A/N: Okay, serious question; you know the auditorium in the cutscenes? Yeah, well where on earth is that located? I ran around the school like twice looking for it and am still drawing blanks as to where it's actually located. Theories? Haha kidding, but it is something to wonder about. DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ATLUS OR ANY CHARACTERS OR THIS TOTALLY AWESOME SONG FROM A VERY POTTER SEQUEL.
I've finally made it
I've hoped and I've waited
and for the first time in my life, I don't feel so alone
-AVPS
"I'm going now." Slipping on his shoes Hidetoshi made for the door quickly before his mother took the opportunity to get all sentimental again. As of late she had been all teary eyed about him growing up; and the clinginess was most unbecoming, so he was doing his best to avoid her. Besides, the tears weren't for him; they were due to the woman realizing that she was getting old. Oh thank god he had thought that rather than said it out loud; age was always a very sensitive subject around the short, unbelievably perky, woman. Really now, one would think that she still thought of herself as the same person she was in high school. But, now that she had a child who was going to be graduating in a year, that illusion was shattered. However he could not help but be curious as to how she was justifying his existence for all these years. He had been a teenager for a while now; was he just some random boarder that lived in one of the upstairs bedrooms? Oh well, she could do whatever she so pleased, he was not too concerned with the woman's mental breakdown, she was going to have to face reality at some point.
Bag slung over his shoulder and hand in his pants pocket the boy tried hard to smile at the people passing by. It had been noted, on multiple occasions, that he often walked with a scowl on his face and that was not exactly the way he wanted to present himself to the world. But, perhaps, awkward smiles were worse for a few people stared at him uncomfortably. So, with an annoyed sigh he returned to his grumpy frown. Screw those people; they weren't worth smiling at anyways. Let's see them prove themselves first, then he would respect them enough to waste time trying to look pleased to see them. Besides, it was not as though they smiled at him every day. Well, the couple who owned the bookstore always did, but they were a separate case. Besides, it did not take a genius to know that he, therefore, had to stop and say hello when they did so. And, although it was convenient, he did not have a real problem with asking them about their morning and wishing them a nice day. It was not as though he could not spare the three minutes tops; so what if it sometimes caused him to run a bit behind schedule, Minako would do the same thing if she had to walk by them. Hell, she would probably take them out for tea to talk and end up coming late; but he wasn't quite that considerate.
Maiko, the shrine seemed far duller without her. He had not seen her in months; perhaps her parents really had gotten that divorce and she was forced to move. That would be awful, having your parents spilt up at such a young age; he wouldn't wish such a fate on anyone. Not to mention that she was so upset at the very thought of them terminating their marriage, how was she taking this? The pigtail sporting girl had seemed like the dramatic, and emotional, type; oh how he hoped she had not done anything drastic. But, even if she had, he was almost certain that there would have been someone to come to her aid or stop her. That was the strange thing about life. You were always surprised by the people that let you down but, likewise, you were often surprised by those who lifted you up. At least that was what he read on a greeting card once; he wasn't that sure how accurate a portrayal of real life it was. Still, he had been disappointed by the man he was supposed to look up to admire, and a little puppy, though he really needed to stop thinking about her like that, had somehow changed him for the better. Ha, what a joke.
As the coal haired boy headed through the gates he noted that the sangria haired girl was nowhere to be seen. That was strange, was she running late? Checking his cellphone Hidetoshi noted that, somehow, he was the late one; three minutes and twenty seven seconds late to be precise. Still, she normally waited no matter how late he was running; especially now that the weather was warm again. Oh well, she probably just got caught up in all the excitement; it was her first last-day at Gekkoukan, so it was understandable. Yes, she probably just went in with Junpei and Yukari and, once she realized that she had forgotten to wait, it was too late to bother going back out. That made perfect sense; she was far too clever to completely forget their schedule altogether. Schedules were the things dreams were made of; well, not really, but they were definitely wonderful. One always knew what was going to happen and, because of that, could anticipate the other's actions and respond appropriately. It was far better than playing things by ear. As previously stated he despised surprises, be they good or bad. Even if something horrible was going to happen he would still want to know in advance so he could get everything out of the way first.
