Mastery of Bated Breath [Private]

[Omoi Tetsu]

”I guess the kind of girl I’m looking for,” Tetsu started and then paused, as if considering a deeply philosophical question, ”Well, someone who’s a natural beauty, obviously, who understand that my fame will have to come first if I want to support us, even if that occasionally means other women will shower me with praise and adoration.” Another pause as he listened to a question coming from behind the camera. ”Am I famous? Some would say so, yes. They call me the Demon of the Mountain Pass.” And here, Tetsu adjusted himself on his little director’s chair, trying to flex his forearms as much as possible for the camera.

Was that why the crew had found themselves in one of the dingiest restaurants in the village? So the boy could prove he wasn’t afraid of the riff raff that passed through it? No, he assured them, he just liked their udon noodle baconator. ”So, any more questions for me, or...” He didn’t mind the lights burning his face a little, hot as it apparently was to be well lit for an interview, because he knew how important it was for the camera crew to really understand and capture his character. ”No, we’re good for now, thanks.” Came the uninspired response, so he thought he’d at least help them set up for the next shot. Not with carrying the equipment over, obviously, the camera crew had to earn their television salaries in some way. Instead, he went over to the producer, who was in the middle of talking to the script supervisor about outfits or something. ”So I was thinking, even though you technically filmed me first, when you’re cutting it, it’s obviously going to be more dramatic if it looks like the girl has been waiting for me all this time.”

”Midori?” He asked, peeling his eyes away from the piece of paper he was holding.

”Who? Anyway, so with the double doors here in the entrance, I could kind of push open both of them and sort of swing my head, like this, if you’re able to film in slow motion, that is-“

”Listen, kid, I appreciate the advice, and we’ll take it into consideration, but we’ve got some basic shots we need to get through first, so just go sit and wait in your booth for now.” And Tetsu, hearing this, muttered some obscenities to himself, walked over to the red pleather booth they were going to be having their meal in, and slunk down into one of the cut up spots, folding his arms and frowning as he did so. It was clear the crew didn’t know how to properly stage drama, and he was actually being quite nice to them while he subtly trying to usher them down a slightly more artistic path. Well, if they only knew how to produce schlock, it was no wonder they couldn’t recognize actual talent when they saw it.

The date hadn’t even started and it felt like it would never end.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

"MIDORI!!! MIDORI!! NOTICE ME MIDORI!!!" the sound of a loud roar could be heard from outside of the dingy restaurant. The clicking sounds of cameras and the flashing of lights could be seen from the windows facing forward of the restaurant. The camera crew turned their attention from 'The Demon of the Mountain Pass'. The door to the dingy restaurant flung open with a girl dressed extremely flamboyantly walking in. Her long, radiant blonde hair bounced with each step as she flicked her hair in a flirtatious manner, turning around and blowing a kiss to her fans that were outside. "I have something to do, alright darlings? I'll give you all some love when I'm done with this gig, okay?" she asked as the sweaty neckbeards all say "Alright, M'lady Midori!" before the door to the restaurant was closed. She shivered a bit before noticing the camera crew for this date. She smiled and waved to the camera crew, performing for the camera before even noticing whomever she was paired up with.

Jumping to conclusions, Midori walked over to a boy her age that she found attractive. No, she didn't walk over to Tetsu, but it was some other guy. She plopped in the seat directly opposite of the guy and flashed a big smile. "So you're the cutie that I'm going to go on a blind date with today?" she asked before the director shouted "Cut, cut," which dragged the famous pop-idol's attention towards the producer with a confused look upon her face. "What? This isn't the guy?" she asked as she pointed at the guy she sat across from, looking at the director with a disappointed and deflated expression. The director pointed at Tetsu for a moment, causing her to look at him for a moment. She eyeballed him before turning to the guy and made the hand-gesture to 'call me' before standing up and waiting for the camera to start rolling. Once the camera started to roll, she walked over to Tetsu, who sat upon the red pleather seating in the booth and put on a great act.

Her hands were clasped over her lap and she bowed to Tetsu. "Oh! You must be Tetsu. My name is Midori. You probably seen the posters everywhere, ya know. I'm like, super famous and all that," she said. She belonged to a popular girl idol group 'I-B-H8-N'. She slid into the weird pleather seating, it making sounds like she farted; but it was definitely the seat. She put her hand over her mouth and stared at the camera, looking faux surprised. "It was the chair, I swear!" she said in a flirtatious manner. Being next to Midori, she smelled like wildflowers and her complexion was creamy and smooth; almost as if she was forced to concentrate on her appearances for many hours a day.

