Sato stared at the receding figures of Hikari and her bodyguards, his face a mask of bewildered horror. He felt his legs give out and collapsed onto a nearby chair, banging his head on the table with a soft thud. "Why would I say yes?!" he groaned to himself. "I have to find a new country, change my number, name, address, and face! No, even after that, they'd still find me! Oh God, I'm really going to a mafia's house tomorrow. What should I do? Think, damn it!"
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying desperately to conjure a solution, but his mind remained a terrifying blank. His only option was to talk to someone, anyone, and figure out what advice they'd give him. The problem? Sato literally didn't know many people. "The only two people I have in my contacts are Mom and Kaito," he muttered, then his eyes widened in sudden realization. "Kaito! That's it!"
He stumbled out of the mall and stood at the entrance, dialing Kaito's number. "Come on, pick up," he mumbled, a sliver of hope blooming in his chest. Kaito answered almost immediately, giving Sato a much-needed boost.
"Hey, Kaito! I can't believe you picked up!" Sato exclaimed.
Kaito's voice came through the phone, sounding confused. "What's wrong? You don't normally call me on a Saturday. You don't normally call me ever, so I'm a bit confused."
Sato ignored his friend's jab. "Are you busy right now?"
"Define 'busy'," Kaito drawled.
Sato frowned. "Look, I'm serious. This is important." He heard Kaito sigh on the other end.
"Look, I'm not doing anything at the moment, but I could change my decision any last minute from now. Why do you ask?" Kaito pressed.
"Can you come over to my place, like, right now?" Sato responded, his voice urgent.
Kaito sounded genuinely shocked. "Whoa, now you're inviting me over? Now I know something's seriously wrong!"
"Look, can you just pay attention for like five seconds?!" Sato pleaded, his frustration mounting.
"Fiiiiine," Kaito conceded. "I guess I could come to your house, but it'd take me fifteen minutes, so yeah."
"Really?! That's cool—" Sato began, but Kaito interrupted him.
"Only under some laid out conditions," Kaito said, a smirk audible in his voice.
Sato pinched the bridge of his nose. I knew this was coming. "Fine, just what are the conditions?"
Kaito began listing them. "Well, first of all, I want you to be calling me regularly, not just when you need something. Second, I want you to never talk about the incident I had in Kinder Garden ever again. And last but not least, there's a football game I'm having next week, and I want you to attend it with me."
"Okay, fine! Just get over here!" Sato immediately agreed, desperate.
"Sure, I'll be there," Kaito said, and then hung up.
Sato immediately broke into a run for the train station, accidentally bumping into someone. "Hey!" the person grumbled, but Sato merely yelled an apology over his shoulder as he kept sprinting. He made it onto the train, breathing heavily, his mind racing. What if Kaito doesn't even know what to say? Would I have no other choice but to tell Mom? No, I can't! If I do that, she'll flip out and rather die than let me go there. She'd kill me if she found out I was dating a girl, let alone the Mafia Princess herself! She would explode! Don't want to involve her.
"If this is a dream, I want to wake up," Sato mumbled, then a new realization dawned on his face. "Shoot! I forgot about the game! Damn it, I forgot about the main purpose I came to the Mega Mall! This is the worst day ever!"
A few minutes later, Sato arrived at his train stop. He practically flew out of the train, running as fast as he could until he reached his house, nearly passing out at his doorstep. "I made it! Yes!" Sato gasped, trying to catch his breath before entering. But then he heard laughter coming from inside the house.
He flung the door open to see his mom sitting next to Kaito, showing him baby pictures of Sato. Both Kaito and Sato's mom looked up.
"Sweetie, what happened? You look like you ran a marathon!" Sato's mom exclaimed.
"Oh, you're here! I've been waiting for you, and I didn't know you had a birthmark on your butt!" Kaito chirped, a wide grin on his face.
Sato felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. He quickly walked towards them, shutting the photo album close. "Mom, stop showing people my baby pictures! And you," he said, glaring at Kaito, "you told me it would take you fifteen minutes to get here!"
Kaito shrugged. "Yeah, on foot, but since i drove here on my bike, it was faster."
Sato dropped the photo album onto a nearby table. "I can't with you right now. Just come with me." He headed upstairs, pushing Kaito along.
His mother called out, "What about the game you said you wanted to buy?"
Sato tried to think of a lie. "Umm, they were sold out, but I did manage to get myself a new controller pad!" he called back, already halfway up the stairs, still urging Kaito along. They entered his room.
Sato's mom stood up, muttering to herself, "Oh well, the restaurant isn't going to run itself." She headed to the back.
Meanwhile, in Sato's room, Kaito sat comfortably on Sato's bed. Sato, however, paced back and forth, feeling restless and unsure where to begin. Kaito picked up an apple from a nearby bowl. "So, why did you want to see me again?" he asked, taking a bite.
"As I was in the Mega Mall, Hikari asked me out," Sato blurted.
Kaito didn't look shocked. In fact, he looked confused, taking another bite of the apple. "So what? A girl asked you out? That's a good thing, it's not a problem unless... is she ugly?" Kaito gasped, then continued, "Is Hikari a guy?!"
"Hikari Kuroda. The daughter to Ryū Kuroda, Head Mafia, you deep shit"
Kaito froze mid-bite, slowly placing the apple down. "Okay, that's a problem."
"That's why I called you here," Sato said. "And now she wants me to meet her tomorrow at her place. The gave me an address card." Sato instinctively reached into his pocket.
"No! Don't you dare!" Kaito immediately stopped him, holding up a hand. "If you show me that, that indirectly makes me a threat because I'll know where they live. And if they ask you whether you told anyone, and you say me, they would definitely come for me! So I suggest you don't show anyone that address card or whatever."
"You're right," Sato agreed, pulling his hand away from his pocket, leaving the address card untouched.
"But why you, no offense?" Kaito asked.
"None taken," Sato sighed, slumping onto his desk chair. "There were a lot of guys there, and from everyone, she asked me out. Me!"
"Well, you have to go," Kaito said, his tone firm. "You have no other choice."
Sato looked worried. "You're suggesting I go into a mafia's house tomorrow? Are you trying to kill me?"
"So what then?" Kaito countered. "It's either you go or not. And if you don't come after she asked you to, I believe you know what her dad is capable of. I mean, rumors have it that he brutally punished someone for sneezing without covering his mouth. So, I say you should go. After all, it is a date, right?" Kaito asked, trying to grasp the full weight of this situation.
"Yeah," Sato responded. "Her dad called her and said she should be on lockdown, interrupting our date, and she's inviting me over to complete it."
Kaito nodded. "I see. You should go, but you shouldn't go looking like yourself. You might make her rethink her choices. You need to look the part if you're going."
Sato asked, his voice filled with despair, "How, though? You know I've never had a girlfriend before, so I don't know how to do this."
Kaito smiled, a confident glint in his eye. "Don't worry, I got you. It might take some time, but after I'm done with you, you'll be looking special."
Sato sighed. "Oh God."