As if to punctuate Morimoto's previous point, down below, the door to Hermelin's main cafeteria swung open. As it did, three girls stepped through, talking amongst themselves. The precise details of the conversation didn't matter; in the short trip through the hall and downstairs, it had already meandered far from its origin, from music, to what one wanted to eat, to cows, to mythology, to anime that happened to involve minotaurs. But it continued to wind along to an unknown destination, leaping a mile for every step the three took to get in line to get today's lunch.
Each turn seemed to come with a word from one of the girls, somewhat taller than the others, her hair colored a rich blue and with a calm, collected tone belied by the nature of her statements. Each of which seemed to leave the second of the girls, slighter of build, with glasses perched atop her nose and hair colored a vibrant green, increasingly confused, until she found herself swept along, only occasionally able to offer a bewildered or exasperated question which only drove the conversation further. Something which seemed terribly amusing to the third girl in the group, long and deeply-red hair flowing down her back with a grace matched only by her quick step, even if she was no less confused. She was still more than happy to chime in and keep the conversation flowing, knowing the others well enough to realize she only had to wait for things to circle around again.
Save for the colors of their hair, the three of them might pass for any other ordinary high school girls at a glance. But while they kept talking, a growing-if-scattered interest radiated outwards once the three acquired their food and made for the cafeteria proper. Though most of the students there were content to ignore them and carry on their conversations as normal, more than a few eyes turned towards them, voices of their owners growing hushed as they did. The air in the room grew tense with anticipation, just as the three started to sit down.
"Speaking of Wondrous Witch Harmony~! I ended up listening to the music in that show again after the last time Yumi-sama brought it up, and I was thinking-""AH! Aika-chan! Good job on your last show! You sounded great!""Yeah! I didn't manage to catch it myself, but I saw Yama-sama's upload, and you looked as good as ever dancing on stage-""Are you kidding? You should've gone in person! If you did, you'd know Naoki-chan's way cuter if you see the show yourself-""That isn't what I meant! And anyway-""And anyway, Kaede-sama was the best! Didn't you hear her in Moonlight Tides? That was-""-Just proof that they're all great! All of you were great!"As soon as they found themselves surrounded, the red-haired idol took point, beaming cheerfully and laughing along with the small crowd surrounding them.
"Thanks~! We practiced really hard for that one. And for what it's worth-" "Don't worry if you couldn't catch it in person! There's going to be a free concert in a few weeks, so you'll be able to judge if your friends are right or not yourself then. Consider it my personal invitation!""Oh, really? That's great! I'll be sure to go.""Hey, you three should come over and sit with us! We've got plenty of room-""Hey, no way! Don't try to hog them all for yourself. They should come join us-""Definitely not! But we've got a place near the window, if you want a good place to sit. Arai-san brought some snacks, too, so we'd love to share-"Flattered as she was, the red-haired girl struggled to manage the enthusiasm of the fans--smile as bright as ever, even as she started raising her hands in a silent plea for them to slow down just a little. Beside her, the blue-haired girl cracked her knuckles, rolled her shoulders, and finished off her curry bun as quickly as she could.
"I'll hold them off, you two. Run while you can.""Aaaah! Kaede-sama's so cool~!"In response to this, the green-haired girl just gave a half-bemused sigh. For her part, though, the red-haired girl was more than happy to take the temporary excuse to eat her lunch in peace.
"Sorry, everyone! I guess you're being held off, or something like that." "We'll go finish up our lunch. See you in class later, Ishida-san.""See ya! Congrats again on the show."And with that, Aika took Naoki's arm, pulling her out from the small crowd, while Kaede valiantly made to hold them off (and probably also eat their snacks, if she could get away with it).
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Topic: FEF: Demon Soul Saga IC Thread: Chapter 3: Hunt for the Eighth God (Read 72869 times)