Lucky Number Seven
Chapter 14
Struggling
"A Struggle Tournament?"
"That's right!"
Hayner proudly held up a sheet of paper before his seven friends. Kairi took it and read the paper out loud.
STRUGGLE TOURNAMENT!
Come one, come all to this year's Struggle Tournament!
Date: Saturday, August 9th
Place: Destiny Islands' Sandlot
Time: 3PM-5PM
All are welcomed to cheer for the contestants, and all are welcomed to participate in the tournament.
Hope to see you there!
"Guess who'll be joining this year?" Hayner asked, grinning.
"Me," Vanitas said flatly.
The blond glared at him. "You better not."
"I'm kidding. Geez, calm down. You're obviously gonna join. Yay, hooray. Go Hayner."
"You're a jerk." Vanitas rolled his eyes.
"Oh, I remember those!" Roxas exclaimed. "Man, those tournaments were always such a huge deal back in Twilight Town."
"Roxas and I once went one-on-one. Everyone got so confused," Ventus laughed.
"You guys Struggle?" Hayner asked.
"We just said it, you absolute walnut," the twins said at the same time. "There's also Riku. And Sora. And apparently Axel, too."
"You can teach me!" the blond exclaimed. "You all can!"
"No," Riku, Sora, Axel and the twins said.
"What? Why not?" Hayner frowned, offended.
"You always leave the dishes in the sink without washing them," Riku said.
"I haven't Struggled in years, so I don't think I'd be much help," Sora shrugged.
"You're a meanie," Axel crossed his arms childishly.
"We don't feel like it," the Uchiyama brothers said bluntly.
Hayner fell to his knees and bowed over and over. "Guys, come on, please! I'm begging on my knees, here; literally!"
"Holy crap, I seriously wasn't expecting that," Kairi commented as she watched him bow nonstop.
Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps filled the room and someone came stomping down the stairs.
"Oh, that must be Shiki," Sora said.
"Oh, I actually forgot she was ever here," Vanitas said in a monotone.
Instead of a long-haired redhead to come running down the stairs and walking into the living room, it was a bespectacled black-haired girl.
"Did someone call for me?" she asked.
Everyone in the room just stared at her in silence, when all of a sudden, Axel screamed. The rest of the group started screaming as well, pointing fingers or throwing couch cushions at the impostor.
"WHO ARE YOU?!"
"XION, HOW DID YOU EVEN GET IN HERE?!"
"GET OUT!"
"WHA- HEY! STOP! GUYS," she narrowly dodged a pillow. "IT'S ME, SHIKI."
"…NO WAY," Axel said, dropping the cushion he held in his hands. "Your hair…"
"Yeah… this is actually how I really am," she smiled. "Glasses and short, black hair. I got rid of my contacts, and I missed having this haircut, so…" she rubbed her arm, looking away.
"I like your new look," Sora smiled. "It's more like you. This is the Shiki I know."
Shiki blushed. Sora was so kind, she thought. Even after all the things she had done to him, he still showed her kindness even when she did not deserve it. How could she get over him if he kept being this way?
Her thoughts were quickly interrupted when she saw Hayner bowing down to Riku, Sora, Axel, Roxas and Ventus.
"What's going on here?" she asked Kairi. The redhead simply ignored her. She did not want to talk to her at the moment. Shiki frowned at this. She thought about asking Vanitas, but he, too, would not respond. She was not surprised. She deserved this.
"All right, fine," Axel said, growing tired of the desperate blond at his feet. Hayner nearly jumped for joy, when… "But on one condition." Hayner's smile faded almost instantly.
"Make that four conditions," Roxas and Ventus said, crossing their arms. He gave Riku, Axel and Sora a look, and they all understood right away. "First one, you will address to each one of us as Master during all of training."
"Excuse me?" Hayner made a face. "No way am I gonna-"
"Ahem."
"Yes, Master."
"Good."
"Second, you have to do the dishes until we leave this place," Riku said.
Hayner looked like he was going to cry, "Y-yes, Master."
