WTF, what did I do wrong? That's what happens for updating at midnight. Anyway, here it is.
I completely forgot to comment on the previous chapter. But, Alikhan Ali, I'm so happy to read your comment! And, funnily enough, I learnt english by reading too. Subtitles of anime at first, but then I moved to fanfiction. Funny how life turns around, huh. Also, I don't really correct spelling mistakes in here. I do correct the version of the story hosted on SpaceBattles and Archives of Our Own, however. And the first one has fanart made by one of the readers, so I recommend checking either of those sites.
Thanks for reading!
The girls of B-Komachi were marginally closer now. Ai wouldn't have noticed if the physical sense of that sentence hadn't mirrored the mental one: She was used to a certain distance being present at all times, she was used to having a "bubble" around her where the space belonged solely to her. Even when they approached, even when the room narrowed, Ai had noticed that the girls avoided being as close to her as they were with each other. Whether they noticed or not, she'd stopped wondering a few years ago.
Asking them to come closer had been out of the question when the difference was only a few centimeters. Only noticeable enough when her mind couldn't be busied with work or her babies. When she had a moment for reality to settle in.
She hadn't noticed the absence of that small window until earlier in the day, when she assumed nothing would be between her feet and the space in front of her, and she ended up kicking Takamine into getting their feet entangled and falling.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…!" Takamine hadn't fallen with Ai. She just sort of had her trapped foot slide, still mostly planted on the ground, as Ai's (negligible) weight pulled her along. But she managed to grab onto the shelf she'd been facing. Ai managed to get her hands under her, and when she turned to face the ceiling, confusion made her look around to see why the hell she was on the floor instead of standing.
The girls gathered around her when they noticed that she wasn't trying to stand up, but Ai's mind was elsewhere. Trying to puzzle things out, especially why it felt so strange that she'd been tripped.
Takamine hadn't moved away. Normally, the small space reserved for Ai was maintained no matter what. The girls, unwittingly or not, moved away from her. Gave her a bit of the room, putting up a separation that Ai only noticed when she wasn't busy. But this time, Takamine hadn't moved. Ai didn't notice, took for granted what had been going on for a bit, and got herself on the floor as a result. Almost dragging Takamine with her.
It might sound strange to think so much about it, to spin a simple mistake in her mind over and over again. It honestly looked more like it'd been on purpose, randomly taking a step back sounded like a coverup for an attempt at bullying. And Ai had been startled to feel like the harassment that had ceased some time ago would resume.
But, well, there was something incredibly humorous about seeing a girl hanging for dear life from a shelf and later on getting a big red line on the forehead where her halted descent slammed her against the furniture.
It warmed Ai's heart a little. Just a little, though.
"It's…! Ow… It's fine~" Ai rubbed her ankle while talking. Moving her toes to see how much it hurt and winking at her fellow idol when she realized nothing really had happened. "I'll be more careful, so don't worry."
"I should've seen you…"
"That's my line!" Ai got back to her feet to move her ankle slowly, make the tendons move and relax. "We didn't break anything, did we? Ichigo-san's sooo taking that from my salary if we did."
No one laughed at the comment, even though Ai was pretty sure she'd heard the girls joke about these sorts of things before. Hmmm… Did she say it wrong? Maybe she missed a facial expression she hadn't noticed? What made a joke funny anyway?
"Just a potential relationship." Watanabe gave Takamine a look.
"Huh? Stop projecting, will you?" Takamine got defensive, pulling away from Watanabe and getting herself between the girl and the phone.
"Sure, sure." Watanabe scoffed, giving Ai another glance while she moved her ankle and fingers. "You sure you're okay?"
"Yeah!" Ai nodded.
"You should probably get checked." Ari sighed when Watanabe got away. "Just in case."
"It's fine. My hands hurt more, actually." Given that she'd cushioned her fall with them, it wasn't strange. So she shook them a bit, like they'd been taught to do after continued exertion.
"Just in case." Ari insisted. And Ai took a moment to knit a devious plan together while weighing her options.
"Come with me?" Ai tilted her head with puppy eyes, making her expression the cattiest smile she could.
"Ummm… Right." Ari looked a bit hesitant, but reached out to Ai with her hand anyway. "Can you walk?"
