Better Eight Than Never

Chapter 12: Butterfly Effect

Hachi groaned, turning over a little in the grass. Her arm hurt... her cheeks hurt... her entire body ached and she felt overly warm... Her little nap had took a turn for the worse, and now she felt entirely uncomfortable. A shadow fell over her and she peeked her eyes open.

"Good afternoon." Bato said as he crouched down next to her. "How're you feeling?"

It took Hachi a second to speak, her throat was so dry. "Horrible."

He frowned a little. "Well, that's the curse of naps I guess; you either wake up feeling a little better, or significantly worse. Are you hungry? We still have your bao here."

Hachi shrugged a little, then winced and touched her shoulder. Why did it hurt so much? It hurt even worse when she touched it! Now that she noticed, her entire right arm hurt...

"Oh dear..." Bato murmured. "I think you got a sunburn."

"A what?" She snapped. A sun... burn?

"Oh... right... you told me you were underground..." He replied quietly. "Certain kinds of light can hurt your skin if it's exposed too long, and sunlight's one of those."

Hachi's jaw dropped a little bit. Light could be harmful to your skin? LIGHT?

"It's okay, we have some aloe lotion at home." Bato reassured. "And we're ready to go when you are."

She wasn't even going to ask what an aloe was. She made herself sit up, a wave of dizziness crashing over her. This was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

"Hey Toda, do you have any ibuprofen with you?" Bato called.

"Nope, sorry." Squid-hat replied.

"Hm... Well, I was hoping to stop by the store again on the way back anyway, maybe we can get some there." Bato murmured. "Hachi, you need something to drink?"

She hesitated, then nodded a little bit. It was getting hard to speak, not that these puddles deserved her attention anyway.

"You still have some soda left, though it might have gone flat by now." Bato said, starting to reach for the clear bottle that contained her drink.

She frowned just a little, lowering her sunglasses to peer at him. "... Flat?" She asked, tone rough and full of distaste.

"Ah... right, sorry." He said. "That just means it isn't fizzy anymore."

Hachi nodded slightly and pushed her sunglasses back up, the bright light was hurting her eyes already, and took her bottle. Bato had loosened the top for her, which made her frown a little. She could do it herself. She steeled herself, then began to drink what was left of the soda, only just holding back a gag. It was still agonizingly sweet, and she tried to taste as little as possible.

"So how's your back?" Bato asked.

"Sore." She muttered. Her throat felt a little bit better after that soda, despite how disgusting it was.

He nodded "We should take a look at it when we get back to my place; I'd do it here, but I don't know where the camp keeps their first-aid supplies."

Hachi glanced around, noticing for the first time that Pinkie and Loud were nowhere to be found. "Where are the other two?" She decided to ask.

"They went home already." He replied simply, shrugging a bit.

"Hm." She murmured.

"Incidentally." Bato continued, picking Pinkie's coat up off the ground. "It's generally considered impolite to use someone else's coat without asking first, even if they're not wearing it at the moment and it's just for a pillow."