Into the Light- New Connections

by SirGalactica

This story is a continuation of my previous story, Into the Light- Echoes of the Past. All characters and game mechanics that aren't my own and belong to the Splatoon game(s) and or other iterations, will belong to Nintendo and other properties. This has been given a high rating of M, due to the mentions of sensitive topics and occasional use of bad language. You have been warned.

10. Chapter 3, Part 2

Into the Light- New Connections

'Maki, are you ok?'

As our main character spends time with his friends- both new and old, he tries to have a nice time out even if everything doesn't go to plan. Will it get sorted out in the end? And what about his old friend and her past- will it have an effect on her first day out?

I don't believe there are any trigger warnings I need to include in this chapter, however as always- viewer discretion is advised. Please remember to take care of your mental/physical health and wellbeing everyone!

Chapter 3, Part 2:

After your old friend had completed her 2 weeks of quarantine in the house of your Auntie Castella, and Uncle Oleander- or Ollie for short. It was decided that she was to be adopted by them and become part of the family after some consideration, especially since Uncle Oleander had become rather fond of her and couldn't stand the thought of her going into another family.

So with the news of her becoming your cousin, your older sister was ecstatic and began to talk to her as often as she could and you had done the same. Whilst you more excited to see your friend go into a good home where she would be loved and cared for, Sunny was more interested in spoiling her with new clothes and showing her magazines with fashion and makeup in them.

In fact, just before her two week quarantine ended- you had delivered a large amount of clothes and some shoes to your cousin to look at and try on before she had her first day out when her quarantine had ended.

For she was going to a theme park called Wahoo World with you and your friends, upon their request so that she could meet them and make some friends. They hadn't seen any photos of her at all and so they were all looking forward to meeting her for the first time after all of the things they had heard about her from you.

Your cousin had been rather nervous this morning, and she had been fiddling at the sleeves of a light pink bomber jacket Sunny had bought for her. She had chosen an outfit that she had deemed 'cute', and you reassured her that the other would think that she looked lovely- underneath her jacket was a soft white t-shirt and a light clue tennis skirt, that was paired with white sports socks and black and white shoes.

Her hair was styled in a ponytail, with some of her hair being used to frame her face. Overall, you thought she looked as cute as a button, and your older sister and other family members agreed with you.

She only had a notebook and pencil with since any money that she was given was put into your wallet to be looked after by you, you had your bag with you and so she didn't necessarily need to bring a bag since she had very little items with her.

You saw your friends approaching in the distance, and you had waved them over. Your cousin had panicked slightly when she saw how many people there was, and hid behind you when they got closer to the two of you.

Your friends had greeted you warmly but were slightly confused when they couldn't see your cousin with you, when she peeked out behind you to see how many people were there- most of your friends except for Tsuyo began to freak out.

Everyone had yelled out a variation of, 'What the- she's tiny!' or 'She's so cute! Look at her- she's adorable!' Tsuyo told them off for scaring her, and reassured her that the others were just excited to see her in person for the first time. You thanked her and cleared your throat before introducing your cousin to almost everyone.

'Thank you Tsuyo, ahem… Everyone! I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine- Miss Fujimori, or rather Miss Makioka now considering the fact that you're going to be my cousin soon once all of the legal things get sorted out.'

She wrote on her notebook in Inklish, 'It's so nice to meet you!' Showing it to the others in a way so that they could all see it, to which the others said that they were glad to meet her as well. You remembered something that you had left out, and brought it up before you forgot it entirely. 'Oh, I almost forgot to mention- she doesn't have a first name.'

The others were confused, but your cousin explained briefly but sombrely why. 'It's true, I was never given one- my brother was meant to be the one to give me a name, but well- that can't happen now…'

You could tell that the subject of her brother was still rather painful for her, and so you moved on to introduce your friends one by one. Including two of the people that were absent up until now. 'Uhm- anyway! Makioka, meet my new friends. Tsuyo; Chandler; Connor; Josh; Leah and Brianna- oh and there's Ruby and Brianna now. Hello you two, this is my soon-to-be cousin Miss Makioka.'

Ruby and Chrys ran up to be with the rest of the others and apologized for being late, saying hello to everyone and your cousin. Greeting her kindly and introducing themselves. Your cousin had introduced herself with her last name and Chrys asked confusedly. 'Makioka? Why refer to yourself by your last name?'

