Surrender to Fate Pt. 1

I plopped down onto the bench with a sigh that carried the weight of fried squid, caramel apples, and just a little too much excitement for one night.

The wind was cooler up here. Calmer too. A gentle breeze rolled across the cliffside and tousled my hair, bringing with it the distant sounds of laughter, music, and the occasional pop of a festival firework from below.

It was all a blur now—the last few hours.

Minigames that somehow always ended with Lana shouting, Chloe apologizing, and me getting dragged into another round.

Food stalls that sold things I couldn't pronounce but ate anyway, often at Lana's aggressive encouragement.

We'd walked around for a while after that, following wherever Chloe's wide-eyed wonder led us, only to circle back to more food because all that ever caught her eyes was food.

Then came the fortune teller.

"Total fraud," Lana muttered, slouching across from Alice, her legs stretched out and swinging slightly.

We were now sitting on a bench at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the lights of the festival as the moon slowly ascended into the violet sky.

"I could've told better fortunes with a blindfold and a coin flip," I muttered.

"She did guess your birthday, though," Chloe chimed in, her tone light and unsure as she folded her hands neatly on her lap. She was seated to my left, legs tucked to the side like she was afraid of taking up too much space.

"Lucky guess," Alice said, arms crossed to my right. "Statistically, if you try long enough, you'll get something right. That doesn't make it prophetic."

I let out a short laugh and tilted my head back. Above us, the sky stretched endlessly, painted in soft violet hues and scattered starlight. Below, the festival lights blinked and shimmered like reflections on water, the whole town aglow in celebration.

"It was still fun," I smiled. "Even if we got scammed out of my wallet and Lana's pride."

"As if anything she said was even true!"

"I mean... She did get one thing right, and it was that you were bound to cause chaos wherever you went."

"...I'm gonna punch you."

"You'll have to reach over Alice for that."

On cue, Alice pinched her chin. "Wanna trade seats, Lana?"

"H-hey! Don't do it!"

That made all of us laugh. And for the first time tonight, the silence that followed felt warm. We looked up at the sky. The orange shade left by the sun had almost completely faded, replaced by the darkness of night.

Of course, there were no stars. At least, none that can be seen amidst all the light pollution, but that didn't make this any less enjoyable.

Lana leaned back on her palms, staring up at the stars with a faint smile. "Y'know… I haven't had this much fun in the mortal realm in a long time."

Her voice wasn't loud or exaggerated like usual. It was soft, almost thoughtful—like she wasn't even meaning to say it out loud.

I glanced at her, a bit surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's always been work, work, work. Watching threads, weaving them, snipping them. Occasionally messing with the really annoying ones." She snickered at that, then looked back at the sky. "But this? Just walking around, eating junk food, throwing darts at balloons that may or may not have been rigged? It felt… kinda normal."

Chloe smiled gently, her eyes cast down toward the glowing festival below. "I liked it too… It was loud, but in a good way. I think I was smiling the whole time."

"You were," I said, grinning. "You even won that goldfish.”

“Oh! Right!” She suddenly perked up. "Do you think it's okay in that little bag? I forgot to—"

"I set it free in the river before we left. It'll be fine."

"Oh, phew~ Thanks, Alice."

Alice didn't reply, just let out a small sigh as she tilted her head back, exposing the curve of her neck to the moonlight. 

"What about you, Aikami?"

"Huh? What about me?"

"What did you think? Not the worst way to spend your weekend, right?"

"Would you be mad if I said it was?"

"Just a little."

I chuckled. "It's strange. I thought I'd be irritated the entire time. Crowds, noise, chaos. All things I usually avoid."

Alice raised a brow. "And?"

"It wasn't so bad. Actually… I didn't hate it."

"That's your way of saying you had fun," Lana grinned.

"I will neither confirm nor deny."

"Heh, suit yourself~ But is that really all? Big night. Three goddesses dragged you around a festival. Any regrets?”

I shook my head. "None."

Chloe giggled. "That's new coming from you, Aikami. Normally, you would've been tired just about now. Actually—you would've been taking a nap two hours ago."

"Yeah, well... I guess I've changed."

Alice bumped my shoulder. "And I suppose you have us to thank for that."

"Hah. Maybe."

I meant it.

Because now... I wasn't just a guy watching the world from the sidelines. I was in it. Laughing with them. Losing at rigged games. Eating too much. Talking nonsense. Watching fireworks.

Existing with them. That was more than enough for me.

"I'm glad," Chloe said softly, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. "To be honest, I was kind of nervous about today. I didn't know if you'd enjoy it, especially since you already have to deal with us daily."

"Where's this coming from?" I scoffed. "Since when did my opinion matter to you guys?"

"Eh?! It does! I mean—it... it does now..."

At first, I hesitated. Her tone had shifted just then, and I'm surprised I even caught it.

"Chloe? Is something wrong?" I asked.

She let out a breathy laugh. "It's just... I worry sometimes. I enjoy your company so much that I don't want it to end. But I'm not sure how I'm supposed to act. Even now, I still don't really know what I'm doing. Around people. Around you."

I turned toward her, and her cheeks colored faintly under the moonlight. But before I could say anything, Lana leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.

"I think that's kinda the point, though. None of us really knew what we were doing when we met you, Aikami. We just saw you and… you didn't have a thread. No fate. No path. That shouldn't be possible."

She paused, then added, "But instead of scaring me, it made me curious. Really curious. And I thought maybe if I stuck around, I could figure out why."

"And… did you?" I asked.

She gave a short laugh. "Not even close. But somewhere along the way, I stopped caring about the reason. Like Chloe, I... I just liked being around you. It was a totally new experience... and it was fun."

That caught me off guard. I didn't know what to say.

Alice, who'd been quiet for a while, finally spoke—her voice calm but more subdued than usual.

"I think I was the opposite of Lana. I cared too much about the reason. Why you were different. Why you existed outside our understanding."

She looked at me, her expression unreadable. "But in trying to understand you, I ended up... understanding myself a little more. I'd forgotten what it was like to be curious without judgment. To feel something, even if it didn't have a purpose. That scared me a little, and I'm not used to being scared."

A small silence followed.

Not awkward, but quiet—like all of us were giving each other space to breathe.

Then Chloe whispered, "Aikami... Do you ever wonder what'll happen next?"

"What'll... happen next? What do you mean?"

She glanced at me, her voice a little shaky. "If you have no thread… does that mean we're not supposed to be part of your story?"