A/N: Happy Saturday! I'm debating over whether or not I'll upload early next week, since July 27th is my Naoi/Yuri shipping anniversary. Then again, my web design class will probably keep me too busy to edit anything before that, so we'll see.
Disclaimer: Namisawa and L'Sortilège are made up, though there are real restaurants in Tokyo called Narisawa and L'Effervescence.
Hope you enjoy!
[Chapter 11]: A Night in Noroi
"Business" was a misleading title, as they spent the next couple of hours snacking and watching movies on TV. Not that Ayato was complaining. After the last forty-eight hours of confusion and complexity, there was a certain lovable charm to their simplicity and laziness.
This wasn't the Afterlife anymore. This was a new life, lacking in soul-sucking shadows and evil clones. They could relax for a while.
Kanade had certainly taken that mindset to heart. She fell asleep thirty minutes into the movie, breathing quietly against Otonashi's shoulder. Judging by the car ride the other day, and the fact that Otonashi didn't look the least bit surprised, this had to be a regular occurrence.
She must have had her fill of whatever snacks she'd happily helped herself to, because she kept touching her stomach in her sleep. It seemed like an odd habit to Ayato, though.
He was more surprised by the former Angel's ability to sleep through Hinata's noise. The boisterous oaf seemed to have a comment for every five minutes of the movie. Ayato was still mentally kicking himself for laughing at one of them, because Hinata looked obnoxiously proud after that.
Yuri, who had briefly moved from her armchair back to the arm of their sofa, had leaned in and whispered, "Never let him know he's funny."
"Believe me, it won't happen again."
Unfortunately it did a few minutes later, and Yuri's exaggerated throat-cutting gestures had only made him laugh more, which Hinata mistook for validation as well. And Otonashi, the proud Papa Bear figure that he was, took it as them getting along.
Oh well. Even low-lives could be humorous.
After the movie, there'd been some catching up—Otonashi, Kanade, and Hinata told Yuri everything Ayato had already heard a couple days ago—before Yuri cut in half an hour into it with a suggestion.
"Why don't we continue this conversation at dinner?" she said, standing up. "I'm starved."
"Starved? You served food during the movie," Hinata said, gesturing to the coffee table. The plates had nothing left on them but a few crumbs, chopsticks, and a lone pretz stick.
"That was over an hour ago, and 60% of that went into Kanade," Yuri corrected. She glanced at their petite friend out of the corner of her eye. "I didn't even know you could eat like that."
Kanade merely blushed and smiled, but said nothing.
Draping an arm around his wife, Otonashi gave a cheerful chuckle. "Believe me. If it had been mapo tofu, you wouldn't have seen any of it at all."
Hinata raised an eyebrow at Kanade. "But you're still hungry, right?" he asked with a knowing grin. Kanade nodded fiercely.
"Good, if we're all still hungry, might be a nice way to celebrate a Battlefront graduation reunion." Yuri turned toward Ayato with a glint in her eye. "I think my favorite restaurant serves mapo tofu. Why don't we go there?"
Ayato knew exactly what she was doing. A subtle test of trivia.
"Nice suggestion, Nakamura," he said, "but I think we're all a bit underdressed for L'Sortilège." When Yuri looked caught off guard, he smiled back at her. "You're the one with amnesia, not me."
"Fair enough." Yuri thought for a moment. "Favorite casual restaurant, then."
He didn't even flinch. "Namisawa? Sounds good. Let's go."
"Is this how you flirt with an amnesiac?" Hinata muttered aside to Otonashi. The latter shrugged, then grinned for some reason and asked something under his breath. Hinata glared and swatted at him. "No, I have NOT always wondered!"
"I'm merely answering her questions," said Ayato. On the other hand, he couldn't hold back the triumphant smirk he was giving her now. If she wanted to play this with him, then game on.
Still relishing in Yuri's stunned silence, he twirled his car keys on his fingers.
"I'll drive."
Within an hour, they were all seated in a booth at Namisawa—save for Kanade, who had run off to the restroom again. Otonashi had ordered water with lemon at her request while she was gone, and Hinata was catching up with the rest of the table.
"Actually it was Kanade who ran into me first," Hinata said. He leaned lazily against the wood of the wall, propping himself up so that Otonashi had to take up the edge of the seat that was once his wife's spot. "She and Otonashi were chasing her hat. It was a really windy day, so it led her straight to me. I rounded a corner and the hat hit me straight in the face—"
"—and Kanade was running so fast she accidentally headbutted him," Otonashi said, laughing.
