Travelling through the TV felt very unusual to Astaire. Not because he hadn't made use of teleportation (assuming this could be classed as such,) before, but because it didn't involve the feeling of being burned alive and reconstructed elsewhere as per usual. As convenient an asset as the Lordvessel was, it'd be a lie to say that simply walking didn't seem like a tempting alternative. Thinking on it, methods of transport to Anor Londo, Ariamis and Oolacile hadn't been very enjoyable either.
Thoughts of the Sanctuary Guardian's potent poison sent a shiver down Astaire's back. That hadn't been pleasant.
"Oh, rats. I was going to investigate that place further when I got back from the caverns." He remembered. "So much for that, then." Wherever he was going, he got a feeling bonfires wouldn't be as much of a staple as they had once been. Oolacile would just have to wait.
Actually, now that Astaire thought on it, where was he going? While Igor had mentioned briefly that the TV would send him to the world of humans, he didn't actually mention whereabouts. If he hadn't also been dragged into a painting, lifted off by gargoyles and held in the mouth of a giant serpent, chances are it'd have unnerved him more than it did. He was no stranger to strange places.
The knight crossed his legs as he fell, rubbing his chin in thought as the rounded rectangles he fell past stretched on endlessly. Clearly he wasn't going anywhere for awhile yet, he could mull over his thoughts for the time being. "Hmm… if I'm not mistaken, It's said that the Furtive Pygmy found the Dark Soul and spread undeath to Lordran through the division of it." Wait, was that how it went? Was it the Pygmy who did it? As hard as he thought, it was the only answer he'd any clarity of. He took that as a sign that he was probably right. Like, 80% right.
"Judging from the lack of knowledge on everyone's part regarding hollows, it seems a fair bet to assume that's not the case in this "human world."" He told himself, crossing his arms. As he mulled over the situation ever longer, he found a sobering conclusion bubble up from within. "Wait, without the curse of Undeath or the bonfires to support it, can I really exist at all? Will I die as soon as I touch the ground?" Oh dear.
From the looks of things, it seemed Astaire was about to get his answer. A fierce light appeared below him, likely signalling that his journey was about at an end. Taking a deep breath and bracing for the possibility of an instantaneous death, the knight raised his arms and shielded his eyes from the light.
With majesty and grace befitting that of a brick through a window, Astaire made his landing head-first into the human world with a cacophonous crash. He felt his neck jolt as his head made contact with something hard and uncomfortable, apparently having landed with his back to the floor. The immediate impact was accompanied by the sound of several smaller objects toppling to the floor as well. The large object which Astaire had slammed into, a bed, served as his support as he hauled himself to his feet, revelling in the fact that he was still alive, or at least as alive as an undead could be. Rubbing the back of his head, the young knight gazed around the room he had ended up in, wherever it was. Excluding Anor Londo, it seemed far more luxurious than a good majority of Lordran.
Then again, given the state of most places outside Anor Londo, that wasn't saying much.
There was the soft, fluffy looking bed in the centre of the room, coated in a thick cream-coloured duvet which matched the walls. As luck would have it, Astaire had made contact with pretty much the only solid part of it, the footboard. The walls were decorated simply, with a few simple pictures here and there. The most eye-catching adornment being-
"AAAGH!" A mirror. Astaire gawked at himself with wide eyes, not recognising the face that stared back. How could he? He hadn't seen his face for an immeasurable amount of time, never mind his human face. The gloves he'd been given in the Velvet Room were thrown off with haste, revealing calloused yet very much fleshy and human hands. Hands which found their way to Astaire's face, pinching his cheeks in amazement. How long had it been since they'd been so fleshed-out and peach coloured? His blazing orange eyes scanned every minute detail, no longer sunken and dark. He ran his fingers through his mess of charred black hair, which looked flawless despite everything Astaire'd been through. While he could have stopped to puzzle out why a constant cycle of death had either never jostled his hair about, or had seemingly fixed it in place, something else caught his eye. Something which only became evident upon very, very close inspection.
"...It's gone. The Darksign is gone." He muttered to himself. Indeed, the fiery ring with an inky centre, once branded firmly in the centre of his left eye, had seemingly disappeared. Though he wasn't sure, there was only one reasonable conclusion to make at first glance. The curse of Undeath had been lifted. He had fully regained his humanity.
Astaire staggered back, tumbling onto the bed as he ran over the situation in his head. This was impossible. Unheard of. Humans became Undead, Undead became Hollows. That was it. "This doesn't make sense. Not much sense at all." As much reason as he had to be pleased at the outcome, Astaire's concerns remained unquelled. He might not have been Undead, but why? How? Nothing he'd seen nor heard from anyone up until now could even let him speculate as to what was going on. He could do little but rest his head on his hands, contemplating the situation.
"Ah…!" A voice from behind wrenched Astaire around. As he turned, he found himself face to face with the one person he couldn't be happier to see.
Rise.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Unfortunately, she didn't seem to reciprocate. "JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING IN HERE?!" Before he could even begin an explanation, Astaire found himself on the receiving end of whatever Rise could get her hands on. Cutlery, silverware, even a clock wasn't spared from her wrath. "STALKER! PERVERT!" She screamed loudly, no doubt rattling every window in a five mile radius.
Instinctively, Astaire reached into his coat to pull out his shield, only to remember that his new attire wasn't laid out like his armour had been, so he couldn't-
Wait a minute, he could?
Astaire hastily retrieved the Grass Crest shield he'd used earlier and put it between himself and seemingly neverending barrage of miscellania. "For Gwyn's sake, Ms. Kujikawa! What on earth has gotten into you?!" He yelled desperately. The thumps from the other side of the shield slowly became less frequent, finally stopping altogether. Its wielder dared to peek around the side at Rise, thankful not to be on the receiving end of any further punishment.
Though she stopped, her eyes were filled with unfamiliarity. The sort of eyes cast at a stranger. All the same something was stirring, causing the girl to waver.
The name "Gwyn."
The shield.
The fact that he'd materialised said shield seemingly out of nowhere.
Even without the first two, Rise had to admit that the third one was pretty convincing.
The bottle of water she'd been ready to throw fell to the floor, the stirring in her eyes finally settling as there appeared to be but one conclusion to come to. "...Astaire-kun?"
Realising the risk of blunt force trauma had been lowered significantly, Astaire lowered his shield, lightly waving a hand to his prior aggressor. "In the flesh, it seems."
Rise approached the young man slowly. He certainly looked, acted and had the same spatially improbable powers as the knight she'd fought alongside nary twenty four hours ago, but he looked nothing like him. "How…? When did you…?" Confusion set upon her like a pack of rabid dogs. There was far too much to ask. She took in his fiery eyes, examining his hair's newfound sheen and his skin's newfound peachy smoothness. The sight of them finally resulted in one solid query, "Are you still one of those… Undead things?" She asked cautiously.
