Chapter Text
Megumin let out a soft sigh as she sat down on the somewhat uncomfortable bus stop bench, adjusting her school bag so that it rested on her lap instead of the bench beside her; that spot was already reserved for someone else. Trying to pass the time before her friend arrived, she briefly made a futile attempt to tidy her now windswept bangs before giving up in favour of simply just enjoying the early morning Spring breeze.
To be honest, the girl was… discomforted? Annoyed? Antsy? Yeah, antsy, let's go with that. Today was her final half-day of school before Spring break began, something she was sure all of her peers were excitedly looking forward to, yet she honestly couldn't be less excited about it if she tried. Sure, a break from schoolwork would certainly be a welcome one for her, even though she rarely had any problems when it came to it, but she had an ominous feeling that the next 2 weeks would be both very, very tiring and very, very boring for her.
It was a fairly common occurrence during her vacations for her parents to leave her to look after herself and her little sister, Komekko, while they went around trying to find someone willing to invest in - or even just buy - her father's mostly useless products. While she really did love taking care of her little sister, she had done it enough times by now to know how difficult and, more importantly, exhausting it could be, not to mention all the chores she would have to do around the house while her mother was gone. Simply put, Megumin highly doubted that her Spring break would be anything even close to relaxing.
Even so, that wasn't the only thing troubling her in relation to her upcoming 'break'. As she softly drummed the back of her shoes against the bench, her thoughts slowly drifted towards the person she had been waiting at the bus stop for, it seemed that he was a couple minutes late today. That was fine, he had been late before, just like she had been late on a few occasions, it would be stupid for her to let it bother her. Yet it still slightly irked her all the same.
"Why did you have to be late today?" Megumin impatiently mumbled to herself.
She allowed herself to linger on her thoughts of him for a little longer as she stared at the bus stop's schedule. She was being stupid, he was only a few minutes late, she was the one who had arrived early anyways.
The girl was quickly pulled out of her thoughts as a new presence made itself known to her, sitting down next to her and gently bumping her arm with his elbow to get her attention.
"Yo," Kazuma said, lazily waving at her as he showed her a small smile that quickly morphed into a frown as he began speaking again, "Sorry if I kept you waiting, my idiot roommate was even more difficult than usual this morning. She somehow clogged the sink and refused to let me leave until I fixed the problem she caused."
Megumin gave her best friend a sympathetic look as he complained, she was all too used to the horror stories of Kazuma's roommate by this point. "Right, she clogged the sink with… what exactly? A-actually hold on, do I even want to know what she clogged it with?".
"Honestly, for your own sake, it's best that you never know," The boy grimaced before sifting his vision towards the road before them, straining his eyes to spot something coming up from a short distance, "Pretty sure our bus is almost here, by the way."
"Mhm," Megumin simply responded, dusting off her skirt and moving her bag back into position as she moved to stand up.
Before long, she and Kazuma had boarded the bus and were now seated upon the somewhat more comfortable bus seats, settling in for their regular commute. Kazuma had pulled out his phone and was seemingly replying to a message he'd just received while his shorter companion simply just sat next to him, occasionally stealing small glances at him - and his phone in particular - as she looked for some way to break the comfortable silence between the two of them.
'This really won't do…' Megumin thought to herself as she began to absentmindedly fiddle with the hem of her skirt, 'I don't mind these silent moments usually, but… considering the fact that we probably won't see each other for at least two weeks after this, I… I really do want to make the most of this time with him.'
With a newfound determination to make the best out of their final commute (she was being over-dramatic again, wasn't she?), Megumin turned to face Kazuma. "Hey, Kazuma. Kazuma!".
"I'm Kazuma," Came the expected reply as he turned off his phone and shoved it into his jacket pocket, giving the girl next to him his full attention.
"Today's your last day before Spring break, right?".
"Mhm, half-day," He replied, stretching his left arm with a slight groan, "I've only got classes in the morning, so don't bother waiting for me on the bus later."
"Fufufu," Megumin giggled, briefly slipping back into her chuunibyou ways as she brought up her right hand to cover one of her eyes for dramatic effect, "But of course I'll be waiting for you later. For you see, I have also had my daily schedule torn asunder by the cruel hands of fate!".
"You're embarrassing yourself in public again," Came Kazuma's deadpan reply, causing Megumin to shrink back into her seat as she saw that she was indeed getting a few weird looks from some of their fellow bus-goers. The (mostly) reformed chuunibyou felt her cheeks heat up immensely due to her old habits slipping through the cracks once again, before turning to her friend with a meek yet guilty look on her face. "Don't look at me like that," Her companion sighed and gave her a sympathetic look, "I really don't mind if you act like that from time to time, but if you act like a kid in public, you're bound to get people looking at you, y'know?".
She barely managed to avoid flinching due the 'acting like a kid' part of his comment. Seriously, didn't he know that was a sensitive topic for her?
"Sorry… W-well, anyways, as I was saying before, I don't have afternoon classes either," Megumin steered their conversation back into its original direction, "Soooooo, I know that we don't usually walk home together on Fridays, but we probably won't be able to see each other as often over the break, so why not walk home with me?".
"U-unless you have work afterwards! In which case it's fine." She added after a few moments.
Looking up at Kazuma's face, she saw his furrowed eyebrows and slightly downturned mouth. She knew that expression, he was definitely mentally weighing the pros and cons of her suggestion right now. It didn't seem to take him very long to come to a decision, as after only a few seconds, his features became much more relaxed as he once again looked down at his shorter companion. "Sure, sounds good. I'll have a couple hours to kill before my shift starts anyways."
'A couple hours?' The girl pondered over his words, a few ideas popping into her head from his words. She found herself sending him a heart-warming smile in response. "Thanks," Her smile fluctuated for a second before she decided to just tell him about what had been bothering her, "To be fully honest, I'm not particularly excited for the next two weeks. Like, at all."
