Author's Note: My goodness, I don't think I've had that much fun writing in a long time! Humor is a new field for me, though I'm enjoying every bit of trying it out. I hope to retain a humor feel for the entire duration of the story but, knowing me, there'll probably be some not-so-cheery moments as well.
I have a new writing schedule sorted out that I'm rather happy with, which will consist of a chapter update every Monday. Since I'm currently writing three stories simultaneously I intend to rotate between the three evenly, so this one will probably only see an update every three weeks until I can complete my other projects. I do hope to cram two chapters in a week occasionally, so the wait for an update might be fairly shorter. I apologize to those that have been waiting on this for a while and for the longer wait to follow, but I feel this is the only way I can give a fair share of attention to each story and audience.
Reviews inspire me tremendously, good or bad, and yours would possibly get me to update even sooner (hmm, imagine that ;) ).
A big thank you for reading!
I'll admit that things started a little messy, but quite to my surprise they really got better. For some strange reason I'd only envisioned the downside to being Sora, but I totally forgot that there might be some advantages to be had.
Kairi always spoke more freely with Sora, for reasons that I can't begin to explain. Whether it's because they have more in common, or they've both got blue eyes or whatever reason was beyond me; but for the first time ever I was Sora, which meant she was just all the more herself than usual.
To be honest I'd entirely forgotten where the old city hall used to be. I didn't travel to that area of town often, so it was rather unfamiliar to me. The streets were rundown and in great need of repair, while the buildings on either side of it weren't far off. Some of the roofs had caved in after last summer's storms and yet no one even bothered to patch them back up. It was...appalling that Kairi's dad seemed to neglect the island as much as he did. With me being friends with Kairi, though, I certainly wasn't going to be the one to say anything. Especially when it didn't affect me.
Eventually we stopped outside a small burgundy-bricked building, and it took me a moment to realize where we even were. Its condition was no better than anything else on the neglected street, all the way from the rusty door-handle to the stained windows and, lastly, the torn-up roof.
"Needs some help, eh?" I couldn't help but voice. The redhead alongside me just shook her head, shrugging her narrow shoulders slightly.
"It's been old for a long time. And besides, Dad's wanting to tear this side of town up to build something new on it."
My mouth nearly dropped to the ground. "You're kidding me, seriously?"
That came as quite a surprise to me. Kairi's dad had always been resourceful; the kind of man that'd always want to patch everything up with a band-aid instead of replace it. It surprised me that he'd actually consider replacing this entire side of town—unless, of course, it finally hit that state that was beyond repair. After stealing another glance around I determined that it was certainly a possibility.
Kairi made a motion towards the front door, fiddling with the lock before finally swinging it open. Its hinges needed oiled badly, for the screeching that followed greatly offended my eardrums; it wouldn't have surprised me if Sora'd heard it back on the beach. She turned and offered me a sympathetic smile.
"Thanks so much for doing this for me, Sora." Her white teeth shone like glossy pearls, and for the first time that day I was actually grateful to be in Sora's shoes.
"Oh, uh, sure Kairi! I'm always happy to help." I nearly wanted to growl in frustration. I didn't think I'd ever manage to pull off his darn happy-go-lucky tone no matter how hard I tried! This seemed to go amiss by Kairi, who only offered me a slight smile before stepping inside the darkened building.
If you guessed the outside was an indication to what the inside was like, then you were right on. Dust bunnies lined whatever remained of the floorboards, and white paint was peeling from the walls. The "old" city hall as it was commonly referred to, only it really wasn't all that old like someone would've imagined by taking a glance around the place.
About a dozen boxes rested below an old phone jack, which I assumed had probably stopped working long before the service had gone out. I stole one swift look around the place before turning back to face Kairi.
"So, uh, these boxes, then?" I asked, gesturing towards the mound along the wall.
A smile lit up her face, and instantly I was glad that I was there in that rutty, rundown building surrounded by cobwebs and dust bunnies that'd likely give me an allergy meltdown by the time I finally got home.
"Yep, those are them," she replied. "My dad's coming back with the truck, so you can help load them up when he gets here."
"Okay."
For an awkward moment we just stood there in silence. I thought to lean against the wall, but then thought better of it. Given the state the place was in, it would've been just my luck to have the building collapse overtop of me. Eventually I gave the boxes a thorough stare, my brows furrowing slightly.
"So, Kairi, how come you still wanted me to come?" I questioned. "I mean, from the looks of it you guys are almost done, anyway."
