Naminé and Riku stared at the screen.
In it, sat Roxas, chatting with his "friends" Hayner, Pence, and Olette. They seemed to be enjoying themselves the way they laughed and joked.
At the time, it was only the 6th day.
DiZ had installed cameras in his virtual Twilight Town to keep track of the XIIIth Nobody. He wouldn't let the blasted organization get to him, as that would get in the way of his revenge. DiZ needed Roxas for Sora to awaken, and, as did a reluctant Riku.
Naminé could trasmit the memories between the two, but she needed time. It could have taken her only seven days.
But it was Riku who decided to give the Nobody another day.
"Naminé...Isn't it sad?"
His voice was sudden, and so it chilled the blonde girl in the white dress. "What is, Riku?" she asked, concentrated on the joyous Roxas that fell off his chair from laughing so hard.
"He's really a part of Sora, isn't he?"
Naminé nodded. "Yes..."
"...How much longer will it take you to finish?" he asked, gently.
"I think I can finish tomorrow!" Naminé assured, feeling rushed.
"Naminé...I know the town isn't real, and nobody in that town is real...but...well, I've been stalking Roxas longer than you, and it turns out tomorrow there's some sort of summer festival. What if...he could..." Riku shrugged, looking distant. "Actually go? It's the least we could do...We tricked him, didn't we?"
Naminé considered the request, startled. "You heard DiZ...he told us that we only had enough data of his three friends to last only today, and a little bit of tomorrow. We can't...keep this up for an extra day..."
"Well, we've rewritten his memory already," Riku said, and he crossed his arms. "Can't we do it again?"
"I don't understand," Naminé muttered.
"Rewrite his memory with new best friends. You can do that, can't you? We'll tell DiZ that there was no way you could finish tomorrow, and he'll have to let it slide."
"New...best friends?" Naminé repeated, bewildered. "But where would we find the data?"
And Riku looked longingly into the fuzzy screen.
"He's like...Sora, isn't he? What if we didn't use some fake data for once and instead..." He looked to Naminé with a faint smile.
"You...want to pretend to be his best friend?" Naminé asked, blue eyes wide.
"Not just me..." Riku laughed. "I couldn't alone. You come too."
Naminé visibly shook her head. "I couldn't," she insisted.
"Come on," Riku said with a smirk. "You're always complaining to me that I'm your only friend. Here's a chance to change that."
Naminé smiled lightly, imagining having another friend. "But...why do you want Roxas to go to the festival anyways?"
And Riku looked from the screen to Naminé with a blank stare.
"...I miss Sora," he admitted, looking down to his organization imposter shoes.
Naminé, giggling, finally agreed, but only because she wanted to see the poor, clueless Nobody have at least one more day.
It was the 7th day, and Riku and Naminé were preparing to leave to their temporary virtual Twilight Town homes.
DiZ seemed to not suspect a thing when hearing the news of the new plan, but he urged Naminé to hurry with the memories.
"Riku," Naminé said as the two walked side by side out of the haunted mansion so early in the morning.
"Hm?"
"Roxas thinks we've been best friends for six years. I was going to make it five, but then I thought that was too little, so then I thought maybe seven, but that would be too much. So, I chose for him to think he's known us for six years. I made you the "bro" he tells everything to," and she laughed when Riku stared at her for suddenly using different vocabulary.
"He sees you," and she referred to the tall Riku that looked exactly like Ansem, "like you did with...your blindfold."
"That's good," Riku said. "I don't wanna scare him by looking so old."
And the pair laughed as the sun slowly began to rise.
"Oh!" Naminé exclaimed, remembering just one more thing.
"What?" Riku asked her.
Naminé seemed to smirk lightly, expecting a reaction from Riku.
"I made it so he calls you Ri-Ri."
"WHAT!?"
Naminé shrugged. "It's what you get for breaking my yellow crayon."
"You still remember that!?" Riku demanded. "Come on, Naminé..! I told you it was an accident!"
She quickly changed the topic. "You know where you live, right? We're all going to meet up by the festival entrance. Don't forget!"
"Sure," Riku said with a nod.
Then, the two parted ways, preparing to be Roxas' new best friend.
~~
It was the caw of the crows outside his window that woke the lazy Roxas up, forcing him to sit up from such a warm, comfortable bed...
He yawned, wide, and rubbed his barely opened eyes.
"Hey, wait a second," he thought as he stood up. "Today me, Ri-Ri, and Nami go to the festival!"
He excitedly prepared himself, dressing up in his usual clothing design and eating a quick breakfast consisting of an apple and a blueberry muffin.