She explained that she didn't have a last name yet via her notebook, and Ruby explained somewhat awkwardly why both her and Chrys were late. 'I see- that's probably what we missed, let's just say Chrys had a phone call to deal with and that's the reason why we're late…' Connor inquired politely after a minute or two of silence. 'Should we ask?' To which Chrys responded with a blunt, 'No.'

You could tell by her tone of voice that she wasn't happy in the slightest, because of whatever happened in the phone call she had taken earlier. You decided that it would be best to move on from that and so you changed the topic to something else. 'I see… Well, let's get going then. Shall we? We have an amusement park to see.'

The others agreed and you all began to head towards the bus stop which would allow you to head to Wahoo World in 30 minutes or so.

When you had all arrived at the amusement park after the 30 minute bus ride from the inner parts of the City to the Outskirts of it, you and Makioka were blown away at the large structure- the sheer size of all of the attractions; the flashing lights of signs drawing visitors in and the shrieks of joy were oddly fascinating to you, mostly since you had never been to such a place before- even in Turf War or Ranked Battles.

Maki wrote on her notebook with a surprised look on her face. 'Oh my! You know, I didn't expect it to be so big!' Before she could write anything else down though, Connor replied wittily. 'That's what she said.' Strangely enough, everyone yelled at him and told him off for saying such a thing- even though it only caused him to laugh even more than he was before.

A sharp slap to the back of his head shut him up quickly, and Ruby reassured you that she would keep Connor in check for the day. You thanked her and went to collect the tickets you had bought ahead of time from the ticket counter.

Your cousin had some trouble putting the paper wristband on since she wasn't used to such a thing, and so you ended up doing it for her when she gave up struggling with it after 3 minutes. You fixed it for her and she signed a quick but sheepish, 'Thank you.' Before you all entered the gates of the large amusement park.

When you got inside, your cousin took your hand into hers and the two of you wandered around with the others, going on various rides and playing many carnival games in an attempt to win some prizes. You ended up winning a decently-sized blue penguin teddy bear at one of the game stands, which you ended up giving away to your cousin since no one else was interested in getting the penguin.

As a joke, Ruby went over to the penny slot-machine in the arcade and put a few coins in to see if she'd get 10p out of it, and she ended up getting a prize bag that had £100 in it. You were all greatly surprised when this happened, and an arcade attendant that saw the whole thing went into the back and gave Ruby £50 on account of a bet the other workers had set up in the event of someone winning the prize bag from the penny slot-machine.

Ruby didn't want all of the money and so she had given £50 for Chrys so that it could go towards groceries or bills, and she gave £25 to her brother Josh with a reminder to not spend it all at once- keeping the rest of the money for herself.

Eventually you had all gotten hungry or thirsty and so you all went towards the 'food court' in order to get something to eat. You got Maki an ice cream and a water for yourself since you had brought some food and a water for your cousin; Tsuyo got herself a small plate of fries and a lemonade; Connor and Ruby shared a medium sized carton of churros; Leah got a hotdog for herself whilst Brianna got a burger with all the toppings on it; Josh bought slushies for himself and Chandler and Chrys got nothing for herself- insisting that she wasn't hungry and that she didn't want anything.

You bought her a bottle of water and a plain burger since you didn't know what she liked and thought it was best that you got her something simple since you didn't know what she liked and you didn't want her to go hungry.

After you all had something to eat, Leah; Brianna; Connor and Josh split from the group to go on a large roller-coaster called the Hell-Raiser whilst everyone else continued on looking for another ride.

The others had found it when they came across an equally large ride that went up and down at a fast rate, you felt dwarfed by its size and you were a bit nervous looking at it since you had never seen such a contraption before. "Inklings like this sort of thing? I can't understand why, but to each their own I guess…"

Maki had tapped you on the shoulder and wrote on her notebook, 'What is that?' You weren't sure how to answer her question, but you tried your best anyway- regardless of the fact that you had very little information on the ride itself. 'I have no clue if I'm honest, it looks like something that causes you to go up and down- I don't know the actual name of the type of ride it is, but apparently it's called the Death Drop and it looks like it's the next ride we're going on.'

Oddly enough, Maki seemed to be fascinated with the large machine and even looked excited to go on it, asking you to go on it via her notebook. You were a bit hesitant to go on the ride, but since you wanted to make her happy, you let her drag you to the line where you waited to get on.

