Disclaimer
The following is a fan-based Fiction.
To Love-Ru belongs to Shueisha, Saki Hasemi and Kentarou Yabuki
Please support the official release.
Fun and Games
The bell rings, signaling the start of Lunch Break, Hiro, Rito and Lala eat together at the cafeteria like usual. With Lala speaking to Rito and Hiro occasionally commenting like a third wheel. Lala is cheerful as usual, Rito is flustered but not panicky like he used to be when Lala first appeared. It looks like Rito's and Lala's relationship has improved since the berserk mouse incident a few days ago. Lala has been a little cautious with her inventions, often asking and telling about what they could do before pressing the ominous red button she has for some reason.
Hiro drinks his water, looking around, his eyes narrow seeing some girls suddenly turn their heads away from his direction.
What is going on? Shouldn't his haircut be old by now? It's been a few months.
Hiro turns back to see Saruyama Kenichi walking over with his tray of food, frowning, glaring at him, not Rito, for some reason.
While Hiro doesn't like the pervert much, they have been at least neutral and at best friendly to each other, since they are both friends with Rito. In fact when Saruyama asked what Hiro's type of girl is, the reincarnate admitted that he wasn't certain, as Hiro does see the attraction to many types of girls, from cute, to sexy or hot, Hiro can see the allure of multiple types, something Saruyama understood and respected.
So it's odd to see Rito's friend glaring at the reincarnate.
"Something wrong Saruyama-san?" Hiro inquires as the 'Monkey', sits across from him, glaring at him. Hearing Hiro's words, Lala and Rito turn to look at Saruyama, seeing his expression
"Yeah, how the hell are you so popular with the girls?" Saruyama bluntly says.
""Eh?"" Both Hiro and Rito murmur in shock at the question.
"Hiro is popular with the girls?" Rito asks.
Saruyama scoffs, "Well, I'm not surprised you wouldn't notice Rito since you have Lala." Rito blushes and Lala giggles lightly. He faces Hiro "But yeah, most of the cute sexy girls in this school are talking about you a lot."
"Where did this come from?" Hiro asks.
"Sometime after the festival, the girls think you are cool and attractive for some reason, I hear some girls want to confess to you!"
""EH?!"" Both Hiro and Rito yell.
"What's your secret man? How can I get girls? I want a harem!" Saruyama says, grasping Hiro's shirt, shaking him.
"Calm down Saruyama!" Rito says, trying to remove his hands from Hiro.
"I don't know," Hiro says, removing the pervert's hands from his shirt. "Well unless…"
"Unless what?" Saruyama asks, eager to take one step closer to having a beautiful girl.
Hiro sighs, thinking deeply. Is it because of his actions and maturity that some of the girls in the school find him attractive and dateable? Perhaps but it's not solid evidence. How can he find out for certain?
"Well, if we were serving a gentleman like you, I think the girls wouldn't mind…" Risa whispered with a wink
Oh boy…
Hiro sighs, standing up, seeing some of the girls look away from him again.
"Wait, you need to give me advice! I'll give you my lunch!" Saruyama begs, holding up his tray.
"I am not certain why the girls find me attractive, I have some ideas but I need more info. We need a girl's perspective on this matter." Hiro says.
"I'm a girl, I can help." Lala says but Hiro shakes his head.
"No, you had a bit of a sheltered life from the social norms here in school, we need someone who understands the girls' thoughts.
"Like who?"
"Momioka Risa."
Risa is chatting with Mio, sitting on their desks together, Hiro, Rito, Lala and Saruyama enter the class, walking straight to Risa.
The dirty blonde gasps. "Hiroto-kun, are you here to confess your love to me?!" She says dramatically.
"Huh? Hiro, you like Risa-chan?!" Lala gasps.
Hiro rolls his eyes. "No, Risa is just teasing and joking around."
Risa pouts playfully. "Aw boo… So why do you need to talk to me?"
"Why is Hiroto-san popular with girls?" Saruyama demands.
"Oh…" Risa says and smirks. "About time you find out."
"Do you know when this started and why?" Hiro asks, not in the mood to kick around the bush.
"Well, at first you were kind of a nobody, I mean you had a cute face but your plain hair kind of got in the way of that." Risa says. "But then Lala came to this school and a few days later, you were suddenly friends with Rito and Lala. You got some attention since you hung out with those two the most."
Hiro nods. It was expected but it doesn't explain his current status.
"So how does that make him popular?" Saruyama asks.
Risa rolls her eyes playfully grinning. "So quick to the finish~. What really started was when you often had to catch Rito from his lecherous falls on a poor girl, something many girls appreciated, they felt safe knowing you were near Rito."
