[Evening, Togo Household]
After the battle, Hifumi found herself standing before the door of her own home, but just… too afraid to walk in. What would Mitsuyo react? Even though the reassurance of her shadow helped her calm down part of her worry, but… it was still a lot.
"But standing here won't do anything," Taking a deep breath, she turned the doorknob and opened the door. And she was immediately greeted by the presence of Mitsuyo. "Mom-"
Without a word, Mitsuyo grabbed Hifumi and pulled her into a tight embrace. Even though surprised by her action, but the Shogi player said nothing, just returning the embrace with a bit of tenderness.
When Mitsuyo finally broke the silence and talked, the first thing Hifumi could hear was regret. "I'm sorry, Hifumi… I'm sorry…" She said, barely louder than a whisper. "H-how could I just put you through everything like this… It's all my fault."
"It's fine, mom. It's fine," The daughter replied softly. "I understand… we both lost dad."
"But… that doesn't excuse everything I put you through…"
"Then we make it up from all those times, we still have each other, after all."
Mitsuyo didn't answer, but Hifumi could guess that she was thinking, thinking about what she just said. "…What… what should I do?"
"Well… first, it's been a while since we even cook anything for dinner, right?" Feeling as Mitsuyo's embrace loosened, she faced her mother with a small smile. "How about… we do just that? I think there's enough ingredient for two of us in the fridge."
"…Maybe."
With a nod, the two walked into the house, taking their first step to moving on, first step to fix the gap between them.
[Evening, Akira's apartment]
After calling it a night and going on their way back home, Akira almost slumped as he finally reached the front door of his apartment. After the whole battle, the fatigue, and the exhaustion from using Memento Mori finally caught up to him.
"…Note to self, only use Memento Mori when it's dire…" Murmuring to himself, he opened the door and was greeted by… a table-worth of nice food. And with more coming from the kitchen as well, judging from the smelling coming from there.
Blinking in surprise, the leader of The Fools scanned through the entire table-worth of foods. "…Did someone just order a meal for me?" He asked, picking up Paff who came up to his feet.
"Nope! Someone just MADE a meal for you!" Loud and clear from the kitchen, Akira froze as he recognized who the voice belonged to.
Well, after all, other than him, only one other person lived in this apartment as well. He should've figured this out about two minutes before, but the fatigue kinda just clouded his mind.
Speaking of which, the figure of Elizabeth came out from the kitchen with a plate with a large steak on it. And… it was, and always would be a weird sight to see her in a normal combo of t-shirt and shorts, but also with an apron on top… Or the fact that she didn't set this whole place on fire.
Overall, an extremely weird image to see, or to imagine in the first place.
"…Liz… Wait," Stopping his own word, Akira shifted his gaze back onto the dinner table. "You cooked ALL of this?"
"Yep, and definitely enough for two people as well!" Elizabeth smiled brightly, putting down the plate of food. "Here c'mon, it's to celebrate!"
"Celebrate… what?" He asked, but still sat down on a chair next to the table.
"Your successful operation to change Togo-san's heart!" The said apartment mate exclaimed in joy, grinning widely. "Before you asked, I'm still a velvet room attendant. Even though Igor isn't here, I can still sense the change in the Metaverse. Just… on a lesser degree."
"That's… convenient," Akira nodded numbly, glanced over to the kitchen. "But wow, you didn't burn anything down, that's a miracle."
"Oh c'mon, I've been practicing!"
"Well, let's just say… you didn't give me a reassuring impression after that whole incident."
"I…" Finding herself had nothing concrete to retort, Elizabeth eventually resorted to pouting. However, it only lasted a few seconds. "A-anyway, try them out, Akira!"
"Well, they look good, really good," Akira nodded, picking up his chopsticks. "And let's see if it tastes good as well."
"I'm sure it is," With a confident smile, the two apartment mate clasped their hands together in unison.
"Itadakimasu!" The two said in unison, digging into the dishes on the table.
Taking a bite into the eel, Akira stopped and bit slowly, unaware of how nervous Elizabeth was. And after a few seconds, his eyes widened in surprise, impressed. And Liz gave out a breath of relief in response.
"Well, you're right, they're really good," Nodding, the amateur writer grabbed a piece of pork and ate it, the same look crept up on his face. "Huh, you even exceeded what I taught you before."
"It's mostly just practice," Elizabeth said with a cheesy grin, grabbing a piece of the eel as well. "But now, I'm better than you at cooking! I can make more food than a rice omelet!"
"Okay okay, you don't need to rub that in my face," Shaking his head with a soft smile. "By the way, how's the job interview thing? It's been a while since then."
