The Mask Shatters
Chapter 13
Part II
"To walk this path, he must delve into skullduggery. Stalking, investigation. A watchful eye is needed, and his logic will solve the rest…"
"That American kid's being really quiet…."
"I would be too, after what he went through. Good grief."
"Let's not forget he's got mental issues…"
"Oh, shut up with that already. I'm more worried about the assholes that jumped him. What if they come after me next?"
"I couldn't agree more. Fun was fun, but after what happened? Well. Keep your distance."
"He definitely has to see Dr. Maruki soon. He may have mental issues, but now…?"
"Edamura's been quiet since he got called out on his bullshit…."
"Who was the one who did that… Was it Takamaki-san…? Actually, I haven't even seen them talking for a good bit. What gives?"
"So what's the word around the school, now that our problem American has returned?" The principal asked as the vice principal stepped inside.
The vice principal shut the door to Kobayakawa's office, ensuring the door was locked before he turned and bowed to his employer.
"Same old, same old." The vice principal said as he lowered his posture. Rising up just as quickly, he managed a frown as he said, "It seems the rumors are going silent about Williams-kun's troubled homelife in favor of the nasty yakuza business that's been going around lately."
"Yakuza business." Kobayakawa echoed, lowering his head to his palms in agitation. "One thing after another…"
"Yes, it's quite a disastrous situation indeed. The whole school is up in arms over it all. Niijima-san is being overrun with reports that our very own student body is falling victim to scams over in Shibuya." The vice principal informed him slowly, unsure of what the effects of such news would have on an already stressed out man. "Furthermore, a lot of students are scared to leave school these days, especially after what happened to Williams-kun last week…"
Kobayakawa groaned, burying his face further and further into his palms with each word that passed from the vice principal's lips. Kobayakawa had been very stressed as of late; with the Phantom Thieves gaining traction within his school; the delinquent transfer student and the delusional honor student both beginning to associate with one another; the insane foreign exchange student having been jumped and nearly killed by yakuza thugs; and finally, and perhaps most worrisome of them all, said yakuza syndicate actively targeting his school for potential drug mules and whatever else they could personally stand to gain from young, easily-manipulatable teenagers.
He has, in all due seriousness, often gone without sleep as of late - his mind far too preoccupied with various churlish scenarios and generally-unwanted questions. Such as, for example, what his 'employer' would inevitably think when he realized Kobayakawa couldn't handle the simple task that was given to him. Or, for that matter, what the media will do when Shujin Academy is pinpointed and defamed as a known yakuza hang out. The vice principal had only served to agitate him further, with his optimistic attitude and his seemingly oblivious nature to how bad things were getting. Oftentimes as of recent has he sent the man out of his office over the slightest of provocations.
Not even Makoto was bringing in any meaningful results that he could personally deem to be acceptable, and she was a star student and his favorite pet.
That only tightened the already strangling noose around his blubbery neck.
The vice principal noted his discomfort and, as he pulled at the collar of his shirt, he forced an acute smile in order to make a solid attempt at shattering the serious situation to pieces.
"Kobayakawa-san. Truly, you must look at the bright side!" The vice principal rose his hands high above his head, smiling as wide as he could. "The rumors are ceasing! Everyone is talking less and less about that kid! Even Niijima-san has-"
Kobayakawa suddenly stood up, his chair rolling backwards and ricocheting off of the wall behind him as he quickly and quite forcefully slammed a fist against his desk, eliciting a surprised yelp from the vice principal and silencing him further as the principal looked at him in a furious anger.
"Are you so daft as to forget the trouble he's caused so far?! And now, what? Yakuza thugs are dogging him?! Good God, man! How did you become my right hand?!" The principal shouted high at the top of his lungs, his face the color of hell itself and radiating twice the heat. "We are falling apart at the seams here! Delinquent transfer student, delusional first year, insane foreign exchange student, Phantom Thieves, Kamoshida, and now we have Yakuza invading the minds and morality of our students and forcing them to do God knows what! This is NOT a time to be celebrating and smiling!"
The Vice Principal backed away, surprised and fearful of the sudden outrage the principal was conveying to him. The principal was heaving at this point, angry beyond all belief and recognition. Every word that left his mouth was tainted with fury and a lack of decency. Every second that slipped by was drenched in rage and fear, despair and confusion. All in part on the principal himself.
Meanwhile, the vice principal himself was just fearful, staring deeply into Kobayakawa's eyes as the man screamed and berated him. To any observer not in the know, it would seem that the vice principal was getting the short end of some stick.
"You've done nothing, NOTHING, to help or fix this situation! It has been TWO MONTHS since this nonsense began!" The principal shouted further at him, pounding his oversized fist on the table rapidly and violently. "I! Have! Done! Every! Thing! I! Can!" He continued on his tirade, almost bashing his fist bloody. "What have you been doing besides sitting there, playing with my coffee machine with your thumb up your goddamn ass?!" He pointed at the vice principal, vehemence seething between his clenched teeth.
The vice principal stood there, saying nothing. Angry eyes burned into his soul, venomous words poisoned his ears, and the rage spoiled his optimism. Dipping his head below eye level, he just sat there and continued listening as the principal berated him further.
"How can you be so optimistic, so happy-go-lucky, so arrogantly nonchalant about the chaos reigning around us! Our jobs hinge on fixing these messes, and they keep popping up one after the other! How, oh how, is this "fine" to you?!" The Principal further asked, leaning forward on his desk, his fat filled chest heaving as he stopped a moment to catch his breath.
His cohort shook his head idly, without much further to add to the argument. In his eyes, Kobayakawa just had a meltdown with a trigger so obscure, so unrealistic that it was beyond unsettling, but to Kobayakawa, it was so much more than that.
Heaving, he collapsed in his chair with a heavy creak, the chair - newer than the last one - straining under his weight. He grasped at his chest, clutching his heart as he felt the strain that not only he was putting upon it, but the stress of the whole predicament itself. "Literally, we both are sitting in a room that is burning down all around us, and you are saying 'This is fine'?!" He gasped, unsure of what to think of his underling.
"You need to calm down." The vice principal finally said, raising his eyes to meet Kobayawa's. "I understand that the media is eating you alive right now, and I understand you are stressed. But calm down, sir. I beg of you." He further added.
The principal nodded, gasping as the physical strain was becoming too much for him to bear. The vice principal crossed his arms, looking over his boss with a degree of indignant disgust. "Personally, sir, I don't see why you should be this worked up, however. What if Niijima-san were to walk in, or perhaps Amamiya-kun? Williams? Maruki?" The vice principal asked, cocking his head as if he were truly interested in such an answer.