As he walked through the doors to the school a smiling brunette seemed to come out of nowhere and nearly gave him a heart attack. "Yo!" Ugh, what a terribly annoying way to start the day. Not that he minded Keisuke's sudden interception, but he hated that one word greeting. What was it, some shortened form of the word you? It was only three letters, why bother shortening it? Not to mention that it seemed terribly rude to greet someone by saying 'you', it showed a complete lack of respect for their name. However, after ages of calling him Hide-chan, the boy doubted his friend had any respect left for his name anyways. It was a pity too; Hidetoshi used to be so proud of how sophisticated and suave it sounded. "You just missed the girl, she headed upstairs with Blondie. I thought you said they weren't friends anymore." Wait, she was with Aigis? Of course, she was the only blonde girl in the entire school; hell, he hadn't actually seen another natural blonde before so she sort of stuck out in a crowd. Not to mention that she walked a bit stiffly and had an 'intimidating aura' as the girl who sat next to him put it. Still, he didn't think they were; but it was good that they had resolved whatever issues they might have had. They were so close during January; it was horrible to see such a close friendship be so abruptly ended.
He merely shrugged his shoulders in response. There was no way that he could be expected to know every little detail about her social life the moment it happened. Give it an hour thought and everything was fair game; she was always more than willing to talk, unfortunately he could never even dream of retaining all that mindless friendship garbage. He respected her for trying so hard, but it was like she was trying to obtain the deepest level of friendship with everyone she came in contact with; was that even healthy? "We should give them some time alone together." The brunette boy seemed hesitant though; as though there was something else he wanted to say but could not being himself to do it. If he was going to make some comment judging Hidetoshi's choices or actions he was seriously going to punch the boy in the face. He seemed to have a problem with everything the two of them did, but only voiced his complaints to the one who had to listen. It was ridiculous, what was he, the head of their couple's therapy or something? "Or do you want to go stalk them and make us late for the closing ceremony?" That got him going and they were soon filing in with the rest of the school.
The auditorium was broken into three main section with a ridiculous number of rows of chairs in each. Honestly, were there even this many students in the school? How many classrooms were there; surely not enough to fill up anything larger than the gym? But hey, if they wanted to make a spectacle of a speech from the girl whose father paid for the school then fine, whatever, who was he to call them out on these things? Not that he was insinuating that Mitsuru did not know how to give a speech, on the contrary, she was very inspiring to listen to. Yet he could not help but wonder if she would still be up there talking if she had a different last name. As the mob of people dispersed to different sections he nodded towards the back left corner. Keisuke always had trouble sitting still, and of course they were going to end up talking through it, so it was probably best to avoid sitting close to anyone who might want to actually listen. As predicted, the moment the girl opened her lips, the brunette began talking. "Oh maaaan we're almost seniors. Seriously, Hide-chan, today is going to change everything."
A proud, not too arrogant, smile flickered across the boy's lips as he ran a hand through his slicked back hair. "You know, I've been thinking the same exact thing." They were going to be superior to the rest of the school and nothing anyone said or did could change that. There was a certain prestige that came with being a senior; and he planned to make sure he tried his hardest, and did his best, every single day. The time to plan for the future was today. If he wanted to make a difference then he would have to push his limits now. Beside him Keisuke looked so excited, so ambitious, but was that what this feeling, bubbling in his lower ribcage once more, was? He knew everything was bound to change… however he was not sure it was for the better. Sure the school status part was wonderful, and it would be great to work towards a real cause now, but there was still something he felt as though he was missing. Whatever, his friend was slightly wrong; sure some things were going to change, but what really mattered would always stay the same. It just had to.
xx
"This is so boring." Keisuke whispered after she had been talking for about a half hour. True it was terribly dull, right now Mitsuru was explaining the importance of more values and having your own code of ethics; but the brunette clearly was not listening. After a few minutes he had broken out his cellphone and now appeared to be consumed with a never ending game of Tetris. Was there even a way to win that? As far as he knew you just kept adding blocks until you reached the top so, even if you could find a way to make all the pieces fit together, wouldn't you still loose in the end? All that work just to fail; it sounded terrible. What sort of masochistic person would want to play a game like that? Sure you might get really involved in it, but it still brought nothing but grief. Not that he really minded his friend's choice in games; but the constant clicking was becoming more than slightly annoying. Their conversation had died long so so now all he heard was a mix of a boring lecture and the incessant 'tak' sound. If it continued for much longer there was a very good chance that Hidetoshi was going to smash the blasted phone.
A drawn out sigh escaped his pursed lips as he glanced at the clock. "Only two more hours and we can go home." Two more hours, what on earth were they going to do? Surely her speech could not go on much longer. And the principal; well all he was good for was summarizing what she said and calling it his own, so that couldn't take too long. All in all they would probably be left with an hour and fifteen minutes remaining; what would they be expected to do then? With no one left to talk it would make sense if they dismissed them early but, of course, they would not be let off that easily. Last time this happened the teachers had to resort to 'reflection circles' where the classes had to break off into small groups and, as the title suggested, reflect upon what had occurred over the course of the year. If that was not a waste of time the disciplinarian didn't know what was. All that happened was the girls used it to bitch one another out in front of everyone, claiming how everything was fine until so and so did this and so and so kissed who, how annoying.
