Young Writers Society

Seymour | Lurking the streets at night

They had not found the Kinshin egg in which they had been sent out to find. Eruka seemed to be unfazed though, hiding her own disappointment in her demeanor. Fighting was a rush for both of them, and it seemed they had befallen into sheer bad luck.

"False call I guess," Seymour said with a small shrug, patting Eruka on the back. She merely looked up at him and nodded balefully, and he couldn't help but feel guilt even though it really wasn't his fault. Eruka always had that effect on him though, her thoughtful silences were open to the audiences conception. You never really knew what she was thinking. On occasion she would smile and be proud, but the majority of the time she just answered questions he asked, and didn't put any effort into conversation.

But it was not awkward silence, it was silence they embraced together, a small solace shared in comfort. Words were not needed to understand what each other were feeling.

The street was empty, softly illuminated by the incandescent lantern light. It only made him long for their small apartment even more. To him there was no comfort to be found in the streets at night, only wariness and fear of what lurked in the darkness. They would be home soon, and sure enough he would retire to bed with a brief goodnight from Eruka.

But then, that's when they saw it, three shapes along the street. Instantly Eruka stopped and touched Seymour's shoulder in gentle warning. They could not make out many details of what these three forms were, but it was better to be safe then sorry.

And that's when it happened. The one form grabbed another, seemingly morphing it into its own shape. Seymour looked in horror for he believed he had just witnessed a Kinshin murder.

"Eruka, we must stop them before the Kinshin eats that other onlooker," Seymour said, running over to hide behind the one wall. She just looked up at him as if she had a protest, as if she knew something he didn't, but he ignored her. He would talk to her about it later.

Quietly, she shifted into the huge barreled machine gun which he caught delicately, almost dropping it through his leather gloves. Pulling the safety back, he stepped around the corner and approached them, trying to build up his presence to appear bigger then he actually was.

"Stop, you monster," Seymour called, his voice lowered for intimidation. "Turn around and face me you beast."

"I am merely trying to comfort this poor fellow. He is obviously in distress!" It was a female's voice, soft and elegant. It was probably just another trick to lower his defenses.

'Your tricks won't fool me. I have witnessed this scenario many times. Let him go, if not, I will shoot," Seymour called, his procession moving ever closer, the forms starting to make more sense to him. He heard Eruka murmur in protest. That was not like her.

"I will not let my miester be harmed," the third figure said, stepping around the Kinshin in a proper defense stance. He stood in the light. Seymour instantly recognized him as Silas.

"Silas, I do not know where your miester is, but you must help me fend off this Kinshin for it could easily lay a hand on her."

"I am no Kinshin!" Genuine protest came again in the girls voice. Instantly she let go of the figure and he fell to the ground. Seymour recognized the trembling mass as a weapon from around DWMA. He also then noticed Latona as she stepped forward. Seymour awkwardly lowered his weapon and chuckled a little embarrassed laugh.

"Well, this is awkward," Seymour said. "You may take your other form now, Eruka." Eruka popped up in her human form and stared at him one of those I-was-going-to-say-something-but-you-weren't-listening looks.

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Hope you don't mind me joining your characters Celt and Dream. If I got characterization wrong, lemme know. I was unsure.

~Incognito

Eruka | In the Streets

Seymour was embarrassed, and Eruka couldn't help but feel like it was partially her fault for not speaking up. Nonetheless she smiled warmly at Latona and Silas, whom she'd talked to a few times around the school. Silas never really seemed interested in conversation-- which left them in an awkward silence, and Latona either talked about boys or about books and stuff like that.

Shea pulled himself up from the ground, only to get glomped by Latona again. He looked horrible; like he had just seen a ghost. Silas didn’t seem exactly impressed with this... then again the boy never looked impressed with anything.

But where was Ches? “S-Shea? Why are you out here alone? Where’s Cheshire?” Of course she felt worried for her friend, Cheshire was one of the nicest people to her at the academy. Next to Seymour, of course.

