Chapter 25 - Festival

" So Annie, have you decided which branch you will join?" (Asriel)

" Hm....at first I wanted to join the Military Police.....but I want to be with you so I guess I'll join the Scout Regiment, and besides, I don't want Mikasa to hog you all to herself." (Annie) hearing this Asriel gave her a warm smile.

" Well, I'm glad you chose to come with me." replied Asriel huskily into her ears as he held her hand. Annie blushed a bit and turned her head to the opposite side, she felt her heartbeat increase and her face getting hotter as she felt sweet and warmth inside her heart. Like a moth to a flame, she couldn't help but wanted more, although, she was too shy to ask for more and just bottled her feelings up inside her.......unbeknownst to her, that bottle was slowly filling up and now it was almost overflowing.

They were on a date around town today since they heard there was a festival going on. Mikasa wanted to come too but she couldn't because she lost a bet with Annie. They had a rock, paper, scissors match, and Mikasa lost all three times they played. Annie wanted to have some quality time together with Asriel so she made a bet with Mikasa that if she won Mikasa cannot come with them. After losing, Mikasa was downtrodden but Asriel petted her head and promised to go with her tomorrow as the festival was held for three days. It was a festival held every few years to celebrate a good harvest. Stalls of various kinds ranging from food to just plain old junk were lined up on both sides of the streets as they yelled at the people passing by to try out their products. It was crowded with a lot of people, from old to young with smiles on their faces, enjoying the festival.

The middle of the town, the town square, was set up with a stage, street performers and musicians, and stalls with games. Asriel and Annie walked through the streets of stalls, looking around, buying some food on their way and headed towards the center. Behind them, there was a shady looking person following them while keeping a low profile. The person was wearing a huge jacket reaching all the way down to the ground, they were also wearing black gloves and was hiding their face with a black cloth wrapped around their entire head except their eyes. Asriel noticed this person but he just smiled and ignored them.

When they reached the center, Asriel took Annie to the game stalls to try out their games. Asriel guided Annie towards a stall where the customers used a slingshot loaded with round pebbles to knock down the targets on the shelves and if they managed to take down enough targets within 35 sec they would receive a big plushy toy of a pink fluffy rabbit. The targets would move and get faster after each successful hit, each target would grant 1 point and getting 45 points would get them the plushy. Two-person could play the game at the same time but Asriel could easily take down those targets on his own so he decided to let Annie try first since he wanted to see how good her aim was.

Annie was excited to try it and show off her skills to Asriel and receive his praise but when she was readying up, the shady person from before came up to her and pointed the fluffy rabbit and said " Mine" and picked up the other slingshot. Annie was a bit pissed off, no, extremely pissed off. She was excited to show off her skillz to Asriel and out of nowhere this hobo came up to her and said that the main prize is theirs. She was about to subdue them to the ground but Asriel came up behind her and hugged her. Her anger was instantly extinguished and she became meek and docile in his arms like a cute little kitten. Seeing this, the shady person was a bit shaking but didn't do anything. Some people lining up for the game saw the person shaking but didn't know why, so they just thought the person was afraid of the girl or the guy holding her.

" Now, now Annie, calm down a little bit. Why don't you compete with that person? It would be a lot more fun competing with another person rather than just shooting the targets and I can feel that this person would be on the same level as you. Who knows, you might lose to them." said Asriel with a mischevious smile. Annie was quite surprised by Asriel's evaluation of the hobo and she instantly ignited with competitiveness, she reevaluated the hobo before her and took them seriously now.

" The person who gets the most points will win and get the plushy while the loser will have to follow a command of the winner. Is the condition fine with you two? If so I'll be the judge and you guys will start when I say go." (Asriel)

" Nn" "*nod*" (Annie and shady person)

" Alright, get ready..." when he said that Annie and the other person quickly loaded the pebbles and pulled the slingshot. " Set........GO!".

As soon as they heard the signal they released the shot with a woosh and both managed to hit a target, earning a point each. They then quickly reloaded and released again and again and again until they started to miss some of the targets. After 35 secs were up, Asriel stopped them with a loud shout.

" Alright! Stop! Times up!" said Asriel while clapping his hands. Annie and the other person was breathing hard with sweat rolling down their face, although they couldn't see the sweat on the other person but just seeing their soaked face cloth was enough. They caught their breath and looked towards Asriel expectingly.

" Hmm, let's see...the winner is..." said Asriel with a playful smile. The other people waiting in line were also looking at him expectingly, some even made bets with other people.

" And the winner isssss..." (Asriel) the people, as well as Annie and the hobo, were really hyped up and their excitement was already reaching the peak.

" The one that won isss...." (Asriel) by now the people were starting to get impatient and a little bit pissed off.

" And the winn.....alright alright jeez you don't have to give me those looks haha, also put down your food and drinks and dude what the hell are you doing with that crate. Lady, put down your dog, please. Hey you, put that cookie down, now!" said Asriel while trying to calm the people with his hands stretched forwards. They were glaring at him like he just killed their parents and were about to throw all kinds of stuff at him.

" *cough* *cough* Well..... I wasn't paying attention haha." said Asriel with a charming smile that could make any girl who saw it go weak in the knees. Seeing his smile, the crowd goes wild............but not because of his smile. That day, dogs learned how to fly alongside some crates, foodstuffs and drinks and cookies were put down.