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Chuchu trudged across the ruined Asticassia campus, hands in her pockets, eyes pointed straight down. Even though barely one in five bodies she extracted from rubble were alive she still wanted to be in her new mobile suit, she would've been fine staying in there for 48 straight hours, but it was technically owned by that girl from House Burion and she forced Chuchu to take a break "so that you don't zone out and crush someone who's still breathing." The problem with taking a break, though, was that Nika was with all her friends and that was a conversation she really did not want to have right now. Hence, the trudging.
She heard some noise and looked up, only to flinch. Dozens of body bags were laid out in rows in a clearing a little ways away. The darkness was only lit up by a few spotlights splayed erratically so she couldn't even make out how many there were. Nobody was walking around or talking, and it took a few seconds for Chuchu to realize that the noise she was hearing was a girl sobbing her guts out.
I shouldn't be here, she thought. But something drove her forwards, compelled her to pace along the rows of dead Spacian teenagers.
Maybe it was her memories of Norea and Sophie. She barely knew either of them, to be honest, but...they were still Earthians. They had been a part of Earth House, however briefly. Nika had --
Well. They were hers, was the point. As she walked, Chuchu tried to understand what they thought they were accomplishing. She reflected that some of the corpses here had probably once bullied her or her friends. To be honest, a lot probably had. Some of them would've grown up to be pilots for Cathedra, or executives in companies like the one that worked her fathers half to death for peanuts. Was that what Norea was thinking, when she did this?
What would Chuchu have thought before she met Suletta, or even Miorine?
She sighed. This was extremely pointless. She turned around to walk away, but someone moved one of the spotlights and it shone upon a familiar mop of dirty blonde hair.
Felsi Rollo. For a long time she was one of the worst people on campus, even though the bar for that was in hell. But after Chuchu saved her and her boyfriend's worthless asses, she couldn't deny the girl had changed. The two of them even managed to fight together yesterday.
Maybe that's the secret, she thought. Just start chucking Spacians off of buildings and have Earthians catch them. It's a joke she would've laughed at in any other circumstance.
"What are you looking at, pom-pom head?"
Fuck me. Chuchu looked away and said, "Just wondering what you're doing here."
"Shouldn't that be obvious?" Felsi said, elbows on her thighs, head downcast.
Chuchu looked around at the body bags. The Spacian wasn't wrong, this time. A memory of one of the many times she got scolded by Nika flashed through her mind before she could stop it. She grit her teeth. "Yeah," she said. "Sorry, that was really dumb."
"It really was."
She stood around awkwardly for a little while, neither of them saying anything more. Chuchu clenched her fist inside her jacket, feeling more guilt than she would've expected. It's not like she was friends with this girl or anything, but...maybe some part of her had hoped they could be, someday. After all, Nika had always talked about wanting to make some Spacian friends --
Stop thinking about her! Chuchu scrunched her eyes tight.
"Um. Are you okay?"
Chuchu's eyes flew open. Felsi was looking at her with an expression of mild concern.
God, now I'm making someone whose friends just died worry about me. Chuchu opened her mouth, then sighed. "I'm sure you don't want to hear about my problems," she said, turning around. "I'll leave --"
"Maybe I do."
Chuchu turned back. "Huh?"
Felsi smiled thinly. "Petra isn't getting any less dead. Might as well try to distract myself."
Genuinely shocked, Chuchu had no idea how to respond. Her mouth moved on its own. "You sure you want to talk to an Earthian?" it said, layering on the sarcasm extra thick.
She barely had time to regret her tone before Felsi's smile became wider. "Sure. You know what they say, know your enemy and...and..." She looked up at the ceiling, then back at Chuchu. "How does that go again?"
"I don't fuckin' know." That made Felsi actually laugh, confirming Chuchu's suspicions that this girl was a certified weirdo.
"Come on then," Felsi said, patting the ground next to her.
Chuchu hesitated. On the one hand, a Spacian bully was the last person she wanted to talk about Nika with. On the other hand, though...who else was there? All Chuchu's other friends were Nika's friends too. And she got the vibe that they were all more willing to forgive Nika than Chuchu was. Even Martin, despite narcing on her in the first place.
And, well...she had fought together with Felsi. Didn't that kind of make you friends? Or something?
