Disclaimer
The following is a fan-based Fiction.
To Love-Ru belongs to Shueisha, Saki Hasemi and Kentarou Yabuki
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Some Successful Meddling
The following weekdays were 'normal', Rito struggles figuring out how to speak to Haruna, Lala jumps in getting his attention and all the guys in the classroom glare with intense jealousy. While that happened, Hiro just stood there silently, observing the 'main group.' Occasionally assisting them, like trying to alleviate some of Rito's mental overload from Lala's affection, which is just Lala hugging and her boobs touching him, so Hiro often reminds Rito to breathe.
Sometimes Hiro had to catch or help Rito regain his balance before he did his infamous fall on a poor girl nearby.
During Sunday, Hiro figured that he most likely missed a chapter, considering how his father told him about rumors of a pink haired girl's clothing falling apart in the middle of town. There's only one girl with such clothing… Hiro couldn't help but sigh. Already picturing Rito's red panicking face.
The following morning, right before school officially starts. Hiro takes his seat, somewhat prepared to go through the weekday grind.
"Um, Hiro." Rito says and Hiro turns from his seat, seeing Rito standing next to him.
"Yeah Rito?" Hiro says, curious of what Rito is asking him.
"C-can we talk after school, on the roof alone?" Rito asks somewhat nervously.
"Sure." Hiro nods, suppose it is about time for Rito to ask him for some help alone.
"I'm going to come too." Lala says but Rito shakes his head.
"No Lala, I want to speak to Hiro alone." Rito says.
"Awwww but why?" Lala questions, tilting her head cutely.
"B-because… Uh, Hiro and I are going to have some boy talk." Rito answers.
"Hm? What's a boy talk?" Lala asks, confused about the phrase and Hiro, not wanting Rito to mess up his explanation, raises his finger, getting the Princess's attention.
"Boy talk means a private conversation between boys about things that a girl would find boring or inappropriate." Hiro explains and Lala nods but still looks a little confused. "I mean for example, in a girl talk, are there some things you prefer talking to your mother about rather than your father?"
"Oh!" Lala gasps, in such a dramatic way that Hiro can picture a lightbulb above her head turning on with a ding sound. "Okay! Just don't take too long please~." She says and both boys nod.
Later in the afternoon, Rito and Hiro hang out on the rooftop alone.
"So…" Rito says.
"So…?" Hiro repeats.
"How do you help me with my stress about the situation with Lala?" Rito clarifies, sighing, leaning against the fence.
Hiro observes Rito, who looks a bit fatigued now. Looking back at the hazy memories, in hindsight, Rito seems to have an endless roller coaster of events, he most likely had barely any peace in the manga… "Well, I'm not a psychologist or a counselor but… Generally, speaking to me or someone you trust about your issues just to let it out of your head and nothing else could help you alleviate some of the stress. In general, bottling everything up is not a good idea."
"I see." Rito nods, contemplating the advice. "Maybe you're right, let's do it now."
"With me?" Hiro asks and Rito nods. "Okay then. Thank you for placing your trust in me."
The reincarnate sits down, waiting patiently. The Protagonist takes a deep breath. "Here I go…"
Rito lets out what he has been thinking. The fear that if he breaks up with Lala, her father will destroy Earth. Then there are the Alien suitors likely going to attack him just to have Lala's hand in marriage, Rito is afraid that he might not get lucky and will face a strong alien that could destroy him. He hasn't talked about how he feels to anyone about this situation, not even his sister. Then there's his crush with Haruna, well actually, he didn't tell Hiro but the reincarnate knew and could guess Rito really wants to express his feelings to her. He doesn't want to lose his chance with having Haruna by his side, something Hiro can understand.
Rito sighs, taking deep breaths from the seemingly endless amount of talking he just did, Hiro hands him a bottle of water. "Thanks." He says taking large gulps.
"Feel better?" Hiro asks.
Rito pauses, thinking deeply and gives Hiro a small smile. "Yeah, a little bit, you were right, letting it all out helped, thanks for listening."
"That's what friends are for, although, it wouldn't hurt to talk to a family member." Hiro advises, standing up and he looks at the sun slowly disappearing.
"Yeah, probably a good idea." Rito agrees.
"Come on, time to go home." Hiro says, lowering hand to Rito, who takes it and helps him up.
"Yep."
The two walk downstairs but…
"I gotta take a detour, nature's calling." Hiro says pointing at the bathroom sign.
"Alright, see ya tomorrow." Rito says, waving goodbye.
Hiro, after settling some 'business' in the school restroom, he walks through the empty hallways, on the way to the stairs he hears a pair of guys speaking.
"Is this info legitimate?" One guy asks, sounding cautious. Hiro hugs the nearby wall of the stairs, curious about the conversation.
"Yeah it is, you think our senpai would let us down? Come on, where's your sense of adventure? This is probably our only chance to see every hot girl's panties, and he said he would get us photos of the girls in class 1-A when they take swim class." Another guy answers confidently.
Hiro frowns, recalling talk about swim class happening the next day. Lala was certainly excited about it.
"Remember the time, we all meet at the roof around the fourth period."
"Alright."
