Chapter XII: As far as dates went, not bad.

A girl had asked him out on a date.

This was big news.

Apparently it was a second date as well, and he kicked himself for not realising it the first time around.

Hands on his hips, he was pacing back and forth as he tried to think of how he was going to plan out the date so that Yuuma enjoyed it.

That was of chief importance.

Frankly, he was so lost that not until Highwire directly blocked his path did Issei realise that the Minicon was still in the room with him, he came to a stop and stared at them for a couple of seconds, tilting his head.

"Yeah?"

Highwire gave a rather puzzled response, gesturing behind him and then dropping the arm.

"Because I'm thinking about the date."

Further confused words.

Issei was rather taken aback by the answer, at least until he considered the idea that the Minicon might not have known the right word for it.

He was sure there was an alien robot equivalent.

"Uhm…boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Blank staring.

"...Really close?"

More blank staring.

"Lovers?"

Highwire gave a small noise of understanding at the final one, eyes brightening and then giving out a very high pitched and excited beeping, before he even knew it they had raised their fist and held it out in front of them in clear expectation.

He looked down at the fist, then snorted and bumped his own against it.

"Yeah, yeah, but I'm worried."

That only prompted a fresh wave of reassurance from the Minicon, their invisible brows furrowed and they placed their hands on their hips. Shifting their weight forwards just a bit and continuing the rant.

Damn it.

Being complimented so much with such an earnest expression was really hard.

Anyone else would have probably assumed it was sarcasm or something.

"Yeah, yeah." With his hands raised in surrender, it was thankfully enough to get them to stop their string of compliments and praises.

The last thing he needed to do was start blushing up a storm.

Especially on the eve of his second date.

"It's just that this is the first time I went out with a girl."

Highwire tilted their head and beeped in confusion.

Issei rolled his eyes. "Aika doesn't count."

More staring.

"Not in that way!" He added on with a sigh. "I mean I don't think about her at all that way. It would be a weird thing to even consider, to be honest…I mean, sure, she's a bit nicer than I thought she was but…like…it's hard to explain."

It was just that he never really had much of a chance to ever previously get along with her like that.

She only showed up once in a while to tease him and then would vanish off back to wherever she had come from.

Perfectly honest, he had resented her a little bit.

To him and his friends, it was painfully clear that Aika was just as perverted as them but she didn't put up with nearly the same level of suspicious looks or hostility. Hell, she even had the exact same ability as Motohama but for some reason, no one really picked up on that or just looked the other way.

He was sure there was a deeper meaning to it.

Maybe it had something to do with her not peaking?

…Then again, she didn't really need to, did she?

Whatever, that was all in the past now.

Aika was helping them and was Highwire's friend now, so he supposed he could let go of a few of his bitter feelings towards her.

…He didn't know if they would be friends anytime soon, but he didn't dislike her or anything.

Wait, that made him sound like some sort of Tsundere?!

It wasn't cute when guys did that!

Highwire's loud chirping thankfully pulled him from that pit and back to the present, he looked up at them and exhaled as they continued.

"It's more to do with a girl actually being interested in me in that way." He explained. "Because most would probably avoid me if I said I liked them like than and…well…"

Getting chances to get to know girls better were pretty few and far between.

That was if they ever appeared at all.

Highwire slowly nodded their head up and down, then gave a sadder tone.

Sheesh, when they phrased it like that even he was feeling bad.

And they were talking about him.

"Yeah, so I want to make sure it goes well." He explained. "Because it's me and, I guess, that Yuuma deserves to have a really good date if she's taking the…I don't want to say 'risk' but it pretty much would be in terms of social standing."

Highwire looked at him with the distinct impression of a frown.

He interrupted them before they could start.

"Yes, I know you think otherwise, but it's the truth man. I'm not a very popular guy. Like at all. I'd feel bad if a girl took a chance on me and then got picked on for going out with me."

That would make him feel like dirt.

Probably less than.

So the least he could do, for both of their sakes, was to let Yuuma enjoy a very nice and thoughtful date before his social standing ruined whatever chances he had.

A good memory for the both of them.

Highwire was looking at him with some deep ponderous expression, at least that was what he got out of staring into their eyes.

"...Also I think we should introduce you to her."

They nodded their head pretty quickly.

He expected a little bit of reluctance from them.

"You're alright with that?"

They looked at him as if to say 'why wouldn't I be?'

And he didn't have much of an answer for that.

"I guess it's because she goes to a different school." Issei explained, rubbing the back of his neck and shrugging. "So a lot of our talks would be over the phone…which probably isn't as big of a problem for you, is it?"

They shook their head from side to side.

"So you have no problem with it?"

