The beauty of our islands must in part be attributed not to our wide variety of flora, fauna or landscapes—but instead the source mother of all these wonders: Konohana, the volcanic home of the spirit Sakuya. No one has ever seen her, but all the legends agree that is she both beautiful and fearsome; fierce yet kind.
Were one to travel far enough back into the past, one would see nothing but an endless expanse of ocean. It was the cataclysmic eruption of Konohana beneath the waves that started everything. Through her power these islands that are our home, were formed. We still celebrate this occurrence during the Konohana-ShimaUmi Fire Festival. Often colloquially referred to as "Kono Fes". The most notable activity during this festival is the ritual burning of various offerings on wooden pyres scattered across the ocean on boats. Volcanoes by their nature both create and destroy. Through the fire of destruction comes new life.
All are openly encouraged to place an offering into a boat to symbolize the passing, then birth of something new. In other words, something we wish to release in order to fully move forward with our lives. Commonly chosen among the people are ornaments of dried grass woven into a personally symbolic shape. A variety of these are always sold at the festival, so don't stress!
This will be the first festival celebrated since The Reconnect, and we openly welcome all visitors to our ocean of the world. And on such a unique occasion, perhaps something unusual will happen. Maybe you'll meet someone new! Curious? Come visit and see!
Should you have any questions please ask any volunteer wearing a special Island Greeting Committee pin or badge.
It's obvious Selphie has been sparing no effort to make this festival special; even these pamphlets look incredibly professional. I get that the girls wanted us out of their hair for the music auditions but I still have no idea why she assigned us the particular task of handing these things out. Sora, sure. He's having an absolute field day bouncing around doing that stupid jingle he came up with while I'm just standing here awkwardly like a glorified magazine rack. I'm absolutely not cut out for this whole promotional circus mess.
I checked up on my friend and saw him off on the other side of the courtyard, bending down, excitedly chatting with a small boy and his mother. Judging by his gestures he was probably trying to get the kid to show off the action figure he was clutching. I never really did get the hang of working with kids. They always just...stare.
"Excuse me? Boy? Could I have one of these?" A voice addressed me from behind.
Nice attitude. "Sure. Hold on." I shifted the stack over to my other arm so I could more easily hand her one off the top.
She ripped it from me and started scrutinizing the front with extreme care. As she did so, I noticed a small girl hiding just behind her legs, staring at me intently. What a surprise. What would Sora do right now? Try to talk to the kid, right? I gave her the best smile I could manage.
"...hey."
The little girl coughed and pushed a dirty finger up against her already extremely smudged glasses, still eyeing me suspiciously.
"Looks like your hands are a little dirty. You should get cleaned up befo-"
The woman shoved the brochure towards me and jabbed her finger into an image at the bottom of the front cover. "Is this you!?"
I stared blankly at the page. My face stared back. Great. Someone noticed. I never should have given them permission to use that picture. Does Selphie have any idea how embarrassing it is to hand out something with your face plastered on the front? It's hubris manifest.
"Hello!?" Her beady eyes glared, but I just kept my face as neutral as possible.
"Yes. The islands are-"
She slammed the pamphlet back into my arms, scattering the rest of the stack down to the ground. "Well! I refuse to go to any event run by someone who would dare to question the cleanliness of my child in such an obvious complaint about my parenting!" She scooped up the small girl, dirty glasses and all and marched away testily.
"Okay..." I'm really bringing them in in droves, aren't I? Great job! I saw the small girl giving me a wave with her tiny hand as she was being dragged away. At least the kid seemed to warm up to me a little, that's one positive. I knelt down to gather the papers before they dared blow away on me, catching sight of Sora scurrying over to help.
He tried to give me a reassuring smile as he collected some. "She was probably just having a bad day."
"Thanks, but look, I really don't think I'm-"
"Relax, already! You're doing fine!"
I gestured back at the mother storming off with my thumb. "You'd call that doing fine?"
"Well..." He brushed the back of his head nervously and trailed off.
"Yeah, that's what I thought." I stood up and dusted off the front of my pants with the spare hand not wrapped around these stupid fliers. "You'll be much more effective without-"
"Wait, Riku, stay...please?"
Great, he's giving me that sad puppy face. I can't just ignore him when he looks at me all miserable like that. "Ugh, fine."
He immediately perked up, the goof. I prodded him in the chest. Can't have him thinking I'm that easy to manipulate. "But you owe me big time for forcing me out here. I was perfectly happy just setting up a table and being done with it. I bet you don't want me to leave because then you'll lose your dedicated pack mule."
"That's not true! I was just hoping doing something a little different might cheer you up a bit."
I raised my eyebrow at him. "If I'm sad it's news to me."
He kicked at a few pebbles on the ground. "Not sad, just...distant. You're obviously kind of stressed out about something, or at least more worried than usual..." He glanced over at me hesitantly.
Of course. Sneaking past this one can often be the easiest thing in the world because he is about as observant as a pigeon but when it comes to troubles in my heart he's got uncanny pinpoint accuracy. I grabbed a pamphlet and smacked the top of his head with it. "I appreciate it. But this is NOT my idea of a stress-free activity."
He snatched the stack away from me. "It's not really how I wanted to spend this afternoon either but Selphie was so insistent it was scary."
"Well, you know why she wanted to get rid of us, right?"
"Huh? She wanted to get rid of us? Why?"
"So we don't figure out Kairi's little secret." It was obvious that whatever Kairi was doing for the festival was at least somewhat involving music. If they needed to chat about it at the auditions, they obviously didn't want either of us catching wind of anything. "I still think they could have given us a less demeaning job."
