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“Welcome to Sky Paradise. I hope you can enjoy your stay here.”
With these words, the worker smiled and reached a flyer of the amusement park to every one of the group. It was a foldable paper that had the map of the park on the front side and recommendations for attractions and events on the backside. Another worker was giving out free balloons to the kids of the group while wearing the costume of the park’s mascot - a bunny.
Kyouka couldn’t take her eyes off from him and her eyes sparkled up in happiness when he reached the light pink balloon to her. She held it with a gentle smile that reached her eyes quickly when the bunny, taller than she was, patted her head before leaving to greet other guests.
The excitement was bubbling inside her whole body because in the past she had never visited an amusement park. So now, with the balloon in her hand, she unfolded the flyer a little clumsily to take a look at it. Even though she was careful, she lost the grip of her balloon for a moment and with shook written on her face and her heart slipping down to her toes, she stared up to it flying away and barely noticed Dazai grabbing it for her before it could fly far away.
“You should be more careful, Kyouka-chan,” Dazai said, lecturing her about being careless but his voice made it obvious, he wasn’t blaming her for it. So instead of just giving it back to her, he knotted it onto her little shoulder bag. “Or someone may steal it away from you.”
For a moment, Kyouka’s eyes widened in surprise before she realized what Dazai was doing. “Thank you.” With a smile, she followed the string up and got blinded by the sun when her eyes reached the balloon. She was grateful to Dazai for catching it for her.
“Oi-!” Dazai pointed at Ranpo and stamped towards him, his cheeks puffed up in a pout. “Why did you get a balloon and I didn’t?”
Kyouka’s huge eyes were locked on the paper map in her hands. It contained all of the different spots, she was able to visit today and it made her heart jump in anticipation. What would they visit first? The only attraction she knew of where the cute teacups and she wanted to ride them. Though they were pretty much at the end of the park so what to ride first instead? The Water Ride? The Haunted House? Or maybe the Free Fall Tower? The more she saw the more her excitement grew.
“Before we start, we should make sure, everyone knows about the rules-” Kunikida adjusted his glasses and was the only one with a serious expression while everyone else didn’t even pay much attention to him.
“Kunikida-kun~”, Dazai chirped with his usual voice of annoyance and massaged the other man’s shoulders. “We want to have some fun today~”
Kunikida turned around to Dazai. “Exactly and that’s why-”
This time it was Yosano who interrupted him. “Look at the kids-” She pointed behind her, a soft movement of her head towards the little group over there.
“We should go to the Black Mamba first!” Ranpo had joined Kyouka’s side and pointed at a spot pretty much at the opposite side of the entrance area they were right now. “I heard only good things about it!”
Kenji placed his hands on Kyouka’s shoulders and tiptoed to be able to look over her shoulder while pointing at another point on the map. “We should visit the petting farm first!”
“How did I end up here?” Kunikida murmured into his non-existent beard and took a deep breath full of regrets.
With an aura of pure happiness around him, Dazai bowed a little forward, still holding his position behind Kunikida but looking at him now. “Just remember why we’re here, Kunikida-kun~”
“Kyouka-chan!” Naomi appeared next to Kyouka and she flinched a little bit back. She hadn’t expected her because a second ago, she was clinging onto her brother’s side. “Where do you want to go first?”, she asked her and looked from her face down to the map in her hands and pointed seemingly randomly at one of the attractions of the park. “We should start here.”
Atsushi bowed down to them and looked at Naomi’s choice. “H-Haunted House?” He swallowed after stumbling over his own words and Kyouka turned her head towards him.
“I want to go there,” she agreed with Naomi’s suggestion and Atsushi ran cold shivers down his spine. “It sounds fun.”
“Yeah, fun,” Atsushi agreed and already signed his death, not visible for Kyouka’s eyes because he had turned away from her.
Dazai stepped next to Kyouka and pointed to a little booth, selling accessories with the theme of the park. “Do you want us all to wear these?” He looked behind him, a spark in his eyes when he saw Kunikida twitching in anger, letting out a big sigh the moment, when Kyouka had agreed with a nod.
With a chuckle, Yosano gave Dazai a soft smack on his head with her flat hand. “Stop influencing her with your ideas.” receiving only an innocent puppy look from Dazai for it.
