A/N: Aaaaaaahhhhh! Okay. I'm screaming. Okay. Hi guys! I want to apologize first about the previous chapter's footnote. It's super long and it's just so long. Please forgive for I do not talk to anybody about this story much and I just had to vent excitement through notes. Anyway, about this chapter. Any similar events to other stories of whatever media are highly coincidental. I don't know why I'm saying this, but just to be clear. I relied solely on my own sappy daydreams and gah, that's embarrassing. But you get my point. ^^;;

Doki = sound of a heartbeat; Osu = another way to say "Yes!" (usually to a master/sensei)

Gogogo~n!

Disclaimer: Somebody's not been on a date. Shoot her now.


TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCE

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
The Total Pipedream Experience

They were quiet.

They got off the crowded cab after eight more stations, at Kyowa, a city of Jyopen closest to Tomo where 40-feet tall buildings stood compact, cars filled the narrow highways, and where the cheap shops and flea markets exist to dominate the holiday season. There were plenty of people walking around the gray sidewalks. The buses were busy. The malls were packed with families and little kids who were buying stuff with their Christmas money. The chattering noises and the sweet, cool breeze of winter reached miles—happy, light cackles and loud laughter, genuine smiles that stretched to the heavens. Kyowa was a huge, recreational shopping center, and Killua and Yuhi were quiet.

The first thing they did was eat. They had lunch inside the food court of a mall right next to the train station they got off from. The girl had never been so nervous about eating in front of another person than she did that day. Amidst the surrounding mall noise, the air was stiff and a whistle between her and Killua. They spent the majority of their time shooting glances and pretending they did not catch each other's eyes, and Yuhi always reminded herself to erase the pout she was unknowingly giving the burgers of the family that sat next to their table.

After that, they walked around the mall a meter apart, observing people and shops that had the least bit of their attention—at least for our auburn-haired protagonist. From time to time, she would lift her eyes and steal a glimpse at Killua, who was either looking ahead or away, and she would sigh, silently huff, and mentally scoffed at herself.

It was the train ride. She was sure.

The girl recalled how her stomach caved in the entire ride, having the boy stand so close to her than Roroturo could ever allow and feeling eyes of practically everyone within their perimeter stare at them from head to foot.

Killua turned to her then as they stood wearily on the platform of their destination. He exhaled sharply and asked her, "Okay?"

Yuhi's insides then rolled, cheeks puffing red as she looked up guiltily at him. All she could respond to the question was a nervous, shaky cackle. The boy cleared his throat, and looked away. Killua said that it was time for lunch and she followed him out. After that, they barely talked. Yuhi had no idea how to redeem herself.

But Killua was really nice. He was going to pay for their cheeseburgers and fries, if only Yuhi had not insisted she'd pay for hers instead. Killua submitted, though reluctantly. But he bought them ice cream, and he was speaking really amiably, though quietly, and he was really sweet. There were a couple of times where they hit each other's legs accidentally under the table, and Killua would lift his eyes at her, only his eyes, from his burger, and he would press his lips, and sometimes smile, apologetically. Yuhi thought that Killua's smiles, though tiny and scarce, were cute and sweet.

Yet the silence between them can be very suffocating, especially because they haven't talked of the train ride, or anything important about themselves. Yuhi apologized, but Killua said nothing, and it was bothering her. Not being able to hold onto a conversation for three more minutes with the boy bothered Yuhi. She wanted to talk to him, as they have talked in text, and that was not the case at the moment.

She wished for that manual again. Dating: For Inexperienced Fourteen Year-Olds.

As they turned a corner, Yuhi could feel her veins tightening for the nth time. She did not know what to do, about what a boy and a girl do, on a date. And she had been thinking about that the entire time they were inside the train. Glancing up at the boy, who was walking slightly ahead of her, she bit her bottom lip. The only reference she had about going out were Roroturo's extremely sappy chick-flicks, and Yuhi learned that dates in dramas did not come as naturally in real life. If only asking about how dates went to the women working inside the shop was not so nerve-racking she would have done it. She exhaled, eyes wandering toward the boy's jacket pocket where his hands hid. Yuhi had been subconsciously doing that often that day, imagining what it was like to be Killua's pockets, what made him put him hands in them all the time. Then she would look down, feel her palms with her fingers, and her heart would race, with again another mental vision of Jared and Hikari's interlocked hands—

"Oi, oi, hallway girl."

Yuhi stopped and looked up. Killua was in front of her. She watched him retrieve his hands from her shoulders and put them back in his pockets. She blinked, shook her head a little and returned her gaze at him. "Hm?"

A pause. Killua's blue eyes were adorably big. "What's up with you?" he mumbled out.

The girl cocked her head to the right. Then she remembered her thoughts, and she blushed. She shook her head defensively. "N-Nothing! It's…" she sighed and smiled. "Nothing."

Another pause. Killua blinked. He shifted his eyes to the right, to her, to the left, back to her, then he finally looked away, running his left palm through his nape. "If it's about the train ride, don't think about it."

Yuhi's eyes followed the boy's exposed hand until it went back in his jacket pocket. She started to wonder if Killua knew stuff about going out, particularly what two people do when they go out, when they eat, when they walk. That's right. I wonder if he has taken a girl out before. She nodded, and after a nod, Killua turned a heel and they started walking again. She sighed. Will their story always be a silent film?

Maybe not.

Killua cleared his throat. "Why are you being so quiet? Everything okay?" He glanced to his left at her.

Yuhi's eyes lit up at him. She wanted to joke about him being the quiet one, so she did. "Hey, you're being quiet too, ne." She smiled, because she was glad about Killua initiating a conversation.

The latter was looking at her, then turned ahead and held his chin up for a second before he started exhaling sharply through his nose. "Okay," he breathed out. Yuhi tucked her chin in, confused. Killua looked at her. "Whataya wanna do?"

Yuhi's eyes grew wide for some reason. "M-Me?" she nervously asked, pointing a shaky finger to herself. The question was a bullet. It suddenly felt like being called in front of the class to recite the Periodic Table of Elements. In proper order.

Killua nodded. "What do you want to do?"

"Today?"

"Yes?"

