A/N: One more week of putting it off. It's nothing remarkable, but I've been so busy I haven't bothered to work on it.
Disclaimer: No connection to Usagi-sensei whatsoever.
Risa pushed aside the clutter of jars, exclaiming, "Oh! Look at this!"
"What?" Hiwatari-kun's voice, issuing from behind his book yet again, caused her to glance over her shoulder at him in annoyance. While she was the one who had dragged him off to search for something to do while they were waiting for Riku to finish getting ready for an outing, he was being unnaturally disobliging.
"You're supposed to be helping me find stuff," she reprimanded, climbing down from the stool. He responded with something resembling a grunt and she leaned across the table he sat beside, swinging the yellow container between his nose and the book.
"What is this?" he asked, looking up at her coolly.
"What is it? It's playdough, silly," she replied, popping off the lid and pulling out the red stuff from the container. "You make things with it!"
She shoved half of the playdough into his hand and after he observed it for a moment, he asked, "So it is clay?"
"Well, kinda, but it's softer," she said, settling herself in at the table, rolling the remaining bit in her hands. "It's a lot of fun. Riku and I used to play with it a lot when we were younger. I haven't seen it in a while... I wonder if there is any more around here?"
Falling silent, Risa bent her full concentration on the red lump in her hands. She squeezed it into a lumpy cube, then carefully patted it smooth until it turned into an admirable little box. Proudly she surveyed her work and gave it one last affectionate pat before glancing up at her friend. The comment on how superior playdough was to clay died on her tongue as her eyes met with his fabrication.
Under his deftly moving fingers sat a delicately shaped, exceedingly tiny swallow. Swirling patterns emerged on its wings and head as his fingernails brushed over it. Her stare attracted his attention and when he lifted his eyebrow in question she managed to stammer, "What... is that?"
"Mm? It's a swallow. I would have done something more vertical, but the softness of the material prohibited anything excessively tall. I chose a subject more grounded and—"
"Ugh!" she exclaimed, slamming her hand down on her perfect cube in disgust. "Hiwatari-kun, I'm telling you! You need to learn how to just play!"
He blinked in confusion as she picked up her playdough pancake and muttered crossly, "Stupid prodigy..."