Keeping Alice distracted was harder than I thought. I tried talking to her, keeping her busy by not giving her a moment to think about anything else but our conversation. She was happy to talk to me, but I could see the inkling of suspicion that something was amiss in her eyes. It would manifest in pauses where she would look around, in particular trying to catch the attention of Marisa. I did my best to avoid a direct confrontation, aided by the props given to me. Since I walked practically everywhere, I asked Alice to explain our mass transit system to me.
Marisa 'got a reply' when we were getting on the train. She conveniently muffled the supposed sound of a message with the noises of the train arriving. Alice's instincts were good, she asked Marisa for details. Maybe it was my fault that she was so suspicious. I had basically made a sport of lying to her over the years. Sure, most were stupid lies told with the aim of getting her to let me sleep in instead of getting ready for school. But it still honed her lie detection skills.
Thinking fast on her feet, Marisa told her that Reimu would be waiting for us but might have to take care of a little bit of personal business before being able to talk calmly. That seemed to placate Alice who, despite looking skeptic, said nothing and took a seat on the train.
The trains were comparatively empty on the weekends. It was just us and maybe half a dozen people in our wagon. We were taking a line that would lead us to the outskirts of town. The main reason people made the commute was to work downtown, otherwise it was too time-consuming to head in and out the city for anything but the most important of errands. Reimu easily spent more than an hour per day just traveling back and forth to school.
Our destination was sparsely populated. Near the station, most of the homes were large traditional constructions that, when originally built, were most likely the homes of entire extended families. The communal history of these places were largely forgotten as, because of economic realities, most young people had left to live in the more densely-inhabited areas near the center. As a result, most of these old homes were in less-than-stellar conditions and at the very minimum could use a coat of fresh paint.
Marisa led the way, claiming to know where Reimu lived. I had no doubt that Alice was more than suspicious by that point of the truth but she kept quiet and let me keep distracting her. It was a long walk and we began to feel a change of elevation as we got further away from the station. The hills in the area were mostly forested and wild; their green was a deeper shade than the carefully-crafted parks found in the city. At some point, most signs of civilization disappeared altogether. There were no more homes and even the lampposts started to disappear. If not for the paved road we were on, it would have seemed like we had completely lost contact with the city.
“We're here,” Marisa announced, pointing to a small dirt path that led up a hill. A large red torii marked the beginning of the path and between the trees I could see that there were more further in. A luxury car was parked by the road, the only sign that it was a place people might be found there.
We climbed a series of long steps and finally reached our destination. Beyond a courtyard that was carefully kept free of leaves, a one-story building dominated the space. A few smaller structures were off to the side and marked paths with small statues alongside them. It was as traditional a shrine as I could picture though it looked like it had seen better days. Like the homes we had passed on our way up, a little paint and some small repairs were needed.
“We can see most of the city from here,” Alice remarked, looking back from where we came. She was right. Everything that wasn't blocked by the dense center and its skyscrapers was visible. As we were on a hill and the day was so clear, we could even just barely make out the distant shore of the lake.
Marisa disappeared without either Alice or I noticing. “Went to find Reimu,” I hazarded a guess, not thinking too much of it. We took a brief look around the shrine and its buildings, heading to the main one eventually.
A man dressed in impeccable formal attire left the building. While older than me, he was still young and everything about him exuded confidence. From his self-satisfied smirk to his measured but quick gait. He was followed by a second, much older man, who wore an air of silent reserve and carried a large briefcase. He looked at the first man with attentiveness, as if to be ready for any command he might issue. Neither so much as looked at us, passing by quickly.
A moment after, Marisa emerged too, smiling. She said, “looks like we just missed something really interesting.”
“Found Reimu?” I asked.
“Yeah, but I'm not sure she's in much of a mood to talk. As soon as those two left, she put on the harshest face I've ever seen.”
“We should give her some space then,” Alice said. “If now's not a good time...”
“I think she just needs a little comforting. It'll be fine. Arc, go talk to her,” Marisa said.
“Why me? You guys are closer to her,” I protested, feeling that I wasn't maybe the best of choices.
“Because you're her vice president. She has to trust you implicitly from now on.”
“About school stuff, sure,” I said, “this seems personal. The kind of thing girlfriends are for.”
“Trust is trust,” Marisa argued, “I know from experience that you're good at helping out people that need it, so it'll be fine.”
“...” I could tell from Alice's expression that she wasn't so sure about it. Even though we had wasted a considerable amount of time riding the train, I could feel that she wanted to give Reimu space and go back home.
[] Talk to Reimu
[] Leave
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>>61115 I encourage and applaud talking about that sort of stuff. So keep at it. That kind of discussion makes the story richer. And keep voting regardless.
