- Chapter 6: Outings For These Crimson-Eyed Girls! -
"So how long was it until you need to get going again?" Megumin questioned him as she hung up her jacket on the coat rack, having just dropped Komekko off at kindergarten.
"Around fifteen minutes probably. Any longer and there's a chance that I might miss the bus," Kazuma casually responded as he leaned against the nearby wall, a half eaten bowl of cereal in his hands.
She frowned at him as she stared down at what he was holding, "Hey, what did I tell you about walking around the house with food?".
"Yeah, I know, I know. Sorry," He placed his spoon into his bowl so that he could dismissively wave his free hand, "But I'm almost finished anyway, so it's not like I'm gonna spill it."
"...It's whatever, I guess. As long as you're careful," She didn't really have any interest in arguing with the boy about something so inconsequential, "Have you had a shower yet?".
"Mhm, I took one while you were out," Kazuma answered as he smoothed out a crease in his hoodie, "Why, you gonna take one now?".
"Not yet," Megumin wandered away from the front door and down the hallway, Kazuma following behind her, "I'll take one once you've left, I have something else to do first."
"Oh?" The brunette finished his last spoonful of cereal before he spoke again, "And what's that?".
"I'm gonna see if some of my other friends are free today," She came to a stop in front of her family's home phone, the type that could only make and receive calls, "I told you about it yesterday, didn't I?".
"Well, yeah," Kazuma shrugged as he watched her open up the large book next to the phone, with each page neatly organising names - a few of which he actually recognised - with a phone number scribbled down next to them, "But I assumed that you'd have done it last night. Don't you think that this is pretty late notice?".
While she kept her face locked directly onto the book, flipping from page to page, she did momentarily glance at him out of the corner of her eyes. "You… you aren't wrong," The girl sheepishly responded, her focused expression slowly being taken over by a more guilty looking one, "But I'm sure it'll be fine. It won't be for a few hours still, so that should be enough time, right?".
"Well, if you say so," Was all he said in response, absentmindedly playing with his spoon.
"I don't organise things like this very often, so you can't blame me," Megumin complained, before finally finding the contacts she was looking for, "And… there they are!".
With her mission to find their contacts complete, she propped the book open on the correct page and returned her attention to Kazuma. She stared at him for a few seconds, with the boy staring back at her for a few more, a puzzled look on his face.
"Aren't you gonna go away now?" Megumin asked, much more bluntly than she'd intended, "Sorry! I-I mean, don't you have to finish getting ready now… or something?".
"Yeesh, you're harsh today," He commented, stifling a yawn, " Are your bully tendencies finally coming back?".
"Hey! Don't say something like that! I am not, and have never been, a bully!".
"I think I know a few people who'd say otherwise," Kazuma snorted as he pushed himself away from the wall with one hand, "Anyway, I'll go finish getting ready for my shift now. Oi, don't look so grouchy, it was just a joke."
Megumin made sure to playfully punch the boy's arm in retaliation as he passed by her, his hand quickly moving up to thoroughly muss up her hair in response. She grumbled under her breath, watching him disappear into the kitchen with a small smile.
Pulling her attention away from the boy for the time being, she went back to her previous task, calling her friends. More specifically, she was planning to invite Funifura and Dodonko for lunch. Sure, she hadn't really considered the actual when or where, but she was sure that they'd be much more suited than her to figure something like that out.
Moving back to the phonebook, she carefully began to type Funifura's phone number into the old phone, making extra sure that she was typing in the correct number. Once she was finished, she dialled the call, and after a few moments of waiting, the other girl picked up the line.
"Megumin?" Came Funifura's voice, understandably surprised by who was on the other end of the line, "It's pretty rare for you to be the one calling me, it's usually the other way around. What's up, you need something?".
"Well, I don't really need anything per say," She answered, casually fiddling with the phonebook's nearby pen, rolling it back and forth on the paper, "I was just wondering if you're doing anything today, around lunchtime."
"Hmm," The girl remained in quiet thought for a few seconds, before giving her answer, "Nope! I've got nothing going on today. Why, is there somewhere you wanna go?".
"Um, well, nowhere specifically," Megumin replied sheepishly, "But I was wondering if you wanted to go for lunch later. I'm planning to invite Dodonko too."
"Huh? Yeah, that sounds great!" Funifura sounded fairly excited by the offer, to Megumin's relief, "Hey, if you don't have anywhere in mind, then I have an idea!".
"O-oh?".
"You know Nerimaki, from our class, right?" The twin tailed girl asked.
"...Yeah, I think so," Came her response. Truthfully, she only vaguely knew of her, they'd only really talked one on one a couple of times before.
"Apparently, her family owns a diner… or a pub… or something like that," Funifura explained, "She was telling me about it last week, so it might be cool to check it out at some point. Whaddya think?".
"Sounds good," Megumin let out a breath, relieved that the other girl had quickly taken over on the planning front.
"Hey, if we're gonna go to her family's diner, it would probably be polite to also invite Nerimaki to come with us," The other girl suggested, "I mean, you already said you were gonna invite Dodonko, right? So is it okay if Nerimaki comes too? It only seems fair."
She considered Funifura's idea for a second, before replying, "Yeah, that seems okay. I haven't really talked to her much, but I don't mind if she comes along."
"Sweet!" She heard the other girl cheer through the speaker, "Oh, now that I think about it, if we're inviting people, we should invite Arue too, y'know? She's that one girl who's always in the library - writing stories, I think. Apparently Dodonko started talking to her recently and she's like, pretty cool actually, according to her, so it might be nice to hang out with her."
"R-right, fine by me," The short haired girl responded, a little awkwardly. Although she really had just intended to invite Funifura and Dodonko, it's not like she particularly minded the other two girls coming along as well. Sure, Megumin didn't exactly have a huge group of friends, but she did still consider herself to be a fairly outgoing person. Getting to properly know Arue and Nerimaki might even be fun.
"Awesome, how about we all meet up at twelve, then?" Funifura proposed, "Actually, I'm not sure of exactly where the diner is, but apparently it's not too far from our school, so how about we just meet up around there?".
