A Pocky Close Call

This wasn't how Arata planned his culture festival experience to go. Though, there were plenty of worse things he could be doing other than getting dragged along with Matsu. Still, he'd much rather walk with his own two legs.

"All right, you can stop pulling me around. I'll come with you." He pulled himself back, gaining control once more.

"This is going to be so much fun." She smiled at him. With that cute smile he had grown accustomed to.

"Sure…" He wasn't looking forward to it himself. Standing in the middle of the outdoor portion of this festival. Things were getting hectic with the large number of students enjoying their day.

All these stands and displays for showcasing clubs, sports, or even just general fun. It was a bit overwhelming to him, but Matsu was getting excited over the prospect.

"How about we try this first?" She pointed over to some dart game being set up. The students running it wanted to give a real carnival feel to it, like how some countries do it.

"Step on up!" One of the students running it yelled out. "Hit three in a row, win a prize." They had simple dolls and stuffed animals lined up on a shelf as a reward.

"That looks fun, we should try it." He didn't disagree, it did look rather fun to try.

"You two will give it a try? Great!" They were handed their darts, three each. Matsu was the first one to try and hit her targets.

"Heya!" Miss. "Hya!" Miss again. "Ha!" Miss yet again.

"I guess it's harder than it looks." He commented at this poor display of accuracy.

"Yeah…" She replied downtrodden. "Then, maybe you can do it." She turned her mood around. "Yeah, do it and win me a stuffed bear please."

"What?" He was a little embarrassed being asked something like that.

"That's cute. You better win it for your girlfriend." He didn't even bother to correct them this time. It wasn't really worth the effort anyway, since he was probably never going to see them again.

"Here's goes nothing." He stood nervously with his three darts. With all these people watching, he didn't want to disappoint. Then again, throwing darts wasn't something he was particularly practiced at.

His hands were shaking so much, Arata closed his eyes to concentrate. With his body moving on its own, his hands threw all the darts at the same time. Three pops were heard, followed with cheers from the crowd.

"Wow, impressive... And really dangerous…" The stand runner clapped. "I can't believe we've just been graced with a master of darts here today ladies and gentlemen."

"Huh?" Arata slowly opened his eyes. Then he saw the aftermath of his actions, his targets had been popped.

"Congratulation, here's your prize." He was handed the stuffed bear that Matsu wanted.

"T-thanks?" He was still in disbelief at what he just did. Not that he was complaining. "Well, here you go." Arata handed the toy to Matsu, just like he technically promised.

"I love it." She took it gleefully. Giving it a tight hug. "Thanks."

"It's no big deal." They left the stand, and checked out the other attractions.

"Hey, hey... You're upset, aren't you." She said to him, as they aimlessly wandered the school grounds. Looking for the next game to try.

"What makes you say that? I'm fine." He deflected, trying to avoid the subject.

"I can tell, that look on your face. You're sad about Erina, aren't you?" He was surprised that this girl could tell. She never spent any time with Yogi or the others if he wasn't there.

"Oddly specific, don't you think?" He indirectly answered. "And even if that's the case, why would you care?"

"Because I can tell that it makes you unhappy. So I want to cheer you up." She smiled. "How about this? You can tune a piano, but what can't you tune?"

"Anything that's not an instrument?"

"You can't tuna fish." That joke was absolute terrible. Yet, he couldn't help but smile from hearing it, giving a little chuckle.

"That was so bad…" He replied.

"But you're laughing right? So I think I did a good job cheering you up."

"Maybe…" Spending this time with her wasn't as bad as he was expecting. He was actually having fun for once.

"So don't worry. I'm sure that whatever she did, Erina will make it right." He wondered if she'd feel the same way, if she knew what the truth was. "I know that, if one of my friends feels like we've wrong the other. We do whatever it takes to get their forgiveness."

"Th-thanks." Actually, for once. He wasn't the one being suspected as the one in the wrong. This girl, she was being so kind to him.

That's why it was making him feel a bit bad for talking about Erina with her. Here he was, spending time with a girl. Yet they were talking about some other girl, he felt it was a bit unfair to Matsu.

"Hey, how about we try this game." He wanted to make it up to her. Seemed that there was quite a gathering of people at this tent, so it looked like it could be fun.

"Perfect." The announcer noticed them entering. "Now we should have enough people to get this started.

