AN: This chapter doubles as an endorsement for the Alfred Hitchcock movie 'Spellbound', which I highly recommend watching before reading.
I mean, you can probably follow along just as well without watching it, but it's a damn fine movie. You'd be doing yourself a favour.
"...I realised that there isn't any real me…"
The voice sounded just above a whisper, unmistakably spoken by a male.
"...All those other Rises were just different sides of me, after all…"
Oh, who was he kidding. There was only one person it could possibly have been. Astaire wrinkled his nose as he shook himself awake. It was about all he could do, given something seemed to be forcefully keeping his legs bent and his arms behind his back. Even still, he cleared the fog from his mind as he mentally prepared himself to face his Shadow.
All eighteen of them.
For a moment, Astaire was speechless. Eighteen copies of himself, each identical down to the last hair. All of them stood looking down at him as he found himself bound to a simple wooden chair, against which straining proved no use. "W-What the devil is going on here?! Why are there so many of you?!" Astaire spat as the ropes dug into his wrists.
"So many of you." His clones repeated back to him in unison, their expressions blank. "We are your shadow. Your true selves." The clones then parted in the middle, bringing in to view the only one with a proper expression, a snide sneer and an upturned nose. "Not that repeating it will make much difference now, eh?"
There he was. "Well, what is it, then? If you think seventeen more Shadows will get an admission out of me, I've got bad news for you!" He said, keeping up his struggle against the ropes binding him. "Go on ahead, beat the daylights out of me or whatever else you've planned, it won't work!"
Every clone chuckled a low chuckle all at once. "Close, but no cigar." The Astaire in the middle finally stepped to the side as well, giving the real one a clear view of what was behind him.
Namely, Sieglinde. Bound in much the same manner as himself, but stripped of her armour and clothed only in rags, her head hung low. Her breaths sounded weak and laborious.
Astaire's blood ran cold. He began to struggle ever more fiercely against his restraints.
"One might almost be impressed. Denying one Shadow is bad enough, but all of us at once?" The main Shadow said, venom dripping from every word as he slowly strode over to Sieglinde. "Gods, you're uptight. Is there any version of yourself you can be honest with?"
"Stop this." Astaire protested uselessly, the ropes cutting into his wrists but refusing to give way. He could feel the panic begin to aggravate his chest as his Shadow drew closer to Sieglinde. "Don't you dare touch her, you monster!"
But his Shadow continued, unperturbed. "How did she put it? 'There is no real me, only different sides of me,' or something to that effect?" Seemingly from nowhere, the Shadow produced the thick, pitch-black blade of a Darksword, lining it up with Sieglinde's neck and forcing her to raise her head. She looked bruised, bloodied and beaten. "That rather sounds at odds with what you've told yourself up until now, doesn't it?"
It wasn't real. It couldn't have been real. But that didn't make it any easier to watch. Giving up on words, Astaire struggled and strained, his chair rocking to and fro as he fought against it.
"Oh, give over." His Shadow grinned as it drew the sword back. "It's nothing you haven't done before. The sooner you accept that-" Finally, the Darksword rushed for Sieglinde's throat. "-the better."
At the end of his rope, Astaire clenched his eyes shut and screamed.
Opening them again showed that he was now free of his restraints. The Darksword occupied his right hand, the blade just shy of Sieglinde's neck. All the other Shadows had vanished. It was just the two of them.
Clanging filled the silence as Astaire launched the Darksword into the distance. Unable to contain himself, he slumped over onto his knees and gazed blankly at the floor.
He didn't know what he'd done in the past, but he'd done it all the same. Him. Not some other vague past version, or a Shadow. Him.
The thought ceased plaguing him, even as the sun began to rise.
"Hey, wake the hell up, lover boy." An unfamiliar, feminine voice said gruffly.
Whatever semblance of tiredness had occupied Astaire, it was rid of in an instant as he shot to his feet, the new voice putting him immediately on edge. Alert to a fault, he locked eyes with his awakener.
A girl with long blonde hair and a pair of intimidating blue eyes behind her glasses. She tapped her foot and crossed her arms, looking anything but pleased. "'Bout time you got up. Thought you mighta hurt yourself after rolling out of bed drunk off your ass."
What in the Gods' names was going on. "Who are you?! What are you talking about?!" Astaire shouted, hand at the ready to draw a weapon. His eyes darted around the room before he realised where he was. "And how did you get inside Ms. Kujikawa's hotel room?! Answer me!"
"You let me in, stupid. Don't tell me you don't remember." The mysterious girl let out a sigh as Astaire looked at her blankly. "See if this sounds familiar. You, drunk off your ass-"
Oh Gods.
"-hooking up with me in the bar-"
Oh, Gods.
"-making out for an hour or two-"
Whatever 'making out' was, but Oh, Gods all the same.
"-the coming back here, snuggling under the covers and-"
"Oh good Gods in heaven above." Astaire said weakly, his hand slipping out of his cost as it fell limp. "I- We- In Ms. Kujikawa's room?" He asked hopelessly. Hope which deteriorated even further as the blonde girl nodded her head.
He'd… he'd partook in such rampant debauchery. Behind Ms. Kujikawa's back. In her room of all places. A thick veil of despair settled over Astaire as he took it all in. As if that wasn't bad enough, now the girl - whoever she was - had begun laughing at him.
"I feel bad enough as is without you making things worse." Astaire mumbled, his frustration dulled by his shame.
Actually, now that he listened to it, something about the girl's laugh was off. It was higher pitched, more girlish. Almost as if it didn't belong to her. "Oh man, your face!" The girl managed between gasps for air "You fell for it alright! You really fell for it!"
Before inevitably asking what he'd fallen for, Astaire's eyes widened in surprise as the girl seemed to morph before him. She shed her glasses, her expression lightened, and her head of blonde hair lifted off entirely, revealing a familiar reddish-brown colour underneath.
It was Rise. "Gotcha! Had you fooled, didn't I?" She said, grinning from ear to ear.
Astaire swore his jaw was ready to rocket to the ground floor. It hadn't looked like her, or even sounded like her, for that matter. She was like a completely different person. "You- So everything you just told me-?" He fumbled, still feeling shell-shocked.
"Mmhmm! Totally false!" Rise nodded, stifling another laughing fit as Astaire's upper body went limp from relief. "Good to know my acting's still on point! I bet I could fool everyone back in Inaba as well, if I tried!" She giggled, brushing the wig back into a more proper shape. "Honestly, I can't imagine what you would be like if you were drunk. I doubt you'd be that bad, though!"
Looking at her, Astaire couldn't help but notice that Rise was dressed somewhat differently from normal. Black was far from the usual eye-catching, colourful tones she usually wore, and he hadn't seen her wear an outright dress before. "I certainly hope you have a reason beyond fraying my nerves for disguising yourself like that."
"Are you telling me you don't know what day today is?!" Rise balked, quickly bringing up her phone and tapping through screen after screen in a flurry. Finally, she stopped on one and thrusted the screen into Astaire's face.
