Work Text:
Laughter and joy could be heard all throughout the Anakt Garden. Today was their annual sports day, a special event with a large lineup of athletic events. It wasn’t something that Sua ever looked forward to. In fact, she dreaded it. Her athletic ability was…lackluster to say the least. And if she had a choice, she wouldn’t participate in any of the competitions at all. She’d rather hole up in her room for the entire day.
But if a certain someone wasn’t going to be there with her, then there wasn’t any point in hiding away in her dorm.
Sua was mildly surprised when they announced a major addition to the sports day event.
“Prizes! They’re gonna have real prizes this time!”
She could recall the energetic voice of her friend. Mizi had practically started vibrating at the mention of a ‘prize’. She shook Sua’s shoulders excitedly, her mouth moved at supersonic speed as she rambled on and on about the kind of rewards she hoped to see.
Prizes were given on a point based system. For every competition that you placed in, you received a stamp on your hand. The higher you placed, the better the stamp. The more stamps you had, the better the prize.
Allegedly, at least.
The things that thrilled her classmates didn’t interest her in the slightest.
At the beginning of the daylong event, they had all the students huddle up outside. There, they explained the same rules Sua had heard every year since her arrival to the Anakt Garden. At the same time, they showcased the wide range of rewards.
Sua carefully scanned the items displayed.
What would Mizi like?
Embarrassingly, Sua had never placed in any of the competitions. Like, ever.
She was the kind of student who’d cross the finish line last, with her feet dragging wearily behind her. The kind of student that the other kids ignored in team-based physical activities. The kind of student who’d get a verbal lashing for being just that unathletic.
Her ears grew hot as she remembered all the times she was picked last.
Still, Sua was determined to rack up enough points for at least one of the prizes.
I’ll get Mizi the coolest prize ever! She’s going to be in awe when I show her!
Unfortunately, Sua greatly overestimated herself. Even the power of love stood no match against her ineptitude. The only stamp she had acquired was from a three-legged race, and that was only because she had paired with Mizi. The other, more athletic, more passionate girl had basically dragged her along, all the way to the finish line.
And so, she sat by herself, holding a mini Jjokkani themed first aid kit. She watched as her classmates ran around in their enclosure, showing off their new prizes and playing with each other. They looked like little dancing flowers with the way they all wore the same Anakt Flower headpiece.
The petals on her headpiece swayed in the artificial wind.
She hadn’t seen Mizi since they partnered together in that race.
A frown turned the edges of her lips downward. A tiny knot formed in her chest, growing tighter the more she thought about her gift. She really hoped Mizi would like it. It wasn’t the prize she had been aiming for, not in the slightest. But it was the next best thing. Besides, the girl had a knack for getting herself injured.
Little bumps and cuts littered her otherwise flawless skin. Sua made sure to kiss every mark.
In the back of her mind, she wondered if Mizi got her anything.
“Sua!”
She instantly perked up and looked around. Her cheeks began to warm, just from hearing that familiar voice.
“Hey, Sua! Look!”
A blur of pink hair passed in her peripheral, but when she turned, there was nothing there.
“Hey, Sua! What are you looking at?”
She nearly jumped out of her headpiece, hands clutched in front of her chest. Mizi was bent down in front of her, their faces just a few centimeters away. Their petals loomed over each other, blocking out most of the ‘sun’.
“M-Mizi–!” she gasped. “You scared me…”
“Oops, s-sorry!” Mizi responded bashfully, but recovered quickly. “Look what I got, Sua!”
She jumped away from Sua and stood proudly next to her…something…?
“What is that?”
“It’s called a scooter! Watch this!”
The girl hopped onto the deck of ‘scooter’ with her left foot as her hands grasped the handle bars in the front. She leaned forward, her posture reminiscent of someone who was about to take off running. In one swift motion, she brought her knee up to her chest before kicking it back into the ground. Faster than anyone could run, Mizi took off flying on the ‘scooter’.
“Woo! Yay! It’s so much fun, Sua!”
Her contagious laughter flitted through the air. Sua could feel a smile forming on her own face.
Mizi rode around the entirety of their enclosure, kicking every now and then to maintain her momentum. She seriously wasn’t sure how Mizi was moving that wheeled toy on top of the soft grass.
And just as Mizi was about to arrive at the bottom of the hill, the wheel got caught on a little rock. Immediately, the scooter tipped over and sent Mizi flying forward.
“W-WOAH– OOF–!”
Mizi tumbled once, then twice over her head before falling flat on her face. Sua nearly tripped over herself rushing to the groaning girl.
“M-Mizi– are you okay?”
Mizi sluggishly got up off the grass and rolled onto her butt. She whined as she cradled her head. Sua’s forehead creased with worry.
“You’ve got a scratch right here.” She pointed to a tiny abrasion on the area between Mizi’s cheek and chin. Thankfully, the wound wasn’t deep at all. There wasn’t even any blood coming out.
