A Day at the Park

"Let's see, food check. Blanket, check." Arata was checking things off his list. Making sure he had everything for today. Why? Because today he was getting ready for his other weekly job.

A knock at the door drew his attention, with everything in order he went and answered it.

"Ah hello." He greeted the guests, a mother with her triplet kids, two boys and a girl.

"Hello to you too Kashikura." She greeted him back. Arata's duties in babysitting for the day were about to begin. This time was going to be different, however. After the last person dropped off her children, the other parents that enlisted his help came and dropped off their kids as well. One boy and another girl.

"Thank you again for helping us out." The mother of the girl handed him his money in advance this time.

"Oh it's no problem at all. I love taking care of the children in the neighborhood." This was partially true. The money was a bit more of a priority though. "looks like that's everyone now." He said, keeping an eye on the kids, waiting by his basket full of food.

"Oh are you going out soon?" She asked.

"Yep, since the weather's gotten so nice lately. I thought that it was a great time to take everyone to the park this time."

"Oh that sounds so wonderful, but actually do you mind waiting a while?" He didn't understand. "Oh, I told my friend about you and she has a little girl so she was interested in having you watch her while she goes take care of some errands."

"Really?" He could hardly contain his happiness. This meant more money for him.

"Yes, I believe her big sister is going to drop her off, so please just wait a little longer." They said their goodbyes to each other, Arata returned to the kids now under his watch.

"Oh looks at all this food." One of the triplets were peeking into his basket.

"Oh... Curious as always." He said, taking the child away from it to make sure it didn't get any damage. "Today we're going somewhere special." He told them.

"To the park?!" Said the little girl.

"Yep." They kids all cheered, raring to go. "Although we can't go yet. It turns out a new friend is joining us too."

"Really? Who?" The girl out of the triplets asked.

"Well, actually I don't know. I just know it's a girl is all." He put his hand under his chin, wondering what he should be expecting. Another knock at the door got him out of thinking. He was going to get his answer pretty soon. "Hello? I'm guessing that. Ah!"

"Hello to you too." It wasn't someone he was expecting. There she was, Yuriko standing at his front door. This time with a little girl standing behind her leg. Trying to hide from sight.

"Sorry about that yell. I just wasn't expecting you to be here." He apologized. Thinking that he had frightened the girl that was with her. Looking at her, he could see the resemblance to Yuriko. If he didn't know, he'd think that was just Yuriko when she was at that age.

"Yeah, my mom heard about what you do. So she figured that it might be a good idea." She crossed her arms, indifferent about the whole thing. "Anyway, I got things to do. So I guess I don't mind you watching her, but don't you dare do anything to her." She threatened. What type of babysitter did she think he was? Not important though, at least he has another customer now.

"Well, that's great I guess." He replied. "So, what's your name?" He asked the small girl. What he got in response was her covering herself more behind her big sister.

"Her name's Yurisa." Yurioko answered for her. "Come on now, I'm dropping you off here." She spoke irritated at her younger sister.

"No! I want to stay with you, big sister." She finally spoke up from her silence.

"You know what mom said. Beside, I'm sure he won't hurt you." He was kind of wishing she said, I know, He knew for a fact that he was pretty good at this babysitting business.

"Yeah, and we have plenty of friends that want to meet you. Come on, I'm sure you'll enjoy it." Yurisa was still uncertain, but she relented a little. She didn't have a say in the matter.

Despite her reluctance, they were able to convince her to let go of her big sister. Arata let her in and the teens said goodbye to each other. He led her to the living room, where the rest of the children were waiting.

"Okay everyone, today a new friend is joining us." Yurisa didn't say anything to them, in fact, she didn't even have a chance to. The rest of them rushed up to her. Asking questions like her name, or where she was from. She was very overwhelmed by them. "Now now, let's not scare her." He got them off her. "Besides, you'll have plently of time to get to know her. Like I said, I promised we get to go to the park."

The children, sans Yurisa, cheered. He got them ordered so that he could keep an eye on them as they walked to the neighborhood park.

The park itself was fairly large. The main feature being the playground for children. It had swings, monkey bars, and a play set with a slide. He remembered that he enjoyed playing here as a kid, so he was certain that the kids would love this trip. Now that he was thinking about it, it's been a while since the last time he went. Why did he stop?

Well he brushed it off, it must've not been important for him to remember. Otherwise, it was a rather beautiful place, there were some people out, going on their daily walks.

After some walking, he found a good place for them to set up their picnic blanket. At this place, he would be able to sit and keep an eye on them while they played on the playground.

"Okay kids, remember. Don't go anywhere where I can't see you all right? If you can't see me, then that means I can't see you." The children gave their affirmation to him. Not that he was stressed out about it, but he still had some concern about this. They ran off to have their fun, except Yurisa, who moved a lot slower than them. Unsure of what she was supposed to do. Such a shy child, he was having a hard time believing that was Yuriko's younger sister.

Thankfully, despite what this job might sound like. This was usually the easier of the two jobs he had taken to make some money. Unlike having to do labor, the children didn't cause him problems most of the time. Plus, it allowed him to not have to actually talk seriously to them, not that he minded chatting with Hine.

Arata leaned back, hands behind his head. The sun's rays felt so nice, it had been a while since the summer started that he got to enjoy it. Being at school was such a pain, seeing how hot it was getting without any way for him to control it. But outside, feeling the cool breeze was much better for him.

