Chapter 21: Still (Not) a Date

"You're disappointed," Kyo remarked as he exited the cafe with Nia.

"Eh? What gave you that idea?" She laughed a bit dryly, staring into the aged pavement below her feet. 

"You don't hide disappointment very well. I could tell you didn't like either of the mains from the first bites you took." And from the fact that I ended up eating probably 80% of the food, he added silently.

"Ugh, alright. Fine. You got me." She threw her hands up in resignation and sighed forlornly. "I'm no food critic — hell, I eat instant noodles for most of my meals — but even I could tell how badly they sacrificed the quality for presentation!"

"As I thought," Kyo sighed. "Even without taste, I was wondering if I was eating steak and shrimp or a wad of pure fiber and mash. Sorry, Nia. This one's on me."

"Mm, don't worry about it. Cafes like this are really inconsistent with their quality. Honestly, even if I were the one that found it, we still would've fallen for the same trap." Nia waved away his apology with a smile. "Times like this, you can only comfort yourself with just the 'experience' of going."

"An 'experience' that really wasn't worth how much it cost," Kyo muttered darkly as he checked his pockets. I'm glad I "borrowed" more money from the Fraxinus crew…

"Hey now, no more depressing stuff. The day's still young; since we're already in Akihabara, let's check out some of the new releases!" Nia began to pull him away to a nearby store.

————————I am the dividing line that skips time————————

Kyo idly browsed a bookshelf tagged FANTASY, raising an eyebrow at a novel at the very bottom. "The novels here really aren't all too different from my place, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nia glanced over at the novel and smiled strangely. "Ah, that."

"'Reincarnated as a Catastrophe: Now I Roam the Galaxy with my LVL 99 Baseball Bat', huh. I feel as though I'm being mocked." Kyo examined the cover. And the main character is a raccoon? Something isn't right here.

"Why would you think that? It's not as though your Angel is a baseball bat. Anyways, ignore that bland drivel," Nia said petulantly as she took the book and placed it back on the shelf. "If you really don't want to re-read Chronicle, I can introduce you to tens of better manga. For example-," she grabbed a novel from the ROMCOM shelf, "'The Unwanted Virginity of a Genius'!" 

"This must be the work of Aha…" Kyo groaned as he buried his head in his hands. Hold on. Now that I think about it, the Honkaiverse takes place on the Imaginary Tree. Does that mean that this world is also one of its branch worlds?

"Who?" Nia shrugged and presented the book to him. "Well, it doesn't matter. What matters is this: are you interested?"

"...maybe."

"Good choice." Nia promptly put it into his hands. "Be sure to let me read it after you're done."

Kyo paused. "Wait, you've never read this before either?"

"I follow the author." 

"...you can just say you want to read it instead of guiding me into saying it…"

"Ooh, that manga over there looks interesting." Nia wandered off into the bookstore again. Kyo followed suit, still cursing the Elation under his breath. "Oho, this looks good. Here, Kyo. Oh, and this one, and this one, and this one, and also all of these…"

"Are you planning on buying out half the store?!"

————————I am the dividing line that skips time————————

"Do you, uh, need a little help with that, sir?" An employee nervously asked.

"If you could get a bag for these, that'd be much appreciated," Kyo grunted from under the twenty book-long stack that he was carrying. Nia innocently browsed the shelf next to him before picking out another title and adding it to the stack. "Oi."

"Sorry, sorry," she laughed. "Last one, I promis- TOKIYA MERCH SIGHTED!" 

"Er, your girlfriend sure is enthusiastic…" The employee said awkwardly. 

"Please just get a bag-"

"UWAAAA! THERE'S SO MUCH TOKIYAAA!"

"...maybe two bags."

—————I am the dividing line that shifts time and perspective—————

"That'll be ¥22,400 please." Nia happily handed over the money to the cashier as Kyo shuffled under the weight of now three large bags of assorted otaku material, all of them bulging rather precariously. "Have a wonderful day!"

"Thank you~" Nia sang as she skipped out of the shop. Kyo shuffled after her, glancing at the setting sun.

"Nia… how long did we spend inside that shop again?"

"Um, maybe six hours?" She quickly checked her phone. "Yeah, it's 7pm already."

"I see."

Nia stopped walking and looked back at Kyo, examining his face. "Hey, what's with that perfunctory response? Is something wrong?" Well, I did technically drag him over around a store for over six hours. I guess even Kyo couldn't handle that much…

Adopting a sheepish grin, she offered him a hand. "I can take some of those bags off your hands. And, well, I'm sorry for leading you all over the place today…"

"Eh?" Kyo raised an eyebrow. "No, it's fine-"

"You don't need to lie for me," Nia interjected. "Even without Raziel, I can tell you look like you want to fall over and sleep for the rest of the day."

"...but those two things aren't mutually exclusive," he sighed, looking her in the eye. "Without Raziel, you can only choose to believe my words, so hear me out. Even if walking around for a quarter of a day looking at questionable literature with questionable titles and questionable character relationships was tiring, your presence made every moment worth it."

Nia felt her cheeks heat up a little, and she averted her gaze to the opposite side of the street. "Well aren't you a smooth-talker…"

Kyo chuckled before something across the street caught his eye. "Hey, is that market over there still selling vegetables?"

"Eh? What?" Nia looked over in the direction Kyo pointed. "Huh, you're right."

"And here I thought most of those vegetable markets were only open in the morning…" Kyo set down a bag and grasped the hilt of [Naught] for a second. "Nia, do you mind making a small grocery run? I'd do it myself, but my hands are a little preoccupied." 

"What for?" Nia gave him a funny look. "Don't tell me…"

"Yeah, I plan to redeem that sad excuse for a meal from the collab cafe with a homemade dish."

"...are you sure what you cook won't be even worse?"

"Fairly certain…?"