"O-oh, right, the job interview," Nodding to no one, Liz swallowed the food before she smiled brightly. "So, I got the job! They called me like… a day or two ago, telling me that I start on Monday… Wait, that's tomorrow."
"So you start tomorrow, okay…" Trailing off, Akira's gaze turned to Paff who sat on the chair next to him, enjoying the bow of nuts and dog foods. "But uh… what about Paff then?"
"Don't worry about that," With a beaming and confident smile, Elizabeth replied. "I'll come back as quick as possible once I got off from work. And Paff is a very good and behaving girl too!"
At the same time, Paff sat on her chair and wiggled her tail, as if she's agreeing with Elizabeth's words. And frankly, it looked just like that. And Akira couldn't help but just give out a long sigh, even if both Elizabeth and Paff had told (in Paff's case, showed) him that she'd be fine.
However, after a few minutes of pondering, Akira gave in with a small sigh. "Okay then… we'll let Paff stay here when both of us aren't at home."
"Then… now I need to prepare stuff for her when we're out-"
"We can do that after dinner, Akira," Elizabeth interrupted him, her eyes shifted to the food on the table. "And we've talked too much too! They're getting cold!"
"I… Yeah, we can talk about it after dinner."
With a small nod, the two apartment-mates returned to the dinner before them, and continued with enjoying the said meal. Just that… they were going to have quite a lot of things to do afterward.
[May 23rd, Morning, Outside of Shujin]
As Liz took off early for her new job, Akira went on and continued to school. Even though it was just a weekend's worth of time that had passed, but… it felt weird to be a normal student again, not as the leader of The Fools.
Just a bit weird, but that's probably it. After all, nothing would be weirder for him today, right?
"And oh right, the whole thing about our celebration too," Putting down his headphone, the leader of The Fools couldn't help but wonder how the things had been for Hifumi. "And… should I text in the group now?"
"Nah, it's too early anyway... And yeah, now that I'm officially a team leader... maybe I should call someone for help-"
"Hey, Akira!" Before Akira could even finish his thought, the voice of Shiho suddenly rang from behind. "Finally, I got the timing right!"
"Wha- huh?"
"I've been trying to get the timing right, so we can walk to school together," She said with a sheepish smile, before realizing the implication and blushed hard. "U-uh… I meant it like a friend, yeah, friends… I guess for now."
"It's not making it any less awkward, Shiho," Akira chuckled. "But it's great to have some company, and I like it more when it's yours."
"Glad to see that we agree on the same thing," Returning the chuckle, the volleyball player took a step closer to him, the blush on her cheek faded as she felt more comfortable. "Anyway, we're having the karaoke party today?"
"Yeah, I'm actually looking for a place before you came in," He shrugged, but a sigh escaped not long after. "But… let's hope Hifumi's fine with Togo-san."
"You can text or call her if you're concerned, just… please don't make it a group-texting thing."
"Group-"
"That time we sat together and just texted," Shiho Deadpanned, but her feature relaxed after a few moments. "But well, it's you so uh… I guess I have a soft spot for you."
"Same for me," Akira nodded, feeling a small blush crept up to his face. "Well, we might just happen to the weakness of one another."
With that said, he looked down and furrowed his brow, as if he's deep in thought about something. A big decision that he's in the blink of losing it, as the school gate approached step by step.
"I think so," Giving out a giggle with slight nervousness, the volleyball player found herself glancing at him a few times. And… she looked clearly hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but just couldn't. "…H-hey, Akira. I know it might sound a bit too forward…"
Not noticing that Akira didn't hear her calling, the two stopped in their track and turned to each other. All in unison.
"Let's go out on a date, Shiho." / "We can see a movie together."
As their own words overlapped with one another, the two stared at each other for a moment, a faint blush emerged out of embarrassment. And they averted their gaze away, before Shiho picked up her courage and turned back to Akira.
"Uh… so 'Spike!' just started screening a week or two ago…" Trailing off, the volleyball player cleared her throat again. "So… wanna see it together?"
"Actually, I was going to ask you the exact same thing," Akira said, rubbing the back of his neck out of awkwardness. "But uh… maybe we can also go to other places after the movie. It's a bit boring if we just watch the movie and go our way…"
"Totally agree on that one," Shiho giggled, tilting her head and pondering for a split moment. "So a date then?"
"Yeah, a date if you want to say it like that."
"O-okay, then yeah, let's do that," She nodded, suddenly stopped on her track and turned around, facing Akira. "Then how about Sunday? Things seem to be slowing down after our battle, after all."
Pondered for a moment, Akira nodded. "…Yeah, it's Sunday then."