"You're making me… decide?"

Killua pressed his lips together, looking confused. He slowly nodded. Again. "Yeah."

Yuhi pursed her lips. Slowly her own eyebrows furrowed, shifting her gaze toward one tile on the floor and tried to burn it with a laser eye. She was thinking. She thought that she needed to give Killua a reasonable answer. What did she want to do? Killua and Gon were new in the country so she must think of something cool for them carry out in there. She, who had been in Kyowa more than she could count. What did she want to do? Why didn't she see this coming? Was it always like this? The girl gets to choose? She absolutely thought that for starters guys led a date.

"Ramen girl," Killua called. When Yuhi looked, he turned his eyes away and began to pull out something from his pants pocket. He held it in the air.

It took seconds and a few blinks before the girl could decipher what the rectangular paper was for. Then her eyes got big, blood suddenly flowing through her veins in a speed of light, making her heart race in a giddy fashion.

It was a ticket to the amusement park in Kyowa.

Yuhi tried to tame her nerves. She leaned her head back, confused and curious—albeit also subconsciously anxious—wondering why he showed it to her when he only had one. When she opened her mouth to ask, Killua slid out another ticket from behind the one he showed.

"Gon won game coupons," he muttered, shrugging as he glanced at her.

She gasped audibly, instantly dropping the mask of composure. "Are those even game coupons? When are you going to use them?" she asked—a snap question—playfully, excitedly, seeing that they weren't just coupons, bouncing lightly with every step. She wanted to scream. Amusement park tickets!

Killua's wonderstruck face softened into a grin. He looked at her with confused yet amused eyes. A brief cackle escaped his throat. He seemed to be suppressing his laughter. "What, do you wanna go or not?" He tried sounding cool and nonchalant.

"Killua," Yuhi had said with so much awe, eyes sparkling as pictures of fun played in her head. She wanted to hug him right there and then. But she managed to calm her nerves down. Instead she beamed at him, beamed the widest and shiniest of her beams at him, and nodded. She was getting excited.

Killua's grin grew wider, larking, as he released a kind of hearty chortle the girl reckoned unprecedentedly fresh, and new. He asked her to keep the tickets inside her bag, she placed them safely in, and for five seconds they stood there with puerile smiles on their faces before Killua tilted his chin and said, "You're weird," while he shook his head and tenderly punched the girl's left cheek.

The gesture made Yuhi blush hard and hot. Knowing Killua for quite some time, she could tell, with the face he was showing back when they were inside the train, that he was going to be annoyed for a while. But then this. His sudden gests had never made her stomach burst out candy confetti than how it did that time. She bit her bottom lip rushed to his side.


"See, when we take a bus from Tomo we don't have to ride another bus to get there."

Yuhi huffed cheekily as she smiled, holding tightly on the backrest of the second row of seats inside the bus they were in. They were standing on the aisle. There were too many people in Kyowa. "Why didn't you say we'd be going to the amusement park?" she gently asked.

Killua was leaning his back against the backrest of the first row. Definitely no squirming allowed to happen. He snorted. "I was still thinking about it."

Yuhi felt her cheeks blush as she watched Killua look away with that flustered look on his face. She didn't know if the boy already noticed it but she could easily see his face coloring now. He did that a lot whenever he was with Gon and Gon was saying nice things about him. It was cute. She liked that about him. Hih. I like him.

The bus stopped and the lady driver shouted the drop-off location: Pipedream Amusement Park! Those getting off, we're at Pipedream!

Three-fourths of the passengers inside the bus got off at Pipedream. Yuhi inwardly squealed when she saw a glimpse of the gate from the glass window and gave Killua another one of her excited beams before they hopped off. The bus throttled away, the people rushed in.

The gate was a huge red arch designed with tiny yellow stars that blinked during the night. There were three huge stars at the very top of the arch, holding the grand blue name of the amusement park: PIPEDREAM! And under it was its tag line in lower case: world of funtasy. Streaks of purple, pink and white paint were scattered through the yellow blank parts of its massive metal glory. It embraced the huge square of magic inside. Pipedream was one of the largest amusement parks in the country and it was just the ultimate wonderland.

They gave the tickets, a thick paper band that says PIPEDREAM all over was rolled in their left wrist, they had it stamped, and finally the guard opened the green metal gate that led to the entirety of the park.

A rush ran up the girl's spine when her filled of vision was fed with the wonderful view of fun, and her hearing drowned with the music of excitement. Her eyes sparkled, and she couldn't help but squeeze Killua's arm with both of her hands. There were rides everywhere, food, benches, street games, yellow-bricked roads, arcades, Christmas carols playing in the background. It was winter but it was warm inside the park. Everything was there. And Yuhi was so happy.

"Don't tell me you still haven't been here," Killua asked, grinning. There was happy music in his tone.

"I have!" she shouted. The noise was distant, scattered, but she had to shout. She had to let it out. She was so excited. "We used to go here when I was a kid!" A clown with massive rainbow-colored balloons walked in front of them. Yuhi followed him with her sparkling eyes.

Killua was laughing at her, glancing at her hands around his right elbow. He pushed his fists inside his pockets and stepped sideways, to the right, closer. "And when's the last time you went?"

Yuhi's gaze was everywhere. And each time she saw something exciting she would unknowingly squeeze the boy's arm. "I think I was nine! Wow, the Ferris' Wheel's upgraded! It's huge now!" She feasted her eyes with everything, not noticing the pause in the air until she had decided that her nerves had calmed down. She looked at Killua and wondered why he wasn't saying anything. He was staring at her, with a disbelieved look on his face—a playful disbelief—and she wondered why. Slowly she retrieved her hands and hid them at her back, smiling nervously. "Why?"

"You were nine, you say?" he asked, incredulous, as though it was beyond eerie that one could not have been to an amusement park every single month of the year. "What were you doing for 5 years, being ramen girl?" he exclaimed, amazed. "When's the last time you rode on a rollercoaster?"

Yuhi wanted to laugh. She was glad that Killua started talking to her that way again. She liked him better with that tone in his voice. She giggled at the thought. I like him. "I haven't been in a rollercoaster," she admitted, scratching her right cheek.

