A/N: Hello AB section, another weekly update for you! I think this is a better setup than 2017's Christmas HC schedule, where I posted three chapters in three days. Gotta space out the season evenly. Expect the next update either next Saturday or on Christmas Day itself. And thanks to Shiranai Atsune, Seiram, and ZainR for the reviews! (And to FFN for eventually deciding to show those reviews)
ZainR: We're getting there! Slowly but surely. Not in this decade but something's on the horizon. And is it Rumple he feels sorry for, or himself? There's something uncomfortably familiar about that story... And I was worried the book-reading parts were too much, so I love that they were helpful in jogging your memory! Oh my god you're right, no wonder I'm getting a kick out of Naoi and Yui's friendship in this. (He's certainly got that story on the brain, it must at least be reminding him of what he left behind in Akuma!)
Seiram: Ohoho, this would be a good AU... I think Hinata would initially like Bae for his non-brattiness, but Bae's closeness with Otonashi would eventually have Hinata and Naoi stuck together, taking their jealousy out on each other. (I love that you picked up on the undertones of the Rumbelle reading scene. After comparing Rumple to Kimito so many times, this similarity is not one he's ready to face.) (Well hey, Fujimaki sorta did! When he said "speak of the devil" as Yuri arrived right afterward.) And agreed, what Naoi needs is a wakeup call! If anything is gonna get better with them, something's gotta give.
Enjoy!
[Chapter 47]: A Change in the Air
"Hey!"
Ayato pivoted at the sound of sharp knuckles tapping against a wooden frame, and spotted Hinata standing there in the kitchen doorway. He looked more expectant than impatient, but something about his hovering was annoying all the same. Maybe it was the prompting eyebrow lift while Ayato was just standing here trying to enjoy some leftover soup.
"Quit hiding out in here," Hinata said, lazily propping himself against the doorframe. "Yui's about to do the charm, so we better be ready to go whenever."
Squinting, Ayato lowered the bowl and curled a lip at him. "I'm not hiding out."
Hinata gave a small unimpressed scoff, crossing his arms as a skeptical smile budded on his own lips. "You ran into the kitchen as soon as you heard Yurippe was here, what do you call that?"
"Being hungry…?" Ayato replied, keeping his tone dull even though he'd almost forced the words through gritted teeth.
What did they need him for? Surely Yui didn't expect him to act as a chaperone or bodyguard, and could skip merrily around his house on her own while he ate in peace. Unless she was desperate for a captive audience, and wanted everyone waiting with bated breath during her all-powerful Iwasawa-summoning performance.
He prodded thoughtfully at his noodles, feeling reminiscent again. Wouldn't be the first pink-haired drama queen he'd known who was like that.
Hinata cocked his head a little. "Eh, maybe ix-nay on the eating. With your luck we'll just go to another restaurant."
Luckily Ayato managed to disguise a snort (that truly was all the Battlefront seemed to do as living young adults, communal eating). He looked at Hinata for a moment and defiantly ate another mouthful.
"Yui can do the charm whenever she wants," he muttered into the bowl. "No one's stopping her."
Ordinarily he might toss out some comment about them rightfully waiting on God, but… his heart wasn't really into it today. He knew it would sound forced if he even bothered. He could just hear his voice faltering at the end, and see Hinata giving him – ugh, the exact same look he was giving him now.
"Oh, so you're scared of her now? It must be love." Hinata rubbed his chin, then dared a small taunting grin and leaned against the doorframe some more. "Come on, Yurippe doesn't bite."
Ayato narrowed his eyes, considering him for a moment. Then, after a pointedly meaningful look, he lowered his gaze to his bowl.
"Yes she does," he said loftily, and loudly slurped his noodles.
He didn't need to glance back up to know Hinata's face had turned a deep shade of red. From the sound of his perturbed sputtering, the comment done its job well, and the dumbfounded dolt was turning to flee back into the TV room with the others. Probably with his hands to his ears.
"Alright, alright, geez. Too much information…"
Ayato grinned despite himself as he contentedly finished his soup. That was at least one win for today – a small one, but he would take it.
But what did he mean by that, calling him scared? Just because he didn't feel like giving Yuri a grand welcome at the front door, he was suddenly scared to face her? It wasn't like that at all.
It was just… when he fought with her, when he baited her, he was still investing himself. Chasing a storm that had already blown him down and was just getting further away. And when he was civil or even companionable with her, apparently for some reason that just upset her even more. Whatever he was looking for with her was unattainable, unsalvageable. So he needed to cut his losses.
And if that deprived certain Battlefront members of a weekly entertainment source, so be it.
After taking his good sweet time washing the bowl and putting it away, Ayato dried his hands and straightened his cap, then finally stepped out into the TV room. He took a second to survey his surroundings.