Even though both of them didn't know how did they got over the awkwardness a few seconds ago, but the two just smiled at each other. And they continued on their walk, readying for the day.
[Lunchtime, Outside of Maruki's office/counseling office]
After getting the text from Dr. Maruki himself, Akira found himself standing before the office. Since Maruki was talking to someone else, as much as awkward this sight was, he could only stand here.
Thankfully, no one really gave him any weird glances. Maybe that had happened so much with Dr. Maruki that it's basically the norm. After all, Akira was too busy with the palace business to notice any new rumor.
"Hey, Ichijo!" Snapping Akira out from his train of thought, he turned and saw Ryuji walking up to him. "You're… waitin' for that doctor?"
"Yeah, Dr. Maruki texted me that he wanted to meet me, so I guess that's for our session," The amateur writer shrugged, crossed his arms, and sighed. "But well, we only got less than half an hour of time before lunch ends…"
"Maybe he just forgot to get you," Ryuji laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "Anyway, see ya!"
"See ya, I guess," Giving him a small wave, Akira sighed and continued to wait. "Now, let's hope Maruki actually keeps his promise."
And thankfully (again), the door opened and Kasumi walked out. "Thank you, Doctor Maruki- Oh hey Ichijo-Senpai!" Surprised by his appearance, she beamed and waved joyfully.
"Hey Kasumi, and uh… just call me Akira," The said senpai smiled and waved back. "Since we've been having lunch together for a while now, I think you can call me that."
"I'll think about it," The gymnast nodded, glanced over back to the counselor's office for a moment. "But a bit of a warning, the new nurse is uh… quite unique."
Akira just arched his brow, confused and a bit curious about the 'new nurse' she was talking about. "A new nurse?"
"Yeah, she started today," Turning on her phone and noticing what time it was now, Kasumi found her eyes widened and rushed off.
"Wha-"
"I'll see you tomorrow, senpai!"
"…Okay," Swallowing a lump, the amateur writer sighed and opened the door. "Let's see what Doctor Maruki is calling me for."
And Akira stopped in his track, his jaw dropped.
Because standing before him was Elizabeth, wearing a white doctor robe on top of the casual clothes they (actually, it's mostly Akira) bought.
Noticing the newcomer, Maruki looked up from his paper and notes he took with a slight smile. "Hello Ichijo, so uh… this is the new nurse, she started today and… wait, I should introduce her first-"
"Liz, you're working here?!" Akira exclaimed, hastily recomposed himself, and interrupted Maruki.
"Uh… you know Elizabeth-"
"Oh hey, Akira! Fancy meeting you here!" Elizabeth beamed, hopping on her feet, and waved. "I never expected you to be here too!"
In response, Akira just deadpanned at her. "I'm pretty sure that I mentioned where I'm studying before, Liz," Shaking his head, he tried to look at this from a more positive light. "Well, at least I'll get the vague idea of when you're going home for Paff."
"Hey, I told you to not worry! We just talked about it last nigh-"
Before Elizabeth could finish her words, Maruki chimed in and took their attention. "Um excuse me, frankly… I'm really confused right now," He said, with his eyes kept switching between the two. "Um… Ichijo-kun, can you uh… explain what's happening, or the history between you two?"
Exchanging a glance with Liz, the amateur writer sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well… Liz and I are apartment-mate."
"Apartment-mate? You mean that you both are living together?"
"Well, we share the same apartment," Akira nodded with clear hesitance. "Only because she needed one, y'know, new to Tokyo and all this kind of stuff."
"…Y-yeah, Akira is just offering me a place to stay… and so we just did! And kinda get along… along the way." Elizabeth hastily added with a shaky nod, keeping an awkward smile on.
With a deadpanned look, Maruki pondered for a long moment. "…Why am I feeling that there's more between you two?" He eventually asked, but quickly dropped the subject. "But well… I shouldn't be prying into student's private life, even though I'm a counselor-"
"Nothing really happened between us, Dr. Maruki," The amateur writer sighed, shaking his head. "But either way, what's the matter for calling me here?"
"I was actually about to get into that, but anyway," Maruki said. "Um… it's a bit of a personal request, but Ichijo-kun, would you like to help me with my research?"
"Research?"
"Yes, it's basically research for a better way to help people move on from traumatic experiences," The counselor nodded. "And for the lack of a better word, your experience can help me try the said solution."
A bit surprised by Maruki's words, Akira pondered for a moment. "I… Yeah, I can help," He eventually said, nodding more to himself than to Maruki. "Well, I don't need to do anything like drinking dangerous stuff and blackout for an hour, right?"
