Shiki wakes up the following morning with a few text messages from Reki. Based on the time she received them, she figured he sent them while he was getting ready for school, possibly while he was eating breakfast. She woke up about an hour after, so he was most definitely at school. The messages are in short bursts, so there's a lot of them, but it doesn't take her much time to scroll through all of them. She pulls her yellow and red rimmed glasses off the nightstand next to her and puts them on before reading through the messages.
Reki
i was thinking abt what we talked abt yesterday
Reki
thx 4 that btw. helped me get a lot off my chest and start thinking str8
Reki
i think i might enter the tournament
Reki
if i can at this point
Reki
they might not accept entries this l8
Reki
ik how we talked abt how it could be dangerous
Reki
bc of adam
Reki
but i feel like i have to
Reki
uh i should clarify i meant for me not anyone else
Reki
i think it starts tonite if u wanna come
Reki
anyways i think ur still asleep so txt me back when u can
Shiki checks the time the message was sent and finds that she was asleep when he sent the messages.
Shiki
Ahh sorry for the late reply! You're right, I was asleep lol
Shiki
I've got literally nothing planned besides wander around town aimlessly so I'm totally down with heading there with you
Shiki
Do I need to bring anything? Are there passes or something? Don't respond if you're in class, wait until like a passing period or something. Don't want you to get in trouble :/
Shiki sets her phone down on the bed, ensuring that her phone did in fact charge overnight. Her charger was finicky sometimes. She moves to her duffel bag that she had embroidered a Mr. Mew head onto. Gatto Nero didn't sell anything like duffel bags yet, so hers was one of a kind and easy to identify.
She changes into a long white dress that was probably a bit thicker than what was appropriate for the cold with the pink puzzle design at the chest and wears brown pants under it. She grabs a matching green sweater jacket that she had made for herself but accidentally measured wrong. The shoulders were a tad bit too wide, making the whole thing too big on her, but she figured she'd eventually grow into it and kept it anyways. She slips a small silver ring onto the pinky on her right hand.
Her phone buzzes, ringtone off. She had once experimented with other ringtones on her phone, but the tone combined with the familiar buzz (which she was unable to change) had always brought back too many memories of the Game, so she, and her friends who had played too, all kept the ringers off on their phone.
One thing that she regrets is that she has never told Eri about the Game. Before it was out of fear that Eri would think she was crazy. She couldn't blame her. No one would believe a Game that brought the dead back to life so easily. Even if it was Eri, someone she trusted with her life. But that fear had transformed into something more of anxiety of how Eri would react. Most likely demanding why she hadn't said anything sooner.
Eri had never questioned the lack of details behind how she met all of the others and that is one of the few reasons that Shiki loves her. She hopes that she never has to explain, as that means she would be forced to. Meaning that she was being dragged back into the Game. But thankfully Eri believes that Shiki had just gotten hit by a car and had spent three weeks in a hospital (but she doesn't pretend that she sees Eri's occasional stares that hold so much curiosity that sometimes almost break her).
She doesn't fully hate the Game itself as much as she hates the fact that she can't tell anyone about it (Joshua had given her permission to tell Eri if she wanted, given that they were so close and in a relationship, but no one else. Not even her parents). Without it, she wouldn't have met the others, and she would still be living life being jealous of everyone else while hating herself. Sure, she could go without all of the trauma that came with the Game, but the lesson that taught her to love herself and the friends that came along with it more than made up the difference.
She checks her phone.
Reki
oh yea i need 2 get u a temp pass
Reki
when we get there i can grab u a pin thats pretty much a perm pass
Shiki gives a small smile at the mention of a pin. It's been a long time since she's worn one.
Shiki
Gotcha! Anything else? Anything I shouldn't bring?
Reki
i dont think you should bring mr mew
Reki
ppl might not take you seriously if u do
Reki
but thats totally up to u
Shiki
It's alright it makes sense!
Reki
oh yea 1 big thing
Reki
the place were going 2 is called S
Reki
1 of the big rules is that we cant talk abt it anywhere else
Reki
and ppl dont like being called their s names outside of s
Shiki
Oo okay makes sense
She shakes her head. Another secret she has to keep, huh? At least this one isn't as big as the UG. Or as dangerous.
Shiki
What time and where should we meet up? I'm good with anything
Reki
uhhh s doesnt start until really l8 at nite
Reki
i can send u a time l8r
Reki
as for place we can meet by where we met yesterday
Shiki
Okay!
Shiki
How are things going with Langa? You don't have to answer if you don't wanna
Reki
i honestly havent talked to him much
Reki
i kinda blew him off earlier and told him wed talk at s
Reki
but the tournament starts tonite so idk how thats gonna go
Shiki
Don't worry too much! It's better than nothing!
