In my free time, I ended up heading back to the Nurse's Office, remembering that I had something to ask Elizabeth about.
"Yes? Are you here to make a request?" She asked me innocently.
"Um, actually, I wanted to ask if you knew where to get that latex rubber stuff they line thigh-highs and long gloves with so they don't slip down..." I told her awkwardly.
"Hm? Oh, yes. I believe I know what you're speaking of. Such incredible material that defies reality...!" Her eyes sparkled for some reason that made me nervous, but I assumed that meant she did know where to find some. "Do you need it for something?"
"Yeah. Um, any chance you'd tell me where to find it...?"
"Hmhm..." She smiled at me in an eerie way, like a child that was expecting some reward for an action you aren't even really aware of being impressive. "Then, does that mean you'd finally be willing to let me preform a test on you? Just a teeny, tiny test of your will."
"Test of my will...?" I repeated doubtfully, since last time it had been "test of fortitude" or something. Still, it looked as if she wouldn't tell me where to get the stuff if I didn't humour her, so although I was extremely reluctant and nervous, I said, "Uh...I-I guess...?"
"Wonderful!" She beamed, practically skipping to go retrieve some sketchy-looking medicine bottle that was unlabelled and had a strange dark blue liquid in it. "The test is very simple. All you need to do is drink this concoction I've fused together out of snake sk-"
"I-I really don't want to know!" I cut her off, taking the bottle and trying my best to ignore the anxious flipping of my stomach as my body screamed at me not to do this. "Urgh...All I have to do is drink this, right? Then you'll help me?"
She nodded, smiling eagerly and clapping her hands together as I uncapped the bottle. "I'm so excited to see what happens...! Bottoms up!"
I sighed shakily, then shut my eyes and forced myself to drink it. I couldn't dance if I didn't have a proper costume, and if I couldn't dance, then I couldn't make it up to Yosuke. So, even though the liquid tasted horribly bitter and was way too thick to make me feel comfortable swallowing it, I forced myself to do so. Then, I gave the bottle back to Elizabeth, who looked pleased and full of anticipation. Despite thinking I saw her lips moving, I couldn't make out the words before everything went dark.
I woke up in the Nurse's Office, barely able to remember what I had been doing before Elizabeth held out about ten thick strips of rubbery stuff toward me and said congratulations for something. It took me a minute to realize it was the stuff I'd asked her about and I hesitantly thanked her, debating whether or not I should ask what happened. My body didn't feel wrong, but...I don't know if that meant nothing happened or not. She seemed vaguely satisfied and a little disappointed though, so I wasn't sure what that weird liquid was supposed to do other than make me pass out. Either way, I took the stuff from her and made a hasty retreat from the Nurse's Office to go give it to Kanji.
We headed into the third floor of the Evil Spirit Club because Yu said we were going to fight Elizabeth again, so everyone followed him to one of the rooms that had been empty before.
"This must be where Elizabeth is waiting." Fuuka said as we stood outside the door. "Hmm...It seems she's stronger than before..."
"Hey, all we gotta do is give it 100%! We've gotten stronger too, you know! Go for nothing!" Rise seemed excited.
"R-Rise-chan, that makes it sound like they don't have a chance..."
"Hm? What was the actual saying again?"
"Go for broke." Yu told her.
"Oh, right...I mean, wait! Doesn't that mean you're gonna risk everything!? You can't do that!"
"Let's just say that "go for nothing" is the correct saying in this case!" Fuuka suggested. "W-Well then...shall we fight her now?"
"Let's go inside." Yu nodded and opened the door.
"Let's get this over with." I sighed, adjusting my grip on my naginata as I followed after him with the others.
"I've been waiting for you." Elizabeth greeted us. "Is your blood flowing from the previous warmup? I will be a little bit stronger than last time. I warn you not to hold back."
"Back at you. If you underestimate us too much, you'll pay the price. Why hold back at all? Come at us with everything you got." Akihiko responded, seeming happy to fight this time.
"That won't do. You all are still fluffy little chicks...So young and downy that you cannot lay eggs or be used for meat yet. When the day comes that you are fully grown chickens...that is when I shall fight you with all my strength."
"Ngh...I hope you're ready to pay for insults like that! I won't show mercy because you're a woman. Now, get in the damn ring!"
"And there he goes, falling for the easiest taunt in the world!" Junpei commentated.
"That is what true combat is about...I look forward in seeing what each of us gains from this fight. Your fate is in the cards." Elizabeth said and we all got ready. "This time, you will face this Persona and myself. Please demonstrate your power to me. I demand satisfaction."
"Go, everyone!" Fuuka encouraged.
Elizabeth seemed to have no weaknesses again this time, but she was using a Persona that had ailment and physical skills and poison really hit us hard the first couple rounds. She was pretty fast too, so hitting her was a bit fifty-fifty for a while before we started getting speed buffs.
"Oh? I can tell that you are giving me more than last time. However, it is not enough. You are like...hm...like a takoyaki. ...I have a sudden strange craving for takoyaki now. Let us pick up the pace." Elizabeth said and then debuffed us. Then, Yu told me to use a magic attack, but I found myself unable to transform.
"H-Huh!? What's going on...?" I looked down at my hands in confusion and alarm. "Wh-Why can't I transform...?"
"Oh my. What a cute trick!" Elizabeth seemed very amused by something as she looked at me.
"Wh-What...?"
"Those ears...That tail...! It's like those adorable girls...What is it you called them? Cosprayers?"
"C-Cosplay...? What?" I tilted my head at her in utter confusion, then looked to Yu for some kind of explanation but found the others were all giving me bizarre looks.
"...Kyoka, we're in the middle of a fight, here! It's not really the time to be playing a stupid prank like this!" Yosuke told me with a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment, seeming unable to really look at me for some reason.
"Wait, what? What's going on?" It was my turn to give them a bizarre look.
"You tell us." Yu responded.
"Why aren't you transforming to attack!?" Chie questioned with annoyance.
"I can't!" I yelled back defensively.
"You can't...?" Yukiko repeated. "Did something strange happen to you recently...?"
"Strange...Um...Oh!" I looked to Elizabeth in alarm. "Elizabeth-san...W-Was that thing you made me drink...?"
"I had hoped it would make you transform outside the labyrinth so I could properly study your Shadow form. However, it seems it has done something far more entertaining...!" She beamed childishly, as if this weren't an issue. "Instead of a full transformation, it seems you've been limited to taking on only a few features."
"Eh? H-Hold on, don't tell me...!" I could feel my expression melting into one of horror as the realization hit me and I looked behind me to see that I did indeed have the end of a coyote tail hanging out from my uniform's skirt. "N-No way...This can't be happening...And in the middle of a fight, too...!"
