ｏｈ ｗｈａｔ ａｎ ｕｇｌｙ ｔａｌｅ

Aah, so troublesome.. if she ever found out who did this—

The feeling of the black haired male leaning into her hand (which, mind you, she hadn’t exactly processed she’d lifted) pulls Takane from likely violent thoughts with a few blinks of brown eyes. She almost pulls her hand away from the other, in embarrassment more than anything else, but the fact that it calmed him down so much has her arm staying lifted.

His apologies earn another blink and then a sigh, head tilting off to the side somewhat. “You don’t need to apologize, you know. It’s not like you’re doing anything bad..” the brunette mutters in response, free hand digging a handkerchief from her pocket with a little effort.

This fear was the fear of losing someone and realizing the world would always be too big for him to be on his own. Some might have called Kuroha's reaction childish, the tears too dramatic and the frantic search too cliche. But he didn't care. In the moments where he had thought Takane gone, Takane, the most important person to him along with his brothers, he had felt completely and utterly alone.

And he never wanted to feel like that again.

His sleeve came up to rub at the tears still siding from his eyes, his sniffles subsiding as he took in the fact that Takane was here, and fine, and that she wasn't leaving. He felt a little ridiculous for sobbing so openly, and in such a public place, but he hadn't been able to help himself.

Ehh, you must not know me very well. Kindness is only for people that deserve it and people that have earned it.

Takane doesn’t even make a move to signify she’s heard him speak, pencil tapping against the paper as she reads through the last problem. It wasn’t that she didn’t know it, she’s been paying attention in her classes well enough to be considered.. average.. The point is she was doing fine and it didn’t necessarily matter if Kuroha helped her or not, she was just trying to be difficult. Sort of.

Um I'm like your almost-boyfriend I definitely deserve your kindness Takane don't be like that please I love you (probably).

Ah, she had finished. And without even letting him do it. Did this mean they were still going out? Or did this mean she'd decided that it was too much effort. Kuroha certainly hoped it was the first option, as staying in this library any longer was going to drive him insane. It was too quiet, and he'd been watching her do her homework for ages. Not that watching Takane for long periods of time was abnormal for him, but the constant skritch-skratch of the pencil on paper had become increasingly annoying as time had passed.

By 木葵ひなた

「邪魔を…するなあああぁ！！！」 的な落書き By なのら

By いかすみ黒兎

At least he was offered help; it wasn’t as if he was getting anywhere anyway, but… ugh. He turns his attention to Kuroha, and attempts to look at least somewhat cordial. Just a tiny bit. It doesn’t work.

"Where the hell can I find a place to get some goddamned coffee here? I’ve been looking for the past two hours, my leg hurts, and I’m getting a fucking migraine from caffeine withdrawals."

"There's a cafe at the museum, though from the looks of you, you're new around here and don't know your way around at all. I've got nothing better to do right now, so I could probably show you the way."

Though the snake never actually visited the cafe by himself, as coffee was incredibly gross to him, he still knew the way from his many trips there with Konoha, as its abundance of sweets had his twin running there every other day, Kuroha having to accompany him s he wouldn't get lost.

Kuroha’s response makes her eyes shift back over from the building, which she hadn’t realized she was inspecting so closely, to meet with his again. She almost, almost blushes, managing to wrinkle her nose instead and turn, heading towards the door to the museum herself.

They hadn’t even gotten inside yet and he was already making comments. (Not like they were as bad as they usually are, but Takane wasn’t even going to give him a chance to get worse.)

It looked so creepy from the outside already, too. Is this even a good idea? What if something happens— the sudden comment from Kuroha, though, only has the thoughts multiplying. A dead body? Impossible, right..? “There definitely isn’t.. it’s only a rumor— I wouldn’t scream!” It’s insistent as Takane’s shoulders hunch a little, lips pursing as she stalks further ahead.

The mood he had set now would hopefully stick throughout the entire journey into the basement, allowing him to easily scare the shorter girl. Not that he would. Of course not, he was nice. There was no way he would do that to Takane, someone who could probably knock him out in a matter of seconds. But his kind heart wouldn't be able to stop him if the opportunity presented itself, unfortunately. Even if it meant getting roundhouse kicked in the jaw or punched in the stomach, he had to scare her at least once. His reputation depended on it.

So, with a slight smile of anticipation causing the corners of the black-haired boy's lips to turn up, he dutifully followed Takane as she stalked towards the entrance of the museum. He would behave for now, until it was his time to strike. Well, at least mostly.

Usually, when moving into a new city, one’s first destination is their new home, or, perhaps, school for the most studious of people… To become acquainted with one’s surroundings is important for everyone, regardless of what it is that they should first chose to visit—which explains exactly why there is a young teenager standing on the side of the road with a disgruntled expression, looking… generally lost, and increasingly agitated.

The breezy day does very little to quell his fraying nerves; with an irritated grunt, the boy continuously has to flick his hair out of his unnaturally red eyes, and he boredly stamps the end of his crutch against the ground as if it were to make up for the fact that bouncing on his toes isn’t an option for him.

"Fucking dammit.”

Naturally, he'd taken the first option. Money was precious, and as Takane held most of the money that cycled through Lemongrass Apartment Room 3, Kuroha rarely had any free change to spend at his leisure. He had to keep what little he had. He'd just crash at someone's place for the night and return in the morning, as he usually did.

All those thoughts were running through his head when he saw the white-haired boy on the sidewalk in front of him, a slight smirk making its way to his lips when he heard the loud swear. Someone was definitely lost. And, since Kuroha was kind down to the bottom of his heart, he decided to offer some assistance.

Can’t we just talk like decent human beings for once?

That sounds like a great idea.

* Permission to upload the image to give credit to the author / artist image.