Chapter Text
Today
[This may seem sudden but 10:32 AM]
[Do you remember? 10:32 AM]
Typing . . . . . .
[...I think I've paid all my bills this month though? 10:35 AM]
[Perhaps I phrased that wrongly. 10:35 AM]
[I am Antarcticite. Pitou gave me this number. 10:35 AM]
[Considering Pitou's stance on the matter, I was wondering if you rememb--]
[Antarc? 10:36 AM]
[Yes. 10:36 AM]
[omg it's really antarc! 10:36 AM]
10:36 AM
Typing . . . . . .
[This is Sphene here! So glad to be reunited w you, Antarc! 10:36 AM]
[Never thought I'd find someone who rmbs! Incidentally, how did you get my number from Pitou? 10:37 AM]
[That boy only ever relates to girls and...*GASP* 10:37 AM]
[Don't tell me! You're a girl now, Antarc?! 10:37 AM]
10:37 AM
[Yup I am! 10:37 AM]
[qeqwqeqeqeq 10:37 AM]
[No, I'm not. 10:38 AM]
[? 10:38 AM]
[Finally wrestled my phone back from Dia 10:38 AM]
[OMG Diamond rmbs too?! 10:38 AM]
10:38 AM
[That's her too fyi 10:38 AM]
[ Stop that. 10:39 AM]
[But~ If I don't use these for you, you never touch your stickers anyways~! 10:39 AM]
[DIA?! 10:39 AM]
[Stop using my phone to have a conversation with me. Go back to playing your NintendoDS 10:40 AM]
[Geez! How mean, Antarc! I never raised you to be such a child! 10:40 AM]
[You never raised me in the first place. 10:41 AM]
[PFTHAHA you guys are so 10:41 AM]
[Your dynamics are just 10:41 AM]
10:41 AM
[What an impolite child! 10:42 AM]
[I'm going to tell on you now! Let's see what Jayden thinks of this! 10:42 AM]
[By all means feel free to go ahead Mom. 10:43 AM]
[I'm guffawing so hard right now 10:44 AM]
[You guys are absolutely adorable haha XD 10:44 AM]
10:44 AM
(A small smile comes to his lips at the sight of the sticker. Subtly angling himself, Antarcticite blocks the view of his phone and ignores the consequent huff Dai makes. She can live with it. This is a private conversation.)
Typing . . . . . .
[So 10:52 AM]
[How's life been treating you, buddy? 10:52 AM]
[I've been doing fine, thank you? 10:52 AM]
[Fine, huh... That's better than what most of us are 10:53 AM]
[...I should be concerned. 10:53 AM]
[Hm? Where had you gotten that from? 10:54 AM]
[Your first reaction to my message was about bills--]
[Oh no 10:54 AM]
[Not that, Antarc. I'm not in any financial burden! 10:54 AM]
[Really! No need to worry about that at all 10:54 AM]
[If you say so. 10:55 AM]
[I do. 10:55 AM]
[Listen. Don't worry about it, kid. Really. I merely asked because I was concerned about you. 10:56 AM]
[You're worried. About me. 10:57 AM]
[Geez. Way to make it sound like a crime. 10:57 AM]
[It's just 10:57 AM]
[You're not one to contact people for no reason. Or at least, you weren't. 10:58 AM]
(Antarcticite winces.)
[Pink Topaz doesn't just give my number out for no reason either. Especially not to those who rmb 10:58 AM]
[Maybe this might be unnecessary to you but 10:59 AM]
[You can think of this as the undying remains of Sphene in me. I just can't stop worrying about our juniors, you know? 10:59 AM]
(Antarcticite understands that more than Sphene realizes.)
[Antarc 11:00 AM]
[You there? 11:00 AM]
[I just--]
(Just? Just what? Was too busy drawing the parallels between Sphene and himself? That's not the only reason now though.
It'd stung, to know that he was contacting a senior for no reason other than Phosphophyllite. Even though Sphene's first reaction is to worry and fuss over him too. Even though they were never close. ...Or so he thought, in his own mind.