"I don't sense it limiting your abilities, however. I believe you are capable of utilizing your skills in this form just as well as the other. So please, do not hold yourself back." Elizabeth smiled, retaking her fighting stance.
"S-Seriously...?" I gave it a try, sending a magic attack her way and was a bit surprised to find it worked. "Oh, you are so fixing this later!" I shouted at her with embarrassed annoyance as I took up my naginata and got ready to fight seriously again.
Despite my issues being a distraction, Yu took command again and we continued to attack her for a while before she seemed to be starting to get tired and we took her out. "Whew...Well done. I have indeed sensed the latent power within you. To think that half of my full strength was no match for you...I am truly astonished. Your reward will be given to you in the Nurse's Office. Now then, I'll go on ahead...I'll see you later." She said to Yu and disappeared.
Considering we were all pretty tired from the fight ourselves, and that door-holding FOE was trapping us in this room, we used a Goho-M and headed to the Nurse's Office to recover while Yu got his reward. Elizabeth gave me another weird drink, claiming it should return me to normal, but this one didn't make me pass out it just tasted awful and made me gag a little. After that, we all split up to do our own things, but I ended up asking Shinjiro to help me win one of those sheep dolls from the pop gun game, since it'd really been bugging me that they were kinda familiar but I couldn't place them and I wanted a closer look since I noticed that. While we were there and he was trying to give me pointers, Akihiko showed up and they ended up getting competitive about the whole thing. Yu came by to ask Shinjiro about helping with the girls' hot pot. Shinjiro ended up telling him he was busy, but explained to him the basics of making a decent hot pot instead. I wished Yu good luck before he left, assuming this had to do with Yosuke's request for him to help. After he left, I ended up asking Shinjiro how he remembered all this cooking stuff. Of course, he dismissed it, but did answer in the affirmative when I asked whether his skills included baking. I didn't get much more than that, though, since Akihiko kickstarted the competition again. They ended up dumping a pile of those sheep dolls on me, even though I only really wanted one, but I still couldn't figure out where I'd seen them before. I thought maybe a game advertisement, but...Well, whatever. I was curious to know how the whole hot pot thing worked out, so I found Yu and asked, but he sighed and said there was just no saving those four's cooking skills. Turns out, he helped them make a good hot pot, but they all just made bad ones on their own too anyway. Of course, I knew there was just no talking them out of crazy ideas if the dish had room for personal preferences, but I felt kinda bad for Yosuke being subjected to them again. Not that I knew the first thing about hot pots myself, but I guess it's whatever now.
Kanji came and told me he was done sewing in the non-slip stuff for my costume while I was wandering around aimlessly, so I went with him to go check it out. I was really excited to try it out again, so my thanks was a bit hasty, but I decided to remind myself to thank him again after I found it stayed in place now, no matter what I did. Sure, it was a little bit uncomfortable at first, but the lack of a wardrobe malfunction threat enabled me to feel a little better about dancing. With that and the skirt length issues solved, I moved onto the next checkbox on the list Tanabachi told me to use for costumes and performance prep, despite the fact I never thought I'd need it. For this one, I actually needed to get someone else involved, because I couldn't see everything that might be wrong myself. Considering she'd already seen me dance once before, I asked Naoto to help me in determining if the costume would look good under different types of lighting. She was a bit too embarrassed to look at me properly for more than a second at first, but after the first couple spots with different lighting I took her to, she seemed to get used to it a little more and gave me valuable feedback. Although, the one place I really cared to know about was in the music club's room where the song I was planning on dancing to was playing. It was a small area off to the side of the crowd that I wasn't sure would be light enough without my interference, but Naoto told me that the white and red of my costume, as well as my lighter skin tone, made me stand out enough even in the dim lighting for her to be able to see what I was doing from one of the seats along the wall. As anxious as I was to be out in the open in my costume, even if the crowd was just NPCs that weren't even looking at me, I ended up doing an improvised dance for her as a sort of thanks for her help. I think we were both pretty red in the face afterward, but she seemed really impressed to see the isolations and more visible hip lifts and drops I had been doing before but weren't visible under my uniform. I was admittedly super embarrassed by the stuttered praise, but at the same time, I couldn't help but smile. I don't really know how to describe it...Getting a positive response to my dancing from someone other than Tanabachi...It kinda gave me a fluttering feeling. Not the bad kind, but I couldn't say for sure it was good either. Anyway, Naoto actually thanked me for letting her see me doing something I enjoyed, even if it was a bit odd for both of us at first, and said that she wouldn't mind helping me again if I asked for it. Honestly, my eyes watered a little I was so thankful to have become such good friends with her, but I held off on actually crying and just thanked her sincerely instead before we parted ways.
Then, with the costuming issues out of the way for the most part, I decided to begin practicing the dance I'd come up with at the venue to the live music. However, by myself in a room full of people, even NPCs that didn't even glance my way, I stiffened up with stage fright. I wasn't able to get the smooth, flowing movements I had intended, and I kept forgetting what I was supposed to be doing. I began to think it really was impossible for me to dance properly for Yosuke, but then I remembered something my teacher told me.
"You don't have as much of an issue dancing in public with a mask on. I think it's because preforming as yourself is too difficult right now, but if you hide your face, you can let go a little bit more."
I wasn't confident that it would work, but I got changed and went to hunt down a mask before continuing with my practice. I knew I'd seen a fox mask around somewhere, so it wasn't too difficult to figure out it was because one of the students was wearing one at some display. I asked her if I could borrow it, but she just talked about the display or the festival being fun. She didn't even seem to care when I took it from her, but I promised to give it back when I was done anyway. Then, I went back to my preparations, in full costume and with the mask on. I looked in the mirror in my make-shift practice room when I put the mask on though, to make sure it fit well with the costume. I was actually kinda shocked how well it looked, like a mysterious ghostly character from a manga or something, just with a bit more stomach showing. I found some accessories to go with it too, namely a magatama necklace I bought from the handicraft club's display, a red armlet I had folded and pinned together that was actually a cuff cut from a shirt I got at the sewing club, and three fairly plain golden bracelets for one wrist and an orangey-red fingerless glove that only went to my wrist for the side I had the armlet on the upper arm of. It was a bit mismatched, but I thought it turned out pretty well.
However, I made the mistake of thinking my luck would hold out and I could sneak back over to the music room while in full costume, mask and all.
"Waaah! G-G-Ghost! It's a ghost!" Chie's screaming made me flinch and turn around to see she was staring straight at me and standing with Yukiko, Rise, Fuuka, and Ken.