A giggle emitted from the redhead, who brought a hand up to her lips while her cheeks reddened adorably. She was so cute when she got embarrassed: all giggly and shy, just like a little kindergartener or something.
"Because it's fun doing stuff with you, Sora," she replied, beaming over at me. "Besides, we were planning on taking you out to lunch afterwards. Didn't want you to miss out on that."
I offered her a wide smile in return. "Aww, thanks, Kairi. You really didn't have to do that, though." Her words disturbed me, and it took me several moments to finally figure out why. "You really should've asked Riku to move all these boxes for you guys, though. You know he's the one with the muscles. I'm no good at this stuff."
An odd look clouded her eyes, which caused me to nearly regret what I'd said.
"Well, I asked but his dad said he was grounded, so I didn't think he could help us out."
I just wanted to ram my head against the wall at that statement, but then I remembered the poor condition of the walls and fought this temptation.
"His dad would like him to be grounded all the time," I answered. "But next time make sure to ask either him or me, because normally he isn't."
For some strange reason no one seemed to understand what my dad was about, even though both Sora, Kairi and their parents had been with the man up-close. He was a drunk, and half the time was out of his mind. I avoided him as much as possible, because it seemed whenever I was around I just got the blame for pretty much everything. Unfair, but why should he care? I was just the poor, unfortunate kid that relied on him for practically everything, so it was relatively easy for me to take the brunt of things on all the time. It…surprised me, I guess, that no one else had noticed this yet.
Kairi barely nodded, her eyes afar like she was hardly paying attention to me by that point. Luckily we didn't have to compete in a staring contest for long, as the screeching front door swung open and in stepped the mayor of Destiny Islands.
"Hello there, Sora!" he greeted warmly.
I, being fairly used to being called Sora by now, smiled and offered my best Sora-like wave. "Hi!"
Her father wheeled in a cart that I presumed was for carrying the boxes to his truck. This should've made the trip all too easy, and I was partly surprised that she even wanted Sora's help to begin with.
But ah well; beggars couldn't be choosy, and I certainly wasn't!
"Does it matter the order, sir?" I asked, moving over towards the boxes and stealing a swift glance at them. I'd been wondering what was in them, but I knew better than to ask. It just seemed strange that there'd be so much important stuff hanging out in the old city hall that could've been salvaged rather than tossed.
The mayor glanced up at me, readjusting his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Why, uh, no. Apart from a few breakables on the bottom, you could do anything you wanted with them and they'd still be fine."
That was a good answer, since I dropped the first box I lifted. It fell to the ground with a deafening thump, and I probably failed at retaining the color that threatened to emerge from my cheeks.
"Wh—whoops, uh, sorry," I murmured quietly, attempting to hide my face from them as I bent down to retrieve it. I swear I couldn't believe that I actually dropped the box in front of everyone! I mean, come on! How lame is that? I'd expected much more strength to be had within my arms than that of what was present; it just didn't dawn on me that Sora lacked in that department and that I couldn't swing boxes up quite the same way that I was used to. Kairi just giggled, and I didn't glance up to see what the mayor's reaction might've been. He didn't make a sound, so I gauged that to at least be a good sign.
Seriously, I thought Sora had more strength in his arms than he did, and I actually began to feel sorry for the guy. Lifting those boxes proved to be quite the feat! At that point I seriously started to question what was in them. Some felt to be at least fifty pounds, only I had a hard time deciphering whether they actually were or if it just felt that way to me and my muscleless arms.
It took a lot longer than I thought, but we finally had the mayor's truck loaded with all the junk from the city hall. I thought it was probably the last time I'd ever see that building again, though I certainly wasn't going to mourn over it. I wasn't the kind of guy that liked change very much, but, I must say, I was rather looking forward to seeing what this area of town turned into.
The mayor came alongside me and clapped my shoulder.
"Thanks, Sora. I'm really glad that you could make it, even if you were a little late." He chuckled before finally letting go of my shoulder. "Let me guess…it was Riku's fault, wasn't it?"
"I—" I began, without really knowing what I was going to say. Instead of letting out words it was merely a sigh that escaped me, which also followed by a shake of the head.
This only seemed to come across as even more hilarious to the mayor, who then proceeded to tousle my hair before sliding into the driver's seat of the truck. It was only a three-seater, so Kairi and I were forced to slide into the front seat along with him. Kairi offered to sit in the middle, which I was forever grateful for. I've never enjoyed the claustrophobia of sitting between two people on bus rides really, but I found it kind of funny that she figured it out. I mean, I was Sora, after all, and Sora never had a problem with sitting between anyone. In fact I think he even liked being packed like a sardine. Who knows.
