Chapter Text
"Do you know how much a solar bear weighs?"
"Excuse me? A solar bear?"
Oh.
That had been terrible. A bad first impression is always hard to forget, and she had sunk headfirst into the abyss of bad impressions.
At first, it was just a casual outing with friends who, despite their busy schedules, had finally managed to get together to enjoy a pleasant afternoon. Ororon and Ifa were joking around a lot that afternoon, more than usual, and Chasca was already putting them in their place before Mavuika decided to run them over with her motorcycle. Not because she hated them for their almost pointless jokes, but because their constant teasing about being single was starting to get tiresome and annoying.
Even when they arrived at their usual café, they didn't stop. The warm atmosphere was soon overshadowed by their giggles, and the aroma of coffee that hung in the air vanished with their presence.
Chasca separated from the group, who simply went to one of the tables near the window and sighed with an air of understanding before ordering their usual drinks from the barista.
«I should pretend I don't know them.»
Chasca thought, embarrassed by the narrow-mindedness of the two young people. As responsible adults, they were behaving like children.
"Even with the passage of time, they still behave the same, from what I can see," said a girl with short, white hair that contrasted with her tanned complexion, probably from her love of surfing. She was jotting down Chasca's order for herself and her friends in a small notebook.
"Men, you know, mature later than women..." replied the taller woman with a hint of disappointment. Or perhaps with a touch of humor.
Mavuika, on the other hand, who was checking a couple of messages on her phone, returned their gaze with an annoyed expression, her jaw barely clenched. Yes, she was single, so what? She had no need to meet anyone, just as she hadn't found anyone interesting enough to make her lose her head over him. Besides, she didn't look like a lovesick fool, or at least not like the couple in front of her, a couple of idiots who couldn't look at each other without adoring each other.
"Come on, Mav, cheer up. We were just joking," Ifa said, laughing and wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. Mavuika wasn't amused at all.
"Your joke is more worn out than Hitata's tail after being repeated for months. Come on, get over it already, it's not that big of a deal."
The dark-haired boy pursed his lips mockingly. "Really? Mavuika, we really can't believe you don't have a partner. Even Chasca could get someone's number and, who knows, maybe start a romance!"
Mavuika's mouth twitched in response. It was an indirect challenge, or at least that's how he interpreted it, although, on second thought, it wasn't crazy.
Perhaps it was his carte blanche to get the boys to stop making fun of her.
Although she opened her mouth to answer, Chasca, who happened to sit next to her at that moment, interrupted her.
“I’m not going to participate in your jokes, and you, Mav, I hope you’re not thinking about it.”
“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t be thinking about it?”
Mavuika raised an eyebrow.
“I could get anyone’s number if I wanted to.”
“Then why don’t you?”
Ifa challenged her, crossing her arms, a mischievous smile on her face.
“For example… What about that girl?”
The dark-skinned man discreetly pointed to a girl sitting at the back of the room. A blonde with wavy hair and tanned skin, hard to miss even from a distance, with her ocelot-like ears and her spotted tail whose tip swung slowly behind her.
She seemed very engrossed in what she was doing, and since she was wearing headphones, it was probably a silent way of saying: don’t bother me.
Mavuika saw her and, for a moment, felt her heart sink.
«Perfect. Magnificent. This is my final…»
She was about to pack her bag and escape while she still could, or maybe she already had.
The girl didn't seem intimidating, but just noticing how deep she was in her own thoughts, interrupting her could end one of two ways: a bad reaction or, worse, an awkward situation she definitely didn't need.
A third option, which hadn't been considered, was that maybe they could talk, she hoped.
Her mind went blank for a moment before Chasca snapped her back to reality.
"Are you sure you're going to try?"
Mavuika stood up abruptly, confidently. But it took her longer to sit back down than to get up; she paused briefly, then spoke:
“Of course. It’s just a number, right? The worst that could happen is she says no.”
She answered optimistically, though she knew that if she got a no, the teasing would continue. Or, at best, her attempt would have been worthwhile.
