This Should Be Fun!

Dressed in his usual manner when planning a visit to The World of the Living, Masaru approached Mia's home, ready in his gigai already, to pick her up.

They'd planned on going to the human world together for a fun date, there were...plenty of things that even he didn't have much experience with, such as arcades, which Mia had wanted to show him.

It was usually always on official business when he was in the human world, so he rarely ever indulged in the entertainment there...

This date should be fun.

That in mind, he gave a small knock on the door to let her know of his arrival.

Hearing the knock, Mia just about fell over. She hopped on one foot, zipping up the boot she was attempting to wear. "A-A minute!"

It was...such a hassle to find something remotely modern...she wasn't wearing her cloak either so she had had to find something the least cosplaylike to wear. A long skirt greyish purple circle skirt that flared up when she spun, over a white button up shirt that was a bit fancy with pretty purple buttons and a bit of lace at the neck and ends. Long heeled boots with no leggins, it was too warm to but she wished dearly she could...

And a long tassled sash rounded out her date outfit in addition to her gloves. She knew Masaru's outfit in gigai was somewhat fancy so she had wanted to match it somewhat... Her hair was pulled back, the bangs pinned to the side with the hair clips of a moon and star that Hideki had gotten her, the rest was in a bun at the base of her neck. Half of it up, the other half falling in soft waves as she had braided it while wet and let it dry like that... It shortened it a bit...

Finally the boot was on! Moving to the door, she opened it with a happy smile. "Sorry, I had trouble getting the boots on..."

Hearing Mia on the other side of the door, he waited patiently, waiting until she could reach the door.

"It's alright." Masaru smiled as Mia answered the door, "You look nice."

He was glad that had been so easy to say, because it was true; she looked nice. Neither of them could dress too heavily considering the heat, summer would be coming to an end soon though, but for now, it was still quite hot out.

Mia instantly turned beet red, pulling the sash closer to her over her arms. She looked away, played with the ends of it a bit and smiled shyly. "Th-Thank you..."

"You do too...like usual..." Smiling, she moved to leave the house. "H-Here, let me lock up and we can go. I have the butterfly with me...should we just head out here or leave from your division?"

So many people might see her... and get confused... But she was doing this date without her cloak crutch! She had Masaru, it was safe...

"Th-Thanks." He replied, waiting for Mia to lock up as he contemplated their travel methods. He'd already reported he'd be going to the World of the Living, and had his butterfly as well, so really they could leave however...

Mia would probably be more comfortable heading out here, considering there would be others around if they used the senkaimon's at the Sixth.

"We can leave here if you'd like, either way is fine..."

Mia nodded happily, glad to leave from here at least! One of the perks of being Human World Captain she supposed, happy for once he had such a position though it stressed him out. Locking up the house, she pocketed the keys and nodded before reaching out to shyly take his hand. Feeling bad for the thin gloves, she couldn't help it though... "Thank you... I don't think I could handle other shinigami seeing me yet. W-With strangers its much easier..."

They wouldn't remember her face.

Masaru took her hand as Mia moved to take it, giving a small squeeze as he gave her a soft, but reassuring smile. "Welcome, and it's alright; I figured you'd be more comfortable leaving from here...I understand."

"Thank you..." Masaru was too sweet! Mia flushed darkly, not knowing how to respond to his understanding at this moment. Her butterfly opened the portal for them, Mia leading Masaru forward in a show of confidence despite her small shaking. She was showing him the arcade! She was NOT going to be timid, it was her turn to show him things and teach him...

She gulped as she reached the edge of the portal before stepping through and gently pulling him behind her as they ended up in a park. It was an out of the way place, Mia using this spot to portal in instead of an alley like usual. The heat wasn't bad today, especially for the time of year. It was rather cool by standards in fact and she sighed in relief.

Once the portal was open, he followed Mia as she led him through it. He could feel her shaking slightly through her hand, and he silently hoped that maybe later any nervousness would be gone. They were going to go and have fun after all.

They exited the portal, ending up in a park from the looks of things rather than an alleyway. He was pleased to see the heat wasn't unbearable, that was good...it was harder to stand hot weather...

"The weather's nice today, I'm glad."

"It is..." Mia's voice was really quiet but she didn't stutter, for which she was thankful. The nice weather made her smile and she looked up at Masaru, letting him see it before she looked back down with a blush. "This way... It should be fairly empty..."

She could be brave! She could lead Masaru to the arcade, with a determined air she strode forward while never letting go of his hand. Mia would be brave so she could be worthy of Masaru and his affections. Leading him out of the park, she glanced back up at him with another smile though this was a bit fainter.

"Alright." Masaru nodded, returning Mia's smile with one of his own as she led him out of the park and towards the arcade.

He'd seen...arcades from the outside, but had never paid them much mind before now...

At seeing Mia give him another smile, he gave a small, comforting squeeze to her hand as they walked, his previous smile still on his face.

Okay the comforting squeeze helped more than it should. Mia was blushing lightly, as they finally made it down the street to the busy looking building. The inside was darker, making the games easier to see and there were more than a few people... But it was much less busy than it would be during peak hours.

Moving to open the door for Masaru, she let go of his hand and hurried forward...before remembering... She was supposed to let him open doors for her. She turned red and looked down. "S-Sorry!"

It wasn't super crowded, but there was a bit of a crowd he noticed as they arrived at the building; Masaru followed Mia towards the door, picking up his pace a bit as she let go of his hand to reach the door.

