With unmoving eyes, Ciel stared at a certain couple. Looking at them, he was completely dumbfounded at the sight. The only person who could do this would be someone who was insane.
From where he stood, he could see Miki locking arms with another boy from his school. He recognized the face well, he was someone he had passed by in the halls of school multiple times and would sometimes wave hi to.
Looking at the time on his phone, he regretted submitting to Fuki's request. He then thought back to earlier where Fuki practically coerced him into going to his date early.
While Ciel was passing the time playing on his console, she suddenly barged into his room. It was only 1 AM at the time and there was still about two hours before he would actually need to leave.
"...Hi?" he awkwardly muttered. "Why are you in my room?"
Without even answering, she hurriedly opened his closet and started sifting through his clothes, haphazardly throwing out the ones she didn't like. Ciel watched helplessly as his neat clothes were thrown onto the floor by the raging redhead.
"You better clean this up later."
"I will!" she yelled.
He already knew why she was doing this, it was because of his date. He always found it amusing how Fuki herself has never actually been on a date; not because she was never asked out, but because she rejected every single one of them.
After digging through the entirety of his cabinet, she presented a few clothes for him to try out. Didn't take long for him to realize his wants were basically ignored as she just picked out what she thought looked good.
In the end, she made him wear a long sleeve whose top half was black and the bottom half was white along with gray pants and with black sneakers that had red laces. He found the long sleeves that reached up to his arm pretty annoying so he rolled it up to only reach up to his elbow.
The girl then eyed him up before giving a satisfactory smile as she left his room.
"Hey, clean this up!"
"I'll clean it up later!" she replied. "But in exchange, you have to go to your date early, 'kay?" she demanded, her head popping out from the side of his door.
"Hah? I still have like two hours before I—"
"Now or no cleaning." And she then proceeded to leave.
(She's a slave-driver, huh.) But he didn't really wanna clean up the mess that she caused. So with a scratch of slight annoyance, he said goodbye to his guardians.
"Bye, Mrs. Amano, Mr. Amano."
"Be safe, Ciel!" The father said as he waved at him.
With a quick nod, he left the house.
Right now though, he was already near the meeting spot for his date. But well, she seemed occupied at the moment. Truth be told, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested as to what was happening. It definitely wasn't a misunderstanding, they definitely weren't siblings. And even if they were, it would still be odd. To him, anyway.
With his curiosity getting the better of him, he readied himself. After a long, drawn-out groan, he walked up to them, burying his hands into his pockets.
The other boy didn't seem to mind, probably unaware of the fact that she and Ciel were going out. His girlfriend on the other hand froze for a moment before returning to her more lady-like expression.
"Yo, Ciel! Fancy seeing you here, man," the boy greeted.
"What's up. I'm just going around a b—"
"Excuse me. But may you leave the two of us for a bit?" she interjected.
The request was sudden and both boys were completely aware of that. His head alternated between looking at Ciel and Miki, probably expecting an explanation at the sudden interjection but they offered none.
Break his arm off from Miki, he walked off a few feet away.
Awkward tension hung in the air as the two finally had some time to discuss some things. Although the atmosphere was definitely awkward and suffocating, Miki still had her signature proper smile. Meanwhile, Ciel had his usual uncaring eyes.
It didn't take long before Ciel realized that this wasn't going to go anywhere so he decided to break the silence.
"Going on another date?"
She scowled at him, her eyes were filled to the brim with anger. How she had the gull to react that way, he had no clue. But he simply looked at her with his signature dead expression.
"...Why are you here so early?" The white-haired girl forced out. She was tightly holding onto the hems of her sundress, almost like she was resisting some sort of urge. It was probably the urge to hit him if he had to guess.
He didn't really want to mince words but was afraid that if he didn't, they would cause a scene. He was honestly more concerned about the schoolmate who was staring at them as their situation unfolded. They didn't know each other, but he most likely didn't know anything about the situation so Ciel wanted to save him the embarrassment.
He was still very much confused by the whole situation though. But with a little bit of time, he tried to rationalize it.
"Why'd you confess to me if you were gonna just cheat on me?"
The words seemed to affect her very much. Releasing the grip on her sundress, she let her arms dangle from her side and she seemed almost catatonic. Her stare was was more dead than usual, more than his actually. The color from her face drained, and her legs seemed to be giving up.
