Rising Shards

We were back in Dr. Diast’s car, headed to an arena in Litus Empirica nearby where a mat ball game would be held. I should have been celebrating getting my Raina Starlight hair clips, and while I did alternate between clipping mine into my hair and staring at it, I also kept thinking about what Razmus Marne told me. The little magic marble in my pocket felt heavy. If he was telling the truth, what was Diast not telling me?

“I’ve never been to a pro mat ball game.” I said, not really enthusiastic about going but not not wanting to go either.

“We could maybe go to a movie or something if you don’t want to?” Diast suggested.

“I dunno,” I said. “We did win the tickets.” I didn’t want them to go to waste. We could at least talk during a mat ball game. Plus, there wasn’t anything playing I really wanted to see in theaters. They were still dominated by Dentist Haircut and seeing that once was enough for me.

The arena was kinda cool. I wasn’t sporty, but I imagined Kalei would have plenty to say about the facilities inside. I basically hid behind Diast when anything I slightly perceived as threatening happened, such as handing our tickets in, or loud people excited for the game. I wasn’t sure which team to root for, the Litus Defiant or the Empirica Elite.

“Stadium food is the most important part of the overall sporting event experience.” Diast said as we approached one of the concession stands. “Thirty-seven dollars for a hot dog? Are you serious? Fifteen for a water bottle?” She thought about it for a second. “Stadium food isn’t that important to the overall sporting event experience.”

We took our seats. The mat ball field looked kind of impressive, just like it did on TV when I'd stumble upon mat ball games while flipping through channels. It was a surreal series of events that brought me to a pro mat ball game, most of which still hadn’t sunk in yet. Like the idea that Diast was going to be my roommate.

So we sat and watched mat ball, watching teams kick a ball, run bases, wait at bases, that sort of thing. It was fine. It wasn’t really my thing, but it was fine. I couldn’t really see any strategy that was different than playing it in gym class, but it wasn’t a sport I knew particularly well. My earlier hope of having something to chat with Diast about kinda shriveled up. We both managed some meek cheers over the few innings, and I screamed at some particularly loud pyrotechnics, but it was clear this wasn’t really our scene.

“Do you like mat ball, Dr. Diast?” I asked as a player kicked the ball with a ‘POFF’ sound.

“Not really. Do you?” Diast said as the ball was immediately caught by the catcher, resulting in groans from the crowd.

“Eh.”

“Sorry, I thought this would…do you wanna go? Like, go as in leave?”

“We can see it through to the end of the game if you want?” I said. “We did…win the…”

Dr. Diast winced.

“Do you wanna go, Dr. Diast?” I asked.

“I mean…”

“But we’re here, though!” I said. “The game’s almost over, I think? We might as well…stay, right?”

A bunch of buzzers went off at once, and letters blasted across the screens around the stadium.

“They just declared a triple deluxe overtime,” I said, reading the message surrounding us.

“That…sounds like it’ll take a long time…” Dr. Diast said.

“Yeah…”

“Do you wanna just go?” Diast said.

“I think we got enough mat ball, yeah.” I said.

“Cool, cool, cool.” Diast said, standing up immediately.

It was a quiet drive home. To my new home. The quietness gave me time to think. And unfortunately, all I could think was about the weird magic marble and what it meant. What could Diast be hiding? All I could think as I watched the highway was that I really had some secret Cani disease and that Diast and Stella were trying to give me one last good happy day before my life was changed forever/ruined by it. I felt a dull sense of dread grow and grow, fogging up my brain until we made it back.

“We can decide on dinner in a bit, I need to just be home for a bit after that adventure,” Diast said, stretching as she approached the apartment. I froze once I got out of the car, staring down at the sidewalk.

“Zeta? All good there?” Diast asked.

“I uh.” I said, reaching into my pocket. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I couldn’t let it sit any longer. “Hey, so.” I pulled out the marble, which glowed brighter in such close proximity to Diast. “Razmus Marne gave me this. I—I don’t know if it’s some dumb prank he did, but he said it means that you’re…hiding something from me…” I laughed bitterly. “This sounds really stupid out loud, it’s probably some dumb thing because I know you’re his enemy and stuff—” I stopped mid-sentence, because Diast did not have the expression of someone who just witnessed a silly prank pulled on their student. She had the expression of someone who’d just been found out.

“I can’t believe he actually gave you a hidmarble…” Dr. Diast said. She looked like she was trying to think of something to say, something I’d never seen her struggle with.

“You…you’re really hiding something.” I said.

“Zeta, listen—” Diast started.

“I trust you, Dr. Diast, but this whole thing has me a little scared, you know?” I said. “If you could just tell me then I wouldn’t worry.”

“It’s…difficult, Zeta,” Diast said. "It's kind of a lot to say."

My heart was pounding. The foggy feeling was replaced with the stabbing fear of something too real, something seeping in that I couldn’t escape from.

“Just, please tell me. I can handle it.” I lied.

“Zeta…” Diast sighed. “Do you want to hear it at the apartment? It might be easier there to—"

“I just want to hear it!” I said. “Just…tell me.”

Diast sighed much more deeply, then gestured for me to follow her.