H O U S E S
A N D
F R A M E S
If you asked Kaya what she'd save from her house if it ever sets on fire, it will be safe to assume that it'll take a rather long while for her to ponder about it.
Honestly.. there wasn't anything special to take inside that house of hers. Not even the picture frames containing her family — nothing. Absolutely nothing but objects that has her memories embedded to their souls. And to be frank, she wasn't very fond of those memories at all. Most people who have lost their loved ones would treasure these like they were eminently precious — like diamonds — but for her, that just wasn't the case. She figured accepting these memories would deal her better than getting rid of them. But what can she do? She's not that capable to accept them.
She's not that strong to live with what ruined her very being.
So instead of facing head-on whatever's chasing her, she chose the easiest way out: to run away even when she knew she has nowhere left to go.
Albeit covered with all these thoughts, she continued working with a heavy sigh.
"You're unusually deep in thought." Katou mused, leaning back on the steel chair though it was of no use, as the furniture didn't even budge.
"Don't go breaking Yoake's stuff. That won't move anyway, it's stuck to the ground. And," She grinned cheekily, "Was just thinkin' 'bout a burning house and some picture frames."
"Burning house? Sounds gory." Katou huffed and commented, popping another soda can open.
"You're so addicted to soda to the point that it doesn't feel real," She turned to him with an accusing look, "It isn't gory. It's just a burning house; there isn't even blood mentioned anywhere."
"Something burning sounds gory to me. It makes me think about burning skin. And.. it's peeling off. Ugh, why did I think about that — damn, disgusting."
She cackled, "You should check what gory means again, Katou-san."
"No thanks, and.."
Before continuing, he gulped down the remaining contents of the recently opened can.
There was a long pause after.
"You have casual clothes on, instead of the usual Yoake uniform. Got somewhere to go this early in the morning?"
"I know it's like four am and I'm still working, but yeah I've got somewhere to be at six." She informed him, pulling out a cigarette from her pocket.
"Shit," She muttered under her breath, "Katou-san you got a light there somewhere? Ah nevermind, you don't smoke. I forgot."
The man looked at her skeptically, "You didn't bring a lighter? Or a match, even?"
"Yep. I was so in a hurry that I didn't bother checking what I brought here," She heaved a sigh, "Whatever. I'll just remind myself to bring it before I go. Six am is two hours away, anyways."
Katou's eyes lit up, "Oh right. Where are you going?"
"Some coffee shop I forgot the name of. I remember where, though. So it's good."
"With that blond kid, probably?"
Kaya slowly nodded, warily, "How'd 'ya know?"
Katou just shrugged it off.
"You spend time with him a lot. Don't think I didn't notice. You see something in this boy, hm? Care to enlighten me what?"
What was she supposed to tell him? What she sees in Katsuki? Come to think of it, Kaya has never puzzled over his demeanor much, except when he does something remotely nice.
Katsuki was a hot-headed and determined person to her point of view. He didn't come off as someone particularly sociable, not even when there was nothing to be mad about. On the outside of course he looked downright villainous, he had unique looks that if he worked on his attitude for quite some time, maybe he'd be able to pull in a girl or two. Scratch that, maybe a hoard of them. Inside, Kaya doesn't have much to say. He tends to keep himself distant, gets angry over the littlest of things, snarky if given the chance. Although by day, she has been noticing that he's.. not that bad. He just finds it hard to express himself. Maybe it's because of his superiority complex, or maybe because of his lack of normal interactions with people. She wanted to settle for the latter.
She had all these thoughts and opinions of him swirling around her head — but the only thing she was able to say was:
"He's not bad, I guess?" There was an awkward silence, "Hey don't look at me like that! He's okay, you know. Just gotta know the guy."
"You took an awfully long time to think about your answer and that's what you come up with? I'm disappointed," Katou sighed.
"'He's not bad, I guess?' Spare me your bullshit. 'He's okay.' Oh, that's nice."
Kaya cringed at how shoddily he mimicked her voice.
"I am so insulted by your acting. I do not sound like that."
"Yes you do, don't even try to deny it. Your description of this blond was horrible too."
"Don't judge me so quick, Katou-san; not everything can be put into words."
- - -
The café's name was The Quill.
Sounds odd, it's not even japanese. And why name it 'Quill'? It's a coffehouse, not a bookstore. Kaya just shrugged it off. Her convenience store was named Yoake after all; meaning dawn.
She simply ordered a regular cup of coffee. Nothing special. She wasn't picky about her food and beverages. She ordered one for Katsuki as well. This time it was black coffee, he preferred it based on what he ordered before. It was just then when she saw a familiar blond dressed in a thick brown jacket, elementary aphotic jeans, and his usual scowl. Huh. Wasn't surprising.
"You're pretty early, woman." He commented, sitting down across her.
"Nah, just got here a few moments ago. And oh, your coffee, by the way," Her eyes perked up, "Also my name isn't woman. Kaya is much better and shorter."
"I know."
She rolled her eyes at that.
"So you're training for this Festival thing?" She asked, being quite curious herself. When she was still in school they never had Festivals concerning quirks, so it was natural for her to be intrigued over such matter.
"Yeah. Got some arrogant bastards to topple over."
"Right. And you'll be training where? Don't tell me you're gonna blow up random stuffs here and there. If I remember correctly, you told me your quirk was Explosion. I'm too young for jail. The heck, dude."
"You're fucking overthiking it. I ain't some idiotic asshole to wreak havoc like a villain."
She cackled, "Funny because you look like one."
"I regret asking you to come."
"Too late, Katsuki-chan~"
- - -
"Shit that's fucking awesome!" Kaya gaped at the barrels and other scraped materials passing by her vision being blasted away by Katsuki's explosions. Some went plummeting back to the ground, others straddling one another and few even reached the rooftops.
He told her he was practicing on blowing things up farther away from him, so that's why he was currently a little more than six to seven meters away from her and his props. Just some steel cans and barrels littering around the remote area. Good choice of training grounds, honestly. It was inhabited and had lots of debris.
This little training took Kaya's whole morning and a part of her afternoon. It was around three pm right now, probably. Katsuki's getting tired as well.
He suddenly sprinted at inhumane speed towards her using his explosions, and Kaya had to cower back a bit. Just to be safe.
The day was tiring. And after a tiring day, she always goes for a smoke. Putting a cigarette between her lips, she suddenly realized that she was never able to get a lighter.
Katsuki, who has been sitting with her on the ground, looked at her dejected figure. He cocked an eyebrow, finally realizing why. Of course; that explains the unlit cigarette.
Much to Kaya's surprise, Katsuki suddenly touched the tip of her cigarette. With that action of his, her cigar lit up, and so did her expression.
"Holy fuck that was so cool, Katsuki-chan!" Her gaze was focused on the cigar lit by the blond beside her, eyes visibly twinkling like a child's.
It was amusing — how such a simple thing entertained her that much. And at this sight, Katsuki couldn't help but laugh.
Not a mocking laugh, not sarcastic.
It was gruff and boisterous; but it was genuine.
This laugh didn't go unnoticed by Kaya. Sure, it wasn't the prettiest laugh she have heard, but it was honest. The more she stared at Katsuki's laughing face, the more she wanted to take a picture of it; to put it in a frame — something accurate for such a rare phenomenon.
And if it was put in a picture frame, displayed, then maybe she'd have to save something now in her burning house.
