(Well, ten chapters. Didn't think I'd make it this far, to be honest. I thought a lynch mob would have chased me off the website by now. Regardless, I'd like to thank all of you guys for sticking with me this far. 10% done! Once again, and to make up for my forgetfulness on the last chapter, thanks for the reviews and favourites.)

Chapter 10: Soulful
Rating: T

Nothing.

It was an odd thing to say, and, when she gave that answer, it elicited strange responses, but it was simply the truth. She felt nothing. Call it apathy, call it a heart made of stone or of ice, or just call it a lackadaisical demeanour, it meant nothing to her. Anything that came out of her mouth was a complete, monotone or a deadpan. No hint of anything: joy, sadness, fear, anger, envy, or sarcasm. It was... empty, like she was a soulless husk of a human being.

Could she even be called human?

She considered herself lucky, if anything. Lucky that she could mask her face of indifference with a facade of subdued felicity. No one noticed how the corners of her mouth twitched in exhaustion, tired of keeping it on all the time. No one noticed the lack of warmth in her eyes. No one noticed the dead feeling that engulfed her constantly.

She supposed it was why people got so confused when she told people that she simply felt nothing. After all, she did everything that everyone did, and supposedly experienced joy, like everyone else, so why answer with nothing? They didn't realize her apathy, masked under everything else that she piled on. A tonne of fluff, seemingly acting like her personality, overlaying the dull interior, underneath. It didn't take people who met her long to realize that her personality was a complete hoax. People came and went like mayflies, eager to meet her, then utterly disappointed when they actually did. On the bright side, it left her with peace and quiet, which she grew rather fond of, after getting used to it.

Today was no different. Sit in the corner of the room, and observe the world go by her. Exchange pleasantries with anyone nice enough to drop by, to her remote corner of the classroom, and only pursue conversations if absolutely necessary. It was a boring, predictable routine, but she wasn't bothered. She didn't particularly care, after all. A presence approached her from her side. A boy strode up, with a wide grin.

"Well, hey there Sayaka-chan," He said waggishly, his grin morphing into a silly expression. She shot him a dull stare.

"Hello, Makoto-san," She returned monotonously. The boy in front of her, Makoto Naegi, was an oddly persistent boy. He was the only one to actually return to her company, after learning of her true personality, or lack thereof. Suffice it to say that it perplexed her, being such a deviation from the usual procedure. However, his company wasn't unwelcomed, though Sayaka didn't really argue for or against someone's company.

Makoto scoffed. "No '-kun'? I'm hurt," He mourned mockingly. Sayaka blinked.

"I apologise for that, Makoto-kun. I will address you with your preferred suffix," She said curtly. Makoto sniffed.

"You're no fun, Sayaka-chan. Loosen up a little bit," He whined. She coughed.

"You imply that I'm serious. I simply lack... well, I lack any emotional response whatsoever. Apathy, so to speak," She explained, the words coming to her automatically. Makoto laughed. The sentence was a rebuttal that she often used to counter his claims, usually pertaining to her emotional state. It was used so often, that he could practically recite it himself, despite the fact that it was her who used it, and not vice versa.

"Apathy is right," He responded, following their seemingly scripted conversation, "I've seen a rock with more personality than you," He japed, poking her in stomach. Sayaka rolled her eyes.

"Be sure to introduce me to this rock, when you get the chance," She responded promptly. Makoto snickered, before slowly tapering off into silence. Once the brunette had quieted down, she returned to her previous business, pertaining to her schoolwork. A tangible silence suddenly filled the air, flooding the space between the two. After a few seconds of silence, Sayaka returned to her previous chore, which was writing out the notes that she had missed previously.

After a while, Makoto spoke up, much less ludic than before.

"Man, Sayaka, why did you have to be so pretty?" He said softly. Sayaka paused her work, then silently turned to Makoto, who had a downtrodden look on his face.

"What do you mean?" She questioned, tilting her head. Makoto flinched- evidently, his remark wasn't supposed to have been heard- before he sighed in resignation, continuing his spiel.

"I think you're pretty, Sayaka-chan. I have for a long time now," He said dauntingly, his olivine eyes taking on a brave edge to them. Sayaka was startled. In the two years that she had known Makoto, she hadn't realized his innate attachment to her, underlying his teasing personality. She cursed herself for not noticing them sooner; she simply just thought that she wasn't going to garner such attention, much less the sole person who stuck around her. Makoto sighed, when he noticed her apparent indifference. "I figured you'd do something like this. Just wave my confession off and go about your normal day. Heck, if I talk to you tomorrow, you'd probably just say the same thing again. So, just forget I said anything," He finished glumly, turning away.

