"S-Strawberry diafuku...?" Hades' eyes lit up, face flushing red with excitement. "And it's cheap...? Gods, perhaps today the curse forgot that it was supposed to be haunting me."
Apollon heard his uncle and he laughed brightly. "Perhaps so!"
Thoth spoke up from beside Hades. "Is that happiness I hear in your voice, emo kid?" Thoth said in his stern voice. It was obviously meant to be a joke, though, as he smirked right after it.
Loki snickered. "Emo kid...ha!"
"It's Hades," Hades corrected.
Takeru raised an eyebrow, setting forward in his seat. He looked at Hades, grinning. "Emo kid!" He burst out laughing.
"Hades, actually...," Hades mumbled, obviously not understanding that they were teasing him.
Anubis gave a fanged smile. "Emo kid, he heee!"
"It's..." Hades looked down. "...nevermind."
•••
Yui knocked on the door to Tsukito's door. "Tsukito-san?" she asked gently.
"Come in," came the bland response.
Yui gently turned the knob, poking her head in.
Her brown eyes widened at the sight of the room.
It looked...nothing like she remembered it to look like before it was occupied. The room's walls were a light grey. Bookshelves lined one wall. A black bedsheet covered a black canopy bed in the center of the room. Yui thought that the bed must've been a king-sized bed. It was so much bigger than her full bed.
"...come in," repeated Tsukito. He sat at a medium-sized brown table against the wall. There was an empty chair opposite him and a tray of tea in the center of the table. beside the tea tray was a small stack of journals.
Yui stepped in after a few moments more of spectating. She shut the door gently behind herself, careful not to catch her sleeves in the door. "H-Hello, Tsukito-san," she greeted gently.
Tsukito looked up from his book and looked at her with a blank expression on his face. "Thank you for joining me, Kusanagi Yui. Have a seat."
Yui obeyed, smiling gently. Tsukito seemed just as strange as ever, but she found that comforting in a time when she felt so alone. Without the others here, she didn't know what to do. Now that Tsukito had invited her to drink tea with him and study, she told herself that it was a way to make him happy. In actuality, it was a way for her to keep herself from feeling so lonely.
Tsukito sat his book on the table, face down, and looked her in the eyes. His dull golden ones made her heart pang. Something about that color struck her.
"Tell me when to stop pouring," Tsukito lulled, then looked at the delicate teacups on the tray.
Yui watched as the man carefully lined up the teacup to be exactly even with the brim of the cup before gently tipping the kettle up. She observed how careful he was to make sure that the stream was thin and consistent.
She was so caught up in watching his movements that she forgot to tell him to stop.
He stopped exactly when the cup was filled to the brim. "There you are, Kusanagi Yui."
Yui snapped out of her trance and gave him a thankful smile. "Thank you, Tsukito-san!"
He didn't respond. Instead, he poured his cup of tea just as carefully.
He then gingerly lifted it to his mouth. Not a drop spilled. The tea within the cup didn't even more. He made a gentle sound after a moment- a soft groan of pleasure- and closed his eyes, seeking to fly off into another world with the tea. He pulled the cup away from his lips after a few seconds and sat it back down on its saucer.
He looked at her, and she realized that she must be been staring again. She looked away and picked up her own cup.
She spilled a little on her hands as she lifted it, and she winced at the slight pain of the hot liquid running down her hands.
"Kusanagi Yui, are you okay?" asked Tsukito immediately, taking his napkin and unfolding up. He smothered her hand in the napkin, not letting the cloth get in the tea. "...Did you burn yourself?"
He's so sweet! He went out of his way to care for my hand! He's such a sweetie!, she thought over and over again, but aloud she stammered, "N-No, I'm fine."
"Are you certain?" he asked as he sat down the napkin.
Her hands began to shake from the sweet memory of him jumping into action, and she sat down the teacup on the saucer again so as not to spill it. "Yes. It wasn't too hot."
