- Chapter 10: A Date With This Reformed Chuunibyou! -
Rolling over onto his back, Kazuma stretched his arms outwards and rested them behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. For a moment, he felt his hands twitch against the pillow, as if the lack of anything for them to do as he attempted to drift off to sleep was making them antsy. Though that certainly was possible, it seemed much more reasonable to blame the twitching on the vague feeling of butterflies inside his stomach. A feeling that had, annoyingly, been keeping him awake for the past forty-five minutes.
He was going on his first ever date tomorrow. Obviously, he'd said yes to Megumin's proposal almost instantly.
Kazuma wasn't worried about it. Or, more accurately, he would never admit that he was worried about it, not even to himself. It was just a simple date, after all. He and Megumin had done plenty of date-esque things together before, even if they were never officially referred to as such, so this shouldn't be any different to any of those occasions, right? No, of course not.
As he allowed his brain to run from thought to thought, he felt his eyes gradually grow heavier. Hopefully, it was a sign that he was finally starting to fall asleep.
In an unexpected break in their new routine, Megumin had instead chosen to sleep in her own room for the night. He could only assume that it had something to do with their upcoming date - nerves, perhaps - so he didn't really dwell on it all that much. And, besides, for as much as he did miss the feeling of having her in his arms, he certainly couldn't deny the relief he felt from her lower regions. His son, at least, would finally be able to get a peaceful night's rest.
But, still, now that he had the comparison, he could definitely confirm that he greatly preferred having her there than not.
Finally, he let out a loud yawn, his body practically melting into the mattress as he felt himself drifting off. Within a few short minutes, Kazuma finally managed to doze off for the night.
He could only hope that he'd actually be able to enjoy his day off.
Kazuma quirked an eyebrow as his attention shifted over to the tiny toddler, cheerfully humming to herself, in the window seat. Personally, he couldn't even begin to imagine how someone could be so happy about going to any sort of educational facility, even if kindergarten usually entailed more playing around than actual learning.
"So what's got you so happy, Komekko?" He asked her in a placid tone, getting Komekko to pause her humming and look up at him, "Something fun happening at kindergarten today?".
She stared at him for a moment, perhaps confused, before her face lit up in excitement. "Yes, yes! Guess what, big brother," Komekko hopped up and down on her seat, not even giving Kazuma a chance to answer before she continued, "Toos-day is curry day!".
Of course that's what it was. Komekko was nothing if not consistent, and consistently easy to please at that. The teen showed her a wry smile, opening his mouth to respond but quickly being cut off as the young girl spoke once again.
"The curry is really, really yummy. It's even better than the curry that big sis makes, but don't tell her that. It makes her sad, I think," She explained, the almost pitying look on her face forcing Kazuma to suppress a snort. He didn't even know that the young girl could make an expression like that. "And, and!" The small girl kept up her rambling, "Today is super extra fun because big brother is taking me for the first time."
Though he could've probably predicted everything else that Komekko had said thus far, he had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised to hear that last part. It hadn't really crossed his mind up until that point, but this was in fact the first time that he'd ever accompanied Komekko on the morning trip, he'd usually leave that task entirely in Megumin's hands. Kazuma always preferred having a lazy morning whenever physically possible.
Of course, today was an obvious exception to the status quo.
All things considered, the morning had been a fairly normal one, with the exception of the occasional glances Megumin would send his way when she thought that he wasn't paying attention. That was until, once Komekko had downed her breakfast and dashed out of the room, Megumin had suddenly tugged on Kazuma's tracksuit sleeve and asked him to take Komekko to kindergarten for her.
Upon Kazuma's immediate questioning - there was no way she'd ask someone else to do something like that for her without good reason - she grew somewhat reserved, clearly trying to dance around giving an actual answer. It was only upon further pressing that she blushed and gave him a vague 'I might need a little more time to get ready', a decent enough answer as far as Kazuma was concerned.
That was the basic gust of what had led up to the current moment. Sitting on the usual bus with Megumin's little sister, not even having changed out of his tracksuit yet.
"Well, of course," Kazuma responded to the small girl, donning a purposely over-the-top, self-aggrandizing tone, "Big brother is a lot more fun, after all. Your big sis never lets you eat any snacks on the bus, does she?".
"Nope! Not at all!" She confirmed, idly playing around with the empty candy wrapper in her hands - the only remaining evidence of her secret rule-breaking - "She always says that if I eat too many snacks, I won't have any room for dinner, but she's wrong. I always have room for more food, I promise!".
Kazuma had no problem wholeheartedly believing her. He could already tell that she was going to grow up into an exceedingly troublesome girl.
"Hey, Megumin! I'm back," Kazuma called out as he stepped into the house, shutting the door behind him as he kicked off his shoes.
He stood there, waiting in silence for a short moment, until he heard Megumin's voice from somewhere within the house. "O-oh, Kazuma!" Based on the direction of her voice, Kazuma could only assume that she was in her room, "Um, you should probably go take a shower and get ready, okay? I'll be ready pretty soon."
The green eyed boy shrugged, he couldn't argue with that suggestion. "Alright then," He responded, wandering off in the direction of the bathroom, before pausing and adding on, "I'll try to not take too long."
The simple 'Sounds good' from Megumin marked the end of their brief exchange, with Kazuma continuing on his way to the bathroom. Approaching the door, he suddenly noticed a small black obstacle lying peacefully in the middle of the hallway.
"Meow."
"Good morning to you too," Kazuma smirked as he crouched down to greet Chomusuke, affectionately scratching behind her ears, "Sorry, I'd love to spend some time with you, but I've kinda gotta go take a shower now."
The feline simply just rolled over onto her other side, letting out a low purr. Clearly, she was more than content to just spend the entire day napping.
"I'm so jealous of you."
Over in Megumin and Komekko's room, a pair of deep red eyes found themselves intently focusing on the appearance of the girl reflected back at them. Without a doubt, this was the highest amount of effort she'd put into her appearance in… well, maybe ever. Her hair, which would always have a tiny bit of messiness to it, had been brushed and straightened to perfection, while her face had a modest, yet still noticeable, amount of make-up applied to her lips, cheeks and eyes.
