"You rest up" Riku commands.
Akira gapes, jaw slacked. Riku starts walking off to acquire the materials left on the ground. Akira shakes out of her shock and limps after him, stumbling over her words. Riku slows down the slightest bit, allowing Akira the chance to catch up to him.
The girl steps into Riku's path, expecting him to stop. He appears to have no plans of stopping or moving. Akira stumbles back and keeps her steps in line with Riku, making sure he will not get past her. She trips on her words for some time before finally forming a coherent sentence.
"So you don't want me doing anything? Nothing at all?" Akira questions in exasperation.
Riku suddenly quickened his pace, catching her off guard. He was now very close to her, their noses almost touching. Akira was unable to react swiftly enough and rocks on the tips of her toes. Riku pokes her forehead, knocking her off balance and causing her to collapse. The silverette smiled down at the girl.
"Exactly" Riku confirms.
Akira frowns as the boy continues walking without a care in the world. Riku huffs in annoyance as Akira pulls the large lock close to her chest, securing it.
"But I want to help" Akira says in a pleading tone.
Riku forcefully removes the materials that she holds. Akira attempts to sway Riku in the slightest but she is not very successful. The silverette grasps the bridge of his nose and furrows his brows when seeing Akira's pleading eyes.
"If you really want to help, then rest. If you're not in your top form by the time we are leaving then you are holding us back further" Riku explains.
Riku walks off before Akira could utter another word. Akira groans in annoyance as she drags herself back up onto her feet. She begrudgingly accepts Riku's words and walks around the island, attempting to occupy herself. She digs her toes into the ground and kicks up stand with each step.
"Stupid Riku, always thinking he is smarter than everyone else. I mean, he is, but still" Akira mutters beneath her breath.
Akira spots the dock not very far away. She smiles as she approaches it and takes a seat at the very edge. She takes up a pebble, tosses it once in her hand before flicking it out and watching it skip across the body of water.
Once the pebble sinks, she loses interest and raises her head to look at the sky. She closes her eyes and attempts to relax, tuning into her other senses. The light calls of the birds and cool breeze fanning her skin put her at ease.
"Hey, Akira!" Selphie exclaims.
Hearing the voice of the young girl, another image flashed into her mind. A young girl with light brown hair, styled into three long curls on the back and sides of her head. A young boy with sandy blonde hair styled in spikes similar to Sora. And finally, an older boy with his orange hair in a coiffed style. Despite sporting their regular attire, they did not seem as welcoming.
Akira's eyes shoot open, wondering where that memory came from. She pays the girl, Selphie, no mind as she takes a seat beside her. Akira is broken from her train of thought as she hears another yell from behind her. The girls jump and their teeth clatter as the platform beneath them becomes unstable with a monstrous step.
The shaking of the dock continues as the young boy, Tidus, approaches the two girls from behind. The elder boy, Wakka, is the cause of the shaking as he steps in line with Tidus. Once reaching their destination, he spins his ball around on one finger. Tidus leans forward and speaks to Akira with a grin.
"What are you doing hanging around here?" Tidus asks.
Akira takes a calming breath in order to regain her composure.
"Well, I was trying to relax" Akira claims, a hint of annoyance in her tone.
Tidus takes a seat on the other side of Akira. Akira is confused when the young boy moves his face fairly close to hers. He peers at her through narrowed eyes.
After a few moments he stops and shrugs his shoulders. He places his palms behind him and glances across the beach, looking at the dawdling brunette.
"That's new. You're usually jumping all around the place with Sora" Tidus mentions.
Akira looks down at the tranquil waters beneath her and swings her legs back and forth. As her shoes make contact with the water, she creates small ripples. She looks down at the bandaged leg, the material limiting the movement.
"Yeah, well, I got hurt and now Riku is treating me like a baby" Akira explains.
Wakka releases a boisterous laugh. He yanks Akira back onto her feet and wraps an arm around her shoulders.