Said Protagonist lightly blushes, remembering the close falls and encounters Hiro helped him narrowly stop.
"Then you suddenly got a radical change in hairstyles, going for an undercut with some flair, making you look cool and more sleek in comparison to the majority of the guys in school. Making your cute face stand out more now that your hair is no longer in the way." Risa says with a wink and Hiro rolls his eyes, trying to suppress his blush from the praise.
"So it's the hair?" Saruyama says, inspecting Hiro's hairstyle, said reincarnate shakes his head.
"It is different from the usual messy look almost every guy in this school has." Mio finally comments. "It's refreshing to look at but there's more to Hiro than just good looks."
"Yep, the hair got some attention but that faded eventually, but then the School festival happened…" Risa trails off, letting her words sink in.
"Wait a minute…" Hiro's eyes widened, remembering his actions in the festival.
"Yep, a girl saw you subtly save Tenjouin Saki from the Principal and you were cleaning up the coffee mess, ignoring Lala wearing the most delicious outfit I have ever seen.~" Lala giggles at Risa's compliment.
"Combined with how often you helped Rito from falling on some girl, ever since that day in the festival they now see you as a 'White Knight.'" Mio concludes.
"I see…" Hiro sighs.
"Wow Hiro, congratulations on becoming a knight." Lala says. "When did you get knighted and why didn't you invite me to see it?"
"They weren't being literal about it, Lala." Rito explains.
The reincarnate should have seen this coming… There is literally no other respectful guy in this school, most of the respectful ones are outside of this school. While there is the real Sasuga-Sensei, he's an adult and has shown no interest in the girls. There is Rito, but due to his supernatural clumsiness, to quote Nana, they see him as a 'Beast.' Hiro is probably the only guy near the physical age to the girls, who isn't focused on their 'assets'. Hiro underestimated how his respectful actions to girls could gather so much attention. Although…
"Wait, what about Ren?" Hiro asks.
Risa shrugs. "He is a bishounen but he clearly is only interested in Lala-chan, no other girl got his attention like she does. Also, some of the girls found his need to exclaim how 'masculine' he is, a bit obnoxious…"
"Oh." Hiro then shrugs. "Okay, thanks for explaining, I guess I'll just mentally bunker down or something."
"Or…" Risa hops off her desk, hugging Hiro's arm between her breasts. "You and I could become boyfriend and girlfriend. With me, the girls would eventually give up once they realized the White Knight had found his Princess.~"
"Lucky bastard…" Saruyama growls, along with some of the guys who eavesdropped on their conversation.
"No fair…" A girl murmurs with many admirers.
Hiro blushes, feeling how soft Risa is and finger flicks her.
"Ow.~" Risa playfully murmurs with a mischievous grin, rubbing her forehead, like a child.
"Sorry Risa, you are a beautiful girl but I'm not exactly interested in being in a relationship with anyone right now." Hiro declines politely as he can.
"Aw… For a White Knight you are a bit heartless." Risa replies, feigning sadness.
Hiro rolls his eyes. "Thanks for the explanation. I'm going to finish lunch." He says walking away.
"Okay, see ya! My offer is always open.~"
Rito and Lala follow their friend to finish their meals somewhere else, leaving Saruyama, glaring at Hiro's back.
"I see… So the girls want a White knight, then I will become the great knight in this school! I just have to act like a gentleman, this should be easy!"
Saruyama and a few other students tried to become a gentleman, following Hiroto's example but…
"Sorry, I'm not interested…" A girl rejects
"Hey, my eyes are up here…"
"Are you choking on something, what's wrong?" One girl asks, noticing the visible strain the guy is having to not leer on the pretty girl.
"Pervert!" A girl screeches.
Slap!
"This is impossible!" Saruyama groans, rubbing his red cheek along with a few other guys. Laying on the dirt in defeat. "Damn it, how does Hiroto do it?!"
"Well, first off, I'm not really forcing myself." Hiro answers, surprising the boys and they all lean up, facing Hiro.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Your attempts to become someone you are not was obvious, the girls knew you were putting on a mask, considering how many times you were all caught looking at their breasts…"
"Ugh." Saruyama groans along with all the single guys from Hiro's point. "But you got attention by acting in such an impossible way, teach us!"
"I can't, even if you did succeed, you wouldn't be happy."
"Huh?"
"If you did succeed acting like me, you wouldn't be truly happy, you would only be in a relationship where you have to wear a false mask all the time around the girl, you wouldn't be free or yourself, it would be a stressful relationship where you would have to hide your true personality. Which is not worth it!"
The guys pause, staring at Hiro in awe.
