I somehow ended up tagging along with some of the others while they were checking out the school building a bit more thoroughly.
"I must say, this school..." Mitsuru started while Yu walked up to us.
"Is there something odd about it?" Naoto asked.
"The faded walls, the creaking floorboards...Doors that get stuck, the classic wood paneling...It's all like something from a bygone era. As if this place is an embodiment of the "good old days"."
"...You think?" Shinjiro asked.
"Yes. Voices carry through the thin walls, and the halls are too narrow for the number of students here. All of the facilities seem ancient, and not very hygienic given what they're intended to do. When you think that students back then could devote themselves to their studies in such an environment...It's truly amazing. This school is worth preserving as an icon of antique educational grounds."
"Umm..." Chie just stared at her while Naoto, Yu and I exchanged glances.
"...Hey, Mitsuru. Imagine something for me." Shinjiro said to her with a bit of a sigh. "What would these guys think about what you said, if this place was just like Yasogami High today?"
"Ha...That's impossible. How could this be a modern high school?" Mitsuru responded, then looked to Yu. "Tell me, Narukami, what's Yasogami High like in your day?"
"Kinda like this." Yu shrugged.
"What!?" She seemed surprised.
"Haha...That's what we'd call the Yasogami touch..." Chie laughed nervously.
"From what I've seen, this place is almost precisely the same as the Yasogami High we attend in reality." Naoto confirmed.
"There's no second-year class 4, though." Chie said.
"Yes, and other minute details are clearly different...But in general, and insofar as how old it is, this place is comparable to the real school."
"But that's..." Mitsuru looked disbelieving.
"I guess you haven't seen schools outside of the big cities, huh, Mitsuru-senpai...?" I smiled a bit awkwardly at her.
"Not everywhere has the backing of a huge corporation and all the most cutting-edge stuff like Gekkoukan." Shinjiro told her.
"I-I see. There is much I've yet to learn..." Mitsuru said, seeming slightly embarrassed. "So, this is what schools in the countryside are like. It does have a certain run-down charm to it...Indeed, students like Zen would fit in perfectly here."
"Did you mention my name?" Zen showed up just then.
"True, Zen-kun could be said to adopt the rustic look...You don't see that style much in the city." Naoto commented, looking at him.
"Kanji-kun's already filling that slot, though." Chie spoke up.
"Zen's got a lot more chill mystery about him though, and that's more in line with rustic, right?" I asked, tilting my head slightly.
"Rustic?" Zen repeated in confusion. "...Is that a type of corrosion?"
"No, it's to do with the way you look." I explained to him, but he still looked confused, so we ended up spending at least half an hour explaining what fashion or aesthetic was and what we were talking about. Though, I'm not sure he got it in the end either.
Later, after I practiced my dance for a bit and showered, I ended up by the film festival with some others.
Yukari sighed. "Aren't we done with that stupid haunted house yet? I don't know how much more of it I can take..."
"You really need to stop freaking out so much, Yuka-tan." Junpei said to her.
"I just have a hard time dealing with that stuff, okay!?" Yukari got defensive.
"Even if you know that ghosts can't be real, it's difficult to keep a level head in such places." Naoto added. "If only we had a reliable method of doing so..."
"Can't you just hold your breath and drink a glass of water?" Minato asked.
"That's for hiccups." Yosuke told him with a sigh. "I never expected a guy like you to be busting out random jokes from nowhere..."
"Uh, I don't think he's joking. He's usually serious..." Yukari said.
"Can you really tell, though...?" I muttered.
"I got this. When you get scared, just imagine all the Shadows in their underwear!" Kanji said confidently. "It seriously works! I did it before I went to give those gang members a beatdown!"
"That's for stage fright, and Shadows don't wear clothes! And why're you fighting gangs!? I disapprove, son!" Yosuke responded.
"You're not his dad." Yukari sighed.
"If you really want to overcome your fears, all you can do is train." Akihiko spoke up. "It's well known that you can get over your fears by throwing yourself right into the middle of them. Which means, Yukari...!" He pointed to the banner in front of the movie theatre for a horror film festival.
"A-Are you stupid or something!? I'm not so feeble-minded that your musclebrained solution is going to make everything better! Hey, you're weak to ice attacks, so why don't you just keep letting them hit you to get over it! I'll go call Mitsuru-senpai right now! Have fun getting frozen!"
"Er, uhh, I..."
"You'd die before you could overcome it, right!? Well, there you go! End of discussion!"
"And a great counter from Yuka-tan! Looks like Akihiko-senpai's out of gas here!" Junpei commentated.
"I admit, she raises it to an art form. Yosuke-senpai seems to strive for quantity over quality, though." Naoto said thoughtfully. "He's just managing to keep up with the wave of frivolous barbs with his precise, quick footwork."
"What the hell are you commentating for!?" Yosuke yelled at them.
"Let's see what's showing...Dunno what it's about, but the clothes on these dolls are pretty nice..." Kanji said.
""Curse of the Wax Dolls"...? Oh, come on! Haven't we all had our fill of dolls!?" Yosuke responded.
"Yes." I answered seriously with a grimace.
"Hold it! This doll...it's holding a chainsaw!" Akihiko pointed out the poster.
Yukari sighed.
"If I watch this...Maybe I can get some hints on how to deal with enemies with chainsaws!"
"Good. You can watch it alone, and give us a report about it later." Yukari told him.
"The other one is..."Rebel Dish Mansion"? If I remember right..." Minato said thoughtfully. "It's about a teenage boy in a long jacket who breaks into your house, saying, "Any bad dishes here?""
"I play the lead role." Yu responded.
"Really? Are you in the drama club?"
"You too, partner...?" Yosuke shook his head at them.
"I'm done..." Yukari gave up.
"Uh-oh! Both participants have thrown in the towel! The match is ending in a draw!" Junpei said.
"They continued their repartee to the bitter end...The sheer tenacity of their efforts is deeply moving." Naoto seemed to be having fun playing along too.
"We're not dead." Yukari muttered.
"Until next time, folks!" Junpei ignored her.
"There won't be a next time!" Yosuke protested.
"I'll look forward to it!" I grinned, clapping as Junpei gave a mock bow.
"Kyoka, don't encourage this!"
"Oh, wait..." I stopped as I realized something. "You can get over fears with exposure...Hm..." I thought about it for a second before I looked over at Naoto. "Hey, Naoto-kun, can you help me with something?"
"Hm? What is it, Kyoka-senpai?" Naoto looked curious, but agreed to come with me even without a proper explanation.
Once we had left the others and found an empty room, she repeated the question.
