Aptshipping (Honda Hiroto/Ishizu Ishtar)

. . .

"I wanted to thank you."

Honda looked up from the counter he had been wiping down, at the woman sitting in the booth across from the counter. The café was just about closed, but it was all right if she wanted to stick around; he knew her after all and she wasn't going to make trouble. He just had to close up and then walk her out.

"For what?" he said, tossing the cloth over his shoulder and dusting his hands off.

Ishizu stared down into the bottom of her empty coffee mug, her tongue out slightly as though she were trying to express her answer.

"Marik's been coming around here a lot to talk with you," she said. "I guess I just wanted to say…thank you. For being a friend to him."

Honda shrugged.

"You don't have to thank me for that, but you're welcome, I guess."

"I feel like I do, though."

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, the setting sun sending shards of obsidian light through the strands. She looked like she was glowing in the light of the window, as though she weren't quite of the world. Then again, nothing really felt like it was 'of the world' in an empty café near closing time. It was almost a liminal space.

"He's had…a lot of trouble adjusting," she said, her voice almost a mumble, not at all like the clear, confident voice she normally had. "So I'm—really glad he has someone like you to talk to and hang out with. You treat him normally, despite what he's done to you."

"That's in the past," Honda said. "It's all over now."

"It's that attitude that makes me glad that he knows you, and the others."

She half smiled, and it seemed to glow in the light. He leaned over the counter, tilting his head.

"What about you?" he said, and she startled, looking up at him with her lips parting. "How are you adjusting?"

Her lips opened, but no sound came out. She looked back down at her empty mug. Then she smiled wryly.

"I'm not sure," she said. "I guess that's why I came to visit you, too."

. . .

A/N: again I really have no idea where I was going with this, lol. Next is Apprenticeshipping (Mana x Mahad).