Chapter 10 – The Red Puyo Hat

Amitie's POV

It pretty much took us three the entire day to clean the whole house. We had cleaned the kitchen, the living room, the hallway, and even all three bedrooms!

Like I said before, the bathroom was the only area that was surprisingly clean compared to the rest of the house. You would think after a decade it would be the most filthy, but it wasn't. So we just let it be.

Now the three of us were laying on our futons. Completely exhausted from what we did today.

"*sigh* I'm so tired." Raffina said in a weak state.

"Me too." Lidelle said in the same tone. "I've never worked that much in one day before."

"Guys. You really didn't have to do this. Cleaning my whole house with me." I said in the same way as the others.

"Don't be silly, Amitie. We don't mind at all." Raffina said to me.

"We wanted to help. That's what friends do. They help each other." Lidelle added.

I felt my heart beating faster as I heard those words coming from my new friends. For a while now, I've felt kinda lonely. Blaming myself for the situation Mom and I got ourselves into. But ever since I've met Raffina and Lidelle, I've felt way happier than how I've felt before.

"Guys. I…I don't know what else to say but…thank you." I said. Trying to hold in my tears of joy.

"You're welcome, Amitie." They both said.

As we continued to lay there together, we heard the door open and close and footsteps getting closer to the living room.

"I'm back, girl-whoa." Mom said as she entered the living room. "D-Did I enter the wrong house or something?"

"No, Mom. It's our house." I said. "We've spent the entire day cleaning it."

"Every room is clean." Raffina said.

"Not one spot is dirty." Lidelle said.

"And it smells like lemons in here." We all whined while remembering how much work we did.

"I see. Well, thank you girls for doing something this big. I would repay you somehow, but I'm broke as hell."

"It's okay, Melody." Raffina said. "Us three are going out tomorrow to show Amitie around town. You're welcomed to join."

"*sigh* I wish. But I gotta go back to work tomorrow. Writing a light-novel is a lot harder than I remembered."

"You're just saying that because tomorrow's Sunday and you want to sleep in." I said.

"S-So?! Can't a woman dream?!"

"*giggle* We get it." Us three started laughing.

"Tch. Whatever." Mom obviously got insulted.

We ended up eating the leftovers from breakfast for dinner (no surprise that there were leftovers). And then after playing Super Mario Kart for a couple hours (and Lidelle complaining about how the controls are terrible), we all went to bed and finally called it day. I was so excited to hang out with Raffina tomorrow. I know I'm gonna have so much fun! I seriously can't wait much longer!

"Amitie…"

*tired moan*

"Amitie…"

*another tired moan*

"Amitie…" I felt my body shake as I woke up from having my name being called out.

"H-Huh? Wh-What time is it?" I asked. Then after rubbing my eyes a bit, I got a good look at what my arms were holding. It looked…familiar. Almost like I've seen it earlier in time. But when?

"A-Amitie…" I heard my name again.

That's when I looked up. And realized…that I was snuggling up against Raffina.

Again.

"GAH! R-RAFFINA! I-I'M SORRY! I-I WASN'T…UH, I, WELL…"

"A-Amitie! I-It's okay!" Raffina yelled in an attempt to calm me down.

"R-Really?"

"Y…Yeah." I then noticed that she was blushing heavily as she turned her head a little. "A-And plus, I really liked it."

"Huh?"

"N-Nothing! I-I was just…I didn't say anything!"

"O-Okay!"

We both then just stared at each other with our blushed faces slowly getting redder. I felt my heart beating faster and faster with every moment this went on for. That talk with Mom yesterday…am I really overreacting? Could this mean something? Something that I'm missing? This weird feeling I'm having…

"Uh…guys?"

"H-Huh?! Wh-What?!" We both panicked.

"Are you two okay? You've been staring at each other for a while now." Lidelle asked. She and Mom apparently had been staring at us staring at each other. When we realized that, we were both pretty embarrassed.

"Uh…y-yeah. W-We're fine. R-Right, Amitie?" Raffina asked me.

"Y-Yeah. W-We're totally fine. C-Completely normal." I said.

The two others just looked at us with the kind of look that reads "what a bunch of weirdos." based on the expression.

"Uh…okay(?)" They both said. Eventually letting it go.

The three of us then got dressed and headed out for the day. Raffina had kept her promise from yesterday and was going to show me around the different shops in the plaza. Mom stayed behind, as she still had to continue working on the light novel for her publisher.