This was, in fact, actually news to Ayato. Rather hilarious too, and not just because Hinata got hurt.
"All of our first reunions with each other end up with someone almost getting injured one way or another," he observed, taking a sip of his hot tea. "How fitting for a group of imbeciles."
"Now he's including himself in it," Hinata said aside to Otonashi.
"Yeah?" Yuri said, lifting an eyebrow. "What about us?"
Before he knew what he was doing, Ayato seized her hand from the top of the table and turned it around in his to so that it was palm-up. He had the smoothness of her skin underneath his fingertips for all of three seconds before she snatched it back.
"Hey! Don't get so grabby!"
"I was just showing you the scar!" he said, still holding his palm out for the return of her hand.
Yuri side-eyed him suspiciously. "Then don't show. Tell." While he closed his own hand in exasperated obedience, realization struck her. "Scar? You don't mean the one on my—"
"Middle finger, yes." Ayato nodded. "We walked right into each other, the pottery vases I had in my arms shattered all over the floor, and you carelessly tried to help me pick up the pieces."
It'd been seven years or so, but it had been a deep cut, so there was a tiny white line on her fingerprint. Or at least it had still been there the last time he saw it—while she was handling the divorce papers. She'd gotten a papercut, actually. What an unlucky finger.
"Strange…" Yuri examined her finger, taking care not to look like she was making a rude gesture. "This is the same finger I cut on a shard of a vase in my previous life."
Ayato pressed his lips together into a frown. That finger had taken a lot of abuse. "My advice? Stop trying to pick up broken things."
Yuri's response was quick and light. "Yeah, I didn't ask for your advice." She propped her elbows up on the table with a bright smile. "Hinata, you were saying?"
Hinata and Otonashi shared amused glances.
"Well, not much else to say, other than the part where Otonashi came running up five seconds later, saw me on the ground, and started laughing like it was the funniest thing ever," said Hinata.
"It probably was, go on," Yuri replied.
"And anyway," Hinata cleared his throat, closing his eyes as if blocking out Yuri's quips, "I invited them to come over and have dinner with Yui and me. And after Yui stopped freaking out about having Angel in our house, the four of us had a lot of fun together. They were even there for our wedding. It was just like old times… which eventually led to our decision to bring the rest of the group back together."
"After we figured out what exactly had returned all our memories, that is," added Otonashi.
"Right. Iwasawa's song." Yuri stirred her straw aimlessly in the water glass next to her coffee. "Feels like in this life, it's more powerful than ever. I remember the night I heard it I cried like a baby."
Puzzled, Ayato turned to her again. "No, you didn't," he said, squinting at her.
Yuri tilted her head, as if it were heavily laden with sarcasm. "I'm sorry, were you there?"
"We were still together at the time, and I seem to have my memories back as well, so yes," Ayato responded with just as much sarcasm.
There had been wide eyes, yes, perhaps some hyperventilating, and he had heard her heart pounding rapidly in her chest. Then there had been a lot of shouting, but for a different reason, and admittedly most of it was on his end. It had been an emotional night, but not because of the touching music. From what he could recall, not a single tear had rolled down her cheek. Not a one.
But Yuri wasn't having any of it.
"Listen, asshole," she said, whipping her head around to give him a stern glower, "as long as I've known you, you've been shoving a bunch of memories at me that I know nothing about. Do me a favor and leave the ones I do have alone."
"But you didn't—"
"Naoi," Otonashi said firmly. He and Hinata were giving him warning looks. Ayato frowned, but begrudgingly settled back in his seat.
"Must not have been crying very loudly then," he said under his breath.
Unfortunately for him, Yuri overheard, and refused to leave it at that. "Are you kidding?" she said defensively. "I'm starting to doubt you were even there. I mean, I know it was a little overdramatic to cry so much over a song, but getting an old lifetime back in your brain can be overwhelming in case you couldn't tell. I'm just saying, it was loud enough that I'm surprised no one heard me over the storm and came outside, though it's not like I'd be able to explain—"
"…Outside?" Ayato said blankly.
"See?" Yuri looked particularly triumphant. "You weren't there."