"So what is this game?" He asked, as the assistance walked up to them.

"You didn't see the sign? I thought that a couple like you came here just for this."

"Why would it matter if we're a couple?"

"Because." She handed him a Pocky stick."We're playing the Pocky game, of course." He couldn't believe that he walked them into this. Arata wanted to leave, but Matsu looked at him with puppy eyes.

"Well, we probably shouldn't be doing this. After all, you're probably not comfortable-" He didn't think that this was the type of game she'd be interested in. Arata wanted to make sure she had some fun, before they had to part ways.

"I want to… I mean, I wouldn't be against doing this with you." She quietly said. Matsu took the stick, placing it into her mouth. "But, only if you want to, of course."

"You… don't mind?" If she wasn't going to stop this, then he figured that he shouldn't disappoint her. Though, he wouldn't go as far as to kiss her. He had never had his first kiss, and his parent always told him that he should save it for when it mattered. Doing it because of the Pocky game was probably on the not mattering side.

Arata nervously took the other side of the stick. Looking at her so closely, He felt his heart beat faster. This wasn't the first time he was this close to her face. The stick jostled around in his mouth, he felt that she was in the same boat as him with this. At this distance, he could tell that she was unable to control her heart, her body as well.

The way he felt about this… It was an unfamiliar feeling to him. Was this how it felt to view a girl like this? Like someone that you could… But if that's what was going through in his mind, then what about hers?

This girl, he thought. Did she looks at him like that? As a boy, someone with feelings more than just friends? No, she couldn't feel that way, that intimate attitude of hers. She did that with everyone, he saw it first hand. Her friends, even Yogi sometimes. There was no way that Arata was special to her.

Inching closer to her, their noses could almost touch. She closed her eyes, was she expecting a kiss? Perhaps, because that would be the best way to win? Except, that wasn't his intention, nor his desire. But at the same time, he didn't want to let her down and just give up on this game. Luckily for him, someone else was able to make that decision for him.

"What are you two doing?" Another person's voice entered his ears. Since Matsu was so focused on this, she got scared and jumped backwards. Their stick broke, and thus they were disqualified.

"And we have our winner!" The announcer cheered on another couple, who gave each other their first kisses. Probably for the best, Arata thought.

He tumbled backwards down to the ground. Taking a short moment to regain his bearings, he looked up to see who it was that interrupted them. It was Misei, with Misao standing right next to her.

"Aww. Why'd have to do that?" Matsu asked her, disappointment in her voice.

"I don't know what's going on here, but this is hardly appropriate behavior." She criticized this game being played. While her opinion wasn't really a problem for him, the fact that she didn't know about this was surprising. Shouldn't she have been aware of all the events being held today, he thought. That sounded uncharacteristic of her.

"Sorry." He picked himself up from the ground. "I didn't realize what this place was until it was too late." That was the honest truth, though judging by the looks he received from them. It wasn't much solace for them.

"We haven't seen you for about a week, ever since you decided to stop joining us for lunch." She scolded him.

"I guess I should've figured that you'd abandon us after you got yourself a girlfriend." Misao accused him.

"You two are misunderstanding here." He put his hands up in defense. "Me and Matsu are just friends."

"Is it really that bad if I was your girlfriend?" Matsu asked meekly.

"Well, I mean. It's just not true." He answered. "And is it a bad thing that you're not?" He didn't get the chance to question her further. Because a certain group intervened between all of them.

"There you are." It was the rest of the gardening club. They had finished their display, now was the time for them to get a little bit of free time to enjoy the attractions.

"I have to say. It's impressive that you got him in here." Hanaka whispered to her. Believing that this was her setup. "Nice job."

"Actually, he's the one that took me here." Matsu whispered back. That was even more impressive to Hanaka. She figured that this boy might be closer than she thought.

"Well, since you're all here." Arata took this opportunity to get away from everyone. "You should probably spend some time with your friends. And you two probably have some important things to handle."He knew that she should be spending time with her friends. The student council members probably had responsibility to take care of. So maybe this was the time he could hide away somewhere so that people wouldn't bother him.

"You're not getting away that easily." Misei grabbed his arm.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"After this stunt you pulled. Plus with you avoiding us for the past week." She said to him. The look in her eye gave him shivers down his spine. "It's time for some punishment."