Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Megumin let out a soft sigh as she sat down on the somewhat uncomfortable bus stop bench, adjusting her school bag so that it rested on her lap instead of the bench beside her; that spot was already reserved for someone else. Trying to pass the time before her friend arrived, she briefly made a futile attempt to tidy her now windswept bangs before giving up in favour of simply just enjoying the early morning Spring breeze.

To be honest, the girl was… discomforted? Annoyed? Antsy? Yeah, antsy, let's go with that. Today was her final half-day of school before Spring break began, something she was sure all of her peers were excitedly looking forward to, yet she honestly couldn't be less excited about it if she tried. Sure, a break from schoolwork would certainly be a welcome one for her, even though she rarely had any problems when it came to it, but she had an ominous feeling that the next 2 weeks would be both very, very tiring and very, very boring for her.

It was a fairly common occurrence during her vacations for her parents to leave her to look after herself and her little sister, Komekko, while they went around trying to find someone willing to invest in - or even just buy - her father's mostly useless products. While she really did love taking care of her little sister, she had done it enough times by now to know how difficult and, more importantly, exhausting it could be, not to mention all the chores she would have to do around the house while her mother was gone. Simply put, Megumin highly doubted that her Spring break would be anything even close to relaxing.

Even so, that wasn't the only thing troubling her in relation to her upcoming 'break'. As she softly drummed the back of her shoes against the bench, her thoughts slowly drifted towards the person she had been waiting at the bus stop for, it seemed that he was a couple minutes late today. That was fine, he had been late before, just like she had been late on a few occasions, it would be stupid for her to let it bother her. Yet it still slightly irked her all the same.

"Why did you have to be late today?" Megumin impatiently mumbled to herself.

She allowed herself to linger on her thoughts of him for a little longer as she stared at the bus stop's schedule. She was being stupid, he was only a few minutes late, she was the one who had arrived early anyways.

The girl was quickly pulled out of her thoughts as a new presence made itself known to her, sitting down next to her and gently bumping her arm with his elbow to get her attention.

"Yo," Kazuma said, lazily waving at her as he showed her a small smile that quickly morphed into a frown as he began speaking again, "Sorry if I kept you waiting, my idiot roommate was even more difficult than usual this morning. She somehow clogged the sink and refused to let me leave until I fixed the problem she caused."

Megumin gave her best friend a sympathetic look as he complained, she was all too used to the horror stories of Kazuma's roommate by this point. "Right, she clogged the sink with… what exactly? A-actually hold on, do I even want to know what she clogged it with?".

"Honestly, for your own sake, it's best that you never know," The boy grimaced before sifting his vision towards the road before them, straining his eyes to spot something coming up from a short distance, "Pretty sure our bus is almost here, by the way."

"Mhm," Megumin simply responded, dusting off her skirt and moving her bag back into position as she moved to stand up.

Before long, she and Kazuma had boarded the bus and were now seated upon the somewhat more comfortable bus seats, settling in for their regular commute. Kazuma had pulled out his phone and was seemingly replying to a message he'd just received while his shorter companion simply just sat next to him, occasionally stealing small glances at him - and his phone in particular - as she looked for some way to break the comfortable silence between the two of them.

'This really won't do…' Megumin thought to herself as she began to absentmindedly fiddle with the hem of her skirt, 'I don't mind these silent moments usually, but… considering the fact that we probably won't see each other for at least two weeks after this, I… I really do want to make the most of this time with him.'

With a newfound determination to make the best out of their final commute (she was being over-dramatic again, wasn't she?), Megumin turned to face Kazuma. "Hey, Kazuma. Kazuma!".

"I'm Kazuma," Came the expected reply as he turned off his phone and shoved it into his jacket pocket, giving the girl next to him his full attention.

"Today's your last day before Spring break, right?".

"Mhm, half-day," He replied, stretching his left arm with a slight groan, "I've only got classes in the morning, so don't bother waiting for me on the bus later."

"Fufufu," Megumin giggled, briefly slipping back into her chuunibyou ways as she brought up her right hand to cover one of her eyes for dramatic effect, "But of course I'll be waiting for you later. For you see, I have also had my daily schedule torn asunder by the cruel hands of fate!".

"You're embarrassing yourself in public again," Came Kazuma's deadpan reply, causing Megumin to shrink back into her seat as she saw that she was indeed getting a few weird looks from some of their fellow bus-goers. The (mostly) reformed chuunibyou felt her cheeks heat up immensely due to her old habits slipping through the cracks once again, before turning to her friend with a meek yet guilty look on her face. "Don't look at me like that," Her companion sighed and gave her a sympathetic look, "I really don't mind if you act like that from time to time, but if you act like a kid in public, you're bound to get people looking at you, y'know?".

She barely managed to avoid flinching due the 'acting like a kid' part of his comment. Seriously, didn't he know that was a sensitive topic for her?

"Sorry… W-well, anyways, as I was saying before, I don't have afternoon classes either," Megumin steered their conversation back into its original direction, "Soooooo, I know that we don't usually walk home together on Fridays, but we probably won't be able to see each other as often over the break, so why not walk home with me?".

"U-unless you have work afterwards! In which case it's fine." She added after a few moments.

Looking up at Kazuma's face, she saw his furrowed eyebrows and slightly downturned mouth. She knew that expression, he was definitely mentally weighing the pros and cons of her suggestion right now. It didn't seem to take him very long to come to a decision, as after only a few seconds, his features became much more relaxed as he once again looked down at his shorter companion. "Sure, sounds good. I'll have a couple hours to kill before my shift starts anyways."

'A couple hours?' The girl pondered over his words, a few ideas popping into her head from his words. She found herself sending him a heart-warming smile in response. "Thanks," Her smile fluctuated for a second before she decided to just tell him about what had been bothering her, "To be fully honest, I'm not particularly excited for the next two weeks. Like, at all."

Kazuma fixed her a sceptical look as he listened, "Oi, I thought you said that you weren't one of those weirdos with some kind of unhealthy obsession with school."

"I-it's not like that!" Megumin shot back, indignantly, "I really don't care all that much about school, you know that. I'm just kinda stressed out about having to look after the entire house and my little sister for the next two weeks is all. Sure, I've done it a couple of times before, but I'm still a little worried, y'know?".

"Huh, I see." The brown haired teen shrugged, "So that's why you're so fidgety today. I just assumed it was your time of the month or something."

"Kazu-ma!".

"Yeah, I know, I kn- Ow ow ow! Okay you can stop now!" He groaned, batting her away with one arm and moving the other to shield his chest from the barrage of tiny punches, "As I was going to say, I can relate to you on that much at least. I'm still gonna hafta go into work most days, as if babysitting my very own shut-in wasn't work enough. Plus, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. I mean, you are a pretty responsible person nowadays… and you always seem to do a good job when it comes to taking care of Komekko, so…".

All of Megumin's internal grumblings about Kazuma's earlier dirty comment quickly faded away as her brain became awash with Kazuma's genuine praise. She'd known him long enough to know that what he had said was his true feelings, he wouldn't be looking as embarrassed as he was right now if that wasn't the case. She tried her best to ignore the red of her cheeks and her goofy looking smile as she watched him awkwardly scratch at his neck while he tried his hardest to avoid making eye contact with her. She really did love it whenever he'd give her a brief glimpse of his more un-composed side.

"A-anyways," he brought his fist up to his mouth and cleared his throat, quickly squashing his embarrassment, "I'm sure it won't be all that bad. It's not like you're gonna be completely busy 24/7, your sister still goes to kindergarten most weekdays, right?".

She nodded her head, "Yeah, I guess I'll still have some free time to myself, I'm not really sure why I've been going into this whole thing with such a pessimistic attitude, haha….".

Instead of responding verbally, Kazuma just nodded his head and sent her a genuine smile, the type that made the bus feel just slightly warmer and her cheeks slightly pinker, before seemingly remembering something and pulling his phone out from his jacket pocket, scrolling through until he found what he was looking for. "Oh, before I forget, I saw this video last night, thought you'd like it…".

The remainder of their bus ride together continued in their usual fashion. Megumin listened intently as Kazuma described the exhausting few hours he'd had to endure at work the evening before, with the girl occasionally chiming in with her own remarks and colour commentary. Kazuma sat with an expression of slight concern and pity as Megumin regaled him with stories of Yunyun's recent stalking attempts and afterwards Kazuma just let her mess around on his phone for the last 5 or so minutes before she got ready to make her way off at her stop.

"I'll wait for you outside the gates, 'kay? Try not to be too late this time, please." She slumped her shoulders slightly as she got up from her seat and looked back at the boy, who simply responded with a tired grin and a thumbs up.

It really had been a very uneventful school day for Megumin so far, all things considered. Despite the fact that the school day was technically already over, in terms of classes anyway, she still had the lunch period to get through before they would be allowed to leave. Not that she was complaining about that, mind you. Food was food, and what she'd be given here was probably a lot better and more filling than whatever she'd have to eat at home.

As she entered the school's cafeteria, she quickly set about the task of getting in line for her meal. After successfully procuring today's lunch, she was quickly waved over to a nearby table by two girls, two of her classmates, Funifura and Dodonko. Truthfully, Megumin wasn't particularly close to either of the girls but she did still consider the two of them her friends, so she had no issues joining them at their table. It's not like she had anyone else to sit with anyway. Well, anyone else besides that weird loner girl, that is.

"Hey Megumin!" Funifura enthusiastically greeted her, while Dodonko simply just waved at her, chewing on her sandwich.

Megumin returned their greetings with greetings of her own as she placed her tray down onto the table and sat down. "Ah, Hey Funikura-".

"It's Funifura! With an 'f'!".

She naturally ignored the girl's complaints, instead turning to the other girl. "Hi Dodonko."

"Mhm," She swallowed her mouthful, "Hey."

"Soooo, Megumin," Funifura began, slightly leaning over the table, "Got any plans?".

"Hmm?" Megumin gave a quizzical glance at the girl, "Plans… for what?".

"For the next two weeks, obviously. What else would we be talking about?".

'Ah, of course,' The short haired girl couldn't help but sigh internally, she had already heard this exact conversation come up between her peers multiple times over the course of the day, 'Seriously, don't these people have anything else to talk about?'.

"Not really," She simply stated between mouthfuls of food, "My parents will be out of town, so I'll be taking care of the house for most of the time."

"So you really have no plans at all?" Queried Dodonko.

Funifura looked at her for a few seconds, before smirking mischievously, "What about your boyfriend, then? Are you seriously not gonna go see him even one time?".

"Guk!" Megumin quickly swallowed her food, "B-boyfriend? What kind of weird things are you saying now?".

"Ohhh yeah," Dodonko joined in, knitting her brows together as if she was trying to remember something important, "That highschool guy you're always clinging to, right? What's his name again… Kazuto? Kazuya? Kazu… something."

"Kazuma!" She squeaked, already regretting involving herself in this conversation. "And I don't 'cling' to him, thank you very much!".

"Yeah, that's the one, Kazuma. He is your boyfriend right?".

The poor girl's face was already beet red by this point. "W-wha-? No! Of course not. It's not like that… Me and Kazuma… aren't…" She trailed off, not really knowing what she could say to salvage this situation. Instead, she just turned her head away from the two girls, hoping they couldn't see the deep red blush that covered her cheeks.

Because things really weren't like that between her and Kazuma. They really were just friends, even despite how much Meguin wished that they could be more than that. She did love Kazuma, she loved him a lot, and she had felt that way for a while now. But what was she supposed to do about it? She who, until around a year ago, had only cared about practising new 'cool' poses to do in tandem with her equally-as-cool monologues or working on perfecting her 'explosion magic'. The same girl who had once adamantly mocked such things as love and romance, claiming them to be nothing more than pathetic and embarrassingly girly emotions that she was far too mature to care about. How was that girl supposed to deal with the undeniable fact that she was indeed in love with Kazuma Satou?

She knew that she had - no, that she wanted - to tell him exactly how she felt about him. Tell him how much he truly meant to her, about how much comfort even just his simple presence would always bring her, about how much she just wanted to… be with him. She'd tell him that she always sees him as the kind and caring person that he truly is, no matter how much he tries to hide or downplay his good deeds towards others, for whatever reason, she'd always notice. There was so much she loved about the boy, even in spite of his somewhat perverted nature and occasional sour mood whenever things really weren't going well for him.

She would tell him. She just didn't know when… or where… or… how.

B-but she would! Really! She loved him too much to let him go without knowing her true feelings for much longer. That much was certain.

Over on the other side of the table, Funifura sat with a knowing smirk, trying to suppress her giggling, while Dodonko, on the other hand, seemed to be genuinely confused.

"Huh?" She tilted her head, a questioning look pulled at her features, "Wait, so he really isn't your boyfriend?".

Megumin turned her head back towards them as she picked at what was left of her meal, before simply mumbling in an uncharacteristically defeated tone."...No."

"Oh?" Funifura feigned surprise for a moment, before leaning towards Megumin with a smug smile, "Do you want him to be your boyfriend?".

Megumin had just about had it up to here with this girl! Who did she think she was, trying to tease her about Kazuma like this? She was ready to give this impudent girl a real taste of her mind. Yet, to her complete shock and horror, she instead found herself nodding meekly, before mumbling out a small sound of confirmation. Seriously, what was wrong with her right now? Did Kazuma really have that much of an effect on her that she'd go to these two for help?

"Ha! I knew it!" Funifura cheered, far too loudly in Megumin's opinion, "Little Megumin, who would always call romance stupid and childish, is in loooove~! And with an upperclassman, too!".

"L-little!? I'll show you who's little!" Megumin yelled, the tidal wave of rage and embarrassment that had just washed over her making her entire face light up with an impressive shade of red.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Funifura leaned back in her chair, narrowly avoiding the string of jabs and swipes that were sent her way by the irritated girl across the table. "But, seriously, what are you gonna do about it?".

Sensing the slightly more serious tone in her voice, Megumin gave up her attempted assault. "What do you mean?".

It was Dodonko who spoke up to answer her question. "Well, if I had a fairly good-looking guy that I liked showing me that kind of attention, I'd probably want to make a move before someone else gets to him first… or something like that?".

As much as Megumin hated to admit it, she did have a point there. Sure, Kazuma wasn't some popular 'pretty boy' or anything, he hated those types of people, but he certainly did have a pretty decent amount of friends, way more than she had, and many of those friends were girls. Very pretty girls, according to Kazuma himself. She momentarily had to suppress a physical cringe at the thought of some other girl taking Kazuma before she could confess to him, there's no way she'd let that happen!

It was just then, at that exact moment, that Megumin heard something that really pissed her off. "Hmm…" Funifura crossed her arms, "Well, if Megumin isn't interested in making any moves on him, I may as well just ask him to walk home with me from now on instead. He is kinda cute, don't you think?".

The girl felt a vein pop in her forehead as she saw the innocent grin on her face and the nod of agreement from Dodonko. Oh, she'd put up with a lot of grief from these two girls already but this was too far. As if she didn't already have enough to deal with when it came to Kazuma, this girl thinks she can come in and take him away from her just like that, as if!

Yet still, Megumin couldn't help but squirm as she angrily looked over the two girls before her. While Megumin's current physique was… lacking, to put it lightly, puberty had obviously been much more generous to Funifura and Dodonko, giving them bodies that could only really be beaten by Yunyun and the two tumours she had growing on her. Megumin couldn't help but suddenly feel very self-conscious in that moment, with her own body being way shorter and flatter in comparison to her peers. She knew Kazuma liked girls with curvy bodies and big chests, she could figure that much out from how he'd talked about the girl who moved into his apartment block a few weeks ago, so how was she supposed to be appealing to him when she'd barely had any physical changes since puberty began.

Simply just wanting to leave the conversation as soon as possible, and in a worse mood than she was willing to admit out loud, Megumin sent the other two girls a mean glare as she hurriedly ate the last few mouthfuls of food on her plate. Standing up from her chair, now eager to get back at the two girls for their irritating behaviour ever since she'd sat down, she leaned over them, for once actually towering over them, before speaking with the most intimidating voice she could muster, "Don't you dare try to make any moves on my man, okay?".

Because really, even if it was only in her head as of right now, she'd already decided that she was going to make him hers.

If he actually returned her feelings, that is.

Despite her admittedly very cool exit from the cafeteria, Megumin quickly realised that she still had about 10 minutes before they were actually allowed to go home. With nothing else to really do, she began to aimlessly wander from corridor to corridor, heading in the general direction of the school's entrance.

About a minute or two into her stroll, she felt a familiar pair of eyes on the back of her head, quickly turning around to spot a clearly caught off guard Yunyun, as she quickly moved to hide herself behind a conveniently placed row of lockers. She maintained her eye contact with the poorly-hidden girl for a few seconds, with Yunyun obviously aware that she'd been caught by now. Megumin increased the intensity of her stare as Yunyun began to sweat and fidget with her hands. Eyes still locked onto her target, Megumin took a single step in her direction and then…

Megumin quickly turned around and casually walked off in the direction she had been going originally, as if she'd never seen the girl behind the locker.

"Hey! D-don't ignore me! You clearly saw me!" Yunyun indignantly wailed as she ran out from her hiding place before screeching to a halt in front of the girl, her face flushed and her eyes watery.

"Oh, were you the thing following me around like a lost puppy?" Megumin asked, feigning ignorance, "Well, anyway, it happens so often nowadays that I've just learnt to tune out your presence."

"T-that's not true at all, you were looking right at me! You even started to walk towards me!" Yunyun began, before quickly slapping her cheeks to calm herself down. "Anyway, t-that's not the p-point."

She then nervously looked around, making sure that there was no one else there with them, before taking a deep breath and doing what Megumin could only assume was supposed to be an imitation of one of her poses from back when she was a chunni.

"Megumin, what a strange coincidence it is that we happened to run across each other just now! As umm… fate… uhh…" Her pose dropped a little as she began to fumble with her words, "Yes, as fate has placed us both here together, I shall take this o-opportunity to invite y-you to join me on an i-incredible outing l-later today…?".

"...".

"...".

Megumin stared at the other girl with a dubious expression. "... You want to hang out later today, right?".

"Y-yes," The poor girl hung her head in shame, completely dejected.

"Seeing you trying and miserably failing to be cool is giving me second hand embarrassment. Or were you trying to make fun of me?".

"N-no! That's not what I was trying to do at all…".

"Stop looking so sad already," She sighed, pitying the hopeless girl in front of her, "When and where?".

"H-huh?" Yunyun squeaked out, raising her downcast face to look up at the other girl.

"You said you were inviting me to hang out," Megumin simply replied, "Surely you wouldn't invite someone to hang out without thinking about where you'd go and at what time,". Actually, she personally had done that exact thing multiple times before but decided to omit that as she was sure that Yunyun had already decided on a time and place, and then probably had at least a dozen backup times and backup places, it just seemed like something that the strange loner would do.

"Y-yes, Of course!" Megumin had never seen someone look so relieved about something so small, all she did was ask her a question, " So I was thinking that w-we could go to a pancake place I've read about online, the reviews are pretty good. I w-was thinking m-maybe going at 3:30? I-if you want to, that is…".

"Hmmm," Megumin thought for a moment, before nonchalantly shrugging, "Sure, why not?".

Almost immediately, Yunyun's face lit up in joy, a wide smile pulling on her features as her eyes became ever so slightly glassy. Sure, Megumin did see the other girl as pretty strange, not to mention fairly embarrassing to be around at times, but she didn't hate her or anything like that. Seeing the pure happiness on the face of the other girl, she couldn't help but momentarily return her smile with a slightly smaller smile of her own.

"But," Megumin raised a finger, as if to lecture Yunyun, "I'd rather move it to 4 instead, I have to pick my little sister up from daycare at 3:30."

"That's fine!" The shy girl began to nod her head vigorously, "4 is fine."

"And on the subject of my sister, My mom won't be home until later on, so Komekko will have to come with us."

"Of course, of course! You know what they say, the more the merrier. Eheheh…".

"Mmkay, it sounds like it might be a little fun," Megumin absentmindedly said, watching as the odd girl in front of her began to fidget and twitch for a few moments before pulling a couple dozen small pieces of paper out of her bag. Once she was sure she had all the small slips of paper, Yunyun made quick work of shuffling through each individual piece of paper, mumbling something under her breath as she searched for a specific one.

Just as Megumin was about to question what exactly it was that the other girl was looking for, Yunyun's furrowed eyebrows relaxed as she hastily shoved all but one of the paper sheets back into her bag, offering the one she had in her hand to Megumin with a smile that was trying way too hard to look natural. "H-here! This is the address of the place we'll be h-hanging out at," She said as she pointed at the first line of writing, then pointing to the second line and continuing, "A-and this is the time we'll be meeting at, just in case you forget… B-but it's not a problem if you do forget! T-this is just here to help you… y'know…".

Megumin quickly tuned out the other girl's rambling as it began to dawn on her just what Yunyun had been doing earlier. 'Even though she was the one who suggested we meet up at 3:30, it clearly says 4:00 right here,' She narrowed her eyes as she examined her companion, 'Did she…? Actually of course she did, this is exactly the kind of thing she would do.'

'She totally wrote down every single time and place that she thought I might decide on, didn't she?'.

"Umm… Megumin? Why are you looking at me like that?".

"No reason, Yunyun, no reason at all…" Megumin sent her a pitying look.

'This girl is a serious mess…'

Despite her many grievances with the girl, Megumin was pleasantly surprised by the fact that she actually considered her conversation with Yunyun to be a worthwhile one, for two reasons. Reason 1 being that, though she had no intention of telling the other girl as such, she was actually a little excited to hang out later. Sure, she was more so excited about the food she would be eating than the other girl's company, but she didn't need to tell Yunyun that. The other reason, reason 2, was the fact that Yunyun's brief intrusion had very much helped her complete her earlier task of finding some way to spend the last 10 minutes before she would be allowed to leave.

Making 100% sure that she'd taken everything out of her locker, not that there was much inside in the first place, Megumin slammed the door shut and began to make her way towards the front entrance of the school, waving to the few people that she recognised as she passed by. As she walked through the front entrance and began to make her way towards the school's gates, she took a moment to take in the calming Spring air. Maybe she really had been a bit too pessimistic recently, she really should just try to enjoy the holiday instead of just brooding over it the entire time. She wasn't usually the type of person to overthink things like this, it only ever happened when it came to-

"Oi, Megumin. Over here," The dark haired girl couldn't help but jump a little as the unexpected voice pulled her from her thoughts. Megumin hadn't even fully registered that she had already passed through the front gates until she turned around to see a familiar face leaning against her school's outer wall, waving at her once he'd gotten her attention.

"Kazuma, Kazuma," She greeted him as she began to make her way to his side.

"Mhm, I'm Kazuma."

"How are you here so early? I only just got out myself," Megumin gave the boy a suspicious look, "Don't tell me that you stopped attending classes again. I'm not gonna let you revert back into a shut-in, Kazuma!".

"Oi, you have no right to lecture other people about playing hooky, miss too-sick-to-do-sports," The boy grumbled back in return, "And, just so you know, I haven't skipped a single class since I started attending school again."

"P-playing hooky? I d-don't do that anymore…" The incredulous look he was giving her made it obvious that he didn't believe her in the slightest. "... I don't do that… as often as I used to."

Kazuma softly snorted in amusement before patting the dejected girl on the head, telling her that it really didn't matter if she skipped a few gym classes or not. While she was pretty sure she'd feel humiliated if it had been anyone else, Megumin could do very little to stop the warm feeling in her heart and the soft blush on her cheeks as she felt Kazuma's hand gently petting her hair.

Truthfully, Kazuma had intended to stop after a few sympathetic pats, but as he was about to move his hand away, he couldn't help but notice the blissful expression on the short girl's face as she visibly relaxed under his brief contact. "You been stressed out recently or something?" He asked, still absentmindedly patting the top of her head, "I don't think I've ever seen you look this relaxed."

"E-eh?" The girl squeaked in embarrassment, realising all too late that Kazuma had definitely seen the expression on her face as he was petting her. "N-no, nothing like that really," There wasn't a single believable lie she could come up with in that moment, "I just liked the feeling of you petting my hair is all, It feels nice…".

"Ah, r-right…" He wasn't really sure how to respond to something like that, "You're welcome…? I guess?".

Megumin could feel some of her own tension being relieved as she listened to the boy's own awkward response, though her smile did falter a little as she felt him pull his hand away from her head. As she looked over at her friend, briefly studying his features, she got an idea. A very good idea if she were to say so herself. "Hey, Kazuma,".

"Yeah?".

"You look pretty tired, you okay?". She really wasn't lying, the boy next to her really did look very, very tired, even more so than he usually did. Her face softened into a sympathetic smile as looked over his weary smile and the noticeable bags under his eyes.

"Mmm, I'm fine," He replied, genuinely surprised by the concern he had heard in Megumin's voice, "Just didn't get a chance to make myself a coffee this morning, so I'm a little more exhausted than usual I guess."

Megumin's plan was going perfectly so far, she had Kazuma right where she wanted him. All she had to do now was go for it. "Let's go get one now then."

"Huh?".

"Coffee," She said as nonchalantly as possible, "I don't want you to go around looking like you're about to pass out at any moment, so I'll go with you to get coffee, if that's what it takes."

"Alright," He indifferently shrugged, but his small companion didn't fail to notice how his smile grew just a little bit, "Thanks."

Megumin mentally pumped her fist in success as she began to lead the way, with Kazuma pushing himself away from the wall and stepping into pace beside her. "There's a café not too far away that I've heard some of the other girls talk about, so we'll be going there."

"Sounds good."

"Uhhhhh, Megumin?" Kazuma said as the two of them stood outside the café, the girl to his right preparing to walk inside.

She turned to look at him, clearly a little confused, "What is it? Have you been to this place before?".

"…This is the café I work at," He sheepishly informed her. He'd initially had his suspicions that this 'café near Megumin's school' might have been the one he worked part time at, Café Blessing, but he had quickly squashed those thoughts once Megumin took a different route than the one he was used to taking every time he went to work. Turns out she just didn't know the most efficient way to get there, which did make sense to Kazuma, it's not like he'd ever seen her while he was working there before.

She'd really screwed this up, hadn't she? Her plan up until now had been going perfectly, so of course she had to accidentally take him to the café that he literally works at! The even more embarrassing thing was that this was the only café she knew about nearby, she wasn't exactly the type of person to go to cafés often, she didn't have the money for that. Megumin couldn't help but tussle her hair in frustration, 'Some 'blessing' this place was!'.

Kazuma let out a sigh as he observed his red-eyed friend. She was clearly super embarrassed about the fact that she'd take him to the café that he himself was an employee of, that much was clear from the look on her face as she messed up her hair. Truthfully, Kazuma didn't really care that much, he found it more funny than anything, but her honest mistake was clearly bothering Megumin, something that served to bring his mood down much more than he'd expected it to.

"Well, It can't be helped now," He casually stated as he walked towards the door, turning his head back towards the girl, "You coming in?".

Megumin quickly snapped out of her stupor, "Is it okay? We don't have to go here if you don't want to, Kazuma."

"I don't really mind," He answered honestly, "Sure, it's kinda weird to come here as a customer for once, but it's not like a problem for me or anything. C'mon."

She quickly perked up at his words, closing the gap between them as Kazuma pushed open the café door and she followed him inside. Megumin was fairly surprised to see that they were the only customers in the café at the moment, maybe this was just a slow hour for them.

"Hey, welcome to-" The girl behind the counter cheerily greeted them before cutting herself off as she turned towards her new customers, "Kazuma? I don't mind you coming to work early at all, I encourage it actually, but you do know that your shift today doesn't start for another few hours, right?".

"I'm aware, chief," Kazuma complained to the girl, who simply just stuck her tongue out at him, "We're just here to get drinks."

"We?" 'Chief' questioned, quickly spotting the smaller girl slightly behind Kazuma, "Oh? And who exactly is she, Helper?".

"Hmm? Oh right, this is Megumin, we usually sit together on the morning bus," He said, then turning to address Megumin, "Megumin, this is Chris, she's my boss here."

"Nice to meetcha, Megumin!" Chris shot her a toothy grin and a thumbs up, "I hope helper here hasn't been causing you too much trouble."

"Don't worry, I know how to deal with him by this point."

"Tch, If anything, you're the one who causes problems for me," Kazuma groaned as he made his way to the counter, Megumin following him shortly after.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?" She pouted, puffing her cheeks out at the boy, "I don't cause that many problems for you, do I?".

Kazuma simply rolled his eyes at her. "No, of course you don't," He replied sarcastically, causing the girl to puff up her cheeks even more, "Just pick something from the menu already."

The stubborn girl eventually relented and deflated her rosy cheeks and looked towards the menu hung up on the wall that Kazuma had just pointed out to her. Megumin's eyes were almost immediately drawn to the iced caramel latte, almost drooling at just the thought of it, but just as she was about to turn back towards Chris and make her order, her head quickly filled up with a number of different thoughts. She felt a little childish and immature for even considering ordering something like that.

'I feel so stupid right now, I can't even tell if I'm overthinking this or not. Why am I even worried about this in the first place?'.

Memories of every time she'd been called childish or been scolded for 'acting like a kid' quickly ran through her head.

'Oh right. I need to act more mature!'.

"I'll take a black coffee please," Megumin stated as she turned back towards the counter.

"You- wha?" Kazuma quirked an eyebrow at the girl's choice, "Oi, Megumin, you sure you wanna order something like that? I thought you told me that you weren't good with bitter things."

"It's fine," She reaffirmed, "I want this, I have black coffee all the time at home, so it won't be an issue for a mature woman such as myself."

Kazuma fixed her with a stern glare, clearly aware that she was lying. He continued to stare at her for a few more seconds, the girl beginning to sweat and fidget under his gaze, before he simply just sighed and turned to quickly scan through the menu.

"Alright," The brown haired boy glanced at the menu, even though he already knew it by heart, "I'll take an iced caramel latte, chief, with cream."

It was now Megumin's turn to send her companion a sceptical look, she'd honestly expected him to order something a little stronger, especially with how mellow he clearly seemed. All the while, Chris snickered to herself in the background, already having a good idea of what Kazuma was doing.

"Alright! One black coffee and one iced caramel latte, with cream, coming up," Chris proclaimed as she moved to go prepare their drinks. "You don't have to pay for these, by the way, I'll just take the money out of helper's next paycheck."

"Oi! You just said something that I can't ignore," Kazuma raged as Chris playfully winked as she made her may to the back.

With nothing else to do but wait, the two friends moved to sit across from each other at one of the nearby tables. "Kazuma," Megumin said as her mind wandered back to a previous conversation, "You never answered my question from earlier, by the way."

The high schooler tilted his head in confusion, "Hmm? What question, Megumin?"

"How did you get out of school so early? It usually takes you around 15 to 20 minutes to get from your school to mine, so how did you get there before I even got out?".

"To be fair," He answered, fiddling with a small sugar packet he found on the table, "I'd only been there for about a minute or so before you turned up. As for how I got out around 20 minutes before you, that's probably because we were allowed to leave whenever we wanted during the lunch period. Judging by the fact that it looked like everyone was leaving at the same time, I assume you guys had to stay for all of lunch no matter what."

"Wha-? You got to leave during lunch? How is that fair?".

"I think you're forgetting that I'm a high schooler now, Megumin. It's only natural that us high schoolers would get special privileges compared to you guys."

"I guess… I guess that's true," She angrily grumbled, lamenting the injustices of still being in middle school.

"Drinks are ready, you two," Chris declared as she made her way to their table, Placing their drinks in front of her two customers. Megumin cheerfully thanked her waitress while Kazuma simply groaned, clearly too tired to deal with his boss for much longer. As Chris happily skipped off, already used to Kazuma's antics by this point, Megumin pulled her drink closer towards her to look at its murky black contents. She really shouldn't have ordered this. If it wasn't for the fact that Kazuma had paid for her drink, she probably would've just ordered a new one already. Speaking of Kazuma, she looked over to see him still holding the sugar packet, seemingly disinterested in drinking his own drink. Odd.

Mentally reassuring herself that it really couldn't be that bad, Megumin began tentatively moving the cup towards her lips, noticing Kazuma's eyes on her as she did so, as if he was waiting for something to happen. Tilting the cup upwards slightly, the girl took a small swig of the dark liquid. She regretted it almost immediately. 'Uck!' She mentally yelped, completely failing to hide the sour look on her face as she held the bitter liquid in her cheeks for a few seconds before building up the courage to swallow it down with a visible cringe.

"It's too bitter for you, isn't it?" Kazuma said in a tone that made it clear that it was more so an observation than a question.

Megumin didn't answer the boy, instead just flopping down to let her head and arms rest on the table, meekly nodding after a few seconds as she sent him an apologetic look. The look on his face at that moment screamed 'I told you so' and though he really wanted to say as much out loud, he just sighed and slid his own drink across the table, before pulling hers towards him.

"Better?".

Kazuma had been planning for this exact situation ever since Megumin had made her order. He knew the girl well enough to know she would absolutely despise something as bitter as straight black coffee, she was obviously just ordering something like that to be more 'mature', at least by her definition. Knowing that she would be way too stubborn to back down on this, he scoured the menu for something that he thought the girl would actually like, resigning himself to the fact that he'd end up having to swap it in for her black coffee.

On the other side of the table, it almost immediately hit Megumin that this had been Kazuma's plan all along. She couldn't help but smile a heartfelt smile at the boy's thoughtfulness, though she did still feel a tinge of guilt over the fact that her stubbornness had caused this problem in the first place.

"Thank you, Kazuma," she simply said, bringing the latte up to her lips as she gazed upon the boy with pure adoration.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it," He waved off her gratitude, "I just didn't wanna listen to you whining about it being too bitter the entire time."

"Fufufu," she giggled at the boy, "You know, you don't have to brush it off like that every time you do something nice for someone else. Don't tell me that even a simple 'thank you' can make you flustered."

The boy made a 'tch' sound before he looked at the girl with a devious grin, clearly wanting to get back at her for trying to tease him. "Oh, it's nothing like that, really," He moved the newly swapped coffee up close to his lips for effect, "I just wanted to take this chance to enjoy an indirect kiss from you."

"Can't you go a single day without making a perverted comment!?" The red faced Megumin exasperatedly responded, "We were having a nice moment, you dummy…". Despite her complaints, she really couldn't stay mad at the boy for long, no matter how many crass jokes he made. It also didn't help that the only thing the poor girl could think about now was him kissing her, although it's not as if this was the first time she'd conjured that image in her mind.

"Okay, I'm joking, I'm joking," Kazuma said dismissively, rotating the cup so that he could sip from the opposite side Megumin had used, "See, happy now?".

Megumin mumbled something under her breath that Kazuma couldn't quite hear as she sipped on her newer and much more enjoyable drink. "Are you sure you want to drink that, though?" She pointed towards the black coffee, "In case you didn't already know, it's bad. Like, real bad,"

"I'll admit, it's not my preferred way to drink coffee, but I'll be fine. It isn't that bad."

"'That bad'? So you're admitting that it is still bad."

"Guess I am," He shrugged, ripping open the sugar packet he had previously been messing with and dumping the contents into his drink. "There. Now I might actually be able to enjoy this… a little."

Megumin couldn't stop herself from smiling at the boy, his presence just had such a positive effect on her. Wiping the cream from her lips with her sleeve, the two sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, taking occasional sips from their drinks, before she saw the boy pull out his phone, a curious look on his face.

"Kazuma? Something wrong?".

"Huh? No, nothings wrong. I'm just checking the bus timetable, the one I assumed we were gonna be taking already left a few minutes ago."

She adopted a guilty smile, "Oh, oops."

"Nah, it's not really an issue. It's not like we can't just get a later bus, there are plenty more we can take instead."

"That's true," Megumin took another long sip of her drink, "Plus, worst case scenario, we can just walk back. It's not like either of us have anything we need to do for a few hours still."

"The way you said that makes it sound as if you have plans for later on or something."

"That's because I do!" She said proudly, puffing out her chest.

He seemed genuinely curious about her declaration. "Oh? Does Megumin have a date later today?".

"A d-date!? Nonono, no way," She took a moment to recompose herself before speaking again. "Haven't I already told you that you're my only male friend, who would I even be going out with?".

"Hmm, good point," Kazuma put his hand to his chin in thought, "Maybe you're into girls instead then."

"Nope, sorry, I'm definitely into boys."

He smirked, "And how do you know that?".

Megumin just smiled back, praying that her blush wasn't too obvious. "I have my reasons…".

"Alright then, if you say so," The older teen relented, before asking her a different question, "So then what are you actually doing later?".

"Yunyun wants to go to some pancake place later with me and Komekko," She nonchalantly stated, "To be honest I'm surprised she actually worked up the courage to ask me directly."

"Opposed to what, getting someone else to ask you for her?" Kazuma laughed.

"Either that or leaving some creepy-looking note in my locker." Megumin added, "Either way, I don't really have a reason to say no to her, plus apparently the food is pretty good."

"Ah, I see. So you're only going for the food."

"Please stop twisting my words to make me sound as horrible as possible…".

As Kazuma and Megumin continued to enjoy their drinks, the once empty café began to quickly fill up with a decently sized wave of customers. Sure, it was a bit of a hassle to take care of all of the orders she was getting, but it was nothing that Chris couldn't handle with enough effort. Despite her new rush of customs, she still made sure to send occasional glances towards her helper and his 'friend', attempting to listen in on their conversation with an unreadable expression on her face. She couldn't help but smile as she saw the two of them together, she had to get the full scoop from Kazuma later tonight.

After spending a few more minutes in the café, and waving to Chris on the way out, Kazuma and Megumin left the café and made their way back towards the bus stop, passing by Megumin's school on the way there. As Kazuma looked over at the girl beside him, he couldn't help but think about the thoughts that had been plaguing his mind more and more often recently. More specifically, thoughts about Megumin.

Sure, Kazuma was no stranger to having fantasies about girls, he was a healthy teenage boy after all, what else would you expect from him? The only problem was that his thoughts about Megumin weren't like his thoughts about other girls, they were more… wholesome? …romantic? No, no way, He definitely wasn't having romantic thoughts about Megumin, that wasn't right. Yet even so, he couldn't deny the fact that while his thoughts of other girls were much more perverted and lustful, whenever he thought of Megumin he always pictured her beautiful smile and silky smooth hair. Thoughts of holding her soft hands, running his hands through her hair or simply just kissing her, though he did still have a fair amount of more perverse thoughts about her, mind you.

But there was no way he was crushing on Megumin, right?

Megumin, the girl who used to steal chemicals from the science lab just so she could make literal explosives. The same girl who would go around school wearing that goofy eyepatch, drawing 'magic circles' in the sports field. Y'know, Megumin, the girl who literally almost got him killed multiple times the first time they met. How could he be interested in a girl like that?

But then again, Megumin wasn't that girl anymore, was she? No, not really. The Megumin he knew now was the girl who turned the monotonous morning bus ride into something he genuinely enjoyed and even looked forward to. She was the girl who'd always be ready to go out and do something with him any time he was feeling bored. She was the girl who made a genuine attempt to return his kindness, instead of just causing problem after problem for him - unlike some other girls in his life - all the time, and she even made a point to acknowledge and thank him even when - actually especially when - he tried to brush off the things he did for other people.

Eventually, after a mental back and forth with himself, he finally came to a somewhat suitable conclusion. Truthfully, he didn't know if he loved Megumin, but if he one day found out that the answer to that question was indeed yes, he loved her, he didn't think he'd mind it all that much. For now, he'd just let these feelings settle. No reason for him to push anything if he wasn't 100% sure of his feelings yet, right?

"Kazumaaaa," The girl whined, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention, "Are you even listening to me?".

"...Sorry," He said sheepishly, "I was distracted. What were you saying?".

She pouted at him briefly before letting it go. "I was asking you when the next bus was supposed to arrive. We should be coming up on the bus stop in a few minutes, so it'd be nice to know how long we need to wait or if we need to hurry up."

"Oh, right. Good call," Kazuma checked his phone, "Well it's… 1:22 right now so we can probably get the bus at… 1:30. So we might need to quicken our pace just a little bit."

"1:22?" Megumin looked on in surprise, "Has it really almost been an entire hour since school ended? It doesn't feel like it's been an hour at all."

"Time flies when you're having fun, I guess," He responded with a shrug.

"Well, I am having fun, so maybe that old saying really does have some credibility to it" She smiled at him, "What about you, are you… having fun?".

Kazuma returned her smile. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Maybe, just maybe, he did feel something for this girl after all.

The bus ride had come and gone, the two of them cycling through conversation after conversation until they finally reached their stop and began the short walk until they'd have to go their separate ways, with Megumin heading back to her house and Kazuma heading back to his apartment.

Megumin fidgeted in irritation, she had a burning need - a desire - to do something, anything, to progress things between them a little more but she just had no idea what to do. She was scared that Kazuma would be weirded out if she did anything too bold, but she didn't even know what would be considered too bold. Was holding his hand too much? Could she hug his arm instead, or would that just be worse? She'd seen girls do it with their boyfriends before but she had no idea if such an action would be okay between two people who weren't dating yet. Simply put, she was frustrated.

And whenever she was frustrated she would always throw caution to the wind and do whatever her instincts were telling her to do. So that's exactly what she did.

"M-megumin?" Kazuma yelped out in surprise as she wrapped both of her arms around his left arm, hugging it into herself. "W-what's this for?".

"Is this okay?" She said, the blush on her cheeks clearly visible to the boy, "It's not uncomfortable for you, is it?".

"...No, it's not uncomfortable, it uh… it feels nice."

"I'm glad," Megumin said as she leaned her head to rest it against his arm.

The two of them continued walking like that, with Megumin gently hugging Kazuma's arm. The atmosphere between them had become pretty awkward due to Megumin's sudden action, both wondering what they should do or say next, or if they should even do anything at all. Yet, despite that, they were both content with the current situation, just allowing themselves to enjoy the moment of contact. Megumin hugging herself to Kazuma while Kazuma simply enjoyed the warmth that came from her closeness.

Megumin was the one to finally break the silence after a minute or so, having finally made up her mind. "Kazuma," She softly said to the green eyed teen.

He gulped. "Yeah, what's up?".

She was really starting to feel the pressure now, she desperately wanted to finally tell him how she felt and this really did seem like a perfect time to do so. Kazuma really had become the brightest part of her world for the past few months, there wasn't a single day that passed where she didn't think about him. She'd never felt it before but she still knew that what she was feeling was something more special than just some crush, it was love, real love. She wanted to feel his touch like this all the time, she wanted to be free to express her love for him, she wanted to make him hers, she didn't want to keep feeling this fear that some other girl would come along and take him away from her.

"Kazuma, I-I…".

She really was being so foolish by letting these feelings just fester like this, why couldn't she just tell him already? She felt like she could tell him pretty much anything else, her problems, her fears, her interests, so why has it taken her so long to tell him this? Megumin had never felt this way about anyone before and she honestly doubted that she'd ever feel this way about anyone else, it really was only Kazuma who could make her feel all of these wonderful feelings.

She took a deep breath as she prepared to take the plunge.

"I just wanted to say thanks for paying for my drink earlier."

She chickened out, hard.

Megumin didn't even attempt to salvage the situation at that point, just looking down at her feet in shame and embarrassment. There was no way she could look at Kazuma right now, not after she'd just completely fumbled her confession. Sure, if she really put her mind to it, maybe she could still rectify the situation and still confess to the boy, but as she was right now, she had no energy to even try. All she could do now was wait and see what the boy would do next.

"...You don't really have to thank me for it," She heard him say, still not looking up from the ground, "I know what your family's financial situation is like, so I don't mind paying for your drink."

Even through her bad mood, the lovestruck girl smiled as she heard his words, he really did care about her. She tightened her grip around his arm as she desperately tried to find as much comfort in him as possible to rid her from this depressing mood.

The rest of the walk was a short yet still fairly awkward one. Luckily for both of them, Kazuma had managed to somewhat clear the awkwardness and get Megumin to finally look at him again with a dumb joke. Megumin, against her own wishes, had gradually loosened her grip on Kazuma's arm until her arms eventually fell to her sides and she returned to walking next to him, albeit still very close to his side. They had just managed to change the atmosphere back into something much less awkward for the both of them when they finally came to the point where they'd have to go their own ways to make it home.

"Welp," Kazuma stretched his arms above his head as turned to the girl at his side, "This is when we're gonna hafta go our own ways."

"Yeah, it is," Megumin responded, still looking a little downcast, "Hey, do you think we could maybe meet up at some point over the holiday? I think I'll go stir-crazy if I just stay inside with my little sister the whole time."

"No objections here," He grinned at her, "Or, now that you know where I work, you could always stop by the café while I'm on my shift. I'm sure Chris won't mind if I occasionally serve you a free drink."

"I like the sound of that idea," Her once downcast expression morphing into a radiant smile, "I'll make sure to hold you to that promise, Kazuma."

"Mhmm, I'm sure you will," Kazuma said as he took a step in the direction of where his apartment was located, "Then hopefully I'll see you again soon, Megumin."

She waved at him as he continued walking away "Bye Kazuma! Have a good shift later!"

As Megumin watched his form grow smaller and smaller in the distance, she couldn't help but reminisce on the last 2 hours she had spent with him. As she thought over the events that had transpired between them, as well as her own successes and failures when it came to the boy, she made a promise to herself, one that she was now fully determined to keep, no matter what.

Before the break was over, she would properly confess her love to him, for real this time.

Chapter Text

The last fifteen or so minutes of Kazuma's life had been unusual, to put it lightly. Currently, he was making the short trek between where he had parted ways with Megumin and the shabby looking apartment building that he and his roommate were currently living in. As he made his way towards the apartment, his thoughts lingered on the last two hours or so of his life and, more specifically, the girl he'd spent those two hours with.

Megumin had been acting weirder and weirder as they'd been making their way back home. From randomly clinging to his arm to seemingly acting as if she had something important to tell him just to thank him for buying her a drink, the whole thing really didn't add up to him. Not that he would complain about the way she was acting, he had to admit that she had been especially cute the entire time.

Kazuma was a lot of things, mind you, but he was not dense, not in the slightest, especially when it came to other people's feelings. He had to deal with so many troublesome people on a daily basis that it honestly would've been weirder if he wasn't capable of understanding other people's emotions. That was the exact reason why Kazuma found it so hard to ignore what was, to him at least, the most likely explanation for her actions.

Had she been trying to send him a message? More specifically, to let him know that she was… interested in him?

The mere thought of it sent Kazuma's brain into something of a battle, trying to figure out if that really was the most logical explanation for her actions or if this was just another one of his lewd daydreams getting out of control. 'I mean, we've been close friends for a while now, is it really so surprising that she would develop feelings for me?' Kazuma internally questioned himself, getting a chorus of affirmation and denial thrown back at him from all corners of his brain.

He didn't think it was impossible that the girl would feel that way towards him, actually there were a myriad of reasons he could give as to why she might have some feelings for him. The way she always smiled upon seeing him, how she would always look so happy and relaxed in his presence, how she seemingly trusted him enough to tell him pretty much anything and not to mention the fact that he was pretty damn sure he got special treatment from her, he doubted many other people would be able to make some of the comments that he did around her and come out unharmed.

Yet still, he was unsure. He couldn't help but want to brush off the idea that she actually had romantic feelings as him having an overactive imagination again, just so that he didn't get his hopes up and end up embarrassing himself. Could you really blame him for thinking that way? Sure, he had become a lot more confident in both himself and his relationships with others ever since he'd graduated from being a full time recluse, but he was still the boy who locked himself away from the world after he was 'betrayed' by his childhood crush. He really didn't want something like that happening to him ever again.

Not wanting to relive the memories of his past heartbreak any longer, Kazuma simply just decided to let Megumin's strange actions go for now, an act he was sure that Megumin herself would want him to do anyway, instead focusing on making his way to the door to his apartment as he pulled out his key.

"Hey, Kazuma! You're late!".

Ah, of course. What a fool he was for thinking he could have a moment of peace.

"I'm… late?" He looked at the slob in front of him with an unamused expression as he shut the door to his apartment behind him, "And what exactly is it that I'm late for, Aqua?".

His roommate, Aqua, looked at him a moment, as if she'd already forgotten what she was going to say, before she lit up and began explaining to the boy. "Well, you said last night that you only had a half day today, so you'd probably be back around lunchtime, right?".

"Huh, so you do have a functioning memory, good to know," he replied sarcastically.

She sent him a sour look before continuing. "So, after you left this morning, I had a genius idea. Instead of having cup noodles for lunch today, I could just wait for you to come back home and have you cook something. For both of us, of course," She said that last part with an innocent smile that Kazuma could easily see through. "But now it's already 2pm and I haven't eaten anything! Do something Kazuma, I need food NOW!".

Kazuma rubbed his temples and groaned in pure irritation. He wanted to yell at her, he really, REALLY wanted to yell at her, but he eventually decided against it. As much as he loathed to admit it this was actually fairly tame compared to the blue haired girl's usual antics and this time he could at least somewhat see the logic in her actions. It didn't make him any less pissed though.

He glared at her. "Not happening."

"Kazumaaaaaa!" Aqua wailed, reaching an annoyingly loud volume, "B-but I'm s-so… so hungry…".

"I don't care. We have snacks if you're really so hungry," He replied as he set his bag down on the floor, "I'll cook something before I leave for work later, I've already had lunch. It's your fault for not making anything yourself."

Though it looked like she really wanted to say something back to him, Aqua thankfully just sniffled and muttered something under her breath as she made her way to the other side of the room, where their kitchen was located. Kazuma couldn't help but feel a teensy bit bad for the girl, though he realistically knew he had literally no reason to, the self-centred girl had brought this upon herself after all. Although he knew Aqua well enough to know that she really hadn't had bad intentions when she just expected him to cook for her, she really was just that stupid that she didn't even realise that she was being pretty damn arrogant. Plus, she really hadn't been that rude about it, by Aqua standards at least, and she had let it go fairly easily.

All things considered, she was actually being fairly well behaved. Again, by Aqua standards.

Kazuma sighed, already regretting what he was about to say. "What do you want then?".

"Hmm?" She asked, her mouth full of chips.

"To eat later, what do you want?" He saw the sparkle in her eyes and quickly decided to amend his previous statement, "Within reason."

Irritating and lazy as Aqua was, Kazuma still found himself smiling a little upon seeing the large grin on his friend's face.

The next two hours passed by very peacefully, with Kazuma trying to get an early start on his homework, before giving up after about 20 minutes and instead joining Aqua in front of their small TV to play video games. The freeloader quickly forgot about her previous complaints of hunger as she desperately tried, and failed, to beat Kazuma at a multiplayer racing game, one that Kazuma had already mastered in his youth.

As 4 o'clock began to approach, Kazuma decided it would probably be a good time to start cooking, he only had just over an hour until his shift began, after all. After spending around 20 minutes on a quick and cheap pork ramen bowl, at Aqua's behest, that he found online, he quickly ate his meal before grabbing his work clothes, along with a spare pair of casual clothes just in case, and tossing them into his bag.

It was now 4:52pm, and Kazuma was presently standing in front of Café Blessing, hoping and praying that tonight would just be a slow night without many customers. Opening the door, he quickly spotted Chris, who quickly waved him over before she went back to wiping down one of the window side tables.

"Early, I like it!" She told him with a grin and a thumbs up.

"I'd barely call this early," Kazuma smirked back at her, "I'm only here now so that I can take my time getting into uniform."

"Well you best get to changing, then, I expect you to be out here, ready to work, in seven minutes, helper."

Kazuma let out a half-hearted "Got it chief," as he made his way through the door that led to the employees' area of the café. He casually wandered towards the cafe's designated changing room before he heard a door opening a few feet behind him, followed by a familiar voice not long after.

"Haah… h-hey Kazuma, here for your shift already?".

He turned around to look at the girl panting behind him. "Oi, isn't it too early for you to be like this already, Darkness?".

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about," Darkness tried to deny, despite the blush on her face, "And I've already been here for half an hour now."

Darkness, Kazuma and Aqua's next-door neighbour and the only other person Kazuma actually knew to be living in their apartment block. The college student had moved into their apartment block just under a month ago and had quickly made herself acquainted with her two neighbours, for better or for worse.

Kazuma had almost instantly been taken in by her beauty and shapely body only to be beyond disappointed when he learned of her… interesting personality traits. Simply put, the girl was a masochist, and a pretty extreme one at that. There were very few things in the world that couldn't get her hot and heavy, or so Kazuma assumed. After a disastrous first shift together with her as a new hire at the café, he very quickly dismissed her as a romantic interest and simply decided that he would instead just appreciate her stunning beauty from a safe distance.

Even more strange than all of that, though, was the fact that her and Aqua genuinely seemed to get along fairly decently. It seemed Aqua either wasn't bothered by or was simply just too oblivious to notice Darkness' perverted quirks. And so, their new neighbour soon joined Kazuma, and only Kazuma, on the list of people that Aqua actually interacted with on a somewhat regular basis, with the NEET ever so occasionally leaving their apartment to go bother Darkness if Kazuma was out at the time.

Kazuma was pretty sure Darkness just took pity on the strange and sad creature that was his roommate.

"What, you're coming in early to help clean up now? You know that chief won't pay you extra for that, right?".

"I'm aware," She responded, seemingly having returned to a more normal state, "I do this job more so for the experience than for the money, so it doesn't bother me."

"Must be nice," He chuckled bitterly, "Anyway, I've gotta go change before my shift. I'll be in the kitchen when I'm done, you can go out and start taking orders as soon as we open up if you want, I'm sure the chief will appreciate it."

After getting an affirmative response from the blonde, Kazuma once again made his way in the direction of the changing room, quickly getting to work on undressing once he closed the door behind him and reached his locker. After changing into his work attire, he quickly folded his clothes and stuffed them into his bag, before placing his bag into his locker, now ready to begin his gruelling shift.

"5pm on the dot," Chris announced as Kazuma made his way into the kitchen, "Not bad, helper."

"Pan-cakes, pan-cakes, pan-cakes!" The small girl chanted in excitement as she tugged on her big sister's sleeve.

Megumin looked down and smiled at her little sister. "The pancakes will be here in a few minutes, Komekko, you just have to wait patiently for the nice people to make them for you."

Komekko looked up at her for a few seconds, before nodding her head vigorously with a shout of "Okay!".

"Sh-she sure seems excited about the food… ehehehe…" The third girl, Yunyun, timidly spoke from the other side of the table.

"It's not surprising," Megumin replied, "She really loves food and she's never eaten pancakes before. I'm just worried that she'll try to eat too much and make herself sick."

All things considered, the outing had been fairly pleasant so far. Sure, there were a few times Yunyun had said or done something that had ended up annoying Megumin, and a few times were Megumin had maybe gone a little bit too far in retaliation, but aside from those small hiccups it had been a mostly enjoyable experience for the 3 of them, not that Komekko actually had any interest in anything besides getting her food.

To put it bluntly, Yunyun was a very awkward conversation partner, not that Megumin had really expected otherwise, but if Komekko hadn't been there to lighten the mood with her cheery attitude and little impromptu songs about food, she feared that this would've been a very awkward experience.

Her little sister never failed to make Megumin smile. Admittedly, things weren't always that way. Megumin could still remember how frustrated she used to get every time she was left alone to take care of Komekko. Not that she was ever frustrated at Komekko herself, she was more so just frustrated by the fact that she was being left to take care of a child by herself. Yet, over time, she'd become much more used to taking care of her, to the point where what was once an irritation for her had quickly become a source of comfort. Strange.

Megumin's eyes lazily moved from her sister over to the girl across from her. She wondered what exactly it was that made Yunyun the way she was. No one was just born as weird and awkward as Yunyun. At least, she hoped not. Though, maybe she was being a bit unfair to the girl. Stalker-ish tendencies aside, Yunyun did seem like a genuinely sweet girl, just one who was utterly incapable of making friends.

Though, to be fair, it's not like Megumin was some bastion of friendship herself. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to cut Yunyun some slack every once in a while.

"It looks like things should be starting to slow down now," Chris informed Kazuma as she made her way into the storage room, "Darkness says she'll be fine handling any customers that show up on her own, so why don't we take a break for a little bit?". It was already pretty far into the third hour of his shift and Kazuma was more than ready for a break, though he was somewhat curious about her choice of words.

"We?" He cocked his head, placing down the box he was in the middle of transporting, "Is chief looking to get frisky with me in front of the coffee beans?".

"You wish," She playfully winked, "Nope, I'm here to talk to you about something very important, helper."

"Is that so? Please tell me that you've finally decided to raise my pay."

"Bzzt! Wrong again!" she made her way over to him and sat down on the box he'd just placed down, "I'm here to hear about what's going on between you and that girl you were here with earlier. Megumin, was it?".

"Mhm, but I think you must've misunderstood something when we came in earlier," Came Kazuma's reply, resting his arms behind his head, "There's nothing 'going on' between me and Megumin."

"You're messing with me. There's no way what I saw earlier can be considered nothing, that girl is totally into you. You do know that, right?" She raised her eyebrows at the boy.

"... You really think so?".

"Are you kiddi- Yes of course I do. Are you seriously telling me that you two weren't on a date back there?".

"I mean I don't think it-" He shook his head, "No, it definitely wasn't a date. Though I am starting to suspect that she might have some feelings for me."

She rolled her eyes, "You think?".

"Shut it, you," He snorted slightly, "If you knew her like I know her, you'd probably be just as confused as I am."

"Sooo," Chris moved her face closer to his, "How do you feel about her, then?".

Kazuma leaned back and sharply averted his gaze in response to her question, "And why should I answer that question?".

"You don't have to," She giggled mischievously, "I'm pretty sure I already know the answer."

He looked at her with a deadpan expression. "This seriously has to be some kind of workers' rights violation…".

"Oh, don't be like that," Chris smiled widely, "I think it's cute that little helper has finally found love!".

"N-now hold on just a second," The teen shot back, "Who said anything about love!?".

"So you're admitting that you do like her?".

"That's not what I-" He sighed, knowing that he'd already lost, "Fine, you win. I might have… some… feelings for her. Happy?".

"Very," Her response was dripping with gleeful satisfaction, "Who knew that you'd catch feelings for someone who actually seems to like you back, even if she is a middle schooler."

"If you word it like that, it makes me feel like I'm committing some sort of crime," Kazuma said dejectedly, "I'm only in my first year of high school myself, I'll have you know."

"Stop overthinking it so much. I assumed you'd be jumping for joy at the knowledge that a cute girl was interested in you."

"Seriously," He furrowed his brow at her, "What kind of person do you see me as?"

"Geez, I'm just messing with you, helper!" She stood up, dusting off her skirt, "If you want my advice, I'd say just go from it, you two look pretty cute together. Anyway, thanks for the scoop, I'll make sure to let Darkness know all about this later on."

"Oi! Don't you dare, that's private information!".

She made her way to the door, before turning around to look at him with a devious look on her face. "Okay, okay. I'll keep quiet about it for now," She spoke in a tone that made Kazuma seriously doubt her words, "And, one last thing. Feel free to bring her here again next time you two go on a date, I wouldn't mind getting to know her a bit more. Byeee~."

And with that, she skipped out of the storage room, leaving Kazuma alone to brood over the events of the last few unfortunate minutes of his life. He let out a loud sigh as he dramatically slumped his shoulders in exasperation.

"I seriously hate my boss."

"I can still hear you, helper!".

Aqua lazily rolled over onto her back to stare at the ceiling. She was currently just a little bit drunk and oh so very bored. Rolling over once more and sitting up, she took a sip from her half empty beer can as her eyes settled on the clock hung on the opposite wall of the room. It was currently 9:46, Kazuma wouldn't be back home for around half an hour still. That was unfortunate for her, she was feeling kind of hungry again, and Kazuma's cooking was very good.

As she sat there, sipping on her beer, Aqua began to think about Kazuma. He really had done a lot for her. Scratch that, he'd practically saved her life. Her own family had kicked her out for causing them so much trouble, which she still felt was undeserved, and no one else had been willing to take her in. Yet Kazuma had allowed her to live with him, even though he already struggled enough when it came to supporting himself. Sure, he had been reluctant at first, and she could tell that there were moments where he really wished he hadn't taken her in, but he'd still let her stay with him out of the kindness of his heart, asking for almost nothing from her in return.

She really did cause him a lot of trouble, didn't she?

Maybe it was about time she started repaying that kindness, even if only by a little bit. Yes, Aqua was selfish, she knew that. She couldn't help but put her needs and wants before those of others most of the time, it was just how she was, but she wasn't blind to the amount of effort and stress she made Kazuma go through just to fulfil her own whims. He was just a kid, after all. To her, at that moment, she could still see that little kid that she used to spend all day running around and getting into trouble with. Even though she tried to act like a big sister back then, it would almost always end with her in tears while the young Kazuma would do his best to take care of the snivelling older girl.

"Some things never change, I guess…".

The feeling that went through Aqua as she got up and made her way to the kitchen, swaying a bit as she went, was an uncommon one. A feeling that she only felt on very rare occasions nowadays, like this one. The desire to do something kind for someone else purely for the sake of making their life a little easier.

Aqua smiled to herself as she opened the fridge, already imagining Kazuma's shocked reaction as he arrived home to see a delicious home-cooked meal waiting for him. Maybe he'd even raise her allowance after such a wonderful act of kindness. Sure, she couldn't exactly cook much of anything, but what's the worst that could happen?

Kazuma suddenly shivered, an ominous feeling of doom washing over him, before disappearing just as quickly as it had arrived.

"You doing okay, helper?" Chris asked as the three of them waited at the station for Chris' train, "It really isn't that cold out tonight, plus you are wearing a jacket."

"Just some random shiver I guess," He shrugged as he leaned against the wall, "I don't feel particularly cold."

After their shift had ended and the café had been closed up for the night, Kazuma, Chris and Darkness had taken the short walk over to the train station, to ensure that Chris got to her train okay, before Kazuma and Darkness would head off to catch the 9:45 bus. It was a routine the three of them were all more or less used to by now.

Chris looked at the overhead timetable, scouring for where she'd need to be headed in order to board her train. "Ah! Platform six. I'll probably have to get going now if I don't wanna have to rush there," She turned back to her two employees, "Good work tonight, you two! See you in two weeks, Darkness! I'll be expecting to see you again at 5pm tomorrow, helper!".

And with that, the short haired girl began to happily walk off, further into the station.

"Well, we really should get going now if we don't want to be late," Darkness told Kazuma as she checked the time on her phone.

"Mhm," Kazuma responded as he stifled a yawn, "Sooner I get home, the better."

As they began their walk from the station to the bus stop, Kazuma grew curious as his thoughts lingered on Chris' words from earlier. "Hey, Darkness, chief said something earlier about not seeing you again for 2 weeks, what's that about?".

"Oh, uh, right. That." She replied, seemingly a little bit nervous.

"Oi, if it's something you don't wanna say, then that's fine."

She shook her head and smiled, seemingly appreciative of his concern, "No, it's fine. I have no problems telling you about it. I am simply just returning back home for a little bit before college properly starts for me in a few weeks."

"Ah, I see," He nodded, before another thought crossed his mind, "But why so soon, haven't you only been living here for around a month?".

"Yes, that is true," Darkness became nervous once again, "In truth, this is my first time living on my own. It has been something of a difficult learning process. I thought it might be a nice break to go back and visit my father while I still have this much free time, in order to let him know that I am adjusting well to this new way of life."

'Well-adjusted' was certainly not a word he would use to describe Darkness, but he decided to keep that to himself for her own sake. "A 'new way of life', huh?" Kazuma looked at her with a studious expression, "What, are you secretly some rich girl who's never properly experienced the outside world before?".

In response to his joke, the older girl seemed to tense up as she began to look increasingly more and more uncomfortable as she stammered something out, way too quietly for Kazuma to understand.

"No way…" He said, wide eyed, "Seriously?"

She continued to writhe around in unease for a few more moments before turning back to Kazuma with a red face. "Was… was it really that obvious?"

The brunette let out a puff of air into the night air in amusement, "Honestly, I was mostly joking. Although I did have my suspicions that your family must've been pretty well off. So your parents are like billionaires or something?"

"I… I'd rather not talk about it if that's okay…" Darkness quietly mumbled.

"Right, sure thing." Kazuma said, still a little in disbelief at the idea that the hardcore masochist was actually some rich guy's daughter.

After a few moments, Darkness spoke up once again. "Kazuma… you… you won't see me differently now because of this information, will you?"

'Ah,' He thought, 'So that's why she tried to hide this, she didn't want anyone to see her differently just because she was rich.'

"No, not really," The younger teen replied, "You being rich doesn't change the fact that you're some kind of freaky mega-perv."

"Ahh~" She quivered, quickly returning back to her usual ways, "You're always so… huff… ruthless."

"You really can't break character for more than 5 minutes, can you?"

"Unngg!"

As they made their way to the bus stop and the atmosphere between them became much less tense, Kazuma began to think about visiting his own family. Truthfully, things had become pretty sour between him and his parents after he decided to fully move out on his own some months ago in order to take care of Aqua, though he hadn't told them that she was the real reason. He did miss them though. As of the current moment, his only real line of communication with his family was through his little brother, whom he still kept in contact with fairly often.

According to the texts his brother had sent him earlier in the day, the 3 of them had decided to go on a small vacation over the spring break, and had arrived at the hotel they would be spending the next two weeks at a couple of hours ago. Maybe, after they got back, Kazuma would take the time to visit home too, to try and possibly mend the strained relationship he currently had with his parents. It sure would be nice to not have to live pay check to pay check for a little bit.

"Lalatina," Darkness cut through the momentary silence between them, snapping Kazuma out of his thoughts, "M-my real name is Lalatina Dustiness Ford,"

"...Pfft!".

"H-HEY!".

The bus ride back home was a very peaceful one for the two co-workers. After finally sitting down to rest on the bus seats, it didn't take too long for both of them to drift into a comfortable slumber, luckily waking up just before the bus arrived at their get-off point. Soon enough, they found themselves making the last leg of their journey back to the apartment building, making idle small talk as they went.

"I'm telling you, that girl is a walking bad luck charm. If you keep letting her hang around you while I'm out, something really bad is gonna happen to you eventually."

"S-something really bad? What kind of thing? How bad are we talking about? Whatever i-it is, I'm sure I'll be able to handle it, for you and Aqua's sake, of course…"

"Seriously, stop smiling like that, it's weirding me out. Like, a lot," Kazuma rolled his eyes at the pervert he was currently walking side by side with, "We should be home in about a minute now, the road that leads to the apartments is just up ahead."

"Umm, Kazuma…?"

"I'm Kazuma."

"Doesn't the air around here smell a bit… smoky? Or is it just me?"

The boy sniffed the air, taking in the scent. "No, it's not just you, there's definitely smoke in the air around here... Y-you don't think that…?"

The two had broken into a sprint before Kazuma could even finish his thought, quickly running down the road that marked the last leg of their journey home.

"K-k-kazuma…?".

Darkness looked over at the boy as he stood in complete silence as he looked over at the burning remains of what once was their apartment building. The firefighters who were presently on the scene had clearly been too late to save the building itself, and were simply just working on putting out the wreckage that still remained ablaze.

Hearing a sniffle coming from her left, Darkness turned to hear a familiar voice and see a familiar face, eyes overflowing with tears.

"K-kazuma... Darkness…".

For the first time since seeing the torched apartment complex, Kazuma broke out from his frozen trance to grab at his head and scream out at the sky. "WHAT THE FUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!?".

Aqua's sobs grew even louder at Kazuma's screaming, the poor boy clearly having surpassed the limit of what he was able to put up with.

For as much as Darkness felt as though she would've loved to join Kazuma in completely freaking out right now, she instead approached the nearby fire truck, getting the attention of a man standing just outside it.

"Sir," She politely began, "Would you happen to have any idea as to how this fire happened? And has everybody inside been safely evacuated?".

"Actually, that girl over there," He pointed towards Aqua, "Was apparently the only person within the building at the time of the fire. As for your first question, we're not yet entirely sure how the fire happened, but it seems that it was an out of control oil fire that originated from apartment number 202."

Kazuma once again froze in place as he heard the man speaking with Darkness. Apartment 202. That was his apartment, and the only person who had been there for the past 6 hours was…

"Oi…" Kazuma menacingly uttered as his head practically snapped round, instantly locking his eyes onto the useless, idiotic, NEET that sat crying on the floor nearby. "...What the HELL did you do? Tell me. Now."

"I-I," Aqua barely got out, her voice cracking, before she began wailing and crying again, "Waaaaaahhhhh! Kazuma, I just wanted t-to do something n-nice for you, so I tried to cook something for you, but then I ended up slipping on something at some… p-point. A-a-and… and then, I accidentally spilled my beer as I fell and it went all over the stove!".

Her face was completely caked in snot and tears by this point, as she talked through loud sniffles. "There was t-this huge fire, and I tried my best to put it out, I promise! I threw a huge jug of water over it but for some reason it only grew bigger! I-I managed to grab as much of our stuff as I could before I ran out," She pointed towards a small bag on the ground, presumably containing the meagre belongings that she'd managed to salvage from the fire that she caused, "Since I d-don't have a phone, I had to go find someone nearby who did have one so that they c-could call the fire department for me, but by the time they arrived, the f-fire had already spread throughout t-the entire building!".

"Kazuma, please don't be mad!" The blue haired curse sobbed, "I was just trying to do a nice thing, so don't be mad. Please! Please Kazuma, don't be mad at me! It was an accident, it wasn't my fault!".

Kazuma himself, by now far beyond his breaking point, stared at the girl in front of him as if she was nothing more than trash for a few tense moments before he finally snapped. "Not your fault? Not your fault!? Are you fucking kidding me? THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" He roared, "Ever since I took you in, all you've done is make my life a nightmare and find some way to waste whatever money I could manage to get! And now, now, you've finally gone too far! You burned down the entire building, everything is gone! You stupid, worthless, fucking shut-in! WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW!?".

The enraged boy was well aware of how hurtful and cruel he was being to the snivelling mess in front of him but right now, in this very moment, with everything she'd done to cause him grief, he truly could not care less.

Kazuma wasn't really sure how much time had passed since they'd arrived on the scene of their burning apartment. 20 minutes? 40 minutes? An hour? Again, he wasn't really sure. Currently, him, Aqua and Darkness were sitting in front of the remains of what was once their apartment, the flames long since extinguished and the fire truck having recently departed.

"So what do we do now?" Aqua broke the terse silence that had befallen the three of them, her voice hoarse and scratchy from crying so much.

"I'm not sure," Darkness replied honestly, "From what I know, the building itself was insured and it doesn't seem like the owner has any grievances with you or Kazuma for the accident."

"That's way too generous," Came Kazuma's exhausted reply. By this point, he just wanted to go to bed. "If it were me, I'd probably want to personally kill Aqua. Actually, I already do. Still, I guess it is pretty lucky that we aren't in trouble for this."

Aqua shivered. "W-where are we supposed to stay now then? It's already dark out and it's s-super cold still."

"I… don't know," The only male member of the group answered solemnly, "My family are out on vacation for the next two weeks and I don't have a house key, so my place is bust. We can't stay with Aqua's family for… obvious reasons. Not to mention that, with how late it is now, I seriously doubt that any of the buses or trains will still be running, so staying somewhere in Axel isn't possible unless we spend all night walking there."

Kazuma felt a cold gust of wind blow through his hair as he stared at the sky in abject despair. Seriously, why did he have to deal with this?

"Are there really no hotels around here?" The culprit of this entire situation asked.

"We live in some run-down neighbourhood in the middle of nowhere, it isn't really that surprising that there's nothing here."

Darkness was the next to suggest something. "What about spending the night at the café? I'm sure Chris wouldn't mind once we explained our situation to her."

"Not happening," Kazuma dejectedly shot down that idea too, "Even though it would be closer than walking all the way to Axel, we're still talking about at least an hour of walking. Not to mention the fact that chief is the only one who has the keys to actually get inside, and she's all the way over in Axel."

The brown haired teen sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that night. There was one more idea for where the 3 of them could possibly stay the night at, but he really did feel bad about asking something like that from them. Saving that option as a last resort, he turned to Darkness with an apologetic expression.

"I feel really bad for asking this from you, Darkness, especially because this situation wasn't your fault in the slightest, but is there really nothing you can do for us? I just thought, considering that you're…" He looked over at Aqua, "Y'know…".

He already felt bad enough about asking her that he couldn't bring himself to properly finish his question. The college student fidgeted around for a few moments, clearly uncomfortable, before she seemed to seriously consider his words.

"Well," She finally said after almost a minute of silence, "You remember earlier when I told you I was planning to go home to visit my father over the next two weeks, right?".

"Mhm," He nodded affirmatively.

"I had originally intended to leave tomorrow, maybe around midday, but… now that I currently have no place to sleep tonight, it may be a better choice to call my father's uhhmm… friend to come and collect me now."

Kazuma noticed how she fumbled with her words a bit as she said that. He was sure she meant to say something along the lines of 'chauffeur' or 'butler' before she hastily covered it up.

"That sounds like a smart idea," Aqua quietly chimed in.

The rich girl meekly nodded her head, "A-anyway, as I was telling Kazuma earlier, my father has wanted to know that I'm properly adjusting to my new life… and if I… were to bring a friend back to visit with me… I-I think that may alleviate some of his fears."

Kazuma really couldn't believe what he was hearing, "H-hold on, are you seriously inviting me and Aqua to come stay with your family for the next two weeks?".

"Umm," She averted her gaze, "Not exactly, no. You see, if I were to… bring home a boy, my father would clearly get the wrong idea about our relationship. Something like that could cause… complications, and I highly doubt you would even be allowed to stay, so I can only really offer this invitation to Aqua, I'm truly sorry Kazuma."

'That's such bullshit reasoning! Can't we just explain things to him when we get there? I thought a misunderstanding like that would end up getting her all hot and bothered anyway, is this really that serious then? I have no idea how rich people operate,' Kazuma mentally grumbled to himself. As much as he wanted to vocalise those grievances to Darkness herself, he didn't. No, she was already offering to do him a gigantic favour by taking Aqua off of his hands for a little while, even though this whole thing was all her fault.

"That's… fine," He told her with the biggest smile he could manage in that moment, which really wasn't much, "It's really generous of you to offer something like that for us, thank you. Don't you have anything to say, Aqua?".

"As long as I get somewhere warm to sleep, I don't mind…".

He slapped the back of the girl's head in irritation, "Ungrateful brat! You were supposed to say thank you. If you're gonna act like this the whole time, I'm gonna force you to sleep outside, no matter what Darkness offers!".

"I'm sorry!" Aqua shrunk back, "I'll be on my best behaviour, I promise!".

Kazuma didn't really believe her at all but decided to just drop it for now, instead turning back to look at Darkness, swearing that he heard her mutter something about his 'rough treatment'. "Are you sure you want to offer something like this? You're really not obligated to do anything like this, it's her fault that you're in this situation anyway."

"It is completely fine, Kazuma," The blonde haired girl simply smiled, "I'm just sorry I cannot offer you the same thing to you. Will you really be okay on your own tonight, it feels very wrong for us to leave you, the youngest of us three, alone like this."

