A/N:
Chapter 2 is finally finished so here it is!
If you spot any grammar and/or vocabulary error and some weird narration in the story, my apologies about it since English is not my native language and I'm still learning on how to write a good story format and writing narration is one of my biggest weakness.
My plan for this story is I try to upload new chapter on 1 week or 1 1/2 week period, but it's not guaranteed that I will follow the update schedule since my real life job really taking a toll on my mood and inspiration for the idea to write this story. I don't want to rush publishing new chapter because it can impact the story quality and I wanted my story to be the best and not written half-hearted. So it's a sorry in advance if someday the time to update for each chapter takes a very long time.
As for the review from Rosalina, Kraft, and Powder sauce:
Thank you so much! Your review is very appreciated and glad that you enjoy the story.
*ps: If there's some of you still confused, the italic and bold text are showing the character thoughts.
No more talking from me, Enjoy the story!
Chapter 2
Happiness and joy… were now filling Ichika's heart. She finally had her chance together with Fuutaro after she successfully persuaded him to skip school. In return, she had to score at least 150 points on each subject on national mock exam or she would have to quit her dream as an actress. The risk was high, but she won't lose that bet against Fuutaro because she promised him and she won't disappoint the boy that she like.
Right now, that didn't matter because today was the only opportunity for her to get closer to Fuutaro without any interruption from any of her sisters. Ichika wanted today to be the most memorable moments together with him, so she was going to make sure to have fun with him to the fullest. But before that, a certain stomach was growling, asking for some food.
"Ughh… I'm so hungry…" Ichika said weakly as she holds her growling stomach.
"Didn't you had a breakfast before going to school?" Fuutaro asked and looked at her.
"Well… I skipped breakfast this morning. I went out earlier than the other four, so I haven't got a chance to even eat a bread," Ichika explained to him with a chuckle.
"*sigh* Just what the hell happened to you today, huh?" Fuutaro sighed hearing her explanation.
"Hehehe… Just don't worry about it, Fuutaro-kun." Ichika grinned at Fuutaro. "Anyway, let's eat first before we're going, right?"
"So, where do you want to eat? Do you know any good place?" Fuutaro asked.
"Hmm… There's this western restaurant that Itsuki told me." Ichika opened her phone to check the restaurant info. "She said this restaurant was very good and had a good atmosphere inside."
"Itsuki… huh? As expected from that curry drinker monster…" Fuutaro mumbled and chuckled, imagining Itsuki munching a pile of curry in his head.
"The restaurant isn't that far from us, it only takes like five minutes from where we are, right now," Ichika said as she put her phone back in the pocket. "Let's go, Fuutaro-kun! My stomach can't wait any longer."
"Ahh…" Fuutaro nodded as he followed Ichika from behind.
Both of them walked to the restaurant and after 5 minutes, the two finally reached the place. A shocked expression and a wide gasp appeared on Fuutaro's face as he saw the sight of the restaurant. The exterior design of the restaurant appeared to be very elegant and fancy and he immediately thought that this restaurant was a very expensive and prestigious place, which only rich people can afford eating in this place. Fuutaro pulled out his wallet and he can saw there was not much money left in the wallet. Even if he received his monthly allowance at the start of the month, there was no way his monthly allowance even able to pay for a single time meal.
"I-Ichika… This restaurant… This place looks very expensive," Fuutaro said as he slowly looked at her with a horror stare while a gloomy and depressed aura engulfed him.
"Ahaha… This place definitely looks expensive, I guess?" Ichika laughed weakly as she calmed Fuutaro from the gloominess. "Anyway, this meal is on me, okay? So don't worry about it."
"Ahh… Thank you..." Fuutaro thanked her, still with a gloomy aura as it still lingered around him because of the initial shock.
Ichika and Fuutaro then entered the restaurant, greeted by one of the staffs and showed them to their table. Fuutaro looked around the restaurant and he was impressed by the atmosphere and how elegant and luxurious the interior was. He can saw a lot of empty tables and there were not many people eating at this time. Fuutaro thought this was a good atmosphere and timing to eat because he preferred a quiet and calm place compared to school cafetaria, where it was so noisy and crowded.
