Random Fandom Shit Lit.

Salt [OC {What Is This Anime Shite}]

"You are the kind of person who has no resolve. No ambition. No free will," Natsuki growled, her hands fixed on her sister's collar. "You can't-- won't do anything for yourself, right?"

Sumiko made no move to accept or deny her statement, doing little more than stare back at her. Her hands remained at her sides, loose.

Natsuki's grip tightened. "Those kind of people..." Her sister, her near-mirror, remained unmoving, unfeeling. "Those are the people I hate, Sumi."

The simmering anger seemed to diminish in Natsuki's eyes. Sumiko's almost widened as she watched the frown fade, the snarl soften. Natsuki gazed at her sister, almost mournfully.

"And you've grown up to be one of them."

Sumiko barely had time to gasp before Natsuki released her grasp--

--and sent her stumbling backwards off the deck, plunging into the sea.

Sumiko choked on salt water, squeezing her eyes shut when they began to sting. Blindy, she flailed for the surface, her breath escaping in a stream of bubbles--

She gasped for air, the cold night breeze rocking the waves back and forth. Chest heaving, Sumiko watched the deck, her sister long gone.

Numb.

She felt numb.

She stayed still, afloat in that one spot in the sea. Her hair clung to her cheeks, her eyelashes. Her dress billowed out around her.

Slowly, she swam back to shore.

___

"Hey, do you know where Sumiko is?" Arisa glanced at the clock, worry creasing her forehead. It read 10:23. "It's getting pretty late..."

"I'm sure she'll turn up," Erina reassured.

"Yeah, but..."

Two soft knocks on the door interrupted her.

"Ah-- Coming!" Arisa rushed to open the door, nearly tripping on the carpet as she did so. She turned the knob, smiling, then gaped in surprise.

Sumiko smiled sheepishly, treading water on the front porch. "Hey, Arisa-kun..?"

"Sumi?! Oh my gosh, what happened?" Arisa stepped aside to let her in, then closed the door hastily, aware of the chill. "Hold on, lemme get some towels..."

"I-- thank you," Sumiko mumbled.

Erina stood up and let her have the couch, despite her insistence that they could both sit comfortably on it.

"You're wet and I just got changed, so..." shrugged Erina. She stood in front of Sumiko, arms crossed. Sumiko fidgeted with her fingers on her lap, in that annoyingly dainty way of hers. "What happened?"

Arisa stepped back into the room, a batch of fluffy towels in her arms.

"I... um. I decided to go swimming?" Sumiko glanced up briefly, still timidly smiling.

"Bull," Erina deadpanned.

"Yeah, Sumi..." Arisa draped a towel over her shoulders, wrapping her up snugly. "You don't like swimming, even in the day."

Sumiko thanked her, then resumed staring down at her lap.

"Sumi." Arisa placed a hand on her shoulder soothingly. "Did you trip? It's okay if you did, don't be embarrassed!"

Sumiko chuckled quietly and smiled at her. "Yes... I sort of did. Sorry."

"Bull," Erina repeated.

Both girls looked at her, surprised.

"It's your asshole sister, isn't it?" Erina frowned as she watched Sumiko's fingers tighten around each other. "It is, isn't it? What did she do? Sumiko-chan, what did that bitch do--"

"Please don't talk like that about my sister," Sumiko interjected. The gray of her contacts bore straight into Erina's green, unyielding. "It wasn't her fault."

Numb.

"You expect me to believe that?!"

Arisa flinched at the sudden intensity of Erina's voice. "Hey, hold on-- please don't fight--"

"She's been kicking you around since the moment she showed up and you've done nothing but take it. Have you heard half the things she's been calling you? Sumiko, you can't just let--"

"Whatever she said was true."

Erina paused.

She felt numb.

Numb and cold around her ears, like she had done something wrong.

"No, actually..." Sumiko added, accompanied with a shake of her head. "Everything she said is true."

Erina and Arisa stared, quiet, wide-eyed. Worried, in Arisa's case.

"Now, if you excuse me..." Sumiko stood, drawing the towel tight around herself. "I'm going to go change. Goodnight, Erina-san, Arisa-kun."

Well, maybe she felt just the smallest flicker of anger.