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," The other girl confirmed, having almost forgotten that this was initially her idea, "Hey, actually, do you mind inviting Nerimaki and Arue for me? I'll invite Dodonko myself, but I don't actually have either of their numbers, so…".
"On it," She quickly replied, "I'll do it right now, then. Anyway, remember, we'll all meet outside school at twelve. Oh, and also, feel free to invite anyone else, if you want to. The more the merrier, y'know?".
"Sure. Thanks for helping out with this."
"No problem!" She heard the other girl say, "Well, anyway, I'll see you later, bye!".
And with that, Megumin gave a goodbye to the other girl and hung up the call. All in all, she really hadn't expected the other girl to be as enthusiastic as she was, but it was nice to see. Though she had originally just wanted to go out in order to kill her potential boredom, she couldn't deny that she was actually starting to get pretty excited about the whole thing now.
"Invite anyone else, huh…?" The dark haired girl mumbled to herself as she flipped to the most recent page of the phonebook, loudly sighing as her eyes landed upon a certain name, and then sighing once again to solidify her notation of reluctance, "...Fine. I'd just feel bad if I didn't even try to invite her."
She shrugged in indifference as she dialled the girl's number, the call being picked up within a worryingly short amount of time.
"Umm, h-hello?" A nervous voice played through the phone's speaker, "I uhm, I don't recognise this number, s-so you might have the wrong number, whoever you are…".
"Hey, Yunyun," The red eyed teen greeted her through the phone, "Are you doing anything today at twelve?".
"M-megumin!?".
"Here, I accidentally made a little too much bacon for one of the orders, so you can have this," Chris smiled as she held her hand out to the boy, "Good work so far, helper. You can take your lunch break early today if you want."
"Oh, thanks," Kazuma replied as he took the sandwich from her hand, "How long do I get?".
She tapped her chin in thought, "How long do you want?".
He decided to test how far he could push her offer, "Thirty minutes."
The silver haired teen narrowed her eyes at him, instantly understanding his game, "Twenty minutes."
"Twenty five?" He bartered, holding out a hand for his boss to shake.
"Hmm… deal!" She grinned, vigorously shaking his hand to seal the agreement, "But you better not even think about trying to slack off for the rest of your shift, okay?"
"Yeah, got it," The brunette said dismissively, taking a bite of his sandwich and sending his boss a thumbs up of approval as he swallowed.
He watched as Chris turned around and began to walk out of the cafe's kitchen, until she suddenly snapped back around to face him, her features suddenly lighting up, something that Kazuma knew only spelled trouble for him.
"Say, actually…" His boss began, an evil smile adorning her face, "I called Darkness this morning, just to check up on her, and she ended up mentioning something very interesting about your current living condition. More specifically, about that 'friend' you're staying with…".
'Shit.'
"So how about you come out front for that extended lunch break of yours and tell me all about what's been going on between you and Megumin?" She tried her best to put on an innocent façade, one that Kazuma knew better than to believe, "I know that I told you to just go for it, but I do hope that you haven't done anything too perverted to the poor girl yet."
"Oi, hold on!" He retorted, not even realising that he was now following Chris out of the room, "What kind of things has Darkness been making up about me now? Nothing has happened between me and Megumin, you hear me?".
"Hmm? You're serious?" The silver haired teen turned around to ask him, receiving one of Kazuma's classic scowls in response, "Oh poor, poor helper, whatever happened to 'being in the prime of my life', huh? Well, in that case, don't fear, you can have a personal love guru help you out over the next twenty-five minutes!".
Kazuma rolled his eyes at the older girl, before suddenly shifting his demeanour, "Love guru, you say? Hey, chief, I've always wondered, exactly how many boyfriends have you actually had? Come on, don't be shy, you are quite a few years older than me, after all."
To his pure delight, the tables very quickly turned as his boss suddenly became rather bashful. How strange.
"Hey, Megumin! Over here!" She heard Funifura call out to her as she arrived near her school's front gates, quickly turning to spot her, Nerimaki and Yunyun standing under a nearby tree. Arue and Dodonko seemingly hadn't arrived yet, not that it was a problem. Though she didn't have a phone or any way to precisely tell the time at that moment, Megumin's best guess was that it was probably still a minute or so before twelve, give or take a few minutes.
As she approached the three girls, the shorter girl took note of each of their outfits. Funifura was wearing a tight-fitting pink t-shirt, adorned with a logo that Megumin didn't quite recognise, low rise denim shorts, knee high brown boots and a black hoodie tied around her waist by its sleeves. Yunyun, on the other hand, had chosen to wear a white button up blouse with both the cuffs and collar unbuttoned and popped out, a black V-neck sweater over top and finished off with a grey pleated skirt. And finally, Nerimaki was wearing a casual white dress with a thick-looking red jacket to keep her warm.
Megumin, in her plain white t-shirt, blue overalls, and worn down trainers, couldn't help but feel a little bit underdressed in comparison. Not that it really mattered to her though, the only person she really cared about impressing with her appearance wasn't there anyway.
"Oh, hey Funikura," She waited for a few seconds for the girl to indignantly scowl at her before she addressed the other two, "Hi Nerimaki, Yunyun."
"Hey," Nerimaki greeted her while Yunyun just meekly waved in her direction, otherwise staying silent, "So… Funifura was saying that you were the one who suggested this whole thing, is that true?".
"Mhm!" She nodded proudly, "I thought it might be nice to have a get together of sorts. Although Funifura did end up helping me out a little bit…".
"I did all of the planning and organising for her," The twin tailed girl cheerily explained, trying to get back at Megumin for purposely misremembering her name earlier, as she often did, "But I guess it's the thought that counts, after all. And Megumin is one of the last people I'd expect to try to do something like this."
"Yeah, seriously," Nerimaki chuckled as she leaned against the trunk of the tree, turning to send a grateful smile to Megumin, "Thanks for inviting me, though, Megumin."
The four girls continued their small talk for the next few minutes, with Yunyun finally joining in with their conversation. Just as Funifura got done explaining how her and Nerimaki apparently only lived a few houses apart from each other, and as such had decided to walk over together, they saw a new figure approaching them, giving a relaxed wave as she drew closer.