"You don't understand my predicament to any real degree." The principal said, struggling to sit up straight in his chair. "There's more at work than you understand."
"I understand well, Kobayakawa-san." The vice principal finally said, righting his posture to stand indignant to the principal's slander. "These Phantom Thieves are real. Of that, there is no question."
Kobayakawa's eyes lit up at the mention of such reprobates. "What made you a believer?" He slowly asked. The vice principal shook his head, surprised that his boss even had to ask.
"Really?" The vice principal said, shaking his head as he approached the desk. "Lightning doesn't strike twice, Kobayakawa-san…. Even more so with these lesser changes of heart we've been hearing about…" He explained, eyeing the physical indentations that his boss caused to the desk before him. "Truth be told, I wasn't a believer. But I was present at the school, watching the news, when it all went down with Madarame. I was in the lounge, enjoying the peace and quiet and watching that old man burst into his tirade of 'Oh, I'm so bad. Arrest me! Waaah! Waaah!'."
Kobayakawa furrowed his brows, intrigued by his vice principal's sudden snarky attitude. It wasn't like him, ever, to become smarmy. He often deflected things with a perceived ignorance, and sometimes even acted as peacekeeper - such as when Dr. Maruki and Kobayakawa had their small spat.
"That was evidence enough." The vice principal concluded as the principal steadied his breathing. "Trust me, this is truly worrying, and I understand your stress. But if you don't calm down, you could have a heart attack, or worse!"
Kobayakawa nodded, leaning forward to rest his head on his free palm as the other clutched at his agitated heart. The pain he felt was beyond reckoning, and - to some extent - he even felt a tinge of guilt for berating his only friend amongst the staff. "OK…" He said breathlessly, understanding well that the vice principal was right.
Losing his cool was not in his best interest. Especially not now, when all eyes were upon him.
"Now." The vice principal said, lowering his tone to his normal, calm demeanour. "I will do my best to uncover what you and Niijima-san cannot." He offered. His boss glanced up from behind his sweaty palm, a worried look in his eyes.
"How are you gonna find anything out?" The principal asked with distinctly genuine fear dripping from his voice. It was obvious that he had just gotten two months worth of stress out in mere minutes, but at what cost to his own heart? "Niijima is my only hope…" He mewled quietly.
"Don't underestimate my resourcefulness, Kobayakawa-san." The vice principal told him, opting to spin around on his heels and make slowly for the door. "I'll run to the Nurse's Office, grab you some aspirin…"
Kobayakawa simply nodded. "I would appreciate that."
The vice principal departed, leaving the principal alone in the silence of the office.
The sounds of the school turning over in its sleep as the bell suddenly rang for lunch.
He meekly moaned, his heart slowing as the stress of the situation passed.
And when his phone buzzed, his eyes grew wide in alarm, the anticipation of a call having added much to his already-tenuously strained mind.
He knew who it was. But chose not to answer.
It rang and buzzed and called out for a response just the same.
A response he refused to give.
In his mind, it was for the best.
After all, what progress had he to report?
Arthur sat there, staring mindlessly at his phone.
The sounds of school were tuned out of his mind. The chatter, the laughter, the clatter of plates and utensils - everything and more.
The business of a school on break, trucking along as if nothing was awry.
But to Arthur, his hidden unease grated him to no end - only complicating further a jarred mind in an already weary, awkward day.
He was alone at a table, at the far end of the cafeteria.
Makoto was nowhere to be seen, and for once Arthur felt like he was just another piece of the scenery, and not at all the topic of circulating falsehoods.
The contacts list was there before him in a dark flash of a navy background and white text.
On it, he silently read off the names from top to bottom. He had only ten names in total logged in.
Patrick - his father.
Ciara - his mother.
Himura - his guardian.
Ichisake - his best friend.
Ann - another friend and a number he barely used.
And the phone numbers of his ne'er-do-well friends from home. Richard, Ashley, Benedict, and Jakub.
Arthur smirked, even glancing at those names with nascent fond remembrance. He scoffed and chuckled under his breath - reminding himself that he told them he would remain in contact. However, that was a month ago, and for as chaotic as his life has recently been within the land of the rising sun, he hasn't even texted a single one of them since. That made him feel lightly bitter. It was a crime that he hadn't contacted them in so long.
"I should text them all later… Let them know how I'm gettin' on.."
But the main thing that caught his attention was, admittedly, the otherwise odd name at the very bottom of this previously-baren list of expanding personal contacts.
One he had tagged with a note that simply said "WTF?!".
He still didn't fully understand what had happened, even now with some time given to think solely on it.
His teacher, a man he presumed to have hated him like everyone else, gave Arthur his phone number with the offer of teaching him - what? How to punch someone?
It was outlandish beyond measure, and made zero sense to Arthur. Why would he do that? Why would he offer such a thing in the first place, especially when he's made it clear that Arthur wasn't welcome in his class?
His finger would nervously hover over the name "Sakutaro", but after a trepidatious moment of contemplation, he would slowly retract it as his own mind failed to comprehend Mr. Sakutaro's reasoning behind such an offer.
No matter how hard he thought on it, no matter how many times he re-read the name, he couldn't think of any logical conclusion that dictated anything that made sense.
It was already twenty minutes into lunch when he shook his head, ultimately deciding that stressing over something like this was neither worth his time nor his energy - he had more pressing concerns to address. As he readied the phone for its slumber, the phone began pulsating quite suddenly. Arthur quickly furrowed his brows, unsure of what exactly was going on anymore with his phone.
"Stupid fucking phone…" Arthur murmured, tapping the glass of his phone with a month's worth of frustration.
Then, with one final rough tap, a red box materialized on the screen.
And with it: The red eye from earlier.
The pulsating continued, and growed gradually from there on as Arthur glared dubiously at the strange app.
Seconds passed, with the ethereal beating slowing with his inaction. He hummed, inspecting the icon for any relation to his situation.
Then, out of nowhere, he thought he could see the man he knew as Igor speaking to him, from beyond the known.
"Allow me to extend to you two gifts…." Igor had told him some time ago. "The second shall become apparent upon glancing at your cellular device…"
Those words bounced around in his mind, echoing like a shout in a dark, silent night. He could hear it even now: The dubious-sounding, ominous voice of Igor bestowing upon him two gifts one week ago.
One of them having to do with his cellular device.
"This… is Igor's doing…?" Arthur surmised, raising a curious and somewhat frightened brow. "But… what does it do…?" He asked himself slowly. The unease he felt growing in wealth the longer he stared at the pulsating, evil-looking eye.
"Arthur. It's been some time." A familiar voice spoke up from nearby.
