_Chapter 32~ Fake Smiles_

"Are we ever going to leave?"

Erika Amaya shrugged, continuing to admire her complexion in the reflection of the store. "Yeah, yeah, almost. Give me a minute."

I let out a loud sigh, bending over and petting a happy Marco. "You said that five minutes ago. Why do you keep stopping to admire your reflection? We even stopped by that mirror store..."

"Look, it's not killing anyone, is it?" Erika finally backed away, throwing back on her scarf around her neck. "In fact, these stores should be grateful I'm looking at myself with their mirrors."

I made a slight face as she took the leash from my grip, leading Marco down the road. I've only started hanging out with her today, and it's become clear to me rather quickly that Erika was somewhat of a narcissist.

Upholding to that one-sided agreement my parents had made, I was stuck having to show Erika around the city. Thankfully, it was finally spring vacation so I didn't entirely mind knowing I still had nine days to myself after this. All there was left to do was to get through this. I could do it.

"So where are we going next?" Erika asked, adjusting the glasses on her face. Despite being decently humid outside already, for some reason, Erika was dressed pretty bundled. A scarf, a long sleeved t-shirt and knee-high boots. She was stylish— more than I ever could be at that— but how was she not suffering from that?

She hadn't even broke a sweat while here I was, in a short sleeved shirt and sweltering.

"Um, we haven't gone by that area of downtown," I suggested, gazing down at the map on my phone. "But before that, do you want to—"

"Hey," Erika cut me off, peeking over at me.

"Yes?" I asked, raising my gaze. "Is there a problem?"

"A bit," she replied, fairly easily. "I'm getting kind of tired of walking aimlessly."

"Oh, do you want to stop by somewhere?"

Erika immediately perked at the suggestion. "Yes, actually. I do." She held up a finger. "See, you've taken me to plenty of tourist attractions and such around the city, but you haven't taken me to a music store!"

I blinked slowly. "A music store?"

"A music store," she clarified with a nod, searching left and right. "Where is a nearby one? I also wouldn't mind going to a bookstore afterwards, I'm running low on things to read."

Books...? Music...? For some reason, I wasn't exactly expecting such stuff to come from Erika's mouth, so to say I'm surprised would be an understatement.

Erika looked my way, frowning slightly. "Can we not go?"

"No, we can. Let's go," I quickly refuted, picking up my pace and leading her in the direction of a store I had in mind.

"Phew, you scared me for a second," Erika breathed, attempting to keep up. "Do you have an interest in music too, Reina?"

"Um, playing it, no. But listening, yes."

For some reason, Erika smirked. "You don't seem very knowledgeable about it though. Do you have a favourite type?"

"I don't really mind all genres," I admitted, tentatively meeting her eyes.

"Same." Erika nodded. "But, then what about bands? Do you have a certain one you really like?"

"Bands... I guess I really like Mortal Mania."

Erika let out a squeal. "Ooh, that band is a favourite of mine too! Aren't their songs really good?"

"Yeah, they are." I smiled. "I even heard they were coming to this city sooner or later."

"No way! We have to get tickets!" She paused, as if careful with the way she put things next. "But other than them... how about female artists? Are you familiar with them?"

"Somewhat, I guess. I don't really pay attention to most celebrities' names to be honest."

"I...see." Oddly, she seemed quite saddened by the news.

"Why?" I pressed her. "Is there one I should be aware of?"

Erika flashed me a smile. "Yes. But I'll leave things at that. We're here aren't we?"

Gesturing the the shop we had come to a stop at, Erika practically beamed.

"Here, take Marco. I'll be right back!" Without bothering to wait for my answer, she thrust Marco's leash into my hands and went racing into the store.

Exhaling a deep sigh, I bent down to a Marco who was staring up at me with curious eyes. I ran my fingers through his fur, my lips downturning. "I wonder if the day where I can finally understand your owner will ever come..."

* * *

"Thank you for today, Reina," Erika chirped, adjusting the shopping bags in her hand, Marco's leash with the other. "If you ever want to hang out again, just message me."

