Rebel Red Carnation {Kiribaku}

XIV

Two days later, another... 'package' shows up that has an address label with nothing more than my name on it. All it seems to be at first is a big box, but it's heavy enough that I'm too curious to wait and tear the thing open right away. Inside is nothing more than a case of clean water, and I almost fucking lose it right then and there.

The box itself is given to me by a tall, dark-haired girl who was given the nickname Yaomomo so long ago that I don't actually remember her real name. She tells me it was dropped off by a legitimate mail worker who instructed it be given to me, and sure enough the scribble of my name (even my last name that I don't exactly remember telling the idiot) is in Eijirou's handwriting.

Once I get over the shock of having clean fucking water for the first time in forever (save for when I was at the palace), I'm distributing it around. When I'm tossing one over to Ochako, the question of whether it's from him shines through her shocked expression, and all I do is nod.

Whenever anyone asks where it came from I just tell them I traded a few things for it, a lie I have to throw together last second that even to me doesn't seem all too likely. Still, people are too happy to have the stuff that they don't question me any further. After all, it's not like I'm the only one who's managed to get shit like this before; most of the time, though, people used their bodies to get supplies like this, and there's no fucking way people aren't assuming I'm off doing some shady shit. I have to let them think what they want, though, because I seriously can't afford to have anyone but Ochako find out where this shit's coming from yet.

Needless to say, I give Eijirou a warning on our phone call that night.

"You can't just have random people dropping shit off, Ei," I hiss. "People are gonna start asking questions and I can only come up with so many lies."

"Shit, sorry," I mumbles, an edge of exhaustion in his voice. "I didn't think of that. Uh... from now on I'll have 'em leave them somewhere, okay? And then you can go get it."

"Good. After that I'll just... tell 'em a store opened near the edge of Yagi City that I'm stealing from."

"...you sure that's a good idea?"

"People get that you gotta do what you gotta do to survive down here, dumbass. Your family's shitty laws may not like it but I know for fucking sure my body appreciates being fed, hydrated, and warm."

"Right. Sorry," he says, sheepish.

After that I ask him how he got an actual fucking mailman to deliver shit to us and he explains he's slowly but surely talking people onto his side, promising them compensation for it later if he has to. Overall, of course, he tells me not to worry about it, that he's still figuring out a way to get his parents on board, and to hang tight until he does. Regardless, I can't help feeling like this shit is going to come back and bite him in the ass sooner or later. While on literally any other occasion I wouldn't give a fuck because my people are getting fed a bit more and staying warmer in preparation for the incoming storm, it leaves my gut in a knot, just imagining how much trouble he'll get in if he gets caught before he can talk his parents into agreeing with him...

Still, when he asks for ideas on what we need, I tell him. Medical supplies, mostly, because infection and disease have a nasty habit of picking us off one by one and slowly. Anything he sends, Chiyo will know what to do with. No matter what I ask him for, he delivers one way or another, and I'm not unconvinced that as many of us would survive this storm as we do if it weren't for him—especially my mother.

The day after the storm has come and gone, leaving everything around us blanketed in a disgusting, cold and bright layer of snow, she comes down with what Chiyo says is a mild case of pneumonia. It's to the point where my mother hardly wants to move from the room in our little house, forcing me to explain the symptoms to Chiyo and get some antibiotics to help her. On top of that, it was only a matter of time before someone brought up the whole 'trade' thing, and of course it was Chiyo—one of the best-off of us because of her medicinal knowledge, as well as one of the oldest who's still sound of mind.