If he was, Astaire was having a hard time telling. "As far as I can tell, I don't think so. If only I could explain why…" He fell to a murmur as he made a troubled expression. As good as it sounded, not knowing the method behind he newfound humanity perplexed him beyond any notion of comfort.
"Either way, does that mean you're not gonna, y'know, go crazy and become a killing machine?" Astaire shook his head. "Thank goodness… You might wanna tell your face that, though." She added with a tap on the knight's chin. Faced with that, he couldn't resist letting slip a smile. The two chuckled lightly at each other as the weight of the atmosphere lifted. Still taken with how different he looked, Rise couldn't help orbiting his head, looking him up and down. "So this is what you look like when you're not all dried up looking…"
Astaire's eyes bounced from side to side as they followed her around. Never mind the once-over, she was giving him the twice and thrice-overs on the side. To be fair, for most of the time he'd known her he'd had his face covered, maybe it wasn't that odd.
...All the same, if it went on for much longer he was going to start feeling self-conscious. He cleared his throat, seeming to knock Rise out of whatever busy trance she'd found herself in. She shook herself, twintails swinging from side to side. "Wait! Never mind how you look, how did you even get here in the first place?!" For being the elephant in the room, she'd done one hell of a job of missing it up until now.
Astaire turned his attention to the flatscreen TV situated in front of the bed. It was wider, yet thinner than the one Igor had produced. How he managed to fall through it in the first place was beyond him. "I fell out of this thing, apparently. I woke up in a strange blue room, talked to a fellow with an oddly-shaped nose and then hopped into a device much like this one." He examined the back of the screen, making absolutely sure there was no trickery about. "He told me it'd take me to the human world. Lords only know how, though."
"An old man in a blue room?" Rise echoed, racking her brain. Surely something that odd had to have been brought up at some point in the past.
"Indeed. From what I'm told there was supposed to be a woman present as well. I believe he called her Margaret."
Now they were getting somewhere. Though the team had only met her twice, Margaret was hard to forget.
That being said, there was one member of the team who'd seen her more than twice. Rise swiped up her cell phone and quickly navigated to Yu's number. "I don't know what's going on here, but Senpai might." She said over the dial tone. As the telltale sound of ringing took over, she quickly held out the device to Astaire. He gave it a blank stare before taking it off her.
He raised an eyebrow at the mysterious artifact buzzing in his hand. All metal and plastic, it looked completely foreign from anything Lordran could have made. He looked perplexedly at Rise as she held her hand up against her ear, thumb and pinkie outstretched. "Oh! Right, right right." Now he got it. He held the odd amalgamation of metal and plastic to his ear, just as something spoke from within it.
"...Hello?" Came a voice from the other end. It sounded familiar.
"Oh, it's you! You were the fellow with the grey hair I met earlier, right?" Astaire asked, contemplating how exactly the device in his hand actually worked.
"What the-? Astaire-san? Why are you calling from Rise's phone? How are you calling from Rise's phone?" On the other end of the line, it was a wonder Yu hadn't fallen out of his chair in surprise.
Astaire set his shield down on the bed, pulling up a chair and resting an elbow on the table in front of it. "I was rather hoping you could tell me. Ms. Kujikawa is under the impression you can tell me something about a Ms. Margaret."
Again, it was a wonder Yu hadn't broken something at Astaire's words. A person from another world calling him from Rise's phone after disappearing a day earlier was bad enough, but now he knew about Margaret, too? Not even his friends, all of whom had Personas of their own, knew about Margaret for quite a while. The whole situation was baffling. "Margaret? Really? I mean I do know hew, but how do you?"
"Well, you see..."
Astaire recounted his meeting with Igor as best he could, trying not to leave anything out lest it end up being a vital clue later. Both Yu and Rise were hung on every word, seeing as one didn't know about what went on in the Velvet Room and the other did all too well.
"...And that's all. I somehow stepped from my world into yours, if Igor is to be believed." He finished at last.
"I think he is, but frankly I'm surprised he was as straightforward with you as he was. He likes to switch between helpful and cryptic at the flick of a switch, at least with me. "
Now that he'd recounted the event again, something stuck out to Astaire. "Incidentally… Senpai, was it?" The sound of Yu choking on the other end of the reciever passed the knight by entirely. He also failed to notice Rise giggling to herself beside him. "May I ask what happened to you and everyone else? I should think if you'd wound up sat next to me in that room, this wouldn't need explaining."
Yu paused, letting out an exasperated noise before replying. "By the sounds of it, the same thing that happened to you without the middle part. I woke up back in my room, since that's where I entered the other world from. Sounds like the same happened to everyone else." He recalled the text he'd gotten from Yosuke after, complaining about the headache he'd gotten when everyone bar Yu and Rise were shot out of the TV all at once, kicking them onto the floor like a sack of potatoes. "It makes some sense, I guess. Doesn't explain why you ended up at Rise's place, though."
"I'd wager Igor played a hand in that. He did seem awfully well informed about the happenings leading up to… whatever happened. Ms. Kujikawa and I were together for some time before meeting you and everyone else, perhaps that had something to do with it." He suggested. It was a good a guess as any.
"Maybe so. In any case, this is a little much to take in all at once. I'll call everyone up and let them know what's happening, it'd be for the best if we all discussed this later."
"Later it is, then. I look forward to meeting you under better circumstances, Senpai."
"Yu!" Astaire jumped slightly at the sudden outburst, again completely missing Rise clutching her sides as she tried not to burst out laughing. "My name is Yu. Yu Narukami. Sorry I didn't make that clear earlier." There was something about Astaire of all people calling him "Senpai" that really didn't sound right.
Well now Astaire was even more confused. As he prepared to launch another line of inquiry as to why Rise insisted on calling him "Senpai" in the first place, he caught himself on. If that was his name, that was his name. "Very well, Mr. Narukami it is. I shall await our rendezvous with bated breath. Farewell for now."
Carefully handing the phone back to its owner, the young man exhaled deeply as he slumped down in the chair. It hadn't felt like he'd done much, but the fatigue hit him hard. All that Shadow malarky was a right wear down, it seemed. As he relaxed, his twin-tailed associate pulled up a chair of her own and sat next to him. "So you're from another world entirely, huh?" She asked. A nod from her companion confirmed as much. "I guess that makes sense. It'd explain how you're able to do so much kooky stuff." She added, reaching over and examining the Grass Crest shield Astaire'd produced earlier. "Where do you keep this thing, anyway?"