Whatever, Chuchu was tired of thinking. She plopped herself down next to Felsi and tried to avoid wondering which one of the body bags contained Felsi's friend.
After a few minutes of silence, Chuchu felt compelled to speak. "My best friend..." She halted. "The girl who used to be my best friend. She was involved with the people who did this."
"...already had parents demanding we expel Earth House before this delinquent showed up."
"I'm so sorry, sir."
"I know you're a good student, Nika. I'm not talking about you. But when people hear that an Earthian beat up their children..."
Chuchu opened her mouth, but Nika pinched her waist hard, and she had to bite down a yelp of pain.
"I understand, sir," Nika said. "I know how much you've done for us."
"When incidents like this occur, it becomes that much more difficult for pro-Earthian advocates like me to get taken seriously."
"Don't --" This time Nika stomped on her foot, and Chuchu couldn't restrain the painful shout this time.
The teacher she would heretofore think of as Mister Fucking Hypocrite Dickass glared at her. "Learn from your senior, Chuatury Panlunch. If Earthians were less like you and more like her, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place."
Chuchu saw red. But Nika's foot was still on hers, and while she kind of hated the girl right now, she still felt gratitude for how much Nika had helped her since entering this godforsaken -- or gaiaforsaken -- place. She didn't want to embarrass her. Well, not anymore than she already had at least.
"...make sure this never happens again, sir," Nika was saying.
"See that you do, because if it does, she's not getting off with a mere suspension."
After that they finally left the damn office, and when they got a safe distance away, Chuchu slammed the wall next to Nika, making her stop. "What the fuck was that?" she asked, her voice low.
"That," Nika said, looking at her sideways, "was me saving you."
"The Spacians started it, why am I the only one getting punished!?"
"Because you threw the first punch."
"But they said --"
"It doesn't matter what they said!" Nika whirled to face her, the tears in her eyes causing Chuchu to step back. "When we escalate, we will always be the ones who face the consequences!" Chuchu shrunk away; she had never seen the prim-and-proper Nika Nanaura get angry before. "And now that you lost your temper, all of us will --"
Suddenly Nika stopped talking, and her eyes grew wide. Following her line of sight, Chuchu saw the two Spacians she'd beaten up...along with five others, all of them with shit-eating grins.
Well, I'm fucked. But just as she took a fighting stance, prepared to take as many of them down with her as she could, Nika grasped her fist, forced it down, and stepped in front of her.
"What's this?" one of the Spacians said. "Is Earth House's princess finally ready to fight herself?"
Nika bowed deeply, which made Chuchu flush with anger, and then said, "I am so sorry for my junior's behavior. As her mentor, I take full responsibility."
"Oh?" The Spacian sauntered up to her. "And how do you intend to do that?"
Nika straightened and looked the Spacian directly in the eye. "I understand this started because you were insulting me. If you take issue with my behavior, please say so, and I will endeavor to correct any deficiencies."
The Spacian's face twisted, and she punched Nika in the gut. "Your deficiency is that you're still breathing," she growled.
Nika bent over and started coughing; Chuchu tried to get around her to retaliate, but Nika stuck out her arm to stop her. After a few more coughs, Nika stood back up again, and smiled. "Understood," she said in her gentle voice. "Is there anything else?"
The Spacian spat in her face, but Nika didn't react. They stared at each other for a few seconds, until the Spacian said, "Whatever," and walked away. The other six followed her, tossing insults (or, in one case, a copycat spit that missed) as they left.
Once they were out of earshot, Nika immediately clutched her stomach and fell to her knees. Chuchu looked her up and down, panicking. "A-Are you okay?"
"Not really," Nika grunted. "That girl hits hard."
Chuchu glanced around. "Um. Should I take you to the infirmary?"
"That sounds like a good idea."
Chuchu nodded, draping Nika's arm over her shoulders and supporting her as they walked.
At some point, Chuchu asked, "Why'd you go so far to protect me?"
"Because you're Earth House," Nika answered.
The rest of their trip was spent in silence, unless you counted Chuchu's heart beating like a jackhammer.
"...Suletta said Nika tried to stop them. And I can't imagine her wanting any of this." Chuchu gestured across the body bags. "And she did modify my new mobile suit to let me fight yesterday. So it's not like she's to blame for any of it, really. I just..."