"Come on, it's not that bad. Besides, you look really cool in this picture!" He waved it in my face. I glared at him. Or, glared at myself I suppose. "But you're still missing your smile..." He reached up to try and pull my face so I swatted him away as fast as I could. He laughed, but I could tell there was something serious lurking behind his eyes. He knew I was feeling off, and just like him he wanted to fix it. Before he could press further, a couple brushed past us and Sora immediately slipped back into the theatrics. "Hey! I'm here representing the Destiny Islands Greeting Committee! How are you doing to...day?"
He trailed off as the woman of the two huffed and impatiently stomped over to a nearby shop window, glaring into it.
"Was it something I said…?" Sora tried to apologize but the girl's date only waved him off forlornly.
"No...no...don't worry about it. She's been like that all day. Super angry without giving me a single reason why."
"Mm..." Sora tilted his head and shifted back and forth. "I don't really know much about what's going on but to me she seems more sad than anything else."
I'm not sure why he thinks she's sad, she stomped off pretty heavily to go glare at that purse. Though...wait a minute, she isn't looking at the purse, she's staring at our reflections in the glass. And while from all the way over here the reflection her face isn't too clear, it's obvious she's pretty miserable. He might be right...
Sora was also intently staring over in the girl's direction. "Did you try talking to her?"
"No! She'll just get mad because I don't know why she's mad or something stupid like that!"
My friend suddenly made a weird face over in the direction of the shop window. The girl snorted in surprise, quickly stifled it and pretended she was coughing. Sora gave her date a shrug. "See, she's not too mad. You should just go talk to her and be honest about everything. I'm sure she'll listen."
"What's the point? When she's mad I don't want to say anything to make it worse."
Sora frowned. "But maybe that's the problem. She maybe thinks you're ignoring her?"
"Whatever, I guess it's worth a try..." He scurried off after his date and gingerly grabbed her hand from behind.
I couldn't hear what they were saying from here, but she didn't seem to be running off from him so I assume it isn't going too terribly. Sora glanced back at me smugly. "See? This is why opening up is important."
Yeah, yeah, message received. After eyeing me a moment, he finally just outright asked. "So...anything that you needed to talk about?"
On the one hand I could come clean about certain things, but this was definitely not the right place. I have a guess as to how he is going to react; it's Sora after all. He's always going to try and be supportive. But...there's still too high a chance that things won't go well. And, of course, he was right that I have been a little distant but mostly because I have no idea how I am even going to spit this out. And I can kick myself and call myself a coward all I want but I just can't bear to see his face if this hurts him…
Ugh. But the longer I sit spinning this through my brain the more he is going to worry. Only one thing to do for now: deny, defer, deflect. "It's true there's some stuff on my mind. I can't hide that from you. I just...need a bit more time to sort things out."
"Hmm…?" He leaned forward, face squished up at me. "Are you sure?"
I shoved him away, laughing. "I mean it. I promise I'll let you know as soon as I can. Fair?"
He crossed his arms. "I dunno...I don't like feeling like you're keeping secrets from me. First Kairi, now you..." He gave me a light punch in the arm. "But a promise is a promise! I trust you. Whenever you're ready."
Hoping to change the subject, I checked up on the couple across the courtyard. They were now hugging.
"Good for them." Sora smiled contentedly.
"Hmm. Good job. Except you missed one thing."
"Huh? What's that?"
I brandished a brochure at him. "We were supposed to hand these out, remember? Not be playing relationship doctor."
"...Oops."
He plopped the stack down to the ground and cupped his hands to his mouth, shouting out across the entire shopping street. "Hey! You two!"
Several groups of people turned to stare at us, including the two he was addressing. He crumpled the top paper up into a tight ball and hurled it over, smacking the guy in the shoulder. "Perfect for a romantic date! Ask her out!"
I covered my face with my hand. Sora, that was...not subtle at all. A trio of teenage girls who likely had their attention drawn thanks to this troublemaker started making their way straight towards us, giggling as they did so.
"Hey...will more cute guys like you two be there?"
"We're hoping lots of people will be there, so it's likely!" Sora cheerfully offered them a flier.
I buried my face under my hand further. Sometimes I have no idea if he really is this clueless or if he does it on purpose. The girl in front accepted the flier with a wink and started comparing the front cover to me, then the front cover again, then back to me. A horrifyingly sly grin slipped up across her lips. "And what contest do I have to enter when I'm there to win this for my prize." She fluttered her eyes and tapped her finger over the image of my face.
Sora laughed. "You mean the fruit he's holding? It's famous! They grow all over so I'm sure if you want you can find one super easy! As far as I know, though, there isn't a raffle but there might be time to set one up. I'll make sure to ask about it for you!"
"Thanks, sweetheart. I'll look forward to it." She winked at me and giggled.
"Great! Hope to see you there!" Sora called after their group as they pulled each other away, tittering madly.
He is the most baffling duality wrapped up in one person. One minute he can somehow see through every false wall someone puts up to hide their heart and break it down like nothing, the next he is absolutely oblivious to even basic flirting. He really must be doing it on purpose. I can't imagine he is actually that naive about things.
"Hey losers, what you up to? Are those your school uniforms? Totally preppy."
Hm. Looks like Hayner and his posse have decided to come shopping. Sora's face lit up and he darted forward to greet them, leaving me behind to watch the papers.
"Guys! I was really hoping we would have the chance to see you today! I thought you would be too busy at school..."
"Nope! Half day, lucky us!" Pence grinned.
