Chapter Text
At long last, the weekend has arrived. The two perfect days where students and workers alike could relax and enjoy some time for themselves. It's also a good time for family outings, especially ones that spend a lot of time away because of said work. That was the case with Chiaki Nanami and her parents who decided to take a breath of fresh air, and spend some family time at an amusement park some ways home.
It's a large one at that too, filled with many games, rides, and happy smiles all throughout.
"H-huh...?"
It's a shame that Chiaki didn't feel well at that moment. Sitting all alone on a bench surrounded by these taunting smiles, eyes wide, staring in horror at the quivering phone in her hands. How did it end up like this?
It all happened about ten minutes ago...
"Huh?" The gamer noticed a familiar object being held by some little kid. "Is that...?"
Her parents stopped. They were walking beside her. "What is it, Chiaki?" Her father asked.
"Um, wait a minute." She said back. walking to the little boy and his small family while her parents waited, she asked, "H-Hey, Where did you get this plush?"
"Oh, this?" The boy looked at the plush of a pinkish round mascot wearing a teal cap with cat ears. The boy's parents noticed the same color of Chiaki's jacket and surmised that she's probably a fan of whatever this cat thing is.
"This was from a stand somewhere back there." The boy's father unfolded a small map of the park, showing how grand the park was, and pointed at a place. "And this here, is where we are, i think."
Chiaki nodded her head "I see, I see..." She turned to her parents and saw them nodding.
"If you really set your eyes on something, there's not much we can do about it." Her father said.
"Once you're done, make sure to call us so you can meet us later, okay?" Her mother added. "And take care of yourself!"
"I will!"
Smiling at her parents' approval, she thanked the two families and made her way towards her next objective.
She followed the general direction of the destination in a straight line. Whether it's moving through crowds, walking on benches, or jumping gaps, nothing could stand in her way. She moved forward treating this entire thing as an adventure of its own. Then again, this was Chiaki, of course she'll take it as a fun little adventure. After many minutes of walking and jumping, she looked around at the assigned area until she saw something. From the corner of her eye, she spotted a plush identical to that of the one with the boy sitting on a small shelf in a counter among other toys. Target acquired, she thought.
She made a beeline straight to the stand running at max speed (actually, she just walked really fast) with every step making her more excited. It was embarrassing for someone like Chiaki, who was pretty much the mascot's biggest fan, to not have a plush - of all things - of this adorable game character. She had her favorite jacket but a plush was a big necessity.
She approached the man behind the stand and asked, "Excuse me! How much is that?"
"That would be 3,000 Yen. It's the last one in stock, that's why the price is doubl-"
"Sold!" She excitedly gave the exact amount without a second thought, even after that inflated price, and the man simply smiled and gave her the prize. Mission complete! she thought, feeling all jittery.
She bid farewell and walked away with the new toy in hand. She was very happy about the plush and glad that she made it before it was too late. She walked to a nearby bench and admired her new round friend from every angle and hugged it really close. She opened her phone and briefly put on her hoodie to look at herself at the camera holding her mascot close to her face. "See? We're matching!" She giggled at herself afterwards.
Chiaki pulled off her hoodie as it was time to make the call to her parents. She opened her contacts, selected the number, hit the call button, and then put it to her ear as it started to ring. After a while, she heard a click.
"Hello? Who is it?"
"Hey-" Wait a minute. That didn't sound like her mom or dad.
"Oh, it's you. Did you forget something or what?" This female voice wasn't her mother, but she did recognize it as another woman she made a deal with to buy an old console some time ago.
"S-sorry wrong person, bye!" And without waiting for a response she quickly closed the call. She pressed the phone to her forehead and sighed afterwards in embarrassment. I was so excited I called the wrong person! She shook her head embarrassingly with rosey cheeks and made another call, this time making sure she got the right number. She put the phone to her ear and waited...
*beeep*
...
*beeep*
...
*be- click!*
"I'm sorry, but you do not have enough credit. Please-" *click!*
...
She called again.
"I'm sorry, but you do not have-" *click!*
She called a third time, then a fourth and a fifth with the same robotic voice note playing over and over again. This was... not good. Not good at all.
