Call My Name | 𝘕𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘪

- 8 -

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𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓜𝓸𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓪𝓽𝓸𝓻

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A/N: This chapter is literally filler. Sorry I haven't updated for a month

Nobara felt slightly uncomfortable at the realization that Maki's handwriting was the very same on her own body. It was a strange thing to process. She tries to not think about it since it was just another level of the invisible thing that tied them together that shouldn't be there.

She tried to move her mind elsewhere, but it wasn't working out very much. Maki was speaking aloud as she wrote, but Nobara wasn't digesting a single word. Her eyes took advantage of this opportunity to stare. Memorizing the casual curls at the ends of Maki's slightly rushed letters. The girl was eager to get her thoughts on paper, but it still manages to look neat altogether.

It was ridiculous, the little details Nobara had started to pick up and kept to herself. As though her knowledge about Maki was a patchwork of things she could keep in a tin box and hideaway. Keep it for herself in the trapdoors of her mind, safe from view.

There were clothes Nobara couldn't wear anymore, and things she opted for knowing it was safe but also comfortable. It was a bit annoying, the way she wanted to wear certain things but couldn't because she'd out herself instantly. Why couldn't her mark be somewhere more inconspicuous? That way she could at least wear her cute clothes. But she gets away with a nice shirt if she wears a sweater with it, but even then she's rarely willing to take the chance, so regular shirts, and sometimes the dreaded collared shirt seem to be her wardrobe. She liked to wear her skirts when it was warm still, at least that was something she could indulge in.

Nobara would be surprised if Maki spent more than 5 minutes getting ready in the morning. Not that she ever looked bad, it was just Maki seemed to do things so easily. She can't imagine Maki agonizing over her appearance, wondering how she will be perceived or how she'd look if she wore something. Did her mother ever tell her that she didn't look good in something? Did she ever agonize over the way she looked because of it?

In all the ways Maki was effortlessly confident, Nobara was not, and she could pretend, but in the end, she knew who she was and that stuck with her more than anything else.

Her left hand moves over the back of her neck over her clothes for a few seconds before she even notices it. She consciously makes her hand fall down. Choosing the fidget with the side strings of her zippered sweater, she continues to observe Maki writing, hoping her behavior didn't concern her. Maybe she didn't look weird at all, but she thought she did. Maybe Maki didn't even notice so there was no point in worrying at all.

Her brain always manages to convince herself that she's not fooling anyone. That everyone already knows all her thoughts and all her secrets. Her mind is on display for everyone to see and she's the only one constantly pretending she's invisible.

She knows it's irrational, but it doesn't make the uneasiness she feels any better. She just tries to focus on the project at hand, and it ends up spurring her attention back to the present.

"...The only one that meets the criteria is—" Nobara catches Maki's voice mid-sentence after her spacing out for a bit. Maki's written a few things down and definitely has a better grasp on the concept, but Nobara interrupts.

"Then we should just do that one," She sounds a bit annoyed and uncaring about the entire thing.

But Nobara didn't mean to interrupt Maki and she feels a little bad when she does, but now she's got Maki's full attention and she should probably continue though she didn't form a complete thought beforeshe spoke. "We are only trying to do what's easiest and to meet the criteria no need to be extra for a stupid project."