To Rise, it was a calendar. To Astaire, it was a pile of shapes and indecipherable symbols. Luckily, the more literate of the two keenly elaborated. "It's been a week today since you popped out of the TV! Woo!" She cheered.
Astaire blinked slowly as he tried and failed to parse out her logic. "I… I suppose it has been, but that doesn't explai-"
"Which means." Rise interrupted, an edge suddenly present in her voice as she brought a finger to Astaire's chest. "You've been wearing that same coat for about a week now. And from the looks of it-" she worked a finger to the coat's neck and quickly pulled down, getting the faintest glimpse of peachy flesh underneath before Astaire recoiled in embarrassment. "-You don't even have a shirt on underneath! What's up with that?"
"It's the way I arrived and the way I stayed, is what!" Astaire explained as he fixed his coat tightly up against his neck, his face reddening a shade. "And furthermore, that still doesn't-!"
"It's shopping time, that's why!" Rise finally admitted, throwing her blonde wig back on. "An idol can't be seen just strutting about in public! We'd get flocked with fans, and then we'd never get anything done!" As she affixed her wig and put her glasses back on, her face seemed to immediately sharpen again. "Which means we gotta go in disguise, kapiche?!"
God's above, it was like a completely different person. "Alright, understood!" It felt less like portraying understanding and more like trying to tame a savage beast. It was only with his hands blocking disguised-Rise's terrifying gaze that something caught Astaire's attention. "Wait… Did you just say 'We'?"
Horror compounded upon terror as a mighty crash sounded off the table. A large box, emblazoned with 'RISETTE', gave off a menacing aura as Rise herself moved to flick it open. Inside lay more utensils, tools and colourful accoutrements than any one man's brain could hope to comprehend in one instant.
Worse yet, some of them were recognisable as being regularly used by Rise when applying her make-up.
"You'd better believe I said 'We'." Rise said with an almost sadistic, excited twinge. She turned on Astaire, smiling like a demon as she brandished her tools between her fingers, like a terrifying, brightly-coloured set of claws. "Hold still, Astaire-kun~"
Naoto drummed her pen off her lips in thought as she carefully examined Yu's text from a few days before. Which was easier said than done when the full light of the sun glared off her screen. "Madness, darkness, hidden enemies, ignorance and failure. Hmm." She swapped to cross-referencing the exact cards with the listings in Kanji's book, seeming to kick up more dust with each page turn. "That does seem to corroborate what's listed here, but it doesn't exactly-"
"Frickin' winged rats! Go on, buzz off already!" Kanji unintentionally butted in, swatting at a particularly ornery crow who seemed to have it out for him. "Man, the hell is wrong with these Okina birds?! Gotta arm wrestle them just to sit down in peace!" He grunted, almost knocking over the table into the street as he flailed about.
"Kanji-kun." Naoto spoke so sharply that even the crow knew to scarper. "I would appreciate your attention on this matter. This is the reason we came out here, isn't it?"
For a moment, Kanji looked like he wanted to protest, but something inside him seemed to let the matter drop. "Yeah, sure thing. Dunno why we had to come all the way to Okina just to read a book outside some random café, but whatever. Lemme see."
Taking the book in hand and switching between it and Naoto's notes, Kanji tried his damndest to find a solution blowing in on the brisk summer breeze.
...well, a solution was being a bit generous. A guess would have to do.
"Lessee, uh… Senpai said he ain't seen this weird lookin' card before, and it's pro'lly got something to with Astaire, so…" He paused, licking his lips in thought. "...Maybe it means all this is linked into him somehow. Hate to admit it, but Yosuke-senpai ain't wrong about all this weird stuff happening just after he showed up."
The timing was certainly noteworthy enough to extend beyond the realms of pure coincidence. "Perhaps you're right. Working off that assumption is liable to prove more useful than working off nothing at all, at least." Naoto admitted, glancing down at the table between her and Kanji with a pause. "It pains me to admit it, but interpreting something as nebulous as tarot readings is… a bit outside my field, so to speak."
"Hey, no sweat. Two heads're better than one, right?" Kanji assured her. Then again, the thought that he of all people could help Naoto with anything requiring mental work was a hard one to wrap his head around. But hell, he wasn't complaining. "Anyway, workin' off what I just said… how 'bout the whole 'hidden enemies' deal? Any ideas?"
Naoto stopped to drum off her lips for a while longer before an idea seemed to strike her from the blue. "It could potentially be a relevant moniker for Astaire-san's Shadow, given it hid inside him before unveiling itself." She said, the usual keen look in her eye dulling slightly as she mulled over her result. "...I suppose." She added.
"Don't suppose nuthin', that sounds about right to me." Kanji, shrugged, watching intently as Naoto sighed and took not of her theory. Alright, now it felt like they were gaining some kind of ground! Eager to keep up the pace, Kanji poked his nose back into the book. However, he couldn't help but feel another issue poke him in the back of the head.
Nah, that could wait. It totally didn't matter. Totally didn't.
"'Ignorance' hardly seems like a specific enough term to describe anyone in particular. It's a vagueness on par with that of a tabloid horoscope." Naoto continued, racking her brain for answers.
Totally didn't matter. Mmhmm. No two ways about it.
...Then again, if it didn't matter, what was the harm in asking? "Hey, uh… 'bout that movie you said was showing today…" Kanji began slowly, noticing that Naoto's thinking-and-not-taking-hand froze in place as he brought the matter up. Ah hell, maybe this hadn't been that good of an idea after all. But screw it, if he lost his nerve now, who knew when it'd come back. "W-What time'd you say it was showing again?"
"Oh. Yes, of course." Naoto looked at her watch, seeming the tiniest bit meeker after the matter was raised. "It… doesn't start too far from now, actually." She said, trying to be rid of the inscrutable tightness that seemed to well up inside her. It wasn't like the situation was anything new, after all. She'd been to see movies with Yu-senpai plenty of times. It was normal enough. Then again, Kanji wasn't Yu. Whatever kind of difference that made, if any. Which was none. "A-Anyway, we should continue while we've still got time. On the topic of ignorance…"
However, as Naoto put pencil to paper again, she lifted her head to notice Kanji peering idly off into the bustling Okina crowds, as well as through the windows of the cafe they sat outside. "I doubt there'll be many crows having coffee inside, Kanji-kun."
"I ain't lookin' for crows!" Kanji didn't even make eye contact as he spoke, preferring instead to quickly peek behind himself. "'S more like… you ever get the feelin' you're being watched?"
"Keep your head down numbnuts, they're gonna see us!" Rise hissed, forcing Astaire's head further down behind his newspaper, gently enough that his combed-back hair didn't get messed up. "Okay… looks like Kanji didn't spot you. Phew. You think anyone else is on to us?" She whispered, peeking over from their bench across the street.
"I'd tell you if I could see." Astaire said through a veritable monsoon of tears, which rolled down his cheeks and left a noticeably light-coloured streak amongst the layers of fake tan on his face. "I feel as though my eyes are melting."