"The same place I keep this." Astaire replied, reaching into the inside of his coat. Rise's jaw dropped as he gradually produced the hilt, handguard, ricasso and finally the lengthy blade of his Zweihander. "And this." Out came the hood. "And this." And the armour. "Oh, and these too." Plus the leggings and gauntlets.
She shook her head, rubbing her eyes when that didn't work. This was some Doraemon-tier nonsense. "I never would've guessed you were a magician as well as a knight, Astaire-kun." There could be no other explanation. It was like something straight out of a magic act.
In spite of this, Astaire shook both his head and a hand. "You'd be guessing wrong if you had. I'm afraid sorcery's a bit outside my field, to say it nicely." To say it somewhat less nicely, sorcery was for whelps. Miracles and pyromancies, on the other hand… "In any case, it's a fairly simple solution." With that, he fiddled about inside his coat a bit further before producing something which didn't defy the laws of space for once. Specifically, a thin wooden box, small enough to carry around but big enough to store… something in.
Before she could rightly point out that a box that small couldn't carry the contents of her handbag, let alone a sword, armour and shield, Rise's mouth went agape again as Astaire flipped open the lid and plunged his entire arm's length inside.
"Hey, hey, wait a minute!" She leapt out of her seat as the entire top half of Astaire disappeared inside the box, running around to his back in case he lost his footing and fell inside entirely. Lord only knew if he fell in what manner of task would be needed t bring him back out. "Okay, I get it already, just cut it out already!" Rise insisted. This was way too precarious for her liking.
Nonetheless, the knight persisted. "Hang about, I think I found it!" His voice sounded distant from inside, but it was all too easy to make out his strained grunts and heaves as he struggled to lift something out. Given the Zweihander looked heavy enough to fall through the floor and he handled it singlehandedly, what could possibly have been worse than that? "Ah, here we go!" Astaire announced, slowly straightening himself as he pulled out the item he'd been after.
What could possibly have been worse than a Zweihander?
A Dragon Tooth. That's what. A massive, hulking black mass of devastating proportions, so heavy that the floorboards noticeably creaked once Astaire revealed it in its entirety.
If Rise's jaw could have extended any further, it'd have been rolling out the door and into the street.
As soon as he'd produced them, all Astaire's belongings were quickly herded back into the box, sealed away with a satisfying little "click." The knight smiled broadly at Rise's slack-jawed look of amazement. "And that, Ms. Kujikawa," he patted the top of the box almost lovingly, "is the function of a Bottomless Box."
It took a second or two for Rise to reboot and formulate a response. "That's… that sure is something, alright." She noted, still wide eyed.
"Oh, don't be so surprised. You and your ilk all have powers beyond human-" or Undead, "-comprehension as well! It's only fair that I have my own share too!" He patted his coat down as he affixed the box back into whatever was keeping it in place. Even an idiot could see he was fond of it. One thing was for sure, his little demonstration had certainly lightened the mood a fair bit.
The only question remaining was what to do until the meeting with Yu and the others. A wayward glance out the window was quick to bestow an idea upon Rise as she turned enthusiastically to her new companion. "Hey, if you're from another world, that means you don't know what all that out there is, right?" She asked, more rhetorically than anything, given she already knew the answer. "Well, what are you waiting for?! We've got a city to explore!" She enthused, pumping her fists energetically.
Immediately, Astaire was on his feet. "Right you are! At your leisure, Ms. Kujikawa, show me what wonders await in this world of yours!" He said, mirroring her energy. The hype flowing through them like an electric current, the two bounded out the door of Rise's room and ran for the streets.
Good gods and heavens above was this a bad idea.
Where once Astaire had been filled to the brim with excitement, the prospect at having an entirely new world to explore thrilling him beyond worlds, the full implication of such a matter hit him like a wrecking ball as he and Rise set foot outside.
Groups. Swathes. Masses. More people than Astaire could have ever fathomed possible. It froze him on the spot as he took in the sight of the busy Iwatodai rush hour. So dense were the crowds that he couldn't even see the ground they walked on. A tightness gripped his throat, his pupils turning to pinpricks as beads of sweat began forming around his head.
"Alright, let's- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rise cut herself off as she hastily began forcing the hilt of Astaire's Zweihander back inside his coat, eventually relinquishing his clammy-handed grip on it. "What's gotten into you?! Don't you know that bringing something like that out in a crowd is a really, REALLY BAD IDEA?!" She squeaked, pitching her lowered voice so highly it was a shock anyone beyond dogs could hear her.
Even in the wake of her rightly-held mania, Astaire kept rightful hold of his own. "There's so many of them. So many. Too many." He cautiously scanned the area around him, making sure nobody was sneaking up to shank him in the back. "How do you know none of these people are out for our blood? There could be assassins hidden amongst them and we'd only know once it was too late!" He spouted quickly, his eyes darting from left to right.
Hands on her hips, Rise sighed. "I think you've been playing knight for a little too long. Not everyone in this world wants to kill you, got that?" Underneath his coat, Astaire seemed to loosen up a bit, but he clearly didn't look much more comfortable overall. Before he was tempted to reach back into the little box of horrors, Rise quickly gripped his wrist and dragged him along behind her. She could hear the lack of rhythm in his heavy footsteps as he walked. Though she looked straight ahead, it didn't take visual contact to tell his mind was elsewhere. Not stopping to interrupt the tide of people around them, she tugged him a bit closer to her, turning her head more towards him. "C'mon, Astaire-kun, if you keep this up you might get us both in trouble!"
The knight relieved his wrist from Rise's grip. It was about time he caught himself on. Rise smiled to herself, now freshly assured they could retain a low profile. It was only when she watched her shadow on the person in front of her suddenly become a few inches taller that said assurances quickly died out. No longer arching his back out of concern, Astaire now stood a fair inch or two above everyone around him. The only way he could have stood out more was if his already light-shaded skin had been topped with a lighter shade of hair. Rise groaned as she hurried the both of them down the street.
A sudden sound managed to break out from amongst the din of the crowd, jumping out from behind Rise and crying out like a rapturous lion. As the idol turned to see whatever hellish abomination had just let out a roar, she was met only with the blue-coated knight she'd brought along with her.
Specifically, his stomach.
Astaire clutched at his torso as the noise died down, looking quite bewildered at the phenomenon. "Wait a minute… when was the last time you ate, again?" Given that his stomach had let out what sounded more like death throes than a growl, she was almost afraid to ask. Her concerns weren't given much leeway as Astaire pondered her question for far, far too long. "...There was a last time, wasn't there?" Astaire shrugged. "Okay, that settles it."
