One and Only

Ch. 19 First Date

⚠️Manga Spoilers Ahead⚠️
Near the end of the chapter, we get into a new arc that has not been shown in the anime. Viewer Discretion is advised. This includes future chapters as well.

We walked out of the hotel to let the curtain down. As we went back to meet up with the Auxiliary Agent, it turns out that Satoru never spoke with them. He just walked by and left.
"He had a sour look on his face too, what's up with that?" The Agent said, scratching the back of their head.
"Don't mind him, he said he had a date so that's probably where he went." Shoko waved her hand. "I'm gonna go for another smoke and do some quick shopping, you guys can go on ahead of me."
Before we could say we'd go along, Shoko was already walking away.
"Well, do you want to go anywhere?" Suguru asked me.
"Oh, um, not particularly? Do you?"
"Food? I'm kinda hungry"
"Yeah, sounds good." Suguru and I said our goodbyes to the agent and went on our way. As we walked, the air felt.. awkward. Suguru was rambling about different things and I would nod along, but it still felt tense.
"What about there?" It was a little okonomiyaki stand tucked away between some clothing and accessory shops. As soon as the smell hit my nose, my stomach began to growl. My cheeks flushed from embarrassment.
"Alright, let's go get some then." Suguru took my hand and led me to the small stall. He ordered our food and was kind enough to run to a vending machine across the way to bring back drinks. I took sips from the cold soda as he talked about passing by some shops that had some shirts he was interested in.
"Wanna go have a look once we're done?" I asked him.
"Nah, can't really afford them right now. Maybe a different time." He said, taking a bite of his food. I did the same, letting out a sigh from the comforting taste.
"It's been a little while since I've had okonomiyaki." I mumbled out before taking another bite.
"Oh, yeah? How long?"
"About a year and a half now?" I took a sip from my drink.
"Why so long?" He said, mouth full of food.
"Gross." I scrunched my face at him. "Last time was with my dad."
"Oh- I'm sorry..I didn't.." He began.
"No, it's okay. Don't worry, it's not a bad thing." I reassured him. "It's just been a while." I smiled at him.
"Do you visit them often? Your parents?"
"Once a month usually, I'll be visiting them tomorrow. Just letting them know about what's been going on is all."
"Maybe I could visit to pay my respects some time?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, that'd be nice. I'd like if all three of you could stop by to greet them one day." I smiled at the thought.
We finished our meal and threw our garbage away at a train station that was nearby. We decided to walk around a while longer before heading back to the college.
"So.." Suguru called out. I made a hum to signal I was listening. "When should we go on our date?"
"Oh," I paused. "Um, I guess whenever? I'm pretty sure I'm free this upcoming Saturday and Sunday." I said taking out my phone to check for any emails or messages that may say otherwise.
"I'm free Sunday. How about then? We can go to the Tokyo National Museum? Maybe get lunch too?" I jumped at the idea. It would be pretty fun. 'I doubt Satoru would like it very much-' I came to a complete stop. Any excitement I originally had was now replaced with guilt. Suguru was quick to notice I wasn't right beside him anymore.
"Hey, everything okay?" He gently put a hand on my shoulder. I whipped my head up to look at him. His face had shown genuine concern.
"Y-yeah. Everything's fine. So Sunday at Tokyo National? Sounds great." I gave him a fake smile. I didn't give him a chance to reply, mainly in hopes that he wouldn't press about it.

I anxiously patted down the yellow sun dress. It was now Sunday, and thankfully it wasn't too cold out. I kept fidgeting with my shoulder bag. I wasn't happy with how my hair came out and I was sweating a bit on the way here. I kept turning to the window behind me, fixing my hair and checking to make sure my makeup didn't smear. I let out a huff, throwing the loose braid over my shoulder. I tried to do other styles but my hair did not want to cooperate, so I just threw it in a style that wouldn't get in the way. I walked back over to the benches that littered the front of the museum, nervously waiting for Suguru to arrive.
"Hey! Did you wait too long?" I looked to my right to see him coming up the short staircase. His hair was pulled back into his usual bun, and he wore a fitted striped t-shirt with dark wash jeans. "You look beautiful. I really like your hair."
