9 Prelude to Date

"Don't make any plans for Sunday, I'll be taking you out on a date," I said to her while walking to school with her.

"Sure. Where are you taking me though?" She asks me with a smile on her face.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. It's a surprise."

"I see, you ever planning to let go of my hand? We're almost at school."

"Nope, I'm not letting go till we reach our class and take out seats. If it was up to me, I wouldn't let go even then."

I see her blush a little at my cringe words before changing the topic.

"Anyway, why are you even being so good to me? A normal person would stay away from a troublesome girl like me."

I look at her annoyed and say, "It's probably because of that cynical outlook on life that you don't have any friends."

She gives me a serious look and says, "Give me a straight answer. Why are you doing this?"

"I can't let go of this chance to get together with this beautifully hot actress girl who is also in my class. This is a once-in-a-lifetime shot. I gotta shoot my shot."

She looks unimpressed with my answer, and says, "Your ulterior motives are spilling."

"You're the one who wanted a straightforward answer."

She glares at me until I tell her the truth.

I sigh and say, "It sucks to not have someone to lean on when you're going through a rough patch. Back when the thing with my folks happened, I spent the better part of my freshman year of high school depressed and tired. My grades went to shit and I didn't really talk to anyone. By the time the final exams came by, I barely pulled myself together and got enough marks to pass the grade.

"Even after that, I didn't have anyone to rely on until I met Sakuta and Kaede, his little sister, sometime around summer break of the second year. They helped me out with a lot of things. Especially Kaede, she's a little shy but she's just a little bundle of joy who just brightens the place with her presence. I'm telling you this because I've gone through being alone during a sucky time and I don't want that for you. I want to be a shoulder for you to lean on." I tell her while bringing her into a side hug while walking.

"I see. Thank you for telling me this. It means a lot to me." She says to me.

"It's no big deal. Come on let's take our seats." I say as we reach our classroom.

I sit on my seat with her on the seat behind mine.

...

As I promised Mai in the morning, I took her to Futaba's club room during the lunch break.

"Hey! How are you, Futaba?" I ask entering the room with Mai.

"I'm fine senpai, how are you doing?" She says without looking at me.

"Wonderfully actually. Look I brought a guest." She finally looks at me and sees Mai while I take a seat.

"Hello Futaba-san, I hope you don't mind me intruding," Mai says greeting her.

"Of course, I don't mind senpai. You're welcome here any time." She says to Mai.

"Hey! How come I don't get that kind of treatment? This is discrimination if I ever saw it." I said.

Futaba and Mai both give me an unimpressed look.

...

Mai quickly became friends with Futaba and they shared their contact information while we talked and ate out lunch together.

The rest of the day went by without anything too noteworthy happening.

Holding Mai's hand I walked out of the school toward our homes.

"You know, I've noticed something weird. I'm dating a big star who everyone knows about and no one really cares about it. I don't think I saw a single head turning in our direction. Today. I feel like something messed up is going on."

"I don't want to think about it. I'll cross that bridge when I have to. I already have an idea of what to do for this."

"That's good I'm happy for you. But call me up whenever you think you need to talk, alright? You got me." I tell her while squeezing her hand.

When we reach home, she goes to her own apartment and I go back to mine.

'I'm glad that she left the bunny suit at my house yesterday. At least I'm assured that she won't go around wearing it to test if people can see her.'

...

The rest of the week went by uneventfully. I went to school with Mai, chilled out in the club room with her and Futaba, and walked her back. It all went well.

Then came Saturday. I was out basically the whole day, scouting out a good date spot for me and Mai. Eventually decided that I will take her to a private beach. I talked to a friend of my dad who's planning to sell his beach house. I called up my accountant and told him that I want to buy this place. He's a nice guy, pretty competent, and he helps me manage my finances.

I negotiate with the owner to let me use the place for tomorrow as a test. He didn't really mind and agreed. I don't want to have people disturbing my date with Mai. She may not be visible to other people but that doesn't stop them from ruining the mood.

By the time I finished up with the preparations it was already dark out. I texted Mai in the middle of the day but still haven't received a reply, so I'll check up on her when I get home. I also got a few cream buns that she loves packed from the train station on the way.

I reached my apartment hallway and saw something that almost broke my heart. Mai was sitting in front of my apartment door crouched in a fetal position with her hands wrapped around her knees. She saw me and said, "Took you long enough to come back."