"Yeah!" Ai still made smaller steps all the same, just in case. An ankle injury could get her career shot down just as easily as Ryousuke-kun could have. The girl before Meimei could attest to this.
…
Wow, okay. What was that pit in Ai's stomach just now…?
"Are you really okay?" Ari frowned a little while studying Ai's expression.
"Yeah! Just…" Hmmm, what would be the most acceptable answer here? They were both idols, even if Ai didn't really know anything about Ari. So… They should probably have similar problems, right? "Getting asked so much makes me nervous."
"Ah, well. Take it easy: it's not gonna get worse." Yes! Ari accepted it as a valid answer! "Just don't place too much weight on that leg."
"I'm not heavy, though?"
"It's because it's sensitive right now, not because you're heavy."
"Ah… Okay, okay." Not like Ai didn't know, she'd been in B-Komachi for longer than Ari after all. It just so happened that she didn't want them to fall silent on their way out like it'd happen otherwise.
"You… Don't need me to help you walk, do you?" Ari asked after a moment of checking Ai. Making the purple-haired idol stop walking and making a face.
"You're doing it again!"
"Okay, okay! I'm just making sure." Ari put up her hands, relenting with a bit of a frown.
"Thank you, but it's making me nervous." Ai tilted her head away from Ari.
"Hmmm… At least I know that now."
"What was that?" Ai turned her head toward her fellow idol.
"Nothing."
"I heard you." Ai insisted.
"At least you're telling me this much." Ari huffed.
"Well, that's how it is." Ai pointed out.
"Yeah. But I'd have to… Know what? It's fine." Ari frowned again. "It doesn't matter, let's go see Miyako-san."
"But I wanna listen to you."
Ari gave Ai a look while stopping for a moment. Ai stopped smiling.
"For real."
"For real, for real?" Ari raised an eyebrow.
Ai suspected that was a joke, but she didn't know how that'd be the case.
"Yeah."
"For real, for real. On god…" Ari murmured before sighing. "I said you wouldn't tell me this much before."
"Ah…" Ai looked at the floor while walking. "I wouldn't want to be a bother."
"See, this is the kind of things that we should be aware of. It's not even that big of a deal, it just makes things less awkward." Ari shrugged, like she didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Even though she completely barred Ai from talking while she kept explaining herself with more and more words. "Because then I'm not wondering if I said something wrong, or why your already short answer become even shorter after saying something. And I'm pretty sure you're mad, but you don't show that you're mad. Like, giving people the cold shoulder isn't the worst thing ever. But it's kind of childish, y'know…"
"I see…"
"See? You're doing it again." Ari frowned.
"That was a lot to take in." Ai blinked a couple of times. "How long have you been thinking like this?"
"Why do you think I've been thinking about this stuff?" Ari parroted, defensive.
Why indeed…
"Because I do." Ai pointed at herself. "But I never get to the point where I know exactly what I wanna say."
Ari pursed her lips, grabbing her left elbow and looking away. A bit red in the face.
"It's not like it bother me that much or anything."
"Is that so…?" Ai couldn't figure out how Ari would be able to just release that many words without previously thinking about the topic. But she guessed some people were just more thoughtful than others.
For all her comments to Ichigo-san about her own genius, Ai hadn't forgotten that she was trash in the academic department, for example.
Was Hikigaya like this? Just… Thinking about stuff all day? Was that why he did so little with it? Hopefully, Ai would be featuring in his thoughts for a significant part of that time, in that case. It was a thought that made her feel just a tiny bit warmer inside.
"I…" Ari pressed her lips together, looking very annoyed but holding back while looking at Ai. "Are you messing with me now?"
"Eh? Did I say something wrong?" Ai blinked a couple of times, placing her finger on her chin while looking up. Trying to recall her own words.
"It looks like you're messing with me." Ari insisted, but stopped in her tracks when they got to the door they were looking for.
"I'm not." Ai assured her while the green-haired idol knocked on the door.
"Miyako-san…! Are you in there? Ai-chan tripped and we're here for a bandage, or a pomade, or something…!" Ari called out before taking the doorknob and turning it.
It looked like that topic was closed, then. Unfortunate. Ai didn't get to know why Ari thought she was being messed with.