"I'll be fine, I think," Kazuma responded, not fully confident in what he was saying, "There is somewhere that I could maybe stay for tonight. After that, I'll probably just rent some cheap hotel in Axel or ask chief to let me stay in the café for a little bit."

"Well, if you say so," She was clearly still a little apprehensive but she decided to trust that Kazuma would be okay. After all, he was very capable, even though he was still a few years off of being an adult. Aqua, on the other hand, didn't really look all that concerned over Kazuma. He wasn't surprised in the slightest.

With nothing else really left to discuss, Darkness called her father's 'friend' and informed them of her situation. Apparently, as Darkness had told the other two once she was off the phone, their ride should be arriving within the next 20 minutes. Now that he knew that they would both have a place to sleep tonight, Kazuma quickly gave his goodbyes to both of them, his genuine 'thank you' to Darkness heavily contrasting with his cold dismissal and reminder to behave herself to Aqua.

That had been about 5 minutes ago, and now Kazuma was on his own, walking down a road he'd only ever been down a few times before, desperately hoping that he wouldn't end up intruding on them too much by asking to stay over for the night. It's not like he had any other options, anyway.

Maybe Megumin's premonition had been right. This Spring break was going to suck, wasn't it?

Megumin let out an audible yawn as she moved the paper in front of her to allow her to rest her head on her arms. She really should be going to bed soon. The past few hours had been dedicated entirely to finishing as much of her homework as possible, just so that she wouldn't have to deal with it later. Realistically, she could probably get all of it finished now if she just hyper-focused on her work for another hour, but she was way too tired and out of focus to do that right now.

After making the decision to simply just finish the rest some time tomorrow morning, Megumin allowed her thoughts to wander back to Kazuma, and more specifically the time she had spent with him earlier in the day. It had only been a few hours since they'd last talked and she was already wishing that she could see him again. She really was such a mess for that guy, though that thought didn't bother her one bit. Instead, it just left her with a warm and fuzzy feeling in her heart. Megumin couldn't get enough of him, of the way he made her feel.

"I hope I can see him again soon…" She mumbled into her sleeves.

Rubbing her eyes, she slowly stood up from the small wooden desk in her and Komekko's shared bedroom, sliding the wooden chair she had just been sitting on underneath the desk. The crimson eyed girl was slightly surprised when she saw the stray cat she'd taken in a few years ago, dubbed Chomusuke, dash out from behind one of the desk's legs, just to run over to the futon where Komekko was sleeping and almost instantly join the small girl in slumber.

At that moment, seeing the adorable sight of her little sister and her 'familiar' snuggled up together, she was very tempted to just hop into her own futon and go to sleep then and there. Alas, despite the fact that she'd already brushed her teeth and changed into the tracksuit she usually sleeps in earlier, she instead decided that there was probably one thing she really should do before she flops down onto her bed for the night.

Leaving her room and making her way through her family's small home, Megumin soon caught sight of the person she had been looking for, her mother, Yuiyui, as she finished folding and packing away clothes for when she and Megumin's father, Hyoizaburoo, would be leaving tomorrow morning.

"Shouldn't you be asleep by now, mom?" Megumin asked, getting her mother to finally notice her presence, "Don't you and dad have to leave pretty early in the morning?".

"Oh my," Her mother laughed, "And what exactly are you doing awake at this hour? My little girl doesn't usually stay up this late, I hope you're not developing bad sleeping habits."

"N-no, it's nothing like that," The teenager corrected, "I was actually just about to go to bed, but I thought it might be best to see if you were still awake now, I'm not sure if I'll be up when you and dad leave tomorrow or not."

Yuiyui looked at her eldest daughter with a soft smile, "I'm sorry that we're leaving you to take care of the house on your own again, but you know how tight money is, it's pretty important that your father manages to sell as many of his products as possible."

"It's fine, I understand that you two kinda have to do it so that we can eat, especially with how big Komekko's appetite has become as of late."

The older of the two women simply just lightly laughed at her daughter's comment, before deciding to change the subject.

"Putting that aside, I've been wondering about how things have been progressing recently."

"How things have… been progressing…?" Megumin repeated, not understanding her mother's question.

"Between you and Kazuma, of course!" Yuiyui had a knowing smile on her face, "Are you two finally together yet?".

Megumin felt her entire face burn a bright red at her mother mentioning her relationship with Kazuma, not that there was actually any 'relationship' to mention yet. "I-I… M-me and Kazuma…" She spluttered out, her embarrassment only growing as she saw the look on her mother's face, "W-we aren't dating yet…".

The moment the word 'yet' had left her mouth, she instantly regretted it with every fibre of her being. "Fufufu," The long haired woman giggled, "Do I just hear you say 'yet'? Ahhh, how adorable! So when do you intend to ask him?".

"Gah! Stop it, stop it! Shut up!" She yelled at her mother, her entire face now matching the colour of her eyes as she pathetically flailed her arms around, "I'm going to bed now, Goodnight!".

Megumin tried her hardest to tune out her mother's laughing as she began to stomp her way towards her room before she was suddenly interrupted by the sound of their doorbell being rung.

"Huh," She questioned as she came to a standstill and turned to the direction of their front door, "Who would show up here at this time of night?".

"No idea," Yuiyui replied as she cocked her head, before beginning to walk towards the direction of the front door.

"E-excuse me…" Came a very familiar voice from the other side of the door, "I'm sorry for intruding like this, especially this late at night but I'd really appreciate it if I could come in, if that's okay…".

'Kazuma!?' Megumin internally yelled as she heard his voice from outside her front door, 'But why does he sound so worn out? Did something bad happen to him?'.

As her daughter was stuck worrying over the boy she clearly cared so much for, Yuiyui decided to take advantage of the golden opportunity laid out before her as she rushed over towards the door with a shout of "I'll be there in a second!".

Seeing her mother hastily rushing towards the door, the teen girl quickly snapped out of her thoughts in a panic. "M-mom, wait-!".

Unfortunately for Megumin, by the time she reached the front door, her mother was already pushing it open to reveal the completely-out-of-it looking boy on the other side.

If Kazuma had sounded miserable earlier, then he looked downright depressed as he stood in their doorway. Megumin's heart practically broke in two as she lay her eyes upon his tired, almost hollow looking eyes and the expression of complete and utter defeat on his face. All grievances she'd just had with her mother were quickly replaced with pity and an overwhelming desire to comfort the boy in any way possible.

Clearly, whatever had happened that caused him to have to come visit them at such a late hour had been quite the terrible experience.

"K-kazuma," She practically whispered out as she took a single step towards the boy. "W-what happened? Are you okay?".

"As you can see," Yuiyui interjected before Kazuma could respond, "My Megumin here is clearly very worried about you. So how about you come inside and we can continue talking there."

"That sounds great, thank you," He weakly replied, his eyelids drooping ever so slightly.

"Your roommate… burned down... your apartment complex!?" Megumin cried in disbelief.

"Mhm, yeah, the uh… the entire thing," The boy across from her and her mother said with no small amount of dejection in his voice.

"Sooooo," Yuiyui began, sending the poor boy a motherly smile, "I'm assuming that you're here because you have nowhere to stay the night and you were hoping you could crash here for a bit, is that right?".

"That's right," He said solemnly, "I'm really sorry for asking this of you, but I swear I'll only need to stay for a single night. I don't mind sleeping on the floor if you don't have a spare bed, I just really need somewhere to crash tonight."

"Kazuma?" Megumin asked, getting the boy's attention, "What about your roommate and everyone else in the apartment, where are they staying? Shouldn't you be with them?".

"Actually, me, my roommate and our neighbour were the only people living in those apartments before the fire," He informed her, "As for those two, they're going out of town to stay with our neighbour's family for the next two weeks. I uh… wasn't able to go with them, though."

"Why not?" The girl asked him, concerned.

"It's… complicated, I guess," Honestly, he wasn't 100% sure of the reason either, besides what he'd been told back at the apartment, "Far as I'm aware, her bringing a boy home would cause… issues."

"You… seriously can't catch a break, can you?" Megumin asked him, seemingly content with his explanation.

As the back and forth between the two was going on, Yuiyui took a side glance at her daughter's face, instantly noticing the look of concern on her face and the blush that adorned her pretty pink cheeks. Thinking over Kazuma's words and his situation, while also factoring in Megumin and how she felt, it didn't take long for Yuiyui to come to a decision about the boy and his situation, a very cunning decision at that.

"I see," She interjected, "So while those two have somewhere to stay over the Spring break, you have nowhere to live for the next two weeks?".

"Oh? Yeah, I guess," Kazuma nodded, "But I can just get the train into Axel tomorrow morning and find a hotel to stay at for the time being."

"Or…" A devious grin appeared on her face, "You could live here until me and my husband get back home, which coincidentally will be in two weeks time."

A single moment of silence passed as the two other people in the room processed her words.

"What!?" Megumin squeaked, taken completely off guard by her mother's insane suggestion.

"Ah, Miss Yuiyui," Kazuma waved his hands in front of himself as if to calm her down, "Surely suggesting something like this is a bit too much, isn't it. I don't want to be a burden on you and your family."

"Nonsense," She calmly responded, completely ignoring her clearly distressed firstborn, "Actually, having you here to help take care of the house and little Komekko while we're gone would be the complete opposite of a burden to us. I'm sure Megumin would appreciate having you here to help her out with the housework, wouldn't you, dear?".

Feeling the attention quickly shift to her, and with her mother clearly expecting an answer, Megumin tried her best to calm herself down as much as possible. Truth be told, she could barely hear her mother's voice over the loud and fast beating of her own heart, being quickly sent into overdrive at the idea of Kazuma staying over for the night and practically exploding when her mother suggested that he… stay with her… over the holiday.

Spending the next two weeks with Kazuma. That was literally exactly what she had been wanting, daydreaming about, for the past few weeks, and now, the opportunity for that to happen was being practically thrown into her lap. Her nerves were at an all time high, she didn't even want to think about what she looked like right now, but there was no way she could give in to nerves. There was no way she could let this opportunity pass through her fingertips, no matter how embarrassed she was right now. She didn't even want to consider how miserable the next two weeks would feel for her if she turned him away now.

Assuming her silence to be one of rejection, the boy across from her quickly tried to diffuse the situation. "I appreciate your offer, Miss Yuiyui, I really do, but if Megumin is against the idea, then I wouldn't want to intrude on her. So, it's fine, thank you anyway."

"W-wait!" Megumin finally yelled out, a little louder than she had intended, "It's no problem, Kazuma, r-really! I… I'd genuinely really appreciate it if you would stay here… to help me take care of the house. If that's okay with you…".

"Well, Kazuma," Yuiyui looked all too pleased with herself, "It seems like my daughter would also appreciate having you stay here, so what about it, hmm?".

"You're too kind… thank you, thank you so much," He bowed down to them from his position on his knees, "If it really won't be a bother to you or your family, then I'll gladly take your offer."

Despite the many, many overwhelming feelings presently coursing through her, she still found to send a serene smile in the boy's direction. "You really don't have to bow to us, dummy. Mom already said that you'd be doing us a favour too."

Yuiyui clapped her hands together in joy as she saw the boy sigh in relief. "Perfect! I do hope you will take care of my two daughters while me and my husband are away, although I'm sure you already have experience in taking care of my Megumin," She said with a smile, softly laughing as she saw the foul expression her daughter was sending her, "And now, with all that out of the way, how about I run you a bath, Kazuma? You do smell a little smoky."

"That would be good, thank you, ma'am."

"Mom!" Megumin chastised her mother in a hushed voice, "What are you doing!?".

"What do you mean, Megumin? I'm not doing anything."

"Not-? Not doing anything" She was becoming increasingly more exasperated, pointing down the hallway towards the bathroom door, "How is inviting Kazuma to live here considered not doing anything?". Megumin had been waiting the entire time to grill her mother over her actions, and with Kazuma having just gotten into the bath, she took the opportunity to finally give her a piece of her mind.

"I don't understand what you're so upset about," To her credit, Yuiyui did look genuinely confused at her daughter's reaction, though Megumin couldn't tell if she was just faking it or not, "I thought you'd appreciate having him help you take care of things here at home, you do always complain about how much work it is you all on your own. Not to mention how much you seem to love spending time with him. Your dear mother was just trying to do a nice thing for you. Are you really so unhappy about having him here?".

That wasn't it, that wasn't it at all, and her mother was fully aware of that. Sure, the idea of Kazuma staying with her was making her nerves act up and made her heart beat like crazy, in that strange warm way that only Kazuma could cause, but she was not going to act like she had any issues with him staying over at all. In fact, it was the complete opposite, she was hopelessly swooning over the idea of being able to spend so much time with her most beloved person, though she would never tell her mother that.

"No…" she finally mumbled out, "I'm happy to have Kazuma here… it's just… a bit sudden…".

Yes, Yuiyui loved to tease her little girl, but she wasn't cruel. "It's not like you to be so meek and nervous," She said soothingly, "I know you'll be fine. From my few interactions with him, I can tell he's a very upstanding young man. You made a great choice if I do say so myself!".

"I said stop!".

She just giggled.

"But… thank you, I guess."

Kazuma let out an exhausted sigh as he felt his body relax for the first time in hours, the warm water doing wonders on him, both physically and mentally. Despite how horrible his night had been going up until then, he did have to admit how incredibly lucky he was right now. He really had just expected to stay at Megumin's until the morning, at which point he'd go down to Axel to find a cheap hotel to stay at until he could find a more permanent residence. Yet, in some strange but very much fortunate turn of events, he'd now be spending the next two weeks living with Megumin and her little sister.

Sure, their house was by no means big, being a fairly modestly sized bungalow, but as someone who'd spent the last few months sharing that tiny little apartment, this was practically luxury to him. He was also painfully aware of the family's poor financial situation, but he'd already decided that he'd help split the expenses for the next two weeks with his own money; it was only fair that he properly repay them somehow.

Not to mention the fact that Megumin would be leagues better as a roommate than Aqua ever was. He was honestly a little excited to share a living space with someone who was actually responsible, it would be nice to not have to do everything all on his own for once.

It was times like this, when his entire life felt as though it had just been uprooted through no fault of his own, that Kazuma almost wished he had just stayed as a shut-in NEET, not having to deal with any of these real life problems that can't seem to leave him alone. Right now, he'd give anything to just be sitting in front of his computer in his childhood bedroom, not sitting in his friend's bath, troubling himself over the thought of his newfound homelessness.

But he knew that he couldn't do that anymore, whether he wanted to or not. Like it or not, he had people relying on him now. Sure, he realistically could just avoid all of his problems and just ditch them, but he wouldn't do that. He may be crass and perverted and somewhat rude at times, but he wasn't the type of person to abandon the people he cared about, no matter how many headaches they gave him.

Without him, Aqua would probably be dead on the side of the road somewhere. Morbid, sure, but it was the truth. No one else was willing to take her in or help her, not ever her own family. Kazuma really was her last hope.

He wasn't entirely sure of Darkness' situation, but what he did know was that his lazy slob of a roommate had been responsible for burning down the apartment she'd been living in for less than a month. If he was gonna have to find somewhere for Aqua to stay when they got back, he had a feeling that he'd also have to do the same for Darkness.

Megumin, well, things with her weren't nearly as grim or dire as the other two. That said, he did understand that she really did need him, his company to be more exact. He wasn't even trying to vain in that thought, it's just what he genuinely believed. He knew that Megumin had been, and to an extent still was, fairly lonely and isolated from her peers, having a reputation as a hardcore weirdo with a short temper will do that to you. Of course, she was a lot less extreme nowadays, and her temper had mellowed out a lot, but Kazuma knew first hand how damaging middle school rumours could be, regardless of if they were true or not. She seemingly did have a few friends besides him, or so she'd told him, but from the way she spoke of them, they didn't seem to be all that close. Not that she hated them or anything, just that she clearly didn't feel any real connection to them, a thought that filled Kazuma with a surprising amount of pity for the girl.

Was he her only truly close friend?

Kazuma shook his head to rid himself of those depressing thoughts about Megumin. He was sure he was just overthinking things, he was extremely tired after all.

'I'm so damn tired...'.

"Mom moved Komekko to sleep with her and my dad," Megumin explained as they stood in her room, "So you can have her futon for today. We can figure out proper sleeping arrangements in the morning."

"Sounds good," Kazuma weakly smiled as he flopped down onto the futon.

"Hey," She softly said as she looked down at the boy, "Are you sure you'll be okay sleeping in that? I-I can see if I have anything that'll fit you if you want,". Megumin was referring to the fact that Kazuma was currently dressed in his school uniform, minus the jacket, tie and socks.

"I'll be fine. Pretty sure my tracksuit was lost in the fire and I should probably try to conserve whatever clothing Aqua did manage to grab before she got out," The boy responded as he looked over at the girl, "And uh, no offence, but I highly doubt you'd have anything that would fit me."

Realising that she had no retort, Megumin simply settled on pouting at the boy, making her displeasure known to him. "Oh and, I shouldn't have to say this, but I will anyway. No funny business, you hear me? I know how you boys can be sometimes, especially a pervert like you."

"Oi, now hold on just a second," The boy responded, the indignation in his tone very much apparent to the girl, "Do you really think I'd actually try to make a move on you while you're sleeping? What kind of person do you see me as?".

Kazuma instantly regretted his passive aggressive reply the moment he saw the look of regret on Megumin's face, "Sorry. I didn't mean to accuse you or anything like that. I know that you'd never do something like that to me. I'm sorry. I just wanted to… y'know… hear it from you."

Guilt quickly overtook him. Part of him had in fact been considering the idea of trying to pull something on her, but after seeing the expression on her face, he knew there was no way he could ever go through with it.

"N-no, I get it. I understand why you might be worried about it, but I promise that I won't do anything. You're an important friend to me, I wouldn't ever do something like that to you…".

Her sorrowful look was quickly replaced by an honest smile and a small glow of pink from her cheeks. Suddenly feeling very aware of his eyes on her, Megumin quickly slipped into her own futon, rolling over to see Kazuma pulling the blanket over himself. She felt her heart beating loud and fast as the boy turned on his side to face her too, smiling as he made eye contact with her.

"W-well, good night then, Kazuma. I hope you sleep well."

He didn't respond at first, not really, simply just humming in affirmation. The boy kept his eyes on her for a few more quiet seconds before he rolled onto his back, before finally speaking.

"Megumin… Thank you, seriously," She felt her breathing hitch as her heart grew even louder, "I hate to admit this out loud, but I really was a little worried about what would happen next. But just knowing that I have somewhere to stay until I can figure something out… that means a lot. Plus it's nice to have someone here who won't cause me constant stress."

"K-...Kazuma…" She could barely speak anymore, the thumping of her heart was too intense. She just felt so damn nervous.

"Anyway," Kazuma quickly tried to dispel the embarrassing atmosphere, "G-good night, Megumin."

Megumin managed to control her voice enough to gently whisper a 'goodnight' to the boy, yet her eyes stayed wide open. How was she supposed to sleep now? Even in the dark, she could still clearly make out Kazuma's form, laid only a metre or so away. It took almost all of her self-restraint to stop herself from moving over to snuggle up against him, for some form of comfort to take her away from her rampaging nerves.

"...Kazuma?" Megumin whispered after a minute or so of silence, "Are you still awake?".

"Barely."

Seeing her chance, the girl shuffled towards the edge of her futon. Her left hand slowly slid out of her blanket and into Kazuma's, searching around until her hand finally made contact with Kazuma's and tentatively gripped onto it. She felt him tense up, but he didn't try to pull away or push her off, so she hoped that meant that he was okay with it.

"Megu-min!?" The slight crack of his voice sent her heart haywire, "What are you doing?".

"I'm just trying to comfort you…" She half-lied, "You've had a hard day, h-haven't you? And this is supposed to be c-comforting…". She felt herself loosening her grip on his hand as she trailed off before, to her surprise and pleasure, Kazuma wrapped his hand around hers and softly squeezed it.

"...Right, t-thanks."

Neither of them said anything after that, simply content to fall asleep with their hands intertwined with one another. Within a few minutes, Kazuma's exhaustion won out over his nerves as he quickly fell into a comforting sleep. While Megumin, with her heartbeat now somewhat under control, simply snuggled up into her futon as she lazily rubbed circles onto Kazuma's hand with her thumb.

Maybe she wasn't so mad at her mother anymore.

Chapter Text

Megumin felt herself let out a small yawn as her eyes fluttered open, using her free hand to groggily rub the sleep from her eyes. As her vision slowly focused, she quickly took notice of the slumbering boy on the adjacent futon. She couldn't help but smile at how peaceful he looked in that moment. Upon trying to move her left hand, she felt Kazuma's soft grip, their hands still intertwined from the night before.

She allowed herself to enjoy such a wonderful moment for a few minutes longer before she eventually decided that she had to get up. Begrudgingly, she softly pried the still resting Kazuma's hand from her own and stood up, looking over at the clock on her bedroom wall. It was currently 8:12 in the morning. Not surprising, they hadn't gotten to sleep last night until sometime past midnight.

For a few seconds, Megumin considered waking Kazuma up, but upon recalling the events he'd had to endure the previous day and the tired look in his eyes from last night, she decided it was only fair to let the poor boy sleep in a little longer. He probably didn't get that luxury very often, now that she thought about it.

Her attention then switched to the other person in the house, her little sister, Komekko. Judging by the fact that she hadn't run into her room to wake her up yet, she could only assume that she was still asleep, for now.

Glancing back at Kazuma's sleeping form one more time, Megumin opened her bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway, heading in the direction of her parents' room. Since the time was already well past eight, and they were supposed to leave at around seven, she could only assume that her mom and dad were already long gone.

As she slowly creaked open the door to her parents' room, the red eyed girl spotted her little sister, who had seemingly just woken up, slowly sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Goomorning… big sis…" Came Komekko's half-awake greeting.

"Good morning Komekko," Megumin cooed and gave her sister a bright smile, "How did you sleep?".

"Hungry…" She replied, ignoring the question entirely, "Is big sis here to make me food?"

"Eh? Ah, yes! Of course, big sis will get started on breakfast right away!".

She stumbled to her feet with a lopsided grin, "Foooood…".

'There's barely anything left…' Megumin thought to herself as she scoured through the kitchen cupboards, 'We'll have to make do with porridge for now but we should probably go out to get groceries sooner rather than later.'

"We're gonna be having porridge this morning, okay Komekko?" She said as she pulled out the bag of oats.

"Okay big sis!" Her sister cheered, clearly just excited to eat food in general, not really caring that it was the same thing she had most days.

Megumin happily hummed to herself as she got to work on making enough porridge for the three of them, Komekko hopping around her and drooling the entire time. Just as she was serving the porridge into the first bowl, she heard the sound of a door opening and someone walking down the hallway.

"Morning," Kazuma said to her as he wandered into the kitchen, having changed into a simple grey t-shirt and black sweatpants, before he noticed the other person in the room, "Oh, hey Komekko."

The small girl looked at him in confusion for a moment, then she suddenly lit up and smiled at him, as if she'd just remembered who he was. "Big sister's boyfriend!".

"Eh! Komekko!" Megumin squealed, trying her best to avoid looking at the equally flustered Kazuma, "He's my friend, not my b-boyfriend. Where would you even get that idea from?".

"Mommy," Komekko innocently replied, clearly not interested in her sister's embarrassed tirade, instead choosing to totter over to Kazuma, her big, round eyes looking into his, "Are you here to bring me more food, mister?".

"Not exactly," Kazuma said, crouching down to her height, "I'm here to help your big sister take care of you while your parents are away. But I'll make sure to get you some tasty snacks from time to time."

"Hmmm… Does this mean that you're my big brother now, big brother?".

He contemplated her words for a few moments, "Of course."

"Yay!" She whooped, "Now I have a big brother to make me food too!".

The small girl let out a cheer of happiness, dancing around the kitchen, while Kazuma made his way over to Megumin.

She let out a groan. "You haven't even been here for a day and my sister is already calling you 'big brother', how do you even do that?".

"No idea. Pretty sure it's just because I said I'd buy her snacks," He joked, then leaned down to whisper in her ear. "You know, you could always start calling me big brother too if you want."

"Ew! Ew! Gross! Why do you have to make everything weird, you pervert!" The red faced girl squealed as she jolted back and shot him an annoyed glare before recomposing herself and snickering. "Heh. If I actually did do that, you'd probably get all flustered and beg me to stop."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Uh huh, sure," Megumin sarcastically replied as she used a spoon to get the last dregs of porridge from the pot.

"Anyways, what did you make for breakfast?" He asked as he approached the three bowls, looking at their contents. "Porridge?".

"Mhm. We don't have much else left in the house right now, so you better not complain about it!" She said as she attempted to stare down the boy for a few seconds, before she cracked and started laughing at the obviously unintimidated expression on his face.

"Oi, I wasn't complaining about it, I was just asking about it," Kazuma explained to her, chuckling a bit himself, "So I assume this means that we're gonna have to go shopping later?".

"Yup. I'd rather go before lunch if that's okay with you."

"That's fine with me," He shrugged, picking up two of the bowls as Megumin grabbed the other one, "We may as well just go straight after breakfast."

The girl nodded as they placed the bowls of porridge down onto the table. "Komekko!" Megumin got her sister's attention, "Porridge is ready!".

In the blink of an eye, Komekko was running towards the table at speeds that really should not be possible for a four year old to reach, quickly plopping herself down in front of her bowl and digging in. Megumin and Kazuma followed suit shortly after, though they ate their food at a much more conservative speed.

"Hey! Kazuma," Megumin grumbled at the boy as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, "You do know that it's considered rude to pull out your phone while you're eating with other people, right?".

"Huh? O-oh, yeah, right. Sorry," He sent her a guilty look but still kept his phone out, "I just got a text from my boss, so it's kinda important."

"Well, if it's important, then I'll let it go just this once," She tried and failed to look genuinely irritated, "What was it about?".

"About my situation, I guess. Also my schedule while I'm on break," He finished sending his response and put his phone back into his pocket, "Seems that Darkness gave the chief a heads up about the apartment situation. She says I don't have to come into work today though, so that's nice."

"Mhm. What was the part about your schedule?".

He swallowed his food before talking again. "Since I'm on break now, I can take either the lunchtime shift or my usual evening shift."

"You can just choose? Just like that?" Megumin asked in surprise.

"Pretty much. As long as I let her know the day before, I can change my shift around if I want. As long as I show up and do my hours, she really doesn't mind what time of day it is."

"Your boss is way too nice to you," she said as she narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular, "She definitely gives you special treatment, doesn't she?".

"Guess so," He casually answered, "Not that I'm complaining about it though… Oi, what's with that sour look on your face?".

"Nothing!".

"Mmmmm! So yummy!" Little Komekko said as she cleared out the final remnants of her breakfast. Kazuma looked down at his and Megumin's half eaten bowl and then back to the little girl, her hands twitching as she began to reach for his bowl.

"You can have mine if you're still hungry, Komekko," Megumin affectionately smiled at her, completely used to her sister's ravenous hunger by now, receiving an enthusiastic nod from the now elated girl. She turned to Kazuma as her little sister began to demolish her bowl, "In case you were wondering why we didn't have any food left in the house, I'm sure you understand now."

"Completely."

Around 30 minutes later, the three of them - four if you count the cat sticking out of Megumin's orange hoodie - were making their way through the small car park of a familiar store. It wasn't the one Kazuma would usually frequent for groceries, but he had definitely come here on a few occasions in the past. For Megumin and Komekko, on the other hand, the store was very well-known to the both of them, being the store their mother would usually buy groceries from. Megumin had, on many occasions, been tasked with the job of food shopping in the past, while Komekko would sometimes go with her mother to get groceries, if there was no one else to look after her.

"Big brother! Big brother!" Komekko shouted as she pulled on Kazuma's sleeve, already used to referring to him as such, "I wanna sit in the food cart! Please?".

"Of course you can, Komekko," Megumin told the little girl. Yet, despite that, she didn't even look as if she registered her big sister's words as she continued staring intently at Kazuma.

It took him a few seconds to realise that she was specifically waiting for his response. "Fine by me," he shrugged indifferently as he moved to collect a shopping cart.

"She… ignored me…" Megumin dejectedly muttered to herself as Komekko hopped up and down in front of the shopping cart, "My own little sister…".

Kazuma only looked upon her in pity as he gently picked Komekko up and helped her get her legs through the gaps in the trolley to sit in the honestly uncomfortable looking plastic seat. Though, from the look on the little girl's face, she didn't seem to be uncomfortable in the slightest. Either that, or she was just excited to be so high up. Yeah, that was probably it. He couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Chomusuke hop out from her resting place in Megumin's hoodie to quickly make her way to Komekko's lap, where the cat promptly fell asleep.

"Oi, stop looking so miserable," He told Megumin as he began to move the cart towards the entrance of the store, "You should know how fickle kids are. She'll get bored of me before you know it."

She seemed to somewhat perk up at his words, quickly walking to catch up with Kazuma as they entered. "Of course," She convinced herself, "Why would she want some dummy like Kazuma when she has a wonderful big sister right here!".

"Oi!" He turned to her in annoyance, only for her to start softly laughing at his displeased reaction, "I take it back, go back to being depressed!".

"Meat!" Komekko interrupted as she pointed down the nearest aisle, having already decided what they would be buying first.

For the next half an hour or so, Kazuma and Megumin made their way throughout the decently sized grocery store, picking up everything that they thought they might need over the course of the next week. Of course, they made sure they didn't spend too much, although it's not like conserving money was anything new to either of them.

All the while, Komekko was staring on in wonder, in awe of the sheer amount of food that was within one building. When she wasn't looking at the food, she was instead talking about it. Telling Kazuma all about her favourite foods and then rambling about pancakes, an amazing new treat that she had discovered for the first time the day before with her big sister and 'the weird girl'. Her appetite had gotten so bad at one point that she had started to nibble the sleeping Chomusuke, who frantically woke up and practically leapt onto Megumin's head to escape her predator.

"Y'know," Megumin looked at Kazuma as they wandered down the final aisle, "This probably would've been a lot quicker if we'd remembered to make a shopping list beforehand."

"I'm glad we're on the same page about that," Kazuma looked down at the contents of the shopping cart, "This should definitely last the three of us until next weekend, even with Komekko's appetite. Still though, this doesn't look like it's gonna be cheap, even if we are splitting the cost."

Megumin looked at the slight grimace on the boy's face, "You don't have to split the cost if you really don't want to. It's not like anyone's even asking you to do it in the first place."

Kazuma ran his hand through his hair in slight irritation. Not that he was annoyed at Megumin, he knew she was just trying to help. He was just irritated in regards to the entirety of his current situation, and how out of his control it felt. "It's fine, I already said I had no problem doing it, didn't I?" His irritation slowly faded away as he saw the conflicted look on the girl's face, "Look, I'm not doing this out of some sense of obligation or whatever. I'd just feel like a scumbag if I made your parents spend their money on me after they already gave me a place to stay, especially with how poor you guys are."

She couldn't hide the warm smile that made its way to her face upon hearing the boy's truly thoughtful declaration. Still, while Kazuma hadn't been wrong about the fact that her family was indeed pretty poor, it's not like he was much better off himself. Actually, as far as Megumin was concerned, he probably had it worse than she did in a few ways.

"Th-thanks… for being so considerate," She meekly said before she threw up one hand to pose dramatically, while the other went into her pocket, and confidently continued, "But you don't have to worry about a high price, Kazuma, because I didn't come here unprepared. Behold my secret weapon!".

Komekko clapped at her sister's performance as Megumin quickly pulled back the hand resting in her hoodie's pocket to flash a large wad of coupons in front of Kazuma's face. He stared at her with a bemused expression for a moment before his body visibly relaxed and he smirked at the overdramatic girl in front of him.

"I shouldn't have expected anything less from you," The brown haired teen chuckled, 'Because really, who else would think to hoard a gigantic pile of coupons just to get a discount on groceries?'.

She smirked at him and leaned towards him, "Amazed by my genius?".

"Those coupons aren't out of date, right?".

"Nope! I made sure to check the date on all of them." She grinned proudly

"Then yeah, I'm pretty impressed," Kazuma said as they made their way to the end of the final aisle, letting out a puff of air in relief, "Finally, we're done."

Despite Kazuma's comment, or maybe in spite of it, it was almost another whole hour until they were finally done with the entire process of grocery shopping. He had tried his hardest to hold back his laughter as he saw the expression on the face of the store worker when Megumin dumped her wad of coupons in front of them, but he was just glad to see that the coupons did in fact help cut out a sizable chunk of their overall spending. And with the fact that the total cost was split fifty fifty between them both, he was pleasantly surprised by how little he actually ended up losing.

Once they'd packed up all of their purchases, with him holding two bags, Megumin holding the other bag and Komekko holding a small candy bar that Kazuma had given her, they made their way back to Megumin and Komekko's parents' house. Of course, the little girl took this opportunity to grill her two babysitters on what food they'd be making for her over the next few days. It was by this point that Kazuma was getting more and more worried that this was the only thing the small girl talked about.

As if she heard his very thoughts, just as they got into the house, Komekko rushed up to him to tell him that she 'wanted big brother to come play with her'. Megumin quickly reminded her little sister that Kazuma had to help her put the shopping away first and shooed her off to go watch TV as they made their way into the kitchen.

"That's everything," Megumin informed him as she took the last item from the final bag, a fresh cabbage, and opened the fridge door to put it inside.

"Honestly, that took longer than I thought it would," He rested his arms behind his head as he leaned against the wall next to the fridge, "But most of that extra time was probably just due to me not knowing where anything goes."

"Mhm," The girl softly hummed in response, then poking him in the chest when he closed his eyes in relaxation, "Hey, did you forget that you have to go play with someone now?".

Kazuma opened one eye and smirked mischievously, "I won't judge, but aren't you a little too old to be 'playing' still?".

His friend's face quickly flared up in embarrassment, her hands weakly swiping at his chest, "I meant my little sister, not me, you jerk!".

"I know, I was just messing with you. You really should know this by now," He replied as he pushed himself from the wall and placed his hands onto her shoulders to quickly stabilise himself. Megumin felt herself tense up under his touch but quickly relaxed again as he let go after a second or so and made his way into the front room.

Once there, Kazuma instantly spotted the small girl, her gaze currently transfixed onto the television. He could tell she was watching an anime of some sort, but it wasn't one that he instantly recognised. Though it did feel a little familiar to him for whatever reason.

"Hey, Komekko," He cupped his hands around his mouth to imitate a megaphone, the sound of his voice getting the girl to turn her attention towards him, "I'm done helping your big sis put everything away, you still want big brother to play with you?".

In response, the girl frantically nodded her head and smiled widely as she got up and began to pull Kazuma in the direction of hers and Megumin's shared room. "You can show me all the games you know, big brother!".

And so, as per Komekko's request, Kazuma played game after game with his new 'little sister'. He was quick to impress her with his incredible rock paper scissors skills, not losing to her a single time, and he then moved on to teaching her a plethora of simple card games using a pack of cards that he had found near Megumin's desk. It was only half way through teaching her how to play Blackjack that he realised that the girl only knew how to count up to ten, she was only four years old after all, so he quickly improvised his own version of the game that only went up to ten, instead of the normal twenty-one.

Just as they finished their first round of 'Blackjack', the door opened and Megumin quietly made her way into the room. "Hey, you two having fun?" she asked as she pulled out the seat from her desk and sat down on it, putting her elbow onto the desk and allowing her head to rest on her hand.

"Yesh!" Komekko beamed at her big sister, pointing at the cards in front of her, "Big brother taught me how to play backtack!".

Megumin looked over at Kazuma with scepticism. "Blackjack," He corrected, idly reshuffling the cards, "I had to alter the rules a bit for her, but she seems to be getting the hang of it."

"Alter the ru-?" Megumin began to question him, before remembering how the game of Blackjack actually works, as well as her sister's current numerical skills, "Oh, right. Makes sense,". Watching in slight amusement as Kazuma finished shuffling the deck, he wasn't perfect at it by any means, the teen girl shifted her attention and entire body towards her desk.

"Oi, are you gonna join in?" The green eyed boy asked her as he noticed her turning away, "Or have you got something else to do?".

She gently picked up the papers on her desk and smiled at the boy, "W-well, I was actually planning on finishing my homework… but…".

"Huh? Is big sis gonna play with me too?" Komekko looked up expectantly, her eyes shining brightly.

Megumin mentally grumbled to herself about the unfairness of the only two people she couldn't say no to, for better or for worse, teaming up against her; placing her homework back down onto the desk with an amused sigh. "Mhm, of course I will!" She reassured her little sister, getting up from her seat and plopping herself down next to Kazuma and Komekko, the three of them making a sort of triangle formation on the floor.

Though she had honestly only intended to play with them for around ten minutes or so, before getting back to finishing her homework, Megumin quickly lost interest in her initial idea as she helped Kazuma teach her little sister all number of card tricks and games, having too much fun to care about her remaining schoolwork.

She had been pleasantly surprised over the course of the morning by how good Kazuma was with her sister. She'd never really expected him to be the type of person who would be good with kids, but it started to make more and more sense to her as she recalled all the horror stories Kazuma had told her about his roommate. If he had the patience to deal with someone like that, her little sister would be no problem in comparison. Komekko had never burnt the house down, after all.

It was as she was halfway through showing the little girl a 'magic trick' where she would perfectly guess her card, about an hour or so later, that Komekko's playtime was swiftly interrupted and ended when a loud rumble came from the small girl's stomach. Komekko quickly lost interest in the card trick after that.

"Big siiiis," The young girl clung to her, making Megumin drop the cards in the process, "Is it lunchtime yet? I'm really really really hungry."

Megumin looked over at the clock, a little caught off guard when she realised it was almost half past twelve already. "Yeah, it's lunchtime now. How about you wait here while we go make you something tasty to eat, okay?".

"O-" She loudly yawned as she made her way over to her futon, "Okay,". The two other people in the room slowly stood up and exchanged looks as they watched her curl up on the blankets next to Chomusuke, who was resting in an almost identical position.

Lunchtime had quickly turned to afternoon. To her pleasant surprise, Megumin actually still felt extremely lively, despite the busy morning they'd had. Luckily, things had calmed down a lot more after lunch, with Komekko taking a nap for a few hours after enjoying the fairly simple, yet still tasty, food that she and Kazuma had made for her.

Taking advantage of the fact that her sister wouldn't be up for a few hours, Megumin had silently snuck into their shared room to grab the schoolwork from her desk, opting to finish it at the dining table so as to not disturb her sister's naptime. It was about ten minutes later when Kazuma came in from the front room, deciding to join her at the table once he remembered that he too also had a fairly hefty stack of homework to complete.

And so, with Megumin finishing the last of her work within only fifteen minutes, the next couple hours or so were spent with her trying her best to help Kazuma with his own homework. Sure, she herself was not yet a high schooler and had never done a single piece of high school work in her life, but she wasn't considered a genius for nothing. Though she couldn't do anything to change the simple fact that she just hadn't been taught a lot of the things he was studying yet, once Kazuma gave her a simple rundown on what she needed to know, she managed to catch on pretty quickly.

The middle schooler couldn't help but giggle at the adorable reaction Kazuma had when she poked fun at how he was being helped with his homework by a girl two years below him, evolving into into full-blown joyous laughter at the mix of embarrassment and annoyance on his face once she'd started laughing.

Eventually, Komekko had woken up from her power nap and groggily wandered into the front room, informing then that she 'needed big sis and big brother to come watch TV with her', to which they both decided that the rest of Kazuma's schoolwork could be saved for another day.

But now it was evening, with Kazuma having cooked dinner almost two hours ago, at Komekko's behest, and Megumin was currently walking her sister from the bathroom to their shared bedroom. They'd gotten out of the bath a few minutes ago and now that she'd finally finished brushing her little sister's teeth, it was time to put her to bed. Though as she looked down at the little girl, who was already almost asleep, she highly doubted that she'd cause her much trouble when it came to bedtime.

After tucking the small girl into her futon and moving Chomusuke to Komekko's pillow to 'guard' her, Megumin turned towards the small mirror on the other side of the room and ran her hand through her still slightly damp bangs in an attempt to brush them back into place, before wishing her little sister goodnight and softly closing the door behind her.

Making her way down the hallway towards the front room, Megumin perked her ears up as she began to hear something; voices. The first voice was Kazuma, that much she was 100% sure of, but it was the other voice, or maybe voices, that she couldn't recognise. But whoever it was, Kazuma was seemingly in the middle of a conversation with them.

"Hey, Kazuma, did you have any idea that she was completely loaded? I mean look at this room!" A voice, she was pretty sure it was a girl, rang out as Megumin tentatively opened the door, looking around for a moment until she made eye contact with Kazuma, who was sitting on the couch, with his phone out in front of him.

"Oi, Aqua, you better not start spending her money on whatever you want just because she's rich. I said 'best behaviour', remember?" Kazuma's eyebrow twitched as he angrily glared at his phone, before his expression softened when he finally noticed the girl standing in the doorway, looking directly at him. He gave her a small wave with his free hand that soon turned into a beckoning motion, inviting her to come over and join him.

"It is quite alright, Kazuma," As Megumin made her way from the door to the couch, a new voice, also female, spoke out, "Aqua has indeed been on her best behaviour. She has not caused me any trouble since we've arrived."

"Yet," He deadpanned.

Megumin pulled on the sides of her hoodie, smoothing it out, as she sat down on the couch, a metre or so away from where Kazuma was sitting. Now that she could actually see his phone's screen, she quickly found her theories to be true as she saw that he was on a video call with the two girls.

She couldn't help but shrink back a little as she saw them. 'These two look like models. Like, they're front page of a magazine beautiful. How the hell does Kazuma not only know, but speak so casually to girls like these two?' The poor girl's thoughts ran at a hundred miles a minute as she processed this new information about her friend. 'He doesn't even look like he cares! Is he really that close to these girls who look like they could easily become famous idols?'.

'What if one of them is his…?'.

Megumin quickly shook her head to quickly dissipate the line of thinking she had been going down. Instead of letting herself get depressed over assumptions that might not even be true, She swiftly shuffled in close next to Kazuma until she could see her own face mirrored in the corner of his phone screen.

"Umm, hi," Megumin clumsily introduced herself as she gave a small wave to the two girls on the other end of the video call.

"Hey, Kazuma?" The blue haired girl asked after a few moments of shocked silence between the two older girls, "Who exactly uhhh… is she?".

"Huh? I told you earlier, didn't I?" Kazuma responded, a thoughtful expression adorning his face, "I'm staying with a friend for the Spring break. This is Megumin."

The other girl - a tall woman with long blonde hair - nodded in confirmation, "Yes, you did say so earlier. It is nice to meet you Megumin, my name is Darkness, a friend of Kazuma. I must say, it is truly kind of you to allow Kazuma to stay with you and your family in his time of need."

She was pleasantly surprised by how polite and formal the woman was. "Yeah, nice to meet you too, Darkness!" She tried to make a good first impression with this girl, "And you don't have to compliment me for helping Kazuma… I-I'm sure he'd do the same for me,". She couldn't help but internally curse as her cheeks heated up ever so slightly as she talked about Kazuma, but she quickly became a lot more at ease when she saw the boy smiling in her peripheral vision.

"Megumin… Megumin… Me-gu-min…" She heard the blue haired girl mumble her name a few times in thought as she rubbed her chin in thought, seemingly trying extremely hard to recall something.

"Psst, Kazuma," Megumin whispered to him, "Umm… what exactly is that girl doing?".

"Oh, her? Don't worry about it," He said back, completely un-phased by the girl's odd behaviour, "Just give her a few seconds… right about now-".

"Megumin! I know that name!" The girl in question proclaimed, "You're the girl Kazuma always sits with on the bus. Huh, I honestly just assumed he was making that whole thing up…".

"Oi, what exactly are you trying to suggest about me?" Both Megumin and Darkness found themselves stifling laughter at his obvious indignation, "Why would I even need to make something like that up?".

"I just assumed that no sane girl would actually wanna sit next to someone like you," She innocently said, only angering Kazuma further.

"You actually said it!".

"Anyways, I'm Aqua. Kazuma is really lucky to have someone like me as a roommate, don't you think?".

"You were the one who burnt down my apartment, you shitty NEET!" Kazuma quietly yelled, only keeping his voice down for the sake of the sleeping Komekko.

"That again!?" She shouted as tears pricked the corners of her eyes, "You're not gonna stay mad at me about that forever, are you?".

"And why shouldn- Tch, never mind," He groaned in frustration at the girl before recomposing himself, "So you two aren't having any problems over there, I assume?".

"No, everything is completely fine on our end," Darkness assured him while Aqua muttered out a string of childish insults, "Is everything okay with you? I do still feel somewhat bad for abandoning you, even if everything seems to have worked out for you in the end."

"Mhm, I already told you that it's fine. Things have honestly been going better than expected," Kazuma replied as he looked at Megumin, the warmth in his gaze only visible to her, "I'd probably be in a much worse position right now if it wasn't for Megumin."

She hoped her gulp wasn't loud enough to be heard by the others, "I'm glad I could help you."

The boy nodded with a smile before refocusing his attention on his phone, "I don't really think there's anything else to discuss yet. Darkness, let me know whenever you find out what your dad's gonna do about your housing from now on, I'll look out for cheap apartments in the meantime. I'd feel bad if you had nowhere to stay when you come back, especially since you'll be busy with college starting."

Darkness gave him her thanks and they said their goodbyes, with the two girls telling Megumin that it was nice to meet her, and Aqua began reminding her to be cautious around 'Scumzuma' until Kazuma angrily hung up the call and flopped back onto the couch.

"I hate that girl… I'm starting to feel sorry for Darkness now…" Kazuma complained, then turned to look at Megumin, who was currently only an inch or so away from practically sitting on his lap, "Sorry about that. I hadn't really considered that it might've been a little awkward for you."

"Yeah, it was kinda awkward," She mumbled, very much aware of how close her body was to him, yet she had no intention of moving even an inch away, "But it was also kinda nice to meet your friends."

"Friend is not the word I'd use to describe Aqua," The brown haired teen bitterly chuckled.

Megumin let out a soft laugh that transformed into a loud yawn halfway through, letting her head rest against his shoulder.

"O-oi, Megumin?".

The girl in question pretended to ignore his stuttering and instead took the opportunity to grab his phone from his hand. "I'm bored," She rolled her head slightly to look up at him, trying to ignore how her heart rate began to speed up as she felt her body leaning against his, "Show me something interesting, you know that I almost never get the chance to use a smartphone."

The object of her affection seemed to have calmed down a little, his face returning to a neutral expression and his body relaxing. "Mhm, fine."

Kazuma groaned slightly as he rolled over onto his back, deciding that it might just be best to bite the bullet and get up already. He lazily fumbled around with his hands until he managed to unplug his phone from its charger to pull it from the bedside table to in front of his eyes.

'8:31am. Yeah, I really should get up now.'

Currently, Kazuma was lying down in the bed that was usually occupied by Megumin's parents, as was the sleeping arrangement that he and Megumin had decided on the day before. As his thoughts lingered on Megumin, he couldn't help but think about the previous evening.

It had actually been a fairly normal - and enjoyable - evening, all things considered. The two of them had simply just spent a few hours sitting on the couch and watching videos on Kazuma's phone, at Megumin's request, but that wasn't what had him so caught up over their time together. What he was really thinking about was how close Megumin had been to him the whole evening, physically speaking. Leaning against him, resting her head against his shoulder, grabbing onto his arm, the list went on. Of course, it's not like Kazuma minded any of it one bit, in fact, he really did enjoy her contact, maybe more than he should.

Thinking about it, their friendship had never been adverse to physical contact, with playful attacks and occasional touches being commonplace, not to mention the few *ahem* interesting situations they'd found themselves in from time to time. Even so, Kazuma couldn't help but feel as though the girl had become much more intimate over the past few weeks, acting much bolder towards him than he had come to expect from her. He had honestly considered just directly asking her about it last night, but he was worried that pointing it out would pretty much destroy the moment.

Though he could've continued further down that very path of thought for a while longer, and a part of him very much wanted to do so, Kazuma eventually relented and drowsily climbed out of bed, tossing his phone onto the blankets. Today was Sunday, and although he'd generously been given yesterday off, no such luxury would be afforded to him today. Recalling the message he'd sent his boss last night, the boy began to question if taking the lunchtime shift was really such a good idea after all. Considering that the commute to work would take him around fourty minutes, and his shift started at 10:30, he currently had just over an hour before he had to leave.

Choosing to forgo getting changed into a clean set of clothes until he'd showered, Kazuma opened the bedroom door in his makeshift nightwear, looking out into the hallway to see a familiar face coming down from the other end at the same time.

"Oh, you're finally up," Megumin, who was already washed and dressed, made her way towards him, "Good morning."

"Mhm, mornin' Megumin," He lazily greeted her, leaning against the doorframe, "How long have you been awake for?".

"About an hour now," She idly played with the sleeves of her sweater as she spoke, "Me and Komekko have already eaten, she was too hungry to wait and I didn't know when you'd be waking up, sorry."

"It's fine, I don't really mind," Kazuma responded, making his way towards the kitchen; until a small head popped out from the door to the front room.

"Big brother!" The excitable little girl ran up to him, "Can you and big sis play more games with me? Pleaaase!".

"Sorry," Kazuma crouched down to pat Komekko on the shoulder, "Big brother has to go to work in a little bit. How about we play some more games this afternoon?".

He could tell that the toddler wasn't at all happy about the news, but she thankfully just nodded her head up and down a few times before running over to Megumin, "Big sis! You have to play with me until big brother gets back!".

Megumin smiled widely upon hearing her little sister asking to spend time with her. "R-right! How about if big sis looks around in the closet later and tries to find some board games for us to play?" Getting a joyous response from her little sister, she then switched her attention to Kazuma, "So, how long is your shift gonna be?".

"Four hours. No matter which one I take, they're both four hours," He informed her, "I'm doing 10:30 to 2:30 today, but the other shift is five 'til nine."

"10:30? And you haven't even started getting ready yet!?" Megumin chastised him, shaking the boy by his shoulders, "Never mind, you go take a shower, I'll make you something to eat."

"Oi, I'll be fine, I still have more than enough time to get ready," Kazuma grabbed her wrists and pried her hands away from his shoulders. He was ready to retort and tell her he really didn't need her help, but he could tell that she just worried about him being late and wanted to help him, in her own strange little way. "Look, alright, fine. I'll go take a quick shower now. Just let me go grab a clean set of clothes."

"Good," She simply replied, a smile now back on her face, as she led Komekko into the kitchen.

"So, let me get this straight, your roommate really burnt down your entire apartment complex? Like, the entire thing?". Chris asked, sitting on the countertop.

"For the third time, yes," Kazuma told her as he wiped down a nearby table, "Do you not believe me or something?".

"Oh no, I believe you completely," She used one hand to poorly hide her giggling, "This is the exact kind of situation that would happen to you."

"I'm glad at least someone understands how bullshit my luck is," The part-timer dryly responded, "Seriously, why does my life have to be so difficult?".

Chris hummed in agreement, sending him a sympathetic look. "You know, if you have nowhere else to stay, you could always crash out here after hours. It's not ideal, but it should be a decent enough roof over your head until you can find somewhere more permanent. I won't take it out of your pay check, I promise."

"Not necessary, chief," Kazuma balled up and tossed the rag he had been using towards his boss, who stretched her hand out to catch it, "I'm staying with a friend over the break, so that should be more than enough time to find a new place."

"Staying with a friend, you say?" The older girl had a mischievous look on her face as she tossed him a clean rag and he moved onto a different table, "Would said friend happen to be a girl?".

"I get the feeling that you're about to say something outrageous…".

"Nothing like that, I just think it's about time you finally got a girlfriend, helper," She said matter-of-factly, hopping down from the counter, "You do keep going on about how you're 'in the prime of your life' yet as far as I'm aware, you haven't even had your first kiss."

"We could change that right now," The teen boy responded flatly.

"I really should've expected that," She gave him an exasperated look, then shrugging, "You're lucky I haven't written you up for sexual harassment yet."

He wanted to fight back, but quickly realised that their usual conversations probability did not at all fit under 'suitable workplace conduct'. "True," Was the response he eventually settled on, "But if you wrote me up, you'd have to write up Darkness too, that girl is far worse than I could ever be."

"Fair point, if I started writing you guys up, I'd probably run out of employees pretty quickly."

"And I'd lose my job. So how about we agree to-" He was interrupted by the familiar sound of the café door opening, "Oi, chief, we finally have another customer. I'll head to the kitchen, you man the front."

"Hey, I'm back!" Kazuma called out as he opened the front door, using the spare key Megumin had given him beforehand.

There was a brief moment of silence until a head of dark brown hair popped out from the front room. "Shhh!" Megumin held a finger to her lips, "I just got Komekko to finally take a nap, please don't wake her up again."

Kazuma nodded as he made his way into the front room, "Mhm, so what have you been doing since then?".

"Waiting for you," She answered as she moved away from the door to sit on the couch. Upon noticing the boy's slightly surprised expression, she elaborated, "I've only been waiting for around ten minutes. I knew you'd be back around this time, so I just decided to wait for you to get home."

"Sounds like you're bored," Was all he said.

"A little bit, yeah," She said as Kazuma sat down next to her, "We should go out and do something, I don't like being cooped up in here for too long."

He looked over at her, somewhat interested by her suggestion, "Right now?".

Megumin seemed to be mulling over something in silence for a few seconds before she responded. "No, I don't wanna wake Komekko up now but I also don't wanna leave her home alone, so we can't go anywhere right now. But if you take the later shift tomorrow, we could probably go do something while she's at kindergarten."

"What do you have in mind?" Kazuma inquired.

"Huh? Oh, right," Megumin turned to look directly at him, quickly regretting it as her cheeks heated up a little. She couldn't help but feel as if she was asking him out on a date, and her composure only further fell apart as she realised that she had no idea where they would actually go. "Umm… well, we could uhhh… There's this pancake place we could go to…?".

"So you don't have anything in mind, I see," Kazuma couldn't help but chuckle under his breath at the poor girl next to him.

"I can hear that! Stop laughing at me!" The beyond flustered girl sharply turned her head away from him, "...Jerk."

Kazuma couldn't deny how much he enjoyed seeing her become so embarrassed and bashful because of him. While part of him knew it'd probably be kinder to stop teasing her for now, the other part of him quickly took over as he remembered a recent exchange between the two.

"It doesn't really matter," He reassured her, comfortingly patting her head as he spoke, "We can just get the train into Axel and figure it out from there."

Megumin flinched ever so slightly in surprise under his initial touch, but made no attempt to move her head or push his hand away. "Th-that," She tried her best to subtly clear the lump that had formed in her throat, "That sounds good to me."

Under the gentle solace of Kazuma petting her hair, an idea suddenly sparked into her head. At first, she had very much intended to ignore it, considering it to be going a little too far, but after how much Kazuma had been teasing her, she felt it was fair enough that she got her revenge; and seek even more comfort from him in the process.

As she felt the boy's hand briefly break contact with her head, she scooted away from him slightly. Once she got her desired distance from him, she let herself limply flop down onto her side, her head coming to rest on Kazuma's lap. She nuzzled her head into his thighs a little for effect, thankful that he couldn't properly see her face from this angle.

She felt Kazuma freeze up. "W-what do you think you're doing?".

"I'm tired," Megumin groaned, "Komekko was even hungrier than usual today, so now I wanna rest. I'm not sure what you're complaining about, I thought that a pervert like you would love having a girl lay on your lap."

He rolled his eyes but bit back the retort he had in mind because, truthfully, he certainly did enjoy this. "Fine," He paused for a moment, "But you owe me now."

"Huh?".

"I'm generously letting you use my lap as a pillow," Kazuma raised his pointer finger, his embarrassment over Megumin's bold action slowly being replaced by his usual confidence, "So it's only fair that you return the favour at some point in the future."

"...Fine," Megumin spoke back after a short moment of silence between the two, then mumbling something that sounded a lot like 'pervert', though the tone of her voice didn't contain any contempt or irritation. She felt her heart rate slowly return to a more manageable pace as she allowed her body to fully relax into the warmth of Kazuma's lap.

In truth, she had been lying earlier when she told him she wanted to rest. Sure, she had been telling the truth about Komekko being even hungrier than usual and her being somewhat tired, but she didn't really have any intention to take a nap. That being said, she'd also never expected the boy's lap to be as comfortable as it was.

Maybe she was just biased. Actually, that had to be it, there's no way she'd be enjoying this one bit if it was anyone else. But, with Kazuma, feeling his warmth, resting on him, it was a feeling that she wanted to experience over and over again. She allowed her eyes to slowly flutter shut as she focused solely on the current moment.

Kazuma frowned a bit as he angled his head slightly away from the girl resting on his lap, yet still keeping his eyes locked onto her. He really didn't understand how this girl could go from shy and embarrassed to bold and assertive in a matter of seconds, though he certainly had no complaints about it. That being said, part of him did feel a little insecure about how this girl was the one making such moves on him, instead of the other way around.

Deciding to just do something about it, and seeing as he really didn't think she would mind it, Kazuma moved one of his hands to her head and started to softly brush her hair with his fingers. Due to the angle her head was positioned at, lying on her side and facing away from him, his hand movements felt fairly unnatural at first, but after a few strokes, he found himself in a rhythm and felt his hands glide through her hair as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

He felt her react under his touch, a few stunted breaths are a slight shiver as he touched her scalp, but nothing that indicated that she wanted him to stop. On the contrary, he felt one of her hands move up grip onto his left leg, just above the knee, and her hot breath on his legs. In that moment, he couldn't stop himself from being entranced by the dark haired beauty. As he continued to tenderly comb her short hair, he couldn't stop the pleasant daydreams that filled his head, daydreams involving Megumin.

He was desperately praying that his 'son' wouldn't wake up, and the adorable noises she was making weren't making that task any easier for him. Seriously, this entire thing was making him way too excited. Resigning himself to the fact that he'd need to have some 'alone time' with his son later on, he tried his best to keep his cool for the time being.

Megumin's face burned an intense shade of red as she nuzzled her cheek deeper into Kazuma's lap, her hand weakly gripping onto the fabric of his pants. His soft fingers, still a little cold from the April air, put her entire body at ease as he affectionately ran them through her hair. Her eyes stayed shut tight as she involuntarily let out small sounds of happiness, the amount of physical affection she was getting from him sending her brain into overdrive.

It was only after 20 more minutes of staying as they were that Kazuma realised that the girl must've fallen asleep at some point, a small line of drool coming from her mouth.

"I can't believe you," Megumin complained as she fixed the collar of her undershirt, "You could've just woken me up, y'know?".

"I'm aware," He smirked, "You did say that you were tired though."

She huffed at the boy, "...Still, you didn't have to let me sleep for almost five hours…".

Kazuma shrugged sheepishly, "Fair."

"Well, it doesn't really matter, it's fine," The girl looked away, "So there's no point in being upset with you. And… thanks for putting Komekko to bed for me."

"I didn't know that one lap pillow could make you so submissive."

"...You can't just expect me to get flustered every single time you say something indecent," She said, brows tightly knit.

"It's a lot less fun if you don't react at all," Kazuma yawned and stretched his arms above his head.

Megumin snickered "Oh, look who's tired now. Would you like a lap pillow now?".

"I'm down," His reply was almost instant.

"Y-you're not even gonna hesitate?" Megumin stuttered, "Like, not even for a few seconds?".

"Huh? Why should I?" He shot back, "You were the one who offered it."

"W-well, y-yes, that is true," She fidgeted with her hands, "But it was mostly a joke…".

Kazuma looked disappointed - and a little annoyed - for a moment, until he raised an eyebrow at her, leaning forwards ever so slightly, "Mostly?".

Megumin moved a little closer towards him, her face only a few inches away from his own. She gulped, "I do still owe you one, d-don't I?".

His eyes darted all over the place. She was so close to him that he could feel her breath on his face, he had no doubt that she could feel his too. "Y-yeah," Kazuma nervously whispered, "You do."

In that moment, with her so up close to him, he found that he had to hold himself back from moving in to kiss her. He became hyper aware of every single detail on her face; her brilliant red eyes, her tiny little button nose, the bangs that came down to perfectly frame her face, the soft glow of her cheeks. It all felt like too much for him. She looked absolutely beautiful in that moment.

Completely overtaken by the desire he saw in her eyes, Kazuma began to close the distance between them. Then, just as Megumin started to lean forwards as well-

*Bzzt!*.

'It's just my phone,' He stopped moving for a moment, 'Whatever is about to happen in this moment is more important than whatever notification I just got.'

But again, *Bzzt!*.

As Kazuma scowled in annoyance, he also noticed Megumin's expression change. Though her face was still as red as his own, the shine in her eyes seemed to have dimmed slightly.

*Bzzt!*.

"Y-you should probably check that," She breathed out, still not letting her gaze leave him.

He averted his own gaze in response, "R-right."

Mentally cursing over the fact that what very well could have led to his first kiss had just been interrupted - and potentially ruined completely - by his own damn phone, he dug around in his pockets until he finally grabbed onto the object that was currently causing him so much grief and yanked it towards his face.

All his anger quickly dropped from his face as he adopted an expression that Megumin couldn't fully read, but she could tell that it wasn't anything good.

Kazuma let out an exasperated sigh as he studied his phone screen. "Shit..." He mumbled to himself as he started to type out a reply, writing for around ten seconds before quickly deleting the message and beginning anew.

"Hey, Kazuma… Kazuma?" Megumin reached out and touched the boy's shoulder when he didn't respond, instead keeping his eyes locked onto his phone screen.

He looked up upon feeling her touch, being met with her face, etched with concern. "I'm Kazuma, what's up?".

"Is everything okay?" She softly asked him, not letting go of his shoulder, "What were those messages about?".

"Yeah, everything's fine, don't worry," He almost cringed as he saw the look she was giving him, "I'm serious, nothing's wrong. It's just that… I told my brother about my apartment burning down earlier… and now my parents want to call me to talk about it, apparently."

As if to prove that he was telling the truth, he turned his phone to her, allowing her to see the messages from his brother.

"Isn't t-that a good thing, though?" Megumin asked, not fully confident in her question.

Kazuma looked away, face scrunched up. She could tell that he really didn't want to talk about it. But just as she was about to let go of his shoulder, he spoke again.

"It isn't a bad thing, not necessarily," He turned his head back toward her, "It's just that, well, I haven't exactly talked to them in a while. Over half a year now, I think. And… last time we spoke, it uh… ended pretty badly."

The small smile he tried to put on did nothing to relieve Megumin of her worries. She knew that Kazuma and his parents didn't have a perfect relationship, she gathered that much from the fact that he was living on his own at age sixteen, but she'd never assumed it was bad enough to affect Kazuma as much as it clearly did.

"Do you..." She paused, questioning if it was really the right thing to ask in this situation, "Do you want to talk to them?".

"Of course I do," He affirmed, a warm feeling building up inside of him as he saw how genuinely worried for him she looked, "Even if the fight was… pretty bad, they're still my parents. I don't hate them for it. From their perspective, I can see why they would be mad at me."

After Megumin remained silent, lost in her thoughts, Kazuma looked back to his phone and finished typing out a reply to his little brother, only slightly hesitating as he pressed the send button.

"What did you tell him?" Her voice caused him to once again return his attention to the girl. All things considered, it was pretty hard to ignore her. They were still as close as they had been before Kazuma's phone had gone off.

"Just that they can call whenever they want, my phone number hasn't changed," He felt his mood shift to a slightly more pleasant one, though he still had the same feeling of unease around him.

"'Kay," Megumin smiled at him, hoping to cheer him up a little, "As long as that's what you think is best."

His lips upturned ever so slightly, "Do you think that it wasn't?".

"N-no, it's not that," She let her hand slip from his shoulder as she looked away bashfully, "I've just… never seen you like this. I don't want you to force yourself to talk to them if it makes you anxious."

Kazuma silently gasped at her heartfelt words, his mouth agape. Sometimes he forgot how much this girl clearly cared for him. Squashing the lump in his throat and trying to ignore the blush that seared his cheeks, he collected his thoughts before talking again.

"I'm not anxious… not really," Megumin looked back at him as he talked, her face a similar colour as his own, "I do want to talk to them. I don't wanna have my relationship with my parents ruined forever just because of one argument, y'know? But, still, talking to them again after cutting all contact for so long… it feels so… weird? Unnatural? Off-putting? Not really sure what the right word for it is. Guess I've just been putting it off for so long that it feels a bit daunting to finally talk to them again, maybe?".

He turned away, embarrassed, after spilling his honest thoughts out to her, only occasionally glancing back to see how she was reacting. Megumin wasn't used to seeing this side of Kazuma, but she couldn't stop herself from finding him adorable as he told her about how he truly felt, something she desperately wished he'd do more often. With how vulnerable he was being to her, and only her, she was overwhelmed by her burning desire to wrap her arms around the boy and never let go.

*Bzzt!*.

Just as Megumin was about to move in to tightly embrace her most cherished person, Kazuma's phone buzzed again, pulling his attention towards it. "Huh," He chuckled awkwardly, "That was fast."

"What is it?" The crimson eyed girl asked, then her eyes widened slightly as she realised what he meant, "They wanna call right now?".

"Mhm, seems to be the case."

Megumin was quiet as she looked down at his phone, contemplating the difficult thoughts that clouded her head.

"Can I stay here?" Kazuma sent her a confused look, so she elaborated, "While you call them, I mean. I won't say anything, I'd just like to stay here. Is that okay?".

"I know that you're just concerned and that's nice and all, but seriously, I'll be fine Megumin. I don't need you to watch over me," He flinched as he saw the slightly hurt look on her face, "B-but if it'll put you at ease, then you can stay here, I guess."

A tentative smile graced her features, "Okay."

After a few tense minutes of waiting, Kazuma's phone finally began to ring. Momentarily glancing over at Megumin, he sighed and put the call on speakerphone as he accepted the call.

"Hello, Kazuma?" The voice of a middle aged woman rang out.

"Hey, mom," He cautiously replied, hoping that she'd be the one leading the conversation. They were the ones who asked to call, after all.

"Ah, hey, son" A new, masculine voice came from the phone, "It's been a while."

"Mhm, yeah."

"So, uh, your little brother told me that your apartment building burnt down," His mother told him, "Is this true? How did the fire start?".

Kazuma grimaced at her second question, but Megumin wasn't entirely sure why, it seemed like a fairly normal thing to ask. "Yeah, it burnt down Friday night," The boy raked his free hand through his hair, "The fire started due to faulty wiring, apparently. The place was pretty old and cheaply built, so I'm not surprised, but it still sucks for me."

Megumin narrowed her eyes at the boy, 'Faulty wiring? Why is he blaming the fire on faulty wiring now? I thought it was pretty well established that the fire was caused by his… room…mate. Oh...'.

She wasn't 100% sure, but after hearing Kazuma lie to his mother about the true cause of the fire, Megumin felt as though she might have an inkling as to what had caused Kazuma's parents to cut him off for so long.

'Did he really deal with all of that… just so he could ensure that Aqua had somewhere to stay?'.

As the realisation hit her, she once again remembered why she held so much affection for him. What other person would constantly moan and complain about someone yet would still go to such extreme lengths to help them? No one else would, only Kazuma. Yet despite that kindness, what did he get? His own parents not speaking to him for months and his home burnt to the ground by the very person he was helping.

It was all so… unfair.

Megumin held in a shaky breath as she felt her eyes well up with moisture, grateful that Kazuma was too distracted to look at her right now. Despite how much she wanted to cry for the boy right then, she knew she couldn't. She knew that if he saw her crying right now, Kazuma would stop the call in an instant to make sure that she was okay. Megumin wouldn't take this important moment away from him.

So, as she focused her entire willpower onto steadying her breathing and keeping her eyes from welling up, Megumin reached out to take hold of Kazuma's free hand, intertwining their fingers.

The high schooler's eyebrow twitched at her sudden contact, his face heating up as he looked down to see her hand securely gripping his own. He snapped his head up to look at her, ready to send her a mean glare for trying to tease him at a time like this, but he instead found his facial features softening at the look she was giving him. As he looked between her and their interlocked hands, he was brought back to the last time they'd held hands, just two nights ago.

"I'm just trying to comfort you…".

'…Right. How stupid of me to think that she was trying to tease me.'

His head tilted upwards to observe the distressed look on her face, his heart aching for her in that moment.

'She's agonising over my situation, isn't she? Even after I told her that it was fine.'

"...Kazuma? Are you there?" His mom's voice broke him out of his trance as he remembered that he was in fact in the middle of a very important phone call.

"Yeah, Mom, I'm here. I just got a little distracted, my bad," Kazuma replied sheepishly.

"It's fine," His father spoke up, "Anyway, tell us, where are you right now, have you found somewhere new to stay?".

The teen squeezed Megumin's hand, "Kinda? I'm staying with a friend for the Spring break, but beyond that I don't really have anywhere to live, no. I do plan to start looking for cheap apartments in the meantime though."

"Do you really still intend to live on your own, Kazuma?" His mother asked him, "You know, we would be happy to have you move back in once we get back from our vacation."

Kazuma stayed silent, thinking hard, before he responded, "Sorry. I know that you both don't like it, but… I'd like to keep living on my own for a little while longer. Just a few months or so, I promise."

"Are you serious?" His dad's irritation was as clear as day. He took a deep breath before continuing, "If you wanna keep living on your own, you're gonna have to give us a good reason for doing so. No more 'I just want to do it', I want a real answer."

The girl at his side began gently rubbing shapes into his hand with her thumb as she watched his brows twitch in annoyance. "Look, I just have some things I need to take care of before I can move back in, okay? Once I've dealt with all that stuff, I'll move back in. I'm not trying to avoid you or anything."

Kazuma could tell that his parents weren't happy with his answer, but was grateful that they didn't push it any further. With the topic of his housing out of the way, he spent the next fifteen or so minutes engaged with catching up with his parents and awkward small talk. Things weren't great, but the mood did gradually evolve into something that didn't seem that uncomfortable.

"Mhm, yeah. Bye mom, bye dad. We'll talk more some other time, have a good vacation," He said, before abruptly, yet politely, hanging up the call and collapsing backwards into the couch, sighing dramatically.

His life still wasn't getting any easier, unfortunately. Not yet.

Chapter Text

"Kazuma, Kazuma? I'm back," Megumin called out as she shut the front door behind her, shrugging off her jacket.

"Mhm, hey," His voice came from the direction of the front room, "You were gone for a while."

Following the sound of Kazuma's voice, she made her way into the front room. There, she spotted Kazuma lazily lying on the couch, his phone held out a few inches above his face.

"It shouldn't really be that surprising. The bus trip there and back takes about an hour, and I ended up talking to Wolbach for longer than I thought I would," Megumin explained as she wandered towards him.

Tearing his attention away from his phone, he looked at her quizzically. "Wolbach?".

"Oh, right," It dawned on her that he had no idea who she was talking about, "She works at the kindergarten that Komekko goes to. She was even working there when I went there, too, so she almost feels like an aunt to me and Komekko."

"I see," Kazuma replied, not really sure what to say, "Must be hard for her."

"Hey! At least try to say something nice," She rolled her eyes in displeasure, though the amused smile on her face showed otherwise. Megumin, now having reached the couch, grabbed Kazuma's heels and lifted them into the air slightly, "Move over, I wanna sit down too."

"Yes ma'am," He said sarcastically, wriggling his legs from her grasp and swinging them onto the floor, "Happy now?".

Megumin didn't say anything in response as she sat down next to the boy, who was moving himself into a more comfortable position. "What are you looking at?" The girl asked as she watched Kazuma return his focus to his phone.

"Apartments," He told her as he tilted his phone screen towards her, "I'm trying to see if there are any cheap places I can rent out in Axel. No luck so far, though. The rent there is so much higher than my old place ever was."

She quickly felt her smile faltering at his words. "Axel?" Megumin tilted her head, a questioning look adorning her face, "Why would you be looking there? I-I mean, it's obvious that the rent would be higher there."

Kazuma sighed - he knew that she was completely right. "I guess that's true. Still, it would be nice to get a place in Axel," He said as he continued scrolling through his phone, "Why do you look so bothered by it, anyway?".

"Eh-? I'm not bothered by it, I just…" She trailed off momentarily before deciding that there was no point in hiding her true feelings in this specific case. So, feeling bolder than usual, she continued, "I just don't want you to move away."

The boy's body seized up, shocked by her words, "Huh?".

"If you move away, we won't be able to get the bus to school together anymore, or walk home together either. I e-enjoy doing those things with you, so I don't want you to move to Axel," A guilty look began to form on her now reddened face, "I know that probably sounds a little selfish, but it's true."

"W-well, I enjoy doing that stuff with you too, M-megumin," Kazuma cringed at how lame he felt but managed to keep talking, "And I only said I was, y'know, looking for places in Axel. If I find somewhere more affordable around here, I'd probably just end up choosing that instead."

"Y-yeah," She took a soft breath as she felt her composure slipping, "It's good that you're being proactive in looking for somewhere to stay and all, but aren't you forgetting that we already have stuff to do today?".

"Today?" Kazuma was confused for a few seconds before remembering, "Oh, right. You said something about a day out, didn't you?".

"Exactly!" The short haired girl stood up, excited, "C'mon Kazuma! We should get going as soon as possible. If we leave now, we'll have just over five hours there before we need to pick Komekko up from kindergarten."

"...And before I need to go to work," The green eyed boy grumbled as he lazily got up from the couch, "Well, whatever. Going out into Axel does sound fun. You don't go there often, do you Megumin?".

"Not really, no. I only ever go there if it's necessary for some reason. I don't really go there for pleasure too often," She explained as they grabbed their jackets from the coat rack.

Kazuma grinned at her as he threw his coat over his shoulders, "Guess we'll have to fix that, then."

Just as they had suspected, the bus - and then later train - ride into Axel had taken them almost an hour. By the time the duo had arrived in the Axel station, it was already drawing close to 11am. As they passed their time on the arrival journey, they'd already discussed everything they intended and had created a sort of mental itinerary for the day, until they'd have to depart at around 4:20pm, just to be safe.

"There's so many people here," Megumin commented as she traversed through the train station, sticking close to Kazuma, "You never see this many people in one place back home."

Kazuma couldn't help but hum in agreement as he scanned the overhead signs. "No kidding," He laughed, "I wasn't expecting to see this many people here at 11am on a Monday. I guess we weren't the only ones who thought today would be a good day to go into town."

"Well, it is pretty warm today. I wouldn't be surprised if people just wanted to take advantage of this great weather," She suggested, twisting her body slightly to fit through the bustling crowd.

It only took them a few more minutes to finally exit Axel's train station, quickly being hit by a gentle breeze and that year's warmest weather yet. The beaming sun and cloudless sky completed the illusion of a serene Summer day, despite the fact that Summer was officially still two months away.

"Kazuma, Kazuma," Megumin called out for his attention as they began to wander the streets, eliciting his usual reply, "Before we do anything else, I think we should get something to eat, I'm kinda hungry."

"Isn't it a little too early to eat lunch still?" Kazuma questioned her, his eyes darting from building to building for anywhere that piqued his interest, "Won't you just get hungry again later if we eat now?".

