Chapter 20
Despite what the rumors said, Minato enjoyed a great many things.
He cherished his music. He couldn't live without his omnipresent headphones. He loved his sister (although days like today were really making him reconsider). He adored lazy Sundays, and sleeping in general. He also liked a good video game every once in a while.
Among things he did not like: the suspicious item sitting innocently on his desk.
Admittedly, he wasn't in the best mood, because he was tired. Beyond tired. The events of the Priestess Arcana were not exactly restful. Then, immediately afterwards, he'd been swept away to the Velvet Room, which would normally be good but there wasn't much to talk about, and he just really wanted to sleep. So, he made do as best he could by trying to fall asleep on the floor. Theo (bless him) had tried to provide Minato with a blanket, but Elizabeth stole it, twirling it about herself in what Minato could only call an "Elizabeth-like manner". She even had the gall to laugh when Minato threw her the most intense glare he could muster, calling him "less threatening than a Cowardly Maya," which was going too far.
Anyways.
Point was, he wasn't in good shape, despite the healing everyone received after the battle. He was even tempted to order two revival beads (yes, two, Minato was pretty sure he needed to be revived twice), but he settled for two lattes from Chagall Café. They were settled in his grasp (one per hand), but upon arriving back to his dorm room, he saw something unexpected.
His sister, of course. On his bed, with his computer.
He didn't even want to think about what she'd probably done while he was gone. But he didn't have much time to wonder, because immediately after opening his door and processing the Hamu doesn't belong in my room thought, she leaned over to his desk (somehow staying on the bed while balancing his laptop precariously in one hand) and flipped over the suspicious item on his desk.
It was a photo. And upon laying eyes on it, Minato just sighed. He didn't even try to hide it.
"That's blackmail," he muttered.
Hamuko grinned, not even looking at him as she clicked to another page on his laptop. "That, brother dear, is justice given physical form."
"Hamu, this is literally blackmail."
In the center of the desk was a photo of something Minato really wished hadn't been put on a historical record: himself blushing bright red at something Rio said (it was definitely something the raven-haired girl had said. She was clearly visible grinning like a fiend in the photo's background, the maniac).
"Well, if you don't want this in public, the solution is really quite simple." Hamuko shut the laptop and tossed it to the side, swinging herself off the bed and swiping up the offending photo with a flick of her fingers, folding it and stowing it away in her pocket. A smile played on her lips, but a dangerous narrowing of her eyes spoke a different story. "Don't ever do something as stupid as your stunt a couple nights ago. Not without keeping us informed."
Minato felt a twinge of pain from his burns, now reduced to an itchy red splotch on his chest thanks to multiple dias. "Can't."
Hamuko crossed her arms. "Can't, or won't?"
"Hamu-"
"No, wait, listen to me before you talk." She sharply blew away a strand of hair that drifted in front of her eyes, eyebrows drawn together in focus as her mood shifted gears. "I'm not naïve enough to believe that I can stop you from… doing your own thing. Which I know sometimes includes stuff like what you pulled a few nights ago. But you need to tell us."
Minato's eyes finally narrowed slightly in response. "I didn't need to, I had things under control. And why tell you about something you couldn't do anything about?"
Hamuko's foot started tapping a frustrated beat. "The first priority of every mission is to make sure that everyone gets out alive. So, in fact, you were directly going against the mission objective by not telling us, since we could then find you later if you needed help."
"Then I should tell you afterwards." Minato replied. "If you got distracted, it could compromise your safety."
Hamuko hissed in frustration. "Jeez, Mina, why can't you get your head around this?! You are just as important as any of the other members of S.E.E.S. on a mission. If something happened to you, the current mission is a failure. And!" She thrust a hand up to stall her sibling's rebuttal. "I'd like to believe we're better than to be so quickly distracted by a simple report. I mean, God, Mina, just…"
Seemingly out of things to say, the shorter Arisato trailed off, leaving the twins in a stilted silence.
Minato knew that he was being stubborn about this. But he couldn't tell Hamuko the real reason he didn't want to promise to her tell her everything.
During the Priestess battle, he really did have things under control; that was a non-issue in his mind. But, sooner or later, he was going to start doing things that no one from this timeline should do: go out solo during the dark hour, attempt to hack into Kirijo databases, who knew what else. Currently, he still needed the advantage of knowing (generally, at least) what was going to happen in the future. Once he started truly changing things, there was no going back.
And to truly change things, he was going to have to do some really dangerous, really stupid things. Things he was not going to get anyone else involved in.
And sure, Minato had definitely lied to Hamuko in the past… but he was starting to get tired of it all, despite its necessity. And he'd rather not break a promise to his sister if he didn't have to.