At her apologize he gave a small smile, "It's alright. Here, let's go." He said, moving to get the door since she'd let it go.

Mia gave a nod through her beet red face, moving back in a quick motion so Masaru could open the door. Why was she so bad at this stuff?! Hurrying through the door, she smiled shyly before stepping into the air conditioned and loudish building. The dark atmosphere made her feel a bit better, allowing her to relax almost imperceptibly.

"Mm...what should we try first... This is an arcade Masa. There's a lot of games in them... and well people too. But its easy to hide from others! They won't bother you too much." Mia was ignoring the looks the teens and slightly older were giving the two fancy dressed adults, though her face betrayed her feelings.

"I...I'm not sure..." Masaru replied as Mia asked what they should try first, "What's your favorite type? or...game? Ahaha...I'll get the hang of things eventually..."

He knew there were different types, but other than the games she had already shown him he wasn't aware of many other types of video games that this arcade seemed to have.

Glancing down at Mia, he realized even though it was dark she was probably nervous...she usually had her cloak... So in an attempt at comfort he moved a bit to take her hand and give it a small squeeze, hiding his action just in case she didn't want others seeing.

"I like um...fighting ones in arcades. And the shooting ones, also the racing are fun... There's dancing ones but I am um bad at those... Other Rhythm games too." Mia knew her favorites and knew he was fine with just doing those... but she felt the need to let him know about the other types. He might like them!

Mia...didn't mind anyone seeing him hold her hand and gave his a squeeze in return along with a grateful smile. He helped her be so brave and that courage was only half the reason she kept his hand. She just liked holding it... Moving a head of Masaru, she let their clasped hands show as she led him over to an empty machine. She liked this arcade for its atmosphere, darker than others so it made her feel better...

Next to the machine was a token exchange machine so she pulled out her wallet to show Masaru how it worked. Taking a bill out before he could protest, she stuffed it into the machine which was then followed by coins pouring into a cup below it. "Like this... and then you use the tokens in the games."

"Those sound good to try, we can start with one of those then." Masaru smiled; perhaps one of them he'd discover he was decent at, they seemed...simple enough...their concepts anyway. He wasn't sure he would be good at dancing ones either, modern dancing was much different from what he was familiar with...he could only imagine what an arcade dancing game would be like...

He allowed Mia to lead him towards the token machine, watching with a bit of curiosity as she showed him how it worked. So tokens were currency here for the most part...

"I think a rhythm one might be best... We both are good with music and they have some that don't require dancing..." Mia thought for a second before she gave that reply, wanting Masaru to start with something a bit familiar at least.

Taking a double handful of the tokens, she grinned and held them out to Masaru though there was still a bunch in the holder. "Your pockets would work for these, I can hold the rest in mine. See if they do it this way, the money is in certain spots instead of all these games? Then they just have a few machines to worry about and just empty the tokens instead of counting the money there."

"That makes sense..." Masaru nodded; it was something he was familiar with, so maybe a non-dancing rhythm one would be a bit easier to grasp than the rest.

As she held out the tokens, grinning up at him, he gave a small smile before he took them, putting them into his pockets like she suggested after giving a small nod; "I see..." It made sense, her explanation as to why tokens were used.

Mia was glad Masaru thought her plan made sense, blushing slightly as she looked away. He was trusting her to show him how she had fun and she would do her best! As he put the tokens in his pocket, she moved to take the batch that was hers and stuff them in her pockets. The shawl was still draped over her arms, but it would be fine really.

Now that they were all set, Mia took Masaru's hand again and slowly led him over to the rhythm games. She was a bit unsure of the crowd and though she was leading, she stuck like glue to Masaru. "O-Over here..."

There was a game where you tapped a drum to beats and as she took him over a pair of people left it laughing. Moving ahead a bit now that there was no one, she pulled out a few tokens and put them into both sets of slots. "We both have to put them in to play, it tells you how many on the slots. You choose the options with the screen, pressing with your finger and then play with the drum thing."

Masaru couldn't help but be happy that Mia didn't seem to mind that their hands showed when they were holding each other's, and a small smile graced his expression as she led them over towards a machine.

At Mia's instructions he gave a small nod as he looked at the machine, and the drums they were meant to play with. "That seems simple enough..."

"Mhm..." Masaru seemed happy from the little smile he had on, so Mia smiled in return as a bit of her shyness disappeared. If it was making him happy then she could take comfort from it!

Moving her hand forward, she frowned at her gloved hand... Lifting the hand still holding his, she let go slightly and looked up at Masaru with a small blush. "C-Can I borrow your finger? I can show you what to select and do it if you let me... My gloves block it..."

"That's fine..." Masaru nodded; he didn't mind Mia using his finger for it, if her gloves hindered her from doing the selections herself then that was that. If she showed him then he could get accustomed to how it worked too...

Mia shook, turning bright red as she gently moved Masaru's hand and touched his finger to the screens for selections. She was flustered by this so much, though she really shouldn't be but... it was...it was...

Something... She had no idea what though, just that it made her all loopy inside. So after selecting what they needed, she smiled through her red face and nodded at the screen. Words had left her for the moment. Picking up the sticks, she hoped he enjoyed it and didn't think it was stupid... Would he like something like this? His...hobbies were more...elegant.

Masaru was quiet, a soft smile on his face as he watched what Mia was doing with his finger's; he was sure to pay attention so he could understand the options she was picking for them for the game.

He returned her smile with a slightly brighter one from himself, his eyes moving to the screen before back to her. So...he also needed to...pick up sticks like those then...right...