"Sure," I replied.

Erika shook her head with a smile. "Okay, Miss Awkward. Well I'll be off. Bye!"

Not pleased by the nickname, I scowled. Regardless, with a smile, Erika waved over her shoulder. I mimicked her action anyways and she departed at the station. Despite being fairly new to the city, she already learned to get around rather quick. She did bring up sometime today that she was used to moving around a lot, so possibly that had a lot to play in this.

Spinning around, I headed towards my own means of transportation home. As I passed a convenience store, I entered the bustling main street. I blocked the sun from my eyes as I passed by a nearby cafe. It was there something caught my attention from the corner of my eye.

I turned back, zeroing in on the odd speck of red amongst the many dark hair colours. It was a boy. Someone I'd seen somewhere before...

My eyes nearly bulged at the realization of their identity. Without a second's hesitation, I raced back behind the building where I had come from.

Wait... was that who I think it was?

Carefully protruding my head from the building walls towards the cafe, I grew fixated on the redhead seated at his own table. He was glued to his cell phone. And although a smile typically painted his face whenever I saw him, his dejected frown right now could not be mistaken for anything.

Was... he down about something?

Blinking rapidly, I tried to wrap my head around what exactly he was staring at at his phone screen —whatever it was, it obviously wasn't making his mood any better. As if feeling my boring stare, Aki Mitsoyu turned his head upwards.

My heart jumped in my chest. I quickly retreated, concealing myself against the building wall. Did he see me? No way. It wasn't possible. I was too far.

I inhaled a deep breath to calm my racing nerves.

Despite being somewhat curious about what had got him so sad, I guessed it was better if I didn't try to get involved. Aki Mitsoyu was never someone I should've talked to as much as I had already. Besides, it was probably something Raidon Tsuki... related. Their phone call I'd overheard that day made it clear that the two were not always on similar wavelengths, much less ever.

A sharp whistle erupted from my right.

"Wowza, I can't believe Senpai is bold enough to try and stalk me."

My blood ran cold. I robotically craned my neck to the source. I was poked in the cheek the moment I did and found myself staring at the face of a grinning Aki.

"I know I'm adorable and all, and you want to get to the bottom of my mysterious allure, but you're too obvious."

My complexion paled drastically. Aki bent over, waving before my eyes.

"Hello? Is anyone home?"

My lungs hurt. It dawned on me then that it was because I wasn't breathing. Exhaling heavily, my head dropped, my hand at my thudding heart against my ribcage. "Holy crap. You scared me."

"Senpai, swearing isn't appropriate," he said, though the lopsided smile on his face didn't suit his scolding statement at all.

Frowning, I avoided his eyes. Great... we've made contact. The heck? Aki was incredibly freaky though. I should've known he'd see me.

Should I run? Did I have a chance? If Iwasaki were here, he'd for sure yell at me that I was even considering this stuff instead of acting right away.

Before I could reach a conclusion on what to do, Aki swung his arm through mine. "Anyway, if you saw me, you should've come to say hi!"

He steered me out into the open. I tried to tug free but he didn't relent. He definitely knew I was considering escaping.

"You seemed busy," I fibbed.

"Really? I did?" He feigned surprise. "Even if I was, I'm never too busy for you, Senpai. I'd drop anything and everything for you."

"I see..." I peeked bitterly at our interlocked arms. "Can you... let go of me now?"

He unhanded me almost instantly, raising his hands in defence. "Oops, sorry. I grabbed onto you because you seemed like you were gonna run away. I know it's a ridiculous assumption, but just in case."

"Wh-what... Me, run? Away from you?"

I forced a laugh.

"I know, right?" Aki's smirk had hints of malice slipping through. "You're not that much of an idiot. If you even considered it..."

Despite witnessing my evident fright, unlike laughing his butt off like usual, for some reason, a frown took the form of his lips. He veered his head.

"If you even considered it," he repeated, in a more solemn tone than before, "I'd... have appreciated it."

