52 - Vignette- Post-Game
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Glasses
"What happened to your glasses?" was the first question Neku asked when Shiki arrived for their usual meeting at the Hachiko statue. Beat and Rhyme were also staring just as intently at her glasses-less face.
"Hey! You should at least say 'hi' to me first," she said, puffing up and glaring at her friends. Her look seemed sharper without her glasses somehow. "I'll have you know that they got broken yesterday."
"You don't have any spares?" Neku asked with a raised eyebrow.
Her glare dropped and she looked away. "Funny story. I kinda broke them too when I was trying to get them."
How clumsy can one person get? Neku thought, feeling almost-sorry for Shiki.
"Anyway, can we go to the glasses shop? I've got money from my parents to buy new ones," she said, patting the sling-bag that she had on.
"Aight! Let's go!" Beat took off, not waiting for the others' responses. Though Neku and Rhyme would have said too, Neku doubted Beat actually knew where the glasses shop actually was. Rhyme was the one that had to catch up to Beat to tell him he was going the wrong way.
Rhyme was now leading the way, being the wiser choice as a navigator. Beat walked next to her while Neku and Shiki followed behind them by about a metre or so.
Neku took this chance to look at Shiki's face again. Most girls living in Shibuya would wear contacts if they had eyesight problems but not her. He didn't care whether she chose to wear glasses or not, but he did note that her eyes seemed bigger without them on. As far as he knew, Shiki was short-sighted, though not by too much.
"Do you wear your glasses all the time?"
He seemed to have startled her, because she let out an, "O-oh!" before replying. "I wear them a lot, but not all the time. I take them off when I'm going to sleep, of course. And when I'm sewing."
The last statement caught his attention. "Why would you take them off when you're sewing?"
"Helps me concentrate," she said. She must have seen the lack of understanding on Neku's part, so she elaborated, "I can see things that are right in front of me clearly, so sewing without my glasses is fine. If I look up from the piece I'm working on my piece and look around, the far-off things are kinda fuzzy to me, so I don't get distracted by other things."
That was one way to look at it, Neku guessed. A bit of strange habit but whatever worked for her. "Is that why you wear glasses? So that it's easier to take 'em off?"
"Er," she raised a hand to her eyes to push up the glasses before abruptly lowering them again, when she realised they weren't there, "well kind of. Also contacts irritate my eyes if I wear them too long so I just kinda went with the glasses."
Practicality over fashion? That was a first.
As they walked through the doors to glasses shop, Shiki let out a squeal and walked right up to one of the glasses case. "Is this a new model?"
A shop assistant was instantly at her side. "Shiki! Welcome back!" Welcome back? Just how often does she break her glasses?! "Yes, that just came in this week. That shade of red for the framework is gorgeous, isn't it?"
"It is!" Shiki gushed.
"Oh, but the lenses aren't round like your last ones."
"I don't mind. Round lenses are so last season. The rectangular shaped lenses are what's 'in' right now!"
"Exactly! As expected from you."
Shiki seemed to glow with pride at that statement.
"How much are they?"
"Well, they're quite expensive, since they're right off the shelf."
"C'mon, can't you tweak the prices a teensy bit, for your favourite customer?"
As Shiki bargained with the assistant over the prices, Neku rolled his eyes.
Never mind the practicality of glasses. If Shiki can involve fashion into it, then anything's fine for her.
It wasn't long until the shop assistant started taking the pair of glasses to the counter. Shiki shot the 'victory' hand-sign at him, grinning.
Neku sighed before smiling back at her.
That's Shiki, for you.
A/N: Tadaa! A lot of you figured it out last chapter, but for those who didn't, this chapter should have answered the puzzle - throughout the game, Shiki tried to push up her glasses out of habit, forgetting they weren't there. This is an unconnected chapter but it can also follow-up to the last, which I think is nice. Anyway, Shiki's short-sighted because I figure that if she spent her time sewing so much, it'd have the same effect in reading too much that makes you short-sighted. (I should know OTL).
Thanks to all my lovely reviewers: A Paper Flower, B.A.G-GOMEZ, The Professor of time, RagnartheSemiGreen, Xerzo LotCN and I'll Break Your Heart. And thanks for reading!
- Dina (2/2/14)
