Chapter Text
“Rai, it’s almost 8 in the morning! Get up before your breakfast gets cold!”
Rasina rolled over in her bed, dragging her covers over her head in an attempt to block out the noise. It was way too early to be up yet. She didn’t have school today or anything; it was Saturday , and getting up early should be a crime on Saturdays.
Rasina sent a curse her mother’s way, a curse to all the ‘morning people’ in the whole world. It was stupid, they were stupid, and she really just wanted to go back to sleep. She’d eat later. Cold eggs weren’t even that bad.
But then Rasina’s tired brain caught up with her. It was Saturday. Saturday, the day when the best game in the whole universe, Sacred Warriors: Gilded Moon , finally came out. The game she’d been waiting for months, and it was coming out today.
She wasn’t tired anymore.
Jumping out of bed, Rasina rushed towards the kitchen, knowing her cursed early bird parents were in there. She slid into the kitchen on socked feet, looking absolutely awesome as she did so and -
“Did you brush your teeth?” Mom asked from over the stove.
-And she rushed straight back out, rushed to the bathroom to brush her teeth, then rushed back into the kitchen.
“Yes!” Rasina plopped down at the dinner table - was it really a dinner table if you’re eating breakfast at it? - then slid her chair to be right next to her father.
Dad was reading through the newspaper, which he only did on Saturdays because that’s when the comic strips were printed, and even though he said he cared about the news, he totally didn’t. She would think a cop would be more excited to read about himself in the newspaper, but Dad always said that if he was in the newspaper, it wasn’t for anything good.
“Can we go to the mall today?” She leaned over towards her Dad, blocking his view of the newspaper. What she had to say was way more important than whatever old jokes he was looking at. “Gilded Moon comes out today, and if we don’t go now it’s gonna be all sold out.”
“I’m sure it won’t be all brought up in a single day.” Mom had that look of concentration on her face, the one that meant she was trying to do something fancy with breakfast. Which usually Rasina would be excited about, but not today. Not when it meant she wasn’t taking this seriously.
“But it totally will be sold out today! Sacred Warriors is like, really popular!” Dad was bending his head at all kinds of angles, trying to read it despite her tactical blocking. Rasina leaned in further to make sure his attempts would fail.
And of course the game was popular. It had Mao in it, a badass, super pretty lady who sliced through all her enemies with her Katana of Justice. Who wouldn’t want to buy a game about her?
Rasina would tell her mom all of that because it’s true, but she knew she wasn’t allowed to swear. “Everyone likes the game! Even you said it was cool when I got the first one, and the sequel’s going to be way better,” she said instead.
“She said all that, did she?” Dad asked, grinning that smile that promised a surprise attack was coming. Before she could retreat, he bent the newspaper over her head, trapping her in a cocoon of black and white.
She pushed herself away, sputtering. Now her mouth tasted like ink and news. “Gross!”
Mom glared at whatever was in the pan for a moment, before sighing in surrender. That meant that, again, whatever cool thing she was trying to do hadn’t worked out. She went to grab some plates anyway, because food tastes the same ugly or pretty.
“Also, it’s almost my birthday! So if we don’t get it today, the game’ll be gone when my birthday comes.” Which would be just terrible, because what kind of birthday would be complete without Warrior Princess Moe, the hero Sacred Warriors , cutting through baddies?
“Your birthday’s coming up?” Dad asked even though he clearly knew. “How old are you? Have you hit your thirties yet? We should make you start paying rent one of these days,”
“No I’m not! I’m turning twelve! A nd since I’m turning twelve, you have to listen to me. Those are the birthday rules.”
In her excitement, Rasina had forgotten about being hungry. However when mom came over with breakfast, she felt her stomach rumble. Mom had tried to make a smiley face in the pancakes again by sticking blueberries in it. The juice inside had started leaking though, so it looked like the pancake was bleeding blue from its mouth and eyes.
It looked awesome, like Mom had just handed her the face of some beast. The sausage mustache and eyebrows did make it slightly less awesome and more silly, but it was still cool.
Rasina slid out of her chair to get syrup, because eating pancakes without syrup was a crime. By the time she found it, realized it was too high up, ignored Mom’s offer for help grabbing it, found a broom, and knocked it down, her parents were already at the table with their own plates.
