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It has been more than ages since Hiori had gone to a party, and for good reason at that.
Every week she was invited to an outrageous house party with an outrageous number of partygoers and an even more outrageous number of beer bottles.
(Mind you, it was 9 times out of ten hosted at Reo’s house, simply because it was massive. The girl almost never attended; it was like her house was a communal property for druggies, drunkards and the lust ful.)
And every week she said, “No, I can't come! I have work to do.” which was always true.
Hiori Yō was an overachiever after all. In order to please her parents, she had to completely ace all three of her majors and all her other subjects with 100% perfection.
(Their greedy expectations much too often had her injecting heroin into her veins just to make it through the day. It's pretty easy to find ways to get around rules (and laws) when there are so many of them, so finding a dealer and method of payment was not a hard job.
She told herself that she wouldn't get addicted, and that she was better than that. Perhaps she should've just learnt that expectations will never be met, even her own.
Thus her crippling addiction began.
And so, she ticked one of the boxes that got her a special little room at one of Reo's house parties! (Not a noble feat, but a feat nonetheless))
But on June 17th 2018, Hiori was absolutely free. Well, she had plans to replay Silent Hill 2 all night long, but that's pathetic and sad, so she was absolutely free.
Which directly translates to “Let's get you drunk and laid!” in Shidou language.
Believe it or not, Hiori and Shidou were especially close. They met through Karasu (obviously) and since then bonded on their love for vkei music. They took biology together and studied with each other before exams. Actually Hiori studied, Shidou got crumbs on her bed and yapped vividly about reproduction.
Nonetheless, Hiori and Shidou were especially close. So naturally, Shidou had noticed that Hiori had a long and spiky stick up her ass that could be removed by some quality alcohol and a pair of lips.
And this time, Hiori didn't say no. Maybe, just maybe, she had actually been curious at what happened at these OD parties her friends always got hungover from. Maybe, for once, she could let loose and have fun too.
So she let Shidou and Karasu get her dressed appropriately (you know those 12 year old American boys in a 1990s movie? Yeah like that) then set off in an old misty car to the ‘Mikage Apartments’ building.
The first thing she saw was her friend Bachira taking shots off Isagi's stomach half naked. That was also the last thing she saw in the living room before turning around and walking out the door.
Not her scene at all. She was more of a drink alone type than a strip naked and drink out of your “friend’s” belly button type. And boy was she in need of a drink.
But she had some nice vodka at home that would knock her lightweight ass right out.
“Home. Safety. Comfort.” she repeated in her head like a mantra as she tried to navigate out of the apartment.
“Dear God! Does an 18 year old really need this big of an apartment? This is a penthouse for goodness sake!”
Obviously, she eventually gave up and just sat down on the floor of one of the balconies (don't ask how she got there, she doesn't know and neither do I) with her eyes closed.
Everything is calmer when you're in the darkness. There's nothing to be afraid of, because nothing can be seen. Nothing is there at all if you shut your eyes hard enough.
Hiori, however, may have not shut her eyes nearly as hard as she should've to disappear, because her attention was called to by someone standing next to her.
“Are you conscious?” The deep-voiced woman asked.
Hiori opened her eyes to take in the sculpted beauty looking down at her, waving a half-smoked cigarette in her face. She was dressed like an Alyssa Liu cosplayer, coupled with an unhealthy amount of silver jewellery and a pair of utterly dazzling Korn themed converse.
Her hair, which framed her long face, was a dark but rich green with seemingly black roots. She had striking teal eyes devoid of emotion framed with long, thick upper and (surprisingly) lower lashes and thin, green eyebrows. The left latter had a silver piercing that belonged on her face. She was ghastly pale, like a vampire. Her lips were on the verge of being thin, but plump nonetheless. And she was staring hard at Hiori.
Rin Itoshi. Everyone knew Rin Itoshi, and if you didn't, you weren't real.