"So, um," she said as she looked around for a moment. "Why'd you pick this dump? Oh, and you look kinda old. How old are you exactly?"

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

Tetsu had no problem picking the girl out as soon as she came into the restaurant as his date, and no, it wasn't just because you'd rarely find a girl who looked so... sparkly and clean coming into a place like this on her own (it wasn't exactly a date destination either). No, Tetsu recognized star power when he saw it. Nevermind the fact that he could hear the girl's adoring fans at the doorway, he would've probably recognized it anyway. Finally this TV crew found something they couldn't mess up. He wasn't exactly expecting to get paired up with another star, but actually it might not be the worse thing in the world; the boy was obviously going to be quite popular the moment he graced the screen, and since this girl already had an audience, well... Well, they kind of sounded like losers, actually, but it didn't change the fact the you'd be combining audiences, and the boy didn't mind raising her up to his level since she obviously had what it took to be popular.

The boy straightened himself out in his chair as he waited to gallantly introduce himself. Part of that probably involved pulling a girl's chair out, but there was no real option for that with booths; instead, he'd just lean sideways a bit so he could lift his arm up on the booth beside him. It was a bit high, and actually he didn't feel comfortable, but what choice did he have? He had to find some way to look casual, even if it did feel very awkward and uncomfortable. Then she sat... In the other booth? No, that couldn't be right. He looked over at the DP, wondering if he was actually wrong about this girl being his date. It was possible, he guessed, that the station could have been hosting two dates in a crumby restaurant like this, but then who is it he got stuck with then? This was an outrage! Double booking a date beside his own? Completely unprofessional. The boy was about to have some words with the crew, but the DP actually looked as confused as he was, staring over at the girl, and then the director, before the director called for a cut.

As expected, the crew really had no idea what they were doing. The girl sitting at the wrong table and thinking she was someone else's date was obviously great television, but, what could he do. This would be his first television appearance, it's not like he could reasonably expect the best. He was still internally laughing at the crew when he saw his soon-to-be girlfriend motion to this other guy to call her. Jeez, talk about desperate. He thought to himself as a vein popped out of his forehead.

"Oh! You must be Tetsu. My name is Midori. You probably seen the posters everywhere, ya know. I'm like, super famous and all that," Yep, it was pretty impressive how narcissistic some people could get; Tetsu had never even heard her name before, which meant she couldn't have been all that big a deal. Of course... He didn't own a television or radio, but the girl just didn't come off to him as someone who could be truly famous in Kumo. Too much ego, quite frankly.

As she sat down, Tetsu got a whiff of her perfume, and felt like he was being briefly carried away by it. She did smell lovely though, and she was pretty beautiful now that he thought of it. No! He had to be strong here, the battle had only just begun. As expected of a low level rival like this girl, she'd come in with a bit of adversarial banter; make no mistake about it, when rising stars recognize each other, even the low level brats will take it as an opportunity to establish dominance. This wouldn't go as well as the girl expected.

"You think this place is a dump?" The boy grinned. She wasn't the only one who came there prepared for a fight. "You must have been pretty desperate to be on TV to come here then, right?" He wanted to sit back in his chair and casually take a sip of water while he waited for her response, but sadly he hadn't thought ahead far enough to bring himself a prop to aid in his calculatedly relaxed look. It was true that he had faced off against deadly killers before, but this was the first time in a long time that he had to try forcibly calm down his racing heart. There was too much at stake here. "I'm 17," He said as quickly as he could remember to do so, putting his previously deriding comment in the past, where she'd look insecure now addressing it. "How about you?" 'That's right,' He thought, looking coldly into her eyes, 'your attempt to put me below you as a stepping stone just blew up in your face, didn't it?' That she thinks the restaurant is too dumpy, that she thought he was too old for her, these were all things where, put in the right light, made her look desperate, didn't they? Tetsu would be sure to guide that light at every step of the way here.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Midori flipped her hair about flirtatiously before eyeballing the one she was paired up with; a look of displeasure was written across her face. It was obvious, to her, that she wasn't going to enjoy her time with the person she was put together with. However, her appearance on camera had to show some kind of showmanship with her flashing off a smile. "Oh, no. My agent put me on this show without my consent saying that I needed more television coverage as a means of exposure for the group," she simply explained. The director will have to cut that out of post-production due to their contract with her record-label in order to get SOMEONE from 'I-B-H8-N' on their television show. Putting a member of the group in a bad light will terminate any and all contracts in the future. Besides, she was forced to be on this show to make the girls, as young as they are, seemingly viable for dating; even if the exact opposite was the truth.