My eyebrows darted high. Hesitantly, I studied Aki, his strange behaviour sticking out like a sore thumb. The events from earlier came to mind, of him sullenly eyeing something on his cell.

"Aki?" I asked.

At the call of his name, he rotated his head. He cracked a wry smile. "Aww, you're looking so worried for me right now. How sweet."

"Is everything okay?"

"Depends." He paused. "What does 'okay' mean to you? If simply forcing a smile and yelling 'Senpai! Senpai notice me!' will make you believe everything's 'okay', then I'll do it."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what I—"

"Senpai!" he squealed, raising his already high pitch some more. "Senpai, notice me! Please! Over here!"

I stared at him blankly. "Aki—"

"Eek! Senpai and I met eyes! Hey, can I... take a picture of you?" He shut his eyes, whipping out his cell and raising it upwards. "Oh em gee, oh em gee, a picture of Senpai!"

"Aki, this isn't funny—"

The light of his camera blinded me for a brief second, issuing more squeaks and flashes. "Oh em gee, Senpai is in my gallery! What'll I do? I'm so happy!"

Covering my face to the best of my ability, my voice rose a few octaves. "Stop doing that!"

"Then stop trying to act like you care." His words had suddenly grown harsh, taking me by surprise. I dropped my arm by my side just as he lowered his cell. "I don't need your concern if you don't really care enough to ask. I already know Iwasaki's told you to stay as far away as you can from me, so you might as well not lie. About not wanting to run away, or being concerned for my well-being."

He nudged his head, beckoning his hand as well.

"C'mon, just go ahead and run. Be as free as you can. Stay gold, Senpai. Stay gold."

For a moment, I couldn't meet his eyes, nor could I find something to say. "You're making me feel really bad."

"That wasn't my intention." He brushed his bangs back. "I don't mind frivolously joking around with you like this, but that all changes the moment you try to ask into my private life. You see, I'm a man of many secrets, and the last time I trusted someone enough to give them personal updates, I got hit with so many repercussions."

He airily chuckled, eyes glazed over as if recalling those very melancholic memories.

"It... hurts to think back to those days," he admitted via whisper. "People still hold it against me. It was after that whole shebang, I promised not to get too close to anyone else again."

"And that somehow makes you happy?" I questioned.

"It's not about happiness. Having a soft side is dangerous when you're involved with the things I am. It can be used against you. Rival gangs latch onto those stuff. In those movies or TV shows, the antagonist always comes after the protagonist's loved ones and makes them hostages. I'm not for that kind of baggage, so I discarded the sentiments. That simple. It makes it easier that the people I do associate myself with—Keisuke and Raidon—are strong enough to fight their own battles."

My heart weighed like lead in my chest. Things had taken such a serious turn—darker than I ever thought possible with Aki. He was scary, sure, but for as long as I'd known him, he'd always been that frivolous spirit. So uninhibited and constantly going through life doing as he pleased.

"But you can't be that cold-hearted," I argued. "You're always smiling aren't you?"

He snorted. Placing his index fingers on either sides of his lips, he tugged them up high. "Oh, c'mon. Forcing smiles is easy. And considering I have an extremely cute smile—"

"Um..."

"—it distracts people from worrying about me or getting too close," Aki finished, shooting me a short glare. "Faking smiles is way easier than telling others the truth; letting them in. So I use them to my advantage."

Digesting this all, my brows surged together. So even one of the city's most feared delinquents had his own problems.

I was tentative with my next question. "Are all your smiles fake?"

"Not the ones where I'm with Senpai~" He frowned upon seeing I wasn't taking it. "Hmm, this suddenly took a dark turn. Hey, there's actually someplace I want to go to today. Will you accompany me?"

Startled, I glanced up. "Where?"

"The amusement park." He beamed. "It opened up recently and I've always wanted to go, but I sadly have nobody to go with. I actually scored some free tickets from some really nice, understanding people."

These "nice, understanding people" had to be ones he beat up. There was no doubt in my mind.

