Chapter 4: Orange and Vanilla Swirl Ice Cream slaps

A conversation happens.

Misunderstandings are uncovered. (Thanks to the power of being reasonable.)

Ice cream is eaten.

As we made our way to the train station, the girls started conversing. They talked about how unfair their math teacher was, springing a pop quiz first thing in the morning. That topic then branched out to how Kana was dieting to fit a dress she had bought online a couple of days ago that was a bit too tight around the waist to her dismay.

"So..." Kana awkwardly started, uncomfortable with leaving me out of their conversations, "We haven't introduced ourselves to each other yet, how forgetful of us. My name is Higuchi Kanako," she pointed over at Hinata who sent a casual wave to us. "That grumpyface talking to your Nee-chan is Katayama Hinata. We're your sister's bestest friends." The newly named Katayama sent a look of disdain at Higuchi and playfully rolled her eyes.

Shrugging off her look, she shuffled closer to me, scattering some of the blobs that surrounded me in a protective circle. "Where are you from, Kasai-chan? What kind of things do you like to do? Do you have any foods that you like? You talk so properly; your Japanese teacher must've been old, I've never heard anyone talk like that aside from my grandparents."

Taking a step back, I raised my head to look at her, trying to remember at least one of the questions she asked. "...Ehime, Shikoku," I answered, getting the vibe that she might've gotten the wrong idea. Her thinking that I had a Japanese teacher gives off the idea that I had to formally learn Japanese, meaning that I was not from here.

Higuchi giggled as if I just said something funny. "No, silly," Yuu-san's shoulders tensed up by a fraction the moment her upcoming words left from her lips, causing her to cringe from the rudeness of it.

"I mean, where are you really from?"

Ah. The age-old question most people of different diversity get asked no matter the time period: "Where are you really from."

Aki emitted an uncharacteristically deep growl akin to that of a wild beast at that moment. They surprised me due to how feral they sounded. Around us, the other black bobs became agitated as well, the surface of their forms growing spiky as an urchin.

A sharp look from me was all it took to stop them from jumping the girl. After seeing them quell under the disapproval of my eyes, I softened my gaze, giving them a shake of the head when the other girls were distracted by the sound of the incoming train.

Don't do anything. I'm fine.

"Kana-chan, that was—!"

The train doors we were waiting in front of opened right as Yuu-san was about to reprimand Higuchi, thankfully pausing the upcoming disastrous conversation. We made our way inside with Katayama leading us to sit near the back of the slightly packed train car. Once we were seated, I could feel the prodding stare of the blonde coming from across me, ignorant of the faux pas she just committed. The other two were just embarrassed at her blunt and thoughtless words, not

I'm glad that talking on trains is frowned upon; it would have been an awkward discussion to continue.

Luckily, Higuchi never brought up the previous conversation, too distracted by the thought of sweets as she quickly rushed out to the ice cream shop. Eager to get there soon, she yelled at us to hurry up.

Katayama just rolled her eyes again and sped up. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" she huffed out, agitated at being forced to quicken her pace. "God, with all these places we've been going, I'll run out of money. And stop making me pay for your things; I don't have a big allowance like a certain someone."

Trailing at the end of the group, Yuu-san and I walked side by side, not particularly rushing since the ice-cream shop was in our district. Her gaze was on the girls in front of us, a troubled look on her face. "Hey," she started, surprising me that she would initiate a conversation with me. Thankfully, she was facing forward and not towards me, or else she would have seen my twitch of surprise. "About what Kana said...I'm sorry. She's not used to interacting with foreigners or people who look like foreigners in general. Kana's just an idiot."

Looking at her from the corner of my eye, I shouldered my backpack, "It's not a problem, she doesn't know anything about me so it would be expected for a person to make assumptions from my obvious features. Simply human nature." She looked taken back by my answer; her eyes locked on me in confusion and mouth open to protest.

"Although," I continued, not wanting to dwell on that topic anymore. "If it weren't for the sudden intervention of the train, I would have explained the intricacies of being a mixed child. One of my ancestors had allegedly been a foreigner, but the rest of my line was born and wed to Japanese men and women. It's honestly a surprise that I had inherited his traits despite being generations apart."

We turned a corner, getting closer to the shop if the squeals of Higuchi meant anything. "I'm used to explaining, so it'll be easy to follow along for her. I don't mind the questions either, so it'd be a shame if she didn't feel comfortable enough to ask any more. Higuchi is quite a nice girl—disregarding her skewed understanding of the concept of personal space that is."

