The rest of the dinner went smoothly. The waitstaff whisked the empty platters away and served the next courses until their five-course meal was over. Each dish was small and perfectly portioned to their liking.
Ayaka came up from their stairs and walked toward Fuyumi and Shin. She had a gleeful attitude in her stride. Her braided hair bounced along like a spring as she approached them.
“Aaaaand, here you go!”
She placed down a black leather booklet. Shin picked it up, expecting a bill. He stared down at the small slip of paper strapped underneath a silk string.
“Are you sure about this?”
Shin held the bill holder up and stared at Ayaka who met his eyes with a wide smile. Fuyumi tilted her head curiously at the sight of the interaction.
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it.”
She put her hands around it, closing it shut, and putting it away in her suit coat pocket.
“I just wanted to see your reaction is all, hehe.”
“Ayaka! Stop teasing him like you know him well!” Fuyumi called out from the other side of the table.
“Why are you judging me like my mom?”
Ayaka swatted away Fuyumi’s concern and turned her back to the table. She looked over her shoulder, tilting her head playfully.
“We greatly appreciate your patronage, please visit Lumières again.”
Her tone completely shifted. At this point, Shin was beginning to get used to it. Fuyumi twirled her hair around her finger.
“Thanks again, Ayaka.”
Ayaka snapped back to face the table and bowed.
“Please enjoy the rest of your night.~”
Fuyumi and Shin waved as Ayaka went back downstairs. The upstairs dining room was now empty. The other customers left the restaurant, ending the dinner rush. They got up from their seats and went back downstairs. The waitstaff were serving the last few customers downstairs. Shin realized even the grand decorations of the downstairs dining room were nothing compared to the decor upstairs. They dodged tables and made their way towards the entrance of the restaurant where Ayaka stood behind a bar counter, polishing a wine glass. She stopped for a moment to wave at them as they left the restaurant.
[21:15 | May 05, 2035]
The streets were mostly empty at this point. A few adventurers passed them as they walked back to the inn. However, the festivities from the morning and afternoon were long gone. The boxes along the street were no longer in sight. Aside from the different architecture and blue lanterns, Shin felt the atmosphere was very similar to walking down the streets in real life. The subtle sound of flames from the lanterns came and went. Puddles in the ground reflected the lightshow of stars from the false sky.
Fuyumi broke the silence.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“Yeah, of course. I haven’t experienced something like that before.”
Shin scratched his head as he began to feel nervous
“Ugh.”
He felt that this was the right time to tell her about the situation from earlier today. Fuyumi raised an eyebrow at the sight of his frustration.
“Fuyumi, is it okay if we stop for a second to talk?”
Shin pointed at a set of stairs between two buildings. The stairs stretched down for tens of meters, dodging between the buildings as it ran down the slope toward the lower parts of the city.
They sat at the top of the stairs, giving them a magnificent view of the center of Dragonfall below them. The pillar above Urumel stood tall in the middle, towering above the adobe buildings. Shin stared ahead, avoiding eye contact with Fuyumi who sat to his right.
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“There’s actually something I’ve been meaning to tell you for a while now.”
The air began to feel cold around him as Fuyumi tensed up upon hearing those words.
“I just didn’t really find the time since we’ve been busy and all.”
Shin rested his elbow on his knee, leaving his arm hanging.
“A lot happened while you were drunk.”
“Huh… What do you mean?”
“Well, I mean I was the one that had to take you back to your room when everyone else left. While I was doing that-”
The air began to freeze, covering Shin’s right side in a thin sheet of ice. Shin furrowed his brows and turned his head toward Fuyumi. She had a murderous look on her face.
“What… Did you do?”
Shin’s eyes widened as he realized what he was implying without context.
“Choose your next words wisely…”
He closed his eyes and put his hand over his face.
“I didn’t do anything like that Fuyumi! It’s nothing like that, I promise.”
He tried to hold in his laughter while keeping a serious tone but it overcame him. Fuyumi slowly moved her hand to the hilt of her dagger, gripping it tightly.
“Hahaha! Okay, okay.”
Shin attempted to wipe the tears from his eyes, but they were frozen solid.
“We were attacked while I was carrying you.”
Fuyumi loosened her grip as her jaw dropped slightly.
“Huh?”
The sheet of ice over his body shattered from Fuyumi’s reaction.
“We were attacked by three thugs shortly after I carried you out of the tavern.”
She fell silent.
“I carried you outside, three guys followed me out and told me to stop. They wanted to take you away from me, so we got into a bit of a fight. They guided us toward an alleyway where we had a little fight.”
Shin illustrated the situation with his hands. He explained the fight, how they were able to attack him, and his escape thanks to the festival. Fuyumi’s face softened and slowly transitioned into concern and embarrassment as she realized how much of a burden she was to him.
“Also, another detail I’m not sure if I should tell you…”
“Huh, it gets worse?”
Fuyumi scrunched up, wrapping her arms around her knees.
“Well… They kind of sexually assaulted you.”
“HUH?! Like how?! Where?”
“Your… legs… and your chest…”
She covered her face with both hands as she turned red.
“I’m ruined…”
Fuyumi screamed into her hands as frantically she kicked the air in anguish.
Shin reached his hand out to Fuyumi but stopped himself to avoid her wrath. He retracted his hand.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have told you after all.”
She calmed down, returning to her previous posture.
“So, then what?”
Her words were muffled as she buried her face in her hands.
“So… We got stuck in an alleyway with nowhere to go. I resorted to activating [Death’s Ambition] by cutting my arm and bleeding out to try to figure something out.”
Fuyumi’s hands lowered a few centimeters, just enough for her eyes to peek out.
“I was able to knock one of them out, but I was stopped. Some strange person came down from the roof of the buildings and stopped the fight. They had some kind of barrier magic of some sort that was far stronger than anything we’ve seen Geoff pull off.”
Shin rested his hand on his chin in thought.
“I never actually figured out if they were a boy or a girl actually. It was too hard to tell. Anyway, that was Ghast.”
“Ghast?”
“Yeah, they put a barrier between me and the other two thugs and told us to leave. Oh, and they healed my arm too.”
Fuyumi’s arms returned to their original posture, wrapped around her legs. She laid her head on her knee.
“So they were neutral?”
“Seems like it, but they knew the thugs by name so I can’t help but speculate.”
Fuyumi sighed before staring up at the stars in the sky.
“I actually have something to tell you as well.”
“Hmm?”
“After the fight with the minotaur on the tenth floor… After you died and we looted the boss’ body, Geoff hid an orb from us. It dropped from the boss but he put it in his pocket when no one was looking.”
“Geoff did?”
“I know you’re surprised, but I couldn’t help but feel skeptical, so I hid a clone in his shadow to watch over him.”
“Geoff huh?”
Shin looked down into the palm of his hand. Suddenly, his eyes widened.
“Was it kind of like a crystal? Like it reflected light?”
“Sort of? Why?”
Shin crossed his arms in thought. He remembered the crystal he got from killing the Frostqueen Bat with Nightingale.
“If it’s anything like the one I’ve seen before, it might be useful. Nightingale and I never actually went to get it appraised though.”
Fuyumi stood up, clenching her fist.
Shin glanced up at her. She stared into the vast city ahead of her without a word.
“Fuyumi?”
“I think you should call Nightingale.”