Though his sleep was sound, Astaire's mind was not. A plethora of questions plagued him endlessly. Questions which Lordran hadn't even given him cause to ask before. Time away from his unabashedly violent existence gave ample opportunity for his mind to wander, pondering some of the many curiosities which he appeared to carry around with him.
For instance, he knew he was Just Astaire, Warrior of Sunlight. That much was a given.
...At least, he'd thought so up until now. The fractured state that his memories were clearly in gave him reason for doubt. The name Astaire was the clearest memory he had. Where other things had faded from his memory, there was no mistaking that he'd heard his surname pass the lips of every sane being he'd ever met in Lordran. But therein lay the problem.
Astaire was as clear as day. Just, however…
It brought to mind the voice he'd heard when travelling with the Investigation Team. The ethereal, lingering whisper which had briefly swam about in his head. It was the only entity which had addressed him as such. But where did it come from? Who could he possibly have known well enough that they'd claim to be his "best friend?"
This simply compounded on top of everything else. Questions upon questions upon questions. It was enough to drive a man quite mad. "Why? Why don't I remember so much about myself?" The knight wondered silently.
"You have only yourself to blame, you ingrate." He hadn't been anticipating a reply. Locked firmly in the realm of dreams, Astaire looked around himself wildly, seeking the source of the otherworldly voice. "I should hardly be surprised. A knight in shining armour you may be, but that alone does not a scholar make."
The picture in his mind's eye suddenly coalesced into an intelligible form. A being standing parallel to Astaire himself, a yellow glow emanating from underneath the black cloth hood and shimmering along the surface of Dragonslayer Ornstein's armour. There was only one being beyond Astaire who could've been dressed like that.
His shadow.
"You again? Why are you invading my dreams, you scoundrel?! Did I not kill you already?!"
The shadow sighed a corrupted, undead sigh. "Weren't you listening earlier? I am you, just as you are me. So long as you draw breath, so too shall I reside here inside you."
Well, it was better than having it be outside, Astaire supposed. "From what I was told, Igor made it sound as though I'd destroyed you completely. I'd imagine he'd be a greater expert on such matters than anything claiming to be me."
"Really, now?" The knight nearly leapt out of his skin as the shadow unhooded itself and was immediately altogether too close to him, pressing their foreheads together and glaring at him with the yellow orbs of light he called eyes. "I am a shadow. I know more about shadows than you know about yourself." He gave a smug, stretched grin. "But that's not saying much, is it?"
Astaire fearfully shoved his undead replica back, thankful it made no attempt to latch onto him again. "Though I must say, you did come bloody close. Closer than I imagine anyone has before."
"I did?" Astaire blinked in disbelief.
The shadow nodded. "That said, destroying my physical form won't let you be rid of me. Strike me down as often as you like, I'll simply reappear as quickly as I went." Not entirely dissimilar to how he himself existed once upon a time, Astaire thought. He pondered momentarily whether or not his Darksign had been transferred to his shadow, but at the moment that wasn't the most pressing matter.
He had to get rid of this monstrosity wearing his face. "Acceptance is the only way then, is that right? Very well, then. I accept you. You are me."
...
...
Nothing happened. The shadow shook its head and shrugged. "That was terrible. Just terrible. A confession is worth only as much as the amount of sincerity behind it, and you flummoxed that rather expertly. Feel free to give it another go, though."
"This is outrageous! You're an odious, snivelling rat! An insult to all that I represent as a Warrior of Sunlight! What do you expect of me?!"
Things got quiet all of a sudden, the shadow finding a smile forming on its undead lips. "Don't you mean as a Chaos Servant?" Astaire didn't reply as his train of thought shuddered to a grinding halt. The shadow turned, still wearing a smug smile. "Or was it a Darkmoon Blade? Princess Guard, maybe? Or perhaps a Transcendent Dragon?"
What in blazes was he on about? Astaire had always been a Warrior of Sunlight, of that there was no doubt. Of all details fogged and murky, this wasn't one of them.
Before he could open his mouth to pose a retort, the shadow piped up again. "Ah-ah-ah. I'll leave that for you to suss out. Think of as your first step towards proper acceptance. Wouldn't want to make it too easy, would we?" He sneered loathsomely as the world inside Astaire's head began to fade. "Look on the bright side, you have a right little knockout helping you along, don't you? Trudging around with someone as ravishing as Rise Kujikawa is enough to make even me jealous."
Astaire woke with a start, the urge to chase after his shadow and beat the daylights out of him brought to an abrupt halt. He clenched his fists as he tried his damnedest not to bellow out his frustrations. It was still dark, after all, and he could hear Rise's light breaths from the mattress above. Not desiring to wake her up, Astaire simply made do with letting the cloud of rage inside him dissipate naturally.
"Knockout? Ravishing? Gods, how inappropriate. Nothing a knight should be thinking, heavens above…" He thought to himself as he relaxed and laid back down, placing his hands behind his head. "Now I'll never get back to sleep. Blasted shadow getting my thoughts all out of sorts."
The slow rhythm of Rise's breathing seemed to have some kind of calming effect. The longer Astaire listened, the droopier he found his eyes becoming. Thoughts of what his shadow had said wallowed around in his quickly-waning pool of consciousness. Judging by his words, he seemed to have knowledge far beyond anything Astaire could even guess at. Hints at a past he didn't live, or at least had no knowledge of.
Yet in spite of this, his parting remarks concerning Rise were what troubled Astaire the most. He entertained, if only for a moment, that the smug, sneering, despicably strangle-worthy facsimile of himself was, in fact, a representation of his true self. Wouldn't that mean everything it said was some representation of his true feelings? Even the ones concerning…?
Nope. Not thinking about it. Not tonight nor any night to come. Astaire forced his eyes shut and brushed aside any and all thoughts he'd been pondering before. That yellow-eyed snake was some malicious, lying spirit designed to torment him. His words were worth less than dirt, surely. Despite his best efforts to plague him with Rise-centric thoughts, it wouldn't work! It wouldn't!
As Astaire felt himself drift off, he chanted such thoughts with gusto. Not a Rise-related thought to be had, absolutely not, not a hope in hell or anywhere else!
...
...
This was harder than Astaire had anticipated.
The night lingered on uneventfully after Astaire's brief run-in with his other self, making it seem like the morning had come even quicker than it had. The sun rose up over the skyline, illuminating the room and filling it with a pleasantly warm glow. Or rather, a glow which would have been pleasant if someone hadn't fallen asleep in a trench coat.
Needless to say, Astaire's awakening wasn't a pretty one. After not having properly slept since who-knows-when, getting up was the last thing on his mind. However, in the age-old choice between getting up or being boiled alive inside his coat, one route sounded much more comfortable than the other.
This didn't mean it was an easier option, unfortunately. Despite his normal knightly demeanour, Astaire wasn't one to deny that he wasn't a morning person. His movements were sluggish and his limbs felt heavy, and undoing the buttons on the front of his trenchcoat sounded nigh unbearable.
As he grunted and shifted about on the floor, Rise couldn't help but begin to stir as well. However, unlike her companion, she was more adept at rising in the morning due to the often taxing schedule she had to keep to. She threw off her covers, stretched, gave a yawn and then finally planted her feet solidly on the floor.
"Eurgh…" A particularly groggy knight grumbled as he began to fully awaken.
Rise quickly danced over Astaire's body as he rolled over onto his stomach to push himself off the floor. "I'm guessing that means you're awake, Astaire-kun?" She asked as she ducked into the bathroom to get changed. "I thought that someone who called themselves a Warrior of Sunlight would have an easier time waking up!"
Finally, Astaire managed to push himself to his feet, staggering slightly as he discovered one of his legs was still asleep. "Considering how long I was unconscious in the Velvet Room, I'm surprised I'm awake at all." Seeing as he could finally manipulate himself with greater ease, it took very little time for Astaire to unbutton the rest of his coat. As the cool air flowed in around his torso, he let out a sigh and spread himself out on the bed, stretching as he did. Utter bliss.
