My hand reached out instinctively, grabbing onto Saiki's hand to stop her from pulling out whatever it was she was planning to pull out.

I had a pretty good idea what it was.

"Sorry about that," I told the girl in the maid costume in front of us, forcing a smile, "We've already made plans to go to a cafe together."

Saiki blinked, the blank look in her eyes slowly disappearing.

"Oh, I see. Nevermind then..." The girl said disappointingly, before walking off to join a group of maids standing at the side of the street, looking for other passerbys to approach.

I sighed to myself.

What a headache that I had gotten myself involved in.

Why did I have to go out of my way to look after Saiki anyways?

"Hey Saiki, let's go--" I said, glancing down at Saiki, but stopped when I saw that her face was completely bright red, her eyes staring fixedly down at the ground.

"Y, you're holding my hand, Naosuke..." Saiki said in a quiet voice.

"Hah?" I said, then I glanced down at our interlocked hands and jumped, instantly letting go of her hand, "T, that was just to stop you from doing something stupid to that maid...! It's not like I..."

Saiki glanced up at me with a timid smile, a smile so genuine that my words trailed off to nowhere.

"I'm so happy!" Saiki said. "That was the first time we ever held hands! Thank you, Naosuke...!"

Is that something you even thank a person for?

...

Crap, this was starting to turn out like a real date.

"Don't worry about it," I said, walking onwards along the street, "Let's just hurry up and find a cafe..."

Saiki nodded with a cheery smile, before walking quickly to catch up to me, "Still... I can't believe you held my hand, Naosuke!" She said, walking by my side. "I thought I was dreaming for a second. I didn't think you were the type of guy to be that forward."

"Like I said..." I started, but then sighed, shaking my head, "Ah forget it."

"Maybe I should never wash this hand now!" Saiki laughed.

"Please, don't do that."

Walking carefully to avoid the maids standing alongst the streets, we eventually arrived at a normal looking cafe in another street and I glanced through the windows, triple checking to make sure there were no maids hiding inside.

"What are you doing?" Saiki asked from besides me.

"Nothing," I replied quickly, "This place looks good. Do you wanna just grab a seat here?"

"Okay." Saiki smiled.

Walking into the cafe, we were greeted by a waiter standing near the entrance. I had purposely made sure to select a cafe with male employees only. I wasn't about to let what happened outside with the maid to happen again.

"Good afternoon," The waiter greeted us cordially, "How are the both of you today?"

"Yeah, doing great." I replied.

"Afternoon to you too," Saiki smiled, bowing her head slightly in a courteous manner, "We are doing very well, thank you very much for asking. And yourself?"

The waiter glanced at Saiki with a surprised smile, "Good. I take it you would like a table for two?"

"That's correct." Saiki said.

"Please, this way." The waiter replied, leading us through the cafe.

I had almost forgotten that Saiki's mannerisms in public and school were very traditional and polite. Whenever we were together, she acted and talked casually so it surprised me now to see her acting differently. I guess she had been toning down all her usual mannerisms for me.

Up ahead, I could hear Saiki and the waiter having a conversation.

"We are actually on our first date," Saiki told the waiter with an embarrassed laugh, "So please excuse my manners if I'm a little nervous."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"No way," The waiter laughed, "There is nothing for you to be nervous about at all! You're such a charming young lady! We have couples coming to this cafe all the time, and most of them become repeat customers."

The waiter sat us down at one of the best tables in the cafe with a window view of outside the Shibuya streets.

He stopped when he handed the menu to me, glancing down at me with a quiet sigh, "You're a lucky guy, you know that. This girl is miles ahead of your league. Please don't disappoint her."

What the hell. Was that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?

I took the menu from his hands with twitching eyebrows, "Th, thank you...... sir."

The waiter left us at our table and I stared mindlessly at the menu for a moment.

"Saiki," I said, glancing across at her, "You don't have to tone down your mannerisms for me, you know. You can just be yourself. I don't mind."

Saiki glanced up from her menu, across at me, "What do you mean, Naosuke?"

"I mean... you normally talk like the the way you talked to the waiter, right?" I said, "That's how you usually talk at school as well. So I don't want you to force yourself to act differently just for me... if that makes sense."

"Naosuke... Everything about what I did and said to the waiter just then was an act. Same as at school."

"H, huh?" I had to double take to make sure I heard her correctly.

"I just wanted to make sure he gave you a good table, Naosuke," Saiki said, glancing back down at her menu with eerily dull eyes, "I couldn't care less about that waiter, or any guy that's not you for that matter."

"..."

Saiki stopped when she realised I wasn't speaking, then glanced up at me, noticing the discomfort on my face.