Closing the phone and placing it back in his pocket Keisuke gave him a thumbs up. What, did he beat it or something? God damn, he wanted to see how such a task was accomplished! At this rate he was going to have to go home and google it. What a stupid term 'google it'; a few years ago you would have been seen as crazy if you said it to someone, yet now it was just another part of everyday conversation. "Yeah, wanna do something after?" Ehh, they had just hung out two days ago and, although he really did enjoy hanging out with the boy, he sort of wanted to start the break with Minako. However she was probably preoccupied with catching up with Aigis now, so maybe it was best to just leave her be this afternoon. It was fine, they needed time to resolve their issues; he knew she would do the same if he and Keisuke were ever in a similar position. "I was thinking a movie or something." It had begun to dawn on him as of late that there really was nothing much to do in Port Island or Iwatodai City; what a dull world they lived in.
"Sure." He replied nonchalantly, drawing forth a questioning look from the glasses wearing boy. "I've actually started to enjoy them." But that was only if he could find some real world value in the plot concept; otherwise he still viewed films as rubbish that would only further to promote ignorance in the general public. "Besides, I know how you won't take me to see anything terrible." The words came out threatening; but he intended them to. If it was another nature documentary on penguins he was going to wring the boy's neck. Goodness, he had a lot of pent-up aggression, perhaps he needed to seek a new outlet for all of this. Normally he just threw himself into his studies but, now that finals were over, he really had nothing to do but sit back and pick at the flaws of others. Maybe he should take up that Tetris game; kidding of course, he would be far too enraged by the fact that, in winning, you actually lost. There had to be a clear line between a good ending and a bad, otherwise it was not worth his time. Perhaps he could try a sport; no, that would never work, he was far too intelligent to spend all his time with people like Kaz.
Crossing his arms over his chest the boy muttered something to himself that, probably, was unkind and directed at Hidetoshi. As he raised an eyebrow however the boy quickly straightened up and waved his hands in front of his face. "I just said 'fine, way to take all the fun out of going', jeez." Hm, perhaps he should have thought about perusing a law career, he did seem to have the ability to make people talk…that was the phrase, right? Or was it sing? He felt like it had something to do with singing and canaries, but that seemed highly illogical. When would a bird ever be on trial; who had heard of something so ridiculous? No matter, he had chosen a more down to earth profession and was not about to go changing his mind now. Besides, it could be useful if a student was ever accused of cheating in his class. "Well, what do you want to see?" That was a good question; what was playing? He was not fond of any of the normal genres but, depending on the circumstance, he could be persuaded into going to an adventure movie. It needed to have historical evidence to back it up though with some action mixed in and, of course, minimal romantic scenes. Those always ruined a movie; no exceptions.
So what would he like to see? "You not wearing that hideous plaid shirt for starters." Every single time they went to the movies he wore that awful flannel; honestly, they lived in the city, what sort of statement was he trying to make? Not to mention the god-awful belt buckle that just screamed 'I'm too busy playing computer games to get a girlfriend'. He thought about his comment though, then re-worded it to seem less cruel. "Well, I suppose you can wear it if you don't button it all the way and un-tuck it from your pants. Honestly now." Sure he was not that big into fashion, and never knew the latest styles or trends, but that was definitely not an outfit Keisuke should be wearing out. Not to mention that he liked to dress at least somewhat nice and that only caused them to look strange when they went out together. It was like he intentionally had to dress down when he went out with his friend and that took a good deal more effort than he was willing to put forth into selecting an outfit. He grabbed a shirt, pants, and a jacket; that was it, nothing more should ever be expected of him.
This comment actually caused his friend to frown, discontent clearly written on his face. "You're relentless." But, after a moment of Hidetoshi not backing down, he sighed. "I guess we could go to the mall then. Maybe there you'll find something I can wear without you being embarrassed to be seen in public with me." Exchanging grins the two boys broke into a laugh that caused them to get the finger on the lips hush signal from the girl two rows ahead. Obviously they were the reason she could not pay attention to the speech and it had nothing to do with the phone in her hands. Really now, if she was going to try to scold them for causing a disturbance she should have at least put that thing away first. Or, better yet, she could have set it to silent before this whole thing even began. He heard it vibrate every thirty seconds; what was it with that vibration notification anyways? The phone was in her hand, all she had to do was look down every few minutes to see if she had a message waiting, was that signal really necessary? "But seriously man, what's wrong with my shirt? Green, blue, and red go pretty well together."
