The Legend of the Great Southern Star - Part Two

"—Hmh."

"What is it?"

Walking on Cobalt's left, a girl with two twin twirling locks of rainbow held back a slight chortle

"Honestly, I think it's kinda funny they're pushing everything back. It's sort of a good sign, right?"

That girl, dressed in a dark grey blazer and black skirt showed a smile somewhere between hopeful and sadistic.

No… Sadistic wouldn't be the right word at all. No one could be blamed for seeing the latest news as a good sign.

"I don't get it… Weren't we supposed to be graduating this year? We just have more of this to put up with… More classes, more lectures, more torment," he practically spat out the word torment, but agreeing wholeheartedly, the girl closed her eyes and nodded while walking, resting her knuckles under her chin to help her focus.

That expression she made was especially cute to Cobalt. He knew that whenever Bismuth made a face like that, she was going to say something really clever or profound. He loved that about her. Out of everyone Cobalt had ever met, Bismuth would have to be the smartest. Always top of their class, helping Cobalt study. Sometimes he felt like a burden, of course, but that thought had never even crossed Bismuth's head.

"Well, what exactly does graduation mean for us? Look at it this way… When we graduate, we'll be expected to finally be put out on the battlefield, but even after all this time, none of the scientists have been able to open the Rift again. Sooo… Until they do, we'll still be able to live out our lives, right? If ya ask me, the Committee's just getting desperate."

Trying his best to hide his obvious infatuation with her charisma, he couldn't help but agree with her. He didn't want to be a weapon. He didn't want to kill people.

"You're right… But I've been thinking about the class you signed up for… Are you sure that another combat course is a good idea?" He scratched the back of his neck, brushing his blue strands of hair out of the way as he anxiously overthought the next year of life here.

"Hmm… Well, I think so," she replied with a lively smile. She let her vibrantly spectrumed eyes wander a bit while thinking aloud. "There weren't too many classes since they're scraping the barrel with what they can teach us. And besides…" Her irises locked back onto Cobalt, and as a finger reached out to playfully poke his cheek, her eyebrows narrowed.

"You may have only scraped by last semester because of that move I taught you, but there's no way we're signing you up for another math course instead. I still can't believe you passed pre-calc with a 60%..."

He bashfully looked away, her finger still pressed to his cheek. She was right, though. In terms of super soldiers, Cobalt was probably the dumbest.

"And combat training sounds like a good idea to me. I don't mind trying to get back into shape," she added with a smile, before her vibrant eyes closed themselves in an embarrassed smirk. "And I think I've put on a little too much weight playing so many videogames…" She laughed it off, but her concern seemed genuine. "Maybe by the end of the year I won't be so chubby," she added with a half-laugh.

In response to this attempt at self-deprecating humor, he in turn raised a finger to poke her cheek more aggressively than she was to him, crossing their arms between them.

Both poking one another's cheeks for no reason other than playful teasing, Cobalt sternly replied, "You're not chubby. Don't say it again, or I'll poke you a lot harder next time."

Between the two, Cobalt was certainly right, here. Despite being perfect to Cobalt in every way, it was clear Bismuth didn't feel quite the same way about herself. So, every time she would attempt to lower herself down he would always pick her back up with his own playful attempt at "tough love".

Realizing Cobalt's resolve about the issue, she let out a sort of resigning giggle, as if to say 'there's no way I'm winning this battle, is there?'

Still giggling cutely to herself, she tilted her head gently to the side and crossed her fingers, holding them up clearly for Cobalt to see. "All right, all right, I won't anymore. That's a promise."

Crossing her fingers… That was Bismuth's own cutesy way of promising something.

For most people, crossing your fingers while making a promise was a cheap attempt to try to lie out of it. But throughout all the years Bismuth had done this unique quirk, she had never broken a single promise, to Cobalt's knowledge.

Cobalt had doubtlessly won this battle, but triumphantly lowering his finger from her cheek, he still thought about how they would be spending their summer together.

Cobalt's intentions were in the right place, but still… It just didn't seem fair.

He wanted too much - but who could blame him?

"There's gotta be something more fun we can do in the meantime, right?"

"Oh! About that…" She ran ahead and stood right in front of him, hands behind back and cheeky grin to boot. Standing so close facing towards him, he immediately found himself lost in her eyes yet again. Just a passing glance could easily show that there were thousands of different hues in her irises, but so close to them like this, he found himself inadvertently entranced within them. He blushed, and at this point of being so obviously caught staring, most people would bashfully look away. Cobalt, however, couldn't find himself able to do that. He was in way too deep.

