For a long moment of indecision, your instinctive self-consciousness battles against itself. On one side, with the mission done and Shimizu-san already gone, now feels like a good time to leave and avoid any further drama. On the other side, the awkwardness after Shimizu-san's huffy exit hangs heavy in the air, and you are struck by how unfamiliar this whole situation is to you. How long are you usually supposed to stick around before splitting up? How can you disengage without drawing attention back to yourself?
You even glance back up at the window you used to sneak in, tempted for a moment to try to get back inside, just to have a wall between you and the others; only to note with disappointment that it is shut now. Rina-san must have closed it after getting out of the shower, before she came across you snooping.
With that idea foiled, the urge to flee passes, and you are left with a more pertinent dilemma; your restlessness to get back home, running against your natural concern for the others. You're itching to go talk to Kichirou properly while you still have the chance, but some part of you objects to just leaving the others behind so quickly. Pallavi is looking downcast after the argument, absentmindedly twirling some of her hair around a finger as she stares blankly at Nel's door; meanwhile Midori winces again as Miho's shoulder lands against her stomach, the smaller girl looking faintly nauseous and rather dizzy now that she is standing again, needing to be steadied. "Sorry 'bout that." Midori just shrugs in response.
In the end, the here and now wins out, and you find yourself stepping over to help Midori. With a grateful smile from the verdette, you pull Miho off of her, holding her up between you both but allowing her to lean more against you. Despite her obvious unsteadiness, Miho has enough presence of mind to give a thumbs-up.
(Immediately, you realize a potential flaw in this plan, and realize you have no idea if she could accidentally fall through you while you're transformed. Not wishing to take any chances, a running mantra of keep staying solid, keep staying solid takes up the background noise in your mind.)
For her part, Pallavi seems to snap out of her trance, though still subdued, as she notices the new arrangement. "Ah, I could help too!" She offers, but Midori just waves her off.
"No no, we should have this covered. She's not gonna die or anything,-"
"Oh, thank goodness. I was in suspense over here."
"-just need to get her home."
"If you're sure." If there's a little too much vigor in Midori's denial, Pallavi doesn't seem to notice it, and you are anything but keen to point it out yourself. "In that case, though, you should go first." She sidesteps away from the door, allowing your impromptu four-legged race to shuffle awkwardly through and back into Nel's office.
You catch just a glimpse of another door slamming shut and sinking away on the opposite wall, before your attention is taken up by Nel's alarmed yelp. "You're hurt!"
"Heard I'm not gonna die," Miho snarks, though her voice is woozy. "Just a biiiiit… dizzy. Yeah. Like that."
Nel still seems fretful, coming around from behind the desk to check more closely, and you are struck by the surrealism of their cloudy figure giving off the mannerisms of a mother hen. "Shimizu-san told me some of what happened, but failed to mention this. What else was there?"
Midori looks as impatient as you feel. "Can we talk about all that tomorrow? I'm kinda not in great shape either, so the sooner I can put her down the better." Nel backs off, but still hovers.
"Put me down? Well suddenly I don't feel so good about going to the vet anymore. If you bring out the carri… urgh, …carrier, I'm hiding under the bed." Miho adds, unhelpfully.
"I found something, I can show you later," you add, somewhat more helpfully.
"Just something? We could do better than that." At the lack of response, Miho huffs in annoyance. "I'm actually being serious now. The… uh, the owners, took off, right? How did you sneak in before? We can do that again, properly search the place top to bottom, and get all the clues we could want or need that way."
"That's closed off now," you mumble.
For her part, Midori seems to genuinely consider it for a moment, before being reminded of the weight hanging off of her shoulder. "Besides, it won't be you or me, not tonight anyway." Biting her lip, she casts you a hopeful glance over Miho's head, but with your other obligations still weighing in the back of your mind, it proves surprisingly easy to decline with a silent shake of your head.
Miho is not deterred in the slightest, irritation granting clarity to her tone, nearly stalking towards the desk despite her condition, leaving you and Midori to awkwardly stagger along after to keep her supported. "Fine, then. We can smash one of their big stupid front windows or something, do it that way. Masami-san's way too much the goody-two-shoes for this, sure, but you can get uh, Varma-san to do it or something."
"I'm not going to do that!" Pallavi protests, and you realize she has finally come through after you three; the door to the bookshop closes and sinks away as soon as she is inside as well. "Threatening him was bad enough, we don't need to add an actual crime to this!"
