Blank Slates

Chapter 25

"Is something wrong? If I may ask, of course."

Kairo glanced over at the Blank girl next to him, his nose wrinkled and a frown creasing his face. Her posture was somewhat relaxed, but still tense and guarded as usual. She looked at him expectantly, a small frown on her own face mirroring his. "No, it's nothing."

"Then why are you sulking?" She was being a little more bold with her words today despite his negative demeanor, much to his surprise. Not that it bothered him all that much. He did say she was allowed to speak freely, and she seemed to be trying, albeit with some restraint.

He let out a dry laugh. "Just been in a bad mood."

"Well, yes, that is obvious. But is there any particular reason why?"

Kairo was silent for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should spill his guts to this poor girl. Groaning loudly, he rubbed his hands down his face, pulling his cheeks downward and forcibly deepening his frown. "You see, Clovis—the main boss guy of this sector—chose a handful of people to go on this special mission to get Julia—the main, main boss lady—and bring her back to this base. As I've told you before and as you've probably picked up on, things are usually quiet around here, so I'm always aching for some kind of action or adventure, so I was really disappointed that I won't be able to go on this while while Calix—I'm sure you remember him—gets to. And I know I'm acting like a goddamn child and everyone's probably making fun of me for whining about this, but I don't know. I'm disappointed and I can't hide that I'm disappointed, and I'm not trying to say that I deserve it more than the others because clearly I don't but at the same time, I think Clovis just hates me and wants to spite me for openly disagreeing with him and his stupid decisions." He paused his rant to suck in a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

She was slightly taken aback by his rant, even though she had asked about it. She just didn't expect he'd give an answer like that. Nibbling on her bottom lip, she tried to think of what to say in response that would be appropriate. Before she could say a word, however, he spoke up.

"Why do you have to look at me like that?"

Her eyebrows raised before she hurriedly directed her eyes away from him, confused at what she may have done wrong. "Like what?"

"Like you're judging me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that—"

"You don't have to apologize," he assured. "You just had a funny look on your face."

"Oh, I was just surprised that you said all that."

He shrugged. "What did you expect me to say?"

"I don't know, maybe you didn't sleep well or something along those lines."

"Nah, that's just a minor inconvenience. It wouldn't piss me off this much."

She hummed. "Still, you caught me a little off guard. I'm sorry to hear about that though. It must be terrible to be cooped up in an underground bunker all the time." She paused, murmuring the last part. "I of all people should know."

He laughed a little. "Now you're making me feel worse. You have it so much worse than me, and here I am complaining."

She frowned, her fingers once again grasping onto the fabric of her shirt. "I apologize. I was just trying to sympathize with your situation, but I guess I'm not good at finding the right words to say."

"Don't worry about it. I mean, what can you say, anyway? It doesn't really matter though. It was nice to just get it off my chest."

She glanced at him curiously. "Do you not have friends to talk to?"