“Well I did want to get some more coal anyway, so it wouldn’t be a bother to go shopping,” Dad said through a mouthful of his own monster face pancake.
Dad really liked grilling, so he always insisted on buying coal himself even though he usually hated shopping. It wasn’t like grilling was good anyway, everything just ended up tasting like smoke, plus it took so long to finish. Still, Rasina liked grilling days, because they always meant something fun was happening. She just wished they didn’t need to eat the grilled food after.
Wait. Dad only bought coal when something was coming up.
“Why are you grilling again ?” Rasina groaned as dramatically as she could. Dad’s grilling obsession deserved to be groaned at. “Nothing’s happening.”
“You’re right Rai, nothing at all is happening, especially not to miss 11 and a half.” Dad said as he snatched the syrup and drowned his pancake in it. Mom then snatched it from him and only added the smallest of drizzles onto hers, because mom clearly had bad taste.
And oh, she’d forgotten about the whole birthday thing. That was a good reason to grill. She grinned. “I’m not 11 and a half! I’m 11 and…11/12th. Wait-” That wasn’t right either, because her birthday wasn’t a month away anymore. Her birthday was on July 16th, and today was June 24th, that wasn’t a full month. “So...I’m 11 and 340/365th years old.”
“Wow. Almost 12 and already a little mathematician,” Mom grinned. “But I don’t think it’s traditional for the birthday girl to be present while we get her presents.” Her grin widened at her joke. Dad groaned at the pun, which Rasina thought was silly because his were way worse. “It’s supposed to be a surprise.”
“Fine! Then we’ll go to the mall today and you can buy your grill stuff.” She pointed at her father with her fork. ”And you’re always boring when you're doing that, so I’ll go do something else. So whatever you buy will be a surprise.”
“Or, you could just stay here and trust me not to buy the wrong gift.” Dad gave an innocent look, which was ruined by the mischievous look in his eyes. “Not that I’m buying you a gift. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” Mom nodded.
“But they always get more crystals on Saturday, so I wanted to go see them before they’re gone!” There was this awesome store at the mall that sold almost nothing but rocks and crystals. The guy who worked there said they had powers, though Mom said that was just a scam to get people to buy them. Scam or not, they were still pretty. She wanted to get Mom one.
Dad gave her a searching look, losing his smile for the first time that morning. “I’m not sure that it’s a good idea to let you run around the mall alone all day.”
“But it won’t be all day, not unless you decide to look at grills forever. Plus! We’ll be in the middle of a huge store! Nobody’s going to snatch me up or anything,” Dad was always nervous about letting her go on her own. He said that kids went missing all the kids, kidnapped or just gone without a trace. But Rasina could handle herself; she was almost 12.
Rasina knew she’d won by the way her dad sighed, then gave her the most over dramatic, fake frown he could muster. “Fine, you make a good argument.” He wagged a finger at her, “But we’re only going for very important grilling reasons. Absolutely no gift buying. None whatsoever.”
With a shout of victory, Rasina leapt out of her seat, ready to rush to her room and get ready.
“Not before you finish your breakfast,” Mom demanded.
Rasina sat back down and ate faster.
____________________________________________________________________________
“Did you make your bed?”
“Yes mom,” Technically the bed was made. Was it made well? That was up to debate.
“Did you do anything to your hair?”
“ Yes mom!” Brushing it a few times totally counted.
“I hope you didn’t just brush it twice and call it done.”
Rasina groaned, rolling her eyes even though mom was in the livingroom and couldn’t see it. Moms were psychic; they always knew when you didn’t bother doing your hair. She was the only one who cared about it anyway.
Which kinda made sense. Dad’s hair was super short, and Rasina wasn’t allowed to do more than brush her hair since that time she tried giving herself a haircut. So it makes sense that mom was the hair-carer of the house.
(Rasina thought she’d looked good with short hair. Dad said she looked like she’d been attacked by a pair of scissors.)
