Arc V 30 Days 2015, Day 24: Coffee
Apr. 24th, 2015 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
not_krysHe hated it. He hated everything.
He hated being here. He wanted to be out with Yuuto. Why was Reiji Akaba even keeping him here–it just frustrated him to no end. He felt like a beast in a cage, just waiting for the next thing to come along and rattle the bars and he would be set off.
Yuuto was still out in Standard somewhere, Ruri was still captured by those Fusion Academia bastards, and what was he doing?
He was getting lunch in the LDS’s school cafeteria!
Akaba practically owned the city and he was made to eat at the school’s cafeteria… Why he was supposed to pose as a student in order to get him into the tournament anyway, and it had to be the very one he had been searching for, the one that he had been carding people.
If he wasn’t supposed to be in hiding right now, there are quite a few people he would have totally carded by now, no matter what anyone else said. Reiji Akaba could suck it as far as he was concerned. He hadn’t come to Standard to be babysat and forced to eat barely passable food. And he’s eaten some pretty terrible shit in his lifetime. It was a miracle he hadn’t died of food poisoning yet.
Walking along in the line reminded him of his days in Heartland, how Ruri or his classmates would call out to him that they were saving him a seat. Sometimes they would all sit together; Ruri, Yuuto and their friends in their grade along with his friends and classmates. They would all laugh and joke together, complain about this or that teacher that gave them a hard time that day, most of the names he could barely remember now, who they think will compete in the next tournament run, things like that.
For a moment, when he saw a far off girl waving in his general direction, he could have almost sworn it was Ruri waving to him, like old times, he even turned towards her, but he was mistaken when someone else called out to the girl, ending his little daydream.
No, Ruri wasn’t here. It was impossible for her to be here. Yuuto wasn’t here either. He was who the fuck knows where in Standard doing who the fuck knows.
It was just him, alone. There would be no one here that would wave to him or save him a seat, or even discuss terrible teachers with him. He sighed.
“Coffee, black.”
Ruri never really did like coffee, he remembered. She always said it was too bitter. She knew that it was a necessary for night watches and such, but they didn’t have much she could use to sweeten the bitter drink. Cream and sugar were hard to come by, so she often had to settle for her coffee being black, making a face each and every time she took a sip. He and Yuuto would laugh at her disgusted faces, even if neither liked it much better, they could at least keep a straight face while drinking it.
Not with Ruri, however. She was likely to be holding it more than she was drinking it. To keep her hands warm, she often said. But she would be making more faces when she had to drink it cold, making it taste worse, much to his and Yuuto’s amusement.
While searching for an empty spot, at least his memories of Ruri helped to calm him. She always did have that effect on him, even when they were kids. If he was being rash and stupid, Ruri usually was the one to calm him down, to pull him back and not make a total jackass of himself.
It hurts to admit, but he still needed her. Ever since she was kidnapped, he hasn’t had a moment of peaceful thinking since, often irate and yelling at their comrades, most of the time uncalled for. Yuuto tries to calm him, and it sometimes works, but Yuuto wasn’t Ruri. Which reminds him, he still needs to get back at Yuuto for that punch to his stomach, the little shit. He could have just said that that girl wasn’t Ruri and be done with it. Though, the possibility that there were other girls out there that looked just like Ruri… She even had a bracelet similiar to the one Ruri wore.
Gods, he missed Ruri. Even thinking of her bracelet set off memories, how she never went anywhere without it, how he and Yuuto beat up some bully kids at school when they stole it from her and made her cry, how happy she was when they had gotten it back, making the suspension from school totally worth it. How he, Yuuto, and the rest of their comrades refused to let her barter with it when they were trying to get supplies from other groups, especially when they saw how much the thought of selling it hurt her. How they had carded the bastard that had snuck into their camp to try and steal it from them blind when they had been bartering with him not even the day before.