He faltered, a sinking feeling gripping his chest. No, no he wasn't…
Outside. In the rain. For over an hour. When she came back, she wasn't the woman who'd stormed out on him. Hair plum-colored and stringy, clothes drenched and clinging to her shivering body, eyes vacant and glassy, flecks of rain still peppered on her face…
Perhaps not all of those had been raindrops.
"Wait a minute," said Otonashi, rubbing his chin. "Naoi told us you guys watched it at home on TV."
"Yeah, why would you be crying alone outside?" Hinata's eyes had darkened dangerously, and were fixated sharply on Ayato as if accusing him of something.
Yuri hesitated, then shrugged. "Dunno. Went for a drive to clear my head and I guess it just didn't hit me until then."
Ayato sighed inwardly, feeling the tug in his chest loosen slightly. Maybe she just hadn't wanted to cry about it around him, which did sound a lot like her. But Hinata, the fool who couldn't just do him a favor and leave it at that, wasn't satisfied.
"Are you sure that it was Iwasawa's song you were crying about—"
"Alright, could you guys just lay off with the third degree?" Yuri interrupted. "What else would it be? That was the point of the whole stupid crying comment in the first place! God, I didn't realize it would be this controversial!" Sighing, she looked to Ayato for help. "Am I missing something here? Can't I make a simple comment without you all debating my memory?"
"Your memory is unreliable," said Hinata. "It doesn't have Naoi in it."
"Yeah, well, lucky me," Yuri muttered.
Ayato's face must have visibly fallen, because Hinata and Otonashi gave him simultaneous sympathetic frowns—both of which Yuri must have noticed. A twinge of regret at the corner of her lips, she touched his hand as it went to busy itself with the menu.
"Sorry," she said, offering him a sheepish half-grin that was more like a grimace. "It's just… I kind of get the feeling that…"
"Are you all ready to order?" the server asked, swooping in and setting drink refills on the table.
Yuri sighed in relief. "Oh thank God, a distraction."
Otonashi pointed to the empty seat at the end of his row. "She'll have—"
"—mapo tofu, please," Kanade finished, sliding into her seat next to Otonashi.
As the server was writing down her order, Yuri turned her inquisitiveness on the former Angel. "What, did you get locked in there?" she asked, grinning to assure Otonashi—both Otonashis—that she was kidding.
Ayato scoffed. If he knew Kanade as well as he thought he did, she'd merely gotten distracted by something. Probably a plant she considered cute. Or she'd wandered into the kitchen and poked her nose into the chefs' business.
"I went outside for some fresh air," Kanade said dreamily. "This restaurant has a nice garden."
"Thank you?" The server blinked, then gave Kanade a light smile. "Although the flowers could use some more rainwater. This year has been terribly dry so far, even for Noroi."
"Really…?" Kanade glanced up at her, taking a sip of her drink. "I thought I saw storm clouds."
Storm clouds?
Just now?
Turning around and suddenly very grateful he had the window seat, Ayato pressed up closer against the glass pane and peered out while the others gave their orders. The April sky had gone a shade darker than it would usually be at this early in the evening. Clouds like these had become a distant memory to him; if this was spring finally getting its late start, he would take it.
"Don't get your hopes up." Ayato turned back to Yuri, who was handing her menu to the server as she spoke. She shrugged apologetically, as if the weather had anything to do with her. "Every storm cloud I've seen since I moved here has been a filthy lie."
Well, that was disheartening.
He grunted. "There hasn't been a good storm since—"
"—the night of the concert?" Yuri supplied, and Ayato nodded his confirmation before leaning over her to give the admirably patient server his order.
Six months. Six months of weak or nonexistent thunderstorms. Six months of cold and then "decent" conditions. It was torture, absolute torture. Like a long, grueling death by boring weather.
Yuri made a thoughtful sound as she passed his menu to the server.
"Eh, it's just as well," she said absently, taking her coffee cup in her hands and raising it to her lips. "For some reason, whenever it storms, I get really…"
Her eyes opened wide, and a searing crimson lit up her cheeks. Her attempt to cover it with a sip of coffee was fruitless.
"Um. Never mind."
Ayato raised an eyebrow, his frown giving way to a close-lipped smile. An odd sense of pride swelled within him the more fiercely she blushed. Hmm, so he had left an impression on her after all.
But then… what if she acted on it?
The idea of her simply kissing anyone else in the rain—the mere mental image of it—burned at his blood and made every single muscle he had clench in a surge of anger that surprised even him. Storms were his. Theirs, even. He wasn't willing to share.
