Above drowning waters and below piercing stalactites, both Ekitai and Kokei sit on the rim of the silver pad, their legs dangling over the edge. Behind the two, the holographic cell remains standing, concealing the other two inside. The screens from the outside are black, caching the information and events taking place past the walls.
Silence resonates through the cavern as not one word is spoken, for the loudest sound is the stillness of the water below. Another awkward silence, as Kokei and Ekitai stare off into the lightless void ahead of them with no way out.
A gentle breeze brushes against the both of them, shoving Kokei’s hair forward, passing her hollow pink eyes still entranced in the abyss, her hands gripping onto the edge of the pad anxiously avoiding plummet. Beside her sits her old friend, whose yellow eyes calmly stare into the nothingness, remaining intact.
Ekitai reaches his hand into the interior of his coat and pulls out a flask of purple liquid. He turns his gaze to Kokei before grinning lightly and teasing with a dramatically luring voice, “Want some?”
Once again the joke is not met with a response, as Kokei doesn’t even turn her head in acknowledgement. Understanding that she wasn’t in the mood, Ekitai turns back to face the distance and remarks, “Suit yourself,” before taking a swig from the flask himself.
“I should be happy.”
Shocked by the unexpected speech, Ekitai pulls the flask off his mouth and turns to the one who spoke in the dull, monotonous tone beside him.
Kokei’s eyes remain on the void, and she elaborates, “I should feel happy, so why don’t I? This is exactly what I wanted, so why am I not grateful? What’s wrong with me?”
Encountered by an unanticipatedly hefty questionnaire, Ekitai impulsively releases a nervous chuckle before gulping.
Without professional counseling abilities, Ekitai attemptively assures, “There’s nothing wrong with you ahah, I mean hey well maybe when we’re out we can have that normal hangout that you called me for from the beginning or something maybe, ya know?”
Beside the makeshift counselor, Kokei releases a heavy sigh. She lowers her head and shakes it rejectingly. Keeping her head down, she quietly reflects, “What have I even been doing this whole time? You were right earlier, I have regressed. Whining helplessly, getting upset at every little thing, I mean I am literally once again having to live at someone else’s house because I can’t safely live on my own. It’s so…pathetic. I had worked so hard to become responsible, mature, self-sustaining, an actual adult who can live in and contribute to society. And then I just dropped the ball in an instant. I don’t know…I don’t know what even overcame me back in the house, I’ve been able to recall it well now and it was so…embarrassing, acting like some kind of stronger being, like a god or something stupid.”
Another gulp from the flask, Ekitai pulls his flask away and liberates himself a breath. He then raises his head up at the ceiling while kicking his legs back and forth before spontaneously evincing, “Or maybe you were acting like your true self: the one you tell yourself is irresponsible, immature, unsustainable, and a child.”
Kokei tilts and raises her head, eyeing Ekitai through strands of her pink hair and emitting, “Huh?”
Head up high, Ekitai promptly elucidates, “Back in the house, when you were floating with all your lightning powers and stuff, commanding ‘You’re not getting rid of any of my guests, get out of my home!’ I mean to be honest it was maybe a bit corny, but for that second, I heard the voice of someone I haven’t heard in so long. The voice of someone who wasn’t tripping over herself to follow a template, the voice of someone who wasn’t trying to roleplay a person she simply wasn’t. Kokei, I know you’ve put a lot of work into making this life for yourself, but have you ever wondered: is this really what you need?”
Resorting to defenses, Kokei turns her head to face forward and huffs before fueding, “Rich coming from you, you never even tried to live a normal life.”
“Because I was never going to live a normal life. Because I’m not normal. I wasn’t going to keep wasting my time playing pretend in 9 to 5s as some cashier or something, drinking coffee in the office break room or whatever. That’s not me, it’s never been and it’s never going to. And that goes the same for you. Hell, you’re even more not normal than me, it got to the point where I wasn’t even sure what you were; every time I saw you, you were something else. So where in that timeline did ‘tax filing office programmer’ come in?” challenges Ekitai, his voice becoming more confident and grounded.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
In response, Kokei sighs disappointedly before remarking, “Ekitai, now you’re using my existential crisis as an excuse to justify tax evasion. Seriously, you’ll get in a load of trouble.”
Choosing to neglect his friend’s concerns, Ekitai follows, “Regardless, you see what I mean. Back in the house, when you saved us all, I knew you weren’t embarrassed, you were proud. You haven’t been proud in so long. You say you’re proud whenever you move to another closet you call an apartment, and you say you’re proud whenever you get another ‘promotion’ which is really just a cool word for ‘you do more work and they’ll chip in a couple more credits.’”