Before she could expand on what exactly had been settled, Astaire found himself clutched at the wrist once more, pulled into a building with a sign written in some indecipherable language out front. No sooner had they passed the frame of the door, a concatenation of unfamiliar delicious smells assaulted his senses, only serving to deepen the well-dug pit that he held in his stomach. He closely followed after Rise, who took a seat more towards the back of the establishment, closed off and hard to see from outside.
"Miso Ramen and one Hagakure bowl, please." The chef behind the counter gave a nod as he went about preparing the dishes while Rise sat back down with Astaire, who sat with a food-induced distant look on him. She clicked her fingers to get his attention, making him jump rather abruptly back into reality, a rather loud "thump" coming off the table. "So, Astaire-kun…" Rise began, interlocking her fingers on the table. "Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
"About myself? Whatever for?" Nobody had ever taken much of an interest in Astaire's past before, nor could he see why they would. Given all the legendary beings that graced Lordran with their presence, he was far from being anywhere near noteworthy in any sense.
"Well, I don't really know that much about you, other than what your shadow said, and even then he didn't exactly offer a lot of context for what he said."
Oh, Gods above. The sooner Astaire could forget about that yellow-eyed freak, the better. "Very well, then." He cleared his throat before continuing. "Let's see… I suppose the Undead Asylum is as good a place to start as any. Undead such as I were locked away there for our lack of humanity, basically just left to rot and wither. I couldn't tell you how long I was sat in there myself, but I can't imagine it was anywhere near brief." There had certainly been happier ways to start a story, Rise thought. Even in the wake of such madness-inducing cruelty, Astaire hardly batted an eyelid. Maybe it was because his undead, withered body hadn't had any, who knew? "But one day, someone came to my rescue. A bold knight from Astora named Oscar. He dropped me the key to my cell, and I was let loose. From there…"
It was difficult to resist being impressed by Astaire's feats as he described them from there on out. From the sounds of it, Lordran and the Shadow World as Rise knew it were insurmountably different. Yu had once recounted to her the first time he'd fended off shadows, large disembodied mouths that he had easily taken out with Izanagi's help.
To contrast, Astaire's first encounter had been to fend off a demon whose weapon alone dwarfed him in size by several times. What followed were tales of doing battle with a hulking bull demon, a fearsome, fire-spitting drake on a bridge, a heavily armoured boar, several armies' worth of undead soldiers that refused to stay dead, and finally two animated, fire breathing gargoyles which he'd fought off simultaneously on the roof of a parish.
And that was only his first objective.
Damn.
"...and it was only after all that trouble that I got to the first Bell of Awakening. After that I set about going after the second one."
Though she wasn't entirely sure she wanted an answer, Rise felt her invested curiosity overpower her concerns. "A second one? Was it much worse than the first?"
"It made the parish look like a trifle. A dragon with one massive mouth in place of a torso, a sewer filled with the petrified, unmoving remains of wanders to come before me, giant rats…"
"NOPE! Stop right there! That's far enough for now, thanks!" Rise said as she waved her arms and shook her head. If there was one thing she didn't need a mental image of right now, it was giant sewer-dwelling rats.
Her eyes met those of the warrior along the table from her. As crazy as it sounded, Rise had to remind herself periodically throughout the story that the young man telling her of all these unspeakable, insurmountable horrors was the same one sitting in front of her right now. The one who'd conquered everything up until the parish and who had gone on to conquer even more hardships afterwards. It almost sounded too good to be true. Her mind wandered ever further as she pictured the events in her head. Would her friends have been able to do the same with their Personas? Even if they could, would they have been able to do it alone as Astaire had?
Thoughts of Astaire's tales of adventure and danger only came to an end when two bowls were sat upon the table by the owner of Hagakure. "Oh, thank you!" Rise chirped. The owner seemed to shoot Astaire a wary look as he left, slightly putting the warrior on edge. If he hadn't had such delicious looking food in front of him, he might've been more worried. "Oh wait, do you know how to use chopsticks? You have to-"
Before she could even attempt to fashion an explanation, Astaire's hand flew from his bowl to his mouth with lightning speed, the chopsticks held deftly between his fingers. As soon as the first bit of meat hit his tongue, Astaire seemed to fly into an insatiable frenzy. It was often noted that Chie was by far the biggest meat lover in the investigation team, and that to challenge her to a meat-eating contest was practically suicide. For a fleeting moment, Rise considered that Astaire might have a chance at beating her. That intimidating roar his stomach had made had been no joke. The meat was gone as quickly as it had arrived, with a dazed Astaire finally stopping to take a breath after devouring the entire meal. Rise had barely snapped her chopsticks in half, never mind started her ramen, and it took both parties a good few seconds to realise what they had just witnessed.
There wasn't even a single speck of food left on the bowl. He'd practically inhaled everything on the inside, to the point where washing it mightn't have made any difference. The ravenous knight was the first to make a move, hastily grabbing a napkin and cleaning his mouth, his face as red as a beetroot. "P-Pardon me." He mumbled, "I just haven't eaten real food since..."
Since… when, again? He'd tried remembering outside, but then he'd been interrupted by Rise's insistent efforts to land him in Hagakure proper. Given the supreme quality of the meal he'd just had, he doubted moss and estus could have constituted anything close to what could be called "real food." But it was all he'd had.
Something was wrong. He had to have eaten something else at some point, he had to. He couldn't have made it this far in life without any sustenance. Yet no memory of food of any kind existed. Not even the faintest scrap of a memory could he recall. He almost appeared to be in physical pain as he strained himself to remember, the creases on his forehead multiplying more and more as time went on, the growing headache accompanying it feeling like an iron spike being hammered into his skull. His eyes threatened to bulge out of his head entirely as he tried to form a coherent sentence and failed.
This was too much to watch. Rise outstretched a hand to pull him out of whatever maddening trance he'd entered, but she hesitated as she noticed a shimmer of light form under one of Astaire's palms. By now, his face was a pained red, bullets of sweat streamed down his face as his bulbous eyes darted around independent of one another, manic and unfocused. A thin layer of what looked like steam began rising from his palms as the pressure seemed to scorch either side of his head. "Astaire-kun, stop it!" Rise finally cried, unable to watch any longer.
It was too much. Having hit his breaking point, Astaire slammed his fists into the table. "I can't remember. The memories simply aren't there." His face bore a thousand-yard stare, unfocused and bleary. "They have to be. I couldn't have always been Undead, I can't have been. I have to have been from somewhere. Somewhere with food. Somewhere not Lordran." He murmured grimly. The smell of burning wood wafted into a very timid Rise's nose as she finally took her attention away from the knight, who didn't seem all there himself. His hands spread charred, black marks across the table, almost as though possessed by fire itself. "But only Lordran remains. I can think only of Lordran. Impossible. It's impossible. It has to be impossible." He continued to chant.
"Um… Astaire-kun?"
