"Look, there's more stuff over here…"
Ryo had pointed out a stand that was selling chocolate heart-shaped lollipops. The boy with long hair placed his hands into his pants pockets as he walked along his "date", who had a wide assortment of snacks in her arms and one in her mouth.
Earlier, after they left without telling Kurousagi where they were going, the two of them found themselves in what appeared to be a large food district. It resembled the first area they all arrived in, but the number of hotels in the area had decreased significantly, replaced instead by apartments and office buildings. At a glance, spectators would assume that neither of the two would be enjoying themselves in the area, and were just around to kill some time. However, Ryo was actually very interested in all the decorations, creatures, and activities that were nearby, while Yo was very interested in seeing what kind of things she could buy to satisfy her enormous appitite.
"You sure you can handle all those snacks?" Ryo asked as he crossed his arms. "I know they say women have a second stomach, but I don't think even that justifies eating that many treats…"
"It's alright," Yo replied with a sucker in her mouth. "This is just to help me last until we get back to headquarters. So I had to hold back a bit…"
"Wow, there are all kinds here in [Little Garden]…"
The two of them went over to a nearby crowd, where a small group of performers were doing a variety of acts, such as juggling with bowling pins, impressive acrobatics, and classic magic tricks. They watched with amused faces as the tricks began to escalate into a higher level, with the pins suddenly changing into swords while growing in numbers, the acrobatics involving fire and reaching closer towards the sky, and the magic tricks becoming more and more colorful. Everyone in the audience gazed in awe, as the acts started to change to resemble a wondrous array of fluid movement and bright colors, almost like a giant painting was being created in front of their very eyes. However, the two acrobats suddenly lost their balance, and began crashing towards the ground. Almost everyone in the crowd gasped as they watched helplessly at the two figures fall hard towards the earth. But Yo instantly dropped everything in her hands and used her [Gift] to gather enough speed to reach one of acrobats easily before he reached the ground. Ryo quickly brought out a speed-focused doppelganger, who managed to catch the other just second before she was about to hit the ground as well.
Everyone cheered as Ryo fell on one knee from the unexpected use of excessive energy. Both acrobats got back on their feet and bowed while thanking their saviors from an unfortunate accident. However, Yo was quite sad as she faced the ground.
"My snacks…" she said in a small whimper as she stared at the assortment of sweets and fried food that were ruined from the fall.
After some words of thanks (and a small return trip to the food stalls), Ryo ended up following Yo to a small petting zoo, where a variety of birds, puppies, sheep, and horses were open for the pubic to make contact with. Ryo had the impression that Yo was some kind of animal lover, so it didn't surprise him when she wanted to come by. What did surprise him was the fact that she insisted on meeting with each and every single animal that was around and making friends with them.
"Don't you think that this might be a bit too much?" he asked as she finished with what appeared to be her nineteenth animal.
"You can never have too many friends!" she spoke in complete seriousness. Her eyes gleamed to show just how dedicated she was towards her goal.
"Okayyyy…." Ryo gave up on the spot, and crouched down, wondering if they were ever going to make it to the main event in time. A small white puppy came by and started nuzzling itself on his ankle. He looked down and picked it up by the scruff of its neck while poking it gently on the nose.
"Look at you, practically a newborn just learning the ways of the world," he said in a low voice. "you might end up being the favorite out of all your little friends, and then what? End up training to be a guard dog? Work as a hunter? Get send out as a lab rat? You may not even be able to make any friends by then…"
The puppy growled before biting on Ryo's finger. Ryo flinched, but he yanked his finger away without hurting the small animal. He gently blew on his finger before checking for any blood, but thankfully the teeth didn't seem to be fully developed yet, so there were only shallow bite marks.
"Damnit…"
He was thinking about dropping the mutt when Yo suddenly came by.
"Wow! I haven't seen this one yet!"
He gave her the small white puppy, who whimpered a little as the hand-over was in process.
"Hello, it's nice to meet you," Yo said in a gentle voice as she held it up to her face. "How are you doing?"
The small animal tried to lick her face to show how much affection it held towards the new person. Ryo, who was watching Yo make contact with the small thing, gave a small glare.
"So he's a sucker for a pretty face, huh…"
He started to lean against a nearby wall as the puppy turned its head towards him, as if to gloat about how wrong Ryo's prediction was.
After finally meeting with every single animal in the petting zoo, the two of them went to an art museum, where an enormous variety of art pieces made by different communities had been gathered together. The central theme appeared to be "Love" as nearly all the works on display seemed to show something that portrayed love in some way, regardless of whether it was a piece of pottery, a stage, or even a sculpted figure of a person that somebody liked.
"What's that?"
Yo was pointing to a painting that didn't seem to be very popular, despite being in one of the most crowded locations. As the two went over to get a better look, they quickly understood why.
