Mari continues to brush as she listens. Oh Claire...why couldn't you just tell me that sooner.
As soon as Claire looks back at her Mari bonks her softly on the head. "You are such a dummy sometimes Claire." She wraps her friend in a tight hug. "I know it sucked, it sucked without having you here too. No one to watch anime with, or laugh at stupid jokes, or go running with. Or a hundred other things I wished my best friend was here for."
Mari sighs as she lets Claire go and flops back on her bed, "But as much as I missed you Claire, we can't go back to how it was, you know? We have to keep pushing forward; making new friends and new memories. As much as I love you like a sister Claire, I'm greedy. I want more friends, I want more people to care about and spend time around and laugh with."
"And you should too." Mari points a finger at Claire, "You're my best friend, you're the one that's been through every shitty situation with me, when we were in Japan. You know what it's like to be the outcast and the 'problem'. But!" Mari grins, "We aren't in Japan anymore. We don't get looked down on for looking different here. We don't get laughed at or our shoes taken from our lockers, or or or...all the other crap that people have done to us."
Mari sits back up and hugs Claire again, putting her chin on the shorter girl's shoulder. "I'm never gonna not be your friend Claire. You'd think you'd have learned that by now, but I guess I'll just keep having to remind you." Her grin never falters, taking whatever sting the comment may have had away. "So, come with me, to the future! Or at least stop being stuck in the past. I'm not gonna let it hold me back and you shouldn't either."
Claire hugs Mari back, listens, and wishes she believed it was that easy. Maybe it is, for Mari...She's always been the one who can shrug things off better, who can look on the bright side...Maybe she's right, even with everything that's going on, all the people they've run into that really don't seem like there's any chance of getting on with. All of that's happened today, even.
And either way...Mari isn't going to forget about her, right? She wants to keep going, meet new people, and she wants Claire to be with her for that.
As her friend.
When she thinks of it like that, it's like there isn't much of a choice at all.
She sighs, lets go, and smiles wanly at her friend. Despite herself, she snickers as part of Mari's speech registers.
"To the future, Mari? Really? Kind of cheesy, don't you think?"
The half-smile that'd crept across her features flickers and fades, and she's suddenly almost subdued, sober almost at once. It's a long moment before she continues.
"...Yeah. I...Thanks. You're right. Of course you are. It'll be different. It...It'll work out this time, or the next. And...and you know I'll follow you. Forward, to the future, or whatever inspiring phrase you're about to think up. I...I get it. Just..."
She seems at a loss for words. So she hugs Mari again.
"Thanks for the reminder." She says quietly instead, after a while.