Are you... kidding me? Her eyes widened and pupils shrunk, her smile forked and broke, her hands shook in disbelief, and her optimism was as good as gone. After all that work on this adventure for the plush, to obtain said plush, to her wasting the last of her credits on a misplaced call? She raised her eyes and looked around as a horrible sense of dread overtook all positive emotions as she came to the realization:
She was lost.
She was all alone in this giant, colorful amusement park, surrounded by strangers from all directions, far away from her parents or any living being she could recognize. All these happy faces, floating around a fearful little girl with a broken smile. Her mentality just can't handle it.
But wait, it's not that bad, right? She's not alone. She has her plush. She has her handheld and games. This fear of hers could do nothing against her games. As long as she could play her games, she was going to be okay. Nothing in the world matters with a game in her hand. And so, she put her Katty plush in her backpack and pulled out a-
Wait a minute. This was a family trip for just Chiaki and her parents. There are rides and games everywhere, none of them were on a screen. She did it all by herself too, after hearing about the trip her parents invited her to, she consciously did not bring any handhelds with her.
Well- Don't panic. This was also accounted for, right? This was fine as well. While she didn't bring a handheld, she did prepare a safety net in case a long time of waiting was involved: her phone. It was a regular flip phone with a single game on it - the snake game - but she still found it fun and could spend hours upon hours lost in the-
twenty-three percent. She forgot to charge it. She was so engrossed in her games that she forgot to charge her last hope. She could spend hours on the game, but her phone cannot. The problem was that she didn't know how long she would wait until something happened. What if her parents called her after she ran out of battery? What if she gets so lost she worries her parents to no end and ruins the trip for everyone? She couldn't risk anything at this point. How did it end up like this?
She was alone. Closed off from everyone else. The colorful world lost all its color, and the shapes walking around were just that: shapes. She tried her best to calm her shivering as much as she could. Her entire body was tense, and she was staring at the ground trying to distract herself. She poked through her pockets, maybe she had something to fiddle her hands with, maybe she had a wireless controller in her bag or a piece of trash, or anything. but no matter what, it was to no avail. There was nothing else she could do. She had lost all sense of time and place. She tried so hard to suppress an outburst that she didn't even notice the voice calling her name over and over and the hand shaking her firmly. Not until...
"Nanami."
She gasped for air as she recognized this cold, apathetic voice and at her side. Now, if a normal person were to turn their head and see an intimidating, red-eyed, very long-haired man sitting next to and looking at them, they would certainly jump, scream, and either run away or have a heart attack.
But not Nanami. She stared at him and his bored crimson eyes looked at her, blinking in confusion.
"Eh?" She must be seeing things. Was her condition so bad that it tricked her mind into seeing a friend? And this one in particular? She looked around, all the color in the area returning, then back to her friend, dressed in a black suit with some of his black hair dangling off his face as usual, and repeated the motion several times to make sure it wasn't a dream.
Of all the people she'd known or seen ever, this was the very last person she expected to see in such a bright and colorful setting surrounded by all these people. And it seemed like he came alone.
"Kamukura?" She finally said.
Izuru Kamukura was the result of a surgical experiment to infuse a human with all known talents that the school has researched, in order to create the perfect human being and dubbed him the "Ultimate Hope". He was later admitted to Class 77-B to research his behavior around other students in a working environment, granted he wouldn't tell anyone about the experiments, living conditions, and the school's constant monitoring. His parents were also informed about the results of the experiment and could visit him on certain days of the week.
Boring. That's what he thought of everything and everyone. Sure, his classmates had talents, they invited him to their activities from time to time but they always had to find a way over several walls of "That's boring" and "There's no point", and even if he does participate, they're always "predictable" and boring to him. His classmates have gotten used to him though, and don't mind that attitude as much as when they first met. He's still their classmate and, whether he likes it or not, he's their friend.
The "least boring" of the bunch was the class representative Chiaki Nanami, who looks to have unintentionally clinged onto him after she lost to him in various video games (and for a certain familiarity). She started hanging out with him more and he got to know more about her and her ideologies where he labelled her as "the least boring" of the bunch. At some point after listening to her reminiscing about an old friend, he told her his past in secret which did break her heart, but she came to terms with it in time.