After some time of stewing in his thoughts, Minato looked over as Hamuko threw herself down with a fwoomph on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "You know I just want to make sure that you're safe, right?"
Minato nodded, and the girl continued. "It's just a bit hard to know when you're safe or not if you refuse to tell me what crazy thing you'll be doing next. And it's not like I can keep an eye on you all the time… as much as I'd like to."
Glancing over to Minato, still standing with his lattes in hand, Hamuko found his eyes locked onto hers. She cocked her head, raising an eyebrow. "You catch all that, brother o' mine?"
The boy raised his chin, but after a moment glanced away. His auburn-haired companion stayed quiet as his mental gears started rolling. Slowly striding to his desk, he put his coffee down, turning his desk chair to face his sister before taking a seat.
"Hamu…" he hesitated, shifting his gaze to the room's curtains. "I know you're worried for me. But I'm worried about jeopardizing your safety."
"That old 'distraction' thing? That's- Oh! Ok, how about this:" Snapping her fingers, Hamuko pointed at Minato, clearly proud of her next point. "What if our situations were reversed? What'd you do then?"
Grey eyes flicked over to red ones, and a hint of a smile played on the boy's face. "You're the field leader. If you're alone and no one's looking for you, I'll eat an evoker."
Hamuko gave a disgruntled sound and flopped her hand back down. "Hrm. Yeah, you're right. You're the worst when you're right."
The blue-haired boy chuckled, his lips still vaguely tilted up.
There was a long silence. After a while, Hamuko tilted her head in her brother's direction. "Y' know, I think that's the longest string of sentences you've said in years."
Minato hummed in agreement. He really was exhausting his annual word supply, and it was starting to weigh on him.
They sat quietly for a few more moments, before Hamuko heaved a sigh and stood up. "Well, promise me this. Will you at least try and consider letting me, or anyone, know if you're doing something crazy?"
Minato opened his mouth, ready for a denial… then closed it without a word.
This is Hamu. She's never really going to take no for an answer.
…Ugh. Sometimes, I really wish I didn't love her so much.
"…No," Minato replied, forestalling her rebuttal as he continued speaking. "I promise I'll tell you."
For a brief pause, there was total silence. Then Hamuko shot towards him, her hands grasping his shoulders in a tight grip.
"Wait, what!? Really?"
"Yes, I'm- don't shake me, I'm serious!"
Hamuko stopped her shaking but still stared at him with wide eyes.
Minato snorted quietly. "You're the field leader. I'll need to start telling you my activities when I join active duty anyways. And you're not wrong, I'm just stubborn."
And yes, those really were true. But he also knew that anything less than a full agreement was not going to satisfy Hamuko, and who knows how much else she'd do to get him to agree to this.
Minato would just need to figure out a way to keep her informed, without getting her involved.
That was the downside of having an incredibly bullheaded sister who was constantly worried about your safety.
And speaking of which, his sister was continuing to stare at him like he'd grown a persona from his head. Attempting to not show his exasperation, Minato returned the stare with his own, more bemused version.
"Is it that surprising I can listen to reason?"
Hamuko didn't really need to verbally respond, her face doing most of the talking. "Mina. It's you. It's completely unexpected."
Closing his eyes, Minato inwardly sighed. Yeah, that's pretty fair, actually.
Meanwhile, Hamuko had perked up again, releasing the boy from her vice grip. "Well, that's a twist I never saw coming! Thanks a boatload, Mina!"
He merely grunted in reply.
"Phew. Glad that's over with." Hamuko glanced up in thought, then nodded to herself. "Alrighty, might as well distribute this photo among the S.E.E.S. peeps now."
The blue-haired boy blinked. He opened his mouth to protest, but Hamuko just looked back, revealing a smirk.
"C'mon, Mina!" Her grin widened. "I was gonna do this anyways!"
And so the shorter Arisato twin swept out of the room, trouble (as always) nipping at her heels.
Minato looked down, his two lattes untouched on his desk. He lazily grabbed one and took a sip.
At least caffeine will never betray me.
Yamagishi Fuuka's house was immense.
The behemoth of a living space was three stories tall (technically four, if one included the basement) and was painted a gentle pink that matched the bloom of the springtime cherry blossoms. The front yard alone dwarfed smaller houses, and manicured grass covered a large portion of the lawn. The scent of fresh mulch filled the air, mingling with the smell of cut bushes, and a small creek gurgled to one side of the house.