Olette lifted a paper off of his pile and checked it over quickly. "Oh! Advertising for the festival I guess? Where's Kairi?"
Sora pouted. "I dunno, she won't tell us. Some festival thing. But she said it was going to be something really special. You three are coming, right?"
"Well yeah! They have been promoting that new ferry route like crazy so we got discount tickets!" Pence patted his stomach. "Besides, no way am I turning down free festival food!"
"I thought we agreed you were going to be more careful about your diet this year?" Olette clicked her tongue at him.
"But this is only once a year..."
"Always the same excuse." She sighed, then waved me over. "Riku, why are you standing all the way over there looking so serious? Get over here!"
"He's always serious." Hayner mumbled as he scanned the flier. "Nice! You guys are gonna burn stuff!?"
"Wait, really!?" Pence pulled at the paper to try and read it too.
Olette stomped her foot. "It's not about burning things! It's about renewal and moving past hardships! It's super romantic!"
"Olette...you have your preferences, I have mine. So Sora, what are you going to toast into smithereens? Or maybe...you're going to listen to Olette and you have something special planned for your girlfriend."
"That's...she's not..." Sora tried hiding behind his hands but it was obvious his face was starting to redden. Perfect opportunity for some revenge.
"Hey Sora, why don't you tell them about how Kairi kissed you the other day."
Yep, that did it. Sora, Hayner and Pence were absolutely frozen, the silence broken by Olette shrieking as she grabbed at my friend's hands. "What!? Sora, that's wonderful!"
"N-no that's not-"
Hayner scoffed. "She had to kiss you come ON, man you really need to learn how to make a move."
"B-but-"
Pence clapped his hands together. "You need to tell us about it. Come on, you can't just spill that without any details!"
Sora looked pathetically back at me, Olette still holding his hands captive so he couldn't slink away behind them any more. Hmm...should I help him or not? Maybe I'll let him squirm just a tiny bit longer. This is payback for making me hand out those stupid pamphlets.
"It wasn't...well I mean it was, technically, b-but I don't think she meant to- well she obviously meant to—because she did it, obviously, but it was only because I'm bad at learning stuff, obviously, and then she had a dream about a sheep—OH but it obviously wasn't a sheep it was-"
Hayner cut him off. "What the heck are you talking about? Nothing about that was "obvious" at all."
"He's stalling..." Pence chuckled.
Olette rolled her eyes and dropped his hands. "Ugh, Riku's smiling so this is more than likely only some joke. Care to fill the rest of us in?"
Time's up, I suppose. "Sorry. Kiss was on the cheek."
Olette stomped her foot again. "You could have just said that earlier!"
"But then we couldn't see him make a complete idiot of himself." Hayner laughed and clapped Sora on the back. "But hey, a kiss on the cheek isn't too bad, right?"
Sora sighed. "Way better than not too bad..."
Pence pointed to him, snorting. "Roxas was right, he really does get that look on his face when he thinks about her."
"Wh-what? Hey!"
I decided to finally bail him out. "Speaking of Roxas, where's he at today? I would love to oh so kindly request his assistance."
Hayner rifled through the remainders of the papers I had brought over with me. "Geez, how long have you guys been at this?"
"Not including travel time, about four hours." I answered.
"Four hours!?" Hayner shivered. "So basically now I have to figure out if Roxas has been bothering me this enough week to deserve getting thrown under the bus or not."
Olette rolled her eyes at her friend, then pointed further down the shopping street in the direction of some of the more specialized boutiques. "You're too late to board the favor train. Xion and Namine dragged him off dress shopping."
Sora tilted his head to the side. "But why does Roxas need a dress?"
"To give to you, of course." I knocked on his head. Ask stupid questions, get stupid answers.
Olette cleared her throat. "...Anyway, they left about two hours ago so they must be almost done. Maybe until then we could-"
Hayner turned on his heel and marched off, dragging Pence with him. "Nope, nope, nope! Good luck with all that guys, see you at the festival!"
Pence waved helplessly back as he was carted off. "S-sorry guys, good luck with everything."
Olette hung back a bit, keeping an eye on her friends before they disappeared into the crowds. "Mind if I take some? I probably won't be able to convince Hayner to help but I'll get Pence to hand them out with me later over at Sunset Station."
"Don't feel like you have to." I said as she started scooping up a good portion of them.
"It's fine. I wouldn't feel right leaving you guys with all the work. Besides, I'm used to doing worse favors thanks to those two knuckleheads. But Sora, if I do this you have to promise me something."
"Uhh...what's that?"
She leaned in and whispered something in his ear. He flushed and stumbled backwards a few steps. "I-I can't!"
"Sure you can!" She tapped her cheek. "Here is okay too, just so long as you do it!"
"Wait a minute, I never agreed to-" He lunged forward, attempting to snatch the pamphlets away from her.
"Too late!" She slipped away into the crowd. I shouted thanks after her and she hastily waved her arm up into the air in response as she rushed to catch up with her friends.
And I was left once more alone with Sora, who was now looking incredibly uncomfortable.
"So...she ordered you to kiss Kairi?"
He wordlessly snatched part of my pile of papers away from me and went back to handing them out, but his face was the only confirmation that I needed.
It felt a little less hopeless now that the stack was dwindling down more noticeably. I could tell Sora was still agitated about something even after a while so I prodded him with a raised eyebrow. He grumbled something to himself and kicked at the ground.
"Why does everyone always tease me about her? It's not fair..."
Before I could break it down for him, a familiar voice spoke up for me. "Because you're a total dork and its hilarious."
