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This was not the ideal first date Haruka had in mind.
She had been very adamant with her parents that she did not want her older brother to be a glorified bodyguard on her very first date with a boy she actually liked, yet here she was – not only with her brother tailing them in his half-assed Jason costume but also stuck buying two extra tickets with her unlimited black card for her oddly rambunctious younger siblings running around left and right.
She bit down on her tongue to keep herself from screaming.
Sadly, this was the better option than what her fathers suggested when she initially told them she was going to the big Halloween carnival in town with a boy in her class.
It wasn’t the whole ‘going out with a boy’ thing they had an issue with – although she did see a bit of a vein jutting out of her younger father’s temple at the mention of Evan’s name – but their current disposition.
Being the eldest daughter of a decorated detective and the heir to the infamous Kambe Daisuke meant being a bright beacon for criminals and personal enemies alike, with this year being an especially popular time for cashing in on personal vendettas. It wasn’t like she was getting shot at by secret snipers every day when she drove to school, but she was made very aware at a very young age that all this attention, this wealth could mean that one day, her next date or sleepover at a friend’s house, could be her last.
Given these sad facts, Haruka was both never alone and yet also completely isolated. Surrounded by bodyguards and cops, an ever-changing staff of maids and butlers, and suffocating siblings always getting in her business almost 24/7. She was actually quite taken aback when Evan Kingsly had asked her out in the first place, considering how many of her classmates tended to turn their noses up at her and her perceived arrogance.
But it was happening – a boy she liked was interested in her and they were going on a date! She was on Cloud 9.
That was until she brought it up to her fathers.
After a lot of back and forth, they came up with three options:
- Her father calls in some favors and gets the entirety of the Metropolitan police force to survey the place.
- Her other father uses his wealth to commandeer the Halloween carnival and fills it with his security detail while also surveying them with HEUSC.
- She takes her older brother as a chaperone with HEUSC on and in their ears at all times.
She wasn’t sure how she managed to get them to agree to the 3rd option, especially since they showed so much resistance, and she didn’t know how the hell the twins ended up getting in on this deal, but there she was – with the most normal option on what should have been the most normal date Kambe Haruka could manage.
The twins darted around the carnival; Kokoro ran up to scare actors to get the jump on them first while dragging Masayuki along to scope out the attractions and food stalls.
Kokoro pointed ahead to one of the many haunted houses, “Masa-kun! Let’s go there! C’mon! C’mon!”
“Oi! Kokoro!” Asahi shouted, way too loud in Haruka’s ear, “You have to stay with the group!”
Kokoro whipped around and pouted at him, “C’moooon, Asahi! We take care of ourselves just fine!”
Asahi scoffed, “Please, you can hardly take care of a turtle without trying to jam sparklers up its ass. Stay. With. The group.”
Kokoro rolled her eyes, reluctantly pulling Masayuki back towards the group.
Haruka huffed, balling her fists. As if it wasn’t enough that they wanted to intrude on her very first date, Kokoro dared to find issues with the rules in place. Granted, they were rules Haruka hated with every fiber of her being, but they were all required to follow so maybe they could have a sliver of normalcy again.
She refused to be the only one suffering on Halloween.
She turned her heavy head to her date – pretty boy Evan Kingsly in a bit of an uninspired zombie costume – and whispered to him, “I am so sorry about this. This isn’t really how I envisioned this night going.”
He just smiled, almost amused. “Don’t worry about it. This is usually how it goes whenever I’m out with my sisters.”
“Oh, so you need to act as their entourage whenever they want to go out?”
Evan shrugged, “Pretty much.”
She smirked, nudging his arm with her elbow.
“I don’t know if I mentioned it earlier,” he said, his hand ghosting over one of the vinyl tentacles hanging from her white headpiece, “But I love your costume. Bet you burned a hole in your dad’s pocket getting that made.”
“Actually, I…I made it.”
