The front entrance to Chiyo’s apartment building was in his sights. As he marched to it, Cobalt felt his hair getting wet with sweat again. Man, he was getting more nervous than he should be. Flecks of yellow strands were getting in his mouth, too. He should get a haircut soon. Thankfully, the florist was very supportive of Cobalt’s mission today and had lent him a comb and a handkerchief to make him look more presentable. If not as well put-together as the bouquet, Cobalt at least hoped he looked half as charming as he did in the videos their friends had taken during Chiyo’s confession at school.
People often complimented his smile. Between that, the flowers, and the words he had in mind for Chiyo, it all should be enough to maintain a romantic atmosphere.
He originally wanted this visit tonight to be a surprise, but as he approached the building, Chiyo was already exiting the doors while dragging a bag of luggage behind her. She also had on a backpack. Where was she going?
Why was her face so red? Has she been crying?
Cobalt stamped the brightest smile he could muster on his face before rushing toward her.
“Hi, Chiyo!”
She was startled, jumping against a wall as she turned to face him. Yeah, she definitely looked like she had been crying. It was just like how mom looked after a crying scene when she was acting.
Slowing his stride, Cobalt lowered the bouquet and dampened his smile. Once at Chiyo’s side, he peered into her teary eyes. “What happened? Are you okay? Did your parents…”
Chiyo pressed a hand against Cobalt’s chest and pushed. He went back a step before planting his feet, his stare never wavering from Chiyo. She changed from surprise to displeasure.
“What’s wrong?” Cobalt asked next. “Where are you going?”
She hesitated before answering. “I called my grandma. She knows about the divorce. I’m staying with her until my parents settle everything.”
That was… sudden… But nothing Cobalt couldn’t work with! He knew the benefit of last-minute road trips better than anyone! “Okay! I’ll go with you!” He’ll have to finally open up his phone and tell everyone he’ll probably be gone until tomorrow morning at the earliest, though. Chiyo’s grandpa lived a ways outside of Tokyo.
However, when Cobalt moved closer to take Chiyo’s luggage for her, she jumped again and held the bag as a barrier between them. “No! Stay away from me, Cobalt!”
She was panicky, scared… but not scared directly of Cobalt. She wasn’t afraid of him. She was afraid of… at least something related to Cobalt if she was so against him being in arm’s reach.
“What’s the matter?” he gently asked.
Again, she hesitated. Then her face hardened, the heat still there but Chiyo now glaring daggers at Cobalt. She hissed out, “You cheated on me, didn't you?”
… Cobalt hadn’t expected to be asked that.
“Before our first date, you just went and threw yourself at the first pretty girl you saw at the Sin Club.”
Cobalt frowned, thinking of Miss Sano tending the bar at the tavern, and compared her to Ayane. “No, I was with the second prettiest girl there.” Then Cobalt remembered Sachi. “Well, Ayane was the third prettiest overall girl in looks and personality I spoke with–”
“I don’t want to hear it!” The venom in her voice dialed up. “You’ll just make excuses like my dad did.”
“Excuses for what? Hanging out with pretty girls?” He remembered mom teasing him a few times about being popular with girls, but he never really understood it. He had just as many friends who were boys. Aqua was certainly more popular in comparison, considering all the messages his social accounts get from girls. “All of our friends who are girls at school are pretty, too. Some people think me and Aqua are pretty ourselves, because we’re identical siblings to Ruby. Like that time they dared me to dress up as–”
“Don’t play dumb, Cobalt! You know what I mean!”
“But I don’t…”
Wait. Sachi had said Ayane only cared about sexually satisfying herself. Sachi had also clarified how sexual stuff could be distinct from romantic stuff…
Had Ayane been trying to make Cobalt commit adultery?
No, Clay wouldn’t have recommended Ayane if that had been her true intention. More likely she must have planned on acting out an example of adultery as a live teaching lesson without actually doing the deed. Like how people practiced pumping water out of drowning victims with test dummies.
