"I don't understand her..." I slumped backwards into the pile of pillows, my movement disturbing the slumber of Riku's faded old whale stuffed animal and it flopped down onto my face. I groaned, just leaving it sitting on top of me for a minute.
Why did she run off like that? I've never seen her look so genuinely upset before. I've made a huge mistake, haven't I? Ugh! Stupid, stupid stupid! She must have obviously been joking around with me again and then like an idiot I just flat out agreed like 'okay sure, let's kiss, why not!?'. Why do these things always slip out, why!? I never should have said anything…
But if she didn't want to kiss me, then why did she close her eyes? Could she possibly have been mad...because I didn't? Because I panicked and started second guessing everything? If so, that means...
Aargh, this is the worst!
"You know, you're kind of adorable when you're freaking out about this stuff. Adorable in a pathetic way."
I yanked his whale off my face and glared, chucking the nearest pillow under my hand at Riku's stupid face as hard as I could. He deflected it with his arm and hurled it back.
"Stop throwing things in my room, I don't want you breaking another lamp again." He scolded me, like an absolute hypocrite considering he just returned fire.
He took his seat back on his desk chair, leaning backwards against the table, his eyes observing me closely. I would have snapped back a retort, but I just didn't have the energy for it right now.
I let my arm droop to my side with a sigh. "It's just not fair..."
"Hey, it's my room, I can make up whatever rules I want."
I kicked both my legs out in frustration. "I don't care about the pillows, Riku! It's her, I don't know what to do about her!"
He remained on his chair, staring down at me with enviable calmness. "I know. I'm just purposefully being facetious because, like always, you're caught up on the wrong thing."
Is there something I'm missing here? What else should I possibly need to focus on? After another quick rundown through my brain of the events earlier, I still couldn't figure out what he was talking about. I just...can't stop focusing on that look on her face, that poignant sorrow when she turned away from me, 'I'll be fine...no need to trouble yourself.' Ugh, that face was the worst! It was like someone just told her the garden at the clubhouse was mowed down by a disgruntled neighbor with a vendetta against rose bushes.
"I give up. What is it?"
He drummed his fingers along the desk. "You said someone from the flower club came to talk to you just before she left, right?"
I nodded, recalling how nervous that girl had been. She said 'um' more than anyone I've ever met before, but she seemed nice enough. Maybe reminded me of Namine the slightest bit. "Kairi went over and said something to her, then shouted out a quick goodbye and stormed off before I could really get a word in edgewise."
"What did the girl want to talk to you about?"
"I don't know! She was asking about random stuff, like if those interviews we gave to the paper were true, and what I thought about this and that. Random stuff." I don't really remember a whole lot of the conversation, I was so preoccupied about Kairi that I was maybe only paying half attention.
"Uh-huh..." Riku pressed further, and I frowned.
"That's all, really. Then she asked if I could help her out with a favor tomorrow morning because she needs to set out all the flowers up on stage and couldn't do it alone."
I didn't like the expression Riku gave me, some mix of exasperated frustration. "Let me guess, you said you would?"
"Well, yeah. Why not? She seems like the sort of person who would have trouble asking for help so I didn't want to leave her in a bad situation if I could do something about it." I wish he would stop looking at me like that. I don't understand what any of that has to do with Kairi getting upset.
Riku marched over to me, pushing a fist down onto my head. "It's just like you to bumble your way into a trap like that."
...Trap? Why is it that me doing favors for people always ends up being some kind of trap? Riku pushed down a bit harder with his hand. "Just...make sure you actually come clean about everything to her tomorrow. If you don't, things are likely going to get even more messy and entangled than they already are."
Looking at him so close to me now, I realized his face was a lot...paler than usual. Putting all the tumbling worries in my head aside, I sat up and clutched his wrist before he could withdraw it. I furrowed my brow, trying to concentrate on the temperature of his skin. I'm not sure if I'm doing this correctly, but Kairi told me that if Riku ever looks...suspiciously off, make sure to check if his wrists feel weirdly hot or cold. Since he never would admit outright if he was feeling sick to either of us, we had a to get a little sneaky sometimes just to check. I suppose the idea was to do this more covertly, but I'm a bit too worried to bother myself with that part right now.
"Sora, mind telling me what you are doing?" Riku tried to extract his wrist from my clutches, but I firmly held on, double checking to make sure I hadn't missed something. He definitely didn't feel the wrong temperature, but his face still looked so…
"Are you feeling okay?"
I finally released his arm and he turned away. "Just...uneasy, like I said before." He rested his own fingers over the spot I had been holding him and glanced back over his shoulder at me. "Were you...checking my pulse? Or my temperature?" My face gave away the right answer and he sighed. "What are you, a thermometer?"
"Well, uh..." I scratched the side of my cheek, not sure how to really explain it without sounding a bit strange. It's not like I wanted him to know that Kairi and I had developed a top secret and elaborate code to check for various tells he had in case one of us thought something was up. If he knew, he would hide that stuff better. Thankfully he didn't seem to keen on delving any deeper right now.
"Do I seriously look that off?"
"Maybe, a little..."
Today was certainly wrapping up to be a fantastic day. Kairi was upset, Riku was probably worried about me again, and apparently I've waltzed my way into some sort of trap with a girl I barely even knew. I don't really get everything that is going on here, but I want to try and at least fix something tonight. And since Riku is the only one here right now, I should focus on trying to make him feel better, somehow...
Ah! That's it! "You haven't had dinner yet, right? How about I make something!"
