"You want my help, Honoka?"
"Yes,I need help!" She turned towards the doors leading to the market." That man, the dirty looking one who is offering to help people with putting their groceries in their cars…"
"What about him?"
She looks back down to the ground," I locked eyes with him once and since then I've been drawn to him. I keep seeing him everywhere, even in my dreams. I find myself thinking about him all the time, in the dreams he looks cleaner and he's actually quite attractive."
"Oh my god!" Haruhime shouts excitedly." You're reacting to your ashikabi!"
"My…My… Ashikabi?"
"Yes," I reply to her. " I believe Huru-chan is right. Trust me I should know, because I have had six sekirei react to me, five of which I winged."
"But every time I approach and talk to him, he runs away. He sees my weapon and yells, " You're one of them!" whatever that means, and then takes off. "
"No offense Honoka… but a muscular, 91 kilogram woman with a Kanabo could intimidate anybody. That homeless guy has seen Sekirei fighting, and the Sekirei plan terrifies him. Earlier today, I saw him run away in fear from a Sekirei."
"But if he is my Ashikabi, I need him if I want to have any chance of winning."
"Tell you want," I quickly write my address down on the back of her note. I also grab a 10,000 yen note from my wallet. I look down at my watch, it reads "2:17".
"Come to this address later tonight. Around 8:30. Find a safe place to store your weapon, and use the money to make yourself look nice. When you get to the front desk of my apartment building just tell them you're here too see Shirayuki-san in the penthouse."
" Right… But how is that gonna help?" She asks, as she takes the money and paper.
"Just leave everything to me! Now go, you only have about 6 hours to prepare."
She nods as she swiftly throws her weapon into the basket of the motor scooter. She gets back in it, which causes me to look over to her," by the way Honoka." She looks over to me as I continue. "Why are you riding around in that?"
She looks down at the motor scooter, and then back at me." Because I didn't feel like walking, and this mall provides them so it was convenient."
I mentally facepalmed, of course that was her answer. She was kind of lazy when it came to simple tasks, a rather undignified trait. But despite all that she was still an incredibly good person at heart." I see… anyhow, I've got to get home and prepare for your arrival tonight. So see you at 8:30."
I turned to look at my car, with all of the groceries in it. I didn't even have enough room for a person in the back." Ya-chan, go home and inform everyone else that we will be having two guests for dinner tonight. However, you must find a way to hide Kazehana at all costs. If she doesn't cooperate, tell her I will buy her a few bottles of her favorite sake. I'm sure I don't need to remind you what happened when that homeless guy saw her."
I quickly hopped into the car, handing haruhime one of the two elevator keys. "Huru-chan follow the car through the rooftops. I'm going to pick up the homeless guy and take him to our house, however, I'm not naive enough to trust that he won't try to do something to me. If the car stops for any reason, or you hear me scream, immediately come to my aid. When the homeless man and I are riding up the elevator, go to the parking garage and wait for me. I will be back down shortly to help you with the groceries."
She nods in agreement beforeI I taking off. I pull up next to the homeless guy. "Excuse me," I say, catching his interest.
He looks up at me, "aaahhh! How can I help you young lady? "
"Get in the car, I want to help you out, treat you to something to eat and let you shower and get cleaned up a little bit."
He looks at me with wide eyes, "I… I don't want to be a burden to you."
"Don't worry about it! I'd love to help you out." The man looks a bit hesitant, as I gesture once again for him to get in the car.
" What about those friends of yours?"
"My roommates took a cab home, because we all unanimously agreed to help you. Now get in the car before I change my mind."
The man looks at me somewhat reluctantly." Come on, how do you get to ride with a beautiful woman in a vintage car?" Wow that was something I would have never said, prior to having my Sekirei. Since I had gotten them, I had been told I was beautiful by each of them at least once. I guess I'm finally starting to believe their words myself.
"You know what? You're right!" He says hoping into the car.
As he buckles his seatbelt I say. "By the way my name is Shirayuki Saya!"
"Kimura Daisuke"
I quickly speed off trying to get home before rush hour. " So are you going to heed my warning and leave the city?"
I sigh as I Answer him, "About that Kimura-san."
"Please call me Daisuke."
"Very well Daisuke-san! Now tell me how much do you know about MBI?"
"Not much I suppose, at least no more than the average person. The CEO Hiroto Minaka founded the company some 20 years ago and quickly rose to power as one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Today, it is one of the leaders in Pharmaceuticals and Technology."
"Yes you're right, but there's more to it than that!"
"Oh so you got that feeling that they're hiding shit as well? I think they are the ones behind all of the weird shit that's been going on in the city! Like the other day when that large over growth of plants overtook the Botanical Gardens. Guess who was there on scene, MBI militia!"
Damn this guy knew quite a lot, just from sheer speculation. But then anybody who was around the botanical gardens that night could have guessed that MBI had something to do with it. Considering all of the tanks they had surrounding the place, it wouldn't be hard for someone to figure it out.
"Well…" I hesitate to tell him that I know the truth about what's been going on "… I guess that's a good point."
Either way he will figure out my involvement after I set him up with Honoka. He sits in silence for about 15 minutes before speaking again.
"So on my way to the supermarket I saw one of them superpowered girls. She was using some type of magic to conjure up flying tridents. It looked like she was trying to run away from some guy on a motorcycle."
Guy on a motorcycle? " Tell me, did the guy on the motorcycle have a cute dark-skin woman riding on the back?"
"Now that you mention it, I believe he did! Why do you ask?"