“I don’t care about having sex with you, Chiyo,” Cobalt reassured. “I only want to make you happy.”
“So you do think about sex!”
Well, that was a given. Romance tended to involve sex for older people, though neither Chiyo or Cobalt had brought it up regarding their own relationship until now. “Sometimes. Why does that matter?”
“I’m supposed to be your girlfriend, Cobalt!”
“… Oh, yeah. I came here to clarify some things.” He cleared his throat. Chiyo’s weird ideas of what Cobalt was up to at the Sin Club should be rectified once he made himself loud and clear. “I know romance and sex are related, but I don’t want to become a father yet, so sex was never really something I thought about doing with you. We got together to understand love, but we’ve both seen how love doesn’t end well. That’s why I want us to focus on just being happy, hanging out like we always do. Our questions will be answered naturally along the way.”
He didn’t get the sigh of relief or the look of compassion he was hoping for. Instead, Chiyo stared Cobalt down with suspicion. “Do you still want us to be dating?”
“If you want to call it that, sure! Dating, courting, socializing, mingling, wooing – I just want to spend more time with you, Chiyo.”
“Why?”
“I’ve honestly liked you since the day we met, and I still do.” Teaming up to track down the missing fundraiser money from that charity event had been the basis for one of his most viral Elemental Orel videos, and had been the first time he really got to speak with and get to know Chiyo. “However, I won’t say that I love you. Not yet. I will never lie to you.”
Gritting her teeth, Chiyo stomped her foot down. “But you already have! You told Ruby about the divorce when you promised not to tell!”
Now that was just an absurd accusation. Where on earth did she get that idea? “No I didn’t. I only told Clay and–”
Chiyo gasped, covering her mouth before lowering her hands. “You told Hoshigami, too? Why?”
Cobalt shrugged. He told Clay everything. Telling him about Chiyo’s situation wouldn’t hurt her in any way. “You said you didn’t want anyone at our school to hear about it. Clay won’t be gossiping to our teachers and classmates.”
“How many other people did you tell?”
Cobalt retraced his steps again. “Sachi knows, too, but she doesn’t live around here, like Clay. Telling her also helped her give me some good advice! She’s the reason I came to visit you tonight.” He held out the bouquet, hoping the scent of the roses would lighten Chiyo’s mood. “You confessed to me. It’s my turn now; I wanted to make a formal confession to you.”
For a split second, it looked like Cobalt was getting through to Chiyo. She let her grip on the luggage loosen, and she was enraptured by the flowers, unable to turn away. As her gaze shifted upward, Cobalt made sure to brighten up his smile, showing off his perfect teeth. If only he was at a better angle with the setting sun. He could have added a bright sparkle to his presentation, just like Ruby taught him.
Then Chiyo shattered the perfect image that was unfolding, roughly pushing the bouquet to the side. Cobalt couldn’t stop a few of the flowers from slipping out and spreading across the concrete.
“Forget it, Cobalt,” she said, making him realize she wasn’t calling him Orel anymore. “You’re a liar and a heartbreaker. You’re just like my dad.”
“What are you talking about?” Why was Chiyo being so confusing today? “I’m not a liar.”
“Why don’t you go pour your heart out to Ayane or Sachi or whatever other hussy you ran into at the Sin Club?”
Was she jealous?
That can’t be right. Chiyo was too nice to be a superficial person blinded by jealousy. She was a beautiful person in her own right. If anything, people should be jealous of her, being able to be so kind and upbeat in her day-to-day while hiding her pain from the divorce.
“You’re misunderstanding, Chiyo. I want to date you. I want to make you happy.” She still wasn’t budging, so Cobalt elaborated. “Earlier today, I was asking people for advice on how to do that. Some of them were pretty girls. From them, I learned how I was overthinking things. You and I are both confused by romantic love, but we don’t have to be ruled by our confusion. We still need to enjoy life, so I want to take you out on a date right here, right now. It’s not romantic love yet. I don’t care. Let me show you how much I love you as my friend.”