As a fully-clothed Rise emerged from the bathroom, she hadn't been expecting what was awaiting her. Astaire, the front of his torso on display through his opened trench coat, lying down on her bed and looking blissfully unaware that she was watching.
But she was watching, and indeed she found herself staring at him for a little longer than she cared to admit. Not because his body was chiseled to perfection, but rather the opposite. There was some muscle there, but ultimately Astaire was actually rather average when it came to his build.
This was weird. Astaire looked way too thin to swing around his Zweihander and carry a full suit of metal armour on top of that. Surely hulking all that around should have added SOME muscle to him? "...Huh, I thought you would've looked stronger than that." She said before she could stop herself.
As though an electric shock had shot through his body, Astaire bolted upright and covered his torso as best he could with his arms. "G-Gods above, please excuse me!" He wrapped himself up in his coat again and fastened the golden buttons on the front. "It shan't happen again, I assure you!"
From where Rise was standing, she thought he was getting much more worked up over this than he should have been. "It's fine, really! It's not that big of a deal!"
"Not that big of a deal?! Such wanton carelessness-" (and indecency, he thought inwardly,) "-is unbecoming of a knight, much less so in the presence of a lady!"
"...A Lady?" Many things Rise Kujikawa had been called, but never a Lady.
Astaire finished buttoning his coat and tried to get rid of some of the creases as best he could. "Indeed. The relationship between a Lady and her Knight is a strictly professional one, after all. Such displays cross boundaries not meant to be crossed by knights." He said with a straight face, as though reading the line from a history book. Modern knowledge or not, Astaire had an antiquated way of thinking.
Rise raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you just saying you're my bodyguard to keep everyone off our backs? You don't need to take it that seriously, you know." So help her, she'd make him think and act like a normal person eventually, no matter how long it took.
Astaire raised a finger to his chin and gazed at the ceiling in thought. "I mean… I suppose that's true. But what else am I to do to repay you for saving my hide and giving me somewhere to lay my head for the night?"
If he was anywhere near as stubborn as he was antiquated, this was going to take a while to shift. If she told him to quit the bodyguard act and just loosen up, chances are he'd still be stuck on the idea later. "If that's what you feel you need to do, then go right ahead. BUT!" She snapped, raising Astaire's shoulders in surprise at her outburst. "Before you're a bodyguard, or a knight or whatever, you're a friend, okay?" He tilted his head quizzically in response. "You can't fight it, it's the unwritten rule of the Investigation Team!"
"Shouldst thou from a TV abscondeth, communion amongst thine recoverers shalt thou partake in?"
...What did he just say? Oh, screw it. "Sure, something like that." Rise settled on as her answer. Whatever way he preferred to put it, it seemed to work wonders on Astaire's mood. He brightened up immediately as he turned away and stretched out a yawn. It was hard to believe when looking at him that the barely-muscled, easily flustered knight was the same beast who'd scared the hell out of a bunch of reporters just-
Uh oh. It all of a sudden came to mind that a day had passed since Astaire's spectacle in the corridor. Snapping up the remote control for the TV, Rise switched on to view the news as quickly as she could. A somewhat preoccupied Astaire had set about fastening the laces on the pointed black shoes he had been wearing the day before, which explained why it took him so long to pick up on what the small box was saying.
"...But more on that later. Also in the news, returning idol Rise Kujikawa was spotted yesterday with an unfamiliar male companion walking through the streets of Iwatodai City. The two stopped into a local restaurant together before leaving shortly after. Many fans and reporters speculated that the unknown male was likely to be Kujikawa's boyfriend…"
A lump formed in Rise's throat as she slumped back onto the bed and sat next to Astaire.
"...However, this idea was later scrapped after a crowd of reporters and paparazzi met with the couple outside Kujikawa's hotel room…" At the mention of this, both Rise and Astaire's heads shot up to look at the TV once again. "...Reporters were both shocked and terrified when Kujikawa's companion brandished a massive sword, easily measuring the height of the man himself, and proclaimed himself to be her bodyguard." Astaire grinned to himself and continued to work on his other shoe. "The man, who called himself "Knight Astaire," then proceeded to badger the reporters with threats of violence until they stood aside. The couple was last seen going into Kujikawa's hotel room, after which neither party came out."
...The young girl wasn't quite sure how to feel about this. The news continued, now showing the testimonies given by some of the reporters. "He was massive! I'd say about three… no, five inches taller than myself!"
"He had the look of a demon in his eye! He was mad, I tell you!"
"I'm surprised he didn't hurt himself or someone else with that sword. Does he even have a permit for that thing?"
As the anonymous readings continued, the knight could see that the situation had gone south very quickly. At the mention of the word "demon," his heart sunk deep down into his chest as he let out a sigh to try and relieve the pressure. He rested his head on his hand and spoke with a low, solemn tone. "This isn't what I intended… I didn't mean for things to turn out like this…" He murmured so quietly that Rise could barely hear him.
Feeling a weight on his shoulder, Astaire lifted his head, meeting Rise's gaze as he did. Her hand slid off his shoulder as she spoke. "Listen, Astaire-kun..." Two words in and the Knight already felt uncomfortable. "...I know you mean well, but… you can't treat everyone like you treated people in Lordran, they're too different."
"The last time this world had knights was nearly 500 years ago. People aren't used to seeing knights running around with swords and shields anymore."
To be fair, Astaire had noticed beforehand that warriors such as himself weren't all that common in Iwatodai. All the same he hadn't been expecting his fellow chivalric brethren to be out of commission for quite as long. "500 years? Really?"
The thought was interrupted by a rapid knock on the door, with whoever was on the other side sounding very eager to get in. As Rise went to look into the peephole on the door, Astaire found himself disregarding her previous comments as he latched his fingers around the Zweihander's hilt. His grip loosened as a familiarly estranged-looking Inoue half-fell in the door, clutching a folder in one of his hands. Between heavy breaths he began laying out sheets of paper on the table, handing Astaire and Rise pens as he went.
"Quick!" He panted, "Sign these! Rise, you sign this, this, this and this! Astaire-san…" Inoue shifted the remaining sheets of paper towards Astaire. "You sign these!"
Astaire wasn't quite sure what he meant by "signing" them, but he had a fair idea of what he was doing. He clutched the pen awkwardly and began writing on the only blank space on the sheet, situated at the bottom. Rise, on the other hand, had learned to read the fine print within the fine print when it came to signing anything, and quickly snatched up the rest of the sheets that Astaire wasn't working on.
Shuffling through the papers, Rise's eyes darted to and fro, taking in what they were all about. As she did, she began to see exactly what Inoue was up to. The papers were official documents, permitting Astaire to both work as a bodyguard and to carry his weapons as a result. Everything seemed fairly legitimate to Rise, until she came across the last sheet in Astaire's pile. Her brow lowered and one of her hands clasped violently onto Inoue's shoulder. With a small yelp, her manager was lurched away from Astaire as a very angry Rise hissed in his ear.
"A voluntary work agreement?!" She seethed, nearly deafening Inoue. "You're trying to trick Astaire out of getting paid as a bodyguard, aren't you?!"
"W-well technically he DID volunteer…" Inoue stammered, but Rise was having none of it. She tore up the page angrily, giving the remains back to her manager.
Still staring daggers at him, Rise turned away and went back to attend to the rest of the forms. Inoue could do little more than sigh. He had seen Rise angry before, but it wasn't something anyone got used to. He was glad his daughter wasn't as scary.
The minutes passed silently as Rise and Astaire signed the papers they had been given. By the end of it all, Astaire was left holding a small piece of paper, which Rise had taken care of for him. "What… is this, exactly?" He asked.
"Oh, that? It's a Tôrokushô. It allows you to legally carry that sword of yours. I'd attach it onto somewhere if I were you." Inoue explained. He had brought a length of string especially for the occasion, handing it to Astaire after explaining how to tie it. "Excellent. Now we won't get in trouble, isn't that great?"
