A Record of Us
I don’t want to give anyone a meaningless gift. They might use it for the wrong reasons, so I always give people something useful for good. You know? We could be held responsible for what they do with our gifts.
The gentle taps of her polished shoes echoed against the pavement. The street was unusually quiet at this hour. The sun had barely begun to set, yet her eyes remained as sharp as ever. They finally widened ever so slightly when she spotted a figure approaching.
“Ace!”
The silhouette paused at the sound of her name, then her gaze softened as the two approached each other. Only for the figure called Ace to stop in her tracks.
Something was silently… off.
“Kak ███?” Ace stuttered.
“Yo! What’s up? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
The lady spoke casually, waving her hand as if greeting a close friend.
“Wow, it’s been a while…” Ace smiled nervously. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you away at college?”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it. Anyways, here’s a gift for you.”
She smiled brightly, slowly yet eagerly pulling out a small present wrapped in kraft paper, with a little ribbon tied at one corner. The simple box rested between her fingers, small yet meaningful to her.
“Happy belated birthday, I guess.” She chuckled.
Ace blinked, not expecting the sudden present. Not even from ███. Her birthday had been around five months ago, and worse, they hadn’t exchanged birthday gifts since that day. Her hand twitched at her side, hesitating to accept it.
“Why the sudden gift? I didn’t even give you anything for your birthday.”
“So what? Giving someone a gift doesn’t mean you have to get something in return.” ███ shrugged casually. “Besides, you gave me a bunch of gifts one random morning, and I didn’t even complain. That means we’re even.”
███ smiled, lazily shoving the present against Ace’s chest with surprising firmness. A silent gesture with a meaning deeper than words.
No refusal.
Ace flinched at the sudden gesture, stumbling as she caught the present in her gloved hands. She steadied herself before finally looking at it, inspecting the present as though it were some dangerous item.
“You can open it at home or here. I don’t mind.”
The offer only added to the heaviness in Ace’s chest. It ached, yet her eyes, hidden behind those glasses, were already brimming with curiosity, as though the feeling itself might spill down her cheeks like tears.
Gently, she began unwrapping it, tearing the paper away piece by piece. ███ remained quiet, silently observing her.
The present?
No.
It was the way those slender fingers moved, their shape perfectly outlined beneath her gloves with every movement.
After a while, the wrapping came off, revealing a small box. When she opened it, her eyebrows rose. She took what was inside and held it up in the air.
“A pen?”
███ froze for a moment, seemingly unprepared for such a reaction. A second later, a scoff escaped her lips before a burst of laughter echoed through the air.
What the hell?
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Ace stood there, confused by the sudden laughter. What was happening?
“Oh goodness! You look so much like a detective who’s just uncovered some ridiculous case. Were you expecting something?” ███ asked, gently wiping the small tear at the corner of her eye after laughing so hard.
“W-what? N-no! I… I didn’t expect anything!” Ace stuttered, almost panicking at how ███ had managed to catch her so off guard and turn her into such a flustered mess.
“Then why a pen? It’s very unusual.”
“…”
“What?”
“Nothing! You study a lot, don’t you? I thought the pen might be useful,” ███ muttered, smiling gently at her as though nothing had happened.
Ace simply stood there. Despite being with someone she knew, she felt painfully uncomfortable with the situation. Something had felt off from the moment they met, but she just couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Anyways, hope you enjoy the present!”
███ happily walked away. Not even a second later, Ace quickly caught her by the wrist, stopping her mid-step.
“Hold on! Were you seriously waiting here for who-knows-how-long just to hand me this? How did you even know this was my usual route? Just… what is wrong with you?” Ace snapped.
Her patience was wearing thin. She needed more of an explanation for whatever this was. Meanwhile, ███ stood there stunned, her eyebrows furrowed in disbelief at what Ace had just done.
That expression alone made Ace freeze, the realization hitting her right in the gut.
“Kak, I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to…” Ace stuttered, struggling to find the right words. “You’re just… I don’t know what’s happening. This whole situation is suffocating me.”
███ blinked, her usually lazy eyes widening ever so slightly.
Hurt? Not really.
She tilted her head in confusion before murmuring a genuine question.
“Does my presence make you uncomfortable?”
“N-no, no… It’s… I’m just as clueless as a headless chicken when it comes to your sudden behavior. Your presence has never made me uncomfortable.”
Ace lifted her gloved hand, brushing it lightly against ███’s upper cheek in a quiet gesture of affection. ███ merely scoffed, yet she didn’t pull away, allowing her junior to do as she pleased.
“Are we done now? You look like you’re about to pass out any second because of your classes,” ███ grinned.
Ace let out a lazy chuckle, waving her hand dismissively.
“No worries. College exists to torture me.”
Their soft laughter filled the air as the setting sun cast a gentle orange glow across their features.
Later that same night, after arriving home, ███ let her body slump onto her bed with a heavy thud. She stared at the ceiling as though it had personally offended her.
“You… want to spread kindness through your gifts…?”
███ murmured the words she had heard years ago into the air. Her eyes glinted with something mischievous, a deep navy hue filled with endless anticipation.
“Then I’ll have you write something with it, whether it’s kindness or even sin…”
“I’ll make sure our deeds remain entwined in Purgatory.”