"Um, so...I've got stage fright, had it since I was little, and I was thinking...Maybe I could get better if I actually let someone see me dance..." I answered a bit awkwardly, looking away from her and rubbing the back of my neck. "It's kinda a weird request, but the normal methods like what Kanji-kun said don't work for me. I-If I try to picture people in their underwear, I just get way more embarrassed, y'know...?"
"I-I see...So that's what this is about..." She nodded in understanding, although she looked a bit embarrassed herself. "All you want from me is to observe your dancing, correct?"
"Y-Yeah...W-Well, more like...Watch me improvise because I don't really have anything worked out for a real performance or anything, but..."
"...I'm sorry, but I don't really know anything about dancing so I couldn't give you any useful feedback on the technical side of it."
I shook my head. "I don't expect you to. I just want to know if you think it looks awkward, if you want to give me any feedback at all. Really, I-I just need someone to watch me dance so I can convince myself it isn't impossible for me to dance for someone else..."
"I had heard from Rise-san that you were a dancer, but I didn't know you would want to show me first, out of everyone..." She looked a bit embarrassed, but also a little happy. "W-Would you mind if I asked what type of dancing it is that you do?"
"T-Technically, Tribal Fusion..."
"Tribal fusion...?" She repeated, seeming perplexed.
"Uh, it's easier to say I belly dance, but it's not quite the same thing as what I typically practice..."
"O-Oh...!" She looked surprised, apparently recognizing what belly dancing was and becoming flustered. "Um, a-are you sure you want to, er, show me something so..." She seemed to struggle for a polite way to put it. "...E-Exotic...?"
"Not really, but..." I sighed, trying not to get too embarrassed by her reaction. "My teacher says, "Your body isn't something to be ashamed of and this dance is not to show it off. This kind of dancing is to demonstrate control and freedom within your own skin. So don't think of it as inappropriate, think of it as an expression of yourself meant for you first and foremost." O-Or something like that, anyway. She's not really a "Your body is a temple" kind of person, more of a "You should be happy and in control of yourself" kind of one, so..."
"Oh...I-I'm sorry. I misunderstood what kind of dance it was..." Naoto looked embarrassed still, but then nodded to me seriously. "Then, I'm not opposed to helping you in this area, although I'm hardly in any position to give you useful critiques or anything of the sort..."
"It's not really about the how well, it's about the fact I can do it in front of someone other than my teacher without holding back or stiffening up..." I told her, beginning to do my pre-dance stretches as I tried to relax a bit. "I'm sorry for asking you to do this, though...I know Rise or the other girls would probably help me out with this too, but..."
"No, I don't mind at all. I do owe you for helping with my escape from the swimsuit portion of the beauty pageant, after all." Naoto offered me a small smile and sat down at one of the desks in the room.
"Ooh, yeah, but that escape was just as much for me..." I laughed a bit sheepishly. "Ironic that I was super nervous to wear a bikini, but I regularly belly dance with my stomach showing, huh...?"
"Isn't it different? When you dance, it's so you can see your movements more clearly, but to wear a swimsuit and stand on stage for others to stare at is just..." She grimaced a little thinking about it.
"That's true...Hey, question."
"Yes?"
"How much do you actually know about belly dancing?"
"N-Not a lot." She blushed a bit and looked away, seeming flustered. "I've seen some performances in videos online when I was researching different styles of dance around the world for a school project...I-I ended up not using that particular style though, because I thought it would be i-inappropriate..."
"That's not that difficult to understand..." I shrugged her slight unease of saying that off. "It can be seen that way because it's focused on the stomach and hips and the costumes usually would be considered "skimpy", but when you start to really look into it, it's actually really about precise muscle movements in places that most people don't usually think about moving purposefully." I said, beginning to fiddle with my phone as I tried to decide which of the rejected songs I would play for improvising now.
"Yes...It is true that I was fascinated that those women could move that way, but...It was incredibly embarrassing for me to think about too much..." Naoto replied, thoughtful, but seeming bashful as well.
"Alright, I think I'll start now." I said, and she nodded to me, so I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my nerves creeping up again at the thought of dancing in front of someone.
I played the music and got into a starting position, but then I froze up. I couldn't look at Naoto directly, and I felt a bit dizzy, but after forcing myself to take a few breaths and calm down, I pivoted so my back was to her to start and slowly began to move to the music as I concentrated on the rhythm instead of the fact someone was watching. It helped that she said nothing, and I somehow got through a little more than half the song of improvising a dance to the beat before I was actually able to turn toward her with hesitance to see what face she might be making. She looked kind of like she was in a trance for a second before seeming to snap out of it and becoming extremely flustered and looking away, pulling her hat down in front of her face a bit.
"W-Well...Th-That was..." Her voice was a bit high and she cleared her throat awkwardly. "Er, while I couldn't see everything you were doing because of your uniform...Th-That is to say, even without seeing your full movement set, um...That was...Interesting...?" She sounded uncertain and incredibly nervous, as if she was mirroring my own feelings back at me.
"S-Sorry! I asked you to do something weird!" I bowed to her awkwardly.
"N-No, it's not that...!" She seemed to panic as well and waved her hands at me. "I-It's just, um...H-How should I say it...? I-I don't know what to say...You were really, er, captivating...L-Like those dancers in the videos I watched..."
"R-Really...?"
She nodded, almost violently, with her eyes shut tight.
"...Th-Thanks, Naoto-kun." I smiled with relief, although my heart was still pounding way too hard and I felt sick to my stomach with anxiety. "I-I did it...I danced in front of someone other than my teacher...Hahaha..." My legs gave out on me with my breathy laugh of disbelief and I knelt on the floor, blinking as my eyes watered. "I-I'll...Be able to do it...P-Probably..."
"...A-Are you supposed to perform for someone, Kyoka-senpai?"
I nodded without thinking about it. "Yeah. For someone important."
"So that's why..."
"...Hey, Naoto-kun?"
"Y-Yes!?"
"Can we talk about something unrelated? I can't calm down...I feel like my heart's going to explode."
"Oh, u-um...!" She seemed to panic, trying to think of something to talk about, but failing to.
"...Do you think...we could really hang out with Rei, Zen, and Team Gekkou after this is all over...?" I ended up quietly asking one of the first things that popped into my head, although it indicated that my anxiety about the dancing only brought with it more concerns.
"Wh-What...?" Naoto seemed surprised by the question.
I panicked a little and smiled sheepishly while looking away. "S-Sorry. I guess I've just been thinking about it and...W-Well, if we weren't being forced to work together anymore, would we actually all hang out...?"
"Kyoka-senpai...Although there's no way to be certain until it happens, I think we could continue to meet with them under the proper conditions even after everything is over. At least, it feels as if working together toward a common goal has caused some form of companionship between us and that isn't insignificant..."
