AN: Welcome to the second part of He who time forgot. It's been nearly a month since the original upload, and I finally found the inspiration to continue. I'll quickly reply to the comments from the last one.
Child-of-God16: I will take it into consideration.
Emilia Setsuya: Glad you liked it. About the rushed start of the meeting, I get where you are coming from, but I chose it as the catalyst, and must work around that fact. I will also say that the human psyche is fickle, and not all is necessarily as it seems.
Onwards with the story. (wordcount: 1,214)
"Speech" "whisper" "Yell/Scream" thought highlighted word
PART 2
Bridal aspirations
(docodemo, a week later)
Rika Susuki sat in the break-room with a pensive look on her face. She was thinking back on the hectic week it had been and it all started in a certain MgRonald's in Tokyo:
"Where is my dad!"
The second time Emi had asked the question, her voice had been noticeably frantic. Maou had looked at her with deep concern. His voice gentle as he asked a question of his own.
"Didn't you say he died, Emi?"
This had surprised Rika, who had only heard that Emi's parents were out of the country. The brunette had never heard about the deceased father, since she didn't want try pry too much on her friend's personal life.
"I did, but I'm sure it was him. He was exactly as I remember him, in every aspect."
Maou, who unlike Rika, apparently went quite back with Emi tried his best at wrapping his head around the conundrum.
"Well… you never actually saw he died, right? Maybe survived somehow…"
Rika interjected, reasonably so in a normal person's opinion.
"Why would someone try to persuade Emi into thinking her dad is dead?"
The black-haired MgRonald's employee pondered on it for a while. There was a tense silence between the three of them. This was also the reason none of them noticed Chiho coming over.
"Um Maou is something the matter, you guys are scaring the other costumers"
It was only then they realized where they'd been discussing this. Maou, currently the one in charge, since Kisaki had taken the day off due to illness and dealing with the creepy manager of SFC, lead the two ladies to the break-room. When they entered Emi was the one to start up again
"Maou, you were at the register can't you describe him? If it wasn't him who could it have been?"
His answer was disappointing to Emi, to say the least that much was clear to Rika. He hadn't seen much besides the back of his head, as it was Emi who faced Maou. This was sadly, to some extent, Rika's own fault. She had all but insisted her friend should sit facing the cash-register, and coincidentally Maou as well.
Rika was forced out of her reverie by some movement. In front of her stood the tall, and in her own opinion, quite handsome Shirō Ashiya. Just a week ago he would never had been spotted near the Docodemo building, let alone the complaint-department's break-room, but ever since the incident at MgRonald's he had come with daily reports to Emi.
Even though they had been bitter rivals in the past, Maou and his friends helped searching high and low. One of them, whom Rika never had met, was apparently quite tech-savvy and was currently searching all digitalized public records. Even so the only thing to report was nothing new, but this meant Rika and Ashiya had seen each other a lot lately.
"ah good day miss Susuki, have you seen miss Yusa around?"
The brunette felt her cheeks ever so slightly warming as she must've been staring blankly at him for minutes.
"Oh-h, no I haven't actually. She had a difficult costumer just before our break, and she hasn't come around yet. Please sit while we wait!"
Thanking her as he did, he looked at her before lowering his voice.
"Still no news on the parental front, but there is something I would like another person's observations on. What is your opinion on miss Yusa and Maou's relationship?"
This question came completely out of a left field to Rika. What could have made him ask that of all things? Sure she had given the subject some thought herself, but the first time she had met him he had made it clear that there was no such relationship.
"How come you asked me about that? Surely you could just ask Maou himself, or Emi for that matter."
"surely you jest miss Susuki. You know how they get when the topic is brought up… A week ago my answer would have been the same as at SFC, but now I am not so sure."
There was certainly some truth to what he said. The upheaval to the daily routine, the supposedly return of Emi's dad was, had changed the dynamic between her and Maou profoundly. Ashiya kept going on about his recent observations on the matter, but Rika could barely focus. His voice was so soothing, making the brunette calm and relaxed, thus paving the way for her imagination to take over her thoughts.
At first they were innocent enough. Thinking he was a very considerate friend, caring this much about not only Maou, but Emi as well. He even chose confer with an associate of Emi's since he knew it was a touchy subject for the two lovebirds.
Then it became a full-on daydream about going on dates with the blonde. To the cinema to watch romcoms, walking in the park and having a picnic, or just staying when the weather was less than ideal. Rika then thought about what Ashiya had inquired her about, and a devious plan was hatched concerning the future in the world of her daydream.
After her imagination had conjured up a scenario where she and Ashiya were currently engaged, more as a result of her plan, than an immediate longing to get married, the scheme was set in motion.
It was clear that Maou would be the blonde's best-man; therefore it was only natural to pair that with Emi as the maid-of-honor. It was all but an official rule that the bridesmaid and the best-man would end up sleeping together. Rika pictured them opening the dance floor staring longingly in to each other's eyes, not paying mind to the filling of said floor. During the party their attraction would culminate in a kiss… and just as the night neared its end they, would tell Ashiya and Rika that they would start dating. The thought made her smile with glee (which most onlookers in the real world would describe as: eerily creepy)
"Rika what are you doing?"
The brunette stared at Emi for a second, still caught up in her daydream, before answering.
"No, nothing! Hey Emi Ashiya was here to report to you…but it seems he has left."
The red-head had a look of concern painted on the face.
"I know that, but how did you know? He went straight to my cubicle, and after everything was said and done he made a beeline for the exit. That's why it took me so long"
Rika was completely perplexed; he had just sat across from her talking about Emi and Maou, but it didn't match what Emi had experienced at all.
"B-but he was right here! He said he couldn't find you, and I told him that you were still dealing with a costumer, a-and we talked about you and Maou! What is happening, Emi? Is someone pranking us?"
To the hero of Ente Isla it didn't sound like a mere prank, and it certainly didn't sound like a stunt a normal human-being could pull off either. This was the work of magic, and not one Emi was familiar with. Which begged the question angel or demon? Friend or foe?
AN: This marks the end of part 2 in He who time forgot I hope you liked it. Sorry for the short upload. I found this part surprisingly hard to write, since I am not well versed in romance or weddings, but here it is at last.
I hope that the next part will come out faster than this. As you can see the perspective changes, which is why I wasn't comfortable using the term chapter. The next will feature everyone's favorite fallen angel as POV.
See you in the next one
One-of-Stone out.
