Rogue

Chapter 9

"Hey, everyone!" Jin walked into Tamakoma at the end of the night, ready to retrieve his portion of the night's meal. He was late, of course, so he'd have to heat it up. But he wouldn't miss out on good food. "How are you guys doing?"

He took note of the tense look on Shiori's face as he strode past her to the kitchen. She was currently sitting on the couch with a sleeping Yotaro leaning on her. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," she assured. "It's just that..." Jin put his bag of rice crackers between his teeth as he opened the fridge to search for his long-anticipated meal of Konami's curry. "Akira hasn't left her room..."

Jin whipped his head to look at the younger female, his snack bouncing against his chin from the momentum.

"She hasn't even come down for food?" The dark-haired operator shook her head. Jin frowned. He wondered what could have her acting such a way to go as far as to starve herself. He grabbed his container of curry and threw it into the microwave.

"I'll handle it," he promised her as the appliance dinged, signalling the food's completion.

With that, Jin sauntered up the stairs and to his room where he collected a box of his beloved rice crackers as well as his plate of curry on top. He took it down to the end of the hall and knocked on the door, waiting to see if she would respond at all. When she didn't, he began wondering if she was okay. "It's Jin. I need you to open the door, Akira."

After a moment of silence, he heard shuffling and the padding of her footsteps. She twisted the lock from the inside and cracked the door open just enough to reveal one of her glowing eyes.

"What?" The brunette gently nudged her back, inviting himself into her room and moving to set the box down beside her bed and setting his food on the desk.

"It's fine if you don't want to eat with everyone," he began, "but you still need to eat." She scoffed, crossing her arms at the male.

"I'm trained to go up to four days without food. I'm fine."

"But you shouldn't have to." The argument instantly ended as Akira couldn't find a rebuttal and instead flinched slightly when he patted her head right between her horns. "Here's some of tonight's dinner and some snacks to keep you alive in here." He began to exit the room, leaving the girl baffled at his random act of kindness. "Don't be scared to join everyone though, okay?" With that, he shut the door behind him, leaving the stunned girl to herself once again. He stood in the hallway for a moment, checking the branches of the future as they shifted from his actions. He sighed at his lack of dinner but was relieved that he was at least able to help her tonight.

兵

Konami tossed and turned relentlessly as she couldn't grasp the ability to sleep tonight. Was it the soreness of her muscles? No. Was it because of the nap she took after school? Nope. It was because of the choked back cries coming from next door. The redhead didn't know what the hell Akira could possibly be sobbing about at this hour, but it was beginning to piss her off. She had school in the morning and she needed to go to sleep, damnit.

Konami threw her duvet off of her body and stomped toward her bedroom door. Surely, she wasn't the only one hearing this but it seemed that everyone was able to slumber through it. She threw her door open and barged into the blonde's room.

"Could you keep it dow―?!" With her back pressed against the bed frame, Akira was curled up in a ball, clutching at her head with wide eyes. She looked scared; a look Konami couldn't quite comprehend in the safety of Tamakoma. "What is it?" Although they had gotten off on the wrong foot, her soft side was creeping out just at the sight of the blonde.