Seven years ago, Raijin academy. Hachimenroppi's POV.
"Isn't he that Orihara kid?"
"Yeah he is. I heard that he's a mute or something."
"I've never even heard him talk and I'm in the same class as him, so he must be."
"Shh, quiet. He might hear us."
"He always looks like he's glaring at people... Maybe he's a delinquent? He never wears the school uniform."
"Can mutes even be delinquents?"
"I heard about yakuza members being mute from having their vocal cords cut out!"
"Scary..."
For the past four months of school, Roppi had happily paid no heed to the ignorant comments and rumors about him spreading throughout the school.
Sometimes a particular group of students, that seemed to have it out for him, would make up the most absurd accusation about him. Those always made him giggle, the things high school kids made up were just too hysterical not to laugh at. But those same people who were coming up with the ridiculous rumors crossed the line of petty sideline entertainment and straight over to the extent of bullying.
Roppi didn't care about bullying. It was annoying. Sure it was entertaining when it was happening to other people who couldn't or wouldn't stick up for themselves; hell they probably deserved it for being such pathetic cowards.
But for it to happen to him was different.
He was never one to just sit there and take the punches, his pride would never allow it. As much as he would have enjoyed seeing how far they would go just to get a rise out of him, Roppi really didn't feel like dealing with it. If he let it happen he would have to start checking his school shoes for tacks and worrying about childish thievery, and he simply just didn't have the patience for all of that.
So, when Roppi entered the classroom to find what looked like a mixture of strawberry milkshake and razor blades coating the inside of his desk, he didn't hesitate in his movements. Keeping what others saw as a stolid expression on his face despite his great irritation, he sat up from his desk intent on either smacking some manners into the leader of the guilty party or at least verbally abusing him a little bit.
Honestly, depending on the culprit's reaction towards him, he would pick a proper punishment severe enough once he approached them, to determine just how infuriated he'll become when their mouths start moving.
Hachimenroppi had many reasons to want to, at the very least, punch Saibanashi Shizen. But only one of the many called out to him every single day.
The guy was a classic asshole, but Roppi could care less about that. The fact that Saibanashi deserved Roppi's fists in his face was strictly for the fact that he had the stupidest hairstyles Roppi had ever seen. With frosted red and yellow tips and gelled back brown hair that visually offended Roppi's retinas, some type of violence was the only way for Saibanashi to pay for that petulance.
Plus, he was the head of the fucks that drowned the content of his desk in sticky pink milk, and he didn't much appreciate that action either.
Thumb popping the knuckle of his index finger as he carefully stalked closer to the crowd of gossiping idiots, completely unnoticed as if the person they were chattering about wasn't in the same room as them or walking up behind them.
What a bunch of impolite bastards.
Hachimenroppi wasn't entirely sure whether he would just confront the heard's leader Shizen or run up swinging, he hadn't gotten that far into thought about it. However, before he could even pass the six desks that separated him from his target someone was already in front of him, heading in the same direction.
He stopped in his tracks, having recognized who was taking his spot in towering over the boy with horribly dyed hair.
The person that took his place was none other than their previous victim, Heiwajima Tsukishima. Tsukishima wasn't only picked on by Shizen, but by almost every male in school. It seemed that the girls all thought he was adorable, and in turn, the boys hate him for being so unintentionally popular with the ladies.
Roppi was curious to see how this would all transpire. Back then, he had taken to observing them, he had watched the stages of bullying Heiwajima had been through. The blond boy hadn't put up any type of fight to prevent the torment just like everyone else.
So why now of all time would Heiwajima confront Saibanashi?
Guess we'll have to wait and find out.
Swiftly walking the dismal distance back to his sullied table, smirking to himself, he leaned back onto his desk, careful not to touch the slimy milkshake leaking out of the side. The flat of his palms holding his body weight, Roppi listened intently, hoping to be incredibly entertained by this fool rash decision at bravery.
"What do you want?" Shizen asked with a scoff of disgust.
Heiwajima shuffled from one foot to the other, looking as if he was gathering up his courage.
"I-I..." The blond stuttered, looking to the ground and fidgeting with his scarf. Roppi was pretty sure Heiwajima was going to get his ass kicked later today if he says what he thinks he is going to say. "I saw what you d-did to Orihara-san's desk..."
Fucking idiot.
