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Zanka Nijiku liked the rain. At least, from under the cover of a building with four walls and a roof. The sound was peaceful, as long as it wasn't sizzling. So when he looked up and saw dark clouds forming above, his first instinct was to find that. But then he remembered that he was in the middle of an abandoned town. A town where most of the building's roofs had collapsed.
He cursed as he ran through the empty streets littered with trash. Surely there had to be one. Of all the days that the Cleaners had to be busy. He was out here busting his ass off with no support, and it decides to rain? Just his luck.
The Trash Beast he had just taken out was small, barely a sweat for an average joe like him. So he had taken the job without question even when Semiu had informed him about how no supporters would be able to watch his back. It would have been fine. But now it's raining?
This sucked. This town was huge, but mostly filled with one story store-fronts and houses, any two stories had been reduced to rubble. And with how that trash beast had been running around here, the amount of one stories still intact were slim.
“Zanka!”
The sudden voice had him skidding to a stop. Whirling 360 degrees he tried to spot the source.
“Zanka! Over here!” The voice called again and he spotted a blur of grey peaking out of open glass doors set into a large building.
A building with a roof.
Zanka didn't wait a beat before rushing to whoever it was. Was that a bad move? Maybe. Better be stuck in a safe building with a random than stand outside and get burned with potentially acidic rain.
He slid through the open doors just as he felt a raindrop fall onto his shoulder. It then proceeded to burn through his coat, stopping just at his undershirt. So it was acid.
Taking a second to take a breath, Zanka searched for the person who had called. And now that he looked around he saw that the building must have been a grocery store of some kind in the past. Then a shadow moved from one of the aisles.
“Here, I was able to find-.”
Before the person could finish, Zanka ran up to them and pressed his Lovely Assistaff's curve against their throat.
“Zanka!” A moment. Zanka knew that voice.
“Eishia?” He pulled his vital instrument back a bit, squinting in the darkness.
“It's just me!” She moved around Zanka, coming into the light pouring in from the windows.
Zanka let out a breath and let his vital instrument switch back. Holding it by his side he noticed her outfit. She was in her Cleaners uniform. Had she been here when he was dealing with the trash beast?
“What are you doing out here?” His tone came out more clipped than he intended.
Looking a bit embarrassed, Eishia avoided eye contact, “Well, I was just…”
When she didn't keep talking after a moment, Zanka moved back to the front of the vacant store. He looked out at the rain, every drop sizzling when it hit the ground. But all it did was sizzle, that gave Zanka some relief.
Eishia appeared in his peripheral. “Did any land on you?” She said this as her eyes roamed over him. Ever the doctor.
Equipping his staff back to his back, fidgeting under her gaze. Ever since that day she had healed him from the hole in his chest, he felt…weird…
“No. But I would have been fried if you didn't see me.” He answered her question, grinding the wheels of his train of thought to a stop.
“Oh that's good. I doubt this building has an outlet I could heal you with. I mean, there's probably a first aid kit somewhere around here.” With a shake of her head she focused on him, “Either way it would have been bad.”
He stared at her. In turn she shifted, a sudden blush hitting her face. After another tick Zanka asked again, “What are you doing out here?” This time he was able to make it sound less annoyed and more neutral.
Still, she jumped and started ringing her fingers, “Ah, well. I was just…” A timid look up at him had her squeaking, “I was just looking for the Swertia flower!”
Zanka winced when she shouted and rubbed his ear, “The what flower?”
Her face changed and she looked out at the acid rain, “It's a medicinal plant. This town was the last place on my list to check. But now even if one was out there…”
“Well I can tell you that there was nothing green out there.” Zanka crossed his arms. Leveling a stare at her, “And neither should you be out here. Didn't Semiu tell you that I was hunting a trash beast out here?”
This made her face go white, "No, Semiu wasn't at her desk when I left.”
Zanka’s nose scrunched, “Isn't it common sense to check a zone's safety before going for a walk?”
“I did! I called Enjin and he said he hadn't heard anything.” Her eyebrows furrowed and a hand came up to fiddle with her choker.