"Hello, I hope I'm not too late," Arue calmly said as she arrived under the shade of the tree. The wannabe author was dressed in a lilac button up shirt with a pinkish-red cardigan and charcoal grey pants, her hair styled into its signature drill-like curls.
"Nope, you're just on time," Nerimaki commented as she checked the time on her phone, "We're just waiting on Dodonko now, right?".
Megumin nodded, "Yeah, unless one of you ended up inviting anyone else."
The other four girls all responded with a 'no' or a shake of their head, indicating that they really were just waiting on one last member. After at least five minutes of waiting, they heard hurried footsteps and turned to see a familiar girl running towards them.
"Sorry for being late," Dodonko called out as she came to a stop in front of them, panting, "I maybe kinda sorta completely lost track of time, hehe…". The somewhat air-headed girl was clad in a baggy pink sweater, black workout shorts and knee high black socks, her ponytail held up by her usual large red bow, a guilty look plastered on her face.
"And that's everyone," Funifura pointed out, turning to face Nerimaki, "Well, we may as well get going now. Hey, Nerimaki, lead the way!".
"U-umm, no offence Nerimaki, b-but are you sure that it's o-okay for us to be here? This place seems kinda, uhm, a-adult," Yunyun nervously asked as she stared up at the shelves upon shelves of alcoholic beverages.
"Yeah, it's completely fine," Nerimaki calmly reassured her, "If we weren't allowed in here, I wouldn't've brought you guys here in the first place. Although I wouldn't recommend coming to this place late at night, that's when it starts to get a little rowdy."
"Obviously," Funifura chimed in as she peered around at the building's interior, "Just because they serve alcohol, doesn't mean that this place is only for adults, Yunyun."
Megumin nodded, "They do actually serve food here, right? That is kinda the reason we came here in the first place."
"Of course we do!" Nerimaki insisted, walking over to a nearby empty table and grabbing a menu, holding it out in front of Megumin, "See? We even have a specific lunchtime menu."
"Oooh, some of this stuff sounds really good, and the prices aren't too steep either," Dodonko commented, leaning past the shorter girl to get a look at the menu, "They even do non-alcoholic cocktails!".
"I told you that you guys would like this place."
Arue nodded in agreement, "Mhm, we should probably find a table first and then we can start to look through the menu properly."
"Y-yeah, that sounds l-like a good idea," Yunyun concurred, with the six girls making their way through the establishment until they found a diner-style booth that could comfortably fit all of them around one table.
"Mmm, let's see," Megumin absentmindedly mumbled to herself as she picked up one of the menus from the middle of the table, scanning the prices, "The food at the café was much cheaper than this…".
"Café? What café?" Dodonko questioned, having somehow overheard her, "I didn't take you as the type of girl who goes to cafes often."
"Ah, um, no. I'm not really," She replied, a little surprised that the other girl had caught onto her words, "It's just that I went to a café a few days ago, so, y'know, It's fresh on my mind, I guess."
"Oh?" Nerimaki seemed intrigued, "Which café? There are quite a few in this area."
"It was just the one that some of the other girls in our class were talking about recently," Megumin explained, purposely trying to sound as vague and uninterested as possible, "I don't really remember the name, but the food was pretty okay, I guess."
That was a lie, the food was great. In her and Komekko's personal opinions, at least.
"Oh, I know which one you're talking about!" Funifura butted in, scrunching her eyebrows in thought for a moment, "It's called, uh, Café Blessing, right? You told me about that place a while ago, didn't you, Nerimaki?".
"Yeah," Nerimaki confirmed, "I went there a few weeks ago with some of my other friends."
"Mhm, After hearing about it so many times, I just decided to check it out earlier this week," Megumin explained, ending with a slightly strained laugh.
"Did you go by yourself?" Arue asked, pulling her attention away from her menu to join the conversation.
She hurriedly scrambled for an answer, "N-no. I went with uh, with my little sister,". Well, technically, that was the truth. She didn't see it as necessary for her to also mention the time before that where she'd gone with Kazuma. Mentioning him in front of Funifura and Dodonko might not end well for her, if the last time she talked with them was any indication.
"That's a pretty good idea," Funifura's face lit up as she had an idea, "I should take my little brother there, I'm sure he'd love it!".
"Ah, well, you probably shouldn't bother. As I said, the food is just kinda okay, nothing special," Megumin lied. She would find some way to apologise to Chris for driving away potential customers later.
"Woah, you're pretty harsh, Megumin," Nerimaki commented, a slightly apprehensive look on her face, "It's making me a bit worried to see how you'll react to the food here."
"She's just like that sometimes, I think," Dodonko said, slightly uncertain, "But she'll still eat pretty much anything she's given, so it doesn't really matter much."
"Hey! I'm right here, you know!?".
After all of the girls - excluding Nerimaki, who seemingly already knew it by heart - were done looking through the menu, a waiter arrived to take their orders, with Megumin making sure to order one of the cheapest meals on the menu.
It didn't take long for a small debate to begin between Megumin and Funifura over who had the 'cutest younger sibling', a topic that, to the surprise of the other four, the two girls were extremely passionate about. Though Dodonko did end up siding with Funifura, as apparently she'd met the girl's little brother before, the other three mostly just watched from the side-lines in amused confusion. In the end, they never managed to reach a solid conclusion, but the twin tailed girl adamantly claimed that she was the clear winner.
Shockingly, despite how quiet and skittish she had been the entire time, Yunyun gradually began to talk a bit more often, instead of just strangely staring at the other girls, something that had definitely been creeping them out a little. Eventually, she even managed to hold a one on one conversation with Arue, bonding over a book they'd both enjoyed before.
Seeing as she'd barely interacted with the girl before, Megumin decided to get to know Nerimaki and Arue a little better, being relieved to find out that they were both pretty easy to get along with. While they definitely weren't as outgoing and extroverted as Funifura and Dodonko, they also weren't as impossibly introverted as Yunyun, putting them on a pretty similar wavelength to Megumin herself.
