Sora gazed up at the clear blue sky. He raised a hand to brush the hair out of his bright eyes, and whilst doing so, accidentally brushed the hand of the girl standing beside him. They both chuckled, and Sora looked at his friend, drinking her in. He had had to be apart from her for so long, and now he was scared that if he didn’t pay enough attention to her, she would fade away on the gentle breeze that cooled the pair on that warm day. She was pretty, with green eyes that sparkled all the time and pink hair that reached just past her shoulders. She was always smiling, which was something Sora loved about her, and as he took in all her features, he realised she was smiling at him radiantly, with a slight look of puzzlement etched lightly into her face.
“Oh, uh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare, it’s just…” Sora trailed off, realising he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say next. The girl next to him nodded. “I know, Sora. I can’t help looking at you all the time too; just to make sure you’re still here, with me. I can’t stop thinking about how terrible it would be if we got separated too.” Her eyes took on an element of sadness as she spoke. Sora took her pale hands in his. “It’s okay, Kairi. I promise to never leave you again. I couldn’t bear to.”
A boy with silver hair ran up behind them. The echoing sounds his footsteps made on the pavement surprised Sora and Kairi, and they sprang apart. “Oh, Riku, it’s just you!” Kairi laughed. Riku was confused. “Well, yeah. Who else could I be?” He smiled, and held out two blue ice lollies. Another was tightly gripped in his other hand. “Yay!” Kairi grinned. “It’s my first ever sea salt ice cream!” Sora and Kairi took their ice creams, and the three of them lapsed into silence as they stood licking their ice creams in the warmth of the sun.
Riku was the first to finish, and chewed on his now empty stick. “That was better than I expected,” he said thoughtfully. The other two nodded their agreement, and all was quiet again until they had finished their ice cream. “Well that was really good…” Sora licked his lips. “Let’s go get another one!” he shouted, a little louder than he had intended to.” Kairi shook her head. “Can we get one later? I wanna go see Hayner, Pence and Olette now. Please can we?” Riku and Sora looked at each other, then back at Kairi, and nodded. Kairi smiled again, and taking both of their hands, led them down the back alley that led to the gang’s hideout.
In the Usual Spot, Kairi, Riku and Sora looked around. Nothing had changed since Kairi had visited, and Sora could feel it in his heart. But the Usual Spot was empty. There was no sign of Hayner, Pence or Olette. So the three friends sat on a sofa to wait for them to turn up, as they knew they would eventually. Riku was still checking out the room. “So this was Roxas’s favourite place to hang out with his mates, right Sora?” Sora looked up and nodded at him. “Right.” Riku went on, “And then you hung out with Roxas’s friends here when you got chased around by the Organization, yeah?” Kairi nodded, too.
A commotion at the door made Sora, Kairi and Riku look up in perfect sync with each other, and in strode a boy, aged about fifteen, with blonde hair. He was closely followed by a girl with dark plaits and another boy with brown hair. They noticed the three people sat on their sofa, and stopped suddenly. Then Olette stepped forward. “Kairi! We thought we would never see you again!” Kairi stood up, and walked into the other girl’s hug. Hayner was looking over Riku and Sora, who were looking back with just as much interest. Kairi turned to them, and quickly said, “Oh yeah, guys, these are Riku and Sora – the ones I told you about. And,” she looked at Riku at Sora now, “these are Hayner, Pence, and Olette,” she finished, indicating each one as she said their name.
The six teenagers started talking, about all sorts of random things, and the time passed quickly. When Hayner got up to look out of the window, though, he let out a shocked sound. When everyone turned to stare at him, bewildered, he explained. “It’s getting dark already!” he half shouted. “I promised my mum I would be early getting back today. Aw, crud. I gotta run guys. But it was great meeting you two, and it was good to see you again, Kairi.” He said all this very quickly, and then dashed out of the cloth hanging that served as a door to the den. Following this, Olette and Pence exchanged nervous glances. “Sorry guys, but I guess we’ve gotta get back home, too. Drop by again as soon as you can, okay?” Olette said, her sadness at having to leave portrayed clearly in her eyes. The five said their goodbyes, and Pence and Olette left, too.
Kairi turned to Sora and Riku. “So, what did you think?” she asked. “They were cool,” Riku said easily. “Yup,” Sora said, “but now can we get some more ice cream?” Kairi rolled her eyes at him, and they got up and went to buy some more sea salt ice cream. As they left, Sora turned to his friends and suggested that they went somewhere. “I know just the place we should go to eat these,” he said. “Sure, let’s go,” Riku said. “You’re serious all of a sudden, Sora.” Sora didn’t answer, but instead started walking away. Riku and Kairi hastened to follow him.
Sitting on the top of the clock tower, Kairi turned to Sora and said, “This was a really good idea.” Sora nodded, and licked his ice cream thoughtfully. “I just thought it would be a shame if we didn’t come up here at least once. Plus, I thought maybe then we could see Roxas and Namine, but I guess not…” Kairi nodded. Riku was looking at something, and tapped Sora lightly on the shoulder. “Hmm?” Sora looked round, his ice cream dangling out of his mouth. There, sitting next to Riku, were two translucent figures; Roxas and Namine. They smiled at the three friends, and their fingers were interlocked.
The five kids just sat there, together on the top of the clock tower that overlooked the whole of Twilight Town. They didn’t say anything; they didn’t need to – the silence they shared was comfortable. Besides, they were all thinking the same thing:
Sometimes it’s nice to just take a step back.