"Just what?" Felsi prompted.
Chuchu sighed. "I dunno. It just makes me feel like everything she ever said was a lie."
"Which was what?"
Chuchu lay back on the dirt, gazing up at the fake sky. "She always went on and on about how we can't escalate, we can't fight back, we need to take all of it with a smile. How eventually we'll be able to make friends and allies who are willing to fight with us. She pissed me off so many times. So how am I supposed to react when it turns out she didn't believe any of it, even though..." Her voice became soft. "Even though I was starting to believe it myself."
Felsi didn't say anything for a while, and Chuchu started cursing herself for her stupidity. Did she really think this Spacian was going to have any insight to offer? Pissed, she stood up --
"What did you say she was?"
Chuchu turned her head. "Huh?"
Felsi said, "What relationship did you say you two have?"
"She was my best friend. Or is, I don't know. What's your point?"
"Well, pom-pom head --"
"My name is Chuchu."
Felsi giggled, said, "Wait, you're not kidding," then giggled even more.
Chuchu clenched her fists. "It's a nickname."
"How horrible must your real name be that you'd prefer that?"
Yup, I was a fucking idiot. Chuchu took a step away.
"Okay, okay, wait!" Felsi said. "There's something I want to say to you...Chuchu." She giggled again.
And, somehow, Chuchu found herself sitting back down again. "Go on," she said, looking out at the body bags.
"Well," she saw Felsi twirling a lock of hair around her finger out of the corner of her eye, "Chuchu, it's just that you talked about her like you're a jilted lover."
"Haaah?" Chuchu said loudly enough that she got a couple angry glares from other mourners. She did her best to appear apologetic, then hissed at Felsi, "What the fuck do you mean?"
Felsi started counting on her fingers. "Your tone of voice, the way you alternate between being pissed at her and defending her, and how she didn't do anything to you but you still feel betrayed."
Chuchu's heart was starting to feel like a hammer against her ribcage. Her hands dug into the dirt. "What do you know," she said harshly, trying to end this conversation right here.
"I know very well."
"Do you now?"
The Spacian girl was facing forward with a grin that didn't reach her eyes. "Petra, my best friend who just died?" She pointed at a body bag. "I was in love with her."
Felsi spooned stew into her mouth, feeling like shit. Terrorists had gotten into the school, someone died, they still didn't know the severity of Lauda's head injury, but all she could think about was the look Petra had given him before the Rumble Ring began. It didn't help that Petra was currently staring at her own stew with a blank expression.
Finally, Felsi's selfishness won out. "Do you love him?" she asked, keeping her tone as neutral as she could.
Petra looked up, and the life that returned to her eyes made Felsi feel a little less guilty, even as her heart sank into her stomach. Glancing away and blushing, Petra said, "Is it that obvious?"
"...A little bit," Felsi said, voice tight.
Petra chuckled lightly. "Yeah."
"Since when?" Felsi asked, hoping that was a normal friend thing to ask.
Petra lay down on the table, resting her head on her arms. "His brother got disinherited and his father died in quick succession, and he can't even mourn because he has a major corporation to run. Despite that...I can't say it's going well, but we're surviving at least. So I guess since then."
Felsi's throat was dry. There were many things she wanted to say, like: What about Guel? Or: You do know he's about to drive us into bankruptcy, right? Or: Have you even had more than two conversations with him?
But you've known me for so much longer.
Instead, she said: "What are you doing here, then?"
Petra looked up. "Huh?"
"Shouldn't you be the first thing he sees when he wakes up?"
A few seconds passed, then a grin slowly lit up Petra's face. "Yeah...yeah, you're right, I should be." She stood up, chair scraping against the tiled floor.
Before Felsi could begin either feeling sorry for herself or congratulating herself on her noble self-sacrifice, she felt a pair of arms around her -- though, while she hated herself for it, she noticed the breasts pressing into her upper back more.
"Thank you, Felsi," Petra whispered into her ear. "You're the best friend in the solar system."
Felsi prided herself on her strength. She finished her entire meal and made it all the way back to her room before she broke down in sobs.
"You know what the funny thing is?" Felsi said.
Chuchu didn't respond.
