Author's Note: Not much to explain in this chapter, like most of the others. If the computer part was confusing, don't worry – I will explain it later, as it does play a larger part than count down Roxas's days. As you may have noticed by now, the POVs alternate between Roxas and Olette – Olette narrating the even days, while Roxas handles the odds.
Thanks for reading so far, and I hope you enjoy this (late) chapter!
Disclaimer: Once again, Star Ribbon doesn't own Kingdom Hearts. Otherwise, would this ficlet be up here?
Day Six
Roxas was worrying me to death, as odd as it may sound.
Yesterday at the old mansion, when everyone else wanted to leave, he wouldn't. Something on that computer was getting him depressed (but… he didn't leave it), I'm sure of it.
...I wanted to know what it was.
He wouldn't talk to me about it; it was like he was terrified of even uttering a word in front of us. As we all sat in the Usual Spot, letting silence speak for us, it was Hayner who finally spoke up.
"...Today's another round of the Struggle Battles. Roxas, you ready to fight?" He asked, jumping off his seat.
The other blond shook his head; he too stood up, looking back at Hayner.
It was obvious that our leader didn't like our newcomer's new emotions. Without warning, he punched Roxas in the shoulder.
Roxas let out a cry of surprise; his body was knocked down to the ground.
"Hayner!"
"Bonehead! Today isn't the day to be sad about anything! We've got semi-finals to conquer!"
Roxas winced at the loudness of his friend's voice, but he nodded. Getting up, he managed a small smile.
"All right, I'll go. I promised, after all."
Hayner raised an eyebrow. "...You did?"
It was eerie. I hadn't remembered anything about a promise, but by the way Roxas had said it - I could have believed anything at the moment. He certainly believed that he had made a promise... But he hadn't.
His face turned pink as he realized that he probably hadn't (at least, not to us directly); he glanced over at me with confused eyes.
"...I didn't promise anything, did I?"
We all shook our heads at his words.
"Then... let's promise something. Hayner, let's get to the finals together." He held his fist up.
Hayner returned the motion, grinning. "Let's."
I liked this feeling of seeing everyone together. All of us smiling over the little details, thinking about how we would end our days happily...
"How much does sea-salt ice cream cost here?"
...Sea-salt ice cream? What was that stuff in the first place?
Roxas's question had successfully dragged me back to reality (but all the same, why was he asking about a weird ice cream flavor), that much was for sure.
"...Erm, Roxas?" Pence replied nervously. "We don't have sea-salt ice cream here..."
Roxas's eyes widened, blinking. "...Ah, I see. Must've been thinking of something else, sorry."
As the four of us started to walk to the Sandlot for the next round of battles, I couldn't help but think that Roxas wasn't thinking of something else.
I mean, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would suddenly say something and not really mean it.
"Hey, Roxas?"
He looked over at me. "Yeah?"
I managed a weak smile. "What's sea-salt ice cream?"
"It's.. well, a kind of ice-cream that I used to have a lot. It's blue. I guess the best way to describe it is by saying that it's sour at first, but sweet later on?"
Sour at first, but sweet later on... I hadn't heard of an ice cream like that before, but it sounded eerily familiar. "Should we look around town for it, then? Sounds like you liked it a lot, Roxas."
His lips managed a smile. "If we could, but don't we have the Struggles first?"
Hayner and Pence had gone ahead of us by now; I don't know what they were really up to these days. I could have sworn that I heard bits of a conversation that went like, "Olette likes Roxas, huh...?"
Guys don't get it, do they? I don't like Roxas in that way. Sure, he's smart and sweet; even if he tends to be a little too depressed at times...
He has to have his reasons for being the way he is, right? Twilight Town isn't a depressing place by nature, after all.
As we separated, Roxas to the Struggle leaders, I heading to my bench, a weird feeling was sent down my spine.
I didn't know how, but I knew something off-beat was going to happen today.
Sitting down next to Vivi, I patted him on the head. "Hey, Vivi. What's up?"
The child looked over at me, smiling. "Not too much, Olette. Just the semi-finals... Only Seifer and Fuu made it."
"But if only Seifer and Fuu made it, where's Rai?" Pence added in, sitting down beside me.
That was something that Vivi apparently didn't know. He shrugged, causing the both of us to sweatdrop.
