Deus Didymus: Rend

Pt2Ch27: Crushes

Riwon emerged from her dorm with a towel wrapped around her head, hiding her cat ears. She walked around the new girl's dorm Minho created on the academy's field with the help of Choi Yujin's allele. A simple look outside the hallway window showed the boys' significantly smaller dorm. Despite the size difference, it didn't look any inferior to its sister location.

"I'm excited," Cocona smiled. "Never thought I'd see your eyes. How do you even see under that hood?"

"I just do," Riwon shrugged.

Riwon sat on Cocona's bed. The latter combed her fingers through the younger's mid-length hair, blowing air from her palms. The soft whirrs of Cocona's allele comforted Riwon like gentle breezes on the academy field. For the first time, the pair sat together outside of a training atmosphere-isolated from combat practice, allele training, and education as a whole.

"Riwon, what are your thoughts on dating someone in the supernatural branch of the military?" Cocona asked.

"I think it'd be too much," Riwon responded. "Worrying about my boyfriend while he goes on missions would be way too stressful. If I dated someone, I'd want to date someone like Park Ji Hoon, Minho sunbae, or Y/n oppa. Someone I know will come back."

Cocona hummed as if she found incriminating evidence, "I knew you liked Y/n sunbaenim."

"I don't!" Riwon argued. "He was just a really reliable guy."

Cocona pursed her lips. She thought about asking why Y/n wasn't still around if that was the case. Two of the three people she listed were reported dead after all. It almost slipped off her tongue, but she quickly learned from prior mistakes that mentioning Y/n was like treading through a minefield. Rarely did anyone respond calmly. Most of the time it soured the mood of the room; in the case of three specific people, mentioning Y/n was bound to be met with aggression or irritation.

"I think training with your boyfriend would be really fun," Cocona reasoned.

Riwon sighed, "I don't know. I think getting punched in the face by my boyfriend would make me love him a little less."

Cocona burst into laughter, momentarily pausing her hair drying. "Is that so? You really wouldn't want to date Y/n then. I heard he beat up his girlfriend all the time when they sparred."

"How about you and Jisoo?" Riwon asked.

"Th-There's nothing going on between us!" Cocona stuttered. The gentle, consistent current she manipulated momentarily exploded, sending Riwon's hair flying before calming down. "He might like me, but I don't like him."

"Sounds like you're lying," Riwon squinted.

Cocona pinched Riwon's cat ears, causing the latter to flinch. Riwon whined as she curled forward in an attempt to pull herself free from her temperamental friend. "That hurts! That hurts!!"

The two eventually resumed their positions with Riwon slightly less comfortable sitting in front of Cocona. Still, she didn't mind talking to the girl. There weren't many people not named Y/n or Kami that she felt she could speak her mind to. Especially since Cocona's the only person to see her physical mutations apart from the former two.

"I heard that when a couple trains together, their wellsprings connect," Riwon started. "Y/n oppa told me he could feel everything Minju sunbae did. Her excitement, her worries, her love... When I asked Minho sunbae about it, he said the same thing happens with him and Chaewon sunbae. Apparently it helps their wellsprings grow a lot faster too."

"That's never happened to me..." Cocona mumbled.

"How would that happen if you and Jisoo aren't in love with each other?" Riwon teased.