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“You know, when you’re not trying to make scary faces and trying to scare us. You’re actually pretty cute.” Belle noticed Yuzuha seemed quiet; for some reason, she couldn’t quite explain why. But her worries vanished when Yuzuha gave that same mischievous smile she always gave.
“What was that? What kind of compliment was that?”
“Oh, you’re right.”
“Are you insinuating that I’m not always cute?”
“You’re right. You are always cute.” Yuzuha was quiet again for a moment, but once again acted like nothing had happened.
“Were you always such a sweet talker? Well, I say it could use some work if that’s all you got.” Yuzuha shook her head before she stood up all of a sudden. Belle was confused by this and wondered what was wrong. “I’m sorry. But I just remembered that there is something I forgot to do with one of the attractions.”
“Oh? Do you need help?”
“No, no. You relax for now. I got this.” Yuzuha gave a little wave and smile before leaving the proxy by herself. While she was away from the Proxy, Yuzuha couldn’t quite shake this feeling. Yuzuha was stunned after hearing those words. For some reason, the Proxy’s words made her feel strange. Her heart raced a little, but this wasn’t an unpleasant feeling either. Yuzuha was lucky that she left when she did; she could feel how hot her cheeks were here. She didn’t think that this would happen at all. I mean, how do you expect this to happen? It didn’t matter; she could just hide these feelings easily. It wouldn’t be the first time she hid what she felt, but she did worry, though. Belle has a way of knowing that something is wrong with the people she’s around. She would know; she was one of those people, so it was only a matter of time before she realized something was off. She’ll have to bring her A-game for this to work.
“Alright, I got this.”
Night had descended on the resort, so Yuzuha had the brilliant idea of having a little campfire at the beach as she told her some scary stories she had made up. It wasn’t like they would know if she was telling the truth or not. The key to this was how she told it, and she is a master at that. No one could tell if she was actually telling a story or making it up on the spot. Yuzuha smiled a little when she got the reaction she wanted out of Alice; that’s all she could ask for. The way Alice freaks out at these things is both funny and cute. It was, honestly, a favourite pastime of hers nowadays. So now that everyone is here, Yuzuha began her story, and it was going just as planned. Alice was starting to freak out. It was a bonus with Wise, trying his best not to be scared. But this time, she never expected her plan and favourite pastime would backfire on her like this. While they were all sitting by the campfire, both Alice and Belle just so happened to be sitting next to each other. So when her story began, Alice unconsciously reached out to Belle’s hand, and so the proxy tried her best to keep her calm. But as the story continued, Alice was clearly scared, and that meant that she was clinging to Belle’s arm. That sight made those feelings return differently; she didn’t like this sight. Yuzuha started to pout without realizing it, and Belle seemed to catch this.
“What’s wrong, Yuzuha?”
“Huh?” Yuzuha didn’t realize that she must have let something slip, so she tried to brush it off. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. But more importantly, how was my story? Plenty scary, huh?”
“Yeah.” Belle agreed. “You know, all this talk about scary stories has reminded me of something. There was this time on Sixth Street. It was dead into the night, and this payphone nearby would ring. And when I picked it up, a creepy voice could be heard. How did it end again?” Before she could continue on Belle felt Alice hold her tighter than before.
“B-Belle, p-please, no more.” Yuzuha once again didn’t like this, so she quickly devised a plan. Belle suddenly felt her other arm being wrapped by another body. Belle looked over to see Yuzuha holding onto her arm like her life depended on it.
“Ah, Belle, that was so scary.”
“Um, Yuzuha? Is something wrong? You’re acting kinda strange.”
“What? I can be scared too, you know. That was sooo scary.”
“O-Oh, okay.” Nobody bought that, it was so bad that very all agreed that was the weakest acting she has ever done. Komano and Wise looked at each other for a second before turning back to Yuzuha. Yuzuha peeked from the corner of her eye, and she noticed Belle was looking at her. She seemed to catch this, too and smile at the mischievous girl. That act alone was more than enough to make Yuzuha back off, and she quickly stood up.
“Man, I need to take a walk. Got to calm these nerves down, you know.” Before anyone could say a word, Yuzuha took off, which confused her friends. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”
“Something must be bothering her,” Komano said.
“Yuzuha.” Alice was a little concerned since this isn’t how she normally acts. Belle, won’t lie, she was a little concerned about Yuzuha, too. This usually meant that something was bugging her, and she wondered if she would go check on her. She noticed in the corner of her eye, Wise was trying to get her attention. When he did, Wise made a gesture with his head which took Belle a second to realize what it meant. She pointed at herself, to which Wise responded with a nod, and Belle knew what to do now.
“I’m gonna go check on Yuzuha. Be right back!” Belle said as she took off in the direction Yuzuha went. Luckily, she didn’t go very far; she was just at the aquarium staring at the fish she helped catch. Yuzuha heard the sounds of someone approaching, and she looked to see that very person causing this feeling.
“Is something wrong?” Belle asked.
“No, not really.” Yuzuha could feel Belle’s gaze on her like she didn’t believe her at all. So all Yuzuha could do was sigh after realizing that she once again couldn’t hide anything from her. “You know, you are way too good at that. You always seem to know when something is bothering me.”
“Well, of course. I wouldn’t be Phaethon if I didn’t notice things like this.”
“I can’t believe this happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t think my favourite thing to do would backfire on me like that. And it’s all your fault.”
“Oh, I’m sorry?” Belle didn’t quite understand what she meant by that and why it would be her fault, but maybe she’ll learn why if she keeps pressing her.
“Don’t apologize. It’s my fault, really. I never expected to feel this way after meeting you.”
“Feeling what way?” Yuzuha looked at Belle, a little confused, as if she didn’t expect that response from her.
“What? I thought it was pretty obvious what I meant. Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you’re one of those people.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I can’t believe the legendary Proxy Phaethon is oblivious when it comes to this. I wonder how obvious I can make it before she realizes? I think I found my new favourite thing to do.” Yuzuha thought as she made her way over to Belle before latching onto her arm. Belle noticed that the same mischievous smile returned to her face after saying that. It was nice to see her back to normal, even though she didn’t quite understand what she meant by all that.
“Our little chat really cheered me up. Thank you.”
“Oh, I don’t really understand, but you’re welcome?” Belle’s eyes widen a bit when Yuzuha kissed her on her cheek. She looked at Yuzuha, all confused since this was completely unexpected. “Was that supposed to be a prank? Trying to get a reaction out of me?”
“Who knows?” Yuzuha smiled a little before taking Belle’s hand and leading her away. “Come, don’t want to keep the others waiting.”
“Right.”