"I-Is it really...?" Ken looked doubtful, but when he got a closer look at me as I turned, unsure what I should do, he blushed and looked away.
"Wow...! For a ghost, she sure is pretty!" Rise wasn't taking the whole thing seriously at all and just smiled.
"That sure is a strange outfit...Do you think maybe she's one of those fox spirits?" Fuuka asked, seeming confused.
"Ooh, you mean the ones that trick people into getting lost in the woods until they die of starvation?" Yukiko asked, looking excited for some reason.
"S-S-Starvation...!?" Chie whimpered.
"Excuse me, Ms Fox-" Yukiko began to address me and I panicked a little.
I decided there was no point exposing myself if they didn't know who I was, and it was way too embarrassing to say anything now, so I ran away instead.
"Hey, she's running away!" Rise called out, sounding disappointed.
I don't know how, but I managed to lose them and they gave up the chase after I ducked into a classroom on the first floor and jumped out the window to duck under it and hope they didn't look outside and down. After that, I decided I should change back into my uniform's skirt and wear my hoodie over the top until I got to the music room and made sure no one was there. Then, I got back into full costume again and did a full dress rehearsal. I repeated the dance several times after getting over my nerves about the uninterested crowd nearby, then decided I was ready to get this show over with once and for all. The thought of Yosuke actually watching me dance had me sick with nerves, but I had made a promise and I wanted to do my best. So, even though I was a little reluctant to ask, I ended up tracking down Rise to do up my hair. She was suspicious of my reasoning, but agreed to do it. Then, I had to awkwardly request she made it simple and hard to mess up with anything, like say, the strings of a mask.
"...Ohh, now I get it! The fox-ghost girl was you!" She smirked at me mischievously. "Kyoka-senpai, are you getting ready for a private show?"
"Th-That's...!" I started to protest, but sighed when she only got a more knowing look on her face since I was probably blushing way too much to convincingly deny it. "I-It's a secret, okay!?"
"Don't worry! I won't tell anyone! Just tell me who it's for." She said, returning to brushing out my hair and then moving it in a way that felt kinda odd.
"Ngh..."
"Ooh, is it for Yosuke-senpai!?"
"Wha-How did you guess so quickly!?"
"Well, it's obvious you're going to a lot of trouble to do it, getting that costume together and asking me to do your hair..." She shrugged. "I figured it must be for the person you like."
"...You're too sensitive to this stuff." I whined, feeling way more embarrassed now that someone else knew what I was doing and she was giggling about it.
"I'm sure you'll do a great job! But, I am a little disappointed you're dancing for him before you show me..."
"...I-I'll dance for you and the other girls s-sometime later." I responded quietly after a moment of feeling a bit guilty. "This is...Actually because I did something horrible to him. S-So I'm making up for it by showing him the type of dancing I do because he asked. E-Even though I really would rather not preform for anyone, I...I wouldn't..." I began to struggle for the right words to convey my feelings to her.
"...It's okay, Kyoka-senpai. You don't have to explain everything to me." She said softly and with a warmness usually reserved for moments when she was comforting someone, which wasn't really that often, actually. "Just seeing how hard you've worked and how much feeling you're putting into this...I'm certain he'll forgive you for whatever it is that made you feel so bad you wouldn't be able to forgive yourself if you didn't do this for him." She giggled a bit, though it sounded a little sad to me for some reason. "To be honest, I kind of envy how sincerely you like Yosuke-senpai..."
"You do...? I-I guess I can't deny that I feel so horrible about what happened because I like him a lot more than I expected to, but...Honestly, Rise, I-I really envy you right now." I admitted sheepishly.
She paused when I said that. "Huh? You envy me?"
I nodded a bit. "You have no problems getting up in front of people and putting on a show, or even just talking. B-But I can't do that. I have to wear an actual, physical mask. And even then, I...I still feel like I'm gonna be sick with nerves, you know? So sick I just want to curl up in a ball and hide forever...A-Also, you're waaay prettier than I am. Like, I don't know how Yosuke could ever like me if he likes you..."
"...Aw, that's so sweet!" Rise giggled, seeming amused for some reason. "But I'm not really interested in Yosuke-senpai, so no need to worry! He's all yours!"
"That's...Not really all there is to it..."
"Seriously, Kyoka-senpai, we don't look similar at all, but you're incredibly pretty in your own way when you're trying. I wasn't lying when I said you looked pretty in that costume. Your strongpoints are different from mine, and you're not an idol, so of course we're not the same. But, I really think just seeing you in that costume, let alone dancing, will definitely make any guy fall for you!"
"That's not really...Um..." I got flustered by the compliment and began to laugh nervously. "I guess I should just say thanks. Coming from you, I feel like that might actually be true."
"Just don't make Yu-senpai fall for you, okay?"
"He's more like a brother to me, so no way would I ever intentionally try to do that." I dismissed that notion quickly, though I felt a bit bad for Rise knowing that Yu liked Naoto. "Besides, I don't intend to dance publicly, so chances are good he'll never see it anyway."
"You don't? That's actually kinda disappointing..."
"Huh? No way. I couldn't! I'm not even that good at dancing..."
"Well, I can't say anything about that, but...Your costume design is really interesting!"
"That's...Mostly Kanji-kun's talents at work..."
"No way...He made that!?"
"Don't tell anyone, okay? He'll get really embarrassed and I don't want to explain why I had him make me the costume..."
"...Alright. But you really owe me that dance after all this is over, got it?"
I nodded. "Of course."
"Alright! Let's give you a mysterious sexy fox vibe with this hairstyle!" She seemed fired up all of a sudden and I couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
I ended up being utterly shocked by the hairstyle Rise gave me. It was simple since she left the back hanging loose, but she seemed confident that the red ribbons she twisted into the two pieces framing my face would hold. I didn't plan on a whole lot of head movement or hair swinging that would be hard on the style, so I decided to trust her on that. She then showed me how to put on the mask without messing up the hairstyle, and then how to spread my bangs out over the front of the mask so they didn't look funny. I took off the mask and thanked her, she wished me good luck with a bit of teasing, and then I decided to go prepare to do the dance right now. I knew I should test the hair first to make sure it held, but I was way too excited to do this and I didn't want to have to sit through getting my hair done up so nicely again. A hair malfunction was better than a wardrobe malfunction anyway. I decided to change into the top part of my costume, with accessories and all, then cover it up with my hoodie before I went to track down my audience.
I found Yosuke talking to Yu near the food court, but when they saw me approaching, they both stared at me.
"Kyoka...?" Yu looked actually slightly surprised for once.
"U-Um..." I fidgeted a bit nervously, certain my face was turning red with embarrassment.