Highwire made a small suggestion which had him double take.

"You want to do it on the date?"

They nodded their head, then released a small series of chirps.

"Romantic bike ri-were you googling this stuff while I was speaking to you?"

Very slowly, the Minicons eyes shifted away from him and off to the side.

…Damn this guy and their super considerate personality.

"You're a great wingman, you know?" Issei could only smile and fold his arms. "But on the first date? Doesn't that seem a little fast?"

Highwire shrugged.

Was it fast?

Well, it would make it memorable at least and with Highwire as proof, he wouldn't come across as a crazy person?

…She'd find out anyway when she joined their group and at least she would know what she was getting into if she did continue to go out with him, beyond the social implications of being his girlfriend.

Issei cupped his chin and thought about it.

Then thought about it some more.

Well, it didn't sound like a bad idea in theory, he supposed?

"...I guess." He shrugged his shoulders, then nodded his head with a bit more confidence, "Actually, yeah. We should probably be honest with her, right? If she is going to find out anyway then she deserves to know right off the bat. Like with Aika."

Also she was looking into the symbol as well, so it was fine.

Highwire threw up their hands in excitement, because if there was one thing that got them raring to go, it was the idea of having more comrades to add to their growing party of people.

"Do you think we should invite her out to the ship exploration on the weekend?"

Highwire lowered their hands and replied.

"Well, assuming she says yes." He added on. "But it just seems fast paced, doesn't it? Just a 'hey, this is my alien buddy and at the weekend we're going to investigate a crashed spaceship. Want to come?' like, I would be a little freaked out to be honest."

Highwire let out a slow tone.

"No, we're still gonna go." He reassured them. "But it just seems a little…"

How could he phrase it correctly?

It seemed like a lot to drop on someone for a first meeting.

Then again, he had pretty much done the same to Aika.

…Should he ask her advice?

…He would do that.

"Sure, go ahead."

Issei blinked at her and dropped his shoulders.

That was a fast answer.

Aika scratched her cheek, then raised a brow. "What?"

"You just…you didn't even hesitate."

"I joined your club and then day one you took me out the back and flashed me your little buddy."

Issei closed his eyes and drew in a breath.

Why?

Why did she have to phrase it like that?

He opened his eyes and saw her grinning face and eyes sparkling with mirth, he rubbed his brows and smacked his lips. "But do you think it's a bit to drop on someone at once on a first date?"

"Second."

"I didn't know it was a date at the time!"

"I did and I was the third wheel." Aika gave a flat tone of voice. "And I would have stayed home if I knew that, by the way."

Folding his arms, he stared back at her. "...I am looking for an answer here."

"And I just gave you one." She said very slowly. "You think I'm spoiling your date or something?"

Waving a hand, she continued.

"I'm being serious. You did this on the first meeting and I stuck around, didn't I? You're inducting this girl into the same club - more or less - and might be dating her in the future. So yeah, sure, go ahead. Do whatever. No skin off my teeth."

Removing her glasses, she produced a small cleaning cloth and rubbed the lenses.

"Either you scare her away or she sticks through it all and you can get a girlfriend who wants to be with you. Alien conspiracies and all."

"Are they even conspiracies if aliens are involved?"

"...Yes, they are still conspiracies if aliens are involved." Aika sighed. "It doesn't really matter if aliens are or are not involved in a conspiracy."

Issei wasn't so sure about that.

Whatever, he wasn't going to argue about it.

"Man, I thought you were going to talk to me about your date plan so I could laugh at it."

Wow.

Very considerate of her.

Real charming.

"I have a date plan already."

Aika snorted. "Do you indeed? What is it?"

Issei then gave her a brief overview of what he was planning on doing for the date and waited for her mocking words.

Instead she was just staring at him like he had grown a second head.

What?

"What, is that weird or something?"

"U-uhm…no…" Coughing into her fist, she placed her glasses back on and continued to give him that long and weirded out stare. "It's actually really…nice."

Why did she have to say that like she was surprised or something?

He had played more than enough visual novels to know how to put together what a good date was supposed to be, even without all of that, it was just some common sense on what two people would want to do if they went out together.

Then Issei thinned his lips.

"You thought I was gonna do something perverted, didn't you?"

Aika was tellingly silent.

Did she really think he would take a girl out to stare at boobs or something on a date?

Even he knew that it was a bad idea to ogle another girl when you were in front of a girl you were supposed to be dating.

That made you a really bad dude.

So that was probably the biggest challenge that he would be facing going forwards.

Well.

Dropping back in his chair, Issei folded his arms over his chest.

"Either way, we've got the weekend expedition coming up."

"Yeah." Aika rubbed her cheek, "That. You have any idea where you're even going to go?"

