Part Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
You would never guess, but Yuuta is an excellent bodyguard. After his initial reaction to Makoto (and Teruhashi's reaction to her brother's reaction to Yuuta), there wasn't much either Teruhashi could do against the full-on assault of childish manipulation that is Yuuta. Yare, yare. Who'd have thought I'd be grateful for Teruhashi passing on her "pretty girl" habits? Yuuta's not a girl, of course, but it turns out Teruhashi's same tricks work for kids too.
The whole time we got ready for the park, Yuuta clung tightly to Teruhashi with a brilliant, adorable-child grin as he talked her ear off about all the cool things they would do and how he was so happy Peach-T Girl was there because it would have been so boring without her because she's so awesome and strong and smart and pretty that of course he can't stand not being around her and won't she hold his hand while they head for the elevator because there are so many weird people in the hallway and won't she come with him to talk to the time-traveler clock-man in the foyer with the funny hat?
Teruhashi is eating it all up with strawberries and cream, floating along behind Yuuta as he drags her by the hand wearing the most goofily contented smile I've ever seen. Of course, it looks good on her, but I've never seen anything that didn't look good on her.
Well, her ugly tears were pretty close.
Yare, yare.
As you can guess, Makoto isn't at all happy about the whole thing but he's doing a good job of keeping his smile natural when Teruhashi looks at him. Every other time, though, his smile is obviously strained, and a vein keeps popping in his forehead. He can't even get close to Teruhashi because every time he tries, Yuuta finds something else that he just absolutely has to share with his darling Peach-T Girl, who then follows after him wearing that same floaty, happy, goofy grin.
I decided to leave them to it and only shoot the occasional smirk at the pervert brother.
It's the simple things in life.
Jinxed
"And we can go to Hogwarts and see Big Bird and ride Hippoggs and fight dinosaurs and meet Minions and eat lots of food and then, and then!" Stars dripped from Yuuta's eyes as he stared up at Teruhashi with a wide grin. "We'll finally get to see Cyborg Yakult!"
Teruhashi giggled, pressing her fist to her lips as she tossed a knowing look over at her shoulder at Makoto. She didn't notice his strained grin shift to a something more natural, but Kusuo did.
Worm.
"Yes," she said. "You'll finally meet Cyborg Yakult."
"Actually, Yuuta-kun," Makoto jumped in, his smile going shady as he turned it on Yuuta. "You may not have realized because I don't have my uniform on, but I'm Cyborg Yakult."
Yuuta frowned. "No, you're not."
Makoto's brow twitched. "I promise you, I am."
Yuuta shook his head. "You're not."
"Actually, I—"
"Oh, look!" Teruhashi pointed at the enormous gate looming just ahead featuring the earth crossed by 'Universal Studios.' Beside the gate was a giant banner of Cyborg Yakult punching out Baron Cola. "We're here!"
"Uwaaaahhh!" More stars and even a little drool this time. "We're here! It's Universal Studios Japan! I see Woody-Pecker! And Big Bird! And look, look, look Peach-T Girl! The real Cyborg Yakult is up there!"
Yuuta dragged Teruhashi away leaving Makoto gaping after with obvious indignation. Kusuo sniggered. It was only once, but Makoto apparently had very good hearing. His head twisted around at an awkward angle, his face contorted with angry disgust as he glared Kusuo down. Kusuo didn't need his powers to know the actor's aura was on fire.
"You say something, four-eyes?"
Yare, yare.
"What are you doing without your glasses, anyway?" Makoto stepped closer, his arms crossed, and his chin jutted forward with that same ugly scowl still firmly in place. "You decide to try contacts, huh? Think Kokomi will like you better now that you don't have those stupid glasses anymore? Well think again, you low-life piece of shit. Kokomi isn't so shallow she'd care about someone wearing glasses."
That was certainly true.
"It's all about the face, dumbass, the face." Makoto stood, his own face once again shining as he smirked arrogantly and tossed his blue hair back with one hand. "And obviously the one with a face beautiful enough as to be comparable to hers in anyway is only me—Hey! Don't you walk away when I'm talking to you!"