"Third… uh… can you get me an Arizona?" Sora smiled sheepishly. "I really don't have any rules to give you or anything."
"I love you, Sora," Hayner said with tears in his eyes.
"Last, admit that Tifa's better than Lightning," Axel grinned triumphantly.
"Oh, hell no," was Hayner's reply.
"Sucks to be you, guess none of us will be teaching you our tricks and combos," the redhead shrugged as he and the rest started walking away.
"Wait!" Axel smiled evilly and faced the blond. "F-fine."
Axel took out his phone, touched the Camera app, then touched the Record button. "Say it."
"T-Tifa…"
"Hurry up, I don't have all day."
"…Tifa is better than Lightning!" Hayner said it so fast that it was hardly understandable.
"I have no idea what you just said. Say it again!"
"NO."
"I see how it is. Well, bye-"
"TIFA IS BETTER THAN LIGHTNING. THERE, I SAID IT. I HATE YOU."
Axel touched the Stop button, slid his phone in his pocket and held his hand out for Hayner to shake.
"Training starts now. I hope you're ready."
They boys spent the next few days preparing Hayner for the Struggle Tournament. They only had five days to help him train, and none of them wanted to lose any time at all.
"You do it like this," Axel demonstrated a swift attack with the Struggle bat. "Got it memorized?"
"I hope so…" Hayner muttered as he grabbed the bat. He imitated Axel's attack, hoping that he did it well. "…Like that?"
"Yeah, just like that! Good job, man!"
The blond smiled and was very proud of himself for finally getting it right after failing more than five times. He then learned a few other tricks from Riku, who was really patient and kind, to say the least. The silver-haired boy taught him a few tricks on how to dodge an attack; lessons with Riku were more about evasion.
"No, no, not like that. Here, I'll show you," Riku said. He was teaching Hayner how to Dodge Roll, which were really useful in Struggle Tournaments.
The twins taught Hayner a few things about defense and agility. They taught him how to block and how to make quick, powerful strikes.
"Don't you listen? It goes like this," Ventus said as he demonstrated how to make a proper blocking pose. "If you do it how you usually do, you could end up twisting your ankle or falling backwards."
"And you're much too slow when doing the Quick Blitz. It's called the Quick Blitz for a reason," Roxas said. "I'll do it again, just for you."
And finally, Sora taught him a powerful, finishing attack that never failed, according to him.
"It's called the Guard Break. It does what it's called; it breaks through your opponent's guard, meaning that they can't do anything to dodge or block it," Sora said once he finished showing Hayner how to do it a tenth time. "Try it again."
The blond did so, and failed once again. He spent almost the whole afternoon trying to master it because if he did, then there would be no way he would lose.
"I'LL GET IT THIS TIME!" Hayner screamed as he did it. He expected to hear an exasperated sign, followed by a "Don't give up. Try again!"
But all he heard was Sora cheering and exclaiming, "You did it!"
"R-REALLY?" Hayner yelled. He then started jumping and dancing around when Sora nodded at him. "I DID IT! I'M SO HAPPY! I CAN'T THANK YOU ALL ENOUGH!"
"You can thank us by getting some milk," Riku said, poking his head out the backyard door. "We're out."
"Sure, anything for you guys!" Hayner exclaimed and ran to the front. He threw his shoes on. "I'll be back in a bit, so don't wait up!"
He walked to the nearest corner shop to get the milk. No way was he going to walk halfway across the town to get to the grocery store.
"Milk… milk… Ah, here we are," Hayner said to himself as he picked up two cartons of milk.
"Well, well, well," Hayner's eyes widened. He recognized the voice. He turned his head and gasped. "If it isn't the chicken wuss himself. Haymer, right?"
"Hayner," he said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, my bad," he snickered. "Have you heard of the Struggle Tournament this Saturday?"
"What about it?"
"I'm looking forward to going against you. I'd love to humiliate you a second time."
"You'll be the one to get humiliated."
