Keep your cool!

Well, that made sense. The smaller brunet mentally kicks himself for not having thought of the crag in the first place. It looked high enough to leave a pretty bad goose egg if one were to fall… He’s just glad this guy didn’t seem to be too badly injured from the fall otherwise! Talk about lucky. 

Then again, things aren’t always as they appear. Just because the teenager seems fine now doesn’t mean he will be down the road. Perhaps it’s the influence of having guardian angels for parents, but the young captain isn’t so sure he ought to let this go just like that. There’s gotta be somewhere he can get checked out… The humans call them hospitals or clinics, right? Perhaps he could try and locate one for this boy to visit.

“It’s no problem!” He replies merrily. Despite still being worried, he can’t help but feel at ease around the older boy. It’ll be fine, probably! After he gets his head looked at, what’s the worst that’ll happen? He has to rest for a few days? Better they catch a concussion now than days down the road when it’s affecting his daily life! “I’m just glad I was passing by; It wouldn’t have been good if you’d conked out for way longer than that…”

…But what’s with that look? The angel shifts his position slightly, glancing around to try and see whatever it was the other guy might be staring at… But nothing seems to be there. Weird. Is it him…?

“Oh, uh–” Right, he’s being asked a question. “Yeah, I guess you could say that! Heh, this place is really nice. It’s so peaceful-looking! But… Uh… Is there something on my face? You look kinda weirded out, bud.”

　　His face? Out of all the things to worry about? Either Keiichi was already going nuts, or... or he wasn’t. Actually, he’d probably been staring too long. Sure, this kid was dressed a little strangely, but... that just meant he was really into his hobby. It’s not like I haven’t seen it in town before. 

　　Keiichi was no stranger to cosplay, not anymore! Well... at least that’s how things ended up, ever since he moved here. Long story short, it was why he never wanted to lose card games (or any other game). Even to this day, he could hear his own voice, cornered, frantically screaming for help... Okay, but anything but a maid costume! Wait... uh, no, I take that back! That one’s worse! NOOOOO----!! 

　　And now he’d been daydreaming for too long.

　　“Eh? Oh, no, it’s not that.” Still. Even with his own reasoning, it was a little rude to keep staring, wasn’t it? With that thought in mind, he looked the boy in the eye again. Probably from Okinomiya? “Sorry! I literally just noticed your clothes, so I got distracted...” He gave a genuine thumbs up. 

    Give up﹖

Fingers rested against bottom lips, with a look of concern being more than obvious on pale features. She always wanted to come to this place, but didn’t think  that it was a good idea without permission. Though, even as demon, she took her risk coming here. Oh dear…what if she is spotted, she’ll surely get scolded and punished for it somehow! Then it happen. A voice reached out to her that made her jump backward, facing the person that the voice belonged to. Though, what he said made little no to sense to her. What..was an Angel Mort? Would she be allowed to go there as a demon?…dare she try?

“Angel……mort…?”

Slowly she shook her head, not quite sure how to approach the situation. Oh dear.. maybe going off on her own here wasn’t such a good idea..”Is that a place of church? I don’t think I;d be much welcomed there.”

　　“Eh?” With one word, he was instantly stupefied.  　　 His eyes widened. Out of all the things...

　　“A... A what?” A church? Angel... and Mort. Oh. At least he was starting to understand the naming sense, holy and all--- Ironically, a place like this was the farthest thing from it. A sort of indecent comparison. The realization made him scratch his head. “No, no, uh... It’s a restaurant. I thought you were a new waitress there. You’re not?” 

“You wouldn’t believe how often I get that kind of reaction– But you’re fine. At least, I think you’re probably fine…!”

The smaller boy chuckles, glad to see that the stranger was (mostly?) alright. Lady Palutena has given him permission to explore other worlds in his free time, and lately he’s taken to passing through random doors to see what laid beyond them. It could be fun, getting into little adventures on his own!

This time around, it seemed to be someone in need of his help. The rural village he’d popped up just outside of seemed peaceful– and more importantly, like the type that might house a hot spring. Despite the reaction his wings got from onlookers, Pit had decided to stick around and see if he could find that spring. In his wandering, he’d come across the teenager passed out in a field, but nothing that might have caused it. Not wanting to leave the poor guy out there all alone, he’d stuck around until the guy woke up. Maybe he could take him home, at least.

Pit winces at the swear, but doesn’t let it get to him. There are more important things to worry about than this guy’s potty mouth. “What happened, anyways? D’you remember? That bump on your head looks pretty bad…”

　　“Ah, well... Yeah. I think I do.” Man, those cicadas are loud. Not that he’d usually notice it during the day--- or ever, he was too used to it here--- but they were a rude awakening. Doing his best to ignore them, Keiichi took a moment to recollect. Thankfully, his headache was already subsiding, albeit slowly. It didn’t help that he had so many questions... But it was probably better to do this one step at a time.

　　How’d he fall in the first place? The answer was right behind him. 　　Everything came back as he turned around.