"Y-Your hair...It's..." Yosuke started to say and I felt panicked all of a sudden, gingerly lifting a hand to touch it, but stopping short in fear of messing it up.
"I-Is it weird...?"
"N-No! I-It's, uh...Just surprising." Yosuke seemed to panic a bit too at my nerves, but then looked away from me. "A-Are you...doing something special or something...?"
I nodded. "S-Sorry for this being sudden, b-but...Can I borrow you for, like, ten minutes?"
"Huh? Why-"
"Just go." Yu smirked slightly and pushed on Yosuke's back, making him stumble toward me a bit.
"R-Right...!" Yosuke looked like he was gonna get mad at him for a second, but then looked at me and away quickly before nodding. "L-Let's go, then..."
I nodded to him and motioned for him to follow me, trying not to betray too much of my anxiety that was building up the closer the time got to me preforming. "U-Um, so...About that t-thing..."
"What thing?" He looked confused, and I looked away now as I led him toward the music room.
"Th-The dance...Uh, I, um...I'm gonna do it..." My voice was getting meeker, I could hear it fading.
"R-Right now!?"
I nodded. "The song is in a few minutes, so I'll sh-show you where to wait while I finish getting ready..."
"Oh, uh, o-okay..." He seemed almost as embarrassed as I was to talk about it.
I couldn't find my voice anymore, so we walked there silently and I vaguely motioned toward the chairs along the wall, facing the small open area next to the crowd that I had been scoping out during my rehearsals. He sat down a bit awkwardly, then I left in a hurry and went to the backstage area to change into the costume's skirt, take off my hoodie, carefully put on my mask, kick off my shoes and socks, and double check in the mirror that everything was in place. I also made sure no lint stuck to any of the accessories and they were still in place before I heard the song that came before the one I had planned out my dance to ending. My heart felt like it'd beat out of my chest, but I managed to dart out and take up my starting position with my back toward the chairs where Yosuke was sitting and wait for the song to start. I almost thought I'd freeze up and be unable to do the dance, but somehow managed to find the will to start moving. Arm movements came first, so they were simple and not-so-embarrassing. I was able to start feeling the song before I got into the more embarrassing part of hip movements and stomach isolations and actually facing my intended audience. I was unable to look at his face, though, even through the mask. I could only see through peripheral that he was even there. The dance felt smooth, despite my nerves, as if muscle memory had kicked in from practicing it over and over again. I don't know how many times I repeated it once I had worked out what to do, maybe twenty or thirty, but I had only done it in costume three times, so I thought it would be harder. Still, I swallowed my sick feeling and pushed through, doing my best not to mess up or stop in the middle. Though, by the time the song ended and I had entered my ending stance, despite my breathing being heavy and feeling tired from dancing, I almost felt like I hadn't done it at all. I had just begun to worry I hadn't even moved and just imagined doing it, but the sound of clapping made me jump and my head snapped up to see Yosuke standing up, clapping and looking completely shocked.
"I-I did it...?" I asked weakly as he walked up to me, smiling a bit and seeming almost disbelieving.
"Hell yeah, you did!"
"I-It wasn't weird...?" I perked up, beginning to feel relieved as my voice, muffled by the mask began to come back. "Wh-What did you think of it? W-Was it actually okay?"
"Y-Yeah..." He seemed to be blushing and looked away, rubbing the back of his head. "I-I mean, I don't really know what that kind of dancing is supposed to look like but...I couldn't take my eyes off you. It was really, um...C-Captivating...?"
I felt like I couldn't breathe, clasping my hands together in front of me as I listened to his response, then my shaky legs gave out and I knelt on the floor.
"K-Kyoka!? Are you okay!?" Yosuke crouched down in front of me, seeming alarmed.
I slowly reached a hand up to lift the mask off my face just enough to feel the cool air on my nose and mouth as I let out a quiet, breathy laugh. "I-I'm so...relieved...you didn't hate it..."
"...You worked really hard on this, huh?" He was giving me a small smile with a hint of something I didn't recognize in his eyes as he looked at me with a softer expression than usual.
"It wouldn't be right...If I didn't try my best..." I replied, still a bit out of breath. "And it wasn't just me. Yu-kun drew the costume design for me because I suck at drawing...Kanji-kun made the costume for me...Naoto-kun helped me face my fears of performing...Rise did my hair...I borrowed the mask from an NPC...I couldn't've done it without the music here...A-All I really did...Was dance...I'm just grateful...I was able to do what you asked of me..."
"You really..." He started saying something, but trailed off as a somewhat painful look crossed his face. "Kyoka...C-Can you take off the mask now...?"
"I..." I looked down, a bit anxious and about to refuse, but slowly nodded and carefully removed the mask fully. I didn't look at him when I revealed my face, knowing full well it was red and covered in tears I couldn't control since I had finished my last sentence.
"Wh-Why're you crying...?" He looked at me with concern, but not surprise. He must've heard it in my voice when I stopped talking, that's why he asked me to take off the mask.
I shook my head, hiding my face in my hands and trying to wipe the tears away as I sniffled. "I-I just...feel like everything's...not enough."
"What...?"
"I-It's not enough to make up for k-kissing you like that, th-then being so wishy washy because I...I'm scared of b-being rejected...!" I admitted it without fully understanding myself until I said it aloud. And, to be honest, I was probably pushing it down because I didn't want to acknowledge that I liked him that much without being sure of how he felt about it.
He seemed shocked, staying very still and silent as he stared at me and I tried to calm myself down. Of course, when you're really worked up, trying to stop crying just makes it worse, so I stopped trying to calm down and decided I should just let this run its course and apologize.
"S-Sorry...B-But when you said you couldn't take your eyes off me, I...I felt way too happy...I got scared b-because...I like you way more than I thought...! Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...!"
"...Wh-Why're you apologizing...?"
"B-Because...At the same time...I really don't wish for you to like me back..."
"Why...?"
"I...S-Still want to die..." I choked on the words and curled into myself, biting hard on my lip as I acknowledged the reality of these feelings. "I'll...Only hurt you in the end...B-Because I'm like this...! It's way t-too cruel of me...To want you to feel the same way..."
"...So that's it." He sighed, and I heard him shifting before his arm was around my shoulders and pulling me into his side as he sat next to me.
"Y-Yosuke...?"
"...You're way too nice." He muttered, not letting me push away from him and attempt to see what expression he was making. "Worrying about something like that...Aren't you dealing with too much by yourself?"
"Huh...?"
"But," He sighed heavily and his tone became a little lighter as I could hear his heart beating when I let my head be more or less forced against his chest. "I guess that's part of why I started to like you..."
