Cahpter 5 Part 2

How It’s Going

Following the movie the couple walked out of the theater each discussing what they liked most about it. Goko could NOT seem to stop talking about the lead actor, Boston Atler, who was the latest breakout American star who lived in Japan! She also loved the story, the action, the characterization and much more! It was her most anticipated movie ever and it did NOT disappoint! Tucked in her purse was the birthday present given to her by Bintaro! She didn’t want to admit it, but she loved that one present more than anything else that had happened today.

Goko’s speech was then cut off when her phone then let off a chime. She took her phone out of her bra and looked at the screen. She gasped as her eyes popped open, “Oh crap! Oh no!”

“What is it?”

“I totally forgot about this!” She gave a soft groan as she said, “I made an appointment for another day and now it’s been bumped up to today, and-“

“It’s okay,” Bintaro responded, “You can go to your appointment. I’ll head back to your place.”

“Are you sure?!” She asked,

“Yeah! Besides, you should spend as much time as you’d like in that car that you love so much.”

“Mm…” She responded before she then huffed and put her phone away. “Okay! Fine! I’ll go!”

“Great! Is there anything I can get for you on your way back to your place? It’s still your birthday after all.”

“Oh um…” She paused as she began to think. “A cake would be nice.” She continued with a smile, “I don’t care what kind you get, I just think it would be nice.”

“Alright! I got it!”

“Thank you,” she responded as she gave him a hug, “I didn’t know it would reschedule! I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can and spend as much time with you as possible! This is just really important!”

“Yeah! Of course! I understand.” He said as he gave her a gentle squeeze in return, “Stay out of trouble.”

“I could say the same for you,” she said as they pulled away from each other, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Okay,” she said with a smile, “I’m gonna go now.”

“Okay.”

“Bye.” She waved to him before she then headed off towards the parking lot. As she made it to her car she got inside and turned it on before opening the map. She put in the address before she drove off. Her drive took her down to Kabukicho, where she parked just outside of it. She took a deep breath before she got out of her car and wandered through the district. She looked around before she found a sign that pointed to a stairway. She walked up the stairs to the flat just above a nightclub where she came to a door and walked in.

She looked around the flat to see many costumes, a few sewing machines and a register. After a while she heard a voice call, “I’ll be there in just a second.”

“O-Okay…” Goko said feeling a bit uneasy about things. She had never been to this part of town, and she had heard of the bad things that happen here, especially to women during the night when men would get drunk. After a while some footsteps were heard and a woman in her mid 50’s walked into the room from around a corner. She had dark eyeshadow on and hazelnut wavy hair with a light cigar in her mouth. “U-Uh, hi…! You’re, Tamaki, right…?”

“Yeah,”

“I’m-“

“Yeah, Ms. Messuhara.”

“Yeah,” Goko said as she cleared her throat, “Um, why did you-“

“I moved your appointment because I wanted to talk to you.” She responded, “Come with me, lets get started.”

“Okay,” Goko said as she followed Tamaki through the studio and eventually around the corner. Tamaki closed the door before she turned to Goko and said,

“Strip down to your bra and panties.”

“Wh-What?!?!!!”

“This is how I do things,” she said as she picked up a folded leather measuring rope and slapped it in the palm of her opposing hand. Goko then swallowed heavily. What had she gotten into? “You can put everything over there.” Tamaki said as she nodded towards a chair. Goko then turned to the chair before advancing to it. She placed her purse on the ground before she removed her shoes. After a deep breath she undressed as Tamaki instructed and placed her folded clothes on the chair. “Good, now stand over there.” She said as she tilted her head to a small podium that stood in the center of many lights.

Goko went to the podium and stood on top of it as Tamaki then made her advance at the same time. “Good,” Tamaki said as she undid the measuring rope and wrapped it around Goko’s waist. “You’re a lot chubbier than my other clients.”

“I-“ she sighed as she said, “Sorry…”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind, it just means this is going to cost more.” Once Tamaki got a measurement turned and pinched a device clipped to her collar and said, “Waist, 72.” After she let go of the device she slid the rope down to Goko’s hips causing Goko’s face to turn red. Tamaki pinched the device on her again and said, “Hips, 100.”