Kazuma's questions were fair ones, but Megumin already had a solution to both his problems. "Not really. I mean, we'll probably end up buying snacks of some sort if we're going to watch a movie later, right?".

"True, I guess. I didn't think about that," He admitted, shrugging, "Anywhere you wanna eat in particular? I'm not really bothered, so you can decide."

The girl stopped and rubbed her chin for a few moments, as if in deep thought, before realising that she was lagging behind and running to keep pace with Kazuma.

"Hmm, fast food of some sort would probably be best," She explained to him, to which he nodded, "It's pretty cheap and we won't have to waste a ton of time waiting for it to be made, I wouldn't mind going to a burger place personally."

"No complaints from me."

After a short search, luckily accompanied by the maps app on Kazuma's phone, the two friends made their way into a familiar fast food joint, one Kazuma would always frequent with Aqua when he was too tired to cook dinner. Quickly cementing their position on the queue, they both scanned the menu, Kazuma scouring for something with the perfect mix of quality, quantity and a cheap price.

Megumin tugged on his sleeve to get his attention, "Hey, Kazuma?".

"Kazuma here."

"Sooo… are we paying for our own food?" She asked him, a somewhat sheepish look on her face.

His eyebrows furrowed in response to her question, "Why do you ask?".

"Ah, well, since I don't have a job, I only have whatever allowance my parents give me, along with the money they left me for essentials while they were gone…" Megumin looked at her companion apologetically, "I kinda didn't bring enough money for all of today, could you please pay for my food, Kazuma?".

To her credit, she did look genuinely guilty for her actions, or lack of actions, something that made Kazuma slightly less annoyed about the fact that she was fleecing him down for money. After a short mental back and forth, he slumped his shoulders and conceded.

"Fine," He simply said, before grinning mischievously as he craned his neck towards the girl, "But isn't this the part where you offer me some sort of 'repayment'?".

Megumin's face scrunched up as she swatted the boy away, "You jerk! If you don't want to pay, then just say so instead of trying to creep me out!".

"Oi, calm down. I already said I'd pay for you, I just wanted to mess with you a little," The 'jerk' grabbed her wrists, which were still trying to hit him, and brought them together in front of her with his hands, in an effort to get her to relax.

She pouted at him, but otherwise relented, her face flushed from the contact, "You really are a huge dummy. I don't know why I deal with you sometimes…".

"Oi, I'd probably be upset if it wasn't for the fact that you're smiling right now," Kazuma snorted, letting go of her wrists, "Anyway, what are you ordering?".

It was Megumin's turn to smile impishly, "Fufufu~! As revenge for you being such a pervert, I will be ordering a large triple-layered cheeseburger! Oh, and don't forget the extra bacon, okay Kazuma?".

He scowled at her as she just gave him a smug grin in return.

'This damn brat!'.

Kazuma looked on with a deadpan expression and his head resting in his hand as Megumin attempted to take a bite of her comically sized burger, her face being one of complete bliss. Somehow, in the time it had taken Kazuma to eat his entire burger, Megumin had barely managed to eat half of hers, fitting each bite into her mouth being a challenge of its own. He picked at the order of large fries between them as she finally managed to fit her mouth around the towering bun.

"Having fun?" He asked sarcastically as Megumin swallowed.

She made a small noise of happiness as her face lit up into a beautiful smile, the kind that Kazuma had a very hard time being irritated at, "Yeah, it's really good! You wanna try it?".

"I'll take it if you're offering," He smiled and sent a small puff of air from his nose.

Megumin grabbed one of the untouched sets of cutlery from the table and got to work cutting out a chunk from the untouched side of her burger. Once finished, she passed the cross-sectioned piece to Kazuma, an expectant look in her eyes. With somewhat less difficulty than Megumin, he took a bite from the burger, pleasantly surprised by the great taste; it was a lot better than the one he'd ordered.

"Whaddya think?" She asked him as she sipped on her soda, eyes sparkling in excitement, "It's good, isn't it?".

"The hell? This is actually, like, really good," Kazuma responded, looking down at the overpriced meal in slight disbelief, "Still not worth the price though…".

"But you made a precious comrade happy," Megumin raised one hand to her forehead, while the other was thrown out to her side, "Shouldn't something like that be considered priceless?".

He simply just clicked his tongue at her, "Just eat your burger before I finish all of these fries by myself."

"Hey! Wait, Kazumaaa! Save some from me, c'mon!".

"So what do you wanna do first, Kazuma?" Megumin curiously inquired as she followed him through Axel's local shopping mall.

"Clothes shopping."

She looked slightly taken aback at his response, "I didn't take Kazuma to be the type of person who enjoyed looking for new clothes."

"Honestly, I'm not particularly interested in it usually," Kazuma scratched at his neck as he glanced at her, "But I kinda have to now. Right now, I only have around 4 or so sets of clothes, for obvious reasons."

"I see, so you sought out my expertise with such a task? Clever thinking…" She grinned proudly, sending him a thumbs up.

"Uhh, not really. Actually, I assumed that we both had similar levels of experience with buying clothes," He cringed as he watched her pride shatter almost instantly, "But you can still help me out if you want, it would probably be helpful regardless. Or you can just look around for yourself, I don't mind."

"R-right! Sounds good, let's get going then," With that declaration, she latched onto Kazuma's wrist and dragged him in the direction of the nearest clothing store.

Once inside, they quickly got to work looking around at the different articles of clothing on display, making note of the items that took their interest and making sure to point out the pieces that they wouldn't be seen dead in to the other person. After a while of perusing through outfits, they both made their way towards the changing rooms, their chosen outfits in hand.

"You go first, you have less things to try on," Kazuma advised the girl beside him, to which she enthusiastically nodded.

She sent him a wide grin as she made her way behind the curtain, her head briefly peeking out to address him. "Prepare to be amazed by my undivided beauty and pristine fashion sense, Kazuma!".

He simply chuckled as he placed his large pile of outfits onto one of the wooden benches, sitting down next to it as he waited for his companion to finish changing. After about a minute or so of silence, Megumin spoke again.

"Okay, I'm coming out now," She informed him, the curtain being pulled aside a few moments later, "H-how do I look?".

Megumin was dressed in a red shoulderless sweater that was long enough to act as a dress, with hints of yellow on the ends of the sleeves, a pair of black thigh-length socks and orange-brown boots. One hand was placed on her hip while the other was holding a peace sign in front of her softly blushing face, trying her best to hide the anxious expression on her face as she awaited his evaluation.

Honestly, he couldn't deny the fact that she looked absolutely adorable dressed like that. The outfit was a must-keep as far as Kazuma was concerned. He tried to ignore the feeling of his cheeks slowly heating up as he thought of a response.

"Uh, y-yeah, that looks pretty good on you, Megumin," He would've looked away in embarrassment if his gaze wasn't locked onto her outfit. "I'd say that it's worth buying."

Kazuma watched as her pensive expression slowly grew into a wide smile as he spoke, a pretty pink dusting her cheeks as she looked at him.

"Well, i-if you really t-think it looks good…" She trailed off, slowly stepping backwards into the changing booth and clearing her throat, "I-I'll go try on the others now."

As Megumin disappeared behind the curtain once again, Kazuma, for the second time, felt himself have to resist the urge to sneakily pull back the curtain a little and get a glimpse of what was behind. The temptation to potentially catch a glimpse of Megumin in only her underwear was a powerful one, but he also really didn't wanna spend the next few hours trying to stop her from killing him.

Once again, after a short waiting time, where Kazuma did his best to quell his imagination, Megumin walked out from the booth and did a little twirl. This time, she donned a simple black off the shoulder dress, held up by two straps. It didn't look extravagant or anything; she didn't have the money for anything more flashy, but it certainly didn't look bad, far from it. Kazuma had never seen the girl show that much skin before, even her meagre cleavage was having an effect on him.

"I-I didn't think that you were the type of girl who was interested in wearing dresses," He commented as he discreetly tugged at his collar.

"I'm not, usually," Megumin told him as she fidgeted with her dress, clearly not used to wearing something like it, "I don't really own any dresses, so I thought it might be good to get one. For, you know, special occasions?". Upon Kazuma continuing to gaze upon her in silence, she puffed up her cheeks in indignation and spoke again, "D-don't just stare at me like that, say something! Do I look o-okay?".

Kazuma pulled his eyes from her underdeveloped chest to meet her eyes, noticing the single bead of sweat that was rolling down her pretty face and praying that she hadn't noticed where he was looking. "You look beautiful," He then waved his hand dismissively, concerned by how direct he'd been with his praise, "O-or something like that, you know, it looks fine."

On one hand, she could barely contain how happy she was to hear him call her beautiful, maybe she was finally becoming more to his liking. Megumin had to buy that dress now if it could get a reaction like that from Kazuma. On the other hand though, she was a bit upset at how quickly he'd tried to cover up his honest compliment. She really just wished he'd be more straightforward with her, and maybe call her beautiful a few more times.

After that, Megumin went back into the changing booth to try on a few more outfits, which did each look good in their own right, but Kazuma still couldn't get that dress she'd worn to leave his mind. Finally, once she was done, they swapped places as he grabbed his pile of clothes and made his way behind the same curtain Megumin had been using.

Compared to his crimson eyed friend, Kazuma cycled through outfits at a much faster pace. Due to the large amount of clothes they'd both picked out for him, it was imperative that they work quickly, unless they wanted to stay there for the next few hours. They quickly developed a routine where Kazuma would come out and Megumin would either give him a quick thumbs up or thumbs down, though she only turned down a few, to let him know if they were worth keeping or not. Of course, she made it very clear when she especially liked a certain outfit or item, practically insisting that he purchase some of them, telling him 'how cool' he looked. That coupled with the way her face would occasionally heat up when he exited the booth was an ego boost that he was more than happy to receive.

"This is definitely gonna leave a sizable dent in my savings," Kazuma sighed as they made their way towards the counter, clothes in hand, "But it is kinda necessary. Oi, you don't happen to have any coupons for this place, right?".

"Nope, sorry. I've never even been in here before," Megumin gave him a sympathetic look as she carried her much smaller pile of clothes, the black dress Kazuma had enjoyed seeing her in so much being among the pile.

"Hey, Kazuma, did you check the cinema's screening times on the train ride here?" She asked him as they exited the store, their purchases now safely stored in the duffle bag slung over Kazuma's shoulder, along with his work clothes for later.

The boy let his arms rest behind his head as he walked, "Oh, yeah. There's one showing in about twenty minutes, one in about an hour and twenty minutes and another one in about two hours and twenty minutes."

"Hmm," Megumin scrunched her brows in thought, "You said earlier that there was an arcade nearby, didn't you?".

"Yeah, it's only a couple minutes away from here. I've been there with some friends before," Kazuma answered, tilting his head to look at her face, "Why, you wanna go there first?".

She nodded her head at him, "That's what I was thinking. I haven't been to an arcade in ages, so it might be fun to go there for a while. We can always just go to one of the later showings, no need to rush."

"Works for me," Kazuma flashed her a cocky grin, oozing with confidence, "Though you should know that I'm pretty much a master at things like this, so don't cry too much when you lose, okay?".

"Lose?" Her competitive spirit quickly flared up at his challenge, "Just because you spent months on end lazing around in your room playing video games, doesn't mean that I'll lose to you! I'm pretty good at stuff like this, if I do say so myself."

"Sure, I'll believe it when I see it," He said, wholly unconvinced, yet still amused by her enthusiasm, "I think you'll be quite shocked when you see how good I am a-".

"Hey, Kazuma!".

"Huh?".

Turning around, Kazuma instantly recognised a familiar face, Eris. Widely considered to be one of, if not outright, the most attractive girl in his school, Axel high. Not just that, but the very girl who'd helped him graduate from being a NEET and actually go back to school again. If not for her kind and understanding words to him back then, he might've never even taken Aqua in all those months ago.

Simply put, to Kazuma, she was the kind of girl who you'd see in the starring role of a typical high school rom-com. Truthfully, he was very much taken in by her.

"O-oh, hey Eris," He tried his best to act casual as he waved at her, "What's up?".

Megumin scowled as she looked between Kazuma and this new girl. She'd never heard of this 'Eris' girl before, but if her otherworldly beauty and the way that Kazuma was looking - and stuttering - at her was any indication of the relationship between them, she couldn't say that she was particularly fond of her. Didn't she already have enough things to deal with when it came to Kazuma?

The silver haired girl smiled brightly as she made her way towards the two. "Nothing much, I just thought today would be a nice day to do some shopping," She looked to Kazuma's side and took note of the short girl next to him, "Oh, and who is your friend, Kazuma? I don't think I've met her before."

The girl, now the centre of attention, hurriedly plastered a small smile on her face as Eris looked her way, praying that she hadn't seen the sour glare she was previously giving her, "My name is Megumin! I'm a very close friend of Kazuma's, he's staying with me over the Spring break, actually."

Eris' face suddenly lit up in recognition as a beautiful smile adorned her face. "Megumin, I recognise that name now. Kazuma has told me about you a few times before," The dark haired girl had a hopeful look in her eyes for a moment before she sent a sceptical glare to her friend, "Don't worry, Megumin, he hasn't said anything bad about you, on the contrary, he ha-".

"Anyway," Kazuma cut in, wanting to steer the conversation towards something much less embarrassing for him, "Hey, if you're not busy, how abo-".

"It's really nice to meet you, Eris," Megumin smiled as she discreetly stepped on Kazuma's foot, shutting him up, she could already tell his intentions and there was no way she was gonna let herself become a third wheel for Kazuma and this girl, "Me and Kazuma decided that we wanted to spend today checking out Axel, together. I gotta say, it really is nice here."

Admittedly, she knew that she was probably coming on a bit too strong, she didn't even know if this girl had any interest in Kazuma or not. But either way, despite how kind she was, Eris was still a rival to her for Kazuma's affection, something she wasn't willing to give up without a fight.

"How nice," Megumin felt a small wave of guilt wash over her as she saw how genuine the smile on Eris' face looked, it was entirely possible that she had been misjudging her, "You said something earlier about Kazuma staying over at your place over Spring break, so what's that all about?".

"Right…" Kazuma smirked sheepishly, scratching his cheek, "My roommate kinda burnt down our apartment, so Megumin let me stay with her while her parents are gone."

"H-her parents are gone?" Eris squeaked out, shocked, "Do they even know that you're living with her!?".

"Actually, it was my mom's idea to have him stay over while they were gone," Megumin explained, "Kazuma has been helping me take care of my adorable little sister."

"Aww, I wish I had a little sister," The high school girl cooed before seemingly remembering something, "Ah, but, Kazuma, what about your roommate, Aqua? Is she staying with you two as well?".

Kazuma frowned a little at the mention of her but responded anyway, "Nope, she's staying out of town with someone else right now. It's nice not having to deal with her for a little bit, haha."

His eyebrow twitched a little at how the conversation had been going. Sure, it hadn't been going poorly or anything, but it hadn't exactly been going great either. It felt more like some casual small talk between random acquaintances instead of an actual interesting conversation, like the ones he'd been having with Megumin literally all day.

As much as he hated to admit it, a lot of his conversations with Eris usually ended up like this. Not unpleasant, but not overly engaging or special. It just felt like he was always in a standstill with her. He groaned internally as he brooded over his romantic struggles. Surprisingly, even to himself, he felt as though he was gradually losing some of his motivation to keep chasing after Eris, especially with how little progress he always seemed to make with her. Though, now that he thought about it, maybe he was just being skewed by the intimate moment he'd had with Megumin the afternoon before, he couldn't really tell.

"I see," Eris softly said, "I'm very sorry to hear about the trouble she's been causing you but I really do hope that you continue to take care of her, Kazuma. You really are doing an incredibly kind thing by looking after her."

"Y-yeah, I guess so…".

Megumin twitched a little in irritation as she heard the kind of praise she had for Kazuma being given to him by someone else, the cute flustered expression he made in response to the other girl doing nothing to help her mood. She decided that now was as good a time as any to end the conversation.

"It really was nice to meet you, Eris," She told her earnestly, because she really didn't dislike the lilac eyed girl, she was just jealous of the clear interest Kazuma had for her, "But we really should get going now, we still have a lot left to do before Kazuma has to go to work later."

"Yes, you too, Megumin. It was lovely to meet you," The closed eye smile that Eris gave her was so powerful that it could be considered a lethal weapon, "And it was nice to see you again, too, Kazuma. See you soon."

"Uh, yeah. See you soon, Eris!" Kazuma smiled at her as they parted ways.

"Hey," Megumin spoke in a hushed voice once they were a considerable distance away from Eris, "Why are you so interested in that girl? It's clear that she's not interested in you. At least, not in that way."

In reality, she had no idea if Eris felt anything for Kazuma. She thought it was likely, based on her behaviour, that she didn't, but she was nowhere near as confident in that deduction as she had made herself sound.

Megumin did feel pretty guilty about her claim as she watched Kazuma's lips turn downwards for a moment, before returning to a neutral expression. "If you must know," He said, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice, "She was the one who helped me to stop being a shut-in. You can't really blame me for taking an interest in her, especially with how pretty she is. Not sure why you care so much about it though."

She was honestly a little shocked at the revelation that Eris had been the reason Kazuma had started attending classes again. Megumin had always just assumed that he'd managed to motivate himself, or that his parents had forced him into it, not that someone else had been there to help him get out of whatever mental pitfall he had been stuck in at the time. Someone who wasn't her.

Actually, now that she thought about it, she really knew almost nothing about Kazuma's time as a recluse. He had been missing from her life for almost half a year and she'd done pretty much nothing about it, besides hoping that she'd be able to see him again eventually. She hadn't even tried to call or visit him once, assuming that he was just busy with his new high school, instead of being alone in his room for months on end.

"Of course I care," She replied, with maybe a little too much emotion creeping into her voice from her previous thoughts, something that Kazuma didn't fail to take notice of, "I can't let such a close friend go around chasing someone who isn't interested in them, of course! Seeing such Yunyun-esque behaviour would just make me feel bad for you."

"Well, whatever you say," Kazuma looked at her with a complex expression, his heart beating just a little faster than usual.

"I was honestly expecting this place to be a lot smaller," Megumin commented as they entered the main floor of the arcade, looking around in awe.

Kazuma chuckled as he observed her expression. "Yeah, no kidding. Pretty sure I said the exact same thing when I first came here too, it's huge."

"Mhm. I've been to arcades before, but none of them had even a fraction of that amount of stuff here," She started hopping up and down in excitement as she took in the impressive vastness of the area, "Kazuma, Kazuma, they even have a full mini-golf course! We have to do that at some point, okay?".

"Sure," He shrugged, an amused look on his face, "I'm not as good at mini golf as I am at everything else here, but I'm sure that it'll be fun to beat you in that too."

"Fufufufufu, how naïve," Megumin giggled, striking a flashy pose before she spoke again, "When I was younger, I used to make mini-golf courses out of used cardboard boxes and twigs all the time, don't you dare doubt my skills!"

"Oh, is that so?" The boy leaned down to get in her face, the arcade environment re-igniting his spirit as a former hardcore gamer, "How about we go test that out right now, then?".

The girl grinned, determined to win, "Gladly."

Upon Kazuma and Megumin paying for a standard eighteen-hole game and procuring their clubs and balls, coloured green and red respectively, they excitedly made their way towards the first hole. Though she got a hole in one - it was the first hole after all - Megumin quickly wisened up to the fact that an actual mini-golf club and ball were a lot different to the tree branch and old musty tennis ball she had been used to using.

Despite that, she was still wholly confident in her ability to win, her confidence only soaring higher as Kazuma's ball almost completely missed the hole, only going into the hole through a wild stroke of luck; something that Megumin was all too used to when around him.

"It would've been pretty embarrassing if you had missed that shot," She playfully mocked him as they made their way towards hole two, "Good thing you have such ridiculous luck, it helps cover up your lack of skill."

Kazuma simply rolled his eyes, "Yeah, and imagine if that so-called 'ridiculous luck' came into play when it comes to anything that actually matters. I'd probably be filthy rich with a harem of hot girls by now."

"Good-for-nothing pervert," She scoffed as her small finger jabbed into Kazuma's chest, "Do you ever think of anything else besides lazing around all day and sex?".

"Unfortunately, yes," Kazuma crossed his arms as he watched Megumin line up her shot, carefully adjusting the angle and swinging with a moderate amount of force, "Holy shit, nice shot."

Megumin placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest in pride as she watched her ball ricochet off of the short walls surrounding the course and come to a perfect stop as it teetered above the hole, eventually falling in after a few tense seconds.

"Not as confident now, are you?" She got up in his face with a smug expression, causing him to push her backwards slightly in response to her sudden closeness.

"Not at all," The boy shot back, looking as casual and sure of himself as he could muster, "The first holes are supposed to be easy, you're obviously gonna start fumbling once it becomes actually difficult."

"Oi, stop looking at me like that," Kazuma grumbled as he observed the smug grin on Megumin's face as she presented the results sheet to him, making sure he could clearly see the results, "It's not like you completely destroyed me or anything, it was still close."

To his credit, the final results were somewhat close, with Kazuma having around six strokes over Megumin, though the small point gap could probably only be attributed to the girl's dreadful performance on hole twelve. Not including that, she had either beaten or drawn with him on almost every single hole.

"It's okay, Kazuma," The continued smug grin on her face heavily contrasting with her words, "Not everyone is good at everything. Something that involves as much planning and calculation as golf might just be a little too much for someone who's just used to mindlessly spamming buttons."

"Planning and calculation my ass," He complained as they returned their balls and clubs to the front desk and made their way back towards the main arcade, "You go against me in any of those fighting games over there and I'll show you what real planning and calculation is. I bet you don't even know what the term frame data means."

"I have no idea," She casually shrugged, smiling, "But it does sound like the kind of phrase that only some shut-in gamer like you would use."

"Ah, I get it," Kazuma snorted as he once again decided to rile up the girl's competitive nature. He grabbed her wrist and dragged her in the direction of a nearby multiplayer fighting game cabinet, "You don't actually have any skills to back you up, so you're resorting to petty insults. How typical."

From the look on her face, he could tell that his prodding had worked perfectly.

"How dare you accuse me of something like that! Just because I'm not some hardcore nerd like you, doesn't mean that I'm not capable of beating your ass at video games too!" Megumin confidently boasted, rushing forwards to match his pace instead of being dragged along behind him, "You better not treat me like some clueless girl who's never touched a controller in her life."

"Huh? Wait, what?" He stopped and looked back at her in genuine surprise, "I know that you're more of a nerd than you like to let on nowadays, but I always assumed that you couldn't afford video games."

She couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed at his completely on-the-money assessment, both in regards to her lack of funds to buy video games and her attempts in recent history to start covering up her more niche interests from everyone that wasn't Kazuma.

"Y-you're not totally wrong," Megumin admitted as Kazuma inspected the arcade machines around them, making mentals notes of the ones that peaked his interest, "There's no way we'd be able to afford anything modern, but I did manage to get a few older video games, and a console too, obviously, from a yard sale a few years back. It was my birthday present for that year."

He felt a warm feeling in his chest as he looked at the nostalgic smile on her face as she described the happy memory. It made him happy to know that, despite her family's constant financial struggles, she still considered her life to be a happy one. Truthfully, he was a little envious of how close her family seemed to be with each other; though he quickly decided to lock that thought away, at least for the time being.

Fortunately for him, as he was trying to rid himself of his more negative thoughts, a new thought crossed his mind as he thought about Megumin's words, one that quickly made him forget his previous pondering.

"Oi! So you're saying that you in fact do own video games and you're only telling me this now!?" He grit his teeth in frustration at the realisation that she had been hiding such treasures from him for the past three days.

"E-eh?" Megumin recoiled a bit at his intensity, "O-oh, right. Well, I was a little worried that if I told you, you'd go back to being a hermit and ignore me and Komekko. It was for your own good, I swear!".

Kazuma looked as though he was going to snap for a moment before he put a hand to his chin and took on a curious expression.

"You just completely forgot to mention it until now, didn't you?".

"...Maybe," She looked away in embarrassment, a few beads of sweat rolling down her forehead, "Can we please just play now?".

"Pleeeease, Kazuma! Just one more round? I know that I'll beat you this time," Megumin pleaded as her hands desperately latched onto his shirt, her eyes locked onto the cabinet's screen, watching as the 'Player 1 Wins' text overlaid the game for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"No way. You've been saying that for the past five rounds, just give up already," Kazuma reprimanded her as he tried and failed to pry the girl off of him, "If we keep going until you win, we won't have time to do anything else!".

"Fine," Came her response as she weakly headbutted his upper torso, "I won't be a sore loser about my loss, like you were earlier. Let's go play something else."

He decided to bite back his retort of 'You've been acting like a sore loser for the past ten minutes', knowing that any further provocation would just make her even more determined to beat him, something he wasn't really in the mood to deal with anymore.

"Hey, Megumin," He looked down at the girl who was still gripping his shirt, "How about we try something where we have to work together? Like, a multiplayer game or something?".

The short-statured girl fidgeted a little, caught off guard by his sudden suggestion, before she loosened her grip and looked up into his eyes. "Yeah, it might be nice to do something t-together," She shrank back a little, embarrassed by the random stutter, before laughing it off in an attempt to recompose herself "How about we try the claw machines?".

Kazuma rested his chin in his hand in contemplation as he followed behind her, in the direction of the claw machines, "Well, on one hand, those things are almost always heavily rigged against the player; I doubt we'll actually win anything. But, on the other hand, it might be fun to at least give it a few tries."

"Kazuma, Kazuma, look!" Megumin happily called out, a few metres ahead of him, giving him the mental image of a kid in a candy shop, "Let's go for this one. Look at how cool that red dragon is!".

Casually making his way towards where she was pointing, Kazuma laid his eyes upon a standard looking claw machine. Contained within it, among a myriad of other plushies, was the object of the girl's interest, a moderately large red dragon plushie.

"Eh, cool isn't really the first word that comes to mind for me," Kazuma commented as he leaned closer to analyse the dragon, "I guess I can kinda see what you mean… maybe? Either way, I don't really mind aiming for this one if you want it so badly, at least there's actually something for the claw to latch onto".

"So, do you think we'll be able to get it, Kazuma?" Megumin's eyes lit up as she questioned him. She had very quickly taken a liking to the dragon, even beginning to brainstorm some potential name for if they really could win it.

The boy scratched his head awkwardly in response to her overwhelming excitement, "Not sure. As I said earlier, these machines are almost always super rigged, so that people dump as much yen into them as possible."

"Well, yeah, I know that. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that by this point," She told him as she dug around in her pocket from her purse, "But still, it's not like winning is impossible. We just gotta be really accurate with where we drop the claw."

"May as well give it a few tries I guess," He found himself slowly began to be swept up by her enthusiasm, sauntering over to the control panel, "Hey, how about I control the claw and you go around the machine and tell the best place to drop from, 'kay?".

Megumin sent him a grin and a thumbs up as she inserted her money into the machine, receiving a similar grin and thumbs up from Kazuma in return.

Surprisingly, they did actually manage to win a prize from the claw machine. Even more surprisingly, it was the exact thing that they had been aiming for, the red dragon. Unsurprisingly, though, it took a small chunk of Megumin's allowance in order to obtain it. Though, that said, they still did do a good job when it came to coordinating the position of the claw, the approach of Kazuma moving it under Megumin's supervision being a fairly successful one.

"I'll admit," Kazuma placed his hands on his hips as he watched Megumin pluck the plushie from the machine's prize hole, "I didn't expect that we'd actually win anything, nice job."

"Mhm," She nodded in agreement, gazing down at the doll in her arms with a proud expression, "Do you think that Komekko will like it?".

"Huh?" He questioned, only just catching on to the fact that Megumin had been trying to win the prize for her little sister. He'd honestly just assumed that she wanted it for herself. "Hmmm, yeah. I'm sure she'll like it, especially if it's from you. She also might try to eat it though."

"Well, it's from you too. You helped me get it, after all," She smiled softly at him for a few moments before looking back down toward the dragon, "It's not often that Komekko gets new toys, so I hope she likes this."

"You really are a good big sister…" Kazuma mumbled, unconsciously - barely above a whisper - but she still heard him.

Megumin quivered slightly, raising the plushie up to just below her eyes in an attempt to conceal her newly developed blush, "Th-thank you… I a-always do my best to take care of Komekko when my parents are too busy to do it themselves."

"Right, w-well, you do a pretty good job of it," He awkwardly looked around, hoping to find something, anything, that he could use to take the attention off of his unintentional words, and the wave of embarrassment that came with them, "Woah, no way. They have an air hockey table here. That wasn't here last time I came!".

Around an hour had passed, and Kazuma and Megumin were finally making their way out of the arcade, headed in the direction of the mall's cinema. After a few rounds of air hockey, being possibly the only game in the entire arcade that they seemed to be equally skilled at, they moved back to the arcade machines, both co-op and competitive.

Though, after the girl, who was 'not exactly at peak physical fitness' - to put it lightly - began panting and wheezing, obviously out of breath, after only three rounds of getting way too into a certain dancing based rhythm game, Kazuma decided that they'd had their fill of the arcade for the day. It was just his luck that they were only around fifteen minutes away from the next showing time for the movie they had both wanted to watch, a movie adaptation of an anime that they both mutually enjoyed.

"Uuuurggh," Megumin groaned, letting her head rest next to Kazuma's, "You didn't tell me that it would be this exhausting."

"Yeah, that's because it isn't. Maybe if you actually attended gym class more often, you might finally surpass the stamina of a senior citizen," He chided her, receiving a soft, but still firm, headbutt in response, "Anyway, I get that you're tired out and all, but was it really necessary to have me carry you? I'm pretty sure that we've been getting a few strange looks."

"Don't care," She mumbled, not feeling the need to speak up due to her close proximity to his ear, "This is comfortable. And my legs still ache a little bit."

"Fine," The boy huffed, slightly adjusting his grip on her legs, "But you're getting down as soon as we reach the theatre, you hear me? There's no way I'm carrying you all the way to your seat."

She sighed exaggeratedly, but nodded regardless, "Fair enough."

"Oh, come on, Kazuma," Megumin practically pranced around the boy as they left the cinema, "You have to admit how cool that fight scene was!".

"I'm not saying that it was bad. It just sucks that a ton of scenes from the original source material were cut," Kazuma reasoned with her, "But, yes, for your information, I did think that the final fight was cool."

"Well, I do get what you mean, but doesn't that kind of stuff happen in adaptations all the time?" She questioned.

He shrugged, dumping their empty popcorn boxes into a trash can as they passed by, "I mean, yeah, it does. But that doesn't mean that I can't complain about it anyway, especially when they cut out actually good scenes."

"I've never seen someone be so passionate about nit-picking."

"Oi, it's not nit-picking!" Kazuma scowled at her, getting an eye roll in return, "It's fair and valid criticism. I'm not saying that it was bad or anything."

"Personally, I loved it," Megumin's eyes sparkled as she talked, "I've never seen such beautifully animated explosion effects before! Don't tell me that you didn't notice how incredible they looked, Kazuma."

The boy gave her a deadpan stare as he observed the dreamy look on her face. "Of course you'd enjoy it for a stupid reason like that."

"S-stupid? I expected better from you Kazuma! How could you call explosions stupid?" She pointed an accusatory finger at him, "Take that back right now."

"Right, right, of course," Kazuma replied, his voice as monotone as possible, "I'm so sorry Megumin. I'll never do something so stupid ever again."

The girl smiled brightly at him, "Apology accepted."

'The hell? She accepted that as an apology?'.

"So…" Megumin spoke up again, with a look in her eyes that seemed to contain a small amount of disappointment, though Kazuma wasn't entirely sure if he'd seen it clearly. Whatever it was, it faded away before he could get a better look at it. "Are we going now, then?".

"Mhm, yeah," He relaxed his posture as they continued walking, "Our train doesn't leave for a while still, but we wouldn't really have enough time to do anything else here and get back to the station on time, so we may as well just take our time getting there."

"I see… Hey, Kazuma?" She quickly got a response of 'yeah?' from the boy, "...I had fun today, thank you."

"No problem, I-I had fun too," Kazuma coughed into his fist, trying to steady his nerves. Today really had felt like a date to him, a thought that made his heart feel all sorts of different things. "We should do this again sometime."

"Maybe we can go with Komekko next time," Megumin suggested as she looked down at the red dragon, tucked under her right arm, "I'm sure she'd love the arcade."

Kazuma felt warm, fresh air blast his face as they exited the mall and wandered out into the streets of Axel, "Sounds good to me."

Their time in Axel for the day had come and gone, with the train having left the station around three minutes ago. Kazuma smiled slightly as he watched the bustling town gradually disappear from his vision. Prying his gaze away from the window and turning to his left, he saw Megumin, in the seat next to him, absentmindedly fiddling with the plushie, prideful of her winnings.

When they eventually reached their destination - in around twenty five minutes - they'd be splitting up for the next few hours, with Kazuma heading over to the cafe for his work shift and Megumin heading over to take Komekko home from kindergarten. Today, similar to almost every other day, Kazuma wasn't exactly looking forward to his shift at work. If it wasn't for the fact that he quite literally had to have a job in order to survive, he'd probably have quit a while ago. Or at least, he would've asked Chris for significantly fewer shifts.

Not that he particularly hated his part-time job though. Truthfully, with how lenient his boss was with him, he considered himself somewhat lucky to get the job he had. It also helped that such a job definitely helped him improve his ways as a cook significantly, going from someone who could only cook cup ramen and microwave meals to a pretty competent chef in only a few months of working there.

Again, looking back at Megumin, he noticed something different, something that he hadn't really bothered to take notice of before; there was barely anyone near them. Sure, there were other people on the train, but all of them were off in their own world a couple of seats in front or behind them. In their immediate area, there was practically no one, a piece of information that gave Kazuma a wonderfully devious idea.

Shuffling up towards the window, he made as much distance between himself and Megumin as was possible on their two train seats. Seemingly noticing him moving away from her, Megumin looked over at him just in time to see his head softly fall down into her lap.

"K-k-kazuma?" She squeaked, trying to keep her voice down in an attempt to not draw attention to them, "W-what do you think you're d-doing!?".

"Getting my lap pillow," He said matter-of-factly, immensely enjoying the view of her adorably flustered face, "We were interrupted last night."

"That's not what I meant!" The embarrassed girl sharply whispered, yet she made no attempt to move him off of her, "We're in p-public, Kazuma."

"Relax," He told her nonchalantly, bringing a hand up to rest on her thigh, though that only served to further redden her face, "No one is near us, I wouldn't be doing this otherwise."

She looked around for a moment, to confirm if his words were true or not, and relaxed a little when she saw that he was in fact correct. "Well, o-okay," She softly stuttered, letting out a nervous breath.

Though he did enjoy seeing her get embarrassed because of him, Kazuma felt a sharp pang of guilt as he noticed small tears of embarrassment prick up in the corners of her eyes for a brief moment, before disappearing again. "Look, it's fine," Kazuma slowly began to lift his head up from her lap, though with immense reluctance, "If you're really that uncomfortable then I'll get u-"

"No, it's okay," Megumin tried to reassure him as she shoved his head back down into her lap, doing everything in her power to calm herself down, "I'm not bothered by it at all, I already know how much of a gross pervert you truly are."

From the tone of her voice and her hurtful words, it almost seemed as if she was actually angry with him, though the way she began to tenderly caress his hair, as he had done for her the previous day, made it clear that she wasn't annoyed at all. She took a few deep breaths to try and steady her breathing, the soft texture of his hair on her fingertips calming her further.

Feeling somewhat bold now that Megumin was finally comfortable with their position, Kazuma started to move the hand that was resting on her leg, absentmindedly rubbing up and down. He smirked, pushing his charisma as far as it could go, "You know, you have really soft thighs, Megumin~."

His random bout of confidence was quickly squashed as he felt her free hand rest upon his cheek, shaking ever so slightly, as she softly rubbed circles into his skin with her index finger. "...Sh-shut up, okay?" She breathily whispered, biting at her bottom lip. Truthfully, hearing him say something like that about her sent her head into a complete tailspin, and getting him to stop talking was all she could do to stifle her raging heart.

Kazuma didn't speak after that, he couldn't. His throat felt as though it had gone completely dry. He simply just sunk further into her lap as he allowed her to continue exploring his hair and cheek, massaging her thigh in return. Though the whole experience, along with the entire day they'd just spent together, made Kazuma determined to take the time to properly figure out what he actually felt for Megumin, he decided that now was not the time for that. He'd rather just enjoy this moment, for however long it would last.

It turned out that, to Kazuma's luck, they had stayed in that position for almost the entire train ride, only getting up when their stop was announced to be coming up soon. After getting off of the train and leaving the station, the two exchanged awkward goodbyes before heading off to their respective destinations.

Over an hour had passed since then and Kazuma's work shift was now in full swing. He'd done his best to stop Chris from questioning further about the happy look on his face as he came into work, something which was apparently a rarity in her eyes. All things considered, his shift was fairly laid back so far, especially when compared to the fairly busy shift he'd had the day before.

Discreetly checking his phone, he saw that the time was quickly approaching 6:30. He'd spent the last forty minutes in the kitchen, being the one to prepare and cook the orders that Chris would pass along to him. Though he usually would've taken the post out front for his first hour or so, some irritating patrons had quickly gotten on his nerves and chief had thankfully decided to switch roles with him after watching him silently seethe for a few minutes.

"Hey, helper," Chris cheerily called out to him as she stuck her head through the doorframe, "We're switching. I need you out front pronto, there are already customers waiting to order."

He let out an exaggerated groan at her, "I thought you were the one who constantly told me not to switch while there are customs waiting to order."

"I was!" The older girl sneakily grinned, "But this is an exception to that rule. I want you to go out and serve them. You can thank me later, no worries."

And with that cryptic message and a wink, she grabbed his shoulders and pushed him out of the kitchen. The moment he made it out of the employees' area and into the main room of the café, it instantly dawned on him just why Chris had been so eager to get him out front.

"Big brother!" Komekko shouted as she ran up to Kazuma and tightly hugged his leg. He tried his best to ignore the surprised looks that he was getting from the cafe regulars as the small girl clung to him.

"Hi," Megumin gave him a small wave as she walked up to him, softly trying to pry her sister from his leg, "Surprised?".

Chomusuke meowed in greeting from her spot on the girl's shoulder.

"Psh, yeah, a little," He exhaled from his nose in amusement as he reached down to lightly tousle Komekko's hair, "So what exactly are you doing here?".

"I haven't seen you all day," Her pout managed to rival even Megumin's, "And then big sis told me that you were at a place that makes yummy food, so I knew that I had to come try some!".

"She wouldn't take no for an answer…" The older of the two sisters added on, "But you did say that I could come visit you while you're working. So it isn't a problem, right?".

"Oh, I did say that, didn't I?" Kazuma remembered, shrugging it off, "No, it isn't a problem, but I do actually have to, y'know, work. I can't just stand around for the rest of my shift."

"I know," Megumin smiled at him, grabbing Komekko's hand and leading her to the front counter, "We're here to order."

"Alright, what will it be then," He asked as he took the pen and pad Chris had left on the counter for him.

"I'll have the beef udon stir fry," The older girl requested.

"Spaggy-tee and meatballs please, big brother!" Komekko looked up at him with wide, excited eyes.

"Big brother? Is there something that you're not telling me here, helper?" Chris questioned, appearing seemingly out of nowhere as she leaned over Kazuma's shoulder, or tried to, at least. Despite being three years younger than her, he still had the height advantage.

"GAH!? C-chief?" He scowled, embarrassed at his surprised outburst.

"Nice to see you again, Megumin!" Chris greeted her, getting an enthusiastic thumbs up from the girl, before she crouched down in front of Komekko, smiling her widest smile possible, "And who are you? Aren't you just the cutest little thing ever?".

"My name is Komekko, I'm four!" She introduced herself as she gazed up at Chris with great interest, "Do you also make tasty food in this place, like my big brother does, miss chief?".

"You know it, scamp!" The silver haired girl affectionately patted her on the head, "I'm gonna make you the tastiest spaghetti and meatballs ever, okay?".

Komekko vigorously nodded, "Yay! Thank you miss chief!".

"So what'll you be drinking?" Chris asked as she stood back up, turning her attention to Megumin.

"Umm, well…" She seemed to be a little uncomfortable, "We'll just have two waters. Water i-is free here, right?"

Kazuma, understanding the situation, leaned over and whispered something into his boss' ear for a few seconds, before she nodded and he leaned back.

"I see," She took the pen and pad from Kazuma and began scribbling something down, "So a lemonade for you and a nice glass of apple juice for the little one, on the house! Oh, and a saucer of milk for your little friend, of course."

"Th-thank you," Megumin shyly responded as Komekko jumped up and down in joy and Chomusuke just yawned while Kazuma sent her a thumbs up.

"Well, I'd love to keep talking, but I've gotta go prepare your food and drinks for you. Hey, helper, go and show them to their table now, 'kay?".

Kazuma managed to barely hold himself back from commenting on the fact that 'showing people to their table' was never something that they did at the café and instead just led them over to an unoccupied table for two.

After the two sisters had sat down, and their cat hopped down onto the table, Kazuma was luckily granted a few free minutes, with no new arrivals or current customers in need of assistance, to talk to them. All of which was taken up by Komekko telling him all about the fun she'd had at kindergarten, not that he at all minded. Unfortunately, though, it was only a matter of time before a new customer entered the café and he had to scurry back to the front desk, much to Komekko's displeasure. She had been in the middle of telling him about her lunch.

While he didn't really get another chance to properly talk to them for the time being, he did still get to experience the adorable sight of Komekko's face lighting up as she tasted her first bite of meatball pasta from afar. Eventually, both girls had finished their food, and the younger one was starting to look fairly drowsy, her bedtime quickly approaching.

"Hey, Kazuma," Megumin got his attention as she wandered over to the front counter, her groggy little sister holding onto her hand, and Chomusuke trotting along next to her, "We're gonna go home now. It's almost Komekko's bedtime, after all."

At the mention of her name, she snapped her eyes towards Kazuma, as if she'd been in a daze, "Goonight big brother… The sketty was… super duper yummy…".

He laughed a little as he watched her desperately battle to stay conscious, her eyes half lidded. "Good night Komekko, sleep tight."

"I'll probably still be awake when you get back," Megumin told him, deciding to scoop the little girl into her arms before she fell asleep, "But if I'm not, then good night, Kazuma."

He couldn't stop himself from smiling at the simple scene in front of him. "Yeah, good night, Megumin."

Chapter Text

Kazuma felt the soft gust of breath warm up the chilly air ever so slightly as he exhaled, leaning back to rest against the slate tiles. It was currently around ten thirty, maybe closer to eleven; he wasn't sure. He couldn't really be bothered to check right now, anyway. Upon arriving back at Megumin's house, he'd quickly discovered the aforementioned girl passed out on the couch, having fallen asleep while she was waiting for him to come back, he assumed.

After a few minutes of mentally debating over the best course of action, he reluctantly picked her up as gently as possible and carried the sleeping girl to her room, being extra careful not to wake either her or Komekko up as he hurriedly tucked her into her futon. Banishing the thoughts he got when looking down at her sleeping form from his head, he'd silently fled the room, praying that Megumin wouldn't try to bring it up with him tomorrow morning. Though, once he reached the doorway, he did take a few seconds to enjoy the adorable sight of Komekko tightly hugging her brand new plushie, it seems that she'd liked the gift after all.

Despite the other two residents of the house already being fast asleep, Kazuma still felt completely awake. He wasn't really surprised though. While he was nowhere near as bad as he used to be when it came to going to sleep at a reasonable time, he was still certainly the type of person who went to bed later than most. So, with nothing else to do, Kazuma had grabbed a small snack from the fridge and made his way outside.

All of which led him to where he was now, laying down on the roof of Megumin's house. Joined, surprisingly, by Chomusuke, who had followed him outside and nimbly made her way onto the roof after him. With the house only being a single floor tall, reaching the roof had been no problem for Kazuma, only requiring him to scale a small stone wall next to the house before he could quite easily pull himself up onto the tiled roof.

Truthfully, stargazing wasn't exactly something that Kazuma did all too often, but the occasional moments where the activity called out to him were ones that he'd come to cherish. He allowed a nostalgic smile to tug at his lips as he reminisced on the times where he would be standing out on the balcony of his small apartment, with a drunk Aqua passed out a few metres away. Or the one time where, on a particularly snowy night a few months ago, he and Chris had camped out in the café for the night. Though, due to the location, the light pollution of the surrounding town had ruined any chance of getting a good view of the night sky, much to his annoyance.

Right now, much like the other times he would look to the sky, Kazuma was troubled. By two things, mainly. The first, and more obvious, issue was the issue of where he would live. Sure, as of right now, he had a comfortable roof over his head, but he knew that he only had just under two weeks to find a more permanent place to stay. Though, as of the current moment, he'd made almost zero progress when it came to that matter. He already knew that Axel was a bust; everything there was just too expensive for him, especially if he was still going to have to room with Aqua, something that was unfortunately looking very likely for him.

Honestly, there wasn't really much for him to actually think about. Kazuma just needed to actually find somewhere, something that was easier said than done, but still very much possible. As long as it was liveable, within his budget and not too far out of the way, he didn't see himself being too picky over the specifics of the place. Beggars can't be choosers, after all.

Coming to a somewhat satisfying conclusion with one of his problems and deciding that he'd take a proper look around the local area within the next few days, Kazuma propped himself up with his hands, now in a sitting position, hoping to make himself more comfortable before he moved on to tackle his second problem; Megumin.

Not that Megumin herself was a problem, she'd actually been a great housemate so far. The problem was instead how he felt around her, or more accurately, about her. Kazuma ran a hand through Chomusuke's soft fur, getting a low purr in response, as he allowed his head to fill up with thoughts of that girl. As he did, he found that one thought, one realisation, kept coming up in his brain over and over again, as if it was screaming out for him to finally fully accept it.

At some point, over the last few months, he'd found himself slowly falling for Megumin without even realising.

Whatever it was, it wasn't quite love, or maybe it was and Kazuma just didn't want to use such a strong word to describe what he felt towards his friend. But, for some reason, that idea didn't surprise him. The idea that he was, in some way, in love with Megumin didn't sound all that bad. As he kept running that thought through his head, he even started to almost... like it.

"Well that was… simple," He muttered to himself, getting a strange look from his feline companion.

All this time, he'd been pretty damn sure that he was in love with Eris, it only made sense, after all. She had helped him at his lowest, she was possibly the kindest girl he'd ever met and she was hands down the prettiest girl in his school. All of those things were still true, they probably always would be, but as he lingered on his thoughts and feelings pertaining to the two of them, he couldn't help but notice subtle differences in how he felt about them.

He couldn't really be 100% sure, inexperienced with romance as he was, but while he would classify what he felt towards Eris as a crush, his feelings towards Megumin felt… deeper? More complex, maybe.

Kazuma shook his head, deciding that it would be a waste of time to try to define something so vague. There was no real reason to do so anyway, the knowledge that he was maybe, just maybe, in love with her felt like a satisfying enough answer to his concerns.

"But still," His mumbling was interrupted by a loud yawn that escaped his lips, "Even if I do like her, the hell am I supposed to do about it?".

"C-can you… stop looking at me like that? Please?" Megumin asked from across the room, "You're making me feel as though I did something wrong, o-or is there something on my face?".

From his resting spot upon the couch, Kazuma continued to keep his eyes locked onto her, a judgemental expression plastered onto his face.

"Hey, Megumin," He finally spoke, instantly getting her attention, "You don't think that I forgot about what you said yesterday, do you?".

She had a puzzled look on her face, "I said a lot of things yesterday, you'll have to be more specific."

Kazuma let his cheek rest against one of his propped up hands as he elaborated, "You said that you had some video games, right? Today's my day off from work, y'know, so I kinda just wanna spend the whole day lazing around."

Worried that she might try to deny his request, he continued. "I mean, I have had a tough past few days, don't you think that I deserve a rest every once in a while?".

Megumin huffed and rolled her eyes, but found herself having to fight back an amused grin as she spoke, "Jeez, you could've just asked me that normally instead of staring at me like that! And why do you have to sound so happy whenever you talk about being lazy?".

"So is that an 'okay', or…?" He snorted a little in amusement at the disgruntled girl.

"Well, you have been doing a good job of taking care of my little sister, and I really did have a lot of fun when we went out yesterday, so I guess it's only fair that you get to do something that you want to do. Y'know, just this once, even if it is acting like a slob," She said with a small smile as she started searching for something underneath the TV stand, "But, if you're just gonna lay about all day, then at least let me play too."

"I see no issue with that," Kazuma pushed himself into a sitting position, observing Megumin as she pulled out a cardboard box from the underside of the small table, "Multiplayer is usually more fun anyway. But listen up, I'm not doing anything else today, you hear me? I'm gonna spend today relaxing, properly, and under no condition will I allow anything to stop me."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Megumin squirmed around slightly for a second before she placed the box on the couch next to Kazuma, "Here. I'm gonna go use the bathroom quickly, so can you set it up while I'm gone?".

"Alright," Kazuma looked at the blank cardboard box, "I'll try. Even if it's something I've never used before, it should still be pretty simple to figure it out."

The red eyed girl had already begun to make her way to the door while he was talking, but she did briefly stop to give him a 'thanks', before hurrying out of the room.

Kazuma arched an eyebrow, 'Why does that girl always have to be so weird about going to the bathroom?'. Although, thinking about it, it might've had something to do with the many times he'd teased her about her old proclamations of 'Crimson demons don't need to use the bathroom!', whatever that was supposed to mean.

Ignoring her strange ways for now, Kazuma immediately got to work on folding back the flaps on the cardboard box, being pleasantly surprised upon glimpsing its contents. Admittedly, maybe shamefully so, he had honestly expected the console to be something either very old or very cheaply made, or possibly even both of those things. In his defence, it was Megumin's family he was talking about, he didn't expect them to have luxuries like a game console in the first place; they really were expensive.

Yet, despite that, the console inside was in fact not one from the previous century, nor was it some cheaply constructed bootleg. Sure, it wasn't exactly modern either, but the large purple cube that he spotted inside the box was certainly something that he, as a self proclaimed master of all types of games, instantly recognised. Though, with a design that unique, it would be hard not to recognise it.

With his previously low expectations completely smashed, he reached further into the box, quickly pulling out three controllers, though one of them looked a little worse for wear, along with all the necessary plugs and cords. Finally, at the very bottom of the box, Kazuma found a small pile of six different games. Despite the unfortunate realisation that half of the six were seemingly low-effort licenced games, the type that was only made the ride off of the success of a recent movie or show, the other three very much piqued his interest.

One, a popular fighting game, one that had earned an insane legacy on many parts of the internet that Kazuma would frequent in his free time. The second one, a multiplayer board game, a game that heavily relied on the player's luck, something he had in abundance, and finally, a mascot racing game. While he had never played that one specifically, he was very familiar with the series as a whole. Sure, he would've personally preferred an adventure game or sprawling MMORPG, those were his personal favourites, but he couldn't deny that in terms of local multiplayer games, he really had hit the jackpot.

Making quick work of plugging in the console and controllers, Kazuma got up and made his way back to the couch, where the TV remote had been left. As he lent down slightly to grab the remote, he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing a single time. He stayed frozen for a moment or two, not sure if he should answer or not. It wasn't his house, after all.

His eyebrow twitched. It was fine, it was probably just someone trying to sell him something anyway.

Yet when the doorbell rang once more, Kazuma quickly conceded and made his way towards the front door, slowly sliding it open to reveal the person outside, clutching a wicker basket full of all kinds of snacks and looking down at the floor in what was most likely embarrassment.

"H-hello, Megumin. I-I-I know this is a little out of the blue, as they say… hehe, b-but you did say that you wouldn't mind hanging out again at some p-point and I was just passing through the area so I thoug- K-K-KAZUMA!?" The shy girl's quiet mumbling was quickly replaced by a surprised yelp as she finally looked up from the ground, taking a sudden step backwards in shock.

"Yo, what's up Yunyun?" He greeted the girl, giving her a laid-back wave, "You here to hang out with Megumin?".

"Eh? Uh, ummm…" She twiddled her thumbs, obviously extremely nervous, not that Kazuma was surprised. While he had seen Yunyun quite a number of times before this, mostly when she would 'accidentally' follow Megumin - and him by extension - home from school, it was exceedingly rare that the two of them would actually talk to one another, with the girl usually running off in tears the moment she was discovered. Now that he thought about it, he could only really think of one or two actual conversations he'd ever had with Yunyun, as brief as they were.

"Y-yes," She eventually got out, constantly glancing between him and the floor, "But i-if you're already here to… h-hang out with her, then I won't interrupt, I'm sorry…".

With an utterly dejected look on her face, she slowly began to turn around, intending to quickly make her exit. Kazuma rolled his eyes in exasperation and groaned internally as his hand reached out to grab the girl's wrist, stopping her mid-turn.

"K-kazum-".

"Oi, Megumin!" He kept a gentle yet firm grip as he turned his head slightly to yell into the house, "One of your friends is outside, she says that she wants to hang out with you."

A few seconds later he heard Megumin's voice ring out in response, "O-oh? Okay then, I'll be there in a second, you can let her inside in the meantime."

"Will do," Kazuma called out, before he turned back to look at Yunyun. He flinched and retracted his hand when he noticed her glassy eyes, a bit worried that he'd somehow done something to upset her, only for the girl to look up at him with a smile filled with gratitude.

As he discreetly checked the girl out, it dawned upon him just how overdressed she was, compared to him and Megumin at least. While he was clad in the new tracksuit he'd bought yesterday - he hadn't bothered to get dressed yet - and Megumin was just wearing a simple t-shirt and shorts combo, Yunyun was dressed in a pale cream - practically white - turtleneck, a knee-length charcoal grey skirt, black tights and an admittedly very stylish looking jacket, a slightly lighter shade of grey than her skirt, that went down to just below her hips. And although he wasn't really an expert when it came to how girls got ready in the morning, he had the feeling that she'd probably spent much longer than usual on her hair too.

Along with the fact that she had most likely brought all that food as some kind of bribery for Megumin to let her in, Kazuma was seriously doubting that she'd 'just been passing through the area', not that he ever really believed that lie in the first place.

"Well?" He asked Yunyun as he walked back inside, exhaling the slightly discontent breath he'd been holding in, "You coming in or what?".

"S-so, Kazuma," Surprisingly, Yunyun was the one to initiate the conversation as they sat down in the front room, with Yunyun placing the gift basket down on the coffee table, "Are you sure that it's o-okay for me to b-be here while you and Megumin are already hanging out?".

"Well, actually," Kazuma sheepishly ran a hand through his hair, preparing for the worst, "We're not really hanging out, per say, I kinda uh… live here now."

Her reaction, unfortunately, was exactly what Kazuma had expected it to be. "Y-y-y-y-you what!?" She eventually squeaked, her eyes wide.

"Yunyun?" Megumin suddenly appeared in the doorway, just in time to hear the girl's outburst, "Why are you shouting? Kazuma, did you say something perverted to her? I don't really mind you making those jokes with me, but Yunyun is probably the type of girl who would take that stuff seriously."

"Oi!" Kazuma wanted to defend himself before the situation got out of hand, "I didn't say anyth-".

Out of nowhere, Yunyun spontaneously darted over to Megumin and latched onto her t-shirt, shaking her around wildly, "I-is Kazuma r-really telling the truth!? Do y-you two actually l-l-live together?".

"Ye-es we-we d-do, no-now ple-ease get o-off!" She managed to splutter out as she continued to be yanked back and forth by the other girl. Kazuma probably would've intervened and pried Yunyun off of her if the entire display wasn't so amusing to him.

Eventually, Megumin was able to slap the other girl's hands away from her now heavily creased t-shirt, a clearly unhappy expression on her face. "Anyway, yeah, Kazuma is staying with me and Komekko over the Spring break," She simply said, "His apartment burned down a few days ago, so he came to me, his best friend, for help. Obviously, as his friend, I was more than happy to help my friend."

"Q-quit it! You're just saying 'friend' over and over again on purpose to make fun of me!" Wailed Yunyun, before she seemingly caught onto something more important, now gazing at Kazuma, "Wait, y-your apartment really burnt down?".

"Mhm," He hummed in confirmation, "Luckily, no one was hurt, if that's what you're worried about."

The meek girl let out a relieved sigh, with Megumin cutting in shortly afterwards, "So anyway, Yunyun, why exactly are you here? You wanted to hang out, right?".

"Ah, yes!" Yunyun quickly snapped to attention, "I just happened to be p-passing through the neighbourhood and saw your house, s-so I thought that I'd see if you were in."

If the look on Megumin's face was an indication of anything, Kazuma could only assume that she believed Yunyun's story just about as much as he did. Sadly, Megumin wasn't even surprised about the fact that the other girl somehow knew where she lived, despite having never once told her that information.

"Hey, Kazuma," She waited patiently for his reply of 'I'm Kazuma' before she continued, "If you're done setting things up, why doesn't Yunyun play with us too, there are still three controllers, right?".

"Yeah, one of them is a bit scuffed up, but it should still work."

"So whaddya think?" The girl once again looked back towards their guest, "You wanna play video games with us?".

"Yes! Of c-course!".

"Wow, Kazuma, you really are good at this game… heh… heh," Yunyun attempted to compliment him as she looked down at her controller in abject despair.

"Please don't look so miserable, it makes me feel as though I've done something wrong even when I really haven't," Kazuma couldn't help but send her a pitiful glance as she once again completely failed to match the skill of her two opponents, "Look, if you're really struggling that much, I already said I don't mind if you and Megumin want to team up against me."

"Now hold on, that's not fair!" Megumin butted in, "Yunyun is more of a handicap than a helper, so how about she teams with you instead, since you've been winning the entire time."

"Hey! Don't call me a handicap!" The girl in question whined, beyond embarrassed, "I'm not a handicap, r-right Kazuma?".

Kazuma avoided making eye contact with her as he grabbed a candy bar from the gift basket in front of them, hastily unwrapping it. "Well, since Yunyun seems to be struggling with this game so much, how about we try one of the others?".

"I-it's even worse if you just ignore my question!".

Despite Kazuma's initial assumptions, things were going pretty well so far. Sure, Yunyun was not exactly good - to put it nicely - at a single one of the games they'd played so far, but from the looks of it, she was still very much enjoying herself. Megumin's constant challenging and taunting seemed to have made her more and more determined to win, igniting some inner competitive nature that Kazuma really hadn't expected from a girl like her.

Unfortunately for Yunyun, she was still beyond hopeless when it came to actually playing. No amount of determination and drive to win could fix that.

"I win again!" Megumin proudly proclaimed as she beat her new 'rival' once again, pumping her fist in victory.

"You didn't w-win anything, Kazuma beat you. Again," Yunyun desperately pointed at the screen, in an attempt to hammer it in that Megumin had yet to win a single round either, "Until you actually win, it doesn't count as a victory. So right now, we're still e-evenly matched."

"Not really," She explained, "Kazuma is freakishly good at things like this, so it's not really an even playing field against him. But both of us should be evenly matched when it comes to this, so as long as I keep beating you every time, it still counts as me winning."

"Th-that's such a lame excuse, Megumin!" The other girl shot back.

"I think that both of you are losers," Kazuma leaned back against the couch as two sets of deep crimson eyes snapped towards him, "I'm the one who's won every single time, after all. It is a little bit embarrassing that neither of you have beaten me even once."

"Hey!" Megumin huffed and glared at him, trying to look as intimidating as possible, "I don't care about winning or losing in something like this anyway, let's compete in a proper game instead of having to use these stupid controllers."

"I-I agree" Yunyun joined in, a determined glimmer in her eyes, "It m-might be fun to try something else…".

"You're on!".

Kazuma let out an exaggerated sigh, "Whatever, I'm gonna go make lunch now."

Kazuma had been pleasantly surprised when the two girls had both offered to help him make lunch, but quickly began to regret letting them help him once they started to ask him who was doing a better job of preparing lunch, clearly turning it into another opportunity to compete against each other. Although he quickly stopped his internal whining when he realised that they were doing practically all of the work for him, albeit unintentionally.

After lunch, Megumin had left Kazuma and Yunyun alone together for a few minutes while she went to prepare their next 'duel'. Though he would still hesitate to call it natural or comfortable, Kazuma did notice that Yunyun seemed to be a little more relaxed around him than she had been a few hours before, with their standard of conversation having progressed from extremely awkward to only somewhat awkward. Again, not great, but for a girl like Yunyun, it was a pretty big improvement.

Before long, Megumin came back and led the other two into the front room, where they were soon greeted by an interesting sight. The coffee table had been pushed aside and was now up against one of the side walls, while in its old place was…

"Oi, Yunyun," Kazuma leaned down slightly to loudly whisper to the girl next to him, "It's not usually supposed to be this big, right?".

She jumped a little bit at his closeness before she relaxed and put a hand in front of her mouth to whisper back, "N-no, I've never seen it be this big b-before. But it does look like it could be k-kinda fun like this."

"Amazed, aren't you?" Megumin asked as she posed in front of a large tower made of wooden blocks, "I assume that I don't need to explain how this game works to you two."

"Yeah, yeah. Pull out one of the blocks and place it back at the top without making the tower collapse. I think everyone has played Jenga before at least once," Kazuma responded, crossing his arms as he continued to look upon the huge tower, "Hey, out of curiosity, is there a reason why the blocks are so… big?".

True to his words, the wooden pieces used in the game were at least three times bigger than Kazuma had ever seen in any commercial version of this game, being almost the size of actual bricks.

"I dunno," Megumin shrugged, "My dad just made them that size. He made it when I was like six, so I didn't think to ask him about it at the time."

"W-wouldn't it be a little bit d-dangerous if that thing fell on someone?" Yunyun timidly asked, looking between the tower and the two other people in the room.

The boy put a hand to his chin in thought, "It might hurt a little if that did happen, but it doesn't look like it'd be bad enough to cause any real damage. And anyway, that's not really the thing that concerns me about its height."

"Huh?" The shorter of the two girls looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean?".

"That thing is taller than you," He told Megumin bluntly, "Sure, you can still reach the top right now, but once we start adding more onto the top, you won't be able to reach the top anymore."

"O-oh. Well, once that happens, I can just get one of you two to put my pieces on the top for me. That's what I usually do."

"T-that's not fair at all!" Yunyun pointed out, "Putting them back is half of the challenge, you can't j-just make one of us do it for you."

"Fine then," She huffed in frustration, "I can just get Kazuma to pick me up then."

"Not that I really care either way, but wouldn't it just be easier to get a stool or something?" Kazuma suggested, "It'd probably be better for everyone if we can actually get a proper view of the top."

Once Megumin, having seen the merit in his suggestion, returned with a stool, allowing her to easily reach the top of the tower, a small flaw in their 'competition' suddenly appeared in Kazuma's mind.

"Hey," He said, looking between the two girls, "You're competing to try and see which of you is better at this game, right?".

They both nodded in response, curious as to what he was getting at.

"Alright," The boy crossed his arms, once again looking at the tower, "Then in that case, I'll sit out."

"It's fine Kazuma," Megumin tried to reassure him, "Just because it's a competition between me and Yunyun, it doesn't mean that you have to be left out."

"Y-yeah, I wouldn't want one of my f-friends to feel left out…".

Kazuma shook his head, "No, it's nothing like that. It's just that, with more than two people playing, this game doesn't really have a set winner and loser, just a single loser and everyone else is just kinda considered a winner. So, in the event that I also play and I end up losing, there won't be a definitive winner between you two."

Yunyun looked at him in surprise, "Ah, w-well, I didn't really think about that. That would probably be a good idea…".

He internally congratulated himself for coming up with such convincing reasoning. In reality, he just didn't want them to find out how terrible he was at Jenga.

"Hey Kazuma," Megumin gave him an inquisitive expression, "Are you sure that you aren't just doing this to avoid embarrassing yourself when you lose?".

"Sh-shut up! Of course not!".

Despite the fact that Megumin knew she'd clearly hit the nail straight on the head, she decided that she wouldn't push it any further, he did still make a good point as for why he shouldn't compete, after all. Following a short discussion, they eventually decided that the two girls would play three rounds, in a best for three, with the obvious rule that whoever knocked down the tower would be the loser, and the other player crowned as the winner.

Even though Kazuma didn't really go into it with high hopes, he found himself being surprised by just how good the two girls were, playing with incredible precision. He didn't think he'd ever seen Megumin as focused as precise as she was when she would delicately remove one of the blocks and hop up onto the stool to place it up top. Yunyun, on the other hand, only looked more and more nervous as the tower increased in height and decreased in stability. Yet, despite that, she still managed to hold her own, even against her nerves.

After a tense fifteen minutes, Megumin came out victorious in the first round, with Yunyun accidentally knocking down the upper part of the tower when she tried to remove a particularly unstable piece. The second round lasted even longer, until the tower slowly began to fall backwards after Megumin placed down one of her blocks on the topmost part.

With the tower rebuilt for a second time, and with the score at an even one to one, the two girls began to psyche themselves up.

"Kazuma, Kazuma," Megumin leaned in close to him.

"I'm still Kazuma."

"You know that I'm gonna win, don't you? You are rooting for me, right?" She questioned him, a determined glint in her eyes.

"Hmm," Kazuma considered her questions, "Well, from what I've seen so far, I'd say that you probably have a slight skill advantage over Yunyun, and she's also held back a bit by how shaky her hands get due to anxiety. But on the other hand, her height advantage really comes in handy during the late game, even with the stool."

"And what about my other question?" She asked expectantly.

"Sorry," The brown haired boy smirked at her, "As a referee, I have to be an unbiased third party. Therefore, I can't root for either of you."

The disappointed look on her face made it clear that she wasn't happy with his answer.

"L-listen up, Megumin," Yunyun dramatically pointed at her, "I may have let you win the first round, but I'll definitely beat you in this final round, no matter what!".

"...I'm honestly surprised by how outgoing she can be at times, considering how timid she usually is," Kazuma commented to Megumin as they stared at her. It was soon made obvious that the shy girl had simply just acted out without thinking, if the way her face instantly reddened before she hid it in her hands was any indication.

Once they'd both reassured the now very jittery girl that she didn't have to be so embarrassed about her behaviour a couple of times each, the final round was officially underway. It seemed as though Yunyun's drive to win had finally overtaken her usual meekness, as she carefully moved the blocks from place to place with a deeply focused look on her face.

After almost twenty tense minutes, it had officially become their longest round yet, and - by extension - their tallest tower too. It had gotten so tall at one point that Megumin could no longer reach the top, even with the assistance of the stool, leading to Kazuma having to pick her up while standing on the stool himself to give her the proper height.

"Umm, i-is it really necessary for you to hold me like this, Kazuma?" Megumin asked as she felt his arms wrap tightly around her midriff.

"Absolutely, there's no way I'd be able to keep my balance otherwise," He half-lied. Sure, it wasn't completely necessary for him to hold her so closely, but it really did help with keeping his balance, and a couple other things too.

As the tower was getting closer and closer to the ceiling, Kazuma couldn't help but wonder how many more rounds it would take until he'd have to start picking Yunyun up as well. His question would be answered a minute or so later, after the shy teen finally got done removing one of the lower blocks after a tense few seconds, she climbed up onto the stool and quickly ran into a problem when she tried to reach the top of the tower.

"U-umm, Kazuma," She kept her eyes locked onto the floor as she got down from the stool, "Would you m-mind… g-giving me a boost, t-too? I can't reach the top anymore."

"H-hold on!" Megumin practically skidded to a halt in between the two, "You can still easily reach the top, you don't need him to pick you up."

"I obviously can't, you literally just watched me try to!" The taller girl tried to explain, her face reddening. Though Kazuma couldn't tell if it was out of indignation or embarrassment, maybe even both, "He's been helping you for the past few minutes now, so why is it a problem if he helps me now?".

The shorter of the two turned her head away from Yunyun, trying to come up with an excuse, "I've got it! Why don't you just get another stool and put it on top of that one!".

"Th-that's so unsafe! Why are you being so unreasonable!? Are you really that scared of losing?".

"Unreasonable? Scared?" Megumin grabbed the collar of Yunyun's sweater and shook her back and forth, just as the other girl had done to her earlier, "Maybe if you weren't so rude, you'd have more friends!".

"Oi," Kazuma clicked his tongue in frustration, not noticing how close the girls were to the tower, "Cut it out, you t- Oh, shit."

"Oww…" Megumin whined as pained tears rolled down her cheeks, "Id hurds, Kashuma."

"Oi, quit using my tracksuit as a tissue, you're getting it all wet," Kazuma scowled at her as he held an ice pack up to the side of her head, "Just get off of me already, it can't hurt that much."

The girl only tightened her grip on him in response.

"W-well, actually, Megumin has a fairly low tolerance for p-pain, so getting hit in the head by all of those wooden blocks was probably fairly painful for her…" Yunyun suggested from her position on the other end of the couch.

"No offence," Kazuma turned to her with an impassive expression, "But it is pretty creepy that you know something like that."

"I-i-it's not creepy, I promise!" She panicked, frantically waving her arms around, "It's just that, whenever Megumin comes to gym class, she usually ends up i-injuring herself or getting hit by something in some way. She always ends up in the nurse's office and then she doesn't attend gym for at least a month a-afterwards."

Kazuma couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Hey! W-why would you tell him that!?" Megumin snapped her head up to glare at Yunyun, and then Kazuma shortly after, "And, you, stop laughing!".

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're in a lot of pain, so I'll stop making fun of you," He comforted her dismissively, moving the ice pack up to a small bump on the back of her head "Still, though, it was seriously unlucky that the entire tower fell on you while me and Yunyun only took minimal damage. Or lucky, I guess, depending on how you look at it."

"Nope, it was definitely unlucky," The girl groaned as she rested her head against his chest, causing him to freeze up.

Kazuma couldn't help but blush as he looked down at their position together. They were sitting on the left side of the couch, Yunyun sitting on the other end, with Megumin hugging herself against his torso as he gently pressed the ice pack up to the back of her head, occasionally moving it to the other bumps on the sides or top at her insistence. He didn't even know if she was doing it intentionally.

"O-oi, Megumin, surely you feel better now," Kazuma shook her shoulders a little with his free hand, "Can you get off of me now?".

It's not like he didn't enjoy having Megumin cuddling against him, because he most certainly did. But, even so, his growing embarrassment over the situation was practically screaming at him to get her off of him.

"Y-y-y-y-you.. y-you're… you two…" Yunyun stuttered out in a panic, seemingly having only just realised the position that the other two were in, "I didn't know that you were so close…".

"Ah, n-no! It's not what you think!" The girl jolted her head up from Kazuma's chest, "It's just that my head hurts and Kazuma had the ice pack and I just..".

She trailed off as she looked upon Yunyun's blank, and more than a little dumbfounded, expression.

"...Never mind."

"How long are you gonna keep using that ice pack for? Hasn't the ice already melted by now?" Kazuma asked her as they stood by the front door.

After the competition had ended in a draw, with none of the three having seen which of the girls was responsible for toppling the tower, Yunyun had stayed for a little while longer, before thanking them for 'such a fun day' and excusing herself. They had just finished waving her off when the boy looked back to watch Megumin press what he could only assume was no more than a bag of water by now against her head.

"I don't think you understand how painful it was," She frowned at him, "You should try to be nicer to me while I'm suffering like this."

"Mhm, sure," He looked wholly unconvinced pointing a finger towards her,, "You're so brave for… doing whatever it is that you're doing."

"Come on! Is it really so hard for you to comfort someone?".

"Not really," Kazuma shrugged with a smile, "I think you're forgetting who got you that ice pack."

Megumin whined in faux annoyance, before holding out the ice pack in front of Kazuma, "Well, you were right earlier, most of the ice has melted by now. So how about you get me a new one and take care of me while I'm suffering? Please?".

He initially intended to completely refuse her offer, but he couldn't deny that he was curious as to what 'taking care of her' would entail.

"Fine, but only until we have to go pick up Komekko."

"Deal."

To Kazuma's disappointment, 'taking care of her' didn't involve anything even remotely perverted. Instead, he spent the next hour practically acting as her butler while she sat down on the couch watching anime. After another twenty minutes of begrudgingly bringing her snacks or holding her ice pack up against her head when 'her hands got tired', she eventually took pity on him and let him join her on the couch, something he was more than happy to do without any hesitation.

After only a few minutes of proper relaxation, though, Megumin had quickly dragged him out of the house to go pick up her little sister.

"Hey, Kazuma," Megumin tapped him on the shoulder to pull him from his thoughts.

"Kazuma here."

"Our stop is coming up now," She told him as she pointed out of the bus's window, "By the way, you've had a strange expression on your face for the past few minutes. What were you thinking about just now?".

"Nothing really," He replied as he felt the bus slowing down, "But I was just thinking that I'm probably gonna spend tomorrow looking around for nearby apartments, like, in the local neighbourhood, y'know? I would just check online, but finding anything in a place like this online is harder than you think. Most people here seem to not bother with online listings, unfortunately,". He made sure to emphasise that last word as much as possible.

Megumin nodded as the two got up from their seats, slowly making their way to the front of the bus, "You want me to come with? It might be pretty boring all by yourself."

They paid their bus fare and made their way onto the pavement before Kazuma responded, "I don't see why not. Plus, you'd probably be bored too if I left you to stay in the house by yourself all day. Unless you plan on becoming a shut-in too."

"Don't make it sound like I have nothing else to do besides spending time with you!" The dark haired girl scolded him, pointing an accusatory finger in his direction, "I have plenty of other things I could be doing instead of wasting my time on a dumb pervert like you, thank you very much."

"And yet, you still choose to spend time with me anyway," He crossed his arms with a smug smile, peering over at her from the corner of his eyes.

"Obviously," She grumbled, returning his smile with a small one of her own, "You're my best friend, why wouldn't I want to spend time with you?".

Kazuma discreetly turned his head away as his cheeks began to heat up from her words, the warm feeling in his chest was undeniable, "Yeah, I guess I e-enjoy spending time with you too, Megumin."

The two beet-red teens both decided to change the conversation after that, spending the rest of the small walk over to Komekko's kindergarten making jokes at the expense of the kind-hearted yet undeniably very strange girl who had visited them earlier.

"Big sis!" The tiny girl gleefully shouted as Megumin and Kazuma made their way inside of the building, stopping in her tracks as loudly gasping when she saw the person behind her sister, "Big brother!".

"Ah, Komekko!" Megumin was clearly embarrassed as the small girl ran towards her and hugged her leg, "It's okay to do it at home, but you really shouldn't call him b-".

"Big brother?" Came the sound of a mature female voice, "I don't remember either of you ever having a big brother."

Wandering up to them from behind Komekko, a woman who looked to be around her thirties with short red hair and a large chest appeared, notably catching Kazuma's attention.

"I told you yesterday, miss Wolbach! Weren't you listening?" Komekko puffed out her cheeks at her, "Big brother lives with us now and he makes me lots of super yummy food."

"Oh, I see," The woman awkwardly laughed at the little girl's antics, "But I thought that he was called 'big sister's boyfriend' and not 'big brother'."

"I-I told you not to call him that, Komekko!" Megumin buried her head in her hands as her embarrassment began to rapidly bubble up.