To his immediate right, Yui was standing in front of the television. Trembling, really, with pent up energy. Like a cat wiggling its butt before it pounced on a laser dot or an interesting bug. The girl's legs were constantly jostling. He thought presently that she shouldn't be the one holding the charm bottle when she was in this state. She gave a peeved but slightly mollified sniff when he finally appeared, and with a flick of her devil tail she turned back to the rest of her audience.
Across the room, Shiina, Fujimaki, and Ooyama took up the left corner. Shiina was brooding out the window (why wasn't she in trouble for inattentiveness?) while Ooyama and Fujimaki sat at her feet with Mitsuo. Well, for Fujimaki it was more like lounging obstructively on the floor and letting the dog use him as a jungle gym.
And then there was Yuri, taking up her usual side of the couch, her elbow propped up and digging into a pillow on the armrest. Her eyes, more rested than last he saw them, glinted with some sort of emotion when they caught his.
Irritation, boredom, or uncertainty, he didn't know which. He hadn't lingered long enough to find out. His focus quickly swept to the right, where Kanade and Otonashi had made themselves cozy and comfortable with their hands clasped on their touching knees. Then to Hinata, who'd perched himself annoyingly on the armrest next to Otonashi and was muttering something aside to Matsushita the Fifth. All of them ready and raring to go—
"It's about time," an exasperated voice broke the silence.
Ayato's gaze flicked back to the source. Yuri squinted at him in return, looking a bit ruffled as her features crinkled with annoyance.
"What took you so long?" she demanded.
Why, Nakamura, I didn't realize you would miss me so much…!
The retort was on the tip of his tongue, along with a dozen variations, but he managed to bite back the words. This was proving to be a challenge already. How dare she seize his attention back so easily?
He regarded her for a moment, only a moment, before turning back to Yui. "I told Hinata you didn't need to wait on me."
"It's supposed to be a group thing," Yui countered, waggling her finger at him with the same hand that held the charm bottle. "You're about to witness a miracle. And you could've missed out on some crucial information!"
"You seem very certain for someone who's already 0 for 2," Ayato pointed out. Hm, was that really all? It seemed like much more, what with the montage of sad Yui face-plants that ran through his head.
"Well, Kanade and I have been talking a lot this week," Yui said importantly, putting her hands on her hips, "and even she agrees that this weekend feels different."
Ayato piqued an eyebrow at her, mildly amused. "And you believe her because she's clairvoyant."
Though in all fairness, he would agree that there was something about this weekend that felt… well, different was the most convenient word to describe it. It fell upon his mind and shoulders differently, in the same genre or dimension as the sensation of déjà vu but not quite, the air seeming almost fatefully charged. Perhaps he could blame the off feeling on the altered tension between him and Yuri, but really, he sensed that was only a small fraction of it.
"Well you know what they say," Yui chirped, breaking into his thoughts with a sparkling wink and v-sign. "Third time's the charm!"
Such confidence, Ayato silently noted as he observed the girl. Or desperation, maybe. More determination than all the previous weekends combined. So either he should seriously reconsider his bet on Yusa, or this was going to be especially hilarious.
"So what're you waiting for?" Matsushita said cheerfully. "Let's get started!"
Yui instantly perked up some more, giving him a sharp nod and grin of approval, then pointed at the rest of them. "That's right! Prepare yourselves, this is of cellphones-off, all-eyes-on-me, all-thoughts-on-Iwasawa importance."
"I do believe in fairies," Fujimaki muttered under his breath, and Ooyama clapped a hand over his mouth to muffle a laugh.
"I forgot my phone at home," Shiina said idly.
"Of course you did," came Hinata's knowing chuckle from the other side of the couch.
"I'm serious!" Yui waved the charm bottle at them insistently. "You guys all need to get into game mode."
Ayato rolled his eyes heavily, pulled out his cell phone for her to see, and made a grand show of silencing and turning it off before shoving it back into his pocket. She looked placated and turned expectantly to the rest of the group. Once they were obediently giving her their undivided attention, she clicked her heels together and stood tall.
"Good," she said. "Let's get this over with. I already have an idea for what I wanna do today."
"What…?" Hinata leaned forward on the armrest, arms folded. "You can't make plans before you do the charm. It doesn't work like that!"
"Yeah," said Otonashi, "what if it makes you change your mind?"
Yui pouted at them both, pointing again sharply with the charm bottle-wielding hand. "Or what if it doesn't and I'm even more fated to meet Iwasawa than I thought?" she argued back. Then she closed her eyes and took a moment to prepare herself, breathing in deeply like one of those cheesy acting exercises.
For a moment Ayato envisioned her pink hair shoulder-length and her eyes kiwi green. He blinked it away as her pink ones opened with a glint of nervous excitement.
"Alright," she exhaled slowly, "here I go!" And she darted out into the hall faster than anyone could say GlDeMo.