Both of them took a seat and the waiter offered them the menu. When Fuutaro opened the menu book, his eyes immediately went wide from seeing how expensive the price was on the first page of the book. He then kept flipping every page, hoping to find a more reasonable price for a food. But instead, the price kept rising on each page and even the drinks were very expensive. Fuutaro then flipped the menu book back to the first page and there was a horror in his eyes as his hand trembled after seeing the price in the menu book.
"W-What is this…!? The cheapest food in here is 10.000 Yen and the cheapest drink is 500 Yen..."
"There's no way I'll be able to pay even for a single drink..."
"I should thank Ichika for paying my food… But, if I remember, Ichika was the one who paid all the living expenses of the other four... And also, if I'm not wrong, they refused financial aid from their father... So if I'm correct, she should be tight on money..."
"I should pick the cheapest food available and there's no need for me to order a drink since I have a water bottle in my bag."
"This chicken steak is the cheapest one available at 10.000 Yen… I'm going to order this one."
Ichika, saw Fuutaro intensely staring at the menu and there was a nervous expression on his face. She chuckled from seeing his expression and starting to stare at him. She thought that Fuutaro was kind of cute being nervous like that and Ichika unconsciously blushed and smiled as she kept staring at him. Fuutaro then noticed Ichika been staring at him and snapped her back to reality because he felt uncomfortable from being stared at.
"Oi Ichika, what's up with that face?" Fuutaro looked back at Ichika with annoyed face because of the staring from her.
"Ehh-uhh… No, it's nothing," Ichika panickily replied to him as she averted her eyes back to the menu book. "Well… Fuutaro-kun, are you decided on what you going to order?"
"Uhh… Yeah… I'm gonna order this chicken steak," Fuutaro said, pointing at the menu. "Then, what about you?"
"Umm… I'm going to order a salad and milk shakes," Ichika said her order as she called for the waiter. "You only ordered that, Fuutaro-kun? It's my treat today, you know, so don't be shy about it."
"Yeah... I'm good with it," Fuutaro said flatly as he closed the menu book. "Besides, you should be the one who order extra food since eating only vegetable can't satisfy your empty stomach."
"Fuutaro-kun, as an actress, I should carefully choose on what kind of food I should eat to maintain my body shape and posture... Or I wouldn't get anymore acting offer, you know?" Ichika grumpily said to him, for being insensitive about eating behavior.
"Ahh… Is that so? Then my bad..." Fuutaro replied with expressionless face, getting what she meant and immediately went silent to not offend her further.
"Really… You really don't have a delicacy for a woman, you know that?" Ichika continued to pout as she gave the menu book to the waiter.
The waiter took their order and left them alone again. While waiting for the food, Ichika asked for Fuutaro's recommendation on where they should go after breakfast. She had some place in mind for where they should go, but she wanted to know first on where Fuutaro wanted to go.
"Hey, Fuutaro-kun, do you have any place in mind on where should we go after we eat?" Ichika asked him as she rested her right cheek on her right hand
"Hmm… I don't know. I rarely go anywhere other than school and home," Fuutaro responded to her question as he looked at the ceiling, not knowing many places to say.
"Hehe… You're such a shut-in person aren't you, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika laughed from hearing his respond. "But I did notice that you definitely changed since the first time we meet."
"Hmm… What do you mean?"
"Well… Since you become our tutor, you've been to other places that you never been, right?" Ichika said with a cheerful tone to him. "So, there must be some place in your mind. Pick a place, I will happily go wherever you want." She encouraged Fuutaro to choose a place for their next destination.
"Hmm… Let's see…" Fuutaro put his hand on his jaw and closed his eyes to think about a potential place to go.
Fuutaro then thought about the place that he ever been other than school and home. Shopping mall, amusement park, arcade, cafe… Those places rolling through his mind and he needed to decide from all of that place for their next destination. After some hard thought, Fuutaro chose arcade for their next destination because he had been to arcade last year with Raiha and Itsuki and he did have some fun playing in arcade.
"Arcade… How about arcade, Ichika?" Fuutaro suggested as he opened his eyes and put his hand down.
"Arcade huh? It's not a bad choice…" Ichika mumbled to herself after hearing Fuutaro's suggestion. "It's been a long time since the last time I've been to arcade. I'm definitely looking forward play again in the arcade!" she said with a grin and smile.
"Yeah… Anyway, our food is finally here. So, let's eat because we're going to have a long day, right?" Fuutaro looked at the waiter who finally arrived to deliver their food.
