Hello, Zodiac (4)

(Ophelia)

***

I heard a sniffle from beside me and became attuned to the motion of a shaky hand in my peripheral vision.

"Stop this. I don't want to go back." Koharu's voice diminished into a quiet sound before it made a brisk crescendo into a shout.

"I don't want to fucking leave! If I have to live in all the dirt and grime and filth the rest of my life, it's better than having seen none of the world! Who the fuck wants to live in a jail cell all their life?" She loudly cried, "Who the fuck wants to live in chains and handcuffs and only see four walls?"

Aries and Roslynn were both so shocked that they couldn't speak. I stepped away, lodged between mortification and worry as I displayed a harsh expression regarding her untimely decision. Koharu wept until her legs gave out, and she crashed onto the ground beside me.

*Shit. This is her breaking point.*

"Koko!"

Without hesitation, I kneeled to her. Her face contorted into something painful like the knots of trees and muscles twisted in her mind.

She had been building to this outburst. I could tell. But the dark circles and red lines around her eyes told me the ammunition had been lit too soon, fueled by the heat of weariness.

As she sobbed, I raised a hand to her face, and she threw it away like garbage. She glared at the ground in the direction of her tears before she moved her gaze to me, the wrenching of my heart nearly bringing me to a similar state.

She growled, "Don't—"

"Don't do this," I told her. "I promise we'll be happier when we go back."

That was as obvious as the solution to one plus one to me, but my judgment was always nebulous under stress.

Desperate to soothe her, I wrapped my arms around her. Immediately, she used her elbows to pry them off and crush my soul.

There was a push against my chest as slender fingers roughly seized the collar of my shirt until knuckles dug into my skin. I was rattled by the rough shaking as my neck went limp, but it seemed as if she had enough control over herself to not do anything beyond that.

*That's making me sick…*

"Why—"

"Don't tell me that." Her voice was sharp yet guiltily quiet. "You call me a liar, but you lie to me like that."

"Like *how*?"

"Like the way you just did!" She swung her arm aimlessly, and it barely missed me. "You don't know *all* the terms of the curse. Nobody does. You can't tell me things like that. You ask me how I feel, but it doesn't resonate in your heart. You don't get it. You never get it."

*Maybe I don't, but I want to.*

"Koko, please. I'll try harder for you then."

I grabbed her arms. Her eyes looked distorted due to their wideness—white as snow and hardly the bright green I had known them to be. She was too tired to think.

"We've already come this far—"

"There you go again!" she shouted.

Averting my eyes in defeat, I inhaled several times.

*It's no use. Must I hold up the white flag this early?*

"…What do *you* want then?"

A new round of tears surged down her face. The room was so deathly quiet after I spoke that the ants creaked in the walls, eating away at the core of the wood.

"I don't know. I either lose you, or I lose this place." She sniffled. "I want it all."

There was more stiff silence accompanied by crying.

Not quite sure what to say for a few moments, I shook my head. All my thoughts jumbled together into some mishmash of ideas that wouldn't get us anywhere.

*The game is determined by the choices, my love.*

"You're the only one who can figure that out then." I paused, trying to keep myself from stuttering. "I don't know what to tell you."

What was I supposed to have done about all her indecisiveness—just have taken it?

She lifted me by the grip she had on my blouse.

"Why are you being so apathetic right now?" she yelled.

"I'm trying to be rational. We don't have much ti—"

She continued screeching, "Why can't I—"

Aries waved one of her wings so that fairy dust clogged Koharu's nostrils and made her cough violently as if by a devastating ailment.

"Both of you need to calm down, geez." Aries sighed. "Take a nap when you get back or something. The blonde one looks sleepy enough to drop dead any second."

*In any other circumstance, I would yell at you, but you're completely right.*

Swirling a hand, Aries whisked the fairy dust around until it entranced Koharu, and she fell asleep.

Her face laid against my chest as I stroked her back; I considered how the soft snoring was nothing compared to her shouting from under a minute ago. She appeared to be at ease with the tension evaporating from her features.

*I hope that makes you feel better. We'll talk it out in a little while.*

I cleaned the wet spots from her cheeks with the bottom of my shirt, exposing the skin on my stomach to the chilly room.

"Guess the alcohol's mine," Aries said with a shrug a while later. "Man, couple fights suck."

Face still pale but now irritated, Roslynn poked her arm. "Not the time."

"She's right about that last part," I whispered. I tapped Koharu's forehead with the pad of my index finger, realizing she was unresponsive. "You knock her out?"

"For like thirty minutes, yeah," Aries responded. "Should be an extra deep sleep. Like… a power nap."

*As long as it's only a nap…*

"That'll work. She's only gotten mad like that once."

"Doesn't seem like the type." Aries hummed.

I shrugged. "Pigeonholing people doesn't get you anywhere."

The room went quiet again as Aries worked on popping the cork out of the slightly opaque glass bottle. (I was not the person to consult about the reason why she didn't use magic to do so; she was killing her palms.)

I played with the soft strands of Koharu's hair that tickled my hands, the tufts softer than ever because of the potent soaps that had cleaned them.

I loved her like this. I loved her when she was aggressive, too, but there was something so tender about her when she was calm. Not even the sweetness of her curiosity could compare to the gentle sight in front of me.

I unconsciously found myself smiling.

"Wanna try again while she's asleep?" Aries asked when she finally got the stupid piece of wood out. Some foam dripped off the side, looking almost obscene.

*That's tricky. I still want to respect her wishes, and I doubt she'll appreciate us going ahead without her approval.*

"I don't—"

The piercing slam of a wooden door against a wall and the shouting of timber drew my attention to the entrance, nearly giving me whiplash.

*Oh. Fuck.*

A man in elegant but futuristic brown robes stood before our party of four in the bedroom. His features were strong and sharp, and he had dark hair with olive-tone skin. From his face, I could see how he was a descendant of King Daemon as he was an equally imposing figure.

Aries and Roslynn bowed to him while I awkwardly did the same.

He stomped, a wet sound that was intensified by the acoustics of the room.

"Rosie, what in the world is all that yelling a—"

As he halted himself and ran up to me, he narrowed his eyes. He grabbed my collar once more as Koharu had, and the chafing against my skin was much more unpleasant this time due to his rough, calloused hands.

*I guess I'll go choke or something…?*

When I clenched my fists and parted my lips to gape, he shouted, "Get out, you thieves!"