Seifer cackled, "You beating me? Right."
"I trained really hard for this. You won't be expecting it. I'm gonna beat you."
"Oh, shut up. You'll never beat me. You'll be the first one out, as always. Just face it; you'll always be last place."
That last phrase really affected Hayner. He felt his stomach churn, and his whole body shake with rage. He brushed right past Seifer, paid for the milk, then left for the Penthouse. Seifer words echoed in his mind the whole way home.
It was the night before the tournament, and Hayner found himself just lying in bed, unable to fall asleep. He kept thinking about the Struggle Tournament, thinking negatively and putting himself down. After his encounter with Seifer earlier, all confidence he had in himself disappeared. He thought about the other contestants, already thinking that he was going to lose, that he was no match for them. He walked out of his room, and made his way to the kitchen to have a few cookies and a glass of milk. Maybe that could help him clear his mind.
"Can't sleep, huh?" a voice asked. Hayner turned around to find Kairi sitting on the dining table by herself with a cup of hot chocolate and a bag of mini marshmallows.
"Why can't you sleep?" he asked, pouring some milk into a glass.
Kairi shrugged, "I don't know. It's just one of those days. You?"
"I'm a bit scared for tomorrow," he said honestly. He drank the whole glass in one gulp, then placed it in the sink. "I don't think I'll win."
"Huh, and I thought you were starting to get over your inferiority complex," she smiled down at her drink, stirring it with a spoon. She took a few marshmallows from the bag and dropped a few in her drink. She then popped the rest in her mouth. "You'll do fine, man. Calm yourself."
"How can I be calm, Kaito?!"
"Kairi."
"WHATEVER," he snapped.
"Hey, quiet down. You'll wake everyone up."
"I don't care! I need to get this off my chest!" he cried. "I'm gonna lose. I'm gonna fricking lose. How do I know this? Because people who have had more experience in Struggling are gonna participate in tomorrow's tournament, and I'm absolutely no match for them. They've probably been practicing for months, while I've only been practicing for no more than five days. It's hopeless. I'm hopeless. I'm not gonna participate. Screw it."
"Hey, Hayner. Come here," Kairi said in the calmest voice. She sounded so sweet and innocent; Hayner felt like he was forced to obey her orders.
Unexpectedly, she threw her hot chocolate in his face.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" he yelled, wiping the liquid off his face with his sleeve.
"For being an idiot and for saying stupid things," she growled. "Augh, how can you say that?! Riku, Sora, Axel and the twins have done all they can to teach you their tricks and combos, and this is how you repay them?! By bringing yourself down?! By quitting?!"
Hayner's eyes widened at her sudden outburst. She sure had a short temper. "Kairi, I-"
"Listen here, dimwit," she said the last word with much harshness in her voice. "I believe in you. We all do. So don't you dare, don't you even think about giving up, got that?"
Hayner felt like he was going to cry right at that moment, how cheesy and embarrassing as that sounded. No one had ever said that to him. No one had ever encouraged him or had so much faith in him before. It made him feel so happy.
The blond watched as his therapist stood up and left the room, taking the bag of marshmallows along with her.
"Thanks, Kairi."
"Yeah, yeah."
"A lot."
Silence.
"If you think for one second that I'm gonna do the dishes, you're dead wrong."
Hayner groaned.
"HAYNER, YOU BETTER WIN FIRST PLACE OR GO FIND YOURSELF SOME OTHER PLACE TO SLEEP TONIGHT."
"AXEL, SHUT THE HELL UP, THAT COULD BE EASILY MISUNDERSTOOD."
The Penthouse family plus Shiki all stood in front of a large stadium, each getting ready to cheer for their friend. Hayner had been practicing for days; they were all confident that he was going to win first place. They could not wait to see all his hard work pay off. They could not wait to see how happy he would be if he were to win. Most of all, they could not wait to see him heal, even if only a little bit.