"Yeah!" Ichika said cheerfully with a wide smile.
The waiter put their foods and drinks on the table; chicken steak for Fuutaro and salad and milk shakes for Ichika. Fuutaro looked at the chicken steak with a narrow eye and distasteful stare, wondering how the hell did this kind of food cost ¥10.000. Knowing how expensive this chicken steak was, he had a high expectation for this food and hoping the taste can be good.
"Ittadakimasu."
"Ittadakimasu."
Fuutaro cut the chicken steak into small pieces and ate one of the small slices. When he chewed that small slice, he was very impressed by the taste and he never tasted a chicken that tastes this good before. The taste, texture, and the finishing, it was all perfect. For him, this was the best chicken he ever ate in his life.
"This chicken steak… It's one of the best foods I ever eat," Fuutaro said as he continued to eat the chicken steak eagerly. "Even though it's very overpriced, the taste definitely equal with its price."
"Well… As expected from this kind of restaurant. This salad taste pretty good too," Ichika also praised the food as she drank the milk shakes. "There's a review in the net from a famous food critic named M.A.Y, that this restaurant is worth 5-star rating."
"M.A.Y, huh?" Fuutaro mumbled while chewing his food. "That Itsuki… Not gonna lie, even though she's a food devouring monster, she did have a taste for a good food." he smirked with a cold sweat on his head.
After eating their breakfast, the two headed straight to arcade. Arriving at the arcade, Fuutaro noticed that there were not many people in this place, knowing that it was still school and work time right now. Right now, there were only some children and few adults playing in the arcade, so both him and Ichika were the only school students in this place. Adding that they were still wearing their school uniform, made them easily stood out from other visitors.
The two headed to the exchange counter to exchange some money for the coin token to play in this arcade. Both of them took a walk around the arcade to decide which game they should play first. After some moments of walking, Ichika pointed at the air hockey machine and pulled Fuutaro to play it.
"Hey Fuutaro-kun, let's play this!" Ichika said enthusiastically, pointing at the air hockey machine. "It's been a long time since I played this and if I remember, the last time I played air hockey was when I'm still in elementary school." she then inserted some coins to the machine for them to play.
"So I guess, playing in arcade is not your thing huh?" Fuutaro headed to the other side of the machine and then held the striker.
"Ahh… Yotsuba and Nino are the one who still playing at arcade regularly with their friends," Ichika explained as she grabbed the puck and put it on the field. "As for me, I don't have much time going to arcade anymore since I'm on tennis club and the acting job really took most of the time to have fun."
"Ahh… Is that so?" Fuutaro nodded as he closed his eyes to prepare himself to play. "Then, get yourself ready, Ichika, I won't hold back even in playing game!" he then opened his eyes with a fiery look and said with a confident tone.
"Hehehe… Then, I won't hold back either. Here I go, Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika responded with a great spirit as she started to hit the puck first.
Both of them played intensely, but in fun way, for a lot of rounds. Smile, laughs, and joy were visible on their faces as they already forgot their own problem, especially the mental weight of the mock exam. Between each round, Ichika thought of how fun playing arcade game especially with the person that she liked, which was the boy at the opposite side from her. Her heart started to thump faster and faster, it was not because of how intense the match was, it was because of her suppressed feelings for Fuutaro.
"So this is how it feels, huh…?"
"This feel so different compared to when I played with the other four or my friends…"
"Is my feeling for Fuutaro-kun this strong…?"
"Well, I don't object to it, in fact I'm very happy about it…"
At the end of the final round, they both play equally well and ended up in a tie on a win for each previous round. The two then took a seat on nearby bench to rest for a while because of how intense the matches were.
"Wahhh… That was fun!" Ichika said as she took a seat on the bench and immediately stretched her arm.
"Hmm… You did very well for someone who haven't played in long time," Fuutaro said with a grin, praised her for her performance on playing the air hockey.
"Thank you! Fuutaro-kun, you did good too at air hockey for someone who almost never play in arcade," she replied with a wide smile and praised Fuutaro too.
"Well, I did play in arcade for a few times with Raiha, so I know how to play some of the games in this place."
"Ehh… Is that so?" Ichika mumbled from hearing his statement. "Then, what should we play next?"