Shea started bawling, “I’m trash! I don’t deserve to exist! I left her--for clouds! Clouds! And now she’s gone!”

Latona stroked his hair and mumbled reassurances to him. Well, what seemed to be reassurances. You could never be sure with that girl. Shea only shook his head and cried even more.

Eruka was frozen in shock. Cheshire was gone, and it was Shea’s fault for leaving her there? She had known he was a poor weapon partner, but she never thought he’d get Ches killed. Seymour eyed her from the corner of his eye cautiously, noticing her hand twitch. His hand met her shoulder, relaxing her greatly.

“When we get back to his house you should pose for me too, darling.” Latona was looking directly at Seymour now, Eruka couldn’t believe that girl sometimes. Beside her, for some reason, Silas’s visible eyebrow was twitching rather...violently.

Silas - The Street; outside of Ches and Shea's house

Silas narrowed his eyes, watching as the slim figure of a Meister dusted his clothing off with deft, gloved fingers and a natural, almost impertinently clever expression. Facade like, he would have thought. A beautiful mask, if anything else. He barely recognized the pale, soft features enough to know that this character was someone from DWMA. Someone he had seen rare few times and had yet to talk to.

The girl, on the other hand, seemed quite a bit more curious; her eyes flashing this way and that, taking in the sight of each person with a wholehearted kindness, though her lips had opened and closed only enough to make it seem as if she was repressing words. Words that Silas wanted to hear. It was making the Meister's character seem all the more shady.

Of course, none of this really mattered all that much. Not when Latona was... well...

"We really should be getting home," Silas stated, pressing his hand against his Meister's shoulder. She instantly batted it off, returning her attention towards the blubbering mess of a weapon.

He flicked his eyes away, lips pursed.

"As should we!" Seymour smiled sweetly, though again it seemed induced. "Eruka should be getting her rest and I-"

"Sempai, you're such a killjoy!"

Latona was smothering the child even further who was muttering all forms of 'I'm a failure' and 'I don't deserve to live'. Rather, it only served to irritate the rarely irritated death weapon, his nose scrunching uncomfortably before crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's getting late," he murmured though the words were listless. Not really confident at all. After all, it was Latona who chose what they did. Not him. He'd rather simply follow orders and be done with it, if only she wasn't so flighty. In this case, it was making things rather hard to hold his tongue.

"Why don't you go home, then?" she asked, eyes meeting his briefly. "You shouldn't have to be bothered with this, sempai."

That wasn't going to happen. She should have already realized this.

Anakin | Anakin and Zina's Dormroom

Anakin knew there was nothing he and Zina had in common with the other students. Both Anakin and Zina were quite the pair, but as rookies in this operation they must learn from the masters of the trade. Anakin was often charmed by the grace of Zina's hair in the wind, but this he rather not tell her about. Zina's his Meister, not his girlfriend. He wondered why Lord Death paired him and Zina up, but he guessed it was because they needed to solve the mysteries that surrounded their first lives. Anakin sighed as he stared into his mother's pendant. I wish you were still alive, Mama. He held the pendant in his hand for a moment, then put it around his neck.
Zina came up to him and asked, "Thinking about your mother?"
Anakin nodded guiltily. Six months with Zina had made Anakin easy for her to read, but that was something he was proud of.
Zina patted his shoulder and said, "Let's go to bed. Maybe that'll get your mind off things."
Anakin knew Zina would say that. Out of habit, he tucked Zina in first then went into his hammock. Every other night he slept in his hammock, which was a lot better than sleeping on the floor. As it was, Zina and Anakin took turns sleeping in the bed since they share the same room. However, they never slept together and planned to keep it that way.

Nate Pierce | Walking home from DWMA

I listened to the footsteps of my shoes, as I walked home with Rima and Andy. I raised an eyebrow at Rima. I expected her to be complaining about how I'm slouching while walking, or how none of us are starting a conversation. I slouch lower, just to get on Rima's nerves. I could feel Andy's eyes on me.

"Are you okay?" she asked. I immediately straightened up and faced her.

