Her eyes sparkled with mischief, as if she was fully confident in her ability to bewitch me with her feminine charms. She approached me with slow, deliberate movements. This must have been her idea of a sexy stride, but obviously she had no experience with trying to look seductive. Despite her awkwardness, that impish smile remained on her face; the triumphant smirk of someone utterly convinced that she had me under her spell.

"What's the matter~?" she said in her best attempt at a teasing tone. "Too captivated by the cute lil' devil to say anything?"

I stared at her blankly for a few seconds, trying to figure out what exactly she was hoping to achieve.

"Is it Halloween already?" I asked, taking in her costume. "...Cute horns." I poked one of them, feeling the texture of cheap plastic underneath my finger. Then I moved my hand to rest on her head, giving her a little pat. The gesture made her cheeks flush slightly.

"Ah! O-oh!" she stammered. "Um... thank you."

She tilted her head down shyly, not meeting my gaze, which only served to make her even more adorable. She obediently let me pat her head for a bit before she started to puff her cheeks up in a childish display of annoyance. She was glaring at me now.

"Hmph! You think I'm cute now? Wait until you see what I'll do to you later!" she declared. "I won't hold back! I promise you, I'll go all out!"

"Uh, okay..." She was kinda cute with her antics, and I had to suppress a smile. I didn't want to encourage her any further. I turned my attention to the game console. "Anyway, I bought this new game I want to try. Wanna join? I'm sure you'd love it."

As I set it up, I could see her out of the corner of my eye, giving me an annoyed look. She seemed like she wanted to object, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she just sulked over to the couch, sitting down beside me. She watched me play for a while, occasionally making some comment about some aspect of the game, but her usual enthusiasm for video games was lacking. Instead, she kept stealing glances at me. I ignored her. Whatever silly little scheme was hatching in that head of hers, I wanted nothing to do with it.

I was about halfway through the first level and was starting to get into it, and I almost didn't notice Aoba moving closer to me.