Sis, wasting no time with pleasantries, immediately reeled back to headbutt Catface, who was standing next to me. 

Fortunately, Catface probably also saw this coming, as they cartwheeled and jumped backwards, like, 6 feet into the air, naturally dodging the attack.

Now, I know they just flew up there, they didn't actually just jump that high so effortlessly, but it still looked pretty cool.

And, as cool things tend to do, drew a lot of attention to us, which ain't good, considering Sis's mental state. 

"Gotta say, it's a weird feeling, being in the moral right during a fight!" Catface quipped as they descended to the opposite side of me, where Sis previously was.

That's debatable. "Yo, Catface." I said. 

"Yo indeed. Been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, been a few days." 

"Suppose it has. So, come to town to see the show, have you?" Catface said, effortlessly dodging a bolt of light Sis shot out of her hand after recovering from almost tripping. 

"Y-yeah, we're just grabbing a snack. Uh, I should probably do something about-" 

"Hey, pumpkin, I appreciate the gesture, but I don't think it's in either of our best interests to get into it here, yeah?" Catface said to Sis, opting to deflect just the next bolt with some flashy hand movement. 

"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING-"

"H-hey, Sis, we're in public-"

"SHUT UP!"

Well, she's still sane enough to talk, at least. That's a good sign. 

"I'd mind the guards if I were you." Catface said, gesturing to the already approaching guards. Fortunately, from the guard's perspective, this was an uppity little girl engaging in roughhousing, and not aggravated assault with intent to kill.

"I CAN TAKE-" 

. . .

She paused just as she raised another hand Catface. 

But she didn't shoot anything, this time. 

She looked over at me, briefly, down at my leg.

She lowered her arm, and clenched her fist.

. . . It's been a long time since then, and it never really hurt much, but I suppose it's still painful, huh.

Regardless, I'm glad Sis desisted before the red fully descended in and things got messy.

Well, not that things would have an opportunity to get messy with Catface being the target. Currently, they're just standing their with an irritatingly humorous grin, which I can't imagine was all that helpful.

I turned back to the guards, who, after seeing my and Catfaces faces, stood confusedly before deciding it probably wasn't anything important and going back to standing around and not doing very much. 

Glad they didn't notice the jagged holes in the walls from the bolts that didn't fly out into the sky.

". . . Why the hell are you here, anyway." Sis asked, making no effort to hide her hostility.

"Hey, sometimes even I wanna take a stroll around the city every now and then!" Catface reasoned, though I somehow found that hard to believe. "Anyway, I didn't expect to meet you here, guy! Say, do you like watching other people get hurt, or does it make you feel nothing at all? I'm trying to figure out what you were doing at the tournament."

"Uh, a-aren't you magically tracking me, or something? Shouldn't you have expected this?" I said, changing the subject. 

"Aww, you remembered! You do care!" Catface said like a character in a cheesy TV romcom.

"What?" Sis said like a character a slasher from a horror flick.

"Uhuh." I said. Like a... Dude. 

"Anyways! I've had a busy day, haven't really had the time to eat, so I think I'll be joining you guys for..." Catface declared. "Cheese? They just sell cheese?"

"Yeah. It's 'artisanal' and 'imported', according to some very loud advertising dude." Speaking of that guy, actually, I think there's someone in his same outfit a few places ahead of us. Must be popular. Actually, I'm pretty sure I saw that guy over there's outfit before, too... And-

"Imported?' From where?" Catface continued the conversation, interrupting my thoughts. 

"No idea."

"Huh. I can't imagine its gonna be better from anywhere else than it is here, considering the size of this place's dairy industry. What kinda scam they think they're running here, anyway? Weird how there isn't a price on any of the advertising, isn't it?" Catface announced with a laugh. "And I thought I was a criminal!" 

One could feel the death stares and hostility from both the people in line and the people working for the stand. Also a few skeptical and weary feelings coming from law enforcement. 

Sis seemed quite pleased about this.

"Uh, you should probably be a little quieter." I suggested. 

"I disagree!" 

"Is that so..." 

Fortunately, by that point, we were nearing the front of the line, meaning we could hopefully quickly order and leave before we got arrested for slander. Or, much worse and far more likely, they try to arrest us for slander, and after about, say, 30 seconds, the body count's in the dozens, and we're branded national terrorists at the absolute tippy-top of every list. I get the feeling that Sis and Catface aren't the best at de-escalation.

The stand itself was mostly like any other market stand thingy in town, save for some particularly frilly advertising. Except for the fact that the lady behind the counter, the one selling the cheese, was wearing a cheese-colored full face mask. Weird marketing thing, I guess? It was also kind of odd how close the stand was to the edge of town, away from most of the other stalls and such, now that I'm thinking about it. 