Kazuma fixed her a sceptical look as he listened, "Oi, I thought you said that you weren't one of those weirdos with some kind of unhealthy obsession with school."
"I-it's not like that!" Megumin shot back, indignantly, "I really don't care all that much about school, you know that. I'm just kinda stressed out about having to look after the entire house and my little sister for the next two weeks is all. Sure, I've done it a couple of times before, but I'm still a little worried, y'know?".
"Huh, I see." The brown haired teen shrugged, "So that's why you're so fidgety today. I just assumed it was your time of the month or something."
"Kazu-ma!".
"Yeah, I know, I kn- Ow ow ow! Okay you can stop now!" He groaned, batting her away with one arm and moving the other to shield his chest from the barrage of tiny punches, "As I was going to say, I can relate to you on that much at least. I'm still gonna hafta go into work most days, as if babysitting my very own shut-in wasn't work enough. Plus, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. I mean, you are a pretty responsible person nowadays… and you always seem to do a good job when it comes to taking care of Komekko, so…".
All of Megumin's internal grumblings about Kazuma's earlier dirty comment quickly faded away as her brain became awash with Kazuma's genuine praise. She'd known him long enough to know that what he had said was his true feelings, he wouldn't be looking as embarrassed as he was right now if that wasn't the case. She tried her best to ignore the red of her cheeks and her goofy looking smile as she watched him awkwardly scratch at his neck while he tried his hardest to avoid making eye contact with her. She really did love it whenever he'd give her a brief glimpse of his more un-composed side.
"A-anyways," he brought his fist up to his mouth and cleared his throat, quickly squashing his embarrassment, "I'm sure it won't be all that bad. It's not like you're gonna be completely busy 24/7, your sister still goes to kindergarten most weekdays, right?".
She nodded her head, "Yeah, I guess I'll still have some free time to myself, I'm not really sure why I've been going into this whole thing with such a pessimistic attitude, haha….".
Instead of responding verbally, Kazuma just nodded his head and sent her a genuine smile, the type that made the bus feel just slightly warmer and her cheeks slightly pinker, before seemingly remembering something and pulling his phone out from his jacket pocket, scrolling through until he found what he was looking for. "Oh, before I forget, I saw this video last night, thought you'd like it…".
The remainder of their bus ride together continued in their usual fashion. Megumin listened intently as Kazuma described the exhausting few hours he'd had to endure at work the evening before, with the girl occasionally chiming in with her own remarks and colour commentary. Kazuma sat with an expression of slight concern and pity as Megumin regaled him with stories of Yunyun's recent stalking attempts and afterwards Kazuma just let her mess around on his phone for the last 5 or so minutes before she got ready to make her way off at her stop.
"I'll wait for you outside the gates, 'kay? Try not to be too late this time, please." She slumped her shoulders slightly as she got up from her seat and looked back at the boy, who simply responded with a tired grin and a thumbs up.
It really had been a very uneventful school day for Megumin so far, all things considered. Despite the fact that the school day was technically already over, in terms of classes anyway, she still had the lunch period to get through before they would be allowed to leave. Not that she was complaining about that, mind you. Food was food, and what she'd be given here was probably a lot better and more filling than whatever she'd have to eat at home.
As she entered the school's cafeteria, she quickly set about the task of getting in line for her meal. After successfully procuring today's lunch, she was quickly waved over to a nearby table by two girls, two of her classmates, Funifura and Dodonko. Truthfully, Megumin wasn't particularly close to either of the girls but she did still consider the two of them her friends, so she had no issues joining them at their table. It's not like she had anyone else to sit with anyway. Well, anyone else besides that weird loner girl, that is.
"Hey Megumin!" Funifura enthusiastically greeted her, while Dodonko simply just waved at her, chewing on her sandwich.
Megumin returned their greetings with greetings of her own as she placed her tray down onto the table and sat down. "Ah, Hey Funikura-".
"It's Funifura! With an 'f'!".
She naturally ignored the girl's complaints, instead turning to the other girl. "Hi Dodonko."
"Mhm," She swallowed her mouthful, "Hey."
"Soooo, Megumin," Funifura began, slightly leaning over the table, "Got any plans?".
"Hmm?" Megumin gave a quizzical glance at the girl, "Plans… for what?".
"For the next two weeks, obviously. What else would we be talking about?".
'Ah, of course,' The short haired girl couldn't help but sigh internally, she had already heard this exact conversation come up between her peers multiple times over the course of the day, 'Seriously, don't these people have anything else to talk about?'.
"Not really," She simply stated between mouthfuls of food, "My parents will be out of town, so I'll be taking care of the house for most of the time."
"So you really have no plans at all?" Queried Dodonko.
Funifura looked at her for a few seconds, before smirking mischievously, "What about your boyfriend, then? Are you seriously not gonna go see him even one time?".
"Guk!" Megumin quickly swallowed her food, "B-boyfriend? What kind of weird things are you saying now?".
"Ohhh yeah," Dodonko joined in, knitting her brows together as if she was trying to remember something important, "That highschool guy you're always clinging to, right? What's his name again… Kazuto? Kazuya? Kazu… something."
"Kazuma!" She squeaked, already regretting involving herself in this conversation. "And I don't 'cling' to him, thank you very much!".
"Yeah, that's the one, Kazuma. He is your boyfriend right?".
The poor girl's face was already beet red by this point. "W-wha-? No! Of course not. It's not like that… Me and Kazuma… aren't…" She trailed off, not really knowing what she could say to salvage this situation. Instead, she just turned her head away from the two girls, hoping they couldn't see the deep red blush that covered her cheeks.