That was definitely a question.

Really, he hadn't much thought about it at all, if he was being honest.

He just sort of assumed they would go up the mountain and then Highwire would be able to scope things out with their future technology alien scanners.

"...Going to the spot where I found them." He replied slowly, "Highwire is convinced the ship is under the hill so there might be a way through there."

"That'll definitely make for a heck of a third date." Aika grinned. "You and her, down and dirty."

Issei really didn't want to laugh at that.

But he did.

A snort and a shake of the head, he rubbed his temples. "Think I should bring a shovel or something?"

Aika squinted "Are you gonna dig down there or something?"

"Not sure." Depended on whether it was needed.

The ship was under the hill, after all.

"Well." Aika rolled her shoulders. "You go back to thinking of your date and I'll do the rest of the reading for this session."

If she was offering, then sure.

He was still having a time believing it was all real.

What struck him was that the alien robot from space was somehow less unbelievable than him getting a date with a girl.

Cycling to the meeting spot made him a little nervous, but it was the final stretch now.

And Highwire would be there with him for the most part, so everything would work out fairly well in the end.

Hopefully.

He really did hope that Yuuma was able to not freak out at the sight of Highwire, but he wouldn't be surprised if she did.

What he did hope was that Highwire wouldn't feel too bad if that did happen.

Grinding the bike to a halt, Issei stepped off and made to walk the rest of the way, looking down at the minicon as he did so very briefly, then looked back up.

It was probably going to be a lot of cycling around, come to think of it.

He hoped she wasn't too bothered about that.

Highwire released a low tone beside him, Issei snorted.

"I think I've worked through all of my nerves now, probably."

Yeah, he wasn't all that convinced.

Well, nothing else for it.

"You ever done anything like this before? I never asked."

Did Highwire and their people even go on dates in the first place? He knew they got confused about all of the difference between romantic stuff.

Highwire was not long in responding, said response was a bit slow and somewhat sad.

"Come on, I'm sure someone would have set aside their time for you."

He only got a further negative in response.

And that response sounded rather weird to him, like there was something that Highwire really wanted to say but was holding back on saying it. Or maybe Issei was just imagining things.

That might be the case, or he hoped it was the case.

"Tell you what." Issei said, "If we find any of the minicons out there that you like, I can work as a wingman for you."

That earned a rather embarrassed reply, Issei was absolutely certain that Highwire would be blushing if they were capable of that.

It brought a smile to his lips as he looked down at them.

"Hey, don't act all like that. You're a cool guy and I think you could definitely get a girlfriend, or lover or whatever you guys have."

Highwire abruptly stopped and Issei jerked along with them as the wheels locked up.

Crap, did he tease them too much or-

"Please check this out."

"Huh?"

Issei looked up only to have a piece of paper waved in his face, only on pure instinct did he take hold of it and by the time he did that, the person holding the other side let go and left it in the palm of his hand.

The girl with bright red lips and a short matching coloured dress only offered a rather bright and friendly smile before turning on her heel and walking off away from him before any of his mounting questions could even escape.

…He looked down.

"We grant your wish."

That sounded like a scam to him.

Also wasn't it was a bit late for all of that by now, surely?

He was already on a date.

"...That's just weird." With a grumble and a raised eyebrow, he folded it up and slotted it into his jacket pocket and left it there, walking onwards.

Highwire quizzed him on that.

"Scammers." Issei replied without hesitation. "They make you call them on those hotlines and then you get big phone charges on all of it…or they charge loads of money or hack your bank account or something else."

And it was such a pretty girl as well.

Damn, that sucked.

Well…maybe she didn't know she was working for scammers?

Coming to a stop beside the waiting point, Issei thinned his lips and took up waiting.

Not long now, he figured.

Not long now.

"Issei!"

Ah, right on time.

Smiling, he turned to the direction of the shout and raised his hand in greeting.

Yuuma was on a gentle jog towards him with-

Wow.

That was a very nice dress.

"...Hello." He greeted, then cleared his throat. "I mean, hey."

"Sorry." Coming to a halt, she tilted her head. "Did I keep you waiting?"

"No."

He always wanted to say this.

"I just got here."

And it was actually true.

Stepping towards Highwire, he gestured to them. "Hope you don't mind the addition of a little seat on the back for you."

Yuuma glanced at it, then shook her head from side to side. "It's fine."

"Great." Issei saddled up and then waited, feeling the weight of the bike shift as she sat down on the additional seat behind him.

That Highwire could even do something like that was pretty cool.

With that, he kicked off and began the date.

Raynare figured the end of the date could not come soon enough.

At least she didn't walk about all that much.

