Inverted Social
The next morning after that tough first day brings little peace to Shido's mind. He is the first to wake up this morning and his first sight is of Tohka's sleeping form next to him, but she seems relaxed compared to her distrusting demeanor from her first time in this form. With no signs of her immediately waking up, Shido takes extra caution with getting up. He does his best to avoid doing anything noisy or touching her which could cause her to wake up. After getting out of the bed successfully, Shido takes a sigh of relief but notices he took some of the blankets off of Tohka so he puts over her again to keep her warm.
He silently exits the room, takes a deep breath, and says to himself "Okay, time for breakfast."
He makes his back to his kitchen to start breakfast for himself and Tohka and he makes sure to keep an open ear for Kotori while he makes his meal. He decides to change things up as he takes out some general ingredients for crepes after feeling a little adventurous. He needs a recipe for this one, but he has a cook book.
Aboard the Fraxinus, Kotori and the crew are eating instant breakfast from a convenience store as they watch Shido cook a breakfast from scratch. Kotori drools a little at seeing her brother making something with so much love. The fact that they were the ones who provided the ingredients aren't helping their cases right now for good food.
Kotori finishes her mediocre breakfast and makes contact with her brother with the plan for the day. She gets a hold of Shido while he cooks breakfast and explains to him "Shido, we're going to have you take Tohka on a date today, and be sure to only take her to the places we say, we don't want any of the wrong people talking to her. If she perceives anything as a threat, a deception, or an obstacle, we might deal with a disaster."
Shido, listening with his earpiece, nods and fully understands this date. He finishes the crepes as he puts some chocolate on them. His masterful breakfast is complete, but realizing that Kotori is watching him does make him feel bad.
He puts his hand to his face and tells Kotori "I'll leave some more for you later, Kotori. I'm really sorry about this."
Kotori blushes a little on the other side, but keep her focus. She puts in a lollipop and stands up from her chair as she declares "Alright, everyone, we got the most important date to get through, so don't screw it up!" as she raises her hand.
The other members join in her enthusiasm, but then something already goes screwy. Tohka's happiness meter is already decreasing before they can even look at the camera. They look at the screen and see Tohka awake and visibly angry.
"Filthy liar…" she mutters angrily under her breath with a dark aura around her.
Kotori swiftly gets to make her words "Shido, Tohka is getting upset and we don't know why."
Shido is caught off guard but understands that he needs to get to Tohka as he runs and trips over a chair and falls down but gets up and runs to his room. Tohka sees him run into the room and immediately calms down.
She actually has tears in her eyes as she calmly says "You didn't abandon me…" and begins sobbing a bit.
Shido runs to Tohka in a panic "Are you okay, Tohka? Are you hurt?" he asks in a slight panic.
Tohka smiles and replies "I thought you abandoned me. When I woke up and you weren't here, I thought you had just left." She then grabs Shido in a crushing hug.
Her meter goes back up, a little more in fact, as Shido gasps for breath for a minute. The crew aboard the Fraxinus takes collective breaths from that very close call. But this also means another thing; Tohka is more sensitive in this form than they noticed apparently. But at least this means Shido got a little further into the mission.
Shido and Tohka eat breakfast while Kotori feeds the locations to Shido without him making any responses to make Tohka suspicious. Once he's finished listening to Kotori, he has to run the plans by Tohka to make it seem more natural to her. Though it is ironic seeing as how he actually isn't being all the genuine with the planning at all, he still has to sell to her.
While eating, Shido gets Tohka's attention "Hey, Tohka, would you like to do something with me today?" he asks as sincerely as he can.
Tohka takes a bite, and simply replies bluntly "No, not really."
With that blunt disregard for the idea, the crew is wondering how they're going to pull anything off, so they get Shido to be more persistent.
Shido thinks for a second and thinks of something as he says "Tohka, I really want you to go somewhere with me. I mean, I promised to never leave your side, but I really want to show you how wonderful this city can be. Just come with me to the shopping center and we'll do anything you want while we're there, no matter what it is."
