The cool morning breeze passed Brine's pointed ears as he walked towards the Blotsking cafe. This cafe was very close to Inkblot Art Academy, so it saw plenty of art students come in and out throughout the day (this was also where it got its name from, too). Brine had wrapped a gray scarf around his neck, on top of his usual Inkblot uniform, but as he rubbed his arms, he realized he should have also worn something more than the uniform's teal sweater vest and white collared top. On the ground, a shine caught his eye. He stopped and bent down to pick up a gold coin with an arrow on it. "Must be my lucky day," he said to himself.
He slipped the coin into his pocket and pushed open the door to the cafe. There, he ordered two hot chocolates—the second one was for Kishi—and then sat at a table to wait for his friend. While he waited, he took out the coin and moved it to see it shine in the morning sun.
Then he saw Kishi open the door. She was wearing a sporty bobble and a fluffy coat. Her droopy eyes suggested she woke up not long ago. "Good morning," she said to Brine.
"Morning. I ordered a hot chocolate for you already," Brine replied.
"Cool. Thanks, Brine." She pulled out the chair at Brine's table and sat down.
"What's that? A coin?" Kishi asked.
"Yup. A lucky coin."
"What do you do with a lucky coin?"
"Hmm," Brine thought for a moment, focusing on the coin.
He was interrupted by Beck bursting through the cafe door. "Brine! There you are—what are you doing here? Today's crit day! We need to get ready!" he said in a single breath.
"Beck, you gave me a heart attack," Brine said, with wide eyes. "Our class doesn't even start for another two hours. Don't you always have your things ready anyways?"
"Yeah, but I need to triple-check. And I don't want what happened last time to happen to you, too!" Beck kept saying loudly.
"What happened last time?" asked Kishi.
"Don't even ask me right now," Beck said.
"Beck, you're going to be fine. Want to join us?" Brine offered.
Beck sighed. "All right. Might as well get some of that mocha I've been craving."
After Beck made his order, he pulled a seat from another table and sat in front of Brine and Kishi. He took off his black jacket and hung it on his seat.
"Kishi and I were wondering something," Brine said.
"Oh?"
"What do you do with a lucky coin?"
Beck looked at the coin in Brine's hands. "Oh uh… I don't know. Flip it? And maybe that helps you make decisions? I don't know, I'm not like, superstitious or anything."
"Me neither, but Brine says it's lucky, so I'll go along with it," said Kishi.
"Brine, Beck—your orders are ready," called out the barista. By this time, more people had trickled into the cafe, a couple with sketchbooks and laptops.
"I'll get them," said Kishi, as she got up. She then returned with three cups and set them onto the table.
"Well, what decision do you want to make?" Brine asked Beck.
"How about this—will you show Kishi what your tentacles look like when they're down?"
Kishi smirked shyly towards Brine.
"Heads for yes, arrows for no," Beck affirmed.
"Brine put the coin on his left thumb and flipped the coin into the air, then caught it on the back of his hand. The coin had landed on the arrow side.
"Not today," he said.
"I've got something," said Kishi. "Will Yuna change her ink color again soon?"
"I think she stopped with that, but you never know," said Brine. "Let's see."
The coin landed on heads.
"She used to do it all the time during our first year even when she wasn't playing Turf War and Ranked Battle," commented Beck.
"Well, it is a lucky coin, right Brine?" Kishi said with a smile.
"Right," Brine said with a wink.
Later that morning, close to noon, Kishi arrived back at her dorm with her portfolio bag for a rest until her afternoon classes. The air smelled of rubbing alcohol; Kishi was already breathing heavily from walking such a long distance to the dorm, so the strong smell didn't help at all. She then remembered that today the dorm hallways were usually sprayed with cleaners and vacuumed. Kishi sneezed and bumped into a doorknob while walking. She heard someone say "bless you!" behind her. She turned around and saw Yuna walking by with headphones on.
"Oh, hi Yuna—I wanted to tell you something," Kishi said.
"What is it?" Yuna replied as she put her headphones around her neck.
"Well… I want to sort of prank Brine," and Kishi explained the conversation she had with Brine at the cafe.
