Chapter 6: Akihabara with Ichika

Ichirou was not particularly looking forward to today. Ichika was, but Ichirou definitely was not. After all, as much as he loved her, she was truly the epitome of an annoying little sister. Even if she was ten centimeters taller than him.

They were currently in the entranceway of their home, waiting for Masahiro to pick them up. Ichika was chattering about something related to anime and Ichirou was pretending to listen. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his sister’s interests, it was more like he had no idea what she was talking about. She occasionally did this, rambling about something from her yaoi manga. Although, at least this time, it seemed as though she was babbling about a yuri manga, which was pretty unusual. She had apparently got sucked into a particularly good one about a girl who goes into a video game and wants to be the lover of the villainess? He was not one hundred percent on the plot, if he was honest.

Ichika had dressed up nicely, wearing a black bomber jacket with cherry blossoms and a pair of dragons stitched onto the back in white, blue, and pink. Under it, she wore a crop top that revealed just a couple of her well defined abs, and some tight black jeans that fitted her form nicely. A black mask and sunglasses that she wore on the streets to avoid being recognized poked out of her jean pockets. She also wore some high heeled boots that nearly brought her up to six feet tall. Anyone could see that she was a dominant alpha from a mile away, not just because of her clothes, but because of the confident way she held herself up.

Ichirou wore a much different style than her. Today was an oversized pink sweater with a decal of some strawberries next to a milk carton. Barely poking out from under the bottom of said sweater were some white shorts. It was a bit colder than he had anticipated it being since it was the end of May, so he ended up putting on some strawberry patterned thigh-high socks. Pink and white creepers, a strawberry hair clip, and a strawberry shaped bag finished off the look. It was definitely a cute look, but also a really lazy look if he was being honest.

“Hey, Ichirou, are you listening?”

This was enough to pull him out of his daydream. Ichirou looked up to his sister and shook his head. She groaned, slumping down into the white, plush loveseat they were seated in. He shrugged and leaned against the arm of the couch.

“I was saying, do you think he’ll be okay with us going to a maid cafe?” she asked.

“You’ve got to be kidding. You want to go to a maid cafe? That’s so lame,” Ichirou complained.

“Well excuse you, some of us are gay!”

“I’m gay, too, I just like men!”

“Let me live the fantasy. I never get to go to Akihabara with my friends! Please, big brother, you’re the only one who understands meee,” she whined, shaking his shoulder.

“I do not understand you one bit!”

As Ichirou jumped off the couch to get away from his sister, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, and saw a message from Masahiro, along with a sticker of a car. It read, “I’m here! Bring you and your sister out!!” Ichirou sighed, shoving it back into his pocket before turning back to his younger sister.

“What are the rules again?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, uh, don’t speak of things that are super embarrassing like the time you almost shit your pants, don’t commit violence against him, and don’t tell our parents anything about what happens today.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Ichirou said, satisfied. 

Ichirou and Ichika stepped through the white door together, with Ichika closing it behind them. As usual, Masahiro was standing outside his car, leaning up against it. Today, his outfit was a lot more simple; he wore a gray sweater that had a band decal on the front, with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, some distressed wearing jeans, some dog tags, sunglasses, and white trainers. He smiled and gave a little wave of the hand.

As Ichika and Ichirou made their way up to him, Masahiro gave Ichika a small bow. “Nice to meet you, Kimura-san. How are you doing today?”

A flash of suspicion crossed her face, but she quickly turned into her polite self that she had been trained to be since she was a toddler. She bowed back before saying, “Nice to meet you as well, Yamashita-san. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“All good, I hope?” he asked with a chuckle.

Ichika opened the back door to the car, giving him an icy look. “We’ll have to see.”

Masahiro’s mouth opened into an “o” shape, glancing at the other man with a strange mix of nervousness and excitement. Ichirou rolled his eyes and jumped into the passenger side car. Masahiro followed suit, getting into the car and starting up the engine.

“So, Kimura-san, tell me about yourself,” Masahiro said, pulling out of the driveway and into the street. “I only know what the tabloids say.”

“Then you don’t know anything at all,” she said.

“So, tell me, then. What sort of person are you?”