Hiro sighs. "You're not me, none of you are." He looks at Rito's friend. "You're Saruyama Kenichi, a guy who likes girls a lot. A pervert, but that is only a single aspect of you. You're a decent leader or organizer when it comes to events in our school, when you put your mind into it, you can do impressive things." Or at least Hiro thinks so, considering how well Saruyama did for the School Festival with the class. "Look maybe one day a girl might give you a chance, to see that you are more than guy who likes boobs, I mean come on, staring at girls can't be the only think you like, we all got hobbies, things we do for fun to pass the time or destress from school work. Things that a girl might like as well and find common ground with you."
The single guys murmur in agreement, their morale slowly rising from Hiro's speech. It's true, while they have a 'healthy' interest in a girl's body, they have other interests too that aren't just looking at girls.
"Hiroto-san…" Saruyama mutters, standing up. "You might be right…" He mutters. Hiro smiles and opens his mouth to speak but Saruyama grasps his shoulder tightly.
"BUT LOOKING AT GIRLS IS THE ONLY THING I'M INTERESTED IN!" Saruyama exclaims with his fist raised to show his resolve while also digging his grave. His cold, lonely, grave…
"Oh…" Hiro mutters with a flat look, giving up on Rito's friend "Uh, find a new hobby?..." He offers weakly, removing the poor guy's hand from his shoulder and walking away. Even the other defeated guys stare at Saruyama Kenichi in pity before walking away.
After that, things become 'normal' again, sort of… Some girls heard Hiro's speech to the guys and the reincarnate gained a few more admirers, while a few bravely took the first step to dating some other guys to see if their relationship can work out.
Two weeks later, Hiro visits the Yuuki household, invited by Rito to retrieve Lala's first self defense weapons. 'Mini Clingy-kun.' and 'Unstick Spray-kun'.
Hiro knocks on the front door and he is greeted with Mikan wearing an orange ribbon, which is of the ribbons that Hiro gave Mikan during her birthday a week ago, tying her hair in a cute ponytail style instead of the usual 'pineapple'.
"Hey Hiro." Mikan greets
"Hi Mikan, you like the ribbon so far?"
"Yeah, it's nice to mix things up sometimes." Mikan's cheeks turn pink as she touches her ribbon, remembering her birthday. The ribbons go well with her eyes, especially the yellow ribbon, her friends said the ribbons suit her well and a lot of people at school complimented her new appearance.
"Lala is in her lab, let me show you." Mikan says.
Mikan then guides Hiro to Lala's lab, somewhat surprised to see it bigger than expected.
"Not much of a reaction." Mikan points out, a little disappointed and Hiro shrugs.
"Hang out with Lala long enough, you get used to her pulling off impossible things." Hiro explains and Mikan nods.
"Good point."
"Hey Hiro you finally came!" Lala greets with a smile, walking over to them with Rito behind her.
"So where's your invention?" Hiro asks, failing to hide his excitement and Mikan rolls her eyes.
"Boys and their toys…" Mikan mutters in amusement at Hiro's excitement.
"Right here! Behold, Mini Clingy-kun!" Lala says, lifting up a pistol with a barrel similar to the original version but colored in dark blue and gray. "This one's for you, I gave Rito an orange one!"
"Aw, thank you Lala, you didn't have to color it." Hiro says, inspecting the newest invention.
"But I wanted it to match your eyes, and I painted Rito's orange because of his hair!" Lala replies and on cue, Rito shows off his weapon, painted orange instead of blue. "Here's Unstick Spray-kun." Lala hands Hiro a small spray can. "I also got lots of back ups, although I haven't colored them yet." She says, showing off the row of ten more 'Mini-clingy-kuns' all gray and silver, along with double the amount of sprays.
"Wow." Hiro mutters and looks back to his sticky gun. "So how and where do I refill it?"
"With these cans, each filled with fifty gallons worth of sticky stuff!" Lala says showing off a large but somewhat hand sized can. "Same with the unsticking liquid!"
"You really planned ahead well." Hiro praises and Lala grins.
"Thanks to your feedback." Lala replies.
"You know… It wouldn't hurt to 'practice' using these guns a bit, if only there was a good place to do that, I wouldn't want to leave a mess in your lab and in the living room." Hiro says and Lala gasps, clapping with her hands.
"I have just the place, we can play at the testing room!" Lala says, opening a door nearby, entering the room with Hiro, Mikan and Rito behind her. The Princess walks over to a small computer, entering something and the room changes, turning into some sort of arena with various walls and large columns all over.
"The room changed!" Rito gasps.
"Woah." Hiro mutters.
"More amazing space science…" Mikan comments, confused about how the environment changed.
"You want to play?" Lala asks Rito.
"Sure!" He says, excited.
"I'm in too!" Hiro proclaims.