“I’M SUCH A FATTIE!!!! I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT NOW!!!!!” Goko said to herself,

Tamaki then stood up and wrapped the measuring tape around Goko’s bust. Goko swallowed heavily and her face became a darker shade of red. “Tch! Lucky girl!” Tamaki said to herself before she pinched the device on her collar, “Bust, 109.” She cleared her throat as she then started to wrap the tape back up. She then walked off before coming back with a Brannock device. “Lift your foot, I don’t care which one.”

“O-Okay…” Goko said as he lifted her right foot and Tamaki slid the Brannock device underneath it.

After taking measurements Tamaki pinched the device on her collar and said, “Shoe, 25.” Goko lifted her foot as Tamaki put the Brannock device away. She then pressed a button on the device on her collar causing a small label to print out. She she took the label over to a work desk where she then started to look over some charts. “You’re welcome to put your clothes back on.” Tamaki said to Goko. Goko quickly moved over to her clothes and started to get dressed again. “Why are you doing this? Do you know what will happen?”

“Well….I do, however, it’s just for personal reasons.”

“Mhmm,” she responded as she started to take a few extra notes. “Did you have any colors in mind?”

“Um…green.”

“Just green?”

“And uh…purple.”

“Okay,” she replied, “Do you want trimmings?”

“Um…I don’t know what those are?”

“Any bows? Hoops?”

“Oh! No! It’s okay!”

“Okay,” she then responded, “Because of how chubby you are, I’ll need a new pattern, as well as more material, so it’s going to cost more. Is that okay?”

“Um…” she paused for a few seconds before responding, “Yes. It’s fine.”

“Okay,”

“If I’m paying extra for it, then can I request something? I’ll pay you even more if you need me too.”

“What is it?”

“Can you make it reversible? There’s a pattern I want done.”

She groaned as her eye twitched, “I suppose.”

“Thank you!”

“What colors do you need for that?”

“Red, blue, and gold.”

“Okay,” she responded, “What’s the pattern going to look like?”

“Um, yeah! Of course!” She looked around before she rushed to her purse and pulled out the sofubi that Bintaro got her. She brought it to Tamaki and asked, “Can you make it look like him?”

Tamaki turned to it before her eyes popped, “Oh crap!” She swallowed heavily as she took the box from Goko and looked it over. “Yeah, I can try, can you text me more details?”

“Yeah, of course!”

“Okay.” Tamaki said before handing the box back to Goko. She made more notes and eventually started to do some quick math. “Okay,” She responded as she stood up and took Goko out to the main part of the flat. Tamaki came to the register and our everything in before saying, “So, for everything, it’s going to be about ¥32,000.”

“Wow…” Goko said, “Really…?”

“Yeah, this stuff isn’t-“

“I thought it would be more expensive,”

“TH-THIS GIRL!!!!”

“Lets see,” Goko said as she dug through her purse before she pulled out her wallet. She pulled out some money and hand it to her. “Here!”

“Uh…” Tamaki then took the money and counted it out, “Okay, ¥36,000…” She then pressed a few buttons on the register before the drawer opened and she put the money inside before giving Goko her change. “Here you are.”

“Thank you, about how long will this take?” She asked as she put her money back into her wallet.

“Hmmm….I’ll have you come in for a fitting in a month or two, then after that I’d say it would be all done by July 5th.” She then paused before asking, “Wait, what’s today's date?”

“April 29th.”

“Then yeah, July 5th.”

“Okay! Great! Thank you!”

“Of course,” Tamaki said, “And by the way,” she then bent down and grabbed something beneath the counter, “You don’t remember me, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Right,” Tamaki said as she walked over to Goko with a small package, “I’m old now, I’m sure I don’t look the same.”

“Excuse me?”

“Okay, this is getting sad,” Tamaki said with a sigh before saying, “I moved your appointment to today because I remembered it was your birthday.” Goko only blinked in confusion, “Messuhara, we went to highschool together.” She said with a soft chuckle, “It’s me, Katsuragi Ta-“

“What?!” Goko responded, “Oh my god!!!” She then clasped her hands over her mouth to smother her soft scream, “I am so sorry!!! I didn’t know!!! Your business just had your first name on it!”

“It’s okay,” Tamaki said as she waved it off, “I don’t look anything like back then, but you still look the same, Goko. I guess Kaiju genes are good for that, maybe I should get some.”

