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The apartment is almost unbearably warm.
Shiho’s slumped on the couch, wearing nothing except an old, faded vest top with the faint imprints of words long since made illegible on it, and a pair of old shorts that barely reach the tops of their thighs, scrolling through their phone and absolutely bored out of their mind.
If they had it their way, they would be asleep right now, not sweating their ass off on a couch with barely any cushions on it and wishing that Ichika would just fix the goddamn AC already, because if there’s one thing that Shiho’s learnt in this city, it’s that the summers are brutal. But unfortunately for them, the humidity, their sensory issues, and their admittedly shitty sleep schedule has compacted together, and the end result? Well, Shiho not being able to fall asleep, of course.
On the one hand, it’s not exactly like this sleeplessness is particularly new, or even that uncommon for Shiho, especially in the summer. The stupid mess that is their brain is way more sensitive than Shiho would like it to be - the slightest rise in temperature feels like way more than it actually is, and thanks to their body overheating like crazy in the night, Shiho more often than not finds themselves wide awake at one or two in the morning, drenched in sweat and absolutely melting. It’s why they’d bought a fan specifically for their room, just so they could actually sleep through the night. Then Ichika had managed to install AC throughout the apartment, and that had fixed the problem for a while.
However, the universe itself seemed to detest Shiho for no reason that they could tell, and on the one day that the AC was broken, so was Shiho’s fan. And that was how they ended up in the current position they were in.
They sigh, scrolling through their phone aimlessly. Not that there’s much to look at, unless you count the mind-numbing, pointless videos talking about things that Shiho really doesn’t give a shit about, and the various adverts for things that they also don’t give a shit about.
It’s passing the time, though, so really, given the current circumstances - they can’t really complain. It’s what they wanted, after all. A distraction.
(Well, a distraction in the shape of a bubbly, curly-haired blonde would be much more appreciated than just a phone and an endless feed of empty clip videos, but beggars can’t exactly be choosers. And besides, Saki’s probably asleep right now.)
Shiho yawns, stretching out their legs. They roll over onto their side. From this angle, they can see the coffee table covered in a mess of empty takeout boxes, plates, cups and magazines, as well as a few guitar picks. The mess (and the thought of there being rotting food inside of the takeout cartoons or stuck to the plates) makes their skin crawl slightly, and for a few seconds, they consider actually doing something productive, and cleaning up.
Then they decide it’ll just be too much of a bother, and blank it all out.
They’ll just deal with it later. Or maybe Ichika will. Or maybe Honami, when she next comes over.
They’re gazing at their phone blankly when it pings, a notification bar blurring their screen slightly and jolting them out of their reverie.
Saki: Hey, you awake?
So their half-hearted prayers have been heard, after all.
Shiho: Yeah. Couldn’t sleep. You?
Saki: Pretty much the same. Can I come over? Or can you come over here?
Saki: I’m bored and Honami’s at Kanade’s 🙁
Shiho: Yeah I can come over
Saki: Yay 😀
Saki: Isn’t Ichika home?
Shiho: She is but she’s asleep
Saki: Ohhh gotcha
Shiho: On my way.
Grateful for the excuse to be anywhere that isn’t the apartment that feels like it’s about a million degrees inside, Shiho switches off their phone, getting off of the couch and brushing their hair out of their face. They briefly consider changing their clothes, or at least putting a jacket on, then decide against it. They’re only going down a flight of stairs, after all.
So that’s how they leave the apartment - wearing the same old top and shorts, completely barefoot, holding nothing except their phone. If they were going anywhere else, even just down across the street, they would obviously wear more, and probably carry a pocket knife on them just in case of a potential mishap, but again, it’s not like they’re going particularly far.
It takes less than two minutes to reach Saki’s apartment, and even less time for the blonde to open the door. In fact, Shiho wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d been on the other side the whole time, just waiting for them.
“Hey!” Saki beams, wrapping her arms around Shiho practically the second they enter. “I’m so happy you’re here, I was dying of boredom by myself-”
“That’s something we have in common, then,” Shiho comments, disentangling herself from Saki and walking into the main room of her apartment. It’s a relief to feel the chill of cool air on their skin. “You still have working AC, then.”
“Yeah - wait, yours isn’t working?” Saki blinks, following them.
“Stopped working yesterday.” Shiho shrugs, sitting down on the couch. She pulls out a pillow - one shaped like a star - and rests it on their lap. “Ichika hasn’t managed to fix it yet, and she insists that she can do it. I give her two days before she gives up and calls someone - wait, actually, one.”
Saki giggles, sitting on the loveseat opposite Shiho. Her eyes linger for a moment on the star shaped pillow in their lap, but she doesn’t say anything, and neither does Shiho. “You should have some faith in her, you know? She installed it just fine!”
“It took her a week to get it right.”
“But she did it!”
“Saki, you know I respect your optimism, but if I have to wait a week for Ichika to fix the damn AC, I will probably die.”
Saki bursts out laughing. Shiho doesn’t get it. They don’t think what they said was particularly funny, anyway.
“Well, you could always just stay here until it’s fixed,” Saki offers. “Honami wouldn’t mind, and you could just sleep on the couch or something if you don’t want to sleep in my room.”
Shiho shrugs. The idea is tempting, honestly - more tempting than they’d like to let on. “I’ll think about it. If Ichika doesn’t fix the AC by tomorrow evening, I’m coming here.”
