Chapter Text
Warm fingers gripped her hand as Rindo led Shoka through the loud and crowded streets of Shibuya. It had only been mere minutes since they’d reunited after literally bumping into each other in the Scramble Crossing. And now here they were, together again. It was surreal, almost too surreal for her. She didn’t know whether to be happy, scared, excited, or all of the above.
She had finally found one of her friends, the one she’d known longest, and this time she was alive and in the same world as him—not on the lonely flipside where she could never truly know him. She couldn’t even begin to describe the way she’d felt when Shibuya’s Composer had first zapped her away from her friends after their final battle. ‘Sad’ probably would have been the closest word to it. Sad and terrifying. Knowing it was her time to let go of her existence, let her friends move on.
But for whatever reason, fate had spared her a second time. Instead of vanishing to nothing, she’d found herself very much alive and once again a part of the realground.
The sensation of Rindo's touch, the air brushing against her cheeks as they walked… Somehow, it made the world around her feel brighter—as alive as she was.
But the more the reality of it crashed in on her, the more her nerves began to unravel. The very thing she’d been both dreading and hoping for had finally happened. Rindo was her friend—for real this time. There hadn’t been a single ounce of hesitation in his eyes, only relief when he’d offered her his hand.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was proud of him for how far he’d come. Months ago, she doubted he’d ever have worked up the nerve to do something like that. But also, him holding it only served to further tie her stomach in knots.
“So… How have you been? I mean, y’know… since everything,” Shoka inquired, opting to try and break the ice.
“Oh, uh… Fine.” His gaze swung her way, the smile on his lips wavering slightly.
“That’s it? Just ‘fine?’ I’d think you’d be out there living the highlife after being stuck in a death game.”
“Don’t you know me at all?” he quipped. “The ‘highlife’s not exactly my thing.”
“Okay, maybe that wasn’t the right word, but you’ve been free from the UG for a while now. You must be enjoying getting to sleep in a bed again, or having home cooked meals instead of fast food all the time.”
“A little…” His eyes darted away as she looked up at him again.
“Gee. And here I was hoping you’d gone and made a zillion friends—totally forgetting about the UG. What happened to all that progress?” she joked.
His fingers gripped her hand more tightly, startling Shoka into almost pulling away.
“I could never forget that.” The relief she’d seen in his eyes before now mingled with something almost like pain, and a twinge of guilt tugged at her for teasing him.
“Sorry..”
“No,” he followed up awkwardly, grip easing. “Don’t be. It’s just been a while, and I didn’t know if… I didn’t know where you were.”
“I’ve been here,” she muttered.
Without the intensity of the game or the ability to chat back and forth as Swallow and Rindragon, Shoka really didn’t know how to act. Why was having a regular conversation so hard in person?
“Where exactly are we going, anyways?” she asked, trying a different approach.
“Um… I didn’t have anywhere in mind, actually. I was just… walking around.”
Shoka didn’t know how to respond. Should she ask if he wanted to hang out? That’d probably be the most normal thing to say—something a friend might offer.
But they'd never done that in person. Not really.
“Do you want to get something to eat?” Rindo asked. “Unless… you aren’t hungry.”
She had to admit, he looked really cute the way his brow furrowed and how his lips kept opening and closing as he tried to find the right words.There were so many little details she’d never even noticed about him before. He was a mess, but then again, so was she. “Sure. Food sounds good. I haven’t been…” She stopped herself.
“You have been eating, right?”
“Sorta. I’ve been getting enough, but not like before.”
Rindo frowned. “Shoka, you can’t not eat. You’re alive now, right?”
“I just said I was getting enough, didn’t I?” she snapped. “It’s not the same as the UG. I have to remember to eat regularly, and sometimes, that’s hard. I also haven’t been super hungry.”
Rindo looked about ready to argue, but instead pulled out his phone. “Where do you want to go? I’ll buy.”
Thrown off by both his question and statement, Shoka struggled to form a reply. “I… It’s fine, you don’t have to…” Actually, he did if she planned on having anything for lunch. She barely had any yen to her name right now.
“I want to. I want to do something for you.” His voice was so earnest. It brought warmth to her cheeks.