With another chuckle, this time louder just to spite that girl, he leaned back in his seat. "Whatever you say Keisuke, whatever you say." He was fortunate to have a friend who also took pleasure in mocking those who brought attention to themselves for, as he tried to actually listen to what was being said, the boy next to him was rolling up tiny pieces of paper and chucking them at Ms. Cellphone's head. The only thing that would have made the situation better was if Keisuke could actually aim. Of course, he was doing about as good as could be expected of one who never participated in a single gym class. "Aim high, that way when it falls it might make it." He piped up; physics was not his strong point, but it was obvious that his friend needed to change his strategy if he ever wanted to hit more than the back of her chair. A few moments, and multiple attempts later, a small ball landed in the mess of hair she seemed to think passed as a suitable bun. Though they were too old to high-fives anymore the boys exchanged glances that did the action for them.
xx
An hour later the two boys had contemplated every method of suicide possible, and several that were quite impossible given the limits of gravity and shortcomings in time-travel technology. It was when they finally decided upon finding a way to induce spontaneous combustion that Keisuke decided to bring up the fact that he was the only one who could be free from the tortuous lecture. Apparently the coal haired boy had a certain responsibility to be there for Minako or something, whatever, it wasn't like it was possible for them to do that in the middle of an assembly anyways. "Hey, where is the girl?" The brunette inquired after Hidetoshi tried to combat his reasoning with the fact that she had many friends who would eagerly look after her in his absence. But, indeed, he had noticed her absence as well. It was quite perplexing seeing as how there was absolutely no way that she would ever skip something so important. Eh, it wasn't all that important; but she would never miss something mandatory, it was below her to cut class. Heck, even Stu-Junpei, he was not good enough friends with the boy to use the nickname that Minako often referred to him by, was here.
As much as he hated texting in school, well that was a lie he didn't mind it all that much anymore but it felt wrong after he had just judged that girl for doing the same thing, the boy figured he needed to at least get in contact with her. "I'll text her, maybe she just got caught up talking to Aigis." Time always did have a way of getting ahead of her. It was almost like the girl didn't realize that there were only twenty-four hours in a day. But that was just the way she was, he could deal with her tiny fault when it came to being prompt; besides, he always arrived places five minutes in advance, so when you added them together it worked out in the long run. He wasn't going to demand that she completely ditch the blonde girl, but he was going to suggest that they both come before they missed something important. Oh who was he kidding, nothing important ever went down on the last day; and she had already missed listening to Mitsuru's speech. If anything that was what stuck him as really out of character; seeing as how they had been pretty close earlier in the year he would have expected to see the scarlet eyed girl down front and center.
"Ooooh texting during school" The Odagiri boy merely rolled his eyes, he just knew the brunette was going to make a similar comment. He just loved to push people's buttons. And, of course, by people he meant himself; there was no one else Keisuke annoyed more than him. Normally he would put the phone away and save the message until after class just to get back at him; but this time was different, this was for a good cause. So he just sent a brief text reminding her of the assembly and implying that it would be nice if the two girls actually showed up. But, after a few minutes passed with no response he began to feel a bit more anxious. What if they decided to take attendance after this was let out, then what? That would be an unnecessary mark on her permanent record. Not once since he knew her had she missed a day of class, even when she was run down; it was as if the option to just rest was not there. So, even though it broke the 'don't text twice within ten minutes because it looks desperate' rule he texted her again "Hide-chaaaaan's breaking the ruuuules."
Not bothering to glance up from the screen which, much to his displeasure appeared to have a small crack in the upper right corner, the boy scoffed at the sing-song remark. "Shut up, you text me all the time." Really, in the past week it had become almost a problem. He texted him all through the day, even if Hidetoshi stopped responding; it was clearly evident that the brunette's mind was on the break and not finals. In fact, he even considered having an intervention to let his friend know just how bad his obsession was becoming. It was almost to the level where a person who picked up his phone would suspect that it belonged to a pre-teen girl who had just got it and was insanely pumped to text anyone and everyone she ever talked to. He had a new system though of deciding whether or not he was going to read the message or delete it. If it had any acronyms, or did not end in some form of proper punctuation, he instantly hit delete. He had to draw the line somewhere; besides, he knew very well that if he read anything that he had to take time to interpret it would just increase his stress level and cause him to lash out.
