Lie to Me Again | ONC 2024

1 - The Fortune Cookie Club

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"What's your darkest secret, Yuki?" Tea trickled from the pot into a ceramic cup, grey stoneware with pink cherry blossoms painted on it. Era poured with a skilled hand, not even looking to see when the tea reached the brim. Perfect. Everything about her, from flawless gold winged eyeliner, to a 5.0 GPA, screamed it.

"Thank you," Yuki said, accepting the cup. She lowered her eyes to puff gentle breaths and cool the tea. This classroom exuded a sense of calm. All the décor had Era's special touch. As the creator and president of the Asian Cultures Club, she'd obtained permission to use and remodel the old storage room three years ago as a freshman.

Not to mention she funded the operation out of pocket. Everyone knew the Wang family was made of money.

The incense sticks smoked on the table, reminding Yuki of time burning away while she'd left Era's question unanswered.

"If we tell our darkest secrets, they aren't so dark then, are they?" she whispered into her tea cup.

Era lifted a manicured finger in warning. "You're evading. You're lucky I like you, otherwise I'd have exposed your lies a long time ago."

Yuki didn't react. Rule three—be the picture of calm. She set her tea down and met Era's eyes. "What lies?" she asked evenly, though her heart hammered in her chest. There's the after-school job, the homework side hustle, the riding the bus, the—

"That's the thing. I don't know." Era steepled her fingers—long, delicate fingers designed to charm music from piano keys, or perhaps hold a violin bow. "There isn't much I don't know. Your grandparents give away more than you. They don't talk about your parents."

"There isn't much to talk about," Yuki said.

There wasn't. Her parents were dead. Siblings too.

She didn't understand why Era asked, but she was determined, she vowed—

She would not tell Era how they died.

"Well, that won't do." Era smiled, with it being both disarming and dazzling at once. "I'm determined to know everything about you, Hime Yuki. It doesn't matter if you're a stubborn clam; that only makes it more fun."

Yuki felt the corner of her eyelid twitch. A small thing, but she'd marked it as her tell, suppressed it. Era, with her light brown eyes glowing like embers in the paper lantern light, had struck a nerve using a dead surname.

"I'm Kobayashi, like my grandparents," Yuki corrected.

Era smiled again, though this time in a predatory manner. "Of course you are. But wouldn't you rather be a princess? Inherit an empire?"

"Depends on the empire, I suppose." Yuki replied offhandedly, taking another sip of tea. Inside, she trembled. It was nothing more than a rumor and even she hadn't been able to determine where it originated.

Rumor said that since this was Era's senior year, she was looking for someone to replace her as president of the club.

But intuition told Yuki that Era started the rumor, and Era spoke the truth.

Era could ruin her. Era could put her on a throne, all with a snap of her fingers.

Era laughed and hugged an embroidered cushion to her chest. "Don't play coy!" She tilted her head, golden earring catching the light. "I'm going to call you 'Hime' from now on. It suits you."

Yuki nodded, though her heart burned like she'd swallowed a dragon's breath chili pepper.

Someone knocked on the door and Era gestured at Yuki to let them in.