“Y-Yeah, they-“ she then paused, “Wait, no, what do you-“

“Goko,” Tamaki said as she placed her hand on Goko’s shoulder, “I know. Everyone in our graduating class knew!”

“Really…? How could you tell…?”

“Well, we had our suspicions. You were kinda weird, and you and Phoebe were attached at the hip for some reason. Eventually, Hayase was on a date with her boyfriend at the time, and she saw Phoebe turn into a human. She told our friends, and eventually we figured you and Phoebe were both the same.” She then chuckled and said, “Aaahhh, not to mention, you weren’t there on the plane on the class trip to Okinawa. However, Gochi-Ohko showed up in the bay and then disappeared. Eventually you grouped up with and you were soaking wet, and we knew it wasn’t a coincidence, especially after seeing Phoebe transform.”

“Wow…and you never told anyone?”

“Of course not, you were our friend, and you were MY best friend. We were worried if we told adults they’d kidnap you and experiment on you or something. Plus, you were always so shy and self-conscious, almost like you weren’t comfortable in your own skin. We wanted you to feel as human as possible.”

“Wow…that’s so sweet of you guys.”

“Of course,” she held the package up to Goko and said, “Here.”

“Thank you,” Goko said as she opened it up and then pulled out a small charm with a Tanuki attached to it. “Awww, how cute!” She then giggled, “Now I remember that nickname we gave you. Tamanuki.”

“Yeah,” Tamaki said with a sigh, “It’s a charm for your phone. I figured on the off chance you didn’t remember me, you’d open this and see it, and then think of me.”

“Thank you so much,” Goko said, “If only I had remembered, if only I had recognized you.”

“It’s okay,”

“Oh! Did you ever marry Kaito?! Just like you said you would?!”

“Ah, no, but I tried.” Tamaki said as she walked Goko over to the door and opened it for her, “He was too busy chasing after you.”

“Wait! What?! Kaito liked me?!”

“A lot of guys did,”

“Uh-“ she paused before asking, “Are you lying to me?”

“Not at all.” she responded, “Lots of boys liked you, but they eventually moved on. However, Kaito was so reluctant on making you his girl. He just could never seem to find the right way to approach you, and it made me so jealous. I wish he had looked at me the way he did you, I’ve never seen someone so hopelessly devoted to another, and I felt some day maybe he’d look my way.”

Tokyo

Bintaro came to a warehouse as he looked over the list Yaguchi had given him. Finding this warehouse was on the list, and he wasn’t exactly sure why. He folded the paper and put it back in his pocket before he looked around the empty warehouse. He then paused when he saw Yaguchi standing in the center of the large room. “Oh, hey, it’s you.” Bintaro said as he began to walk towards him,

“So you’ve made it this far,” Yaguchi said as he then slowly turned around. Bintaro paused as he blinked at the large belt around Yaguchi’s waist. It was made with a red-orange leather, with a white dense structure with a dark purple almost black color in the center of the structure. The structure itself resembled that of a black hole.

“What’s that on your waist?” Bintaro asked as he could feel some form of artificial and demonic aura radiate from it.

“If you’ve made it this far, then I’m disappointed in you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You ignored the instructions.”

“The instru-“ He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the list, “You mean this?”

“Yes.” He replied, “Did you even read the-“

“Yeah! I read it!” Bintaro responded, “What the hell is all this?!” He growled as he felt rather annoyed, “Sending me all around the city to dress like a criminal? Renting a car?! Acting like an idiot?! You could’ve just told me it was-“

“If I had, what would you have done?”

“I-“ he then paused as he began to think, “I don’t know…however, if I had known it was Messuhara-San’s birthday, I would’ve done something for her! Even if it were something small!”

“And what about everything that happened today? Do you think she would appreciate that?”

“She…” He then sighed as his mind flashed back, “Honestly….I don’t know, I’ve never seen her this happy in all my time knowing her. She told me she was happier the day we met…but I just don’t think I believe that.”

“So you don’t trust her?”

“I-“

“The first thing on the list was to be yourself. Even so, you still went out of your way to do everything else. It shows you really don’t care about her.”

A nerve was then struck inside of Bintaro as he looked into Yaguchi’s eyes, “What did you just say to me…?”

