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On the last night of summer camp everyone had gone off to sleep but Jungle Pocket, who had snuck out onto the beach. She wasn’t a sentimental girl that got affected by cheesy settings, not in movies or in real life, and especially not one as corny as a ‘long nighttime walk on the beach’, but the moon was high and the night was warm and the sand was soft and dry against her feet, and she felt like staying out a little longer. Gusts of salty air rolled out from the sea and nibbled at her skin, and if she really tried, she could make out chilly clouds of breath that left her mouth with each exhale. The glow of cabin lights behind her shrank and faded as each room’s light flickers off one by one. Her path traced the coast of the lake, and she was walking and walking until it felt like a bad idea to walk any farther. The cabins were docked by the lake’s edge, so logically if she kept walking on her path, she would wrap around back to the cabins, and she debated whether or not to keep going. But then she heard a stranger’s footsteps behind her, and soon felt something frosty and metallic touch her neck.
She was already smiling as she turned her head to meet this stranger. Fuji Kiseki was there grinning back, holding up two cans of soda. Without a word Pokke plucked one from her fingers, and with newfound energy, continued her ginger march forward. “Bringin’ me soda?” Pokke asked, and raised an eyebrow at her. “I thought you were here to order me right back to the cabins.”
“I’m not the dorm leader here, Pokke. If someone sneaks off, it’s not my business to know or care.” Fuji replied, meeting her eyes and with a simple shrug, flicked open her soda. She came up to Pokke’s side and matched her pace.
“Cool. It would’ve behooved you to bring coffee or hot chocolate or something instead. Something hot.” Pokke said, and quickly hid her face away from Fuji and stared down at the soda in her own hands with sudden interest. It was Fuji’s turn to raise an eyebrow, and she bent forward to peek at Pokke’s expression.
“Behooved…?” She began.
“Fuck, it’s so chilly this late. I’m freezing my ass off.” She tilted her head further away.
“Where on earth did you learn to say ‘behooved’?”
“Huh? What’d I say?” Pokke huffed.
“Behooved…” Fuji replied, and puffs of laughter escaped in the space between each word. “Pfft. Wow. Aren’t you in a good mood today, Pokke? Talking all fancy like that.”
“Oh my God…”
“Who taught you to say ‘behooved’?”
“Ugh, shut up.”
“I’m just messing around with you. I don’t really care what you say.”
“I’m not gonna say it again.”
“What? No… I’m not forcing you. Seriously. I seriously don’t care. I was just surprised. We all reach a point where we want to try some sort of rebrand…”
“Hmph. It’s freezing out here, so I feel like heading back.” and Pokke gestured to leave.
“Aw, did I make you insecure? I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Fuji nudged her shoulder against Pokke’s, who huffed and kept walking with her.
“I heard Tachyon use it, and it pissed me off. I didn't know what it meant, so I searched it up.” Pokke explained in a lazy, drawling voice too hasty to hide her embarrassment. Despite the soft blush blooming on her cheeks, she drew herself up into her full height, rolled her shoulders to pop her neck and brought her free hand up to scratch at some itch in her hair that she decided was there. “Guess that word got stuck in my head or something. It was, I dunno, how many months ago? Don’t even remember what we were even doing.”
Fuji took a long sip of her drink as she listened, and she mercifully didn’t look like she was going to begin teasing her. “Well, I’m proud that you even know what that word means…” She began teasing her, then Pokke huffed again and with a spin of her leg, took a very dramatic step back to the cabins. “Wait, wait, wait…” Fuji interrupted herself with a breathy chuckle, and shot an arm out to block Pokke’s path. “I got it out of my system. Keep telling your story.” and flashed a small apologetic grin.
Pokke made one last huff before she relented and fell into Fuji’s pace. “That’s the whole story. What’s gotten into you tonight? You’re like a baby.” Pokke pouted a little. Her night was interrupted and, although she really likes Fuji, she was still getting used to having a second presence intrude on her night.
Fuji still stared at Pokke and noted the lingering flush on her face. When she first found her tonight, she stared at her face because she kept hiding it, but now that she had surrendered and there’s no more need to stare, Fuji still stared and still didn’t feel like stopping. She forced her eyes away and then down to her own soda. She watched her thumb collect moisture as it traced the rim of the aluminum can. Was she losing herself today, teasing people more than usual? Maybe the atmosphere tonight just makes her a little more childish, or something. “Hey. Do you plan on drinking that?” Fuji asked, nodding to the can Pokke held, still unopened.
“Man, I dunno. I’m thinking about it. This got caffeine in it and it’s already late. Trainer’ll get on my ass if I wake up groggy as shit tomorrow because I couldn’t sleep.” Pokke said. She couldn’t commit to any choice, and settled for playing with the pull tab with her fingers, and if it happened to pop open, then so be it. She flicked her eyes to Fuji, who was staring ahead thoughtfully, taking another drawn out sip. “You’ve gotta wake up at the same time tomorrow too, and you’re still drinking.” Pokke noted.
“Guess I don’t want to head to bed yet.”
“The dorm leader herself breakin’ curfew for once?”