　　“That’s right... I kinda lost my footing from up there, and then... Oh.” Staring down at them was a very small crag. He’d been here many times with his friends, but they were always careful enough not to trip, despite all their antics. Unfortunately for him, it was not the place to get lost in thought. 

　　Well, that was all to remember. With a sigh, he stood and dusted his clothes off, annoyed with himself for being silly. Just for a second. Then, Keiichi quickly grinned at the kid in front, a hand on his hip. “All right, I’m good! No worries. Thanks for sticking around.”

　　His memories, his usual hot headed and cheerful personality... 　　Everything was in place now, right? Definitely not. Now that he noticed...

      In Maebara Keiichi’s dictionary... 　　　　　　　　　　        Failure isn’t a word!

► Home || Rules || Ask || About

　　Walking forwards, colourful leaves crunched under his steps. 　　After a moment or two, he spotted her.

　　Inexplicably, there was a strange aura. But even stranger was the person it belonged to. When Keiichi saw her, he had a single thought: she felt familiar. It wasn’t just due to her appearance. Something else... Another similarity... 　　A sudden change in mind. 　　No, that seemed wrong. It definitely wasn’t her.

　　“Ugh...” He didn’t know how long he’d been out for. In some ways, it felt like forever. But it could’ve been five minutes. Gently, his eyes opened, revealing something. Or someone? As the blurry world cleared, he saw... 

　　Wings. Staring at up the being, Keiichi finally spoke. 　　Though the words were more to himself than anything.

　　“Wait, am I.... dead?” What a cheesy line. Why was he even saying that? But God, this was too surreal. Or was it a dream after all? Keiichi could feel his mind going blank again... “O-oww! Shit, never mind. I take it back.” 

　　Empty-handed, Keiichi stepped outside the store with a sigh. An hour wasted. Convenience store? More like inconvenience store. They didn’t have what he needed today--- all by pure, rotten luck. To think that he’d biked all the way here for nothing. Nothing, minus the exercise. Well, whatever. At least this didn’t happen regularly. With that thought, he walked over to his bicycle.

　　“Huh?” And suddenly stopped. Somehow, he hadn’t noticed. There was someone else nearby. Aside from being pretty, she seemed sort of confused, if he didn’t know any better. What was more...

                                 killing you SOFTLY ?

                             no. this is going to be BLOODY,                                      this is going to be BRUTAL,                                             & most of all                   

“Um… “

What seemed like a simple introduction plus answered turned into, well… Lucina couldn’t quite comprehend what made him so flustered. Was that dress more uncomfortable than he was originally leading on? Still shaken up by the hooligans from seconds ago? Or maybe, she assumed this is all just a silly custom that was unique to the area, and it’d take awhile for her to actually comprehend it (the princess wasn’t the best at pinpointing cultural routines anyway aside from swordplay).

Whatever the reason was, she didn’t wish for him to be so uncomfortable. A brief dessert break might ease his mind so Lucina deemed it best to follow along. Perhaps a small conversation would help in contributing to this as well.

“As… unfamiliar as this land is, in hindsight, the quietude reminds me of home. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be much of this town once one leaves it.” Of course, she was referring to the endless countryside that seemed to stretch on for miles.

　　Somehow, he hadn’t completely weirded her out just now. Amazing. Realizing that, Keiichi grinned again, visibly relaxing. Though he was still a bit awkward. “Yeah? Well, it’s not as quiet as Hinamizawa, but I get what you’re saying. It’s a small town, that’s for sure---” Saying that, he headed for the door, which swung open with a chime. Stepping inside, they’d be momentarily interrupted again.

　　“Welcome to Angel Mort! Oh, you’re back, Keiichi-kun? Good job out there.” Sure enough, a cute waitress had been waiting to greet them (he swore he was getting famous for the wrong reasons). “And hello! Please follow me.” Smiling at Lucina as if she were a regular, they were offered a table (one of many empty) near the windows. Business seemed lazy and slow this afternoon. Meanwhile, he realized something--- fist pump.

　　“All right!” Finally. “Time to get out of this outfit! I’ll be right back--- here’s the menu, take a look! I’ll get whatever you want.” Complete with a colourful cover, of course. It seemed like everyone he knew had a favourite order, except for him. Handing one over to Lucina, he left for the restroom in a hurry.

　　And in the same fashion, he’d return triumphantly... 　　Walking over in his weekend clothes.

Pac, of course, had never heard of Hinamizawa. He wasn’t even quite sure how to pronounce it, even after the other said it. “Looks like a nice place!”

However, he was most concerned about his means of getting here. He had just been wandering, right? Or had he come here by some other means? “I’m, uh… I’m not sure how I got here! That can’t be good, can it?”

　　A nice place it was! Really. But recently, you’d think it was the hot spot for friendly alien life forms--- or something equally as strange.

　　“Huh... Really?” Not good at all. Did he have amnesia, maybe? In any case, they had to start somewhere. It could lead them to a clue (at the very least). With that in mind, he decided to ask.