Snort!

Yuu-san stopped walking and suddenly doubled over, a hand held over her mouth as her shoulders shook with emotion. Stopping in my tracks, I turned around to see what was wrong. Yuu-san made a strange choking noise that made me worried if I said something offensive. I couldn't make out what expression was as she had tilted her head downwards with her arms clasping around her stomach.

"Is something wron—?"

"HAHAHAHA!"

My eyes widened in surprise as the girl burst into laughter. Her head was thrown back as she laughed, a bright look on her face as if she suddenly had an epiphany. Cheeks flushed with red, her eyes teared up from the force of her laughter.

Not knowing what to do, I could only watch her finish, awkwardly standing there in silence as she cackled almost hysterically. People shot her quizzical looks as they walked by us, disturbed at the sight of a girl laughing so uncontrollably.

"Sorry sorry," she barely made out, lifting her hand to her eyes, wiping away any stray tears. "I'm not laughing at you. It's just—your description of her." She had to hold back another laugh. "Skewed understanding—Ahah!" Yuu-san had to take a breath. "It's just that I never expected you to put so much effort into dealing with my friend when she was the one being rude to you."

My head tilted in confusion, "Now what in the world gave you that notion? She's a close friend of yours, so I expect that she would have passed your standards." I could tell when someone was truly ignorant and when they were just messing with me, and Higuchi Kana was not one of the latter.

"Well," sheepishly, she rubbed the back of her neck, avoiding eye contact with me. "You just seem like the type of kid that hates to talk to people. Not to mention, there's an...untouchable kind of air that surrounds you in a way." She ended her rather lacking explanation with a shrug, not understanding how much that meant to me.

Oof.

Is that how she sees me?

Untouchable?

I could feel my body metaphorically crumbling away in the wind as those words echoed through my mind. The worried chirps of Aki near my ear had me focus back on the conversation at hand.

Not really knowing what to make of this sudden confession, I couldn't stop a question from leaving my lips.

"Is that why you've been avoiding me? Because you didn't want to bother me?"

At my words, Yuu-san colored and stared at the pavement, suddenly finding the cement interesting before she eventually nodded. "Also," she twiddled with her fingers nervously, as if she didn't know how to word her next sentence. "You were still getting used to the new environment, so I didn't want to overwhelm you. I mean-suddenly living with a new family—no matter if it's only a foster one—is something that I can't imagine ever getting quickly used to."

My heart stuttered in surprise, breath suddenly taken away from me. I couldn't help but lay a hand over my chest.

Ah.

Be still my beating heart.

That must be one of the sincerest declarations I've ever had said to me (aside from that one six-year-old that promised that she was going to marry me when she grew up after one of our usual check-ups). It was touching that she was so careful about how she acted around me. No wonder I never saw her in the same room as me, always sticking out in the corner of my vision.

It seems that we've come to the wrong conclusion about each other. How ironically funny.

"Yuu-san," she looked up, curious about what I was going to say. "It seems as if we've come to a misunderstanding of sorts."

"Huh?"

Walking to her, I reached up and held her hand, pulling her along as I continued our walk. "I'm not one to start a conversation, but that doesn't mean I won't join in on one. My apologies if I came off as unwilling to converse with you; I'd actually be more than happy to talk and get closer to you. To be honest," I turned my face towards her, revealing my completely serious expression. "I've been trying to hold a conversation with you this whole month."

"Eh!?" she yelled, shocked by my confession. "You mean all those offers for studying..."

I let out an uncharacteristic huff of frustration, puffing out my cheeks, "Yes; I had been trying to get your attention. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only thing I could offer at the time since you're either home in your room or out with your friends. You usually scurry off to who knows where whenever you see me, I had gotten the impression that you were uncomfortable around me."

Hearing the last of my words, Yuu-san raised her free hand in front of her in defense. "Whoa, hold on! You thought I didn't want to be around you because I wasn't comfortable?"

"Was that not the case at first?" I asked, truly curious about the situation we got ourselves in.

She shook her head violently. "Of course not!" She exclaimed, making me flinch at the volume of her voice. "It's just that...well it was so sudden! I mean-the months before you came, Tou-chan was working like crazy doing something, not explaining why. You should have seen him; he didn't rest until it was super late and even forgot to eat his meals sometimes." She couldn't hold back from muttering 'stupid Tou-chan' before continuing. "Then one morning, he came back with a kid right behind him saying that he was going to be my new brother."

