"It's a couple's event, he said. You don't have to dress up for it, he said," Gakushuu grumbled under his breath.
He scowled at his surroundings, and somewhere close to him, a couple of girls shrieked with delighted laughter while one of them got drenched in water.
Gakushuu scowled harder.
"What kind of event is this?!" He screamed at the world. A couple of birds and a group of 4 girls startled.
Karma walked to Gakushuu with a spring in his step. A cone of mint chocolate ice cream in one hand and the other held a kiwi flavour. Karma took a bite of both before offering the kiwi to Gakushuu. Gakushuu narrowed his eyes and took the mint chocolate one instead.
Karma shrugged and started walking in a random direction. Gakushuu followed reluctantly.
"Where are we going." Gakushuu asked monotonously.
"Wow, Shuu. Sound a bit more excited about our date, why don't you?" Karma responded cheerfully, taking another bite of his ice cream while Gakushuu stared at him like he was a heathen.
"The last date you chose ended with us dangling from 50 feet above the ground," Gakushuu pointed out.
"And yet you still had fun and came out today instead of refusing outright," Karma countered.
"Because I do have fun with you," Gakushuu pouted, annoyed. "It doesn't mean it was any less reckless."
"Welp, sounds to me like the one who actually cares about self restraint among us two, isn't giving a shit anymore," Karma smirked. Gakushuu scowled back, licking his ice cream.
"This isn't risky, it's just weird as heck. How did you even find out about something like this?" Gakushuu asked, curiously.
A couple of boys jeered teasingly as they watched another pair bite a long biscuit stick from two ends, eating it until they met in the middle. Then they started what looked like a make out session before separating, a thin paper unfurled between their lips, revealing their next destination.
Karma had brought him to an all genders paired event (for couples/" friends" ) that some took as a joke, some for fun, some- like them- as date spots.
It was basically a treasure hunt through booths which would make them take part in an event, which would reveal a clue that they would have to unravel, to go to the next booth.
They could skip one event, but they would have to complete 10 booth events as a pair.
The start was easy- they got a slip of paper with the booth number written on it, which Karma had run to, leaving Gakushuu to look around.
Gakushuu quickly finished up his ice cream before Karma came back and dragged them off.
"Oh, hello!" A middle aged woman greeted them. "Is this your first?" She asked.
Gakushuu raised an eyebrow disinterestedly, but Karma, for once, covered for him smoothly.
"Yes," he offered her the paper and the card they had received as well. "You're our first booth."
"Oh! How sweet," she cooed. Gakushuu's eye twitched with irritation. "Come here dear! You'll be blind folded by the other and then you have to use this pin and burst a balloon under the direction of your partner. A clue will fall out if you're lucky!"
She handed Karma the blindfold and Gakushuu the pin.
"Make sure your partner can't see in front of them! It's no fun otherwise," she winked at Karma. Karma grinned, his canine poking out into a charming boyish smile that stole the woman's heart in an instant.
Gakushuu scowled harder, he wrenched the blindfold from Karma's hand and tied it around his eyes.
Karma clicked his tongue, his hand intercepting Gakushuu before he could finish tying the blindfold properly.
"That's my job," Karma whispered in Gakushuu's ear, his chest pressing against Gakushuu's back. He laid a hand on Gakushuu's chest to stop his instinctive step away.
"She's not here anymore," Karma reassured. His lips brushed against Gakushuu's ear lightly. Gakushuu's breath stuttered in his lungs.
"Okay," Gakushuu whispered back, his voice husky and low. Gakushuu blushed, embarrassed at his own voice. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Okay, what next?" He asked.
There was silence. All Gakushuu could hear was the Karma breathing as he slowly tied the blindfold. Gakushuu's lips twitched, amused in spite of himself.
So it was that kind of date, he thought to himself.
He laid his head back, resting it on Karma's shoulder. Karma tucked his head over Gakushuu's shoulder.
"I'll spin you," he whispered, "and you have to do what I say until you burst the balloon."
"Is that so?" Gakushuu teased. He pulled away, turning to face Karma, leaning in just a little too close, as if by accident. "What if you're being mean and we don't even make it to the balloon?"
Karma's fingers hooked into Gakushuu's jeans, tugging him closer.