Moving her hand to throw some hair over her ear, she raised a brow at the boy and his supposed age. "17, you say? You look like you're in your mid-20s. Thank goodness they didn't pair me with someone like that. But I'm not allowed to tell you my age, but I'm about that same age, we'll say," she said coyly. She placed her elbow upon the table and rested her chin upon her palm and looked to him from the sides of her eyes. "So, what does a guy like you do, hm? You already know what my career is so how about you? With your rugged looks, I'm pretty sure you're one of those ninja in this village, hmm?" she asked almost not surprised if it was the truth. Certainly her group had done several ninja-themed songs and even dressed like the classical ninja-of-old, but her actual exposure to the ninja in the village had been quite limited. It's not that she didn't care about the ninja of the village, she just didn't believe they'd be into her kind of pop-music. Not too many ninja, aside from her senpai, ever showed up to fan-meets or appear at any of her concerts. The joke about an empty room being filled with ninjas also didn't escape her either; she felt it was a pretty dumb joke.

There was an awkward silence, which Midori knows will get cut out (to some degree) as she sat around waiting for the boy to say something to her. To say something interesting on a TV show so that the episode isn't a huge flop, though the lack of much will probably be used to tease the two by the editors more than anything. After a few moments of silence, she turned back towards Tatsu and leaned into him, resting her body upon his and placing her hand upon his knee. "Well, since I'm here, what is there good to eat, hmm?"

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

The girl seemed to be dropping her mask a little, to Tetsu's surprise. In all honesty, it caught him a bit off guard, being used to, as he was, his vile engagement with people resulting in some form or other of barely bridled rage. Was it because the girl just wasn't insecure enough for Tetsu's mean prodding to get under her skin? It was tough to say; it didn't really make sense that on the back of that she'd sort of break from her charming character and explain how her little business arrangement with the station worked. Maybe it was nothing though. He did sort of break the third wall first, and it would be a bit unusual if the girl was both wildly popular and also deeply concerned about always doing the right thing; it was the boy's understanding that you needed a kind of manufactured carefree nature to make it as an idol, so maybe some of it wasn't manufactured.

Next, she called him old, which was fine. It wasn't like any girl thought seventeen year olds, in general, were sexier than twenty years old, which was truly why he indulged in so much drinking; to artificially age himself a few years. Still, he recognized it for the slight it was intended as, and nodded to the girl in acknowledgment for her efforts. She did manage to guess his job though, so that was fairly impressive, since he figured most people would have pegged him for a panhandler. "You've got it," he started, "I don't want to brag," He did, "But I was so impressive in my last mission that our Jounin commander basically handed over the reigns to me for the next one. It's a good thing you caught me now, I might be a bit too busy to see people once they promote me to Kage here." It wasn't really, so much, entirely, that Tetsu believed things like this ever convinced those around him of his greatness, although he liked to convince himself that this was the case, but it might have been a little more accurate to say that he simply loved the sound of his own voice. That is to say, merely saying these things about himself out loud made him feel good, and came with the added bonus that those that believed him could fan his ego, and those who didn't offered him a little bit of sport to sharpen his with with. What was more surprising then this, which the boy never allowed himself to be fully aware of, was the creeping awareness that he was starting to enjoy himself on this date, even forgetting, for a split second, that the cameras existed. The realization itself, though, started to make him feel a bit uncomfortable, as if only just then recognizing the perils of letting your enemy put you at ease, or, perhaps even worse than that, allowing the girl you're on a date with to.

This was aggravated all the more by the fact that the girl suddenly nuzzled into him, putting her delicate hand on his knee as her beautifully perfumed body pressed up against him. Red Alert! Suddenly, his senses were being overloaded, compromising his ability to make clear judgments. Had this been his opponent's plan all along? To put him off his guard just long enough to jeopardize his cognitive functioning? Was this where she'd land her killing blow in response to his earlier transgressions? He couldn't even assess the danger, all he could think of was how surprisingly intoxicating the smell of flowers and vanilla and whatever else was in her perfume was. Was this the way a soldier behaved?! Giving his life up to his enemy because of the smell of a few flowers? Was he a killer or a poet? A man, or a sopping pile of dough? He slapped his face internally as his body inadvertently tightened up. He couldn't lose here, he still had so much of life to live.

"Well, since I'm here, what is there good to eat, hmm?"