She hesitated before speaking, doing her best to keep her face stony. “I’m someone who works very hard to accomplish her goals, but also someone who understands how important it is to have fun. I’m fiercely loyal to those I love, and that especially applies to my brother. He may be older than me, but I always want to protect him, especially from creeps who may just be trying to get in his pants.”

“Ichika!” Ichirou hissed, cheeks darkening in color as he turned in his chair to glower at her.

“What?! You’re the precious jewel to our family’s crown, there’s no way I’m not going to protect you, especially from men who would hurt you,” she said, huffily folding her arms.

Masahiro let out a short back of a laugh, seeming amused. “Oh, am I a man that would hurt Ichirou-san? Or a man who just wants to fuck him?”

“That’s what I’m trying to determine,” she responded, eyebrows furrowing deeply together.

“Well, luckily for the both of us, I don’t want anything but the best for your brother,” Masahiro said casually. 

“We’ll see,” Ichika murmured, cocking an eyebrow.

Ichirou groaned and leaned down, placing his face between his knees and hugging them tightly. Why, oh why, did his family have to be so embarrassing? It would be one thing if they were like this when nobody else was around. Yeah, sure, that would be embarrassing, but it wouldn’t be like… like this. He was lucky that Masahiro didn’t seem angry or put off by it, but actually seemed amused.

Ichirou stayed like that for a while, allowing the redness in his face to drain away. He eventually pulled himself up, sighed, and looked out the window. Maybe if he ignored the situation it would just solve itself. Surely she wouldn’t act like this the whole day, right? She’d change once she saw her beloved anime characters and manga she wanted to pick up. He just needed to wait this out.

“Oh, right, what do you two want to do for lunch? I know it’s still an hour or so away, but it’s good to have an idea of what we’re doing,” Masahiro asked.

Ichirou felt a hand grab onto his shoulder. He looked behind himself to see his sister, her eyes sparkling with determination and a thumbs up right beside her face. Ichirou looked at her with absolute disgust, but he sat up a bit and turned to Masahiro with a sigh, resigned to this weeaboo bullshit.

“Ichika wants to go to a maid cafe…” Ichirou groaned out.

“Oh, cute girls? I’m invested,” Masahiro said with a grin.

“I’m surrounded by nerds…” Ichirou hung his head.

“Listen, all I’m saying is that maids are nice to look at and act really cute. I haven’t been to one since high school. Let’s totally go,” Masahiro said.

Ichirou glanced back at his sister, who seemed to be satisfied. Good for them, they got to ogle at cute girls. Was it really that great? Maybe if he wore a maid outfit, he’d understand… but no, that was not happening, not unless he had a husband first. Cosplay was just a step too far for Ichirou to do unless he knew that the relationship was beyond solid.

Although it was somewhat difficult, Masahiro managed to find a parking garage they could drop the car off in. As they began to walk out, Ichika pushed her way between Ichirou and Masahiro, glowering up at him. Ichirou felt exasperation and annoyance ticking upwards in his head, but what was he going to do? Demand to stand next to Masahiro? That would be way weirder.

They walked about a block to get onto the main road of Akihabara. Instantly Ichirou was overcome by the scents of all of the people. Advertisements for a billion and one different shops and things plastered the buildings, with cute and/or sexy anime girls all over the place. A loud song that advertised a maid cafe could be heard over the hustle and bustle of the city, and the buildings towered over them.

“God, I hate this place,” Ichirou muttered.

“We need to go to the book store first,” Ichika said, already walking off at a quick pace to the building she was familiar with. “Like, seven volumes of different series I’m reading have come out since I last came here. After that I wanna look at figures. One that I want came out recently, and I need it desperately.”

“Actually, can we go to see the figures first? I wanna stop by and see if they have this specific mecha one,” Masahiro asked.

Ichika’s eyes lit up, and, forgetting that she was supposed to be suspicious of Masahiro, exclaimed, “You like anime too?!”

“Yeah, but I think our genres are too different. I like science fiction,” Masahiro said.

“Mm, yeah, but there are BLs that are set in space. I can make it wo-” Ichika seemed to realize mid sentence that this was Masahiro she was talking to. “No, no, never mind. It won’t work. It won’t work at all.”

“Pff– uh, yeah, okay,” Masahiro responded, his face tight as he tried not to laugh or smile.