She took a deep breath before standing up and finally walking toward the cat girl. As soon as she saw her and looked up, she was stunned to meet her eyes. Bright green, like emeralds, and with simple but striking makeup.
She blinked a few times, slightly surprised, as she cleared her throat quietly.
The girl took off her headphones to listen to her.
"Hey... What's up?"
She began casually, with a rather vague but probably helpful question.
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Then she let out a soft giggle.
"Excuse me, do we know each other?" the blonde replied with a serene face.
"No… It's just, uh, I saw you a little while ago and… I just wanted to ask you a question, besides knowing your name, of course."
Liar. Something about her seemed strangely familiar. She probably resembled someone he knew; he shouldn't make a big deal of it, right?
"Xilonen, it's a pleasure to meet you. What's your question?"
«Xilonen… A beautiful name.»
“Uh, yeah, sure…”
The confidence she lacked at that moment decided to abandon her.
“Do you know how much a solar bear weighs?”
Xilonen looked at her with surprise and intrigue, her ears twitching slightly as a faint smile touched her lips.
“Uh, excuse me? A solar bear?”
“I, uh… I meant a polar bear. I think.”
She laughed nervously, fiddling with a fold in her jacket.
“Sorry, bad joke.”
“A bit. Although, I don’t… I don’t know how much a polar bear weighs, why do you ask?”
She asked curiously, moving her tail more cautiously, something the redhead noticed.
“Because I could have said something like, ‘He’s heavy enough to break the ice between us,’ only… Well…” She sighed. “That sounded pretty bad…”
She rubbed the back of his neck as his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Se had never acted so ridiculously in front of a girl.
Luckily, she wouldn’t see her again, or at least she hoped so.
The city was too big for her to run into her again.
“Well, it wasn’t so bad. It’s the funniest thing anyone’s said to me today.”
Xilonen giggled and then began tidying the things on the table.
"I see."
“It’s a shame I have to leave you here. I would have loved to hear another joke.” She put her headphones in her jacket pocket and stood up.
It was odd; Mavuika had imagined her to be a little taller. “I hope to see you around here another day so you can tell me another joke.”
She said it with mild enthusiasm before saying goodbye and leaving the café.
Mavuika remained motionless, smiling with relief.
Until…
«The number…»
Her heart sank again.
«I completely forgot to ask for her number…»
She took a deep breath, frustrated at having forgotten the purpose of her little mission.
When she turned around, Ifa stared at her in disbelief, while Chasca clapped softly, and Ororon... well, he was just as surprised.
She hadn't gotten the number, so she'd practically failed, but that might be enough to make those two stop bothering her.
Mavuika returned to where they had been and, as she sat down, felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
She said nothing. She simply closed her eyes and breathed slowly to calm her nerves.
"Well...?" Ororon asked after a couple of minutes.
Mavuika had her friends' eyes fixed on her, and also the barista's, who had arrived minutes earlier to witness the redhead's disaster.
If only the barista got paid to witness the dramas that unfold in the coffee shop.
"It went pretty well,"
Mavuika replied curtly, taking the coffee Chasca had ordered and sipping it with an odd calm.
They didn't ask again about the number she was supposed to receive, because judging by the redhead's reaction and the fact that the girl didn't hand her a single piece of paper, just as neither of them took out their phones, it was obvious she hadn't received it.
They laughed a little and, to forget that small, well-orchestrated disaster, the conversation flowed naturally from one topic to another, as usual: they talked about work almost superficially, shared memories and probably awkward moments that could overshadow what had just happened.
The teasing that had previously been directed at Mavuika and her love life finally shifted to other topics, though Ifa continued to look at her with such a suspicious smile that she felt like throwing something in his face.
A pretty successful afternoon, you could say. Almost, if we ignore the mess...
In the end, they each went their separate ways, hoping to see each other again soon and go out again.
Upon arriving at the parking lot, before putting on her helmet, she noticed that her motorcycle's exhaust pipe was slightly damaged. How long had it been like that?
She shook her head in disapproval and got on to go home.
When she arrived, several of the lights visible from the outside were off, and the house was quite quiet. It seemed her parents hadn't arrived home yet.