"She was supposed to go on a date yesterday, but Lauda ditched her, so she went to class instead. If she'd gone on the date instead, she'd probably still be alive." Felsi's face was frozen in her lie of a smile. "So I've been thinking things like, I knew he wasn't right for you. I would never leave you alone. I would never let you die." She turned to look at Chuchu, her face washed-out and pale under the artificial lighting, except for her bright amber eyes. "I'm a really shitty person, aren't I?"
Chuchu had no idea what to say, so she said, "You're a shitty person because you're a bully, not because you're jealous over the person you're in love with."
Felsi gaped at her...then laughed again. They were getting even more glares from the other mourners now, but she didn't stop.
"Um," Chuchu said, keeping an eye on a guy who looked ready to punch them, "maybe we shouldn't do this here?"
"Oh?" Felsi wiped tears from her eyes. "Are you saying you want to do this elsewhere?"
Chuchu was about to flip her the bird, but her hand stopped mid-flight. "...Maybe I do," she said before she could rethink it.
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then Felsi stood up, patted dirt off her ass, and said, "Your room or mine?"
"...And there she was with the fridge open, about to stuff a handful of raw fucking ham down her throat."
Felsi laughed uproariously. She was enjoying it so much that Chuchu started chuckling too. "Come on," Chuchu said, "it's not that funny."
"You have to understand," Felsi said between gasping for breath, "Mercury is like, the fucking devil to Jeturk. She almost singlehandedly destroyed our company. So imagining her scrounging for food like a raccoon is just..." And she started laughing again.
After they both calmed down, Chuchu lay down on the floor of Felsi's room and said wistfully, "Maybe she's just a better person than me."
"How's that?" Felsi said, perched on the side of her bed and looking down at her.
"Suletta doesn't blame Miorine at all." Chuchu studied Felsi's chrome ceiling, trying to find a fault in the Spacian construction. "She was betrayed a lot worse than I was, but she still insists it was all her fault and Miorine did nothing wrong. I thought she was just being naive, but..."
"Well duh, of course Mercury is better than you."
"Hah?" Chuchu sat up, but Felsi was looking past her, expression soft.
"I was there, you know," Felsi said, "when she first challenged Guel. She'd just arrived and barely even knew the princess, but she still risked expulsion just to make Guel apologize. She's the only one I've ever met who'd do something that stupid. But hey," she lay back on her bed, "it fucking worked, didn't it? At least for a while. Meanwhile, I hated the princess my entire life out of jealousy, and now she's the only hope for keeping our company afloat. So who's really the stupid one?"
Chuchu blinked. "You always hated Miorine?"
"Oh yeah. Made fun of her as much as I could, too. So don't you dare accuse me," she sat up and pointed her finger, "of only hating Earthians. Got it, pom-pom head?"
She swatted away Felsi's finger. The Spacian giggled at that, making Chuchu sigh. "Why do you do that, anyway?" she asked.
"Do what?"
"Bully people. Miorine or Earthians."
Felsi let out a long breath and collapsed back on the bed. "Cause it's fun, I guess. You should get it, right?"
Chuchu stood up. "Fuck you, I'm not a bully."
"Oh? Are you telling me you don't enjoy beating people up?" Felsi's head was turned toward her, smiling her first genuine grin of the night.
"That's different. I never start shit. I only finish it."
"Yeah, 'cause you're an Earthian. If you were a Spacian you'd be the same as me."
Chuchu opened her mouth to respond, but her brain's fuel was running close to empty. Besides, what the fuck did that even mean, if she were a Spacian? If she were a Spacian she wouldn't be her. Or was that what Felsi meant?
God, this girl is annoying. Chuchu let out a long groan. Felsi giggled, and Chuchu gave her the full middle finger this time.
Felsi then groaned herself, sat up, and grasped at her hair. "It's kind of uncomfortable to lie down with my hair like this," she said. "Hold on." Chuchu watched, transfixed despite herself, as Felsi undid her hair and let the curly locks roll down past her shoulders. Her eyes flicked toward Chuchu. "Oh?" she said teasingly. "Like what you see?"
Chuchu quickly looked at the wall. "Just wondering why you always keep your hair in a fucking beehive."
"Petra liked it," Felsi said, and Chuchu's eyes snapped back to her. Her face, like her tone, was perfectly neutral, expressionless.
