3 // date time
“S-So, why did you ask me to c-come here with you?” Tenko asked, fiddling with her cup of rather sweetened coffee.
Maki shrugged, drinking from her americano. “I guess I like you.” That is why people ask each other out, isn't it? That’s sometimes the only reason why. Sometimes you only need one: because I like you. But what happens when even that’s not true?
“W-Well I just thought it was weird, y’know. I-I mean, we’ve never talked much in school, so I didn’t realize you felt that way..”
“People usually don’t.”
Tenko was incredibly awkward. It would be possible that she does like Maki, though it is seriously unlikely. She’s probably just a bit weird. Maki wouldn’t put it past her. Tenko was, as an overall, odd. The way she glared at every guy that even walked past them, how she got this sudden fire in her eyes that Maki hasn’t seen before. She supposed that it was attractive.
But the colors weren’t there.
Then another guy passed, and Tenko glared, her eyes shining like the emeralds they are. “Why do you do that?” Maki asked. She figured that this may help her get closer to Tenko. Hopefully it works.
Tenko was quick with a response, tilting her head upwards indignantly and flicking her tongue. “They’re degenerates.”
Now that was surprising. “Um.. the guys?”
She nodded. “Yeah. All of them.”
Maki could still salvage this. “So.. is that why you like girls?”
Tenko seemed rather offended by that. Maki could tell because Tenko straightened her back and clutched her hands at her sides. But she shrugged. “Maybe. I just like girls. No reason.”
Maki nodded, but she didn’t really understand. How can you just like someone? The only person she can ever really recall liking in the way she likes Kaede is some kid from the orphanage. But he was nothing really special. Just a vault of empty promises she swore to keep. And she knew that she would never feel what she feels towards Kaede for anyone else. That was merely impossible. Not to mention painful.
Tenko seemed to be able to spot the look in Maki’s eye and faltered, her grip loosening. “Is.. something wrong?”
It almost made Maki cringe at how sincere she sounded. How could someone so nice have to deal with the same thing as Maki? It made a pit of guilt open up in her stomach, as if it were her fault. She shook her head though. “No. Just dozing off, I guess.”
Tenko nodded, dropping it just as she finished up her coffee. They sat together in silence for a while. Minutes, hours, daysー Maki couldn’t tell how long she just sat there, Tenko in front of her, fiddling with the cap of her coffee. Maki’s americano grew cold. Her small hands held onto the cup anyways. Almost too tight. Then, just as her vision began to blur, Tenko reached over, and suddenly her hand was in hers.
Maki looked up to meet her eyes, skin prickling from the touch.
Tenko’s eyes were cloudy with something all too familiar. Maki figured that it was the same thing that shone in her own eyes: heartache.
Maki squeezed back.