"Right, I forgot you're a goody two-shoes, too," Miho snarks. Midori half-lowers, half-drops her into a chair in response, and you eagerly take the chance to let her go for a moment as well. Now that your thoughts are not so focused on remaining tangible, you are surprised to find only the suggestion of an ache in your arm, when before such exertion would have left your noodly muscles sore. "Don't forget the part where they could turn into animals, or monsters, or whatever."
"I'm still not doing that," Pallavi insists, finally releasing her own transformation to reinforce the point. "Even if they are our enemies, it still doesn't feel right to ruin their store."
Nel seems to feel similarly, speaking up again in her support. "As much as I would like more information to work with, we cannot afford to make a scene." They pause for a moment, sounding suddenly nervous as they add "You didn't make a scene, correct?"
"Nobody else saw us, if that's what you're asking," Midori confirms. "Back room of their shop is a bit torn up from the real fight, but the front area's fine…" She has the grace to look sheepish, adding "we didn't transform until we'd already kinda backed him up into a corner. Plus, the area behind is almost all sealed off, and since we went in right before closing, nobody else was around anyway."
"That is good, then. So yes, we cannot afford to do anything that could get innocent witnesses involved. If you broke their window, we would not have much time to gather evidence before law enforcement arrived, especially with you two wounded on top of that. If we missed anything magical that they might then find, it could fall into the wrong hands, and create even more problems for us all. Some things we cannot control, yes, but where the things we can influence are concerned, there's no need to gamble like this. Especially since Yukimura-san did get some evidence already." You nod in agreement, feeling more than a little impatient with the whole discussion.
"What if the owners come back?" Midori asks, fueling your impatience further. "After tonight, they'll be on the lookout for us."
Returning to their desk, Nel seems contemplative. "At the very least, our quarries do not seem to want any attention any more than we do, and have not been causing active harm yet. There are other avenues of investigation we can pursue, besides. So for now, we can simply allow them to return and resume keeping up appearances themselves, until we have gotten to the bottom of their plans."
"Sure, fine, don't need cops crawling all over the place too, I guess." Miho grimaces in frustration, but any further willingness to argue is cut short by another dizzy spell. "If we're not going back, can I go home already?"
"Right!" Nel looks sheepish as they produce another pair of doors, one near Pallavi and one directly beside Miho's seat, and you and Midori quickly help her stand again. "You all must be tired, so we can discuss this further tomorrow."
With a parting nod to Nel and Pallavi each, you dutifully shuffle through the opening after Midori and Miho, grateful to finally be free. Perhaps it was just the water pressure bearing down on you in there, but you feel a weight come off your shoulders, even with Miho still half-leaning on you. (At least, water pressure is what you tell yourself it must have been, as you mentally push aside the fresh arguments and the memory of the earlier stressful briefing alike.)
It isn't until the two of you have successfully manhandled the brunette to another seated position at the edge of her bed, that you are able to back away and survey your new surroundings. On first impression, it is… neat, almost surprisingly so. You've had too much on your mind tonight to give much thought to exactly what sort of living space a girl you'd only just met would keep, but you have evidently come to some conclusions without even realizing until now. If you were to be honest with yourself, based on just the past hour or two with her, the seemingly natural assumption was that she must have risen from some sort of pigsty junkyard of dirty laundry and ramen wrappers like an otaku swamp monster; and so nearly anything else would have been less messy than that.
But not only is it clean, it is all downright orderly, even your own room feeling almost shabby in comparison. Miho's bed is pushed up under a window, opposite to the door, beside a computer desk with a few more monitors than seem strictly necessary, and a neon sign hanging above that bathes the room in a warm red hue. Other than a closet door in a far corner, the remaining wallspace is all taken up by a bevy of floor-to-ceiling shelf units, most loaded with a small library's worth of books. Drifting past, you scan some of the titles idly, and realize they are all divided neatly into nonfiction, novels, and manga. The last shelf, closest to the bed across from the desk, instead plays host to a collection of figurines, some of which you recognize as popular anime characters, and a few more who remind you of your brother's tokusatsu shows, but the majority are unfamiliar to you. The floor is clear of detritus, with the expected dirty laundry tucked away into a basket by the closet door, and a garbage pail under the desk serving a similar purpose. It certainly does not feel clinical, but it still feels almost too clean, somehow.
Or maybe, you reflect, you just need to admit to having made a rude assumption.
"So what's the verdict, Doc?" Miho's sarcasm breaks through your musings, and you turn back to watch as Midori checks her over a second time.