I saw Roxas snickering as he approached, skateboard tucked under one arm.
"Oh, yeah? Look who's talking!" Sora reached over and bumped fists with his other half, brightening back to his normal self. "Do you think you could help us pass these out? At this rate we'll be here all day."
"Yeah, yeah, figured you'd ask. I saw you guys earlier."
"Wha…? And you didn't feel like saying anything!?"
"I had stuff to take care of first, alright?"
"...Dress shopping?" I confirmed with him. Roxas started to nod before I quickly interjected. "How'd they fit?"
Roxas deadpanned in my direction. "Yeah, well, nice to see you too, buddy."
"Weren't Namine and Xion supposed to be with you?" Sora searched the area for them but clearly came up short.
"Still at the shop. I finally got the okay to leave after being dragged through about ten of 'em. You know how Xion gets with fashion stuff..."
Sora hummed. "She still hasn't settled on a style she likes yet?"
"Not even in the slightest. Just says she wants to try them all. I mean, I'm all for supporting her sorting her identity out because, you know, I get it. But I can only help so much before I start forgetting what color matches with what and what patterns are the best together and gah..."
"I'm sure at least they appreciate the effort." Sora tried to be comforting but we both know how intense Xion can be when she gets inspired by something.
"I just hope she settles on something soon. Today she wanted to go for...what was it again…?"
"Don't look at me." I gestured to the stack of papers. "How about we discuss this while we work so we aren't at this all day."
"Right...if we follow this path we should be able to put up a lot of these on the community bulletin boards." He split the remaining fliers into thirds for each of us to take and lead us down an alley through another part of the shopping road past that bakery with the really nice espresso.
"Anyway, yeah they gave it some weird name like "sweets style" or uh..." Roxas caught sight of the bakery sign advertising glazed doughnuts. ""Sugar style", that was it!"
I took a stab at decoding it. "You mean cute dresses with lots of pastels, ribbons and lace? Things like that?"
"Yeah, basically."
Sora was clearly trying to picture it. "Hmm...that works for Namine, maybe...but Xion…?"
"That's what I said!"
"And what would you recommend instead then?" I posed, hanging up a few fliers at the first billboard. Thankfully the community kept free use tacks supplied in little boxes down below so we didn't have to bother bringing any or poaching off an already posted flier. As we tacked them up, Sora pondered over the world of women's fashion.
"Uh…I dunno. Namine always likes really simple, plain things. Olette likes dressing really casual too. Aqua always looks really...elegant?"
"I don't think that's a style but I get what you mean." Roxas hummed in agreement, then added his own. "Kairi always seemed kinda sporty to me."
Sora nodded after some contemplation. "Huh...I can see that, yeah. So if I had to pick something for Xion it would probably be...none of those? She needs her own thing, right?"
I laughed. "That still leaves a lot of options." I sensed a familiar presence and turned my head slightly to see the girl in question approaching, Namine following close behind her. I offered them both a quick head nod, but I could tell neither Roxas or Sora had spotted her yet, because they were still trying to do their best to list every single possible remaining clothing style. Today, Xion was wearing a light purple floral sundress with a dark jacket over the top covered in small colored pins. The color looked nice on her, but the style definitely did seem a bit...off. Her hair, a bit more grown out than when I last saw her, was pinned back behind her ears with some butterfly clips. She has been working hard at trying to select an identity she is happy with, and it clearly shows she hasn't settled on any one thing. Eclectic style, I suppose.
Sora frowned and stepped away from the board after hanging the last paper up. "Well what about if she tried something mixed together? Kinda casual yet, kinda edgy?"
"Good suggestion. Maybe I'll try that next." Xion giggled just behind him, startling them both completely.
Roxas looked the most surprised. "What are you two doing here? You said you were going to still be another-"
Namine pushed something into his hand, giving it a quick squeeze before letting go. "You forgot your wallet."
"I'm glad we spotted it on the chairs. You really need to learn to be more careful with your stuff." Xion scolded him.
Her and Namine were usually hanging out together these days, the two of their personalities complimenting each other like a nice cherry pie: both sweet and tart. I could definitely see now and again where small bits of Kairi shined out from each of them, but they were still very clearly different. It was interesting to spot the similarities when dealing with them. Sora and Roxas as well had so many similar quirks despite being different people.
Just like now, Roxas was nervously rubbing the back of his head in the exact same way Sora does when he gets embarrassed. "...thanks. Sorry for the trouble."
It really was like Sora had found himself a brother.
"It's no trouble." Namine smiled and floated over towards me and Sora, giving us each a pleasant hand squeeze as well. "It's nice to see you again."
Sora agreed cheerfully. "Well yeah, of course! But we just saw you three days ago. You make it sound like it's been ages."
"I'm sorry...I think I'm still having trouble adjusting to everything."
She was alone for a long time and clearly resigned herself to life that way so it's understandably difficult to bring herself back from that mindset. But she needs to know we aren't going to just abandon her. I shook my head in her direction. "You don't have to apologize, Namine."
My friend also tried some more bright words of encouragement. "I can always come every day to visit if it helps you feel better faster!"
She clutched her hands to her chest and smiled serenely down at them. "That's sweet, but I could never request such a big burden."
"It's not a burden!" Roxas chimed in, wrapping himself over Sora's shoulder. "Between the both of us, you definitely won't be alone again."
"Yeah!" Sora also had now apparently noticed Xion's clothing choice. "Hey, by the way Xion, your outfit looks pretty nice today. Is that one Roxas picked out?"
