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8:02PM
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So that’s his answer.
It’d been two hours since the agreed upon time, and still no sign of Yosuke. The sun had sunk considerably and the wooden bench outside the Okina strip mall had long grown uncomfortable.
Yu clutched his phone tight on top of his thigh, holding his breath as he channeled his emotions away from his face and into his hand. It was silly, getting worked up like this. It wasn’t like this was a surprise.
But somehow, between all the rescue missions in the television, all the shared smiles, all the favors at Junes, all the unexpected shoulder touches, and all the times Yosuke had called him his partner, Yu had thought this might be different. He’d thought that even if Yosuke didn’t return his feelings, that Yosuke would’ve at least said something.
The edge of Yu’s mouth twitched. He pushed the emotion back down. There were too many people around for him to lose it there. Too many families walking by with tired children. Too many of his classmates browsing the shops for one last thing before they went home for the night. Too many couples headed to the theater with their hands intertwined.
Yu wanted to smash his phone against the pavement.
He set it beside him on the bench and curled over, rubbing the tension from his face.
His face was hot. That shouldn’t have been a surprise either, he supposed, even if the only one watching him suffer through this pathetic state was the clock in the square.
8:02PM
Yu frowned to himself, briefly wondering if that clock had always run slow.
He pocketed his phone and stood up.
The clock’s second hand twitched weakly over the six.
“Hey, Partner,” Yosuke slung his arm over Yu’s shoulder. “Got any plans tomorrow?”
Yu shook his head, too preoccupied with the warmth of Yosuke’s arm to form any vocal response.
“Would you mind helping out with this event we’re doing at work? One of my coworkers hurt his leg and won’t be able to come.” Yosuke made a pained expression, as though he’d felt the injury himself. Considering his track record with his bike, he probably had. “He was supposed to wear this clown costume--which I know sounds super dorky, but the kids--”
“I don’t mind,” Yu said.
“Really?” Yosuke perked up, giving Yu a dazzling smile. “You’re a lifesaver!”
A smaller smile spread across Yu’s face. “Do you have to dress up, too?”
“Yeah, Dad wants me to do magic tricks, so he’s putting me in this fancy magician getup.” Yosuke’s expression deflated, and he let out a small sigh. “It doesn’t look bad, but I haven’t done magic since I was like, what? Eight? I can already tell it’s going to be a total disaster.”
“Maybe it can be a comedy act?”
Yosuke squinted at him. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Partner.”
“I can help you practice.”
“You know magic?”
“A little.” Yu shrugged. “Enough to impress Nanako.”
“Dang, Partner.” Yosuke gave Yu a pat on the back and beamed at him again. “You really are a jack of all trades.”
“I’ll take care of this last one, you guys regroup.”
Frowning, Rise scanned the shadow again. “Sure, it’s weak, but Senpai, don’t you think--”
“I’ve got this.” Yu readied his sword and thrust himself back into battle.
“Isn’t somethin’ kinda off about Senpai today?” Kanji asked, hunched away from the one-on-one match behind them.
“You think so?” Yukiko put a hand to her chin.
“Doesn’t he seem kinda...” Kanji glanced over at Yu, who was stretching and cracking his joints over the shadow’s remains. “I dunno, standoffish?”
“Y’know, I think you’re right,” Chie said. “He keeps ignoring us and doing his own thing. It’s like… he’s distracted and focused at the same time? Does that make any sense?”
“I’m sure he’s fine ,” Yosuke gave a nervous, unconvincing laugh as he slapped Chie on the back. Chie shot him a sharp glare, and Yosuke recoiled. “He’s probably just tired. Being a leader is stressful, you know?”
“That’s true,” Chie conceded. “But...”
Teddie quietly tapped his paws together, aiming a worried frown at the floor. “Sensei hasn’t used his persona at all today.”
The group went silent.
“How’s everyone doing?” The whole group jumped at the sound of Yu’s voice. “All good?”
“All good!” Yosuke squawked back, his face rapidly sinking into a burning red tone. “No problems here, Partner! We’re full of energy and raring to go!”
“Good.” Yu rested his sword on his shoulder. “I was thinking I could go another round.”
Yu turned heel and walked away, further into the depths of the TV World.
“Tired, huh?” Chie grumbled as she passed Yosuke.
“Shut up,” Yosuke muttered back.
It was a handsome magician outfit, and Yosuke was right; he wore it well.
