Chapter Text
As Kinro and Kakogan begin their match, Yuzuriha runs off, upset at Taiju’s decision to stay in the Bout. Sora follows her.
Yuzuriha is sitting on the grass by the fire pit they’ve been using to cook their meals, arms folded over her knees as she stares blankly forward. Sora quietly approaches, plopping down a little ways away. She slings an elbow over one bent knee, exhaling slowly. Yuzuriha doesn’t spare her a glance.
Sora casually glances over. After a moment, she opens her mouth. “You’ve got all sorts of shit in your hair again. Must’ve been all that dust you were kicking up.”
Yuzuriha blinks, then turns to her. Sora makes a motion with her shoulder, and Yuzuriha stares for a long moment before nodding.
Sora scoots closer and Yuzuriha lets her take her headband off. Sora sets it gently on the ground before reaching forward and combing her fingers through Yuzuriha’s short brown locks. She gives her hair a little shake, and fine dust is released with a soft puff.
“Gross,” Sora huffs. “Didja have to move around so much? This is gonna take a while.”
Actually, most of the dust is gone from the initial shake, but Yuzuriha nods her head just barely, and Sora proceeds to card her fingers through Yuzuriha’s hair, smoothing out tangles and picking out invisible bits of grass and dirt with dramatic declarations of disgust. As she does, Yuzuriha begins to relax slowly, and she starts to hum in response to Sora’s antics.
“Man, starting to think reinventing shampoo and conditioner should be higher up on the priority list,” Sora huffs as her hands run through perfectly smooth locks. “I swear I think I lost a whole ass pencil up in this green monstrosity the other day. You know how dangerous that is? What if I’m bending over some molten iron and it sudden falls—”
Yuzuriha’s hand comes up and grabs Sora’s wrist, stopping her mid-sentence. “Eh?”
“You don’t…” she sighs and turns to look at her. “You don’t have to worry about me, you know.”
Sora fixes her with an incredulous stare. “Who said I was?”
Yuzuriha chuckles softly, her gaze falling to the ground. “Come on, Sora-chan.”
Sora scoffs, but falls silent, dropping her hand into her lap along with Yuzuriha’s, still attached. She twists her own wrist around so they’re holding hands properly, giving Yuzuriha’s a gentle squeeze.
Yuzuriha scoots back, and Sora moves to accommodate the shift as her head falls on Sora’s shoulder. Yuzuriha’s other hand is tracing circles in the dirt, and Sora waits.
“What if he takes Taiju from us too?”
Sora’s eyes widen, and her arms fall to her sides.
“Too?”
“We don’t know if our families are okay,” Yuzuriha says, hugging herself tight.
“For all we know they eroded away a millenia ago, crumbled into dust. What if we’re all we have left?”
Sora’s silent at that. Yuzuriha hiccups as tears trickle down her face.
“Don’t you have anything to say to that?”
Sora’s shoulders raise as she breathes in, then exhales in one sharp breath. She crosses her arms and glances towards the sky.
“Yuzuriha, do you remember where my dad was, before the petrification?”
Yuzuriha blinks. “Your…”
Her face goes white and she claps a hand over her mouth.
Sora lowers her head, eyes looking straight through Yuzuriha. “The International Space Station wasn’t built to stay in orbit for thousands of years without maintenance. And while the petrification stone is some pretty tough stuff, I don’t know if it could withstand reentry into the atmosphere, or the fall from two hundred and fifty-four miles above the ground.”
Yuzuriha stares at her. Sora chuckles, and the sound is hollow.
“So yeah, I’ve thought about it. I’ve thought about it every day and night since Tsukasa woke up. That I could lose the only two people I can still call family.”
Yuzuriha’s lets out a half-choked sob. Her arms reach out, and she falls into Sora, squeezing her tight. After a moment, Sora puts an arm around her too.
“And if…?” Yuzuriha trails off, lower lip wobbling. Sora closes her eyes and sucks in a sharp breath of air.
“I’ve decided,” she says carefully. “To trust him.”
Yuzuriha goes quiet at that.