I stepped inside the car with her. It was cozy and a tad expensive. The seats were heated and warm causing me to instantly feel a bit more at ease. The scent was fresh and had a light hint of peach. It reminded me of the shampoo I just smelled when she took me in her arms.

“So, where to?”

I asked a tad nervously.

 

 

“Well, before we go, I’ve been meaning to ask you to do something for me, Madoka-san…”

“Oh, what’s that?”

She closed her eyes and turned to me.

“Please…just for our date, will you call me by my given name?”

She wanted me to…call her like that? Out of the blue, it was embarrassing. Well, when I thought about it, she’s been trying to make me do that since the day I met her. She actually got me to say it because I didn’t know her family name. I...called her “Risa-sama”.

“A-Are you sure?”

“Please? Today I’m not your stepmothers’ boss or your mothers’ boss…I’m just a woman who wants to show the girl she likes a good time.”

“Saitou-san….”

She wanted me to open up to her. That’s the true reason why she wanted this. And… as Hana-chan asked me to, I have to keep my heart open, or else I’d hurt her if I don’t, so I closed my eyes and did what I had to do.

“Okay…R-Risa-san.”

Like a Christmas tree, she lit up to an astronomical level. Who knew just calling her by that name…that sweet, tender name…would make her this happy? But for some reason…my lips curled too. Her name was nice, and it rolled off the tongue.

“By the end of today, I’m going to take your family name from you.”

She teased, poking me on the nose. How it felt as though I was in a cage, locked away from the world, and only Risa-san had the keys to let me out. But she wouldn’t. I was…in her eyes…a catch, wasn’t I?’

“What do you mean by that?”

I’m not that innocent. She was going for me and…I couldn’t lie…

I was excited to see where today was going to take us. When we hit our first stoplight, Risa-san turned to me, put her arm around me, and pulled me close to her.

 

 

Her lips were aiming at mine and I wasn’t prepared for this…But instantly, she pulled away and laughed hysterically. I bet the expression on my face was priceless, breaking away any charisma that I had before.

“You seriously thought I was going to do that, didn’t you?!”

“N-No!”

I cried feebly in an attempt to appear confident. I couldn’t lie, her bright pink lips drew me in more than I could have imagined. She was bright and glowing; I couldn’t tell if that was the makeup she had on or how she always is…

But then it came to me…how she appeared. I…forgot to tell her how nice she looked.

“Ah…you look nice!”

I shouted out of nowhere. The panic was getting to me, and I didn’t know how to handle the stress. That was apparent, and I was fumbling around. But before I could say anymore, she spoke as she continued driving.

“Madoka-san…”

“Y-Yes?”

She reached over and put her hand on top of mine. She was extremely warm as she told me…

“I’m nervous too, you know?”

She confessed to my surprise.

“Huh?”

“Think about it, I have to make you think only about me…knowing you still have feelings for someone else. That’s…not an easy task, Madoka-san.”

She sighed.

“So, it’s okay to be nervous…but today isn’t to feel this way. Let’s…have fun, okay?”

 

 

Her words were…just what I needed, weren’t they? It threw me for a loop knowing that these words were coming from my date. Before I came, I asked myself what makes me so special to Risa-san that she…wanted to ask me out.

She is rich, attractive, vibrant, and I’m sure millions of people would love a shot with her, but she asked out an average high school girl. That’s when Hana-chan’s words came to mind…

I’ve been thinking about everything from only my perspective. I…haven’t even considered how Risa-san might feel right now. The only reason why we are together in this place right now…is because she believes that I am…equal to her, isn’t it?

“…You’re right. R-Risa-san…I’m nervous too. Y-You know this is my first date.”

I confessed back, earning a blush from her.

“If that’s true…then I’m going to show you how amazing they can be. And…and…”

She sighed as she turned back to me once we hit a light.

“I hope that…you have a lot of fun with me..”

This wasn’t teasing…it was honesty. One thing that was monumentally different when I dealt with Risa-san was that she wore her emotions on her sleeve. She…loved to tell me what was going on in her head. Her air of mystery wasn’t leading me to try to figure out what she was thinking but what she’d do next, and that…excited me.

We rode in silence for a bit to let the mood settle in. The drive was actually nice as we listened to music. The music she chose was in English and took me by surprise at first. It was a mixture of rock, jazz, and rhythm and blues. I would have never guessed that she had this kind of taste.

“You like western music?”

“Oh, I love it. My English is great because I have to go overseas so often. So, listening to western music is easy for me to understand.”

As much as I wished that was true for me…I could barely understand any of it. I…hated English with a passion by this point. But the rhythm was nice, especially in the R&B genre. She had a good taste for sure with her playlist as we drove around town. It had to be this interesting discovery that prompted me to push forwards.

“Risa-san…what do you do on your days off?”

I…wanted…no, needed to know more about her if this was going to be a successful date. As I promised to Hana-chan, this is what I’m going to do.

“Hm? When I get home, I usually write and read as my hobbies. Oh, don’t tell your stepmother this, but I’m actually a super big fan of Yashiro’s works.”

“You like The Ashe of the Fallen series?”

She snickered a tad mischievously.

“Yeah! They’re amazing! Such passion with their stories that I would love to write like that one day…”

 

 

Her eyes were shining. It appeared as though I hit the nail on the head when I asked this question.

“I never read the stories, but my best friend did, and she loved them. What are they about?”

I knew the overarching plot to them. Something about extraterrestrials falling in love with everyday girls and them overcoming hardships by way of love. But if Risa-san was such a big fan, I figured it would be a great topic of conversation for her. As I turned to her I could see her body visibly shaking. She perked up but was unable to take her eyes off the road as she explained.