Come to think of it now, even from his earliest memories, he can’t really remember a time where Ruri didn’t have her bracelet, save for the time that the bullies took it from her. She had only been one day without her bracelet, yet she refused to stop crying until he and Yuuto got it back. And, back then, even though Ruri was a bit of crybaby, there usually was a solid reason for it, usually him doing something stupid. When she had lost her bracelet and had cried about it, something felt different that time when she cried. Like she was physically hurting kind of crying. Shun hadn’t understood it at the time, even telling her it was just a bracelet, that she was overreacting and she could always just get a new one, which made her crying worse. She hadn’t cried like that before, nor had she since then.
In contrast to him, when Yuuto saw how upset Ruri was at the loss of her bracelet, he was the first to spring into action to get it back. It was like he was possessed or something, ready to find and fight anyone that upset Ruri in any way. He remembered how much it had surprised him at the time; Yuuto was usually the quiet and unassuming one, not really bothering anyone before. Then, it was like he was out for blood, all of it over a stupid bracelet. He still didn’t know what had gotten into Yuuto that day, how frightening he had been when he was dueling the bullies to get back the bracelet back. It felt like he was ready to kill someone that day, and he didn’t look like he cared who, he just wanted that bracelet back.
Of course he and Yuuto got the bracelet back, Ruri finally stopped crying and Yuuto returned to normal as if nothing had ever happened. It felt strange, thinking back to that moment. Just one upset look from Ruri, just one look, and Yuuto looked like he was ready to murder someone, even over a bracelet. It reminds him of that other time too, when they had to split from their old resistance group. He had just returned from a mission, tired but excited to see Ruri and Yuuto again.
However, one look at the tense atmosphere and the way everyone was standing around Ruri and Yuuto, Yuuto on the ground nursing his jaw while Ruri, gritting her teeth, her eyebrows furrowed and her body and clothes covered with dirt and small scratches, stood in front of him with her arms out, trying to protect him, was enough for him to decided that all of them needed to leave, immediately. His resolve only became stronger when one of the members had the audacity to slap Ruri and made her fall when she had cried out that Yuuto wasn’t a monster, that it wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t known what had lead up to those events at the time but that fucker was down on the ground in seconds with a black eye before Shun could even blink. He had been so blinded by rage at someone he had once considered a friend and comrade, now an enemy for even daring to raise a hand against his little sister.
After they had left, Ruri had tried to explain how they had gotten into that situation, even if she didn’t really understand it herself. She, Yuuto, and a few of their comrades had been ambushed by Academia soldiers, their backs to a cliff so they couldn’t escape. Yuuto had flown into a rage, his eyes glowing and he had called down a dragon she hadn’t seen before, a dragon that was black and had lightning crackling around it. When she had looked at Yuuto, he seemed to be crackling with the same lightning, looking like he was ready to kill someone, especially after her life points had dropped to zero.
She had been flying backwards from the air force that had pushed her back, soon free falling in the air and gravity taking over after that. She thought that she was about to die, whether by carding or by the rocks below, she didn’t know. Yuuto had been screaming, enraged at the thought of losing of her, his one true friend, the one that had stayed by his side the longest. His dragon, without his command, flew out to save her, bringing her back up to the cliff side safely, and then proceeded to tear into Academia’s soldiers mercilessly. Yuuto had even turned on their comrades after the duel had ended, still inside of that rage state of mind. He wanted blood, he wanted vengence for almost losing Ruri. The only ones spared from that onslaught were him and Ruri, both holding each other while it rained. Yuuto was crying and yelling, traumatized after what had happened, after what he had done. He had been clinging so tightly to Ruri, afraid and broken, she didn’t know what to do.
The other members found out what had happened, leading up to where Shun had come back, with Yuuto on the ground and Ruri being slapped for standing up for her friend. He still could barely understand it himself. He was glad that Ruri had been spared both carding and dying, but what was the cost…
He took one sip of his coffee, feeling his nose turning up in disgust, just like Ruri’s used to do whenever she drank coffee. Still as nasty as it was in Heartland, but at least the water here was cleaner. This one shouldn’t have that excuse and yet it was still terrible.
He continued to drink it though, remembering Ruri’s sour face whenever she had her own coffee and making faces at it, feeling a warm smile spreading through him, even if it never showed externally. As if he would show these people his smile. Not in a million years.