"Mikan?" Lala asks.
"Sounds fun!" Mikan replies, Lala grins, handing her a back up 'mini clingy-kun' and the unstick spray.
"Alright!" Lala cheers and grabs Rito. "Me and Rito vs Hiro and Mikan!" She exclaims, running to one end of the room. "You lose when both of you can't move anymore!"
"Remember, try to avoid the face!" Hiro yells out
"Okay!" Lala responds from across the room.
Hiro and Mikan look at eachother, they both shrug, smiling. "Let's do this." Hiro says, raising his gun.
"Yeah." Mikan nods, feeling competitive all of the sudden, holding one of the backups with two hands.
Peke counts down from three from Lala's side of the room.
"GO!" The robot yells, Hiro and Mikan then run into the arena.
Hiro takes the lead, walking cautiously with Mikan close behind, looking at every corner. "Lala is inhumanly fast, it might be tricky to hit her." Hiro whispers.
"Yeah and Rito can get really good when he gets competitive, we're kind of at a disadvantage…" Mikan agrees with a small sigh of defeat.
"Don't worry too much, just have fun, besides, we're no pushovers." Hiro encourages and Mikan's spirit is lifted, she nods.
"Yeah!"
"There they are!" Lala yells out peeking out of a nearby wall, she and Rito open fire.
Hiro fires back and takes cover behind a wall, Mikan stands there in the open, firing back, but Lala and even Rito dodges their shots.
"Kya!" Mikan squeals as her legs are now stuck together, and she raises her arms to protect herself as Rito and Lala fire but Hiro grabs her arm and pulls her behind the wall.
"You okay?" He says and Mikan nods.
"Yeah, just my legs are stuck."
Hiro grabs the spray, removing the sticky substance and plugs in the cans to refill the sticky gun. Like a pressurized air canister for air soft guns. Hiro peeks the wall and leans back as a shot sticks on the wall, "Woah!" Hiro yelps
"Close one." Mikan comments.
Hiro nods, frowning, he then raises the gun out of the wall, aiming in the general direction and blind fires the sticky gun, hearing some yelps from Rito.
"I got you Rito!" Lala says and Hiro peeks seeing her carry Rito to safety. Allowing Hiro to observe the area they are at and a plan forms in his mind.
Hiro turns to look at Mikan. "Here's the plan…" He then explains.
"What?!" Mikan gasps. "But…" Mikan looks at Hiro and frowns. "Are you certain you can do this?"
Hiro nods confidently. "Yeah, I can do it, just gotta keep moving, I have faith you can finish the job Mikan."
The girl smiles as her chest is filled with warmth. "Okay!"
"Yoo Hoo! Hiro, Mikan-chan, where are you~?" Lala calls out as she and Rito walk towards the other team's location. Hiro waits for them, crouching behind a waist high wall.
He sees Lala foot and fires at it, the Princess yells at the sudden move, aiming her gun but Hiro grabs her hand, preventing her from shooting him, and quickly puts it against the wall, shooting it, sticking her hand to it.
Rito fires at Hiro, hitting his torso, and Hiro runs away, firing back as he dives to cover.
"Get him Rito!" Lala says cheering for her fiance as Rito runs to chase his friend.
"Here I come!" Rito yells out with a wide smile, firing his sticky gun and Hiro runs behind a wall. Rito moves to the other side ready to shoot at Hiro's chest but his friend suddenly slides out, Rito lands a shot on Hiro's shoulder. Hiro shoots, hitting Rito's gun, stopping him from firing. "Huh?!" Rito yelps, leaning dodging another shot to the shoulder but his foot to gets hit then he is bombarded by multiple shots, sticking him to the wall
"Got yeah!" Hiro cheers, standing up, spraying himself from Rito's shots earlier, he then sprays a bit of Rito's hands, freeing the gun and grabbing it from Rito.
"Now I got you!" Lala yells out, standing on top of the wall firing and Hiro barely dodges the first shot at his feet, diving behind the wall Rito is stuck on.
"Hang on Rito, I'll get you out in a little bit." Lala says, cautious of Hiro, peeking around the corner, only to find Hiro missing. "Huh, where did he go?"
She turns her head, and moves to the side, avoiding the shot. "That was close!" She admits, grinning at Hiro who is dual wielding his blue gun with Rito's orange gun. "Two guns?"
The reincarnate fires both but it's no match for Lala's superhuman speed, dodging every shot, even leaving behind after images, she then spins on one foot, and twirls like a ballerina, avoiding the shots.
Both guns click empty.
"Uh oh." Hiro mutters, dropping Rito's gun. 'Mikan, help!' Hiro mentally cries asLala grins and fires.
