Archive of Our Own

Tomonami turns fully to fretster, gripping their hand in his own tightly, with purpose.

"I'm trusting you to bring me back from the brink."

"OUAGH!!!"

Fret almost slams his phone down, stopping himself at the last second to set it down gently.

"THAT'S where that line is from! From in the magazine! Oh, I have to talk to Boss about this so bad, there's no way she hasn't played it yet!"

Frantically, he makes himself pay attention to the stage results before navigating away from the game to his messenger app. He has to backspace and retype half of what he wants to say on the off chance that Nagi hasn't played the newest chapter yet, ending up sending her about two paragraphs of mostly incomprehensible fawning and several-- several stickers to represent his raw emotions.

Judging by the fact that Nagi responds with nothing but keysmashes and one, two, three... twelve of the same sobbing anime girl sticker, Fret ascertains that she has indeed finished the newest chapter. They then proceed to parrot the "back from the brink" line at each other before finally calming down enough to theorize on what the future of EleStra could hold.

Once they've reached a consensus that within the next few chapters, Tomonami will almost certainly get his new power under control with the help of the suspicious masked character from two chapters prior, they agree to meet at somedrinks for... some drinks! Fret never misses an opportunity to propose the offer with that exact wording.

"Right?! And the hand-hold... hold..?"

Fret trails off in shock when he spots someone he assumed he wouldn't see again.

"Lord Tosai? Is everything quite-- TOTOMMAMMAMOMOMO--"

Although he didn't seem to notice Fret, Nagi's heartfelt babbling catches Minamimoto's attention.

"Didn't foresee any extra integers in today's equation..." he says in lieu of an actual greeting.

The lighting out here is just right so that his hat doesn't shadow his eyes at all, both of them quite visible. It's a somewhat rare sight, and Fret swears to himself that he's only staring in order to play spot the difference between him and Tomonami.

"Since you're here... want a drink?" Fret offers, seeing as Nagi is still speechless beside him, hands clasped together and tears in her eyes.

Minamimoto crosses his arms, lowering his head just a tad, but it's enough that Fret can't see his eyes anymore. After a moment, he silently walks away from their outdoor seating-- but, notably, into somedrinks.

"So is he gonna sit with us or what?" Fret wonders aloud.

"Alas, one needs come to grips with the fact that Lord Tomonami has no further use of us now that the game has been cleared. It makes one wonder if the 2D Lord Tomonami would also discard his precious companion once the plot has been fully resolved..."

"Hey, no need to get gloomy on me, Boss! 'Sides, it's, like, totally going in a romance direction, don'tcha think? I mean, like I was saying about the hand-holding thing, that felt kinda big, you know? Like... meaningful. A guy doesn't usually grab your hand all romantic when he's asking for some help... maybe."

"'Twas but a fleeting thought that shouldn't be entertained. Also... I find it interesting that you're choosing to interpret the latest developments in this way," Nagi points out, all serious like she's not in complete agreement. It makes Fret start to feel a bit flustered.

"Uh, do you not agree? Plus, it's really not just the latest chapters? Ever since chapter... three, I think? I kinda felt like there was supposed to be an implied romance there, right?"

"Ah, you must be referring to the moonlit balcony scene... an extremely popular favorite."

"Yeah, that was when I felt like it was really on the nose, you kn--"

"T-T-T-TONOMOMOMONI--!!!"

Fret jerks his head away from Nagi to see that Minamimoto has acquired a drink from inside and is now sitting with them. He has to agree with her sentiment.

"Oh, hey! Samesies!" Fret points out, holding his half-empty cup up at Minamimoto, who holds the same flavor. "So, have you ever played Elegant Strategy? It's a mobile game, you heard of it?"

Minamimoto looks pointedly at Nagi's excessively decorated backpack, which currently sits in her lap.

"I've heard of it," he answers simply.

"Woah! A direct answer?! No math or anything?!"

"Now it's my turn to demand a solution... when a parenthetical envelops your digits, how do you remove that step from the equation?"

Fret puts on his best thinking face, but his mind is somehow both blank as well as swimming. Nagi is doing a great job at looking like she's actually figuring out what Minamimoto said.

"Could it be... you're asking how to cut ties with someone?" she asks, a little hesitant and a little sad. Her feelings rub off on Fret, and he quickly suspects Minamimoto is subtly trying to tell them to buzz off. But then, why sit with them?

Minamimoto sighs, then takes a quick look around.

"I keep getting recognized in public," he says. "I'd like to subtract some of the degrees from this angle, but it doesn't seem like it'll be possible without switching up the formula."

"Wait... you're getting recognized for what? Like, by Reapers? Or..."

"You wish to stop getting recognized without altering your core appearance..." Nagi ascertains.

