It's a Small World After All

My favorite place in the whole wide world

Emi was absentminded in her nostalgia as she walked through the aisles of fair food. Fried butter, fried Oreos, and fried funnel cakes filled her nose and as sickening as it was with its oil and batter, it gave her delight. She was on a 'break day' but usually, those days never lasted long, since those noisy AoM kids never stopped messing around. But while she was in the area, she was going to go on a few rides and hopefully, win a few prizes in those fair games. But it should be easy; she had buffs.

Coming to the amusement park today was a great change of pace for Aierre. She spent the last few days holed up in her room studying for an upcoming test and now that that was over she finally had some free time to herself. She has always loved coming here, the positive vibes coming from all over always put her in a pleasant mood. She absentmindedly looked around at the nearby stalls hoping to buy a nice little souvenir. In case you're wondering why she's not going on any rides, its because she is deathly afraid of them. She always hated feeling of going downhill at a rapid speed which is why roller coasters and the likes are a huge no no for her. If you were to ask her to come ride with you, she will find a way to wimp out.

Ada pinched her left arm tightly with her right arm while waiting in the long line at the entrance of Rollin' Pipes. It was a milestone occasion for her to ride a roller coaster as an 11-year-old. Ada's stomach growled at the thought of sitting upside down in a seat that other people's butts have been, while being tossed around like a cherry tomato in a salad bowl. Or it could just be the strawberry smoothie and popcorn she just ate. Anyways, Ada stood in the 95 degree weather for two hours until she stepped into a cart with her best friend, Amber. Little did tiny Ada know who she would meet next.

Before she played a game, however, Emi wanted a rush of adrenaline. What better way to experience a rush than to go on the island's fastest roller coaster? Despite riding it on multiple times, the Rollin' Pipes was always a childhood favorite of her's. But considering how long the darn line was, it would be smart to invest in a drink, especially in this weather. She went to a nearby vendor and ordered a cherry slushie, before slipping a $5 bill through the window.

Aierre hasn't eaten anything really eaten anything since this morning and the hunger must be getting to her because her feet led her straight to the area with all the food stalls. "Hmmm...what should I get?" She looked around and saw a taiyaki stand just a few feet away. "Maybe I'll get one of those." She said to no one in particular and headed over to the stand. It has been a while since she last ate taiyaki and to be completely honest taiyaki was definitely not one of her go to foods, but at least she liked it enough to eat it.

Just 7 minutes of being thrown in all different directions, and Ada felt extremely dizzy. Stepping off the cart, she felt her legs go limp, and they wobbled like chow mein noodles. Next thing she knew, her face was covered in dirt and mud, and Amber had to pull Ada up from the ground with both arms.
"Wow, Ada. What happened to you? You're supposed to be full of energy, our Double AA Battery!" Amber remarked.
"Hey! Zip it." Ada's stomach wrangled inside of her, and Ada sprinted to the nearest trash can just in time for her to spew out all of that extra buttery popcorn and blood red strawberry smoothie she had before. "Oh my god. Did one of my organs burst? Is it hemorrhage??" Ada thought in a state of panic. "Oh well. At least I didn't spit on anybody." As she recollected her thoughts, Ada saw that she was next to the food stalls, and decided to refill her stomach after what she just lost.

Emi took a quick swig of slushie and instantly felt refreshed against the harsh waves of the heat surrounding her. Cherry has always been one of her favorite flavors. Whiffs of fried batter filled the air and suddenly, Emi's stomach growled. In response, Emi sighed in frustration. "Dangit, I can't eat before going on a ride," Emi muttered exasperatedly. She already had enough past experience to not fall into that trap again. However, the benefits of food outweighed waiting in line for a 10 second ride. She decided to go to a vendor where they selled snacks.

After getting her food, Aierre continued to browse the area out of sheer boredom. She has been at the amusement park for a while now and was indeed starting to get bored, but at the same time she didn't want to go back just yet because she knew that if she went back now she would go back to studying. Its not that she hated studying or anything, but at the moment she didn't really have anything to study so she'll probably end up reading ahead and previewing future lessons or something.

Ada hopped to a small booth where they sold prepackaged cotton candy. She stared at the multicolored plastic bags of cotton candy for 5 minutes before thinking, "The pink one is probably better." Without hesitation, Ada pinched the hook of one of the cotton candy bags and lifted it from the rack. Trying her best not to be suspicious, Ada skipped happily away from the scene of her crime. Unfortunately, she wasn't cautious enough, the 40-something-year-old lady spotted Ada just as she was about to leave for some tea.
Ada was shocked to hear the lady shriek, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??!!!" Ada held onto what she thought was hers, and sprinted down the path with her eyes closed tightly. In the background, she heard, "JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE TINY DOESN'T MEAN I WON'T FIND YOU! WHO THE HECK RAISED THIS SHE-DEVIL!!" Ada expected this kind of treatment, and knew what the old lady was going to shout next, so she tuned out her surroundings. Ada couldn't come to her senses when for the second time that day, she fell to the ground, but this time, backwards. Rubbing the back of her head, Ada glanced upwards and saw a tall young woman with silky white hair.

Emi was about to approach the ice cream station until she heard a loud shriek nearby. Before she could ignore the situation, a little girl started running straight towards her, sprinting at top speed. It was a genuinely, terrifying sight and Emi was not ready to deal with another problem.

PLOF

Well darn, she just jinxed it. The same girl fell right at her feet, falling over a rock or something. Nevertheless, Emi felt a wave of empathy rush over her. "Hey, are you okay?" Emi muttered, dropping to her knees. Now that she's looking at the girl in full detail, the girl did look very familiar. Maybe she's seen her at her favorite store before. Emi looked around, hoping to see someone who looked even the tiniest bit similar to the stranger. Eying at the ebony-haired girl on her right, she made a subtle gesture towards the fallen girl that meant Are you two friends???