Then, he rushed out the door, eager and happy.
The trio of new friends met up.
"Nami!" Roxas would exclaim, kissing the girl in the white dress directly in her mouth.
Riku's eyes would widen, but Roxas could not notice since he saw him wearing a blindfold.
"Remind me," he said, taking quick glances at the flustered Naminé. "How long have you two been going out?"
"For a year now. Remember? You're the one who helped me ask her out!"
Riku nodded, slowly. "Right," he said, playing along as best as he could. He looked at the blushing Naminé and snickered.
She had rewritten his memory making Roxas her boyfriend?
Riku laughed, disguising it as a cough.
Naminé tried her best to ignore the very amused Riku and focused on giving Roxas the best day she could.
"Let's go in now!" she said as Roxas took her by the hand.
"Yeah," Riku agreed, finally out of his laughing spree. "We have a lot to do in just one day..."
~~
Roxas tried his best, but he couldn't seem to win the darn teddy bear for Naminé.
Riku, for a brief moment in time, saw the disappointed Roxas as a disappointed Sora, and the saddened Naminé as a saddened Kairi.
He frowned, determined to win them EACH a prize. Grabbing the three darts, he aimed as if aiming at the moving target as if it were a flying heartless of a sort.
When he failed, he purchased three more darts. With rolled up sleeves, he aimed, more concentrated this time, but he couldn't seem to quite get it.
It was then when he claimed that the whole game was rigged, and when he stole a bear for each of his friends, and a set of mickey mouse ears for himself (how could he resist?).
The trio had ran from the yelling, angry man, and they all hid near the carnival rides.
Roxas seemed to be the one laughing the most, the way it felt genuine to him. This made Riku happy, in his own special way of not showing it.
And Naminé showed her happiness, shyly, and just for a little bit.
The three were most certainly odd and would've never been grouped together as friends if things didn't have to happen the way they did."Riku," Roxas said as the silver head flashed a grin for not being called Ri-Ri for once all day. "Naminé," he continued, looking to Naminé. "After today..." and he hugged his white teddy bear just a little tighter. "School starts, doesn't it?"
Naminé did not respond, so she left Riku to lie directly to his face.
"Yeah," he said, slowly.
Naminé nodded, deftly playing along.
"I hope we can get the same class." Roxas sighed. "We'll always be together, won't we?"
The words almost tore Riku and Naminé apart.
Of COUSE not."Of course," Naminé said, faintly smiling.
"...Yeah," Riku said. And he pointed to Roxas' chest, where his heart was supposed to be, if he weren't a Nobody. "We'll...be together through our hearts, won't we, Naminé?"
It was ironic, because Riku was the only one in the tiny group that had a heart, and his heart was engulfed in darkness.
Naminé nodded, trying her best not to erase the fake smile from her face.
This relieved Roxas for fleeting moments. He loved his friends very much (But was that love real?) and he never wanted their friendship (but was that friendship real?) to fall apart. (Was anything Roxas thought he loved...real?)
(...No.)
The rest of the day, there were only smiles and laughs that lit up the night sky in stars.
Together, the three lay on the grass, staring up at the comets and shooting stars.
"I wish today didn't have to end," Roxas said, grumpily and in a playful manner when he saw a star fly across the sky.
Naminé quickly agreed. "Yeah," she said, but only she frowned, truly wishing the day to never end.
Riku lay quietly, and soon his quietness spread to Naminé and Roxas.
Maybe...the day was all just a dream, never meant to have happened. But the way Roxas smiled, the way his eyes closed as he fell asleep...
Riku stood up. "We should go now," he told Naminé. "Tomorrow...Roxas..."
"Has to go," she continued, sadly still holding onto Roxas' hand.
Riku could not bear to look at Roxas directly, nor at Naminé. "Yeah," he said.
Crickets hummed their song loudly as Naminé and Riku thought of what to say next.
"I'm not sure if Roxas will remember this day," Naminé finally said. "I've played around with his memory so much already, I don't know if-"
"It's fine," Riku interrupted. "Let's call it a day, yeah?"
Naminé let go of Roxas' hand. "Yeah," she said, timidly offering the very deep asleep Roxas a kiss on the forehead.
Riku placed Roxas' bear closer to him.
Then, he turned away, and Naminé followed him back to the mansion.
The next day, Roxas would wake up in his bed, and he'd think it was really the 7th day. He'd find Sora and figure out that everything was just
fake.
(But that one day, that 8th day, was that day fake?)
(Were Naminé and Riku faking the friendship?)
(Was the 8th day just a fake?)
(No.)
- 
Sta.sh
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