InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Juuuuuust a bit outside!"

kondo kozue | 近藤梢 (anthesphoria) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2009-11-01 17:47:00

Entry tags:

kou, kozue

WHO: Kozue and Kou
WHAT: ~~Stalking~~ following up on something
WHERE: School Grounds
WHEN: After School, pre-S!Misaki
WHY: by the command of Kiriko it shall be done

Kozue had been pondering all day in class. 'Pondering', for her, involved a lot of slumping on her desk top and a lot of rolling pencils up and down, and sometimes a bit of kicking the bottom of her front-neighbor's desk. She'd do it until he turned around, at least. At which point she'd play innocent, of course. And he always believed it.

Part of her had been wondering just why Kiriko was so gung-ho about Oubai-senpai recently; at least, about Oubai when it came to Kondo and Oubai. Had he talked to her, maybe? Asked for a little bit of help? Was he interested? Because that would have made her own decision on the problem easier, for sure. But… at the same time, the advice she'd given Maeko kept coming back to her. You don't date a guy because you like him, you date him to find out if you like him or not. So, in the interest of not being a hypocrite, there it was. Decided.

After classes were over, she grabbed her bag and headed out. It was an Ikebana day, but—well, with the wink she flashed to Kiriko before leaving the classroom, she was pretty sure that she'd get excused. Kiriko was clever enough to guess.

She would have waited on the second year hallway, but halfway there she changed her mind and made a bee-line for the shoe lockers. Because Keiichi was in 2-B too, and boythatmightbekindofawkward. If he saw her talking to Kou, yeah. She stopped at a bulletin board a few feet away from the exit, and made a show of studying a flier. Theater program? School play? Hm. That was… well, she could fake great interest. And she was good at faking interest while keeping an eye out. She kept an eye out for Kou—trying to make sure she wasn't going to approach Renju, either, because apparently girls had done that before—and pondered exactly what she was going to say when she saw him. Since they had talked once, and then hadn't really had a conversation in months, aside from the general messes surrounding Paradise.

Hey, how's your restaurant? Hey, so, my grandmother might try to sell me to you? Been to the blue glowy room of butterflies recently? How's your Head God doing?

Ugh. Usually, this was easier.

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	daioujou 2009-11-02 05:42 pm UTC (link)
	Obviously it bothered him, he thought. Why else would he have said that? He made a small noise, shut his locker with force, and then looked at Kozue as though a wasp had landed on his shoulder. It was too quiet. Apprehensive? Maybe. Certainly annoying. Worst of all, she was still here. "Do you want something, or are you just going to stare?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-11-03 12:05 am UTC (link)

A hard nut or a totally impossible one.

The first thing that came to mind was, you talked to me first, but that just wasn't… well it was true, but she wasn't going to go around saying it, in any event. "I was thinking we ought to get to know each other, maybe. Since we spend so much time together for club business." Pause. "And." And we might get married? Might was a strong word; it didn't seem like anything more than a passing chance to Kozue, really. She stopped, abandoning that whole beginning of a sentence for "Don't you think?"

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daioujou
2009-11-03 12:36 am UTC (link)

Kou moved his body slightly, listening to Kozue's sentences - ones that ran on and seemed infinite till she ended them with a question. He found himself agreeing they should meet. It was the first time anyone had asked to get close, so he didn't quite know what to say, except that he wasn't scared, and it would shut dad up.

But what if she talked to the group, or brought friends along? He didn't even know what she wanted. Friendship was a beneficial arrangement. Misaki had obviously been after things from people. Why else would she be so nice? There were social rules and expectations to forming relationships, too.

He couldn't do anything but respond with:

"Why?"

He pushed his glasses up. "You could've asked me before. It's not difficult."

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anthesphoria
2009-11-03 02:01 am UTC (link)

Not difficult? What planet was Kou living on? He was making it difficult. He'd been making it difficult the entire time.

And—had he said yes? Had he said no? Or neither at all? Kozue found herself unable to tell, but feeling that no 'no' was a good sign, she answered his question. "Because I realized we don't know each other, I guess. And I didn't ask you before because it's been kind of stressful, recently, and I guess I hadn't been thinking too much."

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daioujou
2009-11-03 02:10 am UTC (link)

"Obviously."

Kozue was a persistant girl. He bit his finger. Was she after something? Had she gotten it into her skull to try and make him patch things up? He'd grown used to people walking off once he'd rebuked them that he didn't know what to do.

