A/N: Hey everyone! I didn't realize this would sneak up on me so fast, but since this is the end of the Ooyama weekend, this is the last weekly update for just a little bit. I'll do my best to resume things soon, because I love ch 38 so much! Thanks to all new faves, follows, and reviews!
ZainR, I fully support this idea (might even do it myself if I break out my drawing tablet :D). Thanks to OUAT and T7S, I can't help picturing a "Last Supper"-esque scene! Oh, and now that Naoi knows about the texting, it's gonna be a little more noticeable. Glad you liked the Hayato talk; I always have fun exploring his character. It'd be fun to write an AU one day where he's alive.
Rival Argentica, thank you so much for that MAJESTIC grand review! I'll try to respond more fully in a PM soon, but AHH! It made my entire morning when I read all of that. Right now I just wanna address the "you hurt NaYuri so good," because... ugh, you get me. It's just I love them both so much, and somehow that's why I need to drown them in angst. And trust me, they're not out of the woods yet. Also, I'm thrilled you love Rumple (so do I!) even without knowing him in canon. Diabolical or playful bastard, he's a bit capricious so he might just be both! Wait and see.
Enjoy!
[Chapter 37]: A Guess as Good as Mine
Their drinks came, and they ordered their meals. Yuri turned mostly to Ryou and introduced her to the Battlefront members she hadn't met yet. Matsushita and Fujimaki seemed to like her well enough, but it was Ooyama she immediately took a shine to (and vice versa). She found out he was a vet tech and happily talked to him about her sister Kyou's pet boar Botan, who she thought Mitsuo would get along with.
Just like Yuri, Ryou was pointedly looking anywhere except Ayato. He watched this with mildly entertained skepticism. What, was she afraid of him now? He didn't bite.
While the two sunniest members of their party chatted across the tables to each other about strange pets and even stranger owners, Fujimaki had apparently been listening in with even keener interest.
"—maybe the next time your sister visits, she could bring Botan along!"
Ryou lit up at Ooyama's suggestion. "That'd be fun! She's getting kind of big, but I think she could still show you her plushie mode."
"That sounds so cute!" he gushed, and turned to his right, beaming. "Right, Shiina?"
Two seats away from him, Shiina was not paying one lick of attention. Ryou's phone had been passed all the way down to her so that she could see a picture of Botan in a cute costume, and now if Ayato leaned forward a little he could see her gaping down at the screen as if she'd found God.
To her left, though, Fujimaki was paying enough attention for the two of them combined.
"Huh! Sounds to me like Ooyama and Mitsuo just got themselves some girlfriends," he said with overt cheerfulness in his tone. Uncouthly, he had his elbow resting on the table rather close to his own glass as he flashed his roommate a cheeky grin.
Ooyama and Ryou promptly squawked their embarrassed protests.
"No, no, no!"
"It's not like that!"
"Yeah, I already have a boyfriend and I love him very much!" Ryou squeaked, waving her hands too frantically.
"Oh, right." Discreetly scooting Ryou's glass away from her windmill motions, Yuri picked up her own drink and stared at it with mild interest before taking a sip. "How is Sunohara, anyway?"
Ayato scoffed, but Ryou brightened at the mention of her boyfriend's name.
"He's great!" she said, and flushed a happy pink. "Actually, he'll be in town later today, so I hope you don't mind that we're going out later. I can't believe it's our seven month anniversary!"
Yuri hummed absently into her glass. "Seven months since the concert?"
Since the concert…? Ayato scowled down at the table, remembering what that moron Sunohara had said on that fateful day by the arts and crafts store.
'To think she skipped out on a concert with Ryou just to stay home and be with you. I mean, I benefited from it in the end…'
Of course their relationship had blossomed the very night that his and Yuri's had imploded. He couldn't help but wonder what might've happened if Yuri had accepted the invitation that night. But then he might not have his memories as well, or his hypnotism for the Battlefront's sake...