"How about that racing game over there?" Fuutaro pointed at the racing game machine not far from them. "I've been wanting to play that game since the last time I accompanied Raiha here." he then stood up from the bench and headed for the machine.
"A racing game… huh? I never play it before," Ichika talked to herself, looking at the racing game machine that Fuutaro pointed. "I don't know how to play that game… So please go easy on me, okay?" she stood up and followed Fuutaro to the machine.
"Yeah… but don't blame me if you're losing, okay?" Fuutaro responded with an evil grin and his face was full of confidence.
"Ughh… Fuutaro-kun…"
They both played the racing game for some rounds, but not as many compared to air hockey before. At first, they were both kind of confused on how the game works because they never played this game before. But for Fuutaro, he quickly learned how to play this game because he knew how to drive motorcycle and he can quickly apply his driving experience to the game. As expected, Ichika only won once and that only win because Fuutaro purposely losing to her in pity. But in the end, it was Fuutaro total victory on every round.
"Ughh… Fuutaro-kun, that was a dirty play on the last round… You rammed me just before I can pass the finish line," Ichika frowned at Fuutaro because of his dirty playstyle on playing the racing game.
"Well, that was the game core mechanic to ram your opponent in order to win," Fuutaro said with a cheeky smile, feeling satisfied with the results. "So it's not entirely my fault, right?"
"Hmphh…" Ichika felt irritated by his response and turned her head away from him in frustration.
"Hey, hey… Don't get angry okay," Fuutaro smirked at still pouting Ichika as he bought a cola from the vending machine. "Here's a cola for you to cool down your temper." he then put the cold cola can to Ichika's left cheek.
"Woahhh…!" Ichika got startled from his action as cold sensation spreading through her entire left cheek.
"Ughh… Fuutaro-kun, can you please stop teasing me…?!" she took the cola can with annoyed expression and looked at Fuutaro with a flustered look.
"Well… Since you always teased me on almost every occasion, I say this is the payback after all the teasing, right?" Fuutaro looked at her with an evil smile and burning eyes, enjoying every of his teases to Ichika.
"Ughh… You're so unfair, you know that?" Ichika felt embarrassed as she drank the cola in silent.
Still drinking the cola, Ichika noticed a crane game machine and quickly pulled Fuutaro's arm and headed to the machine. Inside of the machine, there were a lot of variety of plushies and the sight of many plushies made Ichika awed and her eyes were filled with amazement because of how cute the plushies was. She then noticed a certain plush that made her eyes went wide and she immediately went excited as she pulled out a coin to play the crane game.
Fuutaro noticed Ichika went excited on this machine and chuckled from seeing this rare sight of her. He then walked next to her and he can saw a lot of plushies in the machine. No wonder Ichika got excited by this sight as Fuutaro thought most of the girls will get all excited and jumping from seeing all those plushies.
"Hehe… Looks like you really wanted to play this machine, huh?" Fuutaro chuckled again from seeing the excited girl next to him.
"Yeah, that's right!" Ichika nodded in excitement as she pointed at a certain plush inside of the machine. "Hey Fuutaro-kun! Do you see that hippo plush?" That hippo is very cute, let's try to get that one!"
"I never thought you're that type who like a stuffed animal," Fuutaro said. "Even if you win it, I bet it will drown in that pile of things in your room."
"Ughh… Stop talking like my room is some kind of uncivilized land!" Ichika excited expression instantly turned into a slight frown from Fuutaro's insult. "Anyway, let's get that that hippo plush! We still have lot of coins to spare, so few rounds of this should be fine." she gave the coin to Fuutaro, letting him to play first.
"Yeah… yeah… Here I go. Wish me a good luck." Fuutaro accepted the coin and put it in the coin slot to start the machine.
After inserting the coin, Fuutaro immediately controlled the stick and the buttons for the crane. With narrow eyes and concentration, he carefully controlled the crane and when the claw was positioned right above the hippo plush, Fuutaro pressed a button to lowered the crane and it grabbed the plush. He continued to control the claw slowly and carefully so it won't drop on the way. But as soon as the claw nearing the drop-off hole, the claw unexpectedly dropped the plush and it returned to the starting position. Seeing this result, a frustration starting to build up in his head because he was so close to winning in first try.
"This cursed machine… It's just like the last time when I played this…" Fuutaro quietly grumbled from frustration and cursed the machine in front of him.
