Shiori and Clyde - The Aftermatch

"No... obviously not everything," Shiori answered as she looked back at Clyde, smiling faintly. "But there are things that we can't control... and those are the things we leave up to the so called fate. I believe that fate itself is just a human made concept, to make us worry less about the things we can't control... isn't it the reason why a lot of people believe in god? Maybe there's no such thing as fate, and out whole lives are just one big series of coincidences..." she said before turning around once to look at the hotel's building.

Once she had observed the place, she turned back to look at Clyde, her face seemed to be more relaxed after speaking her mind up. The girl didn't really believe in the thing called Fate, but sometimes she did wonder whether such thing exist. She did frown a little, as the topic reminded her of her discussion with her kouhai at the school rooftop That was among the last things they talked about before the incident happened. Shiori would sigh and smile faintly again at Clyde as she tugged his arm and wrapped her own around it.

"Come on, don't just stand around here," she said teasingly, pulling him lightly. "Thinking too much won't get you anywhere, Clyde-kun~"

"Not everything, huh?" Said Clyde. He felt both relief in discomfort in hearing that. He then listened to Shiori continue on about this strange concept of Fate and what she believed. Clyde never once thought Shiori was 'dumb' but he didn't think she had such a big and intelligent grasp on the subject that got Clyde thinking about it on his own. He once believed it was fate that brought him to Japan to meet Heather, but he wasn't so sure anymore about anything regarding this concept of fate. When bad things happened, Clyde either blamed: God, His Absent Father or Himself. Or all three. But maybe life was just a big series of coincidences. One big joke.

He snapped out of this contemplation when Shiori tugged at his arm and wrapped her own arm around it, teasing him yet again and tugging him to make come along. He wouldn't argue.

"Heh. You're right." Clyde would respond, smiling at her. He would go along with Shiori and head towards the elevator, pressing the button to (thankfully) make the doors open almost instantly. He then hit the '2' button to bring the pair onto the second floor.

"...Aww man what am I gonna do? She said no funny business and here I am bringing her to MY ROOM!? Bad call! Ugh, oh well... I haven't really had good company like this in a long while. She's fun having around. Guess sleeping on the floor ain't gon' be too bad." Clyde thought as he guided Shiori down the hall to reach his hotel door. He'd swipe the card, unlock the door and push it open for Shiori to take a look at and examine for herself before going in, where Clyde would follow behind and close the door once they were both in.

"Well here it is! Heh."

Shiori followed Clyde to the elevator and walked with him through the corridors once they arrived on the second floor. She felt excited when they reached his room, and once the boy opened the door, Shiori would walk in to look around the room. It's always a fun thing to do for her, observing a place she never had been, even if it's just a hotel room.

"Hmm, it's quite nice," she commented, smiling at Clyde. "Must be expensive, huh?"

She would then sit on the bed before taking off her jacket. Shiori wasn't too sure if she's going to stay overnight with him, although it's already late as it was. The bed was nice and comfy, but there's only one of it. She would feel slightly bad if Clyde, who had the room, ended up sleeping on the floor if she stayed. However, Shiori was quickly reminded that the boy was now her prisoner, which meant that she really think too much about him. A little smile appeared on her face at the thought.

"Soo like, it's already late and all..." she would say to him. "You wouldn't if I claim the bed should I stay for the night, right? You're the prisoner after all..." she stuck her tongue out to tease him.

"It would be if AFW didn't pay for everything." Clyde responded to Shiori with a smile of his own, following in the room behind her as she got inside, closing the door right as his 'captor' made herself comfortable on the bed. He looked over at her with a curious stare and scratched the back of his head with a light smile before letting out a brief chuckle, realizing that Shiori was quick to take the one bed in the room, not that he minded. He wasn't going to make Shiori share it with him and it would be really rude to make her take the floor. Not very manly at all to have her take the floor. He could be a gentlemen too!

"Why of course I don't mind mistress... What kind'a man would I be to have a lady sleep on the floor?" He said to her a proud smirk following her teasing gesture. He would then go over to a chair laying across from the bed to put up his cellphone and hat, looking at his cell though, he discovered what time it was and decided to make his way beside Shiori to sit down on the bed beside her.

"Do ya' mind if I turn on the TV though real quick? I'd like to see what's goin' on in the tournament. Dunno if you're ready to sleep yet." He'd say to her.