She heard a small breath that she almost thought was out of relief come from the mouth of the moon god. "I'm thankful..." She watched what little emotion he had on his face dissolve. They locked eyes.
She realized now that the most emotional part of him was his eyes. Everything showed in the golden lakes. She could almost see the little flickers of memories running through them. She could almost hear his thoughts.
Now his eyes said that he thought that she was beautiful. You're more stunning than even the moon, he seemed to think.
The thought that he might be thinking that caused Yui to blush and break their eye contact.
There was a small sound from Tsukito, and then an, "...oh, we were going to study, weren't we?"
"Yeah, we- wait, don't you have a rabbit?" She randomly remembered that he had a rabbit familiar that he carried around with him.
She looked up at him just in time to see him shake his head. "Not now. Takeru took him with him when they left on this random vacation."
She smiled. "So you still have him?"
"Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"
"No particular reason. I just...I enjoy animals."
"As do I," drawled Tsukito. "I feel like they know more about the world than I do, even though I am a god and they are just mute, mortal earth creatures. They have a kind of intelligence to them..."
Yui smiled brightly. "I couldn't agree more. I've always wanted a pet of my own."
Tsukito's eyebrows knitted together. "You've never had a pet before?" he asked in his dull voice.
Yui shook her head. "Never."
"Perhaps I could get you a pet rabbit as a gift, then. Rabbits are my favorite animals."
She smiled. "I wonder if that's because your spirits are connected."
"...spirits are connected?" Tsukito asked.
Yui giggled at his confusion. "I read somewhere that your spirit is attached to that of a certain animal. The one that it's attached to is the animal that you act like the most. Like you..." She looked at her tea. "...you're soft and quiet and a good listener, though you don't speak much or show much emotion. You like to learn a lot, but it seems like you don't like to learn about yourself. Perhaps this is why you like rabbits so much." She looked up at him. "Perhaps it's because your spirits are the same."
There was a long pause as Yui watched Tsukito turn this idea over and over in his mind. He stared at the tea, as if this would help him come to his conclusion sooner.
A faint smile came onto Tsukito's lips. Yui's heart leapt. I made him smile again!
Tsukito looked up at Yui, still smiling. "That would explain it, wouldn't it?" he said. There was a very small, hopeful undertone in his voice. "...but in that case, you'll need a pet that fits your spirit...hmmm..." The happiness disappeared from his face as he put his hand on his chin in thought.
Yui watched him stand up from the table and walk over to a bookcase on the opposite wall. She noticed how each of his steps were evenly-sized and right on beat every time.
He pulled a book out after a moment, read the back of it, and then turned it back to the cover page.
The pages seemed almost to be caught by a strong wind as Tsukito began to quickly flip through the pages. She watched his lips move and she knew that he had to be muttering something to himself, as he most always did.
He stopped flipping through the pages after a moment. He placed his hand back on his chin, holding the open book with one hand. He walked back over while still reading from the book, each step still even-sized and still in rhythm.
She wanted to ask what he was doing, but she didn't for fear of breaking his concentration again.
Instead, she continued to watch him until he sat the book gently on the table and put his left forefinger under a word. He turned the book towards her and touched the word again. "This would be your animal."
"A...?"
"A border collie," said Tsukito. He smiled again, and this made Yui's heart leapt again, a smile breaking out on her face as well. He looked up at her face. "Loyal, smart, energetic," he quoted, not looking at the book. "Just like you. You're always there when any of us need you. You know even our subtleties. You're effortlessly intelligent, and you're always eager to have us let loose and be ourselves."
Yui giggled. "A border collie?" she asked.
"Yes, a border collie," Tsukito affirmed, smile brightening.
This made her blush. She was so happy that he was finally enjoying himself!
Yui giggled lightly and looked down again. Her eyes came in contact with the journals on the table and she gasped quietly. "Oh," she said. "Right!" blush
She smiled and picked up a journal, looking back up at Tsukito and happily saying, despite her furious blush, "Let's get to studying!"