"So, what's this light novel that Melody's working on?" Lidelle asked as we were walking down the block from my house.

"I honestly have no idea. She won't even tell me. Keeps saying that it's a secret." I answered while rubbing the back of my head in the process.

"Well whatever it's about, I'll be the first one to buy it." Raffina said with thumbs up and a smile.

Another faint blush came across my face. The way Raffina smiled just now was really cute for some reason. I really don't know why, but it just does. It also reminded me of what Mom said yesterday. I'm starting to think that I'm not overreacting, but I still have no idea what it could be instead. And it's been bothering me ever since.

"Th-Thanks…Raffina. Th-That would help us a lot." I stuttered nervously. Raffina, noticing my blushed face, started blushing on her own.

"N-No problem…Amitie. Th-That's what friends are for." She replied while being a little embarrassed.

"Oh? Is Raffina being embarrassed? I didn't think that was possible with a ravenous gorilla like you."

Suddenly, we heard a voice come from behind us. It belonged to one of the boys from school. He wore a purple vest and pants combo with a white shirt underneath the vest. He also had on a fancy purple hat with a giant wing on the front, and it looked like he was wearing a stopwatch for a bowtie.

"What the hell did you just call me, you damn jerk?!" Raffina swore at the boy, who grew a smirk on his face while pushing up his glasses.

"So we're losing our hearing now, are we Raffina? I guess that's another thing to add to the LONG list of reasons of why you'll never be remotely better than me! Kyahahahaha!"

"Why you little…" Raffina was boiling red with anger. And I honestly don't blame her.

The longer this boy was arguing with Raffina, throwing insults left and right to each other, the more I started to hate him. How can someone this mean actually exist? I wanted to say something, but I really didn't the guy aside from what the girls told me about him. I didn't how it would end up if I got involved.

"It's okay, Amitie. Klug's like this with everyone." Lidelle said to me.

"What? Seriously? With everyone?"

"Yeah. He has this dream of being a world-famous magician, so he acts like what he calls "mature"." Lidelle place the word mature in air quotes.

This is what he thinks being mature is?!

"Well, he's not very good at it." I said.

"Yeah. Far from it." Lidelle said.

I giggled at Lidelle's response which caused a chain reaction. The laughing caught the attention of Raffina and the boy, who I now know is named Klug.

"Oh, yeah. Your name's Amitie, right?" Klug asked me, completely ignoring Raffina.

"Yeah, why?" I responded with a question.

"Eh, no reason. I just remembered you from class. You probably heard me call you an idiot back then, huh? Well just so you know, you weren't supposed to hear that. At least not at that moment, I mean."

"How is that any better?!" Raffina yelled.

"No one asked you, Ape." Klug said to her. Which only got Raffina angrier. "Anyway, if you ever need some enlightenment, please don't hesitate to ask me."

"Gee thanks, Klug. I'll keep that in mind." I said with a fake smile.

"You should. You won't get much far in life hanging around with the primitive baboon and…that other one."

"That other one?!" Lidelle said while being slightly insulted.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be, Klug?" Raffina asked.
"Aw yes, that's right. I've got a study day planned at the library. I'm just wasting time talking to you plebs. Don't wait up. Kyahahahaha!"

Klug then left with a cheeky smile on his face. The way he walked away, with one hand in his pocket and the other waving at us with little to no effort, really pissed me off.

"What a jerk." I said shortly after he left.

"Yeah, totally." Lidelle agreed. "I mean really? "That other one"? We're in the same class! How did he forget my name?!"

We were both extremely annoyed, but then I felt Raffina's hand on my shoulder, which made me blush a little.

"C'mon, guys. Lets' not have that idiot ruin our day. We've got lots planned for today and we need to be in a good mood." She said to us.

Raffina's encouraging words made me blush even more. To the point where my cheeks were getting hot. Whatever this feeling is, I just want it to stop already so that I can act normal around Raffina.

"Y-Yeah. Y-You're right, Raffina." I turned my head away and stuttered a response.

"Y-Yeah. G-Glad I could help, Amitie." Raffina stuttered back.

The two of us walked at a moderate pace. Looking straight forward and ignored each other's hot red faces.

Well, at least tried too.

"This is getting interesting…" Lidelle teased.

"Shut it, Lidelle." We both said, which lead her to giggle at us.

