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Riri was preparing herself to leave with Mary on one of the staff cars in the parking lot when she received a text message from her sister, asking for her assistance with something. She didn't specify what exactly, which made Riri become wary.
"Mary-"
"I know, you have to go." She answered before she could say anything, "After what she did earlier, I thought you would stop letting her boss you around." Riri looked at her with pleading eyes.
"She is my sister."
"Is she really though? Kira was about to choke you out, Riri. You are not at fault for your father's choice, she – especially – should know that, when you are the one always by her side." Mary put on the seatbelt, "But go on, it must be important after the amount of humiliation she went through today."
"You intend to stay here?" Riri asked while leaving the car, feeling a little bad for leaving the girl behind.
"I will be fine. I will wait for you to come back, I'm rather curious to find out where you were planning to take me." The mischievous way Mary said it made Riri smile softly under the mask.
"Aren't you angry?"
"No. I think I'm starting to understand you." Riri waited for her to elaborate on her thoughts, but she just shooed the masked girl away. "Don't make Kira wait." The girl outside the car nodded, but moved around the car to stand by the passenger seat window, offering her hand for the other girl. "What?" She asked but laid her hand on hers, waiting to see what Riri wanted.
"Sorry for having to go, I will try to come back as quickly as I can." The taller girl said and brought her face down to touch Mary's hand with her mask, mimicking a kiss. The other girl smiled.
"I know you will." Riri nodded, turning to go back to the party, praying it isn't anything worrying.
. . .
To say the prayers weren't answered would be an understatement. Never in a million years would Riri think she would come back to see her sister hugging Gabriel's wife. From the whispers around the otherwise silent room, it seems like her husband is dead, and Kira just accused their father.
Riri knew her father didn't do it, he never did anything with his own hands, and since she was there, if he wanted Gabriel killed he would have sent her. Still, she really didn't want to believe her sister did something like this just to get back at their father.
"Have you gotten insane? One slap is anything needed to get your brain out of the rails?" He said with a tight jaw, moving slowly to Kira's direction. "I never left this room, you on the other hand..."
"I was downstairs when i saw Mrs. Adams coming down the stairs crying. I'm not the one with a history of killing people of this group." It was a weak explanation, but Riri doesn't think the people here really care about the truth. They see what they want to see, and Kira is giving a pretty picture for the ones who want our father's seat.
With our father's top killer dog out of the picture, there's only Riri close enough for the more sensitive works, without him, they could use their own hounds to affect Timurov's side of the group business.
Still, they don't side with Kira – not yet.
When Arkadi moved to get closer to Kira again, the younger sister stepped out of where she was in the crowd, silently standing in between of them. She could hear a soft sigh behind her, meaning her sister had been waiting for her back up.
"I don't think it really matters who did this right now, if there's someone here with intentions of harming the school board it would be for the interest of everyone to leave right now, we can't know if Mr. Addams was the only target, so for the safety of everyone here, we should end this retreat early." She was lying, it's possible to know if he was the only target. Well... At least have an idea of it. But she wasn't on the crime scene nor paying attention to the other people at the party to figure it out anyway. Riri looks at her father, then at the others present. "I'm sure my father will take care of everything, so this incident won't leave this place."
She could hear Mrs. Adams started to say something before Kira soothed her, saying something along the lines that it wasn't the best moment to fight for her husband's death. Arkadi nodded and signaled with his hands to the staff, making them move to "help" Mrs. Adams to her feet, taking her to another room. Riri figured some of them will go check the body, probably to start planning the cover up.
"You are already showing them why I gave you a seat on this board." He said with a smile, approaching her. She instinctively stands more proud, but moves to block Kira out of his view. He extends his head to touch Riri's cheek, tapping it softly. "That's my girl. I imagine you will want to take care of this yourself?" He probably meant the killing, but she couldn't shake the feeling he was also talking about Kira.
She could only nod.
. . .
Things were strange after that, but Riri was only focused on taking Kira out of there. Suki tried to approach them, but one glare of the masked girl was enough to shut down his questions. She slowly made the walk back to the car Mary was in, hoping her sister would say something about what happened.
She didn't.
When Mary saw them she shot Riri a questioning look.