Trust me, Perv, you want me to walk away. With how tense Kusuo still was from the night before (and even more so from that morning), he was liable to punch Makoto's 'beautiful' face. Fortunately for everyone but Makoto, the idiot was recognized by a fan and immediately mobbed, freeing Kusuo to meander up to the gateway where Teruhashi and Yuuta were stopped to get a picture with some giant blue bird with red hair and a pointy beak.
"Saiki-kun!" Teruhashi waved him over. "Hurry up!"
"Aa," Kusuo agreed, though he didn't hurry. Why should he when the sun was shining just right from a break in the clouds to beam down right on Teruhashi and Yuuta like God Himself had shined a spotlight right over her?
She really is beautiful. Kusuo thought grudgingly. He honestly wasn't sure if he would prefer her to be plainer, but it certainly was annoying that she always attracted so much attention. Such as right now: Teruhashi was positively swamped by paparazzi.
"Excuse me," Teruhashi said, her voice just a little higher and her smile just a bit tighter than they usually were when she addressed her adoring crowd. "I'm trying to get a picture with my—"
Someone bumped her from behind, and Teruhashi shrieked, stumbling forward and unable to regain her balance with Yuuta held firmly in her arms. Her eyes squeezed shut, and she wrapped her arms tight around Yuuta as she twisted her body to land on her back to spare Yuuta. She needn't have bothered; Kusuo was already there.
He understood better, now, how he still managed to move so fast every now and then. Just like before in that Man's territory when he had used Urameshi's spirit gun, Kusuo could feel the pale remnants of his powers in the spirit energy that flared through his body on occasion—usually when Teruhashi or Yuuta was in trouble. He had felt it just now and focused it into his feet to propel himself forward in a dash, almost as if he had rockets strapped to the bottoms of his shoes. He reached Teruhashi just in time to brace her fall as all three of them tumbled to the asphalt.
Teruhashi went even tenser at his touch, a minute shiver running through her from head to toe, and Kusuo squeezed her arm in comfort.
"It's me."
Teruhashi went boneless against him, practically radiating relief. "Saiki-kun!"
She rolled to her side so she and Yuuta weren't crushing him anymore and leaned over his face with a worried frown. Yuuta popped up beside her, mimicking her frown.
"Are you okay, Saiki-kun?"
A bubble of…something…swelled in Kusuo's chest as he stared at her. No, he was glaring at her. The words were out of his mouth before he could even think to form them, never mind stop them.
"Stop calling me that."
Teruhashi blinked. "Stop calling you…Saiki-kun?"
He wanted to disagree, say she'd misunderstood, but it was pretty obvious she hadn't misunderstood seeing as she hadn't called him anything else.
Yare, yare, Kusuo thought as he propped himself up on his elbows. How do I get myself into these situations?
Unable to go back, Kusuo did the only thing he could. He moved forward.
Shrugging, Kusuo climbed to his feet and offered her his hand. "Everyone else calls me Kusuo now. Seems kind of stupid for you not to."
Teruhashi blushed scarlet as she slowly reached for Kusuo's hand and let him pull her up. "A-all right, K-Kusuo…kun…"
A lump formed in Kusuo's throat, and he felt suddenly parched. Not surprising, it's mid-summer.
Yet despite that logic, Kusuo couldn't shake the feeling that his sudden inability to swallow had absolutely nothing to do with the sun or rising humidity.
"Oi! Get a room, you two!" The sudden shout made Kusuo and Teruhashi jump and look wildly around at the various faces laughing, glaring, and even leering in their direction. As one, their eyes fell on their still joined hands before both let go and took a lightning step back.
"A-hahahaha." Teruhashi tucked her hands behind her back and grinned uncertainly. "Um, we'd better hurry or the lines will be too long…Oh! Our picture!"
"Not to worry, miss."
Kusuo turned to see an older, foreign woman offer Teruhashi a small digital camera. The woman spoke English, but both Kusuo and Teruhashi were fluent.
"I took plenty of pictures for you."
