A/N: I know I'm not all that far into Chapter 52, but on the day after the 10 year anniversary of the episode "My Song," I'm a little enthused to get to the previous chapter's aftermath. I had fun writing this one. Thanks to qwerty19, Seiram, and ZainR for the reviews!
qwerty19: I'm actually very pleased you liked that line in particular, because I tweaked the hell out of it. Favorite line, so worth it. A strong, courageous heart is even more powerful than anything Angel Player could ever create. :') (Also, "chapter 256" - thank you for this, I've never been dragged so accurately in my entire life)
Seiram: Hairstylist Yusa... I've been waiting thirty chapters to make this joke. XD And right? When I first got into AB, Shiina was Jade to me, but then I learned of Yusa's arc in the manga. Jade would probably be a big fan of her work. Also, I love your questions about the first Angel! I've actually given her a fair amount of thought (backstory/regret, death, link to Angel Player), so I will say you haven't heard the last of this theory. Yuri is pretty curious herself. (Oh, the devil on my shoulder tried to tell me to play the shock factor! But I was like, "No, I'm gonna give Yui everything she wants.") (INCLUDING THE KISS. Originally I was just gonna hint at it in this chapter, but the moment was too perfect so I worked it in.) I hope I can give Yusa sufficient screentime! She deserves it.
ZainR: I'm glad you're feeling better! The program and manual were in Kanade's room when she found them, so the first Angel was probably using it... but ah yes, the Programmer's lost love. You're thinking. ;D Also, Nagisa's friendships with the Afterlife girls really were fun to write about! Couldn't resist the idea of Nagisa being inspired by Iwasawa, particularly her voice... (That's our Yui for ya! I knew when this moment came, her scream would be cinematic.) Good question about the spell. They'll be thinking about that one themselves.
Enjoy!
[Chapter 51]: Catching Up
Otonashi, Hinata, and Ayato reached the pavilion first, panting and out of breath as they finally came to a halt in front of the girls. Okazaki was just behind them, followed by Fujimaki and Ooyama (the latter of whom was being dragged by a wildly barking Mitsuo), and then Matsushita the Fifth and Noda.
"What happened?" Hinata demanded, recovering more quickly than the others. "We thought we heard Yui scream!"
They'd also heard honking and tires screeching a little before that, so when he recognized his wife's eardrum-shattering shriek, Hinata had booked it across the park and hadn't stopped running for anything. Now his features had relaxed in immense relief to see Shiina, Kanade, Yuri, and the Fujibayashi sisters gathered around Yui, who was mostly fine but seemed to be in some sort of stupor.
"She looks like she's seen starfish," Okazaki said idly.
"Huh?" Ooyama cocked his head at him.
Okazaki blinked. "I don't know why I said that just now…" he muttered, more to himself. "But – hey, where's Nagisa?"
"She stayed inside so Ushio could finally get her hair cut," Kyou answered matter-of-factly.
"We'll head back in soon but we really wanted to see this!" added Ryou.
Otonashi, Hinata, and Ayato exchanged a look. "See what—?" Otonashi started to say.
"THIS!" Yui shouted, abruptly thawing out of her reverie and shoving her treasure in his face. "Feast your eyes, boys! And never, ever doubt my GlDeMo radar again!"
Fujimaki, Ooyama, Matsushita the Fifth, and even Noda huddled around Otonashi, Hinata, and Ayato to see for themselves. Took a moment to process what they were looking at. Squinted down at the words on the page.
And collectively lost their minds with a simultaneous yell.
"No way—"
"GlDeMo already re-formed?"
"They'd have to have been planning this for months!"
"Is this real?!"
Ayato snatched the poster out of Yui's hands and wandered away with it, studying the front as his brow furrowed in the sheer incredulity of it all. "So a month from now, they're going to play here? Here, in Mizuzaka." He jabbed a finger towards the amphitheater. "Right there on that very stage?"
Yui squealed with joy, clasping her hands in a giddy swoon.
