Chapter Text
September 21st, 2009, Monday.
It's Elder Respect Day, so there's no school.
That rough typhoon had passed by the area, and luckily, it passed over the area without much damage. Everything was just fine. There was a lot of water, though. The TV was at a steady hum, its volume a comfortable background noise as it continued to spew out whatever news report was occurring, even with there being no present viewer. “There have been recent reports about a string of robberies in the Paulownia area… Exercise great caution when wandering around at night, as these individuals are considered armed.” The only possible viewer was currently preoccupied with his own affairs...
“C’mon… No, don’t use that move! Ack, dammit!”
Junpei slumped down on one of the armchairs in the common room, throwing his head up in exaggerated motion and letting out a long winded sigh as he mourned his loss in the fighting game. He had basically situated himself in this juvenile loop for likely the whole morning. Joy at winning a match, then back to a childish rage every time he lost a fight. Though, he felt this little session was underwhelming, for whatever reason.
“Mannn…”
He was about to use his continue when he looked around the lounge and noticed that everyone was gone for the day. Even Makoto was out and about, despite the fact he had just recovered from his fever the day before. Junpei rolled his eyes. Of course he was. Leader was always one to brush off basically everything, even his health.
“No one’s here, huh…? Well, that makes sense.”
Junpei shrugged as he glanced outside the window. It was almost comical how bright and sunny it was compared to when the typhoon that had gone over the area a few days prior.
“Guess they wanted to get out after being cooped up here for a bit...”
He let out a small hum, his expression one of contemplation as he thought of what his team was out doing. Yuka-tan was prolly with her friends, Kirijo-senpai business stuff, Sanada-san jogging, Ai-chan taking out Koromaru for a walk, Aragaki-san god knows where, yada yada… Even though they weren't always chatting, just having them around had filled the space with a weird sense of comfort for him. There wasn’t a single sound in the dorm other than the faint humming noise of the A.C., the sound of a news report from the tv, and the sounds coming from his game.
He couldn’t help but admit to himself that he missed the presence of his teammates.
“GAME OVER!”
Junpei shot up straight, letting out a small yelp as his little moment of spacing out was rudely interrupted by his game console blaring out those two words. He knew he probably shouldn’t have reacted like that, but no one was around to call him a scaredy-cat or reprimand him for being loud, so it was probably fine... He looked back at his game console with a frown before shutting it off and stuffing it back into his pocket, wiping the thin layer of sweat that had formed on his forehead.
“The hell’s my problem today?” He said out loud to no one in particular before letting out a small huff of air.
Suddenly, as if a switch went off, an idea popped up in his head, which restored the usual easy-going look on his face. No need to focus on bein’ lonely' when he’s got Chidorita, right? She probably missed him after a couple days anyway, with the typhoon and whatnot.
…Right?
Well, if nothing else, he missed her a lot at least. She always let him talk about whatever he had on his mind and never seemed to tire of his antics. He couldn’t get enough of how she does everything with so much grace. The way she works so diligently on her sketchbook, the way she holds her hand up to her mouth to hide her smiles from his jokes… the way her entire face changes when she smiles in general-
“Jeez, snap outta it. You’re startin’ to sound like a love struck baboon…” Junpei had a dopey smile, shaking his head before he patted his pockets for his dorm keys, not wanting a repeat of what happened last month. He’d forgotten his keys in his room when going out to mess around with Tomochika, so he had to be let in by Yuka-tan of all people when he came back. And of course, she didn’t let him live it down for about a week after, having the smuggest grin ever whenever she saw him. He absolutely did not want to give her that opportunity again.
“Alright, good…”
He then fished out his wallet from his right pocket to scan for any pocket change left he had for Wild Duck Burger. Fuuka was in charge of cooking tonight, but even with the help of Aragaki-san, he did NOT want to risk things. He shuddered at the last time he had tried her cooking...
After verifying that he had everything he needed, he reached for the TV remote, turning off the thing with a ‘blip’, before doing one last stretch and setting it down on the coffee table. As he was about to head out of the dorm, he realized he probably looked like absolute crap. This whole typhoon thing gave him an excuse to just bolt himself shut inside his room, reading all the manga and playing the video games he hadn’t been able to play before while waiting it out. Honestly, Junpei never even paid much attention to his appearance, only really doing the bare minimum to look presentable. But this was different. This was Chidori… He wanted to look like someone she could really rely on, and that started with some freshening up.
Once he made up his mind, with a determined nod and hum, he headed off to the bathroom to look more than just fine. He took a quick shower and fixed up his buzz cut a bit with smoothing over, even if most of it was just gonna be hidden under his baseball cap.
A part of him also did this for himself, he supposed.
Either way, he was still giddy as hell for the usual visit with Chidorita as he looked back into the mirror one last time to check up on his look, seeing an attractive reflection capable of capturing people’s hearts. After taking a nice, long whizz, he swung the bathroom door open triumphantly.