The three of them walked just a couple blocks, past an electronics shop and an extremely tall building to the matte black building that housed anything from magical girl toys to games. Despite trying to stay frosty, Ichirou noticed that the instant they were in the building that Ichika’s face was twitching its way into an excited smile. And as much as Ichirou didn’t get this anime stuff, he was personally glad to get out of the busy, pheromone-filled streets, so he smiled as well.

Still, the stairs were on the outside of the building, so they quickly passed through the first floor to get to them. After getting up to the eighth floor of the building, Ichirou found himself to be surrounded by figures of anything from cute girls to robots. The floor wasn’t very large, but it was stuffed to the brim with figurines. An occasional object of a different variety made its way on the shelf, but for the most part, it was simply characters, in or out of the box.

Ichika bolted in one direction, knowing where her item should be, while Masahiro took a more leisurely look around the shop. Ichirou stood by the door for a second, before noticing some pink out of the corner of his eye. He walked over to it, and felt the slightest of smiles make its way onto his face. It was an old magical girl, one that he had loved as a kid. He had no intentions of buying any sort of figurine, but if he was going to, it would probably be her. He had taken a lot of fashion cues from her, even.

“Super Hyper Magical Nahoko, huh?” 

Ichirou jumped visibly as he suddenly realized that Masahiro was leaning right over his shoulder. He flushed, frowning. “Y- yeah, I liked her when I was a kid. You got a problem?”

“Of course not. She’s adorable,” he said, standing straight up again.

“Did you find your robot?” Ichirou asked.

“Nope. It’s a rare one, so I’ve never been able to find it. Hopefully it’ll come up soon so I can add it to my collection,” Masahiro said.

“You have a collection?”

“If you can call it that. I really only have, like, five. I’m pretty picky about figures, so I don’t get that many. Does your sister have a lot?”

“My parents don’t let her buy more than one a month. So, she’s probably got a couple dozen or so now? I wonder what her future wife will think of all this,” Ichirou said, sounding amused.

Speaking of Ichika, they could see that she was up front with the cashier, ringing something up. It was definitely one of her yaoi boys, so he nudged Masahiro on the arm and walked over to his younger sister. Her eyes were sparkling as she paid for him, and she happily had him put in a bag.

“You got the guy?” Ichirou asked as his younger sibling took the bag.

“Yep! I got my boy!” She gave a quick word of gratitude to the cashier, and they stepped out onto the metal stairs. Ichika seemed to have forgotten her distrust of Masahiro for the moment. She would surely remember between her getting her books and going to the maid cafe, but for now, Ichirou enjoyed the peace.

The three walked into the fifth floor, and were instantly greeted by male idol posters and other forms of merch. Ichika completely ignored it and beelined for the yaoi. Masahiro and Ichirou stood there a bit awkwardly, a bit unsure where to go in the girl’s section. Eventually, Ichirou decided to just look over the idol merchandise, while Masahiro seemed to wander off after Ichika. He was probably curious about what sort of filth Ichika was looking at.

Ichirou, if he was being honest, was way too embarrassed to read that sort of thing. Specifically, the lewder points. It wasn’t like he was too conservative to look at gay porn, but he did find himself unable to look for long before he’d get embarrassed. He was just a naturally shy sort of person. So, if he could only barely look at it within the privacy of his own home, he would rather die than be caught red handed near some porn.

Instead, he looked at the pretty men who were idols. One of the big groups these days even had an omega, a rarity. Despite making up ten percent of the population, Ichirou rarely saw omegas in pop culture outside fiction, and the ones that did appear were usually girls. As a male omega, he was rare, his group making up about three percent of Japanese people. So, when making up such a small size in the population, it wouldn’t be unusual to not see himself shown in pop culture. And the times male omegas did make an appearance? They were in porn, like the stuff that Ichika loved to read.

Yes, it was truly rare that this blond haired young man was an omega, and that he got to be in the spotlight. True, he was probably there more for fan service, but at least it was something. Besides this kid, Ichirou was probably one of the most, if not the most well known male omega in the whole country. He wondered if he was making other male omegas feel seen, but he really couldn’t say for sure. He only had a few hundred thousand followers, after all.

