Miracle Girl

10

When the two arrived at the edge of the forest, Connie saw Rikka and Emmi. He decided he could call her Rikka since she did force him to come along, not that he didn't want to come. If it was for Evangelion, he felt that he could do anything. He watched the three girls rush up to each other, smiling and giggling. Evangelion eventually broke it apart and waved over Connie. He absentmindedly walked over, as if he was literally beckoned by her. He really was like a lost pup.

"Alright!" Rikka announced loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Let's go find somewhere to set camp!" She placed her hands on her hips.

At that, he now noticed her outfit. Instead of her old, extremely revealing, pink outfits, she now adorns very little pink. Her outfit consists of beige shorts that reach mid thigh and a light grey tank top. The outfit was simple but it complemented her. Connie also noticed that she was no longer wearing a pound of makeup. Then he looked over to Emmi, she was wearing a light blue hoodie, she always wore hoodies. But this one had a cute cat design on it. She was also wearing a pair of pink jeans. Both had matching hiking boots.

He smiled and something in his heart told him he should be happy for the two. But, something was holding that back.

He shrugged it off and continued to follow the three excited girls.

They hiked on and explored the forest for a few hours before coming across an open clearing. The clearing looked like it came straight from a fairy tale. The grass glistened in the evening sunlight while stones in a nearby river reflected not only the sunlight, but the lilac flowers dotting the trees above them. The sound of water and a distant waterfall echoed against trees and marble pathway and sounded like magic.

Emmi let out a small squeal and began rambling about the beauty of it all. Rikka gasped in surprise and her eyes were blown wide. "I thought the pond was beautiful..." She looked speechless.

Evangelion gave a brilliant smile, her smile so wide her eyes closed. Connie smiled softly, as he watched the girl's facial expressions. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to have one of those reactions. It looked like any normal clearing, but he knew there was supposed to be something there. He knew he was supposed to feel something. But he just didn't.

He shrugged it off, not really caring about it. However, Evangelion thought otherwise. She saw the confusion flash in his eyes as he stared blankly at the clearing. Her worries grew as she watched him shake his head. Like he was ignoring his feelings. To her, that was not okay.

She wanted to see him happy, she loved his bright smile and his laugh. Especially when he was truly happy, his laugh, to her, could strengthen a thousand suns. And his hair, she just wanted to comb her hands through its fluffiness. She felt that their hands fit together so nicely and she was so thrilled that he agreed to join her, er, the three, to go camping. At that, she snapped out of her thoughts and saw a hand waving in front of her face.

"Hellooo? Are ya' there Ev?" Rikka was waving her hand in front of Evangelion's face, effectively getting her attention. Evangelion looked at her patiently with a shy smile, slightly dipping her head in apology. "Aw, you don't have to apologize! I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to help Connie find firewood."

At that, both Connie and Evangelion's heads snapped up and turned in Rikka's direction.

"Huh?" Connie asked, dropping whatever was in his hands. Evangelion, too, opened her mouth as if to say the same.

"Yeah, Emmi and I'll stay back and set up camp, you two go find the wood!" Rikka clasped her hands together as she spoke, Emmi standing behind her, smiling softly, with a touch of mischief in her hazel orbs. Rikka used her hands to wave the two off while Emmi sent them two thumbs up.

Evangelion and Connie shared confused looks as they were nearly shoved out of the clearing by the two girls. After some more convincing, the two were on their way to find firewood. They walked in silence, every now and then interrupted with the sound of an animal or one of the two picking up a twig. After an hour, the two managed to find enough twigs to fill each of their arms.

"So.. did we find enough?" Connie asked rhetorically. Evangelion gave him a small smile, nodding her head. He smiled a little as well, though, something about her response to his question irked him. Was it because it was a rhetorical question? Either way, he smiled nonetheless.

And so, the two contently made their way back to the came. That was, until they realized something.

"Uhm, how do we get back?"