The harrowed young man seemed to bolt back to life at her word, his eyes filled anew with lucidity. He cleared his throat again. "Apologies, Ms. Kujikawa. I'm afrai-" He cut off suddenly as he spied the increasingly large amounts of smoke rising from under his palms. "Oh, that's troubling." He quickly retracted both hands and patted them down on his coat in order to dissipate the heat. Unfortunately, the heat was easier dissipated than the undue attention his antics had served to attract. Several pairs of eyes were becoming increasingly interested in what was going on between idol superstar Rise Kujikawa and the stranger sitting opposite her. Murmurs began flying between people as the situation came into perspective. A famous idol, out with a mysterious boy at a restaurant and trying to keep a low profile? This could have been news in the making.
In hindsight, Rise knew she should have seen this coming. Constant privacy wasn't a luxury oft afforded to idols in her position, save for when they took a year off in Inaba. Publicity in light of a suspected relationship was the last thing she needed. "C'mon Astaire-kun, we're leaving." She said, her voice low.
"If you insist, Ms. Kujikawa." The knight replied, having finally calmed himself proper. The two slid out from the table and bore a hasty retreat to the door of Hagakure, with Rise keeping her head low and Astaire trying not to look as confused as he felt. He didn't quite understand why they were leaving in such a hurry, but the growing cloud of whispers and murmurs which followed behind them might've had something to do with it. Unable to glean anything specific from the myriad voices, he resigned himself to sticking close to Rise as they bore the brunt of the endless tide of people in the streets once more.
Outside, Astaire had begun to notice that it was not just the restaurant patrons who seemed to be interested in him and Rise, but quite a few people on the street as well. The sudden shift in attention was enough to set him firmly back on edge, heavily resisting the urge to whip out a weapon of some sort. As more and more people began to take notice of the duo, Rise found her pace quickening instinctively. However, her quickened pace only served to attract more attention on its own. Matters weren't helped by the black-haired beacon who followed behind her, as surreptitious and subtle as an earthquake knocking half the city down.
Rise sighed to herself. Even a modicum of subterfuge would've been appreciated. It was becoming ever clearer that she wasn't going to be able to explain this without great difficulty.
The front door of the hotel flew by as quickly as it had come into view, both Rise and Astaire sprinting as soon as they thought they were out of sight of the public, even if only one of them knew why they were doing so. It was only upon reaching the nearest elevator that they could afford to catch their respective breaths. The taller of the two offered the shorter a confused look between pants. "Hah… Would you care to explain… hah… why we were running?" He just about managed to ask.
Rise quickly tapped the elevator's call button before resting her head on the wall, her breaths just as ragged as Astaire's. "It's complicated… it's sort of a… *gasp*... human world thing…" She just about managed to reply. The polished doors in front of them slid open and invited them inside, an invitation both parties accepted. Astaire took particular notice of the lack of a pressure plate on the base of the little steel box, and for a moment was a little befuddled about how the blasted contraption worked. That was until he spied the series of smaller pressure plates on the wall, all neighboured by numbers. Seeing as she was still catching her breath, he took it upon himself to tap the "4" button, shutting the doors after.
But something about his behaviour struck Rise as odd. "How'd you know to do that?" She asked.
"Do what?"
"The buttons. How'd you know to do that?" She rightly asked. They'd taken the stairs the first time round. That'd explain how he'd remembered the floor number, printed in big, unmissable letters on the walls as they were, but it didn't have a manual for elevator operation printed alongside them.
"Buttons? You mean these miniscule pressure plates? I supposed they'd work like the singular big ones Lordran's elevators have." He explained, tapping the floor with his foot at mention of the bigger plates.
Well, there was a line of logic somewhere in there. All the same, it didn't explain some of the other oddities surrounding him. It didn't take a genius to notice that Astaire hadn't exactly been raised in modern society, given his usual choice of armour and armaments, as well as the fact that someone who'd fought off monsters aplenty was afraid of a large crowd. This went beyond being sheltered, he didn't even have a clue. In spite of this, he'd known how to use chopsticks right off the bat, had sussed out how modern elevators work and had displayed some especially… modern language upon killing his shadow. Whatever his story was, there was clearly something off about it.
If there was an answer to all of this, Rise wasn't getting it any time soon. The elevator came to a halt on the fourth floor, allowing both idol and knight into the corridor beyond. The want for a reprieve in her room had never felt greater.
As her gaze went down the corridor, Rise's face went pale. "Oh no."
However fast word had spread of their exploits, there was now a throng of reporters, tabloid journalists, interviewers and paparazzi seated firmly outside her room. Though she'd always been up for an interview when the need arose, Rise gulped at the prospect of having to make up an explanation on the spot. Taking heed of her reaction, Astaire unbuttoned his way to the Bottomless Box. "This is bad news, I take it?" He whispered. Rise shook her head. She gulped again and began walking towards her room. She had to get back there at some point, after all.
It didn't take long for the reporters to pay her mind, approaching with her mysterious new companion in tow.
"Risette, over here!"
"Kujikawa-san, can we ask you a few questions?!"
"Rise-chan, Rise-chan! Who is your new friend there?!" They bellowed their questions all at once, cameras and notepads held high. What started as a slow walk in their general direction turned into a synchronised run, people shoulder to shoulder over the entire width of the corridor. There was no escaping it, the thunderous phalanx carrying intrusive, burning questions the tabloids needed answers to, the building itself shaking under the might of the stampede.
Before they could get within hearing distance, Rise leaned in to Astaire's ear. "Whatever you do, don't let them think you're my boyfriend."
"B-Boy-?!" Astaire repeated, stammering as his face went red. The implications of such accusations made his newly-beating heart thump in his chest. Either that or he was still recovering from the sprint, either or. "Of course I'm not…! I could never-!" He was cut short as the reporters closed in, showing no signs of stopping.
All at once, Astaire got an idea. He broke off from Rise, striding forward aggressively towards the unstoppable force that approached them both. He screwed his face into a look of stern determination as he solidified his grip inside his coat and, with one practiced motion, swung out the massive length of metal that was his Zweihander. The light glanced off the blade as its wielder let it fall to the ground, the piercing sound of metal on marble ringing in everyone's ears.
Time seemed to stop as everyone in the corridor processed what had just happened. All the reporters who had been so eager to bombard Rise with questions stopped in their tracks as they came face to face with a set of fiercely sharp orange eyes. Cameras began flashing, catching Rise's shocked expression behind the boy in the blue coat. The sound filled the air, but that was all. Nobody spoke, nobody moved. Until finally, someone broke the silence.
"State your business here!" Astaire demanded, bringing his Zweihander up and setting it on his shoulder. It took everyone a couple of seconds to come up with a response.
