The Cost of The Chase

four .

"For a brief time, I was." He replied curtly, brushing some of his brunette bangs back. "Until I realized that I was being completely unreasonable with you. I threw my situation at you and expected a normal response. I.. apologize for that." Ryūnosuke explained, muttering the last bit.

Giavanni blinked once, then twice, and cocked her head a bit. "Apology accepted. Again." She thought back to when she'd been pinned in the alley. "So... are we good now? No animosities or anything? No more bickering?"

Ryūnosuke snickered softly at her strange use of vocabulary and shook his head. "I have none if you have none. Friends?" He asked tentatively, holding out his pale hand for her to shake.

"I wouldn't say that just yet!" She jokingly responded, shaking his hand firmly with a goofy smile on her lips. Giavanni quickly retracted her hand from his with a squeak, marveling at her trembling hand. "Your hands are so warm!"

He stayed quiet for a second, raising one of his eyebrows. "And your's are freezing. What is it with humans and cold hands?"

The two shared a genuine laugh, their sound rising to the breeze above and carried off to the sky.

_______________

Ryūnosuke and Giavanni spent most of the day together exploring the bustling city. He acted as a personal tour guide, and thankfully wasn't noticed by too many citizens (thanks to his rather normal looking attire). He showed her the local shops that varied from groceries, business-type buildings, and handmade kemonomimi doll stores (which intrigued Giavanni the most). Ryūnosuke also pointed out the plaza of the town, to which he denied entrance because he "was going to get found out and it would be all her fault."

Finally, when the sun began to set, they reached a monumental castle with two smaller, more intimate-looking castles on the left and right. The main one had a statue of what looked to be a pair of golden wings ejecting from the center. The faux material sparkled gloriously in the evening light, complimenting the waterfalls roaring just below the bridge.

Each castle adorned a luxurious fountain in the front. Vegetation and floral decorations lined up on the exterior of the castles to give it a more homey feel. The view was absolutely stunning.

"And lastly, my home." He said, exhaling a breath of relief. He'd been talking so much that his tongue felt rather dry. "This is where our tour ends, unfortunately."

Giavanni somewhat groaned as a complaint, shaking her head fervently. "You won't at least show me inside?"

"No can do." He answered, stifling a yawn. "I believe my parents just returned from traveling and they'll be looking for me." Ryūnosuke glanced briefly at Giavanni, his odd-eyes glowing with content. "And I'm almost positive that you had something else to do today."

"What do you mean? I was... oh." She said, remembering her original plans for the day. If I could smash my head against a wall, I would. Nitori's been waiting for me this whole time!

Giavanni let out a sad whine, burying her face in her hands.

Ryūnosuke huffed, shaking his head. He reached for something in his pocket just as Giavanni was fretting about how she would get back.

"Take this," He tossed a piece a jewelry to her carefully. "It's how you get back there."

Giavanni frowned, examining the trinket with curiosity. The centerpiece was a white circle with a rosy colored petal painted on it. "Isn't this how you travel to and fro? Here, you take it. I'll find something else—" She reached out to him with the necklace clenched in her grip. Ryunosuke caught her wrist and pushed it back to her chest, laughing.

"I've got another one; it's fine."

"Oh... okay." She looked up into his eyes shortly before turning her attention back to the necklace. "How do I use this?" Giavanni asked, pulling it over her head.

"Simple." Ryūnosuke said. "Close your eyes and just think of your home."

She did as he said and shut her eyes, thinking of that same morning when she had left the house. Giavanni tensed up at the silence that had settled between the two.

When she had done this for about two minutes, her eyes fluttered open to ask for new instructions. Instead, what she saw was her own room and an audible gasp fell from her mouth.

Stunned for a moment, she stared at her fingers and poked at her body randomly. "I'm all here?" She asked to no one in particular, amazed at what she'd just gone through.

Giavanni looked out of her window, confirming that it was way past the morning and late in the evening. Her hands scrambled for her phone in jean pocket, swiftly pulling it out and staring at all thirty-three text messages from her friend.

"Damn it!" Giavanni cursed, setting her phone down on the nightstand and crossing her arms. "If only I hadn't lost track of time."

Sighing languidly, she turned to observe the city of Shizuoka through her window thoughtfully. The towering mountains in the distance, the dark blue ocean gently lapping the beach shore, and the few people that walked here and there differed vastly from The Isle of Lannia, which harbored much more industrial-type buildings and a busy atmosphere.

Giavanni felt the corners of her lips curl up as she thought of her day with Ryūnosuke and how it was full of laughter, awkward and genuine, and how he had been pretty amicable towards her.

She pressed her hands to her cheeks again, and to no surprise they were burning up.

"There's no way I'm..." She couldn't even finish her sentence because of how ridiculous and nonsensical it sounded in her head. Giavanni sighed heavily and fell upon the mattress of her bed.

However, she did have to admit that she wanted to see him again.