Proudly grinning to herself, Megumin performed a small twirl in front of the mirror, allowing herself to get yet another full view of her dress. Surprisingly, choosing what to wear had been by far the easiest part. It was a no brainer, really. She fondly recalled back to when she'd purchased the dress, just a week prior, with Kazuma. Especially the part where he'd called her beautiful, a moment that she found herself thinking about a little bit more often than she'd like to admit.
Hopefully he'd shower her with similar compliments soon, as well.
As she awkwardly fiddled with the shoulder straps - she was not at all used to wearing something like this - Megumin heard the soft sound of impatient clawing, followed by a much louder meowing. Stepping over to the door, she tentatively opened it, just to spot a black streak make its way into the room and settle down onto Megumin's neatly made futon.
"Oh, hi Chomusuke, how long have you been awake for?" She questioned the cat, kneeling down and gently picking her up from under her front legs, "You can't climb onto my head today, okay girl? I… spent a long time on my hair."
In response to her owner, Chomusuke simply yawned and lazily placed one of her paws onto Megumin's forearm. Surprisingly, once the short haired girl had placed the feline back onto the futon, she seemingly heeded her owner's words, curing herself up into the blankets as Megumin tenderly ran her fingers through her fur.
Eventually, a while after the lazy cat had once again fallen back asleep, Megumin got up and made her way over into the front room, waiting out the last few minutes until Kazuma was ready. She hadn't heard the sound of the shower running as she passed by the bathroom, so she could only assume that he was in the process of getting dressed.
"Oi, you are ready now, right?" Megumin faintly heard the sound of a door opening somewhere else in the house followed by the sound of Kazuma's voice.
"Uhm, I'm ready!" She called out, her excitement slowly ramping up. Megumin softly smacked her cheeks. No need for her to get all nervous now.
Soon enough, the sound of footsteps grew louder until Kazuma finally made his way into the room, his eyes instantly magnetising onto her. Similar to Megumin, his clothes were also ones that he'd purchased the week before. Though, in his case, almost all of his available clothes were ones that had purchased the week before.
A rather fashionable green jacket, one that Megumin had previously made a fuss over how good it looked on him, was worn over a simple white t-shirt and charcoal grey pants. It was a comparatively much simpler outfit than hers, but one that still made the younger teen bring a hand up to her beating heart anyway. Her heartbeat quickened even further once she noticed the way his eyes practically scanned over every single detail of her appearance.
After a short period of almost complete quiet, Megumin, unable to bear waiting any longer, cut through the silence. "H-how… how do I look…?".
Kazuma continued to not-so-discreetly check her out as he rubbed his neck and nervously chuckled, "Y'know, if you're wearing s-something like that, I can't help but feel underdressed in comparison."
She suppressed a disappointed frown. It certainly wasn't what she was hoping for, but she supposed that it was a valid concern nonetheless. "Don't worry about it, okay?" Megumin reassured him, her hand still touching her chest as she sweetly smiled up at him, "You l-look really h-handsome, Kazuma."
The brunette blushed, clearly caught off guard by her words. It wasn't exactly often - or ever - that he was complimented on his appearance, "Ah, w-well," Kazuma began, already tripping over his words, "You um, y'know, you look… nice, too, I guess."
Unfortunately, this time around, Megumin failed to hide her disappointment. "I sorta expected you to say something like that, but s-still," She felt her face rapidly warming up as she went on, "I did… put all of this effort in for you, y-you know, so it would be nice to maybe get a p-proper compliment…".
Kazuma internally screamed. Seriously, how could she just say something like how 'she put all of this effort in for him' so freely? Was she trying to test his willpower? How was any healthy guy supposed to hear something like that and stay calm?
No, never mind that. She said she wanted him to compliment her. Properly. He'd focus on the part for the time being.
"I'm pretty sure I already said this when you bought it, but th-that dress r-really does look great on you," He commented, trying to avoid making actual eye contact, as inconspicuously as possible, "Uhm, and I've never really seen you wearing make-up before, I think, but you've done a r-really good job with it. This is by far the prettiest you've ever looked, you know?".
Kazuma grimaced. Whatever had just come from his mouth felt like complete word vomit to him, definitely not a 'proper compliment'.
To his surprise, Megumin beamed at him, content. "That one was better," Was all she said.
There was a pause, neither of them knew how long it was, where they both found themselves staring into the other's eyes. Eventually, the tense atmosphere caused Kazuma to crumble a little, deciding to finally get things moving. He had a date to go on.
"A-alright! This is getting way too awkward," The older teen announced, "Let's just go right now."
"Sure!".
"So, you said that you had already planned this out, right?" Kazuma asked as they walked side by side down the path nearby Megumin's house, receiving a nod of confirmation from her, "Mhm, okay. In that case, where exactly are we going, then? No offence, but I really don't feel like going down into Axel for the third time in like, just over a week."
"Don't worry, we're not going into Axel," She reassured him, "We're just taking our regular bus anyway. Although, we will have to walk for a little bit to get there from the bus stop, but that's not a problem."
"Only having to take one bus is good, I suppose," Kazuma nodded as he pulled out his phone to check the bus schedule, "With how vague you're being with your wording, I can only assume that this is a surprise of some sort, right?".
"Well, no, it's not really supposed to be one…" The short teen fidgeted, far from used to wearing anything even remotely similar to what she was currently dressed in, "We're just going for lunch. B-but, trust me, the place I chose has a pretty positive reputation, so it'll be good food, I promise!".
He shrugged, secretly glad that it was something pretty simple, "Sounds good to me."
After that, there came a slight lull in the conversation, a slightly awkward one at that. Megumin, taking advantage of the momentary dip in conversation, glanced down at her own hand before her pupils zipped over to Kazuma's own hand, only a short distance away. Steering her nerves, she swung her hand back and forth a few times, getting closer to his hand with each swing, before she finally caught Kazuma's hand within her own, softly squeezing it.
The older of the two jerked back a little, yet noticeably didn't try to pull away. "M-megumin," Kazuma hissed, his face quickly heating up, "Th-there are other people around here."
