[KH/FF] Treachery of Fate: Imperfect Imposter

Chapter 49

 You were in your room the next morning. Finally Friday, your mind raced to the events of the previous night—your hair combed, uniform on, and phone vibrating with the alarm you awoke ahead of. As you laid upon the blanket in the middle of the lone room, you stared at the ceiling, wondering what Kei could have meant with his words, as he bid you a goodnight immediately after. Rolling onto your stomach, you turned off the alarm and sighed, sitting up and getting your backpack ready.

The weather forecast mentioned a warm day today, and with that in mind, you slipped on dress shoes—something Namine had Kai take you, which was an acceptable alternative to the usual boots. Your socks were still above the knee, and the school's blazer in its usual spot over your uniform. You trudged down the stairs of the apartment, footsteps echoing in a metallic manner, and paused at the bottom of it, waiting for the twins to get ready. As you did, Masayoshi greeted you—in his usual police uniform, accompanied by a blue windbreaker—and almost forcefully, brought you into Zhou's diner for a quick meal.

You were stuffing your mouth of the dumpling soup Zhou had given you when he chuckled, and you swallowed in embarrassment, slowing down. "I'm sorry," you gave a small bow," but I haven't had anything this good in a long while."

The man smiled, his chubby face crinkling up lines of fat as he pushed up his spectacles," Masa tells me so. I hope my food can do you good today—as someone who seems to be having aether issues, it would be wise to keep full."

Slowly letting your spoon hit the rim of the bowl, you looked over at Masayoshi, who, was on his phone, apparently not hearing a word, or even ignoring it. "How did you know?" you asked after a moment, stirring the contents of the soup.

However, the brunette did not answer, and made an irritated noise, locking his phone as he tossed it on the counter in annoyance. You opened your mouth to speak, and sat up straight as you saw Zhou's hand reach over the bar, almost twisting Masayoshi's ear as he seemed to pull out headphones as well, tossing them next to the male's phone. Grunting, he narrowed his eyes at Zhou," What?"

"How could you be so rude? She is asking you a question!"

He sighed, yet forcing a smile as he turned to you," What is it?"

"My aether issues," you spoke slowly, meeting his gaze. "How...did you know about them?"

"I'll be just a moment," Zhao smiled, excusing himself as he went behind the curtains leading to the kitchen portion of the small restaurant.

Masayoshi rolled his eyes at the man who shot him a look as he passed, and glanced at you in between eating," My kudan sensed it from you. I didn't mean to pry, but to say the least, my summon is a bit...noisy."

"No I...was just curious, is all," you shook your head, eyes shifting back to the bowl before you.

You finished your food in silence, and parted ways with Masayoshi not too long after, meeting with the twins as you headed towards the school. They were both in good spirits—yet not to each other. Through the subway ride and walk to school itself, you realized your conversations with them were between you and one boy, not all three at once, and with that you assumed something might have happened, especially with Kei's words the previous night. However, you did not question it, and continued the awkward manner, at least able to write off Masayoshi's notice of your aether as not a threat, given his background, attitude and actions.

Fridays were apparently short days. The majority of your Fridays seemed to be either off school or on an extra credit mission, leading this to be a strange change of pace for you. It was a messy day split into three different parts: study hall, blitzball practice, and training—they were each an hour long, with thirty minute breaks in between classes.