The two students walk downstairs leaving. The reincarnate looks at the shadows of the students disappearing downstairs, he furrows his brows, trying to remember the manga. He only can recall Motemitsu Taizo, the guy who looks handsome but is 'secretly' a pervert. In the Darkness manga, he wanted to get an alien camera that can see through clothing- Oh! He's the photographer!
In the following morning, walking to school, Hiro sighs as the merciless summer heat hits him full blast. This heat is messing up his ability to think in detail about what's going to happen soon. His head feels itchy and too hot, maybe he should get a haircut sometime before Seaside Summer School, his hair is getting a bit too thick. He'll ask his mom later in the afternoon.
A few minutes later, Hiro enters the school with a sigh of relief, feeling the AC cool his body. The reincarnate enters his class, walking over to Rito and Lala, greeting them.
"Hiro, on the way to school, I saw a guy in a hoodie, wearing shades and a mask, taking photos of Lala." Rito says. "I'm worried they might be an alien suitor."
Hiro nods and leans toward Rito, whispering. "Well, before I left school yesterday, I heard some guys talking about getting photos of the girls of our class when they go swim at the school pool today. They have a meeting place during the fourth period."
"So maybe the guy in the hoodie is a human perving on Lala?" Rito deduces.
"Most likely." Hiro assures. "I'll report to the school disciplinary committee after class."
"Okay." Rito says with a sigh of relief of having no dangerous aliens to deal with.
First period ends, Hiro looks around the hallways, seeing a girl about Lala's height, with dark brown hair, scrutinizing the males, even himself. The reincarnate walks towards Kotegawa Yui, one of Rito's love interests with a tsundere personality. The girl's eyebrows furrow, her dark brown eyes staring directly into Hiro's bright blue as Hiro approaches her.
"Good morning Kotegawa-san, I have something to report."
"What is it Akatsuki-san?" Yui asks, somewhat cautious of him.
The reincarnate explains what he heard the day before and Rito's report of a guy taking photos of Lala on the way to school.
"How shameless." Yui scoffs in disgust, saying her favorite word. "I'll personally check during the fourth period with the rest of the committee."
"I suggest you be subtle, they might be on the lookout for committee members."
"Don't worry Akatsuki-san, this isn't the first time I busted a few shameless perverts." Yui reassures Hiro's worry. "Thank you for telling me this."
"Have a good day Kotegawa-san."
"You too Akatsuki-san."
Third period ends.
Kotegawa Yui frowns observing the group of boys chatting, excited about something perverted as they go upstairs. From what she can tell, some of these boys are from the baseball team. Before third period ended, there was also a boy yelling from Class 1-A' and Yui saw a guy wearing a hoodie, shades and a mask, running through the hallway. Just like what Akatsuki Hiroto reported… Perhaps he really is one of the few who isn't a pervert, good, one less pervert for her to deal with in the world...
With the rest of the disciplinary committee, Yui catches all the boys on the roof, revealing that the perverted photographer is Motemitzu Taizo. Yui inspects the photos and gasps.
How did he get photos of her panty?! Yui's face turns bright red. "Pervert!"
Meanwhile in swimming class, Peke detects a camera in the corner, and Lala grabs it, taking it to the surface.
"Hey, I found this camera in the corner, is this a security camera?" Lala asks, holding up the camera.
Almost immediately, all girls, minus Lala and Haruna, smash the camera to pieces.
The day ended with Motemitzu Taizo suspended from school for two weeks and Rito didn't go through any 'lucky' peeking. A Mission Success in Hiro's mind.
Hiro smiles at his new haircut. Since his mom is a hair salonist, she gave him a recommendation and he accepted it. He got an undercut with a line and swept the top of his hair to the side, showing off the line. She wanted to do it on her son for a long time but Hiro always declined going for a simple plain hairstyle, since Hiro initially planned to go into Sainan High as a 'background character'. Now that he is hanging out with Rito and Lala, he might as well have a hairstyle he can be proud to have, especially when his mom liked it so much.
"You look so handsome! When you go to school tomorrow, be careful Hiro, all of those girls in school are going to pounce on you because of how good looking you are~." Akari's voice echoes in Hiro's memory.
The reincarnate shakes his head at the memory with a smile, nah, lots of guys in school have an undercut too, mom was just complimenting him because she loves him.
Hiro walks into school, oblivious to the students staring at him as the reincarnate puts on his indoor slippers. Through the hallways however, Hiro begins to notice how the female students are staring at him, blushing a tiny bit as he passes by them. His face stiffens, turning a bit pink and he increases his walking speed, feeling embarrassed by the amount of attention he is suddenly getting.
Hiro enters the class, walking over to Rito and Lala.
"Woah, nice hair cut Hiro." Rito says, surprised by the sudden change in hairstyles.
"Yeah nice haircut, you look cool." Lala compliments.
"T-thanks." Hiro says, smiling wide until an attractive girl with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes suddenly sneaks up next to him, grinning.
"Wow Hiroto-kun, you cleaned up real nice~" Momioka Risa, compliments with a flirty tone and a wink, leaning close.
"He sure did." Sawada Mio, Risa's friend and partner in crime, comments, observing Hiro's head with a smile on her face. She adjusts her glasses and the light shines over her lens, somehow blocking her eyes.
Hiro cheeks turn a bit pink. "A-A bit early for your teasing isn't it?" He replies, stuttering a bit. The reincarnate instinctively backs up from the girls and their smirk widens seeing him step back. Damn it, doesn't he have some experience with attractive girls in close proximity? Well at least he's not as bad as Rito...
"Nope~." Risa teases and giggles, the school bell rings, signaling the start of the school day.
During lunch break. Hiro sighs as some of the girls in class still occasionally glance at him for some reason.
"What's wrong?" Lala asks.
"I don't really get why I'm suddenly getting so much attention, I mean yeah this haircut is very different from my old hairstyle but still…" Hiro wonders, combing his hair with one hand
"Well you do look cool now." Rito suggests.
"But I can't be that cool to make people stare at me that much, there are other guys who have undercuts too." Plus he didn't do much to stand out when he first attended this school.
"If I may." Peke speaks, getting the lunch trio's attention. "I believe part of the reason why Hiro is suddenly getting attention is because of how slightly different his hair is compared to the other students."
"How so?" Hiro asks.
"I noticed that while there are other boys who shaved the sides of their heads as well, the majority of them kept the top of their heads messy, making them look unattractive but you are the only one who has combed it which makes you look more clean and neat but still expressive enough to not look plain compared to the others. Unlike the others, your haircut suits you rather well compared to your old hairstyle. Perhaps that little difference is what made you gather attention from the girls. "
"Thanks Peke." Hiro says, smiling. "I suppose that makes sense." He is in the world of To Love-Ru after all, the hairstyles for guys are either messy or flat and plain. The reincarnate is perhaps the only one with this kind of hairstyle that is unique compared to the masses.
The attention he is getting will probably fade in a few days.
"So did any cute girls comment on how good looking you are?~" Hiro's mother asks.
"Um, n-no." Hiro replies, turning his gaze away from his teasing mother. Recalling Risa and Mio's comments.
"Sure.~"
Hiro sighs, knowing his mom doesn't believe him. He turns on the TV and looks at the news with a frown, seeing the warning about the typhoon hitting Sainan soon.
Is he misremembering this or did the butterfly effect literally create a storm already? The reincarnate can vaguely recall a beach chapter earlier in the manga series, so how can it happen with this typhoon-
"-upid Typhoooon!" Lala's voice echoes from a distance somehow reaching Hiro's home.
"Did I just hear a girl's voice?" Akari asks.
Oh, that makes so much more sense now.
When they arrived at the Seaside school, Hiro got to witness the Principal getting brutally punched in the face by the, admitally, beautiful landlady.
The principal told all students about the dare tonight, something that rings a bell in Hiro's head but he struggles to remember. Early chapters of the Manga are tough for him to remember, the earliest he remembers well is Yami's first appearance.
"The girls are taking a bath, it is our duty to peek." Hiro's roommates say eagerly.
Hiro fakes a yawn. "I'm just going to chill here."
"Alright Akatsuki-san, it's your loss."
"Whatever, good luck."
Hiro is opting out of peeking on the girls, because one, he knows how it can end for peeping toms, two, he is technically, spiritually over thirty, he sometimes feels like a creep if he stares at girls nowadays unless they are adults.
The reincarnate's roommates return no longer as excited as before and a little bit later, Hiro hears screams about the principal being a pervert, spying on the girls bathing. Looks like he was correct.
"So this is the dare?" Hiro mutters to himself. Walking with a girl through the forest with people scaring them, it is said that the pair who makes it through will become a couple…
He sees Rito dejected standing with Lala. Huh must be fate.
Hiro draws the paper, seeing the number '15' on the paper slip. He turns around, looking for his partner, he sees the number in the hands of a short green haired and topaz colored eyed girl. Aria Sayaka, a classmate and someone who starred in a one shot manga years after the Darkness Manga Series.
"Uh excuse me, Arai-san, did you also get number fifteen?" Hiro asks the girl with his paper slip showing.
"Yep."
Like many of the other students, Sayaka was scared during the walk, threatening to break Hiro's hand a few times with each encounter.
"Calm down Arai-san, remember, these are just people dressed up." Hiro says, wincing at the girl's deceptive grip strength.
"Yeah but they still look a bit scary though." Sayaka says. "How are you not afraid?" She asks, observing Hiro's passive expression.
"I've seen scarier stuff." Hiro answers.
"Huh, like what?"
"Zombie movies." Hiro admits, vaguely recalling a korean zombie movie on a train, that memory made his heart go wild and he has a memory playing a 3rd person shooter horror video game about zombies taking place in a police station. Those were much scarier than this dare.
"Rah!" A werewolf 'roars' leaping out of the bushes, scaring Sayaka and startling Hiro a little bit.
"Hiek!" Sayaka yelps, crushing Hiro's hand again. How the hell can something like this be romantic? He can only think about his hand being crushed. Due to the pain, Hiro is considering asking Sayaka if she wants to go back from the dare but on the other hand, perhaps literally in this case, something might happen with Rito and Lala, something that might be dangerous, likely by accident from Lala's machines.