...Maybe... Just maybe... Maybe, there were more people than he knew who cared about him back in those winters. People besides Sensei.
Gripping the gadget, Antarcticite contemplates what to write.
The words come to him, awkward but honest.)
[I'm here. 11:01 AM]
[I'm sorry. That I'm contacting you for my own self-satisfaction. We should talk about other things instead 11:01 AM]
[Nope. 11:01 AM]
[It's just you, Antarc 11:02 AM]
[No need to feel bad about it now. Instead, make sure you catch up another time when you're free! 11:02 AM]
11:03 AM
[So, so! Now that we're done with heart-to-heart 11:03 AM]
[What is it? 11:03 AM]
[The thing is 11:03 AM]
[We are fast approaching your orphanage at the moment. 11:03 AM]
[What. 11:03 AM]
[WHAAAAAAAAAT?!!!!! 11:03 AM]
NIIGATA
SETTING: NIIGATA NEIGHBOURHOOD, ROAD NEAR ORPHANAGE by sakuraanimelover3
Phone buzzing with the incessant messages of an incredulous senior, Antarcticite exits the car.
There are tonnes, which could be said of the tiny orphanage that looms over them. The first of which would be its dynamic contrast against that of the clean, modern urban backdrop of Japan’s most populated prefecture. The second, would be its sheer distance away from the busy city neighbourhood they had passed, tucked into a small corner as though meant to be hidden away.
Antarcticite doesn’t want to think of how his conjecture is most likely right. He doesn’t want to think that, immediately, of Sphene’s home and Sphene themselves.
“It’s…not bad.” Dia fidgets, shifting her hands on her phone. She bites her lips.
“Don’t look so put out, kids.” Hemimor lowers her sunglasses. “This is good by Japan’s standards.”
Is it?
Botan mutters something that sounds like ‘figures’. Antarcticite’s vision is still fixated on that part of the fence that’s rotting off.
Sphene and whoever lives here must have – he hopes – tried their best to maintain it. Maybe that yellow stain on the wall is one of those stubborn ones; maybe it’s not that the orphanage is too understaffed, or its authorities too negligent, or that nobody cares—
The door slams open before he finishes that thought.
From the depths bursts out a woman in her mid-twenties with warm brown locks, tied into two braids in a painfully familiar hairstyle. Clutching onto her phone, Sphene looks up and –
Antarcticite doesn’t know what to say.
“…Oh geez.” Sphene combs a hand down the side of her head. She smiles breathlessly, eyes exasperated. “Talk about a last-minute warning.”
SETTING: ORPHANAGE CORRIDOR, LIVING ROOM
“Come in.” Sphene’s gait is surprisingly strong.
Parting the door for them, a smile lingers on her lips as her eyes fall fondly on the step.
“The kids are out at school. You’ve come just in time, I’d say – those children will still be out for a while more.” She laughs.
Diamond wavers for a moment before parting her lips.
She’s instantly silenced by the pat on her head.
“I know, I know. Shush, I’m making you do unwilling volunteer work as repayment.” Sphene’s eyes glint with forgiveness.
Diamond stops chewing her lower lip to pieces.
“I missed you, Sp-” Dia catches herself. Still, she wraps her arms around Sphene.
“Missed you too, little brat.”
Antarcticite’s brows rise without his permission at the term of endearment.
“And also, my name’s Kinoshita Suzue,” Sphene smiles again, this time, it’s with a hint of melancholy, as she looks pointedly at Botan. It figures – that the one person who’s immediately worried about him is the one who identified the odd one out in an instance. Her glance shifts to Hemimor, who lowers her head in a respectful nod. “Just ‘Suzu’ is fine. Come in, come on in!”
Laughter chimes loud like the bells she’s named after.
Antarcticite follows the rest after Hemimor takes lead.
“What’s wrong? You’re tense.” Sphene casually points out, closing the door behind him. An elbow to his side lightly knocks the breath out of him. “What? I thought you already knew it’d be an orphanage when you dropped that bombshell on me?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s-”
Antarcticite struggles for words.