Masahiro walked back over, his face significantly more red than before as he murmured to Ichirou, “God damn, those are spicy comics. How can she just go out and buy them?”

Ichirou shrugged, seemingly to still be staring at the male omega. “I don’t know. She’s a crazy person. Where did she go?”

“I dunno, I think she said she was getting yuri? I guess we should take a look for her in case she needs help carrying all her books.”

Ichirou grumbled something, most likely a swear, but he began looking around with Masahiro. She wasn’t in the yaoi section at the back, or the one on the right most wall. The two men walked by the couple of aisles, attempting to find the tall woman. However, on the far left bookshelf, near the back, he found her. However, how he found her was not what he had expected.

Ichirou watched as Ichika reached for a book at the same time as another woman, and their hands touched. Ichika looked down in surprise, and the smaller woman looked up in surprise. They stayed still for a while, staring at each other. And while Ichirou could not see the face of the woman that Ichika’s hand was on top of, if it was half as red and full of wonder as Ichika’s, then he was pretty sure that these two women were about to hit it off.

Masahiro awkwardly cleared his throat, which seemed to jolt the two women out of it. The shorter girl turned, and Ichiro could instantly see why Ichika had stared at her. Her long, violet, wavy hair reached her lower back, and her skin was both pale and flawless. She was short, at least ten centimeters shorter than Ichirou, and was wearing an ankle length pale green dress and a soft yellow cardigan. Her lips were pink, her nose small, and her eyes large with dark eyelashes. She looked like a porcelain doll, and if he hadn’t seen her moving, he might have even mistaken her for one. Her face was extremely pink, and, even from where Ichirou stood, he could smell her floral, lilac-esque pheromones. 

“B- big brother, um!” Ichika blustered. “Sorry, I just, I think, this is, I, um–”

The girl gave a small bow, interrupting Ichika. “Nice to meet you. I’m Akamine Yuri. Ichika-san and I were classmates in middle school, so I think we were just shocked to see each other here.”

“Yeah, uh… yeah. You’ve grown up a lot, Yuri-chan. Er, is it okay if I still call you that? It’s been so long…” Ichika trailed off.

Yuri, Yuri, Yuri… that’s right, Ichirou did remember a girl named Yuri. He had been in that awful boarding school, where he could only write letters and make occasional phone calls. Whenever he talked to Ichika on the phone, she would inevitably go on a long ramble about the cutest girl in her class, an omega named Yuri. This had to be the same girl.

“I- it’s completely fine!” Yuri looked up at Ichika. “I don’t mind at all.”

From the way Yuri was staring intently at Ichika, Ichirou could only guess that Yuri had felt the same way about Ichika. However, being that they were so young, both were too scared to confess and ended up losing touch after middle school. Well, it seemed as though Ichirou would need to intervene in order to help them try again.

“Oh, that’s great. Why don’t you two exchange contact information? It seems like a good way to reignite this friendship,” Ichirou said as he strode over to them, Masahiro following quietly after.

Ichika’s face turned even more red somehow, and she looked like she was about to blurt out for him to not interfere, but Yuri was quicker, turning with a flourish towards the taller woman. “Oh, I think that sounds like a really nice idea! Especially since we both seem to like at least some of the same manga, it would be nice to meet up with someone else who enjoys it.”

Ichika opened her mouth and closed it a couple times before croaking out, “Oh, um, yeah, that sounds like that would be really nice. I’d love to.”

The two women exchanged messenger IDs and phone numbers. After some back and forth, Ichika insisted that Yuri should take the yuri manga that both women wanted. Yuri did take it gratefully, bowed, promised to text Ichika that night, and ran up to the front to purchase the few volumes that she had. Ichika watched her, in a bit of a daze from the sudden event.

“That girl was cute. Are you gonna try to date her?” Masahiro asked, an amused smile playing on his lips.

“Hell yes. I mean, did you see the size of her chest?!” Ichika hissed. “She got way hotter, which I didn’t think was possible!”

“Don’t be gross, Ichika! Besides, aren’t you going to be grateful to your brother for suggesting that you two swap info?” Ichirou asked, slapping her shoulder lightly at the first sentence.

“Yes, yes, thank you very much,” Ichika grumbled. 

