This Soap Opera We Call Our Lives -- Chapter 3: Again and Again We Go in Circles
Set to "Red Bean" by Faye Wong (This is a Chinese song – don't bother looking for it.)
a.A. Year 2 Blossom Day 1
"Sora Sora Sora! Soorrrraaaa!" Selphie shrieked in the general direction of Sora.
Sora looked up and replied, "Selphie? What is it?"
"We haven't talked a long time, so I thought we could take a walk… And talk about some… delicate subjects."
Selphie shifted nervously. Sora blinked a few times. He pondered, 'Why is she so nervous? Is she trying to hit on me? Nah. She knows I'm with Kairi. I'll ask her what she wants to talk about.'
Sora shrugged off his thoughts and asked Selphie, "What did you want to talk about?"
"Well… I… Well, I sortawantedtotalktoyouaboutRiku."
Sora blinked a few times. "Um, Selph, wanna try that again, but slower?"
"Ehehehe…. Sorry." A sheepish smile blossomed on Selphie's face. "I wanted to talk about Riku."
"Riku? Why?"
"He's been acting funny."
"What do you mean?"
"…Do you mean you haven't noticed?"
"No, I haven't seen anything funny about Riku…"
Selphie sighed. "I'll show you. Come on! Let's take a little walk to the Secret Place. I have to show you a drawing in there."
Selphie took a hold of Sora's arm and brought him to the Secret Place. Looking around at the drawing in the dark, dreary place they called the "Secret Place", she found the drawing she was looking for.
"I was looking for Riku this morning. When I looked in here, Riku was looking at this. Is there something special about it? He seemed rather… emotional." Selphie pointed to one of Riku's earlier drawings, two stick figures holding hands.
The stick figures were childish, but both had big smiles and looked blissful. Nearby, "Riku and Sora" was inscribed in the stone.
"I don't see anything remarkable." Sora inspected the drawing as if it held a great and terrible secret. "It's just one of those drawings of us that we drew together when we were little. You know, before Kairi came?"
"Yeah, I remember then. You two used to spend so much time in here. Why did you play here so much? It's so… dark and dreary. It's not a very good place for playing. Actually, why do you still come here all the time?"
"I don't know… I guess it's just special to me. It's got all my memories..." Sora glanced at a carving of a girl and a boy, offering Paopus to each other.
Selphie followed his gaze. Seeing what he was looking at, she sighed, "You're hopeless!" She shook her head. "Anyway, Riku seemed upset while he was in here. All mopey and sad. You should talk to him, find out what's wrong! He seemed really out of it."
"Selph, I'm sure he'll be fine."
"I still think you should talk to him."
"Selphie, I have other things to think of. Frankly, this doesn't sound very important…"
"Other things, huh?" A mischievous smile spread over Selphie's face as she teased, "Like Kairi?"
Indignation registered on Sora's face. "Sel-phie!" he cried.
Sora chased a giggling Selphie out of the Secret Place. As she ran, Selphie looked back at the cave, thinking about the Riku she had seen earlier, sobbing softly by the picture. She froze and her smile melted away as she realized what was wrong with Riku. All the pieces were clicking together! Riku was in love with Sora! He was jealous of Kairi and upset that Sora abandoned him. All the sad little glances Riku gave Sora… And of course! That drawing was from, and represented, a time before Kairi, when it was just Riku and Sora, no one else… It all fit like a puzzle.
Selphie suddenly realized what had been happening. Sora and Kairi had gotten together, so Riku was left out. Before, it was Riku and Sora versus any enemies they encountered. During the whole adventure with the different worlds, it had somehow become Sora and Kairi versus Riku. What a nightmare…
Poor Riku! It had to be horrible, knowing Sora and Kairi were together, and having to pretend to be happy… Well, he failed miserably at pretending to be happy (and Selphie doubted he was even trying to appear delighted at Sora and Kairi's relationship), but Riku pretending was so much more romantic!
Sora nearly crashed into a frozen Selphie. "Selphie? Selphie? You all right?"
Selphie shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine… Let's go!"
As they resumed running, Selphie was still thinking….
Time to play matchmaker.
Sora groaned.
He had been dragged into shopping with Kairi. The horror… Even staying with Selphie to listen to her mushy love stories would've been better! Anything but this…
"Sora! Sora!" Oh, was that Kairi calling? So sleepy… So bored…
"Do you think this makes me look fat?" Kairi was peering into Sora's face now, calling, "Sora! Sora?"
Sora blinked. Once he realized what was going on, he nodded quickly and replied, "Not at all, Kairi. It's… perfect. You look charming."
It wasn't true – the skirt and shirt looked hideous together – but anything to avoid the wrath of The Girlfriend Who Was Just Told by Her Boyfriend That She Looks Bad.
…
"Sora, how many calories do you think those french fries have?"
Sora sighed and replied, "Kairi, I really don't know." A disbelieving little sigh emerged from Sora's mouth. He was hungry, but Kairi just had to debate about calories!