Killua's eyes went big. "No." Yuhi's cheeks colored for real this time and Killua started laughing lightly. He seemed to be having fun. "I'm backed up," he casually muttered to the air, pushing his hands further down the pockets of his jacket.

The girl blinked and cocked her head to the right. She wanted to ask what he meant by that but looking up at him she found herself held speechless. He looked fresh and his air was easy, comfortable, that Yuhi couldn't help but smile to herself, and look down. She was blushing. It felt different, seeing him that day. It was as if she would be meeting him for the first time, but in a different light—in a much brighter, lovelier light. She mentally thanked the heavens for a magical fireworks show that she would be watching right in front of her eyes. And for the amusement park tickets.

"Yo, ramen girl, you coming?" Killua called over his shoulder. He was already five feet ahead. Yuhi pressed her lips together to suppress a huge smile. Killua jabbed a thumb toward the arcade. "Warm up." He grinned.


They were having a good time, a really, really good time. Yuhi knew that she was. And when she asked Killua he was smiling at her. It was one of those smiles he'd give Gon whenever she saw them playing in the front lawns of campus—cheeky, playful, yet real. If hanging out with the boy would always appear to be that exhilarating, Yuhi would want to do it every single day.

After shooting hoops and killing off zombies with fake bazookas inside the arcade, Yuhi and Killua went straight to the rides indoors. They had made a compromise. Yuhi's choice of amusement should come first. Killua's should come whenever they felt like it. He was okay about that, he said. But he sure made some successful brainwashing whenever Yuhi started eyeing rides for 9-year-olds.

Killua got her to ride on a rollercoaster, for the first time in her life, and she was shaking the entire time they were in line. She slightly cried while feeling the terrifying pull of gravity in her stomach. And she couldn't recall whether she had locked her hands into Killua's while they were in the air, because she saw him flexing his right hand when they got off, but she felt that she had. Maybe she squeezed it too tight. She did that a lot to Roroturo when she was little and she was scared. Her heart raced at that, mentally pouting because of the short-term memory loss.

There were about five more rides before they bought hotdogs and went inside a small, bright dome to watch some penguins in action, the winter holiday attraction of the park. They sat at the far end of the bleachers while talking about Gon. He loved animals, Killua remembered. He also explained that he and Gon, with Mito and Mito's mother, went there in Kyowa a couple of times whenever they wished to go out. The day before that, in fact, on Christmas Day, he said they spent in there. Yuhi had been in Kyowa often, buying ingredients for the ramen shop with Roroturo. She told him that, earning her another snicker and a joshing "Ramen girl" from the boy.

After their little break, they walked around the mall of the park and played some games that didn't have massive stuffed toys as prizes. Killua won them. Yuhi kept two brown puppy key-chains in her bag—one for her, the other for Gon—and said that she'd play and win one so she could give a prize to the boy. Killua only rolled his eyes at her, as if to dare. So Yuhi persisted.

"Later," she said with a firm nod.

"That should be fun to watch," Killua replied, his grin dominant.

A little moment later, Yuhi went to play a game outdoors, one where they gave you rings and you have to shoot them in a bottle situated about seven feet away. Killua stood beside her, arms crossed against his chest, leaning on the counter, coaching her—rather, messing with her—and watching her lose each try. Yuhi felt that she needed to wipe that smirk off his face and show him that she could do it, albeit also wanting to give him something. After nine sets, she was beaming, and Killua was carrying a box of chocolate sticks.

The horror houses were a little lame, Killua insisted on this fact. But Yuhi actually felt his hand around her wrist inside one for a second, and for a second there she couldn't breathe. Other walk-in attractions indoors they found weird and funny. There was a room with massive Math symbols, scientific portals, time travel loops and mummies. Yuhi wondered if Killua remembered but there was an exact replica of the Midnight Chamber from the museum during camp trip. And they went in, and somehow there was a stiff and awkward air between them while in there. When they got out, they caught each other's gaze and shared a rather shaky laugh.

They went in a café and got immediately out, laughing of disbelief at how expensive the milkshakes were. They had cotton candies and ice cream in a bun. Yuhi bought her brother a leather bracelet, seeing one from the small flea market and recalling that Yellich liked those things. He had a bunch of them and sometimes he would wear about three on each wrist, explaining that each one was a sentimental memoir of something. Yuhi wanted to add her share. Though she tensed when she felt Killua's gaze from behind her ears. When she turned, she saw his eyebrow arched upward, lips curled and eyes wide of curiosity. She only smiled and shrugged. He never asked.

She also bought herself a bunny ears headband. And seeing the display and looking at Killua, she could not resist buying him one as well, for fun. For five minutes the boy was walking around wearing white cat ears. Yuhi thought he was cute, looking all flustered and with cat ears, that she just had to pull him in a photo booth to keep an adorable memory in her wallet. She let Killua choose from five. He tear the last one off the strip, where he was shot taking off his headband and looking at Yuhi who was smiling at him, and kept it in his pocket.

"Proof that I was trying to get this thing off," Killua explained, sneering at the headband for a second with that flustered look on his face before shoving it in his jacket. Yuhi giggled behind her palm.

The girl had no idea how and what it would be like for her to be hanging out with a boy she liked. She did not try to picture an exact itinerary for it, no plans, no clues. For Killua, she couldn't tell. The boy had two amusement park tickets ready in his pocket anyway and Yuhi still wondered whether he had done it before—hang out with a girl.

But both were spontaneous. Yuhi had to keep reminding herself that Killua was there, where he could see her look like an idiot inside a child's massive playground, and that they were out together, because she was enjoying herself too much that it was almost impossible for her to act like a decent lady. Killua was the same. He seemed much comfortable than Yuhi noticed of him whenever he was around her before. He smiled, cracked jokes, talked in his normal tone, and laughed a lot, his eyes twinkling of exuberance.

Spending the day with him, she thought, was like magic. She still found it unimaginable that he was there beside her, walking with her, having fun with her, eating waffles next to her. It felt as though she was inside a very beautiful dream, where she could gaze through his crystal eyes, smile at him, and exchange glances with him as much as she wanted, and he would allow her. The funny thing about it was that he knew that she liked him, and he would allow her. Her heart took every sweet blow with intensity—staggered, stuttered, electrified—and she liked the severe rush of adrenaline through her veins. She liked how Killua was making her feel.

