M I S C U E S

A N D

D O L T S

To no one's surprise, Kaya fell sick again.

The quick coffee with Katsuki went well, there wasn't much rain — but she was still worn out. The constant heat of the sun didn't miss to lay upon them both. And that was just when they thought the days were getting colder. Apparently not.

So still, Kaya laid sick on her bed. The only difference that there were no visitors.

With no one to take care of her, she had to cope with everything by herself alone. Not that it was a new occurrence, anyway. If you'd ask her regarding the current situation, she'd shrug it off with a rehearsed 'Don't need the company' and, it was actually the truth. If she fell ill badly, she would take herself to the hospital — as simple as that. Bothering other people wasn't particularly necessary. She was a big fan of the idea of personal space and tranquility, so she did others the favor of being left with their own peace of mind.

Having enough of the suffocating yellow lights the room produced, she separated from the rather flocculent comforter to head out. Feeling a little dizzy by the sudden action, she held onto the small table beside her bed before collecting herself. Thankfully, she was just slating for Yoake. So there wouldn't be an actual problem with her clothing; an oversized flushed turtleneck paired with aphotic puffy trousers.

"Oh," Kaya blurted, realizing that something was definitely lacking, "Slippers!"

But her shoe rack was rather far away from her now. Adding the fact that the ground was freezing cold, she groaned. Another day of being sick again, perhaps. Exposed to such temperature barefoot while under the process of recovering from a small flu wasn't really ideal.

Barefoot it is, then.

When she reached Yoake, it was bustling of customers. The tables inside were full, Amira and Pogako were handling the people while the other two were inside the employee room, stocking.

"Kaya-chan! You shouldn't be out of bed," Amira squeaked out, gripping the cash in her hands, "And you're.. uhm, you don't have slippers? Why?"

"No need, slippers are for the weak! Enjoy the cold weather!" Kaya winked at her, and pointed at the queue lining up both counters, "You should really attend to them, Ami. I'm sure they'll be delighted. I'm heading off to my personal space bubble, gonna go grab the keys."

Amira knew how hard Kaya's head was, therefore she had nothing to do but sigh in regret.

"Alright, just take care of yourself, okay? You're still so pale."

Kaya only smiled at Amira's concerned tone.

"Pale is a nice way of putting it, Ami. She's lost color," Pogako gave Kaya a stern look, "I know I said that if smoking is your way out of stress, we have no right to keep it from you. But if you're like this — then no. For all we know this is caused by lung damage! What will you do if you suddenly catch a serious disease out of your habit? You don't even take of yourself when you catch a cold, or a sickness. What more if it's a lot worse? For God's sake, you're barely sixteen! You're not even of age. Stop this, Kaya. It's.. not right. Not anymore."

His outburst made Kaya's knees buckle. She never thought this affected them that much. She wasn't even feeling too sick. She's alright, she's.. fine. There was nothing to yell for.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with indulging to your stress-reliever.

"Mei, stop."

"Dad?"

The little girl's father smiled kindly yet full of remorse.

"You can't smoke anymore, okay? Don't think I haven't seen you take my cigs once in a while."

"B — But, why? You do it too!"

"I'm old enough, Mei."

"No!"

"Tsumei, we are not discussing this any further."

Kaya only stood there, flabbergasted. The customers were all looking at them now with wary gazes and curious looks.

"Kaya-chan. Please."

Tears prickled on the corners of her eyes. Everything was getting so blurry. But it was better that way. She didn't want to see the disappointed look Pogako had for her now.

"Not again.." She mumbled to herself, "Okay, Po-san. I'll.. I would halt this thing. This habit. Okay?"

This argument cost her everything that fateful day. And it wasn't gonna happen again — she swore that to their graves. She swore. But why was it happening again? It wasn't supposed to be!

"Your daughter has been picking up her recent habits from you, hasn't she?"

"I had no connection to this, Missa, and you know that!"

"No connection! Hiroto do you think I'm a fool? She saw you do it!"

"She only saw! I never provoked her to do it."

"You influenced her."

"I did not!"

"Mom no.. S'okay, Dad has nothing to do with it, please stop.."

An 8-year old Kaya now had those crystalline tears flowing out her once ablaze orbs. And that sight enough was already breaking her parents' hearts.

"Tsumei, you are to go back to your room. Now. Your Dad and I have important things to discuss, alright?"

"Please don't fight over my smoking.. I'll stop! Okay, I'll stop."

"As much as I am happy to hear that, I'm afraid I have no reason to believe you're willing to, Mei."

"But Mom! Believe me, I'll stop!"

"You won't."

Pogako replied sedately, fixing his hard gaze on her.

As if she was stung by his words, she slowly backed down. Exactly what her Mom had told her. It was the exact same set of words.

They didn't trust her enough.

"Okay.. I get it. I get it," Kaya laughed hollowly, wiping her tears, "That's it, then? Thanks for clearing it up, Po-san. Or was it Pogako?"

And with one last smile, she took the keys to her refuge and left.

- - -

Kaya slumped her shoulders downwards with a heavy and burdened sigh.

She's such a bloody mess.

The rooftop at the building behind Yoake was her refuge. Her parents used to take her there. It had a couple of black sheets around it to reflect the light from above.

"Fuck." She was so stupid. Everything that turned her life upside down was her own choices. She was the only one to blame. Nobody else.

Looking up, she saw the velvety clouds moving constantly and she suddenly remembered why she loved this place so much.

Here, it looked like the sky was so reachable. That with one grasp upwards, you'd be able to touch the clouds. She always wondered what that felt like. Was it as soft as it looked? Those fleecy, white clouds? She always wanted to reach the sky. It was rather.. fascinating. Was it going to be as amazing as it seemed to be, when she finally reaches it? It was such a pity; she had to breathe one last time in her whole life just to find out.

The door of the rooftop creaked and a spiky blond entered the vicinity. Kaya couldn't help but smile.

"They told me where your little personal space bubble shit was. Fortunately for an idiot like you, you didn't lock the doors."

"Yeah, I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

Katsuki scoffed.

"Some occasions, yes. But you can't stop what you've gotten so used to in just a fucking small time."

"I know that."

"Yeah right."

They stayed like that for a while.

"What're you doing here? Concerning yourself with the world's biggest idiot?"

"I honestly don't know either." He grumbled under his breath, before turning to lock with her eyes fully.

"But that's what this damned friends thing was about, right?"

Kaya masked the unprecedented shock in her face and, for the first time that day, she smiled — a smile that reached both her now, once more, hopeful eyes.

"Yeah. That's exactly it."

And to her surprise — she felt her sickness fall whilst her spirit rose.

- - -

to SEEAN's review : thank you for giving this a shot! creating an oc with a background on hero stuff and quirks sounded tiring, and i was looking for something i can pace in a mild atmosphere, if you get me.