Rising Shards

When Oka and I ended up hanging out with the love trio to keep them distant from our video club, I didn’t expect to find myself in a big SUV getting driven by Rain on our way to something called the “Carousel of Claws.”

“Are we allowed to just leave like this?” I asked. I was a bit embarrassed that Rain already had her driver’s license while I had only just started training myself on how to not have a complete meltdown sitting behind the wheel.

“Oh, I’m beyond consequences now.” Rain said. “Just kidding. I asked for permission earlier.”

“Ah…” I glanced over at Oka, who was even less prepped for Rain’s sense of humor than I was.

Rain drove us back to my old stomping grounds, the big city of Litus Empirica, though I didn’t recognize the district she had driven to.

“And what is this um…Carousel? Again?” I asked.

“It’s a yearly event that only runs for a few weeks,” Rain said. “It’s scheduled around the availability of the famed River & Lyric detectives.”

“Who are they?” I asked.

“You seriously don’t know?” KJ asked. The mood in the car got very tense. I looked over to Oka, who shrugged slightly.

“Oh come now,” Amara said. I sighed in relief that Amara was less combative than Rain and KJ at least. “Everyone knows who they are.” Sigh of relief retroactively cancelled. “I’m sure Zeta and Oka are just having a joke to entertain us on the car ride.”

“Ha…yeah. Just kidding!” I said.

“Each year, the trio of detectives," Rain began. "When they’re not busy solving incredible cases of course, take the time to create an incredible exhibit of terror, loosely inspired by the gruesome murders and calamities they’ve encountered. But not directly based off of them as that would be distasteful to the lost.”

“I…I see.” I said.

“And they always give a seminar after each session,” Rain said. “This year’s theme is ‘revealing the truth.'”

“Interesting…” I said.

“Yes…” Rain said. “They are very good at getting people to reveal the truth.”

I got a series of messages on Dynne from Oka almost immediately after.

OkaOhri: “Revealing the truth?????????” You don’t think she knows, do you??????????? This isn’t all a scheme to get me to admit the slap, is it?????????

OkaOhri: I should just stop typing.

OkaOhri: I’m overthinking this.

OkaOhri: But what if I’m not?

OkaOhri: Rain said that last thing REALLY ominously right?

OkaOhri: I should maybe just admit to everything. Or keep it hidden? Will you still love me even if I’m this indecisive?

RainaStarlightFangirl: Always!! And we’ll get through this. we just gotta keep our cool I think

Kalei: whyd you send this to the group chat lol

“AH!” Oka yelped.

“Everything alright?” Amara asked.

“Oh I uh. Saw a commercial for a scary movie. On my phone.”

“Well, don’t get too scared before the real scares start.” KJ said. She yawned, which caused Amara to yawn as well.

Oka continued to panic on the drive. We passed by Lil Haven, which I had only been to once with Stella. Rain stopped in a parking ramp. Lil Haven was a smaller version of the fighting-based nation of Haven. As Rain paid for her parking spot (it took a while to convert her money into Slam Bucks) we hung around outside. Nearby, someone was tearing down posters to put new ones up. Oka’s worrying was interrupted by curiosity.

“Excuse me, why are you taking those posters down?” Oka asked.

“Because Kitty’s not the world champion anymore,” The man explained. “Nor is she president. Her star power’s kinda plummeting at the moment. Her new singles aren’t landing, Kilander ratings in the toilet...” He sighed wistfully. “Fame is fleeting.”

“Oh dang…” Oka said. “That actually explains a lot.”

Without her title or power, I supposed Kitty thought being involved with a school was her backup plan, which wouldn’t have been my bounce back career after a big fall, but then again I couldn’t imagine being a pop star that was somehow also a fighting champion that was also the leader of her state due to however the governing bodies worked in Haven.

“The Kilanders are kind of on the outs in general,” the man continued. “People are just kind of over it.”

“Really!?” Oka asked excitedly, clasping her fists in front of her, a gesture so cute I wished we could spend the day learning about the Kilanders’ declining fame. “So am I not in danger of being famous anymore?”

“Why would you be?” The man asked. “Are you a Kilander?”

“Uh huh!” Oka said. “My dad’s a Kilander.”

“You’re joking,” The man said.

“I’m not!” Oka said. “I promise, and I don’t make promises lightly!”

“Which one?”

“Berin.”

The man burst out laughing. “You were never in danger of being famous, then.”

I thought the man was being rude, but Oka was really happy to hear that.

Oka pondered this over. “See, if I ever get famous, I want it to be by my own merits!” Oka said. “Like I become a big-name actor or something. Like if our…” She looked around to make sure the love trio was still occupied at the payment station. “If our videos take off and we get all well-known! But I also don’t know if I really want to be famous. It seems like a lot of work for Berin. I dunno! Would you still love me if I was famous?”

“I’d love you no matter what, I think,” I said.

“Awwww!” Oka said. “But specifically if I’m famous?”

“I still would, yeah! You’d be like Raina Starlight then!” I said. “Maybe we could be like dual Raina Starlights if we get popular. I wrote a Raina X Raina fanfic once that would be kind of similar…”

The love trio came back shortly after, depriving me to explain my (in my opinion) really good fic where Raina Starlight met a version of herself from an alternate dimension. A few blocks past that was our destination, a gothic looking district. The street was somehow cast in darkness despite the daylight around us, its buildings all angular and foreboding. Lamps lit the way across the sidewalks. The roads were cobblestone, and few cars were on them. Rain pointed excitedly to a sign that read “Lil East Valataran.”

“Why’s it say ‘lil’?” Oka asked.

“In LE they have a small district for each of the other states and some other overseas countries too.” I said. “They’re big tourist-y spots!”

“Hmmm,” Oka said. Her slight pout made me think this was something she felt embarrassed about not knowing.

“If it makes you feel better, I lived here my entire childhood and I only learned about it recently when Stella brought me to Lil Haven.” I said.

“Really?” Oka asked, her expression brightening a little.

“Yeah!” I said. My tail flicked around excitedly, bopping someone walking past us. “Oops. Sorry.”

“Let me stand by you,” Oka said. “I wanna get hit with your tail, I think that would calm me down.”

“Now now, enough tail talk, it’s time for panic and mayhem!” Rain said. “And most importantly…the truth being revealed…”

I didn’t catch Rain looking our way, but I began worrying that maybe Oka was right, and that we’d been dragged into a bizarre scenario to try and get her to admit about her slap.