Because things really weren't like that between her and Kazuma. They really were just friends, even despite how much Meguin wished that they could be more than that. She did love Kazuma, she loved him a lot, and she had felt that way for a while now. But what was she supposed to do about it? She who, until around a year ago, had only cared about practising new 'cool' poses to do in tandem with her equally-as-cool monologues or working on perfecting her 'explosion magic'. The same girl who had once adamantly mocked such things as love and romance, claiming them to be nothing more than pathetic and embarrassingly girly emotions that she was far too mature to care about. How was that girl supposed to deal with the undeniable fact that she was indeed in love with Kazuma Satou?
She knew that she had - no, that she wanted - to tell him exactly how she felt about him. Tell him how much he truly meant to her, about how much comfort even just his simple presence would always bring her, about how much she just wanted to… be with him. She'd tell him that she always sees him as the kind and caring person that he truly is, no matter how much he tries to hide or downplay his good deeds towards others, for whatever reason, she'd always notice. There was so much she loved about the boy, even in spite of his somewhat perverted nature and occasional sour mood whenever things really weren't going well for him.
She would tell him. She just didn't know when… or where… or… how.
B-but she would! Really! She loved him too much to let him go without knowing her true feelings for much longer. That much was certain.
Over on the other side of the table, Funifura sat with a knowing smirk, trying to suppress her giggling, while Dodonko, on the other hand, seemed to be genuinely confused.
"Huh?" She tilted her head, a questioning look pulled at her features, "Wait, so he really isn't your boyfriend?".
Megumin turned her head back towards them as she picked at what was left of her meal, before simply mumbling in an uncharacteristically defeated tone."...No."
"Oh?" Funifura feigned surprise for a moment, before leaning towards Megumin with a smug smile, "Do you want him to be your boyfriend?".
Megumin had just about had it up to here with this girl! Who did she think she was, trying to tease her about Kazuma like this? She was ready to give this impudent girl a real taste of her mind. Yet, to her complete shock and horror, she instead found herself nodding meekly, before mumbling out a small sound of confirmation. Seriously, what was wrong with her right now? Did Kazuma really have that much of an effect on her that she'd go to these two for help?
"Ha! I knew it!" Funifura cheered, far too loudly in Megumin's opinion, "Little Megumin, who would always call romance stupid and childish, is in loooove~! And with an upperclassman, too!".
"L-little!? I'll show you who's little!" Megumin yelled, the tidal wave of rage and embarrassment that had just washed over her making her entire face light up with an impressive shade of red.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Funifura leaned back in her chair, narrowly avoiding the string of jabs and swipes that were sent her way by the irritated girl across the table. "But, seriously, what are you gonna do about it?".
Sensing the slightly more serious tone in her voice, Megumin gave up her attempted assault. "What do you mean?".
It was Dodonko who spoke up to answer her question. "Well, if I had a fairly good-looking guy that I liked showing me that kind of attention, I'd probably want to make a move before someone else gets to him first… or something like that?".
As much as Megumin hated to admit it, she did have a point there. Sure, Kazuma wasn't some popular 'pretty boy' or anything, he hated those types of people, but he certainly did have a pretty decent amount of friends, way more than she had, and many of those friends were girls. Very pretty girls, according to Kazuma himself. She momentarily had to suppress a physical cringe at the thought of some other girl taking Kazuma before she could confess to him, there's no way she'd let that happen!
It was just then, at that exact moment, that Megumin heard something that really pissed her off. "Hmm…" Funifura crossed her arms, "Well, if Megumin isn't interested in making any moves on him, I may as well just ask him to walk home with me from now on instead. He is kinda cute, don't you think?".
The girl felt a vein pop in her forehead as she saw the innocent grin on her face and the nod of agreement from Dodonko. Oh, she'd put up with a lot of grief from these two girls already but this was too far. As if she didn't already have enough to deal with when it came to Kazuma, this girl thinks she can come in and take him away from her just like that, as if!
Yet still, Megumin couldn't help but squirm as she angrily looked over the two girls before her. While Megumin's current physique was… lacking, to put it lightly, puberty had obviously been much more generous to Funifura and Dodonko, giving them bodies that could only really be beaten by Yunyun and the two tumours she had growing on her. Megumin couldn't help but suddenly feel very self-conscious in that moment, with her own body being way shorter and flatter in comparison to her peers. She knew Kazuma liked girls with curvy bodies and big chests, she could figure that much out from how he'd talked about the girl who moved into his apartment block a few weeks ago, so how was she supposed to be appealing to him when she'd barely had any physical changes since puberty began.
Simply just wanting to leave the conversation as soon as possible, and in a worse mood than she was willing to admit out loud, Megumin sent the other two girls a mean glare as she hurriedly ate the last few mouthfuls of food on her plate. Standing up from her chair, now eager to get back at the two girls for their irritating behaviour ever since she'd sat down, she leaned over them, for once actually towering over them, before speaking with the most intimidating voice she could muster, "Don't you dare try to make any moves on my man, okay?".
Because really, even if it was only in her head as of right now, she'd already decided that she was going to make him hers.
If he actually returned her feelings, that is.
Despite her admittedly very cool exit from the cafeteria, Megumin quickly realised that she still had about 10 minutes before they were actually allowed to go home. With nothing else to really do, she began to aimlessly wander from corridor to corridor, heading in the general direction of the school's entrance.
About a minute or two into her stroll, she felt a familiar pair of eyes on the back of her head, quickly turning around to spot a clearly caught off guard Yunyun, as she quickly moved to hide herself behind a conveniently placed row of lockers. She maintained her eye contact with the poorly-hidden girl for a few seconds, with Yunyun obviously aware that she'd been caught by now. Megumin increased the intensity of her stare as Yunyun began to sweat and fidget with her hands. Eyes still locked onto her target, Megumin took a single step in her direction and then…
Megumin quickly turned around and casually walked off in the direction she had been going originally, as if she'd never seen the girl behind the locker.
"Hey! D-don't ignore me! You clearly saw me!" Yunyun indignantly wailed as she ran out from her hiding place before screeching to a halt in front of the girl, her face flushed and her eyes watery.
