Chapter 183 - 182 - Date(Part 4)

"Come on, I just want to kill them a little bit, they totally deserve it," I tried to convince her. 

"I appreciate the sentiment, but it's not worth the effort...and besides, if you go after them, I'll have less time alone with you," Protested Katie, as she pulled me back. 

"I mean, when you put it that way...alright, fine, I'll just fuck them up another day, then," I relented with a sigh. 

"Uh...I'd rather you didn't do anything, but I'll take that for now. Hey, how about we go to an amusement park next?" She suggested, as she linked her arm with mine. 

"Aren't we too old for an amusement park? I mean, they're just for kids, right?" I replied as I averted my gaze.

No, that's just an excuse...the fact is, I just don't want to go to an amusement park...

"Huh? Where'd you get that idea? It's a pretty common date spot, you know," She pointed out. 

"I don't know...I've only been to an amusement park once, that I remember anyway, and well...it's kind of a bad memory now," I recalled with a grimace. 

"Well, in that case, how about I help you overwrite your apprehension towards amusement parks?" She proposed in response. 

Uh...should I? Or shouldn't I...?

"Hm...yeah, sure, why not? Let's go for it," I replied after mulling it over, somewhat reluctantly. 

At this point, most of the trauma and bad memories from my younger days had all but faded, thanks to several factors; getting to beat the shit out of those that caused my trauma, forming several human relationships, and no longer feeling that sense of powerlessness that I used to. But still, that doesn't mean that all of my trauma is simply gone, just like that. 

Anyway, Katie and I then headed for a Teleportation Point in order to teleport to a spot that was closer to the amusement park that she wanted to take me to, before making our way there. 

"We're almost there, it's just up around the next corner," She informed me. 

"Hey, that reminds me, we never went into the bowling alley, those two creeps interrupted us before we could," I suddenly realized. 

"Oh, it's fine...we can go there next time," She replied with a smile. 

Next time, huh? Also, man, I could really get used to this, seeing her openly display her emotions like this...though I'm not gonna lie, her usual blank face has a real charm to it too. Maybe it's just that I've just gotten used to it, but her blank responses are sometimes kinda cute. 

"Good, it doesn't look too crowded," I let out a sigh of relief, as the amusement park came into view. 

"You really aren't very comfortable with big crowds, huh?"

"That's for sure...I just get stressed and tired whenever I'm in the middle of a crowd. And I don't think that'll ever change," I replied with a wry smile. 

"At first, I planned to spend the whole date here, but then I thought you'd have more fun if we did a bunch of different things first," She admitted sheepishly. 

"Hey, I really appreciate you putting so much thought and effort into this, I almost feel kinda bad about it, like I don't really deserve it or something," I remarked ruefully. 

"I wouldn't have put effort into it if I didn't want to, you know," She pouted in response. 

Still, I couldn't help but feel bad...the simple fact was that I've never genuinely considered or thought about getting into a serious romantic relationship with anyone. So, yeah, her putting so much effort into this kinda made me feel a bit guilty. 

Even me accepting her asking me out on this date was mostly because I had no reason to refuse, and since I do consider her a good friend, I didn't want to hurt her feelings. But now I...I feel like that kind of half-assed reasoning is insulting to her.

Yeah, except for during that run-in with her old classmates, I've really enjoyed myself today, but I'm probably not as serious about it as she is. Still, after she's put this much thought into making sure that I enjoy myself today, the least I can do is ensure that her effort doesn't go to waste. 

So, for now, I'll stop thinking about this and just focus on having fun with her. But afterwards, I'll need to seriously think about what I'm going to do about this. The idea of that is kinda stressful, but if nothing else, I don't want to hurt her or anyone else with my indecisiveness. 

"Hey, you okay? You look a bit grim," She tugged on my sleeve with a look of concern. 

"Huh? Oh, uh, don't worry, I'm fine. Just got lost in thought for a bit, that's all," I responded reassuringly, as we entered the amusement park after paying for a bunch of tickets to use for the rides. 

"Where do you want to start?" She asked me, as I looked around. 

"How about a roller-coaster?" I suggested, as I spotted the ride...it had some really steep drops, that looks awesome... 

"Sure, I like the sound of that!" She responsed, an eager look on her face. 