"Definitely," I answered. I looked ahead and saw what looks to be people talking. Don't they know how dangerous that is? They could be attacked by a Kishins anytime. I nudged Andy and Rima, taking their attention away from the ground. I cupped my hands, ready to shout.

"Hey strangers! Don't you know about Kishins? They come out at night!" I shouted. Rima's eyes widened, and smacked me in the face with a book.

"Dumbass! Those aren't strangers! They're students from DWMA," she said, rubbing her temples with her index finger and thumb. Andy rolled her eyes and surpassed a laugh.

"Oh, really?" I said, before taking off. I began running towards the group. Heh, Andy and Rima is probably running after me. I took a glance behind me, to find that they're still walking. I slowed to a jog when I approached the group. I raised an eyebrow at a crying Shea.

"Hey," I greeted. Seymour threw his hands up in the air, and begged Eruka about going home. Rima and Andy appeared at my side, and glanced at Shea.

"Where's Ches?" Andy asked. Shea started crying harder, earning pats on the back by Latona.

"That's the problem," Eruka replied. I opened my mouth, but then closed it. If the next thing I say would make the Shea cry harder than right now, I'd rather pass the risk.

(Hope this is okay! I hope I didn't interrupt with any plans. Please tell me if I did anything wrong, and PM me!)

Latona | Outside Ches and Shea’s house

“That’s the problem.” Eruka said, and the whole group fell silent, the general quietude only interrupted by Lato’s intermittent pats on Shea’s back, who was still sobbing. Judging by the situation, either Shea was right--the girl was dead and he’d blame himself forever for it, or he jumped to conclusions and they would find out tomorrow.

Either way, everyone was busy acting tense--not least of all her own partner, who had seemed to take a stance on some form of rebellion. She couldn’t see Silas’s eyes, couldn’t figure out exactly what he was thinking--it was hard to do so normally anyhow, and being unable to read his expression didn’t help.

“So...so...” One of the newcomers chanced to break the silence--both of them seemed nervous. “We’ll see you around later, right guys? It’s getting dark...we should get on home now. Come on Rima.”

“After you!”

The pair disappeared, leaving the group as before. Seymour patted Eruka once, jerking her out of whatever malevolent thoughts she was having at the moment. “Come on, Eruka--we better follow their example. Bye guys!”

Silas clumsily raised a hand in response, and Lato smiled at them as Seymour led Eruka away. Shea’s sobs were beginning to fade now, and he sniffled at Lato. “Hey...you know what?”

“What?”

“You’re weird.” Before Lato could scowl and return any form of response, he went on. “But I like you. Thanks.”

“You’re...welcome.” Lato frowned, unsure what to make of his words. “So...will you pose for me?”

Shea gave her a long stare. “Maybe someday...not now I can’t. I have to go home and...think...about what I did.” He let himself out of her hug slowly and breathed in deeply, gulping copious amounts of fresh air into his gullet, before starting to walk away. “Thanks. See you around later...”

“But...” Lato started, only to stop as Silas clapped a hand on her shoulder. She turned and stared at him. “Sempai?”

“Let’s go home.” He let go of her and watched as she made a few steps in the same direction, looking into the darkness--but there wasn’t anything to be seen of the other Weapon. Lato sighed, wondering if there would be any other chances to snap a photo of him.

“You’re right, sempai.” She pursed her lips and turned around. “Let’s go home.”

Cheshire | The Academy

Cheshire was relieved to be moving around again, even if she was still sore. She didn’t like the idea of being babied for any reason. The sun felt nice on her skin as the trio approached the school, Oded had insisted that she stayed behind and rested but Ches was ready to go stir crazy and insisted that she went.

Iteao didn’t miss any opportunity to tease her, even when he lent her a pair of pants and a tee-shirt he found a chance to tell her how ridiculous she looked-- Ches was beginning to wonder how Oded put up with him.

“Ches? Ches!”