I was really getting into cooking. I never would have thought it would be something I'd take to, but it's way easier to cook than bake since I don't really have to measure everything accurately for it to be edible. Just throw in stuff that seems good together, together and it's food! Ta-da! And sometimes it even tastes okay.
He stared at me.
"Aw, come on! You've been listening to me rant about girl stuff for over an hour. Least I can do is make something super tasty as thanks!"
He dropped down onto the corner of his bed and crossed his arms. "That depends. Is today going to be an experiment as well?"
"Of course! Improvising is more fun!"
I saw a twinge of anxiety pass across his face and he did his best to hide it. I know he tends to like his foods relatively simple, plain and easy, and he always gets so nervous trying all the weird stuff I mix up. But he hasn't horribly disliked anything so far!
"Maybe you should have more faith in my skills." Sneaky me, playing the 'have faith' card. He definitely won't back out when I use that one.
I knew it, that was definitely a nod. A resigned nod, sure, but that was agreement all the same! Now time to actually see what his mom keeps stocked up in the house…
Outside, I heard a distant rumble of thunder, and the sound of rain starting to plummet lightly down onto the roof. Guess I was staying here tonight. I didn't want to have to run back home in a storm. I'm sure this little splatter of rain should all clear up before the festival, which was thankfully meant to have fantastic weather, but I wonder if something like this is meant to be a bad omen. Storms on the island did make me a little nervous now, after all...
Nah, I'm just being silly.
Ophelia dangled another flower down for me to see. I didn't particularly mind her wanting to show me, but I almost wished she would hurry up a little and finish lacing them through the banner up there. Holding this ladder steady is starting to give my hands a cramp.
"You see this one? It's one of my favorites." I laughed to myself, realizing that she's said that about the last ten. Still, hoping to at least add a tiny bit more to my flower knowledge, I focused on the strange tall pinkish looking bloom she held out to me. Oh, yeah! I do remember that one! Especially because it makes that super cool face with its petals.
"Snapdragon, right?"
She seemed pretty pleased that I actually knew the name of this one, twirling it around in her hands. "And...did you know that, um...flowers can have extra meanings?"
...no? Unless she was referring to something like how a paopu fruit is supposed to link people together if they shared one together.
She waved it in front of me again. "Do you want to, um, guess what one this flower has?"
Well, if it was a similar idea, maybe that could mean..."Do you get dragon powers if you eat it?"
"N-no, you can't eat it!" She shrieked and pulled it away from me, her eyes wide-open, startled.
I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. "It...it was just a joke, sorry." I guess she took a lot of things pretty seriously so I'd need to be a bit more careful to not upset her.
"O-oh." She paused, her brow furrowed for a moment before something sparkled in her eyes. "Oh! Oh, right! Ha. Ha, ha!" She gave me the most canned, fake laughter I'd ever heard. Well, with the exception of that one time Tidus tried to get into Drama club. That was terrible. It really made me wonder why she was forcing herself to act around me. Still spitting out her fake laughter, she teetered on the ladder and I immediately did my best to sturdy it for her.
"C-careful." I really didn't want her to get hurt up on this thing. She didn't seem to have the most stable footing. "Are you sure you don't want to swap? Because I could-"
She dropped her happy act and jabbed her finger at me. "No! You're the boy so you have to be there!"
"Oh. Uh..." I wasn't quite sure I followed her reasoning, but maybe it was just too hard for her to explain to me properly right now, so I just let it go and kept holding onto the sides of the ladder. She went back to hanging up the flowers and I was left standing there awkwardly in the silence.
I didn't really know her that well at all, so I had no idea if she was angry at me or just didn't know what to say. But I definitely couldn't stand the weird false persona she had been forcing on herself this entire time.
"Hey, Ophelia?" I tried to gauge her response and she seemed happy enough to glance down at me to see what I wanted, so I continued. "I can't help but feel like you're trying to hide from me. I really would like to be friends but that's a little hard when I can't actually meet you, if that makes any sense. You shouldn't have to be worried about being yo-"
She burst into unrestrained giggles, stomping around on the ladder again and I had to adjust my grip to keep it steady. I'm even more baffled by her now, but at least that response seemed genuine, which made me happy.
I smiled up at her. "If you see any other flowers you like, make sure to let me know."
She nodded eagerly and gathered up the last bundle to string up into place. She stretched up to latch the last snap dragon onto the banner when I saw her momentarily glance down towards me before weirdly swaying side to side like she was trying to do some kind of ladder dance. I have no idea why, but...maybe she just really likes hanging up flowers? I focused on holding the steps steady for her, staring straight ahead as much as possible just in case she got the slightest bit worried that I would try to peek up her skirt. Her dance would have certainly made that pretty easy to do had I wanted to. I heard her stamping her feet around a bit harder and she gave an exasperated sigh.
"Everything okay?" I wondered if maybe she wasn't happy with her work. She gave the impression that she was a little bit of a perfectionist in some ways, especially with how neat and clean her two braids were.
She grumbled something from the top of the ladder, but I couldn't quite hear what it was. Before I could ask her to repeat herself, she was climbing down. I moved to the side to give her some room but she halted once she got down to the bottom rung. Then she just...let go.
Her hands opened up and she almost allowed herself to pitch over backwards.
"Whoa, hey!" I darted back around and caught her before she could smack her head against the stage. Was that really intentional? What kind of a person would...
She gave an overly dramatic gasp, and spun around, snuggling herself against me. "Oh! You saved me!"
