"This might sound rather alarming, but I have to let you know eventually." That same melodic voice of Douma's was more of a distraction and the blonde knew that. Which is why throughout the walk to this convenient store they were at, he was thinking of a way to break the news to Shinobu without spiraling the situation into a panic for no reason.
However, that statement alone didn't sound as reassuring as how Douma wanted it to be, since the look Shinobu gave him was a reaction that he had already expected.
Regardless, he was going to just blurt it out like it was no big deal.
"Since I'm the only one who's familiar with Astrotopia, the world that Chaos is lurking in, I think the best method of handling this situation would be to go there and settle things without dragging you and the others into it, for safety sake." Douma said firmly, trying not to sound worried, even though he was.
Blinking from the uncertainty, Douma looked at Shinobu who picked up a box of macarons from the shelf and remained silent. "To put it bluntly, Astrotopia is a very unpredictable environment to be roaming about especially if you're unfamiliar with the place so I figured-
"You can't go there alone. Putting our lives before anything else is something that we're grateful for, and we'll always have your back, human world or not there shouldn't be a limit to this amount of hope that we share." The violette responded, still browsing through the isle they were walking by. "But it's dangerous, there has to be someone with you and not just someone, a group who is able to navigate through that environment. Even you said it yourself, Chaos is not a force to be reckoned with, there's a reason why he was never meant to be here."
That was touching, no one has ever showed such care and concern towards him. "Oh Shinobu you truly care about me don't you?" Douma cooed in awe.
Shinobu glanced at him for a few seconds before looking back at the items she was holding. "Well someone's gotta say something if the plan is questionable. To be honest it is, maybe it's about time you finally let me know about it so I can advise you further."
"This is a big deal, putting all the heavy responsibilities on your shoulders when you can't even figure out how to go about it isn't going to fix everything in a snap."
Yeah that makes sense. Douma scratched the back of his head, awaiting for the next part of Shinobu's advise but it seems it ended there.
"What can I say? There's a reason you're the first person I should talk to whenever I find myself in a tricky situation. You're always right Shinobu."
The doors of the convenient store slid open as a few customers started walking in and browsing through the items on the shelves.
Carrying the boxes in her arms, Shinobu glimpsed at Douma with a sheepish smile. Of course he needed someone to talk to at some point. Avoiding each other would only pile up the problems they had.
The sudden loud buzz startled Douma, he thought there was a wasp flying around in the convenient store. Immediately, the blonde picked up his phone and answered the call.
"Yooo when are you guys coming over to my place?! Been asking for quite some time, come on now, who doesn't want to delve into a game of outer space and galactic adventures? I certainly hope today's the day because I won't be taking no for an answer!" The highly optimistic voice at the other end jolted.
Douma stared at the ceiling for a while, listening to the loud music playing in the background and footsteps walking about. "Get a hold of yourself Yushiro. Besides, we've got plenty of time to arrange this occasion that is testing your patience." The blonde responded in a carefree tone.
Meanwhile, Shinobu was looking around the frozen section, there were several new flavors of the very same ice cream that she and her sister Kanao just had on the day the relentless heat took a toll on the region. Kanao would be excited to hear about this.
"Hmmm outer space and galactic adventures I hear... I'm intrigued to know more about this expedition you mentioned."
"There's a new edition to the series that I'm always blabbering about to the point where anyone who knows me seeks the best of knowledge from this formidable player that you're talking to right now." Yushiro said proudly. "Chachamaru and I are playing The Space Zone right now, are you coming over to my place or would you rather sit on a lamp post and continue that cycle of daydreaming."
"I've been sitting here for almost two hours now and I don't wanna leave!" Chachamaru yelled, he was straining his voice, maybe the game was slowly consuming his entire consciousness.
Yushiro's words were such an exaggeration, there's no way he really thinks the blonde spends most of his time staring into nothing. Does Yushiro even know who he's talking to? We've got other stuff to deal with while he spends most of his time on the screen. Douma spread his wings and flew above the aisle.
When Douma sat on top of the shelf, leaving some space for the jars and cans shuffling loudly beside him, Shinobu spun around in panic and gasped when she saw the blonde talking on the phone like nothing out of the ordinary was taking place with customers walking about every corner.
Shinobu was about to call out to him, stepping away from the frozen section when she bumped into a lady with wavy hair and a large bag that took up quite a bit of space but the violette kept her cool because this person seemed to be in a rush, maybe she needed help and really didn't mean to cause an inconvenience at the wrong time.
"Oh my I'm so sorry!" The lady said, her voice quivered as though she had ran a marathon to get to the store.
The bags of chips beside the lady tumbled to the ground, one by one. Trying not to give off a reaction that might make the lady feel humiliated from her own clumsy behavior, Shinobu took a deep breath and accepted her apology.
"It's alright just be careful next time." Flickering her gaze to the bags of chips on the floor, the violette watched the lady scoop them up and frantically stuff them into shelves, muttering to herself about how careless she was.
Sounds like this has been a troubling habit for a while, and the lady just couldn't catch a break with the inconvenience she caused for herself and the people around her.
At least she was aware about it but was she willing to change? Shinobu didn't want to question it, she was just waiting to see what this young woman was going to do next.
Ruffling her wavy hair, the lady hissed at herself, annoyed by the mess she made earlier. "Oh this is so embarrassing! I need to stop doing this kind of a thing!"
"Calm down..." Shinobu replied with much caution in case this lady decides to stir up some ruckus in the store.
Thankfully, she didn't and just nodded in acknowledgement to what Shinobu had said. The young woman muttered to herself again. "Yeah I shouldn't think too much about it either. That's what happens when you're an overthinker too!"
Shinobu stood there as the lady briskly walked away from the frozen section of the store, and left, almost knocking over another stack of items on the shelf.
Glancing at Douma who was still talking to Yushiro on the phone, Shinobu could never felt any more relieved. "Phew that was close." Shinobu could feel her heart racing from the fear that the lady might look up and start asking the violette tons of questions that she could only give vague answers to and it's not like as if the lady was the kind to just walk away, she seemed like someone who was determine to find out what was going on from sheer panic.
It wasn't long until the call ended and Douma got down from the top of the shelf he was sitting on, Shinobu holding the items she was getting and thinking about the fact that they were safe from any interrogation that could've happened. Now they could just go about their day as per usual.