Shocked at the sudden intrusion, Arthur cut his gaze upwards and at the same time he swiftly put his phone to sleep to hide what he had from whoever had called out for him.
The beating rhythm faded, but the befuddlement he felt did not.
Before him stood two people. A tall boy around his height, with frizzy black hair and black rimmed glasses that, honestly, made Arthur feel a tinge of a royal envy. Over his shoulder was his duffel bag, and in his hands a bowl of ramen noodles. He had a slight grin to his face, one that spoke nothing of malicious intent nor a dubious mind - but instead it betrayed an offer of friendship.
The other was a woman, shorter than the young man, but with blonde pigtails and oceanic eyes - blue as Caribbean water. She wore a lightly colored letterman jacket underneath a standard Shujin blazer. She, too, was offering such a smile to Arthur that spoke nothing of any cruel ulterior motives, and in her hands she held a tray that had some kind of salted meat and rice.
A very small portion of both, as well.
There, standing over him, were Ann and Ren. Two students whom he hasn't really spoken with in quite some time. Odd then, that they were approaching him like they were the best of friends that had known each other for literally years.
Obviously untrue, but it still didn't stop them from offering their presence.
Arthur blinked, surprised that so much time had gone by since the two parties had even said a single word to one another. It took him a moment to even register the fact that they wanted to sit with him, much less who they were. His mind having already been frazzled as it was, he stammered in place as he tried to utter out a response.
"Oh, uh, hi guys!" Arthur greeted them as he nonchalantly concealed his phone inside one of his pants pockets. "Uh, w-what can I do for you?"
"Nothing in particular." Ren shrugged. "We saw you sitting alone today and thought to join you. Do you mind?" Ren had asked.
Arthur glanced around warily, failing to spot their blond friend nearby. He wasn't interested in making anymore friends and his absence gave the young American a slight sense of security - one that has absconded him for some time.
His eyes slouching slightly with his sudden surprise fading, Arthur nodded slowly and the two gleefully took their seats across from him, with Ren setting his bag down on his lap.
"I hope you've been well, Arthur." Ren asked as he twirled a pair of chopsticks into a firm grasp. "It's been a good while since we've last chatted."
"Yeah, it has." Ann concurred with a welcoming smile, her voice as pippy and cheerful as always. "In fact, it almost seems like you've been avoiding us."
Arthur, surprised she felt that way, shook his head rather curtly, crossing his legs as he spoke. "No, no. I wasn't avoiding anyone. I just kinda... " Arthur tried to explain before falling short as he suddenly realized that what he was about to say could be rather misconstrued. "Uh… Well. I'm just not that social." Cutting his gaze back to Ren, he added, "I'm sure you, of all people, can understand why."
"I do." Ren said, threading noodles over the tips of his chopsticks. But he said nothing more, not as he took a small slurp of his noodles. Instead, he relegated the task to Ann.
She, however, was more suspicious of his explanation. Leaning forward onto the table, she pushed her food to the side and rested her arms in its place. "You seem alright when it's just one of us, though. Like back in Central Street." She said, reminding Arthur of the time they both enjoyed one another's company after the Inokashira Park clean-up.
Only one of the two times he ever really hung out with her, if he had to be honest with himself. And both times, she seemed to forget that it wasn't the original plan for him.
Ren, another bundle of noodles sliding past his lips, cut a brief eye to his friend. "You're not gonna eat, Ann?" Ren asked her, noticing her hesitance to even touch the meal.
"Uh-uh." Ann shook her head. "I'm not really hungry. I only took it because we're kinda required to, y'know?"
Ren nodded, accepting her answer as he turned back to thread another noodle.
"Wow, Ann." Arthur chuckled, crossing his arms and placing a pair of idle fingers on his chin in faux thought. "You're sharper than I give you credit for…" He teased her, a wry smile creasing his lips all the while.
Ann couldn't help herself but grin. It's been a while since she had heard such a jest from him. Considering what she knew about his past predicament, it was a breath of fresh air to see that he hadn't lost his sense of humor.
As crass as it could be sometimes, she had to admit. However, Ann was no stranger to rude jokes - considering all whom she considered to be friends.
Had this been a few months prior, she would've thought Arthur to be like every other boy: Rude and unthinking, and when they were using their brain, it was often about one thing and one thing only. Yet, it was clear from the getgo that Arthur's sense of humor was more in line with what one would expect a person with ne'er-do-well friends to have.
"Well, I'm glad to see your sense of humor hasn't gone dry." Ann said, managing to force a slight giggle through her genuine, warm smirk. "But you may need to work on it. That "blondie" comment you made some time back was funnier."
"Oh, yeah. That one was kinda on the spot, I guess…" Arthur sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, uncrossing his legs as he did so. "But, I suppose that only proves my own point further… My sense of humor can be kinda…. Well. It can be misunderstood."
"I can see that." Ren butted in. Placing his chopsticks between his lips, he slurped up another bundle of juicy, dripping, steaming ramen. "Baht. Tha int wha's impahtahnt 'ere. Ar yu doin' OK?" He asked, chewing all the while as a couple of driblets of broth flowing from his lips and dripped onto the table below.
"Eww…" Ann bemoaned.
Arthur didn't seem to mind, however, as he leaned forward - mimicking Ann's posture as he did so, as he tried to comprehend exactly what Ren was speaking of.
"Huh? OK? What do you…." He began, unsure exactly of what the black-haired kid said. For a second, he just interchanged his gaze between Ann and Ren. But then, it quickly hit him. "O-oh! The, uh… That." Arthur stuttered, reminding himself of the text Ann had sent him early this morning. "Uh. I mean. You-you guys probably know all there is to know… But I feel fine." He shrugged, crossing his arms as the discomfort from the situation grew. "Well. Fine enough, anyways."
Ren took the hint, nodding as he lowered the chopsticks from his lips. "Alright. Well. Glad to hear it." He said. "Truth be told, both Ann and I were worried when we heard about what happened. Especially when you vanished for almost a full week, but we're glad you're alright."
"Yeah." Ann agreed, leaning back from the table. "For what it's worth from this "blondie", I was especially happy to see the "All-Clear" text this morning." She added, giving rise to some amusement in Arthur's soul.
"Heh." Arthur snorted with a slight grin cracking his lips.
It was true that she had texted him this morning, in fact she had texted him a couple of times throughout his drift between this world and the next. Her worry was evident even then, and hearing the relief in her voice as she spoke with him told him much as to how she felt with his safe return.
While this itself felt odd to Arthur, as he didn't know her all that well, it did much to warm his heart that she seemingly cared so much.
Especially since he secluded himself from the two of them for some time - and that itself was mostly in part to the blond boy's presence. A young man he didn't know, and with the flak he's been giving others and himself lately with his mere presence, he'd rather keep it that way.