Rise took one look at him and nearly keeled over in her seat. "Oh crap, that's not good! You're gonna ruin all my hard work!" She said and loudly as she dared, whipping out a handkerchief and patting Astaire down, leaving soggy orange patches as she went. Even then, tears were followed up with yet more tears. "Jeez, you're gonna dry out entirely at this rate! I wonder if you're allergic to something I used… eyeliner, maybe?"
If it was a case of narrowing down the culprit out of everything Rise had slathered on him, Astaire guessed they'd be guessing until the sun went down. "Why are we even spying on Kanji and Ms. Shirogane in the first place? Even I know this isn't what shopping consists of." He said, his eyes squinting thinner and thinner as the tears welled up higher.
"Because Look! At! Them!" Rise stamped her foot of the ground with each word, drawing a few puzzled stares. "It's so sweet they're gonna give me diabetes! We have to watch! They're just so stupid-cute together!"
Stupidity and/or cuteness aside, spying on friends from afar felt morally suspect, even if they had done it before. Amongst the bustling streets and throngs of people, Astaire's attention was elsewhere. Namely, on everyone else except the two people he knew to trust.
He was on edge when things were too quiet. He was on edge when things were too active and noisy.
Gods, the things Lordran did to people. It made peace of any sort seem like a far-off dream. Inside, Astaire knew he probably should've settled down sooner than later. He'd been amongst people often enough to where it should've clicked that nobody had it out for him anyway.
And then he saw him.
Through the tears, Astaire caught sight of him. That mustachioed, big-toothed stranger who always seemed to be nearby, wearing the same slim black suit as he'd had before. He slinked down the street casually, but it was easy to see that his eyes were darting about madly.
It seemed as though Rise's 'Death-By-Cosmetics' treatment had actually paid off. "Psst, Ms. Kuji-"
Astaire bit his lip to resist yelling as Rise's heel met the top of his foot. "I told you not to call me that when we're incognito!"
"Whatever your name is, look there!" Astaire nodded in the slinking man's direction, at which point Rise's eyes went wide upon contact. "That character has been following me for most of this week, and I'm not quite sure why."
Rise gasped. "That's that guy from outside Grandma's the other day! Did he seriously follow us all the way to Okina?!"
"Not quite. Look at him." Astaire wiped and narrowed his eyes, tracing the suited man's path. "He's gawking all over the place, not at us. I think your disguises might have given him the slip." Which was impressive in and of itself, considering he was still wearing his coat. "But if that's the case…"
"He knows roughly where we are, but not exactly?" Rise guessed. "That's like… half-following, half-not."
"I daresay you're not far off the mark. I'd call that concerning enough to warrant bringing up at our next gathering with everyone, wouldn't you?" With that, Astaire leaned back as the suited man disappeared amongst the crowd, looking for a pair he'd never find.
Rise nodded before pushing her glasses up her nose. "He doesn't look like any reporter I've ever seen. If he's following you- or worse, both of us- he could be dangerous. We'd better- shoot!" Interrupting herself, Rise suddenly panicked and forced Astaire's head even lower down.
"Agh! Shoot him? With this many onlookers? Are you quite mad?!" Astaire grunted, rubbing the back of his head where Rise had clutched at his hair.
"It's not that, dummy!" Rise huddled in lower and tighter behind her paper, so closely that it was clear she wasn't actually reading it. "I think I just saw-"
"Yu-kun? Are you alright?" Yukiko gave Yu a nudge as they strolled down the street, arms interlinked. "You're being awfully quiet."
Tearing his idle eyes away from the Okina storefronts, Yu shook his head and returned Yukiko's nudge. "Maybe I'm just nervous because it's been awhile since our last date. If it gets much worse, I might start coughing up butterflies." He whispered teasingly.
Yukiko gave his arm a gentle tap as she sniggered. "Oh, stop… I don't think I've seen you properly nervous once, never mind now." Honestly, what was he thinking? As if Yu Narukami would ever be nervous. He'd hardly batted an eye for an entire year, save for when Nanako had been hospitalised. How silly.
...Then again, the only reason for that was because he'd been through it all once before. How he'd felt during the first cycle, Yukiko could only guess.
Time to bust out the stern voice, then. "... I'm serious, Yu-kun. If there's anything bothering you, you can tell me. There's nothing you could say that'd make me think any less of you."
As if she'd whispered a magic spell in his ear, Yukiko felt the weight of Yu's head lean into the side of her own as he let out a long-held sigh. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."
Taking that as a sign to maybe stop clogging up the sidewalk for less lovey and/or dovey people, the couple quickly shuffled off to one side and took a seat. Two hastily-bought topsicles later, Yukiko sat back down and gave Yu her sweetest smile. "Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"
Yu chuckled half-heartedly. "More like 'What's right?' I feel like I haven't slept right in weeks, and it's only been a few days." He stopped to take a lick of his topsicle, the sweet helping to stave off the sour. "This whole thing inside the TV… I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't what we got."
"I know how you feel. Yesterday, with Chie, I…" Yukiko trailed off as she lowered her head. She managed a smile as she gave Yu a look. "Well, at least Yosuke has her back. I think he surprised everyone yesterday."
Yu chuckled. "First good surprise we've had for a while." However, his flicker of a smile was quick to fade as he gazed listlessly at his feet. "Things are bad in there. Really bad. And I'm not sure what's gonna happen if they wind up getting much worse. There's too much that could go wrong."
As for what lay ahead, nobody could say, and the only member of the team who could guess had been caught off guard a worrying amount of times in spite of his prior knowledge. It didn't exactly bode well for anyone else.
"Hmm. I guess there's only one thing we can do, then." With a curt smile, Yukiko wormed her fingers inside Yu's clenched fist and skillfully interlocked hers with his. "We just need to believe in everyone, that's all. We'll get through this like we always do." She said, smiling warmly.
She smiled less warmly as Yu quickly leaned in and planted a kiss on her cheek. The heat quickly sapped out of her mouth and into her cheeks, assisted by Yu's genuine grin as it was lit up by the sun. "If you're as good at pep talks with everyone else, I think we'll pull through just fine."
God, even if he was her boyfriend, doing stuff like that out of the blue- and in public no less- melted Yukiko's composure like snow in her hand. Unable to offer a response beyond half-formed, embarrassed mumbles, Yukiko tried desperately to cool herself off by directing her attention elsewhere.
Which… actually proved rather easy. There seemed to be some kind of commotion on the other side of the street, as a young blonde girl dragged her much taller counterpart off behind her.
Funny, his coat looked an awful lot like Astaire's, too.
"They're not gonna give us the slip that easily! Hurry up, Astaire-kun!" Rise shouted as she dragged Astaire behind her by his wrist, eyes fixed on Naoto and Kanji's respective backs.