Every bit.

Everything seemed to be fitting into place without them both trying so hard to connect. They were going with the flow, she felt—for her, not overthinking of what to say, what to do, how to act in front of the boy (unlike that of before)—and it was amazing how they could get along so well after one heck of a snakes-and-ladders tournament. Yuhi could seriously ponder about this, but at the moment she could not care to dwell onto another mind-game. She liked them better that way.

It was already dark when they got in their last planned ride to ride. They were still six rides away from the total Pipedream experience, but those remaining rides were for the 9-year-olds, and so they left it at that, saving the Ferris' Wheel for last. It was one of Yuhi's requests, because she remembered the Ferris' Wheel the most in her slightly vague 9-year-old memory, and she wanted to know the feeling of being high up in the skies again—in a non-nerve-racking way.

"You know, Roroturo was always nervous when we get on this ride," she started, while the slow-moving cab lifted them up the ground. "His palms would sweat a lot and his knees would shake so bad."

Killua was sitting opposite her, legs crossed, looking perfectly comfortable and not afraid of heights. "Are you?" he asked. Yuhi looked at him and blinked. "Are you scared?"

Yuhi saw that daring grin on his face again, and corners of her lips then slowly lifted. She shook her head, as what she recalled when she was little, then looked out the window. They were still halfway from seeing the full view of the night, when the cab started to shake. It made Yuhi pause. Then the cab moved. It was swaying. Her eyes grew wide and she instantly wrapped her arm tight around the pole she was holding, her knees shaking. Killua was snickering.

"Okay. I'll stop," he said with hands up in surrender, grinning and turning toward the window.

A massive amount of air escaped the girl's lungs at that, instantly thinking of a fire exit. The cab could fit about five people. There were plenty of space. She'd have to scramble two steps in order to reach Killua's side if ever the ride malfunctioned. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought. She had been absent-mindedly scooting close to the boy the entire day, as she could not keep her jolly muscles from feeling another flesh near her. She had always been like that whenever her emotions got the best of her, and that day, she was either extremely excited or nervous to think about it. Sometimes she would apologize, and Killua would say that he did not mind at all. He was allowing her. She pressed her lips together and glanced at the boy, then shook her head of blistering awe and turned to look at where the ride was already taking them.

Slowly then, a smile paved its way across her face, her eyes sparkling, her heart racing. Outside of the tiny window revealed a gorgeous view of Kyowa's nightlife. All of the fancy Christmas lights were on and they were dancing to the beat of a party song in the background. They looked like glowing veins, glow-in-the-dark connect-the-dots, a huge dark seabed with glittery grids. It was shiny and pretty.

"So beautiful," she commented, then glued the tip of her index finger to the glass. "Hey, look! There's the mall! And there's the highway back to Tomo!" Her voice was high and excited. Pipedream was making her high and excited. She looked at Killua so she would know that they were sharing the divine view. But she found herself stopping, with her vision suddenly drowning in the splendor of the boy's person—the deep indigo in the tiny cab bulb and the night-lights had reflected on his hair and his eyes—and she felt her bones melting at such perfection. She unknowingly stared, and stared, until Killua turned his smiling face at her and blinked. She silently gasped and shot him a small smile before turning toward the window again.

It suddenly hit her that she was with Killua, inside a closed and quiet cab, alone together, fifty-feet above the ground. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and saw him looking out the window again, chin on his palm, skin catching the reflection of a faint illuminated map of the world. His presence was starting to make her feel more nervous than when they were inside the train. She had to talk. Yuhi swallowed. Her throat was slightly itchy from all the screaming. She had never ridden so many rides all at once in her life. "What a record," she purposely thought aloud.

"What is?"

"This." She looked at him, and meeting his eyes tensed her. The window became her focal point of view. "It's been so long since I went to this kind of place. I almost forgot how it felt like."

"If you asked Roroturo-san, you could go, you know."

Yuhi smiled when Killua mentioned her guardian's name. "He's busy, and I'm always doing something to help him out."

She heard him grin. "Another ramen girl speech. Do you ever have fun?"

"That's the least I could do after all he's done for me. And I'm having fun!"

"Really," Killua let out breathlessly, looking at her with pure, arcane conjecture. A small convex curve painted on his face as his eyes narrowed. "You're so weird," he whispered, more to himself than to the girl. When Yuhi turned to him and asked what he said with that smile on her face, he shook his head, forehead relaxing as his smirk slowly transformed into a wide, impish grin. "I said you're such a ramen girl." He chuckled and kicked her leg lightly with his left foot.

Yuhi tucked her chin in and mimicked the action while she laughed heartily, the blood on her cheeks a grand dose of caffeine. "And you're making fun of me again."

Killua faked a jaw-drop and started snickering. "Hey, I'm just telling the truth!"

"But you're laughing!" And so was she.

"That's because you're so passionate about it. It's c—"

"It's, what?"

"Anyway, you're also laughing so we're quits. Ha-ha!"

Yuhi pursed her lips to suppress her smile, but she failed. How could she not laugh when Killua's face was continuously giving her a hard time stopping herself from doing so? "That's unfair," she jested, pulling her lungs in.

As Killua's smile grew he bit his bottom lip, eyes twinkling in a way that Yuhi thought he was giving her a wink. It made her pulses go wild, berserk. Killua was one intense spark after another.

Soon they were halfway from the end of the ride. Yuhi looked out the window with her temples beating in the tune of euphony as she felt the fun of the day infiltrating her state of mind, seeing the places they went through inside the park from a bird's eye view. "I can't believe that this is the first time I rode on a rollercoaster," she said slowly, eyeing the largest, plastic glass covered ride in the place.

"That's the five years you missed," Killua teased. "You're welcome."