But seriously, was this what his date was all about?

She was more annoyed at herself than anything else, even if she always intended for it to go this way, she was the idiot who got suckered in by this fool and that glasses wearing dolt talking about that symbol.

Honestly, she should have known better.

Aliens?

Why did Sacred Gears have to go to such weirdos.

Literal aliens?

Absolutely absurd and she would never let anyone learn of this for as long as she lived.

Honestly, she wasn't even sure she could even confess it to Lord Azazel himself if he asked her for a step-by-step account of the date.

Which was fairly boring, all things considered.

She'd thought that he would make a legitimate fool of himself that she could mock through it all, but there wasn't much to make fun of there.

He took her around, bought her some food, got her a little bracelet and then showed her an aquarium for a bit and then that was the end of the date.

Sparing her the effort of walking vast distances as well.

"Turn in here." She put on her polite and meek voice as she directed him and he obeyed like a little dog.

Making a quick turn and leading them towards the park, she had long known it would be empty enough for what she planned next.

Coming up near the fountain, she tapped his shoulder and signalled for him to stop.

As soon as the bike hit the breaks, she skipped off it and towards the fountain with her back turned to him, trying her level best to keep her disappointment from showing about he events of today - because it hadn't been the worst day in the world - but she was just more angry about the fact she felt cheated.

Cheated.

She just knew that Mittelt was going to be there with some smug expression to ask how the date went.

Best get this over with and then go home.

Flattening out her dress, she took in a deep breath and turned around.

"Issei-"

Barely even able to get the words out, he was cringing about something.

Then he raised his hands and waved her down, getting her to stop speaking.

Well, final message for the soon-to-be dead, even if they didn't know it.

"Yuuma-chan…" He took in a deep breath, then exhaled.

Then he started looking around, checking everything near them with a rather keen eye.

…As if he was making sure they were alone.

…Why would he do that?

Her mind started to sharpen and she was keenly aware they were alone, as she had wished, but this was supposed to be in her favour.

Or was he finally going to live up to his reputation of-

"There's something you need to know." Issei continued, rubbing the back of his neck and dropping his shoulders. "...if you want to…you know…"

"Oh, I already know about your reputation-"

"Not that." He quickly cut in, then gave a thankful smile. "But that's also a relief, I mean…uhm…about…"

He made a small gesture towards the bike.

…The alien nonsense again?

"Issei-"

"There's…uhm…there's a reason for all of it." He continued on, apparently not hearing her. "With the believing in aliens…which I think you're entitled to know, if you're really serious about doing all this research and stuff with us."

He took a short step away from the bike.

Raynare raised a brow.

Was she wrong in being suspicious then or-

"There's someone you need to meet." He said, then turned and looked directly at the bike. "There isn't anyone around."

…Great, he really was crazy-

The bike stood up.

Her expression blanked rather quickly after that, especially when a pair of glowing white eyes fixed themselves upon her.

…what?

"This is Highwire."

…What?

"And they are…well…they're an alien robot."

Raynare very slowly turned her eyes and to Issei.

Was he stupid?

Did he think she was stupid?

This was clearly a golem of some sort but…

She looked back at them and squinted just a little bit.

…The golem looked well made and not just that, she hadn't even noticed them at all during the date.

No magical energy at all.

So then…

Wait, was this her being ambushed?

"I get it's a lot-"

Raynare took in a sharp breath, then exhaled and smiled towards him.

"Maybe you should start from the beginning?"

Was this her being ambushed? Because it was taking a while if it was.

Shouldn't there have been some Devils dropping out of somewhere by now if that was the case?

Were they using him as bait?

Wait…they would have recruited him by now though, he had a Sacred Gear.

Maybe it wasn't a good one, but Devils didn't let people with Sacred Gears walk around in their territories.

And why was he talking about aliens like they were real?

"R-right!" Issei perked up a little. "So…you're…you're not freaked out?"

Not for the reasons he was thinking of.

Her eyes landed back on 'Highwire' and she watched them for any sign of anything.

The robot just beeped and chirped a few times, a long electronic series of noises she could not understand.

Apparently Issei could, as he looked at them and nodded his head.

"I know you said so, but…"

He started speaking with them.

Raynare was just thinking about something else, putting all the pieces together.

…Had she actually found something useful by accident or was this a trap?

She made a quick sweep of the area, looking around while the pair in front of her were distracted.

Nothing.

So…it really was just them?

…Okay, so he found a golem and was convinced it was aliens.

He was not so much mad as he was ignorant now, at least.

Question was…how many others were around here…

…And was this why Lord Azazel was so interested?

Were there other golems like this?

…Maybe she would hold back on killing him for a while, at least until she figured all this out.