Crimson Oasis

✧ iii. ✧

Midday was a very, very abrupt time of the day for the kiroccos, but as soon as the sun was at its peak, it was pretty magnificent. The sky was usually reddish, especially when around sunrise or sunset, but at midday, it's the most brilliant blue any kirocco would see. If there weren't any clouds, the view was even more spectacular.
Kari's mother had just dropped her off at the entrance to the largest part of Saikra; its downtown. Her friend group stood at one of the markets, waving at her.
Although Kari had woke up nervous, which was rather unusual for her, the presence of her friends built the confidence in her mind; Lako's excited little hops. Mika's heartwarming gaze. Kuruki's shy smile. Vytak's confident face. And how could she forget Rykuru's ignorant, emotionless expression?
"Bye, Mum," Kari said to her mother, briefly waving at her. Her mother waved back with a smile and mouthed 'good luck!' to her, before letting her dart to her friends.
Lako leaped in the air. "Heyyyyy, Kari!" he cheered. "Excited?"
Kari gave a brief nod.
Vytak looked down at her and beamed. "It's not that hard, you should be fine," he reassured her. He was the oldest of the friend group and the first to receive his bracelets, and since then was very proud of himself. Kari was now the second, and while she couldn't wait to finally receive her bracelets, she was also shaking just a little.
The group set off toward the city center, drowning their conversations with food, for some reason. Today, everyone seemed to be in the mood for food.
"Ya hungry?" Vytak said.
Kuruki nodded. "Ye."
"I could go for some cactus soup!" Lako exclaimed, leaping in the air again.
Rykuru huffed. "I wonder how long we can go without Lako just jumping in the air for no reason..."
"Not my fault he's so energetic," Kuruki countered.
Kari walked behind most of the group, side by side with Mika, who always looked at her in such a sympathetic way.
"You okay?" Mika asked Kari, which made her almost jump.
Kari nodded. "Yea... just a little nervous, y'know?"
Mika smiled and put her arm on her shoulder, rubbing it slightly. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. I know it."
Kari doesn't know why, but whenever Mika touches her, she feels comfortable. She feels a lot more confident than she'd usually be. She smiled as Mika kept rubbing her shoulder. "Thanks, Mika," she said softly.
"No problem," Mika nodded back, smiling, gently removing her hand from Kari's shoulder.
But nobody was prepared for what was next...