Hurrying of any sort proved difficult as Astaire bumped shoulders with every unfortunate sod Rise aggressively dragged him past. He muttered apology after hasty apology, turning more heads than was liable to be healthy. More than Kanji and Naoto, his eyes were peeled for any trace of moustachioed strangers amongst the commotion.
"Where the heck are they going? Talk about out of the…" Gradually, Rise's momentum dulled to a stop and her eyes went wide. The answer to her question lay in front of her, The Okinaplex. Movie central in Okina. "...way."
Shoulders aching from repeated impacts, Astaire's state wasn't improved as Rise's grip on his wrist suddenly tightened, almost to the point of shattering it altogether.
"Hoooh my gosh. Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! They're going to see a movie together!"
That was enough 'Ohmigosh'es to be cause for alarm. "...So it would appear. Why is th-?"
Astaire quickly regretted not-quite-asking as Rise whirled around on the spot and clutched the lapels of his coat, dragging him down to face-level. "It'sadate it'sadate it'stotallyadate! I wonder who asked first? What are they going to see? How are they-?"
If Rise's wanton excitement over her friends' love lives wasn't enough cause for concern, the malicious glimmer in her eye as she stopped herself, as well as the toothy grin, certainly were.
"We're going in there after them." Rise growled intently, looking like a starving wolf that had just spotted a rabbit.
Feeling especially rabbit-like all of a sudden, Astaire simply nodded in defeat as the two of them made for the ticket counter.
"Two for Classics Season: Spelbound, please." Naoto said, keeping her voice and hat low. What an odd couple she and Kanji must've appeared to be.
Not that they were a couple. They weren't.
"Thanks." Kanji grunted above her, eyeing up the clerk on the other side of the desk for any funny looks. He passed a few notes across the counter and swiped his ticket before Naoto could inevitably protest him paying.
Were dates always supposed to feel as awkward as this?
Not that this was a date. It wasn't.
Both swallowing their respective hesitations,Naoto and Kanji briskly made their way into their allotted screen.
"Twoforwhateverthosetwojustgotticketsfor!" Rise blurted out, nearly headbutting the clerk across the counter as she sprinted up to meet him and just barely stopped.
Faced with the oppressive aura of the grinning, glimmering, starry-eyed girl before him, the clerk took a moment to process what the hell she'd actually just said.
"Spellbound, I think it was." Said her… partner? Boyfriend? Hostage? He looked as though his soul was being sucked out through his wrist and he'd long since accepted his end was nigh. "Please just hand them over. There's no point in trying to stop her." He said, sounding as defeated as he looked.
"And give us some popcorn, drinks and candy, too!" Rise beamed, slapping her cash down on the counter with such force that the entire building almost collapsed.
Jeez, as if the last couple hadn't been strange enough. There was little else the weary clerk could do but adhere to their… well, her demands and try to put it out of his mind.
"This is gonna be so great! It's like getting two shows for the price of one!" Rise giggled, clutching her cheeks as she failed to contain her excitement.
Astaire sighed. "At least that leaves me with one show I won't feel guilty about watching."
Where the hell was everyone?
Kanji wasn't at his place, Naoto wasn't wandering around solving mysteries, Yu hadn't hopped out of the TV and Yukiko was nowhere to be found. "Jeez, I hope nothing bad happened to 'em." Chie thought out loud, working contentedly through her steak as she gazed around the food court. Still no sign of anyone.
"There's gotta be something funny going on." Yosuke said between similar contented bites, one hand propping his head up. "'Specially if you're the one buying steak for once. Maybe it's something in the air."
On instinct, Yosuke retracted his leg under the table as a terrifying stomp sounded out from where it had been. "I can buy the steak from time to time, you ass! Just accept it and be grateful!"
Couldn't argue with that. Steak was steak. Even still… "I'm grateful, sure I am! I just wanna know what spurred you into coughing up for once, that's all." Yosuke explained, getting ready to recoil another of his limbs at any notice.
And yet, Chie didn't lash out, or shout, or cause any kind of ruckus at all, actually. Instead, she began meekly jabbing at her steak and avoiding direct eye contact.
Who was this girl, and what had she done with Chie Satonaka?
"It's for .. Y'know, helping me. Back in the TV." Chie finally said after a curiously long amount of time. She looked like she wanted to continue, but the words simply refused to form without a fight.
However, Yosuke's did, luckily. "Huh. Really?" Or unluckily, depending on who was asked.
That helped Chie out. "What do you mean 'Really'?! What the hell kind of reward were you expecting?!"
"That's my point, beef-for-brains, I wasn't expecting one!" Yosuke shouted back.
And right back to being tongue-tied Chie went. "You… weren't?"
"'Course not, idiot. We're friends, we keep an eye on each other. It's not like I wouldn't have stepped in or something." Yosuke continued, focusing his attention back on his food. "Besides, that whole thing worried the shit outta me. I had to do something." He said nonchalantly.
Oh god, the tongue tying was worsening. "W-Worried?!" Chie blurted as her voice echoed around the empty food court. "You were worried about me?"
It must've only then hit Yosuke how the situation sounded, because his hands froze in place and he ceased chewing his food. "Yeah, I was." He said a little less easily than before. "You're so caught up in protecting others that you keep forgetting to protect yourself too. Who wouldn't worry about that?"
What the hell was this situation? Chie simply didn't know what to make of it. And Yosuke's eyes were hidden by his hair, so who knew what he made of it either? But the atmosphere felt… weird. Uncomfortable weird. Uncomfortable enough that she'd do anything to alleviate it.
"I was worried about you too." Chie finally responded seconds after Yosuke spoke. "Back when Astaire-san went all loopy and had you up against that tree. I…" She paused to compose herself. This was so embarrassing. "...I wondered for a second what it'd be like if you were gone, and I…"
Yosuke's head lifted as Chie's sobs cut through the silence. "Hey, hey, calm down, alright?" He was out of his chair in a flash, though he fell flat once he'd actually reached Chie proper. What should he do to calm her down? What could he do? Would she break his ribs for trying?
Deciding that an angry Chie was better than a sad Chie, Yosuke kneeled down and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him with tearful eyes and her hands balling up the sleeves of her jacket.
Holy shit, Chie was actually cute.
Goddamnit Hanamura, focus! Now wasn't the time! Say something to calm her down, you dumbass!
"I'm not going anywhere. It'll take more than some roided-up dude with a box full of swords and knives to do me in." Yosuke assured her, giving her a firm look and a confident smile.
Of the many surprises to unfold that day, two in particular stood out among the rest. The only remaining question: Which of the two was more surprising? The fact that Chie Satonaka was cute, or that Yosuke Hanamura had it in him to be… kinda cool?
The question went unanswered as Chie dried her eyes under the light of the reddening evening sky. Mostly because they'd forgotten that one of their friends had still stuck around.
"The outrage! The gall! Why, if I knew where to go to sue, I would! This is unfair, unbear and everything in between!" Teddie bellowed uproariously, storming in to ruin Chie and Yosuke's moment as if on cue. "First Yuki-chan runs off with Sensei, then Kanji and Nao-chan skip off together, and what do I find when I come out of a hard day's work?! Canoodling! Canoodling of every kind and colour!"
