Work Text:
Amane finds the bracelet while clearing out her old jewellery box, tucked away in a little clear bag.
She takes it out of the little bag, trying to keep her hand's steady as she holds it. It's handmade, five small beads on the band - a blue flame, an orange fish, a green hourglass, a purple flower and a white musical note. It's years old now, but the beads still shimmer in the light of the room.
Amane thinks back to the day she got hers. She remembers it being from Ai, funnily enough. It had only been a week since they'd met, but Ai had come up to the group at school, twin braids bouncing behind her as she'd proudly showed them the bracelets with the biggest smile on her face. And Amane had taken hers with an equally big grin as she placed it around her wrist, then jumped up and hugged Ai, sworn to always wear it and-
-and then everything came crashing down and it hurt too much to look at the bracelet anymore, let alone wear it. Still, she hadn't wanted to loose it, so she'd placed it in a little bag and kept it safe. She could leave it to be forgotten while never truly loosing it, where it could be found again someday.
It seems like today was that day.
Amane decides that maybe the bracelet could use a small adjustment.
Carefully, she unlinks the chain, and slides two beads off - the white musical note and the purple flower. She places the white bead to the side for now.
She lets the purple flower fall into the bin beside her vanity with a clatter.
Amane doesn't put the white bead back on the bracelet, but she does place it back in the bag. Then she links the band back together, and puts the bracelet back in the bag as well. She holds it for a moment, not quite sure whether to put it back in the box or keep it out.
She opts to place it in a drawer in her vanity, just for now.
Once more it can be forgotten without truly disappearing.
---
Ai holds the bracelet in the air by the end.
She doesn't know how it ended up reappearing. She was supposed to have lost it years ago. It was supposed to stay buried in the back of her drawer and never appear again. That had worked for the last couple of years. It wasn't supposed to suddenly reappear today, while she was looking through her desk to see if she'd left anything useful in there.
She dangles it in the air for a couple of seconds, staring at it like it's covered in ooze. A reminder of how she used to be, her past weakness and childishness in five multicoloured beads.
She has to get rid of it.
She unties the band and lets the beads scatter on to her desk.
The fish and the flame are quickly pushed into the waste basket. The hourglass rolls off the desk and underneath her bed. Ai doesn't go after it.
She picks up the musical note and the flower, holding them in the palm of her hand. It feels wrong for them to hold them together.
She opens the window, and throws the beads out, watching them fall onto the street below.
Ai hopes they roll as far away as possible from each other when they reach the bottom.
---
Either way, neither bracelet will never be complete again.
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In three different houses, in three different rooms that have not been used for several years, three similar bracelets sit in different places.
Only one of them might ever be picked up again.