She beamed. "Thanks, but no, it's not. I've been trying this style dress for a few days but I'm really not sure about it and I'm still hoping to get more opinions..." Hinting obviously, she turned her face to me and I stared. "What do you think, Riku?" She looked at me with hope-filled eyes, spinning around with a cute little bounce so I could see.
"The...color is good."
Her face immediately crashed. "Oh..."
What does she want me to say? It's not like I know anything about clothes. Maybe she is looking for some kind of criticism to improve on. "It's a little too girly for you, maybe." I blurted out.
Xion's joy shriveled instantly and I inwardly punched myself. Sora, you had better wipe that stupid look off your face. I hate when I get taken off guard by stuff like this, it always makes me sound like an idiot.
"I really like the jacket." Sora attempted to salvage my slip-up. "Especially all the pins at the bottom. It must have taken a while to collect them all."
She nodded and brandished them forward. "I thought, hey, I want a hobby but I'm like the only girl we know who can't craft for the life of me! I figured I'd just make collecting my hobby and give pins and hair clips a try right now. I hope you don't mind, but I've also re-purposed some of those old glass display cases at the clubhouse. I've been putting some of my collections inside for everyone to see."
That certainly does sound like a good use for those things that were just otherwise thrown into the corner of the garden. At least now we don't have to have any more arguments about if they are supposed to be recycled on glass day or large furniture day. Sora barely even registered what she had said about the display cases, as he was still grabbing at her coat to get a good look at the different pins.
"Whoa! This one is super cool! Where did you get it?" He marveled at one that I think had an image of some kind of lavender dragon. It was a bit hard to see from here.
"A shop in Disney Town had a whole bunch. I got this one there, too."
Roxas drew his attention over to a different one on her arm. "I really enjoyed this one. Figured you'd like it too."
Sora's eyes widened and he gasped, bouncing between his feet. "No way! Riku! Look! I'm on a pin!" He gestured at it desperately, trying to get me to see. "Riku! Riku, look! This one is you!"
I humored him and took a look. To be fair, well, it did kind of look like us. Squished miniature versions of us with huge round faces and buggy eyes. Art is...interesting, sometimes. "Who decided to make these?"
"Aqua gifted them to me, actually. She said the town by her castle has a lot of silly Keyblade wielder stuff. Someone who lives there is a huge fan and opened a huge novelty shop. I was only interested in the pins but she said there were posters, art cards, even some plushies."
Sora doubled over in laughter. "Oh man I gotta go there!" He cast me a devilish smile. Yeah, no. No way am I letting you buy anything with my face on it.
"Anyway, we should plan a trip up there together, I'd be fun." Xion grinned, reclaiming her sleeve away from Sora's grabbing mitts. "But for now the two of us should get back to our shopping."
More like your shopping. I doubt Namine is buying many new clothes. She's the sort of girl who would probably wear the same outfit every day if she could get away with it.
Xion gave us a parting wave. "Right, maybe we'll see ya later!"
I saw Namine hesitating a little bit and before following, she scurried up to me and gently lifted up a few pamphlets from out of my arms. "I won't leave without at least helping you a little..."
Sora thanked her profusely, and the two girls both parted with another cheery goodbye.
Roxas lowered his arm as he watched them turn the corner and disappear from view. "When we go to that shop, make sure Kairi comes. I haven't been able to see her in a while."
"Yeah...between festival prep, clubs and make up work she's been busier than normal." Sora answered glumly.
"But I bet whatever she's doing is gonna be pretty spectacular. Let's make sure to pass these out so everyone can come see." It was nice seeing Roxas so optimistic lately. It was definitely forward progress, he certainly looked healthier and happier than ever.
The three of us continued putting up posters intermittently until we reached what appeared to be the last bulletin board on the street and pinned up another swath of papers.
Roxas counted out how many remained. "Okay, so for the last few of these I can just use my skateboard and do it myself to reach the other spots, it'll be faster."
"Are you sure?" Sora hesistated.
"It's fine, I've got a lot of practice doing this sort of thing. Helping out at all those Struggle Tournaments and whatnot. Which also reminds me..."
"I'm in this year! Definitely!"
Roxas' mouth curled upwards. "I wouldn't be so excited if I were you. I'm gonna get you out, round one."
"Oh, really?"
They were both glaring competitively at one another and I finally felt the need to interject. "You two had better not go all out or you'll destroy the whole arena." They both gave me a pouting look and I laughed at how oddly synchronized they were with each other.
The two of them nodded firmly. "It's settled, then?" Sora confirmed.
"Naturally. If Riku joins we'll tag team and bring him down first."
I gave them a pointed look and they dodged off in opposite directions. I guess they figured I couldn't hit both of them if they split up. Sora darted up the alley while Roxas snatched his board up and started skating down the nearby ramp, taking the papers with him. That's why it's best in these sorts of situations to act like I totally don't care at all. Can't beat apathy.
Roxas braced himself to a stop at the bottom of the ramp and called back up to us. "Yo! I'll meet you two at the clubhouse later."
"Count on it!" Sora looped back over to my side, waving down to him.
Roxas zoomed off on his mission, leaving the two of us alone. Finally free from this stupid errand.
"Did you want to just head there now?" He asked me, and I just nodded.
As we started making our way towards the clubhouse, Sora jumped up on the wall next to me, balancing as he walked with his arms out to the sides. We walked relatively silently, but it was one of those nice times where the quiet felt just as wholesome as conversation. He contentedly was teetering along while I followed just behind him. At the corner of the street he grabbed the street pole and spun around it with a laugh. Even after spending nearly all day on that tedious job he is still exuding energy. I stuffed my hands in my pockets and glanced over at the sun. Still plenty of afternoon light, it's not yet close to twilight.
