XXII: Moon

MOON II

He constantly scolded himself for looking at her the way he did.

His throat closed up when shadows lunged at her with their sickly-looking talons, or when columns of flame melted the soles of her school loafers and singed the hem of her skirt. Shinjiro imagined that she was small and frail; something that needed to be wrapped in tissue paper and kept safely inside a box somewhere out of reach.

He was wrong.

The cafe on the other side of Paulownia Mall was miraculously still open, and it wasn't long before they were each gripping a slightly-too-hot paper cup in their respective hands. Shinjiro found some amount of humor in the fact that she took her coffee the same way. If it was mostly milk and sugar, he seemed to remember once insisting that it wasn't really coffee anymore. A brief sideways glance from Minako dared him to say anything this time around, so he restrained himself.

Jokes could wait for later. Simply saying that they had 'a lot to talk about' could have been a joke in itself.

"I'm not even sure where to start..." Minako mused aloud, eyes scanning the ceiling as they strolled toward the large fountain placed in the center of the wide tile floor. The ceiling must not have had any answers for her, however, because she began apprehensively snapping the plastic lid of her coffee with a manicured nail. "It's like it would be impossible to sum it all up in one try. Do you know what I mean?"

"'Course I do," he assured her. If it was as simple as saying 'Why aren't you dead?', he would have done that already. "Let's, uh... try something out. I got more things to say than I could get out in one night, so we'll take it easy for now."

Her wandering eyes found his face again, holding a familiar, inherent curiosity that practically asked the follow up question for her.

"How do we do that?" She asked anyway, her casual gait slowing to a complete stop as they moved toward the rear of the mall. He took a few additional steps before stopping himself, turning and seeing her fully normal lighting for the first time.

It was Minako, alright, but she looked noticeably more mature in the way she dressed and carried herself. It would be wrong to imply that she ever looked particularly adolescent, though. He remembered thinking, in her last moments, that she appeared extraordinarily wise beyond her years.

Her hair was longer, but still pulled up in a manner that kept it out of her way. Her ponytail had a single, wide curve to it that he assumed was probably a very stylish look right now. She was wearing a blousy white shirt that tucked into a pair of high waisted black shorts, showing just enough skin that he was able to take a look at her necklace again.

The XXII was made of slightly tarnished silver, appearing to be a keepsake rather than a meticulously selected fashion accessory. He didn't know what it meant, but he was glad it caught his eye when it did.

"We start with easy questions," Shinjiro continued, suddenly and inexplicably self-conscious about his body language. His hands felt empty for some reason, and the space between them reinforced the idea that they were strangers. "Gimme your name, age, and tell me what you've been up to lately."

He should have expected the small laugh that she only barely managed to politely stifle, but it made his stomach do a flip regardless.

"Okay, okay. My name's Minako Arisato and I'm turning 21 soon. I graduated from Gekkokan High and I go to college nearby, even though my parents complain that I should have tried to get into a better school." Her voice wavered slightly as another laugh threatened to interrupt her answer, so she allowed herself to double over and giggle for a moment. "Ahaha, this feels like an interview, Aragaki-senpai. Please tell me that was enough!"