Blind Date Chapter One
The two cousins sat on the patio of the little cafĂ© as they finished their meal. Once a week you could find these two having lunch in the city. It was a shock to both of them when they jokingly called each other a cousin only to find out they were in fact distantly related. Somehow despite the differences between them, they made a friendship through it all and dropped the extra terms from the relationship. They were simply cousins.Â
The older of the two, Kit had pursued a career in research for a medical company that was based not far from where the two were eating. Lisha, who was a few years younger than Kit, had been accepted to graduated school. They were attending the university not that far away in a nearby town. They both knew the demands of school would slightly alter their weekly lunches, but they were willing to work around their busy schedules to make it work.
“So I found someone,” Lisha said at the end of the meal as the two sat back and sipped on their coffee and tea.
“Oh, you did?” Kit asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Not funny,” Lisha said as they both knew that Kit was referring to another long-time friend. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you we are just friends.”
“I don’t know maybe a thousand times more.” Kit said as she laughed softly.
“So this guy is great. He likes the wildness and what not. Sometimes I think he is just like me but others he can be distant and has lots of stuff on his mind.” Lisha said.
“A wild Lisha and this guy. He sounds good for you. I happy for you, cuz.” Kit said.
“He has tons of friends,” Lisha said, and Kit started shaking her head.
“Not gonna happen.” Kit said.
“Why not?” Lisha said. “You need to find someone too.”
“Men only cause problems, Lish.” Kit said.
“I am sure I could find you a girl if that’s the case,” Lish said.
“And they cause even more problems.” Kit laughed. “Thanks, hun but I am fine sitting in my lane alone.”
“Kit,” Lisha said.
“Lisha.” Kit repeated in the same tone, and they knew the conversation was almost completely over. Neither was willing to back down though as they knew what the other needed more than themselves. It was their way. Instead of fighting or pushing each other too far, they would go silent and wait to see what the other would do.
The nice weather of fall had held out so far. Though it was a bit chilled in the air, it was still livable. Watching people bundled up while the two were in their work clothes was amusing to both of them. Lisha broke the silence. “So Masamune has a wedding to go too in four weeks.”
“Masamune that is his name?” Kit asked.
“Oh yeah, Masamune Date,” Lisha said with a half-grin forming on her face. “The wedding is for their own clique’s leader. I am going with him, but not all of his friends have dates or partners. It is a wedding, and some of them want to go but don’t want to go alone. I mean these guys have been friends for twenty plus years. They need to go.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Kit asked as she took another sip of her coffee.
“Kit I think it would be good for you to get out,” Lisha said. “Look of it as we get to have fun at a wedding where we don’t know anyone.”
“Lish.” Kit said with a sigh as she looked into her cousins face that surprisingly looked like her own.
“Kit please?” Lish said. “Just think about it. I mean you will go on a blind date beforehand to see if you can stand to be near each other.”
“A blind date?” Kit shuttered in her seat. That idea alone was enough to make her want to pick up and run. Nothing good ever came from a blind date.
“Maybe a meet up in a bar or something. An easy in and out if you don’t like him.” Lisha said with a grin.
“So what is his name?” Kit asked as she eyed her cousin.
“Masamune has twelve friends and the one getting married. I need to ask him which he thinks would be good for you.” Lisha said as Kit eyed her younger cousin.
“So you want him to pick the guy?” Kit asked.
“Something like that. We will go over the qualities of them all and match you.” Lisha said.
“Why do I feel like an experiment now?” Kit asked out loud though she meant it for herself.
“I will call you and set the whole thing up,” Lisha said as she stood up and smiled down at her cousin. “Thanks, Kit. Call you in a few.”
“Bye.” Kit said as she stood as well and put her jacket on and started walking in the opposite direction back to her building. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a royally bad idea. However, by the time she got to work, she forgot all about the idea of going out. The whole building was in chaos.
“What happened?” Kit asked her supervisor as she neared him in the lobby.
“Rats.” He stated and looked at her like she was supposed to know what that one word meant.
“What?” she asked as she looked up at him, confused.
“It seems someone or some group thought that we used animals for testing and decided to free the animals.” He said.
“But we don’t use animals.” Kit replied.
“So when they realized their mistake, they decided to then hinder us by releasing hundreds of rats in the building.” He said, shaking his head.
“That makes a lot of sense.” She said, also shaking her head. “When will the building be cleared?”
“No one knows yet.” He replied.
“So another waste of a day.” She said, and he nodded.
“I can do my research from home. Am I still needed here?” she asked as she looked at him.
“A hot date or something?” he asked.