That was one of the more strange things to get used to after Sora opened that door. All the worlds came back together and it was like they had all woken up at the same time, remembering everything they had forgotten. Time now flowed evenly across them all, and there were no borders to cross, no walls to traverse. Of course, here was still called Twilight Town despite it not being locked eternally in that hour any longer.
What interested me, though, was considering how this would affect the share of ideas and technology. Despite being connected physically, there was still a distinctive gap between the cultures of each former world. Like our islands, some were trying to open up and encourage tourism. A few others were a bit more isolated and while everyone there was aware of more beyond their horizons, their citizens had no desire to explore. I'm not really sure what I want to do, personally. I can't imagine being content just sitting around on the islands all day. But at the same time, it is nice to have a place to call home. The only thing I know for sure is that we will follow each other anywhere. Or so I hoped...
I checked up at Sora who was now attempting to walk backwards on the cobblestone half wall like a dork.
"Whoa!" Predictably, his foot slipped over the edge and he almost tumbled right over the edge. Arms flailing, he grabbed onto my shoulder in split second panic to steady himself. I paused in my walk, letting him use me as a ballast.
"Just a sec." He kicked off the wall and leapfrogged down with a laugh, landing just in front of me. He turned to look back over his shoulder, clearly proud of himself for that one.
I chastised him with a curt head shake. "You're welcome for again salvaging it for you."
He laughed. "Hmm…? And maybe you could remind me who it was that nearly flubbed it with Xion back there? Come to think of it I bail you out of stuff with girls all the time."
While that was true, I didn't like to admit it. I can't help it that the stuff I want to say doesn't always come across correctly. Everyone always seems to have this impression I am some eternally suave master of words but honestly I can get tongue tied just as much as the next guy. That's why it's always better to think before speaking, unlike some people. At least as far as I know he never found out about that awful interaction I had when I first met Namine, when practically the first thing I told her was that she smelled good. Ugh, I still cringe at that one. Thankfully she's not much of a gossip.
"I guess you can always just fall back on staring into the distance in silence like you're so mysterious." He teasingly waved his hands in front of my face. "Then you don't have to say anything and ruin the illusion."
Yeah. Exactly. "At least I can pull that off. Let's see you try."
He jumped into a comical pose like he was trying to be a superhero with his hand on his chest, the other on his hip. He looked ridiculous, and a woman passing by started ogling him in confusion. I couldn't help but laugh. He quickly cracked as well, rubbing under his nose with a grin. "Guess I need a few pointers."
"It's just how I am, I don't think it's something I can teach. Besides, what girls am I even trying to impress?"
"I dunno. I always thought you and Xion seemed kinda nice together. Until you blew it today."
Xion, huh? I can't tell if he actually thought we would make a good pair or if he just dropped the name to tease me about what happened earlier. "So what, are you a girl expert now?"
"I didn't say that, I just don't get all choked up around them like you do."
He was right, that he isn't completely helpless with girls, to some extent. With the exception of when he has to deal with Kairi he's generally pretty unaffected by a pretty face. But he never follows through with anything more serious, either because he is too dense or lacks any desire to. Probably because he just treats everyone like they are a potential friend, girl or not, and doesn't really look beyond that. Maybe.
"And what about Kairi?"
"She's...different." He fidgeted with his sleeve.
Uh-huh. Now that I looked for it, I could pinpoint the exact face Roxas had been telling people about. That little eye sparkle of his was fairly distinctive. I felt that dark nagging sense of guilt digging at my gut again, forcing its way up my throat. I swallowed it back.
"In my defense I say it's because I've gotten too used to dealing with a simple guy like you all the time so it's rubbing off."
He narrowed his eyes. "You wanna say that again?"
"Face it, Sora. Take any average girl and I'd bet you'd struggle to be half as complex."
"Half!? No way!" He crossed his arms. "I bet you can't guess what I'm thinking about now."
"I bet I can."
He was giving me the smuggest look in the world, like he had dreamed up something so bizarre that he knew I would never be able to guess it. Oh he is so sure that he's going to win this. But I've got a trump card.
"You are thinking that Kairi looks really attractive in that little purple flower swimsuit of hers."
"N-No! I..." His face reddened.
"Care to deny that one more time?"
He spluttered helplessly. "T-that's not fair! Of course that's what I'm thinking about now! You cheated..."
"Fine, you were probably thinking about how I'm an annoying jerk."
Sora burst out laughing. "That's true, you are! But..."
I stumbled, taken aback by his sudden movement. "Uh, Sora...why are you...?"
He had one arm wrapped around behind my neck over my shoulder, hugging me sideways. "The truth is, I was actually thinking that I'm glad you're finally laughing again."
He did still surprise me sometimes, that's for sure. I didn't particularly dislike hugs, they just made me feel a little awkward. At least I know he's sincere about it, and that's really what counts after all.
"See?" He prodded me jovially in the chest. "Maybe I'm more complex than you thought!"
"Nope." That was still a very typical Sora thing to think; doesn't count. I extracted myself out from under his arm as he gave me a frustrated pout. "But I like you the way you are."
That got a good smile out of him.