In the evening, Brine, Beck, Kishi, and Kennie gathered in the common room at their usual spots on the sofas. Some other cephalopods sat near them in other sofas. Kennie had made sushi for her friends and put a plate of them on the coffee table that the sofas surrounded. "What do you think? Did I make them right?" Kennie asked.
Brine picked one up with his chopsticks and took a bite. "Of course you did make them right, and they're delicious."
"Yuna would love this," Beck said after trying one. "Say, where is Yuna?"
Kennie shrugged. "Haven't seen her."
"Kishi? Have you seen her?"
"She told me she had a study to finish, so she'd be a little late," Kishi lied. She tried to keep a straight face, but the corners of her mouth slipped up into a smirk. Beck noticed and stared at her for longer than usual. "Okay then," Beck said, sounding unconvinced.
"Hey, guys!" Yuna called out from the door to the common room. "Sorry for being late!" A few people's heads turned at the sight of Yuna. The ends of her tentacles, instead of being a deep orange, were now purple. The yellow spots still showed, but now looked like they had a slightly lime green tinge.
Beck and Brine stood up to get a closer look. "Yuna! Your tentacles!" Brine gasped.
"No way…" Beck said. His mouth was wide open.
Yuna walked over and took a seat on the sofa, next to Kishi. "So where's your lucky coin, Brine?" Yuna asked with a chuckle. Kishi burst out laughing and bent over, holding her stomach. Kennie also giggled, just from watching Kishi.
"Well, this sure brings back memories," Brine said, with a smile.
"Like what?" asked Kennie.
"We never told you the reason why I stopped changing my ink color outside of battles, did we?" said Yuna.
Brine reached into the pocket of his gray uniform pants and took out the lucky coin. "Heads you tell the story, arrows I do."
The coin landed on heads.
"Well," Yuna said. "One time I changed my ink to pink and blue…"
First-year Yuna, with half-pink-half-blue tentacles, tip-toed to a bathroom with her roommate, Bianca. Bianca had changed her ink color from its natural white to entirely black.
"This one's empty, let's go," whispered Bianca.
"Oh boy, I feel like I'm in high school again," whispered Yuna with a smile.
Bianca took Yuna by the hand to the biggest stall at the end of the bathroom and locked it behind them. Yuna smelled something sweet and sugary, but then also smelled something disgusting.
"Well, that sure ruins it…" said Yuna disappointedly. "Oh well, I need it anyway."
"Shh, do you hear something?" Bianca whispered, putting a finger on Yuna's lips.
The sound of keys jangling approached the bathroom and Yuna froze with fear. So this is why I stopped… Yuna thought. Instantly regretting her decision, she told Bianca, "I'll turn into a squid and slip over there."
"No Yuna, your ink—" Bianca said.
By then, Yuna had already crouched and contracted her limbs into her body. She slid across the cold floor about a centimeter, until her body burst.
"Bianca told me afterward that it wasn't an admin who came in the bathroom, but just a normal student who happened to be carrying keys," explained Yuna. "I respawned in the infirmary, luckily with a special respawn point for my natural ink color." The entire group of friends looked at Yuna silently, with wide eyes.
"Wow, I didn't know that happens," finally said Kennie, breaking the awkward silence.
"It's true," said Yuna, "The special substance I used for having two dominant ink colors apparently doesn't work in squid form. I never wanted to do anything like that again after that day. Even though Bianca is still my roommate I barely even talk to her anymore. "
"Well, changing your ink isn't bad, it's when you use weird chemicals on it that screws up your tentacles," said Beck.
"Yeah… I just don't want to risk it, you know?" said Yuna.
"I think you look cool with purple tips," commented Brine.
Kishi disagreed. "I feel like orange and purple are hard to combine."
Yuna smiled and reached towards the coin on the coffee table. "Heads I keep my ink like this, arrows I change it back." She put the coin on her right thumb and flicked it up.
Everyone watched as the coin flipped in the air then rolled onto the coffee table. Arrows.
"Welp, here goes," said Yuna. The ends of her tentacles faded from purple to the red-orange they were before. Her yellow spots looked fully yellow again.
"Who needs a lucky coin, anyway?" said Yuna with a shrug.