...With the flush of the toilet as backing noise.
Anyway, with that done and over with, Junpei began whistling whatever melody was siphoning out of his mouth as he strolled over to the front door at a brisk pace, placing his hand on the door handle and pulling it, stepping out of the doorway and locking the front doors with his keys. He walked down the steps of the entrance and met the sunny day, shielding his eyes with his hand from the almost blinding sunlight after being inside for so long.
“Jeez…”
After his vision became used to the new surroundings, he began walking to the Moonlight Bridge, which was the quickest way to get to Tatsumi Memorial Hospital, enjoying the sights and sounds around him as he perambulated down the streets of Iwatodai, a big dumb grin on his face.
Kids raced past gleefully, their laughter ringing out like chimes on a wind, businessmen and women walked with weary expressions, clearly not looking forward to returning to work, and there were spots of water spread out every now and then, which made for some pretty cool reflections. Everything was tied together by a slight breeze that provided a little respite from the still humid weather.
Lost in thought, he almost ate shit when he tripped over a damn branch that had been ripped off by the winds.
He let out a yelp, catching himself at the last moment and cursing under his breath. He kicked the branch off the side so no one else would befall the same fate as him before continuing his little journey.
When he sees the Naganaki Shrine up ahead, he figures a little detour wouldn’t hurt in order to see how his luck would go. As he scans his surroundings, from the little playground to the huge oak tree, he notices some people there. Well, a robot and a dog, that is. To his surprise, Aigis and Koromaru are there. She’s crouched over him, trying to do… something, with him. The dog’s laying down in an awkward position, with the android doing some weird hand motion at him. Junpei strolled up to the two, one hand resting on his belt and the other giving a lazy wave. “Yo, Ai-chan! Koromaru!” He gave a goofy grin as he stopped a few feet in front of them. Ai-chan’s head dips up a bit as she turns around to clasp her hands together.
“Greetings, Junpei-san.”
Ai-chan does a little bow and Koromaru perks up, letting out a bark and wagging his tail at Junpei’s arrival before panting, looking slightly exhausted.
“Woof! Woof!”
Junpei quirks an eyebrow at the mutt before looking back at Ai-chan.
“So, uh… What’s with the little circus performance? You trying to get his coat dirty or somethin’?”
He looked back at Koromaru’s slightly ruffled up and dusted coat. Makoto had just brushed it to perfection a couple days ago, too… He’s definitely in for an unpleasant surprise now whenever he gets back. Ai-chan looks back up at him, like he just asked the stupidest question in his life.
“When I was giving Koromaru-san his much deserved walk, there were children who approached me, asking if I could make him perform some tricks. Regretfully, his knowledge on that front was sparse. As such, I have been training Koromaru-san in the art of ‘rolling over’, ‘shaking my hand’, or ‘spinning’. Allow me to demonstrate:”
Ai-chan turns back to the dog, her sky blue dress slightly swaying in the wind as she does that strange motion with her hand again with an almost expectant expression. Junpei gets just a little bit more invested, leaning closer. “Roll over.” She commands him, her face deadpanned as she does the little hand wave again, thinking that it would somehow yield a different result from him.
Koromaru seemingly ignores her, his eyes drifting away from Ai-chan’s, continuing to lay down on his side, his tongue out and panting. The poor mutt looks like he’s been worked to the bone. He lets out a whine, and the android seems to pick up on the reluctance.
“It is not humiliating. ‘Think of the children’, as they say.”
She turns back to Junpei, with a slightly apologetic expression painting her face.
“Apologies. Without the presence of the necessary resources required to properly train him, he is still severely lacking in ability.”
Junpei, slightly disappointed, but trying to hide it, waved it off with one of his hands. “Nah, that’s alright. You, uh… keep doing what you’re doing, Ai-chan.” He chuckles awkwardly, before walking over to the shrine and withdrawing his wallet to pull out some coins. Ai-chan and Koromaru look back at Junpei, with the former tilting her head curiously.
“May I ask what brings you here today?”
Junpei looks over his shoulder as he slips some coins and notes into the box, grabbing his fortune on a little piece of paper from the racks.
“I’m about to head over to Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. You know, the one by Moonlight Bridge-”
“Impossible.”
“Huh? Whaddya mean?”
He turns around fully to face her, an incredulous expression painting his face. Ai-chan just repeats what she said again, before elaborating. His eyes widened in horror as she continued her explanation.
“If my radio frequencies are not mistaken, it appears that the Moonlight Bridge was closed for scheduled maintenance an hour ago. You will need to take the monorail in order to-”
She’s swiftly cut off as Junpei lets out an obscenity, hauling ass to the station as he makes a mad dash out of the shrine, accidentally dropping the small sheet of paper in the process. Koromaru's head darts up at the sudden noise and after resting for a bit, lets out a curious “woof” as he trots over to the piece of paper, sniffing it before Aigis kneels down to pick it up.
“Your luck reads, “Great Misfortune.”