During the weekend, Kichi didn’t imagine he’d be heading back to the twin’s house. Yet here he was, walking up to their front door about to knock. The reason for him coming by on a day like today was that Airi sent him a message telling him to come over. She wouldn’t elaborate on the reasoning when he asked, just that he’d be aware of it when he got there.

So he decided it couldn’t hurt to fulfill her request without knowing any more information. It was Airi of all people, what was the worst that could happen? The boy knocked on the door and quickly there she was to answer.

“Hello!” She greeted him in usual cheerful tone. If he didn’t know any better, there was no hint of the illness that Aoi had mentioned to him before. Not only did she appear to make a full recovery. It seemed there was even more pep in her step than ever before. Not to mention her outfit as well. This girl appeared as though she was ready to go out somewhere.

“Hey.” He returned her greeting, feeling a bit out of place. It’s not as if he wasn’t wearing anything appropriate for being in public. Just that she definitely looked much better than him in comparison. “So what did you need me for?” Asked Kichi.

“Hang on, let me step out a moment.” Airi walked outside and closed the door behind her. “I was hoping maybe you wanted to spend the afternoon with me.” She explained to him that inside Aoi was sick. Whatever had gotten her ill the other day had found a way to infect her sister. So unfortunately for her, there was nothing she could do at home in terms of hanging out with her sister.

“I see you wanted to make sure I said yes.” He responded after getting the full story. Given that he had to walk all the way over here. It would seem a bit rude to reject her offer and take the trek back home all alone. Thankfully for the two of them. He was more than happy to spend time with this bubbly girl. It would be a nice chance of pace compared to what he had done with Aoi. Though he did figure it a bit of a shame he somehow spent so much time with these twins separately rather than together. “So of course I’ll accept.”

“Great!” She did a little leap of joy to celebrate and off they went into town. At this point, he wasn’t sure if the reason she asked him to join her was due to his outing with Aoi the other day. That girl had told him not to tell her sister, so he didn’t plan on doing so today for fear that knowledge was still unknown. Still, if Airi did know what had transpired, then she likely wanted to make up for lost time between them. He could get behind that. It was a shame to not see this cute girl’s smiling face everyday, even if he had the chance to see double with them.

“So where are we going?” He asked. They had been walking a bit, but it seemed aimless to him. It was as though they had no destination in mind. There was no purpose in the direction of the steps she took, only that she took them to keep up the facade of walking somewhere.

“Heehee.” She stopped and turned to look at him with an innocent smile. “I don’t know.” Finally Airi had to admit she had no actual plans for the day. To be fair, she wasn’t even aware she’d be inviting him out when she woke up that morning. Back then, she assumed she’d be playing some games with her sister. So it was a disappointment when she saw that girl laying in bed all sick and sad.

“Great.” He sighed, realizing that it would likely be up to him once again to find a destination for the pair to head to. At this point he was going to run out of new places to go, so the boy had to figure out something to keep things fresh.

“Do you still have your lucky coin?” She asked as he pondered their location.

“Of course.” He produced it out from his pocket to show it off to her. “I always have it with me. Even when I’m sleeping.” That latter point was the source of a lot of mocking from his sister very often. She always joked he would end up marrying that coin instead of any actual girls. Given what he now knows about her feelings, he wondered if she actually said that in hopes of it occurring for real.

“Then let’s flip it to see where we’ll be going.” She suggested.

“Finally, someone who actually appreciates this thing.” He commented, preparing another coin toss. Everyone else usually mocked him for using it. That also included his best friend Chuuya as well as Airi’s sister. “Wait a second, why do you like this?” Asked Kichi. It would be nice to have some knowledge on why she was cool with it.

“It’s so exciting to leave things up to chance.” She answered. “Anything could happen and it gets me all giddy just watching where it’s going to land.” Apparently to her, she took this as to mean they left things to chance. A complete far cry from his own philosophy with relying on this for decision making. It wasn’t as if he thought things were random. The boy truly believed it guided him towards better outcomes.

“Sure.” He responded a bit dejected in hearing her answer. It wasn’t bad, just not what he had hoped for. “All right, how about this? Heads, we’ll go there.” Kichi pointed over to an arcade that was across the street. “And tails, we’ll go here.” Right besides where they stood on the sidewalk was a popular zen garden.

“Okay.” She accepted the choices as he threw the coin up into the air. “Personally, I’d prefer if we went to the arcade.” Said Airi as his coin floated in the air. That was not surprising seeing as she stated she loved playing video games with her sister all the time.

“Well, looks like…” He replied as the boy caught the coin to check where it landed. “You’re not going to get that today.” It had landed with tails side up. So that meant they’d be visiting the zen garden as well. Personally he would’ve also preferred the arcade as well. They were both teens, so some fun that had a bit more high energy fit them better rather than going to a zen garden.

“Aw…” She expressed her disappointment and hung her head down. “I guess we can always go to the arcade some other time.” It was always going to be in business and they lived here. So she wasn’t going to sweat missing out a day with him there. That said, considering the type of person she was. Airi had some concerns on if she’d be able to enjoy going to this public zen garden.

“Okay, let’s go inside.” He said. As they were about to enter through the front entrance, a loud crashing sound filled their ears. It was enough to cause the pair to shake from being startled and they turned their heads back to see what had caused it. There was a car crash that occurred right on the road they were about to cross were they to take the arcade instead.

“Wow, that was close.” It appeared very violent, but thankfully no one seemed to be injured in the crash. Airi realized they had dodged a bullet when it came to what could’ve been.

“See that’s why I like using this.” He bragged, pulling out the coin once more to give it a grateful kiss. Obviously it must’ve known what was about to happen and chose the decision that neither of them would’ve actually considered. “Thankfully no one looks like they’re hurt. So it should be fine if we leave it alone.”

“Yep.” She agreed and they continued their way inside. They were greeted with the quietness and serenity of what would be expected of an establishment like this. Though there were a lot of people inside, the atmosphere was a far cry from what was just mere meters away from the hustle and bustle of city life. “How do they make it so quiet in here?” Asked Airi.

“I’m guessing some real good sound isolation.” He commented. While the boy felt like what seemed to be many modern amenities installed in this building to close it off to the outside world defeated the purpose of a zen garden. He would concede that these were necessary if they were to build an attraction like this in the location it was situated in.

The pair paid for their tickets to enter and officially their afternoon together began.