Taking a moment to actually make her bed before her mother’s psychic powers ratted her out on that too, Rasina grabbed her favorite hat and looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, with a hole in each knee from months of wearing them. Her dark green shirt had Sacred Warrior’s main villain, Dark Dragon-lord Druk plastered on the center. The shirt was baggy on her, but all of her best shirts were baggy on her. It wasn’t her fault all the cool shirts were made for boys, and all the boy shirts were big on her.
Rasina adjusted her red baseball cap, turning it backwards because that’s how cool people wear it. Plus, it hid the fact that she hadn’t actually done anything to her hair. Putting a hat on should count as doing something.
She rushed out of her room, checking the clock as she made her way into the living room. It was already 9:30! The mall opened half an hour ago! She could just feel all the games being pulled from the shelves, crushing her hopes as some jerks hogged all the copies.
“I’M READY!” Where was Dad? They were going to be late.
She heard the car honk outside. Grinning, she rushed to the door and -
Mom called after her, “Did you wash your-”
-slammed the door before mom could finish her sentence. She rushed to the waiting car before mom could open the door. Dad was waiting inside.
“I’m pretty sure I heard your mom saying something to you,” he grinned. Rasina gave him her ‘ I’m totally innocent ’ look.
“I didn’t hear anything. I have plausible deniability.” She wasn’t sure if she used that term right, but Dad laughed anyway so she probably had. They finally left the driveway, well before mom could ask her about washing her dishes. She’d do it when she got back.
The mall wasn’t that far from their house, only about 20 minutes away. And yet it felt like they were driving for an eternity. Every car in the world was on the streets, slowing them down and wasting time.
Times like this made her wish she could just fly wherever she wanted. But instead she was stuck waiting in the car, dying while her dad hummed to some country song on the radio. It wasn’t even a good song. Dads had no taste in music.
It was taking forever. Warrior Princess Moe would just leap out of the car, jump over the traffic, and make her way to the mall. Rasina wishes she could do that. Or that she could be friends with Moe and be carried through all these dumb cars.
Or that she was carrying Moe, and they went off to fight Dark Dragon Druk together. They’d destroy that old lizard, then Rasina would be knighted and she’d rule together with Moe! They’d be so freaking cool!
“...So. Are we getting out of the car, or are we daydreaming all morning?”
Dad’s voice broke her out of her thoughts. She blinked, realizing that they’d finally made it.
Rasina ignored her dad’s teasing (mainly because she had a game to buy, partially because she didn’t know how long they’d been sitting there and she was embarrassed) and climbed out of the car. She didn’t bother looking back, knowing for sure that her dad was following.
Rasina always liked going to this mall. It was super old, older than Dad even, and it had so much stuff in it. Any store you could think of was there, so you could get anything! Candy, rocks, toys, absolutely anything. Heck, Rasina could probably buy a baby if she wanted to. They sold everything at the mall.
It was crowded, which made sense for a Saturday, but she knew it’d get even busier as the day went on. It was clearly a good thing they’d come so early. She pat herself on the back for her foresight.
Rasina felt someone grab her hand and looked up. It was Dad.
“Hey, don’t run off without me. I’m not as fast as I used to be, and I don’t want to lose you in the crowd.” He gave her his serious frown, which was a rare occurrence. Rasina knew that she’d be totally fine if they got separated. She knew how to read the mall’s maps, and there were like 3 on each floor. But Dad? Dad could get lost in a paper bag .
She put on a serious face of her own and stood up straighter. “Well we’re going to different places today, so I’m supposed to be leaving you behind!”
“Yeah well, let’s not leave me behind without a plan,” Dad pulled off his watch, which he’d gotten from Mom on Christmas. It was fancy, with a dark leather strap and gold colored hands inside. She didn’t know if it was actually gold or just that color, but it was still neat. Dad wore it all the time, so much so that the skin on his wrist was significantly lighter than everywhere else.
“It’s about 10 now. When it’s almost noon, I want you to go stand by the money fountain, alright?” Dad said as he strapped the watch to her right wrist, tying the leather straps as tight as possible because his wrists were way bigger than hers. “Wait for me there.”
She nodded. She really liked the money fountain. It was this big fountain in the middle of the food court, with an angel baby on top spitting water at everyone. They called it the money fountain because the bottom was always covered with coins. People just...threw them in for some reason. Apparently it brought them good luck, but as far as Rasina could tell, it was only lucky for whoever got the coins afterwards.
