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Watching Ms. Hina disappeared into the car, Itto sank into the bench with a soft sigh. He couldn’t believe that Ms. Hina just seemingly kissed him out of nowhere. Placing his index finger against his lower lip, Itto could still feel the texture of Ms. Hina’s lips against his own. It was an unusual feeling, but Itto seemed to actually enjoy it. Out of all people, Ms. Hina kissed him, the one and oni Arataki Itto! The feeling of his heart pounding against his chest was similar to when he held onto Ms. Hina’s slender body in the Ferris wheel. It was soft, slender, and she smelled simply amazing. Itto had been so distracted by how soft Ms. Hina felt in his arms that Itto barely noticed the fireworks shooting up in the sky. In a daze Itto picked up the duffle bag and held it close as he closed his eyes, remembering how Ms. Hina felt in arms. It was quite the show for those who were gazing at the oni who was lost in a daze. It was only when a familiar figure approached the oni that his daze was broken.
“You okay boss?” Shinobu asked, looking at the oni with a rather puzzled look on her face. Shinobu had figured that Itto would need some kind of lift home after the date, but seeing her boss in a dream-like state was a new one for her. Usually Itto would be all smiles without a single care in the world. But seeing her boss holding onto a large duffle bag with a contented daze look on his face was a new one.
“Oh, h-hey there Shinobu!” Itto tried to correct himself before the duffle bag stumbled out of his grasp. “W-When, uh-” Itto stumbled over his words as he picked up the duffle bag. “When did you get here?” The oni finished with a nervous smile on his face, as if he got caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing.
With a soft roll of her eyes, Shinobu moved to sit down next to the clearly flustered oni. “Guessing you had a good time on your date then?” Shinobu asked, her eyes locking onto the bag that clearly had a bunch of goodies from the amusement park in it. “You didn’t spend all that cash on junk again, did you?!?” Shinobu softly scolded, knowing how hard the gang had worked to get the cash together for Itto to enjoy his date with Ms. Hina.
“No, Ms. Hina actually bought this stuff for the gang.” Itto quickly remarked, knowing that if Ms. Hina were to buy it then Shinobu wouldn’t have much of a say in the matter. “It was her way of saying thanks for making this date a good one.” Which was the truth, considering how hard everyone had worked, Gorou figured it was a good way to thank the gang for everything that they did to make the date one neither of them would forget.
“Is that so?” Shinobu remarked, the look of skepticism rested on her face, but she didn’t seem to push through with it. “Well, guess it’s a good thing that everything fits well in that duffle bag then.” Shinobu added as she got up from the bench. “Come on, I’m sure granny can’t wait to hear how well your date went.” Shinobu smiled, reaching out her hand to help the oni up from the seat as a taxi rolled up to the curb.
With a small heave Itto was back on his two feet. Following Shinobu to the cab, Itto was uncharacteristically quiet. Staring out the window, Itto’s mind kept flashing back to when Ms. Hina leaned down to kiss him. Watching her eyes slowly close as the distance between them shortened, feeling her breath stop just shy of locking lips with his own, and the warmth that tingled over Itto’s lips and nose. It all felt like the world had frozen in that singular moment. Itto’s heart felt like it was keeping time with each beat acting like a second the longer that they were connected. It was like an angel was kissing a statue of the last oni.
When Ms. Hina had pulled away, it felt like time had resumed, and the tingling was slowly fading away from him. There was an moment where Itto wanted to reach out and grab a hold of Ms. Hina’s hand to pull her back in for another kiss, but seeing as how reality made it known that they weren’t alone, Itto resisted the urge to keep the idol there. Was it selfish of him to want more time with the idol? Of course. But Itto had loved Ms. Hina for a long time. Sure that love may have been admiration for the pop singer, but now his mind was a mess about how he felt getting to know Ms. Hina from this interaction. Was he really falling in love with the idol as if he had some chance with her? Or did his admiration blind him? All these thoughts continued to swell in the oni’s mind as he watched the street lights pass in the taxi.
It was only when the car had stopped at the Arataki residence that Itto was able to snap out of his thoughts for a bit. As Shinobu paid the driver, Itto got out of the car before heading towards the gate. Stopping in place after he placed his hand on the metal gate, Shinobu walked up behind the oni with a puzzled expression on her face.With a soft tilt of her head, Shinobu placed a hand on Itto’s shoulder to make sure that the oni was alright.
“Boss, you oka-” Shinobu started to ask before Itto let out a small sigh.
“Ms. Hina kissed me…” Itto spoke, resulting in Shinobu retracting her hand away from Itto. Turning towards Shinobu, Itto had a contented smile on his face. “She kissed me, and it was amazing.” Itto added, moving to rest his back against the concrete slab. “And before that, I held her in my arms like a prized possession that should be cherished.” Itto continued, bringing his hands up as if Ms. Hina was still in his arms.
“Boss, you know you shouldn’t get too involved with an idol.” Shinobu remarked, knowing full well what happens in that sort of line of work. There will always be people around who are looking for scandals to make a quick buck. “You’re not only an oni, but you’re next in line to take over the Arataki gang. People would never leave you alone. You don’t want to have your name tarnished in the newspaper before you even really made a name for yourself, do you?” Shinobu remarked, trying her best to spare the oni his feelings in the cruel idol world.
“And what if I do, Shinobu?” Itto asked in a more serious tone. Shinobu didn’t know how to really handle that sort of question. In her line of work people were always out to stab each other in the back. Itto was too delicate in Shinobu’s opinion to be thrusted into that sort of world. “What if I want to be there for Ms. Hina whenever there is a sort of scandal? That she can have a shoulder to lean on when everyone else abandons her?” Itto added, his resolve of wanting to protect Ms. Hina was becoming his strength to shoulder any and every burden. “If it gets out she was seen with someone like me, who knows how people will handle it. They might even stop showing up to her concerts. But not me. I will always be there for Ms. Hina!”
“Boss, you got it all wrong!” Shinobu butted in, a concerned expression lingered on her face. “You don’t understand what Ms. Hina is. She’s not even really who you think she is!” Shinobu shouted, causing some of the dogs in the area to bark. The look of confusion on Itto’s face caused Shinobu to sigh as she couldn’t straight up tell Itto that Ms. Hina was really Gorou. “Look, for now just concentrate on helping granny with the yakuza meeting coming up in the next week. Afterwards, I’ll help you understand what I meant about who Ms. Hina really is.” Hopefully by then Shinobu would be able to explain it since Gorou wasn’t going to come clean.
“Shinobu, what are you talking about?” Itto asked, however Shinobu simply ran off. Being left by himself, Itto felt like he was left with more questions than answers. Turning to open the gate, Itto headed inside of the house. Seeing as how Granny was still out, Itto took the time to rummage through the spoils. With a few bits of candy, Itto turned on the television which was tuned into a Ms. Hina interview. Smiling to himself, Itto enjoyed the interview in peace, not knowing that his world would soon be changing either for good or bad.