Her facial expression didn’t change, but her voice did lose some of its hostility. “You have dozens of friends. I’m supposed to be your girlfriend. It’s supposed to mean so much more. Friends don’t go on dates. Boyfriends and girlfriends do.”
Cobalt shook his head. “You’re overthinking things like I was. We need to do what feels natural. What comes naturally to me is… doing this.”
He got down on his knees, removing one of the roses to take another whiff of it. Cobalt held the single flower against his chest as he once more held the bouquet forward.
“Chiyo, I genuinely like you. If you let me, I will make you fall in love with me, and I’ll definitely fall in love with you. We can find our own path to true love; not by following what your parents or what my grandpa and aunt did. By putting our own spin on it.”
Her fingers twitched. She was thinking of taking the roses! She was being convinced! Cobalt was making progress!
“... How can you speak so confidently when you’re just as clueless as me?” Chiyo asked, her voice low. “Except you couldn’t hold yourself back. You decided to spend more time with other girls instead of staying faithful.”
Man, she really was focusing on that jealousy/adultery angle, huh? “You’re still misunderstanding me,” he said again. Divorce and cheating played a larger influence on relationships than Cobalt thought. TV and movies didn’t do them enough justice. If only the basis for grandpa Ichigo’s and aunt Miyako’s divorce had been adultery instead of their disagreements about work and mom. Then maybe Cobalt could better relate to where Chiyo was coming from with her distrust.
A new idea suddenly hit Cobalt.
“Oh, we could go to Sin Club for our first date!”
Chiyo didn’t say anything, her face frozen in place. Cobalt strived further on.
“It’s where I met Ayane, who led me to Sachi, who led me here! So it can’t be all bad at the club. Ayane did say my world would never be the same tonight, and thanks to Sachi, I’m definitely looking at the world a little differently already!”
Cobalt stood up and wiped a wave of sweat off his forehead. Geez, he really was nervous. Hopefully things will turn around once they get to the Sin Club. “Since you sound so bitter about me being with those girls, we could get some of the free chicken wings and I’ll show you how people are just naturally kind there! You should get inspired by people’s good nature like I was!” His thoughts drifted to Clay’s drinking. “I’m not supposed to drink liquor, but Miss Sano was also very nice! She might serve some for you, and you’ll be able to let those negative feelings trickle out, just like how Clay or my aunt…”
Oh, hold that thought. Cobalt had just declared that they should follow their own path to love. Chiyo shouldn’t be drinking to try following in aunt Miyako’s footsteps… Chiyo only personally knew Clayman from a few short meetings at the Strawberry office, so she couldn't fully comprehend yet how inspirational he could be, drunk or not. Cobalt needed to paint the picture a little better.
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Chiyo stepped toward Cobalt.
That’s weird. It looked like Chiyo was going to slap–
She did slap him. Not enough to knock him off his feet, but undeniably enough to to daze him, make him see white.
Everything became numb.
“You’re a liar, Cobalt,” he heard her say in a shaky voice. “You’re a hypocrite. You’re… just like my dad. You’ll say whatever you need to if it means you’ll get what you want. A pretty girl in me, a pretty girl or two from that whore house…”
Cobalt forced his head around to look at Chiyo again. She was crying, the clear droplets dripping down to her shirt. Her hand was still raised, her fingers curling into a fist.
“… I say what needs to be said, yeah,” Cobalt uttered when he found himself able to speak again. “It’s how I stay honest. I’m not lying when I say I want to date you and no one else.”
“Dates after school, then dinners and drinks with the sluts at the club? Like him?”
She wasn’t listening. Not everything about love and relationships was a direct mirror to her parents’ situation. “No.”
“I wish I never met you.”
Chiyo turned her back to him and walked away.
Cobalt stared at her until she disappeared.
His grip on the bouquet failed, the flowers scattering in the wind.
