Center of the Sunlit Sea || Chisaki Kai/Overhaul x Shirabe Mariya(OC)

2. Memories

2115 words

Before he knew it, Chisaki found himself roped into a lively dialogue with the others. Well, more like he just sat there next to Shirabe on the sofa, wishing he was anywhere else as he listened to them reminisce and ramble. On her lap Eri was perched, where she was happily munching on a strawberry ice cream bar and observing each of the adults. She would stare at him the longest, but he did his best to ignore it and elected to watch the woman holding her instead.

Her face had matured and her hair was considerably longer and less frizzy than it was when they were teenagers, back when she kept it in a ponytail all the time. The corner of his mouth twitched upward slightly when he remembered how cross she would get trying to brush out the chaotic waves and curls into a semi-detangled mass and even then it looked like sheep's wool, puffing out at the middle of her chest. Presently, it hung down past her waist in shining ringlets. That was a good way to describe her, like a gold coin that had been meticulously polished until it sparkled no matter which way you turned it; her mannerisms and personality were the same, but now they stood no chance of outshining their vessel.

A small part of him was convinced that it was either a dream or she was some kind of imposter. He hadn't realized how tuned out he was until he felt something press flush against the corner of his jawline. "Oh my, when did you get these?" Shirabe's fingertips stroked the underside of his ear as she examined the three golden piercings decorating it, glittering as Chisaki recoiled. Just like earlier when she had her hands over his eyes, instead of the burning irritation of his mysophobia flaring, all he could feel was a twinge that was overpowered by the warmth of her hand radiating into his skin.

Another faint echo flashed across his mind, of the same hand tightly grasping his own and leading him somewhere through dappled sunshine. It was getting to be too much. He cleared his throat, excusing himself under his breath and hastily getting up from the sofa. As he ducked out of the room, he reached up and lightly scratched at the place she had touched, letting his hand rest against the spot for a second longer than necessary. Purely out of habit, he found himself wandering up to the second floor where there was the one place he could feel unbothered, finally breathing a sigh of relief after shutting the door of his childhood bedroom behind him.

Her presence was downright overwhelming after being gone for so long and the way she looked at him threw his common sense into complete mayhem. Chisaki was a man who operated strictly on the basis of careful orchestration and two unknown variables in as many weeks sent him into a tailspin. He groaned and dragged a hand down his face, pulling off his mask as he did.

It had been some time since he'd last set foot in the cramped space, using it more as storage for whatever items he didn't want to clutter the small apartment he occupied in one of the newer buildings of the compound. Walking over to his desk cluttered by old dogeared textbooks, he opened the bottom-most side drawer and reached deep within, his gloved fingers brushing past old folders and writing materials until they reached a solid, smooth object.

He pulled out the small leather journal and unwrapped the elastic band that held it closed from around the cover. Glued carefully to the very last page was a laminated photo from his first year of high school on the day of their cultural festival. He was dressed all in black with dark makeup smeared around his eyes, the class had chosen to do a haunted house and put him in charge of collecting tickets at the entrance.

Shirabe's second year class ran some kind of food stall, her uniform switched out for an extremely frilly waitress outfit, but he couldn't remember what they were selling. Cake, maybe? In the picture, they were at the closing dance of the festival, hands linked together as they spun around in a clumsy, fast paced waltz on the gymnasium floor. It was one of the very few times he actually smiled a little at the camera.