This first conversation lets go the secret of the Junes TV significantly earlier. But I didn't have anywhere for the conversation to really go after this exchange, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the Team would probably use the TV much sooner, to try and find Kuma. So I scrapped it entirely, with the exception of the idea of Yousuke having the TV put into storage...and the reason why he's got a Vespa instead of a Yamaha, as Naoto deduces. ^_^
“So, how have you been?” He asked in a low voice, leaning his chin against one fist.
Chie smiled and gave a little shrug of her shoulders. “Well enough, I guess. You know, work's work. Life's life.” She picked up a maki roll and popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. She looked back at him. “Have you started up at Junes yet?”
Yousuke shook his head. “Monday. My dad gave me a reprieve while I get moved back in.”
“You went back home?” Chie loved her family, and the home where she had grown up, but she couldn't imagine living there again full-time. Her life had simply changed too drastically to be putting up with other people's schedules and expectations of behavior.
Yousuke snickered. “I figure I'll mooch off my folks for a couple of months 'til I get my shit together. Besides, I've been in a dorm for four years. It's nice to have a real home again.” He nudged her with one hand. “You should come by. We can hang out.”
Chie scoffed. “In your bedroom? I don't think so.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Fine, someplace else, then.” He narrowed his eyes. “You know, I've still got that big screen TV from Junes....”
Rise leaned toward them. Chie hadn't noticed earlier, but she had probably been eavesdropping. “Kuma's TV?” She asked excitedly.
Yousuke nodded back at her. “Yeah. I had my dad put it into storage while I was at school.” He chuckled. “Cost me a fortune to buy that thing.”
Naoto smirked. “So that's why you never got your motorcycle?” She guessed, although it didn't sound like much of a question. In typical Shirogane fashion, she never asked a question to which she didn't already know the answer.
- - - - -
Now, this second conversation was also written for that first gathering at the Amagi Inn, too. And while I liked the way that Yousuke is so immediately flirty with Chie, in some ways it doesn't quite fit. He does get to use the last line later, though, when their affair is starting to come into full bloom, because I just liked the way that it sounded coming from his mouth. Kanji also gets a nice little moment of observation; perhaps this was me starting to form in my head any influence that Naoto had on him between endgame and 2017.
You'll also notice that I'm still using the more childlike honorifics for all of them here, too. Yukiko's use of them in particular struck me as wrong, the more that I wrote her. (There's really only two people with whom she would use "-kun": Kanji, who's sort of like a brother to her; and Souji, for whom she still holds nostalgic feelings of romance.) In the final draft, Yukiko takes to calling Yousuke "Hana-chan," much like Konishi Saki did: again, gravitating toward a less intimate but still familiar relationship.
As the other side of the table chatted about wedding details and the like, Yousuke leaned toward her, close enough so that he could whisper:
“You look good.”
Chie turned to him fully, feeling a faint flush come to her face. She laughed, trying to be nonchalant, although it came out sounding nervous and girlish. “Wh-where did that come from?” She held his unwavering gaze for a moment longer, then turned back to the spread of food, under the pretense of searching for an elusive piece of salmon. She had never quite known how to take comments like that, especially from someone of the opposite sex.
He shrugged. “You're a police officer. You go out there every day and fight the good fight. I was afraid you'd be....”
“Worn out?” She guessed.
“Cynical,” he corrected. He gave her a once-over, though it felt more appreciative than scrutinizing. Then he grinned. “But you're the same old Satonaka. Still as cute and bubbly as ever.” He reached past her and grabbed a slice of oshinko, which he popped into his mouth and crunched on happily.
“Thanks,” Chie murmured. She smiled tentatively, feeling a little bit on-display after his comment. She sat up straighter and gave a self-conscious tug on the hem of her skirt, an action that made his eyes drop to her legs for a moment.
Yousuke took the opportunity to leer. “I see you've still got those killer legs.” He leaned closer to her, narrowing his eyes and lowering his voice even further. “Do they still go up to that perfect little ass?”
Chie's eyes widened. She never could tell when Yousuke was being serious and when he was having a chuckle at her expense. “Uh....”
“Be nice, Yousuke-kun,” Yukiko told him from the other side of the table. “She still embarrasses easily.”
Chie dropped her chopsticks onto the table. “Wh-! Yukiko!” Now she really was flushed; her vision had nearly turned red, too.
Yukiko went on, unmindful of Chie's rapid deterioration. “You should have seen her face when Kou-kun told her that he had a crush on her in high school. I thought she was going to melt into the floor.”
Chie chuckled, though more in an effort to deflect attention away from her than because she found this line of conversation amusing. In fact, the night Kou had told her about his teenage infatuation, she had gone home and sat in her apartment, alone and forlorn, wondering just why in hell he hadn't said anything about it to her when they were still in high school. “Since when,” she said, fighting the embarrassment she felt, “did this turn into a gang up on Chie party?”
She stood up and took a mock fighting stance, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet, and began to laugh. “Come on! I can take you all on! Hya-taa!” She swung her leg in a high, wide arc, missing the top of Yousuke's head (on purpose) by a few inches.
He played along, falling backward into a supine position beneath her kick. Then he jumped up, with a speed she found impressive after five years of being out-of-practice, spacing his feet and crossing his arms in front of his face in a blocking maneuver. “Ready when you are!”
The others were still seated around the table, their levels of attention varying between amused and annoyed.
Rise applauded, but Naoto sighed at their antics. “If the two of you really are going to spar, please take it outside. I'm certain Yukiko-san doesn't need a fight occurring in her family inn.”
Kanji snorted. “Or since we're here, you could just get a room.”
Both Chie and Yousuke dropped their guards and looked at him.
“What's that supposed to mean?” Chie asked, hands on her hips now.
And at the same time, Yousuke crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Dude, it's so not like that.”
- - - - -
And now, back to real work.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment