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[Fubuki didn't even hesitate.]

Mm. They'll be fine.

[His grades would survive a little truancy on his part, and if they fell a little, he knew he could count on Kidou to help bring him back up to speed. It was probably a little rude of him to presume so without asking, or to put that pressure on his...younger brother. But he'd always been there for him in that manner as Michi, and besides. They were teammates. If they couldn't rely on one another, they would never be able to band together when the going got tough.

More importantly, they needed this. If they couldn't separate themselves from who they were forced to be during the day and who they were required to be at night, if they couldn't just be sometimes and relax, they would fall apart at the seams. Fubuki didn't want that. Even if their packed day turned out to be cut short, he wanted it to an endless ride of fun from start to finish. Nothing else would be acceptable.]

You sound like you already have an idea what you want to do.

Well...there are a lot of things that I've been wanting to do for a long time.

[for a moment her voice slips into something softer and almost nostalgic. all those years that she'd been trapped in the alley, Reimi had never thought to consider what exactly she was missing out on. why should she? when she finished her task in the world of the living, she'd have to move on. there was no place for a ghost without a purpose.

here, though, it was as if the floodgates had been thrown open. all the things she'd never done, all the moments that had passed her by, they were suddenly within her grasp. it was nearly overwhelming.]

But it's always better to do that with a friend, you know?

Yeah, I think so, too. It's always more fun to do things with other people.

[Many of the things he liked to do before he couldn't do here, however. Not during summer. But that didn't mean he and Reimi couldn't find other ways to entertain themselves. The island of Eddan was enormous and there was no shortage of places to go and things to see. They could visit the Leviathan Habitat or any number of the parks, enjoy a ferry ride between the main island and Orust, or even visit the Meditation of Wildness in Pointe-a-Tarte to see the cute statue there. Or they could just go to the beach and go swimming. That was also good. Fubuki had no shortage of ideas for how to spend a free day.]

But if it's been a long time, why wait for a school day? Having a good time shouldn't be postponed.

No, but playing hooky would probably make everything a little more exciting. We'd have to pick up the slack if we just went on a normal weekend.

[like maybe...checking out some haunted places along with the more usual fun activities. Reimi didn't have the same fascination with the supernatural as Emily had, for obvious reasons, but she's amused enough by the irony to adopt the hobby as her own all the same.

and who knows? maybe with her new status they might actually suss out some real ghosts along the way.]

I guess so. But I don't really need to skip school to be exciting.

[Not that he's attempting to be unkind by implying she does, he simply can't resist the opportunity to gently rib his friend.]

If you'd rather wait, that's fine with me. Waiting is pretty boring, though.

Mmm, I guess if you do anything too much it starts losing its novelty.

[she knows that he doesn't actually ditch class all that much, if ever, but when nudged that way she can't help but return it in kind. fair was fair, after all.]

But it sounds like you're not trying all that hard to get creative if you think waiting's so boring.

That might be a problem if I did that, but I don't. I wouldn't be able to stay on the team if I did.

[Not the soccer team...oh, how he wishes it was. But track. Which is nice, too. It's just not what he wants. Sigh.]

Hmm...what do you mean? If we're waiting, we're not hanging out. Getting creative won't fix that. Unless you feel like playing a game on our phones somehow.

Somehow I doubt that you'd let them throw you off that easily.

[he's a nice kid, but when he gets something into his mind there's no way to dissuade him. if running is helping him keep his mind off the more uncomfortable aspects of having awakened, Reimi suspects that it would take more than some egregious absences to get him to stop showing up.]

But I was thinking of a game, yeah! Or something like one, anyway. Can you send me a picture of your palm?

Mm, that's not wrong. If I ran circles around them enough they'd eventually regret taking me off the team and let me join again.

[If not, well...at least he'd still be running like the wind. Not to mention driving people up the wall.]

I can take a picture of my hand though, one second...

[And...a few moments later Reimi will receive not just a photo of Fubuki's hand, but of him waving, palm open and clearly visible.]

Is this a fortune thing?

[she giggles at the surprise selfie, happier to see him in one piece than she'd expected. it was a more reassuring confirmation than just voices could ever be.]

Mhm! Although I can tell what kind of person you are along with your fortune this way.

[it took a little more concentration than the pocky fortunes, but it was just as fun. Reimi makes a humming noise as she leans in unseen, studying the photographic hand with almost comical seriousness.]

...your life line is short, but it's pretty deep. You've had a lot of physical problems you've had to overcome, right? It's been really tough, but you keep trying to move forward.

And your heart line's deep as well, but it's also really long and straight. You're afraid of being left behind by the people you care about, or that they'll find someone more important to them than you. But you don't know how to make yourself more appealing or stop those feelings, so it really stresses you out.