Her dad must have meant a lot to her, so much that she was projecting him onto Cobalt.
If only Cobalt’s dad was still around. It had to have taken someone truly special to get mom to love him, and for him to deeply love her back, however short that love had lasted.
If that love had lived on and never stopped, if he had stayed… Maybe Cobalt could have learned more about love from his own dad instead. Maybe Cobalt could have said the right words to stop Chiyo from crying.
Someone put a hand on his shoulder. He slowly turned to meet them.
It was Ruby, panting as she leaned on him and steadied her breathing. Looking at her sad eyes was like starting into a twisted funhouse mirror. She tried to say something before forgetting it and pulling Cobalt into a gripping embrace.
It took Cobalt a second to return the hug. Chiyo’s indignation and utter distaste was still plastered in his mind.
“I’m sorry, Cobalt.” Ruby’s voice sounded like it was a million miles away. “Let’s go home.”
She guided him away, his hold on the single blue rose clenched tightly.
Ruby leaned back on the living room sofa. She chewed her lip as she swiped through the posts displayed on her phone and Cobalt’s.
Unfortunately, the people in the crowd that had assembled while Cobalt and Chiyo were arguing in the middle of the street had posted videos, at varying angles and audio qualities, of it online. Cobalt’s hair was done differently from normal, so it took fans a minute to discern if it was Elemental Orel, Aqua Hoshino, or a third-party lookalike. It wasn’t hard for students from their middle school to connect the dots, though. In just a couple short hours, Ruby’s and Cobalt’s feeds were flooded with messages.
Damage control for this was going to take some work, but Ruby mentally committed herself to it. On paper, it was a simple matter of painting Chiyo as the one at fault, the villain of the story. Executing it, however, will take a lot more planning than her previous endeavors in safeguarding Cobie’s reputation. She may have to pull Aqua into this.
Mama was still on her latest acting job, and Miyako was chaperoning Aqua for an audition. With Ichigo not home yet, it fell to Ruby to take care of Cobie on this miserable night.
Cobalt sneezed. With him slid down the backrest of the sofa and leaning into Ruby’s one-armed embrace, Cobalt set down his container of ice cream to reach for the tissue box next to him. After wiping his nose, he dumped the cloth into the pile stained with more snot and tears on the coffee table. He was soon settled back in Ruby’s loose but warm squeeze, shoveling ice cream into his mouth. A rerun of one of Mama’s films played on the TV.
Ruby was pretty sure the blue rose was making his nose runny, but she let him hold it. It seemed to be calming him somewhat, and an excused absence from school if he did get sick would be useful.
She heard the sound of the front door opening and shutting. Shifting her weight and her grasp on Cobalt, she mounted her chin on top of his head to get a good look at the new arrival. Ruby saw Ichigo slipping off his shoes. He greeted Ruby with a nod, raising a plastic bag filled with stacked boxes of takeout food.
“I got Cobalt’s favorite like you asked,” he said with a grin, referring to the texts Ruby had sent him earlier. “They had a special on your favorites, too.”
“Thank you.”
Ichigo could tell instantly something was wrong from Ruby’s unenthusiastic reply. He set the food aside and strolled around the couch. He glanced between Cobalt, Ruby, and the mound of gross tissues.
He popped the question. “What’s wrong?”
Ruby gave it to Ichigo bluntly. “Cobie’s first girlfriend dumped him.”
She could see Ichigo’s shock through his tinted sunglasses. “What?! When? How?! They only just started dating yesterday!”
Cobalt sniffed, eyes glued on the TV. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Ichigio sputtered for a bit more. Ruby let him go through the motions, her answering quick mundane questions about the break-up, before he eventually lowered his flailing arms in acceptance. “Sometimes I think we’re all cursed,” he grumbled to himself. Raising his voice, Ichigo added, “It’s good you were there with him, Ruby. I’m sorry things were cut short for you, Cobalt. Was Shin also with you when the break-up happened?”
