"I kept my promise." Touka whispered, tapping a finger softly against the mahogany table. "I came home as fast as-"
"Touka," Yoriko mumbled, a small frown tugging at her features. "You came home at three…"
"Yes, but I left for work at one so I was only gone for two hours."
Pursing her lips and setting her cookbook down carefully, Yoriko eyed her friend suspiciously.
"Hmmm…" she paused then shook her head. "Whatever you say."
After a brief moment of silence, Yoriko continued to entertain herself with her story of delicacies.
They were sitting comfortably on plush cushioned chairs while the aroma of slightly roasted chestnuts swirled and spun through the air before colliding and morphing with the distant smell of ancient books. It would stream through Touka's lungs then rush out with each breath, scattering specks of dust from the battered piles of textbooks and papers. Large windows were only slightly ajar, letting the cooling breeze glide in then fade soon after. Soft coughs and gentle whispers coveted the silence as Touka rubbed her temples, trying her best not to lose concentration.
The library was the ideal place for a study session, but still she would never understand literature.
The assignment was to analyze the characters of this godforsaken book and dig a bit deeper into their personalities.
The whole point of this homework was to understand these characters and to just know what they felt about certain topics.
It sounded easy enough.
But for some reason, Touka was struggling.
It was difficult to understand, she couldn't understand them. She couldn't understand why they made such actions and why they made such choices…
Why, why, why, why…?
Unraveling a character's personality and picking away at their weaknesses and strengths then observing their every thoughts and decisions, then finally drawing up conclusions from vague descriptions was just too complicated for Touka.
"Are you having trouble again?" Yoriko giggled, hazel eyelashes fluttering lightly as she tried to muffle her laugh behind the thick pages of her book. "You're not that great at reading are you, Touka?"
"I-I'm trying!" the other replied in a quiet yet harsh voice. "It's not that bad so-"
"That's why I'm telling you," her friend chuckled, leaning back on her chair and letting her tense muscles relax for a moment. "You have to get some extra help!"
Narrowing her eyes and tucking strands of violet behind her ear, Touka crossed her arms as if to prove a point.
"Oh come on, Touka." Yoriko urged with an encouraging smile. "You need this grade! I'm sure there are lots of people here who are willing to help you out."
"Like who?" she frowned before sighing. "Look, I appreciate the thought but I can do this myself."
Pouting, the hazel haired girl dropped her gaze before marking her page and closing it shut.
"You know there's a thing called 'extra help' for a reason." she said quietly, standing up from her chair and tucking the book safely in her bag. "Sometimes you can't do everything by yourself."
"I know…"
Yoriko paused then reached over, ruffling her locks as she giggled at Touka's irritated expression.
"Please remember that I'm your friend and I'll always be supporting you, okay, Touka?"
Then with another expressive sigh and a warm smile, she waved her roommate goodbye and quickly made her way to her next class.
In a more aggressive manner than intended, Touka began pulling at the loose threads on her sleeves.
Irritation was gently bubbling up within her as she watched a small string of her sweater drift down from her fingers and land awkwardly on the surface of her textbooks.
Extra help…
Maybe she should give it a shot.
Touka leaned forward, letting her forehead touch the edge of the polished wooden table as she mumbled incoherent curse words under her breath.
She hated literature.
Why couldn't these characters just be…simpler and not have to make her life harder than it already was?
Then, like the weight of a feather, Touka felt a light tap on her shoulder.
In fact, it was almost too light,
So light that she almost thought that she had imagined it.
Opening one eye, Touka tilted her head slightly to the right and caught a small glimpse of someone standing behind her.
This time, another tap, but it wasn't as light as it was previously.
"Yes…?" she whispered, still keeping her head on the table. "Can I help you?"
After a brief moment of silence, Touka could slowly make out the sound of a nervous chuckle.
It was a very quiet laugh, but she could still detect the shy and awkward tone that it came with.
"I'm sorry," a voice said once the laugh died down. "I thought you seemed a bit troubled so I was…I was trying to see if you were okay…"
"Oh," she said, gradually lifting up her head to glance back at the boy. "No, I'm fine. Just tired."
The only thing that flashed across her mind was the question:
Who says 'troubled' nowadays?
Carefully and quietly, violet orbs came into contact with hazel as a young boy, possibly in his early twenties, was smiling rather shyly. He was balancing a large pile of books in one hand while the other still hovered in the air, just a few inches away from her shoulder. Messy midnight colored locks swayed ever so gently with the autumn breeze as he leaned over to take a glimpse at her notes.
"Ah, is this literature?" he said, his voice soft and light.
Without even making a single sound, he set down his books on the table to get a closer look at the story resting in front of her.
"Oh um yeah." She said stiffly. "Not my best subject." She added.