She turned toward the boy and watched his smiling eyes shift from her to the window. She then pursed her lips as she retrieved her arm from the pole, the balls of her palms pressing against her thighs. Taking a deep breath, she waited for Killua to catch her gaze. When he did, she smiled and fixed her eyes at her sienna boots. "Thank you, Killua. For bringing me here. And for hanging out. With someone like me." Yuhi's face burned, her palms sweating. She was so nervous saying that. But she had been meaning to say it since and she thanked the heavens for letting her. "You're really sweet." She glanced up at him then, waiting for his response.

Killua was still for about five seconds, his big cat-eyes blinking as he stared at her with wonderment. He then breathed out and looked away, struggling to keep blood from filling his already pinkish cheeks. "Y-You didn't have to make it sound so cheesy," he muttered under his breath.

Yuhi was certain that her veins were on the verge of exploding. Killua looked so adorably hesitant she could just hug him, tight, that instant, to keep his charm from escaping. She subconsciously clenched her fingers, feeling sparks crawl up her spine, tickling her nerves. Giggling was harder to resist.

Killua snapped his eyes at her. "Why're you laughing now?"

She shook her head and felt that she let out a toothy smile while she thought of what she was going to say next. "I'm just so happy today." It came from the heart, and it felt so right.

A few moments passed, their cab reached the 360-degrees rotation mark and they got out. Her stomach grumbled as they stepped out into the open field. They could have dinner now, then have a little walk afterward, and maybe even buy tiny souvenirs before they go home. That's right. It was getting late. She was going to tell Killua that. But before she could turn around he was already beside her. Then without warning she felt her heart emit a loud and heavy thump, system ceasing and smile transforming into pure bewilderment. Her stomach grumbled even more as she tried catching her breath. There. She shifted her gaze from Killua's face down to her right hand.

Killua clicked his tongue and turned his face much further away from her sight than it already was. "It's getting cold," he mumbled. And Yuhi could feel his fingers tightening their lock into her own. It wringed sap juice from her throat, she could taste it in her mouth. Her stomach grumbled more. Butterflies. Loud, hysterical butterflies. Or maybe just hunger. "Yeah, I'm starving too," Killua said, shooting her a small, refreshing smile before striding forward.

Yuhi was still trying to get herself back together as the boy swept her away, looking at their hands as though she was watching one of Roroturo's chick-flicks in 3D. She couldn't believe it.

Killua.

Holding her hand.

She looked up at him unknowingly; staring at his eyelashes, then saw him look over his shoulder. Her heart then started racing fast. Faster. The boy pulled her close, beside him, and the two-meter gap disappeared between them, with Killua pushing their interlocked hands in his jacket pocket. Yuhi was mentally shaking her head, exclamation points multiplying inside her guts. No, she thought, letting the uncontrollable bliss out through a wide and dumb beam. It isn't getting cold.

Before, Yuhi would imagine how she would react if ever a boy she liked would hold her hand, and she absolutely felt that her hands would freeze because she would be too nervous to keep the heat in. But it was the opposite in Killua's case. Killua's touch was a drug, intoxicating her veins and soothing it at the same time. The flesh of his hand was rough, but his palm was soft and lukewarm, like the knitted mittens she would wear during the coldest of days. And it was just as comfortable. Her nerves went crazy, her heart pounding, but she was comfortable. It felt right, easy. For a brief moment, as they walked, she thought of a fireplace, and sitting on the floor by it, falling asleep with the silent, calming peace of the warm atmosphere.

So when they went in a diner outside the park and sat opposite each other for the spaghetti, Killua letting go, she felt her fingers freeze, suddenly deprived of the heat of the mittens. She had to give him a nervous smile each time she accidently bumped her knuckles against her glass of water.

However unlike the awkward stillness between them inside the food-court at lunch, that time, they seemed to have channeled the tongue-tied demure into their own clique. They were quiet, but they conversed with their eyes, smiling and silently cracking when one caught the other's gaze. Yuhi reveled in the moment, and Killua constantly allowing her gave her confidence. She felt a tad braver, finding courage in his deep-blue eyes that she never thought she possessed.

The walk home along the almost empty streets of Tomo was placid and serene. The air was a lovely cool and crisp, the streets silent, headlights slashed the dark night as vehicles drove through, faint Christmas lights blinking. Yuhi pushed her hands in her coat pockets and exhaled, smoke escaping her lips. She was starting to feel the fatigue of one entire day of fun, but she couldn't help but release a smile on her face as the events flashed through in her head in fast-forward. She looked to her right.

Killua felt her gaze and glanced, smiling to the air as he turned ahead. "Do we still take trains?"

Yuhi pressed her lips together and looked down, praying that this dreamlike fantasy she was in would not end as soon as it began. She shook her head and almost laughed. They took the bus on the way home. "But I'd still insist on paying next time."

"Next time," Killua echoed silently to himself, glancing again.

Yuhi caught his eyes, feeling her cheeks burn when she saw that tiny smirk on his face. Next time, she thought. Did I sound like I'm asking him out on another date?

Killua snickered. "If you'd remember to stay awake."

They turned a corner, ten blocks away from the ramen shop. Yuhi's stop, and she felt herself blushing furiously for the nth time that day and night. She cleared her throat, nervous. "I will. Absolutely." Perhaps her body was too exhausted to inform her brain about it, because she did not know that she was sleeping on the bus not until Killua started tapping her arm lightly. When she opened her eyes, she saw her arm wrapped around the boy's and realized that her head rested on his shoulder. Killua paid for their bus ride while she dozed off. It was embarrassing. "You should've waked me," she added, and felt Killua shrug. She looked at him and met his eyes.

He grinned. "I'm not one to ruin a moment."

Yuhi's features slowly softened as she watched Killua stretch his arms behind his head, turning ahead with that smile on his face. Clearing her throat, she blinked and shifted her eyes back to the road. They were near. She could see the ramen shop's sign from where they walked. "Ne, Killua," she called, loving the taste of his name on her lips. She wanted to thank him for the day again. It had been too wonderful that she felt her multiple vocal announcement of gratitude were still not enough.

"Ne, ramen girl," he replied.

She giggled. "Ne, whitey boy."

Killua paused. "What?" Yuhi saw him smile mockingly at the air as though someone from afar had just made the most ridiculous joke of all time. "Whitey boy," he repeated with vehemence. "Whitey."