Our hands met when we'd gone to fasten our seat belts, and I felt Kairi's blush before I even glanced up to offer her a small smile. The moment of awkwardness was soon broken by her dad, who haphazardly pulled away from the city hall and recklessly drove down the street. I partly wondered if he always drove that way, or if it was just that he didn't know how to drive a truck. Both were plausible options, considering I hadn't rode anywhere with him up till now.
"So, Sora," he began after a moment. "Where's your favorite place to have lunch? Kairi was wanting us to take you out after we got done moving boxes, so I figured it'd be most fair if I asked you where you'd want to go."
I turned to offer Kairi another smile, but she was too busy fidgeting with the radio to notice. "Uh, it doesn't really matter to me." I tried to think of a place Sora would choose, but apart from him liking cheeseburgers, I wasn't sure. "Um, maybe Hamburger Heaven, perhaps?"
We used to go there quite frequently, actually, and I'm not altogether certain why we ever stopped. The servers were all nice, and even some kids from our school worked there. The food was pretty good, too, except I heard that some girl found a worm in her burger once. I mean it happens, but it seemed their business really died down after that. It personally didn't scare me away, nor did it Sora, as it used to be our Friday thing to go down and help ourselves to a burger and milkshake.
It was kind of like déjà vu when we stepped inside, only it was strange to be coming here with Kairi rather than Sora. I honestly haven't spent a whole lot of time with just Kairi before, and it probably showed in my behavior that whole afternoon. I'm just surprised Kairi hadn't caught on to my awkwardness.
We took seats at a booth, with Kairi's dad sitting across from the two of us. The place had been remodeled since I'd last seen it and, actually, I don't think they even had tables anymore. If they did they were in another area, since we sat in a narrow aisle with solely booths surrounding us. We hadn't been sitting for any longer than a couple minutes when a waitress came by and asked if she could get us drinks.
"Dr. Pepper, please," I said. I hadn't expected the snicker that emitted from Kairi alongside me, and it probably appeared in my expression when I'd turned to face her. "What?"
"I thought you said you'd never drink Dr. Pepper again," she muttered between giggles.
I could only stare at her in bewilderment. "What d'you mean?" I struggled to remember if Sora had any issue with Dr. Pepper, but I couldn't recall anything. Gee, she was sure making me feel like I hardly even knew my best friend.
Instead of answering, Kairi merely shrugged. "I guess you must've gotten over it."
I decided not to question her further, despite the fact that I was dying to know the reasoning behind Sora's diversion from Dr. Pepper. Last I'd seen he'd been drinking it fine, so it must've been something just recently that turned him off from it.
"I'll have a Sprite," Kairi informed the waitress, smiling as her gaze fell back down to her menu.
Since I didn't know what else to do, I decided to glance down at my menu, too. I'd already long-since memorized everything they offered, but it was better to pretend I hadn't rather than sit there and stare at everyone like some idiot. I already felt disoriented sitting there, alone, with Kairi, as my best friend, and really didn't have much desire to make it worse. Every time I tried to think of something else to say the words died in my throat. I wasn't altogether sure what my problem was, since normally I'm perfectly fine around the girl. Again, I guess it was just something about being one-on-one that made me a tad antsy.
"So, do you like this place, then?" she asked me suddenly, breaking into my thoughts as I tried to envision what a liver-and-onion sandwich could've possibly been like. I scratched my head thoughtfully before giving the place a thorough glance.
"Yeah, I like it," I replied. "One of my favorites, actually. Me and Riku used to come here a lot."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah." Why didn't she already know that? Didn't Sora tell her anything? Sheesh.
"What do you think of it?" I finally asked her, trying any attempt I could find at striking up a pleasant conversation.
Kairi merely shrugged. "Yes, it's nice here, though I prefer Mexican food over burgers, so we don't come here often."
Now that's something Ishould've known. Being a Mexican food lover myself, I could greatly relate.
"Oh, yeah, me too," I replied. "I'd sooner go to a Mexican restaurant any day."
Kairi shot me a funny glance, and for a moment I'd thought there was something funny on my face. "Then why did you choose Hamburger Heaven?"
I blinked, scared to admit to what I'd just realized. "What?"
"This was your idea, wasn't it?" She giggled again, which I was slowly beginning to find irritating rather than cute. "If you like Mexican food so much, then why didn't you say so?"
I wanted to ram my forehead against the table, though of course I fought this desire and merely shrunk into my seat instead. How could I ever be so stupid? It was starting to amaze me that I was a straight A student, given my behavior all throughout that day.