"I guess you'll just have to listen to your mean boyfriend," Karma whispered against his lips. Gakushuu felt the needle in his hand, and smirked.
He twisted, whipped his hand around in an arc and threw the needle between his fingers. It accurately hit a balloon that Gakushuu had already determined held the next hint.
The paper floated down, and Gakushuu smirked up at Karma even though he couldn't see the paper floating down.
"Looks like the next booth has to be your turn, if you want to play," Gakushuu tilted his head arrogantly, and Karma huffed out a laugh. He dropped a swift kiss on Gakushuu's lips.
"I'll take the next one then," Karma gave in.
Gakushuu untied his blindfold, and the woman gave him a look of disapproval, as he wrenched out the stuck needle from the wooden ceiling.
He went to get her stamp and give her needle back. She stamped it heavily, giving him a heavy look for damaging her property.
"Your aim will pave your path, your prize will be your strength," Karma read aloud, and Gakushuu snorted.
"Or they could say, walk out until you reach the shooting range," Gakushuu pointed to booth 13 which was bigger than the other ones.
They showed the note at the entrance and the man manning the booth looked them up and down with a smirk.
"Date?" He asked, instead of pointing them to their next destination. Gakushuu deadpanned.
"All right, all right," he laughed. "Here you go," he handed Gakushuu a gun.
It was just slightly better than the guns you get at festivals. Gakushuu tossed it to Karma with a wrinkled nose, and the man raised an eyebrow.
"All right then, pretty boy will shoot and grumpy boy will be testing you," the man handed Gakushuu a jacket and a face cover. Gakushuu took it with an amused smile, understanding the goal of the exercise immediately.
The man handed him a target, with a handle at the back for him to hold, raising a brow when Gakushuu didn't wear the safety jacket or helmet.
"You'll have to hold the target in front of you and the farther you go, the more points you receive, which will add to your final score where you can receive a prize," the man said, taking their their card. "Oh ho, you receive full points from your first booth, huh? Let's see how well pretty boy here does!" He laughed.
Karma rolled his eyes, before smirking when Gakushuu dropped the safety equipment, stopping the man's laughter.
"Oi, that's for your safety, you know? You won't get anything more than a bruise, but it'll look bad on me if you get injured," he scolded Gakushuu.
"Don't worry," Gakushuu smirked at the man over his shoulder. " My pretty boy isn't just a pretty face."
The man snickered, watching Gakushuu walk out.
"That's one heck of a boyfriend you got there, pretty boy," he told Karma. Karma shrugged, raising his gun, bracing it, straightening his posture as he watched Gakushuu over the gun with a lovesick expression.
Gakushuu walked to the farthest point and kept walking to the end, he held the target on his chest, his eyes holding contact with Karma over the distance.
Karma sighed.
"Isn't he the best?" He said, his lips parting into a wild grin.
"Oi, at least tell him to-"
Karma cut off the man's warning by pressing the trigger.
Gakushuu didn't even flinch as the rubber bullet hit dead centre.
The man stared at Karma, his words of warning forgotten. Karma straightened up as Gakushuu walked back to them.
"You've got good posture, kid," the man said, staring at Karma more consideringly. Karma dropped the gun with the safety equipment Gakushuu had discarded.
"Thanks," he said, his grin in place as he looked at Gakushuu, a soft blush high on his cheeks. The man shook his head as he stamped the card.
"All right, this is your next clue," the man tossed Karma a paper. Gakushuu nodded at the man, before they left.
"Leather is pretty, and so is silk. Find the right one in the wrongs," Karma read aloud.
"What," Gakushuu made a sound of disgust even as he started walking towards their next booth.
The booth was a pretty one, decorated from the strips of silk hanging from the top in lgbtq colours.
"Oh wow," a girl not much older than them blinked at the two in a daze. Gakushuu shot her a smile, showing her the slip.
"Hello, is this the next booth?" He asked politely. She stared at him for a moment more. Karma snapped his fingers in front of her face.
"Um. Yes," she squeaked. She flushed red, her eyes darting from a bored Karma to a politely smiling Gakushuu. She ducked her head.
She accepted the card from Gakushuu's hand along with the slip.
"You have to select the same answer as your partner. You can have three wrong answers, after which you can continue to your next activity," she informed them.
She tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Are you guys on a date here?" She asked shyly, as she led them towards an area separated by a screen.
"Yes," Gakushuu confirmed. She immediately deflated.
"Oh," she looked away with pursed lips. "You make a lovely couple," she smiled at the two.
"Thank you," Gakushuu offered her a softer smile. Karma's eye twitched as she blushed deeper.
"Ri-right. So. The one who's answers will be selected, please sit here," she pointed to the seat behind the screen. "The other one will be here," she pointed to the seat on the other side.
Gakushuu gave Karma a look before going to the one hidden behind the screen, Karma sat in the other one.
"You will have three options, and five questions. So make sure you pick the right one!" She said cheerfully.
"What is your favourite colour?" She asked.
Karma stiffened.
She smirked subtly at the reaction, placing three strings of cloth in front of each. One was silver, another purple and last gold.
Karma glanced at the screen before picking the gold.
"You can show your answer," she told Gakushuu. He peeked his head out and held out the golden string.
Karma laughed. He held his string up beside his eyes.
"It's not the same colour, you know," he teased Gakushuu.
"Babe," Gakushuu shot back, "gold just looks good on me," he held the string near his neck, a smirk on his lips.
The girl and Karma swallowed at the same time, then the girl looked away with a blush.
"Next question! What's your favourite food?"
She gave him ribbons with options on it.
Sweet, Sour, Salty
"These would be so much easier with me," Karma complained aloud, even as he picked sour.
Gakushuu laughed, showing off his own sour option.
"I literally chose it by elimination. I can't believe you're such a health freak," Karma complained.
"Well, you're the one who gets to enjoy the benefits of me being a health freak, so don't complain," Gakushuu shot back. Karma and the girl looked at each other, before looking away with a blush.
"Next question!" She interrupted the tension, "What's your favourite hobby?" She already looked like she was regretting asking the question. Karma tried not to snort aloud.
Sports, Music, Art
Karma picked Music even though all of them could apply for Gakushuu. He showed off his answer to Karma and the girl took the ribbons back.
"You know, the field of music falls under art," Gakushuu said.
"And so would martial arts, wouldn't it? But among the three, it's considered under sports," Karma pointed out, cutting Gakushuu off. He could almost see Gakushuu pout behind the screen.
"All right. Fourth question," the girl cleared her throat. "What's your favourite genre?"
Karma raised an eyebrow, and the girl took it as confusion.
"Genre means the type of-"
"No, I know what it means," Karma cut her off. She shot him an annoyed look. It was an improvement from the shy ones, at least.
Adventure, Romance, Action
Karma snorted.
He picked Romance.
Gakushuu showed off the same pick.
"I'd like Adventure but…" Gakushuu said, trailing off hinting.
"Yeah. We've probably had enough for a lifetime now," Karma laughed.
"I wouldn't mind more though, as long as it's with you," Gakushuu admitted. Karma blushed, handing back the ribbons to the girl.
"Yeah," he admitted back, scratching his cheek shyly. It was a good thing that the screen covered his face too.
"And last but not the least!" The girl interrupted them again, rolling her eyes. "What's your ideal place?"
Home, beach, mountains
Karma didn't hesitate in choosing his, and Gakushuu held his answer out, almost in sync.
Home
The girl sighed, a smile on her face.
"All right, you guys win. You get these bracelets as a freebie for getting all the questions right. You can also choose not to get them, but if you do, I hope you look after them! It was made by the kids in the kindergarten and voluntarily offered to us," she showed them matching bracelets made of buttons and seashells and beads.
The content was the same for both, but it was easy to see that it was made by two separate people. There were slight knots in some places that he could see someone had tried to fix up before putting it up as a freebie instead of for sale.
Karma accepted his, happily.
"Thank you," he told the girl.
He looked at Gakushuu, remembering the time they helped out at the elementary school when class E had injured the principal. He loved the pictures Koro-sensei had taken of them.
Gakushuu smiled as well, his eyes warm, as he remembered the same moment.
"Thank you," Gakushuu echoed Karma, and the girl smiled at them, handing over their next clue.
"Thank you, " she said, looking at them happily, "I hope you enjoy the rest of your time too!"
"We will," Karma told her, giving her a wink. The girl rolled her eyes playfully at him, before shooing him away. Karma laughed.
