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RD: You're Short

"You're short," said a young redhead, resting his chin on the makeshift table as he stared oddly at the only other kid in the playground. "What're you doing?"

A head full of black curls bobbed while thinking of his answer. Finally, he decided on snobbishly turning his head to the side. "My mom told me never to talk to strangers!"

"Well, my mom told me to make new friends," the redhead argued.

"Even with strangers?"

"Yeah."

"But . . ." The smaller boy pouted. He really had nothing to say to that.

The redhead then found it his duty to start talking again. "I'm Marui Bunta and my mom calls me a genius. What's your name?"

"Kirihara Akaya. I'm . . ." He looked down at his fingers. "I'm five."

"Cool. So are we friends now?"

"I think so . . . How do we know if we're friends?" Akaya asked, curious.

"How . . .?" Marui frowned and bowed his head in thought.

". . ."

". . ."

Akaya looked doubtfully at the older boy.

A few seconds later, Marui's head shot up, face alight with a bright grin. "I know!" he announced to his companion. "My mom says that she and her best friend know everything about each other!"

"Oh."

"Yup!"

". . . what's the difference between a friend and a best friend?"

"Uh . . . best? Maybe best friends are, um . . . the greatest kinds of friends! That's why they're called best." Marui nodded proudly.

Akaya blinked, but accepted the answer readily. "So are we friends or best friends?"

The redhead paused. His violet eyes gleamed as he watched the younger boy closely, and his grin widened. "If you want, we can be best friends," he suggested. "I only know this other kid who wouldn't let me touch his cap and I don't like him very much."

Akaya tilted his head. "We could be . . ." he said. "And I don't think you're a stranger anymore, anyway." He glanced at his crayons which were scattered all over the table and the pieces of paper his mom left for him and pushed some of them to the redhead. "You want to colour, too?"

"May I?" Marui's mom told him to always be polite and ask for permission – not that he still needed to since Akaya had already offered.

"Sure."

"Thanks!"

The two of them happily and quietly set about drawing each other and the playground and everything that they felt was good in the universe.

Until Akaya suddenly remembered something and decided to ask, "Is the kid with the cap really nice?"

Marui's lips twisted into a half-smile and he reached over to pat Akaya on the head. "Trust me on this one. You don't wanna know."