As if he was a mind-reader (which we highly doubted, since Rai couldn't even count), the black-haired teen appeared before us. "Roxas's battling against some weird dude. His name was 'Alex' or something, you know?"
We shook our heads. "No... We didn't know that," I replied, looking over at him. "Is that what Seifer said?"
Rai nodded. "Yeah, you know? He said that Roxas went pale when he saw this Alex dude..."
"Hrm," Pence started. "I guess Roxas knows him or something..."
"Seriously? But usually this tournament doesn't have people from out of town..." I replied.
"Rai?" Vivi's question brought the two of us back to reality. "W-why don't you sit down next to us?"
The black-haired teen shook his head. "Nah. I've got to help the Struggle people out, you know? I'll let you know if they need you, buddy."
As he ran off, I gently took the wrinkles from Vivi's robe and softened them out. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure that Rai'll sit with you in the finals, Vivi."
The child nodded. "I'm not so scared of Rai, Olette. It's more of F-Fuu..."
That was pretty understandable. Pence nodded in slight agreement, though a slightly thoughtful look appeared on his face. "I don't think she's that bad... though, she is a little scary."
Our conversation would have gone further if it wasn't for the Struggle Battle Judge's voice.
"First Round of Semi-Finals! Roxas versus Alex!"
As the two climbed the steps to the stage, I could easily notice the fear in Roxas's eyes. The other man, Alex, seemed to be... I don't know. It was hard to describe how I felt about him. His hair was red (and I mean deep red), with strange triangle markings below his eyes...
And his smile. I can't forget how sad it looked as he glanced over at Roxas, yet his eyes didn't know why he was sad.
The battle begun; everyone was focused on the battle. It was actually pretty unusual for every single person at the Sandlot to be watching the battle with interest, since Seifer and anyone with his way of thinking wouldn't even bother to watch the battle.
Today? Even he was glancing over at the stage now and then, trying to look like he wasn't interested in the battle. (It was obvious that he was to practically everyone.)
Roxas was strangely evenly-matched with this newcomer. Every move he made, Alex would mimic it.
It was like... they knew each other inside out. No one was winning; no one was losing. Yet, it wasn't boring.
Someone had to win. That was the nature of struggle battles - if one didn't win, then they would have to keep battling until someone did.
They both knew that; I think something was holding Roxas back. You could see them exchanging whispers to each other, both of them confused about the other person.
(At the time, I had no idea that Roxas knew him. From my viewpoint, this Alex person was a newcomer... not an old friend of his. If I had known then, maybe I wouldn't have been so judgmental. The worst part of it all? Since I didn't know, I wasn't alone. Everyone was just as confused as I was.)
Finally, something happened. Roxas's club met Alex; balls fell out from under the redhead's black sleeves. He grabs them before Alex can, jumping back to dodge his swipe.
Was Alex not used to having a club-like weapon? By the way he swung them, it seemed a little strange (and odd). It was more like he had rings or something as a weapon...
Roxas never took advantage of him; he just kept swiping whenever he got the chance, taking the balls with him if any fell out. That's not to say that Alex stole some balls from Roxas too, but it was harder for him.
For once, no one wanted to hear the bell ring. When it did, everyone groaned, wanting to see more of the fight. It was over, though, and we had to accept that.
"The winner of this match is... Rooooooooxas!" As the judge raised Roxas's hand, we all cheered as loudly as he could.
Alex started to leave as soon as the crowd settled; Roxas took advantage of his timing, forcefully tugging on Alex's arm.
"Axel?" He asked, glancing over at him. "Why are you here?"
It was my unfortunate duty to say that I heard Alex reply with an, "My name's Alex, kid..." He had shaken his head lightly. "Got it memorized?" He let go of Roxas's hand, and walked away.
The next battle with Fuu had begun, but I wasn't there to watch. Instead, all I could think about was the sad look in Roxas's eyes.
"Roxas..." Instincts had taken over. Without warning, I wrapped my arms around him, letting his head lean on my shoulder.
"We'll find sea-salt ice cream tomorrow." He replied rather forlornly. Was… he crying? It didn't really suit him, and the worst part of it all was that I didn't know why this guy's reply had such an impact on him. "Olette... tomorrow, I'll tell you everything."
Seven Days Left.
