#adakiri

Getting a call from Ainosuke was unexpected, to say the least – let alone at this late hour. Seeing the three skull emojis on her screen, a warning not to answer, she almost wanted to pick up and see what he had to say. Undecided, she kept thinking until the call stopped and the skulls disappeared to leave room for a “1 missed call” notification.

“What the fuck,” she said out loud to the otherwise empty room.

She hoped it was a mistake. It had to be. She put her phone back on her nightstand, decided to go to sleep and forget about it forever. Maybe she'd wake up in the morning and this would have been an elaborate nightmare.

Yet, as she closed her eyes, her phone vibrated again.

💀☠💀: “call me back as soon as you can”

No “good evening” or even a “please” to accompany this message. How unlike him. He was usually so flowery and way too sweet, even by text. That hypocrisy of him was part of what infuriated her so much about him. That was why she felt mildly alarmed when reading this message.

She wanted to ignore him and wait until morning or further messages to decide what to do but a small voice at the back of her head pushed her to press the call button.

If he truly needed her help urgently and she didn't bring it to him, she'd regret it. Cursing herself for her weakness, she waited for the call to connect.

It didn't take long.

“Kiriko-chan?”

Urgh. “What do you want.” It wasn't even phrased as a question. This was as far as her compassion could go for this man. She'd help him if she could but she didn't have to be happy about it.

“I want to preface this by precising I dislike you.”

Wow, what the fuck. She fought the urge to hang up. He could probably hear the grinding of her teeth on the other side.

“That being said, I need you to be my date.”

What? “Okay I'm hanging up. It's too late to deal with your bullshit.”

“Wait wait wait, Kiriko-chan please. Five minutes. Then you decide.”

“Not a second more.”

“I told my aunts I had a girlfriend so they would stop setting me up on blind dates. They want to meet her. That was a lie, so I have no one to introduce to them.”

“Can't you get a real girlfriend?”

“Too much work. Plus we've known each other for a while, they'd actually believe it.”

“You didn't give them my name, did you?”

“No, somehow.”

“Thank fuck.”

“Please.”

“No.”

“I'll pay for all your expenses for as long as this has to go on.”

“No thanks.”

“I'll give you all the dirty secrets of the police officers and politicians I know?”

“...” Now that was an appealing offer. “How long do you need me to pretend for?”