This story is part of the Wanderer series.
Night fell. The full moon was high in the sky without a cloud in sight. The cliffside housing units were mostly dark. Some of the balcony doors were dimly lit as their candle lights gradually flickered out. However, one in particular, with its door open, was bright.
Nozomi and Rin leaned against the guard rails, staring out at the glowing lanterns suspended on wires over the streets, gently swaying with the ocean breeze. They were no longer dressed in their uniforms, wearing plain white chimises. Each with their arms crossed, Nozomi had her chin tucked in her arms, while Rin stood upright. On the balcony roof above them, laying on her belly with her chin resting in both palms, was Chiara, staring further out with lazy eyes. She was also no longer outfitted in her delegate’s clothes, wearing her usual cloth pants and shirt.
They were quiet for the moment, each seemingly occupied in their own way. There were no distant voices, despite the lit up walkways stretching out beneath them. Only the distant ocean to pad the silence with a steady, soft atmosphere under the sparse rustling of leaves.
Eventually, Nozomi breathed out, letting her head fall to the side a little. “I wonder what the streets are like?” she idly wondered out loud.
Rin concurred with a murmur. “It would be great if we could go look.”
Chiara let out a silent yawn as they spoke before lethargically joining in. “Mm… well, you can’t because of the curfew.”
Rin raised her head a bit, judgingly eyeing her direction. “That didn’t stop you.”
Closing her eyes briefly and grinning wide, Chiara tilted her chin higher. “I’m a princess. What can they do?” She started swinging her legs in the air. “Besides, they’re not very good at guarding their streets. It was harder to sneak past my own guards than them.”
With a bit of a closed-mouth grunt, Rin returned her gaze forward, palming her cheek and saying nothing else.
“There’s nothing interesting going on, anyway. It’s just empty streets and no festivals or anything.”
“Maybe they’re not ready yet!” Nozomi enthusiastically proposed. “Maybe they’re still preparing.”
“I don’t think so,” Rin mumbled, her head bobbing up and down in her palm as she spoke. “What is there to celebrate?”
Nozomi turned to Rin, staring intently as if the answer was obvious. “The peace conference!”
“The peace isn’t settled yet. Things could still go wrong.”
“Yeah, but we got here! That should count for something, right?”
“I don’t think so for them.”
Swinging back towards the vista, Nozomi plopped her head in her arms again, expelling a loud whining sigh. “Everything’s so serious. I wish everyone would smile and laugh sometimes.”
Rin lifted her head for a big, silent yawn before dropping back onto her palm. “It can’t be helped. The stakes are high.”
“But, not during the debates,” Nozomi implored. “You know, when everyone’s eating. The food here is great.”
She faintly breathed out, dropping her eyes to the lanterned street. Her expression remained troubled, unable to relent. Though she stood beside her, Rin did not notice under the forced spriteliness of her voice. Shadowed by the light from their room, the darkness further veiled her true conflict from her sib.
Gradually, Nozomi’s frown eased as she settled into the silence. However, it waned not into peace, but into melancholy, becoming listless. The glowing lights puffed and grew soft as her focus drew away, her eyes becoming blank.
“It makes me nervous, seeing everyone serious all the time. I feel like I can’t talk with anyone.”
Without turning her head, Rin glanced over. Suddenly hearing Nozomi’s transformation finally clued her in, making her alert of Nozomi’s grappling emotions. Furrowing her brows and pinching her lips, she narrowed her eyes, thinking hard.
“You’re nervous?”
They both blinked, looking up. Chiara leaned her head closer to the ledge, gazing down with genuine curiosity.
“You always seem energetic. I don’t think you’re nervous.”
Hearing her assertion, Nozomi’s eyes widened. Realizing her off-putting demeanor, she tried to smile a little, dropping her eyes and lifting a hand to the back of her head.
“Well…”
Rin returned to Nozomi, observing her for an instant with round eyes. Then, after a bit, Rin lightly pushed her shoulder, exaggerating the irritation in her voice. “Yeah, stop acting like that. It’s freaking me out.”
Nozomi chuckled with embarrassment as she let herself sway. Chiara closed her eyes and grinned at this interaction.
“Nozomi’s silliness is the only thing familiar to me in all of this. It’s comforting.”
Lowering her hand, Nozomi breathed out again, this time gazing out wistfully. “I just want everyone to smile.”
Chiara, on the other hand, adopted the gloom Nozomi wore moments before. “It helps me talk. Karin has become so serious. It’s hard for me to talk to her.”
Rin sighed. “Well, she has so much on the line to defend. Can you blame her?”
Chiara did not answer.
“That’s why we need to do our best to cheer her up, right?” Nozomi suggested.
Rin pinched her brows a little in slight disgust. “I’ll leave that to you. I’ll end up doing something stupid.”
“But if that gets her to smile, that’s okay, right?”
“No, I mean, stupid stupid.”
Chiara chuckled a little, her nonchalant mood returning. “We all need some stupid, stupid, stupid.”
They all began to chuckle and giggle, their voices faintly carrying into the foreign night. The moon, still high in the sky, drifted endlessly in a sea of stars, watching over the island nation as it slept.