Taking a moment to mull it over, you stare down at the wood grain of Nel's desk as you weigh your options. On one hand, even if your panic attack seems to have gone mostly unnoticed, and ideally the others should be more focused on the bookshop than on you for the remainder of the night anyway, you don't know that for sure. With it potentially still fresh in everyone's minds, you're not especially keen on being visible in their presence until some time has passed - and you're afraid of it repeating if you find yourself put on the spot again.
Yet at the same time, if they expect to at least see you coming with, failing to make your presence known now may bring more attention later that you would rather not deal with either. Between being asked why Nel held you back for a few minutes now, or being interrogated on why you were absent from something specifically meant for the entire team, the first option seems like the lesser of two evils.
As long as you stay near the back and keep your head down, it should be fine.
"I'll stay like this, I think. I know what to expect, and uh, better to bond with the team… or something," you mumble as a half-hearted excuse. Even Nel seems to see through you easily, but says nothing more. With a gesture they re-open the door, and you stand again to make a hesitant retreat.
~~~ .oO◯Oo. ~~~
The same brick alley that you visited before feels different at night. The orange glare of a streetlamp at one end blots out the stars and gives it a grungier feeling; cracks in the pavement are more noticeable somehow, the dumpsters casting long, low shadows. The hustle and bustle of activity from earlier in the day is gone now, replaced with strange silence and the muted city ambience that seeps in, echoing and distorted, from each end. The breeze that whips through is both cuttingly cold and uncomfortably warm, somehow, and brings a putrid scent of rotting garbage and gasoline that makes you wrinkle your nose in dismay. You resist the urge to resummon your naginata to feel the pole's pleasant steel chill in your palms, instead crossing your arms over your chest and tucking your hands away.
However, you at least quickly find the others, standing in a group under the aforementioned streetlight and casting quizzical glances back your way as Nel's door shuts and slides away behind you. Hastily trudging over, you simply mutter "Wanted to let me know about something else going on" by way of explanation. "It's not something we can really deal with right now, though."
Shimizu-san nods in acknowledgement. "Let's not waste any more time, then." With that, she turns on her heel and strides down the sidewalk, leaving the rest of you to belatedly scramble after her.
As opposed to the dim and grimy alleyway, the main road manages to retain its cozy, well-lit daytime atmosphere even after hours. The amber glow of the streetlamps and storefronts illuminate the undersides of the trees' leafy canopies that cover the road like a high roof, giving the illusion of a much more substantial shelter than they actually provide. A few shops have already shut down for the evening, but most have not, and you find yourself glancing longingly at a delicious-smelling noodle place across the street. Even if you don't feel any stirrings of genuine hunger, the sudden craving asserts itself all the same.
While there are still a few pedestrians out and about, not needing to dodge your way through the heavy crowds of before makes this trip considerably shorter and easier, the shop sign visible only a block and a half away. It's not an extensive walk, but you take the time regardless to examine the others once more. Mainly to gauge whether they're paying you any mind after earlier, if you're honest with yourself, but there is also some genuine curiosity at play as well.
Trailing in back, Midori has her hands buried in her hoodie's front pocket, hunched over slightly and staring at the ground with the same glower you'd noticed her wearing before. She catches you watching her, and straightens up with a quick (and unnervingly convincing) fake smile, but when you start to turn away, in the corner of your vision you see it drop away just as quickly.
Pallavi is strolling along just ahead of you, looking rather relaxed as she takes in the scenery much like you were. At one point she slows down a bit, glancing over to you and opening her mouth to speak, but seems to think better of it before she can say anything, grinning sheepishly before returning to her original position ahead. You're not entirely certain what to make of that.
Shimizu-san's lead is quickly matched and slightly overtaken by Miho; even though the two pointedly ignore each other, you can't help but notice the bluenette competitively speed up in response. Pallavi chuckles to herself, while Midori facepalms; you nearly follow the latter example. Shortly before the intersection, Miho abruptly takes off running, stopping right before the road with pinwheeling arms and slapping the crossing button, before turning back to Shimizu-san with a smug grin. "Beat ya!" she says, and you see Shimizu-san's silhouette stiffen.
Marching the remaining distance only to stand in waiting, Shimizu-san remains frosty. "So you did. I'm sure that was an excellent use of your effort and energy."
Miho's expression immediately sours again. "Like
you would know. Can't do anything anymore unless you've read it out of a textbook first."
"Why are you two waiting when there's no cars coming?" Rolling her eyes at the reignited argument, Midori points out the lack of moving vehicles anywhere in the vicinity. With a halfhearted glance in either direction and a shrug, she swaggers past them both to step carelessly out into the street.