We reached the path to the woods soon after and started making our way up the worn grass pathway towards the mansion, no longer abandoned after our hours of hard work fixing it up to be our clubhouse and meeting spot. Sora insisted on naming it "The Mysterious Secret Mansion Clubhouse of Fun and Justice" but the problems with that name were...obvious. We just shortened it to Clubhouse after none of us could settle on a name everyone else was happy with. It wasn't our only group base; obviously the former castle oblivion was used for more serious matters, and was maintained by Aqua and Terra for the most part. This place was something else. It was a place for all of us to escape, and a bit more centrally located for everyone to reach than the islands. Nearly every square inch was made into our own.
Sora bounded through the gate, leaving it swinging behind him as he charged up the entryway path to the front door. He violently opened this as well, checking to see if anyone else was here, but the empty entryway was all that greeted him.
I dropped myself down onto the comfiest chair while Sora took a glance into the nearest glass case that now had an assortment of hair clips displayed in a neat line.
He leaned a bit too far forward towards the glass and hastily used the corner of his shirt to rub away his finger smudge. "So...what do you wanna do now?"
"Whatever." I rubbed my eyes, feeling glad to finally relax.
Sora scooped up one of his small bean bags that he keeps leaving lying around everywhere and started tossing it back and forth between his hands, then kicking it off his shoes back into his hands.
"Are you still attempting that juggling thing?" I asked the obvious, but mostly it's just because I never fully understood why he is even bothering with it.
"I think I almost got it! See?" He grabbed three of the bags in total and, with extreme concentration, started passing them between his hands, launching each one high into the air in a circle. He was actually able to maintain the rhythm this time, but his balance still needed work, as he kept sidestepping all over to stay under the center throwing arc.
"Not bad, but I still don't think Selphie is going to let you juggle at the festival."
"Why not? I've been working really hard on it!"
"Because just juggling three of those isn't too impressive—if you had more..."I scooped another bag off the ground and waved it at him. "Here, catch."
He laughed nervously. "W-wait a minute..."
I lobbed it at him and he struggled to work it into his routine but one fumble and it all fell apart. One after the other the balls scattered around his feet.
He shrugged and laughed, throwing himself onto the couch. "Oh well. I'll get it eventually."
Flipping over onto his back he reached up with one hand and squinted at the ceiling, tracing his fingertip along the various lines above him, likely getting a peek through the skylight we fixed up there as well. Something cheerful must have been running through his head because he kept smiling to himself now and again. Seeing him happy just felt like the natural state of the way things should be.
...And once more I felt those sickening pangs of guilt. I kept trying to push it to the back of my mind but I couldn't forget that that day. Two days wasn't enough to clear away the burning inside. It still stung, like bile at the back of my throat.
I know I left the classroom on Wednesday because I wanted to give them space. I removed myself because I know when they are alone they can really be honest with each other. I was starting to give up hope that he would make a move. But, like always, he manages to surprise me. Of course he tried to confess to her while she was sleeping, the coward.
Part of me wanted to interrupt because he seriously needs to just grow a spine and say it to her face. But I can tell myself that to the end of time and I still know in my heart that isn't the reason why I opened that door. I know the real reason. And that's why it hurts.
...unlike this pillow that was just thrown at my face.
Roxas was back, bearing a bag of some snacks. "Geez, Riku, you were totally out of it. Oh well, all the better for me to totally thrash you."
"What are you talking about?" I snatched a bottle of juice out of his hand.
"I helped you guys out today so now you get to do what I ask."
"Sure, what's that?" Sora agreed far too quickly. Like always.
"First, you two get changed into something more comfortable. You're spending the night. Second..." Roxas' eyes flashed as he lifted up another bag and tilted it open so we could see inside. Looked like video games.
"We're gonna fight...and I'm gonna win."
"Don't count on it!" Sora beamed, jumping up to his feet and running to the room to find a spare set of clothes we all kept in the shared dresser.
Roxas immediately raced towards the library and I sighed. I see the "No Sora or Roxas Unaccompanied Beyond This Point" sign with the very angry face that Pence taped to the door of the computer room was going to be completely useless again. At least it seemed like we were just using the portable system today so no harm should come to his precious baby. No computer abuse today, not on my watch. I don't want to get blamed for letting them in unsupervised.
But if he wants a fight night? Bring it on.
Sora was completely passed out on the couch, snoring peacefully on top of a half empty box of sugar cookies. Sugar crash, most likely.
"Sweet dreams, right?" Roxas snickered, laying another card down on the table. "My battle row is now power seven."
Says the one who can eat his own weight in ice cream. I shook my head disapprovingly at him and threw down my own card in response. "Power twelve. Puns really don't suit you."
"Ugh...I never should have agreed to this one. You know I have a weakness with card games."
I gloated. "Exactly. But I do admire your determination to beat me."
"Hey, I don't remember you being so cocky when we were playing Choco Racer earlier." He almost laid down a card, but quickly changed his mind, returned it to his deck and played another instead. "I use blizzard. That reduces my power...to six, but yours to five."
I flicked a cure card onto the table with relish. "All previous powers restored. I'm still winning with twelve."
"Ugh, I'm out." He flicked a finger grumpily at the edge of the table and dropped his cards to the desk in defeat.
Sora mumbled something and turned over, the hood of his sweatshirt flopping down over his face. I sighed and moved to stand up. "I should go drag his butt up to bed before he gets a cookie imprinted on his face."
"Hey, Riku...before that, do you have a minute?" Roxas kicked at the table leg, eyes cast downward.
I could tell this wasn't about a game. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Just, um...did you notice anything...weird on your island at all, lately?"
"...could you be more specific?"
"Darkness."
I tensed. "No. Is there something I should be concerned about?"