"Sorry, can she come with us?" She could hear Kira snickering behind her.
"Why would her opinion matter?"
Thankfully Mary knew the president enough to know it would be better not to engage. "What did she do now?"
"Hopefully, nothing. There's only so much I can do." Kira let out a sigh, moving to open the back door to sit on the seat behind Mary.
"You speak as things like that don't happen all the time in that circle."
Riri didn't answer, deciding it would be smart to move them to another place. She was planning on taking Mary to a restaurant she loved and always went alone with Kira during the retreats.
She doesn't think it's a good idea to go there now.
"Don't tell me you killed someone?" When Kira doesn't answer she turns to Riri.
"Someone killed Gabriel Adams. I think it will be best for us to stay in a motel until things settle."
"So she did kill someone." With the pointed look Riri gave her Mary put her hands up, "I'm only joking, damn."
"Just take us from here." Is all her sister says before laying back comfortably against the seat.
While she drove away, Riri noticed how her sister avoided her gaze through the mirror, watching how tense she was during the entirety of the trip to the motel.
During the ride Mary often pointed to things she saw out of the car, talking to Riri about them, making her feelings ease a bit after that whole ordeal – Riri wished she could take Mary to those places one day. She made sure to choose a motel where she knew the owners, but one that her father didn't have his fingers on it. It was in an area more secluded than she would have wanted for the girls to rest, but she believed she could handle if anything out of normal happened.
"You wanted to bring me here? Didn't expect you to be this bold, Riri." She could feel a soft blush creeping into her face, coughing uncomfortable while looking back at Kira, who was gazing at her with suspicion.
"Sorry, I promise I will take you there when things calm down." Riri maneuvered the car in the parking lot from the motel, already sweating with the thought of dealing with the room's arrangements. Should she pick one room for all of them or two and choose one of the girls to sleep with? She decided it would be best to pick one room, this way she could keep an eye on both of them. She could sleep in the ground, it's nothing new to her.
"And where would that be?" Kira asked with an arched brow, with sudden interest in their conversation. When Riri said the name of the restaurant, she scoffed. "I thought that was our place..." Her murmur was low, but with the car turned off Riri was sure Mary heard it, winning her another arched brow. She promptly explained:
"It's a dock restaurant, on top of a beautiful blue lake. I took Kira there when I got my first car, and since then we always went there during the council retreats." She gets out of the car, moving to the passenger seat, opening the door to Mary. "But I didn't believe she wanted to go with me there after today. So I wanted to take you instead, someone needs to live that experience in her place if she doesn't." Riri didn't mean it in a harsh way, but with the way Mary whistled behind her while she opened the door for Kira made her realize how it might have sounded.
She watches as Kira passes her with a shove, entering the building with a confident walk.
"I think you just made things worse for yourself." Mary said with soft taps on the back of her shoulders.
"Don't I always?" Mary didn't respond, choosing to follow Kira and leaving Riri to lock the car.
When she found them they were already on the balcony, talking to the lady there.
"One room, please." Riri interjected, not caring about what they were discussing before. The lady only nodded, already being familiar with the taller girl and her shenanigans.
"What are you talking about, Riri?! Two rooms, lady." Kira said, not really leaving room for discussion, making the old lady stop and look between Riri and her. When Riri gave her a knowing look, she nodded.
"One room then." Is all she said before scurrying away to get the key.
"I would feel more comfortable if I'm able to watch both of you. You just accused our father of killing Gabriel and that creep was talking to Mary at the party before everything went down. I don't feel safe letting both of you even one wall away from my eyes." Riri said before any of them could protest.
"Please, our father couldn't care less about that man. He may be angry but he won't do anything, especially after I publicly accused him."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Kira searched Riri's eyes, waiting to see if she would explain her train of thoughts. She didn't. "Besides, there will be people who worked for Gabriel who will want to know what happened and who killed him, what do you think will happen to said person? Should I remind you what type of job he did?" I could see through my peripheral vision Mary looking between both of them.
"And what does all that have to do with me? He approached me at the party." Before Riri could answer that it didn't matter who approached who in this type of situation, the old lady came back with the key.
"Room 18. Try not destroying the room like the last time, the stains were hard to clean." She said, ignoring the other girls and going directly to the taller girl.
