After the game, Saki shivered all the way back to The Beach. Chills ran down her spine the same way fingers caressed a lover's back, stained by the curve of bones attempting to rip the flesh apart each time she moved. She didn't know if it was because of the change of temperature, the fact she was drenched from head to toes, or the memory of hands covering her shoulders what made her body react.
Outside, people were celebrating. The water splashing and noisy music was partially muffled by her windows, but it still found a way in. Saki sighed, getting out of bed, and let a crack open, though the second she moved to lay back again, everything quietened.
"Stop playing that tacky music!" Someone ordered, a man perhaps, his voice louder than the singer's. Even in the distance, she had been able to notice the majority of The Beach's players mumbling, like crickets in the mouth of a snake, anxious of fangs closing and crushing muscles pulling them deeper into its esophagus.
"Hey!" Saki thought that by that time she knew Arisu's voice well enough to recognize its pitch, a desperate attempt to stop something happening out in the open.
Her fingers closed around the curtain's shredded edges. The whole swimming area was dead silent, so the conversation exchanged between the ocean of bodies became clearer.
"Is this a fight?"
"Back off, Hatter, this doesn't concern you." Saki pressed against the fabric hanging loose, her eyes wide open and sightless, trying to get more, more, more, but words were hard to hear.
"As number one, I'm obliged to maintain order at The Beach." The weight of the bracelet on her wrist itched. Are we ranked by numbers?, The gears on her mind worked the double of faster than they normally did, Number two and three must be his closest then.
A sudden bang made her tug the curtain unconsciously down to her chest. The curtain rod moaned, rings clattered at her naked feet, and her breathing was all that filled the room.
"Saki?" The person behind the door asked, and before she could even think of a reply, her body took control, launching towards the door handle. Phonemes died on the tip of her tongue. "You're here!" Kuina said, joy overflowing off of her, "I knew you'll end up coming."
"How so?" Saki's eyebrows arched upwards.
"A hunch," She made her way inside, her tall figure brushing hers carefully to get space, "You haven't eaten since the game, right? I brought you a sandwich, it's not the best, but this was all I found."
Saki's fingers trailed the walls and found the invisible path she'd been walking back and forth to adapt to the new surroundings. At first, she had stumbled, groaned in pain after hitting her feet against the bed's leg, she even ended up at the private bathroom once before she finally got the count of steps right. She sat at the headboard, followed by Kuina's weight sinking in front of her, close enough to extend her hand and touch her forearm. Which she did, timidly and barely noticeable for someone whose eyes were an insondable pool. But Kuina's weren't like hers, so her gaze dropped to Saki's fingertips grazing her skin as if she needed the touch to make sure she was real, made of flesh and bones and a beating heart and functional lungs and blood flow keeping her warm.
She let her maintain the contact as much as she wanted until she moved away. Kuina handed her the homemade sandwich, half expectant, half absentminded, but there nonetheless.
"It's great," Saki complimented between bites. A smile grew on Kuina's lips as she watched her munch, nodding her head as if she had to remark on her statement by showing her how good a piece of bread, cheese, and the leftovers of a lettuce were. If that wasn't enough, she also added, "Tasty." Her thumb-up made Kuina snort.
Saki didn't notice it immediately, but somewhere along their knees touching, the bed's squeaks under their bodies, and their voices merging within the walls and open door, she felt her heart racing. She felt it right, just like she imagined what having a friend, other than her parents, was. It surely had to be, she thought she knew it by how her lips couldn't repress a grin anymore and how excitement bubbled up to her chest, tinting her collarbones slightly, the mark of a loving sunburn.
"Were you outside before? I heard something from the window, sounded like a fight." She changed topics, making the effort to get back to her senses, to not forget where she was staying and what was truly happening.
"Yeah, not everything at The Beach is eternal fun and drinks by the pool." Kuina sighed, "They're probably in their peacemaker's meeting now, Hatter, his devotees and the militants, but it doesn't matter!" A breeze came straight to Saki's face from Kuina's hand gestures, though she didn't say anything about it.
"Have you seen Arisu? He was with us in today's game."
"He's... Fine," she hesitated, building a sting of worry inside the depths of her gut. Kuina caught up on the subtle change on her body, the way her back had sunk an inch deeper into the wooden headboard and how her jaw chewed the remaining of the sandwich harder for a single second. "Trust me, he and his non-girlfriend are okay, and I see that you too are, so I guess I can sleep in peace now." Saki bit her bottom lip to not giggle, but the variation on her tone as she stood up and left her spot on the bed cool attracted her attention instantly, "Just... Promise you won't involve yourself with them."
Saki wasn't dumb, she knew who them were. The militants, Hatter, his followers. She's heard things about them from people walking around the hallways outside the room. Aguni was the type of leader Hatter was, both equally dangerous to be in power. Some whispered that a conflict between the two parties could happen anytime and Saki didn't doubt it.
"Sure, thanks."
Once Kuina's steps disappeared in the distance, Saki allowed herself to press her back to the closed door, sliding down to the floor. She imagined the blankets wrapped around her body were as warm as the memory of her mother's arms, she imagined the noise outside her room was nothing to be afraid of and the doorknob twisting above her head from time to time was an illusion of her mind, a poor attempt to keep her awake all night and give her a horrible back pain for which she'll have no one else than herself to blame. A reminder of the present.
Anyway, Saki ended up drifting away. With a last breath, she gave up, only for that night.
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i had to make them meet again 😭
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BIG FISHES, rizuna ann
FanfictionBIG FISHES ATE LITTLE FISHES UP. . . ˗ˏˋ Ever since the day she was born, Ishikawa Saki thought the world was still asleep, as no light reached her every time she opened her eyes. There were no colors, no figures, and no scenery-just sounds, tastes...
