Rising Shards

Marmalade stood behind Kalei, Iris, and Maia, who were peeking through a bookshelf waiting until Zeta and Oka left with the love trio.

“Is Lillia the only one that actually split up from the group on her own?” Kalei asked.

“She probably has like book readin’ to do, homework and what have you.” Iris said.

“I hope Zeta and Oka will be alright…” Marmalade said. “What’s the love trio’s deal anyway? Seems they don’t have a lot of fans. I mean, I heard a bit about Rain before. And Amara was really nice to me when I was crying a bit ago.”

“Yeah, we were there for that.” Maia said. “Even I’ll admit that if you separate them, they’re a lot more tolerable. But all together?” She punched one hand into the other palm. “They’re pure evil. A scourge on this campus.”

“MaiMai’s a bit dramatic.” Iris said.

“How about they’re just incredibly annoying and obnoxious?” Maia said.

“That sums it up pretty well.” Kalei said.

“It’s weird to see you two get along,” Iris said, scooting the books she moved apart on the library shelves to get a better view back to their original position. “If you get into a fight again, I’m not breaking it up.”

“You two got into a fight?” Marmalade asked, not able to picture how a bout between Kalei and Maia would go. Maia did get into that brawl in the void, but Marmalade barely saw any of that.

“We didn’t even get into a fight, I just annoyed Maia so much that she started yelling.” Kalei said.

“I’m surprised you took the blame for that.” Maia said. “But yeah, that was just a little thing.”

“I feel like there’s still so much about everyone I don’t know.” Marmalade said.

“I’m kinda bored,” Iris said, already tired of scooting books around on random shelves now. “Maybe we should’ve gone with them.”

“No way,” Maia said. “C’mon, we can so do something fun.”

Something fun ended up being a bus ride to a strip mall in town. Marmalade couldn’t remember the last time she went shopping with friends.

“Don’t we need passes to go off campus?” Marmalade asked. “I remember that being a thing they told me they were really strict about. Though I guess it’s a bit too late for that now.”

“Listen, Marms,” Kalei said, putting an arm around Marmalade’s shoulders. “Let’s just chill today. Don’t worry about the passes or whatever. If they ask, we’ll just say we forgot em. They let us on the bus just fine after all, right?”

“True, yeah,” Marmalade said, finding herself more than a bit distracted by Kalei’s arm. She’s really strong, I can just feel it with her holding me. Kalei didn’t take her arm off of Marmalade for a few steps either, which Marmalade would have found odd if it didn’t make her feel so fluffy. That fluffiness was replaced by a disappointing void when Kalei let go of her.

"Oh, I love this song!" Iris said as a song that was a hit ages ago came on the radio speakers.

"This is the dumbest song ever." Maia said.

"Those treasured days, just like a tasty sandwich..." Iris sang. "Come on!"

Marmalade joined in immediately, having a soft spot for pop music. "Take a slow breath, do a flip!"

"Yeah! Marmalade gets it!" Iris said.

A few lyrics more and Kalei sang with them, and Maia even muttered a few lines. Marmalade blushed at the idea of anyone seeing them and laughing, but nobody they walked past looked their way even as they sang at their loudest.

“Alright, where to?” Kalei asked after the song ended.

“When me and MaiMai go mall hopping, we don’t have a plan,” Iris said.

“So I dunno. Whatever you wanna do.” Maia said.

Marmalade was fine with Kalei’s first vote, which was to hit up a used game store. Iris got distracted by Bongo Bongo 2: Bongo Bongo Bongo which had a demo unit set up. While she and Maia played that, Marmalade checked out the retro section. She didn’t have any specific games she was looking for, but she did spot an old favorite that she didn’t presently have a copy of.

“Have you ever played this one?” She asked as she handed the game to Kalei.

“TFIVN?” Kalei said, reading the title. “I've never even heard of this.”

“We should play it back in our room, it’s got such a good story.” Marmalade said.

“Oh yeah? I’d be down for that.” Kalei said. “What’s the title mean?”

“Well…” Marmalade smirked. “That’s a pretty big spoiler. I could give a hint, but the reveal is so good that I don’t wanna say anything.”

“Now you got me really curious,” Kalei said. “Wait, is that on eGame 1.7X? I don’t think that’ll play on my 2 or 3.”

“I have a 1.7X!” Marmalade said. “It still works, too. I just have to ask my parents to bring it. They would, I told them I’d probably want one of my older consoles with me soon.”

“Sick, then let’s do it then,” Kalei said.

After some games were successfully shopped for (Marmalade bought TFIVN, Kalei bought a new controller, and Maia bought the bongo game for Iris), the group went to the food court for a meal before they headed back.

“I can’t believe you just bought Iris that,” Kalei said, nodding at the giant plastic bag that had a clunky bongo accessory and a game.

“I didn’t have any money!” Iris said. “Ain’t Maia the sweetest?”

Maia shrugged, finding her tray of fast food very interesting all of a sudden.

While they waited for the bus back, Marmalade shivered in the cold. A faint thought rattled around in her mind wishing that Kalei would put her arm around her again to warm her up.

“Hey, um,” Marmalade said. “Thank you for bringing me with today.”

Kalei squinted, as if Marmalade just told her something in code. Then she grinned as if Marmalade just told her a hilarious joke. “Pfft. Come on, as if I’d leave you behind. And now I got a game I’ve never even heard of to look forward to.”

“I hope you like it,” Marmalade said. “It’s one of my favorites, I think.”

“Then I’ll definitely dig it.” Kalei said.

“Heh…” Marmalade said, her cheeks reddening even more, which she told herself was just because of the wintry air, nothing else.