Chapter Two: Fleeting Insight

The hazel haired male was too clumsy for Kano's preference.

He had indeed been the individual who the manager had just hired- and after giving him the shortest briefing in the history she had turned him out to work on setting out the clothing that had been shipped in that day. Kano, still on register duty, was left in charge of the shop while the others left for their lunch break.

Almost immedeatly, the boy had tripped over a box, accidentaly dropped an armful of shirts while trying to hang up some jacket, and knocked over a clothing rack (which was fortunantly empty.) And yet, somehow he still stood back up each time. Is this kid always this clumsy? Then how the hell did he make it here in the first place?

Usually he'd get a kick out of watching some stranger fall on their butt repeatedly, But for some reason, today wasn't doing it for Kano. And after watching the kid faceplant from tripping on a stray coat hanger, he decided that he was going to help that poor soul, whether he was on register duty or not. Less than half of the shipments had been unpacked, with only about half an hour before the manager returned from lunch, which, upon return, would most likely result in the both of them getting scolded (and possibly costing the kid his newly found job!)

The boy looked up to the sound of Kano ripping the tape off of a box. He then continued to stare as Kano began to sort the items within onto a nearby shelf, with a blank stare that he seemed to have been holding all day. There was something about that stare, that expression, that set Kano ever so slightly off edge. Just like the customer from a little while ago, he felt that he had seen it somewhere before. It took him a minute to realise that the two had been holding eye contact. Shaking his head, Kano turned back to the shelf of clothing articles he had been sorting before he completely zoned out.

"Is.. is something wrong, uh..." The kid spoke up finally, breaking the long awkward silence.

"Kano. Er, my name is, I mean," Kano finished. "Oh, right, I never introduced myself to you formally."

"Oh? It seemed as though you didn't want to give your name, I thought. I mean, the other two never mentioned theirs..."

"They're kinda rude, especially to people that're the opposite of them. Y'know, like decent people." Taking a peek into the back to confirm that the manager wasn't back to hear that yet, Kano was relieved that his inability to hold his tongue wouldn' be getting him fired quite yet. "What's yours anyways? Uh, your name."

Pressumably relieved that Kano wasn't trying to be a jerk after all, the boy's expression lightened a bit. "Haruka. Kokonose Haruka," he responded. "It's nice to, uh, meet you, Kano-san... wait, hold on a minute." The lightened expression turned more quizzical. "I think I've heard that name somewhere before... have I actually met you before, somewhere?"

"I... don't think so? You've probably just heard one of the others refer to me using it. Besides, it's not exactly a rare name." Even though he couldn't remember an instance of meeting this Haruka individual before, Kano couldn't knock the sense of déjà vu out of his mind. Something about the figure before him struck had struck him as oddly familiar in a way he just couldn't quite put his finger on, and it had been bugging him since they first ran into each other. It sort of felt as if there was a relevant chunk of his memory missing. Quite unsettling.

"..Oh. Sorry, I just could've sworn that I've seen someone with your appearance that shared the same name. My memory might just be failing me, though," Haruka tittered nervously, scratching at the back of his head. No, Kano knew he had seen him before. Somewhere, in a part of his memory he was just having some issue recalling.

Oh well, I'll remember it later, I'm sure. I'll worry about it later. Picking up another box, Kano resumed unpacking the various articles of clothing. Haruka had just resigned to staring off in another direction with a rather blank stare. A blank, distant stare that he knew he'd seen before. Agh, Kano didn't have the best memory, but this fleeting yet persistant feeling was going to drive him insane!

Haruka was still staring off into the distance, but this time with a slightly confused look on his face. And in the dim, muted lighting of the shop, for a second, Kano thought he saw his hair take on a slightly silvery appearance.