& this labyrinthine loneliness of mine

Wow. That was a lie. A terribly told one, at that. It was almost hilarious trying to imagine what kind of viruses this guy would have fallen for - lonely singles in your area, maybe? - but he could save that for another time.

Agape was mostly just concerned about one thing. Well. A few things, that all summed up to one thing.

How did he get a body, how did he get out of the PC, what was this city, and…

…being prepared to answer questions from Goyou, if he could show up too. When, he showed up. Because the second the other program arrived, he knew he was going to be bombarded with questions he couldn’t answer. So…best to prepare answers now.

“Just show up, huh? Well that’s obvious enough! I don’t think anyone I’ve talked to knows anything about the hows and whys, which is a big problem! But familiar people showing up…sounds like you’ve got experience with that?”

                  well . his answer didn’t seem like something the other liked . but really , he had no more answers . in the end , all he had were questions too . and questions were really not what this guy wanted in return . 

                  ... he felt kind of bad for him . he looked pathetic a little -- was that mean to think ? maybe he shouldn’t... not when he was just as pathetic.

                  the exclaiming from the other makes him jump a bit . well yeah ! of course it was obvious !! and doppo is over here acting like it’s not !! he frantically bows .

  “Oh, then this one seems like it’ll be good for that.” He’ll pull the coat up to Doppo. “it feels very professional.”

                “ you think so ? don’t think it’s too flashy ? ”

                  there are only small , very faint designs on the cuffs but ... 

    “no it’s fine really-” Rather than continue to circle around apologies, he’ll focus on the jacket and the task at hand. 

“Yeah, I mean this one has a little bit of a lighter color. and this is styled differently..what kind of look are you going for?”

               “ professional. ”

                eh. he should try to explain more. then he could actually be helpful with this own question. 

“Well, that’s my bad then! You looked like the kinda guy to fall for virus scams a lot, so I thought you might know.” 

Of course, he didn’t really expect a human to know much about his situation, but it was worth asking around. This guy was obviously some lower leveled lacky for a business of some kind, given the way he dressed, and usually those were the ones that were either very cautious about computer viruses, or completely ignorant to them.

He didn’t look it, but it was too bad he wasn’t some kind of IT wiz that could figure out what was happening. 

“Do you know anything about this city, then?”

               “ i ... i what? no i don’t fall for those ... ”

                no, he does. he definitely does. he vividly remembers sobbing on his knees apologizing to hifumi for getting a virus on his laptop by accident. but he wasn’t going to admit that!! even if it was all over his face. 

                    “ i have no idea what you’re saying ... ”

                      what was he talking about ? being a virus ? that didn’t make any sense . ... not that any of this made any sense either . being isekai’d was a little more believable ... just a little bit at least . his original statement was muttered under his breath , but he now speaks up a bit louder .

                    “ sorry . i don’t know much about computer viruses turned people . ”

  “What a shame. he did good~ you really rock the look!” 

The highlights really caught his eye. He was considering a subtle change. Something trendy, but nothing too drastic. However, no magic was a bust, so he had to do it by hand. If he wanted to do a full hair job that’d be easy, but highlights like that would take a lot more work. 

“ It’s totes ok tho. Guess there goes that idea. Wump wump.”

            “ t - thank you... ”

              he’s really not used to having compliments like this . it’s usually more like yelling at him to do more work or do move out of the way or they didn’t even see him there . so this was a nice change !

     He might as well look for some new clothes. Coming here in his school uniform wasn’t exactly ideal. It’s not like he had to worry about the schools reputation or punishment from anything he did. Though it wouldn’t hurt to have something more comfortable.

However he wasn’t exactly trying to get in the older man’s way-

Wait, Why was he apologizing?

  “It’s fine- I’m sorry if I was in yours-”

“I think they’re over there..” A finger will point on the table not far from them.

            “ no , no . i was the one in the way . i was taking up a lot of space .. ”

              ah , stupid . stupid . now he was just apologizing when he was being told he didn’t need to ! he really wasn’t good at any of this socializing stuff . 

                       “ ... h-hifumi...? ”

                        the name fell from his lips almost automatically the moment he saw the bright sun that was hifumi through the crowd. doppo, the usually well mannered man, was shoving people out of his way as he tried to make his way to his friend. ...well, he was apologizing profusely while doing so. 

                      “ w-wait! hifumi! wait up! ”

                        he could only hope that they heard him. and that people would get out of the way so he could reunite with her. all of this would be a lot easier, a lot more bearable if he truly got to see hifumi again. it was hard living without him, but not in the way one would think. yes, having hifumi to help around the house was nice. but, it was the presence of hifumi that doppo needed.

                 “ no ... no the friend who helps me with my hair isn’t here. ” 

                  at least that he knew of. it would be a lot easier if hifumi was here, at least there would be something to calm him down. right now the person who was very excited about his unique highlights was starting to make him anxious. all he could do is think about was the techniques that jakurai had taught him. 

                  “ i really have no idea how he does it. i’m sorry. ”

                    he was at the store, trying to buy a couple of new clothes since those didn’t seem to appear with him in this new world. he didn’t even realize he was taking up to much space as he held up two suit jackets to compare them... even though they basically looked the same.

                    he bows his head a bit, taking a step to the side. 

                  “ oh. do you happen to know where the ties are? ”