The Rising Of The Anomaly - Chapter 181

“That was really fun,” I remarked with a contented sigh, as we left the arcade about an hour later.

We’d played a bunch of two player games, first-person shooters, racing games, fighting games like Tekken, Street Fighter and the like, and so on. And I had an absolute blast, that was so much fun!

“Yeah, it was. Your face was all lit up in there, not as much as when you’re eating sweets though,” Responded Katie, as she held my hand and intertwined her fingers with mine,” The only negative was that I couldn’t hold your hand while we were gaming.”

She’s been really, really bold, and I definitely don’t dislike it…

“W-wow, uh, you’re really not afraid to speak your mind, are you?” I replied wryly, kinda caught off-guard.

“Of course I am…it might not look like it, but I’m putting a lot of effort into this, you know I’m not the best at expressing myself. I can’t really control my expressions, but I can control what I say and do…and I decided that I won’t hesitate to say or do anything that might make your heart skip a beat,” She surmised as she met my gaze.

Huh, wasn’t expecting her to be that honest about it…

“Sure you should be telling me that?” I inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe not, but I have to admit, I really want you to know how serious I am about you,” She declared confidently, before her face turned red and she averted her gaze, “I-I can’t believe I really said that, how embarrassing…”

She said that her objective was to make my heart skip a beat…I can say for sure that she’s accomplished that multiple times already in the last hour.

“So, where are we headed to next?” I asked her.

“Hm…are you hungry yet?” She responded, after mulling it over.

“Yeah, I guess I could eat,” I replied with a shrug.

“Okay, then I know just the place to go next. Come on,” She said as she led me to a different area.

Before too long, we came into sight of a block of restaurants, making our way towards one of them. It looked like an fusion cuisine type place, I haven’t really tried food from places like this before, wonder what it’s like.

We went inside, and a waiter led us to a section of private booths, with U-shaped couch-like seats around round tables. Each of the booths had wooden sliding doors in front, the waiter opening a vacant one and gesturing to us to go in, before handing us a couple of menus and leaving, after pointing out a bell on the wall above the seat, informing us to ring it when we’re ready to order.

As we sat down, Katie scooted over and sat right next to me, her hip bumping against my waist…

“You’re, uh, awfully close,” I remarked, as I flipped through the menu.

“And? Is that a problem?” She inquired innocently.

Cute…

“Nope…not at all. Huh, these options are pretty interesting…seafood lasagna, sushi submarine, steak shawarma, fried chicken samosas, curry-filled calzon-…,” I read some of menu items, before Katie reached over and flipped a couple of pages…to the dessert section.

“You can order whatever you want, it’s my treat. No need to hold back-,” She began.

“Huh? No, I can’t make you do that. I don’t mind paying-,” I started to respond.

“I asked you out, so I’m paying. Don’t argue, because I insist,” She interrupted firmly.

I don’t think she’s gonna budge on this. I kinda feel bad to have her pay for all of it, but if that’s what she wants…

“Hey, uh…mind if I only get desserts, these sound amazing…,” I gulped, as I read through the options.

Fudge-stuffed churros, fruit salad with caramel syrup atop cheesecake, gelato-filled brownies, and the list goes on…I could feel myself salivating like crazy just reading through it, and I suddenly felt a lot hungrier…

“Sure, get whatever you want. Like I said, there’s no need to hold back,” She replied, as she flipped through her menu.

“Alright, I’ll take you up on that,” I responded with a grin.

After we decided on what we wanted, we dinged the bell, and shortly after, the waiter returned, tapping on the sliding door. We gave him our orders, before he jotted them down on a tablet and left, informing us that it’d take ten to twenty minutes to prepare.

My mouth was already watering heavily though, I wanted to sink my teeth into some sweet, sugary goodness, reading the names and descriptions of their dessert options really whetted my appetite, and quite immensely at that.

“There’s that glowing expression again, it never fails to show whenever you’re eating or about to eat sweets,” Observed Katie, before adding, “One of these days, I’ll have you make that expression at me.”

“Wha-…you keep blindsiding me with comments like that, take it easy on me,” I responded wryly, before asking her, “Hey, something occurred to me…maybe it’s your AI thing that’s influencing you to be more expressive. Do you think that’s the case?”