The shoe rack is unsurprisingly voided of shoes – yet another observation that makes him bitter for some reason.
“I get it. I totally do.” Sphene leans back with a smile dipped with the maturity of an adult. “Antarc, you’re kind, so it’s no surprise you’d sympathize so much. Their living conditions aren’t the best, however much I strive to provide for them.”
She tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ears.
“But they’re family.” She shrugs lightly. “And they mean the world to me.”
…He didn’t possibly look down on her by pitying her and these orphans. But Sphene already knew that. Nevertheless, Antarcticite dips his head.
“I’m sorry.”
For pitying them so, so much. For blaming those in charge (is Sphene one of them?) for the conditions these orphaned children (Jayden. He still can’t imagine not being with him) are living in. For feeling sorry for them.
Because being sorry doesn’t help. It doesn’t change their conditions, doesn’t make them feel any better. As a passerby, these emotions are all he can feel, but really, they’re useless till he acts upon them.
“I’ll do what I can to help while I’m here.” He promises, lips set into a determined line, hand curling into a fist.
Sphene’s eyes widen slightly at his words. She presses her fingertips together with a chuckle.
“Noble, upright Antarc as always. You haven’t changed in the slightest!”
“That’s me.” His lips twerk up. “Ango Fuyuhiko, model citizen at your service.”
Out of the corner of his eyes, Antarcticite catches Hemimor’s hair as she ducks out of the hallway. Was she checking on him? Once more, Antarcticite feels his chest warm at the show of concern from another person today.
“Uwah… It’s huge.” Dai’s awed murmur is a whisper from the distance.
He exchanges a quick glance with Sphene, gliding slowly across floorboards.
“Dia’s name is Dai. Bortz’s is Botan. Hemimor’s is Miho. Only Botan doesn’t remember.” He whispers, hushed. Sphene gives a nod.
Antarcticite tries his best to bottle up his emotions at the unpolished state of wooden boards. He’s here to help. Just that knowledge somehow alleviates the unreasonable guilt a little, makes him feel a tinier bit more positive.
“Heheh, it’s huge, isn’t it? Facilities kind of need to be, to accommodate some thirty kids.” Sphene has an amused smile at his openly amazed companions.
The wide living room with its abundance of couches is at least a relief to see. The carpet… is a tad too dusty, but he’s sure they can help to do something with it. Already, Antarcticite’s feeling his mind brim with ideas possible to make this better. There are things they can do, for someone else. Some money, too, can be spared from their work at Yumeno. (Sayo insisted.) Not that he could speak for the others.
“It’s nice to know that we’ve got some couches I could knock myself out on tonight.” Antarcticite smiles at the surprised looks he receives from the rest. “Seeing how I’ll be helping out the next two days.”
“Oh.” Sphene covers her lips gracefully.
“E-E-Eh?!” Dai is less so, with the way she puffs up at the sudden news. “Ango! You should have told us so much earlier! That way, I’d have accepted the maid costume Pitou-san offered for cleaning here-”
“No way in hell will I let you take it from that bastard.” Botan deadpans, snagging her shoulder.
It makes Dai pout.
“But it’s a perfectly reasonable choice of clothes for spring cleaning! Not to mention, it’s fashionable—”
“Even more so, no.”
“Pft – someone’s still allergic to the word ‘fashion’, it seems.” Hemimor snickers.
“You can just shut the hell up.” Botan shoots, flipping long locks over his shoulders. Even Sphene tenses under his vicious glare when he turns to look at them.
“So,” He folds his arms. “What’s the first thing you need done? Just so you know, I’m doing this solely for somewhere to sleep in besides the idiot’s smoke-filled car.”
He scowls at the beaming Hermimor.
This one sure takes it well after being forced into a dress for Rei’s entertainment.
“Erm.” Sphene blinks. “Well…” A smile crawls onto her face.
Oh no.