Hiro leans back as one shot goes over his shoulder, another flies past his head, a third nearly hits his hand. Perhaps due to adrenaline, Hiro sees the shots fly by in slow motion.
However due to his awkward position and a little thing called gravity, Hiro falls over.
Before he could roll away, Lala shoots his foot, sticking it to the ground.
"I win!" Lala cheers, pointing her gun at Hiro with a pure innocent smile, which greatly contrasts to their current positions.
The reincarnate smirks. "You sure about that?"
"Huh?- What?!" Lala yelps as Mikan hits her feet and her hand holding the gun point blank. She continues shooting, immobilizing Lala.
"Aw… Hee hee! You got me!" Lala concedes cheerfully. "Me and Rito lost!"
Hiro sprays his foot free and moves to free Lala and Rito. "Good job Mikan, I knew you could do it." He compliments and Mikan blushes.
"Yeah but you were so cool, taking on Rito and Lala alone, you almost won too!" Mikan praises back.
"It was a team effort, without relying on each other, we would have lost. I was supposed to distract them while you flanked around. Taking Rito out was a bonus." Hiro clarifies and Mikan nods in agreement.
"That was fun." Rito says, expressing good sportsmanship.
"I wanted to say 'dodge this' next to Lala, but knowing her, she probably would have dodged it." Mikan admits, remembering the sight of Lala dodging Hiro's shots even when he was dual wielding them.
"Maybe…" Lala ponders. "Wanna play again?"
Hiro checks the time, "Yeah, still got some time to play more."
"Alright! Let's have boys vs girls, and Hiro, this time I will be ready for your tricks!" Lala declares, both Rito and Hiro sweatdrop.
""Uh oh…"" They both mutter and Mikan smiles wide, knowing her victory is assured.
The next round was essentially a curbstomp as Lala makes the two of them waste their ammo, dodging everything and the two girls return fire. Rito and Hiro did their best to win but it was only inevitable since they were facing Lala, a girl who seems to have an unlimited amount of energy, she was an unstoppable force.
In one round, Lala with both hands behind her head, moved her hips back and forth, avoiding each shot like she was dancing. The sight was so mesmerizing that both Hiro and Rito mindlessly shot at her in perfect rhythm to Lala's moves, forgetting that they were trying to win, until Mikan took the boys out.
The reincarnate found Lala's dance/dodges to be oddly familiar for some reason.
The following weeks were somewhat normal, it's now Christmas, Tenjouin Saki invited the entire school to her mansion for a party, providing free food and drinks.
Hiro, dressed in a simple dark red hoodie, takes a sip of soda from his wine glass cup, hanging out with Rito and Saruyama. Rito was rightfully suspicious of Saki, since she likely has some hidden motives behind this party, due to her actions in the recent school festival.
Having the same feeling, Hiro tries to savor the food while he still can before Lala comes and unintentionally riles Saki up.
A few minutes later he was right, as Lala was dressed in exotic and cute clothing thanks to Peke, gathering the attention of everyone.
"Okay now then, it's about time for tonight's main event! Let's begin the Gift Swap!" Rin announces, getting everyone's attention. "However, you'll notice the presents all of you brought are not here!"
Saki then takes the microphone, while Rin and Ayako walk out of the stage in the back "What does that mean? Oho… A plain old gift swap is just boring don't you think? That's why I've come up with a marvelous little game!" Rin and Ayako come back with bags in their hands. "Let's call it… Christmas Present Panic!" Saki proclaims as her friends throw out the confetti behind her.
"The rules are simple, you'll hunt for the gifts which we've hidden throughout the manor! And any you find are yours to keep!"
"Wow! That sounds like fun!" Lala says in awe.
"HOWEVER! THAT'S NOT ALL!" Saki yells. "In one of the presents is a special gift from me! A trip for four days and three nights to a magnificent luxury resort! You get to stay at a classy hotel and eat classy food as much as you want, free of charge!"
"""OHHHH!"""
"That would be the perfect gift for my parents…" Hiro mutters, realizing how good it would be for his parents to enjoy a stress free vacation. They have always been busy at work…
Mid explanation, Motemitsu Taizo 'Senpai' runs ahead while his juniors praise him, only to fall through a trapdoor like a cartoon character.
Right on cue, Saki warns everyone about the traps they set up throughout the mansion.
The game begins, Lala runs ahead, yanking Rito along with Hiro right behind them, knowing that the best way to win that prize is by following Lala and also to avoid the traps.
A few seconds later, everyone joins the game.
Rito, Lala and Hiro run from the giant ball threatening to crush them.
"Why would she have this as a trap?!" Hiro yells. It's one thing to have sudden trapdoors where people could fall into something safe and inconvenient but this?!
