#{mod seto}

One such person is Mary Kozakura. But to her, the bunny wasn’t a fable. It was a truth. She had discovered it by accident when Seto was showing her a collection of magical creatures. She did some research and found a large collection of this bunny given chocolate to people of all ages and while she hadn’t seen it in person, she was sure that this year the bunny would appear before her eyes. She had all her preparation done by the time the bunny was most commonly seen, 1pm. She had got some lettuce and water to feed it, as well as some milk and cookies as a backup, incase the rabbit didn’t like the healthy choice.

Sure enough, as the clock struck one, the Easter Bunny appeared out of nowhere. It stood taller than her and was a bright shade of pink. Mary was in awe. She bowed quicky and held up the plate. “H-here, I made these for you Mr Bunny.” The rabbit tilted it’s head looking at the food offering and, after a mild pause, chose to eat them both. It nodded in appreciation. Beaming Mary said “I’m glad you like them. I’ve been waiting all year to see you. I knew you would come.” She gave the creature a big hug. It felt warm and fuzzy. The Easter Bunny reached for it’s bag and pulled out a giant Easter egg. Mary’s eyes wided. “Are you sure that’s for me!? It’s so big!” She exclaimed. Again, the creature nodded and then disappeared without a trace. 

Seto then walked into the room and saw the giant egg. Mary was bouncing up and down with excitement. “Seto, I was right, the Easter Bunny came to visit me just know. Look at the egg it gave me!” Seto smiled. “Wow, Mary, sounds like you had quite a lucky day. I’m sure the Easter Bunny doesn’t just visit everyone. You must be special.” Mary’s eyes widened once more and even appeared to be sparkling. “You think so?” She said, full of awe. “Of course.” Seto replied. “Now, go and show Shintaro your egg, I’m sure he’d love to see.” Nodding, Mary practically ran out the room, almost dropping her egg. 

Once she had gone, Kido appeared next to Seto. “She doesn’t suspect anything?” She asked, stoically. “Nope, not a thing.” Seto said, smiling. “Same thing next year?” A little grin went across Kido’s face. “Sure. It’s nice seeing her so happy.”

“Shintaro? Are you even listening to me?” I blinked back into life, my eyes greeted by a particularly scorching light. I turned my head and saw her. My old friend, Ayano, was looking particularly annoyed at me that morning. I couldn’t help zoning out. I was too busy thinking about what torture Ene was going to present to me when I got home, while she was lecturing me about something. Was it my attitude? My lack of social interest? Both? Probably both. “Ah, sorry, what did you say?” I gave the weakest of smiles to her. Hopefully that would smooth it out a bit. She shook her head and sighed. “I knew it. You should pay more attention to what people are saying to you. It might help you one day. Anyway, I was just saying you should really get out more. It’s not healthy for you to be shut away all the time.”

Yep, the social lecture again. I’ve heard this so many times. Not just from her. I knew it so well I could easily predict the outcome. I would moan and refuse, she’ll get annoyed, I’ll agree to try to make her calm down and nothing would change. To be honest, the lecture didn’t bother me all that much. It’s become some sort of ritual for us. This must have been the 7th or 8th time this month. This was different though. So many little details I missed the first time, that looking back, I should have noticed. She looked more flustered than usual, her face was red and her voice was unsteady, yet somehow firm. She was definitely embarrassed, but was filled with a sense of purpose, like she was on a long, rewarding quest, but she had to do some bizzare side quests to start the journey.

“We’ve had this conversation too much recently. You always say you’ll try, but you never do. So, to make sure you actually try this time, you’re taking me to dinner tonight. I’ll pick you up at 7 pm on the dot, just to be sure you actually make it.” I sat upright, like a ghost had just passed through me. “H-hold on! I c-can’t do something like that. That involves people and crowds and talking to strangers. All the things I’ve worked so hard to avoid.” Ayano put her hand on her face and shook it. “Well, you can either come with me to dinner or you can spend the night with Ene. Or did you lie to me when you said anything is better than spending time with her.” Shit! She had me there. I didn’t exactly hate spending time with Ene. Sometimes we could have lovely, deep talks. But those we extremely rare. Most the time she just tortured me. “Okay fine, I’ll go with you.” I muttered. “Good! You won’t regret it!”

