FicWad

Chapter Seven: Good Pals:

October 3rd, 2009

Hotaru sat in the park, waiting. This didn't feel right, but yet she needed this. Emiko and Hotaru still weren't as close at the moment. The house had become uncomfortable. Even Mike and Kazue could see it.

I needed to get out of there, Hotaru thought. So, here she was. She looked up at the town clock. /Ten o'clock/, the loli demon thought. Hotaru looked down the path. She let out a deep sigh.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," a voice said. The loli demon looked up and saw a twisty cheese breadstick. Her eyes began to trail upwards. Saito gave her a nervous smile.

"Hey," he said. Hotaru smiled back as she took the bread. He sat down next to her. The loli demon took a bite.

"Mmm," she said. "Warm and soft." Her friend smiled.

"You looked down," he said. The woman paused and looked up.

"Hm?" she asked. It donned on her.

"Oh," she said, quietly. "That…"

"Want to talk about it?" Saito asked. Hotaru lowered her eyes.

"Well…" she mumbled.

He looked on at her. "Is it your girlfriend?"

"Sort of…"

"Have another fight?"

Hotaru shook her head. "Not really."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" The loli demon paused. Should I go on? Hotaru turned to him.

"Why are you so interested in me?" she asked. "I don't even know you that well." Her friend gave her a child-like look.

"Well," he said. "I'm thirty and I live with my mother." Hotaru gave him an odd look.

"Your mother?" she asked. Saito nodded.

"Yes," he said. "A man's best friend is his mother."

"Uh-huh," Hotaru said, nodding. Creepy? Maybe…

"You really do love your mother, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes!" Saito admitted. "In fact…" He stood up and looked around. "I plan to move us out of our apartment and into a house!" he bragged.

"Really now?" Hotaru asked.

"Yep!" he said. Saito found what he needed on the ground. "Ah." He turned to Hotaru. "This will be a big house!" Saito went on. He began to draw out his dream home. Hotaru watched as a big box appeared first.

"Our living room," he said as he drew out the room. "Will be big and purple. Mother loves purple."

"Like a queen?" Hotaru suggested.

"Yeah," Saito said with a nod. "Plus, her rocking chair will go by the window. She loves looking at the view. The window would have to be big, you know?"

As he went on about his living room, the loli demon's mind began to wander off back to him. She couldn't remember his name anymore, just his scent. He smelt of day-old sake, bottled flower petals, and cigarettes. The latter of the three were the cheap kind, but he had an odd charm to him. Hotaru searched her brain for what that was. His looks? Nah, he wasn't that attractive. Otherwise, she would've remembered. Money? Maybe, he did make a decent-living. However, that wasn't the real reason for her initial attraction. Security? Hotaru began to smile.

"You're smiling!" a voice from reality gasped. Hotaru quickly looked up.

"Hm?" she asked. Saito stared at her face with hopeful eyes.

"You were smiling!" he said again. Hotaru blinked before she giggled.

"Oh, that!" she said. "I guess I was."

"Something good happen lately?" her friend asked. The loli demon smiled as she shook her head.

"Not much," she said. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Saito eyed her.

"Sure," he said. The loli demon sat up.

"What attracts people to each other?" she asked. Saito gave her a lost look as he thought about the right answer to give her. The boyish-man finally shrugged at her.

"Who can say?" he asked. "That sort of thing just happens."

"Even with the wrong people?" Hotaru asked. Saito nodded.

"Yes Hotaru-san," he said, gravely. "Even with the wrong person."