[Blue Archive] Lost Lives. {REBOOT}

Abydos [11]

Weeks had passed since the GIA had tried to capture Hoshino, and so far, nothing came out from the press. The duo even went to complain to the General Student council, but to no avail. It seemed like the attack to Abydos was just going to be covered up by political corruption in the press and the General Student Council, making the Abydos students unable to trust the Council even more.

One day, when Arata was at the Shiba-Seki ramen shop, talking with the master, someone familiar came in. Sorasaki Hina. She ordered a ramen, and sat down next to him. Obviously, he stared at her with suspicion. However, she sighed, looking sad about something as she solemnly looked at him.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I did with your friend. It was.. just orders that I had to follow." her head slightly drooped as she talked, her voice way softer than before. And Arata wasn't having any of it. "There is no way you came all the way from Gehenna just to say sorry. What do you want from us? why did you try to capture her?"

Her halo seemed to be glowing fainter by the moment as she replied. "The reason why I tried to capture her is classified, but.. I want to be friends with you, not enemies." Arata rolled his eyes, before taking a sip of his ramen bowl. "So, you came all the way here just to be friends?" Hina nodded faintly.

She looked like someone who just had their heart broken. And Arata couldn't help but feel sorry to her a bit. 'Maybe, she was actually just following orders..'  he thought. He sighed before talking again. "Fine, maybe we can be friends, but don't expect me to trust you at all. Aren't you still with that intelligence agency or something?"

This time, Hina shook her head definitively, her voice growing slightly louder. "No, they kicked me out for failing to capture her. I promise I'll make up to you someday." And master handed her the bowl of ramen she ordered. "Right here, young lady. Lad, is she a friend of yours or somethin'?" 

As master didn't hear the conversation they just had, he didn't know who even this young girl was. And to Hina's delight, he nodded. Slightly. It was still a start. She didn't expect him to trust her right away. "Oh right, and.. could you please keep this a secret to anyone else, Arata? if Hoshino knows, she might break my back or something.."

Arata thought about it for a moment, before just nodding without giving it much a thought. Besides, Hoshino would forgive him if this was found out, right? After they both had their stomachs full, they walked around the Abydos countryside for a moment. To Arata, this was just a normal gesture for his new friend.

But Hina knew that her plan to deceiving him had been a resounding success, and she smiled inside of her mind. This might be easier than she thought, after all. Soon enough, they parted ways, and Arata returned to the school with an very angry Hoshino.

"..thought you were just goin for a quick snack, Arata-kun? " her chilling voice sent shivers through his spine, as she appeared out of nowhere when he had entered the school gate. "H-Hoshino, I can explain, okay? so, there was this cat that-" he rambled on about how some wild cat brought him into a kitten paradise, and Hoshino just upper-cutted him right in the jaw.

Within seconds, he was being dragged by her, as they went to the Student Council room. Yume greeted them with a smile, but slightly panicked as she saw Arata being dragged on the ground like a bean-sack. "U-uh.. Hoshino-chan, what happened to Arata-kun-?" she slightly stuttered as anger was just flowing through her eyes.

"He got away from night-patrolling again. Do you know how hard it is to actively look for gangsters when you don't have a spotter?" she sighed as she threw Arata's limp body into the wall with a resounding blam. Yume winced slightly, and came over to hug Hoshino. "Hoshino-chan, its not good to throw your friend like-"

She couldn't continue upon seeing Hoshino's face. "Do you know how much I was worried about him? this is the second time that he did this! and he came up with some lousy excuse about some cats making him go into a kitten paradise or something, I was worried sick about him, and he was just playing around?!" her eyes held anger and hurt as she breathed in and out loudly.

Arata stirred from the position in the wall, and got immediately shot in the face by her shotgun. This time, his halo went fully off as he was knocked out. This loop continued for a little while until she calmed down and he apologized to her. He said everything that he had done, except for meeting Hina.

It just didn't seem right to him that Hoshino would understand that Hina was his new friend of sorts. After all, Hina was the leader of the party that tried to capture her. But it also didn't seem right to cut off his new friend, as they had already talked a lot and he found that he did enjoy talking to her.

After a few weeks, Hoshino's rage died down, and he vowed to never hurt her feelings again, lest he will be killed by a shotgun shell to the halo. But still, he didn't want his.. well, best friend? friend? he didn't know anymore. In the daytime, he almost always stayed with Hoshino, even clearing out his time for her. 

A month passed, and Arata was able to save enough money for them to go to the aquarium that would open in a few days. He had tried to make Yume go, but she insisted on the two of them going together, saying that "You both look lovely together!"

Hoshino, who had thankfully not heard the previous conversation but only heard that statement as she came into the student council room, almost snapped her neck off if not for Arata stopping her rage. And the next few days passed like a breeze through the autumn wind.

However, Hina was still trying to get information about him, and kept asking him about the past every time she met him. He felt slightly suspicious, but he told her everything anyway. Besides, she had gifted him a luger; a one that didn't have any accessories, nor any color.

Just pitch black, with geared toward maximum stealth, it was the best one he had ever held in his life. He obviously began to become slightly more favorable in telling about his past, and in general, about everything.

After a few days, it was time for the aquarium.. date, as Yume had labeled it. Although, Yume seemed more excited than the two who were actually going. And she had made it so that they wouldn't meet each other until the aquarium's entrance.

As he didn't have a home, and as the school was his home, he basically had nothing to wear. So, about two days ago Yume gifted him some casual clothes, which fit him perfectly. And for Hoshino, she couldn't help but be giddy like a love-struck schoolgirl.

She hated herself for that, and decided to knock herself out- only to get stopped by Yume.

And at last, Arata could see someone familiar walking to him, with a smile on her face.

Authors notes:

bruh first date is real

hope hina doesn't betray him tho!!!

and why is arata like a big dumdum oml

but anyway bai imma try to keep writing