Blushing through her pale cheeks, Jun tapped her chin with one of her glossy, black nails. She was grateful for Kelan's small gesture of generosity, but something told her she shouldn't stay anymore. "Eeto... Thank you, Kelan. It's very nice to meet you, but there is somewhere else I should be." Her voice was as soft and gentle as ever. She hoped she came across as asser-- ... as firm in her con-- ... She hoped he would let her leave graciously.
Kelan's face fell. Jun was relieved, but a small part of her felt awful for disappointing him. He seemed to really enjoy her company, and she felt the same.
"I understand," he said calmly. "Thank you for your help. It's been really great to meet you."
Jun felt a mental tugging. Her pesky polite nature compelled her to make some kind of gesture. Oh! Of course. "Would you like my phone number?"
Happily, his face regained a bit of life. His head jerked in a nodding motion for a second, before he apparently realized he shouldn't come across as too eager. "Sure," he said after adopting a more neutral attitude. He pulled out his phone and called up the new contacts screen. He handed the device to her. "Here."
Jun reached for it and her nails clumsily clacked against the case. She struggled for a second to secure it in her palm. Then she realized that her nails made typing much trickier. She flattened her index finger at a more parallel angle to the screen, but ended up pressing more wrong numbers than right ones.
She went to push the backspace key when something Kelan said to her a moment ago came to mind. She turned the phone around and offered it back to him. "Gom-- S-sorry. Could you please enter it?"
Kelan understood immediately and blushed. "Oh! Of course. Sure." He awkwardly took the phone back and entered the correct number as Jun recited it. "I'll text you in a bit so you'll have my number."
Jun nodded and then, before she realized what she was doing, stepped back and crossed one foot around the other. She knelt slightly, pulled her dress up on both sides and bowed. It was the grandest curtsy she had performed so far. When she straightened back up, she saw Kelan's face was even redder.
Jun smiled wide and let out a small giggle. "It was nice to meet you, Kelan."
Kelan waved bashfully while she turned on a toe and glided slowly out of the aisle.
"WOAH!" "ACK!" Screech!
Right in front of her, two other guys and a girl stopped in their tracks. All gave various bursts of surprise that startled Jun so much she stumbled backward and lost her balance.
Her backside collided with Kelan's chest, saving her from a fall. His arms hooked under hers. "Hey, you okay?" Kelan asked.
Jun was helped to her feet and used her nails to straighten a few bangs on her forehead. "Hai... Uh... Yes, thank you." It was a good thing that he was there to help her.
"We're sorry," said one of the guys; a redhead. "You just came around the corner and--"
The other guy, a black man with braided dreads, nudged him with an elbow. "It's not your fault. That's a great costume."
"Thank you." Jun curtsied to the group. She gave them a less extreme version than she had given Kelan. "One of the women who works here helped me pick it out."
Kelan furrowed his brow. "I thought that was one of your dresses...?"
Jun frowned. That's right, he believed she was actually a goth, and when he did she had begun believing it herself. Then why did the truth come so easily to her now? Was it just because the other person had called her dress a costume?
Most importantly, it meant she could ground herself a little more firmly in reality. "This is a costume...," she trailed off, getting second thoughts. Hopefully the magic would make Kelan believe she wasn't a goth, but it was very obvious at this point that the magic's effects were flexible and didn't correct every fact that didn't match up. She decided to be more careful and settled for a half-truth.
"...But I do have some goth outfits. This costume is more ela... err... compli... complicated than anything I have at home."
Everyone seemed to lean toward Jun as she spoke. A couple of them turned their ears slightly toward her. Jun reacted by trying to raise the volume of her voice, but she didn't think it did much.
The young woman smiled and her eyes admired Jun's dress. Like the others and Kelan, she looked to be around Jun's age. She had almost orange eyes and darker skin than the redhead. Her wavy, deep brown hair was tied up with a pink band and draped over her shoulder. "And where is home?"
Jun pursed her lips. She tried to think of her local address but for some reason couldn't remember where she was staying. "Eeto...?" she whispered unconsciously.
The girl leaned forward a little more. "Home?" She said in a clearer tone.
It finally clicked. Of course! Her home wasn't in this country. What made her think otherwise?
She opened her mouth to answer, but suddenly heard Kelan say "She's from Japan. She's pretty new here. She only knows some English."
The redhead smiled and nodded. "Ah, that did sound like a Japanese accent."
The other guy elbowed him again. "Like you could tell."
"No, it was obvious," he said defensively. "You'll definitely hear it."
Jun took back the conversation with a slight bow. "My name is Jun. Yes, I'm visiting from Japan." She looked at each of them to make sure they had heard her. Everyone was still leaning an ear toward her slightly, but definitely paying attention. "And this is Kelan."
Kelan reached forward slightly to offer a handshake, but when nobody else did, he pulled his hand up and waved shyly. "Hi."
The girl waved back at the both of them. "Hi, it's lovely to meet you. I'm Nadia."
"My name is Tru," said the man with the dre-- ... thin hair braids. "That's like the word 'true' but without the E at the end."
The redheaded man smiled. "And I'm Cliff."
Jun's heart caught in her throat. For some reason, the names all came into her mind right before they'd been spoken. Her strong reaction might have meant they had some connection with the important thing she had to do.