"Oh, were you the thing following me around like a lost puppy?" Megumin asked, feigning ignorance, "Well, anyway, it happens so often nowadays that I've just learnt to tune out your presence."
"T-that's not true at all, you were looking right at me! You even started to walk towards me!" Yunyun began, before quickly slapping her cheeks to calm herself down. "Anyway, t-that's not the p-point."
She then nervously looked around, making sure that there was no one else there with them, before taking a deep breath and doing what Megumin could only assume was supposed to be an imitation of one of her poses from back when she was a chunni.
"Megumin, what a strange coincidence it is that we happened to run across each other just now! As umm… fate… uhh…" Her pose dropped a little as she began to fumble with her words, "Yes, as fate has placed us both here together, I shall take this o-opportunity to invite y-you to join me on an i-incredible outing l-later today…?".
"...".
"...".
Megumin stared at the other girl with a dubious expression. "... You want to hang out later today, right?".
"Y-yes," The poor girl hung her head in shame, completely dejected.
"Seeing you trying and miserably failing to be cool is giving me second hand embarrassment. Or were you trying to make fun of me?".
"N-no! That's not what I was trying to do at all…".
"Stop looking so sad already," She sighed, pitying the hopeless girl in front of her, "When and where?".
"H-huh?" Yunyun squeaked out, raising her downcast face to look up at the other girl.
"You said you were inviting me to hang out," Megumin simply replied, "Surely you wouldn't invite someone to hang out without thinking about where you'd go and at what time,". Actually, she personally had done that exact thing multiple times before but decided to omit that as she was sure that Yunyun had already decided on a time and place, and then probably had at least a dozen backup times and backup places, it just seemed like something that the strange loner would do.
"Y-yes, Of course!" Megumin had never seen someone look so relieved about something so small, all she did was ask her a question, " So I was thinking that w-we could go to a pancake place I've read about online, the reviews are pretty good. I w-was thinking m-maybe going at 3:30? I-if you want to, that is…".
"Hmmm," Megumin thought for a moment, before nonchalantly shrugging, "Sure, why not?".
Almost immediately, Yunyun's face lit up in joy, a wide smile pulling on her features as her eyes became ever so slightly glassy. Sure, Megumin did see the other girl as pretty strange, not to mention fairly embarrassing to be around at times, but she didn't hate her or anything like that. Seeing the pure happiness on the face of the other girl, she couldn't help but momentarily return her smile with a slightly smaller smile of her own.
"But," Megumin raised a finger, as if to lecture Yunyun, "I'd rather move it to 4 instead, I have to pick my little sister up from daycare at 3:30."
"That's fine!" The shy girl began to nod her head vigorously, "4 is fine."
"And on the subject of my sister, My mom won't be home until later on, so Komekko will have to come with us."
"Of course, of course! You know what they say, the more the merrier. Eheheh…".
"Mmkay, it sounds like it might be a little fun," Megumin absentmindedly said, watching as the odd girl in front of her began to fidget and twitch for a few moments before pulling a couple dozen small pieces of paper out of her bag. Once she was sure she had all the small slips of paper, Yunyun made quick work of shuffling through each individual piece of paper, mumbling something under her breath as she searched for a specific one.
Just as Megumin was about to question what exactly it was that the other girl was looking for, Yunyun's furrowed eyebrows relaxed as she hastily shoved all but one of the paper sheets back into her bag, offering the one she had in her hand to Megumin with a smile that was trying way too hard to look natural. "H-here! This is the address of the place we'll be h-hanging out at," She said as she pointed at the first line of writing, then pointing to the second line and continuing, "A-and this is the time we'll be meeting at, just in case you forget… B-but it's not a problem if you do forget! T-this is just here to help you… y'know…".
Megumin quickly tuned out the other girl's rambling as it began to dawn on her just what Yunyun had been doing earlier. 'Even though she was the one who suggested we meet up at 3:30, it clearly says 4:00 right here,' She narrowed her eyes as she examined her companion, 'Did she…? Actually of course she did, this is exactly the kind of thing she would do.'
'She totally wrote down every single time and place that she thought I might decide on, didn't she?'.
"Umm… Megumin? Why are you looking at me like that?".
"No reason, Yunyun, no reason at all…" Megumin sent her a pitying look.
'This girl is a serious mess…'
Despite her many grievances with the girl, Megumin was pleasantly surprised by the fact that she actually considered her conversation with Yunyun to be a worthwhile one, for two reasons. Reason 1 being that, though she had no intention of telling the other girl as such, she was actually a little excited to hang out later. Sure, she was more so excited about the food she would be eating than the other girl's company, but she didn't need to tell Yunyun that. The other reason, reason 2, was the fact that Yunyun's brief intrusion had very much helped her complete her earlier task of finding some way to spend the last 10 minutes before she would be allowed to leave.
Making 100% sure that she'd taken everything out of her locker, not that there was much inside in the first place, Megumin slammed the door shut and began to make her way towards the front entrance of the school, waving to the few people that she recognised as she passed by. As she walked through the front entrance and began to make her way towards the school's gates, she took a moment to take in the calming Spring air. Maybe she really had been a bit too pessimistic recently, she really should just try to enjoy the holiday instead of just brooding over it the entire time. She wasn't usually the type of person to overthink things like this, it only ever happened when it came to-
"Oi, Megumin. Over here," The dark haired girl couldn't help but jump a little as the unexpected voice pulled her from her thoughts. Megumin hadn't even fully registered that she had already passed through the front gates until she turned around to see a familiar face leaning against her school's outer wall, waving at her once he'd gotten her attention.
"Kazuma, Kazuma," She greeted him as she began to make her way to his side.
"Mhm, I'm Kazuma."
"How are you here so early? I only just got out myself," Megumin gave the boy a suspicious look, "Don't tell me that you stopped attending classes again. I'm not gonna let you revert back into a shut-in, Kazuma!".