"You became friendly with her," Gakushuu said, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, what can I say?" He looked at Gakushuu fondly, "she has good taste." Gakushuu rolled his eyes at him.
"So the next one says, 'do what can't be undone, or close your eyes and keep walking'," Gakushuu read aloud. Karma hummed.
"Sounds like that one," he nodded towards one of the popular booths.
As Karma and Gakushuu approached the booth, they could hear a chanting 'kiss, kiss, kiss' from a couple of people who were crowding around.
A girl kissed the hand in front of her shyly and there were loud "BOOOO"s from the crowd when they realised it was the wrong person. The girl's shoulder dropped, but the guy who came with her, patted her head with an amused smile.
"Easy," Gakushuu declared. Karma smirked.
"Then, you wouldn't mind doing it blindfolded?" He asked. Gakushuu smirked back.
"When have I ever backed down from a challenge?" He shot back. Karma's smirk widened.
He gave their card and the slip to the man in charge. The crowd cheered when they saw a new pair trying it out.
"Oh? You're competing in this?" The man asked, stroking his beard. "You seem to have gotten full marks in all your previous games," he smirked, "let's see if you can win here too. Also, I heard something about a blindfold because it was too easy? We have a difficult mode too," the man said.
"We'll do it," Karma agreed immediately.
"Heh! What I like in a boy!" He patted Karma in the back. "So, who's sitting in. You?" He asked Gakushuu.
"Nope, it's me," Karma replied to him with a smile. The man raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like your boy is ready to make your life hard, young man," he told Gakushuu. Gakushuu heaved a dramatic sigh.
"Believe me, I know," he said, then watching Karma being led away, "but that's what I like about him," he told the man with a smirk.
The man guffawed loudly.
"And that's how it should be!" He crowed. "Now, come along here," he made Gakushuu stand, then he tied a blindfold over his eyes. "Can you see?" He asked.
"No," Gakushuu confirmed.
The man tied another cloth over his eyes.
"How about now?" He asked again. Gakushuu snorted.
"Definitely not," he laughed.
"Good," the man said. The crowd quieted down. "All right, as you walk forward, you can hold each hand only once for 5 seconds. You just have to select the hand you think is your boyfriend's," the man said.
The crowd cheered shouting 'kiss, kiss, kiss' and the man laughed.
"You don't have to kiss his hand, but it's also fine if you do," the man added. "Now start!"
Gakushuu walked forward, and held out his hand. Someone dropped the back of their hand on top of his, and he immediately dropped the hand.
"BOOOOO," screamed the crowd. The man laughed.
"You're supposed to hold the hand with the other hand," the man told Gakushuu. Gakushuu shrugged.
"I know, but it wasn't him," he told the man. The crowd cheered at his words. "Hmm. Good chemistry is hard to beat," the man said, stroking his chin. "All right, how about this?"
He walked to the other people and told Gakushuu to continue.
Gakushuu held out his hand and the same hand dropped on his, except now it was covered with a cloth glove.
Gakushuu deadpanned.
"... Right," he said. He dropped the hand again. "Can I move on to the next one already?"
The man snorted.
"All right, go get your princess," the man joked.
"I will," Gakushuu smirked. Reaching for the second one's hand. The cloth was annoying, it was hard to feel the other's hand to him, but honestly. It was still far too easy.
Gakushuu would never mistake Karma's presence for anyone else.
He stopped at the third one, and fell on one knee, laying a gentle kiss on the knuckles. He looked up with a smile.
The crowd cheered loudly.
Karma slid up his blindfolds, an amused smile on his lips.
"Like I said," Gakushuu told him, "Far too easy."
"You're so dramatic," Karma shook his head, still smiling.
"All right, you move on to the next one!" The man said. "Here you go!" He returned the card and another slip to Gakushuu.
"Find the right path, to find your correct ending," Gakushuu read aloud.
"That sounds pretty suspicious," Karma said, nodded at the labyrinth entrance not too far from them. Gakushuu shrugged.
"Isn't that every one of these?" He replied, letting Karma grab his arm and drag him towards it.
The man looked at the note, accepted their card and tilted his head to a red door, "the one being rescued will go there, the one searching will follow me," he said monotonously.