"That's our Riku!" Wakka exclaims.
Without hesitation, he pulls Akira's head to be pressed against his chest. He ignores Akira's clear struggles to escape his hold. Selphie kicks back and lays her back against the dock. She appears to swoon at the mention of Riku's nature.
"He worries about you all the time, like an older brother. It's kind of cute!" Selphie claims.
Tidus' reaction completely opposes Selphie's. He sticks out his tongue to exhibit his disgust. Once his tongue returns into his mouth, he narrows his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest.
"What isn't cute are those obsessive theories of his. There are other worlds outside our own? Please!" Tidus scoffs.
Akira pokes her head out of Wakka's arm and peers curiously at Tidus. Not only did he seem to be in a sour mood, but he had a very different vision than Riku, Kairi, and Sora.
"You don't believe it?" Akira questions.
Tidus shakes his head. Wakka looks down at Akira with a raised eyebrow.
"That story about the boy that left the island? It's just some old bedtime story" Wakka explains.
Selphie says nothing to add to this perspective but Akira can tell that she believes the same. Wakka releases his hold of Akira and waves his hand dismissively. He sits in between Tidus and Selphie, one leg curled into his chest and the other hanging off the dock.
"You're all wasting your time trying to get off this island. The four of you will die all on your own" Wakka says, his tone unusually serious.
The four enter a tense silence. The little enthusiasm and hope shown toward their efforts discourages Akira. Selphie frowns and looks between the three. She attempts to brighten the mood.
"You know... there is this other legend" Selphie starts, breaking the silence.
Her timid voice succeeds in attracting the attention. Tidus raises an eyebrow, noticing the girl nervously flick around her jump rope.
"A story about a certain star-shaped fruit..." Selphie continues.
Wakka was unimpressed and Tidus groaned in disgust. Selphie bites her lip and stifles some of her laughter. Despite the reactions she received, she managed to break through the uncomfortable silence. She pokes fun at Tidus, seeing his cheeks turn slightly pink.
She giggles and jumps onto her feet, sprinting off onto the island. With a cheeky grin Tidus jumps up and follows after her. The two laugh and run around with glee. Wakka watches the two and laughs, tossing the blitz ball up and down in his hand.
"Fruit... That would be nice" Akira mutters.
Akira jumps onto her feet and runs off, Wakka watching her leave with unblinking eyes. When Tidus and Selphie return, they question where Akira ran off to. Wakka can only respond with the shrug of his shoulders.
Akira travels around the island attempting to obtain some fruits.
Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka take notice of her struggle and decide to help out. Selphie wraps her jump rope around some hanging fruit and yanks them down. Tidus climbs the trees to get in closer range while Wakka uses his towering height to get some.
Akira thanks them all for their assistance and allows them to take a fruit of their choosing. Akira smiles as she looks down at her collection. She felt proud of herself, still managing to assist in the goal of preparing for the trip, despite all that Riku said.
Akira takes notice of the setting sun and looks around for her friends. As if sensing her whirring mind, someone comes up behind her and engulfs her in a long embrace. Akira squeals as the person lifts her feet off the ground. She turns around and she is greeted by the excited eyes of Sora.
"There you are, Akira. We were looking all over for you!" Sora says.
Sora places her back down after feeling her shoes scrape against his legs. He wipes off some dust and sand before noticing the fruit that she carries.
"Is that fruit? Let me have some!" Sora exclaims.
Sora attempts to grab hold of the end of a banana that slightly hangs off her arm. Akira quickly hits Sora's hand with a mango. As the boy retracts his hand and rubs it soothingly, Akira watches him through narrowed eyes. She holds the fruit closer to her chest and scolds her friend.
"No, Sora. They are for our travel" Akira explains.
Sora tilts his head in confusion, attempting to process Akira's words. The girl claimed that the items were for their trip but...
"Won't they just rot and spoil?" Sora asks.