Shiori chuckled at Clyde's words as he called her mistress, the word had a nice ring to it, although she didn't see herself as a mistress-y type. The girl moved aside as he sat beside her to give him some space, it's still technically his bed, after all. As Clyde mentioned about turning on the TV, Shiori would nod at him with a smile.

"Sure," she said. "I sleep late sometimes, don't worry. What tournament, by the way?"

Having not involved much in the AFW made Shiori didn't really pay attention to what's going on in the federation. She never been the type that care too much about what's going on in the world to start with, since most news were quite repetitive and boring to follow.

"This tournament that's being held in this hotel. It's how I'm managin' to get everythin' for free here." Clyde explained with a knowing smile to Shiori as he sat beside her, he looked to her curiously and raised his eyebrow.

"Earlier today you all over me, brushing me and sittin' on me and stuff and now you're scootin' away? I always figured you were just business..." Clyde teased her harmlessly, not really meaning anything about it as he turned on the TV.

He flipped some channels until he got to a portion within an AFW channel that talked about the recent tournament events. With Johnny Higurashi Dizzy Doll, Emi Keyes defeating David Walker and then it showed... Clyde defeating Ms. Garcia by putting her out with a sleeperhold and being forced to strip her during the match. Clyde was looking at the image and he put a palm to his head before looking at Shiori. "It was just for the match, I swear." He told her.

"Apparently the little guy got mixed up with the rules! It says you only have to strip your opponent to your underwear, not completely naked! I guess he really just wanted to see Ms. Garcia nude! Who could blame him!?" The reporter said and left Clyde with his jaw dropped, speechless. He turned to Shiori. "...Woops..." He stated at accidentally going overboard

"And last but not least we have Talia Wilson defeating Satoru Kido after the white haired male decided to throw the match and walk away after a really intense battle between the two. Really weird ending. We were also unable to reach Kido to ask him why he threw the match..." The reporter stated while Clyde looked on at the scene on the TV.

"Who would just throw the match?" Clyde asked aloud before shrugging. Weird guy he guessed.

"Ah, I see," replied Shiori before she chuckled at Clyde's little joke. "It's all about business~" she said with at teasing wink and smile.

As Clyde turned on the TV, they would watch what seemed to be the coverage of the event he talked about. As she watched the part about the cowboy's match, Shiori couldn't help but to look at him with a raised eyebrow. His reaction kinda amused her, though, and she decided to tease him instead.

"Oohh~ Clyde-kun is a beast~" she said jokingly, placing her hand in front of her mouth as she pretended to back away from him. "Somebody save me~"

As the coverage moved on to the other match, Shiori was half heatedly watching it until the image of the fighters shown up. Her eyes widened a bit as she felt like a heartbeat just skipped on her chest. She leaned forward all of a sudden to get a closer look to the screen and remained silent for a while until. It couldn't be. The boy did seem similar... although the hair color was different. Clyde's words only seemed to pass her ear as she gripped the bed's cover inadvertently.

"Toru-chan...?" a soft voice escaped her lips after a moment of silence.

"A-Am not!" Clyde protested with a red face as Shiori called him beast but would start to smile when he saw the expression Shiori made that indicated she just making a joke, even calling for someone to save her from the evil cowboy who accidentally went too far on the stripping of his opponents and didn't bother to touch her afterwards. How Evil!

Clyde looked at the TV again with a rather unimpressed gaze as he saw the coverage of the tournament highlights, eventually showing a rather attractive young lady and a guy with white hair who was giving the girl a hard time during their match. Clyde thought nothing of it until he heard Shiori mutter the name of the guy she was looking for. Clyde's jaw dropped before he swiftly turned to Shiori then back at the TV then back to Shiori again.

"Huh? Your dood? But... That don't look nuthin' like him! Are you sure that's the Toru guy?" Clyde said before squinting at the TV, he couldn't really see it.

Shiori remained silent for a while after she heard Clyde's words. The coverage was already over and she couldn't double check it, but for some reason she felt that it was him. For once her expression became more serious than usual. Shiori was slightly frowning as she kept being quiet until she eventually let out a long drawn sigh.

"I don't know... the hair's different and all..." she began to speak softly. "But those eyes... they're really similar..."

Her kouhai always had that dry expression on his face. Ever since she met him Shiori barely saw him smiling. The boy on the TV shared that distinct gaze, the look of apathy that could easily drive people away from him.

"Maybe I'm just hallucinating..." Shiori would say as she lowered her head. "Haha..." her laugh didn't seem like a cheerful one at all.