Ango Fuyuhiko was fifteen when he first met Botan. He’s had three years to accustom himself to what he knew would be a permanent fixture (as long as Dai finally plucks up some courage of hers and sit down to talk to Botan) but to date, he’s still continuously bewildered by the other.
“LET. ME. GO!”
An echoing roar by a prepubescent voice.
Antarcticite pauses. He gets the feeling he shouldn’t be curious about this. Sphene may have been one nice senior, but the smile on her face when she handed Botan a list and spilled a monologue of instructions is anything but. (It’s painfully reminiscent of Padparadscha and The Cat List.)
Still, the trouble comes to him in the form of Botan.
Botan, who’s carrying an elementary school kid by the back of his shirt. Botan, who’s followed by a gaggle of schoolkids behind him, of ages ranging from kindergarten to high school. Botan, who’s got a red mark on his face dealt by a punch – who looks one inch away from snapping.
Dai gasps.
Antarcticite knows her well enough to know it’s not concern for the kid in Botan’s hands.
“Oh…who did this to you…?”
True enough, she drops all work and flitters over to Botan, hand hovering worriedly over his face.
The elementary school kid is all but ignored.
“Who the hell are you guys?” Kid’s got guts, Antarcticite will give him that. Even hovering inches off his feet, he’s still able to snarl at them.
Antarcticite has one moment where he looks at the kid and – and he has a whipsplash. Because while he’s never seen most of the senior gems, Alexandrite’s had years after Chrysoberyl spent hovering dazedly, leaving Antarcticite to sort out lunarian related documents on his own. Amongst them, for whatever reason, there had been one drawing that found its way in – one of Chrysoberyl smiling warmly as one Topaz places his hands on his and Bluzo’s shoulders.
Bluzo.
This kid’s Bluzo.
…and Sphene hadn’t seen fit to give them an early warning?
“Oi! Answer my questions-”
Botan lifts him to glare at him in the eyes.
“You’re in no place to demand answers, brat.” He hisses.
Bluzo’s only response is a kick to the pelvis.
Antarcticite winces in sympathy when Botan hisses and drops Bluzo. If only the kid knows of Botan’s place amongst the delinquents.
Bluzo looks around, as if searching for someone who’d give him the answers he wants. Antarcticite blinks evenly when the kid’s gaze lands on him, and the cloth he’s still holding onto. A bucket is beside him. He’d been wiping the floor and wall around areas less frequently cleaned. (Boy were they many. Sphene as a single person really could only do so much, he gathered.)
“Are you volunteers?” Bluzo questions again, no less huffy, but calmer natured.
“We still need to talk about your fight at the playground-tsk,” Botan’s interrupted by another pang of pain throbbing down his thigh. Again, Bluzo ignores him and continues.
“So?” He folds his arms.
For an instance, Antarcticite sees a flicker of Ruby. They’re both children too mature for their ages… but with the huffy way Bluzo is, he somehow doubts that Bluzo remembers. For now, he’ll treat Bluzo like another well-meaning child looking out for his family?
Antarcticite looks Bluzo in the eye. He nods.
“It’s a bit abrupt – sudden,” Some words are too tough for a ten year old. “But we’ll be staying here for a couple of nights. We’ll be helping out Sp – Suzue, so do tell if you think there’s anything we could do to make things easier on her.”
The lines on that young face lighten. Bluzo looks stunned, for uncertain reasons.
“…Okay.” A curt response is given. Bluzo sends him an uncertain look before dashing off.
“Did I say something wrong?” Antarcticite asks, feeling put out.
Looking to each other, the elementary school kids giggle and point. One boy barely passable for middle-school age flanks Botan, a sympathetic “You feeling okay, Big Bro?” endearing himself to the battle mania. Dai’s being dragged off to play as well by the younger ones, stuttered protests on her lips about her work. It’s a high school boy who answers his helpless query, a smile on his lips as he trots upstairs to cramp bedrooms.
“He likes ya, Bushido, that is.”