She glanced around them, looking at the apparent 'other people' that were getting in the way of her holding hands with her boyfriend, only noticing around five other people, none of whom were even paying the slightest bit of attention towards them.
"No one's gonna notice, and even if they did, why should you c-care?" Her thumb tenderly stroked the back of his hand as she kept a hold of it, "...Do you not want to hold hands?".
Almost instantly, she felt a comforting warmth as Kazuma's hand encased her own, intertwining their fingers together. Clearly, he did want to. "J-just be discrete about it, okay?" He told her, managing to mostly ease up, "I'd rather not have people staring at us. It's… annoying."
For his own sake, she decided to hold back a comment on how clammy his palm had become within only around ten seconds.
From there, it only took around ten more minutes for them to reach the bus stop, and another ten minutes for their bus to finally arrive. Of course, the moment the bus showed up, Kazuma slipped his hand away from Megumin's and shoved it into his pocket.
The bus trip itself was fairly uneventful, the familiarity of it making both of them feel a lot less awkward. For probably the first time that day, the conversations between them flowed mostly smoothly, with comparatively fewer bouts of awkwardness or stuttering from both sides. Truthfully, if it wasn't for how much Megumin had prettied herself up, it could've almost felt like a completely normal bus trip for Kazuma.
By some miracle, that atmosphere mostly persisted, even after they'd departed the bus.
"Hey, Kazuma," Megumin's eyes shifted over to him after a few minutes of walking, "Uhm, could I have your phone for a second? I just wanna check where exactly it is that we need to go."
"Yeah. I was just gonna ask about that, actually," Kazuma temporarily disconnected their hands as he fished his phone from his pocket and unlocked it, passing it over to her, "Mhm, here."
"Thanks," She simply replied, quickly typing the name of their destination into the 'maps' app and scanning over how exactly to get from where they were to their restaurant. After around thirty seconds of studying the route, Megumin turned off the phone and handed it back to Kazuma. "We were already going in mostly the right direction, but we should probably turn back just a little. It'll be quicker overall to just do it now rather than later."
He nodded in understanding, placing his phone back into his pocket and waiting until Megumin timidly reconnected their hands; something that didn't take more than a second or two. "So how far away is this place anyway? You said that we'd have to walk for a decent while from here, right?".
Without missing a beat, she raised the pointer finger of her free hand and answered, "According to your phone, it should take us between forty to forty-five minutes from here."
"Really?" Kazuma's eyebrows hiked up in surprise, before his face returned to a mostly neutral expression, "Are you sure that we couldn't have just gotten off at a later bus stop?".
"Nope," Megumin shook her head, "There aren't any buses that go in this direction, as far as I'm aware, at least."
"Well, there aren't really buses that go through this part of town, to be specific," Looking around, he recalled the bus schedule as best he could, "So, yeah, if we're supposed to keep going in this general direction, then I doubt it."
The short haired girl glanced up at him, her eyebrows furrowed with an expression that Kazuma couldn't quite parse, "That's not a problem, is it?".
"Huh? What, the walk?" He questioned, receiving a small nod, "Eh, not really, no. The weather today is… fine, and it's not like it's all that long, anyway. Between going to and from work, I usually end up walking for the same amount of time on the daily."
"Good," Megumin eventually settled on, leading Kazuma down an adjacent street, "I was just making sure that you weren't gonna try to complain about this, too."
An exasperated sigh rang out from beside her, "Seriously, just how low is your opinion of me?".
To Kazuma's pleasant surprise, things so far hadn't really been as strained as he'd expected. Not to say that things hadn't been awkward at all, because they certainly had been, but after around twenty-five minutes of walking, the mood between them was… kind of good. Maybe part of that came down to the fact that they were yet to start the actual 'date' part of their date, but he wouldn't complain either way. Slightly forced, and occasionally stilted, conversation was far better than the uncomfortable silence he'd been worrying about in the back of his head.
"Oh, hey," In an attempt to hopefully fix a small lull in conversation between the two, Kazuma pointed over towards a vaguely family-ran hotel, though it was far too too small to really be referred to as such, "A couple months back, there was this one day where the snow was coming down as really bad just as me and Chris were finishing up a shift. She was still able to take her usual train home, but the buses had just completely stopped running, so I had to spend the night in that place over there."
Admittedly, it was a pretty uneventful - and boring - story, he could recognise that much, but it was conversation nonetheless. Hopefully Megumin would be able to springboard it into a much more interesting story of her own.
"Well, is it at least a good hotel?" She squinted at the building as they strolled past it, "Oh, it's pretty cheap. Good job on not wasting money."
"Thanks…?" Kazuma limply waved his free hand, "And I mean, all things considered, I guess it was pretty okay. Especia-".
"Megumin…? Hey, Megumin!".
She didn't even have time to look over at the owner of the voice before she felt Kazuma's hand quickly retract from her own, an action clearly brought about by the newfound attention on them. Turning her head, she almost immediately noticed the person who had called out to her, and the two other girls with her.
"Hey, Megumin, you-" Dodonko waved over at her as she called out her name a third time before abruptly cutting herself off, "Woah, you're really dressed up today, aren't you?".
"Ooh, you're even wearing makeup, that's new," Funifura commented as she leaned forward to study Megumin's appearance, "Hey, wait, I thought you said yesterday that you were gonna be busy today. You really should've let me know beforehand that you'd changed your mind."
The shortest of the teens quickly rushed to try and clear up the obvious misconception, "Ah, no. A-actually, I am busy today, I'm o-".
"K-kazuma?" The final girl of the trio, Yunyun, finally spoke up, having apparently been the only one to properly take notice of the boy standing a few steps away from their friend.
Really, up until that point, Kazuma hadn't been paying all that much attention to the conversation itself. He was far too focused on the new arrivals themselves. Sure, he knew Yunyun, obviously, but he had no idea who the other two girls with her were, beyond a vague feeling that he'd maybe seen them once or twice before while waiting to walk home with Megumin.
But even if he didn't know their names, it didn't stop him from intently scanning their appearances. He did feel a little bit bad that he was trying to sneakily check out some other girls while he was on a date with his girlfriend, but it was okay if he was just looking, right? It wasn't his fault that they happened to have such… interesting… features.
