Chapter Text
09/29/2009, Evening
One deeply apologetic conversation and a promise of a phone call later, they're bursting through the front doors of the dorm. Junpei clears his throat.
"EVERYBODY, EVERYBODY, STEP ON UP TO THE PLATE! Behold, Iwatodai Dorm's resident Moonshot Mechanical Maiden, the Weapon Herself, the Gekkoukan Grand Slam Girl... AIGIS!!" The girl in question points her finger in the air in an approximation of Junpei's victory pose as he waves his hands at her.
A beat of silence. Fuuka claps slowly and awkwardly. Aragaki-senpai and Sanada-senpai goggle at him, completely and utterly nonplussed. Aragaki-senpai's glass of water hangs frozen halfway to his mouth. Ken curiously looks up from his... Fashion magazine? What? Koro-chan barks.
"Good evening. Where have you been?" asks Sanada-senpai. Aragaki-senpai facepalms with his free hand and growls.
"Aki. Quit saying that. You sound like such a cop." Inexplicably, Fuuka giggles and hides it behind her hand.
Sanada-senpai bristles and turns on his friend, hackles and fists raised. However, he freezes in place when he spots Kirijo-senpai descending the staircase, a dark expression clouding her face. The temperature in the room drops three degrees.
Junpei gulps.
"Iori. Aigis. Why did I receive a call about an incident involving the two of you? I take it you can explain yourselves." She crosses her arms and levels a frosty stare at the two of them. Junpei withers. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Sanada-senpai swallow and try to become one with the couch he collapsed onto. Aragaki-senpai looks like he's fighting to hold in a snort at the visual.
Kirijo-senpai clears her throat and snaps Junpei's focus back towards his imminent doom. Shit. Sorry, Chidorita. Da man might not make it out of this one. He takes a deep breath, licks his lips, and opens his mouth.
"I --"
Aigis steps forward before he can get anything out. "Junpei-san was training me in melee techniques and improving my reaction time. Due to my own miscalculations and a misguided application of Orgia Mode, there was a malfunction with the feeder assembly. Junpei-san was able to fix the problem without further damage and protected me from harm, at great personal risk to himself," she states matter-of-factly.
Did... Did Aigis just lie for him?
"Regrettably, Junpei-san sustained damage while removing me from harm's way. I am grateful for his aid. Absolutely no blame lies with him," Aigis asserts forcefully.
"Aigis, I --"
Kirijo-senpai huffs. "Very well. I will arrange for the batting cages' operator to be compensated for damages. It should be just one machine, correct?" Aigis nods.
Junpei thinks he could weep. He tries to subtly make eye contact with Aigis so she can see the overwhelming gratitude in his eyes, but Kirijo-senpai bulldozes right over him.
"Good. Iori," says Kirijo-senpai, turning to him, "thank you for your help. I appreciate you preventing any damage to Aigis. We can assess any of your wounds if you need care." Junpei hastily waves his hands and shakes his head.
"Very well then. Carry on. But please, mind your volume. We're approaching quiet hours and I've already had to have a conversation with Takeba and Yuki." She sighs and turns.
Junpei pauses in his attempts to stealthily thank Aigis. Yukaricchi and Makoto got a noise complaint?! Okay, there's definitely something going on there.
He finally succeeds in catching Aigis's eye. After giving her a beaming smile and mouthing thank you thank you thank you (she smiles) he motions with his head towards the second floor. Aigis' gaze sharpens and she nods decisively. Time to snoop.
They're trying to creep surreptitiously to the stairs and investigate when something else curious happens.
"Akihiko. Shinji. I-I wish to... discuss something with the two of you in my room." Kirijo-senpai hasn't moved since turning her back on the lobby, and is still at the foot of the stairs. Her words are quiet. Uncharacteristically hesitant.
"At your leisure. N-no rush." She clears her throat. "Good evening to the rest of you."
If he didn't know better, Junpei would say Kirijo-senpai scurries up the stairs, blushing. That... can't be right.
Fuuka's eyebrows shoot straight into her cropped bangs. Ken looks at Aragaki-senpai and scowls.
Both his senpai choke -- actually choke, in Aragaki-senpai's case, he was mid-sip -- and drop what they're doing to stare at each other, then after Kirijo-senpai, incredulously.
Aragaki-senpai's cup clatters on the floor. Water seeps into the rug. The only sounds that break through the heavy, tense air are Aragaki-senpai's confused-sounding, spluttering coughs, punctuated by the reverberating smack of Sanada-senpai's hand against the coughing man's back.
Has Kirijo-senpai ever let anyone into her room before?
Oooooookay. Mega snooping is required here, obviously. The dorm has never been more of a hotbed -- perhaps literally.
He grins at Aigis and holds two thumbs up. She mirrors him, and boops their knuckles and thumbs together with a smile.
-- end