She took in a breath to steady herself, hand raking through her spiky hair. "Who even does that?"

"Oji-chan, apparently."

A snort escaped from her before she could stop it. "Yeah, I guess so. But listen, seriously," Yuu-san looked at me. "I never once felt uncomfortable with the thought of you being my younger brother. It was more along the line that no one informed me in advance. And when Tou-chan told me about what hap—!" she clapped a hand over her mouth, nervous about her slip-up.

"It's okay. I don't mind if you know," I softly admitted, pulling down the hand covering her mouth. She looked surprised by my calm reaction. "So you don't have to hold back because of me. You're not stepping on any minefields, so don't worry about that." It'd actually be more helpful if she knew about my situation than not; who knows what kinds of problems I'll face in the future that would affect the Fushiguros.

Hearing me give the okay, she continued with a relieved sigh. "Well, when he told me about your relatives, I didn't know what to feel. Of course, I was mad at first—at your relatives, not you—but then I felt kind of useless because there really isn't anything I could do to help. Tou-chan was the one who found you and got you everything you need; you also seemed to have gotten used to the way things at home were, so there was no need to show you how things worked. It was kinda frustrating, to be honest." she finished, looking down in disappointment.

My lord, the number of emotions I've gone through in a day. And it hasn't been a full twelve hours yet.

Shaking my head, I refuted her statement. "Look at what you're doing right now, that's not useless. We would have never gotten to where we were now if you hadn't wanted to apologize for your friend's behavior to me."

"But—" she started, only to get interrupted by me.

I don't allow people to be self-deprecating around me, Sweetheart. Don't think you're an exception.

"Let me introduce myself," stopping in front of her, I bowed. "My name is Kasai Chikao, your newly appointed foster brother. If you wish, you may also address me by Chi-Chi as your father does. I'll be in your care."

Realizing that she couldn't wriggle out of things, Yuu-san sighed with her hands raised in surrender. "Alright alright, I get it." She returned my bow and straightened back up with an amused smile. "I'm Fushiguro Yuu, your new sister, feel free to call me as such." Yuu-san gave a teasing grin. "Please take care of me...Chi-Chi." she couldn't help but add.

With a satisfied nod, I pointed ahead of us. "There's the shop. We should probably get a move on, your friends were even kind enough to wait for us outside."

"One more thing."

Looking back at her curiously, I nodded my head for her to continue.

"About what Kana-chan said about you speaking like an old person," I couldn't hold back a wince at that, further reminded of how people get the impression of an elderly person from me. Seeing my reaction, she nervously waved her hands in front of her like windshield wipers. "Again, I'm sorry about her behavior."

"It's...fine. I'm beginning to get the gist of her personality, so no offenses were taken."

She gave a commiserating smile before continuing. " I was actually curious about that. You're really well-spoken for a kid your age. Is there some sort of reason why?"

Here's where my backstory comes in handy.

Facing away from her, I observed my surroundings. "When my...relatives refused to take me in, I had been moved to an orphanage run by a church in a town where the elderly made up most of the population." Thankfully, they were nice people. They believed in hard work making a person's character rather than just the sayings of others.

"After my arrival, I was still in shock," I didn't need to elaborate over what. "And I was reluctant to interact with the other children. Whenever we had to attend a mass, I always sat in the back pew with the sister in charge, because I was uncomfortable with the stares often directed at me due to my unusual features." I tapped the side of my cheek for emphasis. "Most of my time was spent in the library with the local elderly librarians being my regular partners for conversation when I had gotten the courage to ask them for some assistance to locate a book." My lips tilted up at the nostalgia.

"The librarians took a quick liking to me since I was the only child that treated and used their library respectfully. Eventually, they integrated me into their community of friends who were living in retirement in the town; of whom the majority were intellects with professions such as engineers and university professors. At the orphanage, I'd help the nuns with the community garden. So in the end, I suppose my unusual manner of speaking came to be due to the vast majority of people I interacted with being learned elderly folk."

Yuu-san's jaw dropped in awe, "Wow."

"It's not that interesting," I said, a bit embarrassed by her reaction.

She pulled an incredulous expression on her face. "What do you mean not interesting!" Yuu-san crossed her arms. "I, for one, think that it is, in fact, very cool." She stubbornly stated, refusing to believe otherwise.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her proclamation. Pulling on her hand, I picked up the pace, purposely ignoring Yuu-san's shout of surprise at the sudden force used.