Again, not wanting to cause a scene, he called over her date and requested that she get some rest. He didn't mind and complied with the request, him walking her over to a bench. His stare at Ciel practically screamed out that he wanted an explanation but Ciel simply just turned his head to the side.
Now the hard part was thinking about what to do. He was all alone in the city and he wasn't too excited about doing things alone. He was free to just go home but felt that it would be a waste of time seeing as how he's already here.
With a bit of thinking, he decided that he might as well check if any new games interested him. The game store wasn't too far, only about a 15-minute walk.
Entering the store, there was a dozen game covers stocked all over the admittedly small shelves. He wandered around a bit, paying very little attention to the game covers, nothing really piquing his interest.
(Platformer... Shooter... RPG...?) In his boredom, he started listing off the genres of the games just judging from the book cover. Then suddenly, he heard a faint thud come from in front of him.
Pointing his head towards the direction of the sound, he saw a game cover on the floor which he immediately picked up. Checking on it, he saw the box art. It had three very pretty boys front and center.
(The hit bishounen dating sim.)
It was the text that was displayed on the cover.
Glancing upwards, he then saw a familiar red-haired girl.
"Fuki."
The girl stared back with a flustered face. Without saying a word, he handed the game to her and left. Which was quickly followed up by a faint screech and a grab to his shoulder.
Slowly turning around, he noticed that her face was flushed. He had already guessed it by then, but the reason he was so rudely instructed to leave early was probably so she could use the console in his room.
Slowly grabbing her hand off his shoulder, he started speaking.
"It's okay, Fuki. Just use it until I get home."
"That's not the problem here!"
She yelped as she remembered they were still in a store. She gave an embarrassed wave as a sign of apology before taking in a few deep breaths. Clutching the game to her chest, she asked, "Where's Miki?"
Gazing up to the ceiling, he scratched his cheek. "She's not here yet. Obviously."
It was then that she realized she had sent him two hours earlier than he needed to be. Not that that mattered since she actually was here...just with someone else. It was times like these that Ciel somewhat thanked himself for always being able to have a neutral expression.
She looked a bit sheepish fiddling with the game cover. At least she looked apologetic for sending him out like that. He waved another goodbye which caught her by surprise.
"Have fun with the game," he said, intending to leave the store.
That was what he intended anyway. Instead, he felt a tug on his sleeve.
She wasn't even looking him straight in the eyes as she suggested, "How about we stroll around for a little bit then?"
With a weak nod, he agreed. He wouldn't be lonely for a little bit at least. The two then headed towards the front of the counter to buy the game.
"Buying a dating sim when you're boyfriend's right there, eh?" It was obvious the clerk was joking so Ciel chuckled it off. Fuki on the other hand seemed to light up again at the sudden suggestion that they were dating.
Leaving the store, the two went off in some random direction, not really talking about anything of great interest.
Shortly after, they found themselves in front of a café. It only took the action of Fuki rubbing her stomach for him to notice she wanted to eat.
With a slight smirk on his face, he pulled open the door; gesturing for her to come inside. Seemingly hesitant, she stepped foot inside the admittedly small shop. The two then immediately took in their surroundings.
The café itself wasn't anything spell, but it was going for a very rustic look. There were only a few customers in and it had a very warm feeling to it all. The walls were adorned with coffee-related knick-knacks and it would probably be very cheesy if it wasn't for the people managing it.
The people at the counter were an old couple, probably married. The woman had her hair tied into a bun while the man had a bit of a mustache with his unkempt wavy hair.
"Welcome, you two!" The couple greeted them with open excitement. They really were the ribbon that tied this whole package together. If this were some corporate-owned business, the whole thing would probably feel very cheap and cheesy. But just seeing those two manage it just gave a very different vibe to the store.
Fuki gave a wholehearted smile as she ordered some tea and a slice of cake. For Ciel, he ordered some coffee and a sandwich.
Sitting themselves down near a window, they relaxed. She stretched out her arms which was followed by a faint moan as she let them fall to her sides.
After the two got their orders, his friend randomly asked a question.
"Waddya phink ofh her?" she asked, chewing on some of her cake.