"Wh-What!?" I forcefully jerked back this time, staring at him with wide eyes as he looked away from me and seemed to be blushing probably just as much as I was.
"Wh-Why're you so shocked!? It's not like you gave me a whole lot to hate!" He crossed his arms, seeming to get defensive out of embarrassment.
"B-But...!"
"You can't make me happy? Yeah, whatever." He scoffed. "I think you're forgetting that you've even said yourself "just wanting to die and actually doing it are two different things", so...!"
"Wh-What if I actually do it one day, though? I-I don't want you to-"
"Kinda late for that!"
"I...I should've stayed in the TV world...I should've stayed a Shadow..." I could feel new tears rushing up to sting my eyes and make my vision blur before I buried my face in my hands again. "I...Actually am a Shadow, aren't I...? All I can do is hurt people, right...?"
"Hey, hurting people is a choice you make. You haven't done that yet." He pointed out to me, his voice softening a bit.
I shook my head. "I'm going to. I just know I'm going to. I-I can't be fixed...I can't even get a Persona...All I have is an unchanging Shadow...!"
"You don't know that." He said quietly, pulling me into his side again. "And even if that's true, your Shadow doesn't hurt people, either. Even your true self is not that kind of person."
"...I-It...Wanted to grant my wish...It wanted to help me..." I realized suddenly what had bothered me since hearing about and seeing the others' Shadow selves. "I-It didn't...Broadcast my true feelings to others...It wanted to help...I wanted to help..."
"...That's who you are. I know you're a good person, so I can't understand why you want to die, but...You won't kill yourself if you think it's going to hurt someone. I'm almost positive of that."
"...Wh-When I was in the TV...I thought that I wouldn't ever get back home...My body wouldn't be found if I was dead...Disappearing probably already hurt my parents, so dying wouldn't matter at that point. B-But when I accepted my Shadow and fused with it, I...I couldn't let myself die to the other Shadows that attacked me...I-I think some part of me knew it'd hurt my parents a lot more if I vanished without a trace rather than straight up killing myself...B-Because they wouldn't even know what happened to me..." I curled into him a bit, still covering my face as I held in a whimper and my body trembled. "Y-You're right...Even if I was miserable...I probably couldn't kill myself if I knew someone would think it was their fault...Even if I don't understand why they'd feel guilty...Th-That's way too cruel to do to someone...I-If there's really some kind of afterlife, I'm terrified I'd feel guilty about it or be tortured forever..."
"...See? At least dying won't be how you hurt me..." He sounded like he was trying to make a joke, but even he thought it was kinda difficult to say.
"...I-It's not...Difficult to deal with me...? Isn't it a burden? I...I know I'm not really stable...At least, emotionally..."
"...To be honest, it's not as exhausting as you'd think." He shrugged a bit. "Listening to you is actually kinda...Interesting. Sometimes you make no sense at all, but other times it makes me think you think and feel things a lot more deeply than anyone would've guessed from just looking at you."
"...I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing..."
"...It's probably both."
I sighed at that, but he was calming me down, just like he had done before. "...I'm really sorry about this. I didn't mean to break down again..."
"Don't worry about it. I guess it's kinda my fault..." He laughed a bit sheepishly as I sat up properly, wiping away the remaining tears in the corners of my eyes and taking deep, shaky breaths to recover. "I...didn't think you liked me so much..."
"Th-That's...Uh, sorry..." I could feel my face flush with embarrassment and I looked away from him. "I didn't mean to push it on you. I just kinda got overwhelmed and...Ugh...Seriously, I'm sorry about this." I motioned vaguely to my probably puffy face as I grimaced a bit.
"You weren't really pushing it on me. You were even saying, "I really hope you don't like me back", so..."
"B-But you responded with..." I realized what he had said and got embarrassed all over again. "Ugh...Please tell me we get a do-over and actually get a romantic confession scene..."
"What? Don't like this one?" He smirked a bit despite his face being red.
"And you do?" I asked him doubtfully, crossing my arms.
He shrugged. "It's certainly one-of-a-kind, isn't it? "Yeah, my girlfriend confessed to me while crying and saying she wanted to die and for me to reject her." I'm pretty sure that'll make for a good story."
"Guh..." I grimaced, then took a breath and shot back, "Alright, then, "My boyfriend confessed to me while I was crying and telling him to reject me because I'm messed up." I'm sure that'll go over well."
"...Yeah, you're right. My version's better than yours." Yosuke shrugged and then the moment our eyes met again, we both started to dissolve into a fit of laughter. "Okay, okay. You can get a do-over on the confessions if I can get a do-over on our first kiss. We'll do them right and then that'll be the version we actually tell people. Deal?"
"D-Deal." I nodded, a smile remaining on my face from the laughter. "Then, what was it...? A park where you can see the ocean when it's cold out...?"
"Y-You're seriously taking that into consideration!?" He looked shocked and flustered by me bringing up what he said back in the Group Date Cafe.
"I never had any dreams for the first kiss scene." I tilted my head at him and shrugged. "Besides, you're giving me the confession scene, right?"
"Oh, you know what you want for that...?" He seemed a bit surprised.
I nodded. "I wanted it to be a surprise. Like, out of nowhere. Just when I felt like doing it."
"That's vague..."
I shrugged. "I like letting things happen how they happen, but I was seriously thinking I'd do it after we got out of here. Like, I dunno, when we're walking home from exploring the TV world, or after school or something. I planned on saying, "So, I like you and I wanted to say something, but I don't want to pressure you or anything, so don't worry about giving me an answer right now." ...Or something like that. It'd probably be more awkward, since I'd actually be doing it, but..."
"...Even your dreams are way too laid back." He chuckled a bit and shook his head slightly with disbelief. "I'm starting to feel like...You don't really have any expectations..."
"I have expectations." I replied bluntly, although I felt my face burning up again. "I-It's just that...I don't wanna tell you until we're actually going out...'C-'Cause if we do anything here, while everyone's stuck together...It might be awkward, so..."
"Oh, right..." He grimaced a bit. "Yeah, we probably shouldn't be all lovey-dovey when everyone's forced to basically live together. That might cause some problems..." He sighed with disappointment. "Damn, I finally get a girl who's okay with being called my girlfriend and we have to hold off because of the situation we're in..."
"Sorry. I would say it'd be fine to just keep it a secret for now, but...There's not really anywhere to sneak around and I would feel bad lying to the others, so...How about we just start when the do-over confession happens?"
"Yeah, okay...But if you think I'm forgetting this, you are sorely mistaken." He looked a bit smug as he crossed his arms.
"I-I can't really ask you to...The Gods know this is probably the happiest and most terrified I've ever been at the same time..." I lifted my eyes up toward the ceiling with a sigh as I held a hand over my heart. "No way I'd forget this either."