"Yo," Kazuma casually waved at the woman in greeting, "Wolbach, right?".

Wolbach sent him a kind smile, "Yes, I am, I assume you've heard about me from these two. I'm sorry but would you mind telling me your name?".

"Yeah, sure," He nodded, "Names Kazuma Satou, I'm one of Megumin's friends."

The woman's eyes widened slightly as she heard his name, smiling softly at the girl beside him, who was now peeking through her fingertips, "Kazuma, is it? I've heard your name a few times before, Megumin has told me a lot about you."

The aforementioned girl quickly stopped peeking through her hands to turn to her former carer, "H-hey, Wo-".

"Mhm," Komekko happily nodded as she unlatched herself from her sister's leg, moving to instead tug on Kazuma's sleeve, "Big sis really likes big brother, she even talks to me about him sometimes!".

"S-seriously, don't say it like that!" Megumin yelped, too distracted to bother hiding the blush that was searing her entire face, "You'll give Kazuma the wrong impression, you two!".

Wolbach only laughed knowingly at the girl while Komekko looked up at Kazuma, who had subtly averted his gaze, really not sure how to react.

Feeling a familiar pair of eyes on him, Kazuma crouched down so that he was eye-level with the small girl, hoping to hurriedly change the atmosphere of their conversation, "Hey, Komekko, what do you want big brother to make you for dinner when we get back home?".

The rest of the evening was a rather uneventful, yet still enjoyable, one, with Kazuma cooking a big meal for the three of them. He made sure to have a decent amount of leftovers, as he was planning to save some for him and Megumin to eat while they went out the next day. After an hour or so of playing a board game with Komekko, her big sister eventually took her to bed and the two teenagers spent the rest of the evening slowly making their way through some more of Kazuma's school work until they both decided to hit the hay for the night.

"So, is there anywhere specific that we're looking at, or are we just, y'know, looking?" Megumin asked as they made their way off of the return bus, having just dropped Komekko off at kindergarten for the day.

"Just looking around to see what there is, I guess," Kazuma responded, slinging his bag over his shoulder, "We may as well just pick a direction and start walking, I'll just consult maps as we're going. I really have no idea where to start with something like this."

"Having a smartphone sure does make everything a lot easier, huh…" The girl said with a slightly discouraged tone, before perking up again as she noticed something about the boy, "Hey, Kazuma, what're you bringing your bag for?".

"Oh, right," He raised his shoulder a little for emphasis, "I didn't know how long we'd be out for, so I packed lunch."

"Huh? For, like, a picnic?".

A small smile graced his lips as he observed the excited glimmer in her eyes, "Well, I didn't bring a blanket or anything, and it's just leftovers from last night, but I guess you could call it a picnic if you wanted to."

Megumin made a small noise of reserved glee as they made their way down the usual route back to Megumin's house, "And so I will. It's been a while since I last had a picnic."

"Fine by me," Kazuma told her as he stopped walking once they reached a certain point, grabbing onto her jacket's sleeve to halt her once he noticed that she was still walking, "We're not going back to your house, remember?".

"O-oh, yeah," She laughed it off, a little embarrassed, "Sorry, force of habit."

"All good," He replied nonchalantly, smirking as he looked in a certain direction, "Hey, Megumin, follow me. I wanna show you something."

"I know that you said that the whole thing was burnt down, but I thought that you were exaggerating at least a little bit," Megumin stared at the sight in front of them with a commiserative expression.

"If it wasn't such a huge inconvenience on my life, I'd probably say that's a pretty cool looking sight to behold," Kazuma joked as he took a few steps towards the pile of scorched debris, "Still, though, it is a bit weird that none of this has been cleared up yet. It's almost been five whole days since the fire…".

"Hmm," The girl pondered his question while she crouched down in front of a charred plank of wood, somehow still mostly intact, "It's possible that it's taken so long due to the sheer amount of rubble and debris that would have to be moved, right? Maybe they're just waiting on, like, a bulldozer or something."

He honestly wasn't entirely convinced by her suggestion, especially the part about bulldozers, but he did admit that it was a fairly reasonable explanation. "That could be it," The boy pushed aside a strand of hair that had blown into his eye, "Either that or this just wasn't a high priority place. Though I do wonder what is gonna happen to this place now."

Megumin turned to him and tilted her head in confusion, "Huh? Are they not planning on rebuilding?".

"I don't actually know," Kazuma replied honestly, "Darkness was the one who handled our situation with the landlord - err, former landlord, I guess - of this place. I haven't actually had any contact with him since."

"Weird," The girl simply commented as she climbed up onto a rather large piece of debris, "But I guess it doesn't really matter either way. Even if they are planning to rebuild, it'll still take a couple of months at the bare minimum."

He silently nodded in agreement as he watched the girl stand atop the rubble, "Oi, get down from there already, everything here is super unstable. For obvious reasons."

Megumin playfully stuck her tongue out in response, "Aww, c'mon! This place is so cool-looking, though. At least let me have a little bit of fun."

"Whatever," Kazuma rolled his eyes at the girl, already having given up as he began to pull himself up next to her, not needing to climb up due to his taller frame.

The short haired girl held out her hand to help him up, with her companion gladly taking hold of her hand as he pulled himself up to stand next to her. They both blushed as they felt the hand to hand contact persist even after Kazuma was on his feet.

The two remained there for a few more minutes, both mentally justifying the hand holding as a precaution to make sure they wouldn't fall, before Kazuma spoke again, albeit still slightly tense.

"We should probably get going now," He began, now looking over in the direction of the road leading back to the bus stop, "How about we look over past the bus stop first? Then if we have more time after, we can look for places past your house."

"Sounds like a plan."

"I was honestly hoping that it would be a lot easier than this," Kazuma complained as they made their way out of the small apartment block - the fourth place they'd found that day - pulling out his phone to type out some notes for later.

"What exactly were you expecting then?" Megumin asked, giving a scrutinising look, "You didn't seriously expect this to be easy, did you?".

"Not really, I know how stuff like house hunting usually goes," The boy replied as they continued down the sidewalk, "But I'll admit that I was kinda hoping that I'd just get lucky and find some perfect place right off the bat. I am lucky, after all."

She groaned exaggeratedly at his admission, "I can't believe you. You can't just use the excuse of 'I'm lucky' to try to get out of every single situation."

From the look on her face, she clearly had more that she wanted to say to him, but she was quickly shut up as a loud growling sound came from her stomach, signalling her hunger. She blushed in embarrassment as Kazuma stared at her incredulously, laughing a little at her expense.

"Well, from the sound of it, it seems like we both wanna take a little break from this," The emerald eyed boy commented, his eyes lighting up as he recognised a familiar location, "Oi, Megumin, you wanna have that picnic now?".

"Yeah," She looked over at his bag, "Where are we gonna eat it though?".

Kazuma simply just pointed his thumb in the direction he'd previously been looking, "I thought you would've recognised where we were already."

As Megumin followed where he was pointing, her eyes soon fell upon a small abandoned children's playground off in the distance. Actually, neither of them were actually sure if it was abandoned or not. It was still in pretty good condition, but they'd never seen a single other person there in all the times they'd walked past it or hung out there.

"Oh, right. I forgot that we'd eventually see this place if we kept going this direction."

"It's a pretty decent place to rest for a little," The boy assessed as they drew closer to the playground, "We can just sit on one of the benches or something."

Megumin smiled as they made their way into the playground, wandering around for a little bit before she plopped herself down on one of the swings, absentmindedly swinging herself back and forth, while Kazuma placed his bag down on the nearby bench. She watched with anticipation as he plucked out two tupperware containers and two pairs of chopsticks and placed them down on the wooden seating.

"Here," He said as he held out a pair of chopsticks and one of the containers for the girl, "It might've gone a little cold by now, but it should still taste fine."

"Thanks, I'm sure it'll still taste great," Megumin smiled brightly at him, her grin only growing wider as she took note of the embarrassed frown that tugged at his lips before he turned away to sit down at the bench, a few metres away from the swing set, "You're not gonna join me over here?".

"Those swings really don't look big enough to comfortably hold me," Kazuma commented as he squinted at the swing next to her, "You should be fine, since you're pretty small and light, but I really don't feel confident about sitting on one of those."

"Even though you didn't mean that as an insult, I can't help but be upset about being described as 'small and light'," Megumin frowned as she spoke in between bites.

"Trust me," He exhaled as he opened up his tub, "If I wanted to insult you, I would've said something much worse."

"Oh, is that so?" The short girl coldly asked, her swinging slowing down, "And what exactly would you have said? It's okay, you can tell me."

Kazuma gulped, Megumin's deadly tone and understanding words not matching at all, "I think I'll stop talking now… for my own safety."

Despite the girl's threatening tone, their lunch was a peaceful one. As they ate, Kazuma pulled out his phone to review the places they'd already checked out and compared the notes he'd made about each one.

"You see, this one isn't too bad," He explained to Megumin, as she swung back and forth between mouthfuls of food, "But it's way too expensive for me. If it was more than a single room, I might've been able to justify it, but as it is, it's just not worth it."

She nodded in agreement before swallowing her food, "What about the first one we looked at? That one was pretty cheap. Sure, it doesn't exactly look the best, but you said that you weren't too picky."

"Megumin," Kazuma looked at her blankly, "There was mould everywhere. This is not a matter of being 'picky', the only thing that could survive in that place is a fungus."

"I… can't really argue with you there," The middle schooler hopped off of the swing to place her now empty tupperware container and chopsticks into Kazuma's bag, sitting down on the bench next to him, "So I'm assuming that you still wanna keep looking around here a bit more today?".

"If that's okay with you, then yeah."

She closed her eyes as she felt a soft breeze lightly tickle her bangs, "Yeah, that's fine by me."

"Nothing, huh?" Megumin asked as she leaned over to look at the notes on Kazuma's phone, "So does this mean that we're gonna have to keep looking tomorrow, too?".

"No, not tomorrow. I was planning on taking another lunch shift tomorrow," The older boy explained as he scrolled back to the top of his notes app, "We could go again on Friday though."

After a few more hours of wandering from potential lodging to potential lodging, Kazuma and Megumin had eventually decided to call it a day. Mostly because they were just bored of it, but also because they had just under an hour until Kazuma's shift started and Megumin would need to pick Komekko up from kindergarten.

Once they'd taken a quick detour back to Megumin's house, so that Kazuma could take a shower and grab his work clothes, the two friends had leisurely made their way to the bus stop, where they boarded the usual 4:30 bus.

The girl shook her head, her outright refusal surprising him slightly, "Nope. We have other plans on Friday… hopefully?".

"What's 'hopefully' supposed to mean?" He sent her an incredulous look before switching to a different question, "And whaddya mean, 'we'? When did I agree to whatever this is?".

Megumin softly giggled at the boy's exaggerated reaction, "You agreed to it on Monday, don't you remember? I said that we should take Komekko into Axel."

"Oh, so that's what you're talking about," Kazuma rested his elbow against the window and relaxed his cheek into his fist, "Well you never said an exact day, so you can't really be surprised that I didn't understand what you were talking about."

"I guess you're right, but Friday does work for you, right?" She asked, unintentionally getting up in his personal space, "I know you want to find somewhere to live sooner rather than later, I completely get that, but could we maybe put that off until the weekend? Please?".

"Alright," He plainly answered as he used his free hand to run his fingers through his hair, "I guess I don't mind waiting a day or so longer. But still, what did you mean by 'hopefully', anyway?".

"I still have to let Wolbach know that Komekko won't be going to kindergarten on Friday, that's all," Megumin explained, leaning back to rest against her seat, "I mean, there's no reason she wouldn't be okay with it, but, y'know, I don't wanna say for certain until I've sorted it out with her. I'll make sure to do that when I pick up Komekko now actually."

"Sounds good," Kazuma let out a relaxed breath, the two quickly falling into a comfortable silence, signalling the natural end of that specific conversation. The quiet didn't really bother him at all. He knew that before long Megumin would bring up a new topic, or he'd think of a question to ask her. Until then, he simply just stared out the window, enjoying the scenery.

Just as he had predicted, after a minute or so, Megumin spoke up once again. "Kazuma, Kazuma."

"I'm still Kazuma."

"You said that you were taking the lunch shift tomorrow, didn't you?" She questioned as Kazuma pulled his attention away from the window and towards the girl.

He steadily nodded his head "Mhm, what about it?".

"Nothing really," The red eyed girl replied, slightly dismissively, "I was just thinking about something."

Kazuma nudged her with his elbow, now somewhat intrigued, "Come on, you can't just bring something up and then not talk about it. What were you thinking about?".

"It really is nothing, I was just thinking about maybe seeing some of my other friends while you're gone tomorrow," Megumin smiled softly as she told him about her idea, "If not, then I'll just get bored on my own, so I may as well see if any of them are available."

"Huh, that's not a bad idea," He said, mostly to himself.

"Great work as always, helper. Get home safe!" Chris called out as she made her way through the station's toll gates.

"Will do, chief!" Kazuma yelled back as the older girl began to disappear from view, leaving him alone in the train station's entrance area.

As he wandered out of the station, in the direction of the usual bus stop to catch his ride home, he fished his phone out of his pocket and looked through his contacts. After a few seconds of searching, he eventually located Darkness in his message list, moving his free hand in front of his mouth to blow a gust of warm air onto his palm before he started typing.

He didn't really go into that much detail with his messages, just telling her that he'd spent the day looking for potential places to stay, though he still hadn't found anywhere that really fit his self-set criteria yet. It's not that he didn't want to tell her anything or was being purposely vague, it was just that they'd agreed to call about it instead, although Kazuma saw fit to wait until he was on the bus to call her. Trying to do a video call as he was walking to the bus stop at half nine in the evening wasn't his personal idea of 'fun'.

Still, he eventually made his way to the bus stop, with Darkness texting him to say that she had already formed a solution with her father when it came to her housing. Something that Kazuma was very much relieved to hear about. It meant less work for him, after all.

"Yo," Kazuma greeted Darkness once she picked up the video call, with the boy now comfortably resting against the backmost seats of the almost empty bus.

"Hi Kazuma!" A voice that was obviously not Darkness screeched through his phone's speaker as a familiar head of blue hair appeared on the cracked screen.

He stared blankly at his phone screen, giving a single nod to the girl "...Aqua."

"Kazuma, Kazuma, look at my new clothes!" Aqua stood back slightly to show that she was, in fact, wearing something besides her usual pink shorts, blue crop top and dark blue hoodie, now donning a low cut pink t-shirt, a short blue jacket, a dark blue skirt and white thigh high socks. For once, the girl looked like a somewhat normal functioning member of society, though Kazuma unfortunately knew better, "Lalatina took me out to buy these earlier!".

"Aqua!" The other girl interjected, clearly distressed by the casual use of her real name, "I told you not to call me that! Call me Darkness, remember?"

"Oh, right… You did say that. Silly me!".

The boy rolled his eyes at the girl's antics. "Darkness, you shouldn't have done all this for Aqua," He visibly cringed as he watched Aqua spill a small amount of what he could only assume was wine onto her brand new shirt, his voice turning monotone, "Seriously, you shouldn't have."

"It is fine, really, Kazuma," She assured him, "It truly was fun to go out shopping with a friend again. It isn't something I get the chance to do very often."

"Right," Kazuma awkwardly replied, feeling a small tinge of pity for the older girl, "So, anyway, anything new to tell me?".

"Yeah!" Aqua once again interjected, "Kazuma, Kazuma! You won't believe this, Darkness' family have maids! Real ones!".

"Oh?" He was suddenly intrigued by what she had to say, "Tell me more."

"Th-th-they aren't maids!" Darkness hurriedly said, embarrassed, "They're more like housekeepers, calling them m-maids would give the wr-wrong impression."

"Huh?" The blue haired girl had an inquisitive look on her face, "But your dad calls them maids, and they didn't have any issues when I called them maids."

"Get that creepy look off of your face."

"Urk! C-c-c-creepy!?" Darkness panted.

"Down girl," Kazuma blankly commanded, "We will talk more about those maids later, okay Aqua?".

"Got it!".

Their usual three way banter continued for a while longer, something that, while he'd never admit it, especially not to Aqua, he really did enjoy. Sure, the two girls certainly did have their… flaws - Aqua had far too many of those actually - but he did truly see them as his friends, even though he'd only known Darkness for a single month.

According to what they told him, they'd actually had a very relaxed vacation over at Darkness' home. Surprisingly, to Kazuma at least, Aqua seemed as though she had actually been on her best behaviour during her stay, even managing to impress the other girl's father by performing some of her 'party tricks', as she called them. Beyond that, she'd even left the house and gone outside with the blonde. Sure, she'd only actually gone out twice, and only after getting the promise of free food or clothes, but progress was still progress. Maybe the guilt about the fire really was affecting her, in some way at least.

Those feelings of pride towards the girl were quickly squashed once Darkness mentioned that the whiny shut-in had drunkenly stumbled into a vase the night before, smashing it. Luckily, the 'harmless accident' had been mostly brushed off, though apparently the 'housekeepers' had been keeping a closer eye on her than before.

Of course, eventually, the conversation switched over to the main purpose behind the call, with Kazuma giving a brief summary of his first day of house hunting, or, more accurately, apartment hunting.

"Hey Darkness?" He questioned, "You said that you talked things over with your dad, right? What's the situation with that now?".

"Oh, yes. I almost forgot to tell you," The rich girl gave him an brief apologetic smile before talking again, in a tone much more suited to an aristocrat's daughter than her usual one, "My father has already paid for my stay at a different apartment building, one that is somewhat closer to my college."

"Hmm, I see," Kazuma pondered her words, "That's good news, at least. Now I just gotta find somewhere for me and Aqua to live…".

"Mmm?" The blue eyed NEET perked up at his words, quickly gulping down the large swig of wine that she'd just taken, "Hey, Kashuma, I was thinking-".

"That's new," He interjected.

"Shut up!" She berated him, swaying slightly, probably a little tipsy by this point, "As I was saying, this place is a lot nicer than your old dingy apartment, so I'd rather just stay here from now on instead. This seems like a much more suitable home for someone like me."

"Oi! You spoiled brat!".

Kazuma visibly deflated, 'Never mind… Aqua will never stop being Aqua.'

Megumin rolled over onto her other side, hoping to find a more comfortable position in her futon. She'd been restlessly moving around for the past thirty minutes, maybe even forty by this point. It had been a while since she and Kazuma had decided to retire for the night, and it had been even longer since he'd returned home, a tired yet warm smile on his face. One that she found herself still envisioning, even long after it had left his features.

She couldn't get to sleep. She couldn't stop thinking about him.

She internally groaned and buried her face into her pillow, desperately trying to quell her raging thoughts and, once again, failing. Almost every night had been like this in some shape or form ever since Kazuma had started living with her, though tonight was the worst one yet. The only notable exceptions being when she was holding his hand on their first night and when she'd fallen asleep on the couch waiting for him to come home. The time he'd, as far as she could tell, carried her to her room and tucked her into her bed.

And with those new mental images flooding her head, she felt more awake than ever.

Megumin wasn't irritated at Kazuma because of this, of course she wasn't. It's not like any of this was his fault. It was her fault for being so taken by him, for loving him so much. She'd take all the restless nights in the world if it meant she could keep spending these wonderful days with him.

Somehow, five whole days had already passed. Because of him… because of him just being there, everything had felt so much more… fun.

It was getting harder and harder for Megumin to hold herself back. As of recent, it felt like it was taking more and more of her willpower to stop herself from holding his hand when they walked together. Or from hugging him whenever he said something that made her happy - which was more often than she'd like to admit - or, the hardest part, stopping herself from kissing him whenever their faces got too close together.

She rolled over onto her back, staring blankly at the ceiling of her shared bedroom. She felt so out of her element in this whole 'romance' thing.

Turning her head slightly, she could barely make out the figure of her little sister, tightly clutching the red dragon that she and Kazuma had won in Axel a few days prior. Megumin smiled warmly; she was pretty excited to take Komekko out into Axel with Kazuma on Friday, she'd already got Wolbach's approval to take her out of kindergarten too. On the other side of her sister, she noticed Chomusuke's small form resting against the pillow. She had been sleeping next to Megumin's bed previously, but quickly switched sides when she began tossing and turning once more. Not that she could really fault the traitorous feline all that much.

Megumin softly smiled as she sleepily raised her hand upwards, her palm facing the ceiling. As she closed her eyes, hoping to finally reach some form of sleep, she faintly mumbled to herself.

"I love you, Kazuma…".

Chapter Text

"So how long was it until you need to get going again?" Megumin questioned him as she hung up her jacket on the coat rack, having just dropped Komekko off at kindergarten.

"Around fifteen minutes probably. Any longer and there's a chance that I might miss the bus," Kazuma casually responded as he leaned against the nearby wall, a half eaten bowl of cereal in his hands.

She frowned at him as she stared down at what he was holding, "Hey, what did I tell you about walking around the house with food?".

"Yeah, I know, I know. Sorry," He placed his spoon into his bowl so that he could dismissively wave his free hand, "But I'm almost finished anyway, so it's not like I'm gonna spill it."

"...It's whatever, I guess. As long as you're careful," She didn't really have any interest in arguing with the boy about something so inconsequential, "Have you had a shower yet?".

"Mhm, I took one while you were out," Kazuma answered as he smoothed out a crease in his hoodie, "Why, you gonna take one now?".

"Not yet," Megumin wandered away from the front door and down the hallway, Kazuma following behind her, "I'll take one once you've left, I have something else to do first."

"Oh?" The brunette finished his last spoonful of cereal before he spoke again, "And what's that?".

"I'm gonna see if some of my other friends are free today," She came to a stop in front of her family's home phone, the type that could only make and receive calls, "I told you about it yesterday, didn't I?".

"Well, yeah," Kazuma shrugged as he watched her open up the large book next to the phone, with each page neatly organising names - a few of which he actually recognised - with a phone number scribbled down next to them, "But I assumed that you'd have done it last night. Don't you think that this is pretty late notice?".

While she kept her face locked directly onto the book, flipping from page to page, she did momentarily glance at him out of the corner of her eyes. "You… you aren't wrong," The girl sheepishly responded, her focused expression slowly being taken over by a more guilty looking one, "But I'm sure it'll be fine. It won't be for a few hours still, so that should be enough time, right?".

"Well, if you say so," Was all he said in response, absentmindedly playing with his spoon.

"I don't organise things like this very often, so you can't blame me," Megumin complained, before finally finding the contacts she was looking for, "And… there they are!".

With her mission to find their contacts complete, she propped the book open on the correct page and returned her attention to Kazuma. She stared at him for a few seconds, with the boy staring back at her for a few more, a puzzled look on his face.

"Aren't you gonna go away now?" Megumin asked, much more bluntly than she'd intended, "Sorry! I-I mean, don't you have to finish getting ready now… or something?".

"Yeesh, you're harsh today," He commented, stifling a yawn, " Are your bully tendencies finally coming back?".

"Hey! Don't say something like that! I am not, and have never been, a bully!".

"I think I know a few people who'd say otherwise," Kazuma snorted as he pushed himself away from the wall with one hand, "Anyway, I'll go finish getting ready for my shift now. Oi, don't look so grouchy, it was just a joke."

Megumin made sure to playfully punch the boy's arm in retaliation as he passed by her, his hand quickly moving up to thoroughly muss up her hair in response. She grumbled under her breath, watching him disappear into the kitchen with a small smile.

Pulling her attention away from the boy for the time being, she went back to her previous task, calling her friends. More specifically, she was planning to invite Funifura and Dodonko for lunch. Sure, she hadn't really considered the actual when or where, but she was sure that they'd be much more suited than her to figure something like that out.

Moving back to the phonebook, she carefully began to type Funifura's phone number into the old phone, making extra sure that she was typing in the correct number. Once she was finished, she dialled the call, and after a few moments of waiting, the other girl picked up the line.

"Megumin?" Came Funifura's voice, understandably surprised by who was on the other end of the line, "It's pretty rare for you to be the one calling me, it's usually the other way around. What's up, you need something?".

"Well, I don't really need anything per say," She answered, casually fiddling with the phonebook's nearby pen, rolling it back and forth on the paper, "I was just wondering if you're doing anything today, around lunchtime."

"Hmm," The girl remained in quiet thought for a few seconds, before giving her answer, "Nope! I've got nothing going on today. Why, is there somewhere you wanna go?".

"Um, well, nowhere specifically," Megumin replied sheepishly, "But I was wondering if you wanted to go for lunch later. I'm planning to invite Dodonko too."

"Huh? Yeah, that sounds great!" Funifura sounded fairly excited by the offer, to Megumin's relief, "Hey, if you don't have anywhere in mind, then I have an idea!".

"O-oh?".

"You know Nerimaki, from our class, right?" The twin tailed girl asked.

"...Yeah, I think so," Came her response. Truthfully, she only vaguely knew of her, they'd only really talked one on one a couple of times before.

"Apparently, her family owns a diner… or a pub… or something like that," Funifura explained, "She was telling me about it last week, so it might be cool to check it out at some point. Whaddya think?".

"Sounds good," Megumin let out a breath, relieved that the other girl had quickly taken over on the planning front.

"Hey, if we're gonna go to her family's diner, it would probably be polite to also invite Nerimaki to come with us," The other girl suggested, "I mean, you already said you were gonna invite Dodonko, right? So is it okay if Nerimaki comes too? It only seems fair."

She considered Funifura's idea for a second, before replying, "Yeah, that seems okay. I haven't really talked to her much, but I don't mind if she comes along."

"Sweet!" She heard the other girl cheer through the speaker, "Oh, now that I think about it, if we're inviting people, we should invite Arue too, y'know? She's that one girl who's always in the library - writing stories, I think. Apparently Dodonko started talking to her recently and she's like, pretty cool actually, according to her, so it might be nice to hang out with her."

"R-right, fine by me," The short haired girl responded, a little awkwardly. Although she really had just intended to invite Funifura and Dodonko, it's not like she particularly minded the other two girls coming along as well. Sure, Megumin didn't exactly have a huge group of friends, but she did still consider herself to be a fairly outgoing person. Getting to properly know Arue and Nerimaki might even be fun.

"Awesome, how about we all meet up at twelve, then?" Funifura proposed, "Actually, I'm not sure of exactly where the diner is, but apparently it's not too far from our school, so how about we just meet up around there?".

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," The other girl confirmed, having almost forgotten that this was initially her idea, "Hey, actually, do you mind inviting Nerimaki and Arue for me? I'll invite Dodonko myself, but I don't actually have either of their numbers, so…".

"On it," She quickly replied, "I'll do it right now, then. Anyway, remember, we'll all meet outside school at twelve. Oh, and also, feel free to invite anyone else, if you want to. The more the merrier, y'know?".

"Sure. Thanks for helping out with this."

"No problem!" She heard the other girl say, "Well, anyway, I'll see you later, bye!".

And with that, Megumin gave a goodbye to the other girl and hung up the call. All in all, she really hadn't expected the other girl to be as enthusiastic as she was, but it was nice to see. Though she had originally just wanted to go out in order to kill her potential boredom, she couldn't deny that she was actually starting to get pretty excited about the whole thing now.

"Invite anyone else, huh…?" The dark haired girl mumbled to herself as she flipped to the most recent page of the phonebook, loudly sighing as her eyes landed upon a certain name, and then sighing once again to solidify her notation of reluctance, "...Fine. I'd just feel bad if I didn't even try to invite her."

She shrugged in indifference as she dialled the girl's number, the call being picked up within a worryingly short amount of time.

"Umm, h-hello?" A nervous voice played through the phone's speaker, "I uhm, I don't recognise this number, s-so you might have the wrong number, whoever you are…".

"Hey, Yunyun," The red eyed teen greeted her through the phone, "Are you doing anything today at twelve?".

"M-megumin!?".

"Here, I accidentally made a little too much bacon for one of the orders, so you can have this," Chris smiled as she held her hand out to the boy, "Good work so far, helper. You can take your lunch break early today if you want."

"Oh, thanks," Kazuma replied as he took the sandwich from her hand, "How long do I get?".

She tapped her chin in thought, "How long do you want?".

He decided to test how far he could push her offer, "Thirty minutes."

The silver haired teen narrowed her eyes at him, instantly understanding his game, "Twenty minutes."

"Twenty five?" He bartered, holding out a hand for his boss to shake.

"Hmm… deal!" She grinned, vigorously shaking his hand to seal the agreement, "But you better not even think about trying to slack off for the rest of your shift, okay?"

"Yeah, got it," The brunette said dismissively, taking a bite of his sandwich and sending his boss a thumbs up of approval as he swallowed.

He watched as Chris turned around and began to walk out of the cafe's kitchen, until she suddenly snapped back around to face him, her features suddenly lighting up, something that Kazuma knew only spelled trouble for him.

"Say, actually…" His boss began, an evil smile adorning her face, "I called Darkness this morning, just to check up on her, and she ended up mentioning something very interesting about your current living condition. More specifically, about that 'friend' you're staying with…".

'Shit.'

"So how about you come out front for that extended lunch break of yours and tell me all about what's been going on between you and Megumin?" She tried her best to put on an innocent façade, one that Kazuma knew better than to believe, "I know that I told you to just go for it, but I do hope that you haven't done anything too perverted to the poor girl yet."

"Oi, hold on!" He retorted, not even realising that he was now following Chris out of the room, "What kind of things has Darkness been making up about me now? Nothing has happened between me and Megumin, you hear me?".

"Hmm? You're serious?" The silver haired teen turned around to ask him, receiving one of Kazuma's classic scowls in response, "Oh poor, poor helper, whatever happened to 'being in the prime of my life', huh? Well, in that case, don't fear, you can have a personal love guru help you out over the next twenty-five minutes!".

Kazuma rolled his eyes at the older girl, before suddenly shifting his demeanour, "Love guru, you say? Hey, chief, I've always wondered, exactly how many boyfriends have you actually had? Come on, don't be shy, you are quite a few years older than me, after all."

To his pure delight, the tables very quickly turned as his boss suddenly became rather bashful. How strange.

"Hey, Megumin! Over here!" She heard Funifura call out to her as arrived near her school's front gates, quickly turning to spot her, Nerimaki and Yunyun standing under a nearby tree. Arue and Dodonko seemingly hadn't arrived yet, not that it was a problem. Though she didn't have a phone or any way to precisely tell the time at that moment, Megumin's best guess was that it was probably still a minute or so before twelve, give or take a few minutes.

As she approached the three girls, the shorter girl took note of each of their outfits. Funifura was wearing a tight-fitting pink t-shirt, adorned with a logo that Megumin didn't quite recognise, low rise denim shorts, knee high brown boots and a black hoodie tied around her waist by its sleeves. Yunyun, on the other hand, had chosen to wear a white button up blouse with both the cuffs and collar unbuttoned and popped out, a black V-neck sweater over top and finished off with a grey pleated skirt. And finally, Nerimaki was wearing a casual white dress with a thick-looking red jacket to keep her warm.

Megumin, in her plain white t-shirt, blue overalls, and worn down trainers, couldn't help but feel a little bit underdressed in comparison. Not that it really mattered to her though, the only person she really cared about impressing with her appearance wasn't there anyway.

"Oh, hey Funikura," She waited for a few seconds for the girl to indignantly scowl at her before she addressed the other two, "Hi Nerimaki, Yunyun."

"Hey," Nerimaki greeted her while Yunyun just meekly waved in her direction, otherwise staying silent, "So… Funifura was saying that you were the one who suggested this whole thing, is that true?".

"Mhm!" She nodded proudly, "I thought it might be nice to have a get together of sorts. Although Funifura did end up helping me out a little bit…".

"I did all of the planning and organising for her," The twin tailed girl cheerily explained, trying to get back at Megumin for purposely misremembering her name earlier, as she often did, "But I guess it's the thought that counts, after all. And Megumin is one of the last people I'd expect to try to do something like this."

"Yeah, seriously," Nerimaki chuckled as she leaned against the trunk of the tree, turning to send a grateful smile to Megumin, "Thanks for inviting me, though, Megumin."

The four girls continued their small talk for the next few minutes, with Yunyun finally joining in with their conversation. Just as Funifura got done explaining how her and Nerimaki apparently only lived a few houses apart from each other, and as such had decided to walk over together, they saw a new figure approaching them, giving a relaxed wave as she drew closer.

"Hello, I hope I'm not too late," Arue calmly said as she arrived under the shade of the tree. The wannabe author was dressed in a lilac button up shirt with a pinkish-red cardigan and charcoal grey pants, her hair styled into its signature drill-like curls.

"Nope, you're just on time," Nerimaki commented as she checked the time on her phone, "We're just waiting on Dodonko now, right?".

Megumin nodded, "Yeah, unless one of you ended up inviting anyone else."

The other four girls all responded with a 'no' or a shake of their head, indicating that they really were just waiting on one last member. After at least five minutes of waiting, they heard hurried footsteps and turned to see a familiar girl running towards them.

"Sorry for being late," Dodonko called out as she came to a stop in front of them, panting, "I maybe kinda sorta completely lost track of time, hehe…". The somewhat air-headed girl was clad in a baggy pink sweater, black workout shorts and knee high black socks, her ponytail held up by her usual large red bow, a guilty look plastered on her face.

"And that's everyone," Funifura pointed out, turning to face Nerimaki, "Well, we may as well get going now. Hey, Nerimaki, lead the way!".

"U-umm, no offence Nerimaki, b-but are you sure that it's o-okay for us to be here? This place seems kinda, uhm, a-adult," Yunyun nervously asked as she stared up at the shelves upon shelves of alcoholic beverages.

"Yeah, it's completely fine," Nerimaki calmly reassured her, "If we weren't allowed in here, I wouldn't've brought you guys here in the first place. Although I wouldn't recommend coming to this place late at night, that's when it starts to get a little rowdy."

"Obviously," Funifura chimed in as she peered around at the building's interior, "Just because they serve alcohol, doesn't mean that this place is only for adults, Yunyun."

Megumin nodded, "They do actually serve food here, right? That is kinda the reason we came here in the first place."

"Of course we do!" Nerimaki insisted, walking over to a nearby empty table and grabbing a menu, holding it out in front of Megumin, "See? We even have a specific lunchtime menu."

"Oooh, some of this stuff sounds really good, and the prices aren't too steep either," Dodonko commented, leaning past the shorter girl to get a look at the menu, "They even do non-alcoholic cocktails!".

"I told you that you guys would like this place."

Arue nodded in agreement, "Mhm, we should probably find a table first and then we can start to look through the menu properly."

"Y-yeah, that sounds l-like a good idea," Yunyun concurred, with the six girls making their way through the establishment until they found a diner-style booth that could comfortably fit all of them around one table.

"Mmm, let's see," Megumin absentmindedly mumbled to herself as she picked up one of the menus from the middle of the table, scanning the prices, "The food at the café was much cheaper than this…".

"Café? What café?" Dodonko questioned, having somehow overheard her, "I didn't take you as the type of girl who goes to cafes often."

"Ah, um, no. I'm not really," She replied, a little surprised that the other girl had caught onto her words, "It's just that I went to a café a few days ago, so, y'know, It's fresh on my mind, I guess."

"Oh?" Nerimaki seemed intrigued, "Which café? There are quite a few in this area."

"It was just the one that some of the other girls in our class were talking about recently," Megumin explained, purposely trying to sound as vague and uninterested as possible, "I don't really remember the name, but the food was pretty okay, I guess."

That was a lie, the food was great. In her and Komekko's personal opinions, at least.

"Oh, I know which one you're talking about!" Funifura butted in, scrunching her eyebrows in thought for a moment, "It's called, uh, Café Blessing, right? You told me about that place a while ago, didn't you, Nerimaki?".

"Yeah," Nerimaki confirmed, "I went there a few weeks ago with some of my other friends."

"Mhm, After hearing about it so many times, I just decided to check it out earlier this week," Megumin explained, ending with a slightly strained laugh.

"Did you go by yourself?" Arue asked, pulling her attention away from her menu to join the conversation.

She hurriedly scrambled for an answer, "N-no. I went with uh, with my little sister,". Well, technically, that was the truth. She didn't see it as necessary for her to also mention the time before that where she'd gone with Kazuma. Mentioning him in front of Funifura and Dodonko might not end well for her, if the last time she talked with them was any indication.

"That's a pretty good idea," Funifura's face lit up as she had an idea, "I should take my little brother there, I'm sure he'd love it!".

"Ah, well, you probably shouldn't bother. As I said, the food is just kinda okay, nothing special," Megumin lied. She would find some way to apologise to Chris for driving away potential customers later.

"Woah, you're pretty harsh, Megumin," Nerimaki commented, a slightly apprehensive look on her face, "It's making me a bit worried to see how you'll react to the food here."

"She's just like that sometimes, I think," Dodonko said, slightly uncertain, "But she'll still eat pretty much anything she's given, so it doesn't really matter much."

"Hey! I'm right here, you know!?".

After all of the girls - excluding Nerimaki, who seemingly already knew it by heart - were done looking through the menu, a waiter arrived to take their orders, with Megumin making sure to order one of the cheapest meals on the menu.

It didn't take long for a small debate to begin between Megumin and Funifura over who had the 'cutest younger sibling', a topic that, to the surprise of the other four, the two girls were extremely passionate about. Though Dodonko did end up siding with Funifura, as apparently she'd met the girl's little brother before, the other three mostly just watched from the side-lines in amused confusion. In the end, they never managed to reach a solid conclusion, but the twin tailed girl adamantly claimed that she was the clear winner.

Shockingly, despite how quiet and skittish she had been the entire time, Yunyun gradually began to talk a bit more often, instead of just strangely staring at the other girls, something that had definitely been creeping them out a little. Eventually, she even managed to hold a one on one conversation with Arue, bonding over a book they'd both enjoyed before.

Seeing as she'd barely interacted with the girl before, Megumin decided to get to know Nerimaki and Arue a little better, being relieved to find out that they were both pretty easy to get along with. While they definitely weren't as outgoing and extroverted as Funifura and Dodonko, they also weren't as impossibly introverted as Yunyun, putting them on a pretty similar wavelength to Megumin herself.

"Y'know, you really weren't kidding," Dodonko said to Nerimaki once they finally made their way outside, "That food really was good."

"Mhm," Arue joined in, agreeing with the other girl, "I gotta say, I wouldn't mind coming back here again at some point. Especially considering the low price."

"Hey, I just had an idea," Funifura spoke up as she, leading the group, turned back to look at the other girls, "Why don't we start doing stuff like this, with all of us, more often? I mean, this was pretty fun, right?".

In response, there seemed to be a general sentiment of agreement from Dodonko, Nerimaki and Arue.

"W-well, I guess I wouldn't mind spending more time with m-m-my f-friends…" Megumin almost jumped as she heard Yunyun speak up from beside her, having somehow not even noticed her presence.

Finally, she decided to speak up herself. "Hmm," Megumin seemed to think on it for a second or so before smiling, "Yeah, this was fun. I wouldn't mind doing this again at some point."

"Ak-sel! Ak-sel!" Komekko chanted as she bobbed her head up and down, "Are we really going there tomorrow, big sis?".

"Y-yes, of course, Komekko" Her sister reassured her from the seat beside her, "You don't have to keep asking that, I'm not gonna suddenly change my mind or anything, I promise."

Her lips formed into a satisfied smile as she next turned to face the person on her other side, "You're coming too, right, big brother?".

"You know it," Kazuma gave the girl a hearty thumbs up, an action that she returned after a few seconds of confusion.

The three were currently sitting on the bus, on the return trip home from Komekko's kindergarten. And although the girl had been told about their trip to Axel at least fifteen minutes ago, her excitement still hadn't dwindled even a little bit. In fact, she was so excited that she hadn't even asked them what would be for dinner yet, a first as far as Kazuma was aware.

Seeing her so excited about their trip did warm his heart just a bit little, though.

"So, what do you want to do when we get there tomorrow?" He asked her curiously, intrigued as to if she'd even have an answer.

"Hmm…" The small girl seemed lost in thought for a second, then turned to Megumin, "Do they have food there, big sis?".

"Well, they do, but there are also a lot of other things too, li-".

"Get food," She snapped her head back to Kazuma, her mouth watering, "We can get food when we go there."

"Hey, Komekko," The high schooler asked her, "Have you ever been to an arcade before?".

"Ar…cade, wuzzat?" Komekko tilted her head in confusion, looking as if Kazuma had just told her the most unbelievable thing in the world.

"It's like a big room where you can play as many games as you want," Megumin tried to explain, her little sister's eyes lighting up as she digested her words, "What do you think, Komekko? Do you wanna go there as well?".

"Yup! Yup! Yup!" She loudly cheered, getting a few looks from the other bus-goers, "We're gonna get food and go to the ar-cade, big sis!".

Kazuma dragged his palm down his face, leaving it to rest upon his chin. He had an ominous feeling that he was going to be beyond exhausted by this time tomorrow.

"Urrgh," Kazuma loudly groaned as he dropped his pen down onto the dining table, deciding that now would be a good time to take a little break from his schoolwork. Sure, it had only been around ten minutes since his last break, but that detail wasn't important to him at that very moment.

To his credit, he had already completed most of his homework, with only two pieces left to be completed. The only problem with that being the fact that those last two pieces of work were both 3000+ word essays. It was safe to say that he'd, once again, left the hardest ones for last, something that he began to deeply regret in hindsight. What he wouldn't give to be taking notes on some textbook right now instead.

He suddenly heard a pronounced sigh come from his left, spotting the figure as she walked into the room.

"Come on, don't tell me you're taking another break," Megumin gave him an almost pitiful look as she walked over towards the teenager laying face down on her dining table, "If you keep stopping after every few sentences, you're never gonna get it done."

"Don't worry, I've got it all planned out," His muffled reply rang out, face still resting against the wooden table, "If I keep going at this pace, I should have them both done by next Friday. Maybe even Thursday evening if I work fast."

"N-next Friday? You're working that slowly?" She rushed up to him and grabbed the essay from him and looked over it, "I can't believe you… All this time and you've only done the introduction?".

"And two sentences of the first paragraph," He cut in, pointing at the small amount of text underneath the aforementioned introduction, as if that information was supposed to make things better.

"...".

Cringing at the scrutinous look on her face, he tried to explain himself, "Look, if these were due like, tomorrow, then obviously I'd be working my ass off right now. But since I've got over a week left until they're due, I may as well take it as easy as possible, right?".

"I hate that your laziness always has some semblance of logic to it," Megumin complained as she pulled out the seat next to Kazuma and moved it so that it was touching his. Without giving him time to question what she was doing, she promptly sat down on the seat and placed the paper back down next to his head, flicking his ear for effect, "C'mon, you're finishing this one tonight."

Kazuma gave her a disinterested look as he raised his head up to look at her, one that lasted just long enough to convey his full thoughts to the girl, "I'll do two thirds today, that enough for you?".

"It's good enough, I suppose," The dark haired girl smiled, revelling in her small victory.

At this point, there wasn't really much he could do to get out of his new predicament, and so, Kazuma began the unfortunate tasks of 'actually trying' and 'working hard', two things he had been hoping to avoid doing that evening. Still, he couldn't deny that having Megumin there made it slightly more bearable, only slightly though.

"You spelt 'prolific' wrong, there's no 'e' in it," The girl pointed out as she read through the most recent part of his work, "But aside from that, the rest is all good. You know, you're actually pretty smart when you put the effort in."

"That really would feel more like a compliment if it wasn't coming from a middle schooler," Kazuma commented, "If you say it, it just sounds like you're making fun of me."

"Hey! I'll have you know that it's not just coming from 'a middle schooler'," Megumin frowned at him indignantly, "It's coming from the smartest middle schooler in the entire area. Personally, I think you should see my praise as a high compliment."

"Hold on, really?" The high schooler looked up from his work, surprised, "I know that you're the smartest in your school, but are you seriously considered the smartest in the entire local area?".

Truthfully, no, not officially at least. Well, she probably was the smartest, or at least one of the smartest, but she wasn't officially recognised as such by anybody. That being sad, there was no way she was going to tell Kazuma that, especially not with how genuinely impressed he looked. No, of course not, she'd enjoy his admiration a little bit more.

"Mhm, I thought you already knew," She tried to keep her expression still as she told him such a bold-faced lie, "You should be thankful to have someone so smart as a best friend."

"I can't help but feel like said best friend is bragging way too much right now," Kazuma rolled his pen between his fingers, having once again lost all interest in writing, "But… I guess you have a point. Thanks."

"Of cou- H-huh?" Her voice noticeably cracked at the end, she hadn't been expecting his sarcastic attitude to suddenly turn into genuine gratitude towards her.

"I mean, I guess it's true that you've helped me out a lot in the past when it comes to studying," The green eyed boy spoke, a rare gentleness in his voice that she'd only been graced with on very rare occasions, "Seriously, you pretty much carried me through the entirety of my last year of middle school. So, y'know, thanks."

Megumin's face had started to burn up just a little, her heart beating ever so slightly faster than she would've liked. She discreetly brought a hand up to her heart, clutching at the denim of her overalls. There was something about hearing genuine gratitude from him, with that adorable awkward expression to boot, that made her heart go wild.

"We should do this more often," She blurted out without thinking.

"Hmm?" Kazuma raised an eyebrow at her, "Do what more often?".

"I mean like, um, studying together, after this is over," Megumin explained, only slightly looking away from him, "When school starts up again, we should study together like we used to, y'know?".

"Oh, r-right," The older teen scratched at his neck, seemingly considering her suggestion, "Well, I'm not against the idea, but since we obviously don't go to the same school anymore, we wouldn't be able to study at lunch like we used to. Though, if you really wanted to, we could always study together on my day off."

That certainly piqued her interest, "Tuesdays?".

"Yeah," Kazuma nodded, relaxing into his chair, "Like, after walking home, we could study together for an hour or so at either your place or wherever I end up living."

Megumin couldn't help but feel her cheeks heat up once again at the prospect, a little embarrassed by how Kazuma could make such an offer so casually.

"Y-yeah, we'll do that, then."

"C'mon big brother! Let's go!" Komekko insisted as she threw on her slightly oversized coat, a hand-me-down from when Megumin was around her age that she hadn't quite grown into yet.

Kazuma had just gotten out of the shower a few minutes ago, his hair still slightly damp. Admittedly, he did usually spend a fairly long time in the shower; he liked to relax, after all. He had hastily thrown on a black t-shirt and grey pants before exiting the bathroom, still halfway through drying his hair with his towel.

"Ah, no, Komekko," Megumin rushed over to the girl from the kitchen doorway, still wearing her pink tracksuit, "We aren't going quite yet. Me and Kazuma still need to finish getting ready, and I haven't even tied your hair up yet."

Komekko came to a complete stop and lightly tugged on her hair, as if she'd only just realised that it was down, instead of her usual pigtails, "Oh, okay. Do it now, big sis!".

"R-right, okay," Kazuma couldn't help but snort at the exchange between the two sisters, one the most hyper he'd ever seen her and the other looking as if she'd only just woken up, "How about go go brush your teeth as well? I know you haven't done them yourself, Komekko."

The smaller sister pouted, clearly not at all interested in her personal hygiene, before finally relenting and grabbing her sister's hand, pulling her in the direction of the bathroom.

"Oi, Megumin," She stopped in her tracks as she passed by the boy, with Komekko still trying to drag her along, "I'm gonna go make myself a coffee, you want one?".

Megumin looked down at her energetic sister for a few moments, before turning back to Kazuma with a wry expression, "...Yes please."

He couldn't help but snort in amusement as he watched the other girl be dragged off into the bathroom by an excitable Komekko, a somewhat dazed look in her half lidded eyes. Maybe it would be a good idea to make his coffee a little stronger than usual.

"Wow… this place is biiiiig!".

The journey into Axel had been a lively one, with Kazuma managing to excite Komekko even further as he described the concept of a 'mall' to the small girl, with the assistance of google images. Though Megumin tried her best to create a mental checklist with her little sister, with everything she wanted to do before they would have to go home, Komekko quickly lost interest when she found out that Kazuma's phone had games on it, a distraction that lasted her for the remainder of the train ride to Axel's station.

"Stay close to me, okay?" Megumin told Komekko, going into full big sister mode as she grabbed her hand, leading her sister through the station, "I don't want you getting lost in here."

"It's nowhere near as busy as it was on Monday," Kazuma offhandedly commented as he glanced back at the two girls, checking that they were still right behind him, "But still…".

The teen put his hands into the pockets of the beige jacket that he'd thrown over his black t-shirt, taking a few moments to look at Megumin, who was now dressed in the red shoulderless sweater she'd bought last time they were in Axel, along with the accompanying black socks and orange boots.

"Yeah," The girl nodded as they made their way off of the platform, "That's kinda why I wanted to go today, as opposed to on the weekend. If it was that crowded on a weekday, I don't wanna know how busy it gets on weekends."

"Well, Megumin," Kazuma raised a finger, as if he was lecturing her, "People do also come here for work and school, like me, so it's not surprising that it's congested here on weekdays too."

She snorted, slowing down a little now that they were now in a less densely packed part of the train station, "Since when did you use words like 'congested'?".

"Since I spent an entire evening being forced to write an essay," He groaned, getting a poorly hidden giggle in response.

It didn't take them too long to exit the station, stepping out into Axel for the second time that week. Well, second time for Kazuma and Megumin. Komekko, on the other hand, had quickly begun looking - and then later running - around in awe.

Glancing over at Megumin, he watched on in great interest as she looked off into the distance with a faraway expression before shaking her head and turning back to face him, jumping in surprise as she noticed him staring at her.

"What were you looking at?" Kazuma simply asked.

"Just…" She trailed off, a small smile forming on her face, "Nothing, never mind. Let's get going now."

The boy slowly nodded, his loosely knit eyebrows making it clear that he wanted to push her for a proper answer. Though it only lasted for a split second before he turned around and began to walk over towards Komekko, "Sure."

As the three ventured into the town of Axel, with Komekko pointing out every store or building that caught her attention, Kazuma soon spotted a potential first activity for the small girl skipping along beside him.

"Hey, Komekko," He came to a stop and crouched down next to the girl, pointing towards a nearby park, "You wanna go play on that playground over there?".

The playground in question was one that Kazuma himself had passed by many times when he was out in Axel, as it was directly en route to and from his school. It was honestly fairly large, and had way more stuff for a kid like Komekko to play around on, especially when compared to the dingy playground that was nearby Megumin's house.

Her eyes quickly lit up in excitement as she excitedly nodded and broke out into a sprint, with Kazuma and Megumin following behind her at a more leisurely pace.

The boy sighed, probably in relief, slumping his shoulders.

"Don't tell me that you're gonna start complaining already," Megumin rolled her eyes as she walked next to him, discreetly closing the gap between them now that Komekko was a few metres ahead, "C'mon, just let yourself enjoy something for once."

"For once?" Kazuma repeated, feigning indignation, "I'll have you know that I enjoy a lot of things. And when did I say that I wasn't gonna enjoy this? For your information, I'm actually looking forward to today."

"Huh? Really?" She looked at him with an expression that he couldn't quite parse, her mouth ever so slightly open, "That's good, then. It's not often that Komekko gets to have a day out, so you better make sure that she has fun today, got it?".

He turned to her, sharply exhaling in amusement, "That's the third time you've told me this. Trust me, I very much get it."

"G-good," Megumin smiled at him, an action that Kazuma was starting to notice more and more often, until her face changed to one of shock and she ran over to her little sister, "N-no, Komekko! Don't try to bite that, it's metal!".

To Kazuma's surprise, they ended up staying there for much longer than he'd expected; just over forty-five minutes, according to the time on his phone. Of course, playing on a children's playground wasn't exactly his usual idea of fun, with him instead spending his time resting on the nearby bench, with Megumin joining him whenever her sister wasn't pulling her over to play with her.

He couldn't really tell if she was just playing with Komekko to make her happy, or if Megumin was genuinely having fun playing on the playground, though his best guess would probably be a mix of the two. The one thing he was certain of, though, was that she would probably hit him if he ever tried to ask her about it, something that brought an amused smirk to his face.

"Haah… haah… Kazuma," The object of his internal musings collapsed onto the bench next to him, out of breath.

"Kazuma here."

"Did you… see me climb all the way to the top of that tree?" She asked him between heavy breaths, "It was… actually harder than you would think."

"Mhm," Truthfully, no, he hadn't really been paying attention, but he didn't want to ruin her moment, "It'd be even more impressive if you weren't so out of breath right now. Seriously, you need to start working out, it's beginning to get sad by this point."

"H-hey! You're making it sound worse than it is," Megumin sent him her most exaggerated pout, getting a poorly disguised snort in response, "I'll have you know that while you've just been lazing around on this bench, I've been playing with my little sister non stop for the last twenty minutes."

"Yeah, yeah," Kazuma leaned back into the bench, "And you have up until she finally gets bored of that swing to regain your energy. I'm not carrying you this time."

"E-excuse me, sir…" The young girl whimpered as she softly tugged on a middle-aged man's sleeve, "Do y-you have any f-f-food…? I'm so hungry…".

The man turned to see a pair of glassy red eyes, brimming with tears, staring up at him while the girl's hands were held out expectantly.

"I gave a-all of my food to my kitty," She continued, pointing to the small black cat next to her, who had been rudely taken away from her resting spot in the inside pocket of Kazuma's jacket, "And n-now I have nothing to eat."

The middle-aged man broke out of his momentary stupor to crouch down in front of the girl, a look of immense sympathy on his face. "O-of course, little one. Here, I just bought this sandwich from that stop over there," He told her as he held out a brown paper bag in front of him, "But it's fine, you can have it. Please take it, little girl."

There were tears forming in the corners of the man's eyes as he held the bag out to her, which she promptly snatched from him, a line of drool already falling from her mouth and her tears disappearing in an instant.

"Thank you, mister!" She thanked him with a beaming smile as she made her getaway, leaving the man dumbfounded.

"Did you teach her this?" Kazuma asked the girl next to him as they watched Komekko swindle food from yet another innocent passer-by, the small girl now running towards them with the sandwich in her mouth and Chomusuke trotting along behind her, "This is the fifth person she's done this to, and it's worked every single time."

"M-me?" Megumin looked at him as if he'd said something insane, "I'm just as confused as you! I have no where or how she learned to do that."

Soon enough, the girl in question crashed into Megumin's leg, stumbling back slightly with a goofy grin on her face, "Did you see that, big sis? The nice man gave me his food!".

Her older sister immediately began questioning her, "Komekko! Where did you learn to do this!?".

Komekko stayed silent for a few seconds, quickly finishing off her sandwich, before she took on what was most likely supposed to be a 'thinking pose'. "Hmmm…" She kept the pose up for a few seconds before her face went blank and her arms went back down to her sides, "Mommy. I think."

"I really should've known…" Megumin grumbled under her breath.

Finally making their way into Axel's mall, Komekko looked around the sprawling building with wide eyes, her head darting from one storefront to another.

Megumin leaned in slightly to talk to the boy next to her, Chomusuke loudly mewling as she hurriedly jumped from the girl's shoulder and back into Kazuma's jacket, "Kazuma, Kazuma, where do you think we should go first?".

He pondered her question for a few moments. Sure, he already had a general idea of some of the things they'd thought about doing today, but they hadn't really come up with any sort of day plan, unlike last time. Just as he was about to give her an answer, he was interrupted by a new sound close by, a loud rumbling noise coming from the girl a few paces in front of them.

"Hungry," Was all the little girl said as she turned around to face them, patting her whining stomach.

"Well," Kazuma let out a soft breath as he rested his arms behind his head, "That answers your question, I guess."

Walking through the first floor of the mall, they quickly arrived at the food court, dubbed 'The Guild Hall', for whatever reason, a place that Kazuma had been to a few times before on his previous visits. If nothing else, the word hall certainly felt like an accurate descriptor, with the entire food court being a single big room filled with tables, with different stalls and fast food booths lining the walls. Pretty much every type of food Kazuma could think of was being served here in some shape or form.

"Woah, this place is bigger than I expected," Megumin muttered as she peered at the different options that lined the sides of the room, "K-kazuma, why didn't you take me here last time!?".

"I dunno," He shrugged, "By the time I remembered about this place, we'd already eaten, so I just didn't bother mentioning it."

It was, all things considered, a fairly reasonable answer. Nonetheless, Megumin still gave him a stern glare, one that didn't really last long enough to have any real bite to it.

After a short discussion, they found a table to claim as 'theirs' and promptly split up, with Megumin going to order her food on her own while Kazuma went to go order for him and Komekko to cut down on time ever so slightly, due to the fact that he at least vaguely knew what could be ordered where.

After about ten minutes of Komekko trying to decide what to eat, at one point almost crying - real tears this time - from the overwhelming amount of options, and then almost ten more minutes standing in line for both her and Kazuma's food, they finally managed to get their food. Megumin was already at their table when they eventually arrived and, from the looks of it, had been there for a while, having already almost finished her own lunch.

"Sorry for not waiting," She sheepishly smiled as the other two sat down with their meals, Komekko digging into hers instantly, "You two were taking a while ordering… and I was pretty hungry."

"Fair enough, well did end up taking… longer than intended," Kazuma sighed, before breaking out into a small smirk, "Unfortunately for you, you'll now just have to watch us enjoy our food while you have nothing left to eat."

Megumin looked down between her meagre scraps of remaining food and the full meals in front of Kazuma and Komekko, a hungry look appearing in her eyes.

"No way," Kazuma told her in the most monotone voice he could muster.

"I don't like the way big sis is looking at my food."

"H-hold on! Y-you two are just kidding, right?" She looked between them with a pleading look in her eyes, "Well, Komekko I can understand actually, but Kazuma, surely you wouldn't mind sharing with me? C'mon, just a little bit."

He quickly batted her arm away as she leaned towards him, chopsticks in hand, "Oi! You've already eaten, quit it."

"It looks really good though," Megumin clutched at his jacket defiantly, "Can't I just have a little bit? I only want to try it."

"If I were to let you have some," Kazuma asked, casually drumming his chopsticks against the top of her head, eliciting a low whine from the girl in response, "Would you stop bothering me and let me eat in peace?".

The short haired girl looked up at him with a wide smile, one that made her intentions obvious, "Why, of course I would, Kazuma!".

"You're the worst…" He grumbled under his breath, making sure to not give her the satisfaction of seeing his somewhat amused smile, "But I really am only giving you a little bit, got it?".

To his great relief, only a small amount of Kazuma's lunch was greedily taken away from him. Though, on the bright side, at least she ended up throwing away his trash for him afterwards, though, to Kazuma, that felt like the least she could do in return.

"We should probably try to speed things up a little," Megumin commented as they walked through the first floor of the mall, searching for something to catch their interest, "It's already 1:30 and we haven't even done anything in here besides getting lunch."

"To be fair," Kazuma replied, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket, "We did spend a while just walking around the town, a lot longer than we did last time we were here. But you do have a point."

The teen girl seemed to think things over for a second, "Our train still doesn't leave for almost three hours, so it's not like we're tight on time or anything, It'd just be nice to do as much as possible."

"I mean, I'm the only one who needs to get that train," He pointed out, "You and Komekko could always get a slightly later train and stay here for a little longer if you want."

"Maybe…" Megumin looked uncertain, grabbing her sister's hand at the last second to stop her from running into a nearby pastry shop, to the little girl's great dismay, "We could do that, but I'd rather not, y'know, if we can help it."

"Well, no point worrying about it right now, anyway," Kazuma shrugged, before glancing over at Megumin, "So what do you wanna do first?".

"Hmm…" She looked between her little sister and the surrounding mall, searching for something to catch her interest. It took her a few moments, probably a few moments too long, if the look on Kazuma's face was any indication, before she turned back to him. "Komekko wanted to go to the arcade, right? So how about we just make our way over there and shop by anywhere that interests us along the way?".

Komekko's eyes went wide and her mouth formed into a small circle before she jumped up and threw her arms into the air, "You mean we're going to that big place with all the games? The one that you and big brother told me about yesterday?".

"Mhm," Megumin proudly puffed out her chest, "So what do you think of your big sister's idea? Pretty good huh?".

The tiny girl brought a finger to her chin as she stayed silent, "...I don't think I was listening to what big sis was saying earlier."

Her big sister's face quickly fell, "I… I see."

"Die! Die! Die! Big brother, are you watching?".

"Look at her, they grow up so fast," Kazuma pretended to wipe a tear from his eye and sniffled, "She's becoming just like her big brother."

After spending a while further exploring the mall, and checking out a variety of different shops, none of which they actually ended up buying anything from, the three of them finally made their way into the arcade. Upon arrival, Komekko had quickly been drawn in by the bright lights and strange looking machines, ones that she'd never seen before, a gleeful expression adorning her face.

It had already been at least twenty minutes since they'd first arrived, with Komekko having already tackled pinball, air hockey and even a whack-a-mole type game, all to varying results. Due to her obvious lack of experience, she ended up playing the way most children with no experience would, that is, hitting the bumpers over and over again at seemingly random intervals. Though, unlike most children, her plan actually worked out better than Kazuma had expected.

On the other hand, the small girl had been too distracted by the 'funny wind' to even pay attention to her opponent, Megumin, in air hockey, leading to a very one-sided match where Kazuma tried his best to coax her into scoring points instead of just staring at the table in awe. Then, finally, she seemingly misinterpreted whack-a-mole as a game of strength, not reaction speed, with her making extra sure to hit every 'mole' as hard as possible, even if it meant losing precious seconds.

And now, Komekko had moved onto something a little different.

Megumin gave him a disapproving look, sighing, "Kazuma, are you really sure it's okay for her to be playing a game like that? You do know that she's only four, right?".

"It'll be fine," He reassured her, leaning against the arcade machine that Komekko was currently playing, a first person shooter game that the small girl was surprisingly proficient at, "It's not like it's exceptionally bloody or anything."

Just as he finished speaking, the small girl finally managed to defeat a boss-level enemy, spraying a large pool of blood all over the screen, her eyes going wide in interest.

"...Kazuma."

"...H-hey, Komekko," The brunette crouched down next to the small girl, gently taking the gun accessory from her hands, "That's enough of that for now okay? How about me and your big sister show you some of the other fun things you can do here, does that sound good?".

"Yes, yes!" She seemingly instantly forgot that she was in the middle of playing a game as she ran over and past her big sister, deeper into the arcade.

"We should go after her before she gets lost," Megumin pointed out as the two of them followed behind her.

"Y'know, we don't need to start heading back already, we've still got around…" Kazuma took out his phone to check the time, "...Over half an hour until our train arrives."

"Oh, don't worry Kazuma, I already know that," His companion informed him with a reassuring smile and a finger pointed into the air.

Once they'd finally managed to coax Komekko out of the arcade, a harder task than Kazuma had initially imagined it to be, they'd slowly made their way back towards the main entrance of the mall, stopping for always every single small distraction that they encountered along the way, eventually leading to Kazuma buying Komekko an ice cream in return for her 'not running off anymore'.

Finally exiting the mall for the day, Megumin had slowly led her sister through the streets of Axel, with Kazuma not far behind, until they began to draw closer to the area around the train station. It was at that point that Kazuma had decided to remind her that they were in no rush to leave Axel.

"Okay…? So is there something else that you want to do or are we just gonna spend like twenty minutes at the station?" The older teen inquired, a curious glint in his eyes.

She nodded her head happily before gently tugging on her sister's arm, who seemed to be getting more and more tired by the second, "Yeah, there's this place that I saw near the station last time we were here. I only noticed it when we were about to leave so we didn't have time to check it out last time, but I'd like to now."

"Oh?" Kazuma seemed intrigued, racking his memory for anywhere of interest that fit the description of 'near the station'.

"Big siiis," Komekko whined, deciding that she no longer wanted to walk and instead chose to sit herself down on the sidewalk, "I'm… tired."

"Hey, come on Komekko, n-not in the middle of the street," Megumin crouched down and took hold of her little sister's hands, "If you're tired, then how about I carry you, okay?".

"Okay!" She immediately hopped back up, ignoring her sister's now outstretched arms and instead jumping up and wrapping her arms around the back of her neck. Only barely stopping herself from falling over backwards, Megumin managed to get a hold into the small girl's legs, holding her securely on her back as she rose back up to her full height.

"I'm curious," The brunette spoke once Megumin got into pace beside him, "Where exactly are we going? I have no idea what or where you're referring to."

"You'll see," Was all she said as she readjusted the little girl on her back.

"So was this what you were expecting?" Megumin curiously asked him as they sat down on a patch of grass near the riverbank.

Kazuma did his best to silence a yawn, propping himself up with his arms, "Honestly, not at all. I've passed by this place a couple times, but I've never really properly been here. It's a little out of the way."

The dark haired girl hummed as she looked over the surrounding area, something that could best be described as a small and shallow valley, only a few minutes away from Axel's train station. "Well, in my defence, I didn't know that we'd have to go around the gate, I thought that we could just go straight through it."

"To be fair, we probably could've climbed over it," He explained, gesturing with one of his hands to further his point, "But I doubt we'd be able to get Komekko over. Or, at least, if we did, it probably wouldn't end up being worth the extra effort."

"Either way…" Megumin's body relaxed as she felt a soft gust of wind roll over her, "This place is pretty nice. There's a ton of places like this around where we live, but it feels kinda special to see something like this in a more urban area."

Kazuma nodded in agreement, not really having anything else to add. After a moment or so of calming silence, He felt something moving around in his coat before Chomusuke hopped out, walking a few steps before curling up into a ball next to his legs. "I completely forgot that she was in there," He commented, softly stroking the cat's jet-black fur, "I can't believe that she managed to sleep this entire time."

"And I can't believe that she's completely out, just like that," Megumin quietly laughed as she looked down at the small girl sprawled out on her lap, fast asleep.

"She sure must've been tired, we've only been here for like a minute and she's asleep already," The boy beside her added, tossing a small pebble into the river and watching as it was washed away by the gentle current, "But, I guess it isn't that surprising, today was probably pretty exhausting for her."

"Mhm," The girl to his right nodded in agreement, using a finger to idly fix up her little sister's windswept bangs, "And she didn't get to have her usual nap earlier, maybe we should let her take it easy tomorrow."

"No complaints from me," Another pebble, a little bigger than the last, was tossed into the river, making impact with a small mossy rock that poked out just above the water, "But we do have to get groceries again tomorrow, right?".

"Oh yeah, we do," Megumin joined Kazuma in tossing stones, making sure not to disturb her sister's sleep as she moved to pick up a stone, "Well, besides that, and your shift I guess, we can take everything else easy then."

There was a short period of silence after that, the only sounds being that of Chomusuke's purrs and Komekko's occasional snoring, with both teenagers continuing to occasionally throw stones into the riverbed. Eventually, Kazuma paused, placing the pebble he was about to throw back down onto the ground and looking over at Megumin. At some point, maybe a little bit before he did, she'd also stopped, now just looking out over the river in silence.

He found his eyes locked upon the relaxed, serene, expression on her face, as if she was completely at peace. Such an expression almost felt unnatural for someone like Megumin, probably just as unnatural as it would look on him. But still, it looked nice on her. He almost found himself wanting to tear his eyes away, as if the mere act of looking at her would cause her expression to falter. But he didn't.

After a while, she must've felt his eyes on her, turning to look at him. Though her expression did indeed change, her smile didn't shrink in the slightest, now aimed directly at him. It was now her turn to stare, maybe even study, the look on his face, whatever it was at that current moment.

Suddenly feeling a little nervous, for some reason, Kazuma softly exhaled and said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I can't believe that I still have to go to work after all of this."

Chapter Text

Kazuma sighed as he pulled his phone from his pocket to check his latest text from Darkness. Or, more specifically, Aqua using the other girl's phone to text him, as she didn't have a phone of her own. He'd got a text from her as he was riding the train back and ever since he'd split off from Megumin, Komekko and Chomusuke, he'd been texting his former roommate to pass the time as he slowly made his way towards the café.

From the string of photos that had been attached, it really did seem like Aqua had been having fun on her little 'vacation'. Though the court was still out on if anyone around her had been having fun as well. Kazuma couldn't help but feel sorry for the residents of the Dustiness family home.

Eventually, Kazuma reached the café, texting Aqua a brief 'Gotta go now' before closing the messaging app on his phone and shoving it back into one of his coat's many pockets. Despite his more relaxed walk over to his destination, he surprisingly still had around five minutes before his shift properly began, though he knew that getting changed into his uniform would take up at least a minute or so of that time.

He ignored the closed sign on the door, as he always did, and opened the door to immediately spot Chris, as she finished wiping down the last of the tables, in preparation for the evening shift.

"Hiya, helper," She greeted him with an enthusiastic wave, "Early again! You've been getting good at this lately."

Kazuma shrugged in response, "I guess. It's just circumstances though, I haven't really made any effort to be overly on-time, it just kinda happens."

"Or," Chris gave a prideful smirk, "You just want to spend as much time as you can with your lovely boss. That's it, isn't it?".

"Sure, whatever you say, chief," He responded, completely monotone, getting his boss to finally crack as she started laughing at his unamused reaction, "Anyway, I'm gonna go change now, it's okay if I go make myself a coffee before we open up, right?".

The short haired girl considered it for a second before giving him a simple "Mhm," as Kazuma disappeared into the back of the café.

"I'll have one yakisoba bread please."

"Do you want a drink with that, or will it just be the yakisoba bread on its own?" Kazuma asked as he scribbled down his order.

"Hmm," The customer, A man who looked to be in his mid-twenties, thought about it briefly before replying, "I'll just take a glass of water, no ice."

"Water, no ice, got it," He quickly scribbled down the amendment to the order, looking back up to face the man, "You can go sit at any available table, we'll bring your order out to you when it's ready."

With a polite "Thank you,", the man moved to seat himself at a small table near one of the windows of the café. Kazuma had only been out front for around ten or fifteen minutes by that point, having just spent the last hour and forty five minutes before then back in the cafe's kitchen. Looking over to the small clock hanging on one of the adjacent walls, Kazuma took note of the current time. It was 8:13pm, just over forty five minutes until closing time.

Kazuma let out a yawn, which slowly evolved into a groan, although it was one more out of exhaustion than actual tiredness, he still had a couple hours of being awake left in him. Hopefully things would start to settle down pretty soon, customer-wise at least, as the last half an hour or so at the café was usually pretty slow. As he rested his head on his fist, leaning on the front counter, he heard the usual sound of a new customer entering the café, though he didn't bother looking, he was more than used to it by now.

It was only when about twenty seconds had passed and the customer hadn't appeared in his field of vision that he grew a little curious and decided to look over at the door, seeing no one there. When his eyes drifted over to the small table closest to the front counter, he suddenly recoiled back in shock, only barely holding back the surprised yelp that was begging to come out of his mouth.

"Jesus, Megumin!" He tried his best to keep his voice down as he stared down the girl sitting nearby, "How long were you planning on just staring at me for?".

The girl giggled at his reaction as she rested her head on her hands, "I was just seeing how long it would take for you to notice that I was here. It was around twenty-four seconds in case you were curious."

"Thanks, I really wanted to know that," Kazuma rolled his eyes at her, "But, seriously, what are you doing here?".

"Komekko went straight to bed practically as soon as she finished her dinner and there was nothing interesting to watch on TV," Megumin began explaining matter-of-factly, "So, in the end, I decided that I'd just get the bus and come bother you while you're at work."

"Ah, I see, loitering."

"I-it's not loitering! I was planning to buy a drink, I swear!" She waved her hands around before pouting and turning away from him, "You were the one who told me that I could do this, so don't try to turn it on me. You should be happy that I've come to save you from your clear boredom."

"Guess I can't argue with either of those points," Kazuma shrugged, "Anyway, I have to go give these last few orders to chief now, I'll take yours in a second."

As Kazuma hurried towards the back of the café, Megumin smiled and slumped her head down a little bit. Annoyingly, despite the fact that she'd felt wide awake the entire evening, she had suddenly started to feel a little drowsy as she had been walking over to the café. While she had considered just going back home, it would've felt like a complete waste of both time and money to get the bus there just to go back immediately.

And besides, she had a plan to see though.

Yes, in truth, she hadn't really just come to the café because she was bored. Sure, she definitely was bored, but it's not like she didn't have a myriad of other ways to deal with that boredom which she most likely would've chosen over what she was currently doing. No, instead, as she had been washing the dishes an hour or so before, Megumin's idle thoughts had begun to concoct a plan, one that she was more determined than ever to see through.

"Alright, I'm back," Kazuma's voice pulled her from her thoughts as he made his way back to the nearby counter, her head turning slightly so that he was in the centre of her view, "You ready to order now?".

"Hmm," The crimson eyed teen moved her arms to prop her head up slightly, "I'll just have, I dunno, pineapple juice, I guess."

"Right. You gonna pay now or later?" He asked her as he prepared her drink, which was simply just pouring the bottled juice into a glass.

"Later," Megumin replied as she took the glass from his outstretched hand, only needing to slightly lean forward to reach him, "Thanks."

While not the most complex, or overly flashy, plan, she was still quite proud of her plan, especially with how spur of the moment its creation was. Once Kazuma's shift ended, with her keeping him company up until then, they'd obviously walk over to get the bus together. After their bus dropped them off at their usual spot, she'd ask him to go for a short walk with her, with him hopefully accepting.

From there, Megumin would lead him to a small hill not too far away from her house, one she'd frequented for a few years now, and right there, under the stars, she would properly confess to him. Inexperienced as she was, she couldn't help but be proud of coming up with something so romantic. Or, at least, she hoped it was romantic, now wasn't the time to lose her nerve.

It wasn't the grandest plan in the world, she knew that much, but she hoped that it would be enough. Enough to make it clear to him how much she loved him, and how important he was, and always would be, to her. She could never imagine herself feeling that way towards anyone else. He was the only one who could make her feel that way.

Tonight would be the night, she would make sure that it was.

"Hey, helper, here are those two orders you gave me earlier," Came the voice of Chris as she walked out of the 'employees only' door with two dishes in her hands, "And I'm almost done with that yakisoba bread alread- Oh?".

"Oh?" Kazuma repeated in confusion for a second before he followed where his boss's eyes were looking, deciding to excuse himself before she got any funny ideas, "I'll… take those orders for you, chief."

Once Kazuma had walked off with the two orders in his hands, Chris wasted no time in rushing over to talk with Megumin in whispers, "Sooooo, what are you doing here?".

The younger girl blushed as she carefully considered how she would answer. Sure, she could, and was very much intending to, give some vague answer about why she was there, but she quickly came upon the realisation that she potentially had something very powerful at her disposal; a potential ally.

"H-hey, Chris?" Megumin took a determined breath, it would be best to just be direct, "Do you know if Kazuma... l-likes me? Uhm, a-as in, has he ever said anything about me to you?".

"Hmm?" The excited glint in the older girl's eyes did nothing to help with Megumin's embarrassment, "Well, maybe he's said a few things about you here and there, but why do you want to know? Do you like Kazuma, Megumin?".

The dark haired teen remained silent, glancing over at Kazuma to see that he was engaged in conversation with one of the patrons. As she glanced back at the other girl, her cheeks flared up at the idea of admitting such personal feelings to this girl that she barely even knew. But, even so, she really did want to know what kind of things Kazuma had said about her to Chris.