Even if he hadn't seen a good storm since his memories returned. Even if everything that made them special had occurred in this life.
Although… His eyes settled on the woman sitting next to him, who was currently letting Kanade engage her in an odd conversation about full moons.
Yuri had been the one who made them special. She'd shouted at Kimito in his defense. She'd kissed him for the first time. She'd told him on the bridge near the Naoi estate that he could be free of his father, and planted the first seed in his head that led to him escaping to Mizuzaka.
Now that he thought about it, the only things he'd initiated during storms were sex, the conception idea, and… and the argument, and the divorce. He'd wanted to propose during a storm on her birthday, but the stupid weather that night ended up being clear and beautiful.
Ayato frowned to himself. His storm track record paled in comparison to Yuri's.
Perhaps storms were hers.
Then again… everything she'd done during one, she'd done for him. And only him. Call him selfish, irrational even, but part of him wanted it to stay that way…
"Yo, Earth to Naoi!"
Ayato gave a start; to his displeasure, everyone was looking at him—sans Kanade, who was kindly minding her business and digging into her mapo tofu with vigor. Hinata had his hands cupped around his mouth like a megaphone. Once he saw that he had his attention, Hinata pointed to the table.
"You have food sitting right in front of you. Eat it before I do."
This earned him a derisive snort from Yuri.
"If you're going to steal food, you don't warn him ahead of time. You're supposed to do it while he's distracted." Her gaze flicked past Ayato to the window, and she brightened with curiosity. "Oh, look! Lightning!"
Ayato was not proud of what he did next. But Yuri sure as hell was.
Otonashi and Kanade had claimed Yuri's guest room the night before, and Hinata had adopted one of the couches again. Although Hinata had suggested something along the lines of "why doesn't Naoi sleep with you for old time's sake" (something he had very visibly, horribly regretted as soon as it came out), Yuri had scowled and firmly assigned Ayato to the couch adjacent to Hinata's. Which made them essentially roommates.
How delightful.
Luckily he was tired enough that he'd be falling asleep soon. The group of five had stayed up fairly late watching another movie, double-checking Shiina's location and running the directions by Hinata, formulating a game plan for tomorrow, and generally just harassing each other. Ayato's personal favorite part was when Hinata started talking about the sheer ridiculousness of him never running into Shiina in his past, and Yuri just calmly stood up, walked towards her kitchen pantry, grabbed a spray bottle, and came back and sprayed Hinata in the neck with it.
Ayato almost laughed out loud just thinking about it now. He knew there was a reason he'd accepted her as his leader.
His snicker must not have been as muffled as he thought, because Hinata raised his head from his pillow and sent him a curious look.
"What's so funny?"
He harrumphed quietly, but his grin didn't waver.
"Spray bottle," he replied, and despite his… mild attempts at quieting himself, the snickering resumed.
Hinata groaned, and Ayato didn't need to glance over at him to know that the dolt was rolling his eyes at the ceiling. "You're still laughing at that?" He paused, then gave a dismissive grunt. "No wonder you married her."
His jaw set, Ayato huffed irritably. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just that the two of you have the same sick sense of humor," Hinata returned matter-of-factly, turning on his side and chuckling towards the couch cushion.
"And taking enjoyment out of bothering you is an automatic love connection?" He snorted. "Watch out, I'll steal Yui right out from under your nose."
"You're taking what I said too seriously." There was an audible grin in Hinata's tone. It was almost like he was toying with him. "I find that kind of suspicious."
"Then you're the one who's reading too far into things," said Ayato. In fact, it felt like Hinata had been on his case about… things, from the beginning. He would rather stop him in his tracks now, before he got too nosy now that they were alone. "This isn't a slumber party or some high school locker room, so don't look to me for gossip."
Hinata grew silent, and for a joyous, peaceful moment, Ayato thought it would last for the rest of the night. But then, "I think your situation is a little too serious for you to call talking about it gossip."
"Let's call it whatever you want and just not talk about it."
A sigh from Hinata's couch as he rolled onto his back. "I'm just saying… If Yui had no idea who I was, and she refused to try the one thing that might bring back her memories of me, I'd want to talk to someone about it." He laughed. "Hell, I'd even talk to you."
"I'm honored," Ayato said, counting the indents on the ceiling.
"Seriously, man… I actually feel bad for you—"
"You've made that painfully clear."