Fighting against his own shyness and embarrassment, he heard his heartbeat in his ears. Their eyes quickly became locked. Mirroring his own rosy cheeks, her smile remained fixed on her cute face. They had both stopped walking, and Cobalt ran out of thoughts to break the stalemate between them. Her eyes, bursting in a vibrant saturated nebula of unobtainable hues, contained within an almond-shaped curve of lashes… There were galaxies, worlds, stories, and countless emotions residing just in those irises alone. Like they were a portal to somewhere else entirely… At least from Cobalt's perspective.

"..."

He had almost forgotten to breathe. Whenever he was caught staring like this, and the two of them locked eyes for this long, he always got this intense and pulsating warmth in his chest. He didn't know what to do with it, and barely able to even catch his breath from the sensation he was still unable to become accustomed to, he just narrowly managed to let out a short, "Y-Yeah—?"

GodI'mpathetic.

Even his inner voice sounded hoarse and strained against the obvious embarrassment he felt having stared for so long.

He could just hope she wouldn't latch onto that awkwardness as well, and that she would instead carry on without the muddled input of the muddled boy.

"I've been talking with Mother a little bit… Aaaand, she actually gave the two of us permission to go down to the Surface!"

The rays of cheerfulness she exuded while delivering the news proved that she was very, very proud of that accomplishment.

"W-wait—" Falling out of his hopeless trance, the weight of that news soaked in.

After all…

It's… Been three years-!!

Three whole years where neither of them were able to visit the Surface, since they've explored Fatum, since they've even felt the warmth of the sun.

He put both of his hands on her shoulders and held onto her tightly, beaming with enthusiasm.

"Really?!"

He had felt like he was holed up in a cave for so long.

"Mmmmhhmmmm!!"

And it was obvious that just about everyone else felt the same.

"When—?!"

An amazing day under a blue sky between just the two of them…

"This weekend."

She suddenly found herself unable to contain it anymore. Bursting at the seams of her lips, a confident and proud grin escaped in the form of a toothed smile. This unwavering grin, shining with both excitement and self-gratification, beamed for Cobalt and Cobalt only, as if to say 'Hehe! Praise me please!'

"That cynical old neural net actually said yes?!"

A proud giggle escaped her even prouder smile.

"She said it was a reward for my hard work." She retained her confident grin while rubbing a finger under her nose in an attempt to be humble. "So of course we're going together."

Cobalt was absolutely elated. To himself, his mind rushed with different quick thoughts that came and went.

This is amazing! So this is basically like a date, right? Or would she not want to call it a date? She probably wouldn't… Or, wait, no—maybe that was her goal?! Maybe this is a date! What did she mean by that?!

—Fluuussshhh—

His head filled with anxiety and swirled around itself like a toilet bowl filling up with water. But keeping his composure and trying to look cool was something Cobalt prided himself on—Well, even though putting on a front and trying to "look cool" while secretly being an anxious wreck virtually never worked, Bismuth was somehow gullible to it, every single time. Or maybe she just let him think that she was…

Concealing his smile to the best of his abilities, he tensely replied, "...man you sure are a teacher's pet."

"—!!!"

She was caught off guard immediately, thrown into a whirlwind of twisted expectations. Blushing beet red, she lost her confident flow in an instant, and could only nervously mutter her comeback: "I—It's not like I mean to be—!"

She tripped over herself mentally.

Was I being way too obvious with my bragging?! I thought he would think I was cool! Does he think I'm weird for being such a nerd?! What did he mean by that?!

Once again, despite Bismuth being leagues smarter than him at pretty much everything, he had bested her in a battle of teasing: his ultimate prowess.

He couldn't help but snicker in response to her flustered expression.

I wish I had a camera right now…

He loved every one of her expressions. Every face she made, every unique quirk and action, everything she did was absolutely adorable in his eyes. She had so many different sides to her, that wrapping his head around every one of them was like trying to solve a complicated puzzle. But where he failed at virtually everything else in life, that puzzle was his expertise. It was a game to try to make her flustered or embarrassed, but it was always a game that the two of them loved playing.

She caught on to his teasing, and pouted in response, puffing out her cheeks playfully—as well as cutely.

Still snickering quietly, he dialed back on his teasing just a little.

"I'm just jealous, that's all. Honestly, though… I'm really excited." He smiled a sort of enamoring smile before continuing - this time, honestly. "I'm proud of you, Bizzy."

And hearing that pet name, the adorable girl's smile once again returned to her adorable face.