Roppi rolled his eyes. This wasn't entertaining him in the least. It was so cliche and overused, he could barf from the pure nostalgia of it all. It would only end with Heiwajima either telling the teacher and getting the group of kids responsible in trouble or him not being believed, either way, the blonde idiot was going to get beat up.
So damn boring...
Hmm, may as well fix that. We still have a good ten minutes till class starts, why not have some real fun.
Pushing off of his desk he walked back over to Saibanashi and Heiwajima, hidden from view behind Heiwajima's broad shoulders. For such a pitiful weakling, he sure was lengthy.
"You... should apologi–!" Tsukishima stopped mid-sentence at feeling a tug to his scarf.
Shocked eyes turned to face Hachimenroppi's cold devious ones. Roppi raised a momentary brow at the glasses-wearing boy's eye color, taken a bit aback by the unlikely resemblance. It was such a rare color it was hard not to be shaken by it.
Roppi tilted his head slowly to look down into Saibanashi's boring brown eyes.
His face was blank with the purposeful subtraction of emotions as he started to speak.
"Thanks for the gift, though I'm not a fan of sweets at all. Though, I'll be sure to put good use to those razor blades in the near future." The imperturbable teen said the last part threateningly, emphasizing his words with a worrisome counterfeit smile.
Shizen gaped not knowing what to say as Roppi merely walked away, striding towards leaving the classroom altogether.
He didn't expect that to stop any of the harassment, in fact, if it didn't get worse he'd be genuinely surprised. Though, when they finally did decide to teach him a lesson he'll be prepared, he could handle people like Saibanashi and his followers. He knew that once you take down the alpha the others are sure to scatter; animal kingdom rules were far more simple than high school movies made them look.
as he exited the classroom, it wasn't until he heard the door slowly close behind him that he noticed he was being followed. He chose to ignore them for the meantime, it was probably that tall blond kid wanting to convince him that he should tell a teacher.
Ugh… so predictable.
"Excuse me..." Heiwajima barely squeaked out. Roppi merely pretended not to hear him. If he was lucky the other red-eyed teen would get the hint and screw off.
It would seem he wasn't that lucky, for the muffler-clad boy silently followed him all the way to the janitor's closet. Taking a deep huff of annoyance, Roppi spun around on his heels, hand on his hip as he waited for Heiwajima to spit out what he would undoubtedly say.
The obviously bottle blonde seemed a bit surprised at his awareness of his fumbling presents, flinching just the slightest bit for Roppi to take notice of, before opening his mouth to speak once more.
"Wh-what are you doing..?" Tsukishima asked, looking overly concerned toward someone he doesn't know.
Hachimenroppi rolled his eyes once again, annoyed that he has to explain something that should be obvious to someone who had admitted to seeing the current state of his desk. Stating the obnoxiously obvious was an irritant of its own, so Roppi merely opened the door to the closet, opting to continue his original plan as he talked.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Roppi asked rhetorically, looking over his shoulder to glare at the tall idiot. "I'm obviously inside the janitor's closet to get a towel to clean my desk out, stupid."
It came out harsher than intended, but he really couldn't care less.
"Oh, uh, that makes sense...B-but won't you be late for class?"
Roppi turned around having found the necessary cleaning supplies.
"Why did you follow me? Can't you see I'm busy." Roppi asked rudely, ignoring the other's unintelligent question. He passed Tsukishima with a deliberate shoulder bump just to make his disinterest incontestable enough to make his point and exited out the door quickly, already overwhelmingly annoyed with this whole situation this morning.
He waited down the hall for the fidgeting idiot to catch up, having noticed Heiwajima got temporarily turned around. How pitiful, this boy wasn't far apart from that of an anxious lost puppy.
No wonder he got bullied, he's perfect bait for shit stains like Shizen.
Once the blonde sprinted next to him once more, Roppi stated:
"If you only followed me to encourage me to go tell a teacher, I'm not going to."
Tsukishima looked over to him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
Had Roppi's assumptions been wrong?
That didn't happen very often, he was normally right in his observations of people. He had a natural skill of telling people's intentions, which only aided him in his misanthropic ways. Roppi looked up at the bespectacled teen, lips settled into an everlasting frown.