He was quiet for a moment before catching my attention again with a bit of a sheepish laugh as he rubbed at the back of his head. "H-Hey...It turns out your dancing actually brought us together, huh...?"
"I-It did...?"
"Wh-When I was watching you...I almost felt like what you were feeling was tangible for a minute there. It was a real mess, but...Can you tell me if I'm actually right about what you were feeling?"
I didn't know what to do but nod.
"Okay, so...Lonely and confused?"
I nodded slowly, a bit surprised to find he was right.
"But, there was some happiness and positive feelings too, right?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"And...Toward the end...You were scared."
I nodded again, feeling my eyes widen.
"There was something else through the whole thing, though...Uh, I don't know how to describe that one. I don't know if it was actually there, but I got the other ones right, so..."
"...There were two." I answered quietly, looking over to the mask on the floor next to me and picking it up gingerly to look down at it as I answered him slowly. "It's...Despair and guilt."
"Huh...? You were..."
"No, not completely as myself..." I couldn't help but smile a bit sheepishly at him as I lifted up the mask to hold it in front of my face. "As the fox I was dancing as."
"...Ohh, so there was some kind of story going on there."
I nodded as I lowered the mask enough to look over the top at him. "It wasn't really intentional, but the way the song was, I kept thinking about this story I heard somewhere and I guess it just kinda influenced it a lot. I guess I did kinda take an interest in the storytelling of traditional Japanese dance styles, but I could never do them in the way they're supposed to be...This kind of dancing feels more right for me, but it's storytelling is a lot more vague and difficult to pick up on with the lack of rules...You don't need to know the story to enjoy the dance, right?"
"Yeah, I guess...But now I'm curious." He said, seeming interested. "So, what was the actual story?"
"It was a folktale about a kitsune, you know, like a fox-spirit. Actually, I guess it was a Kitsunetsuki. I think that's what they're called...The invisible ones that possess people...?"
"Okay...So what happens in it?"
"Um...How did it go now...? I don't remember it exactly, but..." I paused to think about it, lowering the mask and turning it over in my hands to look at the pattern painted on the front of it. "There was a kitsune who spent its time silently watching humans go about their daily lives. It didn't interfere, to cause mischief or fortune. It simply watched them quietly for a long time, not particularly interested or uninterested in any one human. Then, one day, it witnessed a woman rescue a young fox from drowning in the river. Despite the humans' superstitions about foxes, this woman risked her life to save a normal fox with no reward and smiled when it ran away from her. The kitsunetsuki felt something for the first time after seeing this. Its heart moved, it began to follow this woman. She was a poor farmer's wife, both fairly young with no family remaining after an illness had ravaged the village. Wanting to repay her for her kindness, the invisible fox began to use its powers to send them some good fortune. It started small, a good yield from the couple's crops, a coin appearing in the woman's path on her way to the river every few days, or a storm passing with no damage to their home. But as it watched the woman, it began to wish to speak to her, more and more. It didn't ever want to possess a person, having never had a reason to do so before and finding it undesirable, but it began to think about possessing her husband. Eventually, it did. At first only for a few moments, to speak to her about some small, unimportant thing like the weather or how the crops were doing, but as time passed and it began to crave more of her attention, it took longer and longer to leave its host's body until it had been occupying it for days at a time. The more it did this, the more the woman's husband began to become aware of the fox's presence. When the fox possessed him again, it heard the man beg it not to harm his wife over and over, as if a desperate plea he thought would be disregarded. The kitsune was at first confused by the man's pleas, having never intended any harm to come to the woman, but it did not stop possessing the man. When he said, "Please, I love her" one day, it began to wonder if that is how it felt about the woman as well. Sure enough, as the fox began to compare its feelings with the woman's husband's, it concluded that it had in fact fallen in love with her. The woman had meanwhile noticed some of her husband's strange behaviour as well as his nightmares about a fox, but she was uncertain of what to do, so she watched helplessly as her husband started switching between having a fearful demeanour in which he desperately told her many times he loved her, and a calm, sweet one in which he spoke to her with gentleness and admiration. She was concerned that her husband was being possessed by a fox, but instead of having an exorcism done or trying to chase it out, she asked her husband's calm persona directly why it was possessing him. The fox was surprised, but admitted that it had fallen in love with her and experienced great pains when she could not see it or hear it speak to her. In response, the woman gently said, "I'm flattered, but you must leave my husband's body alone. I love him and you're hurting him by doing this. It isn't right." The rejection stung despite her gentleness, but the kitsune realized that its selfishness was much more shameful and agreed to leave her husband's body for good. However, it asked her for just one last night before it did. She hesitantly agreed, on the condition the fox left in the morning. The night was a very dreadful one for the fox, who had deeply regretted its actions after truly acknowledging her husband's fear and desperate pleas for the creature not to hurt the woman he loved. The kitsune fearfully asked the woman if she would forget it, but she reassured the fox that it would remain in her memory long after it was gone. It told her it would never be gone, it would continue watching over them, but it could still not calm itself. When the morning came, true to its word, the fox left its host and watched sorrowfully as the woman welcomed her husband back and assured him the fox would not possess him again. The man was relieved to see his wife unharmed and although it took him a long time to overcome the terror of being possessed, he recovered without the kitsune's interference. Of course, the kitsune watched over them, saw their children, watched them live long, healthy lives, and eventually watched them die. In all of its many years of life, the only time it ever wished it could die was when watching the only woman it ever loved have the life fade from her eyes while laying in bed and looking up at the ceiling as she said a final goodbye to the fox that had fallen in love with her..."
"...Wow, so that's how it ends? The fox just...Lives on miserably?" Yosuke asked when I finished.
"Yeah. I think there was something about it watching over generations of the family, but the person I heard it from said they couldn't remember if that was actually part of it or just an interpretation..." I shrugged. "I was kinda surprised to hear something like that at first, since it's usually the foxes going after men or becoming their wives or something, but I couldn't ever find that story online anywhere or anything...The old lady that told it to me said it was a story their family passed down, but I don't remember her name either...Who knows? Maybe it was a dream I had? Either way, the song reminded me of that story, so I guess it kinda became part of the dance..."
"So, you were portraying the fox..." He said, looking thoughtful. "The loneliness and confusion is the start of the story, when it first starts to want to talk to the lady, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then...In the middle, when it does talk to her but doesn't think it's doing anything wrong, it's happy and that's eventually it loving her..."
I nodded.
"The fear was that last night, when it was afraid she'd forget it...And then the despair and guilt all the way through were...When it realized it was doing something wrong at the end...? Wait." He looked a bit confused, so I decided to clarify.
