ii
As soon as Amu and Lulu arrived at Amu's house, they locked themselves in Amu's room after greeting her parents. Amu didn't want either her parents or Ami to walk in on any conversation they maybe be talking about. Amu flopped down on her bed with a groan, shoving her face into her pillow. Lulu sat down on the edge of the bed and patted Amu's back gently.
Amu mumbled incoherently into her pillow for a bit before rolling onto her back and looked over at her friend. She laid there for a while, staring at the ceiling in silence before finally sitting up, sitting cross-legged.
"Should I tell Tadase-kun about this?" Amu asked after a bit, pulling at her skirt nervously.
Lulu looked at her friend and shrugged. "It'd be a good thing to do as his girlfriend, but it might damper your plans for today."
Amu pouted and massaged her head. "I guess I'll just tell him during the date. I can't believe this happened. It's a good thing I checked my message at that time…"
Lulu nudged Amu gently. "So you admit it's a date~?"
Amu rolled her eyes and managed to let out a laugh. "Shut up. If you're going to put it that way, I'll just tell him now."
"Well, that's up to you, not me," Lulu responded with a shrug. "But I do think it's a good idea to tell him at some point. He might get mad if he finds out some other way."
Amu narrowed her eyes at Lulu. "Are you implying that you'd tell him?"
Lulu blinked, not realizing what she had implied. "Oh, goodness, of course not! But you get what I'm saying, right? You might slip up or I might slip up way after the fact. Then what?"
"Yeah, yeah…" Amu mumbled, hesitantly grabbing her phone.
She painstakingly went to Tadase's messages and hit the chat bar. She didn't want to tell him but she knew Lulu was right; she would be the type to just accidentally blurt it out under pressure, and Lulu was known to talk a lot so Amu wouldn't put it past her if she accidentally say something either. Slowly, she started writing out the text.
[To: Tadase-kun
Hey…Tadase-kun…
Sorry if I'm bothering you but there's something I want to talk to you about…]
"So…I was thinking…" Amu said after sending the text and tossing her phone back on the bed. "Do you think this could have to do with Saaya?"
Lulu hummed in thought. "But she's in a mental hospital ain't she? Maybe they were some of those weird early drunkards and weren't aiming for you."
Amu chewed her lip, frowning at Lulu's response. "No…I'm sure it was meant for me." she hesitated before she continued. "Actually…I got a text right after the incident by an unknown number. It said 'next time I won't miss' and stuff like that."
"Wait, what!?" Lulu exclaimed, furrowing her brow. "…Could it have been a wrong number?"
"I don't know." Amu shook her head. "I deleted the message, but it was oddly specific. Too specific to be wrong number."
Amu's phone went off behind them. She glanced at the phone, her hand reaching hesitantly. Having talked about the unknown number, she half expected it to be the unknown number for some reason. The screen lit up, reading 'One Unread Message from Tadase-kun'. Amu sighed in relief, though she was only relieved it wasn't that Unknown Number.
"You gonna answer that?" Lulu leaned back slightly, eyeing her pink-haired friend. "You're the one who wanted to tell him now."
"I know but…" Amu trailed off, looking down.
"But nothin, Amu! Just do it, he's your boyfriend, this is somethin' he should know!"
Amu sighed, knowing Lulu was right. She hesitantly picked up the phone and checked Tadase's message, which was just him asking what was wrong. Amu thought hard about a good way to explain what happened at the cafe without making it sound too bad since it really wasn't. She looked to Lulu, who just shrugged. Eventually, she managed to put a message together, deciding it might be better to explain the situation better in person.
[To: Tadase-kun
I'll tell you the details later but…something happened at the cafe me and Lulu went to.
I'm fine, don't worry but…I'll just tell you later. It'll make more sense if I tell you in person.]
After hitting send hesitantly, Amu looked at Lulu with a frown. "Now what?"
"Now we wait for a response." Lulu shrugged before patting Amu's shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it, Amu. If he's you're boyfriend, he'll understand."
Amu sighed softly. She was worried about what Tadase must think. She had planned on telling him everything through the one text but she suddenly felt that it would be better for her to tell him in person. Her dreams were starting to get the best of her and Tadase can't always be there to save her, even if he had essentially just saved her without being there.