"Oh, it sounds even more magical when someone else says it!" she gasped. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she reverted into her happy pink sparkly bubble state. "Can you believe it? We didn't even have to find her first – the Battlefront reunion concert is already underway! Iwasawa and I are so in sync, it's amazing. Why else would she come to our main base? It's destiny. It's fate. It's incredible!" She trembled with pent up energy. "AAAAH! I HAVE to kiss someone again!"
"Again?" Ayato repeated – suddenly noting that Shiina looked a bit mellow and pink in the face – but Yui had already pounced on Hinata, leaping into his arms. He caught her in time, staggering backwards in surprise but still lifting her up off the ground as he returned the kiss with just as much enthusiasm.
Ayato rolled his eyes at the display, and in doing so, accidentally caught Yuri's. The skeptical eyebrow raise she'd reserved for the couple was now directed at him, warping somewhat with a mild twitch, and he couldn't tell if it was from pondering or reproach.
She bit her lip the way she used to when trying to solve a difficult math problem and he forced himself to look away. As if the Girls Dead Monster poster in his grasp was infinitely more interesting.
"Alright, can we take all this celebration back across the street?" Kyou asked, pouting as she threw a nervous glance towards the salon. "I left Botan over there, and I don't like being this far away from my baby."
Noda frowned, crossing his arms. "And yet you were so eager to send me off with these clowns for Girls Day."
Shrugging, Kyou responded, "Yeah, but as a human, you're smart enough to look both ways before crossing the street to get to me."
"He is?" Ooyama and Fujimaki exclaimed, wide-eyed. The two shared a grin after that, Fujimaki's particularly proud, though in Ayato's opinion Ooyama had sounded genuinely astonished and impressed.
Noda acted like he didn't hear them, but made a point of checking for traffic as he put an arm around Kyou and started walking her back to the salon. Ryou and Okazaki were right on their heels. Meanwhile, Yui stole the poster back from Ayato, lovingly placed it back on the current events board, and snapped a picture with her phone and her concert camera for posterity before prancing off as well. Shiina and Hinata hastily followed so that they could flank her on both sides.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ayato saw Yuri linger for a moment, fixing her gaze on the amphitheater in the distance. He looked too, out of mild curiosity.
With a little imagination, the Girls Dead Monster logo shimmered to life on the backdrop. Colorful lights danced across the stage. Meal tickets swirled in the air and twinkled as they rained down like falling stars.
He blinked and it was gone. But a month from now, minus the meal tickets, it would become a reality.
Their own bit of real Afterlife magic, as Yui would say.
"Yurippe?"
She snapped out of it and nodded to Fujimaki and Ooyama, acknowledging them with a vague hum, then fell into step beside Kanade and Otonashi. Minding his distance, Ayato followed last after Matsushita the Fifth.
Yui chattered giddily the entire way over, wielding her phone in triumph like it was a sword she'd just pulled out of a stone. She twirled and skipped a bit and even knelt down to show the picture of her "GlDeMo evidence" to Mitsuo, who gave a trilling bark of support.
"He knows!" Yui sang out, and scratched under his chin. "Aww, who's the second cutest Girls Dead Monster fan in the world?"
"Second?" Ooyama frowned, but even Shiina had to stifle a giggle at this.
When they reconvened in front of the salon, Kyou was already holding Botan, but the boar spotted Mitsuo and started squeaking up a storm until Kyou put her back down. The dog scampered up to her, warbling and sniffing, and Botan made happy "puhi-puhi" sounds as she nuzzled him. Yui stopped ranting just to join Shiina, Kanade, Ryou, Fujimaki, and Ooyama in the group "aww."
Interesting. Ayato did not know boars could blush.
"How come you're happier to see him than you were to see me?" Kyou said to Botan, a mix between amused and offended. "You just met him a week ago."
"Love hits you fast," Fujimaki said, beaming. "Can't say I blame her, he's a handsome little guy. Second cutest thing I've ever seen."
"Second?" Ooyama repeated, with even more bewilderment and a little offense.
