Isn't It Love?

Midtown was pretty crowded today even though it was still a weekday. Maybe because several schools had started their holidays, a lot of teenagers were hanging out here.

Seeing that made Kai a bit envious, but what could he do, he had already promised and signed a part-time work contract. Yeah, at least the pay he got was enough for a high school kid as extra spending money.

WHACK!

A pretty loud smacking sound, meaningless and unnoticed by Kai who was currently wearing a polar bear mascot costume. Honestly, this mascot was extremely hot, especially since it was summer. Kai could feel sweat starting to trickle down his skin even though he was in a fairly open area.

The person who gave that smack was, of course, Chloe. She was wearing her signature costume, a rabbit mascot. Somehow, Kai was quite amazed by this girl who could still have so much energy. Did she not feel hot and stuffy inside this mascot costume?

Chloe handed out several flyers to Kai for him to give to visitors of this shopping center, and of course before Kai left to hand out the brochures, Chloe grabbed some sticker eyes and eyebrows to stick on the head of the mascot Kai was wearing.

Kai couldn’t see what expression Chloe had stuck on, but judging from the fairly sized holes inside the costume, Kai could see that stupid rabbit mascot swaying back and forth as if laughing at his own costume.

Getting a thumbs up meaning everything was perfect, Kai then left Chloe.

His job was quite simple, just handing out brochures about several sections, mostly shopping areas and family cafes or restaurants around here. Yeah, Kai’s workplace was like an advertising agency that handled Midtown.

Handing out flyers was certainly easy, maybe the unpleasant part was that this costume was pretty hot and of course when some annoying brats whose parents were busy with themselves pulled and pushed him.

Kai could understand because they were still little kids, probably curious. But it was pretty annoying to get pushed around like that.

Just ten more.

Ten more flyers and Kai could be free from this hot prison. The sun had started to set toward the west, orange-colored light began to appear, and some shops had even turned on their lights. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Kai had walked almost all around this place to hand out these flyers, even passing Chloe 4 times who was doing the same task.

Kai wiped his forehead from sweat as he sat on a bench in front of a clothing store. Everything was calm until someone stood in front of him.

"Sorry... could I have one of those sheets?"

Kai’s hand handed over one flyer, just as he was about to give a thumbs up with his other hand as a thank you, Kai, seeing who that person was, was very shocked.

Huh... why is he here.

"Hmm?" That person had trouble pulling the flyer still gripped by Kai. "Uhh... sorry, could you let it go if you don’t mind?"

Kai, snapping out of his daze, let go of the flyer without any warning, causing that person to stumble back a little but not fall.

"Kai!"

Kai looked toward the source of the voice, that stupid girl was running without her mascot head. Swallowing his saliva, Kai was honestly a bit annoyed because why was her timing always off.

That person, a teenager around the same age as Kai, also shifted his gaze to the source of the voice, seeing a girl he seemed very familiar with. He smiled.

"Hey, have you handed out the flyers? Come on, change quickly and we can go home. If not, I’ll help you hand them out. Where~ where~ I’ll hand out the remaining flyers."

"You’re Chloe, right?" asked the teenage guy.

Chloe, who hadn’t noticed that guy’s presence before, turned to look at him. Instantly seeing the teenage guy’s face, a strange feeling began to spread. Like a magnetic pull, Chloe’s heart beat fast when she saw the guy in front of her.

Kai, realizing this, quickly took a step that shocked Chloe even more. Using his soft palm because of the mascot costume he was wearing, Kai sealed Chloe’s gaze which seemed unable to look away from that teenage guy.

Ren.

Kai never expected to run into this person again in a public space like this. His aura really felt like a cheat. And he didn’t want Chloe to become Risa 2.0, he was already tired and done with fixing things. Besides, Kai had no problem with Chloe, and he still needed Chloe... in the long-term plan he had carefully arranged.

So, no matter the situation. Kai would really try to keep Chloe from being affected by this "Incubus" figure’s charm.

"MMMFFF!!!"

Seeing Chloe struggle a bit from Kai’s hold, Ren, who had been ready to speak, closed his mouth again and smiled after seeing the figure behind the polar bear mascot costume take off its head.

"Oh..." Ren smiled, staring toward Kai. That smile was truly like an unparalleled prince’s smile. He then raised his hand toward Kai, offering a handshake. "You’re Risa’s older brother. I didn’t expect you to work here."

Kai, taking off his mascot head, stared quite coldly. Not because he didn’t like Ren—well, he did dislike Ren—but that cold expression was just his natural face.

"Hmm? Is something wrong... Kai, right?" asked Ren.

"Haa..." Kai sighed, thinking it would be too childish if he got emotional and angry without a clear reason. "Sorry. I’m just a little... uncomfortable talking to a ’strangers’."

Kai shook Ren’s hand with his free hand, since his other hand was still covering Chloe’s mouth, with a grip that had quite some pressure.

"Hmm... that’s okay, maybe I’m also at fault because that day I suddenly started a conversation with your little sister."

These two teenage guys shook hands. Even though Kai was wearing a pretty thick costume, he felt a little pressure that Ren gave from the handshake, and as a response, Kai also applied pressure to the handshake.

Even though these two teenage guys were smiling at each other, they both radiated a charm like cats with a mouse. Who the mouse was, one thing was for sure—it wasn’t them, but the poor girl who was still confused about why she had to be covered like this.

"MMMFHHH!"

This was a war between cats fighting over a mouse. And one cat with a smile said to the other cat.

"Can we talk for a bit. I think I’m very interested in you... Kai."