Chapter 10:

The Maggot and the Ice Cold Witch (2)

Odd One


As we made our way around the arcade, I couldn't help but notice that the place itself was getting even more packed with kids our age by the second.

"Was it a bad idea to come here?"

I sneaked a glance over at Kano but saw that she was still acting the same way, there wasn't a single hint of her being overwhelmed by everything going on.

"Something wrong?"

She seemed to have noticed me staring at her and turned towards me with that question.

"No, I'm just surprised that you're not getting overwhelmed by all of this"

"I'm used to places like this"

"I see..."

"What about you? Aren't you used to this?"

"Yeah, I am, but there are times when I can't handle it as well"

"Wat me to hold your hand like a little kid then?"

"Don't you even dare treat me in such a way"

"I'm just saying"

She let out a small giggle and, in that moment, I found myself simply staring at her. Something about her was different compared to all the other times.

"She seems a lot freer... She's being more expressive"

That was it. Kano was feeling at ease being around me and she was being herself even if I found it weird myself.

"Come on, let's go"

Before I knew it, she grabbed hold of my hand and started dragging me through the arcade without a care in the world. After a bit, she finally let go of me and stopped in place.

"Hmm?"

I followed her line of sight and saw that she was staring at the claw machine where she was just at a few minutes ago.

"You really want that?"

"H-Huh?"

"The stuffed cat"

Sure enough, it was a plush of a white cat with black spots. I stared at it for a bit and then turned my gaze towards Kano who was glaring daggers at me.

"You maggot"

"What'd I do now?!"

"You're teasing me"

"No, I'm not!" I let out a sigh and glanced over at her once more "I'm just asking if you want it, that's all"

"W-What?"

"I can get it for you if you want it..."

"I'd like that..."

"I guess that stuffed cat is worth her looking weak in front of me"

I made my way towards the crane machine, stared at the stuffed cats and nodded to myself.

I threw in the coins and started moving the crane slowly but surely, after around 15 seconds or so of moving the crane around, I had finally managed to find the perfect place to grab it.

I gave the button a press and waited for it to grab the plush. When it did, I stared at it going towards the prize hole and almost instantly, the prize fell into the prize corner.

"There you go"

"Thank you~!"

"C-Creepy..."

I quickly backed away from the weird sight that was happening before me and stared at Kano hugging the plush cat tightly to her chest.

"Is this really Kano or is this someone who's passing by as her?"

She seemed to have noticed my reaction and simply glared daggers at me "What?"

"I-I-It's nothing!" "Nope, this is the normal Kano"

She removed her gaze from me and stared back at the plush with a smile on her face.

"You really like that cat, huh?"

She gave me a quick glance and nodded "Yeah, I do"

Seeing her giving me such an honest and straight-forward smile was more than enough to bring a smile to my face alongside a few giggles of my own.

"What's so funny?!"

"Sorry... It's just that I wouldn't have expected you to give me such an honest answer"

"It's not worth spewing lies with someone such as yourself"

"I'm honored"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Princess's slave"

"The hell?"

"Before I'll know it, you'll become one of the princess's followers and you'll start acting like her"

"That won't happen at all, I'm not like her and you know that very well"

"Yeah, but people can change for the simplest of reasons" "One of them being falling in love"

"..."

"You have to admit that she's cute and easily likeable"

"Yeah, you have a point, but I don't see her like that" "I simply see her as a pain in the ass for the reason that she believes that people can change their ways and what not"

"You don't actually think that"

"..."

"You just dislike the fact that she thinks differently to you and won't actually acknowledge your ideals"

"..."

"The both of you are like two sides of a coin. You'll be at odds against one another"

I couldn't deny her words. She was completely right, but even then, I didn't want to acknowledge it. 

Just when I thought we were good to go, she looked towards one side of the arcade and then back to me "Let's do one last thing before going to grab something to eat"

"What is it?"

"The picture booth"

"... What?"

"Let's take a picture. Of me with my slave"

"Why do I have to be attacked when I haven't even said anything?"

"Because it's easy"

"I'm amazed that you can even say that with such a straight face"

We made our way towards the photo booth section and as we entered one of them, I remembered about the necklace that I had won.

"Here"

"Huh?"

"I won this at the randomized prize machine, and I don't want it. You keep it"

She took the necklace and stared at it for a bit "It looks expensive"

"Not really. I can tell right away that it's not"

"I see... But why me?"

"Because you're the only one that actually understands me, besides, we've been stuck with one another for quite some time, haven't we?"

She stared directly into my eyes and giggled "Yeah, I guess we have" "Let's go in then, that way we can commemorate all this time that we've been stuck with each other"

"Yeah, might as well"

She took the necklace from my hand, started putting it on and glanced over at me "How does it look?"

"Looks good"

"Thanks"

With that, she pressed a few buttons on the screen and once she had managed to put everything that she needed to do, we prepared to take the pictures.

For the first one, it was a simple picture of us standing next to one another and just when the second one was going to go off, she kicked my knee which made me hunch over in pain.

"What the hell was that for?!"

"I wanted one of you in pain"

"You..."

For the third one, she decided to go for one of people who gave the image of being friends, but I didn't buy that one at all.

"For this one..."

"Yeah?"

"Let's do this"

Before I knew it, she wrapped her arm around my own and inched herself even closer to me.

I couldn't react in time and the picture had been taken before I had the opportunity to retreat.

"There we go"

She let go of me and pressed the print button "Why that last one?"

"Because if this is a date, I needed to do something date related, don't you think?"

"You didn't have to"

"Yeah, but it wouldn't have been fun"

"..."

"Come on, let's go"

She exited the booth, we grabbed our pictures and started making our way out of the arcade "Want to get a quick bite?"

"Sure, let's go"

She wrapped her arm around me once more and started dragging me without a care in the world.

At that point, it wasn't even worth me mentioning anything about what she was doing since she would simply give me a snarky remark or something along the same line.

As we roamed the streets still arm in arm, we had finally stopped in place "What happened?"

"Let's eat here"

She started dragging me inside without even giving me the chance to say anything myself, but at the same time, I wasn't planning on saying anything to her in the moment.

"Welcome, take a seat wherever"

"Thank you"

We both sat down in a two person booth and as we glanced at the menu, I looked up for a brief moment and stared at the necklace that she was wearing.

"..."

"Makoto?"

"It's nothing" I picked up the menu and glanced through it for a bit and once I had found what I was looking for, I closed it and played with my phone for a bit.

"Ready?"

"Yeah, how about you?"

"Same"

We called over the waiter, gave him our order and simply waited for it to be ready.

"What are we going to do after this?"

"I was just thinking of browsing the stores for a bit more"

"Got it"

"Are you already tired of doing this?"

"Not really, I just don't know what to do on a date, that's all"

"Don't worry about it"

"You say that now, but I feel like you're just dragging me to do things that you want to do but not alone"

"Who knows"

"..."

After waiting for a while, our food finally came out, we gave thanks and started eating without a care in the world. We did make conversation from time to time, but it wasn't anything of importance to me.


Once we had finished having our lunch, we went back out into the city arm in arm and glanced through the stores without a care in the world. 

Just as this was happening, I heard a voice speak our names "Kano... Makoto...?"

"Hmm?"

"Yeah?"

We both looked over and in the moment, I couldn't help but feel slightly anxious for a reason that I didn't know myself.

"Katsumi..."


To be continued on part 3...