"Anyway," Felsi went on before Chuchu could say anything, "it's better than what you do with yours."
"Hey!" Chuchu shouted, touching her hair defensively. "This is functional!"
"Pom-poms are functional?" Felsi raised an eyebrow.
"I don't want to cut it, but I don't want it to get in the way when I'm piloting or enjoying beating people up. That doesn't leave me with a lot of options."
"Wait, let me guess." Felsi adopted a thinking pose. "You found a video of some old Earth cheerleaders and got so horny --"
Chuchu grabbed the girl's pillow and started smacking her in the face with it.
"Stop, stop!" Felsi shouted while giggling. "Don't get me wrong, I like it!"
"Oh, do you now?" Chuchu said darkly.
"Yeah, it's cute." Felsi formed circles with her hands and put them above her head. "It makes you look like a little mousey."
Chuchu jumped onto the bed and tackled her. The two of them rolled around on the bed, then off the bed, trading light slaps and kicks. After a few minutes they separated, panting for breath.
"Hey," Felsi said, "I want to see it."
"See what?"
"Your hair down."
Chuchu froze. Ever since she started growing it out, she hadn't let anyone see her with her hair down. Even her fathers hadn't seen it for years.
Hands shaking, she undid her ties, and her hair collapsed to the floor.
"Stand up," Felsi said. She did. Chuchu's hair didn't quite reach her feet, but it went past her knees. Felsi whistled. "Damn, that'd make Rapunzel jealous."
Chuchu looked down to hide the heat simmering on her cheeks. "Shut up."
They fell into a silence that Chuchu couldn't describe, the hum of the electric light the only reminder they were still alive.
"So, um," Felsi finally said, scratching the back of her neck. "I don't actually have, you know, any experience with this stuff."
"You think I do?" Chuchu said with maybe more vehemence than she should've.
"...Should, like, one of us take the lead?"
Chuchu's breathing was short, her hands as cold as her head was hot, her heart crashing cymbals inside her ears. "You're older," she managed to say.
"Ahhh, I see," Felsi hummed, her grin infuriatingly smug. "You like older women, huh?"
"Shut up!" Chuchu shouted.
"Make me."
Chuchu bit her lip and forced herself to look, really look at the Spacian.
She had been semi-joking when she said Felsi was older, but with her light hair spreading down in curls around her shoulders, the dark bags and red reminders of tears around her eyes contrasting with their steady amber hue, and her surprisingly modest white nightgown, Felsi really did look...mature.
Then Chuchu looked closer. She saw Felsi's chest jumping up and down as quick as a rabbit, her fingers digging into each other, her tongue roiling inside her slightly open mouth, and remembered Felsi was a girl who'd just lost the love of her life.
This doesn't have to mean anything, Chuchu told herself. We're just distracting each other for one night. She approached Felsi, using all her concentration to keep from stumbling, and planted a kiss on her lips.
When they separated, Felsi said, "Damn girl, you really suck at this."
Chuchu raised her middle finger. "Think you can do any better, bitch?"
"Only one way to find out, right?"
Chuchu blinked herself awake, lying on the softest bed she'd ever slept on. She glanced over to see Felsi snoring loudly, just as naked as she was.
She got off the bed as quietly as possible (though frankly it looked like Felsi could sleep through another terrorist attack), got dressed, and put her hair back up. Then she paused, and gazed at Felsi's sleeping form for several long seconds.
Sighing, Chuchu fished around in Felsi's desk for a spare writing tablet. She found one, thought for a little while, then wrote:
I decided not to wake you up. You need your beauty sleep more than I do, after all.
Thanks for listening. I'm going to have a long talk with Nika today, probably at night since we still have a lot of work to do during the day.
I'm really sorry about Petra's
Chuchu erased the last five words. But she couldn't think of anything good after a couple minutes of trying. So she decided to write whatever came to mind.
You're strong, Felsi. You'll be okay.
She sighed deeply. Whatever. This was fine, right? They were just two lonely girls who'd wanted to feel a tiny sliver of happiness within the hell their lives had become. It didn't need to be anything more.
Chuchu looked back at Felsi. A thin trail of saliva was leaking out of her mouth. Chuchu sighed again, scratched her hair, and wrote down her contact information, followed by:
Let me know if you ever want to talk again.