Teruhashi offered a real, unadorned smile that shot through the hearts of everyone present as she accepted the camera with a relieved bow. "Thank you so much!"
"Of course, dear!" The woman patted Teruhashi's shoulder. "You have a beautiful family."
Teruhashi blushed a violent red and shot Kusuo a nervous look that he refused to return. Better to just pretend he didn't understand.
"What's she and Peach-T Girl saying, Cyborg Cider-man #2? And why are your ears all red?"
Yare, yare.
From the front gate, Kusuo and Teruhashi let Yuuta set the course. He dragged them through the park with starry-eyed fervor, riding every ride he was tall enough to get on and sobbing loudly when he learned he was just barely too small to ride the Jurassic Park ride.
"Yuuta," Kusuo had scolded the sobbing boy, dropping a hand onto his hat. "Calm down."
"But—but—but—!"
"Oh, Yuu-chan," Teruhashi said, going down on her knees and pulling him into a tight hug. "I know it's disappointing, but this just means we'll have to come back again next year!"
Yuuta stopped crying and looked up at her with bewildered, hopeful eyes. "Really?"
Teruhashi held out her pinky and grinned. "Really, really."
"Yay!" Yuuta locked pinkies with her for only a moment before rushing off after a park performer wearing the costume of a giant white dog with a big head and floppy black ears.
Kusuo quirked an eyebrow at Teruhashi. "Next year?"
She blushed but shrugged. "At least he stopped crying."
By the time they reached Harry Potter World, Kusuo had expected Yuuta's excitement to wane from exhaustion and hunger, but he was as energetically sparkly as ever as he pointed out all the different shops to Kusuo and Teruhashi as he babbled happily about all the things he could get.
"—and robes and a wand!" Yuuta said, clapping his hands in delight.
Kusuo shook his head. "You don't get robes or a wand until you're eleven. You have to wait for your Hogwarts letter."
Yuuta deflated. "Oh…well…I guess that makes sense. But we can still get turkey legs and butterbeer, right, Cyborg Cider-man #2?"
"Yeah."
Cheering again, Yuuta led the way to the Three Broomsticks. Teruhashi fell in step with Kusuo as the pair followed the boy, and he refused to look at her on principal because he could just feel her teasing grin burning his cheeks.
"What?" he said when the silence dragged too long. She giggled.
"Eleven?"
"Yare, yare."
The tavern was packed to the windowsills with people, and Kusuo felt a sharp stab of panic when he lost sight of Yuuta, but the boy soon darted back to grab both his and Teruhashi's hands to drag them toward the line.
"I've never had butterbeer before, Cyborg Cider-man #2," Yuuta said as Kusuo picked him up, all three of them having been jostled by the crowd too much for Kusuo's comfort. He didn't want anyone to step on the poor kid. "Do you think it's any good?"
"I guess we'll find out."
It took almost forty minutes to order their lunch and find a seat, and by that time, Yuuta had passed out on Kusuo's shoulder.
"What should we do?" Teruhashi asked, her brow furrowed as she watched Yuuta with concern. "He can't be comfortable sleeping like that, but if we take him back to the hotel, he could sleep through Brother's show, and that would devastate him. And he's so worn out that I can't even think of waking him up, but he needs to eat. He's only had simple snacks since breakfast and we're eating late as it is. What should—?"
"Calm down, Teruhashi. He's fine where he is for now. If he's still asleep by the time we're done eating, we'll wake him. He can eat then, and after, we'll get seated early for the show."
Teruhashi sighed with a relieved smile. "You're always so decisive, Saiki-kun."
Kusuo's eyebrow twitched, but he was determined to hold his tongue this time. If she wanted to keep calling him 'Saiki' like there was still actual distance between them, then what did he care? It was a good thing, even, because the last thing he needed was for people to get the wrong idea about the two of them. They weren't lovers or dating or anything like that. They were barely even friends, and that was all they would ever—
"Oh!" Teruhashi blushed and took a tentative sip of her drink before glancing up at him with nervous eyes and an uncertain smile. "I…I meant Kusuo-kun…right?"