"Uh, no problem..." I bet she really did want to practice drama or something. I can't understand why else anyone would fake falling off the back of a ladder. That's a little eccentric, but not anything I'd get upset over. But the cuddling, though? That's just making me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I tried to extract myself from her grasp. "It really wasn't a-"
She gripped me tighter and I choked, air squished out of my lungs. I managed to wiggle my arms free, but she refused to let go of my torso, pressing her head against my chest.
"Sora, um...have you ever, um..."I figured it would be better to just wait for her to find the words to what she was trying to say. "D-do you...like anybody?"
Huh, that's an odd question. And not really what I was expecting. I tipped my head to the side. "Well, yeah I have a lot of friends who are all really imp-"
She gave me another painful squeeze and I just tried to relax into it in the hopes she would loosen her grip a bit. I still wasn't sure if I had her figured out, but there was something so...painfully lonely about her. Almost like she didn't really ever have anybody she could open up to about anything. And now that she's trying it, she's coming across as a little stilted.
"Am I...your friend?"
I tried to laugh but it was a little hard at the moment and it probably sounded a little wheezy. "Sure, I don't see why not!"
"So...you like me?" I wasn't quite sure if I had misheard her emphasis, and I frowned. She wasn't trying to imply anything, was she?
"Well, I-"
She pulled her face up uncomfortably close to mine, her dark eyes boring holes through me. I leaned back, and glanced around, trying to find some way out of this situation. I didn't want to just pry her arms off, since she seemed so...vulnerable and insecure. But I really didn't like how close she was getting to me now.
"Ophelia, uh...do you think you could maybe let me-" Before I finished my thought, I saw Selphie bustling around the corner, her nose buried deep into her clipboard. She scribbled down something hastily and started counting off the sets of flowers we had already layered down around the stage platform.
"Looks good! But we need two more over on the left si-" She finally looked up over the top of her board and she froze, her eyes bouncing between me and Ophelia who was still had me tightly ensnared, refusing to let me pull myself away from her.
"...Sora, what are you doing?"
Yeah, she definitely wasn't very happy to see me. Luckily for me, this distracted Ophelia enough for her grip to slacken and I hastily stumbled away. I grabbed up one of the flower arrangements near my feet in a panic, hoping it would keep Ophelia from jumping back into my arms again.
"H-helping with these! Ophelia said she needed me to-"
Selphie stomped over and yanked the pot of flowers out of my hands. I brushed some of the dirt off my shirt, a little worried about her enraged expression but ultimately kind of glad to be able to breath freely again.
"How gentlemanly of you." She grabbed at my arm and started pulling me roughly off the stage. "Now if you don't mind, I need this to be a boy free zone until the festival starts."
I was thankful to be excused, but did feel it wasn't right to go running off. "Yeah, but I promised to-"
Selphie leaned in closely, lowering her voice to just over a whisper. "Sora, do you really want to be here? With her?"
Well that was a little mean. She wasn't that bad. I bet she just needed more friends to get more comfortable being herself. "I'm just trying to help, why is that a problem?"
She screwed her mouth up and glared at me, mumbling a bit. "She had every option in the book and she settled on such a dense thing."
A dense...thing? Like...a rock? "Who are you talking about?"
She looked a little surprised, maybe she hadn't intended me to hear that. "You really are clueless, aren't you? That girl isn't up to anything good." I opened my mouth to protest but she hushed me. "Sora, could you please just go? For Kairi's sake..."
I felt my heart sink a little. "Is...Kairi okay? I'm actually kind of worried about her since last night she-"
"She's tired, but fine, mostly." Selphie glanced back at Ophelia, who was very carefully unpinning and re-pinning one section of the leaf chain we had just finished stringing around the edge of the stage. "She also wanted to make sure you and Riku know where to meet her once things start."
"Yeah?" I brightened up. Maybe she wasn't mad at me after all.
"Just before six, when you hear the first confetti cannon go off, you should head up to the park by the old lighthouse."
That was a strange place to send us. But more importantly… "Confetti cannon!?"
Rather than answer my question, she just gave me a little smack on the shoulder, raising her voice again. "Now I'm giving you direct orders to get out! I'd better not see you until this thing kicks off this afternoon. Ophelia, you knew that he wasn't supposed to be here. At least you didn't being Riku with you, too."
I noticed Ophelia staring back at the two of us quite sadly. It still felt really crummy not to finish, but Selphie seemed so insistent that staying was going to hurt Kairi somehow. Probably she's just worried that I'll accidentally spy some prop lying around that spoils something. At least we already did all the hard parts so I wasn't dumping her with too much.
I saw Ophelia's face and did my best to smile up to her. "Sorry I can't quite help you wrap things up. But I think you had a much better idea of what you were doing than I did the whole time." She still looked particularly disheartened. "Keep up the good work! And remember to loosen up a little bit, it's way easier to just be yourself. Maybe I'll see you at the festival, yeah?"
Selphie shot me an incredibly stony glare, while Ophelia's meek smile widened only the slightest bit as she waved and gathered up stacks of unused flowers at her feet. First Kairi didn't make any sense, and now Selphie was being weird with me. Not to mention how confusing all that stuff with Ophelia just was.
I guess I understand girls even less than I thought.
The festival crowds were really starting to pick up. I'm glad all that advertising and hard work paid off for everyone, because everything looked fantastic. I was just excited that things were starting to kick off. Festivals always got me super pumped!
