⭐️ starstruck

🩶bothered - 2

"So what's the point of connecting to anyone?

Is a relationship bought, or is it won?"

—🩶—

Akarui Raito could not sleep.

He couldn't believe himself. It was irrational. Just a small, short interaction. So minuscule, in fact, that it only took up a singular minute of the day. Yet, for some reason, he had this unbearable curiosity about Kanaka that bothered him to no end—one that took up more than 24 hours.

He moodily turned over onto his side for what seemed to be the billionth time and groaned into his chilly hands. Glancing at the clock on his bedside table, Akarui read the time. 2:46 a.m. With a small huff, he pulled his thick blanket up closer to his neck and buried his face in his hands. He felt his curled-up body slowly sink deeper into the warm mattress. With the AC blasting mercilessly on the other side of the room, it was nice to feel himself melt into the bed's snug hug as it adjusted to his new position. Slowly but surely, Akarui closed his eyes and started to doze off. As he calmed down, right on the verge of sleeping, his mind once again drifted toward that tan-haired schoolgirl.

His blue eyes snapped open.

With a sigh, he sat up in his bed, giving up on sleep for now. Leaning his head on the hard wooden backboard, Akarui thought back to this Kanaka's behavior. It was so... odd. He couldn't make heads or tails of it. Antisocial was one thing, and there were always those sociopathic news stories he saw online, but he had never seen anything that was all of those combined, yet at the same time, so humane, in a way.

It wasn't like she didn't have emotions; that isn't humanly possible, and besides, he could see it. That awkward glance away from him, the way she applied careful attention to examining him, the way she seemed to hesitate before actually saying anything blunt, he was just so...

...Confused. He was confused.

Akarui scratched his cheek before letting out a frustrated sigh, soothingly running his fingers through his dark brown locks. After thinking for a while and chewing on his lip, the schoolboy settled on approaching Kanaka in the morning. It was a bad habit of his to give in to his curiosity, but Akarui didn't care. He just had to know the psychology behind what she was doing.

Akarui had always been liked by everyone. He wasn't particularly close to anyone, but he often knew what others thought about him, and as shameful as it was to admit, it gave him a sense of pride. So, this situation was extremely new to the vulnerable boy, and he didn't handle new situations well. Of course, he had always been an anxious, nervous wreck ever since he was a child, but Akarui had since learned how to control it. Mostly.

Of course, his acting wasn't perfect: his true emotions showed through subconscious habits, the painfully fake mask of confidence he wore was hard to maintain, and the act always slipped away when he was alone in his bedroom. The brunette bounced his leg, looking around for something to distract him from all of these odd thoughts running through his head like a bullet train hundreds of miles over the speed limit.

To be honest, Kanaka intimidated Akarui, too. It wasn't only because she was a "new" experience to him, either. As curious as he was to get to know her, the more he replayed that monotone response in his head, the more he felt as though he had been exposed with a mere glance from the girl. As though she knew more about him than he did about her, her dull eyes piercing through his very soul.

His leg started to bounce more.

After a restless few minutes, Akarui hesitantly laid back down, running another hand through his messy hair. He tried not to think about it, focusing solely on his breathing. In, and out. In, and out.