Assuming fate had him turn on the television and stumble upon the concert himself, or she told him what channel to check, what would that have meant for them? It might've given them time for their heads to clear. Time to think things through and not make any rash decisions under all that emotional heat and mental pressure. If he had just been given a little time…
…would he have chosen her then?
He startled out of that train of thought when the server set his plate in front of him. Then he shook his head and joined in on the "itadakimasu."
There was no use agonizing over such what-ifs. Yuri never would have accepted Ryou's invitation that night anyway; she'd been too eager to come home to him that night, to… to start their family. Ayato willed his body not to blush as he remembered those last two weeks.
At the time, he'd thought October was shaping up to be the best month of his life. Trying, repeatedly, morning and night, for a child with the woman he loved. That version of them… they'd been so sure. That blissful ignorance was something he almost envied. Then the song had happened, and they'd recognized each other, and he'd panicked at the dysfunction of it all. Him and her, a loveless marriage, a child locking the two of them together… he couldn't let it happen.
As it was, the Yuri sitting across from him was not a Yuri he could imagine being seven months pregnant. Unless those were just some killer mood swings she was having. He failed to stifle a snicker at the thought.
"It's not funny!" Yuri said sternly.
Ayato's eyes snapped up from his soup bowl. "What's not funny?" he asked warily. Had the renovations she'd made in her head with that potion allowed room for mind-reading?
She frowned back at him, just as wary. "Weren't you just laughing at Ryou's Sunohara balloon story?"
"Wasn't really paying attention," he replied, and raised a challenging eyebrow at her. He reserved the right to tune out stupid things that didn't pertain to him or the Battlefront.
"It's okay, Yuri," said Ryou, demure as ever. "I'm pretty sure he's already heard that story before."
Still vaguely annoyed, Yuri gave her a puzzled look. "What? When?"
"A year ago, when it actually happened," he answered for her, with some barely veiled condescension in his tone. He met her eyes directly then, possibly for the first time since she sat down across from him. "And you laughed much harder when you were telling me about it."
He enjoyed the transient flicker of embarrassed realization on her face, but then she composed herself with pursed lips and a click of her jaw. Without taking her eyes off of him, she muttered aside to Ryou, "I was laughing at Sunohara's ridiculous attempts to woo you, not the skirt thing."
"That's okay. Tomoya laughed for ages when I told him what happened." Ryou blushed affectionately. "Youhei's always been a… a comic relief magnet, as he put it."
Something about that statement, coupled with Ryou's prim pinkness, tugged a little unwelcomingly at the cobwebs of a few old memories. Despite himself, he chuckled very quietly and gave Yuri a little nod in Ryou's direction.
"Almost reminds you of someone, don't you think?" he said, taking a sip of green tea. "Even the way they started."
Her chopsticks fell against her bowl with a soft clink. "What are you talking about?" she demanded. But her voice had taken on a particular lilt at the end, like she had already made the exact same comparison and didn't want him to confirm the similarity by speaking it aloud.
"The shy one and the class clown," he clarified with a smirk, ignoring the nostalgic melancholy that came with it. "You certainly haven't learned your lesson from last time, have you?"
Yuri huffed, biting her bottom lip. "And you'd know all about that, huh…" she muttered.
"Why do you think you brought them together?" He cocked his head at her, indeed briefly wondering how her mind filled in the blanks. "Ami kept throwing her at me, so you paired her and Hejjiguchi up to get them to leave me alone. Just like you got Ryou a date with Sunohara – to stay home with me."
Snorting, he raised his glass in a mock toast.
"Let's hope it works out for the best this time," he said in earnest. "But Nakamura, you've got to stop going to all this effort just for me."
Yuri's knuckles grew white around her own glass.
"And you've got to stop remembering stuff." Her eyes narrowed. "It's getting annoying."
"What do you mean? Should I find a way to wipe my mind of it all?" He put a hand over his heart in exaggerated astonishment. "I would never do something like that."