I guess she likes thrill-rides too, huh. We headed for the roller-coaster and got in line, which fortunately, wasn't very long. We got the front in about ten minutes, which is apparently a pretty short waiting time as far as amusement parks are concerned...I looked up the average waiting time while we were standing in line. 

We then managed to nab the front two spots on the coaster and strapped in, as I felt a sense of anticipation, and Katie looked pretty excited too. And while the thrills didn't disappoint, it was over way too quickly...the steep drops meant that there was a lot more overall momentum than normal roller-coasters, which subsequently meant that the ride was over much faster. 

"I kinda want to go again, but the line's gotten longer," I sighed wistfully, as we walked down the wooden stairs of the platform, after the roller-coaster came to a stop and we disembarked. 

"Let's come to back to it if the line gets shorter later on. Look, here's a map with all the rides they've got here, what should we go for next?" She asked me, as we came across a large board that had the map of the park displayed on it. 

I skimmed across the map, looking for something to catch my eye...when I spotted one that piqued my interest...

"Hey, what's this? Cursed merry-go-round...sounds kinda intriguing. Though, it'll be a letdown if it's just a merry-go-round with spooky-looking horses or something equally half-assed..."

"Let's go check it out and see...I mean, we have plenty of time, it's not even 3:30 PM yet," She pointed out, before pulling my arm and leading my towards it. 

I was a bit skeptical about this ride, but hey, might as well give it a shot, right? As it came into view, my eyes widened slightly in surprise...usually, merry-go-rounds are open rides, as in you can see what's going on at all times. But this one had a cylindrical metal wall around it, so I couldn't see the ride, though I could hear some screams echoing out from inside. 

"Huh...maybe I spoke too soon...," I remarked as I felt a sense of intrigue. 

"It's kinda creepy...and the line is really short too, there's only four people," Noticed Katie, as we got in line and waited for our turn. 

After a couple of minutes, the noises from inside stopped, and a moment later, some people came out. Based on their expressions, I think this might exceed my expectations... 

"That was so scary, I think I almost peed myself!" 

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that scary!" 

"You sure about that? You look really pale and sweaty!"

"What the hell kind of merry-go-round was that? There was absolutely nothing merry about it!" 

Okay, now I'm definitely starting to get excited about this...supernatural stuff like ghosts or whatever really don't scare me, especially now...I mean, I can literally freeze time and cut & paste out space. 

Anyway, looks like we'll be able to get in this round, it says that eight people can enter at a time. That means we won't have to stand around waiting for several minutes, I can definitely appreciate that. 

"Couples can get in for one ticket, if they share the same horse," The attendant informed us as we got to the front of the line. 

Hm, what should we do? We'd save a ticket if we go for that, but the tickets are pretty cheap and we can always just buy more, so-... 

"Okay, we'll do just that!" Responded Katie before I could weigh our options, handing over a ticket and pulling me in. 

As we entered, I looked around...the ride was inside a wide, cylindrical structure, and it did look kinda creepy, with blood-like splatters on the walls and stuff. There also seemed to be trapdoors scattered about...I guess stuff will spring out of them to try and jump scare us. 

There also seemed to be...cameras? I could see lens-like circles around...oh, wait, they're probably projectors or something, guess we're going to see some creepy illusions. 

"Hey, stop trying to figure out how it's going to work, why would you make this less fun for yourself?" Katie interrupted me, as she noticed me looking around. 

"Oh, right, good point...okay, then, let's pick a horse to sit on," I suggested, as I shifted my gaze to the merry-go-round itself.

Huh, now those are some creepy-looking horses...they looked more like big demonic dogs or something. 

"Do you want me to sit behind you or in front?" She asked me as we picked one. 

"Uh...I don't know, you decide."

"Okay, then...I'll sit behind you," She decided, after mulling it over for a bit too long.

"Sure, fine by me."

As I hopped on and she climbed up behind me, before wrapping her arms around my waist tightly...I can feel her chest pressing into my back, and her slight, warm breath brushing against the back of my neck, sending shivers down my spine. 

"What's wrong, you suddenly stiffened up," She whispered into my ear, as the lights suddenly shut off, leaving us in pitch darkness. 

"No, uh, i-it's nothing...," I responded, caught a bit off-guard. 

Did she do that on purpose? If so, then, damn... 

The ride then began moving, as I held onto the reigns of the 'horse' I was on. Alright, then, let's see how good this ride really is... 

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