Shiki
But if you're worried about time, why not talk to him before the tournament?
Shiki
There's a lot of time between school and S, yeah?
Reki
Yea…
Reki
Ill talk 2 to him before we meet up
Shiki
Kk! See you then!
Shiki puts her phone down. She picks up Mr. Mew off the nightstand and crosses the room to put him in her duffel bag. She almost ignores Reki's warning to not bring Mr. Mew with her, but she shakes her head wildly to get a grip on her thoughts. She's been without him before, and she really wants to actually be able to talk to people about fashion that could help their brand. Mr. Mew helps her center herself (which, to all those who met her in the UG, makes sense). She's not sure whether it's because Mr. Mew, despite being a stuffed animal, has always been by her side, or if it's because he's her psych. It's probably both. But she's just going to see a tournament for skateboarders. She's not going to be in any danger (a lingering worry stays on what Reki has said about this Adam character. She decides not to worry about it. She's not a skater), so she won't need him.
She pulls a Mr. Mew-themed bag out of her duffel bag that won't garner as much attention as Mr. Mew himself would. Gotta stick to the brand and all! She puts her small notebook, pencil, phone, wallet, and backup sewing supplies (one can never be too careful, after all) and packs her duffel bag away. She puts on her yellow and green shoes and pauses before she opens the door to her room. It seemed silly, even when she was far from home, but she couldn't forget to do it today, either.
She closes her eyes and thinks of Neku.
"Today will be the day."
It's still morning, so there's still at least twelve hours before she needs to meet up with Reki. She leaves her hotel room and sets off to go exploring. Maybe, she'll visit the beach today, or spend her time wandering around the city. Her heart dampens a bit. Whenever she decides to walk around and explore a place, she always has at least one of the others with her. And whenever she goes shopping she always makes sure she has Eri, Rhyme, or even Joshua with her (not Beat, no one can force that boy to do anything, except for Rhyme). Joshua had been slowly warming up to her recently and accompanying her on more shopping trips when she didn't have anyone to go with her and he was not busy. Other than that, she made clothes, or hung out at Wildkat and messed around on her phone. (A thought pulls at her mind that Neku had always made time for her, even if he didn't enjoy shopping. At all. She shoves the thought away and curses her instinctual use of past tense. He was still alive, dang it! He had to be...)
She shakes her head and pops into a nearby store. She could spend this time buying souvenirs for the others!
Shiki ends up spending the day getting a few souvenirs, but also considers locations to possibly open a new store. So far she only has one store at 104 and a few outside of Shibuya, but it'd be fun to branch out to places that are farther away. Something to discuss with Eri when she gets back to Shibuya.
She goes to a small fast food joint and to get herself some dinner before she heads to the meeting spot.
Shiki leans against the wall near the underpass, but not actually under it. Reki's late, by about fifteen minutes now, but she can't hold it against him as he said he was going to go talk to Langa. She scrolls through recent messages on her phone, a few from Rhyme telling her about how she's gonna start to improve their hacking skills now that they've learned the basics. One from Joshua. Surprisingly, sent to the group chat that Rhyme had created, insisting that all of them have a way to communicate. It was a bit of a longer text consisting of perfect grammar and punctuation, explain that he and Mr. Hanekoma would be away for an unspecified amount of time. Rhyme had asked him why, but Josh never replied.
There are a few from Eri, asking her how her day was going and how her trip to Okinawa was in general. A small smile overcomes Shiki's face as she responds explaining that she made a friend and might get to meet some of theirs. She ends with a question about how Eri's day is going before checking her final unread message, all from Beat.
Beat's been protective over all of them (except for Joshua and Mr. H. Whether that's because he knows they can take care of themselves or he just doesn't like them (read: Joshua), she isn't certain) ever since Neku disappeared. Shiki can't exactly blame him. She also gets worried whenever one of them has to leave for an extended period of time, and with both her and Eri traveling at the moment, it's a miracle that he hasn't been trying to hover more, something to credit Rhyme for, most likely.
The familiar sound of wheels against concrete catches her attention and she looks up to see Reki and his blue-haired friend from earlier, most likely Langa, approach her.
"Sorry we're late, Shiki!" Reki says instead of a greeting, a sheepish grin on his face. "I talked to Langa like you suggested and we kinda talked about more than we thought."
"Oh, it's totally fine!" Shiki dismisses, hands waving around quickly with her words. "I'm glad that you two got to talk things out."
"Is this the friend you mentioned, Reki?" Langa asks, voice quiet and soft. Reki offers him a blinding smile. Shiki doesn't notice the blush that appears on both of their faces.