"Oi, you have no right to lecture other people about playing hooky, miss too-sick-to-do-sports," The boy grumbled back in return, "And, just so you know, I haven't skipped a single class since I started attending school again."
"P-playing hooky? I d-don't do that anymore…" The incredulous look he was giving her made it obvious that he didn't believe her in the slightest. "... I don't do that… as often as I used to."
Kazuma softly snorted in amusement before patting the dejected girl on the head, telling her that it really didn't matter if she skipped a few gym classes or not. While she was pretty sure she'd feel humiliated if it had been anyone else, Megumin could do very little to stop the warm feeling in her heart and the soft blush on her cheeks as she felt Kazuma's hand gently petting her hair.
Truthfully, Kazuma had intended to stop after a few sympathetic pats, but as he was about to move his hand away, he couldn't help but notice the blissful expression on the short girl's face as she visibly relaxed under his brief contact. "You been stressed out recently or something?" He asked, still absentmindedly patting the top of her head, "I don't think I've ever seen you look this relaxed."
"E-eh?" The girl squeaked in embarrassment, realising all too late that Kazuma had definitely seen the expression on her face as he was petting her. "N-no, nothing like that really," There wasn't a single believable lie she could come up with in that moment, "I just liked the feeling of you petting my hair is all, It feels nice…".
"Ah, r-right…" He wasn't really sure how to respond to something like that, "You're welcome…? I guess?".
Megumin could feel some of her own tension being relieved as she listened to the boy's own awkward response, though her smile did falter a little as she felt him pull his hand away from her head. As she looked over at her friend, briefly studying his features, she got an idea. A very good idea if she were to say so herself. "Hey, Kazuma,".
"Yeah?".
"You look pretty tired, you okay?". She really wasn't lying, the boy next to her really did look very, very tired, even more so than he usually did. Her face softened into a sympathetic smile as looked over his weary smile and the noticeable bags under his eyes.
"Mmm, I'm fine," He replied, genuinely surprised by the concern he had heard in Megumin's voice, "Just didn't get a chance to make myself a coffee this morning, so I'm a little more exhausted than usual I guess."
Megumin's plan was going perfectly so far, she had Kazuma right where she wanted him. All she had to do now was go for it. "Let's go get one now then."
"Huh?".
"Coffee," She said as nonchalantly as possible, "I don't want you to go around looking like you're about to pass out at any moment, so I'll go with you to get coffee, if that's what it takes."
"Alright," He indifferently shrugged, but his small companion didn't fail to notice how his smile grew just a little bit, "Thanks."
Megumin mentally pumped her fist in success as she began to lead the way, with Kazuma pushing himself away from the wall and stepping into pace beside her. "There's a café not too far away that I've heard some of the other girls talk about, so we'll be going there."
"Sounds good."
"Uhhhhh, Megumin?" Kazuma said as the two of them stood outside the café, the girl to his right preparing to walk inside.
She turned to look at him, clearly a little confused, "What is it? Have you been to this place before?".
"…This is the café I work at," He sheepishly informed her. He'd initially had his suspicions that this 'café near Megumin's school' might have been the one he worked part time at, Café Blessing, but he had quickly squashed those thoughts once Megumin took a different route than the one he was used to taking every time he went to work. Turns out she just didn't know the most efficient way to get there, which did make sense to Kazuma, it's not like he'd ever seen her while he was working there before.
She'd really screwed this up, hadn't she? Her plan up until now had been going perfectly, so of course she had to accidentally take him to the café that he literally works at! The even more embarrassing thing was that this was the only café she knew about nearby, she wasn't exactly the type of person to go to cafés often, she didn't have the money for that. Megumin couldn't help but tussle her hair in frustration, 'Some 'blessing' this place was!'.
Kazuma let out a sigh as he observed his red-eyed friend. She was clearly super embarrassed about the fact that she'd take him to the café that he himself was an employee of, that much was clear from the look on her face as she messed up her hair. Truthfully, Kazuma didn't really care that much, he found it more funny than anything, but her honest mistake was clearly bothering Megumin, something that served to bring his mood down much more than he'd expected it to.
"Well, It can't be helped now," He casually stated as he walked towards the door, turning his head back towards the girl, "You coming in?".
Megumin quickly snapped out of her stupor, "Is it okay? We don't have to go here if you don't want to, Kazuma."
"I don't really mind," He answered honestly, "Sure, it's kinda weird to come here as a customer for once, but it's not like a problem for me or anything. C'mon."
She quickly perked up at his words, closing the gap between them as Kazuma pushed open the café door and she followed him inside. Megumin was fairly surprised to see that they were the only customers in the café at the moment, maybe this was just a slow hour for them.
"Hey, welcome to-" The girl behind the counter cheerily greeted them before cutting herself off as she turned towards her new customers, "Kazuma? I don't mind you coming to work early at all, I encourage it actually, but you do know that your shift today doesn't start for another few hours, right?".
"I'm aware, chief," Kazuma complained to the girl, who simply just stuck her tongue out at him, "We're just here to get drinks."
"We?" 'Chief' questioned, quickly spotting the smaller girl slightly behind Kazuma, "Oh? And who exactly is she, Helper?".
"Hmm? Oh right, this is Megumin, we usually sit together on the morning bus," He said, then turning to address Megumin, "Megumin, this is Chris, she's my boss here."
"Nice to meetcha, Megumin!" Chris shot her a toothy grin and a thumbs up, "I hope helper here hasn't been causing you too much trouble."
"Don't worry, I know how to deal with him by this point."
"Tch, If anything, you're the one who causes problems for me," Kazuma groaned as he made his way to the counter, Megumin following him shortly after.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?" She pouted, puffing her cheeks out at the boy, "I don't cause that many problems for you, do I?".