Both Chie and Yosuke froze in place, their heads turning slowly to meet Teddie's outraged expression.
Neither knew quite how to respond at first.
"And don't even get me started on Rise-chan! My last balloon of hope, adrift on a black and blue summer breeze! Ooooh, I can't stand it! When will Teddie's Summer of Romance finally be-?!"
Perfectly in sync, Yosuke uppercutted Teddie so hard that his head flew off and exposed his human body underneath, whose jaw Chie connected with before he'd even begun to lose momentum. He fell onto his back, feeling as though all nine of his bear lives - or however many lives bears had - had been knocked out of him in one fell swoop. He was completely out for the count.
Adrenaline still pumping from their combo-attack, Yosuke and Chie looked each other in the eye, tinted red by the light of the day's end.
"...Drinks at Shiroku?"
"You bet."
"You're buying this time."
"Damnit."
Spellbound wasn't exactly how Kanji pictured it, for being a movie chosen by Naoto. Black and white, he'd expected. Foreign, he'd been ready for. But there were less guys in fancy suits or deerstalker hats carrying magnifying glasses than he'd been anticipating. That being said, all the talk of 'Psychoanalysis' sounded right up her alley.
Hell, after long enough, it proved to be venturing down his alley too. "Holy shit, that's not his signature?!" He whispered in shock. If it wasn't his signature, whose was it? And furthermore, why? The more questions he found to ask himself, the more interested he became. He had to know more. He wanted to know more.
"I'm glad to hear you're enjoying yourself." Naoto said in one of the film's quieter moments. "I wasn't sure what to expect at first. I don't doubt that many would find my taste in cinema to be… an acquired one." A quick glance to Kanji's side, lit up by the screen, revealed a small, very defined smile on Naoto's lips. "It seems I chose wisely after all."
"Hell yeah you did. This is great." Kanji grinned back, reluctant to tear his eyes away as the film progressed.
He had to admit though, the romance stuff… it, uh… Well, not that he didn't like it, far from it, but the whole thing seemed to… shift the mood, a little. Got him thinking about different stuff. Less about 'whose signature is it' and more 'That kinda thing must be nice.'
…
Naoto's slender hand rested atop the armrest next to him, perfectly at ease. She seemed to be as immersed in the film as he was.
Could she…? This was crazy talk, complete friggin' crazy talk, but… could she just maybe be… thinking the same thing?
There was a way to find out. One involving her hand and one of his. But holy shit if it didn't agitate Kanji to his core just thinking about it.
Pffft, what was he doing? He just had to not be a dingus about it, that was all. Then again, that would probably be easier said than done, knowing him.
Steeling every nerve and every fibre in every part of his body, Kanji braced himself as he slowly lifted his idle right hand, locked on target and preparing to strike.
"Holy crap, Kanji's making the first move!" Rise whispered excitedly, crunching through popcorn at a rate which suggested her diet was the furthest thing from her mind. "He's gonna try hold her hand! Aaaaaah~!" GOD, it was hard being quiet and excited at the same time. Rise felt about fit to burst in her seat as she watched the tension ramp up to eleven, shaking Astaire by the arm as it did. "Are you seeing this, Astaire-kun?! He's actually going for it!" However, Astaire didn't reply. "Astaire-kun? Hey, what's up?"
Obviously, movies weren't exactly going to be a common sight to anyone from Lordran, but even then, Astaire's focus was scarily ironclad. His eyes were wide and unblinking, his mouth parted ever so slightly in a look of sheerest awe. This was an examining-the-hell-out-of-a-pair-of-glasses tier trance. Even then, Rise couldn't help but find his stunned look kind of endearing. Again, he was like a little kid, experiencing it for the first time.
And true, awe was part of it. Concern was a much bigger part.
The story of a woman in a fairly prestigious position, putting herself on the line for the sake of a potential killer who only partially remembered who he was, hit a little closer to home than Astaire would've liked.
Inside, he silently wished the ending would be a happy one.
As Rise continued watching Kanji, it was quickly becoming evident that he was taking way longer to hold Naoto's hand than any normal person would've taken. At this rate the movie would be over before he even closed in! Come on, it wasn't that hard, right?!
...Right?
Astaire's hand was right there.
...Maybe she'd wait until later in the movie. A few more kissing scenes wouldn't do the mood any harm.
More than a few scenes later, the mood sure as hell hadn't been harmed. If anything, it only ramped up, at least in Rise's mind. Every so often, certain lines were spoken that made her heart beat that little bit faster.
"The mind isn't everything. The heart can see deeper sometimes."
"I couldn't feel this way toward a man who was bad."
Her attention hadn't been on Kanji nor Naoto for quite some time. She'd long since stopped digging at her popcorn and snacks. The movie had transfixed her as completely as it had done Astaire. So much so that any sense of time had long since passed out the window. Only when Rise realised how… well, climactic everything was seeming, did she realise how little time she had left.
She could do this. She could totally do this. As carefully as was practical, Rise's fingers closed in on Astaire's hand. The time had come. Time to show Kanji that this wasn't so freaking hard after all.
...Wait, hadn't they held hands before? Hadn't Naoto and Kanji also been there to witness it? Hadn't THEY been holding hands back then too?!
This was stupid! It wasn't her first time holding hands, it wasn't even Kanji's first time holding hands! There was no excuse for it being as hard to do a second time!
So why the hell was it so hard to do a second time, damn it?! What had changed, if anything?! Why was it so much harder to hold hands with him now than it had been only a few days before?!
Damn it, Kanji would just have to win this one.
"That was frickin' great! I almost wanna go back in and see it again!" Kanji enthused as he and Naoto walked out of the cinema side-by-side.
Naoto tucked her cap down as her eyes began to readjust to the comparatively bright conditions in the lobby. "My sentiments exactly. I was thoroughly enthralled from beginning to end." She said, her smile just barely visible under her cap.
"Yeah, pro'lly 'cause I wussed out after all that worryin'." Kanji thought to himself before quickly changing the subject in his mind. "The old dude was definitely my favourite character. Felt like he had everything under his thumb from the start, like a frickin' mastermind."
He could've sworn that Naoto's smile widened upon listening to him, but maybe it was just wishful thinking. "Going so far as to have a favourite character? I'm honestly surprised it's had as much of an impact on you, given you knew nothing about it going in."
"W-Well, I mean…" Kanji scratched the back of his head as he slipped by another crowd of people entering from outside. "Guess I just trusted you to pick something good, thass' all. 'Sides…" The moment he'd begun the sentence, Kanji regretted having even spoken. His face flushed as he scratched the back of his head, as if the embarrassment would flush away upon doing so. But goddamnit, he'd nutted up enough to get this far, he could say it. "...No matter what you're doin', 's always gonna wind up more fun if you're doin' it with someone y' like."