After Chiaki's seemed to have snapped out of her state, he relaxed and sat back. "Good. You're out of it."
Chiaki was still confused "What... What are you doing here? Are you really Kamukura?"
"Yes, it's me. You seemed to be having a breakdown all by yourself. I assessed that something went wrong and you were overwhelmed with the large amount of people, as you said you disliked before. Are you lost, by any chance?"
She reluctantly nodded. Izuru listened as she explained her trip and how she ended alone on this bench. She even showed him her new plush and all he said was that "It was nice." She sighed heavily at the end. "...At least, I found someone familiar here..."
He looked away "This happened because you were over excited. You should've at least double-checked the number before wasting your call."
"I know..."
They sat in silence after that. While Kamukura was eyeing the boring people smiling for reasons he could guess, Chiaki was ashamed from her mistake and still feeling unwell.
"S-so... What brings you here anyway?" She started a conversation to help herself settle down a bit. "You're not the type to come here on your own, so maybe somebody made you come here?"
"That's right. There's no reason for me to come here. It was hinata's parents who-"
"Your parents-"
"MY parents... who organized this trip for their day off. Of course, when I heard the offer I declined because I could predict how boring it would be to participate. Not just for me, but for Hina-"
"Your-"
"My parents as well," He explained. "But..."
"But...?" Nanami tilted her head.
"But... you talked about how important memories are, and they were my parents, so…"
Hearing that, Chiaki's eyes had stars in them "Y-You followed my advice?" She asked excitedly.
"...Yes."
She beamed, feeling a lot better than before. Something she said actually influenced someone like him? Is this some weird power she has?
"I'm glad." Was all she could say. But wait... "Where are your parents, then? Lost is the last thing I'd expect, probably."
"They're not here." he simply said. "On the way to the park, my parents received an, unfortunate, call to work that they had to do. Since we were midway through, they decided to drop me off to "enjoy" myself, which, as I thought, was quite boring. I walked some more and found you feeling horrible."
"I see..." She tapped her fingers together while shyly glancing at him. "You could've at least dressed for the occasion..."
The Ultimate Hope shook his head. "Appearances don't matter to me, and they don't affect my enjoyment."
She pouted "You didn't even do your hair! Don't you get any weird looks?"
"Nobody could notice me with one of my talents. Well, not now that I showed myself." He caught some stares at him which only took his gaze to turn them away.
More awkward silence after that. Nanami looked around and thought of something to ask him, until she heard his voice once again. "Give me a number." She looked at him and he had his phone out ready to dial. "I can call your parents with my phone so you could tell them about your predicament."
She blinked at him. Of course! if she couldn't gather the willpower to ask a stranger, then she could ask a close friend instead! She opened the contacts list on her phone and double-checked the correct number as per Izuru's advice, and was just about to show him until something utterly unexpected happened.
A bird suddenly swept down, grabbed the Ultimate Hope's phone, and flew back up onto its nest above a nearby lamp. The two blinked stupidly at this event, still trying to process what happened.
"...What…"
"..."
"...just happened?"
"...a bird stole my phone and added it to its nest."He explained after this random little event. They looked up at the nest made of not only sticks, but various electronics, toys, and whatever the bird could get its claws on. "I supposed being lucky doesn't necessarily mean only good luck." while his face remained mostly the same, he was rather amused. "Most interesting thing to happen so far."
The gamer felt a lump in her stomach after that event. Not only was her phone unusable for communication, but this event that's even rarer than finding a shiny pokeymon, had just occurred so she can't use her friend's phone either. She gulped "...W-well, my parents will call back eventually. I-I hope." she didn't know what else to do anymore. She looked around again looking for an idea, and then a light bulb appeared over her head.
"H-hey, Kumukura, why don't we hang out, then?" his train of thought was interrupted and his attention shifted towards Chiaki. "You know, since we're already here and we're both alone, we could enjoy ourselves in the park. T-Together."
"..." He looked at the nest again, then at the people around and then back at the Chiaki. He took a few seconds before sighing, "...Fine, may as well. Who knows, maybe it wouldn't be as boring with you around."