[she hums again, this time to break up the fortune as she looks for a more positive indicator. this had gotten a little heavier than she'd really intended.]

...oh, but your intuition line's really prominent! That means you see a lot more than people realize.

[The silence on Fubuki's end is rather long and pointed. He stares quietly at his hand wondering how she's able to glean any of that from what's there and, more importantly, which of the lines there had betrayed him so terribly.

Kouyuki had more physical problems than he ever had himself but, and this thought is a little frightening, he doesn't know if their hands are different. He'd never paid much attention to the patterns on his palms. Was there a difference? Was that why he had a family and Fubuki didn't?

The longest and straightest was the one near the top...but how that was an accurate indicator of his abandonment issues, he couldn't really say. So he didn't. He focused on something else instead. Forcing humor into his voice, and a soft laugh he didn't quite feel.]

Hmm...but there's a contradiction in that reading. How could I see a lot and not know how to make people like me more? Besides...it's easy to make people like you.

[Easy enough that he did it all the time. Not that it helped at all with those inner feelings.

Haa...this wasn't a very fun game. He wishes he could take his photo back now.]

People are harder to understand than you'd think. Just because you see how they react to something doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to replicate it yourself.

[her own voice is as soft as Fubuki's laugh, gentle but uncompromising in its addressing of the topic. from his reaction she could tell that, just like with Rohan, she'd struck true. even if that's progress in its own way, it really doesn't bring her much joy. still - there was no shying away from it for either of them.]

It's easy to be likable. But it's really hard to get deeper than that.

['liking' someone didn't guarantee closeness. it didn't even guarantee any sort of genuine attachment, most of the time. people liked coffee flavors, video games, certain spots in the park...but that didn't mean they'd give up their lives for them.]

[It'd be really rude to just hang up right now, wouldn't it? Fubuki's certain if he did so and Kidou found out, he might be scolded. It isn't like Reimi's trying to be mean, she's just calling it like she sees it. Ordinarily, that's a trait Fubuki would even appreciate! Just...not applied to him.

Replicating other peoples' behaviors? He doesn't want to do that! But he does, doesn't he? Ever since he'd lost his family to the mountain, he'd been trying more and more to be like Atsuya, because Atsuya was the one everybody wanted and needed. Not him. They didn't need a defender, they needed someone who could score goals, someone unafraid of the world, who was willing to tackle it head on and blow over anything or anyone that tried to stop him.

The best defense was a good offense...making Shirou the obsolete one.

But...he'd replicated that well enough, hadn't he? Enough that Raimon had come to recruit him, thinking they couldn't win against Aliea without his ability to shoot. In a way, that had felt nice. To be needed, even if it wasn't really Shirou that they had wanted. And even if...in the end...his shoots hadn't been enough. Desarm had still managed to stop his ball.

He'd stopped it like it was nothing.]

I thought you said this wouldn't be boring?

It's not. But I also haven't gotten to your fortune yet.

[he's growing defensive, but who wouldn't? Rohan had outright called her an idiot when she'd given him his reading. despite needing to stare directly at the less pleasant aspects of themselves, people violently rebelled against the very idea. it was painful, to hear your own shortcomings.

unlike her horoscopes at home, this one is born from concern. Fubuki couldn't live happily this way, would never truly grow - and more importantly, he'd hurt himself continuing to bottle up his true feelings for the sake of being whatever he perceived as 'needed' by the people he was trying to please.

that was a fate she wouldn't wish on any of her friends. and so, she continues undaunted.]

You're going to keep losing people. Trying to force yourself into a box that isn't made for you is just going to drive them away.

[He's going to keep losing people?

Fubuki thinks of his friends — his family — and what it would mean to lose any of them. He hears Reimi, but he doesn't really hear her. In his mind this fortune screams of failure not because he's trying, but because he's not trying hard enough. He won't be alone...

...not if he can become perfect.]

Mm...you're not very good at this, you know?

[she can't tell what's in his mind, of course, but Reimi suspects that this won't be the last time they'll be forced to have this conversation. Fubuki was too thickheaded to simply accept something so radical that quickly.

but for now, she simply laughs. it's genuine amusement, even if her worries haven't stopped fluttering around her chest.]

You're not the first person to tell me that. But if I don't practice I'm never going to improve!

Besides, I doubt you could do much better yourself.

I guess you'd be right if I was trying to read your palm...I don't know anything about that. But...

[He hums in thought, his cloud of depression seeming to lift, even if only a little.]

...you'd be wrong if we played soccer.