“I said, you don’t really care about her. You don’t care about her to the point where you won’t even be yourself around her, you’re taking the advice of a stranger.” Bintaro took a deep breath before he shook his head, threw the list to the ground, and turned to walk away. “It also shows you don’t care about yourself.” Bintaro then stopped in his tracks. “And as such, I can’t have you seeing her anymore.”

Yaguchi then moved his left hand down and over to the right out in front of him before moving his right arm upward and beside his head. Bintaro grit his teeth and clenched his fists as thunder roared overhead. Yaguchi then moved his hands down in front of him, crossing his right over his left, before he widened his stance. He then rolled his left hand over his right as he tucked his left arm back and shot his right arm through the air and across his chest to his left side. Bintaro’s breathing became heavier as rage began to slowly boil from his toes up into his head before forming itself into a yellow glow that illuminated his eyes and formed “veins” on his face.

“Kaijin….” Yaguchi began as he then moved and crossed his left arm in front of his right. He turned his palms to face behind him before he flexed and curled his fingers. After twisting his wrists forward the circle in the center of his belt began to light up, “Henshin!” At that moment Bintaro turned and accelerated towards Yaguchi. Yaguchi was then swiftly absorbed into a small black hole that closed in on itself causing Bintaro to accelerate through the space where Yaguchi once was. Bintaro scoffed as he then slowly turned back around. White flashing lights went off, showing the outline of Yaguchi’s body before his body then changed. Reality itself shattered as Yaguchi merged in a transformed state! The small pieces of reality then sank back into place fixing the purple and blue hole.

Yaguchi’s transformed state consisted of silver knee high boots and silver elbow length gloves, with spiked protrusions running down his forearms. His body was a black color, being made of some kind of heavy duty material which could only be described as being similar to Nomex. Blue-Green armor sat on his chest with a silver dragonfly-like creature running up the armors center before stopping at the collarbone, it’s wings were folded to the left side of Yaguchi’s chest. Around his neck and hanging down to his heels was a long red scarf. The helmet on his head seemed to be split into an upper and lower half. The lower half was black with silver mandibles and various structures looking similar to the mouth of a dragonfly. While the upper half was the same Blue-Green color of the chest armor. It had demonic and almost flame-shaped purple compound eyes, with two large silver antennas, each with a row of about three smaller antennas behind them. A Violet gem rested in the center of his forehead, and black markings hung from both corners of the eyes, by all means, he looked to be the embodiment of fear. The Kaijin Rider!

“You claim to love her, yet you never even considered her feelings.” Yaguchi continued, “You didn’t consider how she’d feel if you just remained yourself.”

“Shut it!” Bintaro snapped as he accelerated forward and threw a punch. Yaguchi grabbed Bintaro’s fist with his left hand causing the dirt around them to kick up. “You have no idea what I feel for her!!!”

“You’re right,” Yaguchi responded before he delivered a powerful punch to the absolute center point of Bintaro’s face. With a grunt of pain Bintaro was sent crashing back through the air and eventually through several empty metal drums. “I don’t, however, from what I’ve seen, you only seem to love the idea of her and not her as a person. Furthermore, you don’t even know what it means to be IN love with someone.” Bintaro groaned as he began to slowly sit up. He was then grabbed by the tie before Yaguchi struck him in the face. “As such, I can’t let someone like you be with her.” He then pulled Bintaro to his feet before sending him crashing into one of the steel beams keeping the warehouse up. “I’m going to have to ask you to stop seeing her.”

Bintaro groaned as he then slid back down onto his feet. He shook with rage as his eyes and face began to glow yellow again. As he curled his fingers into heavy fists. Through clenched teeth he growled, “In your dreams!!!” He then dashed towards his enemy as he screamed, “IF ANYONE SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM HER IT'S YOU!!!” Yaguchi then charged Bintaro in return and went for an attack. Their fists clashed with one another with such tremendous force it caused their arms to shoot straight upwards in tandem. Bintaro quickly followed up by throwing his opposing fist in Yaguchi’s direction. Yaguchi quickly countered before he parried with his own punch.