Yuri growled lowly in outrage and was about to snarl a reply – then a sharp buzz stole her attention away. Otonashi's cell.
Ayato promptly shot a glare in Hinata's direction. "Shut up!"
"I didn't say anything," Hinata said happily. He was blatantly looking down at his phone.
Yuri still looked upset and ready to pounce, so Yui leaned forward and cleared her throat, making herself visible beside Hinata.
"So enough about Sunohara! …And, uh, whoever those two were just talking about." Yui looked at Ryou hopefully. "How is Nagisa? Or Iwasawa?"
Ryou smiled weakly. She knew just as well as he did which one Yui was more interested in.
"Sorry, Yui. We still haven't heard from her," she admitted, and the girl deflated on Hinata's shoulder. "To be honest, Nagisa has been kind of busy being a mom – her daughter Ushio is cute but she's in her rambunctious toddler phase. And Iwasawa… well, I feel like she must've gotten something into her head and chased after it. So I'm sure wherever she is, she's making magic happen." She smiled again at Yui to be reassuring. "She's just being a little elusive right now."
Yui let her twintail ribbons droop at first, sighing as she processed this. Then she gave a decisive nod.
"Well, wherever she is, we'll find her," she said importantly. She threw Ayato a small knowing grin. "We will always find her."
He stared back at her in confusion. His mother had said that once, but Yui couldn't have known. What…?
Sensing his incomprehension, Yui frowned and shook a fist at him. "Read the book, damn it!"
"I AM!"
"You're not getting my references!"
"What book are you two even talking about…?"
"This is so stupid."
"Hey," said Matsushita the Fifth, who had been serenely ignoring the Battlefront's clamor in favor of his fried egg until now. "Speaking of all that, now that we're all here we should start making our bets." He smiled across the table at their guest. "Ryou, you want in on this?"
Ryou looked surprised. "Wha—? Me?"
"That's sweet of you to offer, but she's not familiar with any of the undiscovered Battlefront members except Iwasawa," Yuri reminded them.
Ayato snorted then, having a thought. "Besides, she could always cheat by reading what the cards say," he teased her.
Making a face like she didn't know whether or not to be offended, Ryou started to squeak out a retort. But then her phone started singing a cheery tune; when she glanced down at the screen, she looked happy again.
"It's Kyou," she said in a great joy, and slipped out of her seat. "Excuse me, I'm going to go talk to my sister. Thanks for the offer anyway!"
As her elated "Hi, sis!" faded into the background, the group fell back into their betting tradition.
Yuri threw him another challenging look before betting on Noda. Even Hinata rolled his eyes at that one, but muttered, "Can't wait till he finds out how excited you were to see him."
"He was the fifth member of Battlefront!" she said defensively.
"Yeah, yeah, shake it up a little!" Hinata waved a hand dismissively at her. "What if it's Takamatsu? I'm putting my money on Takamatsu. Double says he'll strip."
Otonashi peeked backwards over Yuri's shoulder. "Sure you're not gay?"
Hinata choked wildly with rage.
But then Otonashi agreed with Hinata's "shake it up" idea and ventured a bet for Hisako, which made Yui squeal with happiness and mild adoration. Fujimaki and Ooyama agreed with the method as well.
"Maybe it'll be Chaa," Fujimaki suggested, arms folded as he leaned back in his chair. "You know, I don't think Naoi's ever even met the guy."
Ooyama completely lit up, simultaneously looking terrified and amazed at the idea. "Oh, that's a good one! I'm betting on Chaa too!"
Fujimaki rubbed his hands together greedily.
"Man," he said with a throaty chuckle. "What I wouldn't give to see Chaa give Naoi the shovel talk."
"He'd probably use an actual shovel," said Hinata.
Ayato narrowed his eyes at all of them, thoroughly unimpressed.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," he said dully. "But Hinata, you've met my father. I grew up with that. No one scares me anymore."