Roxas yanked me away from the opening in the tent we were hiding in. "Come on, the whole point of hiding out here is to not get spotted. It kind of defeats the purpose if you're opening the door for anyone to peek in here and blow our cover."
I folded my arms and backed away from the tent opening. "I'm not very good at hiding..."
"We know. Just give her a minute, she should be back soon." There goes Riku again, telling me to be patient. I'm sure he loves just sitting around in a private tent people watching, but some of us actually want to get out there.
The flap of the tent lifted and Aqua quickly dodged in, holding a large bag up in front of her face. "Sorry, ran into a few...fan club members. Had to take a detour so I wouldn't lead them back here."
She walked over to the small folding table that still had the remnants of Lea and Xion's card game and started laying out the contents of her bag one by one. I ran over and stared in awe at the animal masks now covering the table, as Aqua swept her arm grandly over the selection. "Here we are! The best solution I could find to solve the problem of navigating large crowds as a group without drawing too much attention."
Terra prodded at the mask closest to him, a very cute looking boar with a daisy on its head. "How exactly is a large group of people all wearing animal masks not going to attract attention?"
Xion snatched the pig mask up and cuddled it close to her chest. "It's a festival! Everyone's going to be all dressed up! Right?"
"Yeah! This'll be fun!" I cheered and decided to check my potential options more seriously. Since Xion had already claimed the boar, there were ten remaining.
Starting from the left was a very serious looking cow mask, a tiger with a sleepy face, a rabbit munching on a dandelion, a dragon breathing out a plume of fire, a snake with a hypnotic stare, a really surprised black and white spotted horse, a sheep that was more fluff than face, a chicken that looked like it had an attitude problem, a temperamental gorilla, and a smiley dog that sort of looked like the one my neighbors had.
Lea hastily snatched up the dragon. "Fire baby, you know it's calling my name!"
"One of the more...straightforward choices." Aqua smiled to herself. "It was a little hard trying to pair the animals with everyone since I was limited to what the shop stocked, which seemed to be exclusively animals of the zodiac."
"...Zodiac?" I could tell Roxas was just as baffled as I was.
Riku prodded me to catch my attention. "Do you remember that world with the big snowy mountains and stuffy soldier in a red cape who thought he could beat me with a sword?"
I tried to connect the clues he had given me. "Oh! You mean where Mulan and Mushu live?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Their world has a thing called a zodiac where people are assigned an animal to their birth year. I assume it's one of those things that's catching on elsewhere now."
...how does he know all this stuff?
Aqua picked up the dog mask from the end of the table and handed it over to me. "I know some of the pairs won't be perfect, so feel free to swap them around. I'm also not too sure what each of the animals are supposed to represent in the native culture, but I suppose that doesn't matter too much for our purposes anyway."
I stared down at the dog in my hands. It was pretty cute, but I was sort of hoping to get something a little more...epic.
Riku chuckled down at the happy dog face and tapped its nose. "This one definitely suits him."
I held it up to my face and looked through. "Not bad?"
"Riku's right, it's perfect." Roxas elbowed me.
I lowered it back down with a slight sigh. "Well...maybe I can just say it's a wolf or something. Wolves are pretty awesome, right?"
Namine shook her head. "But it's not a wolf, Sora. It's a shiba. It's known as being one of the most cheerful and least vicious breeds out there."
I hung my head. Of course...
Xion hesitantly put the boar mask back on the table. "Sorry, I didn't realize they were assigned to-"
Aqua dismissed her concern with a wave of her hand. "No, no, it's perfectly fine for you to keep that one. It's actually the one I figured you'd choose anyway."
Ven threw his hands behind his head and laughed. "So you've been spot on so far, Aqua. What did you have in mind for the rest of us?"
She started picking up masks and handing them out to the rest of my friends. "Terra gets the ox, because he's just as stubborn sometimes."
Terra folded his arms and sighed, but took the cow mask without a complaint.
"Then this sweet little sheep goes over here to you, Namine. Roxas, you get the tiger."
Aw, that's totally not fair! I shot Roxas a dirty look and he scooped the mask out of her hands with relish.
"Roxas, do you wanna tra-"
He firmly shook his head. "No way. I couldn't possibly deprive you of such a perfectly suited mask, Sora."
Dang it.
Now the only ones left on the table were the horse, the snake, the rabbit, the gorilla and the rooster.
Aqua continued dispensing them. "Riku, I figured you should get the horse."
He seemed a little confused by this, and took the mask from her hesitantly. "Any particular reason?"
She tipped her head. "Well, a horse is a very strong and dependable companion. A little stubborn, maybe because of their fiery spirit and desire to be free."
"I...see. Thank you."
At least Riku looked properly embarrassed for once. Lea snatched up the chicken mask that was one of the remaining four and examined it.
"Let me guess, this rooster goes to our little sleepyhead Ven?"
Aqua sighed. "Well, yes, but not for that reason."
Ven grabbed the chicken mask and slipped it on, still laughing. "That's fine, I think it's kind of funny. A little alarm clock to keep me awake, yeah?"
I took a glance down at the last three remaining masks. "So, which one is for you, Aqua?"
She held up the snake mask and set it to the side. "I figured I would take the snake, and Sora, maybe you could hold onto this rabbit one for Kairi. I don't know if she'll end up coming around with us at all, but if she does she might need one of her own."
I noticed there was still the gorilla sitting on the table. "Then, who gets that scary guy?"
"Ah, well..."
