It was perfect: a field trip to Kyoto would be the ultimate opportunity to finally beat Takagi-san at her own game. Somewhere unfamiliar, surely she would be out of her element. Back home she knew the roads, she knew all his favorite stores, she knew his routine. But here, in this ancient city, they were both totally in the dark.

Being in the same class, Nishikata and Takagi-san ended up on this class field trip together. They would stay in Kyoto for three days. The class had spent the first two days touring historical sights, on a strict regimen. The third day, however, was free rein: the students were allowed to go anywhere and do anything they'd like, as long as they went with at least one other student. Today was that third day, and Nishikata found himself ruminating on a possible excursion while finishing a late breakfast in the hotel lobby.

"Nishikata," a tender voice beckoned, rousing him from his thoughts. A beaming Takagi sat down in the seat next to his.

"Takagi-san," he greeted with an earnest but mischievous smile.

"Are you excited for the free day?" She asked, ignoring his sinister grin.

"Oh, you could say that," Nishikata's voice lilted.

"Hmm?" She cocked her head to the side, her smile never faltering. "Did you have something in mind?"

"I do, as a matter of fact," Nishikata said, "I heard about this great haunted house a few miles north of here. I was thinking about checking it out." The plan was perfect. They would go to the haunted house, and whoever got scared first would lose. It wasn't a guaranteed win, but if Nishikata could keep his cool, at least he wouldn't lose.

"Oh?" Takagi's eyebrows raised. "That sounds fun. Who are you going with?"

"I -" The words caught in Nishikata's throat. He hadn't thought this part through; how was he going to get her to go with him? Usually she was the one to initiate these kinds of things. If he simply asked her outright, she would definitely make fun of him for asking her on a 'date'.

"Hmm? Is it Kimura?" She asked, leaning in a little closer. Nishikata scratched his cheek and found his eyes wandering.

"I, uh…" Her prying made it hard for him to think.

"No? Nakai then?" Takagi probed, leaning even closer. Nishikata instinctively leaned away, gritting his teeth. Her large brown eyes pierced through his cool exterior with ease.

"I haven't decided yet!" He cried in exasperation. With that answer, he risked not being able to convince her to accompany him, but at least he didn't have to outright ask her to go with him.

"If you don't have anyone in mind, I could go with you," Takagi offered.

"If - if you insist…" Nishikata conceded, relaxing a little.

"Hey, let's make it a challenge," She suggested. Nishikata wanted to protest, to tell her that he had wanted a challenge from the start, but then he would have to reveal that he had planned to go with her all along. Takagi proposing the challenge meant that she got to make the rules - such was the cost of Nishikata's earlier blunder.

"What did you have in mind?" He asked, failing to mask his nervousness.

"If you can get through the haunted house without getting scared, you win," she declared. Nishikata swelled with determination. Her rules were even more favorable than his own. Now regardless of whether Takagi was afraid he could have a guaranteed win if he could keep his cool.

"Deal," he agreed.

A thirty-minute ride on Kyoto's Keihan train line brought Nishikata and Takagi north, past the castles and imperial palace they had seen in the days prior. One short walk later and the two were standing in front of the haunted house, which, from the outside, looked more like a nightclub than an abandoned house of horrors. The only aesthetic quality that indicated this building as somehow "spooky" was its charcoal-grey wooden exterior. Situated on a street corner, the entrance butted directly up to a small side-street hardly two cars' lengths wide. Across the small street was a clothing outlet. Immediately adjacent was a restaurant. It wasn't exactly terrifying from the outside, and Nishikata's resolve was strong.

"Well, Takagi-san?" Nishikata said, not taking his eyes off the entrance. "Are you prepared for defeat?"

"I'll be rooting for you," Takagi said in an unreadable tone. Clearly, she had little faith in his determination.

Upon entering the building, they found the lobby to be equally unintimidating. The cashier was dressed cleanly and professionally, and even gave a smiling "good luck!" as the two entered the 'haunted' part of the building.

The door, large and wooden, gave an ominous creak as it shut behind them. As it slowly closed, the light gradually dimmed until the two were almost totally in the dark.

"Ooh, how spooky," Takagi remarked. "Are you scared yet?"

"No, not yet," Nishikata said. After a beat, he realized what he had said. "I mean - I'm not gonna get scared!" He could hear Takagi tittering on his right.

Ahead of them lay a narrow corridor, suspiciously featureless. Nishikata gave a cautious glance to Takagi to gauge her emotions. Unsurprisingly, she simply looked at him perfectly calmly but expectantly, half-smiling like an eager child watching a stage performance. He broke eye contact and began walking forward. Seconds had barely passed before he felt and heard a brush of breath dangerously close to his right ear. He yelped and jumped in panic. His face heated with anger and embarrassment as he heard Takagi's hearty laugh and realized it had simply been Takagi blowing in his ear. As Takagi's laughter subsided, she let out a happy sigh.

"I guess I win, huh?" She asked.

"No way!" Nishikata protested. "It doesn't count if you scare me!"

"No?" She echoed. After a pensive pause, she simply replied, "If you say so."

As if on cue, a wall panel behind Nishikata opened, revealing an elaborately wrapped mummy, who reached forward, grabbing Nishikata around his torso from behind and lifting him as he cried out in horror.

