Chapter 5: Sightseeing, Girls, and Antiques

The next morning, Anna locked herself in her room after giving Yoh his task, refusing to come out.

"Miss Anna, aren't you going to come out for lunch?" Charles the butler asked as he knocked on her bedroom door.

"I'm okay, Charles. Go make yourself useful and clean Yoh's room." She said to him, not bothering to get up and open the door.

After he had left, another knock was heard on the door.

"What!" She said, annoyed, "Can't I get a moment of peace?"

"Aw, Anna, you shouldn't treat someone like that." It was Hao.

Anna was mildly surprised that he had come home today, "What are you doing here, Baka? Usually you would be flirting with ten girls at a time right now."

"I was suddenly homesick." He said simply.

"Oh, right." She said sarcastically, "And I suddenly became nice."

"ok, so I wasn't really homesick. I just decided to come home to see how everything's going with you."

"What about your ex-girlfriend? Hopefully she dumped you for good."

"Unfortunately, she did." He said, a hint of sadness in his voice, "I really loved her."

"Well, it's completely your fault that she dumped you. If you had stopped drinking and flirting, she wouldn't have done it."

"Anyways," Hao said, changing the subject, "I was wondering if you'd like to check out Funbari."

"Are you asking me out on a date? You know what my answer will be, Baka."

"No, I'm asking you if you would like to go sightseeing, not on a date. Besides, who would want to go out with a witch like you?" He smiled as her stiffened.

"You'd better take that back, Baka!"

"No."

She tried to slap him, but he grabbed her hand during mid-slap.

She had expected that. Right after he had grabbed her hand, she kicked him where it counts, hard. He doubled up.

"God! What the hell was that for?"

"For stopping my slap." She said simply, "Now you were saying something about sightseeing?"

After he regained steadiness, he stood up, and, to Anna's surprise, smiled, "Would you like to go sightseeing with me?" He repeated.

'I guess that would be ok, since I'm not doing anything and everyone else is busy.'

"Fine. But get out so I can change into something more comfortable." She pushed Hao out of the room, then locked the door.

A few minutes later she came out wearing the same black dress and red bandana.

Hao looked at her confusedly, "What took you so long? You're wearing the same clothes."

"No, they're not the same clothes, Baka. I have many duplicates of this dress. Now let's go." She followed him downstairs and out into the street.

"We're going to go to the mall first. You know, girls never go there." He said unconvincingly.

"What are you talking about? Girls flock to there twenty-four seven, Baka!"

"Well, when I go there, no girls can be seen anywhere."

"That's because they're too busy trying to flirt with you." Anna said under her breath.

But she let him take her to the mall anyways.

And as one girl screamed out his name, the whole mall seemed to collapse under the rush of fan girls dashing out towards the shaman and the Itako.

"Hao! Will you go out with me?"

"Marry me!"

"Hao! Can you sign my arm?"

"You're soooooo adorable, Hao!"

"I love you Hao!"

"Call me!"

"I go to your school, Hao! Remember?"

"Let me hug you Hao!"

The crowd got bigger and bigger as more girls clustered around the boy. He seemed to be enjoying the attention.

"Ladies, ladies, one at a time, please!"

Anna mentally slapped herself for letting them go to the Mall. She decided to let him have his idea of fun, so she can have some peaceful time alone. Walking towards the main entrance, she turned around only to see the mob of girls surrounding the now hidden Hao, 'Baka.'

Hao was right about the mall being empty of girls. There were boy shaking their heads wherever she looked. They had the right to. All their girlfriends/ daughters/ wife/etc. were outside in the Hao-crazy thronging that looked more like a huge ant pile.

She looked around some more and found an old, deserted antique shop, so she went in to check it out.

There were many items that interested her like glass birds, old necklaces, and so on. She kept on looking around the shop.

Suddenly, something caught her eye. It was a square frame with three bears: a father, a mother, and a daughter. Anna's expression was blank as she stroked the fragile item. So many memories. One horrible night.

"You left me." A voice said behind her. She twirled around to see her "guide" standing in the doorway with no girls behind him.

"I'm wonder how you got rid of those pests." She said indifferently.

"The crowd got so big that the police had to come. Perfect time for me to escape, so I did." He said lazily, "What are you looking at?"

Anna straightened up, "None of your business." She said harshly.

Hao shrugged, "whatever you say. Come on, I want to go to the arcade."

"Maybe next time when I feel safe going places with you. I want to go home right now." Anna cast one glance at the antique and walked out, followed by Hao.