Over in her corner seat, Shiina made a small sound of amused disbelief. (He would thank her not to mention earlier – that was a jump-scare and a fluke!)
Matsushita the Fifth chose TK out of hopeful loyalty. Kanade again opted out of betting, but said she had a feeling the person they would meet next was indeed purple-haired. Yui got overexcited asking if she meant Irie from GlDeMo, and fell into a hiccupping spree for a full minute until she finally managed to blurt out a faithful bet on Iwasawa. Shiina finally spoke up and decided specifically on Irie based on Kanade's guess (and possibly Yui's reaction).
Then only Ayato was left to guess. He thought for a moment, while Yui looked at him hopefully.
"Who's going to be doing the charm next week?" he asked.
"I am," Yuri and Yui said at the same time. The women turned to each other, exchanging electric stares.
"Yui."
"Commander."
"I said…"
"But Iwasawa—!"
"Let me try it for one day," Yuri said firmly. "We'll see who shows up."
Yui whined sadly and scooped at her yogurt.
Yuri looked back to Ayato. "Naoi, you were saying?"
Again, he considered for a moment. He wasn't particularly attached to any of the remaining members (although TK had occasionally entertained him). So he said the first name that popped into his head. "Yusa."
Yuri looked surprised at his answer. Meanwhile, Yui made another wounded sound into her palms.
"Traitor," she mumbled.
"Didn't she work with the band?" he shot back. "Don't be a child."
"That's not it," said Hinata, grinning from ear to ear. "Kanade, didn't you use Angel Player to help Yusa with her murderous tendencies? Maybe Naoi just has a thing for violent girls who seal away their emotions—"
Ayato was just about to indignantly reply "I'm not attracted to NPCs" when Yuri snarled and flung herself across the booth side at Hinata. Otonashi had to scramble over his seat to grab Yuri around the waist and pull her back, fists still swinging.
"Yuri, easy! You'll get us kicked out!"
"You aren't funny!" she hollered, trying to wriggle free of Otonashi's grip while she swiped threateningly at the air.
"Alright, alright!" Hinata held his hands up in defense, looking fearful. "I admit it. Might've gone a little too far with that one. Please don't claw out my eyes or anything, we can actually die these days." He regarded her chopsticks nervously and shielded his eyes.
Ayato was glad he'd kept his mouth shut. Really, he didn't know why he guessed Yusa. He may have said no one scared him these days, but ever since the slasher rumors in the Afterlife, that girl had sort of given him the creeps. And not in a good way.
It was just a weird destiny feeling. Like her day was steadily approaching… sneaking up from behind and getting ready to—
"I'm back!"
"AHHH!" Ayato yelped, jolting in his seat so suddenly his hat toppled off of his head.
And of course, he registered Ryou's voice just about a half-second later. Along with it came ripples and snorts of laughter around the table – even Kanade giggled so hard to the left of him that she was clutching her stomach with mirth.
"Geez, Naoi," said Matsushita the Fifth on his right, clapping his shoulder. "Heart attack, much?"
He glared at them all, feeling sheepishly around the back of his hair and smoothing it out. His father always said the Naoi men had a history of weak hearts and he wasn't exactly looking to test if he'd inherited one.
"Sorry about that!" Ryou said as she passed between the tables, handing him his hat back. She looked a little surprised herself. "I didn't mean to scare you."
God. Scared by Ryou Fujibayashi. That was an embarrassing truth to live with.
He accepted the hat as she returned to her seat. "It's fine, I—"
"Hold on," said Yuri, holding up a hand to silence him. She frowned at him for a second, then looked to Ryou sternly. "Why are you apologizing to Naoi?"
Ryou's breath hitched on a sound as she turned to Yuri in confusion, followed by a flash of understanding and panic.
"Yuri, I just—" she stammered, clutching her purse in her lap. "You don't need to—"
"I know you're not going to ask for an apology, so I'm going to do it for you," Yuri told her. She turned back to Ayato and offered him a misleadingly pleasant smile. "Naoi, isn't there something you'd like to say to her?"
