Eizan and Mio are walking around looking at all the places he frequented when he grew up. Mio was lost in thought. “He had a completely different life before he moved. There is so much I don’t know about him. He’s still a total mystery. I wonder if that’s why I always think he’s hiding things. He doesn’t actually talk about himself much when were together. I just get little bits of his past over time. I guess that’s to be expected we really haven’t been together for that long.” She stares up at the sky for a few seconds. “I wonder if he’s thinking the same thing. I don’t really talk about things in my past either. I wonder if he’s curious about me too.” She looks over at Eizan who is currently walking next to her on the way back to his parent’s house. “Eizan.” He looks over at her and smiles. “W-would you like it if I showed you around where I grew up?”

Eizan smiled brightly. “I would be ecstatic to know more about you. But you never really mentioned it so I was just waiting for you to open up to me.”

Mio’s eyes widened “So you were curious about me.”

Eizan stopped and gave her a weird look. “What are you talking about. Of course I’m interested. We’ve basically decided to get married. Wouldn’t it be weird if I wasn’t curious.”

“I-I guess. But you know my life hasn’t really been that interesting.”

Eizan tilted his head to the side. “Really, I find you interesting.”

Mio exhaled, she realized she was holding her breath waiting for his response. She smiled at him. “I’m glad.”

Eizan leaned his face really close to hers. “I’m not going to lose interest.”

Mio blushed “You better not.”

Eizan gave her a kiss. “I promise.” He stood up and looked kind of awkward. “Honestly, I’m a little surprised you haven’t run away from me yet. I mean I kind of have a lot of baggage.”

Mio giggled “Like being a drummer in an underground rock band.”

Eizan laughed awkwardly “Yeah, among other things.”

Mio shook her head. “I’ve just accepted that you’re a handful.”

Eizan frowned. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “If it’s alright with me than there should be no problem.”

Eizan sighed. “I guess. Just let me know if I’m causing you problems.”

Mio put her hand on her chin. “I’ll keep that in mind.” They started walking again. “I do kind of wish I could have seen your band play live.”

Eizan gave her a weird look. “Do you have a thing for bad boys?”

Mio looked a little surprised. She was lost in thought for a second. She thought back to the time when she saw Eizan dressed up in his delinquent attire. “You know, I might.”

Eizan froze and gave her a shocked look. “Really?”

Mio gave him a small mischievous smile. “What? I decided to become your fiancé after all.”

Eizan burst out laughing. “That’s true. I might have a thing for innocent good girls if I say so myself.”

Mio frowned “You think I’m an innocent good girl?”

Eizan smiled and got a mischievous look on his face. “Are you a bad girl in disguise?”

“Well, no”

Eizan giggled. “I would say your very innocent.” Mio punched him in his arm. “A little violent though.” Mio frowned which just mad Eizan laugh harder. Eizan stopped for a second and put his hand on his chin. “I have an idea. Are you apposed to going out tonight?”

Mio looked at him curiously. “No, why?”

Eizan got an evil smile. “Give me a second I need to make a phone call.” Eizan walked off a little ways and started talking to someone on the phone. She couldn’t make out the conversation he was having. After hanging up the phone he walked up to Mio and eyed her up and down. “This won’t do. We need to get you a change of clothes.”

Mio gave him a funny look. “What I’m wearing is a problem?”

Eizan laughed. “You would stick out like a flower in the dessert.” He grabbed her hand. “Follow me we have a little shopping to do before we head home.” He started pulling her in a direction she had never been before.

Back in Nagoya Ren and Ome had been riding rides and having a good time. Ome could tell Ren was looking kind of tired. “Ren would you like to take a break.” She nodded with a tired look on her face. He took her to a small restaurant in the park. They got a seat near the window. Ren looked around and noticed that there were mainly couples in the restaurant. She got kind of nervous as she looked up at Ome’s smiling face. “Is this place mainly for couples?”

Ome looked around at everyone in the restaurant and happened to see a man getting hit for staring at Ren. He looked over at Ren. “Now that you mention it. It might be. I just thought it would be a good place to catch the parade.

“Parade?”

Ome smiled at her. “You really have never been to a theme park before.”

Ren shook her head. “I told you I hadn’t.”

Ome laughed. “It’s just unbelievable that a girl as beautiful as you has not been asked out on a date to a theme park before.”

Ren smiled innocently. “Are you saying this is a date?”

Ome tilted his head to the side. “Well, isn’t it?”

Ren giggled a little. “You’re right I guess it is.” She put her elbow on the table and rested her head on her hand as she stared at Ome. “You know you’re being more forward today than normal.”

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Ome scratched his cheek. “Am I?”

Ren nodded. “That you are. Normally you would be a little more nervous.”

Ome sighed. “I would say I am pretty nervous. I am on a date with the girl that is regarded to be the most beautiful in the school.”

Ren giggled. “So, you have been thinking this was a date the whole time?”

Ome’s eyes narrowed. “And you haven’t? Maybe I misread things.”

Ren smiled. “No, I considered this a date to begin with. And to your previous question. I won’t go on a date with just anyone you know.”

Ome sighed. “Well, that’s good to know.”

Ren giggled. “Did you think I was some loose woman?”

Ome shook his head. “Actually…”

Ren narrowed her eyes and gave him a stern look. “Finish your sentence.”

Ome sighed. “You know you have a nickname at school, right?”

Ren giggled. “I’ve heard a few.”

“They call you the ice rose. Incredibly beautiful, cold, and thorny. But once I got to know you, I would say you’re closer to a lily floating in the middle of a lake. Beautiful but hard to reach.”

Ren smiled brightly. “I like the sound of that. Lily of the lake.”

Ome laughed. “So do I.” They ordered food as they watched the sun go down. “It looks like the parade is about to start.”