"—because I've never seen a guy buried as deep in denial as you are," Hinata said, running a hand through his hair. "I swear, you're supposed to be so smart and yet the mental gymnastics you do with your little memories theory, geez…"
Ayato yawned. "Unless you'd like me to reacquaint your head with the coffee table—"
"Fine, keep it to yourself." Hinata's tone was more dubious than dismissive, and Ayato had the feeling that he hadn't heard the last of him. "Just answer one question for me." There it was.
Whatever this question was, he wasn't going to like it. With a sigh, he waved him along. "…Go ahead."
Hinata's response, although automatic, was wistful.
"Do you still believe that crap you told us?" he asked. "All of it?"
Ayato frowned slightly. That was an obnoxiously good question, and at the moment, he wanted to zip Hinata's mouth shut for it. For the rest of the night. Damn, he was starting to miss the hectic times of the Battlefront. What with the clones and the shadows, there'd been no time for Hinata to get this invasive in the Afterlife.
If he'd asked him at any time during the last six months, right up until the last two days, his answer would have been a solid yes. The Yuri he'd known was gone, and he certainly didn't feel like the same Ayato that had loved her. But the past forty-eight hours had shaken some things out of place.
At this point, what did he believe?
"I believe that feelings change, and so do people," he said at last, closing his eyes.
"That answer is way too vague," Hinata mumbled. Yawning, he shifted underneath his blankets, trying to make himself comfortable. "I think you're starting to realize your own bullshit."
"On the contrary," Ayato sniffed, "I believe more than ever that memories make us who we are. The Afterlife Yuri knew the me here and now, this life's Yuri knew the me in this life, but the Yuri we had dinner with doesn't remember me at all—"
Hinata growled, low and long. "Just… stop, alright? The rule that the one and only Yurippe made is still under effect. You said there's only her, so don't relapse."
Covering his face with his hands, Ayato stifled a groan. Somehow, this was more unbearable than the slumber party gossip he'd expected. In fact, it was far, far worse. He'd rather be listening to Kanade hum that silly pop song from the other day.
"Yurippe remembers me. She remembers Otonashi and Kanade. She remembers Shiina, Yui, and Noda." The bastard was counting off on his fingers. Annoyed, Ayato glanced at his wristwatch and remembered he no longer had it, which infuriated him even more. "She remembers she loves Key coffee and the food from Namisawa and L'Sortilège. She remembers she had only one brother and one sister in this life. She remembers her friend Ryou, the concert, your parents—"
Snarling, Ayato pulled his pillow out from behind his neck and threw it at Hinata's head, cursing under his breath when he missed his target.
"Shut up already! I get it!" he hissed, glaring daggers at him. Wishing his hypnotism could explode the scum's head before he got to the part he desperately didn't want to hear.
"She remembers everything from this life, the Afterlife, and the life before," Hinata said, completely undeterred as he put Ayato's former pillow behind his neck. "Everything except you."
"I am well aware of that." His knuckles cracked beneath his clenched fists. "Get to the point."
"She has all the memories that make her who she is. She's the same Yurippe I know." Hinata glanced in his direction, a sudden spark in his eye. "And—just today!—you said to me, 'It always has to be now with her, trust me.' So I think you know her too."
With another sigh—tired, but not just from a long day—he rolled over onto his back again.
"Stop trying to complicate things. You're just sugarcoating it, but the fact is she's just Yurippe." Hinata shifted one more time, turning to face the couch and tugging his blankets with him. "You're the only thing about her that's ever changed."
Ayato's breath caught in his throat. He fumbled for something, anything to say in his defense.
He was a significant change.
She had changed him too.
The concert had changed them both.
Things were different. They'd made each other different.
Some things needed to be changed back.
All of these things, epiphanies, facts, buzzed through his half-conscious mind as he shifted his head and opened his mouth to correct Hinata. Before he could say anything, he was met with the sound of soft, steady breathing. Grumbling, Ayato leaned back against the armrest in defeat.
Stubborn idiot had gotten the last word. And his pillow.
Preview:
"You mean to say – that you literally gave her your heart?"
"I just don't get weepy or excited over lovey-dovey stuff."
"Your road rage is monstrous."
"Hinata was about to ask something stupid."
"Absence makes the heart grow… tolerant."
"I'll do it."
"Is that how you want her to see you?"
[Chapter 12]: Road to Kyuuya.