"I already apologized for that..." Riri said sheepishly. "We will go by the morning, could you bring some pelmenis later? Vegan ones, as always." Moving closer to the lady's ear, she whispered: "Попросите остальных следить за периметром. На всякий случай." The lady nodded, tapping with a smile the hand where she put the key.
"So we are really sharing a room? The others will never believe me when I tell them I slept with the Timurov sisters." Mary tried to lighten the tension in the room, interlinking her arms with both of them. "Come on, let's see where we are sleeping!"
Riri followed suit, watching Kira trying to move her arm away from Mary. She knew her sister hated unprompted touches, but she couldn't stop a soft laugh from leaving her with the scene.
Clearly Mary was still drunk.
. . .
When they finally entered the room Mary finally let Kira's arm go, almost making her fall back with the strength she was pulling from her hold. Riri observed from the door as they looked around the room. It wasn't big but it also wasn't small. The bed had a decent size, probably being able to hold three people, but perfect for two.
"I was expecting something fancier from you." Mary said playfully, jumping back at the bed, sinking on it with a satisfied sigh. "But I will say, this bed is insanely soft."
"I'm not sleeping with anyone, you two can sleep on the ground." Kira said moving to the bed, hovering over the other girl.
"You two are sleeping in the bed, I will sleep on the ground."
"What-?!" They both started to talk in unison, wanting to argue about what Riri just said.
"I'm not discussing it." Was everything she said before moving to the bathroom, ready to do some calls, ready to move some pieces around the Adams family.
. . .
"Did she just ignore me?" Kira couldn't believe everything that just happened, suddenly thinking it may have been better if she just stayed behind with her father.
"Don't look at me, she has been acting differently since I won that bet against Yumeko." When Kira looked at her with confusion she promptly said: "Oh, you didn't notice? I thought since she follows you like a shadow, – not to mention the fact she is your sister – you would know why."
"Well, I don't. And that doesn't excuse treating her superior like this."
Mary stopped for a second. "You know we are not at St. Dominic's, do you...? She is your sister, not your butler."
"And what do you know about having a sister, Mary?"
"Well, I might not have one but–"
"But nothing. Don't talk about matters you don't know about." Mary was about to say something when Riri left the bathroom.
"Can both of you stop arguing? Let's just sleep already." As they realized she could hear them, they fell into silence, Kira finally sitting down on the bed.
"Will you really sleep on the ground? The bed is big enough for all three of us." Mary said and Kira nodded.
"She's right, if someone should sleep on the ground, is her." With Riri's glare she dropped on the bed with an eye roll. "I'm only saying."
"I'm right here." She only received a wavering hand from Kira.
Riri watched with some kind of amusement, liking watching the two people she liked bickering. It was a bumpy road realizing she really, REALLY liked Mary. Hearing her scream in pain as the guillotine went down on her finger and not being able to do anything broke Riri, making her realize she worried about her the same way she worried about her sister's well being. She wished she could take all of their pain from them, she was more than ok with being the one hurt instead.
"I will think about it." Riri checked her phone, "I still have some things to take care of, so I will stay awake for a while."
It seemed like Kira wanted to ask about it, but she turned away from Mary to sleep. Riri walked to the light switch from the main lamp, turning it off and moving to turn on the bedside lamp, not liking the idea of sleeping in total darkness.
"Goodnight, Riri." Mary stopped for a second, signaling to her to move closer to her side of the bed. "Sorry for what I said before, you are not a killer robot, you're more than that." The other girl nodded, managing to relax slightly after everything that happened, happy to know that Mary didn't really think of her that way.
"Goodnight." Riri took her time pulling the blanket over both girls, waiting to see if Kira would say anything. When she didn't, she moved her mask out of the way – not before checking if Mary was looking the other way –, bending down to press her lips against Kira's hair. She noticed her sister tensing for a second before adjusting the sheets over her head. Riri smiled despite it, putting her mask back on and moving to sit in a chair on the other side of the room.
When she finished her errands, she walked outside to wait for her pelmenis, sitting on the bench outside their room. The cold air made her hiss in discontent, wishing she had a spare cloak with her. The old lady came not long after with what she asked, reporting on the movements around the area.
