149. A Date….Really! (1)

Reiji drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, a faint smile on his face as he drove his car to the agreed meeting spot.

He was looking forward to today, and he'd made sure to set aside all distractions before he left, notifying his friends and the syndicate that he wouldn't be available at all.

He turned a corner when the light turned green, keeping an eye out for the distinctive figure of Yui.

And there she was, standing at a pickup point in front of the supermarket while holding two cups of bubble tea.

She was wearing a cute and frilly skirt up to her knees, a light brown shirt, and a long white cardigan that gave her a slightly more mature look to balance out the youthfulness of the rest of her outfit, especially with the bulky white athletic shoes she was wearing over knee-length striped socks.

She was attracting a lot of attention from the people around her, even though she wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, and Reiji saw a group of men whispering to each other while nudging their friends towards her.

He shook his head wryly and veered the car into the pickup point, slowing down next to her

The shy and excited faces on the men froze instantly, and Reiji couldn't deny that there was a small sense of satisfaction bubbling within him when he saw that.

As for Yui, she didn't react immediately, just frowning at the large car and turning her head away as if she was going to move to a new spot.

'Oh crap, I forgot the windows are tinted.'

She probably thought some random guy had parked the car right in front of her.

He rolled the window down and called out to her.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Huh?"

Yui blinked in confusion and turned around, her eyes widening in disbelief when she saw Reiji in the driver's seat.

"Need a ride? I have plenty of space," he chuckled.

Yui's face contorted.

"Ew, that's such a boring pickup line. Think of something else!"

"Wha-? What's wrong with what I said?"

"So unoriginal, add some creativity!"

Reiji looked a little miffed, his mind blanking as he tried to think of a new one.

It's not like he went around memorizing pickup lines for fun.

So he dazed off for a brief second, forcing his brain into overdrive, and when Yui saw the focused look on his face, she giggled.

She stepped on the foothold on the driver's side, bringing her face-to-face with Reiji as she whispered in his ear.

"Something like..... your lips look lonely, would they like to meet mine?"

And then she leaned over and pecked his lips before he could answer, dropping back down to the ground with a bright laugh while she walked over to the passenger's seat.

Reiji let out a sigh, watching her with quiet affection.

'.....I really can't keep up with her.'

He'd always found pickup lines cheesy, and even this wasn't exempt from that.

But being in the position to receive one from a girl this beautiful?

Who the hell cares if it's cheesy or not?

Yui climbed into the seat next to him, curiosity written all over her face as she studied the car, buckling her seatbelt a little clumsily due to her distraction.

She placed the two cups of boba in the holder between them, poking a straw through both so that Reiji didn't have to.

"When you said you'd pick me up, I thought we'd be taking a taxi to wherever we were going. When did you even get your driver's license??" she asked with shining eyes.

Reiji smirked, pulling away from the pickup point with smooth precision.

"I just got it yesterday. Did the written test and the road test consecutively and got it over with so that we could go on a short trip together."

Yui stiffened mid-sip, raising her eyebrows to the maximum limit.

"....On the same day? I didn't even know you could do that!"

"Well, not many people go for it because there's a fine if you fail. But I'd practiced quite a bit beforehand and was confident, so I just decided it on a whim."

Reiji brushed it off, but Yui's face seemed to soften considerably, leaning against the seat as she continued to stare at him.

Even though his eyes were on the road, he still felt her piercing gaze and glanced at her.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing...I'm just happy," she murmured.

"If you're happy already, I wonder how you're going to feel by this evening," he laughed.

"Where are we going anyway? What's so mysterious that you haven't told me anything?"

She tugged his sleeve, pleading for some information when they stopped at a red light.

"If I tell you, what's the point of the surprise? But from the navigation," he pointed to the directions on the car's screen, "you can see that we're going to Tanizawa Village. That's all you're getting from me, though, and you can't look it up!"

"Tanizawa Village? I've never heard of it....." Yui mumbled, tilting her head in deep thought.