Akira opens her mouth to respond but nothing comes out. Sora was right, the fruits would not survive the entire trip. Akira slumps in disappointment, feeling that her efforts had gone to waste. Sora takes the banana he reached for prior and peels it. He takes a small bite before addressing Akira.
"It's okay, Akira. We can all just share it now. I heard that Kairi was craving some fruit" Sora says.
Akira smiles at his attempt to make her feel better. Sora takes about half of the fruit and leads the girl to the curved tree bearing the star-shaped fruit. Riku and Kairi were already at the designated spot, conversing with each other.
Kairi is the first to notice the two approaching. When seeing the loads of fruit, she squeals and runs over to Akira, immediately grabbing a coconut. Riku turns around with a raised brow, wondering what evoked the reaction from the redhead.
He narrows his eyes when seeing the fruit that Akira carries. The task of collecting the fruit would require excessive use of her muscles and possibly strain her body. Akira can tell what the silverette is thinking and is quick to quell his concerns.
"I'll have you know that this was primarily the work of Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. Only three of these were picked by me" Akira defends.
The response appears to satisfy him because rather than arguing with her, he gives a small nod and closes his eyes. They each take their designated spots on the tree.
Riku leans against the tree by the stump, assisting in lifting Akira to sit beside him. To the right of Akira is Kairi and Sora. Akira offers Riku a papaya and they all eat in peace.
Once finishing the stash, they all watch as the sun slowly sets, painting the sky in various shades of red, orange, and pink. Sora looks down at the materials he collected throughout the day.
He then looks out to the ocean, imagining the four sailing the finished product to the outside world. The thought of other worlds besides their own always makes him ponder about what they may find.
"So, Kairi and Akira's homes are out there somewhere, right?" Sora asks.
Riku takes a bite of his papaya and mulls over the thought. He opens his eyes again and stares off into the endless ocean. Despite Riku creating these plans for years, he knows as much of the outside world as Kairi, Sora, and Akira do. Yes, he has encountered people from the outside world, but he doubts that all would be as friendly as Kairi and Akira.
As for the homes of the girls, he struggles to visualize what they may look like. He was never the one with the vivid imagination, he left that up to Sora. At the thought of the brunette, he realizes that he has not responded yet. He settles on a small shrug.
"Could be, we'll never know by staying here" Riku states.
Akira finds herself in an inner turmoil. She thinks back to the discussion she had with Tidus, Selphie and Wakka, and the annoyance laced in the boys' tones.
She has been questioning a bit since then. Rather than being more enthusiastic, she became more skeptical and reluctant. Everything felt uncertain.
"But how far could a raft take us?" Akira questions.
Riku did not mull over the thought for very long. The question did not do as much to deter him as it did with Akira. He was still adamant on leaving the island, no matter what.
"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else" Riku claims.
Seeing Riku's efforts and perseverance makes her more than content. It was not often that she found Riku to be so enthusiastic and motivated. If it meant seeing the boy smile, she would do this all again. The persistence of the boy made her feel more assured that things would turn out okay.
Her reluctance was not as strong anymore. She knows that she wants to see her home and she knows that she wants to have an adventure of her own. But one feeling still remained, the sense of longing, longing to stay on the island just a moment longer.
"If there is one thing I'll miss from the island, it's the sunsets" Akira comments.
Kairi nods her head in agreement. She closes her eyes and raises her chin, exposing her entire body to the calming breeze. She tunes into the rest of her senses and takes a relaxed and relieved breath.
"The smell of the sea salt, the ocean breeze hitting our skin, and the fruit too" Kairi adds on.
She looks back down at the fruit that remains in her lap, the sweetness of the mango still hanging on her tongue, the juice slathered on her lips. Riku smiles and takes something out of his pocket and lightly tosses it in his hand.
"Seems like a picture perfect moment, doesn't it?" Riku asks.
