Part 14
Three months later, Yuki sat on a small ship heading to fuck knows where.
She'd missed this part of scouting. The excitement, being the first person on the scene. And she was no Hideaki, but it was good to be the ones to solve a mystery.
With the heavy thump of steps, Kanta came up to her. He handed her a letter.
"This jus' came in from the West."
She grabbed it and cracked the seal open.
"From Leiko, I assume," she mused.
That wasn't her handwriting, though. This one was more square, less flowing - it looked like someone had fussed over the words with the way the ink bloated at the beginning of letters.
Yuki exhaled a chuckle around the lump in her throat.
"Do you remember the last time Hana sent me a letter?"
Kanta spoke around a cigarette.
"I dunno. Do I?"
He'd answered a rhetorical question and he knew it by the way Yuki ignored him, eyes running along the words left there by her silent lover. She read like she'd found the writings of a god, the answers to all of the universe's questions.
"She don't deserve you," he exhaled.
She dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand.
"We've been over this."
He pursed his lips and took a drag of his cigarette. Yuki didn't complete the thought as her pupils jumped around the page. He saw them meet the bottom right corner; she sucked her cheeks in slightly and folded the letter back.
"She's much better than you think."
"Look, doll," Kanta blew smoke away from her face, "I've heard that line from ya before."
She narrowed her eyes at him, clearly slighted.
"This isn't the same thing at all. I was young and stupid, then. And I've learned, Kanta."
He shrugged.
"All I'm seein' is she's hurtin' you and you keep goin' back - and you've been doin' it for a while."
Yuki waved the letter around in exasperation, to keep herself mindful of her movements.
"Have you – have you not paid attention these past three months? I literally broke up with her, and then when she offered me the most commitment she's ever given anyone in her entire life, I didn't go back. I don't know what you want. You're being overprotective and shortsighted."
Kanta scoffed a cloud of smoke, and Yuki waved it away from herself.
"And she, at least, stopped smoking in my presence after I told her I hated it."
"That alone don't make her good for you."
Yuki made a face.
"There isn't just that. Also, we're literally not together anymore."
Kanta crossed his arms over his chest. He was watching the horizon, his eyes fixed on a point they'd never reach.
"But you wish you were," he said.
He heard Yuki sigh quietly. He guessed her sucking her cheeks in a little bit more, chewing on their insides.
"Of course I wish we were."
She paused.
"But we're not. Even though we could. I turned her down, twice, after she showed me affection the way she's never done before. So don't give me that shit."
She slapped his arm and he turned his head to look at her. Yuki gestured to the letter, her gaze lingering on the paper somewhat tenderly.
"And she's making efforts. It might not look like much, but I know how much she must've fussed over this."
A smile peeked at the corners of her lips.
"She probably wrote it, threw it away, and rewrote it dozens of time," she mumbled to herself.
Kanta took a drag off his cigarette, and blew it away from her. Smoke mixed with clouds, in the sky far from where they could ever reach.
"The way you talk about her," he said, then paused. "She don't deserve you."
"Don't be like that. She's better than you think. She's better than she thinks."
He crushed the cigarette on the boat's banister under Yuki's disapproval. He got up, stretching old muscles, and started walking away.
"People can surprise you. Badly," he mused.
She held the letter a bit tighter.
"And they can get better and surprise me pleasantly, too."
He walked away.
"She can do this!" Yuki insisted. "I believe in her!"
Kanta stopped. He turned around to face her, features hardened.
"You talk like this don't involve you. This ain't one of those romance books you love so much!"
And Yuki clutched the letter, a piece of her heart missing for seven years.
"It does involve me," she resolved, "and that's why I know she's doing her best. And that's much more than she's given me these past seven years. And don't," he tried to interrupt – "don't pretend like the seven years of hurt make this worthless! They don't. Hana isn't Hisae: she was never even close! This is different, and I'll prove it – no, she will!"
Kanta fell back on silence. He stopped in his tracks, and crossed his arms over his chest.
"You sound like a lovesick teenager."
If there was something Yuki gave up in that moment, it was her pride; she held the letter and stared into him.
"Maybe. I don't care! There's a lot Hana did wrong, but I won't take away what she's doing right just because of that."
He stared at her, dubitative, but she didn't falter. Like a storm, a blizzard; unwilling to obey the laws of common sense or the pleas of the reasonable.
Kanta sighed.
"Fine. Do whatcha want. But I won't be 'round to pick up the pieces."
"Stop acting like I'm making a mistake. There isn't gonna be any pieces to pick up."
"Hana!"
The same, pipe between her teeth, turned her head to face Leiko. The Hammer wielder held a piece of paper, which she waved around a bit.
"It's the Guild. We're heading to Melagrumes."
There was a spark in Hana's eyes - Leiko's smirk exploded on her face.
"That's where Yuki is, right?"
"Yeah."
The smile didn't leave Leiko's face, and Hana took a drag off her pipe to pretend she didn't realize why.
"Any news, then?" the Hammer wielder inquired.
"None of your concern."
"What, y'all don't talk work when you write to each other?"
Hana took a drag and rolled her eyes.
"No."
"Huh," Leiko smirked.
There was a moment of silence while Hana clacked her teeth against her pipe.
"You're a bit insufferable," she deadpanned.
Leiko started retracting back to where she came from, shaking the Guild's letter at Hana as goodbye.
"Fine, fine. I'll leave you be."
She stopped.
"But, uh. For what it's worth... I'm proud of you for making the effort."
Hana clenched her teeth slightly on the pipe. She waved Leiko off.
"Yeah, yeah."