"Maybe we should take an indoor table," Fujisaki suggests, visibly convinced that I was seriously going to jump overboard.
"Yeah, I guess," I smile. "It's kinda chilly outside anyway."
We showed our boarding passes and then went down to sit at a table inside. The waiters and waitresses were all busy at the moment, and Fuji couldn't get that dumb worried look off his face, so I figured I had to talk.
"You know, Junko isn't a bad sister at all," I begin. "She's smart, kind, beautiful... perfect... Everything I'm not and more."
"Those were pretty average descriptors," Fujisaki shakes his head. "And you're all of those things, and more."
"I'm not sure how to explain Junko," I pause, trying to find the silver lining through my repressed feelings. "She's... a very lovely person."
"She wants to see the world end," Fujisaki adds.
"Come on, who doesn't?"
Fujisaki looks at me like I'm a camera on The Office.
"Okay, okay, I know, it's just..." I scramble to find the right words, but nothing comes to mind. "She cares about me, just in a different way than others do."
"But she's hurting you."
The only one hurting me now was Fujisaki, but I wasn't going to say that, Junko wasn't here and I needed love from anyone or I'd probably throw myself into the ocean and feel my lungs burn like dry paper as my chest fills up with saltwater, saltwater that wasn't from my own tears, but from my fate finally embracing me as I faded away into the depths of the sea. Or... I'd just drown. Death always sounded so poetic through Junko's eyes, but not quite through my own.
"So... Ch-Chihiro? Chihiro, what's been going on in your life?"
He pouts. "Well, I met a pretty and talented friend and now I'm on a cruise with her."
"Friend?" I smirk. "Just friends, huh?"
"What?" he blushes softly. "Y-yeah! Well... If, I mean..."
I lean into the table. "Yes, Fujisaki. I'm useless, annoying, but I'm not stupid."
"A-absolutely not!" Fujisaki nods. "You're not stupid, useless, or annoying-- I just-- I guess I--"
"And, you came onto this cruise to try and sleep with me, right?"
"No!" Fujisaki whimpers, hiding his face in his hands. "You're right about the rest, b-but I promise I--"
"It's okay, I know," I laugh. "I'm just teasing."
"O-oh," he sighs. "I-I'm sorry. I promise I wouldn't do something like that, you know!!"
"Even if you did, I wouldn't really care."
Fujisaki crosses his arms. "Every time you say you don't care, you sound like you're lying... Should I believe you when you say no one would care that I'm a boy, too?"
"Honestly, whether you trust me or not... that's up to you."