"Y'know, you really weren't kidding," Dodonko said to Nerimaki once they finally made their way outside, "That food really was good."
"Mhm," Arue joined in, agreeing with the other girl, "I gotta say, I wouldn't mind coming back here again at some point. Especially considering the low price."
"Hey, I just had an idea," Funifura spoke up as she, leading the group, turned back to look at the other girls, "Why don't we start doing stuff like this, with all of us, more often? I mean, this was pretty fun, right?".
In response, there seemed to be a general sentiment of agreement from Dodonko, Nerimaki and Arue.
"W-well, I guess I wouldn't mind spending more time with m-m-my f-friends…" Megumin almost jumped as she heard Yunyun speak up from beside her, having somehow not even noticed her presence.
Finally, she decided to speak up herself. "Hmm," Megumin seemed to think on it for a second or so before smiling, "Yeah, this was fun. I wouldn't mind doing this again at some point."
"Ak-sel! Ak-sel!" Komekko chanted as she bobbed her head up and down, "Are we really going there tomorrow, big sis?".
"Y-yes, of course, Komekko" Her sister reassured her from the seat beside her, "You don't have to keep asking that, I'm not gonna suddenly change my mind or anything, I promise."
Her lips formed into a satisfied smile as she next turned to face the person on her other side, "You're coming too, right, big brother?".
"You know it," Kazuma gave the girl a hearty thumbs up, an action that she returned after a few seconds of confusion.
The three were currently sitting on the bus, on the return trip home from Komekko's kindergarten. And although the girl had been told about their trip to Axel at least fifteen minutes ago, her excitement still hadn't dwindled even a little bit. In fact, she was so excited that she hadn't even asked them what would be for dinner yet, a first as far as Kazuma was aware.
Seeing her so excited about their trip did warm his heart just a bit little, though.
"So, what do you want to do when we get there tomorrow?" He asked her curiously, intrigued as to if she'd even have an answer.
"Hmm…" The small girl seemed lost in thought for a second, then turned to Megumin, "Do they have food there, big sis?".
"Well, they do, but there are also a lot of other things too, li-".
"Get food," She snapped her head back to Kazuma, her mouth watering, "We can get food when we go there."
"Hey, Komekko," The high schooler asked her, "Have you ever been to an arcade before?".
"Ar…cade, wuzzat?" Komekko tilted her head in confusion, looking as if Kazuma had just told her the most unbelievable thing in the world.
"It's like a big room where you can play as many games as you want," Megumin tried to explain, her little sister's eyes lighting up as she digested her words, "What do you think, Komekko? Do you wanna go there as well?".
"Yup! Yup! Yup!" She loudly cheered, getting a few looks from the other bus-goers, "We're gonna get food and go to the ar-cade, big sis!".
Kazuma dragged his palm down his face, leaving it to rest upon his chin. He had an ominous feeling that he was going to be beyond exhausted by this time tomorrow.
"Urrgh," Kazuma loudly groaned as he dropped his pen down onto the dining table, deciding that now would be a good time to take a little break from his schoolwork. Sure, it had only been around ten minutes since his last break, but that detail wasn't important to him at that very moment.
To his credit, he had already completed most of his homework, with only two pieces left to be completed. The only problem with that being the fact that those last two pieces of work were both 3000+ word essays. It was safe to say that he'd, once again, left the hardest ones for last, something that he began to deeply regret in hindsight. What he wouldn't give to be taking notes on some textbook right now instead.
He suddenly heard a pronounced sigh come from his left, spotting the figure as she walked into the room.
"Come on, don't tell me you're taking another break," Megumin gave him an almost pitiful look as she walked over towards the teenager laying face down on her dining table, "If you keep stopping after every few sentences, you're never gonna get it done."
"Don't worry, I've got it all planned out," His muffled reply rang out, face still resting against the wooden table, "If I keep going at this pace, I should have them both done by next Friday. Maybe even Thursday evening if I work fast."
"N-next Friday? You're working that slowly?" She rushed up to him and grabbed the essay from him and looked over it, "I can't believe you… All this time and you've only done the introduction?".
"And two sentences of the first paragraph," He cut in, pointing at the small amount of text underneath the aforementioned introduction, as if that information was supposed to make things better.
"...".
Cringing at the scrutinous look on her face, he tried to explain himself, "Look, if these were due like, tomorrow, then obviously I'd be working my ass off right now. But since I've got over a week left until they're due, I may as well take it as easy as possible, right?".
"I hate that your laziness always has some semblance of logic to it," Megumin complained as she pulled out the seat next to Kazuma and moved it so that it was touching his. Without giving him time to question what she was doing, she promptly sat down on the seat and placed the paper back down next to his head, flicking his ear for effect, "C'mon, you're finishing this one tonight."
Kazuma gave her a disinterested look as he raised his head up to look at her, one that lasted just long enough to convey his full thoughts to the girl, "I'll do two thirds today, that enough for you?".
"It's good enough, I suppose," The dark haired girl smiled, revelling in her small victory.
At this point, there wasn't really much he could do to get out of his new predicament, and so, Kazuma began the unfortunate tasks of 'actually trying' and 'working hard', two things he had been hoping to avoid doing that evening. Still, he couldn't deny that having Megumin there made it slightly more bearable, only slightly though.
"You spelt 'prolific' wrong, there's no 'e' in it," The girl pointed out as she read through the most recent part of his work, "But aside from that, the rest is all good. You know, you're actually pretty smart when you put the effort in."
"That really would feel more like a compliment if it wasn't coming from a middle schooler," Kazuma commented, "If you say it, it just sounds like you're making fun of me."
"Hey! I'll have you know that it's not just coming from 'a middle schooler'," Megumin frowned at him indignantly, "It's coming from the smartest middle schooler in the entire area. Personally, I think you should see my praise as a high compliment."
"Hold on, really?" The high schooler looked up from his work, surprised, "I know that you're the smartest in your school, but are you seriously considered the smartest in the entire local area?".