Yuhi's voice shook as she smiled nervously. "It just came out," she guiltily declared.

"But why… whitey?"

"You know. Your, um, hair?"

"My—" He blinked, then shifted his eyes toward her, stunning her with a crooked gaze and an easy smile while he ruffled the strands of his forelocks with his fingers saying, "It's silver."

"Silver," Yuhi echoed, eyes wide, face lit. That was a fact she surely found shocking. Killua's hair color was silver. She didn't know. Nobody ever mentioned that, until that night, from himself. "Silver," she said again, louder, like it was the first word she ever learned how to pronounce. Yuhi absent-mindedly stared at his locks, mentally answering queries about how it would sometimes shine under the moonlight. She then blinked, feeling the tips of her fingers tingling to touch. Silver, she thought, and said the rest out loud. "You're regal, Killua."

It was a compliment, but the boy had to look away, sneering audibly at the other side of the road.

This made Yuhi's ribs squeeze air out of her lungs, her mind a turmoil as the whole idea of herself and a Killua Zoldyck got tangled up like the messy knots of an overly used metal scrub. "Can I ask you a question?" she started, her voice tiny. Killua looked at her. She blinked. "Would you have hung out with me if I hadn't told you that I… like you?"

The wind blew as they stopped in their tracks, the ramen shop a light-post away. It was a random question, but Yuhi was anxious for the answer. She gazed straight at Killua's eyes while he stared. His small Adam's apple then moved. He turned away then spat, "Why would you ask that?"

Yuhi's nerves were startled. She looked down and started fiddling with her fingers, suddenly shy of what she blurted. She had no excuse. "Why? I don't— It's just that—"

"Are you worried?"

When the girl looked up, she met Killua's solemn gaze for a second before he shunned it away. Her insides were hammering for a reason she could not comprehend what. She went for the hem of her coat next, sliding her thumb across it, left to right, right to left. She cleared her throat, not entirely sure of what kind of speech she was preparing for. "Because when— You were ignoring me, before the festival." She inwardly scolded her thoughts, biting her tongue after and waving her frantic hands in the air. "Ah! No! Hah… Don't answer that!"

She heard Killua exhale, clearing his throat. Yuhi braced herself. "Personal stuff," he began, forcing the words out through mumbles. "I was kinda tied-up in something and I had no idea how to deal with it. But now I…" Killua trailed off and glanced while Yuhi lifted her eyes at him, locking gazes for a millisecond before breaking it at the same time. "Just forget about it. It's only an exposition moment. Interval thing. Recess. Ugh. Kinda." Yuhi blinked. Killua looked at the sky. "Sorry."

The girl's instant thought was what Killua meant by an exposition moment. Recess? A break? From what? She swallowed, lips parting, hesitating to ask the question for the boy might not want to talk about it. Also, she never intended that particular topic to rise in the conversation. She got carried away. Yuhi did not realize that she had fixed her gaze at him until he slashed the view with his eyes.

"But yeah, I guess." Killua ran his hands through his nape as he lowered his arms. He couldn't look straight at her face for some reason. "I mean, of all of Gon's friends, you're like the one I've spent most of my time with. That counts, right? So, yeah, I guess." A pause. "If you're worried, well, don't 'cause it's cool, you know, hanging out. I think you're okay, ramen girl. You called me whitey, but" he took a glimpse for the nth time, and for a moment there Yuhi saw the corners of his lips curling upward, "you're okay."

The second he said that, the girl looked down, blood rushing to her cheeks fast as they continued their walk. That was a comment, a compliment, from Killua—the first thing she heard him say about her. It was not exactly what she was wishing to hear, but it was enough to slightly lessen the ridiculous unease at the back of her mind.

They remained silent as they made their way toward the ramen shop, stopping when they reached the property, facing each other meters away from the front entrance. Yuhi clicked the heels of her boots together and shot Killua a smile. "Well, this is me."

The boy nodded, taking a deep breath.

Yuhi did the same, looking around and clicking her boots again. "So, I guess I have to…" She nodded over her shoulder, eyes shifting to her peripheral view, then back to her shoes.

Killua silently cleared the block in his throat. "Yeah."

Then silence.

The wind blew, making Yuhi shudder when the frost hit her exposed flesh. She smiled at him. "Today was fun! I had a really great time." Her heart then started racing when she saw Killua stepping closer, his eyes to the ground. She beamed, to cover the nerves, waiting for him to utter a word.

"Ramen girl," he started, gazing at her.

"Hmm?"

"…The keychain. Gon's souvenir?"

"Oh!" Yuhi then remembered that one of the keychain Killua won was in her bag. Gon was supposed to have it—a take-home present from Killua—so she immediately scrambled through her things. She raised it in the air when she found it, beaming, and handed it to the boy. "Here ya go."

He placed it in one of his jacket pockets. "Thanks."

She nodded and looked down.

Then another gust of silence.

Yuhi started fidgeting, feeling the air turn into a stiff gravity between them. She suddenly felt more awkward saying goodbye than saying hello, having no idea what to expect when the boy she liked had taken her home from a date. She couldn't just leave him there unlike before where she could wave and sprint off. That day was the beginning of something new, and Yuhi felt that she should say goodnight the right way.

She thought Killua's declaration of emancipation should be initiated by him first, as she was clueless on parting sentences and it normally happened that way. But his still and quiet presence was an endless spectacle. Yuhi could look up to inquire what was keeping him, but was afraid to meet his eyes, for she might not want to say goodnight more than she already slightly did. A picture of his gaze then went past her thoughts, making her heart race.

"Hey, um…"

Yuhi snapped her eyes toward him, realizing that she shocked her own nerves. Killua was looking down. "Hm?" her throat let out, pulses a constant 101 beats per second. She was breathless.

Killua pursed his lips, and lifting his eyes up at her his eyebrows creased. "Can I ask you something?"

Yuhi's pulses escalated when she saw his colored cheeks. Her lips parted, watching as Killua straightened his back and fixed his gaze at her. His eyes, they were dazzling. It was as though there was aurora trapped in his irises, dancing, glowing. They were mesmerizing, hypnotizing, and closer. She swallowed, trying not to get sucked into the magnet of Killua's adoring face. He was waiting. "S-Sure."