Bintaro quickly shot his hand up and blocked the oncoming attack with his wrist before he went to attack once more. The two exchanged several blows, each one being blocked in hopes to follow up with a punch of their own. The shockwaves from the force of their blows caused the warehouse, and the city block it rested on to shake. It shook so much that a metal drum, filled with solid concrete, shook and fell from a ledge just above them. The drum fell through the air before it was then destroyed by Bintaro and Yaguchi each kicking it from opposing directions!

They meant to hit each other! But that pesky drum got in the way!!! Oh Goddammit!!!

Bintaro quickly leapt and spun through the air before delivering a roundhouse kick to Yaguchi’s face. Yaguchi slid across the floor of the warehouse before he bent his knee and came to a stop. He looked across the warehouse at Bintaro to see his eyes and face seemed to be turning from a yellow to now almost a yellow-orange color. It gave him some kind of sense of danger, if not for himself, then for the people potentially around them. Bintaro’s eye twitched before he clenched his teeth and slowly placed his hands on his head. He fell onto one knee as he did his best to slow his breathing. He had no idea what the immeasurable pain was that he was feeling, but he wanted it to stop! He quickly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his-SPOON FLASHER!!!!!!!

As he removed the cap and pressed the button he then transformed into a human-sized version of his natural state. He took a few breaths before he then slowly got onto his feet. Yaguchi rose and tilted his head, “What…what are you?”

“I’m Ultimate Man Space,” he responded as he wiped dirt from the corner of his mouth, “I’m an Ultimate, and I’m the last of my kind.”

“Ultimate…” He paused as he rated his hand on his chin, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them.”

“They’ve been dead for at least 5,000 years.”

“How would you know that?”

“Because I was born 5,000 years ago.” He replied as he then began to approach Yaguchi, “For 5,000 years I lived, trained, and served the Galactic Intelligence Bureau and spent every passing moment of my life looking for others like me! Eventually when I discovered that there was none left I began to aimlessly travel the universe! I don’t know what I was traveling to, and what I was hoping to find!” He then stopped as the two then became inches apart. “I eventually came here and that’s when I met Messuhara-San!” Tears made up of light particles formed in his eyes and ran down his face, “And when I met her I felt I didn’t need to aimlessly wander around looking for something that’s not there, when I could have everything right here! She was so welcoming and understanding and I never wanted it to stop!”

Bintaro then grabbed onto the armor on Yaguchi’s chest as he clenched his teeth and looked him in the eyes. “I’ll do whatever you ask! Just please don’t take her away from me!!! I didn’t know what love was until I met her!!! And now that I know I won’t let her go!!! She’s all I have!!!”

“Then why not tell her how you feel?” He asked, “This all could’ve been avoided if you had followed your first instruction. You ignored it and went on to do everything else anyways, and for what?”

“Because I love her! I messed up and I knew I had to make it up to her! If that means I have to be uncomfortable for a few hours then I’m fine with it!”

“Would she be fine with it?” He asked, “When she told you she loved you, did you look the way you do now?”

“Did I-?” He paused before he remembered the day they went to the beach, “No…I-“

“So you assumed she would be happy with someone you’re not? Not only that, but do you really think that she would want you of all people to be uncomfortable all for the sake of her happiness?”

“I…I don’t know…”

“Then you only really thought about yourself today, didn’t you? I didn’t tell you to be yourself for your benefit, I did it for both of you.”

“Yeah…I-“ he then paused, “Wait, no, I guess…I did something for her, I got her a gift and-“ He inhaled sharply before he reverted to his human form, “Oh no! No no!!!” He then turned and raced out of the warehouse.

Goko’s Home

Goko paced nervously back and forth in her living room with her phone held to her ear. “Come on…where are you? Pick up…!” She then groaned as the call went to voicemail, “Bintaro…you said you’d meet me at home.” She then hung up the phone before she walked over to the couch and sat down. She then fell onto her side before she slightly rolled onto her stomach. Tears began to build in her eyes as she said, “It’s my birthday and you said you’d get a cake..it’s been hours…I don’t want I think you forgot about me…” She then sat up as she heard a knock from the door. She sniffled and wiped her tears before calling, “Give me a second!” After getting herself together she walked over to the door and opened it. “Oh…” Goko said as she saw Phoebe standing in the doorway with a small wrapped back,

“Um…hi, can I-“ She then paused, “Nevermind, look, I’m sorry I nearly, accidentally, killed your boyfriend. I didn’t know he was your boyfriend, and I just-“

“It’s okay,” Goko responded, “Honestly…I don’t know if he even wants to be my boyfriend anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“He showed up today acting a bit weird, and he went above and beyond and did so much for me, and we saw a movie and it was great and then we split up so I could do errands. He said he’d meet me back here, but I’ve been home for a few hours and he wasn’t here when I got home.”

