A majority of the things that Dante says are bold-faced lies. The same can be said for his roommates. The thing he lies about most is having a girlfriend. He has had one, of course. He's had many, actually. But, often enough, the women he calls his girlfriends only see him as a friend. That was why it surprised even him when Kawaii~chan asked him on a date. Of sorts, at least.

It was the noon after the party, and Dante had already gone on his usual run. He had just finished having a rather interesting conversation with Garroth in the kitchen when he saw a text pop up from Kawaii~chan. He would have questioned why she was texting him if not for the fact that the contents of the message were so unexpected: "Meet me for lunch. I want to talk to you." To him, that sounded like a date. He fumbled for his phone, replying to ask where they should meet, and they arranged to do so at the local IHOP. He quickly moved to change into nicer clothes than his normal clothes.

When he left the house, he didn't tell anyone, on the off-chance that this somehow wasn't a date. He debated walking but decided to take the car. He would be back before Garroth and Laurance wanted to use it. At least, that's what he assumed. It could take longer, he supposed-- but he was on a date! Probably. Whatever. They would understand.

When he got to IHOP, he was a few minutes early and waited there for Kawaii~chan. Not even a moment later did she arrive. She was dressed fairly casually, though it was clear she had put some effort into dressing up. She seemed surprised to see that he was early. The two stared at each other before laughing awkwardly and moving to ask for a table. They were seated near the door, right under a vent that whirred slightly even though it wasn't doing anything. Dante exhaled softly, staring at the menu. He wanted to ask outright if this was a date or not, but he knew he had to play it smooth.

"So... What looks good to you?" He asked as she looked over her own menu. He tried to make himself look as appealing as possible, but she didn't seem to notice. "I was thinking of getting pancakes... but, ah-- there's so many options! I should have planned this beforehand." She replied with a faint whine in her tone. He blinked in surprise before chuckling. "Yeah. There are. Why would you ask me here if you didn't know what you wanted, though?"

Kawaii~chan sighed and scanned the menu. "I don't knowwww. I was hungry, Dan~chan! I didn't think I would have to put this much thought into it. Oh..." She sighed, shaking her head and lifting her gaze to meet his. "What are you getting?" Dante had an idea, but he looked down at his menu again when the question was posed. "Uh..." He flipped through the options before finding something appetizing. "The, uh... T-bone steak with cage-free egg whites, protein power pancakes, and milk. Gotta eat healthy, you know?" She stared at him before looking back down at her own menu and sighing. "That sounds bland... Maybe I'll get chocolate chocolate chip pancakes? Ooh, and lemonade..." She muttered to herself for a moment before nodding and setting her menu aside. He felt a little offended, but he had to admit that his meal of choice did sound rather boring now that he thought about it.

The two sat there in silence that was briefly interrupted by them telling the waiter what they wanted to drink (and eat). Kawaii~chan checked her phone a few times before looking back up at Dante and exhaling softly. "Okay. There is a reason I called you here, Dan~chan." He looked at her, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Was this it? "Oh yeah? Why's that?" He replied. She looked him in the eyes, her light orange feline-like ones getting a bit lost in his deep blue ones. She hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Well, um... You remember the kiss between Garroth~kun and Laurance~kun?" She asked. Dante stopped. It wasn't... what he had expected. He didn't know why. "Yeah. What about it?"

He watched as she checked her phone again. This was... kind of interesting. She spoke again. "Um... someone pointed out to me that you and me were under the mistletoe. Multiple times." He stared at her for a minute. They were under the mistletoe too. Yeah, Garroth had told him that. Back to the point. Okay, so then that meant... "So we should have kissed. And we didn't." His voice was slightly uncertain. For some reason, it felt weird now that it was an unfulfilled obligation. She nodded, blushing slightly. "Yeah. Um... I was just wondering... did you notice?"