"There, there… Calm yourself down, Fuutaro-kun." Ichika tried to calm Fuutaro down with a weak laugh. "Here, let me try it. Who knows my luck is better than you." she then winked at still frustrated Fuutaro as he stepped aside from the machine.
"Yeah, whatever… Just don't get all angry when you keep failing. Trust me I've been in that situation before."
Ichika inserted another coin to this machine and started to move the stick for the hippo plush. She carefully controlled the stick and the button for the claw. The result… was far worse than Fuutaro's earlier attempt as the claw didn't even manage to grab the hippo plush and instead, it only grabbed the air and returned to the starting position. Just like Fuutaro, Ichika got irritated by the result and there was a frustrated "smile" appeared on her lips as she can't accept her failed attempt.
"This machine… I finally remembered why I stayed away from this game many years ago…" Ichika said with irritated tone.
"Heh! Even your luck is far worse than mine," Fuutaro smirked on seeing Ichika got frustrated by the crane game. "Giving up or keep on trying?"
"No! I won't give up!" Ichika said with a confidence and looked at the machine with a resolve. "That hippo plush is very cute and I really want it! Fuutaro-kun, let's take a turn on playing this machine until our coins run out! I definitely won't give up until our last coin!" she looked at Fuutaro with a serious expression and gave him another coin to play.
"Such determination from Ichika… But well, that's one thing that I like from her," Fuutaro thought with a chuckle, seeing Ichika's strong determination. "Yeah… Let's defeat this cursed machine together!" he accepted the coin and inserted it to the machine.
Fuutaro and Ichika took a turn on playing the machine, trying to win the hippo plush from this crane game. Coins after coins were inserted to this machine, as they kept failing to get that hippo plush, who still sitting inside the machine, waiting to be collected. The two starting to get more and more frustrated at this game, even thinking that the arcade management might rigged this machine. Angry veins were visible on Fuutaro's forehead and Ichika's eyes were twitching after each failed attempt as they looked at each other with sarcastic laugh, as they slowly losing their senses…
After countless of failed attempts, Fuutaro stood in front of the machine, with a defeated expression and stared at their last coin on his hand.
"*sigh* This is our last coin… After so many failed attempts, I don't even want to try anymore…" Fuutaro sighed as he closed his eyes, feeling exhausted.
"Well… Might as well play it… Who knows we finally win on the last try…" Ichika said to him with a defeated voice, feeling all tired as she took a seat on a nearby bench.
"Heh! As if that's going to happen…" Fuutaro sarcastically mumbled as he inserted their last coin."
Fuutaro carefully moved the stick to get the right position for the claw, so it can successfully grab the hippo plush. He positioned the claw right above the plush and then pressed the button as the claw slowly goes down. The claw grabbed the plush tightly and started to go upward. Ichika got surprised from seeing this and eagerly got up from the bench, joining Fuutaro for the last attempt. The claw made its way to the drop-off hole and it looks like there was no sign of it letting go the hippo plush. Both of them looked at the claw with a big hope and wide eyes, but unexpectedly the claw dropped the hippo plush just a millimeter away from the drop-off hole.
"HUHHH…!"
A big gasp and shocked expression instantly appeared on their face as the two looked at each other in disbelief about this very unpredictable and rigged machine… For Fuutaro, he finally had enough of this machine and his frustration finally exploded as he cursed and yelled at the machine.
"WHAT THE HELL WITH THIS CURSED MACHINE!" Fuutaro screamed in anger as he slammed his fist onto the machine.
"C-Calm down, Fuutaro-kun," Ichika said with a panic expression, trying to calm down Fuutaro by grabbing both of his shoulder. "Or the staffs will throw us out from the arcade."
"THIS GAME IS TRULY MADE BY THE DEVIL!" Fuutaro still infuriated and continued his ranting. "I SWEAR THIS MACHINE IS RIG-"
Either it was luck or Fuutaro slamming his fist to this machine, the hippo plush slowly leaning towards the drop-off hole. The plush finally fell into the hole and it was ready to be collected on the other end. Fuutaro and Ichika then looked at each other in disbelief from this sudden situation and they starting to chuckle and that chuckle turned into big laugh.
"Ahahaha!" Fuutaro laughed.
"Ahahaha!" Ichika laughed too.