The painting depicted the figure of a man and woman who appeared to be pulled apart from each other. The man had a harp in one hand while reaching out towards the woman with the other. Angels appeared to be pulling him towards a golden gate, where the warm and bright colors seemed to symbolize a paradise that could draw anyone in. The woman was more pale and ghostly than the man, but she also appeared to be stretching her hand out towards the man's with skeletons pulling her away like the angels were. However, the skeletons seemed to be dragging the woman towards a large silver gate, where the cold and dark colors seem to symbolize a lonely and terrible area that nobody would even dare think about going to.
"The Tragedy of Orpheus" Ryo was reading the plague next to the painting itself. "This painting shows one of the many ways how love can bring about the greatest despair. Well that's obviously something you wouldn't expect in a festival like this…"
"And yet, it is here, whether people would admire it or not."
A young woman suddenly appeared near the two of them, holding her right hand to her hips while her head was cocked slightly.
The young woman had magnificent blue hair that appeared to gently float with each turn of her head, with matching blue eyes that seemed to sparkle like gemstones, to complement a face that seemed to have an otherworldly allure to it. However, her clothing, which consisted of brown leather boots, short pants, and a brown hunting vest over a green short-sleeved shirt, seemed to contrast with her own appearance, which made her facial appearance that much noticeable.
"Perhaps nobody would like to see such a painting on a festival like this, but tragedy is certainly related to love." The young woman spoke with a gentle voice that gave a hint of sadness.
"How so?"
"A tragedy most commonly occurs when people lose someone or something that they treasure very much. Should it be a lover, a child, or maybe even a family heirloom, all these things produce a sad and heart wrenching moment when they go missing from the one who treasures them."
"Well yeah, but I don't think that you can always call it a tragedy every time…"
"True, it's not always the case. But then, it all depends on how much that person truly loves that treasured thing." The woman turned her head while giving a slight bow. "Forgive me, where are my manners? My name is Metis Atraxia Regal. But simply Metis will do.
"My name is Natsobe Ryo, and this is Kasukabe Yo. We're here visiting the festival."
"Ah, so I take it that you've also come to participate in the [Gift Game] that is this year's centerpiece?"
Ryo turned to Yo, who shrugged her shoulders slightly.
"I…guess….?"
Metis gave a small chuckle. "Then I shall look forward to seeing how far the both of you will go." She gave a small bow. "Until we meet again…"
The blue-haired beauty had turned around and left with a sense of grace with each step. Ryo stared blankly at Metis, as if a bit entranced by the way she moved. He didn't seem to even blink until he felt a sharp pain on his face.
"Ow…"
He looked up to see Yo giving him a half-closed stare, pinching his cheek with more force by the second, as if trying to squeeze the blood out of him.
"What are you doing?"
"Asuka said that this is something that women do when the men they're dating are being unfaithful…"
"What the… it's not like that… besides, we (Ouch) aren't even dating for real…"
"Even if it's a front, I don't think you should be cheating on me…"
"Where the heck did you even learn words like that?"
Yo had finally released her grip on the caramel-colored boy, who proceeded to rub his cheeks a bit.
"Look, we've still got some time before the event starts, so how about we go find something else to eat, and maybe pick up a few things for everyone else. That ok?"
"Sure…"
The two of them left the museum and headed for the food stalls, where unknowingly, Ryo's wallet was going to be left with a small yet significant hole very soon…
Author's note: So, I've never really written many date scenarios. But I was going for a pretty straightforward "date" that didn't really show much "romantic elements" in it (Sorry RyoXYo fans, but I've giving it some thought, and I don't think Ryo and Yo have reached anything higher than the "friend" level at this point in the series). Let me know how it turned out, give me your honest opinions, and I'll try to add a bit more romance in the next chapters if you want them.
Don't know how many of you know the story of Orpheus, but I'll try to give a brief summary here. People who know and don't want to read, just skip ahead...
Story of Orpheus:
Orpheus, one of the greatest greek musicians in existance, lost his lover to death. The gods pitied him, so they gave him permission to go down to the underworld and try to get his lover back. There, Hades, the underworld god, initially said no. But after being soothed by Orpheus' music, he agreed to let him take his lover back on one condition. Until they reached the world of the living, Orpheus was not allowed to turn back even once, otherwise his lover would be lost in the underworld forever. Orpheus agreed, and started heading back up to the world of the living. the closer he got to the exit, the more anxious he got to seeing his lover alive again, and eventually he couldn't take it any more, and turned around to see her dragged off by the souls of the dead, forever lost to him because of his deed...
...or at least that's how nearly every version of the myth goes.
Also, I know I said 2 more dates in the last chapter, but I forgot the IzayoixSakura pairing, so it was actually 2 more NOW.
Anyways, that's it, I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Questions? PM me or ask in the review.
Any more OCs applications? Sadly, not yet.
Hoping to see Book 9 of the Mondaiji series available? Yes, but that all depends on how hard the translators will work.