He scoffed, adjusting his cap and gradually returning a smirk. Poor Ryou was like a deer caught in headlights.
"You've been waiting to do this, haven't you…" he said, dipping his tone in quiet scorn.
It was probably the reason she brought her dear little friend along to the restaurant in the first place, not to become great chums with Ooyama over miso soup. To make Ayato apologize in front of everyone, like this was some sort of test. Didn't she know Ryou better than that? The last thing that girl wanted was to be under such tension, in the middle of something like this, with all eyes on her. It would ruin the Battlefront's good time with a mood killer like that. She would never want to cause a problem with anyone.
The thought made him blink, and hesitate. Then his face cleared, and he allowed his features to relax.
"I do apologize, Ryou… that Yuri had to drag you into our drama," he said coolly. Once he'd had the pleasure of seeing Yuri's nostrils flare with indignation, he managed a repentant nod. "…And that I did too."
This time it was Ryou's and Yuri's turn to blink, simultaneously.
"It shouldn't have gone the way it did that day," he admitted. "You were at the wrong place at the wrong time… but, I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
He was still decidedly irritated with her for the significant part she played in making Yuri who she was today. But upon reflection, he was certain that she was already kicking herself about it. The stricken look on her face when they first told her about Iwasawa's concert magic… She'd been kicking herself for a long time now. There was no real need to exert his own energy and do it for her.
He sat back with his drink and ignored Yuri's reaction in favor of Ryou's (he did not care to see whether or not this was a test he'd passed). The more timid of the two girls managed a relieved smile.
"It's okay, Naoi. I understand. I should've known it was a bad time when I saw… all the mess." She'd caught his warning look and nicely left out any humiliating details, like the broken picture frame on the floor or the broken man on the couch.
"Surely your cards could've predicted it," he said dryly.
Ryou actually looked considering. "Well, yes as a matter of fact. Sort of. Hearts, you, and senseless destruction. But that was a reading from a long time ago – and going by the cards, I was honestly expecting a lot worse than that."
Senseless destruction? He shattered one picture. The rest was coffee grounds and a few scattered mementos on the floor – Yuri's doing, thank you very much. Consider him a firm fortune-teller skeptic, personally – these readings of hers were far too ambiguous.
"Oh, so it all turned out for the best, then," Ayato mumbled under his breath.
Yuri snorted, and immediately tried to cover it up with a gulp of her juice. Cherry pomegranate reddened visibly smirking lips. He couldn't help but smirk too. Potion or not, she was never that good at hiding the fact that he'd pleased her.
Otonashi's phone buzzed.
Glaring at Hinata, Ayato threateningly picked up a chopstick and let his eyes glow red. The man's cheeky grin turned into a thick swallow as he dropped his phone in his lap.
Breakfast continued as normal.
Later, the Battlefront stopped by Ooyama's place to hang out (and so Ryou and Shiina could see Mitsuo). Fujimaki had already settled in nicely. There hadn't been too much stuff in his hotel room; he'd gotten ahold of his sister Satone in Nerima and she'd send over the rest of his things when she could. For now, Fujimaki was perfectly content to lounge around on the couch and hog Mitsuo's attention once the dog had gotten over the novelty of Ryou.
"He knows who his dad is," Fujimaki said smugly, hugging the dog to his chest.
An indignant Ooyama began to sputter. "I'm his dad! You're just the weird uncle of the family!"
Fujimaki feigned just as much offense, starting to sit up. "What? Don't be ridiculous, I'm totally the dad. If anything, you're his mother."
"Am not!"
"Yeah? Watch this." Fujimaki leaned down so that he was eye-to-eye with Mitsuo. Then he cooed, as best he could pull off in his gruff voice, "C'mon, Mitsuo. Where's Mommy? Go to Mommy!"