"W—well," I began, thinking frantically. "I thought you liked it, that's why I suggested it."
A smile lit Kairi's lips, and I figured I managed to worm my way out of that one fairly decently. "You're so silly sometimes, Sora."
Before I could respond the waitress came back with our drinks, setting them down on the table before whipping out her notepad.
"Alright, can I take your guys' order?" she offered, first turning towards Kairi's dad. I actually had never seen this waitress before, but I was slightly guessing that she was beyond high school, and probably never even went to my school at the same time I did. I began to absentmindedly slurp down my Dr. Pepper while waiting for the waitress to take my order when Kairi tapped my arm frantically. This nearly caused me to choke, though I managed to swallow down a huge air bubble rather than create a coughing spectacle.
"Huh?"
She pointed across the restaurant, which kind of surprised me. Kairi was always very polite, and if she were pointing at someone, well, she must've had a really good reason for it.
"There's Riku," she murmured, and for moments I could only stare at her in utter bewilderment. I finally willed my gaze to trail over in the direction that Kairi pointed, and my mouth nearly dropped open when I saw myself walking in with none other than Tidus and Wakka. I never had much of an issue with Tidus before; he was a cute, quiet kid that usually left me alone. Now Wakka and I on the other hand… We went way back, and not in a very good way, either. We both played on the very same blitzball team, and none other than our very first match did we have a fallout. We haven't gotten along ever since.
But now you never would've guessed that we'd had a gripe with one another, the way the three of us had walked in laughing our heads off like a few loons. It was a very odd sight, though I pretended to be unfazed by this and casually smiled as they entered.
"Oh, cool. Maybe they had blitzball practice or something," I murmured, returning to my soda. "Riku's entering into that summer league thing, you know."
"Oh, is he?" Kairi asked. At first I thought she was just mocking me, until I glanced over to find her face held genuine surprise.
"Yeah." I cocked a brow. "Didn't he tell you?"
I was sure that I did at some point, since I'd been bragging to virtually the whole island about it. Every summer this one famous athlete, whose name, sadly, keeps slipping my mind, hosts a competition around the island consisting of all kinds of summer sports. Anyone over thirteen can compete, only my dad said I couldn't on my first qualifying year and I couldn't last year because I'd had pneumonia for practically the whole summer (blame blitzball).
I hadn't realized the waitress was waiting on me until Kairi's dad pointed it out, which caused me to order the wrong kind of burger by mistake. I'm not a huge fan of onions or pickles, and generally I like to ask for those to be removed from my burger. I'd forgotten this time though, since I was too distracted by the waitress's impatience and Kairi's response to pay very much attention. Ah well, I've dealt with worse. And who knows; maybe Sora's taste buds would actually enjoy pickles and onions more than mine. I sort of imagined it had more to do with the mental state rather than the actual tongue, though.
"I don't think he ever did mention that to me, actually," Kairi murmured, brows furrowing in deep concentration. "If he had it was only in passing, and I'm afraid I just hadn't been paying attention or something."
For a moment I could only stare at her, though I quickly looked away to hide the look of anguish that flooded my face. Did she actually ignore everything I said on a regular basis? I mean, I'd thought she'd remember something that I'd been so excited about, especially when over half the island knew. Maybe she didn't consider me as close of a friend as I'd always thought. That kind of hurt.
And here I thought it was going to be fun playing in Sora's shoes for a day.
Our conversations were brief, until Kairi finally asked me if I'd gotten some jacket that I'd been wanting. It was embarrassing when I could only stare at her with that blank look I'd been giving her that entire day (or, at least it seemed I was wearing that look an awful lot).
"You know, the jacket," she said, as though I was suddenly supposed to know what on earth she was talking about. I pretended to go along with it. After all, it wasn't like Sora was going to be able to correct me anytime soon.
"Oh, yeah, that," I muttered finally, not averting my eyes from my drink. "I decided to drop it, actually. It wasn't my thing."
Her eyes widened slightly, though she didn't have a chance to say anything more as the waitress came back with our food.
"Wow, that was fast," I commented, genuinely surprised at how quickly it got around to us. While my perception of time could've been slightly off since I'd been so deeply engaged in thought since she left, I could've sworn she'd only been gone for fifteen minutes before returning.
The waitress only smiled as she handed our food around casually, asking us if we'd like a refill on our drinks before disappearing again. Before unwrapping my burger I couldn't help but steal a glance in Sora's direction, just to see how he and his new "buddies" were getting along. They seemed to be hitting it off perfectly fine, all three still laughing their heads off as though they'd taken a big dose of happy juice before heading over there. I shuddered at the thought—Sora better not have!