"WE FINALLY DID IT!" both of them shouted in unison.
Ichika then collected the hippo plush and looked at it with a happy smile. She then showed the stuffed animal to Fuutaro, asking his opinion about it.
"What do you think about it, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika happily asked to Fuutaro, still showing the hippo plush. "Isn't it looks cute?"
"Yeah… It looks cute," Fuutaro agreed with her, still with a big grin on his face. "Be sure to not lose it in your room, okay? It's for the reminder of our struggles and hard work on getting it."
"Yes, yes…!" Ichika replied with a wide smile as she hugged the plush tightly.
"…" Fuutaro slightly gasped from seeing the sight of Ichika hugging the hippo plush.
Fuutaro suddenly felt something strange in his chest from seeing Ichika smiling and hugging the hippo plush. This was the same feeling like before, when Ichika said "Fuutaro-sensei" to him. At the same time, his heart beating faster than usual while he tried to process this unexplainable feeling. He held his chest with his right hand, wondering what made it feeling like this.
"What's with this feeling…?"
"I never have this feeling before and this is the first time I feel this."
"Also, my heart is beating faster than usual and I can feel it."
"No, No… It must be because of the tense and relief from winning the crane game…"
"I must not think anything weird."
Ichika still feeling overjoyed from winning the hippo plush. Hippopotamus was her favorite animal and some of her friends said to her that having Hippopotamus as a favorite animal was kind of weird. Ichika didn't care about what her friends said because she had her own reason on why she liked that animal and she also can't really explain why she liked Hippopotamus in the first place. She then noticed Fuutaro freezing in place with an anxious expression and asked to him if he was alright.
"Uhhh… Fuutaro-kun, what's wrong?" Ichika asked to the quiet boy, wondering about his sudden change of expression.
"Ehh-uhh… No, it was nothing..." Fuutaro responded with a startle as he tried to gain his composure back.
"Ehh… Is that so? Then, there's one final machine that I want to check!" Ichika cheerfully said to him as she pulled Fuutaro's arm. "Let's go!"
"Yeah…"
Ichika and Fuutaro walked to a certain machine not far from them. The machine that Ichika said turned out to be a photo booth. They both stood outside of the photo booth and Fuutaro looked at Ichika with an unenthusiastic expression. This was the same photo booth that he took a picture with Itsuki and Raiha last year and the memories of awkwardness immediately flooded back in his head.
"Really…? Photo booth?"
"Well, isn't it okay?" Ichika responded to him with a grin. "Then, let's go in and take a photo together!"
"*sigh* Yeah… Whatever…"
"But wait, didn't we used all of our coins for the crane game?" Ichika asked to Fuutaro, stopping just before she entered the booth.
"Since you mentioned it… Yes, we did use all of our coins for that crane game." Fuutaro said with a flat tone, feeling slightly satisfied so he won't be embarrassing himself in the photo booth.
"Ehh… No way…" Ichika cheerful expression immediately turned into a disappointment. "I've been looking forward for the photo booth since we arri-"
Her eyes suddenly spotted a single coin on the floor and she picked it up. Feeling happy again, she turned to Fuutaro with an evil smirk on her face.
"No running, Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika said with an evil smirk, showing the coin that she just found. "This coin is enough for the photo booth. Don't try to run away from me, okay?" she dragged Fuutaro inside the photo booth.
"*sigh* I'm really tired…" Fuutaro sighed, feeling tired as he forcefully pulled into the booth by Ichika.
Inside the photo booth, Ichika inserted the coin and chose the filter for the photo. She looked at the screen, where the reflection of her and Fuutaro were shown and Ichika fixed her shirt collar and tidied up her school blazer so she can look good in the photo. On the screen, she noticed that Fuutaro's shirt collar was also messy and then she reached for his collar to fix it.
"Fuutaro-kun, your shirt collar… Here, let me fix it for you," Ichika said with a faint smile, fixing his collar.
"Ahh… Thanks."
"Then, get ready for the photo!" Ichika said as she started to pose with her hippo plush. "Don't give that usual dead and blank expression of yours, okay?" she teased Fuutaro as the timer of the camera started to counting down.