Groaning, Zanka nodded, “So someone, somewhere forgot to mark this one.”
Neither of them spoke for a minute, just staring at the rain. How had the Cleaners missed this? This was a major security risk. If Zanka hadn't found the trash beast first, and it had found Eishia out here by herself…
“How long do you think the rain will last?” Her voice was small, and it shook him from his spiralling imagination.
“No clue.” Again, silence reigned.
This is when Zanka realized he really didn't know much about Eishia. He knew she was the only Healer in the Cleaners and that August was her brother. Oh, and she foraged for flowers in abandoned towns. But he never really hung out with her in a way that he would ever get to know her. All the facts he knew were from when he was…hospital-ridden.
With a silent sigh, Zanka moved away from the window and started walking down the aisle where Eishia had emerged. He heard her sandals follow behind him. The area grew darker the farther they went.
“Is there anything good in here?” He asked as he picked up a box on one of the shelves. It was empty.
“Theres nothing on any of the shelves, there's a room at the back though. I couldn't get in cause it was locked.” Her voice became softer as she kept talking.
“I can probably break down the door. Where is it?” Moving out of the way, he let Eishia brush past him. He caught a faint whiff of antiseptic, and the smell stung his nose. A memory of being in the medical wing with her flashed across his mind.
Falling in step behind her, the smell continued to be the only thing his mind seemed to focus on. It was just the two of them most of the time when he was recovering. Enjin and Rudo came by once but Eishia always came to check on his wound. It had become something he had waited for, to see her walk through the door with a cart of medical stuffs. Seeing her eyes light when she noted that he was healing nicely.
Eishia stopped walking, “Here, I think it's some kind of reinforced metal. Don't know why that would be used in a store…”
Putting a hand on the door, Zanka knocked on it. Solid. Human instinct has him turning the handle. Locked, as she said.
“Okay, back up a bit.” He reached behind him and grabbed his staff, “I might be able to just lift the ground beneath it to dislodge it.”
He heard her step away. With a grunt he thrust the now activated Lovely Assistaff into the concrete floor. The spikes smashed right under the door, his aim perfect. A heft and Zanka put his weight onto the handle, pushing it down. The floor crack, spreading into the doorframe. One more push and the wall started creaking before the door crashed into the top of the frame.
Next, Zanka unlodged his instrument and poked the door. It fell down, the sound making his head duck into his shoulder.
“There.”
Clapping came from behind him. When he looked he saw Eishia's face glowing, “That was awesome! Your strength is amazing.”
His habit was to comment on how anyone could have done this, but her compliments stalled his tongue, “Umm, thanks.” Was all he managed.
With a slow walk Eishia came up to the door and peaked inside, something made her pull her head back out. Zanka gripped his staff.
“What is it?”
“Oh!” Eishia quickly shook her head, “Nothing bad, it's just-. I can't tell very well without any light, but I think I saw a couch?”
“Anima generates some light, let me see.” Zanka stepped into the room and channelled his focus into lighting up his vital instrument, creating a very faint light. But in a pitch black room, it lit up enough.
There was indeed a couch, but more than that. The whole area was decorated like a living room. A rug on the floor, pictures on the walls. There was even a basket of blankets in the corner. Could it have once been used as a safe room?
“Weird.” Zanka walked up to a desk in the corner and with his free hand, tested the dust. Tracing a line, his finger came back grey. “Looks like no one's been here in ages.”
The sound of springs had Zanka swivelling to see Eishia bounce once on the couch, “There is no way that's clean.”
“We basically live in a dumpster, Zanka. I think my immune system will handle a dusty couch.” She leaned over to the basket and shook out a blanket.
Zanka cringed, “Please don't.”
With a flourish, Eishia settled the blanket on the section beside her, “There, now you can sit.” When she looked over the back of the couch to see him, her eyes were shining in the light of his Anima.
“And a dusty blanket is better, how?” But even as he said it he made his way around the couch. Didn't sit down though, he wanted to hear her explanation.
A sheepish look from her made him smirk, “I'm sure they wouldn't put a dirty blanket into a nice basket like that, so it really is only dust.”