...
It didn't take long for her to hear the door opening and closing beside her, prompting her to look from her food. Kira was standing there, her hands in her jacket pockets.
"Couldn't sleep?" Kira didn't answer at first, focusing on moving to sit beside her.
"She snores." Riri laughed softly under her masks, for some reason that fact matched Mary perfectly. "Why did you came back?" With the way her sister looked at her, confused with what she was talking about, she continued: "You could have left to have your time with her, why did you came back to help me?"
"Why wouldn't I go back to help you? You are my sister." Kira looked away with a tight jaw.
"I see–"
"And I love you, no matter what." Riri put her plate on the ground beside her. "You do know I didn't have nothing to do with our father's choice, don't you?"
"I know, you would never– sorry. My feelings got the best of me."
"You needed someone to place your anger, I don't mind being that person." She played with her fingers, "You should be happy he didn't choose you." Kira looked back at her in a second.
"Why?" The curiosity was obvious behind Kira's tone
"It means he sees you as a liability. He doesn't want another person to fight his decisions or that challenge him on the board. He wants control," Riri looked at the tree lines, gazing at the stars coming through them. "and he saw that in me, not you."
Her sister stayed silent for a while, thinking, and Riri desperately wanted to know what. "Do you think he would try something? After the stunt I pulled?"
"I'm not sure." Riri could feel her face contorting in concern, remembering her of her mask. She took it off, wanting her sister to SEE what she's feeling. "Did you kill Gabriel?"
"No." She deadpanned, moving to look ahead of her.
"You know you can trust me with ANYTHING, don't you?" Riri waited, for a long while, but she didn't want to pressure Kira.
"Yumeko... Had a mission." It was clear she didn't want to explain further.
"The bet–?" She tried not to think how strange that bet and those two were.
"Had nothing to do with it."
Riri nodded, happy that her sister shared that information with her, even if she felt Kira was hiding some things from her. She knew what it is to have a mission, to have a purpose – even if for a set amount of time. She also felt they both were drifting. Drifting away from each other in ways they couldn't fight back. Like it was premeditated – meant to be. Kira felt something for Yumeko, didn't she? What it was exactly wasn't important, it was something – something strong enough to mess with her. Just like Mary made her feel strangely good – challenged, in some way.
Riri didn't want to lose her sister, the person who kept her fighting to see another day, just so she could see her smile.
Even if it wasn't directed at her or totally sincere.
"I like Mary."
"I know."
"I love you." Kira looked back at her, searching her eyes and face at a slow pace, taking her time to take in Riri's words.
"I love you too, Riri. Никогда не позволяйте моим поступкам говорить вам обратное. Иногда я склонен лгать своему сердцу." Riri's eyes widened with the small confession, but felt a soft smile creeping at her face with it. She coughed, adjusting herself in the seat.
"Yumeko?"
"She's... Something, for sure." She didn't elaborate, she didn't have to. "Our hearts will be the death of us. At some point, in the past, I may have thought we were born without it."
Riri didn't answer, moving a hesitant hand to touch Kira's shoulders. "Two are better than one." She shuddered slightly with the touch, but didn't move away.
"We should head back inside, we have a third one to keep warm." She chuckled slightly at her little sister's baffled face. "I might still be under the influence of the poison."
"Poison?!" She ignored Riri's half shouted, half whispered question, already opening the door. Riri stopped, putting some pieces together. "Since when does poison–"
"Sleep with us?" Is all she says, walking to her side of the bed, her movements slow as to not wake the snoring girl up.
The girl at the door pondered, somewhat worried about the implications of that question and where they finished their conversation at. She nodded, not caring to put her mask on again. Her movements were slow – and as much as she wanted to lay beside her sister–, she chose to lay in front of Mary – even if she was worried she might wake up. Kira didn't seem to mind that, neither did she when Riri's hands slithered to pull them all together.
. . .
Riri didn't sleep, of course. Focused only on hearing the other girls breathe, noticing their differences and thinking she might be going crazy – she told herself it was because her ears were trained to pay attention to every tiny sound. Her heart was beating in her ears – for the two girls she was sharing a bed with and the anxiety of having her back turned to the door, acting like a human shield if anything went wrong.