Truthfully, no, not officially at least. Well, she probably was the smartest, or at least one of the smartest, but she wasn't officially recognised as such by anybody. That being sad, there was no way she was going to tell Kazuma that, especially not with how genuinely impressed he looked. No, of course not, she'd enjoy his admiration a little bit more.
"Mhm, I thought you already knew," She tried to keep her expression still as she told him such a bold-faced lie, "You should be thankful to have someone so smart as a best friend."
"I can't help but feel like said best friend is bragging way too much right now," Kazuma rolled his pen between his fingers, having once again lost all interest in writing, "But… I guess you have a point. Thanks."
"Of cou- H-huh?" Her voice noticeably cracked at the end, she hadn't been expecting his sarcastic attitude to suddenly turn into genuine gratitude towards her.
"I mean, I guess it's true that you've helped me out a lot in the past when it comes to studying," The green eyed boy spoke, a rare gentleness in his voice that she'd only been graced with on very rare occasions, "Seriously, you pretty much carried me through the entirety of my last year of middle school. So, y'know, thanks."
Megumin's face had started to burn up just a little, her heart beating ever so slightly faster than she would've liked. She discreetly brought a hand up to her heart, clutching at the denim of her overalls. There was something about hearing genuine gratitude from him, with that adorable awkward expression to boot, that made her heart go wild.
"We should do this more often," She blurted out without thinking.
"Hmm?" Kazuma raised an eyebrow at her, "Do what more often?".
"I mean like, um, studying together, after this is over," Megumin explained, only slightly looking away from him, "When school starts up again, we should study together like we used to, y'know?".
"Oh, r-right," The older teen scratched at his neck, seemingly considering her suggestion, "Well, I'm not against the idea, but since we obviously don't go to the same school anymore, we wouldn't be able to study at lunch like we used to. Though, if you really wanted to, we could always study together on my day off."
That certainly piqued her interest, "Tuesdays?".
"Yeah," Kazuma nodded, relaxing into his chair, "Like, after walking home, we could study together for an hour or so at either your place or wherever I end up living."
Megumin couldn't help but feel her cheeks heat up once again at the prospect, a little embarrassed by how Kazuma could make such an offer so casually.
"Y-yeah, we'll do that, then."
"C'mon big brother! Let's go!" Komekko insisted as she threw on her slightly oversized coat, a hand-me-down from when Megumin was around her age that she hadn't quite grown into yet.
Kazuma had just gotten out of the shower a few minutes ago, his hair still slightly damp. Admittedly, he did usually spend a fairly long time in the shower; he liked to relax, after all. He had hastily thrown on a black t-shirt and grey pants before exiting the bathroom, still halfway through drying his hair with his towel.
"Ah, no, Komekko," Megumin rushed over to the girl from the kitchen doorway, still wearing her pink tracksuit, "We aren't going quite yet. Me and Kazuma still need to finish getting ready, and I haven't even tied your hair up yet."
Komekko came to a complete stop and lightly tugged on her hair, as if she'd only just realised that it was down, instead of her usual pigtails, "Oh, okay. Do it now, big sis!".
"R-right, okay," Kazuma couldn't help but snort at the exchange between the two sisters, one the most hyper he'd ever seen her and the other looking as if she'd only just woken up, "How about go go brush your teeth as well? I know you haven't done them yourself, Komekko."
The smaller sister pouted, clearly not at all interested in her personal hygiene, before finally relenting and grabbing her sister's hand, pulling her in the direction of the bathroom.
"Oi, Megumin," She stopped in her tracks as she passed by the boy, with Komekko still trying to drag her along, "I'm gonna go make myself a coffee, you want one?".
Megumin looked down at her energetic sister for a few moments, before turning back to Kazuma with a wry expression, "...Yes please."
He couldn't help but snort in amusement as he watched the other girl be dragged off into the bathroom by an excitable Komekko, a somewhat dazed look in her half lidded eyes. Maybe it would be a good idea to make his coffee a little stronger than usual.
"Wow… this place is biiiiig!".
The journey into Axel had been a lively one, with Kazuma managing to excite Komekko even further as he described the concept of a 'mall' to the small girl, with the assistance of google images. Though Megumin tried her best to create a mental checklist with her little sister, with everything she wanted to do before they would have to go home, Komekko quickly lost interest when she found out that Kazuma's phone had games on it, a distraction that lasted her for the remainder of the train ride to Axel's station.
"Stay close to me, okay?" Megumin told Komekko, going into full big sister mode as she grabbed her hand, leading her sister through the station, "I don't want you getting lost in here."
"It's nowhere near as busy as it was on Monday," Kazuma offhandedly commented as he glanced back at the two girls, checking that they were still right behind him, "But still…".
The teen put his hands into the pockets of the beige jacket that he'd thrown over his black t-shirt, taking a few moments to look at Megumin, who was now dressed in the red shoulderless sweater she'd bought last time they were in Axel, along with the accompanying black socks and orange boots.
"Yeah," The girl nodded as they made their way off of the platform, "That's kinda why I wanted to go today, as opposed to on the weekend. If it was that crowded on a weekday, I don't wanna know how busy it gets on weekends."
"Well, Megumin," Kazuma raised a finger, as if he was lecturing her, "People do also come here for work and school, like me, so it's not surprising that it's congested here on weekdays too."
She snorted, slowing down a little now that they were now in a less densely packed part of the train station, "Since when did you use words like 'congested'?".
"Since I spent an entire evening being forced to write an essay," He groaned, getting a poorly hidden giggle in response.
It didn't take them too long to exit the station, stepping out into Axel for the second time that week. Well, second time for Kazuma and Megumin. Komekko, on the other hand, had quickly begun looking - and then later running - around in awe.
Glancing over at Megumin, he watched on in great interest as she looked off into the distance with a faraway expression before shaking her head and turning back to face him, jumping in surprise as she noticed him staring at her.
"What were you looking at?" Kazuma simply asked.
"Just…" She trailed off, a small smile forming on her face, "Nothing, never mind. Let's get going now."
The boy slowly nodded, his loosely knit eyebrows making it clear that he wanted to push her for a proper answer. Though it only lasted for a split second before he turned around and began to walk over towards Komekko, "Sure."