"Oh, hey, Yunyun," He managed to snap himself out of it just before the girls' attention was brought unto him. Never mind what he thought earlier, he was definitely feeling guilty. "How are you doing?".
The loner's face lit up, as if it was the first time she'd ever been asked that in her entire life. "O-oh, uhm, uhm, th-thank you for asking. I-I'm doing goo-".
"W-wait, Kazuma?" Funifura suddenly interrupted Yunyun as she glanced over to the boy, shrinking back by the tiniest amount as his attention moved over to her, "Uhm, h-hi, I'm one of Megumin's friends, it's nice to meet you."
The usually peppy and outgoing girl began sneaking bashful glances at the older teen as she fiddled with the ends of her long twin tails. Megumin wasn't even attempting to hide her disdainful scowl.
"Megumin has brought you in up c-conversation with us a few times b-before, actually," Dodonko, in a state not too dissimilar to the girl beside her, spoke up, just as Kazuma was about to say something himself, "Ah, I-I'm sure she's mentioned us to you as well."
Kazuma's face went practically blank. Those two girls were… totally interested in him, right? There certainly wouldn't be any reason for them to be acting the way they were if not. He'd barely spoken a single word to them and they were both already blushing and fidgeting in his presence? Seriously, what kind of things had Megumin told them about him?
Oh, right, Megumin. He was on a date with Megumin right now.
'Well…' The teen rationalised with himself, 'I'm not gonna actually do anything, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy this feeling for a little bit longer, right? I mean, when's the next time something like this is gonna happen to me?'.
Flimsy rationalisations set in place, Kazuma faked an appearance of recognition, studying the two girls. "Oh, actually, yeah. I think Megumin has mentioned you two once or twice," He put a hand to his chin, trying his hardest to recall the two girls' names, eventually vaguely remembering two names that might have been theirs, "Uhm, Punyfura and… Dodonpa, right?".
"Do-dodonpa?" The girl in question reeled back in surprise.
"You told him that my name was Punyfura!?" Funifura glared at Megumin, a look of humiliation on her face, before snapping her focus back to Kazuma, "Ah, um, you know how Megumin can be, haha… My actual name's Funifura, by the way, and she's Dodonko."
Before things could go any further, Megumin decided that she'd had more than enough of the two girls derailing her date, and stepped in between Kazuma and the two far too friendly for her liking girls with a disgruntled expression.
"Look, I know that you two are both desperate for any kind of male attention," She coldly stated, her angry glare only sharpening further, "But you two better quit trying to flirt with my man right now."
There was a short stint of silence before, surprisingly, Yunyun was the first to react.
"Wh-wh-what?" She squeaked out, "Y-you two are… l-like that?".
"Oi!" Kazuma, red faced, babbled to the girl next to him, "Wh-what do you think you're saying!?".
"Sh-she's totally lying," Dodonko accused, "There's n-no way that Megumin would be able to get into a relationship b-before us, obviously."
"You're… kidding, right?" Funifura's expression made it clear that she was not as confident in her words as she would've liked to appear, "You don't… actually have a b-boyfriend. Hey, y-you're not really dating Megumin, are you?".
"It's true," Megumin proudly proclaimed, puffing out her chest as she observed her desired outcome, "Actually, we're on a date right now."
"Nuh uh!" The twin tailed girl profusely refused to accept the other girl's words, her face suggesting that she was moments away from tearing up in frustration, "No way you got a date with a b-boy before either of us."
"Y-yeah," Dodonko joined in, "I mean, you got me for a second, but it's o-obviously just gotta be a well planned out prank of some sort."
A little bit pissed off by the other girls' apparent complete disbelief that she could ever charm a boy, and the fact that Kazuma was yet to say anything to convince them of their relationship, Megumin decided to go for a finishing blow. Something that would 100% convince them of how things really were between her and Kazuma. She just hoped that he wouldn't be too annoyed.
Letting out a small hum to get the other girls' attention, Megumin closed the small distance between her and Kazuma and deftly placed her hands onto his shoulders. Before he got the chance to say anything, she got up onto her tiptoes and placed a quick kiss onto his left cheek, letting her lips remain there for a second or so before pulling back.
Blushing furiously, she slowly turned back to face the other three girls with a toothy grin on her face. Anything more than that small kiss would've admittedly been too embarrassing for her.
"Y-you!" Kazuma grabbed onto her shoulders and began roughly shaking her, "How is that supposed to be discrete!?".
"E-he, ple-ase st-op," The girl whined as her body was violently jerked back and forth, "I-I ha-ad to do i-it."
It was only when he heard the sound of other voices that he paused, his hands still gripping her shoulders. "D-don't think that this means anything," Funifura cut in, getting herself so worked that small tears had begun to prick at the corners of her eyes, "I-I can get a boyfriend too, it's not that impressive!".
"Y-yeah, exactly what she said!" Dodonko, on the other hand, seemed so drained that all she could do was madly nod at and agree with the other girl's words.
The third girl of the trio, Yunyun, displayed a wildly different reaction to that of the other two; blank staring at the couple with an emotionless expression on her profusely reddened face. It didn't seem like she had any idea of how to interact with the situation in front of her, and instead shut down completely.
From there, it sadly didn't take long for the three girls to awkwardly take their leave, with the recently recovered Yunyun innocently commenting on how nice it was to see Megumin and Kazuma again. Funifura and Dodonko, on the other hand, simply just cast defeated glances at the couple as they gave their polite, but clearly hurried, goodbyes.
The small sound that came from Megumin's mouth was oozing with pride as she watched the other three girls walk off into the distance.
Kazuma pinched the bridge of his nose before letting out a sigh, "You really are a jealous girl, aren't you?".
"I don't want any other girls to even think about trying to take you away from me, especially not those two," She mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear, before frowning up at him and speaking at a more normal volume, "A-and it's not like you were doing anything at all to stop them."
"Why specifically not those two?" Kazuma asked, hoping to avoid having to comment on the second part, "I thought that they were your friends."
"They are," Megumin affirmed, "But they're friends who can't stop themselves from saying ridiculous things about me from time to time. And there's no way I'd ever let them try to seduce my man with those nasty udders of theirs."