In the center of everything, Fuuka walked through the grounds, her large, book-loaded backpack slowing her down. The steps up leading to the front porch were covered in dew, being shielded from the sun for most of the day by the gargantuan house, causing her to tread carefully on her way to her house's slick front porch. Feet clicking upwards on the hardwood steps, she slowly opened the door, well-oiled hinges smoothly swinging it forward.
As usual, a slim, female figure was hunched over a kitchen table at the end of the entrance hall, wearing a plain white blouse above her matching long skirt. Fuuka heard the scritch-scritch-scritch of a pen scratching on paper coming from the table. The woman's back was facing the entrance, giving no sign of acknowledgement of the girl's entry or the wisps of wind blowing through the door and scattering the pristine welcome mat with water from outside.
The door closed as quietly as it opened. Fuuka's soft "Hello Mom" was barely heard over the shuffling of her shoes being removed. Chair creaking, the older woman turned slightly as she approached. A wan smile ghosted onto the woman's face.
"Hello, sweetheart," she murmured. An empty hand fell on the girl's shoulder, the other continuing to scratch out formulas and equations as before. "Don't forget to study today."
She didn't meet her daughter's eyes.
The hand slipped off her shoulder as the girl drifted into the other room. A greying man in a well-used apron and a pink plaid shirt was pondering something next to the stove, totally tuned out to the world around him. Including the boiling-over pot of rice on the stove.
"Dad, the stove!" The girl's soft-spoken alarm didn't reach the man, who gave a start of surprise when she strode in front of him to turn down the boiler.
"Ah, sorry, dear," he said, voice matching the volume of the other two. "Wasn't paying attention."
Fuuka just shook her head with a near-invisible smile, taking her own stained apron from the wall. She opened her mouth to speak, but-
BEEPBEEPBEEP-BEEPBEEPBEEP-BEEPBEEPBEEP…
...the shrill cries of the telephone cut across the house, shrieking harsher and louder than any of the home's residents. After overcoming his second surprise of the minute, the man shuffled over to the phone, eyes widening when he saw the number calling.
"Honey, it's your brother."
In a heartbeat, the woman was in the room, the previous hunch gone from her posture as she snatched the phone from her husband with shaking fingers.
"H-hello? Kuga-nii?"
Fuuka swallowed as she watched her mother listen to the phone, one hand tightly grasping the counter. Within a few moments, the older woman's eyes drooped once more, and the hunch in her back returned.
"Ah, of course. Have a nice day then."
The only reply was a dial tone. Fuuka's mother put the phone back down.
"Just a misdial," she said, eyes fixed to the ground. "He probably meant to call my parents."
The man's face twisted, and he wrapped his arm around the woman, pulling her close.
"I'm so sorry." He gently turned his wife into his shoulder. "I shouldn't have let you talk to him."
"On the contrary. Please always tell me when my family calls, I would not have it any other way."
Pulling away from the man's grip, the woman left for the other room, seeking the solace of her numbers. The man stayed where he was for a moment, before addressing his daughter in a somber baritone.
"Dear, could you please take over for me in the kitchen?" He didn't spare her a glance, focusing on his downcast wife. "I need to speak with your Mother for a moment. Please don't forget that you have a test this week, so please study after you finish cooking."
He missed the small nod from his daughter as he left the room. Fuuka gave a little sigh, attempting to tune out the voices echoing in from the other room.
"…It isn't your fault, Sakura."
"I know it is not, but I cannot help but feel very… guilty."
"They have no right to tell you-"
"Yes, I know, I know. Believe me, I know." A sigh. "'My career of choice is my own business', as you would say."
"Exactly."
"I know I shouldn't… but I cannot help feeling lonely."
Silence was the man's reply. And all throughout the conversation, in the adjacent kitchen, Yamagishi Fuuka cooked dinner alone.
"Damn, Minato-kun. Rough weekend."
Apparently, Minato's haggard appearance was too much for even Rio to ignore. And the blue-haired boy himself found it hard to argue. He opted for a grunt in reply.
The volleyball captain shook her head, hair shaking in its simple braid as she put her backpack down.
"What'd you do this time?"
He exerted great effort to raise one eyebrow. "…This time?"
Rio hummed as she sat at her desk. "I get the feeling that this happens to you a lot."
"Why?"
Rio's lips ripped into a knowing smile, and Minato barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes.
"Hamu," he muttered.
Rio's smile widened. "Who else?"
"No one."
"Damn right."
The boy exhaled lightly, trying to picture his sister cackling with glee at the trouble she continued to cause him. It wasn't hard.
A light cough turned his head towards the ravenette, who sat with an expectant look on her face. Unable to keep it in, he sighed once more. "What did she tell you?"