A light brown haired girl with twintails and glasses runs with her partner. "Sayaka!" She yells seeing the green haired girl.
"Koyomi?!" Sayaka gasps and yelps as the girl, now named Koyomi, hugs her and Koyomi's partner continues to run away from the three.
"It's so s-scary, let's run b-back!" Koyomi whimpers, hugging Sayaka tightly.
"S-sure, let's go back." Sayaka nods. "Are you okay with that Akatsuki-san?" She asks.
"You two go ahead." Hiro shrugs "I'm going to keep going and see if I can find my friends up ahead."
"Alright, good luck…" Sayaka says and the reincarnate nods, marching forward, missing the green haired girl glancing back as she walks away with her clingy friend.
'He looked pretty cool actually…' Sayaka thinks to herself.
Hiro frowns, narrowing his eyes, trying to see anyone familiar in the dark forest-
"Boo!"
Hiro jumps a little from the sudden appearance of Lala in a cute outfit, floating upside down, acting like a ghost.
"Dang Lala you got me good!" Hiro admits with a chuckle, his hand over his chest, his fear leaving immediately upon recognizing the Heroine.
Lala giggles at Hiro's reaction. "This is pretty fun!~" The princess pulls out her phone. "I can do more stuff too." A round floating metal ball with a black face, yellow dot eyes and a toothy shark like smile appears. "Behold, Deru Deru Vision-kun.~" On cue, the ball activates and several floating transparent ghosts appear.
The inn staff members dressed in costumes flee at the sight of the ghosts but Hiro's eyes widened seeing the holograms. "Wow they look so real."
"Thanks."
"Any idea where Rito went?"
"I don't know… Oh there he is and Haruna-chan too!" Lala says spotting them. "Woah, did you put on ghost make-up too Rito? It looks so real.~" Hiro winces, seeing the bruises on Rito's face, what happened to him?
"La-Lala, H-hiro… Who are those p-people behind you?" Rito stutters.
Hiro smiles, waving his hand. "Don't be scared, it's just holograms Lala made."
"Yep." Lala confirms and she looks at Haruna. "Huh? Haruna what's wrong? You look pale-"
"HYAAAAAH!" Haruna screams, grabbing Rito and somehow pulls off a martial art throw, launching the poor guy towards the ghost in front of the device. The reincarnate moves quickly, catching Rito before he accidentally hits Lala's invention. Unfortunately, Rito crashes into Hiro hard, slamming Hiro down on the dirt painfully. On the upside, their fall is not lewd at all. Thank goodness Rito's falls aren't lewd when it comes to other guys or else Hiro would've reconsider not helping Rito anymore.
The two guys groan. "Ugh… You alright Rito?" Hiro asks, wincing at the back pain from the dirt and rocks.
"Yeah. Ugh, I think so anyway… Thanks for catching me." Rito replies.
"Uh Lala, I think Haruna has enough scares for the day, can you please turn it off?" Hiro groans, standing up.
"Sure." Lala complies, turning off the machine. Haruna stares for a few seconds and eventually sighs in relief. She gasps, realizing what she had done and runs towards the two boys.
"Yuuki-san, Akatsuki-san, I am so sorry!" Haruna apologizes. "I just panicked when I saw those ghosts earlier, they were so scary! I couldn't control myself."
"It's okay." Hiro reassures and so does Rito. Haruna's reaction to the ghosts certainly explains Rito's face. The reincarnate turns to see the Inn upstairs nearby and looks back at the others.
Rito is frowning, noticing that their group is even numbered, likely thinking the same thing as Hiro.
Whichever pair makes it to the end will become a couple… The fact that Hiro is also here, if they all go together now, since Rito is still partners with Lala, Haruna might end up walking back with Hiro… That can't happen. Sure the dare's reward could be made up but Hiro is not going to test that.
'I am NOT going to cuck Rito!' Hiro mentally declares.
The reincarnate leans forward, clenching his stomach. "Huh what's wrong?" Rito asks.
"I need to go to the restroom now…" Hiro lies, standing up, gritting his teeth, pretending to strain himself. "I'll see you tomorrow morning!" He says, running up the stairs, not waiting for any response.
"Congratulations! You are the first pair to finish the- wait! Where is-"
Hiro runs past the perverted principal, still acting like an urgent student needing to go somewhere, he runs up to the women from the Inn. "Excuse me, where's the nearest restroom?!"
The nice and beautiful landlady gives Hiro the directions and he continues running. Once Hiro enters the building out of sight, he stops with a sigh.
'Talk about dodging a bullet…' Hiro thinks to himself. The reincarnate peeks in the window, seeing the staff and the principal congratulating Rito with Lala and Haruna.
Lala is happy, cheering while Haruna and Rito are both blushing, realizing that they managed to reach the end together but they look at Lala with uncertainty practically written on their faces.
Hiro shrugs and walks away with an all knowing smile.
Alas, the 'Obligated Beach Episode' arrives. Hiro stands by Rito, observing the group, maybe due to his new hormonal body, Hiro finds himself occasionally glancing at the girls nearby, blushing a tiny bit, seeing their bodies.
