Misfit Together

Chapter 8

(Sorry this is a day late, I just got two new kittens yesterday~ I've got some ideas/plans down for Opinions (the other one-shot collection) but I still need to work on it a bit. This chapter is kinda short and there's not much action in it but the next one will be a big one, trust me. I have a few more chapters planned out but not the entire fic so I need to figure out the next... act I guess? Anyway, here we go~!)

She had to talk to Shizuka.

A few days had passed since the night Momoko went to SFC, but now the conflicts in her mind had been thrown way out of proportion in just one moment. One short encounter. Earlier that morning, she had been walking home from the convenience store, grateful for any distraction from her inner torment, when she walked past a familiar blue-haired man.

She couldn't help but freeze when she looked up and saw him. He smiled at her, slowing down but not quite stopping.

"I hope you've taken my advice. After all, you can't trust someone who claims to be your friend yet keeps such an important part of their life secret."

"... What?" her voice shook.

He gave her a sidelong glance as he passed her by.

"He isn't who he says he is."

And he kept walking, most likely on his way to work, Momoko guessed. It took her a moment to shake herself out of her trance but once she did, she rushed home. She quickly put away the food she had bought and ran up the stairs to her room. She pretended not to hear her dad calling her name. She knew he had noticed how she'd been acting strangely in the last couple weeks but the strangeness surrounding Urushihara was of far greater concern, one that just couldn't wait.

The mere thought of confronting Urushihara now still made her gut clench, but she had to get this out. The only other person she could talk to about this was Shizuka. Feeling shaken and frightened, Momoko closed her door and curled up in her beanbag chair, trying to relax and calm her nerves before she pulled her laptop off the floor beside her. She took a deep breath and turned it on, hoping beyond hope that Shizuka was online.

She sat refreshing her dashboard over and over again. Urushihara was online, but she couldn't bring herself to talk to him, even just normally. And if she posted or reblogged anything, he would see. If he picked up on how she was avoiding him, if he asked her why, she might end up breaking.

By the time Shizuka appeared, almost an hour had gone by, but Momoko was glad she could finally get this off her chest. She sent an IM almost immediately.

Theres definitely somethin up with Hanzo

On the other side of the screen, Shizuka frowned at the message.

Didn't we already establish that?

I mean theres somethin really weird goin on

Momoko took another deep breath then continued.

I talked to that guy from SFC. He said Hanzos not who he says he is

The guy Hanzo specifically told us not to talk to?

And why do you think he said that???

Shizuka paused for a split second. She did have a point. But Urushihara was his friend, he knew him. Didn't he?

Because this guy's a creep and could get you worked up over nothing?

That only made it worse. If Urushihara really was lying to them, Shizuka was falling for it.

Think about it, what do we actually know about Hanzo? Hes never told us anythin about before he moved to Tokyo

A minute passed. Had he given up? Was he thinking about it? Two minutes. Did he think she'd gone mad? Thre-

Maybe we should talk to him

Momoko blinked in surprise at Shizuka's message. She still didn't like the sound of taking the direct route. But a couple of seconds later, another message came and she released the breath she didn't realise she'd been holding.

Even if it isn't about this. We need to meet up again soon and see if we can get anything out of him. Exams are almost over so let's make it next weekend, huh?

Yea, all right. We'll talk it over later

She was about to close the IM window, then one more message popped up.

I don't like this, you know. He's our friend

She could practically see the anguished look on his face and hear the strained tone of his voice.

I don't either, but this is just getting too weird

I guess you're right...