"She said you'd gotten hurt because you were being, and I quote, 'a complete and utter loon.'"
"Sounds like her."
Rio rolled her eyes. "You're telling me. I had to look up what 'loon' meant. But you're avoiding the question, so what exactly-"
Her question was interrupted by a loud thump outside the classroom door, and muffled girls' voices from the other side of the door.
"Oops, my mistake. Must've missed you there because you're just so small, Fuuka-chan."
"Ah, s-sorry… Moriyama-s-s-san…"
"Hm… I suppose I'll forgive you this time, but be sure to watch where you're going, yeah?"
Muffled snickers echoed through the door, and footsteps click-clacked away. Minato's narrowed eyes were glued to the door, but a second after the conversation ended he stood up, hopped over towards the door (stubbornly without his crutches, he was through with them unless necessary) and slid it open.
The sight greeting him was wholly unsurprising. A stack of papers and books were scattered across the floor in a few foot radius of a frail-looking Fuuka, already stooping down to scoop up her wayward school supplies. She glanced up in surprise at the sound of the opening door. A small clunk sounded as the girl dropped the one book she'd managed to pick up, giving her best deer-in-headlights impression as she looked up at the boy standing over her.
Minato would've sighed, but seriously, he'd done that enough for one day.
"Need help?"
The poor girl, flustered by Minato's appearance and now thrown for a loop by the abrupt question, had a stammering fit. "Er, uh, I, uhm, no, I'm… I'm a-alright… ah, thanks."
The boy hummed a response, leaning against the doorway. "Who were they?"
"A-ah, my f-friends Moriyama-s-san and, er, Sasaki-s-s-san."
Perhaps sensing the vague disbelief in his expression at the word 'friends,' Fuuka refused to meet Minato's eyes, instead sticking her gaze to the floor as she picked up her assorted paper supplies. Not seeing the girl's tormentors, he returned to the classroom.
As the boy sat down in his chair, a tongue click next to him drew his attention. Rio was shaking her head, dark braid lightly shaking back and forth with the movement. "You're an odd one, Minato-kun. And after class, I'm still gonna find out about what happened to you over the weekend."
He continued looking at Rio, hoping that she'd make sense if he just tried staring hard enough, but sadly had no such luck. She seemed even more unwilling to elaborate after Fuuka scurried into the classroom, sitting down at her chair and doing her best to seem as small as possible.
And so, choosing not to waste energy lamenting the multitude of weird girls in his life, Minato got his own books out and prepared for class.
Then, when he saw Ekoda walk into the classroom, he prepared for a nap.
AN:
(Updated on Oct. 20th 2018 to update my beta's username/links, and to laugh at myself because omg what was I THINKING with that schedule)
AND THUS AFTERADOS ARISES FROM THE DEAD
Hey everyone, it's been a while! Like, 3 years! Holy crap.
First off, if you're an old follower of Lateral, thank you so much for sticking with me while I was getting my IRL life together (which I'm still doing, of course, but I'm out of school, so… close enough!). 3 years is a hell of a long time to wait for a new chapter, so I really appreciate you all waiting for my sorry butt to get back around to writing again.
If you're just joining now, then… welcome!
Since it's been a while, I have a few housekeeping things:
First, a note on how I'm updating Lateral. In the past, I've been a bit… spotty on how I update (and how I write reviews, and how I reply to PMs, and…), to say the least. To remedy that, I've decided to split Lateral up into TV-show style "seasons", with about one chapter per week(ish) for the next couple months. Here's the current schedule:
1/15/18 – Ch. 20
1/22/18 – Ch. 21
1/29/18 – Break
2/5/18 – Ch. 22
2/12/18 – Ch. 23
2/19/18 – Ch. 24
2/26/18 – Break
3/5/18 – Ch. 25
3/12/18 – Ch. 26
3/19/18 – (Possible Ch. 27)
(Update on Oct. 20th 2018 ^^JOKES ON ME, I WAS 7 MONTHS OFF^^)
That will hopefully give me a chance to do some writing and editing, etc. without neglecting to respond to (and write reviews for) all of you awesome people.
Next, on the topic of editing: I have a beta now! Hooray! His name is DisasterNoj, and he writes and does voice work, all of which is pretty damn cool. If you see anything make sense in this chapter, these is a solid 100% chance it is thanks to him. Check him out at www(point)disasternoj(point)tumblr(point)com, or at www(point)archiveofourown(point)org/users/Disasternoj. Personal thank you to Noj for being so patient in dealing with me and my plot holes, writing gimmicks, and questions.