"It was pretty much all the way through because I felt like some part of the fox probably knew what it was doing was wrong, but it didn't want to acknowledge it until she told it that because it just wanted to be with her and enjoy the happy feelings. It's subtle, but it's supposed to be a bit more intense in the end, with the kinda jerky movements before ending with my hands covering the mask..." I moved to hold my hands a few inches in front of my face like how I ended the dance to show him, then smiled a bit sheepishly and put one on the back of my head as the other fell to my lap. "I wasn't thinking too hard about telling the story in my dance, but yeah. That's what it ended up as..."
"Huh. And you just came up with all that in, what? A few hours?"
"Uh, time's kinda weird here, so...Probably more like twelve or fifteen on just this dance..."
"Wait, did you make up more than one dance?"
I shook my head. "I took a while picking which song first, then I kept scrapping routines because I felt like they weren't working, so I'm not counting that part...And I'm not counting the just thinking about it and not actually dancing parts either...With all that put together...? Probably a few real-world days at the least. And even then, this was a three and a half minute dance, but usually with belly dances in particular, you'll see five to eight minutes of dancing, so..."
"S-Seriously!?" He looked shocked. "You're saying you put that much effort into a three and a half minute dance!? ...For me!?"
"Y-Yeah...?" I smiled sheepishly, uncertain of his disbelieving reaction. "I-I mean...I had to do it properly...Right...?"
"...I can't believe there's actually someone who'd do that for me...!" He looked almost like he was on the verge of tears, but I couldn't decide if the proper word for his expression was touched or grateful. "Alright, it's decided! I'm gonna have the best girlfriend ever!"
"Wha-!?" It was my turn to be shocked, although I was more flustered by his last words then I was by the dancing thing now.
"Oh, sorry. Am I jumping the gun a little...?" He laughed sheepishly, but he was grinning like the best thing ever had just happened to him.
"I-I think it's more...Setting your expectations too high...I-I only did one mediocre dance!"
"Yeah, but it was probably the greatest dance I've ever seen. Aaaand, I got to see you without a t-shirt or a pelt on." He smirked while shamelessly looking toward my stomach.
"Gaah, stop staring!" I shifted to sit with my knees close to my chest as I felt my face burning. "N-Now I'm getting all embarrassed again...Geez!"
He laughed. "You can hide now, but you've already given me plenty to work with..."
"O-Okay, now I want to push you in the river..."
"Wha-H-Hey! Don't bring that up now!"
"Yep, bringing it up now. Campout. River. King-"
"Aaaaah! Stop! I'm sorry! Please show mercy!" He put his hands together and lowered his head to me as he pleaded.
"...Fine." I gave in, then laughed quietly. "I guess I brought this on myself, anyway...I should've had Kanji-kun make a body stocking..."
"Body stocking...?"
"Think tights, but to cover your stomach."
"Ohh...No you shouldn't've!"
"Of course you'd say that." I rolled my eyes exaggeratedly, still embarrassed, but not as defensive about it now. "Anyway, costumes don't expose the stomach for the sake of showing skin, it's because it makes it easier to see hip movements and isolations in the stomach and stuff."
"You mean when you puffed out the bottom of your stomach and rolled it to the top?" He asked, apparently trying to mimic the movement himself but then seeming a bit surprised. "Hey, is that actually really hard to do? I can't do it at all...Is it a thing only girls can do?"
"There's male belly dancers and they do it." I informed him, but then didn't think too much about it before kneeling and straightening my back as I rolled my stomach and explained, "A roll, like this, isn't that difficult with some practice, but to do something like this," I then puffed out the upper portion of my stomach and held it for a second, then put it back inward and did the same with the lower portion. "Is more what I mean by isolations. I find them difficult to hold or change smoothly, but when I first started doing this type of thing, I could barely do it at all without my back bending inward a little to compensate for the lack of muscle strength in the right place."
"...So, there are people that can actually do that without any problems at all?" He muttered.
"Yeah...I think that's part of where the term "belly dancing" comes from...My teacher can do it while doing an intense walking shimmy. I don't know how, since I'm not great at keeping up a walking shimmy, let alone doing anything else but arm movements along with it..."
"...You lost me." Yosuke shook his head, seeming to be confused by the terms I had been throwing out, but then smiled at me. "But I can see you're really passionate about this. Kinda surprising, but it's kinda nice to see you enjoying something more than video games."
"I'd say I enjoy them equally, it's just certain games are better." I dismissed, sitting back down and picking up the mask to fiddle with the strings a bit. "Well, I guess I actually had fun seriously putting together a dance to preform for you properly...I thought I'd be way too nervous to move at all, but I did it."
"Yeah, and it was pretty great. ...Any chance you'd do it again?"
"What, the same dance?" I tilted my head and he sighed.
"W-Well, sure, but...I mean show me different ones too."
"I mostly just do improv...For fun..."
"...And there's no chance you're showing me that, right?" He looked disappointed, but I smiled a bit.
"I'm not saying there's no chance...But it doesn't have a story or any special meaning to it, so it's probably not as interesting."
"I don't know about that...I think it's crazy you can move like that at all, so I kinda wanna see what else you can do."
"Uh...Not a whole lot that's more impressive...I'm still an amateur. This kinda dance takes years to get any good at."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised." He shrugged. "I doubt normal people could do half the stuff you just did and you're saying you're an amateur."
"That's the first-experience impression. It'll wear off if you watch enough professionals." I waved a hand dismissively at that. "But I can't deny that people don't usually have a reason to use the same muscles as belly dance does, so they're not gonna be able to do most of it on their first try. I mean, it took me a year to get anywhere near doing what I do now, and that's before the weird time thing when I was practicing in the TV world for who knows how long..."
"Wait, didn't you have some kind of energy issue before that? You were dancing then?"
"Oh, I meant a year's worth of actual practice time spaced over like, four years of my life."
"Geez, so you've been doing this since, what, elementary school...!?"
"Yeah...More or less. I was self-teaching before coming back from the TV world, though, so it was slow going either way back then. I mean, I got interested when I was, uh...Probably eight or something...? It was a couple years after that I started trying to learn, I think."
"So this has been almost a life-long thing for you...?"
"Hmm...Yeah. About half, at least." I shrugged. "Belly dancing and video games...Those are the only things I've found that keep my interest over time."