After a few more moments he began to nervously tap the screen. Did he even get reception in here? "What no answer? That's unlike her. Aren't you two always so proud of your quick and efficient response time?" Exactly, why did his friend think he was so upset by this? Their efficiency had been brag worthy until now; and he would bring up this fact every time Keisuke missed his call or waited an hour or so before replying. Hell, he would even bring it up when the glasses wearing boy replied with a one word response…or worse, lol. But this was so out of character, why wasn't she getting back to him? If anything it was more important for her to respond quickly seeing as how it was her rule. As surprising as it seemed she was the one who suggested that they answer one another's messages as quickly as possible; her reasoning had something to do with your first instinct always being correct, but that was another theory he didn't really pay much attention to. Drat, now that he was looking back he really did not listen as much as he should. Wait, hadn't he decided to try to improve that skill yesterday; eh, he couldn't exactly remember.
The sinking feeling returned to his chest as he skimmed the audience one last time; now desperately looking for any hint of red or yellow, but there was nothing. Where were those two? The classrooms had to be locked, god knows his more rebellious classmates would try to justify their existence by vandalizing school property, so they could not be in any of those. Think, if he was Minako where would he go? Disneyland. Alas that wasn't an option considering she had entered the building, and they were nowhere near Florida, so he needed someplace more accessible. She was so happy all the time in school, but what was her favorite place? Oh, right, the roof, duh. She always wanted to eat up there and, after hanging out with Junpei one day after class, had found a new way to amuse herself by spitting over the side and watching it fall onto the cement below. Yeah, he still had to thank the cap wearing boy for that one. Leaning over to his friend, who was starting to prepare for round two of the paper war, he motioned towards the door. "I'm going to go get them. I'll be right back."
Slipping out the back door he could not help but feel a tad cooler than he did mere seconds before. Sure it was not an epic escape, and he was going to be right back, but he was still breaking the rules by leaving without permission. Yeah, that was totally hardcore; kidding, he knew his limits and, no matter how hard he tried, the studious boy would never be anything close to that. As he hurried up the stairs it dawned on the coal haired boy that the door to the roof would probably be locked by now. They usually chained it up and sealed that off with an over the top steel lock; yes, because apparently students who were going to break into the school in the summer would see that and turn around. First off, if they wanted to break in bad enough chances were they were going to head towards the faculty office or the laboratory rather than the roof where they could be easily spotted by passersby. Second, if they really were so bent on breaking into Gekkoukan just to get to the roof that lock certainly wasn't going to do very much to stop them.
His second theory seemed to be proven correct as he neared the door and saw the chains and lock discarded on the floor. Also, there appeared to be a few small circular holes in the door. At first he wanted to say they looked like bullet holes, but it was a school so that was out of the question; perhaps whoever had been putting the chains up accidentally set off their nail gun and hit the door? It seemed highly unlikely but hey, it was more probable than someone shooting at it. Pushing the door open sunlight instantly hit him, causing the boy to have to use his hand to shield his eyes. Stupid weather, couldn't it just make up its mind? It had been cloudy earlier with a forty percent chance of rain, what was this nonsense? At the far end of the roof he could just make out a single silhouette over the sun's intensity. Unfortunately it appeared that the person's hair was a golden color; not exactly what he was searching for, but maybe she knew where- red. As a cloud enveloped the sun he was finally able to see the wavy red locks spilling out over the blonde haired girl's lap. "Minako?"
xx
Frail frame leaning on his shoulder for support Hidetoshi tried to process what had just happened. At the sound of her voice the girl had sat up, with a great deal of help from her blonde friend, and motioned for him to come over. The greetings were brief, and the strange girl seemed hesitant to leave, but Minako finally managed to convince her that she was in good hands. Was she ill, she definitely did not appear to be well; but he could see no signs of an injury? The expression that Aigis gave him as she was leaving was enough to strike fear into the heart of even the bravest man; what, did she think he couldn't take care of her? As if to prove her wrong he inquired as to if, perhaps, they should, oh he didn't know, seek medical aid? Wasn't that the logical thing to do rather than sit on top of a roof? Just a though, what did he know, he was only one of the top students with a best friend whose family had a medical background; why listen to anything he said? But the girl's swift, and hauntingly quiet, response as she exited was enough to silence his internal commentary.
This was a bit much to take in at once. He was expecting to find them talking and laughing; at worst he might walk in on a fight or some other type of conflict, but he was not sure what exactly was going on. It was like everyone knew some awful secret, except him. Because, of course, why bother telling the guy who, on multiple occasions, has stated his love and adoration fir the one who looked as though they were about to fall apart at any moment. It was just so strange, she seemed fine yesterday. But that was always the way people said it happened; they were fine one day and the next… whoa, he was not even going to go down that path. He wasn't that over-dramatic, so she was overworked; it made sense, they did just have a week of finals. Perhaps she had always gone to public schools and this was her first experience of having to actually spend countless hours studying for a major exam. Yes, that was clearly the reason behind all of this. It had to be, what other challenges would a well-behaved teenage girl have to overcome?