This was his only chance to fight back, he knew, before his very identity was lost. "Well, I'd go with their Yakitori and so much mori but I'm not going to lose any sponsorships if I eat it. We could get two and a bucket to spit it up in if you like." The boy flashed her a mean spirit, shark that he was. Listen though, it wasn't his fault he always defaulted to aggression, it was his job, he just took it home with him. He really was wondering if he truly wanted any of this episode to air though; on one hand, he wanted to be famous sooner, but on the other, survival came first.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

She listened to Tetsu talk, spinning tales of his adventures. She placed her elbow upon the table and rest her chin upon her palm. Her eyes turned towards him with faux-excitement before leaning in. "You don't say! I bet you were SUCH a WARRIOR during your last mission. You must be so brave," she said in a strange attempt to appear interested, when it was obvious that she wasn't (not in the slightest). It was then that Tetsu said that she was lucky to catch him when she did, causing her to sit up straight, gasp, and place her hand coquettishly over her mouth. "Well!! I'm honored to be on a blind-date with the future Raikage-sama! Ooooh, wouldn't the tabloids be abuzz," she said as she held her hand out as if to paint a picture. "Former teen idol turned pop-star sensation in a controversial relationship with the 11th Raikage. Pictures and even LEAKED VIDEO of their illicit relationship!" she said as she turned to look towards Tetsu for a moment before flipping her hair.

It was at this moment that she took the time to place her hands upon him and got uncomfortably close. She could feel his body tighten up, causing her to grin and give off a hardly-audible 'heh-heh'. "Oh? That sounds interesting. You think that a hero like you could cover for the meal, hm?" she said as she leaned in, tickling his ears with her breath. "Put on a show, stupid," she whispered into his ear. The camera was rolling and she wanted to give the audience SOMETHING to talk about. Granted, she's going to have to break it off with him officially before the episode was over because that is the curse of being an idol. Regardless of if she liked him or not, she wasn't able to have a relationship due to how idol promotions work. She leaned back and rest her head upon his shoulder before returning to her theatrics.

She pouted a bit and looked up towards him. "Pretty please?" she begged.

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

Maybe he knew somewhere, in some hidden and buried well within himself, that what was obviously true did not change in the face of wishful thinking. That never really stopped a man from believing in a lie though. That a girl could even conceive of putting on a show of affection in front of a televised audience was a thought that was as fleeting as the scent of anything that wasn't the girl's perfume, now completely overtaking the boy's senses. To be perfectly frank, Tetsu had never quite found himself in quite a situation like this. He was used to trudging forward with an enormous ego, having that ego attempted to be checked by the target of his confidence, and then, through shamelessness and wit, destabilizing his opposition by finding a few good buttons to push. That he was exposed to criticisms of his own faults was about as meaningless you'd expect in a battle between a respected member of society and a (usually drunken) vagabond. He didn't really think about these inner workings of his, and here he sat, having them subtly stuffed back in his face. To have his ego stoked to the point where his braggadocio seemed, by contrast, like a humble recognition of the truth, set the boy off balance, as if he had just pushed someone who responded by pulling him into themselves.

He was a warrior, that much was true. He had fought dangerous people, and although he found himself losing in head on collisions with them, and frankly beaten to a pulp in one instance, he'd always find a way to defeat them, in the end, with the strength of his cowardly and thoughtful tactics. If that didn't make you at least a candidate for a future Raikage position, well, he didn't know what would. Surely not simply natural talent, bravery, and diligent hard work, what a simple assessment of things that would be. And brave! Well, he jumped off a cliff to save a girl, didn't he? Actually he was routinely quite reckless, which was practically synonymous with bravery.

Still, there was something about this girl that the boy couldn't quite place his finger on. The way she moved was very dramatically appealing, like her whole body could express some fleeting and abstract emotion, and then, just as you were trying to define exactly what it was, it would be gone as quickly as it had appeared, as if she was taking you on some delightful adventure by gesture and facial expression alone. And then, on the back of this innocent glee, there was also always the innuendo of movements as delicate and orchestrated as these, made all the more pronounced by their punctuations with deliberately salacious or even outright lewd imagery. She'd indulge him in his fantasy of power and prestige, and turn it into a tabloid scandal, where both of them were quite single (as far as he knew). As if she knew that the very prospect of sneaking around, itself, was to be desired, and that's saying nothing of what these hypothetical leaked videos of the two of them may or may not consist of. It was enough to make a simple forest boy like Tetsu positively hot under the collar.

More than that though, there was a suppressed voice yelling out from that deep and invisible well to lash out and protest in some way, as it was. What that voice knew and Tetsu didn't was that the worse thing possible was happening to the boy at the moment; he was being manipulated into wanting to be agreeable and decent to someone else, and to do as they wanted. Thankfully, he wouldn't need to ever come to this conclusion to act on it by different motivations, when the girl finally leaned in and whispered in his ear. Put on a show? For a moment, the thought confused him. What sort of show? Oh that's right, there were cameras present, and those cameras were thirsting for some sort of drama.