The expression in her eyes said enough. Right, so I guess Vanitas wasn't coming then after all.
Lea chuckled a bit, picking the monkey mask off the table and offering it towards me. "Give this one to Kairi, instead. It'll be hilarious."
I tried taking it from him but Riku snatched it up first. "If you give that to him he's definitely going to switch to it the minute he gets a chance, and we can't lose our happy little shiba, can we?"
Roxas agreed with him, the traitor. "Let's just let Aqua hang on to it."
Man, I would have loved to pretend to be a gorilla. I'm also the only one of our friends who can say I'm friends with real ones, too! Ah well...at the end of the day I suppose they do have a point pairing me with this little dog here. 'Man's best friend,' right? Not a bad compliment. I smiled to myself as I slipped it over my face.
At this point Namine was doing her best to help everyone fit their masks on, while Xion was bobbing around after her double checking. I glanced over at Riku and tried stifling my laughter but failed miserably at it. Grumpy horse man. Even though I couldn't really see his eyes, he was definitely glaring at me. I know how much he hates dressing up, but he hates being mobbed by fans even worse. I guess the costume ended up winning out in the end as the less bad option.
"At least you can take a picture with us now and no one will know it's you?" I playfully suggested, pointing to his camera bag.
Xion snagged his arm and jiggled it up and down. "Ooh, a picture! Let's do it!"
"Sounds good to me!" Ven jumped next to me, pulling me towards him. "Then we'll check out all the cool games. I'm definitely gonna try to win something! They still do that goldfish thing?"
"No pets." Aqua hastily chastised in that motherly way of hers, much to his chagrin. "But a photo would be nice. Is that alright, Riku?"
He shrugged. "Fine. I suppose since no one would really be able to tell us apart that way."
While Riku walked over to set the camera up on the timer, I bumped Roxas and lowered my voice. "Hey, wanna play a trick on him?" I nudged my elbow over towards Riku's back.
"Do I ever. What did you have in mind?"
"Just before the photo goes off..." I whispered my plan in his ear as quietly as I could.
He burst out laughing and had to choke it back. "Dude...you are evil, sometimes. Let's do it. I'll pass the message this way. Hopefully Ven can convince Aqua."
Yeah, she would probably be the only one really opposed to it, but it's not like she doesn't have a sense of humor. It should be fine. Though I'm pretty sure I picked up on Ven trying to convince her, using the threat of goldfish as leverage.
Lea offered me a covert nod and I figured we were all in on it. Riku started giving some directions for us to gather together so we would all be included in the shot and we followed obediently, trying not to give away that we were up to something. At least the masks could hide our faces from his detailed scrutiny.
We would have three seconds once Riku set up the timer and darted back towards our group. I saw the light blink once.
Twice.
I tipped my mask off of my head and gave the camera a brilliant grin, noting with the corner of my eyes that everyone else had also thrown their masks to the side, posing freely towards the flashing light. I jumped against Riku, lifting a peace sign towards the camera, appreciating his baffled stutter.
Three times…
"W-wait, what are you-"
A flash of light. And the picture was complete!
Roxas raced over to the camera and got the first look at how it turned out. His smile slowly widened. "Why look at that, Riku. You're wearing a mask but somehow I can still figure out who you are."
He passed it to me and I burst out laughing. All of us were posed in excitement around an extremely dour horse-man standing rigidly right in the center of the photo. Riku's eyes locked onto the picture like he was trying to order it to self destruct.
"...I hate all of you."
I don't care what he says, it's going to be a great keepsake. And it was even better to have everyone laughing in a group like this again.
He bopped me on the head. "Somehow I just know that was your idea. That's definitely the last photo I'm agreeing to with you, ever. I hope it was worth it."
"Aw, come on..." He'll get over it eventually.
Namine giggled and slipped her sheep back over her face. "It's too bad Kairi isn't here."
"Yeah..." I knew it was only a matter of time before that cannon went off, and we would have to go up to the old lighthouse like Selphie mentioned. Until then, I already know a few festival games I want to introduce everyone to. Coconut Stacking, here we come!
It was honestly all kind of a blur of fun. My mind was preoccupied thinking about Kairi, but it was pretty easy to distract myself when there are such fun things to do like sandcastle competitions, palm tree climbing races and watching Namine timidly attempt to operate a small pellet gun to shoot down some stacked cups. I almost forgot to pay attention to the signal, but once I heard the loud pop and saw red and yellow confetti falling down all around us like snow, it all came rushing back to me.
Riku jerked my arm back, pulling me with him. "Time to go, Kairi's waiting."
I glanced back at the group, currently gathered around the paper net fishing tent as they were watching Ven attempt to actually win his prize, scooping up as many plastic bubbles as he could off the surface of the water before his tiny paper net ripped. To win, he just needed to get more than the competitor across from him, but he was currently getting schooled pretty hard by a seven year old girl in rainbow socks.
"But, what about everyone else? Shouldn't they know too?"
Roxas overheard me and I saw him look up a moment, wave, then return this attention back to the action in the pool. What was that about? Did he know why we were going already?
"Don't worry about them. I mentioned that we might have to duck out earlier so you'd have a chance to see Kairi tonight. They all understood pretty clearly what that meant."
"But you..." I shuffled out from under his grip. "You told them!?"
"Calm down, I didn't say anything important that they don't already know."
Ugh, he sounds way too relaxed about this...
