Chapter Text
Himeko didn't want to admit it but after Kafka's impromptu visit, she had thought of her more often than not.
She attributed her recurrent thoughts to the Stellaron hunter parting premise of meeting with her again, which had her not quite on edge but certainly expectant and she had no doubt that was the effect Kafka wanted to evoke on her.
It annoyed her knowing she had unconsciously fallen into her games as even though she knew she shouldn't spare a single thought for Kafka, her brain would always end up being fuelled with thoughts of the stellaron hunter and the million questions she had about her.
It was frustrating, more so because she had no one to go to with her burdens, which she had no one to blame for but herself as she was the one that made the choice to hide her interactions with Kafka.
In the most literal sense, Himeko had made her bed and was now lying on it, so all there was left for her to do was to try to not mind her thoughts, hoping the ghost of Kafka wouldn't bother her too much and to her relief, that ghost didn't hover over her for long.
While her bed rest continued, Kafka was almost like a constant presence but once she was able to be more active, allowing her mind to focus on other things, the thoughts of her were less frequent, and after three weeks of their encounter she had practically forgotten about her.
But as it had been happening lately, Himeko's peace of mind wouldn't last long since Kafka would once more show up when she was less expected.
Tomorrow, the Astral Express would be traveling to a new planet, in all honesty, they should have done so way earlier as they had already concluded their tasks but upon the insistence of Welt, the crew decided to stay longer than it was required partially to allow Himeko to recover a bit more.
Of course, the idea didn't exactly please the navigator who argued there was no need to delay anything for her health but her pleas weren't taken into account since the decision had already been made.
Thankfully, the wait was almost over as there were only a few hours left before they would depart and since they had agreed to leave early in the morning, everyone had already retreated to their rooms.
Himeko had just finished showering and was planning to get into bed as soon as she returned to her room but once she walked in through the door, she knew that wouldn't be happening any time soon.
"You don't seem that surprised to see me this time"
"I can't say I was expecting you but I'm not exactly shocked by your presence"
Returning to your room to find a Stellaron hunter sitting at the edge of your bed wasn't an everyday occurrence but Himeko should have known Kafka would make right on her intent of meeting with her, so her being there wasn't as strange as it could have been under other circumstances.
"We are improving then," Kafka's lips briefly tilted upwards before she not too subtly scanned Himeko's figure from head to toe "Did I come at a bad time?"
Himeko didn't know why but the way Kafka looked at her made her feel exposed, so she couldn’t help but tighten her hold in her bathrobe "When could it ever be a good time for you to come?"
"I don't know, why don't you tell me?"
Himeko sighed "What are you doing here Kafka?"
"We have unfinished business"
"Do we? Because I don't remember agreeing to meet with you again nor give you an answer to the question you asked me before, I don't owe you anything Kafka"
Himeko was aware she sounded quite distressed but what else could be expected of her when this woman, who was anything but a foe to her, showed up on the express not only once but two times wanting to strike up a conversation with her as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
The most frustrating part about all this is that Himeko couldn't understand why Kafka was even acting this way. Yes, she had helped her and while Himeko was grateful for it Kafka wasn't entitled to receive anything from her.
She hadn't asked her to save her nor had she expected to get something in return when she had helped her before, so this whole situation was confusing, to say the least.
Despite Himeko's outburst, she didn't provoke any kind of reaction from Kafka who just remained staring at her with an impassive look on her face. Her lack of response only promoted the navigator to want to speak up again but she didn't get the chance to do so because Kafka suddenly got up and started getting close to her.
While she moved, her gaze remained trained on her. In other circumstances, Himeko might have felt more threatened by her approaching her but at that moment she felt truly unfazed by the woman, so she remained in her place, waiting for whatever it was Kafka was planning on doing.
The stellaron hunter only came to a halt once she was standing a few steps away from her and for what felt like minutes but must actually have been just a few seconds, they just stared at one another before Kafka broke their staring, as her gaze trailed downwards.