I watched as Kairi carefully unwrapped her burger, removing a slice of her bun to better examine it before taking a bite. It took me a moment to realize that she must've been searching for worms, though I desperately fought my sudden urge to laugh. It really wouldn't have been nice of me, especially since they'd had a worm issue at one point, supposedly.
I stole a bite of mine, my teeth instantly sinking into both a pickle and onion simultaneously and yes, Sora's taste-buds seemed to dislike them just as much as my own. I swallowed the bite whole, though tried not to express my distaste for it by merely smiling and gulping down half my soda. Kairi's dad had been generous inviting me out to eat to begin with, honestly, and I wasn't going to cause a stink just because I didn't like pickles and onions.
Normally I don't have an issue talking. I'll talk and talk until I make everyone go ballistic and try pardoning themselves for the sake of their sanity, but today was different for me. I couldn't think up anything interesting for the life of me, and that was just downright pathetic. It probably didn't help that I was trying to think up stuff that Sora'd say rather than myself. Actually, the more I thought about it, that was probably the issue. Kairi didn't seem to have the same problem speaking with me, though. In fact, she seemed perfectly at ease despite my oddness that afternoon. Either Sora's always this way, or I didn't sound as bad as I thought, or Kairi just wasn't paying attention (surprise, surprise), but never once did she shoot me a quizzical glance or ask if I was feeling alright.
Occasionally I'd shoot a glance over towards Sora's booth, just to see how he and the other two were getting along. They had drinks around the table, and it didn't surprise me in the least to see that Sora had a chocolate milkshake. I myself am not a fan of chocolate, but boy did Sora love it. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate chocolate or anything, but I won't go out of my way to order it, either. Anyone who knew me up close probably knew that, so Sora was rather fortunate that both Tidus and Wakka didn't happen to know me up close.
Tidus apparently had said something that struck a line of humor, since Wakka instantly slammed a fist on the table and broke out in laughter. Sora had been drinking his milkshake at the time, though ended up laughing all the while…
…And that's when it happened.
I couldn't help but watch in horror as he coughed and sputtered as chocolate milkshake began oozing out his nose. It was just plain awful to watch, especially since it was happening to me and practically everyone in the restaurant was watching. I heard many people gasp or go "eww, gross," and I could even hear Wakka mutter, "That's just bloody disgusting, 'mon." I felt partly bad for Sora, though I couldn't help but feel worse for myself. What would everyone think of me then? Riku, the cool guy with silver hair that lets milkshake ooze out his nostrils at restaurants. Fancy that reputation to go along with my name. For weeks I'll be hearing people say "Yeah, y'know Riku? I saw him on a Saturday afternoon choke on his milkshake that came up and out his nose." I began to feel sick at the thought of it.
What came next seemed to be even worse. The milkshake going up the nose seemed to be more than he could possibly bear, which seemed possible, since it probably froze the back of his throat, too. Of all the things that could go up a nose I'd imagine that milkshake was likely not one of the most pleasant ones. He gagged, and then inevitably threw up.
Right there. In the middle of the entire restaurant.
I dropped my burger on the table mid-bite. By then literally everyone was watching Sora vomit, including Kairi. She wore an indifferent expression mixed between disgust and sympathy, while mine was probably purely horror. I couldn't believe what was happening at that table! Sora never threw up, so why the heck did he go and choose to do it now while he was disguised as me? Sometimes I couldn't understand why life had to be so unfair.
By then he was trembling, wiping at his nose and mouth frantically while allowing his hair to get in the mess. He quickly scooted out of the booth and darted off, all eyes watching as he disappeared from view. Many murmurs erupted along the narrow aisle, which just ticked me off all the more. Unable to take it, I asked Kairi if she could scoot off the bench and let me out.
"I want to go help him," I muttered gruffly. It was half-true, though I wasn't going to offer him the help he probably desired.
Kairi nodded understandingly, though her expression still appeared a bit miffed. She slid out of the booth and allowed me out of it.
"Okay, the show's over, everyone!" I announced irritably, catching the attention of everyone around (or, at least I was hoping to). "Go back to your meals, please."
More mutters sounded as I stormed off down the aisle and towards the bathrooms in the back of the place, but at that point I didn't care. I could tell them to quit until I was blue in the face and I highly doubted it'd make any bit of difference.
If I could manage to live down this one, then I think I'd probably be qualified to take down a twenty-foot mountain troll.