Antarcticite tries to connect the meaning of that name – samurai code – to Bluzo himself.
“Don’t worry too much about it.”
As if he can ever.
IMAGE: CHRYSOBERYL, TOPAZ, BLUE ZOISITE by ISHIKAWA HARUKO
SETTING: CAFETERIA (only a lot more cramp and rundown), KITCHEN
The rest of the afternoon is spent cleaning up the orphanage.
Dirty old carpets needed to be dumped (Sphene’s long given up on salvaging them), walls need to be wiped, and Antarcticite attacked that yellow spot outside fervently, frustrated when it refuses to leave. Sphene explains how they’ve always wanted a repainting but lacked manpower, and Antarcticite more than readily volunteers himself. Manpower? Done. They refurnish, moving furniture around to make room for the kids. All this takes place while Dai distracts the children with her charm and Sphene takes the younger ones out to play.
And so, Botan, Antarc, and Hemimor work.
(“--A fresher colour can be chosen for the children’s rooms.”
“Just go with the usual. Pink for girls. Blue for boys.”
“Lame.” Botan scoffs, like the downer he is as always.
“What do you want?” Hemimor tosses her hands up. The needle she’s been working with clinks against the table.
“Black is a great colour scheme. And red.” Botan’s eyes glint eagerly. Antarcticite remembers that horror of an art Diamond showed him in middle school – which Botan had blushed and stuttered at – and decides the world does not need another replica.
“Absolutely not.” He replies firmly.
“See? Even Ango agrees--!”)
Granted, it’s a less than focused work, but they’re helping nonetheless.
Noon sees another two ladies – one the age of Jayden with a…generous (big-boned) figure and an apron tied around her waist, the other another in her early-thirties, with caramel coloured hair and a motherly smile – coming to work in the cafeteria. They were accompanied by a tall man (apparently married to the motherly lady), who delivered boxes of groceries and greeted them with a gruff huff.
(“That’s his version of ‘It’s nice to meet you.’” Caramel (their names slip him) beams with an amiable pat on his shoulder.
“Is that so…”
“It is!”)
Lunch was fine. Antarcticite preferred the mash potato to the miso soup. Botan had been the opposite. They traded side-dishes, whilst Diamond pouts and has her attention stolen away by enamored children.
(“Ehhh…so it’s done by vote?” Dai blinks up at the strokes of ink on the whiteboard. Chicken curry is currently in the lead for dinner, dancing ahead of the follow-up by eight votes. She looks down, smile ready, when one girl tugs on her fingers for her attention.
“What will you be choosing, Big Sis Dai?” The girl smiles, revealing a missing tooth that only makes her more adorable. “I’ll choose the same one as you!”
Antarcticite watches Dai melt and pick up the girl, doting on her.
He turns and places a comforting hand on Botan’s shoulder.
“What’s the meaning of that.” The fighter questions.
“I see children and cats in your future, is all.” He replies blandly.
“As if I’d let her do it.” Botan scoffs. He shrugs off his hand, gazes at Dai with a look that’s all love despite the unchanging edge on his expression. “I’ll dump them all before they could escalate to this extent.” As expected, Antarcticite smiles, of Botan. Only he could be this contradictory in his actions.
“Big Bro Botan…you’re going to dump your kids in the future…?” A watery snivel from a five year old beside them.
“No- I mean-” Botan smacks his legs against the bottom of the table. He hisses, startling tears out of the kid, and Antarcticite watches in amusement with a cheek laid on his palm as Botan digs himself a deeper hole.)
All the while, he tries to ignore the way Bluzo keeps shooting glances at him, clinging on tightly to Sphene.
Dinner was curry chicken.
SETTING: LIVING ROOM (-TV, ofc)
“I’m sorry, that you boys have to sleep in this room. I would take you in, but Miho and Dai…” Sphene shrugs helplessly.
“It’s fine.” Antarcticite answers.
He presses his palms snugly against the side of the warmed milk. ‘This is the least I could offer.’ Sphene had said firmly.