Notorious for being rude, violent and smart, Rin was the one of the most hated people that went to Generation of Light college. She'd been in the public eye since she was six because her sister was a child singer, and even then she was blunt and emotionally deadened.
Or so says her wikipedia.
Which Hiori definitely did not read.
She'd been accused of murder, dealing and even witchcraft by various theory channels and sites, and someone even claimed to have seen her beating a dog.
But looking at her in the flesh, eyes hazy and unfocused, Rin just looked like a teenage girl. A very pretty teenage girl with good music taste.
“Mhh.” Hiori responded after looking her up and down more than once. She probably looked judgemental whilst doing so. All of a sudden she was hyper aware of everything she was doing. She straightened her horrible posture and tried to refocus her eyes.
“D’ya want me to uhh.. go?” she said, clearer than before.
Surprisingly, Rin raised an eyebrow.
“You were here first, weren't you?”
Hiori breathed out a laugh. Or maybe a sigh of relief that she wasn't being burnt with a cigarette yet.
“That's true.”
A silence stretched like a piece of rubber over their heads. Eye contact was held for too long between the two of them, but it was at a point where they couldn't look away because that would be even more awkward than staring at each other.
It seemed that once again, Hiori would have to speak.
“Ya gonna sit?”
Rin blinked, seemingly bringing herself back to real life. Hiori pressed her lips together to stifle a giggle.
“Ok.”
And so now they were sitting next to each other, an inch between them in the summer night heat, smoking tobacco (Rin was kind enough to give Hiori one of hers after thirty seconds of another unbearable silence).
“I’m Hiori Yō, by the way.” she said, before taking a hit.
“I know.” the taller girl stated matter of factly, looking straight forward.
Hiori spluttered.
“Ya know?”
Rin rolled her eyes. Hmm, she is rude, isn't she? Hiori thought to herself fondly.
“We have English together, dimwit.”
Hiori was still shocked.
“Ya remember me?”
“Tsk. This is lukewarm dialogue.” she sighed deeply before looking at Hiori again. God those eyes.
“Ok, ok. I'll be quiet now.” Hiori did giggle this time, smiling wider than she had in a while. And for what? Being insulted? Kinky if you ask me.
“I never said you should shut up.”
Rin took a long drag, like an old man to his cigar, and closed her eyes. Her head rested against the wall and her legs were crossed. She looked ethereal in such a simple way.
“Keep talking.”
An order. No please or thank you. No leeway or options.
Keep talking.
Now if it was anyone else, a man maybe, Hiori may have not said anything out of spite. But this was Rin Itoshi. The girl's words screamed “Bite me!” and eyes whispered “Kill us all.”
But she wanted Hiori to talk to her. She had ordered it so shamelessly, that Hiori didn't even miss a beat before she obliged.
She talked about anything and everything that she could think of: how she didn't want to be there; how she was coaxed into leaving the dorms in the first place (she frowned at the mention of Shidou); how she was going to play horror games until daybreak (Rin's ears perked up at this, so Hiori went into a long drab about Horror games, getting an occasional grunt of approval), and how badly she wanted some damn vodka.
And Rin listened to everything. Not passively- she really, actually listened to what Hiori had to say.
Maybe it helped that her voice was just pleasing the people everywhere. Maybe it helped that she never spoke too loudly (for fear of her parents remembering she existed as a person with a voice as a child). Maybe it even helped that they somehow had things in common.
It didn't matter. None of it mattered.
Rin. Listened. To. Her.
She could've been anywhere else, doing anything or anyone else, but she was listening to Hiori complain about the ending of Last Seen Online.
She was astonished.
At last, Rin opened her eyes. And she sighed a sigh of many words.
“See you tomorrow.”
And she stood up and left. No extra commentary, or even a nod.
But an implication that they would talk again in the future. Or, her afternoon English lecture.
Hiori left that party having done no hard drugs, drunk no alcohol, and had no sex.
But she felt higher than five for much longer than any dose of heroin could ever give her.