Still, after all this Rise was ever more curious. "Why were you in such a hurry to get us to sign these anyway, Inoue-san?" She inquired. Her manager got up from sitting on the bed and made his way to the door.
Gripping onto the doorknob, he beckoned the two over to the front of the door. As they obliged, his tightened his grip and opened the door a crack. "This is why." As he twisted the knob, the door was practically wrenched off its hinges as a flurry of camera flashes assaulted their eyes, a wall of reporters filling the entirety of the corridor outside.
Their voices turned into an unintelligible cloud of noise, as evidenced by Rise's concerned expression and her inability to answer any of the questions being thrown her way. Her biggest concern was... "ENOUGH!" ...that Astaire didn't do exactly that. The tip of his sword swung out from underneath his coat and pointed towards the crowd, who gasped in unison and stepped away in turn. The noise died down almost instantly. "...If you have questions for Ms. Kujikawa, you will ask them one at a time." He said, lowering the blade slightly. Just as everyone seemed to calm down, they leapt out of their skins as the tip jolted in front of a reporter at the front of the crowd. "You there, speak!"
The reporter fumbled with his microphone with his newly-sweaty hands, but managed to pull himself together eventually. "A-Ah, right, yes!" He cleared his throat, trying to calm down. "Rise-chan, why haven't we seen this bodyguard of yours up until last night?"
Giving a nervous glance to Astaire, who still had his blade pointed at the reporter, Rise began to address the question. "He's… new. He hasn't been on the job for very long, you see…"
"In fact, we just finished filling out his paperwork right now!" Inoue added, holding up the folder for everyone to see. Several more camera flashes followed, but nowhere near as many as before.
Seeing as the reporter had very wisely shut up for now, Astaire pointed his sword towards a young female reporter at the front of the crowd. She squeaked at the sharp "whoosh" which the sword made as it swung her way. She flicked through her notebook with shaking hands, occasionally daring to glance up into Astaire's orange eyes. He looked at her with what may have been impatience, but she didn't think she was in much of a position to ask for clarification.
Finally she found the notes she had been looking for. "S-So, uh…" She swallowed, trying to choose her next few words carefully. "W-What were you two doing in the s-same room all night?"
The two of them blushed profusely as they suddenly comprehended how the situation looked out of context. "It's not what it looks like, honest!" Rise insisted, fists balled. "I only have one bed in the first place, so Astaire had to sleep on the floor!"
"Most bodyguards would wait outside the room though, wouldn't they?" The young reporter asked, eyebrow raised.
Oh, hell, it just got worse and worse. If they said he haD nowhere else to go that'd just raise further questions. "The further I am from Ms. Kujikawa, the more difficult it is for me to keep her safe. Should I be required to sleep at the foot of her bed to ensure her safety, so be it." Astaire took it upon himself to answer.
The reporter's voice had steadied, now more confident now than she was. "Aren't you worried that being so overprotective of Rise-chan risks invading her privacy? You can't be with her every single moment of the day, after all."
"I do not do my job in half measures. Should Ms. Kujikawa desire her privacy, she need only say so. But until then, come Hell or high water, nothing less than the world's end will keep me from watching over her." Something resembling a small smile could be seen spreading across Astaire's lips before he caught himself on and turned to the crowd again.
Surprisingly, they were silent. Each reporter could be seen scribbling down Astaire's words in their small notepads before they stopped to wait for someone to ask another question. Only one never came, which surprised Rise above all else. Not many people could silence a crowd of reporters like that. "Are we done here?" She asked the reporters, who looked amongst themselves in lieu of responding.
"Excellent. Goodbye." Astaire concluded as he shut the door on them all.
Rise and Inoue each sighed in relief as the situation came to a close. "Thank goodness… hopefully that'll tide them over until tomorrow, at least." The idol said, throwing herself onto the bed behind her.
"I have to say, I'm impressed, Astaire-san." At Inoue's words, the blue-coated knight turned to him, a quizzical expression on his face. "I never expected you to be good at dealing with tabloid journalists."
Rubbing the back of his head, Astaire couldn't help but crack a smile. "Well, I didn't really do that much, to be honest. I explained my situation with Ms. Kujikawa and little else, really." He replied modestly, conveniently ignoring the fact that he had held the crowd at sword-point.
Looking significantly better than he had upon arrival, Inoue stretched out and gave another sigh of relief. "Welp, that takes a load off of my mind! Maybe now I can finally focus on helping Kanami today!" He said as he made his way to the door. Thankfully, there were no reporters waiting outside this time. "I've got to head back to the agency, but I'll be in touch, okay? Stay safe, now!" He added half-way out of the door with a smile on his face.
The room became very quiet all at once without Inoue or the reporters to make things more excitable. With little else to do, that meant Astaire could go back to trying to find anything out of the ordinary in the bottomless box. He flicked open the latches and assumed his position at the table, ready to delve in. It was only when he felt Rise's gaze fall on him from across the room that he stayed his hand.
"Did you mean all that stuff you said?" Rise finally said, breaking the silence. "About watching over me all the time and stuff?"
Astaire shrugged. "Within reason, of course. If you take issue with it, then by all means-"
"No, not at all!" She said, suddenly sitting upright on the bed. That had been a little more insistent than she'd meant for. Even Astaire was giving her a funny look now. "It's just… not what I expected you to say. I know if I were around me 24/7 I'd get a little worn out as well."
He paused, bits of coloured rock-like material still filling his hands. "Pull the other one. Why ever would you think that?" He was asking sincerely, a genuinely confused look on his face. A look which bore a friendly smile as he continued, "You're easily the easiest person to talk to that I've ever known. What kind of black hearted fiend would dare say you're not enjoyable to be around?"
Rise felt very much on the spot on the other end of the look he was giving her. How the heck did she respond to that? From the way he simply went back to sorting through his things, she doubted he'd even realised what he'd said. She lay down again, becoming very good friends with the ceiling. She wasn't so foolish as to assume any number of men wouldn't give any number of arms and legs to be by her side for less than pure reasons. Such was life for an idol, no matter who they were.
However, that didn't even seem to have crossed Astaire's mind, or so it seemed. Maybe it was because he'd never seen "Risette" and all she got up to, but he'd been placed in what many would call an enviable position while ignoring the reasons it was enviable in the first place. Impure thoughts be damned, he simply liked being around her because he found her company enjoyable.
...It sounded nice when Rise thought about it that way. So nice that a smile was inevitable. Something about Astaire and his intentions made her just a little happier inside when thinking about it.
As Rise checked her phone, she took notice that her schedule, for a short while, was completely empty. "Hmm…" She thought to herself, "...No time like the present, I guess." Shutting her phone down and letting out a yawn, Rise finally got up from her bed and approached Astaire, who seemed to be transfixed by a brilliantly curved golden sword. "Pack up your stuff Astaire-kun, we're going for a walk!" She exclaimed.
Within seconds, everything was gone. Having infinite space to toss things into storage must've been nice. "Righto then. Where shall we walk to?" Taking the initiative, Rise latched onto Astaire's arm and dragged him towards the TV. Luckily for him, she didn't see his face redden as she held onto him. Putting her hand into the TV's screen caught his attention, though. "W-Wait, what're you-!?" But it was too late. Still held together, Rise and Astaire fell into the flat-screen head first, en route to the Shadow World.
As the two fell, Rise retained a firm grasp on Astaire's arm. "Sorry about this! I'm not sure what'll happen if I let go of you halfway through!" She explained as the both of them fell through the rounded rectangles leading to their destination. However, the more Rise thought about the situation, the more she became aware that something was wrong. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her head telling her that she was forgetting something.
And then it hit her. "Astaire-kun, I just realised… this particular TV leads to that cavern I met you in." The look on Astaire's face told her that he wasn't aware of what she was getting at. "The same cavern which was destroyed when you took out your shadow, if Igor was telling the truth."
