Welcoming Death - Hololive Fanfiction [ONGOING]

CHAPTER 7: RELIT

"So... Mori Calliope. What seems to be your 'quandary'?" Amelia, with a suspicious eye, glared at Mori with arms crossed. In her right palm, a golden pocket watch was nestled into her hand with her thumb lightly pressed against the top button.

Calliope sensed the distrust in Amelia's defensive stance, shuffling away awkwardly as she wilted under her stare. "I... uh," refusing to meet her eyes, she opted to stare at the ground, "I'm worried about Ina and I wanna do something to make her feel better. Not necessarily fix her mood or anything. Just to cheer her up." She felt the weight of Amelia's stare lift slightly as she spoke of Ina, soon returning her gaze.

"I think that alone might make her feel better."

"Huh?"

Amelia scoffed, "Nevermind. Point is, I don't understand why you're asking me rather than the person herself. I'm not a mind reader. Neither is that Kusotori and Gura."

Calliope quickly picked up on the nickname change, raising a hand before she was interrupted. "Kiara kept bragging about how you gave her a nickname." With a smug grin, Amelia gestured towards Calli, "Almost like a term of endearment."

The reaper sighed, whispering, "It literally means shitty bird- what the fuck?"

With a brush of her hand, Amelia quickly threw the subject away and brought the conversation back to its original purpose. "Ask Ina."

Calliope deliberated: Ina, from Kiara's eyes, was a silent however sociable girl who needed time to recharge by herself. Even if it means, suffering in silence. Amelia however, saw Ina as a fragile girl who trusted people way too easily: someone who needed to be protected. Essentially, she thought that Ina's issues needed to be addressed directly to protect her.

But what did Calliope even think of Ina as? What did Ina think Calli as?

"If it helps," the detective interjected, "Kiara plans on a study sleepover. You can talk to her then."

"Is she going?"

Amelia groans, "If peer pressure works enough-"

Cringing, Calli stepped back, "Isn't that rude...?"

"We'll do the same to you to make it fair."

"That's not what I meant..." Calli heaved a sigh, frustrated slightly by Amelia's curt manner.

Amelia smiled, nudging her, "I don't really trust an' all... but I know Ina was really enthusiastic about bringing you into our group so I know she'll be happy with whatever you do. So just talk to her."

Slowly, a smile crept up on Calli's lips, "Yeah, I will."

The bell for the end of break came, and Calli and Amelia separated without a single goodbye but a small smile on their faces.

...

The next class had ended and this was the one where the group certainly didn't have any classes together. While they all fundamentally all had to do English, they were all in different levels of it with Kiara still having yet to learn the language fully. Ina was certainly the smartest out of the group, being one of the highest grades in that area.

As English ended, Ina came out last as usual, bumping into a taller body. Just before she was about to apologise, she recognised the jacket again and quickly snapped her head up to meet eyes with Calli.

"H-Hey, Inaaa," Calli trailed off, slowly realising how awkward she had sounded trying to be casual with her. She gently put her hand down, stuffing it into her pocket.

Ina chuckled slightly, walking out of her class, "Hi Calli, what's up?" She held her book snugly into her arms, holding it as she folded her arms together. Her head nodded towards their meeting spot as the two walked together, "You know you don't have to wait for me. You can just go ahead with Kiara and the rest." The words felt foul as she said them but she let them fall anyway.

The reaper looked down, following Ina but slightly behind, "I just wanted... to speak to you?" Her pitch went up at the end of her words, resulting in an awkward sounding question rather than a statement. Coughing, she repeated her words with more confidence, "I wanted to speak to you."

Ina's pace faltered but soon picked up again after, "Why's that?" Now, her arms were tugging around her book tighter than ever.

"Well-!" Calli held an arm out, stepping forward to stop Ina from bumping into a teacher. With a small nod to the teacher, she continued, "You've been out of it lately. Like, REALLY out of it. I'm just... worried, you know?" She gestured around, trying to find a reason, an excuse, to be so concerned about Ina. "I've been like that before. Diving into my work headfirst and ignoring my mind's needs and recently, I've been getting better and-"

"Thank you," With a small, genuine smile, Ina stopped to look at Calliope in a way she couldn't describe. Her small eyes were filled with adoration, ones you look at a puppy with. Her facial expression was so gentle, it was like she was the happiest she had been. Ever. With a hand on Calli's bicep, that face was dropped quickly, "But I'm okay." Ina's walls were up once again and her pace was faster than before.

She quickly made wide strides to the door, leading outside to their spot. While Ina's legs were far smaller, she did her best effort to avoid all conversation.

'If I get too close, I might get too happy.' the small girl palmed her own cheek, feeling the warmth of it, ignoring all the muffled noise behind her.

Meanwhile, Calli ran vigorously to Ina, "Hey! Wait-!" She panted, running up to her to keep up. Soon enough, they reached the group who all stared at the two strangely.

"Calli! Ina! How kind of you to make it!" Kiara exclaimed happily, bear hugging the two simultaneously until letting go of Ina and smother Calliope entirely. She nuzzled into Calli's neck, sending shivers down Calli's spine for the unfamiliar feeling.

Groaning, Calli made her efforts to get away from Kiara to get to Ina but the smaller girl was already making her way to the table to sit by Amelia, "Kusotori-!" She growled, finally shoving her away as Kiara laughed heartily.

As the nickname slipped, Gura and Amelia whispered amongst themselves with Ina about it.

Gura quietly spoke, "Kusotori? Is that a lover's code?"

"Pretty suspicious if you ask me... They have been hanging out a lot." Amelia looked over to Ina in particular, paying close attention to her.

Ina tapped her chin, glancing up and down Calli, "Would explain a lot really." She sighed, kicking her own shin with her leg.

With a demanding clearing of the throat, Kiara spread her arms with a wide smile, patting Calli's back roughly, "Guys! Let's have a slumber party!"

Ina and Calli both groaned inwardly.

"Oh no..."