"So long," Karma waved, starting towards the red door. Gakushuu raided a brow.
"I thought this was going to be my turn," he said, his lips ticking up in an exasperated look. Karma twirled around innocently.
"But it's a red door, Shuu. Can't you see it beckoning me? Plus, I'm sure you'll be my knight in shining armour again," he winked.
The man started walking towards the other door.
"Here," he pointed towards a dark room. Gakushuu gave the man a suspicious look before going inside.
The man shut the door behind him.
It was actually a narrow hallway, which led to two doors.
Right to be right and left to not be left
Gakushuu frowned at the continuation of the odd riddles and chose left. To not be left behind, right?
It was an open ground.
Gakushuu almost rolled his eyes. What labyrinth. This was one weird game.
He walked around the edges, taking his time to look over the small area. Since Karma wasn't there, it meant a) Karma had yet to reach, or b) this wasn't the destination yet.
Gakuahuu found a wooden block with a pattern engraved on it, and a hole on the door to place it at. The other side of the hole was dark, but he could hear the people nonetheless.
It was a circular block of wood, with three layers. He would have to move the second and third layers to fit it into a pattern.
But the pattern was supposed to be somewhere in the first or second room.
The first room was dark, with nothing but the words written. The second part was an open ground.
He scuffed his foot on the ground. There wasn't any engraving or something on the ground.
The first part only had the words lit up.
Was that meant to be a clue?
Unlikely.
Gakushuu looked at the walls.
There should be clue somewhere on the walls then.
But first, he looked at the hole where he was meant to place the block.
It was clearly carved separately, but the final design was done by the same person. And just like Gakushuu had expected, there were hints of a pencil mark, a slightest trace of the pattern drawn by the carver.
He held the pattern out and with the last position determined, he could see the way pattern in the centre was off by 45 degrees and the way the middle piece was clearly turned to the complete opposite direction to make it look not completely uneven.
The groves in the pattern were perfect.
He could see the way previously successfully participants had also found this same pattern. He traced the carved edges that had been smoothed out, and then placed it on the wall.
He probably wouldn't admit it to Karma, but it wasn't a completely terrible date spot.
Someone opened a door on his left, and Gakushuu rolled his eyes and left through it.
Even if they took their riddle theme a bit far sometimes.
Karma was tied with ribbons to a wall. His hands were raised above his head, his elbows jutting out more seductively than the awkward it should have been.
The ends of the ribbons trailed down from his tied wrist, held almost precariously around Karma's arms until it almost mixed with the red of his hair.
The red of the ribbon matched almost perfectly with the red of his hair.
Karma smirked, looking at him through messy red hair that fell on his face. His legs were free though, but he still managed to look obscenely tied up.
Gakushuu stalked towards him, while Karma lay still like a helpless maiden, looking at him with burning gold.
It was definitely Karma who tied himself up and not the staff. They had private been either far too charmed by Karma or just amused by his antics.
There weren't any more traps, sadly enough, but the sight of Karma was enough to get his blood boiling.
Gakushuu grabbed Karma by his chin, pulling him into an almost violent kiss that he fell into, eagerly.
The tangled ribbons held no resistance but Karma still didn't pull away, even when Gakushuu tugged at his lip insistently.
Karma licked the blood from his lip, his eyes darker than before.
"Untie me," he answered Gakushuu.
Gakushuu reached up and gently pulled the ribbon. It caressed Karma's neck, looped through his arms until it pulled free.
Karma wrapped his arms around Gakushuu's neck.
"I am a pretty sight, aren't I?" he whispered in Gakushuu's ears.
"You make a good princess," Gakushuu admitted, his hands sliding down Karma's sides.
Karma's leg slid between his, half a second from grinding down on him right here. Karma gasped, when Gakushuu tightened his hold warningly.
"All right kids, get out," the man knocked on the door. Karma huffed.
"No one gets any privacy around here," he complained. Gakushuu offered the man an apologetic look, getting their next destination.
"You're the one who wanted to go here for the date," Gakushuu pointed out to Karma. The other boy gave him a disgruntled look.
"Listen, I've been through a year long assassination, inadvertently kicked out a Principal from his own school, made a large number of people fear me by bagging you as my boyfriend and now you're telling me I can't make out with my own very hot boyfriend in public after he rescues me?" Karma logicked.