Nevertheless, I considered it. The last time I'd gone to one was when I was a toddler, I believe, and it was a horrible experience. Ever since, I'd do my best to get myself out of going to one. I wasn't exactly a fan of rides much. They made me feel too queasy.

Noticing my reluctance, Aki placed his hands under his chin in a pleading manner. "As you can see, your beloved underclassman is super, duper down today. It would really cheer me up!"

"Um..." From the back of my mind, I could hear Iwasaki, Daichi and Miyabi yelling 'Don't do it, Reina!' but recalling Aki's claims from earlier—whether it be true or not—and his words right now, I felt obligated to brush them aside.

I'd already gone against their warnings by talking to him this long. All I had to do was keep this a secret from them, which ultimately couldn't be too hard.

"Fine," I relented. I held up a finger. "But—"

"Yay! Let's go!" he hollered, clasping my wrist and dragging me off. "I have the perfect pranks in mind!"

"Pranks...?" I echoed.

Aki didn't respond with anything but a bark of laughter. "This'll be so much fun!"

* * *

"Aki, I honestly don't think we should do this."

The redhead beside me snickered, holding up a bottle of glue. "Don't be such a downer, Senpai."

I seized his arm to stop him. "I'm serious! Let's stop doing this. What if someone gets hurt?"

"Even if someone does, they won't be hurt too badly," he flippantly said with the roll of the eyes. Soon, a Cheshire-like grin grew on his face, rendering me useless to the incessant pounding of my heart.

When Aki said he wanted to come to the amusement park, I had believed I'd be going on rides with him to cheer him up. And yet his idea of 'fun' was to basically prank all the citizens here. Pushing aside the fact that he'd intervened with various food stands, allowing people to get the wrong orders (to which the workers got reprimanded and nearly fired as a result), he'd even collected the unsightly photos the cameras unfortunately had taken of all the people who went on the crazy rollercoasters and distributed them like flyers. He even passed one out to the person who it was taken of, resulting in him chasing the two of us all over the entire park, yelling curses sailors would even be embarrassed to hear.

And despite those, plus a few others which were a little dreadful to mention, were horrible on their own, this idea had to be the worst.

"Nobody will see this coming," sniggered Aki, already tiptoeing towards the Valence Twister— a ride which basically spun the boarders in great heights over and over. "Stay there and make sure nobody sees me," he hissed to me. "I have to do this now while the operator is still on break!"

"Aki—"

Spotting people pass by, my mouth clasped shut, my yell falling short. I forced a casual smile on my face to which they awkwardly returned before continuing on to do as they pleased. As soon as the coast was clear again, I returned my focus to Aki who was already pouring glue all over the operator's seat—a type that could blend into it.

My jaw plummeted as he even attempted climbing over the bars towards the actual ride to do the same. Sprinting towards him, I barely managed to grab onto him and yank him back in time to stop the glue from touching one of the seats.

"Aki!" I practically screamed, yanking him backwards and away from the ride. "Don't you frickin' dare!"

"Hey! I was just about to— Ow! Ouch! My ear! Let go!"

Ignoring his wails and the incessant flailing of his limbs, by my grip on his ear, I successfully managed to drag Aki away from the ride. I even grabbed the chair Aki had defiled in case the operator returned and tried to sit in it. By the time we were clear from the public's eye, I let go of him, glowering hard.

"I cannot believe you!" I bellowed.

Pursing his lips together in the form of a pout, Aki innocently cocked his head to the side. "Senpai... you sound mad."

"Mad? Mad?" I repeated, practically fuming. "I'm pissed! What the heck were you about to do? People could've seriously injured themselves!"

"Stop taking this all so seriously," he sighed, nonchalantly waving the bottle of glue in his hands. "A little glue couldn't hurt anybody. It'd be hilarious, too."

Clenching my teeth, I ended up smacking his arm. Aki sucked in a gasp of air, cradling his limb.

"Ow!" He glared at me. "What was that for? You didn't have to hit me!"

"Clearly I did!" I shouted in return. "You said you wanted to have fun so what the heck is with all this? First with the food and the photos, and now you were trying to frickin' kill people...!"