"N-no I followed you... I followed you to make sure you were okay. I-I mean, you don't r-really seem the t-type to g-get affected by things like th-this, but I just wanted to make sure. Or maybe see if I-I could do anything to help... is all." Heiwajima stumbled out, face ablaze in bashful embarrassment.
This boy really was an idiot.
Roppi shook his head, not really sure how to respond to the other's confession.
"Here," Inconsiderately pushing the spray bottles and towels into Tsukishima's arms, who barely managed to catch them before they slid from his instinctive grasp. "You wanna help, then carry these."
Holding all the supplies in a tightly precarious bundle in his arms, seemingly content to serve as a whipping boy for the moment, Heiwajima smiled brightly at Roppi. However, he sharply turned away from Tsukishima, unaccustomed to people showing such expressions of happiness towards him.
Why the hell would anyone smile at him like that? He isn't kind or helpful, he was a foul-mouthed, cynical, misanthrope with self-hatred issues. Then again, he supposed Heiwajima Tsukishima didn't know any of that about him.
Guess I'll have to show him just how terrible I am.
Roppi thought of the ways in which he could break Heiwajima's mental facade of kindness toward him as he slid the door to the classroom open rather harshly. He still had a few minutes until lectures started to get his desk cleaned up.
Though, on second thought... Why should I be the one to clean my own desk?
Especially when the other had just so gracious and clearly offered to help.
May as well take him up on that.
"Heiwajima," Roppi called behind him.
He wondered slightly if Tsukishima really would do his task for him, but he figured he was the type to do things like that. From what he observed of Tsukishima thus far in the school year, he didn't seem to have any friends. Sure, girls thought he was cute, but that was it. His personality seemed to make them uninterested in him as a potential boyfriend, only to be left admired from afar as a perverted group of girl's pipe dreams.
He didn't doubt that the previous display of bullying didn't help attract many potential candidates for friendship. As he seemed to get picked on by other males for being so effeminate in his speech and personality. Tsukishima was probably desperate to have anyone pay him any attention, even someone crude like Roppi.
Pathetic.
"You said you wanted to help." Hachimenroppi's voice was void of any kindness or gratefulness, only demand and complacency laced his words. "So, clean my desk."
Any normal person would refuse such a degrading demand from someone they barely knew. He watched dark eyebrows raise as Tsukishima gathered what he had just asked of him. Hachimenroppi was expecting him to at the very least ask if he was going to help as well, but that wasn't Heiwajima's response at all.
Just as he had suspected the blonde boy really must be desperate for any kind of companionship.
"Okay." Tsukishima beamed, looking completely unperturbed by Roppi's unreasonable demand. "Orihara-san, you said you wanted to keep the razor blades, right?"
Roppi could only nod his head yes in reply, momentarily caught speechless by the ample demonstration of submission; as if being ar his beck and call was a lifelong aspiration.
Was this kid serious?
Had he really not noticed that he said that as a threat before?
He watched wide-eyed as Tsukishima bent down on his knees and started to clean out his desk with a wide smile stretching his cheeks. Simply looking pleased to be of service.
Roppi had never met someone so... gullible?
No, not gullible, maybe... kind?
Desperate?
Lonely?
He wasn't even sure what he was witnessing at the moment.
Was Heiwajima just doing this for his own personal gain or was he honestly that genuinely nice?
Tsukishima didn't gain anything from cleaning out his desk, he didn't get a reward for cleaning and collecting the razor blades into a special pile for him.
Though, in contempt of what he's witnessing, he refuses to accept that anyone could possibly live life so magnanimously.
Hachimenroppi leaned against the wall closest to his desk as he watched Heiwajima clean the gooey substance in record time. Tsukishima gave the insides and sides of the table one last look over before he stood up, that same smile upon his features.
"I'm all done now, Orihara-san." Tsukishima chirped, stretching out his hands towards Roppi.
"Do you want me to get you a bag for these? I think I might have one at my desk." He asked, completely unvexed by the circumstances about the collection of razor blades he held in his unprotected palms.
Roppi was surprised the spectacle-wearing boy hadn't accidentally cut himself; he would imagine the other to be quite clumsy given his cowering body language.
"Uh... sure, yeah."
And with that Heiwajima raced to his desk, for what Roppi guessed was to go get a container for the blades. Roppi only sat at his desk, a smile he wasn't aware of turned his lips upward in an outward display of his inner enjoyment that he refused to acknowledge.