I clomped my way up the side of the slightly damp hill, trying to do my best not to slide in the dewy grass. I hadn't been up here in...honestly, I don't even know. At the top of the hill rested the looming shadow of that huge abandoned light house. After they built the better one I guess they decided the one here didn't serve a purpose and it just sorta...fell into disrepair. Probably too expensive to tear down, and it wasn't really doing any harm just sitting here. The park has been semi maintained over the years, since it's still a nice lookout point, but its still covered with little bits of debris from the old parts of the lighthouse that have chipped away over the years.
As we climbed, more and more confetti cannons were blasting across the well-lit stage area below us, and I was a little upset we couldn't be back with everyone under the fire. I could hear people laughing and cheering about a lot of things I couldn't see and it was making me a little jealous.
"Why is she so far from the stage, anyway? Is she going to zip-line in?"
"That would be interesting, but I doubt it." Riku chuckled next to me and finally removed his mask, tipping mine off for me. I had almost forgotten about it.
I could just start to see the top of the hill, so I kicked up my speed and raced to the clearing.
It was empty. "...Where is she? Did we miss her? Is this the right hill? Don't tell me we went to the wrong spot!? Maybe she-"
"Just calm down and have some patience already." Riku leaned up against one of the old crumbling walls, casting his eyes out over the dark water.
I jumped up onto a low wall, kicking my legs at it in frustration. "I guess it's just nerves, sorry..."
Riku said nothing, only continued staring stoically out across the ocean. I still don't know how I'm going to tell her everything I needed to say tonight, but Riku was right. I definitely couldn't back out of it any more. I was done running from it. It is a little silly, isn't it? Fighting all the forces of darkness and I'm more nervous about talking to one of my best friends.
The cannons finally quieted down and there was an eerie silence. After a moment, I could vaguely hear some announcement happening down by the stage but it was impossible to pick out among the echoing reverb up in the hill.
"What do you think that's about?"
Riku gave me a sly grin. "I wonder..." Oh, he definitely knows.
There was a loud crash and light from a blazing fire suddenly flickered on from down below. But it wasn't coming from the stage, which I now noticed was filled with Selphie's impromptu band, it was two twin pyres dancing out almost magically over the surface of the water beyond the dock. A few sharp notes of music erupted from the stage and everyone's attention was drawn to the floating fire.
A figure draped with a heavy cloak seemed to emerge from the flames, a long staff clenched in their outstretched hand. It looked a lot like a branch of a tree with golden rings looping around it. As the figure stepped through, their feet brushed against the surface of the water and settled on top of it, but they didn't sink. The figure leaned back and threw off their huge shawl, revealing a fantastically colored dress of deep red and orange hues. She took three full steps away from the fire and spun the staff around her body, a full circle of fire tracing along after it, surrounding her and illuminating her fully as the various spots in the water were set ablaze.
That was Kairi. That was definitely, unmistakably Kairi.
But she was...I'd never seen her wear anything like that before. She had these long flowing sleeves that dragged down like the train of a dress, billowing around her like smoke. Her body was covered with this sheer, flowing material that twisted around her as she twirled across the surface of the ocean, a dancing fire on the water.
I was so entranced by her dance, I couldn't even think, let alone form words into actual sentences. "S-she's...Kairi is..."
As she slowly crossed the ocean, she waved the staff from side to side, fires springing up where she pointed as if on her command. The music up on stage was slowly accenting her walk, rising up with a crescendo whenever a fire burst to life. As she took step by step, I heard someone reciting something that sounded like a poem over the speakers.
I tried to listen, but I only really cared about watching her. Watching her dance out on those waves. I heard Riku say something, but I didn't really pay attention to him, either so I have no idea what he actually said. Something about volcanoes.
She slowly made her way closer towards the beach before the music quieted, and she raised the jingling staff up over the whole island, waving it gently over the entire space ahead of her, making the small rings clang together as she did so. What was once a frenzied explosion of a tempo because incredibly ritualistic and calming.
I saw her face as she gazed out across the main island in front of her, lit by the flickering fires around her whole body. She seemed so tranquil, so focused. I could tell whatever ritual she was doing definitely taking seriously. But I loved that face she made when she was extra determined about something. She spun, shaking the staff around with vigor and I saw the confetti cannons erupt once more on the crowd below, showering them with what looked like pink colored papers this time. It almost looked like flower petals. And, actually, now that I am looking closer, her staff is shaped a little bit like a cherry tree. Oh! I get what she's doing, now!
I felt a slight twinge of panic, hoping that if she really was reenacting the tale of the Volcano Princess that there wasn't going to be some random guy playing the part of her fisherman lover. I'm not sure how I'd handle having to stand here and watch her kiss somebody, even if it was pretend.
"Relax, it's a solo part. I checked."
For once I'm actually really glad that Riku is nosy. I noticed that at some point he had gotten his camera out and was taking pictures, something else I was intensely grateful for. I smiled down at that shimmering light of a girl, spinning across the ocean as the tempo picked back up again. Her feet left small ripples as she ran, circling back to the very center of the flames where she had started. I have no idea how she was walking on top of the water, but it must have been some trick. That, or Kairi was even more magical than I had ever imagined.
It was a silly thought, that Kairi could actually run on top of water. But despite that part being an illusion, there was no doubt in my mind. She was more special to me than anything I could have ever imagined. And all I wanted was for her to be happy. To see her smile.