"Eh? An accident?" Miyako-san had her eyes on them even before they crossed the threshold, and looked at Ai up and down with some caution before standing from her seat. "What happened?"
"I tripped." Ai gave the woman a thumbs up. "I'm fine, but it's better to make sure."
"She twisted her ankle." Ari added.
"Just a little bit." Ai used her other hand to give Miyako-san a double thumbs up before slowly getting to the couch.
"Oh, but you can walk." Miyako-san got to her phone all the same. Dialing almost without looking at it before looking at Ari. "Was it too hard or something?"
The green-haired idol shook her head, not bothering to answer as Miyako-san's call got picked up and she asked someone to come check on Ai.
Guess they couldn't risk having their star talent get injured for real, te hee~
"I'm fine." Ai insisted while Miyako-san hung up.
"I sure hope that's the case." The woman sighed. "How did you fall anyway?"
"I wasn't looking where I was going and kicked Takamine." Ai nodded to herself sagely. "Glad I was the only one to fall."
"She'd have fallen on top of Ai." Ari added with a frown.
"Really? That sounds kind of strange." Miyako-san crossed her arms, giving Ari a stern look.
"It'd have been hilarious." The green-haired idol closed her eyes, showing a peaceful expression instead of explaining further.
"…Right." Miyako-san looked a little disappointed, but turned her face toward Ai. "You weren't texting while walking around, were you?"
Ai stopped breathing, considering the question for a moment.
Wait, what?
"Why would I do that?"
"I don't know, why would you?" Miyako-san still looked a bit stern, not dropping her arms at all.
"Hold on. This is my fault, but not like that." Ai stood up to show that all of this wasn't so bad at all. "It's fine, we're just…"
"Sit down, Ai." Miyako-san sighed. "Let's make sure it is."
Ai frowned.
"But it's fine…"
"Can't have Ai-chan getting randomly injured." Ari sighed. "Guess you're canceling practice today?"
"Huh?!" What? How come?! It was just a small accident!
"I don't know… Maybe." Miyako-san scratched her chin.
"I can totally dance!" Ai insisted, but Miyako-san placed her hand on Ai's collarbone and pushed her back down on the couch. "C'mon! I've fallen plenty of times."
"Not in recent time." Miyako-san shook her head. "And you're not a teenager anymore."
"You're overreacting." Ai insisted.
"I am, yes." Miyako-san replied without a trace of shame or remorse. "But Ichigo seems to be speeding up again in spite of what we've been trying to do, so do forgive me for being a bit underhanded. My husband can be thick-headed and this is the easiest way to apply pressure in the opposite direction."
The things they were trying to do… Right. Hadn't that been talked about with Hikigaya at some point?
"What am I going to do for the rest of the day, then?"
"I don't know." Miyako-san knew that the kids were with a nanny, and she wasn't suggesting to go fetch them or anything. It actually made Ai feel a little less… Wholesome, maybe. But she had to keep quiet because Ari was in the room. "Why not go out? Look around. If you want to keep working, go check places with B-Komachi ads and products. See how we're doing."
Ai didn't really want to do that. It sounded like aimless walking, and she didn't like having her head free.
"Don't you have any hobbies?" Ari made a face, but Ai was no longer in the mood to try and guess at every detail of the girl.
"I like to sleep." The idol replied off-handedly.
"That's…" Ari looked a bit taken aback. "…Very on brand, I guess."
What did that even mean?
Ai stayed silent, not really knowing what to say. It was unfair, and she wanted Miyako-san to say something else. To let her go back to practice after she was checked.
Ai understood that her health was important, B-Komachi wasn't the same without her, but this was ridiculous. There was no reason for Ai to get caught in the middle of Ichigo-san and Miyako-san's marital problems. Couldn't they resolve this in the bed, like a normal couple?
…
Not like Ai knew what "normal" looked like, but still.
"Takamine's going to lose her mind." Ari pointed out.
"Eh, not a problem." Miyako-san shrugged. "I can just ask about a series of responsibilities to bully her a little. If it's Takamine, she'll soon realize that there's no problem with her performance and I won't have anything to be 'mad' about."
"Should you really be saying this in front of me?" Ari asked with a deadpan.
"You were thinking it." Miyako-san motioned with her finger. "I'm getting used to that judgmental expression… For better or worse."