Even Kunikida was the last one wanting to run around with squishy hair accessories, he was the first one ending up with a suitable pair of ears. He ended up on a photo together with Kyouka and her bunny ears while they took a look into the mirror together, Kyouka standing in front of him.
After everyone was dressed with cute animal ears on their heads and ribbons in their hair, Yosano took the chance and bought an empty photo album at a booth next door so Kyouka was able to collect all the memories in one place. Eventually, it was their goal to give her a peaceful day without any worries, she always would be able to remember in the future.
With her lips forming a smile, Yosano took Kyouka’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Come on, we’re ready for some horror action!”
While Kyouka walked hand in hand with Yosano, she looked around. Everything was so big and bright. Little food stands were scattered on their way and circled her nose with the scent of delicious snacks.
It was only when they reached the Haunted House that Kyouka let go of Yosano’s hand and walked towards the huge board explaining the attraction, giving them warnings and a few rules about behavior inside the building. Everything was signed with the big promise of having the greatest fear factor you will ever experience.
“It says a group of a maximum of three people is allowed at the same time.” Dazai read, his hands resting on Kyouka’s shoulders, making her look up at him. When Dazai turned around, the groups almost formed itself.
Atsushi and Kenji stood next to each other, the first one not looking at Dazai with happiness. Kenji, on the other hand, seemed delighted about it. “I’m excited about seeing ghosts!” and earned a face from Atsushi for it.
Naomi clung onto her brother, making sure she would be able to go with him alone by faking her fear about ghosts and other scary things that could be inside of the building.
The last group was Yosano ending up with Ranpo while Kunikida showed no interest in joining them.
While Kyouka wasn’t sure who she should join to go with, she couldn’t stop herself from being happy about everyone being around her today. A surprised sound escaped her when Atsushi grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards Kenji and himself. “Kyouka-chan is joining us!”, he decided for her with a war look at Dazai.
Kyouka nodded as an agreement. She didn’t mind joining Atsushi and Kenji for the Haunted House and while she queued up with everyone, she listened to Kenji’s excited monologue about what he wants to tell the ghosts while Atsushi tried to figure out if the farmer boy was serious about talking with ghosts of the deceased animals he had taken care of before he joined the ADA.
In the background, Dazai tried to convince Kunikida to enter the house together with him and not joining up with Ranpo and Yosano because it was unfair that he was the only one going alone and he claimed that it was impolite to interrupt the bonding time of the siblings.
Luckily, they didn’t need to wait long in the queue for the Haunted House, maybe half an hour and Kyouka’s group was the first one to enter. Even Kyouka couldn’t imagine what she should expect here, her expectations seemed to be too high because all the spider webs, moving puppets, swirling lights, and creepy music didn’t do anything to her.
So when a mummy jumped out of a coffin and gave some dying sounds away, Kyouka just bluntly stared at the person in the costume while Atsushi jumped back, hiding his face underneath his arms, pleading to not get eaten alive.
“Oh my god!” Kenji screamed, his eyes beaming with enthusiasm. “A real mummy!!” He tugged on the bandages that were part of the costume, poking the man with his other hand.
Kyouka tiptoed to take a closer look at the face of the man in costume and her eyes stared in his eyes. “It’s not real,” she said disappointed and pouted a little about that fact.
Kenji let go of the mummy and joined the pout of Kyouka. “Whaaaat?” He crossed his arms behind his head and jumped towards Atsushi, who was still having some safety distance to the jump scare. “You don’t have to fear him, it’s not a real mummy,” Kenji explained like it was the biggest disappointment in his life.
Atsushi looked at Kenji and from him to Kyouka. “I-I don’t fear anything!” He swallowed and hurried forward, back to Kyouka, his eyes not leaving the man in bandages for a second.
“Are you okay?”, Kyouka asked him and was worried about him. She hadn’t considered that he wasn’t feeling well in a dark environment but when he shot her a smile, she felt better about it. “I’m happy to be here with you,” she said, ignoring the strange environment they were in.
“Yes, m-me too,” Atsushi stumbled while still looking around to not get scared from behind by the mummy.
Kenji had still a pout on his lips but it changed to his usual cheerful expression when he had joined with Kyouka and Atsushi. “Citylife is amazing!”
When they turned around the corner the mummy came from, a huge EXIT was already visible and Kyouka felt disappointment running through her body. The information board was so much more promising than what they had experienced right now.