“What the hell is it with you people.” Kit said under her breath as she shook her head no.
“I don’t see why not but the police want to talk with everyone so you will have to wait here until they do get to you.” He said.
“Wonderful.” She said as she sat on the edge of the fountain.
She was sitting there waiting her turn to tell them that she knew nothing and was not in the building at the time. She started thinking about anything and everything other than the blind date that her cousin was going to set up her up on. Or the fact there were white lab rats running all over the place including over her foot. She looked down and then reached down and picked it up. While the other people in the lobby were screaming, she went one by one and picked up four of them that were by her feet.
“Either you are good with rats or?” she heard the voice say in back of her. She turned and smiled at the detective that was standing there.
“Experience with them.” She said. “For the most part, these guys are harmless. They have spent most of their lives being handled by people and whatnot.”
“Detective Akechi.” He said as he put out his hand.
“Doctor Johnson.” She said as she did the same.
“So Doctor where were you when they were released?” he asked as he looked her over.
“I assume they were released in the past hour and a half?” she asked as he nodded. “Then I was out to lunch with my cousin.”
“Where?” he asked.
“The café on fifth and twelfth.” She said as she pulled out the receipt and handed it over.
“Well, thank you for that.” He said. “It seems no one was here when it happened.”
“That might be true, but have you checked with Charles?” she asked.
“Who?” Detective Akechi looked at her.
“The camera system. It logs who enters and exits the building and with what.” She said as she pointed to the mainframe room. “I don’t know who named it Charles, but it seems to know where everyone is when they are in the building. It is supposed to cut down on time of finding people and the security of the research done here.”
“Thank you.” He said as he took off to go find someone who knew how to operate the program.
“No problem.” She said as she looked at him leaving. She wondered if that meant she was free to go. She stayed around though in the lobby with the four rats waiting to hand them over to someone. She was tired, and when the people that were hired to get the rats came by she gladly surrendered her newest friends to them, and they were slightly surprised by the fact she had them at all. Everyone else in the building was cleared to leave, and so she went to her office quickly and grabbed her things and went to her car. She was happy that week was finally over for her, and she drove home without a thought in the world about everything that had happened.
 Detective Mitsuhide Akechi was stumped on the hows and whys of why this building was attacked in this way. It didn’t make much sense, but when his friend had called him about three hours ago saying they had to meet and talk, he wondered if he just needed a break. He walked into the dive bar that he and his friends always met at and saw his friend Masamune Date at the bar talking to a group of young women. Mitsuhide shook his head.
“Don’t you have a girlfriend or something?” Mitsuhide asked as he sat down.
“Yeah. That doesn’t mean I can’t talk to other people, though.” Masamune said in his lazy drawl. “Lisha is great, so I don’t have to worry about her getting upset just because I spoke with someone else.”
“So, what was so important?” Mitsuhide asked as he looked at the bartender who knew them on sight and nodded. He needed a drink after today.
“So Nobu’s wedding is in a few weeks.” Masamune started, and Mistuhide groaned.
“I know that,” Mitsuhide said through his teeth.
“So lish had an idea,” Masamune said, and his own grin came out.
“What was it?” Mitsuhide asked not really wanting to know what Masamune’s girlfriend’s idea was.
“She wanted to set one of you up with her cousin,” Masamune said.
“Let me guess,” Mitsuhide said.
“Actually she thought that Mitsunari or Sasuke would be perfect for the cousin, but something in me said she was perfect for you,” Masamune said.
“So though you are trying to play it off as your girlfriends idea it is really yours?” Mitsuhide asked.
“Don’t use your Jedi mind tricks on me,” Masamune said with a chuckle as he looked at his old friend. “She is more your type.”
“I don’t have a type,” Mitsuhide said.
“Yes, you do,” Masamune said with a wink.
“I don’t have time for this Masa,” Mitsuhide said.
“Come on one date beforehand, and then you will have a date for the wedding,” Masamune said as he looked at the man. “What could it hurt?’
“Why me?” Mitsuhide asked as he looked at the man.
“Because I think the two of you have more in common than the others,” Masamune said.
“Fine,” Mitsuhide said as he shrugged towards the man.
“So I will have Lisha set up the blind date,” Masamune said with a smile. Mitsuhdie though maybe this would end two of his problems. His friends would stop trying to set him up on a date for a while, and he would possibly have a date for the wedding. He was dreading that though he would never let anyone know why. Somehow the idea of blind date didn’t seem so bad. A woman flashed in front of his eyes for a second. The tiny doctor he met during the day. He had no idea why he thought of her.