Something inside Zanka folded and he sat down, didn't let go of his staff though. He just held it upright between his legs, “We won't know when the rain stops from in here.”
Eishia put a gloved finger to her mouth and he shut up. Sure enough he could just barely make out the sound of pitter pattering followed by the tell tale sign of acid rain sizzles. How had she heard that when they were talking?
With an uncharacteristic grin, Eishia giggled at his eyeroll.
“We're trapped in trash beast territory and you're laughing.” But even though he complained, Zanka found her laugh to be comforting.
“I have you to protect me if a trash beast appears.” Her head tilted innocently and his heart sputtered, “Besides, you took the only one that was reported in the area, right?”
Zanka looked away with a frown, “Right.”
The only sound for the next while was the rain above them and the couch squealing if they readjusted for comfort.
‘This is nice’, Zanka thought as he glanced at the girl beside him, ‘Almost feels like the times when I was trapped in the med wing. This time though, I'm not having any bandages changed.’ A heat swept across his cheeks and he shifted. ‘That was weird.’
Suddenly a chirping sound filled their comfortable quietude. It was his choker. Sitting up, Zanka answered with a free hand.
“Zanka?” It was Enjin.
“I'm here. What's up?”
Eishia positioned her body to his and rested her head on the couch's back.
“Cool, just wondering if you've seen Eishia around where you took out that trash beast? I told her it was clear-.” Enjin's voice had an edge of panic to it.
“She’s with me.” Zanka broke him off.
An audible sigh of relief came through, “Oh thank goodness.”
“How did you not know this zone wasn’t safe?” The frustration over that situation flooded him again, and his tone held it all.
An awkward chuckle that made Zanka’s eye twitch floated in the air, “Well you see I had read Semiu's awful handwriting wrong. And while it actually says, ‘Hazardous Zone’, I thought it said, ‘Harmless Zone’.”
Zanka pinched the bridge of his nose, “We don't even write ‘Harmless Zone’, if it's cleared we write cleared.”
“Yeah, I just remembered that. It all worked out in the end, Eishia's safe and in your care. So I'm gonna hang up now, baaaii~.” Enjin's voice cut off.
And before Zanka could even have time to process what all Enjin had spewed off, Eishia was releasing soft huffs of laughter. His own smile would be highlighted by the glowing staff right by his face and he fought to kill it. “This is serious, Enjin could have sent you to your death if I hadn't been here.”
Through her breaths, Eishia managed a quiet, “Be that as it may, I'm glad it was you.”
“What does that mean?”
“I've missed seeing you in the med wing.” By now Zanka's eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he was able to see Eishia's face turn darker and how her hands flung around, “Not that I miss you being hurt! I miss seeing you everyday, I suppose. But! Not in a way that would imply that I've missed you, per se, more like your presence became a constant for those few weeks and I-.”
She stopped when he let go of his staff, sending the small room into blackness. A blink and Zanka’s eyes cleared.
“I’ve missed it too.” Without the low blue light she hopefully wouldn't be able to see the ridiculous heat that was crawling onto his ears.
Eishia didn't start talking again, just nodded slightly, obviously embarrassed.
In the next few seconds of silence Zanka didn't hear anything. He didn't hear anything.
“I think the rains stopped.”
“I don’t hear the rain.”
They said at the same time. Eishia smiled and Zanka stood up, grabbing his staff.
“Let's go check.” Leading the way back to the front of the store, the brightness had his squinting.
Sure enough, the rain had stopped and in its wake had left little patches across the ground of dark sludge. Typical acid rain.
“Finally.” He looked back at Eishia, “You ready to go?”
“Wait, Zanka?” Her question had him paused.
“Yeah?”
“After this,” At her hesitation, Zanka spun fully and looked at her. It made her look away, “Never mind.”
He thought about that. Then he smirked, “That's all?”
That made her flinch, “Well I don't want to be a bother…”
A serious expression overcame him, “You're never a bother to me, Eishia.”
This made her head snap back to him, her eyes wide. They stared at each other before Zanka walked through the open doors of the building, careful to avoid a sludge puddle. He heard her footsteps trail after him.