Mitsu's Day

Walking side by side down the path, heading in a direction only Akio was aware of, made this feel like a date. A date? Mitsu screamed in his head. But I’m Mitsu right now.

‘That’s right,’ ‘Hana’ giggled in the back of his mind. ‘So, enjoy yourself and let loose.’

Enjoy myself? Mitsu looked looking up to Akio who had started to scroll through his phone. Mitsu tried to extend his neck, curious what Akio might be looking at. He managed to see some times. Times? A movie. Akio was planning to take him to the movies, that would actually be fine, perfect in fact. He could ignore the small voice in his head called ‘Hana’ and loose himself in the magic of the movies, as they say.

Akio nodded, hitting the confirm button before putting his phone back in his pocket. He looked down to Mitsu; “We have a couple of hours free, so what do you want to do?”

Mitsu was surprised. He was being given free reign over their activity for the next couple of hours. He put a finger under his chin, thinking back to his first outing with Akio. He had taken ‘Hana’ to a boring old book store; somewhere that was far too quiet and gave Mitsu too much time to think. “I like arcades,” He proclaimed, seeing Akio’s give him a deadpan look. He became flustered, realising how childish he must have sounded. “N-no, actually we can-”

“Sure, sounds fun,” Akio said. “If it’s what you want to do, then that’s what we’ll do.”

Mitsu felt his heart flutter. How long had it been since he’s just been allowed to spend his money how he wanted? Not worrying over a new outfit for ‘Hana’ thinking about what obscure outing he might need to go on without notice. No, he could use this time on himself.

Hearing the clinking of coins as they came out of the machines, the tickets being dispersed and the laughter from the patrons, Mitsu truly felt a sense of ecstasy. He ran over to the change machine, wasting no time to get the variety of change needed for his favourite machines. As the change fell, he looked behind, noticing Aki looking irritated as he looked around the room. Mitsu felt a pang of guilt. He had thought before that maybe Akio wasn’t a fan of overcrowded and noisy public spaces but hadn’t seen any evidence to prove this. “If you don’t like it,” He started to say, getting Akio’s full attention. “The we can leave.”

Akio shook his head, walking beside Mitsu to use the other machine to get his own change. “I promised you a day for you,” Akio assured, trying to give a smile. “So, if you want to play games. We’ll play games.”

“Okay,” Mitsu’s voice was low, barely audible over the already noisy games. ‘Enjoy yourself,’ ‘Hana’s words rang through his head but he still wanted Akio to feel comfortable. “Let’s try win something for Yui.”

Akio’s eyes widened, Mitsu clearly not realising what he was saying. Wanting not to worry Mitsu, sighed, patting Mitsu’s head at the offer of the kind gesture. “Let’s work hard.”

Work Hard, Play Hard was their moto for the next few hours. Mitsu showed Akio the true way of getting the mot out of his money. Claw grabbing machines can be tricky and while you could ask staff for assistance, it was better to tackle the machines that gave you tickets and then exchange them for more money. At these machines, Mitsu was a pro however Akio would find himself getting frustrated and the faces he made, tickled Mitsu. Though, not wanting Yui to miss out, Mitsu would guide Akio’s movements, similar to how he helped him in bowling and get him to concentrate on the game and not the noises around him. Though after being bad at the majority of games, Mitsu had started to think Akio was lying about being bad.

The dinging of the bells alerted the patrons that on this particular game, Mitsu and Akio had hit the jackpot. “Oh yeah,” Mitsu cheered, throwing his arms up in victory. The tickets continued to pour from the bottom of the machine, drowning their feet in the spills of victory. “Let’s cash these in and get something for Yui.”

The tickets they had managed to accumulate, managed to get the pair two bags full of prizes. Akio was astonished, Yui was able to have something but Mitsu was also able to relish in the spoils they managed to win. Now they we’re making their way to the next activity, though this was the one Akio had pre-arranged a few hours before. “So, are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Mitsu questioned, not being familiar with the route they were going down.

“You’ll see when we turn the corner,” Akio said.

Mitsu felt annoyed. Why couldn’t Akio just tell him? He sighed as they turned the corner and there, he saw it. The theatre? “Why the theatre?”

‘Hana’ appeared behind him again. Leaning in close to his ear, whispering as if Akio would be able to hear them. ‘Akio sure has a grasp of the type of person Mitsu is,’ She teased with a devilish grin. Mitsu feeling his cheeks flush. Why here of all places? Mitsu couldn’t help but wonder.