GENIUS.

        He shook his head. “I disagree. You did see me, and the worst of me. The parts of me I keep hidden from the world and myself. Deeper, darker human nature. I agree that I was not in my right mind, but the personality that shone forth was, unfortunately, genuine.”

        But she was far more optimistic than he was about the whole matter, and she even thought that he was a good person. Someone saw the good in him. How… refreshing.

        “Hmm? Oh, perhaps. Mostly I just get so absorbed that if I don’t make a conscious effort to be a human being, I will inevitably become a room-confined gremlin. It happened in the past, too. I wouldn’t leave the library sometimes for days. Wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t sleep. I guess some things never change.” Was it, perhaps, the same for her? Would she even know?

THERE’S A moment as she contemplates over what iarios, clearly thinking deeply on it. when she speaks again it’s calm, almost quiet, && she’s clearly trying to choose her words carefully ( though she always does ) in a way to best explain herself, to best reassure him. her gaze is trained thoughtfully on the hands twined in her lap.  ❛ we —— all have parts of ourselves we don’t like. parts that are dark && unwanted. there’s not a single person who doesn’t —— myself included. ❜ she pauses to look up at him.

         ❛ but it’s the ability to overcome that darkness, && look past it, to choose the right && kind choice of action, that distinguishes the good from the bad, I think. that’s why I don’t hold anything against you —— I don’t have anything to hold against you. that wasn’t you, that was someone else bringing out the darkness && obscuring the light. ❜

❛  you’re  welcome.  ❜  yukako’s  reply  was  quiet  as  well,  and  took  little  time  to  fall  through  her  lips  while  she  grasped  her  book  with  manicured  hands  and  flipped  to  the  page  she  left  off  on.  the  fact  that  she  had  to  even  do  that…  their  immaturity  only  showed  when  the  teacher  wasn’t  here  to  discipline  them,  it  seemed.

❛  mori  ogai’s  the  dancing  girl.  ❜  in  the  midst  of  her  flipping,  yukako  paused  to  hand  ami  the  book,  offering  her  to  skim  through  it.

❛ oh! ❜ her eyes brighten considerably to hear the name of a familiar title. she takes the book from the girl gently, fingers delicately flipping through pages, the smile on her lips almost fond as she re-reads sentences here && there. a book was a treasure that could be opened again countless times, && still feel as fresh as the first.

    ( @mizunojo​!! )

    “Thanks for coming to help, Ami. It really means a lot!!” Mako practically melts with relief upon seeing her friend. She’s covered in flour, tendrils of hair hang free from her ponytail, and her apron shows signs of a coffee-spill. Clearly, it’s been a long shift.

    “The Bakery is really busy today – do you think you can handle taking orders?” 

     SHE GIVES her friend a resolute nod, the amount of determination in her eyes almost comically serious. tension && nerves coil under her skin but she keeps it hidden under a mask of a focused expression. taking a standardized test, or fighting off enemies bent on harming the planet are kinds of stress she is used to dealing with  —— but helping one of her dear friend at her work? she was determined to do a good job —— the idea that a mistake on her part could reflect negatively on makoto’s only made her more serious.  

        ❝ this delectable aroma—- ❞ oh, that’s right ; he hasn’t drunk in about four consecutive months. someone with a beating heart ( an offer of blood ) tended to get his head in a tizzy. specifically when they’re nearby. so close, the skin is just a thin membrane that he can pierce as quickly as someone could snap their fingers. his tongue felt akin to sandpaper as it brushed idly against his upper bicuspids. ❝ so sweet, i think i would like a taste—-? ❞ maybe, if he could get her alone. the library seems like a good place to start.

@mizunojo ❤’d—-!

EYES WIDEN slightly at the sound of a voice somewhere too far —— && having spoken when ami was too lost in thought  —— for her to properly discern, yet close enough that she thinks perhaps they were speaking to her. textbooks pressed to her chest inside the circle of her arms, she inclines her head && turns around to peer down the length of the hallway.