SWITCH!!! Enjoying amusement parks can be hard work! [Part 4]

“Hey!” Jack called out as I entered Ten Flags for a second time.

“Yo,” I said, putting up a smile. “Sorry, I’m late.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you’re here.”

I nodded. “Like I’d miss the chance to go to Ten Flags.”

Jack let out a laugh. “I hear ya. So hey, I really wanted you to meet Lune…”

Urk. So we’re doing this right off the bat, huh?

Jack continued, “But a huge crowd gathered around her for autographs, so she’s kinda swamped at the moment.”

“Well, she is the one and only Magical Knight Lune, after all,” I said. “Not surprised she’d attract a crowd.”

“You’re telling me. I mean, I kinda knew she was famous as a local hero and all, but I didn’t realize she’d draw that kind of attention. People were treating her like she was an attraction for the park.”

I let out a pained laugh. “Yeah…”

“I kinda regret inviting her here,” Jack continued.

“Wait, what?”

“I meant for all of us to get together and have a good time, but with the way all those people ganged up on her, requesting photos and autographs, it’s more like she’s working than enjoying herself. I feel kinda responsible.”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” I said. “It’s about making others happy, after all. Right?”

Jack rubbed the back of his neck with a worried look on his face. “I guess? She looked overwhelmed by it all, but was too kindhearted to tell those people she was there to enjoy the park like everyone else.”

He wasn’t wrong about that. It was incredibly tiring, and I would’ve preferred to spend time with Jack, but I do enjoy bringing smiles to people’s faces. It felt incredibly rewarding knowing that you brought joy to someone’s day.

“I should go see if she needs help,” Jack said as he started to walk away.

“No!”

He stopped and turned to me, surprised by my outburst. “Huh?”

If he went over there, he’d notice Lune wasn’t there anymore and must be wandering around the park. In that case, he’d definitely want to find her and introduce her to Daniel…

“I, uh, I mean,” I stumbled over my words. “It’s just, she, uh, I’m sure she doesn’t want us to stand around and be bored while she handles all that stuff, right?”

“It’ll just be a few seconds to see if she’s doing alright. I’d be a pretty pisspoor boyfriend if I just left her there and assumed she’s okay. And you’d be able to finally meet her.”

His logic was completely sound! What to do?! What to do?!

Again, I stumbled over my words, desperately trying to figure out what to do next. Finally, it hit me.

“Bathroom!!!” I yelled.

Jack was confused. “What?”

“Looks like that burrito I ate for lunch is doing a number to my stomach all of the sudden! I gotta go to the bathroom! You go check up on Lune. Don’t wait for me! Go on a ride or two with Lune! It might be a while!”

I bolted away from Jack in the opposite direction where Lune was supposed to be.

“Gotta do this quick,” I said to myself, running to some nearby bathrooms.

There was a family restroom situated between the men’s and women’s restrooms. When I saw that it was unoccupied, I thanked the heavens. I could transform without the risk of anyone seeing me or causing an embarrassing scene of Lune walking out of the men’s restroom or vice versa.

I rushed inside, transformed, and then dashed out. Summoning my wings, I flew over to where the crowd surrounded me earlier and landed in an inconspicuous spot.

“Hey!” Jack said, arriving moments later.

“H-hey!” I said with a smile.

He looked around, noticing the earlier crowd had dispersed. “Oh! You finished doing photo ops?”

“Yeah! All done! It was exhausting, but it was nice being able to put smiles on people’s faces.”

“Sorry about leaving you alone like that.”

“No! No. It’s alright. I don’t want you and your friend to stand around being bored. We’re at Ten Flags, after all! You should be having fun!”

“But then you won’t be having fun.”

“I, er…”

Jack let out a sigh, then smiled. “How about we go on a ride?”

“Oh! But what about your friend? Won’t he be missing out?” I feigned a worried expression.

“He’s, um, having stomach issues.”

“Is he alright?”

“Didn’t sound like a big deal. He also told us to go on a ride or two and not wait for him.”

“Well, in that case, we should do as he wishes! Let’s go!”

I took Jack’s hand and led the way.

“What do you want to ride?” Jack asked.

“I was thinking–”

“Uh, pardon me.”

When I turned around, there was a little girl who looked like she was still in elementary school, either kindergarten or the first grade. She appeared sheepish as she looked up at me. I could see her parents nearby, watching the interaction.