Kazuma simply rolled his eyes at her. "No, of course you don't," He replied sarcastically, causing the girl to puff up her cheeks even more, "Just pick something from the menu already."
The stubborn girl eventually relented and deflated her rosy cheeks and looked towards the menu hung up on the wall that Kazuma had just pointed out to her. Megumin's eyes were almost immediately drawn to the iced caramel latte, almost drooling at just the thought of it, but just as she was about to turn back towards Chris and make her order, her head quickly filled up with a number of different thoughts. She felt a little childish and immature for even considering ordering something like that.
'I feel so stupid right now, I can't even tell if I'm overthinking this or not. Why am I even worried about this in the first place?'.
Memories of every time she'd been called childish or been scolded for 'acting like a kid' quickly ran through her head.
'Oh right. I need to act more mature!'.
"I'll take a black coffee please," Megumin stated as she turned back towards the counter.
"You- wha?" Kazuma quirked an eyebrow at the girl's choice, "Oi, Megumin, you sure you wanna order something like that? I thought you told me that you weren't good with bitter things."
"It's fine," She reaffirmed, "I want this, I have black coffee all the time at home, so it won't be an issue for a mature woman such as myself."
Kazuma fixed her with a stern glare, clearly aware that she was lying. He continued to stare at her for a few more seconds, the girl beginning to sweat and fidget under his gaze, before he simply just sighed and turned to quickly scan through the menu.
"Alright," The brown haired boy glanced at the menu, even though he already knew it by heart, "I'll take an iced caramel latte, chief, with cream."
It was now Megumin's turn to send her companion a sceptical look, she'd honestly expected him to order something a little stronger, especially with how mellow he clearly seemed. All the while, Chris snickered to herself in the background, already having a good idea of what Kazuma was doing.
"Alright! One black coffee and one iced caramel latte, with cream, coming up," Chris proclaimed as she moved to go prepare their drinks. "You don't have to pay for these, by the way, I'll just take the money out of helper's next paycheck."
"Oi! You just said something that I can't ignore," Kazuma raged as Chris playfully winked as she made her may to the back.
With nothing else to do but wait, the two friends moved to sit across from each other at one of the nearby tables. "Kazuma," Megumin said as her mind wandered back to a previous conversation, "You never answered my question from earlier, by the way."
The high schooler tilted his head in confusion, "Hmm? What question, Megumin?"
"How did you get out of school so early? It usually takes you around 15 to 20 minutes to get from your school to mine, so how did you get there before I even got out?".
"To be fair," He answered, fiddling with a small sugar packet he found on the table, "I'd only been there for about a minute or so before you turned up. As for how I got out around 20 minutes before you, that's probably because we were allowed to leave whenever we wanted during the lunch period. Judging by the fact that it looked like everyone was leaving at the same time, I assume you guys had to stay for all of lunch no matter what."
"Wha-? You got to leave during lunch? How is that fair?".
"I think you're forgetting that I'm a high schooler now, Megumin. It's only natural that us high schoolers would get special privileges compared to you guys."
"I guess… I guess that's true," She angrily grumbled, lamenting the injustices of still being in middle school.
"Drinks are ready, you two," Chris declared as she made her way to their table, Placing their drinks in front of her two customers. Megumin cheerfully thanked her waitress while Kazuma simply groaned, clearly too tired to deal with his boss for much longer. As Chris happily skipped off, already used to Kazuma's antics by this point, Megumin pulled her drink closer towards her to look at its murky black contents. She really shouldn't have ordered this. If it wasn't for the fact that Kazuma had paid for her drink, she probably would've just ordered a new one already. Speaking of Kazuma, she looked over to see him still holding the sugar packet, seemingly disinterested in drinking his own drink. Odd.
Mentally reassuring herself that it really couldn't be that bad, Megumin began tentatively moving the cup towards her lips, noticing Kazuma's eyes on her as she did so, as if he was waiting for something to happen. Tilting the cup upwards slightly, the girl took a small swig of the dark liquid. She regretted it almost immediately. 'Uck!' She mentally yelped, completely failing to hide the sour look on her face as she held the bitter liquid in her cheeks for a few seconds before building up the courage to swallow it down with a visible cringe.
"It's too bitter for you, isn't it?" Kazuma said in a tone that made it clear that it was more so an observation than a question.
Megumin didn't answer the boy, instead just flopping down to let her head and arms rest on the table, meekly nodding after a few seconds as she sent him an apologetic look. The look on his face at that moment screamed 'I told you so' and though he really wanted to say as much out loud, he just sighed and slid his own drink across the table, before pulling hers towards him.
"Better?".
Kazuma had been planning for this exact situation ever since Megumin had made her order. He knew the girl well enough to know she would absolutely despise something as bitter as straight black coffee, she was obviously just ordering something like that to be more 'mature', at least by her definition. Knowing that she would be way too stubborn to back down on this, he scoured the menu for something that he thought the girl would actually like, resigning himself to the fact that he'd end up having to swap it in for her black coffee.
On the other side of the table, it almost immediately hit Megumin that this had been Kazuma's plan all along. She couldn't help but smile a heartfelt smile at the boy's thoughtfulness, though she did still feel a tinge of guilt over the fact that her stubbornness had caused this problem in the first place.
"Thank you, Kazuma," she simply said, bringing the latte up to her lips as she gazed upon the boy with pure adoration.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it," He waved off her gratitude, "I just didn't wanna listen to you whining about it being too bitter the entire time."
"Fufufu," she giggled at the boy, "You know, you don't have to brush it off like that every time you do something nice for someone else. Don't tell me that even a simple 'thank you' can make you flustered."
The boy made a 'tch' sound before he looked at the girl with a devious grin, clearly wanting to get back at her for trying to tease him. "Oh, it's nothing like that, really," He moved the newly swapped coffee up close to his lips for effect, "I just wanted to take this chance to enjoy an indirect kiss from you."