Both she and Cobalt shook their heads.
“If you didn’t already know, Ruby, Shin was with Cobalt earlier, planning on giving him some tips about dating. They went their separate ways after, and apparently Shin had an argument with his father over the phone. I had to do some damage control in between the work at the office, hence why I’m a little late.” Ichigo glanced at the clock mounted on a wall. “Shin should be home by now, upstairs in his room if you didn’t catch him. Cobalt, if you need more advice–”
The last thing Cobie needed was to be near that bastard. “Cobie doesn’t need Shin,” she said frankly, motioning to Ichigo. “He needs someone who knows how to mend a broken heart to comfort him.”
Verbally, Ruby could do little more than give Cobalt the generic platitudes and affirming compliments of being a good person who deserved better. It could become white noise after enough repetition. Ichigo and Miyako’s relationship was a stable one now if not a romantic one, so one half of that pair could do loads more for Cobalt.
“I don’t know if grandpa can help me,” Cobie said absently. “I don’t know if I can fix things with Chiyo. She must not want me as a boyfriend or as a friend.”
Ruby delicately separated herself from Cobalt, causing him to curl into himself, hugging the rose for dear life. Again, she gestured expectantly at Ichigo, who resigned himself to his role and sat on the sofa beside Cobie.
Satisfied with Ichigo prodding his grandson for more details, Ruby trekked upstairs to wake Shin up.
After finally securing Cobalt at the house and asking him the right questions, Ruby had gotten the story straightened out: Shin lied to Ichigo about getting Cobie scandalous manga. Instead, Cobalt was brought to the Sin Club, where Shin drowned himself in alcohol while Cobalt was whisked away by a predator.
Upon arriving home, Ruby had discovered Shin asleep in the guest room. He wasn’t going anywhere, and Cobie had needed her immediate attention. With Cobie now in Ichigo’s safe hands, Ruby could freely confront the one responsible for this disaster of an evening.
Shin was already awake. Ruby heard the sound of a running sink shut off. Once she was at the top of the stairs, she watched Shin limping out of the bathroom. She raised an eyebrow at a feature she hadn’t seen earlier: an ugly bruise staining one of his eyes.
“Take a picture. It’ll last longer,” he sarcastically mumbled with little energy to it, not looking directly at her.
“Did you get mugged or something?” Ruby mused.
“Uh… yeah, sure. Let’s go with that.”
The smell of alcohol was also completely absent, from his body and his breath. She did notice it was gone when she had first checked on him, too. Shin was using a liberal amount of air freshener and soapy scents.
This wasn’t the only time Ruby was bombarded by these smells whenever Shin came over to visit. She had dismissed it all as Shin being a neat freak when staying over at mama’s home as an honored guest, but what if it had always been a means to hide his underage drinking?
Forgoing any further preamble, Ruby approached him.
A swift kick to Shin’s shin made him stumble forward. Ruby shoved her knee to crush his groin. His emasculating shriek was music to her ears, Shin dropping to his knees and covering his crotch. The noise from the TV downstairs was thankfully enough to prevent Ichigo and Cobalt from hearing Shin’s cries of agony. Disoriented, he stared blankly in front of him until Ruby grabbed the collar of his shirt. She was taller than him now that he was down low. She jostled Shin and moved him by the back of his head, making him look up at her.
It wasn’t quite a growl that crawled out of Ruby’s throat, but it was close enough. “Cobalt loves you like family,” she said. “Like an older brother, and you almost let him get violated today. You encouraged it.”
Shin’s brain was still trying to catch up to his current situation. He blurted out, “Did Ayane not do a good job?”
Ruby saw red. She pulled out her knife and delivered a hard jab with her knuckles to his throat. He yelped, tried to use one hand to grab Ruby’s wrist. She pressed the sharp metal against his teeth to stop him in his tracks.