Though he had no intention of saying as much out loud, he couldn't ignore the small feeling of warmth he felt as she referred to him as her man. On the other hand, he also couldn't ignore how obviously rooted in jealousy the 'nasty udders' comment was. He was beginning to lose hope that she'd ever start developing at this point.
"Whatever," Was the answer Kazuma settled on, deciding that there was really no reason for him to argue with with her. It didn't overly bother him. "And just so you know, I wasn't gonna do anything with those two, especially not when we're in the middle of a date."
It was technically true, but the part of him that had been intending to enjoy their attention to the fullest while his girlfriend was right there couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty.
"..Sorry" Megumin, to his surprise, lowered her head and apologised, "I've felt this way about you for so long that I can't help but feel threatened whenever another girl tries to get too close to you. I really don't want some other girl to just come and steal you away from me. But, I know that I can be a bit too much sometimes."
Really, how was he supposed to respond to that? He was just teasing her, not looking for a heartfelt confession. She was the younger one, why was she the one saying such mature sounding things like that?
He had no idea what to say, but he knew that he needed to say something to her. Well, if his brain couldn't come up with anything, he'd just have to wing it, let his mouth form the words on the spot. It wasn't the best idea, but he already felt like the silence between had gone on long enough already. He was out of options.
"Is your chest the smallest out of all the girls in your class?".
Never mind. Maybe he should think before speaking.
"Hmphf!".
"...".
"Hmphf!".
"Ow! It actually kinda hurt that time, I said that I was sorry already," Kazuma complained as he rubbed his forearm, "Besides, I wasn't saying that having small breasts was necessarily a bad thing, you know, I was just curious. There are plenty of advantages to having small boobs, actually."
"You're not helping yourself in the slightest," Megumin spoke for the first time in over a minute, not sounding as mad as Kazuma had expected, "But I can at least tell that you're trying to make up for it in your own gross, perverted way, so I'll let it go this one time."
"You could've said that without the 'gross, perverted' part…" The older teen mumbled under his breath, yet otherwise raised no objections. He had no intention to look a gift horse in the mouth after she'd just completely forgiven him.
"I'll consider that as strike one," She commented as she slipped her hand back into his, returning back to normal within a scarily quick amount of time, "I only ask that you're on your best behaviour for the rest of this date, otherwise I will actually get upset."
Kazuma felt his posture slipping, "Y-yes, ma'am…".
The latter part of the walk followed mostly the same routine as the first, with somewhat strained - yet still mostly pleasant - conversation between the two. They even briefly managed to maintain a considerably more normal atmosphere, with a discussion surrounding Chomusuke and all of the strange places they'd discovered her taking a nap in. Megumin eventually outdid Kazuma entirely as she described a particular occasion where she found her sleeping upside-down from a tree, as if she were a bat.
"Annnnd… it should be somewhere down this street," The crimson eyed girl announced as they finally drew close to their destination.
Kazuma nodded, before shifting his vision over to her, "So I'm guessing that you've seen a picture of what the front of this place looks like? Or you have a name, at least."
"Well, I've…" Megumin paused, avoiding his gaze, "I've been told what it looks like, so hopefully I should be able to find it."
Despite that less than reassuring statement, it didn't take her long at all to find their restaurant, with Kazuma being a little bit in awe of the place they were apparently eating at. Not that it was the greatest looking restaurant he'd ever seen or anything, because it wasn't. Actually, all things considered, it was a pretty normal looking restaurant, but a restaurant that was just considered pretty normal still seemed beyond whatever budget that Megumin had.
Kazuma scowled as he used the menu to cover his face, 'This is so awkward…'.
He'd known as much beforehand, but it was only in this moment that he was seriously - seriously - starting to realise that he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do on a date. Frankly, it was irritating.
First course of action, what exactly were they even supposed to talk about on a date? His life? Nope, she already knew enough about that. Any interesting things that'd happened recently? No point, they'd already talked about pretty much every even remotely interesting thing that had happened to either of them recently. Romance? Well, that probably could work, but he really didn't feel like embarrassing himself with a lame attempt of trying to act romantic.
"...He-hey, Kazuma," Megumin cut through the silence as she gently pushed Kazuma's menu away from his face, an expectant look on her face, "So, what do you think of this place so far? Oh, and has anything on the menu caught your eye yet?".
He felt his body ease up a little. In the moment, he'd forgotten the simple fact that the girl in front of him had been trying to impress him for pretty much the entire day so far. Surely, there was no need for him to be the one getting nervous.
"What do I think?" The older of the two took the time to properly observe the restaurant around him, "Well, if you're talking about the, like, atmosphere and decorations and stuff, then it does look pretty nice. But, um, Megumin, a more important question, I guess; doesn't this place seem like it's a little bit too expensive for you?".
For a split second, Megumin wasn't sure if his words were supposed to be taken with an insulting undertone or not, but the moment she spotted the look of genuine concern that he was clearly trying and failing to hide from her, she felt guilty for even considering it in the first place. He wasn't being condescending about the fact that she was poor, he was just genuinely concerned about her and her family.
"Y-you don't have to worry about that, really," She smiled over at him, "This place is actually a fair bit cheaper than it looks, ch-check the menu if you don't believe me. And I may or may not have managed to get a small discount for this place anyway."
Upon listening to her words, it dawned on Kazuma that he was yet to actually read the menu. He swiftly scanned through a few of the prices, just like she'd instructed him to do. "Huh, so it is. It's not dirt cheap or anything, but these prices won't set either of us back too much, either," He remarked, finally taking the time to glance over what they even served there, "How did you get a discount here, anyway? Don't tell me that you somehow have coupons for this place too."
For the first time since they'd stepped foot into the restaurant, Megumin let out a small, genuine laugh. It wasn't a fit of uncontrollable laughter or anything, far from it, but it was a genuine laugh nonetheless. A small success in Kazuma's eyes.
Somehow, without even trying, they'd managed to ease most of the tension that had been building up ever since entering the restaurant. He was starting to feel a little stupid for even being worried in the first place. Of course, acknowledging it out loud would no doubt only tank the mood again, so he decided to keep that particular observation to himself.