“You don’t sound like you mean it!”

“Thank you beyond belief, almighty big brother! Without you, I would be screwed in my gay panic!”

“That’s what I thought.”

Ichika ended up buying six manga volumes, and they left the building, going down the long slope of stairs. Luckily for Ichirou, they needed to walk down a more quiet street to get to the particular maid cafe that Ichika wanted to go to. According to her, this one was super “moe'' because of the cat ears. Partway through, Ichika finally remembered that she was supposed to be suspicious of Masahiro, so she began squinting at him, trying to gauge how good of a person he was by how he walked.

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The building they arrived at was covered in orange advertisements for storage from the second floor on up. However, the first floor contained a couple of signs for the maid cafe, including a sign that said in English, “Akihabara’s number one maid cafe!” Well, if nothing else, Ichirou would get the best experience a non-weeb like he could get.

The three walked in and were seated. The room was cheery and bright, with white walls, white cubbies containing cute things, white tables, and white chairs. However, lines of pink, purple, and blue that ran across the walls and the pink items in the cubbies kept it from feeling sterile. Cute sounding music came in over the speakers, overall keeping the place a hub of adorableness.

They were given menus, as well as some basic rules, like “keep your paws off the girls” and “don’t ask about our nine lives.” It seemed as though the gimmick was that the girls were actually cats in magical human disguises. The maids even put cat ears on each of them, which Ichirou thought was incredibly embarrassing. The whole thing was a little bit cringey, but Masahiro and Ichika both seemed to be enjoying it greatly. 

The menu consisted of a variety of hard and soft drinks, omelets, curries, ramen, cake, french toast, and cake. Ichirou ended up getting the ramen, since it was a cute pink color, but Masahiro and Ichika got omelets. Despite the fact that Ichika was still trying to be unfriendly to Masahiro, she nodded in approval at that. Only Ichirou ordered a dessert, a unicorn parfait with strawberry ice cream. Masahiro got an iced coffee while the siblings got tea. 

“If it wasn’t so over the top, this place could be cute,” Ichirou grumbled, taking a long sip of his tea.

“The over the top nature is what makes it cute!” Masahiro proclaimed, his nostrils flaring.

“You’re just upset that you’re not the cutest thing in the room,” Ichika said with a snicker.

Ichirou’s face turned red at that point, but whether it was from anger or embarrassment, he wasn’t sure. “Shut up! It’s not like that! And even if it was, I could easily be cuter than any of these girls!”

“No you couldn’t, you wouldn’t be able to get into the maid outfit before you started crying from embarrassment.” Ichika leaned back in her chair, a wicked grin on her face at that burn.

“I- it doesn’t even matter! I’m not mad about it!” Ichirou was obviously weirdly mad about it, but he also couldn’t deny what Ichika was saying. That sort of thing was just way too much for him. It was the same with sailor uniforms; he had tried a pink one on once, and he ended up tearing it off because it was just too much.

“Hey, it’s okay, Ichirou-san, just ignore her,” Masahiro said. Ichirou began to object, but those damn gentle, warm pheromones wafted their way around him. It was almost like someone injected him with a tranquilizer. He slumped down and sipped at his tea some more, still frowning, but refusing to say anything.

“Whoa, whoa, keep your scent to yourself,” Ichika said, crinkling her nose in disgust.

“Sorry, I forget sometimes,” Masahiro apologized, instantly drawing back his scent.

Ichirou glanced at Masahiro, trying to be inconspicuous as he smelled the remains of the scent. He didn’t know why he liked Masahiro’s scent so much and why it brought his anger down, but anytime it was around, he tried to take in as much of it as possible. It wasn’t like he liked Masahiro, so why did he keep trying to take it in. With a shrug within his mind, he decided that it didn’t really matter.

The maid came out with their food, which both Masahiro and Ichika seemed excited for. Masahiro asked her to just write “meow meow” on it, while Ichika asked for maid love. Ichika took a picture for her secret account that held all of her anime related content. Ichirou decided that he might as well take a photo of his ramen for social media, too. Masahiro, not concerned with those sorts of things, began eating immediately.

“So, tell me, Yamashita-san, what sort of porn do you watch?” Ichika asked as though asking about the weather.