Apparently it was ‘rude’ to take the coins out of the fountain.
He stuffed something in her hand. “Here’s some money, use it to buy water or food if you need it. Don’t waste it all on rocks, then spend all day thirsty.”
She gasped, offended. “Rocks aren’t a waste of money! They’re cool crystals, and some of them are even cold lava! ” The rock store was very cool, how dare he call it a waste? “Plus those rocks are way better than dumb old coal!”
Dad ignored her totally justified offense. “So, what are you supposed to do today?”
She looked at the watch, it was 9:54. “At noon I have to go sit at the fountain and wait for you. And I can’t spend all my money on rocks and stuff, even though the rocks are very cool.” She recited. Rasina unfolded the paper in her hand to find 2,000 yen. She wouldn’t spend all of it on cool rocks. Just most of it.
“Perfect.” Dad smiled, “And I’ll be off buying my own cool rocks and absolutely nothing else.”
“Right, nothing else. Especially not Sacred Warriors: Gilded Moon or anything cool like that.” Rasina's face contorted into worry as she realized an important detail. “ Gilded Moon, because if it just says Sacred Warriors on it, then that’s the wrong thing. That’s really important to remember for when you don’t buy it today.”
Dad nodded.
Rasina stuffed her money in her pant’s pocket. “Have fun with your dumb coal!” She turned to leave, only to have Dad stop her again.
The serious face was back. “Don’t go off with strangers, okay? Or anyone but me, not even if you see a friend’s parents or someone from my office.”
“I know Dad, I’m not stupid. ” Even babies knew not to run off with random people at the mall. “And if anyone tries to grab me, I’ll cut 'em up into itty bitty bits!” And sure she didn’t have a sword, but her bare hands would be strong enough for the job.
Dad smiled and finally let her leave. She ran off before he could stop her again.
Now free to go where she wanted, Rasina rushed towards the best store there was. It was the rock shop, which was near the entrance of the store, as it should be since it’s the first place anyone would want to go. The sign out front was purple with a golden font, but the words were written so messily that she couldn’t even read it. Mom had called it calligraphy; it sounds like an excuse for sloppy writing.
Not that she particularly cared what its real name was. When she found the store, she rushed in.
The air inside was heavy with the smell of burning incense, which Rasina could see smoking on the front desk. The only person besides her was the clerk at the desk. She didn’t know his name, but he was always the guy at the front, so he probably was the owner.
She made her way past all the weird plants for sale, going straight for the section labeled ‘power crystals’. There was a whole table filled with cool rocks of all different sizes, some big and heavy looking enough that she wasn’t sure she could pick them up. They were all shiny and polished, making them sparkle under the lights above them.
Rasina could usually spend hours messing with all the rocks, especially the big crystals that looked like daggers. Today though, she had one target in mind. She scanned all her options, stopping when she found a quartz crystal the size of her thumb sitting on one of the lower shelves.
She wasn’t actually sure it was quartz, because not all crystals were quartz. But it was still very pretty. It was a light purple color and almost see through, without a single crack inside of it. She grabbed it and brought it up to the light; it sparked.
Rasina grinned. Mom would love it.
After spending a few minutes appreciating all the other rocks for sale, she took her prize to the front desk. The guy at front was wearing a loose fitting t-shirt and a blue beaded necklace. His hair was tied back in a ponytail.
“Welcome back, little dude,” Ponytail guy said, grinning down at her. “Here for more crystals?”
She put her quartz on the counter. “Yes! It’s for my mom!” Ponytail guy grabbed the crystal, bringing it to the light to see how it sparkled just like she had a bit ago.
“It’s a good one my guy; I’m sure she’ll love it.” He squinted at it for a moment longer. “I’ll give it to you for....1,500 yen.”
Nothing at the store had a set price or anything. Ponytail guy would just look at whatever rock she brought him, then name a price for it. Mom always hated that, since it meant she never knew how much she’d spend until she got to the counter. The upside was that Ponytail was willing to argue about prices.
“1,130!” She stood up a little straighter, putting her hands on her hips. Rule one of bargaining was looking confident
“No can do bud. 1,400.”
