What Hikaru had actually meant by going out, was not actually going out on a date, as one might have assumed from first hearing her words. I didn't come to this assumption however, simply because I knew there was no way Hikaru would be asking me, on a date. Secondly, I never really understood or have even been in anything remotely close to a romantic enough relationship that I-or someone else-would ask the other out. Therefore, from the very moment that Hikaru asked me out, I didn't even consider the idea that it was a date.
Which was the correct answer. It had been as soon as the final bell rung. I didn't make any concrete progress in my ability; however, I did have an idea. It was just a premise, a fleeting thing that could be tossed away or altered at any moment, but I had a starting point. I would never admit it, but the small success could be partially attributed to Hikaru. Her endless chatter prevented me from getting so locked up in my thoughts, that the only thing that I could think about was my own weakness. Instead, the cogs of my brain continued to spin, forming as many ideas as possible so that I could completely block her out.
However, her endless chatter also prevented me from coming up with anything more than a premise, making the entire situation a double-edged sword of sorts. She definitely helped, but she did have some negatives.
Anyways, it had been directly after school in which we had met up. Before I left with her, I hesitated for a moment.
My duty to Kami was not something that I would lose sight of. Not again.
And so, in that moment, I almost turned down her offer once again, however, as if she was somehow eavesdropping into my mind, Kami appeared. She took one look at Hikaru-who was looking at me with a pout on her face-and me, before shooting me a look.
We had barley spoken since the incident at the Chisaki estate. Only the necessary things. But in that moment, she held the same look in her gaze that she held on to that day.
One with determination. The flame seemed to have grown, even brighter than before.
But that hadn't convinced me completely. It was when she passed by me and said, "I'm going straight home anyways. I'll never forgive you if you ditch her."
And so, I agreed to go with Hikaru, promising myself that I would return as soon as possibly
We had left the magic academy and were approaching the massive mega mall in Sendai. It was the same mall that the terrorist attack had happened at. It closed down for a few days, before finally reopening. We had approached the entrance when she finally told me the reason for asking me to come out here with her.
"Well, in truth, It was because I was really nervous to come alone..." She looked down at the floor, with a blush on her cheeks, and embarrassment in her eyes.
It wasn't like it didn't make sense. Just looking at the place from where we were standing, the signs and scars of what had happened where evident. Although there was no more actual physical damage left on the mall, the security had been raised greatly.
There was now an extensive security check at the entrance, involving multiple metal detectors and scanners, as well as pat downs. The entire time that we went through it, a few of the people and police officers were glaring at us.
Inside of the actual mall, there was security at every buck and turn. Every entrance of every store, stall, and even the restrooms had metal detectors and scanners. In fact, there was probably even more that were hidden from sight.
But the most noticeable of all, the atmosphere was tense. Even if there were brightly decorated stalls and stores, even if people were laughing and children were running about the store, the atmosphere was one of fear. People checked over their shoulders, they were hesitant to enter buildings, they were wary.
And they were especially wary of us. In the Theta Magic Academy uniforms, which served as targets, big red bullseyes that were painted unto us. Gazes, hateful, scornful, and fearful, were all drawn towards the two of us.
However, Hikaru didn't seem to notice, and it didn't bother me much either.
However, it didn't change the fact that they were there anyways.
"If that's the case, then I can't really blame you." I said absentmindedly.
Although I was talking to Hikaru on the outside, on the inside, my brain was consumed with thoughts and worry for Kami.
I need to finish this up and get back to Kami as quickly as possible.
We continued to walk through the mall. "So, where are we headed?" I asked, more than just a little bit anxious. Undoubtedly, Hikaru had noticed the anxiety in my voice.
"Seby's Caffe." She replied.
I stopped. We had past that almost a minute ago. I pointed my thumb backwards and prepared to tell Hikaru that we had already past it, but she simply shook her head.
"Follow me, we'll track back." She replied carefreely.
I was still a bit confused at her carefree and seemingly unperturbed attitude. "But-"
"I mean, while we're at the mall, would it not be a shame for us to leave without having experienced everything that it had to offer?" She asked, before turning back, and continuing to walk.
"What, what the hell is she planning?" I thought to myself. However, I couldn't bring myself to leave her alone, or turn her offer down, so I followed her. I had no semblance of an idea what she wanted to achieve, but I followed her.
She stopped in front of a stall of cotton candy. There was a little girl who was asking her mom if she could have one. They were 1.25 cents per each one.
"I'm sorry sweetie, but I don't any change." The mother spoke regretfully, and when she saw the look of disappointment in her daughter's eyes, she seemed to hurt 10 times worse. Hikaru looked at the situation, in deep thought for a second, before reaching into the pocket of her blazer, coming out with 25 cents. She then tapped the women on the shoulder before handing her the coin.
