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Shiba tried giving him advice.
“Look, Hakuri. Chihiro is kinda dense. He likes you but he doesn't know you like him. You haven't even gone on a date yet. There's an order to these things. Strike while the iron is hot. Flirt with him when the mood is right. Then you can get that date for sure.”
Hakuri asked the very obvious question of how to flirt.
“Neither of you know anything about romance. You're still teenagers. Flirting is something you have to ease into. Try reading a book or something, I'm too old for this shit.”
That was not helpful at all, and usually Shiba was.
But Hakuri was determined to make it work.
“How'd you flirt with Azami?” He asked, and Shiba immediately spit out the soda he was drinking.
“That's private info. Also, we're not a couple like you guys. It's complicated.”
Ah. Hakuri had heard of those type of relationships from Hinao one day. A situationship.
With no help from him, Hakuri hit the books. He hated studying, but this seemed important. Unfortunately for him he was studying from the most cheesy and lame flirting lines ever, unbeknownst to him.
After studying for only a couple minutes that felt like hours, he finally chose his line. It was time to find his equally confused crush.
He found Chihiro outside, talking to the Masumi. They quickly disappeared, with Moku giving a thumbs up as he left. Odd.
“Hakuri. I'd like to take you out.”
With a tone so serious, Hakuri's natural anxiety kicked in, and he misinterpreted that Chihiro wanted to kill him, even though that made no sense.
“Y-you mean on a date, right?!” He asked, although he wasn't sure if he believed that, I mean, does Chihiro really like him like that? Although Shiba did say he did..
Chihiro immediately turned bright red, realizing how forward he was being.
“Something like that.”
Hakuri turned equally red.
“I need a map because I keep getting lost in your eyes!” He started with his first cheesy line, which he said rather loudly. Somewhere in the background, Sumi facepalmed.
“A map? My eyes? I'm not really sure what you mean. Does that have something to do with an enemy sorcerer?”
The flirt totally failed. Perhaps it was too much to expect him to understand flirting lines when he hasn't truly heard one before.
“Um, I mean your eyes are so pretty I get lost in them..”
Chihiro's face somehow managed to turn redder.
“Oh. Your eyes are pretty as well.”
Direct. Hakuri felt his heart beating out of his chest. He really wanted to see him even more flustered! It was really cute and somehow made him even more endearing to him.
“A doctor told me you have a deficiency! You're lacking vitamin me.” Hakuri said, even more determined to see Chihiro react.
Shiba was holding back laughter from behind a tree, although thankfully neither of them saw him. That would only embarrass them even more.
“I think you have a beautiful smile.” Chihiro replied.
Do compliments count as flirting? Technically. But it was so awkward that Shiba wanted to teleport to another city so he wouldn't have to witness this absolute trainwreck.
Just kiss already! This is torture!
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately because Shiba felt like if this went on any longer he'd rip his hair out, their flirting was interrupted by Samura calling out to them.
Shit. Did he hear all that? Of course he did. Now they're going to be more embarrassed. Hakuri might run away at this rate.
“Shiba set you guys up to this, didn't he? For someone who flirts with everyone he finds attractive, he doesn't know how to teach others how to do it.” He asked after he reached them. The Masumi may or may not have called him after that second Hakuri line.
“But I said the lines from the book! They were supposed to be good!”
Samura held up the book in question, and showed the disclaimer on the front page that Hakuri somehow missed.
It read, 'These lines are cheesy, but they will surely break the ice!'
“These are intended for people who haven't talked before. They're intentionally bad.”
Hakuri looked like he was about to jump into the nearby river and never appear again. Chihiro was just shocked.
“Don't worry, Hakuri. I liked them. They're better than the ones Hinao gave me.”
These kids are made for each other. They're complete idiots when it comes to the other one.
Samura shook his head and took his leave. It was better to leave them to themselves.
After a couple moments of Hakuri staring at the ground in embarrassment, Chihiro spoke.
“It's fine. Neither of us have any experience with this. Although I wished I researched more, I wanted to make you flustered without being direct too.”
Hakuri finally lifted his head, and Chihiro was extremely close.
“Everyone left, so is it ok if I kiss you?”
Hakuri had no idea the Masumi and Shiba were even watching. Uruha wasn't told because he would've made it worse. Still, he absolutely wanted to kiss him, but..
“Wait! Let me prepare myself first! If not I might die of a heart attack!”
Chihiro chuckled. “Don't worry. Take your time. I'm still collecting myself as well.”
They finally kissed a few moments later, Chihiro putting his fingers through Hakuri's hair and Hakuri putting his hands around his neck.
Somehow, they were now a couple despite neither of them having no idea what the hell they were doing.
Shiba would count this as a victory later after the two teens stopped making out. Seriously, where did they learn that? Even though it was awkward as hell and really bad. As if they were trying to eat each other's faces.
After that, Chihiro linked his fingers with Hakuri's.
“So. About that date. Where do you want to go?”
Hakuri had not thought that far ahead. He was still trying to recover from them making out.
“Uh.. the aquarium?”
“That sounds nice. I'll drive us there after I find Shiba.”
Hakuri decided it was probably best to not ask why he wanted to find Shiba.