“Ah! Seriously?” Instinctively, Mizi’s hand moved to touch it, but Sua grasped her wrist before she could make contact.
“Don’t touch it,” Sua chided. “I’ll patch it up for you.”
Compliantly, Mizi waited with her legs crossed as Sua went back for the tiny first aid kit she had left at the hill. But when she came back, she hesitated. Bare feet shuffled awkwardly on the cold grass. The younger girl stared up at her, repositioning the now crooked glasses on her face.
She gripped the present a little tighter, held behind her back. Slowly, she took a deep breath.
“I…got this for you.”
“A gift?” Mizi perked up. Her glasses slipped back off from the action. “It’s…? No way! It’s Jjokkani!”
Bright yellow eyes lit up in excitement, she eagerly held out her hands for Sua to drop into them. And when she did, she stared at it some more.
“This is perfect! Thank you, Sua!” Mizi beamed, her smile brighter than the sun shining on them. Sua felt her cheeks flush hot. Her feet subconsciously fidgeted together.
“U-Umm…you’re welcome. Okay, now stay still. I’m going to put a bandage over the cut.”
“Okay!”
Sua tried not to get nervous at the proximity. It wasn’t unusual for them to be this physically close. In fact, they had grown accustomed to sleeping together, dozing off in the fields as they shared their warmth with each other.
But it was hard to stop the heat from growing in her face when she could feel Mizi staring directly at her as she finished applying the bandage.
She inspected her work, making sure she had covered the scratch entirely.
“You should be more careful, Mizi…” Sua scolded gently. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss atop the bandage. When she pulled back, she swore Mizi’s face was twice as pink.
“U-Umm…y-yeah. I will…”
An awkward silence followed. And for a second, Sua worried she had overstepped.
“Oh! I got you something too!” Mizi perked up suddenly. “B-But, I left it in my room! I’ll give it to you later, okay?”
“Okay…” Sua replied. Her feet were fidgeting again.
“But first, let me show you this trick I learned!”
Mizi jogged over to that accursed toy and repositioned it to stand on top of it once more.
“This is called a tailwhip! I think…”
Sua backed up, hands clasped together as she watched nervously.
Standing on the scooter, Mizi bent her knees and jumped up high. At the same time, she pulled the scooter up with her and kicked lightly at the side of the deck, causing it to spin around. But before the deck could rotate all the way back around, her feet came back down a second too early.
Sua grimaced before it even happened. The side of the scooter slammed straight into Mizi’s poor, bare ankle.
“OW! Ow, ow, oww!”
Upon impact, Mizi immediately let go of the scooter and hobbled onto the grass. She only made it about three hops away before she collapsed on her butt. Mizi clutched her injured ankle with both hands as pained tears formed in her eyes.
“Suaaa…” Mizi whined, a sad pout on her lips.
Sua sighed.
It was a good thing there were multiple bandages in this kit.
“Here you go!”
Mizi smiled as she held out a pack of colorful highlighters. She recognized this as one of the prizes on display.
After Sua had patched her up again, they rode the scooter back to Mizi’s dorm, all the way on the opposite side of Sua’s dorm. They had just barely fit on that thing, with Sua all bunched up between the handle bar and Mizi behind her. She wasn’t sure if her heart was pounding from her fear of the toy, or if it was because of the small vicinity between her and Mizi.
“Thank you, Mizi,” Sua smiled back, her cheeks were just as pink as Mizi’s hair. “I’ll be sure to use these a lot.”
“Hehe, well, thank you too!” Mizi rocked back and forth on her heels. “Are you still going to the library? Can’t you stay for just a little longer…?”
Sua twiddled her hands behind her back. It was a tempting offer. But…
“I’m sorry…” Sua shook her head. She felt her heart pang when she saw Mizi’s dejected expression. “But I’ll come back once I’m done, okay?”
“Promise?”
Mizi stuck out her pinky finger.
“I promise.”
Sua stuck hers out, and they wrapped around each other.
“Okay! See you then!”
“Bye,” Sua breathed out.
The sports day event had taken up the majority of her day, meaning that she had missed her allocated daily study time. Thankfully, Mizi’s gift would make her study session a little less boring.
As Sua walked through the empty hallway connecting the main facility to the library, she heard a dull, mechanical whirr approach her. She turned around.
An (unfortunately) familiar man stood, unusually taller, in front of her. He had his hands clasped behind his back, a practiced smile on his face as he stared down at Sua. She looked down.
“What is that.”
“It’s called a hoverboard.”
Ivan stood on top of a dual-wheeled platform. He leaned forward, and the hoverboard moved with, rolling in the direction he tilted in.
“I won it at today’s event,” he explained.
Sua stared blankly ahead as Ivan spun circles around her. The irritating whirr was becoming permanently ingrained into her brain.
As he passed in front of her field of view, she saw him glance down at her hand.
“So, I see you placed in at least one event. That’s a new record for you, right, Sua?”
She really should have stayed with Mizi.