"I had a friend recommend this place to me," The short haired girl explained, "Apparently her dad is friends with the owner and their family, so she managed to get me a small discount on our food."
"That's… convenient," Kazuma pointed out, his eyes peeking out at her from the top of his menu.
Megumin tapped a finger to her cheek as she thought up a response, "Well, she probably recommended this place because she knew the owners, so it's not that weird. And I specifically told her to keep my financial situation in mind when recommending somewhere, so I guess that's why she tried to get a discount for us."
"I guess that explains what you were talking to that waiter about earlier, then," Lowering his menu further, he furrowed his eyebrows at the girl across from him, "Still, though, are you sure you wanna pay for everything? I said before that I'm fine with splitting it fifty-fifty,".
If it was anyone else besides Megumin, he'd be more than happy to let them pay for everything without question, but the idea of potentially putting financial burden on a family who barely managed to keep themselves out of complete poverty each month was too far for even him. It also didn't help that their two trips out to Axel had presumably already chipped away at a substantial portion of the money that her parents had left for her.
"In any other circumstance, I'd probably insist that you chip in at least a little bit," Megumin admitted, her gaze not straying from her menu, "But, well, you are kinda going through money problems of your own right now, aren't you?".
He wasn't gonna try to argue with her on that, "Please don't remind me. I was trying to forget about that for today…".
"A-and besides…" She turned unexpectedly bashful, acting far too cute for Kazuma to comfortably deal with, "Uhm, my mom left me some e-extra money in case something like th-this were to happen…".
Kazuma' raised an eyebrow, puzzled, "Something like this? You mean, like…?".
"...A date," She mumbled, her hands twitching in her lap.
"I see," He looked back down at his menu, drawing a blank when it came to what exactly he was supposed to respond to her with, "...You know, if your mom is that desperate to sell you off, you should probably let her know that I'm almost just as poor as you guys are."
"S-s-sell me off!?" Megumin recoiled back, "What kind of opinion do you have of my mo-".
"Excuse me," They were interrupted by a waiter arriving at their table, "Are you two ready to order now?".
Kazuma looked down at his menu. In the maybe ten minutes that they'd been there for, he'd only ended up reading through about five items on the menu.
He slumped in his chair, "Uhm, actually, is it only if we have a little more time to decide?".
By the next time a waiter came around to their table, Kazuma had made sure to actually read through the menu and picked out something to order. The restaurant seemingly didn't abide by a single theme when it came to what they were serving. Or, if it did, it wasn't anywhere near obvious enough for him to figure it out at a cursory glance. While around half of the menu was Japanese food, there was also a large amount of Chinese, Indian and even some western dishes included alongside them.
While Kazuma had initially been going through the menu in search of more formal-seeming dishes, he quickly abandoned that notion the moment Megumin cheerily informed him that she was planning to order the fried chicken, an item that Kazuma didn't even know was on the menu. If she wasn't gonna waste her time and money frivolously trying to make herself appear more dignified, then neither would he.
After ordering, the two of them were left to wait for their food to arrive, however long that would take.
"So…" Kazuma attempted to strike up a conversation once again, "Any idea when exactly your parents are getting back?".
It really felt like he was scraping the bottom of the barrel when it came to conversation starters.
"My mom didn't say anything specific about it when she called a few days ago," Megumin responded after taking a sip of her soda, "But, based on all of the times that they've done this in the past, they'll probably be back late Sunday evening. They tend to take all the time that they can get."
"Well, considering what you said before about it being when they usually make the most profits, I can't exactly blame them for wanting to make the most of it," The brunette let out a sigh of relief, "And at least it means that I won't have to move out until some time around Sunday afternoon."
She affirmatively nodded, "Yeah, but I would recommend that you've fully left the house before they get back. As far as I'm aware, my mom never exactly… told my dad that… you were staying here."
"A-and I'm guessing that he wouldn't be too happy if he found it out?" The beads of sweat that began to roll down Kazuma's forehead made it clear that being beaten to death by her father was an all-too-worrying possibility in his head.
"He'd definitely freak out," Megumin stated, giving the boy a sympathetic look, "But mom would just knock him out if he ever actually tried to do anything about it. "
"...Seriously, should I be scared of your mom?".
While she had certainly had high hopes for their first date, Megumin couldn't deny that she'd also had a fair share of worries. Neither of them had much - scratch that, any - experience when it came to dating, and all of their physical and verbal affection up until that point had been almost entirely private, only when the two of them were alone.
She wasn't expecting a complete disaster, but she had certainly prepared for one, just in case.
Yet, to her pure delight, no such disaster occurred. Sure, there were a few… hiccups, and a couple of almost unbearably awkward silences from time to time, but it was never enough to seriously dampen her mood for more than a minute or so. It even seemed as though Kazuma had gradually been getting more confident-looking over the course of the meal, something Megumin was more than happy to see. She had no idea what a successful date was supposed to look like, but she was pretty certain that she'd just experienced one first-hand.
"I really didn't expect that we'd be in there for two whole hours," Kazuma remarked as he checked the time on his phone, "I guess that just shows how long it's been since I last went to a proper restaurant."
Megumin wordlessly slipped her hand into his. His hand only briefly flinched, probably on impulse, before he returned her grip with a slightly looser grip of his own. "However long it's been for you, I can promise you that it's been even longer for me," She let out a mix between a laugh and an exhale at her own comment, "...It was probably around a year after Komekko was born, I think."
"Yup, you definitely win, then," The green eyed boy snickered, cupping his free hand against his chin as he thought, "For me, it must've been just after I stopped being a NEET. Or maybe it was a day or so before, I can't really remember."
"That was when you still lived with your parents, wasn't it?" Megumin questioned, getting a soft 'Mhm' in response, "So I'm guessing that you went with them?".
"Obviously," Kazuma dryly stated, "it's not like there was anyone else for me to go with at the time."
Suddenly, Megumin found herself not really wanting to continue their current conversation. Most discussions about his time as a recluse almost always eventually left her with a bad taste in her mouth for one reason or another. Broaching the subject always made her feel a little guilty, even if Kazuma didn't seem to have all that many issues when it came to talking about it.
Although, he'd never actually told her why he'd become like that in the first place.