Just when Chris began to assume that Megumin, understandably so, wasn't going to answer her question, the girl in question spoke up, even quieter than before, "I… uhm, I love him…".

As soon as she uttered those few words, she sharply turned her head away from the other girl, trying and failing to hide her burning face, while Chris's face burst into one of her widest smiles. "Ah! When are you planning to tell him? Please tell me that it's soon!".

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" She scolded the silver haired girl, her voice then growing soft again, "And, I-I'm gonna tell him… tonight, on the way home…".

"You really don't have anything to be nervous about, you know," Chris told her matter-of-factly, a reassuring smile on her face, "Trust me, from what he's said to me, I'm preeeeetty sure he likes you too."

There was a look of relief, hope even, on Megumin's face as she listened to those words, "W-what has he said?".

"Hmm, well, let me see. He told me tha-".

"Oi, chief," The sound of Kazuma's voice caused Megumin to instantly jerk away from Chris, taking a large swig of her drink in a feeble attempt to hide her blush, "I'm done with those two orders, shouldn't be getting back to finishing that yakisoba bread now?".

"Oh, right, of course!" She managed to give an actually fairly convincing fake laugh before mouthing a silent 'sorry' to Megumin and moving away from her table, "Remember, helper, you are still on your shift right now, so try not to get too distracted, kay?".

The part timer simply just rolled his eyes as the girl disappeared back into the kitchen, before moving to stand back behind the counter. "So," He began, tilting his head slightly at his companion, "What exactly were you two whispering about back there?".

"Huh?" Megumin's eyes widened for a second before she quickly composed herself, the gears in her brain frantically working to create a convincing enough lie, "Oh, um, she was just telling me to make sure that you were actually working. If not, I'll have to report directly to her after your shift, so no slacking off, okay?."

"Oh, great."

"Finally," Kazuma let out a drawn out sigh of relief once a group of three women had left the café, his eyes instantly drawn to the clock, "We were supposed to start closing up seven minutes ago."

"Well, helper," Chris heartily slapped him on the back, making the boy stumble slightly, "The sooner we close up now, the sooner you can go home, so get on it!".

As Kazuma grumbled out some kind of affirmation, Megumin spoke up, "So, are you sure that I'm allowed to be in here when you've already officially closed?".

While she had expected a response from Chris, it was instead Kazuma who answered her, "Technically, no, you really shouldn't be here after we've closed. But I'd feel bad if we just forced you to wait outside while we cleared up, especially because it's still fairly cold out at night during this time of year. Plus you aren't really properly dressed for the cold right now."

It was true, Megumin was still only wearing the same red sweater-dress that she had been wearing when they went out to Axel earlier in the day. Her lips formed into a small smile at the concern that he was showing for her.

"...Thanks."

It took around twenty to twenty-five minutes for the two workers to change out of their uniforms and get the café fully closed up, with a now even more tired Megumin idly splayed out on the of the booth seats, making idle conversation with Kazuma as he wiped down the tables. Once they were fully closed up for the day, the three of them stood outside as Kazuma and Megumin waited for Chris to finish locking up.

"Oi, are you sure that you're warm enough?" The brunette asked as he turned his attention to the girl next to him, "You know, Megumin, you really should've brought a jacket with you, especially if you're going out at night."

"I'm fine, don't worry," Her words were betrayed by the small shiver that went through her body, getting an unimpressed side-eye in response, "M-my shoulders are a little cold, that's all!".

"Whatever," Kazuma let out a short puff of breath before speaking again, "It's not like I can do anything about it anyway."

"Hmm?" Megumin leaned towards him a small smirk on her face, "But isn't this the part where the man would give his coat to the woman?".

"No way," His response was practically instant, "Not if 'the man' is only wearing a t-shirt underneath his coat. You should know by now that I don't conform to such tropes."

"Well, it was worth a shot, at least," The girl tried once more to suppress a shiver, a small frown tugging on her lips.

"All done!" Came the voice of Chris as she wandered over towards them, shoving the keys into her pocket, "My ride heads off pretty soon, so we might have to walk to the station a little faster than usual."

"Huh?" Megumin stared at her, confused, "Why are we going to the station?".

"Oh, right," The sole boy of their small group explained to her, "Chris lives in Axel, so me and Darkness usually walk over to the train station with her before heading to the bus stop."

"A-ah, I see," Megumin suppressed yet another shiver. She really, really, wished that she'd bought a jacket.

Not long after, the three of them had finally made their way to the station, with about five minutes to spare before Chris' train set off. As such, they didn't really have time for proper drawn out goodbyes.

"Alright, helper, I'll see you tomorrow!" She yelled back as she quickly disappeared from view, "And feel free to stop by the café anytime you want, Megumin!".

They both spent a few seconds waving her off until she completely disappeared from their view.

"K-kazuma, K-k-kazuma," Megumin's teeth chattered together.

"Yes, Kazuma here."

"Let's get to the bus stop as soon as p-possible, okay?" She looked up at him, hugging herself for warmth.

Kazuma stared intently at her for a few moments before running a hand through his hair and groaning. "Fine," He grumbled as he placed his bag down onto the sidewalk and shrugged off his jacket, holding the article of clothing out towards Megumin, "You can wear it for now, but I'm taking it back again immediately if I end up getting cold."

She sent him a warm smile, the kind that made it practically impossible for him to keep up his annoyed façade, as she took the coat from him and hastily put it on, snuggling into her newfound warmth and, more importantly, Kazuma's jacket. She held back the overwhelming desire to inhale his scent, for the time being at least. Doing that in front of him right then would be super embarrassing, not to mention creepy.

"Th-thank you, Kazuma."

"...No problem," He looked away from her and slung his bag back over his shoulder, beginning to walk in the direction of the bus stop, "L-let's just get going now."

Megumin clutched onto her new, very oversized, jacket as she stepped into pace beside Kazuma, still smiling at him. She couldn't help it. Her plan was completely falling into place so far. This was quickly turning into the exact type of mood she had been hoping she'd be able to create between them. She had no doubts that she'd be able to pull this off and tha-

Megumin let out a loud yawn as her eyes fluttered slightly, feeling heavier than they had a few moments before.

"Don't worry," Kazuma commented after she finished yawning, "It won't take too long to get to the bus stop from here, there's a shortcut I found a while ago that cuts off a big chunk of the usual route."

She mentally cursed at herself. Sure, up until then, the discomfort of the cold had done a good job of staving off the tiredness that she'd felt back at the café, but now that she was all comfortable and bundled up in Kazuma's coat, she felt her drowsiness quickly return in full force. At this rate, there was a chance she'd end up falling asleep entirely before she even got the chance to make her confession.

Megumin smacked her cheeks in a rudimentary wake up call, getting an odd look from the boy next to her for her sudden action. "I'm not really all that tired," She lied, "It was just one of those… random yawns, I guess?".

His odd look persisted for a few seconds longer before he went back to looking at the dimly lit street ahead of them, "If you say so."

True to Kazuma's words, they reached the bus stop far sooner than Megumin had been expecting. Unfortunately, they'd still have to wait for a few minutes more until the next bus would arrive, with the previous one having departed a minute or so before they got there. By this point, Megumin's sleepiness had only gotten worse, with the poor girl's eyes drooping shut more often than she was happy with.

"Hey…" She tried to make conversation in an attempt to keep herself awake, "Are you still warm enough without your coat?".

Kazuma checked himself over, as if somewhat surprised, "Weirdly, yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am a little cold, but it's nothing too bad. Still though, I'll probably want it back if I don't end up warming up again on the bus."

"That's fine," Megumin felt her head slumping ever so slightly, leaning against the boy sitting next to her, "Haah… Your coat is so comfy, Kazuma."

She felt Kazuma's body briefly twitch, an action that suddenly made the drowsy girl partially aware of what it was that she was actually doing, and what she'd just said. If she wasn't as tired as she was, she'd probably be blushing up a storm at her own actions. Well, Kazuma didn't seem to mind it all that much, so she decided to stay as she was.

"H-hey, not that I'm bothered by it, but you really shouldn't have gone out if you were this tired," The emerald eyed boy lectured her, trying and failing to sound like he was actually scolding her, "Between this and not bringing a jacket, you really should plan things out a little better, y'know."

The irony of Kazuma telling her to plan things out was not lost on her in the slightest.

Soon enough, the next bus arrived and the two teens quickly boarded it, Kazuma sighing contently as he entered the comparatively much warmer vehicle. While they continued to make casual, mostly meaningless, conversation once they'd gotten into their seats, the boy could clearly notice that Megumin was only getting more and more tired as she rested against her seat, her responses getting progressively shorter and quieter as time went on.

It was only when, after around two minutes since she'd last spoken, Kazuma felt her head gently come to rest against his shoulder that he realised that she'd fallen asleep, her closed eyes and soft breathing only confirming it for him. Though he was originally just planning to try and ignore it at first, once he felt her head slowly slide further down his upper arm, Kazuma decided to help her get into a more comfortable sleeping position.

Moving away and stretching out the very arm that Megumin had been resting against, Kazuma wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in to comfortably rest against him, her head staying mostly upright against his shoulder. While he couldn't be entirely sure, the vaguely positive sounding mumbling that he heard from the girl seemed to be an indication that she was at least subconsciously content with her current position. He pulled her in a little closer, hoping to use her body heat to warm himself up. It was only fair, after all.

With Megumin out like a light, Kazuma instead chose to spend the rest of the bus journey mindlessly scrolling through his phone, a sure-fire way to kill time and distract himself from the girl whose soft breathing he could now feel against his neck. Once the bus began to near their drop-off point, Kazuma removed his arm from around Megumin, instantly feeling just a little bit colder than before, and gently shook her awake, quickly turning much less gentle as the girl refused to rouse.

"Kazu…ma…" She softly mumbled as she cracked open her eyes ever so slightly, clearly only barely conscious.

"Oi, Megumin, wake up," Kazuma stopped shaking her, his hands resting on her shoulders as she groggily looked up at him, "The bus is gonna stop soon, so we need to be ready to get off."

"O…kay…" The half awake girl closed her eyes again, falling back asleep almost immediately.

"Oi!".

After repeating the exact same routine with her three more times, to the exact same results every time, Kazuma groaned in frustration as the bus came to a complete standstill. They had to get off right now, one way or another. Not seeing any other options, he gently moved Megumin to the edge of her seat and kneeled down in front of her, sliding her onto his back. He felt her subconsciously wrap her arms around his neck with a loose grip as he supported her legs with his hands, his bag hanging hands free from his right shoulder.

Making his way to the front of the bus, he tried to ignore the odd looks he got from a few of the other passengers as he carried the unconscious girl on his back. Once outside, he took a moment to enjoy the pleasant feeling of the chilly night time breeze that gently brushed through his hair and the comforting warmth of the girl on his back.

The walk back to Megumin's house was a short one, but Kazuma didn't feel any real sense of urgency, he was happy to walk back at a more relaxed pace, just this once. After around five or so minutes of walking, he felt Megumin shift around slightly on his back, making a few faint sounds that he couldn't quite determine, an indication that she was finally beginning to wake up of her own accord.

"Oh, good morning," Kazuma said sarcastically as the girl perked up slightly upon hearing his voice, "You finally awake now?".

"Mmm, kinda," Came Megumin's response, her voice sounding ever so slightly more awake than it had when Kazuma had tried to wake her earlier, "...Where are we?".

"Around ten minutes away from your house," He answered, feeling her loose grip on his neck slowly tighten into something much more secure, "I tried to wake you up on the bus, but you just kept falling back asleep, so I kinda had to carry you instead. I can let you down now if you want."

While he obviously couldn't see it, he could still very much feel her slowly shaking her head, her head brushing against his own due to their closeness, "No thanks, I feel a little tired still… and this is really comfortable."

"Right. W-well, that's fine by me, I guess," Kazuma fumbled slightly at her statement, especially when the half-asleep girl nuzzled her head into the back of his neck, "A-anyway, we should be back soon enough."

Though she was clearly still pretty tired, Megumin seemed to be a lot more awake than before by the time that her house finally came into view, her arms still wrapped around the brunette's neck. Truthfully, for as comfortable as she felt in that moment, she couldn't help but feel as though something was wrong, like she was forgetting about something important. Whatever it was, in her current state of consciousness, she just couldn't recall whatever it was no matter how hard she tried.

"Oi," Kazuma's voice broke through her thoughts as they reached the front door, "Can you get down now? I kinda need my hands to unlock the door."

Begrudgingly, she released her hold on Kazuma as he gently let go of her legs, allowing her to land back on the ground, her legs being unsteady at first. Once he had access to his hands, he quickly checked his pockets for a few seconds before his face lit up on realisation and he turned to look at Megumin.

"It's in my jacket. The key, I mean. You mind…?" He asked her, Megumin making fast work of scouring through the pockets of her - well, Kazuma's - coat, eventually finding the key and unlocking the door, letting the both of them inside.

The bright shine of the bathroom lights was doing a pretty good job of fighting off Megumin's drowsiness, with her no longer feeling as if she would fall asleep at any moment. She looked into the mirror, being greeted by the visage of a groggy-looking girl dressed in her usual pink tracksuit, a toothbrush sticking awkwardly out of her mouth.

After arriving back inside a few minutes beforehand, she'd said her goodnights to Kazuma and thanked him for carrying her back before heading toward her room to change into her nightwear. Apparently, from what he'd said, the older teen had gone to his temporary room to relax for a little while until he felt tired enough to go to sleep, which she all but confirmed when she didn't see him anywhere on her way to the bathroom.

Now that she was all on her own, she couldn't help but swoon a little over the events of the evening. Not only getting to wear Kazuma's jacket, but also having him carry her home under the stars. She couldn't help but be a little bit excited to find someone to brag about it to, maybe Funifura or Yunyun. With how great things had gone, it was almost as if it'd been…. planned… out…?

Her plan. In her sluggish state of mind, she'd somehow managed to completely forget about her entire plan.

If it wasn't for how horribly painful it would be, Megumin probably would've slammed her head down onto the porcelain sink in utter frustration. She suddenly didn't feel tired in the slightest. Once again, despite her best efforts, another moment - potentially the moment - between her and Kazuma had been completely ruined.

After a few moments of angry spluttering, Megumin managed to recompose herself enough to take a deep breath and properly calm herself. Whatever anger she'd been feeling slowly faded away and was replaced by the disappointed frown that appeared on the face of the girl in the mirror. She paused for a moment and let out a deep sigh.

There was no way she was gonna mess up yet another chance with him.

In that very moment, she felt her head begin to fill up with something different, memories. Memories of walking home with him, of all the small ways he'd show her that he cared without ever outright saying it, of every time he'd roll his eyes at her and make a sarcastic comment, yet still send her a small, tired smile. Anything and everything that reminded her of Kazuma. Anything and everything that reminded her of why she adored him so much.

With a newfound determination bubbling up inside of her, and any sense of her previous tiredness having almost completely vanished from her body by this point, she pulled the toothbrush out of her mouth, tossed it into the sink, and made her way out of the bathroom, her destination already in mind.

Despite her apparent 'newfound determination', Megumin still found herself fidgeting around as she stood outside the door to Kazuma's temporary room, her head quickly becoming clouded with doubts once again. But still, she wanted to do this. She really wanted to do this. Taking a deep breath as a last attempt to calm her beating heart, she extended out her fist to softly knock at his door.

There was a sound of bedsheets rustling for a few seconds before she finally heard his voice, "Megumin? Is that you?".

"Y-yeah," She replied, her hand now on the door knob, "Is it okay if I come in?".

"Uh, yeah, sure," His response sounded a little uneasy, but it was all the confirmation Megumin needed to open the door and slip inside, "Shouldn't you be asleep by now?".

Kazuma, who was lying down under the covers with his phone held above his face, sat up in his bed and placed his phone down onto the nightstand, now giving her his full attention.

"Well, I don't really feel that tired anymore," The short haired girl explained, letting out an awkward chuckle, "I guess that nap I took on the bus refreshed me more than I thought, so I wanted to come talk to you."

"Oh?" His tone of voice made his curiosity plain as day, "What did you wanna talk about?".

Once she'd made sure that the door was indeed fully closed, with the room now solely illuminated by the moonlight pouring in through the window, Megumin made her way over to the bed, sitting on the side of the bed. Though, after a few seconds of hesitation, she instead swung her legs onto the bed itself, now staring directly at Kazuma, who blushed at her closeness.

"Oi, Meg-".

"Kazuma…" The soft tone she used when saying his voice combined with the way she was looking at him did a great job at shutting Kazuma up, not that it was Megumin's intention to do so. Instead of saying anything, the boy just subtly exhaled, a glimmer of what Megumin could only hope was anticipation in his eyes.

She gulped, preparing her resolve, and then, in one fluid motion, pulled up the bedsheets and hid under the covers next to him, with only her head peeking out.

"Oi, s-seriously," Kazuma finally managed to get his voice back in response to her sudden action, "W-what the hell are you t-trying to do?".

"I-is it okay if I sleep here tonight?" Megumin asked, barely above a whisper, "With you?".

Kazuma's cheeks flared up to a degree that he didn't even know was possible for him, his thoughts quickly getting out of control and his heartbeat only growing louder and louder. Reflexively, he went to make up some lame protest, but quickly found that he could barely even form his own voice. Without any other real option, and knowing that there was no way he was gonna refuse sleeping in the same bed as Megumin, he slowly lowered himself from his sitting position, with no small amount of hesitation, to lie down next to her.

"Hey, a-aren't you worried about sharing a bed with a pervert like me? I mean, w-who knows what might happen…" He managed to question her, averting his eyes from her own once he took note of the way she was looking at him.

"Not really," The dark-haired girl simply responded, surprising him, "You've been here for a week now… and you haven't really d-done anything. S-so, I'm not worried. I d-don't think you'd do anything to me, anyway."

Kazuma's eyes darted all over the place in an attempt to not get locked onto the genuine smile she was sending in his direction. Now would probably be a bad time to mention that he'd gone snooping around to find her underwear drawer the first time he'd been left in her house alone, or the return visits he'd made there since then. She didn't need to know about that.

If Megumin had been focusing on the expression on his face, she might've even found it funny. But she wasn't. There was no backing out from this now, she'd come this far, she wouldn't stop now. Not when she was so close to what she knew she wanted. She gulped and closed her eyes for a few tense moments before she reached out her left hand and gently cupped it against Kazuma's cheek, feeling him tense up under her touch, opening his mouth for a second, as if to say something, before closing it again.

"Kazuma…" Her voice slipped back into the soft, almost vulnerable, tone that she reserved for Kazuma, and Kazuma alone. Megumin began to rub gentle circles into his cheek with her thumb as she lovingly gazed into his wide eyes, "Th-there's something I want to, n-no, need to tell you. I've been waiting to say it for so long that I can barely hold myself back anymore. S-so that's why I have to tell you… right here, right now… Kazuma…".

Megumin paused for a moment, entranced by the expectant look in his eyes. He was waiting for her to keep speaking, but now that it was really happening, she felt even more nervous than ever. Just as her breathing began to turn ragged, she felt the soft sensation of Kazuma's quivering hand coming to rest on her cheek, just as she was doing to him. The small jolt that went through her body as he reached out to her, touched her, was all that she needed to keep going; to finally tell him the three words she'd wanted to tell him for so long.

"...I love you."

She looked up at Kazuma. A look of longing, and maybe even a small amount of fear, was present in her eyes as she took a drawn-out and shaky breath. The boy's expression was one marred by a wave of poorly hidden nervousness, the hand that rested on her cheek sliding down ever so slightly, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the blushing girl as his anxious expression only served to let loose the insecurities that she'd been trying to hard to ignore the entire time.

Just as those fears began to bubble up in her, she felt the hand that was once on her cheek slowly back away, Kazuma's warmth disappearing with it. But then, just as she began to prepare for the worst possible outcome, she felt his arms slowly wrap around her small frame and draw her into him, his chin resting on the top of her head as she was pulled into his chest, squeaking in surprise. She was so close that she could even make out his rapid heartbeat and the slight trembling that consumed his entire body, he might've been even more nervous than she was.

"M-megumin," Kazuma finally spoke, his voice uneven and his face seared a deep red as he made his choice, "I um, I thi- No, I uhm… I love you too,". He almost physically cringed as he heard the jumbled mess of a confession that came out of his own mouth. Why was he suddenly so nervous?

But just like that, with those few words, and the loving embrace she found herself in, Megumin's previous fears were instantly replaced with the happy squeal that she accidentally let slip from her mouth. She wasted no time in wrapping her arms around Kazuma before pulling back slightly to look up at his face.

For a few moments, it looked like she was about to say something, but she quickly closed her mouth again and tightened her grip on him, as if she was trying to convey whatever she had been about to say through words instead. Kazuma found himself having to look away slightly due to the pure intensity of her gaze, his voice stuck in his throat.

Acting solely on instinct, he looked back towards her and slid one of his hands away from around her waist and moved it to begin tenderly brushing his fingers through her short hair. Megumin closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh of pleasure before she moved one of her own hands to return the favour, caressing the boy's own hair as they gazed at each other in silence.

Staring down at the girl in his arms, his breath hitched in his throat as he properly took in how beautiful he found her in that moment. Sure, he'd always found her to be pretty, attractive even. But it wasn't until now, seeing her features so up close, with the moonlight dancing off of her visage, that he truly realised just how beautiful she was to him.

Her soft, pale skin, with not a single blemish or trace of acne to be seen and her smooth, silky hair invaded his vision. But more than either of those were her deep red eyes, the same eyes that he suddenly found himself being lost in. Gazing upon the image in front of him, the word 'perfect' came to mind, but Kazuma really wasn't the type of person to use such a pretentious sounding word.

So why did that word appear in his mind at that moment?

Feeling even more embarrassed with the silence between them, one that must've lasted for at least a full minute by that point, Kazuma swallowed the lump in his throat and decided to try speaking up, saying the first thing that came to his mind, "Hey, s-so, what happens now?".

Though she didn't respond verbally, the short pause in her brushing and the somewhat questioning look she gave him made it clear that she wanted him to elaborate.

He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger as he continued on, "I mean like, we've, umm, both confessed now, right? So uh, does that mean that we're dating now, or…?".

Megumin brought the hand that was previously attending to his hair over to once again cup his cheek, feeling the heat from his cheeks against her hand as she smiled at him, "I-I… I'd like that, if you wanted to…".

"Well, I w-wouldn't have brought it up if I didn't… want… to…" Kazuma trailed off as he blushed and averted his eyes, "So, y'know, I guess I wouldn't mind it if we were… y'know."

The short haired girl giggled, relieving the tension a fair amount, "You don't have to be so nervous about this, Kazuma. I… I'd love to be your g-girlfriend."

"If that's the case…" The brunette replied in a hushed tone, allowing his hand to explore the back of her scalp, a sensation that she seemed to be enjoying, "Then I see no problem with being your boyfriend."

"I'm so happy to hear that," She whispered back.

Just as he was about to comment on the joyous look he saw on Megumin's face, he felt her hands pull away from him for a moment before he felt her touch once again, now with one hand wrapped around his neck while the other was gently pushing on the back of his head, pulling him closer towards her, or - more specifically - towards her lips.

If her actions didn't already make it obvious enough, the look on her face and the clear desire in her eyes made it abundantly clear to Kazuma that she was moving in to kiss him. Megumin paused for a second, looking into his eyes, silently begging for permission to keep going. As he watched her swallow the small lump that had formed in her throat, Kazuma shyly nodded, giving her permission to go further.

His nerves finally lost out as he was taken over by the excitement of finally experiencing his first kiss, a kiss between him and the girl who was, as of that moment, officially his girlfriend. Sure, he was still pretty nervous, but there was no way he'd let this opportunity pass. And so, watching her face slowly inch closer and closer to his own, he slowly began to lean in, closing the distance between them, knowing that whatever was about to happen was something that Megumin wanted just as much as he did.

Then, after a second or two of anticipation, their lips finally met. Kazuma closed his eyes as he felt Megumin firmly meld her lips with his own, returning her actions with a much softer, yet still passionate, kiss of his own. He felt her loosely clutching at his hair as she held him close, keeping him locked into the kiss, not that he had any intention to pull away in the first place.

Neither of them were sure how much time had passed when they finally pulled away, but it didn't particularly matter to them either. The dark haired girl looked up at Kazuma, a deep crimson blush invading her cheeks as she let out a laboured breath.

"W-was that okay?" She meekly asked, clearly not confident in her technique, "The kiss, I-I mean. Was it good?".

The older teen gently cupped her cheek in one of his hands, watching with a reserved smile as she rubbed her cheek against his palm, "...Uhm, it was g-good, yeah."

Megumin seemed to relax for a second before, for some reason that Kazuma didn't quite yet realise, her eyes went wide and she wriggled backwards in his hold.

"K-kazuma!" She squeaked, a look somewhere between shock and embarrassment on her red-tinted face, "Your thing, i-it's…"

'Shit.'

"J-just ignore it," Kazuma whispered guiltily, suddenly finding that he'd rather be looking anywhere else besides her face, "It's not like there's anything that I can do about it, it's a natural reaction after all. If a beautiful girl just sneaks into my bed and kisses me like that, then of course my son is gonna act up."

To his surprise, despite the fact that he'd expected at least some kind of complaint or retort from her, Megumin seemed to have actually taken his advice and ignored it, readjusting her position in their embrace. It wasn't until she spoke again that he realised the main reason for her submissiveness.

"B-beautiful…?" She pulled him in even tighter, her head now resting on her shoulder and her mouth close enough that her warm breath began to tickle his ear, her hand once again making its way to his hair, "Hearing you say something like that about me makes me really happy, Kazuma."

"O-oh. Well, of course," He stuttered out, not even realising that, in his attempt to salvage what could've been a huge misunderstanding, he'd called her beautiful without even thinking about it. "Hey," Kazuma loudly yawned, "Not that I'm not enjoying this or anything, b-but maybe we should go to sleep now, I uh, I actually think I'm starting to feel kinda tired now."

In reality, that wasn't really the full truth. Sure, he was feeling a little tired, but he was mostly just searching for any way to ease his raging nerves. With how she was holding him, the way she was looking at him, and the things she had said to him, as much as he truly hated to admit it, it was all way too overwhelming to him.

Not that he wasn't enjoying every second of it, just that… Well, he just needed to calm himself down a little, he hadn't been properly prepared for what something like this actually felt like. Through his internal battle, he could only vaguely make out that Megumin had just finished saying something in response.

In an attempt to reach a reprieve from his uneasiness, Kazuma let go of his grip on his new girlfriend and rolled over, creating a small amount of distance between them.

"Kazuma?" Megumin softly called his name as he pulled away from her grip slightly. She patiently watched as he took a single, drawn out breath, his body looking a lot more relaxed than before.

With the tight feeling constricting his chest having mostly let up and returning to something that felt a lot more 'him', Kazuma used his newly returned confidence to roll over to once again face Megumin. He gave her his usual smirk, now being able to much more freely enjoy the feeling of everything that just happened between them.

After a few moments, he felt Megumin's arms softly wrap around him once again, it seemed that she wouldn't be content to sleep without holding him. Not that he at all minded her doing so. Closing his eyes, he returned her actions, with one hand resting against the back of her tracksuit while the other absentmindedly played with the tips of her hair.

Though he hadn't really expected anything more to be said between them both after that, he eventually felt the dark-haired girl shift ever so slightly and raise her head up from his chest.

"Goodnight, Kazuma."

"Yeah, g-goodnight, Megumin."

She sent him one last wide smile, maybe her widest one that night, and buried her head back into his chest, nuzzling her face against his tracksuit for a brief moment before relaxing in his arms. Kazuma swore that he could hear her mumble something into his tracksuit, something that sounded vaguely like another 'I love you', but he didn't bother questioning her about whatever it was.

It took only a few minutes for Megumin's breathing to slow and her occasional strokes through his hair to stop completely as she finally rested for the night, Kazuma's arms tenderly circling around her.

As Megumin groggily opened her eyes, she couldn't help but feel as though her surroundings were… different, in some way or another. That feeling was only brought out even more and she felt that her arms, the ones she had intended to use to rub the sleep from her eyes, were presently wrapped around something. Something cozy, something that seemed as if it was breathing.

It wasn't until she looked up slightly and saw his sleeping face that she remembered where she was, and what had brought her up to this point.

She had slept with Kazuma, her… her… boyfriend. She really didn't know how long it would take until calling him her boyfriend, even just in her head, would start to feel natural. But, regardless, the thought of it made her excited. She just hoped that he was feeling something similar, maybe even dreaming about it.

Not wanting to disturb his sleep yet unless absolutely necessary, Megumin removed her left arm from around Kazuma's waist and reached out to grab his phone from the bedside table, only barely reaching it. Turning it on, she saw that Kazuma had a few unread texts, though for the sake of his privacy she tried her best to not look at them, and instead focused on her main objective, the time, clearly displayed in large text the moment she turned it on.

7:07am. Even for an early riser like Megumin, it was still a pretty early time for her to get up, and she doubted that Komekko would be getting up anytime soon, especially with the exhausting day she'd had yesterday. Yet, surprisingly, despite her early rise, she didn't feel all that tired. She actually felt… really good. A large grin grew across her face as she realised the new factor that could have potentially played a part in her refreshing night of sleep.

Feeling no need to get up anytime soon, she made the easy decision to stay where she was for a little while longer, snuggling back into Kazuma's arms and gently stroking his hair. She wasn't sure if she ended up falling back asleep at some point or not, but after a while of cuddling herself against him, she felt Kazuma finally begin to stir, his eyes slowly opening as he stretched the arm that had previously been loosely draped around her neck.

"Uhm, g-good morning, Kazuma," She blushed, admittedly feeling fairly bashful now that he was actually awake.

Megumin watched him loudly yawn and then mumble something that she couldn't make out no matter how hard she tried, probably a good morning of his own, before he blinked a few times, gazing into her eyes. "...Ah, right. We…".

The crimson eyed girl nodded her head, fighting a losing battle against the small smile tugging at her lips, "Yeah."

Kazuma let out a relaxed sigh as the warm water rained down on his body, his muscles instantly loosening up. He took a moment to perfectly adjust the temperature and pressure before he shut his eyes and took a single deep breath, resting his palms against the comparatively cold tiling of the wall in front of him, his head hung downwards.

As he allowed his eyes to open again, the stream pleasantly washing through his hair, he instantly found his mind wandering back to the events of the night before, it was the reason he had taken a shower in the first place, after all. With everything that had happened between him and Megumin, he certainly felt it would do him good to get away and relax with his thoughts for a little bit.

"I really am in a relationship with her now, huh?" The brunette mused to himself, his voice being entirely drowned out by sounds of water splashing against the shower floor.

An uninhibited smile formed on his face, feeling no need to hide anything now that he was alone. He couldn't really get over how happy it was making him, a lot happier than he'd expected entering a relationship would feel. Though, taking the time to think about it, maybe it was because it was Megumin that it all felt so… right.

Looking back on the time he'd spent with her, the last week especially, he couldn't deny the way her mere presence would be able to lift his mood at times. Or the way he found himself noticing more and more small details about her, the type of details that he never bothered to care about with anyone else. He hadn't been lying last night, he was pretty sure that he loved her.

Freeing himself from his thoughts for a second, he stepped out of the jetstream to grab the bottle of shampoo from the small shelf within the shower. He was pretty sure that it was women's shampoo, most likely the one that Megumin herself used, but he didn't really have any other options, and it did the job just as well as the shampoo he usually used, so he wasn't really complaining. He'd just make sure to buy his own bottle when they went out to get groceries later.

Squeezing a small amount into his hand and rubbing it into his dampened hair, Kazuma felt his previous apprehension be slowly overtaken by a new feeling of excitement, maybe even anticipation. He had no idea what the relationship would be like, or even what pace it would go at, but worrying over stuff like that really just didn't feel like him. After all, he finally had a girlfriend, one that actually had feelings for him.

He may as well just allow himself to enjoy it, whatever happens. That felt much more in tune with his style, didn't it?

"All done!" Komekko cheered as she finished up the last remains of her rice, making sure to lick the inside of the bowl clean, "Thank you, big sis."

"You really were hungry this morning," Megumin commented as she looked down at her own, still mostly full, bowl, in awe of how fast her sister could eat sometimes.

For what might've been the first time since sitting down at the table, Komekko glanced around at her surroundings, quickly noticing something missing, "Hey, where's big brother?".

"He's still in the shower, I'm pretty sure," She explained between mouthfuls, "I hid his breakfast so that you wouldn't eat it, Komekko."

Her little sister pouted at her. Clearly her intention had been to get his portion of food for herself.

Before Megumin could explain to her sister why she shouldn't try to eat Kazuma's food, the two sisters were interrupted by the sound of their home phone ringing, a somewhat uncommon occurrence, all things considered. Just as Megumin made to get up, Komekko shot up out of her seat and dashed out of the room, the ringing suddenly stopping a few seconds later.

Following her sister out into the hallway a few seconds later, she immediately spotted Komekko with the phone up to her ear, talking excitedly to whoever was on the other end, "Yup! Big sis and big brother have been making me lots of yummy food!".

Megumin made her way towards her, "Hey, Komekko, who's on the phone? How about you just let big sis handle i-".

"It's mommy," Komekko simply replied, going back to her conversation, "Mhm, that was big sis. …Big brother is in the shower… I think."

Their mother would occasionally call when she and their father were away, so it wasn't much of a surprise to Megumin. She had no problem letting Komekko take her time talking to her mom before she herself would eventually have to talk with her, not looking forward to the inevitable Kazuma related teasing she'd probably have to endure. She just hoped that her mother wouldn't try to get her to put Kazuma himself on the phone.

After a few minutes of listening to one half of the conversation between Komekko and her mom, with Komekko describing all the fun she'd had in Axel the day before, she heard the sound of a door opening and turned around just in time to catch Kazuma exiting the bathroom, clad in a simple green t-shirt with black shorts. Upon noticing Megumin and Komekko, he made his way over to stand beside Megumin.

"Who's she on the phone with?" He inquired, giving her a curious look.

"My mom," Megumin answered, then changing the subject, "Your breakfast is in the kitchen by the way. It should still be warm enough, but you can always warm it up if you need to."

"Mhm, thanks," Kazuma simply responded, bringing a hand up to his still slightly damp hair. Just as he was about to turn away and go into the kitchen, he instead grew curious and decided to listen in on whatever Komekko was saying, just for a little bit.

"Yup, just like you said, mommy," He heard her say, and then after a short pause, "I dunno."

Well, he wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting to hear, but the reality was obviously a lot more boring. After a few more moments of listening to Komekko giving short answers to whatever it was that her mom was asking about, he turned around and took his first step towards the kitchen. It was then that Komekko said something he certainly was not expecting.

"Hmm, oh, but big sis did sleep with big brother last night."

After that, it didn't take long for a red-faced Megumin to quickly grab the phone from her sister, demanding to know what kind of questions her mother had been asking Komekko, with the girl in question looking between her and Kazuma with a blank look.

"Good morning Megumiiin~" Yuiyui's voice came through the phone, clearly happy, "I was just about to ask your little sister to put you on for me."

"Mom!" She squealed into the speaker, somewhat louder than she'd intended, "W-what do you think you're doing?".

"Oh? Whatever do you mean?" Her mother calmly asked, "I was just asking your little sister if anything had happened between you and Kazuma. I must say, although I am very supportive of you finding a nice young man like Kazuma, I'm not sure how to feel about you two going that far already."

And with that, her entire face burnt a deep crimson. "N-no! We didn't d-d-do anything like that, mom!" She turned herself away from Kazuma and Komekko in shame, wishing that they weren't there to watch the entire thing play out, "I-I just, we really just… s-slept in the same bed… that's all."

From behind Megumin, the confused Komekko tugged on the bottom of Kazuma's shirt, getting his attention, "Sometimes I sleep with big sis too."

"Oh? Surely that's not everything," Her mother cooed, "Come on, you would tell your mother if you happened to get a boyfriend now, wouldn't you?".

"Umm…" Though she knew that she was mostly only teasing her, it did bring up the small problem of telling her mother about her and Kazuma. Well, more importantly, if she would even tell her mother about her and Kazuma. But, although there was definitely a small part of her that wanted to keep it a secret, it would probably be better in the long run - as embarrassing as it was - if she just told her now. It wasn't like her mother would disapprove of them, at least. "...He is," Megumin mumbled, putting the phone as close to her mouth as she possibly could so that the other two people in the hallway wouldn't hear, "Kazuma is my… b-boyfriend."

"Fufu, finally," The woman on the other end proudly giggled, "It's about time, you know."

"Th-that's enough of that!" She began sneaking glances at Kazuma, who was still standing a few feet away, talking about something with Komekko, "So if you have anything else to talk about, let's move on to that instead. Okay mom?"

"Well then, if you don't want to say anything more, then that's fine…" Yuiyui purposely drew out her words, an undertone of mischief hidden within them, "How about you just put Kazuma on the phone for a little bit? I'd love to talk to him. I'm sure he could fill me in on a few of the things you don't want to talk about with me."

"No! N-no, he's uhm…" She locked eyes with Kazuma, giving him a sheepish look, "he's in the shower right now. So you can't talk to him."

"Oh, so you two don't shower together yet?".

"Right, goodbye mom! I'll see you next week, good luck on selling dad's products!" She practically yelled out, all of her previous composure having completely vanished, preparing to end the call at any moment.

Unfortunately, for Megumin at least, the call didn't end just there, as, according to Yuiyui, they still had to go over 'the more boring stuff', to which Megumin reluctantly obliged. After updating her other on all of the more important things; such as how much she'd spent, which wasn't as much as she'd thought it would be due to Kazuma cutting most expenses in half, and a general overview of how everything was going at home, her mom finally let her get off the phone.

Once she'd said her goodbyes and hung up the phone, still very much flustered, she finally noticed that Kazuma and Komekko had disappeared at some point, no longer standing in the hallway behind her. After finding no one in the kitchen, she made her way over to the dining table, finding Kazuma eating his breakfast while Komekko was staring at Megumin's half finished bowl with a hungry look in her eyes.

"Big sis!" Komekko swivelled around to look at her the moment she entered the room, "Tell big brother to let me eat your breakfast!".

"Oi, Megumin, where exactly do the cans go again?" Kazuma asked as he plucked a few cans from one of the shopping bags.

"Oh, um," Megumin turned to him, pointing over at a cupboard in the corner of the room, "Just over there, second shelf."

"Right, thanks."

It was a few hours later, just before midday, and Megumin and Kazuma were finally finishing up on the process of putting away their shopping for that week. Presently, Komekko was in the front room, watching TV, while the other two were in the kitchen, with three almost empty shopping bags between them.

Despite the frankly very normal atmosphere, Megumin couldn't help but feel on edge, as she had been for the last hour or so. While she was glad, very glad in fact, that things hadn't become awkward between her and Kazuma in light of last night's events, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed over the fact that nothing had really happened since then.

Sure, she'd seen him sneak a few glances at her from time to time, and she was pretty sure Komekko having been with them the entire morning was probably part of the reason why neither of them had addressed the obvious, but she still felt the itch to make something happen. And, now that they were alone, it felt like the perfect time to put her new 'girlfriend privileges' to the test.

"Hey, Kazuma, I'm all done with this bag," She said, lightly tossing the empty bag she was holding into the middle of the room to prove her point, "What about the other two?".

"Uhh, no idea," The teen replied, leaning down to look into the two bags near his feet, "Oh, there's not much left in either of them, just all stuff to put in the fridge, I think."

Grabbing the two, now very light, bags, Kazuma made his way over to the fridge, opening the door and beginning to put the last of their groceries away. Unbeknownst to him, Megumin had followed behind him, standing just behind him as he rearranged one of the shelves ever so slightly to make space for a carton of juice. After a few more seconds, Kazuma dropped the two empty bags down onto the floor and shut the fridge door with a relieved sigh.

Turning around, he suddenly felt two lithe arms snake their way around his waist while something else softly impacted against the top of his chest. It took him less than a second to figure out that the culprit was Megumin, if the pair of big red eyes looking up at him didn't make it obvious enough.

"O-oi," He looked down at her, their faces just a little bit too close for comfort.

"Oi?" Megumin repeated, grinning as she softly tightened her grip, "What's wrong? It's just a hug, that's all."

"I… guess this is fine," Kazuma mumbled, finally bringing up his arms to return her embrace. He managed to maintain eye contact with her for a lot longer than he'd expected to, before he brought up one of his hands to gently push her head into his chest, resting his chin on top of her head.

"Y'know," He heard her speak into his chest, just barely loud enough for him to hear, "You should just let yourself enjoy this, Kazuma. You don't have to get so flustered, I just wanna hug you."

"And how exactly am I supposed to-'' Kazuma shook his head, feeling the calming sensation of her hair tickling at his chin, "Never mind, actually."

Megumin quickly nuzzled her face against his chest before pulling back slightly to face him once again, noticing the way his eyes darted away for a moment before slowly coming back to make eye contact with her. She really did love seeing him get as embarrassed as he was, but she couldn't deny that she really wanted him to be a little more forward with her, especially when it came to physical affection. But, at the same time, they hadn't even been dating for a full day yet. She was probably getting a bit too ahead of herself by expecting things to move so quickly.

"Kazuma…". Even so, there was no harm in trying, right? Kazuma nodded, waiting for her to continue, causing her to fidget slightly in his arms before speaking again, "C-can you… kiss me?".

The brunette blushed and turned his head away, only for a second, before looking back at her and eventually, gradually, moving his hands up to instead slowly cup her cheeks. They'd already kissed once before, this should be fine for him. Though, his resolve did crumble the smallest amount when he saw the way she was looking at him, twitching nervously. Sure, maybe she could hide it a little better than Kazuma could, but, truthfully, she was even more timid about this whole thing than he was.

Trying his best to ignore the submissive expression on her face, and the rising heat he could feel against his palms, he slowly brought his face towards her lips. It was too late to go back now, he'd already started. Bringing one of his hands over to the back of her head, softly pressing against her hair, he pushed forward, gradually closing the remaining distance between them.

And finally…

"Big siiis! Is it time for lunch yet?".

Of course, it would be the perfect moment for Komekko to burst into the kitchen.

Chapter Text

Aqua groaned as she slowly pushed the door ajar, leading out of one the many guest rooms in the Dustiness mansion and into a winding hallway. By that point, it was already coming close to noon. Aqua had gotten up early today, well, early for her, at least. Every other resident of the house had been awake for the past three hours at the bare minimum, with the mansion's earliest risers having already been up for almost six hours, but Aqua didn't really care all that much, she was a guest, after all.

Clad in only a pair of shorts and a crop top, she began stumbling down the hall. She couldn't be bothered to change into anything else, but maybe she'd consider changing later, if she didn't end up going straight back to bed. Her stay with Darkness - or, as everyone else in the house called her, Lalatina - so far had certainly been an enjoyable one. Never before in her life had Aqua lived in such an illustrious home or had the same kind of twenty-four seven access to such incredible services and facilities. After living on the streets - and later on, in that tiny little apartment with Kazuma - for so long, getting to stay in a real mansion with real maids felt like the least that someone like her deserved.

Though, at the same time, she couldn't help but feel just a teensy bit bad for Kazuma. While she got to laze around in a mansion for two weeks, he was staying over with that middle schooler friend of his, whose name Aqua may or may not have momentarily forgotten, and having to spend his time looking for a new apartment for them to stay at. Although, as far as she was aware, he hadn't actually made all that much progress in that aspect yet. Well, whatever, Kazuma would figure something out in the end, so there was no point in her worrying about it.

But, maybe, if the opportunity arose, she'd find some way to make things right with him. Y'know, just to clear her guilty conscience, that's all.

"Ah, miss Aqua, good morning," One of the maids, the one who'd seemingly been assigned to keep an eye on Aqua, noticed her as she rounded the corner into the large dining room, "It's rather unusual to see you up at this time. Did you just wake up, or have you not yet gone to sleep?".

"I just woke up!" The blue haired girl proudly proclaimed, perhaps a little louder than she'd intended, "I felt like getting up early today."

"I see, that's wonderful, miss Aqua," Her maid politely replied, the ever so slight strain in her smile going entirely unnoticed to the ever-oblivious Aqua, "I assume you're here for your breakfast now?".

"That's correct! I'm starving right now, y'know?".

"And would you like it to be brought to your room again this time?" Her maid continued.

"Of course!" Aqua nodded enthusiastically, smiling widely at the maid.

She politely smiled back, giving the other girl a small nod, "And would I also be correct in assuming that you'd like a large glass of the most expensive wine we have to go alongside your breakfast?".

"Oh you know me so well," The blue eyed NEET continued cheerily grinning, "Ah, how I wish I could stay here forever!".

Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't hurt to try asking if she could permanently move here one more time.

To Megumin's immense relief, it seemed that her little sister couldn't care less about the scene she walked in on, especially when she was far too focused on something much more important; her appetite. Despite that, she still had a terrible sneaking suspicion that Komekko would end up telling her mother all about what she'd walked in on. If she bothered to remember it, that was.

Of course, she did get a few odd looks sent her way by the young girl, and even a 'What were you doing with big brother?' when Kazuma left to use the bathroom, all of which Megumin decided to silence with the only thing that she knew would work on her little sister, food. Luckily, everything seemed to have returned to normal by the time the three of them sat down to eat, with Komekko far too busy tucking into her lunch to even think about the other two people at the table with her.

Once lunch was over, Megumin watched her little sister drag Kazuma out of the room to go play with her while Megumin herself was busy getting started on the washing up. Part of her considered stopping Komekko from taking him away, if only so that Kazuma could help her with the dishes, but it didn't take long for her to concede and let just her sister have her fun.

After Megumin had finished cleaning up from lunch, the three of them ventured out into their backyard. Well, maybe calling it their backyard was a bit presumptuous, since, as far as Megumin was aware, her parents didn't actually own that area of land themselves, it was just that no one else had ever used it anyway. The area in question was simply just a small clearing around twenty yards away from their house, sporting a natural pond and a sand pit that Megumin and Komekko's father had constructed for his eldest child many years ago.

"Big sis, look!" Komekko called out as she peered into the small pond, "There are even more fishies in here now!".

"Actually, Komekko," Kazuma spoke up, moving over to observe the pond's inhabitants himself, "I'm pretty sure that most of those smaller ones are tadpoles, not fish."

The small girl turned to him with a confused look, "Tad…poles?".

"Yeah, Kazuma's right, surprisingly," Megumin nodded her head as she finally made her way over to the other two, "Those are tadpoles. Huh, they're new."

"Oi, 'surprisingly'!? What exactly is so surprising about that to you?".

Softly giggling at his reaction, she crouched down to be level with her little sister, "Tadpoles are like little baby frogs. That's what they look like before they've properly grown into the normal frogs that you've seen before."

Komekko gazed down into the shallow water before suddenly lighting up, "Hmm… I want one!"

"Y-you… want one?".

Before the two sisters could continue their back and forth, Kazuma, who had wandered over to the sand pit, spoke up, "Pfft! Oi, Megumin, is this what I think it is?".

"H-huh?" Her head snapped towards the teen, seeing an all-too-familiar object in his hands. It was the large tree branch that, a few years ago, Megumin had converted into her 'magic staff', having ineptly whittled it into shape using a particularly sharp rock she'd found at the time. She blushed in pure humiliation as Kazuma started waving it around, poorly imitating some of her old poses, "Y-yes, it's exactly what you think it is, Kazuma! Now j-just quit it already!".

"No offence," The brunette stated, letting up on the poses, much to Megumin's relief, "But I'd remembered your 'magic staff' looking a little better than this."

Before Megumin, who was currently hiding her beet-red head in one of her hands and angrily gesturing at him with the other, could make her own scolding response, Komekko waddled over to Kazuma and looked over the tree branch a few times. "What are you doing with my big stick?".

"Huh?" He stared down at the little girl in surprise, "Your… big stick?".

"Yeah! My big stick," She grinned widely, taking the tree branch from Kazuma, "Big sis gave me her big stick to play with a while ago. She said that it was 'too em-barry-sing' for her to have it, so it's mine now."

"Ah, well, that 'big stick' is actually your big sister's m-".

"R-right! How about we d-do something fun together, now?" Megumin hastily scurried over to the other two, taking Komekko's free hand and pulling her away, "Why don't we go get the fish bags and catch some little fishies in the pond with Kazuma, Komekko?".

Her mood instantly flipped at that, quickly forgetting about the large branch and dropping it onto the grass. "Yay! Catching fishies!".

"But remember that we're gonna release them afterwards, okay? No trying to eat them this time, not even the tasty-looking ones." She quickly added on, her little sister deflating a little before perking up again and marching towards their house.

Kazuma smirked as he followed behind them at his own, much more leisurely, pace. It was pretty hard to deny that, by this point, he'd certainly grown to enjoy the two sisters' antics.

All things considered, Megumin wouldn't exactly describe herself as the girliest of girls. Not to say that was averse towards such a thing, or that she thought she was lacking in femininity. No, it was more so just that she would never consider herself to be some shining paragon of what most would probably consider 'girliness'. Which was something that, all things considered, didn't usually bother her all that much.

She'd bought makeup once, maybe twice, in her entire life and, besides brushing her frizzy bed hair in place in the mornings and making use of her mom's hair straighteners every other day, she didn't usually spend too long on her hair most mornings. And she certainly wasn't the type of girl to muffle her happy squeals into her pillow as she excitedly kicked her legs around in the air, all because of a boy that she was in love with.

Well, at least, she thought that she wasn't. Yet, the moment Kazuma had left for his shift at the café, she'd found herself running straight to her bedroom to do exactly that.

Another muffled 'Heeeeee!' left Megumin's mouth as her legs began to burn off the waves of nervous energy she'd accrued over the past couple of hours. Her hands hastily moved from clutching at the blanket of her futon to being wrapped around her pillow, hugging it into her face. She may or may not have been pretending that the pillow was Kazuma. Sure, it didn't really feel or smell anything like her new boyfriend, but it was just about good enough of a substitute to let her thoughts run wild once again.

Simply put, Megumin was beyond ecstatic at the results of the previous night.

She rolled onto her side, still tightly hugging her pillow. Honestly, she was pretty embarrassed by her own current actions, but those feelings were easily overpowered by the warm, fuzzy feeling deep that had made its home deep in her core.

There had been many different times before, where she had envisioned similar scenarios in her head, many of them not being all too far off from what had actually happened the night before. Yet, not a single one of them had properly prepared her for what it would really be like. Megumin rolled over onto her other side and then threw the blanket over herself for warmth. She was starting to feel a whole lot colder now that she was missing the feeling of Kazuma's arms keeping her warm.

The deep, jittery feeling in her chest still hadn't gone away, it hadn't gone away at all since she'd woken up that morning, actually. Truthfully, it felt a little uncomfortable at times, leaving her the slightest bit uneasy and uncomfortable, but even so, she didn't want the feeling to go away for even a second. It felt like proof. She wasn't exactly sure what it was proof of specifically, but it was proof of something, something important.

Megumin couldn't wait for Kazuma's shift to be over. That much, she was certain of.

"Oi, chief," Kazuma leaned back, away from her, his face scrunched up in a mix of unease and irritation, "What's up with that look? You're starting to look like a creep."

It had been only fifteen minutes, perhaps closer to twenty by that point, since Kazuma had entered the café. In that short amount of time, the frequent glances his boss would send his way had not gone unnoticed by him. He knew that look, she definitely wanted something from him, something troublesome. But as for what exactly it was, he had no idea. It hadn't taken long for him to grow impatient and face the older girl head on.

"Hmm, whatever do you mean, helper?" She - predictably - feigned complete ignorance, as if they both didn't know exactly what she was doing.

The high schooler rolled his eyes. He doubted that coaxing whatever it was out of her would be an easy task. "Oh, nothing, never mind," Kazuma slowly shrugged, leaning against the front counter, "But, anyway, shouldn't you be in the back right now? You are supposed to be manning the kitchen at the moment, aren't you?".

"Mhm, that's right, helper," Chris nodded sagely, catching the boy a little off guard, "But I just finished up the last of our outstanding orders for right now, so there's no harm in waiting out front with you until we get a new order, don'tcha think?".

Kazuma groaned. He could tell that she was having fun with this.

A few seconds passed, and just as Kazuma was about to say something, Chris spoke up again, her tone even more excitable than before, "Hey, helper, we're friends, right?".

The brunette tilted his head, curious as to what she was getting at, but deciding to humour her question with an actual answer, regardless, "...Hmm, yeah, I guess so. I mean, you are my boss too, but we've hung out outside of work a few times, so I'd probably consider you a friend."

"Great~" Her mouth formed into her signature mischievous grin, alerting Kazuma to his imminent danger, "So, if something big happened to you recently, let's say, you finally got a girlfriend, for example, you'd be telling me all about it, right?".

His eyes went wide for a second, before he immediately returned his expression to a neutral look. Or at least, what he hoped was a neutral look. 'How the hell does she already know about that?'.

Kazuma knew Chris well enough to know that this obviously wasn't just a case of some god-like convenient timing on her behalf. Somehow, she definitely knew about last night, and about him and Megumin. But, how?

He began to rack his brain, searching for any possible way Chris could've found out about what happened. As far as Kazuma knew, the only people who were aware of him and Megumin being together, besides him and Megumin themselves, were Komekko and possibly Megumin's mother; he still wasn't fully sure about how much Megumin had actually told her mother.

But, obviously, neither of them would offer any explanation as to why Chris seemingly knew about last… night…

Wait.

Last night. Last night, when Megumin had visited him at the café, he distinctly remembered one specific moment. A moment where, as he was coming back from delivering orders, he noticed an exceptionally red-faced Megumin and an even cheerier than usual Chris whispering to each other about something. It had stayed somewhere within the back of his mind ever since then, having been fairly unconvinced by the explanation Megumin had given him at the time. But, if they had actually been talking about…

Things were starting to make a lot more sense to Kazuma now.

"Oi…" Kazuma leaned in towards the older girl, now being his turn to send her a devious look of his own, "Quick change of subject, chief. I've been wondering, what exactly was it that you and Megumin were whispering about behind my back yesterday?".

He watched as her eyes briefly widened, a look of realisation washing across her face a moment later, before her face formed back into a smirk, not too dissimilar to Kazuma's own reaction from a few minutes earlier. "Sure, I'll tell you, helper," Chris rested her head against one of her hands, her smirk still persisting, "But you have to answer my question first, it's only fair."

Kazuma let out a small 'tch' sound as he clicked his tongue, they were at an impasse. Both of them were pretty sure that they knew the answer to their respective question, yet both of them wanted to hear it directly from the other person. Loudly sighing, Kazuma eventually gave in.

"Well, funny you ask that, chief," He said, as dryly as physically possible, "Because, as it happens, chief, I just got a …girlfriend. Actually, it was just last night. Can you believe that timing?". Kazuma couldn't help but snort a little as he finished speaking, breaking his act.

"Really?" Chris could no longer contain her excitement, a wide smile breaking out on her face, "Ah, I'm so relieved to hear that! Now I won't have to ask you out on a pity date any time soon."

His eyebrow twitched, "Oi, what exactly did you just say? Repeat what you just said, right now."

The silver haired girl chose to completely ignore him, giggling at the irritated glare he sent her way, "Oh, to answer your question now, last night, your girlfriend and I were simply just talking about how she was going to confess her love to you. Pretty interesting stuff, huh?".

Kazuma sharply turned his head away from the girl, scowling deeply in an attempt to hide the soft blush on his cheeks, "I seriously hate you, chief."

Upon opening the door to his temporary residence, it didn't take Kazuma long to locate Megumin, finding her playing video games in the front room, hunched forwards on the couch. She was so focused on the game that she didn't even take note of his presence until he dropped down onto the couch beside her, causing the girl to jump and snap her head in his direction, smiling as she realised who it was.

"You're supposed to avoid those," Kazuma unhelpfully commented as Megumin's sudden loss of concentration led to her character running head first into a hazard, before shaking his head once she tried navigating around the object, "Don't bother trying to get around it, it looks like you're supposed to just jump over it."

"Hello to you too," She replied sarcastically, leaning against him and turning her focus back to the game, "it's not as easy as it looks, I'll have you know. The controls are all super weird and stuff, just moving around feels all slippery."

"Huh, well I'm not sure what else you were expecting from some cheap licensed game," Kazuma did his best to avoid reacting to her position, instead focusing his attention onto the screen, continuing their current conversation, "Still, I think I can kinda see what you mean. That jump especially looks really… wonky."

And so, the next few minutes were taken up by Megumin voicing her complaints about the game while Kazuma added in his own thoughts, usually trying to explain what he assumed to be the technical reasons for her gripes. It was only when her character finally died, to something that she described as 'completely unfair', that the dark haired girl's focus slid away from the screen and instead to the boy she was leaning against, looking up at him with a soft smile.

"...What?" He asked once he took notice of her staring, regarding her with scepticism.

Instead of responding verbally, she took a deep breath, her cheeks growing redder by the second, before she suddenly brought her hands up to Kazuma's shoulders for support and moved herself upwards to bring her face closer to his, gazing into his eyes.

Her face stayed there for a few seconds, feeling Kazuma's warm breath against her face as he stared at her, his eyes going from wide open to expectant as they both remained completely motionless. After around ten more seconds of just staring into each other's eyes, Kazuma's eyebrows furrowed as his expression turned into one of confusion.

"...Well? ".

"W-well?" Megumin repeated, a nervous smile making its way onto her features.

The boy's eyebrows only furrowed further as his mouth hung ever so slightly ajar, "Aren't you g-gonna, like, do something?".

"M-me?" Her eyes wandered away from his gaze in embarrassment, "I thought that you were gonna d-do something, not me!".

"What? But you were the one who started it!" Kazuma suddenly stopped and shook his head a few times before speaking again, fake confidence oozing from his voice, "I see, well, if you're really that shy about kissing now that I'm up close, I guess I-I'll have to do it instead."

He internally prayed that she wouldn't draw attention to the way his voice cracked near the end.

To his surprise, Megumin simply sent him a small nod and tightened her grip on his shoulders, though not anywhere near enough to be painful. "I'm n-not that shy about it, just… I'd like it if you did it, l-like earlier. Before we got… y'know… interrupted."

No complete denial or prideful comeback to his obvious challenge, just an honest admission. Kazuma hadn't been expecting that reaction, he suddenly couldn't help but start to feel a lot more nervous himself as he gazed into the pair of shimmering crimson orbs that made up Megumin's pupils.

But still, if Megumin wasn't gonna do anything herself this time…

"So h-how do I…? I guess I'll just… like this…yeah," Kazuma muttered to himself as he reached his hands out and feebly cupped Megumin's cheeks, feeling her melt into his touch. Her cheeks were warm against his palms. "Ah, actually, maybe we should s-sit in a more comfortable position for this instead, o-or maybe we should stand up? W-whadda you think?".

"Uhm, y-yeah, the first option sounds like a good idea," She responded in a small voice, equal parts tense, excited and antsy, "Hold on, uhm, I'll… I'll sit on your l-lap, okay?".

He didn't say anything, instead choosing to swiftly nod his head before letting go of her and readjusting his position on the couch. Not wanting to delay any further, Megumin scurried over to Kazuma and carefully climbed onto his lap, tossing her arms around his neck for support.

The high schooler wrapped one of his arms around the small of her back, making sure that there was no chance of her accidentally falling backwards off of him. His other hand went up to her cheek, an action that, from what he could tell, seemed to put the girl at ease. Although really, she wasn't really the one who needed to be put at ease.

No. Once he started, it'd be fine, he just had to take that first step and the rest would be easy.

There was no way he'd be able to continue their unspoken staring contest without losing his nerve, he just knew it. Throwing all caution to the wind, and without giving himself any time to start overthinking it, Kazuma pulled her in ever further and rammed his lips directly into hers.

Megumin cried out in surprise, her voice being muffled by Kazuma's lips. Instinctively, she almost pulled away, but the moment her brain properly recognised what was happening, she returned his kiss without hesitation, her hands moving to hold the sides of his face. At some point, the hand that had once been tenderly caressing her cheek had moved over to the back of Megumin's head, occasionally clutching at - and subsequently releasing - fistfuls of her locks.

Losing herself in the moment, Megumin parted her lips further and opened her mouth, her tongue instantly speeding out to weakly slap against the underside of Kazuma's top lip. Not taking long to catch on to what she wanted, he pressed his lips even further into hers and granted her access into his mouth, her tongue quickly making contact with his own. Their tongues awkwardly rubbed against each other for a few moments, neither of them being accustomed to such a feeling, before they began to aggressively entangle with each other, as if it was some kind of battle between the two tongues.

Eventually, much to her chagrin, Megumin had to pull away, breathless. Kazuma put up a fight at first, his hand still keeping her close, but once he realised that she was trying to move back, he let her slowly lean backwards, a long rope of saliva still connecting one pair of lips with the other. Panting heavily, Megumin stared into his eyes for a few seconds before leaning forwards and letting her chin fall onto Kazuma's right shoulder, her arms loosely thrown around him in a loose, yet affectionate, embrace.

"Haah… That was… a lot… longer… than the first… haah one," Megumin mumbled into his ear, her heart beating loud and fast, so loud that she was almost certain that Kazuma could hear it.

"Y-yeah," Was all Kazuma said in response, his hands awkwardly resting on her shoulders, craning his neck back to get a better look at her, "Are you… seriously that out of breath?".

"Sh-shut up," She assaulted his back with a few tiny punches, receiving a soft tug on her hair in response, "Oww, Kazumaaa… Don't pretend like you're not out of breath, too."

"I never said that I wasn't," The hand that had just tugged on her hair began to gently caress the back of her head, "And don't act like that actually hurt."

Megumin simply let out a small 'Hmph!' sound, lazily rubbing circles into the boy's back, until Kazuma let out a loud yawn and stretched. Or, he stretched as much as he could with a girl sitting directly on his lap. He awkwardly fumbled around with his left hand until he managed to grab his phone from his pocket, pulling up the home screen in order to take a look at the time.

"Oh, it's actually later than I thought," Kazuma offhandedly commented, feeling Megumin shift her weight on top of him the smallest amount, "Well, I'm pretty tired from my shift earlier, so I'm probably gonna head off to bed now. G'night."

Just as he moved his hands back to her shoulders, in order to carefully move her off of him, he felt Megumin fleetingly clutch at the back of his t-shirt before letting go, then repeating the motion two more times, inaudibly mumbling something into his ear. His questioning gaze quickly met her own sheepish expression, an unsure smile making its way onto her lips.

"...You good?".

"Ah, uhm, Kazuma," She began, her cheeks quickly reddening, "I was thinking about l-last night - when we slept t-together - and, um, well…".

Laying down in bed, the atmosphere was admittedly still a little bit awkward. Not unbearably so, but enough for Kazuma to feel fairly apprehensive. While they'd each obviously - or, in his opinion, unfortunately - gone to separate rooms to change into their tracksuits, they'd ended up brushing their teeth and getting into bed at the same time.

With his eyes finally adjusting to the darkness, he managed to make out Megumin's form as she shuffled towards him under the bedsheets, her small arms embracing him a few moments later. Under the expectant gaze of her bright red eyes, he slowly returned her motion, pulling her a bit closer into him. Almost instinctively, one of his hands went directly up to her hair, gently brushing and twirling it between his fingertips, hearing a content sigh in response. It didn't take long for her to bury her face into his chest, affectionately nuzzling her head against him.

"...So, is, uh, is she sleeping here too?" Kazuma questioned the other teen, nodding his head in the direction of Chomusuke, who was curled up on the blanket a few inches away from the two.

"Mhm, yeah, I guess so," She responded from her place in his arms, "That's not an issue for you, i-is it? I promise that she's a very well behaved girl, she won't wake you up in the middle of the night or anything/."

"Nah, it's not an issue. I like her," Kazuma momentarily removed his hand from Megumin's hair to instead give the small feline a few seconds of affectionate petting, "I was just curious."

"That's good to hear," The older teen heard her say into his chest. After a couple more seconds of running his digits through Chomusuke's soft fur, he felt one of Megumin's hands reach out and grab onto his own, swiftly guiding it back to her own hair. He couldn't help but be amused by the fact that she was seriously fighting for his attention against her own pet cat.

Although, he wasn't at all surprised to realise that he enjoyed petting Megumin ever so slightly more. Not that he'd ever tell Chomusuke that much, of course.

After a minute or so of cuddling in comfortable silence, Megumin suddenly spoke up. "K-kazuma, Kazuma," She pulled her head back to briefly stare up into his eyes, "Um, I was just w-wondering, how do you f-feel abou-".

*Bzzt!*.

"...It's my phone," Kazuma pointed out after a second or so of silence, staring over at the small light on the bedside table, just behind Megumin.

She dramatically rolled her eyes, "I could tell."

*Bzzt!*.

The green eyed teen sighed and let go of Megumin, much to her disappointment, if the small pout indicated anything. "Can you check it for me?" Kazuma asked her as he tried and failed to reach over her, unintentionally pushing his body directly into her in the process, "If it's just some random notification, ignore it."

"O-okay," Was all she mumbled once he'd moved back, observing her red-hot face with a raised eyebrow. Embarrassed, the dark haired teen quickly rolled over and grabbed his phone, tapping the power button and squinting a little as she readjusted her eyes to the sudden brightness.

She stared at the screen for a few seconds, looking at the two new notifications. "Two new texts from someone called 'Darknesstina'. Oh, that's probably Darkness, isn't it?" Megumin rolled over to once again face Kazuma, getting an 'Mhm' and an affirmative nod in response, "What's up with the 'tina' at the end?".

Kazuma thought about it for a second before replying, "I… don't think I'm allowed to tell you that, probably,".

"You can't just be all mysterious about it and not actually tell me!" Her complaints were promptly ignored, as he reached out to take his phone from her, "Ah, s-surely I get special access to secrets like this, due to, uhm, y'know…".

"Not at all," The boy flatly stated, unlocking his phone as he began reading through the messages.

"C'mon," She whined, absentmindedly brushing her bangs back, "If you tell me all of your secrets, I'll tell you all of mine, too!".

'And what interesting secrets do you have, exactly?' He mentally questioned the other teen.

Despite that, Kazuma still seemingly mulled over her offer for a few seconds, before donning an off-putting expression, "Fine then. I have been wondering about something recently. Are you an A or a B? You're definitely one of those two, for sure, but I can't exactly tell which one. It's probably A, right?"

"A or B…?" Megumin repeated, bringing a finger up to rest against her cheek, "What, you mean like, my blood type…? And why are you so sure that I'm only one of those two?".

The other teen sharply exhaled through his nose, as if he was amused by something. "Nothing. Never mind," He dismissively waved it off, switching off his phone and placing it onto the other nightstand, before complaining aloud to himself, "Seriously though, can Aqua not go a single day there without causing problems for the maids?".

"M-maids?" The girl exclaimed, reminding Kazuma of the fact that she had no idea about the fact that 'Darkness' was actually some filthy rich guy's daughter, a piece of information he was preeetty sure that he was supposed to keep a secret, "Do they seriously have, like, real maids there? H-how?".

"Uhh, w-well, I didn't mean like proper 'maid' maids, y'know?" He attempted to lie, actually doing a better job than he'd anticipated, "It's just referring to, uhm, to house cleaners. They apparently aren't really as expensive as you'd think."

"Still, isn't it a waste of money to pay other people to clean your house for you?" Megumin, frugal as ever, commented, "Just do it yourself. Sure, it's kinda tedious to do, but it's not that hard."

Being a fellow penny-pincher himself, Kazuma actually found himself agreeing with her point. Although, getting himself a group of maids was still very much in the picture for him if he did end up becoming filthy rich in the near future.

"Mhm, I guess you've got a point," He commented, "But something like that really is a very 'Megumin' thing to say."

"I-I hope that's not supposed to be an insult," Megumin quietly told him, shuffling back towards him so that they could return to their previous position. As soon as she felt his arms circle around her, Megumin once again snuggled herself into him.

"Oh, by the way," Kazuma spoke up, the topic of Aqua and Darkness having reminded him of a different - probably more important - subject, "I was just thinking, um, I'm probably gonna go out searching for apartments again tomorrow. I feel like I'm already cutting things close enough as is."

Truthfully, the idea that he might not find somewhere to live in time for Aqua and Darkness' return was one that worried him a bit, but the fact that he still had a week until that happened served to eliminate any real anxiety. That being said, if he didn't do something about it soon, he might actually be in real trouble. So, as much as he wanted to push it to the last minute, getting it out of the way as soon as possible might be in his best interests.

Megumin's hand glided through his hair. "Mhm, that's probably for the best," She nodded, moving her head from Kazuma's chest up to his pillow, with only a few inches between their faces, "You might have to wait a few days before being allowed to move in anyway, so we really should try to find somewhere sooner rather than later."

A thoughtful look adorned the boy's face, considering her words. He hadn't even thought about the fact that he might have to wait a few days before he could technically move into wherever he was renting, something that only served to bring out his sense of urgency.

"Are you sure that Komekko won't mind coming along, though?" Kazuma inquired, having only just considered the fact that they'd most likely have to take her with them, "If not, I could probably just go on my own while you look after her back here."

"I don't see any reason why she wouldn't want to come along," There was a short moment of silence as she lowered her head a small amount so that Kazuma's hand was now at her scalp, "And if she gets tired, I can just take her home while you keep searching. Or I'll just carry her, whatever she prefers."

"Huh. Well, if you say so," He shrugged, letting his eyes flutter shut as he allowed his head to sink into the pillow, "If that's all, then I'mma go to sleep now; I'm actually feeling pretty tired. Night, Megumin."

"Yeah. Good night, Kazuma," Megumin whispered back, a wave of embarrassment seeping into her head as she realised how… casual their conversation had just been, despite the glaring fact that they were both sleeping in the same bed with only an inch or so between them.

Slowly shaking her head, as to not disturb Kazuma, she did her best to clear the thoughts from her head. Though, the soft darkening she could barely make out on her boyfriend's own cheeks clued her into the fact that there was a chance that he might have been going through a similar thought process to her.

Kazuma felt Megumin's arms extend even further around him, pulling the two of them even closer together. He cracked open a single eye to see if she was planning on doing anything, just to be met by her peaceful visage right in front of his face, her eyes closed shut. Slowing his brushes though her hair and allowing his arm to go limp around her back, Kazuma felt himself slowly begin to drift off to sleep.

"H-h-hold on now!" After a minute or so of complete serenity, Megumin suddenly shot up, "'A or B', seriously!? You were totally talking about my c-cup size, w-weren't you!? Gah, why are you like this!?".

"...And so, today, we're gonna go out and help look for a new apartment for him to live in, does that sound okay?" Megumin asked as she finished explaining everything to her little sister.

"Huh…?" Komekko looked up at the taller of the two girls, tilting her head in confusion, "Why does big brother need to find a new home? He already lives here."

Megumin flinched back in surprise, "H-he's not living here forever, Komekko!".

The young girl, who had clearly been thinking otherwise, turned to face the third resident of the kitchen, who had just walked in, "Don't worry big brother, I can make a new house for you when big sis kicks you out."

"I-I'm not kicking anyone out," The older sibling protested, hopelessly flailing her arms in the air, "Kazuma, please tell her that I'm not gonna kick you out!".

Kazuma crouched down in front of the small girl, sending her a grateful smile, "Well, at least I know that even if your big sister has turned against me, you'll always be on my side, Komekko."

"Kazumaaa! Stop encouraging her!".

"Finding a home for big brother. Finding a home for big brother," Komekko chanted under her breath as she, alongside Chomusuke scoured the surrounding area, her hand to her forehead, "...What about that? You can live there, can't you?".

Kazuma's gaze followed where the small girl was pointing, squinting his eyes as he noticed what she was focused on. "You want me to live… in that tree?" He asked her, a little curious as to if she'd actually have a real answer.

"Yep!" She eagerly nodded, clearly believing that she had made a great suggestion, "It's right next to our house, so you can come and give me lots of yummy treats every single day."

"Please don't just use Kazuma to get free food," Megumin reprimanded her little sister, mumbling something under her breath about 'her mother's bad influence'.

"Hmm, okay," She turned back to the teenage boy, pointing directly up at him, "You can come over and give me treats and teach me new games every single day."

He raised an eyebrow and sent her a strained smile as they continued on past the tree, fiddling with the strap of the bag that was currently thrown over his shoulder, very much out of the ravenous girl's reach, "Is that… supposed to be a good thing?".

"Of course!" Komekko waved her hands high above her head, "You still need to teach me all about 'gamber-ling'."

"Hey," Kazuma felt a pair of eyes staring into the back of his head as a familiar hand tightly latched itself to his wrist, "What kinds of things have you been teaching her, exactly?".

"...Uh, nothing. Oh, hey," The boy tried his best, and failed, to discreetly pry her hand away as he pointed at a nearby street sign with his free hand, hoping to avoid any further questioning about his… teachings, "Since we went out past the bus stop last time, it'd probably be best to check around in this direction for now. If we somehow don't find anything here, then we'll just check in the other direction from your house. Though I'm not sure if we'd have much luck over there, anyway."

"I'm little disappointed that you're only acting this responsible in an attempt to get me to forget about the fact that you've apparently been teaching my little sister about gambling," Megumin commented, making Kazuma physically flinch at how on the mark she had unfortunately been, "But either way, I agree. That seems like a good idea."

He still found himself being surprised by how the girl's face could go from a disapproving frown to a radiant smile in practically an instant.

"Seriously, I didn't actually teach her about gambling," Kazuma felt the need to clarify, before reflecting on his most recent 'playtime' with Komekko, awkwardly scratching at his cheek in a habit he'd began to pick up from his boss, "Well, maybe, I… a little bit…".

"Come on, big sis, let's go!" His saviour suddenly appeared in the form of Komekko herself, who - probably being bored of their conversation - began dragging her sister off in the direction that Kazuma had previously been pointing at. Unfortunately, with Megumin's hand still securely holding onto his wrist, Kazuma found himself also being dragged off, as collateral damage.

"This must be what it feels like to watch a loved one die before your very eyes," Kazuma muttered as he wistfully gazed back at the apartment building they had just exited from.

"Please stop being so dramatic," Megumin walked alongside the dejected boy with Chomusuke snuggly hanging out of the neck hole of her t-shirt and Komekko holding onto her hand, who was looking at the building with a similar look, "And don't talk about things like your loved ones dying in front of your eyes so lightly."

The brunette raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't referring to you in particular or anything."

"That's not what I- Never mind," She shook her head, though she did feel her heart start to beat a little faster as she thought about Kazuma considering her as a 'loved one', "Honestly, I'm not even sure why you bothered to check this place out at all. From the outside alone, it's pretty clear that this'd be way outside of what you can afford to rent."

"You're not wrong," Kazuma agreed, seemingly having perked back up already, "But still, it's best to check these things out for yourself. It was entirely possible that these could've been a little cheaper than they looked."

"...And yet, the cheapest apartment they had there was still almost triple what your current budget is," The short haired girl commented, sending him an amused look.

"Don't remind me."

Truthfully, from the moment they'd come across the apartment complex, around twenty minutes away from where his previous one had been located, Kazuma was already fully aware that there was no way he'd be able to afford to stay there, unless he wanted to dump all of his savings into a single month of rent.

