Muse

Chapter 33

If dating was a video-game, then Izuku felt like he was a level one novice about to solo raid a high level dungeon with no armor, potions or stat-boosts. Like most video-games, he would have to gain experience points in order to level up, but that would involve multiple encounters and a lot of level grinding. He tried to remind himself that this wasn't the first encounter he'd had with Alyssa and that no grinding would be necessary, but even visualizing it in gamer terms twisted it into something that made his face burn.

The notecards crinkled in his hand, his fingertips smudged black where the ink hadn't dried. They contained numerous notes of what to do on his date, from lists of conversation topics to tips about how to show he was interested; he had even asked for advice from Kaminari, the only one of his friends that he knew who was actually dating someone. They were his game guide, his ultimate cheat code for if the date went south. He had spent several hours researching activities and places for what would be ideal dating spots for young couples with Alyssa's interests in mind and after three hours of notes, research, and simplifying a scribbled out mini Campos notebook into a handful of notecards he had memorized, he had the itinerary planned out down to the last second of their date.

First they would go to the arcade where he would win Alyssa a prize, then they would go to Jojo's Diner to eat and make general small talk, and finally he would take Alyssa for a walk on the beach in time to watch the sunset. Originally he had thought to start the date at Alyssa's lightsaber class and make that part of the date, but he still didn't qualify for Sunday intensive yet. She promised to meet him at the station when she was done; judging from the all caps on her phone, she seemed pleased to find out that the location of their date was deep in the boroughs of Akihabara. He had chosen it as the main location of their date due to it being the motherland of geek culture and one of the places they'd had first met. That would give them half the day to hangout before she had to be home by nine, giving him all the more reason to make each second count.

Having just come back from practice, Izuku expected to find Alyssa decked out in sweats and a t-shirt. Instead he was surprised to see her in a short-sleeved, waist-length black sweater and a long flowing shirt-dress that buttoned down to her hips and went well past her knees like a samurai's jinbaori. The sweater was only buttoned at the top button, creating a bare canvas for her collarbone while the slits between the paisley blue shirt-dress revealed a flattering pair of black skinny-jeans that showed off the length of her legs, ending at a sporty pair of black Asics.

Izuku swallowed. The boss battle had begun. "Wow... Y-You look great."

"Thanks, I managed to grab a quick shower at the rec center before going out." Alyssa tucked damp strand of baby hair behind her ear, something he noticed she always did when she was self conscious. "You look great too."

"Thank you." Not having any idea about what to wear on a date, Izuku had picked out the first thing that he thought looked nice, something his mother would have approved of if they had company over. He settled on a forest green cardigan and wore it over a green and white plaid shirt and a pair of denim blue jeans. After fidgeting with the mahogany buttons of his sweater for almost ten minutes, debating on whether or not he would look better with it being buttoned up or not, he decided to leave it unbuttoned for the sake of his nerves. He noticed that Alyssa's large tote bag and lightsaber were nowhere to be seen, replaced by a small, black handbag. "Where's your gear?"

"I rented a locker to keep it in while we're here. I'll pick it up on Tuesday when I go to my next class. So where are we off to?"

"The Kantobaito Arcade. Since you mentioned playing video-games was an ideal date for you, I figured that would be a good place to start," Izuku said, already starting to second-guess himself, "Unless all the sounds and noises are too much for you."