Ring, Ring, Ring.
I heard my phone ring as I was in my shower, I was getting ready for a special occasion.
"Who could that be?"
I wanted to ignore it, but the person kept calling and calling. I eventually got exasperated from hearing that same ringtone—the standard ringtone from the phone.
After getting the phone on the first day of school I didn't attempt to customize anything.
In fact, my account name was still Nakamura Eiya—unchanged from when I got it.
After hearing it for the sixth time, I rushed out of the bath and picked it up without looking at the caller id.
"Hello."
"Eiya! Are you awake?"
It was a Saturday, so most students woke up later than usual, but I still woke up by 7 AM, as I did other days—well, most days—the exceptions were the few times I woke up late.
Moreover, today was a special day so I was inclined to wake up early—I had a date with Aiya.
I had gone on dates with her every day since we began dating on Thursday and today was one of such dates.
Thankfully, this was planned before, unlike most of our other dates so I could prepare.
"Yeah, I'll even soon be on my way."
"Okay, I was just making sure. I mean, this is the first time we're having a planned date," she said.
"Yeah, the time is still by 12, right?"
"I thought you said you'll be done soon."
"Yes, I will. I'll even be on my way like I said."
"Then why'd you ask for the time to meet up?"
"I was just making sure when you'll come."
"I'm already on my way."
"Oh."
"Yeah, anyway, see you later."
With our call done, I continued my shower and finished shortly after.
I looked at my phone and then got a sudden message from my account—not Koda, but MUFG banking.
Tokyo Metropolitan Elysian High School—or EHS for short, supposedly had a partnership with that bank so it was used for transactions.
On my banking app, I found out that I had received an extra whopping 100,000 Rp.
It wasn't from a friend or anything—it was from the school. While the how and why were important, I couldn't help but be ecstatic at my new balance.
"Yes!!! A whole hundred thousand, really?!" I screamed. "At least now I'm not on a tight rope."
Since Aiya and I started dating, my balance—that was already low because of Miyamura—suffered greatly.
I had only 6,000 Rp left, and this was only my second week at EHS.
I didn't tell Aiya how broke I was, but luckily, I didn't have to because we paid differently.
"But now things have turned around, I have 106,000 Rp."
I eagerly put on my clothes and went to the dormitory lobby. I saw Aiya waiting for me with a smile.
"Hey Eiya," she waved.
"Hey," I grinned. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah, let me just check if I have everything," she rummaged through her bag then stopped abruptly.
"Did you forget something?"
"Yeah, my mirror. Give me a second, let me go get it," she went to the elevator then turned to look at me. "Sorry for this," she then left before I could say anything.
Since we weren't late on our schedule, there wasn't a real reason for her to apologize. However, I wondered why she didn't just check before I came.
Maybe she was in a rush.
Satisfied with that answer, I sat down and went on my phone—there wasn't anyone around in the lobby, maybe because it was Saturday.
I continued until—
"Nakamura?"
I looked up and saw Miyamura—he was in casual clothing and was surprised to see me.
"Huh? What are you doing here?" I asked.
Then again it isn't weird to see him here. I mean, this is the lobby.
"I'm waiting for Yoshida; we're going on a date. What about you?"
"I'm going on a date with Aiya."
Wait a minute.
I could feel the gears turn in my head, that was because I had a feeling that something was wrong, but I was disturbed by a loud noise.
"Heyo!" Yoshida greeted us loudly. Luckily no one was in the lobby.
Her and Aiya came from the elevator and walked together to meet me and Miyamura.
"Hey Miyamura," Yoshida said in a cutesy tone, then turned over to me.
"What a surprise," she said, despite her face being devoid of anything remotely similar to that word. "You're here too Nakamura. What's the occasion?"
"I and Aiya have a date to go to," I replied.
"Really? Me and Miyamura are also going on a date."
"I see, where to?"
"The mall."
"Oh, funny, us too."
"Talk about a coincidence, right?"
"Since we're all going to the same place, why don't we just go together?" Aiya asked.
"Wait, like a double date, right?" Miyamura asked.
"Exactly," Aiya answered.
"Well, I'm down if Yoshida's down."
"Sure, I'm down. It could be fun."
"And I'm down too, what about you, Eiya?" Aiya asked.
Considering the fact that everyone agreed, I can't just say no. Moreover, I also want to experience a double date—especially since I only know the general idea.
"Sure, let's go."
With that out of the way, we headed to the mall, however, something weird happened. As we were walking, I saw Miyamura stare deeply at me—no, rather he glared.
I didn't do anything wrong, so I threw a perplexed look then he realized that he was misunderstood so he sent me a message.
[Miyarito-kun: Dude, when people go on double dates, they duke it out to see who's the better boyfriend. Just know I don't plan on losing, also the girls most absolutely never know. If they do, then we both lose.]
So that's why he looked at me like that—at any rate, this boyfriend battle or whatever is stupid especially since the girls don't know about it.
However, I have read something like this before in some novels so it's best to act accordingly.
After preparing my mind, I glared at Miyamura signaling we can begin our challenge.
I planned to give it my all—I happened to learn tea ceremony and Omotenashi, so offering lip service would prove to be easy.
***
Author's Note:
I always thought that the trope about boyfriends 'duking' it out during double dates was stupid but oh well.
I think Miyamura's cooked but let's see what he does. Also, these days I have less and less to even say but yeah, that's all folks.
Anyway, remember to comment, share, and leave a review. Thanks for reading the chapter and see you in the next one.