Once the whole lot became crowded with people, the announcer made his way to the middle of the stadium with a microphone in his hand.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to this year's Struggle Tournament!" he yelled as everyone cheered. Kairi and her patients were especially loud, much to Shiki and Hayner's embarrassment. "Who will win and bring home the grand prize? Will it be Seifer, last year's Struggle champion? Yuffie, the Great Ninja from Radiant Garden? Hayner, the competitive underdog? Or perhaps Vaan, this year's new struggler? You'll all see by the end of the tournament!" After a few encouraging words and thumbs up the crew gave to Hayner, the blond made his way to the board.
There, the man hosting the tournament explained the rules and the order of the matches to all of the contestants. When he was finished, Hayner jumped off the stage to join his group of friends.
"I'm up against this kid named Vaan first," he said upon his return.
"Vaan? Hey, isn't he-" Roxas began, but was cut off by Axel's screaming.
"HE'S THE ONE WHO STOLE VANITAS' TITLE AS FIRST PLACE WINNER AT THE DISTANT WORLDS CONCERT," the redhead screamed. "HAYNER, CRUSH HIM. DON'T LET HIM STEAL THE TITLE A SECOND TIME. I AM BOILING WITH RAGE RIGHT NOW."
Kairi smacked the back of his head. "Shut up this instant. People are staring."
"Our first match of the day is between Hayner and Vaan!" the announcer exclaimed. Both jumped onto the stadium and faced each other.
"Uh, g-good luck," the new contestant said. He held out his hand for Hayner to shake, "May the best Struggler win."
It took all of Hayner's will to resist replying with, "I plan to."
He began, "Yeah, good lu-"
"CURSH HIM! CRUSH HIM!" Axel screamed at the top of his lungs. Kairi slapped her forehead.
Hayner turned red in embarrassment, "Good luck to you, too." Kairi smiled at this; she truly was expecting a sarcastic comment to escape from Hayner's mouth.
Once the orbs were handed out, Hayner waved his struggle bat around while Vaan just stood in place, shaking nervously. "Ready… Set… Struggle!"
Hayner made the first attack, surprising Vaan and causing him to ten red orbs. Vaan then decided to make a combo his sister taught him, which made Hayner drop ten orbs as well. The blonde fell, though quickly got to his feet to retrieve his fallen orbs. He was able to get not more than four back. Vaan sent swung his bat, but Hayner blocked it by making a defense pose Ventus taught him. The older Uchiyama grinned when he saw this. However, Vaan made a powerful attack that Hayner was unable to block, and the group all watched in shock as Hayner fell to the ground, dropping many orbs.
Axel gasped loudly and over-exaggeratedly. "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT LOSING, YOU-" Slap! "…Go Hayner! You can do it!"
"YEAH, COME ON, YOU CAN'T GIVE UP NOW!" Sora cheered, cupping his hands around his mouth.
Hayner looked at his friends, his number one fans, and hated seeing them all upset. He did not want to let them down. With a sudden burst of energy, Hayner jumped up and sprinted towards his opponent. He tightened his grip on his struggle bat and attacked Vaan several times, and managed to dodge his every attack while performing the Dodge Roll; Riku smiled at this. Vaan fell backwards, along with thirty orbs, possibly more. Hayner picked up every orb while the poor boy was still struggling to get on his feet.
There were but ten seconds left, and Vaan just laid face down, accepting defeat. There was no way he could win now.
"The winner is… Hayner! He was the first to go last year, but now, he's in the top three! Such amazing improvement!" Hayner then made a victory pose as the crowd cheered, but his group of friends just looked away.
"That was so embarrassing," Vanitas said, facepalming.
"It was completely unnecessary," the twins said in unison.
"Is he still doing it?" Kairi asked. She turned her head a bit to check, then immediately turned it back around. "Oh my gosh, he's still doing it. Someone tell him to stop."
Hayner eventually stopped and walked over to Vaan.
He held out his hand for him to take. "You were a good opponent," he smiled. The silver-haired boy took his hand and when he got to his feet, he dusted himself.
"You, too. Ah man, my sister's gonna be really upset with me," he frowned.