A small cough shook the boy out of his thoughts and he glanced down at the girl who was gazing up at him. "You know… you're going to get in trouble if you stay out here." Her clearly forced smile was heartbreaking to say the least; but was really tearing him apart was this sense of confusion. He could help if only she would let him in! God how many times had he thought this or something similar? With a small wink the girl pressed onward with her quest to make the situation a bit lighter. "And I thought the great Hidetoshi Odagiri never broke the rules." She was trying so hard to be brave, anyone could tell that; but why? He wouldn't think any less of her if she broke down and cried; everyone had a right to do that when they were not feeling their best. Speaking of which, was she ill? He had thought that was the problem until her friend made that harsh comment. It was crazy, medical science could cure almost everything these days. So, then, what did Aigis mean when she said that there would be no point in seeking help for the fallen girl?
"Come on now." If she could be strong even under these circumstances, although he was still unsure exactly what sort of conditions she was facing, then he could be too. Tapping her playfully on the forehead he gave a cocky nod. "Even I can bend the rules a bit when the situation calls for it." This brought forth an actual, though short-lived, childish giggle from the girl that melted into a soft smile. She was so easy to please, thank goodness because he was terrible at amusing people. As he returned the smile his chest began to tighten. She looked terrible, not physically of course, she looked as lively as ever; but her eyes were void and bleak. "Minako I don't understand. What is it that's the matter?" If her stomach was upset he could get her ginger ale and saltines. Hell, he would even toss his ego aside and make her chicken noodle soup; and good soup, not that awful canned stuff his mother still managed to burn. But, if it was something more serious they really needed to get her to a hospital; he was not one to panic, but this certainly did not look good. However, he doubted what they would be able to do if she refused to disclose any actual information about what was ailing her.
The girl used what seemed to be her last bit of strength to wave the comment off. "Please don't make me explain." The words were slow, as if each one was a great task. So, as much as he was dying to know, he could not bring himself to ask her to speak anymore. If it pained her to talk then they could just sit in silence; his insides would only be tangled and mind imploding, but he could deal. With a hushed sigh he merely nodded. "Thank you." Why wouldn't she ever talk about anything involving her? She was so open with everything else, and knew everyone so well, but no one ever seemed to get past the surface layer with the sangria haired girl. It was the same question again, what was she doing? Or, now, what did she do? He knew she was involved in something; Junpei's comment and her sketchy behavior was proof enough for that, but he could not even begin to guess at what it might be. Why was she always keeping things from him; he could help, he knew he could, if only she would trust him with the details. There was nothing more frustrating than having a gigantic ego and being useless.
"You're…" Her face pleaded with him not to press the subject, so he held his tongue. "…trying to protect me from something." This drew a reaction for she looked away, a sure sign of guilt. So it was something bad; alright that narrowed it a bit. What, were they in a gang, or squad, or something? No that was ridiculous she was far too upbeat and cheerful for that sort of thing. Ha, imagine her being the lead of some undercover gang; that was rich. Had the situation not been so dire he would have laughed at the image. Just thinking about her standing in the lead, coattails blowing in the wind, and armband branding her was really quite funny. He would have to remember to tell her about it once she was feeling better; it would be sure to make her smile. "Although it pains me that you don't think I'm strong enough to handle it;" He needed to learn how to phrase things better, for she appeared dissatisfied with this explanation of her actions. He needed a quick recovery; what did girls like to hear? "Thank you. I know you only have the best of intentions." There, that normally worked.
The girl yawned lightly, moving the back of her hand in front of her lips as if trying to fight it. That was silly, if she was fatigued then she should rest, he would still be here when she woke up. It was not like he was going to take off the moment she closed her eyes and just abandon her on the roof, what sort of person did she take him for? "Tired from fighting evil by moonlight?" He inquired and the girl's eyes opened wide, like a deer caught in headlights. Had he upset her somehow; damn, and he thought he was being so clever too. "What, I was just kidding. Remember that time you told me you were secretly a hero?" It was a while back, after that movie incident with Kaz and what's her name. She had told him and then struck the pose of the famous nineties' cartoon icon. It appeared to be very funny at the time, for she nearly collapsed with laughter. He had found it a bit amusing, but not nearly that humorous; so he assumed maybe it had a double meaning, like she was obsessed with it as a child or something.
