He was pretty sure they would be able to get along when the right opportunity came along, but…
“I see, I see.”
He felt a soft sensation on the back of his neck. Next, a sweet breath tickled his ear.
“How about we buy a bigger bed? The ones we have are too small, so we almost fell off when doing it doggy style. One with a waterproof mat would be best.”
“H-have you bought a recliner yet?”
He quickly moved away from the large round objects resting on his shoulders.
Amused by his reaction, Micha giggled.
“I did buy one, but I’ve hit a snag. I used a trick to get the lease for our apartment, so we’re technically not registered as its residents. I need to stop by the government office and get things legal.”
“Oh… I see.”
He was bothered by the parts about “using a trick” and “getting things legal”, but she was an angel. He decided to turn a blind eye.
“Sorry. I’ll be gone for a bit, so you kill some time with Ange.”
“Oh… Wait, what!?”
“If you see anything you want, go ahead and buy it all.”
She tossed the black card his way and turned around.
The boy naturally panicked when he was handed an object that could produce as much money as he wanted.
“W-wait, Micha-san!”
She was already gone.
All that remained was the weak-willed boy and the credit card he was afraid to use.
“What did Micha want?”
Having seen her guardian walk up and leave, Ange only tilted her head and got down from the bed.
They decided to look at the furniture later, so Mutsuki showed Ange around the mall since she wanted to see more large stores.
“What a strange place. It’s like an entire shopping district was put inside a single building.”
“That’s what a mall is.”
Fortunately, Mutsuki visited the place about once a month with his sisters, so he knew his way around pretty well. Showing Ange around was a simple task.
“Ha had”
Ange seemed to like the spiral escalator that made a half circuit of the central space as it brought them to the second floor. A huge smile covered her face as she saw all the stores spinning around her.
The boy laughed quietly when he saw her unable to maintain her usual air of composure.
(She really is a good girl.)
Due to some compatibility issues and bad timing, he had not had a good impression of her. But when he saw her here, she no longer seemed like someone he could never get along with. As long as she could claim it was her duty, she would do a proper job of protecting him 24/7.
“Hm? What is it?”
She seemed to have noticed him looking at her, so she tilted her head while leaning over the railing.
He felt like he had been watching her all day and she seemed to have a habit of putting on that lopsided frown even when she was not particularly angry. That impression was helped by the natural angle of her narrow eyebrows and the sharp look to her eyes.
“I’m just glad you seem to be enjoying this,” he said with a smile. “I thought you might not be able to enjoy yourself with me.”
“Uuh… I-I’m not enjoying the human world in the slightest. It’s just, um, not boring since it’s so different.”
This time, she really did look to the side with a sullen look. The problem seemed to be her prejudice against the human world, her short temper, and her refusal to be honest.
The escalator reached the second floor, so they continued on up to the third. The central space seemed to rotate around them on this half circuit.
Mutsuki spoke to the girl who leaned on the railing with her cute lips bent in a lopsided frown.
“Hey, Ange. Look at that.”
“What is it? …Wow.”
He pointed down toward the central space.
When she peered down, her angry expression immediately lit up.
On the first floor, the central rest area’s decorative plants had appeared to be arranged in an irregular pattern, but from this high up, they formed a picture. With summer approaching, the many yellow seedlings painted a beautiful sunflower.
“Ah ha had You humans think up the weirdest things.”
She seemed to be enjoying herself again. She completely forgot to frown as the escalator rotated around and changed their angle of view, somewhat changing the sunflower’s colors and shape.
She really was a pure girl. Mutsuki stepped up alongside her with a smile. She was not going to complain if that was all he did.
Although maybe pure was not quite the right word.
“There are so many clothing stores, too. …Ah! Wait a second, Mutsuki! Why are those people standing around in their underwear!? They’re in public!”
Ignorant may have been the better word choice.
“Those are mannequins.”
“Manne…what? Oh, they’re dolls. …Ah! Wait a second, Mutsuki! They’re selling human bones over there!”
“Those are piggy banks shaped like skulls.”
“Oh, so they’re fake. …Ah! Wait a second, Mutsuki! That man is wearing a girl’s sailor uniform!”
“That’s…a personal preference…I guess.”
By the time they reached the third floor, the atmosphere had lightened up quite a bit.
The first floor’s stores were primarily for food, cafes, and general living items. The second floor’s stores were all related to fashion. They planned to visit those places once Micha got back, so they made their way to the third floor. That floor was for entertainment shops.
The stores were all entertainment related: books, music, snacks, movies, etc. Mutsuki had chosen it because it had plenty of stores that sold things Ange would probably like to see, such as kid’s accessories and amusement products.
But as soon as they arrived, Ange’s interest latched onto one spot in particular.
“What’s this place? It sure is loud. Game Master City?”
“It’s an arcade. They have games there.”
“The whole place is for games?”
“Yup.”
“You’re kidding.”
Her mouth hung open as she looked around.
Her reaction was hardly surprising. Game Master City took up a full third of SeeDWalK’s third floor and it was one of the town’s leading amusement parks. More than just video games, it had ping pong, pool tables, a bowling alley, karaoke, and a manga cafe. It even had an indoor tennis and futsal court for rent until seven at night.
Sakae would often drag Mutsuki to arcades, including this one, so it was actually the perfect spot for him to show Ange around. He followed her as she rushed inside.
“Hmmm… You humans really are geniuses when it comes to the most pointless things.”
Despite the backhanded compliment, she smiled happily and ran around the arcade.
“What’s this?”
“The crane game. After putting in some money, you move this around to grab the prize.”
“What’s this?”
“Horse racing. You buy a token from those machines and bet on this. All the games in this area need tokens to-…”
“What’s this?”
“At least hear me out. This is a photo booth. It takes your picture.”
As she dragged him around, Mutsuki checked on the contents of his wallet. He was not about to use the card for games. His investigation turned up a total of about 7000 yen. That seemed like it would be enough.
“I want to try them! Tell me how to do it!”
In an unsurprising turn of events, she called him over as soon as she pulled out a 1000 yen bill. He smiled bitterly and broke it down into 100 yen coins.
“Which one do you want to try?”
“This one. Everyone’s smiling, so it looks fun.”
She pointed at a nearby booth and tugged on his sleeve.
“Um, but…”
He was a little troubled, but before he could say anything more, he was dragged into the booth covered in pictures of “everyone smiling”.
He was unsure what to say since this technically was not a game, but he could not refuse Ange when she looked so excited. He inserted a coin and decided showing her would be faster than explaining.
“Well? Well? What do I do?”