"For the last time, they're not in love," Kyou told him, rolling her eyes. "They're a boar and a dog. They'd make kind of an unconventional couple, don't you think?"
"Hey! True love can overcome all differences," Fujimaki argued.
Smiling, Ryou crouched down and gave Mitsuo and Botan some love. "Well they're friends, anyhow," she said. "It's hard for friends to be apart from each other. That's why it's so special when they're brought back together."
The Battlefront perked up at this, exchanging fond glances with each other. Otonashi curved an arm around Kanade's middle and hugged her close; she closed her eyes contentedly as she held on tight to him. Hinata mussed Ooyama's hair affectionately and grinned at Fujimaki. Even Noda's expression turned sort of wistful. Ayato tried to avoid locking eyes with Yuri again, but when he spared a glance, hers were glazed over in thought and she was staring off into space anyway.
"You're right!" said Yui, clutching her phone in happiness. "And speaking of which—"
She resumed squealing about the concert and fate for a good two or three minutes, barely noticing when Okazaki quietly slipped into the salon to see how Ushio's haircut was coming along. Ryou, charmed by Yui's enthusiasm, stayed to share in the excitement, while Kyou patiently leaned against Noda's shoulder and kept an eye on the pets.
But presently Ayato had to interrupt, putting a hand up to stop her as a strange thought occurred to him.
"Wait," he said with a bemused chuckle, "so Locus Felicis led you to a concert poster?"
"Hey, yeah," said Hinata, rubbing his chin. "I thought the charm was supposed to lead you straight to living people."
Ooyama peeked over at Yui's phone before she could answer. "Does that mean no one wins the bet?" he asked curiously. "Or maybe we can count this as Iwasawa since it's got her name on it."
"In that case Hinata and I won too." Fujimaki pointed triumphantly at the picture. "There's Hisako, right beneath her!"
"And Shiina too, didn't you bet on Irie?" Hinata reached past Yui to give her a congratulatory nudge.
Shiina merely listed her head at him, then shared a secretive glance with the rest of the girls. Kanade cast a furtive glimpse over her shoulder while Yui's celebratory grin quickly turned coy.
"Of course the poster doesn't count," Yuri replied, arms crossed. Behind them, the salon door gave a slight creak and bell jingle. Cutting her eyes to the side, she lowered her voice to a musing murmur. "There's only one winner this time."
"Huh—?" Ooyama and Otonashi blinked. Fujimaki, Matsushita the Fifth, and Hinata arched their brows at her and then one another.
If it wasn't the poster, then who did they—
"Excuse me," said a soft voice.
Puzzled, the guys parted their small crowd to turn and look to the source. They registered the figure's presence in all of one second before descending into utter panic. Matsushita, Otonashi, Hinata, and Ayato flinched and drew backwards with a yell. Ooyama recoiled into Fujimaki, clutching instinctively at his arm. Even Noda uttered a strangled yelp as he fell behind Kyou.
After a startled silence, Yui, Ryou, and Kanade burst into giggles.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Yusa said, staring at the upturned scissors in her hand as if noticing them for the first time. "I didn't realize I still had these. I don't think we're supposed to take them out of the salon."
"I don't think you're supposed to hold them like that either!" Otonashi said in a high-pitched voice.
She just stared back at him, expressionless. Ayato, wide-eyed and sweating, wasn't entirely convinced she hadn't done it on purpose.
"Yusa, you scared the he—" Hinata gaped, and then caught himself when the Okazakis exited the salon with Ushio in her mother's arms. "You almost scared us to death," he amended, putting a hand over his heart. "What are you doing here?"
"Obviously she works here, genius," Ayato said, smirking smugly under his hat as he privately basked in the triumph of winning the stupid bet for once.
"I mean in Mizuzaka," Hinata shot back out of the corner of his mouth, and threw him a pointed side-eye. "As in, how long has she been in town without you, Fujimaki, or Ooyama even noticing?"
"I did only move here back in January," Yusa noted, before looking towards the girls. "Anyway, since I already finished my appointment, I thought I would come outside and check on all of you."