His honey eyes went wide, “ You made it?”
Something about how he said that, the emphasis on you, made her smile tighten but she simply brushed it off. “Yeah, I did. I made my siblings’ costumes, too. Well, those two. Not his.”
She pointed to her older brother, who rolled his eyes at her. She stuck her tongue out at him in return After she finally wore her fathers down, she got right to work making her costume and was disappointed when Asahi a. Didn’t come to her to make a costume, and b. Didn’t do anything interesting at all with his “costume” – if you could even call it that.
No effort whatsoever – just threw on one of his ratty, old green flannels from his closet, a basic Jason mask sitting on his head, and heavy under-eye makeup that was no different than the normal purplish hue of his usual eye bags.
Haruka, however, did not make the same mistake. Halloween was her shit. Sure, she could whip any old dress or top any day of the week. But Halloween was her time. Her time to show up and blow everyone else’s costumes out of the water.
She wanted to go all out – and she had.
She spent many a sleepless night at her desk, planning, sketching, and sourcing material from thrift stores and bargain bins that would match perfectly with her white-spotted jellyfish concept. She was so deep in the zone, that she even managed to materialize matching zombie and zombie hunter looks for the twins when they came pounding on her door in the middle of the night before Halloween.
Sure, she might have gotten a little bit carried away with all the little details and last-minute add-ons, and yes, maybe the exumbrella was a bit heavier on her head than she expected it to be – but, nothing good posture and walking very, very carefully couldn’t fix!
“So, Evan, what would you like to do first? We can go anywhere and do whatever as long as we are within eight feet of my brother’s line of sight.”
“A whole eight feet? My, you’re spoiling me, Ms. Kambe.”
Haruka playfully punched Evan’s shoulder, which earned her an airy laugh from his crooked grin. Her face burned and her heart did somersaults in her chest. She hesitantly reached for his hand, which he gratefully accepted as he intertwined her fingers in his calloused ones.
“How about we go on a few rides? Play some games, maybe grab a candy apple or something after?”
Evan smiled again, squeezing her hand. “Lead the way, Ms. Kambe.”
Haruka giggled and pulled the grinning boy along with the twins in tow. She glanced behind her at her eldest brother, who was noticeably trailing behind with his cerulean eyes on his phone.
“Hey! Stay with the group!” She teased.
Asahi’s head snapped up and he quickly shoved his phone into his back pocket. “Oh, come off it. I’ll be there in a second.”
Haruka spun back around and continued her trek to the witch-themed tilt-a-world a few feet ahead.
From there, the night went on like a dream. Haruka hardly noticed her siblings following her and Evan around like a pack of baby ducks because she was having the time of her life. They rode bumper cars, colliding with one another on more than one occasion “by accident”. Her heart jumped around inside her chest every time the tall and broad Evan Kingsly clung to her arm in the haunted house. She laughed so hard, she felt her cheeks turn purple. They played nearly every game, he won her several stuffed animals that Kokoro so graciously offered to hold. They almost ate themselves sick on carnival food (Masayuki actually did eat himself sick and threw up. Twice). They talked, they joked, they flirted and lived, and for the first time in her life, she was not Haruka Kambe.
She wasn’t the daughter of the Billionaire Detective. She wasn’t the heir to an unlimited fortune. She wasn’t a walking target or a flight risk. She wasn’t the so-called secret snob who was as arrogant as her father and that’s why no one talks to her.
She was just a normal-ish girl in an over-the-top jellyfish costume on her first real date on her favorite holiday, having the absolute time of her life.
She was simply living.
She was normal.
And she was loving it.
They had just gotten off their final ride. The carnival was starting to die down, people were starting to leave, and everyone was pretty tired. Haruka began to understand why her dad told her to bring a change of shoes – her platforms were killing her!
The twins started to drag their feet through the hay-covered ground and Asahi looked half dead from running after them all night.