"No, of course not," Maruki chuckled. "I just need you to talk with me, that's pretty much it."
Suddenly, before Akira could even say a word, Elizabeth chimed in. "May I join in?" She asked, raising her hand as if she's in a lesson. "It sounds… really interesting."
"Um… The more data, the better it is," The counselor nodded, giving her a small smile. "Of course, just please don't mention it to anyone, it's more of a personal request."
"Oh… Kay?" Slightly confused by his words, Akira raised an eye for a moment. "Anyway, that's all?"
"…Yeah, that's all."
Still confused about what just happened, the amateur writer blinked, as the bell suddenly rang above them. And singled the end of the lunch period.
"Ahh, I might have talked too long with Yoshizawa-san before meeting you, sorry," Maruki apologized, lifting his glasses. "And I shouldn't waste any more time for you, then maybe we can talk on iM later?"
"Yeah sure, I think I'll have a bit of free time for a short while," Akira nodded, handing out his phone. "Just add yourself to my contact, we can talk later."
"Sure."
[Afterschool, Kosei high]
Looking at the stack after stack of student requests, Hinaki couldn't help but give out a tired sigh. Even though from the outside, it seemed still like there's a fully functioning and normal Student Council… But to be honest, it was only her here. This whole 'student council' was practically run by her lonesome now. The other 'members' either quit or just did not show up.
Wait, she had thought about this fact again-
"Great, I'm thinking about those things again," Murmuring to herself, the president quickly slapped herself and cleared her thought. "Focus on these requests first, they're more important now."
Taking a deep breath, she started looking through the requests. And… there was an increasing number of one specific kind, the ones that were money-related. Or to be more specific, something about being threatened by the mafia.
"It's getting worse by the weeks…" Trailing off, she put all of the mafia-related requests aside and opened her notebook, and wrote down their names. "I need to talk to them in person-"
BEEZ!
Surprised by the sudden phone call, Hinaki checked her phone with slight tiredness. Only to have her eyes widened as she saw who's calling, and accepted the call. "Ichijo? Uh… I never thought you would call me, what's the problem?"
"O-oh, it's nothing too serious. I guess," Hearing a shrug (if that's possible) from the other end of the line, the student president couldn't help but raise an eye in slight confusion. And even though she could only subtly heard it, but she felt like she could hear Hifumi there. "And uh... I apologize for the background noise too, I'm actually in the Station Square now."
"Oh, there's no need to do that, it's alright," She reassured. "Then uh… still, something happened?"
"If you count being a team leader as 'something', then yes," Akira paused for a few moments, it was like he was thinking about what to say. "Uh… I guess I just need some advice on being a leader. Since you're the only person who's qualified with that."
As much as she thought otherwise, Hinaki nodded and leaned back to her chair. "Uh… to be honest, it's only me in this student council. But I'd still try… even though they would sound very cliche."
"Uh… well, at least it's still coming from someone with experience…"
"Maybe," She sighed, pushing her glasses. "So… how big is that group?"
"It's just four people, including me."
"Oh, that makes it a little easier," Feeling a bit awkward at her own wording, Hinaki immediately tried to think of some advice to tell him. "Just try to… be kind and properly connect to them, which I think you are doing a better job than I did."
"And don't be a dictator too, let them uh… shine under their own spotlight…"
"Hmm… yeah, I can see why."
"But in the end… just try to treat everyone as best as you can," She finally said, even though she found that her advice came off as quite ironic. But it wasn't about her, it's about Akira. "Well… they are quite a cliche, and not that useful-"
"No, it's fine… I guess that kinda reassure me that it wouldn't need any deep or complex thing to handle…" For a moment there, only silence could be heard from the other end of the line. "But thank you, Higashikiuni-san. I think it does help, even if just a bit."
"Me too, Ichijo-kun."
"Yeah… I shouldn't waste your time anymore. Have a nice day, Higashikiuni-san."
"No, you didn't. But anyway, have a nice day, Ichijo-kun."
With that said, Hinaki cut the call and gave out a breath, leaning against the chair for a moment. And she returned to the pile of paper before her, she still have a massive problem in her hands to deal with.
[Afterschool, Outside of the Karaoke place]
So in the end… it turned out that the place Akira chose was the one inside Shibuya, it wasn't like that's a bad thing though. Everyone, especially Hifumi, was quite happy that it wasn't somewhere too far, like in Akibahara or some places like that. Just that... from outside, it just looked quite cheap compared to other karaoke, or any image shown when they just searched 'Karaoke' online.