Kyou's eyebrows lifted considerably. "That was quick," she said, impressed.
"Like I said, Ushio really doesn't have that much hair," Nagisa said with a quiet laugh.
After putting away her scissors, Yusa turned to Yui expectantly. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
"Oh, I found it!" Yui waved her phone in her face so that she could see the shot, then dove forward and grabbed Yusa's shoulders. "When is your shift over? Please, I need you to tell me everything! The concert's a month from now, WHY is this the first I'm hearing about this?"
Yusa gave a small nod. "My shift ends at three. If you meet me after, I'll catch up with you then," she answered. "As for the second part, GlDeMo did give me quite a few of those posters to put up. But I've been busy. There should be some here and there on the side of town near the mall and the train station."
Hinata glanced towards Ooyama and Fujimaki. "Hold on, isn't that close to where you guys live?"
The two of them sweated simultaneously, flashing twin sheepish smiles as they rubbed the back of their heads. "Sorry, guess we must've missed them!"
"Boys!" Yui huffed. "You never notice anything!" (Yuri punctuated the sentiment with an eye roll and a little scoff.)
"Hey! I resent that," said Fujimaki.
Lifting an eyebrow at him, Otonashi drew his lips into an odd smile. "You know, you two can probably let go of each other now."
It took Ooyama and Fujimaki a moment of confusion before they looked at each other and realized what he meant. Though he'd since relaxed his grip, Ooyama was still holding onto Fujimaki from the Yusa scare, and Fujimaki's arm was still curled protectively around his shoulder. For one lingering second, their eyes met, then they hastily released each other and turned away. Ooyama's face seared scarlet; Fujimaki's wide eyes darted around at literally everything else.
"So, uh, Iwasawa," Fujimaki said, clearing his throat. "You're in touch with her."
"Right," said Yusa, and nodded to the Okazakis. "As I told Nagisa a few minutes ago, Iwasawa has been rather busy in the last few months, so she doesn't answer her phone very much."
"Not the one I've been calling," Nagisa added.
"However—"
The salon door opened and a stylist with short curly navy hair and anxious eyes peeped out. "Yusa!" she hissed, gesticulating at her to come in. "Is the autograph session almost over? I know your shift isn't."
Yusa didn't even turn around. "Sorry, Rinri. I'll be right there," she said.
"Don't make me tell you I need you." The girl gave a despondent groan. "You know I hate that."
Once Rinri's head disappeared back into the salon, Yusa's lips twitched with the tiniest hint of a wry half-smile.
"I have to get back to work," she said, "but I won't be long. It's clear we have a lot to discuss."
"Why don't you meet us in the park after your shift?" Otonashi suggested helpfully. "Most of us are probably heading back to the baseball field anyway. If I remember correctly, I believe someone promised his daughter a little quality practice time." He grinned over at Okazaki and Ushio, who flashed each other a thumbs up, then sent a brief glance towards the park entrance. "Besides that, it'll be a good opportunity to take our group picture."
Yusa tilted her head at him, her twintails swaying to the side. "Group picture…?"
"It's a tradition of Operation Battlefront Reunion," Hinata explained. "We all get together and take a group shot with whoever we find that weekend." He tossed a fond grin over at his wife. "Yui's actually got an idea for what she wants to do with it."
"I see." A look of moderate amusement took over Yusa's normally cool expression. "We'll get to that. I'm going now. But remember, the weekend's not over just yet."
Then she was gone, the salon's bell tinkling after her.
For a second, the Battlefront regarded the spot where she once stood, wondering exactly what she meant by that. Then Ayato gave a rich chuckle and beamed at the rest of the group from beneath his cap.
"I win."
The sun cast its particularly strong spotlight on the baseball field, where the guys had returned with but one of the girls.
After Yusa had gone back in, the girls were all ready to follow the guys to the park, but then Ryou and Kyou reminded Yuri "not so fast," because she still had her own appointment "in, like, two minutes."
"Oh, I completely forgot," Yuri had said, and then frowned suddenly and flicked a wary glance at Ayato as if waiting on him for something.