Since Tsuyo didn't like heights and didn't want to go on the ride, she stayed behind and offered to look after everyone's belongings and take a video of you all going on the ride. When the ride was going up, you didn't think it was that bad- sure it was going up slowly, but you were sure that the nervous feeling in your stomach was just nerves.

When you were near the top, Ruby yelled out a quick but friendly, 'Hold on!' You heeded Ruby's warning to hold on and Maki did the same, as you were rather unprepared for the way that the ride went down as quick as a lightning bolt- you were down to the ground in a flash, a blink of the eye. Other people around you were screaming out of fear or excitement, your eyes remained as wide as dinner plates but Maki had looked thrilled.

When you were falling again- you noticed that Maki's hair was flying loose, and you realised that her hair bobble must've broke due to the force of going up and down so quickly. Once the ride was over, and everyone's legs weren't shaky anymore- you walked over to Tsuyo who was laughing heavily at something in her hand.

She held them to her chest and in between her giggles and tears of laughter, she managed to blurt out the equivalent of. 'When you were all recovering from being on the Death Drop, I went over to the Photo Collection Point and got these printed, you owe me £20 for these.' She handed you the photos and keeled over laughing, the others doing the same except for Maki who was interested in seeing them.

Your face was blank and your eyes were wide, the best way to describe you face was that you were caught by surprise and you were saying your last rites. Maki's face looked happy and excited- with Ruby and Chrys's faces looking similar in their own ways. Chandler's face was of a mix of fear and excitement- leaving your face to be a sharp contrast to the others.

When the others had calmed down, Chandler took a deep breath and revelled in the adrenaline rush he got from it- asking Maki what she thought of the ride. 'Man- I forgot how scary that ride was… It was fun though, what did you think of the ride Makioka? Did you like it?'

Tsuyo gave Maki her notebook and pencil back, and she hurriedly but neatly wrote on it. 'It was so fun! I want to go on it again!' You sighed and held a hand on your chest, telling her patiently. 'Well you can go on it again if you want Maki, I've had enough going up and down for one day…'

Chandler joked that you looked as if though you were going to have a heart attack or a fit of some kind if you were to go on that ride again today, which caused the others to laugh again and you laughed a bit weakly.

You had all heard a phone ringing and Chrys had quickly excused herself from the group and ran off without a word, her phone ringing loudly and a slight sense of unease was in the air around the others due to the fact that Chrys was late this morning because of a phone call.

Eventually you remembered that Maki's hair bobble had broken and you offered to fix it for her, Chandler's phone began to emit some kind of music-notification and he answered a video-call from Connor. He had said hello to everyone and when he saw you fixing Maki's hair, he commented on how long it was.

Whilst you were fixing it, you looked at the screen briefly and told him bluntly. 'Yes it is rather long, but why is it that you've called us Connor? You've gotten a bit side-tracked I believe.' Chandler had turned the call volume up slightly and gave you all a quick run-down of the situation.

'Right uh- Leah's fallen ill; Brianna's lost her wallet and Chrys is arguing with someone on the phone- I think it's her family or something. And Ruby is having a hard time looking after everyone and she needs some help. Specifically yours Hibiki, badly. We're near the rest-stop at the East-Side Pier, or near it actually. Anyway- can you hurry up and get here, Chrys's shouting is scaring me man!'

You told him that you were going to be on your way and when you had finished doing Maki's hair, all of you went towards the East-Side Pier with a somewhat reluctant Maki in tow.

When you had made it to the East-Side Pier, Connor waved you over and you could tell he was glad to see you when you were close enough to talk to him. 'Thank God you're here, I'm really sorry to do this to you but Brianna is at Josh's throat and I do not want to go over there.'

You looked around to see Brianna arguing with Josh- with Ruby trying to sort it out, and Chrys talking angrily to someone on the phone. Tsuyo had gone over to help Ruby deal with Brianna and Josh and Chandler had stayed with you and Makioka. 'Understandable, same with Chrys. How's Leah?'

Leah gave you all a weak wave and muttered a quiet, 'I'm fine, I've just thrown up all of the food I've eaten in the past day or two…' and she opened her eyes a bit more and noticed Maki's hair- which caused her to smile and fiddle with a strand of her hair when rambling a bit.

'Your hair is pretty like that, I wish mine was as naturally long as that but my hair would just get all knotty and tangled... ' Maki had nodded quickly, but the look of concern on her face confused you until you turned around and saw Maki on the verge of tears.