[The sport is so essential to his very existence that just the mere mention of it is enough to lift his spirits a little bit. On the pitch, with the wind wrapping around him and the ball at his feet, Fubuki feels the most like himself. More importantly, however, out there with other people, he can feel them. Through their passes and their shoots, through the various plays they make and their style...there is no better way for him to tell what a person is like than to play soccer with them. It's the same for everyone back home, he thinks. That's how Raimon became the strong team that it is...and ultimately how they defeated Shin Teikoku and would be able to defeat Aliea.]

[soccer? that's quite a turn, but Reimi's happy to go along with it. he wouldn't bring it up in this context unless it was something important to him.]

Probably! I don't think that I've ever played soccer in my life.

[she hadn't been particularly athletic while alive, not doing much more than going for walks or jogs outside of gym class. something as intense as soccer was never even considered; somehow she doubts that even with practice she'd be particularly good at it.]

That's not surprising.

[FUBUKI DON'T BE RUDE.]

When you play together with other people, when you're on a team, you can't hide what's really in your heart. Even something as simple as passing a ball back and forth reveals things about you. It carries all of our thoughts and feelings.

[No hands necessary, not unless you were a goalkeeper.

Fubuki sighs deeply, the thought deeply contenting. The smell of the turf, of clean air hypercharged by an audience on the edge of their seats, electricity buzzing through friend and foe alike...and the moment when he could be like the wind. There was nothing so fine in the world. This one or any other.

Playing soccer, he didn't feel alone. Atsuya lived through his soccer, and he had everyone with him on the field, too. It was simply the best place to be...and the place he missed the most. The place Kouyuki hadn't made the same home Fubuki had.]

It sounds wonderful. You should teach me how to play sometime, so long as I'm allowed to be terrible at it.

[after all...]

It's been a long time since I was that close to people.

[the ability to naturally perceive the supernatural was a rare one, especially in a town as small as Morioh. within that already small percentage, none of the people who'd stumbled into her alley had been brave enough to listen to her once they realize where they were.

it was fine, as things had worked themselves out in the end, but there was no denying that it had made those fifteen years an incredibly lonely experience. beloved as Arnold was, he could only provide so much companionship to a young girl.

perhaps it's a little selfish, but she makes the suggestion for her sake as much as Fubuki's. to allow him to do something he loved a little more often, to make that connection he put so much stock in...but also to remember what it was like to give all of your feelings to another person in the real world. she wanted that again.]

[A little more sincerely, Fubuki offers...]

You can't really be terrible at anything as long as you try your best.

[After all, everyone started at the bottom, didn't they? He hadn't been born naturally good at defending, just as Atsuya hadn't been born the perfect forward. They'd each had to work hard to become the finely tuned athletic machines they were, just as Shirou'd had to work to assume the role Atsuya had left behind after he'd...]

Anyway, I used to be captain for my school team, so I can teach you if you want.

[He pauses a moment, enthusiasm sobering as her words sink in, and he wonders what she means. Weren't they fairly close when they'd gone to the cafe at the festival? Or maybe she was referring to her real self. Was she some kind of a convict who'd been in prison before? There's really no polite way to ask that, so he simply goes with...]

We'll start slow. It's not fun to fall on your face.

You'd be surprised!

[her friend's confidence in her hidden athletic ability is touching, but Reimi has a bit more practical view of what her future sports career holds. at least she knows that she'll have a great time no matter what the end result is.]

But I don't mind making a few mistakes here and there as long as no one's pushing me. Things might end up pretty ugly like that.

[her voice is teasing, although there's some real threat in her words. there's no way she couldn't retaliate (in a good-natured sort of way) to pranks like that. it would be unthinkable.]

Oh? But if you keep trying you'll always improve, even if it's only a little bit at a time.

[Makes perfect sense to him, anyway.]

I won't push, though. [Not any more than is required, that is.] It's not fun to be too forceful.

[But obviously he thinks a little pushiness is just fine. Even if that means retaliation.]

That's true! But a lot of people don't have the patience for that.

[like Rohan...or Kira. incremental improvement just didn't seem to be in the vocabulary of a lot of people that she knew, which was a shame. it was the only way that she really knew how to progress these days.]

You know, I've got a feeling that our definitions of 'forceful' don't really match up.

[not that she sounds like she minds very much. misadventures and silly counterattacks were what made a friendship vibrant and strong.]

Are you one of those people?

[Presumably under the impression that he already knows the answer to that question, Fubuki continues without stopping...]

Anyway, if we're going to play soccer, I'll need to get a ball first. But if we're waiting, that won't be a problem. I'll have one before we skip school.

ic contact;;

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tfw you actually get an accurate reading off an anime hand

this result just makes the gag tag even funnier

i didn't realize my own power when writing that

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