She rapidly shook her head a few times, clearing her head. Leaning against him, an action that was made slightly uncomfortable by the fact that they were both still walking, Megumin tried her hardest to convey her honest feelings through the wide smile she showed him.
"I really did have fun today, Kazuma," She said, barely above a whisper.
For a moment, she wondered if he'd even heard her, but his voice ringing out a few seconds later proved otherwise. "Yeah. You know, I really didn't expect you to do something like this."
Megumin couldn't help but be a little caught off guard. Not by what he said, but by how casually he said it. She'd expected him to have gotten at least a little bit flustered, or to at minimum stutter once or twice, but he was still acting relatively normal, even when she was getting suddenly closer to him.
Had the date actually boosted his confidence around her?
"I-I wasn't sure how this would go at first," Megumin admitted, finding that she was the only one of the two presently getting flustered, "So I only really planned the meal, in case things didn't go too great, but now I'm really wishing that I'd prepared something more…".
The brunette gave her a cocky grin, "Then why don't we?".
"Huh!?".
"Why don't we do something else, then?" Kazuma suggested, "I mean, we've got more than enough time to, don't we? Actually, I've been thinking, and I'm pretty sure that I know the perfect way to end this date."
"Y-you do?" Her eyes were practically sparkling as she gazed at him in adoration, "Th-then, let's continue this date, Kazuma!".
"Trust me, the best part is only just beginning."
"Kazuma, Kazuma," Megumin's voice eventually broke through the silence, as she eyed their surroundings, "...Are we lost? It's fine if we are, you can be honest with me."
The older teen kept his vision laser-focused on the path in front of them, not meeting her gaze, "N-no,".
His newfound confidence was already starting to slip. He'd just been trying to act cool, dammit!
She furrowed her brow, unconvinced, "Do you know where we are, then?".
"...No," Kazuma sheepishly answered, frowning.
"S-so we are lost!" Megumin glared up at her boyfriend, "I told you to be honest."
Casting a brief look around the wooded area they had found themselves walking through, it certainly appeared as though they were lost, to Megumin at least. Yet, despite that, the expression she saw on his face was far from what she had expected. It wasn't the smug confidence he'd usually take on when he was right and he knew it, nor was it the shifty grimace Megumin would always see whenever she caught him in a lie. His face was much more focused, as if he genuinely did have some idea of their general destination.
"We're not lost," He insisted, observing her glare slowly transform into an unconvinced deadpan from his peripheral vision, "Seriously, I know where we're going… sort of."
The crimson eyed girl let out a defeated sigh, but otherwise stayed silent. She didn't completely trust that Kazuma knew where he was going but she did at least trust that he'd be able to get them un-lost soon enough. And besides, the more confident side that he'd shown her up until that point really did send her heart aflutter.
"Yeah, if that's… then it's gotta be, like… over this way, maybe," Megumin was pulled from her thoughts by Kazuma's low muttering. From what she could parse, it seemed like they were actually getting somewhat close to their destination, wherever it was.
It was only when she heard the faint sound of rushing water and recalled back to the route they had taken that Megumin finally realised where they were heading. Honestly, she was a bit shocked that it had taken so long for her to figure it out. Although, in her defence, she had never taken such a roundabout route to reach there.
She gave his hand a small squeeze, speaking up as she used her free hand to point out a vaguely familiar clump of bushes, with a clearly man made gap in the middle of them. "Here," Megumin led Kazuma through the bushes, being extra careful to avoid snagging her dress on any of the numerous branches they had to pass through, "From here, we're on the route that I always used to use. I can still remember the entire way from here."
"Thank god, I really had no idea where I was supposed to go from the ri-" Kazuma began before he stopped on his tracks and swiftly turned to the dark haired girl, "Hold on, You know where we're going?".
"Well, yeah," She replied matter-of-factly, "Obviously I was gonna figure it out eventually, I am the one who actually came here all the time."
"That's true, I guess," The older teen groaned, using his free hand to scratch at the back of his neck as he felt his nerve slipping away, "A-actually, let's just go back now. This is making me feel even lamer than I expected."
"Wha-? You… we can't just go back now, we're practically already there!" Megumin insisted, dragging him along, "And it's not lame, I'm… I'm h-happy that you thought to bring me here."
Seeing the serene smile on her face, Kazuma looked away, embarrassed. In reality, all that stuff he'd said to her earlier about knowing the perfect way to end their date was a complete and utter lie, he just got caught up in the moment and wanted to look cool in front of her. Big mistake.
It was only after at least fifteen minutes of aimlessly wandering around and trying his best to make it look like he knew where he was going that they finally wandered past his former - and Megumin's current - middle school, a place that ignited a small spark of inspiration in his head. Honestly, it wasn't really an idea that appealed to him all that much, not really, but he couldn't deny that it did sorta seem like the kind of thing that would make Megumin happy. She was sentimental like that.
The place he had in mind was, of course, a certain part of the small forest behind the school. More specifically, that area that Megumin had formerly claimed as her own, and the site of their first real meeting.
"So do you really not come here at all anymore?" Kazuma inquired, hoping to turn the conversation into something much less uncomfortable for him, "You used to come here pretty much every day, didn't you?".
"It wasn't every day," She averted her eyes, an uneasy smile tugging at her lips, "But, yeah, I haven't really been here much ever since I, y'know, got over my whole… chuunibyou… thing."
"Uh huh, you 'got over it'," The unconvinced teen repeated, playfully poking Megumin's cheek with his finger, "So you're saying that you don't still practice cool poses in the mirror when you think no one is looking?".
"Wh-wha? How did you-? Y-you…!".
"Wait, hold on, I was joking. Do you actually pose in front of th- Ow, ow! Okay, sorry, I get it!" Kazuma yelped, trying to pull his hand away as she squeezed it as tightly as possible, her nails digging into his skin.
"...Please don't tell anyone."
"I know that I was the one who brought you here and everything," Kazuma blankly stated, "But, um, what are we actually supposed to do now that we're here?".