Granted, Ann and Arthur weren't considered the closest of friends, but perhaps she felt a form of kinship with him due to the foreign nature of the both of them. After all, that would explain why she was so quick to try and befriend him and, to some extent, even relate to his issues. Or perhaps it was simply in her nature to seek others out and aid them however she could.
It was an answer that Arthur could not pinpoint with any due accuracy. Even looking at her, she seemed like an unassuming high school student. Foriegn to him to a degree, but nonetheless she appeared to be rather normal.
Ren was no different. His quiet nature, his stoic indifference, and the fact he even took care of a cat. But he seemingly shared Ann's insistence to seek out, befriend, and aid those like Arthur. However, unlike Ann, he used his wit and charm to make fresh lemonade from a pair of spoiled lemons.
This in of itself was proven to be a none-too-inaccurate analogy when he invited Arthur, almost on a whim, out for lunch one day some time ago. An event which Arthur still hasn't forgotten, and continues to confuse him even now.
But then, what was it that drove Makoto to investigate the both of them?
What was it that inspired her to move against them such, believing them to be supernatural bandits?
Igor had declared her intentions to Arthur rather well, and it was clear that she believed them - or at the very least, Ann - to be members of such a secret organization. And Arthur, a man of science and logic, didn't want to believe that to be the case. He didn't want to believe in any of it, really. He ignored these warnings, these telltale signs - and did so with the full intention to remain completely ambivalent and, to some extent, even ignorant to the outer functions that evidently existed outside what he personally knew to be real.
However, at the same time, Arthur wasn't an idiot. These changes of heart were no coincidence. Fun attractions to speak of, sure. But they were real alright. You could explain a one-off event, but these continuous events, both major and minor, spoke volumes of credibility.
And while Arthur couldn't pinpoint it, he had the distinct feeling Ann had some form of personal association with the infamous Phantom Thieves. He just couldn't prove it.
From her reaction to Madarame's change of heart to her claims that she didn't care about the occult while simultaneously defending such with a hypocrisy the likes of which never slipped by Arthur without abundant notice - well, the contradictions spoke for themselves. And he didn't need to be a brilliant detective to figure out that particular puzzle of jumbled inconsistencies.
"She has an association. That much is true." Arthur thought, reminding himself of her own contradictions. "Guess it's time to make my move… But what will it prove…?"
He sighed, scratching his clean shaven chin as he glanced around nonchalantly for a moment while trying to think of a good way to steer the conversation towards the Phantom Thieves. Unfortunately, he couldn't rightly figure out a proper way to probe for information without coming off as suspicious.
If she was indeed a member of such a group, he knew he needed to avoid raising the red flags.
Then, like a sudden bolt of lightning brilliantly flashing across the midnight sky, an ingenious thought promptly entered his mind. And with a cool grin spoiling his lips, he knew just how to do it.
"Honestly?" He spoke up after a few moments of silence, catching both Ren and Ann's attention. "This sounds like a job for those 'Phantom Thieves'." Arthur commented, glancing down at the table to appear as if he was just in idle thought.
Ren's brow rose, apparently intrigued by the sudden mention of such a controversial group. "Oh?" He hummed, unsure if he had even heard Arthur right.
Even Ann seemed surprised by the passing mention of such an occult group, as her friendly smile faded into obscurity and was instead replaced by a wide expression that only served to convince Arthur further.
"And what makes you think the Phantom Thieves can do something about the man who attacked you?" Ren asked, arching a brow as if he was truly interested in the answer. "Dead men cannot be made to pay for their crimes. You know this, yes?"
Ann nudged him with her elbow, stealing only a fraction of his attention. "Come on, Ren!" She gave out a seemingly fake giggle, her lips trembling as she spoke. "I think he meant whoever ordered the attack to go down..."
Meanwhile, Arthur just glanced between the two. Their responses to being put on the spot were both surprising and intriguing him further.
Especially Ann's nervous-laden deflect...
"She's right." Arthur nodded in her direction. "It's no secret that the mafia has been gathering some influence over in Shibuya. I didn't pay it much mind since I barely left the house, but I had heard about them here and there…" Arthur shrugged idly, retrieving his phone out of pocket in order to check the time. "I dunno… I just think that's something the Phantom Thieves would be looking into…"
He ignored the weird app, as it continued to pulsate ever so slightly at the corner of his screen.
"It's always interesting to hear of an outsider's perspective on the Phantom Thieves, I will say that much." Ren admitted as he observed the young American fiddling with his smartphone. "I would've thought, with everything occurring in the United States, someone as clear-cut as you would be against something the public condemns as insurrection."
Arthur shook his head. "Not everything is so, as you put it, clear-cut, Ren." Arthur said, mouthing the current time. "Alright… Lunch is about to be over…" He murmured as he shut the phone off, and silently hid it away back in its lint-filled bed. "At any rate, I dunno. I'm not in a place to say anything, but if I were them, I'd be going after that mafia next."
Ren nodded, and suddenly the bell rang aloud and signalled to all that class was to resume.
And, of course, there came the sudden disappointed murmurs from students near and far. The sudden scrapes of chairs, the clattering of trays, the thunderous echoes of trash bins being rattled. It was like the school was rising to a new life, if only for a brief - oh so brief - period.
Even Ann was guilty of it, as she let out a mild yet discontented sigh.
"Lunch can feel so short sometimes…" She murmured.
"Indeed." Arthur said, cutting a brief glance at her before turning his eyes back on Ren. The latter of whom took one more deep, satisfying slurp of his ramen bowl. This time, however, he opted to just drink from the bowl itself.
Ann, meanwhile, just watched as he guzzled the remaining juices before lowering the bowl to his lap and wiping his mouth with his thumb.
"Honestly, I do not understand you boys…" She facepalmed, shaking her head as she watched. "Disgusting…"
"Hey!" Ren said as he stood up, stretching his legs all the while. "At least I'm better than Ryuji. He'd burp in your face and think nothing of it, heheh."
"Ugh…" Ann turned away in repulsion, her face scrunching up entirely at the idea presented to her. "I'm going to class. See you there, caveman."
And with that, she departed. Bag in hand, but leaving her uneaten lunch behind for the staff to clean.
Arthur, amused, couldn't help himself but let out a chortle at her reaction.
"She's nice, but there's no hiding that girly attitude of hers."
"Welp." Ren turned to look back at Arthur, throwing his duffle bag once more over his shoulder.
And in between the teeth of the zipper's path, he noticed a dark eye peering out at him as if intrigued by the young American's mere presence.
