“Are you sure you don’t want me to fix it up more.
I have some gel and-”
“This isn’t a date and we’re just going to the mall.” I said.
“I don’t think I need to do all of that just to hang out for a bit.”
“If you’re sure.” Aunt Nozomi, brushing a bit of dark hair aside with a finger, stepped back, went through her purse of the dining table and handed over more yen.
“Here’s a little more money.
If it really isn’t a date just use it to buy yourself a new game or something else for your room.
If you do change your mind, it should be enough to buy her a nice gift.”
“Thank you.” I said, holding back a sigh as I took the money.
Aunt Nozomi, the cool aunt indeed; I couldn’t really imagine the parents in my other set of memories so easily giving me money to hang out with people they hadn’t at least met before.
I couldn’t really blame them for being careful considering how popular certain things had been among my generation, but it had been pretty frustrating when I never bothered with anything like alcohol or drugs.
“Make sure you’re careful and give me a call if you need anything.” She called after me as I headed for the front door, shoes slipped on and skateboard grabbed.
After a quick check for my keys, phone, and wallet, I said goodbye and headed out, skating through the streets with Scarlet scouting ahead for anything unusual.
I guess thinking of it as a show made me assume crime would be pretty common, but there wasn’t much villain activity at all.
The benefits of All Might still running around, I guess.
Either way, on a Sunday afternoon like this, I soon had to jump off my board and join crowds of people as I entered the commercial areas where there were plenty of shopping centers to choose from and people of all ages gathering to hang out.
Ah big cities really were all the same, familiar annoyances cropping up as I navigated the dense gathering of people.
Most people would call me an introvert and, while I would never argue otherwise, that title almost always came with the belief that I struggled and or didn’t like dealing with people.
That might’ve been true when I was younger but after spending time in customer service and specific classes demanding a certain degree of socialization from me, that kind of anxiety just kind of stopped after a few years in the real world as some liked to call it.
No point thinking twice about people I’d never have a real conversation beyond basic respect when I needed to pay bills, study, and enjoy what little free time I did have.
It just so happened that the things I enjoyed meant others were more of distraction than anything else.
Can’t exactly put words to paper, indulge in my imagination, or enjoy the story of a long RPG if someone was running their mouth in my ear the whole time.
Finally breaking off from the crowd, I stepped towards the center between all the different shops where plenty of others were meeting up.
“Akaguro!” Toga, pushing off one of many benches, spotted me instantly, waving as we headed towards each other.
Like me, my clothes just simple dark clothing with a plain red unzipped hoodie to set me apart from others, Toga went with simple clothes that were still more stylish than mine.
A dark shirt with some words across the middle, a matching dark skirt, and short dark leg warmers.
Her white shoes, with a prink strip and black watery like marks spread across it, was the only thing that truly stood out other than her natural looks.
If her logic was anything like mine, all the black was just as easier way to make sure blood wasn’t too obvious.
And it was the most reliable color to have in a wardrobe really.
“It really did end up just being us.” She said as we stopped in front of each other.
“You really don’t mind, right?”
“It’s fine with me.” I said.
“Where’d you want to go first?”
Toga smiled, easily taking the lead and starting conversation as she led us somewhere.
Better to just leave the ball in her court when it came to exactly what we did.
XOXO
“You really want one of these?” I asked.
“I shouldn’t get it?”
“That’s up to you.” I said, shrugging.
“If you’re as bad as me just don’t be surprised you end up a little hurt.”
Twisting the plain black skateboard she held in her hands, Toga and I in the corner of a shop trickly dedicated to selling all kinds of skateboards from basic to custom alongside all the stuff that came with them, she smiled up at me.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.
You can even teach me.”
I raised a brow then my right hand, part of my palm bandaged up from training.
“You want the guy covered in scrapes to teach you?”
Snickered a little, her usual small smile curved into a smirk.
“You’re right.
Maybe I’ll be better at it than you and end up being the teacher.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” I said, shaking my head.
I’m still surprised I haven’t seen some kind of slip up from her.
Even this little interest in skateboarding, more than likely a way to see my blood if I ended up tripping up in front of her, was so natural it didn’t seem like she had any kind of ulterior motive.
Getting hurt in front of her was a no go in terms of risks I wanted to end up taking.
XOXO
“Thank you for ordering.” The waitress said, as she set down both our orders.
I couldn’t but gulp as I stared down at the steaming bowl of beef before me, the size of it far eclipsing any normal serving.
“If you manage to finish the challenge in the allotted time, you’ll get a discount and a reward.”
A challenge.
That’s what an ordinary person might see looking at this, but I recognized it for what it was.
This meaty beast was no mere challenge.
It took understanding to see it as a whole.
Knowledge to set the proper pace.
Courage to attack the mountain of meat and dedication to keep on eating.
This was no mere challenge.
Finishing off the mega beef bowl was a treat test of one’s skills!
“I heard this place had some kind of challenge, but this is a lot more than I was expecting.” Toga said, raising her chopsticks and giving me a smile.
“Good lu- whoa, why do you look so serious?”
“Because this is serious business.” I said, breaking my own chopsticks.
“We will need more than luck for this.”
Warning said, I started digging into mine, Toga following suit after a laugh.
“Is there even any rice in this thing?” Toga questioned only ten minutes later, still struggling to make the slightest dent in the food.
Another ten minutes later and I was joining in on the complaining.
“Meat, meat, meat, and more meat.” I groaned leaning back against the dividers of my side of our shared booth.
My stomach was already full and I could tell any more meant going from satisfyingly full to sickening so.
