Misfit Together

Chapter 12

(Sorry for the lateness, guys, I've been busy again ^^' I'll most likely take that hiatus btw, my final assignments for uni are due in just over two weeks and I have two essays of 2500 words each to write before then. So I (probably) won't be updating either Misfit Together OR Opinions for a week or two. But hey, that should give me time to finish planning the rest of the chapters~ Ok, now, let's get back to the story!)

Emi stood pouting for a brief moment. She shouldn't have to do this, it was his own damn fault if his friend had run off.

"You're the Hero, aren't you?! So do your job!"

Ugh. She hated admitting when one of the demons was right. With a calming sigh, she gathered herself together and made her way over to the girl standing a few feet from the front entrance of SFC. Emi took note of the way she fiddled with her wristband and chewed her lip as she stared uneasily through the window; she was obviously nervous, which could be a good thing for her. It would be easier to persuade her not to go in if she was already hesitating.

"Um..." Emi approached and flashed a friendly smile when the girl turned to look at her, "Sorry to bother you. Are you... Momoko Hamasaki...?"

At the sound of her name, Momoko nodded and curiously took a few steps closer so she was right in front of Emi.

"My name's Emi Yusa. A... friend of mine told me about you and I just wanted to talk with you about something."

She held back a grimace on "friend" and placed a hand on Momoko's shoulder to casually guide her away from the restaurant as she spoke.

"Uh...? A-a friend...?" Momoko stuttered, quickly glancing back into SFC's window then up at Emi.

Hearing the word "friend" again, Emi cringed. She waited a couple more seconds until she had brought Momoko far enough out of sight from anyone, namely Sariel, inside SFC.

"Yeah," she let a couple pass by before continuing, careful to keep her voice low, just in case, "... Urushihara."

Momoko immediately stiffened, now looking up at Emi with a frantic expression on her face.

"Urushihara...?"

Emi looked down solemnly, not noticing.

"I know you've learned about his true identity. I want t-"

"Are you the same as him?"

The question rendered Emi speechless for a moment. She hadn't stopped to think this might happen.

"Wh-what?"

"Are you some kind of... monster too?" She was gripping her wristband.

"I-I... No, no, I'm not. I promise you that."

Emi held up her hands, trying to calm her. Momoko frowned. She didn't know if she should believe her.

"I swear. I'm human," she said softly, "Although I am from the same world as him. Technically, we're enemies but I guess we've reached a truce, you could say. I know for a fact he's done a lot of terrible things in the past but I'm certain that whatever he did to scare you, he didn't mean you any harm."

"B-but he... He was... He was so angry and..." she trailed off as she realised... she had no further argument. She didn't understand any of this. All she could remember was that Hanzo was furious and she was frightened. And Shizuka was-

"Shi'ka!"

"... Shi...?"

"Shizuka!" Momoko had fallen back into a state of panic, "I left Shizuka alone with him! Will he be ok? Could he hurt him?!"