I started dating a cute girlfriend I met during my eighth grade days when we reunited in high school. - Chapter 11

TL: Mowaso

ED: Anima

Chapter 11-First Date part 3 <The First Battle between the Black Dragon Knight and the Witch of Hades Phase 3>.

After the penguin show, I hurried into the bathroom to wash my face. I’m the Black Dragon Knight, and I’ve been through a lot of crises plenty of times, haven’t I? Be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm, be calm.

I, who had become flustered and awkward earlier, kept chanting repeatedly to compose myself. Aah, but Beni really smelled so good…

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“I just got here as well.”

Isn’t it like a novel? I replied to her as if reenacting yesterday morning’s greeting. And Beni, who was holding a bat-patterned handkerchief in her hand, replied with a fearless smile on her face. After everything that had happened, Beni was really calm. No, wait, the handkerchief smells good. This is chamomile… which I believed to have a relaxing effect… I’m not sure though, but when she noticed me looking at the handkerchief, she hurriedly put it back in her bag.

“So where should we go next? Is there anything you want to see?”

“Wellー Ah…”

As I asked Beni, I heard a cute little gurgling sound coming from her stomach. She held her stomach and her face turned bright red. The shy Beni was also very cute…

“What…? Say something…”

“Let’s have a meal… I haven’t eaten anything yet today. Do you have anything you would like to eat?”

“Eh, sure, let’s do that. I’d like to drink the tears of despair from the dripping blood of wheat incarnate and boiled vegetables.”

“Pasta with tomato sauce and vegetable soup, let’s go to an Italian restaurant then.”

And so we left the aquarium. I’m sure there was an Italian restaurant in Okita’s recommendations. He gave me a list of some Japanese, Western, and Chinese restaurants… By the way, I prepared a surprise for her, but will she be happy?

We decided to eat at a restaurant on the second floor of the shopping mall. I was told that a set meal with drinks would cost about a thousand yen, so it was highly recommended. How did Okita know about all this stuff? We scanned the surroundings to make sure there were no students from our school before taking our seats.

“Well, this child wants to be Beni’s familiar.”

I secretly bought a stuffed penguin at the aquarium and gave it to Beni. I bought it because she seemed to really love the penguin show, but I wondered if she would like it.

“It’s not Leviathan, but are you sure… I can have this…?”

“Yeah, it’s also an apology for earlier…”

“I already told you that I didn’t mind it… But thank you, yes, I think we should name this child Cocytus. Do a job worthy of the name of Dante’s Divine Comedy, The Hell of the Ice Prison. Nice to meet you, Cocytus.”

Beni smiled while hugging the stuffed penguin. Every time she hugged it, the penguin squeaked. Yeah, she was way cuter than the penguin she was hugging. If this was a gal game there would be a flag or something, but I was just glad to see her happy.

“Thank you for going out with me today. It was really fun. I’m really glad we met again even by coincidence.”

“Yeah, I had a lot of fun too. I was really surprised to find Shinya at my new school”

A lot has happened in these past two days. I was reunited with Beni, who had suddenly disappeared. She asked me to forget about the past, which made me feel a bit sad. I thought she had graduated from Chuunibyou, learned that she still remembered the past, and was cherishing it as a precious memory. We became a fake couple… and here we are. My life has really changed a lot within these past two days. I never thought we’d start dating like this. But this feeling was not bad after all, rather it was good.

“It’s good to see you again. I’ve always wanted to apologize to you…”

She looked out of the window, her reflection looked somewhat apologetic.

“I stopped going to the riverbank because I couldn’t tell you that I was moving… and when I finally made up my mind to go to the riverbank, I couldn’t meet you… I’ve been regretting why I didn’t tell you sooner… So I’m really glad when we met again. I know you’ve been worried about me, I’m really sorry and thank you.”

Then she bowed her head to me. So, she was also trying to meet me again. That was enough to save my life. The time I spent waiting by myself at the riverbank was not meaningless.

“I’m glad… that you didn’t hate me… now that we met again, don’t just disappear without telling me this time.”

As a matter of fact, there was a part inside me that was still stuck. Why did she leave without telling me? I thought we had a strong connection, but was I just being selfish? I had been fretting about it all this time… But now I am certain that there was a strong bond between us and that makes me happy.

We talked about a lot of things, promised to meet again at school, and left. Outside, the witching hour was over and it was turning into night. Time flies so we can’t stay stuck in our Chuunibyou phase forever.

I learned a lot of cute things about Beni today, and it was a lot of fun. Fortunately, Beni seemed to enjoy it as well, and maybe if we continue to date, we can have a real relationship.

But there was a strange feeling somewhere in my heart. Is this really what I want? Maybe if it was the protagonist of the romcom novel I know, they would continue to accumulate flags and start dating eventually. Perhaps, an ordinary high school boy would be happy to go on a date with an unusual but cute girlfriend.

But I’m the Black Dragon Knight, and I’m different. I love Tanaka Sachiko and the Witch of Hades  Beni. Not one or the other, I love them both. Was today’s Beni her true self, or was she overdoing it? And am I really fine with this?

Maybe if I hadn’t met Beni, I would be living a normal high school life with a bit of chuuni habits. But I remembered my passion as the Black Dragon Knight, and the miraculous days I spent with the Witch of Hades…

If I told Eriko about this, she might be taken aback and say, “Are you really saying that, you idiot?” And if I told Okita, he might say, “You’re an idiot, if things are going to work out that way, then do your best”. But this is who I am. This is something I can’t compromise. I want to go out with my real girlfriend, with… the Witch of Hades.

So I decided to send her a message on LINE. I decided to tell her the true thoughts of the Black Dragon Knight to the Witch of Hades.

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Tanaka/Beni POV

After parting ways with Shinya, I began my journey back home. Today was a lot of fun. It was my first time going out with a member of the opposite sex, but strangely enough, I never felt uncomfortable. As my sister said, a date is a good thing. He knows that I’m eccentric, and I consider him an important person because he doesn’t change his attitude, but rather, he was willing to go along with me. I’m also aware that I don’t dislike him, and I wonder if we will eventually become a normal couple instead of a fake.

Lately, I’ve been feeling that my power as the Witch of Hades was gradually fading. But I guess It was inevitable. One day, we will grow up and leave behind the fantasies and illusions of our childhood. It was a bit sad, but that’s what growing up means…

I thought about the future, and this is how I would grow up and become an adult, go out with Shinya, travel to various places with my friends. Then, after graduating from high school or college, I would marry someone… for example, just for example, only for example, I would marry Shinya, and we would have a normal but happy family. Yes, this is what normal happiness should be. Is that what you really want? The witch inside me whispered, but I decided to suppress it.

My smartphone trembled as I thought about these things. What is it? I looked at the LINE message from Shinya and widened my eyes in surprise. Ugh, that guy really is…