"I'm Shiki Misaki!" She says brightly, extending a hand forwards. "Call me Shiki."
Langa blinks before shaking her hand. "I'm Langa Hasegawa. I'm from Canada so we just call each other by our first names." Shiki just gives a small nod.
"Hey we should get goin' to S," Reki says. "We're gonna have to walk since Shiki doesn't skateboard and we don't wanna end up late. I think there's a secret shuttle that we can take up there, though. Not everyone lives super close to crazy rock anyways."
Shiki flushes slightly, even though she knew Reki didn't mean that in any malicious way. "Um, sorry for the trouble."
"You don't skateboard?" Langa asks incredulously as they begin to walk, as if the very thought is blasphemous. "Have you tried it before?"
Reki rolls his eyes, "Don't be like that, Langa. You didn't know what skateboarding was before you moved here. An-y-ways, d'you think it's too late to sign up for the tournament? Not everyone shows up every day, so…"
Langa considers the question. "I think it's fine. Just in case, take out your phone." When Reki does, Langa swipes it out of his hand, the whole motion reminding Shiki of the movements of a sloth, just sped up.
"Wha一 Langa!"
"There's a website… oh." Shiki and Reki tilt their heads at him. "I don't know your password," he explains, handing the phone back. Langa sighs then. "I don't remember the website, either."
"You might be able to find it if you go through your search history," Shiki offers. "Then just send the link to Reki over text. But let's wait on that 'til we actually get on the bus. It's not exactly safe to walk and text." Both boys agree and they put their phones away.
The hairs on Shiki's neck stand on edge as she suddenly turns to stare into the nearby treeline. Was someone watching them just now?
"Is something wrong, Shiki?" Langa asks. Reki follows her gaze into the trees.
"Yeah… probably nothing," Shiki eventually says, not looking away.
Reki frowns at her. "You sure? You stopped walking out of nowhere."
"Sorry," Shiki eventually says, tearing her eyes away to offer a reassuring smile. "Thought I saw something."
"Was it a flying fox?"
"A flying what?"
"Oh, you mean a fruit bat?"
"Is that what they're called in Kuh-nah-duh?"
"Canada."
"You know what I meant."
Adam focuses on one of the various screens in front of him. On all of his numerous screens are different video feeds, some already recorded, others live recording in front of him. He sends a vicious glare at the brown-haired girl with his Eve and the Little Red Rocket as they all walk and laugh together.
"I thought you were the one to lead my Eve away from the apple. But as it turns out, you pushed him to bite it." He sends a scathing glare at a different screen, displaying Reki and Langa at a skatepark sometime earlier as they talked and skated together, putting their emotions for each other on full display. Another camera displays Shiki and Reki talking at the underpass when they first met.
He clenches a fist and resists the urge to slam it against something. "My Eve is drifting out of Eden, and it's your fault."
The shuttle to get to S is more crowded than Shiki thought it would be. And there's three of them, but the seats are in rows of two.
"Um, I can stand next to you guys while you two sit," Shiki offers. "You'll both be racing anyway, so it's probably best for you both to save your energy."
"Nah, we'll be okay. Besides…" Reki trails off, looking at the other skaters behind her on the bus.
"People are staring at you," Langa says bluntly and a little too loudly.
"Langa you can't just say that that loudly," Reki hisses. "Shiki just sit." Before Shiki can argue against it, Reki unceremoniously shoves her into the window seat.
Shiki pouts at him as Reki takes the seat next to her. "Are you okay with standing, Langa?"
Langa brings his finger to his chin in thought. "We can all sit," he declares.
"You mean sit somewhere else?" Reki asks. "I'm pretty sure all the other seats are一 hey! Langa!"
Langa was sitting. More specifically, sitting on Reki's lap but was morley facing the window for legroom, considering he was the tallest of the three of them. The angle forced a furiously blushing Reki to have to wrap his arms around Langa's shoulders so he wouldn't fall. Shiki giggled at them.
"Langa, that cannot be comfortable," Shiki observes, seeing Langa's legs bent next to her. "Here just put your legs on my lap. Your legs are gonna cramp up if you stay in that position."
There's a small pause as Langa shifts his weight onto Reki, who lets out an undignified squeak, to stretch out his legs. When Langa finishes adjusting his position, his face looks much more relieved than it did before.
"Reki, you should sign up for the tournament before it's too late," Shiki reminds them, watching as they both shift slightly in the needlessly complicated action of getting out both of their phones while trying to not make the other uncomfortable at the same time.
Reki ducks his head under Langa's arm to peak at Langa's phone as he scrolls through his website history.
