," Lotus stated handing the cloth over to Maru.

"Thank you," Maru took the cloth wiping off his face.

"~Smells sweet.~" Maru thought

"Thanks for getting my purse back. How about we meet up again, this time meals on me to say thanks," Lotus said

"Really?" Maru asked wide-eyed.

"Yeah," Lotus said

"~I still have a chance!~"

"No, you don't. She's just being nice."

Saiki was going to have to keep his eye on this one.