Before she could respond Eruka was at her side and hugging her. Which was extremely shocking, Eruka never hugged anyone. Eruka never yelled, either. She wrapped her hands awkwardly around the taller girl.

“Uh, hello to you too, Eruka. You saw me just yesterday, why the excitement?”

Eruka pulled away and smiled down at the girl like she had just offered her a million dollars. Ches was beginning to get worried about this excitement, maybe she was sick.

“Shea told us you were dead... I-I was so worried.”

And-- just like that --she was back to her old, timid self. Cheshire’s heart dropped-- Shea thought she was dead? She had let Shea spend the entire night thinking she was dead? Well, Ches decided they were even-- of course, though, she was still extremely angry with him. She just wouldn’t kill him for nearly getting her killed.

“Well, I’m not dead, am I? You didn’t have to worry about me, the Cheshire cat always gets her mouse.” She let out a laugh and patted her friend on the shoulder.

“Well, the Cat may have gotten her mouse but it looks like the mouse went to town on the cat. You almost look like Nygus with all that gauze.” Ches peeked around Eruka to see Seymour smiling at her. “It’s nice to see you’re alive and back to the same old Ches.”

“Hey now, that mouse was big... and... there was seventy of them.” She smiled cheekily up at Seymour.

Seymour

Eruka's sudden burst of emotion certainly had startled Seymour that was for sure. It was just another one of those little glimpses that remind him that she was mortal after all, and did have feelings of her own. It was easy to forget that sometimes.

Looking at the roughed-up Ches, he felt consuming relief. The thought of another student dying, or even just the thought of a good friend perishing was enough to scare him a little. Ches had always treated him as a friend, even in the rough times, and he appreciated it. Her upbeat spirit was always a pick-me-up. Running his gloved hand through his hair, he nodded to her warmly, returning her smile.

"Well, have you seen Shea? He was pretty devastated last night. We, uh, encountered him, Latona and Silas on the streets last night," Seymour spoke idly, looking at the guys with her. He couldn't say he quite recognized them. They both looked a little awkward in this situation, and Seymour decided he would try to keep this brief as possible for their sake.

"Nope, but I was just getting around to that. He should be around here somewhere," Ches said with a little shrug. It made her wince though, and Seymour figured then she was probably in much more pain then she was letting on.

"Nice get-up you got going there too. New style for you," he said mockingly, a wide grin lightening all his features, his dark eyes seemingly sparkling.

"I picked it out myself," one of the guys added.

"I don't believe I have met you two before. I am Seymour Cromwell, and this is my partner Eruka. You are?" Seymour said to the two boys calmly, hands folded in front of him.

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~Incognito

Itaeo Haroun/School (I assume hallway??):

"Nice get-up you got going there too. New style for you," the dark haired kid said mockingly, a wide grin on his face.

-I think I liked this kid already.

"I picked it out myself," I said grinning, knowing how that comment could be taken one of two ways. Ches sent me a death glare, I had been hounding her all morning and I could feel the groan from Oded.

The Kid, Seymour?, looked me and Oded up and down- I think he was trying to see if he knew us from around. He folded his hands in front of him in a not unfriendly but defensive way.

-Kids trying to be the dominate male here- how cute.

"I don't believe I have met you two before." he said calmly, actually everything about this kid screamed "Valium child". I looked at him raising an eyebrow as he continued speaking.

"I am Seymour Cromwell, and this is my partner Eruka. You are?"

-Partner? where?

That's when I noticed the girl half hiding behind him, and my jaw almost hit the floor- Damn she was a hottie! I only hoped she wasn't underage, I hated when they were- I felt like a perv then. I stared at her, not caring if she noticed. I almost felt Oded roll his eyes.

"Nice to meet you Seymour, Eruka. I'm Oded Torre one of the Teachers Assistants for this year, I'll be helping out with different classes and things. This," he said jabbing me with one of his fingers. "Is my-"

"Itaeo," I cut in smiling and holding out my hand. "Itaeo Haroun, I'm also a TA." I paused and nodded towards Oded. "He's my Meister, I'm a weapon." I grinned again at Eruka, she blushed and looked down.