“O-okay.”
“Just let me know where you want to go, okay?”
Where were they? She’d been so focused on Rindo, she hadn’t paid any attention to where they’d gone. Still near the Scramble, she soon realized.
“Um… How about Vegelovers?” They had her favorite avocado toast. Not to mention, it actually sounded good to her. “It’s not too pricey, is it?”
“No, that’s fine.” Rindo smiled. “I said to pick where you wanted to go, so…”
“What if I said I wanted two avocado toasts and a smoothie to wash it down?” she jokingly challenged him.
He simply shrugged in response. “If you’re that hungry, then sure? Just don’t make a habit out of it, or I might eventually go broke.”
Shoka huffed. “Now you’ve gone and dashed my dreams.”
“I hope you’ve got better dreams than making me broke.”
“I dunno… sounds kinda fun,” she said playfully.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.” She glanced up at him. “So, this is going to be a thing now? Getting food together?”
“Er… well, yeah? I mean… Unless you don’t want to keep hanging out.”
‘N-no I do. I just wasn’t sure if…”
“What?”
“You know. If you wanted to keep hanging out?”
Rindo stared at her like she’d just thrown water in his face. “Why wouldn’t I? I just found you again.” His jaw tensed. “We… We have a lot of lost time to make up for.”
“It’s not like we lost much of anything… It’s only been a month since getting back to the RG.”
“What are you talking about? That’s four whole weeks. And before that, we were stuck in a death game for almost as long. I sure as hell wouldn’t say that ‘we didn’t lose much.’”
“Oh come on, it wasn’t that long when you really think about it.”
“Are you kidding me? We used to talk every day, Shoka. You don’t seriously think I wouldn’t want to be your friend after everything we’ve been through, do you?” He took a deep, slow breath then continued, “You don’t have to worry about crap like that. I want to hang out, play FanGO. You’re in the RG now, so we can actually do those things in person.”
His words left her so speechless, all she could do was utter a soft, “Okay.”
It didn’t take long for the pair to reach Vegelovers, the shop nestled in the Modi building not far from Tower Records. It wasn’t too terribly busy for once, which Shoka preferred, especially because someone still held her hand. Didn’t he realize that people were bound to get the wrong idea? The very thought made her blush more than she had only moments ago. Maybe she should pull it away…
“It’s been a while since I’ve eaten here. Probably not since our Game,” Rindo said, grabbing the door with his free hand.
“Really? I thought you loved the salads here.”
“I do, but it’s more your favorite than mine… Actually, I did check here a few times, you know. To see if you were around.”
“Oh…” She fidgeted with her hoodie’s ear. “I haven’t come here since our Game, either. Since I…” She pressed her lips together, not wanting to share that she barely had any money.
“Shoka?”
“It’s just been a lot. Going from being in the UG for four years to suddenly being back in the RG—it’s a weird adjustment.”
“You know I really wanted to be there for you—to help however I could,” Rindo said quietly as they got in line.
Shoka pursed her lips. “Says the guy who didn’t see I’d sent him a friend request.”
“Yeah… I know. I’m sorry about that.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Why didn’t you look for any of us?”
“Because I didn’t know if you guys would want me around!” she said a little too loudly, earning curious stares from the few people around.
“That’s stupid,” Rindo argued. “You were one of us. You are one of us. You’re a Twister. Obviously you belong. We could’ve told you that if you’d given us the chance.”
Shoka bit her lip. “I might’ve, if you’d accepted my friend request. It’s not like I didn’t try. Hell, that was kind of… my test. To see if things were okay between us—if it was okay to still be friends, and you kinda blew it.”
“How was I supposed to know? You have a different username now.”
“You didn’t even look though, did you?”
This time it was Rindo’s turn to be silent. His grip on her hand eased until he let go of it. “I’m sorry. Really… I was so busy looking for you around Shibuya, I just…. Didn’t think to look there.”
“It’s okay,” she replied just as quietly. “I guess I should’ve… reached out to you besides the request. Sent a message, like before.” Her brow creased. “But you have to understand it’s not the easiest thing in the world. I’d just lost my whole life for a second time, I’m still not exactly over the UG like you guys probably are, or want to be. It still matters to me. I still have people I like there. And I don’t feel totally like I belong here—in the RG.”
