321 Vol. 6 pt. 7 (1/2)

And so, Serra and Ryouta came up with a plan.

They both recognized that they had too many plans piling up and that having a large list of things to do actually took the fun out of it. Therefore, they decided against planning for an amusement park visit.

It was just one more thing on a growing list of things to think about.

So, instead…

”Alright! You're set for the day and the park closes at ten. Have fun!” a teen behind the counter says.

Cassandra and Serra walk through the turnstile as Ryouta pushes Alice through a special access entrance.

Before them stands the nearest and, conveniently, the highest-rated amusement park in the state.

Why make plans to go in the future when they can just go the very next day?

Serra looks up at the highest roller coaster and gulps. Meanwhile, Cassandra desperately tries not to look at the cotton candy stall that is way too close to the entrance. She knew that she was going to be tempted today but not right from the very start!

”Why'd we have to come here right after I decided to diet?” Cassandra asks.

”Because we love you,” Ryouta answers.

”You're not going to love me if I gain a hundred pounds from eating all the crap here.”

”I'll still love you.”

”Yeah? What if I gain a hundred and one pounds?”

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”That might be a bit too much even for me.”

Cassandra flicks Ryouta's shoulder before sighing and returning to assaulting the cotton candy stall with her eyes.

”Seriously, this is unfair,” she says.

”Would you have rather us left you by yourself at the house?”

”No, but we could have gone somewhere where I wasn't going to be tempted by food the whole time! I haven't been to an amusement park like this since I was a little kid, and I always wanted to go back because of the food… and now here I am, finally back in an amusement park full of delicious and stupidly unhealthy food right after I started dieting and working out!”

”It is most alright, Cassandra!” Alice says. ”You only started last night. With a diet that has only been underway for less than a full day, I would think it is alright to take a day off and start over tomorrow! It is not as if you are losing much progress.”

”You're a bunch of enablers.”

Serra holds up her phone to Cassandra.

What Cassandra reads makes her blush and cross her arms over her chest.

”Yeah, like I can tell all the calories to just go to my chest instead. Even if they did, can you imagine the back pain I would be in? They already give me stiff shoulders,” Cassandra explains.

”Hmm. Was that not proven a myth with one of the explanations most likely being that women experiencing back pain were simply wearing poorly-fitting bras?” Alice asks. ”I swear that I can recall reading such an article.”

Ryouta, having zero idea about women and their chests aside from the stereotype that big boobs cause big back pain, stays out of it and lets them have their feminine discussion.

The last thing that he wants to do is butt in and say something stupid that furthers the stereotype of men being bad with women's anatomy.

If it's his girlfriends potentially having a bad idea of their own anatomy, however, then that's alright.

Also, there is the fact that Cassandra has subconsciously taken the lead of the group.

”Excuse me? Did you want one?” the girl behind the stall asks.

Cassandra not only took lead of the group but led them straight to the cotton candy stand without even looking toward it. Not only that, but she got in line, continued talking about her chest, back pain, and bras, all while maintaining a good distance in the line and holding her hand out to Alice for her card since all of their cards are being kept in Alice's purse.

It is only when the confused spinner of the most cotton of candies asks Cassandra if she wants one that she realizes that her body is acting on its own.

”I – I…”

”Yeah, we'll share it,” Ryouta answers, handing his own card to the worker.

Even if he's paying with his card, it is still Alice and her family who are going to be paying off the balances of all their cards.

Him and Cassandra at least get to act like they're taking turns paying for things this way.

Serra just doesn't care.

”We'll all get fat together,” Ryouta says, taking the oversized fluff of cotton candy and holding it between him and his girlfriends.

Each of them takes a piece to bite on.

As wonderfully sweet as it tastes to Cassandra, she still makes sure to bite the cotton candy with anger as if to warn it that it better not make her gain even a half of a half of a half of a pound.

Ryouta, Serra, and Alice have never seen somebody eat something while looking both blissful and angry at once.

Alice makes sure to sneak a picture of Cassandra for Azalabulia.

Even though they know Azalabulia's real name now, Eros, they still all refer to her and keep her in their phones as Azalabulia on her request.

”Our dearest Azala has said that she is jealous and wishes that we have a fun time!” Alice says.

”Azala? Since when do you call her that?” Ryouta asks.

”Since now! I like to call you by your proper names, but Azalabulia is simply much too long of a name. As cute as Aza and Azawaza are, they are what you all call her. I like how Azala sounds, so I shall call her such from now on! Ah, I got another message from her. She says that she is hungover, so as much as she loves us, she is turning her phone off so that we do not accidentally wake her up.”

”I wonder how hung over she is.”

”I would assume very! Neither of us were able to sleep last night, so we were messaging over Fiscord for a while. She was drinking while we chatted. It was rather adorable seeing her messages go from being flawlessly spelled to unintelliglbe gibberish. I think she said that she finished the second bottle, so she was going to open a third, and then the gibberish began.”

”A third bottle? She's… she's not an alcoholic, is she?”

”Please, my hero! You cannot be an alcoholic if all you drink is wine.”

”I'm pretty sure you can be an alcoholic who only drinks wine.”

”Nonsense. I was taught that wine is a wonderful liquid as prestigious as water! Alcholics drink beer and harder liquors, no?”

”Alice… alcoholics can drink any alcoholic beverage. They're not alcohol-wine-excluded-ics.”

”Are you telling me that my father, mother, uncles and aunts, cousins, servants, and horse are all alcoholics?”

”Wait, did you say horse at the end there?”