“Okay. I think that’s enough Halloween fun for me,” Asahi said, stretching out his long limbs and cracking his joints.
“Yeah, same here,” Evan added with a yawn, “I’m ready to call it a night.”
“There’s a shortcut to the parking lot through there,” Masayuki pointed to the thick patch of woods surrounding the carnival. “It’s just a short walk, and we should be at the car in like, 10 minutes or something.”
Haruka winced. She had been walking forever and her legs already felt like jelly. She couldn’t fathom walking any further lest she fall over. However, waiting for the hordes of people to leave sounded even worse, and she wanted to fall into bed as soon as possible.
“Sounds like a plan. If I keep this thing in my head any longer, my neck’ll snap!” Haruka said, motioning to her headpiece.
“Then let’s get outta here! I’m tiiiiired!” Kokoro groaned.
“Alright! Alright! We’re leaving now –”
Before Haruka could start towards the shortcut, Asahi gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.
“Why don’t you and Evan take the shortcut?” he said.
Haruka quirked a curious brow, “But, what about –”
“There’s a hayride that’ll take us to the parking lot. It’s a little slow, but it’s better than listening to Kokoro whine about walking the whole time.”
“Hey! I don’t whine that much!”
“You were literally complaining just a few seconds ago. Now go save us a seat on the hayride before it leaves.”
Kokoro pouted but left with Masayuki towards the line for the ride out of the carnival.
Haruka looked up at her older brother, smiling.
“What?”
She lunged forward and threw her arms around him, squeezing him tight.
“Thank you!”
“Yeah, yeah. You owe me for this one. Now go! Pretty boy’s waitin’ for ya,” he pulled away from the hug, “Keep your phone on and HEUSC in your ear, okay? I don’t want Dad up my ass on how I didn’t do a good job protecting you.”
Haruka nodded, pulling him back for another quick squeeze before running off to join Evan, their hands immediately intertwining.
“You ready?” he asked.
“Yup!” she chirped back.
“Are you sure it’s okay that we leave your brother?”
Haruka waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just ten minutes. And I’m with you, aren’t I?”
Evan’s cheeks turned pink and he sheepishly turned away from her. “Yeah, I guess so…”
“Let’s get going then!”
Haruka squeezed his hand and pulled him toward the path from Masayuki’s map.
༄˖°.🍂.ೃ࿔*:･
Asahi’s last text to Haru and Daisuke included a photo of the five of them heading towards a hayride that would take them to the parking lot, followed by the text ‘heading home.’ Timestamped at 9:32. Haru had gotten to know the venue when he scouted it out the week prior.
Based on the route, they would be on that ride until 9:47, leave the parking lot around 10-10:30 depending on the traffic around the venue, drop off Evan around 11, and the kids would be home before or at midnight.
Those numbers brought Haru some comfort, though he unfortunately couldn’t say the same for his husband, who was currently sifting through news articles and breaking news videos that were popping up throughout the night. He watched as Daisuke opened and refreshed a million different tabs every five seconds.
It was an improvement over 20 minutes ago when he kept pinging HEUSC to track Asahi’s location.
It wasn’t that they didn’t (mostly) trust their children or Evan. They clearly weren’t the helpless toddlers they once were many years ago and were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.
However, no matter how much trust they place in their children, no matter how many times they try to prepare them for whatever is out there, they can’t keep them safe from everything. There will always be people who intend to harm others, harm their children. There would always be dangers that they wouldn’t see coming no matter how much money or fancy technology they had. There was always a chance that something would happen to his children, and he wouldn’t be there to save them.
And that thought terrified him more than anything that had ever happened to him on the field back in Japan.
“Here,” Haru handed Daisuke a mug of tea as he made his way over to the sectional, “You look like you need some. For the nerves.”
Daisuke finally looked up from his laptop and took the mug from his hands. “Thank you.”
“You’ve been refreshing that page for a while now,” Haru remarked, sinking into the couch beside him.