Even so, there was no way he'd pass up on the opportunity to at least check it out, something he was quickly coming to regret. As someone who'd spent the last half a year living in a shabby two-room apartment - the other room being his and Aqua's shared bathroom - with faulty heating to boot, stepping foot inside apartments that looked as though they could each easily house an entire family inside made him feel even worse about his abysmal funds.

Kazuma was starting to get pretty worried that he'd have to either live in that mouldy apartment he'd seen on their previous trip or get himself into debt just so he had somewhere for him and Aqua to live. He took back every bad thing he'd said about his old apartment, maybe it had been perfect for him, after all.

"Y'know, I can't believe I'm saying this," Kazuma frowned as the trio made their way out of an overgrown alleyway, one that clearly hadn't been properly maintained in years, "But somehow we had even worse luck this time. At least we actually found more than, like, two apartments last time."

"Mhm, I had kinda expected that we'd end up finding more places in this direction, if I'm being honest," Megumin nodded in agreement as she watched Komekko chase Chomusuke around a few metres ahead of them, "So, I guess you're not interested in either of the places we've looked at so far today."

"Kinda? Well, not exactly," The high schooler scrunched his face up a little as he pulled his phone from his pocket to once again scroll though his notes, even though he really didn't need to, he already knew that neither of them fit his criteria, "I mean, as much as I hate to say it, the first place is a complete no. As appealing as it is, the rent is just too expensive."

Megumin once again nodded in agreement as she leaned into him to read his notes, "What about the other place, then? That one seemed decent enough."

"Hmm" He put a hand to his chin in contemplation as he shot a cursory glance at his notes. After a second or so, he raised a finger and turned his head to look at the girl next to him, "It was… fine, I guess, and the rent is pretty cheap - around the same price as my last apartment. Only problem is that it's just too far away. Look, I'm not walking half an hour to get to the bus stop every day."

"That's… understandable," The shorter teen reluctantly agreed as she watched her little sister finally grab onto the now terrified looking cat, "So, what now? I guess we just have to keep looking, right?".

"Yeah, it's not like we have any other options, as far as I know," Kazuma shoved his phone back into his jacket and groaned as he ran a hand through his hair, "Urgh, why do I have to do this? It's not like this was my fault."

"From what you've said about her, I doubt you'd ever let Aqua handle something as important as this," Megumin remarked as she thought back to the many Aqua-related stories she'd been told in the past.

"Obviously."

They only had to continue walking for around ten more minutes until Komekko, who had seemingly grown bored of terrorising Chomusuke, began excitedly pointing in the direction of a small single-story house.

"Big brother, look! You can live here, can't you?".

"Ah, no, Komekko," Megumin walked over to her little sister, gazing in the direction of the bungalow, "That's a house. Kazuma is looking for apartments, instead."

"Huh, look at that," Kazuma said from slightly behind the two sisters - Chomusuke had long since found sanctuary from her harasser on top of Kazuma's head - as he squinted at a sign set up near the front of the house, "It's being put up for rent, apparently."

"Eh?" The older of the two sisters took a few steps toward the house, getting a better view of the sign, before looking back at the boy behind her with a curious expression, "What, are you thinking about trying to rent out this place? I really don't think you'd be able to afford renting out an entire house, even if it is a fairly small one."

"Yeah, you might be right about that. Though, it isn't really all that big, so it might not be as much as you think," He replied, studying the exterior of the small building, "But, I dunno, it doesn't hurt to check, right? It's a break from aimlessly wandering around for a little bit, at least."

"I can't really argue with that," Megumin shrugged, "You've convinced me."

"Yes, yes. I did a great job at finding a new home for big brother, didn't I?" Kazuma could faintly make out the sound of Komekko proudly mumbling to herself from a short distance away.

Though Kazuma had been hoping for it to be a casual look-around, it's not like he was going to rent it out anyway, the process of actually getting a look at the inside of the house took a lot longer than he would've liked. Actually, if he'd known as much beforehand, he might not have even bothered with taking a look in the first place. Again, he wasn't actually thinking about living there.

Obviously, they couldn't just waltz into the place on their own, which was understandable. Instead, after properly reading through the sign, Kazuma called the phone number listed at the bottom and was greeted by a man with a deep, gruff-sounding voice after a few rings. After explaining that he was calling about the house he was renting out, the man responded with a concise 'I'll be there in a while to show you around' and hung up the call before Kazuma could say anything further.

"So?" Megumin asked once the green eyed boy moved the phone away from his ear, "What did the owner say? Is there some spare key that we can use to get in or something?".

"Nope. He'll be here 'in a while' to show us around, apparently. No idea how long that's supposed to be, though" He explained, sighing, "I guess we're just gonna have to wait around here until then."

"Is that really all he said?" The girl questioned, furrowing her eyebrows in annoyance for a moment until her face suddenly cleared up and she moved over to Kazuma to carefully take the bag from over his shoulder, "Well, if that's how it is, then why don't we have lunch while we're waiting?".

Komekko's eyes quickly lit up as she scampered over to her sister in an instant, "Lunch? Now? Are we having lunch now?".

"May as well," Kazuma shrugged as he shook his arm to allow the bag to fall into Megumin's awaiting hands, "I'm pretty sure we're coming up on twelve soon, anyway."

Seating themselves on a large patch of grass, that Kazuma could only hope wasn't private property, a short distance away from the house, they unpacked the bag and quickly started eating.

Eventually, after around fifteen minutes, they finally noticed a dark grey car pull up nearby the house. Kazuma left the other three where they were to make his way over to the newly arrived individual, with Megumin promising that they'd come join him once she'd finished packing everything back up.

Just as he made his way to the front of the house, the car door slammed open and a large figure made his way out, making his way towards Kazuma with a serious look on his face. The man was, quite frankly, enormous, easily towering over the sixteen year-old and having the raw muscle mass of a bodybuilder. Yet, despite that, Kazuma still found his most defining feature to be the dark brown mohawk on the top of his head.

"You," He sternly uttered as he locked eyes with the boy, "What are you doing here, kid?".

Kazuma couldn't help but begin to feel a little frightened when directly faced with such an intimidating presence. "I-I'm here for a viewing," He simply said, pointing at the sign, "For the, uh y'know, the house that's being rented out."

"Oh," The mountain of a man peered down at the teenager in front of him, as if he was assessing him, "And what makes you think I'm just gonna rent this place out to some kid?".

"H-huh? Wha?" Kazuma was momentarily surprised by the man's clear disdain for him before that surprise quickly morphed into irritation, his eyebrows twitching, "Oi, what the hell is your issue wi-".

"Gahahahah!" His once intimidating visage suddenly let out a hearty laugh, miming the act of wiping a tear from his eye as his laughing came to an end, "Aw man, I like you, kid. Don't worry, I was just messin' with ya."

"...Alright," Was all the high schooler responded with, still a little unsure what to think of the man. Though, his opinion of him was much better than it had been about ten seconds prior, at least.

"So you're really interested in checkin' this place out then?" The towering man questioned, his expression becoming one of intrigue, "Gotta say, I didn't expect someone of your age to be thinkin' about renting out a house."

He sighed, "It's a long story,"

"Kazuma, Kazuma," Megumin's voice rang out as she, flanked by Komekko and Chomusuke, made her way back over to the house, having somehow not noticed the mountain of a man standing right next to the front door, "Did the owner let you in to look around y…et? Oh."

"Hello, mister!" Komekko, unperturbed as ever, enthusiastically waved in the direction of the large man, receiving a large, toothy grin in return.

"Oh," He turned to Kazuma with a smirk, "So I guess you're not planning to live on your own, then. Who exactly are these two - my bad, these three?".

"Uhm, not quite, no. Well, I am gonna be living with someone else, she's out of town at the moment," The emerald eyed teen tried to clarify, then gestured over towards the sisters, "But they're just helping me look for places, that's all."

"Oh, 'she's' out of town, is she?" The boy really didn't like the entertained look on the older man's stoic face, "Moving in with a girl, huh? She your girlfriend, by any chance?".

"N-no way! Absolutely not!" Megumin responded in Kazuma's place. The mere idea of Aqua being referred to as Kazuma's girlfriend souring her mood far more than she'd like to admit, "Actually, I'm his girlfriend."

"O-oi, Megumin!" Kazuma was completely caught off guard. He hadn't expected Megumin to suddenly bring up their relationship in front of what was practically a stranger.

"Man, you just get more and more impressive by the second, kid."

"A-anyway," The dark haired girl found herself becoming increasingly bashful in the aftermath of her bold declaration, her voice now considerably quieter, "...My name is Megumin. This here is my little sister, Komekko. It's nice to meet you sir."

"And that's Chomusuke!" Komekko chimed in, gesturing over in the direction of the small black cat.

Though the house was not large in any sense of the word, it was still much bigger than Kazuma's previous apartment by a fairly sizable margin. The house was made up of four separate rooms, with the first of the four rooms - also being the biggest - serving as a combination of a living room, a kitchen and a dining room all in one, not too dissimilar to the main room of his old apartment, just a little bit bigger.

The owner had shown them around the main room, taking extra time to show each of the facilities that the kitchen would come with. Kazuma couldn't help but feel a pang of desire as he laid his eyes upon the dishwasher, a commodity he'd been sorely missing for the past six months, as he'd been forced to get used to the arduous task of washing his dishes by hand.

From there, they took a quick peek into the bathroom. It was a pretty standard affair, all things considered, with a toilet, sink and shower available for use. He really didn't have it in him to be overly bothered by the lack of a bath, he was more than used to taking showers over baths.

And finally, at the end of their small tour, they checked out the two bedrooms, which were mostly identical with very minimal differences between the two. They were nothing special, really, but the beds looked like they were decently comfortable. Komekko, who tried them out first hand, confirmed as much as she ended up falling asleep within a few minutes.

"So, what're you thinkin' about the place, then, kid?" The lumbering man asked as they made their way back into the main room of the house.

"Honestly, this place is pretty ideal, all things considered," He put a hand to his chin in thought, "The facilities seem to be a lot better than the last place I lived at, and it's a lot more spacious than there, too."

"Yeah," Added Megumin, Komekko groggily holding onto her hand to keep herself upright, "I'm not even the one looking for a place to stay, but I'm still feeling a little excited by just looking around somewhere like this."

"If it wasn't for the fact that the rent for this place is probably way higher than I can reasonably afford, I'd probably end up staying here," Kazuma absentmindedly commented, piquing the interest of the large man.

He looked over at Kazuma in slight surprise, "Oh, that's right, I haven't told you about the price of rent for this place yet, have I? Well, guess I'll get on with it now, then. When it comes to renting this place out, it's usually…".

"Uhm, Kazuma," Megumin said as she walked alongside him, her sleepy little sister napping in her arms, "Not that I'm trying to doubt your decisions or anything, but are you really sure that it was a good idea to start renting out that place on the spot? Don't you wanna try looking for something else that's, I dunno, a little cheaper?".

"Yeah, yeah, I get what you're trying to say," The boy dismissively waved his hand as they continued back in the direction of Megumin's house, "Maybe it was somewhat of a… hasty decision, in hindsight, but, I mean, you did see that place, right? It's leagues better than my old apartment, for sure."

"Again, you're not wrong, it does seem like a pretty good place to live in," The crimson eyed teen ran and finger through Komekko's bangs before she brought up her next concern, "What about the rent, though? It's completely out of your budget isn't it?".

"Er, unfortunately, it is, yeah," Kazuma conceded, sheepishly scratching at the base of his neck, "But it's not over by that much if you look at it, especially because he offered me a small monthly discount since I'm a student."

"Mhm, that guy was weirdly generous to you, don't you think?" She stated aloud as her mind thought back to the gigantic man, "Hold on, wait, did you even catch that guy's name? I feel like he never actually told us."

"Huh," The brunette's eyes widened in surprise, "No, I didn't. You're right, he never did tell us. Odd."

"Back on topic," Megumin's expression switched over to one of curiosity, "How are you planning to make up the extra money you'll need each month?".

"I'll, uh," Kazuma averted his eyes, looking away from her, "I'm sure I'll figure something out."

"Y-y-you'll figure something out!?" The short haired girl stared at him in disbelief, "That's your plan?".

"Come on, give me a break," He complained, letting out a loud sigh, "I'm still thinking things over, okay? I do have a few ideas."

"Urm, well," She glanced over at him with a soft smile, "It always seems like you end up having some strange way of making everything turn out okay in the end, so I guess I'll just trust you on this one. You better find a way to start making up that extra money you need, okay Kazuma?".

Kazuma returned her smile with one of his own and sent her a reassuring thumbs up, "Consider it done, Megumin."

"Chief, I need a raise."

"Denied. Anything else?".

"Argh, come on!" Kazuma grabbed at the sides of his head in frustration, causing Chris to start snickering to herself, "Look, chief, I really need to start making some more money."

The evening shift had ended not long ago, and, currently, the two workers were in the process of closing up for the night, having already changed out of their uniforms and into their own clothes. Truthfully, Kazuma had intended to bring the topic up to her much earlier in his shift but, to his surprise, the café had been far busier than usual that evening. As such, he hadn't really had an opportunity to properly talk with her up until then.

The short haired girl put a finger up to her bottom lip, seemingly contemplating his words, "Do you actually need more money, or is this just like all the other times you've asked me for a raise?".

He scratched at his neck and looked away under his boss' scrupulous gaze, "I actually need it this time, I promise."

"Well, I mean," Chris paused for a moment, considering her next words, "It's not that I'm against giving you a raise - a small one, mind you, helper - but it's just that it might not really be feasibly possible, for a little bit, at least."

"Not feasibly possible?" The high schooler repeated, tossing a stained cloth into their makeshift wash basket, "What exactly does that mean? Are we in the red or something?".

"Nope, not at all. The complete opposite, actually. This has been our best month in a while so far," She explained with a prideful grin on her face.

Kazuma turned to her, intrigued, "Huh? Really? I mean, I guess we've had a few more busier days than usual, but is it really that big of a deal?"

"Oho, helper, helper, helper. It's not just a few busy days, it's something much bigger than that," Chris raised her finger in the air, as if she was about to give him a lecture.

"O…kay, then," He responded, his brow scrunching up in scepticism, "So, what is it that's making things so good for this place, if not that?".

She leaned in to speak to Kazuma in a hushed whisper, despite the fact that they were the only two people in the café at the time, "Helper, I think that recently this place has… become popular with the youth."

"Urgh," The boy visibly cringed, "Seriously chief, don't say stuff like 'popular with the youth' ever again. It makes you sound like some kind of senile citizen. You're barely even an adult yourself, you do know that, right?".

"Pssh, I think it sounds cool, personally," The silver haired girl retorted, having no intention to listen to his complaints, "But anyway, as I was saying, diversifying the age range of potential patrons could lead to a big boom in customers, y'know."

"Honestly, It doesn't really look like things have changed all that much recently," Kazuma rolled his eyes as he sent her a disbelieving glance, "The people who come here are still pretty much limited to middle-aged office workers and creepy old men."

"Please don't refer to our clientele as 'creepy old men', helper," Chris bluntly stated, "And I'll have you know that the number of under twenties coming in here has definitely increased in the past month or so, I'm sure of it."

"Well, it doesn't seem like you'll take anything else as an answer, so I guess I'll just go along with it for now," The part timer eventually gave in, glancing over at his boss before he continued speaking, "And what, may I ask, does any of this have to do with why you can't give me a raise?".

"Oh, right. That's what this was about again," She racked her brain for a second before she looked over at the boy, "Well, take today's shift for example. Don't you think that things were getting a bit too hectic for just the two of us at some points?".

Kazuma hummed in agreement, leaning against a nearby table, "Mhm, yeah, I won't deny that. Honestly, I'm starting to wish that Darkness would come back a little sooner, but don't tell her I said that."

"Yeah, it's just like you said," The short haired girl gave a prideful smile, "Darkness has already become a pretty valuable part of our little team here-".

"That's not even remotely close to what I said,"

"-And she definitely helps to make our workflow a lot more manageable," She finished.

"Where exactly are you going with this, chief?" Kazuma inquired as he watched her pack away an assortment of random junk that littered one of the far back tables.

"I'm thinking about maybe taking on another new hire or two," Chris explained as she used a pair of chopsticks to slide the junk into a trash bag without having to touch it herself, "Actually, never mind. Two new hires would probably end up being more hassle than it's worth, but one new hire still seems like a pretty good idea."

"Seriously?" He gave the girl a raised eyebrow as he listened to her words, "Didn't you only just bring Darkness on, like, a month ago?".

"One month, one week and six days, to be specific," She corrected him, "But, still, I don't think it would hurt to get another pair of hands to keep things running smoothly."

"Huh," Kazuma seemed to be in thought for a few seconds before shrugging and picking up the basket of dirty fabric in the middle of the room, "Well, I don't really see much of a point in getting another hire, especially when you already have me and Darkness, but I guess it isn't really a big deal or anything."

The automatic door gently slid open as Kazuma made his way inside the small convenience store, instantly feeling a wave of relaxing heat wash over him, a welcome change from the chilly evening air. Though it wasn't somewhere he frequented that often anymore, it was still a place he was fairly familiar with, having gone there many times back when he was still living in his parents' house.

His shift that day had been, to put it frankly, exhausting. Sure, while the busier days did usually come with the promise of a small bonus on his pay check, it sadly came at the cost of his vitality. Even more unfortunate for him, while he would usually just end up eating at work during his breaks - a habit that Chris was surprisingly okay with - it had somehow completely slipped his mind to do so during his hectic shift, with his breaks being both short and infrequent.

Simply put, not only was he tired, like usual, he was now tired and hungry.

Mentally chastising himself for not just asking Chris if he could quickly make himself something to eat before they closed up earlier, he made his way down the nearest aisle in search of something to solve his second problem. It didn't take long for him to pick out a pack of premade onigiri, deeming it as 'good enough', and turning in the direction of the cash register.

"Hey, you," A vaguely familiar female voice called out from somewhere behind him, getting his attention, "Yeah, you, aren't you like Aqua's butler, or servant, or whatever she said you were?".

Kazuma scoffed, he definitely recognised that voice now. Spinning on his heels, his assumptions were instantly confirmed as true as he noticed a blonde haired girl saunter up to him, greeting him with an oh-so-fake looking smile.

"Mmm. Hey… Cecily?" He gave her a disinterested wave, only partially confident that he'd actually remembered the girl's name. She was around two years younger than Aqua, and just so happened to be the only person from Aqua's high school who still kept up with her, with the two of them apparently having been pretty close friends back before Aqua was expelled, or - as Aqua herself would put it - before she was 'allowed to graduate early'.

While the idea of anyone willingly being close to the blue haired shut-in was initially insane to Kazuma, a single taste of Cecily's personality was all it had taken for everything to make complete sense in Kazuma's mind.

"Yup, that's my name, um, Aqua's friend!" Cecily nodded happily. The green eyed boy briefly debated on whether or not he should remind her of his actual name, but he had a sneaking suspicion that she wouldn't end up remembering it even if he did tell her.

"So, what exactly is it that you want from me?" Kazuma questioned, hoping that his impatience wasn't too obvious. It's not that he overly disliked the girl or anything, he just really didn't want to end up missing his usual bus. He unconsciously began tapping his foot as Cecily seemingly decided on an answer.

"Nothing! I just wanted to hear about what Aqua has been doing recently," The blonde gave another wide grin, "And you, as her bodyguard, definitely know all about the incredible things she's surely been up to lately, right?".

"Since when did I get promoted from servant to bodyguard?" He fixed the girl with a deadpan stare, then shaking his head as he moved on, "Actually, never mind that. 'Incredible things' my ass! The only 'incredible' thing that she's done recently is somehow burn down an entire apartment complex."

Cecily began enthusiastically nodding her head at his words, "Oooh, you're right. That does sound pretty incredible, please tell me more!".

Kazuma groaned in frustration, he should've expected as much. It might be best to evacuate before things could go any further. "Well, anyway, it was… great to see you again," He wasn't exactly trying to be rude, but he really didn't want to end up missing his bus because of her, "But, uh, I'll be going now. Bye."

The teen had only moved a single step before he felt a hand stretched out at breakneck speeds and grabbed onto his arm, just below his elbow. "Alright, what's the big idea?" Kazuma asked, glancing back at the blonde haired teen, "I seriously need to get going now. So, if you'll excuse me, I'll be going no-".

"Nope," The older girl winked and stuck out her tongue, "With how busy she always is with her work, I rarely ever get the chance to talk to Aqua, so you've at least gotta tell me something!".

"W-wait, wait, wait. Hold on," Kazuma recoiled back in surprise, his eyebrows furrowing into a scowl, "She's busy with her what?".

"Her… work. Y'know, the bar? The one that she left high school to start managing?" Cecily, for once, seemed to take on a confused - and perhaps even slightly concerned - expression as saw the blank stare on Kazuma's face, "Not ringing any bells for you? Do you seriously not know anything about her job?".

The brunette let out an annoyed sigh, internally grumbling to himself, 'No, trust me, I know everything there is to know about her job, or - more accurately - lack of a job. She's just lying to you to make herself look good.'

To Aqua's credit, what little credit she had left, it was technically true that she had worked in a bar, the key word being 'had'. Unfortunately for her, she was not the manager there and she certainly did not work there anymore. Actually, she'd even accidentally gotten the place shut down once her high school had found out that she had been working at a bar while still being underage. Hearing such ridiculous lies coming from Aqua sadly didn't even surprise him anymore.

Though, shockingly, Aqua had been fairly popular - and seeming pretty good - at her job, due to her penchant for various party tricks and apparent 'people skills'.

Hold on…

"Helloooo?" The voice of Cecily suddenly broke through Kazuma's inner musings, reminding him that he hadn't actually responded to her previous question.

"Huh? Oh right, her job, yeah," He rolled his eyes as he played along, partially, "Yeah, the bar has really been going downhill, these days. Apparently, a lot of her employees have been going on for a while now about how unfit she is for the role of management."

If Aqua was gonna make up fake stories about her own life, Kazuma felt no guilt in making up fake slander about her in return. It only seemed fair, after all.

"W-what? Is that really true?" The older teen put her hands up to her face in dismay, "How could those traitors of employees turn against her? That's so… so… horrible!".

"Yeah, horrible. Just terrible, isn't it?" He spoke in complete monotone before briskly walking over in the direction of the checkout, waving over at the blonde haired teen as he walked away, "I really do have to get going now or I'll seriously miss my bus. I'll… tell Aqua you said hi, or something.."

Not even waiting to hear whatever Cecily had to say in response, he purchased his food as quickly as possible and hurried out of the store. Sure, looking back on it, he may have been a teensy bit more rude to her than was really necessary, but he was too tired, hungry and now in danger of missing his bus to care all that much.

As he wandered through the streets at a considerably brisker pace than usual, he found his mind wandering to the train of thought he had been exploring a few minutes prior. To be specific, it was about Aqua. While he would mostly consider his run-in with Cecily to be an inconvenience, he couldn't deny the fact that their conversation about Aqua's previous work had sparked something of an idea inside of his head.

An idea that, if everything went to plan, could possibly kill multiple birds with a single stone. With a new plan taking form within his brain, he found himself making his way towards the bus stop in a more chipper mood than he had been in a few minutes before.

Unfortunately, that good mood swiftly and unceremoniously dissipated as Kazuma arrived at the bus stop just in time to see his usual bus driving away from the stop.

"Oh, come on, seriously!?".

Chapter Text

Wandering out into the hallway, Megumin shot a glance over to the wall-mounted clock at the other end of the hall. Based on what she knew of his usual routine, Kazuma would probably be back in around forty-five minutes, give or take a minute or so. That seemed like more than enough time for Megumin to do everything she'd need to do in advance, which, now that she thought about it, wasn't really all that much at all.

Hearing a soft meow to her left, the dark haired girl snapped out of her thoughts and gazed in the direction of the sound's origin, spotting her small black cat trudging down the hallway, having seemingly just woken up from the evening nap Megumin had seen her taking an hour or so prior. She crouched down to her level and carefully scooped the cat into her arms, with Chomusuke immediately clambering up onto the top of her head, only causing the short haired girl some mild discomfort on the way up.

After taking a few seconds to affectionately rub her finger against the feline's chin, Megumin began to make her way over to the phone, focusing her attention back onto her original task. Ignoring the phone itself for the time being, she set her sights onto the hefty phonebook, only giving each page a cursory glance as she hastily flipped through the book. Once she reached the first blank page, Megumin propped the book open before immediately realising that she'd gone one too far and quickly flipped back to amend her mistake.

Scanning over the final page of the book, containing the most recent contacts that Megumin and her parents had noted down, she quickly found the name she had been looking for, being the second most recent addition to the page. She squinted her eyes as she focused on pressing the girl's number into the phone's keypad.

Realistically, she probably could have just tried to log onto the ancient family computer - if it somehow still worked - or even asked Kazuma for his phone and searched up what she was looking for online. Yet, on the other hand, surely getting input from someone who definitely seemed like she was well versed in such things would be much more helpful than some random online reviews. Or, at least, Megumin hoped so.

"...Hello?" Once the call was finally picked up, Nerimaki's voice rang out through the speaker.

"Hey, Nerimaki, it's Megumin," She responded, a little worried that the other girl might not have been able to recognise her from her voice alone. They'd only really properly hung out once before, after all.

"Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten that you had my number for a second there," The girl on the other end let out a small laugh before continuing, "So, anyway, what's up? Something you wanna talk about?".

"Hmm… Well, yeah, sorta," Megumin put a finger to her chin as she considered how to properly word her question, "Back when we were all at your parents' diner, you were saying something about how you knew a lot of the other cafes and diners in the area, right?".

"Eh? Oh," Nerimaki seemed almost surprised for a split second, before she spoke again after a short pause, "It's not like I go around reviewing every single place that opens up nearby, but I guess that I do like to check out new places from time to time if they catch my attention. My dad says that it's good that I'm learning to 'study the competition', but it's really nothing like that, I swear."

"Study the competition… I see," The short haired girl awkwardly replied, not really sure what to say to her.

"Never mind that, actually," The conversation then veered back to Megumin's original question, "But, yeah, I guess I could help you out with recommending some good places to try out. If that's what you were gonna ask me, of course."

"Mhm, that's… pretty much exactly what I was gonna ask you," Megumin admitted, leaning forward to uncomfortably rest against the far too small table, "I just kinda got the impression that you'd have insight on this sort of thing, honestly."

"Not the first time I've been told something like that," She snickered in amusement, "So, what's this for, anyway? Are you gonna invite everyone to go out as a group again?".

"Well, uhm, you see-".

"'Cause if you are, I won't be able to go with you guys," Nerimaki cut in, sounding a little disappointed, "I'm going to visit my grandparents up North from tomorrow 'til Friday, so I obviously won't be around."

"I, uh, I wasn't planning anything like that, actually," She clarified, bending her knee to make her current position feel slightly less awkward.

"Oh? What is it for then?" The girl on the other end questioned her, the intrigue in her voice was as clear as day, "You doing something with your little sister again?".

For a moment, she considered just going with that story. It had been practically laid out for her, and she wouldn't have to go through the embarrassing process of potentially explaining her relationship to the other girl. But, on the other hand…

Megumin wanted to brag about Kazuma. She really, really wanted to brag about him. Especially to the other girls in her class, she couldn't help it.

When Megumin next spoke, her voice took on the soft and girly tone that she saved exclusively for Kazuma - or for whenever she would talk about Kazuma - her cheeks tinting red at the thought alone. "Uhm, well…I was actually wondering if you knew of anywhere that would be good for a… a d-d-date...".

There was a short period of uncomfortable silence before she heard a gasp come from the other end of the call as she shyly placed her hand over her rapidly beating heart, soon hearing Nerimaki's voice once more. "Huh? So you two are dating? I knew it!".

"Y-y-you knew!?" Megumin squeaked out in bewilderment. The other girl had never even met Kazuma before. Actually, she probably didn't even know who he was. "How would you even be able to know? We never-".

"Oh, come on," Nerimaki interrupted her, speaking as if she was explaining the obvious, "With the way you and her always act around each other, I knew that there had to be something going on behind the scenes between you two."

The girl's head was spinning in confusion for a few seconds before she latched onto something strange that she'd heard. "H-hold on, 'her'?" She almost physically recoiled back in surprise, "What do you mean, 'her'?".

"Huh…?" Came Nerimaki's confused rebuttal, "I mean Yunyun… that is who you're talking about, right? Who else would it be?".

"It's not Yunyun! I have a b-boyfriend!" Megumin yelped, momentarily forgetting that Komekko was trying to sleep in the next room, "He…! He's a high schooler, so you p-probably wouldn't know him, but…".

"Really?" Her voice sounded as unconvinced as possible, "I'll admit, I'm finding that a little hard to believe, Megumin."

"I'm not lying! Why would I make something like this up?" The crimson eyed girl insisted, her face flaring up in indignation.

"Fine, fine, I'll believe you," Nerimaki diffused the poor girl on the other end, "And I'll even tell you all about a great place that you can go to on that totally real date with your totally real boyfriend."

"I'll ignore that last part," Megumin mumbled into the phone, "And… thank you."

Luckily for Kazuma, there would still be one or two more buses passing through before they stopped for the night. Unfortunately though, due to the fact that things were already starting to slow down in preparation for the end of the schedule, he'd have to wait at least fifteen more minutes until the next one would finally show up.

By the time the bus finally did arrive, around two minutes late at nine forty-seven, any shred of excitement over his brand new revelation had all but completely dried up, overtaken by general annoyance and an overall feeling of grogginess. He shoved the last bite of his onigiri into his mouth and slung his bag back onto his shoulder before he ambled his way towards the recently opened bus door.

After fumbling around with his wallet for a short moment, Kazuma paid the driver and slumped down onto one of the window seats near the middle of the bus. Peering around at the other seats, he could only make out four other figures, five if he included the driver, on the bus with him. It was barren, even compared to his usual bus.

Getting himself into the closest possible thing to a comfortable position that he could achieve, Kazuma eventually managed to drift off to sleep in his seat. Sure, taking a nap on the but was a pretty big risk, for multiple reasons, but he was confident in his ability to wake up just before they reached his stop. It was a skill that he'd been honing for the past half a year.

He cut it close, of course, his stop being no more than twelve seconds away by the time he woke up, but he nonetheless made it off, stepping out into the frigid late evening breeze. The walk back to Megumin's house was as uneventful as usual, but it at least gave him some time to think things over with a slightly less drowsy headspace. Passing by the road to his old apartment, he sent a text over to Darkness, already steeling himself for Aqua's inevitable blowback once she finally learned about his idea.

Before long, Kazuma finally reached Megumin's house, almost twenty minutes behind when he would usually arrive back. Upon opening the door and stepping inside, the sound of his entrance was immediately noticed, if the brisk footsteps he could hear coming down the hall were any indication.

"Kazuma, Kazuma? Is that you?" He heard Megumin whisper-shout, her head popping out from the far end of the hallway a moment later, "Good. You're back, finally."

The emerald eyed teen took his bag off from his shoulder as he kicked off his shoes, "Yeah, I ended up missing my bus, so I had to take a later one instead."

"You missed your bus?" The look of relief that had previously appeared when she'd first seen him slowly morphed into an unimpressed frown, mumbling under her breath, "And to think I was actually starting to think that something had happened…".

"Oh, what's that?" Kazuma raised an eyebrow and smirked at her, "Were you starting to get all worried about me just because I got back a little later than usual?".

In response to his teasing, Megumin puffed out her cheeks and pouted at him, sharply turning her head away after a few seconds. "O-of course not," She retorted, the fidgeting of her hands being a pretty obvious sign that she was lying, "I sh-should've expected you to be disorganised enough to miss your bus."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say," The taller of the two exhaled from the corner of his mouth, "Just so you know, it wasn't even my fault that I missed it, anyway."

"Huh? What do you mean?" her head snapped back towards Kazuma, the pout having disappeared entirely from her features, "What happened?".

He let out a loud sigh, quickly transitioning it into a yawn, as he trudged past Megumin, in the direction of the kitchen. "It's… I'll explain it later. There are some more important matter for me to attend to right now."

"Sorry that there aren't any leftovers," Megumin apologetically twiddled her thumbs as she peered out from behind Kazuma, "I assumed that you'd be eating at work again today, so I didn't really bother with making more than what me and Komekko needed."

"It's fine. Admittedly, it has been a pretty regular occurrence over the past week or so," The exhausted boy replied as he adjusted the heat on the stovetop, "Plus, I mean, I'm just making packet ramen. Sadly, I really can't be bothered to make anything that requires actual effort at the moment."

"I didn't even know that we'd bought that," She commented, stepping around him to take a closer look at the contents of the stovetop, "Uhm, I know what you just said and all, but Is that really it? Aren't you gonna add anything else to it?".

"Eh," Kazuma seemed to consider it for a second before stretching his arms into the air and slowly shaking his head, "Too much effort. It tastes good enough with just the flavour packet, so I don't mind."

"You really are lazy, aren't you?" The dark haired girl complained, her tone completely lacking any sort of bite, "Well, you're the one eating it, not me, so I guess there's no point in me complaining about it."

Before Kazuma was able to give a proper comeback, he felt his phone vibrate in this pocket. Pulling it out and checking the lock screen, he saw the notification of a new text from Darkness.

"Tch," He rolled his eyes in annoyance as he unlocked his phone and read through the message, his shoulders deflating in a wave of sheer disappointment, "I'm not even surprised anymore."

"Hmm?" Megumin got in close and clung onto him in an attempt to get a look at his phone, "What is it, Kazuma?".

"Gah!" The teen leaned away on impulse, caught off guard by her sudden closeness, "I actually wanted to talk to Aqua for once, about something important. So, of course she'd decide to go all nocturnal again."

"Nocturnal?" She repeated, still loosely holding on to her boyfriend, "So, what? She's started sleeping in during the day now?".

"Close enough. She's been asleep since four pm, apparently," Kazuma frowned as he typed out a reply, "I doubt I'll be able to talk with her until tomorrow morning, in that case."

Megumin sent him a sceptical look, "Usually you'd be happy about not having to talk to Aqua, is whatever this is really that important?".

"Yeah, pretty important, I'd say. It's about the new place. More specifically, how we're gonna pay for it," The brunette explained, putting his hands on the girl's shoulders to gently push her out of his personal space.

That certainly caught Megumin's interest. "Oh? So you finally have an idea of how to make up for the extra rent costs? Tell me what it is!".

Kazuma paused for a moment before flashing her a smug smile and announcing his grand plan.

"I'm gonna get Aqua a job!".

"So you're certain that she's gonna be okay with it?" Megumin questioned, for what must have been the fourth time within the last ten minutes.

Kazuma swallowed his mouthful of ramen before talking, "She will if she wants somewhere to live. I've let her get off easy for far too long now."

"And you're sure that she will actually go?" She leaned forward in her seat, "Like, won't she just… pretend to go to work and flunk off instead, or something?".

"I told you," The older teen replied, "I've got a solution for that, too."

"Oh, you do?" Her eyes lit up in anticipation, "Go on then."

"Easy. I'll just have her work at the café with me, so that I can make sure she's actually doing her job."

Megumin looked over at him, impressed, for a second before her brows furrowed in concern, "And has Chris agreed to hiring Aqua? Or, does she even know about this at all?".

"...Not yet, no," He averted his eyes, a sheepish frown on his face, "But she did mention earlier that she's been thinking about getting a new hire, so she should at least be a little open to the idea, in some shape or form."

"I'd like to completely disagree with you on that, but with how considerate she always is with you, I can't help but agree with you," Megumin grumbled, resting her chin in her palms, "Seriously, she's way too lenient with you. I don't like it."

Kazuma snorted as he curled his rather pathetic looking dinner around his chopsticks, "You don't like it…? Hmm? Are you getting jealous of her just because she's nice to me sometimes?".

"..." To his surprise, a warm blush quickly spread across her face, with her shamefully nodding as she tried to make herself look as small as possible, "I can't help but get jealous. So… don't even th-think about getting any ideas about other girls, y-you hear me?".

"Yeah, y-yeah, I get it," He felt the atmosphere suddenly shift around them, he hadn't actually been expecting her to answer honestly, "L-luckily, I'm the type of guy who sticks to his word on stuff like this, so you don't have to worry about anything that."

Megumin gave him a sceptical look, yet smiled anyway, satisfied for now with his answer. "I'm not sure how much I should trust a pervert when it comes to something like this, but I believe you."

"Oi, pervert and cheater are two completely different things," Pointing an index finger at Megumin, he explained, "I may admire the female form from afar, but I'll stick to touching you exclusively."

"How romantic," His girlfriend rolled her eyes, unimpressed. Almost all hints of her previous bashfulness had completely left her face. "And I'll ignore the part about admiring the female form for your own sake."

Kazuma suppressed a grimace. It wasn't his fault that he had absolutely no idea how to act now that he had a girlfriend. Whenever he'd reached this stage of the relationship in one of the dating sims that he'd played in the past, Kazuma had already started skipping through most of the dialogue in an attempt to reach the girl's M-rated CGs - or even just the alternate costume dress-up ones - as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, such a strategy could not be applied to Megumin, or any real life relationship, for that matter. Was it too late for him to swap her in for the body pillow he'd left back at his parents' house?

Pulling him from his internal dialogue, she poked his cheek with one of her fingers, "I get the impression that you're thinking something bad about me."

He took one last bite of his dinner, in deep thought, until he suddenly swivelled round to the girl next to him and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Megumin, we need to skip straight to your M-rated CGs, now."

Her face instantly became an overpowering shade of crimson, though he couldn't quite tell if it was from embarrassment or anger.

"Kazumaaa!".

"Stupid pervert. Trashy Trashzuma. 'M-rated CGs', seriously? I can't believe that guy sometimes."

"Are you done now? That was like twenty minutes ago," Kazuma asked as he stared down the human-sized lump under his covers, mumbling to itself.

Hearing his voice, a small head of dark brown hair, accompanied by a blushing countenance, popped out from the blanket. "It's not my fault that you then started talking about having me wear 'alternate costumes' afterwards."

"Oh?" An excited look spread across his face, "Are you considering the idea? Personally, I'd start off with a maid outfit, but if you don't wanna spend any money, I'm sure that your gym clothes could proba-".

"N-no way!" Megumin squeaked, covering her ears with her hands, "Sexual harassment is a real crime, you know!?".

Kazuma sighed as he watched her squirm around uncomfortably, "Jeez, calm down, I was just joking… partially."

"Uuurrggh," An over the top whining sound came from under the blankets, "Why did I ever let you get away with things like this?".

"Stop exaggerating, I didn't even say anything that bad. There are much more perverted things that I could've said," He waved off her concerns as he slowly slid into the other side of the bed, "If it really bothered you that much, you wouldn't be sleeping here, anyway."

The drawn out silence that followed his accusation made it pretty clear to him that he'd hit the nail directly on the head. "...It's comfy," He eventually heard a voice whisper out from a few inches away.

"So, what?" Kazuma rolled over onto his side, almost flinching as he came face to face with a pair of bright red eyes, "I-is this a regular thing now?".

"It doesn't have to be every day, b-but I don't see why not," Megumin softly responded, restlessly playing with her hands as she maintained eye contact, "U-unless you don't want to, o-of course…".

"I never said that…" He mumbled, trying to maintain his composure in front of her. This was the third time they'd done this now, no need for him to get so uneasy, right?

Truthfully, sleeping in the same bed as her without doing anything beyond, at most, making out had definitely left his 'little Kazuma' very pent up, but, considering his options, he'd much rather her be there than not, no matter how high and dry it would leave him. At the end of the day, at least he'd finally get the chance to 'take care of things' tomorrow morning while Megumin and Komekko were out.

Even so, he still felt himself temporarily tense up as Megumin shuffled herself closer to him. Doing his best to fight back his body's natural desire to hesitate and let her make the first move, he stretched out his hands and shakily brought them out towards her. Megumin let out a stilted breath as she suddenly felt his hands on her waist, pulling her in.

She felt her body relax once she was fully encircled within Kazuma's arms, letting out another - much more relaxed this time - breath. Using the combined strength of both of her legs and one of her hands, she gently rolled herself and Kazuma over on the bed, so that the boy was now laying on his back with her on top of him.

"O-oi!" He stuttered out, more so out of surprise than nervousness, "What are you…? …Never mind."

Megumin gazed into his eyes and slowly brought her arms up to wrap them around the boy's upper torso, giving him an affectionate squeeze. From there, she let go of him and instead used her hands to prop herself up, moving her own face up so that it was hovering just above his own. Her body shivered fleetingly as she felt Kazuma's breath against her face.

Neither of them said anything. There was nothing for them really to say. Or, at least, nothing that felt right for either of them to say at that moment. After a short moment of hesitation, Megumin pressed on with her original intentions, tilting her head so that her lips were parallel to Kazuma's right cheek.

Once she was confident that she was in position, she progressed forward, her lips pressing against her boyfriend's cheek for a few drawn out seconds. Around the four second mark, Megumin pulled her face away, smiling to herself. After a short pause, she moved forwards once more, instead kissing his other cheek. She wasn't really sure if she kept her lips pressed against his cheek for longer that time, but it certainly felt like it to her. Once again, she pulled back, looking down at the uncomposed boy staring back up at her.

"It was a lot less embarrassing to do it like that," She quietly remarked, moving her arms back to their previous position as she snuggled back into his chest.

"Is… is there really that much of a difference?" Kazuma scrunched up his face, one of the hands that was on her waist gliding up to comb through Megumin's hair, a sensation that she had been missing up until that point.

"Mhm~" Megumin sighed out, letting her body go limp on top of her new human mattress. Kazuma wasn't quite sure if the noise was supposed to have been an affirmative response to his question or just a relaxed exhale, but eventually just settled onto the conclusion that it was probably a mix of both.

From there, they remained silent for a while, a long while, simply just laying in the other's arms. It ended up being so long, in fact, that when Megumin finally whispered out Kazuma's name, he was already lightly snoring, his hand remaining stationary and entangled within her hair.

"You really were tired, weren't you?" Megumin mumbled, bringing up a hand to lovingly brush the boy's hair out of his face, allowing her hand to linger on his cheek for a short while, stroking his surprisingly soft skin. Shifting her body around, she shuffled herself upwards and craned her neck to leave one final kiss on his cheek, allowing her lips to linger there for much longer than either of the previous times.

"Good night, Kazuma…" She whispered close to his ear before she buried herself back into his chest, running her fingers through the back of his chilly hair as she waited for sleep to take her, too.

"Uwwww… It's not even ten am yet…" Megumin whined to herself as she covered her ears with her hands.

The frustrated shouting coming from the other room was no surprise to her. Truthfully, she'd kinda expected it to have been much louder than it actually was. Either Kazuma wasn't as mad as she had anticipated, or the walls of her house were more soundproof than she had originally thought.

Megumin had made the wise decision of camping out in the kitchen for the time being. Not just so she'd be able to avoid the disaster of a phone call between Kazuma and Aqua, but also as an opportunity to brew up a cup of coffee. Hopefully, it would be a good enough bargaining chip to save herself just in case she happened to get caught up in the wrath of Kazuma's inevitable foul mood.

It wasn't that she thought Kazuma wouldn't be able to eventually convince Aqua; she knew that he had his ways of dealing with her by this point. It was more the case of Aqua not giving in without an ample amount of kicking and screaming, something the brown haired teen had extensively warned her about throughout the previous evening.

"And… there we go," Megumin said to herself as she poured a splash of milk into the dark brown liquid, smiling proudly at what she hoped was a job well done. She didn't really have any experience when it came to making coffee - not being much of a coffee drinker herself, despite what she'd like others to believe - but it wasn't exactly a difficult drink to make, either.

With nothing else to do, and an instinctual feeling that the call would hopefully be ending any time now, she exited the kitchen, slowly wandering the short distance between the kitchen and the front room. As she pushed the door ever so slightly ajar, she very quickly took note of the almost comically exaggerated scowl on Kazuma's face and the sound of childish wailing, which was somehow still audible even when the phone wasn't on speakerphone.

Yep, exactly how Kazuma had told her it would go.

"It's not like you have anything better to be doing anyway," He growled into the phone, having either not noticed Megumin or being too pissed off to acknowledge her presence in any real way, letting out a loud sigh as he tried to reason with the girl on the other end, "Look, like I told you earlier, it's not like you'd be trusted in the kitchen anyway, so all you'd probably have to do is take and deliver people's orders."

He paused as he waited for Aqua to finish speaking, though this time it luckily wasn't loud enough for Megumin to be able to make out what she was saying. She was hoping that she could take that as a positive sign.

Kazuma continued, still visibly enraged, but seemingly trying his hardest to be civil with his roommate, "Oh, come on. You are at least capable of doing that much, aren't you?".

It wasn't by much, but there was definitely an increase in volume between Aqua's last reply and her current one, Kazuma's comment might have challenged her pride just a smidge too much.

"You're wha-? Just like that? Okay, and what exactly am I supposed to tell Chris, later?" A vein appeared as clear as day on his forehead, "'Tell her whatever, I don't care'? Yeah, I can fuckin' tell!". Kazuma took a deep, irritated breath as Aqua gave her own snarky comeback, before she followed up with a clearly exaggerated yawn. "I get it. Fine, whatever," He tried one final time to end the call on a fairly peaceful note, "But we will be continuing this later, whether you like it or not, understand? Good.".

Megumin winced, fidgeting with the sleeves of her beige turtleneck, as the green eyed boy hung up the call and angrily tossed his phone onto the couch with an aggravated groan, raking his hands through his hair. Carefully, she silently made her way over to him, holding the mug of coffee out in front of her as if it was some kind of offering, with what she hoped was a comforting smile on her face.

"...Thaaanks," He huffed as he took the drink from her, forcing a strained smile onto his face for a single second.

"No problem," Megumin sat herself down beside him, sheepishly glancing away from him, "So, uhm… how did it go?".

Kazuma scowled at nothing in particular as he took his first sip, "As expected."

"Well," The short haired girl spoke up, hopefully trying to lift his spirits, "You said that you'd talk more about it with her later, right? So do you think she'll come around eventually?".

"Oh, no, she definitely will," His response sounded almost casual for a second, though his brows didn't take long to re-crease, "I'm just annoyed that she's trying to drag it out for as long as she can."

Leaning forward, Megumin tilted her head to get a better look at his face, "Isn't that a good thing that she's just dragging it out though? It's better than a flat out no."

"Obviously not," He slumped back into the couch cushions, sipping on his coffee, "A good thing would be if she stopped being so difficult all the time and just said yes straight away. Instead, she cried about it for ten minutes and then decided that she was gonna go back to bed and give me an answer 'some other time'."

"I used to think that you were exaggerating about how she could act sometimes," She let out a small snicker, being pleasantly surprised when she heard a small sound of amusement in response, "But, seriously, what are you gonna do now? Are you just gonna have to wait until she wakes up again?".

"Nope," Kazuma huffed, "I'll be going to work in… let's see, uhm… eleven minutes. I was hoping that I'd have more to tell chief about, but of course Aqua couldn't help but ruin that for me."

"Eleven minutes?" The shorter teen shot up from her seat, "You didn't tell me that you were taking the midday shift. Shouldn't you be a bit more urgent? You've already had a shower today, right?".

"Oi, quit it," An exasperated look marred his face as he leaned even further back into the couch, "It's fine, I told you, I still have eleven, well, ten minutes until I have to leave."

"Fine…" She mumbled out as she collapsed back into the couch, much closer to him than before, "I guess I have no reason to think that you'd be late… Maybe."

A snarky 'oh thanks' lingered on Kazuma's tongue for a moment before he glanced over at her, seeing that her gaze was already focused on him, her hands less than an inch away from his free hand. She tilted her head to the slightest degree once noticed him staring, smiling as his eyes moved back up to look at hers.

With minimal effort required, Megumin's hands closed the final distance, coming to rest on top of his own. Her head followed, leaning against his shoulder as she rested her body against his. Kazuma clicked his tongue and looked away, still very much angry, but otherwise said nothing about it, allowing her to stay as she was.

Eventually after around five minutes of brooding in complete silence, Kazuma finally spoke up.

"The moment Aqua gets back, I'm definitely gonna kill her."

"Haah…how… haah… ruthless of him to make a woman cry like that," Darkness whined to herself as she leaned against the doorframe, looking far too excited about the tearful shouting coming from the other room.

Darkness had made the - in her opinion - wise decision of camping out in the hallway just outside Aqua's room for the time being, her ear pressed up against the wooden door. Between the loud crying and complaining, and the faint shouting that she could occasionally hear from her phone's speaker, her head was quickly being filled up with fantasy after fantasy, most of which involved her taking the verbal abuse in Aqua's stead.

Though, surprisingly, there were multiple moments throughout the call where Aqua's whining almost completely faded away, and Kazuma's voice became much too quiet for her to make out. When Kazuma had first told her about his plan to get the unemployed girl a job the previous night, she admittedly hadn't had much faith that Aqua would ever agree. Yet, she had still been somewhat swayed by his insistence that she'd 'come around eventually'. Darkness was starting to believe that he had been completely right from the beginning.

After a short while of losing herself in her thoughts, she suddenly realised that she could no longer hear Aqua's exaggerated cries or Kazuma's enraged yelling, instead being replaced by the low sound of the blue haired girl muttering to herself on the other side of the door. The call had ended without her even realising it.

Trying her best to clear her previously dirty mind, Darkness politely knocked on the girl's door, receiving a peppy-sounding 'come in!' from its resident.

"Hey, Aqua," She greeted the older girl as she opened the door, spotting her lazily sprawled out underneath her messy covers. Aqua's personally assigned maid - or babysitter, as some of the house's other maids had begun to refer to her as outside of working hours - probably hadn't even had the time to make her bed yet that day, the poor woman.

"Ah, oh, Darkness," The blue eyed girl tried and failed to hide her slight disappointment, "I thought that it was my maid, oopsie!"

The rich girl twiddled with her ponytail as she took in the sight in front of her with an indeterminable expression, "Well, actually, I don't think that she's even here at the moment. Apparently, you sent her out to go get something for you around an hour ago."

"Huh," Was all she said, with not a single thing about her suggesting that she'd just spent the past ten minutes crying her eyes out, "Oh well, if she's not back yet, then I'll be going to bed now. Good night Darkness."

"G-good night?" The blonde stuttered out, almost in disbelief at how casually the girl had completely dismissed her after what had just happened. She really was starting to wonder how Kazuma managed to understand her thought process at all.

"So what was it that you were saying to me about this place becoming more popular, yesterday, chief?" Kazuma blankly stared over at the only other person in the café, his cheek sinking deeper into the back of his hand as he propped his elbows up by the cash register.

"Yeah, yeah. Very clever, helper," Chris rolled her eyes as her vision darted over to the front window of the café, "And how many people were you expecting to see in a café at ten fifty-seven am on a Monday?".

"At least one," He shrugged, "Are Monday mornings here always like this?".

"Do you somehow not remember the multiple people who've already come in today? You don't have to be so dramatic about this, helper," The silver haired teen returned her gaze back towards him, "And, anyway, I thought you'd be happy. It's less work for you, isn't it?".

"Never said that I wasn't happy about this," Kazuma replied, not really feeling any strong desire to prolong their current conversation.

His boss most likely felt the same, if the sudden yet comfortable silence between them was an indicator of anything, as they spent the next minute or so with not much to do, the brunette resigning himself to discreetly checking through his phone behind the cash register. Nothing new from Darkness regarding Aqua, still.

Although, that did remind him of something relevant.

"Hey, chief," Kazuma slipped his phone back into his pocket and called out to the older girl, reeling in her attention, "I was thinking about what you were saying last night, y'know, about getting a new hire, and I actually think it could be a pretty beneficial idea."

"Is that so?" She asked him, her eyebrows raised, "I thought that you were sorta against it yesterday, what changed?".

The bored teen scratched at the back of his neck. "I wouldn't really say that I was against it, just… sceptical, yeah," He lied, for the most part, "But I was properly considering it and I just thought that, well, it might be pretty helpful to have an extra person out front here at all times, don't you think?".

"Alright, you're being far too specific and positive about this," Chris interjected, equal parts disappointed and intrigued, "What's the ulterior motive, here, helper? You may as well just get straight to the point."

"Fine," Kazuma groaned, already starting to doubt that she would actually say yes, "Chief, I… I need you to hire Aqua, please!".

The eyes of the girl in front of him widened to an almost impressive degree, "A-Aqu-?".

The sound of the café door slowly opening suddenly cut Chris off before she could say anything further, signalling their first customer in what had probably been around fifteen minutes by that point. Kazuma, though, was much more focused on who had just entered the café.

Standing awkwardly in the doorway, looking as she was already heavily contemplating running away, was a middle school girl of around average height. Kazuma almost instantly recognised her dark brown hair, falling onto her shoulders in its signature pigtails, not to mention the… other parts of her that caught his interest.

He made eye contact with the pair of crimson red eyes, contact that was broken almost instantly as the other person nervously looked away for a few moments before her eyes shot back to meet his. From there, her gaze wandered down to Kazuma's clothes, noticing the uniform, before rapidly moving back to his face and then taking a quick glance over at Chris, taking note of her similar uniform, before finally ending up with her vision glued to the floor in front of her.

Her eyes completed a few more laps of that circuit before she finally noticed the confused - maybe even concerned - look that had slowly been forming on Kazuma's face, causing the poor girl to recoil back in shock.

"K-k-kazuma?" Yunyun spluttered out, gaze now firmly locked onto her shoes.

"Yo," He gave her a welcoming wave of his hand from the front counter.

Before either of them could say anything further, Chris butted in with questions of her own, "Oh? Hey, do you two know each other? And your name is Yunyun, is it? That's good to know, you never did tell me."

"Wait, what?" Kazuma's shot darted back and forth between the two girls, causing Yunyun to further shrink in on herself, "You've met her before, too, chief?".

"Yep, sorta. I've noticed her coming here pretty much daily for the past few days, usually in the mornings. She barely says anything though, it's pretty mysterious," She explained in hushed whispers to her curious employee, who nodded in understanding, "I told you that this place was becoming more popular with younger people, didn't I?".

"...Sure," He gave his boss an awkward look and a raised eyebrow before turning over to the girl in the doorway, giving her what he hoped came across as a reassuring smile, "Hey, Yunyun, are you gonna come inside, or…?"

"Oh, y-yes! O-of course!" Yunyun finally spoke up, unintentionally slamming the door behind her as she scurried into the café, "Uhm, Kazuma, do you… w-work here?".

Kazuma tugged at his uniform with one hand while he blankly pointed at himself with the other. "Well, yeah," He responded, stating the obvious, "That's why I'm wearing this,". He quickly found himself regretting the snarky response as Yunyun's glassy eyes shot down to the floor in shame. Being the only customer in the entire café was probably nerve-wracking enough for her as is.

"So!" Chris clapped her hands together and sent Yunyun a wide smile, clearly trying to ease the girl's nerves, "How about we take your order now, Yunyun? You can go up to helper over there whenever you've decided on what you want. He's very friendly, I promise."

Personally, Kazuma wouldn't particularly describe himself as 'very friendly', but he wisely decided not to argue with her about it at that moment.

The middle schooler looked around for a few seconds, fiddling with her ribbons in discomfort, before trudging up to the front desk. She took a deep breath before she began to incoherently babble under her breath, her face lighting up in humiliation.

It was at that moment that someone new stepped in, his entrance being far less awkward than Yunyun's had been. Kazuma vaguely recognised the middle-aged man; he'd definitely seen him in the café at least once or twice before. At the arrival of a new patron, the mentally overwhelmed girl almost expertly blended herself into the background, a stark contrast from her previous role as the unfortunate centre of attention for both workers.

As Chris enthusiastically struck up a conversation with the man, apparently knowing him a lot better than Kazuma did, the brunette spared a glance over at Yunyun. If he wasn't so familiar with how the girl always acted, he probably would've gotten a little bit annoyed with her by now. But, she was Megumin's sort of friend - and harmless stalker - and did seem to be a kind and well-meaning girl, so he wasn't gonna get mad at her, no matter how terrible at social interaction she was.

By the time he focused back onto the man, he had just finished exchanging pleasantries with Chris and had begun to make his way over to the front counter.

"Good morning," Kazuma greeted him, begrudgingly putting on his customer service voice, "What would you like to order today, sir?".

"I'll take a vanilla cappuccino," The middle aged man briefly squinted at the menu, "And I'll have a grilled chicken sandwich as well please, son."

"One vanilla cappuccino… and one grilled chicken sandwich," The emerald eyed teen repeated under his breath as he jotted down the order, "Right, then. Just take a seat and your order will be brought out to you when it's done."

Kazuma waved for Chris to come over as the man walked away, motioning towards the pad of paper in his hand. Since he was already out front, he may as well stay there and let her take the kitchen for the next hour or so. Though, just as Chris started to walk over to him, Kazuma finally noticed the head of dark brown hair and red ribbons, who had seemingly been behind the man in line the entire time, staring directly at him.

Yunyun took a deep breath before she finally mustered up the courage to order. "Umm… I'll t-take a v-vanilla cappuccino… and I'll have a grilled ch-chicken sandwich as well… s-son…?".

Sometimes - a lot of the time actually - Kazuma found himself worrying about the kind of people that he was surrounded by in his day to day life.

What he had once thought was the slowest thirty minutes he'd ever experienced in his time working at the café suddenly and rapidly turned into by far the busiest of the few lunch shifts he'd taken that entire Spring break. He wasn't particularly sure why - and when he asked Chris, neither was she - but between the hours of eleven to one, the café had been just as packed as some of their most hectic evening shifts.

Either way, Kazuma could tell that his boss wasn't complaining in the slightest. He, on the other hand, was wishing he'd just kept his mouth shut earlier about how empty the café had been. This was surely some cruel form of karma aimed directly at him.

In all of the lunchtime rush, he hadn't even noticed Yunyun leave; last seeing her when he'd taken her order over to her single person table, right in the back of the main room. Though, to be fair, she did seem to have an exceptional talent for blending into the background, so missing her exit in the middle of taking orders wasn't really all that surprising to Kazuma. At least he'd have an interesting story to tell Megumin when his shift finally ended.

It was only when he had around half an hour of work left that the customer base had finally dwindled enough for Chris to once again hang out in the front of the café, not having anything to do in the back for the time being. Now would probably be his last chance to continue the Aqua conversation before his shift was over.

"Were you actually serious about that whole 'hiring Aqua' thing earlier, helper?" Chris spoke up out of nowhere, as if she'd somehow been reading his mind.

He awkwardly fiddled with the cash register, randomly opening and closing the tray to some imaginary beat, "Completely serious, unfortunately."

She gave him an odd, maybe even suspicious, look, one that almost made him wince, before putting a hand to her chin. "Do you believe that she would actually be able to properly work here?" She eventually asked, her tone being one of scepticism.

"To put it bluntly, you'd have to put her through extensive amounts of training before she's even allowed to step foot inside the kitchen," Kazuma sadly admitted, recalling the event that caused his entire living situation in the first place, "But, despite how she may seem, I'm pretty sure she'd have no problems when it comes to working here out front. In terms of taking and delivering orders, she should be mostly fine."

Throughout his explanation, Chris had been nodding along at certain points, though he wasn't quite sure if she was nodding in approval or just simple understanding. He hadn't exactly tried to sell Aqua, that wouldn't be possible with how much his boss already knew about her, he'd instead just hoped that he'd be able to convince her through brutal honesty.

"Hmm," The hand on the older teen's chin began rubbing back and forth as she continued occasionally nodding her head, "I see. Another question, if I may, helper. Do you actually think you'd be able to get her to come into work consistently for the same days and the same hours each week?".

That question had actually caught him a little bit off guard. Kazuma had been expecting the last question, in some shape or form, to come up eventually, but he'd never really considered the idea of somehow managing to motivate Aqua to consistently come into work. Hell, he even struggled to convince himself to go in on some days. How would he have any hope of doing the same to Aqua?

Guilt-tripping and the threat of living on the streets would only last so long; maybe a month at most, so what else could he do?

After almost a minute of thinking, with Chris taking an order from their newest customer as she patiently waited for his answer, Kazuma finally settled on a solution. It wasn't a perfect solution, nor was it one that he was particularly happy with, but it was a solution nonetheless. One that would actually work. As much as he loathed to admit it, forcing Aqua back into the deep end wouldn't be helpful for anyone. If he wanted to get her working, he'd have to think small-scale to start off.

"...You would probably have to start her out with only around three days per week, but with the same shift lengths as me," Once Chris got back from delivering the patron their drink, Kazuma finally replied, "And then slowly ease her into either a few more days per week or a few more hours per shift as she gets used to it."

"Realistically…" His boss considered her answer for a while before speaking, "Realistically, helper, if someone came in applying for a job and said everything that you just said to me, I'm pretty certain that I'd have to turn them down."

"Fair."

"But," She continued, giving him an empathetic gaze, "You are my most loyal and trusted employee, and since this is a personal recommendation from you, I'm willing to give her a chance."

Kazuma let out a loud sigh of relief, a wave of tension that he hadn't even realised was there gushing out through that single exhale, "Thanks, chief, you seriously have no i-".

"I wasn't quite finished there, helper," Chris interrupted him, raising a single index finger, "I didn't say that I was gonna hire her, I said that I'd give her a chance. If you can really convince her to start working, then I'd like her to come here for an interview slash training session when she gets back, okay? From there, if she can live up to my basic expectations, then I'll have no issues letting her onto the team as a dedicated waitress or sorts."

It wasn't ideal, far from it, but it was an opportunity nonetheless. An opportunity that Kazuma was fully intent on taking. He'd focus on convincing Aqua herself later.

"You've got yourself a deal," He struck out his hand for the older teen to shake, solidifying the agreement, "She'll be more than ready for that interview, I'll make sure of it."

Chris reached out her hand to grasp onto Kazuma's own, giving it a single, firm shake and flashing him a determined grin.

"Wait, seriously?" Megumin's eyes widened in disbelief, "What was she doing there? Completely by herself?".

"Yeah, seriously," Kazuma let out an amused breath as he dropped his bag onto the hallway floor, receiving a 'don't just leave it on the floor' look from the girl in front of him, "According to Chris, she's been coming in regularly for the last couple of days. Although, well, she's still pretty awkward about the whole thing, I can't help but feel bad for her."

"I'll never understand that girl," She commented, rolling her eyes, "Well, I mean, I can understand going to the café regularly, but I'll never get why she always acts so strangely."

"I dunno, just how she is I guess. But, also I'm sure that Chris would be overjoyed to hear what you just said about the café, she's been going on and on about the café becoming more and more 'popular with the younger generation', or whatever," The bag was reluctantly picked up from the floor and slung back over his shoulder, getting an affirmative thumbs up from his girlfriend, "So where am I supposed to put this, then?".

Megumin placed a finger on her cheek, "Well, where do you usually put it?".

"On the floor."

She let out a loud and exaggerated sigh, slumping her shoulders forward, "Anywhere else? Somewhere… better than that?".

"In my room," Kazuma answered, pausing for a few seconds, "On the floor."

The annoyed girl's cheeks puffed up as she stared him down, her demeanour occasionally cracking for a split second. "Here, just- I'll do it," Megumin grumbled as she closed the small gap between them and reached up to pull the bag from his shoulder. She briefly glanced around before she sauntered over to the end of the coat rack and hung his bag from the furthest peg.

"There," The crimson eyed girl proudly placed her hands on her hips as she turned back to face Kazuma with a wide smile, "How's this? Not too difficult, huh?".

"Fine. If it'll get you to stop complaining, then I'll start putting it there from now on," He gave her an impassive shrug, "But I'm not really sure why you seem to suddenly care about this so much."

"I have no idea what your old apartment was like," She began, limply gesturing at him with her hand, "But if you're moving into an actual house now, don't you think that you should learn to take even better care of your living space?".

"I'd rather not, but I can't really disagree with your point, unfortunately," Kazuma replied as he wandered off in the direction of the front room, "So, what? Are you gonna make me 'practice'?".

Megumin quickly followed behind him, briefly speeding up her pace to walk beside him. "Hmm, yeah, in a way," She nodded, as if she was agreeing with herself, "I mean, if I don't try to teach you some better habits, then who else will? I'm guessing that Aqua certainly won't."

"If it wasn't for Aqua, I'd never have had to learn how to unclog a sink," The older teen commented as the two of them stepped into the front room, "So, in a way, you could say that she already has."

"I'll give you this, at least," Megumin noted as she watched Kazuma lazily collapse into the couch, pulling out his phone, "You're a lot better at cleaning up after yourself and keeping things tidy than I thought you'd be. Even if you do require some… reminding, sometimes."

"I heard that last part," Kazuma momentarily moved his attention away from his phone to send her an exaggerated glare, earning a soft giggle from the girl, "And of course I'm gonna take care of this place. Your mom let me stay here for free, so the least I can do in return is keep everything clean while I'm here."

"She's not the only one who let you stay here, you know?" She craned herself towards him, "I'm pretty sure that there's someone else that you should be grateful towards."

"Huh?" The boy looked up to lock eyes with her, seeing the large smirk on her face and retaliating with one of his own, "Oh yeah, Komekko. How could I ever forget?".

"Purposely ignoring my existence isn't funny, Kazuma!".

"Honestly," Kazuma absentmindedly remarked as they stepped off of the bus, "I'm really not sure why you've bothered making this entire trip twice a day, almost every day, for the past week. Surely it would just be easier to have Komekko stay at home on the days where you're not going out anywhere."

"It… definitely is a hassle, I'll admit," Megumin conceded, awkwardly rolling back the oversized sleeves of her sweater to free her hands, "And the journey is always really boring when it's just me, but kindergarten is an important aspect of early development, don'tcha know? There's no way I could let her skip out on that."

"Is that really true, though?" The brown haired teen questioned, creasing his brows, "Eh, I mean, I kinda doubt it. I'm pretty sure you just do it because you're obsessed with your little sister."

"I'm not obsessed with her!" She gave him a dubious look, swatting at his arm, "I'm just being a good big sister, that's all."

"Mhm, yeah, whatever you say," He dismissed her, flicking her cheek to get her to stop, "I was being serious, though. About the first thing, I mean."

Despite her insistence that she was not obsessed with her little sister, the way she instantly walked directly up to, and tightly hugged, Komekko the moment they reached her kindergarten was certainly making Kazuma start to think otherwise.

"Big brother!" Komekko yelled out, charging at him the moment Megumin let her go and latching onto his leg, "Big brother come to kindergarten today!".

"Hi there Komekko," He crouched down to greet the young girl, ruffling her hair, "You happy to see your big brother?".

"Of course," She released him from her hold, throwing her arms into the air, "After all, big brother promised me yesterday that he would make spaggy-tee for me today, right?".

"Ah," Kazuma sweat dropped, having completely forgotten that particular detail, "Did I now…?".

Well, if it was for Komekko's sake, he was sure that he'd be able to rope Megumin into cooking with him, at least.

"Tomorrow?" Megumin repeated into the phone's speaker, "As in, Tuesday?".

"Well, yeah, tomorrow is Tuesday, I'm not sure what other tomorrow I could be talking about," Funifura sarcastically answered from the other end of the call, "So, you coming? It'll be pretty similar to last time."

"It sounds good," She began drumming her fingers against the top of the small wooden table as she worked through the second part of her sentence in her head, "But, actually uhm, I can't go tomorrow, I already have… other plans."

Megumin had just finished washing and changing her little sister when the house's home phone had gone off. A fairly rare occurrence, all things considered. With her having immediately rushed over to the phone before Kazuma could even take a single step, assuming that it was from her mother, Kazuma had been left with the task of putting Komekko to bed; completely new territory for him.

Surprisingly for him, it had actually been much simpler than he had expected it to be. Between her seemingly boundless energy during the day and desire to eat anything that even vaguely resembled food, Komekko did an extremely good job of tiring herself out just enough so that she practically fell asleep the moment Kazuma had finished draping the blanket over her.

Back out in the hallway, Megumin had been pleasantly surprised - not to mention relieved - to discover that the call was actually from Funifura, marking it as an even rarer occurrence than before. According to the other girl, she was planning another group outing for the next day. One that Megumin, along with all of the other girls who had gone out to Nerimaki's family's diner almost a week prior, had been invited to.

"You- Oh, that sucks," The twin tailed girl still remained in high spirits, even after being rejected, "You sure that you can't come? At this rate, there's a chance that it might end up being just me and Yunyun tomorrow, haha…. Hahahaha…".

She wasn't even trying to hide how worried the idea of such an outcome was making her.

"...Yeah, I'm sure, sorry. The thing I'm doing tomorrow, it's… v-very important to me," Megumin felt her cheeks gradually ignite, shaking her head in an attempt to keep her composure, "Um, if I can ask, why is it just gonna be you and Yunyun? Is everyone else busy, too?".

"Well, actually, I was mostly joking about that. Sorta," Funifura stumbled over her words before properly explaining, "Basically, she's just the only one who's said she could come so far. Nerimaki left to visit some family members that live pretty far away this morning, according to her message, and neither Arue or Dodonko have responded yet, but I'm preetty sure that Dodonko will say yes, so it should all be fine."

For a moment, Megumin wanted to question why she was seemingly being asked about this so much later on then the others had been, before it suddenly dawned on her that she was quite possibly the only girl of the six who didn't have a personal phone, and especially not one with texting capabilities.

Soon enough, the call was over. Admittedly, Megumin did feel a little bad about turning the other girl down, but it's not like there was anything she could do about it. She already had important plans for tomorrow, plans that… the other person involved with didn't exactly… know about yet.

She had been trying to figure out how and when to do that part all day.

"Hey," She greeted Kazuma as she entered the front room. The older teen was once again seated on the couch, almost laying against one of the armrests, mindlessly scrolling through his phone.

"Hey," He replied, not looking up from his phone, "I didn't have any issues putting Komekko to bed, she was out pretty much instantly."

Megumin hummed in acknowledgement and breathed out a quiet 'thanks'. Claiming a spot of her own, she sat down next to him and replicated his exact position, the only difference being that she was leaning against him instead.

"Surely that's uncomfortable," Kazuma tore his eyes away from his phone to focus his sights on her current position.

"A little bit, yeah," She sheepishly admitted, allowing her eyes to flutter shut for a few moments.

"Alright, fine," The brunette sighed, shifting the arm that she was leaning against, "Gimme a second, I'll move."

Megumin was almost about to tell him that there was no need, until she noticed him sitting up and felt an arm slowly wrap around her shoulder, pulling her in slightly and bringing her in to rest against the upper part of his chest. She spotted his other arm on the couch's armrest and reached out to grab into his wrist.

When she began to pull it towards her, Kazuma scowled for a second, on impulse, before his face eased up and he allowed her to guide his hand wherever it was that she wanted it to go. The short teen brought Kazuma's hand up to rest against her cheek, rubbing slow circles into her jaw. Though, from the angle they were both facing, the position ended up feeling a lot less natural than she'd expected. Either way, she didn't really mind.

She was starting to feel like she was spoiling herself with how often she got Kazuma to pamper her. Not that it would make her stop any time soon, though.

"Happy now?" Kazuma let out a heavy breath as he glanced down at her, his phone now resting on the couch cushions in the small gap between them.

"Very," She smiled up at him, "Are you?".

He let out a drawn out 'eh' sound, shrugging, an answer Megumin had not really been expecting. "Eh…" He kept his gaze on her, as if he was contemplating something, though, whatever it was, it was taking a while for him to think about it, "Just… hold on a second…".

Just as she was starting to think that he'd given up on whatever it was he had been thinking about, she felt Kazuma's hand leave her cheek and instead snake its way under her knees. Before she could even react, she was shakily, yet carefully, lifted up and placed onto his legs, so that she was sitting sideways on his lap.

"T-There," Kazuma stated before Megumin could even think of something to say, "You don't have to awkwardly lean over me now."

"...G-good," She only furthered her bashfulness by burying her head into his chest and clutching at his shirt, feeling him tighten his grip around her in response.

"Oi, w-why are you this embarrassed?" The teen queried, smoothing down a stray hair on the top of her head, "I mean, th-this, um, definitely is pretty embarrassing, don't get me wrong, but it isn't really that bad."

"It's n-not that. I was j-just… surprised," Megumin assured him, her hands slipping away from his t-shirt and instead embracing his torso, "You d-did something completely unprompted. I'm happy."

"Oh, r-right… A-anyway," Kazuma stammered, plucking his phone from the couch with the hand that wasn't supporting Megumin, "I-I'm gonna go back to what I was doing earlier, so…".

In an attempt to get both of them to ignore their embarrassment and just enjoy the situation, Kazuma started watching random videos on his phone. While it had started out as a distraction tool, one that ended up working out very well, they both quickly began to forget that fact and instead wasted away the next hour or so just watching videos together.

Yet, despite that, Kazuma could help but notice a certain… something about Megumin. He wasn't really sure what it was, or even if it was necessarily good or bad, he could just tell that there was something on her mind the entire time. Although, just as he was about to ask her about whatever it was, he felt her shift on his lap, gently letting her arms fall away from around him.

"Kazuma…" Megumin had only uttered a single word, his name, yet her nerves were already just as fried as they had been earlier. She climbed off of his lap, standing up and walking a few steps away from him before coming to a stop.

"Yeah?" He spoke back, more confused than anything, "What's up? Everything okay?".

She continued facing away from him, intertwining her hands behind her back as she shrunk herself into her turtleneck. Her shoulders briefly tensed up before she took a single, deep breath, readying herself.

"T-tomorrow…" Megumin shook her head in dissatisfaction, she wanted to keep her voice even for this. No stuttering. "Tomorrow," She tried again, steadily spinning around to show him a beautiful, wide smile and a faint glimmer in her eyes, "Let's go on a date, Kazuma!".

Chapter Text

Rolling over onto his back, Kazuma stretched his arms outwards and rested them behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. For a moment, he felt his hands twitch against the pillow, as if the lack of anything for them to do as he attempted to drift off to sleep was making them antsy. Though that certainly was possible, it seemed much more reasonable to blame the twitching on the vague feeling of butterflies inside his stomach. A feeling that had, annoyingly, been keeping him awake for the past forty-five minutes.

He was going on his first ever date tomorrow. Obviously, he'd said yes to Megumin's proposal almost instantly.

Kazuma wasn't worried about it. Or, more accurately, he would never admit that he was worried about it, not even to himself. It was just a simple date, after all. He and Megumin had done plenty of date-esque things together before, even if they were never officially referred to as such, so this shouldn't be any different to any of those occasions, right? No, of course not.

As he allowed his brain to run from thought to thought, he felt his eyes gradually grow heavier. Hopefully, it was a sign that he was finally starting to fall asleep.

In an unexpected break in their new routine, Megumin had instead chosen to sleep in her own room for the night. He could only assume that it had something to do with their upcoming date - nerves, perhaps - so he didn't really dwell on it all that much. And, besides, for as much as he did miss the feeling of having her in his arms, he certainly couldn't deny the relief he felt from her lower regions. His son, at least, would finally be able to get a peaceful night's rest.