"Y-Yeah...Thanks, Naoto-kun."
"It's nothing. I...may not be as...accommodating as some of the others, so I am a bit surprised that you would open up to me about these kinds of concerns, but..." She offered me a gentle smile, although she looked a bit embarrassed. "I will do my best to assist you if I can."
"...Heheh. You're so cute...!" I began to dissolve into a fit of giggles after staring at her in surprise for a few seconds.
"K-Kyoka-senpai...!? P-Please don't say things like that...!"
"But you are! When you smile like that...Absolutely adorable!"
"Th-This is highly uncalled for! I insist that you stop saying such nonsense!"
"O-Okay. Heheh...I'll just think it then."
"Kyoka-senpai...!" That was probably the closest I'd ever heard Naoto's voice come to a whine and that just made me crack up more and bite my lip to resist the urge to call her cute again.
I felt a little bad for embarrassing her so much, but my nerves seemed to just melt away with the combination of her kind albeit slightly awkward reassurances and the cute expressions she had made. I was really grateful I had the chance to talk to her like this, too. Almost like, we were really close friends rather than semi-awkward ones that hung around in the same group. Naoto was distant by nature, but today I saw another side of her. An earnest, slightly awkward, compassionate side that showed she did care about me and the others a lot more than it could seem at times. Although, perhaps I liked her because we were a bit similar in that we sometimes struggled with how or when to show we cared about the emotional state of the people we were close to. Or, maybe I was just projecting on her a little. Either way, despite Naoto's sighing and shaking her head at me, she gave a small smile of relief as well as she watched me laugh.
We headed back into the labyrinth once Yu had prepared and continued exploring the third floor. It wasn't long before we came across our first dead end of the trek.
"It is truly unfortunate, but there is nothing here." Aigis sighed.
"Woof!" Koromaru responded.
"We should head back..." Ken said, glancing at Rei's uneasy face. "If I was alone somewhere like this, I'd probably feel so lonely that I couldn't walk."
"Don't worry, you have us with you." Yu told him. "Then again...there may be others besides us..."
"Huh? What!?"
"You know...I remember hearing a guest at our inn talking about a rumour..." Yukiko spoke up. "Supposedly at Inaba Municipal Hospital...strange things happen."
"W-Waaaaaaah!? O-Okay...barbecued meat, raw meat, cooked meat, fried meat...Think meaty thoughts, Chie!" Chie freaked out.
"Waaaaaah! Takoyaki, ikayaki, okonomiyaki!" Rei freaked out along with her, but then pulled some food out of nowhere again. "Oh, I should eat!"
"Hmm, we've lost them. They've gone way off the deep end." Yosuke sighed. "So, Yukiko...These...things that happen...Do you mean supernatural stuff?"
"Mm-hm. They said that every night...The ghost of an old lady dressed in black appears there." Yukiko answered.
"I often see a kid's ghost." Minato said blankly.
"You mentioned seeing one at the dorm before, right? Wait, then could it really be...?" Yukari looked nervous. "I mean, stop it! It's making me not want to go back!"
"Nooooo, I've had enough...! I just wanna go home..." Chie cried.
"Are you guys done? If you hate this place so much, then let's hurry up and get through it." Shinjiro sighed at them. "Let's go."
"Hospitals, huh...?" I mumbled, following after the others as we headed back.
"What, you don't like them either?" Minato asked me as he walked next to me and I shook my head.
"They're not...happy places...Even real ones have a kinda suffocating atmosphere."
"That's true..." Minato muttered, a dark look seeming to cross his face, like he had bad memories resurface for a moment.
We both silently agreed not to say anything more on the topic and I shuddered a bit thinking about my own experiences with hospitals. It wasn't that anything really bad happened to me at one, or that I experienced ghosts or something, it was just...The environment always seemed a bit too heavy for me to be comfortable. Then again, the times I was actually in one for more than a day weren't exactly for normal illnesses either, so it was different how people treated you, too...
I shook off those thoughts and we continued on through the door to find two more and a hallway with a dead end that held a notice board.
"It doesn't look like there's anything here. The labyrinths are starting to get really complex now." Yu sighed.
"We need to focus." Minato told him.
"Yeah. The enemies are getting stronger, too. I'm counting on you, Vice Leader."
Minato nodded to him and they both shared faint smirks.
"Those two get along pretty well, don't they?" Yukari asked. "Guess they have some kind of common bond..."
"By the way, can you even see anything out of your right eye?" Yu asked.
"Wait, what!? How did the topic change to that!?" Yukari looked surprised.
"I'm just curious." Yu shrugged.
"I have 20/20 vision." Minato replied simply.
"That's pretty impressive."
"Oh, you're just asking how good his eyesight is..." Yukari realized and Yu gave her a slightly confused look.
I think Junpei made a comment about Minato's right eye being covered because of a secret power or something to Yu, but I decided I'd ask them about it sometime later. Then, we moved on to head through one of the doors from before. We found another hallway with two doors, one of which lead us to a Power Spot, then after fighting some Shadows, we headed through the other door to find a really dark room.
"Careful, everyone! There are FOEs hiding in that room!" Rise warned, so we proceeded slowly.
Sure enough, it was the stupid dolls that would pop up in our way. We headed through the only door we could reach. Inside that room, we found a switch and turned on the lights to get rid of the dolls. Exploring the area, we activated a shortcut and found another locked metal door. It only had a black mark near the keyhole as any indication what key we might need. We checked the rest of the room and went to continue on.
"Whoa!" Yosuke stopped suddenly.
"Hm? What's wrong?" Akihiko asked him.
"There's something black down here...!" Yosuke indicated something near his feet.
"D-D-Don't tell me...!" Teddie said worriedly.
"It is...a key." Aigis said after inspecting it.
"Whew...I thought it was a roa-"
"Waaaaaaaah! Don't say it!" Yosuke cut him off and seemed out of breath.
"...May we proceed now? We should pick up that key." Aigis said and Yu went to pick up said key. However, once he picked it up, it disappeared, as if melting into the shadows.
"Huh? What's wrong?" Ken asked, having not seen it.
"I've got a talent for magic." Yu stated bluntly and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Eh!? Why would you make the key disappear just when we needed it!? Magic tricks are well and good, but there's a time and place for everything! Understood!?" Ken got upset with him, then the key reappeared near Yu's feet.
He picked it up again, but it disappeared just like before.
"It's gone! Wh-What's going on here?" Yosuke asked, then Yu made another attempt when it reappeared but the same thing happened. "...It's no use. Looks like it'll disappear no matter how many times we try."
"A key that melts into the shadows...What should we do about this?" Mitsuru asked.