"I hope those wounds don't leave scars, it would be a shame if a beautiful body like yours was permanently marked by such low-life enemies like the ones that attacked you" The moment she finished saying that her gaze returned upwards to once more meet Himeko's but unlike before when the navigator had been able to hold her stare just fine, she now found herself averting her gaze.
Himeko hadn't realized she had stopped holding her robe which had resulted in it opening allowing Kafka to get a good view of her underwear-clad body and while becoming conscious of her state of undress didn't embarrass her, hearing Kafka's comment certainly did.
She could feel Kafka's penetrating gaze on her but she still refused to look at her having lost all her previous resolve of standing up to the infuriating woman, and perhaps because she eventually got tired of just looking at her, Kafka spoke again.
"Besides all the preconceptions you might have of me, I'm not here to demand an answer. If that had been my goal I would not have wasted my time talking to you, instead, I would just have taken what I wanted and be on my way"
"I'm here because I have a purpose and that purpose is to understand you but whether you want to give me an answer or not it's your choice, it's as simple as that navigator"
Himeko couldn't detect any hint of a lie in her words since her tone was nothing but serious.
"Do you know how extremely confusing you are?" Himeko asked, running her hand through her hair in what was clear frustration.
"I don't know, you tell me"
"Stop doing that"
"Doing wh…" Kafka didn't manage to finish her sentence since Himeko interrupted her.
"Making me explain everything I say as If you aren't aware of what I mean"
"But I'm not aware Himeko, I can assume but I don't want to assume with you as doing so would mean I have figured you out and if I have, then, there won't be a point in me asking anything since I would be able to predict every answer you give"
Seriously, what was wrong with this woman? Why did she have to be so…Kafka.
"If only I hadn't gone to Belobog" Himeko lamented.
"But you did and you didn't let me die, and now you have to deal with the consequences of that"
"If I answer you, will you stop pestering me?"
Kafka grinned "I told you there is no need for you to answer, you are the one that is still talking to me but if you want me to leave just say so and I will"
"Regardless of what you say, I feel like you would still find a way to bother me until I tell you what you want to know"
"You always think the worst of me"
Himeko rolled her eyes "I wonder why"
Kafka didn't say anything this time which Himeko was glad for as she needed a few moments of silence to rearrange her thoughts.
"Perhaps you are expecting to get some sort of big explanation for my actions but there isn't truly one, I acted to save a life, is as simple as that"
"At that moment you didn't pose a threat, you were weak and even though I knew it was still you, I couldn't just let you die like that, so I helped you, despite knowing I shouldn't"
Himeko was aware that her answer could be considered underwhelming, as even she had felt it was when she had thought about her reasoning for acting the way she did.
She wasn't really thinking or putting a bigger significance to her actions besides having the tools to aid someone that needed it. Whether Kafka deserved it or not was a whole different story but Himeko didn't particularly want to dwell on that, so it was best to leave her answer as it was.
"So you were just being kind-hearted, I don't know if that it's admirable or incredibly stupid on your part"
Himeko couldn't even be offended by that since Kafka was speaking the truth.
"I'm sure your crew must have given you an earful when you told them what you did"
The mention of her crewmates caught Himeko so out of guard she couldn't help but wince, a reaction she was going to brush off but when she saw the intrigued expression on Kafka's face, she knew there was no way she could do that.
"Oh," Kafka raised an eyebrow contemplating what had just happened before the gears started turning in her head.
"They don't know, do they?" Despite phrasing it as a question, it sounded more like an affirmation, one that Himeko wasn't willing to confirm but her silence ended up doing just that.
"Forget my previous inquiry, this is certainly far more relevant than knowing about your reasons, you are hiding information from your crew, that is not nice Himeko"
"We are done talking Kafka" There was no way Himeko would stand there and allow Kafka to continue interrogating her, so she moved past her with the intention to get in her bed.