His worries could just go away here. No concerns over blackmail or fears about what he might have to do. Just a nice day at the park. Looking over next to where he set up, he saw a bunch of flowers. It looked like they were planted there by someone. Similar to how his gardening was with Hine.

"Those are nice flowers, aren't they? I just planted them there myself." A voice said. Apparently the source of these flowers.

"Really, you did this. Well nice job… Ah!" He turned to face them. He wasn't expecting it to be Yogi talking to him. "Y-yogi?! What? But why are you planting flowers?"

"Well you see, someone at the gardening club asked for some help during the weekend. I just couldn't say no, you know?" There he was again, helping just because someone asked. If Arata got a dollar for every time he helped someone out, he wouldn't need this babysitting gig.

"Really now? I guess if that's the case, then that's cool."

"So what are you doing here? I thought you said you didn't like going outside?" Yogi asked. He eyed the basket of food and picnic blanket that Arata set up. "Or maybe you're here on a date?"

"As if." He replied, crossing over his arms. "I'm taking care of some kids. That's all."

"Kids, that's sounds cool." Yogi didn't realize that Arata was the type of person to do this. "Say, if that's what you're doing. Then do you mind if I help out? I just finished the flowers."

"Help?" Arata wasn't sure if he should accept, but what was the worst that could happen? "Sure I guess you can join me. But just letting you know, I do get paid for this."

"Oh that's fine, I don't need payment. If that's what you were wondering." Well that alleviate one of his issues. Seeing no problem with this, he let him join. "Well first I just gotta… Oh there they are." He was going to return his tools back to the club members, but saw them nearby. "Hey! I just finished. You girls want these tools back?"

Arata tried to take a closer look to the people that he was helping out with. Something about them seemed familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. At least, not at this distance. However, once they saw Yogi, or more accurately, Arata. They rushed over very quickly. He didn't even have any time to react, that was how much distance they covered, as he was tackled by one of them.

"Arata! I didn't think I'd see you here." It was orange hair girl again. What was her name again? He could hardly think with her suffocating him.

"Ah! Who are you?" He tried asking through the sudden surprise.

"Huh? You don't know her, but she's in our class. You know, Matsu Kusano?"

"No, I know her name." He pushed her off him. "What I mean is why she thinks she can act like we've known each other for years." Dusting himself off, he took the time to see who else was with her. It seemed like the other club members were more normal compared to her at least.

The time he remembered interacting with this girl was at the school dance. A time he'd rather forget. So she was part of the school's gardening club? He hoped she would never learned of his gardening job.

"Anyway, can you get you're tools back. I'm sure you girls are busy with other club activities and need to get going, right?"

"Well actually. We just finished up ourselves. So we don't have any plans." The girl with short green hair said. "Oh sorry, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Hanaka Kamikawa." She extended her hand to him, which he accepted.

"Well I'm…"

"Arata Kashimura, right? Ku told us about you." She said. He did not know who Ku was.

"Ku?"

"Oh right, that's what we call Matsu. I guess we all have nicknames for each other. Mine's Hana."

"Yep. My name's Karino Yokokawa, but you can call me Yoko." Said another one of Matsu's friends. This one had red hair, and she seemed much more prideful.

"And, um, my name's Yumeho Atsuta." The other girl, unlike her friend, introduced herself much more meekly. She used her long, blue, hair to hide her face a little from him.

"Yeah, but we call her Suta." Hanaka finished her answer. So that was all the introductions for him. Not that he wanted it, but it didn't look like he was getting out of this situation.

"Well it's to meet you all. Uh, if you're done here, then what were you planning on doing after?" He asked them.

"Actually, we were going to have a picnic here."

"Yep, so that we can watch the flowers we just planted grow." Matsu cut into her friend's explanation. "But if you're here, then we gotta set up next to you, right?" He didn't think that was the best idea, but her friends weren't stopping her. If anything, they were encouraging it.

"Fine, whatever. It's a public park, so you're free to go where you want." He allowed this. In hindsight, a pretty bad idea. "If anyone else wants to show up here, go ahead." He shouldn't have tempted fate, or perhaps fate was already set in motion.

"Yogi!" If what Arata got was painful, then Yogi got it much worse. As another girl tackled him and got him in a bear hug.

"Erina!" He struggled to gasp for air. "T-too tight. G-get off me!" He pushed her off as well. She simply laughed it off.

"Oh come on, you know you love it." She said, giggling until she saw Arata and the others. "Huh? Hey, what are you doing with all these girls?" Said, her tone turning serious.

"Oh I was just helping them. Why are you getting jealous?" He tried to calm her down.

"Yes, he was just helping the gardening club with their activities." Another girl's voice entered the scene. It was Misei, along with Misao right beside her.

"What the? What are you doing here?" Arata asked them.

"Well, it is a wonderful day, so we figured it be nice to go on a walk and talk about school business." Misao answered. She sounded rather convincing, and maybe there was some truth in it. Yet he was confident that it was a lie. They were really here because a certain boy was too. That was definitely the case with Erina, he just knew it.

"Oh boy." He said to himself. "Not only do I got children to watch, but now I got to keep my eye on these kids too." This day had taken an 180 on his hope of relaxation. Now it was going to be filled with stress and it was only going to get worse from here on out.