𝐈𝐊𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐈: 𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐄 ও k. akaashi

𝐢. wildflowers

❝ 𝐈𝐊𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐈: 𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐌𝐄 ❞

"𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐔𝐒𝐄 me."

Yua whipped her head around to meet the gaze of the stranger who called out to her. She met eyes of peacock blue, delicacy reflecting in the waves of his ocean stare behind his glassy spectacles. His rose beige skin glowed in the morning sunlight, as did his fluffy hair of obsidian that glistened in the light. It startled her to see someone like him approach her so randomly.

The gentle voice lightly chuckled, nearly dropping the disheveled notebooks that he struggled to carry. "Can you pick up my pen, please? My hands are quite full."

Blinking, she turned her head towards the floor, where she noticed a black pen that rolled near her foot. The collected conversations of passing people had buried the clattering sound, she didn't notice.

"Ah, of course," she nodded. Bending down, she stretched her fingertips towards the pen. Reestablishing her posture, Yua held out his pen for him to take with just the bend of his wrist. "Here you go," she said.

"Thank you, thank you," he smiled as he took it with an evident struggle.

Just as his fingertips brushed it, his folders and books slipped from his arms, hitting the ground with a prominent crash. People turned to stare, but disappointingly, no one bothered to go out of their way to help.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," he sighed, bending down to pick up his mess. He hurried to gather the clutter of papers from the floor. To his surprise, he looked up to one of his many notebooks held in front of him by Yua.

She didn't hesitate to hurry out of her chair to his aid. As he took the notebook, they continued to collect the stray papers that scattered the concrete ground.

The last thing Yua wanted to be was nosy, but she couldn't help but catch a few of the words on the papers.

Conflict...Ideas...

Some were names that she couldn't read without looking apparent. Fighting against her curiosity to both look and ask, she simply handed him the papers that he then crammed into his arms with hurry.

"I'm very sorry," he furrowed his brows, muttering low enough for only Yua to hear.

She lightly laughed. "Don't worry about it. Are you in a hurry?"

"Yeah, actually..." His voice trailed off.

Yua placed her fingers on one of the smaller notebooks in between them at the same time he did. Realizing they both were trying to pick up the same thing, they looked up to meet each other's gaze. The two chuckled before Yua quickly withdrew her hand to another one of the farther papers.

Taking the last of his journals, the stranger gave her a swift nod. "Thank you very much," he stood up from his crouching position.

"Again, happy to help," she said in response as she too rose. Before meeting his eyes, Yua glanced at the table with no objective but to stall. With hesitation, she pondered over her thoughts a bit.

The first step of her new life. It wasn't a big step, but still a step nonetheless.

She took a deep breath, and looked up at him. "My name is Setoguchi Yua," she replied with a smile.

The stranger nodded. But just as his lips parted, there was an indistinguishable yell from inside the cafe that he quickly jerked his head over to acknowledge, his previous grin dropping. In response, he pursed his lips with a small nod towards that direction. Then he turned back to Yua without that hint of annoyance, and grinned slightly.