Roll to Me

Chapter 6

Tomioka was surprisingly neat and tidy. Moriko eyed the other girl's side of the room, taking in the way she had her blanket tucked in and her clothes arranged on her shelf. She had thought that Tomioka's things would have instantly been strewn across the cabin, creating a messy maze, but apparently she wasn't quite as inherently chaotic as Moriko felt she would be.

The first day had been spent mostly in silence. Neither of them had wanted to extend an olive branch. Moriko certainly wasn't going to be the first to do so. Since their communication hadn't improved, according to Nakime, they hadn't been allowed to do anything outside of the cabin. At least they had managed to clean the cabin. They were no longer inhaling clouds of dust every time they disturbed something, and all of the spiders had been chased away.

Tomioka sighed and rolled over onto her stomach. She had been laying on her back, throwing a softball up and catching it before it hit her face. A strangely dangerous game since she came very close to breaking her nose a few times.

Eyes that were the same color as her own met her gaze and narrowed. Moriko didn't look away. It was strange, honestly, that they looked so similar. People at camp were always commenting on it. Moriko had decided to ignore those comments after the first few days, but now that she had been stuck looking at the other girl's face for a full day, it was difficult to pretend to be ignorant.

"I'm going outside." Tomioka shoved her hands against her mattress, getting up.

"We're not supposed to go anywhere."

"I'm not," Tomioka said, rolling her shoulders. She picked up the softball. "Not really. But I can't look at just these walls or you anymore, I'll go crazy. No offense."

"Very offensive," Moriko said. "I'm taking offense." She continued playing the string game she had started, twisting her fingers around the string the best she could. Truthfully, the game was supposed to be played with two people. If she was back home, her mom and aunts used to play this game with her. Even her uncle and his brother would sometimes join in, and she was teaching Mitsuri.

Tomioka sighed. She threw the ball up into the air and caught it with her other hand. "Sorry. I'm getting cabin fever. I can't stay in here anymore."

The string slipped off Moriko's finger. Snarling, the string tangled and twisted together like it had a life of its own. "We're supposed to stay inside."

Tomioka stared at her, blinked once, then turned on her heel to walk out the door. She flicked the latch and slammed the door open. With her back rigid, she stood there, the door open.

"What?" Moriko redid the string, putting it back around her fingers.

"Come on. You're getting cabin fever, too. I've seen how much time you spend outside." Tapping her foot on the floor, Tomioka gestured to the porch. "We'll sit on the steps."

"You were watching me?"

Tomioka rolled her eyes. "Not intentionally. But since people keep mixing us up, they would yell your name at me and then I would have to help them find you. You were almost always outside. And you hate crafts, you're never there."

"Oh." Moriko had experienced the same issue, but she hadn't helped anyone locate Tomioka. She wasn't a personal Google Maps app. Hesitantly, she put her feet on the floor. The cabin did seem smaller than it had the day before, and it was pretty outside. All sunshine and birdsong. "We won't go any farther than the steps."

"So, you didn't want to steal a canoe and row to the next camp over? Got it." Tomioka grinned at her and waved her hands at the open doorway. "You're letting in bugs."