Your brotherly instincts flared up and alarm bells began to silently ring in your head as you knew that something was wrong. You approached her gently and went to hold your hand out to her- asking her in a mild but concerned voice. 'Maki, are you ok?'

Out of panic, she slapped your hand away and ran off- clutching her notebook to her chest but dropping her pencil and stuffed penguin in the process. You went to go after her shouting, 'Makioka! Come back- don't run off!' Chandler got your attention and picked up the items she had dropped, insisting that you look after the others whilst he went after her.

Although you were greatly worried, you trusted that Chandler would find her and bring her back. For now, you had other matters at hand- and you would have to push your worries about her to the back of your mind so that you could focus on the others, even though you would find that immensely hard to do.

You were sitting down and walking around- pacing back and forth and mixing between the two in the midst of helping everyone out, when you saw Chandler walking towards you with a sleeping Makioka on his back. You were relieved to see them that you ran slightly to meet up with them, and greet them. 'There you are, I was worried about the two of you.'

Chandler gave you a brief explanation of the situation as you both began to walk towards the others. 'Yeah, I caught up to her after a while and I calmed her down, I'll set her down near the others and we can talk in private if you'd like.'

The two of you walked over to a bench where Chandler had set Makioka down gently next to Chrys. He asked if you wanted to talk to him in private for a bit, and as much as you didn't want to admit it- you were more than happy to take up his offer. 'Sure, I suppose I could do with a short break- babysitting is hard work… Chrys, can you keep an eye on her for me please?'

She agreed wordlessly and waved you off, insisting that you go and take your leave. You thanked her and followed Chandler to the end of a pier five minutes or so away from the others, where you both sat down and looked out at the ocean- discussing what had happened.

Politely, you asked him what the conversation was going to start off with- and he laughed a bit awkwardly before he explained the situation as best as he could. 'Your cousin- well, soon-to-be cousin. She was upset earlier, the way that you fixed her hair reminded her of how her brother would do her hair for her, apparently she'd always do it wrong and he had to fix it for her.' You paused for a moment and sighed, letting out a quiet- 'I see…'

Chandler hesitated sharing the news with you, but you had cut him off before he finished. 'She lost her brother recently, something to do with-' You hadn't cut him off out of rudeness, but rather out of prior knowledge and a gut feeling.

'Test 40, The Metro. I know… I didn't mean anything by it- I suppose my brotherly instincts just kicked in, she reminds me a lot of my younger sister. I see her as a younger sister more than a cousin really, it's only fair that I become a brotherly figure for her- she never had any other family, you know? Her mother had died giving birth to her and her father- well, god knows where he is… They never had other family members and so her only family was her brother.'

He realised the gravity of the situation and he muttered a quiet, 'Jesus…' and began fidgeting with his hands to distract himself. You explained it to him as best as you could, with what little knowledge you had remembered previously and what she had told you again recently.

'He had to play the role of a parent for a while, but since my mother was a good woman- she helped him out. She trained him up and he began to work as a backup soldier- he also helped teach PE classes at a school for the daughters of the more influential members of Octarian society. This allowed him to get her into childcare so that he wasn't the only one looking after her all the time, sure he was busy but it was still a break for him.'

Out of curiosity, he inquired as to why you never interacted with her as a young child 'We never did- I suppose we were busy with other things. I studied Weapons you see, she was going to be part of the Army. She was also under the tuition of my mother, although according to my mother she was better at art than physical combat for the most part, she was good at practicing martial arts rather than actually fighting- although I'm sure that you've noticed that she is physically smaller than most people. She was small in general really- female Octolings are taller than males you see. So she was going to be physically overpowered despite some- circumstances, shall we say…'

He agreed with you and commented on how light she was, even though he wasn't overtly physically strong himself. You explained to him briefly why she was so light, but you didn't go into it too much. 'Let's just say she's a bit underweight- more than I was when I first came here. But I'm sure she'll gain some weight soon- I'll make sure of it.'

A few moments passed, and Chandler brought up something he had noticed ever since you were out for the day. 'She seems attached to you, I can't explain it- but from what I've gathered...' 'Yes well, if she needs someone to fill a role for her, I'm more than happy to help her- she needs it after all. Especially with everything that she's been through…'

The silence between you became slightly uncomfortable, and so before you both moved onto to something else or headed back to the others- Chandler had one last question for you. 'I hope you don't mind me asking, but why does she carry around a notebook? Can she not speak?'