Tohka puts down her fork, thinks for a second, and nods to Shido "Very well, Shido. If will be persistent, then I'll do what you want. But I am holding to that promise. If I find something that I want to do, you WILL do it." She explains.
Shido can't help but feel threatened by Tohka's statement, but this is good because he's got her to go with him. But he signals to the ship with his hands to NOT include that hotel from before since Tohka will demand it if she sees it, considering what happened last time she saw it. Kotori agrees that if Shido isn't comfortable with it, then don't include it where Tohka can see it.
After breakfast, Shido and Tohka prepare for their day together with Tohka simply wearing her dress from yesterday with the addition of sandals for her footwear to avoid possible sharp objects. Shido is lucky to take the lead since it is "his" idea that they go out.
Shido wears clean clothes and steadies his nerves before they go out on a carefully laid out map to their destinations without any distractions or any interesting looking places. The plan is going smoothly as they walk around plain buildings, see very few people, and avoid places with interesting smells or sounds.
But then, something happens a little-unexpected issue, Shido has to really use the bathroom. He and Tohka stop by a nearby building, a general store, and he goes inside to use the restroom. But he promises Tohka that he'll be back within ten minutes or less, which she doesn't like but allows.
Aboard the Fraxinus, the crew has sent people to the location to make it as smooth as possible. But Kotori keeps her eyes glued to the screen and on Tohka. Kannazuki does the same more or less but has interesting ideas of what to say.
He rubs his chine slightly "I think we should test her sensitivity." He suggests.
Kotori looks at him with a grin "Yeah, and what do you suggest we do then?" she replies.
Kannazuki just bluntly states "I think he should ask her what color her pan…" but before he can finish, Kotori already has two large guys cover his mouth with six layers of black tape. Clearly, Kannazuki's plans are very very dumb for this situation.
As Kotori looks angrily at her idiotic subordinate, she takes her eyes off the screen and when she turns back, Tohka is off-screen. This isn't good as Kotori and others look around for Tohka to keep her calm, but they aren't prepared for what happens next.
In the streets, Tohka is being signaled at by a shady man with a hoodie with a table in front of him. He has three cups and rubber ball on the table with a shady grin on his face.
He begins messing with the cups by rearranging them in different orders "Find the ball, win a prize, lose then pay the price. What do you say, lady?" he asks in a shaky tone.
Tohka takes a slight interest in this game "Very well, human. I will play this game of yours."
The man begins by placing the ball under the cup and them begins shuffling them very fast, but Tohka's eyes seem to able to tell where the cup with the ball under it is. The crew aboard the Fraxinus becomes nervous because they didn't plan on this and really hope that this guy isn't a con artist, but he most likely is.
Tohka continues to watch and even notices something as the man swiftly lifts a cup slightly and removes the ball very quickly. Any other person wouldn't notice this, but Tohka does.
The finishes and crosses his arms "So, which cup is it under?"
Tohka looks at the man and points at him "It's under your clothes on the left arm." She answers.
"No, it's under a cup, so you got to pick one of those." He replies with a smirk."
Tohka reaches over, grabs his arm, and begins squeezing it with a cold aura around her "I said, it's under your clothes, you lowlife." She threateningly states as she tightens her grip and the sounds of bones cracking echoed.
"Hey, I was just kidding…Lady" the replies in a panic.
Tohka squeezes tighter and throws him against a wall and the ball falls out of his sleeve like Tohka thought and this makes her more irritated "I don't appreciate your deception, human. You tried to trick me!"
The man cowers against the wall with his arm very much broken. Shido finishes in the bathroom and he hears a screech on his earpiece and listens up.
"Shido, Tohka's pissed off and someone is in big danger!" Kotori shouts in his ear.
Shido panics a little and runs to where Tohka is, which isn't very far. He sprints like crazy to where she is and the sight he sees isn't one he is fond of. Tohka has her sword out and points it at the conman. Then, Shido hears a familiar plea.