He arched an eyebrow at her. "What…?"
"Really?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You have nothing to say to that?"
"Of course you forgot," Ayato replied with a small shrug. "There were more important things to think about."
The skepticism lingered on her lips and creased her forehead. "Are you calling my hair appointment unimportant…?"
"Not as important as finding Yusa," he countered, trying to mute his puzzled expression. Here he'd tried to avoid another argument by letting an easy joke pass him by, but it seemed that Yuri was determined to start something with him somehow.
Something had flickered briefly behind her eyes, followed by that simultaneous quirk of her mouth and eyebrow she always did when she was upset at him and trying not to show it. But then she just shook her head, muttered a "fine, whatever," and turned away to go back inside. The girls followed shortly after, agreeing to meet at the park as soon as Girl Time was over.
However, Nagisa had handed Ushio off to Okazaki, so now the two of them were hogging up the baseball field with their father/daughter practice. The Battlefront guys didn't seem to mind very much, becoming Ushio's biggest fans in no time and roaring cheers of encouragement to her from the bleachers as she swung her pint-sized plastic bat. Also included in Ushio's fan club were Mitsuo and Botan, the latter of whom Kyou had finally relented to go join the boys. Ushio was already breaking the "no girls allowed" rule anyway, and had teamed up with Mitsuo to give her the puppy dog eyes – a weapon even more dangerous than hypnotism.
It was an interesting cheerleader group, to say the least. Fujimaki was her loudest and most vocal, Hinata and Matsushita the ones who offered the most little high fives when she distractedly came to visit them. Otonashi was more subdued but probably her most riveted fan, watching Okazaki and Ushio play together with his chin in hand and a wistful grin on his face. He smiled warmly at her and gave her pointers when she scampered over after she was having trouble.
"I'll tell you the same thing I told my friend Yui once," he said. "Watch the ball closely, okay? You wanna hit it with the core of the bat."
"The sun's in my eyes," Ushio said sulkily. "I wish I had my cap."
Ayato considered. He looked to Otonashi, Ushio, the bright sun shining above them. Then he lifted his own cap from his head and placed it on top of hers. "There now," he said seriously, trying not to crack up at the sight. "Is that better?"
Ushio stared back at him like he'd just crowned her with a jeweled tiara. She adjusted it a bit so it wouldn't sink in front of her wide brown eyes, then nodded with a quick "thank you" before darting off to Okazaki's side. When she was far enough away, the guys started up with a medley of cooing and jeering.
"Naoi, you ol' softie," Matsushita the Fifth said, reaching out to muss his hair.
"Heh, I knew you weren't immune," said Hinata.
"New idea for a group bet after all this is over!" Fujimaki crowed. "Which one of us is gonna be the first to have kids? My money's on Naoi and Yurippe."
"I'll take that bet—"
"No wait," Fujimaki said, cutting Otonashi off, "how many kids are they gonna have? I'm gonna say five, I don't think Naoi will be able to keep his hands to himself."
"You listen here—" Ayato growled, blushing.
"Five? Yurippe?!" Ooyama echoed, looking shocked. "I say two! A boy and a girl."
"No way." Hinata closed his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning back in the bleachers. "Three kids, all girls, tough as nails. They'll boss around all of their Battlefront cousins even if they're younger than them."
"How about four?" Matsushita the Fifth offered. "Maybe they have a baby brother."
"Maybe, since Yurippe understands the value of a big family, but she definitely cuts him off after four," Hinata replied. He turned in his seat, smirking. "What do you think, Otonashi—?"
"I think you're all getting way too far ahead of yourselves," Ayato cut in, sweating profusely. The sun, finally hiding behind a wall of clouds, couldn't be blamed for the heat rising in his cheeks. "Though it's quite flattering that you're finally worshiping your God—"
"Nope, sorry." Fujimaki waved him off. "You lost your cap which was the source of all your power. Ushio's God now."