Finally, one reported managed to speak up. "W-we had some questions for Rise-chan!"
"Were you expecting this at all?" Turning around, Astaire faced Rise with a serious expression, which finally gave way to a devious wink. Whatever was he thinking? Given the only way to found out seemed to be to play along, Rise shook her head wordlessly. Her response shifted the serious expression back into place as Astaire turned to face the crowd. "If this engagement wasn't arranged prior, then you're naught but a bother. Begone, the lot of you!" He said with a swipe of his hand. All but one of the reporters stepped back cautiously. The sole reporter, a middle-aged fellow, stepped forward to challenge Astaire's order.
He squared up to Astaire as best he could, given the height difference. "And who the hell are you to say whether we can speak to Risette or not?!"
He got his answer in the form of a kick to the stomach, knocking the man flat on the floor. Suddenly bereft of his courage, the man stared up at the imposing figure of the fellow with the massive sword. His face seemed to darken, while his eyes seemed to blaze as bright as a bonfire. "I am Knight Astaire, Ms. Kujikawa's personal bodyguard. As her appointed guardian, I advise you to adhere to my previous demand." He emphasised his point by bringing his sword off his shoulder and letting the end of the blade slam into the ground once again, several inches off the reporter's arm. "If you don't part and let us pass, I shall part you myself."
Like hell did anyone need to be told twice after that. The man scrambled to his feet and joined his fellow reporters in pressing against the wall, gazes locked on the blue-coated stoic who stared the lot of them down. Everyone seemed to hold their respective breaths as he walked by them, eventually turning to signal Rise to do the same. Given she'd anticipated his reaction about as much as they had, she could do little but give a nervous smile as she cautiously passed the paparazzi by. Where fearful and confused looks were shot Astaire's way, Rise received leers and scared, fleeting flances. . She could do little more than try not to dwell on it for now, walking past Astaire and letting him take up his spot behind her, slinging his sword over his shoulder once again.
She fumbled with her room key slightly, sensing the intensity of the glare Astaire was holding on everyone else. They may have already passed them by, but some powerful inward force kept them frozen to the wall. The moment the door opened, both knight and idol ducked inside without another word, shutting the door firmly behind themselves. Rise sat on her bed, looking up at Astaire with an expression he couldn't quite place. Something told him, however, that an explanation was in order. "...Well." He started, chuckling. "They certainly won't think I'm your boyfriend now, will they?" He couldn't help it, he burst out laughing as he stuffed his sword back into his coat.
He heard a chuckle creep up Rise's throat, and eventually she too raised a hand to her mouth as she began lightly laughing too. Outside the room, she'd felt on the verge of screaming in shock at Astaire's actions. Lord only know what they'd hear about it later on. But now? She had to admit, telling them he was a bodyguard was actually a fairly sound explanation. He certainly fit the image well enough. Tall, imposing and slinging around a sword so tall it was a wonder it'd fit in the corridor at all.
Well, maybe not that last part, but the sentiment remained.
As the two calmed down, it soon came to Rise's mind that those reporters they'd shooed off probably weren't the only ones, just those who got there quickest. With any luck, hotel security would prevent any more large swathes of people crowding up her door, but there was no clear guarantee. For all she knew, peeking out the door would reveal even more people than last time! "I guess if anyone else shows up, there might be someone around to warn them off trying anything like that again, huh Astaire-kun?" She asked casually.
His lack of a response coaxed Rise up from her bed. From the looks of it, he seemed to have placed the bottomless box back on the table and was staring at it intently. Not in it, at it. Puzzled and hoping he wasn't going to have another fit like in Hagakure, Rise brought herself up and joined him at the table. Her sudden presence seemed to spook him out of whatever thoughts he was having as he met her gaze. "Oh, pardon me, I was a bit caught up in myself there." He finally spoke.
"Whatcha up to, huh? Something wrong with the box?" Besides holding untold horrors from another world inside it, that was.
Astaire ran a thumb over the two latches keeping the box sealed shut. "Not with the box, no. It's more myself I'm worried about. Back there, in that place with all the food, I realised I couldn't remember the last proper meal I'd had." That was putting it lightly. He was freaking out so badly that Rise was amazed he hadn't given himself a nosebleed on top of everything else. "This box," Astaire tapped a finger off the top of it, "contains something from every place I've ever travelled to. If something's awry with my memories, there must be some trace of what's missing in here."
Something from everywhere? Places beyond the ones he'd told Rise about in Hagakure? "Well, what're we waiting for? C'mon, I wanna see what's inside too!" Rise egged him on. It'd have been a white lie to say she wasn't monstrously curious at what all might be lingering under those latches.
Her enthusiasm was enough to bring a smile to Astaire's once-sullen face. "How could I say no to a reaction like that? Let's make a start, shall we?" He grinned, flicking the latches open and delving his hand inside the inky black depths of the box. "Righto, I guess we'd best get the basics out of the way first." He said as he retrieved several bolts of cloth and laid them out on the table.
While he continued to dig through his belongings, Rise examined the bits of cloth. They all had a similar shape, tied off at the top and some looking frayed at the bottom. "What are these things? Are they charms or something?"
"Those are talismans. They're pretty important for we Warriors of Sunlight, given they let us harness the power of Miracles." Before she could inevitably ask what a miracle was, Astaire parted from the box and grabbed a talisman. "Most people would sort of crouch down and hold them to their chest, like this." He explained, assuming the position himself. "That's really more for clerics, though. Folk such as myself use them a little differently."
"So it's magic?" Rise looked at the one she had a hand on, white and red tied off with a yellow band. It didn't look like much. Could something as simple as this really cast magic?
"A certain branch of magic, anyway. A branch most oft suited to healing and other passive things like that. With a few exceptions." Astaire rose to his feet, gripping the talisman tightly. "For we Warriors of Sunlight wear our faith in Lord Gwyn on our sleeves," Or on their chests, depending on who you talked to. "and as such, we are privy to the most majestic of miracles. The Sunlight Spear." He said reverently.
Sensing the puzzled look Rise was giving him, Astaire trotted over and flipped open the latch on one of her windows, leading out to a small balcony. With an almighty flash of light, so intense it threatened to blind anyone making direct eye contact, a glorious golden javelin of light formed in Astaire's hand, manifesting from the talisman and slipping out between his fingers. Rise was wide eyed as he tossed the beam of light with practiced form, rocketing into the sky and piercing a cloud passing by.
The knight dusted off his hand as he tossed the talisman back with the rest of the pile, sitting back down and becoming absorbed in his box's contents once again. "...You're not gonna explain how the heck you just did that?!" Rise flipped, barely able to believe what she'd just seen. Magic inside the TV? Sure, Personas were easily capable of that. In real life? Nuh-uh, nope. Not possible. Out of everything written down on the list of things possible to do in real life, making bolts of Sunlight from bolts of cloth wasn't included.