"Miki? She's..." He didn't really want to tarnish her reputation. It's not like he was mad at her after all. To him, this was an expected outcome. Well, the cheating wasn't expected, just the part where would they break up was expected. Which he intended to do the next time they met.
The redhead seemed to have picked up on his hesitation as well. "Hm... Well, it's none of my business."
"Coming from you...?" he said, clearly taking a jab at her.
"Get over it already!" she replied, biting down hard on her fork.
The boy couldn't help but smile at her reaction. For once, he actually felt calm while on a date. He wouldn't have expected Fuki to his date though.
With them just idly eating, Ciel finally took a closer look at her. She was wearing a very standard white hoodie and black pants. She also had a hairpin on her bangs, probably to stop it from covering her forehead.
His unassuming gaze caught her attention. Taking out the fork in her mouth, she asked, "What is it?"
Ciel didn't reply though. He simply just kept eating through his sandwich which was followed by a sip of his coffee.
"Miki really is impressive though," his friend stated.
With a raised eyebrow, he half-heartedly agreed, "Yep. She sure is. Smart, and pretty."
"And she's the daughter of the school's director too!" she said, pointing her fork towards him. "She probably wouldn't even have to try and she would still pass anyway!"
"Fired up, are we?"
"Well, yeah! I wanna beat her so I can prove to myself that hard work beats natural talent!" she stated, tightening her fist in the air. It's not that they had a competition or anything, Fuki just wanted to prove it to herself if anything.
"You already beat her in P.E." He mostly said that just to calm down the passionate flames forming in her eyes. Which did help a little.
But with topics all but run dry, they proceeded to finish their food.
Checking on the time, he realized that it was close to their actual meeting time. He figured that he might as well just continue with his lie. Showing the time to Fuki, she nodded and quickly separated. With a wave, the two went in opposite directions.
Truth be told, he was curious to know what happened to Miki, so he decided to go back to where this whole thing started. The chances were very low that they were still there, but his preferred route home was through there anyway.
Walking back to the spot, he saw a solitary figure. Her white hair mixed perfectly with her yellow-ish sundress, and the orange tint from the sun setting did nothing but add to the scenery in front of him.
The girl in question was sitting on a bench alone. Her eyes were devoid of life, she just stared blankly in front of her with her hands resting on her lap.
He knew he would regret it, but he stepped in front of her. Gazing down at her, a bit of life coursed back through her eyes. It was faint, but she wasn't expressionless anymore.
Ciel noticed her mouth was trembling. It was clear she wanted to say something but instead, she simply signaled him to sit next to her on the bench.
The bench was off to the side of a glass door that led into a building but not many people passed by them.
Sitting beside her, no words were being exchanged by the two for a while. The only reason he knew she wanted to say something was because of her constant fidgeting.
Growing tired of waiting, he asked, "What is it?" There was a hint of annoyance in his tone. Very rarely did Ciel run out of patience so his voice broke her train of thought.
"E—excuse me," she said, coughing into her hand. "I would like to apologize for earlier."
He scowled at her which made Miki fidget once more.
"It's fine. But you know what this means, right?"
"You would like to break off our relationship?"
"Obviously."
She then straightened herself. "I refuse."
(What...?)
As if reading his mind, she continued, "I refuse to end this. You see, earlier I was just practicing with that man."
(What the hell are you saying...?)
Cupping one of his hands, she continued once more, "My heart belongs to only you, dear," she said, placing his hand onto her chest.
(You're not making any sense...!)
Her expression was nothing but questionable, even to Ciel. The one word to describe her would be "insane". Her breathing was was erratic, her heartbeat was rapidly increasing, and her face made it seem she was experiencing some sort of sexual pleasure.
He resisted the urge to pull his hand away. For the first time in a long while, he felt that something irreversible would happen if he did.
"I love you dearly, Ciel."
His mind felt unsteady. Not being able to think straight, he stammered out his words.
"W—what the hell...is wrong with you?"
But she didn't even falter. She kept that euphoria-filled expression all the while repeating some phrase that he couldn't even bother to listen to.
"...love you."
Her grin was wide, her eyes unsteady and devoid of any life, and her lips quivered with anticipation.
(This girl isn't going to be any different.)
That was the one single thought that echoed throughout his mind. The face she made was one that he's seen multiple times. It was the face of obsession. The face that only a psycho would ever even come close to mimicking.