"I don't look at you like this." Ari looked away, touching her face as if to make sure that she was making the correct expression.
"Not from you." Miyako-san made a circle in the air. "You can go back now, tell the girls today's a free day."
"Wait. What am I going to do now?" Ai insisted. "This is a total waste of time."
"What did you do after… Y'know, the Tokyo Dome thing got cancelled?" Ari looked very bothered now. Which probably mirrored how Ai felt, or that was her guess. Given that the purple-haired idol was locked into a cute pout while this was happening. "All that time?"
Spend a lot of time with her babies, of course. What else?
…And practice Hikigaya's name so she wouldn't forget it.
Ai lifted her gaze.
"I tried to get in touch with Hachiman-san." She looked for her phone, quickly getting to her contacts while thinking. "Took me a bit of time to figure out where he was hospitalized."
Ari gave Miyako-san a weirded out look.
"We didn't want her going out to meet random people." Miyako-san shrugged.
"You didn't tell her?"
"Not in the beginning, no." Miyako-san furrowed her brows. "A random creep figured out Ai's address, Ari. Please understand when I tell you that Ichigo aggroing onto everything and anything that moved near Ai's apartment for weeks, is an understatement."
"…Right. Sorry."
"It's fine. No one really understands the gravity of the situation unless they were there." Miyako-san sighed. "Anyway, where is the paramedic? What are we paying them for…?"
Miyako-san got out of the office, leaving Ari standing in the middle of it while Ai pondered her options.
"Did you talk to him?" Ari asked after a moment of silence.
"Yep." Ai replied.
"Are you mad?"
"Eh? No." Ai was about to leave it at that, but she remembered the conversation they had prior a few seconds later. "Not at you. I just… Don't like not having something to do."
"Umm… Are you two dating?"
Ai pondered the new question for a moment.
"…Ai?"
"No." The purple-haired idol replied after a moment. "I'm pretty sure we're not."
"You're 'pretty sure'?" Ari shook her head with annoyance. "I think I'm starting to see the problem."
"There's no problem, we just talk and have hung out once… Maybe twice." Ai didn't know if the visit to his teacher's house counted, given what they ended up doing, or if the hospital visits fell within any sort of relationship beyond formalities. "It's hard to describe our relationship because…"
"…You're still getting to know each other?" Ari suggested.
Ai nodded a bit.
"I'd like to think I know him a bit now, but yeah."
"Guess he's more of an online friend, then." Ari tilted her head. "Then again, there's a lot going on between you two…"
"Eh?"
"I can't imagine what it means to, y'know, see someone take 'the fall' for you."
"Ah."
"That's one really weird reaction." Ari stopped in her musing.
"I'm a bit of a mess." Ai looked away, thinking of something funny to say. "A horse is a horse, a horse is a horse, a horse is a horse…"
"Yeah, I can tell." Ari nodded, seemingly no longer bothered.
What a strange day.
Ai looked at the phone again.
Oh, he's busy…
"Hey, is it true?" Ari asked after another moment. "The thing with the birds."
"Eh?"
"Manehama-san mentioned that Hikigaya's constantly bothered by black birds." Ari wasn't looking at Ai, and it looked like she was talking to the air. Opening her mouth less, making her tone strange.
"Manehama?"
"You know, Yuigahama-san."
Yuigahama? That was Hikigaya's friend, right? Ai would have to flip a coin here to make the right call.
"I mean…" Come to think of it, Ruby had mentioned something similar. Ai was hoping no strange creatures would come close to her babies, but she hadn't really understood that this was something worth talking about. "I don't know."
Ari looked a bit disappointed, but Ai's mind was already moving in a different direction.
"Wanna… Wanna figure it out?" Ai looked at her fellow idol with upturned eyes, even though Ari's surprise made her heart sink a little bit.
The coin soared through the air, and Ai chose "heads". The coin landed and…
Interestingly, Ari chose to wear no "disguise" on their trip to Chiba. She simply wore everything "wrong", in such a way that Ai actually stopped recognizing her for a moment when they left the office.
She wore her glasses outside, for one, and her usual calm and composed demeanor had turned into a half-lidded, annoyed mug that went oddly well with the haphazardly put together bun that kept her hair out of her face and neck. She still wore pretty clothes, but they looked like Ari had only thought about using pretty clothes and not about looking pretty. If that made sense.
