Shishio was on the top of his motorcycle, looking at Chihiro, who suddenly called him out. "Well, I don't mind." He was about to step down from his motorcycle, but she stopped him.
"It's alright. You don't need to step down from it." Chihiro looked at Shishio and asked, "Are you going somewhere?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Shishio thought for a moment and said, "Gym."
"Gym?" Chihiro raised her eyebrow and asked, "Why?" She looked at Shishio's body was already good, so there was no need to make it bigger, right?
"I just bought shares in the gym chain, so I thought I'd check it out," Shishio said calmly.
"....." Chihiro rubbed her temple somehow and let out a long sigh. 'If only he wasn't my nephew...' If Shishio wasn't her nephew, then she wouldn't let him go and ate him directly. "Well, just don't go back too late."
"Don't worry. I won't go back so late." Shishio looked at Chihiro calmly and asked, "Is that all?"
"No, I want to ask you about Aoyama Nanami. Do you know her?" Chihiro asked.
"I know her." Shishio nodded. "She's my classmate."
"It's good that you know each other, so can you help her move out tomorrow? She's going to be a new resident of Sakurasou," Chihiro said.
"Alright, I'll help her tomorrow." Shishio agreed without hesitation, but then he saw Chihiro's expression was a bit weird. "What's wrong?"
"...So your relationship is close?"
"With who?"
"With this Aoyama." Chihiro looked at Shishio and knew that this guy was simply a nuclear weapon. As long as a girl or a woman was around his vicinity, they would be hit by his radiation.
Shishio looked at Chihiro and asked, "Is it important?"
"It's important." Chihiro nodded. "You have a girlfriend, after all. Don't you think that you need to watch out for your relationship with other girls so your girlfriend won't misunderstand you?"
Shishio didn't answer Chihiro's question and stared at her for a moment.
"Wh - What's with that stare?" Chihiro's face slowly reddened. Still, she felt a bit annoyed that she stuttered at this moment, which made her feel that she had lost to her nephew.
"I'd just realized that our relationship is pretty close too, Chihiro-nee. I wonder if my girlfriend will misunderstand our relationship," Shishio said with a joking tone.
"I'm your aunt, bastard!" Chihiro knocked Shishio's head lightly.
"Don't knock my head Chihiro-nee. If I become stupid, can you take responsibility for me?" Shishio asked as he rubbed his head.
"Even if you're stupid, it's you who should take responsibility for me, not the other way around!" Chihiro corrected Shishio's words with a serious tone.
"..."
Suddenly the atmosphere between the two became quite subtle.
"...I think that I should go now since it's better for me to go early so I can go back early." Shishio broke the silence.
"Oh... Oh, be careful." Chihiro turned around to hide her blush.
"I'll go first. Bye, Chihiro-nee." Shishio smiled as he said goodbye.
"Um, be careful, alright?" Chihiro also smiled and couldn't look away from his smile. She didn't enter Sakurasou and watched his back that slowly became smaller before she covered her face with her hands, feeling a bit embarrassed by their banter before. 'What was that?' She slapped her cheeks several times and tried to remind herself. 'Come on, Chihiro! You're his aunt!' When she recalled what their relationship was, her hand that was waving toward his direction awkwardly fell before she entered Sakurasou with mixed feelings.
---
Ebina was waiting right outside her apartment building with a large bag on her shoulder. She was sitting on the bench, waiting for Shishio to come.
"Now that you've mentioned it... it might be my first time going out with a boy, huh?" Ebina rubbed her chin and felt a bit shy that Shishio took her first time.
Her friend had tried to introduce her to guys in the past, but she ignored them since she knew it was impossible for a guy to understand her hobby. As for making an otaku as her boyfriend, she had never thought of that possibility since even some otakus were disgusted by BL (Boys Love) related things.
"Well, it doesn't really matter..." Ebina knew that Shishio was more interested in Yumiko, and if possible, she wanted them to be together. However, she knew that Shishio had a girlfriend. "I wonder when he's going to break up with his girlfriend..." She thought for a while then suddenly saw a motorcycle stop right in front of her. She couldn't react for a while until she saw the person on the motorcycle take off his helmet.