Dante stared at Kawaii~chan. Albeit a bit strange, he thought he understood what she was getting at. Did he notice and not want to kiss her? Or did he like her but was too afraid to do it? Or something other? It made sense. But then it put the pressure on him. "Um..." He gulped, trying to think. He could feel the color rising to his cheeks. Awkward... "Well, uh... N-No, I didn't notice! I just... You know. I was so focused on pressuring the guys into kissing... You know, we both were, so..." She hesitated before nodding her agreement. "Yeah. Sorry. I just... It got me thinking, Dan~chan. What if we had kissed? I mean, it would have been awkward..." All he could think was that he had missed a chance to kiss her. He was such a moron. "...Yeah." He replied after a moment. Awkward. More awkward than inviting him here... just to tell him it would have been awkward.

They sat there in silence. Dante could swear it felt like they were being watched, but that was probably just from how awkward this conversation was. He sighed, looking back at Kawaii~chan. He wasn't going to say anything. He shouldn't, at least. Not that it looked like she would be talking any time soon either. He sighed, reaching in his pocket for his phone when she decided to speak. "It would have been especially awkward for me because I consider you a friend, Dan~chan. But it does bring up another topic I've been meaning to kind of... talk about. Do you think Garroth~kun would be in the mood to talk to me? After the party and the... kiss with Laurance~kun, I mean."

Dante looked up at Kawaii~chan with a sigh, trying not to feel offended and failing miserably. He had just been friend-zoned. Again. And, more likely than not, she liked one of his friends-- possibly Garroth. It was just annoying. "I don't know. Ask him. He isn't talking to me right now." He attempted to keep the venom from seeping into his tone, but it did so regardless. She winced, avoiding his gaze. He felt bad, but at the same time, it was just not fair. How could she expect him to be anything but upset over this? She knew he was all talk when he said he had a partner. She knew that he would kill to date someone like her. Giving him false hope was cruel. He hoped that this was just one of those moments when, for once, girls didn't pick up on guys' hints, but that hope didn't make him feel any better.

It was quiet for another few moments, before Kawaii~chan sighed. "I'm sorry, Dan~chan. I just... I wanted to, well..." Dante sighed. He knew perfectly well what she 'wanted' to do. "You wanted to avoid getting chewed out by Garroth if he was still mad at you for peer-pressuring him into kissing Laurance, and you thought going through me would make that less awkward. Yeah. I know what you wanted, Kawaii~chan. But if that was really the only thing you wanted, then you should have led with that." He paused before adding, "He's still angry. And, so am I, now. Telling me about that stupid mistletoe didn't hel--" "I know it didn't help! I'm sorry about that. I just... I don't know. At the time I was thinking about this, it didn't occur to me how it would sound." Dante sighed, staring at Kawaii~chan. He could tell by looking at her face that she was telling the truth. For some reason, that hurt him more. He looked away. "Alright."

He didn't know whether to find it comical or a bad omen that silence had now encompassed them for the third time in twenty-ish minutes. If it wasn't happening to him, would this be funny? He could see it, he guessed... That's what his love life was, after all; a joke at best. Whoa, where did that come from? No, he-- He had a love life. It was just...

Before he could delve too deep into his thoughts, the waiter arrived with their food. Now that he thought about it, it was weird that they hadn't come earlier, but he supposed it normally took a long time for servers to arrive with food. Regardless, he was starving. His meal-- which he now couldn't stop thinking of as boring due to Kawaii~chan-- looked delectable, and he was glad for a distraction from this awkward conversation. She seemed to be of the same mind, though she picked at her food for a few minutes before she started eating. He briefly wondered if that was because of the awkward conversation or something else, but he was too busy scarfing down his food to care. She eventually gave up her reservation and began doing the same.

At some point, Dante felt a little self-conscious. He could feel Kawaii~chan staring at him as he ate, and he didn't know if that was good or bad. He put his hand over his mouth, throwing a quick glance her way to try and catch her expression. She chuckled, averting her gaze. "Sorry. You just eat like a wolf, Dan~chan." She explained. He blushed. His eyes dropped down to his food, and he supposed she was right. He kind of did. When he was hungry, that was. That didn't mean he was happy about the comparison. "I was hungry!" He protested in embarrassment. She started laughing, and he could feel his face burn. But perhaps it wasn't all bad.