Riku passes it to Akira and she tilts her head in confusion. She takes the item and looks down at it. She chuckles a bit, finally understanding Riku's choice of words. She looks down at her prized possession, her camera.
She observes her surroundings and realizes just how perfect everything is. She raises her camera above her head, adjusting the view to capture each part of the island that she loves, her friends, the sunset, the ocean, and the trees. She grabs Riku by the arm and forces him to sit on the tree as she takes his spot standing.
Once seeing her friends in position and smiling, she snaps the picture. When ĺlooking back at the picture, she snickers when seeing Sora with an unpleasant expression. His eyes were narrowed and nose scrunched.
It was an inquisitive look, wondering what the girl was doing, but it was not very flattering on camera. Sora glances over her shoulder to see what she is laughing out. When seeing his appearance, he flushes a bright red out of embarrassment.
"Hey, redo! I wasn't ready!" Sora exclaims.
Sora attempts to take the camera from Akira. Akira stretches her arm as far out of his reach as possible. She uses her other hand to push his face aside. She sticks out her tongue in a teasing manner as she passes the camera to Kairi.
"Too late!" Akira responds.
As Sora and Akira continue their banter, Riku and Kairi go through Akira's camera roll. They realized how the pictures seemed to go on forever. Kairi releases the camera, letting Riku scroll through the rest.
"You have a lot of pictures, Akira" Kairi comments.
As Riku continues looking through each picture, he notices how each picture contains one of Akira's friends in it. There is not a single picture where she is alone. In more recent images, he can see that the process of building the raft was documented. Riku frowns when realizing the sentimental value that the object holds.
"You're afraid of forgetting, right?" Riku asks.
Akira freezes for a moment, before looking at the ground and slightly nodding her head. She takes her camera back and clasps her sweaty palm around the purple trinket in her pocket. She goes back to the picture she took moments ago.
"These moments are fleeting, but pictures manage to catch these memories in a single frame and make them eternal" Akira explains.
Hearing this, Sora sees the photo in a different light. He does not persist any further and decides to leave the picture as it is. Akira looks up in confusion as Riku places his hand atop hers. He guides it to cover the image displayed on the camera.
"This will mark the end of a chronicle. Once we reach another world, you can make a new album" Riku suggests.
Akira smiles at the idea. There was so much more that she would be able to document during their travels. She places her camera in her other pocket, putting it aside for later. Kairi thinks back to the conversation she had with Sora and Akira, talking about their goals and ambitions once they succeeded in their goals.
The redhead recognized that Riku had kept his cards close to his chest. Despite everything coming into fruition because of him, Riku never expressed exactly what he wanted. Sure, he wanted to get off the island, but then what?
"Suppose we get to another world. What would you do there?" Kairi asks.
Riku thinks of how to answer for some time, but ultimately, nothing comes to mind.
"Well, I haven't really thought about it" Riku admits.
Akira's eyes widened in surprise. Riku takes notice of the smirk creeping onto her lips and braces himself for her teasing.
"Whoa. Mr. Prepared didn't think something through? We can't just roam around worlds with no plan" Akira claims.
Akira goes silent when seeing Riku's far off gaze. She gives him the time to organize his thoughts.
"It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?" Riku asks.
Akira rubs her head as she attempts to simplify and condense Riku's thoughts. Before Akira could process this information, Riku pivots to his next point.
"And suppose there are other worlds... Then our island is just a little piece of something greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" Riku questions further.
Akira lightly nods her head as she takes all of Riku's ideas into account. Thinking of the worlds in a grander scale makes her see things differently. Riku was right, many worlds mean many opportunities. Nothing was fixed and everything was up to fate.
"If that is true... Doesn't that mean the arrival of me and Kairi was just by chance?" Akira adds to the flurrying questions.
Riku looks at Kairi and Akira before staring out into the horizon again. He remembered the day the two arrived, the day of the meteor shower. He remembered how frightened Sora was, claiming that the stars were falling.