He hated being here. He wanted to be out with Yuuto. Why was Reiji Akaba even keeping him here–it just frustrated him to no end. He felt like a beast in a cage, just waiting for the next thing to come along and rattle the bars and he would be set off.
Yuuto was still out in Standard somewhere, Ruri was still captured by those Fusion Academia bastards, and what was he doing?
He was getting lunch in the LDS’s school cafeteria!
Akaba practically owned the city and he was made to eat at the school’s cafeteria… Why he was supposed to pose as a student in order to get him into the tournament anyway, and it had to be the very one he had been searching for, the one that he had been carding people.
If he wasn’t supposed to be in hiding right now, there are quite a few people he would have totally carded by now, no matter what anyone else said. Reiji Akaba could suck it as far as he was concerned. He hadn’t come to Standard to be babysat and forced to eat barely passable food. And he’s eaten some pretty terrible shit in his lifetime. It was a miracle he hadn’t died of food poisoning yet.
Walking along in the line reminded him of his days in Heartland, how Ruri or his classmates would call out to him that they were saving him a seat. Sometimes they would all sit together; Ruri, Yuuto and their friends in their grade along with his friends and classmates. They would all laugh and joke together, complain about this or that teacher that gave them a hard time that day, most of the names he could barely remember now, who they think will compete in the next tournament run, things like that.
For a moment, when he saw a far off girl waving in his general direction, he could have almost sworn it was Ruri waving to him, like old times, he even turned towards her, but he was mistaken when someone else called out to the girl, ending his little daydream.
No, Ruri wasn’t here. It was impossible for her to be here. Yuuto wasn’t here either. He was who the fuck knows where in Standard doing who the fuck knows.
It was just him, alone. There would be no one here that would wave to him or save him a seat, or even discuss terrible teachers with him. He sighed.
“Coffee, black.”
Ruri never really did like coffee, he remembered. She always said it was too bitter. She knew that it was a necessary for night watches and such, but they didn’t have much she could use to sweeten the bitter drink. Cream and sugar were hard to come by, so she often had to settle for her coffee being black, making a face each and every time she took a sip. He and Yuuto would laugh at her disgusted faces, even if neither liked it much better, they could at least keep a straight face while drinking it.
Not with Ruri, however. She was likely to be holding it more than she was drinking it. To keep her hands warm, she often said. But she would be making more faces when she had to drink it cold, making it taste worse, much to his and Yuuto’s amusement.
While searching for an empty spot, at least his memories of Ruri helped to calm him. She always did have that effect on him, even when they were kids. If he was being rash and stupid, Ruri usually was the one to calm him down, to pull him back and not make a total jackass of himself.
It hurts to admit, but he still needed her. Ever since she was kidnapped, he hasn’t had a moment of peaceful thinking since, often irate and yelling at their comrades, most of the time uncalled for. Yuuto tries to calm him, and it sometimes works, but Yuuto wasn’t Ruri. Which reminds him, he still needs to get back at Yuuto for that punch to his stomach, the little shit. He could have just said that that girl wasn’t Ruri and be done with it. Though, the possibility that there were other girls out there that looked just like Ruri… She even had a bracelet similiar to the one Ruri wore.
Gods, he missed Ruri. Even thinking of her bracelet set off memories, how she never went anywhere without it, how he and Yuuto beat up some bully kids at school when they stole it from her and made her cry, how happy she was when they had gotten it back, making the suspension from school totally worth it. How he, Yuuto, and the rest of their comrades refused to let her barter with it when they were trying to get supplies from other groups, especially when they saw how much the thought of selling it hurt her. How they had carded the bastard that had snuck into their camp to try and steal it from them blind when they had been bartering with him not even the day before.