"No," Gakushuu deadpanned, walking to their next destination.
Karma huffed at him.
"Shameless," he scoffed.
Gakushuu smirked back.
"I can do anything I want, but you're the one who needs to keep your hobbies down low, Mr Beaurocrat," Gakushuu pointed out. Karma considered it.
"But you're a very lavishing hobby to take up," Karma batted his lashes. Gakushuu tilted his head back, and Karma got distracted by the long line of his neck.
There was something so tempting about Gakushuu's neck, when his hair was short, peeking out from the neckline of shirt.
Karma bit his own, then hissed, because he just bit his own injury. Gakushuu shot him a knowing look and then turned to give the card and paper to the man.
"Which are your dominant hands?" He asked.
Karma and Gakushuu both raised their left hands.
"Heh. Two lefties, how rare," he said, pulling out rope. "Well, no matter. Just tie your left with your partner's right," he tossed it to Gakushuu. "You can use a gun or you can use a bow and arrow. All you need to do is hit the target," the man pointed lazily to the weapons on the table and the target that was barely 5 metres in front of them.
He looked like he was about to doze off again after giving them the instructions.
"Well, a bow will be a nice change," Gakushuu tilted his head curiously.
"At least you can use a gun now, you used to be terrible before," Karma snickered. Gakushuu rolled his eyes, well aware of the reason now.
Karma held the front of the bow up and Gakushuu held the arrow and pulled the string back. It was slightly awkward, but they managed to hit the centre of the target easily enough.
Karma looked disappointed at his lack of permanent marker as poked the man awake.
"We're done," he said, pointing to the target. The man raised an eyebrow.
"So you did," he said after a long pause. Karma unravelled the rope in a smooth movement and dropped it in front of the man. The man raised his other eyebrow.
He slid the card and their next destination back.
"That was probably our fastest," Gakushuu pointed out. Karma shrugged.
"The first one would have been faster if you hadn't been trying to tease me," Karma pointed out.
"Weren't you trying to tease me ?" Gakushuu narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"...Oh look, we get takoyaki here," Karma attempted to distract Gakushuu.
He let it succeed and Karma told Gakushuu about the time Koro-sensei made him takoyaki using the fire from a missile in their wooden classroom.
Gakushuu was left to wonder just how crazy Koro-sensei was.
As they made their way through the next few booths, with some level of recognition and bemusement at their excellent scoring, Gakushuu and Karma made out a few more times, got ice cream one more time- Karma insisted- and bought a octopus keychain that caught both their eyes.
When they were finally receiving the first prize at the end of the day, the man shot up fireworks and sprayed their name on a cloth to show off the winners while crying wetly, in a way very reminiscent of Koro-sensei.
He seemed more happy about the fact Gakushuu and Karma were a gay couple than the fact that his very expensive music system was being given away almost for free to them. Apparently he was tired of the straight couples winning the prize for the last few years.
They shared a glance and decided to cut their losses and run after the first sobbed rant. Another man smiled at the two, waving as they left in a fast walk.
"That was a win-win," Karma told Gakushuu hours later, setting up the music system around another free television set he had conned from yet another festival.
"You're also going to get banned from festivals overall if you keep taking all their best prizes," Gakushuu said, keeping an eye on the rice he was making.
"Nah, I make sure to attend once every few years to keep it alive, you know? Though the plan for next year is to hit them all," Karma informed him. Gakushuu suppressed a smile.
"And you're gonna clear them all out before you join university?" Gakushuu laughed teasing.
Karma tilted his head back in his chair, watching Gakushuu upside down. Gakushuu came over, dropping a kiss on smiling lips. Karma's nose brushed against his chin, as he huffed.
"Only if the professor doesn't keep me busy," Karma smirked. Gakushuu's smile fell.
"Or you could drop by sometime," he said, sliding a thumb down Karma's jaw. Karma caught his hand.
"I'll come for the exchange program in my second year," he reassured. "So don't have too much fun without me."
Gakushuu smiled.
"I'll make sure to save some up for you," he said. Karma tapped his cheek, and Gakushuu pressed his lips to it.
"Also, your rice is burning," Karma pointed out with a smile.
"Shit," Gakushuu cursed, running for the stove.
Karma laughed in the background.