A day out (Sharaku)

Amusement park! This couldn’t be real. Naomi rarely got to go to the amusement park. She could have gone wherever she wanted, sure, but if you went all the time, it wouldn’t be special. For that reason, she only tried to go once or twice a year. She liked doing it in winter, since the park had fewer people. To her, this weather was so normal she didn’t think twice about it. She had invited Sharaku here too, just because she’d figure it would be fun. Plus, going alone was, well, lonely. Part of her wondered if it was a good idea, considering he was more of the serious type. Did he like amusement parks, even? She had been learning that he wasn’t as stoic as he seemed, but she wondered if this was a good idea. She figured it could probably work. She’d wait near the entrance for Sharaku to show up. Once she saw him, she’d go up to him, “Glad you could make it.” She loved this place, so being able to spend time here with a friend was nice.

She was glad that Sharaku could make it. She would laugh a little nervously when he asked what inspired this outing, “Honestly? Don’t laugh, but I only come here once a year or so. It’s something I always look forward to, but it’s not something that I’ve ever done with somebody else. I was just think that it would be more fun to actually go with someone this year.” She wasn’t sure why Sharaku was the first person she thought of inviting, but it’s what she had done, “It may sound strange, but over the last few years, I’ve had to come all on my own and that really isn’t any fun. I just wanted to spend a fun day with somebody. That doesn’t sound weird, does it?” She was always worried that whatever she said came across as weird. She would move ever so slightly due to her nerves, “Umm… Do you even like amusement parks or was this a bad idea? I know some people aren’t fans of rides. If so, we could always just walk around. There is always more that we can do besides get adrenaline rushes.” Like food and games.

She would smile and laugh a little nervously. That isn’t that part she had meant when she told him not to laugh. Still, it must not have been that big a deal if he didn’t even catch the part of her statement she had been worried about, “If that’s the case, I guess this’ll be our once-a-year bash.” In other words, today promised to be fun. She would just scoff at his other comment, “Maybe I was looking for a little insanity in my otherwise boring life.” She joked back at him with a cheerful voice, “Sharaku, if you drove me insane, I don’t think I would have invited you.” She meant that to sound like a nice thing, but it came out pretty harsh, “You know what I mean right? I sometimes think I don’t speak well.” She knew she didn’t speak well. However, that was part of her charm. She was just happy to be able to have the opportunity to say something like that, “If it’s all the same, can we hit up the rollarcoasters first? I always liked them the most. They’re so exciting!” She was eager to have fun.

She would hum as she thought about it, “The only things I do once a year are the things that shouldn’t be done too often. So, helping mom file taxes and going to amusement parks. Other than that, everything I do is nothing all that spectacular.” She wished her life was more interesting, but it was pretty normal. Well, other than having a Persona and fighting Shadows. That reminded her, “Oh, you weren’t there, but I recently got another Persona. It’s not as strong at Intertwined just yet, but it has potential.” He was the only one that didn’t know about it, so she figured she should just tell him, “Maybe you lucked out not being there. We were there for a long time and there was another me that turned into a Persona… It was complete and utter madness.” Even though she was there, she had a hard time believing it all happened. She would sigh, “Still, I wish you could have seen it. It was pretty cool looking. Unfortunately, you can’t see the blue doors where it was.” She remembered that they learned early that not everyone could see both the portals and the doors, “Enough about that though. This day has nothing to do with them.” She didn’t want to think about it either.

She would look back at him again, “Dangerous insanity, huh? I wonder if I should be worried that I’m not worried about catching it.” She shrugged. She was already on her way to the loony bin. May as well enjoy it. She would wag her finger in disapproval at Sharaku’s statement, “I am not them. I am a teammate, but I am Naomi Epona first and foremost.” In other words, he shouldn’t make assumptions about how the day would go. She would hit her chest with pride, “And I’m not good at saying what I mean. I can’t wait to see how that combination turns out. If we’re lucky, maybe that means I’ll say something that sounds wrong, but your brain will change it back into something good.” It made sense in her mind. Then again, her thinking was a little skewed.

She would crack a laugh at his bad joke, “I’m more worried about my stomach, honestly.” She didn’t actually get sick on rides, but that’s what other people seemed worried about.

She shrugged, “Taxes involve math. I like math. I’m good at it. Plus, it lets me test out a system I’ve been working on. Every year, it gets a little better. It would have been done by now, but I keep needing to add more to it to make sure it adds everything it should. Plus, they sometimes change the rules. That’s no fun.” She had tried to make a program to calculate the taxes for her mother, “Madness, eh? Does that taste better than nails?” It was a play on an old saying about tough guys eating nails for breakfast. She rolled her eyes, “Define helpful.” She was still upset about Hyde and Kurosawa showing up uninvited and their behavior during the entire thing. She was trying to patch things up with one of them, but the other was on her shit list.