"Hey, don't worry, there's always next year, right?"
"Right. Hope to go against you again next year!" Vaan exclaimed as he jumped off the stage and joined his sister. Hayner joined his group of friends and they each high-fived him.
"Now for the second match of the day; Seifer versus Yuffie!" the announcer said. Both contestants hopped onto the stadium and took their places. Seifer kept a calm composure, while Yuffie was jumping in place and shadow-boxing.
"Get ready to face defeat!" she exclaimed, twirling her Struggle bat in her hand. The silver-haired struggler scoffed. As if he'd lose to her.
The man walked up to the two and said, "Good luck, you two." He each gave them a bag filled with one hundred orbs. Setzer was given red orbs, and Yuffie was given blue ones.
"Ready… Set…" Both contestants flashed each other an evil smile. "Struggle!" the man yelled, along with the crowd.
Yuffie immediately dove forward to hit the blonde, though Seifer dodged the attack by jumping backwards. She sent many more attacks, with Seifer dodging each one of them. When the ninja ran out of breath, Seifer took this to his advantage by making a swift combo attack. Yuffie dropped exactly fifteen orbs, in which her opponent snatched from the ground. However, while Seifer was busy picking up the orbs, Yuffie flipped in mid-air and hit him with so much force, making him drop twenty orbs. The crowd watched in awe.
"I don't think he's ever heard of the phrase watch your back," Vanitas said bluntly.
With no more than thirty seconds left on the clock, Seifer quickly got to his feet and made a battle cry, and attacked Yuffie with much agility and strength. His attacks were so powerful that the ninja dropped about thirty orbs. Quickly snatching them, with twenty more seconds on the clock, Seifer prepared to make the final blow, but he was certainly not prepared for what came next. The crowd gasped as they watched Yuffie roughhouse kick him in the face. He dropped too many orbs to count. She then yelled about not wanting to lose to such a poopface and used up the rest of her energy to send special, powerful attacks she claimed to have learned back in Wutai. She grabbed the fallen orbs while Seifer lied on the ground, holding his face and crying out in pain.
"Time's up!" the man walked over to the great ninja and made an x with both of his arms. "Yuffie Kisaragi, you are disqualified. The winner of this round: Seifer Almasy!"
"WHAT?!" the black-haired girl screeched, dropping her bat in shock. "WHY?!"
"You are only allowed to use your Struggle bat to attack. You are not allowed to punch or kick."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I WASN'T ALLOWED TO KICK? I DIDN'T KNOW."
"Miss, I said it earlier, when I was explaining the rules of the tournament and everything."
Seifer was accompanied off the stage by Rai and Fuu. The announcer approached him and seemed to have asked a question. Seifer nodded.
The man held up the microphone to his face once more, "Seifer will still be Struggling! Let's all have a short break before the final match to give him some time to recover."
Yuffie jumped off the stage, scowling, and ran over to a tall brunet with a scar on his forehead.
"Oh yeah, you sure won first place," he smirked.
"Shut up, Squallie. You're mean," she pouted.
He glared, "It's Leon. How many times do I have to tell you?"
Back with the group, Hayner looked down, his shoulders slumped. "Oh man, I was hoping that Seifer was gonna lose…" he said in a quiet voice. "I'm a bit nervous now. What if I lose?"
"I'm sure you'll do great," Riku said encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll beat him."
"Thanks, but I don't think so. He's a lot more experienced than I am; I have no chance at-"
"KAIRI PUNCH!" the redhead cried as she punched Hayner square in the face. The blond stumbled backwards. "I DON'T WANNA HEAR YOUR WHINY ASS CRY ABOUT HOW YOU CAN'T BEAT HIM. BE CONFIDENT. MAN, YOU'RE SO ANNOYING. WANT ME TO CHEER FOR SEIFER INSTEAD?"
"N-no…"
"THEN SHUT. UP," she crossed her arms. "You're a great Struggler. I hate how you bring yourself down so easily."
