He constantly scolded himself for looking at her the way he did.
His throat closed up when shadows lunged at her with their sickly-looking talons, or when columns of flame melted the soles of her school loafers and singed the hem of her skirt. Shinjiro imagined that she was small and frail; something that needed to be wrapped in tissue paper and kept safely inside a box somewhere out of reach.
He was wrong.
The cafe on the other side of Paulownia Mall was miraculously still open, and it wasn't long before they were each gripping a slightly-too-hot paper cup in their respective hands. Shinjiro found some amount of humor in the fact that she took her coffee the same way. If it was mostly milk and sugar, he seemed to remember once insisting that it wasn't really coffee anymore. A brief sideways glance from Minako dared him to say anything this time around, so he restrained himself.
Jokes could wait for later. Simply saying that they had 'a lot to talk about' could have been a joke in itself.
"I'm not even sure where to start…" Minako mused aloud, eyes scanning the ceiling as they strolled toward the large fountain placed in the center of the wide tile floor. The ceiling must not have had any answers for her, however, because she began apprehensively snapping the plastic lid of her coffee with a manicured nail. "It's like it would be impossible to sum it all up in one try. Do you know what I mean?"
"'Course I do," he assured her. If it was as simple as saying 'Why aren't you dead?', he would have done that already. "Let's, uh… try something out. I got more things to say than I could get out in one night, so we'll take it easy for now."
Her wandering eyes found his face again, holding a familiar, inherent curiosity that practically asked the follow up question for her.
"How do we do that?" She asked anyway, her casual gait slowing to a complete stop as they moved toward the rear of the mall. He took a few additional steps before stopping himself, turning and seeing her fully normal lighting for the first time.
It was Minako, alright, but she looked noticeably more mature in the way she dressed and carried herself. It would be wrong to imply that she ever looked particularly adolescent, though. He remembered thinking, in her last moments, that she appeared extraordinarily wise beyond her years.
Her hair was longer, but still pulled up in a manner that kept it out of her way. Her ponytail had a single, wide curve to it that he assumed was probably a very stylish look right now. She was wearing a blousy white shirt that tucked into a pair of high waisted black shorts, showing just enough skin that he was able to take a look at her necklace again.
The XXII was made of slightly tarnished silver, appearing to be a keepsake rather than a meticulously selected fashion accessory. He didn't know what it meant, but he was glad it caught his eye when it did.
"We start with easy questions," Shinjiro continued, suddenly and inexplicably self-conscious about his body language. His hands felt empty for some reason, and the space between them reinforced the idea that they were strangers. "Gimme your name, age, and tell me what you've been up to lately."
He should have expected the small laugh that she only barely managed to politely stifle, but it made his stomach do a flip regardless.
"Okay, okay. My name's Minako Arisato and I'm turning 21 soon. I graduated from Gekkokan High and I go to college nearby, even though my parents complain that I should have tried to get into a better school." Her voice wavered slightly as another laugh threatened to interrupt her answer, so she allowed herself to double over and giggle for a moment. "Ahaha, this feels like an interview, Aragaki-senpai. Please tell me that was enough!"
He gave a small nod, already noticing that his theory about Minako not being entirely the same seemed to have weight. He knew for a fact that her parents died when she was young because SEES was practically an exclusive club for orphaned assholes, with very few exceptions. But since she didn't have a reason to lie, he took it as the truth in this case.
"Yeah, that's a good start," he began slowly, taking a long drink of coffee as he considered how to continue. His coat was slung over his shoulder now, though they were both still way underdressed compared to the other mall patrons. It was winter, after all. "...You know my name already. I'm 22 and I work at Escapade. We never actually went to the same high school because I stopped going before you started. I thought of going back, but I got hurt and didn't manage to make it happen."
Shinjiro didn't like that she was frowning at him, but it was perfectly fair to put his side of the story out in the open as well. Regardless, watching her usually soft features turn stoic and pensive was a memory worth preserving for later. Any memories concerning him weren't particularly happy ones for most people, and he wasn't about to let himself forget that.
"Your watch broke… right?" Minako seemed unsure of herself, speaking more toward her coffee than him. He'd never seen someone get this somber over the state of a watch, but he could hear his heart beating in his eardrums as she continued. "I think it's sad, somehow. I know that's silly, but it makes me wish that I tried a little harder. Maybe I thought I fixed something for good, when I was really only halfway done."
He cleared his throat and let the silence linger, shuffling one foot against the scuffed tile floor.
Would someone really want to remember things that made them sad? It shouldn't have been Minako's job to fix someone that was missing pieces to begin with, but they were both stubborn. He hated that about himself and loved it about her.
"It was just a watch," he managed after a moment, turning to guide them toward the pair of heavy metal doors at the back of the mall. This was a strange conversation to be having around high school kids headed to karaoke. The alley behind the mall wasn't exactly cozy, but at least it would be private.
"Let's get some air."
Every member of SEES stood in a cluster outside of a hospital door, the oppressive gray walls seeming to slowly close in on them as time passed. The only thing keeping them from tears now was an overwhelming sense of numbness.
"How can something like this even happen?"
Yukari had been holding her face in her hands, finally breaking the quiet with what everyone thought was a rhetorical question. She looked up, scanning the faces of her friends with mascara smudged eyes that begged for an answer.
"How can she just... suddenly be dead? She was sixteen..!"