“Doesn’t hurt to be sure,” Daisuke replied, hitting the refresh button again.
Haru gently grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together. “They’re fine, Dai. They’re already on their way to the car, they’re surrounded by people – most of them children –”
“-And strangers in costumes that could easily walk in with weapons without much effort.”
“Daisuke. It’s a Halloween carnival. And these are our children. They’ll be fine. They have HEUSC, they have their phones, they have each other – they are fine!”
Daisuke didn’t reply. Haru frowned in return.
“If you’re really that concerned, you can ping HEUSC again and see where they are. I won’t be there to save you when they get all pissed off at you for bothering them the whole night.”
Daisuke ignored him. He reached for his earring. “HEUSC, show me the children’s location and stream it to the television.”
“Right away, sir.”
The TV lit up. A blue map of the carnival area appeared on the screen. Four red dots showed up soon after. Three of the dots clustered close together on the main path that wrapped around the thick woods surrounding the park, but the other was at least twelve or so feet in the other direction.
Haru sat up. “Is that one Haruka? What’s she doing all the way over there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Sir, there appears to be an update surrounding a news report you bookmarked earlier.”
“What is it?”
“It appears that the group of masked vandals that were causing damage to the downtown area were seen fleeing the direction of the Halloween Carnival, and a ride operator meant to appear at the carnival was found beaten in a public restroom near the park –”
“For which ride?”
“According to the report, the hayride.”
Haru’s heart dropped. The two men exchanged looks of pure terror. They shot up from the couch. Daisuke grabbed his glasses and Haru the keys and his badge from the kitchen table.
“HEUSC, call any available units and route them to the carnival now. Send an alert to Asahi and Haruka. Make them as discreet as possible.”
“Yes sir.”
“Haru, give me the keys. I’m driving.”
For once, Haru didn’t argue that.
༄˖°.🍂.ೃ࿔*:･
Asahi was half asleep when his earring started quietly buzzing in his ear. He blinked a few times, stretched out his arms with a yawn, and sat up. He glanced over at Masayuki’s iPad, noticing it blinking frantically, but not making any noise.
Asahi casually reached up, pretending to tuck a stray hair behind his ear as he tapped two fingers over his silver stud.
“HEUSC,” he whispered. “What’s going on?”
“Master Asahi, the man operating your ride is an imposter. He is part of a group of vandals that are suspected of assaulting the original ride operator just a few moments ago.”
His eyes went wide. Kokoro and Masayuki took notice but he pressed a finger to his lips to keep them quiet. He took a breath, sinking back against the hay bale he had been resting on.
“HEUSC, are the police on their way?”
“Yes, sir. Arrival time is estimated to be 7 minutes.”
“Fuck,” Asahi hissed, “How many of them are there?”
“Five. Two are on the ride with you. Currently searching for the other three.”
He nodded. “Put me through to my dads.”
“Right away, sir.”
Asahi scanned the wagon as HEUSC patched him through to his parents. There were 6 adults and 8 kids, ages ranging from 8-14. The obvious odd ducks out were the tractor driver in ill-fitting clothing and a teenager in all black, sitting behind the driver and his back turned to the group.
Finally, his fathers’ voices came through.
“Asahi, are you alright?”
“Why aren’t you with Haruka? What’s going on?”
“Haruka is taking a shortcut with Evan. They’ll be in a few minutes. So far, nothing’s happened and we’re all fine.”
“Is there any chance that you can get off without being noticed?”
The teen clad in all black took notice and started to get.
“Doesn’t look like it. Can’t talk anymore.”
“Asahi–”
“Gotta go. Lemme know where Haruka is in a couple of minutes. I got it.”
“Asahi–!”
The tractor came to a complete stop and it was only then that everyone seemed to take notice that they were starting to veer off the beaten path. They were heading for the opposite side of the woods, far from Haruka and Evan and about to be much farther from the parking lot. The teen in all black stood and began to stalk toward them. He wore a crudely painted pumpkin mask.