"Oh, right." Another, livelier, smile made its way onto her otherwise dim face. "I suppose you could say that." As she trailed off the boy could almost tell that he was no longer the person she was addressing. However, there was no one else there, so who on earth could she be talking to? Maybe she was talking to herself? But that seemed ridiculous, even if she was not feeling well; it took quite a fever to think that talking out loud to oneself in public was something that was accepted by the general public. Was she so ill that she was hallucinating? If that was the case maybe she was talking to her parents; the thought was enough to make his stomach turn. How awful; even if she was sick she could not go home and have a loving mother take care of her and nurse her back to health. Poor thing… she could borrow his mother; the woman would just adore serving some real motherly purpose, and she always did want a daughter. They would love each other; how could they not, they were so similar. "But the world is worth defending." Turning back to face him she offered a tired laugh.
Placing the back of his hand on the girl's forehead he attempted to figure out whether or not she had a fever. Keisuke had told him before that bangs could often give an incorrect reading seeing as how they kept that part of the head warm even when there was no problem with the individual. Unfortunately it was not even slightly warm. If anything it was a tad cool; but he doubted that was a sign of anything too awful. Yes, if she was extremely ill there would certainly be signs of a fever, or she would be pale, but she looked as radiant as ever. "You should sleep more." He stated firmly, removing his hand and using it to wag a finger at her; he assumed she would get a kick out of it, but no such luck. "The good news is that you don't seem to have a fever; but you certainly appear to be worn down." Rest would make everything better; she would be restored to her old self in new time. Of course, that must have been what Aigis meant; Minako just needed some rest and then she would be good as new. It made more sense now. Why call the paramedics when all she needed was some sleep?
"Mhm" It seemed like that was all the response he could expect to get; she didn't really seem to be listening anymore. Where was her mind right now? He often wondered what someone who seemed so carefree could worry about, nut especially. "I'm not going to gaze longingly at the sky though." It came out of the blue, and was quite irrelevant. She wasn't going to what? How did that have anything to do with getting some rest? Did she have to stare at the sky in order to fall asleep? He was not sure he followed where she was going with this. "That's terribly cliché, and I am far too original for that." She added with closed eyes and another weak smile. What on earth was she talking about? Oh well, at least she found herself funny. Normally he hated people who were like that; but this was a rare occasion, not like Keisuke who cracked himself up on a daily, hell on an hourly, basis. But everyone in a while was fine and, given the circumstances, he would endure it for hours if only it got her to laugh and act herself again. Her smile was so beautiful; it would be a shame to not see it.
"Well I happen to love staring dramatically into the distance as something life altering happens." He piped up, trying to get back in the conversation. Not to mention that her talking to herself was beginning to freak him out a bit. Not in a creepy was mind you, more of a 'what on earth is the matter with her', and not knowing the answer to that was inwardly killing him. What if something awful ended up happening to her while he just sat by and did nothing? Not to mention that he would be completely lost without her perky outlook on life; he knew the person he had been before they met, and he never wanted to become that person ever again. Thankfully his remark worked for bit, because she finally directed a smile at him, but she wasn't the same. Oh well, he just had to keep thinking about tomorrow. Actually, make that the day after. She would have to rest tomorrow, as well as the remainder of today, then they could begin to enjoy their break together. It would be wonderful to be able to do something earlier in the day rather than having to wait for school to get out of session, and they could even stay out late into the night because there was no homework to be done, papers to be written, or tests to study for.
Patting her hands, which had fallen limp in the girl's lap, he decided to change the conversation to something lighter, something she would enjoy. "Shall we discuss what you want to do this vacation?" The girl was silent, but he refused to accept that, so he merely kept talking. "We could take a trip to the country; some fresh air would be good for you. This city, just imagine how many toxins are in the air! Not to mention that we're on a man-made island, that's not very natural at all." Although the comment was not all the funny he laughed anyways. Minako, however, remained unresponsive except for a nod here and there. "And you know who I bet you would love to meet?" The got her to at least look at him with an inquiring expressing. "My mother. She's the most cheerful person you'll ever meet, and I can say that because you're you and, therefore, cannot meet yourself." The girl's mouth opened a bit in shock. She had asked about the woman once but. Out of embarrassment, he had firmly shot down any idea she had of them meeting. But now everything was different; if she wanted to meet the dramatic woman then fine, if she wanted to meet the emperor he'd find a way.
