Welcoming Death - Hololive Fanfiction [ONGOING]

CHAPTER 17: CASE FILE

"I'm glad you came, Ina!" Kiara chirps joyously, fiddling with her hands behind her back. Her fingers jitter with some sort of an odd rhythm, anxiously. "To be honest, I've been feeling a lil uneasy. I mean, you hang out so much with Mori that I feel like we haven't really had a chance to talk recently."

Ina grips her wrist with her other hand behind her back, tightening its hold as she responds with a dry, "Yeah-" Desperately, she reaches into the depths of her bag, grabbing her metal bottle and taking a needed, long swig from it. She accepts the water graciously, sighing out satisfyingly. Again, she repeats herself with better clarity, "Yeah. Not going to lie, I really did miss you." With a small smile, she nudges Kiara with her elbow gently.

Giggling, Kiara returns the gesture with a gentler bump, "You seem pretty preoccupied while missing me, huh?" Her bright eyes soon darken as she glanced down to the ground. Her long bangs cast a shadow over her eyes, only serving to cover her from the eyes of Ina. "I... wanted to talk about Calli however."

A languid silence stretches between the two of them, not sure what to say.

Ina knew that she needed to address it soon enough, "Is this about Calli and I hanging out more-?"

"What? No!" Kiara quickly insists, gesturing around awkwardly, "Unless there's something there, you're not telling me?" She shifts her brow as she speaks with an accusatory voice.

Defensively, Ina refutes, "N-No! I mean, I'm just hanging out with Calli and more and y-y'know, I thought you were feeling lonely so I mentioned that!" She wasn't exactly lying but the words still didn't settle right with her.

Skepticism wipes itself from Kiara's face, returning to her sombre expression, "Right... but uh, you are right. I have been a little lonely since... uh-" Her hands fiddle anxiously, tapping the back of her hand with the other. "Calli is... amazing, right? She's an artist, a singer and a rapper. Her grades are quite something too, huh. I-I really didn't expect her to be so awesome." She takes a gulp of air, feeling exasperated from how much she had to say about the reaper, "I knew she was much more than some scary delinquent reaper when we saw only a glimpse of her kinder side but... who knew she could've been such an amazing friend?"

A deep pit digs into Ina's stomach. The anticipation for her next words tears at her, almost ripping her thoughts in half. However, just barely, Ina grips onto the remaining parts of her sanity as she ignores the discontentment of AO-chan.

She needed to hear this.

"That's why I think... I think I'm in love with Calli."

There they were. The words Ina had so long been afraid of. The feelings that mirrored her own towards Calli. Kiara had said them in such an earnest, honest and smitten way that you could tell she meant it. These feelings weren't only evident through these words but in how she treated Calli everyday: hugs, flirts, regular hangouts and how she seemed to know a lot about the girl already.

It's not like Calli belonged to Ina. If anything, the fact that Kiara was an immortal soul and Calli was an everlasting concept was so perfect it was almost a sickening joke. How could two individuals be more perfect?

"It's like you're soulmates..."

"Really?!" Kiara beamed at the comment, joy radiating brilliantly from her smile, "You really think so? L-like you actually think she and I could be a couple!?" Expectantly, Kiara leaned towards Ina with a bright grin.

"I know so," With a confident smile, Ina stated, "You both are perfect for each other."

"Oh thank goodness!" Kiara bounds over, embracing Ina roughly with a bear hug full of affection. She puts her cheek against Ina's, tightly pulling her, "I thought you would've said it was a bad idea! I-I mean, Calli..." She pulls back, holding her by the shoulders, "I mean, the whole thing with the reapers."