Cover High/Pekora

Chapter 7: Welcome Back, You Goddamn Rabbit.

Your footsteps drift up the empty stairwell as you climb, the procession of treads and risers passing in a blur before your vacant eyes. Barely cognizant of your own ascent in this trancelike state, the only thing stopping you from tripping and face-planting against the steps is your expendable hand absent-mindedly gripping the banister. Almost all of your attention is instead laser-focused on its far more important twin hanging at your side. The all-but-faded warmth in your palm. The thin layer of dried sweat coating its surface. The tactile memory of smooth and soft skin against your fingers. Lingering remnants of Pekora's touch.

How long did you sit there, outside that jail cell? You didn't bother to keep track of time; it could have been anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour. All spent in total silence, not a single word shared between either of you. The shy rabbit girl didn't seem to know what to say, and to be honest neither did you. So, you didn't say anything. You just stayed as you were, backs against the bars and hands joined, savoring the novel sensation of each other's touch. Neither of you willing to be the one to pull away and break the connection. It wasn't until visiting hours came to an end that circumstances forced you both to release your respective holds. And when you turned to say your goodbyes, eyes meeting for the first time in a good long while, the look on Pekora's face was nothing short of perfection. Her blushing cheeks. Her demure smile. Her pretty amber eyes gazing longingly back at you. The divine, lovestruck expression that you had fought tooth and nail this entire week to see again. And for the first time...you returned it. The gentle look you shared with her was one that you had never shown to anyone else before, and one that you never will. It belongs to her, and only her. She and you may not have explicitly confessed to each other, but that's basically a formality at this point. Your mutual feelings have been made as clear as day. Your relationship, irrevocably changed.

And tomorrow, you'll tell her properly.

Heart thumping in anticipation and butterflies flitting about in your stomach, you pass the final tread and step out into the first-floor hallway. Early-evening light pours in through the windows, filling the corridor with a warm orange glow as the sun makes its slow but steady descent towards the horizon. The dark clouds that had been choking the heavens for days have at last begun to disperse, undersides smoldering in a kaleidoscope of reds and yellows against the fading blue of the sky. Normally you'd pay no mind to such a simple everyday sight, but in your current dreamy state you can't help but find a certain sublime beauty in it. A silent breath drifts from your lips as you take in the view.

"Heya."

But your moment of serenity is broken by the sound of a voice calling out to you. Turning towards the unexpected stimulus, you lay eyes upon the source: a certain girl sitting a short distance down the hall, sheltered in the shade beneath the windowsill. "...Marine?"

The redhead peers over from her spot against the wall, her bag lying at her side and a manga held open in her hand. One she probably shouldn't be bringing to school, judging by the two shirtless men embracing on the cover. Her flamboyant hat has been taken off along with her eyepatch, exposing a perfectly functional, if heterochromatic, gold-colored eye. For once, the pirate-cosplaying weirdo actually looks like a (mostly) normal girl. Smiling up at you, she slips her thumb out from between the pages and shuts her comic. "We've gotta stop meeting like this."

"Uh, how...long have you been there, exactly?" you ask in bewilderment as you approach. Marine and her genmates were the first to visit Pekora, before either you or Moona. She should have gone home a long time ago.

"Mmm," she hums, tilting her head and tapping her pursed lips as she stares off into space in a histrionic display of deep thought. "Since we passed the baton to Moona, so abouuut..." Her gaze darts back over to you, an innocent look on her face. "Two hours?"