Shiki smiles and takes a picture of both of them together when they aren't paying attention.
Shiki
[sent ]
Eri
omg
Eri
thats so cute
Eri
are those the two youre hanging out with?
Shiki
Yep!
Shiki
I suspect that I got them to get their emotions in check lmao
Shiki
They were… having an argument
Shiki
Like the one we had…
Eri
shiki...
Shiki
So I took it upon myself to force them to make up before it got worse
Eri
this is why i love you
Shiki
KSJDFTJHRDQR
Shiki
I love you too!
Eri
im really sorry about what i said back then
Eri
it was super mean of me to say
Shiki
It's okay! I know what you meant by it now
Shiki
And we've both moved on since then
Eri
i know but i still feel really bad about it
Eri
i remember having a dream that night
Eri
you got hit by that car
Eri
but you didnt survive and i felt super guilty
Eri
never got the chance to apologize and make up with you
Eri
youre my best friend (and girlfriend xoxo)
Eri
so if something bad happened to you
Eri
it'd be no different than the world ending to me
Shiki tries not to think about how that was actually what happened.
Shiki
But I didn't
Shiki
And we got closer bc of it
Shiki
That's all that matters
Eri
yea!
Eri
anyways are you going somewhere at the moment?
Shiki
Yeah some skating tournament
Shiki
(Wait apparently I'm not supposed to talk about it)
Eri
ahhh i get it
Eri
just dont get arrested :3
Shiki
I'm not gonna get arrested!
Shiki
Oh I think we're getting close to the place we're heading to
Shiki
Or at least we're close
Shiki
I'll tell you how it goes later!
Eri
have fun!
People on the bus are starting to get to their feet so the three of them start to readjust themselves. Langa moves to stand by their seats as he and Reki get a firm grip on their skateboards.
"You all signed up, now?" Shiki asks the other two.
"Yep! I'm in the third quadrant." Reki says with a smile while Langa gives a nod. "By the way, who were you texting? Wait, wait, I wanna guess. You were smiling the whole time, sooo… Eri?"
Shiki flushes, "That easy?"
"Well, you two are dating right?"
"Yeah."
Reki gives a blinding smile as he reaches out to grip Langa's hand. "She's lucky to have you. And, if it weren't for you, Langa and I wouldn't be either."
"R-Reki!" Langa whines. "I don't wanna go telling everyone yet. At least not until after一"
"The tournament," Reki finishes with an apologetic look. "I at least wanted to tell Shiki. I probably wouldn't have gone to explain what I was feeling if I hadn't met her, so…"
"If it's any consolation, Langa," Shiki says. "I figured it out as soon as you two both showed up at the underpass."
"Whaaat?" Reki is the one whining now. "Are we that obvious?"
Shiki gives a mischievous smile, "Only to the untrained eye. Langa which quadrant are you in?"
Langa takes a moment to remember, "The first one."
"So you should probably go get ready then," Reki shrugs. "They're probably starting soon. The bus got here kinda late, so…"
"Right," Langa agrees before dropping his board and taking off towards the start of the course.
"Um, what should I do?" Shiki asks.
"Well, you came to ask skaters about clothes stuff, yeah? You could probably start up here and work your way down," Reki suggests.
Shiki frowns, "Most everyone here is participating in the tournament, right?" Reki nods. "I have a feeling they'll be too focused on prepping or steeling nerves to listen to me."
"I guess that's true." Reki brings a finger up to his chin in thought. "Do you wanna wait at the finish line for us then? If you go down that path, you'll get to the bottom quickly, probably before anyone from the first quadrant since it's mostly a straight shot and the course has a ton of twists and turns." He gestures towards a small walk path.
"I guess I'll do that. Thanks, Reki. Good luck on the race!"
"Heh, thanks, I'll need it," Reki says, rubbing the back of his neck. Flinching at the look Shiki hits him with. "W-What?"
"Remember what I said about bringing yourself down?" Shiki growls out. Before Reki responds she lets out a soft sigh. "You should have more confidence in yourself. I know you're a whole lot better than you say you are. You just need to believe in it first."
"Right…" Reki says, though his tone says he believes otherwise. Okay, a different approach then.
"Reki." He looks up at his name. Shiki gives him a smug grin. "You're gonna kick butt at this race. And you're gonna kick so much ass that you're gonna move onto the next round."
Reki blinks, caught off guard at the sudden swear. A smirk comes up to his face. "Hell yeah I am! Thanks, Shiki."
"Anytime. You got this!"
"I totally do. See you at the bottom!"
Shiki nods and turns to the path, beginning the trek to the finish line. Reki and Langa can do this!