Ichirou and Masahiro both choked on the bites they had taken before Ichirou growled, “Ichika! Time and place!”

“I’m trying to figure out how much of a creep he is,” she responded.

“You have tentacle porn on your shelf, you don’t get to judge,” Ichirou hissed, face red.

“Okay, yeah, but it’s consensual tentacle porn. The guys are always really into it. And that’s the biggest thing I’m worried about! What if he’s into rape or hardcore violent BDSM?”

Masahiro raised his hand, coughing with pink cheeks. “I’m not into either of those things. I’m pretty vanilla for the most part. The stuff you got today was too hardcore for me.”

“Don’t dignify her with an answer,” Ichirou said, slurping up another noodle.

“I looked into your family’s company, and your hotel business is just barely growing, only opening a new hotel every couple years. Did you want the Kimura money?”

“Ichika!”

“No, I don’t want it. I’m not seeking a romance with Ichirou-san, so I don’t want the Kimura money.”

“Stop answering her! This is so inappropriate!”

Ichika leaned forward, glaring openly at him. “Do you think alphas have zero control over themselves with an omega when that omega is going into heat?”

Masahiro leaned back over, meeting her gaze with a sort of defiance that Ichirou hadn’t seen in him before. “No, alphas can regain control by causing themselves some physical damage to snap out of it. But alphas are dicks, so they pretend that they have no choice but to rape.”

“Do you omegas deserve to live their lives in poverty, just barely being subsidized by the government, just because they have heats?!”

“No, omegas deserve to get jobs just like anyone else! The fact that they can still be discriminated against in this day and age like that is absolutely disgusting!”

“Do you think omegas are a nuisance?!”

“No! They are human beings!”

“Enough!” Ichirou yelled. The whole cafe went quiet as the few people in the shop looked towards their table. Ichirou stood up, bowed quickly at the rest of the patrons as an apology, and then sat at his table, glowering at the two alphas who were now leaning back in their seats, looking a bit embarrassed. He had expected something like this from Ichika, but Masahiro had surprised him by responding to her bullshit. Perhaps it was his pride as an alpha that made him keep responding, but whatever it was, it was not okay to do in a public setting.

“You two need to chill out. Ichika, I’m an adult. If Masahiro-san acts badly towards me, then it’s up to me to tell him to knock it off. Masahiro-san, I didn’t expect you to act so childishly. Don’t buy into Ichika’s shit, she thinks she’s helping, but she’s just being an asshole. Don’t make a scene in a goddamn catgirl maid cafe of all places.” Ichirou folded his arms, glowering at both of them.

“I’m sorry for picking a fight,” Ichiko mumbled.

“And I’m sorry for going with the fight,” Masahiro murmured.

Ichirou sighed and stood up, glaring lightly at them both. “I’m going to the bathroom. If you two keep acting badly, I’m going to take the train home and leave you both here.”

Ichirou walked away from them, huffing and obviously irritated. As though he had been waiting for this chance, Masahiro turned to Ichika, his face serious. Ichika felt an eyebrow rise in confusion, already on guard for whatever he was about to say.

“Kimura-san, would you like to know the real reason why I would never harm Ichirou-san?”

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Ichirou was taking in deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He had tried his best to keep it all inside, but it had actually caused him a great deal of anxiety to have that strange showdown happening right in front of him. The pheromones they both put out were enough that he had frozen for a moment, unable to tell them to stop or force them apart. Despite his brain telling him he wasn’t in danger, Ichirou’s feelings were screaming at him that he was in danger.

A couple of tears managed to make their way down his cheeks, and he grabbed some toilet paper, dabbing at them. He couldn’t cry. He wasn’t wearing waterproof eyeliner today. If he cried, then Ichika and Masahiro would find out, and they would fuss over him. He didn’t want that, not one bit. If they did that would mean that he was… just another annoying omega to be looked down upon. He had to keep it together.

Logically he knew that Ichika and Masahiro didn’t think of omegas that way. Hell, that was the last thing that Masahiro answered! But it had been sociologically pounded into his brain that he was “other” and that “other” was bad. Despite doing his best to just be a good human, there was some part of him that said that he was just an omega, and that there was no point in trying to be more. He was supposed to get fucked and have kids, since that’s all that omegas were good for.