“You wouldn’t happen to be Magical Knight Lune, would you?”

I knew exactly where that was going. If I stopped there, then I was likely to attract another crowd. Then I’d wind up in a similar predicament as before...

Despite my exhaustion, I knelt down at her eye level and smiled. “Yes, I am!”

Her face immediately lit up. “Mom! Mom! It’s really her! It’s Lune!” she cheered, bouncing up and down. “Hey! Hey! Can you take out your sword and do the Heart Prism Beam?!”

“They don’t allow weapons in the park, sweety,” her dad called out with a pained smile.

“Aw, man! But I wanted to see it in person! It’s so cool! Like, it’s a sword! And it shoots rainbows! Like, come on!”

Her mother approached her and took her hand. “I’m sure Lune here is a guest at the park just like we are and trying to have fun, so we shouldn’t be asking her to put on a show for us. I said to only say hi, remember?”

“But moooooom! I want to see her use her magic!”

“If she did, it might cause a disturbance for the other guests. The magic is for fighting bad guys, right?”

The little girl began to tear up at the prospect of finally meeting me, only to not see me do what I’m known for.

“I’m so sorry,” her mom said as she tried to console her daughter and get her to move on. “There’s a whole lot of other things to do and see here at the park! Stuff that won’t be a bother–”

“I don’t care about that stuff! I care about Lune!”

“It’s fine,” I assured her mom. “It’s no problem at all!”

I then turned to the little girl.

“Like your mom said, my magic is for fighting bad guys. It’s much too dangerous to use around a large crowd like this.”

The little girl lowered her head. “Oh…”

“However, there’s something else I could show you instead. How does that sound?”

She looked up at me and nodded, her eyes beaming with excitement.

I stood up and took a few steps back, held out my arms, and summoned my wings. This sent the little girl wild with excitement. She ran up to my wings to touch them.

“Here,” I said, extending a hand.

The little girl took my hand as she bounced up and down, full of energy.

“Hang on tight!”

“Okay!”

I rose up into the air, gently hovering with the little girl alongside me. As long as we held hands, I was able to extend my magic to her so that she too may experience flight as I do.

“WHOOOOOOAAAAAAA!!!” she cheered. “LOOK! LOOK! I’M FLYIIIING!!!”

Of course, I didn’t go that high. Just a few feet off the ground. Her parents looked terrified at first, not sure what I was about to do. They calmed down when they realized I wasn’t gonna give their kid the full flying experience.

And with how happy she was, it didn’t look like I was going to have to, either.

After a minute, I lowered us back down to the ground.

“Mom! Mom! Did you see that?! Did you see?!” she cheered, running up and hugging her mom.

“I did! You were amazing!” her mom said.

“I was a magical girl! Just like Lune!”

“You were! Now, what do you say?”

The little girl ran up to me and hugged my legs. “Thank you very much!”

Afterward, her parents thanked me profusely for taking the time to humor their kid, and then they went about their day.

With that taken care of, I turned to Jack, who was leaning against a nearby wall keeping to himself.

“So!” I said. “Let’s go on a–”

“Hey! Lune! Could you give my kid a lift, too?!”

Another parent and their kid had witnessed the special treatment the little girl saw, and wanted to experience it as well.

“...My pleasure,” I smiled.

***

Once again, my time to spend with Jack as Lune was used up entertaining other park guests. Eventually, Jack went off to check on Daniel, forcing me to end things abruptly with the crowd, run off to the bathrooms, and transform.

As long as I was Daniel, nobody batted an eye at my existence. This allowed me to finally go on a few rides with Jack. Problem then was how was I supposed to get close to Jack as Daniel? It’s one thing for your significant other to get up all close with you. Expected, even. But with your platonic best friend? There’s no way that won’t be weird!

The first thing we decided to try out was the haunted house. Now, it wasn’t scary in the least. Far from it. It had a very child-friendly design to it, like a cross between early 20th century German expressionism and Saturday morning cartoons. Each room contained weirdly proportioned furniture, such as large, low-sitting sofas with backs that nearly touched the ceiling and melted bookshelves straight from a Salvador Dali painting. Animatronic ghouls and ghosts littered the various set pieces, but the illusion was ruined by large “DO NOT CROSS THIS LINE” markers that appeared on the floor.