"The shadows...?" Yukiko repeated. "What if there weren't any shadows to melt into...If we didn't let any shadows form, then..."
Yu seemed to get an idea from that and headed back over to turn the lights off again before coming back and picking up the key. It didn't disappear this time, so we then took it over to the door and unlocked it. It broke when it unlocked, but we didn't need it anymore, so it was fine. We continued on and turned on the light switch right near the door this time before exploring the next room. It was connected to the other area from before with the doll FOEs, so turning on the lights opened up new paths for us. We went through one of the two new doors and found a Power Spot and a shortcut to a treasure room. Then, we went back and through the other door to find a shortcut back to near the stairs, then found a few more doors and a couple of baby FOEs. Through one of the doors we ran into to escape the FOE, we found a page from a notebook on the ground.
"It's got a date written on it. Could this be someone's diary?" Naoto asked.
""The hospitalized children play a strange treasure hunting game. These four rooms form a square...To get the treasure, you have to go through four doors in the larger square in the right order. Whoever's turn it is to hide the treasure seems to convey the correct order through some code."" Yu read from the page.
"Aw, that's cute. I remember comin' up with my own games when I was a kid too." Kanji laughed a bit.
"Ooh, yeah. I remember a couple of those." I smiled a bit nostalgically at the vague memories.
"Like playing house?" Teddie asked Kanji.
"Wh-Why the hell would I do something girly like playing house!?" Kanji blushed and defended as I snickered quietly to myself.
"You basically just admitted it." Junpei pointed out to him before noticing Naoto looked deep in thought. "What's up, Nao-cakes?"
"It's nothing...Let's go and check elsewhere." Naoto responded dismissively.
So, we checked one of the other rooms and found some papers scattered about on the floor.
"Look, some of these papers have pictures drawn on them." Rei pointed out.
"Is this...a wristwatch?" Ken asked, looking at one of them.
"Huh? There's a normal alarm clock drawn on this one." Yukiko said, looking at another. "There are a few others, too...Looks like a total of four."
"...? The times given on these drawings of clocks are all different..." Naoto noticed after they'd all been lined up together on the floor for everyone to see. "This one is 3 o'clock sharp, this one's 6 o'clock, this is 9 o'clock, and this one is 12 o'clock..."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Shinjiro asked.
"The times just seemed too on-the-nose to be a coincidence..."
"Maybe they were tryin' to not forget when snack times are." Kanji suggested, looking confused.
"Huh!? Four snack breaks is enough for them!?" Rei asked, looking shocked.
"How much do you actually eat!?" Ken asked her, surprised.
"...We can't tell what it's meant to convey by this alone." Naoto shook her head. "We should try checking elsewhere."
So, we moved on to get around the FOEs and into another room. In the next one, we found a bulletin board with x-ray images scattered about on it.
"...? This X-ray...There's something written on it in red..." Ken pointed out one of them.
"693129" was what the red writing said.
"Is it...some kind of code?" Yukiko asked.
"It's hard to say without more to go on..." Naoto replied.
"Whatever it is, let's note it down!" Teddie said.
"Already did." Yu answered, so we continued on through the last door.
This room had two other doors, one which led to a room with two more doors and a shortcut to an area we hadn't been to yet.
"I don't sense any Shadows there. You should be able to rest a while." Fuuka said.
"I-I'd rather get outta here than rest..." Chie muttered.
"Oh, Chie, that reminds me. There's more to that story from earlier..." Yukiko said. "Supposedly, the hospital has a floor that shouldn't exist..."
"Waaaaaaaah! Stop! Why're you telling me all these things that just make it scarier!?"
"I thought if I told you an even scarier story, you wouldn't be as scared of this labyrinth."
"Ooh? If that's the idea, then get ready for some Junpei's Be-" Junpei started, but Yukari cut him off quickly.
"Not happening!"
"Waaaah!"
She actually hit him. "Hey! Do you just not get what's okay and what isn't!? If you try and tell those stupid stories again, I won't hesitate to turn my bow on you!"
"U-Um...I thought it was okay..."
"I-I'm not sure what just happened, but...There's no way we can rest here! Let's go, okay!?" Chie said to Yu, who just shrugged and nodded.
We gathered some materials at the Power Spot here, then headed back and found the locked metal door.
"Could this be the treasure room!?" Ken asked.
"And since it's not opening, does this mean we passed through the doors in the wrong order?" Naoto wondered. "We've already found a number of clues...Let's think things through once more."
Minato and Yu took a moment to discuss it while looking over the map and we headed back to the start point. I didn't completely get it at first, but the order was down, left, right, up, left, seemingly in accordance to the way the hands on a clock faced at the times corresponding to that code we found. When we entered the last room, there was a clicking noise.
"Hm? I heard something just now...It came from that door we couldn't open. Maybe something's happened with it..." Akihiko said.
We checked and were able to continue through it into yet another dark hallway.
"Hrgh, aren't we there yet?" Yosuke complained.
"Don't bring that up! I'm trying not to think about it!" Chie got mad at him.
"It's okay, Chie. If anything does show up, just think of it as a ghost." Yukiko said.
"What about that am I supposed to think is "okay"!?"
"Chie-chan, you can rely on me anytime you're in trouble. I'll accept you with open arms!" Teddie said, holding his arms wide.
"Alright, then let me rely on you! Bring out a bathroom, right here, right now!" Yosuke cut in.
"Y-You're joking, right!? In front of us!?" Yukari asked in surprise.
"You can't control your natural urges!"
"Go somewhere over there." Yu waved vaguely in a random direction, not looking up from his map.
"Whoa, wait a sec! You're gonna go in some corner of THIS place!?" Yukari cut in.
"Where else am I supposed to go!?" Yosuke grit out.
"Ah! Look, there's a bathroom over there!" Yukiko pointed out.
"I-I'm saved!" Yosuke cheered, then hesitated. "W-Will someone come with me?"
"What're you freakin' out for...?" Kanji asked.
"Just look at that bathroom! You seriously think I'm safe in there!?"
"Whaddaya mean? Worst case, it's just a ghost."
"That's what I'm talking about!"
"...Sheesh, you're hopeless. What should we do, Senpai?"
"I'll go too." Yu put away the map.
"Really? Well then, I guess him and me'll come with." Kanji said.
"What true friends!" Yosuke looked happy.
"Will the three of you hurry up and go? We don't have time to waste on this foolishness." Mitsuru said harshly.
"Roger that!" Yosuke said and the three went to the bathroom as we waited where we were for them.
I transformed back to my human form after they left, wanting to stretch a bit while we had nothing else to do.
"The guys in your group...They sure are something..." Yukari muttered to Chie, Yukiko, Naoto, and I.