"B, but that doesn't mean that anything that I do around you is a lie...!" Saiki laughed weakly, "My love for you is real, Naosuke! I never act when I'm with you...!"

"Right..." I said dubiously, "Anyways, what do you want to get...?"

Crap, the items on the menu were actually quite pricey.

Saiki glanced at me, before turning back down to the menu.

"Hm, I might just grab a latte macchiato... what about you, Naosuke?"

"Uh, probably just... green tea."

I didn't even have any idea what the drink she said was.

I stared at the menu.

Damn, the pictures of the food here was actually making me feel hungry, especially this Deluxe Hamburg set.

Ugh, but I couldn't. I had to save my money.

"Let's get something to bite as well," Saiki said, "Mm, what about the Deluxe Hamburg set?"

Wow, she picked the same thing as what I had been thinking.

"It's a bit pricey, isn't it..." I laughed.

At that moment, a waiter strolled over to our table with a pleasant smile, "Hi there, did the two of you need any help with the menu?" He asked.

"No, thank you. We are ready to order," Saiki said, "Could we please get a green tea, the Deluxe Hamburg set, and a latte macchiato?"

"Of course," The waiter said.

In the back of my head, I could hear my wallet screaming out in pain.

Then, I saw Saiki pulling out her wallet from her bag, taking a black card out and slipping it to the waiter, "Also, please charge the bill on this and leave a twenty percent tip."

"H, hey...!" I said, grabbing my wallet, "I can't have you pay for me, Saiki. Let me pay for our bill."

Saiki waved the waiter off, and he left our table with her card while I was still scrambling through my wallet.

"Wait...!" I called out to the waiter.

"Please don't worry about it, Naosuke!" Saiki said, "I know you don't have that much. Besides, my father is actually quite well off."

"Still... I think I should pay..."

"P, please...! You can pay for our next date...!" Saiki laughed, "Let me have this one!"

I sighed, leaning back down on my chair, "What? So you're like super rich?"

"My father's a director at Denki Group," Saiki said, "We're not super rich, but we don't really have to worry about money most of the time."

Denki Group was an electric power company in Tokyo that's been around for at least a century.

Now that I think about it, I could remember there were rumours at school about Saiki coming from a wealthy household. I thought they were just baseless gossip that had spread simply because of how Saiki acted and talked at school with a traditional politeness. I guess they were true after all, minus the multinational company part.

"What about your mum?" I asked.

"She passed away."

"Crap, sorry, Saiki..."

I should've known something was wrong when she didn't mention her mum.

"Ah, please don't worry about it!" Saiki laughed, trying to make me feel better, "It happened a really long time ago so I don't remember much about it to be honest!"

Saiki changed the topic to a lighter tone, mainly talking about me for the rest of the conversation. And although she had ordered the food, saying that she wanted to share it, she didn't eat any of the food, giving me all of the food despite my insistence for her to eat as well. Probably she had planned all along to order the food for me, seeing that second of a flicker of hunger on my face when I had been looking at the menu.

~x~

In the end, we had a pretty good time at the cafe much to my surprise, ignoring the few times that Saiki would randomly express her obsessive love to me.

For a moment in that cafe, I forgot about all the crazy things that Saiki had done and saw her like a normal highschool girl. It was a weird feeling.

We stopped at the Shibuya train station. This was where we would part ways.

"Well..." Saiki said, gazing down at her shoes with a slight blush on her face, "Thank you so much for taking me out after school, Naosuke. I had a really fun time this afternoon with you... I hope you had fun with me too..."

"Yeah, honestly, it wasn't too bad," I laughed, "I'm not gonna lie, I thought you were going to do something crazy this afternoon."

Saiki laughed embarrassedly, "I'm not crazy, Naosuke!"

Then she glanced at the train timetable screen inside the station, "Ah, my train is coming soon, Naosuke..."

"Is that so..." I said.

Hang on, why was I feeling disappointed?

"Before I go..." Saiki said, then she stepped closer towards me amidst the crowded train station.

Tip-toeing on her shoes, Saiki leaned into me, and I saw her soft cherry pink lips coming closer. Then I felt something warm peck my cheeks, before Saiki leaned back again, blushing madly.

"I hope you didn't mind that I did that..." Saiki said. "A, anyways, see you tomorrow at school, Naosuke...!"

Before I could say anything, Saiki turned on her heels, running for her platform.

I stared at the crowd where she disappeared into for a moment, dazed.

That was when I realised how quick my heart was beating against my chest.

Crap.

No way.

Was I falling for a yandere...?

Rule number 3 [part 2] of the yandere survival guide (what not to do):

Go on a date with a yandere.