Niijima Von Karma

" Why couldn’t the criminal see his file? ”

But... as it turns out...

A T  L E A S T the good news was he wasn’t in trouble with Sae. At this point, it was going to be the last thing that he needed. “Oh, well if that was all you should have just called me! Or texted me that you wanted to talk.” He had no idea if she had, though, with his phone off.

His charismatic smile falters a bit at her observation. Always so bright wasn’t she? He feigns a laugh, shrugging his shoulders in response. “I can’t be so suave all the time, Nijima-senpai. Gotta have some me-time.”

“...”

Her own humor died as quickly as he replied, not returning with his answer afterwards, “I called you twice. An hour apart,” she replied rather dryly. “I understand wanting some time to yourself. I really do. But, if you do it without warning, then there’s reason for concern from anyone. You’re lucky it was only me.” Anybody else would be very upset by now, she knew.

It’s the simplest explanation in the world, but Akira still feels uneasy having to explain why he thought they had accidentally swapped bags.  He nods when she speaks, yeah, he had been the one to sit next to her and really, the only reason he had been able to catch up to her had been because of her rather striking hair color.  “Because there’s a laptop and papers in it. I don’t own a laptop and well, usually, i carry my cat around in my bag and he wasn’t there.”  

He unzips the bag and pulls out the laptop rather gingerly for the woman to inspect it. 

someone people she needed to meet there ? her instincts wanted her to push for more information but she held it back. it was probably just her friends, that’s all. friendship was quite big after all. not that she understood it, friends were a problem she didn’t want to deal with. she was fine alone, all she needed was her sister.

          ❛  a  ❜

friend.

          ❛  - classmate spoke highly of the coffee there so i decided to pay it a visit.  ❜

… they weren’t friends, far from that.

  “ A... classmate? It’s rare that anyone around our age would be interested in a place like that, so please don’t take this in offense. ”

  A small sigh left her and she looked around. As curious as she was, and as much as she wanted to know, there was duties she had to attend to in regards to her team. To the dedication she had to maintain to be reliable. “ The coffee is very good, though. It helps me last through some longer days. ” 

Not wanting to be rude, or interrupt the flow of (surprisingly) easy conversation, Riku opted to wait before beginning his meal. He didn’t get a lot of friendly chatter these days, and it was nice to talk to someone from the other side of the high school life for once that wasn’t a test administrator or teacher.

“I’m still not sure where I want to go, college wise. I’m thinking of one of three career paths, but,” He shrugged as he paused, taking another sip of his tea in an attempt to fill the space with more than just him catching his breath.

“I’m pretty sure that it’ll be worth it if it means I can be a small part of something greater. At least, that’s what the adults would have me think. Personally… I’m starting to like the ideas I’ve been hearing about change for the better.”

  “ Is that so? I can understand that. ” Her smile seemed to fade some as she fell faintly lost in thought for a moment. But that didn’t last long. When she turned back to him, she took another small sip of her tea and placed it back down. “ I feel there’s more ways to pursue change, but that’s exactly why I’m studying as I am. Doing what I am. There’s a reason to listen to some of the adults, but I can understand disliking following what they teach you. ”

T H E R E were days where Sojiro didn’t want to be found. Given, these days were few and far between, with all the craziness that had been going on recently, he needed the break. Time to himself. Was it selfish? Maybe. He still did it anyway.  A T  T H E familiar voice of Sae Nijima, he turned around with a bit of shock. She was looking for him? He sort of stammered his words out, trying to act chill like he normally showed himself. “ O H  H E Y Nijima-senpai. I’ve been just…y’know…” He shrugged his shoulders in an attempt to come off relaxed. “I’ve been around. What did you want to talk about?”

For a moment, due to how little she genuinely knew of his behavior, his attempts to seem normal had almost worked. But after a moment amusement could be found in how he stumbled through his sentences, and she seemed to lighten in her tone in realizing how awkward he seemed.

“ You can calm down. It’s not for anything bad. I only needed to tell you that I’ve been attempting to find legal and reasonable resources for more destructive weapons and wanted to discuss them over coffee sometime. ”

He lets out a small sigh, pushing past people in a way that’s considered rude. It’s not something that Akira would do normally, but this is important.  Silver hair should stick out easily enough, but it’s hard to even catch a glimpse of it in the morning rush.  This would be easier back home, but back in Inaba,  Akira never had to deal with trains in the first place. It was a thirty minute walk to and from school, usually spent in silence. In tokyo? It’s loud, makes it hard for him to even navigate.

He gets lucky, lucky enough to spot that head of silver hair in the distance, practically running to catch up to her before he taps her shoulder. “Um, Miss. I think you took my bag by mistake.”

  Disappointment in her own management skills surrounding scheduling this train trip as it was, she looked about the area with a growing weight sinking in over her shoulders. But soon enough her form jumped from the feeling of a touch on her shoulder. 

¥¥ √ ah, he’d forgotten to ask.  well, perfect.  she was angry now.  “never mind, then; i misspoke and i’m sorry,” he said, and turned to leave.  “it was foolish of me; i came on impulse and i shouldn’t have.”

The former delinquent had to give his own chuckle as he set his cup back on the counter. With as astute as she was, maybe she had a future with the police force as a detective or a P.I.? Or worse… A lawyer. Heaven forbid he go back to a life of crime and have to face her in any of those situations, although that made him wonder… what did he want to study to try and become after high school?

“It’s actually one of the better dishes here, even though everything on the menu is delicious.” The waitress set his bowl down as he added his commentary, stopping long enough to thank her for the meal before returning to answer her comments.

“You’re actually not too far off the mark. Certainly feel like death’s creeping in as the year progresses, but I think it’ll be worth it if it means getting into a good college. I’m in my third year currently, but I’m keeping myself pretty busy with mock exams and the like. What about you? Third year or college?”

A hint of jealousy crept onto her shoulders as she saw his food be placed in front of him, but didn’t let it influence her beyond just that. She nodded in understanding of his studious woes and smiled just a bit about it. For a moment she was remembering her own stresses when she was a third year. The strive for perfection to gain the attention of her sister, the drive for justice in a world that needs it. But she was far from anything worthwhile.

But she didn’t let it sink into her mood. After she finished smiling, she took a sip of her tea and set it back down before speaking again. “ First year of college, ” she replied honestly, “ and it’s the most draining thing I’ve ever done. With work continuously piling up and exams around the corner, I can’t say death stops creeping. ”