Aki was having the time of their life, hanging onto the locks of my hair as they were lifted up into the air at the speed I was walking at. Happy little chirps were emitted from their form, enjoying the fun ride. The local beings stared at Aki before a couple followed after us, expanding their bodies to keep up. There was one near my side that was admirably keeping pace, that I couldn't help but caress the top of where I thought the head was with the tips of my fingers.

The tips of my ears were slightly red.

From across the street, Higuchi waved at us to hurry up, practically vibrating with excitement at the chance to go inside. Before we even reached them, she rushed out and pulled us along, quickly moving toward the doors of the ice cream shop. I noted that the shop's name was 'Sweet Temple' before we entered.

"Come on, we were waiting forever for you guys!" she complained, as she pulled us through the open doors of the pleasant-looking shop. There was a display case that had small tubs of ice cream and boxes of chocolates. Manning the area was a woman who looked to be around her late twenties, who greeted us with a warm smile.

"Welcome to Sweet Temple, would you like a table for four?"

"Yes, please!" Higuchi answered enthusiastically, making the woman (Hanami, her name tag said) cover her mouth as she gently laughed with amusement. It seems as if she enjoys Higuchi's bubbly personality—which, to be honest, isn't that much of a far-fetched thought.

"Well then," Hanami brought down her hand and opened the area where the gate was, stepping out of the enclosed area. "Please follow after me."

Afterward, we came to the area near the windows that were illuminated by the light brought in. There were figurines of all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors that tastefully decorated the interior. Hanging from the ceiling were colorful ribbons that held various types of origami, each one folded crisply and without a mistake. The style of the shop was of a weird fusion between old and new; somehow working together to create something pleasant.

Stopping at one of the booths that lined against the windows, she explained that there would be a button on the side of the table that would alert her when we had decided on what to order. "I'm actually the owner of this shop," she mentioned. "Since we've just recently opened up, all prices are currently half off with the addition of a discount for children under seven years of age. Please, enjoy your stay." With a bow, she walked back to the front desk.

"Calm your tits," Katayama scolded Higuchi after she pulled Yuu-san down to sit, taking her time to sit down on the comfortably padded seat opposite Higuchi's. "We're already here, so behave." Higuchi only stuck out her tongue and maturely blew a raspberry at her in response before plucking out the menu from its place on the side of the table.

Placing my bag underneath the table, I slid into the booth after the brunette curious about the options they have. Katayama took the other menu and opened it up, showing me the myriad of flavors.

Passing by the chocolate columns, I scanned the list for any mention of Orange and Vanilla swirl. I passed by weird flavors listed down in the house specials: Turkey; Charcoal; Zucchini; Cucumber; Soy sauce. As the flavors became more and more unusual, I finally landed the column for the flavors they sold to go. As luck would have it, they did sell Orange and Vanilla swirl—at a reasonable price as well.

"Have you found something you want yet?" Katayama asked, curious about what I'd pick. Maybe I'd get toffee or vanilla, or something equally boring that'd suit my disturbingly mature personality.

Hmm. Now I'm tempted to pick one of the weird flavors just to spite her. But that would be a waste of money so that is sadly not an option for me.

Taking another quick look at the menu, I nodded my head. "Yes; I think I'll pick the Orange and Vanilla swirl; it looks refreshing." And it does. The photo of the ice cream looks extremely pretty in its presentation with the light placed at the right angles, bringing out a nice orange color.

Taken back from my answer, her eyes widened a bit. "Really? I would've taken you as a Vanilla or Chocolate kind of kid; something plain."

I merely shrugged at her, "What can I say, I like oranges. Although," Leaning in, my lips tilted into a teasing lilt, pulling the girls to lean in as well. "Pistachio ice cream would be a close second."

At my statement, the girls immediately cringed away from me as if appalled at the idea of Pistachio ice cream. Pulling back nonchalantly, I had a perfectly calm expression as if I didn't just admit to something so outrageous to them. Internally, I was chuckling at their reaction, already having suspected their reactions.

When I was conducting check-ups or giving kids shots, I would normally distract them with conversation. The topic would be about anything and everything; ranging from what I wanted to be as a kid, to what I would do if a goat was my grandfather. A recurring choice of question would be our likes and dislikes. When it came to what flavors I liked, Pistachio ice cream always made my patients say that I was 'super old' due to my 'elderly' tastes.

"But-" Higuchi spluttered, shocked that someone could actually like the taste. "But how? It's so, like, weird-looking. Only old people would eat that."