As I said that, she averted her gaze with a sheepish look on her face…

“I, uh-…you got me. I was just playing dumb when you said that I was being more expressive…you know that our AIs can help guide our nervous system just like they can guide our XFE flows, right?”

Wait, what? Inverse never told me he could do that…huh, actually, he hasn’t really told me all that much in the first place. I’ll have a talk with him once I’m back home.

Oh, and a couple of weeks after I first encountered him, I decided to tell Katie about it. She seemed confused and bewildered by it, but the following night, she called me and said that she’d made contact with a negative version of herself too. And it sounds like hers is more helpful than Inverse is…

“So, wait, you mean all that was an act-?”

“No, that’s not it! I just asked Eitak-…oh, that’s what I named my AI…-to help reflect my emotions in my facial expressions. Maybe they weren’t exactly natural, but my expressions have been indicative of how I’ve been feeling. Though I have to admit that my face feels a bit sore now,” She responded with a rueful smile, “Hope you’re not mad about that, are you?”

“Huh? Why would I be? If anything, I’m, uh…really flattered that you’d take the trouble to do all that,” I replied as I felt my face heat up slightly, feeling kinda touched.

“Oh…you are? I’m glad…,” She let out a quiet sigh of relief, as her eyes gleamed.

We sat in a comfortable silence, as she leaned her head onto my shoulder, before the tips of her ears turned red as I put my arm around her. I feel so…content. This is…this is really nice.

I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy…huh, and I’m getting a weird urge to say something cheesy. Is that normal? I’ll, uh, resist that urge, I’m not confident that I can pull it off. I think I’ll just enjoy this moment while I can.

In fact, I was enjoying it so much that, when the waiter brought our food to the table, I was almost disappointed. But that was short-lived, because the desserts layed out in front of me looked absolutely heavenly. Katie’s order was a lot more, uh…normal than mine. But then, that’s not really saying much, is it?

“You should probably go get your blood tested, and maybe take a trip to the dentist too. I have a feeling that your blood sugar levels are going to be off the charts,” Teased Katie, as I took a bite of a fudge-stuffed churro, letting out a satisfied sigh as the rich sugary goodness blessed my tastebuds.

“Hey, now, you know I only eat sweets once every couple of weeks and on special occasions,” I defended myself.

“Yeah, you say that, but you drink chocolate milk every morning, and most days, your breakfast includes chocolate-spread sandwiches…at least it’s good that you eat a lot of fruits too, but tell me this, could you go a full week without eating anything that’s even remotely sweet?” She challenged me with a raised eyebrow.

“…that sounds awful, I don’t think I could do that,” I admitted sheepishly.

“My point exactly.”

…

After we finished eating, Katie paid the bill, which I was still kinda uncomfortable about, but she refused to budge, so I didn’t argue. And besides, I was feeling way too satisfied and content to argue, so yeah.

“That was great, this place has some incredible desserts,” I sighed as we walked out the entrance.

“Glad you liked it. There’s a bowling alley nearby, want to go there next?”

“Yeah, sure, sounds good to me. Lead the way,” I replied affirmatively.

We then began making our way towards the bowling alley, she looked really happy…and for that matter, so did I. Ever since the X-Warrior Championship, I’ve really enjoyed her company whenever she’s around, be it during teamwork exercises, or when helping Director Silva learn more about our new forms.

And while I’ve found her attractive at times, I never really thought of her as anything more than a friend…but after the last couple of hours, I think that might be changing.

“There it is, just up ahead,” She pointed out, as the building came into view.

I haven’t been at a bowling alley since I was a kid, I went once with my sis-…oh, I almost forgot about that time in the South Quadrant, the Wight who was hiding out in that rundown old bowling alley, Aku. This should definitely be a much better experience than back th-…

“Well, if it isn’t Katie! Been a while, hasn’t it?” Suddenly came a sneering voice, Katie stiffening in response, as two people approached us.

A guy and a girl, both looked about the same age as us, and they had some rather unpleasant looks on their faces.

“Hey, you okay? Who are they?” I asked her, as I felt her grip on my hand tighten slightly.

“They’re…my former best friend and ex…,” She responded as she turned pale, her eyes trembling as they walked over…

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