𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 | 𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙖

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟮: 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

"HeeeeyyYYOOOOOO!"

"What do you want?"

"So cold, Shira, anyhow, I'm finished my side of the project."

Shirabu blinked in disbelief. "Um, okay. Good for you."

"How aboutcha? Done anything yet?"

"I was done a few hours ago."

"AWWWW! YOU JUST HAVE TO STEAL MY THUNDER!"

"No one's going to know who finished what first, Chiya. Chill out."

"I want to have my silent thunder, bro, y—"

"Did you just bro me?!"

"YEAH? I did. Watcha gonna do about it?"

"Nothing."

"I swear I could hear the beat to the song while we were saying that—"

"Honestly, same."

"Wait, so for the science, did you like, have a lot, or like, no?"

"We're meeting up to assemble it later, don't get ahead of yourself."

"I'm not! I just wanna know I'm not working with like, a complete retard!"

"You saw my report card, didn't you? And didn't we work together for the most part? Are you a dumb person or a dumb—" 

. . .

"—dumb...ap-fish!"

"What."

"It's the first thing that came to mind."

"Wait, Imma brb. I need to like, change up my computah because it's a bitch and it heats up after I call for like two seconds."

"Why do you say brb even in real life?"

Twelve seconds passed.

"Alrighty, guess who's back!"

"I dunno."

"You sarcastic piece of crap."

"Oh? Your insults are below your IQ—which is miles down from mine."

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! YOU CALLED ME A DAMN FISH!"

Kenjirō laughed.

"Um? Why ya laughing?"

"Sorry, it's too coincidental. I'm actually—"

"You're crunching into the microphone, whatever you're eating."

Shirabu leaned in forward. "Oh yeah? I was doing that on purpose."

"You sarcastic piece of paper."

"Where do I resemble a paper? Jeez. Getcho facts right."

"What are you eating, anyway?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I sure would."

"Too bad~"

"Lemme guess."

"Go ahead."

"Gol—"

"Ye."

"You should at least be frustrated that I got it. Having you as a friend really sucks because you never act surprised and never like, in general, like, compliment by reactions? I guess."

"Mhm."

"I bet you're actually a really nice person inside."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

"KENJIRŌ!"

A little pause because Chiya burped. "But how long is your thingy?"

"...thingy."

"UGH you know what I mean."

"I actually don't, and not because I'm being a sarcastic piece of crap."

"Number 1: yay, you are self-conscious. Number 2: you're dumb."

"Ah, you wound me."

"I—DID YOU JUST—"

"Wanna hear me say it again?" He leaned closer to the phone. "AH. YOU WOUND ME."

Laughter.

"How long is your like, science project?"

"The writing part?"

"Yeah is it like the size of a paragraph or a size of a novel?"

"Do you not know that an essay is essential to be used in this comparison?"

"I mean—I know, but which one is it closer to?"

"A paragraph."

"WHA—SERIOUSLY?"

"Well, I mean, a novel is way longer. Mine is a size of an essay or two, and it isn't near close to a paragraph, but when compared to a novel—"

A bonk sound. "Um, Chiya?"

"Omg..."

"Please don't use texting phrases in real life situations—"

"OMG! I HAD AN ESSAY FOR A DAMN CLASS AND I JUST—UGH! IT WAS DUE TODAY TOO! LIKE IN THE MORNING!"

"..omg."

"I don't know what to—ughhhhhh..kill me."

"Want it painful or not?"

"BUT AN ESSAY THOUGH? THIS ESSAY THAT I'M SPEED RUSHING RI' NA IS GOING TO KILL ME SO YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT BEING LOCKED INTO PRISON!"

"I'm not worried though—"

"OH MAH GAWD!"

And it was true. Lots of typing. Rather satisfying in Kenjirō's eyes. "I hate essays," she said after a long time, also after a few final clicks that indicated she was done.

"I know."

"Kk."

"Please stop with the t—"

"You know how we speak Japanese, right?"

"...I—wow I totally didn't know that."

"Omg just shut—whateves. But like, since I speak Japanese and I'm not good with French and Chinese, like, my parents make me learn them."

Shirabu whistled.

"Cool. Which one do you prefer?"

"Honestly, I don't know."

"Seriously? So broad. Give me an example."

"Oh okay."

...

"What are you doing?"

"Mustering up brain muscles."

"Okay."

...

"SEE, THE PROBLEM IS—"

"You went away for three minutes and you're not here to give me examples on the two languages?"

"Ugh, patience. I am. Just like, wait a sec. Erm, okay. So French is hard, because, well, it's like, not Asian."

"Please cut to the chase. I do not need kindergarten scolding."

"But Imma just like—" and she said a few.

Shirabu laughed.

And they talked more.