Ichirou breathed in slowly, his eyes closing. Going down this rabbit hole was just going to make things worse. He just needed to think about the cringy cat magic. That stuff, as lame as it was, would be better than dealing with this crap. What was the spell they did on the food to make it taste good? Delicious, delicious, uu, meow meow… yeah, that was silly. It was silly and cute.

Finally having calmed down, he washed his hands and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes were the slightest bit puffy, but not to the point where it looked like he was crying. It would be more likely that he just rubbed his eyes really hard. That’s right, nobody would know what was wrong. He hoped they didn’t wonder why he was in the bathroom for so long.

Ichirou walked out of the bathroom and back into the lobby. Ichika, who was facing towards where the bathroom was, gave a bright smile and a wave. Ichirou smiled back cautiously, taking his seat next to her and across from Masahiro.

“You must’ve taken a big dump,” Ichika said with a grin.

“I’m going to kill you,” Ichirou said with a pissed off looking smile.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll try not to be more inflammatory,” Ichika said, laughing and holding up her hands in surrender. “But, uh, you know, I’ve chatted with Yamashita-san while you were gone, and I’ve decided he’s trustworthy.”

Ichirou looked from her to Masahiro to her to him to her and to him again with an incredulous look on his face. Masahiro smiled, as though it had been as simple as exchanging a greeting. Ichika matched his expression, although her smile was a bit toothier. It almost seemed like she was hiding a secret.

“What the heck happened while I went to the bathroom?” Ichirou asked, bewildered.

“Kimura-san and I had a good talk about what the both of us wanted for you, and we came together on that,” Masahiro said.

That story did not match the expression that Ichika had. He turned to glare at her. “Tell me, Ichika, what did you two agree on exactly?”

“Aww, you know. We both want you to be a healthy and happy young man,” Ichika said, clapping him on the back.

Oh, now Ichirou knew something was up. That tone of her’s dripped with over the top sweetness, a tone she used exclusively for when she had some juicy gossip. They had talked about him, and it for sure was something more than either of them let on. Masahiro seemed to sense Ichirou’s distrust and swooped in. 

“Ichirou-san, really, all we talked about was how you and I want to be able to evade our guardians. I told her about how much I enjoyed your company, and how I thought it would be great to keep this up for a while so I could keep studying properly. That’s all.” He spoke very earnestly, and Ichirou began to feel swayed. Surely Masahiro wouldn’t lie to him…

“Yes, Ichirou, that’s all.” Ichika said in a sing-song voice.

Nope, they were definitely lying. However, he had no proof, and he really didn’t want to make a scene again. So, in the end, as much as he hated it, he decided that he would have to let it go. He would bug Ichika about it again later.

Their personal catgirl maid served Ichirou his pink unicorn parfait, and he instantly dug into it, glowering at the two of them. The conversation for the rest of their stay was much more calm and normal. It was strange, but the tension that had hung over Ichika the entire day was suddenly gone in an instant. She became the face of hospitality and kindness, earnestly speaking with him as though he were a dear friend. Although this was the sister he normally saw, the sudden flip just did not seem natural whatsoever.

Ichika insisted on paying this time, although Masahiro did try. After finishing his parfait and getting her card back, the trio left. They needed to walk through the main road that Akihabara sat on, which meant that Ichirou was left with trying to inconspicuously cover his nose. Although the majority of people were betas, it still didn’t change the fact that he could smell every single alpha and omega in the area. 

“This sort of place is rough for you, huh?” Ichika asked, looking down on Ichirou.

“Yes,” Ichirou mumbled. “Damn super sniffer.”

“Is that a dominant omega thing, or…?” Masahiro asked, keeping a close eye on Ichirou.

“Kinda, and it sucks. My doctor said it happens in about thirty percent of dominant omegas. A boy omega who’s got smell issues? I’m a lucky guy, what can I say,” Ichirou said with a shrug.

Masahiro nodded, then hesitantly said, “I hope my smell doesn’t bother you too much. It must be uncomfortable.”

Ichirou opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. On one hand, Masahiro smelled fine, but on the other, he couldn’t just tell him that. That would be way too embarrassing! So, he huffed and looked away, cheeks turning pink.