The first spot we went to was the clothing store. We went inside and, despite being told it was a small shop, there were TONS of clothes. I walked around the store while looking at the clothes on display. Some of them looked pretty cute. And I've been wanting to get new clothes and replace the old ones I've left behind.

"Woah! There's so many clothes here! Really cute ones, too!" I cheered.

"Yeah, they are really cute." Lidelle said. "But some are rather pricey."

"Huh?" I then looked at the price tag of a nearby shirt…

…and almost had a heart attack.

"D-Damn."

"I get that reaction every time." Lidelle said.

"And I don't have any money, either."

"Don't worry, girls." Raffina said. "Whatever you want, I'll pay for it. I'll just use my credit card."

"W-What?! N-No! I-I mean…you don't have to do that, Raffina." I said.

"Y-Yeah. I-I don't really need any new clothes right now." Lidelle added.

"C'mon. Don't be like that. Friends are supposed to help each other, right? I really don't mind."

…

…

"W-Wow. Th-Thanks, Raffina." I said as I turned my head away, hiding the redness that appeared on my face.

"Y-Yes. Thank you so much, Raffina." Lidelle said with a bow.

"You guys…"

"Ohoho. Well, isn't that nice?"

As I turn around to see where the voice was coming from, what I saw was…not normal. At least to me. The owner of the voice was a skeleton wearing a blue and purple tuxedo jacket and a top hat on its head. It also had one eyeball missing, which was replaced with a single yellow dot.

Needless to say, I was frozen in fear.

"Oh hey, Oshare. You look well." Raffina greeted the skeleton.

"Nice day isn't it, Mr. Oshare?" Lidelle followed suit.

…

"Uh…what?" I stood there dumbfounded at the fact these two girls were not only not afraid of the skeleton but were also being friendly with it. Raffina saw my confused face and giggled a bit.

"Oh sorry, Amitie. Didn't mean to leave you out there. This is Oshare Bones. He owns this store." She explained.

"W-Woah! Really?!" I responded in shock.

"Was it that unbelievable?" Oshare asked.

"Oh, sorry. It's just…this is my first time seeing a living skeleton."

"Understandable. I bet most skeletons you saw before were portrayed as scary undead beings, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much. But now after meeting you, I kinda feel bad for them."

"Ohoho! Finally! Someone who understands our true feelings! This introduction was psychedelic. All of you, feel free to pick out anything you want. My treat."

"W-Wow! Thank you, uh…Mr. Oshare Bones!"

"Oh, please. "Mr. Oshare Bones" is totally too formal. Just call me Oshare."

"Oh. Okay then. Thank you, Oshare."

With Oshare's offer taken, the three of us looked around the miniature clothing store. Lidelle was looking at some green sweaters at one corner of the store, Raffina was looking at clothes that looked really expensive, and I was just walking around. Stopping every so often when I saw a cute outfit.

"Wow. So many stuff here. I'm not sure what I want. It's just so cute. And expensive. But mostly cute."

Then something caught my eye. I walked over to where the thing was and see this weird looking red hat. The top was shaped almost like the hood of a sweater, while the outer sides had an extra layer of fabric. The front of the hat had two large purple eyes that looked emotionless.

I kept staring at the hat for a little longer, somehow completely immersed into it. When suddenly…

*BLINK*

"Waaahh!" I screamed, gaining the attention of the other three people in the store.

"Amitie, what's wrong?" Raffina worriedly asked.

"Th-That hat! I-It just blinked at me!"

"A hat…blinked at you?" Raffina looked at me like I had a screw loose.

"I'm serious! It really did blink at me!"

"Amitie…I know we're still kids and all, but you must have some imagination to believe that a hat just miraculously bli-"

*BLINK*

"Holy crap! That hat actually blinked!"

We were all dumbfounded at what we just witnessed. A hat, an article of clothing, was blinking at us. Is this thing alive or something?

"H-Hey, Mr. Oshare. What's with this hat, anyway?" Lidelle asked nervously.

"I honestly have no idea." Oshare replied. "This hat's been here for about 2 months now. Recently people have complained that they want to try the hat on, but they can never pick it up. Almost as if it wants to decide on its own who gets to wear it."

*BLINK*

I looked back at the hat as it blinked for a third time. Whether or not what Oshare said was true, this hat was driving my curiosity insane. So I grabbed the hat on both sides and prepared to give it all my strength…

…only to end up being absolutely unnecessary. Because the hat just popped off with little to no effort on my end.