The flames gave one massive burst then died down to almost nothing, as Kairi slowly curled down to the ground, any sight of her fading away with the light. I felt a pang of distress, realizing that this was her reenacting the death of the princess after the islands were created. It was just a dance, I know, and I tried to just focus on that part, but when I saw her reach one last time up towards the night sky as she collapsed, hand outstretched as she grasped for the stars, I wanted nothing more than to run out across that inky black water, pull her back up and wrap her in my arms. But the fires gave one final gasp and died, sucking her into the darkness below me.
I could hear the people cheering from below as they were showered with more of the pink confetti. Other than the cheering, there was no more sound from the stage and the lights of the festival slowly flickered back on. Despite the extra light, there was still no sign of her- the water remained as empty as it had been before the performance. I kept trying to change my angle, hoping to figure out where she's disappeared to.
After a good ten minutes had passed, I started to get a little antsy and I jumped down off the wall, pacing. Was she actually going to meet us up here? Or was her telling us to come up here just so that we would have a good view of the-
"Sora! Riku! You made it!" I heard her before I saw her. Felt her arms around me before I saw her coming, either.
I stumbled backwards, trying hard not to trip over some of the spare broken stones lying around nearby. Wow, I guess she really wasn't mad at me after all. You can't fake a hug like that. Hopefully Riku wipes that smile off his face soon before she notices. I didn't care that I had no idea how she got here, I was just glad that I could be with her again, see her so happy again. I was about to wrap my hands across her back to return the embrace, but froze when I saw her outfit again up close. There was so much...visible skin...
To my joint relief and disappointment, she pulled away from clutching me and gave Riku a bubbly wave. It's times like these I'm actually a bit glad that Riku doesn't like hugs. But man is he missing out.
"Kairi, you were so amazing!"
She waved my compliments off with a shake of her head, but...I could tell she really did appreciate it because she couldn't hide that tiny sliver of a smile. I reached out and started fussing for a moment with the long dangling sleeves of her costume. They were so amazingly soft. That was the one thing that made me jealous about girls' clothing- they always made it with such nice material I bet it feels so cozy all the time.
"This outfit is so cool, too!" My eyes drifted down her body and stalled for maybe a second too long on her bare stomach, because I think she noticed. She fidgeted a bit, draping some of the cloth of her sleeves out in front of her to cover it slightly. I know I've seen her in a swimsuit plenty of times, but for some reason this was...very different. I tried to gulp down the heat that was rapidly spreading up to my face.
I backed up a little, trying to look at some part of the outfit that wasn't too revealing or attractive, but nearly every part was accented with either lace, sheer material or her...skin. I tried to settle on her face but the way her eyes were sparkling made that place just as dangerous to me. I ended up having to settle on her left foot. "Y-you're really p-pretty—I-I mean you were—I mean you a-always are, b-buh...w-wait..."
Riku elbowed me in the ribs. "Look at that, it was such a good performance you have him talking in circles."
I took a chance at looking back up at her face, saw her blushing a little and aborted, returning my eyes back to the safety of her ankle. Dang it, even that was affecting me now for some stupid reason. It's just an ankle! Get a grip, brain!
"I'm sorry I had to keep it a secret. I hope it was worth it. I assume it wasn't much of a secret to you, though." I saw her reach over and tap Riku on the shoulder. He hesitated, clearly not wanting to say one way or the other. But it was pretty obvious he already solved it. Figured as much.
"Even knowing what you were planning, it didn't ruin anything. It was worth it to see his reaction, too." He jammed his thumb over in my direction and I sighed.
"Yeah, well...I definitely appreciate not having anything spoiled for me ahead of time."
"Oh? Should I tell her about your reaction during the show?" Riku was obviously in a good mood, to my horror. I pleaded with my eyes, but I don't think that was going to work today. "He was sitting here complaining the whole time about how you weren't here, then the music started and you stepped out..."
Oh no, come on Riku that's too much. You'd better not say anything too...
"I've never seen him get so quiet before. Except for that time he got hit with silence status. That was fun."
Yeah, I remember that. My tongue felt all fuzzy and my voice just completely disappeared. Riku wouldn't stop laughing, pestering me with 'Hey, correct me if I say anything that isn't true about you...' followed by a list of stupidly embarrassing stuff that he knew I couldn't deny properly. Sure, I did that to him first when he caught the status earlier but that's absolutely besides the point. He had way too much fun rubbing that in my face. At least I had esuna ready for him right away. That jerk made me suffer for a while before he actually helped me.
Kairi giggled, pointing to my expression which I guess was at least a bit miffed. "Come on, stop teasing him. I'm glad it was worth the effort."
"S-so how did you even get up here from down there?" I tried to change the subject as best I can. But, I was also really curious about it too.
"The underground tunnels." Riku answered for her. "This lighthouse had a storage space underneath it that at some point was expanded to make a route out towards the sea to pick up cargo and other supplies dropped off on the beach without having to lug it up the side of the hill. They shut it down once the second lighthouse was built and this one wasn't needed any more. It certainly wasn't a very functional design."
Seriously...how did he know all this stuff!?
Kairi confirmed his theory with a nod. "Yeah, we basically had a boat back there behind the glass stage that I was standing on. It drove around to the base of the tunnel system and I used that to sneak up here. It certainly was a better choice than having to wade through all the crowds. I bet everyone would want a photo with the real Volcano Princess, huh?"
I laughed and remembered the silly rabbit mask we had for her. I untied it from my belt and handed it over to her. "Here, Aqua got us all these masks just so we can walk around the festival without being too assaulted by fans."