The girls could all become models and certainly have a good chance of succeeding…
"Rito, Hiro, come over here!" Lala calls out, and the two boys turn to find Lala, and Haruna in their bathing suits, looking very cute.
Rito's face turns completely red making Hiro's lightly pink face look normal in comparison.
"Deep breathes Rito, it's just attractive girls showing off their skin a bit." Hiro teases with a smirk, staring at Rito's typical harem protagonist reaction.
"It's hard!" Rito replies, using his hand to not look but still peek at the same time, contradicting himself.
"KYAAAAA!" A girl screams from a distance. Hiro turns in the general direction, everyone in the beach stops, doing the same.
"Swimsuit thief!" Another girl cries, covering her chest, sinking into the water to hide her modesty, along with many other victims.
Hiro observes, he follows the trail of girls who are submerging their chest into the water, managing to find the swimsuit thief moving fast underwater, going straight towards Lala and Haruna.
"Lala, Sairenji look out!" Hiro yells, trying to warn them.
Haruna pushes Lala out of the way, sacrificing her bra, Hiro immediately turns his gaze out of respect for Rito and Haruna. Rito runs to check on Haruna but she tells him to stay back, embarrassed, submerging her chest into the water.
Later the girls who lost their bras got shirts and walked back to the beach with the others.
"Damn it, I envy- I mean I can't forgive him!" Saruyama yells
"How can he steal the girls' swimsuits?!" Another, totally not jealous, guy says.
"Seriously, that's terrible!" Risa scowls.
"That swimsuit was expensive." Mio says
"I heard it happened to the kids from the other classes too." Haruna comments, making the class even more upset.
Hiro frowns, how could someone be so fast to steal the swimsuits in shallow water? He understands the girls further into the water but not where Lala and Haruna were standing, their legs were only submerged… Is it an alien?
"Unforgivable! Fun time in the ocean will be ruined if things stay like this!" Lala pouts with her fists clenching. The Princess walks through the crowd.
"What are you gonna do Lala?" Rito asks.
"I'll go back to the ocean and catch the culprit!"
"Eh?!"
Lala leans over to Rito and Hiro with her hand up whispering. "It's okay, Peke made my swimsuit, so I don't have to worry about it getting stolen." She reassures with a wink.
"I'll come too." Rito says, walking out with Lala
"So will I" Hiro says, following the 'couple'.
The reincarnate hears the students in the distance, forming groups to search for the thief.
Hiro, Rito and Lala stand in the water.
"The first person who got her swimsuit stolen was swimming around here." Lala says.
"I don't think the culprit is still in the ocean though." Rito comments, uncertain of the lead they have.
"The thing is, I don't think the thief is human, what human would be so fast underwater to swipe the swimsuit without being seen, especially in shallow water?" Hiro suggests. Even the principal, as crazy slipper he can be, would be spotted easily, he's too fat and big to move underwater stealthily.
"Oh crap, maybe you're right!" Rito gasps, seeing Hiro's point.
"Lala-sama!" Peke warns and the thief makes their move, grabbing her bra.
"Now!" Lala yells and the two guys grab the thief. "Great you got-
"A baby dolphin?!" Hiro exclaims in surprise, he doesn't remember this!
"Oh, I saw this in the illustrated guide!" Lala says.
"Is this really the thief?!" Rito questions, incredulous to the reveal.
The bra in the dolphin's mouth disappears.
"Hee hee, too bad for you! As long as I have Peke on my head, I won't have to worry about you stealing my swimsuit!" Lala proclaims proudly as her bra reforms on her chest.
"Why did it steal swimsuits- Uwah!" Rito yelps as the dolphin suddenly jerks and almost slips out of the boys' arms, were it not for Hiro helping Rito hold the dolphin, the animal would have slipped out. Hiro grits his teeth as he and Rito struggle to keep the seemingly anxious dolphin in their arms.
"Lala, do you have an animal communication device?!" Hiro asks, hoping his question could lead up to Lala with the idea to call her sister, Nana, a girl capable of communicating with animals.
"No but that does sound- OH I know what to do!" Lala yells, having an eureka moment, running back to the beach. "Just stay here and hold on!"
"Why would the dolphin steal the swimsuits anyway?" Rito asks, as the dolphin continues struggling making whining noises.
"Don't know, that's why I asked Lala if there is some sort of animal translator." Hiro says. Even he is uncertain why the dolphin did this.
A few minutes later, Lala returns with her phone in hand. On the small screen is an image of a pink-haired girl. "Nana-chan, ask the dolphin!" Lala yells, placing her phone near the dolphin.
"Hey! Why have you been stealing swimsuits?!" Nana yells from the phone, sounding irritated and the baby dolphin makes noises, incomprehensible for everyone except for Nana. The girl gasps. "Lala, his mother is stuck on the beach and needs help!"
"Take us to your mama!" Lala asks urgently and the dolphin makes a noise, likely agreement. The two boys let the dolphin go, and it swims to its mother but it swims too quickly.
"Slow…! Down!" Hiro yells.
"We can't…! Keep up!" Rito says in between strokes.
"Don't worry, I can catch up!" Lala reassures, matching the sea creature's speed.
The two boys swam, turning the corner of some rocks near the island.