-Lord she had a cute blush!

"You two are teachers?" Seymour said incredulously, I rolled my eyes. I was about to say something but Oded beat me too it.

"Yeah- well sort of. We're going to be helping the teachers when they need it or subbing when their gone." He turned to me then, rubbing the back of his head- he looked tired already,

- I wonder if he slept at all last night.

"Well, we'd better go see what we're doing today, come on Itaeo." he then turned to Ches, looking slightly worried."Are you sure your alright?" Ches rolled her eyes the furthest I had ever seen.

- I really liked this chick, she was a pistol!

"Don't be such a worry wort! I've got nine lives after all- I'm the Cheshire cat!" Eruka stepped shyly out from behind Seymour.

"She always gets her mouse." I snickered and she hid right behind him again.

-Jeeze she was even worse then Oded in social situations.

Oded and I began to walk down the hall, but after a few steps I stopped and turned around.

"Squeek, squeek, squeek." I said looking right at Ches.


...

Shea | Corridor off the classrooms

Dark circles dominated the space under both of Shea’s eyes spectacularly--it was though someone had taken a marker and dyed the skin the most intense black possible. His arms swung to and fro like a metronome measuring time--as he walked past them, people turned around and whispered to each other behind his back.

“I’m worthless,” he whimpered. “I’m gonna go to Lord Death and ask him to strike me down. It’s the best thing I can do, really. Goodbye world. Goodbye my beautiful symmetry. Goodbye...”

He paused in his slow walk towards doom as he noticed a large gaggle of students standing verily in his way. Sniffling, he looked up.

“Excuse me--” He stared. Ches stared back, too. A few ticks of silence passed, with the entire group staring at him and him also staring back.

“CHES!” Without warning he launched forwards and grabbed Ches tightly by the shoulders. (“OW!”) “I thought you were dead! I thought I’d never see you again! I thought, I thought...” Here his tears started overflowing, and his words became a blubber of sobs. “Ireallyreallymissed *sobsob* missedyou!”

“Get off me...” Ches muttered, and then started patting him on the head. “I missed you too...”

Latona | Getting out of class

“Give me three pages on the properties of a Kishin egg by Tuesday. That’s it, class dismissed!”

Latona stretched as she walked out of class, Silas close behind her as usual. She hung her head, and then straightened, crackling her knuckles as she walked towards the mission bulletin--and past it. “I’m bored. And Professor Sid keeps going on and on about a subject once he gets started. He’s unstoppable. Say, sempai, do you wanna go out somewhere?”

Silas looked slightly taken aback, unnoticed by Lato, but quickly recomposed himself and shrugged. “Whatever you want.”

“We could go...I dunno. Maybe to a restaurant or something? It’s been a while since I had a good bite to eat...” Considering Silas didn’t know an egg about cooking, Lato was the ‘chef’ of the household--and she didn’t exactly cook very well. She could never figure out how sempai could eat all that and still say ‘it was a good meal, thanks’--especially since she herself thought it was just a step above poison. “What do you think, sempai?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Lato stopped. In front of her stood a group of students--and to say the least, a certain someone was once more in the range of her camera. Sobbing and hugging a girl. A girl other than herself.

A vein popped in her forehead.

“SHEA DARLING!”

Cheshire | The school

Ches was just about to tell Shea to let her go, and that she was still mad at him for abandoning her like that, but they were interrupted by a shrieking girl. One who did not seem to be very happy with the fact Cheshire was alive at the moment. To Ches, she actually looked eerily familiar.

“I see you made a friend while I was having my butt end handed to me,” Ches hummed as she finally pried herself from Shea. Every part of her body resisted movement, still.

“She’s...uh...hi...” Shea mumbled weakly, raising a hand loosely at the girl. “I sort of don’t actually know her name...”

“The name’s Latona--Latona Anais. And who’re YOU?” The girl demanded, staring at Ches.