"YEEEEEEEES!"
...That didn't sound like Naoto. That sounded too high-pitched, emotional and undeniably happy to have been Naoto. It sounded a lot more like…
Oh son of a bitch.
Both turning around and praying to whatever deity was listening that it wasn't who it sounded like, Kanji and Naoto both turned around to meet…
Exactly who it sounded like. "Oops. Busted."
"R-Rise-san?!" Naoto stammered, suddenly red in the face. Even under her many layers of disguise, that face was hard to unseat from her memory.
"You're not supposed to call her that." Astaire sighed, shaking his head as he massaged the bridge of his nose. It was only a matter of time until something like this happened, disguises be damned.
"Astaire?! Dude, what's wrong with your face?!" Kanji couldn't help shouting. Astaire looked like some kind of gothic carrot, his tears having left black eyeliner stains running down his smudged orange face. As baffling as that was, it didn't distract from one more critical matter at hand. "Wait a minute… W-Were you an' Rise spyin' on us or something?!" Kanji fumed in realisation.
Just as Astaire sighed and prepared to confess their misgivings, Rise batted him back before he could speak, throwing one of her arms around Naoto's shoulders. "Us? Spying? Where do you come up with this stuff, Moronji?" She laughed in a carefree manner, fanning her hand dismissively as if nothing was wrong. "Astaire-kun and I were just out to do a little shopping and catch a movie, that's all!"
"I see. I wasn't aware that film noir cinema was among your interests, Rise-san." Naoto said flatly, raising an eyebrow.
Crap. "N-Never judge a book by its cover, right? Besides, Astaire-san wanted to go see it too, so-" Rise beamed again as her smile felt a little harder to maintain.
"I wasn't aware that Astaire-san was so well-informed on the local cinema listings. Especially seeing as he lacks a phone, a computer, or internet access of any kind." Naoto continued just as flatly, shooting Astaire the incredulous raised-eyebrow now. "Not to mention your suspicious lack of bags for supposedly having gone shopping earlier today."
DOUBLE CRAP. "W-We just didn't see much! It was window shopping more than anything else, right Astaire-kun?" Rise turned her head, giving Astaire a look of 'If you mess this up for us now I'm making you sleep in the shower.'
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Astaire didn't even get a chance to answer. "I've been shopping with you before, Rise-san. Please don't insult my intelligence." Naoto said bluntly. Any shopping trip involving Rise Kujikawa that didn't end with an armful of bags from every store entered clearly hadn't involved Rise Kujikawa.
TRIPLE CRAP. Rise froze on the spot as she began sweating bullets, trying to think of what she could say that would get them both out of this jam. They couldn't just leave things like this. If they did, neither Kanji nor Naoto would trust her with anything again. Think. Think. Two of her friendships depended on it!
"Alright! You got me!" Rise finally admitted, throwing her arms up. "We didn't actually go shopping. We were out for… other reasons." Now, if only she could patch together what exactly that other something was, then-
"Oh, you two were on a date. Okay." Kanji nodded. "Don' worry, we won't tell nobody."
"W-WHAT?! NO!"
"W-WHAT?! NO!" Astaire and Rise blurted out at the same time, matched even down to their inflections. "I-It wasn't a date! I mean-!"
But Kanji continued, crossing his arms and swapping his glance between the both of them. "I 'unno. Runnin' off without tellin' anybody, lyin' about what you were doin', goin' to see a movie at the end of the day… Sounds like a date to me." He said, grinning and giving Astaire a wink. He knew that wasn't it. Like hell would Rise resist butting her nose into something that wasn't any of her damn business. But hey, if he and Naoto had to be embarrassed, they might as well have company.
And company they got as both Rise and Astaire clammed up. He must've made a pretty good argument, because from the looks on both their faces, neither had considered how date-like their circumstances had seemed until now.
"The jig is up. We'll have to come clean after all!" Rise thought to herself. This was the worst possible outcome.
"A date?! With Ms. Kujikawa, and in public?! Are they quite mad?!" Astaire thought to himself. This was worse than the worst possible outcome.
In that moment, with those thoughts swimming around in his head, Astaire had an idea. "Please excuse us, but you're right. We were following you." He said with a low, apologetic bow. "We noticed something earlier that might be relevant to our current investigation. We thought it would be important to tell you both as soon as possible.
Rise and Naoto's eyes went wide. Hot damn, that was perfect! "Yeah, yeah, that's right! We totally saw something suspicious earlier!" Eager to distract everyone from their previous line of inquiry, Rise looped her arm in around Naoto's, pressed their shoulders together and began walking her off in one direction. "C'mon, we'll tell you all about it! We can even hit up a few clothing stores on the way back!"
With both their date and perceived-date walking off, that left Kanji and Astaire to watch their backs as they went, trudging through the bustling crowds after them. "So, uh… She really was keepin' an eye on us, wasn't she?" Kanji eventually asked.
More knight than convincing actor, Astaire resigned himself to a nod. "She was. I apologise if we've somewhat dampened your evening as a result of our showing up."
Kanji chuckled. "Man, I kinda wanna thank her. I've been feeling like I was gonna explode this entire time. This goin'-out-with-someone-you-like shit's harder than it looks." He said with a wry smile as he gazed at Naoto being awkwardly forced forward by Rise. "But I'm gonna try an' get better at it. Just gotta keep trying, right?"
"Try enough times and you can do anything. It worked in Lordran, I can't imagine why it wouldn't work here too." Astaire shrugged. "No matter the case, I'm sure you'll get by, Kanji."
Smiles spread across both fellow's faces as they enjoyed the walk down the busy streets. A good dose of faith in one's allies was as potent an upper as any other.
Didn't explain why Astaire was still welling up with tears though.
"You want something to wipe that shit off your face?"
"Oh, Gods yes."
A suited man in a moustache who'd been following Astaire for the best part of a week. A Crystal Lizard appearing seemingly from nowhere and running about in the real world. Whether they were linked was questionable. Whether they were good or not wasn't. "...and then there's that ring of Sieglinde-san's… What could it all mean?" Naoto pondered as she looked in the mirror.
"Hey Naoto-kun, try this on!" Rise said in her usual bubbly manner as she swiped Naoto's cap and quickly replaced it with a straw Panama hat. "Huh, what do you think? Perfect for summer, right?" She asked keenly, already making for the other sections of the store and lifting airy articles from their hangers.
"Rise-san, please, this could be serious. Are you sure that ring was the same outside the TV as it was within?" Naoto said as she swiped her cap back.
Rise shrugged. "Sure I'm sure. Why wouldn't it be?"
Checking to make sure Astaire was out of earshot, which, talking to Kanji a few racks over, he was, Naoto leaned in to whisper in Rise's ear. "Because it was given to him by Sieglinde-san, that's why."
"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?" Rise asked, tilting her head.