"Fucking idiot..."
Present-day, Tsukishima & Hachimenroppi's apartment. Tsukishima's POV.
Awkward.
Everything about his current situation is very very awkward.
It had never been this bad before. Sure that time when he had found out about what Roppi did for a living was the worst situation he had ever been in, but Tsuki was pretty sure this takes the cake.
Roppi had finished his shower and he had finished hastily making dinner. So now, they were just sitting at the folding table not talking, not eating, not doing anything one was supposed to do at dinner.
Tsuki didn't know what to do. He couldn't ask any questions and he really didn't want to in the first place. The less he knew about what Roppi was doing back in that alley the better. He really didn't need to know the details of the other's work. He knew the basics and that was quite enough.
Tsukishima was aware that Roppi came home at late hours or not at all. He knew to help Roppi get into the bathtub when he was too sore to even move. He understood what he was supposed to do in any of those circumstances, but not in this. He wasn't accustomed to such a scenario and didn't know how to react whatsoever.
"You're getting on my nerves." Roppi stated as he angrily jabbed at his plate with his chopsticks.
He wasn't even looking in Tsuki's direction, how did he know that he was having a mental freak out without even looking at him?
Tsuki moved to grab his glass of water to soothe his painfully dry throat, however his hand only met air.
Ah, I didn't grab anything to drink!
He shot up from his seat prepared to bolt back into the kitchen where he could freely panic about how to fix the situation. But he never made it to the sliding doors that separated the living room to the kitchen. For a booming voice that sent chills up his spine every time he heard it called for him before he could make his escape.
"Tsuki."
He didn't dare turn to look Hachimenroppi in his eyes.
"Sit."
Tsukishima begrudgingly complied, slumping back down on the worn-out throw pillows with a thud. He snuggled his face into his scarf, not wanting to look into those angry blood-pools in Roppi's eyes that were glaring frustration into his skull. Roppi moved his elbow onto the table, resting his head in his hand. Tsuki still avoided eye contact as the other put down his utensils to drum his newly unoccupied hand on the table surface.
"Stop it, you're pissing me off."
Roppi's fingers stopped their tapping, instead clenching into fists until his knuckles turned white with annoyance.
"Goddammit Tsuki, look at me!"
Taking a deep breath he lifted his head up, biting his lip to try and force away the blush that was creeping into his cheeks. However, he couldn't hold the flush of his face when their eyes connected in a shiver-inducing gaze.
Roppi's shoulders seemed to relax at their eyes meeting though. His previously rising levels of anger degrading considerably at the attention.
"That's better." He said with a sigh and closed his eyes, disconnecting their gaze contact for a moment of relieved breath.
"Why are you acting like this? My occupation has never affected you this way before, so why are you getting so fuckin' flustered?" Roppi asked distantly, that curse of anger rushing along his tongue seeming to have calmed significantly. "It's seriously grossing me out."
Tsuki really didn't want to answer that. However, he knew that if he didn't respond Hachimenroppi would only get more annoyed and angry, and he didn't want that either. But he also knew that if he did answer Roppi's inquiry then he would laugh or still be angry.
Tsuki chose a mediator of both.
Besides, white lies never hurt anyone.
Right?
Hanging his head in defeat Tsuki began to speak, his tone quiet and bashful.
"N-no, I don't mind... Really." Tsuki lied.
He knew it would be obvious to Roppi, but he hoped that Roppi would take the hint that he didn't want to talk about this. He would rather just pretend that today never happened, so that they could move on with their lives in their normal everyday routines.
"As if!"
But it seemed Hachimenroppi had different plans for them. Tsuki knew that Roppi was never one to go around the obvious, but he was wishing just this once Roppi could ignore his white lie. Unfortunately, he was aware that Hachimenroppi has always been a bluntly honest person, no matter if he was being rude or not. Being forward was one of the things Tsuki liked most about his best friend, but that still didn't mean he wanted to talk about that with him.
"I-I re-really didn't see anything! I am sorry that I disturbed your work..." Tsukishima mumbled, realizing too late that he stumbled in his lie.
His fingers latch onto his scarf defensively, afraid of what's to come. His eyes darted to anything and everything besides the furious male glaring death at him. He didn't enjoy lying to his roommate, but it was a sin he was willing to live with if they could just avoid talking about this altogether.
