Ken stared blankly at his friend, too dumbfounded to even respond to his words.
"Ken? You all good man?"
"Sorry, could you repeat that…" Ken replied, his voice sounding deeper than usual.
Steve flinched, but the idea of going to prom with Stephanie gave him the courage to speak up once more. "Look man, I need you to go to the prom with Sarah. That's the only way Steph will go with me."
Ken paused and nodded his head, "Oh, so I didn't mishear you." He said simply, however there was a dangerous undertone with his words.
"Absolutely not."
"W—What!? Come on man, I really need this."
Ken resisted the urge to smack his idiot friend over the head. Since they were now driving, and he wouldn't be able to control his strength, it would put them both in danger.
"Hold on, so you're asking me to take another woman to prom, that isn't my girlfriend. Am I understanding it correctly?"
Steve's expression was a little uneasy, but he doubled down. "I mean, when you put it that way it doesn't sound great. But I can guarantee that your girlfriend won't need to be worried."
"Huh!? What the hell is that supposed to mean." Ken asked, such a statement did not make sense to him.
"Don't you remember Sarah? The one that's always at the front of the class?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" To Ken, no matter who it was that he took to the prom, it would be disrespectful to Ai. There was no way he'd jeopardize his relationship for such a small reason.
Steve cleared his throat, "Ahem. She's the… larger one."
"Larger?" Ken went into deep thought for a moment. With the help of his Academic Trait, he was able to scan his memories, after which an image appeared of the girl in question.
Yet instead of feeling relieved, Ken's face turned horrified.
"You want me to go to prom with that Sarah!?" His voice rose a few octaves, his shock and terror evident.
Steve was silent, placing his hand on Ken's shoulder firmly. "Please man…"
Ken quickly shoved the guy's hand off of him, still in disbelief he would ask such a thing of him. Inwardly, he had already signed Steve's death warrant, his mind planning out the most excruciating workouts imaginable.
The next 10 minutes of the trip was spent in silence. Steve knew that he was asking a lot and knew not to push the issue, this was something that Ken would need to decide himself. In fact, speaking up would probably go against his favor.
Ken on the other hand was having an internal crisis. Never had he been asked to go against his morals like this before. His first instinct was to reject it, but then he remembered how his parents had come up with the promposal to begin with.
After stewing for a while, he decided that he would need to talk to them and Ai before making a decision.
He let out a deep sigh, "Do you have a photo of Sarah?"
"Hmm? Why the hell would I have a photo of that beas—" However, Steve quickly stopped himself and turned to Ken who was wearing a dangerous expression.
"Ahem… I think there was one on the High School website."
Ken continued to glare at the side of Steve's face for a few moments, making his annoyance known. "I'll give you an answer by tomorrow morning." He said eventually.
Steve's expression lit up, however he just nodded. He'd put enough pressure on Ken for now, it was best to take a step back.
"Thanks man."
A few minutes later they arrived at his house and Ken alighted from the truck, grabbing his bike from the tray. No more words were spoken between the two before Steve drove off.
Ken was in a rather dark mood right now, but he tried to wipe the sour expression from his face. He placed his bike in the car port and took out his phone.
After tapping the screen a few times, he brought up the school website and soon enough found a photo of his potential prom date. He sucked in a cold breath of air and subconsciously shook his head in defeat.
Sarah had a cute face, but it was rather round. In fact, her whole body was rather round, or perhaps spherical would be the more apt description. The frizzy hair and braces were the icing on the cake, making her wholly unattractive, at least from Ken's perspective.
Ken let out a sigh, shaking his head once more, this time chastising himself. He hadn't met Sarah personally, so it was rather rude of him to make such assumptions, after all, she could have a great personality.
Locking his phone screen, Ken walked into his house and called out to his mother.
"I'm home."
Frantic footsteps rang out as both Chris and Yuki's face suddenly appeared in front of him.
"How did it go!?"
Their expression was filled with expectation, as if the matter was some huge news that they couldn't wait to share in. From what he remembered, his parents weren't even this excited when Daichi got the scholarship from Osaka Toin.
"It's… Complicated." Ken replied, feeling rather stifled.
A few minutes later, the trio were sitting around the table after Ken had just broken the news.
"Absolutely not!" Yuki exclaimed, her face filled with anger.
"Mmm, your mother is right. I won't allow you to take any woman to prom if it's not Ai." His father was also of the same opinion, shaking his head in disapproval.
Ken let out a small sigh, this was what he was also thinking.
"Can you imagine how poor Ai might feel if she heard you were taking another attractive young female to prom?" Yuki almost had tears in her eyes just thinking about it.
Ken flinched, hearing the word attractive. Perhaps Sarah could be classed as attractive by others, but certainly not himself.