Besides being child friendly, it was very couples friendly as well. There were numerous jump scares throughout the attraction, along with a camera taking photos of guests’ reactions. I imagined what the designers probably had in mind when they set things up: “And here, the startled girlfriend will hop into her boyfriend’s arms. We take a photo of that perfect moment, then sell it to them at the end of the attraction!”

I’ll be honest, the jumpscares startled me every single time. First time I grabbed Jack by the shirt, only to quickly realize what I was doing and let go. Every time afterward I had to fight my instinct, resulting in me doing odd things like hugging myself out of fear or slamming myself into the wall. It’s one thing for your partner to get all clingy when scared. But when it’s your best bud, it just becomes awkward! What could’ve been a fun moment between us if I had gone as Lune was just a neverending assault on my psyche. Taunting me with all these chances to embrace Jack, but being forced to hold back.

Afterward, we tried several other rides and attractions, but ultimately I couldn’t enjoy any single ride or attraction as Daniel. The entire time I couldn’t help but count down the minutes until Jack would want to check up on Lune. There was never time for enjoyment; only constant worry. I’d try to smile, but I’m sure it looked forced.

So you’d think I’d have a good time as Lune instead, but noooope!

As Lune, people would constantly come up to me, asking for photographs and such. And I couldn’t just say no! That’d be disappointing to all those people! So I’d have Jack wait off to the side for me, effectively ignoring him, until Jack would go to check up on Daniel. Then I’d have to quickly disengage from the crowd, run off to a bathroom, change, and then repeat the whole process over again.

Again, and again, and again.

Before I knew it, it was evening. The sky was dyed hues of yellow and red as the sun set into the horizon. Lights flickered on throughout the park, preparing for the coming of night. Strings of lights dangling from tree to tree swung with the gentle spring winds.

Jack and I sat alone in the carriage of a large Ferris Wheel that overlooked the entire park. It was massive, taking fifteen minutes to do a complete circuit.

I slunk back in my seat, looking down at the park as it grew smaller and smaller.

I hadn’t felt that exhausted in a long time. And to think I was at an amusement park of all places. For a place sold on fun and excitement, I sure as heck hadn’t experienced much fun. Excitement, sure, but not that kind I’d have liked.

I let out a sigh. What a disaster this whole day was.

There was complete silence between the two of us until we were a quarter of the way up.

“I’m sorry,” Jack apologized.

That took me by surprise. “You’re sorry?”

“You’re not having fun, are you?”

I sat up in my seat. “What’re you talking about? I’m having a blast! Ten Flags is just as fun as I remember as a kid! Ha ha!”

Jack leaned forward, clasping his hands together. “You don’t have to lie, you know.”

“Lie? I’m not lying. Really! Today was fun! We got to ride on a bunch of rides together! I mean, sure, it sucked that I didn’t get to meet Lune at all due to my stomach issues all day, but hey! There’s always another chance in the future, right?”

Jack didn’t look like he bought it.

“I feel like I made a major mistake, and you suffered for it. All day you looked like you were forcing a smile. It was disheartening to watch.”

The pained look on Jack’s face struck my heart. There he was, trying his hardest to do something fun for his girlfriend and best friend, not realizing the complicated situation he had caused. I’m sure he expected a much different outcome than what happened. It was supposed to be a special day full of joy.

Really, the fault of today’s disaster laid entirely on me. It was my fault for lying to him in the process. And continued to do so.

I loved Jack very much. Seeing him hurt because of my actions was painful to look at.

But I didn’t have the courage to tell him the truth. That I was a magical girl. That I was his magical girl. That I loved him with all my heart.

And here we sat stuck in a cage, both of us feeling miserable as we looked down at the amusement park below us, twinkling in the twilight.

BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!

I jumped in my seat as my phone went off in my pocket. When I pulled it out, my heart sunk.

Jack noticed. “What’s wrong?”

There was a notification on the screen from the magical girl app. Red Sandrea was on the attack.

“Oh no,” I murmured.

“Oh no, what? What is it?” Jack asked.

Ignoring him, I unlocked my phone and opened the app to see where she was. “Ooooh no,” I murmured again.

Jack stood up. “Did something–”

Just then, the Ferris Wheel came to an abrupt stop. Our carriage swung back and forth, causing Jack to fall on top of me. We were a third of the way up, where we dangled helplessly with no way off.

“NYA HA HA HA!!!” cackled a distant voice from below.