"Can't you go a single day without making a perverted comment!?" The red faced Megumin exasperatedly responded, "We were having a nice moment, you dummy…". Despite her complaints, she really couldn't stay mad at the boy for long, no matter how many crass jokes he made. It also didn't help that the only thing the poor girl could think about now was him kissing her, although it's not as if this was the first time she'd conjured that image in her mind.
"Okay, I'm joking, I'm joking," Kazuma said dismissively, rotating the cup so that he could sip from the opposite side Megumin had used, "See, happy now?".
Megumin mumbled something under her breath that Kazuma couldn't quite hear as she sipped on her newer and much more enjoyable drink. "Are you sure you want to drink that, though?" She pointed towards the black coffee, "In case you didn't already know, it's bad. Like, real bad,"
"I'll admit, it's not my preferred way to drink coffee, but I'll be fine. It isn't that bad."
"'That bad'? So you're admitting that it is still bad."
"Guess I am," He shrugged, ripping open the sugar packet he had previously been messing with and dumping the contents into his drink. "There. Now I might actually be able to enjoy this… a little."
Megumin couldn't stop herself from smiling at the boy, his presence just had such a positive effect on her. Wiping the cream from her lips with her sleeve, the two sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, taking occasional sips from their drinks, before she saw the boy pull out his phone, a curious look on his face.
"Kazuma? Something wrong?".
"Huh? No, nothings wrong. I'm just checking the bus timetable, the one I assumed we were gonna be taking already left a few minutes ago."
She adopted a guilty smile, "Oh, oops."
"Nah, it's not really an issue. It's not like we can't just get a later bus, there are plenty more we can take instead."
"That's true," Megumin took another long sip of her drink, "Plus, worst case scenario, we can just walk back. It's not like either of us have anything we need to do for a few hours still."
"The way you said that makes it sound as if you have plans for later on or something."
"That's because I do!" She said proudly, puffing out her chest.
He seemed genuinely curious about her declaration. "Oh? Does Megumin have a date later today?".
"A d-date!? Nonono, no way," She took a moment to recompose herself before speaking again. "Haven't I already told you that you're my only male friend, who would I even be going out with?".
"Hmm, good point," Kazuma put his hand to his chin in thought, "Maybe you're into girls instead then."
"Nope, sorry, I'm definitely into boys."
He smirked, "And how do you know that?".
Megumin just smiled back, praying that her blush wasn't too obvious. "I have my reasons…".
"Alright then, if you say so," The older teen relented, before asking her a different question, "So then what are you actually doing later?".
"Yunyun wants to go to some pancake place later with me and Komekko," She nonchalantly stated, "To be honest I'm surprised she actually worked up the courage to ask me directly."
"Opposed to what, getting someone else to ask you for her?" Kazuma laughed.
"Either that or leaving some creepy-looking note in my locker." Megumin added, "Either way, I don't really have a reason to say no to her, plus apparently the food is pretty good."
"Ah, I see. So you're only going for the food."
"Please stop twisting my words to make me sound as horrible as possible…".
As Kazuma and Megumin continued to enjoy their drinks, the once empty café began to quickly fill up with a decently sized wave of customers. Sure, it was a bit of a hassle to take care of all of the orders she was getting, but it was nothing that Chris couldn't handle with enough effort. Despite her new rush of customs, she still made sure to send occasional glances towards her helper and his 'friend', attempting to listen in on their conversation with an unreadable expression on her face. She couldn't help but smile as she saw the two of them together, she had to get the full scoop from Kazuma later tonight.
After spending a few more minutes in the café, and waving to Chris on the way out, Kazuma and Megumin left the café and made their way back towards the bus stop, passing by Megumin's school on the way there. As Kazuma looked over at the girl beside him, he couldn't help but think about the thoughts that had been plaguing his mind more and more often recently. More specifically, thoughts about Megumin.
Sure, Kazuma was no stranger to having fantasies about girls, he was a healthy teenage boy after all, what else would you expect from him? The only problem was that his thoughts about Megumin weren't like his thoughts about other girls, they were more… wholesome? …romantic? No, no way, He definitely wasn't having romantic thoughts about Megumin, that wasn't right. Yet even so, he couldn't deny the fact that while his thoughts of other girls were much more perverted and lustful, whenever he thought of Megumin he always pictured her beautiful smile and silky smooth hair. Thoughts of holding her soft hands, running his hands through her hair or simply just kissing her, though he did still have a fair amount of more perverse thoughts about her, mind you.
But there was no way he was crushing on Megumin, right?
Megumin, the girl who used to steal chemicals from the science lab just so she could make literal explosives. The same girl who would go around school wearing that goofy eyepatch, drawing 'magic circles' in the sports field. Y'know, Megumin, the girl who literally almost got him killed multiple times the first time they met. How could he be interested in a girl like that?
But then again, Megumin wasn't that girl anymore, was she? No, not really. The Megumin he knew now was the girl who turned the monotonous morning bus ride into something he genuinely enjoyed and even looked forward to. She was the girl who'd always be ready to go out and do something with him any time he was feeling bored. She was the girl who made a genuine attempt to return his kindness, instead of just causing problem after problem for him - unlike some other girls in his life - all the time, and she even made a point to acknowledge and thank him even when - actually especially when - he tried to brush off the things he did for other people.
Eventually, after a mental back and forth with himself, he finally came to a somewhat suitable conclusion. Truthfully, he didn't know if he loved Megumin, but if he one day found out that the answer to that question was indeed yes, he loved her, he didn't think he'd mind it all that much. For now, he'd just let these feelings settle. No reason for him to push anything if he wasn't 100% sure of his feelings yet, right?
"Kazumaaaa," The girl whined, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention, "Are you even listening to me?".
"...Sorry," He said sheepishly, "I was distracted. What were you saying?".
