Naoko is standing in the middle of his room with his phone in his hand. A bandage is on his cheek and another on his head.

Naoko looks down at his phone. "I can do this." He preps himself. "I can do this." Naoko takes a deep breath and taps on his screen and brings his phone near his fox ears.

A click is heard. "Hello?" Hagakure's voice is heard from the phone.

"Hey, Haga." Naoko greets.

"Oh, Usa! How are you?" Hagakure asks.

"Feeling much better, after a couple days of rest I'm almost at my full strength." 

"That's great to hear!"

"Soooo... I wanted to ask if you're doing anything tomorrow, let's say around noon?" Naoko asks.

"Nope, I'm free the whole day."

"That's good. So I wanted to see if you wanted to go out and get some lunch.... Tomorrow... With me?" 

"That sounds lovely! I'll send you my address."

"Great I'll see you tomorrow!" Naoko says with a smile.

"Yeah, it's a date!" Hagakure hangs up.

"A... Date...?" Naoko's cheeks gain a small tint of red as he lowers his phone. 

Naoko jumps up and yells in excitement, but when he lands on the ground he grabs his left thigh and hisses in pain. "Still sore." 

A chuckle is heard from the door and Naoko's eyes widen and his ears flatten. Naoko slowly turns around to see Rumi leaning on the door frame with a smirk on her face and a phone in her hand, recording the scene.

"How long have you been there?" Naoko asks.

"Long enough to know that my baby brother's got a date." Rumi says and she taps on her phone. "Oh, Keigo is gonna like this."

"Nononononono. Don't send it to him, please!" Naoko begs.

Rumi innocently smiles at Naoko and she taps her screen. "Oops."

"I hate you." Naoko groans and his tail flickers in annoyance. 

"I love you too." Rumi ducks as a pillow flies at her and she laughs as she walks away.

Naoko growls as he sits down in his desk chair and he picks up a pair of head earbuds and plugs them into his phone. He then sets the buds into his fox ears and plays a song on his phone.

Naoko bobs his head to the song as he grabs his note book. He opens up his note book where two drawings are seen on separate pages. 

(Image a male version.)

Naoko picks up his pencil and continues to draw on the fox drawing. Naoko taps his fox paws on the ground as he draws.

Later the next day.

Naoko is wearing a pair of jeans and a red shirt with some sunglasses on his head. He stops at an average looking house and he sees the door open and Hagakure walks out. Naoko gains a small blush.

Hagakure waves as she runs over to Naoko. "Hi, Usagiyama!"

Naoko waves back. "Hi, Haga."

Hagakure hugs Naoko. "I'm glad you're ok. I heard you were in bad shape back at USJ."

"Yeah, but nothing can keep me down. I'm too strong." Naoko flexes his right arm to show off his muscles. 

Hagakure chuckles. "Where are we going today?"

"There's a little cafe not too far from here that I heard had good food." 

Hagakure then hugs Naoko's left arm. "Then lead the way, Mr. Strong Fox."

Naoko blushes and looks away. "Yes, Ma'am."

Naoko and Hagakure walk down the street.

Thirty minutes later.

Naoko and Hagakure are walking down the sidewalk and Naoko spots a familiar face walking towards them.

"Io?" Naoko questions. 

Io is walking with a woman, and they're both holding hands.

Io spots the two teens. "Oh, Hello, Mr. Usagiyama and Miss Hagakure."

"Hello, Mr. Io." Hagakure greets. "Who's this?" Hagakure motions to the woman next to Io.

"Oh, this is my.... friend Ryuko." Io explains.

"It's nice to meet you two." Ryuko says with a gentle smile.

Naoko then spots a silver ring on Io's ring finger and a diamond ring on Ryuko's hand. 'Wait a minute.' Naoko thinks. Then Naoko notices a pair of metal cuffs around Io's wrists and a metal collar around his neck. 'This is getting weird.'

"It was nice to see you two doing well, But Me and Mrs. Ryuko need to finish shopping." Io says, and he and Ryuko begin to walk away. "See you two in class in a couple days.

"I'm glad Mr. Io is doing well." Hagakure says as the two continue to walk.

"I heard what happened to him, so I'm glad he's also doing well." Naoko says.

Later at the cafe.

Naoko and Hagakure are sitting down at a table with some food in front of them. Naoko is eating some grilled chicken with berries. 

"So you're not able to become visible?" Naoko asks the invisible girl.

"No, I've been trying really hard for many years to try to become visible. But it hasn't worked. I got close once, but it was the help by using reflecting light." Hagakure explains.

"I know one day you'll be able to come visible."

"You think so?"

"I know so, and I'll try to help you."

"Thank you Usa!" Hagakure says cheerfully. 

Naoko chuckles.

"I also wonder, do you have a pair of human ears under your hair or just the fox ears?" Hagakure asks.

"Just the fox ears." Naoko says. "It sometimes becomes hard to use the phone because I only have the fox ears." Naoko wiggles his ears as he pops a berry into his mouth.

Later

Naoko and Hagakure are walking down a street when Hagakure spots a arcade. 

"Oh, Usa, look!" Hagakure points to the arcade. "An arcade, let's go!" Hagakure drags Naoko across the street and into the arcade. 

"This is a nice arcade." Naoko says as he looks around.

Naoko and Hagakure proceed to go around the arcade and play some games. Then Hagakure drags Naoko over to a claw machine with a punch of plushies inside it. 

"Awww. They're soo cute!" Hagakure gushes and she points to a fox one. "That one looks like you."

"Are you sure?" Naoko asks.

"Yes. You both are cute and cuddle looking." Hagakure states.

Naoko blushes. "I guess so."

Hagakure turns to Naoko. "Do you mind if you try to win it for me?"

Naoko smirks. "Step aside Miss Hagakure, I am the master at claw machines."

Hagakure steps away from the machine and Naoko walks over to it and inserts a yen coin and he begins to play. 

"Come on, come on." Naoko's tail sways behind him as he plays. The claw lowers and grabs onto the plush. "Yes!" The claw raises with the plush and moves it over to the hole and releases it. "YES! I'm so good!"

Naoko reaches into the machine and grabs the toy and hands it to Hagakure. 

"Awww, thank you Usa!" Hagakure hugs Naoko. "I'll cherish it forever."

Naoko blushes more. "Yeah, yeah, no problem."

Later.

Naoko and Hagakure are standing outside Haga's house. 

"Thank you for today." Hagakure says. "I had a lot of fun."

"Yeah, I did to."

Hagakure leans up to Naoko and kisses him on the cheek. 

"See you later, Naoko." Hagakure says as she walks away. "You can call me Toru also." Hagakure walks into her house. 

Naoko is standing still with a hand over the cheek that Hagakure kissed. A blush forms on his face. "Yeeeessssss." He pumps his fist. 

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10-05-2022

1285 words.