It Doesn't Matter (Matter #1)

30. Fun Planet Time

Ryuu got up very early the next morning. He dressed in seemingly casual clothes but the price of them made them the opposite of casual. Afterwards he went outside his and Malkia’s room to plan for their day. He didn’t usually bother to come up with an itinerary for the things they were going to do when they were here but he was dying to impress his special lady.
“What’s on the list? Are there new activities down at the public resort?” He asked the House Keeper of the house, Ally. His eyes enlarged in surprise, the young master never inquired on such matters.
He quickly composed himself and went to rearrange the activities he had arranged yesterday which was what the boys usually did when they came to the island. They went to VVIP part of the resort and lounged, got drunk, his friends assaulted his staff and the young master was unkind to everyone for his own amusement. So all he really had to do was give them many attendants and the young master would be satisfied with the number of people he would tell off. The young master like his mother was never satisfied with any of the things that were done for them. There was always something left to complain about.
Ally preferred the young mistress and Mr. Chen to them but those two rarely graced the house with their presence.
“My apologies, young Master but all of the new activities are unattainable for the VVIP class. They are rather crass, if I may so myself.” Ally finally spoke.
“What do you mean?”
“It the Cultural Celebration month and that means it is the busiest time of the year so the resort usually caters to the need of the majority rather than…” he cut himself off from there, it was the Mistress’s idea so nothing could be done.
“What is this crass activity you speak of?”
“I fear it is far beneath you,” Ally said.
“Nothing is beneath me,” Ryuu said, he was not surprised to see Ally’s eyes enlarge once more.
“As you know this month is the Cultural Celebration month and that means people get to wear any sort of clothes that they feel represents their culture and earthling heritage, so they have that as a new activity.” He paused and then proceeded “I do have a boat at the ready to take you to the cave down that were recently discovered. I went there myself and I found it to be quite the experience, you get to scuba dive as well if you like and I know you enjoy surfing.”
“I don’t know, there are people I’m with who might enjoy the crowd so I wanted to try that – the costumes don’t sound so bad either. I think you should book us for that.” 
“Sir,” Ally said and went to make the arrangement.
“Keep the boat free in case we change our minds, or we could do both.”
“Absolutely sir,” Ronald said and left Ryuu in the great room by himself. He liked this house more than he liked the house he lived in.
It was simple, filled with simple furniture and things that looked like they could be broken without someone wondering if they had just extinguished the last creation of some ancient artist.
Their main house in the city was like an expensive museum. His mother liked it that way, she collected the most preposterous things and kept them in display in a manner that wasn’t obvious but it had always been obvious to Ryuu and Eun Sung, his sister.
“Hey,” Ryuu heard Luke say, he was walking towards him from the kitchen. Luke had always been one to ask the least of the help.
“Good morning,” Ryuu said to him, he felt like he and Luke had had a fight and he knew it was ridiculous to feel that way when nothing of the sort had happened to them, other than him telling Malkia he was single right in front of him. He knew he was feeling like this because he felt threatened, especially now that Luke was single, particularly because he had noticed him looking at Malkia more than once.
It would of have been alright if it were anyone else but Luke was always too in his own mind to notice anyone, unless he was into that person and you could never be sure because he had one of the best poker faces. People thought he had a cold face but Ryuu knew it was a way for his friend to manage to keep everything in.
Luke used to be a cry baby, he used to cry all the time and his parents used to be there to dote on him. He didn’t have anyone to do that for him when his parents died so he simply stopped showing the need for anyone.
It didn’t help that he was already complicated upstairs, it didn’t help that he was in the accident, but Ryuu understood him because he knew the reason.
“Here,” Luke reached into the pocket of his shorts and handed him the Tanzanite bracelet he had given to Malkia, Ryuu steeled himself, he didn’t know how to react yet so he just took it “she must of have forgotten it last night when she got up,”
“Thanks,” Ryuu said and placed it in his own pocket.
“I can’t believe you gave that to her,” Luke knew how much the bracelet meant to Ryuu, all his friends knew. Jay had commented about it last night and Simba had simply held her hand up and given him a wow look when he’d noticed.
“She’s a special person to me,” he said now.
“Do you love her?” Why would Luke ask him that?
“From the moment I first saw her,” he decided to say “why would you ask?”
“Can’t I just want to know.”
“You’ve never been interested before,” he usually just went with what he observed.
“I just…I’m wondering what it means to be in love,”
“Because of how things turned out with Jamila,” Ryuu heard that Luke had broken it off but it didn’t seem right to him for Luke to just let Jamila go after all the pining he did all those years. Unless…
Luke shrugged which was code for he didn’t want to talk, so he turned to go and left Ryuu alone.
Ryuu went back to his room, he didn’t want to assume anything because he could of have heard her wrong, maybe she had mentioned running into Luke and he had forgotten the detail. It was unlikely that he would forget considering how jealous he was when he saw them together but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.
She was just exiting the bathroom, her hair was tied in a high puff, her eyes looked serene and she looked absolutely stunning in her black shorts and yellow top. The yellow color made her look like a little ball of sunlight, especially when she smiled at him.