"You didn't see anything?" Roppi asked rhetorically, scoffing in obvious disbelief.
The blonde knew he wasn't going to get out of this easily. Out of all the things Roppi was, stubborn would most definitely be at the top of the list. He wouldn't let this go until he got the answer he wanted, and Tsuki knew this, But he refused to admit he had seen anything for the sake of their peaceful life together.
"Bullshit." Roppi openly growled, teeth clenched viciously. "I call big fat fucking bullshit!"
Roppi has always had a natural talent of catching people's lies —this one being far more obvious than what the raven was probably used to. His keen observation skills coinciding with his cunning memory and his internal lie detector would be hard things for an average roommate to deal with. But Tsuki wasn't one to lie or cheat so he found no problem living with Roppi.
Though, in this case he would rather Roppi not have his brilliant skill set.
"Don't fucking lie to me, Tsuki."
Flinching hard at the danger in the other's voice, he looked up into those enraged eyes once more. Tsukishima knew Roppi could be frightening, he had seen it plenty of times in the past, but never directed at him. Though Tsuki was greatly aware that Roppi was holding a lot of his anger back, for his sake. Even still, the amount that was surfacing was enough to make him crack like the feeble egg he was in the clutches of a hungry carnivore.
"I-I-I'm sorry!" The bespectacled man cried, in the wake of the other distrust of him being irreversible he completely gave up in his refusal to answer honestly.
I don't want Roppi to be angry at me!
He'd rather just admit the truth and put this behind them so that they could just live in peace. He just wanted Roppi to be happy! Tsuki could never handle the pressure of others being upset because of him, he's always the first to concede.
Especially with Roppi.
"I was just trying to listen to your rules about not asking questions! A-and I really don't wanna know— it-it's not because I think what you do is wrong or a-anything!"
He was talking himself into a dark pit of no return, words fumbling and rambling out of him faster than he's able to comprehend what it is he's saying to the one man in the world who has ever bothered to listen to his stuttering mess of communicating.
"I just am very very very uncomfortable talking about THAT! Especially with you, 'cause yo-you'll tease me. But I can't! I just can't talk about that! Nope, no way. I-I-I haven't— have never-! I'm so sorr-"
Tsuki blew up in a full-scale rant, only stopping when a chilling finger pressed against his lips, stopping him mid apology.
"Shut up, you idiot."
Tsuki smiled under the painted fingernail pressed against his mouth. Roppi's words hadn't been that of anger, they had been soft and said with a chuckle of amusement. Just the sight of it's soft curvature managing to shatter the remains of awkwardness, combined with the slow and smooth pitch of his sentence, it all instantly eased his trepidation.
Tsuki loved when Roppi smiled, it was a rare occasion, but worth every second.
His shoulders relaxed from their tense hold and that made him release a sigh he hadn't been aware he was holding. Tsuki's smile grew as Roppi's finger retracted, a slight kindling of fluttering in his cheeks as he did so.
"See?" Roppi asked, finally taking a bite of the beef stew Tsuki had made.
"Don't you feel better after releasing all your pent up emotions?" He smirked after stating that, a knowing expression brightening his features.
The scarfed male nodded his head.
He really did feel better. And he had tried so hard to lie and pretend, but that had only made the awkwardness of the situation worse. Tsuki beamed brightly looking at Roppi with a toothy grin.
"Roppi-san's a genius!"
"What? How am I a genius? I only thought about how you were probably letting your thoughts eat you from the inside out and came up with a solution. Nothing genius about that," Roppi denied with a wave of his chopsticks. "you're just predictable sometimes. You tend to freak out and keep it to yourself unless pressured. So I pressured you."
"That sounds pretty super smart to me. I would have never been able to figure out what to do in this situation." Tsukishima replied between chews, finally finding his appetite.
Roppi giggled a soft sigh of laughter as he reached out a hand for his tea.
"You were also making me angry, so maybe I became—as you put it—super smart from my super enraged state." Roppi teased, winking an eye as he gulped down his drink.
"I'm sorry..."
"It's no big deal. Just try not to think too much about it. You know if you think too hard your brain will explode!" Roppi exclaimed with vivid hand gestures.
"What? Really!? You better be careful than Roppi-san... You're super smart so you think all the time, and I don't want your brain to explode."