Aierre quietly, awkwardly shook her head when the silver haired girl gestured towards her. "No... I don't." So apparently this little girl stole some food from a nearby food stand? She took a step towards the little girl on the floor, crouched down, and ask, "Are you okay?" Aierre wasn't exactly the type to talk to strangers, but at the same time it'd be pretty rude of her to just ignore a hurt little girl. Then she turned to silver hair, "Do you think she's lost?" Hopefully all this will resolve quickly and she'll be able to get away because a small crowd was beginning to form, but for some reason she had a feeling that it probably won't.

Ada was so disappointed in herself for making such a stupid mistake and becoming the center of attention. Now that everyone thought that she was a lying thief, Ada figured that she might as well add on to the gossip before escaping. She summoned saliva from the back of her throat while two girls in front of her exchanged murmurs. Ada felt herself being pulled up to her feet by the girl with the long silver hair, then thought about whether she should make physical contact with her. However, her body acted on its own and grasped the hand of the girl with the white hair. It felt different in a way to Ada, but she didn't let that stop her from proceeding with her plan. Abruptly, Ada violently spat out the built up saliva at the edge of her thin lips, and threw the hand that she held back, while also shoving the girl with the long black hair out of the way. She made another run for it while the other people were still shocked by the rudeness of the tiny girl. Ada headed back to Rollin' Pipes, leaving behind the pink bag of cotton candy. She thought, "This is going to go way over a simple grounding," before scuttling past the end of the food stalls.

The gesture that the girl offered when she held Emi's hand gave Emi a wave of nostalgia. Why? Was it because she wanted to be young again, so she could be ignorant to all life's problems? No, it wasn't that. Maybe it was because the girl JUST SPAT ON HER.

Emi flinched back and felt an immediate flood of offense. "How dare you-" Emi hissed, rushing back up onto her feet and backing away a meter or so. Before she could toss the girl to juvie, the girl sprinted away, pushing the other girl away. The next sensation she felt next was strange. The world didn't look black or white but it seemed colorless. She tried speaking but it was hopeless. The atmosphere seemed to shut down and although everybody was staring and whispering, she couldn't hear what a word they said. She looked helplessly at the ebony-haired girl and said, "Can you hear anything?" What scared er the most wasn't the fact that she got the germs of a 5 year old but instead, she seemed to lose her sense of hearing.

"Woah there." Aierre manage to catch herself before falling onto the floor. It wasn't that the push was strong, especially since it was a little girl who did the pushing, but it was more like she didn't see it coming. She was trying to be considerate of the little girl, but only to get pushed in the end...Wow that was nice of her... She thought sarcastically. She turned her attention back to the silver haired girl when she heard her ask a strange question. "Hear? I can hear just fine." She tilted her head slightly and gave the girl a curious look. "Did the little kid do something to you?" It was either that or the girl was going a bit crazy...just a little bit.

Wandering without any sense of direction, Ada found herself in the middle of a long wooden bridge that was suspended above a shallow river. About 15 feet away, she was barely able to read a sign that read: SPLASH ZONE. "Splash Zone? What the heck is that supposed to mean? OH! It must be the place that kids even tinier than me go to. Haha." Just after Ada concluded her thoughts, her body instinctively froze as she was immersed in gallons of icy cold water. In the near distance, Ada heard screams of delight from about nine people. "Well, at least I know what the SPLASH ZONE means now," Ada remarked.

Emi's panic level began to rise. The other girl's confused face made it obvious that she was the only deaf one between them and she didn't need any sound for her to realize that. Despite her rising panc, it didn't take much for her to piece a reason. "T-That girl," she said, "She's a magic user. She made me deaf." That girl could be a magic user from the Academy. It would explain why she looked so familiar. "We have to find her!" Without waiting for a response (or maybe because she couldn't hear anything), she dashed off.

Mai wasn't sure how long she had been in the amusement park, but it was a nice break.  It had been a while since she went to some place fun and the change made her quite happy.  The teen wandered around trying to decide on her next activity.  It wasn't like she could just go on the same rides again since she wanted to try new things.

After walking for a little more, Mai found a bench she could sit on. She plugged in her electric guitar to her portable amplifier and started to strum a few notes. 'I heard some commotion earlier, I wonder what it could have been.'

Magic...That would make a lot of sense now. So the silver haired girl wasn't going crazy. The girl said something before quickly running off leaving Aierre behind. "Wait what?" She said before taking off after her. Then the thought hit her, why was she chasing a stranger she just met moments ago, but no matter I guess. She would've never imagined her spending her day at the amusement park running around and chasing a little girl. She finally caught up to the silver haired girl and she opened her mouth to ask Where are we heading?, but then she remembered she was currently deaf and quickly shut it.

Treading away from the wooden bridge, Ada dismally cried her eyes out. Her feet suddenly froze, and Ada thought, 'I feel like I'm forgetting something.' "Oh my gosh. AMBER!" Ada shouted out loud.

Ada panted heavily at the entrance of Rollin' Pipes and plopped down in a conveniently nearby bench. "So, you came back for me?" a shady figure on the other side of the bench commented.
"GAH!" Ada screamed. "Why are you hiding like that?"
"So that I could see your scared face," Amber mysteriously mumbled.
"Chua. Well, let's go. We can't stay here forever."
Just like that, the two girls shuffled out of the amusement park and said their goodbyes to each other for the day.