What the girl probably meant was to loosen up and indulge in the romance of the televised drama, but what he heard was that he ought to cause a scene. He really felt conflicted too, wanting to escape in that daydream, but he felt inclined to oblige the girl too, modeling himself after the best dramatic performers he knew; his own parents. Only, he didn't quite know what he could possibly yell at the girl for at this point. "Waiter!" The boy finally called out, cluing in to a possible scene he could make. A thin man came shuffling over, the bottom of his shoes lined with oil from the kitchen. "Can't you see my girl and I have been waiting all this time for our orders to be taken."

"Oh, you actually order up at the front" The man said, completely disrespectfully.
The boy shook his head, now doubly wanting to make drama and to avoid being made a fool of by the wait staff, "Do you really think that's appropriate for a film shoot? Does your boss know that you're making this restaurant look bad on television?"
"Well, I own the place."
"Get us some burgers and stop being so useless! Can't you see this woman is starving to death here?!" The boy stood up and slammed his fist on the table. It seemed authentic enough. "Do I really have to emphasize that you're being watched and judged here?" He said unironically.

With the man finally leaving, Tetsu slid back down, emboldened by his artificial demonstration of strength, and cupped the girl by the small of her exposed waist. Now this was a date.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

His assertiveness when asking for the waiter caused her to raise a brow. It wasn't in inquiry but it was of her being impressed by his quick and snap change upon the demand to 'put on a show'. The fact that he took 'ownership' of her was also something she found to be good for television. Her persona, in the girl-band that she belonged to, was that of the loose flirt. She hated every moment of that persona but it was something that she had to remain consistent with. To remain in 'kay-fabe' was something that kept her paying the bills, even if she was the polar opposite. She wasn't even all that interested in the opposite sex, favoring females FAR more than men. Thankfully, due to her status as an idol, she wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend. Playing the flirt (and loose one) played on the fantasies of young (and older) men that drove them wild. If she were to have chosen her persona, it would've been the quiet and shy type; reflecting her actual behavior. Through extensive acting classes, she took on this role quite convincingly.

There was nothing about this guy that attracted her to him. He was cocky, full of himself, and didn't seem to do anything that wouldn't benefit himself. However, appearances are important and she had to maintain hers for the sake of her group and herself. She placed fanned-open fingers over her mouth and gave a look of shock towards Tatsu at him mentioning 'his girl' to the waiter. "Mighty possessive of you, don't you think?" she said with a little giggle. "I LIKE this side of you! It's just so," she said as she placed her hand higher up his thigh. "MANLY" she said before lowering her hand back down towards his knee.

She slapped his knee once he started being rude to the waiter. "Oh, c'mon now! Let the man," she said as she looked directly into the camera for a moment then up to the owner of the restaurant. "Do his work," she said with a little wink to the restaurant owner. "We'll meet you up front with the order, sir," she said to the man with a bright and radiant smile before turning to look towards Tetsu. She thought to herself, What a fucking prick, before stating, "Let's not make their day any worse. Wouldn't want to bring the credibility of this place down," she said before leaning in. "Or have them spit in our food," she said to him in hushed tones.

Taking this as her queue to get up and go to the front, she slid out of the booth and held her hand out towards Tetsu, like she would to her audience during a concert, and waited for him to take her hand. "Let's go order up front. It'll be fine!" she said.

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

Tetsu tried not to look directly at the girl's hand as she slid it slowly up his thigh. On the surface of that touch was, more than anything, a kind of feeling of success. He had pulled himself up from nothing, or this was the start of that journey, from being homeless to training in the woods to winning in a few difficult missions, and now, to this; a beautiful girl touching him, to broadcast his love to countless jealous fans, including those that had been shunted at the doorway to the restaurant, men who might be him if he allowed himself to give up and become a loser. If he was thinking, he'd find it suspicious that the girl went from motioning to another boy to call her, to calling him old, to now being all over him, all within the span of a few minutes, but he wasn't going to question his good fortune. Who was this girl though? He had a sense that there was a certain degree of... Opacity to her. He had only managed to survive for as long as he had, at least in missions, by targeting this quality in people with a certain degree of mental acuity, enough to realize that no one ever really told the truth, that they hid what they were afraid of, what they wanted, or what deeply injured them, from other people. What they wanted the most, all of these people realized, depended in some way or another on other people. They wanted recognition, or a path to atone for some sin, control over people, self-confidence, love, but most would settle for an escape, or to preserve that which made them most vulnerable to antagonism for just one more day. In other words, the decision to avoid failing would always be chosen over the decision that could lead to them accomplishing what they really wanted, and so they would choose to remain in the solitude of their own thoughts despite knowing that they were lying to themselves by doing so. Knowing this, assuming the duplicity of others, both to themselves and the outside world, offered Tetsu a gateway into expediting victory over them, because he realized what they didn't; that they would probably rather avoid failing, even if it costed them their success.