But, still, now that he had the comparison, he could definitely confirm that he greatly preferred having her there than not.

Finally, he let out a loud yawn, his body practically melting into the mattress as he felt himself drifting off. Within a few short minutes, Kazuma finally managed to doze off for the night.

He could only hope that he'd actually be able to enjoy his day off.

Kazuma quirked an eyebrow as his attention shifted over to the tiny toddler, cheerfully humming to herself, in the window seat. Personally, he couldn't even begin to imagine how someone could be so happy about going to any sort of educational facility, even if kindergarten usually entailed more playing around than actual learning.

"So what's got you so happy, Komekko?" He asked her in a placid tone, getting Komekko to pause her humming and look up at him, "Something fun happening at kindergarten today?".

She stared at him for a moment, perhaps confused, before her face lit up in excitement. "Yes, yes! Guess what, big brother," Komekko hopped up and down on her seat, not even giving Kazuma a chance to answer before she continued, "Toos-day is curry day!".

Of course that's what it was. Komekko was nothing if not consistent, and consistently easy to please at that. The teen showed her a wry smile, opening his mouth to respond but quickly being cut off as the young girl spoke once again.

"The curry is really, really yummy. It's even better than the curry that big sis makes, but don't tell her that. It makes her sad, I think," She explained, the almost pitying look on her face forcing Kazuma to suppress a snort. He didn't even know that the young girl could make an expression like that. "And, and!" The small girl kept up her rambling, "Today is super extra fun because big brother is taking me for the first time."

Though he could've probably predicted everything else that Komekko had said thus far, he had to admit that he was pleasantly surprised to hear that last part. It hadn't really crossed his mind up until that point, but this was in fact the first time that he'd ever accompanied Komekko on the morning trip, he'd usually leave that task entirely in Megumin's hands. Kazuma always preferred having a lazy morning whenever physically possible.

Of course, today was an obvious exception to the status quo.

All things considered, the morning had been a fairly normal one, with the exception of the occasional glances Megumin would send his way when she thought that he wasn't paying attention. That was until, once Komekko had downed her breakfast and dashed out of the room, Megumin had suddenly tugged on Kazuma's tracksuit sleeve and asked him to take Komekko to kindergarten for her.

Upon Kazuma's immediate questioning - there was no way she'd ask someone else to do something like that for her without good reason - she grew somewhat reserved, clearly trying to dance around giving an actual answer. It was only upon further pressing that she blushed and gave him a vague 'I might need a little more time to get ready', a decent enough answer as far as Kazuma was concerned.

That was the basic gust of what had led up to the current moment. Sitting on the usual bus with Megumin's little sister, not even having changed out of his tracksuit yet.

"Well, of course," Kazuma responded to the small girl, donning a purposely over-the-top, self-aggrandizing tone, "Big brother is a lot more fun, after all. Your big sis never lets you eat any snacks on the bus, does she?".

"Nope! Not at all!" She confirmed, idly playing around with the empty candy wrapper in her hands - the only remaining evidence of her secret rule-breaking - "She always says that if I eat too many snacks, I won't have any room for dinner, but she's wrong. I always have room for more food, I promise!".

Kazuma had no problem wholeheartedly believing her. He could already tell that she was going to grow up into an exceedingly troublesome girl.

"Hey, Megumin! I'm back," Kazuma called out as he stepped into the house, shutting the door behind him as he kicked off his shoes.

He stood there, waiting in silence for a short moment, until he heard Megumin's voice from somewhere within the house. "O-oh, Kazuma!" Based on the direction of her voice, Kazuma could only assume that she was in her room, "Um, you should probably go take a shower and get ready, okay? I'll be ready pretty soon."

The green eyed boy shrugged, he couldn't argue with that suggestion. "Alright then," He responded, wandering off in the direction of the bathroom, before pausing and adding on, "I'll try to not take too long."

The simple 'Sounds good' from Megumin marked the end of their brief exchange, with Kazuma continuing on his way to the bathroom. Approaching the door, he suddenly noticed a small black obstacle lying peacefully in the middle of the hallway.

"Meow."

"Good morning to you too," Kazuma smirked as he crouched down to greet Chomusuke, affectionately scratching behind her ears, "Sorry, I'd love to spend some time with you, but I've kinda gotta go take a shower now."

The feline simply just rolled over onto her other side, letting out a low purr. Clearly, she was more than content to just spend the entire day napping.

"I'm so jealous of you."

Over in Megumin and Komekko's room, a pair of deep red eyes found themselves intently focusing on the appearance of the girl reflected back at them. Without a doubt, this was the highest amount of effort she'd put into her appearance in… well, maybe ever. Her hair, which would always have a tiny bit of messiness to it, had been brushed and straightened to perfection, while her face had a modest, yet still noticeable, amount of make-up applied to her lips, cheeks and eyes.

Proudly grinning to herself, Megumin performed a small twirl in front of the mirror, allowing herself to get yet another full view of her dress. Surprisingly, choosing what to wear had been by far the easiest part. It was a no brainer, really. She fondly recalled back to when she'd purchased the dress, just a week prior, with Kazuma. Especially the part where he'd called her beautiful, a moment that she found herself thinking about a little bit more often than she'd like to admit.

Hopefully he'd shower her with similar compliments soon, as well.

As she awkwardly fiddled with the shoulder straps - she was not at all used to wearing something like this - Megumin heard the soft sound of impatient clawing, followed by a much louder meowing. Stepping over to the door, she tentatively opened it, just to spot a black streak make its way into the room and settle down onto Megumin's neatly made futon.

"Oh, hi Chomusuke, how long have you been awake for?" She questioned the cat, kneeling down and gently picking her up from under her front legs, "You can't climb onto my head today, okay girl? I… spent a long time on my hair."

In response to her owner, Chomusuke simply yawned and lazily placed one of her paws onto Megumin's forearm. Surprisingly, once the short haired girl had placed the feline back onto the futon, she seemingly heeded her owner's words, curing herself up into the blankets as Megumin tenderly ran her fingers through her fur.

Eventually, a while after the lazy cat had once again fallen back asleep, Megumin got up and made her way over into the front room, waiting out the last few minutes until Kazuma was ready. She hadn't heard the sound of the shower running as she passed by the bathroom, so she could only assume that he was in the process of getting dressed.

"Oi, you are ready now, right?" Megumin faintly heard the sound of a door opening somewhere else in the house followed by the sound of Kazuma's voice.

"Uhm, I'm ready!" She called out, her excitement slowly ramping up. Megumin softly smacked her cheeks. No need for her to get all nervous now.

Soon enough, the sound of footsteps grew louder until Kazuma finally made his way into the room, his eyes instantly magnetising onto her. Similar to Megumin, his clothes were also ones that he'd purchased the week before. Though, in his case, almost all of his available clothes were ones that had purchased the week before.

A rather fashionable green jacket, one that Megumin had previously made a fuss over how good it looked on him, was worn over a simple white t-shirt and charcoal grey pants. It was a comparatively much simpler outfit than hers, but one that still made the younger teen bring a hand up to her beating heart anyway. Her heartbeat quickened even further once she noticed the way his eyes practically scanned over every single detail of her appearance.

After a short period of almost complete quiet, Megumin, unable to bear waiting any longer, cut through the silence. "H-how… how do I look…?".

Kazuma continued to not-so-discreetly check her out as he rubbed his neck and nervously chuckled, "Y'know, if you're wearing s-something like that, I can't help but feel underdressed in comparison."

She suppressed a disappointed frown. It certainly wasn't what she was hoping for, but she supposed that it was a valid concern nonetheless. "Don't worry about it, okay?" Megumin reassured him, her hand still touching her chest as she sweetly smiled up at him, "You l-look really h-handsome, Kazuma."

The brunette blushed, clearly caught off guard by her words. It wasn't exactly often - or ever - that he was complimented on his appearance, "Ah, w-well," Kazuma began, already tripping over his words, "You um, y'know, you look… nice, too, I guess."

Unfortunately, this time around, Megumin failed to hide her disappointment. "I sorta expected you to say something like that, but s-still," She felt her face rapidly warming up as she went on, "I did… put all of this effort in for you, y-you know, so it would be nice to maybe get a p-proper compliment…".

Kazuma internally screamed. Seriously, how could she just say something like how 'she put all of this effort in for him' so freely? Was she trying to test his willpower? How was any healthy guy supposed to hear something like that and stay calm?

No, never mind that. She said she wanted him to compliment her. Properly. He'd focus on the part for the time being.

"I'm pretty sure I already said this when you bought it, but th-that dress r-really does look great on you," He commented, trying to avoid making actual eye contact, as inconspicuously as possible, "Uhm, and I've never really seen you wearing make-up before, I think, but you've done a r-really good job with it. This is by far the prettiest you've ever looked, you know?".

Kazuma grimaced. Whatever had just come from his mouth felt like complete word vomit to him, definitely not a 'proper compliment'.

To his surprise, Megumin beamed at him, content. "That one was better," Was all she said.

There was a pause, neither of them knew how long it was, where they both found themselves staring into the other's eyes. Eventually, the tense atmosphere caused Kazuma to crumble a little, deciding to finally get things moving. He had a date to go on.

"A-alright! This is getting way too awkward," The older teen announced, "Let's just go right now."

"Sure!".

"So, you said that you had already planned this out, right?" Kazuma asked as they walked side by side down the path nearby Megumin's house, receiving a nod of confirmation from her, "Mhm, okay. In that case, where exactly are we going, then? No offence, but I really don't feel like going down into Axel for the third time in like, just over a week."

"Don't worry, we're not going into Axel," She reassured him, "We're just taking our regular bus anyway. Although, we will have to walk for a little bit to get there from the bus stop, but that's not a problem."

"Only having to take one bus is good, I suppose," Kazuma nodded as he pulled out his phone to check the bus schedule, "With how vague you're being with your wording, I can only assume that this is a surprise of some sort, right?".

"Well, no, it's not really supposed to be one…" The short teen fidgeted, far from used to wearing anything even remotely similar to what she was currently dressed in, "We're just going for lunch. B-but, trust me, the place I chose has a pretty positive reputation, so it'll be good food, I promise!".

He shrugged, secretly glad that it was something pretty simple, "Sounds good to me."

After that, there came a slight lull in the conversation, a slightly awkward one at that. Megumin, taking advantage of the momentary dip in conversation, glanced down at her own hand before her pupils zipped over to Kazuma's own hand, only a short distance away. Steering her nerves, she swung her hand back and forth a few times, getting closer to his hand with each swing, before she finally caught Kazuma's hand within her own, softly squeezing it.

The older of the two jerked back a little, yet noticeably didn't try to pull away. "M-megumin," Kazuma hissed, his face quickly heating up, "Th-there are other people around here."

She glanced around them, looking at the apparent 'other people' that were getting in the way of her holding hands with her boyfriend, only noticing around five other people, none of whom were even paying the slightest bit of attention towards them.

"No one's gonna notice, and even if they did, why should you c-care?" Her thumb tenderly stroked the back of his hand as she kept a hold of it, "...Do you not want to hold hands?".

Almost instantly, she felt a comforting warmth as Kazuma's hand encased her own, intertwining their fingers together. Clearly, he did want to. "J-just be discrete about it, okay?" He told her, managing to mostly ease up, "I'd rather not have people staring at us. It's… annoying."

For his own sake, she decided to hold back a comment on how clammy his palm had become within only around ten seconds.

From there, it only took around ten more minutes for them to reach the bus stop, and another ten minutes for their bus to finally arrive. Of course, the moment the bus showed up, Kazuma slipped his hand away from Megumin's and shoved it into his pocket.

The bus trip itself was fairly uneventful, the familiarity of it making both of them feel a lot less awkward. For probably the first time that day, the conversations between them flowed mostly smoothly, with comparatively fewer bouts of awkwardness or stuttering from both sides. Truthfully, if it wasn't for how much Megumin had prettied herself up, it could've almost felt like a completely normal bus trip for Kazuma.

By some miracle, that atmosphere mostly persisted, even after they'd departed the bus.

"Hey, Kazuma," Megumin's eyes shifted over to him after a few minutes of walking, "Uhm, could I have your phone for a second? I just wanna check where exactly it is that we need to go."

"Yeah. I was just gonna ask about that, actually," Kazuma temporarily disconnected their hands as he fished his phone from his pocket and unlocked it, passing it over to her, "Mhm, here."

"Thanks," She simply replied, quickly typing the name of their destination into the 'maps' app and scanning over how exactly to get from where they were to their restaurant. After around thirty seconds of studying the route, Megumin turned off the phone and handed it back to Kazuma. "We were already going in mostly the right direction, but we should probably turn back just a little. It'll be quicker overall to just do it now rather than later."

He nodded in understanding, placing his phone back into his pocket and waiting until Megumin timidly reconnected their hands; something that didn't take more than a second or two. "So how far away is this place anyway? You said that we'd have to walk for a decent while from here, right?".

Without missing a beat, she raised the pointer finger of her free hand and answered, "According to your phone, it should take us between forty to forty-five minutes from here."

"Really?" Kazuma's eyebrows hiked up in surprise, before his face returned to a mostly neutral expression, "Are you sure that we couldn't have just gotten off at a later bus stop?".

"Nope," Megumin shook her head, "There aren't any buses that go in this direction, as far as I'm aware, at least."

"Well, there aren't really buses that go through this part of town, to be specific," Looking around, he recalled the bus schedule as best he could, "So, yeah, if we're supposed to keep going in this general direction, then I doubt it."

The short haired girl glanced up at him, her eyebrows furrowed with an expression that Kazuma couldn't quite parse, "That's not a problem, is it?".

"Huh? What, the walk?" He questioned, receiving a small nod, "Eh, not really, no. The weather today is… fine, and it's not like it's all that long, anyway. Between going to and from work, I usually end up walking for the same amount of time on the daily."

"Good," Megumin eventually settled on, leading Kazuma down an adjacent street, "I was just making sure that you weren't gonna try to complain about this, too."

An exasperated sigh rang out from beside her, "Seriously, just how low is your opinion of me?".

To Kazuma's pleasant surprise, things so far hadn't really been as strained as he'd expected. Not to say that things hadn't been awkward at all, because they certainly had been, but after around twenty-five minutes of walking, the mood between them was… kind of good. Maybe part of that came down to the fact that they were yet to start the actual 'date' part of their date, but he wouldn't complain either way. Slightly forced, and occasionally stilted, conversation was far better than the uncomfortable silence he'd been worrying about in the back of his head.

"Oh, hey," In an attempt to hopefully fix a small lull in conversation between the two, Kazuma pointed over towards a vaguely family-ran hotel, though it was far too too small to really be referred to as such, "A couple months back, there was this one day where the snow was coming down as really bad just as me and Chris were finishing up a shift. She was still able to take her usual train home, but the buses had just completely stopped running, so I had to spend the night in that place over there."

Admittedly, it was a pretty uneventful - and boring - story, he could recognise that much, but it was conversation nonetheless. Hopefully Megumin would be able to springboard it into a much more interesting story of her own.

"Well, is it at least a good hotel?" She squinted at the building as they strolled past it, "Oh, it's pretty cheap. Good job on not wasting money."

"Thanks…?" Kazuma limply waved his free hand, "And I mean, all things considered, I guess it was pretty okay. Especia-".

"Megumin…? Hey, Megumin!".

She didn't even have time to look over at the owner of the voice before she felt Kazuma's hand quickly retract from her own, an action clearly brought about by the newfound attention on them. Turning her head, she almost immediately noticed the person who had called out to her, and the two other girls with her.

"Hey, Megumin, you-" Dodonko waved over at her as she called out her name a third time before abruptly cutting herself off, "Woah, you're really dressed up today, aren't you?".

"Ooh, you're even wearing makeup, that's new," Funifura commented as she leaned forward to study Megumin's appearance, "Hey, wait, I thought you said yesterday that you were gonna be busy today. You really should've let me know beforehand that you'd changed your mind."

The shortest of the teens quickly rushed to try and clear up the obvious misconception, "Ah, no. A-actually, I am busy today, I'm o-".

"K-kazuma?" The final girl of the trio, Yunyun, finally spoke up, having apparently been the only one to properly take notice of the boy standing a few steps away from their friend.

Really, up until that point, Kazuma hadn't been paying all that much attention to the conversation itself. He was far too focused on the new arrivals themselves. Sure, he knew Yunyun, obviously, but he had no idea who the other two girls with her were, beyond a vague feeling that he'd maybe seen them once or twice before while waiting to walk home with Megumin.

But even if he didn't know their names, it didn't stop him from intently scanning their appearances. He did feel a little bit bad that he was trying to sneakily check out some other girls while he was on a date with his girlfriend, but it was okay if he was just looking, right? It wasn't his fault that they happened to have such… interesting… features.

"Oh, hey, Yunyun," He managed to snap himself out of it just before the girls' attention was brought unto him. Never mind what he thought earlier, he was definitely feeling guilty. "How are you doing?".

The loner's face lit up, as if it was the first time she'd ever been asked that in her entire life. "O-oh, uhm, uhm, th-thank you for asking. I-I'm doing goo-".

"W-wait, Kazuma?" Funifura suddenly interrupted Yunyun as she glanced over to the boy, shrinking back by the tiniest amount as his attention moved over to her, "Uhm, h-hi, I'm one of Megumin's friends, it's nice to meet you."

The usually peppy and outgoing girl began sneaking bashful glances at the older teen as she fiddled with the ends of her long twin tails. Megumin wasn't even attempting to hide her disdainful scowl.

"Megumin has brought you in up c-conversation with us a few times b-before, actually," Dodonko, in a state not too dissimilar to the girl beside her, spoke up, just as Kazuma was about to say something himself, "Ah, I-I'm sure she's mentioned us to you as well."

Kazuma's face went practically blank. Those two girls were… totally interested in him, right? There certainly wouldn't be any reason for them to be acting the way they were if not. He'd barely spoken a single word to them and they were both already blushing and fidgeting in his presence? Seriously, what kind of things had Megumin told them about him?

Oh, right, Megumin. He was on a date with Megumin right now.

'Well…' The teen rationalised with himself, 'I'm not gonna actually do anything, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy this feeling for a little bit longer, right? I mean, when's the next time something like this is gonna happen to me?'.

Flimsy rationalisations set in place, Kazuma faked an appearance of recognition, studying the two girls. "Oh, actually, yeah. I think Megumin has mentioned you two once or twice," He put a hand to his chin, trying his hardest to recall the two girls' names, eventually vaguely remembering two names that might have been theirs, "Uhm, Punyfura and… Dodonpa, right?".

"Do-dodonpa?" The girl in question reeled back in surprise.

"You told him that my name was Punyfura!?" Funifura glared at Megumin, a look of humiliation on her face, before snapping her focus back to Kazuma, "Ah, um, you know how Megumin can be, haha… My actual name's Funifura, by the way, and she's Dodonko."

Before things could go any further, Megumin decided that she'd had more than enough of the two girls derailing her date, and stepped in between Kazuma and the two far too friendly for her liking girls with a disgruntled expression.

"Look, I know that you two are both desperate for any kind of male attention," She coldly stated, her angry glare only sharpening further, "But you two better quit trying to flirt with my man right now."

There was a short stint of silence before, surprisingly, Yunyun was the first to react.

"Wh-wh-what?" She squeaked out, "Y-you two are… l-like that?".

"Oi!" Kazuma, red faced, babbled to the girl next to him, "Wh-what do you think you're saying!?".

"Sh-she's totally lying," Dodonko accused, "There's n-no way that Megumin would be able to get into a relationship b-before us, obviously."

"You're… kidding, right?" Funifura's expression made it clear that she was not as confident in her words as she would've liked to appear, "You don't… actually have a b-boyfriend. Hey, y-you're not really dating Megumin, are you?".

"It's true," Megumin proudly proclaimed, puffing out her chest as she observed her desired outcome, "Actually, we're on a date right now."

"Nuh uh!" The twin tailed girl profusely refused to accept the other girl's words, her face suggesting that she was moments away from tearing up in frustration, "No way you got a date with a b-boy before either of us."

"Y-yeah," Dodonko joined in, "I mean, you got me for a second, but it's o-obviously just gotta be a well planned out prank of some sort."

A little bit pissed off by the other girls' apparent complete disbelief that she could ever charm a boy, and the fact that Kazuma was yet to say anything to convince them of their relationship, Megumin decided to go for a finishing blow. Something that would 100% convince them of how things really were between her and Kazuma. She just hoped that he wouldn't be too annoyed.

Letting out a small hum to get the other girls' attention, Megumin closed the small distance between her and Kazuma and deftly placed her hands onto his shoulders. Before he got the chance to say anything, she got up onto her tiptoes and placed a quick kiss onto his left cheek, letting her lips remain there for a second or so before pulling back.

Blushing furiously, she slowly turned back to face the other three girls with a toothy grin on her face. Anything more than that small kiss would've admittedly been too embarrassing for her.

"Y-you!" Kazuma grabbed onto her shoulders and began roughly shaking her, "How is that supposed to be discrete!?".

"E-he, ple-ase st-op," The girl whined as her body was violently jerked back and forth, "I-I ha-ad to do i-it."

It was only when he heard the sound of other voices that he paused, his hands still gripping her shoulders. "D-don't think that this means anything," Funifura cut in, getting herself so worked that small tears had begun to prick at the corners of her eyes, "I-I can get a boyfriend too, it's not that impressive!".

"Y-yeah, exactly what she said!" Dodonko, on the other hand, seemed so drained that all she could do was madly nod at and agree with the other girl's words.

The third girl of the trio, Yunyun, displayed a wildly different reaction to that of the other two; blank staring at the couple with an emotionless expression on her profusely reddened face. It didn't seem like she had any idea of how to interact with the situation in front of her, and instead shut down completely.

From there, it sadly didn't take long for the three girls to awkwardly take their leave, with the recently recovered Yunyun innocently commenting on how nice it was to see Megumin and Kazuma again. Funifura and Dodonko, on the other hand, simply just cast defeated glances at the couple as they gave their polite, but clearly hurried, goodbyes.

The small sound that came from Megumin's mouth was oozing with pride as she watched the other three girls walk off into the distance.

Kazuma pinched the bridge of his nose before letting out a sigh, "You really are a jealous girl, aren't you?".

"I don't want any other girls to even think about trying to take you away from me, especially not those two," She mumbled, just loud enough for him to hear, before frowning up at him and speaking at a more normal volume, "A-and it's not like you were doing anything at all to stop them."

"Why specifically not those two?" Kazuma asked, hoping to avoid having to comment on the second part, "I thought that they were your friends."

"They are," Megumin affirmed, "But they're friends who can't stop themselves from saying ridiculous things about me from time to time. And there's no way I'd ever let them try to seduce my man with those nasty udders of theirs."

Though he had no intention of saying as much out loud, he couldn't ignore the small feeling of warmth he felt as she referred to him as her man. On the other hand, he also couldn't ignore how obviously rooted in jealousy the 'nasty udders' comment was. He was beginning to lose hope that she'd ever start developing at this point.

"Whatever," Was the answer Kazuma settled on, deciding that there was really no reason for him to argue with with her. It didn't overly bother him. "And just so you know, I wasn't gonna do anything with those two, especially not when we're in the middle of a date."

It was technically true, but the part of him that had been intending to enjoy their attention to the fullest while his girlfriend was right there couldn't help but feel a little bit guilty.

"..Sorry" Megumin, to his surprise, lowered her head and apologised, "I've felt this way about you for so long that I can't help but feel threatened whenever another girl tries to get too close to you. I really don't want some other girl to just come and steal you away from me. But, I know that I can be a bit too much sometimes."

Really, how was he supposed to respond to that? He was just teasing her, not looking for a heartfelt confession. She was the younger one, why was she the one saying such mature sounding things like that?

He had no idea what to say, but he knew that he needed to say something to her. Well, if his brain couldn't come up with anything, he'd just have to wing it, let his mouth form the words on the spot. It wasn't the best idea, but he already felt like the silence between had gone on long enough already. He was out of options.

"Is your chest the smallest out of all the girls in your class?".

Never mind. Maybe he should think before speaking.

"Hmphf!".

"...".

"Hmphf!".

"Ow! It actually kinda hurt that time, I said that I was sorry already," Kazuma complained as he rubbed his forearm, "Besides, I wasn't saying that having small breasts was necessarily a bad thing, you know, I was just curious. There are plenty of advantages to having small boobs, actually."

"You're not helping yourself in the slightest," Megumin spoke for the first time in over a minute, not sounding as mad as Kazuma had expected, "But I can at least tell that you're trying to make up for it in your own gross, perverted way, so I'll let it go this one time."

"You could've said that without the 'gross, perverted' part…" The older teen mumbled under his breath, yet otherwise raised no objections. He had no intention to look a gift horse in the mouth after she'd just completely forgiven him.

"I'll consider that as strike one," She commented as she slipped her hand back into his, returning back to normal within a scarily quick amount of time, "I only ask that you're on your best behaviour for the rest of this date, otherwise I will actually get upset."

Kazuma felt his posture slipping, "Y-yes, ma'am…".

The latter part of the walk followed mostly the same routine as the first, with somewhat strained - yet still mostly pleasant - conversation between the two. They even briefly managed to maintain a considerably more normal atmosphere, with a discussion surrounding Chomusuke and all of the strange places they'd discovered her taking a nap in. Megumin eventually outdid Kazuma entirely as she described a particular occasion where she found her sleeping upside-down from a tree, as if she were a bat.

"Annnnd… it should be somewhere down this street," The crimson eyed girl announced as they finally drew close to their destination.

Kazuma nodded, before shifting his vision over to her, "So I'm guessing that you've seen a picture of what the front of this place looks like? Or you have a name, at least."

"Well, I've…" Megumin paused, avoiding his gaze, "I've been told what it looks like, so hopefully I should be able to find it."

Despite that less than reassuring statement, it didn't take her long at all to find their restaurant, with Kazuma being a little bit in awe of the place they were apparently eating at. Not that it was the greatest looking restaurant he'd ever seen or anything, because it wasn't. Actually, all things considered, it was a pretty normal looking restaurant, but a restaurant that was just considered pretty normal still seemed beyond whatever budget that Megumin had.

Kazuma scowled as he used the menu to cover his face, 'This is so awkward…'.

He'd known as much beforehand, but it was only in this moment that he was seriously - seriously - starting to realise that he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do on a date. Frankly, it was irritating.

First course of action, what exactly were they even supposed to talk about on a date? His life? Nope, she already knew enough about that. Any interesting things that'd happened recently? No point, they'd already talked about pretty much every even remotely interesting thing that had happened to either of them recently. Romance? Well, that probably could work, but he really didn't feel like embarrassing himself with a lame attempt of trying to act romantic.

"...He-hey, Kazuma," Megumin cut through the silence as she gently pushed Kazuma's menu away from his face, an expectant look on her face, "So, what do you think of this place so far? Oh, and has anything on the menu caught your eye yet?".

He felt his body ease up a little. In the moment, he'd forgotten the simple fact that the girl in front of him had been trying to impress him for pretty much the entire day so far. Surely, there was no need for him to be the one getting nervous.

"What do I think?" The older of the two took the time to properly observe the restaurant around him, "Well, if you're talking about the, like, atmosphere and decorations and stuff, then it does look pretty nice. But, um, Megumin, a more important question, I guess; doesn't this place seem like it's a little bit too expensive for you?".

For a split second, Megumin wasn't sure if his words were supposed to be taken with an insulting undertone or not, but the moment she spotted the look of genuine concern that he was clearly trying and failing to hide from her, she felt guilty for even considering it in the first place. He wasn't being condescending about the fact that she was poor, he was just genuinely concerned about her and her family.

"Y-you don't have to worry about that, really," She smiled over at him, "This place is actually a fair bit cheaper than it looks, ch-check the menu if you don't believe me. And I may or may not have managed to get a small discount for this place anyway."

Upon listening to her words, it dawned on Kazuma that he was yet to actually read the menu. He swiftly scanned through a few of the prices, just like she'd instructed him to do. "Huh, so it is. It's not dirt cheap or anything, but these prices won't set either of us back too much, either," He remarked, finally taking the time to glance over what they even served there, "How did you get a discount here, anyway? Don't tell me that you somehow have coupons for this place too."

For the first time since they'd stepped foot into the restaurant, Megumin let out a small, genuine laugh. It wasn't a fit of uncontrollable laughter or anything, far from it, but it was a genuine laugh nonetheless. A small success in Kazuma's eyes.

Somehow, without even trying, they'd managed to ease most of the tension that had been building up ever since entering the restaurant. He was starting to feel a little stupid for even being worried in the first place. Of course, acknowledging it out loud would no doubt only tank the mood again, so he decided to keep that particular observation to himself.

"I had a friend recommend this place to me," The short haired girl explained, "Apparently her dad is friends with the owner and their family, so she managed to get me a small discount on our food."

"That's… convenient," Kazuma pointed out, his eyes peeking out at her from the top of his menu.

Megumin tapped a finger to her cheek as she thought up a response, "Well, she probably recommended this place because she knew the owners, so it's not that weird. And I specifically told her to keep my financial situation in mind when recommending somewhere, so I guess that's why she tried to get a discount for us."

"I guess that explains what you were talking to that waiter about earlier, then," Lowering his menu further, he furrowed his eyebrows at the girl across from him, "Still, though, are you sure you wanna pay for everything? I said before that I'm fine with splitting it fifty-fifty,".

If it was anyone else besides Megumin, he'd be more than happy to let them pay for everything without question, but the idea of potentially putting financial burden on a family who barely managed to keep themselves out of complete poverty each month was too far for even him. It also didn't help that their two trips out to Axel had presumably already chipped away at a substantial portion of the money that her parents had left for her.

"In any other circumstance, I'd probably insist that you chip in at least a little bit," Megumin admitted, her gaze not straying from her menu, "But, well, you are kinda going through money problems of your own right now, aren't you?".

He wasn't gonna try to argue with her on that, "Please don't remind me. I was trying to forget about that for today…".

"A-and besides…" She turned unexpectedly bashful, acting far too cute for Kazuma to comfortably deal with, "Uhm, my mom left me some e-extra money in case something like th-this were to happen…".

Kazuma' raised an eyebrow, puzzled, "Something like this? You mean, like…?".

"...A date," She mumbled, her hands twitching in her lap.

"I see," He looked back down at his menu, drawing a blank when it came to what exactly he was supposed to respond to her with, "...You know, if your mom is that desperate to sell you off, you should probably let her know that I'm almost just as poor as you guys are."

"S-s-sell me off!?" Megumin recoiled back, "What kind of opinion do you have of my mo-".

"Excuse me," They were interrupted by a waiter arriving at their table, "Are you two ready to order now?".

Kazuma looked down at his menu. In the maybe ten minutes that they'd been there for, he'd only ended up reading through about five items on the menu.

He slumped in his chair, "Uhm, actually, is it only if we have a little more time to decide?".

By the next time a waiter came around to their table, Kazuma had made sure to actually read through the menu and picked out something to order. The restaurant seemingly didn't abide by a single theme when it came to what they were serving. Or, if it did, it wasn't anywhere near obvious enough for him to figure it out at a cursory glance. While around half of the menu was Japanese food, there was also a large amount of Chinese, Indian and even some western dishes included alongside them.

While Kazuma had initially been going through the menu in search of more formal-seeming dishes, he quickly abandoned that notion the moment Megumin cheerily informed him that she was planning to order the fried chicken, an item that Kazuma didn't even know was on the menu. If she wasn't gonna waste her time and money frivolously trying to make herself appear more dignified, then neither would he.

After ordering, the two of them were left to wait for their food to arrive, however long that would take.

"So…" Kazuma attempted to strike up a conversation once again, "Any idea when exactly your parents are getting back?".

It really felt like he was scraping the bottom of the barrel when it came to conversation starters.

"My mom didn't say anything specific about it when she called a few days ago," Megumin responded after taking a sip of her soda, "But, based on all of the times that they've done this in the past, they'll probably be back late Sunday evening. They tend to take all the time that they can get."

"Well, considering what you said before about it being when they usually make the most profits, I can't exactly blame them for wanting to make the most of it," The brunette let out a sigh of relief, "And at least it means that I won't have to move out until some time around Sunday afternoon."

She affirmatively nodded, "Yeah, but I would recommend that you've fully left the house before they get back. As far as I'm aware, my mom never exactly… told my dad that… you were staying here."

"A-and I'm guessing that he wouldn't be too happy if he found it out?" The beads of sweat that began to roll down Kazuma's forehead made it clear that being beaten to death by her father was an all-too-worrying possibility in his head.

"He'd definitely freak out," Megumin stated, giving the boy a sympathetic look, "But mom would just knock him out if he ever actually tried to do anything about it. "

"...Seriously, should I be scared of your mom?".

While she had certainly had high hopes for their first date, Megumin couldn't deny that she'd also had a fair share of worries. Neither of them had much - scratch that, any - experience when it came to dating, and all of their physical and verbal affection up until that point had been almost entirely private, only when the two of them were alone.

She wasn't expecting a complete disaster, but she had certainly prepared for one, just in case.

Yet, to her pure delight, no such disaster occurred. Sure, there were a few… hiccups, and a couple of almost unbearably awkward silences from time to time, but it was never enough to seriously dampen her mood for more than a minute or so. It even seemed as though Kazuma had gradually been getting more confident-looking over the course of the meal, something Megumin was more than happy to see. She had no idea what a successful date was supposed to look like, but she was pretty certain that she'd just experienced one first-hand.

"I really didn't expect that we'd be in there for two whole hours," Kazuma remarked as he checked the time on his phone, "I guess that just shows how long it's been since I last went to a proper restaurant."

Megumin wordlessly slipped her hand into his. His hand only briefly flinched, probably on impulse, before he returned her grip with a slightly looser grip of his own. "However long it's been for you, I can promise you that it's been even longer for me," She let out a mix between a laugh and an exhale at her own comment, "...It was probably around a year after Komekko was born, I think."

"Yup, you definitely win, then," The green eyed boy snickered, cupping his free hand against his chin as he thought, "For me, it must've been just after I stopped being a NEET. Or maybe it was a day or so before, I can't really remember."

"That was when you still lived with your parents, wasn't it?" Megumin questioned, getting a soft 'Mhm' in response, "So I'm guessing that you went with them?".

"Obviously," Kazuma dryly stated, "it's not like there was anyone else for me to go with at the time."

Suddenly, Megumin found herself not really wanting to continue their current conversation. Most discussions about his time as a recluse almost always eventually left her with a bad taste in her mouth for one reason or another. Broaching the subject always made her feel a little guilty, even if Kazuma didn't seem to have all that many issues when it came to talking about it.

Although, he'd never actually told her why he'd become like that in the first place.

She rapidly shook her head a few times, clearing her head. Leaning against him, an action that was made slightly uncomfortable by the fact that they were both still walking, Megumin tried her hardest to convey her honest feelings through the wide smile she showed him.

"I really did have fun today, Kazuma," She said, barely above a whisper.

For a moment, she wondered if he'd even heard her, but his voice ringing out a few seconds later proved otherwise. "Yeah. You know, I really didn't expect you to do something like this."

Megumin couldn't help but be a little caught off guard. Not by what he said, but by how casually he said it. She'd expected him to have gotten at least a little bit flustered, or to at minimum stutter once or twice, but he was still acting relatively normal, even when she was getting suddenly closer to him.

Had the date actually boosted his confidence around her?

"I-I wasn't sure how this would go at first," Megumin admitted, finding that she was the only one of the two presently getting flustered, "So I only really planned the meal, in case things didn't go too great, but now I'm really wishing that I'd prepared something more…".

The brunette gave her a cocky grin, "Then why don't we?".

"Huh!?".

"Why don't we do something else, then?" Kazuma suggested, "I mean, we've got more than enough time to, don't we? Actually, I've been thinking, and I'm pretty sure that I know the perfect way to end this date."

"Y-you do?" Her eyes were practically sparkling as she gazed at him in adoration, "Th-then, let's continue this date, Kazuma!".

"Trust me, the best part is only just beginning."

"Kazuma, Kazuma," Megumin's voice eventually broke through the silence, as she eyed their surroundings, "...Are we lost? It's fine if we are, you can be honest with me."

The older teen kept his vision laser-focused on the path in front of them, not meeting her gaze, "N-no,".

His newfound confidence was already starting to slip. He'd just been trying to act cool, dammit!

She furrowed her brow, unconvinced, "Do you know where we are, then?".

"...No," Kazuma sheepishly answered, frowning.

"S-so we are lost!" Megumin glared up at her boyfriend, "I told you to be honest."

Casting a brief look around the wooded area they had found themselves walking through, it certainly appeared as though they were lost, to Megumin at least. Yet, despite that, the expression she saw on his face was far from what she had expected. It wasn't the smug confidence he'd usually take on when he was right and he knew it, nor was it the shifty grimace Megumin would always see whenever she caught him in a lie. His face was much more focused, as if he genuinely did have some idea of their general destination.

"We're not lost," He insisted, observing her glare slowly transform into an unconvinced deadpan from his peripheral vision, "Seriously, I know where we're going… sort of."

The crimson eyed girl let out a defeated sigh, but otherwise stayed silent. She didn't completely trust that Kazuma knew where he was going but she did at least trust that he'd be able to get them un-lost soon enough. And besides, the more confident side that he'd shown her up until that point really did send her heart aflutter.

"Yeah, if that's… then it's gotta be, like… over this way, maybe," Megumin was pulled from her thoughts by Kazuma's low muttering. From what she could parse, it seemed like they were actually getting somewhat close to their destination, wherever it was.

It was only when she heard the faint sound of rushing water and recalled back to the route they had taken that Megumin finally realised where they were heading. Honestly, she was a bit shocked that it had taken so long for her to figure it out. Although, in her defence, she had never taken such a roundabout route to reach there.

She gave his hand a small squeeze, speaking up as she used her free hand to point out a vaguely familiar clump of bushes, with a clearly man made gap in the middle of them. "Here," Megumin led Kazuma through the bushes, being extra careful to avoid snagging her dress on any of the numerous branches they had to pass through, "From here, we're on the route that I always used to use. I can still remember the entire way from here."

"Thank god, I really had no idea where I was supposed to go from the ri-" Kazuma began before he stopped on his tracks and swiftly turned to the dark haired girl, "Hold on, You know where we're going?".

"Well, yeah," She replied matter-of-factly, "Obviously I was gonna figure it out eventually, I am the one who actually came here all the time."

"That's true, I guess," The older teen groaned, using his free hand to scratch at the back of his neck as he felt his nerve slipping away, "A-actually, let's just go back now. This is making me feel even lamer than I expected."

"Wha-? You… we can't just go back now, we're practically already there!" Megumin insisted, dragging him along, "And it's not lame, I'm… I'm h-happy that you thought to bring me here."

Seeing the serene smile on her face, Kazuma looked away, embarrassed. In reality, all that stuff he'd said to her earlier about knowing the perfect way to end their date was a complete and utter lie, he just got caught up in the moment and wanted to look cool in front of her. Big mistake.

It was only after at least fifteen minutes of aimlessly wandering around and trying his best to make it look like he knew where he was going that they finally wandered past his former - and Megumin's current - middle school, a place that ignited a small spark of inspiration in his head. Honestly, it wasn't really an idea that appealed to him all that much, not really, but he couldn't deny that it did sorta seem like the kind of thing that would make Megumin happy. She was sentimental like that.

The place he had in mind was, of course, a certain part of the small forest behind the school. More specifically, that area that Megumin had formerly claimed as her own, and the site of their first real meeting.

"So do you really not come here at all anymore?" Kazuma inquired, hoping to turn the conversation into something much less uncomfortable for him, "You used to come here pretty much every day, didn't you?".

"It wasn't every day," She averted her eyes, an uneasy smile tugging at her lips, "But, yeah, I haven't really been here much ever since I, y'know, got over my whole… chuunibyou… thing."

"Uh huh, you 'got over it'," The unconvinced teen repeated, playfully poking Megumin's cheek with his finger, "So you're saying that you don't still practice cool poses in the mirror when you think no one is looking?".

"Wh-wha? How did you-? Y-you…!".

"Wait, hold on, I was joking. Do you actually pose in front of th- Ow, ow! Okay, sorry, I get it!" Kazuma yelped, trying to pull his hand away as she squeezed it as tightly as possible, her nails digging into his skin.

"...Please don't tell anyone."

"I know that I was the one who brought you here and everything," Kazuma blankly stated, "But, um, what are we actually supposed to do now that we're here?".

It had only taken them another minute or so to arrive at the familiar clearing. Well, maybe calling it a clearing was a bit of an exaggeration. A more apt description would be to say that it was slightly less congested with trees than the rest of the forest. Though, now that the difficult task of actually getting there was over with, it finally dawned on Kazuma just how spur of the moment his 'plan' had really been.

Megumin gently released their hands and slowly walked into the middle of the area. "Well, even if there's not much to really do, don't you think that it's nice to be here again? It's been a while since we were last here together."

"For good reason," He grumbled under his breath, "I forgot that the only memories I have of this place are bad ones."

His girlfriend sent him a short-lived pout, her features returning to a nostalgic smile as continued to look around. Kazuma internally groaned, it was probably a little too late at this point to admit to her that he had just been trying to impress her earlier.

Welp, he came this far, he may as well try something, at least. All this talk of the past was definitely giving him an idea that he was pretty damn sure that she would enjoy.

He felt some of that misguided confidence from earlier make its grand return.

Moving past Megumin and reaching the edge of the small clearing, Kazuma briefly peered around above him before he reached up, standing on his tiptoes to grab onto a low-hanging branch. With some effort, he finally managed to snap it off from the tree, the sound catching the attention of the only other person there.

"Um, Kazuma?" She asked, walking over to the teen as he got to work plucking off the leaves and smaller branches attached to the larger stick, "What exactly are you doing?".

"You'll see," Kazuma confidently smirked, surprising Megumin when he reached out his free hand to pet her head a few times, "Wait for a second, just let me… there. Done!".

After sloppily clearing up the branch and snapping off the very end, where the stick thinly tapered off, he proudly presented it to her; a staff. Sure, it was even more rudimentary than the actual one she used to use, and the branch itself was just slightly too thin to really classify as a a staff, looking a little like an overly long wand, but a clear effort was still made by Kazuma.

"Uhm…" Megumin blankly stared at the object in her boyfriend's hands, going into overdrive in an attempt to maintain her confused façade, "Wh-what is…".

"Oh, come on, don't pretend that you don't know what this is supposed to be," The brown haired boy rolled his eyes at her, dramatically waving the staff around in front of him and sending her an infectious smile, "There's no one else besides us, and we are here, so, like, you may as well, right? I can tell that you want to."

"...I-it's a little embarrassing," The short teen mumbled out, her cheeks blooming into a deep shade of red, "But, it is j-just us here, so… Arghhh! Fine, I'll do it!".

With that declaration, Megumin dramatically threw her arms out to her sides. She then fluidly lifted one up to cover her eye, while the other quickly snapped out in front of her, ready to accept the staff. The moment Kazuma placed it into her outstretched hand, she spun on her heels and walked a few paces away, thrusting her staff out in front of her once she came to a stop. As the former chuunibyou glanced over her shoulder to beam at him, Kazuma could already tell that she was immediately back into character.

"Kazuma, Kazuma! Pay attention, okay?" Megumin called out to him, tossing back her non-existent cloak. If it wasn't for the subtle burning of her cheeks, Kazuma highly doubted that he'd be able to tell that she was even embarrassed in the slightest.

"Let me guess," He played along, casting his mind back to Megumin's old ramblings, "Explosion magic?".

"Of course," The 'arch-mage' proudly puffed out her chest. She was clearly getting way too into it. "It's the most powerful type of magic there is."

Her eyes snapped shut for a moment, in deep focus, until they opened just as suddenly as they closed, with the crimson eyed girl clutching her staff as she began chanting her most powerful - and only - spell.

"Darkness blacker than black, darker than dark, I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson. The time of awakening cometh! Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary, appear now as an intangible distortion," Megumin drew small circles in the air with her staff as she somehow managed to remember the exact words of her 'chant', "Dance, dance, dance! I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force; a destructive force without equal! Return all creation to cinders, and come from the abyss! This is the mightiest means of attack known to man, the ultimate attack magic…".

In a split-second movement, She brought her staff up above her head and swung it down in front of her, releasing her all-powerful spell in one foul swoop.

"EXPLOOO-SHUN!".

"..."

Kazuma awkwardly watched on as Megumin remained in her pose, as still as a statue, for at least ten whole seconds.

"...I know that I can't actually use magic," She sheepishly commented, finally letting up on her pose, "But it's still a little disappointing that nothing happened at all."

"Can't you just, like, I dunno," The brunette waved one of his wrists, "Imagine an explosion? You seemed fine with all of the other made up stuff."

"M-made up? How dare you!" Megumin whirled towards him, aiming her staff directly at his chest as she slipped back into her persona, "I'll show you just how made up my explosion magic is! Even if it is my beloved, I won't hold back against anyone who dares insult my magic!".

"Pfft, sure, sure," Kazuma snorted, casually swatting the staff away from him, "Please forgive my terrible transgression, oh great corrupt god."

"Dark god," She corrected him, her wide grin certainly not matching with the attempted seriousness of her voice. Seeing the ironic look on the boy's face, Megumin found herself breaking out into a small fit of giggles at the whole situation, gently dropping the branch onto the ground next to her.

Taking a single step forward, she reached out and threw her arms around Kazuma, snuggling in close and making sure to briefly nuzzle her cheek against his upper chest before tilting her head upwards to gaze into his eyes. She could tell that he wanted to say something, but he seemed to quickly settle for instead simply just fixing her with a curious look, his hands loosely holding onto her shoulders.

"I can't believe that I used to be like that all the time, it's really embarrassing," She let out a small laugh, "...But as long as it's just with y-you, it's still kinda fun to act like this again… every once in a while."

Megumin heard a small sound of amusement, followed by a sigh, as she felt Kazuma properly return her embrace, pulling her in closer. "I'm being serious, you better not start relapsing now," He warned her as he gently traced one of his hands over the small of her back, the other one resting upon the bare skin of her shoulder blade.

A peaceful silence washed over them, with neither of them being exactly sure of how long it lasted. Kazuma looked down at Megumin, their eyes instantly meeting. He managed to stop himself from averting his gaze and, in the process, found himself once again intently taking in her appearance.

"Megumin…" Kazuma whispered her name, moving a hand up to cup her cheek.

She audibly inhaled, tentatively licking the inside of her lips, "Yeah…?".

"...I completely forgot which direction we took to get here."

Chapter Text

"Are you gonna get off now?" Kazuma let out a puff of air as he lugged his newly acquired cargo through the surprisingly dense forest.

"Why?" Megumin simply questioned, tapping the side of the older teen's head for effect, "You were the one who offered to carry me in the first place, weren't you?".

"Yeah, I was," He flatly replied as he scanned the tree line in front of them, "And I distinctly remember that the offer was only to piggyback you while we were crossing through that stream earlier, nothing more."

Kazuma scowled at nothing in particular as he briefly stopped, waiting for Megumin to point him the right direction again, an action which she quickly followed through on as she thrust one of her arms out in the direction of a sizable gap in the treeline. If it wasn't for her, he was seriously starting to doubt if he'd ever be able to make it out on his own.

From her resting place on the boy's back, Megumin flashed a smug smile and continued from their previous conversation, "Does it really matter, though? I'm pretty sure that if you actually had a problem with carrying me, you'd have just dropped me by now."

"Do you want me to drop you? Because I'm really considering it," The brunette suddenly released his grip on her legs, smirking as he heard a small surprised yelp and felt the girl's grip increase in intensity. He made sure to grab back onto her legs again before she could unintentionally start strangling him. "See? You should remember who's in control he- Aaugh! Stop, ow, stop twisting my ear, please!".

"Y-you jerk, I could've actually falle- Ah, ah, Kazuma, your nails are digging into my skin!" Megumin whined as Kazuma retaliated by tightening his grip on her legs, "Please let g- Ahhh, thank you."

"I wasn't actually gonna drop you, obviously," Kazuma felt the twisting of his ear gradually reduce to the girl on his back painlessly squeezing it between her fingers in return, "But you're getting down as soon as we're out of this forest, okay?".

"Fine by me," She responded, pointing over Kazuma's shoulder to guide him in the correct direction, "Go through here, the way you were about to head in is just a longer way around."

The green eyed teen's lips curved into a relieved smile, "It's a good thing that you still remembered the way back, otherwise we actually might've gotten lost here. Seriously, I don't remember this place being this… big."

"Mhm. It is a good thing, isn't it?" Megumin snarkily commented, allowing her arms to lazily drape over his shoulders, trusting that he wouldn't pretend to drop her again, "But, I guess I can forgive you for almost getting us completely lost, just this once. Only… only because you went through all the trouble of trying to t-take me here in the first place…".

Kazuma found himself swelling with pride at that. Still, though, there was something else that he was a little bit curious about.

"...Oi, Megumin," He felt her head come to rest on his shoulder, just a little bit too close to his own face, "You mind getting my phone out for me? It's in the left side pocket of my jacket."

"Oh, sure," Came the dark haired girl's response, her right arm getting a more secure hold on the boy as her left hand freely fished around for his jacket pocket, "What do you need it for?".

"To check what time it is right now," Kazuma explained, feeling Megumin's hand reach into his pocket and pull out his phone less than a second later, "I wanna know how much time we have before we have to go pick Komekko up."

"It is…" She brought the phone up to her face and turned it on, displaying the home screen, "...Three fifty-seven."

"W-wait, what?" Kazuma eyebrows raised about as high as they could go, the boy almost stumbling over a small exposed root in his stupor, "You're messing with me, right? I swear it was only like two fifty last time I checked."

"Nope, I'm serious. Look," Megumin waved her boyfriend's face directly in front of his face, completely obscuring his vision of the path in front of him, but clearly displaying the current time to him, "Why? Was there - no, Kazuma, it's those trees - was there something else you wanted to do after this?".

"Huh? No, not at all. I'm completely done for the day," His almost instant response, while expected, was still a little disappointing for Megumin. Though, maybe she was being a little bit greedy by expecting even more from him. He made sure to check with her that he was now heading in the correct direction before resuming, "It just means that we'll, unfortunately, have to wait around for a little bit before we can pick her up, right?".

She peered at his face from over his shoulder, curious, "I supposed, yeah, but is there a problem with that? It won't be for that long, you know."

"...No," He slumped his shoulders regardless, "I guess it's fine."

"Couldn't we have just picked her up a little earlier? Or waited inside from the very start, at least?" Kazuma complained as the two teenagers made their way into the front entrance of the building, his posture slumped, "No matter how you look at it, creepily hanging around outside a kindergarten for over twenty minutes is definitely a bad look."

"Don't worry, you're completely fine," Megumin giggled, "You didn't do anything creepy, you were pretty much just on your phone the entire time, anyway."

"I wasn't referring to myself, thank you," He creased his brow accusingly, "I was talking about the creepy girl who kept attempting to peek into the windows."

"M-me?" The 'creepy girl' jumped back before sending him a look of exaggerated indignation, though it came out more like a childish pout, "I was just trying to check up on my little sister. I'm a-allowed to do that!".

Kazuma leaned back against one of the walls, smirking, "Oh? So what exactly is there to 'check up on', then?".

"Well, if you must know," She began, apparently having an actual answer, "Miss Wolbach recently mentioned that Komekko has been having problems with some of the other kids here."

"What, has she been going around and stealing their food when they weren't looking or something?" He joked, letting out a small snort, only for the girl in front of him to look away in embarrassment, "Pfft! Wait, seriously?".

"H-hey, don't lau-".

"Biiiiiig sis! Biiiiig brother!" Before Megumin could continue, Komekko herself suddenly called out to them, dashing over towards them at full speed, with Wolbach following a few paces behind her.

"Hi, Komekko," The older sister greeted, crouching down to wrap her sister into a quick hug.

"You know, Megumin, it was pretty surprising to see someone besides you or your mom bringing Komekko to kindergarten this morning," Wolbach remarked, her gaze flicking over to Kazuma before finally getting a proper look at the girl in question, "Oh, I've never seen you this dressed up before, what's the occasion?".

"Huh, O-oh, this," Megumin glanced down at her dress, subtly wringing her hands, "I-I was just… this is…uhm, we just…".

"Mhm, I see," The older woman replied with a teasing smile, once again looking between the two teens, "So those things that your little sister has been telling me were true after all."

"K-komekko! W-what have you been telling her!?".

"I told you that I wasn't lying, Miss Wolbach!" The young girl proudly stated, hands squarely on her hips, "I can always tell when big sis is trying to do something weird!".

Kazuma, not being particularly interested in involving himself in the girls' discussion, just awkwardly patted the back of the utterly deflated Megumin. Clearly, Komekko was far more devious than Kazuma had ever given her credit for.

At the same time, he didn't miss the stare he was getting from the older woman. It wasn't an angry one, or even a disapproving one, but it definitely put him a little bit on edge. Between Megumin's parents and this woman, he was starting to get a little bit worried about what would happen to him if he ever so much as made Megumin cry.

Though it had been put on hold during the previous night, Megumin was very insistent that she had no desire to end their nightly routine, something that Kazuma had absolutely no reason to refuse. Truthfully, Kazuma himself wasn't all that tired - at least, compared to how he usually felt - even if it was already long past eleven when the ever sleep-conscious Megumin insisted that he went to bed.

By that point, Megumin had made sure to wash off her make-up, and her hair was starting to return to the slight messiness that she was so used to. Creaking open the door, she watched as Kazuma rolled over onto his back, his phone held a few inches above his face. Megumin stood still in the doorway for a few brief seconds before the boy's eyes flicked from his phone over to her, his head tilting in confusion.

"...Are you just gonna stand there all night?" He asked, his tone more curious than mocking.

Instead of responding, the crimson eyed girl swiftly scurried over to the bed and buried herself under the covers, her head and neck popping out of the sheets to stare at Kazuma, who had rolled back onto his side to face her. Before he even had the chance to say anything, he watched as Megumin reached out and once again wrapped her arms around his torso.

After a few moments of still silence, she frowned, "Kazuma."

"Yeah, I know. Hold on a second," The brunette finished typing out a message and put his phone into sleep mode, tossing it onto the bedside table and cringing to himself as he completely overshot and heard it land on the floor a short distance away with a faint thud. 'Well, it shouldn't be broken from just that.'

Kazuma quickly disregarded it and left it as a problem to deal with in the morning.

Moving onto more pressing matters - the impatient girl who was currently clinging to him - he wasted no time in setting into a familiar position, one arm snugly tucked around her waist while his other hand went up to brush through her hair. He already knew that she'd insist he do it anyway, but he was still amused by the way she smiled and closed her eyes the moment his hand made contact with her hair.

As they lay there in a pleasant silence, a thought crossed Kazuma's mind as his hand ran through her hair; a thought that had passed through his head multiple times before when he found himself this close to Megumin. It was a fairly inconsequential thought, one that usually left his head as quickly as it entered, but one that he saw in harm in asking her about.

"Hey, Megumin," Kazuma broke the moment of silence, his hand lingering at the tips of her hair, "Your hair isn't usually this long, is it? Are you trying to grow it out or something?".

True to what he was saying, her short hair was indeed longer than usual, and had been that way for around a month or so. It wasn't by much, being maybe only a few centimetres longer than the norm, but with hair the length of hers, even subtle changes in length were fairly easy to spot, especially with how up close Kazuma was to it.

"Huu," Megumin's eyelids slid open, their eyes instantly meeting. There wasn't really anywhere else for them to look, after all. "No. Not on purpose, at least," She quietly answered, bringing up one of her own hands to play with the brunette's bangs, "It's just been a little longer than usual since I had a haircut. My mom is the one who always cuts it for me, but she's been pretty busy recently so I didn't think to ask her."

'Right,' Kazuma thought to himself as he examined her hair, noticing that few areas did indeed look the slightest bit choppier than he'd expect from a proper haircut, 'I should've known that a family like hers wouldn't want to waste money on haircuts. Still though, her mom has done a pretty good job, I suppose.'

Megumin felt herself squirm as she observed the boy's impassive expression. "Uhm," She pulled him out of his thoughts, "It doesn't look weird at this length, d-does it?".

"I like it," He immediately countered, nervously clearing his throat a moment later as he realised his mistake, "I mean, like, i-it's fine, It's not weird or anything...".

She quietly laughed to herself, relieving some of her own tension, "You don't always have to get so embarrassed about complimenting me, Kazuma. Saying nice things to other people is actually a perfectly normal thing to do, y'know."

"Sh-shut up."

Megumin let out another small giggle as the older teen turned his nose up at her, a residual heat emanating off of his cheeks. In the ensuing moment of respite, she calmed her nerves enough to ask him a further question. "W-would you like it if I did?".

"Huh?" Returning his vision back to her, Kazuma creased his brows, "If you did w-what exactly?".

"...If I grew out my hair," She levelled her voice, hiding her face in the other teen's neck, "Would you like it more like that?".

He brought his lightly trembling hands up to her shoulders and moved her so that she was once again directly facing him. Kazuma squinted at the girl in front of him, trying to envision what she was suggesting. After a few seconds, his eyes returned to normal and he found himself slowly nodding his head. "Y-yeah. I think I would."

"T-then.." Megumin slowly leaned forwards and gave him a small kiss, pulling away before he could even react, "I-I-I'll… I'll try d-doing that."

"…".

'This is bad. Seriously bad.'

Kazuma didn't get to sleep until multiple hours later that night.

Arriving back home after dropping Komekko off at kindergarten was something that Megumin was very much used to by this point, she'd always do it whenever her mother wasn't home for some reason or another. In the comparatively shorter amount of times that she'd done as such with Kazuma living with her, it was a fairly rare - but not unheard of - occurrence for her announcement of arriving home to be met with complete silence.

Sure, she was a little disappointed - having him greet her when she came home always felt very… homely, to her - but it didn't really bother her at all. Most likely, it just meant that he was either in the shower or had headphones on, as had been the case once or twice before. As such, she didn't feel any particular need to go seeking him out at that exact moment. She doubted that it would be long until she saw him again; the house wasn't big enough for people to go unnoticed for long.

After a quick stop in the kitchen, Megumin soon found herself sitting in the dining room, a chipped mug of coffee on the table in front of her. Living with Kazuma over the past week and a half had certainly warmed her up to the beverage, especially with the sheer amount of it that the usually exhausted teen got through.

She was suddenly pulled from her thoughts as something flopped down onto her shoulders, taking her off guard.

"Megumiiiin" The dark haired girl quickly calmed down, instantly recognising the voice and tracksuit sleeves of Kazuma. Although, she also couldn't help but notice how completely dejected he sounded. "...Please put me out of my misery."

"Wha-? Kazuma!" Megumin swivelled her head to get a proper look at the figure slumped over the back of her chair, "Don't say things like that! Is… is something wrong?".

"Everything," Kazuma groaned, "I wanna go back to living with my parents already. Responsibilities suck."

"A-ah," Understanding washed over her face, "Is this about getting Aqua to take that job?".

"That's part of it, I guess," Megumin felt his head come to a stop on top of her own, his breath softly tickling her hair, "...I didn't realise how much stuff I'd have to do today. I only have, like, four days until she gets back and I haven't even started paying rent for that house yet."

The middle schooler pursed her lips at his words, curious, "Huh? But I thought that you'd already rented it out for the first month."

She felt him shake his head, "Nope, not officially. I did say that I'd rent it, and I do intend to, but I haven't paid for or signed anything yet. Obviously he's not gonna hand the keys over until then."

"So, is that all?" Megumin asked, taking a small sip from her mug, "I know you like to over-exaggerate a lot, but it really doesn't sound that bad to me."

"Oi, I take offence to that," He sent her a scathing look, "Trust me, if that's all that I had to do, then I'd be completely fine with it. Unfortunately, as I just found out, I somehow still need more money."

"Y-you do? Why, what for?" She questioned, furrowing her brows and frowning, "That guy seemed nice enough, but he better not be trying to scam you, Kazuma. If he is, then I'll defin-".

"He's not scamming me," Kazuma interrupted her, finally pushing himself off from the back of her chair and slumping down into the seat beside her, "I just have to pay this extra fee if I want to keep the furniture that's already there. Which, admittedly, isn't all that much, but, still."

"And how much is this extra fee?" Megumin inquired, bringing her mug up to her lips.

"Around thirteen thousand yen," He stated, "Which, for a one-time payment, isn't that bad of a deal. It'd be cheaper than buying two beds and a couch myself, so it's definitely worth it."

"That's… not the worst deal, I suppose. Is it just for the two beds and the couch?".

"As far as I know, yeah," The emerald eyed boy paused for a second, "Actually, I think I remember the beds having a nightstand, so I'm assuming that I'd get those too. All the kitchen appliances are already included in the base rent."

The shorter teen nodded in understanding. "So you've gotta come up with thirteen thousand yen from… somewhere, then?".

"That's the plan" Kazuma limply waved his wrist, "Still trying to think about the how, though."

"Are you starting to see the problem with leaving things as late as possible yet? And that really is everything, right, Kazuma?" Megumin lightly scolded him, shaking her head disapprovingly.

He sheepishly looked away, craning his neck as far away from her as it could go, "...I, uhm, I also sorta, y'know, I pretty much completely forgot about my homework for the past few days, so… I'm a little bit behind on that."

"Y-you…! Do you really need me to watch over your shoulder all the time just to make sure that you're actually doing work?" Eyebrows creased, Megumin irritably poked at the older teen's forehead with her forefinger, "Seriously, how have you managed to make it through your first year of high school like this…?".

Kazuma hung his head in shame, "Sorry."

The crimson eyed girl rubbed at her temples, before taking another drink from her mug, "So how much have you already got done today while I was out?".

"...Nothing."

"Huh?" Megumin raised her brows incredulously, "I can't believe you… You got this depressed from just thinking about it?".

"I-I have a hard life, okay!?" Kazuma defiantly retorted.

"Come on, if you don't start right now, you'll only make this worse for yourself. I'm not giving you a choice in this," Reaching out towards him, she motioned for him to get out his phone, "How about you start by calling Aqua? That shouldn't be too bad… hopefully."

"What, are you my manager now or something?" He dismissively waved his free hand as he fished out his phone from his pocket, "But, I guess I won't complain if you really want to help."

"You'd be practically hopeless if I left you to do this all on your own," Megumin wistfully noted, letting out a light snicker, "So… I'll try to do whatever I can to help you out for today, okay?".

A strange look came over Kazuma's face, causing Megumin to shrink back a little bit, regretting her wording.

"Oho, whatever you can?".

"Good morning, Kazuma," He heard Darkness greeting him not long after he finished dialling, "So, are you gonna try talking to Aqua again?".

"Mhm, depends," Kazuma rested his head against his pillow as he replied, "Is she sober right now? Or, actually, is she even awake at all?".

"Yes… to both of those. I asked the maid assigned to keep her out of trouble to ensure that she wouldn't be intoxicated for this," The older girl's words only served to cause a vein to pop on Kazuma's forehead.

"Oi, I thought you said that she had been on her best behaviour," He felt something brush through his hair, calming him down a little, "Look, if she's causing problems, Darkness, then you better tell me about it. The moment I finally get my hands on that damn NEET again, I'm seriously gonna…!".

"You're seriously gonna what?" The blonde began panting through the speaker, getting far too excited, "W-what horrible things will you do to her this time? Please, tell me! Tell me in as much detail as you'd like."

"Seriously, stop it," Came his curt reply.

A small noise of delight rang out from the other end of the line, "Ah… aha, how… blunt."

"Please just pass me over to Aqua," Kazuma took a deep breath, readying himself to inevitably get mad at the blue haired girl once again, "I'd rather get this over and done with as soon as possible."

"I see, I do hope that you at least try to be patient with her, Kazuma," Was all Darkness said before he could hear her calling out for his roommate, "Aqua, Kazuma's on the phone! He would like to talk with you for a moment."

He could faintly hear a yawn and some unintelligible mumbling for a second or so before a new voice eventually reached his ears.

"Kazuma, Kazuma!".

"Yes, I'm Kazuma."

"What didya want me for?" She cheerily asked, having seemingly already forgotten their conversation from two days prior, "Oh, do you wanna hear about how I accidentally got super lost while drunk last night and ended up in this huge basement sorta place? This mansion is huuuuge. It was really, really, creepy, but it didn't scare me, of course."

Well, at least she was in a good mood. That might make this just a little less difficult than he was expecting.

"Nope, there's something more important that you and I need to talk about, Aqua," Kazuma stated, trying to keep his voice stern without actually sounding angry, "You said that you'd have an answer about getting that job in the café by now."

"Ah, ahaha, oh," The blue haired shut-in nervously laughed, "Well, you see, Kazuma, I actually realised that I just might need a little more time to think about it after all, so how about we talk about that lat-".

"Oh, no! Absolutely not!" He wasn't even gonna give her the chance to finish. He was making sure she would take up the job now. No way was he gonna let her stall for any longer. "We are talking about this right now."

Unsurprisingly, the sound of sniffling was almost instant, "W-wuuh, why are you being so mean!? I don't need to get a stupid job, you already have one. Th-that'd just be a waste of my precious time."

If it wasn't for the level of comfort he was currently experiencing, he definitely would've completely lost his cool at that comment. Instead, he was only mildly agitated at the almost impossible heights of her ego, "We already talked about this, Aqua, you don't do anything anyway. Is it really so hard for you to even try to help fix the problem that you caused?".

Kazuma lifted the phone a small distance away from his ear in preparation for the expected round of wailing and complaining, but, to his shock, no such thing happened. Rather, after a short pause to consider her words, Aqua spoke back in an uneven tone.

"I do want to help," She snappily mumbled, the boy's eyes going wide in surprise as he heard possibly the last thing he had expected from her, "But, but, how can you just expect me to go in for long, gruelling shifts every single da-".

"Three days," He interjected, "You'll only have to do three days per week. Trying to force you into doing anything more would just be a waste of time."

"...Huh?".

"The shifts are only five hours long, too," Kazuma's voice didn't even show a hint of anger, keeping his tone as level as possible, "Oh, and, Chris - my boss - let me know that if you do get the job, you're free to choose which days you come in, as long as you do your three per week and you let her know in advance when you are and aren't coming in."

Internally, he was pretty much begging that this strategy would work. He really was selling it as best as he could to her. If she somehow still tried to refuse after all of that, he'd probably end up trying to reach through the screen just to strangle her into submission.

"Well," The blue eyed girl faltered, her main two objections taken away from her, "W-well um, what, how am I supposed to get there? A-and back home, too? You've said before that it's pretty far away, haven't you, Kazuma?".

Scratch that, she was definitely starting to test his patience again. "That obviously won't be an issue," The brunette scowled, but somehow managed to keep his tone mostly neutral, "You only have to take one bus, idiot. Plus, we'll be going to and from work at the same time, so it's not even like you'll have to remember which bus to take."

"That's… good," By this point, Kazuma knew her well enough to know that he was finally starting to tear through her already rather flimsy defences.

"Any other complaints?" He rolled his eyes, letting his free hand flop onto his cushion, "Or are you gonna be a big girl and finally get a job?".

"...Urrgggghhh," Aqua whined, stalling the inevitable, "... F-fine. I'll do it."

Kazuma's eyes widened, his mouth agape, "Seriously? Wait, wait, say it again! I wanna make sure you really said it."

"I said that I'll do it! I'll go to the stupid job interview!" She loudly claimed, before returning to something much more similar to her usual demeanour, "A-after all, if I start making my own money, I won't have to go through all the trouble of asking you for booze money, I can buy that delicious bubbly whenever I want."

"You do understand that most of your pay check will be going towards our rent, right?".

"W-w-w-w-what!?".

Though she was clearly still reluctant about the new change in her life, Aqua's outbursts were actually kept to a complete minimum as Kazuma explained the finer details to her, letting her know exactly what would be expected of her if she wanted to get the job. And he made it very, very clear to her that failing the already extremely lenient interview was not an option, unless she wanted to end up on the streets again. Sadly, that was less of a threat that Kazuma had made up to motivate her and more so just the harsh reality of their current situation.

Somehow, through monetary incentives, guilt-tripping and only a few threats, Kazuma had finally managed to convince Aqua to get a job.

What was this strange feeling of pride that was bubbling up within his chest?

One brief conversation with Darkness later, in which they discussed some of the finer details of her and Aqua's upcoming return, Kazuma finally bid the blonde girl goodbye and hung up the call.

He let out a loud sigh of relief as he locked eyes with the red faced girl above him, "That definitely could've gone a lot worse than it did."

"W-when I said that I'd do my best to help you, I meant h-helping out with your homework or something, not th-this!" Megumin indignantly puffed her cheeks out at the head of brown hair that was peacefully lying atop her thighs, "Y-you were on the phone for twenty minutes!".

"What happened to the girl who said that she'd do whatever she could to help out?" Kazuma smirked, nuzzling the back of his head into her legs to get a reaction.

"You know what I meant! I-is it really so hard for you to not act like a pervert for once!?" She retorted, before letting out a breath and going back to contently petting his head, "...Well, I guess I didn't really m-mind this all that much. As long as you do something for me in return…".

He averted his eyes, her gaze was feeling a little bit too intense for him at that moment, "O-oh? What's that, then?"

"I'll think about it…" Was all Megumin said.

"This doesn't really seem like an equal exchange, does it?" Kazuma lamented aloud, placing down a bowl in front of the expectant girl, "This took way more effort than a lap pillow would."

"We never agreed on making sure that things were equal," Megumin commented as she inspected the food, a satisfied grin on her face, "I was considering it based on the amount of time it would take. Plus, you looked like you really needed a break when I checked in on you."

For the past hour and a half, Kazuma had been - somewhat - diligently working on the remainder of his homework, in a desperate attempt to make up for around four days worth of lost time. It was only when Megumin, who made sure to check in on him fairly often, had walked into the dining room to find him face down on the table that she decided to let him have a small 'break', by means of cooking lunch for the two of them.

Sitting down in the adjacent seat, he stared down at his bowl, "So, why did you want me to make miso soup so badly, anyway?".

"Chris told me that it was your best dish on the menu, so I wanted to try it for myself," The short haired teen happily sniffed at the contents of her bowl, clearly enjoying herself, "Haaahhh, this smells really good, Kazuma."

Kazuma smiled at her praise, sending her an appreciative nod, before pausing, "Wait, when did she tell you that?".

"When me and Komekko ate there," Megumin simply responded, her face still up close with the bowl, "It was after we'd already ordered, though, so I couldn't try it at the time. And then the next time I was there… um, I-I was too focused on… o-other things, so it sorta completely slipped my mind."

"Well," He confidently smirked at her, "This could be considered my signature dish, I suppose. And I am a pretty talented chef, you know, so it's only to be expected that this would be nothing less than incredible."

"I'll kindly turn a blind eye to your blatant ego-stroking this time if this really does taste as good as it smells," She bluntly commented.

"See for yourself, then," With that declaration, he picked up his spoon and brought it up towards his bowl. Just as he was about to dip it in, a smaller hand gripped his own, pulling it away from his soup. When he looked up at the culprit, he was quickly drawn to the bashful expression adorning her face.

"What?" He felt her carefully pry the spoon from his grip, moving to instead place her own spoon in his hand. Without saying anything, she let her arms limply drop down to her sides, her eyelids fluttering shut as her mouth expectantly hung open. It really didn't take long for Kazuma to figure out exactly what she wanted from him. "S-seriously?" His mouth turned downwards, embarrassed.

Megumin nodded her head, before mumbling out a low 'please'. This was what she had planned from the beginning, wasn't it?

"...Ugggh, fine, I'll… f-feed you," He bemoaned, his cheeks heating up with a deep shade of red. His hand ever so slightly shaking, he got a spoonful of soup and gradually, slowly, raised the spoon up in the direction of her open mouth. Kazuma couldn't bring himself to look away from her face, "Y-you know how embarrassing th-this is, right? Do I r-really have to do this?".

"I-I know that! I'm e-embarrassed too," She spluttered, eyes shut tight, "Please j-just hurry up, you're making it worse."

"Okay," Was all he could manage to say at that moment, his hand getting closer and closer to her mouth. Eventually, with one final push, he guided the spoon into her mouth and gently tipped it up, with her mouth quickly closing around the utensil. After waiting for a second or two, he pulled the spoon out from her mouth and swiftly placed it back down onto the table. Swallowing with a pronounced gulp, she opened her eyes and stared at Kazuma with a content, yet flustered, smile.

"She was right…" Megumin remarked, placing her palms together in a praying motion, "P-please, Kazuma, give me the recipe!".

"N-no way!" He shot back, "That's a café secret, I c-can't just give that out to anyone."

She puffed her cheeks out at him, "I'm not just 'anyone', I'm your girlfriend!".

He couldn't help but notice how she'd gotten used to using words like 'girlfriend' and 'boyfriend' a lot quicker than he ever could. It was almost getting a little jealous of how freely she was starting to use those titles.

Kazuma took a long sip from his own spoon before his lips turned upwards and he gave a vague response. "I'll think about it."

Megumin seemed to be satisfied enough by that answer, letting out a small puff of air from her nose. As the green eyed teen briefly glanced over to her, he found himself raising a distrustful eyebrow as he noticed her happily watching him eat, not even touching her own bowl.

"Oi, are you gonna actually eat that or are you just gonna keep staring at me?".

"Huh? Yeah, of course I am," The dark haired girl beamed at him, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes, "I'm just waiting for you, is all."

"You're… wha-" Kazuma began, his eyes widening as he cut himself off, "H-hold on, y-you're not actually gonna try to make me feed you this entire bowl, b-because I'm not gonna do that. Doing it once was already enough."

Sadly, feeding a cute girl was a lot more embarrassing in real life than he had initially expected. He was seriously starting to wonder how anyone could possibly do it without getting flustered.

"You can't just back out now!" Megumin stated defiantly, grabbing his hand, "We had a deal, so there's no way you can just back out halfway through. Well, unless feeding a girl is too much for you to handl-".

"I'll do it. I-it's no problem for me at all, actually. I just didn't want you getting too embarrassed," He hurriedly lied, wasting no time in scooping up a large spoonful of soup and practically thrusting the spoon into the girl's mouth.

"H-hey, wait, don't do it so quickly. Wait, Kazu-Mmph!".

Now that it was long gone, Kazuma was starting to regret having not allowed himself to fully enjoy his ' lunch break' with Megumin. Sure, it was a little embarrassing, and he was the one who had to make the food all by himself while she happily watched on from the side-lines, but he'd gladly take that over his current situation any day of the week.

"It's not like I'll be able to somehow make that money within a few days anyway, no matter what I do, so there's no point even considering that as an option," He explained as he sat cross legged on his bed, scrolling through the contact list on his phone, "My best option is just trying to borrow money from someone else. Based on my current wages, and what I'm assuming Aqua's wages will be, I should easily be able to pay them back in full within a month or so."

"You really did think this whole thing through," Megumin commented, sounding genuinely impressed, "But, do you actually know anyone would be willing to lend you that money?".

"That's what I was trying to figure out before you came in," The emerald eyed boy itched his collar bone with his free hand as Megumin sat down next to him, "There are a few options, but really not as many as I would've liked. And, also not really the people that I would've liked it to be, either."