Last housekeeping note: for the time being, I'm not going to be continuing with the Lateral Files or Mythology Corner updates. I'm so happy so many of you enjoyed them, but to keep my writing going at a faster pace, I'm going to be skipping those for now. I might include them in a later season depending on how my writing speed is, but if you feel really strongly about either/both of those and you want them back, let me know in a review/PM/whatever suits you best!
Alright, onto your regularly scheduled AN.
Yes, I do remember that Fuuka is terrible at cooking… but hey, even she can't mess up rice! ...right?
And now… I have a bunch of shout-outs to catch up on.
*Takes a deep breath*
Shout outs to:
Tienphama92, KudosToMeetYa, Iamtruth, Han Rei-chan, Crystal Lilac, amixan0402, Firebolzt, ZeroKirby, Pandawasmyballpen, scycreator, Arithra, SteamXXPunkXX, mgtragoedia, Endless Sorcerer B-dot-Battler, thenextgamer, Rauden, luckyimnot, zippu, MementoLuceat, Evanescentfacade, azuresky0, shadowdragonspirit, StrawberryMatt, Luffy911, Vendiche, aiyumi, Seungwan29, KitsuneNaruto135, Justsomerandomhuman, Wired Speed, Lunar Wave, Fanite, Incomplete Data, Ivono, Ragunea, bldude, DEADpyrox, lynxsis, captain333, Galadedrid, Stormy Cloudz, HappieApple, Matemeo3, Maquerea, fufulah, wolf-hanyou-girl999, yummychii, CuriousDreamWeaver, TMOTC, Metal Vile, otaku404, AngelicTrinity, mayurie, Rawnblade22, Trevor X, Saskue's-Killer112, Lief 17, TsukiReiCC, Ham Jabroni Inc, Eurigos, TheBraveGallade, Gamer David, Ryoji Mochizuki, Unknown Eldritch, bArqud, GhostRyder, 3N, iichthyosaur, AI-khalid, niteshine, Ryoshiro, AnalogToothBrush, Killerjakee, DarkRai99, Ect0Gh0st, amaya-tsuki-chan, Lazyautumnleaves, LDLFQ, KageFuego4, An odd wanderer, lufer, and POGGY00 for following;
KudosToMeetYa, Iamtruth, Error 16, sayumi-konoto, Fuzzie Wuzzy, Crystal Lilac, scycreator, Euphonia, Endless Sorcerer B-dot-Battler, thenextgamer, Shirodex, zippu, MementoLuceat, Evanescentfacade, TempestReign, powerbome, Mo Eazy, shadowdragonspirit, Vendiche, Justsomerandomhuman, FlawlessMirage, FiveMinuteCatNap, Pharos666, Fanite, bldude, DEADpyrox, captain333, Galadedrid, Maquerea, ragnarok724, Daves U, Darkshadeclone, yummychii, tarratolla, TMOTC, A random slacker, Lerobin, AngelicTrinity, mayurie, Trevor X, Saskue's-Killer112, Eurigos, TheYogurt, azrielhallowed, Jenztsch, Scarlet-9s, Ryoji Mochizuki, Gamer David, 3N, TheBraveGallade, Unknown Eldritch, Anna Crosszeria, bArqud, GhostRyder, iichthyosaur, niteshine, Ryoshiro, DarkRai99, kurolothgarian, Rayaria, JosephineSilver, Ect0Gh0st, An odd wanderer, and lufer for faving;
And llat-2, Rayify, MarkOfGod, MagatsuIza, Petrichor in May, crymblade, Krysvun, Biscione, paradoxjr, Guest, fangirl88, Golden-Black Dragon, Slulldom, kuroXIII, Phearo, ChaosRune, Ryoji Mochizuki, and Huh for reviewing!
In response to:
Guest: Haha thanks! Glad you liked it! Yeah I was definitely trying to cut away to different scenes at times when it would be most… I guess frustrating for you guys, so you'd be thinking but what happens to _?! Well, as you now know that first talk was included here, the second one wasn't… I think we can chalk it up to Junpei and Akihiko just being Junpei and Akihiko. Thanks for reviewing!
Fangirl88: Oh gee thanks! Ha yeah agreed, finally an update indeed… and then there was the next 3-ish year break, whoops. Thanks for reviewing!
Huh: Fortunately not quite! Thanks for reviewing!
Alright, I believe that's everything. I'm doing some of this AN stuff and final proofreading in the morning before work (yes, work, and yes it's kinda cool to write that), so there's certainly a chance I've forgotten something. And if that's the case, or if you have a question or comment or anything, feel free to let me know. Thank you all so much for reading!
Other than that, all I can say is… welcome to Lateral Season 2!