Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen | As Dark As My Soul

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Todoroki-kun!" I say, running up to the two-toned boy before hunching over to catch my breath.

"It's fine, I just got here anyway." He puts his phone in his pocket and I sit down on the bench next to him while we wait for the train to arrive.

We make small talk while waiting together, and the train gives me just enough time to take in Todoroki's outfit. A white and grey t-shirt with a beige jacket and black jeans topped off with a black beanie and black vans.

"You look nice. I didn't know you'd be so stylish," I comment, referring to his outfit.

"Thanks, but I can't take the credit. My older sister chose this outfit for me." He says, getting up and stepping onto the train with me following behind me.

"Oh, I see. She has good fashion sense."

"You look nice, too, Chikufuku," he says, referring to my own outfit that I spent way too long choosing.

I have a plain black sweater that's a little too big for me tucked into high waisted beige and brown plaid shorts. I also have a black backpack slung over one shoulder and red converse all-stars and to finish the look, a black baseball cap to hold my hair in place.

"Thanks. I try way too hard when choosing my outfits so it's nice to know that it doesn't go unnoticed." I smile, readjusting my cap to sit more comfortably on my head.

The rest of the bus trip is spent silently as we both hold onto one of the poles for support, and once we arrive at our stop we step off and make our way to the agreed destination.

"So, have you ever been to an aquarium, Todoroki-kun?" I ask, skimming through the pamphlet they gave us at the entrance.

"I went once when I was younger but I can't really remember it, so technically speaking, yes."

"Wait, really? You don't remember?" I press, walking to the elevator and stepping in with him, joining a bunch of little kids and their parents. "So, this could be considered your first time at an aquarium!" I realise, grabbing his arm and pulling him out the moment the doors open for the top floor. "If that's the case, then we have to see the whole thing, like a deep-sea adventure!" I say, making him seem a little confused but compliant none the less.

The aquarium is four stories tall, and the entrance is on the ground floor. The top three floors are for the three levels of the see, daylight, twilight and midnight zones and the ground floor is for the cafes and gift shops.

We start on the top floor, or the daylight zone, and look at all the fish there are before I drag him down a staircase to the twilight zone where some rather strange fish are kept.

"Woah, check out that shark Todoroki! It's glowing!" I say, pressing myself up to the glass to get a closer look.

Todoroki seems to be a quiet person, but he hasn't said anything since we stepped foot off the elevator. Normally that's a bad thing, and I thought so too, but when I looked back to see if Todoroki was okay, he seemed completely awestruck, so I think it's safe to say he's having a good time too.

I smile at his wide-eyed expression and continue looking into all the aquariums and reading all the mini fact sheets until we make it through the twilight zone and head into the midnight zone.

At the bottom of the staircase, a staff member hands us both some kind of 3D glasses and tells us to find a seat somewhere in the room.

We walk in and sit down next to each other and I pull a packet of pocky from my bag, offering a few to Todooki before sitting back to enjoy the experience.

Because you can't actually get animals from the midnight zone to stay alive out of the midnight zone, instead of looking at them through the glass, you can experience the midnight zone in 3D in their bigass theatre and neither one of us is complaining.

The overall experience is only about ten minutes of screentime, but it's enough to leave Todoroki-kun and me completely speechless when we exit the dark room.

All the other little kids and families that leave with us are giggling and happy, meanwhile, we're just walking next to each other with wide eyes and goofy grins.

"That was amazing," I hear Todoroki mutter from my right and all I manage to do is nod my head in agreement and we silently make out way to the final flight of stairs, ready to eat some good food and finish this outing on a high note.

We find a small cafe and sit down in one of the booths further towards the back before getting into a light-hearted conversation. Even though Todoroki's happy and laughing, he doesn't seem to get my jokes and just laughs when I do.

"Hello, can I interest you two in a drink?" a young lady comes up to our table with a notepad and pen ready to take our orders.

"Um, I'll have a black tea and apple pie," Todoroki orders his drink and food before turning to me to let me order mine.

"I'll have a coffee and a blueberry muffin, please," I say, giving the girl a smile.

"And how do you like your coffee, ma'am?" she asks, looking up from her sketchbook.

I think for a moment before remembering something my dad used to say and feeling the stars align with how perfect it is for this situation.

"I'll take it as dark as my soul." I joke, laughing along with the girl.

I look up and see Todoroki look a little confused before his face lights up in realisation and he eagerly turns to the worker.

"She'll have warm milk," he says, sounding really accomplished for some reason. This makes the worker and I burst out in laughter, but she changes coffee to milk in the end and leaves us be.

"I didn't know you make jokes, Todoroki-kun!" I say, still recovering from the laughing fit I just had.

"I wasn't making a joke though," he says with a straight face, looking confused once again.

God bless this little cinnamon child.

In the end, he had his black tea and apple pie and I had my warm milk and blueberry muffin, and before we left we decided to visit one of the gift shops together.

"I'll buy you something if you'd like," Todoroki offer's, browsing shelves of the store with me.

"No way, you bought my ticket and my snack. At least let me buy my own souveneir." I say, pulling a killer whale plushie from one of the shelves to examine it.

Before I manage to head to the counter, the plush is snatched from my hands and Todoroki is walking over to pay for it. He comes back shortly afterwards and I can't help but pout when he hands me the already paid for plush.

"I'll buy you something," he says again, ruffling my hair that is no longer covered by my cap.

"Fine, you win this one. But if you can buy me something I'll buy you something too," I walk over to the shelf that held the killer whale plush and take down a blue whale before walking over to pay for it.

"We can match!" I say, giving it to him and watching as he reluctantly takes it from my arms, holding it to his chest like a child.

"I guess, thank you," he mumbles as we walk out together, plushies in hand.

I smile and assure him that it's no trouble before heading back to the train station together and heading our separate ways shortly afterwards.

The funny thing is, I feel really upset when he leaves my side with a simple goodbye.

Please don't be a ghost-reader and be sure to like and comment~

-Red