Code S.L.I.M.E.

Chapter 4: Amusement and Dining

So I simply smiled passively instead. "Aoki, we should be going."

"No." The small slime didn't accept my offer to get away from the object of her fury, instead turning back to the boy. "Hello..."

She seemed to want to force herself to interact with him, even if she was hiding a lot of resentment under the surface.

I suspected something had happened between them recently for it to be this extreme.

The boy shivered a bit, but kept that smile plastered onto his face. It was even a little difficult for me to tell if it was genuine, but it was. "Do you wanna go on some rides with me?"

She nods, before turning away. "I will beat your challenge." She didn't really seem to understand what the boy meant, but that is understandable in such a situation.

It would be interesting to see her gain a skill such as dragon eye later in life, perhaps she'd become more tactful.

Aoki's POV

I wouldn't let Iruma beat me, I would overcome more of my fears than he would in this amusement park challenge. That was my plan, even if he didn't seem all that shaken up about my refusal to lose to him.

I'd killed him physically, so I knew I was stronger than him. That didn't seem to make him fear me though... So, I needed to prove myself to be mentally superior as well. Perhaps then he would finally become my subordinate.

So we went around the park, riding more of these roller coasters and rides, as I analyzed each to understand how they functioned. It may be useful for later, after all.

I couldn't exactly overcome it, only managing to keep my eyes open on the smaller ones. I did loosen my grip on the seat though, and even attempted one without fusing myself to the seat. It was difficult to stay on it for that ride though, so I was barely able to stop myself from hiding in my true form.

The sensation of falling was still just too much.

Iruma, though, had for the most part been fine with these rides, he would sometimes become frightened and exclaim out in shock with a yell. Otherwise though, his reactions were less than mine.

I was losing, and I couldn't let that happen.

So we finally came to the last ride, or at least. What my aunt said would be the last one. She seemed to be frowning more as we went along, instead of smiling like she had been when she arrived.

However she didn't seem to try to get rid of the Demons and Iruma like she had at first.

She accepted their presence now, almost seeming to know what my motivations were as I was carrying them out.

This ride was called 'Ocean Splash.' I was able to read one of the signs using Magic Sense, Analysis, and All Of Creation together. It was translated into thoughts I could understand. An ocean being a large body of water that contained some of the largest creatures on earth.

Meanwhile a splash is having water become airborne and hit something or someone.

I was glad I had learned how to do this, as it would make my reading lessons go by much faster, no longer needing to put so much effort into understanding the meaning of the words and cataloging them away. It took me an entire second for a word before.

I concluded this would be the ride in which I needed to beat Iruma by overcoming my fear completely.

So as the coaster managed to get into a height, I began to breathe like Rimuru did sometimes to calm down. I knew I didn't need to, but Mother was right that it was calming while in a human form. So I managed to prevent myself from gripping the seat tightly or fusing to it, even as we fell.