Narrowing her eyes, she shifted her weight a bit further from this glasses wearing boy.
Why was he so close?
How irritating.
"Oh, this is one of my favorite books." He suddenly chimed, pulling over a chair and quietly sitting next to her. "Character analysis?" he asked, his voice just a centimeter above a whisper.
"Yeah…" she mumbled, awkwardly inching herself away.
He didn't seem to notice, his eyes were too busy scanning the questions in front of him as he flipped open her book before quickly skimming through the pages.
Annoying.
For some reason, this guy was extremely…
Annoying.
Why?
Touka unconsciously began to tap the end of her pen against the polished wood at an inconsistent pace.
Why was he so annoying?
"Oh, I think I know what you're having difficulties with." He said, a strange expression of excitement flickering across his face. "It's quite simple actually, you just have to read in between the lines."
"Easier said than done." She frowned, her tapping gradually getting louder.
What the hell?
Was he tutoring her?
He gave her an encouraging smile, his glasses slightly slipping from the bridge of his nose.
"Here, read this passage. This part here focuses mainly on this character," he started, pointing at the beginning of a paragraph. "If you focus on his inner feelings then look at his dialogue then you'll notice the similarity between the two. These things will define his character."
She stared at him, the gentle bubble of extreme irritation eating away at her insides.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Finally, she reached over for her book and grabbed it with slight hesitation. Offering another glance at the boy, she slowly began to read the suggested piece of evidence.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Concentration was slipping from her grasp like sand as she struggled to make sense of the small, neatly packed words printed out in front of her.
Scowling at her lack of literature skills and patience, Touka snapped the book shut with brute force, ignoring his look of surprise.
"I don't get it." She hissed.
He chuckled nervously, his expression softening as he once more leaned in to take a closer look.
"See here?" he said, opening the book back open then resting an index finger on the center of a page. "It shows the character's desire to be young again. You can tell because all he talks about is how beautiful and wonderful is youth was. Currently, he's 47 but the only thing that he keeps mentioning is his childhood, do you understand?" he said calmly, the small smile still refusing to fade.
Touka said nothing, she only nodded, her frustration slowly diminishing.
"And it also states here," he trailed off, flipping the pages before pausing, his eyes carefully analyzing the words. "Ah, here…right here, it says that he still keeps the toys from when he was young. This implies his strong connection to the past. In other words, he desires for his childhood."
They stared at each other for a brief moment, the chestnut aroma continuing its ballet with the music of silence.
"Thanks," Touka coughed, her eyes flickering towards the bookshelf behind him. "I um…needed that."
"No problem. It's just something I like to do." He said softly, grabbing his pile of books as he stood up to leave.
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
Biting her lip, Touka ran her fingers through her hair, the sharp tug at her scalp only making her irritation bloom further.
"You know there's a thing called 'extra help' for a reason."
Damn you, Yoriko.
"Hey!" she snapped, watching him jump with mild amusement.
"Yes?" he blinked, confusion etched across his expression.
"You seem to be pretty good at literature." She frowned, this time tapping her pen against the cover of her book.
"Oh thank-"
"So you think you'll be able to tutor me from now on?"
"Excuse…me?" he smiled awkwardly, his eyelashes fluttering as his eyes locked with hers.
He stared at her, puzzlement melting away with each passing second as realization managed to settle down in its place.
"Oh! Oh, I um…I…maybe? Um, when?" he stammered, digging his one free hand into his pocket then pulling out what seemed to be his schedule. "I'm uh free on…" he paused, his fingers fumbling with the paper.
Touka gave him a rather bored look as he continued to struggle opening the slip of paper while balancing his books at the same time.
"Thursday! Thursday afternoon. Is that alright with you?" he laughed, clumsily adjusting his glasses.
Violet locks brushed against her cheek as she rested her elbow on the table, her chin gently finding itself on top of her palm.
Mentally running over her own to-do list, she nodded in approval.
"Yeah, Thursday is fine." She said.
"A-Ah that's good! Great! Um, yeah so then I'll see you at two?"
She nodded.
"Okay! Two! Library? Here?"
She nodded again.
"Alright, bye…um…"
Realizing what he was asking for, Touka sighed.
"Touka. Touka Kirishima." She said indifferently. "And yours?"
Silently, she noticed something off about this boy in front of her...
Perhaps, it was the glare of the sun that was constantly streaming through the windows.
Or perhaps, it was the endless disgusting feeling of drowsiness that was clouding her judgment.
Or perhaps, she wasn't imagining things in the first place after all.
But for a second, the split second that Touka had paid careful attention to,
She noticed his smile falter, and before she could register why, it disappeared as quickly as it had come.
In fact, it vanished so quickly that Touka could've sworn she had imagined it.
"You can call me Haise." He said, his free hand making its way up to his chin. "Sasaki Haise."