"AHHHH!" Rito yells not answering Hiro, too focused on out running the ball while Lala is laughing, enjoying the chase.
The three turn to the next hallway, barely avoiding the ball.
"That was a close one!" Rito says, observing the ball rolling down the hall. "That sure was some trap!"
"Earth Parties are fun eh?" Lala comments, both Rito and Hiro sweat drop.
"Figured you would say that…" Rito replies and Hiro shrugs.
Rito looks down the hall. 'I'll get Haruna-chan's gift!'
Hiro looks in the same direction. 'I'll win those vacation tickets for my parents!'
Lala smiles. 'Wow Rito and Hiro look so fired up, they must be having a lot of fun!'
Later, the traps were dealt with ease by Lala's incredible strength and speed, collecting a lot of gifts, increasing Hiro's odds of getting the vacation tickets.
"Wrecking ball!" Hiro yells, diving out of the way as the ball swings by, hitting a vase. "Look out!"
"Yah!" Lala yells, punching the ball to pieces.
"Nice one Lala."
"Thanks Hiro, oh! I found another present!" Lala says, picking another box up and places it into her bag.
The three continue, going through every trap and collecting every present along the way. They enter another room, finding Saki and her friends on the other side holding plastic toy guns.
"So, you've come this far? I won't let you continue to do as you please Lala!" Saki exclaims and Hiro shuffles a bit away from his friends, grasping his jacket to prepare. "Now then! Get ready for a face full of extra-spicy Mustard!"
Takatakaka!
They fire the mustard, Lala dodges them with ease, Hiro moves far to the side as Saki is clearly focusing her fire on Lala, and Rito, being in the crossfire, gets hit in the face.
The clumsy lucky lecher boy runs blindly in Aya's direction, accidentally falling on the girl, exposing her bra. The girl's gun slides towards Hiro and he runs to it. As his senpai slaps Rito across the room.
"Aya, are you alright?!" Kujo Rin asks her friend.
"Riiin! My glasses! I need my glasses!" Aya says frantically searching.
"I found it!" Rin says and hands it to her friend.
"Thanks, huh? Wait, he's getting the mustard gun!" Aya warns, pointing at Akatsuki Hiroto grabbing the mustard gun Aya dropped. Rin immediately grabs her mustard gun and fires.
Hiro ducks the first shot and raises his jacket over his head to cover half his face.
"Hm?" Rin murmurs as she continues to fire, not landing a good hit on Hiroto's face
"He's using his jacket as a shield?!" Aya says, voicing the same thoughts as Rin.
Hiroto carries the mustard gun, running around the room, looking for small presents, like he is looking for something specific.
"Could he be after the Vacation Tickets?" Rin proposes, lowering her mustard gun and Aya nods.
"Most likely, the other gifts aren't as grand as Saki-sama's."
"Hm…" Rin recalls Hiro's actions in the festival, when Saki-sama was being chased by the Principal, he intentionally splashed hot coffee over the Principal's face to blind him and save her lady. Perhaps they could repay him with a hint, but first she must ask milady's permission.
Rin turns to see Saki desperately trying to hit Lala, who dodges her every move, having fun, she's quite the carefree girl…
"Out of ammo?!" Saki yells and tosses the Mustard Gun aside. "In that case, I'll use my bare hands! As the Aikido Queen, I shall defeat you!" Rin sweat drops.
'Saki-sama, Aikido is only for self defense…'
Lala suddenly appears grabbing the Mustard Gun. "Are you already done? This was pretty fun, almost like my Mini Clingy-Kun. Oh I know! Why don't I modify this and make it better and hold more mustard?"
Can she do that? Rin raises her eyebrow.
"M-Modify it?" Saki asks.
"Yep! Want me to do it?"
Saki pauses. "W-well as long as you return it after you finish modifying it."
"Okay!" Lala pulls out a strange tool and turns around, making various sounds of multiple tools. While Lala is doing who knows what, Rin walks over to Saki, whispering to her.
"Oh? He helped me that day?" Saki replies, regaining her composure and Rin whispers more. "Very well, provide him your hint." Rin bows and walks over to Hiroto.
Hiroto warily stares at Rin as she approaches him.
"Akatsuki-san as a reward for helping Saki-sama from the Principal, I shall provide you a hint, the more frequent the traps, the more gifts you may gain."
His eyes widen and he bows. "Thank you, I'm going to borrow this." He says, holding up the Mustard Gun, and Rin nods, giving him permission. "Good luck in your hunt Rito, I gotta grab those tickets!" Hiroto says running out of the room.
"Huh? U-Uh Okay good luck to you too!" Rito replies, recovering from the spicy mustard.