He took a breath, running a hand through his nape. "Are we doing this?" It was a mumble, something of all of Killua's mumbled words she did not catch wholly. Yuhi cocked her head slightly to the side. Killua read her. He took another breath, closing his eyes and exposing them again, and cleared his throat, searching her face.

Doki.

"Are we doing this?" he whispered, breath brushing through the tip of her nose.

Yuhi could have leaned away, of impulse, but her knees felt weak, and in the back of her mind she wanted to plant the soles of her feet to the concrete pavement, ceaselessly be in that position, admiring the close-up view of Killua's blue and white grandeur. It was such a beautiful thing, his face, that she almost forgot where she was in. Catching her breath, Yuhi blinked, the boy's question stabbing her brain suddenly. Her eyes were big. She tried to smile to lighten up the air. "What?" she choked.

But the boy didn't answer. He looked serious, and as Yuhi kept her stare, the curve in the corners of her lips disappeared. She watched as his eyes shift from her own downward. Her pulses then started to explode, waves crashing hard against the shoreline. Killua wasn't looking at her eyes anymore. He was looking at something else, prying for something else. Sirens came crying from every part of her brain as another unfathomable feeling was beginning to crawl against her skin. Her eyes grew wider as she stood there, static, watching in slow motion as Killua leaned close. And closer. Yuhi swallowed, air travelling in and out of her lungs in a speed of light. She held her breath, hearing nothing but bass drums thumping loud and mad against her skull, clenched her fists tight and closed her eyes. There was a lull in the middle of her raging ardor. And in that lull she heard Killua's lips parting, and felt him inhale through his mouth.

"Wow! Whoa! Get sobered up, alright? Call me when you get home!"

Heh—? In an instant, Yuhi opened her eyes, heart racing faster than a working turbine. The first thing she saw was Killua, facing something else with his hands inside his pockets, standing comfortably in his spot as though he had been there all along, two meters away from her. She blinked, then turned toward where he was looking. She almost gasped.

"Oh… Oh! Hey, kids!"

Roroturo was approaching, a man from the shop—perhaps the one he told to sober up—walking the opposite direction.

"Fancy meeting you here!" he greeted with his signature loud laugh, glancing at Yuhi and sticking his gaze at the boy.

The former swallowed and smiled nervously, inquiring how the latter was reacting.

Killua looked impeccably cool and nonchalant, shrugging and smiling as how he greeted Roroturo normally. "Hey, Roroturo-san. Fancy meeting you here."

The addressed reached them and threw a loving arm around Yuhi's shoulders. He squeezed his hand around the ball of one as he repeated that laugh. Yuhi could never comprehend how hard her pulses banged against her skin at that time. She knew Roroturo too well not to notice that he was trying to give a dominant air. Maybe Killua felt it too. He showed them that manner when they first came to the shop anyway. "Right, right. So, how was your day?" He had his small, smiling gray eyes shifting from the girl to the boy.

Yuhi never looked away from Killua. She was observing him, seeing him glance at her, feeling the grit in his tongue when he repeated Roroturo's words of greeting—albeit also sensing her guardian's atmosphere. She was nervous. She waited for the boy to answer first, but when he looked at her she did the honors. "W-We had a load of fun," she exclaimed, her smile shaking. "We went to Pipedream, Roroturo-san. Remember Pipedream? The amusement park at Kyowa?" When she glanced at Killua he was pursing his lips. Then she inwardly freaked out. She just gave away information that could completely make or break Killua's reputation in her guardian's philosophy. Kyowa was out of town after all.

Roroturo had his mouth gaping with the shape of an 'o'. "Pipedream! I remember that place!" The girl sighed of relief. "You know, we used to go there when you were a baby and you were so scared of everything!" At that, Yuhi and Killua shared looks, suppressing laughter.

"The Ferris' Wheel's bigger and higher now, Roroturo-san," Killua said, smiling impishly.

Yuhi almost giggled audibly at the joke.

"Really?" The buff man's eyes grew wide. Then he smiled, hiding his surprise. "Then I hope Yuhi didn't cry if ever you got in for a ride."

Yuhi elbowed him.

Killua snickered.

"Well, it's cold out here and it's warm in there." Roroturo nodded toward the shop then looked at Killua. "Come in and stay for a bit. Hot ramen soup tastes best in this weather."

Yuhi waited.

Killua shrugged. "Nah, I'll pass. Maybe next time." He looked at the girl and gave her another one of his bone-melting smiles when he said the last two words. Yuhi wanted to flip. She returned it, looking down and pressing her lips together.

"Okay," Roroturo said firmly after a pause, shifting his weight to his right heel. "But only because it's really cold and I can't risk having you travel fifteen minutes by bus late at night."

Killua smiled at him. "Cool. I'll get going."

"Thanks, Killua." Roroturo smiled. Yuhi looked up. "Say hello to Gon and the ladies for me, alright?"

He nodded. "Yeah. See you around." He then stepped forth, slowing down as he neared the girl and whispering a haste "I'll call you" before waving a hand and walking back to the road leading to the bus stop.

Yuhi rushed in a "Take care on the way home!" as she watched him disappear in a corner. Then halt. The fireworks show stopped and she stood there eyeing the empty street, lingering on Killua's presence, before Roroturo reminded her of the weather and they got in.

Her guardian didn't ask much about how their day progressed in pure detailed narration. The information he needed to hear was the general: how Pipedream changed over the years, the mode of transportation they used, the number of people at Kyowa, the shops, the food they ate—adding a little lecture at the end of each sentence about the girl not sending him a message or calling before and after their out-of-town date. Yuhi apologized honestly for forgetting, gave him the answers, gave the Pipedream keychain she got for him, and stuck around to do a normal storytelling of her day.

She held back a bit, reading her guardian's facial reactions to each one of their conquests. He seemed pleased. But his eyes squinted when she mentioned the horror houses. Yuhi waited for what Roroturo would say about Killua though, his take on him, what he thought of him. So she asked, hesitantly. Roroturo merely told her to have him come over for ramen, smirking over his shoulder. After that, and after two servings of rice balls—as Roroturo insisted—she bid him good night and sprinted to her room.