"Well, at least your wallet wouldn't suffer too much," Shiho sighed, resting her hands on her waist and glancing over to Akira next to her. "But Akira, you really don't need to do this."
"Well, too late now," The said leader of The Fools shrugged. "But hey, at least it'll be fun for us to just sing some karaoke, and the food here is really great too!"
Standing behind the two totally-not-couple, Keigo just raised an eye, clearly not believing the words from him. "You sure did some research, Akira."
"Well, I just did a quick internet search… and l looked around the forum I post my work to…" Trailing off, Akira just rubbed the back of his neck. "I think that forum is credible enough on things like this, so… yeah."
"Guys, we're just having fun and celebrating the change of heart, I don't think we need to be this," In contrast to the overall doubt Keigo and Shiho were giving to Akira, Hifumi just smiled. "The 'How much does today cost' problem can come later!"
"See, Hifumi has a point, we should just have some fun today," Akira said, gesturing over to the Shogi player. "Besides, I'm sure that today's be a fun party!"
Even though a million worth of doubt (and questions) flew through her head, but Shiho only gave out a small sigh. "…Just don't lie on me, Akira. I'll be requesting compensation if it sucks-"
"I'm already planning to pay for our dinner for Sunday, so… I guess that works?" The amateur writer suddenly blurted out, and an aura of awkwardness fell upon the four… almost immediately.
With a clear blush on her face, Shiho just facepalmed in reaction. "…Why did you have to say that…"
Meanwhile, Keigo and Hifumi's eyes just glanced at both of them, as their head turned in unison. "Uh… I'm not really sure if I even should ask you two about context…" Keigo said, feeling his volume just dipping with each word until the last few were inaudible.
"Yeah, just forget that I said that," Akira sighed, running his hand through his hair as the cringe set in. "A-anyway, let's not wait any more time, we not standing here for all day!"
With a clearly enthusiastic 'yay' coming from the three, he just felt another wave of cringe run through his body. But still, they quickly checked in and found a room for them. Funny enough, there weren't too many customers for today, maybe for once, Akira had a moment of good fortune.
[the Karaoke room]
When the four walked into the room, the first word that came to their mind was 'classy'. Exclude Keigo as he also thought of 'Retro'. With a giant black coach wrapped around the wall, and a small table in the middle, with the song-picking machine sitting next to one end of the couch…
For the small price of around 2500 yen, it felt like every single yen was spent at its full worth. And that was before counting the other elements.
"Wow…" With widened eyes, Shiho sat down on the couch and jumped, testing the comfortness and bounciness of the said couch. "It's really good."
"The forum was right, they have every right to charge higher for this…" Muttering to himself, Akira scanned through the entire room with his eyes. "No wonder it's this popular."
"You made a good choice, Akira," Keigo nodded, picking up the two microphones sitting on the table. "So, should we start singing first, or grab some food and drinks?"
"Food and drinks first!" Hifumi and Shiho exclaimed in unison before their eyes met each other with a bright smile. And without another word, the two rushed out from the room and straight to the buffet area, grabbing any food or drinks they wanted.
Now left alone, Akira and Keigo exchanged a glance before shrugging at each other. And a small laugh escaped through lips. "Well, they sure are quick when it comes to eating," Akira joked, walking over to the song-picking machine and started picking some songs he would like to try out. "…Huh, never expect them to have this many songs from Yamashita Tatsuro here…"
"Yamashita Tatsuro?"
"Yeah, he's really popular back in the 80s, and quite popular now, I think it's through the internet or something like that," Akira said, selecting one song called 'Sparkle'. And then a few more. "Your turn, Keigo. Let's see what kind of music do you like."
"It'd be a bit embarrassing though…" Trailing off, the Half-Frenchman shrugged and walked to his side, and selected a few songs from a band called 'Sakanaction', and another called 'OK Go'. "I'm more into Western music, even though some of them are now classic internet jokes."
"Internet jokes?"
"Yeah, unfortunately," Keigo sighed, finishing his song's selection just as Shiho and Hifumi came back, with four large plates of food.
Putting them on the table in the middle, Shiho turned back and turned to the boys. "Hey, I hope you like what we pick for you two."
"Yeah, same for me too," Hifumi added, nodding with a slight smile. "Anyway, you two are picking the songs?"
"Yep, and your turn too," Keigo nodded, offering the machine for both of them.
With that said, the four finished picking their songs, and shuffled them. In the end, the first song that played was from Keigo's selection. More specifically, an old rock song called 'Here it goes again' by a band called OK Go. Keigo mentioned that the music video of that song was a hit on the internet years ago.