"Thank you, you look really nice too. And no, I haven't been here long." That was a lie. I ended up leaving 45 minutes early from anxiety.
"Great, wanna head in?" Suguru asked, grabbing my hand. I just gave a soft nod.
We walked around the museum for a while, stopping and admiring some of the art pieces. There were some local artists who were being premiered. Sculptures, paintings, photographs, animations, and more. A few catching our eyes, in particular the ones that showed grief and dread. The more we walked around, the more I noticed Suguru getting closer and reaching out to hold my hand. I just couldn't get rid of that sense of guilt. I tried to enjoy my time with Suguru, but I just ended up still thinking about Satoru.
When we went back to the dorms a few days ago, it turned out that he never went on that date and ended up canceling every other one he had lined up for the rest of the week. I tried to talk to him once we got back, but he just ignored me. It got to the point where on the few missions we had, he'd avoid me as much as he could. I got frustrated to the point where I sent him a long rant yesterday and decided to ignore his messages too. The last I checked, there were about 12 unread messages from Satoru.
I was snapped back to reality when I heard Suguru talking.
"Sorry, what?" I asked.
"Oh, I was just asking if you wanted to go eat something? We've been here for a while." He smiled at me.
"Oh. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good." I nodded along. We walked out of the museum and began talking about what we were craving. Well, more like Suguru suggesting a few things and I just gave short answers. I didn't really have an appetite. So we walked for a ways away from the museum before coming to an agreement. We ended up getting crepes.
"These were pretty good." Suguru said as he finished his. Mine was barely half eaten.
"Hey, are you okay?" He leaned down, his eyes coming down to my eye level. I reeled back a bit.
"Yeah!" I said a bit too loudly. "Yeah, I'm okay. I think nerves are just getting to me." I lied. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so spacey."
"That's okay, really." He smiled. He then turned his head. "Wanna go there?"
I turned my head to where he was looking. My eyes lighting up at the flashing lights.
"Yes!" We practically ran to the neon lights.
"God I haven't been to an arcade since I was a kid!" I yelled out excitedly, exchanging yen for tokens. I ran over to one of the racing games, getting settled into a seat. Suguru calmly sat down in the seat next to me.
"Don't cry when I beat you." He said, putting in a token.
"Ha! As if you could!" I put in one of my own.
He ended up winning all 3 times.
"Better luck next time." He chuckled.
"Shush. You pick the next game."
"Hm," he said looking around. "How about that one?" He pointed at a Taiko game. We put in our tokens into the machines that stood next to each other. We decided on playing the same song on the same difficulty and then compare points to determine the winner. All you could hear was the thwacks of the sticks against the machine and the chiming sound of beats being hit on the mark. I ended up beating Suguru - 2900 points to 3300 points.
"How the hell did you get more points?" He breathed out.
"I'm just better," I teased.
"Or you cheated. Hacker."
"Wha-!?" Suguru laughed at my reaction.
"How about we do that one next?" He pointed at a DDR machine.
"You sure? Used to play the shit outta that thing," I replied.
"Yeah, how hard can it be?" I just shrugged and let him choose the song.
"What about this one?" He stopped on the classic DDR song Burnin' the Floor by NAOKI.
"This one is actually kinda hard, you might wanna try a different one." I suggested.
"Nah, we'll do this one." He pressed the start button. "No going back now."
Suguru was now on the ground besides the machine on his hands and knees panting. He decided to play that song 3 times in a row and each time was an absolute mess. I don't even know what his legs were doing but they looked like noodles trying to get to the right button in time. I ended up laughing the entire time and barely managed to beat the song. Each time it was like he got worse.
"Told you it was hard," I said wiping a tear from my eye. Still laughing a bit.
"Yeah... yeah.." he said between pants. "I'll listen.. next time..."
"That was fun, maybe Satoru would want to c-" I clamped a hand over my mouth. Suguru got up and dust himself off. "I.. I mean.. it'd be fun.. with everyone.." I tried to explain.
"Is that what has been bothering you all day?" He calmly asked. I opened my mouth to defend but nothing came out. "When we were in the domain, were you going to say yes then?" Tears immediately started to pour out.