“With any luck, Botan will end up sleeping upstairs anyways. The kids wanted him to stay there ‘to fight off any monsters’, they say.” He dutifully adds in air quotes.
The lingering childishness used to connect with the orphans still hadn’t vanish on him. He still can’t believe how light-hearted it all is, despite the dirty walls of their room and the cramp conditions they were living in. And most of all…their family.
“You’re making that face again.” Sphene pokes his side.
“I-I’m sorry.” He catches himself.
“No need.” Sphene chuckles. She looks down at her hands. “We all feel that way, at some point.”
…Feeling pity, for these children. Because how could they be abandoned despite how sweet they were? Antarcticite hasn’t gotten too close to the children. He knows it’s because he’s more focused on working to make it better, not willing to be distracted (even if there are many a times he was). But even so, he can’t help but feel endeared to them. Is this just altruism speaking, or is it something else…?
“The reason why I started this orphanage was because of Phos.”
Sudden words in a wide, clean room that’s but one of the results of their hard work. Antarcticite jolts and looks at her, eyes widened.
Sphene is small, he realizes for the second time, the first being back when he first stepped in; found himself having to look down at her. Sphene is a small slender lady, for all her grit and her bark when it comes to the kids. She had carried one of those boxes as easily as nothing even though he’d struggled. She had smiled gracefully as she guided the children with nimble hands on their backs, frowned with all the disappointment in the world when informed Bluzo was in a fight, but despite the matron that she puts forth before the kids, her shoulders are still tiny and delicate.
“That’s what you’re here for, right? Even if your reason has slightly detracted.” Sphene smiles up at him, balancing her mug on crossed legs. “To understand Phos.”
He shouldn’t be surprised she knew, but he still is.
“…I’m sorry.” Antarcticite repeats for the third time that day. This time, it’s for the same reason as back in their messages.
“Really.” She sighs, exasperated. “You’re too polite. I told you, you needn’t do that.”
“No. It’s a disrespect to you. It’s a disrespect to these children as well. That I came for my own selfish reasons.” He lowers his head.
“Reasons change overtime. What matters is the present that we’re living in. I don’t blame you for taking more interest in Phos than us initially. Just like the way I don’t blame Phos for going to the moon.”
“…You…don’t……?” Antarcticite doesn’t know what he was expecting. He remembers Rei who revealed her initial hatred of Phos. He remembers Shin, who – more than anybody – was hurt by Phos. That picture is still in the side pocket of his backpack.
Sphene meets his eyes.
She smiles.
“I don’t.” She says. “Like I said, I started this orphanage because of Phos.” Her gaze is distant on the edges of her mug. “We’ve talked, you know, Yellow and I.”
He jolts. She smiles.
“For the longest time after the incident, we’ve talked. Together, we tried to think about what-if’s, even though they’re really no use at that point. We talked about when it all started – why did Phos change, and how could we have let it happen before our eyes? We – We talked.”
For the first time, she seems to struggle with her words. And that is so unlike the matron he’s been facing this whole day, Antarcticite wants to open his mouth to comfort. Except, he’s stopped with another look. It’s the same one as before, on the doorstep – the ‘You’re kind, but it’s okay, Antarc’ look. He closes his mouth.
“We thought it might be Cinnabar.”
Antarticite blinks, dumbfounded. Sphene leans in, over her knees.
“Because everyone at school avoided Cinnabar, whether we’d like to admit it or not, Cinnabar was forced to be by themselves. And then Phos came upon them and decided they’d do something for them. It’s a confusing thing – why Phos decided to go through such means for a person they didn’t know.” Sphene’s lips are curved downwards. She leans back. “Puzzling, isn’t it? Or maybe, not so much.”
She taps her knees and looks around them.
It takes a moment or three for things to click in his mind. Phos went to the sea and the moon…because of Cinnabar? But that’s – illogical – but then again –
“He is a kind child.” Sensei’s words of Phosphophyllite draws a pang of hurt.
But then, it makes sense.
