Block A 「Nishimura Riki」

25

The full moon was bright and endearing, hanging over the intricately designed roof just above the spacious house they were in.

It was a while after the others had left, at times like that Eiko had to remind herself that they also lived lives and weren't just characters for her to interact with for however long her story continues.

Riki quietly joined Eiko just a couple of minutes after she had stepped out on the balcony.

"Are you okay?" He softly asked, leaning forward onto the rail of the balcony beside her. Eiko turned to him with a faint smile on her lips before she nodded.

"I can say that I'm used to it now." She pushed her hair behind her shoulders as the moderate wind began to blow towards their direction. "It never really bothered me that much in the first place, to be honest, Riki." Eiko took in the serene view before her, the balcony was above the height of some trees and bestowed a look of the bleak mist garnering in the distance. "I ran into Chaewon. She said the others were fine and resumed the party after a short while."

He chuckled lightly. "Yeah, that sounds like them. They're mostly of higher ranks so I figured nothing big would happen." He followed the line of her gaze, observing the landscape as well.

"So then why did you take me to Cheonan?" Eiko questioned him, the topic now drawing in her curiosity. After a moment she looked over at him, a few strands of his hair were briskly flailing in the dark, only the fluorescent light from above letting Eiko tell the streaks of black apart from the dull navy of the night sky.

A repeating thought in the back of her mind achingly points out Chaewon's almost teasing question from earlier. It's a question she can't answer for now, but time will tell in the near future. At least for now, she's open to the idea.

Riki spoke but it was all muffled, Eiko didn't focus on his words and whether or not they answered her question directly. She just stared, following the elegant line creating his side profile, her mouth minutely pulling into a wider close-lipped grin. He turned his head to face her. "Why are you smiling?" He asked.

She shook her head, brushing her hair back again as the wind blew it forward. "No reason," she answered Riki before turning back to the view. "Hey, Riki," Eiko spoke up after a few moments of silence had settled comfortably between them.

"Hmm?"

She looked at her nails, assessing their clean state then slid her hands behind the end of her hoodie. "When I get out of here. Will we still be in contact?"

"Yeah, of course. If you still want to be, that is. Why do you ask?" He quietly inquired, stepping closer to her once he noticed she was getting cold.

"We only got close like this because I'm not exactly safe right now. It wasn't because we were interested in each other, especially since we didn't get along at first. We still kind of interact just to make sure I'm safe while I'm here," Eiko told him, slightly disappointed as Riki could notice. "I don't know how to say it exactly but...I don't know. I want that to change."

"You're really straightforward," Riki commented, eliciting a small and amused laugh. "Don't worry. That's something I like about you. I think people should be more direct, everyone just expects others to get them now. Is this your way of saying you want to get closer to me?"

Eiko shies away from the implication by turning her face to the side and hiding her face.

Riki snickers, "Are you flirting with me?"

"What?" Eiko immediately gasps, nearly flinching at the accusation though it wasn't the truth. He laughs at her distinct reaction but she playfully shoves him to the side in return. "You're not funny," she says, swiping her hair back again.

Riki finally takes notice of her actions, furtively looking at the band around his wrist and then back to Eiko, burying the nervousness to say something with a brief exhale. "You need a hair tie?" He hurriedly questions, raising his forearm to show her the one around his wrist the moment she quickly looks over to him.

"I could use one. The wind's kinda not going easy on me as you can see," Eiko lightly jokes before gingerly reaching her hand out, only for Riki to take a small step behind her and gather the black locks in his hand. She stays still, caught by the shock and a victim to the blush raging up her neck and the enthusiastic beat of her heart in her chest.

Riki deftly slips the band off of his wrist and swiftly ties Eiko's hair into a ponytail and returns to her side. "Are you not tired yet?"

Eiko removes her arms from the railing. "I could go to sleep. It's late anyways," she mumbles, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth the moment a yawn rises in her throat.

He chuckles as the smile on his face grows bigger, there's an endearing slight sprinkle of light in his eyes that's rare and Eiko wouldn't admit it aloud yet but it was cute. "Let's go back inside then, yeah?"

===

"Why are you sleeping with me?" Riki loudly asked, petulantly tugging the big blanket to his side of the bed though Eiko still held a deathly grip on the other side. "There are other rooms, Ei," he childishly continued, rolling over to tuck the comforter under his body to keep Eiko from getting more of the duvet back.

"Come on, I don't wanna walk to any of the other rooms. Your bed is big enough," Eiko argued back, pressing the heels of her feet into Riki's back in an effort to push him off of the bed. "Give me some of the blanket or I'll have you sleeping on the floor."

Riki gave her an absurd glance. "In my own house?" He fired back, tugging against Eiko's strength—which was surprisingly stronger than he had thought. "You should be the one sleeping on the floor."

Eiko huffed before retracting her leg and shoving it back against his back, Riki and the blanket creating a massive this against the floor. He exclaimed a word of feigned pain as he could the blanket around himself. Eiko only laughed, though while being on the receiving end of Riki's meaningless glare.

"You do whatever you want, but I'm sleeping on my bed. In my room. In my own house," Riki stated while climbing back onto the bed, spreading the blanket out but only on his side. Eiko clutched at one side before quickly tucking herself under it. "Do you want me to get you a blanket from the other room or just carry you there?"

"Nah, I'm good here," she responded.

He sighed, shaking his head in false approval but still smiling nonetheless. "Come here," he murmured, laying his arm out and gesturing for Eiko to come closer, though a bit hesitant, she did, laying her head on his arm before he laid the blanket over her as well.

There it went again, that rapid heart rate.

"You can move your arm. It's going to hurt later on, you won't be able to sleep," Eiko informed him softly.

"How else should I keep it?" Riki asked, carefully removing his arm from under her head. He turned, sliding his arm under the pillow and facing Eiko. "You don't mind this do you?"

Eiko shook her head, nearly hiding her reddening face under the blanket.

"I have a question." He was a little bit nervous to bring it up, but Eiko was willing to answer. "When I told you about what feeding meant to us, and the entire vial thing, why'd you—y'know, still act the same?"

Eiko shuffled, getting comfortable under the blanket before letting out a long and audible fake snore. "You're the worst." He scoffed, turning on his back.

It took a while for Eiko to answer his inquiry, a long and calm silence in the room. "That's a you privilege."

The words hang in the air for a bit. "Are you going to specify why that is so?"

And Eiko only snores again.