“Think about being trapped in a world where you can’t be a part of anything. You are a monster, a creature who, if they make friends, their friends will die. That is the curse you have.”

Her nails clenched the wheel.

“Now, think about falling in love with a woman in this world. One who you want to keep your distance from but admire from afar…there’s only so long before those feelings become impossible to keep down. So, it’s an intense story about finding your place in life, finding the love of one’s life, and overcoming difficulties!”

She exploded with passion. I can see her right-hand twitching as if she was writing the story herself.

“The stories interconnect, but they all are about different aliens and other unworldly beings finding the love of their life by chance…by luck…by fate!”

She took a deep breath and calmed her mind down. As if her batteries were running low, she relaxed.

“Is it wrong for me…to want that kind of love, Madoka-san? The kind that…is found by fate and chance?”

How…amazing that sounded. I knew she was passionate about these things, but she reminded me of a little kid at times. That had always been a charm about Risa-san since I first met her.

“What about you, Madoka-san? I know you like your idols and music…but what do you want in a relationship?”

Her sudden question caused me to freeze like a statue. What do I want out of a relationship? This was a different question than what my type was from Mae-chan on my birthday. What do I need in order to establish a healthy relationship for myself?

“Don’t think too hard about it, Madoka-san. Just…say what’s on your mind.”

So, I did just that…

“I certainly need someone who is understanding. Someone who doesn’t just understand my problems but helps me through them. And…maybe someone who isn’t afraid to…open up to me and tell me…what’s going through their mind.”

As those words poured out from me, I came to realize a crucial part of me wanted…someone to know who I was, didn’t I?

“Told you it wouldn’t be that bad.”

She turned back to the road and beamed to herself.

“I’ll try to be all those things and more for you, Madoka-san. Now I know what to do to hopefully capture your heart.”

My cheeks warmed up as if someone put an iron on both sides of my face. Here I was, in a box trapped with the scent of Risa. It was sweet and a tad spicy if I had to describe it. It made me a bit worried that if I stayed here for too long, I’d be entranced in a spell that she set up.

“Risa-san…”

“Yes?”

“How are you at work? You know, with Mari-san and stuff? I…want to get to know other sides of you too.”

“Well, I’m actually a little bit of a hardass if you asked Koda-san and the others.”

That was a bit of a surprise. I didn’t expect that answer or for her to be so honest about it if that was true. She scratched her cheek as she expressed herself more.

“When there’s a deadline…I rarely give time off. I expect my workers to be in the office until the work is done. There’s been plenty of times that Koda-san would literally growl at me like a dog when I kept her long.”

 

 

The demon laughed like a villain. I take it she was getting a kick out of this.

“Oh, you should have seen this time when your mother was first working for me. Nakagawa-san had to calm Koda-san down when there was a large release. The poor girl was forced to sleep at Yashiro’s house to make sure she didn’t make any abrupt changes to the story. She went on about that for ages.”

I imagined Mari-san getting all agitated at the idea of sleeping at Yashiro’s. From what I saw from their interactions, Mari-san gets annoyed at her, but everything seems to fly over Yashiro’s head as if she was immune to it. The way she keeps her place was a mess…I would go crazy sleeping there.

Now understanding that plenty of these errands come from Risa-san and her aggressive iron fist-like workstyle, I had a different level of respect for her.

“I can visualize Mari-san getting annoyed at that idea.”

Now I was the one laughing. I felt a bit guilty, but…the idea of her growling like a rabid dog was nothing short of hilarious.

“Oh yeah, she hated me for weeks after that. I could tell even though she’s really good at hiding her true feelings most times.”

She sighed.

“But it’s because of my discipline that I was able to get this job in the first place. Listen, I come from a pretty wealthy family, but my money wasn’t handed to me. I had to work hard for where I am now.”

Once we hit a red light, she turned to me.

“And…I used to work extremely hard for someone who is out of my life now. So, I actually have them to thank for my efforts.”

“Someone who is out of your life?”

She bit her lip and waved her hand from side to side.

“No, it’s not a good time for that right now. Sorry for mentioning it. All I’m saying is…I had the motivation to be where I am today. And…now I want to find someone to share my success with.”

I rubbed my fingers on my dress to help calm my nerves.

“And…you think that someone might be me, Risa-san?”

She nodded as she turned back to the road and continued driving.

“No…I want it to be you, Madoka-san. That’s why I want to get to know you. I need to get to know you. That’s why…I was so happy to take you out today.”

Her words touched my emotions like a warm blanket was put around my body. They made me not only feel soothing but a…different sensation. Like my body was floating on a cloud.

“We’re almost there.”

My chauffeur announced as she pulled into the parking lot. When she found a spot, she parked the car, and we both got out.  A large building stood out in the distance and took me by surprise. It had a large whale on it with crabs, fish, and other sea life in a cartoonish sign. There was a crowd of people, but it wasn’t too heavy for the weekend, thankfully.

“An aquarium!”

I gasped, excitedly. It’s been years since I’ve been in one. I can only remember the time the Watanabe’s took me and Mae-chan here when mom and dad were too busy to be at home. Now I stood there like a child, kicking about in excitement.

“Well, let’s go.”

A force took hold of my arm as the lion held me close. Now I felt like we were a couple as we began walking together like this.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here. I thought this might be a really cool experience with you. I hope you like to fish.”

 

She declared as we began walking.

Her being slightly taller than me…I couldn’t lie, I felt like I was being protected by a bodyguard of some kind.

She was strong-willed, kind, smart…all positives that gladly made me enthusiastic about spending more time with her.