As the three ventured into the town of Axel, with Komekko pointing out every store or building that caught her attention, Kazuma soon spotted a potential first activity for the small girl skipping along beside him.
"Hey, Komekko," He came to a stop and crouched down next to the girl, pointing towards a nearby park, "You wanna go play on that playground over there?".
The playground in question was one that Kazuma himself had passed by many times when he was out in Axel, as it was directly en route to and from his school. It was honestly fairly large, and had way more stuff for a kid like Komekko to play around on, especially when compared to the dingy playground that was nearby Megumin's house.
Her eyes quickly lit up in excitement as she excitedly nodded and broke out into a sprint, with Kazuma and Megumin following behind her at a more leisurely pace.
The boy sighed, probably in relief, slumping his shoulders.
"Don't tell me that you're gonna start complaining already," Megumin rolled her eyes as she walked next to him, discreetly closing the gap between them now that Komekko was a few metres ahead, "C'mon, just let yourself enjoy something for once."
"For once?" Kazuma repeated, feigning indignation, "I'll have you know that I enjoy a lot of things. And when did I say that I wasn't gonna enjoy this? For your information, I'm actually looking forward to today."
"Huh? Really?" She looked at him with an expression that he couldn't quite parse, her mouth ever so slightly open, "That's good, then. It's not often that Komekko gets to have a day out, so you better make sure that she has fun today, got it?".
He turned to her, sharply exhaling in amusement, "That's the third time you've told me this. Trust me, I very much get it."
"G-good," Megumin smiled at him, an action that Kazuma was starting to notice more and more often, until her face changed to one of shock and she ran over to her little sister, "N-no, Komekko! Don't try to bite that, it's metal!".
To Kazuma's surprise, they ended up staying there for much longer than he'd expected; just over forty-five minutes, according to the time on his phone. Of course, playing on a children's playground wasn't exactly his usual idea of fun, with him instead spending his time resting on the nearby bench, with Megumin joining him whenever her sister wasn't pulling her over to play with her.
He couldn't really tell if she was just playing with Komekko to make her happy, or if Megumin was genuinely having fun playing on the playground, though his best guess would probably be a mix of the two. The one thing he was certain of, though, was that she would probably hit him if he ever tried to ask her about it, something that brought an amused smirk to his face.
"Haah… haah… Kazuma," The object of his internal musings collapsed onto the bench next to him, out of breath.
"Kazuma here."
"Did you… see me climb all the way to the top of that tree?" She asked him between heavy breaths, "It was… actually harder than you would think."
"Mhm," Truthfully, no, he hadn't really been paying attention, but he didn't want to ruin her moment, "It'd be even more impressive if you weren't so out of breath right now. Seriously, you need to start working out, it's beginning to get sad by this point."
"H-hey! You're making it sound worse than it is," Megumin sent him her most exaggerated pout, getting a poorly disguised snort in response, "I'll have you know that while you've just been lazing around on this bench, I've been playing with my little sister non stop for the last twenty minutes."
"Yeah, yeah," Kazuma leaned back into the bench, "And you have up until she finally gets bored of that swing to regain your energy. I'm not carrying you this time."
"E-excuse me, sir…" The young girl whimpered as she softly tugged on a middle-aged man's sleeve, "Do y-you have any f-f-food…? I'm so hungry…".
The man turned to see a pair of glassy red eyes, brimming with tears, staring up at him while the girl's hands were held out expectantly.
"I gave a-all of my food to my kitty," She continued, pointing to the small black cat next to her, who had been rudely taken away from her resting spot in the inside pocket of Kazuma's jacket, "And n-now I have nothing to eat."
The middle-aged man broke out of his momentary stupor to crouch down in front of the girl, a look of immense sympathy on his face. "O-of course, little one. Here, I just bought this sandwich from that stop over there," He told her as he held out a brown paper bag in front of him, "But it's fine, you can have it. Please take it, little girl."
There were tears forming in the corners of the man's eyes as he held the bag out to her, which she promptly snatched from him, a line of drool already falling from her mouth and her tears disappearing in an instant.
"Thank you, mister!" She thanked him with a beaming smile as she made her getaway, leaving the man dumbfounded.
"Did you teach her this?" Kazuma asked the girl next to him as they watched Komekko swindle food from yet another innocent passer-by, the small girl now running towards them with the sandwich in her mouth and Chomusuke trotting along behind her, "This is the fifth person she's done this to, and it's worked every single time."
"M-me?" Megumin looked at him as if he'd said something insane, "I'm just as confused as you! I have no where or how she learned to do that."
Soon enough, the girl in question crashed into Megumin's leg, stumbling back slightly with a goofy grin on her face, "Did you see that, big sis? The nice man gave me his food!".
Her older sister immediately began questioning her, "Komekko! Where did you learn to do this!?".
Komekko stayed silent for a few seconds, quickly finishing off her sandwich, before she took on what was most likely supposed to be a 'thinking pose'. "Hmmm…" She kept the pose up for a few seconds before her face went blank and her arms went back down to her sides, "Mommy. I think."
"I really should've known…" Megumin grumbled under her breath.
Finally making their way into Axel's mall, Komekko looked around the sprawling building with wide eyes, her head darting from one storefront to another.
Megumin leaned in slightly to talk to the boy next to her, Chomusuke loudly mewling as she hurriedly jumped from the girl's shoulder and back into Kazuma's jacket, "Kazuma, Kazuma, where do you think we should go first?".
He pondered her question for a few moments. Sure, he already had a general idea of some of the things they'd thought about doing today, but they hadn't really come up with any sort of day plan, unlike last time. Just as he was about to give her an answer, he was interrupted by a new sound close by, a loud rumbling noise coming from the girl a few paces in front of them.
"Hungry," Was all the little girl said as she turned around to face them, patting her whining stomach.
"Well," Kazuma let out a soft breath as he rested his arms behind his head, "That answers your question, I guess."
Walking through the first floor of the mall, they quickly arrived at the food court, dubbed 'The Guild Hall', for whatever reason, a place that Kazuma had been to a few times before on his previous visits. If nothing else, the word hall certainly felt like an accurate descriptor, with the entire food court being a single big room filled with tables, with different stalls and fast food booths lining the walls. Pretty much every type of food Kazuma could think of was being served here in some shape or form.