He had something hidden in his right sleeve.
“You alright there, buddy?” Asahi nonchalantly asked.
“Who’re you talking to?” Pumpkin Mask asked, though it came out more as a demand than an inquiry.
Asahi shrugged, “Just myself. Bad habit of mine, you know?”
“Yeah, right,” The boy whipped out the blade from his hand and pointed it at Asahi, “Lemme see your phone.”
Everyone else on the ride yelped.
“What’s going on here? What is this?” One of the dads shouted, jumping out of his seat and starting to approach the boy.
“Sit down, old man!” the boy barked.
“Put that knife down, boy.”
“I said sit down!”
The pumpkin mask teen whipped around and slashed the man across the face. The man fell back and the ride erupted into screams. Pumpkin Mask stood there for a second, his body starting to tremble.
“O-oh shit.”
Asahi lunged forward and tackled the boy to the ground, twisting his arm behind his back and pinning him down with his knee. Footsteps came thudding fast toward him.
“Asahi, look out!” Kokoro cried.
Asahi’s head whipped up. The driver - another kid in a Scream mask – charged at him with his own hidden blade. Before Asahi could think of what to do, Kokoro shot forward and rammed her supposedly costume bat into the boy’s stomach. He stumbled and before he could get his bearings, Kokoro hit him again, this time in the side. Asahi winced as he swore he could hear the boy’s bones crunch. Scream Mask fell, arms hugging his middle.
“Wha – Kokoro, what the fuck?! You brought a real bat?!” Asahi exclaimed.
“Of course I brought a real bat! I go all out on Halloween!”
“Kokoro, you could have killed that kid!”
“Hey, he tried to kill us first! It was self-defense!”
“The girl’s got a point, son,” one of the dads said.
Asahi sighed, “We can argue about this later!. There are still three more of these guys out there and I have to find Haruka and Evan. The police will be here shortly to come round up these two, does someone have a rope or–?”
“We’ll handle this. You go find your friends,” Another one of the dads said.
The adults gathered around the two and began to restrain them. Kokoro jumped off the ride and made a b-line for the other end of the woods.
“Let’s get going then!”
“Kokoro – wait!”
Asahi and Masayuki jumped off the ride and gave chase, disappearing into the dark woods in search of their sister.
༄˖° .🍂.ೃ࿔*:･
“I had a really great time with you all tonight.”
Haruka’s face flushed red and her heart jumped. They had only been walking for about 5 minutes, but they had been holding hands for what seemed like forever, just talking like everything was normal, as if this was their normal and had been for a long time. A familiarity that had always been there and she just hadn’t noticed it before.
She grinned, “Really?”
“Yeah. I mean, your little brother and sister are pretty funny. Not sure if Asahi likes me very much, though…”
“Oh, don’t worry about him. He’s like that with everyone.”
Evan chuckled, “Glad it’s not just me then.”
“Is…Is there anything else you liked about tonight?” she asked carefully.
He turned to face her. “I liked spending time with you.”
“You…you did?”
“Absolutely. I mean, at first I was kind of intimidated by you. I mean, how could I not be? You’re Haruka Kambe! Heir to an unlimited fortune, daughter to the world famous millionaire detective, the top of our class – when I first asked you, I was pretty sure you’d say no. Or worse….”
Haruka’s smile flattered a bit.
“But, when you said yes and when we got talking and everything, I got to see you. Not the you that people at school talk about or make you out to be, but just… you. A part of you, that is. And I–”
Evan stopped when they heard the crunching of leaves approaching them. Haruka whipped around and caught a glimpse of someone in a Saw mask slowly walking towards them.
“Maybe they know about the shortcut as well?” Evan offered, his voice a bit shaky.
Haruka believed him for a split second until she caught a glimpse of his large, bloodstained metallic bat glinting in the moonlight.