Ayato stuttered angrily while the rest of the guys laughed. Even Noda, who probably didn't understand the whole God thing just yet, gave an appreciative snicker, while Hinata smacked him on the back.
"What'sa matter, Naoi?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear. "Don't tell me you and Yurippe never thought about it."
"I'd rather not get into that," Ayato muttered, scowling down at his clasped hands. Then, more scornfully, "Do you want to think about us trying?"
Hinata looked wildly disgusted. "Could you please hypnotize that mental picture out of my head…"
But even though the others dropped the subject after that, Ayato still fumed over its effects. Unbelievable. He gave an inch and they were already running a mile. They'd talked about it like it was so definite, so inevitable. Practically naming his future children as if he'd damn well proposed to her. Which wasn't happening any time soon, he could tell them that much!
And at this point, to even mention starting a family…
Because he just had such a great track record with those, didn't he? Estranged abusive father, distant mother, dead brother, spurned ex-wife who hated his guts. Ran away from his first one and dismantled another.
(He was probably about as suited for a family as he was for Yuri.)
Frowning, Ayato clenched his fingers on the edge of the bleachers in an attempt to stifle these thoughts. Okazaki had advised him to try. It was just… difficult. Especially with the memories this most recent conversation had unearthed. Yuri had been his family. She'd offered him more. He'd thrown it away, and now look at them. Look at how she looked at him, how she fought against him. Was there honestly any hope in getting back what they once had?
Was there any real reason to try?
"Hey! We're here!"
Ayato's head snapped up at Yui's trademark holler. The girls were swiftly crossing the park, with Yui and the Fujibayashi twins in the lead. Shiina shadowed Yui, and Nagisa was next to her but trailing just a little farther behind. She seemed interested in a conversation going on at the back. As they neared the baseball diamond, Nagisa and ninja parted like a theatre curtain to reveal Yuri speaking quietly but animatedly aside to an intrigued Kanade.
And of course the sun had to hit her in such a way. Beaming down on her like the spotlight in the second-year play, engulfing her in an angelic glow. Her hair, sleek and shiny from being washed, bounced short and light against her shoulders, and framed her face perfectly. It gleamed a flattering carmine color, bringing out the sparkling green in her eyes as they crinkled like she was asking a very important question.
Ayato bit his lip, suddenly wishing he had his cap back to bury his blush. He couldn't take his eyes off of her.
Above the mild chatter that had started up, and Botan's happy squeals at the sight of Kyou, Ayato was able to make out bits and pieces of what Yuri was saying as she got closer. Something about Angel Player or angels and if Kanade was curious about something. Kanade blinked and tilted her head slightly, saying she was unsure. Yuri, getting a tad more emphatic, kept raising her volume in some parts.
"—what if… one area… might understand you better than…" she was saying, sounding to Ayato somewhat like a radio that needed tuning. Then she glanced towards the bleachers, caught him staring, and promptly clamped her mouth shut while waving her hand to cut off the conversation.
Kanade didn't quite get the message and just smiled faintly at her as they came to a stop at the diamond. "Yuri, are you sure you're not talking about something else…?" she asked, unaffected when Yuri made a sharp hushing noise through her teeth.
"What are you two talking about?" Hinata asked, thankfully voicing Ayato's thoughts. If he had asked, he was sure he'd get a "none of your business" coupled with a fearsome glare.
Kanade just shrugged. "It's nothing, really," she said, and turned to Yuri. "To tell you the truth, I never thought of it like that before. Though I did wonder a few things from time to time... I suppose it is a unique bond. Not unlike the one I share with Yuzuru—"
Yui razzed loudly.
"I thought Girl Time was over?" Kanade said, looking to Yui with a bemused frown.
"Sorry, force of habit."
Ushio giggled hysterically. She dropped her plastic bat and hurried over to hug at her mother's legs.
"Hi Ushio!" Nagisa knelt down to return the hug. "Have you been having a fun time playing baseball with your daddy?"
"Yeah!"
When Nagisa let go, Ushio stuck her chin up and straightened her visor for effect. Most of her audience couldn't help but chuckle at her behavior, Ayato himself included. He even nicely ignored Fujimaki's "she pulls that off even better than you."