Takagi, who had seen the panel slowly begin to open beforehand, simply laughed and enjoyed Nishikata's reaction. After a moment of his distressed yelping and struggling to release himself, Takagi extended both her hands toward him.

"Here, let me help you," She offered. Thankful that it was too dark to see the embarrassment plastered on his face, Nishikata grabbed Takagi's hands. She pulled gracefully, and the mummy eventually relinquished its grip. Nishikata finally began to still his ragged breaths when his feet once again touched the floor.

"Does that one count?" Takagi asked smugly. Nishikata simply gritted his teeth and let his breathing slow. His defeat may have been set in stone, but he had not given up on his pride quite yet and so decided to trudge onwards down the hallway. After a few moments without incident, he spoke to Takagi without averting his gaze from the path ahead.

"You're really not scared?" He asked.

"Not really," She admitted. "I can kind of tell when something's about to happen."

"Really?" Nishikata's eyebrows raised, and he turned to look at her as they walked. "How can you tell?"

"If you look closely, you can see some of the traps," She explained calmly. "Like that net you're walking on."

Wordlessly, Nishikata looked down to confirm her quasi-warning, which no doubt had been given intentionally too late. A second later, he shrieked as he was hoisted into the air, ensnared in a rope net. Nishikata's face heated with embarrassment as his ears were filled with the reverberating sound of Takagi's raucous laughter.

A grueling hour of similar incidents had left the pair - especially Nishikata - famished, and so after they had made it through the haunted house, the two stopped by that restaurant next door for a mid-afternoon meal. If they left right afterwards, they'd make it back to the hotel just before sundown, which was when their teachers had instructed them to return.

Upon arriving at the nearby train station, an employee informed them that the southbound train was temporarily closed for maintenance, and that Nishikata and Takagi would have to take a five-minute walk east and catch the bus to return to the hotel.

After walking east for twenty minutes, it was clear the two of them were lost. Nishikata's phone was dead, and Takagi had left hers at the hotel. Afternoon turned to evening, and the sun had set. They had walked far enough eastward that the well-lit neon streets of Kyoto had turned to the dim and quiet suburbs at the foothills of the Hira Mountains, where the only light came from the windows of cozy homes. Nishikata and Takagi were left almost totally in the dark.

After the pair had decided to turn around and head west in the hope of finding their bus stop, they had fallen silent as they walked. Nishikata was not worried about being teased at this point. He reflected on how their games and Takagi's teasing seemed so inconsequential at a time like this, even when often times he had felt like finally winning against Takagi was the most important thing in the world.

He was plucked from his thoughts as he felt Takagi's hand gently wrap around his arm. Slightly startled, he looked to his left to see Takagi had drawn a bit closer, but still looked straight ahead. In the low light her expression was illegible.

"Takagi-san...?" Nishikata mumbled through his nervousness.

"Hmm?" Her voice came, her indecipherable visage still pointed ahead.

"What are you doing?" He asked, careful not to sound rude. For a moment, Takagi remained silent. Then, barely above a whisper, she spoke.

"I'm a little scared."

The words hit Nishikata like a freight train as he processed them. They echoed in his mind as his emotions waged a silent war. This was what he had always wanted, right? To see Takagi off her game? To finally have the upper hand and be the one to keep his composure? He had fantasized for months about taking Takagi down a peg. Day after day he had tried and failed to deal Takagi a checkmate. Hundreds of push-ups and hundreds of failures had led him to this moment. Takagi had laughed at him all day for being afraid, and here she was, prone like a cornered animal, staring down the proverbial barrel of his ridicule. He had earned every right to point it out - how the tables had turned, how when push came to shove he was the one who kept his cool.

But he couldn't. Of course he couldn't. In this moment, his heart cried out to him not to pounce, but to protect. He had wanted this, once. But not now. At least when she laughed at him she was smiling. At least when she reveled in his flustered reactions she was enjoying herself. This subdued and vulnerable Takagi was a stranger. What should he say?

"It's okay," he ventured. "I won't let anything bad happen."

Wordlessly, Takagi snaked her arm around his and her other hand found its place on his upper arm. She moved closer so that their bodies brushed together slightly as they walked. After several moments with no reply from Takagi, Nishikata wagered he'd done the right thing.

Shortly thereafter they found their bus. She didn't relinquish her tender grip until they reached the hotel. Upon reaching Takagi's room, she finally released Nishikata and turned to give him a grateful and humble smile.

"Thanks, Nishikata," she said. It was surreal to see Takagi in such a state, practically bowing to him. Without warning, she quickly leaned forward and planted a kiss on Nishikata's cheek. Stunned, Nishikata could hardly process what had happened before Takagi had slipped gracefully into her hotel room.

Nishikata returned to his own hotel room in a giddy stupor. His temporary roommates therein greeted him eagerly, no doubt having heard he spent the day with Takagi. What should he tell them? What should he do? What did it all mean? Takagi's speedy exit had left him totally in the dark.

For once he didn't regret what how he acted. For once he felt like he had said all the right things. Even though he had embarrassed himself, he was glad they went to that haunted house. He was glad the southbound train was closed. And he had never been happier to be completely confused.