"Don't call me that." Midori snaps on reflex, before sighing. "Okaasan's a nurse, I picked up some things from her, but I'm no expert. As far as I can tell, you should be fine with some rest. Kind of a miracle it's not more serious, with that hit, but I still wouldn't take any chances if I were you, just stay right here and try to rest. You should set an alarm… maybe a few alarms. If you have more trouble than usual with waking up in the morning, that's a big sign of something more serious, and you should go visit the hospital to get an actual doctor to look at you. Will your parents be able to take you if that happens?"
Miho looks suddenly uncomfortable, glancing away. "Probably not," she mumbles. "They work Saturdays too." She seems like she wants to say more, mouth hanging half-open as if to keep going, but after a moment of hesitation, she simply shrugs. "I can just take the trains, of course, one runs pretty close to here."
"If you're dealing with something more serious, then that would be a bad idea," Midori insists. "Here, look. I'm also going to be going tomorrow, to get this looked at," she pats her midsection, suppressing a wince, before turning to glance at you, "and also look into something else Yukimura-san found."
You're not sure what to say, so simply nod in acknowledgement.
Stepping back from her patient, Midori concludes her point. "So here, we can exchange numbers. If you feel like you're having trouble waking up, call me, and I can have Okaasan take us both there. I can figure out a story, so don't worry about that part. If not, I would still take it easy over the weekend." Miho gives a noncommittal hum in response, before immediately trying to stand back up. "No!"
Miho is quick to wave her off. "It's fine, just gotta let some friends know I may not be on tomorrow." She pauses briefly, looking annoyed at something, before amending with a sarcastic grimace "This is just tomorrow, right? You aren't gonna suddenly be mapping out the next month for me or something?"
"...No? Unless you're in seri-"
"Good." Steadying herself on the back of her computer chair, the raven-haired girl reaches down to retrieve a pair of headphones from the seat, with a pair of odd triangular pyramids made of some grey rubbery plastic affixed to the top of headband. To your slight embarrassment, it's only once she has put them on that you realize they are meant to resemble kitty ears, though the silhouette it creates looks surprisingly natural on her. Miho taps her keyboard, and after a moment's delay all four monitors light up; however, she doesn't get any further than logging in before a green blur half-tackles her back to the bed, pinning her down.
"What did I just say?"
Midori's exasperation is matched by Miho's own indignation, the two glaring daggers at each other, you once again left frozen in mild shock by the sudden shift. With an irritated huff, the smaller girl removes her headphones again, tossing them onto her pillow as she begrudgingly recites her instructions. "Call you if I feel like I'm dying tomorrow. If not, then still don't do stuff."
"Fine, before that." Before the smaller girl can whip out another sarcastic remark, Midori answers for her. "Don't move anymore tonight, even to your chair. Just get some sleep, your head's more likely to heal right, that way. Suck it up now, or it'll be worse later." Getting back up, she keeps a watchful eye as Miho reluctantly complies, rebellious muttering notwithstanding.
As she removes her shoes and sets them on the floor, then shucks her oversized hoodie to reveal a tank-top and ill-concealed bra beneath, she addresses you. "Since I'm on bed arrest or whatever, can you send the message along instead?"
Mainly grateful to have something to distract you from the awkwardness, you comply easily. Scurrying over to the desk, you lean over the seat to get a better look, while the other two pull out their phones to exchange contacts. It takes a moment to adjust to the different setup, overwhelmed by the stationary ball mouse, the rainbow glow of the keyboard, and all four screens displaying completely different things at once; but after some fumbling you at last find the cursor amidst the chaos, helping it all resolve into clarity.
The top-left monitor is filled with the main menu of a video game; Pirates Of The Cyber-Seas, which you were never especially interested in, but remember seeing Kichirou playing intermittently in recent months. Underneath it on the bottom left, some sort of fansite for an anime? Mahou Shoujo Sachiko Sinisteria. You had heard of that one in passing once or twice, you think, but still don't know much about it. The poster dominating the page is cast in gloomy monochrome hues, with a decidedly small-looking girl in an excessively frilly pale-pink dress kneeling in the foreground, shoulders slumped and gazing upward with tears in her eyes, other girls looming ominously behind her. Glancing behind, you see all but one are present as figurines on Miho's shelves. You once again find yourself surprised, not having taken her for the type to like magical girls, even with being one herself now. Moving on, the upper-right screen has an open document filled with dense blocks of kanji, but seeing you looking that way, Miho hurriedly clarifies "Bottom-right, ignore the rest!"
