Fifty First Summons: Another loss

[miss_enma_ai]

[Ai has been following Kikuri's drone around recently. But she's starting to realize that the little girl isn't going to snap out of it. People who know Ai may have noticed that she's even quieter then normal

Comments

B

[strike_you_out]

[The library is not a place Slugger visits frequently. The books are of little interest to him; all seem to contain the same sort of info about baseball and fishing and other things that supposedly pertain to male adolescents. Usually he comes here only to see if a certain seven-foot-tall, hooded skeleton is wandering the aisles with his scythe.

Today he finds something different. Someone has built some kind of structure made of sheets and books in the library. Curious, Slugger approaches and looks for an opening through which to peer inside.]

[miss_enma_ai]

[He'll find it and also Ai sitting inside, piling up some more books.]

[strike_you_out]

...Ai?

[He looks around through the opening before entering. Rather than pull aside a blanket and mess up her work, he simply phases through like a ghost. Once inside, he'll stoop down and look around some more.]

What's this?

[miss_enma_ai]

[Glances over.]

Book fort.

[strike_you_out]

[Slugger nods. He figures the books make for better building material than reading material. And since he and Ai are alone together, now might be a good time to say a few things he's been wanting to tell her.]

Thanks... for helping me look for him.

[miss_enma_ai]

You're welcome.

[She'd been talking to him a little later in the bunker.]

Where did you find him?

[strike_you_out]

Trash can. [He can't help but smirk a little.] Susan helped.

[Slugger appears to briefly relive the recent memory in his mind--he'd never felt such apprehension and such relief all at once. But soon enough, he returns to the present and looks up at Ai.]

You weren't in school for a while. [What he won't mention is that when he had seen her in school, she'd looked very out-of-it.]

[miss_enma_ai]

[She falls silent and glances away.]

.....Kikuri's gone.

[strike_you_out]

Oh... [That explains it. His gaze drifts to the floor. For a while, Slugger doesn't say anything. Instead, he simply sits on his knees beside her and pulls books off the lower shelf for Ai to stack.]

[miss_enma_ai]

[She stacks a few more up.]

[strike_you_out]

[And he'll pass a few more to her before quietly breaking the silence.]

Some people were talking about "homecoming".

[Slugger hasn't given any clues where he's going with this, but already he's starting to feel a bit nervous.]

[miss_enma_ai]

Oh?

[strike_you_out]

It's a party, like last time.

...I was wondering if--

[Pause. He's going to stammer, he can feel it. Maybe if he just waits a second and then spits it out as quickly as possible, he'll be able to beat it. While speaking, he's managed to slowly pull a dictionary Britannica from the shelf, but now it slips from his hand and drops into his lap where it falls upside-down and open. In doing so, its corner manages to jab him in a very unfortunate location in terms of anatomy.]

...i-if...if- if you wanted to..... go.

[Well. That failed.]

[miss_enma_ai]

[Ai blinks, well he wasn't droned this time but he was asking her...]

With you?

[strike_you_out]

[The book is quickly pushed away. He'll then try to act as if it didn't hurt.]

Yeah...

[miss_enma_ai]

....Okay.