“I’m sure he’s just running late, maybe the roads are backed up or something.”

“Yeah, but he hasn’t answered my calls.”

“His phone probably died,” Phoebe replied, “Anyways…um, I just wanted to give you this.” She handed Goko the small wrapped box which Goko took and began to unwrap. “It took me forever to make it, but I knew I’d have it done in time for your birthday so…ya know.” Goko then opened the box and pulled out a small snow globe, “They’re usually a Christmas thing, but…I remember you saying you’ve always wanted to have snow around your house even though it was kind of impossible, so I-“

“I get it,” Goko said as she looked at the small replica of her house inside the snow globe, “It’s perfect, thank you.”

“Y-Yeah…” Phoebe responded as her cheeks began to turn red, “Goko, there’s something I want to tell you. Something I’ve been meaning to tell you since we met.”

“Hm? What is it?” Goko asked giving Phoebe her attention,

“Well…uh…” She cleared her throat, “I…uh…I guess I don’t know really how to put this, but….I’m-“ She then stiffened up as Yaguchi came up from behind her.

“Phoebe.” He said,

“I-I was just leaving!” Phoebe said as she swallowed heavily as beads of sweat ran down her face, “I-I’ll see you later, Goko!!!” And with that Phoebe then sped off. Goko gave a dull growl and a glare as she turned and walked back into her living room. Yaguchi entered the house and closed the door behind him.

“You’ve redecorated.” He said,

“Yep,” Goko said as she placed her new snow globe on the entertainment center, “All by myself.”

“Yeah,” he then cleared his throat before saying, “Anyways, I-“

“Was it really you?” Goko asked as she walked over to him and folded her arms.

“What do you mean?”

“Everything that happened today wirh Bintaro, was it all really your doing?”

After a pause he responded, “In my defense, he didn’t know it was your birthday.”

“Yeah, and?!” Goko said, starting to get upset, “You didn’t have to go and make him do all that for me! You could’ve just told him it was my birthday! And now because of this you’ve probably scared him off! I expected to meet him back here a few hours ago but he hasn’t even shown up!”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“I don’t know!!!” Goko said as she tugged on her hair and walked over to the couch where she sat down. She clenched her teeth and moved her hands to her face to prevent herself from crying. “I’ve never EVER had a boyfriend and you know that! You also know that I just want to be human!!! Whenever I’m around him he makes me feel more human than I know I’ll ever be!!! You don’t understand just what he means to me!!! You’re my Godfather, and I love you, but you’re not the only man in my life who I love now! I love Bintaro so much!! And if he doesn’t want to see me again and it’s because of you I-“ She then scoffed before she began to sob, “I don’t know if I can ever forgive you!”

Yaguchi sighed as he placed his hands in his pockets, “He means a lot to you, huh?”

“He means everything to me! How…” She then stood up and looked him in the eyes, “HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING?!?!! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?!!!”

“Would you believe me if I told you it was out of love? I never intended for-“

“OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T!!! YOU JUST-“ She then growled as she then began to pace again. She wiped the tears from her eyes before she stopped and asked. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe you’re just-“ She was then cut off by the front door opening. The two of them turned to see Bintaro walk in the door. Bintaro swallowed nervously as he said,

“S-Sorry, the door was just-“

“BABY!!!” Goko cried as she raced across the room and began to sob into his chest, “I THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T WANT TO SEE ME!!!”

“What? No. Of course not. I just…” He then sighed, “It’s a long story.”

“Okay…” She said as she started to calm down and wipe more of her tears. “Well…you’re here now…”

“Uh…yeah…”

As she began to look up at him she said, “What took you so-“ she then gasped as she looked at his face. He had a rather bad looking black eye. “Your eye!! What happened?!” She took his hand and took him through the living room before going into the kitchen. She let go of his hand to open the freezer, “Did you fall? Did you run into something?! Were you jumped?!?!!! What happened?!?!!!”