Now he got it. "What?! Where does that mean we're going now?!" A now very anxious Astaire asked. He didn't have to wait long to get his answer. The light at the end of the rectangles came into view, signalling the journey's end.
The single flash of light was cut unnaturally short as the duo arrived in their destination. Opening their eyes post-flash, both Astaire and Rise became alarmingly aware that the only thing they could see was each other. They had arrived to a world of complete, all-consuming darkness. Without a second to spare, Astaire bolted into action as he freed his arm from Rise's grasp and dove into the bottomless box. His breaths were heavy and panicked, getting worse the longer he had to look.
"Astaire-kun, what's going on?!" Rise panicked with him. There was no way he'd know more about the Shadow World than she did, but the way he was acting made it seem like he had something in mind. Judging from the look on his face, it wasn't good.
But Astaire wasn't listening, solely devoted to rummaging through the box like a madman until, finally, "There!" He shouted triumphantly, just before he clutched Rise out of the air beside him and into his arms. "Hold on tight and brace for impact." He whispered to her. Not needing to be told twice, Rise wrapped her arms around his neck for stability. In the space of an instant, their descent halted. It was like hitting the bottom floor in the world's fastest elevator. Under normal circumstances, the change in momentum would likely have made messy puddles of them both.
Then again, nothing about this place was normal in the slightest.
It was silent. Not quiet, but silent. Rise could swear she was hearing the blood rushing around in her head, coupled with Astaire's breaths and the sound of his heartbeat. There was literally nothing else to hear. She almost felt inclined to say something for the sake of having something else to focus on. "It's alright, Astaire-kun, you can put me down now." She settled on.
However, Astaire didn't let go. He simply began walking forwards, his eyes fixated in front of him. "I'm sorry, Ms. Kujikawa, but I'm afraid I can't do that."
"Why not? Didn't you say you'd do whatever I told you to?" Rise asked not in anger, but curiosity.
"I have been to this place before. In Lordran." Rise's eyes widened as Astaire lowered his head and put her on his shoulders. Luckily she had decided not to wear a dress today. With his hands newly freed, Astaire reached into the bottomless box and pulled out a broken hilt, evidently from a damaged sword. He tossed it down several feet in front of him.
It was immediately swallowed by the darkness. Like it had fallen through quicksand.
"The Abyss. I know not what it is, nor why it would be here now, but I do know that it was not meant to be traversed by humans or undead." Raising his right hand, Astaire showed Rise what he had been looking for in the bottomless box, a thin green ring on his index finger. "It is only by using the ring of Knight Artorias that I can traverse it myself. It is in both our best interests that you not touch what I'm standing on."
"You don't need to tell me twice." Rise said as she got comfortable on Astaire's shoulders. "I don't think summoning my Persona would be a good idea right now, so how are we going to find our way out of here?"
"I propose that we keep walking. This area may resemble The Abyss, but it cannot be the real thing. It must have a limit."
There was no other way to go but forward. The sound of Astaire's shifting coat filled the silence as the duo continued into the darkness.
"This doesn't make any sense." Rise piped up, the silence of the void beginning to wear on her. "The TV world's supposed to represent people's inner thoughts. Why isn't there anything here?"
"What do you mean? Igor said everything else was destroyed. I was under the impression that this was relatively normal." Astaire replied, sending his gaze upwards to meet Rise's. It wasn't like he was in danger of running into anything, after all.
"Nope! Stuff appears here in spite of yourself, you can't control it." She continued, looking into Astaire's eyes for lack of anything else to look at. "This world represents strong memories and desires which people have locked inside themselves. That's what's bothering me."
Memories and desires? From what he had experienced thus far, Astaire wasn't sure he had much of either. His other self seemed to be holding back many details of his past beyond those he could remember and he hadn't thought about what he wanted in a long time, save for not dying. Did that mean if he thought about it now, something would appear? It was worth a shot, at least. Astaire's body had practically started moving automatically, he had been walking for so long. He closed his eyes.
What were the things he could remember most vividly? Lordran, of course. Firelink Shrine was plenty familiar. The light of the sun as seen from the Undead Burg's battlements. The brief horrors of Oolacile before he'd scarpered. Rise.
Woah, wait, hold on a second, not that last one. The rest were fine, keep them. Cut that last one out.
In between recalling his past and fervently denying the present, Astaire failed to take note of what was happening around him. Only Rise got a good glimpse of the effect he was having on their surroundings as the Abyss seemed to peel away underneath them.
Desires. What could he class as desires? Helping others was a given. Specifically, protecting others from harm. Keeping people safe, to put it another way. This time he made deadly sure to keep any twin-tailed idols as far away from his thoughts as possible.
"Astaire-kun, look!" Rise exclaimed, tapping on his head to bring him back to reality. As he came to his senses, the young knight lightly gasped in surprise as he saw the Abyss practically melt away before him. In it's place stood something very different and much more pleasant to look at.
Where once there was darkness, there now lay rounded walls amongst ruined stone structures, retaken by moss and ivy which crawled around the remains. "Firelink?" Astaire considered briefly. It was certainly a similar flavour to the peaceful sanctuary he knew so well, but a different taste all the same. For one, Firelink Shrine hadn't been located in the middle of a forest, nor had it been this big. A pleasant shade was cast as trickles of sunlight lay upon the leaves and branches overhead.
Despite the lovely scenery, one thing caught Rise and Astaire's eyes above all else. Or two things, to be precise. Two large stone statues stood upon thick round pedestals embedded in the ground. The first depicted Astaire and Rise, wearing his armour and her school uniform respectively. The heavier of the two looked to be charging at some unforeseen foe, while the other pointed in the direction he was charging, Kouzeon's visor covering her eyes.
The second statue showed the same two people dressed very differently. Astaire wore his Velvet trench coat, while Rise wore her casual clothing. Astaire was knelt down in front of her, one hand on his stony heart and the other on the ground. The stone visage of Rise looked down with a kindly smile on her face.
What was especially telling was that they looked very much new, bereft of overgrowth of any kind. "These must be your memories!" Rise noted in awe. "And look, there's more pedestals too!" True enough, beyond the adorned two, a good sixteen pedestals stood parallel to one another, with a large white gate at the end of them.
Astaire rotated on the spot, taking in the surroundings. "It's far nicer than anything I've seen in either of our worlds." The area seemed similar to the Darkroot Garden, except it wasn't as dark, dangerous or home to endless supplies of phantoms.
"Maybe this whole place represents your desires as well, then!" Rise added happily, checking out the statues of her and Astaire with great interest. They really were quite intricately detailed. If they weren't so big she might have tried asking Astaire to bring one back with them, but she doubted even he was that strong.
While she was taken with how good a likeness of the two of them they were, Astaire's thoughts were elsewhere. He ran a hand across one of the empty platforms, gazing down towards the white gate at the end. "It's curious." He said loud enough for Rise to hear. "If these are indeed my memories, why do they only go so far?"
Not being able to see the forest for the trees seemed pretty appropriate, given their surroundings. "Maybe something good'll happen when all of them fill up!" Rise suggested.
"Or something bad." Astaire suggested back. Given the environment he'd been in up until now, Rise couldn't really blame him for being a little pessimistic.
Didn't mean she wasn't going to try and change that, though! "C'mon, Astaire-kun!" She pumped her fists energetically. "If you did all that stuff on your own like you said you did, we can take anything that this world throws at us if we work together, right?! Let something bad happen, I dare it!"
The look of bright-faced, righteous determination on Rise's face was too adorable to ignore. As though hooked up to a fresh battery, Astaire felt his energy skyrocket as the outpouring of positive energy from him shorter companion surged through him through his shoulders. "Right. Right! How right you are, Ms. Kujikawa!" He grinned, balling his own fists as he craned his neck back to face her. "In here we're a team, and as a team we're unstoppable! We showed that once, we can show it again!"
Now both abuzz from each other's energy, it shook Rise all the more as Astaire's stance suddenly tightened. His legs parted and his expression hardened. "Did you hear that? Something's coming." He said quietly, ears peeled.
