The World Ends With You

Chapter 7: Nami's Repose

"Here!"

NAMI SMILED TO herself as she creaked the treasure chest open. She recently had gone off to pull off a theft mission, but for herself this time, as she was not satisfied with the treasure she had earned with her hardwork. Said chest was kept hidden under Nami's bed, with a matching lock that only she could open. It contained a hundred thousand Beris, add or take away few pennies, and some of the treasure she had stole for herself.

"Now all I have to do is to give it to that hyena and everything's going to be fine," she may not admit it herself but the whole thing felt like a deja vu to her; the stuff with the stolen goods, the thing with hiding it from her friends. However this time, she also had to keep it from her nosy sister who always barged into her room and, as of the moment, knocking on the door.

Nami groaned and locked the chest before sliding it under her bed towards the furthest side. "What?"

"What do you want for dinner?"

"Anything's fine," Nami retorted. Her sister then walked away from her room.

Night came quick and she found herself lying on the bed, head full of thoughts but nothing lewd. She actually lost her appetite. Speaking of appetite, Nami had been thinking about this woman who matched up to Sanji's level of cooking, according to Luffy's very trustworthy tastebuds, and even went to look her up online. She found her there, being Boa Hancock, along with two more Boa's. Probably her sisters. Nami resisted the urge to stalk her profile and as a result, her thoughts landed on Luffy. She remembered how he wiped her tears and lent her his precious hat once more because of a simple tear that even she didn't know about.

Then again, she tried deducing these feelings of uneasiness whenever he does something stupid in front of her. "I'm just a friend...I'm just a friend..." she repeated over and over as she tried to picture how Luffy would act if she ever tells him about it. Not that she would but who knows? Nami repeated the phrase and upon the final one, she felt tears falling down again from her eyes. She stood up and walked to her vanity, facing the mirror.

"I'm...crying...?"

The door suddenly flung open, "Nami! Time for dinn–"

Her sister stopped talking as she turned to her with bloodshot eyes. Nojiko blinked. "What's wrong...?"

Nojiko wore this very lovely pyjamas that matched her hair colour, maybe a few shades lighter. It had cherry printed on it similar to Nami's crimson one. She folded up the sleeves, since she recently was in the kitchen, and kept them that way as they sat across the table, her eyes looking into her sister's. Nami sighed.

"I'm listening," Nojiko stated as she sliced the steak and put one in her mouth.

The orange haired one didn't speak, but instead she kept poking her food with the fork. "I'm not hungry,"

"Tell me why you're crying,"

Nami only glanced at Nojiko but she had things in her mind. She could either spat out an adlib lie or tell her the truth. Which truth, she asked herself. Surely not the one about the money but she also thought twice about telling her sister about the new feelings of hers. Thinking to hell with it, Nami finally opened her mouth. She hoped Usopp's lies got to her and sharpeend her skills in making up one on the spot. Oh wait, she's awfully good at lying herself.

"I felt bad for screaming at Sanji," she spoke. At the same time, Sanji inside his own place sneezed and earned a 'gesundheit' from his sister.

"Sanji, huh? Isn't that the blonde one?"

"Yeah you've seen him before,"

Nojiko swallowed the meat. "Two years ago, am I right? When you were bawling your eyes out and–"

"And Luffy came to my aide? Yes, yes."

A grin appeared on the blue haired one's face, "So, Luffy huh..."

Nami then stuffed her mouth with pieces of steak. She didn't want to talk about him or 'it' and she also knew that her sister wouldn't stop until she tells her everything. The only solution she could think of was to stuff her face to the point she couldn't open her mouth properly.

"You're gonna choke if you do that, you know. Or are you trying to hide something from me?"

Nami swallowed with a gulp, but she did not choke, though she reached for the glass of water and finished it half. "Mmm! This steak is good, Nojiko!!" she cleared her throat. "What did you put in it?"

"Whole lotta love," Nojiko winked. "food become a thousand times better when made with love."

Nami almost spit out the water she was currently drinking. Nojiko's statement made her recall how Luffy compared that Hancock's cooking to Sanji's. And the more she thought about it, the more her chest tightened. Sanji always put love to each and every one of his creations and the fact that Luffy actually found someone else's cooking in par with his? That someone must be putting heaps of extra love on it.

"Is something wrong?"

The orange haired girl blinked and shook her head in the process, "N-Nothing...just–"

"There's someone, isn't there?"

"What?!"

Nojiko grabbed another steak from the platter on the middle of the dining table and put it on her own plate before raising the glass of water to her mouth. She drank and put it back down on the table. "You can tell me anything~"

"I-I'd rather not..." Nami stated with a crooked smile. She was getting goosebumps from her sister's intonation and something was telling her that doing just what she said would simply make things worse. With that in mind, Nami stood up from the table. "I'm going to my room."

As she walked towards the stairs, Nojiko turned to her and said, "Try not to think about him too much!!" which Nami replied with, "Shut up!!"

And later that night, the orange haired girl cried herself to sleep but of course not without her sister taking a hint.