He shifted a bit. "Eh...yes and no. Xion told me the other day she was out shopping and saw…um..." He glanced over at Sora. "She saw...you know. That guy."
Considering how many people who potentially had issues with us, that didn't really narrow the field down too well. His fingers clutched at the edge of the table, his hesitation only making me more concerned.
"Just spit it out, who was it?"
"...Vanitas."
"What?!" I shouted louder than I intended to and Sora stirred, nearly waking up for a moment. We watched silently as he shifted positions on the couch and grumbled back to sleep.
Roxas lowered his voice and tried to explain. "It was him, but he wasn't doing anything. That's what she thought was so weird. He was just hanging around near an alley, probably people watching. She said she was going to feed some of the stray cats that hang out around there and she almost stumbled right into him. He didn't recognize her at first, I guess because she keeps changing her style all the time. Once he did, though, he just insulted her and immediately ran off."
"That's suspicious as hell."
"Yeah, but...she said he seemed a bit embarrassed, if that's even possible. Anyway, after she told me I went over to visit Ven and the others to ask about it. They said he has been acting unusual lately but in all good ways. He's been trying to actually cooperate a bit more with them and asking a lot of questions about us."
"That still sounds suspicious." I jabbed my finger into the table. "I don't trust that guy. I don't like that guy. I don't ever want to see him again if possible. Just thinking about him makes me angry."
"Yeah, I know...I just thought I should tell you. I mean maybe he really has decided to change for the better. But if he hasn't..."
"I got it. Thanks for the heads up. As far as I know he hasn't come to the islands but he might just be avoiding me on purpose."
"Sorry, I wasn't sure how to bring it up since I didn't want to worry you guys."
"I'd rather be worried than blindsided by that...that..." I couldn't pinpoint the most choice word to describe him. I had quite a few contenders, though.
"I know, I know. But it might be nothing!" Roxas hastily tried to calm me down.
I raised my hand, letting him know I was still in control of things. I'm not just going to boil over in rage hearing about him; I have a little bit more sense than that. "With him it's never nothing. Let me know if you or anyone else sees him again."
"Will do! Anyway, I'll go get the futons out, you can take care of that." He gestured to the lump on the couch and slipped back upstairs to our shared bedroom. As soon as he disappeared, I strolled over and leaned close to Sora's sleeping ear, whispering into it.
"I'm going to eat the last cookie."
He grumbled and swatted out with a free arm that then lazily slumped back down to the ground after he missed. Huh, I guess talking to someone in their sleep did work wonders. I wonder how much random stuff he picked up from me during that whole year Namine was working on his memories. Probably nothing. I stared down at his sleeping face as he seemed to suddenly fall quiet and felt a wash of unease. It is an irrational concern I suppose, but after all that's happened...sometimes when he's sleeping and stops making obvious noise I feel the need to poke at him a little, just to make sure he's okay and he'll be able to open his eyes again.
I reached down and shook Sora's shoulder as gently as possible. "Hey, wake up. Or do I have to carry you?"
Sora mumbled and tried turning over but I quickly pulled the box out from under him. He sniffed in surprise as his head fell a few centimeters to the couch cushion below. Yeah, he's fine, just lazy. Groaning, he sat up and blinked out into the room.
"Wha-ere's...Roxas…?" He yawned deeply, his head slowly nodding as he once more fought against sleep itself.
"Upstairs."
He lifted himself up into the air, teetered, and started to plummet face first towards the ground. I caught him as gently as possible and he slumped into my chest, happily muttering away. Of course. I'm a pillow again.
"Riku...where's your...robot? You said it was gonna make me...pancakes..."
Riiight… "That's upstairs, too. Can you make it?"
He drowsily nodded and shuffled next to me as we made our way up to the beds. I stopped to shut off the lights on the way out and tried to keep him as stable as possible so he didn't kill himself on the stairs. He yawned again, more deeply this time and sighed, sagging into me again. He had such a calm smile on his face.
"Riku...thanks...not letting...monkey...eat my shoe..."
"Yeah..." I sighed. "I promised I'd be there for you. I guess that includes your shoes."
"...yaay..." He cheered sleepily, stumbling over the last stair.
Roxas, in the process of lying out the beds had somehow managed to fall on the pile of blankets and had already drifted asleep, snuggled up in one. Seriously, even when working together I wonder how these two get things accomplished sometimes. At least he seems comfortable there.
I lowered Sora down onto one of the large futons on the ground and turned to grab a pillow but he yanked on my arm, refusing to drop it. He had a surprising amount of strength left in him despite basically being in a dead sleep. Guess he's claimed that arm for tonight.
I let him pull me down to the bed and tried to get comfortable myself without the use of my right arm since Sora was still clinging to it. He always did get way more affectionate when he's tired. Been that way as long as I can remember, so I've long since stopped fighting it. Even if I shove him off I'll just wake up to him stuck on me somewhere. As frustrating as he is sometimes, part of me always feels glad he still does it. Through everything I've done to him he's never once not forgiven me. If an arm is all it takes now and again to keep him happy, it's not even questionable.
I shifted around a bit and found a comfortable position. Roxas stirred and slid down to the floor, feeling around for the other futon before sleepily pulling himself onto it, dragging the blanket with him. In the silence, those thoughts of mine started to return. I'm not sure how much longer I can ignore it. Every time I try to swallow it down, it just claws its way back up. Undying, unyielding. My best friend laughed quietly at something in his dreams and I turned my head away in shame. Of all the things, why did this have to happen?
I'm so sorry, Sora…