Romantic Killer But I Made It Gay

Part 85

"Not letting him get under your skin my ass," I groan as Hijiri's car speeds along toward the arcade.

"I did this of my own fruition," the blond boy informs me haughtily. "And this time you're going to enjoy it, even more than your time with that Rio—Ah—"

"Yeah?" I raise an eyebrow. I can't blame him, though. Kiki has a habit of hitting people where it hurts and getting them to do whatever it wants.

The car slows to a stop and we get out and head inside.

"I told you I wasn't interested, though," I remind him tiredly as he looks around. "Did that just completely fly over your head or...?"

"Tsuchiya said you were playing hard to get." Hijiri reaches to take my hand but I swing it away as casually as I can and glare at his guardian, who looks away awkwardly.

"My apologies, sir."

"It's a little late for that," I sigh, jumping as Hijiri reaches around me to snatch my hand in his. I retract it, glaring at him.

"We have to hold hands on a date," he explains, annoyed.

"You sound like Koi," I grumble and he flinches. "How about this? I'll hang out with you as long as we don't call it a date, sounds good?"

"Fine," he begrudgingly agrees. "But please do not compare me to that cousin of yours."

I smile. Looks like that's one of his weaknesses—one I might be able to use in the future. Not that I'd ever willingly ask for a favor from Kiki.

"I searched up all the places commoners like to visit," Hijiri explains as we look for something to do. "I thought you might enjoy this, considering your background with video games."

"Please stop doing background checks on me," I mutter, glancing toward the taiko drums. Maybe if we battled it out there I could knock him unconscious and slip away. No, that's too violent. Besides, I don't want to get on Tsuchiya's bad side.

My eyes track to a claw machine filled with familiar looking plushies—That purple hair, that soft expression—No doubt, it's Haruka!
Hijiri notices me staring at the plushes and walks over, knocking on the glass.

"Do you like this one, Mori?"

I grit my teeth but nod. I'd rather abandon my pride than lose a chance to have a Haruka push, especially after Kiki took all of mine away.

He snaps his fingers and Tsuchiya walks over, bowing.

"I want to buy every plush in this case. Will my wages cover that?"

"I'll check with the manager." The man walks off toward the front of the store and I sigh.

"We could just play the game, you know."

"I don't see the point in that." He looks genuinely confused, so much I almost feel bad for him.

"The point is to have fun," I explain slowly, as if I'm talking to a child. "What you get is only part of it."

"I see..." He clearly doesn't get it, but he snaps his fingers again and Tsuchiya, somehow hearing it from the front of the store, rushes over. "Cancel that. We're going to play this game to have fun."

He sounds like a robot but he's got the right idea, at least. Tsuchiya looks proud and I smile. We play about ten times before we finally get a push to drop down. Hijiri picks it up, examines it, then hands it to me.

"I don't understand what fun you were talking about. That was only aggravating."

I have to agree. I've never liked claw machines. Really, I was just saying what I've heard other people say about them. Maybe this wasn't the best first example for him. But when I look down at my new plush's kind expression I feel a smile cross my face.

"Thanks, Hijiri."

He looks away, cheeks pink. "Now we can clearly see I'm better than your cousin, correct?"

He's pretty bad, but Koi's even worse, so I nod. "There was never much doubt."

His cheeks flush even brighter and he struts away, toward a Photo Booth, then looks back. "Are you coming? This is another thing couples do."

"Sure, but we're not a couple." I start to  follow him but notice Tsuchiya is looking toward the Taiko drums with a worried expression. I follow his gaze but there's nothing there, just a purple haired woman speaking on the phone and a mother watching her child struggle to play the drums.

"What are you waiting for?" Hijiri calls.

"Want to join us?" I ask his guardian, hoping I can cheer him up some.

He blinks behind his glasses. "You want me in your photos?"

I shrug. "Why not? You're here with us too. It's not like this is a date."

He smiles, but it has an air of nervousness to it as we enter the booth.

"I've read the instructions on how to use this," Hijiri tells me seriously. "The camera is there. We make silly faces and then put stickers on them."

"I know how a Photo Booth works," I sigh. "I haven't been living under that large a rock."

We turn toward the camera and I suddenly regret following him. I never got over being camera shy—I found that out at the festival. It's not like I hate how I look, I'd just rather not look at myself. I guess it's what's inside that I don't want to look at.

The camera flashes and I blink, realizing I forgot to do anything. Hijiri looks at the photo, then up to me.

"It appears you have been living under a rock."

I flush angrily. "One more time. I'll do it right."
He nods and we pose again. I awkwardly put up a peace sign while Hijiri flicks his hair and Tsuchiya bows, which I guess is the only pose he knows. This time when Hijiri looks at the picture he hands it to me without complaint.

"What do you think?" I wonder, asking more about the day so far in general than the picture itself. Hijiri smiles lightly, surprising me.

"Not bad for a day in the life of a commoner."