For once Yuhi was glad that her brother's out for work that night. She thought she needed time to reminisce the day, to refresh her memories of the fun they had, and to save pictures of sweet moments in her head. Yuhi went straight to her bed that night, grabbing her pillow and burying her face in it. After all that had happened for one long day, that one tiny thing was what kept replaying inside her head. She still found it incredible, unthinkable. How could she be so lucky? Was her faith really that strong? Because although Roroturo suddenly entered the scene, she was so sure that she was not dreaming. It was there. Almost there.

Killua was about to kiss her.

Her heart pounded as she vividly watched the scene unfold behind her eyes, recalling the night of her confession the same time—how Killua's air had felt the same, the way he looked at her, how he hesitated while he touched her cheek. The moment was similar, only at that time she did not consider him ever having an idea of the two of them together. But then this happened. He asked her to hang out with him, they went out, he insisted on paying, he held her hand, and he almost went for it.

Killua happened.

That day had perhaps become the most unbelievable yet enchanting day of her life so far and Yuhi began to wonder, at last, with a smile on her eyes as she hugged her pillow in the dimness of her room, how and why Killua would choose to be with her, and it was a thought worth taking positively, because at the back of her mind the answer hung around waiting for the boy to confirm its truth. That was all what Yuhi needed to hear. A validation. A seal.

But Killua could take his time, she thought. His unprecedented actions and subtle gestures, the way he communicated and connected with her—they were more than enough fuel to keep the sparks blistering like powerful flames throughout the walls of her veins. Killua's eyes and smiles were more than enough. Killua alone was enough.

She took her phone out and held it near her eyes, illuminating her face, arms that secured the pillow between her thighs and her chest tightening as she scrolled through their message thread. Her smile was unstoppable. She sent him a text.

"home yet? thank you for today! :)))"

Killua replied just as fast.

"yeah. psh that again…"

She giggled, hearing the boy's voice in her head as she read the message.

"i can't get over it! haha gon must have missed you today :D"

"yeah ryt cuz he wont stop asking about you pfft. thats what happens wen you don't got to an amusment park for 5 yrs!"

"what about me? haha please tell him I say hi :) and… i know! haha i want to go back so bad :D"

"he says 'hiiiii!' too. well there's that next time you said…"

Yuhi bit her bottom lip as she tried to concentrate on making her pulses return to their normal rate. She thought of how insane it was to look at a misspelled word and insist on its adorability, and of Gon's cute, hyped up demeanor, realizing how she missed her spiky-haired friend now.

But Killua, he seemed to not get over that next time that she mentioned. And the way he repeated the words from earlier—twice—had strangely made her want to jump to that particular next time in an instant. She shook her head of awe as the butterflies in her insides roared, feeling the agitation of the blood in the veins in the back of her hands, her heart thumping slow but loud, her brain opening up to another kind of passion—a passion she felt when Killua leaned close, when he held her hand, whenever he walked beside her, laughed with her, smiled at her, whenever he was just there—the kick, the thrill, the magic.

"what if that next time's different? like, good different?" she typed in.

Send.

Twing!

"what if that's totally what i'd like?"

She smiled, so wide her ears swirled.

":D you guys hang for a while ^^"

"osu"

A pause. She was thinking.

Twing!

"hey, ramen girl"

"yep?"

"thanks… for today…"

Her ribs caved in, butterflies roaring loudly, madly. She smiled.

"hey, killua?"

"yes?"

Another pause.

"i love you."

Yuhi screamed into the pillow, laughing to herself as she slowly realized the veracity in those three words. It was real. It was right. What she felt for him, she could describe in those words, and it had never felt so good. She took a breath and stared at her screen, watching as the insertion point blinked at the end of the boy's name. Then she tittered, a brush of sugary quiver flashed up her neck.

Delete. Delete. Delete. Deleeeeeeeeeete.

"see you soon!"

Send.

-CHAPTER END-


/sings "Ohayou" for some "Reason"/ Hollaaaa! I was thinking of putting an end-note of "That's the last chapter! Bye!" as a joke. But then I thought of how awful that might sound, especially from me, even though it would be a joke, because 99.9% of the time my jokes don't work. Trolls. Anyway! This chapter. This freaking chapter. What do you think of it? What do you think of the Killua-Yuhi interaction? Do you think their date could have happened differently? If you think so, can you tell me how? Any questions? Concerns? Clarifications?

Because I'll tell you my thoughts. I had fun writing the date part. No kidding. I feel that they deserve to have fun because, you know, they're kids. And I seriously need to give them time to just chill and enjoy. It's been a helluva ride for Yuhi too so she—they both—deserved that date. I'm so happy for her right now, omg.

Thank you so much to all of the lovelies who reviewed in the previous chapter! Y'all are awesome and I love you for sharing your thoughts on this fic. I really appreciate every single one. My kokoro gets all doki-doki when I see my mail bombarded with reviews and faves and follows. Thanks for the happy pills, guys! I hope to see what you have to say on this one as well. It's a very important chapter. /throws choco confetti/ :D

Guest replies:

~Mr. Nobody, hiii! Omgasfjhdfjkf, really? That is amaaazing! There are other awesome stories in the fandom and a ton of talented writers but askfjdkfj thank you so much! For a fellow author like you… /cries/ And you use Korean terms! That –nim and jjang. Gomawo~ ^^

~mystic, oohh, I like that name. Hello, mystic! Awww, that is… wow. Thank you so muchhh! Yes, yes, they will always be the best of pals for eternity and I love that about them. /nonstop giggling/ Haaaa, Gon and Sejin. You guys are so cute pairing these two up. Well, I have numerous ideas about that right now soooo… :D And haha, kinda? Yep, kinda. That is cuute! Thanks so much!

NEXT CHAPTER: New year, new school life, new concerns? Oh, and I think someone's a little jealous.

Hope I could update sooner than soon. College is blocking my wonderland so I think I might need time starting today. Good luck on school stuff and reality btw everyone! G-a-n-b-a-t-t-e. Yuhi's rooting for you. :3