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Ritsuko Enshu’s dating life had hit rock bottom. It seemed that no matter how much she tried, it just wasn’t going anywhere. Cute detective comes in asking about a case and gave her his number? She got to use it once and then got ‘call denied’. Not to mention the endless stream of boring scrubs she was picking through, when she just needed a man who was baller!
Or a woman. Really she wasn’t picky, she’d take anyone at this point as long as they met her extremely high standards… Which was to look attractive and have a personality that wasn’t absolutely awful to be around.
She’d been convinced that being a receptionist in a place that dealt with idols was like a sure-fire way to eventually meet someone interesting who’d be into you, and famous no less. Instead it turned out just because you were hired for your looks (She’d seen Mr Okiura staring, thank you very much) didn’t mean people would actually be interested in them.
So she’d thrown in the towel. She’d decided to try a new way of meeting people, a dating app. In the past she’d shunned these, liking the idea of actually meeting someone before she decided whether or not it was actually worth going out with them.
That was until Mizuki, Lemniscates new girlboss, had listened to her complain about that. She’d wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Decide whether its worth going out with them? You took one look at Date and decided he was worth pursuing, I refuse to believe anyone who wants to go out with him can possibly have THAT high of a standard.”
She’d walked away, but Ritsuko had taken one very important thing from that conversation: Mizuki was right, she tended to jump the gun whenever she saw a hot enough bod in front of her, so it wasn’t like she was actually considering personality much in the first place….
No point in not just finding a cute looking person online and trying them out, right? Worst case scenario they just didn’t go out again, and she let rejection affect her as much as a soft breeze. She was well used to it at this point.
And that was how she ended up here. In an almost abandoned coffee shop, sitting across from one Tokiko Shigure.
Sure the age gap had been pretty noticeable, and the lack of any information about a job on her incredibly cryptic profile had been extremely weird, but damn if she wasn’t a milf. It didn’t matter if there was no evidence she’d been a mother, she had the body of a milf, and Ritsuko had been into it.
Tokiko’s profile has also been pretty fascinating. It had been full of words that Ritsuko wasn’t entirely clear on the definition of, but they’d seemed interesting enough that she’d been sure she wouldn’t get bored.
Unfortunately, Ritsuko was now bored. They’d met at an agreed location, formally introduced themselves (Tokiko had flashed some weird hand symbol, which was pretty much the highlight of the date so far) and Tokiko had walked her down to the coffee place.
And now… they were just sitting in silence, waiting for one of them to make the first move. At least she assumed that’s what was going on. Either that or Tokiko needed to get some caffeine in her before she started getting motivated, which was pretty relatable.
Ritsuko would have made some small talk herself, but she’d been more interested in Tokiko’s fashion sense. Was it really the season to be going around in a turtleneck? By the time she’d finished debating that with herself in an attempt to not die of boredom, their orders had arrived, and Tokiko finally began to speak.
“I’m afraid I may have misled you when it came to the true nature of this meeting. Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Tokiko Shigure, and I’m here representing a group know as Naixatloz.”
Huh. Could’ve sworn she’d heard that name before… Oh right! Iris had talked about it a few times, when her little group hung out in the reception area. Well that probably meant… “Are you, like, a game producer or something? Or something to do with idols?”
Tokiko blinked, looking momentarily surprised. It was the first time she hadn’t had that distant look in her eyes throughout this entire date. That meant she probably wasn’t bored anymore!
“I… No. Naixatloz is an organisation based around a hidden truth about the meaning of our reality. Namely. That it is a simulation. Now, I know that might sound difficult to bel-“
“Oh, so you have got something to do with videogames! Oh but wait, I think some idols are using simulated online models to stream these days… ummm, can you just tell me which one it is?”
“I’m not talking about simulations in either of those senses… though if you keep it in mind, it may make this easier to explain. What I mean is that our reality, much like a videogame is created from code, is false and created by unknown entities. Perhaps for research, perhaps for amusement…”
Boy, she was really talking now. It was quite fascinating actually… not the conversation itself, she wasn’t really grasping any of that, but Tokiko seemed actually engaged now. Ritsuko had thought she’d just not been that interested in this date and had been judging her or something, but she’d actually just been wanting to talk about this ‘nize at loss’ thing the whole time.
Oh! Of course, it all made sense! Tokiko was a nerd!
