So now every one was heading over to Chisa’s classroom for a change. So far, Tahiko had been the only person to actually go to this classroom, since he was practically the only one who was her friend. Though since this was a school, it wasn’t as if the classroom would look much different from theirs during normal days.
However, today was not a normal day at all. Instead, they were going to see what the creative minds of her class thought up of for their spooky festivities.
“S-so here we are.” Chisa introduced them to the theme of her class. Apparently they had settled on creating something like a museum exhibit of popular characters from horror films. “I hope you all like it.”
“Wow! That looks so cool.” Fukuna and her friends certainly were enamored with it as they rushed inside to check things out.
“Hey, Tahiko.” Right before the boy was to follow, there was something Amasa wished to talk to him about. “Hang on here.” She took him and they stood by the doorway as Chisa went on ahead without them. “I realized that you were going to rear you dumb self out again, so I wanted to tell you to relax a little.”
“Relax? Compared to you I’m always laid back.” He wasn’t certain why she felt now was the time to tell him this, or why at all considering who they were.
“I meant you stupid instincts.” She told him that reacting to things that were considered a threat was pointless on a day like today. Since the theme was centered around spooking people, she took no doubt that some students might try and pull that on him. And if he reacted like a knight, then either his cover would be blown, or worse, someone would get seriously hurt.
“I see, I’ll hold myself back then.” He promised her that no matter what, he would not attempt to defend himself from any potential dangers his body told him about. “Now, let’s go inside and enjoy what Chisa’s class has made today.”
“Well, I can do that first thing.” She said, not really sure about enjoying stuff she paid little mind too. While the girl knew of these character’s she didn’t watch horror flicks that much. So she cared little nor knew deeply about their concepts.
“W-welcome.” Chisa greeted them once more as they and some other students entered the room. As it turned out, this girl got the task of having to be the basic tour guide for the museum of horror. Since they didn’t believe she could appear scary, her classmates assumed she’d be good for this role. Which was unfortunate for her. “Anyway… Let’s, um, let’s check things out.”
“Nobody really thinks in this school, do they?” Amasa quietly said to herself. She could easily tell that this was someone ill fit for their position, yet this girl’s classmates didn’t see it? There was no way everyone else in this group couldn’t see this.
“Wow, she’s so professional.” Well, everyone except for Tahiko. Apparently he was too taken in by her wearing that servant outfit with a clipboard to take note of the strange talking patterns.
However, what was more important to look at for the guests were all parts made for display. Most of it were mannequins designed to look like their movie counterparts. Though there were also some that were actual students dressed up to cosplay as said characters. “Some of what you’ve made scary looks odd.” He commented as the crowd moved along the exhibits. During this time, Chisa was supposed to be going one-by-one and telling them about the history of each one. However, she just kept stumbling over her words and eventually gave up. Allowing them to simply just look at them while chatting among themselves.
“What’s wrong with them?” Amasa asked. “They’re just made to be scary in movies. Some of them are pretty iconic around the world.”
“Just that, well I’m not sure what’s up with the masks.” He said. There were men with hockey masks, face masks, and nails on their faces. “A lot of them are just people that look a bit off. Like this one here too.” Tahiko pointed out a girl standing among the displays. She had long black hair which covered her face while leaning downwards a bit with arms hanging. “How is this even scary?”
Then, suddenly with the two getting close to her. The girl playing that character from a popular Japanese film lifted her head up and yelled at them. It succeeded in giving Amasa a big fright, as she quickly clung herself right onto his arms for protection. “Exactly, she’s not scary at all.” Meanwhile, he was unfazed by the encounter. It seemed he really took to heart what she told him about not having his guard up.
“Ha, well at least I got one of you.” The girl playing that ghost laughed and pointed at them. “The two of you look so cute right now.”
“Um…” Amasa and Tahiko turned their heads to look at one another. There, it became abundantly clear what was going on with her still holding onto his arm. “It’s not what you think.” Quickly, she let go and brought about a ton of space between each other. “He’s just my adopted brother.” That earned them an odd look from the girl, but otherwise no further questions.
He was kicking herself mentally for being the one to make herself look stupid this time around. Though to be fair, it was only because she got scared out of nowhere. Even though on a day like today it should be something of an expectation. Fortunately, that one girl seemed to be the only one to have noticed, so she could live with it being not one of her classmates.
Well, as it turned out that wasn’t the only person to have noticed that little blunder of hers.
“Hmm, so I see you’ve been getting busy.” A certain girl who went by the name of Fukuna subtly asked her about it.
“It’s not what you think.” She replied. While the girl understood she might feel a bit jealous about things. Amasa wanted to make abundantly clear that there was nothing there. “Why would I even bother when I barely like him at all?”
“I don’t know…” She responded, looking over at him as the boy chatted with her own friends. “You do get to see him more than the rest of us.” Indeed, that would be an advantage for anyone who was in love with the boy. The fact that they lived in the same house gave lot of opportunity.
“What’s up with you thinking I’m some kind of sick girl?” Though Amasa did take offense to it seeing that this was an insinuation that she’d be romantically interested in her brother, albeit adopted. “Are you always like this when you think you’re in love?” Fukuna, even if they weren’t friends, certainly was never this pushy on her about anything. Somehow, this boy had gotten her to be a bit more on edge lately.
“Sorry.” She apologized, trying to relax her tone a bit. “It’s just that now you know about my plans. I was just worried about you coming along to mess things up.”
“You made fun of me when you were doing that.” She remembered the playful tone she took when asking if she was possibly interested in him. Was that all an act? Perhaps, just something to break the ice and see if there was something there. “Whatever, you two are pretty much perfect for each other anyway. Both of you are idiots.”
“Hmphf, and I guess you’re just a girl who wants to let good things pass you by.” She left and rejoined her friends with Tahiko. Meanwhile, Amasa while got some alone time, even if only for mere moments.
Things sure did begin getting awkward now between them, didn’t they? She wasn’t enjoying having to spend so much time with a boy like this. Especially not when someone like Fukuna was breathing down her neck about things. It was already bad enough when she was the one being hard on herself.
Thinking about that girl’s planned confession, how exactly would Tahiko react? Perhaps he’d just reject her, using reasons like him not planning on staying or not holding any feelings for her. Then again, he seemed to be quite fond of that girl too. Maybe it was entirely possibly he might have a crush on the popular girl too.
But at the same time, as she felt her heart get that bit of tightness. Amasa thought about him wanting her along for today. She hated this part of her, the second guessing, all the overthinking. Sure, he might’ve always been pushy towards her, but that was only just for friendship reasons. Or maybe even just because he felt indebted to her, not because there was some deeper meaning.
“Whatever…” She said to herself, choosing to join up with the group that had decided to form itself around the boy. The only thing that matter for now was getting through this day like any other. All that was left, once they were finished with this part was to get to the kicker that most of the other students had gotten excited for. Being able to go into the forest with potentially their love interest.