"Yeah, yeah…"
Fuutaro then prepared his face for the photo shoot. He was not used to smile for photo shoot except for family photo with his dad and Raiha. Even in the yearbook, he never smiled and only showed a neutral and blank expression. Last time where he took a photo in this photo booth with Itsuki and Raiha, there was an awkwardness and embarrassment that he showed on his face because Itsuki forced him to take a part in photo booth to please Raiha. But as soon as he took a glance at Ichika, who was smiling and laughing next to him, an unexpected laugh and smile unconsciously formed on his face.
After the photo shoot, Fuutaro quickly exited the booth to buy a drink from vending machine because of the exhaustion from playing the crane games. But before he went to the vending machine, Fuutaro asked to Ichika if she wanted a drink too.
"Ichika, I'm going to buy a drink. You want something too?" Fuutaro asked to her as he kept walking to the vending machine.
"Ahh… I want an iced coffee and no sugar in it…" Ichika responded to him as she exited the photo booth.
Ichika then took the result of the photos and there were five photos in total. She looked at the first two photos and there was a picture of her laughing with Fuutaro's blank and annoyed expression. She giggled seeing that expression of him even though she told him earlier to not show that kind of face expression.
"As expected from Fuutaro-kun, I guess he's that type of guy who won't smile for a photo," Ichika mumbled from seeing the first two photos. "Then, next photo… Ehhh…?" she got surprised seeing the third photo.
Ichika's eyes widened from seeing the third photo and unexpected for her, there was her, laughing and Fuutaro also laughed happily in the picture. She was impressed by the result and it was very rare for Fuutaro laughing like that, other than when she and the other four quintuplets were joking with him.
"Hehehe… I guess I was wrong…"
"Even a guy like Fuutaro-kun can laugh in the photo."
She then looked at the fourth photo and it was more or less the same like in the third photo. As she saw the last photo, Ichika got surprised even more and a blush starting to formed on her cheeks. The photo showed Ichika genuinely smiling with her embracing the hippo plush, but what surprised her the most was the gentle smile on Fuutaro's face. This was the second time she saw Fuutaro smiled like that, last time she saw this gentle smile was when Fuutaro saved her from the falling wooden log back on the last year school trip, when they accidentally got locked in the warehouse together. The sweet and gentleness in his smile made her heart thumping even faster. As she kept staring at the photo, a smile also formed on her lips.
"That smile…"
"That gentle smile of him… It makes my heart warmer just from seeing it."
"Fuutaro-kun..."
Fuutaro returned with a water bottle and an iced coffee on both of his hands. He saw Ichika, blushing from staring at the photo. He narrowed his eyes and wondered about the photo result because he didn't even know what kind of face he made while in the photo booth. Feeling curious about the result, he slowly walked to Ichika and tried to peek the photo from behind her back.
"Oi… How did the result come off? Is it good?" Fuutaro said to Ichika, peeking at the photo from her back.
"Ehh-uhh! F-Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika got startled by Fuutaro suddenly appearing behind her as she turned around to face him and hide the photos behind her back.
"Huh…? What's wrong with you? Anyway, here's the iced coffee that you want." Fuutaro felt a little puzzled from seeing her reaction and gave the coffee cup to Ichika.
"Ahh… Thank you." Ichika accepted the coffee cup with her right hand as her left hand still hiding the photos.
"So… Did the photo came out good?"
"Y-Yeah… It's pretty good," Ichika said as she drank the whole coffee in one gulp. "You want to keep some of the photos?"
"Ahh… Just give me one of the photos. You can keep the rest."
"Okay, here's for you." Ichika threw the empty coffee cup on the nearby trash bin and gave the first photo to Fuutaro.
"Hmm… It looks okay for me," Fuutaro nodded as he saw the photo and put it in his pocket. "Anyway, let's go, there's nothing we can do in arcade anymore."
"Yes, let's go!" Ichika happily nodded as she followed Fuutaro from behind.
Ichika then looked at the photos again. She wanted to stare at each photo as long as she can... The laugh of him that made her wanted to laugh too... and for that gentle smile of him, it truly warmed her heart as another genuine smile formed on her lips. She then put the photos in her school bag and looked at Fuutaro from behind, thinking about her feelings to him and hoping for more fun and warming experience with him.
"That gentle smile… I can't stop thinking about it."
"We still have a long day to go ahead of us."
"I hope you can give me more of this unforgettable experience… Fuutaro-kun…"
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