She was Ari, if Ari was an underpaid college student instead of an idol. Or so Kyun said. Ai wouldn't know, she had (probably) never seen a real college student, or been in an underpaying job.
Not counting Ichigo-san's lowest lows, of course. Those times had her payment be absolutely miserable. If she hadn't been treated to lunches and dinners, she didn't know how she'd have managed.
"So… Are we literally looking out for birds, or is there a nuance that I'm not aware of?" Kyun didn't seem to care, and just got herself some sunglasses and a loose t-shirt with another idol group, big enough that it almost covered her short shorts entirely. Although Ai didn't know why she chose to do this, given that she had made a short trip at the mall to buy it, or why she was tagging along. As Ai hadn't invited her.
She didn't know what to do with one person, much less with two. Although Kyun made up for the lack of conversation while they walked around, away from the people once they hopped off the train.
"Crows, ravens. That's what I got from the gossip." Ari looked around at the buildings, where nothing strange was happening. While Ai was busy seeing if no one with a camera or a particular interest in them was walking by.
"What's the difference anyway?" Kyun asked while also looking around.
They probably looked incredibly suspicious.
"No idea." Ari replied, sighing soon enough. "Are we really going to walk around until we figure out what we're looking for?"
"Eh, sounds good to me." Kyun shrugged.
"But the sun…" Ari growled.
"I got my sunscreen before leaving." Kyun smirked at Ari. "If you hear 'animals' then, of course, it'll be a day out in the open. Isn't that right, Ai-chan?"
"I guess…" Ai murmured, scanning her surroundings before even thinking about Kyun's question.
She wasn't used to having her name called out in the open. It felt… It didn't feel good. She had to remind herself that she didn't have her children with her, so it should be alright… Ish. Maybe, probably.
"Isn't this a little weird, though?" Ari fixed her glasses while asking, giving the other two idols a look that carried some discomfort. "What if we do find the guy?"
"Who are we? Nino? Just say that Ai-chan wanted to surprise him and make an excuse to leave. We're just hanging out, messing around." Kyun shook her head with smugness. "To begin with, I don't think we're actually gonna find a single guy in all of the city just by looking at the rooftops looking for…"
A big car passed by, followed by quite a number of birds flying in the same direction. Cutting off Kyun and startling Ari a bit. Making Ai the only one aware of their surroundings… Again.
"…That doesn't prove anything, by the way." Kyun commented soon enough.
"There's a lot of animals, if nothing else." Ari looked at Ai now. "Emmm, do you at least have an idea of where to look?"
"No. That's the point." Ai replied. What was this question? Of course they should only look with the idea of the birds, they were killing time, after all. And, like Kyun mentioned, all of this was just an excuse to spend time together. Ai was actually hoping that she could get some small talk now, rather than figuring out whether Ruby was right or not.
She could always ask Hikigaya himself, that'd certainly be a good conversation topic. It wasn't as easy to come up with an excuse to spend more time with the other idols outside of working hours.
Literally two stones with one bird, really.
"I'm starting to regret this…" Ari lamented with a sigh.
"C'mon, when have you seen Ai-chan interested in anything? Aren't you curious?" Kyun walked closer to Ari and elbowed her, seemingly already having fun. Even though they had just arrived minutes earlier.
"But it's hot…!"
"Of course it is, you're hanging out with us." Kyun's smirk became a little evil, making Ari pull back a bit. "C'mon girl, get to walking. We're gonna sightsee without photo shoots and interviews, for once."
"You sound way too pleased about this." Ari protested but did as she was told, moving a bit ahead of Ai before she hurried along.
"Doing different things for a change is great." Kyun really did sound pleased, a far cry from the girl she'd been when she and Ai had talked one on one for the first time. "…And this won't get cut from our salary."
"Right. Gotta pay for your apartment." Ari rolled her eyes.
"Girl, you should see my parents' reaction when I tell them how much we've been messing around compared to before Christmas." Kyun cackled like one of the villains in the kids show that Ruby watched from time to time. "Take THAT mom! I'm thriving when you said I'd get kicked out within the two months!"
Ai slowly turned to face Kyun.
