As Amara continued sniffing around the school, desperately trying to find Rain’s scent again, KJ scoffed every few minutes.

“You said her scent faded as soon as we were out of that den of gamblers.” KJ said, fiddling with her camera’s settings. “Let’s just give up for today.”

“But she was here, and I think fairly recently too.” Amara said.

“Well, I’ve got enough footage of you sniffing for my documentary, so,” KJ said. “Want to go back and interrogate the gamblers more?”

“I thought about it, but they were sleeping in their office,” Amara said. “Or pretending to be asleep.”

Amara rolled her eyes as KJ sighed and moaned and emitted more exaggerated and unpleasant noises. She knew when KJ was being genuinely sad; when she moaned like this, she just wanted attention.

“Would you like to do something else other than find Rain today?” Amara asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“I was…thinking of…” KJ coughed. “Getting some footage.”

“What else is new?” Amara asked.

“Specific footage.” KJ said.

KJ infuriatingly didn’t say anything, clearly waiting for Amara to be curious enough to ask. “…which is?”

“I want to go to the Kanibari dorms and get some footage.” KJ said.

“I suppose I could tag along for that.” Amara said.

“Well.” KJ said. She let that ‘well’ plop to the ground like a soggy slab of meatloaf falling from an overstuffed lunch tray to a cold cafeteria ground.

“Does something about me offering to join you for the thing you wanted to do today offend you?” Amara asked.

“I didn’t say I wanted you to come with is all,” KJ said. “Maybe I want to go film on my own.”

“You…” Amara’s nose twitched. “You are the most obnoxious, idiotic girl I know. Just say you want to be alone if you want to be alone!”

“I don’t know if I said I want to be alone.” KJ said. She fiddled with her camera more, still not leaving.

Usually Rain knew how to handle KJ’s moodiness better. When she’d ask for one thing, then reveal she actually wanted something else, and then go back on the first thing just to be contrary. Rain could get KJ to say what she actually wanted, something Amara had a harder time figuring out.

“So you want me to come with?” Amara asked.

“Mmgrh.” KJ said.

“What now?” Amara asked.

“Maybe going alone wouldn’t be the worst thing?”

“Agggh!” Amara groaned. “Why string me along thinking you want to invite me along after all then just tell me you still want to go alone? I cannot stand another second of this.”

Amara stormed off, not giving KJ a chance to continue flaking back and forth between non-answers.

Amara was suddenly reminded of a time long ago, when the love trio was much younger. They were on a school hiking trip, and KJ was being annoying and argumentative. As they walked along the trail on a bug hunt, Rain seemed to vanish instantly. Amara and KJ spent what felt like hours looking for her (though it couldn’t have been that long as their teacher didn’t express any concern), until they found her sitting by a creek.

“See, I told you she would be fishing.” Amara said.

“No, I’m right, she’s looking for bugs!” KJ said.

“Why would she look in water for bugs?” Amara asked.

“Because she—”

Rain suddenly turned around, tears in her eyes.

“Oh no, what’s wrong?” Amara asked.

“I’m so…” Rain rubbed her eyes with clamped fists. “Disappointed in you two.”

Amara and KJ couldn’t figure out what had upset Rain so much that day, and she refused to explain why she was crying.

Amara wondered to herself if Rain would say something similar to what she told them at that creek if she saw them now.

* * *

KJ didn’t really have a plan for the footage in the Kanibari dorms. Despite being a Kanibari, KJ didn’t spend much time there. She didn’t think any of the Kanibari students at Rising Shards actually went there unless they had Feral Flu that made them really feral, but that wasn’t very common. Sure, there were some other Cani and Kanibari ailments that could pose a danger, but she had never had those herself. So she felt even more alone as she walked through the reinforced walls of a desolate feeling dorm.

If I get the script finished for this zombie movie, this would make a great filming spot for a hospital. We could have Rain running away from a horde of zombies, and I bet Amara could get some good action shots firing her lasers here, the walls are really relflective.

For a few minutes, KJ forgot her gloomy side and got some test footage. No one was in any of the shots, but she could picture Amara and Rain in them so clearly that it didn’t matter.

* * *

Rain adjusted in her seat, wishing this debate could be over already. A Novu legal representative was arguing with faculty from both Rising Shards and Wildfire Hearts. While Rain appreciated that her family had sent someone to try and legally persuade the schools to let her return to the one she preferred, she wished they could be quicker about it. Even if they decided she had to go back to Wildfire Hearts, she’d probably just go back to the casino and continue her adventure there.

Chomper and her friend were decent companions, and I’d enjoy working with them in the future, but. I’m not complete without KJ and Amara.

As the argument became more heated around her, she tuned them out more and more. She thought about just using her mental influence power to convince them all to let her stay, but she was still drained from her trip to the void. It had only been an hour or so since she’d returned. She wished she could just get up, find KJ and Amara, hug them, and then immediately have a tea party like normal. She missed them dearly, but her lack of contact with them was partially by her own design.

I hope it isn’t too long before I see Amara and KJ again. And when I do see them again, they better be getting along. I hope I’ve been gone long enough to get their bickering to lessen at least. If they’re not getting along, I may have to put things into motion a bit quicker. Rain obviously did not want to use her powers on her dear friends as much as she could avoid it, but if she needed to escalate things, she had plenty of other methods she could use on Amara and KJ.