The sound of screeching tires and the sensation of wind knocked from you by a sudden impact and an abrupt stop. The creeping feeling of burning pain and numbness and the sight of the blue sky turned red and the taste of copper and the wetness in your lungs…
Fighting for the air to scream, you manage to drag in a long, shuddering, painful
breath, and croak out "help me…"
You're standing frozen on the sidewalk, blankly staring at four oblivious retreating backs, and you drop the hand you didn't realize you had outstretched towards them. If you still had a heart, it would be in your throat and racing a million miles an hour.
It takes you too long to realize nothing actually happened. Midori made it across the intersection safely, and in fact everyone but you is now on the other side, unaware for the moment that you'd fallen behind. They're all safe, and for that matter so are you. Jogging across before anyone can notice your pause, it's hard to resist the urge to detransform and hide away anyway, this time from shame. Why is your head such a mess tonight?
To distract from these thoughts, you focus back on the ongoing bickering ahead of you. "-till don't understand why you were picked to be part of this team. I'm sure you were only convinced to join over the promise of senseless violence like in your video games."
Miho, walking backwards in front of the bluenette, gives a sardonic grin. "You know what, sure. That's exactly it, you've figured me out completely." She comes to a sudden stop in a darker stretch of sidewalk; a closed-down storefront on one side, and shielded from the road by a parked truck on the other. She holds up her arm, and just as you realize what she's about to do, her ring flashes red.
Blinking the light from your eyes, you find her baggy hoodie and sweatpants have been replaced with an almost surprisingly cute dress. A dark red corset tightly hugs her small frame, over a long-sleeved black undershirt. Her legs are clad in dark transparent tights, leading down to a pair of small ruby-colored heeled pumps that sparkle unnaturally brightly even in her dimmer surroundings. Finally, completing the ensemble is a three-layered skirt that extends to her knees, colored in black, red, and orange, respectively. Interestingly, all three skirts flare out taut, with the bottom hems each maintaining a perfectly circular ring around her legs. Clearly, rigid hoops must be inside to hold the form and keep them weighted; each sways independently of the others as she rocks her hips and twists around to look herself over.
All of that, however, is secondary to the dress's most noticeable feature. The top layer of her skirt sports a crackling flame graphic that actually moves within it; clearly woven in yet impossibly changing its shape and appearance as smoothly as a video. If you didn't know better you would think there was a projector somewhere casting it on her dress like a screen, but the only logical explanation is that magic is responsible. You can't help but stare dumbly - part of you taken aback at the sheer tackiness on display, part of you utterly mesmerized by the endlessly moving fire.
"Yeah, actually, I could get used to this." Miho says, snapping you out of your befuddled trance. You're glad you got this chance to take in her appearance, because the moment she's satisfied she turns into a blur of motion. After sticking her tongue out at Shimizu-san, she darts to the side and steps up on the concealing truck's wheel on her way to standing triumphantly on the hood. "YOU HEAR THAT WORLD?" she shouts, punching the air above her, "I am the Magical Girl Ignis, and I LOVE SENSELESS VIOLENCE! WHOOO!"
"What are you
doing!?" Shimizu-san screeches, grabbing Miho's other arm and hauling her backward off the truck. Though the smaller girl easily lands on her feet, she matches the bluenette's indignation with a death glare that makes even Midori wince. Shimizu-san remains unphased, however, continuing her tirade in a furious hiss. "
Does the concept of keeping a low profile mean nothing
to you?"
"Only when it pisses you off," Miho all-but-snarls, shoving away Shimizu-san's grip on her wrist. "But then what doesn't?" She stamps her foot, and in another flash of red, detransforms with less fanfare.
"OKAY, that's enough." Pallavi is suddenly between the two, warding them off with an open palm each, and looking back and forth sadly. "Please, just let this go?"
"We're almost to the bookshop," Midori adds, giving Miho a withering look. "Last thing we need is for them to be ready to fight us or something because of that stunt you just pulled. Or for the whole damn world to know about us, for that matter."
The remainder of the trek is quiet again, but now considerably more tense. Midori and Shimizu-san share the lead this time, but seem wholly unaware of the other, simply striding along in mutual irritated silence. Pallavi once again takes up the middle, but now looks increasingly fidgety and fretful and like she'd rather be anywhere else. You quietly sympathize. Meanwhile, Miho joins you in the rear, arms crossed as she glares across the street with a bitter frown.
For your part, you're still half-distracted by her dress. It was cute, but oh-so-tacky, yet even then impressive and magical. You find yourself eyeing Pallavi and Shimizu-san curiously, wondering what they might look like once transformed, and straining to recall what Midori's had been when you first met her. Given everything else that had been on your mind that night, you find you've already forgotten many details.
Even so, you're also taken aback by the abrupt escalation you just witnessed between the red and blue girls, Nel's words about their disagreement running through your head. You glance awkwardly over at Miho, wondering if you should try to say something.
