It was supposed to be a date.

Or rather, that's how Yoh made her believe it would be, seeing that he did ask her when they were alone and watching the stars together. She thought he was being romantic that time, giving her that goofy smile of his that always made her feel butterflies in her stomach. She said yes in a heartbeat.

It never occurred to her that Yoh meant for this to be a group outing and not a date.

She regretted it now, as she watched his rowdy friends make a scene in the rink with their overly enthusiastic shenanigans. HoroHoro was making fun of Ren's poor and nonexistent balance while he showed off with a couple of twirls and dips. Even Ryu was surprisingly good at this - he mentioned something about finding his Best Place in the rink in his youth - and was even able to keep up with HoroHoro's techniques. The two were currently butting heads against the other, the Ainu screaming about a bet that Ryu giddily took. They shook their hands and there was momentary peace. Then they zoomed off, almost crashing against Pirika who was keeping an eye on Redseb and Seyram.

Anna wished Pirika had been fast enough to knock HoroHoro unconscious. As it was, the younger girl was reduced to a muttering mess, her arms crossed while she promised to herself that she was going wring her brother's neck once he was in her arm's reach.

Tamao, meanwhile, didn't even dare try on the skates off ice. Instead, she settled herself at the benches and helped Pirika watch the Munzer kids. Next to her was Faust, also off the ice but was there in case of emergencies.

Last but not the least, there was her idiot of a fiancee, Yoh Asakura, who couldn't contain his excitement well. There was a childish sparkle in his eyes and his signature goofy smile that got her in this predicament in the first place as they waited for their turn at the countertop to get their own pair of shoes.

If Anna had to be honest, she didn't exactly know how she let Yoh convince her into trying to skate. Shoes weren't meant to roll or slide. Why humans bothered to invent a pair of shoes with stupidly placed blades on them, she would never understand. Why said blades were only measured only 20 cm long and 0.5 cm wide left her even more baffled. On top of that, none of their shoes in women size fit Anna, only in children's size! And she'd be damned if she let anyone see her in those shoes. No way. She refused to accept them, even before the lady at the counter even suggested them to her. Thus, the stubborn itako took the smallest pair in the women's size and decided that she'd rather keep Tamao company because there was no way in hell she was stepping on the ice.

Yoh had other plans though, to add to Anna's list of unfortunate events.

Surprisingly, Yoh easily got the hang of ice skating, probably thanks to Anna's special training in Hell. The same couldn't be said in Anna's case. Already she was struggling with balance, holding tightly on the railing and refusing to move away from her current spot. She was close to hissing as Yoh glided to her expertly, lips a merry crescent. She settled for a glare instead.

"This is ridiculous."

"Anna..."

"No. I'm fine here."

Yoh laughed, holding his hand for her.

"Just hold my hand and everything will be fine," Yoh suggested. "I promise I won't let you fall."

Anna knew she could completely trust him. In fact, she always did no matter how hopeless a situation could get. And yet, there she was, standing on a very slippery ground with a pair of sharp knives on her feet and her atrocious balance that promised her a world of pain should she fall. If there were any silver lining to this whole mess it was that she had better luck than Ren Tao, who had given up somewhere along the way and was now sitting on the ice as some sort of training. Or so he said. Anna didn't need to have Reishi to know that the Chinese shaman was just trying to save face.

But Yoh was still holding his hand out for her and it looked like he wasn't giving up on this. He did sign them both up for a beginner class, which made her happy by the way, and she was supposed to be the fearless itako who slapped and kicked God in the balls. And yet here she was, stuck on a wall with nothing but a pair of shoes that didn't fit her dainty feet to help her with the ice. A pathetic sight.

Sighing, she glared at Yoh.

"... Promise?"

"Of course, Anna!" The brunette shaman responded, his trademark smile on his face as he waited patiently for her to grab his hand.

No choice but to go with it. The Munzer kids were enjoying themselves and so far there hadn't been any accidents, so Anna couldn't use them as a reason to weasel out of here. Even Seyram was enjoying herself. While she still looked emotionless on the outside, this was the first time Anna had seen the girl actually take part in their group activity. It was refreshing. It gave her hope. It also meant Anna had deal with Yoh herself.

Heaving another sigh, a defeated one, Anna reached out for her fiancé's hand while she kept her other hand on the railing. Yoh was as serene as ever, encouraging Anna to let go while he slowly offered his other hand for her to hold on. Once she was fully in the rink and reliant on Yoh's hold, the couple shakily took baby steps towards the tiny class formed at the middle of the rink. Each one of them stood next to a cone for the practice. Or in Anna's case, wobbled next to her cone while Yoh kept her from falling face flat with a hand on the small of her back.

"Good morning!" The chirpy instructor clapped her hands together. "Let's start with the basics, shall we? First, gliding on your two feet!" Saying so, the instructor made a little demonstration. "On the count of 3 to 4 steps, get your feet back together and glide. Keep your knees bent and transfer your weight to your heels."

The instructor made it look so damn easy and yet Anna found this simple task to be extremely difficult. Her legs refused to transfer her weight from her toes to her heels. Even the slightest movement made her either kind of skate backward or almost fall down, which was why Anna preferred to stay rooted in her spot. The instructor said something about the seal dolls and how Anna could use them as a guide but one look at the dolls and Anna made up her mind. Hell no was she riding the dolls, damn it. And damn Yoh too, because he was chuckling at the thought, pushing Anna slightly so she could acquaint herself with the seals. He earned a slap for that.

And then they carried on to the next exercises — forward swizzles and sitting while gliding aka the dip.

Or as Anna called it, the bane of her existence. Because it was at this time that she did fall. Hard. And if that wasn't enough, everyone had to see her not-so glorious fall too.

"Try not to crack the ice with your ass, Anna." HoroHoro was having the time of his life, laughing so hard he was almost choking in his own spit. "We can't afford to pay for it!"

Oh, how much Anna wanted to wipe his shitty smirk off of his face but she was a refined lady with manners. She would not let his incessant goading get the best of her. Plus, they were in a public place with normal, innocent humans. This was not the place to summon Zenki and Goki.

"Sissy!" Redseb hurriedly skated to her side, Seyram following him from of them were visibly worried helping Yoh out at hoisting Anna to get back on her still shaky legs. "Are you okay? Did you break something?"

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. These stupid shoes are the problem." Anna huffed, holding tightly to Yoh with a pout. One wrong move and she just knew she would fall again. It was aggravating. And HoroHoro wasn't doing much to her morale either. At least this time Pirika finally got to him and was wringing his neck out for being a jerk.

That effectively shut him up for good.

"Do you want to replace the shoes?" Yoh asked, concerned eyes assessing her. By the end of the day she would definitely have bruises there.

"I'm fine, Yoh. I have had enough for toda—" She was interrupted when someone tugged at her dress.

"Anna-nee?" came the soft whisper of a child. It effectively knocked the breath out of her, her shock apparent as she looked down at the little girl still tugging her dress.

"Seyram..?" Anna paused, brushing the younger girl's bangs gently. "Did you just said my name?"

Seyram nodded shyly as a reply. Anna blinked, then looked at Yoh and Redseb. They were just as shocked as she was, their jaws hanging stupidly. She couldn't blame them - this was a special milestone for Seyram! Anna turned to younger girl again.

"Yoh?"

"Yes Anna?"

"Let's go change these skates."

A smile appeared on Yoh's face which caused her to smile as well.

"And next time, let's come without your friends or else someone will definitely get hurt."