「孤独だったら、おいでよ」

Takane blinks once in surprise at the questions, head tilting to one side and then the other. “Well, I just arrived in the city today, actually..” that was one question down, “and I moved to attend the university here.” Mostly. She’d heard things about this city, too. Interesting things. 

Arms shift to cross over her chest to keep them from continuing to toy with her headphones. They’d break at this rate, knowing her luck. But just standing around wasn’t going to get anything done, no matter how much she’d like to just stand around. 

As for Haruka, well... he hadn't had many complaints about those days in summer classes.  The lone classroom with just two students, decorated with dinosaur fossils as though it were the teacher's own little museum, remained in the artist's mind as a source of inspiration.  Somehow, it wasn't as long ago as it felt.

"Ah, sure! Which apartment is it? I've done a fair share of exploring," he said with a smile, "... haha, well, no guarantees though...!"

... And he retrieved his pencils and sketchbook with its pages all rustled about.  Somehow, he... wasn't sure what sort of name to give this feeling.  The subject of his drawings from earlier... had been Takane herself, after all, and, well, now that she was here... he couldn't help but pack up all the more quickly, neglecting a few of the book's pages that had fluttered to the ground.

He will try his best.

"They're pretty cute, huh...?  Hedgehogs, I mean..."

Haruka gingerly takes the creature from Takane's hands, and-- oh--

And it was much better to see him smile, anyways.

Takane could feel embarrassment bubbling under the surface at her own thoughts, expression clearly distracted for a moment before his voice pulled her from her own daydreams again. She really had to stop spacing out like that.. it’d probably get her in trouble one day. Or worse, knowing her luck.

Haruka’s words made her blink a few times though, expression shifting into a more curious one. Make it up to me, huh? The suggestions weren’t all that bad either, getting a tour of the city sounded like a good enough idea— she wasn’t all that surprised about him knowing the better restaurants around, though. Haruka was still Haruka, clearly, bottomless stomach and all.

"Eh, well.." her words hesitate for a second, hands shifting the headphones around her neck somewhat, "I, uh.. actually moved here." Very subtle. It was better to just say it anyways, right?

But! “I’d be happy if you showed me around, though. It’ll be really helpful, I think.. as long as you don’t get us lost somehow,” Takane replied, rubbing at the back of her neck somewhat.

... A short while... huh.

--It takes a second for the gears to click into place, for Takane's words to find their place in his head--but once they do...

"M... Moved here?"

"Takane, you moved--?!?!"

His mouth dropped open with--something like astonishment, but it didn't take long at all for joy to replace that expression with a big grin. Really...? Really really?! What kind of coincidence was it that he'd be allowed to spend the next day with Takane again, and the next, and the next, and the next...?

Would it be like before?  Would it not?  Well, either way... there is a word for this, Haruka thinks momentarily. It's--what's that funny-sounding word again--serendipity!

"When did you move...?! And, um, why? If you don't mind, that is...!"

Phew!  Crisis averted... although, if this girl was taking part in a rebellion or some other act of communism, then certainly "cute" must have been... some kind of code word!  Right?  It must have been.  At least, Haruka was pretty sure that happened all the time... in anime and manga, that is.

"I-It is, but... if you don't mind me asking, A-no-san... what exactly is Treenoki, to be so, um... powerful?"

"What’s a… Tree… nokey…?" Blink, blink.

"People not knowing what Treenoki is really makes me sad, which is why, THIS REBELLION IS NEEDED!" A-no shoved poor clueless Haruka the little mascot into his face.

"It’s cute, say it! And then join my rebellion, okay?"

"Eh--?!"

What was this... this--

... what was this that she was dangling so closely in front of his face?  A little keychain of some sort...  could it be... a... a broccoli, perhaps?  What on earth...?

And on top of that--a "rebellion"?  Was this odd little creature leading a rebellion, and this red-haired girl was its follower?  Just how much power did such a little broccoli piece possess?!  Was this-- was this what they called--modern day communism?  What should he do?!  If that was true, who knows what would happen to him if he didn't submit to their forces right here and now...!

"... It... i-it is kinda cute, huh?"

"Uwahh, it really is Ayano-chan...!"  Did Shintaro make this puppet himself, or something?  If so, why...  he had to admit it was pretty cute, though.  An excellent likeness of Ayano herself!  He got down on eye level to the little puppet.

"Haha, I don't know about that-- eh... who's this?  A puppet?"

Haaaa, I’ve never drawn these two before! * 7*)9 T-they’re really cute tho weh! ///// I was really excited to animate her pigtails, to tell you the truth, lol.

Now to the difficulties. A-ya never stopped to think how would be to be chained to a person, even if at some point in your life, you would see a movie where this could happen, and stop to think how would it be with you. Now he didn’t need to stop and think anymore- he was directly living this experience.

He didn't really have a way to explain the chain that was on his arm at that moment, just that at one moment he was free, and the next, he'd been chained to the other.  A near total stranger, but Haruka could remember seeing this guy once or twice.

He was A-ya, a... a... well, he looked to be a high school student.  He was sort of quiet, and well, that's where his knowledge of the boy ended.  And as for the one on the other end of the chain, Haruka was...

"... uuu... A-yaaaaaa, I'm hungryyyy...."