“I can’t believe you.” Kouji was already laying the blame on Waa, barely a minute into this train ride. “You just had to listen to your music, didn’t you?”

“Hey, you were on my side before this whole thing happened.” She defended herself. “And look, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault and I’ll take the blame. But please don’t get too mad at me.”

“I’ll try.” He calmed down a bit. “When we get to the next stop, we’ll see when the next one that’s going the other way will come.” Kouji figured that this would only lead to a minor delay. Still, he hated on have the others wait on them. Especially given the phone call he received from Himawari.

“What were you thinking!” She yelled at him through the speaker. He had to back away a bit from it to save his hearing. “Honestly, the two of you are so much trouble for everyone.”

“Sorry about that.” He gingerly put it up to his ear, hoping that she wouldn’t blow out his eardrums. “We’ll try and get back to you guys as soon as we can. So don’t wait for us there, just go and enjoy some dinner, all right?”

“…” Fortunately for him, she was now very quiet on the phone in response. This wasn’t what she wanted at all, but fate had stepped in between them. “But, I…” She got really quiet to prevent the others from hearing.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about us.” He comforted her. “I promise we’ll get back, but try to have some fun without us.”

“Okay…” She relented, trying to handle this situation as best she could. “But you better not do anything stupid while you guys are gone.” With that, their phone call came to an end.

“Great, so when’s the next stop?” Kouji asked Waa, he was hoping that she’d carry some of the load seeing as it was her fault they were like this.

“’Bout 10-15 minutes from here.” Waa answered him. “But, something tells me that the return trip won’t be that quick.”

“Why do you say that?” She responded to his query by pointing over to the schedule. When he took a closer look, he realized that by the time they arrived at the next station, a train for the return trip would come about an hour later.

“Well isn’t that just dandy?” He sarcastically quipped. “What are we just going to wait until it comes?”

“Of course you’d come up with a lame plan like that.” She knew there was a better idea, but he might not like it. “What say we ditch everyone else and just have some fun of our own?” Waa figured that they could simple go about town, walking, or finding some other transportation, back to the hotel instead.

“I don’t know.” Kouji didn’t want to upset Himawari or Teru, but it also sounded awfully lonely to just move around town with just one girl. There were plenty of reasons to say no, but at the same time, their current options weren’t much better.

“Look, I’ll be honest.” She made her case. “I don’t know this town all that great, but there’s got to be something we could do on our way back. It’s gotta be better than just sitting at some random station.”

“Well, I guess we can do something on our own.” He didn’t have any way to argue against her. “I’ll let the others know, so they don’t have to worry about us.”

“Don’t worry, I already took care of it.” She figured he’d listen to her, so she already made her preparations while he was on his phone. Things would’ve been pretty awkward if he actually denied her request.

She hadn’t planned out the situation they found themselves in, but Waa was going to take advantage of it. Not that she had anything against the other girls. Just that… She’s going to be alone with Kouji. That girl wouldn’t admit it, not even to herself, that he was someone she might… Feel something with.

Their conversation came to an end as the train slowed on its next stop. The doors opened and the two of them made sure that both of them got off without any complications. As the schedule on the train itself had said, the same went for the board at the station.

Now the two of them were in an unfamiliar place without any specific plans of their own. Just how could they have fun if they were lost without a guide?

“You’re the one that asked for this.” He let her do the work of getting them started. If it were up to him, they’d still be at the station. Which did sound like a bad idea, so he wasn’t going to take the lead here. Now, they were walking aimlessly down the sidewalk among the crowd. The sounds of others talking and the cars driving by made him have to speak up a little more than he was used to.

“Well, I’m starving.” She rubbed her belly in sorrow as she was the one looking forward to their dinner the most. “We should find a place that’s got some grub.” To him, it seemed he spent a lot of time eating with these girls. Probably not the worst thing, but a little uninteresting to him. Not to mention that it wasn’t that long since the last time he ate.

“Sure, but maybe somewhere that isn’t just for eating?” She scanned around for something that could satisfy him. She also didn’t want some snooty or dinky place where they’d sit in front of the other to eat. So where was somewhere that allowed them to do more than just that?

“I’m taking it you don’t care to keep going with the otaku stuff?” She pointed over to a themed place. There was food, sure. But it was mostly for the entertainment of nerds as they spent their nights in a less lonely place. Waa always wanted to go to one of these place, but going alone seemed kind of lame.

“Doesn’t matter to me.” He answered. “If you think it’ll be fun, then I’ll join you.”

“You will!?” She got too excited over the prospect and realized how she might’ve sounded to him. “I mean… You don’t have to force yourself for me. It’s not like I really care about some place like that.”

“Come on.” He could tell how she really felt with that disappointed tone. “Let’s go inside.”

“All right!” She cheered once again, and pulled the boy along with her. Any pretense of wanting to seem cool was over now as she hastily brought them to this new location.

With a quick pace, they entered the front entrance. There were a lot of people in this relatively small building, as a result of the increase in tourists. A few people gave odd looks at the eager girl while she pushed through them with Kouji in tow. All the while, the boy apologized to everyone they impolitely moved by.

“I know I said it’s fine.” He spoke to her. “But you don’t have to go overboard with this.”

“Sorry, but I can’t just let us sit in the back. Not when something big is going on.” She continued to drag him alone the crowd before they finally reached their destination. Kouji was in awe at what stood before them. An entire lounge had been prepared for the tourist activity. Servers, waitresses, and a ton of tables awaited them. There were arcade machines lined up along a wall, people playing cards, games. There was even a stage set with instruments for anyone to just play.

“Wow.” He said in awe.

“Heh, and you guys wanted to go to some dinky little restaurant.” She gestured him to follow, for their night was only just beginning.

bigbear51

For people who haven't found out. I updated the chapter "Bunny Girl Yuma" based on feedback. So if you're curious, I'd urge a quick reread on that.