Yuri's expression swiftly changed to sudden recognition. "Hey Ushio, isn't that Naoi's hat?" she asked, leaning down to give the visor a gentle tap.
Ushio nodded. "The sun hurt my eyes so he let me wear it."
"Oh he did, did he?" Yuri said, grinning like they were sharing an inside joke, and cast an idle glance at him. "That's—"
She blinked twice, letting the thought trail off as suddenly as her smile. Clearing her throat, she peeked down into her purse and started fishing something out of it.
"I almost forgot." She took out some furled up papers and handed them to Ushio. "You left your artwork in the waiting area."
Nagisa gave a soft gasp. "In all the excitement, I walked right past them myself!" she said breathlessly. "What do we say to Yuri, Ushio?"
"Thank you…" Ushio mumbled in happiness. She looked down at the papers and shuffled through them for a moment until her whole face lit up. After picking out one sheet in particular, she gave the rest to her mom and raced towards the dugout. Then she stopped in front of Ayato and held it out to him.
Ayato was a little dumbfounded. "What, for me?" he started to say, then took a look at the page. It was a charming little drawing of a round green disembodied head wearing a black hat.
Oh. It was supposed to be him.
"Please accept this," Ushio said shyly.
His eyes widened; he fought the urge to clutch at his own heart. It definitely wasn't strong enough to handle something like this. But it'd been a long time since someone drew anything for him, and she was looking at him so hopefully.
"Thank you," he said, regaining his composure. He received the drawing readily and studied it some more, then awarded her an easy grin. "What an artist you are. You did a very good job on this."
She glowed with pride, beaming back at him. Then she scurried back to the refuge of Nagisa's legs.
"Hey, you're pretty good with kids," Otonashi mused aside to him, looking impressed.
Ayato shook his head, though quietly pleased by his praise. "I just remember what I wanted to hear when I was her age."
The guys extracted themselves from their lazy positions on the bleachers to reunite with the girls. Ayato got his cap back from Ushio, and Hinata got in a corny joke about Yuri looking different somehow, did she get shorter? Yuri almost kicked his shin in retaliation but Hinata happily pointed out that there was an impressionable child present, so she pulled her leg back. After that, the group conversation turned mostly to GlDeMo speculation and reminiscent chatter about Yusa (meticulously omitting the violent stuff for Ushio's sake).
It wasn't more than a few minutes later that Yusa arrived in the park, minus her stylist apron. While Okazaki and Nagisa rested in the bleachers with Ushio, the Battlefront and Fujibayashis met Yusa in the middle of the field. She fiddled with the shoulder strap of her purse and looked at them all appraisingly.
"It's good to see you all again," she said. "I understand everyone here has regained their Afterlife memories."
"Everyone except Noda," Matsushita the Fifth confirmed.
"Really." Yusa looked vaguely intrigued by this. "But he appeared to be scared of me when we met."
"That's just your nature," Otonashi replied.
"You were holding a weapon," added Hinata, his expression deadpan.
"How shallow-minded..."
Noda scoffed, arms stubbornly crossed, but it should be noted he was standing very close to Kyou. "Why should I be afraid of you?" (It actually sounded like a secretly genuine question.)
Yusa gave him a cool acknowledging stare. "I used my scissors on you once," she said, with heavy nonchalance. "It wasn't a haircut."
Noda swallowed and instinctively clutched the back of his head. His eyes glinted with perturbed bewilderment, as if wondering why he did that. Or how he knew.
"It wasn't anything personal," Ooyama assured him brightly. "She did it to me too."
"And me. Or at least she tried," Hinata said, but laughed as he thought back. "No wait, maybe it was personal. She did attack you twice."
Noda squinted at Yusa suspiciously for a moment, until his features finally settled in miffed resignation. That was his usual this wacky group face.
"Yurippe, you said most of you got your memories back from seeing Iwasawa's first concert?" Yusa asked thoughtfully. "So everyone except Noda? That's interesting."