"Should we go, Ebina-senpai?"
"....."
Ebina had to admit that if there was BL manga with Shishio as the model, she would buy it without hesitation. "Um!"
---
Ikebukuro is a commercial and entertainment district in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan.
While not as large or well known as Akihabara, Ikebukuro is also a center of otaku culture. However, unlike Akihabara, Ikebukuro caters more to a female clientele with butler cafes and anime, manga, and cosplay-related shops such as Animate, Mandarake, and K-Books. The center of the female otaku scene is located along Otome Road, just north of Sunshine City. It is also said to be a good place to find doujinshi, or self-published manga or novels, especially those produced for women.
How could Shishio know all of that even though it was his first time in this place?
It was because Ebina had been talking non-stop, introducing him to an Ikeburo during their trip.
When Ebina saw that Shishio didn't have a prejudice against otaku and even asked her curiously, she didn't hesitate to introduce him to a lot of things about Ikebukuro culture. She even told him why she asked her to come to accompany her.
"If I come at noon, then it is alright, but at night, it is a bit dangerous." Ebina sighed, wondering why the new BL manga that she had been waiting for would be released tonight. 'If it's on the weekend...' Not that she had anything to complain about, though, since she could get her manga faster.
"Isn't that obvious? You're a girl. You're quite a cute one at that. If you walk at night alone, isn't that dangerous?"
"Quite a cute one? Can you just say that I'm cute? What's quite a cute one?" Ebina couldn't help but complain slightly, but she was full of smiles when she heard his praise.
"Yes, yes, you're a cute girl," Shishio said in a perfunctory manner.
"..." If Ebina wasn't afraid that an accident might happen, then she might slap Shishio's head at this moment.
---
As they arrived at the Ikebukuro, Shishio could see a bustling city that wasn't even close to Shinjuku. He had to admit that compared to Kyoto, the number of people in Tokyo was so huge, and it made the air quite thin, especially when he had to compare it to Iwafune before. Still, he understood why Ikebukuro was called a commercial and entertainment district at this moment.
Shishio found a parking park near the Ikebukuro station and when he parked his motorcycle, Ebina, who had stepped down from the motorcycle, suddenly called his name out.
"Oga-kun!"
"Hmm?"
"Welcome to Ikebukuro!"
Shishio looked at Ebina, who was still wearing a helmet and carrying the backpack that he had brought before. On his hand, there was a huge bag that Ebina had brought since they exchanged bags with each other so they could ride the motorcycle better.
"Thanks, but you should take off the helmet now."
"Oh - oh!" Ebina nodded quickly and wanted to take off the helmet, but it was quite difficult.
"Come closer. Let me help you," Shishio said.
Ebina didn't think too much and moved closer toward Shishio, letting him help, taking off her helmet, but she felt a bit regret, letting him do this since it made her heart race so fast and her face blush. She felt his fingers on her chin and cheeks until she heard the "click" sound, and the helmet on her head was taken off.
Shishio put two helmets on his motorcycle and also stepped down from his motorcycle. "Shall we go now?"
Hearing Shishio's question, Ebina quickly reacted. "Yes!"
Still, on Ebina's head, she tried to imagine the scene where Shishio helped her to take off the helmet on her head, but the one that he helped wasn't her. Instead, it was a man, and she had to admit that scene was hot.
"Ebina-senpai, do you need a tissue?" Shishio took the tissue that he kept on his backpack as he looked at Ebina, who had a nosebleed.
"Ah, yes, thank you very much!" Ebina took the tissue naturally and cleaned up her nosebleed. Her glasses were shining, and she was staring in one direction. She knew that her battle would begin sooner or later, and she was ready for it. "Let's go, Shishio-kun. Let me show you the battleground known as the Ikebukuro."
"....."
Shishio could only watch her antics speechlessly at this moment.
"Come on, Oga-kun!"
"Oh - oh!"