Just as he opened his mouth to respond, the cashier waved them forward to order their food.
“What can I get for you today?” asked the too perky cashier.
“Uh…” He glanced at Shoka, silently telling her to go ahead and order.
“One avocado toast,” she spoke up.
“And I’ll just get a salad.”
“Anything to drink?” the cashier inquired.
“Water for me,” Rindo answered.
“I wouldn’t mind an acai smoothie.”
“Alrighty, one avocado toast, a salad, water, and an acai smoothie coming right up.” The girl put their order through.
As soon as Rindo paid for their food, they found a quiet table to sit at near the back of the tiny shop while they waited for it to be delivered.
Shoka sat across from him. There was space beside Rindo, but she felt too awkward right now to fill it.
“You don’t… want to go back, do you?” Rindo asked in almost a whisper, ending the silence.
Shoka blinked. Had he really just asked that? Shiba had already made her the offer to return, and she’d rejected it. She’d known when she joined the Twisters that it had meant eventually facing erasure, but what she hadn’t expected to be tossed back out into the RG. That’d come completely out of leftfield. But despite all the discomfort and weirdness of adapting to the RG again, she’d never thought of giving it all up to go back.
“No. Of course not. I mean, yeah, there’s a lot I miss about the UG, and don’t even get me started on having to interact with the normies here in the RG. But… You guys are here, and I’m alive now, so… it’d be kind of a waste to go back.” She shrugged.
Shoka could practically see tension melt out of Rindo’s expression.
“So, do you have somewhere to stay? Er, I wasn’t sure whether you had family to go back to, or…” He hesitated.
“I don’t. Shinjuku’s still MIA, if you haven’t noticed, and I wouldn’t go back to my family even if they were around again.”
She could tell he wanted to ask more, but didn’t give him the chance as she continued on the topic of her living situation. “Where are you staying then? You’re not out on the streets, right?”
“I was for like a week, but then Uzuki of all people found me and offered to let me stay with her temporarily, ‘til I figure myself out.”
“Uzuki? Really? That’s nice of her.”
“She’s actually not the worst—for a Shibuya Reaper.”
“Okay… As long as you’re safe and getting what you need.” The worried look in his soft cedar eyes made her stomach flip. Why’d she find it so endearing?
“I’m good, don’t worry.”
“But where will you go next? You can’t stay with her forever, right?”
“Well… No, but… I dunno. I’ll figure it out later.”
“If you need any mon—”
Shoka stopped him right there. “I’m not going to ask you to help with that. Like I said—I’ll figure it out.”
“Fine. But at least let me just be there for you. Swallow helped me through a lot, so I want to be there for her too.” Rindo fixed her with a firm but heartfelt gaze.
“Guess I don’t have much choice if you’re going to stare like that,” she mumbled.
“Huh? Oh—uh.” His cheeks flushed. “I didn’t mean…”
“Alright, here we go!” The chipper voice had returned, startling them both as their waitress delivered their food. “Hope you enjoy your meals.”
“T-thanks!” Rindo forced himself to say.
“No problem!” And just as quickly as she’d come, she left.
Shoka pulled her dish closer, a thick slice of toasted bread topped with mayo, pepper, cherry tomatoes, and—most importantly—several slices of creamy avocado. Her stomach growled just looking at it, and unfortunately… loud enough to be heard.
Rindo snickered. “You sure you’ve been eating enough?” he teased.
“S-shut up!” Shoka grumbled, heat flooding her face.
His genuine grin didn’t help matters, and… There she went again, thinking about how cute he looked. It was enough to make her want to melt into the floor with embarrassment. She sunk into the depths of her hoodie and took a careful bite of her toast.
Rindo meanwhile dug into his leafy salad. “We’ll have to bring Fret here next time we come. He really loves this place, too.”
“Including that stupid canned air. I don’t even understand why it exists.”
“He drank Shibuya Dream Water, so I’m not surprised it’d be up his alley,” Rindo said, crunching on his next bite.
