Chapter 11, Doubts.

Reika Shimohira’s apartment.

Reika was on her bed, fidgeting as she was holding her phone against her chest. She then looked at her screen’s picture, a photography of Takashi, her boyfriend.

Boyfriend.

Her boyfriend.

She, had, a, boyfriend.

She pulled her pullover’s collar above her head. Hiding her blushing face even if she was alone in her room. Her life really changed since this deranged fan tried his assault attempt. Normally, an idol dating someone would be the end of the said idol’s career. But her production company and Takashi’s family’s links in the press carefully put things in an order that was accepted and wanted by the public and especially the fans. Her boyfriend past played a big part in this.

Who was WATANABE Takashi?

Some would say he was a second generation heir. Enjoying his parents’ money and playing the young master, as some haters started to spread the rumors.

Then the news from Takashi’s family and the production company started to spread also. How Takashi started to finance a number of charities, soup kitchens, orphanages, scholarships, and others, all of it with the allowance his parents gave him. Reika herself was surprised about this news, as she had no idea how someone would do that without making himself known. Why would you not want to enjoy the fame it would bring. Takashi’s answer had been simple : “I did it to help people, not to get famous”, but she knew the truth. He never liked being surrounded by people. He could deal with them in one or twos, or small groups. But a crowd? His mother snitched on him giggling. The woman went on and on about how Takashi couldn’t deal with crowds since the time he got separated from his parents in an amusement park as a kid. They had put him on a merry-go-round, but had to change the place where they were waiting for him, to make place for a large group of people. Takashi, who couldn’t see his parents anymore panicked, then jumped off the attraction to look for them. His picture from back then was so cute, as he apologized to his parents, as he didn’t wait for the merry-go-round to stop before getting out.

Her mind went back to her current problem :

“What was the relationship between Takashi, Sei and Kishimoto?”

She saw the look Sei was giving Takashi on their video-calls. Her boyfriend may be dense about it, but she wasn’t. That was an enamored girl if she saw one.

Kishimoto was hard to define. According to Takashi she had family issues and couldn’t go back to them anymore. As she was a friend of Kato, Takashi decided to help. He even went as far as proposing she took his name from now on. Reika almost had an heart-attack the moment he explained that. True, he never considered the girl as dating material. True, he explained this solution was so she could be some sort of long lost cousin of him. Even going to his mom for approval first.

Reika talked to her potential mother-in-law again at this time, the first being when the charming woman called her to get to know her potential daughter-in-law, as Takashi predicted. The kind older woman explained that it was Takashi’s usual behavior through and through when he found a lost puppy or lost cause.

You just has to see how he started to train in hand to hand combat after her aggression.

Reika almost jumped out of her bed then, her intent clear. She was going to Takashi’s apartment to talk to him. Maybe try to cook diner to impress him. She had to show him she was the best girlfriend material.

Back at Takashi’s building, Kato was bringing his luggage

to the apartment Takashi gave him. It was right on the floor below the penthouse. Kato told him he didn’t need a big one, but Takashi responded that they all had almost the same design. Kuroro being Kurono couldn’t help but ask why he didn’t give one to Kishimoto, as the young boy pining boy still couldn’t go over the fact his crush couldn’t live at his tiny home.

“Let’s give an unsupervised apartment to the depressed suicidal girl, it will obviously go well.” Said Takashi, sarcastically, to Kurono’s best brooding face.

Kato’s little brother was currently sitting in front of the huge flat screen TV, enjoying Takashi’s X-Box.

Not knowing Reika’s whereabouts, Takashi brought the group minus Kato, downstairs, to the VR training room.

Gantz equipment was too dangerous to use even for training. So Takashi’s response was to build individualized

VR training boxes. People from the future would surely recognize the design, but at this time, none could know Spielberg would use it in Ready Player One. Takashi’s version was more spacious than their phone-booth-style conterpart. Now, each one of them could walk, stand, crouch and jump in a VR environment mimicking their gantz equipment and weapons.

The group was currently fighting against the past mouse-face-aliens, while Takashi was against a mixed group of enemies he tasked the system to generate for him alone.

You could see Kaze using his unarmed combat techniques, Kurono and Kishimoto using the guns and rifles, while Sei was using a mix of the two styles.

Each individual box hold the player gantz’ name. Or the one Takashi programmed for them at least.

Sei was Lady Croft.

Kaze was Muscle-Rider.

Kishimoto was Teenage girl.

Kurono was Stalker, much to his disapproval.

Takashi was Red-leader.

Kato would be Kenshin each time he connected himself.

Two of the group’s members didn’t really like their code names, one more than the other, but were told it would only be changed after they showed improvement.

As Kurono didn’t even try the “side mission” Takashi gave him and was still glued to Kishimoto during all training sessions and outside of it, Takashi decided to enjoy annoying him for the time being.

As the team was training in VR, Kato was responding to Reika who ringed the doorbell. The kunjutsu adept was fast to recognize her, both as Takashi’s girlfriend and as an idol. Letting her enter the apartment after he learned the purpose of her trip here, he excused himself a moment to check on his brother, Ayamu. He decided to not interrupt Takashi’s training time, as Reika wanted to surprise him. Kato didn’t left the room for a long time, but alas, the harm was done.

As Reika was looking as the kitchen settings, her gaze fall on a sweets metal box forgotten as it fell out of a bag on the kitchen table. The label telling it was plants favored and reduced stress. Reika wouldn’t normally take other people’s stuff without asking first. But being in Takashi’s place for the first time, her nerves were playing against her. Her fingers opened the lid, revealing the blue and red pills inside. As her mind associated one of the two pills’ color to her boyfriend, she quickly swallowed it, putting the lid and the box back in place, in the bag.

Now, what could she try to cook for Takashi that the group could ate too?