She pouted at him briefly before letting it go. "I was asking you when the next bus was supposed to arrive. We should be coming up on the bus stop in a few minutes, so it'd be nice to know how long we need to wait or if we need to hurry up."
"Oh, right. Good call," Kazuma checked his phone, "Well it's… 1:22 right now so we can probably get the bus at… 1:30. So we might need to quicken our pace just a little bit."
"1:22?" Megumin looked on in surprise, "Has it really almost been an entire hour since school ended? It doesn't feel like it's been an hour at all."
"Time flies when you're having fun, I guess," He responded with a shrug.
"Well, I am having fun, so maybe that old saying really does have some credibility to it" She smiled at him, "What about you, are you… having fun?".
Kazuma returned her smile. "Yeah, I guess I am."
Maybe, just maybe, he did feel something for this girl after all.
The bus ride had come and gone, the two of them cycling through conversation after conversation until they finally reached their stop and began the short walk until they'd have to go their separate ways, with Megumin heading back to her house and Kazuma heading back to his apartment.
Megumin fidgeted in irritation, she had a burning need - a desire - to do something, anything, to progress things between them a little more but she just had no idea what to do. She was scared that Kazuma would be weirded out if she did anything too bold, but she didn't even know what would be considered too bold. Was holding his hand too much? Could she hug his arm instead, or would that just be worse? She'd seen girls do it with their boyfriends before but she had no idea if such an action would be okay between two people who weren't dating yet. Simply put, she was frustrated.
And whenever she was frustrated she would always throw caution to the wind and do whatever her instincts were telling her to do. So that's exactly what she did.
"M-megumin?" Kazuma yelped out in surprise as she wrapped both of her arms around his left arm, hugging it into herself. "W-what's this for?".
"Is this okay?" She said, the blush on her cheeks clearly visible to the boy, "It's not uncomfortable for you, is it?".
"...No, it's not uncomfortable, it uh… it feels nice."
"I'm glad," Megumin said as she leaned her head to rest it against his arm.
The two of them continued walking like that, with Megumin gently hugging Kazuma's arm. The atmosphere between them had become pretty awkward due to Megumin's sudden action, both wondering what they should do or say next, or if they should even do anything at all. Yet, despite that, they were both content with the current situation, just allowing themselves to enjoy the moment of contact. Megumin hugging herself to Kazuma while Kazuma simply enjoyed the warmth that came from her closeness.
Megumin was the one to finally break the silence after a minute or so, having finally made up her mind. "Kazuma," She softly said to the green eyed teen.
He gulped. "Yeah, what's up?".
She was really starting to feel the pressure now, she desperately wanted to finally tell him how she felt and this really did seem like a perfect time to do so. Kazuma really had become the brightest part of her world for the past few months, there wasn't a single day that passed where she didn't think about him. She'd never felt it before but she still knew that what she was feeling was something more special than just some crush, it was love, real love. She wanted to feel his touch like this all the time, she wanted to be free to express her love for him, she wanted to make him hers, she didn't want to keep feeling this fear that some other girl would come along and take him away from her.
"Kazuma, I-I…".
She really was being so foolish by letting these feelings just fester like this, why couldn't she just tell him already? She felt like she could tell him pretty much anything else, her problems, her fears, her interests, so why has it taken her so long to tell him this? Megumin had never felt this way about anyone before and she honestly doubted that she'd ever feel this way about anyone else, it really was only Kazuma who could make her feel all of these wonderful feelings.
She took a deep breath as she prepared to take the plunge.
"I just wanted to say thanks for paying for my drink earlier."
She chickened out, hard.
Megumin didn't even attempt to salvage the situation at that point, just looking down at her feet in shame and embarrassment. There was no way she could look at Kazuma right now, not after she'd just completely fumbled her confession. Sure, if she really put her mind to it, maybe she could still rectify the situation and still confess to the boy, but as she was right now, she had no energy to even try. All she could do now was wait and see what the boy would do next.
"...You don't really have to thank me for it," She heard him say, still not looking up from the ground, "I know what your family's financial situation is like, so I don't mind paying for your drink."
Even through her bad mood, the lovestruck girl smiled as she heard his words, he really did care about her. She tightened her grip around his arm as she desperately tried to find as much comfort in him as possible to rid her from this depressing mood.
The rest of the walk was a short yet still fairly awkward one. Luckily for both of them, Kazuma had managed to somewhat clear the awkwardness and get Megumin to finally look at him again with a dumb joke. Megumin, against her own wishes, had gradually loosened her grip on Kazuma's arm until her arms eventually fell to her sides and she returned to walking next to him, albeit still very close to his side. They had just managed to change the atmosphere back into something much less awkward for the both of them when they finally came to the point where they'd have to go their own ways to make it home.
"Welp," Kazuma stretched his arms above his head as turned to the girl at his side, "This is when we're gonna hafta go our own ways."
"Yeah, it is," Megumin responded, still looking a little downcast, "Hey, do you think we could maybe meet up at some point over the holiday? I think I'll go stir-crazy if I just stay inside with my little sister the whole time."
"No objections here," He grinned at her, "Or, now that you know where I work, you could always stop by the café while I'm on my shift. I'm sure Chris won't mind if I occasionally serve you a free drink."
"I like the sound of that idea," Her once downcast expression morphing into a radiant smile, "I'll make sure to hold you to that promise, Kazuma."
"Mhmm, I'm sure you will," Kazuma said as he took a step in the direction of where his apartment was located, "Then hopefully I'll see you again soon, Megumin."
She waved at him as he continued walking away "Bye Kazuma! Have a good shift later!"
As Megumin watched his form grow smaller and smaller in the distance, she couldn't help but reminisce on the last 2 hours she had spent with him. As she thought over the events that had transpired between them, as well as her own successes and failures when it came to the boy, she made a promise to herself, one that she was now fully determined to keep, no matter what.
Before the break was over, she would properly confess her love to him, for real this time.