Apparently Rise didn't take the hint. "What?! What is it?!"
A rustle from a nearby bush caused Astaire to swing around abruptly. He prepared himself for battle, steadying his mind for whatever was about to pounce them. In this sort of environment, it could have been anything.
"Rrrrrrrr…." Something growled from within the bush. Before anyone could react, a blue blur shot out of the shrubbery and landed before Astaire and Rise. The terrifying beast in question? "Do you know how long I've been looking for you guys?! Where were you two hiding all this time?!" It was Teddie. "Eh…?" The bear tilted his furry head to the side, giving the duo a suspicious look up and down. "Don't tell me you two were doing lovey-dovey things in private while I was looking for you!"
"L-Lovey-dovey?!"
"What?! What are you-"
It was only at Teddie's words that they realised Rise was still atop Astaire's shoulders, having forgotten to climb down after traversing the Abyss. As one tried to get off, the other tried to adjust and let them down safely. The whole ordeal looked incredibly awkward. "I can't believe you, Rise-chan! Think of the scandal! People around the nation will explode upon sight of this strapping young man you're carting around!"
Stomping her foot on the ground angrily, Rise glared daggers at Teddie. "It's not like that, you stupid bear! We were just-!" Just what? Walking into a world of pure darkness which had taken over Astaire's version of the Shadow World to suddenly appearing in a luscious garden-like area based on his desires and memories?
Yeah, sure, that old predicament.
"But never fear! I'm sure if we pay off any witnesses to the act, this whole ordeal will never reach the public's ears…" Teddie continued, a not-so-subtle mischievous look plastered across his face.
Unfortunately for him, neither Rise nor Astaire were having any of it. Stepping towards him in unison, both of them grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, clutching onto the large zipper which kept his head in place and giving him a look which would have bore holes into diamonds. Rise pinched a tuft of fur between her fingers. "Oh my, Teddie! Your fur's grown so long since the last time I saw you…" She said in a faux-worried voice, albeit one which was very convincing. "We should give the poor little guy a haircut, don't you think?" She added, turning to Astaire.
"W-wh-what?! No, no! Nononononononono-!"
"Perhaps we should." The knight replied. Teddie's struggles only became more frantic as he found himself at the end of the Zweihander's blade, with Rise pretending to size him up as she kept her grasp on him.
It all became too much for one bear to handle. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't ruin my beautiful Teddie fur! I won't tell a soul, I swear!" He cried, bowing overdramatically at the feet of his tormentors, who looked at each other and couldn't help but crack a smile. Crouching down to face Teddie head-on, Rise placed her hand gently on his head, causing him to look up at her with tears in his eyes.
She shot him a soft smile. "It's okay Teddie, I forgive you." A smile which was topped with a set of dagger-like eyes. "As long as you don't tell anybody else, that is."
Between the tall guy with the taller sword and Rise-chan with that look in her eye, it was hard to tell who was more dangerous. Teddie's hair stood on end as he quickly hopped onto his stubby feet and presented a manic thumbs-up. "You got it, Rise-chan! Let's go and meet everyone else before anything else dangerous happens!" Considering that his two followers now no longer had any complaints, he began backtracking the way he had came through the Shadow World.
"Hmmm."
"Hm?"
"Mmhmm."
"What're ya hmm'ing at now?" Kanji asked. He had been quite content lying back with the sun covering his face, but Naoto had been going on like this for a while now without explaining why. He was more curious than annoyed by this point as he peeked an eye open to see what she was up to.
He saw Naoto scribbling away in a small blue notebook, occasionally tapping on the side of it as she pondered what to write next. "I've been trying to summarise everything I can deduce about Astaire-san before he arrives. Simply looking over what we already know may reveal something new." She answered without lifting her head.
This answer seemed sufficient enough for Kanji, who laid his head back in his seat once again. They had been sitting like this for some time, not saying anything but occasionally taking an interest in what the other was doing. Despite his best efforts, Kanji still found conversing with Naoto somewhat difficult. He berated himself mentally for it. A man shouldn't have trouble talking to a girl! Absolutely not!
...Even one as cute as Naoto. "Gaaaah…" Kanji groaned. He pressed his can of melon soda against his brow, finding comfort in the cool condensation which transferred to his head.
"If you're too hot, perhaps you'd be better off sitting out of the sun." A preoccupied Naoto suggested. However, the only other shaded seat was next to her.
Oh to hell with it. "Sure. Sounds good." Better to make a start on improving, at least. Taking a seat beside her, Kanji resumed putting the can to his head as he tried to cool off in the incredibly strong heat. "...Wonder where everyone else is. You sure this is the time they told us to meet them at?" He asked casually, trying not to stick his nose into Naoto's notes.
She flipped a page and ran a finger down a small list she had written. "Truthfully, it isn't." Looking away for a fleeting moment, Naoto's voice lowered as she talked. "I.. invited you out early. That is alright, isn't it?"
Hiding his obvious blush was impossible, but Kanji figured he'd be able to pass it off as sunburn by this point. However, this new development wasn't exactly helping his condition thus far. Naoto had gone to the trouble of inviting him out here early and he'd done little else but badger her about what she'd been doing and sit around waiting for everyone else, not knowing better.
"Well, better late than never." She'd made an effort, so damn in all if he wasn't going to make one too. Kicking his seat onto its hind legs and swinging on them, Kanji sat forward to balance himself in his new position. Keep it casual, that's what to do. "So Naoto…" He began, "...whatcha been up to since we solved the case?" Easy, easy. Anybody could ask that.
"I've had numerous other cases to busy myself with. I shirked off quite a number of other commitments of mine during last year, and I need to make up for it in as timely a manner as possible." Or all at once, in other words.
"Really? Seems a little reckless, don't you think? Ever stop to give yourself some time off? Break or two never hurt anybody."
A small smile curled upon Naoto's lips. "That's what I'm doing right now. I said I needed to catch up, not that I was catching up." This seemed somewhat mischievous for Naoto, but if her smile was anything to go by, it could only be assumed that she was enjoying herself. It had Kanji's stomach butterflies kicking off again, if nothing else.
Best to take advantage of her good mood. This was easier said than done, however, as Kanji found himself stammering the words out. "S-say, Naoto? You like m-movies, right?" The young detective lifted her head and raised an eyebrow for the first time in a long while. "Just this guy I know suggested one that's playing in Okina. I-it sounded a little complicated for a guy like m-me, so I was wondering…"
"I'd be glad to." Kanji was taken somewhat aback by her pre-emptive response, but as he thought about it he knew he should have expected as much. This was no ordinary girl, after all. Trying to tiptoe around a subject when talking to the Detective Prince was no simple feat, to be sure. "Truth be told, I was hoping I could find someone to go with myself. It seems fortune has favoured us both." She continued calmly. One thing was certain, Naoto was a lot calmer than Kanji by this point.
"R-really?! Awesome!" Catching himself on, he cleared his throat. "I-uh.. *ahem* I mean, uh.. good. Nice. Lookin' forward to it." He stumbled over his own tongue, trying not to expose just how happy he was. To a keen eye, it may have seemed that Naoto's small smile widened ever so slightly at his display. However, Kanji's keen eyes were better adjusted to needles and thread, not faces.
It seemed that he had asked at just the right time, too. A small group of three people had appeared from the elevator doors inside and were making their way to the table. "Oh! Have you two been here long?" Chie shouted as they made their way to the usual spot in the food court.
"Sorry if we kept you waiting, I had some trouble picking an outfit." Yukiko explained, not doing a very good job at hiding the fact that she was all dressed up for Yu coming over. Her thin checkered dress seemed to have been picked out just for the occasion, too. It bore the usual red and white pattern that Yukiko liked, plus a thick white ribbon to top the whole thing off, but nobody could recall ever seeing her wear it before, not even Chie. One could only assume that it had either been bought very recently, or kept in hiding for the perfect occasion.