“Good morning,” she said in a sing song voice and beamed at him.
“You’re happy,” he smiled at her; it was natural for him to smile at her. He had already forgotten about the lie she might of have told, almost but not quite “why aren’t you wearing your bracelet?”
“What?” she looked at her arm and her eyes enlarged “Oh, I don’t want to lose it, best to keep it stored safely,”
Ryuu had his hand in his pocket touching the cold metal of the bracelet. He felt his heart drop as the truth presented itself. 
Why did she want to lie to him about meeting Luke last night, nothing had happened between them, Luke wouldn’t of have given him the bracelet if it had.
He smiled at her, he was good at acting, he had to be with all the people he had to meet and pretend to like “Do you want to go get breakfast?”
He took her hand and held it tightly; maybe she wouldn’t slip away if he held on tight enough.
They had breakfast, not everyone could make it but no one was surprised that Simba, Elma and Alma were too hung over to wake up. Everyone was surprised to see Jay there. He had spent the entire night trying to get Naya to sleep with him without committing to each other and failed, for the first time in his life. He looked dazed and Naya looked triumphant, she thought she was wearing him down.
“What’s going on between you two?” Malkia asked her best friend.
“He likes me I think,”
“Do you like him?”
“I don’t know,”
“Naa, you like romance and forever and he is the opposite of that, stay away from him.” Malkia whispered to her. They were seated next to each other and Ryuu was on her other side. Naya had Tom on her other side but Jay was sitting across from her on the large dining table.
“What about you, do you like him, if not then why does it look like you’re dating him?” their voices were barely audible to each other.
“I don’t know,”
“What don’t you know, if you like him or why you’re dating?”
“Both.” Malkia said looking at her empty hand.
She caught Luke when they were done having breakfast, everyone was going back to their rooms to get anything they might need for the Fair.
“Hey, did I leave behind a bracelet yesterday?”
“Yeah, I gave it to Ryuu this morning,”
Malkia felt her heart drop; Ryuu knew she had been lying. He knew she had lied about being alone last night.
How was she supposed to face him now?
She didn’t go back to their room; she waited in the entrance and then quickly went to sit between Naya and Tom when their ride arrived. It was an airbus that could seat twelve people so they had plenty of room but there’s was no room for Ryuu next to her.
They arrived at a park that had all sorts of rides and activities that people could do. It was a completely different world from the rest of the planet. Usually it was where the parents went to leave their kids and it was where all the teenagers went to pick up dates for the entire trip.
“Wow,” all the people that had never been there before said when they saw the Fair from above, the rides were so big and so long, there were so many stalls and quite possibly endless activities.
A lady with a high puff similar to Malkia’s came over to them and said “Welcome to Moor Fair, welcome to the experience of a lifetime, welcome to tomorrow now.”
“Yeah, yeah, you don’t need to sell us on anything, we’re certain we will be here again. Just tell us what we’re going to do,” Ryuu said snapping his fingers at her.
The lady lost her cool and tried to get a sentence out but she failed.
“It’s alright, he doesn’t have any manners.” Malkia said touching the girl’s shoulder before she threw Ryuu a dirty look “you’re our attendant?”
“Yes,” she said “I will be with you through the course of your time here,” she spoke carefully; her eyes kept throwing nervous glances at Ryuu.
“Yes, thank you. So what are we doing?” Malkia probed.
“Um, I heard you guys were willing to try the Cultural Extravaganza? We have costumes laid out for you over there,” she pointed to a large circus tent right behind them.
“Is it private miss, we’re not the kind of people who go to public areas,” This came from Simba, Malkia gave him a dirty look as well.
“What’s wrong with using the things that everyone else uses?”
“It’s in the question, why would I use something that everyone else uses? Do I look like everyone else?” Simba countered.
“Ugh, you’re as bad he is,” she pointed her finger at Ryuu but he was looking at her and it made her heart heavy with guilt so she quickly looked away.
“How about we make this whole thing more fun, let’s confuse people and wear other Clansmen costumes,” Naya said.
“Like we did in form three?” Tom asked getting excited “I am not up to dressing up like a mariachi right now.”
“I’ve always wanted to try out a sari,” Elma said looking Naya.
“Great you exchange with me,” Naya said.
“You take mine,” Ryuu told Malkia, he was next to her now, he had caught up with her when she was busy avoiding his stare and listening to Naya.
“You just want the chance to show off those abs,” she thought it was only right that she compliment him.
“No, I just want to see you in a hanbok,”
“A hanbok? Not a kimono or a hanfu?”
“I come from a lot of Clans.”
They had been told from teachers and the history books also conveyed that most of what were known as Clans now, used to Countries with their own nationalities. But to kill all the bias when the Human race moved to Uiths all those years ago, they had killed the notion of races, tribes and nationalities. There were only humans and with varied cultures. They were all one, simply with some individuality.
Malkia had read somewhere that this decision had managed to eradicate a serious problem that had facing humans at the time, racism, they called it. Now, it was a thing of the past and they were all the better for it.
She smiled at him then “I can’t wait to try a hanbok for you then,” she was trying to appease him, to make up for lying.