Kokei lowers her head again before muttering defensively, “Do you have to insult my livelihood to give this speech?”
Previously unaware of his own words, Ekitai chuckles nervously and takes another chug from his flask, having let himself off the hook too much. Now back on the surface, he amends, “Sorry sorry, what I mean to say is, you keep going on about how happy you are living the most mundane life that can exist. And it’s just that, I know you’re so much more than that. You’re not a god, yes, but you’re not an average Joe…or an average…uh…what’s the female version of average Joe…?”
“”Ordinary Jane,’” answers Kokei shortly, her head remaining low.
Ekitai chuckles again and waves his hand while rebounding, “Yeah yeah, ordinary Jane, that’s it ahah! You’re not a Jane, you’re a Kokei! Not that people named Jane are inherently lame or anything y’know, I’ve met plenty of Janes who are pretty interesting, I mean like…never mind. As I was saying, you’re not just another random person, I’m sorry for breaking it to you but you might be the most not normal person in the entire Superverse, or at least like…maybe Top 5. Top 10. Top…somewhere up at the top. And I didn’t want to rain on your parade back when you seemed content with acting normal, but I can tell that since you’ve been here, you’ve enjoyed not having to act. You’ve enjoyed speaking your mind, even if it’s a…very mean mind…but you’ve enjoyed living a life a little bit closer to what you need. When I first met Rohan at the Castin Bar, he came off as a pretty lame, ordinary person, just sitting there with his dumb Royx not saying a word. I tried to talk to him but he was just not responsive, honestly that was a really soft bar compared to the places I’ve been farther from the core.”
“You mean the ones full of war criminals where people openly deal drugs and you’re surrounded by other lunatics?” remarks Kokei with snark, raising her head to look at Ekitai.
A chuckle comes from Ekitai and he shakes his head, shielding “No no, never mind! But anyways as I was saying, then this gang of guys in formal suits and stuff came in and started poking him with guns, saying all this crap about hiding in shadows and being betrayed and that they were gonna shoot him up, which just came out of nowhere, I mean I’ve done some bad things and gotten flack for it but this was something else. And so the guy holding the gun to him asked if he had any last words to say to his boss, and I swear I know you don’t like the lad but the pure visceral energy of this man when he said ‘Don’t worry about it kid, I can tell your boss for you,’ like that is peak! And then the guy just full on goes ham and starts a fight, and yeah I’ve been in so many bar fights I lost count but this guy was no bar fighter, nah he was a warrior, he tossed all those guys left and right! That was when I realized, this guy, he’s something. He ain’t one of these normal citizens, he’s not a Joe or Jane, this guy, he’s something special. I mean…at the time I didn’t realize he was instigate-and-orchestrate-a-war-basically type of special, but I knew I was onto something! And see, in that bar, when we was fighting guys left and right, I never felt more like myself, even compared to all the crazy adventures I had! I mean you know me, I’m not one to stick to sidekicks or anything, but this guy is living a life that is probably the closest thing to what we used to have. And you know…I missed that…and I know you do too. You like the adventure, you tell yourself you’ve moved on but I can tell you still have a lot of room left for more. You don’t need to lie to me Kokei, you know full well that I’ll understand anything.”
Strands of hair lay over Kokei’s face, unkempt and messy. But through it, her eyes shine brightly, staring up at Ekitai in silence for a few moments.
Up and chug, Ekitai takes another shot of his flask. After pulling it off his lips, he turns to Kokei and grins, tilting his head and imploring, “How was that?”
Behind her hair, a soft smile widens on Kokei. She leans back, still gripping the edge of the pad, but now more laxed. As she swings her feet back and forth, she first makes the snark remark, “First off, if you tell Rohan that you see him as a sidekick, I think that might be enough to actually make him laugh.”
She then turns her gaze to the void ahead, continuing to swing her feet but leans forward to sit up straight. In a soft, genuine voice, she then admits “But it was good, thank you. I think…I know what I need to do.”
Ekitai raises his head and watches Kokei swing her legs up and slide her arm back, throwing herself back onto the pad. She rolls up to her feet, stretching her arms as her pink hair brushes off her face.
Staring up, Ekitai is met by a soft open hand held out for him. He grins and nods before taking one more swig and stuffing it inside his coat. He then grabs the hand, and lets it pull himself up.
Kokei yanks Ekitai off the rim and to his feet, stepping back as he stumbles forward a few steps. After letting go of each other, Ekitai then wipes his face, stretching his arms too as they too have grown tired.
Gazing over at the holographic chamber in silence, Kokei stares for a few moments as she reinforces her newfound confidence, closing her hands into fists.