Hiro runs through the halls, he steps on a pressure plate and cannon size holes slide open on the walls. Hiro raises his arms around his head to block the rubber balls, he takes a hard hit on his left, and he briefly stumbles but maintains his momentum.
Using Kujo Rin's hint, it's safe to assume that the tickets are deeper within the Mansion, maybe even the second floor, the traps are getting more frequent. However, he sees some traps ahead already set off, but a lot of the students are already giving up, so who could still be in this game?
The Reincarnate reaches the grand staircase, a typical fancy staircase that curves, it has a center that splits to different halls when someone walks up. He found his 'Senpai', Taizo and his friends/followers. Taizo is clinging onto the railing, standing in the middle of the stairs, or rather the slide, based on his groaning friends on the first floor, the others must have triggered the trap and fell down but Taizo remained standing, climbing the slide, using the railing.
At the top of the stairs is a pile of presents and a small bookmark size box on top of the pile with gold colored wrappings.
'I'm not letting him win this one!' Hiro mentally declares as he bypasses the slide by climbing on the outside, holding on to the railings and shuffles his way up.
"Senpai, you got a competition!" Taizo's friend warns.
Taizo does his signature smile, turning to face his opponent. "Try as you might but I, Motemitsu Taizo, will get those- He's already at the top?!" Taizo yells and Hiro ignores his 'Senpai', reaching the top of the stairs mid-exclamation.
"""Motemitsu Senpai wasn't even acknowledged!""" Taizo's followers exclaim.
Hiro carefully grabs the small present at the top without destroying the other presents and rips it open, revealing a plain box, a shell of the prize. He opens the lid, finding… A red button on one end of the rectangular remote? At the bottom end, there is a sticker that says.
Press Button to find Tickets.
He presses it and he sees white.
"Agh!" Hiro yells, blinded by the sudden flash, dropping the remote and hears something large move nearby.
"A wall just opened in the right hall, that must be where the tickets are!" Taizo foolishly yells and Hiro hears footsteps going up the stairs.
The reincarnate desperately blinks the flash away, occasionally seeing a large black spot in his vision and sees a door size hole with Taizo entering the room first. Hiro looks at the remote, seeing a tiny lens popped out of the remote, he pockets it and stands up.
"Hurry Hiro, you can do this!" Rito suddenly yells out.
"Yeah go Hiro!" Lala cheers.
Hiro blinks, turning to see his friends cheering at him from the first floor, he smiles, readjusting the Mustard Gun's strap on his back and quickly follows the wannabe womanizer.
He enters the room seeing ten red circle platforms with comically large hammers swinging in between them and at the end is the tickets in a glass box. Taizo is on the second, leaping to the third, sighing in relief from avoiding the hammer. Hiro grabs the Mustard Gun, aiming the Small Machine Gun toy.
"Hey Motemitsu!" Hiro yells, getting his attention.
Taizo turns. "You're too late-AGH IT STINGS!" Taizo screams as Hiro interrupts his gloating with a few Mustard shots to the eyes, blinding Taizo and his gun clicks empty.
Hiro takes advantage, dropping the gun, leaping to the first platform, he waits for the second hammer to swing, in spite of the tears and stinging pain, Taizo manages to jump on the fourth, still ahead but speed is on Hiro's side as the reincarnate leaps to the second circle. With each second, Taizo remains a little ahead, until he reaches the eight platform, where the hammer swinging is even more frequent.
Hiro jumps over, Taizo grabs his jacket, and the two struggle to push each other over. Taizo may be an athlete older by a year but Hiro maintained a good, consistent workout routine, preparing for fights and runs in the world of To Love Ru, thus their training makes the two almost equal to each other.
"You're pretty strong, you should join the Baseball Team." Taizo compliments.
"Thanks but no thanks!" Hiro replies.
"Sorry but I'm winning those tickets!" Taizo apologies with a smirk, somehow letting out a shine from his teeth as he slowly overpowers Hiro, pushing him to the edge, being physically a year older gives Taizo the advantage.
"""Yeah Senpai, he's no match for your strength!""" Taizo's followers cheer.
"Hang on, Hiro, fight on!" Rito encourages at the entrance of the obstacle course.
Hiro grits his teeth, tightly gripping Taizo's jacket and drops down. Using Taizo's push against him, Hiro flips him over the platform but Taizo still grabs onto his jacket, dragging him down too. Hiro grabs the edge with one hand, desperately trying to stay on, but Taizo is too heavy!
"I'm coming!" Rito yells, leaping on to the first platform.
Hiro looks down seeing Taizo sweating and sees the foam cubes at the bottom floor. At least Taizo won't be hurt badly when he does this…
Hiro, with his free hand, grabs the remote from his pocket, with the red button facing Taizo.