Ren stared out the window and watched as people gathered along the edges of the street. “Isn’t it strange to hold a parade at night?”

Ome shook his head. “No, it’s normal. It’s very beautiful. You’ll see.”

She looked over at Ome. “Is this your first time bringing a girl here.”

Ome shook his head. “I brought my little cousin here last summer.”

“How old is you little cousin?”

“I think she turned ten a few months ago.”

Ren smile. “Well, aren’t you a nice cousin.”

Ome let out a long breath. “Yeah, I guess. She’s kind of obsessed with me. It drives me a little crazy.”

Ren giggled. “I could see that being rather bothersome.”

Ome shook his head. “You have no idea.” He paused for a second. “Actually, never mind I be you do have some idea about people being obsessed with you.”

Ren frowned. “Yeah, I know all too well. Maybe that’s why people think I’ve grown thorns.”

Ome laughed. “You do garner a lot of attention. We’ve been getting quite a few looks all day.”

Rem puffed out her cheeks. “I wish they would stop.”

Ome giggled. “I think it’s fine.”

Ren looked confused. “It doesn’t bother you?”

Ome shook his head and looked around at a few guys who were taking glances at them. “Nah, maybe at first it bothered me a little. But I think I’ve gotten used to it. If I were you, I would take it as a compliment.”

Ren shook her head. “It’s not like I do anything special.”

Ome laughed. “I think you work very hard. You obviously work out, your appearance is always immaculate, and you study hard. Others may not see the work you put in, but I do.”

Ren blushed. “You been watching me that closely?”

“It’s pretty hard not to notice when we’ve been spending this much time together.”

Ren mumbled in a low enough voice that Ome couldn’t hear. “You still haven’t asked me out though.”

Ome gave her a strange look. “What was that?”

Ren waved her hands in front of her face. “Nothing.” Lucky for her the parade started. “Look it’s starting.” She was staring at the lights of the parade as it went by. “Wow, it’s so pretty.” She basically had her nose to the glass.

Ome sighed and thought to himself. “She always tries to act so perfect when were at school. I wish she would loosen up like this all the time. It’s like she’s afraid to show any weakness.” While she was staring out at the parade he was only focused on her smile. “I think I’m going to be in for some jealous looks when we get back to school.” He giggled a little. “Not like I care anymore.” Ren turned to look at him with a giant smile on her face.

“Look it’s Yuki all covered in lights.”

He smiled and nodded at her childish behavior. “Yup.”

She shyly asks. “You promised that you would get me a doll remember.”

Ome smiled softly and nodded. “That I did. How about we go get one after the parade is over.”

She jumped up and down in her seat. “Yay.” She turned and started watching the parade out the window again. Ome just giggled as he watched the parade slowly go by. Ome and Ren’s phones both ding at the same time. They both pick up their phones and look at the message they just got from Eizan. After glancing at the picture both of them look up at each other with stunned looks on their faces. Ren is the first one to speak. “I-is that Mio?” Ome nodded. “Why is she dressed like that.”

Ome was shaking his head. “I have no clue.”

Ren glances down at the picture on her phone again. In the picture is her normally sweet and innocent looking friend. She’s wearing a short back skirt with fish net stockings and a band t-shirt. She has piercing on her lip and black lipstick on. In her hair is a black hairband with a small skull on it. She looks absolutely adorable with the pouty look on her face. “What is he doing to her?” Her phone rings and Mio’s name pops up on her phone. She answers it.

Immediately Mio yells at her from the other end of the line. “Delete that picture he sent you.”

Ren starts giggling. “What are you two doing? And when did you get a lip piercing.”

Mio sounds exasperated. “I don’t know he just made me dress up this way and the piercing is fake. He won’t tell me where were going.”

Ren starts laughing even harder. “I will delete the picture have fun.” She hangs up the phone without letting Mio say anything else. Ome and Ren look at each other and burst out laughing. “What is he planning?”

Ome shrugged. “I have no clue but knowing him it’s not something she is prepared for.”

Ren looked down at her phone and saved the picture into her image folder on her phone. “This is going to be good blackmail later.”

“Oh, your evil.”

She looked up at him and smiled coldly. “But you have to delete it.”

Ome stiffened up. “S-sure right away.” He hadn’t planned to do anything with the picture so he was fine with it. He picked up his phone and deleted the picture. Ren and Ome finished watching the parade and paid for their meals. Ome took her to a souvenir shop to buy her the doll she wanted. She was browsing through the shelves looking at all the different dolls. “Pick whatever you want. I’ll buy it for you.”

She looks up at him. “Really?”

He nods. “Of course.” She runs over to a shelf she just left and picked up a rather large stuffed white tiger. Ome sighed thinking about how much his pocket book was going to be hurt after this date. He did make money at his parent’s dojo but he was afraid he needed to ask for a raise. To be fair he had been saving money for many years and was not even close to running out of money so he decided to forget it for today. She was hugging the doll. He took out his phone and snapped a picture of her innocently hugging the stuffed tiger, with a small smile on her face.

She puffed out her cheeks. “Did you take a picture of me?”

He nodded with a mischievous smile on his face. “I wanted a picture of you and the moment just felt right. Besides I know you have a few picture of me.”

She blushed. “You knew?”

He giggled. “A little birdie told me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m so going to black mail her.”

Ome immediately sent the picture to Eizan and Mio.

Ren’s eyes widened. “You didn’t”

Ome started laughing. “I did.” Her mouth was left hanging open. “I felt like he was gloating and I couldn’t take it. He’s not the only one on a date with a cute girl.” Ren’s eyes widened and her face turned red up to her ears. Ren normally hated compliments but for some reason when Ome did it she was happy. She still pouted though and hit him a few times as he laughed.