“What do you think, Partner?” With a flourish of his cape and a tip of his hat, Yosuke bowed to Yu, extending a gloved hand. “With this getup, I could find a beautiful assistant in no time.”
With that empty hand right in front of him, Yu couldn’t fight the urge to fill it with his own.
Yosuke stared at Yu’s hand for a few seconds, as though his brain needed to reboot. Then, slowly, he cracked a smile. “Dude, your sense of humor is so weird sometimes.” He gave Yu’s hand a small squeeze, and then let go.
Yu looked at his hand, reveling in the lingering feeling of Yosuke’s grasp before his eyes fell down to the white frill at his wrist and the colorful patchwork sleeve pillowing over his arm. “You’re very dapper today, Yosuke.”
“You don’t look bad yourself,” Yosuke countered with a wink. “Let’s knock ‘em dead, Partner.”
Underneath the caked-on make-up and the bright red nose, Yu felt his cheeks heat up like the midday sun.
“Sensei would tell us if something was wrong, right?” Teddie asked, tapping his forehead.
Chie walked at Yu’s side. The others followed just behind them, speaking quietly amongst themselves.
Kanji slung his folding chair over his shoulder, holding it as though it were his school bag. “Senpai kinda keeps his problems to himself, huh?”
“There is one person he confides in,” Naoto said, and one by one, everyone turned to Yosuke.
Yosuke’s pace waned as he realized all eyes were on him, and then he leapt back up to speed, placing a defensive hand on his chest. “Oh, c’mon! It's not like it's my fault.”
Naoto sighed. “No one said it was, but it seems there’s something weighing on your mind.”
Chie slowed and met up with them. “What’d I miss?”
Yukiko leaned toward Chie and whispered, “Yosuke’s the reason Yu’s acting strangely.”
“That is not what I said!” Yosuke crossed his arms. “Besides, even if I did know why he’s acting weird– which I don’t – I can’t just break Bro Code like that.”
“Figures,” Chie muttered.
The faint sound of calliope pipes crept to their ears.
Yukiko turned toward it. “Is that music?”
“Where’d all these balloons come from?” Kanji tapped a bright red balloon tied to a railing that marked the end of the empty pathway. Beyond it was a bustling park decked out with colorful banners boasting exotic animals and unusual attractions.
“Forget the balloons!” Teddie flailed his arms. “Where the heck did Sensei go?”
A clock stood tall above the park square.
The second hand twitched over the six.
“You were cool back there, Yosuke.” The compliment had come out a little too loud, too eager, and the space of the Junes backroom echoed Yu’s voice back to him.
“Y-you really think so?” Yosuke tugged down the brim of his top hat to hide the flush of his cheeks, and then laughed quietly to himself. “If that’s true, then it’s only thanks to your training, Partner.”
Yu took off the clown wig and tossed it on top of the clown costume at his side. The costume’s heat had plastered his bangs to his scalp. “The kids were super into it. You really managed to add your own unique flair.”
“I guess I do have a way with kids,” Yosuke admitted, straightening his posture as the compliment started to sink in. “Did you see the little girl who kept volunteering for every trick? Think she might’ve had a crush on me?” He topped off the question with a wink, and Yu felt a flutter in his chest.
Yu looked down at the towel in his hands. He took his time wiping the makeup from his face.
Yosuke let out a nervous laugh. “Maybe I was just imagining it.”
Yu lowered the towel. “About that.” The towel was stained white, red, black, and gold. Yu lifted his eyes to Yosuke’s. “You wanna go out somewhere tomorrow night?” He picked at the white residue ground into his sideburns. “Just you and me?”
There was a short pause, and then Yosuke tore his eyes away. “Dude, don’t say that like it’s a date.” Yosuke gave another tense laugh. “You really are weird sometimes, you know?”
“It is a date,” Yu said. “If you want it to be.”
“Okay, sure, Partner.” Yosuke winked again. “A date.”
Yu’s chest fluttered again. “We can meet at Okina at six. Tell me then if you want it to be a date or not.”
Yosuke stiffened, and the humor drained from his face. “Partner...”
“Just think about it.” Yu ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. “See you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” Yosuke said quietly, staring at his hand as he picked his glove off finger by finger. “Sure.”
The crowd of shadows paid no mind to Yu. To the contrary, despite Yu’s defensive stance and his hand readied at his sword’s hilt, they seemed to pass through and around him like ghosts, sharing amused smiles with each other. Yu relaxed but kept his eyes wary.