"Say cheese!" Hiro says, pressing the button and the small lens at the top flashes, blinding Taizo, causing the Second Year to let go, grabbing his face from the sudden flash.
"""Senpai Lost!""" The followers exclaim at the sight of Taizo landing into the foam cubes.
Hiro sighs moving to climb up but his grip slips from the sweat.
No…
Sorry Mom, sorry Dad…
But another hand grabs his and Hiro blinks now seeing Rito on the platform, holding onto him.
"I got you!" Rito yells, trying to pull his friend up and Hiro smiles as he grabs hold of the platform. The two climb up, taking deep breaths.
"Thanks Rito…" Hiro says.
"You're my friend, of course I would help…" Rito replies and Hiro smiles, standing up, lowering his hand to Rito, who takes his hand, standing up.
"Good job you two!" Lala compliments, now on the same platform, Rito and Hiro smile back at her.
They turn, facing the grand prize. There are two platforms to go but the last one has two hammers swinging at the end…
Of course Saki wouldn't make this easy, she would make this as dramatic as possible…
The three reach the second to last platform, Hiro and Rito gulp at the sight of the two hammers.
Hiro mentally counts, analyzing the hammer's timing, damn he has like a split second to cross! He turns facing Rito. "Rito, I need you to give me a boost across, we have to be perfect!"
"Okay, on your mark." Rito says with his game face on, grabbing Hiro's jacket to yank him across.
But Lala leaps across,
Smash!
She kicks the two hammers out of the way with a spin, landing on the other side with an innocent smile, Hiro and Rito blink, then they shrug.
Or Lala could simply remove the difficult obstacle.
Hiro and Rito leap across with ease, the reincarnate grabs the prize, smiling wide at the two tickets.
"Hope your parents like it!" Lala comments.
"Hm? You knew I was going to give it to my parents?" Hiro asks
"Yeah, I heard you whisper it, that's why I kicked those hammers out of the way, you already worked so hard, beating that guy and dodging those fast hammers, two hammers seemed a bit too much-Oh?"
Hiro hugs Lala tightly.
"Lala… Thank you so much."
Lala smiles, hugging him back. "Your welcome Hiro…"
The game ended with Lala collecting almost all the presents and sharing each present randomly to each person within the stage/party room, Hiro turns to Rito mentally celebrating that he got Haruna's present, maybe? Hiro isn't certain but he can make a few inferences based on Rito's somewhat predictable behavior. Hiro smiles, patting the tickets in his pocket, and turns back to Lala, recognizing Rito's present in the bag. Hiro saw the present when he entered the mansion with Rito and Saruyama.
The reincarnate walks over to the bag picking up Rito's gift and a few more. "Let me help you out Lala."
"Okay thanks!~"
Hiro observes the area, seeing Haruna hanging out with Risa and Mio, he goes through the crowd handing gifts to people.
"Hey Hiroto-kun!~" Risa says, waving her hand.
"Hello." Hiro replies back, handing the mischievous girl a random gift.
"Oh, don't tell me this is your present that you're giving to me?" Risa says with a sly smile and Hiro rolls his eyes.
"Nope."
"Aw boo, you're no fun.~" Risa says.
Hiro hands Mio a gift and hands Haruna Rito's gift.
"Thank you Akatsuki-san." Haruna says and Hiro nods.
"Hope you like the gift." Hiro says, walking back with a smirk, knowing what he accomplished for Rito.
Thank you for reaching the end of this chapter, I hope you all liked it!
Hiro's popularity, it was sort of explained in the story, Hiro is the only Male Teenager in Sainan High that doesn't seem like a perverted animal like a certain Infamous Principal, so I imagine many girls would find that attractive. So kind of like Mikan, Hiro has a lot of admirers now.
Poor Saruyama… Don't worry, I do have a little arc for him planned in the distant future. Hiro will help him.
Had some fun adding some original content of using sticky guns as a self defense weapon for Hiro and Rito to carry. Differences between canon here is that Lala didn't hand Saki a mustard gun that could level the Mansion by the sheer force of the blast, thanks to Hiro's advice to Rito and Lala, the Princess was more cautious with how she tinkers with things.
As for Hiro having a harem, in hindsight it was obvious what majority of you want that, considering its To Love Ru. I mean it does sound interesting but is it 'Realistic'? Especially since Hiro is the Unofficial Support Character, obviously he will get a girlfriend one day but more than one? He isn't the Future Emperor of the Galaxy. It would be quite a tricky situation… Or will it?
Anyway, You all know what the next chapter might be about…
;D
Thanks again for reading and have a great day!