Short Stories

Art

Summary: Art can be peaceful sometimes.

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The sky could be so pretty sometimes.

Iroha surveyed the sky as she sat on her rock, smiling. A nice light blue, dotted with clouds. The sun shining in the corner, always shining. Even when a cloud drifted over it.

It was a magical thing. And Iroha had met Mikado. Maybe the sky was even more magical than him.

Of course, she'd never tell him that. She didn't want his pride to be too hurt. A depressed Mikado was an awful thing to see. Everyone much preferred the cheerful and asshole Mikado that would fly around the clubroom bothering everyone.

The sky was still more magical than him though.

And it might even be more magical today. Because today was Iroha's birthday!

Birthdays were never fun back home. It was part of the reason she'd run away for a new life.

And a new life was a new life. She wasn't going back. She wasn't even going to think back! She was going to have a nice, quiet birthday for once.

Iroha didn't want a huge party. She'd seen and been to the parties her class would throw whenever it was someone's birthday. She didn't want that, she'd get overwhelmed. Iroha was easily overwhelmed.

So, she messaged the class chat earlier, asking for no party. She'd had all positive responses so far, which she was glad about.

A slight wind ruffled Iroha's hair, making her giggle a bit. The pages of her sketchbook fluttered in the wind, and she held onto it tightly, in case it flew away. That had happened before, and it had caused a five-way chase as all of VOID tried to get it back.

Iroha giggled again as she remembered that day. Nikei had been the one to grab it, but he had accidentally tripped in the process. When the rest caught up to him, he was sitting in a puddle and cussing it out as the sketchbook lay behind him, only having a few drops on it.

He had been difficult to calm down that day. Mikado had done most of the work though, Iroha had stayed in the background watching.

Thinking about the memory helped Iroha sketch the sky and the trees and everything around it. A bird flew through the sky and Iroha quickly added a rough sketch in, deciding to focus on it later. The bird was already gone by the time she looked up again, anyway.

Iroha shrugged and continued sketching the sky and trees. It was peaceful here; so calming.

"Iroha?"

A voice called out to her out of nowhere, and Iroha jumped, letting out a small shriek and turning around, breathing a small sigh of relief when she saw who had spoken.

"Emma? Please don't startle me like that!" Iroha asked, clutching onto her sketchbook again and picking up her pencil, which had fallen to the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you didn't know I was there, I assumed you were aware of me." Emma apologized. "But then again, you did look pretty absorbed in your drawing. I'm not sure how I could have not startled you."

"O-Oh, that's right..." Iroha faltered. "But that's only because it's so peaceful and calm here! Just look at the sky, you can see everything! It's so pretty!"

Emma followed Iroha's gaze and smiled contently as she got what Iroha was talking about. "I see what you mean. It is calming here. It must be nice to just sit on a rock and sketch the sky and other things."

"It really is." Iroha agreed. "It's part of the reason I love art! It's so peaceful!"

"I an tell." Emma chuckled. "By the way, the boys will be coming here soon. We've been looking for you."