“I- it’s fine, it’s just the amount of smells,” Ichirou grumbled. “When it’s just you, I don’t really mind, I guess…”

Ichika stared at him for a moment before grinning and saying, “Tsun-tsun, when will you be dere-dere?”

“I’m not tsundere! Shut up!” Ichirou cried, instantly flaring back up.

Ichika laughed and ran a bit ahead, walking down into the parking garage. She held her two bags above her head as she did so, as though they were as light as a feather. Ichirou followed after, cursing at her from a distance. Masahiro, who had the keys, pulled up the rear, trying to stifle his laughs. The siblings were quite funny, he thought. He hoped he would be able to hang out with the two of them more.

After he had arrived at the parking spot, Masahiro unlocked the car. As soon as he did, both Ichirou and Ichika jumped in. Ichika was the first to speak, after buckling herself in and her anime figurine. 

“Man, I wish we could have stayed longer today. But I’ve got that stupid tutor I need to go to…”

Masahiro nodded sympathetically, turning on the engine. “We’ll just have to hang out together again sometime.”

Ichika’s eyes lit up a bit. “Maybe we can have you come to meet Mom and Dad!”

Ichirou opened his mouth in shock at that. “What?! Are you crazy?! This is a fake relationship, there’s no need for him to meet them!”

“You keep calling it a fake relationship, but you haven’t even called him your boyfriend in front of Mom and Dad. You’re not doing a very good job of convincing anyone,” Ichika chided. “If you want Mom and Dad to believe that you have a lovey-dovey relationship, you’ve got to actually try.”

Ichirou felt his face heat up at that. “But- but… calling Masahiro my boyfriend is…” Ichirou couldn’t finish that sentence, quickly turning away from Masahiro and his sister’s gaze. He was certain that he was blushing up to the tip of his ears and down to the back of his neck. Calling Masahiro his boyfriend was seriously embarrassing. He had never called anyone that, and doing it now felt… weird. His stomach fluttered with anxiety and his heart rate increased. 

Hang on… it sounded like Ichirou was in love. That wasn’t right, though. Masahiro was not someone he liked that way. He knew this because… well, because he just thought of Masahiro as a friend. He didn’t feel his heart race when he looked at Masahiro’s face, Masahiro’s touch didn’t feel like it burned into his skin, and he didn’t feel the need to hang on every one of Masahiro’s words. Perhaps it was simply the nerves of being called Masahiro’s boyfriend that was getting to him. After all, he had never been someone’s boyfriend before. That’s surely all it was.

“Calling him your boyfriend is a surefire way to help sell the fake relationship. You don’t want the parents to find out, do you?” Ichika asked, her eyebrow cocked upwards.

“... I get it, I get it. I- I’ll try it at home.”

“Should we practice here so you don’t get too nervous when push comes to shove?”

“I won’t mess it up!”

“Okay, but you should seriously consider bringing Yamashita-san over, too.”

“W- we’ll see, okay? There’s no way I’m gonna do it so soon into this fake relationship.”

“All right, all right. I’ll back off. For now.”

Masahiro let out a quick breath. “Anyways, uh, Ichirou-san, you remember where we’re meeting to get yakiniku, right?”

“Yeah, of course. Text me the website again if you want to be sure, though,” Ichirou said.

The three of them fell into casual chatting once more as they drove slowly back to Ichirou and Ichika’s house. Ichika, at one point, squealed excitedly, as she had gotten a text from that girl, Yuri, who she had a crush on five years ago. Overall, the conversation was comfortable, and there was a relaxed feeling in the air. 

Some gentle splats of water began making their way onto the car. It wasn’t enough to really be considered more than a sprinkle, but it was definitely picking up in intensity. Because of this, Ichirou and Ichika’s goodbyes to Masahiro were fairly quick. He understood, naturally, and bid them adieu. Masahiro sat in his car and watched the siblings run back inside, before taking off himself.

Ichika shook off the little rain that had hit her, kicking off her shoes and grinning. Ichirou felt her gaze upon him, and he looked over his shoulder at her. She definitely had quite the smile on her face, and it seemed like she had something to say. Despite the impending sense of discomfort, Ichirou stood and waited for her to speak.

“You should date Yamashita-san for real.”

“... what?!”

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