Misfit Together

Chapter 16

(Aaahhh, this is late...! Sorry, guys, I wasn't getting very far with planning new chapters but I've finally come up with a couple more and some ideas for where to go next. Aro/ace Suzuno is definitely gonna happen, btw. Anyway, here's some Momoko and Shizuka for you today~)

She hadn't blocked him or anything. He supposed that was a good sign. But she still wasn't answering his messages.

Suzuno had warned him not to push her, but even so Urushihara was getting more and more nervous. He'd heard from Shizuka earlier that morning; Momoko had responded to his messages as usual but the moment he brought up Urushihara, she was gone. He believed Suzuno when she said that if he gave her time then things would work out, but he couldn't help but feel annoyed. It had been a week since Suzuno had spoken to Momoko and he still hadn't heard a word from her. He was getting anxious.

He knew he couldn't expect her to just accept something so big so suddenly. He knew Shizuka was still coming to terms with it, too. He just had a different way of dealing with it. But it scared him to think she would flat-out refuse to talk to him. It meant she might never talk to him again...

But today could be a step in the right direction.

Shizuka had convinced Momoko to meet up with him, as long as Urushihara wasn't there. For a split second, he had considered going anyway, but he quickly shook that thought from his head. That would only tell her that she really couldn't trust him. She might turn and leave as soon as she saw him. He needed to back off for a while, like Suzuno told him to.

Outside Shinjuku station, Momoko was waiting. She was nervous, of course, but it lessened the blow to know it was only Shizuka for now. It spiked when she saw him walking towards her, after all, she knew exactly why he had wanted to meet, but after they greeted one another the next words out of his mouth reassured her a little.

"We can just hang out and relax for a while. No need to get into all the weird stuff yet."

That was exactly what she needed right now. She nodded once and they left the station. She soon found herself falling back into her old cheerful demeanour as they wandered around and chatted about nothing in particular. But acting so casual when they both knew what was really going on proved difficult. Shizuka tried to bring up Urushihara in passing, but Momoko would change the subject every time.

"He misses you, y'know."

She visibly tensed up, then forced a smile and pointed out a café across the street.

"Hey, remember that place? They had pretty good ice cream the last time w-"

"Yeah," Shizuka's voice fell flat, "The last time we went there with Hanzo."

She didn't answer. She didn't even look at him. She stood there for a few seconds, still turned towards the café, then she started walking in the opposite direction. Frowning, Shizuka followed behind her. He was trying to be helpful but it seemed like she didn't want to be helped. When he caught up with her, he noticed the look on her face - he could tell her teeth were gritted behind her lips, her eyes were staring straight ahead and her head was tilted down. A pang of guilt hit him.

He laid a hand on her shoulder and she stopped but didn't turn around. Shizuka shifted to stand in front of her.

"Look, the problem isn't gonna go away if you ignore it. You're just getting yourself even more stressed," he said softly but Momoko stayed quiet, "What exactly are you worried about here?" Still no response. "What did Kamazuki say to you?"

She closed her eyes and sighed, then met his eyes.

"She said that the demons weren't doing anything wrong right now, but she knows they could still do something..."

"Like what?"

"I don't know!" she threw her hands up in exasperation, "I mean, she did think that Hanzo being friends with us is a good thing but..."

There were too many thoughts circling around in her head for her to focus on one thing. Shizuka knew how hard it could be for her to process this much information so he waited. Being patient was a skill he had come to find useful in these situations.

"Mostly," her hand went to her wristband, "I'm just confused. I don't know who I'm supposed to trust. Hanzo lied to us and kept secrets from us, Kamazuki and Yusa could both be lying too... but there's definitely something wrong about that Sariel guy..."

"Well, can't you trust me, at least...?"

"Mnn... I know I can, but..." she glanced aside, "You've been around them and what if they've just, like... convinced you to believe them?"

"I guess I can understand that..."

"... I want to trust Kamazuki, though..." Momoko mumbled and Shizuka smirked.

"Any reason why you'd trust her specifically?"

"Oh, shut up!" she pouted, but a faint blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Sorry," Shizuka said with a chuckle, "Anyway, Hanzo's our friend, right?"

"... Maybe."

"He kept his secret because he didn't want to cause any trouble or drive us away..."

"Too late..."

"He might not have been able to tell us. What happened was a freak accident."

There was silence for a moment as Momoko thought.

"... I'm still too scared to talk to him."

"He really wants to talk to you again."

"I know," Momoko said quietly, "I got his messages... I just want to wait a little longer."

"You swear you'll talk to him eventually though, right?"

"I swear."

He only hoped she'd keep that promise.

Now there was a need to release the tension. The two friends kept walking through Shinjuku and towards Shibuya. Their conversation changed course and this time, they relaxed for real. That is, they relaxed until Shizuka took note of how far they had walked - it wouldn't take much longer for them to reach Hatagaya. Momoko hesitated at the suggestion. Was he trying to urge her towards Sasazuka?

"I'm not gonna make you see Hanzo, I already said I wouldn't. But... maybe it would help some to introduce you to Maou. Hanzo's roommate...? He was there when we al-"

"His roommate?" Momoko stopped in her tracks, "So he's one of the demons?"

"Well... Yeah, he is, but he's actually pretty cool..."

Momoko frowned. They walked on and soon passed by the station. MgRonald's was just around the corner. She stopped before they reached it.

"No," Momoko shook her head, "I can't talk to him before I talk to Hanzo. All I really know about him is that he's a demon... I can't just go up to him and talk to him normally when I know that."

Shizuka looked at her for a second then slowly nodded.

Unbeknownst to them, a certain blue-haired man watched them walk by from inside SFC.