”I did! Have you never heard of the royal family's horses being allowed wine?”

”How much… how much wine do they drink?”

”They can drink quite a fair amount before falling asleep! Of course, we make sure that they are in a safe and padded area before allowing them to drink so much that they pass out.”

”I…”

”Same,” Cassandra says, placing a hand on Ryouta's shoulder.

Ryouta looks down at the stick the cotton candy was on.

It's all gone.

He looks at Cassandra.

She has some cotton candfy fluff at the corner of her lips.

”Woahler coasthurr,” Serra says, tugging on Ryouta's free hand while pointing at a small coaster in the distance.

One of the teens passing by turns his head to look at Serra and her way of speech with a mocking smile.

He then looks terrified by the look that not only Ryouta and Cassandra glare at him, but by the one that Alice shoots his way, too.

Cassandra grabs Alice's wheelchair and Ryouta wraps his arm around Serra, bringing her close against him so that anybody who dares to think anything ill of Serra knows that he's there to protect her.

Of course, he doesn't exactly look that intimidating since he's only of average height with a pretty lean build and bad legs… but that doesn't mean he isn't going to be as protective of his girlfriends as he can be.

Serra, having no idea why she's suddenly being protected like this, smiles and wraps her arm halfway around Ryouta's waist from behind.

She only wraps it halfway around so that she can squeeze his rear.

Ryouta flicks the side of her head and tells her, ”You're going to get us kicked out. We can't do that sort of thing here. Seriously. There are kids around.”

Serra pouts and sticks her tongue out before giving him one more squeeze. Then she wraps her arm around him normally.

”Alright. Let's go on that roller coaster first. They apparently set this place up so that the rides get more and more hardcore the farther in you go, so all the easy stuff is upfront,” Ryouta says.

”I'm just happy we got fast passes,” Cassandra says. ”I would not want to wait in those lines. Seriously, it's like, barely ten thirty and this place is already packed. Don't these people have jobs or school or something?”

It is in this moment that Cassandra realizes just how privileged they are now. After all, they have Alice to pay for everything. They no longer need to worry about jobs, education – nothing. They simply need to enjoy their lives.

The amount of guilt that she feels about that lasts for only a few seconds.

No amount of guilt is going to stop her nor anybody else from feeling happy about getting to skip lines with an expensive pay-to-win pass.

And so, they reach the front of the line and are ready to get on the first ride of the day: the tamest roller coaster in the park.

Fortunately, the staff have been appropriately trained and help Cassandra in getting Alice into the front car of the train where there is more leg room and maneuverability than in the other cars. Cassandra sits next to her while Ryouta and Serra go to the back of the train and get in the very last car.

This way, if Serra has to cling onto the bar for dear life mid-ride, nobody but Ryouta will see her doing so.

”Ready?” Ryouta asks Serra after poking her.

Serra grips the bar that lowers itself over their laps and keeps her head forward.

Fortunately, there's enough room for Ryouta to put his arm around her even now. He protected her up until this ride and will continue protecting her.

Not that there's much protecting he'll be able to do if anything actually goes wrong.

He doesn't let her know that, though.

Meanwhile, at the front of the train, they can see Alice taking advantage of the fact that Cassandra is stuck with her. Everybody sitting behind them gets to see Alice clinging to Cassandra and playfully resting her head on her shoulder.

Alice even looks behind them, looking through all the other rows of people, to give a cute wave to Ryouta and Serra.

Even though none of the riders necessarily know that Alice is with Ryouta… he still feels embarrassed just thinking about all the rows of people who are confused about who Alice is looking and waving at.

Alice notices the red of his cheeks from the front and smiles before returning her embarrassing doting to Cassandra.

And so, the train ascends the first hill.

The rackety belt pulling the train up along the track causes the whole train to vibrate and shake, causing Serra to grip onto the bar in front of her even harder.

Even though Ryouta and Serra watched a video of this ride the night before, seeing just how slow and easy it is… Serra still can't help but to worry.

Partly because of there being the fact that the train could always slide off the track and crash and everybody dies and all that, and partly because – well, because she does know that she sounds different and that the noises she makes can get her negative attention.

Even if she doesn't notice it most of the time…

Ryouta keeps his arm firmly around her.

He also decides to both get revenge and calm his girlfriend at once.

With nobody behind them, no cameras, and being too high for anybody walking below to see, Ryouta slips his hand onto her chest and gets in a bit of groping.

Serra looks up at him and he mouths to her, making sure not to make any actual sound so those sitting right in front of them can't hear, ”We can't get kicked out if nobody sees us.”

She smiles, closes her eyes, and leans her head up.

Finally, one of her hands has left the bar so that she can point at her lips.

Seeing her like this reminds him of the one time he came out of the shower and saw her on her knees making this exact same face and pointing at the same place, but this time, all she expects are his lips.

He really wants her to surprise him like that again.

For now, he leans down to press his lips – to press the side of his head against the headrest as the train rolls down the first hill!

Serra's hands go back to having a death grip as Ryouta can't help but laugh at the sensation of going up and down the hills.

Even if it is a tame ride, it's still a fun one. Who can resist giggling and smiling while on a roller coaster?

And when Serra finally finds the courage to actually look ahead of her and enjoy the ride, she… ends up disappointed because it's already over.

So, naturally, she looks over to the next and bigger roller coaster and points at that.

”Please keep your arms and legs inside the the ride at all times,” the announcer says over the speaker after seeing Serra's arm reaching out.

Ryouta has to grab Serra's arm himself to pull it in while waving in apology to the ride attendant.