Except in Lordran, it seemed. "Didn't I just…? It's a matter of equipment and faith, that's how I did it. Doesn't get much simpler than that."
"You're not seriously telling me that faith in this "Lord Gwyn" of yours gives you the ability to set stuff on fire with the power of the sun, are you?"
"Certainly not!" Astaire waved his hand dismissively. That was a relief, at least. "Sunlight Spear doesn't set anything on fire, not when pyromancy does that already." Uh oh. "Drawing upon the power of the pyromancy flame in your soul, harnessing the power of fire as once the old Lords did!" He explained boastfully.
Before she could utter a word of protest, the stream of smoke which had begun rising from Astaire's left hand burst into flame, replaced with a viscous, smouldering ball which Astaire held between his fingers. "Let me guess…" Rise slowly backed up from her seat towards the other end of the room, closer to the door. "...That's pyromancy, right?"
Astaire didn't answer. He seemed mesmerised by the clump of condensed heat he held in his hand. Though he didn't say it, Rise was right. Or half right, at least. This was no ordinary pyromancy. "...Chaos Pyromancy." He finally murmured, closing his fist and dissipating the flame. "That's not right. It can't be right. Something is wrong here." He mumbled to himself.
"You're tossing bits of the sun off my balcony and holding fireballs! What part of this was right to begin with?!"
"Well, besides that. Chaos Pyromancies are part of a Chaos Servant's arsenal, but for as long as I can remember my allegiance has been owed solely to Lord Gwyn. As a Warrior of Sunlight, I shouldn't be able to use it." He explained, massaging his head with the hand once on fire.
"Are you sure? You couldn't have just, like, picked it up at some point? Just found the secret to using it lying around?"
"I'm sure. I'm not even sure how I managed to use it there now, it just kind of happened."
The last part captured Rise's attention. Either Astaire was trying to hide something, or there was some unknowable force which was messing with him. Either way, his aptitude for things he supposedly had no knowledge of was becoming too frequent to ignore. Whatever was going on, she had a feeling a certain someone might have been able to help her.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the person who burst through the door at exactly that moment.
"Riseyou'reinalotoftrouble." Inoue-san blabbed out with nary a breath in between. He seemed to have gone completely off the deep end, and she could only imagine why as she glanced back at her companion. "I just got a call from one of my contacts saying that-"
Inoue stopped dead as he raised his hands and pressed against the wall, looking down the blade of Astaire's sword, pulled from nowhere in less than a second. "And just who might you be?" Both manager and idol let out a small squeak in response.
One extremely hasty explanation later, the Zweihander was tossed back into the bottomless box on the table. As Inoue calmed down and recovered from having his life flash before his eyes, he got back to the matter at hand. "Now, I don't want you to take this the wrong way… Sir." He settled for Sir, not knowing this hulkish brute's name. "But you're kinda the problem here. Just look at these." He said, handing Rise and Astaire a small set of photographs each.
It was the scene Astaire had caused out in the hallway a few minutes prior. "I ran into a guy on the way up here, we knocked into each other and he dropped these. I made sure to scoop a few up before he ran off." Well, that explained how he'd wound up with them as quickly as he did. "Boyfriend rumours and all that sort of stuff is fine, it's nothing we haven't hushed up before. But this?" He tapped the photo with Astaire's sword sitting dangerously close to the man who'd squared up to him. "This'll be a little harder to explain."
"Not to worry, I'm sure I'll get them to listen to reason one way or another." Astaire said, handing the photo back to him.
Inoue and Rise blinked, looking at each other. "What? No, I didn't mean for you to-" Inoue began before being cut off at the sight of Astaire's hand in front of his face. He flinched on instinct, not fully over having been held at swordpoint.
"I won't hear a word of it! Ms. Kujikawa had nothing to do with the matter, it's not her issue to explain." He assured the both of them.
All the same, Rise didn't seem convinced. "Astaire-kun, really! We do this sort of stuff for a living, I really think it'd better for us to-"
"I appreciate your attempts to waylay me, Ms. Kujikawa, but I can't knowingly stand by and let someone else take whatever punishment befits my actions." He gave her a confident smile as he thumped a fist off his chest. "What kind of man or Sunlight Warrior would I be if I didn't see the consequences of my actions through to the end?"
That was easy for him to say, considering Astaire had never dealt with the press before.
Well, not without his sword anyway.
His declaration made, Inoue cleared his throat to grab his attention. "So, uh… Astaire-san, was it? Who exactly are you in the first place?"
...Oh! Right! He'd completely forgotten! "Ah! Pardon me, I usually make a point of…" He straightened himself out and placed his hands behind his back. "I am Knight Astaire, and as of about 15 minutes ago I am Ms. Kujikawa's personal bodyguard. Sorry for nearly lopping you in two, by the way."
The explanation raised more questions than it answered, really. "You, uh… decide that all by yourself?"
"Ms. Kujikawa stressed the importance of not allowing people to come under the impression we were… intimate. It seemed as good an excuse as any, at the time."
Well... at least the boyfriend rumours would be quick to dissipate. "Uh-huh." Inoue massaged his temples as he tried to deal with the situation calmly. There were so many questions to ask and so much to take in, and he would have to know everything if he was to deal with Rise's little blunder fully. "You said you were a knight... and something about sunlight warriors?"
If Rise could have gone back in time and stepped on Astaire's foot before he'd brought them up, she would have done so in a heartbeat. It'd have made this so much less complicated. "Indeed. We Warriors of Sunlight devote ourselves partially to the helping of others in need. Ms. Kujikawa isn't the first soul I've accompanied to that end."
So he was a mercenary of some sort? How the hell had Rise come across someone like him? As far as Inoue was aware, she had been in her bedroom for most of the day, excluding her little outing with this Knight fellow. Was it someone she met in Inaba? No, definitely not, he had seen Rise with her friends several times before, lord knows he'd have spotted someone like him immediately. Speaking of Inaba, however, something about the fellow's eyes seemed awfully familiar. They exuded a air of resolve and loyalty similar to that of the grey-haired boy Rise had been fond of. Attempted lopping in half aside, he didn't seem like a bad person thus far.
"Well, Astaire-san, I hope you'll stay true to your word. I can't say you won't have a lot to put up with for a while, but if you work with Rise-chan and I, we might make it out of all this alright. Just don't do anything too crazy, alright?" Something about asking that of a guy with a disappearing sword and some odd-sounding allegiances to the Sun didn't seem quite right. As imposing as he seemed, he doubted he had any idea what the press could do a person's psyche. Either way, with the situation he was in now, he trusted Rise to do what she needed to to keep the both of them out of trouble.