Reiji let out an internal sigh of relief, confirming his thoughts.

'Of course you haven't heard of it!'

Tanizawa Village was one of the so-called 'hidden gems' in the game, a beautiful place that had a bunch of unique local customs and activities that he was sure Yui would like.

Normally, it would gain popularity online in a year when a famous travel blogger made a post about it.

Souhei High would actually plan out a field trip for the students when they heard about it, and it would be a short event in the game with various side stories.

Reiji had researched beforehand and saw that its main attractions were already there, so he preempted the future info and turned it into a date location.

"It's a more than two-hour drive, so get comfortable. There's a bunch of snacks in the back seat, and I even baked some macarons for you," Reiji said, drinking from the cup of bubble tea she had bought for him.

Yui lit up, twisting in her seat to grab the large bag in the back.

She pulled out a tub of macarons, pried the lid off as fast as she could, and stuffed one into her mouth without even checking which flavor it was.

"Ughhhhh, this is soooo good!!" she squealed, eating a few more in quick succession.

Reiji's lips twitched when he saw that.

'The biggest mystery is how she doesn't gain weight if she eats so many sugary things!' he exclaimed inwardly.

But a quick glance revealed the reason.

'.....I guess it just all goes to the right places.'

"Eat slowly, they aren't going anywhere," he rolled his eyes.

"Bud itsh shoo tashtyy! Itsh not bair!" she retorted with a mouthful of macarons.

".....Please don't spill it on the seats."

Yui gulped her tea to wash it down and laughed meekly.

"Sorry, haha..."

Soon enough, Reiji's car entered a different road and exited the city, the scenery slowly changing from tall buildings and concrete sidewalks to lush greenery and rustling trees that enveloped them with a sense of tranquility.

There were fewer cars on this road, and they could only hear the hum of their own engine now.

"Wanna listen to some music?" Reiji asked, seeing Yui finally wiping her face with a napkin after finishing half of the snacks in the bag.

"Sure! But I don't listen to music much, so I don't know what's good."

"Me neither. I'll just pull up a trending playlist for now."

He was far behind in his knowledge of this world's famous artists, and OG Reiji didn't have much interest in it in the first place, so the memories didn't help him out on this occasion.

But once the playlist started, neither of them cared about whether or not they had heard it before, simply enjoying the tunes, the scenery, and the company.

Yui bobbed her head, lip-syncing the chorus of any song once she got the hang of it, and crossed her legs onto the seat after she took her shoes off.

She made herself comfortable and angled her body in a way that she could face Reiji more easily.

A small smile hung on her lips, slowly studying Reiji's concentrated look when he was driving, as well as the way he held the steering wheel.

"What're you looking at?" Reiji asked, noticing her gaze.

"The view."

"Huh? Is the view on your side not good?"

"I'm talking about the view in the car."

"..."

Reiji almost lost a little control over the steering, but thankfully, he was slowly getting used to Yui's outrageous remarks.

"Do you need to use both hands when driving?" Yui continued, changing the topic suddenly.

"Um.....Not really, it's just safer."

"Then use your right hand and give me your left."

Reiji wanted to ask why, but he held out his left hand anyway.

Yui grasped it, intertwining their fingers and then hummed with approval.

He thought she was going to do something strange, but this made his heart beat a little faster, and he tightened his grip on her hand.

It felt cool to the touch and ridiculously soft, giving him the urge to rub it lightly.

He glanced at her and saw her face turn a little red, a foolishly happy grin on her face.

"Your hands are so veiny," she muttered.

"Is that good or bad?"

".....It's good."

She reciprocated the action, gently circling her thumb against the back of his hand with her gaze fixated as if there was something really interesting on it.

For the rest of the drive, there was a quiet, ambiguous, yet really comfortable ambience in the air that didn't make the lack of conversation feel awkward.

And this was just the start of their date.

'.....We still have 30 minutes until our reservation. We'll be there in time.'

With that thought, he sped up slightly.