AN: This is mostly Mask's point of view, and how he feels seeing Aloha without a smile. They might be a bit OOC.
It just feels wrong. I always thought to myself whenever I see Aloha now. He just doesn't smile anymore like he did before. Why? I know it's not my right to go and ask him. He hates things like that now, and I still don't like him. Or I tell myself every time. Which is why I am here now, watching him. I would have change my gear, but having hay fever makes it impossible, so I'll at least try not to get caught. I distanced myself from Aloha, watching him talk to one of his teammates, Snorkel.. or was is Diver? I wasn't too sure, as I watched Aloha waved to his teammate goodbye, walking away. I decided to follow.
I followed him all the way to Arowana Mall, which was busy as always. Looking around my surroundings, I noticed a lot of people enjoying each other and a few couples on dates. Bleh. I'm still not used to that before I noticed something. I just lost Aloha! Damnit! Following him and then losing him? This isn't good at all, especially since it took awhile for me-
"Why were you following me, Mask?" I felt a tap on my shoulder and a familiar voice behind me. I turned to face him, Aloha, who was studying the look I had in my eyes, probably. "I wasn't following you. I just wanted to visit Arowana Mall today, since I heard there was a sale for some candy." I replied back. It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a lie either. I did wanted to buy some candy too. Aloha had a strange look on his face before smiling. "Is that so, Mask? I didn't think you were the type who liked sweets. Well, not as much as Skull does." He laughed, and I couldn't help but to sigh. Damn him. "Haaah~? Does it matter what I like or not~~?" I asked him, as he smiled, winking at me. "Well, I suppose not."
That's strange. I thought to myself as he asked if it's okay to sit with him. The smiles he was giving me were fake. I could tell the difference between real or fake smiles, from experience of course. When we found a bench to sit down, Aloha told me he was going to buy shaved ice for the both of us. There were two problems while I watched him walk away. One, how the hell am I going to eat it out here?! The pollen count is high today, so there's no way I'm taking my mask off. I don't want to sneeze repeatedly until I can't breathe through my nose. Two, just how am I going to confront Aloha? I just have to find a way for him to respond to my question. I waited for him to return as I thought about a few things to myself. Why did I care? Trying to think of any reason, my thoughts were interrupted as I heard Aloha's voice. "I'm back~" he said, holding two cups of shaved ice, one being pink and the other being a light shade of blue. As he handed the shaved ice to me, I heard him said,"it's called Blue Hawaiian. I've actually tried it myself and it's pretty good!" Huh, I would never thought about that. I watched him sit down next to me and started eating his, which I couldn't guess what flavor it could be. I've decided to ask him my question.
"Why don't you smile like you use to?"
He stop eating and looked at me, and I took a guess he's trying to come up with something to say. "What do you mean?" He replied back to me, looking down towards his cup. Well, I guess he didn't lie? "I couldn't help but to notice that you don't smile as much now, especially that you're pretty much a life of the party", I replied to back, adding, "it's hard to see you not smile at all." When Aloha didn't replied, I thought I made things much more awkward between us. Why did I even bother talking to him now? Was it after the battle when all four of us, which included Army and Skull, lost the battle against Emperor? Time passed by as many inklings around us kept talking and passing by before he finally answered. "Why do you care?"
Why did I? That's something I could never figured out. I thought back to my previous thought with the battle between Emperor's team. That has to be the reason why. When I saw him lying on the ground next to me while I sat up on my knees, his shocked voice when there was someone faster than him. Ugh, how stupid of me. Turning to face him, I answered. "Why? I wonder myself why. You are like the sun in a way, or what I gather whenever you go live." I saw a look of surprise of his face, as he rested his head on his hand. "I never thought you would be the one who watch them. You are always saying something of 'lively, happy people are lame~ ufufufu~'. Which is totally lame by the way." I stayed silence processing what Aloha said before it all came to me. "Hyuk?! Why would you go back to that time? And I don't go 'ufufufufu'..well not as much." I replied, before Aloha started to laugh.
"Haah~? Are you making fun of me?" I angrily asked, as he wiped a tear from his eyes. "Ah sorry, Mask. I'm not making fun of you at all, rather the way you reacted..I-I wasn't expecting it from you at all!" He replied, smiling.
Aloha was actually smiling this time. Could I say it made me happy as well? It's hard to tell since a few months ago, after the battle with blue team and learning my team and I have a life. Not only that, but I realized being jealous of others being happy was pretty stupid too. Damn this sounds like an anime I've seen before.
"You still want to know, don't ya Mask?" I heard Aloha said, taking me out of my thoughts. I turn my head to him, nodding. Of course I wanted to know. I waited as Aloha gaze towards the ground as if he's thinking. "The reason, well I'm not sure myself. I had a cold last week which made me feel awful. I literally thought I was dying." Aloha told me and I sighed out, though I'm not sure if it was from annoyance from my end worrying or relief that it wasn't serious. I know the feeling he probably felt, from suffering with hay fever. "Though you're feeling better now, right?" I asked him, which he nodded. "Yeah, I am! Snorkel visited me a lot though, with Straw and Octoglasses as well." At least his friends visited, not that mine don't. They do visit, but why do I feel jealous? "Mask, are you alright? You're crushing your cup." I heard Aloha's voice before I knew it, I was crushing my cup. "I need to leave already before the candy I wanted to get isn't there anymore." I replied, quickly getting up from the bench we were sitting and left as quickly as I could. I stop to throw away the crushed shaved ice, thankful I didn't pour it on Aloha's head before heading to the candy shop, quickly buying what I wanted.
Leaving Arowana Mall, I decided to head home after all what happened. So Aloha wasn't smiling due to feeling down with a cold. That's one thing, however I noticed something new is making me worried. The feelings of jealousy, something I know too well. I tried thinking why I'm having these feelings, but nothing made sense once I reached my home. Maybe one day I'll find out.