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Takes place a few hours after “Fatal Error.”
Lamar is pissed. He’s pissed that Masa shot Lucks, he’s pissed that they had to leave Masa behind, he’s pissed that it took them this long to get Tari and Theo back, but the thing he’s most pissed about is FREAKING BELLE FONTIERE.
Lamar looks around the room, notices the long faces of the defeated. No one has spoken a word since they got to Masa’s apartment down in the low tier of the city. It would probably be wise to let everyone rest right now, Lamar thinks. It definitely would be wise to wait to bring up Belle until Tari stopped looking like a puppy that just lost her one and only friend, but Lamar needs answers. Now.
Lamar decides to break the silence. “So.” Tari looks up to meet him with a weary gaze. “Belle.”
Theo and Sofia glance at her, curious. Tari nods belatedly. “…right, Belle….” Her heart throbs. It’s only been a few hours, but Tari already misses her.
“Is she your girlfriend?” he asks, staring at her intently.
“Angry Shouty Lady is your girlfriend?!” Theo exclaims, his wide eyes shifting to Tari.
Tari chuckles softly at his childish excitement. “No, she’s not my girlfriend,” Tari answers with an amused smile, then pauses. “At least not yet,” she amends. She blushes, adds with a shy smile, “That was our first kiss, actually….”
Sofia opens her mouth to press for more details, but Lamar cuts her off. “Do you think she’s using you?” he asks, his voice serious, his gaze hard.
Tari recoils. “W-what…?”
“Lamar!” Sofia scolds.
“What? I still don’t trust her!” he exclaims. Sofia begins to protest, but Lamar ain’t having it. “Remember Operation Silent Demon? Hm?! How she tortured Tari in Tempest?!”
Tari tenses at the memory. Her eyes screw shut as phantom pain radiates across her face, her ears beginning to ring. She had mostly forgotten that day—the burning heat, the intense pain as her skin burned to a crisp, the fury in Belle’s maroon eyes.
Belle never did apologize for torturing her….
Sofia’s voice breaks through her thoughts. “Lamar, give Belle a chance, please…” Sofia pleads. “She was a good friend to Lucinia—” Lamar cuts her off with a biting retort.
Tari opens her eyes, her throat suddenly feeling raw. She sniffs, blinks back tears.
“Tari?” Theo calls, big eyes gazing concernedly at her. Tari takes a shaky breath.
Sofia notices. “Lamar,” she calls softly.
“No!” Lamar shouts, leaping to his feet, hands clenched at his sides. Tari winces at the intensity. “It has to be a trap! She’s probably selling us out to the authorities as we speak!”
“Lamar!” He pauses, looks at Sofia. She gestures to Tari. “Look.”
He turns, finds Tari staring at her lap, pant legs scrunched between her clenched fists. “Tari…” he says softly, the anger leaving him. “I’m—”
“I trust her,” Tari interrupts, eyes snapping up to glare at Lamar. “I trust Belle.”
Lamar flinches slightly. “But Tari…” he begins, “How can you be so sure?”
Tari feels her eyes narrow. “You saw her stand up to Lucks, Lamar. She isn’t ‘Lucks’s Right Hand Dragon Lady’ anymore.”
Lamar bristles. “That still doesn’t mean she’s trustable, Tari,” he warns, an edge beginning to enter his voice.
“She’s had my back before, Lamar,” Tari counters, anger ringing clear in her voice. “She took me under her wing at TASCorp, made sure I never got into too much trouble with Lucks.”
“Yeah, and she helped free me from that game cartridge!” Theo puts in.
“Yeah, only because she had too,” Lamar retorts. “That doesn’t mean we can trust her.”
“Belle saved Theo because I asked her to,” Tari corrects. Lamar crosses his arms, turns to glare at the horizon. Tari stands, places a gentle hand on his arm. “Lamar, if you can’t trust Belle, can you at least trust me?” Lamar glances at her hand, then her eyes, his expression softening. “Please?”