Outside of the Haunted House, they sat down on the ground across it, waiting for the others in the shadows of some greens. Kyouka drank something and took a candy, Kenji offered to her.
It tasted like strawberry.
When Dazai and Kunikida came out of the Haunted House as the last group, Dazai seemed extremely happy while Kunikida looked more exhausted than after a full day of work with Dazai in the office. “Ah, finally free,” he said and looked at everyone here. “Anyone, please take Dazai,” Kunikida pleaded, looking like he lost his will to live in the Haunted House.
Kyouka couldn’t stop herself from thinking how different everyone was while they still could spend a good time together.
After that, they rode every single rollercoaster on the way and Kyouka didn’t skip any of them because the more they tried out, the more excited she got over the next one.
Whenever she sat next to Atsushi, he was about to turn her hand into pudding while with Kenji she couldn’t stop laughing because his laugh was contagious. Dazai would tell her horror stories he heard about the ride whenever he knew, Kunikida was sitting behind them. Rides that were less fast, Kyouka usually shared the double-seat with Yosano. Naomi and her brother were like a mirror to her and Atsushi. She wasn’t able to find a pattern with Ranpo and his chosen rides, but he told her facts about the rides they would take together.
Whenever they left a ride, Kyouka hurried to the little wooden booth in front of it to get the number of their photo to let it print, looking at it every time with reddish cheeks and panting from hurrying. It made her happy to see all the expressions they made on the photos because you never could tell when exactly it was taken.
Some of them were taken when they were falling from the peak while with others you had the chance to smile at the camera.
When Kyouka left the white water ride, she left the attraction fleet-footed and almost looking like she flew down the metal stairs. She wanted to hurry to see the photo of this ride to add it to her collection of the other photos, yet, before she reached the booth, she stumbled over her feet on the graveled floor.
Tears due to the sudden pain rose in Kyouka’s eyes and she pushed herself up in a sitting position. Besides her hurting palms and elbows, her knees radiated the most pain. Carefully, she rubbed the tears away with her wrists and already heard Atsushi calling her name while Tanizaki kneed down in front of her, Naomi worried behind him.
“Kyouka-chan!” Atsushi repeated her name when he finally reached her. “Are you hurt?” Kyouka didn’t have to answer him because he saw the blood running down her legs while her arms and hands were covered with grazes. “I- I will get Yosano!”
Tanizaki helped her up from the ground and let her support against him. “Are you okay? Can you walk?”, he asked her and Kyouka nodded.
It hurt a lot but she couldn’t stay there with everyone staring at her and blocking the way. Together, they walked to the side and Tanizaki helped her to sit down on a low wall. In the meanwhile, Naomi took the tissues out of her bag and made sure, the blood wouldn’t ruin Kyouka’s clothes and shoes by cleaning her skin.
Kyouka followed the movements of her hands with her eyes and chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m sorry,” she said and pressed her lips into a thin line. They already went out together to have a fun day together and now she caused them problems with her clumsiness.
Ruffling his fingers through Kyouka’s hair, Tanizaki shook his head. “Don’t worry about it.” He sat down next to her and followed Naomi, who was grabbing all the bloody tissues and threw them away into the trash bin three meters away.
However, before anyone could say something else, Yosano rushed towards them, Atsushi following her. While Kyouka was riding the white water ride a second time with him and the Tanizaki siblings, the others used the time to get a place at the next door restaurant for an afternoon lunch together.
Yosano sighed relieved when she saw the injuries weren’t as bad as they sounded with Atsushi’s panicked voice. She took a deep breath before she raised Kyouka’s leg and commanded Atsushi to get her some lukewarm water so she was able to clean the wounds. While Atsushi was on his way, she took some cleaning cloth out of her bag and carefully cleaned the dry blood from the skin on Kyouka’s legs and arms.
After that, she cleaned the wounds from little stones and right when she was done, Atsushi came back, panting and almost tripping over his feet too. He reached the bottle he filled with the water to Yosano so she could take care of the rest.
With a smile, Yosano patted the bandaged knees of Kyouka and helped her up from the wall. She could see the sadness on the girl’s face and let out a soft sigh. “It will heal fast, don’t worry.” She reached her hand out so Kyouka could grab it again while they would walk towards the restaurant. “But for today you shouldn’t overdo it.”