Sighing, Naoto leaned in again. "Do you recall when we met that man at the beginning of Astaire-san's dungeon, and he claimed to have killed him before? Initially, I was under the impression that he was simply some kind of imaginary figment conjured up by that world, that he wasn't truthfully real. Able to touch us, yes, but not the same person who Astaire-san killed." She poked her head up again to be sure they weren't being listened to, then continued. "But then Sieglinde-san appeared too. Initially, I believed her to be a similar imaginary entity, until she gave Astaire-san that ring. If it was truly something purely imaginary, I don't believe he should've been able to take it outside the television."
"Wait a second." Rise's finger interjected as it poked up in front of Naoto's face. "Aren't Shadows born in the other world too? That never stopped Senpai bringing all the weird stuff they dropped to Daidara-san, so why should Sieglinde-chan be any different?"
"Because Sieglinde-san wasn't a Shadow. If Shadows are born of humanity's negativity, at least they were born of something from our world. But Sieglinde-san? She doesn't fit that pattern. She and the man who became a Hollow are complete outliers. But they're not solely beings bound to the other world either, as evidenced by that ring of Astaire-san's. So then…"
"...What were they?" Rise finished for her, looking pale and bunching up her de-railed clothes in her hand. "...Do you have any ideas, Naoto-kun?" She asked almost pleadingly, concern written in bold across her face.
Unfortunately, Naoto could only shake her head. "I don't. Not conclusive ones, anyway. I'm afraid all we can do is wait and see how the situation develops." Only once she'd spoken did Naoto notice how thoroughly sullen Rise appeared after her little explanation. Her head hung low, her eyes to the floor. Suddenly, shopping for clothes seemed to have lost its luster.
Sighing to herself, Naoto reached out and swapped her usual cap for the Panama again. "...This is rather fetching, I must admit."
Like she'd hit the switch to her mood, Naoto leapt as Rise pounced on her from behind. "I know, right?! It'd totally suit you better on sunny days than that stuffy old thing! You're gonna be happy you made the switch once we hit the beach with Nanako-chan later!" And before Naoto could protest having been invited to the beach without her knowledge, Rise was racing off further into the store to grab whatever else might suit her.
This… felt like it was going to be a long shopping trip.
"Nuh-uh. Nope. Nope. Not a chance." Kanji said every time Astaire raised a new item of clothing with a confused look. "No- you already picked that one up. That's from the girls' section, dumbass! What the hell are you even looking at that for?!"
This was going nowhere fast. Frustration beginning to overwhelm him, Astaire finally threw his hands up. "I don't know what I'm looking for in here! Where's the armour? The steel, the leather, the chainmail? Even a Sorcerer would turn his nose up at such paltry protection!"
Frustration built up just as quickly in Kanji as he began to raise his voice. "It ain't for protection, idiot, it's for wearin' normally! You tellin' me you ain't never wore something in that other world of yours just to feel comfortable?!"
"No, I didn't!" Astaire bellowed back immediately.
Oh. Well, shit. Guess that bigass coat of his was the most comfortable thing he'd ever had. Any wonder he never took the damn thing off. Exhaling through his teeth, Kanji vented his negativity and decided to give the whole charade another go. "Alright, just… gimme a sec." He said, disappearing amongst the racks of the fabric jungle like a lone survivor.
Nary a minute later he was back, not only with an armful of clothes, but a bonus on top of that. "Alright, time to see what suits you! Leave it to us, Astaire-kun!" Rise said with a wink.
That wink seemed a lot scarier after the ordeal he'd been through the morning prior. Making sure to keep Rise well out of arm's reach, Astaire caught the first pile of clothes Kanji tossed to him, before he turned and pointed off to one side of the store. "Awright, changing room's over there, so- Oh, yeah, right." Kanji began before turning back to see Astaire had already changed. "Forgot you could do that."
Well, that would speed things up. All the same, Rise couldn't help but wonder what the security cameras would show every time Astaire pulled that trick in front of them.
After more shirts, jeans, jumpers and jackets than a knight could wave a sword at, something began to poke at Astaire's attention. "I hate to be a bother but, er… is there any particular reason everything's black and blue?" Which, indeed, it had been. Every outfit handed to him had been, in one way or another, picked by Kanji to contain both colours primarily. Never one or the other, always both.
A fact which, to Kanji, must've been the obvious choice, because he looked at Astaire like he'd asked what two plus two was. "Wait, you serious? You two didn't pull that shit on purpose?" He asked with a look in Rise's direction, which she recoiled at in confusion. "Really? That's a hell of a coincidence if you ask me." Reaching into his back pocket to grab his phone, Kanji brought up a group photo of the Investigation Team, pointing particularly at Rise in it.
"Rise always had a thing for orange and white in the summer." Kanji explained to Astaire, bringing him in closer. "Orange top, white bottoms." He then pointed to Astaire himself, specifically, his clothes. "Blue top, black bottoms."
Both Rise and Astaire stared at him blankly. Until finally, "Oh, shoot!" Rise pounded her fist into her palm.
At least one of them got it. "There ya go. You've been colour co-ordinated the whole time, ya morons. I figured you'd set it up on purpose so, y'know, you both pop out more." Kanji shrugged. Jeez, it's basic enough stuff, it don't take a genius to get it.
"Wow Kanji, I'm actually impressed! That's pretty smart, coming from you!" Rise said, looking genuinely surprised and, secretly, feeling a little bit pleased. Complimenting outfits, yay!
Kanji shrugged. "'S what happens when your folks run a textile sto- Hey, the hell's that supposed to mean?!" He barked, shaking his fist angrily. "You're the one that went this long without noticin' it, like you can say anything!"
Not seeking to draw any more attention to herself when she was supposed to be incognito, Rise conceded with a sigh and a shrug. "Yeah, I guess I should have. Oh well." She turned back to Astaire, who suddenly seemed a lot more content with being given such a consistent colour palette. She ran her eyes up and down him and smiled. "I think it suits you! How's it feel to wear?"
It was a simple enough outfit. A modest, long-sleeved white shirt under a blue short-sleeved one. It was airy and light, and surprisingly, allowed the Bottomless Box to remain just as hidden as it always had. Punctuated with black bottoms and a pair of black shoes for consistency and boom, Knight Astaire had officially activated casual mode. "It's good. If it keeps the box hidden, I believe I'll make good use of it." He said, nodding thoughtfully.
Joyous to the point of glowing like the sun, Rise clapped her hands together. "Great! Now that that's one outfit sorted out, I know what to do for the rest of them!" She said cheerfully, disappearing in amongst the racks once again.
Wait, exactly how many constituted 'the rest of them'?
"I… think I'd better go after her." Astaire sighed, sprinting in a vague Rise-ish direction, leaving Kanji to himself.
Or so it had appeared. "Your knowledge regarding clothing is wider than I anticipated." Said Naoto, seemingly having spawned behind Kanji from nowhere and wheeling him around in shock as a result.
Jeez! Any wonder Astaire'd knocked Teddie a new facehole, that shit put you on edge. As the tension and shock left him, Kanji rubbed the back of his head modestly. "What, that? I mean, 's no big deal, just gotta know this stuff from time to time, right?"
