A Disappointing Night

Mai felt a banging thump in her ears. It was the sound of her heart, something that she was starting to hear quite often these days, but why now of all times? Was it because Scarlett's declaration had come as a complete surprise to her? … or could there be another reason behind it?

"Are you really telling me that you're interested in Simon?" Mai asked, making sure she hadn't heard wrong, pointing towards the toilet door. She then adjusted her hand slightly, mimicking Simon as he had leaned forward to tell her that their meeting had to be fate. "You sure you got the right person, the jokester, the blond haired ditz?"

Scarlett found Mai's overreaction quite amusing as she casually wiped her hands with a paper towel as if it was no big deal. "Simon's cute, funny and you might not have realised it, but a lot of us girls find him good looking. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed his company today, so I would like to see him again."

"I just wanted to check in with you first. After all, I wouldn't want to get in between you guys, in case there was something going on. But since you're just friends, I should be good, right?"

Thinking about it, Mai wondered why she had such a knee jerk reaction in the first place. Wasn't this exactly what she wanted? For Simon to find somebody else to be happy with, so she could continue her own thing? And unlike with Shirley, here Scarlett was openly admitting that she liked him.

'Are the two of them a good match or will Scarlett just end up breaking his heart? Future Simon seemed so depressed, so did he ever date Scarlett in their timeline or did I change something by coming here? Argh, why is all of this so complicated?!'

"Thanks Mai, I knew you'd understand. If it works out, perhaps we can go on a double date with you and Chris in the future." Scarlett took Mai's silence as approval and walked past her, before the other could even say anything. 

Coming out of the bathroom, after having fixed herself up, Mai could see the others had continued getting to know each other and most seemed to be having a good time. This only strengthened her belief that there was actually no need for her to be here this evening. She saw that Simon genuinely seemed to enjoy his time with Scarlett as well, as the two of them were laughing together.

'I should be happy for you Simon.' Mai thought as she shook her head after feeling strange. 'You look so sad in the future, I just hope the next time I go over, you can tell me it works out. And if it doesn't, maybe there's something I can do for you as well. There is no such thing as a permanent future after all, otherwise why would I be trying to change it?' 

Throughout the rest of the evening, Jake did his best to try and allow Mai to still have an enjoyable evening. He would ask her questions, but she would just seemingly ignore them. He believed that she might still be upset about her earlier faux pas, but it was actually because she had been fully focused on listening in to Scarlett and Simon's conversation the whole time, expecting a confession or a date plan to happen, only it never did.

Eventually, it was starting to get late, and since the group still had school the next day, they decided to call it a day.

'I'm so stupid, just because she's interested in him, doesn't mean she's going to ask him to be her boyfriend on the first date!' Mai thought, as she stood outside. 'And why did I think she would ask him on a date in public? They can just exchange their numbers and talk about it privately.'

The groups split up, since everyone lived in a different direction. After reaching the end of the high street, Shirley too needed to head into another direction.

"Get home safe." Shirley waved Mai goodbye. 

"You as well." Mai shouted back. 

Finally, it seemed like the last two of the group had split up, and were heading the same way. 

'Of course, me and Simon live right next to each other, I didn't even think of this! I should have left before everyone else did, and then there wouldn't be this awkward situation between the two of us.'

  "You know, I really had no idea you would be here tonight." Simon broke the silence as they continued to walk under the night sky. "I mean you haven't told me anything about it, and you aren't usually the type to go out. Especially with Vicky out of all people! You know how much she can be a bi-"

"Yes, yes I know." Mai sighed. "Shirley talked me into it. At first I was hesitant, but then I thought it couldn't hurt to try something new for once. If I just continue being good old me, then things won't change for the future, right?" 

Thinking about this herself, she propped up the courage to ask the thing that had been on her mind the entire time.

"Besides, I don't remember you telling me about attending this group date either. Only in your case, it seems you were quite successful. Soooo~, what do you think of Scarlett?" Mai asked, putting on a mischievous smile to hide her real intentions. 

"Scarlett? Well, she's very attractive and surprisingly fun to be with. We seem to have a lot of things in common. She's very confident in herself, and she already knows what she wants from her future and is doing her best to achieve her goals. To be honest, I'm a bit jealous of how determined she is about it. But why do you as-" As Simon looked at Mai, for some reason he felt like his words were making her sad. 

"Could it be… A-are you jealous?!" Simon asked,his mouth left open. 

Mai immediately denied it as she went to kick him on the shin.

"Are you crazy, you idiot?" She shouted as her cheeks flushed bright red. "If you act like that around girls, you'll be single for the rest of your life!!" 

The two of them joked as they continued to head off home. 

——

On the way home, Vicky slightly regretted having come out on the group date. The boy she had sat down across had given her his number, but she didn't plan on calling him. Vicky knew that with her looks, she could easily get most boys' numbers. Alas the one who she really cared for, hadn't shown up. 

'Still, it wasn't too bad I guess. The look on Mai's face as Simon tried to put his moves on her and her ruined makeup nealy make up for Chris' absence. For some reason Scarlett seems to have taken a liking to that fool, but let's see how much she will like him after I'm done with him.' As Vicky was in the middle of her vicious thoughts, she spotted someone who she never thought she would see. 

It was pretty late, getting close to midnight and it was extremely rare to see people out at this time in Simple Village, but walking down the road she recognised his broad shoulders and the side of his face. 

'What is Chris doing out here so late? No, that's not important, this is the perfect chance for me to have some actual alone time with him!' Just as she was about to approach him, Vicky noticed something strange. 

Chris wasn't entirely alone, behind him she could see a group of people. In total, there were around ten of them all wearing similar dark clothing, and one of them was holding onto a wooden plank.

'Who are they and why are they following Chris? This doesn't look good, I have to call someone!' Vicky thought and immediately pulled out her phone, dialing the number for the police straight away, but before she could press the call button, a hand reached out and grabbed the phone. 

"There will be no need for that little girl." A male voice said. 

When she looked up, she could see a man in a black suit with a scar on his face. He threw a cigarette on the ground and stomped on it. 

"He'll be okay, Chris is a strong boy after all."

"W-who are you?" Vicky asked. 

"Me? Don't worry, I'm just someone who is looking out for Chris, just like you."