For some reason, this made Sayaka uncomfortable. She wasn't sure why, but it just... made her antsy, giving a moving feeling to her stomach. Her hand trembled, sending her pencil strokes awry. She opened her mouth, then quickly shut it, once she realized that, for once in her life, she had nothing to say.

Why was this bugging her? She hadn't felt a feeling such as this... at all. It was completely unfamiliar to her, and it shook her to her very core. She felt a thin film of sweat build itself on her forehead, and she gulped inaudibly, dropping the pencil on her binder. She gently smacked her cheeks, in order to grab a hold on her emotions, running rampant in her cranium.

Emotions?

Sayaka blinked, the unfamiliar word suddenly filling her mind, pushing all other thoughts into her subconscious. Why did she suddenly describe herself, using that word? As far as she knew, she hadn't experienced anything like that before. So why did it start now? Why was she suddenly experiencing these things?

It was like chasing a drug high. Once you'd experienced it, you had to know more of it, if only to try and understand what it was.

Sighing, she massaged her temples, squeezing her eyes shut, before opening them once more. Makoto was currently gathering up his belongings, and preparing to exit the scene gracefully. Sayaka opened her mouth, but, to her surprise, nothing tumbled out. She quickly shut it once more, and smacked her head once more, this time with a bit more force to it.

Get a hold of yourself, Sayaka.

Growling, she thrust her chair backwards, standing up, and gaining the surprised attention of Makoto. She stared ahead dully, before it clicked with her to speak words. She scrambled around her brain to find a coherent combination, before groaning aloud.

Why was this so hard for her to do? She never had difficulty speaking her mind before.

Man, emotions were an annoying thing to deal with. Were the odd irregularities she was experiencing even emotions?

Tentatively, Sayaka spoke up. "Uh, Makoto-kun?" Makoto turned to stare in confusion, obviously not expecting her to actually speak up. She gulped, scratching at her chin, flitting her eyes around as she spoke. "There seems to be a problem," she admitted, placing her hand on her chest.

"Wha?"

"I'm experiencing irregular heartbeats," She interrupted, not in the mood for banter, "Odd body heat. Hesitance. Lapses in judgment," She explained. Makoto's confused look turned into one of small hope, as she continued. "I believe that these are emotions, am I correct?" It was a rhetorical question, as Sayaka had probably figured out the answer already, but he nodded. "I've never experienced them before, yet you've successfully changed that. Why? I'm curious to find out why," She finished, glancing down. Makoto's face turned into a grin, as he sidled up to the blue-haired girl.

"Is that a 'yes, I'll go out with you'?" He asked cheerfully, waggling his eyebrows. Sayaka flicked his forehead in annoyance, rolling her eyes.

"I suppose that it could be considered as such," She murmured, her cheeks heating up oddly. Makoto snickered, before wrapping his hand around Sayaka. She didn't push it away, more preoccupied with the thrumming in her ears.

"...I'm kinda amazed. I didn't think this would ever happen," He admitted. Sayaka sighed.

"Neither did I."

Huh. I decided to publish this a bit earlier than usual, because why not. I was sitting on here, and I wanted to kick my habit of updating late. Here ya go, try not to cringe too much at it.
Alright, there was no way out of writing this in Sayaka's perspective, with how emotional and excitable Makoto can get. I wanted for something Makoto did to genuinely move Sayaka, to the point of her reconsidering her emotional patterns. Only, to do that, I had to make her a bit off-kilter to begin with. Thus... that's what I did. Completely and purposefully fucked over her mental state, to the point of apathy. Think similar to the character 'Riley', from Inside Out, only, apathy is considered normal for her, instead of being caused by personifications of their emotions destroying their mental state in a feature film. This is also the first chapter where I don't state the prompt word in the chapter at all, instead just hinting at it throughout the entirety of the piece. I'll probably teeter between this, and stating it somewhere, in order to keep some variety to it.
You know, I'm starting to notice a pattern here. I tend to feel less confident about chapters where I'm forced to write characters out of their normal mind set, in order to encompass the prompt word. I need to break this habit, and be more creative with my thought processes, but for now, I'm stuck like this. Oh well.
Chapter is pretty straightforward. Makoto's sudden, soulful confession sparks a previously unknown feeling, and it intrigues Sayaka to the point of where she wants to understand it more. A bit cheesy, I know, but it's still well intentioned. Both characters are a tad OOC, but, as I said earlier, I kinda had no choice in the matter. Next chapter will be, surprisingly, me listening to people.
Make of that what you will.
soulful
: full of or expressing feeling or emotion