“Hehe, Is it really that weird? Someone had to go and find you anyway. Anyone could see your room was empty..”
“Ack… of course someone would catch my ass, huh?” Pokke sighed, and for the first time tonight really parsed that she was doing something wrong by being out so late. “And the snitch who caught me sent you to find me. Guess they really didn’t think it through. Now we’re partners in crime.” Pokke added with a wink and a boyish smile.
“I could still be a snitch, you know? Maybe I reported you, and then I volunteered to find you as an excuse to break curfew”
“Eh, I guess. But you aren’t a snitch, aren’t you?”
“Hmm… what do you think?”
“I don’t think you snitched.”
And hearing such a firm answer, Fuji couldn’t fight her curious smile. “Oh? What makes you think that?”
“You brought us drinks, didn’t you?” Pokke answered simply.
And she couldn’t retort. Fuji shrugged and murmured a soft ‘true” in surrender, and they kept walking. They talked, and talked a little more. Talking about this and that, about the camp and the campers, things that happened, already reminiscing; catching Tachyon putting something in the water, watching whatever Gold Ship was up to. And the conversation escaped with a life of its own, and along with it, all the time they tried to ration tonight.
Fuji glanced to her right and saw, across the lake, a few freckles of light in the distance, probably the outdoor lamps sprinkled around the lodges. They were across the lake, so they must’ve already reached the halfway point. She thought about the luggage in her tidied room, already sorted and packed for the immediate ride home the next morning. She slowed her pace, just a little.
“You gonna miss this place, Pokke?” Fuji couldn’t help but ask.
“I mean, yeah… I only get to go here once a year.”
“...Yeah, that’s true…”
“Plus, you got to come this year! I don’t think we’ll get away with a favour this big again.”
“Hehe, you might be right. That’s really lucky for me, huh?”
“Lucky for me too.” Pokke said. “...lucky for all of us. We had fun.”
“Don’t start missing me too much, Pokke.” Fuji laughed. “I’m not dying. I’ll still be helping you train back home. At Tracen I mean.”
“Whoa, dying? I wasn’t thinking anythin that crazy.” Pokke glanced at her. “But training together here and training together in Tracen… doesn’t feel the same, you know what I mean?”
A moment passed.
“...Yeah. I know what you mean.” Fuji finally answered. She felt a bit ridiculous now. There was a tinge of awkward regret. Why was she here? She figured that part of herself wanted to find out how good it felt to break curfew. But why was she at this camp at all?
The cold, sorry truth of it is that Fuji Kiseki is past her prime as a racer. It’s all too easy to remember on the Tracen track doing partner laps with Pokke, but far from the city, nestled in this camp, on the beach and in the water, going for dives on the pool or sprinting across the sand in crowds so big that no one could pay attention to any one single runner, she felt like she went back in time, back to when she could run, when she could really, really, run. She remembered her first year of racing, because how can she forget that first year, that year she raced, that wonderful terrible year. She had come to this beach in the summer of that year, and tonight the sand was still here where she had left it.
She’s long gotten over it by now, the horrible injury that stole her life. But there are still rare nights where she can’t handle being over it any longer, and on those rare nights she has to hide herself in her room and cry until she’s empty. And maybe, Fuji thought, she came out to the beach tonight because it would’ve been another rare night if she didn’t.
They reached the cabins. The circular trail around the lake is finished. Fuji’s stomach sinks. She turns to Pokke, and burying all the disappointment in her heart, got ready to say good night.
“We’re back already?" Pokke groaned. Her head darted around for witnesses, and finding none, then whipped towards Fuji. “You know,” she began with a smile. “I still haven’t opened this soda. It’d be a waste not to drink it.”
Fuji, eyes wide and pensive, faces Pokke. “…Then what are you going to do with it?”
“What am I gonna do? I don’t need it. You need it more than me.” and Pokke held the can out to her with that silly, playful smile, a daring smile. “I’m not finished yet. And neither are you, yeah? No one caught us yet, no one can catch us even if they tried. Let’s get out of here again!”
“Hah! Again?” Fuji giggled. “If they catch us, I’ll be labelled an accomplice for sure. Do you plan on blaming me?”
“Of course! Why not? What are they gonna do, ban you? Relax Fuji. There’s plenty of other beaches in the sea. Or something like that.” Pokke swatted her hand around dismissively.
Fuji’s smile truly blossomed. She tossed her old can into a nearby recycling bin. Then, she took reached out to Pokke and took the soda from her hands, and felt the smooth aluminum texture. Slightly sticky from her sweat. She pinched the pull tab and popped the can open with a clink. It hissed, bubbled over with pale yellow liquid, and the sound of the well-shaken soda’s fizz reached her ears, and she heard ocean waves. She knew she’ll think of waves in the future, on another day, with another soda’s fizz. She’ll think of Pokke too.
“You’re just way too charming.” Fuji sighed, and Pokke gaped and blinked dumbly.
“Huh? What? You’re a weirdo tonight.” Pokke complained, and reached out to link her hand with Fuji’s. Pokke pulled her away, and they fled from the cabins again, their laughs overlapping as they ran. There’s time for one more lap.