"I LIKE this side of you! It's just so MANLY." He just couldn't seem to fail here. It was fairly obvious, when the boy thought of it, why the girl was fawning all over him. He was protecting the village, right? Maybe he didn't think of it exactly in those terms, but it was true. He had to go toe to toe with some seriously dangerous people, and survived at every turn up until this point. Of course he was manly, he was practically supporting the whole weight of the village, and everyone that lived cushy lives within it, on his own two shoulders. He didn't know if this was true before meeting Midori, but maybe girls outside of the shinobi world really did look up to these warriors. Tetsu tried to discreetly smell his armpit as he wrapped his arm around the girl that was lathering him in praise, "Well, I kind of have to be strong to ward off all the evils threatening to destroy our little slice of paradise here." He waved his hands across the table, as if presenting the village as a whole while he spoke of it. He thought that maybe he had cleaned up well enough after bathing in the river earlier that day, but he certainly didn't smell as nicely as the girl, and so, did she have a more refined sense of smell that could really pick up on what he might not be able to? For a moment, looking at her clearly expensive outfit without a speck of dirt on it, Tetsu felt a fleeting and hot feeling pass over him. Jealousy. He didn't know where it had come from, but seeing how silly it was, as it was being targeted at women's clothing, he quickly and successfully swept it aside.

This was one of the first times Tetsu had ever held a woman, and he had to remind himself not to get lost in the feeling of simply being next to her, and of touching someone who actually liked him. He still had a job to do, he reminded himself, and wasn't going to succumb to the weakness of the moment and forget the mission. He needed to impress her, and even if she was impressed with him enough up until that point, he lied to himself, there was work to be done until the end of the date and the many that would follow before he could actually relax in the confidence of having secured what he had wanted. As the girl slapped his knee, telling him not to make the waiter's job any more difficult, he felt a flush of annoyance wash over him, somewhat disproportionate to what had caused it. More than being made to look like a heel in front of the camera, which was something that he could ultimately tolerate, what he couldn't stand was that his major virtue, that of being able to get people to do what he wanted despite their own emotional response to his overall belligerence, was now being rejected. Quite frankly, if the girl wasn't going to be happy with this frankly rare and very useful ability of his, he wasn't really sure what other little magic tricks he could pull out of his sleeve here. God help him, these women, it seemed, must have had some impression that men were just an endless wellspring of little tricks that could be brought out to make a good impression with them. He shook his head. She was in for a rude awakening with the rest of the world. And what's more than that, he felt himself digging his heels in at the thought of now following her lead in the complete opposite direction he was carrying the date toward. Was he going to be a dog led around by a leash just because this girl smelled nice and was maybe a little bit pretty? Maybe some other chump, but not him. He felt he was being manipulated into doing it, even though she explained her reasoning, but the feeling was too strong to ignore, and so it must have been founded in reason somewhere along the line. For a moment, the boy crossed his arms silently and didn't budge, trying to think of something more clever to say than "NO!", but nothing immediately came. "Well, if you want it," He finally started, trying to hide how unreasonably sour and childish he had become, "You already know what I want, right?" He smiled at her, his annoyance thinly veiled, but the implication was clear in the rhetorical question. If she was going off to do the good Samaritan work, she was going to do it on her own. It was clear, after all, that the girl was trying to embarrass him, and he literally wasn't going to stand for it.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

~Slice of Paradise? He's got to be joking. There isn't a single beach here and he calls this frigid Hell -- Paradise? What a goober!~ she thought to herself before she nodded her head to him and smiled. "Oh! I see. How brave of you!" she said in an excited tone. ~I have so many super-cute bikinis I want to wear on a hot day at the beach! But no!! Can only wear it at the hot-spring! It's not the same, damnit! And a photo-shoot of me rolling around in the sand would get me SO many ratings! It would definitely put me over TK-sama in terms of popularity. But her boobs are WAY too big. Ugh! I could really use a pair of those to help with my popularity! Ugh!~ she thought to herself as she pretended to watch Tetsu be a complete prick to the store's owner.

