40 Usagi Days / Ruby-Colored Days, Pt 1

SIX

MONTHS

LATER

- 40.1 -

Ruby Hanasaki didn't want to get up.

She stayed in bed all day, thinking about nothing. She stared blankly around at the one-room studio apartment she had been living in for the past six months. The kitchenette with an electric stove and sink. The writing desk with a small, halogen lamp. A small closet. A compact bathroom, designed purely for efficiency, with the sink built directly into the top of the toilet tank. (The electric self-warming seat was nice, at least—she had to admit that.)

She stared at the ceiling, at the fluorescent ring of light that buzzed annoyingly at times. (For which reason alone, she almost always kept it turned off, preferring to use the writing desk lamp for lighting the room at night.)

Two-hundred square feet of cold, hard utilitarianism.

Home, sweet, home.

(… Yeah, right.)

The floor was littered with empty Dr Fizzy-Pop cans, and used cups of R.A.B.B.I.T.-brand instant noodles. Overflowing trash bags everywhere.

A stack of manga and light novels that Ivy had lent her sat by the foot of her bed. Ivy had been trying to teach her to read, these past few months—but Ruby didn't feel like reading. She didn't really feel like doing anything.

Garbage collection was every Tuesday. (… What day was it again?) All she had to do was leave her trash outside, and the garbage pickup would take care of it. But she didn't even do that much.

She hadn't left the apartment in nearly … a week? Not like she was keeping track of the days, anyway.

Her stomach growled. She'd finished the last of her cup noodles yesterday, and hadn't eaten since. She supposed she would have to make a konbini run later tonight.

But first, more sleep.

All she really did these days was sleep.

- 40.2 -

When Ruby opened her eyes again, it was dark. It was "nighttime"—they had shut off the artifical sunlight outside, as they did every night at 6:30PM.

Her room had two windows: a real one, beside her door, looking out into the atrium outside; and a fake one, on the other side of the room, by her bed.

An image of a moon shone on her fake window, which was really just a screen that displayed a video feed of a simulated outdoor view. At five kilometers underground, it was R.A.B.B.I.T.'s half-baked attempt at providing each room with some kind of natural scenery.

Ruby, for one, hated it. She found it a complete mockery of nature. She had wanted to board it up, but of course they would dock her credits allowance if she vandalized the property. Which would mean—a lot less Dr Fizzy-Pop, and instant noodles.

She stood in her darkened room now, looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, she hadn't showered in days.

… She wondered what Annie would've said, if she saw her like this. Probably something blunt like, "Wow, Rubes—you look awful." In that straightfoward, matter-of-fact way she always had. No clever jokes, no teasing, no mocking banter like Ivy and Violet would've done. Just simple, direct, to the point.

She shook her head. … Why was she thinking about Annie now, all of a sudden? As time went on, Ruby found herself thinking less and less about her. She had no idea why Annie had popped in there just now.

Ruby sighed. She supposed she needed to put something halfway-presentable on, if she was going to head outside, into the main atrium. Not that there were many people wandering outside now—when the artificial sunlight turned off, people mostly stayed in. There wasn't a curfew, per se; but at night, besides the konbini, and a few vending machines, there was nothing else open. (Technically, there was the gym, and the pool—but you had to reserve your spot in advance, so you couldn't just come and go as you pleased.)

She opened her closet, looking for something to put on. Even a hoodie would do. She reached in—and accidentally brushed up against something in the back, knocking it over with a clunk as it hit the side of the closet.

… Annie's rifle.

A bittersweet expression flickered across Ruby's face, as the memories came flooding back. She never liked reminiscing about the past—that's why she kept the rifle tucked away in the back of the closet, in the first place.

But she surrendered now to the call of nostalgia. Just this once.

She thought about how they used to tell everyone the rifle worked. Why had they done that? Nobody ever bought it, not even once. The Usagi, people could believe. (Seeing was believing, after all.) But a working gun, under the SDF—now that was too far for most. Ultimately, the rifle had amounted to nothing more than a glorified bat for Annie. (Ruby always suspected Annie used to carry it as some sort of good luck charm, perhaps.)

Ruby then thought about how all the times they spent out there, in the above-ground world, camping out under the stars, stumbing upon strange new places, helping out those in need. And, of course, the mundane but rewarding job of delivering packages to their rightful owners. Their biggest reward the satisfaction of a job well done.

She stood there for a long time, thinking about all the time the four (and then later, five) of them had spent together. Nothing but them, the open road, and the pink kei-car they traveled in.

Those long-gone Usagi days.

… Which had all ended the moment they decided to come to the Old Capital. She missed those days. Of course she did. How could she not?

Ruby grabbed her hoodie, put it on, and then shut the closet door. That was enough nostalgia, for one day. For a lifetime, even. The rifle, tucked away in the back of the closet, remained out of sight, once more.

… After all, it wasn't like Annie would ever use it again.

Ruby exited her one room apartment, and stepped out into the main atrium of Ithaca Station.