OKOSHI ─ jojolion.

013 | strictly platonic apology.

★ . . . YOUR BRAIN FELT LIKE IT was trying to beat out of your skull. You managed to turn your head, singing sweet praise to the gods when you found a glass of water on your nightstand. You finished it in one go.

The urge to go back to sleep was great, but like a personal demon, your mind immediately reminded you that you had a curse hanging over your head and did not have the liberty of spending a day sleeping in. You dragged yourself out of bed and into the shower, turning the water as cold as it would go to jolt yourself awake. You spent all of five seconds in there before your body screamed in protest. When you went downstairs, you were still shivering.

For the second day in a row, Karera was at the kitchen table waiting for you. It was suspicious. She was more like a cat most days, gone when the sun came up and only returning late at night.

"Morning," you said casually. Not in the mood to eat, you started peeling a banana you found in the fridge. Only Karera would put it in there.

"You crashed pretty hard last night. Didn't think you would wake up this morning."

"Mhm."

Karera kept her gaze on her phone. "What happened last night? We were out all night looking for you."

It was starting to come back to you. The more you remembered, the more you felt like going back upstairs. "I met someone."

"Oh? Did you hit it off?"

You didn't answer. If last night had gone the way you remembered, she probably never wanted to see you again. You couldn't go two seconds without pissing someone off, could you?

"I don't want to talk about—"

"Well, too bad because you don't have a choice. I was worried as hell last night. You just disappeared without telling anyone. And then you show up at the villa at midnight drunk out of your mind. I was scared you'd gotten lost or robbed or—" Karera scowled. "The least you can do is tell me what happened. Norisuke was ready to call the entire police force to look for you."

Embarrassment curdled your tongue. How pathetic would it sound when you told Karera you'd thrown a fit over a phone call from your mother, met a cute girl and then proceeded to be the biggest asshole in Morioh?

"I didn't know what to do with you," Karera said quietly. She ran her fingers through her hair. "You were so mad. I'm not used to being the one who's sober. I probably just made you more upset."

You remembered dimly pushing Karera away when she'd tried to help you upstairs, sneering that she should let you be the drunk person for once. Could you have been any more of a dick last night?

You sat down next to Karera and told her everything. The phone call from your mother. Yasuho. Wanting to get drunk. To forget. The guy at the restaurant. Snapping at Yasuho. Feeling sorry for yourself. You admitted the fruit parlour hadn't done much to help you and you were starting to realize how hopeless this whole thing was.

You rolled a die between your fingers, watching the pips catch the light. "We shouldn't have come here," you sighed. "I'm just wasting everyone's time. I should have left the curse alone. If no one else could do it, why did I think that I could?"

Karera's face was turning red. You raised your eyebrow, wondering if her blood pressure was finally catching up to her.

"You good?"

"No, you goddamn moron!" She grabbed your face and pulled you forwards, nearly off your chair. "I can't believe you're this dense! How can you say that nothing is going well when things couldn't be better?"

You opened your mouth but Karera cut you off. You hadn't seen her this worked up since that one guy accused her of ripping him off for a toupée. Which, to be fair, she had.