Roommate Wanted. No Betrayers.

Chapter 10

Hi Kronii!

Great news! I'm headed home earlier than I thought! The expedition is still gonna be ongoing but some materials needed to be brought back to the university and I volunteered to escort them. I'm gonna be stuck on a boat for the next couple days which I'm not super looking forward to, but, hey, I'll be home three weeks sooner than expected!

Love, Fauna

Kronii re-read the message for the third time that day.

Fauna would be back.

She'd be home.

This week.

Kronii didn't quite know how to feel. Of course she knew Fauna would be back eventually, but... It had been so long now, so much had changed since they'd last seen each other. As excited as she wanted to be, she couldn't help but feel some level of worry.

"Fauna coming back is really getting to you huh?" Mumei placed a gentle hand on Kronii's head. "What has you so worried?"

"I don't even really know." Kronii sighed. "I'm worried that things are too different."

"Well, how are things different?"

"Well you're here."

"Fauna had wanted to rent out the room, why would she be mad that you did?"

"Well we're also, you know, dating."

"From what you've told me, that's at least a lot simpler and probably less awkward to navigate than whatever was going on with you and Sana." Mumei shrugged and took a sip of her coffee.

"I'm also in... a different place mentally to when she left..."

"Kronii." Mumei placed her coffee down and grabbed both of Kronii's hands. "What is Fauna like?"

"Uh... She's caring, gentle, soft spoken, affectionate. Well until you get her mad...."

"Okay so, why would your friend who you describe as so caring, be mad that you're in a better place mentally than when you last saw her?"

"Um."

"I think if I was her and I'd spent, what, ten years with you?"

"Thirteen years." Kronii corrected.

"Thirteen years with you. If I had stuck by you all that time... And then, I heard you thought that I'd get mad because you were doing better... I would get mad."

"Huh?"

"I mean, what more does a person need to do for you to belive that they care about you?" Mumei's voice was raised. "Why would you assume she'd want you to stay sad? Because she couldn't fix you?"

Kronii was silent.

"I'm sorry." Mumei's shoulders shrank. "I... don't really know what I'm talking about do I? I don't know her, I barely know you right?"

"Oh, no, Mumei..." Kronii squeezed her girlfriend's hands. "No, no. you're right. It's okay. I was just... I don't know, I wasn't expecting it I guess."

Mumei smiled weakly. "No more being down in the dumps?"

"Well," Kronii chuckled nervously. "I can't promise that"

Mumei giggled. "At least about Fauna."

Kronii smiled. "Yeah, okay."

—

As much as the sea didn't agree with Fauna, the WiFi of the ship, though sporadic at best, was a godsend compared to the actual deserted island she'd been living on for the past 6 months.

It wasn't good enough to watch Kroniis streams like she'd have liked to, or to hold a voice call, like she really wanted to. But again, compared to nothing, to a couple texts in 6 months, it was enough to get just the occasional picture here and there.

Kronii was only too happy to send pictures too. At first she sent mostly pictures of their garden, to reassure her that her plants were doing okay even through the winter. Like that was what she cared about. After all, her garden was, her garden, she knew it well enough to know it would survive the 6 months she'd been gone even if Kronii hadn't been following her instructions, which by the looks of things she had.

Okay! Enough pictures of my plants! I'm a Botanist! I was just on an island looking at plants for the past 6 months.

Oh, right. Yeah I guess that makes sense. What do you want pictures of?

Show me parts of your life! What you're up to!

Oh, okay, well. We went to Mumei's friend's birthday the night before last, i have some pictures of that if you wanna see?

Yeah!

The first picture Kronii sent was a group selfie, in it, Kronii was surrounded on all sides by three other girls Fauna didn't recognise. To her left, a cute girl with tawny brown hair and a sweet smile, to her right, a red-cheeked blonde girl with a toothy grin, and leaning in over them, a dark haired girl her eyes scrunched up and mouth open, mid-laugh. Between them all, Kronii, wearing a suit, top two buttons popped, a genuine warm smile on her lips. The first smile like that she's seen Kronii have in years.

It made her heart ache to look at. Kronii was happy, really, genuinely, happy. And she'd managed it without her.

She buried that feeling.

That nonsense.

Her friend was happy.

That's all that matters.

You look like you're having a lot of fun :)

—

At a certain shrine in a certain place a certain girl sits on a certain bench.

"I saved you the last piece of cake." She says, though nobody is around. "I wish you could have been there last night, you would have loved it."

She produces said cake in a clear tupperware, placing it to her side.

"Just a week more now right? Things are falling into place at last."

She laughs sadly.

"I know, I say that every year. But this year... This year, I have a feeling."

She stands up. Throwing her bag over her shoulder.

"I'll see you soon, yeah?"

—

Far away, beyond the sky, a girl floats idly.

In her hands, she skillfully shuffles a tarot deck, the cards gliding frictionless over each other, dancing through and around her hands, never out of control, but always looking as though they could be lost at any moment.

With swift motions, she draws three cards: The Hermit, The Fool, and The Empress. The girl smiles and regards the cards as though they were old friends.

"The past, the present, and the future. You three look cute together." She laughs, setting the three cards down the best one can in zero gravity and begins to shuffle once more.

After a minute she draws three more cards with the same practised motion: The Chariot, The Sun, and the Star.

"One too close, one too far, and one yet unseen." She muses, idly grabbing the middle card from the air and examining it's familiar face. "What will my role be, I wonder..."

End of Act I