Kyouka nodded and in order to her not tripping again she looked down on her feet while walking next to Yosano. It was only when they had walked for a few meters when a familiar warmth spread from her heart throughout her body. “Thank you.” Even now with the limitation she got, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling happiness.
Lunch was surprisingly calm. They all sat down and ate as if they got scolded if they wouldn’t eat everything on their plate, they would instantly go home. Kyouka escaped a chuckle with that picture in mind and maybe, she thought with a look at Kunikida swiping some ketchup from Kenji’s cheek, that wasn’t that far away from the truth.
For the first time of the day, Kyouka wondered, how outsiders would see them.
“A big chaotic mess,” Naomi had leaned down and whispered against her ear. “Don’t you think?”
Kyouka looked away from the scene in front of her with Ranpo stealing some french fries from Kunikida’s plate and turned her attention towards Naomi sitting next to her. A smile appeared on her face. “Yes.”
While enjoying lunch, they had decided to visit one of the many gaming centers of the amusement park. Taking it a bit slower with a filled stomach and Kyouka being hurt, seemed like a good idea.
That it wasn’t the best idea for the workers of the center was something, they discovered only when it was already too late. It wasn’t long after they had entered the building when Dazai was kicked out for proposing a romantic double suicide together by jumping out of the Ferris Wheel together.
After telling Yosano about his intentions, Kunikida made sure to follow Dazai so he wouldn’t be able to bother anyone else while being outside and alone. If this was the best idea in his life was questionable.
However, Kyouka’s attention was on something different. Her hands and face were glued onto the glass of one of the many crane machines holding different gadgets or toys inside. In particular, she stared at a huge bunny plushie.
“Do you want one?”
Kyouka turned her head around and looked up at Atsushi, not responding with words but looking back at the bunny and its cute eyes. It felt like the bunny was telling her to take it home with her. With her lips pressed into a thin line, she nodded, her cheeks warming up a little. She wanted that plushie but she also knew it was hard to get these big ones out of the machine.
Atsushi hitched up his sleeves and threw the first coins into the machine. The amount of money he paid, allowed him three tries in a row. Highly concentrated he steered the claw of the machine with the buttons in front of him while Kyouka wasn’t sure if she wanted to watch Atsushi’s finger pressing the buttons, his concentrated face or how the plushie got caught by the claw, coming closer to her before it slipped out a third time.
Before Kyouka was able to say anything, she already saw Atsushi throwing in more coins to get another three tries. Instantly, she was glued back onto the glass and watched the claw grabbing the bunny again but it fell another hundred times before it fell close to the hole to grab it.
A desperate grown escaped Atsushi. “It was so close!” Determined to get it for Kyouka, he gave it another try. Only when the claw managed to get into the loop of the tag, his and Kyouka’s eyes had a spark of hope in them again. Yet, it fell, lying half on the hole. It would only need a light push to fall over completely now, so with his last try, Atsushi managed to push it down with the claw.
With a bright smile on his face, Atsushi grabbed the plushie out of the machine and reached it over to Kyouka. The bunny was almost as tall as the girl and Kyouka was nuzzling the soft fabric, squeezing it in between her arms and chest. “Thank you.” Her cheeks still felt warm because she wasn’t used to getting presents. “I like it a lot.”
The smile on Atsushi’s face grew even bigger with those words. “I’m glad!”, he exclaimed and wasn’t sure, if he should help her carry the plushie but when she lowered it, she seemed to be able to handle it. “Wanna take a look at that booth?”
The realization hit her quickly when she followed Atsushi’s finger to see where he pointed at. It was a shooting game and the board in front of it had a ‘!!!Beat the Highscore for the Main Prize!!!’ written on it. “Oh,” was everything that escaped her mouth. So Atsushi did remember her being good in that game.
When they stood in front of the booth, Kyouka placed the plushie aside to grab one of the guns of the game and the VR glasses. “Please take care of Usagi-san,” It took her a brief moment to adjust to the virtual environment with the glasses on. It was the same amount of time Atsushi needed to get a grasp of who Kyouka meant. Despite the little beginner struggle, it was pretty easy for her to beat every enemy within the first second they appeared and the boss fight was no big deal to her.