"Woah, this place is bigger than I expected," Megumin muttered as she peered at the different options that lined the sides of the room, "K-kazuma, why didn't you take me here last time!?".
"I dunno," He shrugged, "By the time I remembered about this place, we'd already eaten, so I just didn't bother mentioning it."
It was, all things considered, a fairly reasonable answer. Nonetheless, Megumin still gave him a stern glare, one that didn't really last long enough to have any real bite to it.
After a short discussion, they found a table to claim as 'theirs' and promptly split up, with Megumin going to order her food on her own while Kazuma went to go order for him and Komekko to cut down on time ever so slightly, due to the fact that he at least vaguely knew what could be ordered where.
After about ten minutes of Komekko trying to decide what to eat, at one point almost crying - real tears this time - from the overwhelming amount of options, and then almost ten more minutes standing in line for both her and Kazuma's food, they finally managed to get their food. Megumin was already at their table when they eventually arrived and, from the looks of it, had been there for a while, having already almost finished her own lunch.
"Sorry for not waiting," She sheepishly smiled as the other two sat down with their meals, Komekko digging into hers instantly, "You two were taking a while ordering… and I was pretty hungry."
"Fair enough, well did end up taking… longer than intended," Kazuma sighed, before breaking out into a small smirk, "Unfortunately for you, you'll now just have to watch us enjoy our food while you have nothing left to eat."
Megumin looked down between her meagre scraps of remaining food and the full meals in front of Kazuma and Komekko, a hungry look appearing in her eyes.
"No way," Kazuma told her in the most monotone voice he could muster.
"I don't like the way big sis is looking at my food."
"H-hold on! Y-you two are just kidding, right?" She looked between them with a pleading look in her eyes, "Well, Komekko I can understand actually, but Kazuma, surely you wouldn't mind sharing with me? C'mon, just a little bit."
He quickly batted her arm away as she leaned towards him, chopsticks in hand, "Oi! You've already eaten, quit it."
"It looks really good though," Megumin clutched at his jacket defiantly, "Can't I just have a little bit? I only want to try it."
"If I were to let you have some," Kazuma asked, casually drumming his chopsticks against the top of her head, eliciting a low whine from the girl in response, "Would you stop bothering me and let me eat in peace?".
The short haired girl looked up at him with a wide smile, one that made her intentions obvious, "Why, of course I would, Kazuma!".
"You're the worst…" He grumbled under his breath, making sure to not give her the satisfaction of seeing his somewhat amused smile, "But I really am only giving you a little bit, got it?".
To his great relief, only a small amount of Kazuma's lunch was greedily taken away from him. Though, on the bright side, at least she ended up throwing away his trash for him afterwards, though, to Kazuma, that felt like the least she could do in return.
"We should probably try to speed things up a little," Megumin commented as they walked through the first floor of the mall, searching for something to catch their interest, "It's already 1:30 and we haven't even done anything in here besides getting lunch."
"To be fair," Kazuma replied, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket, "We did spend a while just walking around the town, a lot longer than we did last time we were here. But you do have a point."
The teen girl seemed to think things over for a second, "Our train still doesn't leave for almost three hours, so it's not like we're tight on time or anything, It'd just be nice to do as much as possible."
"I mean, I'm the only one who needs to get that train," He pointed out, "You and Komekko could always get a slightly later train and stay here for a little longer if you want."
"Maybe…" Megumin looked uncertain, grabbing her sister's hand at the last second to stop her from running into a nearby pastry shop, to the little girl's great dismay, "We could do that, but I'd rather not, y'know, if we can help it."
"Well, no point worrying about it right now, anyway," Kazuma shrugged, before glancing over at Megumin, "So what do you wanna do first?".
"Hmm…" She looked between her little sister and the surrounding mall, searching for something to catch her interest. It took her a few moments, probably a few moments too long, if the look on Kazuma's face was any indication, before she turned back to him. "Komekko wanted to go to the arcade, right? So how about we just make our way over there and shop by anywhere that interests us along the way?".
Komekko's eyes went wide and her mouth formed into a small circle before she jumped up and threw her arms into the air, "You mean we're going to that big place with all the games? The one that you and big brother told me about yesterday?".
"Mhm," Megumin proudly puffed out her chest, "So what do you think of your big sister's idea? Pretty good huh?".
The tiny girl brought a finger to her chin as she stayed silent, "...I don't think I was listening to what big sis was saying earlier."
Her big sister's face quickly fell, "I… I see."
"Die! Die! Die! Big brother, are you watching?".
"Look at her, they grow up so fast," Kazuma pretended to wipe a tear from his eye and sniffled, "She's becoming just like her big brother."
After spending a while further exploring the mall, and checking out a variety of different shops, none of which they actually ended up buying anything from, the three of them finally made their way into the arcade. Upon arrival, Komekko had quickly been drawn in by the bright lights and strange looking machines, ones that she'd never seen before, a gleeful expression adorning her face.
It had already been at least twenty minutes since they'd first arrived, with Komekko having already tackled pinball, air hockey and even a whack-a-mole type game, all to varying results. Due to her obvious lack of experience, she ended up playing the way most children with no experience would, that is, hitting the bumpers over and over again at seemingly random intervals. Though, unlike most children, her plan actually worked out better than Kazuma had expected.
On the other hand, the small girl had been too distracted by the 'funny wind' to even pay attention to her opponent, Megumin, in air hockey, leading to a very one-sided match where Kazuma tried his best to coax her into scoring points instead of just staring at the table in awe. Then, finally, she seemingly misinterpreted whack-a-mole as a game of strength, not reaction speed, with her making extra sure to hit every 'mole' as hard as possible, even if it meant losing precious seconds.
And now, Komekko had moved onto something a little different.
Megumin gave him a disapproving look, sighing, "Kazuma, are you really sure it's okay for her to be playing a game like that? You do know that she's only four, right?".