As the short but fun guitar intro started, Keigo felt his feet start tapping, before breaking into full-on dancing along with the music and the video showing. Which funny enough, was just the four members of the band dancing on eight treadmills.
And to say that it was hilarious… was a giant understatement. And the accent-filled English only made it even funnier.
As the song was halfway through it's three minutes runtime, the entire room was filled with Keigo's singing (He wasn't that great of a singer), and the laughter from the other three teens. And it only got worse (or better, it depended on the perspective) as the song went on.
By the time the song ended, Akira was barely catching his breath with his laughter, Shiho just laid her head on the soft, almost dying from her laughter. And the same could be said for Hifumi as well, even though instead of lying on the couch, she just leaned back into her seat.
"W-well damn, that's a… that's an interesting way to start the show," Finding himself struggling to say anything between his laughs and coughs, Akira tried his best to calm himself down and gave him a thumbs up. "But t-that's unexpected, really out from the left field."
"Y-yeah… why don't you show us that you can dance?" Shiho asked, finding that she could control her laughter a bit better than Akira or Hifumi.
"I never expected to reveal this to you guys, but uh…" Trialing off, Keigo only rubbed the back of his neck with slight embarrassment. "Okay, up next… it's… 'Angel's Pinky Promise'?"
"O-oh, it's my turn!" Shiho exclaimed, suddenly sat up, and grabbed the microphone from Keigo's hand. "So uh… it's from an anime I watched as a kid… the latter half of the anime was quite confusing, but it's really fun to watch. The manga is great too!"
"Huh?" Akira blinked. "Then uh… what's its name?"
"It's called 'Kareshi Kanojo'."
With that said, the song started. With a few beats of pure drumming, the guitar came in and the singing started. First thing first, Shiho had a surprisingly great voice, full of tenderness and softness. But underneath that, they could still feel a small hint of passion you found in an athlete.
As the song went on, Akira found himself more and more entranced at her voice, maybe it was with the factor of his feeling too. But nevertheless, he couldn't care less of the 'why'. And as the song entered its third chorus, Shiho started dancing as well.
But unlike Keigo's dance, which was uh… quite stiff, to say the least. Her dance was filled with slight innocence, and a bit of quickness, but the sense of maturity could still be clearly felt in each move.
By the time the song ended, Shiho was met with loud applause from the trio, clearly impressed with her performance here.
"Shiho, why didn't you tell us that you have a fantastic voice?" Hifumi couldn't help but ask, and the said volleyball player just looked away with shyness.
"Yeah, I love your voice, Shiho!" Akira added, only causing a small blush to appear on her cheeks.
"I just never had the chance to show anyone about it," She replied with a sheepish smile, quickly changing the subject. "O-okay, so the next song is… 'LOVE SPACE', which one is it?"
"It's me!" Akira stood up, grabbing the spare mic on the table. "And hey Shiho, wanna sing a duet?"
"But this song isn't a duet-"
"We can make it one," Akira interrupted her with a confident smile. "Let's try it out, shall we?"
Even though clearly hesitated at his offer, but Shiho pondered for a moment, before nodding to him. "Yeah, let's try it out."
With a nod, the music started playing. As the piano, drum, and strings played in harmony with one another, the voice came in as the final touch. A masterstroke.
Even though not the best singer, but Shiho could feel that Akira put his soul and everything into the small performance. Even though it's just karaoke, but it felt like he was treating it as a live show, and he had to give his best.
After the first verse, Akira gestured to let Shiho sang the second verse. And the same softness and tenderness returned, alongside the hint of confidence. However, Keigo and Hifumi could clearly see that Akira was subtly changing his singing to help Shiho to be more in the center. While letting him stay away from the spotlight.
And this was much clearer at the spot where the two sang together.
When the song was finally over, the duo was greeted with a round of applause again. And Shiho couldn't help but smile brightly at him. And Akira returned the save smile at her. As the two were locked in each other's gaze for a moment.
Until Hifumi's comment finally snapped them out. "Wow, you two are so good together!"
"W-well, I more just help than anything," Akira replied with a sheepish smile, turning his focus onto Shiho next to him. "She's really, really good though."
"Oh Akira, you're just flattering me," With a small giggle, Shiho turned back to the machine with a raised brow. "Um… up next is 'Judgement'… Keigo is it your-"
"No, it's mine!" The Shogi player suddenly exclaimed, with a clear blush on her cheeks. "I… I know I have some weird music choices. It's just… I like to listen to them for stress relief."
"Stress relief?" The other three asked in unison, exchanging a confused glance.
"Y-yeah…"
"Well, I've never heard them before… so it might fit my taste," Akira shrugged, giving Shiho's microphone to her. "Anyway, we won't judge. We're probably just as weird as you can be."
