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Upon arriving at the hotel, Choi ran straight to the pool, getting lost in the crowd of beachgoers. Akira wanted to follow him, but convinced herself that the boy would be fine under the care of his older brother and friends.
Heather, who had been nodding off the entire way, gave Akira a couple of kisses on the cheeks before she and her brother headed to their rooms. Akira, on the other hand, let out a long, tired sigh before walking straight to the elevator to select the floor for her room. As soon as she arrived, she saw Kuina completely focused on painting her pinky finger with a light cream-colored nail polish. The dreadlocked girl gave her a relieved smile before returning her gaze to her nails.
- Akira! Where were you? I looked for you like crazy throughout the hotel,- commented Kuina, finishing painting her right hand.
- My visa expires today, so I went to play,- explained Akira with a tired voice, throwing herself on her bed and burying her face in the blanket, with her arms and legs spread out in an exaggerated manner.
- Oh, how did it go?- Kuina asked somewhat cautiously about the subject.
- Pretty well, all things considered. Most of us made it out alive,- Akira bit her lip to hold back a tear as she thought about the body from earlier. - Anyway, why were you looking for me?
- Oh, yeah! Look what I got in the city, I forgot to give it to you,- exclaimed Kuina excitedly, throwing a small pot onto the bed where Akira was resting. The container bounced a bit but landed close enough for Akira to pick it up and see it.
"Semi-Permanent Paint, Color 437 Blue Sea."
- I don't know if it's the same color as yours, but I thought it could be useful in case you wanted to touch up your hair - explained the brunette pointing at Akira. The blue-haired girl burst into laughter, thinking that Kuina was the living embodiment of the saying "rather dead than bathed in blood". She could be in a dystopian world full of dangers, but she would never risk damaging a nail.
- Thank you so much, Kuina. I'll keep it in mind - replied Akira, trying to contain her laughter. Kuina gave her a smile before returning to blowing on her right hand to speed up the nail polish drying process.
Akira stored the paint under the bed as Kuina had taught her and headed to the bathroom for a warm shower to relax her body from all the stressful things that had happened during the day. Once she felt completely clean, she stepped out of the tub, letting it take not only the dirty water but also part of her sadness. Looking at herself completely naked in the mirror, Akira felt ashamed. She had only been in the Borderland for less than a week, but she felt like her body was reacting to all the evils of that world. She felt much thinner as the bones of her ribs and hips began to show through her dry skin.
She was thin, but she didn't look beautiful like magazines made a thin woman look; Akira looked sick and weak, and the wounds on her arms didn't help at all. She simply looked like one of those ghosts they put in horror movies chasing someone to be freed from a curse. And that was just talking about her body, because her face looked maybe even worse, with two dark circles under her disturbed eyes, her hair that no longer looked blue but rather grayish stuck to her back from the bathroom's humidity, making her look a little more deplorable. Akira wondered how it was possible that Chishiya had been able to kiss her the other night with her looking that terrible.
