Chapter Text
After her conversation with Arisu, she felt somewhat better. It was great talking with Arisu about her problem and how he was always there to reassure her and comfort her. However, there were always these small flashes in her dream of a place. The place was too apocalyptic, too scary to even want her to drill in deeper. She found herself settled at a nearby table in the lobby. Just sitting there and indulging herself with her thoughts.
Every night, once in a while, she felt herself drifting to it. In that dream, she was wearing a blue bikini, sometimes accompanied by a pair of jeans. She was bleeding and breathing rather heavily at times. The other time, she was sitting in the hotel room, talking with someone who had platinum blonde hair. Their conversations were always full of playful banter as they taunted each other. Yet there is a comfort she felt in the conversation.
<<< Flashback begins >>>
"Here, take this," the man stated, as he handed her an orange can with blue and red wires and a white string key ring to pull, "a good luck charm".
Both of them were hiding behind a car. She could hear the sounds of gunfire going everywhere, but she could not recall what was going on.
"What is this? An explosive?" she saw herself responding, taking the gift and closely observing it.
“Just use it if you have to," he said, pulling out an exact one but in green. He gave her a lazy, smug grin.
She snorted, but returned with a small smile, "Arigato," and quickly put the good luck charm away. Both of them turned their attention back to the road and scanned for the shooter.
<<< End of flashback >>>
She quickly shook her head. She had spent months trying to decipher it, but eventually gave up. She contemplated bringing this up to Arisu, unsure if he would judge her for having this crazy dream. She knows he wouldn't, but she would rather figure this out on her own than rely on someone else. Her thought was cut short as she heard a voice call out to her.
"Excuse me, is this your by chance?" the person asked.
She looked up and saw a man with platinum blonde hair, wearing a grey vest jacket over a white t-shirt, with matching grey pants. The platinum blonde hair from her dream.
The man handed her a blue woven bracelet. She quickly looked down at her wrist and noticed her was missing.
"Oh yes, it is. Thank you!" She quickly nodded and took the bracelet from his hand. Their hand briefly touched each other. "How did you find it?" she asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"It was on the side of the couch when I was talking with Dr. Ryouhei," he answered.
"Oh, I see. It must have slipped off during my session with him then," she sheepishly smiled. He just nodded.
"Well, I'm glad it found its owner again," he shrugged and was about to leave.
"How did you know it belonged to me, though?" she asked, raising her eyebrow and eyeing him suspiciously. He smirked.
"Don't know. Lucky guess, I suppose," he stated and was about to walk away.
"Wait!" she found herself blurted. He paused and turned back, tilted his head, and looked at her.
"Umm...." she found herself struggling to find her words.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked. His voice was rather impassive, but she could detect a hidden interest and concern. Wait, concern?
"May I know your name?" she asked. She quickly added, "It's nothing really...You don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable. It's just that you look familiar...Have we met before?" She rambled on and averted her gaze to the floor.
She could hear his chuckle and quickly looked back up. He stared back at her with that same smugness from the dream.
"The name is Shuntaro Chishiya. And yours?" he asked.
She stood in silence for a while before quickly snapping out of it and realizing he had just asked her name in return.
"Umm..Hikari...Hikari Kuina," she cleared her throat.
She could see a playful scoff. “Well, it’s nice meeting you, Kuina-san,” he stated and waved. Her name rolled so smoothly out of his tongue.
“Nice meeting you too, Chishiya-san,” she replied. He nodded and was about to leave, but paused midway.
He looked back and stared at her. She tilted her head in confusion. “Is there something wrong?” she asked, not realizing she repeated his exact phrase from a while ago.
He let out a small chuckle, “No…nothing wrong.”
Silence.
“I think we might have met before. Maybe in a dream, perhaps,” he let out a smug. He turned around and walked out of the building.
She looked at his disappearing figure and felt a warm feeling spread across her chest. What a jerk. Could have left me his number if he also thought the same.
She looked back at her bracelet and noticed a piece of paper tightly stuffed in one of the woven knots. She carefully slipped it out, not wanting to tear it, as it appeared to be very delicate. She unrolled the paper and couldn’t help but let out a slight gasp.
050 - 173 - 0412
S. Chishiya
She let out a chuckle. Damn, what a sly cat he is.
She pulled out her cellphone and was about to input the number and send a text message. But paused.
No…Let him wait. She playfully smirked. She grabbed and opened a cigarette case from her back pocket. She placed a plastic cigarette tube in her mouth to stop her craving.
Afterward, she carefully placed the piece of paper in the case and snapped it shut. She grabbed her purse and also walked out of the building.
On the top floor, a figure was following her through the glass window as she exited the building. He couldn’t help but let out a small, mischievous grin. If he and Usagi could have this faithful reunion, maybe they can too.