Mitsuo, encouraged and now very stimulated, turned a tiny whine into a happy excited bark. Flinging his little body off the couch, he launched across the room towards the rest of the Battlefront – and started jumping and pawing at Shiina's legs.
The woman's eyes went wide. She swept the puppy into her arms and hugged him to her chest like a baby, choking back tears.
"CUTE!" she squealed.
Ooyama gave a betrayed cry and wilted sadly against Yui, who gave him a consoling head-pat.
Meanwhile, Fujimaki looked intrigued as he sat up a little more, leaning on the armrest and pretending to be suave.
"Well, well, well…" he said with a flirtatious half-lidded stare. "Shiina, I guess the three of us are going to have to be co-parents…"
The Otonashis, Matsushita, Ryou, and even Yuri giggled at this. But Hinata was not so amused, and made some pretty firm protesting noises as he guided Shiina back by the shoulder. This didn't seem to faze Yui, who was too busy hovering on Shiina's other side and having her cheek accosted by Mitsuo's wet nose.
"Get your own," Hinata said in a playful tone, definitely not joking.
Ayato looked to Otonashi in exasperation, silently begging for acknowledgement and sense. The man just raised his eyebrows with an innocent smile and wrapped an arm around Kanade's middle. She touched his hand and patted it softly, just as oblivious.
What the…? Was he staying out of it or was he in on some sort of prank? Ayato had enough things messing with his head these days.
The group spent a little more time together at Ooyama and Fujimaki's, acquainting themselves with the place. At one point he overheard, from a distance, Fujimaki privately asking Yuri if she wanted this to be the new base. And Yuri had hesitated for a moment that felt like years, but then admitted that Ayato's was bigger and more familiar to her. Ayato hadn't been able to hear Fujimaki's comment afterwards over his sigh of relief, but whatever he said apparently warranted a furious screech from Yuri and an impressive kick to the face. She stormed down the hall, red with anger, while Ayato briefly enjoyed watching Fujimaki writhe in pain on the floor.
While she escaped into the kitchen to talk to Matsushita the Fifth, who seemed to be calming her down, Ayato found Yui in the living room inspecting a bookshelf. Partially to assure her the book was not going to waste, he asked her about the dagger. As expected, she sniffed in disgust.
"You'd have to be a moron to try to get that dagger, let alone use it," Yui told him matter-of-factly. "Or just completely out of your mind."
Nonplussed, he just nodded as he processed this denunciation. Of course he had nothing to prove to her, he didn't want it anyway. But still, it made him wonder: "Then what did you give me the book for?"
"I already told you. So you can 'know thine enemy.'" She picked out a book and examined the cover. "And whenever he takes a particular interest in people, it's often for a reason. Maybe you can find out what that is."
He dwelled on that for a bit, not fond of the idea that a man like Rumpelstiltskin would take an interest in him. What was it about his soul that attracted power-hungry sadists?
…He was glad he hadn't voiced the thought aloud; Hinata certainly would've had a smartass response ready for him in a matter of seconds.
After about an hour or so, Ryou got a text from Sunohara calling her away for anniversary plans so she had to go. Since some of Yuri's stuff was at her place, as well as her car, they talked around that for a little bit before deciding Yuri would go back with her. The group took that as an incentive to meet her back at Ayato's house for one last lazy hurrah before packing it in for the weekend. Shiina would have a train to catch soon anyway, and the Otonashis and Hinatas were going to head back to Shibuya after giving her a ride.
"We need to figure out a good time to drop by Kyuuya next week," Yui said later as she was pulling her stuff together. "I like Ooyama's idea of a picnic. We should have one on the high school baseball field!"
Hinata made a face as he handed Yui her purse. "Hold on, we went to Kyuuya last time. She should come to Shibuya, maybe the five of us can have dinner or something."