“Pff. How could I forget? I—” She stopped herself as Rindo caught her in a very pointed stare. “I-I mean…”
“You were stalking us again, weren’t you?”
“You guys were such losers that I had to,” Shoka defended herself.
“Right, because that’s a valid excuse.”
“Please, you would’ve been toast without me or Minamimoto helping you. I’m still shocked that rogue even bothered.”
“Yeah, I guess we did kind of need him early on.”
“There’s no guessing about it.” She sipped her smoothie. “I’m just grateful he found you before you got thrashed by some Noise.” Not that she’d ever tell Sho. Actually, hearing herself praise him almost made her want to vomit all over this table.
“I wonder where he’s at now.”
“Who knows. Probably plotting.” She shrugged indifferently.
“I don’t envy Uzuki having to deal with him.”
“I don’t think anyone’s capable of that—he just exists. I don’t think I’ve even seen him do something. But y’know, I don’t really question how the Shibuya Reapers do things.”
“Reapers have such a weird hierarchy.”
“It was overly simplified for us thanks to Shiba,” Shoka said, referring to the Shinjuku Reapers. “He kind of took over way too many roles.”
“I’m not sure you guys were much better at the end of the day.”
Pursing her lips, Shoka gave him a light kick under the table.
“C’mon! You know it’s true. You practically said so yourself.”
“Well—yeah, but it’s one thing if I say it. I don’t want someone else saying it about my group.”
Shaking his head, Rindo relented. “Anyway… Would you, uh… maybe consider playing a little FanGO when we’re done? I can help you catch up some more.” An eager spark stole in his eyes.
Unwarranted giddiness crept up on Shoka, and she responded with as much enthusiasm as his eyes betrayed. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind. Especially since I’m so far behind now.” Shoka glanced down at her phone sitting beside her plate. Lips tweaked up in a smile, she admired the Nutkin Rindo had given her earlier. It was such a common monster, the type most would throw in storage and forget about once caught. But not her. It held so much more meaning for her as the first monster she’d traded with Rindragon in person.
She pulled her gaze away from her only to find Rindo watching her.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“No. It’s just nice… seeing you smile like that.” He grinned.
Why did he have to throw her off like that? She’d started to feel like she’d never stop getting flustered today. But before she could throw out some snappy retort, Rindo’s phone dinged very loudly, multiple times in a row.
“Apparently someone really wants your attention,” Shoka muttered.
“I guess?” Rindo grabbed his phone, checking it. “Oh! Right, Fret. I sort of forgot I asked him if he wanted to meet up today.”
“Wow, good job, Rindykins.”
“Whatever. I got caught up in… stuff.” His ears burned.
Shoka knew he meant her, but wasn’t about to miss the chance to pick on him more. “You’re on a roll of forgetting your friends lately.”
“You’re not going to let me forget about the friend request thing, are you?”
“Nope. Not a chance.”
Instead of answering her, he focused on texting Fret back, grinning like a total weirdo in the process.
“You good over there?” she asked.
“Yeah. I’m just telling Fret I’ve got a surprise to show him, and asking if he’ll let Nagi know too.”
“Surprise?”
“You.” Rindo responded. “If you’re okay to meet up with them.”
Shoka’s nerves jittered once again. “You think they’ll want to see me?”
“Of course. We’ve all been waiting to.”
“O-okay. Are we doing that after we finish here?”
“If you’re good to.. You know how Fret is—if I tell him a surprise is involved, he’ll be out the door in no time. Nagi might take a while to get here, though.”
“Where’s ‘here’?”
“Oh—right. I told Fret to meet up at Hachiko Square. We could still play a little FanGO while we wait for him.” Rindo beamed. Somehow, that eased her nerves just a little.
Shoka finished the last few savory bites of her avocado toast then sipped what was left of her smoothie as Rindo finished his salad.
“Ready?” he asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Come on… It’ll be okay,” he offered gently, pushing open the shop door.
Together they stepped back out into the bright day, and just as soon as they did, Rindo took her hand. She’d have to get on him for that later, but for right now… Having someone there to ground her, to make her feel like she truly existed in this world, was comforting.
And so, she gripped his hand back and followed.