It seemed that you had mutually agreed that this would be the last question, even though there was no verbal agreement. But since this was to be the last question, you tried your very best to explain to him why she never spoke.

'You see- it's not that she can't speak, she can, she is able to. However, she was always very talkative with her brother, always talking to him. And so when he died, his death had a rather- profound- effect on her… From what I've gathered, it's out of grief that she's become mute- and it's possible that it may be permanent that she's mute.'

Chandler paused for a few moments, but when he had gathered himself- he spoke to you in a tone of great clarity that you had never heard from him before, and at one point he had touched your hand briefly without you asking for permission to touch him first.

'I'm not sure what it is that happened to her down there- and I don't know what happened to you either. But- you survived, you got through it- and, and… And I'm glad I got to meet you Hibiki, really- I am. I know I haven't been the best person ever, especially to Tsuyo… I don't think I'm just ready to leave just yet, but maybe soon enough- I will. Have a fresh start for myself- new name and everything.'

You appreciated the fact that he was being rather kind, and you could tell that he was trying to improve himself as a person- and so you decided that it was only fair that you let him know you were there for him. 'Well- I'm here to support you every step of the way, whatever you need- I'll be here for you.'

Although his eyes were covered by the sunglasses he always wore, you could tell that he was happy and it showed in his demeanour and voice. 'Thanks Hibiki- I appreciate it… We should probably get back to the others now- they'll be wondering where we are.'

You looked out at the early evening sun one last time and the two of you headed back to the others, where you were greeted by Tsuyo who gave you a brief rundown of what happened in the period of time you were gone.

'Hey- Chrys and your cousin seem to be getting along really well, their moods seem to be improved- they seemed to have cheered each other up. Leah's feeling better, Connor and Ruby seemed to get along really well as well. Oh and Josh found Brianna's wallet, so everything got sorted in the end.'

You were greatly relieved at this news and you thanked her for all her help. 'Ah- that's brilliant news. I'm glad to hear it. Thanks for helping me and Ruby out earlier, we really appreciate it.' She insisted that it was nothing, but it appeared that she had a surprise waiting behind her back given how she was acting.

'No problem- anyway! We should probably begin to head home soon, but how about we do something special to mark the occasion?' You and Chandler looked at each-other in confusion, but you were both equally curious so you asked her what it was and she called for Leah to bring out something called a 'selfie-stick'.

You saw Leah coming out of the bathrooms with her bag in her hands, she took out the small contraption out of the bag and handed it to Tsuyo- fixing her hair slightly after. 'Yeah I brought it with me, I feel a lot better now so I'm up for taking a photo or two.'

You commented that she looked a lot better, and made a joke that you oped would be taken well. 'That's good, you look a lot better than you did earlier- you look like you did before the Great Hotdog Incident of Summer 23**.'

Thankfully the joke was taken well by everyone, and the others burst out laughing- and in-between fits of laughter, Chandler asked in disbelief. 'The Great Hotdog Incident of Summer 23**?!' In an attempt to not laugh, Leah begged you in a pleading tone. 'Don't make me laugh again- I'll be sick!'

In-between your own fits of laughing, you apologised as sincerely as you could. 'I'm sorry- I just thought it would be funny, I was trying to make the best of the situation!' Connor had his phone in his hands and he remarked wittily whilst doing something on it. 'I'm renaming this video on my phone to The Great Hotdog Incident of Summer 23**, and you can't do anything to stop me.'

Tsuyo put her hands in front of her and held her phone in her hand, attaching it to the selfie-stick and extending it out so that everyone would be in the shot. 'Well if we're naming the video that, we're doing the same to the photo. And you lot better get in the photo- we're losing light fast, not to mention we have a bus to catch soon.'

When everyone was in the photo and they were all ready, Tsuyo counted down from 3 and she took a good few photos that she would probably send in to the group-chat later for the others to look at and decide which one is best. Someone had asked about the time and when Connor looked at his phone, he grabbed everyone's attention when in a panic he shouted. 'Shit- we need to catch the bus, it'll be here in 5 minutes. RUN!'

Everyone had started sprinting towards the exit and to the bus shuttle station, getting there just in time to see the Exit Bus pulling in to pick passengers up from the park to head back to the inner parts of Inkopolis.