"Welcome to Bees's Cheese's! Purveyor of the finest most quality cheese in town!" Said the lady in an eerily neighborly tone. I get the feeling she may have been miffed about something. Gee, I wonder what?

"That's a terrible name!" Catface said with a laugh, which I can't imagine was helpful. "What, did you just come up with it on the spot?"

"Shut up." Sis said. "But, yeah, it does suck."

I'm grateful for the mask they're wearing, because I imagine the look she's giving us isn't a pleasant one.

"U-uh, I'll, uh, we'll j-just have, uh... 3 of the... Cheese... Small ones..." I basically said whatever I thought would get us out of here as quickly as possible while also trying to apologize for the behavior of my companions.

"Of course!" The lady said. I'm surprised that counts as a valid order. "And what kind would you like?"

I really don't like how they talk, I've gotta be honest. "Uh, a-any, I guess, doesn't matter."

"Of course, we'll surprise you." She said, putting 3 toothpicks worth of cheese on a small paper plate. "That'll be two coin, please!"

2 COIN!?

"Uh, g-gold ones?"

"Oh, but of course!"

FOR THIS!?!? WHAT, ARE THE TOOTHPICKS MADE OF IVORY?!? THAT'S SEVERAL MEALS MOST PLACES! 'SALE' MY FOOT! GAH, WHAT ARE THEIR NORMAL PRICES?!?

"'kay." I said, putting the cash on the table, trying to ignore Catface's roaring laughter. 

After we paid, I made sure we high-tailed outta there. Something about the rampant death stares and the increasingly uncomfortable atmosphere just didn't sit right with me.

I guess we didn't exactly do anything to help with that atmosphere. Probably made it worse, actually.

Not that the three of us would've made anything much lighter even if we didn't assault each other and loudly slander the company we're about to pay. I mean, between my perpetually frozen 'bored beyond belief' face, Catface's titular cat face, and Sis's whole get up, I imagine we're on odd looking trio. Without S here to round us out and ground us, we probably look like one freaky group of bastards.

Which is, honestly, entirely reasonable. We are freakin' scary when you think about it. Though nobody would be able to tell that from looking at us. That's kind of a thrilling feeling, isn't it? 

Yeah...

. . .

"So, how is it?" Catface said with a grin as we walked away. "You don't looked too thrilled about it, though I suppose that's hardly a surprise."

Yeah... It wasn't any better than any other cheese. Actually, it... It might've been worse. It was definitely worse. Catface was absolutely right, that was totally a scam. Gahdangit.

"It's, uh, yeah, it's, uh, pretty good." I said.

"Reeeaaaly?" Catface said with a skeptical eyebrow raise.

. . .

"No." I said, throwing away the third piece in defeat. What a waste.

"Figured. Y'know, I gotta wonder, how many people in that line were actual customers, and how many were plants to make it seem popular?"

"I'd rather not think about it."

We ended up just getting cheap fast food from The Adjective Noun. It was, unfortunately, so much better. 

"You're heading back to the tournament after this, right?" Catface asked as we ate. Catface and I did at least, Sis was content to just send a death stare their way.

"Mmph." I said, as they asked the second I took a bite. They did that on purpose, didn't they? "Yeah."

"Cool. I'll do that, too."

"That works." I said. There were a number of free seats near us, and nobody notices one more blade of grass, right?

"No it doesn't." Sis insisted. "It can't be a good idea to indulge him."

"W-well, I don't think they were asking."

"Very true. I would've simply flown in, regardless."

"Hm. I suppose that's reasonable." Sis said, though she clearly wasn't happy about it. I imagine it took a lot of restraint not to add 'but I've got my eye on you' or something like that afterward. Though, it was sort of already implied.  

"Plus," I began. "it's not like we have a reason to refuse, right?"

"I can think of a few."

"So can I, honestly." Catface quipped.

"Shut up."

"I-I mean, it's normal to spend time with people who make you happy, right? Y-y'know, friends, and stuff."

. . .

The preceding silence made my face burn brightly.

"Cheesy." Sis simply said. 

Not helpful!

Catface just smiled at me. It was hard to tell whether or not they were about to burst out laughing.

"Y'know, Beyes," They began.

. . .

They didn't continue.

And I continued to burn like the sun. Which I imagine looked rather strange, given the stillness of my face. 

Then, they started to laugh. A sort of softer laugh I wasn't used to.

"Let's just go watch the friggin show already."