He looked like he wanted to say something else, but I heard some of the others voices outside the door and suddenly jumped to my feet, grabbing the mask and putting it on quickly before dashing away to the backstage area as the music club's show got ready to start again and the door to the room opened. I heard Chie ask Yosuke what he was doing as I rushed to change and throw the costume and accessories into my bag, and then him nervously laughing it off with some kind of joke about losing a contact before Chie reminded him he didn't wear them. Ultimately, his weird behaviour seemed to be dismissed while I was pulling on my hoodie and throwing my pelt over it as I usually had it and putting my shoes back on. I grabbed the bag and carefully snuck out of the backstage area on the opposite side I could hear the others talking. My heart was pounding way too loud for me to hear what they were saying, but as I was glancing in their direction to make sure no one saw me sneaking around on the other side of the crowd, my eyes met with Yosuke's. I couldn't help but give him a sheepish smile and a small wave before I ducked out the door and made a break for the sewing club's room so I could hide the costume.
"Whoa!" Kanji practically jumped onto his seat when I burst into the room suddenly and slammed the door behind me. "K-Kyoka-senpai...Wh-What're you doin'!?"
"Shhh!" I hissed, panting from my sprint here and listening to make sure no one was following me before I moved away from the door and began looking for a hiding spot. "Ah, right. Kanji-kun...Thank you so much for making the costume for me. I really loved it! I need to hide it now. S-So where's...?"
"Huh? Uh...Th-The bottom shelf on the left over there...isn't being used..." He pointed out an empty shelf to me and I rushed over there.
"Thanks!" I rushed to put the costume on the shelf with the accessories carefully, then grabbed a few rolls of fabric to put on top of it, hiding it as well as I could. "Okay...Now I gotta go. See ya!"
I then darted out of the room just as quickly as I had barged in and headed for the display where that girl I took the mask from was. I gave it back to her quickly, thanking her for it and apologizing for taking it from her, but she only advertised her display to me in response before I left. Double checking that I had hidden the whole costume and wouldn't be caught with it on me, I sat down at one of the tables in the hall near the concession. I sighed with relief that everything was gone, but then a group walked up to me. It was Yukari, Ken, Junpei, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis.
"Oh, Kyoka-chan, your hair..." Yukari said, seeming surprised.
I could just feel myself freeze up, realizing I had forgotten about the ribbons.
"Wow, it's really cute! Who knew a change of hairstyle could make Kyoka-san look like a whole different girl!" Junpei grinned a bit goofily as I couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"O-Oh, you think so...?" I asked with a bit of a nervous laugh as I reached up to gingerly straighten out my bangs. "Rise did it for me earlier."
"Rise-san must be quite skilled in the womanly arts." Aigis said and I tilted my head slightly at her in confusion.
"...You look like a character from an anime or something." Ken said, though I couldn't tell if he was indifferent to it or mildly curious.
"Right? I thought the same thing." I told him.
"A change can be good to lift one's spirits, but please remember to be careful in combat if you aren't used to this style." Mitsuru warned me, although her tone was a bit lighter than her actual warning tone.
"I don't understand how you girls fight with long hair...Doesn't it get in the way?" Akihiko asked, crossing his arms.
"You just have to be careful with it." Yukari shrugged.
"Um, since I spend a lot of time in Shadow form, I don't really notice it too much..." I shrugged as well.
"It takes technique and discipline." Mitsuru stated.
"Is it some kind of special training...? Should I grow my hair out, then?" Akihiko wondered.
"No." Ken answered him seriously.
After that, the conversation turned toward Rise's hairstyling skills and I felt my anxiety about being found out fading as I listened to Mitsuru and Yukari's explanations on how they style their hair as the boys walked off, uninterested. I honestly didn't put much effort into my hair, but maybe that's why I was so surprised to get compliments when I changed it. I just wasn't used to that. Or maybe I just wasn't used to having more people than my mother notice and say anything if I changed my hair...
"Hey." Yosuke greeted me a bit awkwardly when we met up in the food court later. "You sure took off fast earlier...For a second, I thought I said something stupid or something." He laughed a bit awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head.
"Oh, sorry!" I panicked a little. "I heard the others coming and it would've been way too embarrassing to be seen in costume like that, so I ran away without saying anything. I-I mean, there was also the fact I kinda, sorta, got caught walking around in costume not too long ago and Chie thought I was a ghost, so I didn't want to freak her out again either...O-Or explain why I was dressed up like that...I-I hid it, though, so I'm never wearing it again!"
"Aw, really? That's kinda disappointing...You looked really great in that costume." His tone was more joking than disappointed, but I got flustered anyway.
"D-Don't say stuff like that so suddenly...!"
He laughed a bit as he continued with his teasing. "Oh, what's this? Aren't you getting all embarrassed 'cause you're the one who took it the wrong way this time? Who knew, Kyoka's-"
"Aah, stop! Don't actually say it!"
"Whoa, you're not even denying it, huh?" He laughed some more, seeming to be quite amused that I was so easily losing my cool after the confession became mutual.
"Denying what?" Yukiko asked curiously as she approached with Yu, Rise, and Naoto.
"U-Uh...Th-That she wanted to be complimented on her new hairstyle...Yeah! That's it..." Yosuke got a bit flustered as well and frantically grasped for a lie before laughing nervously.
"Oooh! See, Kyoka-senpai? I told you it'd be a huge hit!" Rise seemed happy, but was giving me a knowing smile that was really embarrassing.
"Y-Yeah..." I nodded to her a bit, looking away and fidgeting uncomfortably.
"Oh, did you help her with the ribbons? It's very cute, Rise-chan." Yukiko smiled, the awkwardness of the exchange going over her head apparently.
"Mm-hm! She said she wanted it to be simple, but eye-catching, so I decided to use some of the ribbons they had lying around here to twist into her hair and pinned them on the inside of the twist." Rise explained to her. "To be honest, I'm pretty used to having my hair done by other people, so it was really fun to do someone else's!"
"...In any case, have you two already eaten? Yu-senpai was saying we should head back into the labyrinth to fight the guardian soon." Naoto changed the subject.
"Oh, okay! I have to get my naginata from Theodore-san, but other than that, I'll be ready whenever." I acknowledged, jumping on the chance to think of anything but my own embarrassments.
A/N: I kind of cringed at this part, but I guess the cringe is part of teenage romance...? Anyway, I tried to figure out what song I had been thinking of when writing this whole dance scene, but I didn't write it down so it's possible there wasn't any specific song chosen for it and I wrote vaguely because of that. I feel kind of bad not being able to give anyone an idea, but I guess you can fit it with whatever song you think would work. As an apology, I'll recommend a song I think sort of fits with this story by the ending, though I'm a little sad I couldn't find the original version...Check out Will Stetson's cover of "never" by Nekotanaka-P on Youtube! I think it's great even without associating it with this story! Also, I'd really love to hear if anyone reading has a song they think would fit the scene!