Haruka squeezed Evan’s hand and pulled him toward him.
“We should keep going.”
They turned to keep walking but another masked person – Michael Myers – appeared in front of them, with another tall figure in a generic skull mask appearing from their left.
Evan stepped in front of Haruka. “I have a feeling they aren’t going to let us off that easily.”
“Oh, really? Hadn’t noticed,” Haruka joked with a bit of bitterness to her tone.
“You lot are far from where you came from, aren’t ‘cha?” The one in the Michael Myers mask taunted, pointing his bat at them.
“Easy with this one, boys,” Saw Mask said, nodding to Haruka, “Didn’t ya hear? This lady’s the daughter to that great millionaire detective. Bet he’ll pay big money to make sure his precious baby makes it home safe tonight.”
“Don’t you fucking dare –” Evan started, raising his fists.
“Or what? It’s three of us with all of our gear versus you two idiots with nothing. Though, we could make it easier on ya; you can leave the girl and maybe we’ll consider playin’ nice with you.”
Haruka’s breath hitched. Her eyes darted between the three masked boys and Evan. Even if her date was a rugby boy, Haruka refused to let him fall victim to a potential hidden blade. Or worse. She could try HEUSC, but she doubted he’d be able to do anything other than update her on police arrival. She could scream, but would just screw them even worse than they already were.
In her mind, there was only one thing she could do: Comply.
She wiggled free of Evan’s grip, put her hands up, and slowly walked to the group of masked boys. Evan gaped at her.
“Haruka–!”
“It’s okay, Evan. It’s okay. At least you’ll be safe…”
The boys laughed at this.
“That’s a good girl,” Michael teased wickedly.
She scowled as she inched closer to them. Her arms trembled, her breath was shaky, and she could hear her heartbeat booming in her ears until it was the only sound she could make out.
However, despite the obvious signs of fear wracking her body, Haruka felt more disappointed than afraid with this outcome.
Here she was; Haruka Kambe, daughter of the infamous Millionaire Detective, top of her class, costume connoisseur, fan of sewing – was very likely about to meet a terrible end to three masked assholes in the middle of the woods on her very first day with a guy she actually liked at only 16 before she could do anything with her life or see what could happen after.
Saw Mask seized one of her arms with his free hand and yanked her forward. Haruka’s just went cold.
‘This is it. Oh god, this is it. Fuck, this can’t be it!’
“Quick movin’ so fuckin’ slow! Won’t make it any easier for you –”
Gunfire boomed through the air. Haruka instinctively pulled away and ducked as more gunfire continued to ring out. Everyone scrambled out of the way. Haruka retreated back into Evan’s embrace and they ducked behind a tree.
“Where the hell is that coming from?!” Evan exclaimed.
Haruka glanced up and caught another glint of silver by the tops of the trees.
“Is that…?”
“Touch either one of them again and the next one ends up between your eyes!” Masayuki’s voice crackled over the little drone’s intercom.
“What – This –”
Before Haruka could process it, Kokoro darted out of the darkness and swung her bat into Saw Mask and Michael Myers, driving it deep into their stomachs.
“Kokoro?! What the hell are you–!”
“No time! Behind you!”
Haruka spun around and landed a kick to Skull Mask’s gut as he charged at her.
“Masa! You were supposed to be watching him!” Kokoro shouted, pointing a scolding finger at the drone.
“Oh, I’m sorry! There isn’t exactly a good connection in the fucking woods!”
“You guys are fucking freaks!” Skull Mask shouted, turning in the other direction to run away, “Fucking freaks –”
Skull Mask once again fell to the ground. He crawled backward before getting kicked in his jaw. Asahi stalked out of the trees, his cold blue-gray eyes scowling down at the boy and weighing him down like an anchor in the ocean.
“You know, it really pisses me off when guys like you try ruining shit for kids,” he said, grabbing him by the collar and punching him across the face. “Your little friend on the hayride cut a dad in the face. Right in front of his kids. Right in front of all of those kids.