"Where did they go?" Rito wonders, looking around.
"Oh, over there!" Hiro points out, seeing Lala waving at them.
"Rito, Hiro! Come this way, hurry!" Lala calls out and the two boys reach the shore, climbing up the rocks. Hiro gasps seeing an adult dolphin on the beach, the ocean waves occasionally hitting her, keeping her alive.
"So this is the thief's mother." Hiro states.
"He was stealing swimsuits to get some help." Nana explains from Lala's phone.
"Does the mother have any injuries?" Hiro asks, Lala lowers her phone near the Dolphin mother and Nana talks to her.
"No, she's fine, just tired."
Hiro rotates his shoulders and arms moving to one end of the dolphin "Come on, lets get her back in the ocean." He says, trying to push, Rito and Lala nod.
"Okay!" Lala agrees.
"I got this end!" Rito says, moving on the opposite end of the dolphin.
Together, the three push the mother back into the ocean and the mother dolphin swims with the baby dolphin circling around his mother. Both dolphins make sounds of happiness and appreciation.
"Nana, what are they saying?" Lala asks her sister.
"They said thank you." Nana translates.
"Can you tell the son to not be too fast if this happens again? Humans can't follow him if he does that." Hiro asks.
"Good idea." Nana agrees and Lala dives into the water, swimming over to the dolphin with her phone up, the device is likely water proof considering how its still functioning.
Hiro asked that because were it not for Lala and Nana, the mother probably would have died from lack of sufficient water all because he was too fast for the humans to track him. The reincarnate can only hope the dolphin can learn from this just in case this happens again.
Lala swims back to the beach raising her phone to the two boys. "He understands his mistake, he won't do it again." Nana reassures them.
"That's good."
"So, are you Yuuki Rito?" Nana asks and Hiro shakes his head.
"No, I'm Akatsuki Hiroto, Lala and Rito's friend. Nice to meet you." Hiro bows politely.
"I'm Yuuki Rito," Rito introduces himself imitating Hiro's politeness
"I'm Nana Astar Deviluke, Lala's little sister and you two better not do anything perverted with my sister or else!" Nana threatens and both boys raise their hands in response, nodding.
"Mou, Nana don't act that way, Rito and Hiro are my friends! They are really nice!" Lala says, vouching for them.
"But men can be beasts and- huh, Momo?" Nana says and something happens off screen, someone reappears but instead of the pigtailed haired sister, a girl identical to Nana with short pink frizzy hair appears.
"Hello! I'm Momo Belia Deviluke! Nana's twin sister as well as Lala's younger sister, it's nice to meet you!" Then Rito and Hiro introduce themselves to Momo. "Hmm…." She hums, observing the two guys. She finishes with a nod, closing eyes and smiling.
"Eh?" Rito mutters, confused by Momo's stare
"Uh…" Hiro murmurs, feeling awkward and embarrassed that the girl likely inspected their bare torsos through the phone's camera.
"It's good to see you two again! I've missed you two!" Lala says, turning the phone to herself. Hiro and Rito hear some gibberish from the phone but based on Lala's smile, it's a nice conversation. Lala describes her experiences at school to her sisters.
"Yep, that meanie, Ghi Bree, tried to hurt my friends but Rito and Hiro were ready to fight him, they looked so cool!" Lala then giggles. "It turns out he was super weak!"
"Wait what?" Rito says, looking at Hiro.
"I had pepper spray in my hand just in case you needed help, besides I had a feeling the guy was bluffing when he transformed again when he was already intimidating earlier." Hiro explains.
"Oh, thanks for having my back earlier."
"No problem.
Lala nods. "Alright! I'll call you two more often, but I gotta go, bye love you!" She says disconnecting the call.
The three walked back to the beach their class is at, along the way, they saw all the girls beat the crap out of the Principal even though he was 'innocently' in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Seaside School trip ends and all the students go home to spend the rest of summer break doing whatever. Although Hiro noticed Rito was looking at Lala mindlessly, like he did with Haruna before Lala came. Something must have happened, perhaps his heart is starting to warm up to the Princess?
Hiro spent a few days chilling out at home, reading, doing chores, push ups and jogging in the neighborhood.
Until one day, Hiro's phone rings. Who could it be? The reincarnate looks at his flip phone seeing that it's Rito calling him.
"Hey Hiro, want to hang out at my home?" Rito asks.
"Sure." Hiro replies with a shrug. "Where do you live?" and Rito tells him the address. "Alright see ya there."
"Who was that?" Hiro's father, Masato asks.
"My friend, Rito, asked if he wanted to hang out at his place."
"Oh, okay, have fun!" Masato says, happy that his son has friends now.
It took Hiro about fifteen minutes to find the Yuuki Household, it looks identical to the one in the manga… Huh, looking back, a lot of ecchi scenes could actually happen here. He takes a breath, preparing himself and knocks on the door. The reincarnate hears a muffled feminine voice.
"-coming!"
Hiro hears some footsteps, the door locks clicking as someone unlocks it and it opens. On the other side of the door is Yuuki Mikan, Rito's cute imouto. "Good afternoon, you must be Akatsuki- wait have we met before?" Mikan says, her eyes narrowing, looking at Hiro.