"Y-Yeah..." Chie laughed nervously while the rest of us just kinda shrugged it off.
"Hrgh...Yo-chan and the others are taking a long time..." Rei said uneasily after we'd been waiting a bit.
"I'll go retrieve them." Zen said.
"Let's see...It's times like these that we should relax with some "Junpei's Believe It, or Don't"..." Junpei said ominously.
"Wh-What's that?" Chie asked nervously.
"Lame ghost stories." Yukari rolled her eyes.
"Dude! Harsh!" Junpei exclaimed.
"How about "fake stories"?" Minato offered.
"That's even more blunt!"
There was suddenly an eerie giggle and Chie jumped. "Y-Yukiko! Don't giggle out of the blue! It's creepy!"
"Hm? I wasn't giggling." Yukiko looked confused.
"Grr..." Koromaru started growling at something.
"It seems that Koromaru-san is sensing an unknown presence." Aigis said.
"Wh-What do you mean, "unknown"...?" Yukari asked her, then the giggling came again. "Eek!"
"P-Probably just some FOE. If it shows its face around here, I'll take it down in a flash." Junpei said, although he seemed a bit nervous as well, then it giggled a bit louder.
"It sounds like it's getting closer..." Ken said.
I glanced around uneasily, but then saw something out of the corner of my eye and involuntarily pinched the fabric of the person closest to me's sleeve.
"Look! Over there!" Naoto was that person and followed my gaze when I found myself unable to say anything. She pointed to the doll peeking around the corner up ahead.
It giggled as it began creeping closer and I noticed it looked different from the other doll FOEs. I think it was a different colour, but man was it a lot more creepy somehow.
"Gyaaaaah! Oh my God!" Chie screamed.
"Aaaah!" Naoto actually shrieked a bit too as we both began backing away in fear.
"H-Hold on! It's coming this way!" Yukari shouted.
"Everyone, c-calm-clam down!" Mitsuru was failing a little at being the calm one here.
"Don't worry, Junpei's right. That's just an FOE." Minato said blankly.
"Either way, we're in trouble!" Chie cried, beginning to run away. "We gotta hide someplace right now! Gyaaaaah!"
"H-Hey! That's the men's rest-" Akihiko tried to warn, but I guess the rest of us were too panicked to listen.
"Take cover in there!" Mitsuru ordered and everyone ran in there, although Naoto had to drag me along a little since my legs didn't seem very cooperative all of a sudden.
"The stalls! Hurry into the stalls!" Chie shouted as we burst into the place.
"Hey-What're you doin' in here!? This is the men's restroom!" Kanji shouted at her.
"This is a state of emergency!" Mitsuru responded.
"Yosuke, open up! There's a terrible FOE out there!" Chie began pounding on the door of the stall.
"Huh? An FOE!? But my zipper's still..." Yosuke sounded panicked.
"H-Hurry up and open the door! We're gonna get cursed!" Chie was losing it.
"Chie, this stall! Hurry!" Yukiko waved her over to a different stall.
"Y-Yukiko...!"
"Are there any still open!?" Yukari asked, looking around.
"The third door from the back is empty. Let us take refuge there." Aigis responded.
"Ah, p-please wait! Make some room for me...!" Naoto ran over to them in a panic, having stopped dragging me once we got into the restroom.
"Wh-What the hell's goin' on here!? Does everyone gotta pee at once?" Kanji was utterly confused.
"I'll explain later." Minato replied. "The fourth stall is open, so we should go in there."
"H-Help meeeee...!" Teddie cried on the floor.
"H-Hey, Ted! What're you rollin' around on the bathroom floor for!?" Kanji asked.
"My knees gave out when I ran! My legs are shorter than everyone else's! I wish you'd all remember that!"
"Tch, hurry up and-"
"Woof woof!" Koromaru ran out to begin dragging Teddie into the stall.
"Yipes!?"
"Whoa, nice..." Kanji praised.
"Ahaha..." A creepy voice came from the door.
"Crap, it's closing in on us!" Junpei shouted when we probably all felt the presence getting closer. "We'll all be doomed if it finds us in a tight space like this!"
"I'll go." Zen's voice said.
"Don't face it alone!" Yu denied him.
"There is a way to drive it off without defeating it." Zen replied. "I will meet up with you all later. Look after Rei until then."
"Zen, no! Don't leave me!" Rei protested.
"Rei, you need to stay hidden here. You must not raise your voice."
"No...!"
"Rei...You can do this, right?"
"Mm-hm..."
"Rei-chan, come in here! There's still some space in back." Yukiko's voice called quietly and I assume she was ushered into one of the stalls.
"Look after Rei for me." Zen said, then I thought I heard him leave the room by himself.
"Aw, c'mon! I just noticed all the stalls are filled already!" Junpei cried.
"The one all the way up front's still open." Shinjiro said.
"It's for cleaning supplies, though!"
"So what? Hurry up and get in." Akihiko pushed him.
"Ack!"
"A-Ah...Crap...I-I can't...Move...!" I panicked when I realized almost everyone else had already hidden and I was still standing where Naoto left me near one of the stall doors. I could only back up into the one directly behind me as I saw the creepy shadow of the doll FOE on the floor near the door. "Wh-What do I do...? Gods, I hate d-dolls..."
"K-Kyoka...!? What the hell're you doing!?" Yosuke's voice came from the other side of the door I was leaning back on and then it suddenly opened and I fell backward into what I assumed was him, since I felt a hand on my arm as my limp body was dragged back enough for him to slam the door shut again.
"Y-Yosuke..." I trembled a bit, but he motioned for me to be quiet and I nodded.
"Hey, let us in." Mitsuru demanded quietly but panicked from outside, so Yosuke opened the door again and Mitsuru and Ken squished into the stall with us before she closed and locked the door again.
Mitsuru was clinging onto me, Ken was standing a little behind me looking like he wanted to cling too, and Yosuke was crouching uncomfortably with his back to us.
"I don't care what's up! Just let me pull up my zipper...!" Yosuke whispered with annoyance.
"Sorry, I c-can't move." I whispered back to him shakily.
"...I-I'm not scared. I'm not scared at all..." Mitsuru seemed to not even hear him at all.
"Really? I'm f-freaking terrified..." I answered her uneasily.
"To be honest, I don't get why everyone's so scared..." Yosuke muttered.
"Y-You didn't see it...!" I hissed back.
"Aha, ahaha..." The creepy voice came and I flinched, unconsciously pinching my fingers onto the back of Yosuke's shirt and shutting my eyes as I tried not to let the fear get to me more than it already had.
"I-It's here...!" Ken gasped, stepping a bit closer to me and Mitsuru.