Yosuke on the other hand hadn't put in that much effort. He was wearing what he always wore. "Why aren't the others here yet? I thought Yu was a punctual sort of guy most of the time." He commented, noticing that quite a few chairs surrounding their usual table were empty. "You don't think he's having problems managing on his own, do you?"
Chie thumped her fist into Yosuke's arm. "Of course not, you idiot! He's gone into the TV world before, hasn't he? He was fine every other time!"
"Yeah, but he had Rise to back him up, if nobody else! Hell, he could even have jumped out at any time and gotten help from us if he needed to!"
Seemingly unfazed by her boyfriend's absence, likely due to her confidence in him, Yukiko spoke up as well. "Speaking of which, how do you think Rise and Astaire-kun are holding up?"
Naoto took this question, flicking to the front of her notebook again. "If my hunch is correct, they've likely spawned in to the TV world at an unknown location, hence why we decided to have Teddie meet up with them upon arrival." Despite her still voice, a look of concern leaked into Naoto's eyes. "...Although he too is taking his time, it would appear."
This was starting to seem like a worse and worse idea every second. However, Kanji didn't seem fazed by any of it. "Did you see those two take out that bigass shadow last time? They'll be fine. Worst comes to worst, Rise can probably find everyone if she has to." He sipped his melon soda nonchalantly. "You're all gettin' way too worked up over this. If all the stuff we went through last year couldn't prepare them for this, nothing will."
Still, Chie didn't look any more relieved than she had been.. "I dunno… what if something does happen to them? How will we know if something goes wrong?"
"Oh, ye of little faith." came a familiar voice from behind her. "It'll take a little more than a few shadows to stop me." His voice brimming with confidence, Yu Narukami stood before them in the flesh. Before anyone else could react, Yukiko had leapt out of her seat and into his arms, noticing the rapidness of his heartbeat. "Though I will admit, I'm kinda worn from the run over…" If a bit of sweat on his forehead was all he'd sustained, nobody could complain.
It had to be noted that everyone had usually gone straight home after traversing the TV world for even short amounts of time, due to the amount of exhaustion it caused them. However, Yu was eventually going to have to run back over to his own TV as well. This seemed like it may cause problems later, but for now everyone was happy just to see Yu again in the real world.
Especially Yukiko. "I just knew you'd make it on your own!" She grinned widely as she clutched her man ever tighter. It was only when she noticed a shade of purple begin to creep into his skin that she decided to finally let go. "Sorry! It's just so good to see you again!"
"Under better circumstances this time, too." Yu said, nodding. He pulled up a seat and sat down next to his girlfriend, kicking his feet up onto the table. "No case, no murders… it's a nice change of pace for once."
The sound of flickering pages filled the air as Naoto returned to her notebook. "Best not to get ahead of ourselves, Senpai. We still don't know what these past few developments could mean…"
"You mean about Astaire? I'm sure it'll be fine. Weirder things have happened, you gotta admit." He replied, putting his hands behind his head. "Though ome to think of it… aren't he and Rise here yet? And where's Teddie?" It had only just occurred to Yu that not everyone was present, and those who weren't hadn't been buying food or drinks for everyone else.
A dismissive Yosuke idly flipped his phone out to check the time. "I'm sure they're doing just fine. Heck, Teddie took down Rise's shadow when we all couldn't, right? He could probably manage just fine on his own."
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"
"Calm yourself, Penguin Creature! We have to stick together!"
"I TOLD YOU ALREADY THAT I'M A BEAR!"
The blade of Astaire's sword swept through the torso of a stone knight, reducing it to little more than rubble, while Teddie launched ice magic at the strange tree-like creatures which accompanied them. He was trying his damndest to avoid the tendrils which lashed at him while he did, slapping against the ground with an intimidating crunch. "Astaire-kun, to your left!" Rise called, Kouzeon's visor affixed upon her head.
"Blasted shadows! Begone with you!" The knight cried, crushing another two tree monsters with one swipe. He turned to see another of them attempting to sneak up on Teddie, responding by deftly tossing a thin throwing knife into its back. Little damage was done, but the noise made alerted Teddie to the monster's presence. Swiping it away with the oversized claw on his arm, he reeled around and narrowly avoided being flattened by the hammer of another giant stone knight.
He found himself backed up against Astaire and Rise's sides. From the looks of it, they'd all backed up at once, showing all too clearly that they were completely surrounded.
Much to Rise's surprise, Astaire put away his sword, now of all times. "You're… you're not giving up, are you?"
"Stay close to me, as close as you can." He said, forming a bright red flame between his hands. Not one to oppose the wishes of a man holding fire, Teddie also backed up as close to Astaire as he could, growling at the monsters as they drew in closer.
Instantly, the world was ablaze. As Astaire slammed his hands into the ground, large pillars of fire shot up like molten geysers from the earth, leaving thick puddles of oozing lava at their bases. The air became dry and unbearably hot as the Chaos Pyromancy went on, leaving the stone knights and tree monsters to burn and crumble under the intense heat. Both Rise and Teddie dared not move, lest the lava engulf them too.
Even when the fires stopped rising from the earth, the lava remained. It got to the point where there was nothing left to kill, just a few charred bodies and piles of rubble. "Wow, that was incredible!" Teddie exclaimed. "Now how do we get out of here?" He added, beads of sweat forming on his brow as he looked at the lava.
"Easy. Just follow my lead." Casual as could be, Astaire put a foot out and walked through the lava without so much as acknowledging it was there, leaving a bewildered bear and idol behind him. "It's magic born from Chaos, but it is magic nonetheless. It's not real lava." To further prove his point, the air rapidly cooled down again as the lava simply disappeared into thin air, as though nothing had ever been there to begin with. Both of its former captives breathed heavy sighs of relief, not least because the air was actually cool enough to breathe again.
Their sighs bought them but a miniscule amount of time. "Gwyn's beard!" A thick pillar of wind decimated the ground where Astaire once stood, having deftly rolled at the last second. More shadows set upon them, familiarly large mouths with hanging tongues, constructed from cloth, wood and tree roots.
Having been performing analytics the entire time, Rise was beginning to take note of an odd pattern in the way Astaire fought. The tree creatures and the stone knights, monsters neither she nor Teddie had seen before, fell before him like he'd done it all before. Yet as the scale slid more towards forms they recognised, large mouths, embraced dancers and the like, he began to struggle. Magic in particular seemed to rattle him the most.
"Have no fear, Teddie is here!" The energetic ball of fur cried as he smashed his Arcana card. Kamui-Moshiri, his ultimate persona, rained down a storm of deadly ice, tearing up the shadows which were gradually coming closer to tearing Astaire to shreds. The fellow himself gave a sigh of relief as he fell back onto the grassy hill they were fighting upon.
We seemed indomitable, but even he couldn't keep it up forever. "These monsters are unlike anything I've ever seen. Those wind sorceries of theirs are a force to be reckoned with." The tatters on the ends of his coat were becoming harder and harder to ignore, torn away mostly by the cutting gusts of shadows with wind magic. "The sheer amount of new sorceries is staggering, actually."
Compared to her knight and Teddie, Rise was practically spotless. If nothing else could be said about Astaire, it was impossible to deny that he was one hell of a bodyguard. Luckily, Teddie seemed to be doing just fine and had no need for healing in the first place. "You need to stop running into these things head-on, you're going to really hurt yourself if you're not careful!" Rise urged as her healing wave washed over Astaire for the umpteenth time.
Trying his best not to be deterred, Astaire swung his sword over his shoulder again and blissfully exhaled as the pains in his limbs subsided. "Truth be told I'm rather at a loss… I don't have anything that can counter all these different magics." He admitted, turning to Teddie. "You appear to be doing just fine, however. I feel somewhat inadequate by comparison."
"Oooh!" Teddie perked up, "Does that mean I can be Rise-chan's bodyguard instead?"
"Don't even think about it."