They’d only been in the TV World for training. Or so he told himself.
If he was being honest, they were there because he wanted to forget about what happened with Yosuke. In retrospect, it was pretty selfish. Stupid, too. Inviting Yosuke to his attempt to forget Yosuke. But it wasn’t like he could go into the TV without inviting Yosuke.
He shook the thought from his head. Regardless of why they came, there shouldn’t have been anyone to save, or at least, no one who fit the usual pattern.
Yu looked back. A chill ran through him as he realized he was alone.
He took a deep breath to calm himself and sighed. Real smooth, Yu.
Yu took cautious steps through the crowd, taking in the festive decorations and the cheery music wafting through the air. There was a group gathered in a circle. As Yu drew closer and found spaces between heads and shoulders, he caught glimpses of a colorful individual, donning clothes put together with a rainbow of scraps and hems sealed with ruffles, haphazardly balancing fine china on sticks at the circle’s center.
The sound of a sharp crash made Yu pause at the edge of the group. The shadows burst into collective, deafening, oppressive laughter that weighed heavy on his ears and chest. He stepped back and held out his hand, trying to summon forth his other self from the depths of his mind, but there was nothing.
Though he’d had a feeling that might be the case, it didn’t stop the hot dread from prickling up from his gut through his throat and across his face when he spotted the clown’s silver hair peeking out under his tattered hat.
“There you are!” Yu winced, then turned around to face Yosuke as he emerged from the flow of passersby. “Dude, don’t just disappear like that.”
Yu shot back a nervous glance to the crowd. “Where are the others?”
“We split up to look for you in this park… thing.” Yosuke pointed back with his thumb, then leaned in and whispered, “Is this because of the other night? I just--I didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea? And then I freaked out, and--”
“No,” Yu said, despite the tired, frustrated frown he gave Yosuke. “It’s fine.” He passed another look back, only to flinch at the sight of the crowd having parted to reveal the clown, clothes speckled with shards of broken porcelain, watching them from behind a mask.
Though the mask bore a grin, it had a crack that tore from eye to chin.
“It’s fine,” the clown echoed with Yu’s voice. He knelt down on one knee in jagged movements, as though his joints were made of gears instead of flesh. “Anything the prince wants is fine.”
Yosuke stepped back. “P-prince?!”
The crowd murmured amongst themselves. Another wave of mortification burned through Yu’s face.
“Please,” the clown said, holding up a wind-up key. “Do with me what you will.”
A tremor ran through the area as the crowd, the balloons, the trees, and even the bench found this hysterical. Yosuke shot Yu a wide-eyed look.
Yu snatched the key and tossed it aside. The key clanked against the pavement. Frustration crept up through him, drenching his words with venom. “He doesn’t even want you.”
“I know that,” the clown said, tears dripping from his chin. “I’m you, after all.”
As Yu was about to give in to the gut urge to deny it, Yosuke took him by the shoulder. “Yu, that’s not-- I didn’t mean to--” Yosuke shook his head, trying to make his numerous thoughts fall into place. Still at a loss, he made a small groan. He picked up the key from the ground. “Look, Yu, I’m sorry I stood you up. That… That was a real dick move, okay? I should’ve known better, after what happened with Saki...”
The clown watched intently as Yosuke turned the key over in his hands.
Yu ran a stressed hand through his hair. “Yosuke, I told you, it’s fine--”
Another crack cut across the clown’s mask.
Yosuke grabbed Yu’s wrist. “It’s not fine! And I don’t wanna hear you talk to yourself like that!” He locked eyes with Yu and pointed to the clown. “He’s my best friend, too, you know.”
Yu laughed to himself, trying to ignore the weight of the tears precariously balanced on his eyelids. “...That’s a little ironic coming from you.”
“Yeah. I guess it is.” Yosuke took Yu’s hand and pressed the wind-up key to Yu’s palm. “But that kind of talk doesn’t suit you, Partner.”
Yu matched Yosuke’s bashful smile with one of his own. “Thank you, Yosuke.”
He knelt down and pulled the clown’s mask away to see his own tear-streaked face staring back at him with piercing yellow eyes. He brushed his shadow’s bangs aside.
“C’mere,” he murmured, pulling the clown into his arms. Tears rolling down his face, Yu whispered into his shadow’s ear, “You’re me. And that’s okay.”
The second hand began to climb.