That wouldn’t be a good time for anyone.
“Who eats something like this?”
Toga, who’d long since given up finishing her to watch me, raised her chin off her arm.
“Not you, obviously.” She teased.
“What happened to all that serious energy you started with?”
“Tsk, you threw me off.” I retorted.
“How am I supposed to stay confident when you gave up so early?”
“So, it’s my fault?” Toga crossed her arms, leaning back.
“Alright, next time we come here, you’re the only one getting one of these challenge bowls.
I don’t want to hear any excuses when you fail.”
“I won’t be failing.” I would.
Giving the overwhelming food some time to digest, we paid for bowls and took off, going wherever else Toga had in mind.
XOXO
“Pictures?”
“Yeah, pictures, come on, come on.”
A little caught off guard by how eager she was about the whole thing but nothing about it jumping out at me as suspicious, I let Toga push me along towards one of the many slim photo booths lining the mall.
Pushing aside its dark curtain I took a seat in its corner while Toga slipped in beside me, all smiles.
“A hang out isn’t complete until you’ve got pictures to remember it.” Toga said in a matter of fact tone that I just nodded along too.
“Come on smile.” She encouraged raising her fingers into a peace sign as she looked ahead.
After a moment I did the same.
Several times over.
It wasn’t until we both had over a dozen printed out pictures each that we finally left it, walking side by side on our way out of the mall we’d spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon in.
Dipping into an arcade and playing games.
Trying out as many free samples as we could before actually tackling those beef bowls.
Just window shopping through countless stores, joking about but rarely buying anything.
Hell, just walking around a mall.
Even if it was with Toga of all people, I couldn’t say I didn’t actually enjoy all of it, all of it far funnier than constantly working out and studying.
But I didn’t intend on spending my whole day like this.
“This was fun, but I need to head home.” I said as we stepped around others, exiting the mall and heading towards one of the nearby benches.
“We’ll hang out again?”
“Obviously.” Toga said, raising the black skateboard she’d bought, the thing plain other than the dark red heart at its center.
“I need you to teach me how to use this thing, so don’t ignore me if I text you for some advice.”
“Right.
“Later, Toga.”
I was half expecting a window to pop and give me some kind of reward for hanging out with her but I guess it wouldn’t be so easy to get those tickets I was after.
Maybe it worked based off stages and milestones?
I only got rewards after becoming her apparent obsession and officially making friends with her.
Would I get award if she considered me something like a best friend?
I could push for something like that but that was probably the cut off point for me.
Going beyond that, aside from how disgustingly slimily it sounded to get that close to someone for a reward, was just too risky.
Any kind of romantic connection with her was just asking to get gutted when her twisted hunger reached its max.
…man this whole thing was slimy.
She never seemed like anything more than a typical outgoing girl this whole day.
Maybe it would be better to step back on the ticket farm plan and just leave her be.
Right, because spending the day with someone who would come to enjoy partaking in the blood of people she considered close to her then suddenly avoiding her was a good idea.
At that point I’d just be locking myself into a self fulfilling prophecy, wouldn’t I?
Guess I was just going to have to thread the needle here.
XOXO
She enjoyed the smell of blood.
And she had an especially sharp nose for it.
Himiko released a deep breath, what remained of that unusually alluring smell that was always coming from Akaguro’s bandages completely gone, she losing track of him as he stepped into the surrounding crowds.
Resisting her disgusting desire always took some effort.
Between the therapy sessions and the harsh reminders her parents made sure to drop on her when they paid her any attention, she’d learn how to deal with her problem and its craving, easily fitting in with everyone else just like they said she would.
Be friendly.
Never smile too widely.
Avoid blood.
Even when she failed the last bit, injuries not something people planned on, she could ignore it and focus on keeping up appearances just like she was supposed to.
But none of their blood smelled so, so, so, ugh, she couldn’t describe it.
When she was first faced with his blood, that overwhelming bloody red that stained the ball she’d accidentally kicked Akaguro’s way, it taken everything, absolutely everything, not to lick it.
Had no one else been around, just one mistake away from witnessing the disgusting desire, she would’ve.
She should avoid him.
The therapist she saw called the sight of blood itself a trigger for her, the smell of it rarely doing anything but drawing her eye.
But Akaguro’s blood, the smell of it enough to leave her lightheaded when she was right next to him, had to be a trigger too.
She wanted to-she wanted-
Himiko shook her head, looking down at the many pictures she held in one hand.
She was so used to her friendlessness getting people to completely open up to her, boys especially going out of their way to do things she never asked for when they managed to catch her away from her friends.
Akaguro had been friendly, friendlier than those who called him a loner made him out to be, but hadn’t bent over backwards for much.
With how quick he was to call things to end or say he was busy, he obviously had things he was more interested in than her.
As she looked over one particular picture, Himiko stopped, bringing it closer.
He was smiling in it, mouth partially open.
And his canine teeth were sharp.
Extremely sharp.
She ran her tongue over the sharp teeth she always kept hidden.
They were just like hers.
XOXO
[Feat Accomplished!
Become Himiko Toga’s first crush.
+1 Silver Familiar Gacha Ticket]
God dammit!
Grumbling to myself, I pushed myself back up to a stand and rubbed at my forearm, getting back on my skateboard and focusing on heading towards the park.
That unexpected window had caused me to actually screw up, fall right off and wipe out.
I could only blame myself for this shit at this point.
XOXO
(A/N: Hope everyone had a good weekend and if you spotted the very obvious P4 reference, you’re goated.
See you all around.)