"The match will begin very soon. Both finalists, please get on stage now," the announcer said.
"Here goes nothing…" Hayner gulped. He suddenly felt all his confidence vanish when he saw his opponent walk on stage. Noticing this, Sora placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"You'll do great. Don't worry about it. Just give it your all. Don't you dare give up halfway in or Kairi's gonna punch you a second time," Sora said. "Good luck, Hayner."
"Now, it's the battle we've all been waiting for! The two champions from today's battles; Seifer and Hayner!" Once the orbs were distributed, the man patted both their shoulders.
"Keep it clean, boys," he said before leaving.
"Ready to lose a second time, chicken wuss?" Seifer smirked.
"Don't listen to that idiot, just focus on beating him!" Ventus screamed.
"Ready…" Hayner's grip on the bat tightened. "Set…" Seifer grinned evilly. "Struggle!"
Neither Hayner nor Seifer made the first attack. After watching his enemy's previous fight, Hayner knew exactly what he was going to do. Hayner pretended to send an attack, making Seifer automatically jump backwards. He did it once more, making Seifer jump again, but while he was in mid-air, Hayner hit his stomach using Roxas' Quick Blitz attack. Roxas watched from the crowd proudly. Blue orbs fell as Hayner picked each one of them up. Seifer clutched his stomach, but this only gave him more determination. He angrily sent a series of attacks and a finishing combo, making Hayner drop many orbs. Seifer then made a powerful attack and the crowd all watched as Hayner fell to the ground, dropping many more. Hayner tried lifting himself up, but failed the first try. The group watched in horror as Seifer slowly made his way towards Hayner, presumably ready to give one final blow.
"Go Hayner! It doesn't matter! You can get them back!" a familiar voice yelled. Hayner frantically looked around the lot to try to look for the person the voice belonged to, when he noticed someone standing a little farther away from the crowd of people. His jaw fell open in shock.
Olette.
"You can do it," she mouthed to him.
"It's over now, chicken wuss," Seifer laughed darkly. However, before the bat could even come in contact with him, Hayner rolled over to the side, surprising Seifer and the crowd.
Hayner swiftly got to his feet and sprinted towards his opponent. He raised his bat up in the air and performed Sora's famous Guard Break combo. Hayner put all of his strength into this one attack, thoughts of his friends filling his mind.
"You do it like this. Got it memorized?"
"No, no, not like that. Here, I'll show you."
"Don't you listen? It goes like this."
"I'll do it again, just for you."
"You did it!"
"Yeah! Just like that! Good job, man!"
"I believe in you. We all do."
"The winner of this year's Struggle Tournament… HAYNER!"
The crowd cheered loudly, but Hayner's group of friends were the ones who were cheering the loudest. They all ran onto the podium and tackled the blond to the ground.
"WE KNEW YOU'D WIN!" Axel exclaimed, ruffling his hair.
"Hmph. You just got lucky," Seifer said. The crew fell silent. Kairi and Vanitas were getting ready to give him a piece of their mind, but were both stopped by Riku, who gave them both a pleading look. Hayner decided to give him a piece of his mind instead.
"Better luck next year, chicken wuss!" Hayner suddenly yelled, making his friends erupt in laughter. Seifer scowled and left with Rai and Fuu.
When Kairi and her patients released him from their group hug, a Struggle trophy was handed to him. It was a dark blue, abstract trophy which held four colored crystals: blue, red, green and yellow.
The group all congratulated him, and Axel suggested they all celebrate by ordering some takeout and watching movies and playing games all night. It sounded like a good idea to everyone, so they started in the direction of home. While everyone was arguing over which restaurant to order from, Hayner looked around the lot and spotted the person he was looking for. Kairi noticed him and followed his gaze, and smiled when she saw who he was looking at.
"We should get going before the restaurants get all filled up. I'm not in the mood to wait like fifty minutes for the food again," Vanitas said.
"Hey, guys?" the celebrant himself said. "Go on without me. I'll catch up."