"What."
"Family shenanigans, don't worry about it." Kyun waved her off.
But she wanted to know…
"Yeah. Mom is the same from time to time." Ari fixed her hair while looking away. "Asking if I don't feel like I've been at this for a bit too long and stuff."
"Eh… Sounds annoying." Kyun commented.
"It really isn't. It's just that you have to have little self-awareness to ask why I stick to a job that bans relationships, while simultaneously being the one that sent me to an all-girls school." Ari huffed.
"Wait a minute. Are you actually scared of boys?" Kyun asked with more seriousness now, dropping her expression and giving Ari a good look.
"No." The green-haired idol gave Kyun an annoyed look.
"Oh, okay. Just checking."
"Mei asked the same thing." Ari huffed again. "I don't know why everyone assumes that."
"Anything you don't have experience with gets scary." Kyun scratched her ear while speaking. "And it's kind of weird. I thought 'oh, sheltered girl!' when you mentioned the school thing."
Ari looked at the floor.
"Wait, are you actually rich?"
"No comment."
"Oh, c'mon!" Kyun turned to Ai for once. "Tell her, Ai-chan! Aren't you curious?"
"Yeah…" Ai turned to Ari, who just frowned more.
"Don't let her boss you around, Ai…" Ari sighed.
"I do depend on the salary myself." Ai pointed out.
"Doesn't Ichigo-san help you with expenses?" Ari raised an eyebrow.
"Outings and stuff, but I pay for my home and… Well, everything I need." She almost mentioned the twins, but just made a point of looking like she had thought about the topic for a moment.
This small talk thing could get out of hand really quick. Both Kyun and Ari had seen the twins, after all… As Ichigo-san and Miyako-san's kids. Ai didn't want to mention them, even by mistake. Because, not only would the girls probably be clued in, but Ai also didn't know how she'd feel if she was forced to talk about them as someone else's family.
She had only them, after all. It would be more than unfair to be made to put up with that.
"You eat out with them often?" Kyun asked after a moment of silence.
"Eh… Define 'often'."
Fortunately, the conversation turned to topics that Ai had covered in her streams and interviews, so she felt confident in supplying answers while expanding just a little bit to avoid Ari's sentiment of "talking too little". She wasn't learning much about them, since she'd forget most of the things said, and still had most of her attention on their surroundings. But the experience was… Pleasant. She had only hung out with a handful of people, and none of them had been in this context. The most memorable outings were, after all, with Hikaru himself. And Ai didn't want to bring out those memories to give herself some context as to what to do next.
Even she knew better. And a small part of her heart refused to give this moment enough weight to warrant the comparison.
No two relationships were similar. But, if she was forced to choose, would she be able to say she would ever feel as safe with Ari and Kyun as she had felt with him?
…
Ai kept looking out for the birds. Looking out for that safety she so dearly missed.
…Honestly? She could relate to Ari a bit now. She wanted to go home, be with her kids.
"—and it's like… You know when someone says something really out of pocket, so you want to ask how they know about that, but if you do ask; you'd be revealing that you know about the fact? Like that. So I was trapped between asking my mom how the hell she knew about porn cam girls, and asking her to elaborate and have to listen to her definition of them." Kyun's words made Ai get out of her own thoughts as she wondered what the short-haired girl was talking about.
Ai turned to Ari, but she seemed to be following the conversation just fine. As she nodded along and replied without missing a beat.
"That's how the people that told us not to trust everything on the internet are: Trusting anything someone tells them, just because they don't understand how things work in real life."
"But it's like, mom. C'mon. You didn't care about my career when I started, why is it a problem now? Because your neighbor said she saw me in a site her son frequents? What?"
"Well, rest in pieces. That brother will forever be known for frequenting porn sites now." Ari clapped her hands together twice and closed her eyes like she was praying.
Ai mimicked her, without closing her eyes, and that got Kyun to do the same.
"Well, true…" Kyun stayed like that for a bit more before sighing and dropping her hands. Looking a little calmer now. "Sorry, having to listen to me ramble on my problems and all that…"
"It's alright, family shenanigans and all that." Ari rolled her eyes. "Adults will never consider you their equal, just because they saw you grow up."