Kusuo's heart did a triple backflip in his chest, and he looked away to hide the incriminating heat on his cheeks. Fortunately, the tavern was dimly lit, so she probably couldn't see his heightened color. "Yeah."
They picked at their food in an awkward silence as Kusuo did his level best to keep his eyes from settling on Teruhashi for longer than a second or two before flitting them away to stare at some unimportant thing in the tavern; a broomstick mounted on the wall, a busty bar-maid with curly raven locks and western features, a rainbow collection of Hogwarts scarves, robes, and crests.
"S-so!" Teruhashi coughed when her voice cracked just a bit before diving back in. "My brother said he had seats reserved especially for us at the front, and he also said that someone would be chosen from the audience to be part of the show. He wanted it to be me, but we both know that's not happening. Never again. Instead, I convinced him to have Yuuta brought up so he can meet his hero and fight the bad guy." She put a finger against her bottom lip and looked skyward in thought. Which of course made Kusuo realize he'd been staring at her mouth during her entire speech.
Yare, yare. Kusuo tore his eyes away, this time focusing them on the giant back of an enormous hairy man who had just walked in. People swarmed the man excitedly, and Kusuo realized he must be a costumed actor pretending to be Hagrid. It was a pretty good make-up job. If Kusuo didn't know better, he'd say this guy was the actual actor from the movies.
"I'm not sure who they chose to be the bad guy for the show," Teruhashi continued, and against his will, Kusuo's eyes darted back to her face. But then, it was rude not to look at someone when they were talking to you, right? So it was fine. "I know Brother said they weren't using Baron Cola because they still couldn't find an actor that resembled him close enough. Maybe Rice Malt, he's Cyborg Yakult's biggest rival, but either way, Yuuta should be just fine."
Kusuo frowned. I wasn't worried.
As if reading his thoughts, Teruhashi sent Kusuo a teasing grin. "We'll be in the front row too, so if something does happen, I'm sure Cyborg Cider-man #2 can handle it when Brother can't."
She said when he can't, not if. The idea that Teruhashi trusted Kusuo more implicitly than she did her own brother (not that there's much to trust there, damn perv) did not make Kusuo shift giddily in his seat. His butt was falling asleep is all. Yuuta was heavier than he looked!
Kusuo scowled at her. "You better not have jinxed us, Teruhashi."
Teruhashi blinked wildly, her face losing some color. "D-do you think that's—?"
"Peach-T Girl?" Yuuta said as he stirred awake. He rubbed at his wide green eyes with both little fists before looking around. His eyes landed on Kusuo, and he grinned. "Hi, Cyborg Cider-man #2!"
"Hi," Kusuo returned before shifting Yuuta around to face the table. "You need to eat, or we'll be late for your show."
"Ooo!" More stars dripped from Yuuta's eyes as he took in the feast surrounding them. Turkey legs, fish and chips, bottles of butterbeer and pumpkin juice, pumpkin pasties and caldron cakes, even chocolate frogs. Normally, guests were only allowed to trade their meal tickets for one thing apiece due to supply and demand, but Kusuo could admit that there were occasional perks to having Makoto be the one to front the bill. However grudgingly that admission came.
Yuuta thrilled himself with trying a little bit of everything again and again. Somethings he went back to more often than others, like the turkey leg and chips, with others being avoided almost entirely after a first try (Yuuta did not like pumpkin juice). He likely would have stuffed his cheeks full of nothing but cakes and butterbeer if Teruhashi hadn't put her foot down insisting he have 'real food' first. Not that Kusuo minded; that left more sweets for him. And as long as he saved Yuuta at least one caldron cake and pumpkin pasty each, who was going to complain?
"You too, Kusuo-kun," Teruhashi said, stopping Kusuo from stealing the plate of caldron cakes using only one finger. "Eat real food first. We'll need actual energy if we're going to make it through the rest of the day. We've only seen half the park, after all."
Yare, yare, Kusuo grumbled internally, but he did as she said anyway. It wasn't worth fighting over. Besides, the cakes would still be there when he finished his fish and chips.