"A+ for deduction," Minamimoto praises, causing Nagi to jump in her seat quite hard. "Now all that's left is to solve."

"Ohhh, that's why you dress like that! Yeah, you totally look like an actor trying not to get-- uh, hang on, actor? Wait... so, Boss, didn't you say there were some live action adaptions of EleStra?"

"'Tis all so clear to me now..." Nagi mutters, barely audible, and then her hands are coming together again. "It really is you..."

"Don't make me have to fail you. Show your work already."

"Wait, wait, wait, so-- wait. Mr. Minami? Did you seriously--" Fret quickly lowers his voice in case anyone's listening, "did you really play Tomonami in the movies?"

Minamimoto stares him down quite menacingly, and then kills that atmosphere by taking a harmless sip from his fruity drink.

"The credits list a "Yoshiya Kiryu" as the actor for Lord Tomonami, but attempting to search for information regarding that individual yields no results, thus leading one to believe that either the actor only ever played one role, or..."

"An alias? But I don't get it."

"Heh. Just a little inside joke for my own amusement," Minamimoto admits, hand coming up to the brim of his hat.

"How's using an alias an inside joke? And besides, why'd you take the role in the first place if you hate getting recognized? EleStra's, like, super popular."

Minamimoto looks very much like he's deciding whether or not to ignore the question. Maybe he thought fame would be nice but it turned out to be too much for him.

"Wasn't my choice to begin with, but I was without a denominator when they picked me out. Ended up changing my variable more than foreseen. In the end, the sum is the same, so a few extra steps don't hurt."

"Uh-huh... Boss, translate?" Fret asks in a whisper.

Nagi takes a moment to think over what he's said.

"Please correct me if I'm wrong... Are you saying you were... in a low place, at the time of casting? That's interpreting "without a denominator" as feeling lost..."

Minamimoto doesn't confirm or deny.

"Not just lost like didn't know where he was, right? So then... did playing Tomonami kinda help you through a rough patch? Are we close?" Fret gives his best guess.

"Lord Neku did say he's changed significantly..."

"I mean, three years will do that to a person!"

"I don't believe I was talking to you."

"Nooo, we're on that again?!"

Looking at Minamimoto, though, he really is the perfect choice to play Tomonami. Fret can absolutely believe that the director or someone just plucked Minamimoto off the street and begged him to take the role. Come to think of it, there's no way Tomonami suddenly makes a bunch of out of character math jokes in the movies. It must have taken some doing for Minamimoto to restrain himself.

"Maybe off-topic, but I don't think I've ever seen you without the whole hat and hood look," Fret mentions offhandedly. "Since there's pretty much no one around right now, think we could get a peek? I haven't seen the movies yet, so..."

Minamimoto takes another glance around before shoving his hood back and taking the hat off with surprising ease. Fret was so sure it'd take a lot more convincing than that, and he wants to say something about how agreeable Minamimoto is today, but he's quite certain his heart has stopped at the sight of him. He smooths his hair back a little just to fix what was mussed up by the hat, and it ruffles back into place almost rebelliously.

"You zeptograms are easy to dazzle," he says, and the full view of his smug face without any shadows to hide it is indeed stunning. Fret's face feels kind of hot.

The moment is over all too soon, with Minamimoto placing the hat back on his head and pulling his hood up over it again after no time at all.

"Believe me now?" he asks, startling Fret.

"No, no, it wasn't that I didn't believe you! I just... uh, hey Boss? You've been awfully quiet," Fret notices, turning to squint at her.

"I can die happy," she murmurs. Fret thinks the tears in her eyes might be from refusing to blink for a minute there.

"Dying's an automatic F from me. Stay alive long enough for the city to be mine," Minamimoto commands as he stands from his chair.

"Wait, what's that mean? Are you running for mayor or something?"

Minamimoto doesn't deign to respond, and he's out of sight before Fret knows it.

"Didn't Lord Rindo say there was a higher power in charge of the city..?" Nagi seems to recall.

"Oh yeah, when he was telling us about how Shokie's able to live in the RG now... uh... the, like... Artist, or something..."

"I believe the term was "Composer"," Nagi corrects. "One must wonder how one comes to be a Composer..."

"Beats me. Maybe Mr. Minami's gotta win a music contest and then he gets to be a god? Heheh, no that's stupid."

"I almost get the feeling that it's more sinister than a simple contest," Nagi says with a concerned frown.

Although they do owe the Composer for helping Shoka, Fret can't help but feel the urge to side with Minamimoto in his endeavor. Maybe he shouldn't support him so easily, given how much Beat still distrusts him, and how Fret is quite aware that none of them really know anything about him...

Then again, Fret supposes he can't help having a bias. At least he knows Nagi can agree with him on that much.