When the women turned around, she did it quickly, and with fear, and when she saw the uniform of Theta Magic Academy students, her fear grew. However, the warm smile on Hikaru's face, as well as the quarter in her hand, her fear faded away. It was replaced with a look of relief, and gratefulness.
She accepted the coin with a thank you, before turning around to show her daughter the coin, and pay for the cotton candy. "What color?" She asked.
"I want a pink one. A pink one with a heart on it!" She said excitedly, gesturing to the one which was on display. The lady behind the counter smiled, as she grabbed a cone, and made it in front of the little girl. The entire time, her eyes shone brightly as she watched her snack come to life in front of her eyes. When It was finally handed to her, she squealed and bounced up and down in excitement. Hikaru was just turning away to leave, when the lady reached out and stopped her.
"Anna. It was because of this kind young lady that you were able to get the cotton candy. What do you say to nice people who help you out?" The mother pulled her child, Anna, to face Hikaru.
Anna was about to speak, but when her eyes grazed over Hikaru, she paused. "But Mommy, she's a magician, isn't she? Aren't they all bad?" She said it with no anger, malice, fear, or hate. It was just an innocent question. She didn't know any better and was genuinely asking a question. Her mother gasped, ready to scold the young girl, but Hikaru simply smiled and held out a hand.
She then walked over to the little girl, before crouching down so that they were eye level. Her smile never left her face. "You name is Anna, right? It's a beautiful name."
"Thank you, my mommy said that my grandma gave it to me."
"You grandma is very good at naming things, isn't she?"
"Yep! She even named out dog at the house, and the cat, she likes to name things!"
Hikaru nodded. She then reached her hand out to point at the emblem that signified her as a student of Theta magic Academy. "You understand what this means, right?"
The girl nodded her head, causing her blonde curls to bob up and down. "It means you're a magician."
Hikaru then made a correct bell sound effect, which made the girl laugh. "I am a magician. I'm sure you've seen a lot about magicians on the news, haven't you? And some of it is real sca-a-a-ary, right?"
The girl affirmed Hikaru's question with a nod.
Hikaru nodded once again. "We'll, I'm a magician. Standing right in front of you. So, tell me, do I look evil? Do I look bad? Like I would hurt someone?"
The girl shook her head vigorously. "No way!" She said it indignantly, as if any other answer was simply wrong. Which was true. "My mommy said that it was because of you that I was able to get this cotton candy, which tastes re-aaaallly good. And your smile, it's so warm. And you have beautiful eyes. And hair. Your hair is really pretty, It's blonde like mine!" While riddling Hikaru with praises, she reached out and touched her blond hair. Her mother watched the whole scene closely, ready to move in if anything that her daughter did made Hikaru feel uncomfortable.
However, Hikaru's smile only grew brighter, if that was even possible. He reached out her own hand and began to pat the little girl on the head. "You see. Despite what you heard on the news, when you saw one with your own eyes, you were able to come to the conclusion that not all magicians are evil, or bad. That holds true for everything and everyone. You can only every truly make a judgement of something, when you've seen it for yourself. Okay?"
"Yes ma'am!" Ana even saluted, causing Hikaru to laugh. Hikaru then stood up, before turning to leave. Before she did however, Ana, waved at her.
"Thank you, ma'am!" Her mother shot her a look, and she turned around before asking, "Umm. If you don't mind, could you tell me your name?"
Hikaru shook her head. "I don't mind at all. Hikaru. Hikaru Hina."
The girl nodded, before bowing. "Thank you, Ms. Hina!"
Hikaru returned to the bow, before replying, "Thank you, Ms. Anna!"
And the girl skipped away happily with her mom.
I looked from the girl, back to Hikaru, amazed at the whole scene I had just watched. The kindheartedness of her actions, of her words. How well she managed to connect with the young girl and teach her a lesson. Not to mention the fact that she did all of this, without the expectation of being thanked. I opened my mouth to speak-
"I do this because I like to bring a smile to peoples face. My father always told me that smiles are the cure to any negative emotion, if your sad, nervous, or tired, you should always try to find a way to smile, because it will kick those emotions right out!"
She even held her hand out in the air and hit a pose of sorts, which drew a few laughs and glances from other people in the mall.
Even I couldn't help but shake my head "You people really have to stop doing that. Answering questions before I ask them. It hurts my pride." I joked. I actually cracked a joke. Last time I did that, was before my argument with Kami.
"What can I say, maybe I'm just clairvoyant?
