Taking her sister Hisui’s advice, Chou had decided on an awesome location for her next date with Fumihito. If anywhere was romantic if you were with your partner, than Chou may as well have killed two birds with one stone… although that turn of phrase sickened her. After-all, her next-door neighbor was a chicken, for the gods’ sakes! But that was beside the point. If Chou was looking for romance – which, reluctantly, she was until she finished her novel – and if she could take Fumihito wherever she wanted…

“Isn’t this romantic?” Chou cooed as the couple entered the video-game store.

Fumihito scratched his head. “Uh, Chou,” he interjected, “why are we in a game shop?”

“Tch, tch, tch,” the bunny girl tutted. “It WAS my turn to choose where we’d go on a date this time, right?”

“Uh, yeah, but…”

“What’s wrong, Fumihito?” Chou chuckled. “You’re the one who wanted to date me, right?”

“Yeah, and you agreed to it,” Fumihito pointed-out. “Is… is this a date?”

“Of course it is!” the rabbit beamed, bending down to peruse the bottom row of games that lined the nearest shelf, moving her gaze up a row each time she failed to find a game that caught her eye on the previous layer. “Why, is something wrong?” Having not located a desirable game on that side of the shelf, Chou stood up and walked around to the other side, once again crouching down and examining its contents from the bottom up.

“Well, well, well…” a voice said, making Chou’s hair and ears stand on-end.

The lagomorph would’ve recognized that chilling voice anywhere! She froze in place, halfway between a kneel and a stand, as she felt the distinct weight of a trunk placed on her shoulder.

“I take it you’re here alone?” Parker asked, unaware that Fumihito was standing on the other side of the shelf Chou was currently examining.

“Uh… y-yep!”

“You remember what we talked about before, right, Usagi? You DID break-up with Fumi-chan, right?”

“Uh-huh! Y-Yeah, you got it…” Chou nervously whimpered.

“Oh, well that’s great!” Parker beamed, lifting her trunk off Chou’s shoulder as her demeanor did a complete one-eighty. “Well, Usagi, if you’re here,” the elephant clasped her hands together playfully, “you must be looking for a cool new video-game, right?”

Chou gulped, nodding her head.

“I think I saw a really good one back ‘round the other side of this shelf,” Parker smiled, walking to the edge of the shelf and preparing to turn the corner.

“Crap!” Chou internally screamed. “If Derm sees that I’m still dating Fumihito, she’s gonna fucking kill me!” Chou quickly glanced over her shoulder. From where she was standing, she could see the screen over the shop’s entrance displaying the closed-circuit television feed. She could see the spaniel slowly browsing the opposite side of the shelf. “Game over!” she thought.

“H-Hey, Derm, check this out,” Chou stammered, looking for something to redirect the elephant from discovering that the King Charles was with her. She grabbed a random game from the shelf and held it out for the inquisitive pachyderm to examine.

As the rabbit predicted, Parker stopped in her tracks, moonwalking back to where Chou was standing and reaching back with her trunk to grab the game. She turned to face Chou, handing her back the item.

“U-Usagi,” Parker blushed, “you know that’s a dating simulator, right?”

Chou dropped the game box in shock! “Crap, crap, crap, crap!” she thought. “Now she’s gonna think I’m into dating, and love, and…”

“You’re not still thinking about my Fumi-chan, are you?” Parker asked, reaching into her jeans pocket and withdrawing a switchblade.

The rabbit girl gulped. She stared the weapon down, the light from the overhead bulbs bouncing off its well-polished, honed steel blade and almost blinding her. She was at its mercy before the elephant had even made a single incision!

“N-No!” Chou said, bending over and picking the date sim back up. “I-It’s for my sister.”

Phew! Nice going, Chou! There’s no reason Parker wouldn’t believe that!

“You have a sister?” the elephant asked.

Chou clasped her paws together in a praying motion, begging Parker to believe her. “I-I know! Why don’t I show you?” Chou frantically scrolled through her phone’s photo gallery, landing on a picture of herself and Hisui as children. “S-See? That’s me, and that’s my sister!” Chou pointed to the respective rabbits in the picture.

“Fair enough,” Parker smiled, putting the blade back in her pocket with a smile, “I’m sorry for doubting you, Usagi.”

“Oh, hey, Parker!” Fumihito called-out.

Chou felt her heart sink. Was this how the rabbit girl’s existence was to end? Murdered in cold-blood by some jealous yandere?!

“Oh, hi, Fumi-chan!” the pachyderm smiled, clasping her hands together. “What a funny coincidence; Chou and I were just talking about you!”

She… thought it was a coincidence? Had the gods of fortune smiled upon the innocent bunny girl? …No. That wasn’t it. Chou knew that her lucky rabbit’s feet weren’t enough. She had faced trial after trial and suffered countless moments of humiliation and soul-crushing defeat! She knew there were no gods of fortune! And if there were, they certainly didn’t give a shit about her! No, it was obvious – Parker was playing dumb. Chou remembered what the elephant had said before – her feelings for Fumihito were a secret! If Parker lashed-out now, she may as well be confessing to Fumihito in her deranged eyes!

“Oh, hahaha, yeah… Speak of the Devil,” Chou sighed, walking in Fumihito’s direction as his tail started to wag, before drooping down between his legs as the rabbit brushed past him with no so much as a single word. “Sorry, Fumihito,” Chou thought, “but I’m going home early.” She put her hands coolly in her jacket pockets and walked out the front door. Once she was sure she was out of Parker’s sight, she withdrew her cell and shot Fumihito a text message.

“i dont feel well. im goin home”

Fumihito scratched his head and put his phone back in his pants pocket. “I guess she must’ve tired herself out, running to meet me here?” the spaniel sighed, shaking his head. Chou’s determinedness was one of the many qualities he fell in-love with.

Chou grumbled as she stared at her empty wallet. In her haste to get away from the previous night’s date, she had forgotten to place the dating simulator back on the store shelf before leaving, and had to pay for it once the store discovered she’d shoplifted it. In the end, her excuse about who it was for turned-out to be true – she pawned it off on her poor, unsuspecting sister.