“I’m Cheshire Jones, and that,” she said, pointing at Shea, “is my useless excuse for a weapon partner. I’d like it very much if you’d keep your grabby hands away from him.”

Ches crossed her arms and cringed -- only slightly -- when the stitches in her shoulder pulled at the skin. The girl--Latona--seemed to notice this, a smirk developing rapidly on her face. She moved forwards and grabbed Shea by the arm.

“Well, why should I? After all, you seem to think he’s useless...” Lato grinned. “Maybe I should make him my partner after all...”

“He may be useless, but he’s still my partner. You wouldn’t last a day with him-- do you want to end up like this?” Ches gestured to her shoulder wound, giving Shea the evil eye at the same time. Lato laughed and patted him on the head before letting go of him.

“I was just joking anyway. No need to get so possessive.” She stuck her tongue out at Ches, before turning to Shea. “Oh and...I still want a picture of you. Topless, preferably.”

Ches was about to intervene again, until Stein seemed to slink in from thin air. Sometimes she hated the teachers at the academy, always being able to slip into things unnoticed. It was just plain creepy sometimes.

“Ah, Cheshire, it’s good to see you alive and moving. Though the color of blood did compliment your skin,” he let out a laugh at his twisted joke, which made Ches’s stomach turn. “And I see Shea’s found you, perfect then. I have you together. I want you two to come along with me, I have a little bond-building exercise for you.” He stared down at the two through his glasses, a hint of something dark in his eyes.

Silas - Hallway after class

Silas, for the first time in a long time, was legitimately angry.

He followed after Latona though did not move to stop her from whatever movements she thought were necessary. It would be better if he held his tongue and his annoyance out of the situation if he wanted to maintain some form of control. Of course, her actions were making it extremely hard to keep that thought process going.

"Ah man!" Ches stated, frowning as she tried to stretch out her shoulder. Of course, this made her wince, teeth clenching reflexively. "You really don't know how to cut a person some slack, do yah Stein?"

Silas snaked his just behind latona's left shoulder. Close enough so that it was apparent who he was but far enough that she wouldn't notice he was even there. The looming shadow, always watching. Of course, Pan didn't think quite like he did and quickly hopped onto her shoulder, little beak plucking at her hair in that soft-hearted manner of his.

Latona looked over her left shoulder, nodded, then returned her attention back towards Shea and Ches. "Well, its been fun."

She rested her hand against her hip, smirk becoming apparent.

"And I'll see you later, Shea."

"...Yeah..."

Anger. Silas was becoming more frustrated every moment.

Shea | A room with candles

Shea had re-latched himself somehow to Ches’s shoulders, and even as they entered the weird-looking room, she was as of yet still attempting to pry him off herself. Stein turned to the side and let them pass, then turned to face them as they stood in the centre of the room. “Well, are the lovebirds all safe and happy in there? Sure your hair won’t burn up in here?”

Ches finally pried Shea off of her and turned to Stein, eyebrows twitching. “Professor, we aren’t lovebirds. Please take that back.”

“You aren’t? How disappointing.” The professor leaned back against the wall, his eyes fixed on the pair. “Joking aside...” He took the cigarette out of his mouth and straightened, looking directly at Ches. “Do you know what these candles are for?”

“Not really...”

He grinned. “Perfect. Now then. I want you to understand that this is solely for your own good. But if it goes wrong, it’s likely you’ll lose your resonance with your partner permanently. Are you still willing to take this exercise?”

“But what’s the point of--”

“If it goes without a hitch...” He blew smoke into the air, staring at the translucent gray particles swirl in half-hearted little circles. “Then your soul resonance will be stronger than before.”

Ches and Shea looked at each other. “Uh...what do you think, Shea?”

“But...but...I don’t wanna lose you again!” Shea started sniffling. “What if we fail and we never get Soul Resonance anymore and, and...”

“We’ll do it!” Ches piped up. “Right, SHEA?”

He squeaked. “Right...”

“Excellent!” Stein clapped his hands together. “Now then. Tell your partner every flaw you can think about them.”