And that was that. I had somehow been coerced into going out to dinner with a girl. Most guys would kill for this. Hell, the thought of it didn’t exactly bother me, but the execution was terrifying. I had to go somewhere that was probably crowded and talk to someone for a long time. I spent most the day panicking about it. I had hoped to find some sort of wisdom from Ene as to what I could do, but she kept saying things like ‘Master has a new woman in his life. He should be thankful I haven’t shown her his secret folders.’ I should’ve guessed she’d be overjoyed at the chance to torture me over something new. I scolded her slightly, telling her it was just Ayano trying to boost my self-esteem, but Ene insisted it was more than that. I kept try to think up plans to cancel and still keep Ayano’s respect. But ultimately, I knew there was nothing I could do to avoid it. Ayano wasn’t going to take no for an answer today. She had made up her mind and put her foot down.

The dreaded time hit and, as she had said, Ayano appeared right on time. I let her in and she wasted no time. “So, where are you taking me?” Crap! I was so busy trying to not go out that I forgot to look for a place. I ran around frantically, looking for any trace of an idea. I considered asking that demon program of mine for recommendations, but I didn’t see that lead anywhere but my demise. Ayano started giggling. “Geez, if I had known you were gonna be this bad, I would've done this ages ago to get it over and done with. I already booked a place for us to go. I figured you'd forget. You’d be too busy panicking and thinking of ways to avoid it.” I gave her a small grin. I had to hand it to her, she knew me well.

I let out the smallest sigh of relief before we left. Partly because her happiness made me relax, but mostly because she covered for me. Still, I couldn’t help being uneasy. I kept thinking about what Ene had said. No way was this anything special. That blue haired deviant was just looking to get into my head. It took about half an hour to get to the place. It was an Italian place. We sat in silence until we ordered and Ayano suddenly spoke. “I'm proud of you Shintaro. The fact that you managed to come here without much of a fuss shows a lot of growth. Even if you can't talk right now.” I could feel myself blushing slightly. Honestly I was still a little on edge. “Either way," she continued, “I'm having the best first date! Thank you so much for agreeing to this!”

And that brings me back to the now. The disaster. I had no idea what to say. I sat there in stunned silence for so long, the food turned up before I could even offer a piece of a response. So many thoughts rushing through my head. Ene was right, this wasn’t just about my self-esteem. Ayano had really decided to confess her feelings to me in this abrupt way. She probably assumed I knew what this was, or that this was the easiest way to get my attention to it because of how oblivious I’d be until this point. Of course this was a date. Thinking about it now, it seemed so obvious. If it was social skills for the sake of self-esteem, she’d have invited more people to come with us. Yet, it was just me and her, in a romantic restaurant setting. A classic first date scenario.

But this is completely nuts. No-one has ever shown much of an interest in me beyond a friend. I want to run and hide, but I resist the urge. Instead, I decide to tell her the truth. “Ayano, I had no idea that's what you wanted. I had no clue you felt that way about me. I-” I trailed off. I had so much to say, but nothing came out. The longer the silence lasted, the more awkward it became. Even worse, Ayano started to cry, ever so slightly. The silence was getting to her. No, my lack of response was getting to her. She must feel like an idiot right now. I can’t even imagine how she felt right now. Confessing and getting rejected immediately was bad enough. But this lack of response was too much. Her tears were getting bigger and I was the cause of all this sadness.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence and tears, Ayano managed to speak through her sobs. “Well, Shintaro? Do you feel the same way?” I was lost for words. She did look extremely cute and I had thought about it but I just never dreamed she’d actually go for it. “Yeah I think I do.” I whispered in a hushed tone. “What did you say?” She looked at me, with inquisitive eyes and tears streaming down her face. I shrank in my chair. I was hoping she’d hear me so I could avoid being heard by anyone else. “Never mind. I’m just an idiot. I shouldn’t have told you!” Ayano gave a weak smile and started to leave. An attempt to hide the pain she was going through right now. If I didn’t say something now, I could never look at her again without feeling like a jerk. I choked back any anxieties I had and spoke, almost with purpose. “Ayano wait!” She stopped in her place. “I said, yes, I feel the same way. I have for a while now I think. I just never thought you’d return my feelings.” She turned round and sniffed. “Shintaro, don’t be silly! Of course I do!” And all of a sudden, I could say this disaster had become the best first date ever, as well as being the first of many.