BIG FISHES, rizuna ann

CHAPTER SEVEN

Saki grunted, her hands collisioning against the ground, a wish to come back to her senses and find a stable land to stand tall. The softness of the bus's wheels still spinning even though the transport was tilted, far away from touching the concrete, and the smell of wet clothes and smoke invaded her lungs like a wave filling the ocean's empty spots.

"Where are you going?" She heard the man ask.

"Who knows?" Takuma's voice was low, the feeling of loss began heating up his chest, molding its warmth inside his veins and tucking his organs under its arms. A way of comfort where his body could be safe until his mind fell apart. Perhaps it could pass a day before it happens, but it was up to him to let it consume himself, from the darkest void guarding his box of hope to the brightest spark his eyes could wear, like a veil against any harm. "I don't know myself... If we're still alive, let's meet somewhere, okay?" Fingers tapped Saki's shoulder and then he left.

Just as if he was made out of dust, an echo of someone she met, he turned around and made his way out of the game arena. It took her a moment to realize the other two were still there with her.

Their silence gave her the sensation they were waiting for something, maybe for her to say something. Goodbye? See you later?. Saki didn't know; in fact, she didn't want to, she hated farewells and the sour taste that lingered for too long on her mouth, below her tongue and between her teeth.

"What about you?"

It took her body days to recover from the effects of the poison. She spent nights without sleeping, afraid that if she closed her eyes her throat would too and her limbs would feel numb, not answering to the order of moving when her brain shot the alert of danger. But the feeling didn't stay, the only pain that found home in her joints was the one on her leg, stinging from time to time like a reminder. Beating like a second heart.

"I have a free agenda." Saki answered. She could use someone, be in company for a while. At least until she could clear her head.

Finding people in that brand-new Tokyo was easy, trusting them was the thing to worry about. Arisu and Usagi, she learned as they walked along the exit of the underground park, didn't seem the type of person she should consider running away from in any given opportunity; she noticed the two weren't actually close, though they trusted each other, and that was enough for her to understand their relationship. Perhaps she may give them a chance, the benefit of the doubt.

So she followed them.

The wind had caressed her face the second they arrived somewhere by the water.

Saki didn't ask or spoke again since they started walking, she huffed and sighed, sometimes limping with a ghost pain or drying her sweat off her neck, but she not once complained. At some point in their journey, she even had to cough away a laugh, a memory that came into her mind so out of the blue that she couldn't help but realize how alike to her parents she was. From the way her mom focused on her body's limits to not overwork herself to how her dad swallowed down every whimper of pain each time he hurt himself-Saki said once that it was actually the flower's fault his hands were always patched up, but he denied it almost immediately. It was strange at that time the reason why he viewed plants like they were part of his soul, as if it was spread in pieces in the roots of roses, monsteras, calendulas, snowdrops. They breathed for him. And so the night she discovered the notion of death, Saki wondered if her father's garden would also rot the second his heart stopped beating inside his chest.

"The Beach?" Usagi's voice startled her.

"Maybe the people who disappeared are there" she heard Arisu on her right explain to them, even though it was clear Saki had been lost in her own head for a little while.

"Could it be some sort of evacuation shelter?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find our answer there." Saki made a face, only visible for Usagi as Arisu's gaze wasn't focused on her. She doubted his confidence, the idea of looking for a place that they didn't know if it either existed or was safe for them to enter. "I want to believe in what Karube said."

None of them uttered a word, but Saki couldn't help wondering who Karube was. For a moment, she thought about all the ones she met in the last days, temporary people that served a purpose and then left. Was Karube temporary for Arisu too?. Saki sighed, touching an old scar on her index finger.

"I'll avenge everyone, I'll stop the mastermind of this game and return the world to how it was before." Arisu's determination was bright, warm like the sun above their heads, a cozy place to rest. "I'll live, and to do that, I must go to The Beach."

"If that's what we're doing, what are we waiting for?" Her voice cracked on the last bit of the question, however, it was the silent promise that made them start the journey.

It didn't take them much out of the day to grab their things and decide the only way to go across the bridge was on a bicycle, and though Saki pitied Arisu for having to do all the work, she had the idea that bringing some desserts for each of them could lighten their moods. Sweets were good for many reasons, and despite Usagi seemed to have good skills to hunt down their next dinner, the possibility of not having one was still there.

"You really don't know how to ride a bicycle?" Arisu asked as he made the effort to keep pedaling, more stable than faster as they wished they could go. Nevertheless, he was doing a great job.

"I never learned how to ride one." Usagi answered.

"Even though you're so athletic?" The plastic wrap of a bakery's snack caught their attention for a moment before they diverted their eyes to the long way ahead. Arisu's gaze traveled from the horizon to Saki's figure sitting in the bicycle basket, her lips tinted by the dessert's cream and the wind threatening to stick it to her hair, blowing the bangs off her forehead and making her frown, like a little kid would. "What's your excuse?"

"I can't see shit," Saki said between sweet bites.

"Right." He mumbled, almost laughed, a little embarrassed for forgetting that detail.

He saw the corner of Saki's lips lift upwards as she also caught up on the humorous tremble on his words, but she didn't say anything back. She kept chewing until there was nothing else in her hands to taste and she was only left with the faint flavor of sweetness dissolving in her palate.

Yeah, maybe I can give them a chance, she thought as a new conversation built itself around her, their voices weaving sugary patterns and fresh roots inside her ears, Just this time.