"Uh, yeah, we met a few years ago, at the pool." Hiro answers, raising a finger up.
Rito didn't mention him to Mik- no wait Mikan said Hiro's family name, Rito just forgot to mention that Hiro is the same guy from a few years ago.
Mikan's gold brown eyes widen, finally recognizing the reincarnate.
"Oh! You're the guy who caught me at the pool?"
"Yep, I'm Akatsuki Hiroto, pleasure to formally meet you." Hiro says, politely bowing. "I'm sorry about the slip, the ice cream mess was my fault."
"It's fine, It's nice to meet you too, I'm Yuuki Mikan." Mikan says. "Come on in." The reincarnate nods, entering the house, removes his shoes, and puts on the indoor slippers. Hiro walks up the steps, entering the living room, finding Rito and Lala on the couch playing a fighter video game.
"Hey Hiro~!" Lala greets with a smile and a wave.
"Hi Hiro." Rito says with a smile.
"Rito, why didn't you tell me Akatsuki-san was the same guy who caught me?" Mikan says. Hiro curls his eyebrow up, the Yuuki siblings are making a big deal over what he did. How do they still remember his appearance so well?
"Huh? Oh, I… I forgot." Rito says, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. Mikan rolls her eyes but a small smile forms on her lips and she turns, facing Hiro.
"Want some water?" Mikan offers, acting as the hostess.
"Yes please." Hiro nods.
"Come over here, Hiro, let's play!" Rito says, waving his hand.
"Sure thing." Hiro grins, walking over,
"Good luck, Rito is really good at this." Lala says moving from her spot and Hiro takes her place.
"Ever played this game before?" Rito asks and Hiro shakes his head.
"No, but I'm a quick learner." Hiro replies.
"Alright, here are the controls." Rito then teaches Hiro the basic controls for the fighting game and after a few minutes. The two began 'Round 1', fighting each other with Lala cheering for either side in the background.
After a few minutes, Hiro stretches his back. He lost more than Rito but not every round. "That was fun." the reincarnate says, not salty about losing to the protagonist.
"Yeah." Rito agrees.
"Here's some water." Mikan says, handing Hiro a glass cup.
"Thanks Uh, Yuuki-san…?" Hiro says, uncertain how to address Mikan since they just met.
Mikan smiles in amusement. "You can call me Mikan, you already speak to Rito informally anyway."
"Alright, Mikan, call me Hiro." Hiro says, drinking his water.
"Do you play video games too?" Rito asks.
"No, I don't, not many games interest me, but playing them with friends is so much more fun."
Growing up, Hiro showed no interest in any of the current games because most of his memories involved him playing more technologically advanced games, at least the good ones, not the overly expensive bad ones, so he might be a bit spoiled in this world's time period. When he was 'seven' he played a bit on the old handheld games, an hour later, Hiro stopped almost immediately and afterwards, Hiro declined any offer to buy a new console for a new game, saving his parents their money. To pass the time, Hiro mostly just read books and manga instead.
Hiro, Rito, Lala and even Mikan played games together, taking turns. Ten minutes later, Mikan leaves to prepare lunch for everyone, and Hiro surrenders his spot for Lala to play against her fiance.
The reincarnate enters the kitchen. "Do you need any help Mikan-san-I mean Mikan?"
"No thank you, you're the guest here." Mikan declines.
"Yeah, but I feel like it's not a good impression for the guest to not help out." Hiro just feels awkward doing nothing, especially when the host is his friend's little sister.
"Well…" Mikan glances at Rito and Lala, both who are busy playing games. "I guess you can help get the bowls in the cupboard near the sink."
"Sure." Hiro complies, doing the simple task. Back at home, he often helped his parents prepare meals, even learned how to cook. It was easy, due to a lifetime of experience. He places the bowls on the table and turns around, seeing Mikan cooking skillfully and confidently. "You're really good at this." Hiro compliments.
"Thanks." Mikan replies with a grin, she fixes her hair, moving the strand behind her ear. "You should know that Rito is very happy being friends with you, he often spoke about how smart and cool you are."
"Really?" Hiro asks in surprise, he can understand being called smart but cool?
"Yeah, in fact…" Mikan stops cooking and faces Hiro, directly staring into his eyes. "Thanks for helping my brother during school, he told me what was on his mind recently, I didn't realize how stressful this whole alien situation was. Thanks to you, he's seems to look like he is doing better now."
"Of course." Hiro nods with a smile. So Rito took his advice and talked to Mikan about what's eating him up too… "Although, I imagine talking to his reliable sister certainly helped." Mikan smiles and her cheeks turn a little pink at the praise "Need anything else?"
"No thank you, just relax." Mikan says.
"Okay then." Hiro shrugs, returning to the couch, Rito and Lala turn off the game console, changing the input to watch Lala's favorite show.
The four of them eat lunch together, talking and describing their adventures in school and on the trip. "So this alien threatened all of you and Sairenji-san?" Mikan gasps, outraged and upset at how horrible Ghi Bree was.
"Yeah, Rito was ready to fight him and Hiro had pepper spray ready." Lala explains.