---
As they walked together, Ebina realized Shishio was simply walking limelight since whenever he walked, there were many people, especially girls, staring at him. Unlike other famous commercial districts such as Shinjuku or Shibuya, most of the people on the Ikebukuro came from Saitama. Even though it sounded quite cruel, compared to Tokyo, Saitama was a countryside, so they had never seen someone as handsome as Shishio. Still, even in entire Japan, it might be hard or impossible to see someone as handsome as him.
Ebina took a facemask that she brought and gave it to Shishio. "Shishio, wear this."
"Thanks." Shishio didn't reject Ebina's kindness and accepted the facemask.
Looking at Shishio, who wore the facemask without much complaint, Ebina sighed in relief, but even so, he still attracted a lot of attention, considering how tall and good his body was, but it was still several times better than before. 'Even though his clothes are so normal...' Shishio was just wearing a black-colored hoodie, white t-shirt, black jersey pants, and sneakers. He didn't wear strange clothes, and he was just normal clothes, but when he wore them, it gave off a different feeling.
Shishio looked at Ebina, who was wearing a sweater, shirt, jeans, pants, sneakers, and red-framed glasses, and asked, "Ebina-senpai, should we go to Animate or Otome Road?"
Otome Road, a center for otaku culture and a shopping district for anime and manga aimed at women. As most people expected, this district sold a lot of BL, Shoujo, and other otaku-related goods aimed at women.
On the other hand, Animate was a retail store of anime, video games, and manga. In conclusion, this store would sell most otaku-related goods.
Shishio knew that Ebina wanted to go to either of them, though he wasn't sure which one that she wanted to go to. However, her reaction was unexpected since she suddenly stopped so suddenly. "What's wrong?"
"Why do you think that I want to go to Otome Road?" Ebina asked.
"You seemed to be so excited when you told me about Otome Road, so I thought that you wanted to go there," Shishio said.
"You know what kind of goods are sold in that place, right?" Ebina asked.
"Shoujo manga, Otome Game, BL, and other things, right? What's wrong?" Shishio was confused since Ebina's state was a bit wrong.
"Do you think that is okay to like such a thing?" Ebina asked.
"Okay?" Shishio raised his eyebrow and asked, "You mean to like something like BL?"
"Um." Ebina nodded. "What do you think of BL itself?"
"BL, huh? Frankly, I'm not good at it, but it doesn't mean that I can't accept the person who loves it since I don't think there's something wrong with pursuing something that you love. Also, even though I'm not good at it, I think that BL is just a Shoujo manga with a different gender character..." Shishio explained, but Ebina suddenly became excited.
"That's right! BL manga is just a Shoujo manga! What's wrong with it! Everyone should love BL manga and not judge the people who love it!"
Looking at Ebina, who suddenly became excited, Shishio quickly calmed her down and said, "I know that you're all excited, but calm down. Not all people in this world are all-open-minded like me. You should know the image of otaku in the eyes of most people, right?" Even though he didn't think that there was anything wrong with pursuing something you loved, he also wanted Ebina to see the place and occasion since they were in the middle of the street right now!
Ebina ignored Shishio's words and said, "Shishio-kun, how about we embark on the BL path together? I think that you have talent on this path. How about Kiriya-sensei? I think he has always seen you differently from other students, right?"
"I'm not happy at all with that praise." Shishio wanted to smack this girl's butts, but he held himself and directly pushed this girl's back to move forward. "Also, don't talk more nonsense. Let's go, or your manga will be sold out!"
"Still, what do you think of Kiriya-sensei?"
"That's not a funny joke. Still, if I have to choose between a BL lover girl or a guy, then I'll choose a BL lover girl without hesitation," Shishio said without hesitation. After all, the BL lover girl was still a girl, and Ebina was also a cute girl. Lastly, it was several times better than dating a guy.
"..." Ebina blinked her eyes as she stared at Shishio's handsome face with a stunned and blush on her face. Luckily, it was night, so her blush wasn't so noticeable.
"What's wrong?" Shishio asked curiously since this girl suddenly stared at him blankly, but Ebina quickly reacted and let out a sigh, showing her disappointment. "Unfortunately, Shishio-kun... If you like a guy..."
"...."
Shishio knew that Ebina was a Fujoshi, but this girl was too rotten, right?