edelweiss - &team

11

The mountains were freezing, understandably. Riki was shivering despite the many layers he had shrugged on, but Yudai, despite only a single parka jacket, was perfectly fine. "You shifted something, didn't you," Riki asked, shuddering as a strong gust of wind blew.

"I did," Yudai replied curtly, focused on navigating the uneven terrain. It was also starting to get dark with dusk falling, but with a light manipulator, they didn't have much trouble with their vision.

They hiked for a while without speaking, with Riki at the front guiding the way with a ball of light, before he suddenly stopped and let out a long sigh, "Just spit it out already, Yudai. This silence is deafening."

Yudai urged him forward, the duo walked a couple more steps as he carefully selected his words. Finally, he choked it out. "Why didn't you visit sometimes? I wouldn't have minded." Yudai was obviously trying to play it cool, but a tinge of hurt in his voice was present.

Riki came to a halt, then twisted to face Yudai, "There was no need to."

"But all these years, you've never dropped by or anything. Why? We only have each other, it wouldn't hurt to-"

"Yudai, you know I've never wanted to be immortal, right? When I hang out with young delinquents and live in slums, when I don't use my powers, I feel so human." With his light illuminating his features, suddenly all Yudai could see was that young man, freshly out of his teens, that Riki was those centuries ago.

"But what about us?"

Riki stared at Yudai for a few seconds, then turned away, "We have things to do, let's hurry."

They reached the tip of the mountain, while Yudai enjoyed the view, Riki scoured the floor and found a rock with a hole that fit the key. As he slipped the key into the hole, Yudai suddenly said, "After this, what are your plans?"

"You're optimistic," Riki commented, but stayed quiet as he thought.

"I'll go back to my dance troupe. And once they age and die off I'll disappear for a bit then start over."

The stones rumbled and Riki nimbly darted to the side as the floor parted to reveal a large trapdoor, with spiral stairs disappearing down into darkness. Riki and Yudai entered the hiding spot as the last sliver of day time slipped away.

-

Maki and Fuma were an unexpected duo, but Fuma had paired himself with the youngest solely because there was no one left. Maki didn't express any unhappiness with that so he left it as it was.

The student was surprisingly chatty, asking questions about how he had been and wondering about his life.

"How's your research going?" Maki asked, his tone upbeat but his eyes glazed over, clearly uninterested.

Fuma's eyes lit up, "It's fantastic, I've made some truly fascinating discoveries and-"

Maki let Fuma drone on about his research, rattling off terms and chemical compounds he's never heard of and couldn't care less about. He just wanted something to fill the silence and Fuma loved talking about his research anyways. Maki simply had to put in a few "oh I see" and "uh huh" every now and then, and Fuma was none the wiser.

They trekked through the forest, bamboo leaves swaying in the wind, rustling gently. Fuma was clutching on a piece of paper, where Harua had done a messy sketch meant to lead them to the location of the hearth.

"How have you been?" Fuma suddenly asked, his eyes trailing across the many many poles of bamboo, searching for the right ones.

Startled, Maki turned the question around in his mind, before saying, "Fine, I guess?'

Fuma nodded, continuing to sidestep rocks and twigs. "Don't give Yudai too hard a time, okay?" Fuma chided, like a father to his son.

Maki shot him a look, even though Fuma wasn't looking at him. "Why would you think I'm giving him a hard time?"

"You know Yudai. He's worried about Riki most of the time-"

A loud thump was heard and Fuma swivelled around quickly in fright, expecting a fight but all he saw was Maki and his astral projection fist, which had slammed into some bamboo.

"Must I always be second to Riki?" Maki seethed, his fist still hanging in midair. His words were more a rhetorical question than an accusation.

Fuma was speechless, standing there with the paper slightly crumpled in his hand. "I'm sorry, that was a poor choice of words -" Fuma's apology was cut off when Maki retracted his projection and slapped a smile on his face. "Forget it, let's make haste, shall we?" His voice was honey sweet but there was underlying venom in his tone.

Maki walked forward briskly, and Fuma bit his lip before following along. But before they could make it much further, Maki's cellphone rang.

"Maki?" Riki's voice was slightly weak, as though he was shivering.

"What's up?" Maki asked as he put the call on speaker.

"Don't waste your time, he's not coming. Let's -"

"He's not coming? How do you know?"

"Yuma...Yuma just... didn't feel it." There was a little static, then Yuma piped up, "It was empty. Just, nothing at all."

A few beats of silence, then Yudai's voice was heard over Riki's phone, "Guys, let's head back to my place. Something is off."