You had all sat down at the back of the bus in order to leave room for the other passengers at the front, and you all began talking about how fun the day was and how you had all wanted to do something like this again in the future. It seemed that Maki had gotten sleepy again and she rested her head against you on the bus ride home.

When it was near your stop, you woke Maki up and you said goodbye to the others, wishing them a safe journey home. Ruby was the only one awake and so on the behalf of everyone else- she bid you farewell and wished the three of you a safe journey home

It was a short walk to your Aunt's small flat above her Café, and when you let yourself in using the key she had given you on her behalf- you let her know you were there to drop Maki off home. 'Hi Auntie- Maki's home!'

The three of you had walked in and Tsuyo said hello to her, with Maki doing the same before going to the bathroom. From her place in the kitchen, she looked up at you kindly and went back to whatever she was cooking on the stove- remarking amusedly. 'Goodness you sure tuckered her out- she'll sleep well tonight, that's for sure! Anyway- did she have fun today?'

Tsuyo explained that Maki did have a good day and gave her some of the photos you had both collected throughout the day. 'Yeah she did, here's the second set of photos that I got when they went on the Death Drop. I think there's some more too, uhm… Here! I'll send the rest to Maru later and Hibiki will probably do the same. Besides, this is her first big day out after all, it's no surprise that she's tired.'

Your Aunt had looked at the photos fondly and asked Tsuyo to tell Maki that dinner was ready so that she could ask you something. 'Are you two staying for dinner?' You apologised and explained that you and Tsuyo had promised Maru that you'd go straight home after you dropped Maki off home.

She was saddened that you weren't staying for dinner since she was always happy to have guests over, but she gave you a box that had a cake in it for your Dad and wished both you and Tsuyo farewell. Maki quickly gave you a hug goodbye and the two of you left the apartment, beginning to make your way to the train station.

When the two of you had gotten off at the train station near your house and you had entered the surface again, Tsuyo sighed heavily and complained slightly to you. 'God we're gonna be tired tomorrow- and we need to get school supplies too…'

You were surprised at the mention of getting school supplies, and you realised that the thought had completely slipped your mind and time had gone by faster than you had expected it to. In shock you remarked, 'Really? It's that time already?'

Tsuyo had agreed with you and replied back in a tone of displeasure. 'Yeah I know, tell me about it- no one's gonna be happy about it…' You laughed a bit and told her in a certain tone of voice. 'Well I'm looking forward to going to school again, I hope I haven't missed out on much…' Tsuyo reassured you that you were fine and dismissed you with a wave of her hand, 'Oh please- you'll be fine. You're probably ahead of everyone else.'

You asked her if she had all of her summer homework done and she explained to you what she had done a month or so prior. 'Yeah I did- I got it done ages ago, Ruby and Chrys were nice enough to help me with it whilst you were away in the country.'

You were glad at the news, and joked that a certain someone probably didn't have it done at all. 'I imagine that the others have it done as well- ok well maybe not Connor but….' She laughed and agreed, suggesting another person that possibly didn't have it done either. 'That sounds about right, expect him to ask him for your help in getting his work done. Chandler too maybe.'

She asked why you were smiling and you explained why. 'I'm more than happy to help others learn, see- they get to learn or get their work done and I get to go over the work as well so it's a win-win for both parties- isn't it?'

She shrugged her shoulders and agreed with your point, but made sure to inform you of something. 'Yeah well, expect the others to ask for study sessions during the school year since you're the smartest out of all of us.'

You had a few more minutes of walking left before you got to the apartment complex, but you made sure to dismiss the claim that you were the smartest person out of your friend group. 'Nonsense, you're smart too you know. Everyone else is as well. You're all intelligent young men and women, I don't see-'

Tsuyo cut you off and groaned- rubbing at her head as if though she had a headache. 'Intelligent young men and woman, god you're sounding like the principal at his morning assemblies…' You were slightly amused at this gesture, but you curious about what the school you were going to was like and when you asked her about it, all she responded with was a tired. 'Maybe tomorrow- I just want to get home and eat whatever food your Dad's made before conking out for the night…'

You realised that it was starting to get rather dark, and so you decided to leave it be and end the discussion there- focusing on getting home before it got too dark.

Chapter 3, Part 2, End.

(Author's Note: I'm not sure how your school assemblies were, but in my old school the Assistant Vice Principal or whatever her title was, put up a 'motivational quote' that had 'stoner quotes' at the bottom… I just remembered that when writing this and thought it was funny so I hope you enjoy this short story.)