"The cat…" Arthur reminded himself that Ren often carried the little thing around in his bag.
He chose not to comment, however.
"Who knows?" Ren said, brushing off the conversation they've been having as students began to clear out of the cafeteria. "Maybe we'll hear something soon. They've been going after a ton of bad guys lately, after all."
Arthur raised a brow at that, but did nothing more than nod silently and say, "That does seem to be their M.O."
Ren bowed to his upperclassman, and bade Arthur a fond farewell for now. "Take care, Arthur."
With that being said, Ren turned on his heels, placing his hands in his pockets, and strode away to return to his class. It didn't take him overtly long to quickly blend in with the large crowd of students who were leaving to do the same.
This left Arthur completely alone at his table at the far end of the lunchroom.
He squinted, watching as the black-haired boy shuffled slowly from the cafeteria and out into the hallways - not to be seen again for the rest of the day.
"Hmph." Arthur huffed and clicked his tongue rapidly, unconvinced at their display of innocence.
While, on one hand, it felt nice to reconnect with a couple of friends he had spent very little time with, on the other he knew something was amiss with them. Their little back-and-forth confirmed it all, and even moreso, displayed Ren as a possible associate as well - an idea that only served to further intrigue Arthur more than he already was.
And needless to say, that went doubly so for Ann.
"I guess it makes sense why Niijima is after him, too." He murmured, shaking his head as he pushed himself up out of his seat. "But what do they have to do with the Phantom Thieves…." He asked himself, squinting at the ground below as he stroked his chin.
Gasping at a sudden thought, he mumbled, "C-Could…?" He wondered aloud before quickly dashing the idea. "No. They couldn't be… They're high school students. Not capable of such flights of fancy."
Grabbing Ann's tray in an effort to dispose of it, he quietly added, "But… Kamoshida… Ann… And Ren…"
"They're deceiving thee…" He heard rather suddenly, and with rapt propinquity - almost as if the speaker themselves were quite literally breathing over his shoulder and into his ear. Arthur, recognizing this mysterious voice as a recurring nigh-otherworldly aberration that had recently become commonplace in his life, turned to face where he had thought it to have originally emenanted.
However, no one was there.
Just a painted wall, with the Shujin logo emblazoned brilliantly upon it, almost as if it were mocking him.
"They knoweth something well…" The voice called out once more, and Arthur shivered as if a chill flew up his spine.
Arthur, with the anxiety from such a supernatural occurrence brewing well within his mind, which was only further emphasized by the chills and the sudden warmth mixing into his being almost like a tincture, rigidly nodded to the voice's cosmic insight. Opting instead to remain as calm as possible in such a public setting, as having a full-on panic attack in the middle of school would do him far more harm than good, the young American simply responded in kind.
"I'm aware."
For a moment, he felt as if he walked upon thin air.
There was nothing but a cold rushing by him, in a darkness that enveloped him in his entirety.
Denying him the basic senses.
He didn't know which way was up.
Nor what was down.
Left? Right?
All a figment poem.
The pen being his eyes.
The ink being his ice cold breath.
The stamp, his frazzled mind failing to even comprehend the abyss before him.
It felt almost too fantastical to even be.
He knew it well.
And yet, the dread he felt was impalpable, to the point he felt his legs could give out on him at any moment.
He struggled, he trembled. He fought to stand up, and darted his eyes all around.
But all that greeted him was a blindness shriller than any concussion.
In the faint dark, he heard something call for him.
But the voice was quiet and muffled.
It was not his father.
It was not his mother.
But it was familiar.
And it was distorted.
He thought he had turned around, and now he could hear his own breathing.
The tiny voice called out once more, this time almost singsongedly.
It sounded now as if it circled him, familiar, yet distant and incomprehensible.
He tried following it, but he had not even the slightest sense of direction.
The singing stopped.
And then?
As he breathed in silently and frantically?
A small little girl came to be.
Standing before him, her eyes matched his in color and intensity.
As green as the Emerald Isles.
Her hair as ginger as a redwood.
And her soul as innocent as Arthur remembers.
She opened her mouth to speak, a distant echo of a time passed.
But nothing was heard.
Only the beating of his heart rattled around in his ears.
A nightmare in its own right...
The bell rang aloud, signalling to everyone the end of class for the day.
On a whim that felt almost uncontrollable, the school burst to life - as it always did - with the sudden voices of the students who made up the body and soul of the institution.
Staff members walked among them, papers and suitcases in hand as they prepared to depart the school as well for their homes all over Tokyo.
He sighed, with a feeling of content in his mind as he quietly and absent-mindedly stepped out of Mr. Sakutaro's classroom, the teacher of which stayed behind to speak with another student.
"Poor kid, hahah." Arthur giggled inside, knowing well that it was more of a tongue-lashing than a proper conversation.
Aside from the lone student going home today with tears streaming from her cheeks, a calm Wednesday sat ahead for all, with rainwater pouring from the sky above outside - forecasted to last until near eleven at night.
Arthur stepped to the side, well out of the way of his classmates around him as they exited and made for home.
Standing by his lonesome, and a donning the black hoodie that Himura had purchased for him some some odd days ago, he idled by the door, with his phone in hand and a indisposed smile on his face, as he replied to a text Ichisake had sent him.
The two had exchanged correspondence for the past three days, since Arthur returned to school. He had told Ichisake of all that had happened over the past week, what had gone wrong, and how it was handled.
And Ichisake had responded in just about the same way that Arthur believed he would.
All caps, too many exclamation points, and constant assurances of Arthur's wellbeing.
And the young American would tell him the same thing, over and over.
That he's fine, and bar a very noticeable bruise on forehead and occasional headaches, he would pull through and keep trucking along.
Of course, Arthur was freaking out deep inside, but he didn't let Ichisake know that. He'd rather the young nerdy man sleep soundly at night than know that his good friend was terrified of a yakuza reprisal.
However, surprisingly enough, since that fateful encounter he's seen nary a sight of a yakuza thug.
But that's the part that terrified him the most.
Meanwhile, on Ichisake's end, it seemed he wasn't to return to Tokyo until early next month as, according to him, the police have a lead on the whole murder mystery that has been plaguing Inaba as of late, and have locked down the town as in an attempt to keep the suspect from escaping.
Drastic measures, to be sure. Arthur figured though that it must've been necessary on their part, especially if the murderer in question was a cop-killer.
According to Ichisake, everything was fine on his end. His family has their grandmother's place to stay in and that his parent's have the leave required for such a lengthy stay.
That did well to keep Arthur's mind at ease, for his worry for Ichisake only grew more as the situation up there continued to deteriorate even further.