She absentmindedly nibbled at her bottom lip as she considered his words, "What do you mean by that?".

"Well, look at it this way," Kazuma placed his phone down onto the bedsheets and raised his fist to start listing things off with his fingers, "You're not an option for obvious reasons. Darkness is pretty ri- has some money, but I already feel like I've made her suffer enough by making her look after Aqua, so I'd rather not ask her for more on top of that. Chris is already paying me and, hopefully, Aqua, so there's no way she'd be willing to give me even more money, and "

"You have more friends than that, don't you?" Megumin peered over his shoulder to look at his phone screen, "Huh, you have a ton of contacts here."

"Mhm, yeah, I wasn't finished," He rubbed at his eye with the back of his finger before refocusing his attention back onto his phone, "As far as people I know from Axel go, there still aren't that many great options. I do have one friend who actually owes me some money, but trying to get him to pay me back seems like way more trouble than it's worth, sadly. I'd try asking Eris, but I don't exactly have a way to contact her."

The crimson eyed girl reached out and scrolled up to the 'E' section of the contacts list, moving her gaze over to Kazuma. "Wait, you don't have her phone number?".

"Nope, she's weirdly secretive abou- Oi, why do you look so happy about that?".

The shorter teen averted her eyes, fighting back a smile, "Nooo reason."

"Well, whatever," Kazuma sighed, narrowly avoiding colliding with her as he flopped backwards onto the mattress, "This is so boring. Maybe I should just ask Darkness anyway."

"Hmm," She put a finger to her cheek, scrunching her forehead, "I could try asking Yunyun for you, her parents seem pretty well-off from what I've seen. But you have to promise that you'll actually pay her back, okay?".

"Oh yeah, I considered asking her," Kazuma placed his free hand behind his head as he scrolled down to Yunyun's name in his contacts, "But I'd rather not have to ask for money from some middle school girl that I barely kno-".

"You have h-her number!?" Megumin frantically lunged at the phone "D-delete that!".

Kazuma quickly yanked his phone away, protectively cradling it in his arms. "O-oi, don't be rough with it! It might break any day now,". Seeing the pronounced pout on her face, he rolled his eyes before sitting back up, "Stop looking at me like that, I only gave her my number so she could let us know in advance if she was gonna make another random appearance here like last time."

"That better be the case…".

"Look, your whole 'getting jealous of every single girl that I'm even remotely close with' schtick is kinda cute at times, but can we just go back to the more important subject now?".

"...Fine," Megumin grumbled under her breath, before quickly returning to her normal demeanour, "So, you've gone through all the people that you're not gonna ask, but have you actually found anyone to ask yet?".

"Well, that wasn't everyone that I considered, but you get the gist," He admitted, "Honestly, while I'm not really sure if they'd actually be willing to lend me money, my parents probably seem like the best people to ask for this. Even if I'd, well, I'd rather not."

"Are… are you sure?" She asked, a little surprised by his decision. It certainly wasn't what she would've chosen. But, to be fair, Kazuma knew them a thousand times better than she ever would, obviously, they were his parents.

Kazuma shrugged, "It's worth a shot."

"Oh, Kazuma," His mother greeted him as Kazuma changed the call to speakerphone, "I didn't think that you'd call again so soon, haha…".

"Hey mom," Kazuma replied, his eyes briefly meeting Megumin's as he sent her an ironic frown, "Is now a good time to call, or…?".

Right. He had forgotten how awkward talking to his parents was now. It didn't help that he was only calling them to ask for money.

"Mhm, yeah, now's a fine time to talk. We're all just spending time in our inn for the time being," She explained from the other end of the line, her tone being a generally friendly one, "Is there something specific that you're calling to talk about? Would you like me to get your father on the phone, too?".

Truthfully, no, He'd rather not have his father on the phone. Of the two, his mother was far more reasonable with their eldest son and, as a result, was much more likely to actually hear him out. But, on the other hand, he couldn't really not include his dad in the discussion. He'd find out about it eventually, whether he liked it or not.

As such, Kazuma let out a tired sigh before answering, "Yeah, sure. If he's available, I guess."

And so, around thirty seconds later, Kazuma's mother had called her husband into the room to join the conversation.

"So," She continued, "What was it that you were calling us about, Kazuma? Have you managed to find a new apartment yet?".

"Actually, yeah, I found a h- apartment to rent out for the next couple of months. It's a little more expensive than the last one I had, but the money from my part-time job should be enough to keep up with the rent."

Kazuma ignored the pointed look he was getting from Megumin. It's not like he particularly wanted to lie to his parents, but it made things a lot easier for him if he did. He made sure to mouth a quick 'I know' to her before focusing back on the call.

"That's… good," His father begrudgingly said, still not happy about his living situation, "And so this… part-time job, you do it alongside going to school, right?".

"Yes, I do both," The brunette insisted, pinching the bridge of his nose with his free hand, "My shifts are always after school."

"...And you do actually go to school now?".

Kazuma grabbed at his face in frustration, "Urgh, yes, yes. I'm going to school again now. Look, can we please just move on to what I wanted to talk about?".

Megumin carefully pried the boy's hand from his face and guided it away. She sent him a reassuring smile, with the boy then mouthing something to her. She couldn't exactly tell what he was saying, but if she had to guess, he was mostly complaining about the current situation.

"Right," His father's voice was noticeably more serious than it had been just before, "What is it then, son?"

Letting out a loud sigh, Kazuma scratched at his chin before speaking, "I, uhm… I need to borrow some money from you two. Thirteen thousand yen, to be exact. I-I will pay it back, seriously, I just need enough to pay off an extra one-time payment on the apartment and I don't get paid until the end of the month, you see."

"No way," His father's response was instant, "I thought we'd already told you that we wouldn't keep sending you money if we don't even know what you're using it for. "

"Son," Her tone was firm, but understanding, "What your father is trying to say is that if you're having these kinds of money problems, maybe it's for the best that you just move back home until you can properly live on your own. I'm sure it'll be much easier for you to focus on school if you're back at home, too."

"She's right. We don't even know anything about what you're doing with your life at the moment, you can't expect us to blindly give you money when it'd be much better for everyone if you just moved back in for a few more years."

Kazuma let out a loud groan. This was going nowhere. Sure, he could, unfortunately, admit that their worries were not at all unreasonable or unfounded. Actually, it made complete sense that they'd think the way they did, especially with how he had acted at times in the past. That fact didn't make him feel any less frustrated with them, though.

Unbeknownst to him, Megumin was feeling a similar way. The lack of faith they had in Kazuma was starting to offend her, too, for some reason. She really, more than anything else at that moment, wanted to convince them to change their minds about Kazuma.

Acting on that desire, and not thinking as much as she should have , she quickly steeled her resolve and snatched the phone from her boyfriend's hand, bringing it up to her own mouth.

"O-oi, Megu-".

"Um, e-excuse me, uhm… Mr and Mrs S-satou," She stuttered, quickly regretting her fairly spur-of-the-moment decision, "Hello, I'm M-megumin, Kazuma has been staying with me a-and my family while he's been trying to find a new place t-to live, you see."

Kazuma silently panicked, frantically waving his arms around and motioning for her to stop. She flashed him a guilty smile and motioned for him to let him talk to them, just for a little bit. She hoped that he wouldn't be too mad at her afterwards.

"O-oh? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Megumin. We're very grateful that you and your family would be generous enough to house our son for the time being," Kazuma's mother replied, albeit a little awkwardly, "I do hope that he hasn't caused too many problems for you all."

The middle schooler blushed at the praise she was receiving, "Not at all, ma'am. Having Kazuma around has actually been a good thing if anything. He's been really h-helpful around the house, a-and he's helped take care of my little sister, too."

Perhaps she was laying it on a bit too thick with how she was talking about Kazuma, but she got the sense that she pretty much had to if she wanted to convince his parents. It's not like she was lying, either, he really had been helping take care of the house during his stay.

"Are we talking about the same Kazuma?" His father joked. Or, at least, Megumin hoped it was a joke. Had Kazuma really been that bad back when he was a shut-in? She barely managed to avoid laughing at the enraged spluttering coming from the boy beside her.

"Ah, so, Megumin," Kazuma's mother brought the conversation back onto track, "Was there something that you wanted to talk to us about, dear?".

"Uhm, well, I know i-it's probably not my place to say this, so I'm sorry if this seems rude," Megumin fidgeted with her free hand, eventually settling with gently placing it over her beating heart, "B-but, uhm, I think that, if you can, you should l-let Kazuma borrow that money?".

"O-oh?" Admittedly, both parents were a little taken aback by how direct this girl that they'd barely just been introduced to was acting.

"He'll definitely pay you back, I'll make sure of it! A-and I can confirm that he does go to school and work regularly. Sure, maybe he's a little lazy at times, but he isn't a shut-in anymore, o-or a NEET, either! He's been working really hard for the past few days to get the money to pay for this apartment, s-so…" She trailed off, losing her nerve. She was starting to feel like she was just rudely forcing herself into a situation that was supposed to stay between Kazuma and his parents.

"Sorry," Megumin mumbled before they could even reply, "I might've overstepped a little bit. This has nothing to do with me."

"...And you're not lying?" His father questioned.

"N-no, not at all!" Megumin defensively shot back, "I just really think that this would really go a long way for Kazuma if you did this for him…".

The middle schooler felt a small warmth spread throughout her chest as she peeked over at Kazuma, seeing his lip tremble as a deep red blush coated his entire face.

"We… we could put some more thought into it… Megumin, was it?" Kazuma's mother kindly told her "I can't promise anything, but knowing that our son has such a close friend like you who seems to have a lot of faith in him certainly puts me at ease quite a lot. I guess it wouldn't hurt to see what we could maybe do about this payment."

The red eyed teen felt her face slowly heat up, "Uhm, well, a-actually, me and Kazum-".

"Th-that's enough of that!" Kazuma desperately wrenched the phone back from her grip, "Sorry about her, she wasn't at all trying to be rude, I promise. So, anyway, about that loan…".

He glanced over at Megumin, noticing a complicated look on her face as she went back to anxiously fidgeting with her hands.

He'd find a proper way to thank her later. And, also, a proper way to punish her.

"This is new," Chris commented as Kazuma slumped into the café, "You usually only look this exhausted after a shift."

He glanced over at his boss, locking eyes with her, "Chief, please give me a paid day off. Just for today."

"Hmm" She closely studied the boy's features, closely analysing the ever-present faint dark circles under his eyes before shrugging, "No can do, sorry, helper. But I could offer you an unpaid day off instead."

Chris watched on in interest as the younger teen's face scrunched up in deep consideration before he let out an annoyed groan. "I wish I could take you up on that offer," Kazuma said, making his way over to the silver haired girl, "But it really doesn't seem like the smartest idea at the moment."

"Yep, that's helper. Always complaining to no end, but getting the job done in the end," She smirked, "To… some degree of quality."

"Oi."

"I'm kidding!" Chris waved her hands in a surrendering motion before her eyes glanced up at the wall mounted clock, "Anyway, what's up with the punctuality today? I know I'm always encouraging you to come in early, but isn't this a little bit too early?".

"Trust me," Kazuma slumped into one of the chairs nearby the front desk, "I wouldn't be here this early without good reason."

"Oh?" Her mouth formed into a small circle as she shot him a confused look, her face then lighting up in realisation a moment later, "Is it about that roommate of yours that you're so insistent about having me hire?". Kazuma let out a low hum of confirmation as he slowly nodded his head, "So what's the update?".

"I managed to convince her to take the offer, somehow" He explained, supporting his chin with his forearms, "Apparently, her and Darkness should be getting back at some point during Sunday morning, so I could get her over here for that interview the same day, if you want."

The older teen put a fist up to her chin, letting out a low humming sound, "Well, the sooner we can get her working, the better. Dontcha think?"

"If it gets one less problem off of my hands, then sure," Was his simple retort.

"I sure do hope that she's as hireable as you say," Chris mused to herself, rhythmically tapping her fingers against the countertop, "I'm fine with having to teach her the ins and outs of the kitchen - she is a special case - but she really will have to be capable on her own when it comes to serving if I'm going to hire her. As much as I feel bad about saying this, she is a potential employee, not a charity case."

"I know. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, Darkness said that she would help get Aqua prepared for the interview over the next few days. Having maids around all the time does seem pretty helpful when it comes to learning how to do service work, I suppose." The part-timer shrugged, taking a quick glance down at his phone screen.

"Hu- Maids? How did-?" Her eyes momentarily widened before she let out a small laugh and returned to normal, "Right, never mind. I forgot that you knew about the real situation with 'Lalatina' already."

Kazuma smirked, "You know that she wouldn't be happy if she heard you calling her that name, chief."

"Then it's a good thing that she can't hear me right now, isn't it?".

"Still," He slumped forward, loudly exhaling, "What are the chances that some rich girl in disguise would come work here of all places? Actually, forget that, what are the chances of that happening in the first place? I never thought that any of that 'secret identity' stuff actually happened outside of fiction."

"Y-yeah, me too," Chris's response, for some reason, seemed a little nervous, "That kind of thing does seem a little bit too fantastical, doesn't it?".

The younger teen shot her a strange look, she was definitely acting weird. Was there something else that she wasn't telling him about Darkness? "Oi, chi-".

"So, helper!" She hurriedly interjected, her usual peppy attitude back into full swing, "Is that everything you have for me, or is there anything else you wanna report?".

"Anything else? Uhhhm," The teen scrunched his brow, trying to remember if he'd forgotten anything, "Nope, that should be everything. I just wanted to let you know about Aqua taking up the offer."

Chris happily nodded to herself, donning a satisfied smile, "Mhm, good, good. It sure will be nice to have a couple more pairs of hands to help out around here in a few days, won't it?".

"If it's those two, then I seriously doubt that they'll 'help out' much," He complained, sending his boss a pointed look, "You better not even think about putting me on babysitting duty when they get back, chief."

"Oh, I sure will think about it, helper!" The short haired girl playfully stuck her tongue out at him before giving him a hearty slap on the back. "Well, anyway, we'll be opening back up for the evening soon, so you best go get changed now. And feel free to make yourself a coffee while you're at it, you seriously look like you need one."

Kazuma showed her a tired smile as he got up and wandered off into the back. "Yeah. Thanks, chief."

"Finally," His muffled voice rang out as he flopped face-first onto the bed, "It's finally over."

Megumin raised an eyebrow at the boy, unceremoniously sprawled out on the mattress, "Surely it wasn't that bad, right? I mean, all things considered, you didn't really have that many things to do today."

"It's not that simple," Kazuma explained, unmoving, "It's not about the amount of things that I did, it's about how exhausting each one was. And trust me, convincing Aqua to do something, asking my parents for money and being forced to write an essay under the scrutiny of someone who definitely wants you to suffer is about as exhausting as it gets."

"W-wants you to suffer!? That's not even remotely true!" The crimson eyed girl baulked at him, "I let you take multiple breaks, and I wrote an entire paragraph for you! It's not my fault that you only want to do the bare minimum work."

"That," Kazuma raised a finger into the air, "Is called efficiency, Megumin. What's the point in putting extra effort into something if you don't get anything extra out of it?".

Megumin sat herself down onto the side of the bed with a soft thud, faintly smiling to herself, "How can one person be so hardworking and so lazy at the same time?".

The older teen let out a soft groan as moved his head to the side, facing her. After a second or so, he lifted up the covers and lethargically crawled underneath, patting the spot next to him.

"Come on, I'm tired," To prove his point, Kazuma stifled a yawn, letting his eyes slowly close, "I actually wanna go to sleep now."

With little hesitation, Megumin swung her legs onto the mattress and tossed the bed sheet over herself, her head sinking into the pillow. She rolled over onto her side and wrapped her arms around the brunette, with him eventually following suit. They stayed like that, neither speaking, for around a minute, until Kazuma took it upon himself to speak up.

He slowly opened his eyes, almost recoiling as he noticed the pair of deep red eyes that were staring directly at him, before opening his mouth. "Hey, uhm, is like, is something gonna happen, or what?".

"Something?" Megumin repeated, giving him a curious - yet otherwise neutral - look.

"You… know what I mean," He frowned, his eyes becoming shifty, "Isn't this s-supposed to be the part where we, y'know, do something?".

A look of reservation washed over her face. "D-didn't you just tell me that you were tired?".

"I am," Kazuma insisted, "That doesn't ch-change what I just said, does it?".

Crimson eyes continued to stare deeply into him, accompanied by similar coloured cheeks as the smaller teen let out a barely noticeable shiver, "G-go ahead, then."

Well, that was all the encouragement Kazuma needed. Even if they'd done things like this a few times before, he still found himself getting nervous at the thought of… of…

Wait, what exactly was Megumin expecting him to do?

She wanted him to kiss her, right? Yeah, that made sense to Kazuma. They'd ended up kissing in some shape or form every other time they'd slept together so far, so it only made sense. But still, what if… what if she was really willing to go further? The timing would make enough sense, perhaps their date from the day before had been the encouragement she needed to start considering the idea of… going further.

But then again, what if his hormonal brain was just making something out of nothing again? It was entirely likely that she really did just want him to kiss her again, If that was the case, and he tried to make a move - especially a more… passionate move - things would definitely turn very bad very quickly. He needed to come up with a-

"Kazuma?" He felt a soft hand come to rest against his cheek as he was pulled out of his thoughts, followed by subdued giggling, "You d-don't have to be so nervous, okay?".

He wasn't nervous, dammit, he was just being thorough! Still though, the way she was presently looking at him was making it almost impossible for him to just stay there doing nothing. In a split-second decision, Kazuma decided that he'd try to escalate things between them step by step.

Doing everything he could to will away the rapid beating of his heart, he pressed forward, closing the gap and locking their lips together within less than a second. Letting out a muffled noise into Kazuma's mouth, Megumin wasted no time in kissing back, her arms moving up to coil around his neck. Kazuma's lips parted further as he felt the girl's tongue collide with his front teeth, commencing what was already their second French kiss.

As they continued what Kazuma was pretty sure was an impromptu make-out session, he decided to make his move. The hand that was on her waist had begun to slowly, subtly, slide downwards - he'd test the waters with something small. The green eyed boy cracked open his eyelids enough to study Megumin's expression as his hand moved further downwards, nothing on her face seemed to be out of the ordinary. Did that mean that she was okay with it, or was she just not paying attention?

With her tongue wrestling against his own, his hand finally reached its destination, feeling the almost identical fabric of her tracksuit pants as his hand came to rest on her butt. Actually, now that he was here, maybe it was a bad idea after all. Yeah, maybe he should just ask her, she'd probably let him do something if he just asked.

Unfortunately, as he mulled over his thoughts, his fingers began to nervously flex, his hand clenching and unclenching. The moment he accidentally applied a small amount of force to his grip, groping her cheek, he suddenly heard a muffled, yet distinct, gasp as Megumin jerked back away from him, breaking the kiss.

Never mind, he'd definitely messed up.

"Kkkkauugh!" Kazuma clenched his teeth as a sudden rush of pain hit the most sensitive part of his body, tears instantly welling up in the corners of his eyes. In a moment of surprise, Megumin must have accidentally kneed him in the balls.

"K-kazuma!" The dark haired girl squealed as the boy writhed around in pain under the covers, "D-d-don't just do something like that without warning!".

The brunette, not really paying much attention to what she was saying, took a few deep breaths as he tried to maintain what little composure he had left. Even if that had been all but lost the moment he started crying while clutching at his crotch.

"Uhm, are you… okay?" Megumin asked as she finally took in the rather pathetic scene in front of her, "I-I'm not really that mad at you. It's okay, you don't have to cry."

"I'm not crying about that," He whined, stopping his squirming enough to glare at her, "You just kneed me in the balls, you… you…!".

"Pfft!" Kazuma's glare increased in intensity, leering directly at her, "Sorry, s-sorry, you just looked really funny like that. Does it… actually hurt that bad?".

"Yes! Of course it does. Can you please, like, do something to help? This hurts like shit."

"Shh! You'll wake Komekko up if you keep being so loud," Megumin sighed before moving over and cradling the boy's head to her chest, "Even though you did kinda deserve it, I'm sorry. Just try to stop moving around so much for me, okay?".

"You're totally treating me the same way you treat your little sister whenever she accidentally trips over, aren't you!? Your personality just totally switched," His voice was muffled as he complained into the fabric of her tracksuit.

"Shh, shhh, please stop crying. Big sis will make your ouchie all better, okay?" She patronisingly shushed him as she stroked his head.

"O-oi, you actually are! I was joking about that! I-in what world would you be my big sis? There's nothing 'big' about you."

"D-do you want me to take care of you or not?" She hissed, breaking character, "Because if not, I can happily knee you in the balls again even harder for that last comment."

"Never mind," His answer was almost instant, nuzzling his face into her chest, "P-please keep taking care of me, Megumin."

"A-ah," The short haired girl tightly hugged his head, making sure that he couldn't look up at her face, "Well, i-if you're gonna ask me like that, th-then how could I say n-no? B-but please stop breathing so heavily. K-kazuma, I'm serious!".

With his manhood still in immense amounts of pain, and a girl two years his junior treating him like a four year old girl after witnessing one of his most shameful moments in recent history, Kazuma could only find it within himself to grumble out a single sentence.

"Today sucked… just let me have this one thing."

His current position was pretty comfy.

Chapter Text

Megumin drowsily licked the inside of her mouth as she began to stir from her sleep, an uncomfortable wetness covering her face. Scrunching her face up, she quickly realised that what she first assumed was probably just a little bit of sweat was actually, to her pure displeasure, drool. Something - no, someone - was definitely licking her face. If she was even the slightest bit more awake at that current moment, her reaction probably would've been much more aggressive.

"Ewww… Kazuma, that's so gross… S-stop it," Megumin weakly mumbled, her eyelids glued shut, "...Seriously, I might actually get mad in a second if you don't stop."

Not receiving any sort of reaction from the boy, She finally mustered up the energy to slowly crack open her eyelids, coming face to face with a familiar set of piercing yellow eyes.

"Meow."

"O-oh, Chomusuke," Blinking a few times, Megumin let out a small, quiet laugh as the cat guiltily backed a few paces away, instead settling to lick her own paws instead of her owner's face, "How did you get in here? I thought you were looking after Komekko for me?".

Completely ignoring her, Chomusuke curled up into a ball and rested against Kazuma's unoccupied pillow. Megumin had long since stopped questioning the cat's strange ability to get into places she certainly shouldn't be able to access, mentally shrugging it off as usual.

Shifting her gaze downwards, she quickly spotted a messy head of light brown hair gently resting against her chest. She craned her neck downwards until his hair was tickling her chin, rubbing against the top of his head for a couple of seconds before bringing her head back up. Briefly, Megumin considered going back to sleep, finding her current situation a bit too comfortable to just give up, but eventually decided that she should probably at least check the time before going back to sleep.

Carefully pulling one of her arms away from Kazuma, she reached out as far as she could towards the bedside table, her short arms not even making it to the end of the mattress. After fruitlessly clenching and unclenching her fist in a fit of mild agitation for a few seconds, she eventually let her arm flop down onto the bed, Kazuma's phone being just too far out of reach for her.

Letting out a dejected sigh, she rested her head back against the pillow, glancing over at the window from the corner of her eye. Looking at the sky, it was probably still pretty early in the morning, and Komekko was seemingly still in bed, so maybe it would be okay for her to rest a little longer before waking Kazuma up. Megumin was certain that he'd have no complaints about getting to sleep in for a few extra minutes.

"I really do like sleeping together with you like this, Kazuma," Megumin, taken in by the pleasant atmosphere she was experiencing, whispered to the sleeping teen, petting his head, "I'm honestly gonna be a little sad when you move out to live with Aqua again."

Just as she felt her eyes begin to grow heavy once again, a faint sound caught her attention, paired with a tiny, miniscule, gust of wind blowing against her chest area for a brief moment. It was fleeting, and barely perceptible, but she'd definitely heard it. It almost sounded like… sniffing? Almost like clockwork, her hand stopped brushing Kazuma's hair and she narrowed her eyes down at the boy resting in her arms.

"So how long have you been awake for, exactly?".

"...I have no idea what you're talking about," Came his muffled reply.

"Uguh," Megumin whined as she shot back, pushing the boy's head from her chest, "I c-can't believe I said something so embarrassing out loud while you were actually awake…".

Kazuma rolled onto his back, groaning, "I was enjoying that, you know. You didn't have to stop."

"I-I'm definitely spoiling you too much, aren't I!?" She crossed her arms as she sat up on the bed, "Giving a pervert this much leeway has gotta be dangerous, right?".

"O-oi! Don't go around calling me 'dangerous'. That totally makes me sound like some kind of sexual deviant!" The older teen retorted, tilting his head to look over at her.

"But isn't that what you are?".

"Wha-? Bu- No! Of course not!" He spluttered, his face red, "Th-there's a difference!".

"Mhm, if you say so," Megumin smirked, before reaching out to finally grab Kazuma's phone and check the time, now that she could freely move, "...Oh. It's earlier than I expected. Not by much, but still… Komekko should be waking up at some point soon."

"Well, yeah, that's why I didn't wanna ge- Hold on, wait! Gimme that! It's important!" The brunette's eyes widened in realisation before he suddenly sat up and lunged for his phone.

"Ah- Hey! You don't have to snatch it from me!" She complained as she watched Kazuma's gaze intently focus in on the screen, "Uhm, so what are you looking at, anyway?".

The teen remained quiet, concentrating, for a few seconds longer before his posture relaxed and he let out a loud cheer, throwing his arms into the air. Megumin briefly smiled at the boy's sudden display of happiness before it dawned on her that she still had no idea what it even was that he was so happy about in the first place.

"H-hey, answer my question already, Kazuma."

He kept grinning to himself as he flicked his focus over to Megumin. "I can finally start renting that house now," Kazuma proudly stated, pointing his thumb towards his chest.

"Wait, really?" Megumin's eyes lit up, quickly shuffling her way over to Kazuma to peer at his phone, "Are your parents actually gonna send you money, then?".

"They already did," Kazuma waved his phone in her general direction, "My dad sent it through late last night, apparently."

She lightly chuckled to herself as she looked at the phone screen from her position right next to the boy, "That's a relief. I was honestly pretty sure that they wouldn't after all."

"They're not as unreasonable as you think, they just don't trust me in the slightest."

"I could tell," Megumin commented, before smugly puffing out her chest and raising herself up from sitting down to resting on her knees, "Anyway, more importantly, isn't there someone that you should be thanking, Kazuma?".

"Huh? Oh, right," Kazuma's face darkened as he slowly advanced towards her, "That reminds me…".

"Kazuma, Kazuma? What are y-? Ah! S-stop!" She yelped as the high schooler lunged at her, shaking her back and forth, "You-ou alre-eady scold-ded m-me for thi-is yester-day!".

"Didn't your parents ever teach you to not steal other people's phones, especially when they're in the middle of a call!?" He paused his shaking, holding her shoulders in place and allowing herself to reorient herself.

"I couldn't help it!" Megumin insisted, "Th-there's no way I could let them go around with those false assumptions about you!".

Kazuma glanced away, his cheeks darkening, "W-well, I mean, I'm not really, like, all that mad about it. If it wasn't for you, I kinda doubt that I'd have been able to convince them."

"Soooo…" She leaned forward towards him, an amused look on her face.

"Yeah, fine, whatever," The brunette sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Tha-".

"I wanna join in too!" Komekko suddenly burst into the room, having been woken up by Kazuma's previous cheer, "I can shout super loud too, big brother! Lemme show you."

"Kazuma, I'm back!" Megumin called out as she entered the house, having just dropped off Komekko.

Kazuma had never been as relieved to hear those words as he was at the present moment.

Letting out a loud groan, ensuring that it was loud enough for Megumin to hear from the front door, he slumped forwards onto the table until his head met paper. It was around twenty seconds later when he sensed a new presence enter the room, with Chomusuke trotting away from her spot on the table to go greet the new arrival.

Megumin regarded the boy with a mixture of pity and disapproval as she crouched down to scoop Chomusuke up in her arms and made her way over to the table.

"Hey, Megumin," He greeted her, unmoving, "I need you."

"Come on, you can easily finish this if you just put in the effort for like… an hour, maybe less?" She said, trying her best to sound encouraging, "This is the last thing you have left to do, right?".

Kazuma turned his head away from the table to look at her, "Mhm. Well, I still have to actually pay for and do the paperwork to get the keys for the house, but I can't do that right now, anyway."

"Oh, and when can you do that? It seems like the type of thing that you might wanna do sooner rather than later," Megumin inquired, idly fixing up her bangs with her thumb and forefinger.

"Pretty soon actually," It didn't take long for the high schooler to perk up, the conversation being the perfect excuse for him to take a short break from his homework, "I texted the guy about when I could properly move in while you were out and he just got back to me a few minutes ago. Apparently, if I can get him the payment for the first month by tomorrow, I can get the keys right then and there."

"Woah, really?" Her demeanour quickly turned excited as she sat down next to him, "That's great! You'll even have an entire day to get everything settled in before Aqua gets back, won't you?"

"Mhm, yeah. Aqua and Darkness are getting back Sunday morning, so that gives me all of Saturday to get ready to properly move in," Kazuma explained, idly rolling his pen between his fingers as he spoke, "I'll be heading over to get the keys at six p.m. tomorrow, you and Komekko are free to come along if you want."

Megumin put on a smug smile, letting her eyes flutter shut for a moment, "Obviously, we'll be coming with you, there's no way we wouldn't."

The green eyed teen reclined back into his chair, a relaxed smile on his face, "Mhm, I've got no problems with that."

For a few moments, she matched his smile with one of her own, softly beaming at him, before she suddenly grabbed Kazuma's papers and placed them back down directly in front of him. "Alright, break is over! Come on, you can finish this in no time at all," Megumin assured him as she gave him a wide eyed stare, one that almost unnerved him a little, "Think of all the things you'll be able to do once you don't have to worry about this anymore!".

Kazuma fixed her with a tired stare, slowly morphing into a small smirk. "As soon as I finish this, I'm going back to bed. Immediately."

"…I'll help you finish the rest."

"Here's the sandwich you ordered, ma'am, and this is your drink. Please enjoy!" Aqua cheerily stated as she placed down a plate and a tall glass down in front of Darkness, a wide smile plastered on her face the entire time.

"Wonderful job, Miss Aqua!" One of the surrounding maids clapped as the girl in question did an overdramatic bow, her hair almost touching the floor in the process, "You haven't dropped a single plate today, you're getting much better."

"Mhm, I agree," Darkness joined in, "You're very friendly with customers, and your high energy would definitely be a nice addition to the cafe's staff."

The blue haired girl proudly placed a hand on her chest, standing at full height, "Yup, yup, keep it coming. More praise, more!".

"Hmm," Another maid put a hand to her chin, massaging her jaw, "Maybe it would be a good idea to try presenting a scenario with a more aggressive customer. It's just as important to know how to deal with more… disagreeable clientele, don't you think?".

There was a general murmur of approval, both from the other maids and Darkness herself, in response to that suggestion, with one of the other maids in particular even volunteering to take up the part of the customer. Aqua, of course, agreed in an instant. With how high her ego had been boosted within the past few minutes, she was pretty much ready to take on any challenge that they would present to her.

"Alright, here you go, Miss Aqua," Aqua was handed a new plate and a glass as she got herself into her new waitress persona, "And we can start… now!".

Feeling a pretty sizable high from receiving her favourite thing of all - praise - the blue haired girl decided to show off a little, balancing the glass cup with only a single finger while she spun the plate around with her other hand as she made her way over to the table. Of course, if there had been any actual food on her plate, or a real drink in her glass, she'd probably have made a mess all over the floor by now, but Darkness would wait until Aqua had gotten the basics down to tackle that potential issue.

"Enjoy the meal, ma'am," She placed the dish and the drink down in front of the faux customer and gave a polite - yet completely unnecessary - curtsy, "And make sure to leave me a generous tip once you're d-".

"This isn't what I ordered," The maid interrupted her, putting on a gruff and irritated voice that clearly didn't fit her usual personality, "Take it back, now."

For a moment, Aqua seemed genuinely shocked, not fully understanding the imaginary situation presented to her, "A- Bu- What?".

"This isn't what I ordered," She repeated, her tone even harsher, "I did not order this, so you need to fix it."

"Why do I need to fix it, huh?" The blue eyed girl shot back, almost immediately, "It's not my fault, so you better stop talking to me like that!".

"Oh yeah? I'll talk to you however I want!" The pretend customer glowered at Aqua, despite the fact that she had to look up at her, getting even further into her role, "Here's what you're gonna do, since you can't think for yourself. You're gonna take this back to the kitchen, and get them to make my actual order, okay?".

It was only then that, with angry tears bubbling up in the corners of her eyes, Aqua finally broke and grabbed the maid by her collar, "Now you listen here, cleaner lady, do you have any idea who you're talking to?".

Darkness sighed, dramatically slumping her shoulders and trying her best to tune out Aqua's oncoming rant. The small amount of enjoyment she was getting from imagining herself in the maid's current situation was completely overpowered by the feeling of complete hopelessness she was feeling. For once, she felt like she could sort of understand why Kazuma often treated Aqua the way he did.

"This might take a little longer than I first thought."

The maid nearest to her regarded her with a sheepish expression, most likely having similar thoughts about Aqua's training herself, "I did try to warn you of this, Miss Dustiness."

True to his word, and much to Megumin's dismay, Kazuma did actually end up going to sleep almost immediately after finishing up the last of his work. It wasn't until she went into his room to ask him about lunch and saw him sprawled out in the middle of the bed that Megumin that he was actually serious about his earlier statement.

Even worse, he slept for a while. Not just an hour or so in the middle of the day, but long enough that Megumin had to resort to waking him up herself just to make sure he wasn't late to work.

Was Kazuma really that tired?

Either way, she didn't linger on those thoughts for too long, instead poking fun at him for it throughout their bus ride to their respective destinations. But - anyway - that didn't really matter right now, she had other things to focus on at the moment. More specifically, dinner.

She let out a small noise of annoyance as she, now back home, filled around with one of the dials on her family's gas hob. The stovetop was, to put it kindly, temperamental, as Kazuma had made sure to remind her every time it was his turn to cook something. Despite the fact that she'd always always retort with a sarcastic comment of her own, she couldn't deny how nice it would be to own an electric stovetop, or even just a more reliable gas one.

"What's for dinner, big sis?" Komekko asked as she hopped up and down, trying her hardest to peer into the pot, "Smells yummy!".

"Of course it smells yummy. Everything big sis makes for you is yummy," Megumin proudly put her hands on her hips, as she looked down at her little sister, "I'm making a curry for today."

The young girl narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue, an almost disgusted look on her face, "Uuuwwggghh."

"Hey!" The dark haired teen crouched down to be at her sister's height, a stern look on her face, "We don't make rude faces like that when someone makes food for us, now do we?".

"Uwww."

Megumin sighed, "I didn't add any spice to it this time, Komekko. You don't have to look at me like that."

"Yay!" In an instant, Komekko's expression transformed into an ecstatic grin, as if she'd never been upset in the first place, "I love big sis' food!".

Despite the fact that she often liked to consider herself to be a pretty good cook, a statement that both Kazuma and Komekko had backed up on multiple occasions, Megumin still had to admit that cooking didn't really come naturally to her, continuing to be an arduous process no matter how often she did it.

Regardless, though, she did enjoy it, really. She just also enjoyed it when someone else was there to take over from time to time. That was understandable, right?

Megumin shifted her gaze over to the door, her eyes having grown accustomed to the darkness a few minutes prior, as she watched Kazuma perform something halfway between a stretch and a yawn as he made his way into the bedroom, having just finished up in the bathroom for the night. Their eyes met for a second, with Kazuma sending her a look that she couldn't quite parse, before he went around to the opposite side of the bed from her and got under the covers.

There was a prolonged period of complete quiet as they both lay there, neither of them moving. The younger teen found herself growing a little impatient as she waited for him to move over towards her. Yet, after around thirty seconds of nothing, she began to grow a little bit unsure. Was something… wrong?

"Hey, Kazuma?" Megumin broke the silence as she idly bunched up her end of the blankets, "Are you… mad at me about something?".

To his credit, the brunette did look genuinely confused as he rolled onto his side to face her, "Wha?- No, I don't think so. Why?".

"'I don't think so', how reassuring," She sarcastically commented, rolling her eyes, "So, if you're not mad, then why are you all the way on the other side of the bed?".

"Oh, r-right," He frowned, a guilty look spreading across his features, "No reason."

Before she could question anything further, Kazuma shuffled towards her, quickly closing the distance between them. The moment he got close enough for her to touch, she wrapped her arms around him, almost instantly relaxing as she felt his body heat warm her up ever so slightly. It wasn't until she felt something touch her, just below her pelvis, that his behaviour started to make sense to her.

"I-is it really that hard to control it?" She asked, shifting uncomfortably, "I didn't wanna say anything about it before, but having it pressed up against me almost every time we cuddle is a bit… well…".

"I-I already told you that I can't control it!" Kazuma hissed, glancing away, "Of course I'm gonna get like this if you're clinging to me this tightly. D-do you know how hard it's been to hold myself back for the past week or so!? Us men have needs, you know?".

"It's not… it's not like I don't have those kinds of… n-needs, either," Megumin blushed, lowering her head in what could've either been embarrassment or shame - Kazuma wasn't quite sure - "I'm not a-against doing… some things, b-but there's no way I'm doing anything in my own parents' bed. Absolutely not!".

Kazuma inhaled a shaky breath, a little shocked. Megumin was a girl going through puberty, after all, he noted. It's not like he'd deluded himself to the idea that she had absolutely no interest in anything sexual, but he'd never expected her to be so… honest about it. As much as he hated to admit it, she was making him a little - no, actually, very - nervous.

"Ah, uh, uhm," He fumbled his words, entirely unsure of what to even say, for a few seconds before saying the first thing that came to his mind, "Let's move to your room then."

"No way! K-komekko's in there!".

"Tsk, fine then, we can just d-do it on the couch, come on," Kazuma insisted, trying to squirm away from Megumin and get up out of the bed; an action that she immediately put a stop to by tightening her embrace around him.

She furrowed her eyebrows, increasing her grip to the point where it began to hurt a little, "I know that you're a huge pervert and all, b-but can't you at least be a little bit reasonable right now!?".

"H-how am I the perverted one!?" The high schooler shot back, his demeanour slowly becoming agitated, "Don't act like y-you weren't talking about your n-needs, as well!".

Suddenly, without warning, their small squabble was interrupted by a light giggle, a serene smile appearing on Megumin's face as relaxed her grip on Kazuma, with the older teen awkwardly hugging her back.

The older teen faltered for a second, confused, "...What? What's so funny?".

"It's just," She averted her eyes a little, "I was - and, well, still am - really nervous about this whole… thing, but I'm glad that we can still talk normally with each other, even when we're this close."

There was an obvious, prolonged beat of silence between the two, as Kazuma used his tongue to nervously move around the saliva that had built up in the back of his mouth. Clearing out the inside of his mouth with an audible gulp, he tried his best to think of a suitable response, coming up short with each attempt.

"C-come on, say something already," Megumin let out another, much more anxious, giggle as she stared directly into his eyes, "I-its embarrassing if you just clam up like that."

"I, uh, I'm glad too… I suppose?" The look on his face was almost expectant - hopeful, perhaps - as if he was waiting for her approval; for her to tell him that his answer was, at least, acceptable.

Megumin couldn't be exactly sure if that was really the case, or if she was just looking too far into things, but, either way, it was pretty adorable to her. Deciding right then and there that such behaviour shouldn't be ignored, and because - quite frankly - it had been a little bit since she'd last done it, the short haired girl moved her face closer towards Kazuma's until there was barely a centimetre between them.

Before the older teen could react or say anything, she closed the remainder of the distance and pressed her lips against his, keeping them there for a few seconds before pulling back and briefly cupping Kazuma's face in her hands.

"Umm, that was fine, right?" Megumin sheepishly smiled up at him, sounding a little unsure, "You won't get excited from just a small kiss, will you?".

The high schooler held back his snap response of 'Of course I will' in favour of just pulling her head into his chest and beginning to stroke her hair once again, mostly just in an attempt to relieve some of his own tension.

Sure, Kazuma's 'issue' hadn't exactly been fixed, not in the slightest. Actually, it had probably gotten worse if anything, but it's not like there was anything else he could do about it at the moment. But still, maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to tough out for the night without it being that bad, right?

For once, he was really starting to wish that his sex drive wasn't always so damn high.

"...What are you putting your coat on for?" Kazuma shot her a questioning glance as he slid his arms into his own jacket.

"Because it's still kinda cold out today," Megumin nonchalantly answered, "We're still a few months away from the start of summer, after all."

He rolled his eyes, hiding his ever-so-faint smile, "That's not what I meant. Are you going out somewhere or something?".

"And what if I am?" The short girl questioned, playfully leering up at Kazuma, "Would that be a problem for you?".

"Nope, just a little surprised. You never usually go out at this time, that's all," He shrugged, opening the door and making his way outside, "Well, have fun with whatever it is that you're doing, I'm going to work now. Later."

Just like that, Kazuma sent her a quick wave and began the oh-so-familiar walk over to the bus stop, the bag containing his work clothes being casually strewn over his shoulder. The earlier shift wasn't what he usually chose, he was just more used to the later one, but if he wanted to make his way over to his new house at six, he didn't really have any other options.

"...".

"...".

"O-oi."

"What?" Megumin, who had casually sauntered up to him and latched onto his arm, tilted her head in his direction, "Am I not allowed to walk to the bus stop with you?".

"You… can, I guess," He responded, taking the time to carefully choose his words, "Wait, so are you actually going somewhere, then? Where?".

"Well, since you were talking about planning your expenses so much yesterday, I decided to check through my own allowance. Just to make sure I wasn't spending too much," The crimson eyed girl explained, temporarily releasing one of her arms to pull her scratty-looking purse from her coat pocket and show it to him, "Turns out, I still have more than I thought, so I see no harm in going into town to buy something small for myself; I'm thinking a new manga might be nice. I've already read all the ones I have at least four times now…".

"Ah, right," Kazuma put a hand to his chin, "Sometimes I forget that you're still a gigantic nerd at heart, despite how much you try to hide it."

"I d-don't try to hide it!" She objected, before realising that she was probably focusing on the less important part of his statement, "And you're way worse than me! Every time I try to recommend something to you, you always say that you've already read it!".

"Obviously," He matter-of-factly drawled, "My time as a shut-in allowed me to consume as much media as I wanted. There's no way you'd ever be able to beat me. Unless it's something super recent, I suppose, I haven't had anywhere near as much time or money recently."

"I guess it doesn't help that a large portion of my collection is just second hand from you," Megumin commented, shoving her purse back into her pocket.

The green eyed boy gave her a questioning look as they made their way past the road to Kazuma's old apartment, "I haven't given you that much, have I? I thought that it was just all the stuff that I couldn't fit into my old apartment."

"I mean, yeah, it mostly is, but aren't you forgetting about that entire collection of second-hand manga you gave me for my birthday? That alone makes up at least a third of my collection."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, I guess," Frowning, Kazuma shoved his free hand into his pocket, "I didn't really have enough money at the time to buy anything, especially with Christmas being a few weeks after, so I kinda just asked my little brother to send over my collection of that entire series, since I know you liked the first two volumes."

"Why are you apologising? That was one of my favourite gifts that I got for my birthday last year," The short haired girl let out a small chuckle, "You should already know that I'm not the type of girl who cares about expensive things. I don't mind that you didn't actually buy anything, I'm just happy that there was some thought put into it."

"Right, you are a rather easy girl to please, after all," He quickly buckled under the harsh glare that he received from his comment, focusing his eyes on anything besides her, "Ah, but, anyway… I-I'm just saying that I'll get you something a little better for your fifteenth birthday, okay?".

Megumin rested her head against his arm, smiling to herself, "I didn't think that you were the type to get so bothered by something like that."

"Wh-whatever, that doesn't matter at the moment," Kazuma hurriedly interrupted her, "Your birthday is still ages away. Ah, but on the other hand, mine is only a couple months away now. I, of course, am also expecting a more special gift than usual. It is only fair, right?".

"Th-that is true," She began nervously fidgeting with her hands, rubbing her palms on the sleeve of Kazuma's jacket, "But, uhm, y-you do have to remember that I ca-".

"Ah, ah, shhh," He placed a finger over her lips, stopping her in her tracks, "I already know that money is a big problem for your family, so I don't expect anything expensive. Actually, now that I think about it, there's something you could give me that's completely free, something that only you can offer…".

"Something that only I can…?" Megumin slowly repeated to herself, before her eyes widened and leapt back, pointing a shaky finger at him, "Y-y-you're trying to get m-me to give you my body as a gift, a-aren't you!? Do you ever think about anything else!?".

"O-oh? And how exactly did you, the 'sweet and innocent Megumin', instantly know what I was insinuating, then!?" Kazuma hurled back, then moving to smugly poke a finger into her forehead, "Face it, you're turning into a pervert, too, aren't you? You are at that age, after a- Ow!".

"P-pervert! Jerk! Scum!".

"Ow, yea- Okay, ow, I relent! I give up!" He covered his chest with his arms, shielding himself from her tiny punches.

"Geez…" The dark haired girl sighed and leaned back towards Kazuma as they continued walking, her arms going back to their previous position, "I seriously don't know if I should be flattered or disgusted by the increase in perverted comments I've been receiving from you recently. Probably both, actually."

"It's your fault in the first place…" Kazuma mumbled under his breath.

Megumin lifted her head up, straining her ears in an attempt to hear him, "What was that?".

"Gaah, nothing!".

After taking the bus together, they walked for a short while before Megumin split off from Kazuma as they passed by a store that sold manga at a fairly cheap price, happily humming to herself as she made her way inside to peruse her options.

Meanwhile, Kazuma made the familiar trek over to the café, the ever so slight detour he took to get to the bookstore pushing his arrival time back by around two or so minutes. After changing into his uniform a little quicker than usual, he made idle conversation at the front counter with his boss to pass the last minute or so before his shift officially began.

"Helper, I'm done with these two," Chris commented as she came out from the back with two plates in hand, around half an hour into Kazuma's shift, "Can you pass me over any new orders we have once I'm done serving these?".

"Mhm, sure thing chief," He replied as his boss passed by the front counter, "I've got two more written down right here. People are starting to order lunches already, apparently."

"Good to know," She called back as she wandered off to deliver her orders.

With nothing else to do, Kazuma rested his elbow on the counter and smushed his cheek into his fist. He absentmindedly smiled to himself as he realised how much more energised he felt compared to how he would be during his evening shifts. Sure, he really wasn't a huge fan of working in the morning, but at least it had some upsides to it.

The sound of a new customer entering pulled Kazuma from his musings, letting out an amused snort as he glanced over to the doorway.

"...I expected as much," He commented as the figure made her way over to the counter, sitting in the same nearby seat she'd previously occupied, "So, what did you end up getting?".

Megumin fished around in her coat pocket for a moment before pulling out a book and holding it up for him to see, "Well, I needed somewhere to sit and read this, so it may as well be here."

"Hmm…" Kazuma leaned towards her and focused his gaze onto the cover, "You got an anthology? With how rarely you get to buy manga, I didn't think you'd bother with something like this."

"I usually wouldn't," She admitted, placing it down onto the small partition between her and Kazuma, "But this one is entirely based on one of my favourite characters of all time, so I had to make an exception."

"Oh, yeah. You do like her, don't you?" The part-timer mused, picking it up and flipping through the pages. The character in question was one of the main characters from the same manga series that he'd given her his collection of. That fact brought a small, amused grin to his face.

"Hey, helper, what do you think you're doing rea- Oooh," Chris glared at Kazuma as she walked back to the front counter until she took notice of their newest customer, her tone quickly switching up as she beamed at the younger girl, "Hiya, Megumin!".

"Morning, chief," She replied, earning her a pointed look from Kazuma as he slid the book back over to her.

"Oiii…".

"So what brings you to our lovely café today?" The silver haired girl gave her a pleasant smile, one which quickly morphed into a more mischievous one, "You here to make out in the back with helper while he's on his lunch break?"

"Absolutely."

"N-no!" Megumin blushed, before snapping her head to her boyfriend, "E-eh? What did you just say?".

"Y-you wouldn't?" Kazuma turned to her just as quickly, sounding almost offended, "What's even the point of coming here if you weren't planning on getting busy in the back?".

A poorly hidden snort reminded them both of the third person in the conversation, a thoroughly amused smirk on her face. "I was seriously wondering how you'd start acting around her now that you're dating, helper," Chris snickered to herself, "It's almost relieving to know that you're still the exact same as always."

Kazuma huffed and held out a piece of paper towards the older girl, "Don't you have orders to start preparing?".

"Fine," She pretended to pout for a second before winking and walking off, "It seems that helper is far too embarrassed to show his lovey-dovey boyfriend mode in public."

"J-just because I'm not single anymore, doesn't mean that I'm gonna turn into some sort of stereotypical normie boyfriend, y'hear me?" He glared at the disappearing figure of his boss.

Megumin raised a finger as if to correct him, "Well, actua-".

"Shut it."

"...And it's not as big as Mommy and Daddy's house, but big brother gets it all to himself!" Komekko explained to her carer, not even stopping to catch her breath as she was guided over to the front entrance of her kindergarten, "Well, big sis says that he's staying with his friend, but they even get to sleep in their own rooms!".

"Is that so?" Wolbach politely replied as they made their way down the hallway, an attentive smile on her face as she listened to the small girl ramble, "You seem very excited about this. Are you going to miss living with your… big brother when he's gone?".

Komekko looked up at her for a second, as if she didn't quite understand what she was being asked, before she nodded her head a few times in quick succession. "Yup, big brother makes super tasty snacks and plays fun games with me, just like Miss Wolbach does! But he's still living with me and big sis, so it's okay."

The older woman raised an eyebrow at that, assuming, naturally, that the little girl was mistaken somewhere along the line and that she didn't yet understand that renting a house meant that he would in fact be moving out - and pretty soon, she assumed. Though before she could bring it up, they turned the corner into the main lobby of the kindergarten.

It didn't take long for Wolbach to spot Megumin, sitting down on one of the available seats, and her supposed boyfriend - Kazuma, if she was remembering correctly - who was leaning against the wall next to her, scrolling through his phone with a slightly antsy look on his face.

"Heyyyyy!" Komekko broke out into another wide smile the moment she saw them, running over to Megumin and repeatedly slamming her palms down onto her big sister's knees in what was probably supposed to be a friendly greeting of sorts, "Is it house time now, big sis?".

"Uhm, sure. House time is very soon, but we have to actually go all the way over to the house first, remember?" Megumin replied as she took the younger girl's hands in her own, most likely just to politely stop her from using her knees as a drum kit, "And don't forgot that you have to let Kazuma and the nice man deal with all the grown up things before you can start running around inside, okay?".

"Yes, big sis," The small girl spoke back, almost robotically, completely forgetting almost all of what she was just told.

"So I hear that you're gonna start renting out your own place from now on," Wolbach commented as she made her way over to them, prompting Kazuma to respectfully shove his phone back into his pocket before nodding and making a small noise of confirmation, "Not to be rude, but aren't you a little bit young to be renting out your own home already?".

"Eh, I was living away from my parents even before this," The brunette answered, cringing as he noticed the small tinge of worry that appeared on the middle aged woman's face, "I-it's by choice, I promise! It's really, y'know, it's not that bad…". As a final attempt to not make this woman he barely knew worry even further about him, he tacked on a final, "Oh, and I have a roommate who's technically an adult, so it's not like I'm on my own or anything."

Wolbach raised a brow, "Technically an adult?".

"She's still not fully adjusted to… certain parts of adult life," He awkwardly clarified, trying to paint Aqua in as favourable a light as possible in an attempt to move the conversation along.

"Yeah," Megumin finally joined in, "Kazuma's gonna be getting his key today, hopefully. It's sorta like our house but just a little smaller. It's not that big in the first place, so that's why he's able to afford the rent there in the first place."

"Keys," Kazuma corrected, tilting his head in her direction, "Two of them. Aqua needs a key as well, even if she probably won't use it all that much."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that," The crimson eyed teen stood up from her seat and turned to him, "We're supposed to be there by six, aren't we? When do we need to get going by?".

He faltered for a second, frowning as he lightly scratched at his scalp, "Uhhh, not sure exactly. Soon, I guess? It'll take us a decent amount of time to get there from all the way over here, so it might be good to get going as soon as possible."

Megumin nodded, letting out what Kazuma assumed was a noise of agreement, before flicking her attention over to the older woman, "Then, in that case, we're gonna get going now, Miss Wolbach. Don't wanna be late, y'know?".

"Of course," The redhead nodded to Megumin, before shifting her attention over to Kazuma with a kind smile, "And, Kazuma, good luck on getting settled into your new place."

Clearly a tad surprised, the brunette returned her smile with one of his own, praying that she didn't notice where his eyes had been looking mere seconds before, "Yeah, thanks."

"You don't have to worry about him, Miss Wolbach," Megumin waved the older woman off, putting two fingers up to her top lip as she glanced away with a grin slowly forming on her features, "Despite how he may seem, Kazuma is actually surprisingly capable."

"Despite how he may… Oi, how about you tell me exactly what that's supposed to mean, huh?" Kazuma leered at her, getting a prideful smirk back from her, making his fingers twitch in agitation.

"Bye bye, Miss Wolbach!" Komekko gave her teacher an enthusiastic wave, interrupting Kazuma and Megumin's playful squabble, "See you on… Mun-day?".

Just over an hour later, Kazuma found himself face to face with the stone-faced mountain of a man that was to be his new landlord. Megumin and Komekko were both a little ways away, with Komekko wanting to explore around the perimeter of the house, not that there was much to see in the first place.

"Was a lil' bit late getting here," The man explained as he shut his car door, with a little more force than he'd probably intended to use, "My bad, kid."

"I-it's not a problem," Kazuma placated, internally cursing at himself for his slight nervousness, "So, how exactly do we… do this?".

The teen frowned, a small sound of displeasure escaping his lips. When he'd first got his old apartment, it had been his parents that had handled everything for the first couple of months. Sure, by this point, he was more than used to paying his monthly rent and the other small responsibilities that he'd had as a tenant, but he was completely lost when it came to any of the initial processes of renting out a new place.

Really, throughout the entire day, his head had been filled with constant reminders of how unprepared he truly felt.

"We got some paperwork that we gotta go through, but it shouldn't take ya too long," The older man explained, indicating toward a small bag he was carrying with him, "You are able to pay now, yeah?".

"I already did, actually. I sent the money over to you the moment your car pulled up. The transfer should've gone through by now," Kazuma explained, looking fairly proud of himself as he spoke.

"Oh?" The muscular figure pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped through for around twenty or so seconds, the phone looking almost comically small compared to his large hands, "...Huh, so ya did. Nice goin' kid, that smooths out this whole process for us a little bit."

Before the conversation could go any further, Kazuma was alerted to the sound of footsteps approaching from behind him and, a moment later, spotted Megumin entering his peripheral vision, with Komekko in tow.

"Ah, uhm, hi again," Megumin gave the landlord a small but polite wave, one which was returned with a nod of acknowledgement and a subtle smile, "So, what's um, how far through are things?".

Kazuma, realising that her questioned was probably aimed more at him, instead of the other man, shrugged, "Well, my payment for the first month - and for the extra expenses - has just gone through, I think, so I'm pretty sure we just have to go through the paperwork and get stuff officially signed over, right?".

"'S right," The large man gave a curt nod to him, "But how about we go through all of this paperwork inside, eh? It might be nice to let the little one run around inside while we're getting through all of the boring stuff."

Komekko's eyes visibly lit up at that suggestion, clearly liking what she was hearing. Before Kazuma or Megumin even got the chance to respond, the house's owner walked over towards the front door in large strides, with Komekko hurriedly waddling along behind him.

Noticing Kazuma's gaze shifting over to her, as if waiting for her to say something, Megumin simply just shrugged, "No reason not to."

"Can't really argue with that."

As the two teens followed along in the direction of the front door, the older man suddenly spun around the moment he reached the door, keys tightly clenched within his fist. "Listen up, kid," He began as Kazuma made his way over to him, a sceptical look on his face, "These keys are gonna be all yours pretty soon, so ya better take good care of this place, m'kay?".

"Don't worry," The high schooler sent him a confident smile, "I plan to."

"In that case then…" He unlocked the front door and dramatically swung it open, cracking a wide smile, "Welcome to the gates of hell, kid!".

"Woaaah," Komekko looked up at him in awe, "That was pretty cool, mister!".

Megumin crossed her arms and nodded approvingly at the muscular individual, "Yep, super cool."

"You two can't be serious," Kazuma gawked at the two sisters, bringing a hand up to his forehead, before making his way over to the door and following the owner inside, "Let's… let's just get this over with already."

It was only around twenty minutes later when, with multiple sheets of paperwork read through and signed and important ground rules properly established, the four of them found themselves once again outside the front door, with the maroon haired man fishing through his pockets.

Whelp, it's all yours now, kid, for as you keep paying your rent, of course," He chuckled to himself, finally finding what he was looking for and pulling two keys from his pocket, "Then… these will be in your hands from now on. You did say that you wanted two sets, right?".

"Yeah, two is perfect, thanks," Kazuma replied, faltering for a second before taking the keys from his outstretched palm and examining them, as if to make sure that they were real.

"Heh, good," The middle aged man turned away and began walking back towards his car, looking over his shoulder to continue talking, "As much as I'd love to stick around and help you get settled in right now, I've got a pretty packed schedule at the moment, so I'll heading off now. I'll try to check in on ya at some point this week. Hopefully I'll also be able to meet that roommate of yours when she moves in."

"It might be better if you didn't," Kazuma grumbled to himself, still looking down at the keys in his hand.

"Thank you for helping Kazuma out, sir!" Megumin called out after him, waving.

"Bye bye, mister!" Komekko shouted as the man got into his car, sending the two sisters a casual wave before closing the door behind him and driving off not long after.

Megumin smiled to herself as her gaze lingered on the area where the car had once been. She felt her chest swell with something unfamiliar, something she couldn't quite put a name to. Pride was the first thing that came to mind, but even that didn't feel right. Either way, she was happy for Kazuma; happy that everything was finally starting to work out for him again.

With a wide smile plastered onto her face, and a slight reddening on her cheeks, she turned back towards the house to see Kazuma, facing away from her and Komekko, his gaze locked onto the house. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly heard him begin talking to himself.

"Finally… Finally, after all this time," His voice cracked as he ranted to himself, completely ignorant to the two other people behind him, "Finally, I'm not homeless anymore!".

Megumin, seeing her boyfriend triumphantly throw his fists up into the air, walked over to him with an ironic expression on her face, " Umm… Kazuma, are you… crying?".

"...No, not at all."

"Woohoo! Hell yeah!" Kazuma cheered to himself as he crashed head first onto his newly acquired couch, pumping his fists in a display of victory, "And with that, I'm officially broke."

"B-broke?" Megumin, who up until that point had been mostly smiling to herself in relative silence as she looked around, instantly snapped her attention over to Kazuma, a worried look on her face, "You're joking, r-right? You're not actually broke."

"Yay! New house!" Komekko, completely oblivious to what was just said, and simply just wanting to join in with the celebrations, also hopped up onto the couch, sitting herself down on the back of Kazuma's torso.

Kazuma moved his head from the couch cushions and turned to face the crimson eyed teen, "I mean, I still have money, but it's all for essential stuff like groceries and bus fares for the next few weeks. Besides that, I've got pretty much nothing left until I get my next pay check."

"A-aren't you being a little bit too casual about this!? Isn't that really bad!?" The eldest of the two sisters fixed him with an open mouthed glare, shocked at how seemingly okay he apparently was about something pretty serious.

"I mean, I've got enough to make it to the end of the month, so that's good enough for me," He buried his face back into the couch cushions, his voice becoming somewhat muffled, "And anyway, I'm just happy to have somewhere to live now. Compared to that, almost being broke isn't really all that bad. It's not like I'm usually all too far off from it anyway."

"No, that's definitely worrying!".

Kazuma groaned, most likely a sign of concession, but otherwise kept silent. It's not like he had any reason to disagree with her. Actually, on the other hand, she was completely right. But, still, there was no point worrying himself over something that he couldn't really do all that much about.

Before either of the two teens could say anything further, Komekko hopped down onto the floor and trudged over to her sister, dramatically clutching at her stomach. "When's dinner?" She whined, looking up at her sister with a pair of intensely red pupils, "I'm hungryyy."

"You're-? Well, actually, I suppose that does make sense. It is already…" She glanced around the room, looking for a clock, just to find the walls all completely barren, "Uhm, could you please check the time for me, Kazuma?".

Accepting her request, the brunette lazily moved into a sitting position and fumbled around in his pockets for his phone, "It is… oh, it's almost seven, already."

"S-seriously?".

"Mhm," He nodded, turning his phone screen to let her confirm it for herself, "Six forty-nine."

Megumin sighed, slumping a little, while her younger sister continued to lightly tug on the fabric of her leggings, awaiting an answer, "Well, if it's that time already, I guess we kinda have to go back home and get started on making something for dinner. It does suck to leave here so soon, but it's not like we have any other options, and it's not like we won't be coming back here tomorrow."

"Dinner…" Komekko dreamily repeated, having only really paid attention to the parts that she wanted to hear.

"Wait," Kazuma put a hand up to his chin, creasing his brows, "Actually, I've got a much better idea."

"Huh?" The short haired teen perked up a little, her tone seeming to be one of genuine curiosity, "Go on, then. What is it?".

"Well, I did just get this place and all, so why don't we stay here tonight? I mean, there's no reason not to."

If nothing else, the idea had definitely piqued Megumin's interest, a lot more than she was trying to let on. The small, almost excited grin that was threatening to take over her features made Kazuma feel even more confident about his little idea. Truthfully, he'd been thinking about the idea of spending the first night there with Megumin and Komekko for around an hour or so; it just sounded fun, Especially since it would be perhaps his only chance to experience living in the house without Aqua there to give him headache after headache.

Though, to his surprise, the hopeful look on her face quickly fell, being replaced with a slightly disappointed countenance, "There… isn't any food here, Kazuma."

His eyes widened - momentarily - before he nodded, slowly, realisation spreading across his face, "Right, forgot about that. I forgot that I'm gonna have to get some groceries tomorrow."

Megumin then walked over to the other side of the room, to the small kitchenette area, with Kazuma and Komekko following along behind her. "Yeah, I thought as much," She spoke back to Kazuma as she went through the completely empty cupboards, "There's no pots or pans or trays or… really anything to cook with here."

"Well, I mean, we could alway-".

"Mhm, yup," Megumin nodded to herself as she shut the final drawer, "No plates or utensils either."

"Agggggh, shut up! I get it," Kazuma grabbed at the sides of his head with a mix of shame and annoyance, "Are you done now? Is that everything?".

She seemed to be in thought for a few seconds before raising a finger into the air. "We also don't have any spare clothes to wear to bed," She remarked, almost proudly.

The older teen, by this point thoroughly dejected, slumped forward with an audible groan. "Fine then, never mind," He leaned against the furthermost end of the kitchen counter, "Lets just go back to your place."

"Th-that's not what I said! I want to stay here tonight, a-as well," Megumin fidgeted with her hands a little before furrowing her eyebrows, clearly trying to think of something, "Urgh, alright! Hey, can you check something on your phone for me? There's gotta be, like, a cheap takeout place nearby, right? They're pretty much everywhere."

Kazuma sent her an odd look before turning on his phone and scrolling through his home page, "Yeah, I mean, we even passed by a place or two on the way here, so there's surely something around here, and I guess that would pretty much completely solve our food issue for us."

"Exactly!" She pumped her fists, getting very much into her idea, "Oh, and - don't worry - I still have my purse with me, so I don't mind paying for the food just this once. Think of it as my treat, okay?".

"Well, if you say so," The green eyed boy shrugged, releasing a small puff of air from his nose as he continued to scroll through his phone, "If we order online, I don't mind going to pick up the food. I can get us some stuff from your house while I'm at it if you want."

"...I'm sorry," Kazuma dejectedly mumbled as he kneeled down onto the carpeted floor, a guilty expression on his face.

Megumin glared down at him, a thoroughly creased bra and panties clutched in her balled up fist. "I can't believe that I let you go into my room all on your own. Of course you'd end up not being able to control yourself with my laundry," Her tone was harsh, clearly unimpressed with him, "I thought that you promised that you wouldn't do anything funny with my underwear while you were getting a spare change of clothes."

"I did promise that…".

Sighing, the dark haired girl leaned down and began going through the remaining contents of the bag of essential items that Kazuma had picked up on the way back from collecting their food, "I can't believe you… Did you at least get everything that I asked you to bring?".

"Your tracksuit, a spare set of clothes for tomorrow, Komekko's pyjamas, a spare set of clothes for her," Kazuma listed off on his fingers, a smug grin on his face, "Toothbrushes, toothpaste, a hairbrush, three pairs of chopsticks, soap, shampoo, conditioner and three towels. I even filled up Chomusuke's food bowl for her. That is everything, right?".

"Just so you know, th-this still doesn't make up for whatever it is that you did with my underwear," Megumin growled, slowly shaking her head and returning her face to a neutral look, "Nothing I can do about it now, I guess. Let's just eat already, I'm hungry."

"She already started," He blankly stated, pointing over at a spot on the floor behind Megumin. Komekko, having long since become bored of their back and forth, had already taken the lid off of her order and began tucking in, already getting a decent amount of food stuck around her mouth.

"Ah, Komekko! What did I tell you about waiting for us before you started eating?" She rushed over to her little sister and took the box from her hands, "And please don't eat it on the floor, Kazuma just got this place!".

"Um umgry, gibeit back! " Komekko whined, not even bothering to swallow her mouthful and spraying crumbs onto the carpet.

"Honestly, when I paid extra for furniture, I don't think it was that unreasonable for me to expect to get a proper table and chairs included," Kazuma complained aloud as he made his way over to the two sisters, scratching the back of his head, "I guess we're just gonna have to eat off of the coffee table for the time being."

"That shouldn't be a problem," The red eyed girl remarked, moving her little sister's food over to the coffee table, with Komekko no more than a few paces behind her at all times, "Compared to digging through the trash outside grocery stores, sitting on the floor to eat is barely a inconvenience."

"Y-you haven't… actually done something like that before… right?".

Megumin sharply turned her face away from him, her expression unreadable.

Despite how - to put it lightly - barren the house was, and would probably continue to be until Kazuma got his hands on his next pay check, they still managed to have a fairly enjoyable meal; ignoring that fact that they ended up having no other option other than to drink water directly from the kitchen tap.

Even if it was just the three of them, and even if it was just the exact same company he'd been around almost constantly for the past two weeks, Kazuma couldn't help but have fun, viewing it as a very very small - and low budget - moving in party of sorts. At least, it would tide him over until he got the money to actually celebrate properly.

After dinner was over, and Megumin had ushered her little sister into the bathroom to get her washed and ready for bed, Kazuma found himself lazily sprawled out on the couch, a position that he'd grown rather fond of during his time staying at Megumin's house. His old apartment didn't have the luxury of a couch, or the space to even fit one.

It wasn't all too long until, finally deciding to turn on for the night, Kazuma and Megumin found themselves in Kazuma's new room, dressed in their tracksuits and standing only a few feet away from the bed.

"Uhm," Megumin started as she regarded the bed, probably coming to similar conclusions, "I kinda forgot to even consider the size, to be honest."

"Well, it's not really a problem," Kazuma crossed his arms as he squinted down at the bedframe, barely big enough to fit two people, "It should still be big enough for both of us. There just won't be much… extra space."

The younger of the two teens shrugged, barely hesitating before she made her way under the covers, "I don't mind. Oooh, this mattress is super comfy, Kazuma!".

"O-oi, quit messing around on the mattress like that! You might end up breaking one of the springs," He scolded her, a strangely contemplative look on his face, as if something much more important was going through his mind.

Megumin let out a loud sigh and flopped back onto the bed's only pillow, seemingly enjoying the rare comfort of a slightly more high quality bed, "Just get in already."

Slowly, following her request, Kazuma made his way into the bed, finding himself right up close with Megumin. From their close proximity, her wide, red eyes took up almost his entire vision, almost glowing in the darkness of Kazuma's room. Unlike the bed they'd been sleeping in for the last few nights, cuddling close together was a requirement, not an option, if they wanted to both fit into the bed. It simply just wasn't big enough for them to both sleep on opposite sides, not that such a detail really bothered either of them.

Taking the initiative, Megumin pulled her boyfriend into a tight hug, one that was just loose enough to not actually be painful, and rested a hand against the back of his head, rubbing her fingers against the tips of his hair. A second or so later, she felt an arm wrap around her upper torso, while another was brought up to the back of her head. Megumin was more than used to this by now, but it still felt as comfortable as ever to her.

Megumin wasn't sure how long they stayed there for, but regardless of how much time had passed, she didn't really mind either way.

On the other hand, Kazuma's thoughts were being taken up by something else; something very different. Sure, he'd definitely wanted to spend the night at his new place because it had seemed fun and because he thought that Megumin and Komekko might enjoy staying over somewhere new, but that wasn't his only reason, far from it.

Trying to hide his obvious intent, he moved his hand down to gently caress Megumin's cheek while his legs locked around hers, an action that she didn't seem to have much of a reaction to, aside from an almost negligible change in her expression. Kazuma couldn't really describe it as particularly positive or negative, more so just acceptance, if he had to describe it.

"H-hey, Megumin," He whispered, instantly getting her full attention. Quickly, he ran through a list of different 'sexy' lines that he could use in his mind, all of which felt far too cringe-worthy for him to ever actually say, before eventually settling on the very unromantic, "You, um, you know, you said that if we weren't in your parents' bed…".

There was a period of silence; that wasn't surprising. He could only assume that her response would be something indignant, calling him out on the fact that he'd totally planned for this situation to happen or saying that she'd really only been joining with what she'd said the night before. While disappointing, they wouldn't exactly be unexpected answers.

"Are… are you really that pent up?".

That, on the other hand, was definitely an unexpected answer.

"I know that we can't have, like, sex… yet, especially since I don't have any condoms, b-but you said it yourself yesterday, didn't you? That you had needs too, y-yeah? There's still… o-other things that we can do, a-and don't you dare start acting all innocent and clueless now, I know that you know what I mean," Kazuma rambled, his nervous energy coming out in the form of word vomit, and not even really answering her question in the first place.

Megumin gulped. While she wasn't, and never would be, a total pervert on the level of Kazuma himself, she wasn't gonna lie and pretend that she didn't have any interest in doing… that kind of stuff, especially if it was with Kazuma. No, scratch that, only if it was with Kazuma. Even before they'd started dating the thought had sometimes, briefly, flashed inside her mind.

She'd already have more than enough time to think about it. She was nervous, definitely, but she wasn't scared. Although she wouldn't ever let anyone else know it, in that moment, Megumin was just as excited for something to happen as Kazuma was.

Her mind already made up, she brought her head up towards and past Kazuma's face, her mouth mere inches away from his ear. She didn't want anyone else to hear her, even if they were the only ones there, it was far too embarrassing. Before Kazuma could question her actions, or before she could lose her nerve, she spoke up in a voice so quiet that even at their close proximity, the brunette couldn't still only barely hear her.

"...I d-don't mind helping you out as long as you d-do the same."

Just as she thought, Megumin instantly found herself dying of embarrassment, quickly pulling away from his ear the moment the words left her mouth.

Well, that was all that Kazuma needed. After hearing something like that, from her of all people, there was no way he could hold back any longer. "A-alright, that's it. I'm helping you out, right now," He sped through his words, as if the mere act of speaking itself was prolonging the time between the present moment and what was to come next.

Despite his hurriedness, he found himself pausing, unsure, as he reached out to grab onto the zipper of Megumin's tracksuit jacket, tugging it down a few inches before he froze, looking up at her. "This… is okay, r-right? I'm really gonna…" Kazuma mumbled as his eyes landed on her beet red cheeks and heavy breaths.

"Nmn," Megumin slowly nodded, forgoing an actual verbal response.

Feeling his nerves slowly creep up onto him, Kazuma tried to mentally shake them off as he clumsily unzipped her tracksuit jacket, taking a few attempts to fully unzip the bottommost part, and allowed Megumin to do the work of shrugging it off of her shoulders, revealing the white t-shirt that she always wore underneath.

Tossing off the cover from them both, Kazuma moved over a little, moving up onto his knees and indicating for Megumin to do the same, which she obliged without question.

At that moment, Kazuma couldn't help but wish that his new room had a lamp of some sort. Sure, he could just go over to the other side of the room and turn the light switch on, but he didn't think that he physically could move himself away from Megumin, he wanted this too bad. The visibility wasn't too bad, but he couldn't deny that the extra light would've probably made him feel a little more sure of himself.

Face to face with her, both on them sitting on their knees in a tense silence, he felt a single bead of sweat roll down his forehead. Kazuma gulped, a worrying, almost pathetic, thought making its way to the forefront of his mind.

What… what the hell was he even supposed to do?

Did he make her go first? No, he should get her off first, right? The same time, maybe? Should he go for some form of foreplay? Did he even need to do anything like that if they weren't even having sex? Did it matter? Why had no one properly explained these things to him? In all the adult videos he'd watched up until now, they always just got straight into it, but he didn't even know where to start.

Seeing the complex expression on Kazuma's face, one that she knew all too well by that point, Megumin finally spoke up, her voice small and uneven, "I can, uhm, I c-can u-use my hands to… help you out, i-if you want…".

"Eh? You, uh… s-seriously?".

"Y-yes, seriously!" The glint of nervousness that Kazuma saw in her eyes was suddenly joined by a new emotion - determination, if he had to take a guess, mixed with a small amount of impatience - "I w-wouldn't say something like that if I-I didn't mean it!".

Those words were the last push he needed. He wouldn't back down now, no matter what. Feeling a new wave of determination wash over him, Kazuma reached down and grasped onto the hem of his pants, before hooking his forefingers around the waistband of his underwear. One firm tug was all he needed to do to ascend onto the first steps of manhood. Swallowing the residual saliva inside his mouth, Kazuma flicked his attention back over to the fidgeting girl and-

"Big siiis," Komekko's voice drowsily rang out from the other side of the room as she stood in the doorway with a blank expression, barely even awake, "I need to go pee."

Kazuma froze, having been about a second away from pulling his pants down. Instead of reacting, or even moving his hands away, he just stayed in place, staring blankly at Komekko. Thankfully, after being in a very similar state to him for a few moments, Megumin eventually snapped out of her daze and ushered her little sister out of the room and towards the bathroom, her face tinted with a deep shade of red.

Once he finally felt himself come back to his senses, Kazuma flopped back onto his mattress with an exaggerated groan, dragging an open palm down his face in frustration as he felt his body become completely drained of energy.

"Fuuuuuu… I just got cock-blocked by a four year old girl!".

"I can still hear you, Kazuma!" Megumin's voice rang out from across the house.

It was safe to say that, to Kazuma's immense disappointment, nothing ended up happening that night.