/ ( yuki kato. genderfluid. she/he ). ⸻ alena yamaguchi, a twenty - nine year old finance officer, still wears last summer like a scar. they move through the heat as the supernova, each step a reminder of the role they've never quite outrun. carried like souvenirs from something they won't talk about, you'll recognize them by the crush of the tide against jagged rocks below ; the cloying scent of oil, petrol, and grease ; a rotting flower drowning in its own vase. they've always been persevering and capricious, depending on who's telling the story. the sand shifts, the shoreline whispers, and everyone pretends not to notice what's changed. but secrets rot faster in the sun & someone out there still remembers exactly what they did… she bribed an old team boss to let her win the season, all without his parents’ knowledge.
why were you arguing with the flight risk at the top of tidepoint the night of the party? what was said in the dark that no one else was meant to hear?
the furrow of her brows is immediate, a restless energy settling into her spine. “are we interrogating me now? we weren’t—” what was it that her childhood therapist used to say? breathe in deep. hold it for three seconds. breathe out. yeah, much good that’s gonna do him here. one leg stretches below the table. over the other, alena presses her palm into, just above the knee. it’s not enough to curb the tension.
he looks away, scowl already forming as his fingers dig into the fabric of his jeans. she’ll find angry red half - moon marks over the skin underneath later, probably, but— later’s problem, really. her other arm finds the surface of the table, elbow laid flat on it. no point in running from this, too. her breath comes out in an irritated huff when she leans in. “why? can’t i keep my secrets anymore?” so many others that are worth more now, and yet. maybe this one won’t see the light, since teddy’s fucking dead. there’s a pause, and then : “he knew someone,” he settles for.
“i was looking to move. new city, new job, all that. needed a new place to stay. you know how it is.” they don’t, not really. this has to work out, teddy, he’d said. look where that got them. “teddy said he had a friend who could hook me up.” how unimportant was it all, in the grand scheme of things? “it fell through.”
you know how it is, alena wants to say again. they all knew how the rest of it played out. “i got mad. we argued.” no big deal, right? teddy had said. you can find a new place. there’s still time. that was the problem with teddy. nothing was ever a problem to him, and now he’s fucking dead. like hell it isn’t a big deal, she’d snarled that night, hands shoving against teddy’s chest. it’s all her fault for showing him how desperate she’d been. he didn’t get it. “it had to work out,” she says now. she leans back again. the metal feet of the chair scrape against the ground as alena pushes to a stand. full height, chest heaving and fists balled. “doesn’t matter now, anyway. i got what i wanted.”