"It'll be fine," He reassured her, leaning against the arcade machine that Komekko was currently playing, a first person shooter game that the small girl was surprisingly proficient at, "It's not like it's exceptionally bloody or anything."
Just as he finished speaking, the small girl finally managed to defeat a boss-level enemy, spraying a large pool of blood all over the screen, her eyes going wide in interest.
"...Kazuma."
"...H-hey, Komekko," The brunette crouched down next to the small girl, gently taking the gun accessory from her hands, "That's enough of that for now okay? How about me and your big sister show you some of the other fun things you can do here, does that sound good?".
"Yes, yes!" She seemingly instantly forgot that she was in the middle of playing a game as she ran over and past her big sister, deeper into the arcade.
"We should go after her before she gets lost," Megumin pointed out as the two of them followed behind her.
"Y'know, we don't need to start heading back already, we've still got around…" Kazuma took out his phone to check the time, "...Over half an hour until our train arrives."
"Oh, don't worry Kazuma, I already know that," His companion informed him with a reassuring smile and a finger pointed into the air.
Once they'd finally managed to coax Komekko out of the arcade, a harder task than Kazuma had initially imagined it to be, they'd slowly made their way back towards the main entrance of the mall, stopping for always every single small distraction that they encountered along the way, eventually leading to Kazuma buying Komekko an ice cream in return for her 'not running off anymore'.
Finally exiting the mall for the day, Megumin had slowly led her sister through the streets of Axel, with Kazuma not far behind, until they began to draw closer to the area around the train station. It was at that point that Kazuma had decided to remind her that they were in no rush to leave Axel.
"Okay…? So is there something else that you want to do or are we just gonna spend like twenty minutes at the station?" The older teen inquired, a curious glint in his eyes.
She nodded her head happily before gently tugging on her sister's arm, who seemed to be getting more and more tired by the second, "Yeah, there's this place that I saw near the station last time we were here. I only noticed it when we were about to leave so we didn't have time to check it out last time, but I'd like to now."
"Oh?" Kazuma seemed intrigued, racking his memory for anywhere of interest that fit the description of 'near the station'.
"Big siiis," Komekko whined, deciding that she no longer wanted to walk and instead chose to sit herself down on the sidewalk, "I'm… tired."
"Hey, come on Komekko, n-not in the middle of the street," Megumin crouched down and took hold of her little sister's hands, "If you're tired, then how about I carry you, okay?".
"Okay!" She immediately hopped back up, ignoring her sister's now outstretched arms and instead jumping up and wrapping her arms around the back of her neck. Only barely stopping herself from falling over backwards, Megumin managed to get a hold into the small girl's legs, holding her securely on her back as she rose back up to her full height.
"I'm curious," The brunette spoke once Megumin got into pace beside him, "Where exactly are we going? I have no idea what or where you're referring to."
"You'll see," Was all she said as she readjusted the little girl on her back.
"So was this what you were expecting?" Megumin curiously asked him as they sat down on a patch of grass near the riverbank.
Kazuma did his best to silence a yawn, propping himself up with his arms, "Honestly, not at all. I've passed by this place a couple times, but I've never really properly been here. It's a little out of the way."
The dark haired girl hummed as she looked over the surrounding area, something that could best be described as a small and shallow valley, only a few minutes away from Axel's train station. "Well, in my defence, I didn't know that we'd have to go around the gate, I thought that we could just go straight through it."
"To be fair, we probably could've climbed over it," He explained, gesturing with one of his hands to further his point, "But I doubt we'd be able to get Komekko over. Or, at least, if we did, it probably wouldn't end up being worth the extra effort."
"Either way…" Megumin's body relaxed as she felt a soft gust of wind roll over her, "This place is pretty nice. There's a ton of places like this around where we live, but it feels kinda special to see something like this in a more urban area."
Kazuma nodded in agreement, not really having anything else to add. After a moment or so of calming silence, He felt something moving around in his coat before Chomusuke hopped out, walking a few steps before curling up into a ball next to his legs. "I completely forgot that she was in there," He commented, softly stroking the cat's jet-black fur, "I can't believe that she managed to sleep this entire time."
"And I can't believe that she's completely out, just like that," Megumin quietly laughed as she looked down at the small girl sprawled out on her lap, fast asleep.
"She sure must've been tired, we've only been here for like a minute and she's asleep already," The boy beside her added, tossing a small pebble into the river and watching as it was washed away by the gentle current, "But, I guess it isn't that surprising, today was probably pretty exhausting for her."
"Mhm," The girl to his right nodded in agreement, using a finger to idly fix up her little sister's windswept bangs, "And she didn't get to have her usual nap earlier, maybe we should let her take it easy tomorrow."
"No complaints from me," Another pebble, a little bigger than the last, was tossed into the river, making impact with a small mossy rock that poked out just above the water, "But we do have to get groceries again tomorrow, right?".
"Oh yeah, we do," Megumin joined Kazuma in tossing stones, making sure not to disturb her sister's sleep as she moved to pick up a stone, "Well, besides that, and your shift I guess, we can take everything else easy then."
There was a short period of silence after that, the only sounds being that of Chomusuke's purrs and Komekko's occasional snoring, with both teenagers continuing to occasionally throw stones into the riverbed. Eventually, Kazuma paused, placing the pebble he was about to throw back down onto the ground and looking over at Megumin. At some point, maybe a little bit before he did, she'd also stopped, now just looking out over the river in silence.
He found his eyes locked upon the relaxed, serene, expression on her face, as if she was completely at peace. Such an expression almost felt unnatural for someone like Megumin, probably just as unnatural as it would look on him. But still, it looked nice on her. He almost found himself wanting to tear his eyes away, as if the mere act of looking at her would cause her expression to falter. But he didn't.
After a while, she must've felt his eyes on her, turning to look at him. Though her expression did indeed change, her smile didn't shrink in the slightest, now aimed directly at him. It was now her turn to stare, maybe even study, the look on his face, whatever it was at that current moment.
Suddenly feeling a little nervous, for some reason, Kazuma softly exhaled and said the first thing that came to his mind.
"I can't believe that I still have to go to work after all of this."