Ignoring her rude comments (I'm not old, thank you very much. I was in my prime when I died.) I pushed my glasses up. "Have you girls thought about what you would like to order?"

At their nods, I pushed the red button on the side of the table. It let out a little buzzer sound, and soon enough Hanami had come back to our table with a notepad in hand and a customer service smile on her face. After writing down our orders she promised to be back shortly and walked off to the kitchen area. Yuu-san had picked green tea, Higuchi chose mango peach, and Katayama the mint.

Not much time had passed before she came back with delicately shaped bowls that held our orders, all decorated pleasantly with toppings of chocolate chips, fruit slices, or chocolate syrup. There were a couple of gummies placed on top of my ice cream and two orange-flavored pockys that stuck out from my scoops.

Giving a polite thanks to the owner, I picked up the ornate silver spoon and scooped up some ice cream on it. It was surprisingly soft to the touch, but still held its form; not runny at all. Bringing it to my mouth, I enclosed my lips over the spoon and enjoyed the cold dessert. The ice cream was not too sweet—which suited my tastebuds immensely—and slowly melted in my mouth pleasantly. The orange tang was complemented by the creamy vanilla, no one flavor too overbearing, making a perfect balance. Flicking a tongue over my lips, I continued eating.

Oji-chan would like this a lot. Thank goodness I found that wallet he snuck into my bag.

"Chirp! Chirp!"

Looking down at the table, I see Aki vying for my attention. They snuggled up against the hand holding my spoon with vigor, eager to get a taste of the cold dessert.

Glancing at my bowl of ice cream in thought, I looked back to observe Aki's form in thought.

Could they even eat ice cream, much less, food in general?

As if reading my thoughts, Aki formed a little handlike figure to cup what I assumed to be their chin in thought (I had to inhale sharply at that; controlling my instincts to squeeze the innocent blob into smithereens at how utterly adorable that was) before jolting up as if they figured something out.

Wriggling around, they hunkered down on themself and stilled in concentration. After a moment, Aki's form started to distort around the middle. Where there previously was a wall of black, inky flesh, there was a wide slit of sorts, forming across their midsection. It suddenly opened, revealing its maw full with rows of sharp teeth gleaming white under the light. Long and wet, pink flesh slithered out of Aki's newly made opening and hung out from the side, salivating with anticipation.

At the side of their new appendage, I couldn't help but cover the bottom of my face, hiding my—thankfully unnoticeable—blush as my lips formed a wobbly line. I struggled to stop myself from grinning like a dope in delight. I wish I could take a picture of them right now; develop the film and hang it on a wall for memories or save it on. Aki was so cute with saliva dripping down their tongue and pearly white teeth glinting prettily. Look at how clever they were; quickly thinking up solutions and correctly carrying them out.

Glancing at the girls from the corner of my eye, I saw that they were too busy heatedly talking to each other about some boy that confessed to Yuu-san (I memorized his name with a mental note to do a background check on him later) to even pay attention to my interactions with Aki. The owner was in the front of the shop and there was no one else inside that would notice anything strange. The pedestrians outside the window were moving too fast and absorbed with whatever they were doing to even bother with looking through the glass.

All in all, it was safe.

Nevertheless, I took care in my next actions. Giving Aki a nearly imperceptible nod, I gave a glance to my shoulder, instructing them to get on. With an exciting jump of joy, they scurried across the table and up my sleeve, soon settling on my left shoulder where no one would see anything wrong.

I took a scoop of the creamy dessert and brought it near my mouth, quickly directing it to my left and gently placing it in Aki's mouth. They let out a satisfying chirp before pulling away from the utensil. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them briefly tinting a faint orange, taking on the color of the ice cream, before returning to their original inky black shade. The next few minutes consisted of me feeding Aki and them watching out for other people in return. It was a win-win situation: they got to eat ice cream; I got to see something amusing. Occasionally, the girls would ask me about my opinion and I would have to stop feeding Aki, but I remained relatively unbothered.

(The familiar scent of incense once again pervaded my nose, coming in strong from behind. Unknowingly, my body relaxed and subtly let go of the small tensions it held. A quiet sigh left my body before I could stop it from escaping.)

Nearly two-thirds of thirds of the way in, my spoon hovered over the slowly decreasing mound of ice cream as I made a split-second decision.

Taking another scoop—noticeably larger than the ones I've made before—I brought it back to my mouth and then my left shoulder just like the times before. However, this time the directory of my spoon was positioned higher than usual; meant for someone else.