Come to think of it now, even from his earliest memories, he can’t really remember a time where Ruri didn’t have her bracelet, save for the time that the bullies took it from her. She had only been one day without her bracelet, yet she refused to stop crying until he and Yuuto got it back. And, back then, even though Ruri was a bit of crybaby, there usually was a solid reason for it, usually him doing something stupid. When she had lost her bracelet and had cried about it, something felt different that time when she cried. Like she was physically hurting kind of crying. Shun hadn’t understood it at the time, even telling her it was just a bracelet, that she was overreacting and she could always just get a new one, which made her crying worse. She hadn’t cried like that before, nor had she since then.
In contrast to him, when Yuuto saw how upset Ruri was at the loss of her bracelet, he was the first to spring into action to get it back. It was like he was possessed or something, ready to find and fight anyone that upset Ruri in any way. He remembered how much it had surprised him at the time; Yuuto was usually the quiet and unassuming one, not really bothering anyone before. Then, it was like he was out for blood, all of it over a stupid bracelet. He still didn’t know what had gotten into Yuuto that day, how frightening he had been when he was dueling the bullies to get back the bracelet back. It felt like he was ready to kill someone that day, and he didn’t look like he cared who, he just wanted that bracelet back.
Of course he and Yuuto got the bracelet back, Ruri finally stopped crying and Yuuto returned to normal as if nothing had ever happened. It felt strange, thinking back to that moment. Just one upset look from Ruri, just one look, and Yuuto looked like he was ready to murder someone, even over a bracelet. It reminds him of that other time too, when they had to split from their old resistance group. He had just returned from a mission, tired but excited to see Ruri and Yuuto again.
However, one look at the tense atmosphere and the way everyone was standing around Ruri and Yuuto, Yuuto on the ground nursing his jaw while Ruri, gritting her teeth, her eyebrows furrowed and her body and clothes covered with dirt and small scratches, stood in front of him with her arms out, trying to protect him, was enough for him to decided that all of them needed to leave, immediately. His resolve only became stronger when one of the members had the audacity to slap Ruri and made her fall when she had cried out that Yuuto wasn’t a monster, that it wasn’t his fault. He hadn’t known what had lead up to those events at the time but that fucker was down on the ground in seconds with a black eye before Shun could even blink. He had been so blinded by rage at someone he had once considered a friend and comrade, now an enemy for even daring to raise a hand against his little sister.
After they had left, Ruri had tried to explain how they had gotten into that situation, even if she didn’t really understand it herself. She, Yuuto, and a few of their comrades had been ambushed by Academia soldiers, their backs to a cliff so they couldn’t escape. Yuuto had flown into a rage, his eyes glowing and he had called down a dragon she hadn’t seen before, a dragon that was black and had lightning crackling around it. When she had looked at Yuuto, he seemed to be crackling with the same lightning, looking like he was ready to kill someone, especially after her life points had dropped to zero.
She had been flying backwards from the air force that had pushed her back, soon free falling in the air and gravity taking over after that. She thought that she was about to die, whether by carding or by the rocks below, she didn’t know. Yuuto had been screaming, enraged at the thought of losing of her, his one true friend, the one that had stayed by his side the longest. His dragon, without his command, flew out to save her, bringing her back up to the cliff side safely, and then proceeded to tear into Academia’s soldiers mercilessly. Yuuto had even turned on their comrades after the duel had ended, still inside of that rage state of mind. He wanted blood, he wanted vengence for almost losing Ruri. The only ones spared from that onslaught were him and Ruri, both holding each other while it rained. Yuuto was crying and yelling, traumatized after what had happened, after what he had done. He had been clinging so tightly to Ruri, afraid and broken, she didn’t know what to do.
The other members found out what had happened, leading up to where Shun had come back, with Yuuto on the ground and Ruri being slapped for standing up for her friend. He still could barely understand it himself. He was glad that Ruri had been spared both carding and dying, but what was the cost…
He took one sip of his coffee, feeling his nose turning up in disgust, just like Ruri’s used to do whenever she drank coffee. Still as nasty as it was in Heartland, but at least the water here was cleaner. This one shouldn’t have that excuse and yet it was still terrible.
He continued to drink it though, remembering Ruri’s sour face whenever she had her own coffee and making faces at it, feeling a warm smile spreading through him, even if it never showed externally. As if he would show these people his smile. Not in a million years.