It had only taken them another minute or so to arrive at the familiar clearing. Well, maybe calling it a clearing was a bit of an exaggeration. A more apt description would be to say that it was slightly less congested with trees than the rest of the forest. Though, now that the difficult task of actually getting there was over with, it finally dawned on Kazuma just how spur of the moment his 'plan' had really been.
Megumin gently released their hands and slowly walked into the middle of the area. "Well, even if there's not much to really do, don't you think that it's nice to be here again? It's been a while since we were last here together."
"For good reason," He grumbled under his breath, "I forgot that the only memories I have of this place are bad ones."
His girlfriend sent him a short-lived pout, her features returning to a nostalgic smile as continued to look around. Kazuma internally groaned, it was probably a little too late at this point to admit to her that he had just been trying to impress her earlier.
Welp, he came this far, he may as well try something, at least. All this talk of the past was definitely giving him an idea that he was pretty damn sure that she would enjoy.
He felt some of that misguided confidence from earlier make its grand return.
Moving past Megumin and reaching the edge of the small clearing, Kazuma briefly peered around above him before he reached up, standing on his tiptoes to grab onto a low-hanging branch. With some effort, he finally managed to snap it off from the tree, the sound catching the attention of the only other person there.
"Um, Kazuma?" She asked, walking over to the teen as he got to work plucking off the leaves and smaller branches attached to the larger stick, "What exactly are you doing?".
"You'll see," Kazuma confidently smirked, surprising Megumin when he reached out his free hand to pet her head a few times, "Wait for a second, just let me… there. Done!".
After sloppily clearing up the branch and snapping off the very end, where the stick thinly tapered off, he proudly presented it to her; a staff. Sure, it was even more rudimentary than the actual one she used to use, and the branch itself was just slightly too thin to really classify as a a staff, looking a little like an overly long wand, but a clear effort was still made by Kazuma.
"Uhm…" Megumin blankly stared at the object in her boyfriend's hands, going into overdrive in an attempt to maintain her confused façade, "Wh-what is…".
"Oh, come on, don't pretend that you don't know what this is supposed to be," The brown haired boy rolled his eyes at her, dramatically waving the staff around in front of him and sending her an infectious smile, "There's no one else besides us, and we are here, so, like, you may as well, right? I can tell that you want to."
"...I-it's a little embarrassing," The short teen mumbled out, her cheeks blooming into a deep shade of red, "But, it is j-just us here, so… Arghhh! Fine, I'll do it!".
With that declaration, Megumin dramatically threw her arms out to her sides. She then fluidly lifted one up to cover her eye, while the other quickly snapped out in front of her, ready to accept the staff. The moment Kazuma placed it into her outstretched hand, she spun on her heels and walked a few paces away, thrusting her staff out in front of her once she came to a stop. As the former chuunibyou glanced over her shoulder to beam at him, Kazuma could already tell that she was immediately back into character.
"Kazuma, Kazuma! Pay attention, okay?" Megumin called out to him, tossing back her non-existent cloak. If it wasn't for the subtle burning of her cheeks, Kazuma highly doubted that he'd be able to tell that she was even embarrassed in the slightest.
"Let me guess," He played along, casting his mind back to Megumin's old ramblings, "Explosion magic?".
"Of course," The 'arch-mage' proudly puffed out her chest. She was clearly getting way too into it. "It's the most powerful type of magic there is."
Her eyes snapped shut for a moment, in deep focus, until they opened just as suddenly as they closed, with the crimson eyed girl clutching her staff as she began chanting her most powerful - and only - spell.
"Darkness blacker than black, darker than dark, I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson. The time of awakening cometh! Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary, appear now as an intangible distortion," Megumin drew small circles in the air with her staff as she somehow managed to remember the exact words of her 'chant', "Dance, dance, dance! I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force; a destructive force without equal! Return all creation to cinders, and come from the abyss! This is the mightiest means of attack known to man, the ultimate attack magic…".
In a split-second movement, She brought her staff up above her head and swung it down in front of her, releasing her all-powerful spell in one foul swoop.
"EXPLOOO-SHUN!".
"..."
Kazuma awkwardly watched on as Megumin remained in her pose, as still as a statue, for at least ten whole seconds.
"...I know that I can't actually use magic," She sheepishly commented, finally letting up on her pose, "But it's still a little disappointing that nothing happened at all."
"Can't you just, like, I dunno," The brunette waved one of his wrists, "Imagine an explosion? You seemed fine with all of the other made up stuff."
"M-made up? How dare you!" Megumin whirled towards him, aiming her staff directly at his chest as she slipped back into her persona, "I'll show you just how made up my explosion magic is! Even if it is my beloved, I won't hold back against anyone who dares insult my magic!".
"Pfft, sure, sure," Kazuma snorted, casually swatting the staff away from him, "Please forgive my terrible transgression, oh great corrupt god."
"Dark god," She corrected him, her wide grin certainly not matching with the attempted seriousness of her voice. Seeing the ironic look on the boy's face, Megumin found herself breaking out into a small fit of giggles at the whole situation, gently dropping the branch onto the ground next to her.
Taking a single step forward, she reached out and threw her arms around Kazuma, snuggling in close and making sure to briefly nuzzle her cheek against his upper chest before tilting her head upwards to gaze into his eyes. She could tell that he wanted to say something, but he seemed to quickly settle for instead simply just fixing her with a curious look, his hands loosely holding onto her shoulders.
"I can't believe that I used to be like that all the time, it's really embarrassing," She let out a small laugh, "...But as long as it's just with y-you, it's still kinda fun to act like this again… every once in a while."
Megumin heard a small sound of amusement, followed by a sigh, as she felt Kazuma properly return her embrace, pulling her in closer. "I'm being serious, you better not start relapsing now," He warned her as he gently traced one of his hands over the small of her back, the other one resting upon the bare skin of her shoulder blade.
A peaceful silence washed over them, with neither of them being exactly sure of how long it lasted. Kazuma looked down at Megumin, their eyes instantly meeting. He managed to stop himself from averting his gaze and, in the process, found himself once again intently taking in her appearance.
"Megumin…" Kazuma whispered her name, moving a hand up to cup her cheek.
She audibly inhaled, tentatively licking the inside of her lips, "Yeah…?".
"...I completely forgot which direction we took to get here."