"Even I failed to notice Rise-san and Astaire-san's unintentional harmony. Colour theory… doesn't exactly come up very often in my line of work, I'm afraid." Naoto admitted, tipping her cap down.
Was it really something to be so embarrassed about? "Don't worry about it, it ain't a big deal. Helps when you're puttin' an outfit together, but I ain't found much use for it outside of that." Kanji shrugged. Not like matching colours was anything to get too big of a head over.
Which Naoto really should've realised, and yet her hat remained tipped, to the point where it almost seemed like she was hiding her face. "Given your… aptitude for such matters, w-would you- I mean, if you happened the find the time…" Naoto stammered. Naoto never stammered. The hell was going on? "...Would you accompany me here again to… to help me find something… coordinated?" She finally managed to spit out.
Holy shit. Whatever Kanji had been expecting, that had to have been the furthest down the list of possibilities. Asking that kind of thing in that kind of way, and being asked by Naoto of all people? "S-Sure I would!" Kanji belted out more aggressively than he'd intended, clasping his mouth as he noticed some of the other customers gaze in his direction. Way to not sound overexcited, dumbass. He cleared his throat before speaking again. "Y-Yeah, anytime. Jus' say the word."
Seemingly having exhausted her budget for words for the next week, Naoto affixed her hat and gave Kanji a quick, stiff nod of affirmation.
...Well, now things felt plain awkward. "We- uh, should probably catch up with those other two. Gotta make sure we don't lose 'em before headin' back, r-right?" Kanji tried to say, internally beating the shit out of himself for having tripped up at the end. Maybe he should've pulled a Naoto and just kept quiet himself.
With another quick nod, Naoto all too keenly strode off in a hurry, her arms stiff as they swung at her sides, as though wading through the swamp of sheer embarrassment and awkwardness that she'd haphazardly thrown herself and Kanji into.
"There's one… and two… and three…" Rise counted off as she retrieved her numerous shopping bags from Astaire's fully outstretched arm, placing them neatly on the table overlooking her room's city view. "...and seven! Alright, swap sides!" Rise commanded, spinning Astaire around on the spot and beginning to unhook the rest of her bags from his other arm.
"If this is what your shopping trips usually wind up like, I can't blame Ms. Shirogane for seeing right through us." Astaire said as he rolled his free arm around in the socket to work the stiffness out. "Are you really going to wear all this?"
"Of course not!, some of this is for you too!" Rise chirped, holding up one of the many blue, loose-fitting, easy-to-hide-a-box-in garments she'd made off with. "Hope you're fond of black and blue~!" She sing-songed as she went back to her organising.
At last, Astaire's other arm was freed, leaving him able to stretch about to his heart's content. "I believe I am, actually. It's said that Knight Artorias' armour was a parade of black and blue as well. I can't think of a better combination." He said with a grin.
As though the bags had been the only thing keeping him awake, tiredness rammed nto Astaire like a bullet train as he let out a yawn. Evidently, being dragged around by Rise all day and having to carry her kingdom's worth of clothes back home was just a bit taxing on the body. Sensing he wasn't long for the waking world, Astaire went to spread himself out across the floor.
Only Rise's voice stopped him. "Hold it right there! I'm not finished with you yet!" Oh, Gods above, what else could she be scheming?
"There. Doesn't that feel better than rolling around in your coat all night?" Rise asked cheerfully as she tossed herself onto her bed and under the covers. She peeked over the edge to catch sight of Astaire spreading himself out on the floor, draped in a fresh set of blue pyjamas. He looked about ready to fall asleep already. That seemed a safe enough substitute for 'yes' to her mind. Rise tucked her hands behind her head as she recalled all that had happened over the day prior. "Today was fun. Wasn't today fun?"
Thinking about it, Astaire felt that it shouldn't have been. Something odd was happening all around he and Rise both. Perhaps oddities surrounded everyone else too, and they simply hadn't seen them. Whatever the case, something was in the TV World, waiting for them at the bottom of the tower past the impenetrable black wall of fog. Worse yet, none of them could even begin to imagine what it could be, and they were the only ones who could stop it. This shouldn't have felt fun, not with that kind of situation hanging over their respective heads.
"Yes, I'd say it was rather enjoyable, all things considered." Astaire said regardless. "Even if we did wind up getting caught at the end."
And in spite of certain… off-putting theories put forth by certain pint-sized detectives, as well. "Oh well. Even if we did get caught, weren't Naoto-kun and Kanji-kun just adorable together?! Ah, it's so lovely I feel like I could melt!" Rise cooed, hugging herself and rolling to and fro in bed.
Astaire couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. "They do seem like an… interesting couple." Was all he wanted to say on the matter, because something else was still bugging him from earlier. "Although, can you believe Kanji saying that we were the ones on a date? Hah, what a loon."
The sound of Rise's rolling came to a stop. After a pause long enough to be eyebrow-raising, Rise half-heartedly laughed along. "Hah, yeah, how silly could you be, right? As if we were on a date..." She trailed off sadly. "...I mean, if we really had been on a date, I wouldn't have wanted to go in disguise…"
"...Really? Might I ask why?" Astaire asked gently.
Rrrgh. Stupid Knight. "...Because I'd feel like I was embarrassed or, like, shying away from yo- I mean, whoever it was I was out with. It wouldn't feel like the real me, y'know? And… I'd kinda like it to be." Rise explained, trying to stop her heart from beating so hard that it threw her off her train of thought.
After a moment's thoughtful humming, Astaire nodded. "I can understand that. That disguise of yours couldn't hold a candle to the real you." After all, the thick-rimmed glasses, the blonde hair, the flat black clothing that didn't… didn't…
It was only after he'd spoken that Astaire realised he'd been less "Your disguise looked unappealing' and more 'You yourself look appealing.'
That being said, Rise hadn't said anything about it. Or anything at all, for that matter. As on edge as he felt, Astaire chose to let his guard down a bit. With any luck, she mightn't even have heard him!
Having absolutely heard him, Rise pulled her covers up below her eyes to hide the changing hue of her cheeks. "W-Well, we just have to deal with it! You wouldn't wanna see what happens when I go out in public normally. It's chaos!" She shuddered, recalling the last time she'd made a public appearance. Talk about claustrophobic. "But since we didn't cause chaos today, I think we might've got away with it. With any luck that should mean the tabloids shouldn't have a field day in the morning."
At least, Rise could only hope so. Astaire may have dropped his disguise later in the day, but that alone wouldn't be enough to pick her out of a crowd while disguised, right? It wasn't like he himself was also an idol.
Yeah, they'd be alright. If anybody had seen them it'd have spread to any other onlookers like a wildfire, and that would've been pretty hard to ignore. Her mind at ease, Rise snuggled into her pillow and began to surrender her consciousness to the warmth of her covers.
Now, what kinds of places could they go to where she wouldn't have to disguise herself?