She looked at the bunny and giggled. "Oh gosh, this is too cute. Wait, what masks did you two get then!?"
We glanced at each other before holding them up for her to see. She burst into laughter, wiping at her eyes. "Sora, you are absolutely a shiba. And Riku, I suppose a horse kind of fits if you think about it." I offered her a chance to look at the picture we had taken earlier with everyone, despite Riku's protesting.
"Riku, you..." She dissolved into laughter, having to collect herself before she could continue. "W-what's with the long face?"
Oh man, Kairi is breaking out the lame jokes, now. At least I know for sure she's really happy now, and that's all that matters.
I had a sudden realization that this might actually be it. I finally had her here with me, at the festival. Her present was ready and waiting in my pocket and...I felt a twinge of unease. This...was going to be a lot harder than I thought. I decided at least to confirm how much time I had with her. "Are you...finished with everything, then?"
"Not exactly." My heart dropped as she pointed out towards the sea. "They tasked me with lighting the boat pyres of the sacrifices at the end of the festival as well so I actually have to stay in costume for a bit." She said this so dramatically I was really glad that I knew by sacrifices, she was talking about all those symbolic wooden doodads that people put in the boat to be burned for good luck or to move past a hardship or something. "When one boat fills up, they launch a firework. After the seventh one, I need to head back down through the tunnels to get a ride back out there again. Then I light some fires!"
"No way! That's awesome!" I had no idea there would be fire works this year! I gave her a cheeky grin. "That means until then we get to be the special attendants of the legendary volcano spirit, right?"
She flicked my hair. "Indeed you do. But it will be hard for me to go into the crowds with this on. Even, um...wearing a bunny mask. So until then is it alright if we just stay up here? It'll be a shame that I can't really see anyone else, but..."
"Sure, fine with me. It's nice to have some quiet for a change." Riku nodded, glancing over at me with a certain look in his eye.
I felt a bit of a panic. That means...for sure...this is the time I have. But I...I haven't quite gotten my words together right. Surely she hasn't had a chance to eat much so far today, right? She must be starving. Maybe I can go fetch us some snacks and think on the way. I only need a few more minutes, then I'll be ready for sure.
I bounced back and forth a bit between my feet, trying to help dissipate all this nervous energy. "So, Kairi, um...I bet you're hungry! I'll go grab something for us to have together!"
Before either of them could say otherwise, I made a mad dash back down the path towards the food area. What am I going to say? What am I going to say!? Maybe I'll just...look her in the eyes and let the words come out. Don't over think it. I almost made it down into the crowd before I remembered to slip my mask back on over my face. It wouldn't be good to get mobbed now, I'm under a bit of a time pressure. Who knows how long it would take before the boats get filled up?
I decided to snag something easy for snacks that wouldn't be too messy and settled on just getting some taiyaki since the line wasn't too long. While I waited, I noticed Tidus and Wakka were both standing around by the cotton candy. As much as I wanted to get some of that too, I feel like just bringing back pure sugar probably wouldn't be received warmly.
I caught their attention with a wave. Tidus narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously, and checked over his shoulder maybe to see if I was actually calling out to him. Oh, right, the mask. I lifted it slightly so he could see that it was me and I saw him sigh and mumble something that I think vaguely sounded like 'hood half dressed' but it was probably actually 'should have guessed'. I mean, unless there was something really bizarre behind me.
I checked just to be sure. Meanwhile, Tidus strolled over and gave me a big high-five, Wakka greeting me in tow. There was a grunt behind me and I saw a somewhat disgruntled man gesturing towards the line.
"Relax man, we're not buttin' in. Just saying hi." Wakka tried to calm him, but he just huffed.
Guess a long chat wasn't really a good idea.
Tidus just shrugged. "Eh, don't mind him. Kairi was really something out there, though. You did see her, right?"
"Y-yeah..." I was kind of glad I had this mask now. It definitely helped save me from potential teasing from these two if they saw how red my face undoubtedly was.
Tidus still had a smirk on his face, though. "Uh-huh. Glad to hear it. Oh, and don't worry about any intrusions from little miss clingy, Selphie's got that handled five times over."
I'm...not exactly sure I know what he's talking about, but I guess Selphie's doing me a favor somehow.
Wakka clapped me on the shoulder. "Hey man, good luck with her tonight. You'll do fine."
"Thanks, I'll-huh?" The only people who could possibly know that I was going to say anything to Kairi was Riku and...don't tell me he told them, too!? Why!? Unless Selphie figured it out herself? ...Ugh, I suppose that explains why she's been acting so weird around me the last week or so.
Tidus snickered and turned to leave, as I was next in line at the stall and the dude behind me was getting increasingly more agitated at their presence. "We won't spy on you...much."
Oh, great. I sagged, and gave them a quick parting wave. Well I suppose now I definitely have to say something. If I don't I'm going to have a whole team of people breathing down my neck for answers. I ran the words and phrases over and over through my head, but nothing sounded right at all. It all felt so fake and rambling.
I clutched the bag of food close as I started making my way back up the hill, the lighthouse acting as a pretty good guide as to where my friends would be waiting.
Bang!
The sound of the first firework bursting into the air actually startled me so much I yelped out loud. It exploded into the air in a fiery dust of reds and oranges, the light twinkling for a brief moment before fading down to black. The embers so bright they left memories of their passing trails in my eyes. She had to go after the seventh one. That was the first. No time left to think, just gotta run.
Everything was still so cluttered in my head, but I know that once I see her, I'll know w-