“Your whore didn’t get anywhere,” she told him. “Cobalt was lucky there was a decent person to help him.” Whoever this Sachi girl was, Ruby privately wished a thousand blessings be granted to her soul. “Except, because you put Cobalt up to something he didn’t understand, his first girlfriend misinterpreted what happened and broke things off with him. Everything you did today caused nothing but pain and misery for my little brother.”
She let Shin squirm a little. Realizing any harsher movement on his part could push the knife into his gums, he stopped moving entirely and stared at Ruby with unadulterated fear.
Appeased by a fraction, Ruby pulled back the blade a marginal distance.
“... Orel can find another girl without a problem,” Shin decided to say, infuriating Ruby. He was grasping at something in a panic, not truly remorseful for his actions. He was even using Cobie’s YouTube handle. “He’ll be fine.”
Resuming the pressure of metal against teeth, Ruby shut him up. “Cobalt already had his heart broken today. I don’t want him to experience that again so soon. That means you have to get your act together and be the reliable brother Cobalt thinks you are, who doesn’t put him in danger or lets strangers take advantage of him.”
Shin loudly gulped. He was totally absorbed by Ruby, as he should be. He needed to burn her warnings into his memory.
“If you can’t do that, then after tonight, you’ll leave our house, quit Strawberry Productions, and never talk to Cobalt or any of us ever again.”
It would have been incredibly easy to tell the whole truth to everyone, appropriately vilify Shin, and send him packing right this second.
But Cobalt wouldn’t understand. He’d just get more depressed. He’ll cry for Shin. He’ll think Shin was the one who was betrayed rather than the other way around.
Shin Hoshigami – no, Clay. Clay was an idol to Cobalt. The idol, as close to the same way Ai had been to Sarina despite their differences.
And it was as clear as day to everyone in the Hoshino family that Shin loved the devotion Cobalt showered him with. Who wouldn’t? Cobalt had the big loving family, a better social network of friends, more consistently high grades at school from this past year, and a rising YouTube channel bound to outpace Clayman Animation’s growth any day now. For all the lessons and advice Cobalt sought from Shin, Shin relished in the adoring attention he received from Cobalt.
Shin wasn’t on the same level as the stalker who had scarred mama and Cobalt, but his misguided ways of “helping” Cobalt today still followed the same principle of mistaking obsession and abuse for self-entitled love. Shin treasured the loyalty and trust Cobalt shoved in his face, and tonight, he returned Cobie’s affections in one of the worst ways imaginable.
But Cobalt didn’t need another person he loved – or thinks he loves, anyway – abandoning him. Shin was still young, in high school, and liable to improve and change his tune under the right circumstances. Mama had been close to his age when she needed some dramatic events in her life to fully embrace her honest, beautiful, true self to openly love her precious children.
Shin will heed Ruby’s words and follow Mama’s example to become a good influence on Cobalt. Or Shin can leave forever and never come back. The choice was his. Ruby was only the messenger.
And the executioner, should it come to that.
Ruby gave him one last warning.
“If you ever endanger Cobalt again, I’ll go farther next time, and it’ll be the last time.”
Ruby let him go, stepping back, and allowed the pathetic slimeball drop to his side. Not wanting Cobalt to see his animation idol in this sorry state, Ruby opened the guest room door and kicked Shin inside.
She freshened up in the bathroom before returning downstairs. Cobalt buried his whimpering head into Ichigo’s shirt. Ichigo awkwardly hugged him back, looking unsure what to do.
This might be the first time Ruby has seen her little brother crying without abandon. Even her memories as newborn toddlers were too muddied with age to rightly recall a scene resembling this.
Ruby joined the hug and promised Cobie he would find love again one day.
Aqua blinked.
“How the hell did Cobalt and Chiyo break up?”
Seated at the dining table, Ruby shrugged nonchalantly. She had to be acting, after everything she had done to get them together. “Her parents were apparently getting divorced because her dad started cheating, and Chiyo got unreasonably paranoid that Cobie would start cheating, too.”