"Kill...?" Aki said after me, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, c'mon. I doubt that. Glue would help them stick more to the ride, meaning they'd be safer than they'd normally be."

Balling my fists, I resisted the urge to slap him yet again. He was an infamous delinquent with fighting experience. I was a scaredy-cat who baked in her free time. We were worlds apart, and I wanted to live, thank you very much.

Huffing, I spun around, stomping forward.

He clamped my arm. "Wait, wait. Don't storm off."

"Let go of me."

Pursing his mouth, Aki heaved a loud breath. "Fine, I won't prank anyone anymore today."

I scoffed.

"I'm serious! Here, take all my stuff if you have to."

Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out buzzers, string cheese bottles, whoopee cushions, and just about every other unoriginal prank equipment from his many pockets. He piled them off along the floor and the amount of them was kind of ridiculous. I couldn't even fathom how he managed to hide this much stuff.

"There, all of it," he breathed after dropping his last fake moustache. "If you don't believe me, you can pat me down." He held up his arms, then winked. "But be a little gentle though, okay? I'm underaged."

Dropping my guard, I relaxed my shoulders. I hesitantly met his eyes. "Are you feeling better?"

His eyes widened. "No way, you're still worried about me?"

Heat claimed my cheeks. Why was I? I shouldn't even care about this guy's misfortune.

"Getting some ice cream would honestly make my day," Aki admitted after a pause. "All this pranking has left me the craving."

I eyed him warily and he elevated his hands in defence.

"I'm serious," he said. "But sadly, I don't have any money on me, so it's a pipe dream. The struggles of a high schooler..."

My shoulders sagged. I walked ahead. "Fine. It's on me."

"Ooh, so reliable!" Keeping up with my strides, Aki bumped arms with me. "I have the best upperclassman ever!"

"Yeah, yeah, be quiet."

Aki laughed a bit. After arriving at the ice cream booth and getting us both scoops of ice cream, we headed for the amusement park entrance. It was then he broke the comfortable silence that loomed over us.

"Say, Senpai," he drawled, "do you want to join Raidon, Keisuke and I?"

I dropped my cone in shock. "Huh?!"

"Oh no, your ice cream." He eyeballed the splattered treat before taking lick of his own, deadpanned. "Such a waste..."

Were my ears just playing a trick on me? Please tell me it was just that.

"It'd be a lot of fun, y'know."

Oh, God. It wasn't.

"Plus Raidon would get a kick out of you—not a real kick if that's what you're thinking—but a humourous one," Aki continued. "I think I might've told you, but Keisuke would hate your guts at first. He hates having people invade in his own bubble, and a new person to the crew would heighten his hate. But I'll protect you from him. Trust me."

"Y-you're out of your mind!" I hissed after I finally regained my voice. "There's no way I'd ever—in a million years—agree to something like that, much less want to consider it!"

"Why not?" he said petulantly. "You hang around Iwasaki."

"Iwasaki isn't Raidon Tsuki!"

"But..." He hung his head like a puppy. "It's just, Iwasaki seriously doesn't deserve to have you by his side. You're so awesome and cool compared him. And I can guarantee you'll have tons of fun with me. There's no reason for you to hang out with him then!"

I couldn't tell if he was genuinely excited at the idea of having me in his gang, or he was joking—with him, it was always difficult to tell. Regardless, him suddenly bringing up Ryu as if they were old friends had summoned my curiosity.

I met Aki's unusually grey eyes. They were stormy, and yet familiar somehow. "Hey," I gathered the courage to say. "Why do you keep bringing up Iwasaki?"

I braced myself for yet another disappointing 'it's nothing' as I'd always received. It was understandable—people preferred to keep things to themselves so me prying must've begun to get annoying. This time, however, Aki surprised me.

A wry smirk curving up the corners of his lips, Aki shook his head. "I was so sure you would've already pieced it together by now," he said with a hint of amusement seeping in through his tone. His smirk grew. "Iwasaki's my older brother."