The girl, in a daze, face planted into the coarse sand.
“K- Kaiya!” Amity darted towards the girl.
“Oh my g… my god…” barely sputtered out of Himiko, before she just slipped around the wall.
Amity quickly swept Kaiya from the ground with the intent to help, swiftly stepping into the distance, towards the ruins.
“Himiko, are you… good?” Katie looked at the girl, clearly crying into her arms, huddled against the wall.
“I’m… sorry.”
“..?” Katie’s silence was deafening, and led Himiko to continue.
“Sorry… I made you- hic- scared about her. I assumed, and I made you- hic- cry.”
Himiko barely got the words out, sputtering through choked sobs.
“It’s not your fault.”
Himiko didn’t look up, so to get a better look at her, Katie removed the witches hat.
“That was a normal thing to think! I don’t know how she did it, but nobody else thought she’d make it out either. And you were ready to take the helm after two of them were gone!”
“…”
“You didn’t do anything bad, is what I’m saying.”
“I- hic- thanks.” Himiko spared a glance at the girl, who sat right beside her.
“Come back to the ruins when you’re ready to say hi.”
Katie took her leave, walking back around and seeing Raleigh gone with the two other girls. She took the opportunity to look back to the horizon. The vibrant hues had faded, but there was a clear trace of something. The light that had faded didn’t go away entirely.
Somehow, it would be fine.
Her eyes glanced down, then turned her head backwards. She saw Himiko standing behind her.
“Hey.” Katie looked at her, re-adorned in the hat.
“Katie, can you… I don’t want to make this about me, never mind.” Himiko looked away.
“What’s up?”
“It’s nothing, forget it.”
“Seriously, tell me. If you have something on your mind, you can just tell me. Besides, we probably shouldn’t go to the ruins, I don’t want to distract Amity.”
Himiko sighed, and sat back down.
“That’s the issue…”
“..?”
“Amity, she’s… sit down.”
Kaiya did so, and Himiko continued.
“Amity is… god this is weird to say. Amity is perfect. She’s so sweet and kind, and helpful, and I… have a crush on her, but I can’t even say it.” Himiko buried her head into her arms again.
“What’s stopping you..?”
“She’s so amazing and I don’t do anything compared to her… she probably thinks I’m her worst friend, and I don't want to distract her or put more on her shoulders.”
“She d-” Katie tried to start the usual reassurance.
“Cram it, of course she does. I’ve… seriously done nothing. Nothing besides get everyone trapped here.”
“Himiko, she doesn’t think you’re terrible. Y’know, when you brought that up to her, she consoled you and made it clear you were fine.”
The witch kept quietly crying.
“I know everything’s built up, so now might not be the best time to tell her about your feelings… but you could tomorrow. Once Kaiya’s back up and we figure out what happened.”
“I… might. It’s hard to keep this in,” she stood. “Do you think we could go back to the ruins yet?”
“Yeah, we could probably start walking over there now.”
The two started their travel, cracking jokes and lightening the mood, collectively ignoring the small slip of paper left on the floor, scrawled with the familiar name.
Cornet.
