Silence drifted over the four at the snack bar. Well, other than the hand movements between Gao and Baku, that is.
"Is Zanya seriously not in a good mood during the school field trip?" Kiri asked, the silence finally breaking.
The duo stopped fighting for a moment to think, shrugging after.
"Isn't that his problem?" Baku asked.
"I dunno. Maybe he's got a lot on his mind that's bugging him. Maybe," Gao said.
"What was that back there?" Zanya asked Kuguru, who was dragging him further and further.
"Nothing you need to worry yourself over. I just felt like your anger, on a scale of 1 to 10, was slowly going from 4 to 5 then to 6."
'Smart girl,' he thought.
"So you dragged me away because…"
"If I didn't, it would probably be like 8 by now."
'I'm not that hot-headed!' he thought.
"Look up," Kuguru instructed the boy. "What do you see?"
"I see… a bunch of flowers, a reindeer, swans, clouds, a rainbow and a hot air balloon as monorail cars."
"Correct! Let's go!" she said, squeezing the boy's hand.
"Fine…" he muttered, getting dragged along by Kuguru.
'I shouldn't keep this gloom and anger up… Damn it Akatsuki. You had to fall sick and throw up last night,' Zanya thought to himself, clearly aware that his mood was slowly becoming clearer and clearer to his friends. He spent half the night cleaning up after Akatsuki and putting him back to sleep. Fatigue got to him easily and affects his actions.
"Spacing out now?" Kuguru asked him.
"N-no! Of course not!" he replied.
"If you say so."
Prying off her attention was easy. Keeping it that way was hard. He didn't get quite enough sleep, but he didn't want anyone to catch on either. Suddenly, his cell beeped.
"Hey Z! You having fun?" -Akatsuki
"I'm feeling better though" -Akatsuki
"Love ya!" -Akatsuki
He felt the air warm up all of a sudden. Maybe now he could enjoy along with the friends around him.
"Love you too" He clicked send then stuffed the phone back into his pocket. Unbeknownst to him, his brother's eyes filled when he saw what Zanya typed back.
For Zanya, sitting in a ride was easy. Sitting in a ride with a girl in the same car was still okay, though a minor challenge. Sitting in a ride with a girl leaning onto you was most definitely not okay.
Unless the girl's Kuguru. The slow, peaceful ride in the swan car made his eyelids heavy, until Kuguru decided to lean against his shoulder and hold one of his hands. In response, he adjusted to her lean, and put his other hand over her hands.
"Zanya, has something been bothering you?" she asked.
"No. Why would you think that?"
"I don't know. You seem to be as distracted as I am," she said.
"You're distracted? By what?" he asked softly.
"Nothing really. It's something minor that I can't seem to get out of my head," she replied.
"If you need to talk, you know what to do," he said.
"Thanks, but no thanks. It's something that I need to wait out and play along with," she said. "Wait, you sneaky ninja! You avoided my question!"
"Oh that," he said, yawning right after. "I didn't get enough sleep last night, that's all."
"Akatsuki?" she guessed.
"Pretty much."
Just then, her phone beeped.
'Where are you guys?' -Baku.
'Look up. We're sitting on a moving swan.' -Kuguru.
"So this is where you guys ran off to!" Tetsuya said as they regrouped.
"Just checking, but we're supposed to get dinner on our own, right?" Gao asked.
"Correct. We're expected to be back at the hotel by 8.30, when the teachers do a head count before going to bed," Kuguru replied.
"What time is it?" Baku asked.
'You better not even mention about eating dinner now,' Zanya thought.
"It's around half past 5. What do you guys wanna do now?" Kuguru asked.
"A movie?" Gao suggested.
"No horror! Suggest any movies of that genre and I will kill you!" Kuguru exclaimed.
"Aww… but I was thinking of a fantastic horror movie," Baku teased.
"No! Absolutely not!" Kuguru retorted, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head.
"Light-hearted comedy?" Kiri suggested.
"How about we head down to the cinema first then we decide what movie we want?" Zanya said more than asked, shutting down this bicker of genres.
"You're right," Gao said as the group headed off.
"I think it would be wise to skip movies today…" Kiri said, looking at the movies on list. Most of them were horror, and the timings were off too.
"Rides it is," Gao announced and they went back out of the cinema.
"Ahh…!" A long and shrill scream came and went by the gang. A roller coaster ride just zipped by, and it's exciting feel lingered around Baku and Tetsuya.
"How about that?" Baku asked, pointing at the roller coaster as it disappeared behind the Ferris wheel ride.
"Sure, if you're up for it," Kiri said, smirking.
"Let's make it interesting and have a little bet yo!" Tetsuya suggested.
"Okay then, whoever lets out a scream first buys dessert for the group!" Gao said.
"Then can I not…?" Kuguru asked, pushing her fingers against each other.
"Fine then. Only those who claim to be males compete. Let the games begin!" Baku announced.
"Wait… there are 5 of us. Each row is two person per row so… where does that leave us?" Zanya asked as they were waiting in line.
"You mean, who will sit alone, right?" Kiri asked.
"Why'd you bring it up in the first place? Unless you're scared of sitting alone?" Baku taunted.
"Who gave you that idea? The idea of it being scarier when you sit alone didn't even cross me," Zanya replied cooly.
"You're one to talk…" Baku said, raising his fist.
"Fine, let's go!" Zanya replied.
"Guys, if you wanna fight, how about we not do it in public?" Kuguru asked.
"Who said anything about fighting?" Gao asked, putting his hand behind his head.
"Don't you recognize this pose?" Tetsuya asked. Kiri followed suit and raised his hand behind his head too.
"How stupid of me…" she said as she facepalmed herself.
"Rock… Paper… Scissors!"
Phoenix: I think my brain is toying around with me right now, I can barely concentrate on writing the story…
Gao: Yeah, a nice way to wrap up the chapter though. Rock Paper Scissors is just that traditional game that everyone enjoys.
Phoenix: Glad you think so.
Baku: Hey Phoenix!
Phoenix: Yes, Baku?
Baku: You better not make me sit alone on that roller coaster!
Phoenix: Are you scared to sit alone? In that case, maybe I'll just be mean this one time…
Baku: Hey!
Phoenix: Anyways, I hope this has been a decent story so far for everyone, and if possible, leave a review, enjoy and bye! Until the next chapter!