Shit… " I saw those two chasing a girl the other day. Maybe she was one of the superpowered girls?" Technically that wasn't a lie, because I had seen them chasing Yahan the other day when I winged her. But the question was whether or not he was going to believe me.
"Ahh I see, yea maybe she was!"
Nice I dodged a difficult situation, with that one. I pull into the parking garage, letting him out in front of the elevator before pulling into my parking space. I get out and start looking around cautiously for Akashiya-san. She would flip out if she knew I was bringing Daisuke into my apartment.
Just as I press the button, the elevator door slides open. Please don't be Akashiya-san! To my relief, It's Uzume. I wondered for a moment, slightly confused, how she knew I was here. It's almost as if she were reading my mind. She says, "Yahan arrived a few minutes ago."
" Good!" I usher Daisuke into the elevator, as I hand Uzume my Keys. "Huru-chan was following behind the car, she should be in the garage any minute now. I want you to help her with the groceries, and then lock up the car if you will."
"Of course Saya!" She says into the elevator. The doors slide closed leaving me alone in the elevator with Daisuke. I pull my elevator key card from my pocket and activate the elevator.
I carefully watch the elevator display as it goes up. 1.. 2… praying that I would not run into the one person I didn't want to see right now. 6… 7… this seems like the longest elevator ride of my life. 12… 13… 14… and no ding, thank Kami.
'Ding' the elevator finally arrives, and the doors slide open. I look around upon entering to make sure Kazehana was nowhere around. Yahan was kitchen, Matsu and Kazehana were nowhere to be seen, and Akitsu was sitting on the couch intently watching Dragon Ball Super.
"Wow you live in the penthouse! You must have a lot of money to be able to afford this place." Daisuke says stepping out of the elevator.
" No, I don't have that much money. I just have a high paying job. Anyway, I bet you would like a nice hot shower before dinner."
"Yes please, young lady. " He says as I point him in the direction of the bathroom. "Thank you kindly!'
When he disappeared behind the bathroom door, I turned to see Matsu coming from her bedroom. "Saya you're back!" I have news for you. "There are only four Sekirei that remain unwinged."
I quickly hush her," be careful saying stuff about that right now, we have a guest. Hopefully by the end of the night we can explain it to him but right now just keep your voice down. "
"Right…" She replies in a quieter tone." Well there are only four that remain unwinged, Number 54 Kuruse, Number 6 Homura, Number 35 Honoka, and of course our favorite drunk freeloader Kazehana."
I can sense the sarcasm in her voice as she mentions Kazehana. "Well Kazehana is already reacting to me, so maybe that will solve the problem with her. As for Number 35, well, I think I have the solution to that as well."
The elevator dings, as Uzume and Haruhime come from it carrying bags of groceries. I look over to them, and it looks like they had almost all of the groceries in their hands. "Is there anything left in the car?".
" Yes there are about 10 more bags, as well as a couple of boxes. I nod and start heading to the elevator when Uzume stops me. She gives me a small kiss, before saying, "don't worry! I will grab them, Saya!"
She walks past me without another word and presses the elevator button. Once the elevator had started its descent, I turn to Haruhime, "Haru-chan, I have one final request for you."
She nods as she walks over to me," yes Saya!"
I hand her my credit card. "Go to the bathroom and take the man's clothes, and throw them in the wash. While you're doing that I want you to check the sizes and then go to the men's clothing store just up the street. It should be like a block or two away. "
She nods," and I suppose you want me to buy him something nice to wear on his date, right?"
"Exactly! Just say it's a gift for your brother or something, if that comes up. Can I trust you with this task?"
"Yes! Of course you can!" She runs off with excitement towards the bathroom, eager to complete the task I had given her.
She comes back a couple minutes later immediately rushing to the elevator and pressing the button to bring it back up. I quickly hop into the elevator with her, knowing that sending her out would mean that Uzume wouldn't have an elevator key.
As I ride the elevator down in silence, Haruhime is the one who breaks it. "I know that you want to help her because she is one of the ones that you adjusted, but it's still nice of you to help out Honoka."
"I guess it is. Every Sekirei deserves happiness, I should know I have five relying on me for their happiness. I've always liked girls, but a month ago I didn't think I was pretty enough to get a girlfriend, let alone five. So I know I haven't really said it, but thank you Haru-chan. I'm glad to have you and the others."
"You're welcome Saya, and I'm glad I found someone as wonderful as you to be my Ashikabi. Speaking of Sekirei though, when are you going to wing Kazehana?"
"Huru-chan! I… I… she said she wasn't ready for an Ashikabi."
'Ding.'
The elevator reaches the bottom floor, before Haruhime can react. I quickly rush out trying to avoid the subject of Kazehana. "Quickly Haru-chan, go! Get that errand done and I will give you a kiss upon your return!"
Her eyes light up at my words, and she rushes off out of the parking garage. With her gone I turn to Uzume who was just locking my car doors. "I said I would handle it."
"Yes, but I sent Haruhime out to buy some new clothes for Daisuke-san and I knew you would need the key for the elevator."
"Yes of course! Grab those boxes will you?" She says pointing to three packs of fettuccine noodles.
As I ride the elevator back up with Uzume, Haruhime's words echo in my mind. ' When are you gonna wing Kazehana?'
Even I knew she was very attractive. Was I really the one destined to be Her Ashikabi? She had once thought that Minaka was her Ashikabi. I guess I would have to wait and see what happens.To see if she found me truly worthy to be her Ashikabi.