He stares at her a moment longer, then slumps his shoulders in defeat. “Okay, fine,” he sighs. “I trust you.”
Tari nods. “Thank you.”
An awkward silence blankets them for a few moments, the remnants of Lamar’s anger dissipating in the cool air-conditioned room. “When…” Lamar begins. “When did you develop feelings for her?”
“I dunno,” Tari says, scratching her cheek. “I had a bit of a crush on her after she kidnapped me….” Lamar gives her a look. “W-what?” Tari asks, heat rising to her face.
Sofia snickers. “What, so as soon as she dominated you, you became immediately enamored by her?” Sofia jokes.
“No! Yes?” More snickering. “I didn’t like her personality, it was just kind of hot,” Tari defends herself.
Sofia smirks. “Uh-huh.”
Tari opens her mouth to counter before Lamar mutters under his breath, “…doesn’t sound like a loving relationship to me….”
Tari gives him a look. “She’s caring in her own way. She helped me deal with that pest Evelyn and didn’t rat me out to Lucks when I stole the Pocket Gakusei tablet from Evelyn’s room. She even taught me some speedrunning tricks to cheer me up when I was lonely!”
Tari shrugs, smiles. “I don’t know, whenever I’m with her, I feel safe and peaceful—happy.”
Lamar feels his eyebrows raise at that. Tari seems to care for Belle a lot more than he originally thought. He glances at Sofia, finds a similarly surprised expression. “Sounds like a pretty serious relationship,” he ventures.
“You think so? I’ve never been in a relationship before, so I wouldn’t know…” Tari laughs awkwardly. “I did sleep with her, does that mean anything?”
Sofia and Lamar sputter, shout in unison, “You what?!”
“Slept in her bed, slept in her bed!” Tari rushes to amend, muttering, “Why do I keep doing that?” under her breath. Lamar and Sofia both release a collective sigh of relief while Theo just looks between the three of them, confusion written on his innocent face.
“Jeez, don’t do that to us, Tari,” Lamar scolds, clutching his chest.
“Sorry!”
Lamar grumbles, pinches the bridge of his nose. This is too much to take in. “Okay, so when did you actuallydevelop a crush on her, then?”
“Um, about four weeks ago? I was just messing around with Belle after a long day of practice, wishing that I could do this every day, wondering what it would be like to kiss her full lips—”
Lamar buries his face in his hands, shouts with a muffled voice, “Too much information, Tari!”
“What?! You asked!” Lamar groans in defeat. Sofia chuckles at his discomfort.
“Still doesn’t explain how you wound up in her bed,” she points out with a smirk.
Tari laughs awkwardly. “I kind of had a nightmare at two in the morning and went to see her,” she explains. “She offered to share her bed so I didn’t have to be alone.”
“Sounds comfy,” Lamar says, grinning.
“Yeah…” Tari sighs longingly. “It was….” Lamar and Sofia share an amused glance. “A-anyway,” Tari rushes to continue, heat rising to her face. “We got pretty close in the days afterward.”
“I’ll say,” Sofia smirks.
Tari smiles tightly before her expression turns a bit sad. “Do you think she’ll be okay?” she asks, her voice quiet and vulnerable.
Lamar and Sofia share a look. “I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Sofia comforts, sitting next to her.
“Yeah,” Lamar agrees, trying to force as much cheer into his voice as he can. “Belle will be absolutely fine. She’s too devious and ruthless to not be.” Tari shrinks further into herself, causing Sofia to give him a disapproving stare. “Er, you’ll be back to having shouting matches or cuddling or whatever it is you guys do before you know it,” he tries again.
Tari snorts, smiles feebly, her gaze never leaving her lap. “I probably wouldn’t have told her how I feel if she hadn’t kissed me,” she admits with a small voice.
Sofia gives her a reassuring smile. “Well, I bet you’re glad she showed you how she felt, then.”
“Yes,” Tari says, brightening, this time her smile reaching her eyes. “Yes, I am.”