"Don't talk such rot." Both other parties said in unison.
Laughs were exchanged at the inhuman noise Teddie made as he deflated in response. Ever still, the trio sallied forth. From the looks of it, Teddie and Astaire must have been doing a good job, as the number of shadows had diminished spectacularly, not even approaching numbers capable of surrounding them again.
It was only once the shadows' numbers began to thin that something began to feel off. Astaire found himself tripping over his own feet as they walked, staggering left and right as he lost balance for seemingly no reason. He found his eyelids drooping as singular shadows seemed to split into twos and threes, an indiscernible haze fogging up his thoughts. "Ms. Kujikawa… Teddie…" He managed to say, sounding like he hadn't slept in weeks. "I believe it accurate to say that something is wrong with me…"
Each word sounded weaker than the last. It all came to a head as Astaire drove his sword deep into the ground for support, reduced to kneeling on one knee. His companions broke into a sprint towards him, with Rise taking the time to check his vitals mid-run. It didn't make sense. His vitals were rock solid all across the board, what could it possibly have been?
She found herself crouching next to Astaire with such force that her glasses nearly fell off the end of her nose. He was sweating profusely and seemed to have paled a few shades, clutching at his head as if trying to forcibly rip out whatever was clogging his mind. "Astaire-kun, look at me! Are you poisoned or something? Can you tell what's wrong?" She carefully brought his face around to look hers dead on, his gaze delirious and unfocused.
Looking at him dead on, Rise found the source of the problem. She'd been looking at him through it.
"Teddie! You didn't make him a pair of glasses!"
Realising this was his fault, Teddie nearly leapt out of his skin. "Uwaaaaah! I completely forgot to make a pair! We need to get out of here right now!" Without warning, he lifted Astaire completely above his head, which in itself was rather impressive, and began sprinting in the direction they had been heading in until now. Seeing little alternative but to accompany them, Rise ran as fast as she could in their wake, occasionally glancing between the bushes and trees to make sure nothing else was going to jump them.
Naoto's foot tapped impatiently off the ground as she looked intently at her watch. Enough time had passed to classify Rise, Teddie and Astaire's absence as suspicious, and despite everyone else's confidence in them, (well, they could speak for Teddie and Rise, at least,) Naoto's concerns didn't quell as time went on. Her free hand considered reaching for her revolver and hopping into the TV with everyone altogether, but in spite of him saying otherwise, Yu still looked pretty beat from his previous venture. To jeopardise the safety of the group's appointed leader would jeopardise everyone else's, after all.
...Still, it couldn't hurt to take a peek, right?
Naoto pushed herself off her seat and sealed her notebook into her breast pocket. "If it's alright with you all, I'm going to take a quick look inside the TV. Just to be sure." Not waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and began walking off. She didn't get far however; she was barely in the door to Junes' main building when she bumped into something and ended up flat on her back. The thing in question being Teddie.
"Owwww… You need to pay more attention to where you're running, Nao-chan!" He rubbed his head overdramatically, not noticing that Naoto was lying momentarily stunned on the floor. She shook her head, straightened her hat and then straightened herself as she sat up. A hand was reached to her, with a tall man in a blue coat on the other end of it, accompanied by Rise, who was peeking out from behind him and trying to stifle a laugh
"Are you alright, Miss?" He asked. Judging from the fact that he had shown up with Teddie and Rise, Naoto could extrapolate that this was indeed the knight from the TV, albeit without his armour. Kindly refusing his hand, she picked herself up and dusted herself off.
Now satisfied that her friends (and the knight) were safe, Naoto began walking back to the group at the table. On the way, she was the one to hold out her hand to AstaIre this time. "Nice to meet you again. My name is Naoto Shirogane."
Astaire accepted the handshake with a broad smile on his face. "Knight Astaire. A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Shirogane." Now that she had heard it for herself, Naoto could see what Kanji had been getting at. Being called Miss or Mister did make her feel old.
But that aside, "Your face has changed quite a bit since last we met. Might I ask why?"
Of course, Astaire had failed to realise that Naoto had never seen him as a human. "Sorry, but it's had me stumped for the past while as well. To be honest, the allure of having a normal face is somewhat soiled by not knowing why I have it."
Taking out her notebook and retrieving her pen from behind her ear, Naoto jotted this down. "Well, hopefully some of the questions and answers I'll be giving will help shed some light on all this."
"Questions?"
As the two spoke, Teddie and Rise took their respective seats at the table. "Jeez, think you took long enough?" Kanji asked, "My soda's gone warm now…"
"Sorry! We had some trouble getting through the monsters in there; it was awful!" Apologised Rise, clapping both hands together.
Pondering this for a second, Chie piped up, "Even with Astaire-san and Teddie? What the heck were you fighting in there?"
"All sorts of crazy stuff!" Teddie exclaimed, "There were statues, monsters that looked like trees with these creepy tendrils that tried to slap you across the face like this!" To further expand on his point, Teddie swiped at the air with his claw, narrowly avoiding hitting Kanji in the head.
Of course, Rise wasn't forgetting the most vital point of note regarding their lateness. "Not only that, but Astaire went all that time without a pair of glasses on." Her eyes darted in Teddie's direction, staring daggers. "Apparently SOMEONE forgot to make him a pair."
Everyone now turned their attention to Naoto and Astaire as they took their seats. In particular the knight who had traversed the TV world with neither a Persona nor a pair of glasses to keep him safe. From the looks of it, he was completely fine.
"...Strange. Last time someone stayed too long in the TV world was when Nanako was kidnapped." Yu said, echoing everyones thoughts. While the experience had been painful at the time, the fact that they had overcome it unharmed in the end made it easier to talk about, in Yu's mind. "But you seem completely fine, and without a Persona at that. What's your secret?"
Popping over the Bottomless Box and reaching inside, Astaire retrieved a small handful of green herbs, which he promptly began chewing on, screwing up his face as he did. It was either incredibly sour or painfully bitter, from the looks of it. Nevertheless, he managed to answer Yu's question while trying to hold back tears. "Green Blossom. It's a plant which helps restore one's stamina much quicker than usual." Noticing that Yu was looking quite tuckered out himself, he brought out another handful of the herb and handed it to Yu.
Considering Astaire's reaction, it may not have been wise to eat it at all. Then again, to say that Yu Narukami hadn't eaten weirder things in his life would be an outright lie, so why stop now? He grabbed the Green Blossom and placed it all in his mouth at once.
To say his reaction was bad would be a gross understatement. Tears streamed from his eyes as his fist slammed into the table, the rest of his body trying desperately to swallow the horrible herb. With some effort, he did indeed manage to get it down his throat. Upon swallowing it, he swiped up Kanji's soda and chugged the rest of it down, not waiting to ask for permission.
Finally, he gasped as his lips parted with the sweet liquid. "I wasn't expecting it to be that bad…" He said, noticing that Astaire was still chewing on his piece, like a piece of chewing tobacco.
"Taste aside, do you still feel tired, Mr. Narukami?" He questioned.
Now that he brought it up, Yu did indeed notice that he was no longer as fatigued as he had once been. It felt similar to when he had employed the help of the Fox and its leaves, but the effect carried over to the real world as well. Not to mention the Green Blossom tasted like crap. "Now that you mention it… I don't."
Catching himself on, Yu turned to an understandably miffed Kanji. He scratched the back of his head and awkwardly laughed as he rolled a couple of coins over to him, enough to cover the cost of another soda. Kanji accepted them with a nod. After this whole ordeal, Yu cleared his throat and straightened himself up, holding out a hand to Astaire.
"In any case, it's nice to see you again." He said with a gentle smile. The knight returned his smile with one of his own, grasping his hand firmly and shaking it. "Now then, on with the introductions…"
Beginning the introductions was Chie. "I'm Chie Satonaka!" She said, shaking Astaire's hand much more forcefully than Yu did. "Thanks for earlier, by the way! I'm pretty sure I couldn't have gone on if you hadn't given me that stuff in the funky bottle."
