It was now one week till the fated expedition for the ship. Upon searching the Internet, Riku had discovered that before they could go to Olympus Coliseum, all candidates for the Training Program had to have a Skype interview with a representative from Shinra and from the academy at the Land of Departure to see if they were "worthy." If more than four people from Destiny Islands made it through the interview process, they would all take a day's ferry to Luca Island. That was the only place in Destiny Islands that had a port big enough for their ride to Olympus Coliseum. Now that it was all out in the open, Riku, Sora, Tidus, and Wakka stuck together like glue. If one of them didn't get in, none of them got in. There was also a lot of pressure to make enough money for the trip, too. Wakka had tried using a fake ID to take out a loan, but he was turned away for being too young. His next course of action had been to follow Riku to the shipyard to help with shipments and fishing needs. Tidus was worried that his parents wouldn't let him go because he was too young, and because his biological father disappeared at sea when Tidus was seven. But if anyone was liable to the earnings from the Jecht Memorial Cup, it was he. One of the four- Riku suspected Tidus- had gone and told Selphie about the hero academy, and now she was saving up as well. It was only a matter of time before Kairi found out, too. Luckily, whenever Riku and Sora left school the whole blitzball team shielded them. Yeah, they knew as well. The circle of trust was getting ridiculously large.
But Selphie and Kairi seemed inseparable. They must have been babysitting together now. Or perhaps Kairi was deliberately avoiding Riku and Sora out of anger. Sora pondered it as he sat in his room, counting his money as Riku did his homework. Sora had the bills spread out over the sheets of his bed. Riku was creaking back and forth on his desk chair, letting the front legs lift off the ground and slam back down as he worked.
"So far I have two seventy five and forty two cents. Pretty good for four weeks, huh?" Sora beamed. Behind him Riku shrugged. When Sora asked how much he had made, he responded, "Six twenty two."
"You made six dollars and twenty two cents?" gasped Sora. Riku put down his pencil and knocked his head against Sora's desk. "Six hundred and twenty two dollars, Sora."
"How?" Sora wailed. Riku responded that he had been working at the shipyard with Wakka and his dad thirty hours a week.
"I'm pretty sure the blitzball team is putting Wakka and Tidus through. Tidus might be taking some of his inheritance to help Selphie. She's got her babysitting. I've got my birthday money, and I'll have the rest in a week."
"Well where does that leave me?" barked Sora.
"What do you mean, where does that leave you?" responded Riku.
"If I don't go through, no one goes through!" barked Sora in reply. Riku snorted.
"Sora, do the math. Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, Riku. That's four. Minimum was four. Looks like you lucked out."
Sora stared at Riku in shock. But the silver haired boy returned unfazed to his homework. Some type of trigonometry table. Sora gaped as he glanced from his desk to his window and out over the open sea. Perfect blue boats with white sails crept over the twinkling teal expanse. Suddenly he felt pissed off at himself for slacking on the raft. He wondered if he could pilot a raft alone.
"I can't believe you, Riku…" Sora whispered. He wanted to storm out and slam a door, but this was his own house, and his own room, so the effect of the action would be more comical than serious. Instead he stood and wandered for the door. As he got his hand on the knob, Riku added in an offhand sort of way, "oh, and I told Kairi that we were going."
"You WHAT?" snapped Sora. Again, Riku shrugged. "She cornered me and I couldn't say no to her. She's saving up. Maybe if you say sorry for keeping it a secret she'll teach you how to make bracelets." Then with a snort, he crossed out a wrong answer on his work sheet and flitted back to the page in the book that had the answers on it.
As Riku bit his pencil Sora stood at the door with his fists clenched. He wanted to muster up the courage to tell Riku to get out of his house and do his homework somewhere else. The thrum of the turning pages reverberated in his ears. The tap of the pencil. The creak of the chair legs as Riku swung back and forth. When Riku pushed back so that the front legs of the chair lifted through the air, Sora lunged forward and gave the floor bound back legs a big kick.
The legs buckled and twirled as Riku's weight toppled in the opposite direction. Before he could right himself the chair slammed onto its side behind the bed and crashed against Sora's cardboard "robot" with the jelly foam arms connected by string. Riku caught himself on his palms and the side of his leg as he tumbled at Sora's feet. After his shoulder met with Sora's blue-carpeted floor and he let out a loud curse, he swept up in front of his friend. The two stood nose to nose.
"What the fuck was that for?" Riku hissed. Sora blinked up at him in surprise, unable to say anything. The sound of an opening door reverberated in the hall outside. Sora's mother called that she was home and needed help with the groceries. Sora tried getting past Riku, but the boy clamped the knob and continued staring at Sora for an explanation. Sora shrank at his stare. After a debilitating silence there was a knock on his door. Sora's mother was right outside, asking for help.
"Coming, mom. Riku's standing in front of the door," Sora chanced. Riku scowled and went for the desk. He grabbed up his schoolbooks and shoved them in his backpack. Then he turned and pushed past Sora out the door. He almost ran into Sora's mother as he stormed out, but after a gruff "excuse me," he disappeared down the hall and out the front door. Sora's mother stared after him in confusion before looking back at her son.
"Sora," she whispered. "What was that all about?"
"Nothing," Sora muttered. He slipped past her and headed for the kitchen. His mother soon followed and they put away the groceries together. Then Sora disappeared back to his room to phone Kairi. The dial tone felt like it went on for years. When Kairi's mother finally answered and handed the phone to Kairi, Sora could barely talk his mouth was so dry.
"Sora?" Kairi called across the line.
"Hey, Kairi," Sora responded like a naughty puppy. Kairi sighed.
"Sora, I'm angry at you!" she snapped. "Why did you and Riku keep secret that you were going away? We do everything together!"
"Uh," Sora started. He didn't want to tell her they had decided she'd be a nuisance.
"Did you think I'd be a nuisance?" Kairi barked.
"Well, uh, n- no…." Sora blubbered. Kairi chuckled.
"I'll have you know, Sora, that I have booked my ticket for the summer hero training program already. I had my Skype interview and they really liked me."
"Wait, wait, wait," snapped Sora, "how long ago did Riku tell you about this thing?"
"Riku? Riku mentioned it yesterday. But I've known about it since the beginning of May."
"How? Tidus gave the poster to Riku four weeks ago."
"I got the poster five weeks ago and gave it to Selphie. I wasn't going to do the program. Then I found out you guys didn't want me coming and I changed my mind!"
Sora slapped his palm to his face in exasperation. "How did you get it?" he asked.
"A visitor for the Jecht Memorial Cup came to stay at our house for a night. He was handing it out at the game."
"Did he stay with Tidus's adoptive parents too?" asked Sora. Kairi said she didn't know, but that Tidus's and her parents were really tight.
"Sorry for keeping you in the dark, Sora," she chirped. "If you're having trouble getting enough money together I can give you some of my leftover bracelets and we can sell them at the game this weekend."
"I was thinking of doing some sort of grandstander thing with one of my beach balls," Sora gushed. "Like a busker without the instrument."
"Did you schedule a Skype interview yet?" asked Kairi. Sora responded that he did not know how.
"Well, good luck finding out!" she chirped. Then she hung up the phone and left Sora gawking at the reflection in his window.