“1,250 then! I’ve bought bigger crystals from you for less than that.”
“It’s not about the size, but the power.” Ponytail guy reached down behind his desk, pulling out a really tiny mason jar. It had one of those cork lids stuffed in it, and there was purple sand in it. She didn’t even know sand came in colors other than yellow.
“1,350, and I give you the crystal and this tiny jar.”
She could work with that.
“That’s fair. Deal!”
The guy put her stuff in a paper bag - the store didn’t have plastic because it gave off a ‘bad vibe’ or something - and handed it to her. She gave him the money, stuffing her change alongside her stuff when he gave it to her. Rasina left the store with a cool crystal, a jar of sand, and 700 yen; it was a good day.
As she exited the store, Rasina realized she didn’t know where to go next. There were just so many options, and she still had hours before she had to go. She looked down at her watch, finding that it was not even 10:30 yet. She had plenty of time.
So Rasina spent the next hour roaming the mall, going into whatever store looked worth her time. She would’ve spent the whole time reading at the manga store, but the clerk there had started asking her if she was going to actually buy anything 30 minutes in. She would’ve gone to the game store next, but the risk of running into Dad and ruining the ‘surprise’ was too great.
Also, she had to pee. Which sucked, because by now there were tons of people in the store and she was sure there’d be a line.
Well, there was one bathroom she remembered that would probably be empty. It was on the mall’s third floor, all the way at the opposite side from the escalators. It’s like they were trying to put it at the most inconvenient place possible. Anyone who really had to go wouldn’t bother going up the stairs to reach it. And anyone who was already up there probably wouldn’t know about it, because nobody ever goes there.
Rasina knew about it because one of the older boys at school, she didn’t know his name, was talking about it. He said he’d ‘gotten lucky’ in there and nobody caught him. A hidden bathroom did sound like good luck at the moment.
So she made her way through the crowd, weaving through groups as she did so. As she climbed up the escalator and walked onto the third floor, the sea of people started to thin into a pond, then a tiny stream.
Oh, the water metaphors were a bad idea at the moment. She decided to walk faster.
Finally she made it to the bathroom and, to her joy, there was nobody else there. She made her way inside, handling her business with the swiftness of someone who thought public bathrooms were kinda gross.
When she was done, Rasina made her way to the sink and carefully took out her crystal and jar. Careful not to drop it, she started washing off the crystal in the sink. It wasn’t actually dirty or anything, but rocks always looked better wet for some reason. The water makes them even shinier than usual.
She lifted her now wet crystal to the light above her and was very happy to be proven right.
Taking a moment to dry both the rock and her hands on her shirt, she stuffed the crystal back into its bag. She was just about to reach for her sand jar, when she paused, nearly stumbling.
It felt like the ground just shifted beneath her, like the floor had decided that it wants to start walking or something. For a moment she thought she’d imagined it, but the paper towels hung from the wall were beginning to shake on their own as well. The bathroom stalls were clattering from the vibrating.
Was it an earthquake?! Rasina’s first thought was that being in an earthquake was cool as hell, like she was in a movie. Her second thought was that it wasn’t cool, because a lot of people could get hurt in earthquakes. She didn’t exactly know what she was supposed to do. Her school had run drills on earthquakes, but they always had her hide under a desk. There weren’t desks in bathrooms! Just a few sinks that barely had enough room for her to sit underneath.
The rumbling and shaking only got worse as she stood there, frozen in indecision. She could hear people yelling and things crashing to the floor outside. The sand jar clattered to the ground at her feet, shattering into bits.
She grabbed onto the rim of the countertop, falling to her knees as the world tilted. The lights had begun to sputter and spark above her head, ceiling tiles falling off from the force of the shaking. Rasina thought she’d started screaming, but she couldn’t tell because everything was so horrible and loud .
She wanted to leave now. She wanted to get out of the dumb secret bathroom and find Dad and go home. But when she tried to stand up, tried to find some balance in the shivering room, all she did was lose her grip on the counter and slide across the floor, slamming against a wall.
There were several crashes from somewhere in the room, then the sound of rushing water. It felt like the earth would never stop moving again, but just get louder and worse forever.
The lights went out above her as the ceiling shattered. She lifted her hands on instinct and-