ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ʟᴏᴠᴇ? (Shin Tsukimi x Reader)

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2 updates in 1 day? Whattt???

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"Ah... You're in here," I heard Joe call from behind me.

I turned to face him; he didn't look as cheerful as before. Although, I wouldn't expect him to recover so quickly from what had just happened prior.

I didn't say anything, just nodded and went back to staring off into nothing.

"...Do you mind if I sit here with you?" He questioned.

"No.. you can," I responded, trying to be as nice as possible.

He quietly thanked me before sitting beside me.

It was silent.

However, it wasn't uncomfortable.

It was nice to have someone with me; this place made me feel more and more uneasy the more I stayed there by myself.

I decided to speak up after a few minutes, "So... what happened after I left...?"

He stayed silent.

"...sorry."

"..no, it's okay," he quickly responded, "After you left, we figured out that... this all could've been avoided... if we had just voted for ourselves," He took in a shaky breath, "I thought it would be best to know who voted for Mishima but Sara.. didn't..." He trailed off.

"Ah..." I rested my head in my hand before looking over to him; he was just staring at the table with a somber expression.
"I'm sure she didn't mean to upset you or anything like that.. We've all got a lot on our plates here, y'know?"

He stayed silent for a moment before speaking up, "Yeah... I know."

Joe and I continued to talk. I learned he was actually a pretty funny guy; kinda reminds me of Matsuri, in a way.

"-and then I fell into a ditch, but Ryoko helped me out!" He giggled like a schoolgirl, "Eheehee... we held hands..."

I chuckled at his story, "That must've been really fun. It must be nice to be able to go on dates, I wouldn't know anything about that," I joked.

He gasped, "You've never been on a date? Wow, I kinda didn't expect that."

I set my head down on the table, "Well, I always felt like I never had the time for any of that, with my work and stuff. However, I'm kind of regretting it now," I laughed.

He laughed with me for a moment before we fell silent.

It was a fun talk; if only it could've stayed like that forever. But of course, we remembered the reality of the situation we were in.

We could all die by the hands of our peers and... there was no way to avoid it.

If only this was all a bad dream.

If only we could just go home.

I yawned, "Thanks for talking with me, Joe." I smiled before getting up, "I'm gonna go back to searching now, alright?"