What started Phosphophyllite on his journey was a feeling of pity for Cinnabar – and the realization that he could be more; to do something for others. (The same way he’s feeling now, for the children of the orphanage?) Antarcticite looks at Sphene. It’s the same way she’s devoting herself to the orphans now.
“Maybe you can call this an act of repentance. Just… I can’t help but regret the way we treated Cinnabar back then.” Sphene’s face is an expression of melancholy. “It’s not just the possibility of what-if we had treated them better. I… simply love everyone who’re under me right now, at this moment. I hurt for them when they’re hurting – be it from their past or themselves. And I know I wouldn’t let them be alone in those times.”
“But the fact that we cruelly tossed Cinnabar aside because of their situation – left them to struggle, all alone – each time I think about it, I can only become more relieved that Phos had gone to them, did the things they did for them. Because like it or not, none of us would have approached them back then. Cinnabar would have been left alone, drowning – in their own poison – for an eternity, and we would have let it happen, not bating an eyelash as it did. It’s – terrible.”
She shudders.
Stunned by her words, Antarcticite feels a swirling pit of regret growing. It’s true. In retrospect, while Antarcticite had always known about that gem, he had never seen meaning behind approaching the gem in winter, or going to extra lengths to keep Cinnabar safe from the lunarians. It had been his duty to simply keep watch. And therein lies his problem, even if it’s not necessarily theirs.
“I…met Cinnabar, on Tashirojima off at the north.” His numb words catch Sphene’s eye. “…I think we both owe him an apology. I’ll… I’ll pass you his number later.”
Antarcticite has his number. It'd been shoved into his hand discretely by an exasperated Rutile. Maybe Sphene will take that avenue. He doesn’t know. But for him, he thinks it might mean more in person – and after he delivered his message.
“Thank you.” Sphene smiles. It’s sad and worn and fond.
With mugs in their hands, they moved on to other topics. Talked – really, mostly about the kids. Antarcticite’s still stumbling over names, but he remembers every child for a particular instance they share. The girl with pigtails and a missing tooth, the five year old boy who walks with a limp in his feet, the high school boy who helps out everywhere – because he feels bad about ‘loafing off’, in Sphene’s words, said with a scoff. ("He should be out there, enjoying youth with his friends, not locking himself up due to money problems. If anything, I should be the one apologetic!")
Then, there’s Bluzo.
“Bushido.” Sphene tags on fondly, as with all the other kids whose names Antarcticite can’t remember. “The little chump got into a fight today because some brat was bullying Ai, from our orphanage. Defended himself and said it’s because he’s Bushido.” She snorts a laugh.
Antarcticite muffles a smile behind the back of his palm.
“I take it he hasn’t changed since Bluzo?” He asks.
“Nope.” Sphene grins. “He’s not Bluzo, but he still is.”
And that just summarizes Botan in a nutshell, doesn’t it?
“I’ve pulled together plans for your painting project tomorrow.” Sphene then reveals, a wide smile on her face. “Some of our regular volunteers will be coming down to help – in their free time anyways. Topaz and Ghost will be there.”
“Not going to pull one over me with that surprise, are you?” Antarcticite smirks.
“No way, no.” Sphene giggles. Her gaze twinkles with delight as she continues. “I wouldn’t dare.”
Antarcticite smiles and calmly downs his now cool milk, when Sphene neglects to elaborate.
This is his senior’s way of teasing him – the subtle shielding of information on their status of whether they remember; their names, too, from him. He could always protest how unfair it is, considering he gave away his side of the information, but it’s only meaningful this way.
To meet them, as new people, as the strangers they technically are. To introduce himself as he would new people, to find out their names and whether they remember.
Huh. Maybe this is precisely why Sphene is obscuring details. She is observant that way.
“Gimme your mug. You’ve got a long day ahead tomorrow.”
Antarcticite sluggishly leans against the couch. He guesses Botan’s already conked out upstairs with the kids.