"I'll have to remember to look into this at some point in the near future…" Arthur told himself, finding his interest piqued rather significantly. "It's like one of those murdery mysteries from the Investigation Channel back home…"
Arthur sent a reply message to Ichisake, who had sent him a picture of one of the police blockades leading out of town. As he glanced at it, he noticed a couple of men in suits standing by, speaking with clearly uniformed officers.
Arthur quickly surmised them to be agents of Public Security - Japan's version of the Federal Bureau of Investigation native to the United States.
Below was the caption that Ichisake so colorfully typed out in a deep red.
"the Suits r here! we got aliens or sumthin?"
Arthur chuckled, even if it was a little forced, he couldn't help himself but find amusement in Ichisake's own thought process.
A student in a light grey hoodie swiftly brushed by Arthur, bumping his shoulder and startling him as he jumped forward from the sudden abrasion. She turned around to apologize, and apologize she did, with an embarrassed voice and said:
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't-"
But this girl, she stopped herself rather quickly - and rather abruptly, at that - as she realized exactly who she was speaking to.
Her face went long, and almost stern. The vision of an innocent third year, replaced almost by someone else entirely.
Arthur quickly recognized the ponytailed girl as Kae. Kae Wakaizumi.
"Oh. It's you." She said flatly, her emotion seemingly evaporating in its entirety. "I had heard you had returned, but I haven't seen you for myself.." She added, turning to face him fully while clutching tightly to her chest a small textbook. She gave him a brief once-over, scoffing as she noted his appearance. "...And you still look like shit."
"Well, a fine "How's it going" to you as well, Wakaizumi-san." Arthur pocketed his phone, noting the sudden shift in her emotion and attitude.
"It's going good, I suppose." She said, ignoring his sarcasm with a roll of her eyes. "Although, I'd say my day is definitely better than yours. What with that big bruise on your head…" She leaned in slightly, narrowing while she studied his abrasion. "Mmmm. Guess the rumors are true…"
He nodded slightly. "Yeah. One of them." He told her, crossing his arms defensively as he spoke. His tone spoke with such conviction, such sincerity that even Kae was surprised to see him admit such a thing. Not to mention the venomous thoughts of the past rumors spoiling his mind only served to spur this idea further.
Kae stood quiet briefly, allowing what he said to methodically process in her mind. Even though they've only had a few brief interactions thus far, she reminded herself of how untrue most, if not all, the rumors surrounding Arthur since the latter's arrival to Shujin Academy really were. To now have him personally admit otherwise in regards to his attack, and with such conviction behind his voice… Well, it was a decent surprise to her. And an oddly irritating one at that.
But she didn't let it show.
"Hmph." She huffed, giving a nod of her head to agree with his affirmation. She then turned her back to him. "Well, I'd stay and chat. But I have places to be." She glanced over her shoulder at Arthur, and for a very quick, very fast-paced moment: He could've sworn he saw a twinkle of agitation in her eye. "You have yourself a good day, Williams."
Arthur nodded, finding the agitated look very unsettling. "You too, Wakaizumi-san."
And with that, she departed: Quickly striding down the hallway, as if she was a woman on a mission. She vanished around the corner to the entrance of the school - and would likely be long gone by the time he caught up.
Arthur couldn't help but wonder.
"What's got her so worked up?"
He didn't bother to brood on the question for very long, however, as other matters concerned him more heavily.
Letting out a questionable hum, he turned his mind elsewhere and flipped his hood over his head while deciding that standing around was not benefiting anyone, least of all him, briefly glancing around his current surroundings in an honest effort to spy anyone he personally knew. But he could not discern any familiar faces, nor could he recognize any others whom he tangentially knew simply by name.
However, there was no one. Just the same faceless zombies as always.
Satisfied that he was surrounded simply by those unknown to him, he placed his hands within his pockets and quietly joined the thinning crowd as they all made for the exit.
But home wasn't his destination.
Instead, his goal was to figure out the grand mystery of Ann and Ren.
He watched, from the corner of his eye, the two students he knew of well.
He could call them friends, sure. But compared to Ichisake, it didn't take him long to realize that he knew very little about them.
Sure, Ann - standing in the open with an oddly serious look painted on her face and the jacket Arthur had come to associate with her pulled over her Shujin uniform - was like him. A strange person in a strange land, rejected by society. But unlike him, she was determined to do justice by making sure people like Arthur had friends to talk to.
And sure, Ren - standing next to her, back against a cold, metal locker while wearing his very unassuming summer outfit, almost like he was unprepared for the rain outside - suffered almost the same exact situation as him. However, unlike Arthur, Ren had taken it all in stride. He hadn't lost it to some dream man, nor was he assailed by the mob.
The truth was: He didn't know them at all.
And that was the part that scared him the most when he put the Phantom Thieves' logo over their heads.
It was just the two of them, standing by the entrance to the school, alone in a small corner - talking and chatting away like there was some kind of purpose to it all.
It was unlike every other time he had spotted them and their seemingly absent blond friend together.
During those moments, they were smiling and jovial. As if they had accomplished something big every time that he saw them.
But now? Ren seemed worried. Ann seemed scared. And Ren's cat, Morgana, even seemed to be part of the conversation as he was jutting out of Ren's bag, hanging over his shoulder like he was the ringleader of the whole conversation.
It was odd, but Arthur paid it no mind in particular. It was a cat, and cats do stupid things all the time.
But what predominantly interested him was the guilty look in their eyes.
Arthur had spent a lot of time in his life watching people, learning their movements and various habits, and oftentimes figuring out just the best ways to detect something amiss in someone's mind.
Just sitting here, watching them, his head lowered to the floor like some suspicious dealer waiting on his buyer in a decently crowded hallway. It gave him all the time he needed to learn something about them.
"You can always tell a lot about people just by how they carry themselves…" Arthur reminded himself, lifting his head ever so slightly to keep them in view as a sudden crowd of students nearly blocked it entirely.
Before, he never had a reason to suspect them.
But he knows better now.
This isn't just some fantasy.
This is real life.
The minutes have been long since he took up his spot.
Ren was there first, on his phone with the cat dangling over his shoulder - as if it were invisible to everyone else. He looked to have been playing on the device, but as the seconds dragged on he was soon joined by Ann. Their banter seemed friendly at first. Welcoming. But then it quickly soured into the serious conundrum he now bore witness to.
He couldn't read lips, a skill he now damned himself for not having. That alone made this all the more difficult, but no less important - no less needed.
As Igor had demanded.
He watched them nod to one another, and then, suddenly, Ann's eyes narrowed into a determined look. She said something to Ren, and then the two of them turned and slowly made their way out of the building - doing their best to not bump into their peers and cause a scene.
Arthur huffed.