“Messuhara-San-“

“Come here!” She responded as she pulled a bag of frozen corn from the freezer before she walked over to the counter where she turned and jumped up on it. She pulled him close to her and gently placed the frozen corn on his eye. She winced as she said, “This looks really bad. What happened? What took you so long? I was worried!”

“Messuhara-San…I-“ His lip quivered before he shook his head,

“What’s wrong?” She asked as he leaned forward and placed his hands on the counter top while hanging his head. “You can talk to me, what happened?”

“I’m sorry…about everything, about today, about-“

“You didn’t know it was my birthday, it’s okay, I forgive you-“

“No…” he responded as he then looked into her eyes as tears streamed down her face, “I’m sorry for all of this!” He responded as he gestured to himself, “This, this isn’t me! It’s not me! It’s never been me, and it never will be! I felt so bad for not knowing today was your birthday, that I began to do everything I could to make sure it was perfect. I mean, for heaven’s sake, Messuhara-San…you are the perfect woman and I have never met anyone like you. I just felt that if I didn’t make things right, and I didn’t do it in a way that made you the happiest, then I would’ve failed! Not only that but I thought maybe you’d hate me, or that you’d want to leave me, or even-“

“Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know,” he responded as he shook his head, “I don’t know, because I wake up everyday more in love with you than I was the day before, and even when that happens I feel I’m never going to be good enough, and I’ve felt this way since we met because you’re just ABOVE my league, and I don’t know why you bother being with someone like-“

She cut him off with a gentle loving kiss on the lips. A few moments later she pulled away from him as she said, “Okay, you listen to me, even if it were true that I’m above your league, then I don’t care. You’re the man I want, the only man I could ever want, and the man that I need.”

“Yeah, but if I had just been myself then-“

“You were yourself,” she responded, “For as long as I’ve known you, you’re exactly the type of person who’d do anything to make someone else happy. And if something made you uncomfortable then you’d tell me about it. I was a bit worried today though, it went on for much longer than I thought it would, and I’ve been worried sick for the past few hours…but you’re still you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck as she gently pressed her forehead against his. They closed their eyes as she said, “I love you, I really do. Please don’t do this again, I was so worried.”

“Yeah…I understand…”

“Okay,” She said as she ran her fingers through his hair before she tilted her head so that their lips met. He kissed her in return as he moved his hands from the countertops to her thighs and eventually onto her hips. As they pulled away from each other he cleared his throat as he said,

“U-Um…anyways, I got you a cake, like I promised.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a folded up newspaper, “It was all I could afford.” He unwrapped the news paper to reveal some pink and orange pieces of sponge cake, “The uh…man I got them from, he said it was his daughters recipe, and it’s a peach and strawberry flavored cake.”

“Wow,” she said with a soft smile, “Sponge cake, how’d you know it was my favorite?”

“I didn’t know…”

“That’s okay, now you do.” She said, “It’s perfect.” She then picked up a piece of the sponge cake and took a bite. Her face lit up before she closed her eyes and said, “Oooh~! It’s so good~!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Want to try some?”

“Oh, uh, okay!”

Yaguchi watched the two of them from a distance as his right eye twitched before its color flickered a violet color. “Do you still think there’s someone out there for a guy like us?” A voice asked Yaguchi from the back of his skull,

“I dunno…maybe,” He then turned and began to leave the house, “For now, I’m not focused on that.” He walked out the front door and then pulled it shut.

“Looks like our little girl has become a woman.”

“Yeah,” Yaguchi said with a smile of reassurance, “She really has.”

A//N

OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED FOR A MONTH!!!! THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG BECAUSE THERE WAS A LOT THAT NEEDED TO BE ADDRESSED AND SET UP!!! FOR EXAMPLE YAGUCHI IS GETTING A PREQUEL SPIN-OFF ABOUT HOW HE BECAME KAIJIN RIDER!!! NOT TO MENTION I REALLY WANTED TO DISPLAY EXACTLY HOW BINTARO FEELS ABOUT HER SINCE WE PRETTY MUCH KNOW WHAT SHE FEELS FOR HIM!!!! I'M SO SORRY AGAIN!!! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!!