Chiaki smiled. This could be a good beginning after the despair from earlier. She was about to take off before she remembered something. "But first, we should do something about your hair."
"What about my hair?"
She puffed her cheeks. "Obviously you can't walk around like that. Your hair is all messy and out of place. Outside is different from school grounds, and an amusement park filled with people is even more different! M-Most likely!" She stood up and walked behind the bench. "That's why I'm going to do your hair. I only know how to do braids, if that's okay."
Kamukura didn't bat an eye. He still didn't care about his looks. But still... "Go ahead. Do whatever you want."
With his approval, she took a deep breath and began her work. Despite how uninterested Izuru is about his appearance, his hair is still somehow silky and soft to touch, not unlike a girl's hair. Probably one of his talents. As she worked, she tried her best to ignore other people's stares by playing background music in her head and treating Izuru's hair like a fun little puzzle, though she was still somewhat embarrassed. Izuru can tell that it was a thing she's doing to cope, so he didn't say anything.
"Done!" She announced. Izuru got up and waved his head to get a new feel. "Hmm, it's still long, but at least it's not as weird looking as before. What do you think?"
Obviously with no mirror in sight he couldn't actually tell. "If you think it's fine, then it is."
Nanami walked back to his side and asked "So, shall we?" And held her hand forward, but she was only met with approval and a walk away. "W-wait! U-um... Well... Since we're in an amusement park, um..." she blushed "...Wh-why don't we… y'know... hold hands?"
Kamukura looked back "Why? There's no point if we're going to let go everytime we play."
She lifted a finger to argue, but realized she didn’t have a counter, so she just agreed and began walking. Though not long after, she still held his hand anyway. It must be a coping mechanism then, he had a thought, so he sighed and let it be.
They went on and played simple minigames for now to try and entertain Kamukura. Him and Nanami would compete and take turns to win the minigames while a crowd cheers, though he would always exceed in terms of speed, accuracy,and skill, if by a little. Of course, whoever wins should get a prize, but they'd turn them down because Chiaki already has the prize she wanted and Izuru doesn't want anything. Still...
"Come on, Kamukura! At least take something small." Nanami pouted after her friend's latest victory.
"I told you, I fail to see the point of it. It's just a lifeless object. A decoration with no purpose." he told her in his usual cold manner.
"It does have a point! It's for...um..." she started thinking, trying to pick one of three options in her head. "...for being a souvenir! Of our fateful encounter here at the park!" And then before Kamukura could protest, she quickly scanned the shelves and pointed at her target. "Mister, we'll take that one!"
The man behind the stand looked at where she was pointing. He waved his head back and forth between the small plush and the couple before scratching his head. "...Well, if you say so!" And then handed the scary looking person his prize. "Here you go!"
The gamer looked at the plush with confusion, as it wasn't exactly the one she pointed at. "U-um, actually..."
"I'll take it."
"Eh, what?" She looked at the plush and then Kamukura. The thought of this long-haired, apathetic man in the same frame as this cute little white bunny was quite endearing. "Are you sure? I mean, you don't have to..."
"I don't care about what it is and what it looks like. I'm fine with anything." He bowed to the minigame man who thanked him and waved back, and started walking away.
"But- Wait!" The gamer ran behind him "I don't think you should have this- I mean, you should have something but- You know, something better for you. I'd feel bad if you got that instead of... um..." She fiddled with her fingers in embarrassment.
"What is it?"
"Instead of... of..." she thought for a moment before taking off her pink cat bag and taking something out "...Instead of this!"
Kamukura blinked at the spherical item with pointed ears. "...This is yours. You bought it with your own money, and why you got yourself lost in the first place, and even had a mental shutdown as well." he reminded her of the main issue that started it all, which made the gamer feel a little down. " And I recall you saying it was the last in stock."
"I know that, but..." she paused. Two options appeared in her head: To give it away, or keep it. She really considered the situation as something she can't go back and change. When she made her decision, Izuru was about to move on before she called:
"Kamukura!"
