Immunity Hunter

Chapter Three - Ronan Henslee

The girl had the cutest smile and amazing orange hair, and now she was disappearing into the crowd. She probably didn't think I noticed when her cheeks turned red and she turned her eyes away from me. I noticed—but for a quick moment, I felt a spark. And the only thing I could offer was a corn dog. A corn dog, really? That has to be the reason she left. It didn't help that Nevin and Jeiko decided to find me at that exact moment. They owe me.

Did we scare her off? No, her pretty brown eyes were watching the guys act like idiots, but then she saw something—or someone—and was gone. No name, no phone number, not even a "gotta go."

Something about her made me choke on my words. Usually, the girls would flock to me wanting to touch my hair or ask if I'm as strong as I look. But not this girl. Now I'm standing in the middle of a festival contemplating if it's worth chasing after the one that ran away. Geez, I'm becoming a stereotype. She's beautiful, though, and I'm sure she's worth getting to know—in and out of my life in the span of ten minutes. I wonder why she left so—

"Ronan?"

I'm yanked out of my daydream and look at my best friend, Nevin. His blonde eyebrows are raised.

"What? Did you say something?"

He stares at me for a moment, and then it dawns on him. With a smile, he laughs and slaps me on the back. "You're thinking about that girl, aren't ya?"

I shrug and pretend to care about the wooden necklaces on the booth beside us. "Why do you care?"

"Big bad Ronan's got a crush and she ran away from you!" Jeiku adds, pointing at me laughing, using his other hand to cover his smile.

My eyes dart toward him. "The girl you're crushing on is dating some other guy."

Jeiku growls. "Whatever," he says, crossing his arms.

We walk toward one of the game booths—a shooting game with laser pistols and digital targets. Nevin dashes toward the blue-and-green metal stand and sits down in a chair in front of one of the pistols. Jeiku joins him, plopping in the seat to Nevin's left. I stand off to the side, watching them. The booth operator hesitates once he sees an Okamikiin sitting in front of him. He looks over at Nevin, who smiles, then back at Jeiku.

The man sets down two alternative reality goggles and steps away. He acts like Jeiku is the first Okamikiin to sit down at his game. There are hundreds of them walking around this festival. I slap the side of the booth, making the guy jump. He turns and glares at me, scratching at the three days' worth of growth on his chin. I shrug as if I didn't do anything. Nevin laughs. Jeiku flashes his fangs.

Letting out a low growl, Jeiku puts on the goggles and waits for Nevin. The goggles make the digital targets "pop out" and fly around. Some of the other games work without the use of alternative reality goggles, but this one is outdated.

The two of them compete at who can shoot down the most targets before the game ends. After a few seconds, the buzzer goes off. Jeiku wins, throwing up his arms and shouting.

"Give up, you couldn't beat me even if you used your mahou," Jeiku says, grinning.

Nevin rolls his eyes. "Whatever, you cheated."

The festival is great and all, but it's no different than last year. Same banners, same vendors. Hanging out with my friends isn't so bad. If it wasn't for Nevin and Jeiku, I would be stuck at my grandfather's lumber yard or helping my dad at the welding shop. Or even worse, I would probably be stuck sitting in the Headmistress' office at Monanie trying to fix my schedule.