The FOE entered the restroom and made a weird squelching noise as it paced in front of the stall doors. I could hear some of the others' whimpering and shaky breathing, but I think at least a little of it was my own.
"Aha...Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..." It's giggling turned into insane-sounding laughter.
Then, suddenly, the fire alarm sounded from somewhere in the distance.
"...Heeheehee..." It calmed down and left with its weird squelching noise.
"W-We're saved..." Chie cried in relief as we all hesitantly stepped out of the stalls.
Once we were sure that the thing wasn't waiting for us outside, we left the restroom and met back up with Zen.
"Zen...W-Welcome...baaaaack..." Rei was full on bawling as she went and hugged him.
"Rei...Thank goodness. You seem to be safe." Zen responded with relief. "Are the rest of you okay?"
"Th-Thanks to you." I smiled at him, although I still felt a bit shaky.
"You saved us...Thank you so much, Zen-kun." Chie was relieved too. "Yukiko...I-I have to thank you too. I totally lost it..."
"Hm? Oh, don't worry about it." Yukiko smiled back at her.
"Haha...I'm so embarrassed..." Chie seemed to be blushing.
"Still, setting off the alarm...Zen, your quick thinking saved us all." Mitsuru said appreciatively.
"But we can't use the same trick again. I had to shoot the alarm, you see." Zen told her.
"Doing this once has been more than enough. Let's keep going and be sure to avoid it." Akihiko said.
"Okay, time to go." Minato nodded.
"Understood!" Aigis acknowledged and they began to walk off together.
"Arf?" Koromaru was looking at Teddie.
"...Koromaru, you saved me earlier...Thanks." Teddie said.
"Arf!"
"B-But don't get me wrong! I haven't thrown in the towel yet in our cute-off!"
"Arf!" Koromaru looked happy and they began walking as well.
"...Are you alright?" Yu asked me and I jumped a little, having not realized he was standing next to me.
"I-I'm fine...My nerves are totally shot and I wanna go home, but..." I sighed tiredly as we began to walk after the others, then gave him a sheepish smile. "Being that scared by a real threat...It was new to me. K-Kinda fun though, with everyone else around too."
"Oh? Don't tell me you're gonna be a haunted house junkie after this..." Yosuke sounded like he was joking as he walked with us.
"No freakin' way." I shot down almost immediately, shaking my head. "It's always dolls, demon babies, and spiders with those places..." I shuddered. "The only reason I'm doing this is because everyone's working hard to get through these labyrinths."
Yosuke put his hands behind his head and looked forward with some disappointment. "Too bad...You're pretty cute when you're scared."
"Wha-"
Yosuke just laughed a bit as I got flustered and shot him a half-hearted glare. As we continued on, I couldn't tell if my heart was racing because of fear or embarrassment, but I guess it was probably a little bit of both.
We headed through a door, activated a shortcut, fought some Shadows, and then entered another dark room.
"Careful, everyone! There are FOEs hiding in that room!" Rise warned us, so we proceeded slowly.
The damn dolls that jumped out got to me more this time, but we found the light switch and they went away when the lights came on. Then, we found another of those metal doors with a black mark on it, so we looked around for the key before Yu and Minato came up with a way to get it over to the door with the FOEs limiting our movements. We also found a door to another room, but the FOEs made it impossible to get very far into it, so we left it be for now and worked with the three different light switches in this room. Once the door was unlocked, the key disappeared like the other one and we headed through. We found the switch for this room and made the FOEs go away so we could explore it properly before finding another darkness key and door set that we had to figure out how to get the key over to the door with the lights off and the FOEs around. That key also disappeared when the door was unlocked. We headed through into another dark room where we could flip on the switch right away, get the layout, find the darkness key, and then figure out a way to get the key over to the door with the lights off and the FOEs in our way. That key also disappeared when the door was unlocked. We then activated a shortcut, fought some more Shadows, and headed through a door to find another dead end.
Chie was holding her hands over her stomach. "I don't think I can go on...I'm so hungry I could eat a horse when we get back..."
"So is that how you recover?" Yosuke asked. "Actually, I'm surprised you aren't sick of all this food cart food yet."
"To be honest, I am starting to get tired of it..." I sighed, thinking about it.
"What are you talking about!? It's delicious! Why would anyone ever not want to eat it!?" Chie asked in surprise.
"Well, like...The takoyaki and the okonomiyaki are both flavoured with the same sauce!" Yosuke pointed out to her, then sighed. "Man, I miss having something with a lighter flavour, like a hot pot or something."
"You look a little down, Yosuke-kun." Yukiko said.
"I think Yosuke wants us to make him a hot pot!" Chie responded to her.
"Yeah, because when I want good food, you're exactly the people I want to make something for me..." Yosuke said sarcastically. "Why the hell do you think I'd ever want that!?"
"Should Kyoka help us?" Chie asked.
"Huh? Why am I getting dragged into this? I don't even know how to make hot pot..." I tilted my head at them in confusion.
"Ooh, all of us cooking together. You might die of pure bliss. As long as you're okay with that..." Yukiko smiled a bit eerily.
"That didn't work on the campout, you guys completely ignored her advice! I don't understand how you're always so confident in your own cooking! How can you not realize it's awful!?" Yosuke said to her in disbelief.
"Oh, me too, me too! I want in on this, too!" Rise spoke up.
"I'm screwed! They're gonna triple-team my stomach!"
"Sorry, Yosuke." I gave him a sympathetic look.
"I-Isn't there anybody that can stop these monsters...?"
"Um! Would you mind if I joined as well?" Fuuka spoke up.
"That would be great! Let's all cook together!" Rise seemed excited.
"If that's the case, there's way too many people, so I'm out." I declared stubbornly.
"Hey, uh, Shinjiro-san...Is Fuuka-chan a decent cook...?" Yosuke asked hesitantly.
"Yosuke...This may be askin' the impossible of you, but all I can say is...try not to die." Shinjiro grimaced.
"No, no...Oh, no no no! It's the Four Awful Cooks of the Apocalypse!" Yosuke looked devastated.
"All right! Now that we've got a team, you can leave the rest to us!" Chie cheered and the four began to excitedly talk about their upcoming hot pot.
"Yu...I think I'm finally going to have to make a request." Yosuke turned to our leader. "Please...Save my stomach!"
"Ooh, yeah. Yu-kun's probably the best cook in our entire group..." I nodded at that. "Good luck, you guys."
"Hahaha...Thanks..." Yosuke laughed miserably, rubbing the back of his head.
Then, we continued on our way and found a treasure chest before heading back to check out the other hallway and found the stairs down. Once we got to the next floor, we paused to look around a bit, but it still seemed to be on the hospital theme.
