notes: hi everyone! i have decided this will be in three parts! also there will be an interlude between parts. i... i have plans. :] irons in the fire, wheels within wheels, whatever you will call it. anyways enjoy the chapter
CHAPTER 12: SUSUME HONK
HONOKA
The train was empty when she stepped on the 9:37. She stretched out on the seats, holding the sheaves of paper above her head. Equations she hadn't dared show to her professors filled the 8 x 11 sheets. Letters and numbers and symbols burned their way into her mind, each section of numbers as familiar to her as songs, as steps she'd once taken in rhythm.
Was this the past she was meant to walk? Someone a long time ago had told her so. That this fumbling through life had been the right decision, leaving her to chase every familiar dream, every incident of déjà vu she'd ever experienced. An angler fish, hunting its own light.
Honoka did her best not to look back. The past was a bad sake hangover, and Honoka Kousaka did not have time for hangovers. It was time to move forward. She smiled. Well. Sort of.
Did Maki know? She did her best to ignore the grip on her chest, the strangest bit of pleasure-pain when she thought of Maki; those violet eyes always watching kindly, carefully, the unconscious hair twirling, the way she blushed when Honoka complimented her, her gentle way of helping without condescending. No, Maki couldn't know. She thought Maki had figured it out this morning- how could Honoka have been so careless, she wondered, leaving all of her research out that way- but no, it was a far stranger force of nature that Maki was questioning. Love. Maki. Her girlfriend. The thought sent happy tingles to her brain. Who would have thought it would be biology that had brought them together?
Honoka sat up. Blinking streetlamps ripped in and out of existence as the train zipped forward. Ghosts of lights flared, ghosts of people in crowded trains nestled up to her on the seat. Too-loud headphones, the smell of coffee. Would Maki yell at her, when she found out? Umi's scowl, Umi's raised voice, a palm connecting with Honoka's cheek- would Maki hate her too? Did Kotori ever find out what had happened, did Umi tell? No. Umi was far too responsible for such a thing. Honoka snorted. She wished she'd told Umi she was a buzzkill before she'd left the States. The stop for the college was coming up. Honoka stood up, mentally steeling herself. This was another step in the right direction, she thought, as she exited the train. It was cool for an August night. The sky was a strange, almost greenish color, growing more and more verdant as she entered the woods near the meteor site. The woods had gotten quieter, since she'd taken lone walks back here before the crash. Not even the crickets that had called it a night were chirping now. A vacuum of sound.
Was it natural to tremble, in such a place? A tug of distant memory pulled at her- the charred trees, the eerie shimmering of the plants. Yes, she must be going the right way. The secrets of the meteor were hers to discover now.
After all, she supposed, she'd done this before.
END OF PART 1