*MINAKO*
"Which one do you want to ride first, Ken-kun?" I point at all the different choices of rides and booths.
I hope we get to go to all of them!
"Anything's fine with me, Minako-san." Ken smiled at me.
I silently let out a sigh.
I tried inviting the others but... Junpei took Mitsuru's phone and said that they were all busy. He just told me that Ken and I should just go have fun by ourselves.
Sometimes I think Junpei's doing this on purpose.
It's too bad Koro-chan has to stay at home though...
"Ken-kun, let's ride the Ferris wheel first!" The Ferris wheel is so high...
"Eh? The Ferris wheel? Isn't it always for last?"
"I think that custom is overrated. It's fun when it's the first!" And also, I don't want any heart to heart talk moment with Ken on the Ferris wheel so while it's still early, I want the Ferris wheel to be finished!
"Hmm? Okay. Minako-san is really unique. Hahahaha!" Ken laughed and held out his hand. "C'mon, let's go."
"Yeah!" I take his hand and we fall in line for the Ferris wheel.
-Meanwhile-
*THIRD PERSON*
"So, Junpei, why are we supposed to spy on the both of them?!" Yukari shouted.
Mitsuru, Akihiko, Labrys, Aigis, Yukari, Fuuka and Junpei were all hiding behind a pole a little far away from Minako and Ken.
"Shh! Don't you guys also think that these two are dating?" Junpei grins.
"I do not have anything to do with this. This is their private affair. I will not intrude upon something personal." Mitsuru looks away.
"Mitsuru-senpai, you say that but you decided to come along on one of your rare days off." Yukari sneers.
"I-I had a lot of time so I decided to go with you all." Mitsuru tries to find specific and very simple reasons.
"Somehow, that kid is pissing me off." Akihiko grits his teeth.
"Oh, Akihiko-senpai~ You jealous of their relationship~?" Junpei teases Akihiko and got punched 'lightly' on his arm.
"Why would I be? She's not even mine and we barely know each other!" Akihiko looks away.
"I-I get your point but do you even know how heavy a professional's punch can be?" Junpei spun his arm gently, trying to shake and fake away the excruciating pain he felt from Akihiko's punch.
"Mitsuru-san, my sister and I have a question." Aigis's robot voice filled the atmosphere.
"Go ahead." Mitsuru permits Aigis to speak.
"That is, why is it that they will ride the Ferris wheel first?" Labrys tilts her head.
"In our accumulated data, we've learned that during dates, the Ferris wheel would always be saved for last." Aigis tells them all about dating in amusement parks, etc.
"Aigis, Labrys, there isn't a need to know those kinds of things." Yukari sighs then her cellphone rings.
"Hello?" Yukari picks up her phone.
"Eh? Right now?! I'm actually in the amusement park so I'll be there in two minutes!" Yukari hangs up.
"Sorry, guys, I gotta go. There's a Featherman rangers event today right here and I gotta go!" Yukari excuses herself and dashes off.
"I don't really have time for these silly games." Mitsuru sighs.
"Aigis, Labrys, Yamagishi, do you want to come with me to umm... the mall?" Mitsuru seemed a little embarrassed.
"Okay." The three girls smiled and the four excused themselves and walked away.
"Wait, they're holding hands!" Junpei stared intently at Minako and Ken laughing together.
"You know what, Junpei? I'm just gonna go too." Akihiko turns and leaves along with the girls.
"You guys are reaaaal nice, aren't ya?! Fine!" Junpei shouts but the others continue to walk away.
"I'll be the one to see this through the end." Junpei looks back at Ken and Minako.
"Still, the kid's got moves. He just went and already got himself a girlfriend-" Junpei suddenly met eyes with Ken.
"Oh, crap, did he notice-Hiiiii!" Junpei shrieks.
He saw Ken give him a very demonic glare and grimly smiled at him.
Junpei immediately backed away and bowed deeply before running away and catching up to the others.
"That kid's no joke... So that's one of the reasons why he and Koromaru are called 'The Pretentious Tenderfoot Duo'. Koromaru seems harmless though. It must be an act then!" Junpei gasps for air after he caught up with his friends.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Akihiko knits her brows.
-Back to Minako and Ken-
*KEN*
"Ken-kun, what's wrong?" Minako stared at me.
"I just saw a Peeping Tom but he ran away for some reason." I laughed.
"Peeping Tom? I wonder who he was peeping on. We should've had him arrested by officer Kurosawa!" Minako pumps her fist.
She's such a dignified and just person.
'If you keep messing around with her feelings'
'The world blow up again'
'See her cry'
Those words keep ringing inside my head.
"Please watch your step." The employee assists us on the Ferris wheel then closes the carriage.
Minako is sitting opposite of me...