"You gonna yell at me too?" She mutters, beating you to the punch.
"Not really." you say. Despite how objectively stupid her actions were, you're too drained already to really care about the potential consequences right now. Instead, you cast about for a change of topic. "I, uh… Ignis?"
It seems to work, as she gives you the tiniest of grateful smiles. "Oh, that… I don't know, it just seemed like a cool codename. Like the Sentai Riders have, or Enchantress Sinisteria eventually earned. Did you see my dress there? Fire? Ignite?
Duh?" Gesturing at her waist as if the skirt was still there, her tone is simultaneously challenging but unheated; she suddenly seems just as tired as you've been feeling.
"I se-"
"
Ai No Atsumari. We're here."
Any further response dies on your lips as you glance over to find the
smiles are mandatory! : P sign poking out from the mess of leaflets and notices taped to the window. Thankfully the lights seem to still be on inside, though the store hours indicate they won't be for much longer; you arrived with just a bit of time to spare.
"So, we know they spoke another language, are looking for something in the city, and had suspicious jars. Is that correct?" Shimizu-san dictates, shooting you a questioning glance. You simply nod in confirmation, fighting back the anxiety that's creeping forth again. "Is there anything else we need to know?" You shake your head wordlessly. She accepts it easily, thankfully, and moves on. Planting a fist in her other palm decisively, she declares "We need a plan of attack."
"I have a plan," Miho immediately raises her hand. "Attack." You detect the faintest whiff of sarcasm in her tone, but you aren't entirely sure, given her deadpan serious stare.
"Not. What. I. Meant," Shimizu-san grinds out, refusing to look at her. "Though I suppose we should be ready for a fight in case the situation goes south. Any other ideas?"
"Who made you leader?" Midori grumbles, but is thankfully drowned out by Pallavi.
"We don't need to be so aggressive, do we?" she asks, twirling some of her hair around a finger. "We don't even know for sure that they're doing something wrong. Sure, some suspicious stuff, but not really anything obviously evil, right? The other person, the construction worker, could just as easily be the one we're looking for."
"Plus," Midori adds, with a sly grin, "There
is that saying about catching more flies with honey than vinegar. I say we play it subtle, ease our way in. Maybe even skip talking to them entirely, try and sneak in back and see what we find." She gestures to another alley opening just a few steps further down the sidewalk. It looks similar to the one you all came from, but is narrower and darker, wedged in between the shop and the neighboring building like a novella between thick tomes.
Pallavi looks torn between agreement and discomfort. "I guess, though I don't know about snooping around. If they really are up to no good, it should be easy to tell, right? If we ask what's up with the jars and stuff, if it's something innocent they'd have no problem explaining it, but if it's something evil they'd try to hide it, right?"
Shimizu-san's initial disdain turns into a contemplative frown. "I'm not entirely sure that's how that would work out. However, maybe you are right, and the answer is to be direct about this. If we make it clear we know they're up to something, we could bluff our way to learning more specifics about what they're doing."
Just as you're feeling grateful you weren't singled out, she turns back to you. "You were here before. Do you have any ideas?" You quickly look away; though her gaze is considerably less harsh with you than with Miho, she still somehow looks accusative, like she knows you're hiding something just as much as the bookshop owners.
No, you tell yourself.
I'm not breaking down like that again. Even if Shimizu-san's stare is too much to bear right now, you refuse to let it get to you. Instead, you turn up to look at the shop's dangling sign sticking out over the door, depicting a stack of books with the shop's name written down the spines. Focusing on that and blocking out the others' gazes, you breathe slowly and try to formulate an answer.
Do You Have Any Ideas?
> Support Midori's Suggestion. (Even if it's a bit underhanded, sneaking in isn't that much different from what you were doing before. There's more risk of getting caught, but if someone tactful like her can distract Sakamoto-san, she could learn more while the rest of you snoop.)
> Support Pallavi's Suggestion. (Acting like a normal group of girls and asking about the shop's oddities might be the best way to avoid any unnecessary conflict, while getting a better idea of whether or not this whole venture is a red herring or not. If there is something up, you can ask more questions to try and trip them up.)
> Support Masami's Suggestion. (Accusing them right off the bat might be risky, but would certainly take them off-guard, hopefully enough to let important details slip if they think you know more than you actually do. And if they are innocent, the worst that happens is looking a bit silly.)
> Support Miho's "Suggestion." (Even if made sarcastically, it might actually have some merit. Rather than all this tip-toeing around, going in transformed and all guns blazing means they'd be forced to respond in kind, and you'd have strength in numbers. Even holding back to avoid collateral damage in case he's innocent, it should be easy to win and then figure out what's going on after the fact.)
> Make Your Own Suggestion. (These plans are all flawed, but you know a better way...)
->Write-In.