She remained lost in her thoughts until Tetsu spoke to her, asking her a question. Did she know what he wanted? She didn't even know what she wanted let alone know what he wanted. This caused her to almost lose her mind. The vein in her forehead was visible to the camera before she stopped and turned to look towards Tetsu. "I'm not your bitch and I won't be treated like your slave either," she said as she turned to look at the camera, making the 'cut' hand-gesture before standing up with her hands upon her hips, staring down at Tetsu. "I've never met such a selfish, self-centered man like you EVER in my life. How can you live with yourself!? You treat others like crap to fulfill yourself without caring about how they feel,[glow]" she said as she starts to point a finger at him. The camera continued to roll. It was good material even if the date went sour.

"You'll NEVER get a girlfriend with that self-entitled attitude of yours. Ugh! Scum-bag!" she said as she lowered her hands down to her side and stormed out of the restaurant. The camera crew started to follow after Midori with her just cursing and elbowing her way through the crowd of people that stayed by the door of the restaurant. They tried to question her about the date only for her to simply vanish into the thick crowd, causing the camera crew to give up chasing after her and reappear back in the restaurant. With a 'sparkling' noise, the show's host appeared from out of nowhere and took a seat next to Tetsu.

"Oooo, a bit of a rough one there, huh? So, how do you think this date went, hm?" she asked, holding the microphone that was in her hand over towards Tetsu. It wasn't meant for him to take, only talk into. She ended up firing off another couple questions. "Didn't seem like a lot of chemistry was there. What do you think went wrong with the date? And would you be willing to try this again with someone a bit different?" the host asked, waiting for answers from Tetsu.

[Tetsu's date ran off with a huff. Question time!]

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

Some people never learn. The boy tried not to shift around too uncomfortably as he sat there, silently accepting the criticisms being dumped on him before the girl stormed out. It was actually fairly rare, outside of the shinobi world, for a person to muster up, out of frustration, the confrontational energy needed to point out to someone their character flaws and what they need to do to correct themselves. Of course, when the interaction is phrased as politely as this, it's easy to imagine that there is some lesson to be learned from the failure, and that the brow beating could somehow be transformed into a learning experience. Anyone whose been on the receiving end of one, however, knows that this is the least likely conclusion to emerge from the discomfort of what they've just received. In Tetsu's case in particular, this was compounded by the fact of his particularly durable nature; this wasn't, as the girl insinuated, the result of a selfishness so encompassing that he had no chance in hell of ever finding a girl who would like him in his current state. No, just look at how quickly Midori had changed her tune from adoration to despising him, and at the slightest prompting too. There was no possible way that she had only just then begun to hate Tetsu, her outburst meant she was lying through the whole date. She was a snake, in other words, and Tetsu's antagonism exposed her real nature. And so, he concluded, it was a good thing he was, as Midori put it, a scum-bag. His self-satisfied grin didn't feel particularly good when it crept up on his face, but he knew that that too was because, well, it must be expected that you wouldn't feel too great in any circumstance if your date yelled at you and then stormed off, right? Nothing to warrant introspection there.

Now, with that question effectively answered and suppressed, Tetsu could get to the real issue at hand here; the publicity. He was aware of the optics, so to speak, of him demanding things from the waiter and then getting yelled at for it by his date, but that girl, just now, made a critical mistake, the very worst one, in fact, you could make in a situation like this. She left. And that meant that Tetsu could set to the task of destroying the poor girl's career without any voice of dissent to speak up against the little narrative he was currently brewing as he digested the interviewer's questions. For if there was one flaw that the boy certainly had in greater intensity than selfishness, it was spite. Not that, well... He was unlikely to actually put a dent in the superstar's career here, but Gosh darn it, he was going to do his best. "I just asked for her to order for me." The boy looked at the camera in faux-cluelessness, "Since she was touching my thigh and whispering in my ear so early in the date, I just assumed Midori was enjoying herself, but it seems like she was just pretending for the camera." He leaned back now, furrowing his brow as if in deep contemplation. Really, he was just getting into the stride of what he did best, "I guess I really should have gone up to the counter and interrupted the show on her demand, but it really makes me wonder, you know, if someone with such a short temper like that is really also lying to all her adoring fans that she pretends to love, just to be in control of that situation too." Really, Tetsu had no idea if the camera was buying his little ploy here, but it was at least somewhat safe to assume that Tetsu was more in his native element in winning a fight like this than his absent date was. "I know I should be upset and maybe reflect on what she said, but actually I'm glad I was able to see that Midori was a false person early on." He looked over at the doorway that his date had escaped out of. You really did have to be smart about when you chose to indulge in catharsis, Tetsu wanted to make sure that the girl learned a lesson like that today.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Tetsu answered his questions and Eros just smiled and nodded to him. The camera crew could probably say something entirely different, but that's not the point of this show. She placed a hand upon Tetsu's shoulder while holding the mic in her other hand. "No worries, chum! I'm sure there's a dashing lady out there for you. Well, I guess placing an idol with you was probably a bit of a stretch, but consider that as you playing the dating game on Hardcore mode right?" she said with a cheery smile before leaning in to give him a hug. She leaned back and turned to look at the camera, holding the microphone up to her face. Midori wasn't too happy that Tetsu completely bashed the representative of one of their biggest donators for this pilot season of the show. She wasn't allowed to show the displeasure, because she'd rather just keep her job.

