I plopped a cherry in my mouth, letting the crimson juice spill down my lips. It looked bloody as it seeped, but it tasted sweet rather than metallic. The liquid dripped from my chin as I tossed the pit into a yellow terracotta bowl, swirling around the rim until it hit the center. I took a cloth napkin and wiped it up with shaky hands. The familiar air of the Sun Castle's dining hall brushed against my face in the wake of the wet trails.
*It's finally the time.*
Watching twenty-four hours pass like the slow ticks of a clock after I made my declaration and piled up horse shit, I was conscious of every action that day. I noted the tiniest bend of a knuckle or flick of my toe, calculating my moves down to the particle.
I felt Koharu's eyes glance me up and down, a glimmering red lipstick drawing me towards her multiple times. Fearful I'd ramble, I didn't bother to mention it. There was an odd tension in the air that made opening my lips impossible, sealing them with thick wax and scales of dried skin.
Really, it wasn't odd. I was scared to acknowledge it before, but the strain was always there. Yet the ease of our conversation never succumbed to that daunting weight until I accidentally made it through stubborn determination, pushing a little too far.
I certainly didn't have all the details figured out; I only knew I needed to talk during our lunch—bring my feelings up casually.
But—oh gosh—that shining color on her drew me in, so I chomped on another cherry to ignore the stifling heat. My teeth clamped down so hard that I thought something cracked, but I didn't find any miscellaneous white or brown chips on the wooden table below me. Koharu chuckled, trying to ease the moment, but it seemed to only bow under its own heaviness.
The days in the month or so before led us to this regardless, gradually trickling overwhelming emotions into a cesspool of sickeningly sweet words.
A fabric-covered knee laid against mine, moving softly under the table. It was manageable; the touch was not enough to make me freak out, but the weight of a hand against my shoulder brought down the floodgates for the waves of giddiness settling in me.
"You okay? You didn't eat any cyanide, right? I don't want to have to do first-aid on you—something with your mouth to make sure you wake up." Koharu giggled. "Magic makes it easy, though. You just have to tell me. I *heard* that crunch."
*I hear my heart banging on its door! Can you fix that with magic?*
"I'm good," I replied, gulping down the remaining fruit. "I didn't bite that hard. I think I'd lose a tooth before this thing came open." Listening to the clinking noise, I poked at an incisor. "No telling when one of these things is going to decide it doesn't like me anymore."
She smiled. "If your words are sugar, you're going to be sweet enough to give them cavities."
*How do you say such things with ease?*
As if on cue, she pouted. "Then, you're going to have to get wooden replacements, and those are super weird."
Thankful she continued, in a dry voice, I responded, "Mm, yeah. Imagine biting into your food and then it looks like tree rings gone rogue." I drew circles in the air.
"Exactly! Dad always has the strangest bite marks because he has one," Koharu said, but her jokes fell flatter than usual. There was no better way to kill a line partway than to talk as monotonously as possible.
*What is this mood today?*
It would have been beneficial to me if I stopped asking myself questions to which I already knew the answers.
"I need to give him a snack one day in the board room to see what you're talking about."
"At least," she said as she moved closer to me, resting her entire shin against mine, "don't ask him how he lost it. He'll say it was knocked out in a war like he's cool or something. He actually lost it when he bit down on a fork, and then he blamed Father for it."
I snorted as I took a toothpick again and placed it in the fruit bowl, pulling out yet another… cherry.
*Koko, did you only get one fruit today? How is this lunch?*
I didn't have a bone (or pit) to pick with cherries, but having only them in the room was strange. I recalled a pamphlet I once read about them, going over their basic properties. It talked something about the *Prunus* genus, growing season, cultivation, and…
*…Koko, don't tell me…*
…its use as an aphrodisiac. Surely, though, I was overthinking as I inhaled the fruit and set aside the rest of the pile to avoid playing into any potential schemes. However, Koharu wasn't the kind of person to do anything bad to me, even with that flirty mouth of hers. I knew that, yet it added to that unrecognizable feeling in the room.
*I don't know if I can put a name to the sensation, but it resonates in all my senses to the point it's incomprehensible.*
"I don't put it past him," I said to her, smiling slightly. "He often does… questionable things. I think I've seen him walk into a few walls. Also, why are you drinking something different today?"
She swirled around a goblet full of only milk, lacking the potent alcohol she usually kept with her like a lucky charm. It was a white color, reminding me of a bland, inoffensive flavor. The beverage was perfect to balance out stronger tastes, but it seemed too rich and creamy to go with most dishes.
"Eh, not in the mood for it. Sometimes, it doesn't taste good with a meal. There's already enough fruit here. I might as well become a berry plant if I have any more!"
She glanced over the rim, gazing at me softly but unrelentingly.
*Did I do anything wrong, or do you have an idea up your sleeve, too? Do you perhaps already know about mine?*
"Why aren't you eating any more cherries today? Bad choice? I know you usually like them." Thinking one faulty food choice was a sin in itself, she frowned.
"Not in the mood for them," I replied, echoing her words from a few moments ago as we stared each other down.
*Please say sike, and let's pretend we're just having a staring contest at this point. I think I'm going to melt like this. I can't hold any food down now without feeling queasy.*
"I can get you something else."
"Don't worry about it." Dinner still rumbled in my stomach, keeping me adequately full.
Staying strangely silent, she nodded. She moved her gaze downward as she nonchalantly crossed her legs, and she grinned cheekily.
"Bold choice today on your attire, hm?" Koharu teased to bring the conversation to its normal tone.
I felt colder than usual, even under the blazing sun and burning eyes that seemed to be constants in the kingdom. I wondered if there was a spare cape or jacket with which I could cover myself.
"Why? I'm not wearing anything out of the norm." I closed my eyes and shrugged as I shifted in my chair. I ran my palms against my pants to remove the sweat.
"Would a mirror be helpful?" She grinned and snapped her fingers, changing the wood in front of me to a glass tabletop. I could then see my reflection.
*Oh.*
I attempted to slam my head against the table in embarrassment, but a cushion suddenly appeared under my forehead. It kept me from shattering the brittle slab.
"Screw you, Leo!" I screamed into the pile of feathers and fabric.
He changed me into a rather revealing v-neck blouse—still as extravagant as any others I wore daily—when he was irritated during our discussion about whether ketchup or mustard was the superior condiment for a sandwich. (For the record, mustard was the correct answer, but Leo was an idiot.)
"Hey, don't worry." Koharu raised a finger to lift my head from a distance as I frowned. "It's a bit of a… well, sexy look on you." She gave a sultry smile before chuckling, unable to maintain that facade. Either expression had the same effect, bringing me into a state of malfunctioning by either hotness or cuteness.
*Again, are you trying to kill me here?*
Glancing down, I whacked my hands against the pillow in a continuous loop, sure some hardware in my brain became fried.
*I don't know if I can do this. Should I just abort my mission?*
She raised my head once more, correcting the ugly grimace to a soft smile like she was the artist and I was her painting. "It's not like I said something bad. You look lovely as always."
I threw the cushion at her, which promptly dissipated into rays of light as it met the tip of her nose. "I'm pretty sure you'd say the same if I were wearing a trash bag, given how complementary you seem towards me."
"I think it's boxy enough to compliment your curves." She shrugged as she laughed it off.
*Give me back the fucking pillow!*