"If I eat them, I'll probably get fat from all that grease…" Kairi mused for while, and then declared, "Well, we just won't eat here. Come on, Sora; let's go find a nice pair of shoes."
Sora was shocked. No food? But..! He was hungry! Giving voice to his objection, he begged, "Kairi, can't I eat? I'm hungry!"
Kairi stopped her march along a warpath to smile at Sora and tell him, "Sora, you're always hungry. It's not that big of a deal. Wait until we go home, alright?"
"Kairi…!" Too late. Kairi was already on her way to the shoe store. Grimacing, Sora ran to catch up.
…
While browsing the racks of clothing, Kairi absentmindedly shoved a few skirts into Sora's hands, commanding, "Hold these for a second, would you?"
Sora struggled to hold everything. After a day of shopping, he was loaded down with two pairs of shoes, bags from three different clothing stores, and a bag of hair supplies.
Oh, why had he come? …Oh yeah! Kairi was his girlfriend! That explained everything. Sora nodded mentally.
Kairi was moving to the section with shirts. Dragging the bags full of Kairi's purchases behind him, Sora followed her.
Why did women love to shop so much? Better yet, why was he Kairi's pack mule?
…
"Wasn't that so much fun, Sora?"
Sora gave only an automatic nod.
"Are you alright, Sora?"
"I'm fine; just a little sleepy."
A little sleepy was an understatement. After all, Sora had just been through a day of being a pack mule for his shopping girlfriend…
Why were girls so shopping-obsessed? And why did they always drag their boyfriends along to carry all the stuff?
Dear Sora,
It's letter time again! Aren't you so glad you have to listen to my pathetic ramblings? I know, I know! You're never going to read this, blah, blah, blah…
Lately, life's been going rather well. (As well as can be expected, that is. This isn't very well, but… It's custom to tell people you're doing well (even if they never asked). So how are you?) My new glasses just arrived, so I can see properly now. These prescription glasses work so much better than those over-the-counter reading glasses I was using. And they look cooler, too. Mine are dark blue and green – Selphie says they bring out my eyes. (I think that's nonsense.)
Speaking of Selphie, where is she? She usually makes a point to bother me daily, but I haven't seen her all day. I suppose she's with you guys, wherever you are.
…I hate you, you know. Or at least I try to tell myself that. Actually, I wish I could hate you. Wouldn't that make life so much easier? I wouldn't care that you were with Kairi; nobody would have to deal with worthless little Riku's moping… Who knows? I might even be with Tidus.
If you really read this, you'd probably go, "Woah! Riku knows that Tidus likes him?" Well, no shit I know. It's sort of obvious.
As far back as I remember, I've always suspected, but when someone asks you to share a drink with a flavor like Paopu Passion Delight – well, then it becomes way more than obvious. I don't know how Tidus ever thought I wouldn't notice…
It's so obvious Tidus likes me. In fact, almost as obvious as you guys thinking I hadn't the least idea Tidus likes me. What's not so obvious is how you imbeciles ever thought I didn't know. I doubt Tidus would've told you guys directly, so you must've all figured it out by yourselves, and if you all figured it out, why couldn't I? (Especially with the drink…)
Even though I love you, Sora, I wish I didn't. If I loved Tidus, everything would be easier. Wouldn't it? Alright, it probably wouldn't, but I can practice wishful thinking, can't I?
Why am I even debating the what-ifs? It's hopeless. Hopeless!
Riku
Sighing, Riku signed his name with a flourish and folded the plain white paper. After carefully placing it in an envelope, Riku carried the letter into his closet.
There, in his walk-in closet, was the light of Riku's life and his salvation. Well, not really…. But it was close enough. Inside that plain, ordinary closet was Riku's shrine. Cue the dun-dun-dun sound effects and recorded, obviously fake applause!
The shrine (dun-dun-duuuunnnnn!) that had started the list of Riku's girly habits, the shrine that was a direct result of Riku's infatuation with Sora, the physical manifestation of Riku's love…
Okay, okay, that's all a lie!
It was just a whole bunch of pictures of Riku and Sora before Kairi showed up and the letters Riku had started writing. Yeah, it sounds like a fangirl's shrine to her favorite anime character, complete with a gallery and fan-mail, but it wasn't. … …Why don't you believe me?
The scene fades out as Riku places the newest letter next to the other letters.
Disclaimer: See prologue, and I don't own the Paopu-flavored drink idea. That is Uzumaki-sama's idea.
A/N: Before anyone says anything, I did get permission from Uzumaki-sama to use her Paopu drink idea (from Half Sandcastle).
Next chapter will contain a huge time jump. Nearly two years, in fact.
I am now posting scene by scene (3 scenes to a chapter) on my lj, where I am known as Raiknii.
Feedback, people! (Especially negative feedback! It's my favorite, as odd as that sounds.) Does anyone think this chapter is too sarcastic?
And I don't mean to make fun of people who like shopping – I just wanted to do a slice-of-life, not-so-romantic thing.