"I… I'll try."
With that said, Akira and Shiho sat back down on the couch. As Hifumi stood before the TV, gripping her microphone, and took a deep breath. "Well, here's no nothing."
And the music started playing, which… wasn't anything they thought a girl would even want to listen to. It was… literally classic Japanese rock, the type that was uh… more to the old school type of men. Or in other words, something that their parents would listen to.
The feeling of surprise only increased when the voice came in as well. The lower tone of a guy just… shouldn't fit HIfumi's own voice, but she just did it. Maybe it was her passion, even though she didn't hit those notes that well, but they could clearly hear the heart behind each word.
And the passion also slowly affected the trio too, as the song reached its second chorus, anyone who walked into this room would be greeted by an unexpected image. Hifumi sang her heart out on a classic rock song, while the trio just jumped on their feet as if it was a rock concert.
When the song ended, Hifumi only turned back with an awkward smile. "So uh… how was I?"
"Very good!" The trio replied in unison, without any second thought or hesitation.
With a bright smile from Hifumi, the celebration went on, as a singing voice filled the entire room. And each one of them just having fun. Meanwhile, Keigo seemed to be thinking, thinking about something.
After a while, as all of the songs had been sung, and all food and drinks on the table had been eaten or drunk. The four thieves of The Fools laid on the couch, satisfied.
"…Well, we still have around fifteen minutes left," Akira said, glancing over to the clock hanging high on the wall, just above the door. "What should we do?"
"Actually, I have something to say," Keigo suddenly said, interrupting the other three. "I guess… it might be a bit too early, but I guess I'm trusting you guys this much to say that."
The other three teens just blinked in reaction, but quickly say up in their seats.
Seeing their nod as a signal to continue, Keigo took a deep breath before continuing. "Well, it's been a while since I've joined The Fools. But… I think I've always been distant with all of you, at least until recently."
"At first, I only thought of this as a mission from Kirijo-san, and that I only needed to get through this year before returning to my friends over in Ayangi."
"Friends over in Ayanagi?" Hifumi asked. "You're from Ayanagi?"
"Yeah, I actually transferred to Shujin because of a mission from Akira's older cousin, or Kirijo-san," The half-Frenchman nodded. "At first, I felt really lonely here. No real friends, and I just saw Shiho and Akira as teammates, and nothing more…"
"Of course, it changed over time," Taking a deep breath, Keigo stopped for a moment before continuing. "And seeing that we all know so much of each other, other than me… I guess I owed you all something. As a friend."
"No, you didn't Keigo-"
"It's more on me this time, Akira," Interrupting him, the half-Frenchman adjusted his glasses. "So… I know it might be a weird time, but I guess I wanna talk about a bit of my past. The last time I did that was a few years ago, so… I might stumble or ramble on some places…"
"It's fine, we'll listen," Shiho nodded, and Akira followed with Hifumi.
"Thank you," Returning the same nod, Keigo took another deep breath before continuing. "So, I used to live with my dad, after dad and mom divorced when I was little and mom left. And me and dad… we were rocky."
"He was a detective in the police force over in Ayanagi, and he was investigating the mafia over there, the ones that were on almost every headline when talking about Ayanagi city now," He continued. "Because I loved to sneak into different places to take different photos, I always got into trouble and dad had to scold me for doing that. After a while, our relationship just got a bit… bad to say the least."
"However, I lost my dad a bit more than a year ago," Seeing as their eyes widened at his mention of his father's passing, Keigo just took another deep breath. "He died trying to save me from that mafia."
"I can't remember the details about that night, but either way… that wasn't really important. I had a lot of things I wanted to say to him, but it's impossible now. So… I guess I'm trying my best to make him proud." He finished, pondering for a moment before adding something more. "Actually, that's why I reacted soo much about Togo-san's past too. They just reminded me of them… and how I never got to say those things to them…"
"So I'm really, really happy that we can save your family, Hifumi. I really am."
With that said, only silence could be heard in the entire room. The fact that Keigo just opened up about this much of his past, just because he saw them as his friends. And how… how much Mitsuyo's palace actually meant for him.
After a few long seconds, Akira finally broke the silence. "Well… I'm happy that you saw us as friends too. We aren't just a simple team, after all."
"Yeah, me too," Shiho agreed with a nod. "At first, I always think you might be a bit distant toward us, just treating this as a job… but now, I'm sure that you can call us friends."
"And hey, at least you're not alone in Tokyo anymore! You have us."