“But you’re…”
“I’m used to it. You’re not. And let me spoil you a bit, will you? It's for my sake as well as yours.” That’s enough to get him to relinquish his mug. Sphene’s smile is bright as she slides off the couch, shoving him lightly into a sleeping position. The lights are turned off. The moon’s natural light remains shining in at his request.
“Ah, right.” A sudden pause. It’s these occasionally clumsy, brutish sounds that makes Sphene less of a lady, more the obsessed woodscraft she was… “…I’m not sure if I should tell you this, but – we'd also theorized that Phos might have went to the moon after you.”
…What…?
“He’d planned – to negotiate with the lunarians to restore previously grinded gems. They were only able to restore gems of hardness five and above.”
Blinking, Antarcticite can’t help but think it’s cruel of Sphene to be revealing this information this late into the stage. His mind can’t process at this time. He’s still hovering between sleep and attention. What’s the point of telling him this? (He tries fervently to deny the muted delight he feels inside, stifled by hazy lethargy.)
“People cared about you, Antarc, even after you were gone. Sensei and Phos, they both loved you, more than you know.”
He knows… He knows?
“Nothing’s going into your mind now at all, is it?” An exasperated, fond sigh. “Goodnight, Antarc.”
“…’ight…Sphene…”
The door closes. Antarcticite calmly leaves this Phosphophyllite business to the him of tomorrow and allows darkness to swallow him up.
SETTING: ANTARC'S ROOM by ORANGE
“I don’t get why they talk to you. You’re literally just a puddle of liquid. What kind of useless hope are they still clinging onto?”
An unfamiliar voice. An unfamiliar gem, who clinks against the ground? …or the tub? Antarcticite has no idea. Nor do they have any consciousness left to spare beneath stifling sleepiness to ponder.
“I hate them. Those bastards.”
“I hate them so much. I never agreed to it when they said they wanted to partner up. Ghost knew that. God, I wish I hadn’t lied and said I agree. First, wanting to be there in the battlefield to get back Lapis. Then losing Ghost alongside them. How messed up is this?”
Clinking, shrieking, as if gems rubbing against each other. …Judging by their words, this gem must be rubbing their face.
Who is this?
“It sucks.” The shrieking stops. “That we had to be taken by them. Sure they didn’t save us, but it sucks, that we’re so pathetic, we’d cling to the first person who shows us any concern. You’re pathetic, Ghost. If only –”
The gem silences abruptly, as if debating with themselves.
“…I’ll freaking do it, okay? Even if I still hate that bastard. I don’t know why, but they see you in me, and it’s Ghost’s dumb last wish, so I’ll do it – I’ll take care of them, if only for you guys.”
Blue eyes part in the morning, dazed and confused.
…What was that?
SETTING: ROOMS
The final decision had been caramel and baby pink for the girls, and sky blue and indigo stripes for the boys. Botan had ended up in a screaming debate with Bluzo, the boys’ representative on anti-Botan-colours. Dai sweetly smiles and records the moment with her phone.
With steady hands, they’d moved what furniture they could out of the rooms; pushed the rest into the centre and covered with a sheet, to avoid splatters of paint. Cloths tied around their noses, they had then swiftly marched in with brushes and attacked (“DON’T!” Hermimor screeches at Botan) the walls with paint. (“That’s not how you paint…” A long-suffering whine.)
This continues for multiple layers, with breaks in between, till the backup soldiers came at eleven in the noon.
“Ready for work?” Murmurs drift in from the corridors.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” A soft reply in the distance.
Lifting his head, Antarcticite peers at the doors, blinking when Sphene enters with a taller girl beside her.
A small smile on her face, Ghost avoids tripping on one of the paint palettes, eyes quickly shifting up to them. She’s clad in a loose pair of jeans, an apron secured around her waist, and a white shirt ending half way down her arm. Antarcticite searches for hints of recognition in her eyes. He can't tell if there's any.
“This,” Sphene beams. “Is Watanabe Gou! She’s a volunteer from Niigata University, here on an exchange!”
“Pleased to meet you.” Ghost smiles.