The warning comes a moment too late, as you scan the first few lines and quickly realize what kind of writing this is. Overtaken by a burning blush, you swiftly avert your eyes to the final monitor, simply hoping the lurid contents will erase themselves from your memories somehow, along with the guilt from your accidental snooping.
At last, though, you have found your original objective in a browser window overloaded with tabs; thankfully it is already opened to an online chat program, and you follow Miho's instructions to find a particular group chat. "FYI everyone, got slammed by a bea… er, with schoolwork, so might or might not be on tomorrow. If it doesn't work out, we can raid the Tycoon Typhoon on Sunday." Casting a bemused grin at the last part, you dutifully type out her dictation and hit send.
"There, ya happy now?" She asks Midori, who just pinches the bridge of her nose. "Anyway, put it back to sleep now; I guess I gotta do the same." Fiddling with her phone for a few more moments, she adds. "There, alarms set too. On that note, parents are still at work, but might be back soon if they aren't doing more overtime, so you two should probably get out of here sooner than later."
"Where are we, anyway?" You find yourself asking, hoping you can just walk back to your house from here without having to dodge more of Nel's questioning again.
Those hopes are promptly dashed by her answer. "South side of town, not too far from the Tochaku line." You are on the complete opposite side of the city from where you want to be, in fact, and Midori seems equally displeased with the news.
"Right, okay. Well, there's always Nel-san," she sighs, "But we should go outside before that so I know what place to look for, if you need to be picked up tomorrow."
Miho just throws a lazy thumbs-up, tossing aside her tracksuit pants and snuggling under her covers, as Midori picks up her shoes to take to the entryway. Once you've opened the bedroom door to leave, she flicks a switch to turn off the neon sign over her desk, leaving you all in near-darkness.
"Hey, uhhh, thanks for helping me back," she says quietly, as if admitting to something, "and for making sure I'll be alright."
"It's no problem," Midori responds, before adding, "As long as you actually follow my instructions!"
"You got it… Doc," Miho retorts, her usual irreverent tone back in full force. "I'm too cozy now, either way."
Midori sighs again, but sounding a little less annoyed this time, as she brushes past you and out the door. Before you can follow her, however, you feel something else brush against your leg in the other direction. Peering downward, in the dim glow of a night-light down the hall, it takes you a moment to make out the silhouette of a small cat batting lightly at a fold in your dress. Reaching down to let it sniff at your hand, the distraction comes as a relief, turning all higher thought mute for a blissful moment in favor of the absolutely paramount need to pet a kitty.
Unfortunately, the cat ignores your outstretched hand entirely, and slips away back into the shadows from which it had appeared. Only now does it occur to you that as a ghost, you must no longer have a scent. In any other situation you would not especially care about that, but getting snubbed by felines has a way of making such a thing suddenly matter. Either that, or perhaps it is just hungry and fickle.
Straightening back up, you turn back in Miho's direction. "Should I feed your cat?"
You detect a careless half-wave in the darkness. "Nah, Jijihime's fine for tonight; I fed her after school, before the big meet-up. Wasn't counting on getting hit like this, but didn't know how late pare- I'd be out, on our grand ol' quest."
"Okay." Drat. You had hoped smelling like food might have made her more friendly.
Yet even with that distraction solved, and despite still feeling overwhelmed from the events of the night, a buzzing undercurrent to your thoughts that creeps back in after Jijihime's brief respite; you find yourself hesitating a moment longer. Curiosity lingers alongside the background stress, the desire to see your brother, and take care of Death's errand, balanced by wondering if you should say anything else before leaving.
What To Ask About?
> Shimizu-San ("Why didn't your friend want you to join?")
> Grand Ol' Quest ("What did I miss before the fighting started?")
> Hobbies ("Why do you need so many screens?")
> Figurines ("I didn't think you'd be a fan of Magical Girls.")
> Parents ("How often is your family around?")
> Kitty Kitty Kitty ("Can I adopt Jijihime?")
> Other (Write-In)
> Just Leave (She needs rest, and you still have things to do)
Plan To Get Back Home?
> Take The Train (It may take longer, and further cut into the time you have to talk, but at least you can take a rest, and have some space to consider how to explain all of this to Kichirou)
> Take Nel's Doors (As long as they do stick to saving further plans for tomorrow, you will get more time to talk to Kichirou right away; you can figure out the rest once you are home)