He didn't really want to take her home. He didn't trust her enough for that. Besides, he was a gentleman. Unlike some, he'd been raised to follow standards and morales.

"I'm walking to the bus stop. Come if you must."

Was he leaving? Not quite yet. He was waiting for Kozue.

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anthesphoria
2009-11-03 03:30 am UTC (link)

"I will," Kozue said with a nod. She took the few extra steps she needed to get to her shoe locker, and changed shoes briskly, before emerging on the other side. "Thank you for the invitation."

Not that it had been much of one. Although, Kozue reflected, maybe she shouldn't have expected this to go too easily. "Is your bus ride home very long?" She asked, in slightly nervous interest of making conversation.

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	daioujou 2009-11-03 04:14 am UTC (link)
	It hadn't been much of an invitation. Kouchisei wasn't planning on bringing anybody home. He wasn't sure his father would be around, or not, in times of an emergency, which included his approval. It was shocking enough when he brought boys home. A girl would cause him no end of bothersome questions. "Fifty minutes. What do you want to know for?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	anthesphoria 2009-11-03 04:28 am UTC (link)
	She shrugged. "I just wondered if your commute was unpleasant. I walk from the dorms, so it's really pretty easy." And fifty minutes sounded like a real drag. Twice a day, too. Fine. If he was going to interrogate any topic she chose, he could pick instead. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	daioujou 2009-11-03 11:11 pm UTC (link)
	Kou cocked his head. "I'd listen to music, but it'll make me deaf so I don't bother. Sometimes I just sleep." With Kozue not saying much, he felt uncomfortable. He didn't relish, either, the thought of talking to keep their conversation alive. He'd done it before out of politeness. That reason worked. "You're not cold, are you?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-11-05 04:18 am UTC (link)

She shook her head, quickly. "Oh, no, I'm pretty comfortable, the uniform blazer is definitely warm enough." Or too warm. But if she slipped it off, she'd worry that Kou might get the wrong idea about her intentions.

And for once, her intentions weren't to try and get him into bed. Shocking though it was. "Yeah, I heard listening to headphones too loud can hurt your hearing." From her grandmother. Whenever her grandmother saw anyone with headphones.

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	daioujou 2009-11-05 05:00 pm UTC (link)
	Kou nodded. His lips rose into a smile; he'd actually shown Kozue he thought a little better of her, and wasn't scared of showing it. The comfort he was feeling? It was nice. "We should hurry. The bus'll be here soon," he said distractedly, scratching the back of his head. "Whoever told you that gave you some good advice. You should listen to it." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

anthesphoria
2009-11-06 05:23 pm UTC (link)

"Is it any headphones, or just loud ones?" She asked, speeding up a little bit and starting to walk briskly. Kou might be smiling now, but she could only imagine that he'd throw a grump-scowl-snit fit if he missed his bus. And this whole smiling thing was progress she really wasn't interested in reversing immediately.

"My grandmother says it. And she has excellent hearing, even though she's really old. So maybe she knows what she's talking about?"

Kozue's train of logic was a bit oddly directed, to be sure, but the statement made sense to her. Her grandmother disapproved of headphones. Her grandmother had good hearing. These things naturally were connected.

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daioujou
2009-11-09 04:49 pm UTC (link)

Kou shrugged. "Loud. Most don't reduce background noise, rather it makes people turn up the volume. That gives you headaches and this is probably boring you," he said, hurrying the conversation and bringing it to a halt. Whenever he'd talked about safety he'd seen most people's eyes glaze over.

He looked at Kozue, "And you don't think she does, otherwise you wouldn't have worded it as a question."

He didn't know Kozue's grandmother, but she was an elder citizen of a good family. He'd been brought up to respect his elders.

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anthesphoria
2009-11-09 09:14 pm UTC (link)

Kozue had started to look a little glazy in the eyes—the way she'd get when teachers explained things. But she came back quickly enough. His response about her grandmother had caught her off-guard.

"I… Well, I wasn't sure. She tends to disapprove of a lot of technology, and so I wasn't sure why. For headphones, in particular." She stumbled over the explanation.

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	daioujou 2009-11-12 04:20 am UTC (link)
	"Yeah. Whatever." Kou stopped. He took in his surroundings, the school gates, and then pushed up his glasses. "You're talking an awful lot for a simple trip to the bus stop." He waited for an answer. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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