She calmly searched for her keys, but Hine, her younger sister, opened the door first. She smiled with genuine joy at seeing her.
"Oh, thank you, Hine."
Mavuika smiled and stepped inside, placing a hand on Hine's head and ruffling her hair.
"How did you know...?"
"Your motorcycle always makes a distinctive noise when it's broken down. Although it also depends on what the problem is." The shorter girl replied, following her after closing the door and smoothing her hair again.
"You should be more careful when you ride. If it's not something broken, it could be something else..."
"Don't worry, I've got everything under control," she said with a kind smile. "Hey, have you eaten anything yet? I could make you something to eat."
"I ate a while ago, but thanks anyway. Are you going upstairs to rest after dinner? We could take advantage of your day off tomorrow to do something."
Mavuika thought about it for a moment. She could have accepted without hesitation, but she decided to make sure she had plans for the next day.
"I need to make sure I don't have anything planned for tomorrow. By the way, I'm going to take a quick shower and then I'll be back, okay?"
Hine nodded and headed to the living room. She seemed to be reading a couple of books while the television played softly in the background. Mavuika sighed, amused, shook her head slightly, and went up to her room.
She threw her helmet on the bed, along with her jacket and phone. While looking for clothes to change into, she couldn't help but think about the scene in the cafe.
She had the perfect joke, but her nerves betrayed her cruelly to the point of changing a single letter. How embarrassing.
«I'll never take Cyno's jokes seriously again. Should I cancel my subscription?»
She considered it, but in the end, didn't give it much thought.
Her mind wandered among several things: the broken motorcycle, the activities planned for the next few days… And, rather inconveniently, a pair of green eyes.
She frowned.
No.
No.
She wasn't going to dwell on that.
It was spontaneous; she didn't need to make such a big deal out of it.
In the end, she settled on her usual sleepwear: a dark gray tank top and loose-fitting sweatpants that were so comfortable she preferred to wear them as pajamas.
She laid the clothes on the bed and picked up her phone to check her schedule for the next day.
She read all her notifications. Messages from friends, her parents, and a few other entertainment notifications weren't that important; she'd look at them later.
She checked her schedule and, luckily, she had nothing planned for the next day. She could spend the day with Hine.
However, she felt remorse for leaving her motorcycle with that problem. She reviewed her plans for the next few days and realized she had already scheduled a visit to the shop, where she was absolutely certain her motorcycle would be as good as new.
She could move the appointment up because, if the exhaust was making an annoying noise, she had to prioritize it.
She weighed her options for a while. Hine probably wanted to spend time at home… Well, she decided she would take the motorcycle to the shop on Monday.
With no more worries, she put her phone aside, since, after all, it would be a quick visit.
That's all.
The weekend was quiet. Too quiet for what was usual in her life.
Mavuika spent time with Hine as she had hoped, without unnecessary outings, answered a few messages that required some necessary but light attention, and also took the opportunity to rest more than she normally allowed herself.
Monday, in the end, arrived earlier than expected.
The sound of her motorcycle accompanied her on the way to the workshop, with a strange noise that now seemed slightly more annoying since Hine had pointed it out.
Upon arriving, she parked almost in front, hoping to see the workshop owner.
She turned off the engine and removed her helmet, letting it rest in her hands.
When she looked up, her body froze.
"I can't believe it..."
A relatively familiar figure entered her field of vision: a blonde girl, with ocelot ears and a tail, was wiping the oil stains from her hands with a dark rag. She seemed to have been busy repairing something. And those green eyes that had crept into her thoughts more than once.
She seriously considered putting her helmet back on and pretending she'd arrived at the wrong workshop, or perhaps just to avoid being recognized, but it was too late.
The blonde moved a little closer, popping the bubble of gum between her lips, before opening her eyes in slight surprise.
Time seemed to stop. The blonde blinked once. Then she smiled.
"Oh… Are you the girl from the cafeteria? What a coincidence."
Yes.
It would definitely be the end of Mavuika. There was no way out.
In the end, the city wasn't as big as she thought.