Rising Shards

We helped Aira get her cat down from the art room’s ceiling. The cat had an eel like body and was way longer than any cat I’d ever seen. Aira gave her cat a ton of hugs and kisses as soon as he was in her arms.

“This is Eio!” Aira said as the cat alternated between lazy indifference and squirming.

Eio slipped out of Aira’s arms and floated up to her ceiling, curling up in a corner. The cat’s fur changed to camouflage itself with the color of the ceiling.

“Aw come on, don’t be like that.” Aira said.

Eio meowed indifferently and remained above us.

“He’s cute!” I said.

“I’d pet him but he’s kinda still…floating,” Oka said. “And invisible.”

“Yeah, he does that,” Aira said.

Lillia seemed a bit quieter than usual after she asked her question to the cube. I didn’t want to pry, so I just apologized to Lillia about messing up.

"It's fine," Lillia said. "Aira, keep up your end of the deal and study more." She  left quickly, her heels clacking against the tile floor.

Dr. Diast was overjoyed that we had beat Razmus and made me feel a bit less bad about getting my question wrong. She told us it was incredibly impressive we even convinced him to let me stay. Diast pulled me aside as the others left.

“Zeta, you’re my daughter now. It’s canon.” Diast said.

“Uh, what?” I asked.

“I’ll adopt you.” Diast said. “I talked to Caya while you were playing with Marne!”

“How’d it go?” I asked. “I mean, good I hope. The others helped too, you know.”

“We both apologized for letting time slip away from us, but she made sure I knew she didn’t like hate me or something.”

“I’m glad it all worked out,” I said.

“After more than a few roadblocks,” Diast said. “Did you ever hear the song ‘Kick em in the Licks’ by the Tick Sticklers?”

“No,” I said.

“It was all the rage back in my day,” Diast said. “The lead singer wore this doofy outfit that was like these glittery yellow pants and for a month everyone wore them, and then the fad ended, and the company made them went out of business!”

“What does this have to do with anything?” I asked.

“Well there’s a part in the song where it goes ‘pleaaase don’t be afraid, all the clouds in your head will fade awaaay, it’ll be a sunny daaaay,” Diast sang, hitting some of the right notes. “I think we both have to remember that.”

“I like that,” I said. “I think we do.”

Jeans and Ovie being together being confirmed by a magic cube thing brought up so many questions I’d been trying not to think about the last few weeks. I wanted to just lie down for a while. I somehow made it back to my room feeling pretty out of it.

Thinking about how nice my bed would feel, I opened the door to see Kalei standing between our beds. She was holding the box.

“Hey, Zeta,” Kalei said. “Care to explain why you lied to me about the Courtesy magazine?”

Oka was next to Kalei, looking pale. I suddenly felt that defense panic mode my body went to whenever Jeans started going at me. But it was also mixed with a molten feeling that Kalei had been going through my stuff.

“Hey, that’s private!” I yelled.

“Oh, sorry I looked in your stupid box,” Kalei said. “The deal I really needed is all gone already. Now I probably won’t even be able to buy the new eGame.”

“You’re this mad about a stupid game?” I snapped. “Give me that back!”

Kalei dodged me as I tried to grab the box.

“I already looked through it so whatever secret you’re trying to keep is pointless,” Kalei said. “What are these ashes? Is this like a cult thing? Are you part of that freaky Order of Terina cult?”

“I don’t even know what that is!” I said.

“Hey, maybe we should all just cool off a bit,” Oka said.

“Shut up,” Kalei said. “You’re just as bad as Zeta.”

“Huh?” Oka asked.

Kalei shoved the box back at me. Her hands were shaking.

“You’re right, it’s not really about the coupon or the system. I dunno what exactly you’re keeping from me,” Kalei said. “But I know Oka knows it. Whatever it is about this girl in the pictures. That’s it, right?”

I was silent. I felt like I was suddenly in a dark tunnel. My body language made it clear she’d hit a nerve. Kalei just stared at me.

“I dunno if she like died or something and these are her ashes,” Kalei said. “But I know how much it hurts that you don’t trust me enough to tell me.”

“Kalei, I was gonna tell you—” I said.

“We really were!” Oka said. “It wasn’t malicious. Zeta just wasn’t ready to talk about Jeans.”

“Jeans. This better not be about a literal pair of pants.” Kalei said. “Maybe I could have helped you too, you know.”

“You still can,” Oka said. “And it’s not about pants. It’s about…”

Oka trailed off, looking to me. She knew it wasn’t her place to tell Kalei. It felt like things were settling, but my mind was still flaring. I couldn’t speak. All I saw was Jeans standing above me yelling at me, and all I could hear was her voice, her ringtone.

“Whatever,” Kalei said, storming off. “You both suck. Screw this.”

She slammed the door as she left. I felt like I had just been stabbed. Maybe it was just that I’d been stabbed long before, and it hurt realizing how little the wound had healed.

Oka winced. I knew what she’d say, something really kind and supportive that would make me feel better. Something about it being really invasive for Kalei to look through my stuff.

“Why do you keep that?” Oka asked, nodding towards the box.

“I…what?” I said. That wasn’t what she was supposed to say.

Oka stammered.

“Sorry, it’s just,” Oka said. “Keeping these…it’s not good for you.”

“They’re just memories, it’s nothing,” I said. “Kalei shouldn’t have even been looking at it."

“But if you know Jeans and Ovie are dating,” Oka said. “Maybe it’s time to let this stuff go? That’s what the cube told you, right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I shouldn’t have even asked the stupid thing. I knew.”

“I’m not saying like chuck that box right now,” Oka said. “I just think…it might be good if you don’t keep all of that. The ashes are from that present Jeans burned right? That’s not a memory you want to linger on.”

I caught myself hugging the box to my chest. Oka was right, but I was frustrated and hurt about fighting with Kalei.

“I also don’t think we should keep all this from Kalei anymore,” Oka said. “Especially after that blow up from her.”

“Don’t tell me what’s good for me!” I snapped. I don’t know if it was more the hurt or the anger, but I wasn’t even thinking straight. “I just want to be alone.”

I looked up, and I was. Oka was halfway out the door, and I saw her cry for a split second before she shut the door. I took the bird I had folded out of the box. I made its head do the little trick with the tail Jeans taught me before I smashed it in my fist.