"They're on the move. Time to follow." He told himself.
Pushing himself off of the locker, he attempted to pursue, but quickly found himself bumping into a familiar character.
"H-huh?!" She yelped, losing her grip on the manga comic she held, and it plummeted to the wooden floor below.
It landed almost without a sound, the pages flapping mightily in its fall, and rustling heavily on its loud impact.
She looked at the comic briefly, then cut her frightened glare up at Arthur.
A small, embarrassed cherry blush formed on her cheeks as their eyes met. Naturally, this only further solidified the already uncomfortable encounter between the two of them.
"Uh." She hummed awkwardly, unsure of what to make of the young American's unexpected presence.
And Arthur said nothing immediately as he swiftly realized he was face to face with a surprised, bemused, and slightly frightened Makoto Niijima.
Instead, he just looked at her with a slightly slacked-jaw, arching a brow as he studied her.
"What are you doing here?" She asked him, taking a small jump back in caution. Arthur blinked, and opened his mouth to counter her.
"What are you doing here?" He returned the question, before gazing down at the comic below. As he looked at it, he noticed there was something peculiar about how it landed, and just from looking at it he ascertained what the oddity stemmed from. "And… Was… Were… Were you reading that manga... upside down?" He asked her, pointing to the comic laying dead on the floor.
She yelped, darting her stare towards the floor below before scrambling to collect her "reading material". "No, no, no! I wasn't! I was reading it normally! How you normally read a manga! Just minding my own business!"
Arthur blinked again, gradually lowering his hand back to his side as he watched her rise back to her feet - her cheeks burning even redder with embarrassment and overflowing discomfiture, causing her entire face to soon dive into a deep scarlet.
All the while a few students looked their way, curious as to what exactly was going down.
They were quiet for a few seconds further, with Arthur finding her gaze to be quite unsettling. He could feel that the awkwardness was turbulent for Makoto as well, and he soon broke the staredown with a coltish, idle glance around the hallway - feigning interest in a teacher far off. Scratching his head softly all the while.
She, meanwhile, cleared her throat and turned her eyes away as well, doing her absolute best to find an excuse to weasel out of this very uncomfortable situation.
But it wasn't any easier for her than it was for Arthur to keep quiet.
The students began to whisper to one another, but for the most part the onlookers were tame. No one wanted to interrupt whatever was going wrong. However, the snickers and gossip still followed, which only caused further visible discomfort to Makoto.
The same no less applied to Arthur as well.
"...I'm gonna go." She eventually relented, slowly inching her way away from the young American.
He didn't say anything in turn, but merely nodded to her own dismissal.
She backed up, keeping Arthur in her sights all the while as she shuffled her feet back, while the few students who stopped to watch gave her a decent berth.
When she was easily out of earshot, she quickly spun around and beat a hasty retreat from the scene.
Leaving Arthur dumbfounded - not by her presence - but by her reaction to getting caught in a wide open curricular jungle.
"O….K." He said, almost timidly, watching the familiar but almost unwelcome sight disappear completely from view towards the practice building. He clicked his tongue, crossing his arms as he tried to suss out what exactly just happened.
"Guess she had the same idea…" He deduced with a shrug of his shoulders. "Whatever."
He brushed it off, and made a swift jog for the exit.
He couldn't afford to lose Ren and Ann within the downpour outside.
Not when he was this close to learning more about the Phantom Thieves.
He did his best to dodge and weave around the students, most of whom stood underneath their umbrellas in a slow waltz to the station.
Some ran, others were clad in raincoats and jackets, hoodies and other heavy clothing and opted for a brisk walk up the street. They all stuck close to one another, sharing umbrellas or just simply one another's company. Theirs was a cacophony of traded words. Chatting and laughing, gossiping and lamenting. Some were about the weather, and others their personal lives.
"Dr. Maruki is really awesome!" One student said, surprising her rather indifferent boyfriend. "I don't understand it, but he seems to understand everything I'm going through! I'm gonna have to see him again tomorrow!" She gushed.
"OK." Her boyfriend responded, huffing in sheer annoyance - a bitter feeling that was apparent in even his eyes.. Apparently, this seemed to be a normal occurrence.
"Dammit, at this rate, Tokyo's gonna flood!" Another student shouted aloud, garnering meagre agreement among their friends.
"Better head to Meiji Shrine then, pray for some better weather." Someone responded, which resulted in a scoffing snicker from another student.
"Forget that, I'm heading to the church. Have fun praying in the rain."
Arthur shook his head, not able to discern if it was ignorance or an inside joke between them.
But in the end, it wasn't his business.
Some students glanced his way, shocked that he was seemingly wearing something a bit different than his usual. But he heard no falsehoods, experienced no evils, nor saw as such. When they were satisfied, they turned back to their own business.
Seemingly forgetting that he was a pariah.
It was almost surreal, even hearing the silence his presence now no longer disturbed. For a month, he had to walk the halls of Shujin and the streets of Aoyama-Itchome with a wearied itch in his step; every footfall bringing with it the tainted humors of bored juveniles as he heard the poisoning bitterness of rumors galore.
The fear, the quiet gazes, the blistering sensation of dragging another down with him just by association.
The names of Okumura and Ichisake echoed in his mind upon that single thought.
All of a sudden, they were gone in a flash, replaced by an eerie silence he hasn't experienced for two whole years.
And he didn't know what to make of it, aside from the fact that, along the way, he heard the continued whispers of a one "Edamura-senpai".
But Arthur didn't even know who that was.
Nor did it matter now.
Ren and Ann were within sight, sharing an umbrella - the latter of which had her hood flipped over to hide herself from any stray droplets. They were moving along at a reasonable pace, so much so that Arthur found himself struggling to keep up as the weather and the crowd worked against him.
He was even out of earshot, which gave way to only mild frustration.
Mild, because somewhere in his mind is a voice speaking what he wants to believe, and indeed he only now realized that this voice is what mainly fueled his disbelief in such fantastic stories, such as supernatural happenings.
Even Arthur knew that a person can't change on a whim. It takes years, decades even, for a person to truly be considered different from how they were before.
He himself had seen that come first hand, twice.
Doubt, despite the obvious red flags that waved high in the air, still plagued him.
"They're nice people." He had thought, his logical mind coming to light. "They wouldn't be involved in such indecency… Why am I even playing along?" He further questioned himself, unsure if he should even continue with what he considered to be nonsensical.
"Thou art playing along because our fate depends on it." He had heard.
And with that voice came the burning anxiety that he could barely contain.
The burning he felt whenever this distant, yet familiar, voice made itself known. A smoldering sensation that seared into his very soul, his heart, his eyes, and indeed even lit his fingertips aflame.