The girls were like shooting stars, appearing at unexpected times, but the sight remaining fresh in someone's mind. Akira was probably right about her, it was a coincidence that the two ended up on that island, he and Sora were the lucky ones to find them.
"It's possible. That's why we need to go out there and find out" Riku says.
Akira feels a shift in Riku. He no longer kept the inquisitive expression on his face. Now he looked determined, his attention on a fixed point, a fixed idea. Riku's resolve was unwavering.
"Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go" Riku utters.
Kairi also takes notice of Riku. He seemed different than what she remembered. As time went on, Riku became someone that they could all look up to, and took this role with pride. He always had a stoic and confident aura around him. Kairi would have never guessed the complex thoughts constantly rolling through his mind.
"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asks.
Riku turns to Akira and Kairi with a smile. Kairi was shocked to see the boys so at ease for the first time in a long time.
"Thanks to you. If you and Akira hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this" Riku admits.
Akira's heart felt light hearing this. This was not Riku's way of teasing her, or pulling her leg. He was genuine. Sora's reaction greatly opposed Akira. The ocean-eyed boy rolled his eyes when hearing his silverette say this. He is quick to tune out the rest of the conversation.
"Akira, Kairi, thanks" Riku says.
Akira folds her hands together and looks down at her legs. She kicks her legs back and forth, feeling the tiniest bit flustered. Kairi recognizes Akira's dazed state. Riku's words even make the redhead fidget in delight.
"You're welcome" Kairi responds.
The four watch as the sun finally sinks beneath the horizon. By then, they deem it time to return to their homes. Akira and Kairi are the first to take off, the redhead assisting and guiding the brunette to her rowboat. The two appear to be in their own worlds, not noticing the boys slowing to a stop.
With the quick progress made in building the raft, it was safe to say that the four would soon be leaving the island. Akira could feel her worries return, uncomfortably poking at her.
Akira bites her lower lip as she grasps the camera in her pocket, clutching tightly to her memories, worried that they may unexpectedly slip away. Akira releases a shaky breath and Kairi looks down at her out of worry.
"Kairi... You won't leave me like they did, right?" Akira asks.
Kairi knew exactly who the brunette was talking about. There were three people that occupied Akira's memories, two boys and a girl, but she could never remember their names.
Akira always assumed that the three abandoned her and that was why she ended up on the island all on her own. That is why the camera meant so much to Akira, this time she would not forget her friends' faces. Kairi quickly takes Akira's hand into hers and offers a smile.
"Of course not! Sora, Riku and I won't be going anywhere" Kairi assures
Kairi strayed ahead to prepare the boat that the girls would be taking home. Akira pulls out the star-shaped trinket from her pocket and smiles down at it. She flinches a bit as a hard object drops atop her head. She squeezes her eyes shut and rubs her aching head.
"Sorry, Akira" the boys apologize in unison.
When she opens her eyes again, she sees the star-shaped fruit in front of her. She looked between her trinket and the paopu fruit. She shrugs off the similarity between the two. She puts her trinket away and claims the fruit for herself, taking a small bite out of it.
She sees that the boys finally caught up to her and deems it time to leave the island. Kairi was already by the rowboats, waving the other three over. Sora and Riku take their appropriate boats as Akira and Kairi share a boat. Together the four row back to land and return home.
When Akira returns home, she takes out her camera and scrolls through her pictures one by one. She thinks back to what Riku said earlier. Her eyes light up when blessed with an idea.
She stays awake for most of the night, creating a small book for herself. She prints out her pictures and glues one onto each page. As she finishes, she looks out her window, imaging the outside world that could be found across the ocean.
"A new chronicle..." Akira says, a smile creeping on her face.
She spends most of the night awake, giddy and excited for the change of scenery that she will soon experience. Eventually, she manages to quell her enthusiasm and forces herself to fall asleep.