"Help! Please! She's a monster! You have to help me! Please, don't let her kill me!" the man pleads upon seeing Shido.
Shido remembers those exact words from a victim of Kurumi's and remembers that horrible sight he witnessed, but Tohka is the one who is making the horrible scene. But this time, Shido won't have it.
He runs to Tohka, who about swing her sword down at the man, and grabs Tohka's arm in mid-swing "Tohka, don't do it, please!" he begs her.
The man stands up and runs away from Tohka, who struggles with Shido until gets out of his grip and then punches him in the chest hard enough to get him to cough up a little blood and crash into the wall cracking it in the process.
Tohka is visibly upset as her body glows black "You dare take the side of that filth, Shido!? He tried to trick me, he tried to…" she angrily states, but is interrupted when Shido stands and hugs her.
"Of course not, Tohka, you're way more important to me that guy will ever be. But I can't let you hurt people like this. I can't see that again." Shido replies earnestly.
Tohka calms down slightly "Then why did you let that filth get away from me? I don't think him a person like you apparently do." She wonders still.
Hearing this, Shido realizes that it isn't just humans that Tohka distrusts now, but just the people around her, the ones he's tried so hard to hide her from or hide them from her. Upon realizing this, Shido thinks of a new plan. Shido takes out his earpiece to the shock of the Ratatoskr crew, who are wondering what he's up to.
Tohka puts herself back under control and puts her hands on Shido to ask him something very important "Shido, you chose a human life over my wishes, and I don't know how to think of that. But looking at it deeply, I see why you did it. But I made it explicit to you that I wanted MY way, not yours. So, Shido, how will you make it up to me?"
Shido can only respond "Whatever you want, Tohka. But I won't let you hurt people, no matter how shady or crooked they are."
Tohka grabs Shido by the hand and begins leading him to a place that she saw during their brief walk to the original point. Shido is really wondering where she is taking him, as well as the Ratatoskr crew since they checked their maps carefully.
Kotori pulls up their location and traces back where they started and has an idea "What the crap!" she blurts out as she realizes where Tohka might be going.
The crew members look at the map as well and look to see a hotel with hearts on the sign and are confused. They made their map using a downloaded template online yesterday since they needed to quicker than normal. Kannazuki downloaded it himself. Until Kotori realizes that the date on the map is from ten years ago. Kotori then gets on the line with Kannazuki and orders a more severe punishment for him.
Back in the streets, Shido and Tohka arrive at the hotel, like Kotori predicted. Shido is beyond words as his jaw drops open in shock at where Tohka has brought him. She approaches the door while practically dragging Shido, who can't say anything at the moment. Realizing that things would be simply easier if she just warped them into a private area, Tohka uses her power to take them to a dark room with a faint pink light.
Shido manages to walk to a bed and looks around nervously in the room and finds a bunch of heart stuff and candles. He has no idea why Tohka picked this place.
Tohka then produces a photo and explains "Last night, I woke up before you did and went looking at your belongings to see if you had anything worth talking about or maybe to remember anything. I found this before going back to sleep."
She shows Shido the photo and it's of that time Tohka took a picture of herself in the photo booth, the one Shido was absolutely shocked to see (you know what I'm talking about). She sits next to him with a blush and further explains "Shido, I could assume you took advantage of me or that you're a perverse man, but if I'm the girl you talked about, the one who's in this photo, then perhaps it is I who desired you in that time. I don't know why, but even I feel like that's what I want."
Shido lowers his head sadly "But, Tohka, I don't feel like I'm ready for that. Even for you I…", he tries to say, but Tohka puts her lips to his again. She interrupts his talk about not being ready yet.
She pulls away and tells Shido "I want this, Shido. I want to see if you're really the man that girl wanted so badly."
Tohka's aura begins emitting again and then Shido begins feeling a little feverish and things go dizzy, and then the two kiss again, but Shido feels different than before, less resistant. The ratatoskr crew turns their cameras away and leaves the two alone, much to Kotori's absolute shock. But, to everyone's relief, Tohka's meter goes up almost to max.