Hikaru winked at me, before speaking in a teasing tone. She reached out her hand and poked my cheek. Warmth spread through the area she touched.
"Or maybe your just to innocent and easy to read!"
CRACK!!!!!
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
After that, Hikaru dragged me on what can only be called as an adventure. We walked throughout the entirety of the mall, stopping at different stalls and looking through windows of stores. The entire time, I tried to keep in mind the fact that I needed to get back to Kami; the entire time, I was trying to find an excuse so that I could slip away, however, at some point,
I just stopped. I just stopped thinking about how to sneak away, stopped thinking about anything else but the moment I was currently in.
We passed through another stall which was selling face paints. Hikaru stepped inside, before exiting with her face covered in yellow paint and stripes, that made her resemble a leopard.
"Rawr!" She said as she popped out of the stall.
I looked at her with an unimpressed, but nonetheless entertained expression. "Was I supposed to be scared?"
Hikaru's expression fell into a pout, clearly not pleased that her master plan to scare me had failed. If it could even be called a master plan. "Are you at least not impressed by the face paint?" She hit a pose, holding two fingers in front of her face and closing one of her eyes. When I hesitated in my response, she sighed.
"Tough customer we have here. Well, then, how about you go get one done yourself!" Without even waiting for my response, she shoved me into the booth. In front of me, a middle-aged woman with painting supplies laid out at the table stared at me.
"So, what do you want?"
I was horrible at social interactions even when I had time to plan and prepare, so you can only imagine how terrible I was when I was put on the spot. After a few seconds of silence, stuttering and bumbling, the lady just shook her head and chuckled.
She then grabbed me by the collar, before dipping her brush in red paint, and drawing something on the side of my cheek. She then let go of me, before flipping the mirror in my direction. On it, she had drawn a small heart on my cheek. "Think of it as I target for your girlfriend out there."
Before I could even protest and correct the fact that Hikaru was not my girlfriend, she had already shoved me out of the booth.
When I exited the booth back into the sunlight of the world, I nearly bumped into Hikaru, who was humming.
When she turned to look at me, she noticed the heart on my cheek and gasped.
"It's so simple, but really cute! It looks exactly like the heart that you have on your wand! I obviously should have noticed that you have taste." She elbowed me lightly in the chest as she spoke.
"If only my 'taste', was actually up to me."
We moved on to another few stores, messed around in dressing up mannequins, which eventually devolved into us trying to dress the other in the stupidest things possible. During the idiocy that was the dress up contest, I noticed the necklace on Hikaru. It was pink with a heart in the center. It must have been her wand.
Eventually, we had made our way back to the cotton candy stand, as we waited for our cotton candy to be made.
"Dude, you seriously looked dumb in that massive trench coat and fedora!" She was still doubled over with laughter, and it seemed at any moment she would collapse.
"Really, I thought that I looked pretty fire in a trench coat." I replied.
"I'm sure you do, a slong as its not three sizes two big!" She burst out into another round of laughter.
As my laughter finally calmed down, and my facial features relaxed, I realized it. I had been laughing this whole time. Smiling. My cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing. There was also warmth in my cheeks. Warmth that I thought I had lost. All of this, in just one day. With just one person.
Just then Hikaru handed me my cotton candy.
It was pink and had a massive heart in the center. It was similar to the one that Anna had ordered.
"This is keeping in mind how much you love hearts."
I smiled. I genuinely smiled at the cotton candy. "Thank you." I was thanking her for much more than just the cotton candy. I was thanking her for the entire trip that she had brought me on. It reminded me of the talk that I had with Suijin.
For a moment, I had forgotten my purpose.
And I have never felt better.
Hikaru nodded, a smile on her face and a fond look in her eyes. "Thats why I do this. That anxious look in your eyes when we first got her. I couldn't stand it. So, I had to cure it. To fix it. And what better way to do that, then to help you smile? I love to make people smile, and I love to watch people laugh and have fun. One, singular, genuine smile, can brighten everyone's day. Just like the sun."
At that moment, there were four hearts, which all felt like they were simultaneously beating.
The heart on my cheek. The shattered heart on my neck. The heart on my wand. And my own heart.
They were all vying for control, fighting to come out on top.
Two of them were shattered so badly it seemed beyond fixing.
Two of them served as signs of hope, sigs. that things could be fixed.
At that moment, I felt a searing feeling coming from the wound on my stomach. It was a white-hot pain that forced me to draw my had over it.
CRACKK!
At that moment, when we stepped inside the Cafe, my eyes were drawn to a table in the back, full of magicians.
Masayoshi, and Phi were sitting at a table, with the defense force captain Yuri.