Kamukura turned and saw the determined look on her eyes as she made her decisive choice "It's fine, you can take it."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, I'm sure. It's not the last one in existence, probably. You could have it not just as a souvenir, but as a token of our friendship. That's something friends do to get closer as friends. What do you say?" she gave him a smile that was rather hard to refuse. "It also contains more interesting memories related to it then the other one, right?"
He couldn't help but sigh after that. "If that's what you want. We'll trade, then."
"How'd you know that's what I wanted?" she teased. The two proceeded to trade both plushies at the same time. Now Chiaki had the rabbit, who she dubbed Usami, and Kamukura got the mascot plush, Katty.
With the new plushie in hand, they continued onwards with their adventure, and Chiaki treated themselves with some cotton candy to commemorate this event.
After walking for a while making small talk, Nanami felt some vibrations in her jacket's pockets. She hurriedly took the phone out and answered the call, as it was her mother who was worried sick after a long time with no communication.
She told her mother an abridged version of the story, obviously omitting her breakdown for feeling lost. After telling her that she's "with a friend" and some back and forth, her parents agreed to let their daughter be with her friend and set up a meeting time for the evening, before wishing them good luck and a thank you for her friend before closing the line.
"Did you hear that, Kamukura? Now my parents know about me, and we get to spend more time together!" Nanami rejoiced while the ultimate hope just hummed.
"It seems so."
She blinked at his lack of enthusiasm and pouted "At least pretend to be excited. Aren't you having any fun at all?"
"You know how it is." he told her as a matter of fact.
"Hmm... Guess I'll have to try harder then " she sighed, but that didn't mean she was let down. In fact, with her parents' consent, she was more determined to do even bigger things. "Alright then, Let's play some more!" she exclaimed and then pretty much dragged him towards their next destination.
To prepare themselves for a ride that would surely get this ultimate's heart racing, she would take him to play something to get their bodies moving. She was hoping to play some bumper cars, but figured her friend wouldn't enjoy some mindless, bumpy fun, so she went to the next best thing: Go Karts. Naturally the line would be a good amount of long, but thanks to Izuru's luck messing with everyone ahead, they managed to get a turn in no time. They entered the race with three other competitors, and with a count of three, the race had begun.
Needless to say, despite the fierce competition from his rival close behind, The ultimate hope was the ultimate winner, while the other three struggled to get anywhere close. But hey, at least they witnessed a new impossible record being set for the attraction, so there's that.
Now that that's done with, Chiaki took him to the star of this trip: The Great Roller Coaster. It was one of the largest attractions, and it's very popular with thrill-seekers. Again, thanks to the ultimate hope, they barely did any waiting. Due to his long hair possibly interfering with the joy of others, the two classmates had to understandably sit at the very end of the coaster, with the gamer hoping that it wouldn't hinder their enjoyment. In truth, it didn't really matter all that much, though his hair did untangle by the end of it. It was really fast and thrilling, with twists and turns and loop-de-loops. In fact, after they got off, Izuru commented that this was "the least boring ride so far" which lit his partner's eyes brightly, who felt more motivated to do even more.
On their way to look for even more, Kamukura spotted the funhouse ahead in their way and felt this ominous aura coming from it, and his instincts told him to get Chiaki away from it. So with an idea popping in his head, he lured her away by treating her to some food, which she happily accepted, unsuspecting of the supposed danger ahead.
After they finished their rather silent lunch (and Chiaki getting weird looks for eating with her imaginary friend), with the amount of time left on the clock, there weren't many things they could do, or any idea on what they should do next. So with whatever time they have, they made a plan to play a few more games easy on their stomachs, and then one more ride that Chiaki kept a secret. They competed in many more games, which were a downgrade to the roller coaster in Izuru's eyes, as that ride was truly the biggest highlight in the park (besides the thieving bird of course) And then, when the time felt right, Chiaki took him to the secret attraction that she's been eagerly waiting to take him to:
The Ferris Wheel.
Izuru didn't understand why she'd take him to the most boring ride there is or why she's excited, but since she's pretty eager about it, he followed without complaints.
When the cabin arrived, Chiaki went in first followed by her mysterious classmate. She took off her cat bag and sat it next to her as the doors closed and the wheel turned for the next passengers. She stretched and got comfortable, and a few minutes passed until the cabin was rising higher away from the ground.