She wasn’t able to put off the VR glasses when she already felt arms wrapped around her and hearing Atsushi’s happy voice extremely close. “You did it, Kyouka-chan!” Only a moment later Atsushi seemed to realize is sudden action and let go of her, looking on the ground and his feet before he was looking back at her again. “You-You beat the Highscore!”
The game spat out a coupon with the result of her score so she could exchange it at the counter close to the exit. She didn’t even know what the main prize was but she had enjoyed the session. “Yes, I did it,” she agreed happily with Atsushi and took the coupon and Usagi-san back in her arms.
When she brought the coupon to the exchange after they had strolled between a few other games, the lady behind the counter analyzed Kyouka with disbelief written all over her face before she shook her head and put her professional smile on again. “Congratulations on beating the Highscore,” she said and scanned the paper. “You can choose whatever you want from the prizes here.”
For a moment, Kyouka looked around but nothing really caught her attention. Atsushi was the one bringing her it on something she definitely wanted to have now. She pointed behind the worker. “I want that.” Somehow she had the feeling, Atsushi had already known what prize she would get here.
The lady behind the counter turned around to take a look at what Kyouka had chosen and when she realized what it was, she smiled. “Great choice,” she said while giving the card to Kyouka. “Here, please enjoy your time.”
Kyouka took the card and her happiness about it was almost palpable for everyone in the building. She was looking forward to getting as many crepes as she wanted with her newly gained card allowing her to get as much as she wants in her favorite café for a whole year.
Atsushi took her plushie and gave it back to her after she put the card into her little bag. “Do you enjoy your time here?”, he asked her while they were heading towards the exit.
With a soft squeeze and a nod, Kyouka answered, her smile hidden on the plush. “Yes,” she answered vocally. She wasn’t sure how to express all the warmth spreading from her heart through her body. Even she was limited in her actions due to her hurting knees, she couldn’t remember a day where she felt so many good things at the same time.
When they left the building, Kyouka was blinded by the sun upon the sky and she covered her eyes by raising her newest family member a little bit. The air was more sticky outside but luckily, she and Atsushi didn’t need to wait long until the others appeared one after another, holding their prices in small plastic bags.
“The love test said, we don’t suit each other,” Naomi complained overdramatically and clung onto her brother’s arm. “But I know we are the best! Don’t you think so too, Kyouka?”
With a surprised look on her face, Kyouka looked around the plushie in her arms and watched the scene in front of her. Tanizaki tried to get free from her tight grip but didn’t seem to be uncomfortable. “I have no siblings but I think you two are good for each other.”, she answered Naomi with a gentle smile.
That answer seemed to be enough to make Naomi happy again. “Also your bunny is so sweet! Does it have a name already?”
Again, Kyouka nodded and grabbed the plushie’s arm to raise it towards Naomi, making a small waving movement with it. “Usagi-san.”
A wide smile appeared on Naomi’s face when she let go of her brother’s arm and grabbed the paw of the plushie instead. “Please take care of Kyouka-chan, Usagi-san!” She shot a brief smile to Kyouka before she looked at Usagi again. “She’s a precious friend of ours!”
With that, Kyouka’s cheeks warmed up and she hid behind the bunny plushie. Only when Dazai made the bunny nod in the next moment, she looked up again. “Of course, I will protect her,” he said and made his voice sound different, making Kyouka laugh generously.
“I want a crepe,” Ranpo interrupted the conversation and put all attention towards him now.
Kyouka’s laugh stopped instantly with hearing what Ranpo said and she looked at the detective, her heart jumping in excitement. “I want too,” she said and looked at everyone in the group.
Dazai looked around in the group. “Actually, I wanted to visit the Black Mamba now with Kunikida-kun~” He wrapped an arm around his neck and squeezed Kunikida before the taller man escaped and looked in horror at Dazai.
Though before he could give any objections, Kenji jumped onto the bandwagon, telling them that he wanted to ride that roller coaster, too. “I heard others talking about how it’s the most feared one in Japan!”
“Oh, then we join, too!” Naomi pulled Tanizaki into it, who now didn’t look amused about having to join this horror ride.
Atsushi looked around between the two groups that were slowly building and swallowed. His face spoke more than a thousand words. “I take a crepe, then.”