“Why are you being so weird?” he said shoving her playfully.
It took a long time to get everyone into their costume because the issue was not taken lightly here. There were makeup artists and people who knew how to tie the specific costume there to make sure the entire thing came out looking professional, as if they were acting for a big play instead of just going strolling in the park.
They hadn’t anticipated the hanbok so the person who knew how to tie it came in a bit later than the rest and it took them quite a while to style Malkia’s hair the way that women in that clan styled theirs so she was the last one to immerge from her personal room into the big open space in the tent that had isles and isles of costumes surrounding it.
She looked quite different and much more fragile that she usually was, her cheeks looked rosy and her lids were covered in a pale color that made her dark eyes appear brown. Her lips were red, matching the skirt of her costume. She had on a large head piece covering her hair just like the tribe women in that culture did.
“Look at you!” Naya beamed at her, she was dressed in a long plaid skirt with a plaid shirt running along her shoulder like a sash.
“What about you!” she gushed.
Tom had exchanged with Alma so he was dressed in a long white robe with a colored head scarf. He looked nothing like himself.
Luke had exchanged with Simba which meant he was in animal skin with his chest exposed while Simba wore a long dress coat and a top hat to match.
Ryuu had selected the more conservative costume, he had on a long shirt that was made out of kitenge and black trousers but thankfully Jay went the more traditional route and joined Luke in going bear chested, he wore dried grass and beads instead.
“I thought you wanted to show off your chest,” Malkia said when he came up to her, he had been quiet the whole time, it made her wonder if he didn’t like how she looked in the hanbok.
“I wanted to be able to stand next you without looking too juxtaposed.”
“Oh,” she took the long skirt and fanned it out “well here I am,”
“You look…so beautiful,” it almost felt like it was hurting him to say that but what hurt him was how much he just wanted to look at her, how much he felt for her and just how obvious it was that she didn’t feel the same. He saw her look at Luke and it hurt him to see her eyes flash the way they did.
“Thank you,” she blushed.
He moved closer and kissed her neck, he felt her shiver and felt sated for a bit, at least her body liked him.
They went out to the rest of the fair, there people dressed in all sorts of manner but none had tried to dress in other cultures so they found themselves the center of attention everywhere they went.
But it didn’t stop them all from having fun, or being scared out of their minds. The rides were too high and too fast, the horror houses were too scary, everything was too much but it was the extra that made their experience memorable.
They took all sorts of pictures, together and alone, near rides and by carts. It was quite easy to see that they were all having the time of their lives.
Eventually when the star was finally overhead they went to the other activity that they had to do. They left their Cultural Costumes and into appropriate beach wear. Then off they went into the ocean to see the caves and scuba dive and surf as the Starset approached. 
The caves were quite beautiful they looked like large corals filled with pink crystals that glowed when the star had set. They were over there for the rest of the day and they got to swim, the ones who liked to scuba dive did that as well.
Malkia didn’t want to try scuba diving. It didn’t seem like something she could do on a whim, she was sure she needed to prepare herself mentally before she went in that deep.
Ryuu was beside her, he was in a yellow beach shorts that matched Malkia’s own beach wear which was a two piece swimming costume. He hadn’t wanted to do anything she didn’t do so they were by themselves on the boat while everyone else played in the water. There were enough lights to light the ocean so it was all pretty safe to swim even though it was night time.
“Do you want to see what the ocean floor looks like?” Ryuu asked her.
“Not if it means going down there,”
“Here,” he said giving her a round piece of glass, she took it and then stared at him waiting for instruction.
“My father is afraid of water and he wanted to be able to look at the ocean as though he were down there so he had this developed. It’s like a telescope but more efficient, it basically transports your eye until you are right there where the thing you want to see is.” He took her hand and placed it in front of her eye “look at it,”
She moved her head forward so the ship wasn’t in her way and looked at the ocean, she could only see the water at first and then it felt like the ocean was rushing past her as the machine quickly zoomed into the depth of the sea until she saw the sand right at the bottom the ocean. There weren’t any fish there, there were weeds and corals and sand.
“Wow,” she said looking back at Ryuu “this is amazing,”
“Yeah, it is the thing that made my father a prominent man, they use these things to look out at the starts and find other livable or exploitable planets.”
“Really? Are there more than we are taught?”
“Yes, this tech shows more than we can travel. The ones made for industrial use are quite remarkable.”
She went back to staring at the ocean and he kept his hand in his pocket touching the bracelet.
“Will you tell me something,” he said after a while.
“Sure,” it was getting too dark to see anything down there.
“Why did you lie to me?”
She tried not to hold her breath but she had held it from the moment she heard him ask why.
“I don’t know,” she said deciding to be honest “I don’t like how you react when I’m around him I guess, you’re very jealous of him.”
“I’m not jealous of him though, I’m only jealous of what you feel for him.”
She looked at her feet, he gave her the bracelet, she took it and wore it.
“Do you feel anything for me? Do you think you could feel something for me?” he asked after another while.
She looked at the water, just the ocean and not it’s floor.
“Yes,” she said, she wasn’t sure if it was true or if she had only said it to remove the look on his face. Why did he give her so much power?