Following on from her was Yukiko. "I'm Yukiko Amagi, " She said with a small bow.
"Yosuke Hanamura." Said an unusually deadpan, almost snarky, Yosuke.
"Name's Kanji Tatsumi. Good knowin' ya." Kanji continued, forcing a smile after having his only source of liquid snatched from him.
"And of course, you seem to know the rest of us by now." Yu finished, referring to Teddie, Rise, Naoto and himself in particular.
With that out of the way, Naoto retrieved the pen from behind her ear once more as she took out her notepad. "Now then, if you all don't mind, I would like to ask Astaire-san some questions. Is that acceptable?" She asked, pointing towards Astaire with the end of her pen upon finishing her sentence.
The knight shifted in his seat, looking quite uncomfortable as he did so. His eyes scanned around him, looking at everyone's gazes as they met his. He gulped before finally replying. "If I may, why are you all so set on me? Why are your questions required in the first place?"
"We have dealt with many oddities over the last year or so. Teddie himself was much like you, in that he couldn't remember who he was up until a certain point." Naoto explained. "...However, coming from another world is one thing, but a different dimension is something else entirely. It's unheard of beyond works of science fiction."
Astaire rubbed his chin as he pondered this. "...I suppose I can understand that. There are things in this world which are remarkably foreign to me as well." He sat forward and rested his arms on the table. "Very well, Ms. Shirogane. Ask away."
A small smile formed on Naoto's lips as she opened up onto her first page. "First off, I would like to ask about your sword."
"You mean this one?" Astaire asked, reaching back into his bottomless box and bringing out his Zweihander, much to the astonishment of the rest of the group, bar Yosuke, who still seemed a bit distant.
"What in the…? How the hell'd you do that?!" Kanji exclaimed, his mouth practically hitting off the table.
"My sentiments exactly." Naoto nodded. "I'm not sure if you know this, but Rise-san and you both appeared on the news this morning…" Uh oh. This didn't sound good. "...where you were shown bringing out a sword an estimated 8-9 feet in length from within your coat, which couldn't have measured more than a few feet across in its own regard."
Peering into the box slightly, Yu noted, much like Rise had done, that it was completely pitch black inside it. However Astaire was retrieving his items when he couldn't even see them was a mystery. "Well… we know how you did it now, at least. Still doesn't explain how this thing works, though."
"I got it from a rather peculiar fellow who went by the name "Domhnall of Zena."" Astaire began as he quickly launched the heavy blade back where it belonged. "He always was a rather peculiar fellow, but an enchanter he was not."
"An enchanter?" Naoto queried.
"Indeed. While the Bottomless Box's origins are a little foggy, it nonetheless is powered by magic. It would surprise me if Domhnall made it, in other words."
Magic? From the way he talked about it, and brought up enchanters in a similar manner, Naoto could surmise that magic and sorcery were seemingly quite commonplace in Astaire's world. Her pencil scribbled away on the page like lightning before finally stopping. "Well, regardless of its origins, it's a very intriguing device. If you can't tell us anything about it, then I doubt we'll ever know where it came from…" she sighed, the disappointment not very well hidden in her tone. "...But since you brought it up, what other forms of magic exist in your world?"
"Miracles, Sorceries and Pyromancies. I was never a big fan of Sorceries, however. They require a scholar's mind to work to full effectiveness."
"Not the sharpest tool in the box?" Yosuke asked in a close to spiteful tone. While Astaire may have thought nothing of it, everyone else seemed to glance his way with varied expressions, mostly of confusion or surprise. While he certainly had his moments, Yosuke wasn't the type to straight up insult people. The most severe reaction could be seen from Rise, who practically bore holes into Yosuke's head with the stare she gave him.
Astaire, however, lowered his head slightly in what seemed to be embarrassment. "...To tell the truth, if something doesn't involve fighting in some form I'm generally not the person to go to." His face seemed to redden slightly. "I'm better with my hands than I am with my head…" Genuine shame seemed to leak from every word he spoke.
With a sigh, he lifted his head and changed the subject, holding out his left hand. "Pyromancy involves the conjuring of fire using a Pyromancy flame. It is a relatively simple form of magic, but nonetheless rather destructive." A small flame shone brightly in his palm, a similar yet darker shade of red when compared to Yukiko's flames. "Miracles are different in that they can take many forms. Some aren't combat-based, but I mainly prefer to use just the one form."
Before he could resume his show-and-tell, Rise grabbed his right wrist and set it down on the table. "I… don't think that's a good idea right now. It's a public place, after all." She still hadn't forgotten what happened when she was given this talk earlier.
"Anything else?"
"How many people have you killed?"
Like many of the harsher statements given today, this question was posed by Yosuke, who glared at Astaire with his arms folded tight around his chest. It wasn't hard to see that the look in his eyes was much colder than anything the rest of the investigation team had seen.
"People, eh…?" Astaire nonetheless began. "...That depends entirely upon the definition, I should think. What kind of people are you referring to?"
"Yosuke…" Yu began as he extended his hand towards his partner.
"I mean normal, everyday people. Innocent people."
"Senpai, stop it!" Demanded a very much angered Rise.
But Astaire was not to be deterred. "...If I had to guess, I would suppose the number of lives I have taken to be somewhere in the hundreds of thousands." He replied calmly. "But their innocence? That would be harder to narrow down, I'm afraid." He closed his eyes, seemingly racking his brain. "I am sure that more than one innocent soul has entered Lordran on more than one occasion. But their innocence becomes questionable after that."
There was an uncomfortable silence that swept over the group after he declared this. The investigation team had been founded in response to two connected killings, which caused disarray for more than one person and jostled their lives out of their normality. Two people dead. Compared to hundreds of thousands, it seemed like a trivial amount. Barely relevant enough to be classified as a statistic. In the history of the world, even the most notorious serial killers hadn't killed anywhere near the amount of people Astaire had.
Just as Yosuke had thought.
But the group wasn't solely comprised of Yosuke. "I don't think that question was entirely fair, Senpai." Naoto began, a serious glint in her eye. "The world Astaire-san comes from is very much different from our own. Morality and value of life can differ even in different parts of our world, never mind someone else's."
"Yeah!" Rise had been itching to say something more meaningful all this time, with Naoto presenting her an opportunity to do so. "He explained it to us before, right? People turn into monsters in that world, innocent or not!"
Everyone's eyes told similar stories. Yosuke may have been bringing up a valid point, but his approach was much more malicious than anyone had been anticipating. He acknowledged this, tutting to himself and pushing his chair out. "I'm gonna get something to eat." He said, heading for the food counter. His voice was monotone, his face deadpan.
An awkward silence followed this little episode. It couldn't have been avoided, after all. It wasn't often that members of the investigation team snapped at each other with such vigor. It was more than enough to make Astaire feel a little responsible, but he decided not to show it. He knew where he stood on this matter and he wasn't going to budge. Hollows deserved killing, however many times was required.
"...By the way, somethin's been bothering me." Kanji piped up, trying to break the silence.. "...You're a knight, right? Like castles and dragons type stuff, right?" Astaire nodded slowly, trying to catch his drift. "It's just… I never heard of a knight saying "motherfucker" before."
Oh. Right. Now he understood.
Astaire's face reddened again, approaching beetroot levels of intensity. One could only remain stoic for so long when facing their wrongdoings, after all. "Wait a second, that's right!" Rise added, happy to have something else to focus on. "You've been doing a lot of weird stuff lately, and you don't seem to know you're doing it!"
"W-what do you mean?"
"The chopsticks, the elevator, the cursing… If you really are a knight and your world is all ancient and medieval, you shouldn't know how to do any of that!"
A valid point, actually. One which Astaire had completely ignored. He had just sort of knew how to do these things right off the bat. Almost like it was natural.
"Actually... I think I might know what's going on." Yu said.
"You do, Senpai? How come?" Sighing, Yu placed his elbows on the table.
"Because the same thing happened to me."