She would hold her hands over her head like a scared rabbit as she pouted, “I was joking. I know my type of humor is dry, but I didn’t think it was that bad.” She would look off into the distance for a moment while she thought about it. Well, this was to be expected when she had no sense of humor and Sharaku was so serious. She made a note not to joke about something unless it was obvious and the topic wasn’t supposed to be so serious, “And of course I don’t think you can catch it. It’s more like mimicking it. They say that if you hang out with someone long enough, you’ll pick up their habits and way of thinking. If that’s true, then eventually I’ll get a little more insane and you’ll…” She stopped to think, “What would you inherit from me? I’m not sure I have anything that’s worth picking up.” She thought she was pretty normal, in a way. That wasn’t important though.

She would smile at him before walking off towards one of the medium sized rollercoasters. She would hop in the short line and wait for the previous ride to be over, “This is why I come this time of year. The lines are really short, so you get more done.” She had a plan for this place. It mostly involved running around and going with the flow, but there were some rules.

She laughed a little when he said math was boring, “That seems to be a pretty general consensus among people. Still, I just like math. It would be a pain if I didn’t, considering I work with numbers and equations to help make a living.” She didn’t know if she liked it, so much as she just learned to respect it. It was useful for many things. She shrugged, “I guess everyone was helpful, more or less. It’s hard to say. I was grateful that some people had shown up, but I was still angry at them for coming. It took a long time, and the place was built specifically for me, so there was some personal stuff. I wasn’t ready for everyone there to see it, so…” She sighed, “Nevermind. This isn’t the time to be talking about that depressing stuff. It’s over now, and we made it out alive. In that way, I guess they were helpful. Other than that… maybe not all of them.” She wasn’t sure how to measure helpfulness. It was something hard to do, “Okay. You stay you, and I’ll stay me. I probably wouldn’t make a good you anyway.” Sharaku was unique. She doubted she could ever be him, or anyone else for that matter.

She would look up at the sky with a strange face, “It’s weird. There’s been too much snow this year. It usually isn’t this bad. Winter on Azores isn’t like this. I don’t know what’s going on.” Sharaku probably didn’t know that their winter was less severe than this. She would look over as the ride came to a halt and they could finally get on. This one was a speed based ride, so she hoped he could handle it. She hopped into one of the carts and strapped herself in. She looked at him and motioned for him to join her.

She would smile when he said he would go to her when he needed something solved in the math department, “I’d be glad to help, and just because you’re my friend, I won’t even charge you my usual fee.” Not that he was likely going to need her to fix his computer any time soon, “I won’t lie. I mostly just work with computers. I’m not so good as to be doing it in my head or anything. That’s the nice thing about the modern world.” She liked technology. It made life easier and opened up so many possibilities for people, “Still, I’d be happy to help you out if you need me.” She would be happy to help out a friend when they needed her

She would hum as she thought, “I really hope it will end soon. It’s worrying that this is happening. I’m concerned about how it will effect everything else.” She wasn’t good with weather, but she had a bad feeling about what was going on. If this was supernatural in origin, she could only think of one way to fix it. They would need to find the cause and, most likely, get rid of it somehow. Azores really was the center for everything going wrong. She would be thinking of that when she suddenly heard an announcement about staying safe of the ride. She smirked because she knew what came next. The underside of the car made a clicking noise as it was dragged forward some feet and sent up a hill, “The drops are always the best.” She’d say just as they neared the top and the coaster fell down the slope. She was laughing her head off as the coaster quickly curved around the tracks and zipped around, turning upside down over the twisted pathway.

((Umm… I can’t write coasters… Yay?))

She wouldn’t comment on his stubbornness. She liked doing things for her friends. It was normal. At least, she thought it was normal. She couldn’t figure out why she wouldn’t do something for them if she could. That seemed silly. Still, she could tell how he felt and would not bring it up again. Part of being someone’s friend was knowing when they didn’t want to discuss something. This was one of those times. Of course, there would be times where she would question him, but this was not then.

As they were nearly the end of the ride, Naomi would look over at him, “Do you not like rollercoasters?” He didn’t seem to have fun on that ride. He didn’t seem to have any reaction at all. Unless closing his eyes meant he was scared or sick. She couldn’t imagine that’s what was going on though. The safety harness on the ride went up and Naomi got out of their car, “Hmm… I wonder what else is open right now. There are other types of rides. All the water ones are closed, of course.” She was trying to make sure they both had fun and enjoyed their time. It was hard when she didn’t know what type of rides he enjoyed, “Actually, there’s also an arcade around here somewhere. We could hit that up if you want. I figure some of the outdoor games will be closed, since it’s cold out, but the ones inside should be fine.” She wasn’t the best at arcade games, but she remembered having fun with them. They weren’t rides, but it was something they could do together. Either as a team, or competing against each other.