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[throughthelookingmax]

"Hey, looks like there's a town up ahead."

Reigen obviously saw it --- he was the one driving, so he saw just about everything. But Max wasn't sure that the others in the back had. She looked over the shoulder of her seat as she said it, making sure that her voice wasn't drowned out by the sound of the 80s citypop CD they acquired at the last town they ran into.

Max turned back around and squinted her eyes, trying her best to filter out the rays of blinding light that seemed to reflect off of everything.

"I think it might be near a beach, too," she said. "That looks like a seagull, right?" Max pointed at the figure of a bird flying overhead.

Comments

[throughthelookingmax]

"What? Are you having people-problems, Doppio?"

[espresso_doppio]

"Eh? N-No, no." Despite his denial, Doppio glanced at everyone for reassurance. "I just wanted to say...y'know...having a special connection is nice, right?"

[throughthelookingmax]

"You don't have a special connection with anyone?"

[espresso_doppio]

Even if he hid his face, he couldn't hide the tips of his ears turning red. "Oh, you're just teasing me now."

[throughthelookingmax]

"Reigen and I are definitely not together, by the way," she said, turning to Reigen with a wink.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Oh, yeah. No." Reigen waved his hand lazily towards Doppio. "It pained me to turn her down, too, but it's a policy of mine not to date van-mates."

[throughthelookingmax]

"We're not saying you can't date a van-mate if you want to. It's just not for us."

[espresso_doppio]

"Oh. Um...okay." Doppio glanced at Hitomi even though he wasn't sure why -- probably just to confirm he wasn't the only one that thought the pair were acting a little weird.

[aoihitomi]

Hitomi was so preoccupied with the goats that she neglected to notice Doppio looking at her.

[throughthelookingmax]

Max raised a brow. "What are you looking at Hitomi for, huh?"

[espresso_doppio]

'Gah!'

"...Corsican swallowtail!" Doppio suddenly announced, pointing at a yellow and black butterfly hanging out on the back of Hitomi's collar. He had no idea how he even remembered the name of it.

[aoihitomi]

"Huh?" Doppio's voice was loud enough to draw Hitomi's attention. She spun her head to look at him, which startled the butterfly from its place on her back. It fluttered skyward in an awkward, S-shaped motion, as if it weren't sure what direction it wanted to fly to.

[espresso_doppio]

"That's good luck, Signorina," Father Serra laughed.

"Of course it is!" Doppio rushed a little too quickly to agree. "Hitomi draws everything good in. I haven't met a person or an animal that didn't love her right away."

[aoihitomi]

"I guess things keep landing on me," Hitomi said, brushing her hair behind her ear somewhat self-consciously.

[throughthelookingmax]

"Well that wasn't weird," Max said almost under her breath, just loud enough for Reigen to hear.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Are we being mean?" Reigen whispered back.

[throughthelookingmax]

"I don't know, do you think we are?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Before Reigen could answer, a yelp cut through the air.

[espresso_doppio]

It had happened quickly - one goat became two, became three, became five. Doppio had pulled out a watermelon rind with quite a bit of flesh and he was being swarmed by a gaggle of goats eager to claim it for themselves.

"W-wait--help--!" He was helpless where he sat to the ruminant assault of fuzzy goat lips closing in from every side.

[aoihitomi]

"Doppio-kun!" Hitomi pushed back the goats as she practically swam through them in a desperate attempt to fend off the onslaught.

[espresso_doppio]

Father Serra whistled and jostled a wedge of watermelon with even more meat on it. The goats turned tail and rushed towards the fruit, leaving Doppio lying in a heap with barely a few rind fibers left in his fingers.

The sun was hot in the blue sky above. He could taste goat hair in his mouth.

'I think...this is the end...'

He cracked open his eyes as Hitomi's shadow fell over him. All he could manage was a weak laugh.

[aoihitomi]

Hitomi offered a hand to Doppio's free one. "Come on," she said. "If you want, I can walk you back so you can get cleaned up."

[espresso_doppio]

Right as Doppio took her hand, one of the straggling goats suddenly barreled into her from behind in its rush to get a delicious juicy morsel of watermelon. A rush of air left Doppio’s lungs in a wheeze as her body weight came tumbling right down onto him.

The world really wanted him on his back lately.

[aoihitomi]

The wind had been knocked out of Hitomi with the shove and it took her a long moment before she scrambled back to her feet, embarrassed.

[espresso_doppio]

When he realized what happened, his brain went into full panic mode. He practically flew to his feet with willpower alone to fret over her. “Oh—Oh no—are you okay? Did you get hurt?”