Animation

Chapter 16

We head back to the Japanese restaurant in which Hisao lives, the box of sweets tucked under one of his arms, as the other is occupied with mine. I'm holding my leftover coffee in my spare hand.
Hisao says Takao will drown him in questions, so we'd better be getting back. He promises to finish the tour later on.
As we walk through the door, Takao approaches us.
"Hisao!! Where have you been?!?" He looks at me. "And who is this?!"
His tone suddenly lightens.
"Hello, by the way!" He smiles. I can't help but crack a smile.
"Hi!" I say, waving a little.
"This is Aunna" Hisao says, dropping my hand and grasping the bakery box with both hands. "And this is cupcakes."
Takao rolls his eyes but smiles at me.
"Hi Aunna."
"Takao, do you remember that little project I was working on?" Hisao says sheepishly.
"The finishing touch to Stan Roger's incident?"
"That's the one!" He replies with a nervous grin.
"Why?"
"Just, uhh, come here.. please." Hisao says, taking my hand in his again and leading me up the stairs, with Takao following close behind after he switched the sign to "closed".
"Go wash your makeup off please" Hisao tells me, just as Takao reaches the top of the stairs. I catch Takao's puzzled expression just as I close the door to the bathroom.
I stare at myself in the mirror after washing the makeup off. My face looks so flawed, especially being in a place like this. I don't even have my own makeup o- a thought occurs to me. I sling my shoulder bag on the ground and dig through it, coming up with just enough makeup to redress my face the way it was when I first got here. I apply to where I look presentable and open the door. My hair still had the airbrush affect, but I see Takao's mouth drop open.
"It worked.... It worked!!!" He jumps up off the bed. "Hisao, you brought an animated girl here!"
But then his expression falls.
"Do you realize how much danger you're putting her in? If they find her..."
"Yeah, I know. But, we're keeping her covered in my mom's makeup. No one will ever know."
Takao looks skeptical.
"Well, I mean it, Hisao. Keep her safe. I'm really impressed with you, now don't disappoint me. She's your responsibility."
"Hey, I can take care of myself. I'll be okay." I say, firmly.
They act like I'm delicate, but I guess if there was an animated person back at my home, they'd seem delicate to me too.
"Okay. Just take precaution. I don't want anything to happen." Takao says as he turns to walk back downstairs.
Hisao gives me an impish grin.
"That went better than expected!" He beams, "he didn't demand me to send you back!" His smile fades suddenly.
"I mean, I didn't even ask.. Do you, uhh, wanna go back? 'Cause if you do, that's fine. You can take another pill, but it'll wear off in two days anyways if you wanna wait.."
"I don't wanna go back."
"What?"
"Well, I mean eventually I do. But I have an adventurous soul and right now, I'm loving this and I will wait the two days."
His smile returns and he wraps me in a hug.
"Good" he says into my hair.