Welcoming Death - Hololive Fanfiction [ONGOING]

CHAPTER 6: WICK'S END

Ina evidently hasn't been sleeping well. The day before, when she saw Calli and Kiara at the arcade, she felt as if she needed to focus even more on her artwork. This meant that she only really slept for two to three hours. The good thing? Her drawing skill was really improving with how much time she spent working on her art. The bad? She hasn't been thinking rationally lately.

"Ina'nis? Translate this into English." The teacher tapped the board impatiently with a stick, her second arm at her hip, using her third arm to gesture Ina to answer.

After a few moments, Ina snapped out of her trance, halting her automatically moving arm. She looked up, looking at the board with hazy eyes and seeing the kanji '学'. With a stifled yawn, she groaned, "I don't know... uh, school?"

Many scattered chuckles spread through the class as Ina's eyes cleared and the word actually being '学ぶ' meaning to learn.

Her face flushed, understanding her mistake. Ina looked down shamefully with her hand over her mouth as if she had cursed someone out. Whispering into her hand, she spoke, "What is wrong with me?"

As the teacher reprimanded her, she couldn't help but glance at Calli for her reaction only to be met with pitiful eyes.

"Miss, it says 'I'm learning a new language.'"

"Correct," the teacher looked back at Ina, then moving back to the board.

"Dammit." Ina scoffed, sleepily blinking away her shame.

...

Leaving the class, Ina collided with a few students before actually moving out. She was then met with another body. "S-sorry!" Her eyes halted at the sight of the jacket, remembering its design. For a split second, her eyes flicked up to see a blur of pink until she returned her eyes back down. "Please ignore that."

Instead of an instant reply, Calli simply pat Ina's shoulder with a friendly rub. Until Ina's eyes removed itself off the ground, the reaper spoke again with a gentle nudge towards their route to their table. "You seem really out of it lately."

"Yeah, just tired..." Ina walked with Calli, slightly lagging behind her however Calli's hand tried to keep her ahead. This action made her keenly aware of the reaper's friendly touch on her shoulder, "I'll be okay." Her shoulder jutted up, flinching when Calli's finger tapped on it. Thinking to herself, she tried to rationalise the situation, 'Is she doing this on purpose?'

Unbeknownst to Ina, Calli kept her eyes on her piercingly. She sighed out, tracing her hand from her shoulder to her back then just down by Calli's side. The action made Ina shiver, "... Sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable?" She scratched her cheek, ashamed.

Realising that her actions made Calli conscious of herself, Ina backtracked, "No! Not at all, Calli!" She stopped, leaning back on her leg. At this, Calli followed suit and halted, staring at Ina curiously. "Ac-Actually, I'm really happy you care for me like this. I don't think we really had any time to talk."

She smiled, starting to walk ahead, "Well, we can talk any time. Okay?"

"Yeah," Ina's tone in her agreement did not come across genuine, however. She crossed her arms behind her body, pinching her hand back as if to tug it away from Calli. "I'll see at the table. I just need to go to the bathroom."

Calli nodded and waved her off, walking away as she spotted some of their friends.

As Ina lowered her arm, she stalked off to the girl's bathroom. The girl's tentacles crept up from her back. Quickly, she opened the door and closed it gently using one of her tentacles. Over the sink, she splashed the water roughly into her face. Ina looked at herself in the mirror, prodding at the bags under her eyes. "My sleep schedule wasn't the best in the first place anyway," she groaned, trying to blink away the sleepiness. Dragging her palms down her face, she felt the heat from her cheeks. She leaned her head forward, whispering to herself, "She's so kind."