"Let's go on a date."
"Huh?"
"You have no schedule tomorrow right? Let's go on a date in the amusement park!"
That was what Ilyas suggested to me yesterday. Because of that, we were now lining up to buy tickets in an amusement park's entrance gate. We each got a tag of different colors that we had to keep until the end of our visit here.
We entered and took in our surroundings. The flamboyant decorations adorning the stalls and mascots walking around made the park lively.
'Date…? Date huh?'
I was still in a daze when I got here, it's because the concept of 'date' was still foreign to someone like me who hadn't dated in both my two lives.
But experiencing new things was an exciting experience, especially when you do it together with your loved ones.
"You look good in casual clothes."
I awkwardly laugh at his words, it's a bit weird to wear a suit while enjoying ourselves so I changed into a more casual outfit. Beige pants and white hoodie, I put on whatever I found on my wardrobe without regarding the style. In a sense, I did it to fully cover myself from head to toe, complete with hat and mask to hide my identity.
"You look better than me though."
Ilyas wore a blue striped shirt on top of a white T-shirt with jeans and white shoes to top it off. Paired with that youthful yet charming face of his, people might mistake him for an idol.
"Am I handsome in your eyes?"
His eyes sparkled with childlike innocence, hoping for praise. I chuckled at the sight, his childish side was something I found cute.
"Of course, you're the prettiest in front of my eyes."
"Not handsome but pretty? That's a weird choice of words."
I smiled at his frowning face, he himself didn't even realize how charming his looks were.
Looking around the park, I asked, "Where should we go first?"
Ilyas looked up at me and grinned mischievously, "Glad you asked, come here."
Pulling my hand, he guided me further inside. There were a lot of attractions to ride on – ferris wheel, carousels, roller coasters, all of the most fun rides were available in this huge park.
'Are we riding a ferris wheel?'
My heart beat in excitement at the thought of being alone together with Ilyas. Whenever there's an amusement park date in famous movies and media, the ride on ferris wheel was the most heartfelt moment between the two main characters that made your heart race, right?
I might be having a stereotype, but even then, the thought of riding it together and enjoying the comfortable ride within the few minutes we were up in the air made my anticipation go up.
But contrary to my expectation, we were passing by the line to the ferris wheel and instead went to another ride's entrance to line up.
Haunted house : Scare You to Death
'Huh… What kind of catchphrase is that?'
"You sure it can scare you to death?"
"Haha, let's see if it's true. I've always wanted to try one."
Too tired to question the reason for the name, I brushed it off. Guess that's one way to promote your haunted house as there's already a crowded line in the entrance that proved this one had potential.
We walked up to the entrance and the door creaked open eerily. As we stepped inside, we were greeted by a blast of cool, musty air. The interior of the haunted house was also dimly lit, intensifying the horror in this place. It was the perfect environment for something to jump out.
For an esper like me, even the smallest shuffle of the people triggering the mechanism behind the scene could easily be detected, so the feeling of surprise was practically nonexistent.
'If you knew the magic's tricks, you would analyze it rather than being surprised by it.'
As I contemplated this dilemma inside my mind, a question popped into my mind, 'Isn't Ilyas currently a shaman in training? Is this kind of attraction even fun for him?'
To my surprise, Ilyas latched onto my arm like a terrified kitten. A shrill scream echoed from the far end of the corridor, making Ilyas jump and hide behind me.
"Are you scared?" I teased him.
"I didn't know that humans pretending to be ghost was scarier than the ghosts themselves."
Ilyas muttered, burying his face on my shoulder. Although I couldn't see his expression, I could detect the tremor in his breath. He was seriously scared.
That made my protective instinct kick in. I patted his head and offered to walk first, intending to glare at each employee trying to trigger the sound effects and jumped at us. There were quite a few planned jumpscares in this haunted house and all of them were shot down by my murderous intent.
I felt bad for the employees, but Ilyas was my priority.
"Phew, that was scary."
Ilyas exhaled a sigh of relief when we reached the end of the haunted house. The bright sunlight was once again shining down on our faces.
"How about trying something exciting next?"
To lighten up his mood, I pointed at the rollercoaster.
"Ah, roller coaster is kind of…"
But Ilyas' reaction seemed off. He looked away from me, as if hiding something and restlessly fidgeting his fingers. That was definitely a no.
"How about shooting arcade instead?"
"Sure."
I suggested something else, which Ilyas agreed to. We turned around and lined up for the prized shooting arcade.
It was a classic 'shoot down the prize that you want', with the target lined up on top of rowed floating shelves. Things, ranging from trinkets, small dolls, cute keychains and accessories were the prizes.
"Show me the tag you got at the entrance."
We showed each of our own. The owner, the one guarding the line, nodded at Ilyas' tag but one glance at mine and he scowled.
"Didn't you read the sign? We don't accept espers to play this game."
He pointed at the sign at the corner of the shop, it was true that there was a 'non-esper only' clause printed in red. I had missed that sign because people were standing in front of it.
"Ah, you can't enjoy the game then. Should we just switch to the other ones?" Ilyas suggested, but I shook my head. "No, let's continue. I want to see your shooting skills."
I said to the owner, "It's fine if I just watch from the sideline right?"
"Yeah sure, as long as you don't use your skill to help your lover."
"A-Ahem."
The blunt remark made both of our face flushed red, we awkwardly eyed each other and chuckled shyly. Noticing our embarrassed gazes, the owner clicked his tongue.
"What? I'm not wrong, am I? Tsk, youngsters these days. Here, you have three chances. Go to the booth immediately, you are holding the line."
The owner handed Ilyas a toy shotgun filled with rubber bullets. We approached the booth, looking at the prizes. One employee was standing nearby, she instructed Ilyas how to reload the toy gun and explained the rules, which were simple enough to understand.
Nodding in understanding, Ilyas inspected the toy gun before turning toward me. A mischievous grin spread across his face, "Every time I hit a target, you have to give me a kiss."
'His teasing never end, does it?'
I turned my head away in embarrassment, which Ilyas took as agreement to his demand.
Locking his gaze on one of them, Ilyas raised the toy gun in his hand. His serious gaze was tinted with competitive confidence.
His tightly shut lips, the steady and rhythmic breathing as he focused – it was a sight that I couldn't tear my gaze away from.
CLICK!
The trigger of the gun got released.