(There was a pause that made me worry for a bit. Then, I felt the unmistakable weight of something enveloping the end of the spoon. Warm breathe hit the side of my neck, causing goosebumps to develop as a raspy—but satisfied—sigh came from beside my ear.

I barely flinched as a warm hand lovingly caressed my cheek, opting to subtly trace the flesh of the hand under the guise of rubbing my cheek as if scratching an itch.)

Once we finished up, I was about to pull out my wallet to pay the bill. Funny enough, the girls also reached for their wallets and presented their cards and cash at the same time as I did. In the end, the girls fought over who would pay and cover for next time with me not even being in the running due to my young age.

"Where did you even get that much money!?" Katayama asked hysterically, eyes bulging at the amount.

Shrugging, I neatly placed it back inside my wallet after being told that I was too young to pay. "Oji-chan snuck it in my bag before he left for work."

Yuu-san covered her eyes with a hand in shame. "Of course he did." she lamented with embarrassment.

The woes of being a trust fund baby.

Tis unfortunate.

At least to some people I suppose. I'm perfectly fine living a comfy life.

"He snuck in a taser and pepper spray in the hidden pockets," I added absentmindedly, thinking about the things packed inside my backpack. "There might have been a collapsible baton inside as well."

"He did what!?" Higuchi and Katayama exclaimed in shock, stunned by the absurdity of Oji-chan's overprotective ways.

I shook my head, agreeing to their shock. "Precisely; I thought it was unusual as well." I opened my backpack up further, scrutinizing the inside. "It seems impossible to put that many things inside such a small bag, but Oji-chan somehow defies nature and proceeds undo logic with his godly talent for packing.

Yuu-san facepalmed at my statement. "That's not what they meant," her eyes squinted at me with suspicion. "And you know that."

"Do I truly?" I innocently asked, not a crack in my humble demeanor that would give away any hints placing me as guilty.

Falling for my acting skills, Yuu-san's suspicion fell into pieces, making her question even herself. "Does he truly?" she quietly ruminated to herself as she began to ruffle her hair in frustration.

Higuchi and Katayama were too busy searching my bag for more ridiculous things to be able to snap Yuu-san out of her spiral of questions.

Turning back to Hanami, I smiled politely to get her attention. "Excuse me," my finger tapped the picture of the Orange and Vanilla swirl. "Can I take this one to go?"

Stomach full and body drowsy, we left the shop with a wave and promised that we'd come back soon. Thankfully, it was still hot enough to go out for ice cream so it wouldn't be out of season. Even then, the shop would convert and serve baked goods and chocolates during the colder months so all was fine.

"You ready to go?" Yuu-san asked with a hesitant smile, offering a hand for me to hold.

Our relationship was still on a tense line due to our miscommunication built upon assumptions of each other. Both sides, too shy to fully interact with each other without a third party (namely Oji-chan) to stimulate conversation. Yuu-san would have continued avoiding me for an unforeseeable amount of time until she thought I was ready for socializing. I would have gradually pulled back from interacting with her and ceased communications completely due to my life values of not pressing a problem that doesn't need to be pressed.

This basically means that I would just not give a fuck and let it go. Kinda like how Elsa let go of her responsibility of taking care of her kingdom to be herself. She was a real one.

But here we are, talking. Doing what responsible people do and making up.

I reached up to take the offered hand. "Yes," my other hand slightly shook the bag holding my uncle's ice cream playfully. "We'd better hurry though, the weather is still warm enough to melt the ice cream if we're not quick."

A suspicious smile made itself home on Yuu-san's face, a smile that bode nothing safe for me.

"Oh, that won't be a problem."

Suddenly, I feel weightless as I'm thrown up into the air. My eyes were suddenly given the view of the heads of walking pedestrians. Just as quickly, gravity pulls me back down and into the muscled arms of Yuu-san who held me in an iconic Princess hold. Shooting me a devious grin, she bent her knees in a starting position that I was starting to recognize as her running pose and darted down the street. My arms could only tighten their hold around the teen's neck as we zoomed past people and buildings like a bullet train.

Hopefully, the ice cream doesn't melt too much; it always tastes unsatisfying when it does. Although at the speed Yuu-san's going at, I doubt it will turn out too bad.

*Author's note*

Whilst looking for an ice cream flavor to choose from, I just chose the one I currently had in my fridge. Also, in regards to SweetAssassin19's comment, I don't plan to make Chi-Chi until at least a couple chapters later. So sit tight and bear through the world building for now.