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Madoka had crushes before, she was kind, pretty, and gentle, so, who wouldn’t like her? Everyone she liked was the answer. Sayaka always told her stuff like ‘Don’t let this get to your head Madoka, they just don’t have good taste!’ She tried to believe her, she really, really did. But she never could. All she could do was give a small smile of reassurance and walk back home. Of course she got over it, but it hurt her self-esteem to know no boy had ever liked her.
There’s one reason she was thinking about this. She had a crush on a boy. His name was Dazai, he was mysterious and had brown hair, he also had bandages wrapped all around his body which Madoka found very intriguing. She feels like she shouldn’t care that they’re meeting today, it should be a friendly meet up between two teenagers, but it feels like more to Madoka. She feels like after the first stumble in her words Dazai would figure out she had a crush on her, then she would get rejected and she would never see him again.
She still walks over to the bus stop where they were supposed to meet up, a grin plastered on her face. She looks at what’s beside her instead of what’s in front of her. A black cat ran by her, there was little litter, and the bushes were neatly trimmed. Birds flew overhang and the clouds were puffy and a perfect snow white with no sign of rain.
When Madoka finally stopped she was in fact at the bus stop, but Dazai wasn’t there? He was usually there before Madoka, greeting her before she could even comprehend that he was right there in front of her. But he’s late? Madoka took her cell phone out of her bag and checked the time, it read 4:03 pm. They agreed to meet up at Four, so why wasn’t he here? Madoka told herself to stay patient, she shouldn’t get sad because her best friend was 3 minutes late.
After a moment Madoka got surprised by being jumped on and having her eyes covered, on instinct, Madoka whipped her bag around and hit Dazai in the face. Madoka immediately blurted out different ‘sorrys’ and every single apology you could think of, and Dazai just laughed about it.
She was never informed about where they were going so when Dazai started walking all she did was follow beside him, trusting Dazai to lead her somewhere. They made small talk about what books they like and who their favorite movie characters are. They talked about what they did the day before and what their favorite type of tree is.
When Dazai came to a stop whenever they reached an arcade, it wasn’t very crowded except for a few teenagers and kids. Dazai told Madoka about how he comes here with his friend all the time while holding the door and walking in after her.
“I don’t really go to the arcade very often, so it’s nice to come here again.” The both of them circled around the Arcade before Madoka settled to play a small crane game, inside the machine there were cute little animal plushies; and Madoka would like to have one in her room. Dazai handed her two quarters and she put both of them in a tiny coin slot. She moved the handle to try to go for a cute white unicorn stuffed animal.
She moved the handle a few times and finally pushed the button down when she thought it lined up, it was in fact not lined up which caused her to miss the unicorn and leave her with nothing. Madoka made a sigh of disappointment. Dazai offered to try to get it for her, but Madoka told him that he doesn’t have to and that he should spend his money on something he wants, Madoka’s face still tinted pink at the thought of Dazai doing that for her. She hoped he didn’t notice. Dazai insisted and ended up actually getting the unicorn, somehow, she was almost sure it was rigged. The unicorn dropped from the crane hand into the pit where she could collect it, Madoka reached and picked the unicorn out of the pit, she then held the stuffed animal to her chest and hugged it tightly.
They spent the rest of the day trying out various different machines and crane games—with Dazai paying for all of them with his own money, which flattered Madoka. Whenever they left Dazai left with a small orange Kazoo from the ticket booth, Madoka left with the stuffed unicorn and a collection of other arcade prizes.
On their walk home Dazai played the song “ a double suicide” on the kazoo, which the pink haired girl was astonished at how he could do it so flawlessly. They ended up stopping at a small cafe to get some food, Madoka got reminded of romcoms and thought maybe Dazai might confess to her here like in movies, she tried to push that thought out of her mind. The boy ordered crab—but he was informed they didn’t have any so he opted for a hot chocolate with marshmallows. Madoka decided to order the same thing.
”My dad makes the best hot chocolate! You should come over and try it sometime!” Madoka said rather softly whenever they got handed their hot chocolate. All Dazai did was nod gently as he took a sip of his drink. Madoka talked mostly about a black cat she saved from a car that she named Amy. She went on about how she comes to her door everyday for some food and how she wants to take it in—but her parents might not approve.
“You could always sneak the cat in, someone else might take Amy in before you.” Dazai pointed to Madoka as he suggested that.
Madoka quickly pushed that suggestion out “Ah, no, no I couldn’t do that! If I got caught I’d get grounded forever!”
The day ended with Madoka and Dazai parting ways at her house, Madoka offered to walk Dazai home but he insisted on doing it for her instead.
Madoka went to sleep cuddling her stuffed unicorn that night, only thinking of one person.