"H-Hey...Can we go back now...?" Rei asked nervously. "A-After all, I'm hungry!"
"Rei...It's just a little further now. You need to endure it." Zen replied to her.
"I'm scared..." Rei whimpered.
"Here, Rei. It's not really a meal, but I did bring a chocolate bar with me this time." I offered her the chocolate bar I had bought just before Yu gathered us to go into the labyrinth. "Just try to hold out a bit longer, okay?"
"Mm-hm...Thanks, Kyo..." Rei nodded weakly to me and began to nibble on the chocolate bar.
"Don't worry, we're all here with you. Zen's staying by your side too, right?" I smiled at her and looked to Zen with her for affirmation.
"Watching over Rei is my duty." Zen nodded seriously.
"Z-Zen..." Rei blushed a little. "I-I'm scared...but I'll try...Even though I'm still scared..."
"Hm...? I'm getting a huge reading from below!" Rise spoke up suddenly. "It has to be one of those guardian things!"
"Okay, thanks. Guess the daydream's over." Minato replied. "C'mon, let's go."
So, we explored the fourth floor a bit. We found a dead end right near the stairs.
"Hmm..." Minato was scratching his head.
"What's up?" Shinjiro asked him.
"...This floor seems kinda different from the others in this labyrinth, doesn't it?" Minato asked.
"First it was a school...but now it seems to be a hospital." Mitsuru said.
"I was just wondering...why the change?"
"M-Maybe both of them are scary?" Yukari suggested.
"Is that all there is to it...? What do you think, Yu?"
"They're both scary places." Yu shrugged.
"...Yeah, but...there're other scary places, like a graveyard or an old mansion...Why a school and a hospital, specifically? Maybe I'm overthinking this..."
"You think it's significant? I mean, to who or whatever created this place...?" I wondered, tilting my head slightly at the thought.
"H-Hey...Dwelling on this stuff is just freaking me out more..." Yukari interrupted.
"Yeah, figuring out this stuff is why we're investigating, so let's put it on hold, okay?" Junpei suggested.
"...You've got a point. Sorry, let's keep going." Minato agreed, so we headed back to the stairs up.
However, instead of proceeding through the next door, Yu decided we should take a break from the labyrinth, since we were running out of items and had been at it a while now.
Considering the other girls and I were still a bit shaken from the whole bathroom incident, we somehow decided on eating sweets together after leaving the Nurse's Office.
Fuuka sighed happily as Yu walked up to us. "This taste is so nice...Would you like some, leader?"
"Why don't you have a warm drink? As leader, it's important for you to be relaxed and keep a clear head." Mitsuru offered him some tea.
"Sorry about what happened earlier...I was just so scared with that stuff at the bathroom. I'm so ashamed..." Chie apologized a bit awkwardly.
"It's not really your fault. We all have things that are hard for us to deal with." Yukiko reassured her.
"Woof!" Koromaru seemed to agree.
"Yukiko...Koro-chan..." Chie looked touched.
"Afraid of ghosts? Even you have a cute side, don't you, Chie-chan?" Teddie butted in.
"What the hell is that "even you" part for?" Chie was back to getting annoyed like her usual self. "And you have no right to talk! Koro-chan saved your butt!"
"Hrrrmmm...! I-It's true that he had to save me. But I did that on purpose, or else the mutt would never have a moment in the spotlight!"
"Grrrr..." Koromaru seemed to take offence at that.
"That's it, Koro-chan! Growl at him some more!" Chie encouraged.
"You can bite him too, if you want. Though I don't think he'd be very tasty." Yukiko added.
"I'm extremely tasty! They say that a bear's right paw is delicious!" Teddie seemed proud for some reason.
"Arf!" Koromaru wagged his tail and began to lunge at the bear.
"Yaaaaargh! It was a joke! Please stop...!" Teddie ran off, Koromaru chasing after him.
"U-Um...I'm glad everyone is safe." Fuuka decided to change the subject. "That was a close call at the bathroom. My heart was pounding and I wasn't even really there..."
"Mm-hm, I thought we were goners for sure when that thing came into the bathroom..." Yukiko replied rather quickly.
"Honestly, I kinda calmed down a bit when Mitsuru-senpai was clin-" I started with a semi-embarrassed smile.
"Z-Zen's quick thinking saved us all." Mitsuru cut me off, seeming a bit embarrassed. "That was a very fri...ahem, a very dangerous situation to be in."
"Fri...? 'Fri'...?" Yu repeated, looking at her questioningly.
"You don't have to say it twice! It was just...a slip of the tongue!" Mitsuru actually looked to be blushing a little. "Listen, as the older one here, it falls to me to protect everyone younger than myself. So, you see...I-I cannot falter simply because of some "supernatural phenomenon". I have the will to withstand it! Do you understand my point?"
Yu apparently decided to just nod, although I was pretty sure he was smirking a little.
"This labyrinth looks like it may go on for a little longer." Fuuka changed the subject again. "I hope what happened at the bathroom doesn't repeat itself..."
"I couldn't take another one of those!" Chie looked tired just thinking about it.
We all kinda agreed with that sentiment.
"Yo, Kyoka-senpai. I finished that thing for you..." Kanji tracked me down while I was trying to get better at the pop gun game.
"That thing...?" I repeated, tilting my head at him before I realized what he must've meant. "Oh! You're done making it?"
He nodded and looked away a bit awkwardly as he motioned for me to come with him to the sewing club's room. He brought me to an area away from the fashion and stuffed animal display in the room and showed me the finished product of the sketch I'd given him of a simple costume.
"Oh, it's kinda soft, but silky underneath..." I said in surprise, feeling the fabric of the clothing items.
"It's mostly cotton blends, but I found a bit of polyurethane stuff..."
"I have no idea what that means..." I shrugged the fabric specifics off as I felt the clasps on the halter-strapped bra. "Oh, this stitching feels pretty thick...Is that to make it sturdier?"
"I used the kinda thread they usually keep for carpets, since you said you wanted it secure..."
"Oh, okay." I nodded and checked the elastic on the skirt before stepping back and looking at the costume as a whole.
"S-So...Whatddya think?" Kanji asked hesitantly after I'd been looking it over quietly for a moment.
"The colours...Why white and red with a kinda line pattern thing with swirls at the end?"
"Oh, that's 'cause when I asked about colours and if you wanted any embroidery, you said to make it go with one'a those fox masks you get at festivals...I-Is it no good?"
I shook my head at him. "No, that's not it. I'm just surprised you came up with something so pretty from such a vague answer." I smiled sheepishly at him and was probably blushing a bit. "Seriously, it looks great. I don't know if I can actually pull it off..."