"Is that so?" Ai asked after a moment, feeling like both of the girls were expecting a reaction out of her. "That explains some things…"
Like why Kaburagi-san used that sweet tone with her but not with Miyako-san, for example. He probably thought about Ai as a child still.
"Yeah, totally. Even Ichigo-san treats us as babies sometimes." Kyun motioned with her hand. "But we're adults now. It's not like…"
"Kaw!" A black bird interrupted Kyun, again, and took flight while the three idols looked at the mall in front of them.
Several birds held themselves aloft on the cables or the edge of rooftops, getting people to stare at them with suspicion and apprehension. There weren't that many. Probably two dozen or so, distributed around four or five blocks. But they were easy to notice, and the surrounding area was dead silent and with no birds whatsoever.
What did Miyako-san say when they were out in a small town…? It looked like a bad omen.
"Oh. Oooooohhhhhh… Oh, I so don't like this." Kyun murmured while looking up, slowly moving her head around them. Noticing the invisible line where the birds started and hung around.
"It's kind of creepy." Ari agreed. "No wonder the guy's so gloomy, huh. Seeing this all the time must not be helping however the day is going."
Was that the case? Then maybe Ai should be thinking about how to make it better. That was, indeed, one of her main objectives.
"Shall we go inside?" Ai asked after trying to discern where the biggest concentration of birds was.
"Yeah, please. I don't wanna be here." Kyun grabbed Ai's arm, pulling her along. "Their eyes are weird."
"They're easily recognizable." Ai absentmindedly replied.
"You don't look bothered." Ari commented.
"They're just animals." Ai replied.
"They give me a bad feeling." The green-haired idol frowned.
"That's why we're inside now." Ai walked a little faster, shrugging Kyun off while scanning the inside of the mall, and trying to find a face that she could recognize. "Umm…"
"Food section." Kyun caught up pretty quickly and didn't seem concerned by Ai's forcefulness. "Easy first choice."
"Hanging out with friends?" Ari looked at the time, letting Ai realize that she had had a watch all along. "Guess the time's about right."
"What happens if we're discovered, again?" Ai didn't know whether it was the girls' apprehension about the birds or what, but Ai felt like she should be a lot more careful now. Oddly enough, as nothing had really changed. No indication of anything going wrong had appeared, and the only thing that had happened was that Ai now had a bunch of half-digested information about Kyun arguing with her mom on top of her problems with the boys she pursued.
Not much, really. But something. And "something" was better than nothing at all.
"Err, I dunno. This was your idea, chief."
"If it comes down to it, I think we can talk about the girl that manehama-san mentioned." Ari looked away, actually looking concerned while she talked. "Sounds like BS, but if Ai talks then we probably should be alright—"
"You mean that girl?" Kyun pointed at the zone with the tables and chairs, bustling with people eating and talking. Ai actually had a hard time finding whoever Kyun was pointing toward.
"Oh, yeah. That's her, isn't it?" Ari blinked, then furrowed her brows. "Oh…"
"Oh, no. Homewrecker detected." Kyun made her voice weird, and Ai was about to ask to guide her when she noticed.
The girl was dressed up, but Ai didn't remember her features. So she couldn't say if she was the girl from the picture or not. That wasn't what she'd noticed.
Hikigaya wore a polo-style shirt. Simple, practical. And he looked even gloomier than Ai remembered. Seeing the girl hide her face against the table and her arms.
She was crying.
"Ummm… This isn't what I expected to find. What's going on here?" Ari fixed her glasses again, but Ai didn't really pay her much attention.
"I want to know too." She replied without thinking, moving forward before being caught by Kyun.
"Hold on, girl. Calm down."
"I'm calm."
"Yeah, you look calm. Just remember, this is how Nino got benched. Okay?" Kyun lifted a finger, having Ai look at it due to the closeness to her face. "I know you know each other. Just, y'know, let's be discrete. Okay?"
"Okay." Ai nodded.
Kyun didn't look convinced but released Ai after a moment.
"Go get 'em, girl."
"Kyun!" Ari protested.
Ai didn't pay them any mind anymore, but she did hear hurried steps behind her after a moment.
She wanted to know, she wanted to understand. And if this "appointment" was important enough to turn down spending time with Ai when he had explicitly promised to give her that much… Then she was entitled to that much, right?