Asahi stood Skull Mask up on his feet, a firm grip still on his collar.
“He probably scarred those kids for fucking life. Guys like you make me sick. ”
Asahi tossed him to the ground and before he could do anything else to Skull Mask, they were assaulted by a barrage of bright lights.
“Stay where you are!”
“Hands in the air!”
Everyone stopped. The police shuffled toward them, guns aimed in their direction.
Haruka sighed, slowly raising her hands above her head as the police swarmed them and escorted them out of the woods.
༄˖°.🍂.ೃ࿔*:･
The London Metropolitan Police were all over the place in a matter of minutes. The dark parking lot lit up in blue, swarmed with officers and paramedics. Evan was taken to an ambulance on the other side of the lot with the others to get checked out. The kids were immediately spotted by their fathers, who were in the very middle of the only clearing in the entire scene. The minute they all locked eyes, they ran to one another. Haru enveloped the older kids in a tight hug, cradling their heads in his hands while the twins wrapped around Daisuke’s middle.
“Thank god you’re all okay!” Haru exclaimed, squeezing them close.
“Are any of you hurt?” Daisuke asked, checking over the twins’ faces.
“No, we’re fine,” Haruka replied, “Nothing broken or bruised. We’re all good. What about the guys in masks? What’s up with them?”
“Well, they’re being taken to the hospital to have their injuries assessed before they get taken into interrogation,” Haru said, “I doubt they’ll really need them, though. With the amount of evidence they have already on them, they’ll be going away for a long while.”
None of them were comforted by that. They were all noticeably exhausted and sullen. The joy from earlier in the night was long forgotten and everyone just wanted to be on their way as soon as possible.
“Do they need statements from us?” Haruka asked solemnly.
“They might –”
“--I can arrange it so they won’t bother you for now.”
“Daisuke–”
“Can you?” Haruka hugged herself. “I just really want to go home. Please?”
Haru nodded, pressing his lips tightly together. “Okay. Okay, we’ll talk to them. Asahi, could you–”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it.” Asahi fished his keys out of his pocket and led his siblings to his car, but before they could, someone stopped them.
“Haruka!”
Haruka spun around. Evan squeezed through officers and stragglers from the carnival. Haruka jogged to meet him in the middle.
“Evan! You’re okay!” she exclaimed.
“‘Course I am! Thanks to you guys, I barely got a scratch on me! Which by the way, holy shit! ”
“I’m so sorry about all of this. The shortcut was a stupid idea –”
“Hey, hey – don’t worry about it! It’s not like you were expecting us to get cornered by those masked assholes…right?”
“Obviously not.”
“Right, no. You’re right. Sorry, I don’t know why I said that. Shock, maybe?”
“Still, I am really sorry –”
“Stop apologizing! I’m just really glad you’re okay.”
“I’m glad you’re okay, too.”
“Look, my mum’s going to be here soon. Not sure if I’ll be able to go on another date anytime soon, but in the meantime, I’ll probably see you at school?”
“Of course! I - I mean, if you want. If you can, I won’t force you to –”
“I mean, I kinda have to –”
“Right, right,” she chuckled awkwardly, “So, I guess I’ll see you then!”
“Yeah, see you then.”
Not knowing what to do with herself and feeling thoroughly uncertain, she did the only thing she could think of doing – she gave him fingerguns with a way too toothy grin before turning around to a disappointed Asahi.
‘What? What’s with that face?”
“Finger guns? Really?”
“Well, what was I supposed to do?”
“Anything but that!”
Haruka punched him in the shoulder. They started walking to the car, the autumn chill creeping up her spine.
The night definitely was not what any of them expected. In fact, it would probably end up on their collective list of worst nights they’ve ever had, but Haruka was hopeful for a better tomorrow where everything would be a little bit better, and she would see Evan and be slightly more normal for a short time.