"Thank you. You can have the rest of the day off."
Gasp
An excited expression lit up her face, but she tried not to show it overtly, fearing she might pressure her employer.
"-Really!?" Yoko asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to spend the rest of it with my son."
Giving Yoko a professional smile, Ashnah grabbed Ken's hand and led him to the bathroom to wash their hands, while the food she had just brought for them lay on the table.
As the duo left, Yoko, too, turned around and hastily left the restaurant with a giddy expression.
Shut
Ashnah let the water run as she quickly surveyed the bathroom before facing Ken.
"We're being followed—annoying but expected. We're to act normal until the meeting date, as Sen said."
"So, where are we going?"
"Not to the hotel. It would be suspicious for a mother to receive life-saving news for her child and not celebrate. We'll go to the arcade center after eating, spend some time there, and then hopefully be done for the day."
.
.
'That was the plan, so how did we end up with this?'
[Hiya Kids! I'm Camren the Clown; let's play a game. Trick or Treat?]
"Treat, please, mister clown."
[Treat. That's a great choice. For being such a good kid, I'll give you a personal one of my own selection.]
The kid who was playing with the machine turned around to face his mother, whom he was currently sitting on the lap of.
"MOMMY! MOMMY! I'M GETTING TREATS."
"Yes, baby, just play the entire thing out, won’t you? And remember, you won’t get scared, right?"
"Of course, I'm a big boy!"
Ken, who was sitting next to the child, was lucky that the other boy had turned around just in time for the screen to flash one last message, missing his own bewildered expression.
[Enjoy]
Suddenly, the speakers turned up several notches,
{You wanted a treat from a witch like me, Clown. Well, I do love giving the young ones surprises. Here, take this to him, and I'm sure this’ll give him quite the shock.}
[Much obliged, witch.]
"What's going on—"
[THEN ENJOY YOUR TREAT!]
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
The screen turned white as the seats they were in jumbled and rattled.
Erratic movements, loud noises, and a dark atmosphere with the curtains covering all sides caused too much stimulation for the 3-year-old kid.
Hic
Hic
Hic
"Oh–My poor baby~~ Come here."
Picking up her crying son and walking out, she caressed him, trying to shush him as he started furiously fussing, not at all pleased with his "treat.”
Ken walked out with a dazed expression.
This was what he was missing?
These were the things that made him jealous as a kid.
"Mommy, why is that boy acting so weird?"
"Shh… he's probably in shock from what he just watched."
"Then why isn't his mommy helping him? Does she not love him? Kind of like how you said you don't love–"
"Honey, how about we go this way."
Once again, Ken thanked his child role as he got away with forgetting to fake being scared.
'But what is she doing? Am I the professional, or is she?'
Looking up, he saw his "mother" staring at the family pair before shifting her gaze around to others.
'What is so interesting that she's going to such lengths to blow our mission? This isn't how a mother who wants to celebrate with her son acts.'
Walking up to her leg, he finger-wrote on her leg. [R.O.B.O.T.]
Seeing her stiffen, Ken thought she had gotten his message.
"MOMMY, LET'S GO PLAY BOWLING!"
Putting on his childlike act, Ken grabbed Ashnah's hand and pulled her to the ball thowing area.
"Mommy, let's play that game." He pointed to the sleek ramp and the balls that were meant to be rolled up it.
"Sweetie, you already played that before. Let's do something different."
'The HELL. That was a perfect set-up to display your adult knowledge and explain to me that this is a pinball machine. Don't adults love gloating to people younger than them?'
Tsk
They moved on to a rolling the wheel game, and though Ken ended up scoring 300—which wasn't bad—it was inferior to Ashnah's next toss, which was the jackpot.
[JACKPOT! JACKPOT! JACKPOT! JACKPOT! Please wait for your tickets to finish dispensing.]
She gave a glance to the sparkly machine before going back to looking around, not giving a thought to Ken, who was trying to deal with the tickets that seemed to never stop dispensing.
'Gaah! What is this? These things don’t stop. Should we have brought a bag?
He looked up from his fiasco to see several pairs of eyes pointing and looking at the two.
'She's blowing the cover.'
Somehow, it seemed the boy was more invested in the mission as a member than she was as the temp leader.
"AHHHH." He heard faint voices scream in what could be either delight or fright.
Ken looked up and saw the sturdy and tall Ferris wheel in the distance, along with hearing the screams from the roller coaster rides.
'There. We need a change of pace after these events.'
Preparing himself for the internal feeling of embarrassment he'd have to continue suffering, Ken grabbed her hands and raised his voice.
"MOMMY, LET'S GO TO THE AMUSEMENT PARK!"
"But–"
"DON'T WORRY; WE COULD JUST BUY BACK THE TICKETS ANOTHER TIME."
He dragged her out of the establishment, hoping his flaunting of wealth could cause people to indiscriminately take the tickets.
'Sympathy lessens when you put a barrier of money in between people,' was Ken's thought process.
Moving along, the boy who took his mother's hand easily passed through the streets along with the parking lot and stood in front of the amusement park.
By now, she had taken her hand out of Ken's and instead resumed a posture more befitting of their personas.
She didn’t know what Ken wanted; sure, she was out of it, even she noticed.
But bringing her to another setting in the manner he did could call into question whether she had taught him manners and thus jeopardize their identities.
'Though I guess if anything, we could just say he had too much sugar or stimulation recently.'
That was the perk of being a child and having a flexible identity.
Ashnah somewhat envied that, his lack of need to fit a description, and the freedom he displayed even when he first appeared in the shop.
If she could even have a sliver–
"MOMMY!"
But she had to have trust in her partner, so she paid for their seasonal tickets and explored the amusement park.
Dragging her over to a booth, a plump, red-nosed employee with a rainbow-colored afro came over to the two.
"Come one, come all. Here at Toss'ees, we have simple rules. You get three rings and all those bottles back there to put them through the middle. If you succeed, one of those horses up there can be your steed."
He used a pointer to show the huge stuffed animal horses in different colors hanging above their heads.
Ken faked an excited expression as he pestered Ashnah by grabbing at her and bouncing up and down.
She sighed but opened up her purse and pulled out a single bill before realizing she only asked Yoko for 5000¥ bills since she intended on paying for dinner and the arcade, where she could easily trade the money in.
Ken smiled as if he knew that and snatched the money out of her hands before handing it to the shopkeeper, who also sensed the tempo.
He quickly gave the boy multiple rings before walking over and sitting in his designated seat, which was conveniently placed next to the huge, bolded sign saying, [NO REFUNDS!]
She suppressed her sigh for an unknown amount of time today and was going to walk to the corner and spectate when her "son" walked over and gave her about half of the rings.
He then turned around and threw a ring, making it his first try.
His smug expression made a rivalry bloom that day, something that the entire amusement park would feel.
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