❝ BLOOD AND PETALS DEVOUR THEIR LUNGS, BREATHS DEVOTED TO EACH OTHER. ❞
花 ━━ Chōsō and Tsukumo Yuki aren't always destined to meet. In the worlds they do, falling in love comes inevitably, a pull of magnetism neither can ignore. A strange gravity th...
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As days pass by, Chōsō's only reassurance of his brother's status is the fact that he knows he would feel it if Yūji were to die. It's not something he likes to dwell on, aware his little brother has survived without him there for years, but it nags at his mind, sometimes.
Yuki shoots him a look, and he relaxes his frown. His heart skips a beat, again, like it tends to do whenever his companion comes into the picture. It's getting worrisome.
"So," she starts, making him look at her. He notices Tengen doing the same a few meters away from them. "Go Fish?" And, as if to emphasize her point, she waves the deck of cards in her hand.
Tengen sighs―not that Chōsō blames them, considering how many times they've played―but shrugs and nods anyway. He does the same, and soon enough the three of them are in a circle.
The dealer's Yuki, this time. Seven cards each, and the game starts.
"Yuki, do you have any threes?" Tengen asks, and Yuki clicks her tongue, annoyed at their accuracy. She gives them two cards and looks away when they recite their thanks, throwing the first book of cards to the floor.
"Lucky bastard," she mutters, although a smirk has taken its place in the curves of her lips.
Tengen chuckles. "Hm, I've always been."
Chōsō is, as always, completely lost with the treatment Yuki gives Tengen, and the cordial one she receives in turn. Mostly because both sound mocking and he just can't deal with the amount of passive aggressiveness combined.
After Go Fish, they play Thirty-One,War and Garbage, all games Yuki's taught them during the long hours of waiting. Apparently, even richii mah-jong and shogi can get boring. They've played karuta, too, much more than any other game, but after the blonde had found a disregarded classic card deck, they've been switching it up a bit.
Chōsō's playing another round of go with Yuki when they hear a triumphal shout from a few meters away.
"Old man! Are you okay there?" Callous, maybe, but Chōsō likes that about Yuki, too.
A scoff follows. "Indeed. I just found an old friend of mine."
Tengen comes into view with a bamboo flute, and Chōsō cannot fathom, for the life of him, how that's supposed to be an old friend of theirs. There's no cursed energy coming from the flute. Maybe Tengen's years are getting to them.
"Pfft," Yuki laughs. "You should be careful what you call friend, old man."
Tengen doesn't bother replying immediately, but rather, walks around until they find a cushion to sit, and once their ass is sat, they go: "Once you reach my age, there aren't lots of friends left, and you start viewing life differently. A young one such as you could never hope to understand, and it's my hope you never do."