"Not everyone," Yuri corrected. "Otonashi, Naoi, and I saw it on TV. Hinata, Yui, Fujimaki, and Kanade went to the concert themselves. But Ooyama, Shiina, Noda, and Matsushita missed it… and that's all the people we know so far."
Yusa nodded as she absorbed all of this, but then mild puzzlement creased her brow. "How do Ooyama, Matsushita, and Shiina have their memories, then?"
Yuri hesitated, so Ayato stepped forward and decided to speak for himself. "I was able to bring them back using hypnotism."
"…Hypnotism," Yusa repeated, her confusion turning to caution. "You have that ability in this life."
"In this life, I think you'll find that stranger things are possible," he countered.
"Has anyone told her about Locus Felicis?" Otonashi threw in.
She narrowed her eyes at Ayato, studying him with some suspicion. "What else do you use your hypnotism for?"
Ayato mulled it over, reminiscing. "I used it to help the Battlefront gain Yuri's whereabouts. I convinced Hinata he was a stapler, then a fish. I had him throw himself at the front door in a fit of romantic passion. Oh, and then he almost kissed Fujimaki's—"
"Whoa there," said Matsushita, covering Ayato's mouth just in case Ushio was within earshot.
"Anyone else seeing a pattern to this…?" Hinata grouched.
Yusa wasn't amused either. She looked particularly wary of him, unsatisfied with his answer. "Do you ever use it on girls?"
Ayato bristled. "What do you mean?"
Faltering, Yusa glanced fleetingly towards the bleachers, and frowned as if unsure of how she should put this.
"To… make them…"
At once, a sickening comprehension struck. The insinuation there utterly repulsed him, like poison that delivered a rotten egg stench before it entered his bloodstream and boiled him from the inside out. But he also knew about Yusa's past, and why she had her reasons for those suspicions. So he composed himself and turned more fully to her.
"Of course not," Ayato said firmly, looking her straight in the eyes. "When I win a woman's heart, it won't be because of some illusion or trickery. It'll be because she wants me."
Yusa studied him a few seconds longer, at one point seeming like she was staring right through him. Then she nodded in silent satisfaction and turned away, pointing more towards the rest of the group.
"Well then," she said, searching through her bag for something. The guys watched nervously, probably to make sure she hadn't smuggled out a pair of scissors. "I'm sure you're all interested to know about Girls Dead Monster and their upcoming concert."
"YES!" Yui cried. "Finally!"
"This concert happens to coincide with our goals for Operation: Battlefront Reunion," said Yuri. "It seems Iwasawa was already a few steps ahead of us. I'd like to be able to contact her at some point so she can help us move forward with our plans."
Yusa pulled out a small black cell phone and flipped it open. "I can do that for you right now."
"…HUH?!"
The collective yelp didn't faze her one bit. She kept her eyes down on the screen, punched at a few buttons with a series of beeps. "As I said earlier, Iwasawa hasn't been answering her phone very much. Not her regular one," she explained. "Fortunately, she gave me her GlDeMo number so we could keep each other up to speed on the concert. She wants me to let her know of any updates here in Mizuzaka." She smiled faintly. "She'd certainly want to hear about this."
With that, she hit the speakerphone button, and treated everyone to an earful of a steady buzzing ring.
The Battlefront stared at the phone. They held their breath in anticipation.
But not for long, because after three and a half rings, there was a soft click as someone picked up on the other end.
"Yusa!" Iwasawa's warm voice filled the air. "What's up?"
Yui fainted.
A/N: Iwasawa on the phone, folks. We have IWASAWA ON THE PHONE.
Working on the next chapter as we speak. It's coming along but it might be a longer wait. I'll do my best to make it worth it.
Until next time!
Preview:
"Girl down!"
"Why did that voice sound familiar?"
"It must hold a very powerful magic."
"We would've heard her screaming by now."
"We're all here in Mizuzaka."
"Operation, huh..."
"All I want is to hear them make magic again."
[Chapter 52]: Golden Girls.