“What?!” The two of them stared. Stein shrugged.

“Just do it.”

“You never pay attention to me, you obsess over symmetry and you couldn’t care less about my well being. Oh, and your eyes creep me out.”

Shea sniffled. “You’re mean, you boss me around, you always drag me away when I’m fixing stuff and you’re...too HAPPY all the time!”

“What’s WRONG with being happy?!”

“It’s just...not NORMAL.”

“Your face ain’t NORMAL.”

Stein shook his head, sighing, as Shea and Ches barked at each other. Youngsters really could be a lot of trouble, sometimes.

Cheshire | The Candle room

“I can’t believe you sometimes! It’s like you don’t even care!” Ches’ face was turning red with anger and frustration.

Stein sat back and watched the argument unfold, hiding the amusement in his eyes behind his glasses. He knew something they didn’t, the candles were boosting their emotions. It made the fight all the more amusing, but also more likely to tear apart their bond as meister and weapon, and as friends.

“But I do care...”

“Then why would you leave me like that? You left me to fend for myself against a possible murderer who could have easily killed me if I wasn’t always armed with my dagger!”

Shea had nothing to say to that--he hung his head, staring at the ground. Ches crossed her arms and turned away.

“That’s what I thought,” she breathed before storming out of the room.

Stein didn’t bother to try and stop her, which was a good move on his part. With the mood Ches was in she would have easily used force to get away. She moved quickly through the halls and towards the front of the school-- she needed to go for a walk. She needed to go to the gym. Anything to let off steam. An angry Cheshire wasn’t the greatest person to be around.

Latona | At her and Silas’s apartment

“Ne, sempai. Won’t you talk to me?”

A teddy bear had slumped onto the ground beside where she stood, the table nearby a mess of objects. Glass shards crackled under her feet as she moved, making her look down. Glass shards? Where had they come from? She raised her fist and knocked quietly on the door.

What had happened so suddenly?

_________________________

“Sempai?”

They had foregone the eating out option--for some reason, her partner seemed put off by the very idea of going out today. Every time she suggested something, he just shrugged and looked...well, sulky, so they were stuck dining on her horrendous food.

He still didn’t look happy.

“Is...er, everything okay?” Lato stared at him as he stabbed his fork vehemently into the overcooked meat on his plate. “You just seem a little...angry...”

“I’m fine.” Even in his voice there was an undercurrent of temper, and Lato’s eyebrow twitched briefly as she prodded her own food around. Today’s fare was especially dry and tasteless, since she had forgotten to heat the oil before putting the slab of chicken on, and then had forgotten to put seasonings. Thankfully, the salad hadn’t suffered much. She glanced up at her partner again, wondering what to say to him.

“Ne, sempai? You aren’t ill or anything, are you?”

He shrugged.

Lato pushed back her plate and stood up, her face hidden in the shadows of her hair. So he was playing that game with her, was he? She picked up the teddy bear that Sempai had put on a little side-table as a decoration, and came back to the table, her expression still unreadable. “Hey, sempai? Does this mean anything to you?”

He didn’t answer, staring at the plate. Lato dropped the teddy bear, letting it fall carelessly to the ground and looked at him. “Why won’t you talk to me, sempai? Why won’t you say anything?!”

He was staring at a goblet on the table. It was one of Uncle Merrick’s many meaningless birthday gifts--a set of goblets, “so you can drink wine as it should be drunk”. She wanted to tell him that she was a minor and had no business touching alcohol, but that man was unreasonable. “Sempai?”

“You don’t...” he mumbled. “Why don’t you...”

“Why do you care for that boy so much?!” He stood up suddenly, the goblet falling to the ground and splintering as his elbow knocked it over. Neither of them noticed. “I’m your partner, you should...at least you should...”

“Sempai--”

“Just...don’t. Please.” He walked over to his bedroom door and opened it, not looking back at her even as she called out. “Sempai!” He locked it securely behind him, and Lato slowly crept up to the door.

Why was he being so unreasonable?