Before speaking into the camera, she turned her head towards Tetsu and spoke into the mic. "What if we put you two on a date off-camera to see how the chemistry is. Something off-the-books and perhaps her dating you as herself. How would that sound?" she asked before flashing a bright smile. She then turned towards the camera and spoke into it. "Not every romantic encounter works in the best possible ways. Even the brightest stars of both the music world and of the shinobi world can grow dim when next to one another. But given another chance, maybe a spark of interest can flare up. That's it for this episode of Blind Ninja Dates! Shine-on, lovers! This is Eros, signing out!" she said before giving a kawaii hand gesture and the director shouts out "And cut!" before her body relaxes and turned to look back towards Tetsu.

"Seriously, though. If you'd like another chance at her, we can set up a date for you. She'd be more than required to oblige. Contracts and all," she said, turning towards the camera crew to ensure the camera was off. The camera crew started to pack their stuff up and pay the restaurant owner a large sum of money to have the date take place here -- and for any irreparable damage that either of the 2 stars have done to the restaurant's reputation.

 

[Omoi Tetsu]

The boy's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly as the winged lady insinuated why the date had failed. 'What are you trying to say was a stretch?' He wanted to ask, but the boy also understood the fine art of choosing which battles you engaged yourself in. Was his goal to smear this girl and hurt her career, or lash out at every little thing that annoyed him? Tetsu sat back in his seat and plastered a pleasant smile on his face as he waited for the host to finish.

Was that a sympathy hug he just received? Oddly enough, the embarrassment of something like that seemed to be at least undercut a little by the cuteness of the host. It was a bit like getting a participation award; everyone knows it's nonsense, but it still feels good to hold a medal, or a certificate, in your hands. It was a glass of water to swallow the pill with.

What followed from this was one of the most bizarre propositions to come out of the whole date. The boy had to re-adjust himself as he considered what he'd just been offered. 'Did he want...' he was trying to understand the proposition being forward to him, 'Did he want to force this girl to go on a second date with him?' There was a chance he was misunderstanding the situation, but he knew Midori didn't want to go on a date, and so he couldn't quite come up with another way to interpret the offer. The world of television was a strange and interesting place, as it turned out. As to the question at hand; after publicly smearing her, would he be interested in sitting down with the girl in a situation she was forced to show up for, and rub that fact in her face? Well, Tetsu was expected to kill people; that was right there baked into his job title, and so a little bit of light recreational sadism was surely something he could be forgiven for enjoying when the odd opportunity poked it's face in. The offer was further clarified in the boy's mind when the cupid-esque entertainer made the situation very clear and off camera, as well. "I'd love to. Sounds great." He offered up his most non-belligerent response. There was no reason, after all, to put forward any commentary on an offer that had been made very plainly, and the boy was certainly not going to risk talking himself out of a deal here. "I gave your producers my number, please have her call me with it and I'll arrange something." And here, the boy stood up, still hungry, and flashed the 'waiter' one final annoyed look as he nodded politely to the camera crew and made his way out of the restaurant. He hoped the kitchen had already prepared the meal they were about to have to throw away, but realized that the crew what probably have to pay for it anyway. All he knew was that it wasn't his problem.

.
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[Topic Left]

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Eros touched her fingers together as Tetsu agreed to the proposition. "Good! Good! We'll be sure to give her your information. Hopefully things work out in your favor! Take care now," she said as she waved to him with her fingers. She kept this facade until he left and spoke to the producer that was on-site. "Yeah, we're going to plant a camera on Midori during that date. Oh, don't worry about 2-way consent. They don't use it as shinobi so they'll understand," she said as she slouched a bit and kicked back in the chair. "You guys hungry? I'll treat you all to something," she said as she raised her hand up into the air to get the owner's attention.

The owner rolled his eyes and pointed to the sign that said "order up front". She raised a brow and shrugged her shoulders, finding her way up to the front to order something to eat.

[Topic left]
[Giving Tetsu the NPC Midori]