"Same for me..." Hifumi said, brushing her bangs aside. "I… I don't know why to say, but… I'm glad to have you be my friends."
Feeling a smile crept up at the words they spoke back to him, Keigo only rubbed the back of his neck with slight nervousness. But he's happy, maybe… that's why Mitsuru chose to send him over here too. Even though she did say that him being here was also a 'trip to take his mind off'. But that's probably the real reason why she did that.
And he's thankful for that.
[the next day, Madarame's exhitbition]
To say that Madarame was furious at this moment… was a giant understatement. Fuming, rage-filled, furious... Even with all those words combined, it still wasn't enough to describe how he was feeling right now.
But one thing for sure, he's pissed, beyond pissed.
Looking at the small red-and-black calling card covering every single inch of any surface in his exhibition, Madarame felt his fist tighten, nearly to the point of drawing blood. And the only thing that held him back was the assistant standing next to him, panicking and trying to look for a solution to cover it up.
But from the look of it, with how many people already took pictures of the calling cards, this news was already trending on social media. And it was speeding like a wildfire right now. No, it's spreading at a rate that's much quicker than a wildfire.
"What's… What's the meaning of this!" The renowned painter yelled, feeling his voice at the blink of cracking with every syllable. "Who did this!"
"Sir, you need to read this," With one of the calling cards in his hand, the assistant hesitantly handed the said card to him. And Madarame took it in one swoop, as the assistant immediately took a step back, fearing his reaction to the words on it.
And Madarame read.
"Sir Madarame Ichiryusai, a great sinner of vanity whose talent has been exhausted. You are an artist who uses his authority to shamelessly steal the ideas of his pupils. We have decided to make you confess all your crimes with your own mouth. We will take your distorted desires without fail."
As Madarame fell into silence, the assistant's fear only grew by the seconds. The rage was clear and building up inside his eyes, one that no one had ever seen before, but the poor pupils under him.
"Sincerely, The Phantoms."
As his eyes scanned through the last line on the card, he crushed it without a second thought. "How dare they sabotage my exhibition for an accusation like this…" Muttering to himself, he turned to the assistant. "Call the men to clear those filthy cards out of my exhibition!"
"But Madarame-sensei, the photos of the cards are everywhere on the internet now-"
"Just cover it up! Everything, everywhere!"
Flinched at the sudden outburst, the assistant nodded before rushing off to somewhere else. And just behind the said artist, Yusuke watched his former sensei's outburst with calmness and a hint of satisfaction. To see his true self broke through the mask of 'humble artist'.
However, just as this thought just came to his mind, the air around Yusuke twitched and distorted like a broken TV. And in a blink of an eye, the surrounding was replaced by a black void, with Yusuke and Madarame's shadow.
Staring right into his former pupil's eyes, Madarame's shadow laughed. "How dare they just claim that they can steal my treasure… If you want it, come and steal it, IF YOU CAN!"
Within an instant, the world around returned to normal, as the staff ran around and tried to patch this massive PR crisis, Madarame still looked around, clearly nervous. "Okay, time to take him down," Muttering under his breath, Yusuke walked back to his teammates. And they're readied to finish it, changing Madarame's heart, once and for all.
However, he failed to notice his friend standing among the crowd of onlookers, as Hajime watched him go to the thieves. "So he's with them now… at least he's not in the hand of Madarame anymore," Nodding to himself, he turned to have a look at the calling card on the wall. "But finally, Madarame's going to be held to justice he deserves… I'll be backing you all, Phantom Thieves."
But just outside of his view, Aobara Aoi was reading through the calling card with clear interest. "Huh, I guess I'll cross this one out of my list then…" Muttering to herself, she pocketed the calling card. "I'll leave Madarame for you. Let's see what your 'change of heart' can do, The Phantoms."
As the whole exhibition fell into chaos with those calling cards, the next battle was on the way.
And the museum of Vanity fell today.
(To be continued)
Preview:
The calling card had been sent for Madarame.
The Phantoms quickly worked their way to secure the treasure.
A harsh revelation, fueling the fire inside Yusuke even more.
As The Fools once again helped the other team, an inevitable question was greeted upon them.
Next Chapter:
"Vanity's End"
Stay tuned!
So... after a bit more than a month, Chapter 31 is finally here!
As the title suggests, this chapter is more of an 'interlude chapter that lets the Fools take a small break after Mitsuyo's battle.
However, we still learned a lot about Keigo, and hints after hints of the future of The Fools and The Phantoms.
And some other stuff that wasn't as serious, but much more important for Akira XD. Let's see how the upcoming date will turn out for them...
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the story so far, and Reviews are definitely welcomed!