Amu felt her phone vibrate on her bed again and hesitated to look at it, knowing it was a response from Tadase. She stared at the smartphone for a solid minute and a half before Lulu sighed in exasperation and picked up the phone herself.
"Amu, if you don't open this message right now, I'm gonna do it myself and read it out loud!" she exclaimed.
Amu gasped and quickly snatched the phone from Lulu with a pout. "F-fine…"
She sighed softly and unlocked her phone, hesitantly tapping on the new message notification.
[From: Tadase-kun
Something happened? I know you said not to worry but…with how you put it, I have no choice but to.
I'll be patient and let you explain everything later. You're safe now, though, right?]
Amu responded that they were at her house safe and sound hanging out in her room, then added a message to appreciate him for being patient enough to let Amu explain on her own time. She put her phone down but almost immediately it vibrated again. Tadase didn't usually reply to messages that fast…
Amu's heart jumped into her throat as she read the message. It definitely was not a response from Tadase. She read it quickly several times before Lulu noticed her shocked expression. The messages read:
[From: Unknown Number
I know your every movement
You'd better watch your back]
"Amu?" Lulu asked, shuffling closer, "What's wrong? Did Tadase say something?"
Amu quickly covered her phone screen, pressing it against her lap. "I-it's nothing, Lulu. Do you wanna go watch a movie downstairs?"
Amu moved to stand up but Lulu stopped her. "Amu. What was the notification you just got? It was a text, wasn't it?"
"I-I told you it was nothing…" Amu mumbled. "Just spam…"
Lulu sighed. "We're friends, right? I'm the only person who knows about your nightmares, right? Show me your phone."
Amu frowned and offered her phone to Lulu, holding it tightly at first in an attempt to not give it to her. She didn't want to get Lulu involved in this. The dreams were one thing but this was real life now. Eventually, she gave in and let go of her phone for real.
Lulu looked at the message from the Unknown Number. "Oh, my…Is this the same person you mentioned messaging you when we left…?"
Amu nodded slowly. "Yeah…"
"Well, this is a problem," Lulu said.
"You think?" Amu responded sarcastically. "Now whoever is doing this knows where I live. If they didn't already know."
"I know I told you to tell Tadase about the accident but…maybe you shouldn't bring up the texts."
Amu nodded again. "I'll just delete and block the number…"
"Did you still want to watch a movie?" Lulu asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Amu nodded and they went downstairs to watch a movie, Ami joining just to feel included. They spent the next 2 hours watching the movie until it was almost 4pm. She sent Lulu off, telling her to be careful, before checking around herself and closing and locking the front door so her house had less of a chance of being broken into.
She sighed and went back up to her bedroom, closing and locking the door once more so Ami didn't barge in, wondering what she was going to do now. Someone was stalking her and sending her threatening messages. She thought her only concern would be the dreams but now…she had a whole other thing to be afraid about.
Her phone vibrated on her bedside table and she reached over to grab it hesitantly, relieved to see Tadase's name pop up on the screen. She had completely forgotten she had been messaging Tadase just before that. She tapped the message and read it, hoping to feel some comfort from it.
[From: Tadase-kun
I had wanted to take you to a nice restaurant but…if you'd feel more comfortable, we can just eat at my place.]
Amu smiled, remembering that they had plans. Regardless of where they went, Amu knew she would feel a lot safer having Tadase there. Still, she did like the idea of a romantic dinner at his place.
She responded with exactly that and stood up, wanting to look better for the date. Once she found something she deemed more date appropriate than what she was wearing prior, she waited for Tadase's next response.
A/N: ok this chapter is shorter than I remember when re-writing it. And here I'm supposed to be making chapters longer to shorten the story a bit because Jesus 30 chapters is a LOT (then again 1800 words is a fair amount but I think some of these chapters are like 2000-3000 words lmao). Good thing most of it is probably filler so shortening it hasn't been hard (though there was a LOT more unnecessary stuff in the first story).
Anyway, I'll post these slowly and whenever I just feel like posting. I already forgot if I mentioned this but I'm still considering switching to AO3 or something, though I'm unsure if I should post the final(?) Tadamu fic I'll ever write there or here. (then again, no one said I have to use Tadase and Amu considering all the other fandoms I'm in but I already have most of it planned for them so-)