"Waaah! Ken-kun, look! The scenery is much more beautiful in broad daylight!"
But I'm glad she's having fun watching the view.
"I also like seeing Minako-san's happy face in broad daylight." I accidentally blurt out my thoughts.
"Huh?!" She blushed bright red.
How can I not mess with her nor tell her my feelings? She's too adorable.
"It's nothing, Minako-san."
"I-I-I-I see." She stuttered and looks outside in a fidgety manner.
"Say, Minako-san?"
"Yeah, Ken-kun?"
"C-can we call each other without any... honorific?"
"Hmm? Sure, I don't mind, Ken!" She grinned.
This was kind of different from what I expected but I'm happy that it's not awkward.
"I'm warning you already. Keep this up and the world will quickly end." 'Minako' looks at me with a dull behavior.
"The empowerment won't happen until 5 months later." I complain.
"You'll never know." A grin came up.
Suddenly, it hit me.
"Don't tell me that you're stopping her from realising what to do?"
"I have to. It's what I have to do."
"You're-"
"I can't help it, Ken. Elizabeth is..." Minako's eyes droop.
"Yes, I'm aware. She visited me the day I got my memory back."
There was a slight pause before 'Minako' spoke up. "What'd she say...?"
"She told me that I have something powerful inside that she's unaware of and unable to grasp but all she said was: "Pitiful.". It probably means that what I did had also affected her, Theo-san and Margaret-san since they all seemed oblivious."
"And also...?" My voice slowly turns sheepish.
"What?" 'Minako' turns on the music player and starts judging Minako's sense in taste.
You two have the same taste, what are you even talking about...?
"Why and how did you even start appearing anyways?" The thought struck me so I had to ask.
"Whenever her emotions are in complete disarray or at its peak, I start appearing'."
"I see but could you go back now? We're about to get off." I look at the passage and calculate how many seconds we still have left.
"Ah... yeah." 'Minako' nodded and closed 'her' eyes.
"Aah..." Minako yawned and slowly opened her eyes.
*MINAKO*
"Hmm...? Ken? What were we doing? The ride felt so calm that I managed to fall asleep." I wiped the tiny tear that dripped down.
No one was in my sleep... I mean, Pharos didn't call for me and I'm not fatigue. It's not possible for me to suddenly fall asleep on this ride either... So why'd I fall asleep.
"Did you guys have fun~?" The employee peeks out from the outside and politely tells us to get off.
"Oh, Minako, take my hand and please mind your step." Ken escorts me down the ride and we move away.
Somehow, this feels like what Theo does...
Theo always escorts me, takes my hand and constantly tells me to mind my step.
No, no, no. Ken will be hurt if I think about someone else!
I shake my head and Ken chuckles.
"Minako, what are you doing?" Ken seemed curious.
"Uh-uh. C'mon, let's go on a montage on all the rides!" I pull Ken with me and like I said, went on many different sides.
"The last one will be the haunted house, okay?" I say.
Ken and I took a little rest and ate some snacks.
"Okay. Will you be okay, Minako?" Ken took a small bite of his hotdog.
"Of course! I love scaring the ghosts! All I need is a flash light and wet my hair a bit!" I show Ken my scare moves and he snorts.
"Pft! Ahahaha! Aren't you supposed to be the one that's going to get spooked?!" Ken almost choked on his hotdog but he continues to laugh.
"Wouldn't it be fun though?" I suddenly start feeling light hearted.
Why was I even worrying about my relationship with Ken anyway?
I was being an idiot.
"Okay!" I stand up and slam the table.
"Ken, let's go and enjoy every single ride!" I start running, leaving Ken behind.
"But, Minako! You'll get sick! You just ate!" Ken was shouting but I paid it no mind.
"W-waaait!" Ken chased after me.
A few minutes later...
"I feel sick..." I almost feel like barfing.
"Ugh... I told you so, Minako." Ken also looked like he was on the verge of vomiting.
"I-I guess we shouldn't have ridden that extreme roller coaster first..." I force a smile.
"No kidding." Ken's eyes focused on the ground.
"One word for how we're feeling right now." I say.
"REGRET." Ken and I both hung our heads as we said it together.
"Ugh... E-excuse me..." Ken ran away having his hand covering his mouth.
He surely went to the bathroom.
I'll just rest my head a little while I wait for him.
As I thought, it's not weird anymore. That's great.
Pharos hasn't visited me much though. I wonder if there isn't any important thing happening right now.
If this keeps up then I should invite everyone to go to the beach tomorrow. That'd be nice.
Also, we should go to Tartarus tonight. We didn't get to go last night.
But what did I do last night?
Ken and I took Koro-chan for a walk, right? I must've been tired so I fell asleep immediately when we got home?