Silence fell over the room, as a surprising amount of Battlefront members were holding their breath. Out in the foyer, the front door swung open with a hearty creak and Yui's footsteps scampered over the threshold.
Then they all heard a small crash, glass breaking, and a tiny shriek.
A collective groan rose up from the group along with a few disbelieving snickers from Fujimaki. Ayato rolled his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time today and strode over to the hallway entrance.
"I told you not to drop it!" he called after her.
Yui squealed back, "Shut up! It landed on my shoes!"
Shaking his head, Ayato propped himself against the wall and glanced to Hinata with an arched brow. The man was grinning from ear to ear.
"She's too excited," he explained fondly, and cast his knowing grin down the couch to Shiina. The girl smiled back, half-heartedly for some reason, and resumed staring out the window.
Yui took her time, doing her rounds eagerly but carefully. No mistakes, no variables, no being messy about this. At least, no more so than she had been already. After a few minutes she bounded back into the room, devil tail flicking like a metronome, a splash of flaky gold glitter on her shins. She looked joyful and constellation-eyed. She was even less still than before, doing that alternating leg bounce of hers.
Everyone watched her, waiting.
"…Well?" Yuri said at last, drumming her nails on the armrest.
Yui beamed like the late May sunshine. She blurted out, "I wanna go to Ryou's!"
"Ryou's?" Ooyama echoed.
"It worked! I was right! I wanna go to Ryou's!"
Fujimaki's mouth parted in a broad grin. "Oh, so we can find Noda again?"
Hinata muttered, "We should've done this with him here too."
With a yelp, Yui stomped her foot at them. "That's not it!" she protested. "We did the charm once without Naoi, and he and Matsushita both showed up. We're going to Ryou's because she's our friend and she has a connection to Iwasawa. We're gonna find her today, I just know it!"
Holding up his hands in surrender, Hinata offered her a warm smile.
"Hey, I believe you," he said. "Let's go to Ryou's."
Obediently, everyone on the floor and the couch went to stand up, not wanting to keep antsy Yui waiting. But just as suddenly as they all stood, Kanade swayed slightly, losing her balance and teetering backwards. Otonashi and Yuri both moved quickly to catch her in their arms, keeping her steady. All of Battlefront faltered at this little spectacle, until Otonashi and Kanade were the only ones without bewilderment or at least mild concern on their faces.
"Uh…" said Hinata, furrowing his forehead. "Kanade, you okay?"
Kanade just blinked slowly, as if taking a moment to register the question. She gave him a small nod.
"I'm fine," she said, and managed a soft smile. "You don't need to worry about me."
Ayato couldn't help but cringe inwardly as he studied her. She didn't look unwell, she still had a healthy glow to her and she looked like she'd been eating just fine. But it seemed he had a visceral reaction to gentle people who sounded like they were underplaying their condition.
You don't need to worry about me? Oh please. A phrase like that was ultimately the voice activation code for worry overdrive.
"She's just a little winded lately." Otonashi stepped in for her, squeezing her arm protectively as he gave the group a reassuring smile. "She stood up too fast. It's probably low blood pressure."
His explanations did nothing to distract from his fast talking, or the bead of sweat on his brow. Hinata tilted his head, looking rightfully suspicious.
"Is that what those doctor's appointments were about?" he asked, switching between a slight frown and an uncertain grin. Then he laughed, albeit nervously. "You guys would tell me if she was dying, right? She keeps going from all lethargic to overdrive and back. It's starting to give me whiplash. I mean, talk about mood swings."
Otonashi winced, sharing an odd glance with Kanade. "Can you not joke about people dying?"
"Sorry." Hinata shrugged. "It's an ingrained Battlefront thing."
"Guess I wasn't there long enough to find it funny…"
"Kanade, you're okay, right?" Yui cut in, with an appropriate amount of seriousness for her friend's wellbeing despite her restlessness. When Kanade nodded fiercely and stood at attention, all business, Yui looked satisfied and turned to the rest of the group.
"I don't know about you guys, but I believe her," she said confidently. "So let's go, shall we?"
A slow mumble rippled through the group, but they complied. Yuri reluctantly let go of Kanade's arm, Ooyama attached Mitsuo's leash to his collar, and everyone piled out into the hallway while Yui pranced to the foyer and tapped at her phone.
"Ryou?" she said. "It's me. We're coming over."
Without meaning to, Ayato shared a frown with Yuri. "When did she get Ryou's number?"
Yuri shrugged, then lowered her eyes and looked away. Mentally kicking himself, Ayato did the same.
Preview:
"Is the doggie saying hello?"
"It's good to see you again, Yuri."
"You guys took it pretty well."
"Just thinking about that makes my brain start spinning again."
"We thought it might be fun if you came with us!"
"Do they take walk-ins?"
"No boys allowed!"
"You're setting your digestive system on fire."
[Chapter 48]: Worlds Collide.