Normally that’d be kind of a turnoff… but lets face it, most nerds didn’t come with a body like that. That purple hair… was it natural? All sorts of weird hair colours were sprouting up these days, and…
“…now that you’ve heard my reasoning, there is of course two options. You can dismiss me as insane and walk away from the truth, or we can discuss this further.”
Whoops. She’d totally spaced out thinking about that. Well no worries, she knew enough about how to make a date go smoothly, and denying a potential partners interests was not one of them!
Hadn’t Tokiko said something about this not really being a date…? Nah, that made no sense, they’d met on a dating site.
“Can we talk about my interests first? I mean you seemed really into that and I know it’s not one of those options you just gave, but this should probably be a two way thing, you know?”
There it was again. That look as if she’d just said something that didn’t make sense. Well, she did like to think she was full of surprises! Besides, she hadn’t heard a no, sooooo…
“Did you know that yellow-spotted river turtles are a vulnerable species? I know most people like, don’t even know they exist, or think they’re the same as all the other turtles, but….”
Much like Tokiko had, she launched into a speech of her own! Gotta impress these brainy types with some trivia, right? She didn’t really have experience dating this kind of person, but once Tokiko stopped looking so surprised she seemed to be willing to listen along… so she’d count that as a win!
“…which is probably why they’re on of my favourite animals, ya know? Turtles are just soooo cute in general, doncha think?”
“…I suppose.” Tokiko was looking at her like she was some sort of puzzle, and Ritsuko didn’t deny that made her kind of excited. This date was going pretty well now that they’d gotten past the rocky start! “But… I was more wondering if you had any interest in pursuing the truth about the simulation we live in.”
“Uhh… fersher.” She hadn’t picked up on much of it, but it had sounded pretty interesting? Lots of big words. “I just wanted to talk about my interests too, get me? I know you probably don’t get to talk about nais-watchamacallit a lot, but it’d be a pretty boring date if only you got to speak.
“You… still think this is a date.”
“Uh, yeah…? What else could it be?”
“But you’re interested in the simulation theory?”
“You heard me, girl!”
“Do you… understand the simulation theory?”
Uh oh. She could lie, but that was probably a pretty toxic start to a relationship. “Ummm… reality ain’t real?”
“I see.” Tokiko looked into the bottom of her empty mug, clearly trying to decide something. Even Ritsuko could tell that by how concentrated she looked.
“Well, I can hardly accept you as a member like this… I have a proposition for you. Would you be willing to meet me another time, and discuss this more in depth?”
Score! Second date achieved, she knew she still had that magic touch!
“Uh, yeah?! I’d love to!” Tokiko was just… interesting. Ritsuko wanted to hear more, even if she didn’t really understand it… getting to look at Tokiko the whole time was a nice bonus.
“Ah. Good.” Tokiko stood, so she did the same. “I suppose I will pay…” After saying that, she leaned forward to do something. Oh my god, was she going in for a kiss so soon?! Never one to let an opportunity slip past her, Ritsuko immediately went into it, smooching her clean on the lips.
For the first time throughout their entire conversation, Tokiko looked entirely baffled. She didn’t pull away and she didn’t look upset though, so that was a win!
“I… Why did you do that?”
“To end the date, silly!” Oh right, she was a nerd. She probably didn’t get that all this much.
“Ah. Right, this is a date… well, I suppose if you agree to meet me again and talk more about it…” She seemed to be talking to herself a bit. That’s okay, Ritsuko was sure she could probably teach some social skills.
“I was actually about to give you my number though. So we could discuss the next time you wish to learn about the simulation theory.”
“Our second date? Totally!” She tried not to look too eager as she snatched it out of Tokiko’s hands.
“Yes. Second date… This was an interesting experience. I’ll be looking forward to talking again.”
Maybe it was just her imagination, but Ritsuko could swear that Tokiko looked a little red as she left money on the table, turned around, and walked out the doors. Well good! That was just a sign they were both interested in each other!
Should she try and make her boobs more obvious next time? They were her defining features…
She couldn’t keep a stupid grin off her face though, as she walked out of that coffee shop and back home. That had been the best date she’d had in a long time… and she was eager to see just how far this relationship with Tokiko would go!
It was worth sitting through some more simulation talk if she eventually got to fondle that milf, she was sure.