"You were great today," Olette said as she walked along the sandy beach with her best friend by her side. It was painfully cheesy.
Hayner felt his ears get hot. "Huh? O-oh. Thanks. I worked really hard."
"I'm glad it paid off. The look on Seifer's face after he lost was priceless."
"Yeah…"
Neither of them talked for a while afterwards. The couple just walked around the beach in silence, watching as the sky gradually became darker and darker.
"Hayner," Olette suddenly said.
"Hm?"
"I'm moving back to Twilight Town."
"Oh, really?" he said a little too happily.
She nodded with the biggest smile on her face, "Studying in Traverse Town made me realize just how much I miss you… a-and Pence."
They left the sandy area, and soon found themselves walking down the sleepy neighborhoods of Destiny Islands. They soon faced a fork in the road. Before separating, they shared a few last words.
"When will you be moving back?" Hayner asked.
She replied, "This weekend. I'm leaving tomorrow for Traverse Town to pick up my stuff."
"I see," Hayner's face fell. "Well, be careful."
"I always am." She checked her orange watch for the time. "I should be going. It was nice seeing you again. It really, really was."
She smiled up at him, and Hayner felt his knees growing weak. When did she get so pretty?
"Y-yeah, you, too. See you in Twilight Town," he said, turning around. He started walking in the direction of the Penthouse, when Olette suddenly grabbed hold of his hand. She stood on her tippy-toes and gave him a peck on the cheek. The blond just stared at her in shock, his face all red.
"I'll be waiting for you, Hayner."
She then turned around and ran off in the other direction, leaving a blushing blond behind.
"YES, CHINESE FOOD IS THE BEST," Axel and Sora cheered as they brought in the bags of food they bought from the Land of Dragons.
"I can't wait to eat. That place has the best pot stickers," Kairi said, licking her lips.
Shiki did not say a word and headed straight for the stairs.
Sora noticed her leaving, and when she was halfway up the stairs, he called out to her, "Hey, Shiki!"
She stopped and turned her head to look down at him. "Yeah?" Everyone had their attention on her now.
"Don't you wanna join us for dinner?"
"No, it's fine. I'm not hungry, and I'm really tired, I think I'll just go on ahead and sleep," she faked a smile. "Good night, everyone." Lazy, rude versions of "good night" followed; Sora was the only to give her a kind, polite one. Immediately after, they all turned around and walked over to the dinner table, each excited to eat.
Shiki sat on her bed, recalling what happened after the Struggle Tournament. She did not join in their group hug nor did she jump on stage to congratulate the winner. She just watched as they all cheered for Hayner, each looking their happiest. It made her realize just how different she was from them all. She did not fit in at all. She was ignored, forgotten.
Lonely.
She thought about everything that happened during her visit. Reuniting with Sora, meeting the boys, finding out who this real "Kaito" person was, and chopping off her locks were the highlights of her stay. But the whole he was here, not once did anyone come up to her and show her some form of kindness besides Sora.
She was not welcomed here.
She did not blame anyone though. She really did not deserve to be treated kindly after what she did to Sora and Kairi in the past.
Sighing, she stood up and opened up her suitcase.
Maybe it was finally time for her to go.
A/N: I'M BACK! SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!
I've been so busy. College is no fun at all. I have so much homework every night and so many projects and exams and ugh. Hopefully, I don't take too long to update again. Please forgive me. ;A;
Another reason why I updated so late is because of the movie BIG HERO 6. WHO HAS SEEN IT? IF YOU HAVEN'T YET, GO WATCH IT. I LOVE THAT MOVIE SO MUCH. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I'VE SEEN IT FIVE TIMES IN THEATRES. YEAH. DON'T EVER BE LIKE ME. (And if you've seen it, I wrote three fanfics on the movie, please check them out if you have time! :D)
Argh. You can practically feel the laziness in this chapter. I'm sorry. ;A; Hope you still enjoyed Hayner's chapter!
Please kindly leave a review! And thanks to all of you for sticking with this story for so long! :)