"That sounds lovely." The girl whispered before breaking into a coughing frenzy. Oh crap, what was he supposed to do? Were you supposed to tap someone on the back if they were coughing? No, that was for choking; or was it? Hadn't he read somewhere that hitting someone on the back when they were choking would only lodge the food deeper in their throat? Damn it, why couldn't he have paid more attention to the brunette when he went on about treatments and such. Maybe he should, oh, she stopped. Before he could think of what to do next, though going for help was on the top of the list, she slipped from his shoulder and fell forward a bit. Grabbing her shoulders he softly rested her down, head on his lap. It was an uncomfortable position to say the least, mainly because his other arm was now lodged under her wavy locks; but he had seen Aigis do it earlier, and girls had that maternal instinct, so it had to help somehow. "I'm sorry Hide-chan, but I'm a tad sleepy." The words came out strangely, as though she was already fading into a dreamlike trance. As he searched for any sign of real understanding on her face the girl's now bleak eyes began to flutter closed.
It felt as though a pebble had lodged itself in his throat. What was this? His vision was becoming distorted as well; perhaps he had caught whatever Minako had? That would be fine, he really wouldn't mind at all. As much as he had wished for her to sleep and get better this was not what he meant. This did not seem like any normal period of rest; not to mention that fact that her breathing was now softer and slower. "Napping during the day?" He inquired with a light laugh, though it was difficult to keep voice from cracking. This heart wrenching feeling, he was certain he had never felt it before. Not to mention that his cheeks and sinuses were burning up to an incomparable degree. But she had none of these symptoms so, then, what was he sick with? "You're so childish…but, children like stories right?" He could recall being told one or two in class; his mother never bothered with them after noting his displeasure at the thought of anything unrealistic. But the girls always seemed to enjoy them so long as they included a princess, prince, and everyone lived happily ever after. After a brief period, during which he assumed she was pondering the chances of him actually telling a good story, the girl nodded.
Perhaps she had faith in him, perhaps she figured she would try to get to sleep and a boring story would help; all that mattered was that he could now do something to make her happy. Unfortunately he did not know any classic stories, but hey, he could improvise. As she has said earlier he was the great Hidetoshi Odagiri, and after an introduction like that he could not disappoint. So alright; there had to be a princess, probably a king and queen, a prince, and a castle. Oh, and they all had to have a happy ending. He could work off that basic foundation. They would live in a peaceful land, where no war or strife existed, and go about their lives as intended. The more he thought about it the more the boy knew exactly what he was going to say. Of course there would have to be other characters along the way to make the story more believable, and a villain would have to learn his lesson; but he could squeeze that in somewhere. The key was to know your target audience and, although he may have not known everything about the scarlet eyes girl, he knew enough for this.
"Well, I'm no English major but…" He began, though of course she already knew that, he was in the class next door for chrissake; but it seemed only proper to give her fair warning that she should not expect too much of him or risk being disappointed when all was said and done. With any luck she'd like, with any luck it would be the greatest accomplishment of his entire life. Lightly playing with a loose lock of red he wondered where exactly would be a good starting place for this tale. Most epics began in medias res, did they not? Ah but she hated clichés; so he would spare her such a predictable plotline. It would start at the very beginning and last until the end of time, nothing would be left out. Besides, for some strange reason the boy felt as though he was going to have all the time he needed to tell it. Taking in a deep breathe he prepared himself both emotionally and physically for what might ensue. "Once upon a time…
A/N: Keisuke and Hidetoshi… bros for liiiiife. You have no idea how much I wanted to have them fist bump and down some nattys during this fic... hell, I still have a chapter left… Anyways, this quick update is brought to you by guilt and my second five hour energy bottle! Although I totally didn't start feeling this one until the third hour, so I feel like I was gipped; oh well. The label totally reads 'feel it in minutes' but I'm not about to call them out on it…well, I will on here, but I'm not going to write a complaint or anything. Sorry this is really random; I hope people aren't actually reading it. I should really stop and just upload this.
WipingAllOut- first off let me start by saying that I adore your penname, that song was definitely my old ringtone. It really is a rare paring and I hate that; I want to read something on it but I legit can't find any other stories except for frizfroz's who hasn't updated in forever and totally left me hanging haha like I'm allowed to complain after waiting two months to update, sarcasm. But thanks so much for your kind review. I really appreciate it.
Fervour- haha I forgot mine too! That is so epic. Are there others? I'm like the only one here and it makes me super sad because I prefer to read rather than write. As you can see this isn't the last chapter, sorry! Only one more though, pinky swear.
FrizFroz- Looks like time hasn't affected your flattery; thanks haha I don't see it as inspiring though…unless, of course, I'm inspiring people to write rather than study for finals and such :D
The Final Chapter: To Have a Home! The final chapter! With a resolve in his heart what fate awaits our young hero and his most precious friend?
