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ARC I — PARADIS.
Hitch Dreyse called me her best friend.
That was five years ago.
♔♔♔
It has been three weeks since my friend, Hitch and I had seen each other after my recruitment into the scouting legion. A devastating amount of lives had been lost from humanity's warriors and the administrators of each section were hiring enlistees for the upcoming expeditions - one for which I felt driven to sign up to, alongside Marlowe Freudenberg.
After much bitterness, rage and acid quarrels, it feels nice to know that we had time to meet each other - only fleetingly - after our spring break, before our new terms commenced.
I met her during our first semester as recent graduates at the headquarters for the military police. Hitch was nothing of what I had expected to get for a roommate, but she was everything I was hoping against crossing paths with in my entire life. While I was on the socially withdrawn side of the spectrum, she would do anything in her power to, very awkwardly so, fasten my love-knots with fellow rookies on the most random of dates. We shared our cabin with a certain Annie Leonhart and despite knowing that the former considers us best friends, I secretly preferred the reserved blonde-haired recruit over obnoxious Hitch.
Until she walked out of our room one forenoon and completely faded out of reach.
"Saki, are you coming?"
I am hauled back to my surroundings at the racket of my name being shouted out into the air and the sound perforates within my clouded thoughts. My eyes span the field and land on Hitch; she wears a long gown and a pretty hairclip whilst waving her arm from side to side to get my attention. I watch as she twirls around, mischief gleaming in her eyes before our shared eye gaze withers and I am left to stare at the azure skies that are starting to melt into the horizon. A nippy dusk is breaking across the meadows and the clouds, so ivory and pale, are fearlessly battling to infuse some cheer into our evening before blending into the darkness.
"Hitch!" I burst out, puffing in short gasps as my ribs begin to knife into my lungs. "Wait up, stop running so fast!"
She halts at my upheaval, lips twisting in a taunting grin as I drag my aching feet towards her. "Keep up." Her sneer triggers every last nerve under my skin and she takes off again, scattering dirt from her heels.
Five minutes more with her chasing cows and I would explode.
My throat is sore and my pants are becoming louder with each step, noisy enough to cause Hitch to finally come to a standstill at the foot of a small hill overlooking the dense clumps of greenery. I bend over with my hands on my knees, wheezing for air as she laughs.
"You sure can't keep up with the one, the only, the best and brightest of the best, can you?" she teases.