"Not that it was necessary, turns out the alien was ridiculously weak." Hiro says. "Although considering how disgusting he was, I should have sprayed his eyes and mouth as payback for kidnapping Sairenji-san…"
Lala giggles and nods in agreement.
"Hmm." Mikan frowns and looks at her brother. "Maybe we should buy some self defense weapons too?"
"Probably." Rito agrees.
"Oh! I could make some, just got to finish my lab first then I'll start making them." Lala offers.
"You don't have inventions we could use already?" Hiro says.
"I do but they are too big to carry around normally."
"Hmm, we could all brainstorm ideas together for you to build later and maybe you could show some of your inventions too?" Hiro suggests.
"Oh, great idea!" Lala says, now excited to show off her inventions. She stands up, stepping back from the table, holding her phone, pressing a few buttons.
"I don't know about this…" Rito whispers to Hiro nervously and the reincarnate gasps as he recalls how most of Lala's inventions caused a lot of chaos in the manga.
"Lala please don't actually use it, just show it and describe it please." Hiro pleads.
"Okay!~" Lala replies, Hiro, Rito and even Mikan sigh in relief.
"Behold, Clingy-clingy Cannon-kun!" Lala announces, wielding what looks like an RPG launcher but without the rocket. "It can fire sticky stuff and make people stuck!"
"So how long does it last?" Hiro questions
"Uhhh… Eight hours I think."
Hiro sweatdrops "Is there a way to remove it quicker?"
"Uhhh, hehe… Nope.~" The Yuuki siblings and Hiro all stare blankly at the Princess.
"What happens if the target needs to breathe and can't get it off?" Hiro asks, somewhat incredulous to the idea that Lala invented something like that with no cure. Recalling how Rito accidentally got hit by this invention in the manga, while Lala was fighting Yami. Meanwhile, Lala winces at the oversight.
"Oops, don't worry I'll make a spray that can take care of it instantly first before I give you and Rito mini clingy-kun!~"
"Got any other inventions?" Mikan asks.
"Lots~!"
They spent the rest of the day going through barely a quarter of Lala's inventions that can be used for self defense fighting, the three humans give Lala some constructive criticism to the flaws each invention had, especially Hiro, the oldest of the group technically. They also suggested more practical and simple weapons for Hiro and Rito to use as some of Lala's inventions were too powerful for a human to carry so casually.
The sunsets and Hiro decided it was time to go home.
"Thanks for having me." Hiro says.
"No problem, it was fun." Rito replies.
"Sorry if I criticized your inventions too much Lala." Hiro apologies.
"Nah, it's no problem, it's been a long time since I got any feedback on my inventions. Zastin, Maul and Smutts, are too nice to give me any good feedback. My parents are often too busy so normally my sisters would give me good points but they're back at Deviluke. So today was pretty productive and helpful, thanks Hiro, I can't wait to build new inventions!" Lala says.
"That's good." Hiro nods with a smile and looks at Rito's sister. "Your food was amazing Mikan, you could become a chef and have billionaires begging you to cook for them just for a single meal." He compliments, still amazed that Mikan made such good food.
"Nah, you're just exaggerating." Mikan shrugs it off, waving her hand and her cheeks a little pink.
"Hiro is right, your cooking is so much better than my chefs back at my home." Lala praises, and Mikan's cheeks turn red.
Looking back into Hiro's memories, Mikan probably didn't get praise enough, she definitely deserves it though. Considering the things they all go through.
"Alright, I gotta go home, thanks again, call me any time!" Hiro says, waving goodbye as he walks back home.
Rito, Mikan and Lala say their goodbyes as Hiro walks away.
A few minutes later, Hiro walks over the little hill and glances back at the Yuuki Household with a smile.
"Having friends is really nice…"
Hello, thanks for reading, hope you all liked it! Happy that I got some good reviews about this fanfic so far.
Sorry if you expected more radical changes to canon sooner, but it's only the beginning where Hiro doesn't need to make any major changes, he just needs to change how some things could hurt people badly like the canon outcome of the dare where Haruna yeets Rito into Lala's invention which explodes afterwards. It was a funny crazy result but in hindsight that was dangerous and they were pretty lucky.
However, in cases where Rito was genuinely in danger that relies too much luck from those with lethal intentions, like when a certain blonde assassin appears, Hiro will certainly intervene in greater detail and the aftermath may or may not lead to larger, unexpected results.
As for the chapter, I imagine Rito kind of bottled up some of the stuff that has been happening to him, since I just read the first Manga series and I don't think he really spent time trying to speak to someone about the stuff he is going through. Don't worry this fanfic isn't going to become like the fanfic "Snapped" but I thought this little intervention from Hiro would be nice for Rito to have occasionally.
Hiro got some of that 'New' haircut rizz, due to the fact that based on the manga, most of the guys seem to have messy hair, Hiro is a bit more cleaner and neat in comparison, so it would likely be very refreshing for the girls to look at.
Especially since he got a haircut that is still popular now in 'our world', actually idk, I haven't checked. But I hope that justifies how Hiro got some attention for a bit. Plus its To Love-Ru, people have tendency to overreact, even Hiro might not be immune to that.
Thanks again for reading and have a good day!