With a sigh, Yosano focused her attention on Kunikida. “We meet up at six at the Ferris Wheel,” she said, “I will go with the crepe fraction so nobody will get lost.” She raised the camera hanging around her neck.
Kunikida gave up. He looked at his wristwatch and nodded. “In an hour then,” he agreed and pushed his part of the group forward. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have Dazai with Kunikida when it came to being on time at a meeting point.
So now they ended up in two groups. The Tanizaki siblings, Kenji and Dazai were with Kunikida to ride more rollercoaster they haven’t tried yet while Yosano, Kyouka, and Atsushi accompanied Ranpo.
“Crepe, Crepe, Crepe!” Ranpo sang excitedly and clapped his hands in pure joy like it was the only thing he joined the group here for. Maybe this was the only reason.
Kyouka smiled.
Her smile and eyes grew even wider, the moment, Ranpo gave her the crepe, she had chosen earlier by pointing at it on the huge placard stapled on the wall. It was filled with strawberries, blueberries, vanilla ice cream and lots of cream with chocolate sauce.
Her happiness rubbed off onto the other member of the ADA with her and Yosano snapped a quick photo of everyone with their face covered in cream and sauce.
When they were done eating crepes, Kyouka swiped her mouth clean with a cleansing tissue she got from Yosano and pointed at the merry-go-round they had right in front of them the whole time. “I want to ride that.”
The whole time while she ate her crepe, she had watched the children going on and off the merry-go-round and smiling while sitting in the carriages drawn by the horses.
Ranpo joined her. “Me too!”
Yosano and Atsushi exchanged looks but then just shrugged it off. “Okay, then go,” Yosano said. It wasn’t like her approval was necessary but both had looked at her like she was their mom.
“Take care of him.” With a spark in her eyes, Kyouka shoved her huge plushie into Atsushi’s arms and hurried to catch up with Ranpo who was already waiting in front of the colorful carriages where Kyouka joined him. He helped her to sit on the horse before finding his own place in the carriage.
The moment it started with a yank, she held onto the pole in front of her and with the cheerful music, she couldn’t help herself to smile at Yosano and Atsushi while waving with a soft movement at them.
After the ride on the merry-go-round, Kyouka was walking next to Atsushi in front of her older friends. Even the bigger part of the conversation was on Atsushi’s side, Kyouka felt comfortable with it. It was only when her eyes fell on another ride, she stopped in front of it without a warning and Atsushi was bumping against her, letting out a surprised sound.
“Oh, the teacups,” Yosano said while stepping behind Kyouka. “Do you want to ride them?”
With huge, sparkling eyes, Kyouka turned around and nodded. She wanted to ride the teacups since she saw them on the paper map. The whole day, they hadn’t passed them yet and with so much going on, she missed the chance to say it earlier while they all had so much fun with other things, herself included.
However, before anyone was able to do anything, Atsushi screamed in shock when Kenji had jumped onto his back and almost crashed down with him onto the floor barely managing to hold Kenji while the blond boy wrapped his arms around Atsushi’s body. “Don’t forget about me!”, he exclaimed and stretched his arms up high.
“Where are the others?”, Yosano asked and freed Atsushi from Kenji by putting him on the floor. “Weren’t you with them?”
Kenji scratched the back of his head and had a hint of red on his cheeks while laughing. “Yeah, we went back to a rollercoaster from earlier but then I needed the toilet and on my way back to them, I got lost.” He looked from Yosano to Atsushi and then to Kyouka, holding onto her plushie while curiously looking at him. “Then I asked everyone if they saw either a cute girl with a bunny plushie or someone strangling someone for wanting to commit suicide.”
Now, Kenji looked thoughtful. “But with the latter they always got worried, so I stopped asking,” he stretched his arms again. “I’m glad I found you now!” With his pure smile, he looked at the group.
“I’m glad you’re safe.” Yosano patted Kenji’s head before turning her attention to everyone. “So while you ride the teacups, I’ll make sure to contact the others.”
Everyone knew what Yosano didn’t speak out loud. Kunikida was already had to deal with Dazai so worrying him with Kenji’s disappearance wouldn’t make it any better.
The moment, Atsushi wanted to look at Kyouka, he already had missed her and found her sitting in one of the teacups, her plushie filling the rest of the free space in it. So he made sure to share one with Kenji, while Ranpo wanted one for himself to spin it as fast as he wanted.