On a normal day, Shinjiro might have objected to standing around outside in the cold. It felt good, sure, but this was how people their age got sick. He thought about throwing his coat on, but that didn't seem fair considering whatever jacket Minako brought with her must have been back in the club.
She still hadn't said anything after they moved into the alley, instead opting to meander over to the opposite wall and gently press her fingertips against the dirty bricks. This behavior didn't particularly bother him. Certain locations just seemed to draw out her contemplative side.
"Let me know if you get cold, alright?" The silence wasn't so awful, but there were only so many hours in a day. It was probably nearly midnight at this point, and they weren't even close to being finished.
She merely offered up a small noise to acknowledge that she'd heard him at first, though a knowing smile slowly spread across her lips. It seemed she was done with contemplating for the time being.
"I almost forgot how much you worry about people." Minako turned back to him, clearly intending to skip playing coy and get straight to the teasing. "First you tell me to stay hydrated, now this? Some things don't change, Aragaki-senpai."
He scoffed. "No, they really don't. For example, I'm pretty sure that I told you to cut the 'senpai' shit out a long time ago." With a quick roll of his eyes, Shinjiro downed the rest of his coffee. The empty cup got tossed into a nearby garbage can. "You're not in school anymore, so quit it. Shinji's fine."
Minako tried to laugh, but her welcoming gaze shifted uncomfortably off to the side again. Her free hand hovered in front of her, hastily waving as if she intended to brush aside the comment before it even reached her.
"Isn't that a little… weird? I think I'd be too embarrassed." If she noticed that his brow had distinctly furrowed at that comment, she didn't act like it. "Maybe if we were a little closer back then, but… I mean, I appreciate that you'd let me call you that! I guess it's too familiar, that's all."
Shinjiro swallowed, but his throat was noticeably dryer than it had been a moment ago. He found himself wishing very badly that he could retreat to the bar for a new glass of water.
"Hang on," he began, taking care to keep any noticeable alarm out of his measured response. He took a tentative step forward, fists balled anxiously at his sides.
"What do you remember about us?"
Memento Mori. Remember you are mortal. Remember you will die.
For a split second, he thought that he might have asked a question the universe didn't want him to. Minako simply frowned and tilted her head, not seeming to notice the instantaneous shift in the atmosphere. A clock on the face of a nearby building chimed loudly, and the biting winter air turned uncomfortably humid.
The surfaces around them faded to an insipid shade of green, streaks of a ghastly red liquid crept into the seams between the pavement and down the walls surrounding them. As the clock chimed for the 12th time, Shinjiro gazed, wide-eyed, at the sky in disbelief.
Maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised. Even as every inch of his exposed skin prickled with cold sweat, he realized that this was only the second strangest thing that happened tonight. The Dark Hour stopped showing up once Nyx wasn't around to pull whatever maudlin bullshit she had been up to in the first place, but it was kind of fitting that it would reappear the same night Minako did.
A few labored breaths broke the eerie quiet that encompassed the city, and Shinjiro spun around to see yet another something he didn't quite expect.
Minako's knees shook gently for a moment, weight shifting so that her back was pressed against the wall behind her. Both hand hovered in front of her, curled and trembling as if they wanted desperately to stretch out further and touch something solid. Her chest heaved with each short gasp, as if the weight of the world was once again resting on her willowy shoulders.
"Hey." He moved toward her and laid a hand firmly on her upper arm, alarmed by her sudden, perplexing collapse inward. He stepped into the shallow puddle of coffee in front of her, which meant that she must have dropped her cup while the clock was still chiming. "Hey. Look at me, Minako. It's fine. This is… Uh, it's…"
Not very easy to explain, in fact. He searched her face for any clue on what to say to make this better, and their eye contact became intensely magnetic. For some strange reason, she looked younger now. Wetness prickled the corner of her eyes, which were round with distress. One of her hands gripped at the crook of his elbow, squeezing hard.
"I-I remember…" she gasped, trying make the protesting muscles in her legs cooperate so that she could stand straight again. "Why didn't I realize…? Shinji, it's really you…"
It was scary to watch her struggle like that. Shinjiro felt every little bit of air leave his lungs at once, and a hollow, pained laugh scraped his throat on the way out. It was all he could do to throw his other arm out to pull her tightly to his chest.
He'd only managed to hold her like this once before.
"It doesn't matter," he muttered hoarsely, indulgently burying his face in her hair. She was just as warm as he remembered, and maybe a little bit taller. He hadn't noticed that part until now. "You really had to make me worry, though, huh? Things can never be simple when it comes to you."
She laughed into his shirt, and it made him squeeze her tighter.
"Don't be mean." Her reply came through a small sob, her hands slipping up against his chest so that she could gently push them back apart. As much as Shinjiro didn't want to let go, he also wanted to keep looking at her. "I don't know how I got here, but it probably wasn't easy. Can't you just be happy to see me?"
He answered by quickly leaning down, pressing his dry lips firmly to her soft ones. His eyes fell shut while his hands moved upward to tenderly cup her face.
It didn't last as long as he wanted it to. As he pulled away he noticed that she tasted like that lemon wedge she was chewing not 30 minutes ago.
"I don't do 'happy' too well. You know that." There were too many unanswered questions for them to be at 'happy' already, but this would be close enough for a little while. "Guess it's my turn to say we've got a whole hell of a lot to talk about, huh?"
Minako had small fistfuls of his shirt in her hands, and she was beaming unabashedly up at him.
He never noticed how beautiful the Dark Hour really was.