"I-It came off!" Oshare said sounding shocked.

*BLINK*

As the hat blinked at me for the fourth time, I began the gesture of putting it on my head.

"W-Wait, Amitie! Y-You're not seriously going to put it on, are you?!" Raffina sounded scared.

"Well…it is a really cute hat." I said.

With the hat near inches from my head at this point, I really didn't have a choice. I put the hat on my head, waited a few seconds, and…

…

…

"It's surprisingly a perfect fit." I said.

"Huh?" Everyone else was in complete shock. Shorty after, Oshare cleared his throat.

"W-Well, this is a first. I've never had clothing do anything like this before." He said.

"You okay, Amitie? You're not hurt or anything?" Lidelle asked while still being a little scared.

"I'm alright, Lidelle. It's just this hat's a little…huh?"

I started tugging on the hat, but it wouldn't budge. Then I tried pulling on the loose part with both hands. Still nothing. At this point, I was starting to get scared again.

"I-It won't come off!"

"WHAT?!" The trio said in unison.

"It's stuck! I can't get it off!"

"Let me try!" Raffina said as she got behind me. Once she did, she grabbed the loose end of the hat and pulled with all her might.

"AHHHH! RAFFINA! STOP! OWWWW! IT HURTS! STOP! PLEASE!"

But it didn't move an inch. I was on the verge of tears when Raffina eventually did let go.

"Sorry! You're not hurt, are you?"

"Just a little pain. But more importantly..."

"A-Amitie! The hat's eyes…they're closed!" Lidelle said in shock.

"Huh?"

"It's also glowing!" Oshare added.

"Say what?"

I went to a nearby mirror and saw that they were right. The hat's previously emotionless eyes were closed tight and the hat itself was glowing a red aura.

"I-I think it's…sharing your pain, Amitie." Lidelle continued.

"Sh-Sharing my pain?!" I asked. "Y-You mean this hat can feel pain?!"

"How is it doing that?" Raffina asked.

"Well…" Lidelle stalled for a moment while looking at the hat. Then she continued with her thought. "When Raffina was pulling on it, you felt a little pain, right?"

I didn't know where Lidelle was going with this, but I had a weird feeling that I wasn't going to like it. But for now, I have no choice but to go along with it.

"Yeah…" I said.

"Well…I think the hat's copying your current emotion."

"C-Copy?! M-My emotions?!"

This hat just keeps getting weirder by the minute!

"I wonder…would your teacher know anything about this hat?" Oshare asked.

"Probably. Raffina answered. "But she's out of town. We won't be able to ask her until tomorrow."

"Huh. Too bad. I wish I could help you girls out in some way, but I've got to close up shop soon. If you do find anything about it though, please tell me."

"Will do. See you later, Oshare."

We left Oshare's shop and were walking down the sidewalk figuring out what to do now after that ordeal happened.

"Hey, Amitie. Do you want to go home? I can understand if you do." Raffina shamefully asked.

"What?! No! I want to stay here and see the rest of the plaza!" I responded.

"But Amitie. That hat…" Lidelle said with as much self-shame as Raffina.

"I know. This hat is weird and somewhat creepy. And it no doubt has put me in a bad mood. But I really want to continue hanging out with you girls. And I'm not going to let a stupid hat ruin it for me!"

Raffina and Lidelle looked at each other with at first worried looks. But then they both grew smiles as they turned to face me again.

"Alright, Amitie." Raffina said.

"We believe you." Lidelle said.

"Great!" I cheered.

*GROWL*

"Uh…hey, guys. Is there someplace we can get something to eat? I'm starving."

"Starving, huh?" Lidelle asked. "Then I know just the place."

"Uh-oh." Raffina and I both said.

"Don't worry. You'll be able to finish it all. I promise."

We didn't know what else to say to counterclaim that. So we both went with Lidelle to whatever place she had in mind for us to eat.

I really hope my stomach can take it this time…

*This chapter was edited. As some things were either added or removed from the original version.*

AUTHOR'S NOTE: You guys remember how this was a 2-parter in the original? Well in this version, the second part will be a completely separate chapter with a completely different name. It'll be better that way, trust me.

Feel free to review, favorite, and/or follow the story. Thanks for reading. Later.