"Come on Himeko, you can’t just gift me this important piece of information and then expect me to leave"
"I didn't gift you anything, you came to your own conclusion, I already gave you the answer you sought, so now I ask you to leave" Himeko didn't even cast a glance at Kafka as she spoke, instead, she rearranged her pillows as to further prove she was done talking with her.
But because she wasn't looking at her Himeko failed to notice Kafka had approached her and she only did when she heard her speaking close to her ear.
"What are you afraid of? That they will judge you? Belittle you for your mistake? I wonder what would they think of your actions in Belobog”
Something about the way Kafka had spoken almost made Himeko shiver but she managed to maintain her composure as the last thing she wanted was to show weakness.
Knowing she wouldn't be able to continue her task she had no other choice but to turn around to face Kafka once more.
The stellaron hunter had barely moved back, which meant their faces were just inches away from each other and while their closeness was more of what Himeko would have felt comfortable with, she made no attempts to put some distance between them.
"You underestimate me if you believe your little tricks are going to work with me, I told you we are done talking and that is final, now leave, you have overstayed"
Kafka chuckled before she took a step back "You raise to the challenge, I like that and for the record, I wouldn't dare to underestimate you, you have already proven you are more than what meets the eye"
"Anyway I don't want to upset you anymore, so I will do as you wish and leave you alone"
Hearing Kafka say she would leave should have relieved Himeko but she wasn't so convinced the woman would just go without putting up much of a fight.
However, she was soon proved wrong as Kafka did abandon her room moments after but not without wishing her sweet dreams beforehand.
Even if a few minutes had gone by since she was left alone, Himeko decided to not relax just yet in case Kafka was just toying with her but once she was convinced she would in fact not come back, she released the breath she had been holding since she saw her.
Himeko had no doubt that wouldn't be the last she would see of Kafka but for the time being, she wouldn't worry about any possible further encounters.
Instead, she would take advantage of the time she still had left before the jump, to sleep as much as she could.
"Himeko, it's everything alright? The others are already in the parlor car, you are the only one left," Himeko heard March saying from outside her room.
"Yes March, everything's alright, I'm just finishing getting dressed, I will be out in a second"
"Okay, I will be waiting"
While March waited outside, inside the room everything was a mess, clothes were scattered all over the place since the navigator had emptied her closet because she couldn't find her coat anywhere.
She could swear she had put it with all of her other clothes but when she woke up, she wasn't able to find it anywhere and as a result she had spent more time than she had wished searching for it everywhere without success.
Knowing the others were waiting for her, Himeko had no other choice but to continue her search later, she knew her coat had to be somewhere as it couldn't have just vanished, so she was bound to find it sooner or later.
And found it she did but not where she expected it to be, as just when she was about to leave her room, she received an unknown message.
Curious to see who contacted her, she quickly opened the text but she hadn't been prepared for what was going to appear on her screen.
It was a picture of Kafka, sitting down in a chair and while the details as to how she had managed to contact her crossed Himeko's mind, the navigator could only focus on the familiar coat the stellaron hunter was wearing.
With the knowledge that her coat hadn't just magically disappeared but had rather been stolen by Kafka, Himeko was ready to give her an earful but before she could even begin typing, a new message popped up.
"I hope you don't mind but I decided to take a little souvenir from the express"
The sheer audacity of that woman, to think she could just…
"HIMEKOOO" Himeko almost dropped her phone thanks to March's sudden scream.
It was clear the girl was getting impatient so as much as Himeko would have liked to say something to Kafka, that would have to wait.
"March, I told you I would be out in a second," Himeko said as she stepped out of the room.
March shook her head "You were taking more than a second. Anyway, you are here so let's go"
"Yes, let's go"
As both walked towards the parlor car March felt like something wasn't right and as she properly took on Himeko's appearance, she quickly realized what was wrong.
"Himeko, where is your coat?"