Five of them meaning those three and the Otonashis? Ayato frowned. He'd never been invited to Shibuya…
"But Kyuuya!" Yui argued. "Mom hasn't seen my devil tail trick! I wanna freak her out! I want you guys to see her face when—"
That devolved into a weird argument that Ayato wasn't extremely interested in. Shaking his head, he adjusted his cap and began to turn away. Then he felt an odd tug on the back of his scalp, like firm fingers pinching at the fringe of his hair. Whirling around, he grabbed the perpetrator's hand in mid-air.
Yuri blinked, only briefly taken aback at getting caught. Her features relaxed into a decisive coolness.
"Looks like you're the one who needs a haircut," she said, pulling her hand away once he loosened his grip. A competitive glint flashed behind her eyes. "Maybe if Noda still has his halberd when we find him next week, he can give you a little trim off the back."
"Is that a threat?" he asked with a light scoff and a squint. "Bold of you to say, considering Yusa's weapon of choice. Why are you so eager to run into Noda?"
"Why are you so eager to see Yusa?" Yuri returned, stabbing his chest with a sharp fingernail. "Have you forgotten how much she hates men? Without Angel Player's effects in this life, she might not be as… docile as she used to be. Mark my words, the day we find Yusa is the day you get a good old jab through the heart."
Couldn't be worse than the one from two weeks ago, said an unwelcome voice in his head. He willed the thought away, irritated.
"Who says I'm eager to see her?" He frowned. Such a strange accusation; it was a simple random bet based on a feeling. "You keep betting on Noda, which means you're desperate for mindless violent companionship. I'm merely suggesting it'll be Yusa instead. Purged of emotion." He hunched with a slight smile. "At least then you won't feel like the only NPC around here."
"Stop calling me that," Yuri warned through gritted teeth, taking a step forward. "It's going to be Noda."
"You're so sure. Because you're the one who's going to enact the charm?" He stepped forward too, leaning so close he could easily hypnotize her. "This charm leads us to those we're meant to meet. Haven't you considered the possibility that you might be fated to run into certain people not from Battlefront?"
Discomfort flickered in her eyes – for barely a moment, but he smirked in satisfaction when he saw it. The tiniest hint of doubt.
She stared at him then, furrowing her eyebrows. In a low voice, she ventured, "Is that why you haven't done it?"
The smirk dropped from his lips instantaneously. And then, it seemed, Yuri picked it up.
"It's going to be Noda," she said again, more confident this time.
He squinted at her, taking another step so that he was looming over her. "You want it to be Noda?"
She stared him straight in the eye, unblinking. "I want it to be Noda."
Perhaps he could do something to make her blink…
A phone buzzed. Yuri jolted backwards in surprise, and Ayato growled as he instinctively looked around for Hinata or Otonashi. As it turned out they were the only living souls in the hall.
"No, that's my phone," Yuri clarified, searching through her purse. She retrieved it and checked the caller ID, then rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh to match. Then she answered as she started to walk away. "Hello? …Ryou, you're on a date, how many times do I have to tell you… Oh, yeah, I'm going to be heading out in a little bit… Yeah, I'll be back next weekend."
Ayato caught his breath, then headed toward the TV room with the others as Yuri disappeared into the hallway nook just outside the kitchen.
"That's good that she called. If she wasn't careful, I'd have to steal her big sister privileges away… Sure, tell Kyou I said hi. I really hope I get to see her again soon."
He shook his head and fell onto the couch next to Hinata and Ooyama. Amazing, how that woman could try to intimidate him one moment and talk so sweetly to a friend about sisterhood the next…
It was a marvel, he mused, that NPCs could go from hot to cold so quickly.
A/N: Well, that's a wrap for now! Feel free to guess who they find next... the answer may surprise you!
Until next time!
Preview:
"It wasn't that bad of a theory."
"How could you even know that?"
"She's clearly trying to make you jealous."
"Everyone should live there!"
"Probably armed already."
"Commander, what are you saying?"
"Are you kidding me?!"
"This doesn't have to mean anything!"
[Chapter 38]: You Can Call Me.