I'm relieved that she's fine, "You wanted to see me that badly?" I said to her with a smile.

She's about to say something when I interrupt her, "Here I got these for you, cream buns, just the way you like them. You look like you're about to die of hunger."

She takes it with little, "Thank you."

"So, how'd you go from a bunny girl to a starving girl since I met you yesterday?" I ask her while opening the door and inviting her in.

"I can't buy anything. I've become invisible to more and more people as the week has passed." She says while taking a seat on my couch and eating the cream buns with little bites.

I put a glass of water in front of her. "You know that you can just pick up something and walk away right?"

"It's a matter of principle. I won't steal."

"What about taking what you need and leaving the money on the counter?"

Mai doesn't reply and focuses on the water. I feel the urge to tease her more but resist it.

When she's done with the water I say, "Let's go grocery shopping. I'll buy you the stuff you need for the time being."

"Yeah, that would be helpful."

...

At the grocery store, I take a cart and push it around following Mai as she puts the stuff she needs inside.

I ask her, "So how does this work? Let's say you're holding something, does that become invisible to people too or do they see a floating carrot? Wouldn't that be wild?"

"It turns invisible too, apparently." She says while waving the carrot in front of a random dude's face.

"I see what about if you touch me?"

"You just want a reason to hold my hand."

"Like I need a reason to hold your hand," I say and pull her toward me and hold her close to my chest.

"Let's test out my theory shall we," I say and call out to the random dude that she waved the carrot in front of.

"Excuse me!"

"What is it?"

"It's nothing."

The old guy just walks away mumbling something about teenagers being confusing. I resist the urge to say 'ok boomer' to him and look at the embarrassed bunny in my arms.

"Well apparently, I don't turn invisible," I say without letting her go.

She tries to play it cool by smiling and saying, "You're having lewd thoughts right now aren't you?" But the little blush she has while saying that gives her feelings away.

I come close to her ear and whisper, "If you knew what's on my mind you'd run away shouting 'Pervert,' at me."

She finally can't hold back her embarrassment and pushes me away.

"But a mature lady such as yourself wouldn't be rattled by my thoughts, would you?" I say knowing that it'll get a reaction. She just really wants to come off as mature and not like the little inexperienced teenager that she actually is.

"Of course, I wouldn't be rattled," she says and proceeds to hang onto my arm like a koala.

I just smile at her antics and say, "You're really cute."

I see her visibly pout and say, "I will get you flustered one day, just you wait."

...

By the time we're done with grocery shopping, I decide to talk about the acting thing again.

"So... When are gonna start being honest with yourself?"

"Huh, what do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb. If you want to go back to acting there's nothing stopping you from going back."

"I didn't ask for your opinion. You don't know anything."

"Then tell me. If you keep bottling things up, all you'll do is burn yourself out."

"I don't want to talk about it."

I hold her hand and stop her from going any more ahead.

"Look at me," I say.

As she looks at my face I say, "Tell me, I'm here to listen, I'll be with you every step of the way."

"Not here, let's go back to your apartment. I'll tell you there." She finally gives in.

...

I'm sitting on the couch in my game room hugging Mai and comforting her. I pull her to my lap and she just hugs me back while putting her head on my chest, listening to my heartbeat.

I ask her, "Will you tell me now?"

She reluctantly agrees without moving from her spot and starts her story.

"I do really love acting, I feel amazing while I'm in front of those cameras. It feels liberating.

"My mom was my manager from the start and got me all my gigs.

"But everything changed when my mom got me that shoot. I was still in middle school, you know? I got to the studio and saw a swimsuit ready for me. They told me that I'd agreed to it in the contract so I had to do it."

At this point, I could feel my shirt getting wet and she was trembling. I tried to soothe her by lightly rubbing her back. I feel her calm down a little before continuing.

"I had to force a smile while dying inside! I realized that my mom never really cared about me, she just cared about making money off of me."

"Isn't that all the more reason to go back though? To cleanse the bad taste it's left in your mouth." I say.

I don't really get a reply from her and feel her steady breathing on my chest.

'She's asleep, huh?'

I lightly rub her back for a few minutes more to make sure she's in deep sleep.

After that, I gently pick her up, take her to the guest room, and tuck her in the bed. I realize that she's still wearing her school uniform so I get some more comfortable pajamas for her and leave them on the side table. If she's uncomfortable then she can change her clothes.