"Your concern is both noted and appreciated, Mr. Inoue."
Inoue turned to the door to leave, but as his hand met the knob, something wouldn't stop nagging at him. "By the way, Astaire-san, where did you say you were from again? I can't help but notice your lack of honorifics." One would think that having everyone else around him be addressed as -san, -chan or -kun would clue him in, but apparently not.
"Oh, my homeland? Well..." Oh dear, one more thing Astaire couldn't remember.
Sensing that he was on the verge of nearly burning his head in two again, Rise slipped up behind Inoue and hastened him towards the door. "Well, as long as he's here, where he comes from isn't important, right? I'm sure you two can talk all about it later, and besides, don't you have something to do for Kanami right now?"
"AAGH! THE MOVIE SHOOT!" Taking off like a suited-up bullet, Inoue rushed out the door and slammed it behind him. He did however take the time to open it immediately afterwards, and with a quick "Nice meeting you!" took off down the hallway again. If there was one thing Rise had to give her kouhai credit for, it was keeping Inoue busy when it most mattered. With him out of the way, she turned to a freshly-relaxed Astaire, who resumed his place at the table once again. He gazed out the window, watching the sun go down over the horizon.
"Aah, I haven't set eyes upon a proper sunset it a long time. How glorious it is." Anor Londo's sunny facsimile had been quite convincing, but nothing could beat the real thing.
The sight of the setting sun did bring a new dilemma to mind, however. "Um… Astaire-kun? This room only has one bed." It took a few seconds of looking between her and the bed to realise what she was getting at. His face went a shade closer to red as he averted his gaze, trying to think of a solution. "There isn't really anywhere else to sleep, either. I doubt spending the night in the bathtub would be very comfortable."
Finally, a clap of his hands. "The floor! I'll sleep on the floor!" The determined look on his face didn't make it look like he was joking either. Any form of sleep at all was a damn sight more than he'd gotten in Lordran. Of the many things he couldn't remember, sleep was amongst them. Sitting at a bonfire was the closest he ever got to long term rest. The floor would do fine.
Well, if the one sleeping on the floor was happy, who was she to argue otherwise? It was a far better option than the alternative, at least from a press standpoint. "Well, at least that's sorted. I'm gonna go get changed in the meantime, don't go peeking now~!" She finished with a wink.
"P-Peeking?! I would never! Why, the very thought of it makes me-!" Between his reaction in the hallway earlier and now, it was becoming very clear to Rise that Astaire was very fun to tease. A stalwart knight he may have been, but even the slightest hint of risque implications was enough to make him a flustered mess. She giggled to herself as she thought about it.
"Heehee... I'm just kidding, Astaire-kun. I'm sure you're more decent than that." She added, grabbing her pyjamas from her suitcase and walking into the small en suite bathroom. She flashed a smile at Astaire before she shut the door behind her.
"He's kinda cute when he's embarrassed." She mumbled to herself.
Later that night, Rise lay staring at the ceiling, trying to get to sleep and failing miserably. To Astaire's relief and her own discomfort, her pyjamas weren't exactly breezy, meaning they weren't all that easy to move in either. She rolled over and snatched up her phone from her bedside table, quickly searching through her contacts trying to find the email address of the person she'd brought to mind earlier.
Bingo.
"Naoto-kun, are you busy right now?"
It didn't take long for Naoto to reply. Rise smiled to herself for having guessed she'd be up this late at all.
"Not especially. I have time to talk, if that's what you desire."
Naoto brushed aside the case files she had laid about the desk, rubbing her strained eyes as she retreated back to her bed and threw herself on top of the covers. She tapped the light switch next to the headboard and covered her eyes, letting them rest after scanning several book's worth of case details. Paperwork was necessary, and Naoto didn't mind doing it in the slightest, but it could take a toll on even the most enthusiastic detectives from time to time. This was one of those times.
"Awesome! Anyway, do you remember the guy we met inside the TV?"
"Astaire-san, right? Yes, I remember. Why do you ask?"
"He came out of my TV today! One thing led to another and now he's my bodyguard."
"He did what?"
After everyone had come piling out of their respective TVs, they found it noteworthy that Astaire hadn't joined them. Teddie had even made a point of hopping back inside and trying to find him with his limited scanner abilities, with little success. In truth, before he'd come piling out, the thought had even occurred to everyone that he might be dead altogether.
"He came out of the TV! We talked with Senpai, grabbed a bite to eat, threatened a reporter or two and here we are!"
"That sounds like quite the eventful day."
"It sure has been. But whatever, I wanna ask you something about him, if that's alright."
"Really? I'd imagine you'd know more about him at this point than everyone put together."
"Well, it's not really about him, it's more about some of the things he's doing..."
It took a while, but Rise managed to list off everything which Astaire had done which didn't seem right in her eyes. Knowing how to eat with chopsticks straight out, how to use an elevator, his foul mouth in the TV... Rise couldn't see it, but the more she explained, the higher Naoto's eyebrows went up her head. Her curiosity was officially piqued.
"Hmm. Indeed, now that I think about it, there were several things which seemed odd about him."
"He doesn't seem to know he's doing it, either! Even if I asked him, he wouldn't be able to give me a straight answer!"
"This sounds intriguing. I would suggest bringing it up with everyone tomorrow."
"...Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?"
You weren't informed? Due to our recent exploits, Yu-senpai found that we were surprisingly close together when he left through his own television. Seeing this, he thought it very likely that we could travel long distances by using the Shadow World.
"Wow, really? What about the shadows and stuff?"
"Senpai is a competent fighter in his own regard, and you will likely have Astaire-san to assist you during the journey. In any case, it isn't impossible to assume that this could be a reliable way of getting from place to place in very little time."
"Awesome! So we're all meeting tomorrow? At Junes, right?"
"You guessed correctly. Whatever the case may be, I urge you to be careful tomorrow. Astaire-san may have been a warrior for a living, but he doesn't have a persona. Keep that in mind."
"Sure. Goodnight, Naoto-kun~!"
Her mind now at ease and her heart freshly racing, Rise snapped her phone shut and set it back where it belonged. Finally, a way to see her friends again without worrying about distance! This had been the best thing she'd heard all day! This would also be a good opportunity for Astaire to make friends with everyone, seeing as his initial response to meeting new people today had ranged from stiffening up to nearly striking them down.
Rise rolled onto her side and once again shut her eyes, thoughts of all of her friends fresh in her mind. A small smile crept across her face as she pictured Astaire greeting everyone, the sun blazing down on them as they enjoyed their time together peacefully. No more murders, no more barriers caused by work, everything was just as she could have wanted.
For now, at least.