“Yay!” Saki beams, jumping slightly in her seat. “So - how have you been?”
“You saw me two days ago. The same as then.” Shiho shrugs, holding the pillow slightly tighter. “Not much has been going on. It’s hot, the AC’s broken, and Ichika’s been trying to fix it.”
“What about in general?” Saki tilts her head to the side slightly. A loose blonde curl falls over her eye, and she brushes it back.
Again, Shiho shrugs. “I don’t live a very interesting life, you know. It’s not like any of us are bounty hunters or whatever.”
“Well, that doesn’t mean I can’t ask you questions.” Saki shakes her head. Then she perks up again. “Hey, did you hear about this super cool social app?”
Shiho raises an eyebrow. “I don’t think the words super cool and social app can co-existent, Saki.”
“No, no, they can!” Saki grins, hopping off of the loveseat to move over to Shiho. “Here - let me show you. It’s called Sekai… ”
Reluctantly, Shiho hands her their phone. “Alright. Just don’t expect me to use it.”
They watch over Saki’s shoulder as she searches through their phone, downloading an app. The logo resembles a music note, Shiho notices.
“Here.” Saki opens up the app, handing the phone back to Shiho. “Now you just need to sign in!”
Shiho rolls their eyes, but obliges. “Are you sure this app isn’t just full of AI?”
“I mean, there’s some AIs - at least I think there is,” Saki shrugs, settling down next to Shiho and resting her head on their shoulder. “But most people are human, though.”
“So - what, I just post a question?”
“Yeah!” Saki nods. Shiho feels their shoulder shake as she bobs her head. “And then someone - or something - will answer!”
Shiho rolls their eyes. “I’ll do it if I ever want to ask something. Do you have a profile? Wait, can you even follow people here?”
“Yes to both,” Saki grins. “Here-”
Before Shiho can protest, Saki has once again taken the phone out of their hands, and is typing away. She hands it back a minute later. “Here.”
And sure enough, Shiho has apparently followed someone on the app, according to a pop-up on their screen with a smiling face and confetti. “There’s an achievement system here?”
“Yeah!”
Shiho can’t help but laugh slightly. “On a social media app? That seems a bit pointless.”
“It’s fun, though.”
“For you, maybe.”
Already, Shiho’s considering deleting the app. Not in front of Saki, obviously, but when they’re back home.
It just seems pointless, really.
Saki yawns.
“Someone’s tired.”
“And you aren’t?” Saki gazes up at them. Shiho can see the familiar glaze of tiredness in her eyes.
Shiho shrugs. They really don’t - but then again, they don’t usually feel particularly tired in general. They just pass out the second they close their eyes (usually.)
“You’re lucky,” Saki deadpans. “You don’t have to put up with-” she breaks off, yawning - “-This.”
It’s amusing, really, the way Saki can go from being bright and energetic to resting sleepily on Shiho’s shoulder. Shiho can’t stop a small smile from forming on their lips. “You can go lay down, you know.”
Saki mumbles something that sounds a lot like a protest. This time, Shiho really can’t help the small giggle that escapes their lips. “Here.”
They bat the pillow off of their lap, letting it fall to the floor, and slides down the couch until they’re mostly horizontal, with Saki on top of them. “Better?”
Saki murmurs something, wriggling around until her head is resting on Shiho’s chest, her legs half straddling their thighs. “Better.”
Absently, Shiho raises their arm to brush Saki’s hair out of her face, tucking a few locks behind her ear. “Just go to sleep.”
Saki raises her head, pressing a sleepy kiss to Shiho’s collarbone before resting her head back against their chest. Shiho feels their face warm up slightly at the small gesture, and they reciprocate as best as they can - namely by pressing a similar, equally light kiss to Saki’s forehead. Saki sighs contentedly, closing her eyes.
Shiho reaches for their phone again. They decide not to think about the fact that in the end, they’re still in the same place as before, with the only difference being that now, they can’t move.
They aren’t really sure why, but they decide to scroll through Saki’s post history on the weird Sekai app. None of them are really particularly out of the ordinary - mostly just ones about various outfits that Saki wasn’t sure if she should wear or not, or things that she was debating buying. They all have at least one or two responses, Shiho notices.
Either she has a really dedicated follower… or this app is just full of AI, like I thought, Shiho muses. Yeah, probably the second one.
Then their gaze falls upon one that seems pretty out of the ordinary. There’s no tags, no picture - just text.
I think I really hurt someone close to me by running away, but I don’t know how to apologise. They’re so different now, anyway - I don’t even know if they’d want to see me anymore.
Huh.
Shiho knows Saki’s a runaway, sure - how could they not know, when their old apartment was the one Saki had shown up at, before promptly collapsing - but the reason why was still a mystery to everyone except for herself. Mostly because Saki didn’t want to talk about it, outright refusing to answer when Ichika had pressed her on the matter. Shiho would be lying if they said that they weren’t curious as to what her motives had been, though.
But the fact that Saki thinks that she hurt someone by doing it, and that they aren’t even sure if the person they hurt would even want to see them anymore - well, it just makes the ‘mystery’ even more intriguing, honestly.
Not Shiho’s place to question it yet, though… definitely not their place. If Saki wants to tell them, she’d tell them.
And besides, Shiho thinks grimly, it’s not like she’s the only one keeping things hidden.
They sigh, letting their phone slip out of their hand. They don’t bother picking it up.