"I-I dunno, d-don't ask me!" He seemed to get embarrassed and turned his head away from me.
"Thanks, Kanji-kun. But I may ask for some adjustments if I try it on and notice something."
"It's normal if it doesn't fit properly on the first try." He shrugged.
"I-I'm gonna go try it out! Haha, I'm kinda excited..." I couldn't help but feel giddy as I took the costume and fled to my impromptu practice room.
After changing, I looked into the mirror I had for my dancing and turned around a few times, lifted the skirt out to the sides, swished it around a little, and then tried out some of the moves that could be more taxing on an outfit. I was a little disappointed that the hems of the bra and skirt seemed to slip a little with the shimmying, but it seemed to fit well enough, other than the skirt dragged on the floor a little when I wasn't picking it up. I guess that was the problem with gypsy skirts, though. They weren't as good when you weren't incorporating them into a dance. I ended up changing back and taking the costume to the sewing club's room again. I was a bit surprised Kanji hadn't left, but he seemed even more surprised when I opened the door, since he jumped violently, started to spout excuses, but then stopped when he saw it was me.
"O-Oh...Kyoka-senpai...! There a problem?"
"Yeah..." I sighed. "I think I'm too short for this skirt, it drags on the floor a little. And the waistline and bra both slip if I move too much..."
"Huh...I thought it'd be fine with your height..." He muttered, taking the skirt and looking it over with a frown.
"Yeah, but if I step on it, it might slip down...And it's white, so I don't want to get the bottom all dirty because it touches the floor." I sat down across the table from him as he got on his concentrated face and inspected the costume carefully.
"Sorry, I'm not used to making this kinda thing...Should I roll the hem to shorten it? Cutting it's gonna be a bit..."
"Hm...Oh, what if you took the layer and did something like this?" I picked up the corner of the skirt and folded it up over the front, then pinned the corner near the hemline with my finger, creating a bit of a ruffled edge going diagonally across the left side of the skirt. "It's mainly the sides that drag on the floor, so would it be possible to just pin the corners up near the hem like this on either side and that would make it shorter?"
"...Yeah, I think I could do that." He nodded, seeming to like my idea. "But it won't look right if you're not wearin' it when I do."
"Okay, I'll put it on then. But first," I pointed to the bra. "What about the slipping issue? How do we fix that?"
"Uh...Tape?" He muttered uncertainly.
"Tape...?" I repeated doubtfully and he blushed a bit and got defensive.
"I dunno nothin' about slipping!"
"Um..." I glanced around a bit as I tried to think of something and he began measuring something on the skirt. "Tape, huh...?" I muttered to myself, then got an idea. "Ohh, hey, Kanji-kun! Do you know what that stuff is they put on the inside of the tops of thigh-highs? It's like, kinda rubbery?"
"Huh? Oh, you mean that latex kinda stuff...What about it?"
"It keeps the stockings from slipping, so would it work with this, too? Like, could you just sew it on the inside edges?"
"Maybe, but...Where d'we get it...?"
"Um...Maybe Elizabeth-san might know? She made that nurse outfit outta nowhere, but I've never seen her gloves slip down, so..."
"Yeah, you can ask her then."
"R-Right..." I reluctantly accepted, although I didn't want to go speak to Elizabeth at all. She was still trying to convince me to let her do a "test" on me, whatever that meant. I assumed it was something about my half Shadow situation, but she changed what she wanted from me every time I asked what she meant, so I really had no idea at this point.
"Alright, so you wanna do the skirt adjustments now, or...?" Kanji seemed a bit embarrassed for some reason, even though I was the one who had to wear the thing.
"Y-Yeah. Let's get that over with first." I nodded and took the skirt to slip on over my uniform skirt, then took that off underneath with the expertise of a girl who'd learned to change very discreetly since the whole tattoo thing became an issue. I then adjusted it to rest where I wanted it on my hips and Kanji got me to stand on a chair. "Th-This is kinda..." I muttered as he was carefully sewing the corner of my skirt into a place near the hem at my right hip.
"Sh-Shuddup and quit moving!" He shouted at me with annoyed embarrassment.
I obeyed and stood as quietly and still as I possibly could. The awkward moments passed and he got to work finding the right position for the other corner across the back and then sewing it carefully into place as well.
"Th-There! How's that?" Kanji practically shouted as he finally stepped away from me.
I hopped down off the chair and looked down at the hem of the skirt as I stood in my socks on the floor. It wasn't brushing the floor anymore, and when I twirled around, it didn't come up as much, but I thought it looked even better somehow and couldn't help but grin as I positioned one of my feet forward to make sure I could still have good leg movement with the alterations and found it wasn't bad. It was a bit heavy, but the elastic fit well enough that if I wasn't moving around that much, it stayed in place pretty well.
"This works. Thanks, Kanji-kun!" I turned my grin on him and he looked away from me, face going red as he scratched his head.
"'s nothin'."
"Haha, you even kept the patterns visible..." I really couldn't contain my excitement, despite how embarrassed I felt to be this excited about a skirt. "It's really pretty. I almost feel like I'm not worthy."
"I-It's fine! I made it for you!" He protested rather seriously and I was a bit surprised, then he panicked, probably thinking he had startled me. "S-Sorry! I-I just...Meant you asked for it so, uh..."
"...Aw, Kanji-kun's so sweet!" I ended up laughing in my embarrassment and gratitude and teasing him.
"Wha-H-Hey! Are you makin' fun of me!?"
"No, not at all." I replied innocently, going to pull my uniform's skirt back on underneath the costume's skirt and then carefully slip it off again while snickering at his reaction of looking away quickly. "...Seriously, though. If I ever actually gather my nerve and perform for real...I think I'll ask you to make my costumes. This is...way better than what I could've imagined coming from my bland outline." I said, feeling my expression soften as I gently set the skirt down on the table again and ran a hand over the smooth fabric lightly.
"...I-I ain't doin' it for nothin'!" He told me, still seeming quite flustered as he was unable to look at me directly.
"Of course. If I ask you again, I'll pay you for real."
"Th-that isn't what I meant..."
"More topsicles?" I tilted my head at him questioningly. "Is that the way to motivate you to do a good job?"
"F-Forget it! I don't care what you pay me, I'll make the best damn costumes you've ever seen!"
I smiled at his sudden passion and nodded. "Okay. I'll look forward to seeing them!"
"You better look forward to wearin' 'em too!"
"Ehh? That's such a waste, though. I dunno if I'll ever even be able to perform..."
"Th-Then, uh...Just wear 'em for no reason!"
"...Hey, that's not too bad of an argument. I already wear my pelt for no reason at home."
"Ugh..."