"I'm so sorry, Suguru. I'm sorry," I mumbled out. The guilt hit a new high, I couldn't stop myself from crying.
"Come on," he said guiding me out of the building. We went to an alleyway that was near the building. He waited until I was calmed down before asking more questions.
"I'm gonna ask again; what were you going to say in the domain?" He repeated.
"I was going to say no."
"Then why did you agree?"
"I... I got jealous.." I looked down shamefully.
"Jealous? Of what?" He pressed.
"Of.. of Satoru.." I mumbled.
"I didnt hear you." He stepped closer.
"I got jealous of Satoru." I said louder.
"Why?"
"Because he was talking about going on a date."
"So you got jealous because he was going on a date." He stated. Almost as if he was confirming his own thoughts. "Because you wanted to go on a date.. or was it that you wanted to be the one he was going on a date with?" I pursed my lips, not wanting to admit to it.
"I wanted to be the one he was going on a date with.." I hung my head.
"You know," he said. I kept my eyes to the floor. "During the time when I was waiting for your answer, I started regretting asking you out. It's true that I think you're pretty and fun to be around, but the more I thought on it the more I realized I just wanted to say that I did something that Gojo Satoru didn't."
"What?" I was baffled.
"I asked you out more so out of pettiness and jealousy of Satoru. I like you, I really do. And after spending time with you in a more romantic way, the more I realized that I value your friendship." He explained. I stayed silent. "Since we were first years I noticed that you and Satoru had a different relationship than what you two had with Shoko or I. I don't really give a shit about girls fawning over Satoru. He doesn't either, it just fuels his ego. But I got tired of being compared to him when it came to us being Special Grade Sorcerers, so I tried to go after something I knew he didn't have. I'm sorry that I asked you out in that manner, I should have told you the truth when I realized it."
"Oh," was all I could say. I was processing what he was saying.
"I don't want to make you upset or anything, I did genuinely enjoy the time we spent together today."
"No, no. I'm not upset. Really. I guess I'm more so relieved? I don't know. I felt guilty this entire time because I ended up finding myself enjoying this more as a friend rather than a partner, but also because I was thinking about Satoru.."
"Yeah, I did too. Feel guilty, I mean. It'd be a lie if I said I didn't actually try, being with you in a romantic way wouldnt be half bad. But I guess I just see you as more of a friend?" I nodded my head in agreement. "Safe to say that this is where any romance for us ends?" Suguru asked.
"Yeah.. but you can't end our friendship. I would actually cry for weeks." I added.
"Didn't plan on it," he smiled at me. "But I am surprised at how long it took you to realize you were in love with Satoru."
"Huh?!" I could feel my face warm up.
"You think Shoko and I are dumb or something? You guys flirt constantly, all those times when you would joke with him?? That's flirting, Mai." I stared at him, mouth open, completely dumbfounded.
"Oh my god." I covered my face with my hands. "Are you fucking kidding me?" My hands muffled my voice.
"Wait did you really not think that was flirting?" I didn't say anything. "Who's the dumb one now?" He started to laugh.
"Oh shut up!" I threw my purse at him. He caught it before it hit his face.
"Feeling better?" He said, helping me stand and handing me my bag back.
"Yeah.." I said, wiping my face.
"Might wanna head to the nearest bathroom." Suguru said.
"Oh no," I said reaching into my bag to pull out my phone. I could see the make up smeared across my face. I let out a groan.
Suguru helped me find a public restroom. Thankfully, I brought a small packet of cleansing wipes. I decided to remove the makeup all together. I walked out to see Suguru leaning against the wall next to the entrance.
"You know, I kinda prefer you without the makeup. I guess I'm just more used to it."
"Thanks? It's kind of a waste when you end up covered in dirt and sweat." I replied.
"Yeah, I get where you're coming from." He said, pushing himself off the wall. "So, what do you wanna do now?"
"If I am being honest, I'd like to go back to the college and just lay down. I feel exhausted." I sighed out.
"Yeah, must be hard being that oblivious."
"Hey!" I yelled. Suguru just chuckled.
"Come on, let's head back."