Anyway, what's taking Ken so long?
I heed myself to stand up and look for Ken.
I saw him grinning like a kid with other kids, talking to all the Featherman rangers.
"I love you guys soo much! Especially in the latest episode when impersonated Dr. Alligator in order to sneak inside headquarters and then you guys found out and kicked Mr. Crocodile's butt!" Ken's smiling quite widely, from cheek to cheek.
Those are the real actors...
I wonder if Ken forgot that Yukari is Feather Pink...
It's probably a bad time to talk to Ken right now. Maybe I should just look around the booths.
With the thought in mind, I walked around the different souvenir booths.
"Oh?" Something caught my eye.
"This is... a Featherman keychain. Ken might like this." I giggle.
"Excuse me, how much for this keychain?"
...
In the end, I bought it along with some takoyaki, taiyaki, cotton candy and a slurpie.
My hands are full right now...
I decided to take a seat on a bench and lay all the different kinds of food beside me.
"Let's start with the cotton candy! I bought five sticks of them!" I smile at myself and get the cotton candy.
"Dear guest, what are you eating?" Elizabeth pops out of nowhere and almost scared me.
"Holy cow!" I exclaim.
"That is supposed to be a... metaphor?" Elizabeth tilts her head.
"No, nevermind. Anyway, I'm eating cotton candy. Here. Have one." I hand Elizabeth a stick of cotton candy and she examines it.
"Oh. 'Cotton candy'. I have heard of it before. 'An extremely delectable sweet which makes you feel as if you're resting on the puffy and soft clouds because of its cotton-like texture.' Or so I've read in a book once."
"This was... 'Made by heating sugar and spinning the liquified sugar out through tiny holes where it re-solidifies in minutely thin strands of sugar glass, the final cotton candy contains mostly air; with a typical serving weighing approximately 1 ounce or 30 grams. It is also often served at fairs, circuses and carnivals, cotton candy is sold on paper batons or in plastics. Food coloring can be used to change the natural white color, and numerous flavorings are available to change the taste.' Is what I've read on Wikipedia." Elizabeth looks proud for some reason and I back away slowly.
"Okaaaay...?" I reluctantly agree.
"Is there... something that you want to tell me or something?" I ask.
"Actually-"
"Minako! I'm sorry, I apologize for making you wait so-Elizabeth?!" Ken was running and suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw Elizabeth.
"Oh, Amada Ken-san. Perfect timing. Do you know of this peculiar type of sweet called 'Cotton candy'? It's a sweet that weighs so light but leaves a big dent in one's mouth." Elizabeth carefully bites into the cotton candy.
Was she trying to make a pun or a joke or something?
"Hey, You two know each other?" I wonder how they met...
"Ah, yes. Elizabeth-san was a... 'bystander' when we came to defeat Sho Minazuki." Ken said.
"Sho Minazuki?" I tilt my head at the unfamiliar name.
"It's Ikutsuki-san's son." Ken nonchalantly said.
"What?! That no good pun loving asshole has a son?!" I raise my voice.
"Sho Minazuki isn't really his son, per say.. " Ken tries to explain to me the relationship between the two and what Sho Minazuki did before.
"I see. So Sho Minazuki isn't a bad guy then. That's good!" I smile.
I'm often told to be pretty optimistic so...
"Well, I do not have any particular reason to be here anymore so I will be taking my leave. Good day." With a small bow, Elizabeth walks off.
I immediately eat all my food and stand up.
"Okay, Ken! Let's hurry to the haunted house!" I feel all pumped up and ready to scare some ghosts!
Ken nodded and we went inside the Haunted house.
"Hmm... It's darker than I thought that it would be... I can't believe the employee told me off about not using flashlights." I pout.
"Well, you would see the ghosts' hiding spot so the flashlight would make the scare pointless." Ken's pretty realistic, isn't he.
"Wouldn't it be even scarier with a flashlight though? It increases the suspense by 27%." I sigh, disappointed because things didn't go with the plan.
"Gaaah!" A 'ghost' appeared as I tripped on a twig.
"Aaaah!" I scream because I almost fell.
Ken grabs my arm and asks:"Minako, are you alright? Were you that scared?"
"What-huh-?" I was a little mussy.
Did Ken think that I got scared?
"No-it's not-" I try to explain but Ken grabs my hand and goes in front of me, acting like some sort of shield.
"Just hold onto my back and close your eyes. Trust me." Ken looks back at me.
I can't see his face clearly but in my mind, he looks really cool right now.
I didn't bother to try correcting him anymore...
I don't want to get out of this place. I want to stay a little longer but... why?
I clutch onto Ken's shirt tightly as I try to calm my pounding heart.
-To be continued-