Kyouka adjusted Usagi-san and patted its head after pulling a little on the ribbon on its ears before she plopped down onto the sitting surface, holding onto the little spinning wheel.
The wind felt soft in her face and she only made the cup spin a little bit, trying to get a brief look at the others, seeing Kenji and Atsushi laughing in a cup together while Ranpo was trying to break records. Yosano waved at Kyouka while taking a video of her in the teacups, having lost count of how many memories she had caught on camera today.
It was already getting darker when they all met up at the Ferris Wheel as their ending attraction. A maximum of four people was allowed in each cabin so before anyone could say something, Naomi grabbed her brother and took the next free cabin. “Let’s go!”
Then Kenji grabbed the hands of Dazai and Kunikida and run towards the next cabin they could enter together - Ranpo joining them, leaving back the last trio with Atsushi, Yosano, and Kyouka.
“Seems like we have no choice here,” Atsushi sighed deeply over the fast decision making.
Yosano nudged his side with her elbow. “No complains, you have beautiful ladies with you.”
With those words, Atsushi couldn’t stop himself from blushing. “This-This wasn’t a complaint!”, he argued against her and was taken aback by Kyouka taking him by his hand to pull him along. “Oi- Kyouka-chan-!”, he stumbled over his own feet but it was worth everything when he saw her beautiful smile when she pressed her hands and face against the glass to look outside.
“Woaaaah-”
Even in case, she would have wanted to hide her fascination, she wouldn’t have been able to do so. Seeing all the lights of the park, giving it a completely new look was a sight she could have never imagined in her whole life. It was a beautiful sea of colorful lights.
It even made her a little bit sad when she needed to leave the cabin at the end of the ride and meeting up with everyone else again, not having the chance for a second ride on it because the park was about to close in half an hour so they weren’t allowed a second time.
“It’s getting late,” Kunikida mentioned while tapping on his wristwatch.
Even Kunikida was right about that, it was Tanizaki’s idea to enter the souvenir shop at the exit of the park and everyone had agreed to it. Though Kunikida had claimed to go ahead and wait outside. That he would get a pink bunny pen from Dazai was something he hadn’t known at that point yet.
Kyouka looked up at Kunikida. Her eyes almost staring into his soul when she reached Usagi-san towards him. “Be careful,” she said before hurrying into the shop.
While everyone looked around excitedly what to buy as souvenirs, Kyouka silently walked around in the store. She already had so many memories from the park due to her friends that she wasn’t sure what she should buy. The whole store was filled with charms, plushies, clothes, caps, figures and other things that she felt a bit overwhelmed by.
Only when her eyes fell on a cute cat plushie, she knew what to take. Kyouka grabbed it and sussed out the little plushie by squeezing it carefully. Would he like it, she wondered without voicing her uncertainty. Though before she could think too much about it, she heard Kunikida’s voice to hurry up because the park would close soon.
With the cat plushie in the hand, Kyouka hurried to the checkout to pay for it. After that, she was the last one leaving the store and with that the park. Outside, everyone was already waiting for her and Kenji waved with his hand. Not that it was hard to make them out with being the last people still here.
“Oh, that’s a cute plushie!”, Kenji said and leaned in to exterminate it from a closer perspective.
Kyouka nodded. “Yes, I bought it for Fukuzawa-san,” she confessed and looked down on the cat plushie in her hand. It was not enough to show her gratitude for having a warm place to live but she hoped, he would accept it anyway.
With a gentle smile on his face, Tanizaki patted her head. “I’m pretty sure he will love it.”
“Yes, and we should take a group photo!”, Naomi announced her attention already on Yosano with the camera in her hands. “It would be a great memory for all of us and a good addition to the office!”
So while everyone gathered in front of the entrance of the amusement park to take the photo, Yosano was waiting for them to be ready. Though the moment she rose the camera up to her face, Kyouka tugged on the fabric of her clothes and she looked down at the younger girl.
“You need to be on the photo, too,” Kyouka demanded and her blue eyes were fully focused on Yosano. Everyone should be on the photo and not left out.
Yosano couldn’t even word an answer when the cashier already stood next to them with a smile and offering to take the photo for them.
Both of them were hurrying to get to the other members of the ADA, finding their place next to their friends and Kyouka having the happiest smile on her face when the photo was taken.