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"A benevolent kissing booth?" Josefumi asked Karera, as if the two words shouldn't be placed in the same phrase.
"Yes" she stopped writing something on her computer and looked at Josefumi. "Well, mostly at least. Part of the money will be to the helpers of course."
Oh, they would indeed be gaining money in this, he should've already expected it from Karera. She was always looking for new ways to obtain money — the easier and faster way better — and Josefumi always ended up being part of it somehow.
"You need help with the booth then?" Karera went back to writing apparently, but her fingers weren't tapping the computer keys (the silence in the room showing it to Josefumi).
"Er…" Karera started not knowing how to exactly say it without a great drama happening after. "Yes and no."
"What?" Josefumi was already confused but her answer added more confusion to it.
"What if someone asked me if I knew about a person volunteering at the booth." she started, still not looking at him and pretending to write, her voice fast (a clear signal something was off). "And they were giving sandwiches to those who put their names on the list and I put yours. Just kidding hahaha… unless."
"YOU SOLD ME FOR ONE SANDWICH." Now Josefumi was about to throw something at her. Maybe a pillow, or the whole sofa if he was capable of pushing it from the floor.
"It had chicken-!" She tried to explain but couldn't finish. Josefumi pitied her at first, but now he threw the pillow with all the force he could muster.
The booth was one of the simplest things Josefumi had the displeasure to meet in his entire life. Made of cardboard and messily painted in pink and light red colours with little hearts all around, he wasn’t sure it would stand until the end of the carnival they were at — when he was sincere and said his thoughts to Karera she just smiled and tried to comfort him by adding more glue to a few hearts. It didn’t help though.
“Hey there, everybody!” After all being prepared, what remained was to call people to the booth and Karera was prepared for this step, having already a megaphone between her hands. “The kiss booth is officially opened!”
Some people — also helping in the booth like Josefumi, but with a bit more enthusiasm — shouted happy cries, starting to gain the attention from the ones passing by. The carnival had started lately and still there weren't many young people around so the kissing booth customers were few (yet).
At the other entry to the carnival (one which was both close and far from where Karera’s horrendous kissing booth stands), a family appeared. Holly decided to take Kira and Kei to the carnival that day, even if Kira didn’t want to go at first, he ended up being convinced by the glow in his little sister’s eyes when their mother said they could go.
“Take care of your sister” Holly knew she didn’t need to say it but said anyway. “Remember the entry if you get lost, alright? We’ll meet here if something happens.”
The recommendations said (and a lot of kisses after), Kei finally could guide her brother, wanting to go here and there and showing everything with the enthusiasm only someone in their twelves could muster. She normally wasn’t talkative, however when her brother was around everything changed.
“Let’s go to this part-” Kei was pushing her brother by his clothes when a girl started screaming in a megaphone, Kira somehow knowing her voice.
“The main attraction of this carnival is here! Come everyone to the kissing booth !” Now that Kira saw who was screaming he understood why he recognized the voice. It was Sakunami Karera, a girl he had met a few times before.
“Kei,” Kira called his sister, making her stop pushing him. “You wanna go to the carrousel, right?” She nodded. “If I give you the money, will you go there alone? I need to do something, it’s fast — and don’t tell mother!”
Kei didn’t appear to like the idea at first, but then her face changed as if she understood something even Kira himself didn’t know yet. “You buy me ice cream later?”
It was a trap. Kei wasn’t allowed to eat sweets tonight because she recently had caries in her teeth and needed to go to the dentist. "Alright. I’ll buy it but again, don’t tell mother.” He handed her the money and watched Kei’s back as she went to the carousel.
He headed to where Karera was, a few young people were there because of her screams or out of curiosity. She was standing on a box, the megaphone now at her feet after fulfilling its objective. Behind her was the aforementioned kissing booth, one person receiving the money while two others were giving the kisses.
“If it isn’t Yoshikage Kira.” Karera exclaimed when she saw him, don’t appearing to be happy he was there but trying to pretend the opposite. “Didn’t think I would be seeing you.”
“Is Josefumi there?” Straight to the point he was.
Karera pointed to the booth, Josefumi visibly there blindfolded. “Want to enter the queue? Or mommy won’t let you?”
Kira gave her suggestion a thought. He obviously wasn’t going to fall for her provocation, but it appeared as if Karera expected him to go away, and for some reason he thought it would be interesting to prove her wrong. “Yes, I want.”
Her shocked face was payment enough and Karera wasn’t able to say anything. Accepting her provocations after all, Kira entered the queue.
His turn didn't take much to finally come. He was in front of Josefumi, but he obviously couldn’t know it because of his blindfold. They didn’t talk much and it was awkward now that Kira finally started thinking about what he was actually going to do — kissing Josefumi couldn’t be that bad though, right?
“You can’t wait that much, you know.” Josefumi said after Kira didn’t make any move. He cupped Kira’s cheeks with precision (acquired probably after doing it more than one time tonight). “It’s ok to be shy but you paid for it so you shall receive your prize.”
Then, their lips were connected. Everything stopped being registered in Kira’s mind. If you asked him later how to describe how he felt at that moment, Yoshikage wouldn’t be able to explain. It was strange, they were just kissing so how could he want more and more of this new sensation? How could it make him feel high without any toxic and dangerous substance being in it? As if all had passed in a matter of seconds, he was back to Earth and Josefumi was again out of reach.
Before Kira could even think straight about what he was doing, he had already pulled off Josefumi’s blindfold. Nothing reached him, not even the complaints from the people on the queue, when he inclined himself again, taking Josefumi’s lips above his for the second time that night.
More complaints came, for obvious reasons. Josefumi took Kira’s hand in his after they broke the kiss because the air made itself necessary and cried “Someone, please, take my place.”
And then they ran to another place, away from people’s whines and their prying eyes. The night was theirs, and even if it appeared somehow sudden and wrong, their hearts were there to scream the contrary.