"Oh it doesn't affect me. Only stupid blondies heads will explode."
"Wha... You're lying aren't you!" Tsukishima accused pointedly.
"Whoops, you caught me."
"You're so mean to me!"
"You know you like it~."
Dinner went by normally after that, filled with chit chat and familiarity. Any and all thoughts of earlier completely washed away from conversation and thoughts. Tsuki still couldn't forget what he saw in that alley, but he chose not to bring it up again, nor ever wanting to.
cleaning up the dishes, putting away the folding table, and beginning his nightly routine, he easily fell into the usual rhythm of the end of their day. He turned on the heat, for Roppi who always gets cold at night. Unrolled his futon near the closet and window in the living room, brushed his teeth, locked the door, and changed into his pajamas like clockwork.
Completely unthinking in his motions before realizing his mistake. He'd forgotten to take Roppi's bedding inside. Opening the only window in their apartment and grabbing the hanging blankets off the clothesline. He couldn't afford to always use the dryer so he had to make do with air-drying everything. He hoped Roppi's blankets were dry enough for him, he didn't want his roommate catching a cold because of his stupidity and ill judgment of time.
"Maybe I should lend him my blanket tonight..." Tsuki mumbled to himself.
He jumped when he heard the bathroom door slide open with a loud squeak. He could never get used to that happening, even though he couldn't afford to pay for it to get fixed, it still startled him when it slammed.
"Why don't we get this fixed? You flinch every time it's opened." Roppi suggested. "And as hilarious as that is to watch, the door is downright annoying."
"You know we can't affo—"
Tsuki turned away from the window to Roppi, cutting his own reminder off short, to stare confusion about the other attire. Roppi wore his everyday fur jacket with a silk black dress shirt underneath and dark denim jeans. Dressed to the nines for questionable nightlife rendezvous.
Tsuki sat down on his futon, crossed legged. He was used to this occurrence. Roppi seemed to be always working, more so the past few weeks. Tsuki had noticed a rise in Roppi's absence and he was starting to get worried that Roppi might be in some kind of financial trouble. Even though the older male always managed to pay rent on time every month, Tsuki's mind still thought of the worse.
"Will you be home in the morning?" He asked to make sure he didn't waste food for breakfast if his roommate wasn't going to be here.
"No. I'll be gone till late tomorrow night, so no need to make me a plate for dinner either."
Roppi walked over to the entrance without the hesitation of a potential goodbye given, though, aggressively shoving on his shoes as if leaving was the last thing he wanted to do.
Tsuki hated when Roppi accepted overnight stays, he always ended up worrying about him all day long until he finally saw the other again. And Roppi never helped ease his concern any, many times he would come home broken and bruised to the point he can't move. He never enjoyed seeing his friend like that no matter how many times Roppi claims it wasn't related to his work, Tsuki remained unconvinced.
"Okay... I'll see you when you get home."
As much as he attempted to hide the sullen edge to his words, he knew it was visible to the other's all-knowing eyes.
"Oh, but bring an umbrella, it's supposed to rain tomorrow!" Tsuki called after, sounding like a concerned mother nagging over an impromptu slumber party.
"Yeah, yeah, got it." He pointedly watched as pale hands begrudgingly snatched the handle of one of the convenience store umbrellas from its holder.
"See ya' later Tsuki." Roppi replied before closing the door.
"Be safe, Roppi-san." Tsuki sighed, the sound of the door lock being turned in place echoing throughout the small flat. He listened to Roppi's soft footfalls down the stairs through the thin walls as he laid down. Prepared to sleep and worry in the morning, just like every other night Roppi wasn't sleeping next to him.
A/N: Not exactly sure where to start on this one... present-day or past? Something in Roppi's POV. So past it is. Tsuki you gullible little chubby-faced baby! I think I might have forgotten how precious Tsukishima truly is. He is a beautiful work of art, sculpted and carved into the perfect being for Roppi. He was made to fit into the nooks and crannies that Roppi lacked, so that they, together, could become one ethereal red... holy crap is that why I named it that!? I honestly just picked a random word that I saved in my bookmarks and added red to it. I feel so smart now, oh my gerd!
(/(°∞°)\) _(┐「ε:)_ _(:3 」∠)_ (Ɔ ˘⌣˘) (˘⌣˘ C)