And time itself even felt like it began to slow, with the rain droplets above relaxing to but a snail's pace; inching towards the ground in a sort of temporal stasis. The footfalls - and indeed, the conversations of those near and far - slackened in equal measure. But life moved on unlike the last time something of such undeniable madness had occurred.
However, it no less frightened Arthur to a decent degree - though he managed to contain the familiar pangs of fear and confusion bubbling just underneath the surface of his character. He knew that if this voice meant him harm, it would've done so already. But that only begged one single question, then:
Who was speaking to him?
Every step he took, he felt the cold splotch of water breaking against his face, scattering droplets that only brought upon a slow hypothermia. At first it was tolerable, but as this continued he could no longer bear it and lowered his head from view, shying away from the freezing temperature his face was now suffering.
He glanced around briefly, and without spotting the feet of the presence, simply opted to respond mentally.
After all, he didn't want to appear a madman.
"Hello…?"
"Indeed, thou heareth me - but thine faceless peers cannot." It said, all as Arthur's breathing began to escalate slightly - realizing that whoever this was, whatever this was, it could hear his thoughts. "Now isn't the time to be playing the realist. Thou must pursue. Thou hath no choice."
He blinked, and then decided to press for answers. Answers that have eluded him in the shadows of his mind for quite some time now. "Who are you…?"
For a moment, the voice went silent, and time seemingly resumed its natural pace. The slow-fall of the feet around him, gone. The trickling of the rain, the patterned impacts as it collided against the earth below, returned to normal.
The sudden lapse in both judgement and senses apparently gone.
He wanted to lift his head, but the anxiety only served to further his cowardice, and when he felt the air go still once more only moments later, he knew that - whoever or whatever this presence was - they weren't done just yet.
How little they realized that their voice only strained Arthur to experience greater pain and anxiety.
"I am thou. The other you." It answered, all the while he kept his increasingly straining vision on his targets. "The one thou refuses to acknowledge…"
He looked up, and suddenly he realized he was right behind the two - following along at an uncomfortable distance.
But they had not yet noticed him.
"Shit…" Arthur exhaled, slowing his pace considerably in an effort to draw out distance.
As he slowed himself, he couldn't help but glance to his right when he noticed a waterlogged intersection with very few cars to speak of. An unfamiliar sight, to be certain, as he had only just entered this street moments prior.
"Keep the search going… I shalt trouble thee no longer for now…" The voice said. "But do not backeth out. If thine existence thee wishes for, this path thine must follow…. Only a little further…"
Arthur nodded. But the confusion remained solid in his mind.
"The ledge draws near… Taketh thine leap of faith."
Time resumed properly.
And suddenly, Arthur felt as if he was soaked to the bone.
"What the…" Arthur huffed, looking down at himself as he beheld the sudden weighty clothes he wore.
In addition, he found himself standing idle, alone in the rain with students and adults passing him by as if he hadn't even existed at all.
"I was… No… What?" He murmured rather frightenedly, gazing around his surroundings, trying to pinpoint Ren and Ann. In his moment of confused silent wonderment, he spotted the interaction he passed by only mere moments ago.
Just to simply realize, in a fit of pure bewilderment, it was now such a vast distance away that he couldn't have possibly walked by it recently.
"Huh…?" He gasped, wondering just how he got here so quickly.
"Hey!" A man clad in the dark uniform of the Station's staff approached him. His flatfoot shoes clacking against the stones of the sidewalk, and the rustling of his umbrella echoed with the pitter-patters of the rain. On his face, a certain odd, uncomfortable look was plastered. "Are you alright? You're just standing there in the rain. It's kinda creepy, kid."
"Huh?" Arthur looked up at the rather tall man, unsure of what exactly just happened "Err… Yeah, yeah…" Arthur feigned, his fright still eating away at his brain.
"Well, OK." The attendant said, following his gaze down the street, but when he couldn't confirm what Arthur was staring at he simply shook his head and met the young American's eyes with his own. "Well, hurry inside and get on your train! Don't need you catching hypothermia out here!"
"Uh! Right, right!" Arthur hurriedly nodded, moving to step past the attendant, but stopped himself just short of the entrance to the Station's undercroft. This easily confused the attendant more, who was only a few feet behind him. "E-excuse me!" Arthur said, turning around just in time to witness the attendant waltz past him. "Did you happen to see a blonde girl with pigtails and a frizzy black-haired boy with glasses come through?" He asked.
The attendant looked at Arthur for a moment, silent in thought as he processed the question. Then he turned to face him fully, thinking. There were easily tons of students that had passed by his station only in the past few minutes alone. But as he stood there, safely shielded from the sky's growing assault from above by a simple eave, he eventually came forward with his answer.
"Oh, yeah!" He said, snapping his fingers rather comically with a chuckle. "I remember the blondie! Blue eyes, right?" He asked, to which Arthur nodded. "Yeah, yeah! They came and went, like, five minutes ago."
Arthur's heart sank, realizing quickly the connotations of what that meant.
"Dammit!" Arthur mentally cursed. "I lost them!"
"Alright…" Arthur said, his shoulders slumping as the realization quickly donned on him. "Alright, alright. Well. I better get home. Sorry to trouble you, sir." Arthur offered the attendant a quick bow before speedily walking past him.
The attendant cocked his head, confused, before shrugging and returning to his station.
Without knowledge on where the two had gone off to or which train they boarded, he had no reason to continue his investigation for the day. But this no less upset him to a decent degree that when he found himself out of sight of the attendant, he slowed himself to a quiet, aimless-looking walk.
And so, he opted to simply return home.
He stopped himself when he reached a set of stairs as the squelching of his soaked shoes became more and more apparent as his mind steadily re-focused. He groaned in disgust, realizing that he had, apparently, stood out there long enough to soak himself even to his underwear.
"This'll require a good wash…. Fuck…"
He shook his foot, and then continued on his way down a set of stairs and passed a ticket gate - where he presented his student I.D. to an automated machine before proceeding downwards into the bowels of Tokyo.
He felt slightly defeated, but as time moved along, his anxiety and fear of the unknown calmed, and from the ashes of those negative emotions came a renewed resolve.
A resolve born from the encouragement of the apparently otherworldly voice that had seen fit to speak to him.
An otherworldly voice that he is sure that Igor has something to do with.
He shrugged, boarding his train quietly alongside a plethora of students, adults, and even a few police officers on transit.
"I guess I'll just start fresh tomorrow."
Post-Chapter Author's Note
Edited by Frozen Foe and Kabuto S. Inferno.
Don't forget to check out the audio reading on Soundcloud! Chapter 4 was recently released!