That was… a story. “I never took Chiyo to be so overly mistrustful of Cobie of all people.” It had been late last night when Miyako had brought Aqua home. He got out of bed this morning more than a little drowsy. Now he was wide awake.
“All’s fair in love and war. No plan’s guaranteed to survive first contact with the enemy.”
Now Ruby was just regurgitating popular phrases. This was a tactic she used to keep a conversation going while mentally withdrawing into her own head. “And where is Chiyo now?”
“She moved in with her grandma. Outside of Tokyo.” Ruby gave Aqua an intentful look. “Chiyo is no longer a part of his life, or mine, or any of ours. Understand?”
Aqua considered it. “Alright.” If she was out of town, then it would be quite easy to socially ostracize Chiyo. Not that Aqua truly believed Chiyo was a particularly horrible human being. He was worldly enough to know there might be more to the story than Chiyo simply stabbing a knife into Cobalt’s heart and running off without looking back. Regardless, their classmates will definitely be shoving their noses into Cobalt’s business if the break-up really did blow up on their social media accounts. Gossip was inevitable. Aqua was content with following Ruby’s lead to contain the drama.
And Aqua had thought the pair was a match made in heaven. He underestimated her ability to sort through the misunderstandings and messages Cobalt periodically struggled to convey. Aqua silently prayed Cobalt to one day find a girl who can better understand his unique way of thinking.
The front door of the house suddenly slammed open. Startled from the noise, Aqua peered around the corner to check what caused the commotion. He saw the blurry silhouette of Ai and only barely stepped out of the idol-shaped locomotive speeding down the hall and up the staircase.
Ai wasn’t supposed to be home until tomorrow.
“Of course I told her,” Ruby said aloud, picking at her bowl of cereal. “Don’t look so surprised.”
“I… suppose you’re right.” Still, “my son’s girlfriend broke up with him” was hardly an excusable family emergency to justify deserting an acting gig. Then again, it was Ai. She might not have even given an excuse before leaving at the first hint of one of her children in pain.
They heard through the walls Ai shaking Cobalt awake. The sound of Ai’s concerned voice reverberated throughout the entire house. Before long, Ai lowered her volume as she tried to soothe Cobalt with quieter, tender words.
“... I’ll make pancakes for him,” Aqua decided. Ai should be enough to heal Cobie’s soul for the moment. Aqua can contribute via a home-cooked meal. He’ll have a heart-to-heart with Cobalt later.
Ruby let out an annoyed groan. “You’re just deciding this now? I’m already half-way done with my food!”
“Nothing’s stopping you from eating whatever you want.”
“Your pancakes are great, though! And I need to watch my weight! You should have gotten up earlier before me and started cooking them first.”
Aqua marked down another point toward Ruby keeping up a facade. Their banter was commonplace in this household, but in this instance, it must be a means of coping with Cobalt’s downtrodden attitude. She wouldn’t be this eager for lighthearted jabs disguised as irritated rebukes if Cobalt or anyone else in the family was in a sorrowful mood. Cobalt reeling from his first break-up must have come off as a shock to Ruby in its own way.
Pulling out the ingredients and cooking utensils, Aqua indulged in the sharp quips and stubborn wisecracks with Ruby.
His little sister had done her part. Now it was Aqua’s turn to take care of her.
I said before that some of these OCs are based on Moral Orel characters. At least, that’s where they start. Their actual characterizations and usage in this story end up diverting more from their admittedly small roles from the original show depending on where my writing takes them.
- Chiyo Okazaki – Marionetta, the girl suspected of theft from the Elemental Orel episode
- Shion Sano – Dolly, the bartender from the episode Sacrifice
- Ayane Miyashita – Dottie, Florence’s roommate from the episode Sundays
- Sachi Kamiya – Stephanie, featured in a number of episodes
This arc was originally going to be longer, but I’m revamping what I have into the next update: Special Chapter 1: Blooming Blues.