Private Finished An Explosion of Emotion

What am I doing? He knew exactly what he was doing, but the question still lingered in his mind. With socializing at school proving difficult, Rei tried to get closer to his relatives, even if that was painful at times. Dalia and her friends were the easiest to relate to with them being so close in age, but mostly grades. One friend, in particular, stood out. She was... interesting. She was a girl named Riley who was certainly not afraid to speak her mind and seemed educated in politics, something he was inexperienced with. Those were traits he could admire. Not shying away from her thoughts and being blunt were qualities Rei wanted to display himself, though so far, he had varying levels of success with it.

The only downside was that she looked awfully human. It was difficult to tell who was human and who was not on this island, with even the most abnormal of species having a human form, so he tried to be somewhat polite until he knew for sure. Nevertheless, after speaking to Riley once, she showed interested in his photography and filming hobby, suggesting that they go out into the woods so Rei could film her blowing things up. That helped reassure Rei that the person he was dealing with was not human, and if she was, she was most likely one of the stranger ones, like vampires and hybrids. Not all good, but some redeeming qualities due to not being truly human.

Anyhow, Rei and Riley were almost at their destination. He came prepared with a bag full of items he found useful just in case they were needed: clothing in case theirs got ruined, two pairs of goggles, a thick umbrella to protect against the debris, random objects and trash he found laying around the house he had no use for that Rei felt confident could be blown up and not cause damage, and most importantly, just in case she could not heal, he had a small first-aid kit. Inside of his hoodie's pocket was his phone, and hanging from his neck was his camera. It looked like they were all prepared. Something told Rei that he was too prepared, but better safe than sorry.

Only following along for now, he turned his head towards his new friend to ask her, "Where should we stop?" She knew this island better than him, and probably the woods too.

Admittedly, Rei was excited to see Riley's abilities. It surprised him that there was an area Riley went to when she was angry. The more destructive people on the island intimidated him, so the idea that there were places they visited to cool off surprised him. Considering himself a pacifist made it difficult for him to think of things from the perspective of a fighter, despite technically being a predator. Rei was still capable of befriending violent and destructive types anyhow. They could protect him, and it was better to be friends with them than enemies. It was what made him feel more comfortable around Dalia and Riley, and the rest of their friends.

"Uh, I wasn't sure if you brought your own stuff, but here." He dumped the random objects he found around his room onto the ground, careful to avoid breaking any of them. Empty bottles and cans, useless books he already read, plates, bowls, and large kitchen utensils clattered on the ground. "I needed small stuff that could fit in my bag. I also have protection stuff, kind of." The stuff he brought could barely fit anyway.

Relief flooded Rei after hearing that Riley enjoyed everything he brought. Kids often told him that he came too prepared. That he was trying to show off. He was not. Not usually, anyway. He had to be ready for everything if he was going to be a mature and responsible adult. None of those things affected him much, but this was one of his first attempts at getting out there and making friends. He needed to start off great.

A small, sheepish smile appeared on his face, which he tried to cover up by turning away to put on and adjust his goggles. Off to the side, he watched Riley's attempts at finding the perfect way to pose with the bowel. He bit down on the inside of his cheek, trying not to giggle at her attempts. After wiping his stupid smile off his face, he fully turned towards Riley, standing with the bowel over her head like a newly won trophy.

"I like that one more. Here, I wanna take a picture." He already had his camera adjusted and held up to snap one picture. The goggles made it a bit difficult to see how good the result was, then he took two more pictures from varying angles. The first one was from the front, the second positioned more to her left from below, and the third more to her right from below. Just like how the professionals did it.

When finished, he held up the camera with one hand and waved Riley over with the other. "Tell me which one's your favorite. I'll delete the others, then I'll start recording. Or... do you want me to record now? I need to get my phone out first."

Just in case, Rei put his hoodie up to protect his head while Riley did her thing. With his camera all set up, he gave a thumbs up to Riley before pressing the record button. Rei was careful to keep a steady hand, but when the bowl broke, the loud noise sent Rei stumbling back and trying to shield his face from the shards. In the meantime, his phone was pulled away from Riley until he felt it was safe enough.

Things seemed to be done falling now. Rei had himself crouched down in the grass with his phone held at an awkward angle where Riley was mostly out of shot. He was fortunate to miss out on most of the debris, with his hoodie taking any damage that would have hurt him. Things seemed safe enough for him to stand up now. Anyway, that was enough footage for now. The last parts of the recording would need to be edited out later. He stopped the camera and pushed his phone into his pocket, then looked around to see the scene.

Rei would have admired the scene, but when his eyes laid on Riley, he noticed she was rubbing her eyes. Was she crying? Did she get hurt? A knot tightened in Rei's stomach as neared Riley. "Are you okay? Did anything hurt you?"

Despite having his mouth closed, an awkward, high-pitched groan came from Rei when Riley revealed her irritated eyes. That looked painful. That looked really painful. Rei tried to pretend that it was not a big deal—like he had not seen it at all—but his eyes kept hovering over to Riley's every couple of seconds as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"It... uh... It looked really cool! Let me show you. While the video played, Rei kept his eyes firmly on it. Hopefully, by the time the video finished, her eyes would be better. No longer red and watery and gross. He had a good feeling she would be too stubborn to go find someone who could actually heal her eyes, but knowing some of the people on the island, maybe she really did not need any help at all.

When it the video ended, he finally gave in to look at Riley and ask her again, "Are you sure you're okay? That looks... really painful... I just... want to make sure."