Kasanoda wandered the aisles, becoming increasingly confused. He had never been in this part of town before, let alone this store. He was only here because the twins needed him to drop off Haruhi's homework - she was sick and they were busy. Leaving her apartment he realized he needed to get fertilizer for the Gardening Club, so he decided to make a quick stop at a store - it wasn't going very quickly though.

Down the next aisle Kassanoda found another employee. He shouted, "Hey!" The employee glanced at him, jumped, and started backing up. "Where's the fertilizer?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know!"

"Uh?!"

"Please, I'm on my break!"

Kasanoda started to protest but the man was already gone. Frustrated, Kasanoda gave up and started home with a familiar hollow feeling inside him. He was so busy stewing in his thoughts along the way that he ended up crashing into someone when he rounded a corner.

"Uh?! Sorry!" It took a moment for him to realize that the person he had bumped into was familiar - it was Tetsuya. A brief look of nervousness passed over Tetsuya's face before it broke into a grin.

"Hey, where've you been? The guys back home were getting worried!"

Kasanoda started, "Oh, I forgot to call. Haruhi needed her homework dropped off, than I stopped by the store…" he trailed off and started walking again. Tetsuya tailed along.

They walked in silence for a few moments, with Tetsuya glancing over, a look of concern on his face, "Are you okay? You look grouchier than normal."

Looking away, Kasanoda noticed a woman across the street. She met his gaze and quickly looked away, hurrying past. Kasanoda glared at the pavement. "I guess… but you'd think they'd be more subtle about it."

Tetsuya was glancing at his cell phone, "About what?"

Kasanoda began walking faster, "Everything - about the way I look and act, I know you're scared too. You've just learned to cover it up."

Tetsuya glanced up, than looked down again. "Human nature is pretty cruel sometimes. We're born with the instinct to judge from appearances, and find out the truth later." He shot Kasanoda a side glance and smiled. "But people are kind of like paintings, sometimes one catches your eye but after hanging it on your wall, you realize just how boring it is. Then there are the ones that are cast aside without a glance, because of dull colors or something, but when you really look at it, you start to see all sorts of new things, and, suddenly, you find that your emotions are more vivid around this piece."

The two continued to walk in silence for a moment, before Tetsuya continued, "I don't think you look scary at all. Really, you look kind…because you are kind." Tetsuya suddenly realized Kasanoda was making a point of not looking at him, and contented himself to drop the subject.

But right before they entered the estate, he heard a muttered, "Thanks"